Chapter 3: Under Payne of Death

Warning: Torture included. I will try to keep it from getting too dark but no promises.

Tall guard and short guard dragged me to Dr. Harmon for the second time. As we arrived in his room, he took a glance at me and raised his eyebrow at the guard in a question?

Why him?

"He was making a nuisance of himself sir, I thought it would be helpful if we broke him of his will sooner rather than later." The tall guard said gruffly.

"Well, I'm not going to pass up the chance to play with my new toy." Harmon gave a sadistic smile. Oh goody. I almost forgot about those.

The guards dragged me to the table where I was chained down and prepared for a friendly information gathering session. Harmon wheeled in his cart of tools again.

"Hey Harmon! No upgrades I see, still using the cart. Don't you realize how cliché that is? I thought I gave you a friendly critique on that last time, but I see it meant nothing. It seems I may have to keep my advice to myself this time?" I gave him the biggest smile I could muster.

"That would be a welcome change of pace" He snarked back.

"Now that you said that, I can't just oblige by that. To think, I was so ready to just accept my fate and be silent, but now that I know it annoys you, I have to keep going!" My voice filled with fake excitement. I had come to the conclusion that the more happy I was, the more annoyed they got at me, and the more they focused on breaking me. That would mean two things. One, they would leave Jean alone. Two, I would get more time to piss them off. And it's not like I could stop myself, it's just so goddamn funny to see their malice lined faces contort with more anger to the point where their facial expressions began to lack meaning and just became weird.

"You will break. They all do." Harmon seemed to proclaim this in pride. I took a second to think. Maybe he was just stupid? Because from what I know, there are 3 prisoners here, including me. I'm not broken, I'm pretty sure Jean isn't broken, at least not totally, and if I could help it she never would be. All I knew about the last prisoner was that he seemed to be insane, so if he had been broken, it didn't say too much. Yet Harmon didn't seem to be a complete novice either. In all likelihood, he had some experience with torturing people in the past, but he wasn't adept at finding what could truly break a person, mentally and physically. He thought that simply inflicting excruciating levels of pain would do it, but most people would either pass out, build up a tolerance, or simply take it, especially those who had been trained for situations like this. Furthermore, past a certain threshold of pain, people simply accept their pain and if they have enough mental fortitude, can resist the torture. Obviously, there were ways of slowly battering down those defenses, but many would bring the prisoner to the brink of death and it was easy for those without training to go too far. As I said as well, those are much slower and more ineffective than what a professional could do.

It takes someone who can read people to an extreme level to identify the breaking points quickly, possibly someone like Black Widow could, but even other trained interrogators were able to identify it after some time. Harmon seemed to be inexperienced in that regard- part of it coming from his own sadism if I had to guess. By treating it as a source of fun rather than as a job, he was not only inefficient, but he easily lost focus and was prone to going overboard – while I was curious what that may entail, I didn't particularly like the idea of dying so I may have to temper my personality ever so slightly. All in all, Harmon was an inexperienced interrogator who relished in the pain of the victim rather than having any sort of training in gathering information.

Not to mention that the information he wanted, Ross already had, and so, he was going against Ross's orders with this interrogation. I doubt Ross cared very much though, he seemed to lack a conscience or a spine. I wouldn't be surprised if he created the Ice-Box half out of fun. Knowing Ross though, he definitely had some super-soldier aspirations. To think this was just days after Blonksy made me realize just how insane Ross truly was, because only a madman would create the Abomination and then think it's a good idea to turn around and look for another super-soldier project.

I barely noticed when Harmon took out his first tool for the day, a classic sharp surgical knife.

"Spider-Man, how did you gain your powers?"

This line of questioning seemed much more on par with what Ross wanted rather than what the Doctor wanted. He didn't seem to be under any duress though, in fact, I'm sure this was solely because he promised results and needed a little evidence to show progress.

"I found a spider and started worshipping it. I created an entire religion devoted to praying to it as a god. After 47 days of prayers it granted my request and gave me the powers." I chattered on in mock excitement. I apparently lacked the self-control to not annoy him. I have no regrets.

I saw the good doctor go through various emotions, beginning with surprise, slowly shifting to confusion and shock, before finally ending with anger as he realized I was messing with him. To be honest I was surprised he believed it for even a second, it isn't exactly the most plausible story. And in this universe, from what Peter heard on the news only Iron Man, Hulk and Thor have been exposed and most people don't know about Thor's origins, meaning that the weird origin stories that would make mine seem more plausible don't exist yet. Tough luck, but I wasn't exactly trying to convince him. Even if I told him the truth of a radioactive Spider bite, I doubt it would seem plausible either. All that, combined with the fact that he was a complete sadist, means that torture was going to happen regardless of what I said, even if it was the truth. Good thing I stopped Jean from being pulled here, I can't fathom the idea of someone else going through this, and Jean especially seems too pure to face this madman. I don't why I thought that, having met her only days ago, but I felt some need to protect her, more so than others. I shook off that feeling and dragged my thoughts back to the real world. Just in time for him to begin his interrogation techniques, cough cough torture.

Harmon pressed the knife to my upper torso and made a laceration from my pectoral down to my flank, right above the hip. It was relatively shallow, and the knife was sharp, so the pain wasn't terrible, but I definitely could feel it, along with the warm blood that began to trickle down my skin before contacting with the table.

See while I was smart, and so was Peter, neither of us had been truly tortured before. I knew a lot about torture and interrogation methods, hence why I was able to realize what his motivations and experience were, but I hadn't actually been tortured. This body however, has taken numerous beatings. In fact, thinking about what Peter was doing before I was here it seems that he lacked any sort of combat training, might have to do something about that when I get out of here. 'Wow, I really do ramble on don't I, even in my brain.' The number of beatings that Peter had took were still imprinted on me and this body, so while I had no experience with torture, I did have Peter's loads of experience of being beaten and battered, so this wasn't too bad yet. Yet being the key word if I had to guess.

"Want to change your answer?" Harmon snarled at me.

"Fine. I'm a mutant."

"We checked your DNA. You clearly aren't a mutant, although your DNA is screwed up, meaning you're a mutate. So, Spider-Man tell us, where are your powers from?"

I cut him off. "Wait, you have my DNA? How the hell don't you know my identity yet?"

'That's basic logic, so I'm not risking providing them with any new methods to find my identity. If he is stupid enough to answer, I'll have some very important information that seems to be missing.' I thought.

"Ross, for some reason, thought it would be good to remove all traces of your identity from the internet, government databases and anything else."

That response brought two things to my mind.

One that struck me again was the sheer incompetence of Dr. Harmon as an interrogator. That was two-fold in reasoning. First as a general rule of thumb is that you never provide information to an enemy especially when you don't know it's vitality. The second portion builds on that. By providing an information or ceding to a prisoner's request, you slowly shift the balance of power, reducing your own authority as an interrogator. Rookie mistake.

The second idea that hit me was Ross's reasoning. Obviously, I had to still protect my identity so the majority of criminals couldn't use Aunt May against me. Huh, when did I start thinking of her as my Aunt? No matter, point still stands. Even if Ross could, that was still better than the entire world and all of Spidey Cabal of Villains hunting down anyone Peter/I knew. I'm really going to need to resolve this identity crisis soon. Deferring that temporarily, if Ross was hiding my identity, he probably wants to use me and knowing Ross, he wants me, Jean, and whoever else he could get as a personal weapon or perhaps a way to make more weapons for himself but under the guise of the government. That type of protection could prove dangerous. That a psycho like Ross could use the façade of working for the government was disturbing to say the least.

Who knew that I thought best when I was being tortured? Is that a thing? Mid-torture clarity? I doubt it. Was wondering about mid-torture clarity a proof or denial of its existence?

I forced myself to pause for a second and think about my tangent. Yup, mid-torture clarity is not a thing. Maybe a mid-torture psychotic episode or existential crisis, but not clarity. The good thing about an analytical mind with a rambling tendency is that it can be quite distracting. It certainly distracted me from the fact that there was a knife digging into my abs. Oh. Now that I noticed it I could feel it. The cuts of the knife were tracing my six-pack. Oh right, I had a six-pack. The benefits of being a hero. That almost negates all the cuts that were digging into me. Almost.

I finally snapped back to reality as the not so good doctor withdrew the knife. I tried to remember what he asked before I remembered that he didn't. More confirmation I was dealing with a sadist. Oh goody. My mind flashed for a second to a thought of him doing this to Jean and I came to a grim resolve. I was going to bury him under here when I escaped.

The interrogation session continued as before. He asked a question, I gave him a fake or joking answer, he would cut me, we would move on. By the end of the session, he got absolutely no information out of me, and my torso and legs were lined with cuts, a gauge in my thigh going deeper than the rest from when he had briefly lost control of his temper.

I was dumped back in my cell and fell asleep almost immediately, but not before seeing Jean's worried expressions.

I woke up almost a day later and after Jean's shock at the torture subsided (she apparently never had to deal with the torture, that's a relief), we continued to talk. I learned more about her childhood, hearing about her role on sports teams and cheerleading and being a straight A student. In every sense of the word, she seemed to be perfect. The perfect child that her parents condemned for not falling into their dated ideas of what she should be doing with her life. Idiots.

She in turn learned more about me/Peter Parker me. Midtown High, Columbia and her favorite topic: Spider-Man, although she did seem to have a high level of interest into my work at Horizon Labs. While she wasn't able to grasp the high-level mechanics, much less the cross-field of biomechanics and biophysics, she was much more intelligent than a normal high-school student. Indeed, Jean had done some extra work and research into those fields when her parents weren't paying attention.

From what I gathered, while her parents were kind in the simplest manner of the word and never would try to abuse her emotionally or physically, they were controlling bastards. My words not hers.

So, the next few days traveled on. One day after the other, fed slop, shoved along into cold showers, with intermittent trips to Dr. Harmon. Until one day, I was blessed with being taken to the other Doctor. Dr. Payne he was called.

Payne prided himself on being a scientist and biologist, but for all his intellectual fervor, he was thrown out of medical school for seeming to lack the remorse and empathy to communicate with patients. In a manner that should be surprising to none, this removal stymied none of his apathy, rather, it enhanced it. His combination of intelligence and ruthlessness had made him a prime candidate as a doctor on several CIA black ops before they too had to remove him. He had a tendency for getting carried away and lacking subtlety, so the CIA had put him in a cell where no one could ever talk to him again. Or so they thought. Payne had been stewing in a cell at a blacksite when Ross had brought him out to give him the role as lead experimentation specialist at a secret prison that not even the US Government knew existed. Needless to say, Payne was ecstatic at the chance to be funded in his experiments of inquisition as he was so fond of calling them. I would come to think of them as more torturous than the actual torture of Dr. Harmon was.

The routine of getting there and being set up was much the same. I was dragged out of my cell by guards after throwing a few not so subtle barbs. Jean would look worried. I was chained to a table. The difference was this time, Dr. Payne walked out. He was short, standing at 5'7, with his slightly rounded body complimented poorly by his scrunched-up face. Suddenly, his features cleared as his eyes opened wide with a crazed excitement that worried me, more than the sadistic smiles from everyone else had.

"So Spider-Man," he hissed, "let's test out that healing factor shall we?"

I had to forcibly stop myself from gulping in fear.

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Aboard The Shield Helicarrier:

"Hill," Fury barked "What's going on with Project: Hibernation?"

"Nothing yet Sir, but I've heard several optimistic things coming from up north" Hill responded.

"Optimism does me no good, we need to complete the Project. Without it, the Avengers Initiative is dead in the water, especially without Spider-Man. The team already seems understaffed as all hell, and you know what the council uses as last resorts in emergencies" Fury said grimly.

"I'll let you know if we have any updates sir"

"In the meantime, has Natalie Rushman made contact with Stark? Fury questioned, with a smirk gracing his face.

"Oh yes, their legal department just got a major boost" Hill replied, the smirk mirrored on her own face.

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To test my healing factor, they had to adjust my power dampener, only turning off the device that inhibited the healing factor. Apparently, they had done so by having something that would constantly attack my immune system, requiring the body's full extra energy and thus limiting me to the healing factor of someone normal. Payne had bragged about this tech, apparently it was one of his own ideas.

'Great, now we have intelligent psychopaths, my stay just keeps on getting better and better' I thought to myself.

Or so I thought I had. I actually spoke those words to his face, but I couldn't bring myself to care. I doubt it would affect his, what I'm assuming will be, callous treatment of myself. Annoyingly though, Payne seemed to take this as a compliment. Psycho.

"We'll begin by seeing whether his healing factor extends to internal wounds" Payne intonated to his assistants before injecting me with something. My arm felt as if it were caught in a raging fire as whatever he had injected began to take hold and felt as if it were trying to strangle my immune system from the inside out. The torture began to increase as I felt a war raging between the poison (I'm assuming) and my immune system. After a minute, it subsided as quickly as it came on, the pain disappearing. I let out a pent-up breath that I hadn't realized I was holding in until my gaze settled on Payne. He didn't seem remorseful, in fact, he seemed almost amused.

"It seems that the Spider-healing works with his entire immune system, not just clotting factors. I suspected as much. That poison would have paralyzed him for at least a day if he had a regular immune system." Payne sent a contemptuous gaze my way, yet somehow also seeming enamored by the results. While everyone else in here seemed to be sadistic and sometimes took pleasure in watching my suffering, Payne seemed to be on another level of crazy. Whatever this group was trying to do, whoever they worked for, they were exceedingly dangerous, if only for their resources. To establish an entirely secret functioning prison with full personnel? That is dangerous. Just like I promised Dr. Harmon, I would bury Payne here as well, or at least put him down. They were a danger to everyone, even innocents like Jean and I'm assuming that IX-1, the other mutate is also innocent, however insane they are supposed to be.

Payne decided it would be prudent to continue with his experiments. This time, he wanted to see if my bones would realign properly, he said. I realized what he was going to do with horror, and I could do naught but watch. However, I had also concluded that by proceeding without the same snark I had used on Harmon, I was encouraging him. Before he could start the bone-breaking process, I felt energized and thought that a few barbs would be good. I knew for a fact that most of the people like him would have at least a superiority complex, or some form of self-aggrandizement, probably coupled with a deep-seated hatred towards someone, usually from their past who seemed to be better than them. Oftentimes, they had unresolved issues towards family members as well. Maybe if I could just do some needling, I could annoy him enough for him to send me back for now. Of course, what I couldn't know is one of the foremost reasons that Payne was removed from the CIA was because of his temper issues, which was worse than that of Harmon, who had already punched me as hard as he could.

"Do you have any preference as to which bone you would like us to break first?" Payne asked, his smile gleaming.

However, I couldn't be deterred now so I responded with considerable cheek and an equally bright smile. "Of course, your cranium would be preferred!"

Payne reared back for a second as if he hadn't expected me to respond. It seems that the communication in this prison was lacking between the personnel, because if he had talked to any guards or to Harmon, he would know that I had this tendency to actively piss off everyone who tried to do anything to me that I didn't like. He recovered quickly and glared down at me; his gaze laced with venom. I got this weird feeling that he was trying to act intimidating, but I didn't know why I felt that, until I started looking at his body language. He was a slightly rounded, short guy, so to be intimidating he tried to compensate. He stood on his toes, sucked in his stomach and thrust his chest out. He failed miserably, leading me to laugh uncontrollably.

"You laugh?!" Payne exclaimed in anger. "You are just a little boy, and I am a shark. I will KILL you." He bared his teeth.

I couldn't stop laughing. "Oh my god. A big bad shark! Is that a threat? I'm so scared! Also, it'd be much more dangerous if you said you were a falling airplane part. Did you know that more people die from falling airplane parts than sharks every year? Pretty weird right?" I flashed him a grin that cut right through his venomous glare.

"Let's begin by breaking the fibula on his right side." Payne dictated, actively ignoring me.

I tried a gambit to anger him with his superiority complex more. I didn't know anything about him, so this was a risk and a guess, but something about him made me think it was going to be accurate.

"Hey Payne, can you get your brother to do this? I think he's better at this than you."

Payne turned around with a snarl on his face and a knife in his hand. Looks like I was right. He had a brother who seemed to be better than him and it angered him endlessly. Mission: Success.

"You know nothing!" Payne shouted at me.

There was another risk I could take, that could possibly take him the maximum possible anger level. Fuck it, why the hell not, he was already going to break all my bones.

"I may not, but at least that's what your mother said. She was so proud of your brother, she said he was amazing, so yeah, I want him to do this. At least he's good at his job." I said dismissively, only to enrage him.

Without another word, Payne's face contorted into that of a murderer as he took his knife and drove it through my gut, clipping several internal organs. I felt a flash of pain, before it subsided as my eyes closed. Even my Spider-healing wouldn't be enough to stop this.

A/N

Don't worry, it's not over lmao. I was just wondering if y'all would rather have it be just a solo pairing or a multiple women thing. I would make it polyamorous rather than a harem (i.e everyone in it would love each other rather than just be individual relationships). Also I'd limit it to a maximum of 3 other partners, 4 including Peter. The Jean Grey one is happening regardless, and right now, if I decide to add another, it'd probably be Ororo Munroe. That being said, I just want people's ideas on this. Would y'all want the single Peter/Jean pair, or Peter/Multiple, and if multiple, give me ideas on who the other 2 could be. Cool? Cool. Leave a review with what you want to see - if it matters to you.