The first thing Kimberly could comprehend was a tapping sound, repetitive, soft but fast, too fast to be a clock, maybe someone tapping something.
She couldn't place the location of her hands, her senses heightened fast as she regained consciousness, but kept her eyes shut.
She was definitely in an enclosed space, cool and quiet, except for the tapping.
The room smelled old and rusty, and also bitter, like a basement. This slight cold humidity must have been stone walls.
Her sense of hearing sharpened, and she heard the unmistakable sound of breathing, other people breathing, and then she understood how she was positioned at the moment: Her arms were above her head, wrists tied up together, her heels could barely brush the concrete floor, her hung body swayed side to side.
Kimberly opened her eyes and groaned as her mind flickered awake, her body stiff from being restrained for so long.
She had lost track of time.
She tried to shuffle her shoulders, finding it much easier to relieve her stiffness. Her arms where secured above her head with a rope around a metallic tube, connecting them, not holding her back as much as they wished to.
The room definitely looked like a basement, sad grey walls enclosed a space barely bigger than a bathroom, a table stood at the far end, with an open case, it contained and presented familiar torture devices, the scars on her body already knew how painful they were to experience, yet she also knew these people and their weapons were outdated, just slightly, and used similar weapons she had once used.
"Amateurs, they didn't even take my shoes off," Kimberly gaze darted around at the people staring at her, and located the black-haired guy in front of her, who had been tapping his foot over and over again,.
"About time," he said with a low growl. The guy was dressed in black, surrounded by two girls around Kimberly's age, one dark skinned and one red-haired, and a tanned guy too, typical surfer cliché, all young, early twenties, well built, yet they all looked the same, blandly generic, alarmingly hostile.
Maybe they were the last generation of Hunters before Evie ruined everything.
"Former hunters," Kimberly laughed a little. She had seen many Hunters graduate, many unworthy of the mantle, and these four gave that impression. To her, only Blackfox, Evie and herself were worthy of being hunters, and perhaps if Zeth wasn't a monster she would consider him worthy. His way of thinking, his ability to deal with a thousand things at once, his training at Guardian Fort and his travels with Zer Everett Frostakov in his youth? Oh yes, all that made him a worthy Hunter, a monster who fought worse monsters and she wasn't referring to the Zeldrichs. Yes, she knew all about Zeth, a legend who seemed to live up to his own legend. But this little group of bullies? Please! They looked like they were from a teen movie!
"Former Hunters indeed," said the black-haired guy, "And if we don't take your shoes off, it's because we already know you won't be able to use them against us."
Wow they were stupid!
"Oh! Who would have known!" She giggled, "I guess you've seen that my shoes are old school."
"From the old school of hunters, your right heel has a switch blade inside, and your left heel has lock picks," The black-haired guy walked around Kimberly's suspended body, then eyed her up and down, "But I don't see how you can take them right now."
"I'm quite flexible, I raise my pretty legs, I hold the heel, POP the heel comes off, CLICK I switch out the blade, SLASH I cut the rope and POW, POW, POW, you all fall down! I hope my lesson helps you in the future." Kimberly laughed.
"Good theory lesson, but not much use. Why don't you give us a demonstration?" The black-haired boy mocked.
"I don't want to, I wonder if you know why."
"Information. It's obvious," the tanned guy said, "Bluebird told us to bring you here alive."
"Obviously," Kimberly laughed, "Bluebird was always the sentimental type. Tell me, is Blackfox still Mr. Right? The one who crosses by the corner and puts on his seat belt?"
"I see you know both of them well." Said the red-haired girl, "What about you? Tell us about yourself, Catgirl."
"What is this? A UN interrogation? Where is the blood and beatings?" Kimberly laughed.
"Do you think you're funny?" The dark skinned girl asked with a frown.
"Oh! Didn't you get the memo? I am the rebellious, seductive step-sister. Don't expect a stone face like Bluebird."
"Would you describe yourself as seductive?" The black haired boy asked.
"If they sterilized me years ago, we better take advantage of it, don't you think?" Kimberly laughed, looking down at him, "Why don't you untie me and I'll show you?"
"Bluebird told us you're very good at seducing, and Blackfox said you don't like to follow the rules," the black-haired guy laughed, "Bad news. I pedal backwards."
"Sterilized, homosexual and employee of the millionaire enemy," Kimberly laughed, avoiding his gaze, "It's not going to be easy to convince you to let me go, I see."
"Bluebird wants to offer you a job, here with us," the guy said, "It's a good life, they treat us like people here, not like weapons."
"Oh good! When do I start?" She laughed loudly, "I'm dying to be a slave to a shouty, mediocre boy band."
"Then you'll get out of here in a bag," the tanned guy seemed offended. Good. People don't think well hot-headed.
"Let it be a gift bag, black is elegant, with a golden bow," she just couldn't help it.
She'd been in worse situations, with worse people.
She could handle this.
"So, this is the scary Catgirl everyone was so afraid of?" the black-haired guy commented, facing her again and crossing his arms, "I imagined more than a mouthy girl. Oh well! Now that you are awake, I think it's time to answer a couple questions."
"I think not," Kimberly narrowed her blue eyes at him. Her jaw clenched, her muscles tightened, her mouth twisted into a snarl, "I'd like to skip to the part where you tell me where my stepsister is. We have so much to talk about."
The black-haired guy smiled broadly, and in that moment, the tanned guy reached in the case, lightly plucking out a ragged, bended knife, which looked like a deformed black candy cane.
"Tell your boyfriend not to play with that, he might get hurt," Kimberly laughed and the tanned guy seemed offended.
Oh! This was so much fun!
"I see you like to play Cupid," the tanned guy approached Kimberly, tilted his head, and placed the curved blade on her stomach, "You like shipping men huh?"
"I just love seeing two alphas getting together," She bit her lip, preparing for the pain she'd endured too many times, but under no circumstances would she show weakness, "But don't get excited, I don't see any alphas around here. Although it would be interesting to see Blackfox with Zeth, don't you think?"
"You're very funny, aren't you?" The tanned boy put the tip of his blade against her stomach, "Your sense of humour is a sign of fear."
"Yes, and teasing without sticking the knife surely speaks volumes about your bravery, boy," she made sure to say it as calmly as possible, but mockingly as well.
He was just trying to intimidate her.
She was sure when he stepped back.
These people wouldn't hurt her, that's all she knew. Evie wouldn't let them hurt her. Well, Kimberly would return the favour by only knocking them out, it would be an act of good will for their excellent customer service.
"Why did you want to scare Jade, Catgirl?" the black-haired guy asked, and stepped closer.
"I don't care why, just how much they pay me," Kimberly stared at the wall, the distance from it to her body, and made the calculations in her head.
Just enough. It was worth a shot.
"You wanted to get captured, that's what they told us." The black-haired guy leaned forward. "The only question is: Why?"
"You didn't do your homework... Too bad," in a split second, Kimberly had wrapped the rope around her wrists and executed an incredibly painful straight pull up with her legs following, kicking with both feet his face, and he fell unconscious to the floor with a bleeding nose.
The other three gasped before turning their eyes to Kimberly.
"Oops, I did it again," she mocked.
"You bitch!" The tanned guy roared and approached with the knife up, but Kimberly kicked the blade out of his hand and kicked him away.
"I told you we had to tie her legs!" The red-haired girl took a rope and approached quickly, but Kimberly knocked her out with a kick, and kicked the face of the dark skinned woman from a specific angle to also knock her unconscious.
The tanned guy, the only one not sleeping yet, stood up.
"So it's true what they said," he said, wiping blood from his nose, "You're good."
"No. You are all very incompetent. That's different," She couldn't calculate this anymore, she had to just take the leap, so, she swung forward, and proceeded to walk up the tanned guy's chest. With her body in a horizontal position, she stepped on his face and kicked up to the ceiling swiftly.
In the position she was in, upside down, the rope was easy to get rid of, and with a stomp of a foot, she weakened the tube's hold and broke it.
She landed on the concrete floor gracefully, and she even posed like a movie superhero.
She rose up slowly, and laughed when she saw the tanned guy, with furious eyes, holding the knife firmly.
"Do you think that's going to be enough?" Kimberly took slow steps towards him, "Come on. What are you waiting for?"
"Fuck Bluebird's order. You'll get out of here in a bag," He thrust his knife, she dodged effortlessly, and even slapped him with a laugh.
"That's it? That's all?" She taunted. The guy spun and the knife sliced through the air, but she just stepped back to dodge, "How boring. Let's get this over with, shall we?" When the guy attempted to stab one last time, Kimberly grabbed his wrist, bent it, and made him drop the knife.
Elbow to the face, kick to the stomach, and he tumbled backwards.
"I'm going to finish you," the guy threw a punch, she dodged. A kick. She stopped it, without breaking a sweat, smiling.
"Watch and learn, rookie," and then she jumped back to kick his face, landing on her hands and then to her feet just to see him fall unceremoniously and unconscious. "Shameful. But it was obvious that the weakest Hunters would join the enemy." Kimberly sighed, "Oh well! Let's see what we've got here."
She navigated through the unconscious people, reached for a handgun in the holster of the red-haired woman, and took in her surroundings.
There was a metal door that she unlocked with the lock picks she had in her heel, and slowly pushed it open with her gun up.
She glanced right, then left.
But there was a draft that made her turn to face the wall.
A door on her right, definitely meant to camouflage with the wall.
"Looks like you keep hiding your training rooms, Evie," Kimberly laughed, "Let's see if there's anything useful in there, something I can steal."
She put her ear against the door...
There were voices inside.
Evie? Argh! Eye roll.
Everett? Maybe, it sounded deep and...
Zeth, it was him without a doubt.
"Let's see if this dog's bite is worse than his bark," Kimberly checked the chamber of her gun, "Perfect! This one does have bullets."