✓ | DAWN OF US | Four (6 Underground)

➳ SIX

自由自在
(zì yóu zì zài)
something that is free and easy

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO
NI HAI TOWER, HONG KONG

YVETTE COULDN'T STOP CRYING AS HER SMALL BODY SHOOK CEASELESSLY. She was bound to the chair, duct tape plastered over her mouth with a gun pressed to her head.

     She was six years old when she came to Ni Hai Tower with her parents. Having to deal with business matters, they left her alone for an hour to play in the lobby. What they didn't know was that a heist was held that very same day, and the leader had recognized Yvette to be the daughter of the man that had sold him out once to the police in exchange of Yvette's father having his hands clean.

     In revenge, they changed their plans — instead of robbing from Ni Hai Tower, they took Yvette and held her hostage in the rooftop. One of the men held her at gunpoint as their leader, Sheng, spoke in the phone to her parents.

Yvette was terrified to death, perhaps she'd wet herself by now — but she tried not to scream or make any jerky movements that could make the man pull the trigger.

Sheng was talking angrily and rapidly in Cantonese, spitting negotiations on Yvette's father making a trade for her in exchange of money. It didn't sound too well, because Sheng was getting more upset by the second.

"I'll drop here in the water," Sheng seethed on the phone, cold eyes swiveling to narrow on Yvette. "I'll do it — I'll fucking do it!"

Her parents would never let that happen to her — they would never risk her life just to save their money.

Or at least that was what she had thought before Sheng stormed across the rooftop, grabbed her chair and dragged her towards where the pool was. Without any warning, he flipped the chair and Yvette, still bound and taped at the mouth, submerged in the water and started to sink to the bottom.

She didn't know how long she was under the water — she had tried to scream and thrash under the ropes in attempt to break free. Black spots had began dancing in her vision, her lungs burning for air as she started to weaken her efforts. And soon enough — everything vanished and she blacked out.

     When Yvette woke up, she was in a hospital where they'd pumped pool water out of her stomach. Her mother was sitting on her left, flipping through some documents, while her father was nowhere to be found. He was incredibly upset that Yvette hadn't fought back against them, ultimately leading to him nearly bankrupting his company.

     As a result, her parents made her have double lessons on kung fu and taekwondo as well. This started the chain of reactions on more and more of her parents' enemies trying to use her as leverage, leading to having her shipped out to Malaysia.

     Ni Hai Tower was a hellhole Yvette never planned on going back to — at least not until their next mission.

PRESENT
CALIFORNIA DESERT

"You sure you'll be okay?" One murmured as they all grabbed their bags and headed out toward a plane. He kept his voice low so nobody else could hear him as he stopped her by the entrance.

Yvette rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine — that was fifteen years ago." She paused to grin cheekily at him. "Why are you so nice? You're fucking scaring me."

One snorted and slid his sunglasses on his face. "I'm not nice — I just want to make sure everything goes accordingly to plan tomorrow."

"Okay," she called out teasingly as they all started to walk toward the plane, "whatever you say."