: I hope you enjoy! This chapter will go into more detail about WHY Stammets kidnapped her.
Xxyangxx2006: It took me a while to plan how they would meet. Glad that you found it satisfactory.
Talye Kendrin: Yeppers. You get a taste of how Clarice handles things under pressure in this chapter. She's not all about the sarcasm. She bites really hard.
Guest, SabakuMoon, Princess LaLaBlue, Pompompuria, Azera-v, Ghouly-Girl, Northernstar99: REALLY BIG THANK YOU!
Bloody-Asphode11: HA! I thought of her exploding when you said that. Actually, Phoenix and Hannibal will have their time. Just not right now.
This chapter goes into more depth about Stammets' reason for kidnapping our Phoenix. There's not going to be much Phoenix interaction here. We get to see more Clarice in action and how she reacts to certain situations. We will actually get to have Phoenix back in the next chapter (12). There is no flashback for Clarice in this chapter.
Thank you so much to my followers, favorite-ers, and reviewers! You're the best!
Enjoy!
Chapter Eleven: UPriSiNg
I can't see anything. The blind around my eyes is too tight. It didn't occur to Stammets to at least let my wrist have some wiggle room to not let the blood circulation from my hands get cut off. I sighed rolling my head and shoulder to keep from getting stiff. At least there isn't any dirt in the trunk. "This zip tie is really getting on my last nerve." I mumbled to myself as I was squished in the back of my kidnappers' compartment.
"Okay, rule number three of kidnapping—survival 101…don't get into the car, your chances of survival just went down to a staggering fifty percent chance of getting out alive…craaaaap. Okay, rule number two…what was rule number two? Rule number one—Cardio! Haha— No wait, that was from the movie Zombieland." A movie that Phoenix just had to show me.
"Focus, Clarice. Focus. Why does he want to do this? Get in his head." I closed my eyes and imagined a black void surrounding Stammets and I. He was standing in his white coat as I analyzed every piece of information that I could remember from the first and last encounter that I made from him.
"Every crime is unique, behavior fits into certain patterns. Why one boy grows up to be a rapist or killer, another grows up to be a bomber or extortionist, and another who seems to have just as a background." I groaned as my eyes opened and shook my head, losing the mental image of Stammets. "Remember what he looks like. Stay calm, it's all in your head, he can't do anything." I closed my eyes and tried again. "His kind may be motivated to act out their obsessions, but they don't have to act in this manner. They are not compelled. They choose to do this because it makes them feel good." I've only skimmed the surface. "He wasn't satisfied anymore. His actions proved that. Stammets didn't want just a diabetic for his garden anymore. Not just any other transformation, he's upgrading now." Stammets thinks of us like an iPhone. When a new idea comes to mind, he wants to experiment and make it better through trial and error. "Abigail was supposed to be the next victim, she was still supposed to be in a coma. Woke up too early, or was she ever in a coma in the first place?" That still doesn't solve why he came after me. It could have been anyone who he chose, but he picked me.
Why? Why? Why? Why? The motive, always remember the motive. Evolution.
I felt the car stop as my head banged against the side. I heard gravel being stepped on and became louder as I stayed still in the dark. I concentrated on keeping my breathing to appear asleep. I shifted and felt something poke me. Great, I didn't think to move around to find something to cut through my zip tie why? My hands got the small object that had poked my back and made a fist around it to conceal it.
The trunk opens and no amount of light hits my face. Must be dark by now. Hands go under my knees and back and carry me inside a small building and lays me on the floor gently. Unfortunately, he gives me another dosage of drug that made Phoenix fall asleep as I feel the needle go into my neck. Motherfucker. Never should have played dead. I am going to kill those possums in my trash. I actually thought playing "dead" was a good idea.
36 Hours Later
Will pulled up in front of Clarice's place and stayed in the car. Starring out the window of his car, he didn't know what to say to her after he found out about her background. His hand rubbed his face and got out the car to the front of her door. Looking to the right, he noticed that her garage was left open with no car. That wasn't right, and it was bothering him. What really bugged him was that he knew Clarice would never under any circumstance get up at seven in the morning. She enjoyed her sleep.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
"Alana?"
"Will! I can't grab a hold of her! I called and called, but she won't answer me! I called her work and they said she hasn't come in!"
"Calm down. Who won't answer you?"
"Phoen—Clarice! She always answers and if she doesn't, she texts back."
"She's not home, I'm at her place right now." Will replied to her. He walked inside the garage and opened the door connected to the inside of her house. The door was unlocked, everything was unlocked. There, sitting innocently on a doorknob was a single strand of red hair.
He made his way through her kitchen and found a calendar that said "pick up medicine at 7pm" followed by the name of the pharmacy. He gulped. "When was the last time you spoke to her?" He heard the padding of feet and looked down to see Loki with Thor riding on his back. Loki pawed at Will and could hear the grumbling of Loki's stomach. He put his phone to the side "Loki, Thor, are you hungry?" Loki started to cry in relief and laid on his stomach as Thor slid down from Loki's back. Clarice obviously wasn't here for a while if they were both starving. She cared too much about them than herself. Never, would she leave Loki and Thor starving.
"I texted her the day before yesterday that I couldn't change the destination of her medication pick-up. Why?"
"What time?" Will had a pretty good idea of why she didn't come home. The FBI had gone last week to the same place that was on Clarice's calendar—they were about to bust E. Stammets, but he had been off the grid for a week until now. It really, really, did not help that Lounds wrote an article about Clarice and was able to slander her name on Tattle Crime. She was stalking Clarice and documenting her movements, displaying her history for everyone to see. Once she's sunk her teeth in, it's like trying to take off a leech—painful and agonizing.
Stammets was already showing signs of evolving, Will just held hope that it didn't have anything to do with Clarice. Sad thing was, when was he ever wrong?
"The time? It was in the evening, I think it was ten till seven. Will what does this—"
"I think Stammets has her."
"…" No reply came from the other end of the phone.
4 Hours Later
"We found her car parked at the end of the parking lot." Beverly began debriefing Will and Crawford about their findings as they walked to her car. "There's evidence of a struggle, blood was shed and we're sending it to the labs as we speak." Will saw Clarices' medication on the floor and read the prescription drug. "Anxiety."
"Her anxiety is horrible." Will turned to find Hannibal and Alana walking towards them at the taped off crime scene.
"Alana? Hannibal? What are you doing here?"
"I called them in." Crawford responded to his question. "Both will help with how to deal with Ms. Starling."
Beverly was confused about why they were talking about this Clarice? They showed her a picture of Starling, but she knew the girl from the grocery store a while ago as Phoenix. "Wasn't Starling the one who was kidnapped? Why are we discussing on how to deal with her? We should be talking about Stammets."
"She gets panic attacks, and if it's taken to the next level, her other personality comes out." Alana turned to Beverly then to Will. "The one you've been talking to is Phoenix. She is the more mellow and reasonable one. Clarice is the original personality, but retreated into her mind to let Phoenix out—the one that everyone who knows now is Phoenix." Alana took a breath and continued. "What I am afraid of is what will happen when Clarice comes out and deals with Stammets." She looked at Crawford. "You were the one who was in charge of the raids at the time she was in the underground matches. You saw the damage she dealt when Clarice snapped."
"Yes, I know. Just like how you were supposed to refer Ms. Starling to a different psychiatrist five years ago." Crawford emphasized on the five.
"That is why Dr. Lector is here. He's Clarice's new psychiatrist. I'm here because I know how both Clarice and Phoenix think."
"On the contrary Dr. Bloom, you can't predict a psychopath's thinking pattern. No matter how 'okay' they seem when you have given the yes to release them back into society."
Hannibal, the evil devil just observed and analyzed all of the information given to him so freely. Apparently Jack was in charge of the raid that caught Clarice in the cage matches after her brutal murders of the regulars who bet and enter in them. The cage matches were known only in the Black Market. Originally they were to show off the Black Market's power by striking fear into the competitors of other markets with their champions in the fight to the death. However, now it was a way for people to make money. Ever since Starling created something of a mass hysteria in the cage matches, they tightened security due to how much profit and important people's lives were lost that day. It must have been beautiful based on how Jack did not, indeed, approve of dear Clarice and her aggressiveness. The file that Alana gave him on Clarice did not do justice on what kind of person she is.
Will ignored Alana's and Jack's banter as he walked to where the struggle was and possible murder of his first friend who did not want to dissect him or use for personal gain. He could feel eyes upon him and looked back to see Hannibal following him at a steady pace. Will looked down at the blood spilled from either Stammets, or Clarice. Who knows, it could have been both.
Will was not feeling well. All he wanted was for Clarice to be fine and out of harm's way. He blinked once. Twice. The third time his eyes didn't open. The pendulum swung in the dark. Everything went in slow motion as the actions rewind he became Stammets.
I see Clarice Starling walking to her car. She would make a beautiful addition to my garden. I know who she is, and I know about her prone to violence. I must be careful in capturing her, she shall be my prelude to my newest creation. I cannot harm this almost perfect creature. I stab her with a sleep serum, but she fights back. I fall but so does she. I see her eyes—the most beautiful eyes that I've ever seen. One blue, but the other one is brighter with a scar. I hit her across the head to knock her out completely. It was a good thing I did my research on her and came prepared. I tie her up and place her in my clean trunk, no longer filled with dirt. She will be the last one to be buried, she must be preserved. The ultimate transformation. I close the trunk.
…This is my design.
6 Hours Later
"Are you sure that this is the place?" Crawford asked one of the men in FBI in full gear as Crawford only wore a bulletproof vest and a long brown trench coat, armed with a double barrel shot gun.
"Yes, the license plates match and we've been receiving anonymous tips about where this man has been sighted. There was also mentions of gun shootings." Will looked like he was going to be nauseous when he heard about the gun shootings. Currently, he was inside a black van with Alana, and Hannibal. Just as the FBI were about to bust open the door they heard a loud noise.
BANG!
The FBI agents, including Crawford, were stunned and stood with their guns pointing at the door of a small shack.
BANG!
CRASH!
They saw the entrance door fall towards them. A figure walked out with what looked like a long metal pole. The figure was covered in dirt and looked more female with hints of blood oozing from her head and shoulder.
She was breathing heavily, the woman's chest going up and down as she just stared at the agents who were ready to go inside with shocked faced. She had a bagel in one hand and a metal pole in the other hand. That combined with her wild look made the female seem insane. She rolled her eyes. "You guys are slow and stop pointing those at me, someone can get seriously hurt, or worse—killed."
1 Hour Earlier
Waking up in a pile of dirt was not on my agenda before dying. My eyes opened rapidly and sat up as if I was just shocked out of my slumber. Looking down, my body was at least one feet in a long ditch, it fit my height perfectly. I looked at my surroundings as I took in the shack, the floor was just dirt, no concrete in this room. No windows either, but there was a small light bulb above me that flickered every once in a while. There was a shifting of movement in my peripheral vision and whipped my head right. One blonde and one brunette woman—who were crying and gagged with their hands and feet tied—both looked at me with fear.
Probably because I look like I just rose from the dead or something. I stood up and dusted myself from the dirt and out of the small "grave". Apparently my hands and feet were free. This made escaping much more easily. You know? Like after I conveniently smash his brain in continuously as I declare self-defense after every blow about him trying to kill me and two other ladies.
There was a thud of footsteps coming closer to our room. I could see the women try to keep quiet in their crying. Me? I was going to kill this motherfucker. I am going to—
Then everything went to hell. "Damn it Phoenix!"
I shook my head, trying to regain my sense of what was real. "Clarice?"
"No. It's Santa Clause. Of course it's me! You just had to wake up at the most inconvenient—"
The door opened.
"…of times." I finished Clarice's sentence out loud. I saw Stammets standing there with a dumbfounded expression. We stood there for what seemed like a while. "Do as I say and you'll live. Upper cut his jaw." I did as Clarice said, not even being able to comprehend where I was. "Straight punch to his chest and jab with the other." So far it was working, I was able to take him in his stunned state. "Round house kick."
I pushed power into my hip to bring my leg up and kick Stammets in the chest with the top of my foot as I pivoted on my other to turn. He skidded into the hallway on his back and knocked the wind out of him. "How am I doing this?" I whispered.
"Muscle memory and survival instincts and that training we've been doing."
Click.
Please tell me that wasn't him with a gun. I focus on Stammets who is on the floor laying on his back. His gun pointing at me. I go down to dodge when I see his hand pull the trigger. I barely make it in time to dodge... at least I thought I did. I feel pain erupt in my left shoulder. "He's trying to aim for the heart. You're a threat to him now and he won't hesitate in killing you." I ran back into the room and closed the door. I saw a large empty bookshelf to the side of the door and pushed it in front of the exit. My shoulder was not as bad as I thought it was. Probably the adrenaline. I went to the women and untied them.
"When I tell you to run, you run. Alright?"
The two women nodded with tears and sobbed in relief of not being as much danger as they were. How wrong they were. There was the sound of bullets going through the bookshelf. The brunette got scared and stood up to try running, but the bullet entered through one of the women's chest. She died instantly and fell lifelessly on the wall. "Well, we free both of them and one doesn't even last ten seconds of being free. Why in the hell did she even go towards the bullets?"
The blonde was also about to get hit until I pulled her out of the way. I took off one of my shoes and threw it at the light bulb and broke the only light source in the room. It took away Stammets vision away, but also ours. There was silent clicking, that meant he was out of bullets. We both stayed silent as we heard his feet making a quick getaway to find more ammo. My eyes flickered to where the brunette's corpse was. "There's no time to feel sorry. JUST RUN!" I pushed the bookshelf away and pulled the blonde with me. I could feel her shaking in my hands as I pulled her and made our way through the halls with caution. There was a long metal pole. "Grab it." I did and held most of its weight on my right arm. Footsteps could be heard and pushed the blonde to the other side of the door on the same side of the hallway with our backs on the wall. He got closer and closer. Then I swung the pole like a bat on Stammets' chest.
Crack!
"Huh, I think you broke him."
"Maybe." I kicked the gun from his hand and checked for a pulse. He's just unconscious, though from how messed up his chest looks like, he'll die. "This was too easy of an escape."
"I agree."
"Come on! Let's go! Now is our chance to leave!" I saw the blonde running toward what looked like led to the exit.
"Somethings not right! Wait!" It was a trap as I saw her trip a wire. Something made a whistle sound as a long plank of wood with many large steel poles embedded into the front of her body. The steel poles shot through her body as I saw them poking out from her back and head with blood pouring out of those deadly wounds. The corpse fell as if in slow motion landing on her front, making the poles stick further through with the force. Both of my hands covered my mouth, I felt like hurling. I couldn't though. Clarice was trying to calm me down with words, but my body wouldn't listen to me. It's a totally different feeling when you see someone die so brutally than the aftermath.
I coughed trying to keep Phoenix's vomit down, but there was nothing to vomit up. It felt like acid. "When was the last time you ate Phoenix?" I shook my head and raised an eyebrow at the blonde corpse and folded my arms under my chest. "Phoenix tried to warn you, but no. You wanted to run free without checking your surroundings. Pshh. Typical girl." I looked down and kicked Stammets' body in the stomach. I picked up the pole and checked for any more traps. Another consisted of a gun being pulled by a contraption when I open the door to a different room. It got the left side of my temple, but only enough to barely skim it. "Great, now I'm bleeding." My stomach growled. Let's see if Stammets' has a kitchen I can raid. I walked over the blondes' corpse and walked towards what looked to be a kitchen. I only found a bagel in the cupboard, but it was just bought and wouldn't expire until two weeks. I also found some cookie butter and decided to put some on the bagel. "Stammets you bastard, you make a horrible psychopath, but really good taste in food." I saw people pulling up in the small window and saw FBI. I sighed, why you would come at such a late time, I'll never know. I would have been dead by now if I hadn't woken up when I did.
So what did I do? I did what I would have done back in the old days for me. Pop out of my hiding and scare the shit out of everyone. And that's what I did, with a pole in one hand and a bagel in the other…but not before stabbing the pole into Stammets' head.
Now
"Will, why is there a blanket on me?"
"It's for shock, now stop changing the subject, how did you get out?"
"Ow." I had people working on my wounds while I was trying to eat my bagel with cookie-butter.
"Clarice?"
"It's a wibbly-wobbly timey wimey thing. Your tiny little brain wouldn't understand."
"Did-did you just quote the Doctor?"
"Damn straight I did. That Time Lord is a genius. You watch it?" I continued to eat the bagel, wondering why Phoenix stopped watching 'Doctor Who'. I wondered if the 11th doctor would like cookie-butter. I know he likes fish fingers and custard.
"Clarice Starling." He sounded like a father who was scolding me.
"Don't stifle my creativity Will." I think I just made Will pop a vein.
"Alright then, let me talk to Phoenix then." His eyes narrowed and his voice turned more menacing.
I stopped mid-bite and this time really looked at Will. "No wonder you attract so much unwanted attention Mr. Graham. You're really good at your job. Though I am sorry, Phoenix can't come to the real world right now, might I take a message?"
"You just experienced seeing two people murdered and you killed Stammets'. Don't you think that would warrant for some kind of help for you?"
"You do know who you're talking to right? I lived through this type of stuff since I was a wee little girl."
"Clarice!"
"Hmm? I know that voice anywhere." I turned to the right and saw Alana, Hannibal, and Crawford. "Alana, hi." I dragged the "hi" a few seconds longer. "I haven't had a session with you for a while." I ate the rest of my bagel.
I saw her gulp, but she still continued on. "We need to speak with Phoenix."
"Like I said before with Will. I can't do that." I nodded. "She still needs time. Besides, I am here, why not just speak with me? I am the one who, after all, is still living and breathing as your witness."
This time Crawford talked. "Because I don't trust any words that come out of your mouth."
"OH! I didn't notice you." His eye twitched. "I apologize, say, weren't you the man who I took down five years ago and gave you three broken ribs?"
"Why you little bi—"
"I believe that's enough." Hannibal cut in this time. "I will take over from here."
I head turned to the side but my eyes were still on Hannibal. I was glad that Phoenix would not talk to him. He felt so incriminating. I would have fun with him, though. The whole gang left including the paramedics who were working on my wounds. I now had a sling on my right arm and a bandaged head. "It's you again. The giant spaghetti monster." I was expecting him to get mad, but he just held a neutral expression. Thing is, he really was a giant. He toppled over my height. The monster part was held up for debate at the moment. "Alright, what do you want? And please, no psychoanalyzing."
He smirked but it was gone just as quickly as that emotion came. He felt like laughing at my proposition. Tread carefully. "A 'giant spaghetti monster'?" His brow went up.
I shrugged as much as I could with a sling. "When I met you, you had spaghetti on yourself. That and you are very tall."
"Where did the monster come from?"
"Hmmm? What are we talking about again?"
"…" He blinked.
"…" I blinked.
A paramedic came back from the ambulance and looked at my eyes with a small flashlight. "She has a concussion. We'll need to check on her in a hospital and—"
"NO! No hospitals! I just want to leave."
Will came by and I'm pretty sure he heard me yell. "I'll take her home. She already knows how to take care of herself. She's been in these situations countless of times." His voice seemed hollow. He knows how my mind works.
"Then wouldn't she be used to it? We can make her comfortable."
"I've never been comfortable in my life, no need to start now." I responded and made little eye contact with Hannibal. I'm pretty sure he's still psychoanalyzing me.
I walked briskly and jumped in the car and buckled my seat belt. I stared out the window and I finally made eye contact with Hannibal. His expression was neutral, but I could see that little glint in his red eyes that proved he was not someone to be toyed with. At least I know what he likes to discuss about now. Giant spaghetti monsters! Or maybe that's just the concussion talking?
I saw Will walk up to the driver's side and we started talking. I turned away and leaned my head on the window as Will pulled out of the crime scene. He told me about how they went through Stammets' computer history and had read an article about me on Tattle Crime by an annoying certain redhead.
"We don't know how she was able to find out about where you live, but my guess is that she's already been in your home. I went to check up on you earlier today, because I wanted to talk to you about the incident at the Hospital a few months back." He wet his lips in a nervous manner. "Your doors were open and I found red hair. All of them. I think Lounds has been in your house, and she might still be there. That's how she was able to track you down. Stammets is an avid reader of Tattle Crime. He saw you and read about you. He believed that you were the next step to humanity evolving. You were his future."
Abigail. She was supposed to be the one who was kidnapped. Instead, I took her place. "Will?"
"Hm?"
"Who was Abigail Hobbs?"
"How do you know that name?"
"I saw her on the news. Just once, then she disappeared." I lied. Will hesitated to tell me.
"…She was a girl who was an obsession of someone close in her family. She was wounded and in a coma, but she didn't make it out." He swallowed saliva. "She died yesterday."
"I don't like this aura. Too depressing."
"Have I mentioned that you have an accent? At least, compared to Phoenix you do?"
I only smirked in response.
Will dropped me off and waved goodbye. I went inside of my house that already had the door unlocked. I looked down and Loki was growling at something. Thor was under Loki poking his head between his head. Whatever Loki was growling at was in the living room. I went to the kitchen to grab a long knife as I slowly made my way to the living room. I peeked and there and behold, was Lounds. She was taking pictures of the inside of my house. I silently made my way towards her as her back wasn't facing me. I snatched the camera away from her hands and threw it on the ground and stomped on it. She turned around and was in shock. "I am really not in the mood to deal with you right now Ms. Lounds. I've had a shitty day and according to a friend of mine, you're the reason for it. Leave. NOW!" She ran like out the door as if I was about to kill her. Well I was a sight to see. Coming with a sling, blood oozing out of my temple and looking like death without eating a proper meal for about two days and to top it all off, I had a knife in my hand. Good thing she wisely chose to keep quiet, else I would have gutted her.
As you can clearly see, Clarice is not right in the head. Now we move into the plot I have been setting up for a while now. Get ready for longer Hannibal and Phoenix/Clarice moments. Obviously their short because she doesn't feel comfortable around Hannibal. Soon that will change.
ONE MORE THING! If my character EVER starts to look like a Mary-sue, for goodness sake! TELL ME!
Reviews are welcome!