Shattered

"Tsk tsk," She sauntered into the space, her gaze surveying, with cold intensity, his state both mentally and physically. The capped bottle, she pulled free from beneath his nose, placing the container back into its place upon her person and discarding the used tape. A hissing giggle escaped her as she moved to stand before him. "You seem quite lonely pet." Her finger raked the length of his cheek, the nail leaving an angry, red scratch in its wake. She grabbed a fist full of his hair and gave a hard yank. The force pulled his mostly blank gaze up to meet her own. "Resistance is futile, Spikey, love." She paused momentarily as Luthor put slack in the chain at his mouth.

He blinked dazedly, his eyes only opening half way due to the blistering across his cheeks and over their lids. His expression grew with pain and suppressed anger as he tried and failed to retaliate. Poison coursed through his flesh, the symptoms strengthening, morphing and increasing in variety with the passing of time. "F-ffynk-y—." Slurred and thickly broken, his attempt at cursing his captors failed. His throat painfully closed causing thick tainted saliva to drain in streams to the floor in front of him. His muscles convulsed in a flurry of violent quivering that left him weakly grinding his jaws against the ring in his mouth.

"Now, now, we can't have that," She raked his temple with a hard back-fist and drug her nails down his bare chest with enough force to bring blood welling up into deep scratches. She pulled a heavy leather crop from concealment beneath her robe and danced it in front of him threateningly. "Such a mood you've awoken in. Luthor, I think he needs some disciplinary action, don't you? I mean, he did make a vain rather pitiful effort to curse us for his predicament."

Luthor gave a nod and unleashed a brutal assault with knees and fists into Spike's ribcage, abdomen and chest. An icy grin appeared as only a dampened grimace and gruff mumbling came in response. "Now," Rubbing his fingers together, he let his gift flow easily. "You will provide us the information we want without further argument."

Fire swept through his neck as Luthor pressed a thumb into his throat. In the next moment, a flurry of harsh ticking spasms followed. Pressure filled his throat creating a sensation as if it was stuffed with rocks. He managed a feeble, raspy cry that lasted only a few seconds before paralysis overtook his face and all motion even reflex ceased. Drool poured from his mouth and salty discharge bled from his eyes as even the ability to blink disappeared. Pain filled his gaze as his bare chest and ribcage were then battered by harsh, flesh ripping blows of the crop.

"Ready him for extraction," Felicia reached up to pull the ring free of his mouth. She released all the carabiners from it except the one that pierced his tongue. With a firm tug, she pulled the ring down, and secured the ends of its chain to the belt at his waist so that constant pressure kept his lower jaw forced open and his punctured, blistered tongue in a protruded position. "Oh Spikey dear, this will be such fun. When it's over, you won't remember yourself much less this torment." She leaned in close, pulling his chin up so his stare met hers, "The total mental destruction is inevitable pet. By the time you show even the slightest signs of cognition, it will be too late to retaliate." She gave the ring a hard jerk.

The weight and tightened chain attached to his tongue forced it down over his chin. Blood, dark and tainted with thick yellow sputum dripped onto his bare chest. The pressure ruptured his distended, blistered lips and burst the larger blisters in his oral cavity. The hole in his tongue, now covered in masses of feverish oozing whelps opened and a volcano of blood surged to the surface. His head lolled forward as his mind tried to force a reaction. The result was nothing more than disjointed muscular twitching and visible harsh cramping across his abdomen. A broken hiss, void of sound, escaped from deep in his chest as pain arced down his spine and pierced his skull.

Luthor released the chains, allowing Spike to slump into a shuddering heap on the floor. With ease, he maneuvered him into a horizontal position on his back near the pole. Using the same chains, he secured one arm to the base of the pole at the wrist. "Insuring you don't give her trouble," He ran his thumb down the length of the limb. The other arm he stretched out and secured to one of the cinder blocks, again at the wrist. The concrete block was then shifted out until there was no slack in the chain. Again, with practiced precision, he ran his thumb down its length. "You won't have a care one when she's done."

A brief shudder radiated down his arms before the muscles went dormant, turning flaccid and inert. His eyes pooled with salty discharge as his mind tried to override unresponsive reflexes enough to create stifled response. A silent groan rose from his chest as just pressure against his limbs sent knives of molten flame shooting through them.

With his hand, Luthor did the same to each leg, sending the muscles into brief, erratic spasm before deeper paralysis set in. He adjusted the manacles at Spike's ankles. They were chained together and then secured to a cement block. Checking that he was secure, Luthor ran his finger down the lower portion of Spike's spine.

Fire, as if his lower body had been dipped in boiling acid, pulsed upward into his shoulders and then down through his torpid legs. A weak hiss escaped him and salty discharge poured down his cheeks. His mouth quivered in response to the discomfort. Already disabled muscles convulsed then went dead. Hot needles of pain blossomed across his abdomen and rushed upward into his chest and finally his skull. Rather than dissipating, the pain spread to encapsulate him without ceasing. Flush burst over his ashen face in reaction to the debilitation and the strange, feverish discomfort.

Luthor chuckled, the reaction providing him much amusement. "He's ready. He won't give you trouble. His limbs aren't going to be functional any time soon."

"Now then pet, let's see how much you know." She knelt, straddling his chest and raked his face. The harsh blows threw his head from side-to-side and sent bloody saliva spewing from his injured mouth. A thick cloth cleave she forced past his tongue, securing the stiff Velcro strap behind his head. She pressed her thumbs into his temples. Her grip tightened as her gift flowed through her hands.

Paralyzed muscles tightened forcing his entire form into a rigid spasm as if he were a plank of wood. Sweat leeched from every pore and his color drained to sickly pallor in response to the sudden spike in body temperature. Blood, dark and thick, streamed from his nose and white foam rose from his throat. It spilled from his mouth in copious clouds that created a sticky blood tainted puddle around his head. His pupils fixed, dilated, and then darkened. Bloodshot streaks contaminated the whites as some of the capillaries burst. Both eyes bulged and throbbed in reaction to the pressure against his skull. Throaty hissing emanated from his chest and his body shivered violently as her power cracked open his mind like an overly ripe watermelon.

'That's good Spike, that's good. Now be a good boy and reveal your secrets.' She closed her eyes and focused her gift, opening every corner of his mind. The penetration produced a movie reel of every thought and memory that Spike had ever had, including those secrets that were kept locked away deep in the recesses of his cognizance. 'Futile to resist, my pet, simply futile. The more you try the more your mind succumbs to its fate.'

His skull exploded with bone shattering pain leaving his entire body quivering like half-set jelly as his mind was engulfed in static noise. The clamor erased thought as it swallowed cognitive awareness to the point of total incapacitation. His pupils disappeared, rolling back to reveal only inflamed whites as she completed penetration and withdrew what information was useful.

"Felicia, Master Aro will be awaiting news," Luthor reminded removing the chains from the cinder blocks to free Spike's legs and the arm furthest from the pole. Once she had arisen and moved from her position, he easily rolled Spike into a fetal position. The remaining free chain was attached to the pole, loosely securing both arms at the wrists.

"That was loads of fun, Spikey," She fisted him on the temple. The blow reset his awareness to a disoriented torpor. She giggled and adjusted the cloth gag, tightening its position so that it could not be freed unless the strap was released; a feat that Spike would be unable to perform. "Too bad you won't remember our time together," Her finger caressed his cheek. "You'll be totally incapacitated, utterly delirious and completely incoherent for days, pet. And oh, I forgot, with the overdose of poison, you don't exactly have days to spare." She watched as Luthor checked his handiwork one final time before they disappeared into the night…

Frail, the skin is so dry and pale, the pain will never fail,

And so we go back to the remedy.

Clip the wings that get you high, just leave them where they lie,

And tell yourself, "You'll be the death of me."

[Lyrics to Song: Remedy. Artist: Seether]