F•A•S•T//r.s.l.❣

2.8

Athena Carmichael

There was a faint light, a few feet away from me. It was hung over a door,

I attempted to walk towards it, but the chair I soon found I was tied to only shuffled a few centimetres. To top it off, I had a ragged old cloth tied around my mouth.

Soon, realisation hit me that I was locked up inside a humid warehouse, or something similar. And the fact that it was dark except from that one, now flickering, light frightened even the toughest part of me.

That same door opened, a male figure by the door. It stopped, looking in, then began to make its way towards me. Just by the approach, I knew it was Mr Parks.

He leaned forward, rather close to my face, and touched my cheekbone. I winced, now realising how tender to touch it became. I must've taken the beating of a lifetime.

"Surprised you're awake" he said. "You were tasered for a good 2 consecutive minutes. And then got your lights knocked out, obviously"

He grabbed my face, hand landing in every place that stung or throbbed whenever touched. I grunted, which ended up sounding like a growl. "That's what happens when you don't respect me"

He released me, pacing around. "Sneaking up behind me with a gun, what do you think, that I'm fucking stupid?!"

I flinched at his shout, shaking my head. He returned to my field of view, leaving a strong punch on my gut, which caused me to double over as far as I could.

"You'll learn" he whispered, then began to walk away. As he did so, a beat began, syncopating with his steps. However, when he stopped walking, it sounded more familiar.

Unexpectedly, I began to hum the tune to 'Latch'. It was one of my favourite songs, and it was our 'Turn Up' squad song.

"What is this?!" Mr Parks sounded livid.

"Dad?" A voice made me turn around as best as I could. Sierra stood in the shadows, and with a snap of her fingers, the lights in the warehouse flickered on. On the two balconies looking down to where I was, were them.

Rocky and Riker stood on one, Case, Ross & David on the one opposite it. All of them with guns pointed to Mr Parks.

"Go" Sierra said rather calmly, but in contrast, she raised hell.

Rocky and Riker jumped down, making a runner for Mr Parks as Sierra removed the ropes around my wrists and ankles. Lastly, she removed the cloth around my mouth and gave me a hug.

"I missed you" she smiled, pressing a gun to my side. "Finish him"

"But he's your dad"

"My real dad lives in Milwaukee" she winked, cocking her gun. I turned around, a smirk on my face. The first bullet hit his foot, and he screamed out in pain. The remaining four went anywhere else, I only made sure I was hitting him.

"That was for the hell your raggedy ass put me through" I raised my hand towards his forehead. "And finally-"

The spotlight was stolen from me once a foreign bullet hit him where I was aiming, square in the head. I look behind to Ross, gun in hand. "Lastly, don't touch my girlfriend bitch!"

He dropped his gun, beginning a celebratory dance as we all smiled. After so, he walked to me, gently feeling the bruises on my face. "Sorry we took this long"

"No worries" I looped my arms around him, inhaling the familiar scent. "Let's get out of here now"

"Follow me everybody" David said, placing his arm over my shoulder.

+++

Just for today, we were staying in the F.A.S.T. compound, and I was in my old room, recovering. I received a full body X-Ray to find I was good as new, with some minor scratches and bruises.

My thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door, followed by Blondie poking his head in. "Hey wassup hello"

I beamed, pointing at the butt-shaped spot (David stopped by earlier) beside me. Ross looked at it, and then narrowly missed it. "Dude no, I don't have that big of a butt"

"Say that to the one time you sat on my lap and almost crushed my legs" I replied. "What's up, you look super down?"

With a bit of hesitation, he reached for my hand. "We need to talk"