The dungeon was dark and cold, no light entered through the barred windows as they faced away from the bright sphere that lit up the planet.
The pitiful black figure lay prone on the cold purple stone floor, semi conscious and covered in bruises. It would be awhile before he came fully around and he honestly didn't want to rush it. He knew the moment he came fully to reality the pain would start and with the pain the fragmented memories of why he was in there in the first place.
Why was the biggest question. What had gone wrong and how had it degenerated so quickly? He'd thought everything was going perfectly as he'd planned but something had pulled an irony on him and everything had gone down the drain in less than two hours.
Right now the events of those two hours were beyond his reach and for the better. They would not have made him want to wake up any faster. But eventually he real world burst into the fog of his brain and he could no longer stay out even though he tried his best to hang onto the darkness of unconsciousness. The very first thing he became aware of was pain. Pain everywhere. In his head, arms, legs, chest, even places that couldn't be named.
Moaning his yes fluttered open and focused on a blurry dark purple blur of a world that seemed to be shaking as if it were being hit by an earthquake. This only proved to make him feel worse and he managed to sit up part way only to vomit all over the floor. This was followed by a horrible obscenity directed at someone not even in the room, but most likely in his mind.
He repeated the curse, his mind now zeroing in on a name and a face.
That woman! That blasted heifer! How had she found out and who had told her?! There weren't very many suspects so the list was short and only made him angry.
"Oh..." he groaned as his building anger brought a new flash of pain through his head. He lay back down, only then noticing the shackle on his ankle which was connected to a chain that was coming out of the wall.
Cursing again he rolled onto his back and pulled his leg toward his chin, testing the security of the chain. It help firmly to the wall. Great, she wasn't taking any chances. Figured. He should have known she wouldn't risk it she wasn't stupid after all.
With that in mind he looked around the cell, noticing no light shone in through the windows as was usual for the dungeons location. this mean the window was false or faced far from any source of light. Or most of it because what little light that did enter the room was pale and was only enough to enable him to discern shapes from their slightly less darker backgrounds.
How fitting.
So she was going to shackle him and leave him to go blind in the darkest corners of the dungeon.
He groaned again, this time more from annoyance than form the pain in his body. He should have know this would happen. He should have been more careful! He should have kept his plans only to himself, he should have...
There wasn't anything else he could have done. Only a few people had known about this plan and those who had worked under him and he trusted as much as someone like him could trust anyone. So then how had this happened and who was responsible?
Before he could give it much more thought he picked up the sound of footsteps walking down the hall outside his turned his head toward the dark shaped he hoped was the door and listened. The sounds seemed to be coming toward him which meant one of two things, one of his underlings was coming to see him or she was about to pay him an unwelcome visit.
A moment later the footsteps stopped in front of his cell door and he could hear a key being inserted into the lock. The door opened after a brief period of time and a bright light shone in his eyes, forcing him to growl and turn his face away from it.
"Jack Noir."
He grimaced and put up a hand to block the light as he squinted at the figure holding it. He knew that voice and it only made him angry. "I knew you couldn't resist coming down here to rub it in."
The light moved away from the speaker's face, revealing the smirking features of Derse's Queen. "You should watch your mouth, Noir," she told him. 'That's no way to speak to your queen."
"You're no queen of mine," he grumbled.
"What was that?" the female dersite demanded.
Jack held his tongue. Speaking wouldn't help his case. If he wanted to get out of this the easy way he would have keep all the things he wanted to say to her inside him. "I said you got no reason to throw me down here."
"Oh, I've got plenty of reason, Noir," she responded. "As you well know."
"No, I'm afraid I don't," he responded in as innocent a tone as he could muster.
"Now don't play dumb with me, Noir," she snapped, stepping toward him. "I know you were the one responsible, it doesn't take a genius to figure it out."
Jack began to argue but stopped, knowing it wouldn't do him any good. Once she got an idea in her head she didn't change her mind about it, wrong or right. Too bad for him she was right but he wasn't willing to admit it to her, knowing the consequences.
"You don't have proof," he responded.
"Don't I?" she challenged. The Queen reached out her hand and grabbed his chin, forcing his head up toward hers so they could lock eyes. 'you'd be surprised what I have against you, Jack. Just because you hid it well doesn't mean I wouldn't find it eventually, thought your little mocking doodles helped." she held up the recent one, a caricature of herself with large swinging breasts and a dopey face. "You seem extremely fascinated with my endowments since your art puts more effort into them than any other part of my body." she tossed it and it fluttered to the floor in front of him.
Jack clenched his teeth, choosing not to let his eyes wander to the drawing on the floor as he hissed out. "That proves nothing."
She laughed, yanking him loser to her. "I told you I have more proof than that,' she reminded him. "Much more and I'll find even more in due time. of course you can tell me everything you have planned now and save yourself an even more severe punishment."
"I have nothing to say." he growled at her.
She puled him closer so now their faces nearly touched. he could feel the chain attached to his ankle go taught as all the slack went out of it. "Are you sure about that?" she asked in a cold dark voice. "Because if I do find more information on your little mutiny plot you will wish you had told me."
Jack didn't reply, merely choosing to glare a challenge into her eyes, one he knew very well she'd take up. No sense giving it to her in words. The queen seemed to read him mind and let him go, shoving him backward so he fell onto the stone floor with a thud also splitting the carapace on his palms in an attempt to break his fall.
"very well then, Jack," she said coldly. "I will just continue my investigation and should I find more evidence against you you will be the first to know." now she grinned, her lips peeling back to reveal sharp, white canine teeth. "and your punishment will be extremely satisfying."
"I'm sure you will," he sneered. "That is if you can find anything."
'Oh I will," she responded, turning from him with an air if superiority. "You can bet one that." and then she left, closing the door and leaving him once again the the darkness.
Now he was completely in the dark, or would be until his eyes readjusted. Meanwhile he sat still, feeling the new pain in his palms and berating himself for being so foolish. Pretending to be innocent only proved to make him look guilty. She could see right through him as always and he knew she knew he was lying.
A sense of urgency filled him. He had to do something! But he couldn't! He was trapped in the dungeon, probably left to rot, and had no way of communicating with his underlings.
Hopefully, and that was al he could do, one of them was smart enough to figure out where he'd been taken and try to communicate with him. Or at last figure out what had happened and destroy all the evidence before the queen discovered it.
The dignitary! Surely he'd figure out what happened and make sure the evidence was destroyed! he wouldn't betray jack, he was too loyal.
Right?
For some reason a little seed of doubt began to flower in his mind and he wasn't all that sure the dignitary would hide the evidence. He might just feel he would have better luck giving it to the queen over hiding it. After all, the person who would be punished for it wouldn't be him, but jack noir and only jack noir.
The dignitary just might tell her.
"No!" he snapped, slamming his fist into the floor. 'Don't you dare!"
The only response he received was his voice echoed back at him. The dignitary couldn't hear him from there and probably wouldn't care all that much if he had.
Cursing, jack turned his attention to the chain, feeling around in the darkness until his hands rested on the cold metal. He gave it a tug, his arms jarring painfully as he did so. What did he expect anyway? The chain to suddenly loosen because the queen had practically pulled it out of the wall when she'd yanked him around?
Jack swore and punched the chain.
Stupid Queen!
Suddenly a jolt shot through Jack from the manacle around his ankle and he yelled in pain and surprise. The jolt lasted long enough to nearly knock him out then stopped. He groaned, falling onto his back as the pain slowly subsided.
She'd electrified the chain as well?!
Why was that surprising him? It was something she'd do just to get back at him. it wasn't anything original. Grunting, he rolled onto his stomach, clenching his fists and resting his head on the stone floor. He couldn't even get the chain off without hurting himself. What was he going to do?
Gnawing off his foot was still an opinion... wait, no it wasn't! He needed his legs and had no intention of walking around with a stumpy limb the rest of his life just to get free.
So he had no real way to freeing himself and getting out of there and no way of communicating. Since he was stuck he figured he'd familiarize himself with his cell. Maybe he'd be able to figure out how to get out of there in the process, or at least figure out where exactly he was being held.
So he got up off the floor, though his head started pounding when he did so and moving was a chore because his limbs were so sore from him being shocked, and stumbled toward the window. The chain tinkled as he moved but there was enough slack in it to enable him to reach the window comfortably. He leaned his head on the window sill briefly, waiting for the pounding in his head to subside before he raised his head and looked around.
His first guess was right. The window was facing away from the lights of skaia and into the darkness of space. Also there was something over the windows of his cell which also kept the light out and the darkness in. Whether this was done intentionally or was simply part of the architecture he didn't know or care to know. It did it's job either way, leaving him basically blind and confused of his whereabouts.
Exactly how the queen wanted it.
So now what? He asked himself, clenching his fists in frustration. You are stuck in a purposely darkened cell, beaten to a bloody pulp, and chained to a wall. Are you going to do the only logical thing and give up or will you cause more trouble for yourself and try to get out of this mess?
Well I'm not going to just sit around this place and do nothing, he concluded not really giving it any thought at all. I'm getting outta this stinkin' hell hole and no big headed queen is going to stop me!
Which still left the question:
How in the world was he going to get out of the cell?!
000000
Sometime during the day Jack had fallen asleep, sitting up with his back to the window. In the darkn and cold he really had nothing else to do besides that. In his dreams he defeated the Black Queen and took her power then went out and killed everyone who stood in his way. Unfortunately he was woken out of a this wonderful dream by a slap to his face that nearly knocked him clear across the room.
Startled he put out his hands to break his fall and opened his eyes only to be nearly blinded by an exceedingly bright light shining right into his face just like earlier.
"Wha-?!" his exclamation was cut off when the person holding the lamp hit him again, this one managing to knock him sideways onto the cold, cement floor.
Rage, instead of pain, blossomed in his head. Cursing, he quickly righted himself and took a swing as his abuser, only to have his arm grabbed and yanked painfully above his head. Now the light pulled back and he saw that the queen had returned and was staring down at him with open contempt.
"You!" he gasped, startled and angry all at once. This only brought on yet another hard slap to his face, though he didn't fall over because she held his arm. All he gained from it was a sore face and a painful ringing in his right ear.
"Yes, me," she frowned at him, angry and annoyed, gripping his arm in a vice hold. "and you probably already know why I'm down here."
"Aside from satisfying your need to humiliate me?" he snapped, squirming in her grip. He wanted her to let him go so he could get away from her.
She smirked, slamming his back against the stone wall, hard enough to make him grunt. "No, that is just an added bonus," she responded. "I'm down here because I found that evidence I told you about. Your underlings were extremely happy to give it to me."
"What!?" So they had betrayed him after all!
"Don't be so surprised, Jack," she spoke, noticing his expression. "You should have known they'd sing like birds given the right incentive, and they don't have much loyalty to you either, how sad."
Jack chose not to dignify that with a response. What was the point in it? It would be best just to stay silent, which would tell her just as much as words would.
"You did know," she concluded after a moment.
"So what if I did?" he growled, squirming in her grip. "Does it really matter now? It happened, I was betrayed, what else do you want from me? Surprise?"
"No."
"Then why did you ask?!"
"It doesn't matter, Jack," she responded. "they have given me the proof I need and it's time for you to suffer the consequences of your traitorous actions."
She then produced a key from it seemed out of nowhere and unlocked the shackle around his ankle before she drug him forcefully out of his cell.
Even as she did so he fought back, digging his sharp finger tips into her arm in an attempt to force her to let him go as he dug his heels into the floor in an attempt to prevent her from taking him anywhere. The queen, having none of this, gave a mighty yank and pulled him off his feet, literally dragging him out of the cell and down the barely lit hallway. Even though he really was screwed anyway, he still attempted to prevent his inevitable fate by grabbing out at anything and everything along the way.
"Stop that and take it like a man!" she scolded him, as if she were talking to a 5 year old.
He shouted an obscenity at her.
The queen ignored him, choosing instead to continue on her course, dragging him out of the dungeon and down a flight of stairs. He grunted as his carapace sharply impacted the stones. The queen ignored this of course and kept on going, hauling him down even more stairs, through some rooms and more hallways before finally reaching the torture chamber at the bottom of the tower.
When they arrived she threw him to the floor before her. He landed hard, further tearing the carapace of his palms before he managed to haul himself up in an attempt to make a break for it. Unfortunately, before he could, though, the queen struck out at him with her foot, knocking her former arch agent back onto the floor.
"You're not gong anywhere, Noir," she told him icily. "I told you if I found more information you'd wish I killed you and I'm not backing out on my word."
He hissed at her, trying to get up again only to be knocked over once more.
This time when he tried to get up she grabbed a chain off a table and looped it around his neck, pulling him backward toward her. He gagged and kicked, in a vain attempt to get free.
She pulled hard, jerking him right off the floor. He flew back and his back crashed against the wall with a sickening splintering sound. He grunted in pain before sliding down the wall to the floor. The queen yanked on the chain again, dragging him by the neck over to her and forcing him roughly to his feet.
Jack cursed, putting out his hands to separate them, succeeding in grabbing the front of her dress and pulling it down. She hissed, slapping him across the face for daring to expose her like that.
"Get your hands off me!" she hissed.
He spit out another insult at her, grabbing for her dress again just to spite her. She slapped his hand away and kicked him onto his back. When he attempted to right himself once more, she stomped her foot down onto his stomach and pinned him there, yanking hard on the chain. It tightened around his neck and he choked and gagged, struggling vainly to free himself.
"Yield," she ordered him, yanking hard on the chain. "Or I'll beak your neck like a toothpick!"
Jack Noir, knowing he had no choice and realizing she wouldn't bluff with him, relented, growing limp in defeat. Once he did she smirked and loosened her hold on the chain, giving it some slack so he could breathe. Instantly he curled up, grabbing his neck and gasping for air.
The queen didn't give him very long a rest though because the next moment she yanked on the chain and threw him bodily onto one of the torture tables.
Then, before he could recover, she'd chained his wrists and yanked them over his head, securing them on a hook set up at the end of the table. As she tried to do the same to his ankles he came to life, kicking her hard in the face while screaming obscenities. He wans't going to let her tie him down so easily.
The queen stepped back, glaring into his cold, white eyes. Noir growled at her as he squirmed against the chains holding him down. "You won't get away with this! You will pay!" he screamed at her. "You're going to wish you'd never laid eyes on me."
She sneered at him, watching his futile efforts to get free. "You'll never be able to carry out your threat once I'm through. Keep it up, Jack. It only helps me come up with more reasons to punish you."
"You don't need reasons to do that!" he snapped yanking on his manacled wrists. "You'd do it even without a reason, admit it!"
"What does it matter to you?" she picked up a whip, watching him out of the corner of her eye. "You don't even know me as much as you think, Noir. I was perfectly content letting you continue working the job I gave you but you weren't satisfied. You hated your boring job and all the tasks I gave you. All you wanted was more." she flicked the whip at him, noticing him flinch. "You're never happy, no matter what you get. I could make you the heir to the throne and it wouldn't make you happy."
Could she blame him with all the garbage she put him through? She was the whole reason he was the way he was even if she outright denied it, he knew it was true and he knew she knew it as well.
The whip cracking against his face jerked him out of his thoughts. He cried out, rolling sideways, away from it. With only his arms chained he could squirm around the table and avoid being hit as much.
"Hold still!" she shouted. "Take your punishment like a man!"
"Go die!" he yelled angrily.
The queen threw the whip away, storming over to him. She was getting tired of him moving around and ruining her fun. Well she wasn't going to stand for it anymore. Jack kicked at her when she was close but she didn't seem phased. She reached out and grabbed the first ankle that got close to her, slamming it down hard on the table.
"Be still!"
"Screw you!"
She slammed her fist into his ankle breaking it with a snap. He screamed in agony as she chained it up then grabbed the other one to do the same. Once she finished with that she shot him a satisfied look. Now he couldn't prevent her from giving him what he deserved.
"There," she stepped back, smirking. "Now I can continue without you causing me any more trouble."
"You heartless witch!" he shrieked. "I'll kill you!"
Her eyes went cold. "It won't happen, Jack," she said, taking something out of her dress. A knife. His knife! "and you have no one who will help you do it." Suddenly she stabbed his palm with the knife, making him yell out in agony. "Give up on your murderous fantasies, they won't be made reality," she leaned close, their faces only touching. "You might as well be content with jacking off to them at night."
"You sick bitch!" How dare she imply such a thing! "I would no anything like that if it involved you."
"Of course." she stepped away, pulling out the knife and sending blood spattering all over him. "It would be too moral for one such as you." she leaned over to pick up that whip again. "Aren't I right?"
Jack's responce was a deep throated growl laced with threats of all kinds of torture.
The Black Queen began to laugh, slashing him across the face. Enough of this! His threats were empty and the only spurred her on, the louder he screamed the harder she hit him. As she did time seemed to stand still and she wasn't aware of it until Jack fell silent, falling unconscious, unable to take the pain any longer.
Then she stood there, panting, her eyes on his bloody, prone figure, that whip hanging limp in her hand. She screamed, hitting him once more before she dropped it onto the floor. "Idiot!" she shouted. "Stupid pathetic little fool! Why do you always have to force my hand!?"
Jack, being unconscious, couldn't answer her and he probably wouldn't have if he'd been awake anyway. The queen rested her hand on the table and tried to catch her breath. It had given her no satisfaction in any of the actions she'd performed just then which made her even more angry. Why couldn't it satisfy her? Why did it assault her with guilt? Jack Noir been plotting to kill her! He hated her and wanted nothing more than to cut out her heart while she was still alive to see it happem. So why was she so upset about all of this?
She screamed and punched him in the face. "I hate you!"
"Guard!" she shouted turning around to the door.
A large carapace stepped into the room. "Yes, your highness?"
'Take Mr. Noir back to his cell,' she ordered. "I'm tired of looking at him."
I am not sure if I'll continue this or not.