Okay, just as a forewarning there are implications of non con here. It doesn't go past 'creepy and in personal space', but it's there. So you can skip those parts if you want.

I am a liiiiiitle more sick than I realized.


Shale didn't know if days or weeks had passed at this point. Having gone so long without seeing the sky, she lost track of time. But despite everything; being cut open and experimented on like a lab rat, she didn't break. Instead, a fire within her burned, furious to consume the people who trapped her here.

Her teeth were as she pulled against the bars, trying to break them. Ever since she broke that guards arm in the alley, she knew something was up. Maybe it was whatever the engines poured into her wounds, she didn't care. As long as it got her out.

The door let out its shrill beep as another one of those men in white lab coats stepped in, carrying food. It was less food and more akin to thrown together slop with the texture of porridge and the taste of stale bread and something sickly sweet and bitter.

"You know, your cook must suck, cause this shit terrible. And coming from me that means somethin'." She snapped.

Shale heard them say something before she felt something tap the cage as electric coursed through her and she had to bite back a scream. This was the fourth time this'd happened. The last three were similar scenarios. She'd seen them do this to the other, more rowdier and resilient engines. Afterwards, they'd quiet down.

She already had stinging burns running across her calf, red and searingly painful to the touch. Adding on the fact that they'd cut her legs open multiple times equals some of the worse pain she's ever felt. But all, it does is egg her on. Fuel her drive to escape.

As she's left panting to regain her breath, Shale glanced to the side to see the same blonde haired kid scarfing down the food. She was too young to be here, then again, so was Shale. But the difference between that girl and herself was that Shale was used to not eating for long stretches.

She didn't feel like eating anyways, so she pushed her bowl of food towards the other girl wordlessly. And after a brief hesitation, snatched the bowl and ate that too. Then, time began to crawl. Shale kept on trying to break the bars, but all she managed so far was bending it ever so slightly. Just enough that she was able to stick her shoulder through.

Another scientist came in to collect the food and he took note that the younger subject had two bowls. But that wasn't important, he unlocked the cage and yanked Shale out. She didn't try anything, he was - as always - flanked by two guards. Not to mention walking now felt like rubbing her legs against a thorn bush.

This time, instead of being strapped to a table, she was taken to a large padded cell. The red head was chained to the wall with her arms crossed above her head and left there. She tested the chains, seeing if they could be broken. They probably could be, but she needed a better opportunity.

Then the door opened again and instead of a scientist in a lab coat, it was a man. Fat and round, though the most jarring feature were the stark white bandages around his face and over his neck. Presumably, they went down his chest but she couldn't tell how far.

Half his face was hidden as well, but the half she did see was sick in a way that made her want to break the chains and run. His voice was boisterous, but it felt too forced.

"Well, well, well, I certainly never expected this."

He stepped closer, looking her slender frame up and down. Shale tried to kick against his stomach with her leg but he simply caught it and smirked. "The hell do you want you fat cunt! Torture me? Bring it!"

She pulled her leg back instantly at the contact, she wouldn't show fear, not to this sick bastard who clearly wanted it. But it was hard to hide her grimace as he leaned against her ear. "Please, there's nothing you could give me. Nothing at all. Your kind are worthless, less than even dirt."

Shale jerked away hard and rolled her eyes. "Do you think you're the only one? Bitch please, I know your kind. Heartless and cruel, thinking of nobody but the self. Go ahead and call me trash, at least I'm better than you."

He did push back, but had a sick grin on his face. "Very well, I was going to be nice." He stepped forward again, tipping her chin up. "Tell me where my engines are hiding, and I'll let you leave in one piece."

Shale growled. "You and I both know that isn't true, fat cunt."

His features became predatory and he sniffed her rust red hair. With a great yell she smashed her forehead into his nose, feeling something drip down and seeing the bastard stumbling to the ground. Blood flowed from his nose and for what she could see, it was also likely broken.

Men in armor holding guns stormed the room, some helped the man up while others had their weapons pointed at her. "You little bitch."

"Takes one to know one I guess." She spat back. "You'd only face a girl chained up to a wall."

One of them whispered something into his ear and he grinned again, straightening out his jacket with his other hand. "Laugh all you want, but it doesn't matter. I already know where my engines are. Soon, you'll all be mine. And nobody will come for you."

The door slammed shut after that. Leaving Shale to register what had happened. And she didn't believe it. It'd taken three men just to bring her in, how many more for the engines. They didn't feel pain and they were stronger than any human.

But the ever clinical side to her said that the engines would never harm a human. Or perhaps they already knew this and had measures to capture them. And even if he was bluffing, would they ever come for her. They didn't even know where she was.

Like it or not, she was alone. Again. It stung, but she knew it'd happen eventually. She'd get out of here, run far, far away from all of this and start again. Stealing and running and praying she wouldn't be found again.

What else was there for her to do? As if anything would chance.

::::

"So lemme get this straight." Falcon pinched the bridge of his nose. "You want to help us get Shale back from the laboratory, one which your father owns and the same man who did this to us, risk getting shot up or captured again, while finding evidence of all the stuff he's done."

"Pretty much." Brigitte sighed.

The rest of the boys were awake now, some cradling cups of hot coco. Some mugs already drained and set on the table. They'd mostly calmed down at the revelation of who the twins were and they - more or less - had similar reaction too Skarloey and the others. Save for some added aggression from Duncan and apprehension from Falcon.

"This is our best - possibly only - chance to get Shale back. Along with that, we can finally have justice for what Sir… Sir Topham did to us." Skarloey said confidently. "Once Brigitte and Stephen take back the company, they can help shut down the experiments."

"Then what happens to us afterwards?" Peter Sam asked.

The twins looked to each other. "Okay-" Stephen started. "To be fair, we didn't think that far."

Duncan rolled his eyes before his sister picked up after him. "Well, we intend to try and provide any other engines along with yourselves proper care and amendments. You boys deserve a proper chance at life."

"So, what does that mean?" Duncan said. "I didn't think you lot would want us runnin' 'round the island."

Rusty nodded. "He has a point, what if the mainland finds out? What'd happen to us then?"

She though for a moment. "You boys both have a point. I don't really want them to find out about you - more so for the sake that I don't want to think about what they'd do to you. But I don't want to restrict you either, you've probably had enough of that."

"In all honesty" Renneas started. "I don't think any of us would want to leave regardless. At least I don't."

The others mumbled in agreement. They didn't have any connection to the outside and even if they did, they'd have to work through their fear or humans. Along with the humans fear of themselves. Humanity rarely has pity for those who are different.

"Alright then…" she hummed. "Well, we have a plan set up. Stephen? Care to explain."

"Finally something to do." He exaggerated, rubbing at his side before kneeling and spreading out the paper. Showing a crude map of the town and forest along with some markers drawn on top outlining a area within the forest with red and polaroids pinned to the corners of cameras and fuzzy shapes of people.

There was a trail marked with blue leading towards and away from the building and paths around the building marked in orange along with certain areas being circled near the building. Off to the side was another sheet of paper with a legend. Red was the building, blue was their pathway and escape and orange were the known guards and the ranges of the cameras.

"Okay, so here's the deal. Me and Brigitte know where this place is and most of the outward security. Problem is, we don't know what's much about on the inside. So we'll need one of you to knock out the guards and let Brigitte pose as one of em' and steal the key. Initially it was gonna be me but… well, that's not really an option anymore."

Some of the engines flared at Duncan, who took a beat to realize this as he sipped from his third mug. Once he did he glanced over the rim. "Alright, alright, geez I'm sorry. Look I was jumpy and one of my best mates was just shot, I wasn't thinkin' straight."

"That implies you think at all." Falcon muttered not so subtly to Peter.

"It's more than you do, Bird Brain." He shot back.

The rest had a laugh at the good natured banter before Skarloey reigned them back in. "Anyways, go on Stephen."

"Alright, so where was I?"

"You said we needed to steal a key?"

He snapped his fingers. "Oh, right. Well, you'd need to grab more than just a key. You'd need a map of the facility to figure out where they'd be keeping Shale and where you can get the evidence."

Peter waved his hand, large sleeve flopping around. Stephen cocked an eyebrow before he pointed at him. "Umm, what exactly counts as evidence?"

"Well, just anything that would connect Topham to the crimes. Papers on experiments, clipboards, maybe a key card? If it's got fingerprints on it then we can use that. We'll get you boys some gloves so you don't get your own prints on em."

This time, Renneas raised his hand. "Excuse me, what exactly will you be doing? Given that you are physically impaired I wouldn't recommend attempting anything strenuous."

"Hey, just cause I'm a little busted doesn't mean I won't pull my own weight." He tried grinning, but it morphed into a hiss. "Me and my genius sis managed to figure out how to hack into the places system, it's pretty similar to the ones our dad had around the newer stations."

Stephen pulled out a floppy disk and set it on the table. "If you can find a computer, load this into it and I can try to access the whole place. It'll take time so try to keep anyone from getting too close and it's gotta stay there or else I'll lose my connection."

"How long exactly will this take?"

"Give or take twenty minutes." He guessed. "It shouldn't be detected from the network but anyone from the outside can manually disable it. But once it's in I can access the security cameras and play them on loop so nobody knows you're in there. I'll be able to get you a proper map of the location. And I could try to steal some files but then you'd have to bring back the drive and I don't want that risk."

"So to recap." His sister began, tracing the blue pathway. "We go down this route, grab and knock out one of the guards, get Brigitte the uniform, steal a key and upload the virus, have Stephen knock out the security system and them me and you boys search the facility for Shale and any evidence, then get out without being spotted."

"Well… that's certainly elaborate." Skarloey hummed. "Is there anything else we'll need to prepare?

"Not that I can think of immediately." She hummed. "Perhaps something to use to disguise yourselves when we're sneaking in or to hide the body. A way to store the information we find and some sort of ballistic protection."

"Pardon the interruption, but 'ballistic'?" Renneas asked.

"Oh, right. It means bullet resistance. But really, and sort of armour will do." Stephen cut in. "Though I don't have a clue where to find that. And I doubt we could just ask for a vest, given how we don't know which police officers are corrupt and I don't think they'd just hand that sort of equipment over to a civilian."

"Alright, so when do we start this?" Falcon asked.

"Whenever we can find some sort of bag." Stephen replied. Brigitte was already standing.

"Gimme a sec, I've got a purse we could use." She took off, running up the stairs to the bedroom. She fished around her shared dresser before pulling out a large brown purse that was mostly empty. Save for some cash, granola bars and makeup.

Closing the dresser, she drew the windows open out of habit. But then quickly shut them when she saw a police car rolling down the streets. She cursed under her breath and ran back down. Calling out halfway.

"It's the coppers boys, there's a back door to the yard. Hide there until we get you."

Stephen hastily folded up the map and handed the drive to Skarloey. "Keep it safe, you'll need it if something goes wrong."

He glanced down to the paper and them back to his face. "No, we won't leave you both here! We need you!"

"Skarloey we'll be alright. They're not gonna do anything to us." She had to refrain for adding a 'I hope' at the end of that.

He hesitated a moment longer before turning around to the others outside and following them outside. Being the last one out, he closed the door and hid with the others. The yard was filled with flowers, vegetables and bushes lining the sides with a single small tree at the center.

Most of them had hidden behind the bushes, crouched in the dirt while Peter Sam was directly behind the tree and Skarloey was pressed against the wall right by the door, hiding behind a wooden rocking chair on the porch.

Brigitte steeled herself when she heard the doorbell ringing. She had to rush and clear off the food and mugs from the table. Stephen tried to help but his sister just pushed him down and shoved a book to his chest.

"Stay here, we cant let them see you're injured. To many questions." She whispered and he nodded.

She couldn't keep them waiting. So after brushing down her blouse and skirt, she went to open the door. Standing there were three officers. Armed with a taser, pepper spray, handcuffs and a club. Each were slightly round, one had jet black hair slicked back while the other two had dirt brown hair that looked messy. But their eyes were harsh and cold and the pinched smile the black haired man had didn't help.

"Good evening Madam, we've had reports of suspicious individuals in the neighbourhood. We've been sent to investigate the houses in the area. Can't be too careful." He grinned.

She took a moment to ring herself in. "Well, that's certainly disturbing news."

They paused. "May I come in?"

"O-of course." She stepped aside. "Sure."

The brunette stepped aside, and the officers marched inside. Scanning the surrounding, one even walking up the stairs. They checked in the kitchen, pulling open cabinets and she could hear something slamming upstairs.

"Officers I assure you, there's nobody but me and my brother here-"

"Save it sweet cheeks." He brushed aside. Glancing into the living room with Stephen looking up from his book, trying to resist a frown from the others expressed.

The brown haired officer in the kitchen took note of the surplus of mugs in the kitchen along with some packages of food still lying half opened on the counter. "You lot just had breakfast?"

"Yes, we decided to… indulge a bit." She said.

The two brown haired men walked back to the living room, circling the twins. The black haired man crossed his arms and shook his head. "Listen doll, we aren't here to play games. We know who you're hiding. Just hand the bosses products over and we'll pretend this never happened."

Brigitte heard Stephen cuss under his breath. "We don't have a clue who you're talking ab-"

"Bullshit. We've got a report from our men you're harbouring our products." He sneered. "And if you ain't gonna talk-"

He gestured with his head to the two men who grabbed Brigitte and despite knowing that she couldn't break out, struggled anyways. But their grip held fast, fingers digging into her arms and leaving bruises.

Stephen tried to sit up and hide his wince. "Cut it out you brutes, my sis doesn't know anything."

The man just rolled his eyes and shoved him down, cruising Stephen to bite down on his tongue to keep from yelling from the pain. The older man stepped in front of Brigitte and held her chin, tipping her head harshly to the side.

"C'mon, just spill ya lil whore. Don't make this harder than it should." He demanded.

"The hell you say you fat cu-"

A punch to the nose was his answer. Brigitte screamed out in protest before the officer slapped a hand over her mouth. Soon after he recoiled due to the fact she had just bit down on his hand, hard enough to leave red welts and break the skin.

"You bitch!" He screamed. "I'm gonna make you regret that."

"You bastards!" He yelled over his cupped nose, bleeding but not broken. He forced himself up but the same man punched him in the stomach, causing him to fall to his knees. "Go, get outta here while ya still can!"

"Hold the bitch still." He ordered, smirking as he went to undo his belt.

Outside, Skarloey could hear them all screaming and Stephens last comment hit him hard, he wanted them to run. But he couldn't - wouldn't - not after everything they'd done for them. He glanced back to the others, not seeing any movement. He bit his lip, this was such an impulsive decision. Though he wouldn't leave the twins to whatever horrible fate would await them.

He burst in, throwing the door open and tacking the two men to the floor. Unfortunately, Brigitte went down with them and shrieked. The leader seemed too surprised to register what just happened.

He scrambled up and grabbed the arms of the leader. "Bridgett! Grab Stephen and go! Run!"

While Skarloey was inherently stronger, he was reluctant to use full strength and the other man was taller by a good inch and a half. Not to mention he was trained. He grabbed the engines forearms and kneed him in the stomach. Skarloey felt the air knocked out of his lungs and being thrown to the side. Then he heard more yelling.

It was the other engines, rushing into the room. Peter came first and body checked the two men again while Falcon rushed in after to swing at the other man's head, blindly throwing punches. The rest ran in afterwards, pulling the human twins and their leader to their feet. Duncan still straddled one of the brown haired thugs and steam seemed to be floating off from his body.

He didn't have time to question this. Brigitte scanned the bodies and went for their belts. "Hurry, grab their weapons! We've got to run."

"Where?!" Stephen questioned.

Then Rusty's eyes lit up. "We know a place. By our old railroad, there's a lake and a shed we can all hide in!"

It seemed to good to be true. "Great! Now let's get out of here boys, if these corrupt coppers know where we are, they're bound to send more when these brutes don't come back."

The engines helped pulling of the belts and helped carry Stephen through the yard and over the fence. Leading to an alley and opening to a street and across from that, the forest. They all ran through the trees, not caring to look back. Tearing through the rough terrain, they ran for what felt like hours until even the engines were left panting.

They'd manage to get to Falcon and Peters old railway before they all slumped against the dirt. Each of the engines now radiating steam making the air around them slightly humid.

"Is- is everyone alright? Skarloey asked, breathless.

"Yes, we… we're safe. All here." Renneas added.

"Good, good." He sighed. Tipping his head up to the sky. He took a deep breath before standing again. "We should keep moving, just in case they've got people following us."

"Wait-" Brigitte squinted. "Skarloey, hand me the map?"

He nodded, pulling it out from one of his pockets. Despite it being heavily wrinkled,she didn't have a problem reading the map. Then - to everyone's surprise - she laughed. "Well isn't that convenient."

She pointed to a lake, and just above it, was the laboratory.