Chapter 13
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Cold. It was cold...and clammy. The air was wet. Nadya's eyes opened slowly. At first, all she saw were blurs. Then blurs became colors, colors lines, and lines bars. She blinked several times. Yes, bars, tightly interlaced. A cage.
She sat up slowly, the top of the cage some two feet above her head. She could hear water dripping nearby and torchlight cast flickers on water below her. Where was she?
She tried to piece it all together but all she could salvage was that last rose in the garden. Then....nothing.
Suddenly, Nadya heard a pain-filled cry. She turned to see a man, strung up by his wrists nearby. His shirt was shredded, a whip biting his back.
"Methos!" she screamed, scrambling to the side of her cage nearest him. A man with an awful sadistic look on his face striped Methos' back with a cat-o'-ninetails.
"Don't worry, pretty. He will heal." Nadya suddenly turned to see another man sitting atop her cage, smiling down at her. "My, my. Aren't you cute? Much too cute for such an old man."
She backed away from him instinctively.
He just laughed, a sword leaning across his lap. Disheveled blonde hair fell into his face, his eyes a dangerous brown, and that same awful smile fixed to his face. "Well, Methos, what do you say?"
A strangled "no" came from the hanging man.
The blonde tsk'ed and then looked down at Nadya. "Ever seen a man hung, drawn, and quartered, my dear? Perhaps you should; it would be very educational for you."
She said nothing, only looked back at Methos, reading the pain on his face outlined with anger. There was a creak and a splash but she paid it no mind.
Suddenly, a hand grasped her hair, pulling her head down through a door in the side of the cage!
"Now, Methos. I will make a bargain with you. Your life for the girl's. Fight me and win her freedom," the blonde offered, sliding the cold flat of his blade along her neck. "Come now, you were all for choices with Kronos."
Kronos! Nadya knew the story; Joe had told her when Methos and Duncan wouldn't.
The blonde tilted her head back, forcing her to look up at him. He lowered his head to hers, his lips almost touching her ear, whispering. "Tell him to do it, Nadya. Tell him to fight me; he'll lose, of course; but you'll keep that lovely throat intact."
Methos felt the burning in his back lose all consequence. He could NOT be living this scene again! First Cassandra and now Nadya. This wasn't bloody happening!
The Boy--for that's what he was compared to Methos--lowered his face closer to Nadya's, his eyes on Methos the entire time.
"Leave her alone!" the ancient growled as the whip cracked one more time.
"Why? I thought Horsemen shared everything; and she looks sweet. Is she sweet, Methos?" he asked, smiling. He twisted his grip on Nadya's hair, causing her to cry out.
This boy, a mere 200 years old, had known Kronos; he had served under him a long time ago, been trained by him. He had the same look in his eye. He'd idolized Kronos and knew that it was Methos' fault the great man was dead. Now, here in the place of Kronos' last stand, he wished to take from this remaining Horseman what mattered to him most and, from days, weeks of watching, he knew it was this girl.
...................................................................................................................................................................................................
Piotr silently slipped through the catacombs of the old submarine station. He slunk, as best he could, into the shadows, trying to find Nadya. He could hear echoes, fragments of sound bouncing off the steel walls, but he couldn't tell the direction.
Suddenly, he heard a cry, just loud enough. A female cry.
'Nadya!' He then hurried down the causeway towards it.
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Thump.
Thump.
Thump. Snickt
Thump. Ripppppppp. Snickt
"You're getting stuffing all over the floor." Scott commented dryly from the doorway.
Logan paused, leaving the partially disemboweled punching bag to swing, its sides leaking stuffing on the floor.
"Can it." Logan said. He crossed the room, dripping sweat, till he came to the weights.
Scott followed and spotted the older man as he began a set.
Huff One.
Huff Two.
"What do you want?"
Huff Three.
"The Professor doesn't think that the situation is too serious. They are still searching the mansion to see what was taken. He wants you to accompany him back to the villa." Scott watched Logan carefully.
Huff Twelve.
"What about you?"
"He thinks someone should stay here. Bobby and Rogue and the others handled the situation well, but Xavier wants to be safe."
"So it's just Chuck, me, and our new friends?"
Huff Twenty-one.
"Almost."
Clank! The barbell went back to its stand and Logan glared at Scott, as best he could through the red-quartz shades.
"Almost?"
"He wants you to take Rogue and Bobby."
"Why?"
"I have no idea."
"Wonderful."
"Plan on leaving after dinner."
"That will put us in around early morning there."
"You don't really think that some cut-rate burglar was able to take out Kurt for some silverware."
"Do you?"
"No."
"Exactly." Logan stood and left to go get a shower.
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Piotr had been searching for a while for where Nadya was but the sounds had stopped, and it was nightfall now. Pitch black. He couldn't see two feet in front of himself.
"Ooffff!"
Make that one foot.
"If I keep this up, they'll hear me stumbling around and come and get me, but that would be making things too easy." Piotr thought to himself as he felt along the wall for an opening, trying to be quiet. He wanted to change into his mutant armor and crash through some walls, find Nadya, and get out. But that could get complicated. He could bring down some walls on top of her if he took out a load-bearing one. Or, and he was rather certain of this, they might shoot her; he knew they would shoot at him but his armor would help. No, it was better to find them first and then plan out a course of action.
......................................................................................................................................................................................................
Methos felt his arms, wishing they had gone numb. 'They went numb the last time you were strung up like this, old man.' But the Emperor Chin had left him up a lot longer than this torturer. Either way, he was cursing his luck at the moment. And the young Immortal across the room. He had tied Nadya to a chair, drugged her again, and then left.
'Presumably to get the instruments necessary to have me hung, drawn, and quartered.' He hoped they wouldn't make Nadya watch. But he should know better than to hope. Methos also hoped that he didn't kill her. He knew he could feel her, feel what she could become. He chuckled at the thought.
'If he kills her, Talia and MacLeod will make him wish he had only been hung, drawn, and quartered. And if I survive this....I'll let him see how docile Kronos really was!'
After a while, their 'host' returned, carrying a medium-sized leather case. He stopped by Nadya's chair and ran the back of his fingers along her cheek, her head lolling to the side a bit. Her eyes were barely open, the drug doing its job well.
The Boy--as Methos had come to mentally call him--smiled at the ancient, letting his fingers run along her jaw. Actually, his name was Hayden and he had told Methos as much, but Methos wouldn't even dignify it in his mind.
"You always were selfish with the best, Methos," Hayden chuckled, setting the case down so he could pay his full attention to Nadya. He bent his knees, crouching by the chair. "She's like Cassandra, isn't she? Beautiful, fiery, loyal to a fault, but not shared. Tsk, tsk. Selfish, selfish Methos." Chuckling again, he rose, grasped the case, and sloshed through the shallow water to where Methos was strung up.
Methos just glared at Hayden as he circled him, like a director deciding on how to set up a scene.
He grasped a shred of Methos' now worthless shirt between his thumb and forefinger, pulling it free and letting it drop onto the ground. "We must give her the best view possible, Methos."
"What do you possibly think you're going to accomplish by showing her this? This is between you and me."
Hayden smiled again. "Ah, Methos. Kronos always told me that you were a smooth talker. There are no innocent parties; sweet Nadya is as much a part of this as you or I. My goal is not only to kill you, though that will come eventually; my goal is to destroy you, Methos. To make you suffer and pay for what happened." Then he moved to cross the puddle towards Nadya again. "And if that means making her suffer, so be it. I know what she is, Methos. And I'll keep her, thanks."
Just then, his cohorts began cutting Methos down, one slipping a noose around his neck. Methos struggled, trying to kick his way free but the men tied his ankles, his hands strapped behind his back.
"Nadya. Come on, darling. Open those pretty eyes." Hayden tapped her cheek gently.
The drug finally wore off, her eyes fluttering open.
"That's it. Good girl."
When everything snapped into place, she saw Methos. A rope around his neck, he was being lifted off the ground, his whole body twitching. Gargled gasps came from his throat as the rope squeezed his neck tighter and tighter, cutting off his airflow.
Nadya screamed, struggling against her own ropes as they held him there, letting him literally twist in the wind. "Stop it! Let him go!"
Hayden covered her mouth with his hand for a moment. "Shhhh, just enjoy it, Nadya. Ouch!" He winced and then smiled again as she bit his hand. "You're feisty, aren't you, dear?" Standing, he returned the favor, striking her! "Well, we'll fix that eventually."
.............................................................................................................................................................................................
Moving along as quietly as he could, Piotr continued through the darkened substation, trying to find Nadya. Just then, Piotr heard gasps and struggling going on. Seeing flickering light up ahead, he cautiously peeked around a corner. He saw Nadya unconscious, tied to a chair, a blonde man crouching next to her. He woke her, made her watch. He then saw Methos being lynched, his hands and feet tied securely. The men around him began to pull the rope, drawing him up by his neck, hanging him.
Nadya screamed for mercy, for them to stop, but the blonde simply put his hand over her mouth. She must have bitten him, because he pulled his hand away again, laughing.
Piotr felt the rage being to boil up inside him as Methos was hung before Nadya's eyes. Suddenly, the blonde made a huge mistake. He slapped her!
That sent the young mutant over the edge!
Hayden was leaning down towards Nadya again, smiling at the pink mark on her cheek when, suddenly, there was a huge crash! A ferocious metal giant hurtled towards Hayden, knocking the man off his feet and into the solid wall across the room!! There was a snap and he fell into the shallow water, his neck broken cleanly in two. The minions released Methos, seeing that this monster needed their immediate attention!
"Piotr!" Nadya blinked unbelievingly, for he truly did look like a creature never before seen. His rage was obvious as he bowled through the men, their bullets simply glancing off his armor. Soon, their bodies lay strewn all over the room, Methos lying the floor, dead. They had held him too long.
Piotr grabbed up the limp body and, snapping Nadya's ropes like they were shoelaces, he picked her up, too, and headed back through the substation. "We have to get out of here. There will be more of them."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cold. It was cold...and clammy. The air was wet. Nadya's eyes opened slowly. At first, all she saw were blurs. Then blurs became colors, colors lines, and lines bars. She blinked several times. Yes, bars, tightly interlaced. A cage.
She sat up slowly, the top of the cage some two feet above her head. She could hear water dripping nearby and torchlight cast flickers on water below her. Where was she?
She tried to piece it all together but all she could salvage was that last rose in the garden. Then....nothing.
Suddenly, Nadya heard a pain-filled cry. She turned to see a man, strung up by his wrists nearby. His shirt was shredded, a whip biting his back.
"Methos!" she screamed, scrambling to the side of her cage nearest him. A man with an awful sadistic look on his face striped Methos' back with a cat-o'-ninetails.
"Don't worry, pretty. He will heal." Nadya suddenly turned to see another man sitting atop her cage, smiling down at her. "My, my. Aren't you cute? Much too cute for such an old man."
She backed away from him instinctively.
He just laughed, a sword leaning across his lap. Disheveled blonde hair fell into his face, his eyes a dangerous brown, and that same awful smile fixed to his face. "Well, Methos, what do you say?"
A strangled "no" came from the hanging man.
The blonde tsk'ed and then looked down at Nadya. "Ever seen a man hung, drawn, and quartered, my dear? Perhaps you should; it would be very educational for you."
She said nothing, only looked back at Methos, reading the pain on his face outlined with anger. There was a creak and a splash but she paid it no mind.
Suddenly, a hand grasped her hair, pulling her head down through a door in the side of the cage!
"Now, Methos. I will make a bargain with you. Your life for the girl's. Fight me and win her freedom," the blonde offered, sliding the cold flat of his blade along her neck. "Come now, you were all for choices with Kronos."
Kronos! Nadya knew the story; Joe had told her when Methos and Duncan wouldn't.
The blonde tilted her head back, forcing her to look up at him. He lowered his head to hers, his lips almost touching her ear, whispering. "Tell him to do it, Nadya. Tell him to fight me; he'll lose, of course; but you'll keep that lovely throat intact."
Methos felt the burning in his back lose all consequence. He could NOT be living this scene again! First Cassandra and now Nadya. This wasn't bloody happening!
The Boy--for that's what he was compared to Methos--lowered his face closer to Nadya's, his eyes on Methos the entire time.
"Leave her alone!" the ancient growled as the whip cracked one more time.
"Why? I thought Horsemen shared everything; and she looks sweet. Is she sweet, Methos?" he asked, smiling. He twisted his grip on Nadya's hair, causing her to cry out.
This boy, a mere 200 years old, had known Kronos; he had served under him a long time ago, been trained by him. He had the same look in his eye. He'd idolized Kronos and knew that it was Methos' fault the great man was dead. Now, here in the place of Kronos' last stand, he wished to take from this remaining Horseman what mattered to him most and, from days, weeks of watching, he knew it was this girl.
...................................................................................................................................................................................................
Piotr silently slipped through the catacombs of the old submarine station. He slunk, as best he could, into the shadows, trying to find Nadya. He could hear echoes, fragments of sound bouncing off the steel walls, but he couldn't tell the direction.
Suddenly, he heard a cry, just loud enough. A female cry.
'Nadya!' He then hurried down the causeway towards it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thump.
Thump.
Thump. Snickt
Thump. Ripppppppp. Snickt
"You're getting stuffing all over the floor." Scott commented dryly from the doorway.
Logan paused, leaving the partially disemboweled punching bag to swing, its sides leaking stuffing on the floor.
"Can it." Logan said. He crossed the room, dripping sweat, till he came to the weights.
Scott followed and spotted the older man as he began a set.
Huff One.
Huff Two.
"What do you want?"
Huff Three.
"The Professor doesn't think that the situation is too serious. They are still searching the mansion to see what was taken. He wants you to accompany him back to the villa." Scott watched Logan carefully.
Huff Twelve.
"What about you?"
"He thinks someone should stay here. Bobby and Rogue and the others handled the situation well, but Xavier wants to be safe."
"So it's just Chuck, me, and our new friends?"
Huff Twenty-one.
"Almost."
Clank! The barbell went back to its stand and Logan glared at Scott, as best he could through the red-quartz shades.
"Almost?"
"He wants you to take Rogue and Bobby."
"Why?"
"I have no idea."
"Wonderful."
"Plan on leaving after dinner."
"That will put us in around early morning there."
"You don't really think that some cut-rate burglar was able to take out Kurt for some silverware."
"Do you?"
"No."
"Exactly." Logan stood and left to go get a shower.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Piotr had been searching for a while for where Nadya was but the sounds had stopped, and it was nightfall now. Pitch black. He couldn't see two feet in front of himself.
"Ooffff!"
Make that one foot.
"If I keep this up, they'll hear me stumbling around and come and get me, but that would be making things too easy." Piotr thought to himself as he felt along the wall for an opening, trying to be quiet. He wanted to change into his mutant armor and crash through some walls, find Nadya, and get out. But that could get complicated. He could bring down some walls on top of her if he took out a load-bearing one. Or, and he was rather certain of this, they might shoot her; he knew they would shoot at him but his armor would help. No, it was better to find them first and then plan out a course of action.
......................................................................................................................................................................................................
Methos felt his arms, wishing they had gone numb. 'They went numb the last time you were strung up like this, old man.' But the Emperor Chin had left him up a lot longer than this torturer. Either way, he was cursing his luck at the moment. And the young Immortal across the room. He had tied Nadya to a chair, drugged her again, and then left.
'Presumably to get the instruments necessary to have me hung, drawn, and quartered.' He hoped they wouldn't make Nadya watch. But he should know better than to hope. Methos also hoped that he didn't kill her. He knew he could feel her, feel what she could become. He chuckled at the thought.
'If he kills her, Talia and MacLeod will make him wish he had only been hung, drawn, and quartered. And if I survive this....I'll let him see how docile Kronos really was!'
After a while, their 'host' returned, carrying a medium-sized leather case. He stopped by Nadya's chair and ran the back of his fingers along her cheek, her head lolling to the side a bit. Her eyes were barely open, the drug doing its job well.
The Boy--as Methos had come to mentally call him--smiled at the ancient, letting his fingers run along her jaw. Actually, his name was Hayden and he had told Methos as much, but Methos wouldn't even dignify it in his mind.
"You always were selfish with the best, Methos," Hayden chuckled, setting the case down so he could pay his full attention to Nadya. He bent his knees, crouching by the chair. "She's like Cassandra, isn't she? Beautiful, fiery, loyal to a fault, but not shared. Tsk, tsk. Selfish, selfish Methos." Chuckling again, he rose, grasped the case, and sloshed through the shallow water to where Methos was strung up.
Methos just glared at Hayden as he circled him, like a director deciding on how to set up a scene.
He grasped a shred of Methos' now worthless shirt between his thumb and forefinger, pulling it free and letting it drop onto the ground. "We must give her the best view possible, Methos."
"What do you possibly think you're going to accomplish by showing her this? This is between you and me."
Hayden smiled again. "Ah, Methos. Kronos always told me that you were a smooth talker. There are no innocent parties; sweet Nadya is as much a part of this as you or I. My goal is not only to kill you, though that will come eventually; my goal is to destroy you, Methos. To make you suffer and pay for what happened." Then he moved to cross the puddle towards Nadya again. "And if that means making her suffer, so be it. I know what she is, Methos. And I'll keep her, thanks."
Just then, his cohorts began cutting Methos down, one slipping a noose around his neck. Methos struggled, trying to kick his way free but the men tied his ankles, his hands strapped behind his back.
"Nadya. Come on, darling. Open those pretty eyes." Hayden tapped her cheek gently.
The drug finally wore off, her eyes fluttering open.
"That's it. Good girl."
When everything snapped into place, she saw Methos. A rope around his neck, he was being lifted off the ground, his whole body twitching. Gargled gasps came from his throat as the rope squeezed his neck tighter and tighter, cutting off his airflow.
Nadya screamed, struggling against her own ropes as they held him there, letting him literally twist in the wind. "Stop it! Let him go!"
Hayden covered her mouth with his hand for a moment. "Shhhh, just enjoy it, Nadya. Ouch!" He winced and then smiled again as she bit his hand. "You're feisty, aren't you, dear?" Standing, he returned the favor, striking her! "Well, we'll fix that eventually."
.............................................................................................................................................................................................
Moving along as quietly as he could, Piotr continued through the darkened substation, trying to find Nadya. Just then, Piotr heard gasps and struggling going on. Seeing flickering light up ahead, he cautiously peeked around a corner. He saw Nadya unconscious, tied to a chair, a blonde man crouching next to her. He woke her, made her watch. He then saw Methos being lynched, his hands and feet tied securely. The men around him began to pull the rope, drawing him up by his neck, hanging him.
Nadya screamed for mercy, for them to stop, but the blonde simply put his hand over her mouth. She must have bitten him, because he pulled his hand away again, laughing.
Piotr felt the rage being to boil up inside him as Methos was hung before Nadya's eyes. Suddenly, the blonde made a huge mistake. He slapped her!
That sent the young mutant over the edge!
Hayden was leaning down towards Nadya again, smiling at the pink mark on her cheek when, suddenly, there was a huge crash! A ferocious metal giant hurtled towards Hayden, knocking the man off his feet and into the solid wall across the room!! There was a snap and he fell into the shallow water, his neck broken cleanly in two. The minions released Methos, seeing that this monster needed their immediate attention!
"Piotr!" Nadya blinked unbelievingly, for he truly did look like a creature never before seen. His rage was obvious as he bowled through the men, their bullets simply glancing off his armor. Soon, their bodies lay strewn all over the room, Methos lying the floor, dead. They had held him too long.
Piotr grabbed up the limp body and, snapping Nadya's ropes like they were shoelaces, he picked her up, too, and headed back through the substation. "We have to get out of here. There will be more of them."