. • .° • *. •. .
Three dead, two wounded.
Oh— Nevermind.
Four dead, one wounded.
Ni'teya was moving at a staggering pace, her only means of weaponry being the pathetically small knife she'd stolen from Spider as he'd complied to let her loose. There wouldn't have been much use in fighting her and Spider knew that, after all, he'd seen the look in her eyes. Unsurprisingly enough, it was the look he knew was only conceivable when Lo'ak was involved in something.
Removing the knife from another guard's leg, she finally made it to the room she'd been looking for; The room, nay, cage she'd been trapped in for the passed month, the one she remembered had her bow, her knives and her arrows in. Quaritch had made sure she could see them all splayed out on the floor or leant against the farthest wall away from her as because she was chained, there was no way she could've gotten to them directly.
Five dead.
In terms of killing, she had no morals left in her. In her unblocked mind, as she walked the long corridors of the ship, anyone who blocked her path wasn't going to block it for long. Be it a shorter Sky-Person or one of those taller fakes, Ni'teya would make sure she got to them before they had any time at all to react to her presence. She'd had plenty of opportunities along the way to grab hold of one of her victim's guns, which would've given her the upper hand in a large number of ways. She liked the amount of stealth the knife provided her, though.
Six dead.
With her bow and her arrows secured in the place that they fit best, Ni'teya made her way, violently, towards where she knew Quaritch was, simply by the sound of blasting, shooting and the occasional scream, which she considered mightily annoying most of the time.
This time, all three were useful.
.
"Did any of you see where he went?" His voice was loud, ragged. Quaritch was clearly agitated. Ni'teya didn't care for the reasoning, though she guessed it could only mean one thing: Jake was not dead yet.
"Yes sir. The East-wing, sir." One of his much-too-committed guards informed him, raising a flattened hand to his forehead each time he addressed his boss as 'sir'.
Almost gagging, Ni'teya edged closer on the raised ledge she was crouched on above them all. She could see three guards surrounding Quaritch, two guards down, wounded or dead, but no sign of any of her people. No Lo'ak, no Jake, no nobody. Who she did see enter the scene though, was Spider.
He looked anxious. — 'Rightly so.' Ni'teya thought as she prepared for what was about to happen, knowing what Spider had to tell his already angry father, if you could even call him that.
"Ah! There you are, son." Quaritch placed a hand on Spider's shoulder firmly. "Jake's gone around to the East side of the ship, so why don't you go back to where you where and get Ni'teya, bring her out here with you and we can pull another one of these 'I got your kid''s on the sucker. Sound good?" He didn't sound like he was exactly asking, that's for sure. Quaritch didn't even bother to look down at his son as he thought he'd merely comply. If he had, he'd have spotted Spider's guilty eyes long before he'd started suggesting the impossible.
After a pause, Spider let out a long, quiet "Uhhhhm—", raising his arm to scratch the back of his head.
'I knew he had flees' Ni'teya thought, almost laughing aloud at what she was witnessing.
As Quaritch heard, he checked again. "Miles?"
"I— Uhm."
"Miles?" He repeated, slowly realizing what his son's reaction meant. He waited a moment, almost as if he was waiting for Spider to confess what he already knew to him before he had to ask it himself. — "Where is she, Miles?"
Another long silence. Ni'teya could practically hear Spider's heart beat as well as visibly see his hairs stand up on his arms.
The boy gulped. "...She uhm." He tried to speak, unable to due to the stare he knew he was receiving. "... I lost her. She's gone." He finally confessed, peeking up at the man in front of him.
"You... Lost her? She's gone? — Gone where?!" He started to raise his voice more.
"U— Uhm..."
The second Spider spoke, or at least attempted to, a flash of colour caught his attention. More importantly perhaps, it caught Quaritch's attention. That flash of colour turned out to be green, deriving from Ni'teya's handcrafted and specifically chosen feather-tipped arrows.
Ni'teya could see the cogs turn inside of Quaritch's head. It amused her most ardently.
"You..." The man attempted to take charge of the situation even though his confidence had more or less disappeared. "You, you and you go get Sully." He succeeded, pointing at all three guards that were still crowding him. They immediately left, following orders and heading to the eastern side of the ship.
Then, he made a mistake.
He turned his back from Spider as well as the arrow, allowing Ni'teya to slip right into place.
"He—" Spider tried to struggle, making the girl have to physically muzzle him, blocking any sound from escaping from his mouth. But, it was too late for that; Quaritch had heard the slight squeak he'd let out. He turned, finding exactly who he'd hoped wouldn't be there.
Ni'teya wasted no time, she held her hunting knife steady to Spider's throat, pulling his head upwards so that Quaritch could see everything. "Where is he." She demanded rather than asked.
Quaritch started to step forward, meaning Ni'teya had to push the knife further into the boy's neck. "Hey! Don't even try it! Tell me where he is. Now! Or I'll do it." She threatened, keeping her voice as steady as she could despite the thoughts itching in her mind.
The man held two hands out in front of him, clearly trying to ease the girl somehow. "I'd tell you, I— Put down the knife, kid."
"Or else what?! You'll kill me?! Tough luck, you've already tried that and you've clearly done a shit job at it! If you don't tell me where he is, I'll—"
"I can guess where he is." He interrupted her. This time, his voice wasn't shaky. Instead, it was clear and direct. "I sent my guards on the boy a while back. He's weak, isn't he? If I had to pinpoint him, I'd tell you that he was dead."
Ni'teya pushed the knife in deeper, causing Spider to bleed a little. "Liar!" She yelled, watching as the man stepped forwards.
"He's probably lying deceased somewhere on this ship..." He spoke mercilessly, gaining.
Despite holding her position well, the girl's head started to spin. The words were getting to her. The month she'd endured, the mental state she'd acquired were still prominent, still weighing her down, meaning Quaritch's words stung.
"...Too far past the point of revival." He smiled.
Did he not care about his son's life? The girl thought. If he did at all, it was possible that he wouldn't have gone so far with whatever he was doing. But, that assumption was far from true. The man was playing a game; A risky one at that. He wanted to make the girl sweat, to question her goals and her ability. He wanted to bring back the girl he'd witnessed deteriorate in front of him, to make it impossible for her to go through with what he knew she was capable of; Killing.
But, inevitably, he made his second mistake. Some would even say; His last.
The man chuckled. "In fact!" He laughed again, obviously finding amusement in his own cockiness. "I'd put my life on that fact!" He said, flailing his arms out to his sides as if he imitate his surrender.
Ni'teya's hand was visibly clenched, shaking in it's stead. Spider didn't dare whisper anything to her in case of setting her off and making her state even worse. She looked down at the floor in front of her, then at her own arm, the knife she was holding. She could see herself shake, making her feel both angry and pathetic that she'd let him get to her once again.
Then, she jumped.
A bang sounded; A shot. It echoed throughout the small area where they were located, bouncing off of the metal walls and floors, making it sound much louder than it was in reality.
Ni'teya's head darted up, looking around to spot what had happened in that split second, landing her eyes directly in front of her. She could see Quaritch stood still, looking down at his own stomach.
The red that had once terrified her beyond belief didn't seem at all so bad in that moment. In fact, she welcomed it.
Quaritch was bleeding badly.
She didn't lower her knife, instead she watched as Quaritch started to clutch his side, attempting to stop the blood, hyperventilating as he did so. She could've laughed, but she didn't have the strength to.
She could hear something else too. Running, it seemed. She didn't check to spot what it was; She was too busy watching the man she had wanted to see suffer so much for so long do just that; Suffer.
Unfortunately but at the same time fortunately, she felt something grab ahold of her. It made her lower her knife and start running, taking her eyes away from the sight for the first time. — In front of her, pulling her, helping her it seemed, was the back of a silhouette she knew too well.
Due to the rush, the shock of it all, she couldn't speak.
If she could though, she'd have said his name; The name of the boy saving her.
Lo'ak.
.
.
.