A/N: to those of you put this on story alert, thanks! I'm glad you want to see more! To be honest, I'd kinda sorta hoped for at least one review on the first chapter, but thanks anyways for reading :) Here's chapter 2!
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He wakes up disoriented. This isn't headquarters. This isn't Brittany talking to (and getting responses from) her stuffed animals, or Tina fixing the electronics. This isn't home, not by a long shot. If he were in headquarters, there would be the smell of coffee in the air, pancakes burning, people singing and humming and occasionally yelling when someone's too far away to hear properly.
This isn't his bed. He's on a table. Calm down, Blaine, he thinks, relax. Focus. Strapped to a table, white everywhere. White ceiling, white table, bright white lights shining down into his eyes.
"You're awake, then," says the voice, and Blaine starts violently, rattling the restraints keeping him tied to the table. He tests them out, then seeing that his wrists and ankles are shackled down, and there's a strap across his chest and stomach. This can't be good. He's new to the New Directions, he's never been this close to a villain before, never.
"What do you want?" he demands, trying to sound brave, but his voice shakes wildly and his breath comes in shallow pants.
"You, of course." This comes with a chilling laugh. "You see, my assistants have been of little use to me lately. All too slow, too bulky, too opinionated. You'd be the perfect helper."
"Why would I ever want to help you?" asks Blaine when he finds his voice.
Sebastian laughs again and rolls his eyes. "First, dear boy, let's take a look at the position you're in. I mean, I wouldn't be speaking up if I were you." Blaine rolls his eyes angrily, continuing to struggle. It's probably no use, but he can't just lie there. "I figured you'd be annoying, though, so I took extra precautions to make sure you wouldn't be any trouble. Watch this."
A screen rolls out from the ceiling, and the table tilts to a seventy-degree angle. The blood rushes to Blaine's feet but he manages to stay calm. There's some static in the beginning of the video, and then Sebastian narrates.
Here, we have a bracelet, speaks the velvet voice, and a thin metal circle appears on the screen, dainty enough to be decorative. It shrinks to fit snugly around any wrist, no matter size or shape. It molds to the wearer and is, in effect, impossible to remove. You might be wondering why you should care. The picture then zooms well out, until an entire arm is showing with the bracelet tight against the pale skin. These bracelets can do a number of things. First, they conduct electricity excellently. Second, they conduct heat well. Third, they can send the nerves into frenzy, paralyzing the body or sending spasms through it. And lastly, they can kill. Easily. The picture zooms out even more, and sick realization starts to course through his veins.
The arm belongs to none other than Kurt Hummel.
"This is a live feed, by the way," mentions Sebastian, and once the image is clear he can see that Kurt is sitting alone in his room, lying on his bed. His eyes are red and puffy from crying. Blaine's heart breaks just a little bit.
"Let's test it out, shall we?" Sebastian reaches into his pocket to remove a remote control, and Blaine screams, "No!"
Sebastian seems to take pleasure in Blaine's exclamation. "What level for the shock, then? Come on, don't be shy. How about a six for that indignant tone when you woke up? The rolling of the eyes?"
Blaine can only watch helplessly as Kurt gets punished for Blaine's unwitting mistakes. Sebastian twists the dial to 6 and waits for an agonizing moment. And then he presses the red button.
The effect is instantaneous. Kurt shrieks and spasms, body stiffening and hand clawing at the bracelet. The tear tracks, having dried, are back full force, and Blaine is screaming at Sebastian to stop, stop, please stop, he'll do anything, just stop!
"Oh, now you'll do anything," smirks Sebastian, and after two more seconds, releases the button. Kurt is now hunched in on himself, panting from pain and exertion, little whimpers still spilling from his lips. Mercedes comes into view, and Blaine spies no bracelet on her wrist. He sighs a little bit in relief, but it's short-lived.
"Now, of course, we can test the other two functions. The last one we'll save, for the time being, because that isn't nearly as much fun."
"No, God no, please don't. I'll be your sidekick, I'll do whatever you tell me, I swear. Just don't hurt him." Tears of frustration are welling up in Blaine's eyes. This is his fault; he's such an idiot. Kurt deserves so much better.
On screen, they're both examining the bracelet, and Kurt looks incredibly wary of the thing, holding it out to the side while Mercedes gets in close.
"Let's play a game, then. If Mercedes leaves within the next five minutes, we play with the other two functions. If not, he gets out of this one free. Deal?"
"Please don't do this," whispers Blaine, all of the fight draining out of his system. He strains his back to keep himself quasi-lifted up, elbows awkward underneath him. A countdown appears at the bottom left corner of the screen, and four minutes and forty-three seconds remain before he can somewhat relax.
The minutes are tense, but soon Kurt and Mercedes are involved in a conversation, complete with gestures and tears and shaking and hugging, and the time ticks away to nothing. Blaine sags against the table in relief. Kurt's screams still echo in his ears, and there's something drying and shifting on his face even though he has no idea when he started crying.
"What do you want me to do?" he asks resolutely, but he's shaking.
"That's more like it," says Sebastian with a smile that crawls up Blaine skin. "Your task is simple. Stop the New Directions from succeeding. If they try to stop me, you stop them. If they try to take something, you stop them. If they try to hurt a Warbler, you stop them. If you fail to comply, we all know what happens. You'll be trained, of course, to fight against them. You'll be the best and brightest, I know it. And you know the consequences if you fail."
He then shuts his eyes, and Sebastian's voice is suddenly in Blaine's mind. It's incredibly uncomfortable and invasive. "I'm not the only one with a superpower, you know. I'd love something a bit more practical, but communication skills will suffice, so I can give you direct orders. Your first training session is in two hours. There's food in your room, and a bathroom you can get washed up in." He wants to ask how long he's been out, for everything to be set up so precisely, but remains silent out of pure fear.
The restraints suddenly retract, and Blaine is free. He wants to rip out Sebastian's throat, but the remote control is still in his hand, threatening. Instead, he walks to his room, docile, and moves into the bathroom.
When he gets there, he goes to the toilet and is violently sick, losing everything he'd eaten and then some. He won't be able to sleep tonight, that much he knows.
Before he curls up in the sparsely made bed, he thinks of Kurt one more time, hunched over in pain because of him. He vows not to let that happen ever again, and tosses and turns until nightmares take him.
He wakes up screaming.
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Review? The next chapter is finished, so the more people review the quicker it'll be up :)