The Starling Vigilante [Watty's 2015 Award Winner]

Chapter 61

'Peter!' I exclaimed, running to his cell. 'Are you alright?'

'I'm dying, Aria,' he said solemnly, lying down on the floor. 'All because of those tests. What did they do to me?'

'Radiation poisoning,' I informed him, starting to cry.

'I have cancer, don't I?' Peter cried. 'Don't I?'

I merely nodded.

'When are we going to be able to get out?' Peter asked. 'Its been nearly a year since you first joined us in that cavern.'

'I don't know,' I said. 'But soon. I promise!'

'You said that six months ago,' Peter reflected. 'And we're still here!'

'I'm sorry, Peter,' I apologised. 'Trust me, I wanted to get out of here too. But it's been so hard to do anything on this boat.'

'You don't have to be sorry,' Peter smiled. 'It was my own stupidity that got us on this boat in the first place. I wanted to destroy the Mirakuru, but that just put us on this damned boat.'

---

'Aria!' I heard a voice. It was Hendrick.

'Hendrick!' I exclaimed. 'Are you, are you alright?'

'I want the hell off of this boat!' He shouted, shaking the bars of his cell. 'You told me you would get me to safety. But we're still here!'

His reaction was similar to Peter's, but a lot more angrier. It was scary.

'I want to get off this boat too!' I exclaimed. 'I'm sorry!'

'You like it here, don't you?' Hendrick accused. 'It's all good for you. You don't get tortured; you're the torturer! Like that blonde!'

'I said I'm sorry, Hendrick!' I tried to apologise. 'I'm getting you off this ship, if it's the last thing I do!'

'Yeah, I believe you!' Hendrick said sarcastically. 'Get lost!'

Hendrick was bound to be angry at me, but I couldn't do any more than I was doing. I was in an impossible situation.

---

A day had passed and Ivo and his team were still absent from the boat. I had time to figure a plan out with Peter and Anatoly, and Hendrick if he was willing to do so, Ivo not listening in to my conversations making it much easier to sort something out.

'I'm going to find the keys to your cells,' I told Hendrick. 'I've already told Peter about this. The only problem is, now that Ivo doesn't trust me, I don't have the privilege of owning my own keys.'

'You really are trying to help us,' Hendrick commented. 'I'm sorry I doubted you.'

'If I was in your position, I would too,' I pointed out. 'And because I'm friends with Sara, you obviously assumed that I'd gone to 'the dark side'.'

'Why are you friends with her?' Hendrick queried. 'She's awful. To all of us.'

'You see, that's where you're wrong,' I informed him. 'She was shipwrecked when I was, remember? She just thinks she has to do what she's told, since this ship rescued her in the first place-'

'Aria!' Hendrick shouted suddenly.

Turning round, I was met with a display of guns, their barrels all pointed towards me. And Ivo was in the centre of it all.

'Do you ever learn?' Ivo laughed darkly. 'Since you didn't listen to me, the fact that Oliver isn't here anymore, and that his friends took the Mirakuru, I have no use for you anymore. Lock her away!'

'But what about the deal?' I shouted, trying to fight the crew as they grabbed me.

'No Oliver, no Mirakuru, no deal,' Ivo hissed.

'But, I can help you with your work!' I screamed. 'I thought you said I was special!'

'You aren't when we have no Mirakuru,' Ivo stated. 'And you never wanted to work with me from the start. You just wanted to free yourself and your friends.'

He leaned towards me.

'I poured my heart out to you,' he whispered. 'But you just resisted my help. I gave you a home, like I did with Sara, but you both destroyed my trust.'

As the crew pushed me into the cell, Ivo repeatedly kicked my chest hard. I screamed, unable to bear the pain as his boots dug into my ribcage.

'Sorry,' he smiled maniacally, the rest of the crew laughing behind him.

'I'm going to escape,' I said as strong as I could through the shooting pains in my chest.

'And how are you going to do that, Aria?' He asked arrogantly, emphasising my name. 'You're no threat to me.'

'You're going to be sorry!' I shouted as they left, before collapsing in the corner of the cell.

---

'Hey, wake up!' Anatoly said, slapping my face to wake me.

I bolted upright in fight mode, ready for an attack, as though instinct had taken over.

'Oh, it's only you,' I said, my body aching. 'Am I in Oliver's old cell?'

'Yes,' Anatoly nodded. 'It seems he got away.'

'Well done to him,' I said sarcastically. 'I just wish I wasn't stuck here, so I could actually help you all get out.'

'What was that all about before, eh?' Anatoly asked curiously. 'What did that Ivo do to you this last year?'

'Well, first he made me into a killer,' I explained matter-of-factly. 'Not that I killed anyone, he just gave me this serum which made me 'fulfil my potential'. He said I was special. That he cared for me. So much for that.'

'He's heartbroken,' Anatoly presumed. I raised my eyebrows at him. 'What? He is. He thought you were his best project. And then you betrayed him. He put so much effort into making you his version of an ideal being, and then you blew it.'

'You're being very philosophical all of a sudden,' I laughed, trying not to think about what was happening to me.

'It's true,' Anatoly commented. 'And now he has turned his disappointment towards you into anger and hatred.'

'I guess you're right,' I said, trying to shift myself into a comfortable position. But it hurt too much. 'Jesus, what did he have in those shoes? Weights or something?'

'His aim was just very good,' Anatoly informed me.

'You're definitely right on that one,' I said before gasping in pain.

'At least he didn't shoot you in the side like he did with the rest of us,' Anatoly remarked.

'I do feel sorry for you all,' I said empathetically. 'But I don't feel sorry for myself. Not because you're not supposed to feel sorry for yourself, but because I know I could have prevented this. If I hadn't had gone to that damned university.'

'Eh?' Anatoly asked, giving me a curious look.

'Long story,' I said with a slight laugh. 'I'll leave it for when we get off this boat.'

---

'Wake up!' I heard a familiar voice shaking me awake.

Opening my eyes, I was faced with the Flash.

'How did you-' I asked, taken aback.

'We don't have much time,' the Flash whispered. 'I turned all the cameras off for a few minutes. They'll never know I was here. The only thing I can do now is give you the key to your cell. I know you can escape, Aria.'

Passing me the key, I shoved in my trouser pocket and led back down, as if nothing had happened.

Now I could finally escape. For good.