create

6. with whom?

Sylver woke up and immediately regretted it.
There was no pain, no, but stiffness. Stiffness everywhere. And of course her body was aching. It was no pain, just... it felt as if she hadn't moved in at least a week.
"Ah, you're awake again! Good! Can you hear me? Do you understand me?", said a kind of raspy male voice beside her.
Fuck.
Sylver checked herself without daring to open her eyes, a task she had perfected over time. It was really useful in dark caves with no source of light, to check if her body was still intact.
Face? Check.
Hair? Check.
Neck? Check.
Clothes? Check. Good.
Shoulders? Check.
Torso? Check.
Belly? Check.
Hips? Check.
Legs? Stiff, but check.
Knees? Check.
...
Check?
Sylver frowned. Something was off here.
Feet? Check.
Arms? Check.
Hands? Check...
Hands? Both? And her knees, both?
Sylver opened her eyes and saw a pair of light blue eyes looking back at her.
"Good morning sunshine! Or... well, good afternoon I guess!", the man said.
"What... happened... to my... hand...?", she croaked, and her voice sounded weird to her own ears. As if she hadn't talked in days.
The man frowned, and Sylver noticed his eyebrows. They were crooked at the ends and quite thin, but not unpleasant to look at necessarily.
"Ah, yes, the Stone of Acid... well... they got you a prothestic hand, as similar to human flesh as possible, the newest model. Even I can't tell it apart from a real hand! And they also did the same with your knee. They had to be careful not to make your new leg too good actually!", he said, laughing at his last words.
The man seemed to like answering questions, which gave Sylver a huge opportunity and a vast advantage. Knowledge was power after all.
"Who are 'They'?", she asked, her voice feeling a bit stronger now.
The eyebrows lifted, surprised. Then the man said, "Ah, I meant our Medical Unit Deluxe. And yes, they came up with that name themselves. But they kinda deserve the 'Deluxe', they are the best in the world. Doesn't mean we don't make fun of the MUD, their cocky asses need to stay on ground-level for us to get any healing done."
"Funny. Where am I and who are you? And what happened? I was dying, I am sure of it...", Sylver continued.
The blue eyes closed for a few moments. When the man opened them again he answered, "You are in The Cave. I don't think that I need to elaborate on that..."
Sylver would've drawn in a sharp breath had she had the strength, but only her eyes opened a bit wider at those words.
The Cave. The one place Goldie and her had never even thought about breaking into. It was impossible. No second exits. Not even a water system or sewers to make use of. Just one entrance. All of the water and other waste came out directly next to the one door that led inside. And the most frustrating thing was that the door wasn't even guarded. Not from the outside. You got in perfectly fine, but noone came out again alive. Right after one entered there were guards, many guards, on different strategic positions, guarding each other's weak points and the entrance perfectly. And they used heavy machinery.
And every person was checked individually for weapons and for an identification. If you didn't have the latter you were thrown out at best, maybe imprisoned, or killed at worst. If you had the first then your death was almost certain.
And if, by some miracle, one should manage to walk past all of this human security by some miracle, they had to walk through a narrow hallway filled with automatic weapons and traps that were motion-sensitive. And there were anti-hacking-measurements too. If the systems were shut down from the outside or tempered with in any way, every weapon was triggered automatically. And behind that hallway was the camp of the strongest army this world had ever seen, both in numbers and quality. And behind that, the training grounds for new recruits.
And Sylver only knew because A.I.D. had hacked into a broadcast that was only supposed to be shown to allies, not scavengers like Goldie and Sylver.
The Count's palace and the Watcher's stronghold had been child's play compared to The Cave, especially as it wasn't located on top of a mountain or in the middle of a lake, but inside a sheer cliff. One could not get in if it wasn't allowed. And Sylver guessed that it was equally difficult to get out again.
"And as for who I am", the man continued, "My name is Matt. I am the captain of Squad 0. Well, some call it Squad O, for 'Outcasts', but I prefer Squad 0!"
The Outcasts. What was Sylver getting herself into here? This was dangerous. Really dangerous.
The Outcasts, or Squad O, was more commonly known as the 'Suicide Squad', a group of people who went into towns and wrecked havoc, with only around three of the ten members leaving the sites of their destruction alive every time. Sylver found the name was stupid for a group of individuals, because who chose that they were expendable? Not themselves, Sylver was sure, or they wouldn't be called 'Outcasts'. But Sylver also knew that the name was fitting. They were not the most dangerous, but they were the most feared. Because losses didn't bother them. They seemed to not care who died and who lived. And that unpredictability made them a wildcard noone really wanted to go up against. Goldie had actively kept track of their movements to be able to avoid them.
"As for what happened to you... what exactly is the last thing you remember?", Matt asked, his light brown eyebrows crooked in a questioning manner.
Matt. Sylver knew his name now, and for the first time her gaze left his eyes and looked at the whole person infront of her. Checking her surroundings would come last, if she really was in The Cave it could cost her her life to look.
Matt was muscular, but rather slim, and he looked to be around 27 years old. He had short light brown, almost blonde hair, the same colour as his eyebrows, an unremarkable nose and an unremarkable mouth, sending anyone's attention straight to the eyes and eyebrows, which seemed to be the unintentional plan.
He wore a black t-shirt that showed his muscles, and light long trousers, also in black. His outfit made her wonder if she still wore her black stealthgear, but probably not. If they really had her healed, for whatever reason, then they would've had to cut it open. A shame, but it was full of bulletholes anyways.
Speaking of which...
"I was killed. Shot from all directions in the Watcher's stronghold. Which makes me wonder how I am alive still. Nobody can survive that many wounds, the bloodloss alone would've sufficed...", Sylver said, raising an eyebrow herself.
Matt was watching her face carefully, Sylver only then realised. But not because he was attracted, no, he was calculating. Trying to figure her out. Something about her didn't add up for him.
"The MUD is very efficient. They can manage everything if they are nearby. And three of their Unit had been in the Watcher's stronghold for consultations on some secret matter. They had you healed in no time.", Matt shrugged, then asked, "But there has to be something else! More details! What happened? Did you touch anything? Or hold anything?"
Sylver tried to remember. She recalled being shot in the knee, falling over, trying to reach Goldie, trying to keep the guards shooting at her rather than at Goldie... reaching forward, reaching for... for what? The stone... that jagged stone... it had called to her... she had reached forwards... had she... had she touched it?
Her head began to spin, to ache, to hurt. There was so much white, she couldn't see. Her breath grew quicker, she was losing herself. Losing... losing everything...
A hand on her face. Sylver hadn't realised, but she had closed her eyes, but she could see... see Goldie... Goldie touching her face, calling to her.
"Snap out of it!", she called, "Come back to me, come back! Snap out, snap out...", Matt said, his hand on her cheek. Sylver's gaze focused and she shook off his hand.
Goldie stood behind him. Was that possible? "Goldie...", she thought.
"Goldie?", Matt said, but Goldie's mouth moved, "Is that your name?"
Sylver felt herself slipping. A few moments ago she had been wide awake, now she felt like she was dying all over again.
"Okay, you did well, but like this we won't get anywhere... we need to be sure!", Matt said, and still Sylver saw Goldie talk, "You'll have to stay with Ass for a while!"
That made Sylver focus. "With whom??", she asked, before darkness swept over her.