His simple belief in her was astonishing. She hadn't even done anything to prove she could protect herself, do anything. Maybe in that last few minutes, when she had tried to negotiate with him. And that had gone very badly, so certainly didn't work in her favor to show her as strong individual. So, Adel chalked it up to his brains feeling hazy because of drugs. But when she hummed, he quieted and the young woman felt relieved. Perhaps they would get through this without doing even more harm than they already had. She had a feeling rumors would spread that she and him... Still, right now that seemed so far away and all she wanted was to know he'd survive the trip. Where was their medic for so long anyway?

She didn't stop humming while Mannik spoke, but she took in his words and for a moment, sadness reflected in Adelmar's eyes. She knew that feeling, knowledge, you are not good enough. Even if it wasn't true, even if you fought tooth and claw, it never really went away. At least it never had for her and after all she had experienced in past few days, the gorge of this feeling seemed to only get deeper. She had failed to protect herself, both her life and her heart (Mannik and even the children of Below had gotten too close for comfort), and the thought that she would be the talk of all the upcoming balls horrified her, of all the faked smiles and stories she'd have to spin. Future looked rather bleak, to be honest, although Adelmar guessed she will have her hands full, with Zenon's barely checked rage and trying to pull some strings on him to learn more of his parents' plan and so forth. She wanted to tell him he wasn't as bad as worthless as he painted himself to be now, that he had a streak of honesty rarely anyone, including her, had Above, but the words were heavy on her tongue and did they really need to tie this strange knot between them tighter? Better if he (they both) forgets the gentler side of her and recalls her only as the person who held knife at his stomach.

When he sat up, she stopped humming. "You should stay--" Adel began saying and then, suddenly, his lips were on hers. She had honestly not read the signs, most of her and Zenon's kisses so scheduled she knew which minute into dance he'd lean in and anything spontaneous was rarely anything more than a peck on cheek. For moment, the woman froze, utterly surprised that he'd dare, want to and be so gentle. Then the world and noise came rushing in and she sprang backwards, not unlike a startled animal. Zen was here, pushing Mannik down rather harshly and barking at men who hadn't thought to finally tie the captive's hands. She turned away, not wanting to see hurt in the green eyes, sure it'd swim up sooner or later. "Are you alright, did he hurt you?" Val asked and she shook her head. "No, no, I don't know what got into him. It was foolish to stay here, I guess I was just too tired to move and thought you'd come sooner." He gave her inspecting gaze, but let the matter rest now at the sight of her strained smile. After helping her up and reach the pilot's cabin, he settled her down in one of the metal chairs and brushed strand out of her face.

It was strange to feel his slightly rough touch after Mannik had been so soft with her just moments before and suddenly, the tears were overflowing and running down her face. Zenon, seemingly taken aback, hurriedly closed doors and then sat down beside her. "Silly lady, why are you crying now? It's all over," he said, obviously not knowing what to do with a crying woman. He patted her back awkwardly (another wave of tears). God, she had to get this under control soon. No, right now. "I- I was trying to, get some infor-mation out of him," she choked through tears, the lies so heavy and sour on her tongue, but still flowed off fluently, "while he was drugged. I think, he started to think I am Commander at some point and then he just..." Zen rubbed hand over his face and then wrapped arm around her shoulders, pulling her in sort of hug. She let her head rest on his shoulder for a moment, vaguely recalling this was what she had so desperately wished for earlier today.

"It's over now, he will never touch you again. He... He didn't touch you while you were Below, did he?" She furiously shook her head in reply. "No, no. I think, the Commander had ordered him not to and he dared not to disobey. Actully I think-" a sniffle interrupted her speech, but Adel wasn't crying as hard now, "this was all drug induced. He did babble about Imhoff before it..." She didn't notice the look that passed over her fiance's face at the mention of the other woman and maybe it was for the better. And although most of this were lies, she did think that very little of what Mannik had said were his thoughts, even on subconscious level. She didn't know from personal experience, but had heard that drugs changed a lot of things to exact opposite. "Okay. You're safe now, Mar. So, just stay here and let me take care of everything." It wasn't suggestion and she didn't have energy to protest or do something anyway.

Rest of the flight passed peacefully. Despite the whole incident, Zenon did get medic to provide some help for Mannik, whose hands were now tied, and the bleeding was stopped. The man wasn't very gentle about it, but the medicine he put on the wound automatically numbed most of the pain so Mannik couldn't feel it as sharply.

When they landed, most of the man, aside from one left to guard Mannik, rushed out of the ship. Adelmar followed, but she lingered at the doors, not quite ready yet to step back in 'her world'. And that is how she got to witness the next scene. 'Beta 1', who turned out to be one of the recently recruited soldiers was on the trolley. She had pegged him as a secretive type who wanted to stand out and it seemed that is what he had attempted down Below. Few moments later, the man was half pulled up, Zenon's fingers tightly clutching him by his silver shirt.

"What was with all these twitching trigger fingers earlier today?" Hadar heir called out, standing taller. "Did I order you to shoot that man?" he spat. "No I just thought--" the other tried to defend. "You thought? If you want to hunt with the alphas, you have to learn to run with the pack. That means following ORDERS of the top dog. And I was - am - the top dog of this mission." Zenon looked around at the men gathered, to see if anyone would challenge him, but no one dared to. "I planned it, I gathered you all, I say what happens. And if you're worried for me wasting my breath to order you to kill someone, then let me assure you, I will do it myself if needed." He shook Beta 1 and then someone finally got involved: "Hey, Zenon, chill! He's injured."

"Which is his own damn fault!" Val spat back, but let the man go. "Everyone, dismissed. Get the injured to medcenter and be back for briefing at 10am sharp." After that, he moved towards ship and stood in its doorway. "You take the prisoner to his cell. Don't forget to tie his eyes before that." Then, Zenon turned to Adelmar and grinned. "Let's go home now, hm?" she nodded and took his offered hand, slowly descending onto the familiar ground of hangar. She dared not to have one last glance back at Mannik, knowing that this was probably last time she'd see him in a long time, if ever.

---

The cell that Mannik was kept in didn't seem to be created for this purpose. Still, the small room had all metal walls and concrete floor, the doors were thick and there were no windows. Lonely, bare bulb blinked above him. Perhaps this was somewhere in the sewers, an old storage room for cleaning items or something of the sort. For first day, he had nothing else in the room other than bucket in corner tray of food and water brought in twice a day. The thick broth that filled his bowl was not the most delicious food of Above, but it was probably better than a lot of food from Below. Bread was slightly stale, too, but the water was cold and clean. The medic checked up on his wound once a day for first few days, but as it was healing nicely, he stopped coming. Instead, Mannik got a thin mattress to lay on. Ropes on his wrists were gone, replaced by two bracelets that would respond to button and then pull his hands together. Nothing else had happened and Zenon hadn't made an appearance. There was every reason to think he could soon, though, although perhaps the feel of time was rather blurred for Mannik.

---

Adelmar sat in front of mirror, applying make up. She wasn't preparing for ball or anything of the sort. No, she was trying to cover the horrible bruise that covered most of her side of face. Her 'welcome home' from father. He had attacked her in drunken rage just mere hours after she was home from all the doctor check ups on her second day back. Apparently, he wasn't glad to have his holidays interrupted by the girl that couldn't keep out of trouble even for a day. But her mother... had hugged her briefly and that said more than any "I am glad you are home and safe", especially because Adel could swear there were tears in her blue eyes. Her brother was still in Nine, staying with some relatives, and utterly oblivious to everything that had happened to her.

Her gaze strayed from her reflection to the knife resting on the bedroom table. Adelmar never went anywhere without it now. Not even bed. It remained under her pillow, like in that last night in Below. She tended to run her fingers over the handle, smooth from being handled so often by whoever was its previous owner, as if it could reassure her that she would never be alone and defenseless again with it hidden in her clothes. Everything else from her 'trip' had been burned, but no one had noticed she snatched the knife and hid it away. Or, if any of the servants noticed, they didn't bring the subject up.

After working for a while more, she gave up on her task with sigh. Black, blue and ugly purple couldn't be completely concealed by any make up and she already had a smooth explanation for it prepared. Ugh, the rumor mill was spinning to the point Adel wonder if it wouldn't fall apart in its eagerness. Some speculated she had been a willing partner in this, that she and her captor had a long running romance behind her fiancee's back, and she sympathized with savages. Others were sure that, even though doctor had signed paper that she was not deflowered, she had slept with kidnapper or someone else, more or less willingly. After all, Hadars could afford to hide such a shame. Finally having found some reason to throw mud at quiet, unassuming fiancee of Zenon Valmir Hadar, most jumped on the chance. Some felt sorry for her, however, and she was portrayed as the poor victim in public media, of course. This bruise put off any public speeches and taking part in balls or Shows, though, but in a way, Adelmar was grateful for it. Now it was time to face another day.

---

Of course, his parents had given him hell for the stunt he pulled. He was grounded (ha! At age of 23? Really?) and so on and forth. For being irresponsible, putting his life in danger when so much depended on him and getting involved when they had everything completely under control. (He hadn't been able to resist urge to roll his eyes at this.) But among people of his age, he was hero and the offers for parties and every other kind, were countless. Everyone wanted to hear how he had pulled this off. He gave enough credit to his team, of course, but everyone just took it as sign of humbleness (oh please, he was anything but that).

Adel seemed alright and he believed everything she had told him about the kiss incident. Or most of it, anyway. He did spread this version among his men, however, in attempt to thwart the dirty lies that were spreading through city, but it helped very little. Tomorrow, he'd kick his campaign up another notch, his fiancee couldn't be spoken of as some lowly tramp. His jaw clenched, thinking about the prick that was the reason for it all. Well, good deal of it. Today, while Adelmar was recovering, he planned to have a word with that guy. Three full days of bottling up anger were enough, but not too much to make him careless.

The guy better hope he really was thinking of the red haired spitfire when kissing his fiancee. Somehow, thought of these two Belowers together irritated him slightly, but honestly, everything about Man-what'shisname seemed to get under his skin. How dared he question if he loved Adelmar? It didn't matter! And how dare he touch her so tenderly... She was his, his little silly lady, and love was of no importance. Love didn't exist, actually. There was just lust and some level of caring, sometimes mixed together. And sure, he cared for Mar, just didn't desire her as a woman. That first kiss on the ship had hinted at a spark, but if honestly, when hearing how she had fought with her kidnapper (now, tell that to someone who said she was cheating on him with this savage!) reminded her of certain other woman who fought. Not that he had admitted to even himself.

Zen's boots thudded heavily as he approached the cell. There were two of 'his' men stationed at doors, bored as hell, so they were relieved to see him. He decided to chat it up with them, before he headed inside.

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