[For Jason] Returning Jackals

[ms_legendary]

My name is Nikita. Seven years ago I was taken off of Death Row and trained to be an assassin by a covert unit of the government called Division. Four years ago, I escaped and I've been hunted ever since. I thought I'd seen everything, every evil the most depraved human minds could dream up. I was wrong...

"Sleep well and dream of large women," Nikita wheezes, out of breath when she finally drops to a walk almost a mile from where she left the boy, Finnick. It's been circling in her head, along with manic laughter and the Gilligan's Island theme song since the other boy released her wrist. Danger Will Robinson, Doctor Who and Lost in Space have all flashed while she ran, too, which makes her wonder just what the hell Amanda or Percy put into this cocktail or Brandt, whichever one's got her.

She thinks it has to be Amanda. Percy wouldn't drug her. He'd want her lucid for his stupid monologuing. Brandt wouldn't want her hallucinating, so it'd be something to make her pliant, maybe, but he wants her to hurt. Amanda's the only one who likes to torture like this. Breaking the mind open like a geode so the glittering secrets come spilling out.

Well she can't have hers. Amanda can't have her secrets, she can't touch Michael and Birkhoff and Alex and Ryan and Sean and Owen. She can't. Nikita's locked them and the black boxes all up behind walls as impenetrable as Birkhoff's firewalls. They're safe and Nikita will run and fight and scream and claw until she dies.

But first, she needs to take her bearings and get something to drink. There's a stream, it flows clear. In a dream, that should mean safety. If this place is real, if they're coming after her, it's a good place for an ambush. She's so thirsty, her head hurts so much. Her ribs want to stab out her lungs, but she's focused on staying alive and keeping her secrets, so she's not thinking about...no, she's not thinking about Michael.

Right now, shes going stay here behind this rock and watch for pursuit. Rest a few minutes, catch her breath, try not to pass out again, and then get some water...

Comments

[prodigaljaybird]

Jason gives her a look that's every bit as stubborn as the one she's wearing. "I'm not giving you dysentery," he says, pulling a gourd from his waist. He opens it and takes a long drink of water, letting her see him swallow.

"See? It's safe." Shuffling forward it, he holds it near her mouth.

[ms_legendary]

You look thirsty, soldier. She's so thirsty she could cry, so bruised inside and out, so lost, she has more reasons to cry than not to, except that she's Nikita.

There's a heartbeat where she thinks she might refuse, or sip and spit it in his face, but she can smell it (funny, right? water doesn't smell like much, until it feels like you'll die if you don't drink). He drank it, it's probably safe, unless it's whatever has a trained killer acting like a boy scout, but even if it is, she can get her own after he lets her loose.

Her expression softens, eyes close again, but just for a second, a nod that's just the barest tip of her head and lashes. "Please." It's a polite request, not a plea. Just a simple acknowledgment that he's going to have to do it for her with her hands bound.

[prodigaljaybird]

Nodding, Jason crouches slowly in front of her, tipping the gourd against her lips with care until he's given her a mouthful. One, and then another. When she swallows, he touches his fingers to her bound wrist and counts the beats.

Well enough to be released. He wishes he could say it was a relief.

"If I untie you," he says, "are you gonna hurt anybody else?" Blue eyes turn accusing. "Finnick's having a baby."

[ms_legendary]

Finnick. The tall boy with eyes like Birkhoff and Michael. She feels a bang in her chest, relief, that she hadn't hurt him worse than she did. It might be a lie, a trick of the dream, Amanda telling her she doesn't want to hurt anyone, but Nikita doesn't care. She's glad she didn't take a child's father away today, and she does nothing to hide the relief of that in her eyes.

"If you untie me and let me go, I won't hurt anyone who doesn't try to hurt me," she answers back, but doesn't tell him that leaving Finnick where she could hurt him was his bad choice. It's not going to encourage him to let her go. "I go home, you don't have to worry about me, everybody wins."

[prodigaljaybird]

"You can't go home." Jason's expression is unhappy when he pulls back, but she'll figure it out herself soon enough. Everybody does once they've run the length of the island and never gotten further than the ocean.

Still, he releases a batarang from his gauntlet, slicing neatly through the ropes that bind her feet first, then through the bandages as well. "You'll see."

[ms_legendary]

"That's what they said about Division. No one could get out." Nikita rotates her feet, restoring circulation (even though he'd been careful not to cut it off completely in tying them) and stretching stressed muscles. "No one ever had."

She lifts her head and meets the boy's gaze with the full force of her own, the determination to get back home. "I was the first. I found my way out of the first hole they threw me in. I'll find my way out of here, too."

[prodigaljaybird]

Jason's seen that fire before. It'll serve her as well as it has the rest on this island, lend her fists an extra strength with which to rail against the cruelty of this place, and little else.

"You never fought magic," he says simply, and cuts the binding on her wrists.

[ms_legendary]

"Magic's never fought me."

Her eyes are dark and steady on his, confidence restored with the freedom of movement. There's no threat there, not for him. He's setting her free. And to prove it, she waits for him to cut her shoulders loose, instead of reaching for her knife to do it herself.