Lance tried not to touch the thing on the side of his head, which stung in an annoying, distracting way. He squinted at Pietro in the cell across from him. "They didn't put one on you? Why?"
Pietro shrugged. "Because you're the only one who can make the roof cave in?" he guessed.
Lance glanced around their new accommodations. The walls were metal, dully reflecting the overhead lights back into his eyes (doing nothing for his headache). On the wall beside each cell was a long computer panel, adding to the feeling of some high-tech military complex, but there was no real indication of where they were being held. If this was Trask Industries, how had they known so much about them? They had tracked them down in Bayville, knew what their powers were. None of this was good.
"So how long've we been here?" Lance asked, almost rubbing his head again before stopping himself.
"At least a couple hours," said Pietro.
Lance carefully stretched his arms over his head, satisfied that he didn't have more than a few bruises and the headache. Pietro appeared to be in one piece, too. He only had a scrape down the left side of his chin, standing out against his pale complexion. Lance knew they had to do something about their situation before they got it any worse. "How long until your dad comes looking for you?"
Pietro immediately shot him a look with narrowed eyes. "He doesn't keep tabs on me."
"Yeah, well, you're the only one who knows how to contact him-"
"I've told you a hundred times: He contacts me. As soon as I don't check in, he'll find us. Couple days."
Lance snorted. "In a couple days we're going to be leftovers for whatever science experiment they try on us, Pietro."
"Well, since I'm not psychic, I can't just call him over here!" he snapped. "Think of something else!"
"If you had let us in on Magneto's stupid plan in the first place and we knew how to contact him, Toad and Blob could-"
Pietro laughed, hard. "Oh get real, Lance! Those two haven't even noticed we're gone. They might notice when the fridge is empty."
Lance sighed, didn't bother to contradict him. Since it was probably true.
A panicked feeling of helplessness was trying to claw its way up Lance's spine. He struggled to think, to plan, to keep from freaking out. First they had to find out where they were being kept, find a way out, hopefully without alerting the whole place-
A sound registered with both mutants at the same time. The clank of unhurried footsteps on the metal floor brought Pietro up to the bars of his cell at the same time as Lance. The two shared a guarded look as the noise grew nearer.
The single man who appeared was dressed in a nondescript, military-style uniform. The black fabric stretched over a muscular frame, thick shoulders and upper arms, the look of a guy commonly hired for security or as a bouncer. His expression was that of a predator. There was a holster at his waist.
The man turned his back on Lance, facing Pietro's cell. The rock tumbler had a sinking feeling in his chest as he tried to figure out why a single guard had come down to them on his own.
"Well look what we have here," sneered the man, his voice the husky snarl of a smoker.
Pietro wasn't the type to tread cautiously. He returned the man's sneer with his own, but it fell off his face as he saw a hand fall on the guard's holster.
The teen backed away as the gun came out, held loosely in the guard's large hand. The cell was so small that the speedster was pressed against the back wall with the third step. "Hey wait-w-what do you want?" he demanded, holding his hands up in front of him as if he could ward him off.
The man looked the teen up and down. "Oh, the lab rats upstairs aren't quite ready to 'interview' you boys just yet," he drawled. "I thought you and me could have some one-on-one in the meantime."
"Just try to catch me," Pietro hissed, even though he had nowhere to go; his blanched expression proved that he knew it.
The guard chuckled and shook his head. "No, I don't think so."
The gun went off. Rather than a bullet, a flash of red discharged through the bars of the cell. Some sort of energy weapon. Pietro screamed and fell, clutching his leg.
Things had gotten out of control so fast. Lance grabbed the bars of his cell and yelled something, he wasn't really sure what it was, anything to get the man's attention away from his teammate. But the guard just pressed the keypad next to the cell and the bars slid into the wall.
Pietro tried to slide backwards, dragging his leg away from the man, as a dark red stain spread across one thigh. But the man came after him, grabbed his wrists and hauled him to his feet.
"What do you think you're doing!?" Pietro demanded, voice shrill with pain and outrage. He hung limply in the man's arms, unable to put weight on his leg. "L-let me go!"
The man easily turned the slight teen around and pushed his face against the wall, holding him there with one broad hand circling both thin wrists. The other hand came down and groped the front of his jeans, causing the boy to cry out.
"No!" Lance shouted, pounding on the bars of his cell. The man didn't glance in his direction, attention cruelly focused on his prey.
His hand thumbed the button open on Pietro's jeans, fingers reaching inside. The mutant let out a string of curses and denials, cut off with a whimper as his pants and boxers were shoved down past his hips.
The guard's broad body completely blocked the smaller form from Lance's view as Pietro let out a pained wail.
Lance tried again to call on his powers. He only got another stabbing headache, and a feeling of helplessness that threatened to overwhelm him.
His stomach clenched against the quiet grunts of exertion and the slap of flesh against flesh, and Pietro's small voice shuddering, begging something too fast to make out. Lance slammed his shoulder against his cell bars.
Eventually the sounds stopped. The guard stepped back and dropped his burden. The slight teen slid to the floor in a boneless heap, unmoving.
The guard was unhurried as he put himself away and zipped up his pants, ignoring the still form at his feet. Then he turned and looked right at Lance. The man wore a satisfied, satiated expression that made Lance's stomach curl.
Lance glared back, his head pounding with the urge to open a fissure and drop him down under the earth. He stared into the man's eyes. "I will kill you," he vowed lowly.
The guard laughed and stepped out of the cell, one hand slapping the wall panel to replace the bars. Pietro still hadn't made a move. Lance wasn't sure if he was conscious.
Standing in front of his cell, just out of Lance's reach, the man looked him up and down. "Tempting, but you're not my type." He smirked. "If I find someone interested in you, tall and dark, I'll send them down here."
Lance just glowered at the threat, not backing down. "Any time," he ground out. He needed the door open if he was going to get Pietro out of there, so he'd take whatever they tried to throw at him.
The guard just laughed and turned away. Shaking with fury, Lance didn't move for a long time, until the echoes of the boots on the metal flooring faded away.