NovaLight (Helluva Boss AU)

Chapter 12: Collateral

Loona walked into her apartment at The Hades Inn, frantically plugging in the USB stick and opening the file, seeing the IP address and its location.

"Son of a bitch. The fucking Hazbin job," she mumbled, typing on her computer, trying to decipher the IP address.

"Alright, Cain. Let's see if there's something that you missed," she mumbled. She then saw a file pop up and she smiled, hovering over it.

"There you are," she smiled, clicking on it, only to be greeted by a corrupted video.

"Damn it!" she yelled, smashing her hand on the table. She tried to correct the video when she heard someone walk in.

"What the—" they started, staring at the wall with all the photos when Loona pulled her gun, aiming at the voice. She looked to see that it was Millie, her hands raised.

"Hey, it's me! You called me here," she said, and Loona sighed, lowering her gun.

"I have a lot on my mind," she mumbled.

"Yeah..." Millie mumbled. She walked up to Loona as Loona nodded at the computer.

"Come here, take a look at this," she said, and Millie frowned at the video, obviously confused.

"Who is that?" she asked, and Loona shrugged.

"I don't know and the file's corrupt," she explained. She then looked at Millie. "Do you have any idea how to make this video work?" Loona asked.

Millie sighed, typing on the computer for a few minutes before she growled in frustration. "This isn't fixable. You need the original," Millie said.

Loona growled in frustration before she started typing on the keyboard, plugging her phone in. "I'm running a search on your Network access," she said.

Millie frowned, scratching her head. "That's what I got to talk to you about—" she started when Loona frantically pressed the keyboard.

"See, I don't think he knows about this. He would've bragged about it. I know him," Loona mumbled.

"Who would've bragged?" Millie asked, but it fell on deaf ears.

"They might be a lead! Or not. I gotta stay a step ahead of him!" Loona yelled. Millie sighed, grabbing Loona by the shoulders, making her face her.

"Are you in trouble?" Millie asked.

Loona sighed, unplugging her phone and pulling up the IP address. "An IP address?" Millie asked, obviously not getting it.

Loona growled in frustration again. "Yeah, he gave that to me. Can you find where that leads?" she pleaded.

"What is going on?" Millie asked.

Loona stayed silent, turning away from Millie when she sighed. "Loona, answer me. I'm not doing anything until—" she started when Loona snapped, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"He took him, Millie! He's using my father as collateral!" she cried. The room fell silent as Millie looked at her, shocked.

"Oh my god. The man we traced?" she asked quietly.

Loona calmed herself down, wiping tears from her eyes. "Yeah. My ex, Cain," she said.

Millie turned pale at the name as she backed up, going towards the door. "I-I'm sorry, Loona. I can't help you. Maybe we'll meet after all of this—" she stuttered when Loona shushed, listening.

"Come here," Loona whispered. Millie hurried over to her as they quickly walked into the bathroom, Loona crouching in the shower.

"What's going on?" Millie asked, and Loona pulled out her phone.

"We're being hunted," she said and pressed a button on her phone. The front of the apartment exploded as she broke down the shower wall, into the neighbor's apartment. He looked at her in shock as she yelled at Millie.

"Grab the USB!" she yelled, and Millie obeyed, grabbing the USB and running towards her, out of the room as Loona detonated another bomb, blowing up the rest of the apartment. She heard Millie yell and turned, looking at the front door to see that she was held by a fixer, a gun at her head.

Loona hacked the fuse box and it exploded, killing the fixer that was holding Millie. Millie reeled back from the fixer and nodded at Loona.

"Thanks," Millie said, grabbing the fixer's gun.

Loona just shook her head. "Don't thank me yet. We've got more incoming!" she yelled, running out of the apartment. Just as she ran out, a bullet whizzed past her face as she hid behind a wall, fixers shooting at her. She fired at them as she yelled at Millie.

"Where's your car?!" Loona yelled.

Millie nodded downstairs, towards a garage. "There!" she yelled.

Loona nodded, shooting three fixers. She pushed forward, shooting at the fixers. They fell back as she pressed forward, reloading her pistol. A fixer charged at her and she ducked under his swing, shooting the fixer in the back as Millie jumped down from the second floor, shooting two fixers and landing on a third one, breaking his neck. Millie then ran towards her car as Loona followed, opening the door for Millie.

"Go!" Loona yelled.

Millie frowned at her. "What about you?" she asked.

"I'll find you somewhere else. Now go!" Loona yelled, shooting two fixers who ran around the corner. Millie nodded and drove away from the scene as Loona ran to her bike, starting it when something hit her. She felt a sharp pain in her shoulder as she dropped to the ground, blood seeping out of the hole.

She had been shot.

She fired at the shot, but to no avail. There was another gunshot and a bullet grazed her cheek. She rolled behind a breaker box as she reloaded her weapon and waited for another gunshot when she heard her phone buzz. She answered it and heard a chilling voice on the other side.

"Loona. I'm not going to warn you one more time. You're marked. And I will find you," the female voice said, and then they hung up, leaving Loona confused and worried. She rubbed her cheek, seeing blood on her fingertips.

***

Loona drove herself to the nearest rest stop, kicking open the bathroom door and running over to the sink, taking her jacket off. She grabbed a pair of pliers and dug into her shoulder, grimacing in pain as she yanked the bullet out, dropping it in the sink with a drop of blood.

She groaned in pain and wrapped a bandage around her shoulder, sighing as she exited towards her bike. She received a call from Cain and sighed, answering it.

"The TV's report of a fire at the Hades Inn. You just can't check out like everyone else?" he asked, and she growled.

"When have I ever done like everyone else?" she snapped, and he laughed.

"Are we bantering? It's been so long that I'm tongue-tied," he said.

She growled again. "Save it, because it's not gonna happen again. I've lost my stuff. I'm gonna need some equipment," she said, and he scoffed.

"No. You didn't want to work with me, this is your problem. But get your head in the game, I need you. Hey! Old man, get over here!" he yelled, and she growled. She then heard her father's voice.

"Loona. Is Octavia okay?" he asked, and she sighed, nodding in defeat.

"She's safe. Where are you?" she asked, and he sighed.

"I don't know, I've been blindfolded the whole way. It's cold, Loona," he said, and she felt like crying as she replied.

"I know you are, and I'm getting you out. Listen, I know Cain. He's all ego, he won't hurt you," she explained when he snapped at her.

"You know him?! The son of a bitch kidnapped me!" he yelled when she heard a scuffle.

"Time's up. My god, what did you say to him? He's all pissy," Cain said. She growled and ground out her next sentence.

"Put him back on," she ground out when he laughed.

"You want to continue this conversation, follow that IP address and get me something I can use. Other than that, you're wasting my time," he said, hanging up as she screamed in rage.