Disclaimer: I do not own "Lilo & Stitch" or any of the characters therein, except for Leera, Le'Kruune, Mackayl, and Vay (more or less).

A/N: Just an advance warning - these next two chapters might be a little scary. Some violence, of course, though not nearly as much as in previous chapters. Mostly scary because it touches on the subject of rape, though there will NOT be an actual occurrence of it. Just FYI, and don't bother to flame me, because YOU WERE WARNED. -_-

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO:
BLOOD ON THE FLOOR, LUST IN HIS EYE

As they neared Le'Kruune's private suite, Pleakley's hearts gave a sickening jolt. He glanced at Leera out of the corner of his eye and marveled at her calm exterior. She almost looked serene, as though she had decided to accept whatever fate awaited her in the moments ahead. He wondered if it were only a façade, or if she really was as brave as she appeared. He wouldn't doubt it if she was. She had always possessed such strength and determination. Because of that he should have realized that Leera would never have taken the easy way out and commit suicide. It had been hard for him to believe it when he found her feigned suicide note, and he nearly went insane with denial before finally accepting it and forcing himself to move on with his life. Now that Leera was back, alive and well, Pleakley resolved to live up to his promise to her. If Le'Kruune wanted her, then he was going to have to go through Agent Wendy Pleakley to get her.

Rounding the last corner, Pleakley's hearts jolted again at the scene that lay before him. In a pool of mingled blood lay two familiar bodies, motionless. The grand councilwoman and Mackayl lay facing each other, arms entwined, still as death. They lay in the middle of the corridor, and as the troupe approached them, they almost had to flatten themselves up against the wall to avoid stepping in their blood. Vay shuddered as she passed them.

"Oh, dear God…"

As if on cue, the grand councilwoman's eyes flew open and she looked up at her fellow prisoners. Pleakley gasped and jumped back, then sighed in relief to see that she was still alive.

"I'm not dead yet," she said quietly, in a matter-of-fact tone, as though someone had just asked her casually how she was doing. "And I don't plan to die anytime soon, so don't hold your breath! Mackayl, on the other hand…" she trailed off, lifting a hand up to stroke the side of his face. Mackayl didn't respond.

"He isn't doing so well. He's lost a lot of blood, as you can see, and if he doesn't get proper medical attention soon…" she trailed off again, then sighed despairingly.

"Is Le'Kruune just going to leave you here? Like this?" Vay asked.

The grand councilwoman did not reply. She didn't need to. It was pretty obvious that Le'Kruune would do such a thing, and think nothing of it. For a moment, Vay, Leera and Pleakley all stood looking down at the two injured aliens, then jumped at their escort's command to keep moving. As he passed them, the guard gave the grand councilwoman a very solemn look, then closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly as though to apologize.

There were no guards standing sentry outside of Le'Kruune's suite, and this struck all three prisoners as more than a little odd. Their own guard stepped forward and pressed a button on the communicator by the door. At the garbled sound of Le'Kruune's voice, terror reawakened in Pleakley's hearts and he immediately grabbed Leera's hand, giving it a firm squeeze as if to say, "Don't worry. I promise I won't let him hurt you." Gently, Leera squeezed back, her palm already slick with sweat. Pleakley wasn't positive, but he thought he could feel her trembling. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, but she stared straight ahead, unblinking, looking as determined as ever. After a moment, the door opened, and they were herded inside by their escort. Inside of the suite, it was cool and dim. Le'Kruune stepped out of the shadows and the three Plorginarians huddled close together in fear. He looked at each one of them, puzzled, then asked the guard why he had brought all three of them in. The guard explained, then offered to take the ones he didn't want back to their cell, but Le'Kruune declined. The guard left the suite alone, while all three prisoners remained. For a long moment he smiled pleasantly at them, looking each one up and down as though he were inspecting them.

"What a lucky man I am!" he purred. "Alone in my room, with three voluptuous beauties." His eye lingered over Pleakley, and he frowned. "Well, make that two." He stepped toward them. They backed away.

"Now, then. My eyesight isn't quite what it used to be, so tell me: which one of you is Captain Analilia?"

"I AM!" the three shouted in unison, then glared angrily at each other.

Le'Kruune laughed delightedly. It was clear that he was in one of his more amiable moods.

"My, my! Such enthusiasm!" he exclaimed. "I'm quite flattered to have three lovely ladies like yourselves vying for my honor."

"What honor?!" Leera demanded, her voice bitter with hate. "You mean the honor of being one of your victims?"

"Why, yes, I suppose you can say that," Le'Kruune chuckled, before lowering his voice to a seductive purr. "The lucky victim of my unbridled passion and desire."

Leera rolled her eye. "I should have figured. Only YOU could still be in the mood for that sort of thing after getting neutered."

Le'Kruune smirked at her, then nodded. "Of course. And who else could possibly know about that except for the ravishing Captain Analilia, who so skillfully performed the procedure?"

Leera folded her arms across her chest and glared up at him with a smug look on her face.

"Yes. You MUST be her." He moved toward her. "You're just the person I want to see. Now that I'm properly healed down there, perhaps we can pick up where we left off the other day."

Pleakley's hearts lurched at these words and he jumped in front of Leera, planting himself firmly between her and Le'Kruune.

"NO!!!" he roared. "I swear to God, if you lay so much as a finger on her, I will KILL you!!!"

Le'Kruune looked only mildly shocked by this outburst. A smile quickly replaced the look of shock and he snickered. Pleakley frowned at him.

"Oh, I'm sorry! You were serious, weren't you?"

"Dead serious," Pleakley growled.

Le'Kruune looked him over as though considering plowing right through him to get to Leera. Vay realized this and stepped in front of her son, ready to protect him. Leera struggled around them, but Pleakley jostled back to the front. Le'Kruune watched, amused, chuckling to himself before something in his head snapped (once again) and he pulled out his plasma cannon and aimed it point blank at Leera's face.

"YOU!!!" he roared, then let out a blood-curdling growl. "You filthy little khaash'taga! You will pay for what you've done!"

"NOOO!!!" screamed Pleakley, throwing his arms around her.

"BACK OFF!" Le'Kruune hissed, "or she gets it, right here." He jabbed the weapon at her face and she winced. Pleakley did as he was told and moved away from her, but not very far. Satisfied, Le'Kruune lunged forward and seized her by the neck, hoisting her up out of the others' reach. Leera flailed and struggled in his grasp, but her efforts were futile. Holding her up in front of him like a prize catch, he marched across the room, plasma cannon planted firmly against the side of her head. Leera tried to scream, but her windpipe was crushed. She could hardly breathe. Le'Kruune reached his bedroom door and punched one of the buttons on the panel next to it with the tip of his cannon. Before Vay and Pleakley could stop him, the door slid open and shut, and Le'Kruune disappeared inside his bedroom with his newest victim. Barely a second after the door had come down, Pleakley had thrown himself against it, screaming and sobbing as he pounded frantically against the cold titanium. Vay worked furiously at the panel, but could not get the door to open, either. It had been locked it from the inside.