It was dark; the only light came from a soft glow under a doorway and a couple of stars Faith could see through a small window, but that much told her she was in a room. 'Well really girl, where else would you be?' She tried to move around, get a sense of her surroundings, but she didn't get very far before she realized her left ankle was chained to the ground. 'That's great, just great. I'm in a creepy room and I'm chained to the floor. Next thing I know some guy all dressed in black is going to walk through that door and tell me I have to chew off my foot in order to get out.'
Forcing herself not to start feeling claustrophobic, Faith takes a deep breath and tries to figure out what the hell is going on. The cold cement floor sends a chill down her spine and she pulls her jacket a little tighter. The room smells of mould and dewy walls, not a sound pricks the silence. Starting to panic a little more, she tries to force herself to remember how she got here, or better yet, where here was.
The last thing she remembers is heading to the helix; it was just her, Brennen and Jesse. It was suppose to be a scouting mission, no action, just see what was what. But something had gone wrong. The three had split up to try and cover the whole warehouse, 'That's where I am! Cold cement floor, foul smell; it's not a basement, it's a warehouse.' Faith closed her eyes to try and focus more, not that it made that much of a difference. She'd turned a corner, someone had been there, in the shadows, almost as if they had been waiting for her. And then – nothing, and then she was here.
'Only I still don't know where here is. It's not as if there is a shortage of warehouses along the peir!' Faith couldn't tell if it was night or day, let alone how long she'd been there. A faint jingle crept to her ears, growing louder as it made its way closer to the door. Then a voice, a voice Faith knew all to well.
'Well shit. How the hell did I wind up back with him?' She braced herself, knowing exactly who was going to open that door. Standing up, Faith forced a blank expression on her face and folded her arms, hoping she didn't look too pathetic chained to the floor.
She could feel rather than hear someone on the other side of the door, little shadows appearing at the bottom of the door where he stood. A click as the key slid into the door and unlocked it, then blinding light that forced Faith to look away. Her eyes had adjusted so much to the darkness that it took her a while to be able to look up at her father.
"Faith," a cold voice speaks from the doorway.
"Father," she let the word fall from her lips with as much disdain as she could muster. "What a lovely surprise, and it's not even my birthday." Faith mocked a smile, not breaking eye contact with Mark, trying to show him she wasn't afraid.
"Wish I could say the same darling." Mark strolled further into the room, letting light spill around him and show Faith more of the empty room. She was right; it had to be a warehouse somewhere. She seemed to be in some kind of ditch, used for what she couldn't even guess, but Mark was standing over her on the edge that dropped about four feet to the ground Faith was chained to. The walls were steep and slimy, as if they had been underwater recently, and a pipe protruded about three feet up the wall on the other side of the square hole;she guessedsix feet by six feet.
The light also transformed Mark's silhouette into an actual man, dressed in a black turtleneck and jeans – the most casual outfit Faith had ever seen her father in. "Nice to see that the past three years has finally taught you some kind of fashion sense. Though not loving the shoes…" Faith frowned as she caught sight of old fashioned penny loafers scuffed from wear.
"Well why mess with a good thing. Had these for close to thirty years." Mark walked closer to his daughter and noticed she stood a light straighter as he glanced over her. Smiling to himself, he knew she was scared but too proud to show it.
"Well as fun as talking fashion with you is, I doubt that's why I'm here," she gestured around the room and leaned causally against the wall, trying to look relaxed, but remaining alert.
"Of course not, I need you, so I took you." Mark walked toward the pipe against the wall and leaned down.
"Need me, for what? Obviously not a family portrait for the Christmas card because then Brennen would have to be here too." Faith tried to see what Mark was doing, but his body blocked his actions.
"Oh, I expect him anytime now. It's been almost six hours, surely he won't wait much longer to play the hero and come riding in on a silver horse for his dear, sweet sister." Mark began moving his arms and Faith heard a faint trickling of water as the pipe began to open. The more Mark twisted, the more water flowed from the pipe and soon the whole floor was covered with about an inch of water.
"A shower, how nice, you're going to let me freshen up." Faith tried to play it cool, but she was already cold and the freezing water lapping at her bare feet was not helping. She began to get worried when the water had reached her knees and Mark backed away from the spout.
As the water reached Faith's waist, a man appeared at the door and moved towards Mark, who was standing over Faith, a smile on his lips. "Sir," the man hesitated to go any further as he noticed the intense expression Mark wore. "Our sensors tell us that intruders are on the premises. From what we can tell, two have made it beyond the check point."
"Don't be fooled, there are more of them somewhere. I want three teams to sweep the grounds, try and locate all invaders but do not engage. I'll be out in a moment. Remember: let him through to the main gateway." Mark at last looked up and watched the man salute and then leave the room.
"Still playing solider I see. Who'd you get to follow you this time?" Faith's voice quivered slightly as the cold water reached her neck and began to poor over the side of the pool.
"So, it sounds like you're brother finally got the guts to come looking for you. I must say, he took much longer than I expected – then again he always was a disappointment." Mark ignored Faith's chattering teeth and walked towards the door, stepping carelessly through the layer of water now covering the entire floor and pouring out of the doorway.
"Don't you think you're making a bit of a mess? What will people think if you flood your own base? Not exactly a smart leader…" Faith watched as Mark stood in the doorway and reached for the handle.
He began to pull the door shut but paused just short of closing it, allowing his face to still be seen, "but my child, don't you see? It's all part of the plan. Ingenious if I don't say so myself – but then again I thought of it. Actually, ironic is more like it. If Brennen hadn't turned out to be a mutant, I wouldn't have been able to set all this up. The rescuer becomes the torturer. He'll kill himself over killing you, that's what you call poetic justice." And with that Mark shut the door and Faith heard the ominous click as the door locked and the light faded.
'Poetic justice, what the hell is he talking about?' Faith sorted through her Father's last remarks, knowing there was more to them then she heard. 'Alright, the water is part of a plan that involves his children – I assume Brennen and me. And Brennen is going to kill me and then himself, but I really can't see that one happening. Irony about Brennen's mutation…" Either the cold was getting to her, or the dull pounding in the back of her head was distracting her from figuring it all out.
Shaking uncontrollably now, Faith rested against the wall, thankful that the ditch ended about six inches short of her head and the water was seeping out of the doorway. 'Focus girl, it's not much good if you can breathe if you're stuck here much longer. Hypothermia will set in, and it'll only get worse. Maybe that's it, maybe Mark wants me to die of hypothermia and that will somehow be Brennen's fault.' Faith mauled over the thought for about thirty seconds before realizing how stupid it was and in no way cruel enough for her father.
'Ok, something involves Brennen, me, death and water on the floor. Me, death, Brennen, floor, water. Mark, me, Brennen, death, water, floor. Floor, Brennen, Mark, water, me, death. I'm not seeing a plan anywhere in here.' Faith couldn't feel her hands anymore and realized that her powers were now useless. 'Smart one there girl. Probably should have thought about that sooner, could have kept them dry, and maybe could have dried some of the water up.' But Faith knew there was too much now, and the strength it would take to heat all the water would be enough to kill her.
Still, she held her hands above her head, attempting to dry them off and warm herself up a little. It worked, to some extent, but there wasn't much energy left in her and she couldn't feel her body by now. So she resigned herself to trying to find the connection again.
And then it hit her, like a thousand volts of electricity, or rather, a thousand volts of electricity hit her and she suddenly realized how Brennen, water and her death were connected. The shock subsided and left a tingling sensation coursing through her body. 'That's why he needs the floor flooded and not just this room. Brennen is out there somewhere shocking people who happen to be standing in water. That doesn't work, that would shock Brennen too, and he's not that stupid.' Faith went over the other things her father had said, trying to see if it really was Brennen.
'He might be standing above them, on a walkway or something. Well that kind of sucks for me. But why would he electrocute them all, wouldn't Shal and Jesse be taking them out.Or maybe he's just shocking one person over and over. That would make more sense. After all, Mark couldn't take the chance that Brennen wouldn't shock enough peopleto kill me…Mark. That's it; Mark is forcing Brennen to shock him in order to shock me. Brennen wouldn't kill him right away, just toy with him, hurting him a little bit more each –' but it was all wiped away as another wave of pain hit her and ripped a cry from her trembling blue lips.