Chapter 1

Capture (RIG)

A bright light, an uncomfortable mattress, and a killer headache. This is what Rig woke up to, after being jumped and knocked unconscious. He had no idea who had done it, but he definitely knew why. After the incident at the oil rig (though he wasn't sure what exactly the incident was), he had escaped. Rig knew that he couldn't stay hidden for long, that Helena had eyes everywhere. After his eyes adjusted to the new lighting around him, instead of the darkness behind his eyelids, he knew exactly where he was. DOATEC.

"Fuck." He muttered under his breath, sitting up. He rubbed the back of his head, which is where all of the pain was coming from. Rig figured he had been hit upside the head when he wasn't looking, probably by one of Helena's lackeys. He knew how DOATEC operated, and he knew what was going to happen to him now that he was here. Experimentation.

"Fuck…" Rig grumbled again, becoming more and more displeased as he put together the pieces of his current situation. His hands came around to rub over his eyes and cheeks, trying to think of ways to get out of this. Before he could come up with a plausible plan, he heard his door unlock. In waltzed Helena, wearing her usual blue trench coat, slim fitted navy shorts, corset styled thigh highs and black heels. Rig looked up at her, a glare in his eyes. "Why am I here?" He asked, not even giving her a chance to greet him. She let out a soft sigh, knowing she should've expected him to be unhappy.

"Hello, Rig. I don't think I need to explain why you're here, you already know." She grabbed a metal chair from the corner of the room and sat down, tossing a manila folder at his side. He glanced at it, then glared back at her. Helena didn't say anything, just nodded towards the folder. With an annoyed sigh, he took it and opened it up. Inside there were pictures of him on the oil rig, all taken from security cameras that were inside the building. There was only a page and a half of typed up information about him; they knew nothing. Hell, he barely knew anything. He looked back up at Helena, who was watching him very carefully.

"So, what now? Are you going to take me into one of your labs and do your experiments on me? Because believe me, lady. I'm not going that easily." Rig stood up, his fists clenched at his sides. The guards at the door tensed and got ready to protect Helena, but she waved them off with her hand.

"I could do that. I could force you into a lab, cut open your head and poke around all I want" She stood up as well, arms crossed in front of her chest. "Or, you can take the offer I'm about to give you." There was a pause, as if she was waiting for Rig to ask what the offer was. But he just stared at her stubbornly. "You can stay on this island. I will give you a place to live, all on your own without DOATEC supervision. I will have an ankle brace on you to make sure you don't leave the island. We will be tracking you. But, you are free to do what you please, as long as it is on the island. Is that clear?" Helena kept her eyes firmly on him, a stubborn look in them. But upon closer inspection, Rig could see that she was practically begging him to take up the second option. He nodded to show that he was still listening to her, and understood what the terms were. Rig took a minute to truly go over what his options were here. He knew trying to escape would be absolutely pointless, and that if he did he'd end up on an operation table in the blink of an eye. He hated to admit it, but Helena was offering him a good deal. With a defeated sigh, he looked down at the ground.

"You know what my answer is going to be." He muttered, too proud to thank her for the offer, or even acknowledge that he was taking it. Helena let out a soft chuckle, almost looking relieved.

"There's another catch, though. I'm going to be having one of my workers check up on you every so often to make sure you aren't trying to escape." She added. Rig let out another sigh of annoyance, but he figured he shouldn't fight against Helena's guidelines. Not now, at least.

"Fine, fine. Just as long as they don't bug me." He sighed, letting himself look back up at her. She smiled kindly at him.

"Good. Now, my guards will be leading you to your new house, along with my worker." Helena paused and looked at him, as if she was trying to read how he was taking the situation. Although the answer to that was clear, he was taking this all surprisingly well. Only because he knew there was no other option for him at that moment. "You'll learn to like it here, Rig. Trust me, they all have." Helena gave him another kind smile before she walked out of the cell. Rig unclenched his fists to crack his knuckles, then clenched them back up again. He looked up at the guards, glaring still.

"Are you taking me to this place or what?" He nearly barked, clearly not happy about what was going on. The guards barely flinched, and one spoke up.

"We're waiting for Lady Marie Rose, she should be here any second." The guard spoke, tense as he looked at Rig. This only reminded Rig that he was always looked at as something to be feared, and always will be. Suddenly, the sound of loud boots clunking against the hard floor started to travel down the hall, closer to them. As they got closer, a soft humming could be heard. It almost sounded like a child was humming. Rig's curiosity rose a little, wondering who exactly this person was. The clunking stopped right by the door, and a young girl peeked her head in. She had long, blonde hair that was pulled up into two pigtails by black ribbons. Her face was young, timeless, and even Rig couldn't help but acknowledge that she was adorable. She giggled.

"Is this him?" She asked the guard, who nodded in response. A grin spread on her face and she skipped over, showing her entire body to Rig. She was short, barely even making it to five feet tall. Hell, she was only up to the middle of Rig's chest. She wore a pair of jean overalls, a black strapless shirt that was cut off just enough to show off her stomach, a pair of striped thigh highs and those clunky boots he had just heard. She tilted her head up to look at him, rocking back and forth on her feet. "Your name is Rig, right? The escaped crazy dude from the oil rig?" She tilted her head, awaiting his answer. Rig just scoffed and looked away.

"She cannot be serious…" He grumbled under his breath, unable to believe that Helena had put this little girl in charge of keeping an eye on him. The girl pouted, crossing her arms.

"Hey! I know I'm little, but I have every right to be given this job!" She stomped her boot down on the ground, looking away from him. Again, Rig couldn't help but admit that this was cute, but he couldn't understand why Helena would put this girl in charge of him. Before he could finish his thought, the girl reached up and grabbed his ear, tugging him towards the door. "Sheesh, you're already getting on my nerves and you haven't even introduced yourself yet! Don't you know how to treat a lady?" Usually, Rig wouldn't have budged when his ear was being tugged. But for some reason, this girl was able to guide him to the door with ease. She dragged him down the hall, not letting go until he started to put up a fight. The girl let go and looked at him. "You should introduce yourself politely when in the presence of a lady, y'know." She grumbled. Rig let out a soft sigh, deciding it would be easier for him to just give in to this madness for now.

"My friends call me Rig." Rig stated, looking down at her. "What's your name?" This seemed to smack the pout right off of her face, and bring back that undoubtedly cute smile.

"I'm Marie Rose!" She answered, holding her hand out to him. She held it out not for a handshake, but for him to kiss the back of it. He raised an eyebrow at her, still unsure if this was real or just some elaborate prank. Marie Rose's smile began to fade back into a pout when she saw he wasn't about to kiss the back of her hand. "You're so rude." She grumbled, putting her hand down and grabbing his arm instead. "Let's go, I have to show you your new house now." She sighed, tugging on his arm as she led him out of the building. Rig followed her, rolling his eyes at her when her back was turned. Marie Rose brought him outside and towards a black car with tinted windows. She stood by the back door, looking at Rig as if she was expecting something. Rig looked at her, unable to keep from rolling his eyes again.

"What now?" He practically growled, already feeling himself getting fed up with this girl's expectations of him. She knew nothing about him, and she expected him to treat her with all of this respect? After he was captured and told he couldn't leave this wretched island? No, Rig wasn't having that. "Open the door yourself, I'm not your butler." He sneered, his fists tightening. This seemed to take the young girl back a little, but it didn't help ease her clearly rampant princess complex.

"Whatever." She huffed, opening the door and getting in. Marie Rose tried to close the door on him, but he stopped it with his hand and slid in next to her. Rig crossed his arms in front of his chest and kept his eyes looking out the window. Marie Rose glared at him a little before she told the driver where they were going, which was apparently towards the edge of the island. Helena must've known how Rig was going to react to being here, so she put him in a secluded area. Just how he liked it. The drive was about fifteen minutes of tense silence between the two. When the driver finally stopped, it was in front of a small, dark blue house with a wonderful view of the ocean. Rig knew he was basically just made into a caged animal, but at least he had a nice cage. He stepped out of the car and looked around, letting himself admit that the breeze from the ocean felt nice against his skin. Marie Rose stepped out as well, looking around. "Wow, Lady Helena really went far to make you comfortable here." She mumbled, rocking back and forth on her feet. She then looked at Rig and grinned, as if their previous spat hadn't even happened. "Let's go look inside!" She skipped around to the side of the car he was on, grabbing his wrist and skipping towards the house. Rig's eyes widened a little, as he was yet again being pulled by this little girl with complete ease. But he let it go, sighing and rolling his eyes again. He had a feeling he would be doing that a lot from now on. Marie Rose stopped by the door and pulled a key from her pocket, unlocking the large, oak door in front of them. She pushed it open, revealing to Rig the inside of what is going to be his home from now on.

"Not bad." Rig admitted under his breath, stepping inside. He explored the living room a little bit. Simple, yet comfortable. There was a couch in the middle of the room, facing a fire place against the wall. Towards the left there was a little dining table, along with an open doorway to the kitchen. There were two other small doors in the corner of the room, which Rig assumed would lead to the bedroom and the bathroom. He was snapped out of his inspection of the room by a giggle from Marie Rose as she closed the door.

"Totally not my taste, but it seems good for you." She commented, walking over and plopping on the couch. "I might as well get used to it, I'm going to be here a lot." Rig looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I guess you have to be." He said, sounding exasperated. He walked over to the doors and opened each one, finding that his assumption was right. One led to a bathroom, with what he had to admit looked like a really nice shower. The other led to a bedroom, which had a queen sized bed, a desk and a dresser. Just like the living room, it was simple, yet comfortable. While it was a small house, Rig found that its lack of furniture gave him enough room to be able to do a little bit of training if it happened to rain outside and he didn't feel like leaving the house. Overall, he had to admit that while he didn't like this situation one bit, if he had to go through it he might as well do it here. Even though he knew that this annoying little girl would be with him throughout the whole thing. Marie Rose then looked up at him.

"It's cold." She declared, a small pout on her lips. Her arms then extended out towards him, as if expecting him to let her wrap them around him. Rig scoffed.

"You're joking." He grunted, his fists unclenching a bit. The new environment was helping him relax a little, even if Marie Rose was still trying to boss him around.

"No I'm not!" She pouted, stomping her foot down on the ground. Rig sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I'm not going to cuddle with you." He sneered, walking towards the bedroom door. "I need a nap. Don't bother me." Marie Rose pouted, but she decided not to bother him with anything else and let him sleep. Rig went into the bedroom, closing the door. He took off his shirt, threw it on the ground, and plopped down on the bed to give himself some well-deserved sleep.