Chapter Text
“I don’t know what I promised you, but I’ll fight to keep it. Always.”
The message ended, and the screen turned-off, leaving a dark surface in place of Sara’s face. Ava stood still, staring at it, the ex-assassin’s words rampaging through her mind.
She couldn’t move, couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe.
Because Sara was alive. Sara was alive, but the relief that the knowledge brought her was quickly suffocated by what the captain had said during her message.
The aliens – the Citadelians, as the short blonde had identified them – were erasing her memories, to the point that Sara couldn’t even remember the Legends, or Ava, anymore.
A lump formed in the ex-director’s throat, and she clung to the central console to avoid collapsing on trembling legs. She was feeling light-headed, and it felt like something squeezing inside of her chest, chasing all the oxygen out of her lungs and making her heart hammer painfully against her ribcage.
“Ava?”
It was Nate’s voice, breaking her out of the prison in her own mind as the historian put a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him, finding it hard to see his face through the blur of the tears, though she didn’t need to see properly to recognize the worry emanating from him in waves.
He swallowed, his jaw clenching for a short second before he spoke. “Are you okay?”
She wasn’t, not by a long shot. Ava felt like she was on the verge of crying, bordering on a complete breakdown. And yet, she refused to say so to Nate, or to anyone else.
Because it didn’t matter at the moment – Ava didn’t matter at the moment. All that mattered was Sara and getting to the ex-assassin before the Citadelians could completely strip her of everything that made her Sara Lance.
Therefore, she forced herself to swallow the lump in her throat and hastily wiped away the handful of tears that managed to leak from her eyes. Then, Ava nodded to the historian beside her, but his frown indicated that he didn’t believe her one bit.
The ex-director could feel the Legends’ eyes burning holes on her as she took a deep breath. Then, she looked up at the ceiling, even if it was superfluous. “Gideon, can you trace the message?” Her voice came out only a little shaky, but it was still a small victory considering the whirlwind of emotions she was trying to cage in her chest.
“It might take some time, but I’m certainly capable of it.” The always helpful A.I. responded not a heartbeat later, but there was something in her voice that Ava couldn’t quite put a finger on.
The blond woman pushed herself away from the central console. “Great. In the meantime, tell me everything there’s to know about the Citadelians.” She asked, and she found that she wasn’t quite capable of avoiding the poison that dripped from the last word.
Ava then took a deep breath and left the bridge. The sound of footsteps informed her of the group that trailed behind her on the corridor, just as Gideon’s voice made itself heard again.
“The Citadelians are the citizens of the Citadel, a star empire that succeeded to dominate twenty-one of the twenty-two known worlds in the Vega star system.” Gideon informed. “Scholars make comparisons between them and fascism as it is known on Earth.”
Ava felt a chill go down her spine, and a lump formed in her throat. Still, she made herself swallow it and nodded, indicating that Gideon should proceed.
The A.I. was quick to abide. “Members of the Citadel are not a true race. According to the records I’ve assembled, they are clones of the Citadel progenitor, a half-Okaaran-half-Branx being known only as the Complex-Complex.”
Ava stopped walking, and her breath got caught in her throat.
Clone. There was that word again, like a constant reminder that tugged at her heart. She should’ve been used to it by now – to hearing it, to saying it –, but she wasn’t. Perhaps she would never be, not completely.
But it didn’t matter, anyway. All that mattered now was finding Sara and bringing her back home. She could deal with everything else later.
Nate, who had stopped just beside her, put a hand on her shoulder. “Ava?” He called, making her turn to him. The man had a deep crease in his brow. “Are you okay?” He asked again.
She tried and failed to smile at him, but at least she wasn’t crying, she supposed. “Yes, of course.” Ava replied, but the historian didn’t appear to believe her. However, before he could say a word, she spoke again. “Gideon, please, continue.” She asked, if only to stop Nate from questioning her.
“Of course.” The A.I. quickly agreed, though Ava thought she’d heard an atypical kind of wavering encompassing the familiar voice. “As you must know, half-breed beings are often sterile. Seeing as it couldn’t reproduce naturally, Complex-Complex developed cloning technology and began the breed that came to be known as the Citadelians.”
“None of this tells us why the Citadelians abducted Sara.” Ray interjected, his voice coming from a little behind Ava. The ex-director looked at him over her shoulder, finding a frown in his usually happy face.
“As I was saying, Dr. Palmer, the being known as Complex-Complex aged and, nearing its death, it interfaced its body permanently with the computerized nerve center of its world.” Gideon stated in a mildly annoyed tone, less than happy with the interruption. “From then on, the clones started to be made from other clones and, due to a flawed process, each generation became less intelligent than the last. From the Citadel, Complex-Complex was capable of guiding its offspring and using them as vehicles of its unending aggression.”
Behrad, standing on the other side of Ava, was the one to speak then. “Sara said something about them being really dumb.” He stated, looking at the ex-director.
The blond woman simply nodded. She still remembered every bit of the message, as if it had been sewn into her brain.
‘They’re really dumb...’. Those were the captain’s words just before another voice interrupted her with a shout of ‘How dare you?’. It didn’t sound human, and Ava had an idea of who it had been, now.
She was pulled out of her reminiscing when Nate responded. “Yeah, sure, but how does that have anything to do with them kidnapping our captain?” He asked, exchanging a look with Ray, whose arm tightened a bit around Nora’s shoulders.
Gideon was quick to respond. “The Citadel met its end at the hands of the team known as the Omega Men, who defeated them during the event known intergalactically as the Citadel War. Since then, records show that the spaceship with the last Citadelian survivors is roaming the universe under orders from the mobile planetoid known as Warworld, whose greatest source of income is its well-known gladiator games.”
“Wait, wait, wait.” Astra was the one to interject then, a deep frown on her face. “Did I understand this right? These... aliens...” She seemed as accepting of their current predicament as Ava felt, in all honesty. “... kidnapped your friend so they could make her fight for them, for what? Money?”
“Precisely.” Gideon replied. “I’d assume that Complex-Complex is interested in reviving its fallen empire, and it will need abundant resources in order to do so.”
Involuntarily, Ava felt her jaw clench as searing anger burst through her chest. Those aliens, those Citadelians, wanted to use Sara as a weapon, just as so many people had done in the past. Because that was all they ever saw in the captain: her unquestionable fighting prowess; her very particular skillset, which was built on blood, sweat and so, so many tears.
And Sara deserved so much more than that, than to be seen as nothing more than a mere weapon, a tool through which some tyrant could get something. Sara was so much more than that, so much more than her abilities, more than what she could do in a battlefield.
Because Sara was everything. She was so attentive, caring and selfless, just a few among the many qualities that made her a damn fine captain. She was also the best friend someone could ever hope for, and she would stand by the people that she loved no matter what. She loved so fiercely, despite everything she’d gone through, and Ava felt so grateful every day for having the chance of loving and being loved by that wonderful woman.
Sara was so much more than just an assassin, even if she was also amazing at it. She was a miracle if Ava had ever seen one, and the ex-director would be damned if she allowed anyone to treat her girlfriend as less than such.
Her hands had fisted, nails digging into her palms, when Ava spoke again. “Well, they’re certainly not reviving anything.” She assorted in a stern voice. If this so-called Complex-Complex thought that it could turn her girlfriend into its personal puppet, then it had another thing coming. “Gideon, how long until you’ve traced their ship?”
The A.I.’s response was immediate. “Half an hour at most, Ms. Sharpe.”
Ava merely nodded just before she started walking again, heading to the fabrication room.
She didn’t stop even as she heard Zari’s voice, said woman trailing after her with the rest of the Legends. “Hey, wait a minute! Is this thing here equipped to go to space?” The former influencer questioned, gesturing widely at the area around her. “Gidget?”
The blond woman had no need to answer, as Gideon did so promptly. “It is, Ms. Tarazi. However, I would advise against making use of our time travel resources so long as we’re off Earth, whether through me or through a time courier.” The A.I. informed.
“Why?” It was Nora who asked, her voice sounding a little weary.
“The Waverider and the time couriers are not programmed to work with coordinates from outside of Earth.” Gideon informed. “A wrong number and all of you can-”
“End up suffocating and freezing in bloody space?” John interrupted the A.I. “This whole situation just keeps getting better, doesn’t it?” No one replied.
The team arrived at the fabrication room, and Ava took another deep breath. The ex-director then turned to the Legends, who had also stopped walking and were watching her. The quietness that settled into the room was tense, heavy, and it felt suffocating.
They were expecting orders, Ava realized. Because, although she was reluctant to let Gideon refer to her in that way, she was still the captain in Sara’s absence. And it didn’t matter that it shattered her from the inside out – because she had never accepted to be captain alone, not without her co-captain – the team depended on her now.
As if to confirm her thoughts, Mick broke the silence. He had been silent until then, and, with his usual nonchalant look, the ex-felon asked. “So, what’s the plan, Boss?”
Ava stared at him for a moment too long, finding herself thinking about how her relationship with the bald man had changed over time. Then, she looked around the room, finding every Legend staring at her with encouraging looks. A ghost of a smile appeared in her mouth in response.
She could do this – for the Legends.
For Sara.
- LOT -
It took a little less than twenty minutes for Gideon to locate the Citadelian ship, but the way there was still a long one. Therefore, Ava started the preparations for the upcoming mission.
Ray, with Behrad's help, had been tasked with building the necessary weapons to fight the aliens, while the rest of the team continued to research the Citadelians and tried to come up with a battle strategy.
Time seemed to fly by them and, soon enough, it had been a few hours since the team had received Sara’s message. Gideon warned them that the enemy ship could be spotted at any time, and so the Legends gathered on the bridge again, positioned around the center console, discussing plans as they waited for something different to appear in the dark immensity of space.
It was at that moment that Ray returned to the bridge, Behrad right behind him. The scientist had something similar to a shotgun in his hands, but it was silver-colored, and a streak of bright green light ran across the barrel.
“I think I’ve got something!” He announced, walking towards Ava. The blonde met him halfway, raising both eyebrows in expectancy, and the man offered her the gun.
It was heavy, Ava noticed, although not enough to be a problem. It was also a little warm, but she had no time to think much about it, as Ray just started talking at rapid speed.
“I used the notes I have on Supergirl’s heat vision as a basis, since it seems to be effective against various types of aliens. It was tricky to build a machine that could produce the exact same effect, even more so such a small one, but I’ve managed to create-”
“Ray!” Nora interrupted him, although the fairy godmother kept a soft, loving look on her face as she stared at her husband. “Will it work?”
He smiled at her, heat rising to his cheeks. “It should.”
It was all Ava needed to hear. She nodded at the man, who beamed at her. Then, the blonde went back to her original position near the console, and both Ray and Behrad followed her.
“So, we’re all going to just invade the ship with these things?” Zari questioned, gesturing in Ava’s general direction, as the blonde was still holding the gun. The former celebrity had a frown on her face and pursed lips, looking like she had little faith in the weaponry.
Ava took a deep breath. Then, she said something she had been considering ever since the second Gideon voiced the possibily that the Citadelians weren’t affected by Earth magic. “Not all of us.” She stated. “Nora, John, Zari and Astra will stay on the Waverider.” The blonde closed her eyes, knowing what was coming next.
Just like she had imagined, the explosion of objections soon came.
“Hey, wait a minute!” Zari exclaimed, outraged. “You can’t just...”
Her voice was swallowed by Astra’s thunderous tone. “If you think you can simply...”
Then, Nora was speaking as well. “Ava!” The ex-witch exclaimed, and her tone of defiance spoke much more than any sentence could.
Constantine, for his part, took a step towards Ava. “You can’t bench us, Sharpie.”
“I’m not benching you.” Ava retorted. Then, she took a deep breath in order to keep calm. Nothing productive would come of snapping at John. “When we invade their ship, the Waverider will be vulnerable. If they manage to invade before we can return, they can set a trap for us and all of this will be for nothing-”
She broke off, screwing her eyes shut, and took another deep breath. Any sense of calmness she’d ever had appeared to simply slip through her fingers more easily as the Waverider approached the Citadelian spaceship, and she couldn’t have that.
No, she couldn’t afford to lose control, not with this. She had to keep a level head. For Sara.
When she turned to John again, Ava forced her voice to come out calm, impassive, too similar to the days before she met Sara – before she knew what it was like to feel things – to be comfortable.
“Gideon said that the Citadelians aren’t affected by earthling magic, meaning that the three of you will be left without your greatest assets.” She stated, alternating her attention between Nora, John and Astra.
The fairy godmother opened her mouth to retort, but Ava was faster.
“I’m not benching you.” She repeated. “I just need you to stay on the ship and make sure it’s safe from those things. We’ll need our escape route to be clear when we rescue Sara.”
John looked like he wanted to argue, but, as soon as his eyes landed on Astra, the fight seemed to drain from him. The warlock wouldn’t argue against anything that could ensure that the ex-villain would be safe – safer. Astra, for her part, seemed less than satisfied, but, for whatever reason, she chose not to argue. Nora, in turn, sighed but ended up nodding.
Zari, on the other hand, came around the console and stopped in front of Ava.
“What about me?” The influencer asked, her voice filled with bravado. “I’m not a magic user.”
Ava pinched the bridge of her nose. “You have no experience with this type of mission, so you’ll be safer at the Waverider.” She stated in a methodical voice, almost mechanical.
The shorter woman’s eyes looked like a furious storm. “If you think I’m going to stay in this metal trap – no offense Gidget...”
“You didn't offend, Ms. Tarazi.” Gideon replied, while the influencer continued to speak, her eyes never once leaving Ava.
“Then you don’t know me, at all.” Zari declared. The ex-director opened her mouth to retort, but, before she could say anything, the other woman spoke again. “I just got my brother back, Ava. Wherever he goes, I go.”
Any argument she could provide died in Ava's tongue, and she remained silent when Behrad and John tried to interject at the same time.
“Zari...”
“Love...”
“No, this isn’t open to discussion.” Zari interrupted them both, sparing a quick look to each. Then, she turned to Ava again. “You can try arguing with me – that’ll get you nowhere, by the way – or you can accept what I say. Both options will have the same result. I won’t be left behind.”
Even if Ava hadn’t been too tired to argue, she wouldn't have. Because she knew all too well what it was like to want to protect someone she loved – even if she had failed to do so for Sara – and she would never take away Zari's chance to do that for her brother.
The ex-director sighed. “Fine. But you’ll stay with B or with me the entire time.”
Zari beamed at her, looking far too satisfied with herself. “I can live with that.”
Then, Ava dragged her attention away from Zari and to someone else. “Ray, I’ll need you in your Atom suit. If you shrink you should be able to access the ventilation system and move around the ship more easily, and we’ll have a better chance of finding Sara.”
He was quick to nod. “I can look for the control room and find out where everything is.” The tall man suggested. “If the Citadelians are as mindless as we were led to believe, it shouldn’t be hard.”
“Do you need backup?” Ava asked, and she watched as his gaze found Nora’s for a brief moment, concern dripping from his face. The ex-director nodded to herself before speaking. “You’ll shrink Nora and take her with you, then.”
The couple looked surprised, but both nodded, seeming grateful for the change in plans. Ava then turned to John and Astra.
“Do the two of you think you can hold the fort by yourselves?” She received fast agreement from both. “Good. You’ll stand guard at the entrance. Anything that tries to come this way, make it go back or destroy it.”
But destroying was preferable, if only to quiet the fury that burned in Ava's chest.
“What about us?” Nate chimed in, and the ex-director looked at him for a second. Then, she eyed Mick and, after that, Behrad. They were the only ones she had not assigned roles to.
“We-”
Gideon interrupted her. “Pardon the interruption, Ms. Sharpe, but I’m detecting the presence of a nearby spaceship.” The A.I. informed.
“Is it the Citadelian ship?” Behrad asked, looking at the ceiling.
“Yes, Mr. Tarazi.”
All eyes turned to Ava, and the ex-director took a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
- LOT -
If Ava claimed to remember everything that happened next in perfect detail, she’d be lying. After the Waverider fired at the Citadelian ship and the Legends invaded, reality became a blur of large dark creatures, green laser beams and identical corridors.
There was, however, one thing clear in her mind. Two, actually.
Sara, and the pain that cut through her chest when she found her love chained to a wall.
"Guard the door." Ava ordered almost unconsciously, not bothering to turn around to see if Nate, Mick, Zari and Behrad would follow the order.
The ex-director dropped her gun and crossed the cell in long, fast steps; her gaze never leaving the unconscious figure at the back of the room. Her heart hammered ruthlessly in her chest, and tears blurred her vision. She took the shorter woman’s face in between her shaking hands.
“Sara?” Ava called, but she got nothing more than a half-conscious grunt.
The sound made the taller blonde’s stomach churn, and her heart felt like it was constricting inside her chest. She dragged her gaze to the lashing that held the ex-assassin to the wall.
“Nate!” The ex-director called and, a mere second later, the steel man came running towards her. “Help me get her out of here.” He nodded and put the gun he was holding on the floor. Then, the historian turned to Sara.
It took less than a minute for the metahuman to break the chains, and, as Sara started to fall to the floor, Ava caught her. The ex-director hugged her tightly, never wanting to be away from her ever again, burying her face in the shorter-woman’s hair, feeling the familiar smell fill her nostrils.
Because she’d found Sara. She had found Sara, and she had no intention of losing her again.
“I must say, this is a touching reunion.” The sound of an inhuman voice, which had spoken only a few times since the Legends invaded the spaceship, made Ava’s body tense. She tightened her arms around Sara, holding the ex-assassin close. “It is almost a shame that it will not last.”
Ava clenched her teeth, but it was Mick, who was standing at the door, who spoke. “Shut the hell up, voice thingy, before I decide to barbecue you.” The familiar sound of the man’s flamethrower gun filled the room.
Laughter echoed through the cell, no more human-like than the voice that had previously spoken, and soon, words were said in a language that none of the Legends could understand.
Ava felt Sara stiffen in her arms, but whatever happiness she felt at seeing the ex-assassin awake shattered when the captain hit her on the ribs with her elbow, making her take a step back, right before she punched the ex-director in the face.
Blood spurted from Ava’s nose, and a familiar kind of pain went up its bridge. She put a hand to her injury but kept her eyes on her girlfriend.
“Sara, what...?” She started to ask, but she ended up interrupting herself when the shorter woman tried to attack her again. Ava dodged the blow just a second before it hit her face. “Sara, stop! It’s me!” There was no answer other than another jab, which, again, the ex-director dodged.
Nate rushed to the couple. “Cap, what’re you doing?!” He exclaimed, steel arms wrapping around the captain’s waist as he held her in place. She tried to elbow his face, but it had little result against his metal body. Still, she kept trying. “Hey, Sara, stop! It’s me! Nate! Remember me?”
She didn’t, and Ava was sure of it the moment she failed to detect a single drop of recognition on those beautiful blue eyes. Dread filled her chest, and the ex-director stood there, paralyzed, staring as the woman she loved tried and failed to get out of Nate’s hold.
Suddenly, the desimbodied voice spoke again. “She was a worthy project, I admit.” Smugness dripped from every word, and Ava never wished for someone she hated to that degree to be alive so much, if only so that the ex-director could punch it until she could no longer feel her own hands.
She looked at the ceiling, gritting her teeth. “What have you done to her?”
“I simply made her more obedient.” Complex-Complex replied. “It was not as hard as she led me to believe it would be.”
Ava’s hand balled into fists, nails digging into her palms, and her eyes shot daggers at the ceiling. She didn’t think she’d ever wanted to kill someone as much as she did now.
But her own need for revenge wasn’t important, not now. All that mattered was Sara.
The ex-director turned to her girlfriend, seeing her still trying to elbow Nate in the face. A horrible bruise was already forming where the skin collided against the metal, but the short blonde didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping. The ex-assassin looked like... like a robot, following orders with no thought of her own.
She looked like one of the Advanced Variant Automations in 2213.
It made Ava’s breath hitch, and she took a step toward her girlfriend, an idea flashing in her mind. “Nate, she’s hurting herself! Let go!” She asked, and the historian looked at her with wide silver eyes.
“But, Ava-”
“Just do it.” She interrupted him. “Trust me.”
The ex-director took a deep breath, holding the metahuman’s gaze. She had no way of knowing if her plan would work, but it was worth a shot. It had worked once, after all – on Ava herself, once upon a time.
Although reluctant, the historian released the ex-assassin, who wasted no time in throwing herself at Ava. The taller blonde took a step back just in time to dodge the jab that came her way.
“Sara.” She called, but no recognition crossed the captain’s eyes as she threw another punch, which Ava also dodged. “Sara, look at me!” The ex-director screamed, and the sudden thunderous sound forced her girlfriend to look at her, finally.
The captain’s blank blue eyes narrowed, and Ava raised her hands in surrender.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” The ex-director stated. “I made you a promise.”
‘Because as far as I’m concerned, we are co-captains for life.’
‘Always.’
Something flickered in Sara’s eyes, but it was gone too soon for Ava to be sure that if it had been real. The ex-assassin threw another punch, and this one hit the taller woman right in the chin, and fuck, did it hurt.
Ava tasted blood in her tongue and was quick to spit it out. She put a hand on the wall for support, and then she looked up in time to see Nate approaching Sara from behind again, probably to hold her back one more time. The ex-director raised her free hand in a stop motion.
“Nate, don’t!”
He was quick to retort, sounding desperate. “Ava, she’s hurting you!”
“It’s okay!” The blonde assured him, moving away from her position just in time to dodge another one of Sara’s punches. “Sara!” She tried again, to no avail, as the ex-assassin kept attacking her.
“It is not going to work.” Complex-Complex stated, his smugness becoming more aggravating.
“Shut up!” Mick retorted. “No one asked you!”
Not for the first time, Ava felt grateful for the man. Still, he wasn’t the one she was focused on.
Instead, the ex-director focused on grabbing Sara’s wrist when the captain’s fist was just about to hit her in the face again, and, when the shorter woman tried to punch her with her free hand, Ava caught the other wrist too. It was considerably easier than it’d have been if the ex-assassin had been in control of her own actions – maybe downright impossible –, but it had worked.
Ava stared at those blank blue eyes, trying to find the woman she loved inside them. “Sara, it’s me. Ava. Your girlfriend.” She tried, but the shorter woman simply stared at her. “You know, the idiot who was too drunk to realize that you were abducted. And I’m so sorry, Sara. I really am.”
The ex-assassin stopped moving, and her head tilted to the side in the slightest sign of curiosity.
“I can apologize for the rest of my life and it’ll never be enough.” Ava continued, feeling the tears starting to gather in her eyes. “I know that. But, Sara, I love you so much, and I need you to come back to me. You’re my co-captain, remember? Always.”
That had been the last word Sara had said on the message, and repeating it seemed to have some effect. The ex-assassin frowned and looked away, like someone trying to recall something.
Ava found herself smiling, hopeful. Finally, she released her girlfriend's wrists.
"Do you really want to hurt me, Sara?" She asked, feeling hope starting to bubble in her chest.
Sara looked at her again, eyes filled with confusion. “You...” She dragged the word, her voice raw.
Ava’s small smile widened a bit. “Yeah, it’s me. Ava.”
“A-va.” Sara repeated slowly, like she was trying to figure out how it sounded in her own voice.
But the happiness of hearing her girlfriend saying her name was short-lived. Ava's smile faded when, suddenly, Complex-Complex's voice sounded again, talking in that same language that only it understood. Sara stood still for a second, paralyzed as she gazed at the taller woman, before her body bent and her hands went to her head, fingers tangling in her own hair.
A piercing scream tore at the ex-assassin's throat.
“Sara!” Ava screamed, and she tried to reach her girlfriend, but, suddenly, all the air was expelled from her lungs and pain erupted in her back when she found herself on the floor, an uncomfortable weight on top of her. The ex-director looked up, seeing one of those creatures, a Citadelian, staring at her.
The alien grabbed her wrists, keeping her pinned to the floor, and the sound of metal being crushed told her that Nate had had a similar fate – but what about Mick, Zari and Behrad? They had been guarding the door. What had happened to them?
Before Ava could look, Complex-Complex’s desimbodied voice caught her attention. “It was a very interesting scene; I have to admit.” It said. “Still, useless.”
“Then why did you order your minions to stop us?” Ava challenged, feeling the Citadelian’s hold on her wrist tighten painfully in response.
“I admit that my impatience got the better of me.” Complex-Complex stated, his voice filled with no more interest than that of someone talking about the weather. “I am anxious to put into practice the plans I have for you.”
Ava felt a chill go down her spine. “For me?”
“Yes, of course.” The desimbodied voice replied. “What I saw in your Sara’s memory was indeed very interesting. You are a clone, if I am not mistaken. And I usually am not.”
Ava’s eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to reply, but no sound came out.
The alien continued to talk. “You are a clone who has not lost its ability to think. And that is an attribute that greatly interests me, as you must understand. I will need to carry out some experiments to determine how to replicate this result. Of course, I do not need you to be alive for that.”
As if on cue, the Citadelian on top of Ava released her wrist and used its now free hand to punch her in the face with perplexing force. Her head turned to the side, throbbing at the strength of the blow, and her eyes found Sara’s form again.
The captain was on her knees, fingers digging into her own scalp, with her mouth open as she continued to scream. There were tears streaming from her eyes when they found Ava.
Then, another punch was thrown against the face of the ex-director, who felt the world spin around her. Everything was beginning to become blurred, incoherent, like something straight out of some dream – or a nightmare, most probably. Then, another punch came, and another, and another.
And it was a small mercy, Ava thought, that the last thing she’d see before she died was Sara.
- LOT –
She opened her eyes slowly, unsure, to find an unknown room. Then again, nothing else was quite familiar as of late. Maybe nothing had ever been.
She was sitting in a chair that was angled strangely, leaving her almost lying down. The surface was hard and somewhat uncomfortable, and she soon moved to get up, feeling a dull ache in her body. Her head was throbbing.
Then, suddenly, two people appeared in front of her – two men.
“Sara, you’re awake!” One of them exclaimed, beaming. This one was the tallest of the pair, and he had black hair and brown eyes, and there was a cut on his lip.
Sara. Why did that name sound familiar?
“How are you feeling, Cap?” The other man soon asked, a small smile on his face, despite the deep dark circles around his eyes and the dark bruise that painted the entire right side of his face. This one had lighter hair and eyes than the other, and he reached out to try and touch her shoulder.
She flinched in her chair, and the man froze. He turned to his companion, and she took the chance to look away.
It was then that she saw her. There was another person in the room – another woman. Said woman, a tall blonde, was sitting in a chair similar to hers, just beside her. Her chest rose and fell in regular intervals, and her eyes were closed. Dark bruises and swelling made her face unrecognizable.
Something inside her ached, and her fingers tingled to touch this unknown woman.
Then, someone broke the silence again, the man with darker hair. “Sara?”
There it was. That name again. Why did they keep saying it?
She turned to the duo in front of her, finding them both staring at her with frowns, the smiles long gone. Neither said another word, as if waiting for her to answer, to say something, anything.
And so, she did. “Who’s Sara?”