Left for Dead

08

Sunshine was surprised she wasn't tortured, other than the fasting. They only fed her when they came to ask more questions, and the PowerPup had varying doses of the truth drug in it.

Ghoul still wore her wrist cuff, though she'd never seen him try to use it. He probably had tried, and failed. Yes, it worked off the muscle movements in her wrist & hand, but only because a sensor in her head helped it read those tiny hints.

After four days, Sunshine stayed up after Ghoul's nightly questioning. She counted out the passing time by humming old songs with half-forgotten words, making sure Ghoul would be soundly asleep above her.

Then she activated the call button on her sensor. As luck would have it, Ghoul had taken the cuff off for the night & left it on the table next to his bed. It was no trouble for it to reshape itself and flow down the table leg & right under Ghoul's door.

The hall was empty, and it made it to Mikey's room totally fine. Could she wake him & have him understand what was happening? Or should she put the cuff on his table & wait for him to notice it? Ghoul might come peeking around for it if Mikey was feeling especially oblivious.

Then it came to her.

The cuff very carefully, very gently, formed itself around Mikey's left wrist, exactly where it always sat on her. Unlike Ghoul, who must have been very uncomfortable wearing it, Sunshine let the cuff form to fit Mikey.

She left her sensor active, so she would know when he woke up and found it, and then she dropped into a restless sleep.

"What?" Mid-stretch, Mikey caught the shine of the cuff before he felt it, it fit so well on him. He studied it for a long moment. It was immediately familiar, he just needed to work out how Sunshine's most closely guarded possession came to be wrapped around his wrist while she was MIA. "Sam?" Mikey whispered. "What does this mean?"

There was a pause, then the cuff started vibrating. Mikey's eyebrows shot up as the vibration cut off, then started again, then cut off - it was spelling out SOS, he didn't need to hear the whole pattern.

"You need help."

Buzz buzz.

"Two for yes?"

Buzz buzz.

"We need to talk about lying by omission at some point, this seems like a big one."

Buzz.

Mikey choked off a laugh. "Dammit, Sam, does Better Living have you?"

Buzz.

"It's rebels?"

Buzz buzz.

Mikey thought about that for a moment.

"At the Nest?"

Buzz.

"Farther?"

Buzz.

"Closer."

Buzz buzz.

Mikey shut his eyes. "...You came exactly when you said you would, didn't you?" He flinched when the cuff buzzed the affirmative. "No. The guys would never. They're not like that. Why would they?"

SOS.

"You're here."

Buzz buzz.

Mikey sat in silence for a very long moment, then grabbed his gun. Still barefoot in his pajamas, he moved into the main room, face set.

Jet was serenely sipping coffee at the diner counter, Poison & Ghoul doing the same in separate booths, trying to wake up. Just another normal day with the guys, the way it always had been. Familiar, familial.