“Are you too blind, high, or just absolutely oblivious to anything but yourselves?!” He roared, shaking the two teens to accent his point. “Those two over there? They’re FAMILY.”
He let them both go, letting gravity take a hold of them as he glared down at them in complete rage.
“They’re DEAD, now. Dead. Gone - forever.” He spat, his hands were shaking now. “They were my cousin’s parents. Delilah’s parents…”
He took a deep breath then.
Then Wardite did the stupidest thing he could have possibly done, he jumped up and threw a punch right at Leucite’s face. The blow landed against the other man’s jaw, sending his face to the side for a moment. Wardite lept back, trying to get Piy to her feet so they could run while the other man was dazed, and Stib’s arms were full.
“We didn’t know,” Wardite said as his only defense. “But like hell are I going to let you kill us over it… Come on Piy let’s get the ******** out of here.”
---
There were very few things that would have been the right thing to do at that moment. Stibnite stood where she was watching as they did something that was no where close to one of them. She watched as Wardite pulled Piypite to her feet. She was still coughing, trying to catch her breath as he shoved her forward. She watched the anger in Leucite’s eyes as he gazed back at them.
But Stibnite didn’t move. Even as Natayla cried into the night, she did not send her bird after them. They were Leucite’s prey now. They had crossed a line that could not be forgiven. And as she glanced towards the bodies, all Stibnite could do was picture her husband’s family.
---
Ward wrapped an arm around Piy’s shoulder. A few months ago he’d of left her a** behind - but they were PARTNERS now - and in his mind that meant he had to at least do his level best to keep her safe. Besides, he’d be hard pressed to find another person who understood him and his proclivities half as well - so keeping her alive was in his best interest.
He had made it all of two steps with her, when Leucite moved, almost a blur to the lieutenant as the fist wrapped around his throat, lifting him off his feet as it choked off his airway. The other hand grabbed Piy back the back of her neck again, like he was scruffing a cat, before he threw her hard into the wall again with an angry roar.
Wardite was not so lucky.
He too found himself being slammed into the wall, but Leucite still had a grip on his throat. A grip that the Leiutenant clawed and kicked as he tried to escape, before he was slammed into the brickwork with a painful sounding crack.
---
If Piy had been able to hiss like a cat at that moment, she would have. This time when she hit the wall though, she braced. Her hands would be cut up but she was still breathing. Fool her once, shame on her. Stumbling back around, Piy looked over at the sight of Wardnite being beaten into the wall. Some time ago she would have made a break for it. Now she looked over to Stibnite, eyes pleading for help.
“Please! He’ll kill him!” Piy cried out only to be met with silence from the hooded woman. Stibnite would not interfere. Not yet at least.
Piy though looked defeated. Still she had to try as she ran up to the General and jumped on his back.
---
Once, twice, three times Wardite was slammed into the wall with the full force of Leucite’s rage. The struggles of the teen growing weaker with each impact. The black haired boy was gasping for air, face turning a deep blue as he was unable to breathe against the rough grip of the general against his throat.
When Piy leapt onto his back though, Lecuite growled, dropping the gasping and coughing young man to the ground as he wheezed for breath, and reached back with and angry bellow, grabbing Piy by her hair and pulling her hard up and over his shoulder back down onto the pavement with all the force he could muster. The rage consumed him, but his attacks never went after the easy vitals - instead they were pure brutality, a slow and painful beating was in store for both the wayward Lieutenants.
---
Stibnite watched for as long as she could allow. Leucite had every right to be angry. Two young lieutenants under his charge had just pushed him past the breaking point. They had sent him to a place she had not seen him go in a long, LONG time.
It was not until he flipped Piypite over his body that Stibnite had decided enough was enough. Glancing at her youma, she gave the bird a nod before sending Natayla flying. With her ability and wings, she knew it was enough to put a barrier between Leucite and the pair.
The black and silver youma dove head first, spreading its feathers to brace for the impact of Leucite’s fist before it could strike either agent again. Stibnite waited until she heard the sound of something hitting steal before calling out “ENOUGH.”
The Captain slowly began to walk forward, starseeds shifting to one arm as she raised her other to summon her weapon. When she brought her fist down, the point was aimed straight at Leucite’s face. “Enough Leucite. You have beaten them within an inch of their lives. So either finish the job or let’s go. The cops have arrived and we need to get out of here. So make the choice...add to the body count or?” She left the end of the statement open ended as she refused to even look at the two.
Those red eyes were baring into the very fiber that was her husband.
---
Leucite felt his fist crack against steel, it would bruise in the morning but he was so given into the fire of his rage he didn’t care. But as he was raising his fist to knock the bird aside, a voice cut through the fog of his rage like a scalpel, sharp and unerring. He stiffened for a moment, teeth set and fist clenched.
He heard her words - and he gave a small nod in reply. “I want them confined in the barracks - together or in solitary it makes no matter to me - but they are not to leave until I say so,” He said, his voice still a frozen wave of unbridled anger.
With that, he moved over to the two bodies and their floating starseeds, and knelt, scooping up their particular seeds and placing them in his own jacket. “These will needs be returned to their rightful owner.” He said quietly, before vanishing with the bodies again.
Wardite lay in a crumpled mess on the ground. Everything hurt, but he didn’t think anything was broken. But he was pretty sure his entire body was a bruise. He did manage to get up onto his knees to try and inch his way over to Piy. He wanted to see if she was faring as bad as him.
---
Piy didn’t want to move. She didn’t want to breathe. She just wanted to lay there on the cold concrete and never feel again. Everything hurt. At that moment it even hurt worse than when she had been shot and near death. At least THAT time there was an end in sight. This time, Piy couldn’t see a way out of this.
This wasn’t a pimp or drug lord. This wasn’t some male she could seduce and get out of trouble with. This was a man who saw them as nothing more than failures. Agree or disagree, they had finally pushed a button they had been dancing around.
“He’s going to kill us…” Piy mumbled, looking up at Ward as he moved towards her. “You know that right…”
“If he was going to kill you, he would have already.” Stibnite responded, gazing down at the pair as she walked towards them. “But he’s not done with you yet.” With that she shifted, reached out to the pair of them, and teleported them back to the barracks.
Neither of them would see the light of day for a long time if she had her way. Neither of them would even see each other for even longer. Wardite on the lower floor and Piypite on the upper. Completely opposite ends of the barracks and literally tied to their rooms.
Stibnite wouldn’t kill them. But she would enjoy the game of cat and mouse.
---
Torvil
