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“Better me than you.”
Dakota’s voice is unsteady, but certain. So certain.
Cavendish stares in horror, struggling desperately against his bindings. “No! No, stop!”
Sally laughs. Malice dances in her eyes, her hands are clasped together in a display of wicked glee. “Sorry, Cavendish, but your partner made his choice. And you wouldn’t want to stop him from making choices, would you?” She giggles. “Penny and I let each other make choices, why can’t you?”
“Do it to me!” Cavendish cries out, straining against the rope. “Dakota, you can’t-“
“It’ll be ok.” Dakota makes eye contact with him, ignoring the grey haired woman behind him. Doing something to his neck with sharp tools and strange machinery. Cavendish feels sick, but he can’t get to him, can’t stop this, he’s trapped and all he can do is watch… “You can stop me and get it off.”
“Oh, he can certainly try. Think you can beat Dakota in a fight, Cavendish?” Sally asks, tilting her head to the side. “I’d be interested to see that fight. Wanna do bets, Penny?”
Penelope lifts her head from her work to give her partner an unimpressed look, before going back to it. Something she does makes Dakota wince, a tool slipping or a stray spark. “Oh, do sit still. You’re not a child, unlike the last one.”
“Leave him out of this.” Dakota growls, but he stays still.
“I’ll get it off. I will fix this, Dakota. I promise.” Cavendish’s voice cracks. He watches in horror as Penelope works, as Dakota once again gives him a reassuring smile.
“And don’t be scared to fight me, ok? You’ll need to, and I want you to.” He laughs once, a dry, fearful sort of laugh. “I mean, if the kids managed it we can too, right?”
“Of course we can manage it. Of course we can.” Cavendish repeats. He should be reassuring Dakota, not the other way around. “I will get you back.”
“How sweet!” Sally clutches her heart, smiling widely. “I do love devotion.”
“You’re sick, Sally.” Cavendish snaps, straining forward as much as he can to glare at her with complete and utter disgust. “You constantly hurt people, simply because you enjoy it. This is nothing but a piece of fun for you.”
“Oh, Cavendish! You wound me.” Sally laughs, looking not particularly wounded. “This is just my job. I’m here doing this because I’m being paid. But since I need to do this, I may as well have a bit of fun. Doesn’t your partner do the same?”
“My partner doesn’t kidnap, torture and poison people, alongside countless other offences!” Cavendish snaps.
“Ah, whatever. Agree to disagree.” Sally decides. “How are you doing, Penny?”
Penelope ignores her for a few moments, fiddling with a look of concentration. Then she says, “Done,” and Dakota slumps forward.
“Dakota!” Cavendish cries out.
“He’s fine. Watch!” Sally undoes Dakota’s restraints and nods to Penelope. And Dakota stands. His movement is smooth. He stands with his arms straight at his side, and he stares straight at the wall. His eyes are glassy and dull.
Cavendish stares. Melissa and Zack told them about what happened with Milo, but seeing it in person is another matter entirely. Dakota doesn’t look like Dakota at all, not his partner. He looks so wrong that Cavendish shivers.
“See, he’s fine! He’ll probably behave a lot better now, honestly you might prefer him this way!” Sally remarks, moving to stand next to Dakota. She puts a hand on his shoulder, and Cavendish shudders. The hairs on his neck stand up.
“That is ridiculous.” He spits, scowling at her.
“Suit yourself!” Sally exclaims.
Cavendish looks at Dakota again. Or Dakota’s body, because no one could ever look at the person in front of him and say that he is Dakota. His soldier like posture, as still as a grave. His eyes glazed over and empty. His expression neutral and cold. Cavendish feels sick.
“Well, I’m never one to go back on a deal!” Sally says, walking behind him. He can’t take his eyes off of Dakota. “I am, actually. I don’t put much stock in promises, they’re just words. But this time I will fulfil it. See you later, Cavendish!”
“Wait, wha-“ He tries to crane his neck to see what she is doing, but then he feels a prick on his neck. Immediately he begins to feel woozy, the world starts to spin around him. “No, no, I need to… I can’t…”
As the world darkens around him, all he can see is Dakota’s empty eyes.
———
Cavendish wakes up on the sofa in his office. His head is pounding, his throat is trying to become a desert. He groans, sitting up and rubbing his head. He feels like he has a hangover, but he doesn’t remember…
Oh.
Now he remembers.
“Dakota!” He exclaims, jumping up to look around desperately. It must have just been a terrible dream, it must have been. Surely Dakota can’t be gone.
But his search yields nothing but a horrible truth. Dakota is gone. Sally has him, has mind controlled him, and who knows what she will force him to do, or what she will do to him, or…
Cavendish leans against the wall and takes a deep breath to force himself to calm down. He can fix this, he will fix this. He promised Dakota that he would, and he intends to keep that promise if it kills him. After everything Dakota has done…
First, he contacts everyone he can think of, telling them that if they see Dakota they shouldn’t trust him. Milo in particular is extremely worried, but Cavendish simply tells him that he has it handled and hangs up.
He takes some painkillers and begins to make a plan. Sally hasn’t won. He is going to fix this, he will. He has to.