Hey guys, I finally figured out where the commanders are being held. We’re going on a little adventure, I’m driving. Be ready in 20.
The text roused her from her dozing state on the couch, now completely alone in her apartment (she was going to have to downsize or find a new roommate quick, but that was a problem for another time… when she actually cared), and the message it contained kickstarted her into functioning. An empty bottle of whiskey rolled across the floor as she swung her legs off the cushions, pausing with elbows on knees to rub at her eyes. That was her only moment of weakness, however, the only moment of weariness. When she opened her eyes again, they were an iron blue, and she was standing proudly, pulling on a pair of jeans and grabbing her trusty, weathered leather bomber jacket off the back. Not exactly appropriate melee gear, or trekking-through-mountains wear, but it wasn’t like it mattered to her. To compensate, she toed into a pair of boots that she then laced up around her ankles like a brace.
Truth be told, she had no clue where they were going. Mind games were never her forte. Even with a clue as basic as “withdraw to the mountains” she still didn’t have the slightest inkling where to go in said mountains to find their commanders. But she trusted Beckett to crack the code, and she trusted Matty to have her back should they run into any additional trouble, just like she’d have theirs. It occurred to her then that Beckett wasn’t actually one of them, yet here they were, working together for the same goal. And to think that if she wasn’t as close to Beckett as she was, the idea of running across the Famine Commander and what distraught it would bring to the syndicate if she were to kill them was appealing. But she was here for her own Commander, to bring them home safely, to lead their House proper again. That desire outweighed everything as she pocketed a couple knives, threw together a couple necessities into her trusty drug-dealing backpack, and then chugged a bit from a different bottle of alcohol to prepare herself.
With another text from Matty, Sloane took up her keys and locked her apartment behind her. She could have done without securing it now that she was the only resident and didn’t have anything worth stealing, a lonely vacancy hanging in the air. Now, as she stepped out into the cold streets, she felt more at home, and more at peace. The bourbon burn warmed her chest, and she shoved her hands into her pockets as she waited, kicking a can along the curb, listening to it clatter. She had only just lit a cigarette when a car came around the corner and approached her, squinting just a second to see that it was Matty and Beckett as promised.
“What a rough bunch,” she spoke up through a bit of smoke as she popped open the back door and slid inside, a small smile on her lips. That was the best greeting they were going to get. “A’right, let’s do this shit.”
There was that PANG of guilt again, the sight of Matty all but LIMPING over to the car caused worry to swell, crease itself in pulled brows and the corners of a frown, and Beckett couldn’t help the way her eyes lingered on the cast for a moment TOO long. ❛ I wouldn’t have insisted you tag along if I knew you were INJURED, Matty, ❜ mumbled the Nikolas as she peeled away, navigating through the twists and turns of the War neighbourhood en-route to the Buchanan’s. It was an area she knew decently well, from the time she’d lived there and also from AFTERWARDS. ❛ Ruby’s ALREADY pissed at me for throwing myself into danger while she’s sitting around feeling useless, she’ll be even more upset if she knows I dragged YOUR ass along, broken leg and all. ❜ A sigh was stifled, leather gloves curling about the steering wheel, gripping it just a LITTLE tighter, and The Chameleon once again fell into silence, the interminable hum of the engine a perpetual reminder of why she was doing this in the FIRST place.
But before she could consider responding to his question nor slip into more musings, relinquish herself to the repressed parts of her conscious thoughts, she was pulling into the Buchanan’s driveway. A wry smile then inscribed itself along rubescent lips as those familiar, blonde locks bobbed over to the vehicle, plume of smoke trailing behind as she sauntered towards them. A press of a button and the doors unlocked, verdigris hues trained on The Paradox in the rearview mirror, the raven-haired dame waiting to make eye contact with Sloane and, when she did, nodded her head subtly, a sort of silent signal to intimate her appreciation that she was HERE.
❛ Why does everyone ALWAYS feel the need to smoke in my car ? ❜ She drawled, fastening her seatbelt. ❛ And, hey to you, too, what a LOVELY greeting, ❜ quipped The Chameleon with a blatant eye roll, inputting the desired location into the GPS app of her phone and driving away. Away from the wretched, War neighbourhood. Away from one place of danger to her only to go to ANOTHER place of danger, possibly with even MORE of it. But she wasn’t nervous, not in the least; determination clouded her nerves, and she always felt more at PEACE when consumed by adrenaline.
❛ So now that you’re both HERE, ❜ Beckett mused, slipping polarized sunglasses to veil her emerald hues and hitting the gas, speeding as she merged onto the highway. ❛ — I suggest you get comfortable. It’s a twenty five minute drive to the Chiajna Monastery. ❜
❛ me, injured? ❜ matty turned to beckett, mouth stretching into a grin. ❛ please. this isnothin’ f’r me. can barely feel it. ❜ there was no ignoring the slight pang of guilt he felt as beckett dropped ruby’s name, but he tried his best to shrug it off anyway. ❛ y’r not draggin’ anyoneanywhere, ‘m here of my own accord. she can take it up with me if she wants. ❜ matty had been looking expectantly at beckett for an answer to his question, then all but forgot about it upon realising they’d arrived at sloane’s. he leaned out of the open window to give a two-fingered salute as the blonde approached then entered the car. ‘ yo, SLOANE! now it’s a party. almost feels like we’re goin’ on a fun li’l road trip. ‘ if you forgot that they were looking for a bunch of kidnapped people, that was.
despite how often he played the unobservant fool, matty didn’t miss the look sloane and beckett shared through the rear-view mirror, however fleeting. ( he had gotten to know sloane and beckett entirely separately, and still knew little about how they themselves knew each other. he was beginning to gauge their relationship, though, little by little ). his smile simply grewwider, and he twisted around in his seat to request of sloane, ❛ hey, can i bum a smoke? forgot to grab my own pack on the way out, ❜ completely disregarding beckett’s quip about smoking in her car. he had, at least, remembered his lighter, and pulled it out as he reached towards his fellow war member like someone begging for alms.
as per beckett’s suggestion ( though he was perhaps the LAST person who needed to be told to get comfortable, in any situation ), matty slouched in his seat, rested his bum leg in a way that it wouldn’t cramp during their journey, and ran a carefree hand through his hair. the place that beckett had announced as their destination didn’t ring a single bell in his head. ❛ kya-what now? a monastery? …alright, least i wasn’t too far off. rubes’ clue did have me thinkin’ it was some sorta church or somethin’. ❜ he shook his head slowly, in not-quite disbelief. ❛ how’d y’ even figure that out? not that ‘m doubtin’ ya, or anythin’. ❜