Work Text:
Warehouse district – Chicago, IL - 10:37 PM
Adeline walks briskly on the path between the warehouses, her steps on the wet pavement echoing down the corridor. The area is abandoned and the darkened buildings loom on either side of her, silent and still. She wraps her arms around herself a little tighter against the cold winds that slice their way across her path and watches as her warm breath turns white in the chilled air. Spotting a dark figure ahead of her she slows her pace and squints, trying to make out the details.
She stops suddenly as the figure turns towards her and begins walking. His gait, fast and determined, closes the distance between them quickly. Addie watches him, stuck to the spot. Taking long deep breaths through her nose, she tries to calm her furiously beating heart. The man is too tall and too thin, dressed all in black with a gaunt expressionless face. When he speaks, Addie is jarred out of her own thoughts by his unexpectedly shrill voice.
“Ms. Davis? Please follow me.”
Turning on his heels he starts back in the direction he came with Adeline following close behind him. She glances back over her shoulder for a moment and notices a few men watching them silently as they go. In the moonlight their eyes seem to glint like black marbles, she shivers slightly at the thought before quickening her pace to catch up.
“Ms. Davis, we wanted to extend our sincerest thanks that you came to see us tonight, and you didn’t make us,” pauses, looking down on her with a dark smile, “come get you.”
Smiling sweetly back at him, Addie replies in a cheerful tone. “So how much longer are we going to play polite? I’m not stupid; I know what going to happen here.”
Chuckling softly to himself, the man reaches the side door of the last building in the row and opens it for her. Extending an arm in front of him, he directs her into the dim room. “Well, one might argue that it isn’t clever to show up here, if you /do/ in fact know what’s going to happen.”
Adeline stops and waits for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, looking around the mostly empty warehouse. In the center a small group of men crowd around a fire trying to keep warm. She chokes on the smell of burning wood mixes with something a little sweeter and the high ceilings are hazy with smoke. Feeling a sharp poke in her back, she wills her legs to carry her forward towards them.
“Okay, which one of you fine gentleman is Mr. Hurley?” She calls out loudly towards them, hoping no one can detect the nervous wavering in her voice. As she gets closer she can see the crowd disperse, until only three men remain. She knows immediately which man she has come to see by the way he is dressed.
“Well, that would be me dear, and how lovely to meet you Adeline.” A short man in an expensive suit extends his hand towards her but she makes no move to shake it.
“Let’s not waste any more time, okay? Just tell me what you want from me.” She looks over at the two large men standing off to the side, partially hidden in shadows. “I know you’ve been having me followed. Creeping around my place, going through my garbage?” She puts a hand on her hip and glares at him. “It’s pathetic. So, what is it you want?”
“You’re right, let’s not pretend this little meeting is a social one.” He snaps his fingers and the two men approach Adeline, each grabbing one of her arms and pulling them back roughly, nearly lifting her off the ground. She doesn’t bother struggling.
Hurley takes a few steps closer to her before continuing. “Honestly, we weren’t looking for you at all dear. We’re looking for Will.” Addie’s eye widen momentarily before she can cover her surprise. She simply stares back at him silently.
“But unfortunately it looks like the earth has just gone and swallowed him up, and we can’t seem to track him down. So who better to help us find him, then his partner?”
“Oh, so you brought me here, so I can tell you where to find Will?” Addie chuckles to herself for a moment, the reality of the situation sinking in. “Sorry, but you’re out of luck.” Face turning serious. “I haven’t seen him in months.”
Hurley shoots a glance over at the two men and gestures with his hand, pointing down sharply. Immediately one man kicks the back of Addie’s legs and forces her to her knees. She is startled but shows no sign of it on her face, simply batting her eyes innocently at him. “I have nothing for you. Are we done here?”
“Hardly.” Hurley saunters slowly over to her, stopping and looking down, mouth curled up with distaste. “Surely, you two were partners in crime /and/ life for a number of years. I find it hard to believe that he would leave, just like that.”
Glaring up at him, Addie suddenly feels a sense of calm wash over her. She knows what was coming, and she has taken enough beatings to have an idea of what this man was capable of. This was going to unpleasant, but over soon.
“Just. Like. That.”
He pulls an arm back slapping her as hard as he can; his hand connecting right below her left eye. The sting remains for a few seconds before becoming a soft, glowing heat. Her eyes are dark and determined, even with one of them beginning to swell. He slaps her again and again until the slaps turn into punches. After a few long minutes Hurley stop abruptly and Addie raises her head attempting to clear her blurred vision. Turning her head to spit a mouthful of blood onto the dusty cement floor, she watches Hurley walk away only to return with a length of heavy gauge chain that he begins to wrap around one hand. Swinging the remaining length of the chain in lazy circles, he approaches her tauntingly.
Addie grins up at him, teeth stained pink with blood, she holds her head up as high as she can manage. He shakes his head back at her, frustrated.
“Okay Adeline. Are you sure there is nothing you’d like to come clean about? Please dear, my arms are getting tired.” The two men holding her exchange looks out of the side of their eyes, then look down at the small girl hanging limply from their hands.
“There is one thing,” Addie squeaks out, "I'm not gonna lie. I'm scared how much this is going to hurt."
Hurley growls, lifting his arm over his head and bringing the chain down with all of his strength. Then…blackness.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Addie wakes up lying on her stomach, sprawled across the warehouse floor. Her arms and legs are free, but she still struggles to push herself up into a sitting position. She looks down at her shaking hands and bruised knees, gulping deep ragged breaths and trying not to cry. It was often when she saw her herself like this, body mangled and bloody, that the sight of it made her cry more than the pain. Hurley sits a few feet away in an old folding chair, watching her, fascinated. It takes her a few moments before she can even look at his face. Rage burning red around the edges of her vision.
“We thought we had lost you for a bit there dear. You wouldn’t wake up.” The laughter in his voice makes her blood boil. She has to stop that sound in his voice, she needs to kill his joy.
Addie sits slumped over like a discarded rag doll, feeling more alone than ever; and it’s then that the reality of the situation really hits her. She starts giggling at first, but slowly it grows into a full body laugh. She laughs so hard she feels the pain of every broken rib and wraps her arms around herself desperately trying to stop. She laughs so hard she cries, and between the gasps she manages to get out a few sentences.
“I always knew…that I was stubborn.” She wipes at her tears with the back of her hand. “But now…I know…I’m completely sick.” Taking a few ragged breaths she starts to calm herself, but her smile remains. Addie turns to Hurley, beaming brightly as she speaks.
“I lied. I do know where Will is.”
He points to the fire and glancing over she can just make out the chain, glowing red in the flames. “You’ve made the right choice. Now you won’t make me have to use that.” Hurley leaps to his feet and strides over quickly, reaching down to grab her chin, turning her face up to him. “Now, tell me and this will all stop. Where is Will?”
Reaching up she grabs his arm and pulls it off her face, bearing her teeth in a wide grin.
“He’s dead.” Her head drops to her chest and she explodes into laughter again, groaning at the pain in her sides.
He can only look at her, mouth slightly agape. “No, he can’t be. How do you know, for sure?”
Addie bites her lip and stifles her laughter. It fades from a laugh to a giggle, and then to serene calm. She speaks with an amused yet matter-of-fact tone. “I know this because I killed him. I shot him, right in the heart. And then I buried him.”
His hands shoot out, wrapping them around her throat. He grinds his teeth as he squeezes, watching her face turn from a shade of pink, to red to maroon before releasing her and watching her crumple to the floor wheezing and panting desperately. He stares down at her, eyes wild and searching for an answer.
“Why. Why would you wait to tell up this?” Hurley barks down at her incredulously.
Addie was carefully wiping at her tears, using her fingertips to gingerly inspect her swollen eye. “I had to make you work for it now, didn’t I?”
He stares with wide eyes for a few moments, then signals the two large men who approach Addie quickly. They scoop her up under her arms, gentler than she expected, and begin walking her towards the door. As they are leading her away, she strains her aching neck, turning her head back towards Hurley to shout one final goodbye.
“It was wonderful meeting you Mr. Hurley. But know if we meet again, you better buy me dinner first...” She squirms until the men place her on her own feet. Determined to walk out on her own, she begins to limp towards the door while mumbling under her breath.
“You fucking animal.”