Bring The Heat

62. Run, Run, Run Away (CB ARC 11)

-(JANUARY 28TH, EARLY MORNING)-

Rebound's eyes opened drowsily. His legs were completely numb, he felt incredibly cold, and his shoulders hurt like hell - he began to wonder how he had even managed to fall asleep at all. He began to shake himself groggily, trying to pull free, before noticing something. The ventilation shaft was clanging gently, but he couldn't feel any air flow coming through the roof vent above him. Looking down, he gasped in fear, and started to shake more vigorously.

Scaling the shaft silently, moving like a cat, or a contortionist, was Ingrid. She crawled up to him sneakily, but upon noticing that she had been seen, an horrifying smile spread over her face, and she clambered up at incredible speed.

As he shook, the edges of the narrowed shaft cut deep into Rebound's shoulders, but the adrenaline overpowered the pain. Scraping skin from his arms, he finally freed himself - only to plunge down the taller, wider shaft.

Before he could slam into the ground, Ingrid planted a foot against the side of the vent, catching his arm as she grabbed his chest.

He struggled weakly against Ingrid's grasp, holding him up like he weighed nothing, but she just ignored it.

"Stop- would you stop? Eya eya, sacre bleut, if I wanted to kill you you'd be dead already!"

Rebound stopped resisting hesitantly. It was true, she wasn't putting any lines on him or anything...

"W- what do you want from me?" he asked, shivering. But as Ingrid examined him, seeing how pale he looked, she just laughed.

"How long have you been up here? You look a few coughs from death..."

"Just the night. And I feel fine, thanks. If you're gonna kill me, just do it already." Rebound returned venomously, but his confidence was quickly shattered as Ingrid's hand slid around his neck.

"Trying to escape me up there? Hmm, ambitious, non? Nobody's ever escaped me before. The pain comes eventually."

"I don't know. Seemed like I had you on your ass back there."

Ingrid's eyes narrowed at the rude remark.

"Aux innocents les mains pleines, mon chéri. 'Beginner's luck'. I've got you now, anyway. But, hmm... killing you like this would be anti-climactic. You were one of the first to ever fight back, and the first to ever win. Initially, that is." Ingrid reached into her belt, pulling from it a small flask, which she offered to Rebound. "Until then, may our rivalry be great and fruitful!"

Rebound tried to reject the drink, but Ingrid just forced it into his mouth. He gulped down... water, just normal water.

"Eya eya, leave some for me! I get thirsty on the job, see. And despite what stereotypes will tell you, I am NOT an alcoholic. So yes, water."

Rebound stared back at Ingrid, puzzled.

"Who the hell are you?" he muttered, to which she seemed genuinely hurt.

"Ingrid. I told you this already..."

"I know, I know. I mean... what are you doing here? What's your deal?"

Ingrid cackled.

"'My deal'? Very forward, hmm? Well, I may as well tell you, if we're to be nemeses. I was born in France, and I had a family, once. I liked my brother - he never told a soul about my dead animals, I made him promise and the little bastard kept it! But... my parents found them anyway. It was so strange, how easy it was for them to stop loving me! Well, their loss. Ten years ago, when I was just 16, we were all taken and lined up outside my house, by Vertigo himself! And then, one by one, he shot and killed my family, all in front of me. Can you believe we're friends to this day? It seems, mon chéri, almost like fate!"

"I... I'm sorry that happened to you." Rebound interrupted. Ingrid just gave him a look of confusion.

"Why? I hated them anyway. Maybe that makes me crazy, to not care. My psych guy used to think so, but he never told me. I could see it in his eyes when he looked at me, how a vet looks at an animal, except with much less love. And I could see it in how my parents despised me more and more every time they went to speak with him about me! Well, I didn't care, and that's just how it is."

"But they tried to shoot you. That must've been scary."

"Ugh, you're starting to sound like my psych guy now. Except he had a big, gruff voice and a French accent, and you're clearly Russian, and you sound like a woman, but squeakier."

Rebound seemed taken aback by Ingrid's knowledge of his nationality, but she stopped him before he said anything.

"Before you ask, no, I don't know how I could tell either. You unlearned your accent very well! I suppose you were beaten, hmm? Bullied, that is. I'm not sure how I know that either. The same way I'm not sure what happened after that gun was pushed against my head. I can still feel it sometimes - the end was very hot, it really hurt... Makes you wonder if this is all real, or more of just crazy old Ingrid at work, non? I mean, all this stuff that came after, robots, hunting you people, angelhood... it just seems like something I would've made up back then!"

"Angelhood?"

Ingrid smiled, realizing that she had probably said more than she was meant to, but she didn't particularly care. She pointed to Rebound's chest.

"It's in there, and it makes you throw things, mon chéri. Well, I'm not sure what yours does. But it's in me, and it makes me make lines. It's in you, and your friends, but it's in us too. Sometimes I look at... her... and wonder if she's gonna kill us next, after you're all gone. But I swear, I just get this idea in my head, this idea that she has some of it too."

"And she calls it 'angelhood'? How does she know about it? Has she told you why she wants to hunt us down? Who is-"

"Ugh, now you're just interrogating me. Boring... I'm leaving." Ingrid groaned, rolling her eyes and beginning to climb back down the shaft, before looking back up at Rebound and winking. "See you soon!"

And with that, Rebound watched her go. What a strange person... he was still surprised he made it out of the encounter uninjured and alive. Which in turn made him realize that he was now propping himself up by his own legs planted against the side of the vent, leaning against the back wall. He could feel them again, and was no longer shivering.

Rebound wasn't sure what to make of all this... so he just followed down the shaft after a short rest, climbing back out into the training room.