Cassian looked at Gary as he vomited blood. He tilted his head, in confusion as well as amusement. He didn't understand what drove Gary to such lengths such that he still struggled and tried to drink the acid he himself mixed in the tea. It was a magnificent sight but honestly, it lacked the flavor that most tortures had. It lacked the begging, the desperation and struggle. It was usually music to his ears but Gary was being difficult for some reason, and he wasn't finding it pleasant. Cassian sighed.
"You don't have to finish it, you know….." he said in a disappointed voice and closed his eyes and sighed as he tilted his head to the side, all this shit was really ticking him off and he hoped he didn't snap at the wrong time and end up doing something really bad to the pathetic excuse of a human in front of him. Gary looked at him panicked and hurriedly filled the remaining contents of his cup into his mouth. He grimaced as he swallowed hard. Cassian and Damien looked at each other, raising an eyebrow, shocked, then turned back to Gary. Cassian laughed in amusement as well as anger as he ran his hands through his hair in frustration trying to calm down, he shook his hair a bit then brought his hand down. 'That was still entertaining' he thought. At least he won't have to incur any losses.
"Why did you do that?" He asked in an innocent and oblivious tone which was completely contrary to the storm swirling in his eyes, looking at Gary who was struggling to keep the blood from spilling on the floor lest he angered Cassian once again. But he didn't know that him not crying, not begging to be forgiven, not groveling at Cassian's feet to save his life, only served as firewood and petrol for the annoyance charging within Cassian, soon to turn into a bloody storm.
"Y-yo-you s-s-said you d-don-n't l-l-li-like d-dirt-ty th-thi-ngs," he managed to get out as he struggled to keep in the mouthfuls of blood threatening to spill out.
'How strong is this guy's will to live?', Cassian thought as he looked Gary over once again. He was already suspicious as is. No one is that resilient. He saw it all in his head before it even began to unfold in real life.
Gary was a spy. That's the only plausible reason as to why and how he was so resilient to the burn of the acid. Or maybe there was a mole somewhere who didn't give Gary the acid mixed in the sugar like they normally did. But then again, he vomited blood, that does eliminate a lot of people from his suspicions but not Gray himself. Gary was the biggest question mark at the moment.
Why did he specifically approach him? Why did he pay up only after Rainier talked to him? And why was he always holding his phone? Except for now... Unless... Cassian's analytical gaze turned to Gary. Gary was also avoiding his gaze. He hummed while deep in thought. He stood up suddenly drawing everyone's attention. He was no longer smiling, rather he wore the most blank and expressionless face he could muster which honestly terrified the people around him, no one knew what storm was raging in his mind right now.
"Tie him up," he spat sharply. He turned to Damien with a raised eyebrow, "Did you search him? Before you brought him here?" he asked with his jaw taut, he was seriously pissed off and on the verge of snapping real bad.
"I-," before Damien could get a word in, there was an explosion.
They all turned towards the sound as the gang all drew out their guns. Suddenly one of the guards they had posted outside burst in, running towards where Damien and Cassian stood.
"It's the Russians," he said as he dropped to the floor. Cassian looked at him on the floor with an emotionless face. Why the fuck did the Russians have for coming after him? He turned around and looked over at Gary, if that was even his real name. Everything started going downhill when he met "Gary". He sighed. He should have seen it coming. The guy even had the Russian accent only it was not as noticeable as he didn't speak much. Could that be why he was taking all the torture without complaint? Was he baiting him? He didn't have enough time to mull it over. He went to the kitchen as the other guys kept watch to make sure no one unwanted would enter the room they were occupying.
He took the canister of petrol they always kept around at the corner and walked back to Gary. He sat back down and faced him. Gary was no longer a quivering mess and that irked Cassian to no ends. He sighed.
"I really like you, Gary," he said with a hurt expression on his face but it soon turned to glee. "That's why you'll help me welcome your friends. I don't know how they knew we are here but you shouldn't have done that," he said as he stood up and poured the petrol all over Gary, making sure he got completely drenched in it. Gary kept screaming for Cassian to stop but his pleas fell on deaf ears. It was too late to start begging now, Cassian's thread of patience had long snapped and there was no going back at this juncture. He then poured some in a line going towards their escape route. He then poured some more in such a way that once he set the fire, no one would be able to go after them. He stood in the shadows so that his opponents couldn't really see his face well. It was a thing they had going with the Romanoff family. Neither of them knew how the heir looked like. Once his men had all come behind him and the Russians finally burst into the room, he smiled.
"Hello Romanoff," Cassian spat out venomously .
"D'Angelo," came the reply in a voice shrouded in a thick Russian accent. Cassian looked over his rival. He was taller than him and he wore a mask over half his face so his onyx eyes were the only thing that Cassian would see clearly. He waited for the moment Romanoff would slip up and it didn't take that long. He turned to look at Gary and his expression turned soft for a split second and that's all Cassian needed to know. He scoffed at his own stupidity.
If the Russians had not attacked, he would have done something as stupid as planting a mole right next to himself. He ran his hand through his hair in frustration. He laughed then turned to Romanoff who had kept his eyes on Gary. They had not really hurt Gary physically except roughing him up a little. A black eye and a cut lip was all he got from the Angelo Mafia. If you exclude the acid corrosion, he had endured for some reason. It wasn't enough to kill but it did the damage needed.
"Hey Romanoff!" Cassian said as he flicked his lighter. He smiled in schadenfreude like a Cheshire cat when Romanoff's attention was finally on him "I've always liked to play with fire," he said in an innocent voice like a little kid saying they like candy as he dropped the lighter. Flames went up as they followed the trail to where Gary was seated.
"No! Constantin!" Romanoff's voice boomed filled with so much emotion that it made Cassian stand still looking at him. Analyzing him. He looked back at Gary, whose real name is Constantin. His screams of pain filled the air. It was music to his ears but he didn't feel the usual glee. Something about how Romanoff said that other man's name really rubbed him the wrong way, it seemed to irk him beyond words for reasons he didn't know.
"I don't like it," he said softly, more to himself as if having a self-realization of sorts as he turned away and sauntered out of the warehouse, followed by the others. Damien right by his side, at his usual position, as they left.