GENIEVE

"Lexi, you ready?" I asked Alex who was right in front of me. She nodded before connecting her ear and eye piece. "Ready. I'll take the high end, I'll tell you when it's clear." We waited until we heard Ace confirm the plan and then Alex jumped over the fence.

"Genevieve, can you hear me?" 

Her voice came through my own earpiece minutes later. "Loud and clear baby sis, what's the intel?" 

I motioned Romeo to go over.

"Ace has hacked the radio in the French and German base and changed their frequency and he's also tinkered with the Wi-Fi and cell service of that place. The cameras are on loop so no problem there. I'm going in, you come in exactly in three and a half minutes." I loaded my gun. 

"Alright. See you on the other side." I checked my digital clock and counted down the seconds. "Gen, guards on the roof are down. Had to shoot one of them where the sun doesn't shine." 

I chuckled. "Search that area and secure that perimeter." I told him. 

Three and a half minutes were up. "Alex, are you ready?" I asked. 

"Yes, guards are all sedated. Keep your mask on, this might be a bit stronger than what we were going for." I closed my eyes and went in through the back door, throwing in some Incapacitating agent just in case. My mask was held tightly in place over my nose and mouth. My ears were also covered in case of radio frequency. 

"Alex, second floor, there is no one up there, make sure not to touch anything without a glove and don't move anything at all. Click pictures. Don't come close to anything." I warned before making my way to the basement. 

It was a literal dungeon. On my right, someone was wailing and crying in a cell. On my left, the other was laughing like a maniac. As I walked further, I noticed rows upon rows of boxes. I lifted the lid of one with my gloved hand and did that to a couple more. Arms, bombs, grenades and drugs. What was going on here? 

I walked further, down a staircase. I peeked before moving forward. A seven feet tall guard was standing and guarding an empty shelf? Something's going on here. I threw an Incapacitating smoke bomb in the room, near his feet. It was tiny enough not to be noticed, but the smell was definitely noticeable. He took his walkie-talkie out but it wasn't connecting to the same frequency as the others, but he was unconscious before he could do anything else. 

I walked silently there and observed my surroundings. Chances that there was not a hidden room here were slim to none. My hand reached forward and lurched at the odd looking old timey torch at the bottom back of the shelf. The shelf broke open. I looked at the stairwell in front of me and took a leap of faith. 

There was nothing here. Except for a prison cell. No guards, no cameras, just the prisoner and its cell. The prison cell was a hollow cube of concrete, one way in, no windows. In there you could have no idea how much time had passed or even if it was night or day. It was totally disorientating by design. Given enough time a person could forget their own name in there. The isolation was total and the stimulation was zero. No sound, no light, no furniture or cloth of any kind. It was all an inmate could do to feel the cool walls, but even they were smooth.

I looked towards the person sitting in the corner. Their head snapped up. Their face covered with cloth, but their body barely covered. "Genevieve? Is that you?" Their voice sounded hollow. All the food I had the previous day was coming up. "Car-carter?" My voice shook. 

She crawled her way towards me and looked up. Her eyes which were once full of life looked empty, void of any emotions, just numbness. I fell onto my knees as she crawled into my lap. "Genevieve, get me out of here please. Don't leave me, it hurts. It hurts so much." She sobbed onto my lap. 

Right at that moment. I wanted to give up. I wanted to break down with her. But I couldn't, I had to be strong. I had to be brave. "Ascolta qui ok? Non eviterò mai di lasciarti e ti porterò il furgone fuori di qui. Lo prometto." I told her, picking her up and carrying her as she wrapped her legs around my waist. 

[Listen here ok? I'll never ducking leaving you and I'm getting you the truck out of here. I promise: Italian] 

I rushed up the staircase and up the basement, pressing on my earpiece. Carter was bleeding and she had bad bruises. I had not even seen a quarter of it. "Alex, get the fuc-fudge out of there and tell Ace to cause a distraction on the other side so they can get out too." 

Alex came down the second floor. "Romeo is coming out the other way." She didn't question who was in my arms. She went ahead and cleared the way. Most guards were unconscious, but somewhere stirring awake. 

I was about to go ahead when I heard two gunshots. Heavy gunshots. The gun I gave Alex had silent engineering, which meant it gets the job done quickly and easily. I moved towards the sound and clutched Carter as tightly to myself as I could. 

The guard was awake. Only one of them. I looked towards Lexi who was clutching her shoulder and stomach. Fuck. The male had his back to me, so I quickly took my loaded gun out and shot him. Right in the head as Carter whimpered. "I'm getting there baby, stay awake for me please. We're almost out of here." I reached ahead to help Alex but she stopped me. 

"It's fine, you go ahead. Get Carter out of here. I'll be fine." Anger flared through me. Red, hot, burning. "Absolutely not, come." I looped an arm around her shoulders, supporting most of her weight as she flinched. I felt guilty touching her without permission, but I'd rather she lived. 

When we reached the plane. Carter was taken to emergency surgery right there after the doctor said that there could be possible brain damage and internal bleeding. Alex hasn't even cried, she just collapsed on the plane seat as Ace ran to fetch another doctor. 

The doctor told her that he would have to take the bullets out right now and that she should have some numbing meds. "Absolutely not. I don't want any meds, just do it." She growled out as Carina held her other arm in a side hug. 

Her screams were painful. The doctor stitched it up and declared that they were both flesh wounds and we're not that deep. I growled at him as he ran away cowering in fear. Lexi had passed out with Carina curled by her side. Amara and Layla took them both to the bedroom in the back of the plane and I flopped down onto the seat. 

"Everything's going to be okay Gen." Ace embraced me with a hug as we stayed there for a long time. Wondering how Carter was and how this was going to affect Alex. 

Four days. It had been four days since Carter was sent into a medically induced coma. The doctors said that she should be waking up any day now. I didn't get any sleep at all the last few days in case she ever wakes up. 

Her internal bleeding had stopped and she luckily doesn't have any brain damage, except for a conclusion and light amnesia for a few days after she wakes. The doctor allowed us to fly home with her less than 24 hours after the surgery. Now she was lying on my bed as I clutched her hand tightly.  

"Gen, c'mon eat something." Ace came in and dropped a piece of cut up steak in front of me. I half-heartedly picked up a couple pieces and dropped my fork afterwards. "Gen, Carter wouldn't want you doing this to yourself. She's here okay? She's fine, I'll look over her, how about you go take a shower and have some steak and I'll call you if she even stirs." 

"How's Alex?" I asked, pulling out my clothes from my closet. 

"In pain, but she's refusing to take any meds." He sighed afterwards as  went towards Carter and kissed her forehead. 

"I'll talk to her. Don't let anything happen to Carter and call me if she moves a single inch." He nodded and I went to shower. 

Taking what could possibly be the quickest shower in history, I came out only to see that Carter hadn't moved. I walked towards Alex's room instead where she was refusing the pain meds. "Alex sweetie, you're in pain. None of us like that, why aren't you taking the meds?" I asked softly sitting on her bed. 

"I don't want to." She shrugged and buried herself under the covers. 

"No, there's more to it than that." I shook her lightly as the covers flew up suddenly. 

"You want to know? Fine. It's because Rhys swallowed a whole fucking bottle of that shit and he's not fucking here anymore and Davis, when he started drugs. He fucking r**ed me okay? I don't fucking want them, I'm never fucking having them; just leave me alone." 

Her outburst was understandable. I shooed the others out of the room and turned to Alex who was under the covers again. "I'm sorry sweetie. Do what you have to do okay?" I saw her shift under the covers but she didn't come out. So I walked away and gave her space. When I was almost in my room, Ace started shouting my name. 

"Gen?" Carter's hoarse voice was everything I needed to go engulf her in my arms. 

"Carter?" I asked, reassuring myself that she was really here. 

"I'm here." I sighed in relief as I saw Ace leave quietly. 

I took her face in my hands and I kissed her scars. The small ones, the big ones, the wonky ones, the straight ones. I leaned over as our foreheads touched. "You'll never leave me right? Even if I'm ugly." I closed my eyes and pulled her into my lap. "You're not ugly, your scars define who you are. What you've been through, how brave you are. I'm never letting you out of my sight, you're stuck with me. Forever." She smiled shyly at me as I kissed her hand. 

Then, she did something unexpected. She kissed me. The kiss wasn't sweet or soft like it was with her. It was hungry and angry. After she pulled away to breathe, I stopped her. "Bambino, you're hurt right now, sì? I don't want to hurt you further." She frowned as I laid her down and laid beside her. 

"Come snuggle." I held my arms open as she snuggled into me. "I love you mia piccola stella. Always, don't ever doubt that."  

She smiled contentedly. "I love you too bubs. Now shush." I rolled my eyes and fell into a peaceful slumber after a long time.