Thirteen Days

Warning: Contains torture, insanity, deaths, and lots of angst.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Transformers. I'm just borrowing them for a bit to mess with their heads.

- 8 days before -

Ariel was roughly woken the next morning by a man bringing her more food, and she ate it slowly, but before she could even think of going back to making her spoon-scratched pictures in the floor, her escorts arrived and led her out of the cell. They brought her to a room that looked suspiciously like a gym, with eight large, burly men waiting. She decided immediately that she didn't like this situation even more than she hadn't liked any of the others, and tried to fight the men escorting her again, but one of the burly men inside the room grabbed her by the waist, lifted her up, and carried her into the center of the room before dropping her. Ariel's escort was already gone, and the door closed, by the time she scrambled to her feet. Nervously, she turned her attention to the men in the room, and one by one, they sank into various martial arts stances.

Oh no, this wasn't good.

Slaggtards. She thought to herself, then one of the men attacked her. She dodged his first attack, only to get caught in the second, and from there on, it was downhill. The men were clearly expert fighters - she recognized some advanced martial arts moves, as well as some boxing techniques - and clearly superior to her in skill, but still they kept at it. It got worse as they began taunting her, and Ariel began to get sloppy as she panicked, the thought having finally sunk in that she was screwed.

Men with the type of resources these guys had shown obviously weren't common kidnappers, which meant that even though her parents would inevitably file a missing persons report - if they hadn't already - it was unlikely that the police would be able to find her. The men who had Ariel seemed confident in this - confident enough to have several men give her a beating, confident that they could break whatever laws they wanted. It made Ariel wish that she had back some of her own confidence, that had gotten her through the court cases in LA.

And just like that, she had it.

Ariel barely even realized it as one of the men came at her and she dodged effortlessly, taking him down with a chop to the back of his neck. Another came, and he was down within moments. Two came at her at the same time, then, but she sent them to the ground effortlessly. The other four stayed where they were for a moment, watching her warily, and Ariel smiled. This was fun, unlike that fight with Kyle and her teacher. Because this time, Ariel was in control, and these men deserved every punch, every kick, every bruise.

Ariel outright laughed as the four remaining men came at her at the same time, giggling as she took them down one by one, until finally she stood alone in the room with a collection of unconscious men. Still giggling, she stepped over their bodies and looked around, strangely wanting more. No more came, though, so she went to the door and tried it, but it was locked, and her attempts to kick it down failed. Then she heard a low hissing sound, and she looked around in surprise, but didn't see anything...after a few more moments, though, she noticed an unpleasant smell, and realized with a groan what was happening. She drew in a deep lungful of air, hoping she wasn't too late, and tried to outlast the gas, but inevitably, she had to give in and breath, and she slumped to the floor, unconscious, moments later.

- On to day 6 -