Ben slowly regained consciousness, the blur in his vision fading in a few moments. He looked around at his surroundings, finding himself in a dank, dark room made of cement, only a light fixture swinging above him illuminating the room. His jaw still ached and throbbed from Cardin's sucker punch, his moan signaling the door to slowly creak open. He tried to spring up, to ambush his guest, but he was strapped firmly to a chair by his hips, biceps, wrists, knees, and ankles. Helpless, he could only watch as Cardin himself entered the room, a smile as wide and smug as ever across his face. "Hey, Benny boy, how's it been? You took a snooze there, but don't worry, we made sure you were nice and comfy."

"Fuck you."

"Oh, sorry, Benny, that's for the next gal over. But don't worry, I'll have plenty of time to have fun with you."

Ben wanted to do anything he could to break free of the chair and strangle Cardin, but he could do nothing but watch Cardin take a seat in the table across from him. "Alright, Benny, let's get down to business."

"What do you want, Cardin? Let those two go."

"What, and let them lead their group back to find me? No, Benny, I've got much bigger plans." Cardin responded, rising from his seat and walking to Ben's side.

"So, what's this, are you going to torture me?"

"Yes, you catch on quick as ever Ben! But, I ain't gonna lay a finger on ya, I'm just gonna let you listen."

Ben's eyes now opened as wide as they were allowed, his glare not breaking Cardin's arrogance as he said, "Cardin, if you're talking about..."

"Oh, come on, Ben, you see the way she dresses. She's asking for it."

"You son of a..."

Cardin took a swing at Ben, cracking his jaw once more. "Easy there, Ben, hurtful words aren't welcome here. But, since I feel we need to catch up, let's brush up on some history, eh?"

"What history?"

"Our history, Ben. Remember Signal? You were just like you were now, only quieter and more of a wuss."

"I was holding back..."

"Holding back what? You just stood there and took everything we threw at you!"

"I could have killed you if I snapped."

"Oh, but your big, bad daddy made sure that didn't happen. He had you under his thumb, didn't he? You were a coward, Ben, and you still are," Cardin shouted, punching Ben in the stomach, "You ran off to go fight a war so you wouldn't have to see me."

Ben wretched and coughed, trying to regain his breath as he mustered, "You...hit like...your group."

"What'd you say?"

"You wouldn't last a second in what I went through, Cardin. Your group got killed in one night, you know? One got turned, the other got a tongue through the back of his skull, and the other, well..."

"Well what?"

"I ripped his head off. That's what's gonna happen to you once I get out of here."

"Oh, such big words from a man," Cardin taunted, punching Ben in the face once more, "stuck in a chair."

Ben spat the blood out of his mouth, laughing, "Is that the best you got? At this rate, you'll break your hand before you kill me."

"Oh, I'm not gonna kill you, remember? In fact, I'm late for my date, Benny boy. See ya around."


Pyrrha sit patiently in a chair, the room of she sat it was identical to Ben's. She heard the shouting and the smacks coming from the other room, the words Cardin spoke frightened her. Soon after silence fell, Cardin and a deer faunus walked into the room, the latter wearing a white apron coated in blood. "Well, hello there Miss Pyrrha."

The Amazon glared at the knight and his accomplice, her eyes darting between them. She knew something was wrong, especially with the menacing smile spread across the faunus' face. "I see you're in no mood to talk, so why don't we just get to dinner?"

"Shut up, Cardin. You're not going to get away with what you did to Jaune."

"Oh, you're still upset about that? Well, my apologies for you not moving on. I see why we called him egg head, his skull shattered like one."

Pyrrha was over the table in that instant, lunging for Cardin before the faunus stepped in front and held their boot up. Pyrrha slid under the faunus but had the wind knocked out of her by Cardin stomping on her stomach, pinning her. Cardin continued to add more weight into his stomp, making it harder and harder for Pyrrha to breathe. "Well, that was close, Pyrrha. I think you were trying to hurt me. That just hurts me more than anything, I had a nice dinner for us...okay, I was going to screw you. But, I see you've got a lot of fight," Cardin paused, falling to his knee on her chest, further knocking the wind out of her as he grabbed her right wrist and left bicep, "I just wanted to have something nice, Pyrrha. But, you took that away. So, I'll just take away something you won't need."

Cardin turned and nodded to the deer faunus, the being reached into the front pocket of their apron and produced a bloody cleaver. Pyrrha panicked as the faunus grabbed her wrist, pinning her arm to the floor with Cardin as he whispered in her ear, "Feel free to shout and scream, I talked a big game to my friend in the other room and I want to impress him."

Pyrrha attempted to headbutt Cardin, but he quickly dodged the blow and returned with sinister laughter, turning to the faunus and shouting, "Do your work, Wendigo!"

The faunus brought the cleaver up high and swung it down with full force, singing through the air before Pyrrha could find it. Despite the speed, the shot was accurate, right where the radius and ulna met the wrist bones. The cut was clean through, slicing through the bone and flesh effortlessly. Pyrrha shrieked as loud as her throat would allow, her cries growing hysterical as Cardin and the faunus rose, allowing her to roll to her side and clutch the stump where her hand once was. Blood spurted for the wound and began to make a small pool before her, the deer faunus holding her severed hand as Cardin leaned down behind her, spooning her briefly, "Don't worry, I'll be back," Cardin whispered, kissing her neck.


Ben heard the horrified screams beside him, his rage now kicking into overdrive. He rocked back and forth, attempting to fall on his side and smash the chair. He did just that, but the chair held firm on his descent, nearly dislocating is shoulder on impact. But, a metal object rung out onto the unforgiving, cold floor. Small bar was at Ben's fingertips, his face going bright as he stretched his fingers out to grasp it.


The door to Ren's room flung open, the Oriental warrior caught off-guard as the menacing Wendigo entered his room, Cardin behind him as he said, "I'm not too familiar with this guy, but they all taste the same to you, Wendy..."

"Don't call me that!" the man said in a deep, spine-chilling voice.

Cardin was visibly shocked by what the man said, continuing, "Alright, take it easy. Just have fun with him, I've got other stuff to take care of."

Cardin slammed the door shut behind Wendigo, he and Ren staring at each other for several, agonizingly slow minutes. Finally, Ren rose to his feet, striking a battle stance as Wendigo tossed his cleaver at the light fixture above Ren, the huntsman covering his eyes as the glass shattered, the room instantly going dark. Soon, all that could be heard was footsteps, a sound of slicing flesh, a scream, and another slice. Then, silence.