Gaia

If this Eli Beckstrom thought that Mari was just going to sit there and look pretty until morning, he was dead wrong. The studio was nice, in her eyes. She'd never slept in a bed before, let alone had one to herself, and the pullout couch was like a five star hotel to her. However, she couldn't stay and be a PA to some guy, just as a favor to him for not sending her to prison. Yeah, she had a tracker, but she'd find a way around it. She waited until he was long gone before sneaking out the door. The hallways and bridges of the upper levels were much different than the lower levels. For one, you didn't have open access to the other towers. If you wanted to cross a glass bridge, you had to scan in. Two, the halls were dead silent, with a door to go through every now and then. Each door needed a key, and there were little to no signs for direction other than room numbers.

She started to panic slightly, trying to find her way through the halls. She felt like she was tracking dirt onto the nice carpet with her cheap boots. She eventually gave up and sat on the floor by one of the massive windows. She turned her head and looked back out the window. She couldn't even see the ground. It was so high up, it all just disappeared at one point. She tensed when she heard footsteps nearing, but it was no one she recognized. It was a woman in a sharp business suit and her hair tied back in a tight bun, who looked at her with so much pity that Mari almost cringed.

"Are you lost?" she asked gently, kneeling down in front of her.

"No, I'm not," Mari lied. She realized that she probably looked like a hooker that someone had dumped when they were done.

"Would you like to call someone?" the woman asked.

"I... Yeah," Mari nodded. "My brother."

"Here you go," she said with a smile.

The woman reached into her purse and handed her a small device. It took Mari a few moments to recognize that it was a holograph caller; a pocket sized machine that scanned your body and sent a 3-dimensional image to whoever you were calling, almost like you were there in person. Mari figured that they must've been common among the upper levels, but the closest she'd ever been to one was a picture in a magazine. She just stared at it for a few moments, then looked back up at the woman.

"Oh, he doesn't have one of these, does he?" she asked uncomfortably.

"Do you have a regular video caller?" Mari asked.

"Um," she said, thinking for a moment, "Yeah, I might. It's kind of old, though. Come on."

Mari followed the woman to one of the doors, realizing it was her apartment. It was large and elegant, and like something from the real estate ads the giant floating screen would show. There were two others in there as well.

"I'm Leanne, by the way," she said, placing her hand on the shoulder of a man. "This is my husband, Jack. And our daughter, Nikki."

The man smiled and nodded to her, and he nudged a little girl forward, who appeared about four years old. She was so pretty, Mari wanted to cry. Her light brown curls were tied back with ribbon, and she was wearing a pretty black dress with a white bow to match her white Mary-Janes. That child's outfit was probably more expensive than any thing Mari had ever owned. She'd never even imagine being that comfortable and rich at that age.

"Hello," Nikki said shyly.

Leanne turned to her husband, pulling him down to whisper something to him. He frowned, brow furrowing.

"The video phone?" he asked. "People still use those dinosaurs?"

"Jack," Leanne hissed.

"Uh, sorry," he mumbled. "I'll go find it."

He disappeared for a few moments while Mari sat with Leanne on a sleek white couch that looked too expensive to sit on. She felt like she'd get it dirty. Nikki talked to Mari about all of her toys, bringing them over to show her. For a minute, Mari was living through the child. She imagined that she had all those toys and pretty clothes when she was a kid, too. A little while later, Jack returned with a somewhat bulkier device that looked more like what Andy had back home. Now that was something Mari could use. Leanne stood up, ushering her family out of the room.

"We'll give you some privacy," she said. "You can find us in the kitchen."

Mari nodded and dialed Andy's number once they were gone, praying he'd pick up. Luckily, he did, and Mari watched relied wash over his face.

"Marilyn!" he said in exasperation. "Where the hell are you? Who's 'Leanne Notley'? What the fuck happened?"

"Look, I don't have a lot of time to explain," Mari sighed. "Don't swear, there's a kid right in the other room. You know that store we've been borrowing from? Turns out one of the Lords do business there. His head of security caught me and decided to enslave me for a little while instead of sending me to prison."

"Is that legal?"

"Is anything the lords and their goons do legal?"

"When is he letting you go?" Andy asked.

"Whenever he feels like I've served my time," Mari shrugged. "It could be days. It could be years. I'm figuring something out, okay? Right now this nice lady is helping me out, but I'll leave when I can. Her family is actually the sweetest thing later and I don't need Eli enslaving them too."

"Eli?" he questioned.

"Eli Beckstrom," Mari nodded. "That's the security guy."

"Want me to look into his records?" Andy suggested.

"No, stay out of it," Mari warned. "I'll figure something out myself."

"Alright, be careful."

With that, Mari bid goodbye to her brother, unsure for how long. She could hear quiet arguing in the kitchen, and knew she couldn't stay there any longer. She slowly approached them, and both Leanne and Jack snapped their mouths shut. Leanne looked sad and angry with her husband, while Jack was trying to keep a calm and gentle look on his face.

"Listen, Mari, we'd love to help you out," he said quietly, "But I hope you can understand... We've got a really young kid... We didn't know you were involved with the lords, and-"

"I understand," Mari told him. "Thank you all. I mean it."

She left the apartment before anyone could say anything else, back out into that empty hallway that made her look like she didn't belong. She wandered until she finally found an elevator. No one was around it, but Mari waited, and waited, and waited. It must've been hours. She realized how late it must've been, and no one would be going to those elevators until the morning. And there was no telling the time of day from the upper levels.

Eventually, someone finally came by and scanned her in. She quickly slipped inside and asked him to take her as far down as he could. He seemed uncomfortable with her in there, but agreed, typing in the code for it. For a split second, it seemed like Mari had done it. Tracker or not, she'd figure out a way to shut it down. The doors started to close, but a sudden foot in the door as someone tried to catch the elevator stopped it, reopening it. And it was Eli who entered. Just Mari's luck.

She stared straight ahead, and he did the same, but she could tell he knew she was there. He waited until the other man in the elevator left on his level before turning to look directly at Mari. She still pretended not to see him, though it was a lost cause.

"What was your plan?" he sighed.

"Whatever," she grumbled.

"No, I'm actually wondering," he said. "What was your plan? To hitchhike back down to the ground? As if I wouldn't be able to find you?"

Mari looked down at her feet, not talking to him as he grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her out at his floor.

"I'll scream," she warned him.

"Go ahead, I'll shut you up the painful way," he said.

Mari glared at the back of his head, then went totally limp, dropping herself on the ground like a dead body. Eli sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Get up, raccoon eyes."

"Nope," she said. "This is peaceful protest against being held here against my will. And I'll stop eating, too."

"Usually these things work better with a large group of people," he told her. "Not with one person who can easily be eliminated."

"I'm peacefully protesting," Mari repeated. "And you're a dumb poop head."

"Real mature."

"You called me raccoon eyes. Let's see how your makeup looks after being held hostage all night."

"It looked like that from the start."

Eli stared at her for a few more moments, then bent down and grabbed her by one of her ankles. He started dragging her down the hall like that, and while it hurt like a bitch, Mari was too stubborn to stop her protest.

"Ow! Hey, at least watch the bumps," she grumbled. "I'll get a concussion."

"I'm purposefully dragging you over the bumps," he informed her.

"Bitch," she muttered. "It's fine. It's whatever. You know what? It's great. I fucking love the pain. OW- I mean- Fuck yeah!"

Eli dragged her over another bump, making her wince, but she didn't say anything. She wasn't giving up that easy.