Disclaimer: We all know who I own and who I don't.

Black Ice

By Be Boring

Chapter 14: Surveillance

Jondy tapped her knuckles on Logan's kitchen table, wishing desperately that she wasn't there. Despite what he had said, Alec had ended up basically begging her to help them with the rescue mission. She was the best candidate for the job, even he couldn't deny that. Of course, that had been a week ago. The expanse of time in between had been spent studiously watching the younger familiars at the school to see what the most popular style was. That had resulted in the dyeing of her hair, changing it to an odd blend of black, deep auburn, and a rich chocolate brown. Her hair seemed to transform every time she moved into a different level of light. At least no one had told her to cut it, she absolutely loved the length that her hair was now, sweeping just over halfway down her back. Just so that she wasn't the only one being forced to change her hair, she convinced both Brin and Max to alter theirs as well. Brin's hair was now just long enough to cover her barcode, while Max had gotten a perm. Jondy had been pleased with the modification until Ben commented that that was how Max had looked when he had first seen her again as an adult, even though her hair was longer now. It was almost like cheating; Max hadn't really tried something new, she had gone back to something she used to have.

The rest of the week had been pretty much wasted. An epidemic of brownouts had swarmed through the city, locking down sectors nearly every other hour, making it extremely challenging to actually begin their plan because it meant that so many of the students at the college skipped their wasted classes and lounged on the lawn of the school. How could Jondy be expected to sneak through them? It would be too much of a distraction even if she did manage to get to where Kay was and examine her guards. It wasn't exactly easy to spy through a doorway discreetly with hundreds of curious young men and women around, particularly ones that were well trained to look for anything suspicious even in a neutral situation.

All of that had been a problem until today. Because of the blackout and consequent brownouts, spring break had been postponed for them until the city was declared to be fully functioning again, which had happened just that morning. Max and Logan had immediately driven past the college and sure enough, the students were practically running away from it with glee. Very few students stuck around, but even they didn't spend much time on the grounds. Now it was perfectly safe for them to start checking out the guards and just what the situation was in that garage. After a heated debate that lasted for practically the remainder of the morning, it was decided that Zack would be the immediate backup for her, while Brin would stay in the car. That decision had to be made when Brin started subconsciously becoming as protective of Jondy's pregnancy as Alec was. The last thing they needed was for Brin to overreact and try to protect her when it really wasn't necessary. Zack was more objective than Brin, so everyone finally decided that he was the best person for her to go in with.

"Are you ready?" Zack asked as he entered the kitchen, straightening his hood around his face.

"I've been ready for a while, it's the rest of you that have been taking forever. This really shouldn't be that hard, and I can tell right now that you've got some kind of handgun shoved into the back of your pants, so I feel pretty secure. Let's just get this thing done with so you guys can get going with your rescue thing."

He rolled his eyes as they walked out to the car to wait for Brin. She had just been getting out of the shower, more than likely after using up the rest of Logan's hot water, but they knew she would be out quickly. She didn't need to get dressed up for anything, all she had to do was throw on the nearest clothes she could reach and come out, which was exactly what she did. They didn't have to wait long for her, and before they knew it they were headed for the college, leaving Max, Logan, Ben, and Alec to hang around Logan's house.

When they pulled up in front of the college, the entire lawn was empty. Jondy sighed with relief, this was going to be easier than she had thought. "If we go right to that little walkthrough door over there, no one will be able to see us from the windows on the building, and you can keep a lookout for anyone heading out onto the yard. This shouldn't take too long."

Zack nodded, which surprised her because he generally liked to protest against her ideas. He always had, even though she never really knew why. Maybe it was just his C.O. domination urges. No matter how good her ideas were, he'd say no just to prove he still held the power. They crossed the lawn silently, not seeing a single person along the way. Jondy paused outside of the door, hoping that it wasn't noisy when it was opened, but her desire to finish this as quickly as possible overrode her concerns and she gently turned the knob. The door opened easily and quietly enough, which was good because she could hear voices inside the garage. She poked her head tentatively around the corner to peer through the tiny slot that she'd created when she opened the door slightly. Four people were sitting just outside a perfectly visible door nearly in the dead center of the opposite wall. There was one woman with shoulder-length mousy brown hair, and three men, all of whom looked as though they could have been related. They were all approximately the same height, but two had brown hair and one had black. They were all whispering excitedly together like little kids in a toy store. It wasn't until someone came out of the main building that she knew this wasn't going to be good.

"Zack, isn't he supposed to be dead? Isn't he the one who caused all that trouble with the psy-ops in Terminal City?"

Zack leaned around her to peek through the crack. He blinked furiously several times, but every time he opened his eyes, Sate was still there. "From what Max said, I would have expected this guy to be in pieces in a coffin. I can't believe he got away from the X2s." He pulled his head back sharply as one of the guards glanced in their direction, but the flow of the conversation never changed, so he must not have noticed anything out of the ordinary. After a reasonable amount of time, Jondy went back to looking in at the guards, wondering what they were talking about. Not only did that become clear within a few minutes, but what followed made her remain glued to her spot.

A week. How can it possibly have been that long? Kay thought wonderingly as she paced her cell again. It was the only thing she ever did, and she was starting to feel just as stir crazy as she had been back when she was living with Ames. It was worse now though because she had absolutely nothing to entertain herself with. She found herself honestly looking forward to Jacob's visits, although she constantly reminded herself that he was a pawn and nothing more. If she actually allowed herself to become friends with him, she could end up being the one screwed over instead. He didn't seem to realize that she was acting the entire time they spoke. Every time he came in, they found something new to discuss and usually make fun of. When she wasn't so conscious of the fact that this was all an act on her part, she actually managed to enjoy his company. Her favorite topic was his wife's pregnancy. Despite the fact that her own pregnancy had been a miserable farce and she knew that Jacob's wife was either going to be killed by her own husband or die in the Coming, it was a nice change of pace to hear about something so ordinary and mundane as a new life coming into the world.

With the exception of Jacob's visits, however, she couldn't have been more depressed. She wasn't producing milk anymore, which made her feel even farther away from Paige than she already was, and Sate was becoming more of a menacing nuisance every time he entered her cell. His favorite tactic of intimidating her was to force her to stand perfectly still as he walked right up to her and continued to talk as though he hadn't noticed her immobility. He talked about anything he pleased, often something that she had no interest in, but he seemed to enjoy having an outlet for everything he had on his mind. His visits always ended the same, too; he would either ruffle her hair or give her shoulder a firm squeeze before he left just for the simple pleasure of demonstrating his power over her. He liked to be in control, and she absolutely loathed being out of it. Feeling helpless was not something she was accustomed to.

Regardless of the way they treated her, Kay managed to find out a lot more about both men during her first week of captivity. Jacob was nearly ten years older than she was, while Sate was only her senior by one year. Both had been excellent students at Brookridge Academy and had gone straight into the employ of the Conclave, wherever their elders saw fit to place them. Sate had been moved around a lot due to his inability to completely blend into a crowd. After all, it's a difficult task to hide a seven-foot-tall man in a crowd. Even without his height, his eyes were enough to scare anyone off. When the Conclave first started hearing reports of transgenic sightings in Terminal City, they had automatically sent him there. Being something of a freak himself, he blended in perfectly for once in his life. Jacob, on the other hand, had been highly successful in every endeavor the Conclave chose for him. His ability to talk with anyone he chose to made him perfect for public relations, which was where the Conclave generally chose to place him. His wife had actually been the head of public relations for a rival company to the one he'd been working for at the time. Recently, however, his scar had been discovered and he was placed on the list of loose familiars. He had taken his wife and run, assuring her the entire time that the rumors were false and showing her his bare arm, where he had actually just had laser surgery to remove the scar so he wouldn't be caught again. Until he volunteered for the task of capturing Kay, he had been in hiding like Sate. In fact, they had been very near each other at that time, which was where Jacob had developed his strong dislike for the mentally powerful giant.

Although Sate was her primary concern, she had started to worry about the other guards. They never came in by her, which suited her just fine, but she often heard many of them just outside her door, speaking too low to be heard. She knew perfectly well that they might be planning to do what most familiars wanted to do with transgenics; they might be interested in kicking her around a little bit. Normally this would have been just fine with her; if anything, it was a chance to escape. However, she had managed to convince Jacob to tell her what he could about the other guards, and he shared with her that one of them was a good friend with Curtis. Sate had mentioned in the very beginning that Curtis had access to the drugs in the lab, so what if he slipped out a drug that would weaken her so that they could beat her without fear of retaliation? Even if he couldn't be involved, he could still get the drug to them.

At the moment she could hear approximately three or four guards talking just outside her door, sometimes laughing, sometimes dropping their voices so no one could make out what they were saying. It wasn't until she heard Sate's familiar long stride that she became worried. Sate rarely ever went near the other guards if he could help it, things were simply too awkward. His hushed tones were added to the others, and before she knew it, her door was being opened.

"Don't tell me you're planning a party in here," she commented dryly, staring around the tiny room. "I don't know if we could fit you all in here."

Now that she could see them, she noticed that none of the four of them were the same familiars that had captured her; Sate was the only one she recognized. It was the woman who stepped forward to speak first. "It's our lucky day. For once, there's no one but us at this end of the building, so they won't be able to hear anything."

When one of the men approached, Kay's leg shot out and caught him in the gut. He stepped back, rubbing his stomach unconsciously before coming at her again. She waited until he was only a foot from her and had already pulled out a syringe before elbowing him in the face, snatching the needle from his hand, and hurling it against the wall. The liquid inside splattered both her and her attacker, but it was harmless on top of the skin. She turned to face the others, holding back the self-satisfied smirk that threatened to burst out on her face. She knew better than that. These people weren't stupid, particularly Sate, so she knew they had to have more of whatever that drug was. It had been perfectly clear; she suspected it was the same drug that Ames had used on her when he kidnapped her after the fiasco in Manticore.

As another familiar stepped forward, Kay noticed that Sate was watching the entire scene with a mildly amused smirk on his face, but also something that resembled excitement in the back of his eyes. Although he had done an impressive job so far of restraining his feelings, she knew that he held a powerful hate for her. Not that she blamed him, she didn't exactly improve the quality of his life the last time they were together. Still, he was enjoying the sheer pleasure of watching his comrades get what he felt they deserved. It was fun to watch them get kicked around by their own hostage. He would only put up with the amusing display for so long, however. She knew he would get bored with it eventually; after that, she wasn't quite sure what he would do.

Before the other familiar had even reached her, the woman stepped forward as well. Well, at least they aren't dumb enough to take me on one by one. In one swift move, she pushed herself away from the wall as hard as she could and slammed her fists into both of their faces, catching the woman in the nose and the man in the mouth. The man stepped back with his hand over his gushing mouth, she had at least broken five teeth, while the woman sent out a retaliatory kick, not quite managing to hit her squarely in the ribs but striking quite close. She regained her breath before the other woman could even think of attacking her again, and this time she didn't aim just to injure. The heel of her right hand jammed at a slightly upward angle into the woman's nose, sending her own cartilage straight into her brain. It was at this point that Sate decided this was taking too long. The air around her grew unnaturally cold and her feet slid backwards over the stone until she was pressed firmly against the wall. This wasn't anything unusual, he did this to her on a regular basis, but now there were three other functioning familiars in the room. Her original attacker and his successor were both approaching her again, as well as the final man standing uncomfortably in the door next to Sate. She couldn't even move as one of them punched her as hard as he could in the face. Almost instantaneously she could taste blood in her mouth and her cheekbone practically glowed in pain. It started very slowly, they all seemed to want to take their time as they decided where they wanted to hit her next, but soon they had given up thinking it over and all three were tearing at her, punching and kicking anything they could get to. She slumped to the ground when Sate released her from his hold, then felt the sharp sting as one of the men jabbed another needle into the back of her shoulder.

The effects were practically immediate. Wooziness swept through her as the resulting effect of the combination of the beating and the drug hit her. Normally she would have just felt a lack of strength, but with every inch of her under attack, her body didn't quite know how to react. She threw out her leg feebly, catching one of the familiars by surprise and tripping him in mid-kick. Before the drug took away every last bit of strength she had, she pushed herself to her feet and charged forward, burying her shoulder in someone's chest and effectively knocking the wind out of him. She brought her foot down forcefully on the tripped familiar's leg and felt a rush of relief when she heard the telltale snap of a bone breaking. Without even giving him a chance to react to what she had done, she applied the exact same technique to his neck. When the last standing familiar lunged at her, she stepped aside just in time to grab the back of his head to use his own momentum against him and send him headfirst into the stone wall, resulting in another satisfying crunch. The one who's breath she had knocked out, the only one left alive other than Sate, stood up and backed away from her, eyeing her warily. Kay's legs shook beneath her and she looked at the door, where Sate's tall frame took up most of the space. The other one wouldn't bother her anymore, that was clear by the way he was looking at his compatriots lying on the ground, but Sate wasn't likely to step aside and let her get away. Not that she thought she would make it off the property anyway, she just wasn't strong enough to accomplish that right now.

"Having fun?" Sate asked calmly, not affected at all by the sight of his dead colleagues. The smile that spread across his face was both slow and excited, he looked as though he was having the time of his life. "As enjoyable as this little scene has been to watch, I have better ideas on how to entertain myself."

The remaining familiar stepped past Sate and headed for the door leading into the main building, shaking slightly as he went. Kay didn't like this at all. They were alone and she was weaker than a common human. He backed out of the doorway to make room for her as the air around her grew cold again. As always, her feet dragged stubbornly against the ground as he pulled her out into the garage, which indeed was empty. Where is everyone? She didn't have nearly enough time to think about it. Her feet came completely off the ground and her body shot straight upwards, stopping just below a ceiling beam and making her stomach bounce inside her nauseatingly. The beam was only inches above her head and, without even thinking, she reached up and grabbed it. He hadn't bothered to control her arms as he performed his little flying act, but he changed his mind about that as soon as she had a good grip on the beam. She had to clasp her hands tightly together to keep her arms from separating and tearing away from the beam. Blood trickled down her arms as the corners of the beam dug into the already sliced open skin just below her elbows.

"How long do you really think you can stay up there?" he called out tauntingly. "You're losing blood, which is only going to make that muscle relaxant stronger. You'll pass out before too long, that is, if I don't rip you down from there before that."

"I'll stay up here as long as I have to!" she spat back at him, wishing she felt as brave as she sounded. He was right, she wasn't strong enough to hold on for very long, and even if she did manage to stay up here for more than ten minutes, she would more than likely faint. That drug was meant for a perfectly healthy person of her strength, not for a severely beaten and bleeding one. It was too strong of a dosage. Her fingers grew sweaty and began to slip over each other, but she desperately clung on as she felt the constant tug of Sate's eyes trying to pull her down. Think about something, anything to keep you from focusing on how difficult this is. Paige, I'm coming for you. As soon as we're together again, I can think about coming back and killing this bastard. The combined thoughts of revenge and seeing her daughter again gave her the tiniest adrenaline rush, but she doubted it would be very useful. When the rush disappeared and she went through the resulting energy low, it would be the final straw. Just as she felt the light burst of energy fade away, Sate gave one more fierce tug and her fingers finally tore loose from each other.

He let her hit the ground with nothing more than the assistance of gravity, but he didn't give her more of a break from his eyes than that. She suddenly found herself skidding across the cement floor, scraping her back harshly as the cloth of her shirt started ripping from the friction. The journey didn't stop until she crashed headlong into one of the walls, biting back her cry of pain. He could toss her around all he wanted, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of hearing her cry out. As he sent her across the floor again, she thought she caught the shadow of someone standing just outside the side door of the garage that led in from the front lawn, but that was the only time she caught a glimpse of them. After that, her memories of the ordeal blurred together in such a confusing, chaotic muddle that she had no idea how long Sate's treatment went on. She only knew that he raked her practically limp body across the floor several times and into each of the walls at least twice before his fun time came to an end.

"What is going on here?" a familiar voice gasped in absolute shock. "Cut it out, Sate, or I'll have to stop you myself."

Both Kay and Sate gazed over to see Jacob standing in the doorway from the main building with his gun out, staring around at the blood-spattered garage in complete confusion and barely concealed disgust. Sate glared at the other man for a moment, and then held up his hands with his slight half-smile lingering on his lips. He knew perfectly well that Jacob could shoot him before he got the chance to rip that gun from his hands. Jacob stepped away from the door and tipped the gun in that direction. "Go to Alistair's office and tell him exactly what happened. Michael wasn't able to tell the whole story, but from what he said, it sounds like you just watched the entire massacre. Alistair will want to know why, and I don't think he'll be pleased when he finds out that you were toying with the hostage when you should have been clearing the bodies out of here. The Conclave will deal with her in their own way."

Sate sneered as he passed by him on the way to the door. "You're on a first name basis with him now? How sweet."

Jacob glared at his back as he disappeared, finally turning back to look at Kay. "Jesus Christ, what have you gotten yourself into? If you think Sate is a nightmare, just wait until Alistair gets his hands on you. He may not have all of Sate's abilities, but I think it's safe to say that he didn't get to the level of respect that he enjoys now with just his intelligence and leadership capabilities."

"I'll worry about that later," she choked out almost inaudibly. Every piece of skin on her body, what was left anyway, felt as though it had been sandpapered for several hours straight. Her clothes didn't even resemble clothing anymore, they had been reduced to shredded rags. Under normal circumstances she would have been embarrassed, but any flesh that was showing was too bloody and bruised to be revealing anyway. She didn't even attempt to stand up, she knew she wouldn't be able to. Now that she was looking around the garage without sliding through it, she could see every trail that Sate had sent her down. The only thing she could smell and see was blood.

Jacob sighed and walked into her cell, dragging out the three dead bodies that had been forgotten there. When he had pulled them a fair enough distance away, he came to her side and reached down to try and lift her to her feet. She only managed to stay standing for about two seconds before her legs gave way and she slumped against him helplessly. He rolled his eyes and swept her up easily into his arms, staring down in distaste at the blood on his clothes when he laid her down again on the floor of her cell. "He sure managed to mess you up. I'll see what I can do about getting you some new clothes; those definitely aren't good anymore."

She forced out a faint smile as his face swam before her eyes, growing strangely dark and then light again. Her eyes ached and felt ten times too big for her head. For some reason they hurt her more than the rest of her body did, even though it was only a continuous throb that plagued them. Even just smiling made them hurt more. "I'm making a new fashion statement. 'Clothes aren't any good to wear until they've been through a shredder.' I'll make millions, just you wait and see." Why was the light changing so much? It was like someone kept hitting a dimmer switch.

"You're the strangest person I've ever met. You look like you're the one who went through the shredder, but you're still cracking jokes like it's any other day. Look, I really am sorry about what Sate did, but I'm also not that happy about the way you killed my coworkers. I may not have known them very well, but they were my people. I think I've been pretty foolish to stick around here and talk to you when I was bored with guard duty. It almost made me forget what you are. What's wrong, why are you looking at me like that?"

The truth was that she wasn't actually looking at him. She wasn't looking at anything at all. Instead of everything getting brighter again after going dim, the world had just continued to grow darker until the lights went out completely. No matter how hard she strained her eyes, she couldn't see a thing. "No reason, I just can't believe what I'm hearing. If you really feel that way, then get out of here. I'm serious, just go!" she snapped viciously at him. If he had decided to treat her like a freak again, then the last thing she wanted for him to know was that she was temporarily blind. At least I hope it's just temporary. After the door slammed, she leaned back against the wall in defeat. It wasn't going to be long before this Alistair, whoever he was, came to see her and discovered this new revelation. The worst thing was that she knew she didn't stand a chance of escaping while she was like this. Even after only a week, it was starting to feel as though she'd never get out of here.

Jondy couldn't believe everything she had just witnessed. Zack hadn't been able to actually see from where he was standing, but he had heard enough to be just as horrified as she was. She turned to him with her eyes as wide as they could physically get. "Zack, I know I've been acting like a stubborn ass lately, but even I know when to swallow my pride. We need to get her out of there as soon as we can. These people are terrible, who knows how many of them will show up when she comes into heat?"

"Actually, I don't think they're going to find out," Zack replied quietly, rubbing his palms together in an effort to keep himself standing in his spot and not go rushing into the garage to get Kay right then and there, but not quite for the purpose of rescuing her. "She's not going to act like it with the pain she's in."

"That's only if she comes into heat soon. If it takes a few weeks, she could very well be back to normal."

"She's not going to come into heat in a few weeks, trust me. We need to leave right now before I lose it. If we stay here any longer, I might just blow our cover in the most ridiculous way."

As they hurried back towards the car, Jondy asked, "What are you talking about? And what makes you think it won't be in a few weeks?"

"Because she's in heat right now. I could smell it from where I was standing and I'm sure Sate could too, even if he didn't know what it means. I think they can smell heat cycles, but they don't react to them because they don't have our feline DNA. I know it's still not a good situation, but I'm starting to worry about this Alistair guy they were talking about more. With the way they were referring to him, I think he's part of the Conclave. He's not going to be very happy about her killing three of his people. If we don't get her out of there tomorrow at the latest, I really don't think she'll be alive to save."

Author's Note: Please read and review!