5 Shattered
“I’m done with their shenanigans. Those agents have been here one night, and look at the mess they’ve caused on my estate, let alone my mental health!” Odin roared. “We need our team to restrain them now!” He stalked back and forth and sliced his hand through the air.
“Odin, calm down! You need a level head to think this through!” Aspen-Fauna grabbed his arm and pulled him to the floor of his office, ignoring the mess Odin had made. When he raged, anything near him was thrown, and a lot of the time the objects hit her. Odin still boiled with fury and attempted to jerk away and stand up, but she pulled his face towards her and said, “look- look at me!” her eyes boring through his. “We know one of them was hurt by the fence and the other must be caring for them. You are correct that now would be the perfect time to attack them, but don’t try to do this with a half-assed plan!” she yelled at him. Although she was screaming furiously, on the inside she was shaken.
Though he still trembled with rage, Odin calmed enough to listen to her. He sat, a doll submissive to Aspen’s tender hands. His eyes unfocused as his mind reeled with possible ways to catch the spies; although one was hurt, they had already proven their talents of evasiveness, and he wasn’t going to take any chances with their capture. He mulled over possible ideas, then pulled Aspen’s hands off of his cheeks, kissed her forehead, and walked out of the room, leaving her in the wake of his destruction. Without a backward glance he pulled the doors shut behind him and called for a full staff meeting in the dining room.
Aspen watched him strut out of the room and waited for the doors to close fully. She sat on the floor cross-legged, blood soaking through her sage-colored slip dress from cuts on her arms and legs. The maids had called for her nearly half an hour ago, when they saw Odin disappear into his room with a wine bottle and a hot temper. She had slipped in the room after him but in his fury, he had thrown the empty bottle at her, as well as books and anything else he could reach. Although Aspen dreaded calming him down from his drunken fits, she’d rather do it then watch some helpless maid attempt to.
She looked around sluggishly, barely noticing the blood covering her even though her head throbbed with pain. How did I get here? All her life, she had so many opportunities she turned down for Odins’ sake. Job offers, friends, parties, even art showcases turned away for Odin’s sake. This is all my fault. I had so many chances; I’m the fool for not taking them. What was I thinking? Although it was late morning and sunlight streamed through the massive window on the wall, the room was shrouded in darkness and the distant corners seemed shadowy and intimidating. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she whispered a curse and gathered her legs into a fetal position. She stared at the dark oak floors. She thought, how funny it is that this wood can survive a hundred drunken fights when I barely handle one. The way her legs tented allowed her to see the circle of glass shards surrounding her, how beautifully the points caught the sunlight and threw it across the room even though they were broken parts of a larger bottle. She ought to see the nurse for her cuts, but Odin would be pissed if she ignored his mess. Sniffling slightly, she stretched out of her position, and started gathering glass in her hands, carefully picking up the shards so she would not cut herself more. She worked around the room, underneath his sword above the fireplace, near his bookshelves. She did not notice the trail of blood she left behind, nor her head getting lighter the further she went. Time passed, and she faintly heard feet tapping outside the doors, then the heavy doors opening quietly.
She knew it had to be a maid coming to check on her, and that they must be saying something to her, but she could not understand it. She looked up to the door, momentarily blinded by the light, and noticed the house outside the doors spinning peculiarly. Although Aspen could not make sense of the words, she guessed that they had asked if she needed help cleaning. Just as she rose up onto her knees and tried to say ‘No, I’m fine, I don’t need help,’ the floor suddenly rushed up to meet her in a blur of color. Her head thunked on the dark oak, the color drained from her face, her eyes rolling into her head. The last thing she remembered was the maid flipping her over and screaming for help, and the beautiful broken shards falling from her hands.
“Cassie! Gather all the staff! Dining room meeting now!” Odin yelled as he stalked to the dining room. “And bring me my charts and notes! Quickly!” He practically ran to the room in his haste to lay out his ideas before the haze of wine made him forget a single detail. He rushed through the threshold into the towering room, so massive it can hold up to one hundred-fifty people at once.
Cassie followed right behind him, tossed the folders of notes onto the table, then dashed out again to assemble the staff. Odin slapped his palms firmly on the table, cut out of the same dark wood as his office doors, and hunched over his scribbled notes. Never taking his eyes off of the words, he shuffled through the papers, looking for a blank sheet, and started furiously writing all of his new ideas. He had a large map depicting his mansion and the nearby forest and he spread it over the table, marking it with a red pen. After nearly ten minutes of hasty writing and sketching, he heard rustling behind him. He allowed his staff to assemble behind him and then turned on his heel to address them.
“As you all have heard, we had a security issue last night. Two agents from Private Hiring were on the estate, presumably doing a perimeter check or what not. I assume they are here to investigate the rumors of the bomb, which we all know is just that: a rumor. That being said, we can not let them leave and tonight we are going to detain them,” Odin droned this all in a bored tone, tired that he was going to have to explain his ideas to his staff. Though they were hand-picked, he still struggled to find patience with them. “First we’re going to pinpoint their location, which I believe is to the south about a quarter mile, based off of their tracks. I need the house security to stay behind in case they come here, and the other half needs to come with me. Circle formation,” he rapid-fired while motioning at the maps. “Cassie and helpers, go clean out a guest room in the basement. They need to be separated from our subjects. Helpers, dismissed. As for the capture plan…” he began to describe in detail as the helpers filed out of the entryway. In the distance he thought he heard a helper screaming, but he paid no attention to it. After half an hour of strategizing and planning, Odin gathered up his maps and notes and dismissed the security team and prepped for the night, which would hopefully end in a successful capture of the agents.
“Hey Adonis, where’s Jeff?” Sam asked from the back of the truck. He had drifted in and out of sleep all day, and finally was fully waking up. Adonis popped his head up from a junk computer that he had been rewiring for fun.
“Actually, I’m not sure. I had an argument with the idiot this morning, and since then he’s disappeared. I’m betting he went into town for some real food,” Adonis said, looking back down to the computer. “Besides, he’s being paid to do this. I’m sure he’ll be back real soon, if for no reason more than to get a big fat paycheck,” a touch of sarcasm entering his voice.
“Oh, give him a break. It was just a small mistake-”
“A small mistake that could’ve killed you!” Adonis’ head whipped back to Sam, locking eyes with him, fear in his voice. “I was scared Sam! I may have been too hard on him, but I was scared of losing my best friend,” his voice trailing into a whisper, gaze falling.
“You’re gonna have to try harder than that to get rid of me, stupid,” Sam grinned from the back of the truck. Adonis just smiled and rolled his eyes. “You should apologize to Jeff when he gets back. He’s kinda weird, but he seems like a decent tech. Plus, he’s probably an introvert; I’d bet he left just because he was embarrassed.”
“Alright, alright. I’m glad you’re feeling well enough to be annoying.”
They passed the rest of the afternoon in friendly banter, both ignoring the tension of waiting for Jeff to return. Adonis almost wanted him to come back just so he could say he was sorry for yelling at him; he hated the feeling of being mean to someone without correcting it. Nearly two hours slipped by before they heard rustling from the bushes. Adonis immediately stood up and hid behind the truck door, away from the noise, and pulled out a taser from an inner pocket in his jacket. Sam likewise adjusted, rolling to the middle of the truck and ducking in the shadows, cradling his bruised arms and chest. Adonis looked through the window, scanning the bushes and trees shivering in the breeze. He focused on a spot of the forest that moved a little too quickly, waiting for the person or thing making the sound to appear. Suddenly, a shoe flashed out of the underbrush, and Adonis ran over to them.
“Thank goodness it’s you Jeff! I-we-” gesturing at Sam, who now sat on the edge of the truck. “-were prepping for some invader to pop in,” Adonis threw his arms around Jeff, who stood stiffer than a board, his face a mix of uncomfortableness and surprise.
“Uh…hi,” Jeff mumbled, looking down at Adonis’ head of brown curls. He disentangled himself from Adonis’ hug.
“Adonis, be more professional, you idiot. Sorry Jeff, he’s really touchy. I think it’s his love language, actually,” Sam chimed in from the van, still holding his arms close to his chest.
“And, I also wanted to say sorry. I had no right to blow up at you earlier; I think you’re a good person and I was just freaked out about Sam,” Adonis scratched the back of his head and looked at the ground so he would not have to make eye contact with Jeff.
Jeff stayed silent through the whole exchange, only moving in between Sam and Adonis. He finally spoke, saying, “I accept your apology,” then walking briskly over to his tent.
“Wait! One more thing,” Sam stood up and caught his wrist so he could not walk any farther. His sharp eyes cut through Jeff. “You were gone for the entire day. Where did you go?”
“I wandered into town. I figured we could all use some fresh air and time apart,” he snapped, grabbing his wrist back, and stalking into his tent, still upset over the events from the morning.
“That went well,” Sam chuckled. “Oh well, I’m sure he just needs some time, and he’ll forgive us. For now let’s just make dinner and go to bed.”
I heard rustling in the bushes and immediately shot up from my bedroll. Jeff is back; it’s the middle of the night. After a second of thought, I reasoned, It’s probably just an animal. No one could be out here. However, I still rustled myself awake and turned to Sam, who I was sleeping next to in the van to watch over him.
“Sam! Wake up! There’s noise outside of the truck,” I whispered, shaking his shoulder. Sam sat up, and slipped off his elevated cot to sit on the floor next to me. “Should we go wake up Jeff?”
“Shh Adonis! It’s probably nothing anyways,” Sam murmured, though I noticed he reached for a gun from a cabinet to his right.
We sat tense, watching for any sign of movement outside the doors. Thirty minutes slipped by, then an hour, and everything seemed fine.
“I guess it was nothing. Let’s go back to sleep-” suddenly the world exploded in color and sound. Our doors were ripped open, flashlights shined in our faces, and burly guards grabbing us and ripping us out. “Let go of me! Who are you?” I shouted, trying to fight them off, kicking at their faces and scratching their arms. They refused to answer me.
To my left, Sam screamed in pain as they groped his bruises.
“We have them captured!” a male, who appeared to be their leader, called from the center of a circle that the brutes formed. Directing himself towards us, he said, “drop your weapons. Now.” Turning away, “give them a pat down. Make sure nothing is hidden on them.”
“Stop! Who are you?” I demanded of the men. I stopped fighting long enough to glare up at the apparent leader, squinting at the bright lights shoved in my face.
“That’s not for you to know at the moment. What are your names?”
“I don’t want to answer that,” glancing around, I locked eyes with Sam, who still had not talked yet.
“Answer, or we will use force,” the man drawled in a bored tone. With both my arms held behind my back, and my feet slightly hovering above ground, I suppose I’m in no place to bargain. I looked back to the floor.
“Adonis. Adonis Mirkwood,” I spat.
“And I am Sampson Woodlark, sir,” Sam tagged on the end, voice dripping with concealed rage, his anger breaking through his pain from being manhandled. “And if it’s your purpose to apprehend us, I suppose you should know that there are three of us. It seems our tech was too smart for your maggot-riddled brains,” contempt curling his face into a smirk, his eyes flashing dangerously as he raised his head to look at the captain for the first time.
The man looked upon Sam with equal distaste, then waved his hand and said, “don’t worry about your tech. Secondly, you will learn to address those above you with respect. Your first lesson starts now.” He nodded to guards on either side of Sam and I. I glanced at Sam, but before I could say anything, the guards raised their arms in unison and struck us with their elbows. Pain radiated from the back of my head, and my vision went blurry on the edges, swirled with colors, then faded to black. My back contracted from the blow, my knees buckled, and I fell heavily to the earth face-first, completely unable to stop my cheek from slamming into the dirt.
“Tie their hands behind their backs. We’re taking them to the basement; make sure the children don’t see them. We don’t need them to know what’s going on.” With that, the circle closed in on the incapacitated agents lying in the soil, gathered them, and left the camp.