Caine & Diana || ˢᵗºʳʸ ºf ᵘˢ

CHAPTER NINE - 130 hours, 2 minutes

Diana hesitated at the door to the office. After a deep breath, she pushed down on the handle and opened the door. Caine looked up from his desk as Diana entered the room, regarding her with watchful eyes.

Luckily, he'd calmed down from earlier, after he threw the psychopath Drake into the wall. At least, Diana hoped he had.

She cleared her throat. "Caine."

Caine wasted no time. He was straight to business, as usual. "Did you tell Orc about his little task?"

Diana folded her arms, stuck at the doorway. "I did."

"And did he manage to convince Sam's pet to give them information?"

"Quinn," Diana corrected. "And yeah. Sam's apparently about to go shopping with Astrid. It didn't take much convincing, though." Diana's voice sounded smug, though deep down she felt bitter. She knew she was a bad person. So why did it bother her so much that she was going to kidnap Sam, Caine's apparent brother? Why did she care?

Caine threaded his hands behind his head and leaned back into his chair. "Good." He handed her a huge wad of duct tape. "Give this to Drake. Bring Orc, Howard, Panda and a few more of those idiots. You should be fine with about four or five guys."

"Why so many people?" Diana wondered. Caine must be scared of Sam, she thought, though of course he'd never admit it.

His eyes flashed. "I'm not afraid," he said, as if he had read her mind. "I just like to be careful."

Diana cautiously walked halfway into the room, closing the door behind her. "Why don't you just do it yourself?" she dared to ask.

He spread his hands, an amused expression crossing his face. "That defeats the purpose. There'd be no suspense. It would be too easy, anyway, and why do it when you have people who could do it for you?" There was a cold hunger for power in Caine's eyes.

Diana looked away. "You're using them."

She had no doubt that he wouldn't deny it. Sure enough, Caine said, "There's no point in being boss when you don't have anyone who works for you."

You're using me, Diana wanted to say, but in actual fact it worked the other way round. She was using him, so whether or not it worked both ways didn't matter. They were both as bad as each other.

Diana didn't want to get Sam. She didn't want to be the bad guy. But it was who she was, so why would she bother being anything else? She'd gone in too deep: there was no escape.

"Oh," Caine said, interrupting her thoughts. "I almost forgot."

He reached under his desk and pulled out two Mylar balloons. They were both deflated, looking like sad elastic slumps in his hands. Diana thought they said Happy Birthday on them, but it was hard to tell.

"Do you know what these are?" Caine asked in a drawl, looking proud of himself.

Diana frowned. "They're Mylar balloons. So what?"

"What kind of surface do these balloons have, Diana?"

"Reflective," she replied instantly. "But what-" Then she paused, getting it. "So Sam can't use his powers," she realised. "You're going to cover his hands. Stop the light-fire power thing he has."

Caine smirked. "Smart, huh?"

"Yes," Diana agreed, surprised.

He tossed the balloons to Diana and she caught them, still looking at Caine in disbelief. He was smarter than he let on.

Just then, Drake came in. Diana laughed at the way he cautiously opened the door. Usually he slammed open the door to the office, but he must still be recovering from being beat up by Caine. Caine realised this, too, judging by his egoistical grin.

"What do you want?" Diana snarked.

Drake glared at her, but he spoke to Caine. "They're ready to get Sammy boy. I'm going after Astrid."

Caine smiled a charming smile. "Great. I'll be in the gym hall."

Diana winced. Poor Astrid.

"Hurry up," Drake snapped at Diana. "We got a trolley ready." He snatched the tape and balloons and stormed off.

Diana didn't go after Drake. She waited as Caine tried to stride past her out the office, which is when she put a hand to his chest. She noticed he inhaled sharply at her touch, and it almost made her smile.

I don't want to do this, a part of her said. I don't want to be bad.

Instead, she said, quietly, "Consider Sam captured."

Caine searched her expression. "I know I can count on you." Then he walked off in the direction of the gym hall, leaving Diana alone, staring after him.

It was power Caine wanted, wasn't it? So why did he keep her around?

She shook her head and followed after Drake, pushing down the negative feelings inside of her until there were none left. She had to get through this 'FAYZ'. And if capturing Sam was the way to do that, she couldn't let anything get in her way.