I. Private Conversations

After a few hours, Ivory opened her eyes and looked around, wondering how long she slept. Her eyes adjusted and scanned the room, noticing that Hawks and Lucky were gone. She had a sudden urge to get up and open the door, but her gut told her that it was secured and sealed. She sat upon the flat, uncomfortable mattress, and began to come up with a few ideas to escape. However, her thoughts interjected when Blue and Hawks entered the room. The door slammed so loud that it left an echo. Ivory's ears felt like they were on fire, blood would pour out at any moment.

Blue stood up as Hawks dragged the seat over, placed it by Ivory, and took a position.

Blue glared down at her with crossed arms. "What's your name."

Ivory could tell that it wasn't a question, but an order. "Ivory."

"How old are you, Ivory?" Blue asked her.

"Seventeen."

Hawks looked stunned, whereas Blue wasn't sure whether or not to believe her, but saw a certain maturity to the girl and left it alone. "A year younger than Hawks," Blue chuckled and looked at Hawks. "He's turning nineteen in March. When's your birthday?"

"The end of June."

"Now, Ivory, you already suspect that we're a gang, and I am here to confirm that we are," Blue admitted, Ivory felt her heartbeat out of her chest but said nothing.

"What do you go by?"

"The Blue Dragons," he smirked at her.

Ivory then realized that the Blue Dragons was the gang that Viper was referring to and began to feel nervous. Viper's statement from the day before about being tortured and killed crossed her mind, and she felt paralyzed. She thought that the name of the gang was unusual. She would never have guessed that they were a gang if she heard of their name elsewhere, but that might be the point.

"If you've heard the rumors, then they are true." He got closer, arms crossed. "We are the most dangerous gang in America. We have connections to everyone and everything."

Ivory had begun to feel nervous.

"We know the leaders of other gangs and collaborate with them. We do orders for them, they do orders for us, and we both get a prize in the end—money generally. We have scammers, prostitutes, torturers—" Ivory almost fainted at the last word, "—sellers, buyers, hackers, assassins. You name it; I have it. We know who our friends are, and we know who our enemies are. Those who shall go against my trust are locked in these very rooms around you, and killed."

"Are those the rooms that I passed by?" she asked, and he nodded. "Are all of them bad?"

"Most of them betray us in some way; others are just for pure enjoyment. Some of them are experimented on just out of boredom and pure curiosity," he smirked, leaving Ivory not to ask any more questions or agog about the experiments that they perform and that he condones.

Blue put a finger to his chin, thinking for a moment, "What are we going to do with you?" she glanced at Hawks, who looked down at the clean, concrete looking floor. Blue stared down at her, "I don't trust you, but we can't let you off base. Perhaps we could use you to clean and perform simple errands for a while."

"And cook," Hawks added. Ivory sneered at him as he smirked at her.

Blue chuckled as his thumb touched his lower lip, "Yes, that I suppose." He turned back to the blonde, "You will clean base except for the torture rooms—we have someone specifically for that. But just keep in mind, my dear, there is twenty-four-hour surveillance in this base, and you are always watched like a Hawk," she saw his eyes glisten quietly toward Hawks.

Ivory glanced at Hawks, who straightened his posture. She thought about his nickname and why Blue mentioned the word hawk—putting together the ties that Hawks might be a thief, but he may also be a spy for Blue. She needs to be careful.

"Just make sure you don't say nor do anything that you should not be doing, because if you do I will know about it, and you will be punished for it."

Blue then exited, leaving Hawks and her in the room together, alone.

"Hawks," Lucky came in as if waiting for the leader to leave, "I hear the Little Lady's name is Ivory."

"Yeah, and she's going to clean base starting tomorrow."

Ivory lay down again, thinking about how Viper must be worried sick about her. As she thought about it, she heard someone put something down, and she turned around, seeing a small cup of water on the nightstand. She doesn't know where it came from, nor does she trust it.

"Here's some water, drink it. You look like you could use a cup or two," Hawks suggested.

She eyed him. "It wasn't here before. I don't trust it, and I certainly don't trust you."

Hawks rolled his eyes, picked up the cup, and wrestled her on the bed while she screamed and hollered a "get off me," and shoved the water down her esophagus. Hawks held her face in place, forcing her to swallow the water. She coughed as Hawks got off of the bed and heard Lucky laughing in the distance. Ivory noticed that the water has a bit of a weird taste, becoming weary very quickly. She quickly realized that he drugged her! Then, her eyes closed, and she fell asleep immediately.

"Hawks, did you put something in her drink?" Lucky questioned, sitting at the end of the bed, taking Ivory's shoes off. He looked at her as she slept. He noted that she looked peaceful when she was asleep, rather than standoffish while awake. She reminded him of his best friend.

"Just something that'll help her sleep. I don't think she was going to anytime soon," Hawks replied, looking down at Ivory, placing a blanket over her.

"How much did you put in?"

"Enough to last her all night."

"At least she won't try to run away," Lucky said matter-of-factly.

"That's another reason why."

"Hawks, the other girl seems the complete opposite of her friend."

Hawks arched a brow and lit a cigarette, taking a puff from the small yet robust and addicting object.

"What if we don't find her friend?" Lucky got back on topic.

"We'll find her, don't worry."

"Okay, if you say so," Lucky shrugged. "Do you think she went to the police?"

"She's probably too busy searching for Ivory."

"Do you think the police will believe her?"

"No, no one saw anything. People might think Ivory's friend is crazy."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Lucky nodded his head.

After that, the two looked at Ivory one last time and knew that she'd be asleep the whole night. They both went to their bedrooms, and as they did, Hawks thought about what Lucky said to him, and felt that Ivory would be trustworthy, but sensed that Viper would be trouble. He got into bed and closed his eyes, having the feeling that a lot was going to happen with the two girls around.

***

Meanwhile, in a large office, Blue was on the phone with a man talking about the newcomer.

"Yup, she's here."

"No marks on her, right?"

"Not a scratch, just like I promised," Blue held a photo of Ivory in his left hand, her file spread out on the desk.

"I don't want anything to happen to her. I don't want any of you hurting her in any way. Viper, however, I am not concerned. Do whatever you please with her. Just make sure the blonde is safe. Make sure that she doesn't know about any of this, and that Hawks and Lucky keep their mouths shut."

"They did what I ordered. Don't worry; they won't say a word."

"I'll come in a few months. We'll test out Ivory's skills then," then, the line hung up.

Blue closed Ivory's updated foster care file and locked it in one of his desk drawers. He then walked out, locked the door, and then proceeded to his bedroom, acknowledging that a lot is going to happen with Ivory at the base. However, delays may be possible because of Viper, but the snarky dirty blonde's fierce friend may just be as handy.