Ultimate Avenging Alliance Chapter 10 Imprisonment

"I need to kill a tiger."

Wade wasn't at all sure why those were his first words upon waking, but they were. He blinked lazily at the ceiling, trying to work out what it meant, until the image of a triangular blade on an H-shaped grip faded and left his mind.

\Probably nothing relevant,/ the white voice dismissed.

-Still, tiger hunting,- Yellow mused.

'Later, maybe,' Wade thought back.

He was on a heap of scratchy blankets, wrists and ankles still restrained, and the cell was noticeably dim. "Dark. That mean it's night?"

"No, actually. I think it was to facilitate your rest, seeing as no-one else was using the,. But that's a guess, 'cause I can't see 'em."

Wade looked over through the gloom, and could just make out a single figure huddled in the corner. "Matty-Matt? Where's Petey-Pie?"

"Testing," Matt said dolefully.

Wade squirmed upright. "Too dark," he grumbled. "There isn't a light switch anywhere, is there?" There was a flicker, and the lights came on. "Oh, never mind."

Matt tilted his head. "They on now?" he asked.

"Yeah." Wade paused to examine Matt. When he'd first been inserted into the cell, the lawyer had been clad in the same hospital scrubs as he and Peter, but now he was wearing a different pair of sweatpants and a silky-looking t-shirt. He was still bound hand and foot, but he had a lightly steaming cup cradled in his hands. Rather than the dull grey blankets, he'd got himself a brown, fleecy blanket to wrap around his shoulders. "Gone up the world, you have, it seems," Wade commented.

Matt snorted. "Our captors wish to avoid causing us unnecessary stress, bar imprisonment, restraint, and experimentation. The clothing, the blankets, they're irritating my skin, so now I have these." He paused. "There's at least one other, smaller cell. They took me there, locked me in, and remotely deactivated my cuffs so I could change. They gave me the option of willingly recuffing myself or being gassed into unconsciousness so they could do it. They were outside the door, within earshot. It was not a hollow threat."

"Don't like marching to their drum, huh, Matty-Matt?" Wade mused aloud. It wasn't exactly a secret that not only Daredevil, but Matt Murdock as well, valued his independence. Being forced to shackle his own ankles, slap restraints on his own wrists…to enable his own imprisonment, it had to hurt.

Matt made a resentful snorty sort of noise, and sipped his cup. "There's food," he said abruptly. "Mexican. I can never remember what name refers to what, but there's chicken, peppers, a bit of guacamole, wrapped in tortillas." He nodded towards a small box.

Wade swarmed over, and gobbled down the fajitas. We need to save some for Petey-Pie?" he asked, mouth full.

Matt shook his head. "I don't know when he'll be back, and our captors keep limiting his food whenever they're planning another procedure."

Wade thought about it, didn't really understand, and decided he didn't care, as long as his cute little baby boy was okay. He voiced the question.

"I don't know," Matt answered tightly. "They're not giving him any severely toxic serums, but the last one they gave him made him sick for a day or two and didn't do anything much."

"What was it meant to do?" Wade asked.

"Not entirely sure," Matt admitted. "Peter's been reading over the research data, and he tried to explain it a bit, but it really isn't my area of expertise. I think they're trying to increase the amount of spider DNA he has."

"Why?" Wade asked blankly.

"I don't know," Matt shrugged. "I know their overall aim is to understand our abnormal enhancements, quite possibly with an eye to replication. But the purpose of any individual experiment is beyond me."

"Sounds like Weapon X all over again," Wade groused.

"I doubt it's that bad," Matt disagreed. "These guys appear to be moral enough to rather we stay alive and well no matter how successful the experimentation."

"But still…" Wade whispered, unable to put his apprehension into words. He curled in on himself, and for the first time he truly noticed that his scarred, blotched skin was on display. The ugly mess left behind last time he was experimented on. At least Matt couldn't see it, and Peter hadn't seemed to mind earlier.

"I don't know what they're going to do, but they can't do anything permanent to you, can they?" Matt asked.

"No, but they can still do plenty!" Wade hissed. Cutting into him, dissecting him alive, pushing his limits…Automatically he pulled on his restraints, knowing it was futile, but needing to try.

"Okay, okay," Matt said quickly, hearing the clinking of the chain. "Just- calm down. You know I can tell when people are lying, and I'm pretty good at working out the right questions to ask. Just trust me, and I'll see what I can find out. Okay?"

"What can we do to stop them?" Wade asked wretchedly.

Matt sighed, tilting his head back, sightless eyes pointed towards the ceiling. "I think Peter's hoping he can help make sure they don't do anything that will harm us, but really, I'm just trusting my conclusions. I don't think they're cruel, just driven."

"Really?" Wade tilted towards him. "Tell me everything."