Partners In Crime (Ticciwork fanfic) [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter 43: Debt to Pay

Clockwork only opened her eyes because a headache forced her to. If not for the hammering pain behind her eyeballs, she would have gladly gotten more sleep.

Her muscles were stiff and oddly numb, which she guessed was her body protecting her from the extremity of the pain she would have felt otherwise. It definitely wasn't a good thing, but she'd rather be numb than in agony.

Her mouth had filled with blood in the amount of time she'd been out, and it'd trickled out of the corner of her mouth, leaving behind a brownish crusty residue as it dried. Clockwork spat the rest of it onto the ground and groaned. Her arms shook dangerously as she lifted herself upright, and the lightheadedness that followed almost made her black out again.

She tenderly scratched away the dried blood from her cheek and sighed, letting her head drop onto the wall behind her. She had no way to judge how much time had passed, which made the tick of her unusable clock infuriating.

Clockwork stared across the room, at Thanos's body lying motionless on the floor. It was odd to think that the last time she'd been awake, he was trying to kill her. She took great comfort in knowing he wouldn't be able to hurt her now.

She focused on the door, remembering how Thanos had said it didn't unlock from the inside. The room was old, though, surely she'd be able to force it if she needed to.

Right?

Clockwork started to stand and gasped as pain shot up her legs. She grappled onto a hole in the plaster wall and dragged herself upright as black spots dotted her vision. She leaned on the wall heavily as she made her way to the door, and tried the knob, even though she knew it was locked.

Clockwork dropped her forehead onto the door and heaved a sigh. She looked down at her palms, at the tiny needles of wood anchored in her skin. They hurt like bee stingers, and a few had started to bleed. She would've given just about anything for a hot shower and a few day's worth of rest. It wasn't going to happen, though, unless she figured out a way to escape.

She turned around and eyed Thanos's body again. If this was a video game, the moment she'd killed Thanos, a golden door key would appear along with a Level up! to make her feel good. Unfortunately,  that wasn't how reality worked. Surely he would have had some way to get out if he wanted to go get a coffee or something. No one in their right mind would spend the entirety of their days in a filthy underground storage room, but then again, Thanos hadn't exactly been in his right mind.

Clockwork stumbled over and searched through his pockets, the inside of his coat, she even poked around in his shoes a bit, but she didn't find anything but a few pieces of lint. He was wearing fancy dress shoes, too, which Clockwork thought was disgusting.

She stood up again, wobbling a little on her feet, and noticed Thanos's glassy eyes staring at her.

"What are you looking at?"

Thankfully, he didn't respond.

Clockwork rolled her eyes. A hot shower, some Nachos, and some sleep sounded really good. Her mouth watered. Crisp tortilla chips with all that melted cheese slathered on top...

She shook her head to clear it, which hurt a lot, and ended up looking down at Thanos again. She stared at him for a while, until his empty gaze started to creep her out, and gave him a good kick.

"Nachos..." She muttered to herself, closing her hands into fists and dropping them at her sides. She was really craving that liquefied cheddar.

The door exploded.

It cracked against the wall with a sound like a gunshot, and Clockwork flinched so hard she almost fell over. She was blinded by yellow light, and she didn't recognize the noise of surprise the intruder made.