Cora the Hostage Pt. 02 of 02

(Author's Note) To Whom it may concern: This is part 2 of 2 of this story. Part 1 has the plot and set-up. This story is short, horny, violent and kind of dark. Also heavy themes of Reluctance/Non-consent, reader discretion is advised.

Be normal enough to function. Which includes not doing crimes. Enjoy ^@^

Chapter 7

So it'd occurred to me after I'd calmed Hannah down and we'd all now had something to eat, that I was completely losing my mind. There was no other explanation for it as far as I could tell. Theo had basically done whatever he wanted to me and not only had I not protested, I'd actively submitted. Participated, even.

And the fucked up part - the really fucked up part I mean, apart from all the other fucked up parts - was that I was pretty sure I could've stopped him. It seemed like he was supposed to focusing on, you know, his job. Not whatever her was planning to do to me. I could've kicked, screamed. Caused a scene loud enough for everyone to hear.

Though I admit it wouldn't have been hard for him to hurt me, make me stay quiet with pain or threat. But I didn't even try. I just did what he wanted and it felt... good. Like really good. Like, I was still thinking about it while he was still staring at me and it was hard not to squirm, levels of good.

Then one of the Syndicate drones came back, and it was Vic's turn for something I figured then, because they chatted quietly for a minute or two before she left.

This newest guy was also one I easily recognised from the bar. Because he was the biggest. Definitely augmented muscles, the only way to explain a behemoth his size. More useful as a deterrent than anything else. In any fight involving ranged weapons he was basically just a lumbering target.

But he was quiet, stoic and didn't seem interesting in anything besides glancing around to make sure we hadn't run off. The perfect person to watch three tied up hostages, because worst case scenario he could just sit on us until we complied. Or died I guess.

Other than that I kind of forgot he was there, because he apparently wasn't bothered when Theo came over, crouched next to me, and spoke for all to hear.

"Come with me." He said, holding out a hand to help me from the couch.

"W-who?" Saskia asked, uncertain.

"He means me," I answered, astounded at my own calm then. "Don't worry, I'll be okay."

"Wait what?" Hannah demanded, shaking visibly. "No why? Where are you taking her!?"

"Shut. Up. Hannah." I told her, sternly. Having allot on my mind then already. "I said I'll be fine."

She looked genuinely hurt by my words, but I didn't have a whole lot of time to process that then. Mostly because we weren't headed to the bathroom, or the other bedrooms. Theo was leading me to my bedroom, on the other side of the living space to where his associates were working. And I followed without a word, as we stepped inside, and he shut the door behind us.

~

"Already huh?" I observed, trying to stop my voice from shaking. "I figured you were still deciding..." I trailed off.

He side eyed me, grinned down like a shark. I swallowed.

"I was just waiting for Vic's shift to end." He explained, taking a step passed me to flick on the light. "She would've been pissed if I expected her to watch the others while I snuck off with you. Light on or off?"

"Uh," I was wrong-footed by the question. "I like the sleep lighting I guess."

"Moody," he agreed, flipping the lights lower. "Easier to let your mind go somewhere, that it?"

I hesitated for a second, considering if I should lie. Keep up the pretence.

"No," I answered, settling on the truth. "It heightens the other senses. Makes it realer. More of an experience to remember."

I saw his shark tooth smile again in the darkness. "Good," he replied, pulling something from his jacket, "I want you here too for this."

I saw the glint of metal, heard the flick of knife locking in place. I shrank back suddenly terrified.

"Woah hey, wait!" He said quickly. "No, sorry it's for the ziplocks! I was gonna cut your hands loose."

"The fuck Theo?" I sagged, catching my breath. "Nearly scared the piss out of me."

"Yeah, not really into that," he said, grinning again, "no hate though, each to their own."

"Neither am I. Can you just...?" I indicated my wrists with a wave.

"Give me your hands," he said, grasping for me carefully in the gloom.

I flinched at the cold of the metal on my skin, then sighed in relief as the cuffs finally came off.

"Better?" He asked.

I rubbed my wrists gingerly, where deep red marks and developed. "I think you put them on too tight." I offered.

"Maybe," he said. I gasped slightly as I felt his hand brush my hair behind my ear, "I was pretty distracted once I saw it was you pinned to the bed underneath that blindfold."

"You recognised me?"

"At the bar?" He chuckled. "Yeah, small world huh? You're Coraline, right? We searched your IDs."

"It's pronounced Cora-leen," I corrected, "But I hate the way it sounds and everyone mispronounces it anyway. So just call me Cora."

"Nice to meet you Cora," he replied, smooth and playful. "I'm Theo."

I didn't reply, and he was silent for a moment. I felt observed again, even in the gloom. And I was sick of the anticipation.

"Are you gonna fuck me?" I asked then, voice quiet.

"Is that what you want?" He asked back, seeming genuinely curious.

"I got the distinct impression," I observed pointedly, "that what I want really doesn't matter right now."

He didn't reply right away, tilted his head to one side.

"No," he agreed then, "no you're right. It doesn't."

"Then stop being such a pussy and fuck me alre-"

He made me yelp in shock as he picked swung me around to sit me on a furnishing just high enough off of the ground.

"Woah," I breathed, suddenly somewhere else, and now at his eye level. "Hi."

He stepped close, wrapping his arm around my waist and taking hold of my neck. Then he nudged my knees apart, until I was sat facing him with my legs spread, and pulled my waist to meet his on the edge of the dresser. I felt a jolt as our pelvises smacked together lightly.

"Hey," he said back.

Then he pulled my face to his, and tasted my lips.

Chapter 8

It was weird I found, how I responded. That I wasn't horrified, when he told me to go with him. When I saw the look in his eyes. Marking me with their intent. Signalling to me what was about to happen. Got me thinking about it. Being taken whether I liked it or not.

That's what this was, of course. I knew that. That walking into that room rather than dragged in kicking and screaming pretty much made my fate certain. But I'd been so well behaved so far, and I thought it a shame to mess it all up then when I was about to get what I pretty much sort of kind of wanted anyway.

Like, I didn't want my friends and I to have our vacation adventure ruined. Or our lives forever changed by it. For Saskia to be tested and Hannah to be traumatised. To discover how much of a submissive freak I really was.

But all that had happened anyway and now I was here and I was damn well going to enjoy myself. And since there was literally no better time to engage fully in this particular... curiosity, I was going to do it right.

Which was why I bit his lip, then shoved him away.

"Stop." I said, smiling invitingly. Hungry eyed.

He didn't kiss me then, he grabbed me hard and claimed my mouth with his.

Our faces were close, tasting each other's breath. Learning each other's lips. He pressed his tongue in and I took it greedily.

His skin was rough and weathered, the feel of a face that'd seen and done too many bad things to be left unmarred. The scratching of his stubble, the tight grip of his hands, large enough to enclose my wrist of squeeze my throat. Hands that would take, like his lips took. Taking everything.

I struggled, not much, not enough to make too much noise. Enough to make him work for it a little. Spark that dominating fire in his eyes as I broke the kiss and tore my head to the side. To squirm and shove and grind us into one another.

"Don't." I breathed, pushing my hands into his jacket, feeling the warmth of his muscles through his shirt.

"Don't what?" He demanded, yanking my hair to one side and nipping at my neck.

"I don't want this," my hands had moved down, "please stop." I began pulling open his belt.

"Nah, I think I'm gonna do whatever the fuck I want to you," he growled then, looping his fingers around the waistband of my panties. "And you're gonna be a good girl, and take it."

He dragged them down in a sharp motion, making me give a small whimper as he pulled them roughly down my legs, and ripping them off completely there. They weren't thin and lacy either, those where sturdy comfort panties he'd basically just destroyed.

I might have been encouraging him a little too hard, in reflection. Because as I pulled open his jeans, and stuck my needy hands down his boxers to pull him out, I found a monster waiting for me.

"Holy fuck." I observed.

"You're supposed to say that after," he smirked, "you know, descriptively. About the sex as a whole."

"Stop making me go on unreasonably long walks to understand your stupid jokes and address the issue here."

"Relax," he dragged the word out, "you're a big girl. I'm sure you can take it."

I was not a big girl. I was a small girl. And he was a big guy. And his little guy was a big guy by his standards. So I was pretty much fucked.

"I actually don't know-"

I yelped, he'd grabbed my throat. Then he slapped my hands away, tightening his grip on my neck and crushing any thought of resistance as he began to choke me.

"And if you can't take it," he went on, guiding the tip of his throbbing length, and pressing it against my core. "I'll just fuck you through the pain."

I would've cried out, had I not been half-choked by that point. Instead, the sound I made as he forced himself past and then agonisingly deep inside, my delicate folds, was a sort of strangled whimper.

~

Theo gave me a second to catch my breath, which was thoughtful. He finally loosened his grip on my throat once he was deep in me. I couldn't even feel his pelvis against mine yet, and I was already amazed I hadn't torn around him.

"Hurts..." I breathed, my eyes glazing as he drew his hips back.

"I can tell." He replied, before slamming back into the yawning chasm his warmth had left.

I finally let out a strangled - just figuratively this time - yelp at this latest, deeper penetration.

A hand snapped over my mouth.

"Be a good girl for me now," he chided, "keep your voice down. Only I get to hear what I'm doing to you."

I nodded into his hand, and when he started to move it away I took hold of it.

"I don't think I can be quiet." I admitted. "Not if you're gonna make it hurt."

And then, I pressed his hand back over my mouth.

"Fuck you're perfect." He growled, as he pulled his hips back again and, holding my gaze, kept making it hurt so good.

At least until I had to wince my eyes shut to take the pain. Which was pretty much immediately.

I did try my best to stay quiet, because he'd told me that's what he wanted and I was nothing if not well behaved. But pretty soon little guttural sounds started leaking out of me, muffled by the hand pressed to lips.

Every subsequent thrust for what felt like an eternity went deeper. Stretching me. Claiming me as his. Marking my body with brutal aggression so I'd remember the shape of him for days to come. Raked nails. Bruising. Swollen tenderness from friction and impact. For both of us, but mostly for me.

My own use of nails and force from then on, was no longer to try and stop what was happening, or get away. Or, well, pretending to. I'd been disciplined out of that, the marks upon my still sore throat a blissful reminder of potential punishment. No, I was clawing and thrashing out of wonderful desperation then.

Trying to hold onto something, anything to help me take more him. Further. Deeper than anyone had made me endure. Other guys before could be rough, sure. But all of them cared whether on not they were braking me.

I don't think Theo cared. And I didn't want him to.

Because as his throbbing lust finally forced it's way in, up to the base, I was already getting close.

Soon, a horrible, excruciatingly intense orgasm threaded to drive the very consciousness from my body as it built and built. He felt it, the shuddering, the contracting muscles, and slowed his paced of a sudden. Long deliberate strokes in and out, his gaze boring into me.

That pushed me over. My eyes rolled back, legs gripping tight about his waist and pulling his body against mine, as the oblivion took me. I gushed, drenching my thighs with my arousal, causing a hungry growl of satisfaction from the throat of my user.

Theo gave me no time to recover, hammering hard against me once again, over and over. I slumped forward, his hand coming away, taking the back of my neck and pressing my face into his shoulder. My cries muffled against his tense, muscular chest, he pulled my in close, forcing himself somehow even deeper.

I was pretty much feeling my soul leaving my body to make room for that second orgasm. And for what he was about to fill me with. His visceral groans of lust were building, growing desperate and reckless along with his pace.

"Take it all slut!" He gasped then. "You're mine now."

I screamed a silent cry when it hit, the unbearable contraction within squeezing down upon him as he finally marked me as his. I felt him pull me against him in one final, painful snap, as he came inside. As the horrible joys of my pleasures overflowed into something akin to madness, so too did I feel my depths burn with his warmth.

He groaned against my shoulder, shuddering with every thick pulse of his seed claiming my body. Just as I shuddered my own drenching lustful insanity right back around him. I kept my flutters going, squeezing on instinct to milk every drop from my new owner. Taking all inside, just as I'd been told.

"Good Girl." He cooed into my ear, brushing the back of my head gently.

Until he pulled my head to the side, and bit down into the crook of my neck.

I cried against him, a muffled, whimpering thing, as I took this final pain in the daze of my fading climax. Which then became an alarmed yelp, as the teeth pierced my skin. For a frightening, delicious moment, I thought he were about to close his jaws, and tear a chunk right out of me.

But no, he didn't want me dead. He wanted scarred. Marked. Claimed.

"Too much!" I gasped. The pain made my vision go dark around the edges when he flexed his jaw menacingly.

That time, thankfully, he listened. His shark-tooth grin released me from their sadistic grasp.

Then he forced his lips against mine, grinding his hips into me, making me feel every slippery salacious sensation as his seed spilled out around his still eager hardness.

"How are you still...?" I trailed off, barely cogent at that point still.

"With a toy as good as you?" He smirked, I could hear it in his words. The ass. "I could go all night."

"I'd die..." I pointed out.

"Don't threaten me with a good time," he joked.

Then the sound of raised voices in the next room caught both our attention.

"We should probably-"

"Yeah." I agreed.

But then the door snapped open, and someone threw on the light. I yelped and buried my face back in his chest. Theo didn't seem alarmed in the least.

"Oh hey Fennel," he greeted, "you need something?"

There was a beat of utterly enraged silence.

"Outside!" She shouted. "NOW. Dick back in your pants and OUT of her!"

Then the door slammed shut.

Chapter 9

"You should probably-"

"Yeah I'll-"

I bit my tongue to keep quiet as he pulled out, difficult as it was. I felt an immediate trickle of his thick musk stream out in his wake. I definitely closed my legs shut when he backed up to keep from making a mess. Not for any other reason.

Not because I could feel the unbearable sensation of more of his seed squeezing between my lips. Until my thighs were slick with the glistening shame of what he'd just done to me. That I'd enjoyed being imprisoned and raped by a Syndicate monster. And none of it seemed to bother me that much.

Definitely not for any of those reasons.

"That was..." He began quickly losing his composure as he grinned like an idiot.

"Yeah..." I agreed, in what would've been a blush if I wasn't still flushed and glistening with sweat. "... Woah."

"Find something to wear," he told me, stumbling as he backed towards the door, re-looping his belt. "Take your time, Fennel's probably gonna yell at you after."

"Great." I slid down off of the dresser. "Yeah I figured."

He glanced down at my body. I did too. I wasn't wearing my shirt. I don't even remember that happening. I was a mess and it made me want him all over again seeing what he'd done to-

"I'll be out in a sec'." I said.

He was giving me the look as he opened the door, but dropped it when he saw Fennel glaring at him.

The door didn't do much to dampen the volume of her yelling.

~

I pretty much had to change anyway since my shirt had gotten... damp during the process anyway, so I used it like a rag to mop the worst of the everything off of me - because I'm classy like that - and fished out a shirt and shorts. And thick absorbent underwear for no reason. Which immediately soaked through and stuck to me anyway because Gods I'm a psychotic mess of a person and I wanted it.

Walking was pretty intense I found then. So, bending over slowly and wincing at the pain after the first step, I noticed something else. On the floor, where they'd assumedly fallen during our... struggle, was his flick knife. And his communicator.

Oh. I thought then. Oh he's an idiot huh?

I had to admit it was oddly humanising though.

Now, the smart thing would've been to ignore them and stumble out of the room in shambles like someone who'd just had their guts rearranged. Then when he realised he'd left them, he'd assume I'd not spotted them because I obviously hadn't notice them. What with my brain leaking out of my ears after he'd basically liquefied it.

But instead I thought of a funnier way to handle it.

"He dumbass," I said, as the door slid open, "you dropped something."

Fennel was mid-way through a sentence, so it was a bold move risking pissing her off more by interrupting. Theo caught the communicator, and stared down at it. Winced. Then the flick-knife hit him in the chest a second later, and fell to floor.

"Okay," Theo graciously offered, "I'll admit, that one was on me."

"It's all on you," Fennel was apoplectic, inconsolable, "you dumb fuck!"

"Fennel c'mon," he chided diplomatically, "HR is gonna be on at you about a hostile work environment again."

My brow furrowed at the revelation that murderous criminal Syndicates would have an HR department. But then I quickly remembered they were the enemy of justice and the root of all evil, so of course a Syndicate would have one.

Fennel actually took a breath before she responded. I thought she was gonna shoot him.

"Honestly Theo," she began, adopting a soulless, harrowing, corporate tone, "you've really let me down. The whole team down really."

"Fuck Fen'." For the first time, Theo sounded genuinely contrite. "Don't be like that."

"This might just have to go in your quarterly review, bucko."

Theo sucked in air through his teeth like he'd stubbed his toe. "That feels like a disproportionate response," he shared, glumly.

"Are you sure?" She went on, managerial and merciless. "Because you're the one who brought up HR, but the way I see it, you're a walking liability right now. Raping a civilian, a hostage, mid-op? And a prospective recruit as well?"

My eyes widened, snapped to her.

"Don't give me that look," she threw at me, "the fuck you think you're still alive for?"

Oh. I thought.

"Oh." I said.

"Maybe we should keep HR out of this one." Theo magnanimously agreed, with a thoughtful nod.

"Seriously Theo," Fennel adopted her usual mildly pissed off tone again, "you fucked this one up pretty bad."

"Yeah," he held up his hands in defeat. "What can I say boss. My new girl drove me wild."

"Get your shit together and get back to work." She dismissed him with a jerk of her head.

Then she turned her attention to me.

~

"What in the ever loving fuck do you think you're doing?"

I blinked at the question.

"Getting fucked?" I hazarded.

She seethed for a moment. It made me feel small. Which I already was, but it was still was very effective.

"And it couldn't you have waited until after you were being held hostage by us?"

"I wasn't exactly given allot of choice over timing," I pointed out.

Fennel laughed mirthlessly. "Oh yeah, Zeb' told me. Theo really dragged you out kicking and screaming huh?"

I winced. Scratched the back of my head sheepishly. "I mean Zeb didn't exactly stop us though..."

"Maybe," she gritted her teeth then, "that's because you were so eager you shouted down your friend's protests."

"Ah-hah," I laughed, kind of madly, "oh yeah, I did do that didn't I."

"And forgive me for my bluntness-"

"How out of character."

"-but considering you look like you've been choked and bitten, you're not exactly acting like the harrowed victim right now."

"Presumptuous of you to assume I don't have inner turmoil."

She stared at me then, at an actual loss for words for a moment. It was terrifying. And kind of a turn on.

"There are way easier ways to join Shenzen Syndicate you know." She offered then, exasperated.

"I mean," I replied, honestly, "I wasn't trying to I just..."

"You're just out of your mind?" She finished for me. "I agree. You're hired."

"Oh." I got the sense it wasn't optional. "Good."

"I'd say so," she agreed, "seeing as the other option was death."

"Oh." I nodded then. "Okay. Very good."

"Hells you reek of sex-"

"Thank you."

"-go and - gross - go and keep an eye on your idiot friends. We'll figure shit out once we're done with our job."

"Okay." I confirmed, attempting a curt, professional nod.

"Not gonna ask for details?"

"Am I stupid?"

She laughed, the first genuine amused smile I'd seen out of her. "You mean like the dumbass you just ran rings around? No Cora, you're not stupid. You are completely unhinged though."

Chapter 10

I didn't even bother to sit properly back next to Saskia and Elise, I just perched on the back rest of the sofa.

"Hey," I said, to the still blindfolded pair, huddle together with their arms around one another.

"Cora!" Hannah tried to push herself up.

"Stop," I told her firmly. "I'm fine don't worry."

"Did he hurt you?" Gods yes. Saskia asked, voice low. Delicate. Like I was a china doll.

"You should've figured out by now that I'm tougher than I look." I barbed, then felt bad and added, "no I'm okay. And no one's gonna touch either of you so don't worry."

"Wha-" Hannah's voice caught as she trembled out her words. "How do you know?"

"Because they'd have done it by now."

"Fuck that! Her?!" We overheard, the whisper rendered ineffective when you shouted the words.

I was beginning to think Vic didn't like me. Fennel had probably just told her to calm down, because she immediately looked sheepish. Then she glared at me and I remembered never look at her.

"What's happening?" Saskia asked then. She was using her I'm in control voice so I knew something was wrong.

"They're just mad that..." I trailed off. "They're mad at- at the one I, um, left with."

"Why didn't you say anything?" I was taken aback, it was Hannah asking me. "When he took you, if they're mad, then you've said no, o-or something!"

"Quiet," I reminded her, "they'll get mad if we-"

"Why aren't you blindfolded?" Saskia asked then.

I hesitated.

"What?" I said, caught off-guard. "Of course I am."

"You walked back," she went on, "on your own. We heard you, just you."

"The lady," I said quickly, "the shouty scary one. She turned me and gave me a shove, I just kept going until-"

"You weren't walking like someone who couldn't see."

I got angry again. At this bullshit third-degree interrogation all of a sudden. That they were right, that I'd walked up normally and I didn't have a good answer. My first task at my new job and I'd already fucked it up. Fennel was wrong. I was an idiot.

"Maybe because my hands aren't cuffed any more," I hiss-whispered, "because I was just raped and they were in the way. Or my ankles. For a while actually, because I kept my shit together while you two nearly got yourselves killed!"

"Is that why they let you take your blindfold off?" Hannah persisted, unwisely. "Because you do whatever they tell you?"

I felt sick, disgusted at the harrowing judgement from someone I considered a friend. What, because I was crazy in the right way for the situation? I was just coming to terms with my own insanity and was not ready to brush off the ostracisation from my peers. Probably wouldn't be either, not until my mind finished cracking like a weird horny egg. Into a pan of violent, dubiously consenting sex. Until Theo'd just made a fucking omelette out of my guts.

But anyway.

"Why are you so stuck on this, I can't..." I trailed off.

I glared at Hannah, watching her.

"You need to not talk any more Hannah." I told her, quiet and serious as the grave.

"And you need to stop pretending you care about anyone but yourself," Saskia shot back. "Tiny."

"And you," I glared at Saskia then, rapidly losing patience. "Need to remember I'm the reason they didn't cut your tongue out, you dumb fuck."

"Bet that's why they let you prance around like one of them huh?" Hannah speculated, ignoring my advice. "You knew we needed to shut up because you'd hurt us too. You're just like them."

"You know Hannah on second maybe you should raise your voice a little, really get there attention with another pathetic tantrum."

"That's why you get to get dressed and walk around freely 'cus you're just..."

Her words trailed off. Because I'd heard what she'd just said and my eyes had widened in horror. And she'd seen my reaction.

Because she could see.

Her blindfold had ridden up where she'd snuggled against Saskia.

And she knew I was unbound and sighted. And that I'd changed my clothes. Because she could see. The one thing that she shouldn't have done and she was so stupid she'd let it slip.

Which meant she'd seen them too.

And Hannah couldn't keep it from anyone else, just like she couldn't keep it from me.

~

"I told you to stop talking." I said, weakly. "Godsdamn Hannah, why can you never just shut up?"

There was a part of me that knew, right from the start. That she wasn't built for this. That she didn't get it. Hannah was always the hero of her own story, it's what everyone loved about her. But the hero of the story didn't do what the bad people told them.

The hero overcame their terror - which should have already gotten them killed if it weren't for me - and spied on the bad people. And then I've no clue where her stupid fantasy went after, probably somewhere increasingly delusional.

Because where it had actually gotten her, was dead.

And she didn't even know it yet.

"What," she goaded, "you gonna tell them? Some friend you are."

I should probably have been thankful, that she was being such an asshole. That it'd make it easier somehow. I wasn't, because it didn't.

"This isn't a classroom Hannah," I was suddenly so sad. So tired. "These aren't people who let you see their faces, not when they're doing stuff that pisses off the corpos."

"W-What?" She asked, suddenly terrified into a small, quiet voice. "You're not actually gonna..."

She trailed off, I could sense her eyes widening under the blindfold.

"Why do you think I'm not wearing one any more?" I asked her, pressing my eyes shut to try and stop the tears. "Really think about."

"No..." Saskia's voice was but a broken whisper.

"In hindsight," I quipped, ruefully, "I guess I probably should've led with my recent career change."

"Please." Hannah said quickly then, urgent. "I won't tell. You know-"

"What d'you think the guys who rob corpos for a living," I went on, undeterred by her pleas, "Do when the stupid, stupid, spoilt one with the braids can't follow one simple rule? Do you think they'll trust her not to tell every.

"Single.

"Person.

"She meets about it?"

"You can't," Saskia was using her I'm in control voice. She wasn't. "They'll kill her Cora."

"Don't sell yourself short Sas'," I swapped to her mercilessly. "You think they're gonna disappear your two best friends and send you on your way with a smack on the ass?"

"No..." Saskia echoed herself, as her world collapsed.

"That's right," I confirmed, finally letting the tears fall, "Hannah just killed you both."

I was a horrible thing, watching Saskia break. Hannah had a breakdown every other Tuesday or Thursday, weather depending. Saskia though, in the decade I'd known her for, had never let herself crack once. She broke down in private.

It was harrowing, listening to her start screaming. And a mercy for all of us when I jumped on her, and slammed her head into the holo projector once. Twice? Until she fell limp.

"Sas'!" Hannah cried, I slapped her as well. Open palmed. Hard.

"One more word and I'll tell them to make it slow and painful," I warned her.

My tone was meant to be cold, instead the raw emotion of the moment had swelled within me. And my voice scared myself then.

She started sobbing quietly, and pulled Saskia's unconscious body back to cradle her.

"Cora!" Fennel snapped. "You had one job."

I really understood how Theo felt in that moment.

Chapter 11

I pushed myself up to me feet and hugged my arms to my chest. I was crying too, the horror and trauma of my lack of choices crushing me under their weight. Theo looked alarmed as I came round into the kitchen space, but as this was now a professional matter, he held off on coming to check on me like he seemed to want to.

"They uh..." I offered, haltingly. "They figured I wasn't... Wearing a blindfold any more and..."

"Hells." Fennel sighed, dragging out the expletive.

"And um..." My voice cracked. Brow furrowed and face twisted. "Hannah's been... She saw that I wasn't-"

"Hells." Fennel said again. Calm. Final.

I sniffed loudly.

"And you're telling us." Zeb' rumbled the observation, voice appropriately similar to an avalanche for someone his size. "Guessing that means-"

"She couldn't keep her mouth shut to save her life." I finished.

Done. Spent.

A silence followed. I sniffed. Theo finally came over and hugged me to about the middle of his chest because he was so much taller.

"This simplifies things," Fennel began, invisible gears shifting in her mind. "Vic, let Waylon know."

Just saying their names now. Normal volume. Mask dropped. I started shaking. Didn't matter what they heard now. The trigger had already been pulled. Just the hammer hadn't struck the cartridge yet.

"I should-" Theo began.

"Yeah, get her out of here," Fennel agreed, "she's done enough. Doesn't need to be here."

I made a small, unhappy sound of protest as I was led away. Down to the room with the plasma cutter. Or, room with Vic, the one called Waylon, and a gaping hole in the wall now.

The man I'd only just seen properly then, had his eyebrows raised when he looked at me. Apparently betraying your dearest friends the moment you join the Syndicate and condemning them to death was worthy of a look of surprise.

Go me, I observed, numbly, I even managed to shock the professional killers.

~

I didn't hear anything of what happened outside of that room. Which I guess was better than hearing a shot, or screaming, or crying. But instead I had this awful, gruelling transition, from knowing it was about to happen, to oh I guess they're both dead by now huh?

Sort of a whimpering pathetic end to two people I liked. Not loved, but we were friends for better or worse. Mostly worse I guess.

"So what's with the hole?" I asked, numbly.

Theo side eyed me. I nodded to the hole in the wall.

"Oh that hole?"

I side eyed him. "Seriously?"

"Sorry," he nodded, "not the time I get it."

"Better to ask forgiveness than permission huh? How fitting."

"In fairness," he began, before pausing to choose his next words with care. "You're not exactly coming from a position of moral superiority yourself."

I cradled my face in my hands.

He placed a large, calloused mitt on my small back and began to rub gently in an attempt at comfort. But gentle for him amounted to just shoving me left and right slightly with the motion.

"Kill me."

"Can't, sorry."

"Why not?"

"Cus' you're life is property of Shenzen now. And I don't wanna piss Fennel off any more today."

I sat back up. Swatted his hand away. A moment of eureka suddenly dawning upon me.

"Maybe I could get her to do it."

"No one's killing you Cora."

"You all suck."

"Nah, some of us are pretty great." He smirked, arrogantly.

"Fuck you."

"Keep talking to me like that and you'll be the one who's sucking something soon."

I snorted a laugh. Then remembered I was supposed to be miserable and went back to that.

"Especially not Fennel," he went on conversationally. "Hell after this stunt you're probably her favourite."

"I fucked up my one job."

"You killed one of your friends for us."

"No," I corrected, sullenly. "I killed both my friends."

"Nah Braids was still alive when you left."

My eyes snapped to his. "So was Saskia."

He stared at me for a moment. Just a beat too long. "Right."

"Theo..."

He winced. Scratched the back of his head. Sighed.

"I mean if you meant functionally killed them both I could see a-"

"Theo." I interrupted. "What did I do?"

"I mean," he shifted uncomfortably. "Didn't you hear it?"

My blood ran cold.

"Hear what?"

"The crack." He stared at me, a little worried now. "When you smashed her head into the holo-projector. And kept doing it. You could see her skull through her hair Cora."

I blinked at him. Looked down at my hands.

There was blood. How didn't I notice?

My face was wet.

I'd cradled my face, with my hands. Just now.

Hadn't I?

Or was I misremembering things that hadn't happened, as well as forgetting things that had?

"Theo," I said carefully, staring at my hands. "Can you tell me everything that happened in the last room please?"

Chapter 12

"Oh."

It wasn't too bad, relatively speaking. It wasn't that I'd fully hallucinated. I was just missing a bit of information. Like a blackout. My mind protecting me from my actions as I kept hitting her head again and again and again.

Like a normal person's mind would, forming a blocker that ignores the blood. The violence. Just like the reaction to this revelation - for a normal person I mean - was to be eerily calm.

"Did you not remember?"

I glanced over, he was worried. Afraid even. But that time, I couldn't tell if he was afraid for me, or of me. Or both.

"I must've blocked it out..." I offered, at a loss.

"Okay," he said, standing, "I think you need some fresh air."

"I would very much," I agreed, quietly, "like to no longer be in the apartment right now please."

"Okay just let me check first because they might still be-"

I groaned and sank back down. Then cradled my head in my hands again. Then remembered I was covered in blood.

"I might need to wash my face first," I added.

~

A few minutes later - after the lecture from Fennel about taking the traumatised new girl on a date while we're on the clock - Theo led me out of the apartment for the first time in a couple of days. It was weird just wearing shoes again, let alone being surrounded by people of a higher economic caste than I'd ever achieve.

"I know you feel guilty-"

"Seriously?" His pep-talk was not of to a great start.

"What I mean is it might seem like it's all your fault and at least some or maybe even most-"

"You suck at this." I snapped. "Where are we going anyway?"

"To show you one of the benefits to your new life."

He took me to the cloudspire elevator. The fancy one that only went to the executive levels. And had armed guards. They looked at me - In my hoop skirt and sneakers, and my incredibly poorly selected shirt that said Fuck Cropos in big, petulant letters - like a leper.

But then Theo stepped forward. "Mallard." He nodded in greeting to one of the guards.

"Theo," he offered a hand to shake. "You know I'm not supposed to let you up here after last time."

Theo shifted uncomfortably. "Listen, if I'd known she was your sister-"

"Relax," the guard held up a hand, "she told me you were a gentlemen."

"She did?" Theo seemed almost insulted. "I really was blackout drunk then."

"You threw my superior through a window."

"That I do remember." He grew thoughtful. "She deserved it though."

"Which is the only reason none of the dozen witnesses saw it happen."

It was comforting to know I wasn't the only complete lunatic in the world then.

"Wait," I asked. "Your name is Mallard?"

"Yeah?"

"That's a weird name. Isn't that like an extinct duck or something?"

They both stared at me.

"The fuck his her problem?" The duck-ed man asked.

"Don't take it personally. She's like that with everyone I think."

"Like what?"

~

"No seriously like what?"

"I was just talking us past them, it didn't mean anything."

It had worked, we were now in an elevator to somewhere I'd never thought I'd see. But it was quickly becoming a hill I was going to kill or die on, so I persisted.

"So what am I not like?"

"It's just weird," he finally admitted. "That thing about his name."

"What?" I was genuinely perplexed. "How?"

"You don't think that someone with a name like Mallard might be a little sensitive about it?"

"Is he?"

"I dunno, I've never asked."

"Then how-"

"Because he looked pissed off and almost didn't let us through."

"Oh. Sorry."

He sighed, wearily. "You've had a hard day." He conceded.

"And I did lose my mind recently." I admitted.

"Sure," he agreed, sceptically. "Recently.

With satisfying ding we reached our destination. It was pretty much what I expected.

The Corpos who lived this far up basically considered themselves demigods anyway, so the disgustingly tacky white and gold aesthetic over marble was fairly predictable.

Add to this the simpering supplicants, slithering to and fro as they saw to the salacious needs of their superiors, and you soon realised there were more people working as servants for the Spireborn than there were ultra wealthy god-kings themselves.

But we were here for the view, not the company. They mostly ignored us like we were the janitorial staff that'd mistakenly wandered out of the access corridors before they'd been given the all clear.

As we went to one of the viewing galleries, I was taken aback by the sight of the celestial kingdoms of the rich. A sprawling band of cloud layers obscured the dozen or so other mega-city spires. White blankets of perfection that our ancestors seeded to block out the sun and keep the planet just barely liveable.

Shuttles flew to and fro, darting out of clusters of white and grew, zipping between the towers' upper levels. Saving their passengers the indignity of braving the sprawling, smog choked slumps far below.

And all of it was then coloured by the golden light, of the setting sun. Shifting this heavenly realm of cloud vapour and plasteel, into the warm evening glow of it's slowly dwindling warmth. They lived like Greek gods of old, I thought then. Literally looking down upon us from above.

And considering some of the spires reached above the planet's atmosphere, some of them my actually be lording over us from space.

"How come they let the Syndicates up here?" I asked as we basked in the dwindling light of a fading star.

"We do work for them sometimes, when they need something handled unofficially. Then you chat to guards and don't insult them and they might let you sneak up someone cute."

"Ah I see." I nodded, finally understanding. "You're trying to impress me with the view."

"I'm trying to give you room to talk."

I eyed him, he glanced at me. Smiled. "If you want." He said.

I looked back at the view. He said nothing, just left me the air for me to fill. Or not.

I sighed.

"I don't feel that guilty." I admitted then, "that's the problem. Mostly just angry."

"Angry at us?"

"Just... Angry, I dunno. And bad that they died- that I killed- I dunno."

"It's probably healthy to feel bad when your friends die," he intoned, sage and wise like some great philosopher and not the dumbass I new him to be, "even if you were involved somehow."

"I just-" My words caught as another wave of emotion hit. "Why couldn't she have just done what she was told?"

"You can throw them a life raft, but you can't make them grab on."

"You... We were almost done. They couldn't gone home that day maybe."

"And then braids did something that would've gotten you all killed, and you weren't able to help her that time."

I hesitated. "You would've killed all three of us?" I asked, somehow shocked at how not invulnerable I now felt.

"When she first panicked?" He clarified. "Oh yeah definitely. Not right away but, if she hadn't calmed down we would've had to knock her out at least. And if she still wouldn't calm down? I mean we're not gonna kill just one of you."

"Right, witnesses." I nodded. It made awful sense. And it helped to know that there was allot more self-preservation in my actions than I gave myself credit for. Again, still in an awful sense.

"See? You're a natural." He quipped.

I laughed insincerely. "Go me."

A pause.

"We're not gonna go back there right?" I asked then.

"Oh hells no, it's probably on fire by now."

"I guess I'll need new clothes." I observed.

"You can afford better ones now anyway."

"I can?"

He handed me a communicator. "Log in on mine, check your credits." He said with a smirk.

I did.

"HOLY-"

"Keep your voice down."

"I should feel worse about what it cost me but that's a big number."

"Signing bonus included," he explained, "we need to make it worth your while since you can't exactly... you know, quit."

"So the retirement package-"

"Bullet to the back of the head."

"Got it."

Another pause.

"So can I stay at your place tonight?" I asked.

He smirked. Like a dumbass.