A few months later Oz had been sitting in his cell, not really noticing his surroundings, but not quite meditating when a sudden question jerked him back to himself. "Which do you prefer broken? Toes or Fingers?"

"What?! Pretty sure neither!" Oz heard the note of fear in his own voice.

"I thought I would give you the choice of which ones. Make no mistake, you don't get a choice as to whether or not they will be broken, but you will be the one living with it, and as it doesn't matter to me which ones they are, I thought you should get that much of a choice. I just need it to be a set, the same one on each side of the body. The first one I will break at the half way point between the third night of the full moon and the first night of the next moon. The second I will break during the second night of the following full moon, while you are in wolf form to compare the rate of healing. If you don't choose, I'll choose for you and maybe I'll pick the thumbs, and if not done carefully I'm betting it would be problematic for a guitarist. Or, have you thrown that part of your life away too? If you keep giving up things, maybe there won't be anything left of you, or the human you anyway. Hmmm, would that mean the wolf would get a deeper hold? She smiled.

"Well, maybe we'll find out before it's over. Of course, if that's the case I wouldn't be able to let you go after all... Maybe that's what you want, to finally give up so that you have a reason to not fight for the part that is you. But that's not my concern, just an idle observation... So, which is it? Toes or fingers?"

Oz looked away. "Toes."

***

She took care with the actual procedure. She gave him a mild sedative and strapped him to the exam table, then injected a local anesthetic. She carefully and precisely braced the middle toe of his right foot stabilizing the second and third joints then snapped the bone between the joints. She immediately applied an ice pack and taped the toe to the one next to it, placing gauze padding between the two. As soon as the sedative had worn off enough, she moved him to the small x-ray room and took radiographs of the toe. She then moved him back to his cage and helped him back to his mattress, then she propped his foot up on a couple of pillows she had brought with her for that purpose.

Over the following days she laid off many of what had become his daily routines, particularly the physical exercises. She also gave him the only pair of shoes he'd had since she had brought him there, a wooden pair of sandals, which made walking easier. While waiting for the full moon, she kept a careful eye on how the toe was healing, taking an x-ray every seven days, carefully shielding him from as much scatter radiation as possible. She made her measurements carefully to help ensure a clear picture to reduce the number of takes necessary, and adjusted the beam in as close as she could to reduce the amount of scatter radiation.

When the next moon arrived, she knew she had to work carefully since she had taken his charms away, and had stopped actively allowing him to fight the transformation. He had already become shaky in his control of the wolf during the nights of the full moon, aside from the nights where she had purposefully helped bring the wolf out. There had been a few nights when he had lost complete control and became the wolf, without any encouragement on her part at all. On the nights that happened, he had not been able to regain control, unable to return to human form until morning. Shortly before sundown, she had Oz undress and climb onto the exam table and strapped him down. This time she injected him with a much stronger sedative, strong enough to render human-Oz unconscious. She then prepared his left foot in the same manner she had his right. When the sun had set, she gave him a severe shock, but even unconscious Oz's self fought the transformation, in the end it took three jolts. As soon as he transformed she made the break. The wolf stirred, fighting the sedative. Quickly she gave him a second injection, this time enough to keep the wolf asleep. She checked his restraints, put on an icepack and prepared to work through the night so she could keep an eye on Oz in case he were to rouse, or have trouble breathing.

It was late in the morning before the now human Oz woke up enough to move. Still under the effects of the sedative, she gingerly helped him into the radiology room and took the pictures as quickly as she could, then helped him dress. She then helped him to his mattress, and in a repeat of the last time she taped the newly broken toe, replaced the icepack, and elevated both feet.

Over the months, the constant state of anxiety began to make way for a constant state of boredom. She had begun spending more time reviewing the information she had already gained and less time directly interacting with him. There were also more gaps of time when she would leave the lab during the day. Oz didn't know where it was she went during those times, but he had noticed that frequently she came back smelling of the same scents. A certain group of people; and he assumed those people were the ones she reported to. He also noticed that there was one scent from that group that occasionally showed up on its own. It was a male scent, and one that was pungent, sweaty. He also noticed the times that he picked up that scent without the accompanying scent of the group that she came back acting fidgety and smelling slightly fearful.

One day out of sheer boredom, Oz asked her, "Who's the sweaty guy?" He felt some petty satisfaction when the question caused her to jerk just enough that the needle she was preparing to insert into a rubber toped sample tube slide, stabbing her in the finger. She glared at him and didn't answer.

Oz tried to keep his mind occupied, but it became harder with time and he began to fear that he might never leave the room alive. He had come no closer of solving the problem of deactivating the bands on his wrists and ankles which he saw as his main hindrance to escape, and escape had become the only thing he could focus on. He began to think through everything he had learned, everything she had said to him, and he started to convince himself that there was a chance that she had lied about the boundary at the top of the stairs. He only had her word, and he felt that maybe that wasn't good enough.

Oz had been with her a full year when he made his move. He waited until the next time she needed him out of the cage. He had realized that he would need a weapon, and despite everything he didn't want to kill her. He had decided on the IV pole. When he exited the cage he followed her over to the exam table, and waiting until she was turned slightly away from him, he shoved her forward giving him time to grab the pole, hurrying backwards away from her as she regained her balance and turned back around.

"Oz, where do you think you're going? Put the pole down. Even if you kill me, those bands aren't going to let you get any further than the top of those stairs."

Oz started moving sideways, holding the I.V. pole in front of him, like a staff, the wheeled end at the top. "I don't know that. I only know that's what you say."

"You know they work otherwise, why would I lie about that?" She slowly stepped closer holding up her hand placating.

"Don't! Don't come any closer!" Oz shifted his hold on the pole, raising it slightly. Oz glanced at the counter, the equipment: the microscope, centrifuge, slides, blood tubes. Samples...samples of him. He looked back at her. She had followed his gaze, knew what he was thinking. As he raised the pole and took aim at the counter's contents she shouted, "Do it and I will just start over!" It was enough to make him pause.

She took another step forward. "If you do that, it could taint everything, and I'll start over. And, it will be that much longer before you get out of here, and if you do manage to get out of here on your own, and we lose you, we'll find someone else to take your place. Did you know your friend Angel is dating a werewolf? Different breed. Might be interesting to compare the data. It would be a shame to separate her from her family. She has a niece you know. That reminds me, I hear you have a cousin...Jordy?"

Oz raised the pole and ran forward yelling, no longer aiming for the counter, but taking aim at her head. She quickly grabbed the device on her wrist and before he reached her, electricity coursed from the bands on his wrist and ankles through his body, stronger than any of the previous jolts. He was unconscious before he hit the floor.