Victor Brannigan (sciomachy) wrote in nevermore_logs, @ 2012-12-24 03:51:00 |
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Entry tags: | victor brannigan |
WHO: Victor, a lot of NPCs, open to Miranda
WHAT: Being a hostage sucks
WHEN: 22nd to 23rd
WHERE: Hostage room
WARNINGS: Guns n' shit and a death.
As the hours wore on, the room grew stuffy. Yet somehow, it was still cold. He had removed his coat so he could wrap it around the little eight-year-old girl who had informed him her name was Tabitha. The hostages didn't speak much. There wasn't much to say and everything they said could be heard by the man outside the door anyway.
Evenually, as was pretty inevitable, Tabitha poked Victor in the ribs and informed him that she needed to use the restroom. After chewing on his lip for a moment, Victor decided that his only real option was to knock on the door and ask if she could be taken somewhere. If someone was going to end up hit for it, it might as well be him.
He stood and moved to the door, knocking quietly on it. It was swung open almost immediately and he was facing an armed man who was now pointing a gun directly at his throat. Victor swallowed roughly. "Uhm...sorry. The little girl just needs to use the restroom."
There was a horrifying moment where the armed man just stared at him and Victor was sure he was about to die. Then the man nodded and he waved Tabitha to follow him. Victor found himself rather unwilling to let the poor girl go alone with some man with a gun who could do absolutely anything he wanted to her, so after a moment's hesitation, he moved to follow. Quickly as an explanation he said, "I wouldn't mind going too."
They went down the hall and Tabitha was shown to the ladies room. Victor stepped into the men's and immediately over to the sink so he could drink handfuls of water. He hadn't realised he was thirsty until there was water available and once he started, he didn't stop drinking until he stomach protested. Then he splashed his face and went back outside to wait for Tabitha.
The armed man was waiting too. Victor tried to smile lightly at him. "You know, you probably don't need everyone else. You took me because I'm a detective. It's probably enough just to have me here." He received no response. "Are you after money?"
"We want our man back," was the only reply. Victor understood. Someone important to these goons had been arrested and now they were holding hostages until he was freed. That didn't bode as well as a monetary amount did. It was time to move on to a different subject.
"You could just let the little girl go. She's not necessary."
"Kids get sympathy," was the answer.
"...right." He wanted to punch the man in the face, but didn't feel like taking a bullet for his trouble. "She's just a kid though. She's probably getting pretty hungry. Could you just maybe find her something to eat?" He was getting pretty hungry himself, but he could deal with that. What he couldn't deal with was some poor kid, separated from her parents, scared and hungry on top of everything else.
"You should probably shut the fuck up," he man advised him, and Victor did.
Tabitha rejoined them and they were shown back to the room and locked back in. A few seconds later, the door was opened again and the armed man threw a bag of chips directly at Victor's head. At the very least, it proved that their captors weren't interested in making them suffer too much. And over the next few hours they all stepped out to utilise the facilities and Victor made sure Tabitha ate the chips.
It seemed all they could do was wait, and wait they did.
Early in the morning, Victor looked over at Ian, the elderly man who was locked in with them. His skin had gone a pallid colour and he looked like he was sweating. Tabitha was cuddled against him and Victor carefully turned her towards Miranda before moving to Ian's side. "Ian," Victor whispered. "Are you alright?"
Ian's breathing was laboured and shallow as he answered, "I've been better."
Victor reached out for the man's arm to feel his pulse. It was too quick and a feeling of dread filled Victor's belly. "Alright, we- We have to get you out of here," Victor whispered.
"No, no, I'll be okay, Detective," Ian said, but even as the words left his mouth, a look of pain crossed his face and he reached up to grab at his chest.
"Oh fuck," Victor hissed. He didn't want to come out and say the words 'heart attack' to panic the others, but he was fairly sure that was what Ian was having. A quick glance to Tabitha assured him the little girl was asleep and he was relieved. She didn't need to see any of what might be about to happen. "I'm going to go tell them what's happening, okay?" he said, trying to sooth Ian who looked much worse for wear every second.
Ian just nodded.
Victor went and he covered Tabitha's face with the coat, just for added insurance that she wouldn't wake up in the middle of this. Then he went to the door and knocked on it again.
When the door opened, Victor gestured towards Ian who was crawling towards the middle of the floor. "I'm sorry to bother you," Victor started, sure that if he was polite he was less likely to get a gun butt to the head, "I think this man is having a heart attack. Look, if you take him out of here, I'm sure one less hostage won't matter."
The armed men, standing side by side, looked at Ian carefully. Victor moved to Ian's side and the older man crumpled into his arms. "You can see he needs medical attention!" Victor yelled. "Please!" What Victor didn't know was that the men who were holding them were guarding five buildings on the same city block and not letting anyone know which building the hostages were actually in. If they took a hostage out, it would give their location away.
"You can help him, no one has to die," Victor pleaded. Before he could do anything else, one of the men raised his gun and shot Ian through the chest.
Victor fell backwards as the soft sound of a silenced firearm reverberated off the walls. Ian's blood splattered all over his face and clothes and he landed in shock, staring at the dead body who had just recently been a man in pain. He didn't move as the men took hold of Ian's legs and dragged his body out of the room. He stayed frozen even as they closed the door and locked it again.
Eventually he turned to the other hostages, shock and horror written all over his face. His only solace was that the silenced gunshot hadn't been enough to wake Tabitha up and she was still sleeping soundly under the coat, not having seen anything. Before she woke and saw him covered in blood, he pulled his sweater off, leaving only his black t-shirt underneath. He used the sweater to wipe the blood from his face and then he threw the shirt away from him before dropping his head into his hands so he could cry.