THE CUFFS DUG into my wrists as I was jostled around in the back of the police car, my seat right on top of the wheel well. Lucky me, I rolled my eyes internally. Blowing a strand of hair out of my face, I caught a whiff of my post-vomit breath and fought the urge to throw up. Again. I mean, I did the whole thing. I gagged profusely, wishing I could cover my mouth with my hand; I made a retching noise that I'd previously thought was only heard in movies, and I squeezed my eyes shut until I could breathe properly again.

"Stop making a fuss back there," the officer chided, his eyes flitting between me and the road. Even in the rear view mirror, I could see his eyes squinting at me. Judging me. "We're almost there."

For a moment I considered replying with a scathing retort, but then I thought better of it. I'd rather not get in more trouble than I was. I had a bad enough headache on the horizon for me, I shouldn't make it worse by adding a lecture by a police officer into my schedule for my birthday.

It's my birthday. I'd practically forgotten due to the less-than-responsible choices I'd made lately. One of those being the absolutely brilliant idea of getting involved in something I didn't understand, even though I thought I had it all covered. But of course, I wouldn't be Elda Reid if I didn't make a questionable decision once in awhile.

The squad car stopped a few minutes later, the loud engine finally silenced. I swallowed roughly, ignoring the bile that rose to my throat from the action. I was fucked. I knew that much. Hopefully I'd be able to talk my way out of this, whatever these guys wanted.

My door was opened and Officer Turner reached in with a thick hand and grabbed my arm, dragging me out of the car and onto my feet, standing on the pavement. "Don't fight it," he advised me in his deep, rasping voice. "It'll only make this worse."

Make what worse? My head swam, trying to juggle the alcohol and the completely sober thoughts rushing through my brain. How could this night get any worse? I'm turning twenty-seven at the police station in a town I can't even remember the name of.

Either way, I nodded swiftly and stumbled to the front door of the station, relying on Turner to help me, as I could hardly walk in a straight line with all the vodka in my system. I ignored all the stares I got from the on-duty men and women, some of them stopping in the middle of their sentences to get a look at me. Again, I considered snarling at them or saying something witty, but I reminded myself just how I'd landed here.

And how much I wanted to walk right out that door.

I was led into a room in the back of the station, stone cold walls with a stone cold door and a metal table with two metal chairs, one on each side. An interrogation room.

"Hey, it's just like Law and Order," I blurted, the alcohol getting a hold on my tongue and slurring the syllables. "You guys don't happen to have Olivia Benson on duty, do you? She's a badass."

Turner, kindly but firmly, pushed me into the chair and fiddled with the key ring on his belt, unlocking the handcuffs behind my back. Hissing as I stretched out my wrists, I barely felt the blood return to my hands before he snatched them again, this time locking me into a new set of cuffs that were attached to the table.

I groaned, holding up my shackled wrists. "Aw, come on, Officer, I'll be nice!" When he sat down in front of me and cocked an eyebrow, I let my hands drop to the table. "Fine," I grumbled.

"Are you fit to answer questions?" He asked, eyeing me up. Despite the niceties, I could tell he knew the answer already.

Chuckling, I mumbled out my answer. "More fit than you," I chortled. "I work out at least twice a week."

He glared at me, then stood up and rapped on the door. "Hey, can we get some coffee in here?"

Obviously he wasn't amused by my drunk, talkative self. I turned to look back at my hands and clenched them into fists, then stretched my fingers, and over and over again until the door opened, a steaming hot cup of coffee being placed in front of me. Given my current state of being handcuffed, I had to lean down to connect my lips to the brim of the cup, slurping up as much of the dark liquid as I could in one go.

Turner just stared at me as I drank, waiting until it was completely empty to open his mouth. "Please state your full name."

I swallowed the last of the coffee, wincing at the last bitter taste, and replied. "Elda Reid."

He wrote down my answer, clicking his tongue. "No middle name?"

"Nope," I answered swiftly. "They didn't care enough to give me one of those."

I watched as he nodded, collected his thoughts, and then looked up at me, meeting my eyes. "Where are you from, Elda? Where do you live?"

"I prefer not to give out my address to strangers." His eyes darkened again and I quickly dropped the act. "Sorry. I live in Northern Wisconsin, in my parents' house."

Officer Turner tilted his head. "You live with your parents?"

Scowling, I retorted, "It's their house, but I don't live with them. They moved to Arizona six years ago."

He nodded as if to say he understood. "Okay. How long were you on the road?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, a few months?"

"And how long were you staying at the motel we picked you up at?"

Furrowing my eyebrows, I lifted my eyes from the table's surface to stare at the officer. "Can't you figure these things out for yourself?"

"Just answer the questions, Miss Reid—"

I smacked my hands on the table, rolling my eyes. "Look, are you gonna start asking the good questions, or are we gonna sit here for hours and shoot the shit before you actually interrogate me with a purpose?"

He was about to respond when the door opened and another middle-aged man walked in, his gray hair cropped short and his gray suit giving him the air of confidence and superiority. "We'll take it from here, Sergeant Turner," he said, not once looking at him, but instead locking eyes with me.

A pit grew in my stomach as I saw a flashing image of my brother. "What the fuck are you doing here," I growled.

Everett Ross merely blinked. Upon seeing my handcuffs, he ordered them unlocked. "She's not a criminal," he said. Once the cuffs were off and the door was closed, leaving us alone, he sat down. "We've been looking for you, Elda."

"Yeah, no shit," I retorted, ignoring any moral thought. "I kept Bucky Barnes out of your hands, and now you lost him. Again."

He just folded his hands in front of him and sat back in the chair comfortably. He was waiting for me to calm down, it was clear.

I took a deep breath. "Is this being recorded?"

Ross cocked an eyebrow, just like Turner did earlier. "Should it be?"

Deciding I didn't give a shit whether it was or not, I pressed further. "Where's Steve? I know you have him."

He took a little bit to answer, but eventually nodded. "Yes, Steve Rogers is in our custody. He was taken in a few months ago." Upon seeing the daggers in my eyes at this news, he cleared his throat, looked down at his lap and adjusted himself in his seat. "He's been through this before, Elda. We just want to keep the world safe from all its threats. We're doing the best we can."

I wouldn't have been surprised if the chair and table began to melt under the pure fire and fury that was coursing through my veins. "Yeah," I snapped, "at any cost, right?"

He knitted his brows. Not much, but just enough to see that I'd said something he didn't expect. "Excuse me?"

My voice was eerily calm as I looked at the man that killed my brother and spoke the words I'd been holding in. "You want to keep the world safe at any and all costs. You don't care how many lives it ruins in your wake."

Ross paused for a moment, not sure what to say to that. Rather abruptly, he stood up and knocked on the door. When it opened, he spoke a few short words to the officer on watch that were too soft for me to hear. He turned on his heel to look back at me, and pursed his lips in a tight grimace. "Get up," he said brusquely, "we're going for a ride."

Oh, I was fucked. Totally and completely fucked.

||

phew that was really long but also super overdue? i hope i still have some of my readers! i just wanted to finish heartless before moving onto this one, and i also had to take a break from writing elda's character bc i was losing inspiration, so i took a well-needed hiatus from this universe and focused on other works. but now that i'm back, after three months(oof), i'm fully and totally committed to this story!!

let me just say, this one is gonna be action-packed and even more fun (and painful) than the first one!!

july 11, 2019