And When The Walls Come Down

Make An Impression

He left me, but I could still feel the touch of his skin against mine, lingering,  just like all the memories of him did.

I heard him hush Ariadna, and I was overcome with the sudden urge to take the blindfold off, I couldn't stand not seeing what was happening around me.

Digging my nails into my palms to ground me, I mentally counted backwards from ten and strained my ears to hear their conversation, wondering just what he was saying to her.

By the sound of things, she was having a panic attack, and he was calming her down. His voice was velvet, and I listened, enthralled as always, as he urged her to breathe with him. I could make out the sounds of her quiet whining, but she was actually listening to him, she was calming down, and I held my breath, wondering what was running through his mind at the very moment.

///

"You can take your blindfolds off now. I would like you all to undress, we will provide you with a red jumpsuit like ours, so that you can be more comfortable." Berlin called out, not even having to raise his voice as he walked through the middle of the two groups we'd formed.

I had been the lucky one who'd known this was coming, so I had dressed for the occasion. Sue me, I was both pragmatic and vain. Most of the other hostages were looking a bit ill, and I noted, with a mental snort, the amount of ratty and stained, (seriously, ew) washed out underwear. Clearly nobody had expected that they'd be forced to undress in front of their coworkers and bosses today.

This hadn't been the way I'd wanted to undress in front of Berlin, but a girl had to work with what she was given. I very much wanted him to watch me, see if he still considered me the child he'd called me all those years ago.

I slowly unzipped my skirt, the sound drowned out by the sobs and whimpers of the other hostages as they too, began to undress, unwilling to provoke the one in charge. Berlin had been facing the other direction, but by the time I was left in just my matching black bra, underwear and garters, he turned back to me.

His face was completely unreadable, and he didn't even look at me the way I had been hoping he would, all he did was shove the jumpsuit in my hand, walking away and not even sparing a glance back.

I suddenly felt very idiotic, standing there in my expensive, matching underwear.

So much for trying to make an impression.

He turned back to Arturo, listening with an eyebrow raised, as the man simpered and pleaded for him to think of those who had medical conditions, the most vulnerable in our midst, but all I could think of was how hungry I suddenly was. The nerves tended to do that to me. I had skipped breakfast, a fact that I was already beginning to regret very much.

I knew what was coming next, and even though the Professor had assured us that everything would go according to his plan, I couldn't help but worry. I put on the red jumpsuit, and sat patiently as we waited for our next instructions. Of course, everything turned out as planned, Alison Parker's call to the radio station was heard just in time, and the planned attack by part of the police was halted right in its tracks.

We were led back to the lobby, while Nairobi took with her those who would be working the machines, and thus, they began printing our money, all two thousand four hundred billion euros of it.

///

The food was, frankly, disgusting, and I wondered if my dear teammates were eating better than I was.

Surely, they must have at least access to better drinks, namely, the coffee upstairs. It was also difficult keeping said food down when I was being the unwilling participant in a lover's quarrel, and I really did not want to think about the fact that Monica was actually pregnant with Arturo's baby.