AN: So… this chapter carries a serious trigger warning for a very intense (or at least for me) scene.
To yellow 14: I really like this chemistry between them, too!
To Lyger 0: And yet, Adrien somehow managed to get the girl in the end.
To Butterfly: I do have fun with the banter!
Almost half an hour later, once she had applied a new layer of oil to all of her suit's joints, returned her oil and rag to their places, and wiped off her hands, Bri grabbed her light jacket off the peg next to the door, stepped outside into the cool October air, and wrapped her jacket close around her against the chill. A tap of her bracelet and the workshop door slid shut behind her, the lights turning off and leaving her with little illumination beyond the distant streetlight at the end of the block, barely visible as a pinprick of light haloed in the smothering fog. It rolled around, covering her and hiding the buildings on either side of the alley, muffling her footsteps. The only sound she could hear was that of the wind blowing lightly down the alley into her face. A shiver ran down her spine, and she hit a control on her right bracelet to turn on the flashlight, casting a narrow beam of bright white light on the ground in front of her feet, cutting a trail through the fog.
It was less than a block from her workshop to the Strand, and only three blocks from there to campus, a route she had walked almost every day – sometimes twice a day – since she arrived in London near the beginning of the summer. When she had decided to build her suit, she had wanted somewhere convenient to the campus but out of the way, and the older couple who owned this house had been more than happy to allow the young Engineering student to store her "motorcycle" in the old shed abutting on the back alley, no questions asked, and ignore the loud music and banging. Since then she had practically memorized every meter of the route, knew who would be out when, and how to avoid notice. This late at night, she never ran into anyone.
She jerked her head up and tilted it to the side in surprise. Something had disturbed the gravel somewhere behind her, the sound barely audible through the oppressive fog. "Hello?" she called, turning her head slightly. The alley was obscured by shadows and clouds, the darkness behind her impenetrable. She shrugged and continued walking, though she picked up her pace slightly. The Strand was less than a block away.
Soft footfalls on the pavement behind her. "This had better not be another stupid joke, Pup," she growled. No response. Instead the footsteps accelerated, drawing closer. Closer, closer, the sound came, heavy and solid. Eyes widening in fear, Bri broke into a sprint, racing down the alley past darkened houses. The Strand was just barely visible through the fog, the corner streetlamp's light haloed by a wreath of mist. Footsteps pounded behind her, and Bri flicked her left wrist, palming that bracelet's control. She started to turn, started to bring her bracelet to bear on whoever it was, and something slammed into her side, driving her down into the rough alley surface, scraping her arm on the gravel and tearing her jacket sleeve, pushing pebbles into the side of her elbow. The back of her head hit the ground, and stars flashed in her eyes.
The scene around her was cast into long shadows by the dim light from the streetlamp at the end of the block, sitting mere meters away as a hint of the safety to which she had been tantalizingly close. The light barely pierced through the gloom, but by it Bri could just make out a wild face with slate-grey eyes and a tangled mane of brown hair. He shifted into a kneeling position, straddling her hips and pressing her thighs down with his feet, one hand finding her throat. Bri turned her right arm and bent her elbow, bringing the flashlight on her bracelet to bear on him, and he flinched away from the light, clenched his eyes shut, and hissed. Before she could deploy her energy pistol, however, he grabbed her wrist around the bracelet, covering the light, and slammed it into the ground, hard. The touch screen shattered against the gravel, and the light flickered and died. Bri swung her other arm at his head, aiming to hit him with her undamaged bracelet, but he caught her wrist with his other hand and brought her hands together over her head, pushing them into the ground hard with one of his own. The gravel bit into the backs of her hands. She struggled and squirmed to free her wrists from his tight grip, but to no avail. His unkempt nails bit into the soft flesh of her wrists, leaving crescent marks in her skin.
The Ripper leaned in close, his face mere centimetres from her own, and leered down at her. Her breath caught in her throat on staring wide-eyed up into the face of death. His rancid breath assaulted her nostrils and burned her throat, and she almost gagged. Her arms still pinned above her head, Bri glared up at him, her eyelids narrowed to slits, and she drove her head forward, aiming to smack him in the nose with her forehead. The Ripper leaned to one side to avoid her attack, put his free hand over her mouth and nose, and slammed her head back into the pavement once more, harder this time. She gnashed her teeth at him in fury. "A fighter!" he hissed maliciously, leaning forward, eyes alight with cruelty. "I haven't had one of those in a while! I think we will… enjoy this." He ran his tongue up her face. "The more you struggle, the more… fun we can have… before your final release…"
Bri blinked away the spots in her vision and bit back a whimper. A jolt of pain shot through her body. Her eyes refocused just in time to catch a glimpse of his crooked teeth before he bit her cheek, drawing blood. She couldn't stifle the pained cry that elicited. As her lips parted his rancid breath invaded her mouth, leaving an acrid taste on her tongue. She squirmed against the body pressing down on top of her, but couldn't break his steel grip. She coughed in his face, the only resistance she could offer. Never before had she felt so weak, so helpless. She tried to find words of defiance, but every sound died in her throat.
"Now," the Ripper whispered hoarsely, "you are mine!" He drew a knife from his pocket and placed the blade against her chin, pushing her head back until she was staring straight up into his eyes. She tried to turn away, but the knife tip pricked her cheek as he forced her to look back at him. She squeezed her eyes shut, praying for a swift end, but he pressed the knife's tip into the soft skin under her chin, and her eyes flew open once more. "You are mine now." His dead, unpitying eyes filled her vision. "I will have you now… and always." He turned the knife in his hand. "You will always be in my power." He slid the knife down under the collar of her blouse and cut.
Bri gasped in shock as the cool air hit her exposed skin. The Ripper's razor-sharp knife sliced clean through her jacket, shirt, and bra. The torn fabric flapped open in the slight breeze. She squirmed, flattening her stomach away from the blade as the knife slipped lower, tracing a thin hot line down the centre of her chest and across her stomach, only stopping when the blade stuck in the waistband of her jeans. She strained her arms against his firm grip, but he would not budge. Her shirt in tatters and chest uncovered, he drew the knife tip lazily back up her chest before laying the flat of the blade along her collarbone. A jolt coursed through her as the cold metal touched her bare skin.
Finally she found her voice. "N–no, p–please!" she begged, wide-eyed, staring up into the man's strangely-emotionless eyes. She pulled her arms against his iron grip, but more weakly. "Please, don't hurt me!"
The knife tip traced down and around the right side of her chest, cutting a fine line through the top layer of skin, before he did the same on the left. Bri closed her eyes, panting heavily but trying not to move her chest too much as he cut again and again, leaving behind tiny slits that only barely started to weep blood. Then one around the left side pierced deeper, and she gasped, writhing under him to escape the blade's bite. Again the knife bit deeper, sharper, lower on her torso now. Looking down she could see a thin stream of blood pooling around the left side of her abdomen. His eyes roamed greedily down her blood-streaked chest. "You will serve me well for tonight."
Tears sprang to her eyes. "Stop! Please! I–I'm begging you!" she whimpered. "Or–or just get it over with already!"
"You do not get to decide the when and how," he whispered, placing the knife tip in her navel and leaning in close, pushing down on the knife's handle so it poked through the sensitive skin, drawing blood. "I am in control. And I will take my time with you while you remain in this mortal form, until I help you to cross over. But the things I will do with you once I have released you from this shell…" He leered at her, licking his lips.
Bri squeezed her eyes shut tight as he continued cutting her chest, deeper now. She bit the inside of her lip to keep from crying out, from giving him the one thing he seemed to desire. She was going to die. The knife bit deeper into her chest. She was a superhero, and she was going to be raped and murdered in a dark alley – and at this moment she would welcome death! She thought about the woman she had found earlier this week, cut open, blood and other fluids coating her eviscerated abdomen. Tonight, that would be her. Would the Hound be the one to find her? What would he say? What would he do? What about her parents? The blade tip was removed from her chest, and the Ripper whispered something she didn't understand. A jolt started in her hand and shot down through her arms.
Her arms!
Bri's eyes shot wide open. The Ripper held the knife above his head, the point aimed straight down at the centre of her chest, his wild hair moving in the light breeze. His mouth was open, his eyes pointed up into the fog-filled sky. And another jolt of electricity from her damaged bracelet zapped her as the shorting wires touched her wrist.
Bri screamed.
Finally finding her courage with the ear-piercing shriek, her eyes narrowed in a defiant glare, Bri bucked, drawing her legs up to her butt for leverage and pushing against the Ripper's waist where he straddled her. She squirmed her arms against his one-handed grip, wrestling to free her wrists from where he held them above her head. His face changed to shock, eyes widening. His grip on her wrists eased fractionally. It was exactly what she was waiting for.
Pulling her right wrist out of his grip, Bri swung her arm up at his face. He leaned back to avoid it, but he was too close, still trying to keep her other wrist pinned. The top edge of her bracelet struck him in the cheek. The two shorting wires touched his skin, and he yelped in surprise, releasing his hold on her other hand. Bri punched him with her now-freed left hand, even as she kept the damaged right bracelet in contact with his skin. Electricity arced into his cheek, and he flinched. Finally she bucked him off of her and he fell backward to the ground, losing his knife in the process. He scrambled backward away from her in a crabwalk. She rolled onto her front and sprang up even as he found his feet and raced away. Bri raised her undamaged left bracelet, aimed to wrap up his feet, and pressed the button.
The pavement just behind the Ripper's receding form melted as she hit the energy pistol trigger instead of the grappling hook. The Ripper turned the corner and disappeared down the Strand.
Bri stood frozen in place for a long moment, blinking furiously against the ringing in her head, staring at the spot where the Ripper had vanished. She took a shaky, gasping breath, her arm still pointing at the corner around which he had fled. What if he returned to finish the job? She heard footsteps behind her and spun around, letting off a wild energy blast and screaming at the top of her lungs.
"Whoa! Friendly fire!" The Hound's face appeared through the fog.
Bri stared at him for a moment before placing her hand against her side. It came away red. She collapsed forward.
