Disclaimer: I'd tell you if I owned anything, I promise.

Warning; Just so you know, this fic is dark, Johnny will be tortured in this chapter, and if you bitch at me in a flame, I'm using it to cook pizza.

Now that we're through all the bitchy stuff, thanks goes out to all my reviewers and here's the next chapter.

Burn It All Up

Chapter 2;

Lessons Born of Pain

Johnny's eyes traveled slowly along the length of the gun. The man holding it wore a hoodie sweatshirt, jeans, sneakers, and a mask over his face. Medical glove covered his hands and those of the other similarly dressed man behind him. The hatred and disgust rolling off the pair was so thick it was almost tangible.

'What do you want?' he asked slowly, in an attempt to cover the rasp in his throat. The man didn't answer, moving forward so Johnny was forced to back up. His legs hit the arm of the couch and he tripped, sprawling over the blue piece of furniture. He made to back up some more but the man stopped him with a swift gesture.

'1-02, bring the anti-viral serum,' the one with the gun ordered, his voice distorted by some for of vocal cloaking device. 1-02, as the gunman called him, pulled a vial out of his pocket and walked over to the couch. Johnny clamped is mouth shut tightly, to avoid having the unknown substance forced down his throat.

'Drink,' the gunman ordered and Johnny shook his head defiantly. The man cocked the gun and the boy's eyes widened considerably, but again he shook his head. In a flash, white hot pain shot through his upper thigh. Johnny screamed as a bullet pierced his leg, curling around it as he withered in pain. 1-02 grabbed him by the hair and forced him into a sitting position, tears still leaking out of tightly clenched eyes.

'Drink,' the first one ordered again, and Johnny took the vial reluctantly, so as not to further piss off the trigger happy man. Slowly he raised it to his lips. It smelt of lilies, the flower of death, which the boy remembered laying on the graves of his parents after the crash. The taste was slightly sweeter, though it had a more medicinal flavor. The room spun as he downed it and he groaned, holding his head as the heat fled his body. Abruptly his limbs became very heavy and he dropped the vial. It shattered against the wooden floor, as Johnny fell onto his side on the couch. It occurred to him to move, but he found that impossible. Whatever they had given him, it had numbed his body into immobility. On the plus side, he didn't feel sick anymore.

'How long will that affect him for, 1-01?' 1-02 asked. Creative, Johnny thought, 1-01 and 1-02. He would have laughed had he been capable of doing so. Instead, he shivered involuntarily.

'Eighteen hours, I should think,' 1-01 replied, before sneering at the boy, 'We'll be long gone by the time he recovers from the serum. That is, if he live.'

Johnny decided he would rather have the man's attention on something other than himself. 1-01 pulled out a knife and Johnny eyed it warily.

'Relax, kid. We haven't even started yet,' 1-02 replied cruelly. 1-01 ignored them both, carefully shredding the shirt off Johnny's body. Roughly he grabbed Johnny's hair and threw him to the ground.

Well, at least I know why I had to drink that shit, Johnny thought as whit hot pain shot through his body, intensified by the substance. He heard the sound of a belt buckle coming undone and flinched as a few slightly disturbing images ran through his head.

'Relax, kid,' 1-02 whispered in his ear, 'We're savin' that for later.'

The sharpened edges of the belt lashed across his back, spreading a fiery pain like he had never known before. He heard screaming and it took him nearly a full minute to realize that it was coming from him. He hadn't realized he had regained his voice but clamped his mouth shut anyways, in an effort not to give his tormentors the satisfaction. It didn't last long. The feeling of someone laying into him with a white hot poker spread until he was sure that the warm fresh slits were bleeding heavily.

'Crying is such a strange feeling. Your throat tightens, your eyes prick as a slight feeling of desperation overtakes you. That's when the tears begin. They are the human body's reaction to fear, pain, desperation, hopelessness…hell, they're related to most emotions. I wouldn't know, Johnny, I'm not human,' 1-01 informed him as he knelt beside the boy, though Johnny couldn't tell if the soft voice was real or inside his head, 'I suppose you want to know why we're here, why we're doing this. Let's start from the beginning shall we.'

He sat back and studied the shaking youth with a critical eye. 'You are aware of the Great Wars, are you not? No? Well, let me explain. There were seven powers at the dawn of time, the same seven that made the world. Gods, who are essentially removed from the goings on of times today. Or at least, they haven't been involved for a very long time. Immortals are second to power. There are always nine at any given point in time, although they are rarely seen. They are more the type to avoid contact and delve into arts of power than socialize. Third to power are the Demons, such as you call figures like the 'devil'. I am a demon and my name is Sonneillon, the demon of hate. My associate is the demon of sodomy, Belial. Fourth to the order are all Magical creatures and people. Mages are some who fall into that category. Fifth are changelings, creatures who are changed from mortal to an advanced form. They aren't pure, so they only have a limited amount of power. That doesn't work with changed demon heirs, vampires, or lycanthropes. Sixth are mutants, with some ability that separates them from mortals, who are last and the filth we try to purge from the earth they have destroyed,' Sonneillon told him, 'But Lucifer help us, because a God has returned and involved himself in your lives. He is trying to find an heir. Your friend, Richards, didn't screw up. The cloud was tampered with. To keep all that from happening, we have to prove you are as weak as you actually are. The Gods will stay out of our way for this. If we don't succeed, you're powers will be raised above demons, though thankfully under Immortals. We can't allow that to happen. You, Mr. Storm, and eventually your friends, will all die.'

'You're mad,' Johnny hissed, between teeth clenched tightly in pain.

'Be that as it may. You will still die.'

Next chapter they take off the hoods! Scary demon people in future chapters, Beware!

Me