Lina's eyes fluttered. The first thing she noticed was her headache. She tried to sit up and rub her head when she felt something rattling. Looking down she saw that she was tucked into a hospital bed. Throwing off the blankets—and feeling relieved she still had her clothes on—she found that her ankle was chained to the bed's rail.

"Zdrast'ye Dragonfly. I was starting to think you were more seriously injured than we thought." Lina craned her head to see Red Nova sitting next to her bed, reading as he waited.

Lina's heart leaped into her throat. "Where am I?" She asked, trying to put up a brave

front.

"Our base." Red Nova said simply. "I realize that this is merely bourgeois politeness, but when in Rome…anyway my name is Vladimir Sergeyevich Tubarov. And you are—?" He knew Lina's name already from the files Frost had given him, but still wanted to engage her in a dialogue.

"Um, I think this is the part where I'm supposed to say that I only have you tell you my name, rank, and serial number." Lina answered hesitantly.

"Do you even have a rank? Or a serial number?" Vladimir asked. "That just leaves us with the name. Which would be…?"

"Lina Chakram." Lina sighed. "Am I your prisoner?"

"Pretty much." Vladimir admitted. "You are free to move about the base, though the control room and generators are off limits—not that you could enter them anyway and rooms are our personal spaces, so common rules of privacy should apply. Other than that, you're free to go where you please…in the base."

"And if I try to leave?" Lina demanded defiantly. Vladimir gave her a pitying smile.

"You can't." He said so simply that it never occurred to Lina not to believe him. "There isn't a door you can walk out of. Semira—you know her better as Vortex—is our primary way in and out."

"And before you get any ideas of trying to use your powers to overcome us," Vlad said, wagging a finger for emphasis. "I'm afraid you'll find that it won't work." Casually, he reached over and flicked his finger at one of Lina's wings. There was a hollow sounding thud and a multicolored swirl appeared just over the spot he tried to touch.

"What in the world—?" Lina asked in amazement.

"Forcefield." Vladimir said simply. "There's a small subcutaneous chip placed between your wings. It generates a small forcefield about a millimeter away from your wings that completely surrounds them. That means no slicing up the base—or us—with the edges of your wing. They also won't let you fly more than two meters or so off the ground." Vladimir paused a second to let that all sink in. "We've destroyed your communicator and deactivated your teleportation watch. GI Joe has no way to find you here."

"So what do you want?" Lina asked in a mixture of bitterness and fright. She was completely on her own here without the benefit of most of her powers. Vladimir calmly raised his hand. It glowed red as he powered up. Lina closed her eyes. She heard a slight sizzling sound, a snap, and then it was over.

She opened her eyes. Vladimir was holding the manacle that had kept Lina's ankle chained to the bed.

"For the moment." Vlad said mildly. "I want dinner. Care to join us?"

Lina didn't move. Vladimir sighed.

"We are not going to hurt you." He told her. "We're here to help."

"Help?" Lina asked incredulously. "By kidnapping me?"

"I prefer to think of it as an inadvertent rescue." Vladimir shrugged.

"Rescue from what?"

"GI Joe. They're just using you, you know."

"Funny, I was about to say the same about you and the Hellfire Club." Lina shot back.

"The what?" Vladimir asked. Lina blinked.

"The Hellfire Club? You know, the evil illuminati type organization? They're powerful businessmen, crime lords, and powerful mutants who dress up in seventeenth century clothing and try to take over the world!"

"You had me going until you brought up the clothing thing." Vladimir said. "No one would try take over the world in seventeenth century clothing!"

"I know it's a stretch," Lina admitted. "But it's the truth! Frost is a member of the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle! The Hellions are just their shock troops."

"Da, and I'm really the Pope's chauffeur on weekends." Vladimir deadpanned. "I'm afraid you and your friends are the ones being duped into being lackeys for rich businessmen bent on world domination."

"No we're not!" Lina said angrily. "We're part of GI Joe! We work for the army! For Congress and the US government!"

"Like I said." Vladimir said dryly. "Look, I know you aren't going to believe me right away so we might as well shelve this discussion for later. In the meantime, I'm hungry, my team is hungry, and you're probably hungry so why don't we just go to the kitchen and eat?"

"Why should I make things easier for you?" Lina demanded. "What if I refuse to eat until you bring me back to the Misfits?" Vlad's face turned dark.

"Threatening to starve yourself? Is suicide your answer to all your problems Miss Chakram? Whenever you're faced with a change in venues or a new problem you threaten to end your own life? Haven't you tried that already?" He asked stormily. Lina flinched. "I'm sure your friends wouldn't be happy to hear that you tried to do it again."

"That isn't,--that's not what I, I mean I…" She trailed off and looked down. Vladimir exhaled and softened his voice.

"I know this can't have been an easy day for you, but not eating isn't going to make it better. Come to dinner. I expect to see you there in ten minutes." Vladimir said as he turned around and left the infirmary.

Lina Chakram sat on her bed and hugged her knees to her chest. She waited for about five minutes. Then she went to find something to eat.