I'm a total imbisol…
As stated, this is a sequal…well…the third book in a triology to be precise…so if you have not read 'My Name is Fear' or 'My Name is Hate' yet, STOP RIGHT! Go to my profile page, scroll down the list of my stories…and read them in order. Not only will you ruin a fantastic story for yourself if you continue reading this one, but you'll also be more confused than you've ever been in your life and most likely hate something that you would otherwise enjoy. So please be good and read this in order…for me…thank you!
Okay, that said…if you're caught up and ready…READ ON MY PEEPS!
Ch. 2: Broken
Ace looked up at his ceiling. For the first time in over a month he had Lexi sleeping next to him. She still wouldn't let him touch her like he used to, and he didn't blame her. Frankly, he had been very surprised that she had consented to sleep in his room for the night. The last month had not been fun, for many reasons.
First, Lexi and Rev had refused to talk to anyone, even their respected boyfriends and their boss Zadavia. Being chatter boxes, especially Rev, this worried everyone. However, Lexi had shocked Ace that night by knocking on his door. When he opened it he saw her standing there, long PJ's on and a look of pure distraught on her face. Without a word Lexi had walked into his arms, holding on to him tightly. He had held her for a moment, not sure what she wanted, when she finally whispered, "I don't want to talk, I don't want to do anything, I just don't want to be alone."
He had led her into his room and they had fallen asleep, him with one arm wrapped protectively around her while she clung to him, her face buried in his chest, silent tears raining down from her tired eyes. He wondered if she had heard something that sounded like an intruder. Even though she had blasted Mason Dale, her good for nothing ex-step father, into the psych ward at Acme General for life, she was still convinced that he would somehow come back for her, that he would live up to the horrible monster image she had of him and try to take control of her again. No matter how many times Ace, Rev and Tech tried to assure her, she wouldn't believe anything else.
Ace had one hand under his head while the other remained firmly gripped around his girlfriend's shoulders. He absent mindedly stroked her arm as his eyes fell on her sleeping face. She was having another nightmare, a pretty bad one from the expression on her tan fur. He kissed her head softly, knowing better than to wake her. The last time he tried to wake Lexi from a nightmare, he ended up flat on his back, head pounding from an unpleasant brain blast that had been subconsciously aimed at him as she jerked violently out of the dream. He wondered what it was about. Was she dreaming about Dale, or was she having a nightmare about what could have possibly happened to Duck and Slam?
Ace shook his head firmly, he knew they were alive, they had to be. He turned to glance at the clock, 3:00am, he needed to get to sleep. The problem was, he was worrying too much. He was worrying about Lexi who refused to discuss what had happened when Dale invaded her mind during their last battle, he was worrying about Rev who was now avoiding Tech at all cost because a robotic Tech had beaten him up and now the real coyote scared him shitless. He was worrying about Tech who still had absolutely no idea what Rev's issue was and who was worrying about everyone else, Ace included, and who was most likely even now trying to come up with any leads on where Duck and Slam might be.
Ace and Tech, after a few very heated arguments and extremely long nights that normally rendered both dead tired and sleeping the most of the next day, had decided to take turns on staying up all night in front of a computer screen trying to track them down, ensuring at least one of them would get a decent night's rest so the other two didn't have to put up with the constant bickering. He was thankful for that compromise now as Lexi flinched in her sleep. He turned on his side so he could wrap his other arm around her and hold her even more securely. He kissed her forehead one more time before resting his chin on top of her head and closing his eyes. He had missed holding her, missed feeling that close intimate conection they could only feel when they were alone like this, missed her being her, the wonderful kick ass full of life girl he loved beyond explanation, missed having someone he could lean on for support. It wasn't till that moment did he realize that he needed her just as much as she needed him. Yet, even with her in his arms again, he still couldn't put his mind to rest. He felt guilty, because he wasn't looking for his friends, he was selfishly curled up in a warm safe bed while they could be being tortured at this very moment, he wasn't spending every available second looking for either them or searching for one of the Evil Kenevil gang and force their location out in a very vilent interrogation. He also felt a tad betrayed by Duck who, after loosing his sister, just vanished into thin air leaving nothing behind but the vast majority of his stuff and a note calling all of them traders. What on earth did that even mean? Did Duck blame them for his sister's death? How could he when the girl's parents didn't even blame them? Though, they had been invited to the funeral, and her folks had prevented Duck from joining the group. Was that what he meant by the word 'traders'? Maybe he was just pissed that they didn't go to his defense or something. But how were they supposed to react when he showed up after being dark for two whole freaken weeks, making them think the worse had happened. Ace opened his weary eyes, looking down at Lexi as she whimpered his name softly and redoubled her grip on him. He sighed as he whispered to her words of comfort and reassurance. He hoped that super hearing of hers worked well enough to carry his messages to her dreaming mind. She seemed to relax a little as he spoke and rubbed her back and once she had stopped whimpering, he once again closed his eyes, burring his face in Lexi's soft, sweet smelling hair. He inhailed and the scent of coconut filled his lungs. Stars he had missed that smell, he missed having her with him, holding him together both physically and mentally and emotionally. The last thought he was aware of having before sleep finally over took him was that she could not come into any more harm. That, if anything were to happen to her, he would truly and completely die.
Tech stared at the computer screen intently. His eyes, which were usually a warm caramel, were rimmed in red as the blood vessils protested against the mega strain he was putting on his aching body. He rubbed them furiously with his fists before blinking his attention back to the screen, scanning it vigorously as if he was trying to keep track of a moving bug that was crawling a random pattern along the blue lighted machine. Next to him, in holograph form, stood Zadavia. Her long blond hair flowing over her shoulders and her blue eyes looking just as tired as he felt.
"Come on, where are you mother fuckers?" he growled, clicking a new page up on his screen.
"I don't understand how they could have just disappeared." Zadavia said, letting irritation float in her voice. "They had to have found a place secluded enough that they wouldn't be bothered, but they would still need to get food. My trackers would've picked up on their movement but for a month there hasn't been any sign of them!"
Tech growled his frustrated agreement. They had been looking non stop for three and a half weeks, ever since Marina's funeral. Before it actually. But even with all the exhaustive hunting both with the top satellite technology available and countless hours of searching on foot and by jet pack, they hadn't found so much as a hair or feather that could lead them in the right direction. It was as if Slam, Duck and the Evil Kenevil Gang just evaporated off the face of the planet and out of the galaxy altogether. Zadavia had been checking tirelessly on other planets while the team searched their own. They had even contacted Prince Tweetums, the very small, very annoying canary bird who Duck served as one of his knights; but it had done no good. The prince hadn't heard from him. Though, to his credit, he had gone into a very frightening tantrum when he had heard what had happened, swearing in a new language none of them had ever heard before and then saying in English that he would get his top soldiers on the case and help them search. So far…nothing.
Tech felt a painful throb behind his left eye and he knew a migraine was about to rupture inside his already aching skull. He put his paw up to his temple and rubbed furiously. He couldn't stop, not even for a moment. He'd promised Ace and the others that he would find their friends. Seeing as how he was the only one who really had his mind straight and his emotions under control, he felt like it was his obligation and responsibility to take care of them and insure his promises were fulfilled. It had been hard this last month or so, no one could deny it. He sighed as his eyes wondered over the computer screen and his mind drifted into thinking of how things had gotten around HQ.
Ace was the leader. It had always been like that unless you count the first time the team had fought Sypher and as they lost their powers they had had to take turns passing the torch. But ever since Duck's sister had been murdered, Duck and Slam had gone missing, and the team had faught the Evil Kenevils for a second time, things had changed. Ace was now so defeated in his mind that it was a wonder he was still here. A while back, after their major battle on the island in which he had killed Sykes, Ace had fallen into a depression so deep it had threatened his life. It had taken practically the whole team to talk him down but he had never quite recovered from it. Tech knew as a fact that Lexi had nightmares of waking up one day to find that Ace had ended it all. Now, with Duck wondering around, no doubt trying to track down the creeps who killed Marina, and Slam MIA, the once confident and driven leader of the Loonatics was lost and afraid. Tech had actually been afraid to go to sleep for a while, wanting to keep the bunny under a 24 hour watch until he was beyond sure that he wasn't suicidal. He still wasn't too positive but the lack of sleep had finally caught up with him and he had passed out for eighteen hours straight in a mad attempt to catch up.
As for Lexi, she was no better than Ace. Actually, she was worse. Even though she was somewhat talking again, she didn't really say much. Everyone could see that she wasn't sleeping well, and Tech couldn't really blame her. She had been forced to go 'head to head' with her step father Mason Dale, a total prick who had tried to force her to come back home with him. After killing her mother in high school and abusing her in practically every way known to man her entire life, Lexi had very smartly chosen to decline his offer. However, Dale proved to be a bad listener and had still come after her. Mastermind had given him a device that had allowed him to mentally project himself into Lexi's head. There, she had finally had the courage to truly fight back. Even though she had come out on top of that fight, it had come at a price. Dale had done nothing short of mind raped her when he had entered her head and tried confusing her with false memories of the past. It was remarkable how strong she was handling it. Despite sleepless nights, barely eating and a drastic decrease in dancing to music, she was still a kick ass cheerleader when she had to be. In addition to trying to find Duck and Slam, she had also taken up the duty along with Rev to maintain their normal crime fighting whenever the city had to call on them. Luckily it hadn't happened too often this month, but just because all this shit was going on, didn't mean the rest of the world stopped their normal rutine. Tech's head gave another throb as he thought of all the propaganda the team was also having to fight in the local news reports. All the crap people were saying about how they were finally starting to fail, how it was bound to happen, how their run was up and the Loonatics were all burned out and washed up. It made his fur itch. And then there was Rev…
Tech shook his head at this point in his thinking, preventing it from going any further. Rev hadn't so much as looked at him since their last mission. He was fighting crime with Lexi, helping them in the search for the others, but when they weren't worrying…Tech sighed again. Whenever they had a moment to themselves and he thought that he would finally be able to get a straight answer out of Rev about why he was avoiding him like the Bubonic Plague, Rev would rush to his room and lock the door. Ace had finally taken pitty on Tech, about three days ago, and had explained what Mastermind had done. About the Tech robot beating Rev up.
"He knows ya ain't t'a one d'at did d'at ta 'im, Tech, but ya know…he's still scared. D'at bitch was smart, sorry, but she was. Everytime he sees ya now, his mind brings up dat memory." He had looked so sad when he had told him, Tech almost believed Ace was as heartbroken about the whole thing as himself. Knowing Ace, he probably was. The bunny tries to put on a laid back, cool facade, but Tech and the others could all see through it. Inside, the leader was nothing but a big soft furry cotton ball of sentimentality.
"Tech, why don't you get some sleep. I can keep an eye on things and I'll let you know the moment I find anything." Zadavia said, turning her transparent head so as too look at him. Tech wanted to protest but his eye lids were heavy andhe he was fighting to keep them open, his head doing that bobble head dip and snap up movement as he faught to stay awake.
"Okay." He mumbled. He rubbed his weary eyes once more as he pushed his chair back and got to his feet. He was about to walk away when he stopped. He turned back to Zadavia who was just about to hit the disconnect button on her projector.
"Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Of corse."
"What's going to happen here? I mean, when we do find them. Do you honestly think the others are going to be ready to fight again to get them back? I don't mind going in and tearing a few heads off, I owe Mastermind BIG time for what she did to Zip and Rev…but Ace and Lexi and Rev…what are they going to do?"
"Well…that's a good question. Why don't we discuss this in the morning, Tech. It's late. Too late to try and worry about this now. But don't fret too much," she smiled warmily and reassuringly at him. "I'm sure we'll be able to get them back in fighting shape in no time. From what I'm seeing, for the most part, they just need time to absorb all of what's happened, which they've had, and to be reminded of who they are and of the duty they've taken on as superheroes, which they have not done. And you Tech, I'm not so sure you're one hundred percent okay either. Get some sleep. We'll talk in the morning." She hung up and he was forced to turn around and walk away, her words vibrating off of his numb and tired mind. "I'm not sure you're one hundred percent okay either."
What did she know? He thought angrily, a sudden and unexpected wave of bitterness and rage filling him. She wasn't him, she didn't know how he felt. But she was right. She was right andhe he knew it. He ran a hand through his fur at the top of his head wearily. What was he going to do? The team was in threads, his boyfriend, if he could still call Rev that, was petrified of him for something he didn't even do, and he, Tech, had to be the strong one and hold everything together. To prevent the others from taking a flying leap and loosing it completely as if he didn't have any issues of his own. As if he too hadn't been effected mentally or emotionally by the last fight or by Marina's death. But of corse, he had been. They had gone to rescue her, to save her from Syfer's slimy clutches and from being used as a pawn by the evil dudes. But he had failed. They all had. Not only had they allowed her to be captured, but they had failed in saving her. Then, on top of all that. On top of the Evil kenevil Gang coming back from the dead, Duck's sister dating Syfer and then being killed by him, despite Lexi's father coming back and trying to control her life again and Rev's parents shunning their son for his choice in a lover and then Rev turning around and facing a torture that left both him and Tech practically wounded and vulnerable, Tech had had to face an old friend of his own; Zippy Gonzallas. The mouse had been his mentor, his father after he had taken the ten year old coyote in off the streets. But then Mastermind had killed him, right in front of Tech after the meteor had struck. Then, she had done the unthinkable and unforgivable when she had dug up his remains and had rebooted his brain before shoving it into a robotic look a like of him. Tech had been forced to fight a thing that was supposed to be Zip. A thing that had had all of Zip's old memories, old personality, old habbits and talking patterns. He had attacked Tech, convinced that Tech had been the one who had killed him. The memory of that thing on top of him, trying to kill him by any means possible, first a lazier shooter and then by sheer animalistic brutality, filled his mind and was the sorce of ninety-nine percent of his ever occurring nightmares, the others being of what those bastards could have done with Slam and, possibly, Duck. Tech shivered as he made his way down the hall. What the hell was he doing?
He froze as he heard a soft but audible whimper come from a door he had just passed. He looked around and realized that it was the door to Rev's room. The coyote, without thinking, opened the door and peaked inside. Rev was curled up, fast asleep under his sheets, one arm squeezing Mr. Tex, the bear his mother had made for him when he had been a baby, and tears rolling down his face. Even from that distance, Tech could see the dim hall light reflect off the translucent ddrops on his boyfriend's blue feathers. His heart seemed to cur plop in his stomach like a piece of granite stone. He longed to walk over and wake Rev up, bring him out of the nightmare and into his safe and loving arms. But he knew better. Rev would only cry and freak out more if Tech tried anything like that. Now that he knew what the issue was, Tech felt lost and hopeless. He couldn't see how he and Rev could ever keep up a relationship now. Not after what the avian had gone through. Not when his stupid brain, which really was not stupid in the least, refused to push aside the illogical notion that Tech was a threat. He didn't blame Rev of corse, but he did feel a tad irritated that Rev wasn't at least trying harder to get over it. His own little stupid brain feeling it's own little illogical notions. He shook his head sadly as he heard Rev call out his name softly in his sleep.
"Tech…please…Tech stop…."
Tech felt like he was going to be sick. He turned around and ran down the hall until he reached his own room. He flung himself into his own messed up, unkempt bed and buried his face in his pillows, sobbing in fear and hate and anger and pain. His family was broken, and he was powerless to do anything about it.
"This isn't going to be easy." Sighed Massive as he, Sypher, Mastermind and Pinkster poored over blue prints. He looked up at Mastermind. "Do you think you can get around it?"
"Well…it's a challenge, I'll give you that. I'll need a few days to take it apart virtually in order to see how he programed everything to ensure no set backs. But…" she sighed. She wanted to say 'I'll have no problem. This will be a piece of cake." But she couldn't. Her ego, as massive as it was, kept going back to what he had told her in their first battle after her second jail break. She had shot at him that he taught her everything she knew and he had retorted 'Yes, but not everything I know.'. For some reason that had always bothered her and now, while looking at his most intricate and complex security system, she had a feeling that she might not know quite enough to over ride it.
"It's a simple que-que-que- uh, inquirery. Can you do it or not?" studdered Pinkster impatiently.
"Of corse I can." She snapped, her frustration with the whole thing coming out in a fit of self defiance. Okay, she may not know everything he did, but she'd be damned if she let something as insignificant as a little knowledge prevent them from reaching their prize.
"So how are we going to pull it off?" Sypher asked, his evil beedy eyes narrowed in concentration. It looked like thinking was the most painful thing in the world for him, which it probably was.
"Well…once I get it X-rayed from the inside out and find it's weak points, I'll let you know." She said in a deadly calm tone. "In the mean time, make sure the two caged animals don't get any ideas."
"Impossible." Said Massive easily. "Duck hates the big oaf for what he 'did' to his sister. His trust with the Loonatics is completely gone. If he does try anything, it'll be a solo act and a fruitless attempt. And I garentee you it would most likely be to attack his pal, not escape."
"I don't know. We underestimated them once before, especially him. Are we playing it smart by locking them up together?" Mastermind mused almost to herself.
"Relax." Said Sypher in a smooth tone. " We've broken him, at least enough that he knows it's no good trying anything funny. And don't forget,I'm keeping them tied down. What can they do when I'm sucking them dry almost daily?"
"Yeah, about that." Snarled Massive. "You do know we don't want to kill them…yet, right?"
"I'm careful. I can take a little here, a little there as long as I allow at least 48 to 72 hours for regeneration. I do know what I'm doing you know." He was getting pretty irritated with these guys always talking to him like he was a step behind them. He had it all under control. Why was it so hard for them to see that?
"What do we do if the others catch us?" stuttered Pinkster, his ugly pug face squashing in concern.
"We'll keep them busy." Said Mastermind distractedly as she let her eyes once again roam over the blue prints.
"Yeah, we just throw a diversion here and there and allow Mastermind time to do her thing and they'll never know what hit 'em." Laughed Sypher smugly.
"Assuming everything goes according to plan." Muttered Massive.
"It will." Stated Pinkster firmly, loosing his stuttered for the tiniest moment. "It has to." He continued as they all looked at him, shock on their faces for the note of confidence in his voice, though he did stumble over the word 'has'. "I first wanted to use them to help me and my gang pull off rob-rob-rob- uh, thefts. But after that bunny Ace made a fool out of me, I want real revenge, as I know you do too. So this will work, it's too foo-fool pr-pr- uh, perfect."
"Yeah, you're right little pig." Smirked Sypher. "See you guys, that's just the kind of Can Do aditude I've been trying to bring to this team." His eyes widened in shock as Pinkster pointed a blaster right up his nose.
"Call me a 'little pig' one more time and see how lit-lit-lit- uh, small I can make your skull." He snarled.
"Alright kids, don't fight." Sighed Massive walking over and snatching the blaster away. "Pinkster, don't level what little brain matter he has, we need it until the Loonatics are disbanded for good."
"And that's not going to happen unless we work on this histe." Mastermind snarled irritatedly.
They all gathered around once more and started discussing game plans.
Duck sat straight up, sweat beeded down his face and his heart thudded rapidly against his chest as he panted as if he had just ran a marathon in record time that rivaled Rev's. He gasped and pushed the palms of his shaking hands to his burning eyes. Tears were welling up in them as his mind flashed phantom images of his latest nightmare behind his closed lids.
He had tried to fight sleep as long as he could, but as usual, his tired body demanded rest and like him, it usually got what it wanted with a little perseverance. He had fallen into 'the' room. That bright, sterilizing white room that made him feel like he had been inside of one of the puffy white clouds one usually admired on a clear summer's day. Only this room was far from warm summery happy go lucky feelings. It had been in that room he had been tortured to no end. His body shivered at the memories of the various pains it had endured. The electric shocks, sometimes no more than tiny zaps one could get from a rug, sometimes so painful he could have sworn three lightning bolts had hit him at once. He had been subjected to hours of having to stand, close to the ceiling which was about ten or so feet off the ground, on a narrow beam not even Olympian gymnast's would have been able to walk on. His arms would be tied slightly above his head in front of him, his eyes forced to watch the time pass on the damn watch strapped to his wrist. He had to stand on his tip toes the entire time, knowing if he slipped the rope would catch him but most likely tare his shoulders right out of their sockets. He only slipped once, catching himself with one foot left on the beam so the worst pain he received was a jerk to the elbows as they straightened violently out and a rather uncomfortable tug through his groin as his free leg swung downward. However, his lovely hosts had decided that because he was unable to stay up there for the set amount of time he had been given, he had to be disciplined. His punishment…being violently violated by a cattle prod that had barbed wire twisted around it and extending from the end like some bent claw of a demon from hell. They had used laziers that had very finely zapped into his arms. They were little pointers one would use to cut into steal or harder surfaces and it did not feel good when applied to the skin. The horror of it all was that it never made him bleed. That would have been better. Instead, it just burned his feathers and turned whatever patch of flesh it was aimed at into a crisp right down to the bone. The damaged skin still remained, holding his aching, boiled blood in his veins. He had also been subjected to daily beatings, each one by a different x-team mate and Evil Kenevil member. He had been beaten to the point that he had, at one time, not been able to tell the difference between Rev and Massive who had ganged up on him. All the time he had been strapped to the damn wall as his enemies kicked, punched and belittled him. But that, all of it, hadn't been the worst of it. He had been deprived of sleep, food, water, silence, noise, sight and darkness for long periods of time. He never knew when they would just suddenly stop bringing him food or water, walk in to talk to him, refusing him any opportunity to sleep for hours, leave him in the dark with loud nerve wracking sounds all around him or in the too bright room with nothing but pressing silence and death white walls and floors pressing in on him as if the entire universe had imploded and he had been spared to suffer in isolation for the rest of eternity. He had been taunted, talked down to and laughed at. They had done just about everything they could to humiliate him and tare him down. Things so demeaning and dehumanizing that some of it he was having trouble facing even in the privacy of his own mind. But then, maybe that was because he HAD NO privacy anymore, not even in his mind. He didn't have his powers, he didn't have anything he had wanted to hold on to from his past. They had torn up the picture of him and his sister he kept with him, had mashed his father's two headed coin to dust, and had tossed his jet pack in a fire pit that was reserved for melting useless metal scraps; all in front of him while he was strung up, unable to stop them.
"You're ours now, Duck." Sypher had laughed.
"And we are going to have so much fun with you." Mastermind had perred dangerously.
"Why?" was all he had managed to choke out. His mind had gone numb, just shut down as if a huge block of ice had encased it. But that one word, that one question was so strong that it had found it's way out of his otherwise soundless mouth. He needed a reason for their cruelty, any reason at all. They needed information from him. They wanted revenge from the battle on the island. They wanted to humiliate and break him down mentally so he would leave the Loonatics for good. Not that they needed to put him through all this to ensure that, but it would be a reason. Hell, he would have even accepted the reason of them hating him and wanting to play with him before killing him. But no, none of those were their answer.
"Why not?" was what Massive had sneared before making him float all the way to the ceiling just to drop him like a large marble stone back to earth. They were doing this not because they wanted something from him. They were doing this just because they could. The thought had then, and did now, turn his stomach. But all of that, the beatings, the torture, hell even their non existant reason for doing all this to him was not the worst part. No, the worst thing that they had done had been crueler, more monsterous and demonic than anything they had ever put him through both in the past and in the present. They had sent the team in pretending that they had come to save him.
Duck wiped his face as the tears fell down his feathers, soaking them and plastering them to his skin. The dried blood on his bill loosened a little as snot ran out of his somewhat flattened nasal passages. His mind flitted back to the first time he thought his friends had come for him.
"Duck, oh my god." Lexi and Ace had run up to him after they made a big show of peeking into the room as if they didn't know what they would find. Tech and Rev had been right behind them.
"Are ya o'kay, buddy?" Ace had asked concernedly as he and Lexi took him out of his bonds.
"What the hell are you doing?" he had snapped, anger and hate boiling in his blood, tasting like venim in his mouth as he snarled, "What's with this dumb friendship act?"
"Act?" Rev had asked, confusion in his voice. "What-act?"
"You know damn well what I'm talking about bird brain." Duck had hissed. "You guys KILLED my sister! Teamed up with THEM! TRIED TO KILL ME!" his voice rose and fell as he tried to keep calm but eventually hit top pitch as he told them what had happened as if they didn't know. What kind of sick joke was this?
"Duck, list'n ta me." Ace had said firmly. "D'at was d'em, da oda us. We was cloaned, all 'a us."
"Yeah, you egg brain." Tech assured him. "Mallery made dopple gangers of us. We didn't do anything, they did."
"So…" Duck hadn't wanted to believe it. He couldn't believe it. But damn had his hopes risen. Against all the logic in his head screaming "LIARS!", he had given in to what he so desperately wished to be true. He had prepared to appologize, just break down and fall apart right there and then for everything. The note he had left behind, the worry he had put them through the two weeks after the fight, the hate and vengeance that had filled him after Marina's death, all of it. But just when he had said, tears falling down his tired and bruised face, "Can we just go home?" they had all laughed and Mastermind and Syfer had walked in.
"That was priceless!" Syfer had cackled. "Duck you should have seen the look on your face!"
Duck had felt so humiliated, so broken when the truth of it all had finally hit him. He had broken into tears, going limp between Ace and Lexi who still had their hands supporting his arms. He had then been beaten some more and hung back up for over a day. The only thing that ever stayed the same, no matter what they had put him through, was the wrist watch they had clasped to his arm, locking it so he couldn't take it off. It showed him the time in large red numbers. They looked like demon eyes that always seemed to be laughing at him.
"You've gone twenty hours with no food this time, Duck, how much longer will you hold out?" or "Well look at that, Duck, you've lasted a whole full three days and ten hours with no sleep. Tell me, have the hillusinations started yet?"
Duck gripped the feathers on the top of his head as he curled into a ball and rocked back and forth in the dark cave. He could hear Slam's heavy, slow breathing from the other side of the room as he slept the night away. But Duck couldn't sleep. He just couldn't. He still didn't know why he had been locked in here with Slam pretending to be a prisoner just like him, but he knew this much. He couldn't take much more of this. It now made sense of corse why he never had seen Slam around. Why he never had come in with the others to beat him up or taunt him. It was because they were saving him for the ultimate torture tool. 'Let Duck think that Slam really is in the same boat as him.' They were thingking. 'Let him gain Duck's trust for the last time. They would plan on escaping and we will almost let them. They will get so close and then right when he thinks they're home free, Duck will find himself stopped by none other than Slam. We might even have them fight each other. We might even let them kill each other.'
Duck shook, his body almost vibrating with the rage and hopeless despair washing over him in cold waves. He had never felt so alone, so completely isolated. He truly had no one in this world anymore. If this is the state they wanted to drive him to, they finally won. He wanted to die.
DUCK! I can not tell you how hard it was to write this…all of it. I feel like such a bitch for putting them through all this…but…well…just keep reading…
Anyhow, despite the mind warping violence…which I did farely warn you about…how did you guys like it? R&R peeps and try to stay as sain as possible throughout the rest of this…it hasn't even begun to get good yet ;D