Chapter Text
Alice was following Sloan around. She did that a lot. She knew he found it annoying, which was part of the reason she did it so much. Also because she knew he was planning to kill her. And, if it were possible, she would like to kick him on his ass before he had the chance.
Also because she was really bored.
“What’s with your obsession with Kate Harker?” she asked. “Like, I get that she’s an annoying bitch, but is that why you want to kill her? And why not just keep her as a pet? Didn’t her father keep you as one?”
He barely glanced at her. “Humans make bad pets. They whine a lot and you have to feed them. If I wanted to kill her because of how annoying she was, I would’ve killed you a long time ago.”
“And why are we here again?”
“You’re here because you follow me around like a little shadow. I’m here because this place used to be a prison and I want to see if there’s anybody left.”
“In the prison?” she asked. “Why would people be in the prison?”
He shrugged. “Why would people be anywhere?”
“That’s a stupid question. Mine was actually a valid one.”
“Not when I told you to shut up three times today.”
So nice, Alice thought sarcastically.
Of course, he never was nice to her. Only on very rare occasions, and those didn’t really count as nice versus basic respect. The times he acted like that, it was usually because he wanted something from her that she didn’t usually do. Like kill someone neatly. Or keep her food alive for a bit.
“Who used to be in these jail cells?” Alice asked.
Sloan sighed. He was probably getting tired of her questions. “Humans who would side with monsters, I believe. It closed before my time.”
“Why did it close down?”
“Do you think that that’s something I would know, Alice? Because I don’t. Now, if you’re going to keep following me around, at least do it quietly.”
She rolled her eyes. Being quiet was no fun. And, he didn’t want her to be quiet. He wanted her to be silent. Which she wasn’t going to be, but she decided to stop talking for the time being. She much preferred it when he let her talk. He didn’t listen to her half the time, but still.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a Fang run up to them. She raised her hand, pointing her claws at the Fang, ready to rip their throat out. Sloan grabbed her wrist and pushed her hand back down. She growled at him, and he ignored her. His grip on her was always too tight.
“What?” Sloan asked, no nicer than she would’ve.
“There’s… Something’s happening at Harker Hall.”
“What?” Sloan repeated, slower. “What is happening at Harker Hall?”
“I don’t know,” the Fang said. “Something bad. No one wants to go near there.”
He closed his eyes, the way he always did when he was getting a headache. “You came to me to say that something is happening but you don’t know what it is because no one wants to go and see?”
The Fang nodded.
He let go of her wrist. “Alice, go check it out. And, bring our little friend with you, too.”
Alice grinned.
-
“It looks abandoned,” Kate said. She was staring up at Harker Hall. Not only did it look abandoned because nothing had changed since the last time she was there, but also because there was no one around it. The whole area was empty.
“It’s not,” Soro said. “Our sources confirm that.”
“Is it possible that your sources are wrong?”
“It is not possible that our sources are wrong, Kath–”
“Kate.”
August sighed. “Can you two not do this right now? Let’s just get in and see if we can find anything.”
She rolled her eyes. She punched in the code to the front door – the code the most everybody in North City knew – but nothing happened. She tried again, and the door beeped once, but it didn’t open. That was the warning that if they failed again, an alarm would go off.
She groaned. “They must’ve changed the passwords,” she said, turning back to August and Soro. “I know the old ones, but if they changed them…” Well, then she didn’t know. She didn’t know if the passwords were randomized or if they were numbers that were important to Sloan. Or even if Alice changed them after his death.
“Would shooting the door help?” Soro asked.
Kate’s brows furrowed. “Shooting… Where would we get a gun?”
Soro took a gun out from their pocket.
“Why do you have a gun?”
“Guns are quite useful in times of war.”
They were right about that, actually.
“Should I shoot the door?” they asked.
“I don’t–”
“Yeah,” August said. “I think that’s the option we really have.”
Kate sighed. “Yeah. Shoot the door.”
Soro raised the gun and shot the door. Kate flinched, and covered her ears a second too late. She would’ve appreciated a warning. But, the door swung open. It was a fifty percent chance the door would just lock forever if someone shot the keypad, but apparently not. Luck was on their side.
“There are more keypads,” she said. “There’s once to get to the elevator, one to the basement and then one to the penthouse.”
“What’s on the different floors?” August asked.
“The penthouse was where I lived. The basement was… It was basically a show room. Kinda. It had a platform and Callum went there to make examples of people who betrayed him. There were different things on the other floors, but at least some of them were where some of the monsters stayed.”
“Where do you want to check out first?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. If we’re trying to find Alice, she could be anywhere.” She thought for a few seconds. “Maybe the basement, though.”
So the three of them walked in.
-
Sloan was halfway through checking the prison when he realized his annoying little shadow was back. He debated ignoring her, but he had sent her to do something, and he did want to know what was going on at Harker Hall.
“The door was wide open,” Alice said right before he asked. “And, the keypad looked busted.”
He spun around. “What? Was there anyone around?”
She shook her head. “Not that I saw.”
“Did you look?”
“Yes. I looked around and then I came back here to tell you because I thought you might have wanted to know sooner rather than later.”
It seemed like checking the jail would have to wait.
-
There was no one in the basement. That was definitely a good thing. All the weapons and torture devices were still laid out of the stage, though. Kate almost felt sick staring at them. She had used one to kill a Malchai the first week she was back in Verity. She didn’t even know what he did.
“So where are we going to check next?” she asked.
“It’s your call,” August said.
Right. Harker Hall. She didn’t want it to be her call. She wanted someone else — preferably August — to suggest somewhere to check next.
“We are not supposed to be fighting anyone,” Soro said. “We’re just trying to see if anyone is here.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yep. We should check the penthouse. Just in case anyone’s there.”
“What if someone is there?” they asked. “We’re not supposed to fight anyone.”
“Then we leave,” Kate said. “Let’s go.”
They started walking up the stairs. She wondered if someone knew they were coming and that’s why everything was empty. Or maybe August and Soro were wrong, and it had been abandoned a while ago. Either one was possible.
“We should split up,” she suggested. “We could cover more ground that way.”
“That can’t be a good idea,” Soro said. “It won’t take that much longer if we stick together, and we’ll be in more danger on our own.”
“Yeah, but it’s so quiet,” she said. “It’s probably fine. We should just do it.”
They looked to August for help.
“I say we listen to Kate,” he said. “She knows this place way better than either of us. Besides, she is right that it’s quiet.”
“Fine, then,” Soro said.
“Great,” she said. “August, if you take the first third of floors, and Soro you take the second, I can take the tops floors.”
He nodded. “Okay. Good luck.”
“Good luck,” she repeated.
-
Alice was sitting on the counter, crossed legged and smiling, when August pushed open the first door. She was across the room and in front of him in a second. She was smiling. He wasn’t.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to be here,” she said.
“Neither are you,” he said.
She shrugged. “I live here now. What are you doing here?”
“Looking for you,” August said.
“Oh, I’m honoured. Thank you.” She looked him up and down. “You’re not trying to kill me yet.”
He nodded. “I know.”
“Are you a coward?” she asked. “Or just stupid?”
“I don’t want to kill you.”
Alice groaned. “Boring.”
She took another step closer and ran her claws over his check. He flinched away. She looked almost offended for a second before smiling again.
“AUGUST!”
Both of them spun around to stare at the door.
Kate.
August started running. Fuck, he knew this was a bad idea.