Clara's POV
I woke up strapped tightly to a wooden chair. Bonds of thick rope cut into my wrists and ankles, rendering me unable to grab my daggers, even if they weren't set down on a table far in front of me. A bandana had been stuffed into my mouth.
My heart started beating faster. How did I get here? What's happening? There was no response in the mind-link. That's when I felt the sleek metal of the inhibitor collar around my neck. I swore. Looking around, I saw the Team bound and gagged just as I was.
But it wasn't only them in the room. To my left sat Jesse Wells. Blood covered most of her exposed skin and dripped steadily out of her nose, the only noise in the room other than her ragged breathing. She had cuts covering her torso and legs, and burns crisscrossed over her face and neck. A dagger had been plunged into her thigh, keeping her blood from spilling out even more. Black Manta had wanted her alive, for some reason or another.
A door that I hadn't noticed in the far corner of the room creaked open. An Asian man well into his sixties came into the room, with cruel and sharp eyes. "Ah, one of them is awake," he said with a strong accent. "Let us wake the others."
A beautiful woman followed him into the room. Her hair was blonde, and she was wearing a black suit... Was that Black Canary? Was she working for Black Manta? No, he wouldn't be that careless when it came to revealing double-agents, would he?
Before I could organize my thoughts, she opened her mouth and screamed. With my hands tied, I couldn't plug my ears, couldn't stop them from bleeding like Jesse's nose. Everybody else was immediately awakened, joining in with screams of their own. Screams of pain.
The man held up a hand to silence her. M'gann mumbled something with tears streaming down her cheeks, but it came out as gibberish with the sock in her mouth. He brought out several small needles. Beast Boy's eyes went wide with fear.
"Acupuncture. Sometimes, it heals. But in bodies full of power, it creates unimaginable pain." He gingerly picked up a needle and shoved it into the base of Dick's neck. I almost cried out, though it wouldn't matter if I did. No one could hear me.
I waited for Dick to scream. I waited for him to give me a reason to kill the man. Instead, he gasped a sigh of relief.
"Some of you do not have powers," the man said. He moved to the next in line; Beast Boy. "Very well. Let us continue."
This man was going to die. Beast Boy is a child. I was going to kill him if he dared to stick a needle into-
The high-pitched screaming of Beast Boy was agony. Rage simmered through my veins, but there was nothing I could do about it. Dead, dead, dead. I was going to kill the man. I let the word become a chant in my mind as he walked closer to me, balancing a needle in his fingers.
I braced myself as the man plunged the needle right between my eyebrows. Pain pressed against that point until it settled over my entire body like a cloud. My breath was knocked out of me, and spots danced before my vision. I watched as he slowly stuck needles into everyone, their shrieking filling the room as though we were at a symphony of pain. Superboy was the only one who was able to stay quiet, other than me. He was unbreakable. My only relief was when he came to Artemis, who sighed and went limp.
He came back, removing all of our gags. "I want to hear your screams better when we begin round two," he said.
"What?" Beast Boy wailed. "There's more?"
"Well, yes. The Chinese believe that there are three hundred and seventy acupuncture points in the body. I believe it is closer to four hundred."
"That would kill us!"
"Well, no pain, no gain." He grinned slyly. He was enjoying this. Dead, dead, dead. The chant became louder.
"What, exactly, is there to gain?" Aqualad struggled to say.
"The identities of all of the members of the Justice League."
"Never," Aqualad growled.
"Round two it is, then." He began polishing another needle.
"Wait, no... Don't... don't do this," Artemis said, her eyes half-closed.
"Oh, look, Artemis is relaxed as can be while her friends have to suffer."
Artemis bared her teeth at him. If not for the pain, I could've laughed, because she looked like a sleepy poodle. I would never tell her that.
"Who are you?" Dick looked really sleepy too.
"How... do you know who we are?" I choked out. The man stayed silent. He plunged another needle into Dick, who sighed and relaxed his muscles. The man moved toward Beast Boy, and I couldn't take it anymore. The last thing I felt was the collar shatter around my neck.
