55. The Most Perfect Hostages
Jayce
Present Day
Jayce was injured, acid had splashed up his legs. He had fought brutally against 196 to secure his victory, and only minutes after he had, an explosion vibrated the room and caused him to lose his balance. Nearly tumbling to his own death. If it weren’t for Player 33, he might very well be dead.
“What’s going on?” he asked the woman that was leading them away from the commotion that had broken out.
“I’m taking you to your teammate, we need to go. I heard there are ships to escape on.”
Jayce felt uneasy at her sudden appearance, how she just showed up out of nowhere, but he was injured. He couldn’t run, let alone walk, without her help.
They made their way to a lift, and the woman pressed a button. But instead of going up like he expected, they went down. And down. And down.
Panic began to spread across him as he realized they were getting further and further from an escape.
“Where are you taking me? What’s going on? I need to find Player 20.” Just as he decided to do what he must, the lift jolted to a stop, opening.
There had only been a few times in his life when Jayce had felt shocked and nearly all of those revolved around Raven.
But when the lift doors opened and he came face-to-face with Nightingale, it was shock that jolted through him.
He was in what appeared to be an underground cave. A large, weirdly-shaped, metal ball rested just above the surface of water.
“Just in time. We need to go. Come along.” Nightingale grabbed hold of Jayce’s forearm, yanking him with her.
He dug his heels in, trying to break free from her, but she held on tighter, her nails biting into his arm and drawing blood. “What are you fucking doing here? What do you want from me?”
“We’re taking this submarine and we’re going home.” With 33’s help, Nightingale dragged him up the stairs. Once they got to the top, they pushed him through the door and 33 slid in next to him. Jayce slumped to the bench, raising his eyes to find a little girl that sat across from him. Her familiar features…
“Daddy?”
Her unmistakable features. “Sp-Sparrow?” he shakily expelled, completely taken aback at the sight of a little girl who was clearly his and Raven's daughter. His fight left him. Jayce had never planned to be a father, but when Raven told him the news, something had changed in him.
He had wanted it more than anything else. But then Raven had died and Sparrow had too…or so he thought.
“We’re returning to Violencia. We have a war to start, and you, my dears, are going to be the most perfect hostages,” Nightingale sung as she sealed them inside the submarine, and they dropped into the water below.