Steph woke up with a splitting headache, her vision blurry for a moment until it slowly focused. She could only see blue.
Then, as her consciousness returned and her face started to feel scratchy, she realized it was buried in Hank's knee.
"Mm..." she sighed, shifting. Suddenly the reason she was waking up disoriented came back to her, and she sat up so quickly her head swam.
"Stephanie? Are you alright?" Hank asked. Steph looked up and saw Hank, looking slightly confused but very worried above her, holding a still sleeping Ruhko in one arm and her in the other.
"My head-" she trailed off as she looked around and saw that she was now in a room she had never seen before. The walls were all silver, not a crack or mark on any of them, yet a florescent light was shining somewhere and filling the room with a ridiculously bright light. "Is this some kinda Danger Room crack?" she demanded. Hank shook his head.
"I fear not, for our friends would have never put these around our necks," he said, biting his lip. Steph's eyebrows shot up as she saw a metal collar around his and Ruhko's neck, and instantly her hand went up to her own neck, touching smooth metal.
"Slave collars!" she gasped, and Hank nodded. "Where are we?"
"I have no idea- I woke shortly before you," Hank replied, his arm tightening around her slightly. Steph sat up and put a hand up to Hank's collar, eyes narrowing as she ran a finger over the smooth surface.
"There's nothing- no hinge, not release panel- nothing," she said after a moment. Hank looked at her.
"Is that so surprising?" he asked. Steph nodded.
"If there's no hinge- how did they get the collars on?" she asked.
"Magic," a voice chortled. Hank and Steph looked up, startled, and saw that one of the walls had simply disappeared, revealing a man in a green suit with his head covered by a mask and surrounded by black armored men who were holding various weapons. Steph's heart leapt into her throat as she recognized the armor. These same men had attacked the mansion years ago, trying to kill all of the mutants and take Ruhko prisoner. Most of Steph's family had just barely survived the encounter, and it was the beginning of Ruhko's slow decent into the lonely silence she lived in now.
"You!" Steph said, shocked. Hank put Ruhko into Steph's arms and wrapped both his own around the two protectively, which only made the man laugh more.
"You are completely at our mercy, Beast," he said, "there is no way you could protect your loved ones if we wanted to take them."
"Who are you?" Hank demanded, eyes narrowed. "To what purpose do you hold us here?" The man shook his head.
"Not for you to know," he replied. "But you'll be coming with us now- so if you'd get up now...."
"In yer dreams," Steph snarled, "Ya can't separate us- I'll kill ya before ya touch him!" The man and several of the soldiers burst out laughing at this.
"You?" the man in the green uniform asked. "But you are now powerless, and unless you didn't notice- he is trying to protect you right now." Steph snarled at him and tried to get up, but Hank pulled back.
"No Stephanie," he said urgently, "It is what they want- stop!"
"Yes Stephanie, listen to the Beast," the man sneered. Hank glared at him, breathing heavily as though his temper had suddenly spiked with those words, which they probably had.
"My name is Henry McCoy," he said.
"You are a beast, it is why Beast is your true identity," the man replied, waving a hand. "But never mind that now- come with us, I promise there will be no harm done to you."
"I'm afraid that all of my instincts, common sense, and experience has taught me that when one is approached by a scientist with an armed escort and a hidden face it is rarely a word of truth that comes from his mouth," Hank replied crisply.
"Ya lost me there," Steph murmured out of the corner of her mouth, which made the corners of Hank's mouth twitch.
"Is it so hard to merely say 'no'?" the man complained.
"No, I will not accompany you anywhere," Hank said promptly. The man sighed.
"You will, and regret not coming willingly," he said, nodding at the guards. Immediately all six jumped forward, and Hank pushed Steph and Ruhko to the side just in time to be hit by the wave of black metal.
"ARH!" Hank yelled with rage and pain as a mace hit him in the shoulder. Steph rolled head of heels before she hit the wall, Ruhko slipping out of her arms as she jumped up.
"HANK!" she screamed, flinging herself at one of the attackers and grabbing him around the neck, attempting to strangle him as Hank tried to fend the others off, one arm hanging limply by his side. The soldier Steph had grabbed cried out in fury and began trying to hit her off his back with the spear he was carrying, starting to make strangled sounds at the same time.
"My lord it takes you forever to catch one man!" the scientist in back of them said, watching the entire scene calmly, as if bored by the situation.
"Let go of him!" Steph screamed as the man she was choking finally ran out of oxygen and crumpled. Steph grabbed his fallen spear and suddenly the guards found her more interesting than Hank, all but one discontinuing their attempts to restrain him and turning on Steph, weapons raised.
"Stephanie, no!" Hank cried, sounding anguished. "They'll kill you!"
"Bring it on," Steph snarled, brandishing her heavy weapon in front of her. A ringing was pounding in her ears and all she saw, heard, or noticed now were the men in front of her.
One of the men on her left suddenly lunged, his club raised high over his head as he brought it down with bone-shattering force towards her skull, but Steph rolled a split second before he hit- effectively dodging the attack while bringing up her spear and running him through, the man's momentum doing all of the work for her.
Steph panted and tried to loosen her spear, but it was stuck fast, and as she turned she suddenly found herself four-to-one and weaponless.
"Back down, infidel," one of the soldier sneered. Steph heard a sickening crunch and looked over just in time to see Hank crash down to his knees, swaying.
"Hank!" Steph cried, but he only looked up at her as the man who had hit him and another guard turned around and grabbed him roughly, putting thick cuffs over his hands.
"No Stephanie," he said drowsily. "Don't-" he fell silent, then crashed to the floor.
"NO!" Steph screamed, jumping over to him when to thick arms wrapped around her waist, one of the guard had caught her in mid air as the others dragged the unconscious Hank out the door. Steph struggled and screamed again, trying to get loose in vain. When she tried to headbutt the man holding her she only knocked herself silly on his helmet. The man in green shook his head at her.
"Truly heart wrenching," he sneered, then walked away. The man holding her dropped Steph on the floor and then kicked her in the stomach, making her double up in pain as he slipped through the closing wall. Steph pulled herself up, grabbed onto Ruhko, who had started to stir slightly, then open her eyes.
Steph had just the strength to give the now scared looking Ruhko a bittersweet smile, then she toppled backwards once more into the unfeeling black void of unconsciousness.