Author's note. Written by me and Mrs Bumblebee.

Suggestions are welcome.

Enjoy and please review.

As McLeach rested, half dozing, Joanna loyally kept watch over him. He was still weak from his ordeal and she was looking forward to when he regained his full strength. Sure, he could be a little rough and harsh at times but he was still her master and had always treated her well. Unlike all the other animals out there, she never had anything to worry about.

Back in the back room where the boy was being held, Cody was rattling and shaking the fencing of his cage, trying to get it loose in any way but sadly it remained strong against his efforts.

He groaned, giving the cage a good kick before collapsing back down. The key were on the other side of the room and he had no way of reaching them. And while he was happy Frank and the others had gotten away, he really could have done with Frank's help right about now. There was nothing here that could help, not piece of metal he could use to pick the lock or anything.

Cody sighed in defeat and curled up in the corner of his cage, hugging his knees to her chest as he sat there. He didn't know what to do and...he was scared.

He'd been scared before but at least he'd always had someone close from Frank to Marahute. But now he was completely on his own with little chance of rescue. McLeach had already tried to use him as live bait for crocs, what else would he do? Cody trembled, and curled up tighter.

Back in the living room with the poacher and goanna were resting peacefully. With a loud snort McLeach woke up from his light nap before he yawned very big and stretched the ach out of his back from sleeping in the chair.

He growled under his breath as he scratched his side, he probably should stop using this chair as a bed. He looked down at Joanna who was sleeping at his feet. McLeach smiled wryly before giving her a little nudge.

"Joanna, you awake?"

She opened and eye and regarded him, too lazy to do anything else.

He smirked down at her ad leaned down some.

"You ready to eat girl?" He questioned her, already knowing how she was going to response.

That got her attention, she sat up like a bolt of lightning and eagerly spun in a circle. He laughed, she was always thinking of her stomach.

"Come on, I'll do us some eggs as a treat."

She was positively bouncing with excitement and happily bounded in the direction of the kitchen area. Mcleach couldn't but chuckle at Joanna as she continued to jump around and clip her claws on the floor, her way of saying hurry up.

"I'm coming, I'm coming, don't panic," he chuckled, making his way over, giving his legs a little shake to make sure they had feeling.

Once in the kitchen area, he rummaged through the cupboards and found a large box of eggs. He took them out and examined the date, it was fine. Looking down at Joanna, he asked.

"How yah want them?"

Joanna cocker her head at him like he was crazy, making Mcleach burst out laughing before he took one out and tossed it her. She hissed happily before she snapped it out of midair in her jaws before she swallowed it down in one gulp.

"I need mine cooked," he murmured as he placed a bowl over a Bunsen burner. Filling it with water, he placed several eggs into it while tossing another at Joanna.

As he turned the Bunsen on so that he could boil the eggs, he suddenly remembered the boy locked up.

He grinned and looked down at Joanna.

"What do you say girl, do you think we should give the kid something to eat too?" He asked Joanna.

She screwed up her face, clearly dissatisfied with the idea. He chuckled before suggesting.

"What if we gave him a scrap instead of these nice eggs?"

Now that idea appealed much more to Joanna and she nodded her head.

"Alright then, we'll give him some scraps and the shells after we're done eating," McLeach added with a laugh.

She hissed in the mocking way that she had as McLeach threw her another egg. He watched as the water bubbled, he couldn't wait until his eggs were ready. Joanna might like her eggs raw but he preferred his boiled. He didn't even wonder how Cody might enjoy his, he continued giving Joanna an egg or two until his was finally ready.

"That's your last one," he warned Joanna, giving her one last egg which she gulped down with a satisfied hiss.

Joanna licked her lips in satisfaction as she watched her master take his eggs out of the pot and started peeling the shells off the hard boiled eggs.

Dropping the shells into a nearby dish, he took one of the eggs and bit into it, smiling at the delicious taste. With a slight grunt, he grabbed some salt and sprinkled it onto the others before eating them as well. Joanna licked her lips, she was always hungry for more eggs but knew he wouldn't appreciate her trying to get some more. It was much more fun having him mad at that brat than her.

Soon he finished up his eggs except half of one which he put in the bowl if egg shells and then picked it up and headed for the back room.

Joanna chuckled with a hiss and followed after him, she loved watching him be mean to others. When they entered the back room, they found Cody was curled up, his back to the cage door. As McLeach stamped over, he stirred and blinked as he saw who was approaching. He pushed himself up onto his knees and glared at them.

"Now, don't you look at me like that," McLeach said, wagging a finger. "Especially when I got you dinner."

Cody raised a brow at him but continued to glare as Mcleach opened the cage slightly before he threw in the bowl and then slammed it back, locking it.

"Enjoy," McLeach said mockingly as Cody glanced down at it, his face screwing up as he saw what it was.

He scowled and folded his arms in defiance.

"You'd better eat that," McLeach warned. "Because that's all you'll be getting for a long time."

Cody snorted and looked away from the evil poacher. Joanna hissed at him before she turned and followed hr master back out of the room.

Cody was very tempted just to grab the bowl and throw it away but it was starting to get hungry. And the half egg did look like it was okay; he couldn't smell anything bad off it. He carefully picked it up, picking bits of shell off and biting half of it off. It just tasted like a normal boiled egg although he thought it might have a little salt on it. He quickly gobbled it down and wistfully looked back at the bowl. How he wished he had a lot more to eat, could you really eat egg shells?

Cody sighed unhappily before he picked up a piece of shell and put it in his mouth and chew on. Maybe if he slowly and carefully chewed on the shells, letting them be crunched in into tiny pieces it would be fine and the calcium from the shells would be an added plus.

Protein and calcium were probably especially good in this situation as he didn't know how long he'd be held here. Would McLeach just keep him in this cage or did he have other, more sinister plans for him? He grimaced as he swallowed some egg shell paste he'd chewed up, however he looked at it, the situation was pretty bad.

McLeach and Joanna walked back into living room where McLeach sat back down in his chair and Joanna curling up at his feel, looking curiously up at him.

He looked down at her and scratched her head.

"You wondering what we're going to do with him?" he questioned and she nodded. Taunting the brat was fun but that surely wasn't the only thing they were going to do.

"Don't worry, I'm working on it," he assured her. "Unless you've got any ideas?"

Joanna hissed evilly before she walked over to his disposed if vest, dug around it some before she pulled out the old golden feather that her master had used to show the boy of the male eagle.

She brought it back to him and hissed a chuckle.

"Hmm, what's this?" he asked, taking the feather from her and examining it.

"Ah yes, I remember this one," he said with an evil grin. "This was a hard one to bring down, wasn't he Joanna?"

She nodded with her own evil grin.

McLeach looked at the feather for a little while longer before he got what Joanna was getting at.

"So you want to torture him by telling him on how we got this big guy huh?" He questioned her

She nodded rapidly, making him chuckle.

"You really do have a forked tongue, don't you," he laughed as she flitted her long tongue out at him. "Alright, let's bring him in for a little storytelling, kids like that, don't they?"

She laughed again before she followed him back to the room. Mcleach walked in and then stood next to the cage their prisoner was held in, who was clearly ignoring them with his back to them.

"Alright kid, you're coming out for a bit," McLeach said as he opened the door then reached in to grab Cody.

He kept a tight grip on the back of the boy's top, he was a real squirmier. Sure enough, Cody squirmed and tried to get away but he couldn't. With Joanna leading the way, McLeach dragged the boy all the way to his living room and over to where his chair was.

He forced the boy to sit down in front of chair before he got comfortable himself in the chair. Joanna came over and actually curled herself around Cody, wrapping her tail around wrists to keep them secured while her body curled around him. From and outlook it almost looked like a father about to tell his son a story with their loyal pet curled happily around the boy.

It was far from that however, Cody was tense and scowling, clearly not knowing what was going to happen. Joanna had a malevolent look on her reptile features and she relaxed, waiting for her master to begin. McLeach, after giving Cody a mocking pat on the head, said.

"You wanna hear a little bedtime story, boy?"

"No," Cody ground out, making McLeach chuckle.

Mcleach chuckled again before he leaned back to get comfortable.

"Well you're getting one, now then let me see...ah I got one," He replied before he reached into his best to pull out the old golden feather.

"How about I tell you about how I brought down this big fella?"

Cody started in shock, he'd almost completely forgotten that McLeach had killed Marahute's mate. He swallowed, he didn't want to hear about how the magnificent eagle met his end. He was reminded far too much about his own dad who'd died a couple of years ago but something told him McLeach wasn't' going to hold back.

"I thought you'd like that," McLeach said evilly as Joanna chuckled. "Now let's see, where to begin..."

"Ah yes, let's start from the beginning where I found him in my trap. I didn't think such a thing existed until that day. I was in awe until I got over my shock and was so excited to have been so lucky to have captured such a magnificent creature," Mcleach started.

Cody's body tensed up, remembering how he'd found Marahute in that trap. If he hadn't been there to cut those ropes, she'd have been in McLeach's clutches and then...it really didn't bare thinking about it.

"I had to call up Joanna to take a look," McLeach continued as Joanna nodded. "That's the sort of thing you can't just keep to yourself, ain't that right, boy?"

Cody just glared at him.

Mcleach laughed again before he continued to gloat.

"It took me a while but figured up a way on how I was going to transport him so I went and got my truck and built a cage on it as you see today."

"Made my life pretty easy actually," he continued thoughtfully. "I can store any size of critter in there and they got no way of escaping. Anyway, it was perfect for the big guy and gave him a chance to stretch his wings a bit."

Both McLeach and Joanna chuckled, for a bird that size it would be barely able to move in that cage. Cody shook with anger, how could anyone treat any creature like that?

"After I got him here I had to leave him in te truck as I searched for a buyer. And low and behold I found one on the same day but strangely he had requested him alive and well. Don't know why but who am I to judge when money talks better," Mcleach said, grinning wide as he rubbed his fingers together in a gesture for the money.

"You mean he's still alive?" Cody asked hopefully, if Marahute's mate was living, then maybe there was a chance they could be reunited.

"Ha, how should I know? He was live when I sold him after that, not my problem," Mcleach replied.

Cody suddenly felt a bit better, if whoever McLeach had sold the eagle to wanted him alive, chances were he was still alive. However, McLeach wasn't finished.

"Poor guy was very distressed at being taken away, had to dope him up so that he didn't damage himself. Of course, if you find one massive eagle, chances were there'd be another. Took me eight months of searching for that she-bird."

Cody glared up at the man before smirking.

"Well you'll never find her again, she's gone. She left once her babies could fly and I don't have any idea where she's moved," Cody replied.

"I found her once," McLeach said menacingly. "What's to say I won't find her again, especially as she has three young ones to feed? If I find her I'll be rich as hell."

He then smirked and added.

"You know kid, if I did get my hands on that eagle, at least those two could be reunited. Did you think of that?"

Cody gasped at this before he shook his head, tears welding up in his eyes.

"But they won't be happy and free," He protested.

"And what about their babies, that would be horrible, growing up in a cage."

McLeach just shrugged.

"Not my problem, if their owner wants to cage them up or let them free, that's his business, not mine."

Cody stared sadly up at the evil man before he looked down and sniffled softly.

"You're a monster," he whimpered.

"I'm a business man," McLeach corrected with another shrug. "Their only dumb animals boy, there are worse men out there."

"They're not just dumb animals," Cody said angrily. "Marahute was devastated when you took her mate, she thinks he's dead."

Again he only shrugs.

"Again not my problem," He replied with a sneer.

Cody's face does emotionless.

"What did the animals ever do to you to make you hunt them like you do?" Cody asked him.

McLeach's face briefly clouded in anger before he said contemporaneously.

"It's a lucrative market kid, people still hunt tigers for the parts even though they have no real medical worth. As long as people keep buying, I'll keep selling."

"You're sick," Cody hissed angrily even though his had tears running down his face.

"Yeah but I'm top of my game," chuckled McLeach, enjoying the sight of the tears. "And it's going to continue that way until I make it big."

Poor Cody couldn't hold it back any more and broke down in tears. All the poor animals, dying or sold just to make this monster happy. It sickened him beyond belief.

Joanna blinked and shook her heads as some of the salty tears hit her head. She couldn't resist, she started lapping it up, enjoying the salty taste. McLeach gave Cody a mocking pat on the head as he said.

"Aww, I think someone's had enough bedtime stories for one night."

Cody growled angrily and shock his head before he tried to bite Mcleach's hand but missed. But Mcleach didn't get angry with him and just stood up and waited for Joanna to uncoil from around the boy.

"Come on, it's time for your bed," McLeach stated as Joanna leapt lightly to one side, still licking her chops.

Cody just shook with grief and anger but he wasn't strong enough to stop McLeach from dragging him back to that cage.

McLeach opened the door to the back room and dragged Cody over to the cage before he shoved him back inside it.

"Sleep tight." he mockingly said as he locked the door.

Cody wanted to yell something back but he was too choked up, all he could do was curl up and cry as he was left in darkness. It was very cool here, Australia might be a scorching hot place to live but the temperature could really drop at night. He wrapped his arms around himself, wishing he was wearing more than his shorts and t-shirt but there was nothing he could do.

McLeach chuckled evilly as he and Joanna walked back to the living room where he stretched and yawned and then popped his back. He looked down at his loyal pet as she looked up at him.

"Ready for bed girl?" He asked her.

She nodded eagerly; it had been a long day. When the sun went down, she wasn't so inclined for much movement and wanted to cuddle up in warmth now.

"Come on then," he chuckled, leading the only animal he liked to his bed.

Author's note. McLeach continues to torment Cody but what happens when an accident occurs? Find out next time, until then.