Dull, sluggish awareness slithered back, coiled, dark and serpentine. It crept onward, with the dull thud of his heart in his ears, and the throbbing in his head that came to rest in the bone-deep ache behind his eyes.
Feeling was next. Leo felt drugged, his limbs languid and heavy as if they had been set in concrete. He felt cold metal against his cheek, the chill of either tears or drool dried and sticky on the left side of his face. He heard the high, whining hum of a motor, the sudden snarl of an engine, and the pop of gravel and pavement beneath tires.
Movement.
He could feel movement beneath him, and his gut clenched in realization. He was in the back of a vehicle of some sort. He breathed out, waiting for sensation to come back and some sort of understanding of this new hell he had been dumped in.
He remembered Karai's smirk, the dart, and the collapse. He remembered those woozy, tortured moments before he crumbled to the pavement, and the helpless terror before everything literally fell away.
Leo felt his head lull and then smack against metal when the floor bounced. The bright flare of pain thundered through his skull, and he couldn't even whimper. His muscles were slack as cloth, and he couldn't even tremble.
He felt the choke of something against his neck, nearly crushing his windpipe, a cold, cruel band of something wrapped around his throat. In terror, Leo could only manage a strangled whimper. Instinctively, he tried to claw the thing at his neck away, but his arms wouldn't move.
What in the hell was wrong with his body?
He heard the loud clang of metal again, and he tensed when he cracked open his eyes to stare at the coil of chain around his throat. Numbly, he stared at the shackles that encircled his wrists, his ankles, the manacle locked around his throat. The chains at his limbs and throat were attached to the bigger shackle that ended with the padlock that was bolted to the vehicle's floor.
He knew nothing of what had happened, how long he had been unconscious, or the extent of his injuries. Whatever Karai had drugged him with was potent. He felt heavy, and soft, as if he were wrapped in a bubble and on the verge of exploding.
And worst of all, he couldn't move. His nerves flickered beneath his skin, as his muscles twitched instinctively, but did nothing else.
Did the dart have something that paralyzed him? Was this permanent? Leo swallowed back a sob that he could not cry, to force his sluggish thoughts into some sort of coherency. It was a damn hard fight.
Quit panicking, and focus. Focus on figuring out where you are, and how to escape.
Calming himself, Leo exhaled. He was alive, and he was more clear-headed now. It wasn't the greatest of situations, but it could have been much, much worse.
Leo forced his heavy eyelids to part, but was careful enough to squint. He didn't know where he was, what had happened, or who was around him.
Through the crack of his eyelids, Leo could only see the glint of metal bars, reflected against the wan glow of the overhead light, and realized that he was in a crudely manufactured cage of some sort.
Thick metal bars, less than six inches apart, had been wielded from the ceiling to the floor, forming a cell so small that Leo could have touched both sides with one outstretched arm.
He was sprawled out, nearly curled in fetal position, but even when nearly rolled into a ball, the bars brushed against his ankles.
The situation was becoming more and more hellish with each passing moment. He was chained, drugged, caged, and being driven off to God only knew where.
He didn't know if his father and brothers were spared. He had no way in knowing if Karai intended to kill him at her leisure, or torture him even more.
He took great care to ensure that his breathing still had the same slow cadence of being deeply unconscious. He listened for a long time, for any sound, any shuffle, anything, until he was certain he was alone before he uncurled a bit. His limbs ached, and his heels brushed against the cage bars. He felt the vehicle slow, and then jerk to a sharp stop that would have toppled him if he were standing, and the sound of several human voices. Leo twitched against the shackles, desperately trying to decide if it would be better to fight, or try to run. With the chains, he had too little movement for either one.
He heard blurred human voices, the footfalls of several humans. He tensed, as every instinct screamed in warning. There were no manholes to dive down, no shadows to conceal him, and absolutely nothing to keep him safe.
He was blinded by the crack of light as the van doors were unlocked and flung open. He heard a low whistle of astonishment, the dubious silence of shock, and Karai's sudden, snarled rebuke.
"Leonardo." She almost purred as he heard the clank of a key sliding in the lock, the cage door being opened, and the quiet glide of her boot heels closing the few precious feet between them.
He flinched when she lay that mocking hand over his heaving throat, and yanked his face upward to for him to peer into her narrowed eyes.