When Erik woke up, the first thing he could think was that the floor was really uncomfortable and his body was getting too old to be thrown down on it for so long. The cold had long since seeped into his bones, and he was shaking slightly from the chill. He opened his eyes slowly, not sure just what would greet him.
He was pleasantly surprised to see Angel staring back at him with wide, shocked eyes. "Erik! You're awake." She tugged on the chain that was attached to her wrist and crawled over to his side, trying to help him sit up.
"Are you alright, Angel? You've been missing for nearly two weeks, shortly after Azazel disappeared." At the mention of the red teleporter's name, Angel's eyes filled with tears. "What?" Erik asked darkly, touching Angel's shoulder as lightly as he could, even though he felt like letting his anger out destructively, though that wouldn't help them right now.
"Azazel. They took him away a couple of days ago. They never brought him back, and I asked what they did to him. They laughed. They only laughed," she said bitterly, biting down on her bottom lip to keep her tears at bay.
"So he's dead?" Erik asked, feeling numb. Oh, Raven was going to kill him when he got them home. Right after she got out of the depression he knew she would fall into after receiving this news. It was going to crush her, to know that the father of her baby, the man she loved, was gone forever. And there was no one she could kill to bring him back safe and sound.
"He's dead." And her voice sounded dead. Erik hated hearing people sound like that, he had heard far too much of that deadly resignation in his lifetime.
"We have to get out of here," Erik declared, closing his eyes to better feel the metal that surrounded them. However, he stopped in shock and fear when he realized he couldn't feel anything. There was no welcoming hum of iron, no pulsating copper, no vibrating silver or gold. He nearly panicked, turning to Angel for answers before he freaked out.
She flinched and drew away from Erik, wrapping her arms around her raised up knees. "They inject us with a serum, or something, every time they're done with us. It inhibits our mutations, to keep us under control," she said with disgust. She rubbed unhappily at her left shoulder, wincing at the feel, and Erik would have had to have been blind to have missed it.
Slowly, he reached out and tugged away the material covering her shoulders, and nearly growled at the sight that greeted him. There was a long, jagged, infected scar over her left shoulderblade. He also noticed that the tattoos that her wings became when not in use, were cut in half, while the one on her left side was missing entirely.
"Angel. What. Happened."
She had to take a deep breath before she could answer, her eyes screwing closed. "They experiment on us here, Erik. I've been cut open and poked at and disected and ripped apart and sewn back together, all for it to happen again the next day and for Trask to walk by going, 'Fascinating, fascinating'. It makes me sick. It's sick! And now we've dragged you into it," she cried, shaking uncontrollably. "Now you're going to be torn apart, as well. Again and again and again and again...," she moaned, crying into her hands as she shoved him away. "You shouldn't have come for us! You shouldn't have come!"
"That is quite enough, Angel!" he barked, holding her shoulders tightly. "We are going to make it through this. I have been through torture before, we will survive. Just give me some time to try and figure out how we are going to get out of here."
As they stared into each other's eyes, a soft clapping echoed down to their shared cell. Erik was instantly on his feet, glaring at the bars seperating them from their captor. The older mutant was careful to place himself directly between the bars and Angel, so whoever it was that thought slow clapping while dragging their feet towards the cell was intimidating in anything other than terrible B-movies, could not clearly see his young friend.
Presently, a very short man entered the area before their cell, smiling widely up at Erik in something akin to fascination. The feeling that this man was definitely not to be underestimated was blaring in Erik's mind.
"And you are our new guest, Erik Lehnsherr," the man drawled, opening a folder and skimming through the documents as if he hadn't already read them front to back already. "There's not much information on you from the United States' intelligence. I have found quite a bit of data from seized Nazi documents, though. Originally of German origin, your powers manifested at age eleven, and you were quickly snatched up by the doctors in the camp and... hmm... persuaded to cooperate." Erik was seething in silence, but he knew the small man wanted to get a rise out of him. So he remained silent. "Ah, I see you know the rules to the game already. That's good to know. Less aclimatization time, that's helpful," he said cheerily, shutting the folder with a crisp snap!
"I think we'll start you off right away! I'll send someone down shortly." He paused then, giving Erik a long look up and down. "I must say, a metal manipulator! This is going to just be fascinating! Interesting, indeed."
Erik's eyes narrowed, and bit out with a snarl, "Is that all you can say about things? That they're fascinating? Fascinating. Try terrifying, little man." Erik's grimace slowly turned into a shark-like grin, with far too many teeth showing and only Angel was smart enough to huddle away from the tall man. Trask just got that exuberant smile on his face and tilted his head in a way that said, 'I can't wait to take this one apart'. Trask just bobbed his head happily, and turned on his heel, heading back up to the floor he had come from earlier.
This all left Erik feeling bereft and exhausted, and nothing but a conversation had occurred. He hadn't been tortured in many years, he hoped his stamina still held up.
Angel reached out a shaking hand and tugged him down to sit beside her again. Erik wrapped an arm around her shoulders and held her close. "Don't worry. I'll think of something to get us out of here. I promise." And no matter what anyone said of him, he always kept his promises.
