Chapter 28 #2
His mask tilted as he examined me, the glowing lines pulsing brighter, leaving streaks of light in my vision. “I’ve seen you on the feeds, hanging off his arm. Playing the obedient little slut. Did you think no one would want a taste?”
I said nothing, my mind racing for a way out of this nightmare, but the thoughts kept slipping away before I could grasp them fully.
“Cipher can’t keep that little cunt all to himself,” Baron Ash continued, his voice dropping lower. “That’s not how things work in our world. We take what we want.”
He crouched down beside me, his mask inches from my face. “When I get back to my base, I’m going to call him,” he said, running a finger down my cheek. “And I’m going to take your pussy right there, so he’ll have to watch a real man pound into his bitch and take her.”
My stomach lurched at his words.
“In fact, why should I wait?” His hand gripped my thigh painfully, fingers digging into my flesh. “You’re dressed like a little slut, so why not treat you that way? You look like you’re ready to ride my dick and love every minute of it.”
He shifted his weight, his massive fingers clamping around my jaw.
The blistering heat of his skin seared my cheek as he wrenched my head back, forcing my gaze up into the shadows of the tunnel ceiling.
My vision swam, but the steady blink of a tiny red light pierced through the gloom. A security camera.
“Cipher will eventually find the footage,” Ash rasped, his voice thick with cruel amusement.
The thought of Cipher witnessing this, made my stomach heave.
Ash leaned in closer. “He gets to see exactly what happens when a real monster takes his favorite toy. He can archive the footage and watch me stretch you out every time he wants to remember how pathetic he is.”
I screamed as he shoved my dress up and something inside me snapped. This wasn’t happening. I thrashed violently, kicking and clawing at any part of him I could reach, my movements wild and uncoordinated.
“That’s it,” he laughed, the sound distorted through his modulator. “Fight. Makes it better.”
One hand pinned my wrists while the other moved to the fastening of his armored pants. I couldn’t get to my cuff. I couldn’t use it on him.
The metallic sound of a buckle being undone echoed in the tunnel.
“I want to see your face,” Baron Ash rasped. His free hand, clamped onto my mask. “I want to watch the light go out in your eyes properly when I fuck you.”
“No!” I screamed. I didn’t want him to know who I was. I couldn’t let him know.
As Ash yanked on my mask, a brilliant blue arc of electricity discharged from the mask, a hidden security measure. His body went rigid and a strangled sound escaped from behind his faceplate as the current coursed through him.
Instinct, buried deep beneath the drug, took over. I scrambled backward, my bare heels scraping against the concrete. I staggered to my feet and ran, not looking back. I had no idea which way led out, but I knew I had to put as much distance between us as possible before he recovered.
The tunnel walls seemed to breathe and shift as I ran, the floor undulating beneath my feet. I crashed into the wall, bounced off, and kept running. My movements were sloppy and uncoordinated, fueled by pure terror.
Behind me, Baron Ash’s furious bellows echoed off the walls.
“You little bitch! I’m going to tear you apart for that!”
I didn’t look back. I couldn’t afford to. The tunnel lights blurred past me and each footfall sent a spike of pain through my skull, but I pushed through it.
Just keep moving. Find an exit. Find help.
I rounded a corner at full speed, hope surging as I spotted what looked like a service door ahead—
Ash caught the back of my dress, yanking me back hard enough that my feet left the ground. The world spun as he hurled me to the floor. My head bounced against the concrete, sending fresh waves of agony through my skull.
“Thought you could run from me?” Baron Ash raged. “I’m going to make this so much worse for you now.”
I tried to scramble backward, but my limbs wouldn’t cooperate. My vision kept fading in and out, darkness creeping in at the edges. The drug and the probable concussion formed a toxic combination, pulling me toward unconsciousness.
His hand clamped around my ankle and he yanked hard enough that my hip popped. I cried out, but the sound was weak, swallowed by the tunnel.
“Please,” I whispered. It was pathetic and I hated myself for it.
“Begging already?” Ash laughed. “Good. I like the noise.”
He dropped his weight on top of me.
“Now,” he hissed, his faceplate inches from my face. “Let’s see what Cipher is so possessive of.”
His hand moved between us and the sound of tearing fabric echoed in the silence.
I squeezed my eyes shut. No. No. No.
“Look at me!” he roared, grabbing my jaw. “I want you to see who owns you now!”
I opened my eyes, tears blurring my vision.
A blur of black slammed into Ash from the side. The impact was so violent it threw both of them off me. The sound was sickening, like a car crash, metal crumpling against metal.
I gasped, sucking in air, curling into a ball as debris rained down.
Cipher.
He was on top of Ash before the Villain even hit the ground. There was no technique, just animal fury. Cipher’s fists were blurs of motion, raining down blow after blow on Ash’s mask.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
“Get. Off. Her!” The voice didn’t sound like him. It sounded like a demon clawing its way out of hell.
Ash bucked, his size advantage finally coming into play. He caught Cipher’s wrist and threw him off.
Cipher landed on his feet, skidding backward.
“You’re late!” Ash laughed, scrambling up. He wiped a smear of blood from his cracked faceplate. “I already had my hands on her, Cipher! She’s soft! She’s trembling for it!”
Cipher charged.
They met in the center of the tunnel. Ash summoned his fire, wreathing his fists in it.
He swung, a haymaker that would have taken a normal man’s head off.
Cipher took the hit on his shoulder, armor smoking, just to get inside Ash’s guard.
He drove a knee into Ash’s gut, then an elbow to the throat.
Ash staggered, coughing, but grabbed Cipher by the throat, slamming him into the wall. The concrete cracked and dust choked the air.
“I’m going to kill her, Cipher!” Ash yelled, pinning him. “I’m going to burn her alive right in front of you!”
Ash raised a hand, a ball of fire growing. He aimed it at the ceiling above me.
“No!” Cipher snarled.
He broke Ash’s grip, blasting a concussive wave point-blank into Ash’s chest.
Ash flew back, crashing into a support pillar. The pillar groaned and the ceiling above us rumbled ominously. Dust poured down.
A chunk of concrete fell, shattering inches from my head.
Cipher made a frustrated, gutted noise. He turned his back on Ash and ran, scooping me up.
“Run away!” Ash taunted. “Save the whore! I’ll be waiting!”
My head was pounding and the world kept tilting dangerously as Cipher moved.
“Drugged me,” I managed to mumble. “He drugged me.”
I waited for Cipher to say something as he carried me through the tunnel, to make some inappropriate comment or tease me about needing to be rescued, but he remained silent.
“Cipher,” I tried to say, but my voice came out as a raspy whisper, my throat raw from Baron Ash’s grip. I wanted to ask why he wasn’t saying anything, but darkness kept creeping into the edges of my vision.
“Stay awake,” I heard him say, his voice distant and distorted.