Ummm...maybe I should warn you. This chapter is kinda dark. Not gory or anything, just...dark.
A/N 1: As in the previous chapters – ideas for fic and character development, questions, plotbunnies, suggestions, flames, character pictures, corrections, additions, comments, and everything in between can be mailed to hack_heaven@usa.net
A/N 2: xFreakx: *Bows* Why, thank you :) If Blade can creep you out, instead of being just another plain, boring villain, then I know I've succeeded ;)
J.DeLuca: *Lights up* Leash?...Mind-gutter-OUT! O.o
Artickitty: I can't help it - I've always thought that the bad guys get too little screen time. Besides, villains are much more fun to write ^^
Italics indicates thoughts/telepathy
* * *
Chapter Thirty-Two: Mindgames
* * *
Suzuka wasn't sure what woke her up. Her mind was still feeling muddy, a sure sign that she hadn't gotten nearly enough sleep. She had a vague recollection of waking up earlier, but the memory felt more like the remains of a dream than like reality.
The real world slowly managed to fight its way through her groggy mind, and Suzuka found herself lying uncomfortable in the corner of a room, partially resting on her right arm. Judging from the faint, throbbing pain in her right shoulder, she'd been lying in that position for quite a while, and she suppressed a moan as she tried to move.
She didn't get far, though. As she tried to move away, she realized why she'd been lying so uncomfortably in the first place - her arms were fastened behind her back, securely handcuffed to three metal pipes that ran from the floor to the ceiling of the room.
That realization blew away the last, hazy remains of sleep, and brought back the memories of the failed mission. Suzuka felt a rush of adrenaline, followed by her frantic heartbeat as she realized her situation - she was trapped, alone and unarmed, by the Shadow Alliance.
I have to get away, and it has to be now.
A look around the small room revealed that Suzuka was alone, at least for the time being. She quickly recreated the mental image of the tiger snake and concentrated on her powers in the hope that she'd be able to get free that way, but the result was nothing like she'd expected.
Instead of feeling her muscles stretch and contract to fit her new shape, she felt only a thundering headache the moment she tried to use her powers. Suzuka gasped, both because of the pain, but also because of the sudden feeling of recognition. She knew that kind of pain - she'd felt it before, when they'd been caught by the cops and thrown in jail. It was the same pain she'd felt when they had given her power-suppressive drugs.
No. No!
In sheer desperation Suzuka took a step away from the pipes, and tried to pull the handcuffs free, but the metal was unyielding. The only result of her struggle was two red, slightly bloody wounds where the handcuffs had dug into the skin on her wrists, and a few, long scratches on the pipes where the paint had been scraped away by the metal.
Suzuka made one last, half-hearted attempt to get loose, then glared around the dark room. She still appeared to be alone, but she had a nasty feeling that she was being watched.
"Let me go, damnit!" Suzuka yelled angrily, but there was no reply. "You have no right to keep me here!"
"On the contrary," a female voice replied. "We have all the right in the world."
Suzuka looked towards the door to the hallway and saw Laetitia enter the room soundlessly. Laetitia paused for a moment and just watched Suzuka, then shut the door behind her.
"Hello, Suzuka. So nice to see you in your human shape again," the Greek woman said in a deceptively pleasant voice.
Suzuka glared hatefully at her.
"Get the fuck away from me!" she snapped.
Laetitia just smirked.
"No. I don't think so, Suzuka."
"Let me go, damnit! You have NO right to keep me trapped here!" Suzuka sneered and instinctively pulled in the handcuffs again, only to gasp as the metal dug deep into the wounds on her wrists.
Laetitia sighed.
"Do try to think before you act, girl. If you keep fighting to get loose, you will only cause yourself more pain. The first thing to break won't be the handcuffs or the pipes. It will be your wrists."
Suzuka didn't reply, but she did stop her desperate struggle. It was obvious that Laetitia was right, and hurting herself would accomplish nothing.
"Good girl," Laetitia said. Suzuka just glared at her.
"And we have every right to keep you here," Laetitia continued. "We didn't do anything - *you* were the one who broke into this hotel, and *you* were the one who tried to kill Blade and Melee. I think that pretty much justifies keeping you here."
"I was NOT trying to kill them!" Suzuka snapped. "If I were, they wouldn't be alive right now!"
Laetitia sighed.
"You're a terrible liar. If you weren't trying to kill them, then why did you pick the shape of one of the most poisonous snakes in the world?"
It was an argument that could not be won. Suzuka knew it, and remained silent.
"It was Jhonen who discovered you, you know," Laetitia continued casually. "Ironic, isn't it? Your mission was foiled by your former teammate."
"Jhonen?" Suzuka repeated. "That traitor!"
Laetitia smirked.
"He's actually rather cute...in an innocent way. And he's absolutely fascinated by me. I think I'll keep him around...and see how long it will take me to get rid of that innocence."
Suzuka shook her head.
"You're sick," she said disgusted.
Laetitia didn't reply. She just tilted her head slightly and watched Suzuka with a look of intense curiosity, bordering on fascination.
"So sayeth the person who nearly eviscerated an innocent teenager?" she finally asked amused.
Suzuka's head snapped up, and the shock was evident on her face.
"Yes, I know about that. It was in every newspaper in the country," Laetitia continued in the silky, almost purring, voice she used when she wanted to unsettle people. "One and a half year ago, during a martial arts tournament."
Suzuka glared at Laetitia, but didn't reply.
"And it wasn't just a teenager - it was a girl. A fifteen-year-old girl. You deliberately transformed into a grizzly bear, and used your claws on her," Laetitia continued in the soft voice.
"It was an accident!" Suzuka denied angrily. "I didn't even know what I was doing!"
"An accident?" Laetitia repeated with just the faintest hint of amusement in her voice. "Please, don't sell yourself short, Suzuka. It was an excellent idea...you only need to work a bit on your planning. Your escapes leave a lot to be desired."
"I told you - it was an accident!" Suzuka repeated, this time louder and angrier.
Laetitia smirked and slowly walked closer to Suzuka.
"It wasn't an accident - we both know that. You cut her across the abdomen...pierced her stomach...and broke five of her ribs. The only reason why she's still alive was because of the medical team's expertise. Don't tell me that injuries as lethal as those were a mere accident."
By the time she'd finished talking, Laetitia was only a few steps from Suzuka. She paused and watched the Asian girl with a vaguely amused look.
"What did she do to deserve that? Was she about to defeat you? Couldn't you stand the thought of losing?" Laetitia inquired.
Suzuka didn't reply, and Laetitia took another step forward, then leaned closer until her lips were only inches away from Suzuka's ears.
"Tell me," Laetitia whispered tauntingly, and her faint, Greek accent created an almost perverse sense of intimacy. "Did you enjoy it? The blood...the rush of adrenaline?"
Suzuka tried to get away from Laetitia, but the handcuffs made it impossible. Instead she turned her head away from the Greek woman, half in fear, half in disgust.
"Get the fuck away from me, you freak!" she snapped
Laetitia smirked and drew away, deliberately letting one of her fingers run down Suzuka's arm as she did. Suzuka suppressed a shiver, but didn't move; unwilling to give Laetitia the satisfaction of seeing her afraid.
Laetitia watched the young girl for a moment.
"Know this, Suzuka," she finally said. "Real life is not a movie. You're not invulnerable because you're one of the good guys. Your life is not indispensable. The moment your usefulness ends, you will die."
"What?" Suzuka sneered sarcastically. "You're not gonna offer me a place on the team?"
Laetitia raised an eyebrow.
"Why should we? You wouldn't follow us, anyway. We have no use for someone who must be kept in line by constant threats. The fact that we're criminals doesn't automatically mean that we're stupid," she replied.
Suzuka just glared at her, and Laetitia sighed softly.
"If it's any comfort, Suzuka, we won't leave you to a long and painful death," she said, almost gently. "I won't lie to you. We *will* kill you - we don't leave loose ends. But it will be quick and painless. A single bullet through the head. You'll never feel a thing."
For a seemingly endless moment the two opponents just looked at each other. Then, before Suzuka had the chance to reply, Laetitia left the room as silently as she had arrived.
It took a moment for the words to settle, then another before Suzuka had recovered from the shock.
"No..." she denied and shook her head. "NO!"
She pulled in the handcuffs again, this time ignoring the pain as the metal cut deeper into the bleeding wounds. She wasn't sure how long she fought to get loose - maybe minutes, maybe seconds - but finally she sank to the floor and curled up in the corner, exhausted, both mentally and physically.
She wanted to cry, but didn't want to show her enemies that they'd gotten to her. Instead she retreated into her mind and tried to imagine herself in another place, far away from psychotic assassins and treacherous teammates.
Suzuka... someone whispered gently, so gently that Suzuka almost believed that it had been nothing more than her imagination.
Suzuka, the voice repeated and in the innermost corners of her mind, Suzuka felt Ryan's familiar presence. She smiled - faintly, weakly, but it was a smile. And maybe - just maybe - there was hope after all.
* * *
When Laetitia left the room, she found Aaron, Hal, and Pheonix waiting outside. Aaron opened his mouth to say something, but Laetitia held up a hand, and he fell silent.
"Not here," she said simply and led them down the hallway, out of Suzuka's hearing range.
"Why are we staying here?" Aaron hissed as they stopped. "The Guardians know where we are - it's only a matter of time before they try some crazy stunt to free Twilight."
Laetitia leaned against the wall.
"Because it wouldn't help if we left. Cretes can feel Suzuka's presence, so it wouldn't help if we moved her to another hotel. And as you should know by now - it's always better to face an attack in familiar surroundings. It gives you quite an advantage."
Hal shook her head.
"I don't think they'd risk a direct attack," she objected. "Cretes knows that Suzuka's life is in our hands. He wouldn't endanger her life that way."
"I don't know," Pheonix said and frowned. "I didn't think he'd have the guts to try and kill any of us, and then he sends Twilight after us - in the shape of a fucking snake, no less. He's not acting like himself."
"If you'd paid a bit more attention to the world around you, you wouldn't have been surprised by that," Laetitia pointed out, and Pheonix looked away, a bit ashamed of the criticism. Laetitia send her a faint, comforting smile, then continued. "None of us know where Ryan's breaking point is, and Blade *has* spent the last week trying to push him over the edge. Sooner or later, Cretes will snap. It's only a matter of time."
Hal frowned.
"I don't like the thought of an insane, alpha-level telepath running around out there," she commented.
Laetitia looked at her.
"We know what we're doing, Hal. Trust us," she replied seriously, deliberately using 'we' instead of 'he' to let her three teammates know that she would back up Blade's decision all the way. If worried enough, the others might have tried to argue with Blade and Jordane, but if Laetitia added her support, it would take care of any potential arguments. Nobody was stupid enough to go against all three of them.
Hal finally nodded.
"All right," she said. "Whatever you want."
Laetitia just smiled.
"Excellent. Let's go find the others, shall we?"
She headed down the hallway, but Pheonix hesitated.
"Shouldn't we leave someone behind to keep an eye on Suzuka?" she asked.
Laetitia smirked.
"No. Let's give her plenty of time to consider her situation. I'm sure she'll appreciate that."
Pheonix sent the closed door a doubtful look, then shrugged and followed her teammates.
* * *
Coming up: Ryan talks with Suzuka, and the Guardians discuss their future course of action.
