Chapter Fifty-four: The Sparks of War.
I'd say here it is, but all of you are here for Scourge. So let's not waste any time!
I'd warn you that his torture will be highly M rated, but you don't care. You want to see him suffer, don't you?
Hollyleaf POV
"Okay," Jayfeather whispered "Try to avoid a fight. They outnumber us."
They had been sneaking through the tunnels that lead into the lab. Hawkfrost served as a guide, leading the way.
"So what's our plan? Kill Brokenstar, Scourge and Tigerstar?" Breezepelt asked.
Icecloud nodded "Take them down, and there is no command to lead them. They fall into chaos, where the countries will rise up."
"Wow, that seems easy," Breezepelt curled his lip.
"Quiet!" Hawkfrost whispered from the front, stopping and pointing down an opposite tunnel "That leads to the holding cells. Hollyleaf?"
"Yeah, I'm up," Hollyleaf nodded, about to leave.
"Wait!"
Hollyleaf stopped and turned to the owner of the voice. Jayfeather slowly padded forward and hugged his sister.
"Be safe."
"I will," Hollyleaf smiled.
"Okay, so down the tunnel, there will be T junction. Take a left, and there should be this room full of chemicals. Pass that, is the quarantine cells. That's where Poppyfrost should be," Hawkfrost guided.
Hollyleaf nodded, jogging down the tunnel. Her heart pounded with every step she took, but she soldiered on.
She came to the crossroads, and took the left tunnel. Hollyleaf gripped her knife (she swapped with Hawkfrost in exchange for the Naginata) in case of trouble.
The ravenette found the door to the chemical room, holding the door handle.
"God Poppyfrost please be okay."
She opened the door...
To see Poppyfrost with a shopping cart, picking out beakers filled with chemicals and placing them in!
The shopping cart held more in it. A crowbar, a blow torch, a power drill, some hammers and nails, a rusty hacksaw, a spoon, a dirty washcloth, one of Ivypool's knives, some pliers, some wooden board, and a giant sledgehammer.
Poppyfrost seemingly didn't notice Hollyleaf, continuing to browse the tables filled with chemicals, reading labels "Hydrochloric acid, Hydrochloric acid, where can I find some Hydrochloric acid?" She asked herself, eyes gleaming as she picked one container up "There you are!"
"Poppyfrost?" Hollyleaf made herself known.
Poppyfrost didn't even look at her "Hey Hollyleaf. Hey quick question which hurts worse? Hydrochloric acid or Melted Sugarcane?"
Hollyleaf didn't answer "You're...okay!"
"Oh honey, I'm just peachy," Poppyfrost still didn't bother to look "I think the acid will do the trick. But I've seen sugarcane wounds, and that shit looks painful!"
"W-what are you doing?" Hollyleaf asked then pointed at the shopping cart "And what's all that for?!"
Poppyfrost smirked "Personal matter. If you're looking for Brokenstar, he is in the observatory room with Thistleclaw. Scourge killed Tigerstar, he bragged about it to me yesterday while..."
Poppyfrost turned back to her shopping cart "Heat cauterizes blood, right?"
"Yeah, why?" Hollyleaf asked.
Poppyfrost sweetly smiled "Go. I'll catch up with you."
"Where will you be?" Hollyleaf demanded.
Poppyfrost chuckled.
Scourge POV
"Wake up, pumpkin..."
Scourge's eyes fluttered.
"Boy, don't make me ask twice!"
Scourge opened his eyes "Wha-?"
He was awakened by a powerful blow to his head.
Now Scourge was fully awake. He scanned his surroundings. Poppyfrost stood over him with a neat array of tools and weapons. He looked down at himself and realized he was naked. His wrists were tied to chains that connected to the side walls. His ankles were tied to similar chains that connected to the wall behind him.
"Okay," Scourge muttered "What the hell is going on? Why am I naked?"
"Cause it'll hurt more without your clothes," Poppyfrost smirked.
"Wait!" Scourge hushed "Come on now Pumpkin, if you hurt me, then you have nothing to bargain with for Brokenstar!"
Poppyfrost's smirk grew larger "Does it look like I give a shit?"
She grabbed the dirty washcloth and forced it into Scourge's mouth, and tied it around his head, cutting off all talk.
"That's better," Popyfrost grabbed the crowbar "Now tell me, which hurts more...A?"
She swung the crowbar like a baseball bat at Scourge's head.
"Or B?"
She got in a golfing stance, and swung the crowbar as such right into Scourge's testicles.
Scourge roared in pain, but the cloth absorbed into a loud muffling noise.
Poppyfrost wasn't done. She took the hook end of the crowbar, and lacerated it into his collarbone.
"You're probably hoping that I will kill you," Poppyfrost smirked "But on the contrary! Death is too good for shitbags like you! So now you know, that everything I do to you, every cut, every mutilation, will keep you alive. You...are now my bitch."
Scourge was falling into unconsciousness, to which Poppyfrost shook her head "Tsk tsk tsk, falling asleep already? This will not do!"
She grabbed her beakers full of chemicals, mixing some and leaving others alone. Poppyfrost grinned, grabbing Scourge by the cheeks and lifting his head up.
"Remember when I shot your eye out?" Poppyfrost asked.
She poured the chemicals down on the left side of Scourge's face, burning it, and waking Scourge up, who screamed in muffled voices. She dropped the last bits of it on his left eye, which burned everything it touched.
Scourge growled and roared in pain, tugging on the chains, to no avail. It wouldn't give.
Poppyfrost grinned in a sadist-like way. She laughed at the pain of her former captor, who writhed in pain.
"You know, I never understood these elaborate tortures," Poppyfrost smirked "Like, you raped me, in hopes that that would break me. But sorry to tell ya, pumpkin, but that just made me stronger. Every hit, every humiliation, just made me angrier. And I'm angry at you."
"A clever man would have worked his way up to the finale, crippling blow, but you tried to skip the process because you thought you were big enough and bad enough that you didn't have to play by the rules. You failed."
She grabbed the sledgehammer, lining up like it was a game of golf "You see I find it way more simple, to cause more pain than a man can possibly endure!"
Poppyfrost swung the sledgehammer right into his testicles, hard.
Scourge screamed in pain, letting some tears come out, which only made the acid on his left side burn worse.
"And of course, it's not only the immediate feeling of pain and agony, but the knowing that if the captor does not stop in time, then there will be nothing left to identify him as a man. Unfortunate for you, I do not intend on stopping."
She drew the weapon back, and hit him again, in the same spot.
Poppyfrost laughed, then readied the swing again, while Scourge shook his head in pleading.
"Oh what's that?" Poppyfrost put a hand to her ear "You're sorry?"
Scourge nodded, frantically.
"And that you will never harm an innocent soul again?"
Scourge violently nodded his head.
Poppyfrost smiled "Aww...I've found the cure for evil bastard syndrome!"
She forcefully swung the hammer again, right into the same spot she hit four times now.
"Alright, the hammer is really working my muscles," She dropped the hammer as she sorted through her neatly placed array of tools "Let's see Hacksaw? No, to soon for that...wooden board, hammer and nails? Eh...maybe later... powerdrill? Eh, why not?"
Poppyfrost grabbed the too, powering it up and placing it on Scourge's right shoulder, and pulled the trigger.
It drilled into Scourge's body, clearly wrecking havoc as he screamed and convulsed, but the chains wouldn't give.
Blood spewed everywhere, across the room, across Poppyfrost's face, who wiped it off with her sleeve.
She pushed the drill farther in his shoulder, reveling in his pain.
"Okay," Poppyfrost pulled the drill out, putting it back in it's place "I've been dying to use the hammer and nails!"
She grabbed the hammer and nails, saving the wooden board for later.
"You wanna know how Jesus felt when his wrists were penetrated by nails?" Poppyfrost smiled sweetly.
Scourge shook his head violently.
"What am I saying? Of COURSE you do! Who wouldn't?"
Scourge shook his head, trying to say "ME!" but all that came out was a muffled noise.
She grabbed his right wrist, lining the nail up, and sunk the hammer into the nail, stabbing into his wrist. Scourge let out a muffled scream of agony, as Poppyfrost hit the nail again, this time, the pointy edge protruding from the other side of his wrist.
Poppyfrost did the same to his other wrist, as Scourge cried out in mercy and begging.
Poppyfrost didn't care.
"Okay, this next step my be too far, but I got it from a comic book that had a scenario kinda like this one, and the leading female, grabbed a nail, and a wooden board..."
She slid the wooden board underneath Scourge's...extension.
"With a hammer in hand..." She lifted the hammer to the heavens.
Scourge widened his eyes in horror, shaking his head violently and crying out for mercy.
Poppyfrost aimed the nail at Scourge's little bit, and slammed the hammer down onto the nail, it skewering his extension.
Scourge let out an unholy screech, unable to take the pain any longer. He drifted into unconsciousness.
"WAKE UP YOU LITTLE SHIT!"
A deep punch into his throat. Scourge opened his eyes. Everything hurt. Absolutely everything was in pain.
Poppyfrost took the pliers and grabbed his hand again. She slowly but surly, pulled out his finger nails, one at a time.
By now, Scourge couldn't describe the pain he was in.
"Oh that arm is just ruined. RUINED!" Poppyfrost mocked, holding up the hacksaw "Only one thing left to do..."
She placed the hacksaw on Scourge's fingernail pulled arm, slowly sawing his arm off.
Scourge cried and cried, the tears burning his acid covered face. The acid had dripped down to the rest of his body, burning and melting his skin.
Finally, the arm fell off. Poppyfrost had sawed through the whole arm.
Scourge whimpered in pain, and since that arm was no longer tied down, he fell face forward.
"Oh God," Poppyfrost said in actual disgust "That's a lot of blood.
Poppyfrost grinned, looking at the blowtorch.
"I can stop the bleeding. Oh, You're gonna love this."
Jayfeather POV
"Stay close!" Jayfeather hushed to Hawkfrost.
Hawkfrost snarled "You keep up! The observatory is right around this corner!"
"Then stop, I have to tell us all something," Jayfeather forcefully stopped right outside the door.
Hawkfrost curled his lip, and fell back.
Ivypool and Icecloud stood back, both of them sporting bullet wounds, while Jack and Breezepelt leaned in to hear Jayfeather.
"Brokenstar is in here, so this is important," Jayfeather muttered "I want you all go find Poppyfrost and my sister, and get out."
"WHAT?!" Breezepelt yelled, not caring if he was heard or not "We came all this way, just for you to tell us to turn back?!"
"I just now thought of this, actually," Jayfeather huffed "But...I don't want you guys to die like Foxleap and my brother. Dovewing, Honeyfern, I can't risk losing more."
"And you? He'll kill you!" Hawkfrost said in concern "We are staying together."
"Yeah, Spare us the 'for your own good' speech," Jack scoffed "We are with you to the end."
"Then...then find a way to shut down the power," Jayfeather stuttered "Hawkfrost, you said that this place has a reactor?"
"Yeah, it's powered by some generators deeper in the mountain," Hawkfrost nodded.
"Good," Jayfeather smiled "Then go. And first sign of trouble, you run. Got it?"
"Got it," Everyone nodded.
"Goodbye," Jayfeather whispered, opening the door as they all ran like rats.
Jayfeather walked into the dome, his eyes set on his prey.
The dome was large. It being on the side of the mountain and all, you could see the stars in the night sky, the only light that shone in the room. The Moonstone was floating in the middle of the room, some circular device in the center powering it up.
But some sort of screen was in the center of it all too.
A man stood before it.
Brokenstar, his back was turned.
Jayfeather stood still. Neither of them made a movement.
Jayfeather watched the screen with curiosity.
It was a woman, one with snow white hair and green eyes. She was planting seeds around a garden, having a happy humming tune.
A man was standing beside her, looking oddly familiar to Jayfeather.
"The seeds are to close apart," The man on the projection said.
The woman chuckled "They have to be, their roots will connect and make them stronger. A single plant can't do it alone."
Brokenstar chuckled, letting some tears fall.
He only then began to notice another presence "You are the boy who's caused me so much trouble...the mighty Jayfeather...Rock holds you in such high esteem."
Jayfeather stepped forward "You are the man, who's hunted my family like a dog...the all-powerful Brokenstar... I thought you'd be taller."
Brokenstar chuckled again, turning to face him.
A sharp inhale flew into Jayfeather.
Brokenstar looked exactly like him!
Brokenstar noticed this too, rubbing his chin "Hmm, like looking in a mirror, minus the beard."
Jayfeather tied his hair back with a hair tie, the hair no longer in his face.
Their eyes were the same color, an unnatural shade of blue. Brokenstar's hair was brown, but that's were the differences stopped.
Brokenstar turned around gazing at the Moonstone "It grows stronger. You're to late to stop me. I will return home."
"Home?" Jayfeather asked "You mean, this has never been about power or control?"
"Once upon a time it was," Brokenstar nodded "But I don't care for it anymore."
Jayfeather snarled "My brother died, my best friend was slaughtered, you tortured my family, ALL ON A SELFISH WHIM?!"
Brokenstar's eyes glowed blue "You'd have done the same! As a matter of fact, you almost did!"
Jayfeather gasped again as Brokenstar continued "The whole reason you wanted this was to go back and save your girlfriend from leaving! Then when Mapleshade attacked, you decided to hold off on that thought, and killed her! We are exactly the same!"
Brokenstar curled his lip "Rock never told you that did he? That I was his apprentice once?"
The silver haired boy shook his head, until his eyes widened "The pickpocket from Sparta..."
"He trained me, and in his arrogance, he gave me every the abilities of Jay's Wing, Lion's Roar, and Dove's Wing all in one go!" Brokenstar revealed "He believed that instead of three, and if there was just one, then the Black Roots would fall! AND THEY DID! I slaughtered them all, because he told me to! Then when I discovered the Moonstone, he took upon himself to study it!I warned him against it, but he didn't listen. He became trapped for 1,000 years, and when he woke up, he was in a blind rage believing myself an enemy! The Moonstone corrupted him, and he attacked me unprovoked!"
Jayfeather shook his head "No...He wouldn't do that."
Brokenstar had tears in his eyes "Half Moon, she tried to stop him, talk him down. I warned her not too... she didnt listen either."
"Half Moon?" Jayfeather asked, as he slowly put it together "You were Jay's Wing. THE Jay's Wing. The one who led us out of America and to Forrestlake. That statue in the shopping district is of YOU!"
Brokenstar nodded, turning back to the Moonstone.
"And all of this, all the suffering we endured, the torture, the deaths...was just so you could see your wife again?"
Brokenstar turned to him again, this time clearly angry, not just at Jayfeather but at everything and everyone.
"I WANT! MORE TIME!" Brokenstar roared, turning back to the girl on the screen "WITH HER!"
"She gave me everything I wanted I didn't give her what she deserved because I didn't know...That OUR time would be so short together..."
Now Jayfeather was conflicted. On one hand, he wanted to kill Brokenstar...but on another he felt like crying for him.
He was exactly like him.
"But when I go back things will be different!"
Jayfeather finally spoke up "No. No they won't."
"What?!" Brokenstar yelled.
Jayfeather was no longer looking at Brokenstar "You can't change the past. Foxleap found this out, and so will you. She will still die, maybe not at Rock's hands, but she will die. It's her destiny."
"HER DESTINY?" Brokenstar roared "Her Destiny is to live with me! Grow old, and raise our child together! To help those in need!"
"How's this helping anyone?!" Jayfeather shot back "Torture, mutilation, death, this for some greater good?!"
"IT'S EXACTLY THAT!" Brokenstar yelled "When she's alive, all of this will have been worth it! When she's alive, I will have no need or desire to commit these heinous acts! They'll cease to exist! You will have the life you deserved! A life with your Half Moon, with MY descendant!"
Jayfeather widened his eyes, as he continued "You forgot that didn't you? She was related to the first Half Moon, MY Half Moon. She's my blood, whether you like it or not!"
"That doesn't matter!" Jayfeather fired back.
"When she's alive, I can make sure that damn law doesn't exist! I can give you what should have been yours! A wife, a future...with a nice job and no worrys about murder or torture, no fear for your lives! I CAN GIVE YOU THAT! DON'T YOU WANT THAT?!"
Jayfeather scoffed "Of course I do! But this won't change anything! Her death doesn't justify-"
"HE STOLE her from me!" Brokenstar reminded.
"AND YOU STOLE THIS PLANET'S FREEDOM!" Jayfeather's eyes glowed blue, as he gained a fighting stance "Now it's time to give it back!"
Poppyfrost POV
"WAKE UP!"
She backhanded Scourge as hard as she could, waking him up.
"I already cauterized your stump, so you should thank me!"
Scourge...nodded.
"Is that a thank you I hear?" Poppyfrost mocked, removing the cloth from his mouth.
"T-th-than-thank...y-y-yo-y-you," Scourge mumbled.
Poppyfrost grinned, throwing the washcloth to the ground. She lifted her boots to his face "Kiss them. Now."
Scourge...obeyed.
"Lick the dirt off of my boots," Poppyfrost ordered.
Scourge licked her boots, utterly defeated and broken.
Poppyfrost chuckled "And now...the bitch has made you her bitch. You know that, right?"
"I-I'm-I'm...your b-b-bi-bit-bitch," Scourge stuttered.
"You know what's funny?" Poppyfrost smiled in satisfaction "I'm gonna kill you. YOU! The powerful Scourge! Funny huh?!"
"H-ha-ha,ha," Scourge sighed, eyes looking at the floor.
"Look at me, when I'm talking to you, bitch!" Poppyfrost yelled, punching his head.
Scourge lifted his head to meet her gaze.
"Thank you," Poppyfrost smiled sweetly, holding up her last tool.
A spoon.
"Do you know, what I'm going to do with this?" Poppyfrost asked.
Scourge stayed silent.
"Answer me," she ordered.
"N-n-no-no."
"I am going to take out your acid infected eye, and pop it out like a shoehorn," Poppyfrost told him "And you...are going to thank me for it. We wouldn't want that eye to infect the rest of the body, would we?"
"N-n-no."
"Are you going to cry?"
"N-no."
"Shame," Poppyfrost chuckled, holding the spoon up "Here comes the airplane!"
She placed it between his eyeball and eyelid, and popped it out, the eye hanging from an optic nerve, blood was everywhere.
"What do you say?" Poppyfrost toyed some more.
"T-th-than-thank..." His head fell down "Thank..."
"Look at me," Poppyfrost ordered with gritted teeth.
He didn't move.
Poppyfrost slapped his head hard "Wake up."
No response.
Poppyfrost sighed, somewhat sad that it was over. She was enjoyed herself.
She unclasped his chains, and watched the body fall to the floor.
Ivypool POV
"Just down this hallway," Hawkfrost instructed, choking a man into unconsciousness.
Ivypool took the other gaurd, kicking his knee, and slamming her fist upwards into his face, knocking him out.
"You know, considering the circumstances, you're not half bad," Hawkfrost remarked at Ivypool's skill.
"How much further?" Jack asked, looking behind them.
Hawkfrost grinned "Not far. I'm this room, actually."
He opened the door to a room filled with generators of all kinds. Turbines, compressors, and just regular backyard generators.
"Shut them all down!" Breezepelt scoffed. Flipping switches and shutting them off. Jack unplugged wires and cables that protruded out of them.
Jack was guarding the door, keeping people out.
Ivypool walked along the hallways of generators, shutting them all down.
THUD!
Ivypool jerked her head up "Jack?"
BANG!
BANG!
The screams of Breezepelt and Hawkfrost reached her ears.
Instantly, Ivypool pulled out her knives, rushing past the generators to find her friends.
"The other one! The silver haired girl with the scars on her eyes," a familiar voice cried out "WHERE IS SHE?!"
She turned to corner.
Breezepelt and Hawkfrost were lying on the ground, clutching their legs. A bullet wound was in the left leg of each of them. A man stood over them, with a gun. He clearly wasn't trying to kill them, but incapacitate them. He was pointing it at Icecloud, who stood over an unconscious Jack.
"Go to hell, Thistleclaw!" Hawkfrost snarled.
"Thistleclaw?" Ivypool said in shock.
Thistleclaw's head shot up and turned around.
"I-Ivypool?"
"Dad?"
That was by far the biggest secret I've ever kept. I gave loads of hints (My children knew the girl who was exiled, have two daughters they're seniors) and it couldn't have been that hard to see coming. Even in the books, Ivypool and Dovewing are kin to Thistleclaw, except he was their grandpa.
The next chapter is the last one to do with the war arc. What did you think of Brokenstar? Was his actions justified? Or is he another tyrant?
Au Revoir.
