Growing Up and Other Tall Tales

Chapter 58

"How sure is Willa about this?" Sandy asks

I turn to him with a raised eyebrow and he shakes his head withdrawing his question.

"If I wanted to stash a secret daughter of a conglomerate, I'd do it here." Missy shrugs

"Speaking of, why isn't she here?"

I feel them both look at me.

"It's Mother. She never comes on jobs." I mutter, my eyes still trained at the barbed entrance through which two of ours had snuck through

"Yeah but..." Sandy trails

Yeah but, it's her daughter.

Missy is silent. She couldn't understand why the same woman who had saved her from being gang raped when she was too high to even register what was happening to her would abandon her daughter. Mother knew how dangerous and cruel the world can be to children. How could she drop her own? And if she could leave her own, how easily she could drop us?

"Don't." I tell her and she blinks and then nods

The tunnel to which I was advised to is appallingly dark, and I have to squint as I peer ahead, my knees and elbows bent, crouched and muscles tensed, awaiting an attack.

We resume our usual positions in the operation of saving innocent civilians from peril because we are now the low budget justice league whose unofficial motto changes every job depending on who screams the loudest.

"This feels weird," Prince and the others comes up from behind us

Missy, Sandy and I shut up about Mother.

"We've never rescued." Duke grumbles uncertainly

"Just pretend it's one of us kidnapped," Sandy suggests quietly

Ace makes a face, "I'd leave you assholes to die,"

"But come on guys, it's Capo's girlfriend," Duke says

I sigh and spoke up finally, "She is not—"

"Shut up," Missy hisses at us and that tables all debate because we might get caught and Missy is pointing her gun at us

The abandoned warehouse, near dockyards, with the sound of the sea waves waging against the dilapidating wood and the rocks drowning any evidences of footsteps, was familiar. Someone could scream and it wouldn't be heard over the waves and no one lived around the area of a mile radius. At best, this area is going under gentrification and that meant violence was in abundance and the sound of something like gun shots aren't too uncanny.

Something is off though.

There are sirens going off, red lights flashing on the dank walls, drops of water dripping onto the uneven stone floor.

"What the heck is going on?" Prince says confusedly

"Looks like someone got here before us."

A scream echoes throughout the chamber.

And the first thing that comes to my mind is that it's not Lyra. And then, thank god it's not Lyra.

"That's not weird at all," Ace murmurs wiping the sweat on his brow with the back of his hand making Duke grunt about how gross he is

Duchess and Cain who went up ahead to scout comes back with looks of puzzlement scathed upon their faces,

"It isn't a trap," Duchess says uncertainly, "But, um, this way,"

We stole past a man curled into a fetal position with his intestines convulsing from his stomach and Missy would later tell me that she immediately recognized him on the police profiles as a hit-man of popular but unknown organizations. Another had passed out with his hand stifling back the blood gurgling from his eye. Prince's head turns incredulously to follow the shrieking man out.

I feel like I'm in a strange dystopian universe. This is insane. Had all of them lost all semblance of control within the last week? At least, it was nice to know that I am not the only one.

"Did Lyra do this?" Missy asks, half in shock and half in awe

"You really know how to pick 'em." Ace says

I don't say anything.

Good girl, I think.

All things considered, we make it relatively easily to the makeshift locked chambers. No one had stopped us. In fact, we even overheard conversations from panicked men about what was going on— apparently someone had pulled the fire alarm, and one had been stabbed in the gut. And I don't think they know about the other one, who's likely to win an eye-patch.

My stomach drops a little when I realize that the chambers are empty, they are portable giant freezers and one of their doors are pulled open with a not-so-subtle blood hand print covering the handle.

"That's ominous." Prince whispers horrified

I raise my hand and point my index finger to the left and right. Missy, Prince and Duke broke away to the left and Cain, Duchess and Ace split to the right. Sandy's light, quick footsteps remained behind me.

I think I must have been shaking a little because Sandy pauses and wraps his fingers around my wrist.

"Focus," is all he says

And he is right.

But I didn't have to retain my concentration and calm for long because within seconds of Sandy's intervention, Lyra comes spiraling into open view and collides strongly against my chest. Sandy has enough time to hiss—"Capo" before my hands instinctively recognize what is in my arms and wraps around her immediately like a cocoon.

She's covered in blood and sweat and grime but it's still Lyra.

"Aiden," a clattered voice jitters out and she thrusts something into my arm, "Run,"

The hall we're in is circular and dome-like, wet and dripping with humidity. And the lighting is too low for me to be able to decipher if the streaks running down her face are sweat or tears. Her jeans are ripped, bloodied face smudged with grease and dirt but her eyes are on fire and it glows up the dingy atmosphere.

"Aiden?" her voice is raspier and her voice scrapes against a dry throat. She steps forward and I almost drop my gun because fuck, finally.

"Capo, she's right, we need to go," Sandy tugs on my arm and I can see his head swinging this way and that, his gun still cocked.

I blink and snap out of it; I try to reach out for her hand when I realize what's in my arms.

Or rather: who.

The floor underneath me dissolves and my stomach pummels.

What Lyra had carried so gently in her arms and had tasked me with the trust to hold, is a baby.

"Capo, is that—" Sandy swallows

I freeze and almost drop it.

In front of me, Lyra stumbles a little and leans against the door frame breathing hard. She looks at me pointedly.

Now. We need to go now.

"Capo—Aiden, I need orders. What are your orders?"

I look at Sandy who's looking up at me, a little bit of panic in his eyes.

All those times, we've just being defending territory, protecting what was ours that others stumbled upon either without knowing or attacked as a minor stab to break the mold. This is different.

"Round everybody up. We're leaving." I tell Sandy

Sandy nods and speaks in to his intercom in hurried rushed tones. I hear affirmative murmurs speak up notifying that all groups are intact and are proceeding to the pre-planned exit.

"It's alright. It's okay. We're okay now. I told you I'll get us out of here." Lyra laughs a little and touches the bald, blue forehead of the stillborn in my arms