Arianna's Tale Pt. 03

The next few days passed without much of anything happening in Arianna's life. She limped about her house, popped a few Diazepam to knock her out in the evening, and spent most of her days as she had for the last little while. Laying about in a drug-induced slouch. She knew she'd become an addict. She knew she should stop, yet she didn't. Nor would she at the rate she was going. The problem with being so involved in a world of crime is that most people's moral compass pointed downwards, so having a friend to pick you up was, unfortunately, a rarity.

Plus, the drugs at least helped with her knee. She'd landed hard. It was swollen, bruised, and made a rather concerning 'crunch' whenever she crouched down. A hospital visit would have been the smart idea, but in this country who could afford to go to the hospital without health insurance? In a country where a broken finger could cost you as much as five thousand dollars and in her case, a broken or messed up knee could cost anywhere from ten thousand to thirty-five thousand. When you worked on the wrong side of the law, paid your bills purely in cash, and had no claimable income. Going to the hospital became an emergency-only situation.

Maybe it was an emergency. But Arianna didn't care. She sat in her armchair in the living room. Her TV echoed with static in the background as she sat there, eyelids fluttering and her brain slipping in-and-out of consciousness. Snips and Ajax hadn't come back since their evening out and she'd received a single call from Ezio which she hadn't bothered to pick up. His voice mail insisted it was important and based on his tone, he was upset.

"Whatever..." She'd mumbled, clicking off her cell phone and tossing it in the pile of overdue bills laying on her counter before returning to her chair, settling deeply into the dusty cushions of her chair. What was she even doing with her life anymore? Would she ever get over this hump, find a bit of that old self of hers again? Her friend's words had stung when they'd accused her of not being the same. They were right of course. Previous to the loss of her girlfriend, she'd never touched drugs in her life, she had the motivation to do things, she'd always been smiling even though her job was to shake businesses down for money.

But all that had changed when she lost her. She still remembered the day it happened. It was supposed to be a simple business shakedown when a rival gang had rolled up and started shooting. It was chaos. She'd watched her girlfriend of ten years, Taylor. Fall to the ground in front of her. She'd barely got out herself. But she'd stayed there with Taylor until the end. Until she watched the life leave the woman's eyes. Sure, Styx had hit back after that. Had graciously tracked down those who'd committed the act and put them down, but Arianna was still left with a hole she couldn't fill and a life that wouldn't support her through it.

The beep of her cell phone roused her slightly from her half-conscious state. She leaned over and pulled her phone from the counter and looked at the slightly cracked screen.

`Hey Ari! Do you want to go out with the gang tonight?`

Arianna stared at the text for a long moment. It was from Snips. One of the few people who still kept up with her, who invited her to things. It was the reason she'd been willing to go knock over the facility on the edge of the town in an unsanctioned action. She rolled her finger over the reply button for a long moment and then sent a quick response.

`I'm good. The knee is still hurting from our little outing the other day.`

The response came back quickly.

'Oh. Have you gotten it looked at? I'm sure Ezio could find you an under-the-table clinic or something.`

'I'm fine. It'll be better in a day or two I'm sure. Have fun tonight.'

'Alright. Feel better Ari. Talk soon.'

Arianna sighed and tossed her phone onto the side table and looked at her small kit on the table. The needle. The spoon. The bottle of pills and furrowed her brows slightly. Maybe one more hit before she went to bed? That sounded nice.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

She looked up quickly as the knocks resounded on her door. She knew for certain it wasn't Snips and since Ajax was almost always with him it wasn't either of them. She climbed to her feet, stumbling slightly from a wave of nausea that rolled over her. She grumbled slightly and walked to the door and pressed her face to the peephole to see who it was before she considered opening the door.

She didn't even get a peek.

Just as her eye got level with the peephole, all hell broke loose.

Something heavy connected with her door and knocked it right in. The door slammed her in the face hard enough to knock her off her feet. She felt the crunch of her nose, she felt herself hit the floor and in her semi-conscious state she was dropped into a world of blackness for a moment.

Now, Arianna was a fighter. She could throw a punch. She could wrestle with the best of them and above all, she wasn't weak. But despite gaining consciousness and seeing the two burly people dressed in what looked like medical scrubs descending on her through her slightly blurred vision, she didn't have a chance. She swung once and a heavy slug from one of them knocked her right back into that dazed state as they grabbed her roughly, forcing her onto her stomach and slamming her head into the floor, she felt thick fingers lacing into her hair and holding her head there.

From behind the two, the sound of heels clicking on the floor could be heard. Arianna barely saw the black heels in front of her before the person wearing them settled into her armchair and crossed her legs. By now Arianna's vision was clearing slightly and she let out a slight groan as hands kept her pressed down.

"Now now you two. We don't want her busted up too much." The voice tutted at the pair, but despite this their tight hold on her didn't loosen in the slightest.

Arianna's blue-eyed gaze looked up at the woman slowly as she struggled against the two holding her down. A brown-haired woman in a no-nonsense business suit, with her hair, pulled back into a tight bun was looking down at her through a pair of frameless glasses, "Mm...Are you still conscious down there Arianna? That nose looks a bit painful."

"Nn...Who the fuck are you? And what the hell is all this about? Get off me!" She said angrily, struggling against the two holding her, their grip like iron.

"I'd suggest not struggling. They've been instructed not to damage you too much, but I won't hesitate to have them slam you around a bit to make you comply." The woman crossed her legs the other way as she looked around the room slowly, "You know, when I looked you up. I knew you were in deep but I never anticipated you were in THIS deep..." For accent, she flicked one of Arianna's used needles off of the table.

"The hell are you talking about you psycho bit--" The hand gripping her hair slammed her into the ground again, cutting off her words.

"They can slam you as many times as needed my dear so get it out while you still can."

Arianna winced and narrowed her eyes, but she said nothing.

"Much better. Now. You asked what this is about? Well...This is about the..." She tugged a piece of paper out of her jacket and looked it over, "...One hundred and twelve thousand dollars you owe me."

Arianna blinked in confusion, "The hell are you talking about? I don't owe you shit."

The woman leaned down and smiled, "Oh my dear. That is where you're wrong. You and your two buddies knocked over a facility the other day. Do you remember or have the drugs addled your brain to the point that your long-term memory is non-existent?"

"Yeah we did, what's your point? You can either pay up or Styx will come back."

The woman's laughter caught her completely off guard, "Oh my dear. I can assure you I won't be paying Ezio a dime. We've already agreed that I can sort this out with you personally. Do you think I just plucked your address of the internet?" She paused for a moment, "Well, maybe I shouldn't say that because getting information on you was like following a breadcrumb made with meatballs the size of Texas. How exactly have you not been caught by the law yet?" She mocked the woman.

The mention of Ezio by name bubbled up genuine worry in her stomach and the reality of the situation. She ignored the blatant mocking of her cyber-security and stared at the woman, "You don't scare me. Now what do you want?" She demanded bravely.

"Oh my. You do have some balls on you huh? I already told you. I'm here to collect the one hundred and twelve thousand dollars you owe me. I'll have you know, that's on the low end. I'm not including the hospitalization of twelve different people you put in intensive care, nor the replacement of a statue that has been on the property since before you were born. Based on what I've learned of you. That kind of money is likely well beyond your means. So I'm going to give you two choices. You can either call in every favor you have and try to get me my money in the next, Let's say, Fifteen minutes. Or, you can talk the little green pill my orderly is going to give you and submit yourself to my facility until such a time I have deemed your debt paid." Elanor left the words to hang in the air for a long moment as she stared at Arianna, pinned to the ground by her two orderlies.

"What makes you think I want either of those options? What if I struggle free and drop-kick your pretty ass out of my house?"

Elanor responded with an intense stare and a smirk. "By all means. But something tells me you're going to have a hard time with it, what with all those hard drugs coursing through your veins and a knee that will barely support your weight."

"How do you know about my knee?"

Elanor laughed blatantly again, "My dear, did you think such a well-groomed facility didn't have cameras? Sure, they're well hidden. But they're there. My medical expert on hand tells me you've probably messed up your knee pretty good from that landing. That jump, however, was beautiful. I wish all my...subjects, had grace like that. Tell you what. I'll sweeten the offer a bit. Choose to submit to my facility, and we'll take care of both your knee and your drug habit as well. Something I'm sure you can't get taken care of on your own when you operate on the wrong side of the law."

One of the orderlies held up a bright green pill in front of her face, the woman holding it grinned a little bit. Arianna wrinkled her nose and squirmed slightly.

"Not a good enough offer? Jeeze. You drive a hard bargain, Arianna. Tell you what. You've got thirty seconds to make your choice before I make it for you." She held up her wrist and looked at her watch.

~Not that you have a choice.~

Elanor grinned as she began counting down from thirty, "Thirty...Twenty-nine...Twenty-eight..."

Arianna knew she was being backed into a corner and the panic was obvious in her face. Elanor looked up at her and smirked several times as she counted.

~I don't think I can get that sort of money together. I can barely pay my rent. Would Ezio bail me out? Not if she knows him. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK! What do I do? I don't want to be stuck inside a facility full of crazy people! But what choice do I have?~

Arianna yelled suddenly, "ok ok! Stop!"

Elanor stopped counting, "Made your choice, have you?"

Arianna stared intensely and Elanor just smirked down at her, "Look. I don't want to be locked up with a bunch of crazy people! But...I can't get that sot of money together..."

"My facility is not housing for crazy people. Not, in the normal sense of the word. It's something more unique than that. Perhaps, you'll even find some enjoyment while you're there, you never know. Now, do you have money for me? Or am I shoving that pill down your throat? Because if you don't have the money, you're swallowing it whether you like it or not. This can be done nicely, or not-so-nicely."

Arianna was for once, at a loss for words. She went cross-eyed looking at the pill for a long moment and then reluctantly eased her mouth open. The orderly was extremely quick, shoving the pill past her lips and going so far as to push it part-way down her throat with her fingers before pulling back her hand and pushing up on her jaw to keep her mouth shut until she swallowed.

"There's a good girl Arianna. See, was that so hard?"

The pill's effects were fast. Only minutes after it had slid down her throat she could feel an inky numbness spreading over her body and was having a hard time holding her eyes open. She watched as the dazed state washed over her aggressively as Elanor dug around in her pocket, flipped open a Zippo lighter, and tossed it into Arianna's bedroom, her bed went up in flames quickly. She then leaned down and patted Arianna's cheek, "Rest well dear. I'll see you on the other side..."

"Package her up and let's get out of here before this whole place goes up..." Elanor's words were distant and faded quickly as a world of darkness clawed its way into her head. The last thing she remembered was her head thudding down onto the hard floor before she was gone into a world of unconsciousness, resigned now to whatever fate she'd just accepted.