Frost And Flame

10

It doesn't take long to find Sammy, and in turn, Chevy and Ed. But Donald is nowhere to be found.

"Where's Doug?" Silver asks while pinching the bridge of his nose. The three idiots elbow each other until finally Sammy speaks.

"He's getting reassembled again." He laughs nervously. Silvers entire demeanor becomes scarier.

"And why is he getting reassembled?" Silver asks slowly.

"He was thrown in front of a car."

"WHAT?" Silver grips my arm so hard I hear a crack and start screaming because this fucker broke me arm! He whips his head towards me and I force myself to internalize the pain for now while Silver grills his lackeys.

"It was an accident, I swear. We were just goofing off and -"

"Do you know how much it costs to reassemble him? 800 thousand dollars every time. This week alone, you four have cost me more than your total pieces will be worth in underground action. " Silver snarles, and I'm scared for them now.

"Teach him a lesson, but don't kill him. I still need a heater. If you do it well enough, you'll be let off. And try not to leave a mess." Silver pushes me towards them, and I'm roughly grabbed by Sammys long arms. I am in so SO much danger right now. I no longer feel bad for them.

As soon as Silver rounds the corner, I am pushed to the wall by surprisingly strong noodle arms.

"This feels familiar." Chevy notes as he studies my face. Funny, I never marked him as a studier. In fact, I didn't know he could read.

"Hey hey, it's not that I'm against this, but buy me a drink first, would ya? I'd like an orange highball. Two lemon slices, neat." I smirk. If it's going to hurt, you might as well have fun with it. In return, I have the wind knocked out of me in one blow, and suddenly I have a thought. If I don't piss them off, it might hurt less. Oh well, too late.

"You punch like your sister." I laugh, and Chevy is... uh... less than happy right now.

I'm pinned to the wall as they take turns punching me until I just can't stand. Fighting back seems like less and less of an option. Once Sammy realized I can't stand anymore, he lets go, and I fall to my hands and knees.

It's hard to even stay here in this position, on the ground. I can barely hold myself up.

It's hard to catch my breath. I must have bruised or even cracked my ribs, I'm still sure my arm is broken, and everything just hurts so badly.

"Hey Ed, do you need your legs to be a heater?" Chevy asks, and I freeze, looking up with tears in my eyes now threatening to spill over. He wouldn't....

"I- do you?" Ed asks in turn. I open my mouth to say something. To beg them to stop. To give up information. Something. I destroyed the vials but i know how they were made. I know about Slate and Jenny. I'll do anything! But when he saw my mouth was open, Chevy kicked me in the face.

"We don't want your cutting remarks. The grown-ups are talking." He sneers. I let the tears roll down my face as I lay down on the ground. The hopeless despair of my situation rolls over me like a tide.

"Hey, boss? Do you need your tongue to be a heater?" Ed asks. I close my mouth as tightly as I can and push my tongue as far back as I can in my mouth. This can't be happening. This isn't real.

"I see you found him." Comes a voice that's new to me. I hear the three in front of me turn away, and I focus on breathing. I need to calm down and think.

"Jake." Chevy says evenly. I open my eyes to look over. A man with auburn hair covered in beads and wearing a white mask is standing at the end of the hallway.

"I told you my info was good. Where's my payment?" He puts his hand forward expectantly, and I finally piece it together. This guy was tracking me. This guy is why I'm here.

As Chevy pulls a wad of cash from his inner jacket pocket, I feel the heat from before coursing through my body.  Everyone except this Jake dude is turned away, so no one but us sees the flickering flame emitted from my fingers. Say that one 5 times fast.

The warmth gives me strength again, and I pull myself to first me knees, then I struggle to my feet while the other four chat. There's no way Jake hasn't seen me. But he doesn't betray my position, which makes me almost feel bad when I force the fire from my hands in their direction. I'm not an emitter, so it's not exactly easy. It's just really big fires, basically.

Jake ducks behind Chevy as I burn out and run as fast as I can. I don't even look at the damage I've done. I need to get out of here. NOW.