*The Chronicles of F.R.E.E. Atania's Knight - Raquel Festow* Part 1

Chapter 30 - The Rescue

*Ruth Watson POV*

I woke up, slowly, and forced my eyes to flutter open. The tiny, dim room I was in looked like an old office cupboard in a school building. The ceiling was rock wool square tiles, some of them cracked and many parts snapped off. I was laying on the filthy and cold floor and in the corner opposite me, there was another someone hunched up, hugging their knees to them, and whispering to themselves.
"Rebecca?" I quietly called out to them.
Her head snapped round and her eyes were wide in surprise. She scrambled over and flung her arms around me, holding me close with her hand tangled in my hair.
"Thank fuck for that! Axorqi kria, Goaxaw!" She mumbled into my hair, before pulling me back and looking over me. "What have they done to you? Did they hurt you?" Her face turned angry and concerned.
"I'm fine. I think they just put us to sleep." I said, rubbing my shoulder where I had felt a sharp pain before losing conciousness.
Rebecca rubbed her neck too. "What did they stab us with?"
"A syringe most likely. Do you think you managed to summon Rhianna and Ruby?" I asked.
Rebecca nodded. "Yes, it got to them. Thing is, I doubt they'll be able to find us now. Our swords are the ones that are linked, and they're currently-"
"On the floor in the alleyway..." I whispered, slowly. "Oh shit."
"Mmmmm." Rebecca responded, raising her eyebrows at me. "Yes, oh shit. They won't be able to find us without them."
I put my face in my hands. "What do we do?"
Rebecca put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. "We can still fight. Although I haven't had to use unarmed combat since Rhianna decided to attack you. And before then, it was against you."
"We're such a loving family, aren't we?" I mused, smiling slightly.
Rebecca let out a small chuckle. "Yeah. No one loves me it seems."
"That's because it's best left to Natalia." I said, tapping her nose with my finger on every word, mockingly.
She slapped my hand away with a brief annoyed look before smirking. "Yes, well. They've taken our watches too."
I slapped my hand around my wrist, realising she was right and groaned. "They don't work anyway, so what was the point?"
Rebecca shrugged and looked at the door. She got to her feet slowly, wavering a little and tried the handle. "It won't move. Where are we?" She hissed, looking around the tiny room.
"It reminds me of the storage cupboard in my old school where they kept the books and spare pens. But I have no idea where this actually is without seeing outside." I mumbled, getting slowly to my feet too.
"School?" Rebecca asked.
"I'm not going into that now." I said, lowly. "We have bigger things to deal with." I placed my hand on the door. "It's a fire door, that means it has metal in the middle of it so it won't break down easily. Worth a go though, this is the only..." I trailed off as I looked up at the ceiling. A sly smirk crossed my mouth. "Bingo." I whispered.
Rebecca was watching me, bemused. "What?" She whispered, looking up at the ceiling too.
"These ceilings have a small crawling space for ventilation and electrical wiring. It would be too dangerous for us to actually crawl into there, we'd just fall through the tiles, and the walls are too thin to balance along, but we can make them think we have managed it and escaped..." I hissed my plan to Rebecca who didn't understand a word of it. I rolled my eyes and pushed her aside, gently, to measure the gap between the door and the wall behind it to see if it would be wide enough for us to hide behind when our kidnappers came to check the room. It was... just about. We would have to breathe in.
I turned back and gave her my sly smirk again, walking to the wall. "Give me a boost," I said quietly to her.
She linked her hands together and I put my foot on them before she lifted me up slowly and I moved the ceiling tile, very gingerly. I now needed something to distract their attention away from the room and poked my head up through the hole, praying there were no spiders. I caught sight of a nail and reached over to pick it up. I threw it as far as I could before jumping off Rebecca, and pulling her behind the door, putting a finger to my lips.
Sure enough, the door opened and someone looked in.
"The little shits!" We heard a man whisper. "Those fuckers have escaped! They've got out through the ceiling! Search for them!" He called out behind him and pulled the door behind him as he left, but, thankfully, it didn't shut.
I breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Rebecca. She gave me an impressed wink and went to look between the gap in the door. She held up her finger meaning there was someone still there. I shifted to have a look, but Rebecca opened the door wider, as quietly as she could, glancing around her as she did so, before leaping at him and snapping his neck. She pulled his body into the cupboard with us and searched him.
"Only a sword, no daggers or anything." Rebecca muttered quietly.
I reached into his trouser pockets and pulled out a phone. Putting it into my own pocket after turning it off, I then stood up straight and looked back out of the door. The coast was now clear enough for us to edge our way out.
Cautiously, we edged our way out of the cupboard, looking around a disused office room full of desks and old computer chairs. I tapped Rebecca's shoulder and pointed to a door off to the right of us and she nodded, creeping silently towards it first, as she had the only weapon between us.
"And where do you think you're going?!" Came a venomous voice behind us.
We both started and Rebecca pushed me behind her as she moved forward to attack him. Someone grabbed me from behind though and clamped their sweaty hand over my mouth. I thrashed around trying to break free of their hold, when I felt something Sharp pointing into my back. My eyes widened and I froze.
"I'd stay very still if I were you." The male whispered into my ear, his cheek pressed against mine in a sickeningly encroaching way.
I couldn't do anything but watch Rebecca valiently fight two men before getting grabbed from behind and pinned to the floor.
"Tie them up, this time! I can't believe you left them able to move about, unattended. You fucking idiots!" Said the first man.
I finally looked at the man . To my horror, he was dressed as a policeman. He had the walkie-talkie on his bullet proof vest, handcuffs hanging from his belt, but what made me the most nervous, was the taser and pepper spray.
The man who had hold of me, chuckled, and dug the object he had deeper into my back.
"That's right, love. We're not all who we seem." He hissed in my ear, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end in disgust.
Rebecca was yanked up to her feet by her hair and punched in the stomach. I also felt the blow, and bent at the waist from the pain, grimacing.
"How comes there's only two of you, huh?" The first man spat as me, gripping my chin and pulling my face towards him. "Where are the rest of you?"
I didn't answer, just spat in his face. He grunted and looked at me, furiously, while he wiped my saliva off his cheek. His expression then changed to one of amusement.
"Go and tie that one up," he ordered the others, calmly. "I'm going to have some fun with this one, first."
Rebecca struggled against the men holding her, calling out for me and threatening the men surrounding us.
Then fake policeman watched her getting dragged away for a moment before looking at me.
"You're both feisty little girls, I'll give you that." He smirked, grabbing my cheeks again and squishing my face. "Today was the wrong day to skip school, you know."
"What do you want?!" I snapped, my voice muffled through my squished lips.
"Well, there's a lot I can just take from you, rather than asking your permission, darling." He drawled, forcing my face away and sticking his nose in my hair.
The man holding me still chuckled again, tightening his grip.
"She's got a fine body, don't she?" He sneered.
The first man stepped away from me, pulling out his handcuffs. "Put those on her, Mick." He ordered.
Mick took them and strapped them around my wrists, uncomfortably tight, so they were cutting into my skin.
"Where to?" He asked the first man.
"I'll take her, you go check that they've tied the other one up properly." The man said, gripping my elbow, tightly, and dragging me away.
He pulled me down a corridor that was stained yellow in patches and through a door to the left, throwing me to the floor. I landed face down, rolling over onto my back to glare at him while he shut the door behind him and removed his bullet proof vest, now wearing a short sleeve black t shirt. He was very fit and muscly. He removed his Police hat and revealed thick brown hair over his dark eyes. Putting them both on a table to the side, he started to approach me, slowly, casting his eyes all over me.
I tried to move away but, with my arms in the tight handcuffs, I couldn't move very far before he reached me. He crawled on top of me, forcing my legs apart with his knees, and pressing himself against me. I started panicking, thrashing my legs around, desperate to hurt him or get away, before he clamped his hand over my throat, pinning me to the floor, and pulled out a dagger from the back of his trousers. He pushed the tip of the blade hard into my chin, piercing the skin and drawing blood.
I hissed in the pain, but didn't cry out. I just glared at him. He pushed further in and I felt the blade tear through my muscle and into my mouth, just under my tongue, filling my mouth with blood. I started to cough and splutter as the blood tried to go down my throat. He chortled at my struggling.
"You can't get away, bitch!" He snarled, inching his face closer to mine.
An ear piercing scream came from somewhere close by and we both looked at the door. The man started to laugh.
"Sounds like your sister is also getting what she deserves. You fuckers really thought we wouldn't come to Earth? You're more stupid that we thought. We've spent decades preparing this Realm for the taking. Slowly and surely, we've reduced their weaponry by at least seventy percent. Just a few more left over and we'll have it for our own!" He hissed into my ear, licking my earlobe.
I shuddered. "You're delusional!" I spat, blood spraying from my mouth.
He yanked the blade out of my chin and I cried out from the pain and surprise. He rolled me onto my side with his foot and pushed down on my ribs, slowly applying pressure. I grimaced and clenched my teeth, staying as still as I could so I didn't make him push down suddenly.
"This Realm really is amazing, you know. I can't wait to show it to Tiana. We just need to work out why the Portal Watches don't work after arriving here anymore." He drawled. "You seem to have realised this too. You're stuck here like us, aren't you?"
I didn't answer. I kept my mouth and eyes shut. I felt the pressure bear down on me as he leaned down to whisper at me.
"And you have no way of getting out of here. You and I are going to spend some quality time getting to know all about each other..." He booted me so I rolled away from him, stopping on my back and he got on top of me again. He held the dagger out and pushed it into my ribs.
But before he could pierce the skin, the door burst open and he was kicked off me. A huge, red glowing blade I recognised very well was plunged deep into his chest then wrenched upwards. His chest was split open with sickening cracking and crunching.
Rhianna held out her hand to me but I shook my head.
"I have handcuffs on," I spluttered through the blood that was still filling my mouth.
She tutted, impatiently and wrenched me up to my feet, looking at the handcuffs that were cutting painfully into my wrists.
"How the fuck do these work?!" She snarled as she tried to pull them off, making me cry out from the pain.
"Just leave them on! Lets go!" I snapped at her, blood dribbling down my chin.
We ran out of the room and I tried to follow Rhianna back down the corridor, but was starting to get light headed from hunger and loss of blood. I staggered over and fell to the ground, grunting as I landed. Rhianna stopped and turned back to me, giving me a green potion in a tiny phial she pulled from her belt. I forced myself to swallow it and felt the warm sensation on my chin as it healed.
"Red..." I murmured weakly.
She gave me a red potion too and I felt the energy course through me. I sighed happily and rolled to my back before leaping up to my feet.
"Ahhh, that's better!" I breathed, grinning at Rhianna. "You have good timing!"
She rolled her eyes at me and head off again. I ran behind her and we reached the same room we had come out to when we escaped the cupboard. I saw our Earth team members fighting the men of the Order, along with our friends from Astrovia. I was overwhelmed with gratitude for them. Rhianna wasted no time in storming into the fray and doing what she did best, tearing people apart one by one. I tried to see a way through to get to the other side, when Darren appeared through a doorway, looking panicked. He saw me and ran over to me, dodging his way through the fighting around him.
"You need to come, quickly!" He shouted over the noise, hooking his hand around my elbow and leading me safely through back to the door he had just come through. He stopped at a door and flung it open.
Natalia was clinging to Rebecca who was thrashing around, trying to break free from her grip. She was screaming in a different language at everyone in a panic and Natalia was desperately trying to calm her down, keeping her voice soothing even though she was looking the complete opposite.
Natalia noticed me and screamed out. "Ruth, please! She doesn't recognise anyone!"
My stomach flipped and I ran over, even though my arms were still in handcuffs, getting into Rebecca's line of sight. She froze as soon as she saw me, staring at me in horror.
I slowly took a step forward. "It's ok, Rebecca. It's alright."
Natalia loosened her grip as Rebecca had stopped trying to get away and pulled back to look at her. Rebecca couldn't take her eyes off me. She started shaking her head and taking slow steps back away from me.
"Ri. Ri! RI!" She screamed at me, wringing her hands together and started to back away.
I didn't know how to respond. I knew she was speaking in Neonian, but didn't understand the language. It didn't help that my arms were still tied behind my back, so all I could do was step towards her, looking like a mirror image prisoner to her. God knows what was going through her head as she stared at me, her body shaking and her face stuck in permanent terror.
"Can someone get me out of these fucking things please?!" I snarled, looking around at Darren, Natalia and Fabian who were standing there anxiously watching. Darren nodded and ran out of the room while I turned my attention back to Rebecca. "Please, Rebecca. It's me. It's Ruth. And there's Natalia. We're here for you."
I tried to keep my voice calm and soothing, but Rebecca wasn't understanding me.
"Do we have anyone here that speaks Neonian?" I asked Natalia, desperately.
Her eyes suddenly widened. "Jarod's here, I'll get him!" She ran out and there was only Fabian and I left with Rebecca.
"Fabian, are you able to see her Aura?" I called out to him.
"Iez." He replied, nodding his head once, looking worried.
"How's it looking?" I asked, taking a step away from Rebecca until someone else gets here. She was whimpering and hugging herself in fear, unable to tear her eyes away from me, mumbling in Neonian to herself.
"It's almost all gone, the patches that are missing have grown so big now. We need to help her mend her Aura!" He cried, tears falling as he looked at Rebecca.
Darren burst into the room holding a key, closely followed by Natalia, Jarod and two men. Rebecca saw Jarod and ran to him, screaming at him.
"RI! KRIA GOAXAW FALANGAN GIA?" She screamed at the top of her voice, clutching at his shirt and shaking him.
"Mlowin Rebecca. Mlowin!" He said, tears forming in his eyes as he reached his arms around her and pulled her into a hug. She wailed into his chest, burying her face into his shirt, shaking even more.
The two men looked at each other in surprise then stared at me, their lips parted and eyes wide.
Darren finally freed me and I quickly rubbed my wrists, approaching Jarod and Rebecca.
"What's she saying?" I asked, feeling so worried about her, I felt sick.
"She... She's asking for her father..." He said quietly.
I froze. There was a collective gasp from the door and I noticed everyone else standing there watching us.
I gulped, trying to force down my heart that had lodged itself in my throat. "Her... Father?"
He nodded grimly and planted a kiss on Rebecca's head. Natalia let out a sob as she clamped her hand around her mouth. The two unknown men, however, shifted closer to Jarod and Rebecca, placing a hand each on Jarod's shoulders, supportively, looking torn and upset.
"Watson?"
I looked round and Raquel was standing there with Hunter. She took a step towards me.
"Where are your swords?" She asked, seriously.
"In London. Down an alley. Why?"
"We need to get her Aura back. The only way to do that is to remove the Aura from her sword."
I nodded but rolled my eyes. "Yeah, ok. Good idea, but no one will be able to pick it up and I really don't think she's in a good enough state to find her sword in the streets of London. She's thinking she's about twelve!" I explained quickly.
"The relapse will pass but we have to be with her sword as soon as possible!" Raquel said, urgently. She marched over to Rebecca and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Texinous vaaqis aupa graax!" She said slowly, with her eyes closed.
Rebecca froze for a moment, then her arms fell limp by her sides and her body straightening upright to attention.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Natalia screamed at her, her eyes wide in horror, fighting against Clara who was holding her back.
"Natalia, please don't panic. I have only turned her green until we get to her sword. This is only to calm her down. Once we're there, I'll be able to repair her Aura and return her to normal." Raquel was talking so calmly amongst the chaos, it was quite amazing. She was the only one who looked like she had everything under control.
She led the way out of the room, Rebecca following behind her silently with her face blank as if she was sleepwalking. Rhianna burst out laughing.
"Oh please, let her keep her that way. That's a vast improvement!" She chortled.
I glared at her. "You wait until you push Raquel to the point where she does it to you!" I snapped and led the rest of the troop out.
We left the building and I cast a glance back. It was an abandoned office building in the middle of an industrial estate by the Thames, but not quite in London.
"Meta. Sanford, Fry, Wang. Take everyone else back to Dean's Cafe and wait for us there." I ordered.
"You're not sending away my girls! They're coming with me." Rhianna complained.
"I'm staying too." Darren said.
I spun round to face them all. "Only Doppelgängers are to come with us! The rest, including Natalia and Darren will head back to the cafe, right NOW!" I said in a final tone.
My friends from Astrovia looked shocked at the way I was acting.
"Ruth, please let me come with you." Natalia begged.
"No, Natalia. We need you back there, safe. We will let you know when we're on our way back, I promise. I think this is best just the five of us." I explained, briefly.
The truth was, I didn't want any distractions nor needed them to give their opinions as it was obviously going to get messy with the five of us alone.
Natalia hung her head, but nodded. Everyone, except Rhianna's groupies, turned to head back.
"You too, girls." Rhianna said, defeatedly.
They looked shocked for a moment, but then turned and head back. I turned to Rhianna.
"Thank you." I whispered.
"I think this makes us even." She muttered back.
"Nope." I said, popping the P. "I still owe you my life."
"Oh yeah, forgot about that one." Rhianna's face made a crooked smile. "So what's the plan?"
I led the group towards the train station. "We're going to collect mine and Rebecca's swords. We will then fix Rebecca's Aura, and all will return to normal... I hope." I added, wincing a little at the thought of it not working out.