So. I'm being gently frogmarched to a random place in Cardiff I've never gone before.
Can't say it's the first time that's happened to me, but at least then I always knew who I was under the order of.
Again, I twist my head to look at the tall mysterious man to my left strolling along like he walks with strangers in the early afternoon every day. Come to think of it, Boss was very stupid for attempting to kill me when it was still light - what if there were people there wandering about the quarry thinking it was a tourist hotspot? Gift of no brain, that druglord.
Anyway, back to the enigma standing next to me. The man walks with cool confidence, a look on his face that makes me think he's gone through enough fear to be fearless - if that makes sense, it does to me at least. His entire stance is laid-back, like he's seen it all before, like he's constantly in this sort of situation. It makes me nervous, something I haven't been for years.
With that instinct, of course. That's what unnerves me the most about him: the gut feeling I have that this man is dangerous; that he's not to be trusted; that he's... different. And I don't mean in the special, 'everyone is different in their own way' spiel, but a different soul, a different existence, a different time and place, just... different.
Call it a survivor's instinct, but I always know when I need to fight or flight, and right now can't even be considered a fight.
Checking he's still looking forwards I begin to back away, succeeding in getting as far as this statue near a fence before I hear his voice behind me - "Woah there, you're not getting away so fast."
I whirl around to face him, and I ask defensively with my hands to my chest balled up ready to fight, "Why? What are you gonna do to me?"
He studies me, looks me up and down like he's scanning me, is silent for a few long moments whilst I try to find a way out again, and says, "You need a bath."
I think about it for a sec.
I guess it beats illegally washing in the bay.
I shrug, knowing when I'm beaten and secretly wanting to wash. "Okay, fine, I'll come with you. By the way... where are we going?"
"You'll see," he replies, being curiously enigmatic and cryptic again, and starts to walk towards this great big silver tower in the middle of a square. I stare up at it. What's so important about this vertical rod? I peer closer as we get nearer and find that there's water coming out of the top and disappearing through grates at the bottom, and am instantly pissed off.
"Oh ha ha, I get it now," I exclaim coldly to the cloaked man, "look, it's an outdoor shower for the woman who just got kicked out of a helicopter, so funny! Leave me alone; don't you think I've gone through enough?!"
The man smiles, his lips parted again in a charming smile which still makes me question everything. "You'll find out soon, I promise."
I wrinkle my nose, not understanding and being annoyed at not understanding, until he steps up onto the podium surrounding the tower then... disappears.
I stare at the spot he was just in, then look around me with wide eyes, hands ready to punch something just in case he'd gone invisible and was trying to attack me or something. Something in the corner of my eye's trying to distract me, but I swat it away in order to concentrate.
I feel a tap on my shoulder and on instinct whirl round and hurl my fist into the man's face, then reel back in shock. Where in the everloving fuck did he come from?!
"Wow! You've got some serious damage with these hands!"
"What the fuck, man?! Stop playing stupid tricks, I'm not into it!" I shout in his face and try to run away, but he catches my arm and draws me back to him. I try to struggle, but he holds on firmly with a chill manner.
He opens his mouth again, and I inhale with a hint of well-known fear.
"Just walk where I walk, okay?"
Afraid of what would happen if I didn't obey this mysterious disappearing man, I simply nod, to his everpresent charming smile.
Still holding onto my arm he steps onto one of the stones on the podium, and I step onto the same one. A man jogs past, and my captor shouts at him, but strangely, the runner can't hear him.
As I stare, another figure emerges from the distance that turns into a young couple in each other's arms.
They walk past us, but don't question why we're standing on this random stone.
"Talk to them," he says, and out of curiosity I shout to the couple, "Congrats on the relationship!"
They carry on, as if they didn't even hear me, right past the tower.
I stare at them disappearing just like the jogger, then stare at the man. He smiles charmingly again, then leans in and whispers, "Just wait."
He pushes up his sleeve, shows to me some sort of chunky bracelet with buttons embedded, then presses one... and the stone moves.
I clutch his arm as we move downwards, my breath catching. What's happening? Somebody please tell me what is happening?!
The stone moves slowly, and after a while I begin to see wires and technology and mechanisms; I look up and I see the clear blue sky above us through a stone-shaped hole in the ceiling. The ceiling of... what?
I wet my lips as they seem to have become horribly dry as I drink in every shocking thing I see. A see-through office, the tower plummeting down and down, leaks in the shiny silver walls, people...
I stare at them the longest. Two people, minus this living enigma standing next to me - two women around the same age as me, welding and on the computer. Both of them are silent, seemingly hard at work. What work could possibly be done down here?
I turn round again, and as we slowly grind to a halt on the strange moving stone I get to fully see myself in the reflection of the walls - the first time I've seen myself in years.
I've grown so thin it's like I'm made of paper, the sickly pale colour of my skin making me look shocking against the black of my scraggly, greasy long hair. The clothes I have on, the issued brown tee and faded cutoffs that are easy to get off at any given moment, hang off of me barely washed.
As we fully stop I'm able to look straight at my face, into my eyes. I look like a ghost, weak and without any colour. My eyes hold the only splash of colour that is truly mine: a fiery ball of amber streaked with tiny slices of purple and neon blue.
Boss always said the most fascinating thing about me was my eyes. Perhaps that was why he chose me out of all the other women to be the most important device to his disposal.
I sigh deflatedly, and the man turns to me.
"You done looking at yourself in the mirror?"
"Hey, you would too if it was the first time you saw yourself since the 90s," I retort, extra fiery to make up for my lifeless exterior, and he just smiles. Geez, does he ever do anything other than smile?
He points at the two women standing before us, and I blink - when did they get there? One of them, the shorter Asian one with glasses, holds out a metal plate to me; the taller dark skinned one with glasses - oh, so no use defining them by who has glasses I guess - stands next to her holding some sort of gadget and frowning enough that tiny lines appear on her forehead.
"Hello," they both say at the same time, and I blink again. The man nudges me, so I wave a little back with a halfhearted smile - customary, I think, to offer to your potential kidnappers. I should know.
"Now, this is Toshiko Sato," he gestures to the woman with the dish, and she smiles warmly and I feel soothed by this one, "and this is Suzie Costello, our second in command."
I wait for the second woman to smile, but she just frowns more. "I'm going to have to know your name, miss - you're not allowed in here without at least some identification."
Suddenly I hear her then feel a flash of indignance. "Well good! What makes you think I want to be here?! I don't even know where I am! Why can't I just be left to my own devices in the city?!"
The man raises an eyebrow, then says as if I'm an idiot, "Because I found you plummeting to your death in a quarry and you're stinking. Now, your name?"
I cross my arms, tugging on my sharp elbows before mumbling, "Evelina Cosmo Firestone."
"That's a fascinating name," the woman named Toshiko ventures, and I flash a brief smile at her before regaining my attention to the Cold Lady next to her.
"Is that all you have for identification?" she asks, and I tell the truth.
"Well, after being kidnapped over five years ago and being used nonstop as a drug mule and form of sadistic and sexual pleasure, a name is all someone can hold onto."
All three are silent. Good - so now it's my turn to talk.
"So," I begin, venturing to step off the weird moving stone and through their arms, "what is this place? Why have you taken me here? I mean, you could've just as easily taken me to, uhh... those, what are they called, public spas? They still have those?"
The man laughs in his crocodile-teeth smile, steps off the stone and makes the women lower their arms.
"They do still have spas, Miss Firestone, don't worry. They're just a little too far away from here, and I thought that after everything you seem to have gone through, you might want to get yourself spruced up a bit quicker."
I nod, gaining confidence now I know the women are still mulling over my last comment. "So... where's the bathroom? Is there a shower, or a bath? Chop chop, haven't got all day, don't think I want to stay here in the sewers. And I want an explanation when I get out, too, cuz I've gone too long without anybody telling me what's going on."
The man laughs once again, almost blinding me with my instinct that he is not of this kind, and tells me to follow him.
As I do, I hear - I've always had a brilliant sense of hearing, apparently it makes me a superb lookout - the women from where they still are whispering about me.
"What do you think Jack's gonna do about her?"
"Well, she seems like she's gone through a lot. Maybe he's gonna offer her a job here?"
"Tosh, she has no skills! She barely has an identity! She sounds like she's been totally secluded from the entire world since the 90s! Why would Jack take her in?"
"Well, why else would he take her right into the Hub? Why not take her to a hotel or spa or something?"
I don't hear anything after that, because then I get lead into a warm, steamy room with a large full bath and fluffy white towels.
Despite my concerns about this place I gasp, not seeing anything like this in what feels like forever. I stroke the towels and dip a finger into the water. It's hot.
I look to the man. "How is the water hot?"
He shrugs, and says, "They knew you were coming."
He turns to leave, but I stop him. There's a few long moments of silence before I open my mouth.
"Why am I here?"
He smiles again, but this time it's smaller and feels more human, more genuine and caring.
"I don't know yet."