[Sarah]

(gratuitous blacklist fanfiction)
“Similael!”

Your call to arms. Some might say you teleported. They would be wrong. Regardless you answered the call and found yourself in the depths of a black site with armed hostiles around you. Everyone startled at your appearance. Everyone but one. Gunfire rang haphazardly. You ignored it at walked to the box. They stopped shooting when the bullets began to ricochet off the box.

“Something I can help you with?” you asked. Your eyes narrowed at his glare and you wanted nothing more than for him to comment.

[Sarah]

You watched him turn over your position in his head. He pursed his lips a moment before deciding he would use you. “Kill them,” he said. A simple enough command. You knew he meant the hostiles, but you were oh-so-tempted to kill everyone in the room just to spite him.

“You’ll owe me,” you warned him before you snapped your fingers. The hostiles dropped to the ground in lifeless lumps. The relief from everyone else was so profound you could feel it in the air. You looked down to the blood at your feet and noticed one of his bodyguards had had their brains blown out. That must’ve been what triggered him to call upon you.

[Sarah]

There was a brief desire to look to him. You pushed it aside in favor of turning on the amassed prisoners. They had started to help each other out of their bonds. “Who of you is in charge?” you asked.

An older man spoke up, “that would be me.”

“Get him out of the box, yeah?” you prompted. Your impatience was telling, as was his resistance.

“And who exactly are you?” he asked. You arched a brow and said nothing. Brave. The man witnessed you drop thirty armed hostiles with a single snap of your fingers, and now he was resisting you. You weren’t sure if you were meant to respect him or resent him.

[Sarah]

“Donald will die if you don’t open the box,” Red reminded. The man in charge went over to the control panel and entered the code. He was clearly begrudging to do so but both you and Red ignored his attitude.

The box opened dramatically slowly. You shifted, a few feet away, as you waited for what Red would do next. Once he was free of the box, he spared you a glance before going to Dembe. You knew your relief would be obvious to anyone watching but you didn’t care. The box was empty, save Donald, and you rushed inside.

[Sarah]

Saving people was more complicated than killing them. Where you could kill someone with minimal effort, you would have to be hands on to save Donald. You settled next to his head and he looked at you weakly. “I need to touch you. Is that okay?” you asked. He nodded, and you wasted no more time.

The damage was contained to his leg. It was in bad shape. The buckshot had minced a good portion of it, and you were not eager to lay hands on the ruined flesh. You did so despite the turn in your stomach and got to work. The power you gained from taking the souls of those you killed was useful. You pushed it into his body and for a moment he gained a vastly accelerated healing factor. His body regenerated and pushed out the offending material.

[Sarah]

He was screaming but you were deaf to it. His hands clutched at you, trying to pry you off as much as he needed you to keep him from bleeding out. The whole thing took less than a handful of minutes. When you moved your hands away, he was heaving in air. You were pushed aside and drug out of the box which was fine but unnecessary.

“You better leave before the cavalry comes,” Red said. He offered his hand, but you stayed on your ass on the ground.

[Sarah]

“No-“

“No?” Red interrupted. “Harold after-“

“She killed those men without touching them. How did she even get in here?” Harold countered. Harold, it seemed, was the name of the man in charge. He paid more attention to Red than to you.

“Its fine,” you interrupted them both. While you weren’t particularly keen to have Red’s attention on you at the moment you also didn’t want to listen to them argue about you. “They already know about me,” you said. You would wait for the cavalry, and you would be debriefed, and maybe you’d gather the courage to confront Red.

[Sarah]

“They know about you?” Red turned on you then. There was a fire in his eyes that unnerved you. His voice was calm – even – and you flinched.

A woman came over. She shot Red a glare and crouched next to you. “You’re covered in more blood than most of us. Let me show you where you can clean up?” she asked. Your eyes focused on her after a moment and you nodded. She helped you up and led you away from the men.

[Sarah]

“You saved our lives,” she said as she led you down a maze of hallways. You hummed acknowledgement. You’d done as you were asked. It was not something you would say to repay her kindness – that it would have meant nothing to watch them all die. You pretended to be interested in the path she was taking you down so you would not have to speak to her.

Eventually you were given reprieve. She opened the door and the lights flickered on. The showers were connected to the bathroom and everything appeared to be standard fare. “I’ll see what I can do about a change of clothes,” she said as she left you to your own devices.

[Sarah]

The shower surged to life with a water pressure you were not expecting. It took only a heartbeat for the water to heat and you stepped under the spray with your clothes still on. You didn’t trust this place, or these people, and you didn’t trust Red. You were not about to get naked for them.

Red did find you. You were expecting him to. He pushed the curtain aside but didn’t invade your space further. “Take off your clothes.” You looked at him under the flow of the water and bit back the grief in your heart. You did as you were told. The cloth clung heavily to your body. You wept as you struggled.

[Sarah]

Hands sticky with blood settled over your arms and you stilled. You looked to Red of your own volition for the first time since he called upon you. He looked… There was no doubt he saw your desolation. Damn him. He hadn’t been sent to break you. Damn him. You gave in to his coaxing.

His hands were as firm and gentle as you remembered. He smelled like blood and gunpowder. There was another presence at the entrance to the shower, but you were too focused on keeping yourself standing to care.

[Sarah]

“What did you do to her?”

“I betrayed her some time ago.”

Months before. He’d left you without a good reason and made it clear he would not call upon you again. You didn’t realize he’d devastated you until you saw him again. Your attachment to him made seeing him feel like the first breath after coming up for air. How had you not noticed you were drowning?

“She came back for you.” The water had been shut off. Red made to dry you, but you took the towel from him before he had the chance. You were more concerned about drying your hair than your skin.

[Sarah]

“She has a problem with loyalty,” he explained. He handed you a company sweat ensemble and you put it on slowly. You left the woman behind with her questions for Red and exited the showers.

The cavalry met you in the hall. “Are you up for some questions?” one of them asked. You nodded, but you could feel yourself retreating. He made you weak in the same ways he used to make you strong.

You found yourself among the rest of the victims of the assault. They’d given you a blanket at some point. Red was back. He sat a few tables away and refused to take his eyes off of you. You mostly ignored him. “I heard my name called,” you said again.

[Sarah]

“Where were you when this happened?”

“I don’t know. Somewhere cold. I was happy to be out of it,” you answered again. You kept waiting for them to get the call. The call that explained you away and would let you move on with your life.

“How did you get here?”

“I flew.”

“You flew?”

“I flew. Red asked me for help. I helped,” you explained. The man interviewing you opened his mouth to ask another question you’d already answered. “I don’t know what this place is. I don’t care. I’ve been working covert operations with the CIA,” you said. The man’s mouth snapped shut, but Red scoffed.

[Sarah]

“What did you want me to do?” You asked loudly. You stood from your chair and the noise of it and your outburst had the rest of the room silent. “Did you want me to stay where you left me? You should have said,” you snapped.

“I didn’t want to leave you,” he said. He didn’t stand nor did he raise his voice.

“Yes, you did.”

“I need you,” he said, and it was your turn to scoff.

[Wild Pet Found]