keeper [rick flag]

Chapter 4

Ryland exits the plane taking steady steps. Rick holds her hand sweetly, and Amanda walks in front of them with a determined stride.

Ryland smiles and takes a deep breath. One of her favorite smells when she was little was the humidness of the rain.

Rick looks at her with a loving gaze. He knows how hard these past few months have been on her, and even seeing a genuine smile makes him happy.

He holds the umbrella on top of Ryland, not caring about getting himself drenched, but making sure that Ryland is well covered. She has a black long jacket slayed around her shoulders, while Rick has his army uniform and a base ball cap.

They climb down the slippery airplane stairs, guards and officers trailing behind them. When they reach the bottom, Rick motions for Ryland to wait back. She nods and waits behind them, watching as both Rick and Amanda walk towards a military car, where Griggs stands, looking at them with a creepy smile.

Griggs looks at Ryland for a moment, intrigued that such a nice looking lady could be standing in front of him. Much less in the Prison. Rick clears his throat, clearly annoyed and starting to get angry at him, and Griggs looks at him. Rick gives him a glare and he looks away from Ryland.

Rick walks towards Griggs first, and he holds his hand out.

"Welcome to Belle Reve Special Security fellas. How are you doing man?" He asks asks Rick. Rick doesn't look at him, but rather all around him as he points his finger at Amanda, who stands a few steps back.

"You should kiss her ass, She's in charge" He says simply.

Griggs looks at Amanda "Welcome ma'am, how are you?" When Amanda doesn't reply he continues "Here to assist you in any way"

Ryland looks around her, her mood becoming even more gloomier than it had been the past few months. The sight of the dull walls and the dim white lights that surrounded the perimeter made her feel anything but secure. IN fact, she was scared. Scared of what was inside there. But she also found herself feeling a twinge of sadness for whomever lived inside.

Sure, she had a witch living inside her, but it didn't stop her from feeling.

Amanda stares at Griggs for a second.

"Where are they?"

____________

Rick leads Ryland down a set of narrow gloomy stairs.

"Why are you bringing me down here?" She questions in a nervous voice.

"You'll see" Rick simply says. The stairs stop, and now a dark hall is in front of them.

Water trickles down the walls, and the air is humid.

Ryland looks around nervously, and Rick grabs her hand and pulls her into a room, where a cell door shows.

Rick motions her to come closer, and he leans agasint the wall.

Ryland shudders with cold, and pulls her jacket around herself tighter.

In front of them, a creature in a yellow prision suit is doing pull ups.

Ryland stares, she doesn't know how to react, either to feel surprised, or to feel pity for the creature living in such bad conditions.

The creature, or Killer Croc, stops doing push ups and looks at them with an angry growl.

Rylands breath stops for a moment, before she continues her normal breathing. At first she doesnt know how to feel, looking at a creature covered in scales, but she then knows that the way she reacts is the way people feel when they look at her.

Scared, disgusted, afraid. She hates it, and she wouldnt qant any other person - or creature- to go through the judging she has gone through.

She also happens to have seen much worse, her being an archeologist. God knows the things you encounter when looking into caves and 1000 year old ruins.

KC walks towards them slowly, until he is so close, the only thing that separates them is the metal bars of his cell.

All the couple does is stare, their faces showing almost no emotion.

"Ain't you scared?" KC growls out. He looks at Ryland and growls, expecting her to be scared, but her expression reamins motionless.

"Why'd they put you down here?" Ricks asks, trying to figure out why he would be in the sewers.

KC looks at him and growls again, showing his sharp teeth.

"I asked" His deep croaky voice simply says before he turns back and into his cell.

Rick looks at Ryland and motions her to follow him, and she does.

They walk up the stairs, and into the prison courtyard and towards the front of a fence.

Amanda is already waiting for them. She feels slightly annoyed that Ryland had to come, but if she wanted Rick to lead the team, she would have to agree on the one term he established before beginning the mission. Ryland goes with him everywhere.

That was something that could work in both of their ways, which was the only reason Amanda had accepted.

She also knew that Ryland could help the Task Force X, as the witch and as a human.
Amanda knew that Ryland was strong, she had demonstrated that all those times

"Open the gates!" Rick shouts at the guards.

The fence opens with a mechanical whir and the 3 of them wait until they finish moving.

Griggs walks in front of them, and Ryland watches as he pulls out a black stick.

"Hey ese!" He shouts, walking towards the tank. Ryland pauses, besides Rick, the clicking of her black high heels stopping.

"Hola Amigo" Griggs yells. He tapps the metal container that stands on the center of the fenced perimeter and looks into the little window in the form of a circle.

"Put that burrito down, you got visitors man"

Chato looks at the window, his tattooed face staring back at the four pairs of eyes. 3 of them hold hard glares, but one of them holds pity and sadness. Ryland and Chato make brief eye contact before Griggs covers the window with a tablet, showing the video of Chato incinerating the whole prison yard.

Griggs removes the tablet, and Chato shakes his head.

"That ain't me"

Amanda looks into the window with an angry glare

"That wasn't you?" She questions with a hard tone.

Chato shakes his head "nah. They say it's me but it aint. That guys gone. He's dead"

"ANd yet here you are" Amanda says, her voice rising.

Rick places a hand on her shoulder, which causes her to look from the window.

"Ma'am let me talk try and talk to him" He says as Amanda stands and steps back.

Rick leans into the window.

"You wanna die in there buddy?" He asks. He makes a pause before continuing "You gotta a real shot at walking the block again. Have a nice cold beer. Nice meal" He pauses and looks at Ryland, who is staring at him and the turns back  "A woman"

"Look man, you ain't the first to ask and you ain't gonna be the last " Chato says simply, with the tone of ending the conversation.

"Ask what?" Rick pushes.

"I'm a man, okay? I ain't no weapon. Imma die in peace before I raise my fist again" At his words, Ryland's face softens.

"I've caused enough harm" He says softly before he spread his arms, writing BYE on fire.

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 HEYY!  I am going to do a Q and A about my character, Ryland, (And any of my other characters in my other stories) so if you have some questions about her that you want answered please don't doubt to ask in the comments!

PS. Another chapter will be up tonight.