Sweet Felony

Swedish Fish and Oreos

Aru was pissed.

Two days ago, their raid on the armory had failed miserably; she knew that. All because of four dumb kids.

She was sitting in her room, positively strangling her stress ball she kept under her bed. Her nose was still sore from getting hit by that stupid wooden shield, but she was lucky to not have broken it.

Her father had been livid, but not as mad as she'd feared he'd been. He looked... happy that his daughters were alive. Was happy the right word? Content with the fact? Relieved?

Whatever the case, he'd still been disappointed. Most of the gang had escaped safely and some had been put in the hospital with various excuses for their injuries, from falling from a ladder to getting into a street brawl. At least no one claimed to have been attacked by a rabid tiger.

At least Aru and the Ghatakas had a consolation prize— that Alu boy they'd taken prisoner. He was currently locked up in the Shah's basement, handcuffed as well as duct-taped to a chair. Under different circumstances, Aru might've felt a little sorry for him, but then again, he'd hit her in the face with a shield. One touch to her nose was all it took for any sense of sympathy in Aru's head to be quickly shut down.

She was forbidden from speaking to him yet, but a few times she'd given him food— not much, just bread, water, and maybe an apple here and there if her father was feeling generous.

No word from the Alu gang, either. No one had busted down their door, guns blazing, and tried to free the boy, so Aru reasoned that either they were biding their time or that they believed that the boy was dead.

Someone knocked on her door. It opened, and Suyodhana stepped in.

"Aru," he said. "Kara and I are going to meet at Reaper's house. While we're gone, how about you interrogate the hostage? He's given me nothing so far, so I'll let you give it a shot."

"Um, okay," Aru said, silently wondering why her father would trust her with this job. "What do you want me to ask?"

"Find out about as much of the Alu gang as you can. Here-" he tossed her a small black object. "This should help."

Aru studied it in her hand. "A taser gun?"

Suyodhana shrugged. "Whatever is necessary. This boy is a stubborn one."

With that, he left the room. Aru got up, taking her stress ball and stuffing it into the kangaroo pocket of her hoodie, along with the taser and a few packets of Swedish Fish she kept hidden in her desk drawer. She didn't plan to actually use the taser on him, and now that she knew her father had, a little part of her felt sorry for the boy, despite her still-sore nose.

After she saw her father's car pull out of the driveway, she walked down to the kitchen, putting her knife back in her shoe, in case he tried to attack her. Then she grabbed a sleeve of Oreos and walked down the stairs into the basement.

The keys to the 'cell', if you could call it that (it was really a storage room that was currently completely empty), hung on a hook right next to the door. Aru took them and quietly unlocked it, then slipped inside.

The boy appeared to be sleeping. His head rested against his chest, but still Aru was wary. Her father had taught her to always be on guard.

"Hello?" She called, not daring to be within five feet of him, in case he tried to attack. She did not fancy getting struck with that chair like she'd seen in movies.

The boy didn't move, so she took out her stress ball and threw it at his head. It bounced off, but it got him to look up in surprise, confirming Aru's suspicion that he wasn't actually asleep.