Chapter 12: Breaking Point
Conner could barely see, but he wasn't sure if that was from the rain or the rage. 'How could anyone hurt their own daughter like this? How could a human - supposedly the kindest creatures of them all - damage its own kind? GOD! Monsters in Quor-toth were kinder to their young, and that's saying something.' Conner ran to the hotel, afraid to stop and let the men catch up to him, there was no way her could fight them while keeping Kary safe - and he wasn't ready to take that chance.
The doors flew open and Conner ran in from the pouring rain with a limp Kary in his arms.
"Again?" Gunn wasn't exactly shocked that Kary was unconscious; she seemed to do that a lot.
"No. It was them this time," Conner gave Marker a glare that made him shiver. Then slowly, Conner brought Kary over to him and placed her in front of him, "Look, LOOK," Angel held Marker's face and forced him to look at the beaten Kary, "Are you proud of what you've done now? Glad you were chosen? You destroyed a life, and you did it slowly. My god, you are truly going to rot in hell - and it ain't nice their, trust me I know." Conner walked over to the couch and placed Kary down so Cordy and Fred could tend to her.
As they lifted off her shirt, bruises and cuts - and scars from old bruises and cuts glistened with her blood. They covered her entire body and showed years of pain and neglect, years of torture and uncaring, years of him. Marker lost it; he started to cry and could barely contain his sobs.
Angel takes this opportunity and starts to question him; soon Wes, Gunn and Conner have all joined in until they have all the answers. They now know what the Lab is, where it was, who started it and all the details of how it ran. In fact, now they wished they didn't.
'How could one little girl survive that? How could she fend off all that evil and still be so good?' the men were furious at the Lab for having put a little girl through all that, and were just about to take Marker and put him in the cell, when a weak mumble came form the couch.
"Wait... Groan...Why?" Kary spit out the question with such udder disgust, that Marker knew how she felt.
"Why what?" He didn't however; know what she was talking about.
"Why...why did you let me...let me escape?" Kary had figured it was too easy to get away, and if they had been following her for the last week, then they had been following her for the last three months - which means they were ready.
"We had to. It was the next step in the testing. I don't really know, something about comparing you to the Destroyer and Angelus. We had to see if you were working right, make sure you could live in the real world - but still stay focused on the mission. We figured it was best if we put you with them, to see how you worked with others like you." Marker no longer cared if she knew, it just didn't matter anymore.
"That's why you made up that bullshit about me and Cordelia being sisters isn't it?" Marker winced and knew that that was going to cause some friction.
"Yes. We let you into the office so you would find your bogus file. That way we figured you would look for her. But we didn't think you would get this close. We had no idea you would fit right in."
Kary stood up, a little insecurely, but Conner helped her to balance. Together they walked over to Marker.
"You son of a bitch, I hope to god you live a long life - so you can deal with the guilt of destroying an innocent. Now get the fuck out of my sight!" Angel and Gunn took that as their cue and lifted Marker, chair and all, down to the cell were he was locked up.
Everyone figured the fun was over, but as they were all heading up to bed, cans of gas and smoke filled the lobby. Then fifty guys ran in, swung in from ropes through the windows, or came up through the basement. This was a well organized plan, and only one man could've done it. "FUCK!" Kary knew exactly who.
"Now now, we never taught you those dirty words," Terkel mocked from the balcony. He glanced around at the eight individuals before him. "It is a shame really; you got so close - just started making friends. Oh well." Terkel looked for a minute more and then called to his men, "GET SUBJECT 1-19, KILL ANY WHO TRY TO STOP YOU."