***
Alyx woke up, but didn't open her eyes immediately. Whatever the problem was between her abilities and the collar, it didn't affect her improved senses. She could feel that she was on a mattress of some kind, and on a ship. The slight roll of the waves coupled with the vibration of the engines told her that. She heard breathing, movement, and quiet conversation, which told her she wasn't alone. She guessed there were about 12 others in the room, all of them female. Taking stock of herself, she found she had one heck of a headache, her neck felt singed, and the back of her right hand itched like crazy.
Opening her eyes, she found the room only dimly lit and adjusted her sight until it seemed bright as day. She lay in the bottom bunk of one of the half dozen bunk beds in the room. All had girls in them, a couple looked as young as 12 or 13. Raising her hand, she noticed the tattoo that had been put on it. Examining it carefully, she came to the conclusion that it was a temp. Would probably last a week or two. She didn't recognize the symbol, but somehow she knew she'd find out about it in the near future.
All the girls nearby were dozing, so Alyx decided to be brave. She Quicksilvered her hand, waiting for the pain. When nothing happened, she Quicksilvered completely, rolled off the bunk and began to make her way through the room. She checked over some of the girls as she walked. Quite a few of them looked drugged, and most of them looked scared even in their sleep. Children, all of them, being sold to the highest bidder for gods knew what purpose. Come hell or high water, she was going to stop these bastards.
There was an open area near the door that was the exit to the room. The only other doorway led to what appeared to be the bathroom/shower combo for the girls. Alyx reached the exit, but when she went to try the door handle it moved on its own. She backed away and ducked behind one of the tables nearby. The first mate and a couple of others she didn't recognize came into the room.
"Get her. The Captain wants to get started," the first mate ordered with a wave of his hand.
The two others headed right to the bunk Alyx had been lying in. "She ain't here."
"She can't have gone far. Find her," he shouted at the men. Several of the girls woke up and huddled on their beds, terrified of the men. They checked everywhere, including under the bunks. "Forget it," he said after several fruitless minutes of searching. "I'll get her to come out." He flipped the switch on the control he held. It was designed to be set for one of a dozen or so different frequencies or for any combination thereof. He set it just for hers.
With a scream, Alyx became visible and fell backwards onto the floor behind the table. "Turn it off, bastard!" She kicked out at the table, knocking it loose from the bolts holding it to the floor.
The first mate walked over to stand looking down at her. "Well, where did you think you were going?" He switched the controller off with a laugh.
Alyx took a deep breath. "Thank you," she said, then kicked him hard enough to break his kneecap. He fell to the floor screaming. His two compatriots rushed over and grabbed at her, but she had already rolled to her feet and stood ready to defend herself. They kept her from moving while the first mate got back to his feet, leaning heavily against the table.
"Bitch. I'm going to enjoy watching the Captain break you." He turned the controller on again.
Alyx went to her knees, trying to fight past the pain. Hoping what had happened outside was a fluke, she again tried to control the energy flow. As before, though, it just increased the pain tenfold. She still didn't understand it, but she managed to stop the energy loop this time and the pain fell back to its original level. Still nasty, but manageable in comparison. She tried again, this time trying to shut down the controller. Once again the pain increased and she ended up on her back, her head slamming into the steel bulkhead that was the floor. She saw stars. The pain stopped suddenly but the room still spun, she'd whacked her head so hard. She felt hands lift her and drag her from the room, but she couldn't find the energy to fight. Not right now.
Right now, she wished she'd told Morris to sod off and come up with a different plan.
Alyx realized she must have passed out somewhere along the way, because when she came to she was lying half on a bed, in a room she didn't recognize, being raped. The piece of slime was leaning on his hands over her, grunting and panting his way to climax. Dear lord, she had forgotten how much it hurt to have this done to oneself. At least this time she wasn't afraid to strike back. Using the heel of her hand, she slammed the guy in the nose, causing him to jerk back and off her. Once he was far enough away she lashed out with her foot, kicking him as hard as she could in the stomach. He doubled over and dropped to the floor, much to the amusement of the other men in the room.
Alyx rolled off the bed and into a crouch. This was not part of the plan and there was no way in hell she was going to put up with it, job or no job. The Official could take her to task later.
"I told you, Captain," the first mate reminded from behind an ornate wooden desk where he was getting his knee wrapped.
"So you did, Damon." He looked over the edge of the bed at where Alyx crouched. "Come out, little one."
"Ah don't think so," Alyx growled, still affecting the heavy drawl. Given that the collar wasn't currently shocking her into tomorrow, she tried to probe the Captain's mind. Much to her surprise, the collar immediately came to life. Swearing, she grabbed at it, trying to pull it off, but continued to probe at his mind. She got some vague images, but was forced to stop as the pain only increased.
"Damon," the captain admonished his first.
"Not me," he denied, holding up the control, which was currently off.
"Interesting." The captain moved over to her where Alyx lay on the floor of his cabin. "Very interesting." He reached down and grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled herupright. "I'm not sure what you're doing, but I suggest you stop it. I want to break you, not kill you."
Alyx might have been naked and in pain, but that didn't stop her from fighting. Ignoring the hand in her hair, she shifted slightly and tried to kick him in the leg. He was ready for her and turned the collar on. As soon as she was lost to the pain, he dropped her to the deck and watched as she writhed and moaned. After a couple of minutes he shut it off. She looked up at him, her eyes filled with both anger and tears. "Briggs, get the shackle on her. Amber, help get her cleaned up."
Two people stepped out of the crowd in the room: a girl of about 15 and a man with black hair and bright blue eyes. Together they got her dressed. The man attached a cuff and chain combination to her left ankle and affixed the other end to a metal loop, designed for just that purpose, on one of the legs of the desk. By the time this was completed, only Briggs, Amber and the Captain remained in the room with her.
"Amber, see that she eats. Briggs, watch her. There's something about her I don't trust. I'll be back later to deal with her." The Captain looked at Alyx for a few more moments before leaving the room with a frown on his face.
Alyx lay on the floor, shaking and twitching. It felt like all of her muscles had gone haywire. The girl, Amber, brought over a couple of blankets and wrapped them about her, thinking that she was cold. "If you don't fight him, it's not so bad," she said to Alyx.
"Have to fight. Won't go through that again," Alyx mumbled through the uncontrollable shaking.
Briggs sat on the edge of the raised platform where the Captain's bed was and watched the two girls. There was something about this new one that impressed and frightened him. If she kept up this way, she was not going to survive the trip. "What's your name, girl?"
She raised herself up to glare at the man. "Hope." She turned away and didn't see his quickly hidden reaction.
Amber handed Hope some water, which she gulped at. "It gets easier. They only do that stuff until you cooperate." She stuck a pillow under Alyx's head.
"It's not like that was the first time Ah've been raped," Alyx muttered. "These guys are amateurs."
"Amber, go get her some food." Briggs told the girl, but modified his order when he saw the look on the girl's face. "Some soup."
"Yes sir." Amber stood and shuffled quickly from the room. As soon as she was gone Alyx spoke.
"Your turn now, Ah suppose," Alyx declared, trying to relax while her muscles continued to twitch and shake in reaction.
"No, I won't be the agent of your destruction," Briggs replied.
Alyx let the sentence run through her mind for several minutes before it made sense. If there was any chance this was the undercover agent, she had to grab at it, but she also had to be circumspect about it. Mentally she crossed her fingers. "What color was Morris the cat's hair? Do you remember?"
It took him a moment to understand, then he got it - Agent Morris. The kid was smarter than she looked. "I think it was red or maybe orange," he answered her quietly and watched as she closed her eyes in obvious relief. "We've got to get you off of this boat."
Alyx shook her head. "I'm here for the duration. They want the destination info."
"I have that. The Captain will kill you if you keep resisting," Briggs assured her, moving beside her. He looked at her closely. "You're not cold, are you?"
"No." She thought about the best way to explain without telling him anything. "I'm very sensitive to power, energy. This collar is killing me."
He realized she wasn't shivering; she was twitching in reaction to excess electricity in her system. Like someone who had been lightning stuck or suffered a severe electrical shock. "I can't remove it. Only the Captain or Damon can. It's always active, just in neutral right now. I can't even turn it off for you."
"Can you get a message out or something?" she requested, not expecting anything.
"Not now, but maybe in a couple of days. Think you can hold out that long?" he asked, truly concerned.
"I'll have to, won't I?" She let her eyes close and drifted for a time, allowing the various problems she was encountering to run through her mind looking for solutions. Her first concern was the collar. Why was it she could handle ten thousand volts through an electrified fence, but she couldn't handle the few measly volts running through this collar? The fact that it was always on explained, sort of, why it came on when she tried to do something involving her powers. Why did it feedback to her? Every time she tried to manipulate energy outside herself, it activated the collar by feeding it power. The more she tried to do, the more power she fed the collar and the more painful it became. A nasty little feedback loop. Which meant that unless she wanted to fry her little brain into next week, she was virtually powerless. This was not her idea of fun.
***
"What do you mean you don't know?" Hobbes snapped at Lieutenant Farrell as they stood on the deck of the cutter.
"Exactly what I said. We don't know where they have gone. And with the hurricane moving in we can't even guess," Farrell repeated to the very angry agent. Even so, he realized that the man in front of him would be easier to deal with than his partner. Darien was pacing the deck like a wild animal, having once again threatened to throw Agent Morris overboard. "If we stay out here we'll get caught in Amanda, and then what good will we be to your friend?"
"Yeah, I know, but we both got a real bad feeling about this," Hobbes argued, rubbing the top of his head with a hand.
"She's doing her job, right?" Farrell asked of Bobby.
"Right," Bobby replied reluctantly.
"Let her do it. She doesn't need a baby-sitter." Farrell looked out over the water. "Within a few hours, if they don't turn back, no one is going to be able to help them, anyway. Including us."
Bobby watched Farrell head back to the bridge of the cutter and then went to join his wayward partner. "You cool down yet?"
"I guess so," Darien muttered, leaning on the rail. "This was a dumb idea, Hobbes. I can't believe the Official approved it."
"He didn't. I spoke to him an hour ago. He had no idea the plan was to send her undercover and he wants us to get her back, whatever it takes," Hobbes announced, so that only Darien would hear.
"Thompson and Morris said it had been approved," Darien snarled. He had that awful feeling of being used yet again, and he was getting damned tired of it.
"Well, yeah, but not by our boss," Hobbes growled.
"So now what?"
"I think it's time I had a little talk with Agent Morris," Hobbes suggested, spotting the red-headed agent as he came out of a door. "Stay here, Fawkes. I want the guy to talk, not swim."
Darien managed a dry chuckle at the comment. "Sure, but I still think he deserves to swim home."
"Can't say I disagree." He gave Darien a friendly pat on the back and went after Morris.
Darien returned to staring out over the water. The hurricane was still eighteen hours from making landfall, the slaver ship had an eight-hour head start on them, and Farrell wanted to turn back. Well, that wasn't going to happen if he had any say in the matter.
He couldn't believe how he and Alyx had been behaving towards each other. He'd been acting like a possessive jerk, and it had taken several discussions with Hobbes and one with Claire before it had sunk in completely. Claire had also told him a few things about Alyx he hadn't known. Like the reason she'd been having panic attacks, the reason she hadn't wanted to do that particular job that left her and Garrett stuck in a forest fire. The reason she'd been so confusing lately. Okay, so Claire wouldn't tell him exactly why, but she gave him a place to start. That, combined with information he already had, gave him a good idea of what was going on in that pretty, frustrating little head of hers.
If...when...he saw her again, he planned on apologizing.
Darien turned at the sound of shouting. He saw that his partner had backed Morris up against the railing and was on the verge of dumping him over. Darien strolled over casually and leaned over the side at the water rushing below. "Need help, Hobbes?"
"Fawkes, I'm beginning to think you were right. I think maybe he should swim home," Hobbes growled, grabbing Morris by the lapels of his jacket and tipping him further over the rail.
"And why is that?" Darien asked, keeping his tone casual.
"Why don't you tell him, Morris? I'm sure my partner would love to hear this from you." Hobbes gave him another threatening shove at the rail.
"He'll kill me," Morris squeaked.
"I might anyway," Hobbes informed him. "Talk."
"Special Agent Miller told me about Fawkes' abilities when I mentioned this case. He suggested that Miss Silver might have the same talents without the limitations." Morris got out as quickly as he could.
"So he doesn't know about her?" Darien asked, his voice sounding dangerous.
"Not really. He thinks she has skills similar to yours. He wanted me to find out," he explained, glaring up at Darien. "Look, if she cooperates with them she'll be fine."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Darien shouted, seriously debating doing something far more painful than throwing the guy in the water.
"I told you we picked up two girls," Morris began.
"You said you recovered two girls," Hobbes corrected, not liking where this was heading.
"Ummm, yeah. The slavers... they use control collars on the girls. Electric shocks, among other things," Morris filled in, his voice quiet, suddenly unable to meet their eyes.
"Spill. Or I will." Hobbes pushed him halfway over.
"They break the girls in using rape and torture. Of the two girls we recovered, one was dead and the other died shortly thereafter. We think they resisted and the slavers disposed of them," he babbled fearfully. "Now put me down!"
Hobbes let go of him and stepped back, giving Darien the opportunity to tear into the man. "You put her in danger, just to find out if she could do what I do?"
"It seemed to be justified. A good test of her skills." Morris argued, sounding more confident by the minute.
"Idiot," Darien muttered, making it sound more like a curse than a mere commentary on Morris' intelligence. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed the Keep. "Hey, Claire."
"Darien, is everything all right?" Claire asked concern in her voice.
"I'm fine. We may have a problem with Alyx. If the boss is in you may want to conference this," Darien suggested. Morris tried to slither away from them and, without taking his attention from the phone, Darien reached out and planted a hand on the man's chest, shoving him back against the rail hard enough to make him squeak in surprise and no little fear.
Bobby moved closer, keeping the little redheaded weasel from moving.
"All right, Darien," Claire said. "Eberts and the Official are on the line."
"Agent Morris has just informed us that Alyx is in the hands of some seriously nasty characters who, among other things, use rape and torture to control their prizes." Darien watched for Morris' reaction, which was to go pale and swallow hard. "They also make the girls wear shock collars to control them."
"Shock collars. How powerful?" Claire questioned.
Darien shifted the phone and asked Morris, "What are the specs on the collars?"
Morris shook his head.
"My partner asked you a question," Bobby barked, once again threatening to toss him over into the water.
"It's variable, max about the same as a standard cattle prod," Morris blurted out. He nearly sobbed with relief when Bobby backed off a bit and let him stand again.
"Did you get that, Claire?" Darien said into the phone.
"Yes, Darien. You may have an even bigger problem than you think," she said.
It took 20 minutes, and several more proddings for answers from Morris, but she got the basics across to Darien. Then the Official went to work.
"Why do I have the feeling that the news from the Keep was not good?" Hobbes observed, seeing the look on Darien's face as he hung up the phone.
"'Not good' would be a vast improvement," Darien moaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "The Official is currently calling God himself to get us control of this tub so that we can go get her. Hurricane or no hurricane." Darien turned to Morris. "If you're lucky, you might still have a job in an hour. Now go hide and try to cover your ass with your boss."
Morris moved away from the partners, both of whom were glaring at him. When he was well out of speaking range, Darien turned back to Hobbes. "Ignoring for the moment what rape in general does to the average woman, it's the collar Claire is worried about."
"Now wait, why would the kid have a problem with a shock collar? I've seen her control electric fences that could kill a man with one touch," Hobbes pointed out, moving to stand next to Darien.
Darien thought for a moment about how to explain something to Bobby that didn't even quite make sense to him. "Remember when you were checking her transmitter at the van, and it didn't work right until she did whatever it is she does?"
"Yeah, the signal went from flaky to perfect. So?" Hobbes said.
"According to Claire, when Alyx is in direct contact with electronics, she affects them unconsciously. It's also how she sometimes gets info from touch. Like closing a circuit." Darien paused to make sure Hobbes was keeping up.
He was. "So, because the collar is against her skin, if she tries to do anything she's going to activate it," Hobbes guessed, adding things up in his mind.
"And the more she tries to do..." Darien started.
"The more it shocks her. This is bad, partner."
"Isn't it always?"
