Spaceships and Spies // OXO // Private

Tessa frowned behind her mask and cocked her head to the side, her hands feeling her pants for her daggers. I have a few, she thought as a wicked gleam to her eyes surfaced, and she silently dropped from the roof, the daggers finding their way in her steady hands. She landed on the one guard holding the gun, giving him no time to react before a sisk sliced through the air and both daggers were shoved into his shoulders, tilted just right to sever his spine. With her momentum, she pushed off his falling body and twisted in the air and landed on another guard, making him fall to his back with her on his chest. The last thing he saw was her dragon-like eyes and that wicked painted grin before her one dagger was slashed across his throat. The other was flying through the air already, released while she was airborne, and lodged into another guard's chest.

All that was done within seconds, and it took the rest of the guards that long to register her presence and turn their weapons onto her. She wasn't fazed, kicking the nearest one into a wall and slashing at another. With her weaponless hand, she cracked the former guard in the jaw with her brass knuckles while stalking over to the fallen guard housing her other dagger. Just two more.

A gun blast sounded the bullet hitting the wall right where she was standing. Except, she was no longer there. The guard looked on in confusion, then his eyes widened as two daggers were dragged across his throat, and he fell to his knees. Tessa kicked him to the ground with a look of disinterest, then turned to the remaining guard. He had the good sense to run away, but he didn't get far before there was a blade in his back, and he fell with his comrades. Tessa hadn't moved, though her fingers were splayed from having just released the blade.

She let out a breath and straightened, wiping her remaining dagger on her pant leg and striding over to the last guard to retrieve her thrown dagger, cleaning off that one too with a look of boredom. "Saral K-theron-il, I hear?" she drawled, flicking her golden gaze over to the girl.

"Good," was all Tessa said before she was striding over to Saral. Her daggers mysteriously left her palms, back in their hidden sheaths. She didn't give the other girl much warning before she was grabbing her arm, hauling her up and against Tessa's body to give her more stability. "You have an appointment," she said, golden and almost glowing eyes betraying the smirk beneath her mask. With that, great scaled wings sprouted from her back, spanning a distance of at least six feet from hooked "thumb" to "thumb," as she had to curve them in some due to the alley's limited width. After a few preparation flaps, she gripped onto Saral a little harder and shot them both into the night sky, her wings kicking up dust and dirt and anything else around them.

Tessa rolled her eyes and adjusted her grip on Saral, momentarily letting go of her so she could catch her bridal-style. It wasn't exactly necessary, but it was a display to the terrified girl that Tessa knew what she was doing. "Relax, bella. I'm not going to let you fall to your death. If I do that, I don't get paid. And we can't have that." Of course the mercenary was more concerned about her staggering wealth than the health of the girl in her arms. However, she frowned behind that mask when she spotted the wound on her knee. She won't last long without that getting patched up. Tessa didn't give Saral any warning before she sped up, wings beating to the pace of her heart. She had memorized the address. She knew where to go. Now it was a matter of getting there quickly or risk attempting to patch Saral up with some concentrated bands of sunlight.

"I'd still be carrying you, there are still guards after you, you're bleeding, and I never asked for you to trust me," Tessa stated calmly, though the mask twisted her voice slightly. Even still, her apathy didn't stop her from holding onto Saral just a little more securely. She was so small and clearly weakened by the wound. Screw it. I'm not completely heartless. "Hold on," she warned as she tightened her grip on Saral even more, then tucked her wings in and tipped to the side, free-falling straight down with her wings wrapped around them both. She spotted an abandoned hospital not too far from there, and gliding along the buildings would give her a clearer entrance to the place.

Tessa rolled her eyes and banked off to the side, rounding to the back of the hospital. If there isn't already a broken window, I can easily break through one. I'm a six-ton armored bird for crying out loud. The weight estimation was a bit of an exaggeration, but Tessa wasn't a feather when she had all of her scaled armor on her body. Sun dragons were not made to be light—they were made to be armored warriors and beings of destruction. "Ah ha," she murmured, finding a broken window in the back of the hospital. She swooped down and tucked in her wings just enough so they didn't snag on the frame, then flared them out and swung her body forward to counter the sudden change. She dropped to the floor and tucked her wings against her back the best she could—they weren't exactly the smallest pair—and eased Saral onto her feet as well with Tessa supporting her weight on her bad side.

Tessa felt Saral trying to slip from her grasp, and she let her until her fingers were loosely around Saral's wrist. Then she grabbed onto her and prevented her from going any further away. Tessa wasn't going to yank her back, though. Instead, she came over to Saral and intended on following close by her. She didn't like hospitals, either. Reminded her too much of the labs she had been stuck in. But at least there were no doctors around. They would all be getting knocked on their asses, throat punched, or gutted. Depending on what they looked like and what they intended to do.

She shook her head and silently—and semi-sarcastically—gestured for Saral to lead the way with a flick of her free fingers, not trusting her voice to hide her thoughts. And, of course, there were needles all over the place, and Saral would need one to stitch up the wound. Tessa's throat closed up at the thought. If she asks me to do it, I'm refusing. Blame it on lack of experience in the healing field and a mastery in the hurting field.

"I technically am still helping you," Tessa said tersely, even if she tried keeping her tone light and drawling. After a moment, she got her voice under control and answered the woman's question while she trailed after her, sticking close. "My wealth depends on you." She said, keeping her gaze off of most objects in the old hospital. Okay, so perhaps she had been stuck in an old hospital like this one for a brief period of time, as it was being used as the lab. It hadn't lasted long, though, so she nearly forgot about it. They've all blended together into just one… she thought grimly.

Tessa eyed Saral for a bit, debating. At this point, her real name could be passed off as a fake, so why not? Using Hunt, as she was about to say, would likely be more of a clue as to who she was, as was Theresa, and then she'd have to do the whole 'but don't call me that, use a nickname unless I start to hate you, so use Theresa instead' spiel. "Carmen," she said at length, "And don't look so down, I'm sure you'll prefer your company once you're free of this parasite," Tessa added, absentmindedly letting go of Saral and picking up a syringe. Her nose curled, and she chucked it across the room without a word, brushing past the other girl to nose about.

She didn't need to be a genius to know that Saral was getting frustrated with her hair. She could clearly see it from how many times it feel into her face. She had long hair, she knew the struggle. But don't ask her why she did this next thing, because even she didn't know why.

Tessa slipped a hand into one of her pants pockets, spreading her fingers so the hair tie rolled onto her wrist. She stepped up behind Saral and grabbed the back of her shirt, tugging back to keep her there before combing her fingers through her hair, coaxing it into a single bunch. Once she had the majority of it all, her fingers nimbly braided it down her neck and back, then tied it off with the band around her wrist. Once that was done, she silently stalked off, searching for the items Saral had said to look for, hands in her coat pockets.

Tessa was getting stressed, so she reached up and tapped the hidden metal earpiece hugging the back of her ear. The magic did its thing, and both pieces started playing soft pop music in her ears, calming her down. She still searched the area for what Saral was looking for, sometimes stopping and scooping something up and tucking it into her jacket. After a while, her dancer's feet kicked in, and then her hips moved, and then her hands and fingers started moving on their own accord. They weren't elaborate moves; her head bobbed every now and again as her lips seemed to dance over the words without actually freeing them. At Saral's question, Tessa tossed over her shoulder, "Gauze an' scissors."

Tessa smirked when Saral mentioned taking her pants off, but held her tongue and snatched some wrap that she spotted before making her way over to the other woman. Her hips swayed with each step, the natural movement enhanced some by her years of dance, but smooth enough to not seem fake. She tapped one of her earpieces so that the music was dimmed in the one ear, allowing her to hear the other girl better without depriving Tess of her music.

Once by Saral, Tess crouched down and handed her the items she had fetched, the scissors dangling off her middle and index fingers while her remaining fingers gripped the gauze and wrap. In her other hand, she loosely held some more of the stuff, her arm draped over her knees lazily. "Here," she said, still smirking behind the mask. The mask was staying, mostly for identity purposes at this point.

Tessa nodded slowly at Saral's gratitude, not saying anything as she watched the woman. When it came to starting the stitching, she stood up abruptly and walked away, swallowing the bile threatening to rise up in her throat. The blood, the blood, the blood. Blades on skin, a needle in hands. Clothes ripped and torn. Concrete moaning and cracked. A stench in the air. Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about– Visions flashed before her eyes, wails echoing in her head. A man holding a needle, just like Saral. A sting against her bruised and sliced open stomach, the pain threatening to tear open her throat and jaw as she screamed for help. Chains around her wrists, ankles, neck, chest; a metal gag over her mouth–

Tessa groaned and crouched down with her back to Saral, her fingers digging into her hair. Her whole body trembled as she tried not to get consumed by her thoughts, by the sights she saw in this gods-forsaken hospital, by the voices in her head. Her chest and back heaved as she fought for breath, her eyes sealed shut, her canines out and piercing into her bottom lip. Her wings sprouted out and wrapped around her body like a shell of protection.

A child. Nothing more than a scared child trying to comfort herself in a world of nightmares.

Tessa dimly registered her situation as she trembled and squeezed her eyes shut, nails clawing at her scalp and very nearly drawing blood. The voices the voices the voices. They needed to stop. "Stop stop stop stop stop…" she murmured, barely more than a quick exhale. She couldn't breathe, even if her lungs were working in overdrive. She couldn't think, even if her mind was racing with echoing voices and screams and memories. She couldn't feel, even if her body was wound up tight and trembling.

She cocked her head to the side some, a jerky movement, when she heard Saral get close and talking. She tried to tell herself to focus on that, to focus on her talking and okay, but she couldn't. All she could see was the blood. Blood blood blood. Bleeding. Death. Her body moved on its own. She jerked to the side and latched onto Saral, her arms wrapped around the woman's torso and pulling her against Tess while she rested her forehead against Saral's chest, eyes still closed. She could hear her heartbeat, could feel her breathing. Okay. She's okay. Breathe. Breathe. Tess took a long and deep, albeit shakey, inhale, holding it for three seconds before slowly releasing it through her barely parted lips.

Tessa couldn't make out Saral's words, too consumed by her thoughts to hear anything besides the voices. But… she could feel the vibrations in her chest, feel it against her forehead. That helped her calm down some more. Now it was just the panic to overcome. She took another deep breath; in through her nose, held it for three seconds, then out through her lips. The mask helped, strangely. It filtered the air and made it fresh, filling her lungs with oxygen. She forced her body to relax and stop shaking, focusing on one muscle at a time until she was no longer tense and trembling. Soon enough, she was breathing normally and calm, her limbs loosening their hold around Saral.

Her eyes snapped open and she roughly pulled away from Saral, standing up and running her fingers through her hair in one fluid motion. "That never happened," she growled, back to Saral as she scolded herself in Italian. You can't lose your shit like that again. You especially can't seek comfort from others, especially cargo.

Carmen. Hearing her real name was offputting, enough so that she didn't snap anything back at Saral—just frowned behind her mask and turned back around in silence. She needed out, now, or she'd have another breakdown and she couldn't afford to be the one to kill her cargo and not get her money. So she did what she did best, however unhealthy the coping mechanism was.

Tess stalked back over to Saral and scooped her up bridal style once again, wings flaring in preparation of flying. Just that had her blood thrumming and her dragon purring in anticipation. Gods, she loved flying so much. Just the right amount of physical activity to keep her stimulated, but it kept her relaxed and calm, even if she had someone to carry. Tess adjusted her hold on Saral, then huffed and took off, wings flapping to get her into the air. As they approached the window, she tucked her wings, wrapping them tightly around her body, and spun into the drop.

Air hoised them up with a woosh as her wings snapped open and drove them back into the sky, banking towards where she was supposed to take the woman to the man.