𝗔 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱'𝘀 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝗲𝗻 (𝗠𝗮𝗳𝗶𝗮!𝗡𝗶𝗵𝗮𝗰𝗵𝘂)

22

we have them now, damian thought while smirking. the little blonde girl must be her new fling. maybe, if they're both still alive after capture, i can make magnolia break even more with blondie's death.

"i want an update," they called out, sing-song but annoyed.

"boss, we just searched all the way down the hall. none of the doors lead anywhere else and they were all locked to begin with. they vanished," a solider said with a gulp, his firm salute rigid so it wouldn't shake in fear.

"well, check the air ducts! under the carpet! tear down the walls if it means finding those vermin!" their volume ascended from a whisper until they were shouting, 0 to 100 in seconds as their face heated up in anger.

magnolia was not leaving with anyone else. ever.

magnolia was squished. she didn't know where she was. it was dark. someone was breathing hard, someone smelled like blood and sweat, and someone was jabbing her stomach with their elbow.

wait, that was all her own body because she was forced to sit like a pretzel.

the nerve.

"move out," a harsh whisper came from a bit behind her and somebody tugged on her shirt.
"you two, too, c'mon." they sounded british??

"are you against damian?" niki breathed, wary.

"what the fuck you think we're in a wall for?" they whispered back. yep. british accent.

"damn, my back, ugh," magnolia grunted quietly before being shushed by three other people.

"sounds travel really easily in here, keep it down for pete's sake," a different person hissed. magnolia narrowed her eyes at their direction but listened, grabbing onto niki's hand as they started to move through the walls in a group.

they exchanged hand squeezes for a few moments at a time as they crawled on hands and knees until reaching an opening.

magnolia grunted when she suddenly fell forward in the dark, the impact painfully pulling at the healing wounds even though it was less than two feet.

"mags!" niki whispered, reaching out for the contact that had been broken seconds ago.

"we can't just bring people in here! we'll actually get in trouble one of these days!" one of people said insistently.

"they were running from damian. and, i think one of them is that high profile prisoner," the british person pointed at magnolia and everyone's eyes fell on her.

"way to be obvious," she commented sarcastically, her hand rising from her pained spot to niki so magnolia could be helped up.

"we don't want any trouble we just want to get out of here," niki said firmly, situating herself in front of magnolia, who rolled her eyes and unsuccessfully tried to hobble around her.

"i called dibs on killing them, gotta do that first," magnolia reminded over niki's shoulder. the other people looked amongst themselves warily.

"we can show you the quickest way out, but we want to kill them too," the one with a boston accent said.

"uh yeah, no, sorry," magnolia chuckled without joy. "is damian claiming to be your ex and that you're the crazy fucker because you are saying that you didn't love them so you now deserve to be kept in a cell and tortured for ages on end without any concept of time?"

it went quiet in the room.

"didn't think so. get in fuckin' line." niki let out a slow breath and pat magnolia's shoulder.

"so? where do we go?"

"where do you want to end up?" british accent asked, eyes hardening in the darkness. niki looked back at magnolia and sighed shortly.

"i guess we gotta kill them while we're here," she said exasperatedly. "where do they hang out by themself most?"

"their room. it has a sea view balcony."

"let's take the roof."

minx moved forward quietly, the soles of her shoes silent against the cheap carpeting. they'd entered through a different area and had a whole hallway to filter into before starting a full approach.

their other teams were ready at other entry points and they were communicating quickly through little headsets that were kept secure by puffy, who was in a moving van that was nearby just in case she needed to hop in.

"red and orange on my signal. yellow and green, follow in after no less than five seconds."

"clear as crystal."

"gotcha."

"yes ma'am."

those teams didn't have the rigidness of military training but by god they could follow orders to a 't'.

"fall back if injured, leave the ones who surrender, and if they fight dirty do it back," minx commanded. "now."

the distant sound of breaking glass and gunfire began immediately, team red and yellow breaking into the close-by cafeteria. orange and green were on the corner next to them, but far enough away to not hear well.

minx's team was smaller but under the protection of the distraction that the others had provided.

they headed straight for the armory as people rushed for the main hallways, just barely missing the team every single instance.

once getting to a busy hallway, minx fired a round into the ceiling and scared off the ones who didn't want to fight.

the others, well. they went down pretty quickly.

"get into the armory and hold your position, don't allow them to get to the weapons," puffy's crackly voice surprised the team but let them smile.

"how's the happy couple?" minx joked.

"i think they've been pulled into a wall by a rebel group that's been right under damian's nose so i'll get back to you when i have more information," puffy said, sounding a little confused herself. minx blinked once then twice, brushing it off quickly as a bullet hit the wall above her head.

"well, not the craziest thing that's happened lately," she muttered, aiming for a moment and eliminating the shooter.

it's been less than a month i swear. i've actually been focusing on a story that's not fanfiction (surprising, i know) but it's hopefully gonna be out sometime soon because i have around ten thousand words planned for it already and the first chapter's not done

so how are you guys? :)

-Cat