Varun - Chapter 39

1

“Guys!” Skylar’s voice sounded panicked after a minute or so as they began to search the alleyway, but then when Skylar went to check a skip, Varun suddenly stood up from behind it, making her go to scream but Charles covered her mouth, “Hey hey! No screaming.”2

Skylar yanked herself away from the both of them and scowled, “Didn’t you hear us calling for you!?”3

Charles chuckled, “We did, yeah. But you might have been followed. We were making sure no one was coming.”4

“It’s not funny!” Skylar wailed, “I was so scared and worried for you two!”5

Varun sighed, “You shouldn’t worry. We’re not going to get caught that easy.”6

Skylar screwed up her face, tears in her eyes and bolted at him, shoving him into the wall, “You idiot! I’m not soulless like you!” She hit him in the chest but Varun grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back, “Don’t be stupid, Sky. You’re overreacting.”7

“Shut up!” Sky snapped before suddenly hugging him, crying into his chest, “You i-i-idiot!”8

Varun grabbed her shoulders again to shove her but he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t…push her away. Instead, his eyes saddened a little. Charles and Toushirou watched and seeing as their eyes were used to the darkness of the shadow they were in, they were able to see the slight change in his eyes.9

“Hey hey,” Toushirou said, deciding to relieve Skylar from Varun by stroking her back, “I would have done the same thing. Us guys have to be safe, you know?”10

Skylar took a breath and she let Varun go slowly, unable to look up at him. She just wiped her eyes and turned to Toushirou, hugging him instead, “I’m sorry.”11

Toushirou smiled, stroking her back as he held her, “It’s okay. I can understand why you’re upset. It’s scary. You don’t know whether they’re dead or gone or not.”12

Varun watched for a moment before turning his gaze away from them, with Charles watching Varun still with an intrigued look on his face.13

“You got the stuff?” Varun managed to ask after a minute or so. Toushirou nodded, letting Skylar part from him first, then he handed the plastic bag in his hand to Varun, “Here you go.”14

Varun took it off of him, surprising them with a ‘thanks’ and looked through the bag. He didn’t make eye contact with any of them.15

Skylar watched him, feeling something was off, and asked, “You okay Varun?”16

“I’m fine,” Varun replied without hesitation, almost mechanically, and looked at some of the items Toushirou had bought from the chemist. He found some items to clean up his cheek then he put on some padding to keep the wound from bleeding out, sticking it down with tape. Charles and Toushirou sorted themselves out then while Skylar watched, sitting on the edge of the skip, swinging her legs back and forth. These men had gotten hurt…and Varun and Toushirou were teenagers!17

She sighed, bowing her head. She couldn’t reminisce on that, for now at least. They had to concentrate on keeping hidden until Vixen came for them.18

“Hey, I think we need cover names,” Toushirou said, “Just for now while we’re outside.”19

Varun pulled on his new beanie hat that pushed his hair down, making it look longer and they framed his face more, the only eye that ever really showed actually being covered by a few strands too and he looked rather intimidating but very ‘cool’. He seemed to be able to get away with anything and everything he wore.20

Charles put on the new coat which had a hood and Toushirou was quite happy in his new shirt and coat which had a high collar.21

“Cover names. Not unusual,” Charles replied as he checked out his coat with the hood up, then pulled it down, “Got any suggestions?”22

“Well seeing as I’m Sky’s boyfriend on the outside,” he winked at Skylar, making her smile. She didn’t blush anymore from his compliments and he continued, “I’m calling her Princess.”23

Varun just wanted to slap him on the back of the head for that but ignored it, “Okay. We’re going for new cover names totally. Charles?”24

“I’m going for Matthew,” Charles replied.25

“Matthew. Good,” Varun said.26

“Matt. Matty,” Toushirou clicked his fingers before pointing his index fingers at Charles, making the same clicking sound with his mouth.27

“Concentrate,” Varun told him, “And your name?”28

“Zorro,” Toushirou said, pulling his coat around him so that the high collar covered his nose and mouth. One look from Varun made him say, “Hey hey! I was kidding! Man. Anthony. Anthony.”29

“Good,” Varun said, “I’ll be Daniel.”30

“Okay Danny,” Toushirou chuckled, patting Varun’s back, much to Varun’s annoyance.31

“Have you GOT to touch me?” Varun furrowed his brow at Toushirou but Toushirou ignored him completely, asking Skylar, “What about you?”32

Skylar pursed her lips, then said gently, “I always liked the name Charlotte.”33

“Charlotte? That’s pretty. Suits you,” Toushirou smiled.34

Skylar grinned, “Thanks.”35

“Okay, that settles it,” Varun said, standing up to end the conversation, “Now let’s look out for Vixen.”36

* * *37

The other team had gotten to the house smoothly and peacefully and luckily Kirsten had a garage so they opened up the garage and parked the car inside. When the garage door was shut, they moved Nathaniel into the house and down into the basement where Tanya was waiting.38

Kirsten had short red hair with freckles and green eyes, with an athletic build which told you you should never mess with her. She wore army print khaki trousers that were very baggy and a black tank top with ‘KILL’ on the front.39

“I see you still got good taste in clothes,” Christian chuckled and Kirsten smirked a little, “Yep. Better taste than you.”40

“Ouch,” Christian laughed, “And you’ve been at the weights too. Your muscles are huge!”41

“For a woman,” Kirsten shrugged, “But I ain’t no prissy.”42

Tanya walked up to the basement door and when she saw Christian she ran up to him and hugged him, “Hey Christian! Long time no see!”43

“Heya Tanya,” Christian hugged her back while Vixen watched with a rather jealous expression.44

Christian saw this and explained, “Tanya’s like a little sister to me. She was my…apprentice you could say in…certain skills.” He had a guilty look on his face.45

“Skills?” Vixen asked, a little worried as to what skills he was talking about.46

Tanya laughed, “Thievery!” 47

“Thievery?” Vixen gaped.48

“I’ll explain later,” Christian laughed a little nervously, “I wasn’t that well behaved a kid when I was little.”49

Tanya laughed hard, “No way in hell! You were worse than me! You were such a rebel!”50

Tanya turned to Vixen with a large grin on her face, “And this is your fiancé? She’s gorgeous!” She hugged Vixen, much to Vixen’s surprise. Tanya was oriental, of Japanese blood, with black hair, short at the back and long at the front, wearing a floral skirt and a simple white short sleeved shirt.51

“You two look like a good match as usual too,” Christian said to Kirsten who just laughed, “Yep. Total tomboy and total prissy.”52

“Hey, I don’t like the word ‘prissy’,” Tanya giggled, releasing Vixen who hadn’t known what to do and how to reply to Tanya.53

“So you want us to get info out this guy?” Kirsten asked about Nathaniel.54

Christian chuckled, “Best wait til Varun gets in.” Kirsten had a disappointed look on her face, so said, “You can help him out when he gets here.”55

Kirsten brightened up a bit, punching her right fist into her left palm in front of her, “Looking forward to it.”56

“He’s tied down now!” Cathy called up from the basement, “Who’s gonna watch him?”57

“I will!” Kirsten called before turning to Tanya, “Hey, sort out these guy’s injuries. Cathy first.”58

Tanya nodded, “Will do.”59

“Thanks for this,” Christian said to Tanya when Kirsten hurried downstairs and Cathy came up into the room. They were in the kitchen and the basement lead from there so Tanya went straight to the draw for the first aid kit and Cathy sat at the island in the middle of the kitchen.60

“No problem,” Tanya said, “Anything to help you guys out. This place is a total mess right now. Total upheaval.”61

“What do you mean?” Christian asked curiously.62

“A lot of people fighting, rioting, everything out of control,” Tanya sighed, “Since the Fire Cons passed through. No one knows what’s going on.”63

“It’s damaging the community that much already?” Christian sighed, “Geez.” He took out his ponytail and ran his fingers through his long black hair.64

“Don’t worry Christian,” Tanya smiled, “With Varun, we can’t be beaten.” She held her thumb up, winking at him and he couldn’t help but smile, “Yeah. With Varun we’ll be fine.”65

Vixen set off a few minutes later, feeling very wary seeing as she was alone in the car. Kirsten and Tanya had no car with them at that time so she had to use the one they had been using. She hated the thought that the car could be traced now that it was known to the Fire Cons.66

Christian had given her a gun and put it in the dashboard and Cathy had given her a penknife to keep on her. That worried the woman more than comforted her. It was like they were saying something could really go wrong.67

For the whole journey she prayed nothing would go wrong, that she would be unhurt. That was the last thing she wanted, to get into another fight. She was nowhere near as strong and clever in battle as Christian and Cathy were!68

Her palms were sweaty by the time she neared the town and she felt like the steering wheel was going to slip out of her hands any moment when she turned corners. Then she’d lose control of the car and probably crash. Get badly injured, even get killed. She could imagine Varun and the others finding them then Varun giving her that degrading look like she was stupid. The thing is, she felt she WAS stupid. How did she think she was going to even help in this?! She wasn’t valuable to them at all!69

She felt herself getting upset them and she wiped her eyes. She couldn’t cry now.70

When she found the pub she pulled up in front of it and looked around. There was no sign of Varun and the others so she drummed her fingertips on the steering wheel, mumbling, “Come ooooon. Hurry uuuuuup.”71

Someone jumped down into the car and she turned her head, grinning, “Va-“72

She stopped when she saw a gun pointed at her hip, hidden from the view of passers by. Oh gods!73

The woman who had the gun pointing at her giggled eerily, “Gotcha girl. You didn’t think you were going to get off easy driving this car, did you? You were so easily spotted from the sky.”74

Vixen cursed in her mind but she couldn’t say anything. She couldn’t even scream.75

“Awww. Gonna cry are you?” the woman said in a mocking voice and Vixen tensed. She dropped her hands to her sides, her right hand touching her pocket. She was relieved she’d put it in that pocket and not the one closest to the woman.76

“Hands on the wheel love,” the woman said. Vixen was trembling but she managed to slide the penknife out of her pocket slowly and pushed the blade up her sleeve. 77

“Hands now,” the woman demanded, pressing the gun tighter against her hip so Vixen put her hands on the wheel, biting her trembling lip. How was she going to do this?78

The woman pressed her ear and said, “I got her. She’s shaking like a baby. She’s useless. I’ve no problem here.” She waited a moment, “Yeah I’m sure….yeah…okay, see you soon. I’ll bring her along.”79

While the woman talked, her gaze dropped a moment. That was when Vixen let the blade slip into her hand behind the steering wheel from and she opened it out. Taking a breath she prayed. She didn’t want to get taken or else Varun would have been right and she would just be a failure…like always.80

* * *81

“There she is!” Toushirou said.82

“Great! Can’t wait to get back to the others,” Skylar said cheerfully but then her face fell, “Oh…no…”83

Varun gritted his teeth as he saw the woman who had just jumped into the car speaking to Vixen and he cursed, “Great.”84

“What are we going to do?” Skylar asked.85

“Us appearing now isn’t going to help her,” Charles said.86

“Right,” Varun nodded, “She’d just be used against us. May get her and us all injured. They’re reckless people.”87

“But we can’t just leave her!” Skylar cried, “What if she gets hurt?”88

“Hey! Hold on a second,” Toushirou said, “Look!” They all looked as Vixen put her hands on the wheel. Then the woman was talking to someone through her earpiece.89

“What is it?” Varun asked.90

“She took something out,” Toushirou said. They waited, then they saw Vixen open the blade the moment the woman looked away.91

“Oh my…” Skylar began and Charles cursed, “She’s risking it big man. We got to go now!”92

Toushirou was ready to go but then Varun grabbed Toushirou as Christian’s words played in his mind. He was told to trust her and he would. He had a feeling about it this time.93

“Varun!” Toushirou cried, “She might get killed!”94

“Just wait a moment,” Varun said.95

“Geez!” Charles went to go but Varun elbowed him, “I said no!”96

Just then, Skylar suddenly yelled, “VARUN!” 97

* * *98

“I’m surprised you haven’t screamed yet,” the woman laughed, “You’re sure a quiet one. I thought you’d be the type to scream your head off. That’s why I brought this.” She looked away to take out duck tape from her pocket and that was the moment Vixen needed.99

She gritted her teeth and stabbed the woman in the throat. The woman was so shocked her whole body tensed and she dropped the gun. A passer by screamed and Vixen felt herself pale as blood soaked the woman’s clothes. She yanked the blade out before jumping out of the car. She couldn’t stay here! She went to run but then skidded to a halt and ran back. The gun! It would have a trace of her friends on! She yanked open the dashboard and took out the gun, then making a mad dash across the road, cars nearly hitting her as she went, blood on her shirt. She ran along the road, tears beginning to streak down her face when she was grabbed and pulled into an alleyway. She went to scream but a hand covered her mouth and when her eyes got used to the light she saw Skylar and Toushirou in front of her. Then Charles.100

When the person holding her let her go she turned around and whispered, “Varun!” She suddenly hugged him tightly as if clinging to life.101

Toushirou had to make a weak joke then, “Got a thing with people hugging you today Varun.”102

Surprisingly Varun said nothing. He just held the back of Vixen’s head and sighed. He then forced her jacket off, surprising her, and threw it into the nearest skip. Then he took off his beanie hat, pulled up her hair on top of her head and yanked the beanie down on her head, nearly covering her eyes in the process. Then came his leather jacket, putting it on her. All the while she had a stunned look on her face.103

“Varun…” Skylar whispered but Varun just said, “Come on, we got to go.” Sirens were blaring and they knew they were in trouble. How were they going to get out of here now? Varun grabbed Vixen’s hand and started running down the alleyway, pulling her along after him. Toushirou grabbed Skylar, smiling, “More running ey?”104

Charles followed right behind, cocking his gun that was on his belt, “Not unusual. What IS though is what the Boy did with Vixen.”105

Skylar didn’t say anything in reply, feeling somewhat jealous as she watching Varun ahead holding Vixen’s hand and she felt guilty for feeling like she did, but she couldn’t help it. She…loved that guy. 106