[✔️] 𝑇𝐻𝐼𝑁𝐾 𝑂𝐹 𝑀𝐸 | 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐆𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗

𝐀 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐆𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐓, 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐍
"𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒."
—𝑀𝑎ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑚𝑎 𝐺𝑎𝑛𝑑ℎ𝑖

𝐈
— 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑎 —

𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐀'𝐒 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 𝐒𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐋𝐘 blinked themselves awake as pain arose from the back of her neck. It was stiff and cracked slightly as she gradually lifted her head up and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

Her eyes widened as she realized what had happened. There was a gag around her mouth, and her arms and legs were bound to a wooden chair. She tried to wriggle herself free, but that only caused the rope to dig in more tightly to her skin, forcing her to let out a groan of pain and stop.

She glanced over beside her and swallowed when she saw the long gun in Elliott's hands. His eyes were wild with fear and his thin lips were pressed together tightly as he stared at her in terror.

Suddenly finding his words, he shouted, "Where'd you get the film? Huh? Are you here to kill us?"

Mara's forehead creased with confusion. The film? What the hell was he talking about?

And then her mind flashed back to the night before.

Five had gone out to find Luther at a burlesque bar, having convinced Mara to stay at the apartment because it would be weird for her to go there—and he wasn't even sure if she'd be allowed inside, anyway (of course they had to land in a time that was still racist).

She had spent most of her time chatting with the then docile Elliott, who explained to her of his past life as a TV salesman and showed her all the photographs he had documented of each of the siblings' appearances.

Elliott had gone to bed by the time Five had gotten back, but Mara, luckily, had been up and reading a book she had found on aliens (which was interesting—not convincing, but definitely entertaining).

Five had (very angrily) spoken about how Luther was a little bitch and had refused to help them (which wasn't surprising in the least). But then he quickly passed over something about finding footage and had then stormed off to bed.

Mara hadn't really thought of the footage part too much, but it seemed like her life was currently being held hostage by its very existence.

"Tell me!"

Mara looked up to Elliott, an eyebrow raised. She tried to speak, only for her voice to be muffled by the gag he had given her—thus proving her point.

He faltered, but his grip on his gun then tightened as the sound of footsteps came.

Mara turned her eyes to the front of the living room, where three figures came up from the stairs.

Her gaze brushed past Five, who she wasn't surprised to see, and moved towards the two others. One was Diego, who was now changed out of his usual white hospital clothes and was now wearing a black button-up that was tucked into a pair of pants. The other was a woman of shorter stature, who had brown skin and choppy, black hair, and she wore a plaid dress over a white turtleneck.

Who she was, Mara hadn't the slightest clue. But she was more than happy to see Diego.

"Where did you get the film?" Elliott yelled at them as he pushed the barrel of the gun further into the side of Mara's head, causing her to wince. "The Frankel Footage. The truth this time."

"Mara," Diego breathed out, his eyes widening as he took in her gag and restraints.

"He's harmless," Five reassured him as he slipped his hands into his pockets. "Mara'll be fine."