Chapter Text
[Chapter Title Quote: “If you think you’re free, there is no escape possible.” ~Ram Dass
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Lights Out was signaled by the falsely-happy way Papa said “goodnight” over the speaker in her room and the mechanical noise that signaled the chain going from her collar to the wall would pull her to her cot. This had been the routine for her entire life, so the girl didn’t fight it. The machine in the wall was a lot nicer about leading her than anyone else who had ever had to.
She lay down and closed her eyes, hearing the soft click of the chain being locked in place and the camera shutting down for the night. Neither of her fathers wanted to watch her sleep. Papa might have left the camera on just to be safe, but Father slept through his shift watching her anyway. She waited for a bit, just to be safe, before she continued clawing at the already-weak spot in the only link in the chain that she could comfortably reach. It broke quietly enough and that was the last thing between the blonde and her attempt at freedom.
She unhooked the broken metal and wadded up her blanket to make a small cloth dummy, placing that, the end of the broken chain, and her nearly-flattened pillow under the cot. With that done, she strode to the metal panel she had calculated would open to the vent system and removed it carefully, climbing into the small opening and putting the panel back almost exactly how it was before crawling in the direction that would certainly lead outside.
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The large man grumbled as he strode to the metal door, his attempts at avoiding having to wake the useless kid up today having failed. As he slid the frustratingly breakable keycard into the slot in the wall and waited for the door to slide open, he tapped his foot impatiently. When the light hit the empty cot, he let out a sigh and picked up his radio.
“She’s under the bed again. Unless you want me to beat her ass, you’re dealin’ with it.”
The response he got was a hissing sigh, but heard the fuzzy bastard get up off his ass anyway. Took him a hell of a long time to get down there, though, but at least he fuckin’ showed up.
“Sweetie,” he called in that annoying fake-niceness he used on the stupid kid, “are you hiding under the bed again, Victoria?” He swept his tail under the bed to pat her head like he usually did, but he froze and the air changed. With a swift pull, he tugged the blanket from the floor, and the end of the broken chain followed it. The larger man looked over his shoulder.
“Sonofabitch.” he growled.
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Bare feet padded softly on dew-coated grass, the dirt and dust on them mixing with the liquid. She pulled a few sticks out of her long, tangled blonde hair, brushed a bit of the dirt off of her shorts, and shielded her eyes from the increasing light.
The sun was rising, and it was the most beautiful sight Victoria had ever laid eyes on.
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“I WANT EVERYONE ON SEARCH! BRING HER BACK IN PIECES IF YOU HAVE TO, DAMMIT!” the large, intimidating man screamed orders at the crowd of armor-clad lackeys, his boots thudding with the force of his rage. On his way out of the building, he felt someone grab his sleeve and nearly skewered the bastard only to turn to his dumbass associate.
“We need her alive, Cecil. I put too much work into that girl for your men to chop her up.”
“You couldn’t give half a shit about that good-for-nothin’ brat and you know it, Azazel. Playin’ Good Cop when she doesn’t follow orders don’t mean shit.” He snarled back, swatting the demon away like an annoying bug. “Find her before the dogs do, and I might go easy on her.”
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Victoria kept running until she reached a road, a trip that felt like hours from the middle of the wilderness. The head-start she managed to get wouldn’t be much with the people she knew were going to be looking for her. The noise and light were starting to make her head hurt, and she was so dizzy from not eating or drinking for however long. She barely heard the screech of tires, and when she realized a car had stopped in front of her she felt her heart skip.
“Oh my lord, Rick, you almost hit that girl!” she heard a woman yell, and managed to calm down. It was normal people, just normal people. The lady opened her door and stepped out a bit, but the runaway was having trouble seeing her.
“Carol, get back in the car.” came a man's’ voice, but he was quickly shushed.
“Rick, look at her! She looks like she’s been in the woods all night!” The woman, Carol, walked forward a bit, offering a hand to show she meant no harm. “Dear, are you alright? Are you lost?”
Victoria shook her head, not knowing which question it was an answer to, but the stranger seemed to decide it was to the former when the girl started swaying unsteadily. With a silent order for the man to get out of the car and help her, Carol moved forward to steady the blonde; she noticed the flinch back when she touched the girl, though, but not much else was done to resist.
“Help me get her in the car.”
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[I was having trouble thinking up a name for Victoria’s other “Dad” since I tend to operate on the idea that Wolverine and Sabertooth have the same dad but I couldn’t find a name for the life of me. My friend/proofreader decided on Cecil, so blame her.
If you have any suggestions on improvements I can make, I'd be happy to hear them! I know I'm not a very good writer, but I'll try my best!]