Chapter 6: A New Game

Shivering, I wrap myself in the moth-eaten blanket given to me by Jason. After an hour of walking, we had found an abandoned cabin that looked as if it had been vacant for years. Although our brief moment of... intimacy...  Jason and I have not spoken a word since the cliff. On the other side of the room, he lies asleep on the couch, his red mask sitting on the kitchen table.

The cabin reeks of mildew and rotten wood. The whole place is one giant room, its space taken up by a single queen-sized bed, a small kitchenette, sofa, and a dark wooden table. I'm hoping that I don't have to use the bathroom anytime soon, because I'm afraid it may be outside. 

Tip-toeing, I rise from the bed and make my way to the kitchen. Searching through the cabinets, I find nothing but cobwebs and cans of expired green beans. I flinch with every movement of my arm, blood still seeping from the bandages Jason had wrapped around my wound. 

"Does it hurt?" I whip my head around to see Jason standing by the table. I don't allow my eyes to meet his. 

I clear my throat. "No, I'm fine." 

Running a hand through his hair, he lets out a breathless sigh. "Whatever you say, Princess." 

"What did you just call me?" 

"You need to work on your comprehension skills, Princess," he replies, raising an eyebrow. 

"What about me makes me a princess?" 

He scoffs. "You must have felt so high and mighty being in Wayne Manor," he sneers, "living it up with the Titans, being one of them."

Clenching my fists, I pace back over to the bed. I sit down, turning my back to him. Who does he think he is, talking to me as if I'm some pompous ass? He has no idea what I've gone through, what I've felt. 

His heavy footsteps begin to approach me, stopping inches away. "Did you think that you finally had a family?" He whispers, arrogance lacing his words. 

My anger grows uncontrollably, spreading through my veins like a wildfire. My hair glows a fiery red as I spin around, fire sprouting from my hand. Just as I'm about to hit him, Jason catches my wrist mid-air. His grip makes me numb, and mere seconds later, I'm rendered powerless.  

"You can't pull that shit with me anymore," he says through clenched teeth. He releases my wrist, practically throwing it away. 

I stagger backwards, my back splayed against the wooden wall of the lodge. My chest rises and falls as I try to conjure up my next move. 

"You act as if I'm some selfish brat, when you're the one who threw away a trust-fund and loving family for a life of crime!" I spit, stomping over to Jason and getting up in his face. He doesn't even flinch, despite our noses being a mere few inches away from each other. 

He laughs directly in my face, peering down at me with angry eyes. "Is that all you think I am? That I was born into the loving arms of Bruce Fucking Wayne? That I had absolutely no care in the world, living a life full of sunshine and rainbows?" He's practically yelling now, his hands formed into tight fists. 

"I don't care who you are or what happened to you. You're an asshole who only cares about himself, and you'll do anything to justify the means to your end!" I retort, moving around his tall frame to get to the front door. Just as I'm about to grip the handle, a bullet nearly misses my head and buries itself into the wall next to me. 

I whirl around, my face overcome with disbelief. Jason stands with his gun outstretched, smoke emitting from the barrel. 

I scoff. "Is this how you handle your problems? Like a child?" 

"I think you've forgotten that you're my captive. You're not going anywhere," he explains, "I was kind enough to leave you unbounded with free reign of the cabin, but obviously you're too much of a bitch to appreciate that." 

"Fine, if that's the game you want to play," I reply, the hand hidden behind my back whirling with shards of ice. My hair glows blue and icy knives fly across the room and lodge themselves into Jason's thighs. He yelps in pain, his teeth clenched so hard that one would think they were about to shatter. I throw myself out of the cabin and make a break for it into the dark, eerie  woods. 

Running off of only a few hours of light sleep, I struggle to keep myself moving, even with the extra boost of adrenaline. I used the last of my energy up when I attacked Jason, so I don't even have that to lean on. Despite the tears springing from my eyes, I don't allow myself to stop. 

Ambushing me, a figure appears from behind a tree and grabs me firmly. I squirm within their grasps, screaming in panic. 

"Let go of me you dick! Let go!" I cry in a mix of pain and rage. 

"Baby, it's me, it's me," Kori consoles as she brings me to the ground, both of us seated upright. 

"Kori? How did you find me? Where are the others?" I ask, incredibly overwhelmed and confused. 

"They're on their way, don't worry," she replies, smoothing my hair in an attempt to calm me. 

I look around frantically, tears now streaming down my cheeks. I hate how much I've cried today. I hate the feeling of helplessness. 

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," I repeat, now overcome with an intense feeling of guilt. 

"Don't apologize. You don't need to apologize," she assures me. 

"Jason," I reveal, leaving Kori's hug and turning to face her, "he's here, in the woods. He took me to an abandoned cabin. I managed to escape. He's hurt, he may still be around!" 

Kori presses a finger to her ear. "Dick, Gar. Jason may still be in the area, near the old cabin. Be on alert," she warns. 

Dick's voice emits from her comms not even a second later. "We're there right now. There's nobody here or in the surrounding area. He's gone -- again." 

I bury my face in my hands. The game has only just begun. 

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Heaving himself up the fire escape, Jason breaks the window leading inside to an apartment he knows will be empty, given that he killed its inhabitants a few weeks prior. His legs and hands are covered with blood from the pulsing wounds left by Elle. He grunts as he throws open cabinets in search of a first aid kit. As he opens drawer after drawer, he only finds empty pill bottles and baggies holding a variety of different drugs. The apartment itself is mainly dishealved, with garbage littering the floor and the strong smell of urine stinging his nose. 

After several minutes of fruitless searching, he finally stumbles across an unused emergency kit, full of bandages, gauze, thread, and expired aspirin. He rips open the case and empties its contents onto the floor, practically falling over as he sits down. He uses his teeth to rip open the plastic encasing the bandages, his eyes landing on a half-emptied bottle of whiskey. He reaches across the floor and takes hold of the alcohol, unscrewing the top. He douses the gauze in the liquor, taking a couple swigs as he does. Jason isn't one to use painkillers, or any pills for that matter, knowing full well of the dangers and risks it has on people like him. 

He grimaces as he cleans his wounds, throwing his head back as he tries to catch his breath. In the process of today's mission, he managed to re-open several old wounds, ripping the stitches on his back and chest from when he pulled Elle away from a certain death at the cliffside. He curses silently to himself, furious with the world around him, furious with Elle, furious with the way she constantly disregards her own life. Jason's rage only grows as he continues to think about the girl, and how he keeps referring to her by her newly given name, angry for allowing himself to humanize her. 

Subject L53. That is all she- it, is to him. A means to an end. 

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(A/N): 

After months of not adding anything to this story, I finally got the courage to write another chapter, thanks to somebody who added this story to one of their libraries. Stuff like that really keeps me going, so I appreciate it so, so much! As you read this, I've hopefully already published another chapter, as I don't want to lose my sudden writer's high. 

Feedback, comments, and likes really help me and my writing, so please, please, please, help me out! Words cannot express how much I love those of you who interact with me. 

I know this chapter was a bit short, but I'm hoping to extend the length of each as I continue on.

Also, I plan on making a realistic depiction of Elle and adding it to the beginning of the book, just so it's easier to picture her. I will also add a picture/artwork of Jason that I think is most accurate to how I imagine him as I write. You can also, of course, Imagine him as the actor who plays him in Titans, just add in the white tuft of hair as well ;) 

Thanks for reading, babes! 

<3 M