Secrets and Sins Part 2: Finding Mary

Chapter 9

~Ava~

She appeared in a dark concrete room, lit only by moonlight streaming through a barred window high on the wall to her left.

A whimper pulled her eyes down to a figure lying facing the wall on a small metal bench. She recognized the black leather trench coat instantly.

"Mary?" Ava whispered, the other woman twitched at her voice but didn't reply.

Ava tried again, "Mary, hey it's me, Ava…"

"You're not real." Her friend's voice was quiet…broken.

"What? No. I am real, I don't know how I'm here but I'm real, I promise." The Halo bearer took a couple of careful steps closer.

Mary shook her head, refusing to look at her, "Liar."

"Don't be an arsehole." Ava grumbled, this was not going as well as she had hoped.
"At least look at me so I can prove I'm real."

With a groan of pain, Mary finally rolled over onto her back and slowly sat up. Turning, her eyes found Ava’s in the gloom, though the younger woman couldn't see her expression in the shadow.

"See?" The Halo bearer gestured to herself with an awkward grin.
"Totally real."

In the blink of an eye, a metal mug was thrown at her head. Ava flinched, bringing a hand up to protect her face, but there was no need. The mug flew straight through her, clattering loudly as it bounced off the wall and fell to the ground.

"Totally not."  Mary started to lie back down again.

Ava scrambled for something to say, "Wait! I am real, I swear. I'm just all ghosty here. I don't know why but I have new Halo powers since I died so maybe it's because of that? Please don't ignore me, I told the others about you being not dead and we are trying to find out where you are so we can save you but I need some more information as I don't want to leave you h…"

"Oh my God! Ava shut the hell up for a second! I believe you, okay? Jesus no one else I've ever met rambles quite as annoyingly as that." Mary interrupted her, Ava let out a sigh of relief.
"Wait, you died?" Mary exclaimed.

"Uh it's a super long story and I promise I'll fill you in, but I don't know how long I can do...whatever I'm doing, so, do you know where you are?"

Mary sighed, shaking her head, "Na, whenever the bastards move me they stick a bag over my head. Although, I think I heard waves once."

Ava deflated slightly, she had hoped the other woman might have more of an idea where she was, "Okay, that's okay. Okay." She muttered to herself.

Mary huffed a laugh, tilting her head back against the wall with a wince, right hand pressed against her side.

"Do you know who they are? Or why they want you?" Ava questioned.

The other woman shrugged, "They speak a different language most of the time. Maybe Russian? Or similar? When they do speak English they just ask about the Halo."

That caught Ava’s attention, "What about the Halo?"

Suddenly, Mary flinched, her eyes sliding past the Halo bearer towards the door.

"What is it?"

The other woman held up a palm and leaned forward, bringing her index finger to her lips. Ava couldn't speak even if she wanted to, Mary's face was now illuminated by the sliver of moonlight and it stole her breath from her lungs.

She was in bad shape, bruises old and new littered her skin, her right eye was so swollen that Ava wouldn't be surprised if her eye socket was fractured. A long painful split jaggedly broke her left eyebrow in half, it looked deep enough that the Halo bearer suspected it would scar. Fresh blood dripped down the corner of her upper lip from another painful looking split that was openly bleeding, probably from the movement of Mary speaking. If those injuries were just the ones that were visible, Ava shuddered to think what lay under her tunic.

Male voices right outside the cell pulled her focus away from the wounds. She stood quickly and pressed her back to the wall beside the door so when it opened she wouldn't be visible.

Wide eyed, Ava glanced at Mary, 'Get out of here', the other woman mouthed at her. The Halo bearer shook her head, even if she could work out how to disappear, she refused to leave her friend again. Mary gave her an exasperated look but swiftly schooled her expression blank as the door opened.

Three men entered the room, all armed. Ava searched their clothing for any identifying insignia, but there was nothing to note. The man closest to Mary began to speak, his thick accent was definitely Russian, Ava had watched enough travel documentaries at the orphanage to know that.

"Well, it looks like sleeping beauty is awake. Finally. Have you had a chance to think about what we asked you? You seemed to have trouble remembering last time."

When Mary stayed silent, the man rolled his sleeves up his forearms threateningly, Ava noticed an unusual circular snake tattoo with some roman numerals underneath it just below his right elbow, "We can jog your memory again if you like?"

Ava fought to stay quiet, seething with rage.

"Sorry…what was the question again? All those hits to the head, ya know?" Mary gestured at her temple, giving her best helpless smile.

The lead man took a deep breath, Ava had a feeling that the captive woman enjoyed pressing his buttons, "How is the Halo separated from the bearer?"

Ava raised an eyebrow, that was definitely an unexpected line of questioning. She was more expecting the thugs to want information on where the Halo bearer was.

"Look man, like I said before, I have no fucking idea what you're on abo…" A fleshy smack interrupted Mary's sentence, the man to the right of the leader had hit the woman square in the jaw.

Mary spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor, breathing hard.

"Well?" The Russian man asked, Mary just shook her head still recovering herself after the punch.

The leader nodded at the man who had hurt her to do it again and Ava couldn’t hold back anymore.

"HEY!" She shouted, causing all three thugs to jump and spin to face her, faces shocked.
"Leave her the fuck alone." Ava continued, voice becoming low, dangerous.

The Russian barked an order to the others and stood back slightly. The two thugs advanced on her, one producing a black metal baton from the inside of his jacket. Ava raised her hands, preparing herself for a fight. A fist flew at her which she tried to block with her forearm but it went straight through, a horrible crack sounded behind her as the man's knuckles broke on the concrete wall. He howled in pain cradling the now deformed appendage. Ava grinned, she could work with this.

"Not much of a 'hitman' are you?" She laughed, as the other man swung the baton through her over and over growling in frustration, watching the sweat begin to drip from his forehead as he panted with exertion.

Ava subtly maneuvered a little closer to the edge of the door as the thug swung at her, smirking widely when she heard the telltale bag of the baton hitting the wooden door frame before rebounding back into the owner's face, the man went down hard.

The Halo bearer turned to the Russian man ready to gloat about defeating his henchmen without even touching them, when she was struck by a blinding pain across the bridge of her nose, temporarily stunning her. Staggering backwards Ava cupped her face, hot blood spilling between her fingers. Looking up, Ava met the eyes of the leader.

"Halo bearer, correct?" He leered at her and lifted his hand to show Ava his fist, each of his fingers gripping a spiked blue ring.
"Divinium knuckle dusters, custom made after your last visit."

The Russian advanced towards her, Ava racked her brain trying to think of a way to hold her own. Apparently all she could touch was the divinium which was currently still in the possession of the powerfully built man in front of her.

"Ava you need to go!" Mary urged, the Halo bearer risked a quick glance her way, she looked terrified for the younger woman.

"I don't want to leave you."

"I'll be okay, they'll keep me alive as long as I'm valuable."

Torn between doing what's smart and what felt right, Ava finally gave in and nodded at her friend. Only thing is she didn't know exactly how to stop doing whatever this was. She reached out to the Halo, trying to wake it but feeling a strange disconnect between herself and the relic.

The Russian was getting closer, Ava's heart began to pound, she reached out one more time, desperation flooding her body and finally felt the powerful artifact respond.

Stark white light shot across her vision.