Cannibalism

Resembling a tiger in its cage Ben paced around the room, waiting for Rook. She had taken some time to figure out how to proceed in their case. Ben had a plan but it was a risky one. Lucky for her, she had Rook to help her out. She needed that distraction. While the Revonnahgander took his time she picked up the data-pad from the desk. Flipping through news-channels, her eyes skimmed over the headlines. The titles were: ' Coleman charged with embezzlement ', 'Island disappears in ocean', ' Turing-Test controversy '. Nothing grabbed her interest. Until she stumbled upon a thread about her, well, him.
They were discussing Ben, or better the lack of Ben lately. With some guessing he died and the Plumbers kept his death a secret. Ben shook her head at all the ridiculous guesses. As Rook finally knocked on the door she dropped the data-pad.
She grabbed his arm and led him inside, closing the door behind him.

" You got my message?".

"First," Rook demanded, "tell me, Ben, why do you want to put this establishment under surveillance?".

The brunette took out her phone holding up her other hand. "Give me a minute.". She continued scrolling through her photo-folder until she found what she was looking for. Then she gave Rook her phone and askedg him what he saw. The Revonnahgander was surprised. He gazed upon a robot which looked like the Forever Ninja. Except in black and white. But then he shook his head, he needed more convincing.

"Fine-" she took back her phone and pulled up a pdf-file containing names and dates. She pushed it into her partners face and demanded that he'd look at the list. "Those" she explained, "are the guests of Anastasia Shishkin. Look at it Rook. Read the names. That woman invited my whole rogues-gallery!"

Rook raised an eyebrow. It was not Ben's whole gallery of rogues. More like, a handful. Though he had to admit it was a troubling sight.

"I have bugs. Driba gave them to me and we can use them.", she said, putting a little bag on the nightstand. Rook gave back the phone and looked thoughtful at the bugs.

After a moment, he did wonder though: "Who gave you all this information?".

"I erm- might have asked Jimmy?" Ben mumbled and averted her eyes.

Rook was appalled, chastising her: "You are employing the help of non-Plumbers? Not just non-Plumbers but underage non-Plumbers in this case risking their lives and those of others? I thought you would be more thoughtful, Ben!".

Ben rolled her eyes, "Jimmy's fine!".

Rook decided to not dwell on it. Instead he moved to the next topic: "But have you figured out how it all is connected to each other?", he inquired. The brunette was silent for a while, but then shook her head.

"I can't think of the why- That's why we wire up that place! Now get up, we don't have all night.".

There were a lot of unanswered questions but they could be answered during their trip to Bellwood. Rook stood up and both walked towards the port to fly off.

...

During the ride, Rook started to tell Ben about the strange case of Nicole Steel. "The blood was without doubt Nicole Steel's blood. But they have not found any of her clothes, even though her DNA was all over the place.". His words were grave and heavy; "Furthermore: the other clothes, all of them belonged to the missing kids.".

Ben was silent, looking out of the window. It was dark outside. They said if you stared into the abyss is would stare back. Nothing stared back at her. "So that means, when we haven't found her clothes, she might still be alive? It could be a possibility?", she concluded. Ben hoped she was right.

"It could be a possibility. But- there is one part of the story which does not make any sense-". Rook didn't finish his sentence.

Ben perked up and turned towards her partner, "What? " The brunette could see that it was difficult for Rook to talk about it. But she was still quite curious.

Rook's voice was very low and hushed, "What they found was- a grave yard. In the woods outside, under a tree. And the strange thing is- that there were seven missing girls-". He held his breath and swallowed dry. "Including Nicole and yet-". Once again he stopped and shook his head as if he was unable, unwilling to believe his own story.

Ben was puzzled, frowning at her partner as she inquired further. He seemed to be talking in riddles today. "And yet-" she repeated, to give him an anchor-point.

"The bones. We have gotten six skulls, twelve legs- twelve arms and were able to reconstruct six skeletons. And then- there was Nicole's arms and leg's and no skull ." Rook took a deep breath before he was able to continue, "There were four.".

Irritated the brunette repeated what her partner said, "Four?". Rook shook his head, it made as little sense to him as it did to her.

"Four legs and four arms. We also found several rip bones, all belonging to her. But the number of rips we found, the broken bones; the sum of them were more than a human should have.".

"So there are more missing girls?" Ben assumed.

They had reached Undertown by now and were close to their destination as the conversation reached its end. Rook shook his head once again, sighing, "No. The DNA-tests say that all of those belong to Nicole."

The brunette gaped at her partner, "But how is that possible?"

Her blue partner shook his head again, unable to give her an answer to her question. "I do not know. She has not been reported as an alien hybrid, or a mutant.".

...

As they arrived at the restaurant it was already past midnight. They were lucky that it had shut down for the night. Nobody was around this time. "There's the vent.", she looked at the vent-cover over the door, then turned towards Rook. "Can you remove the cover?".

Rook nodded and removed the vent cover, which, to his surprise, was not bolted down. After Ben transformed she marveled for a short moment at Nanomechs, new, more curvacious metal body. But she dismissed that without a second thought. There were more important things to do right now. She was glad the tech was quite light and small and wouldn't hinder her infiltrating through the air shaft. Rook told her that he would stay back and get help if anything were to happen to her which Ben laughed off. Nothing was going to happen. Anything that was in there were some tables and a bunch of turned off robots. Well, she hoped they were turned off. Even if they were not she could shut them down without much of a fuss.

...

It took her more time to bug the restaurant than she had anticipated at first. She just fastened the last one under one of the tables. In that moment the door opened and she heard the clicking of heels on the Leadwood floor. It was just short after midnight, why would anyone come here at this hour? The tiny robot flew back into the air vent, uncertain how long her Omnitrix would last this time.

"I can't believe you are still mad at me, Doctor.", the voice was female with a heavy Russian-accent.

"The Forever Ninja was not supposed to become a serving drone! They were designed to function as bodyguards and fighters.". That was unmistakeably Chadwick. Nanomech peeked out, watching as the Waiter-drones readied a table for six people. They put out fine china and spotless silverware.

The Forever King kept complaining, "Why are we even doing this tonight? Usually we meet Friday evening, not at such an impossible hour!".

Chadwick did not wear his usual gold- plated attire. The king had even left his crown at home. While waiting for an answer the Doctor adjusted his tie. Why was he putting up with this?

The Russian decided to answer his question, "Reasons.". Anastasia looked at the table, holding up a wineglass to check it for spots, ignoring her partner in crime.

"I am your confidant! As such I demand that you do not withhold any important information.", the, for some reason still licensed, doctor demanded.

Ben wondered for a short time how a man like this was able to still hold on to his doctors license. Who'd be insane enough to let a guy like this operate on anyone?

"If you have to know! One of my bases had been compromised yesterday. But it doesn't matter. I was quick to relocate. People have started to scoop around. I don't like that.", she replied in a dismissive tone .

Nanomech ' s optics widened . A base of hers had been compromised? That must mean that the place they found was indeed hers. Which meant Ben had been completely right. Anastasia Shishkin had committed those crimes! She was going to shove that into Rook's face as soon as she was out here!

Chadwick growled "I guess that must have something to do with those missing girls. Nicole Steel, I can't believe it-". In an overly dramatic fashion the man turned around, massaging his brow, "Do you even know who that is? Who she's related to?"

"My dear Joseph, please control yourself. And- I do not think that there will be any reason anyone will ever figure out where she is."

The doctor took a deep breath, "You're unbelievable! And you still hold the superstitious believe that this mutant flesh will cure you of your disease! It does not work like that. I am a doctor! I know this!".

Turning around the tall woman glared at him, "There's nothing superstitious about it. I feel a lot better now! Nicole just has to hold out a little longer. Soon I'll be back to my old form. Besides, her virgin blood keeps my skin toned and blemish free.". She laughed, as she noticed Chadwick's disgusted expression,"The last part was a joke. Lighten up!"

Her accomplice changed the subject, "How did she even live through all of this?".

"She's a mutant. A ' regenerator '. You cut them to pieces take out their organs and everything grows back as long as you don't damage the brain- or shower them in corrosive acid. A living, breathing supply of fresh meat for the rest of my days!".

Chadwick raised a curious eyebrow, "How do you know of the abilities of those, so called, 'regenerators' anyways?". It seemed as if he was suspicious of his partner in crime.

"They did experiments. It went all the way back to the first World War- I don't want to bore you-" she held up a silver knife. It was spotless! Her guests may be ruthless lowlifes and criminals but even those have standards. She didn't want to disappoint them.

"By the way Chadwick, I'd like you to not tell my guests about the veal today.". The scientist picked up on what she was hinting at.

"I see. In that case I'll be taking the vegetarian, again. Why are you doing that to them anyway? What's your motivation?"

"Since when do you care about anyone else but yourself?" she laughed. It was one of those obvious fake laughs, lacking warmth. The Russian held out her glass for the waiter bot who filled her up again. A full bodied Cabernet Sauvignon. Though, she grimaced as she tasted the cork taint, such a shame: to see good wine ruined like this. Chadwick closed his eyes and shook his head. Enough exposition for today. Their guests should arrive at any minute. The last minute preparations were done. Anastasia strolled around the table one last time and told the bot to search for another bottle of wine. She could afford it, she was not going to drink corked wine! Alcohol might be alcohol to some. But she lived the high-life, she was better than them!
The guests trickled in one by one. Nesmith and North, Rojo, and the last to arrive was Fistrick. The first two being dressed more formal than the last two. They took their places. With Anastasia placing herself at the top and Chadwick sitting down to her left.

...

Ben bored out of her mind, inspected the place she was trapped in a little closer, finding a jammer. Great, that meant communication was cut off and the bugs were useless. How much time did she have left? Last thing she wanted was to get stuck in the vents. That would be embarrassing for several reasons. Could she go to the toilets? She didn't think that there would be any robots. Besides she could transform once she was there and get back here to spy in no time.
It was unlikely that she was going to get caught either. All the vents were connected to each other so she had no problem in getting to the toilet. She turned back and hid in a bathroom-stall, scrolling through the Omnitrix to finally find Ghostfreak. There was a squeak and Ben perked up. It came from the bathroom door. She jumped on the toilet-seat, balancing on it and prayed that nobody would come in.

She heard how the faucet was turned on and someone started talking with someone else on the- phone? Rojo. But there were jammers hidden in the vents. How was that possible? Hm- now that she thought about it. Maybe those weren't jammers. Anastasia may have bugged her own restaurant? But why?

Wait a minute. Ben went into the wrong toilet by accident? Though she was a girl now, right? That meant she was in the correct one. This reminded her how she forgot that one night. She was close to pissing on herself before she realized that she was lacking in a certain the last second she managed to sit down. That was humiliating.

Ben eavesdropped on the red-haired biker. I seemed as if she was talking to someone. This meant that at least this part of the restaurant had reception. The turned on faucet indicated Rojo knew of the bugs. Or she just didn't trust the Russian.
Another possibility: Rojo was just paranoid. Ben wasn't so sure about her own plan anymore. The red-haired woman ended her phone-call and turned off the faucet. Just as Rojo turned around to leave, Ben lost her balance on the toilet seat. She tried to hold herself upright on the toilet's water tank flushing down water by mistake. Her eyes widened in shock as she tried to scroll back through the forms in a panic. Audible steps came closer to her stall.
Ghostfreak ! Where was the fucking Ghostfreak form? She didn't find it!

Rojo opened the stall door , drawing her gun. The door squeaked with every inch it was opened. The redhead took her time. She held up her gun and stopped for a moment before she withdrew and put it back into her holster, shaking her head. The bandit must have imagined things. The toilet was empty. As the toilet door closed and Rojo left, Ben finally hit the dial and a green flash came from the bathroom stall. It was next to the one Rojo had checked.

As she phased through the wall Ghostfreak could see Rojo. She walked back to the dining hall. Intangible and invisible Ghostfreak followed her. Just the way she liked it. Well, the bugs were a failure, might as well go with plan B.

...

Meanwhile, well, several meters away, Rook walked circles in front of the back- door. Ben was in trouble. They had not anticipated that someone was going to come. But what was he going to do? Call for back-up? He checked the time. They came here a little past midnight, it was now an hour past midnight. This was troubling.
And the worst case scenario happened too, the bugs were not working! He tried it once but only received static and he could not call Ben. If he were to call her now, she would be in even more trouble by bringing him into danger too if he would even get through. One more hour and then he'd call for back-up. He hoped, it wasn't going to be too late.

...

During that time the server-drones brought in the food. ' Veal' for everyone but Chadwick, who had a plate of salad. Everyone hoped he would choke on it. Rojo looked bored at her plate while Fistrick gave it a measuring glance trying to decide whether he already had taken his daily intake of red meat. A bro has to be careful about what he puts inside his body. Chadwick didn't even look at his own vegetarian-dish. Instead he started talking again, "Now can we go back to business?".

Anastasia sighed and rolled her eyes. She took down the fork she had just brought to her mouth, the meat on it, uneaten. "Now? Chadwick, please! Can't we eat first?".

He snarled at the woman, "You keep trying to get out of your way not to talk about business. Besides, I am sure the others at the table would love to know where their money goes.".

Anastasia massaged her temple as the others stopped eating and glared at her. "Fine. You all know why we meet here. As much as I love having dinner-guests, this is a business meeting." she declared, holding up a wineglass to be filled, this time, , not with corked wine. The others nodded in agreement, no complaints here.

Anastasia watched wine being poured into her glass as she started to talk. "The mass-production is currently going well." she admitted.

"But,", she stopped for a moment to take a swig, and continued "we rely on export and import. Those pesky Plumbers are a pain in the ass when it comes to get anything off or on planet . I have less problems getting weapons to terrorists in the east than to the moon! No movement of- stuff- no money. It's kind of easy.".

She took a deep breath. "Even worse, the aliens have little to no interest in acquiring earth technology. Especially our mass-produced robots, like the Forever Ninja. While being cheap by their standards and good quality they just can't measure up to off-planet alien robots.".

Chadwick perked up, "Are you saying my Forever Ninja is outdated?"

"Hm, yes. That's the perfect word. Thank you. You know how difficult it is as a foreigner to find the right words? Wait, you don't."

The Forever King felt challenged and defended himself, "Outrageous! My Forever Ninja is up-to-date! "

"Was! It was Chadwick! We have to improve it, make it better, more durable. Have you seen the robots Argit-"

"Don't mention that name!", Chadwick peered at her from where he sat. He folded his arms in front of his chest, leaning back in his chair. It seemed he was trying to kill her with his eyes. Everyone could see that he tried to contain himself. They remembered that there was a time during which he had more trouble controlling himself.

She coughed before she corrected herself, "- those aliens. The robots those aliens have are far better! Like I said, we can produce those Forever Ninjas for cheap and , but compared to other robots it is useless, especially in battle. I guess I could sell them as glorified cleaning-drones. ". Anastasia decided to take a stab at Chadwick , "You can be happy they're working at all, my dear doctor.".

It took all the doctor's self-control not to get up and bash that woman's face in with his salad-platter.
Rojo decided to speak up and suggested to mitigate the influence and reputation of the Plumbers. The table was silent for a minute. "How?" Shishkin asked the robber, gritting her bleached teeth, "How are we going to do that?".

Right to Anastasia sat Nesmith who decided to chime in. "I heard they keep all their top-secret files in their base on one computer. It's centralized.".

"It's impossible to get there.", the doctor opposite of him, shut him down, not even looking up from his platter. He stabbed a salad leaf.

"Bro!" Fistrick shot up, causing Rojo besides him to jump up a little, "it would be possible if we just ask Khyb-?". The Forever King stood up in protest, knowing well where this was going.

"No! I refuse to work with aliens!" he shouted smashing the glass on the table. The hatred in his eyes caused Fistrick to hold up his hands, trying to calm down the doctor. After a few tense moment and taking a deep breath, the dark-haired man calmed down and sat down. Finally, he inspected his hand and picked out the glass shards, as if this was a common occurrence. Anastasia exhaled and gave the tattooed crook and apologetic glance. Frowning, he leaned back in his seat and they went back to zero. If only, she hoped, there was a way to make this man change his antiquated point of view. It would be so much better for her operation as a whole.

Kane North finally decided to say something too. "If we don't want to work with aliens why don't we try to figure out a way to make the plumbers look bad by just going with what they've done on earth?".

He was regarded with a queer look from Anastasia, who wanted an explanation. Kane coughed and started, "Not all people like them. Besides there are rumors that they were engaged in less than ethical experiments. On kids. We don't need to get to their computers or need aliens. We just need to find a weak point which we can exploit. A corrupt Plumber ready to part with some info? Maybe find those kids?".

Anastasia faced Rojo. "Maybe you could do that? You're often in Undertown, right?" she suggested. Rojo nodded and the Russian finally took a bite from the 'veal'.

" There's also the H.A.T." Carl Nesmith remembered, "I know that some of their members have ties to the Plumbers. Like their leader; Julie Ya-"

He was interrupted by Anastasia who was swamped with new info, "Hat? Are you serious? They call themselves 'hat'?"

"Humanity for Alien-tech. It's an organization to support the open trade between worlds. They rallied a few times against the strict Plumber regulations. Most people admit that the Plumbers are hypocrites in that regard anyways. Look at Undertown." he explained to the black haired woman who nodded.

Ghostfreak would have liked to protest but couldn't. But if she could she'd tell them that the Plumbers were justified in their actions. They were the protectors and alien-tech on earth only caused trouble! Julie had to understand that. Everyone should understand that. And Undertown was- different.

"So," Anastasia concluded, "I guess this means we all know what we have to do." Everyone at the table clapped her hands together. "Then we can finally eat!" the Russian declared and cut into her meat. Chadwick was a little less ethusiastic, chewing on his leaves. Wasn't he going to tell them about Ben? No, he could take his time. In hindsight, it wasn't important. The Forever King had time.

...

After a few minutes Anastasia stood up. It took most of them, except Chadwick, by surprise."I have to check on- a pet project of mine." she excused herself., "I will be back soon.". Don't drink all the wine by yourself, she thought.

Ghostfreak perked up and followed the woman in white. She strode into the kitchen and from there in the pantry. Ghostfreak took notice of what she pulled from the shelf.
Fresh oysters and some figs. How strange, hadn't this woman just eaten? And this plate was too small to serve six people. The alien continued observing her and followed her as she walked into the large freezer. In the freezer the pig from yesterday still hung swaying from one side to the other.

The Russian knocked against the wall and revealed a hidden panel with a handle. This activated a hidden mechanism and a secret door opened. Fascinating, Ben thought. She wondered what the Russian hid back there. Anastasia walked down a narrow stairway, the heels of her white pumps clicking on the cold stone with every step.

The basement was cold and unwelcoming . Ghostfreak was happy she wasn't walking on the stone-floor. She saw cockroaches disappearing in little cracks here and there. They got scared away by the flickering light coming from a single, bare light-bulb, swinging around in the darkness. The whole place seemed to her to be more like a cave the restaurant was built upon than something that actually belonged to it. And then there was the smell, a mix of ethanol, chlorine and something else, something metallic, she couldn't quite match. Ghostfreaks' sense of smell wasn't that good. But it didn't smell as bad as in the cellar, yesterday. The heels kept clicking. But Ghostfreak was able to make out another sound, a faint whimper coming from the darkness. It seemed to come from the wall, from a shaking heap of tatters . No, there was something underneath. Something small and fragile, and shaking, huddled together, whimpering with every step the woman took. The tatters tried to melt into the wall the closer she stepped.
She was scared and afraid. The light-bulb flickered off and on again. The girl looked up for a moment, out from under the heap of discarded clothes and the hero could see that her hair was matted and lifeless. The bags under her eyes were dark and her cheeks had fallen in over the course of days.

Nicole Steel didn't look like the girl she had seen on the photo. The girl on the photo had been a bundle of life and joy, this was a shadow of her former self, a hollow shell.
If Ben was quick enough she could just turn into Fourarms and break her out! It only took her one quick move and she could change her form. But the goddess Fortuna decided to leave her here, without further guidance. She had not sacrificed enough, and Ben was illuminating the darkness with a green flash. It was a mere second before she felt a sharp pain in her neck and then she fell, hitting the ground, her vision went dark.

The last thing she saw were a pair of shoes, brown leather, men's shoes. She had forgotten about Chadwick! That were her last thoughts before she lost consciousness. Fortuna seemed to prefer someone else offering over Ben's.

...

She woke up surrounded by darkness shackled to the cold stone wall. Heavy rusty shackles cut into her wrists, shaving off the skin and leaving her bleeding. There, opposite of her, was Nicole chained to the wall like a dog, forced to lay in her own filth.

Her clothes were tattered, her form small and emasculated, huddled together, but she did not sob, not whimper, not move. The only thing Ben could hear was her own and Nicole's breathing.
Ben heard footsteps. The rhythmic clacking of white pump-heels on the cold hard stone. There was the white wendigo, stepping out of the darkness. A monster in human form. Her grin was wide. A grotesque mask. Ben could feel claws digging into her cheeks as she was examined from every side and then patted.

"Ben Tennyson? Ah, of course. The watch, the green flashes of light." she straightened herself, flashing the bound girl a smile "I heard of the recent changes. Anyway, it is nice to see that such a young- girl- such as yourself has taken an interest in fine dining. I will prepare a meal for you!"

The woman stalked towards the other creature, pulling up a small thin arm, looking to be testing the thickness, then shaking her head.

"Such a shame Nicole. You've lost so much fat. That's so unpleasant.", she flipped away a cockroach which crawled on the wall "And yet I fed you so well in the recent days. But you just won't get any fatter!". She sounded concerned and caring, patting down the blondes arm. As if hugging and petting the pig before you bring it in front of the butcher made its demise any better.

Shishkin returned back into the darkness. Ben was able to hear shuffling and the distinct sound of rubber gloves being pulled over flesh. Another person, no, it was the same woman as before, stepped out, just in different clothes. Ben still had not quite regained her bearings.

The woman, now in black rubber boots and white coat held a sharp and shiny scalpel between her gloved fingers.

"I wish you had said that you were coming over." she turned her head towards Ben while lowering herself down to the other girl, "I would have prepared for one more person.".

Shishkin turned towards the blonde girl and brushed a strand of her out of her face, behind her ear. It was such a gentle. Ben was even more confused and appalled at what happened next. The woman's gentle smile turned into a sadistic grin.

The brunette's eyes widened and her breath stopped for a moment as the knife sunk down into the thin, fragile arm. Her chest drew itself together, as the shiny metal dug its way through white flesh.

She could hear the girl breathing and starting to whimper as the blood started to drip down. It was flowing downwards in a steady, calm stream from the source to the estuary. Every drop added to the pool on the ground. A cockroach walked by and took a drink. The girl seemed to drift in and out of consciousness as the woman continued cutting. Judging by the tiny, pinhead sized pupils, she had been drugged beforehand. Ben was tense. She grimaced, her mouth opened wide as she strained against her rusty shackles, she could feel her own essence trailing down her arms. It stained her shirt.

Her throat was dry as she started to spit insults at the woman; "Psycho! You're sick!"

Anastasia didn't seem to be quite as affected by that as Ben hoped she would be. The woman pulled her scalpel through the layer of skin, watching fascinated as it became detached from the rest of Nicole's arm. She was so thin, as she cut through it she could see the bone, even though she did not cut as deep this time. It was with happiness that Anastasia realized that she became much better at this the more she did it.

"It's like fileting a fish.", the woman instructed, as she drew her scalpel through the flesh, "You have to be careful or you'll damage the skin. The skin is the best part". She put her scalpel away and held up a thin stripe of flesh. Ben was feeling sick.

It dripped blood unto the floor, adding to the little puddle of blood. Anastasia's blue gloves were red now.
"Look at it. It's a perfect stripe of white flesh. I feed my pet only the best to receive the best cuts with the most taste. And this isn't all" she patted the matted hair, a display of grotesque affection, "it also has healing powers!"

'It', 'pet', Ben shuddered and bared her teeth. If only she could throw up, but there was nothing, her stomach was empty.

"You see I am very sick.", Anastasia tried to inspire Ben to be more merciful towards her plight, it was not working. Her mood changed, from sadness and despair to hope: "But I have the cure for my sickness right here." she held the thin strip of human meat against the single flickering light bulb. "The cure for my sickness, to cure me of my horrible disease, of making me young, and beautiful and stops me from forgetting! It's all here."

"You're crazy! You're fucking insane!" Ben tried to yell but only managed to get out a rasp. She needed water.

"My dear! Crazy?" the woman replied, amused. "No! I am not crazy! I know- my powers are dwindling. I searched so long for someone like me. Someone who can bring me back to my old form.", she gestured with the scalpel still in her hand towards her little prisoner, "She'll help me! She'll cure me! You know how long I searched? 20 years? 30? It doesn't matter!".

How old was that woman? She looked like she was in her early forties.

Anastasia licked the flesh, tasting the blood and licked her now red lips. Ben had to avert her gaze from the disgusting play, she could feel how her stomach started to revolt. With great displeasure, the tall woman realized that her guests eyes were no longer on her. How impolite! She turned around, commanding the hero to look at her. But Ben had closed her eyes, shaking her head. "Screw you!", she spat out in an act of final defiance.
The woman walked towards Ben, sinking down on one knee. She threw the scalpel across the room to free one of her hands. She used this free, still gloved, hand to force her fingers into Ben's cheeks with force, grasping her jaw in a strong grip. Once again Anstasia commanded Ben to look at her.

"Screw you!", Ben rasped, trying to kick at the woman. She evaded her and Ben felt a sharp pain as she was backhanded hard. Her head flung to the other side.

Ben was slapped again and again with unrelenting force. The brunette felt her cheeks burning and her head started to spin. With great difficulty she managed to regain her composure. The glare she sent towards the raven haired Wendigo was filled with hate and loathing, and the brunette spat on her boots.

Ben yelped in pain as said boot was rammed into her belly before Anastasia once again sunk down on one knee. She patted Ben's now red and swollen cheek, before holding her chin up, again to ensure that her guest did not miss her presentation. The Russian's head fell back and the meat disappeared between her red lips. Now, if she only had another glass of wine to go with this. Anastasia held up her hand to regard it. Her hand was shaking, this was such an exciting day, her whole body shivered and shook like a leaf. Her hands traveled through her guests short hair, leaning closer, marveling at the strange new smell. She couldn't quite place it, it was fruity. Lemon, or another citrus fruit, the smell of summer. Not her favorite season. Why hadn't she noticed before? Such a beautiful, pleasing smell.

Ben tried to scoot away from the unpleasant person, she reeked of chlorine and alcohol. Unfortunately, the wall decided to be in the way and did not decide to set her free. Something wet trailed along her neck and Ben's eyes darted downwards, grimacing. That woman was licking her!

"Get off me, psycho!" she bucked up and kicked out causing the older woman to scram.

Anastasia got swallowed up by the darkness. Ben could hear a faint chuckle and a strange clicking sound before the dark-haired woman was thrown up by the darkness again. She brandished a brand new scalpel, which shone with giddiness.

"Stay the fuck away from me!", Ben threatened, preparing to kick out at her again, full of vigor again.

The woman held up one of her hands, "Tell me what have you been eating? You look so well fed."

What kind of question was that? That sure wasn't a good question to be asked, especially not when it was asked by such a person. "Fuck off, I'm not telling you anything! Sicko!"

Anastasia chuckled again, circling the bound girl, "Such spirit! Such life! I adore that!". There was a scream coming from Ben as she felt a scalpel tear through her cargo-pants and into her flesh. The blood stained her brown pants red. Ben was unsure what happened exactly at this moment.
She had been surprised by the scalpel at first, but then she felt that sharp, deep pain and nothing else and something must have happened. It felt, strange and foreign. Electricity ran through her. It was raw power, pushing outwards, a powerful force her own flesh couldn't contain. Anastasia was pushed off, hitting the wall. Ben could feel her shackles breaking apart.

The hero was a little dizzy and confused for a moment before she figured out how to use her Omnitrix again and hit the dial to get Fourarms. She succeeded on her first try, contemplating for a moment that the outfit she wore now was showing far too much leg, but discarded this thought. Her mind was on autopilot; get out, get Nicole out. That's what she had been here for. The black-haired alien fell back but was able to hold herself upright and shook her head to get it a little bit clearer. She took the chain in her hand and pulled it apart until it broke. Finally free she threw Nicole over Fourarms' shoulder. If only she could afford to be gentler. The girl was groaning and whimpering.

"Let's get out of here.", her voice was still raspy.

Irritated she realized that the scalpel was still stuck in her leg. She drew it out and threw it into the darkness before making her way out.