Perhaps it had been the thrashing about but when Merlin woke up, he felt like his bonds were looser. His back was aching like hell and his head hurt. Why did his head hurt so—

Oh yeah, it was probably connected to his inability to see out of his right eye. Thinking about it, he noticed the feeling of cloth around the area as if someone had bandaged it. He wondered why they would take time to do such a thing and decided that it ultimately had to do with the risk of infection. Wouldn't want their plaything to get sick would they?

For the first time, Merlin really had time to think as Lotta wasn't already in the room or immediately entering it after he'd opened his eyes-sorry eye. Finally he could fully take in what was happening to him, the pain, the scars that would ultimately form, the lost of sight on one side. If he'd been alone he might have started crying but one glance at the camera in the corner reminded him that he wasn't. As there was no audience to send information to, no sick woman to entertain, Merlin finally examined the room.

The only opening was the door yet that also meant a controlled flow of men and women coming in. All weapons were still on the table and if he could get lose he'd have his own mini armory.

Finally an escape plan. It brought a small seed of hope into Merlin's chest just as Lotta came in again.

"I saw you were awake. How's the eye?" she asked easily.

"Don't really know. Can't see out of it but that was a given."

Lotta smiled and closed the door behind her as she sauntered over. "Hmm, so tough! Many lesser beings would have broken by now. So, care to tell me about Harry and the organization this time?"

"No."

"Would you like me to take out the other eye?"

"But then I wouldn't be able to see your beautiful face."

"Good point," Lotta replied with a quick laugh. Turning on the camera she added, "I'm sorry to say that this will be a quick one. Plenty of things to do but I wouldn't want to derive the people of new content."

This time she grabbed a simple knife and moved in front of Merlin. He expected her to slice at him in wild strokes like before but instead she began to carve through the top layers of skin and scar tissue that had formed over the burns.

Merlin tried to regulate his breathing as he wished he could scream at her to stop. If there was a way to make her kill him quicker he wouldn't hesitate to use that option but he knew there wasn't without divulging information about Kingsman. No matter what she did he could never betray them.

Suffering silently this time, Lotta stepped back and admired her handy work. "I'll bring a mirror in with your meal. You just have to see this." Quickly stepping out, she was back within five minutes with a bottle of water, a bowl of something, and a mirror under her arm. "Here, first you need to drink up. Wouldn't want you to die from starvation or dehydration would we?"

The parchness of his lips and throat were finally answered as he tried to control how much he took in, not wanting to throw up any immediately afterwards. Letting out deeper breaths thanks to the calm moment he had, Merlin finally looked up to see Lotta holding out the mirror.

"Come on. I want to see if you think I have any artistic abilities."

Focusing on the mirror, Merlin's stomach did a somersault.

"See, you're mine now. Now and forever."

Carved into his chest were the words 'Lotta's Property'. Simple yet effective as Merlin looked away but then suddenly looked back as he looked at his face instead of chest.

"Right, you haven't seen your eye yet. I'm curious if you'll look even greener once the bandages come off." Lotta smirked and went to turn the camera off. "Don't worry; we'll have more fun next time. You just sit there and stew a bit."

The sudden emptiness of the room allowed Merlin to finally breath freely. He was aware and would probably have quite a bit of time to himself which meant really testing the bonds. He had just begun to tug and pull at the bonds when an explosion suddenly rocked the entire compound.

"What the fuck?" growled out Merlin. However as the second explosion occurred, he threw coyness out the window and violently began to try and loosen his hands. The right one broke free of its bonds more easily and then each bond came away easier than the last. Now he could get free, get out of here, get to Harry. He'd—

Merlin immediately fell down, his limbs shaking from the little bit of strength that was needed to stand. Right, it had been at least three days if not more.

Nevertheless, he pushed himself forward, more crawling than anything, and then pulled himself up, using the table as leverage. Another detonation sounded, this one slightly more distant, as Merlin looked through the weapons. It was doubtful that anyone would willingly open his cell at a moment like this which meant he'd need something to break out and then weapons for later. But there was simply so much and seemingly random that Merlin wasn't sure where to start and god his legs were fucking weak and—

Suddenly Merlin was flying up and forward, hitting the wall in front of him hard as rubble and unknown objects smacked into his body. He slid to the floor only to find that the floor wasn't really there anymore. He came to rest in a pile of rubble about a foot below the now non-existent floor of his cell. His ears were ringing and the dust made it hard to see out of the one eye.

Trying to move forward, pain suddenly shot through his leg adding to all other ailments. The bone had pierced the skin. Despite this Merlin pushed forward anyways, resisting the urge to bite off his own tongue in pain. Bodies were littered in the decimated hallway but it was clear that some had been taken down by bullets and not the bomb. Picking up two different guns, he put one in the back and held the other in his left hand. The change in hand was odd but something told him he'd do better if he could see the target, even if it was with a hand that he didn't commonly use.

Limping away, the ringing in his ears slowly left and he could hear more gunfire and screams from around him. He wondered who had found Lotta and couldn't help but pray that it was Harry. Nevertheless, he didn't assume anything and instead of looking for a familiar face, looked for an exit instead. He would get out or die trying. Getting captured again was not an option.

AN: The end of Lights Cameras Action! Slightly shorter chapter than usual but I felt I fit everything in that I needed to. Thanks again for taking the time to read this!