━━ CHAPTER NINETEEN / traitor

Ronny's feet smacked against the pavement as she turned onto Rogers Street. Just across the way she could see Kaylea and Sam. The blonde had her back to Ronny but she seemed okay, enough. Sam looked up just as Ronny ran around the corner and her face twisted in anger. The brunette glanced around the street before she ran across the road to get to Kaylea. Her breathing was heavy and her thigh ached but she ignored it, grabbing Kaylea's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" Ronny asked, pulling the blonde into a hug before she even got a look at her face. Kaylea hugged her back but it didn't feel like it usually would. It was almost hesitant and not as tight as Kaylea usually hugged. Though Ronny assumed it was because she was scared.

However, when she pulled back and saw Kaylea's perfectly intact features, Ronny's eyebrows furrowed as she took a few steps back.

"Kaylea, what happened?" Ronny asked softly. Her British accent was flawless as usual but Kaylea didn't even seem to believe it. There was a twist of disgust on her face and Ronny looked to Sam and then back to Kaylea. They were both being completely silent and then a car pulled up outside of the pub, "Kaylea."

"You lied to me. Stop the act." The venom in Kaylea's tone made Ronny's face fall completely. She knew. Someone had told her. Ronny glanced at the car that had pulled up, nobody was getting out. This wasn't good. Something was about to go wrong. She stepped back again, about to sprint away but the car door opened and she was dragged inside. Ronny tried desperately to fight back but a gun was swiftly pressed against her head and she stopped struggling.

"You did the right thing," was the last thing Ronny heard before the door slammed shut behind the man that had the gun to her head. He then pushed her to sit up in the seat and she reluctantly did so. Leaning back against the seat as she stared out the window. Then they drove away from the pub. Kaylea had betrayed her and Sam knew something. Sam had to know something about it but who had she given her up to.

"Where are you taking me?" Ronny asked, slamming her fist against the back of the driver's seat. The driver stayed completely still, unphased by her violent reaction, "Who are you!" She turned to look at the man who was still holding the gun to her head and he had a stern look on his face. Then she spotted it, the scales. Ammit. Harrow, of course.

"Put your hands in front of you." The man ordered and Ronny glanced out of the window, seeing Thoth stood on the pavement. He nodded at her and she put her hands out. The handcuffs were placed on her wrists and she gritted her teeth. Thoth better have a good plan or she was going to die because of her incredibly unbalanced scales.

The car journey was silent as she stared out of the window. The gun stayed as a looming threat and she tried to ignore it the best she could. There was nothing that she could do now and it was just another conversation with Harrow who seemed determined to get her on side even if she had denied his requests many times over.

They stepped out of the car and Thoth appeared beside her. He looked down at her and there was a sense of confidence around the God. He probably had a plan which was good. Because she could barely think straight, let alone formulate a plan.

"Summon the suit when I tell you to," Thoth said simply. She kept her head forward but her eyes turned to look at him. She hoped they portrayed the array of emotions she felt in that moment. She trusted Thoth, he was a God but she hated not knowing.

"You do not have to pretend he isn't here," Harrow said as he walked over to her. Ronny narrowed her eyes as she glared at him. Her hands were still handcuffed but at least the gun wasn't to her head anymore, a positive to their little debacle.

"What are you talking about?" Ronny kept the British accent up on purpose. He shook his head and gestured for her to follow him. It wasn't like she had a choice so she trudged behind him, eventually catching up with him.

"I understand how trapped you must feel under the Hand of Justice," Harrow began but Ronny scoffed, not letting him continue.

"My work is more moral than yours will ever be. I do not feel trapped," She spat before he could continue his manipulations about the oppression felt by the Avatars of the Gods. Ronny hated the missions at times but that was when she failed and let someone or something slip away. And Thoth never made her feel guilty.

"I tear evil up at the root. How is that immoral? Evil is like a diseased limb. You must remove it to save the entire body," Harrow said as he turned into a community building. Ronny's stomach grumbled at the smell of food. She had to admit that it smelt delicious. She gritted her teeth, pushing back the pangs of hunger. She should have eaten with Marc.

"The Gods were never meant to intervene like Ammitt did. We have systems, flawed systems but they are there for a reason. You cannot kill people because you feel like it." Ronny had gone through this routine with Harrow before but he never changed and his manipulations never worked. Ronny had never been susceptible to his bullshit but she knew when she was younger, less experienced and without Thoth, she would have fallen for it. Especially after the death of her husband, she would have done anything to punish them. Not anymore.

"Ammit does not kill people because she feels like it. They are sinners," Harrow said before he pulled out a key. He surveyed her face, trying to work out how she'd react before he undid the handcuffs and let them fall to the floor. Ronny didn't make a move against him and then Harrow lifted the cane to her wrists.

"Now!" Thoth's voice boomed through her head and she summoned the suit. The bandages wrapped around her skin in seconds and she punched Harrow across the face, kicking him away from her. The cane clattered to the floor and she stepped back quickly. Everyone in the community centre stood up, ready to fight. Harrow climbed back to his feet, his lip bleeding as he wiped the blood away. He snatched his cane back up.

"You are never going to find Ammit's tomb," She said as she stepped back. Those standing behind her were a few feet away so she had room to escape if Harrow wanted to escalate this any further. He wiped the blood from his lip again and stepped closer.

"I did not bring you here to fight. Only listen," Harrow's voice was calm and even but she could see the annoyance in his eyes. Ronny's moral compass was too strong for his manipulations and Thoth had treated her well and gave her a purpose. Nobody could take that away from her and Harrow's ravings were simply that. Ravings of a mad man with too much guilt.

"You have nothing that I want to hear." Ronny felt ridiculous in the suit but it protected her from the cult she was surrounded by. Harrow shook his head gently.

"I was praying you would reconsider." The look on Harrow's face was not a good one and Ronny stepped back. She surveyed the room and spotted the staircase. It hopefully led to a roof and she could get out. The entrance they came in through had too many people.

"You clearly don't know me." Ronny said before she made a run for it. She heard Harrow shouting orders in Ancient Egyptian but she ignored his words as she bound up the stairs. A man came running down towards her but she caught him around the waist and threw him down the stairs behind her. A gunshot pinged past her head and she rushed through the first available door. A long corridor that she took off down the corridor.

The clamouring behind her was loud and then the gunshots. They pinged off the floor just behind her ankles and they only just missed her shoulder and head a few times. She was thankful for their terrible aim. She turned around the corner and came to a dead end. Two options. Thoth summons a portal, right here, right now or she has blood on her hands.

The portal appeared in seconds. She glanced back at the men clamouring down the corridor and stepped through, into a familiar home. They were in the artefact's room in the Tuscan mansion where Marc had shot her. Her breathing was heavy from running as she leant against the wall behind her. Thoth then appeared across the room, bending down slightly so he didn't hit his head on the ceiling. It was clear that Ronny was confused.

"You were... busy earlier but you need to collect one of these artefacts. It is due to be sold to the undeserving," Thoth explained as he began to pace down the aisles of artefacts. He usually would have a better idea of what they were looking for due to their joint research but Ronny had been busy the past few hours, days even. Thoth usually would have no qualms interrupting her private life but he understood the situation with Steven.

Ronny didn't know how to respond to the God. Khonshu was his rival. His opposite and she had been making out with his Avatar. That surely would have been an incentive to interrupt and yet, he hadn't. Ronny stared at the God before she shook her head, joining his side.

"Unlike Khonshu, there is some respect for your privacy granted," Thoth was answering questions that hadn't even been asked but he knew what she was thinking. Ronny nodded.

"That's news," She mumbled, amused, as Thoth stopped in front of a glass cabinet. He gestured towards it and Ronny walked over. She had no idea what it even was. There were hieroglyphs on it but there weren't enough to work out what it said. Ronny gently pulled up the glass but then a loud siren shrieked and she winced at the noise, "They must have upped security." It was an off-hand remark that made Thoth stare at her disapprovingly. She smiled beneath the vibranium mask at him before she grabbed the hieroglyphic tablet and walked to the window. There was the clamouring of guards outside the door and she smashed the glass of the window before she dived out. Her cape mitigated all of the damage as she smacked against the ground. It was a reckless move but left the guards baffled until they stuck their heads out of the window and saw her.

"There better be a portal waiting for me." Her words were aggressive and demanding but just what Thoth would have expected. Ronny rushed to her feet and sprinted out of the garden and away from the house.

The opening came up where the portal was last time and Ronny dived through into her apartment. It was a smoother escape than last time and she was thankful to be home as she climbed back to her feet, glancing around the apartment. The hieroglyphic tablet was pressed against her chest as she collapsed onto her bed. The suit retracted as her cheeks began to ache, bruises forming in seconds.

Her stomach grumbled and she felt the nausea from the lack of food hit her, forcing her to get up and finally eat something.

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NOTE 
sorry to the kaylea lovers. i didn't expect it either but it just sort of happened, i hope you enjoyed :) <3