Captain Planet: When Twixt the Two Lovers Shall Meet
Written by: FossilQueen1984
Disclaimer: Still own nothing mentioned. Thanks for the favorites and story/author tracking, but I would really like to get more reviews form you guys. Sorry about the lack of updating, but I was at a family reunion last weekend, and I was too busy to use the hotel computer. Here is the latest installment. Warning: This chapter involves scenes of torture, gore and cursing. This story is rated T for a reason.
Chapter 4: Imprisonment and Torture
Suggested Soundtrack: Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back and Adagio of Life and Death from Princess Mononoke
As the swirls of hyperspace dwindled back into individual points of light, Lilandriel's ship lurched forward as the central gravity units repositioned themselves. Looking out the windshield, she could make out a fragile blue-white world surrounded by decades of abandoned satellites, space station debris and various other bits and pieces of space garbage. "What a dump! No wonder the Troika like it here, it's a gold mine!" she said to herself as she pulled up a holographic map to locate her quarry.
Sure enough, it indicated an abnormally large gathering about 200 miles east of an island called Okinawa. Certain this was their hideout; she activated the teleporter and landed on their ship. Of course, she was not armed for protection; General Pericles had failed to give her one. She frowned; she was in for it now, as a gang of muscular, tattooed men and women gathered around, wielding arcane blades. "Halt Torika, you are under arrest for illegal trading and terrorism." They laughed, and as they gathered around the lone pilot, Laila went to work.
Despite not having any weapons, she was a skilled hand-to-hand combatant, and in some scuffles, was even able to wield their own weapons against them, but she underestimated just how many Troika thugs were actually there, and after getting knocked to the ground and punched in the stomach so many times she was bruised and bleeding, the squad leader, an Amazonian matriarch with braided locks picked the poor girl up by the scruff of her flight collar.
"Lookie here, fellas! We've got ourselves an Immortalius pilot! A runt of one, but she sure put up a fight, didn't she?" the elderly woman teased as her comrades broke out into laughter. Angry by this treatment, Laila drew her head up and spit on the leader. A brave thing to do, but foolish as this was a sign of disrespect among Troika- children had been killed for less during recess. Not even flinching, the woman threw Laila headfirst down onto the cement landing strip. A sickening thud was heard as Laila's wounds reopened. Turning towards her second mate, she barked, "Inform Leader Achilles we have an Immortalius intruder. Put her in the Chamber until we arrive." Dragging the unconscious pilot away, she heaved the girl inside the entrance hatch, before contacting her leader.
Inside the revamped repair room, Leader Achilles was watching the continuing coverage of the recent tsunami and the sheer chaos at Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. Thanks to that natural catastrophe, their chances at kidnapping humans and stealing their technology were slim to none. Now, their whole operation was bust, and this interloper would pay dearly. Accessing his private call system, he ordered his interrogator, "Eris, do whatever it takes to push the girl Aeser-bound. This Immortalius scum will learn not to interfere with our plans. We keep her alive only as long as she doesn't totally flat line. Afterwards, send word so that odd hero, what's his name, Captain Planet can rescue her. Tell him we intend on turning this entire bleeding ocean into pure hydrochloric acid unless he takes the girl. Afterwards, we send word to the Immortalius about this, and then we rule this pathetic planet. Understood?" After he was acknowledged, he smiled grimly. Never again would his own holier-than-thou Exiled brethren deny their people aid, nor would the Immortalius threaten them.
When Laila woke up, her head was pounding and she could hardly move. Her arms and legs were tethered to quartz podiums so her whole body was upright. Her elaborate hair was free and wild, her extremities covered in dried blood. Her flight uniform had been unceremoniously ripped from her body, leaving her only in a pale gold tank top and bloomers. These too were shredded but mostly still in tact. Straining to free herself, she screamed, "Let me out of here! I'm going to kill you all once I'm free!" It was an empty threat, but she refused to let them get the better of her. Uncle Odd had commented once that she was a tough nut to crack, but like all nuts, they all cracked in the end.
A sharp light blinded her as Eris strode in, using a remote to activate the torture devices. "About time you woke up, runt!" she sneered as Laila pitifully tugged at her restraints. She glared at Eris, who merely laughed. It would be fun breaking this one, she showed spirit. But how to start?
She decided to start the session off with an old Troika standby, the Sphinx Cubicle. The smallish cube projected hundreds of tiny, sharp blades aimed at inflicting as much pain as possible by inflicting superficial wounds all over the arms, legs, torso and face. Following this, the blades would secrete a painful acid, causing the open wounds to burn and the prisoner to endure intense pain. While this was going on, the really horrific stuff would be getting under way. Metal pinchers would deliver lightning fast blows and not stop, even if the prisoner begged. The main triumph was the central claw, an overwhelming diamond lined hand shaped drill that slowly pulled away the skin at the base of the collarbone, slowly burning and freezing the nearby veins and arteries, creating not only severe bleeding, but also inducing hypothermia and shock at the same time. Lifting the crate to the center of the room, Laila cried out, "Is this it? An s-cube? By Aeser, you people are cowards. This Captain Planet, your asshole leader is afraid of, is he also an Immortalius?"
Eris shrugged, "We Troika are unsure of his origin, but he is not like us. Nor is he Immortalius. But, he will take your Aeser-ridden corpse to your parents." Activating the dial, the innumerable arms, shot out like fireworks, slicing Laila left and right. A scream broke out as she struggled to escape, only to be met with the Cube's unrelenting fury. As the session continued, Laila thrashed harder than a landed fish, and refused to give any information about her mission. Licking her bloody lips, Laila moved her arms forward in such a way that Eris was covered in her blood. The cube then began attacking her. Laila laughed at her captor's misfortune as the woman scrambled to shut the rampaging machine down. Once the cube fell dormant, she gasped for breath.
Slapping Laila, she growled, "You think this is funny? My master, he will break you." She then stalked out of the room, but not before turning the Cube back on. As Laila's plaintive cries rang out, she ordered the guards to alert Achilles to the situation.
As Eris was his lover and second in command, Achilles was outraged at how Laila was so easily able to use the S-cube's only weakness to her advantage. He would break her, damn the consequences.
Laila's torture under the S-Cube went on for more than three weeks. After fading in and out on consciousness, she would be quickly washed off and force fed through an unwashed IV drip. Her already lithe frame became desperately thin and her already fair, but pale complexion became deathly pallid. Her wounds quickly became infected and prone to random bleeding. She was physically weak, but she was still mentally strong. However, her mental strength was starting to wane as her body tried every way possible to survive. Achilles decided it was time to up the ante.
His preferred method of torture was not only using the now repaired S-cube, but also a Center Extract. This method was similar to vivisection. However, it only tore away at the flesh of the rib cage layer by layer, before subjecting in to powerful electric shocks and contaminated slicing. On top of that, electric shocks would be administered along the spine and at the base of the skull. Nobody could survive beyond a week after this, and Achilles was very willing to deliver a hardly breathing corpse. Striding into the chamber, a sadistic glee crossed his face. He would give Captain Planet a show of the girl being tortured, and give him a three day's notice to where the girl would be. Of course, he would not divulge what the ransom would be. There was no ransom, just the removal of a dead body and contamination of the planet.
Laila slowly raised her head, and scowled at Achilles in disgust. "You're their leader, aren't you? What kind of sick bastard does this? An acidic ocean will just eat the boat you know. All of you will die, and your fellow Troika will kill you." He merely nodded, half interested. The whole ocean contamination plan was just mind mess, nothing more. Besides, how was Captain Planet to know what was really going on?
Her mind was too foggy from infection and fever to protest what was going on when he activated the Extraction device. This unholy terror resembled a Dalek, only covered in mold covered blubber and lionfish quills. It made no noises. Laila screamed in pain as the blunt razors gouged her flesh, leaving trillions of hot, wet welts no bigger than a postage stamp. Loud snaps of electricity heightened her pain as she wailed. Smiling at his triumph over the Immortalius runt, he activated the communication panel and sent a horrible broadcast to Hope Island.
As it happened, both Gaia and Cap were overseeing Japan's recovery effort, when the Troika broadcast interrupted. Achilles scarred, jagged face filled the screen, and his beady eyes glistened like stars with malicious glee.
"Testing, testing… is anyone there? Of course there is, Captain Planet and your Mentor, Gaia: I am Leader Achilles of the Troika Clan, Lethe. If you do not rescue my victim within three days, then my followers will turned the entire ocean surrounding the beleaguered nation of Japan into hydrochloric acid! Don't believe me? I assure you my Scavenged technology can do that. In return, you can take custody of a traitor to our people, an Immortalius maid called Lilandriel. Pretty girl, too bad she'll die before the week is out."
The camera panned towards a bloodbath worthy of the goriest of slasher films and serial murderers. A young girl, in her early twenties with pale skin, long, unruly black hair and a lithe figure struggled pitifully against the leather restraints as a mechanical surgeon tore away at her skin, splattering blood against the walls and camera lens. As horrific as the scene was, Cap was floored by the eerie feeling he had been forced to witness this before. He had no idea why, but something nagging at the back of his mind told him she was closer to death than what he was saying.
Before Gaia could even issue a reply, Captain Planet cut in. "Leave her alone, Achilles. The Immortalius had nothing to do with her raid; you have kidnapped a stranded civilian. I accept your terms for ransom." His heart ached at the girl's torture, for some unknown reason he wanted to protect her, but why? He had no idea who she was, but for some reason, she was important to him. With that in mind, he flew straight for the Troika ship base.