Glass Heart

“This is quite the switch, isn’t it?” Tony gestured to the officer seated behind the front desk at the county jailhouse where he was now waiting to find out more about what had happened to Scarlett while he’d been out to dinner. The tight lipped, older woman behind the counter in a blue police uniform looked up at him in annoyance. Clearly this hadn’t been the first annoying comment he’d made in the last ten minutes. “I’m usually being retrieved from the drunk tank by my assistant Pepper. But look at me now, I’m completely sober and picking someone else up. It’s almost ironic but really just amusing…” Tony cocked a confident smirk but the woman seemed to find no amusement in what he was saying.

“Please be seated until someone calls you, Mr. Stark. Don’t make me ask you again.”

“Tony.” He cleared his throat, and glanced down the hallway, clapping his hands together and then snapping his fingers to keep his hands busy.

The officer glanced at him again, signaling to him that she did not have the time or energy for his antics. Sighing heavily and rolling his eyes, bored with waiting to be addressed, Tony glanced down the hallway toward the barred door at the end of it that led upstairs. He’d been in the jailhouse several times before because of his less than reputable behavior over the years past and more recently during investigations but this was for a completely different reason than he ever would’ve predicted. Tony had never been the responsible party at a police station, at least not in this scenario.

Tony’s phone had buzzed annoyingly in his pocket near the end of his boring business dinner and when he’d initially gone to answer it, Pepper had urged him not to since the meal was nearly almost finished. While he tried to ignore it so that he could get through the meeting without seeming rude at Pepper’s behest, it eventually became impossible to go unnoticed and had started to grind on his nerves. Usually the only times that someone would persist so diligently to get his attention would be during an emergency situation. So, without consulting his assistant, he excused himself from the table to take the call.

Getting up from the table Tony then walked into the hallway, feeling Pepper’s judgmental gaze on the back of his head. When he picked up the phone, he found it was Jarvis trying to urgently reach him. His car had been found in the parking lot of some bar and an unnamed woman had been very insistent about it being returned to him promptly instead of being sent to the impound where some thug would have likely broken into it or taken it for a joyride. Tony could only guess that the insistent woman had been Scarlett, considering she was the only person granted permission to take a car from his home.

When he’d further inquired about what had happened to the woman driving the car, he’d been told she’d been arrested. Tony was torn between worry, annoyance and amusement at the fact that he’d left for merely a few hours and Scarlett had gotten herself in enough trouble to be spotted by the law. At first he’d been worried that she’d been attacked by MedCo again and then when he’d realized she wouldn’t have called him to come and get his car if she’d been in that much trouble he’d settled down and thought about how amusing the situation could potentially be for him.

For someone who claimed not to be a damsel in distress, she sure required a lot of saving. He guessed it was more complicated than that. Scarlett was caught in the middle of something and Tony simply happened to be there to help her pick up the pieces. In fact, he was sure that if he hadn’t been there for her she would’ve been long dead. In a way, she needed him as much as he needed her for information. At least this was what Tony was telling himself.

Twiddling his thumbs, quite literally, Tony paced the waiting room of the police station until he finally approached the counter again, too fidgety to sit and wait. It wasn’t like the officer could arrest him for being annoying, right?

“There’s no way that I could just go back there and talk to her? A Miss Scarlett Damien? You probably have her booked already… Tall, brunette, blue eyes, long legs I could go on but I doubt you’re interested unless you are then we could talk about that…”

“I know who she is, Mr. Stark, but I’m afraid you have to speak with someone regarding her case before you can speak with her.”

“Her case? What exactly did she do to get in here anyway? No one’s told me a damn thing since I got here and I don’t have all day.”

“Her case is what you’re going to discuss with the detective.” The woman was still having none of his nonsense so Tony sighed and walked away, contemplating what might have happened. Clearly she hadn’t been in a car accident given the fact that his car was in excellent condition and he’d sent Pepper home with it while he handled her situation. Scarlett had never asked for him to come and talk to her or to come and get her at the police station but he’d insisted upon seeing her at the very least. Why wouldn’t she ask for help, though? He was the only contact she had there in California and if she was in some kind of legal trouble why wouldn’t she contact him to come and help her out?

It was probably that whole damsel in distress complex she had again. What was so wrong with asking for a little help every now and then? There wasn’t a single person alive who was able to get by entirely on their own forever, particularly living a life as complicated as Scarlett’s, so why was she having so much trouble laying the cards on the table and showing him her hand? It was a question he’d ask her tonight once he had gotten her out of there.

A jail was no place for a lady to spend the night, especially considering that Tony wasn’t sure Scarlett would be above breaking out and at this point, he had every confidence that she could, considering what she’d done to his security system. That was not the kind of legal trouble that Tony could help take care of.

“Tony Stark?” He turned quickly at the sound of his name and approached the police detective who wore a grim look on his face. Behind the grim look, there sparkled something else, much like adoration.

“Guilty.” Tony hung his head and shook it apologetically, then held his hand out to shake.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”

“It really is, isn’t it?” Tony smiled slightly and the detective looked confused. “It’s just I’m not used to picking people up here. This is kind of a new experience for me.” The detective chuckled and nodded in understanding.

“I’m sure this isn’t the first time you’ve been to our fine facility.”

“Proud to say it’s not.” Tony followed the detective who led him into an adjoining room and offered him a seat next to one of the desks in the far corner. Still reluctant to get seated considering what he knew was waiting for him down the hall, Tony sat on the very edge of the chair offered to him. “So, what do I have to do to be able to take her home?”

“Home?” The detective looked surprised by his request as he sat down on the other side of the desk.

“Well, that’s complicated.” Tony pursed his lips. “Not in the way you’d think, if you saw her you’d think it’s very not complicated but it really, really is.”

“Mr. Stark, the charges are still being filed against her so she’s being held without bail until the morning.” The detective looked reluctant to inform Tony further. Most people were reluctant to give Tony bad news. He wasn’t the kind of man you wanted to disappoint, but even he understood that some things were simply out of their control.

“What are the charges against her anyway? That surly lady out front wouldn’t tell me a damn thing.”

“No one told you what happened?” The detective smiled this time and shrugged his shoulders, leaning back in his chair. Tony found it peculiar that he’d smile and was more curious than ever to know what Scarlett did.

“It can’t be that bad if you’re giving me that look.” Tony cocked a curious eyebrow.

“She started a bar fight.”

“Wait, what?” Tony hadn’t quite expected that. Though he wasn’t sure what he had been expecting. Given the records that he’d been able to find for her over the past few years when he’d initially looked her up he should’ve known that it would lead to something like this. The only time that she’d ever been arrested for anything on record was for drunken and disorderly conduct.

“Witnesses report that she was drinking heavily and when a man came to offer her a drink, she… Well, for lack of a better term, she kicked his ass.”

“That doesn’t sound like Scarlett. I mean it does kinda…” Tony grimaced. “I hit on her all the time and she has yet to kick my ass.”

“Beg your pardon Mr. Stark, but you’re a different bag of worms than your regular run of the mill bar patron.”

“I don’t know why you’d try to pardon yourself for saying that, that was a damn compliment.” Tony pointed at the female detective walking by. “You hear that? I got a compliment from a detective. First time. I’m usually being called an ass, which in my book is also a compliment.”

“Mr. Stark, we have conflicting reports about what happened. As of right now the man she attacked is pressing charges but witness reports, including the word of a group of three women who were seated nearby and the bartender who had been watching the situation in case it got out of hand offer pretty substantial evidence that it was self defense. Though both admit that she took it further than necessary.”

“Is that so?” Tony leaned forward from the edge of his seat and fiddled with the nametag on the edge of the detective’s desk, not bothering to actually read the name.

“From what I can tell, he was asking for it. The bartender was keeping an eye out because he was worried for her safety. Apparently this particular regular at the bar is known for harassing women and has been asked to leave on multiple occasions. There are several complaints on his record all from women. My guess is that in the long run he’s going to drop the charges against her.” The detective flipped through the police report papers, his tongue between his lips in thought.

“Well that’s good then. Are you sure there’s nothing I can do to get her out of here for the night so she doesn’t have to sleep here? I’m sure I could wake up a judge at this hour if necessary. I’m pretty persuasive.”

“I’m sure you could.” The detective chuckled. It was lucky that Tony got someone who was willing to deal with his catty and arrogant nature. Usually when he dealt with cops, they went out of their way to try and teach him a lesson given his reputation. “That being said, I can’t do much of anything for you at this particular moment. Without speaking to a judge, I’m afraid your lovely lady friend isn’t going anywhere.”

“Can I at least talk to her?” Tony sighed. He didn’t like hearing the word no, but knew that if Scarlett had to spend the night in jail then she’d brought it on herself. If she could at least explain her actions to him then he’d consider contacting a few friends and pulling a few strings to get her out for the night as long as he promised to keep an eye on her.

“Of course.” The detective unbuttoned his jacket and then stood up and gestured toward the barred door at the end of the hall that Tony had been eyeing earlier.

“If you think the charges are going to be dropped, then why do you have to make a big to do out of this?” Tony followed the detective down the hall, glancing at his surroundings and taking in as much as he could. He’d never made a point to notice much about the jail before but he could see that it was in various states of disrepair. If Scarlett was so inclined, she’d be out of there before midnight. Tony wasn’t okay with her staying in such poor conditions.

“Even if the charges are dropped, she created a scene inside that bar and on the street. It’s standard procedure to charge her with drunk and disorderly conduct. Reports say that the fight started with her even if it was accidental. It’s likely she’ll be released after the hearing and ordered to pay a fine for damages to the bar and perhaps do some community service but still… we have to do things by the book.” The detective answered easily. He led Tony up several flights of stairs to the very top floor and then to some cells through a dark hallway. It was an eerie old jailhouse and it gave Tony a bad feeling. The lights were flickering like a scene from a horror movie. He then wondered if perhaps they had filmed an old horror movie there and maybe that was why it felt so familiar.

“Right, I get that. Procedure and whatnot.” Tony waved his hand, peering into the cells curiously. Most of them were empty while some were filled with angry, tired, and drunk looking people awaiting either a hearing or to be sent off to a bigger prison in another county.

“Well, good luck with this one. She’s been pretty nonresponsive since we got her here. Hasn’t said a damn word outside of her name. Even when I asked her about the guy in the bar, she was quiet.”

“I hope she didn’t cause you too much trouble.” Tony glanced within the cell and found that Scarlett was facing away from him, sitting on the lone cot in the room and staring at the stone wall.

“She was unexpectedly incredibly cooperative.” The detective chuckled. “Though didn’t sound very friendly in the process.”

“That’s more than I got from her when we first met. Thanks.” Tony nodded and waited for the detective to unlock the cell before stepping inside. Once it was closed and locked behind him, Tony stared at Scarlett who made no move to even acknowledge him. Clearing his throat and loosening his tie, Tony walked around the cot and sat in front of her, legs hanging off the edge. She looked worse for wear to say the least. There were bags under her eyes, her hair was a mess, and she looked crankier and surlier than he’d ever seen her.

Trying to catch her eye, Tony was surprised when she turned her head away and continued to avoid his stare. He was even more surprised when she made no attempts to explain her behavior or apologize for what she’d done.

“So, what the hell compelled you to go get drunk and start a bar fight?” Finally, tired of waiting, Tony broke the silence. “Usually I’m the one getting hauled in here for some kind of obnoxious drunken trouble.” Scarlett looked up at him finally and sighed heavily. Swinging her legs off of the side of the cot she pushed her hair away from her face. She’d had a good few hours to sober up and since then her stomach had started reeling over what to do next. Either way, she had to deal with the charges she’d be up against considering the fight she’d caused and the damage it had done.

“Everything I thought I knew was a lie.” She didn’t choose her words carefully, there was no need to hide the truth from him anymore. That didn’t mean it would be easy for her to tell it though.

“This isn’t the matrix, if that’s what you’re implying.” Tony cracked a smile which faded slowly when Scarlett looked at him seriously. Had she ever looked at him like that before? He wasn’t sure. Either way, it scared the hell out of him and he wanted her to stop. “What does that mean? Everything you knew is a lie? What exactly is a lie, Scarlett?”

“When things turned bad for me in South Africa it wasn’t right out of the blue like I told you it was.” Scarlett’s voice was quiet and cracking, not with emotion, but stress.

“What do you mean?” Tony reached to push her messy hair behind her ear but she leaned away from his touch. His heart sunk into his stomach and he pouted. What was going on inside her head? She felt too guilty to let him make such a kind gesture when he didn’t know the truth.

“I told you that I knew their motives were less medical and more militant because of the changes on the requirements for the limbs I was building.”

“Right.” Tony nodded. Her story had never entirely made sense and he’d been waiting for her to confess the truth. Was this really the time for her to do it? In a jail cell? “Look, Scarlett why don’t you let me make some calls then we can go talk about this at home while you sober up.”

“Home?” Scarlett looked skeptical. She didn’t have a home. “You’re not going to get me out of here.”

“I can make a call. It’ll take ten seconds. I did a favor for the mayor a few years ago and he owes me. I’m sure if I promise to take care of you until your hearing in the morning he’ll let you go.” Tony insisted, a smile back on his face.

“I don’t want you to do that.” Scarlett was feeling enough guilt as it was.

“It’s not a big deal Scarlett.”

“Tony, would you just shut up and listen to me for a moment? Let me talk.” Scarlett snapped at him and this instantly shut Tony up. Not only had she called him by his first name, but she’d been so stern he felt compelled to obey. “I found out that they were manipulating me because I found correspondence from you.” Scarlett finally spat out what she’d wanted to say. Tony looked confused and glanced at the floor. Instead of asking her what she meant, he let her continue on. He didn’t want to get snapped at again and he definitely wanted to know the truth. If he had to sit in a dingy old jail cell to hear it, he’d have to deal with it.

“I was becoming suspicious because of the changes that I told you about so I started prying around through MedCo’s systems. I found a memo on Stark letter head with a list of supplies and weapons delivered straight from your company and sent from you with your signature and everything. I compared it to others I found online and it didn’t look like a forgery.” Scarlett held up her hand when Tony went to object to this discovery. “I confronted the owners of MedCo… three of them and showed them what I’d found. They confessed that they were affiliated with you and that if they had to they’d bring you in to replace me if I stepped out of line.”

“Scarlett, I would never work with people like that.” At least now it made sense why Scarlett had accused him of such treacherous and vile things over the past few weeks. She’d been led to believe that he’d had something to do with MedCo. In fact, almost every objection she’d had with him was starting to make sense. But, if she thought he was a villain then why had she stayed with him?

“Let me finish, please.” Scarlett glanced down at her hands and at the bloody and sore looking spots on her knuckles from hitting the man who had come after her. She’d been sloppy in the bar. If she’d done her job the right way, she would’ve come out unscathed. But she had been emotionally compromised.

“Go ahead.” Tony sighed and then fidgeted in place.

“That friend I told you they used to keep me in check was my boyfriend, Scott Aaronson.” Tony visibly stiffened at the mention of a boyfriend. Why would he assume she hadn’t had one, given the circumstances? “They had him trapped with a gun to his head. What was I supposed to do? Let him die?”

“Were you two serious?” Tony interrupted, unable to keep his mouth shut.

“What?” Scarlett looked confused.

“You and Scott, were you serious?”

“Is that really important right now?”

“It is to me.”

“We were in a long term relationship.” Scarlett shrugged, unable to truly explain how thing were with Scott. She hadn’t seen the destruction in their relationship until she’d started remembering the darkness she’d pushed into the back of her mind. “It’s more complicated than that. He wanted me to settle down and I didn’t want that. There was never a real future with Scott. But that’s not really what matters right now.”

“Fine, continue.” Tony absorbed the information, but wondered if her prior hesitation had been because of the man that she’d been involved with.

“Thanks, I think.” Scarlett sighed, took a deep breath then prepared herself to continue on with her story. “The rest of what I told you was true. I worked to try to find a way to get out of there while keeping Scott safe. Even if it meant risking his life, I couldn’t build what they wanted me to build. It was one man’s life for the sake of how many thousand people? One man who I wasn’t even sure I wanted to be with and so I decided to try to escape regardless. When you came crashing into the building lasers first that day one of the three owners came to collect me for evacuation.

“When they saw that I was up to something they assumed I was involved with whatever chaos you were causing. They ordered Scott to be killed before I could pull the trigger but you’ll be damn sure that I did afterward.” Tony glanced behind him to make sure that no one was within earshot to hear what she was saying about killing someone. He looked appalled at the idea of it. The last place she should be making these confessions was in a police station. “He was threatening me, telling me about the awful things he would do and well… the only way out was to shoot. I can’t really remember most of it to be honest. I must have blocked it out. I realized that I do that a lot.” Scarlett moistened her lips.

Glancing up to see Tony’s response, she saw he was speechless for once. Scarlett couldn’t blame him. She’d allowed Scott to die and then killed another man even if it hadn’t been in cold blood it was more than a normal person wanted to hear. Erick’s death weighed on her conscience along with Scott’s but there was nothing she could have done to prevent it. She’d replayed the scenario a thousand times in her mind from what she could remember, trying to find another way out and it had never come. It was her or him and she knew the right thing to do and had done it. When she was certain Tony had nothing to add she continued.

“I woke up in your lab a few days later and I was beyond angry. I knew where I was, it was unmistakable even without Jarvis telling me that it was yours. No one has technology like you do. What was I going to do? Tony Stark, the man behind Scott’s murder and my imprisonment, not to mention the evils committed over the years by MedCo… and now he was responsible for saving my life.” Scarlett laughed and then wiped her hands over her lips nervously. “It was perfect.”

“What?” Tony stared, slack jawed. That wasn’t what he’d been expecting at all.

“Someone had to stop you.” Scarlett grimaced and finally looked back to Tony who looked hurt. His mind was racing and he was obviously contemplating what that meant and if everything she’d said and done had been a lie. “I thought by working with you and being close to you I could bring your castle crumbling down from the inside. If I could find proof of what you were doing with MedCo and expose you for the scumbag you really were then… that would be more than the revenge I required.”

Tony’s heart was aching in his chest. She’d been manipulating him and while he’d been suspecting it initially, it hurt to hear that she’d gone out of her way to cause him pain and had even wanted to see his entire empire fall.

“I didn’t mean to grow attached to you.” Scarlett shook her head. This was perhaps the hardest thing for her to admit. “In the beginning I didn’t like you and I was attracted to you for whatever messed up reason but god it became more than that so quickly, didn’t it? You weren’t the man the papers led me to believe you were.” Tony still had nothing to say to her so Scarlett continued before she lost her courage. “The more I found out about you the more I knew I had been wrong. I tried to keep my distance, you have no idea how hard I tried… God, it was a nightmare for me. The man responsible for Scott’s death, for the hell I went through when I was still recovering… and I was trying to justify your actions in my head so you’d be innocent.”

“When things started to really heat up between us, and they did quickly… even that first night at dinner, I started to doubt why I was there. I kept making up excuses for you to be guilty of the crimes I was accusing you of. On top of that I had to keep reminding myself that you were behind the evils I’d witnessed. Can you imagine that? Even though I thought you were a monster, I was still drawn to you.” Scarlett felt guilty, she felt sick, and now that all was said and done she wasn’t sure her apology would be enough to mend the wounds she’d created. There was no simple way to fix things the way she had hoped there would be.

“I started off wanting to find proof to condemn you Tony only to turn around and want to find a way to vindicate you.”

“Why didn’t you just ask me what the truth was?” Tony spoke quietly, the usual animation in his voice gone entirely. Every word was dripping with heartache.

“I could’ve and I thought about it but I never would have trusted your answer. Of course you’d tell me that you didn’t do anything even if you were the guilty party. One thing I’ve learned in my years working off the radar is that people never want you to see the worst in them until they absolutely have to.” Turning to look out the small window to her cell Scarlett shook her head again, the sinking feeling in her stomach increasing as Tony remained silent.

“That’s why I broke into your computers. I just wanted to see if you were lying or if you were being honest with me. And I knew what I would find even if I was in denial. I found what you already told me and that was that you were looking for companies who had been given your weapons and found MedCo in the process. But I couldn’t just believe you on face value. If I had never looked then I would’ve been suspicious of you forever and I’m not sure why I couldn’t handle that.”

“So you were playing me the whole time. It was all a game?”

“No…” Scarlett furrowed her brow and responded quickly. “I thought that was what I was doing but I had a very hard time playing you which has never happened to me before. This usually is a game for me but it never was with you. Somehow I ended up being more honest with you than I was with myself and I’m sorry, Tony.” Closing her eyes she took deep and slow breaths to keep her emotions in check. Those were words she’d never meant more than she did now. “I’m so sorry. I dragged you into my mess. I put you and your friends in danger. I betrayed a trust that is obviously already very fragile and I’m really sorry. I don’t think I’ve ever been as sorry as I am now.” When Tony didn’t respond, Scarlett continued to explain her behavior. She couldn’t handle the silence.

“After I found out that you were being honest with me I didn’t really know what to do or how to react so… I became overwhelmed just like I did that day when I was in pain when we were working. I was panicking and I had to calm down. So I did the only thing I know how to do when things don’t go according to plan and that’s drink. It’s a pretty terrible habit as you can probably guess by my arrest record. I get in over my head, I drink until I can’t see and then I end up either causing a fight by being an ass or some poor sap gets too grabby and I flip out. Usually it helps me rid myself of the fog I was feeling afterward and I can move on but this wasn’t that simple.” Scarlett hoped to better explain herself. “Though I probably would’ve beaten the crap out of this guy even if I had been sober, he was a scumbag and deserved what he got.” Scarlett didn’t regret going after the man who had pushed his advances too far, only the severity she’d pushed it to.

“What do you expect me to do?” Tony wasn’t sure how to handle or deal with what he was being told. He knew that Scarlett had never revealed the entire truth to him before, but he had never really expected her to be out to get him from the beginning. Was everything she’d done a lie? How was he supposed to trust her now that he knew the real story? How was he to know this was, in fact, the real story. His head was spinning and somehow he knew there would be no resolution tonight.

“What?” Scarlett turned away from where she had been staring out the window and looked back to Tony at long last.

“You tell me that sob story and what do you expect me to do?”

“I don’t expect anything from you.” Scarlett shook her head. “I never wanted you to save me, Tony. I never would’ve asked you to do that. I just wanted you to know the truth because that is something you deserve more than anything. Enough people have lied to you in your life and I don’t want to be one of them even if it means never seeing you again because you can’t forgive me.” Swallowing hard, Scarlett looked back down at her feet. There was more to the feeling in the pit of her stomach than guilt. Was this what heartache felt like?

Tony stood up and dusted off his jacket. Scarlett didn’t look like the same woman he’d admired for the past couple weeks. There were pieces of her missing and he was surprised he hadn’t noticed that about her it until now. Taking a step backwards he turned toward the door.

“I have to think this over. Enjoy your night in jail.” Tony tapped on the bars to signal he was ready to leave without looking back at Scarlett. “Detective?”

“Goodnight, Tony.” Scarlett had given up on calling him anything other than his first name. When he walked away, the door slamming behind him and echoing throughout the jail, Scarlett laid down on the cot. The hurt Tony had felt was palpable and it was killing her. Go figure the only time she’d felt a connection to someone so strongly and she’d screwed it up before she’d even known it existed. Having cleared her conscience was supposed to make her feel better not worse. She had wanted to free Tony from the deceit she’d trapped him beneath and somehow had only succeeded in making the situation that much more painful.

Closing her eyes in an attempt to sleep away the lingering remnants of alcohol fogging her mind, Scarlett tossed and turned. In and out of consciousness, she couldn’t seem to find rest and not for lack of trying. Her stomach was turning, upset from alcohol consumption and stress. There were footsteps on the other side of the jail cell door; she could hear them passing by and then stopping. She didn’t think much of it. Guards often roamed the halls of a large jail like this throughout the long night.

But they didn’t often walk into cells to check on their unwilling guests. The door creaked open and didn’t shut behind whoever had opened it. Scarlett sat up, slow to move thanks to the groggy feeling of sleep and too much alcohol.

Before she could turn to see who had come into her cell, a black bag was pulled over her head and obscured her vision. Immediately her instincts kicked in. Using the bed as leverage beneath her, Scarlett positioned herself on the cot and shoved hard at the person who had pulled the bag over her eyes. They both went tumbling to the cold stone floor.

Much to her annoyance her attacker kept the bag in his grip and pulled it tighter. More footsteps joined them in the room and Scarlett could guess that three more men had come to take her away. Of course MedCo would come during the night to retrieve her. They’d easily be able to search for her since she’d been put into the system when she’d been booked.

Cursing and unable to gather her bearings with a black bag over her head, Scarlett elbowed behind her and hard. The man holding her lost his grip so Scarlett scrambled to her feet. Before she got to pull the black bag, which was unfortunately tied tightly and harder to remove than with a simple tug as she had hoped, she was grabbed and shoved against the wall. Ducking low against it was her first move, she guessed she’d be pushed again and was right.

Standing upright again, Scarlett ripped the bag off of her face and threw it at the man coming at her from the doorway. When another arm reached to grab her she pulled it hard, swung her attacker violently and threw him to the ground. Stepping on his chest she pulled his arm and heard it snap, dislocating his shoulder.

She was shoved back against the wall near the window that was a few feet above her. Reaching to grab the bars of the window, Scarlett scaled the wall and then wrapped her legs around the neck of the man pushing her there. When she didn’t have time to knock him out, instead she kicked him hard in the face and forced him away from her. Dropping onto him and using him to break her fall, she swung her fist hard into his face hard and broke his nose. Shaking out her hand and cursing from the pain of the sloppy hit, Scarlett jumped to her feet and made a mad dash for the door of the cell only to be grabbed by both arms and pulled back inside it.

Yelling and cursing while struggling to pull free, she let her left arm go slack and leaned heavily against the man holding her there and then kicked hard with her right foot to knock the second man holding her away. Much to her surprise, he held fast instead of falling and pulled her so her balance was lost. Grabbing onto her and pulling both hands behind her back, Scarlett was strapped and pushed back as hard as she could managing to knock them both onto the bed. Her shoulders tugged uncomfortably while her attacker didn’t relent on his grip. One of the other men threw the black bag over her head and tied it tighter than they had before, causing her to cough and choke.

Struggling to still get away, since it seemed more important than being able to see, Scarlett was surprised when she felt the pinch in the side of her neck. A needle was pressed into her flesh. She fought harder to fight against the needle but it was too late. It had already punctured her skin and whatever fluid had been inside the syringe was now flowing into her veins.

The liquid burned and forced her to slow her struggling and become sluggish and tired. Fighting against the natural reactions of whatever medicine had been administered was near impossible but Scarlett tried her damndest.

Grabbed underneath each arm, her attackers started to drag her through the door of her cell, her feet feeling numbed and barely able to keep up with their pace.