Chapter Breaking Free
Victoria was walking through the markets in Aranei, with a dagger in hand, she had been sent to kill a suspect spy of Lumina's, she pushed through the crowds and into a back alleyway, to where she saw a Hubun man smoking.
"Can I help you?" He asked.
"You are Jax Rysth, correct?" Victoria asked, hiding the dagger in the sleeve of her black overcoat.
"Who's asking?" The man replied.
"Captain of The Royal Guard" Victoria smirked.
Jax went to run but was hit in the back of the knee by the dagger, Victoria marched over to Jax and grabbed him by the hair.
"How can you sell us all out like that? Not just this city or Empire, but all of Mankind!" Victoria shouted.
"I... she didn't give me a choice, she said if I failed, she'd turn my Father into one of those mindless drones" Jax said as he cried. Victoria pulled the blade from his leg and dragged him into one of the doors of the back alleyway. Through the doorway was an old club, the bar was covered in graffiti, and the dance floor was filled with grime and empty bottles.
Victoria threw Jax onto the dancefloor, and looked around.
"What exactly did you tell her?" Victoria asked.
"I... I'm not saying anything" Jax shouted, grabbing a bottle and smashing it. Victoria kicked his hand onto the floor and stood on it with her heel, the bottle smashed onto the floor.
"You think Lumina will spare your father?" Victoria said as she pressed the heel into Jax's hand, drawing blood.
"She promised, she said... those devoted to her would have a place by her side, in the new world!" Jax shouted.
"I doubt she has any plans to keep any of us alive, you saw what became of Terrana! She wants that fate for the whole world!" Victoria said as she stepped off Jax's hand. Jax grabbed his palm and held it tightly.
"What about you, you're just as dumb as me, if you think Abyssia has any interest in mankind" Jax growled. "She just wants us for her games" He continued. Victoria knelt down and grabbed Jax by his shirt collar, and slapped him.
"Abyssia has no interest in games, she does what must be done, even if it's not pretty" Victoria said as she shook Jax.
"Ha, you believe that? You think just because she shows no enjoyment that she doesn't revel in the dark deeds she spreads?" Jax laughed.
"Enough!" Victoria shouted. "Tell me, what did you tell Lumina?" She asked.
"I told her..." Jax began, "I told her that you are a dumb bitch" Jax laughed. Victoria grabbed a bottle and smashed it in half against the dance floor, then brought the remaining half to Jax's throat.
"TELL ME!" She screamed.
"Kill me if you want, I don't care, it's all you Imperial's know how to do, like what you did to my home" Jax spat in Victoria's face. Victoria wiped her face, but as she did, Jax grabbed a shard of glass and stabbed her right ear.
"Argh!" Victoria screamed in pain, Jax got up and tried to make his way over to the exit, but was hit in the back by another bottle. Victoria rose to her feet and ran over to Jax, filled with rage, she grabbed and threw him down onto the dance floor that the tiles cracked.
"I'm not an Imperial" She said, as she pulled out her dagger. She brought the blade to Jax's throat. "What did you tell her...?" Victoria panted, as she held her bleeding ear.
"Fine, I told her about Abyssia's plans for the Luna kid" Jax sighed. "Can I go now?" He smirked.
"How did you get that information? How do you even know anything about the Luna girl?" Victoria asked.
"Well the gossip from Abyssia and Atlas' shouting match the other day spread like wildfire across the city, and being a bar owner, I hear everything" Jax laughed. "Kill me, it doesn't matter, Lumina has eyes and ears across this city, some like me, and some like those puppets of hers. You won't win, you can't" Jax began to laugh hysterically.
Victoria stood up and held out her hand for Jax. He smirked and grabbed it, as he rose, Victoria stabbed him in the chest several times, then threw the blade onto the floor.
"There, the job's done" Victoria said, looking into the shadows, "Did I do well?" She asked.
Araneia walked out of the shadows, she nodded, then headed for the door. "Burn this place, it's a stain on the city" She said, as she walked out of the door. Victoria sighed and looked down at Jax, she threw up, from realizing the gravity of what she had done, and from the searing pain in her ear.
She took a deep breath and headed over to the bar, and grabbed all the bottles that still had alcohol inside. She then grabbed a few dry cloths and stuffed them halfway into some of the bottles, so that the cloth touched the alcohol.
Victoria then grabbed the remainder of the bottles and emptied them across the dance floor and booths, before returning to the bar.
"Right then" Victoria took a deep breath, she cast a small flame across all the cloths, and quickly ran out into the alleyway. Araneia was nowhere to be seen. Victoria panicked and ran to exit the alleyway, as she did she tripped and cut her hand on a shard of glass.
"Fuck!" She yelled, and rose back to her feet, and quickly made her way into the rabble of people stood in the market place. Within moments a huge explosion tore through the markets, as the club exploded in flames, market stalls were sent hurtling forward and the panicked crowd began fleeing the area.
Victoria managed to dive into another alleyway and began having a panic attack.
"Fuck!" She shouted, feeling massively out of her depth. Since being captured, she had felt directionless, following whoever gave her orders. Abyssia, Lumina, Amanda, they were all the same, they wanted to use her.
"No more" Victoria uttered. Feeling awakened from the spell that captivity had placed on her. She threw down the dagger that she had used to kill Jax and fled off into the crowded streets.