* * *
She gasped for air, coming back to consciousness, only to choke on the water that flooded her lungs, her whole frame jerking against the strong hand that kept her face down in a bucket. Another lungful of searing, poisonous water, and they let her go. She pulled upright and spat it all out, some of it falling on the man with the bucket. As she drew a wheezing breath, flexing her wrists against the chains that held her captive, the man cursed and bent down to shake the water off his pants.
Next second, she pushed off the ground and slammed her boot in his jaw, hearing his neck break even as he flew a few yards away. The bucket tumbled next to his lifeless form, and she bit her bottom lip, holding back a satisfied grin.
"Bravo!" Someone clapped his hands, stepping out of the shadows to her right as she wrapped her manacled hands around the chains, water dripping off her face. "Bravo, bravo! That was truly impressive."
Her eyes narrowed at the short man in a long leather coat, his face ratlike. He was wearing a black shirt and pants, and his voice sounded like sandpaper on glass.
"Let me guess?" she rasped, restoring her breath. "Not Chuck."
He bowed, feigning a modest smile.
"No, of course not," he spoke with a slight accent, "Only his second-in-command. Chuck doesn't have time for games. And I? I happen to specialize in this." He waved his hand, indicating a collection of knives and torture instruments on a small table nearby. "You can call me Emilio."
"Nice to meet you, Emilio," she purred with a murderous smile, staring him down. "Although I should be the one clapping - you sacrificed what, four men? Just to get me and him," she pointed her chin at Marco across from her, chained up to the low basement ceiling the same way she was, arms wide over his head.
He was watching them, one eye swollen shut, blood dripping from his chin onto the shredded t-shirt. The faint yellow light didn't allow her to see if he had other injuries, but she knew he was slowly working on them while she held Emilio's attention. And what Marco lacked in skill as subtle as healing, he made up for in strength and size.
She turned back to her captor. "Did your men know about your plan when you used them as bait?"
"I'm sure they wouldn't mind, if they only knew the great cause that they've served," Emilio said with a dark glimmer in his eye, taking off his coat. The damp basement made her forget it was summer.
"Yeah, 'cause that's what you guys are all about," she muttered. "Great cause. Kill all men, take their money, rape their women. Real warriors, you are."
"Oh, no?" Emilio drawled, coming up to her. "That's not what tonight is about. We can talk about this any other night."
"You won't live to see any other nights," she said.
He chuckled, showing his crooked teeth. "I've heard so much about you, and it's all true, it seems. Imagine my joy when Fox showed up at my door to tell me he had information about you. Said you would come to me yourself, and so soon."
"I'm gonna chop off his hand for lying, but I'll give you a quick death if you let me go now," she said with a half-hearted smile, holding his gleaming stare.
"Oh, but he didn't lie to you. He just shared the details of your encounter with me later, the bright lad that he is."
"He said everyone would be out on a security job at eleven."
"He mixed up the time, that's all. The job's at midnight, and when they're done, Chuck is getting a surprise present," his voice lowered intimately as his index finger hooked through a loop on her gear pants. "You and I are gonna have so much fun together? Don't think you're going anywhere, 'cause I know all about you and your little tricks."
"Really?" she murmured, leaning forward, her eyes level with his as she stood on her tiptoes. "Did you know I could do this?"
With a sudden thrust, she smashed his nose with her forehead, before kneeing him in the crotch. He jumped away from her, doubling up, the contents of his pockets jingling from the sudden movement. Good reflexes, she thought sourly, will only have one shot at this now.
Marco laughed across the room while Emilio groaned painfully, restoring his breath somewhere in the shadows, and she chuckled, unable to keep it in.
"That's okay?" she heard him rasp. "That's why we kept this one alive." He pointed at Marco, limping back into the dim light and wiping the blood off his face.
He snatched a small knife off the table as he strode across the room. His left hand closed on Marco's t-shirt, while the right one sliced at it with the blade, baring Marco's bloodied chest.
With a savage grin, Emilio turned to look at her. "You're gonna tell me everything about the Headquarters. Your perimeter layout, your clients' names, your spies at Eugene's barracks. And every time you don't answer my question, your friend here will pay for it."
He raised the knife to Marco's chest and slowly dragged the tip of it across his skin, blood welling in its trace until it spilled on the floor. Marco kept silent, his jaw tense, his eyes on her, tired, annoyed, and somewhat bored at yet another psychopath who deemed himself a supervillain cutting him up.
Emilio took a small step back, his manic gaze darting from Marco to Pain. "What's the outer perimeter layout? How far out does it go?" he asked, turning back to Marco when Pain stayed silent.
Marco sighed. "Let's see? It's definitely somewhere between no idea and go fuck yourself, but closer to the former." He glared down at the Beast with a humorless smile.
Pain saw Emilio's hands ball into fists as Marco's low voice rumbled on, "You're not very smart, are you?" The muscles in his arms flexed as he pulled at the chains, towering over the ratlike Beast. "I'm an agent. She's an agent. It's been years since we worked the perimeter. The Headquarters is our home. Why would we need to sneak in there?"
Emilio slewed around, shooting Pain a furious glare, and she smiled to herself, liking the change in him. His superior, calm demeanor didn't last five minutes with the two of them. The knife flew back up to Marco's chest.
"Touch him again," she raised her voice, stopping him mid-motion, "and I will kill every single one of your men when I get out of here."
"You don't seem to understand the situation." Emilio turned on her, crossing the big room in a few swift strides.
"I understand that Chuck has left you here in the stinky basement, while he's out there, working a serious job for Eugene himself. I understand that you're trying too hard, thinking you can prove yourself yet. I understand that if half his men don't show up for the job tonight, and no one lives to tell the story, Chuck will see you for the worthless piece of crap that you are. And you'll be too dead to change it."
He stopped a few feet away, his features twisting in anger, but the sound of heavy footsteps interrupted their exchange. "What?" he snapped, turning to the big Beast that Pain hadn't got to kill earlier that night.
He stepped into the light, cutting his one eye at her for a moment before replying to Emilio. "Chuck has called. We're leaving in twenty minutes."
"Fine!" Emilio dismissed the Beast with a flick of his wrist. "I'm busy, go!"
Pain smirked at the quiet snort the big Beast gave as he turned around and headed back to the hatch. "I bet I know who's gonna be the real second-in-command soon," she murmured, and in a blur, Emilio lunged at her, punching her in the face so that her head whipped to the side. She tasted blood on her tongue as his fingers gripped her chin, forcing her head back up.
"You think you're better than me because the blood on your hands is not the blood of the innocent," he hissed, mere inches from her face. "But what's the difference, if we're both going to hell? You're such a little hypocrite, pretending to care about protecting civilians when all you really want is to kill and get paid for it. You're just like me or any other person here."
"I'm not," she muttered with a wry smile, and he hit her again. She hung limply from the chains, waiting for the world to stop spinning and her head to stop pounding, while the blood from her split lip dripped on the floor. He would have knocked a couple of teeth out if she hadn't jerked back at the last moment.
"You will speak when I tell you to," he spat out hatefully, but stepped back, probably remembering the last time he got too close. "You and your Headquarters, you think yourselves saints, sacrificing dozens upon dozens of Ghosts to postpone the inevitable. Fight all you want, but deep inside, you know that humans are weak. We are taking over the city, and the Headquarters is doomed. You can die tonight together with your friend here, or you can give me the information I need, and I might just let you live."
Unable to help herself, she chuckled at his tirade, making him step closer again in curiosity. "No need to be a hero," he continued when she kept her head down, silent. "No need to die for your boss. It won't prove anything, 'cause you're no better than me. You, me, him, we're all the same."
"I'm not?" she croaked out and cleared her throat, feeling him lean in to hear what she was saying. "I'm not the same as you, you dumb shit." She licked her bloodied, but otherwise intact lips and raised her eyes at him with a dark smile. "I'm way worse."
Like a snake, she struck, sinking her teeth into his neck as her legs locked around his waist. Blood fountained from the ugly gash in his neck when she pulled back, letting it spill on the floor while he gaped at her, amazement and horror mixed in his look. Like a trapped animal, he thrashed in her grip, but she held him firmly in place.
"No, no, you stay here. I'm not done with you yet."
"You?" he croaked