“We got her!” Ken shouts, lifting his hands from her body to wave the others down as they surround the three of us. I don’t like having guns pointed at me. I’m sure Ken doesn’t like it either.
“We have her,” the leader of the unit reports into his radio. “She’s down.”
“Who is she?” I ask the question as they come over, guns at the ready as if this girl is explosive. I want information I didn’t get last time. I almost ask what is she, for some reason that seems like a more sensible question.
“Give her over,” Tyko growls at me. Of course. Fucking Tyko. He’s limping and bleeding, as if she’d already done damage to him. Not enough to kill him obviously, which is interesting because I’m fairly certain she could kill anybody she wanted to.
“Hold on a minute,” I reply. I don’t want her going back into his custody. She’s clearly not safe with him, and I might not know her more than in passing – and she might not even seem to recognize me, but I care.
I can’t understand why Tyko would have been given the job of handling her. He’s one of the more aggressive tactical leaders. A man’s man, they’d describe him. A sexist fuck, Mary would call him.
“What’s going on?” Ken asks. I’d like to know the answer to that too.
“She broke out of her cell, wounded several men on the way out, including me,” Tyko says. “Give her to me. Now.”
“Any serious injuries? I haven’t been paged to the infirmary,” I frown, checking my pager. If she wounded people on the way out, I should have been notified. Something tells me Tyko is trying to save face for letting her get away in the first place.
“None yet,” he grunt. “But she’s dangerous.”
“She’s too small to be dangerous,” Ken rumbles. She barely comes up to his chest. She looks smaller and more vulnerable than ever, and that has both of us feeling protective. We all know that things happen here that wouldn’t happen anywhere else. This is a facility where the rules of normal society are suspended. But that doesn’t mean we don’t care about what goes on here. And it doesn’t mean we stand by and just let them happen.
“Hand her over,” Tyko repeats, snapping his fingers.
I lift a brow. Neither Ken nor I are the finger snapping at kind.
Before Ken can say anything, the girl takes matters into her own hands, or rather, feet. He’s holding her by the arms in an effort to keep her contained, but she uses that grip to lever herself up and kick out at Tyko. Both her feet contact the guy’s solar plexus, knocking him back and taking the air out of him with a grunt. It’s impressive, how much force she can generate from that small body. She knows how to use her strength, or maybe she’s a lot stronger than she looks.
“You little bitch,” Tyko gasps, clutching at his stomach.
“Settle down,” Ken says. “You stood in striking range, that was your fault.”
“You’re lucky I didn’t get your balls,” Electra hisses, kicking back and almost catching Ken’s knee. Ken’s better prepared for it than Tyko was, and manages to swing her to the side, his body slipping away as her heel comes back toward his joint.
“Cut that out,” he rumbles. He’s not angry though, not like Tyko was. He knows how to handle a difficult girl. As do I.
I move in to help him, taking one of her arms so we now have her between us, her hands cuffed behind her back, keeping her slightly less dangerous than she might otherwise be.
“Settle down,” I murmur to her, keeping my voice low and calm.
I have my hand on her arm. I can feel some of the tension in her body slipping away. She’s relaxing, a bit. I don’t know why she’s in here, and I don’t know why she’s being treated this way. It’s not that typical to have hostile agents. Some people aren’t pleased about being here, some of them act out from time to time, but this is extreme. She doesn’t seem like a recruit. She seems like a prisoner.
“Little bitch,” Tyko swears again, gruffer this time. She embarrassed him and he doesn’t like it. I can see his fists clenching, and I’m pretty sure if we weren’t here, she’d be getting hit like a man.
“You’re a fucking asshole,” she shoots right back. “And you’re stupid as fuck.”
All her muscles tighten up again as she prepares to fight. She’s small, but she’s pretty powerful for her female frame – still no match for Tyko though.
“Calm down,” I rumble. I’m looking at her, but I’m addressing both of them. There’s way too much aggression and emotion going on here.
“Hand her over now. I’m going to teach her a goddamn lesson,” Tyko growls.