AN: I own nothing American Horror Story related.

Step Three

Emery

We were parked underneath a broken streetlight; it was perfect for keeping us shrouded away from watchful eyes. The house on the other side of the street still had lights on downstairs, despite the late hour. A man and his young son were bathed in the light from the lit lamps. Did no one own curtains anymore? You never knew who was watching. The father patted the son on the back before walking out of the room, likely to put him to bed.

It really was true—monsters looked just like us. They didn't look like deranged psychopaths, at least not always, and were able to walk amongst us, committing dreadful acts under all our noses. Take Joseph Grady—the loving, single-father, working together with his ex to raise his son. What the world didn't know, was that he had another side to him, a side that Kai uncovered while lurking through the dark web. Our first rat had fallen into the trap. A rat that had a sickening, evil, obsession with children. As far as we knew he never messed with his own son, thankfully. And unlike Pastor Charles, we hadn't made a mistake or made blind assumptions. We had proof. But we weren't going to be taking that proof to the police. That wouldn't be justice.

"We can't do anything now, not with a kid there." I kept my voice low, not that anyone beside Kai would be able to hear me.

Kai sat behind the wheel, so still, the steady rise and fall of his chest the only sign of movement; he barely even blinked as he stared at the house.

"Kai? Kai, did you hear me?"

"I heard you." It sounded like there was a 'but' coming. "But he needs to answer for his crimes."

"You think I don't know that? Believe me, I do. But we can't risk his kid walking in on us and seeing his father's bloody body." The kid was innocent; he was not going to be a part of this. "We can wait until the kid goes back to the mother."

Kai finally tore his gaze away from the house and instead he focused on me. I knew my reasoning made perfect sense, but part of me wondered if I was using it as an excuse to stall. With Pastor Charles, yes he needed to be punished for what he'd done, but he was going to hurt me too. It was him or me. This was something different altogether. I thought Kai was reading the indecision on my face, so it surprised me when he simply replied, "Fine."

Kai started the engine and we drove away. A couple more days. That's all we had to wait and then there would be one less monster lurking in our midst.

The next afternoon, I took myself off into town. It was a weekend; the sun was shining so it was a great opportunity to get out of the house.

As I strolled down the sidewalk, I noticed a swarm of people holding up placards, yelling in each other's faces. The election. Great.

I was about to continue on walking when I spotted Winter in the crowd. We hadn't spent much time together, at least not without Kai around. She was up against a railing, arguing with some Trump supporter. If she jabbed her finger any closer to this guy's face, she'd blind him. She was a spitfire, that was for sure.

As I pushed my way through the crowd, trying to reach Winter, an argument caught my attention.

"Hilary started the negativity when she called us 'deplorables'." A man in a red hat argued with a woman with short blonde hair.

"She wasn't talking about all of you," she responded. "She was talking about the bigots- your side has a few."

"I am so sick of you people looking down on us. It really pisses me off."

I laughed and walked up to the guy, inserting myself into the argument. "No, you're pissed because an educated black man ran the country for eight years, and a woman's about to run it for eight more."

I hadn't gotten myself involved in the election, but guys like this were too predictable and their buttons so damn easy to push. There were plenty of men out there who were afraid of the power women hold. No doubt it was why they tried so damn hard to repress us. My father was a prime example. Not anymore, asshole.

"You know, this is why real Americans hate the Democrats. Because you treat us all like we're wife-beating redneck Klanmen."

"That makes it ok to vote for a man who brags about walking up to women and grabbing their pussies?" I asked.

"Well, maybe you could use a little pussy grabbing, you elitist, PC bitch!"

Before I even registered him reaching down, his hand gripped me between my legs. I was used to unwanted touches but never in public. I froze.

"Hey! You do not touch her!" Winter. She was here.

"I didn't do shit."

"I saw what you did. Someone call the police! That pig just sexually assaulted my friend." The guy ran off. "Get back here you asshole!"

A red cloud descended over my eyes, thawing my body out. On impulse, I ran after him, catching and passing Winter. My blood pumped harder, my fists clenched tightly, the rage took over. Just before he managed to open his truck door, I grabbed the neck of his t-shirt and threw him down on the ground. I didn't know where my strength came from—the guy was a lot bigger than I was—but I didn't take the time to question it. I climbed on him and I started to hit him. I hit him and I clawed at his face like an animal. His face became my father's. I felt the skin on my knuckles split as I hit him as hard as I could. The pain only encouraged me more.

Then I was being pulled back. "Emery, not here. Not now. Come with me." Winter pulled me away, leading me by the hand as we ran. I turned back to see the man pulling himself into his truck and driving away. I shouldn't have let Winter lead me away. I wasn't done with him. "Let go of me." I tried to yank my hand from hers but the energy and fight seemed to have left me.

"Don't worry. We're not letting him get away with that."

And she meant it.

Winter came up with a plan. She found out where he worked and when the store was closing, we struck. Winter distracted him, while I crept up behind him and tased him. There was a satisfying crack as Winter struck this Gary over the head with a pipe. Step one complete.

We then moved him to the basement of an abandoned building, tying him up in duct tape and cuffing his hand to a pole—the same hand he mistakenly thought he had some sort of right to touch me with. Step two complete. We stood in front of him, hats and scarves hiding our faces. We had to play it smart. At least we could see his face clearly. Bruises had already bloomed on his face and the scratches still looked like they smarted. Good.

Winter was going off about the election. That wasn't why I wanted him to pay. I couldn't care less about the election, I had enough of political bullshit in my work. Yet when his eyes flooded with fear at the fact that he wouldn't be able to vote, maybe the punishment would do. For now at least.

"After 24 hours, we'll call the police and tell them your location. By then, the election will be over," Winter said.

I wasn't sure he'd last that long. Oh, he could sit here dwelling on the fact he wouldn't get his vote, but later on, I planned on coming back for another visit by myself. Then I'd dole out my own punishment. My step three would be complete.

Winter slapped some more tape over his mouth. "Consider yourself silenced, bitch!"

With that, we made our way up the stairs, his muffled screams drifting on the air like my own little lullaby.

Winter drove us back to hers, silence filling the car as we both sorted through our thoughts. I couldn't tell if Winter regretted what we did or not.

When she pulled up to the house, I broke the silence. "Thank you."

Winter turned to me. "What for?"

"For sticking up for me. I know you have your own agenda tying that piece of shit up but you stood up to him when he touched me." I shook my head. "I'm so pissed I froze. But you were there for me and you don't even know me, not really. So thanks."

Winter smiled slightly. "Well if us women don't stick up for each other, no one will."

We shared a smile. Yes, we didn't know each other well, but I'd liked her enough. Tonight had cemented that opinion.

As we got out of the car and walked up to the front door, I had a sudden thought. I put my hand on Winter's arm, stopping her from turning the key in the lock. "Let's not mention this to Kai."

"Why not?"

I wasn't too sure of the answer myself. "I guess, I'm not too sure how he'll react."

Winter thought for a moment before nodding. "Ok."

She opened the door and flicked the downstairs light on. It was only then that I realised she had a smear of blood on her chin. "Shit. Winter, you've got…" I pointed at her chin. She raised her hand to wipe it away.

"Is that blood?"

We spun around at the sound of Kai's voice. His brow furrowed as he tried to work out what was going on. My heartrate kicked into overdrive, my mind trying to form an answer that would satisfy Kai. Winter and I looked at each other, hoping the other would come up with the answer.

Kai stalked closer to us. "What did you two do?"

Winter swallowed. "I hurt someone."

Kai's eyes darted between us before finally settling on Winter. "And how did it feel?"

There was a moment of silence then Winter's lips raised in a small, triumphant smile. "It felt fucking fantastic."

"Tell me everything."

"We were arguing with some Trump supporter and he—"

"Started running his mouth." I quickly interrupted Winter. "We put him in his place."

Kai's eyes narrowed. I guessed he didn't believe me; I should have known he wouldn't. His eyes dropped to my hands. Shit. I'd forgotten about my bruised and bleeding knuckles. I tugged my sleeves down even though it was too late to hide them.

"You two hurt someone because of something he said?" Kai kept his voice quiet and calm, but it was clear he knew we were hiding something.

His question was met with silence again… until Winter decided to break it.

"He grabbed Emery between the legs!"

My head spun quickly towards Winter. What the hell? I thought we had agreed to keep this shit from Kai. She didn't even last two minutes.

Kai turned to look at me, a storm brewing on his face. "That true?"

I sighed, knowing there was no other way to answer but truthfully. "Yes."

The air felt charged with electricity and the promise of violence.

After what felt like hours, Kai finally spoke. "Where is he?"

I figured it wouldn't be me carrying out step three after all.

Kai

"Help! Help! Hey!" The man's voice was hoarse. He must have been screaming for the entire time he'd been here. And he'd be screaming a lot more before he left.

"No one can hear you, except maybe some crackheads and gangbangers." I reached the bottom of the stairs and got my first look at the man who put his hands on Emery. His face was mangled and black and blue. It was Emery's handiwork; her knuckles were in a similar state. Pride was a rare thing for me to feel, but I felt it entirely knowing that she fought for herself. "Although, in the predicament you're in, I don't think you'd want them to."

"Get me out of here man. Have the polls closed yet?" He reeked of desperation.

"In about an hour."

"Get me out of here. I need to vote!"

There it was. His key to manipulation. The fear in his voice at even the thought he wouldn't be able to vote, sounded like he'd rather face certain death. Well, lucky for him, I was here.

"These fucking bitches!" he continued. "They chained me up. You're gonna have to cut through the pole, and then maybe saw through the handcuffs. I have tools at my grocery store."

When I finally got the story from Emery's mouth, I wanted to kill. I wanted this guy's flesh ripped from his bones. It took every ounce of self-control I had to calm myself down on the drive over. If I lost control, my plan would go out the window.

"I brought this." I pulled a saw out from behind my back.

"That's not gonna cut through these cuffs." I only stared at him—I knew very well that it wasn't going to cut through metal. And that's the exact reason I brought it. I could have told Winter to give me the keys for the cuffs, but where was the fun in that? Where was the lesson in that?

As I continued to stare, the lightbulb went off in his head. "Are you nuts?" he asked.

I looked down at the saw. Was I nuts? Or were my eyes just open to the reality of the world?

It was time to start turning that key, to start my… persuasion. "For eight years, they've been telling you there's something wrong with you for being a straight, white, working man. Longer than that probably. You work hard, you like American beer and pussy!"

"Fuck yeah!" This was going to be easy. Almost too easy.

"And they laugh at you for it. They punish you, humiliate you!" My voice grew louder as I stepped closer to him, the saw punching at the air.

"Yeah!"

"They call you impotent! Samantha Bee, Rachel Maddow—how those fucking bitches mock you!"

"Yeah," he whimpered.

I got down on my haunches in front of him. "Listen. Here's your chance, Gary. Today is your chance to stick it right in their fucking eyes!"

"Uh huh."

"To step into the voter's box and pull the lever for "go fuck yourselves.""

"Yeah."

"It might be the last chance you ever get, so I ask you… what is that worth to you? What would you give for the chance to do that? How humiliated are you?" I stared into his eyes. I knew the answer to the questions, it was written all over his fucked-up face. But he had to be the one to realise it.

He grunted, screamed as he worked himself up to doing what he knew he needed to. Finally he said, "Give me the saw."

I pulled a knife out from my waistband and cut through the tape to free his other arm. Then, I pulled my belt from my jeans and used it as a tourniquet for his hand. He would be no use to me dead.

He screamed through the leather of the belt, before realising I was watching him. "Are you gonna watch?"

"If you don't mind." I wasn't really asking for permission. I wasn't going to miss a single moment of the teeth of the blade slicing into his flesh. I was going to watch every flicker of pain cross his face.

"One… two… three!" And he began to saw.

I took him to vote—I am a man of my word after all.

"Thank you for getting me here, man." The fool was dripping blood and thanking me for it. He was going to be blindly loyal to a fault. He'd make a great addition to the cause.

I patted him on the shoulder. "I did it for you. You needed to be heard. Now, you should probably get yourself off to the hospital."

It was then that he looked down and noticed the blood beginning to pool on the floor. "Yeah. Right, I should."

"See you around." I turned to walk away but turned around after a few steps. "Oh and Gary?"

"Yeah?" His eyes lit up like a dog who just saw his master walk in.

"I don't care if you go around grabbing women. Right now, due to your… injury, you're fifty percent less likely to get handsy." I walked back up to him, my face right in his. "But if you put your remaining hand on what's mine again, that percentage will drop significantly."

And she was mine. She was important. She was just like me, only she couldn't quite see it yet. But she would. But I wasn't going to manipulate her into it. She was more than a lamb, wilfully following the wolf. She was strong. And I was going to help set her free.

I left Gary standing there, the blood having drained from his face.

A few days later, I called a meeting. Gary, Harrison, and his wife/best friend/love-struck bitch (whatever the hell she was), gathered at my home in the basement. I hadn't told Emery; this was only a trial run after all.

"I brought you all here because I wanted you to know that I care about you." Their eyes all seemed to soften at once. The power that flourished through my veins was almost overwhelming.

"I've fought for you," I preached, "helped you to have your voices heard. But now, it's me that needs your help."

"Anything, Kai. I owe you. We owe you," Harrison stated.

That's what I was counting on. "I need you to do something for me."