Homecoming | The Punisher

6. Old Rhymes

Words: 2271

"Don't tell me you guys are taking me to a cliche dark room where you're going to torture me," LC remarked sarcastically while she stared at the concrete floor. It was a rather strange experience being carried by four grown men, each carrying one of her limbs. She felt like she was flying. 

"Don't humour me right now, LC," Lu shouted back while he led his men at the front. 

LC scowled upon hearing his loud voice. She could barely stand looking at him let alone listening to the liar. She wished he'd stop being considerate of her troubled hearing so she wouldn't have to hear his obnoxious voice. 

The men carried LC for a few more painstakingly long minutes before they dropped her down on a couch. She immediately sat up, noticing she was brought to the living room of a loft. Two of the four men stood in front of the couch while the other two stood behind. The ones in the front were the two guards she sat in the car with while the two in the back were waiting for them when they arrived. 

The two guards in front of LC appeared unimpressed with the task, each of them sprouting a bruise to their lower jaw. Lu stood in between them. His right eye was starting to turn purple. 

LC contemplated what colour her bruised eye was. Judging the fact it hurt mildly and was kind of swollen, she bet hers looked worse off than Lu's which ticked LC off. She wished she did a better job with Lu's eye. 

"You're not going to restrain me?" LC asked, eager to get their conversation over and done with. 

Lu didn't bother to accommodate LC's disability anymore. She had to focus on his lips in order to understand, making her regret not wanting to listen to his voice. "There's no need or did you forget that you work for us?" 

LC glared furiously up at Lu. "Like I had a fūcking choice!" 

Lu rolled his eyes at LC's outburst. He walked over to grab a single picture from the kitchen island and dropped it on LC's lap. Her eyes widened in horror as she studied the photo. Lu was pleased with her reaction. "You're lucky I didn't order her death. Go against this organization again and you won't be so lucky next time," he promised and then left her alone, knowing she wouldn't leave. LC had nowhere to go. 

She stared at the person in the photo with a nearly unrecognizable face due to the woman's swollen purple and red complexion. Her hands shook visibly when she went to pick the picture up. Dread and guilt consumed her, worsening her tinnitus. Her ears felt like they were going to explode, drowning out the tiny connection she had with her surroundings. 

"One batch, two batch, penny and dime," she whispered to herself. It was a simple phrase she'd mutter whenever she was at her lowest. Where she learned the rhyme, she has no clue but the seven words were her anchor to sanity. The more she repeated them, the weaker the ringing became until it returned to their normal pitch. 

Time was pushed to the sidelines as LC continued to chant the rhyme. Stability was her priority. She couldn't lose herself to the panic. She had to remain focused. So focused that she didn't notice the henchmen running out of the living room one by one until she was left alone with Lu. 

LC lost her concentration when Lu roughly grabbed her and forced her to stand up in front of him as a human shield. The deafening ringing erupted, segregating LC from the noise and sounds around her. She couldn't hear Lu as he yelled in the direction of the attacker stationed on the roof across from them. 

LC was caught off guard when Lu ripped off her face mask, exposing her disfigurements to the open air. Her eyes darted around the room, to see if anyone was looking. She wasn't aware of the one audience on the other side of the street, taken back by her face, not because of her scars but because of their familiarity.