(Til Death Do Us Part) 4: Demands
25 Jan 2023Silvia Sharpe
Diaz and Grenshaw are setting up the room for which they will call Venus from. Grenshaw finishes contructing the tube frame for their back drop and places down a large black sheet to cover a large bay window over looking the planetary surface and outpost. Not only were they going to be using a signal proxy to prevent a trace but they hoped to conceal the location from view. Diaz looks everything over and tells Grenshaw to bring Silvia up to the video room.'Go get our prisoner and bring her up here.'
'Yes boss. What do you have planned?'
'I plan on making Duval come to us.'
Grenshaw seems confused by the response but proceeds downstairs to grab Silvia. As he makes his way down the stairs he notices Jules sitting outside the room Silvia is being held in. Jules stares Grenshaw down and proceeds to inquire about the nature of his appearance. After last time she was taking no chances with him.
'What are you planning this time Grenshaw? If you think you are going to be able to get in there and do as you please think again. I held back last time, next time you won't be soo lucky.'
'Boss wants the girl. Now get out of my way! You have done your part already and out lived your usefulness to us. You would do well to stay out of our way or be prepared to join her.'
Jules reluctantly moves out of the way allowing Grenshaw access to the room. He squares his shoulders and takes a deep breath. The door opens and he rushes over to the bed aggressively and grabs Silvia by the arm. He pulls her with enough force that her arm pops out of its socket. Silvia lets out a small yelp of pain and tries to resist being drug out of the room. As they pass by Jules, Silvia reaches out in attempt to get help from her but Jules just looks away holding her arm, a sorry look on her face. Silvia turns and kicks Grenshaw in the groin. He groans and pulls her around in front of him and slams her against the wall.
'Ugh, why are the small ones always soo damn feisty. Too bad for you I like it rough. Kick me again and I'll break that leg of yours. Don't need ya to be able to walk for what I have planned anyhow. Hell you not being able to walk would make it much easier for me.'
Silvia thinking the man is bluffing kicks him again. He slams her against the wall again then kicks down on the front of her knee snapping it backwards. Silvia screams out in pain as her leg is broken. Jules watches from behind a scowl on her face. She clenches her fist and jaw. She yells at Silvia in an attempt to keep her compliant.
'Just do as he says and you wont be harmed again! Please just don't resist!'
'No please do resist. It makes this more fun for me.'
Grenshaw chimes in a creepy grin on his face. Diaz having heard Silvia scream makes his way downstairs to see Grenshaw pinning her to the wall. Her left leg hanging in a way that it shouldn't be and her right arm is hanging limp. Diaz appears angry at the scene in front of him. He storms over grabs Silvia and punches Grenshaw in the face for his stupidity, chastising him for breaking her leg and dislocating her shoulder.
'You goddamned fool! I said to grab her not fucking break her! What the hell were you thinking? Now I have to give her a pain inhibitor and hope that Duval doesn't notice her broken leg.'
'You want Duval to come to us then let her see the girl broken. She'll be right pissed when she sees what we've done. She will react irrationally and storm in. That's when we take her by surprise.'
Grenshaw snaps back thinking he just came up with a good plan. Diaz punches him again then replies in a disappointed tone. As he does he pops Silvia's arm back into place. She once again lets out a welp of pain.
'You idiot that is not how Duval works. We have to wear her down. Bring her to her knees. We need to make her vulnerable. We have to use this girl as bait. If she is broken before hand Duval wont think this is her fault. That is what we need. We need Duval to feel like the pain being caused is her fault so she comes quietly in hopes that this one will be left alone.'
'And you!.......' Diaz turns to Jules an aggravated look on his face and a sinister tone in his voice '...... You will be joining her in staying locked down here. You have become a liability.'
Diaz turns away and proceeds upstairs with Silvia, Grenshaw follows behind. The door slams shut behind them and locks, leaving Jules alone. They arrive in the video room and set up the camera. Diaz looks to Grenshaw and nods asking him to open a direct encrypted line to Venus. He quickly injects Silvia with a pain inhibitor and waits for Venus to answer.
The holo screen in front of Diaz and Grenshaw lights up. Venus is seen sitting with Ava in the cockpit of Genesis an angered look on both of their faces. Silvia sees Venus and yells out.
'Venus don't do anything they ask! Be smart...….'
'Shut your mouth! You don't get to speak right now!'
Diaz punches Silvia in the face hard enough to split open the inside of her mouth. Venus seeing this yells out in the most venomous and aggressive tone she can.
'Diaz! Do! Not! Touch! Her! What the hell do you want? You already took away my title and my lands. You had me removed and banished from the empire. What more could you want?'
Diaz chuckles then in an annoyed tone replies.
'So you already know who I am thats disappointing.....' Diaz glares at Grenshaw then looks back to the holo screen in front of him as Grenshaw flips on the light illuminating Diaz. 'Did you really think I just wanted you banished? HA! the thought of that is laughable. I wanted you sentenced to death. However Things did not go according to plan. Your damned princess had to change your sentence last minute. I bought the jury, I bought the girl you tried to save. You! You ruined our operation with your damned hero complex! You took away our capability to keep slaves and sell people for money on the side. So now this one...….' Diaz reaches over and caresses Silvia's face then firmly grabs her jaw forcing her to look him square in the eyes as he gropes her with his other hand. '...….. will be our payment unless you...… comply with our demands'
'Yes I do. Your goon doesnt know how to keep his mouth shut and sent a message to Longshot just before he blew it up. Now, get your fucking hands off of her you pig!'
Venus again yells out as Diaz touches her wife again. She is disgusted by what she is seeing and the look on Silvia's face tells her that she is terrified. Silvia may be putting on a strong face but Venus knows her better than that.
'What is the demand then?'
Diaz let's Silvia go knowing that he had struck the button to get Venus to comply. He responds in an ominous tone.
'I want you to bring me the 40 slaves you owe me as well as surrender yourself to me to be my own personal slave.'
The last few words left his mouth in a disgustingly creepy tone. Upon hearing this Venus snarls and fires back in an even more annoyed tone.
'No! Absolutely not! I refuse to take part in any of your practices.......' Venus looks to Ava who is working on trying to lock down the incoming feed signal. 'Ava anything yet?'
'No Venus the signal is all over the place I cant get a hit'
Ava is frantically trying to pinpoint the source of the call but is only getting fragments of data from multiple sources. Diaz realizes what is happening and reacts violently taking his anger out on Silvia to show Venus that he is not willing to play games. He grabs a metal pipe left over from their makeshift backdrop and slams it down onto Silvia's right arm just above the wrist shattering the bone. Silvia lets out a yelp. Even with a pain inhibitor in full effect bones breaking overpower it albeit slightly. Diaz looks back at the projection and speaks in a mocking tone.
'You see what you have caused to your poor little trophy? If you refuse to comply further the punishments will get more and more severe. Each and every one will be recorded and sent to you until you comply. And if you try any more tricks like trying to secretly track us you will regret it for the remainder of your numbered days. You have 1 week to decide if you will comply with my terms or not.'
Grenshaw cuts off the video feed as Venus screams out.
'I'm going to kill you!'
Diaz looks at Silvia and smiles. He picks her up and brings her to the stairs. The door opens and he shoves her down. Silvia tumbles down the stairs and hits the floor. Jules sees Silvia hit the ground and rushes over to her. Silvia looks up at her a shocked and afraid look on her face. She had broken bones but the pain inhibitor was doing its job in preventing her from facing the full scale of pain. Jules carefully picks Silvia up from the ground and carries her into the makeshift medical room in the downstairs "prison". She grabs a few medical supplies and tends to Silvia's injuries. Silvia lies on the bed as Jules sets her broken bones back into place. Small yelps, gunts and groans coming from Silvia as Jules pulls and aligns the bones. Jules applies a metallic cast like exo armor to Silvia's broken knee to allow her to walk around freely while preventing the joint from being further injured while allowing it to heal. The same kind of cast is applied to her right arm. The casts have needles that occasionally inject small amounts of pain inhibitors every couple hours to keep pain low. Jules helps Silvia to her feet slowly. Silvia takes a few steps around the room and moves her hand and arm. She feels a small amount of discomfort but it is manageable. She turns to Jules a puzzled look on her face.
'Why are you here? Why are you helping me?'
Jules looks down a look of regret on her face. Her tone is remorseful as she explains a small amount of her reasoning for being asociated with these brutes.
'I am here because I thought I was going to be smuggling contraband and stealing come valuable cargo. I'm helping you because I didn't sign up to take hostages or slaves.'
Jules walks out of the room and beckons for Silvia to join her.
'Let's get you cleaned up. Afterwards I'll prepare some food.'
'Wait. What is your name? It would make me more comfortable if I could know you aren't one of the six trying to kill my wife.' Silvia wants to accept help but is hesitant. She looks at Jules determined to refuse help if she is one of the original six.
'Julia Naomi Cavanaugh. But everyone just calls me Jules.' Jules answers in a calm and sincere tone. She is a prisoner here too and a friend would be appreciated.
With that Silvia proceeds slowly behind Jules to the shower. Jules beckons for her to come closer and take a seat so she can help Silvia out of her clothes and into the shower. Silvia is reluctant at first but having seen the lengths this woman was willing to go to in order to keep her safe, she allowed her to help her undress and get cleaned up. Jules helps Silvia out of her clothes and sits her down on the bench. Silvia has bruises all over her body from being jostled around the escape pod and being thrown down a flight of stairs, they are a deep purple color with yellowing around the outsides. Jules removes the bandages from Silvia's face and the patch from her right eye. She gently washes away the dried blood. Silvia closes her eyes and thinks back to a moment just like this with Venus after Silvia had been attacked by the Vulptex and it had torn her shoulder apart.
Jules finishes by washing the dried blood out Silvia's hair. She shuts the water off and helps Silvia dry off and get some nicer clothes put on. She picks out a pair of black leggings and a grey off the shoulder top that says take me to the stars a nebula graphic is printed on it. The two leave Jules room. Jules spends a about an hour preparing the two of them a salmon dinner with green beans and rice.