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“Sage, go watch our flank.”
Oh, how she regretted listening to that command now.
She hadn’t even started firing at the second Leer before Viper shot the gun out of her hands.
If it wasn’t already hopeless by that point, Reyna then fired at her legs for good measure.
At the very least, she managed to heal some of the damage away, so she wasn’t lying in a puddle of her own blood while pinned down by both the Empress and the chemist. This was uncomfortable enough.
For more than one reason.
“Tell me, Sage. What are you doing out here, all by yourself?”
Sage pursed her lips. Furrowed her brow. The smug satisfaction Reyna wore irked Sage to no end. It didn’t help that Viper simply watched on, arms crossed, apparently more than confident that Reyna alone could hold Sage down with ease. Not that she was wrong to think so.
“A healer like you should be with your team. When you’re not… Oh, we won’t let it go unpunished.”
The only response offered by the monk was a dismissive exhalation through her nose. She would not satisfy her enemies by playing along with their teasing.
Unsatisfied indeed, Reyna grabbed Sage's jaw, her nails digging into the flesh of the healer's cheek like a vice. Sage swore she could feel the pulse in those fingertips that jammed themselves against her jawbone and into her cheeks. The act alarmed her at first, but she made herself intensify her glare in spite of this. She realized that one of her hands was now left unpinned, but the instant she raised it to push Reyna off her, Viper slammed her boot down on the healer’s wrist. A cry of pain escaped her.
“Answer me. Or else,” Reyna sing-songed. It didn’t make it any less threatening. Sage would’ve quipped back with a ‘Or else what?’ but she knew how Reyna would answer.
Demonstrably.
She’d danced this dance before. Start off all headstrong and defiant, only to be forced to tiptoe back with every threat Reyna marched forwards. Tiptoe back, she thought to herself, scoffing. More like kneel and cower and beg.
A bit of static crinkled in her ear, interrupting her thoughts. Apparently her enemies heard it too, for they both stilled. Then, a voice.
“Sage? Sage, you good?”
Before she could respond, Reyna ripped her earpiece away and held it up to her own ear. A cruelness entered her eyes when they met Sage’s, and the empress tilted her head towards the earpiece. Sage could figure well enough what the gesture meant.
Respond. Now.
“Y-yes. I am here,” Sage said, her voice strained from the pressure of both women atop her.
“Shit. They caught you, didn’t they?” Sage could just barely make out Jett’s voice this far away from the earpiece.
“We did,” said Viper.
“Won’t you come save her?” Reyna chimed in. “I fear what might happen when no one’s around to protect her.”
Ugh. Protect her, like she was weak. Helpless. Clueless. Everything she wasn’t - or, at least, everything she strived not to be.
“Hey, fuck you! Leave her alone, creep.”
“Mm. I don’t think so.”
“Why don’t you come stop us?” Viper teased.
“Why don’t you come defuse? No, I know the answer. You’d rather be horny instead.”
“I won’t deny it. But do you mean to say you’d sacrifice poor, helpless Sage,” Reyna said, caressing the girl’s cheek.
“...Just so you can have your precious little round victory?”
There was silence. Sage imagined the concentration etched onto Jett’s face as she tried to piece together a witty retort. But she was cornered, and Reyna’s devious grin confirmed this.
“I’m sorry, mom. I really am. But we… we can’t help you.”
“Can’t, or won’t? You’d be five versus two,” Viper said, her mask obscuring her own cruel smirk.
Sage had known Reyna long enough to be able to tell she was growing impatient of this. This type of teasing was her modus operandi, certainly, but only when directed towards a particular someone.
“Well, let’s ask her and see what she thinks. Sage,” Reyna began, her voice dripping with desire upon saying the girl’s name.
Sage gulped.
“Don’t you want to be saved?”
It was a bait. She hardly ever won out in the face of Reyna’s toying, but she’d be doing herself no favours by playing right into her hands.
“No, Jett. Leave me. You cannot risk losing your guns,” she said, knowing full well that all parties took note of the reluctance in her voice.
Yet there was no answer from Jett. As if Sage’s permission was all she needed to abandon her completely and shamelessly. She knew it was nothing personal - they did what they had to do to win. But to be perfectly honest, it left her feeling a little used.
“Aw… pobre de tí,” Reyna whispered, cupping Sage’s face with both hands. Sage wanted to be angry at being patronized like this, but Reyna made it too difficult. Those hands always made it too difficult.
“Those selfish dogs. What irony. They’ve no trouble asking the healer to come help them.”
“But no one will come help the healer. How sad,” Viper drawled, finishing her partner’s sentence. She knelt down now alongside Reyna, and Sage gasped at the shifting pressure from the boot that still pressed down on her wrist. But all the pain was forgotten to her when that gloved hand gripped her chin, lifting it so that their eyes met.
Until Reyna slapped her hand away.
“I’m not interested in sharing,” she said with a cold bluntness.
“I didn’t ask.”
“What do I care if you ask or not? She’s my wife.”
“Yet you fault others for their selfishness. Funny. She might’ve killed you were I not here.
“Not a chance. You can stand in that corner and watch if it pleases you. If not, leave us be.”
Their ensuing altercation left Sage with much less weight holding her down. For a moment, she was too engrossed by their fighting over her to do anything but watch, till she realized that this was her best chance to escape. But the instant she tried crawling out from under Reyna…
“Oh, no you don’t!” her enemies said in unison. They each grabbed hold of one of Sage’s arms, leading the healer to let out a glum sigh. No escape. Of course. Her hopeless eyes fed Reyna’s hungry ones, who loved nothing more than her prey knowing just how helpless it was.
“Why the long face, cariño?”
Sage just shook her head, shutting her eyes. She would’ve looked to the side to avoid eye contact, but the last time she did that, she realized she’d left her neck exposed. And what that looked like to Reyna, she ended up learning the hard way.
“Hey… They may have left you, but don’t fear. We’re here to teach them a lesson,” said Viper. She took her foot off Sage’s wrist, then circled around to stand behind her.
Even from underneath both of them, Sage could see them looking at each other, nodding once. She didn’t like what that meant. Not at all.
Viper lifted Sage’s head off the ground, her fingers intertwined with bountiful locks of raven hair. Meanwhile, Reyna dug her own fingers under Sage’s collar, peeling back the dark fabric to expose more of her neck and shoulders. To the monk, it all felt like she was receiving some magical spa treatment, the way their fingers pressed themselves against her skull and her collarbone. All her previous worries melted away at once.
“We didn’t get here unscathed. So I’m going to need your help, dear. Understand?” asked Reyna.
The soft touches from both women were overloading Sage’s senses to the point that she hadn’t even heard Reyna properly. She’d been too focused on digging her own fingers into the hard concrete below to steel herself. So she just nodded, hoping that Reyna had actually asked a yes-or-no question.
Which was why she didn’t expect it when Reyna dove straight down to her neck, fangs-first.
“Ah!” she exclaimed. She instinctively tried to squirm away, but between Reyna straddling her and Viper holding her head in place, she couldn’t move an inch. She swore she heard a low chuckle from the woman behind her.
Being bitten by Reyna was nothing new. She was mostly accustomed to the pain by now. But what she could never get used to the gut-wrenching noise of her own blood being sucked out of her. She tried to tune it out as best she could, but it wasn’t even close to enough. Sure, it was a sign that Reyna was enjoying herself, but was that really a valid excuse for… this?
Do you have to slurp so loudly?
When it was over, Reyna threw her head back, satiated.
“I’m sorry, little dove. I hope I didn’t hurt you too much. We’ll get you your revenge now,” Reyna said, wiping away the excess blood with the back of her hand.
“I cannot believe I married you,” Sage muttered under her breath.
“Excuse me?”
“I mean, I love you, Reyna. I love you very, very much,” Sage said, the sarcasm clear as day.
“Hmph. That’s better.”
She gave Sage a light kiss on the lips, then got off her. As did Viper.
“I’ll see you soon,” Reyna said, blowing another kiss to her wife before walking with Viper straight into site.
“The hunt begins!”
“Don’t get in my way!”
Sage lay in that same spot on the ground while listening to the chaos of gunfire and her allies’ screams - Jett’s in particular sounded especially painful. Sage winced. Soon enough, she heard the announcer’s booming voice.
“Last player standing.”
No way. So quickly? Sage could hardly believe it, propping herself up on one elbow while expecting the spike to go off at any second. Its ticking grew faster and faster, but then, defying her expectations once more, she heard the electric tone of the defuse.
Eight seconds passed.
Sage couldn’t remember ever being so happy about losing.