(Author's note: I am loving the encouragement I am getting to finish my story! It really helps! I am in vet school so finding time to write can be hard, but please keep it up! Also, feedback (especially complements :D) make my day, so please let me know what you think about my story! I having quite a bit planned for this, but at the same time have NO idea- so anything can happen. This may end up being a very long story before it is completed, though! Enjoy!)

The bright flash engulfed the warrior, and she suddenly felt dizzy- as if everything that made up her body had been taken apart, jumbled up a bit, and then quickly put back together again. She never felt as if she had left the ground, but suddenly she stumbled, hitting a hard, cold, sterile floor.

"Ouch!" She turned; trying to see where the strange beasts were that had brought her here. The light in the room was entirely too harsh, bright like a modern day surgery suite, and Xena blinked, trying to bring anything around her into focus. Instinctively, her hand went to the hilt of her sword, and she squeezed it as she collected her thoughts. She thought about drawing it out of its sheath, of attacking, but with the way those things just summoned energy from their arms? It was impossible to defeat that with only metal. She sighed, and released the grip on the leather bound sword base, dropping her arms to her side and raising from her crouched position.

"Who's there?" She asked, her voice echoing through the room.

She didn't hear any footsteps or see anyone coming up to her, but suddenly she was hit with someone's full weight. The force knocked her to the ground in a tackle, and the two figures wrestled for a few minutes. Somehow, the light in the room got brighter and brighter, until the only thing Xena could see at all was a thick sheet of white. "I'd prefer darkness to this nonsense," She thought to herself, as she kicked and clawed at whatever was attacking her.

Whatever it was, it was big, but it wasn't hard and cold like one of the beasts. Her short and fast punches appeared to have no effect on the gargantuan being, and her knuckles had started to bleed from hitting what felt like the rough sides of a cow. Finally, she felt a hand wrap around her arm, and the attacker tried to pin her down. Xena continued to struggle even as a hand was placed on her face, pushing her head back into the ground, and she bit down- hard. The salty taste of human blood seeped through her teeth, which was actually quite a relief to the warrior princess.

"Well, at least you are a human," She stated as her opponent pinned her down. She struggled just a little more, and then resolved that there wasn't a way to get out of this without become seriously injured, and that she may need her strength for later. Her wrists were grabbed, folded behind her, and bound. She heard the sound of her sword being unsheathed from its scabbard, and her shakram was clumsily unbuttoned from her belt.

"Can you at least turn down these gods forsaken lights?"

A grunt was given in response, and the lights began to gradually dim, obliging to her request. Finally, her vision came back and, now with her hands cuffed behind her, she looked around. The room was completely empty. There appeared to be no windows, or even doors. Just cold, white, ceramic tile, all throughout all sides of this cubed prison.

"You're going to leave me here, aren't you?" Xena asked, trying her best to hide the fear that was coming up in her chest. She could fight monsters, deal with torture, and solve terrible mysteries- even if it meant her death. But the brave warrior could not even fathom the torment of being left alone in a cold, bright room. Solitary was her biggest fear- she had lived a life of loneliness before she had met Gabrielle, and she definitely didn't want to go back to that.

"No, woman." A cold, bland voice replied. She looked up, finally seeing her attacker for the first time. A huge, bulk of a man stood before her, his legs, torso , and forearms covered in solid, leather armor. Goggles covered his eyes, but his face was round and angry, and his mouth formed a slight frown, even when he spoke. His forehead was creased as if he was constantly worried, and a prickly shaved head poked up behind the band of his green and tinted goggles.

His left hand was dripping blood from where he was bitten, and he gestured to Xena with it. "Stand. Come." He ordered. When she did not immediately respond to his request he grabbed her shackles, and pulled her up off the floor himself- one handed. "Follow me," He ordered, again.

He walked her to a corner of a room, where a door seemed to materialize out of the tile and slid right out of the way, disappearing into the rest of the wall. Xena had never seen anything like this, and she gaped.

"What in tartarus is this place…?" She wondered aloud, but the leather bound brute did not answer her inquiry.

The brute shoved her in front of him into the room, which was, in contrast to the sterile, white room- very dark and damp. He did not follow, and Xena turned to face him, confused. He stared blankly at her, and the wall began to shift again.

"THIS is your prison, Woman." He stated, flatly, as he turned away from her and began to walk.

"NO!" The warrior cried, lunging toward the door that snapped shut just in time to prevent her escape. The bounds around her writs had suddenly disappeared, and she put her hands on the door, searching for the knob. She pounded on it, but the opening melted into the wall, leaving no seam or trace that an opening had ever been there. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" She cried, hitting the wall again and again, with each fading and hopeless 'no.'

A sudden hand on her shoulder stopped the pounding on the wall, and instead she turned, striking at whatever had just touched her. She had had enough of bodiless hands on her, for one day, she decided as her fist made contact with a body. A human body, or so she thought. She leapt down to follow the falling figure, and drew her fist back again in a blind rage.

"Wait, wait, wait!" The figure cried, as a flickering light came on, partially illuminating the dark room, "Don't! Stop! We're on your side."

The Greek stopped, dropping her fist. She was straddling an odd looking man in what appeared to be a priest's robe. He was on the ground, obviously surprised at the mad fury that had just been unleashed in his direction without warning. Xena exhaled, both relieved that she was not alone in her prison, and still very confused and disoriented about what, exactly, was happening.

"Oh!" The man appeared to have recognized her, and a smile spread across his handsome face, "Well, hello there! You must be Xena!"

Xena didn't respond, but stood up to let the man back to his feet. She eyed him suspiciously, wondering why a man in a priest's robe was excited to recognize her- that was not the usual reaction she got from educated elders of the community, although this man appeared quite young.

"Now why'd you go and punch the doctor!" A woman's voice came from the other side of the room, followed by quick, irritated footsteps. A red headed woman stepped out of the shadows with an irritated expression on her face. "Why would the bad guys put you, unbound, in a room full of other bad guys, right after they had you restrained? Just doesn't add up, don't-ya-think?"

"You're right, sorry. I… you surprised me," She said apologetically, looking back to the man who was dusting himself off and checking for lumps and bruises.

"Oh yes, you got me pretty good there," He mumbled, grasping his shoulder, "Oh by the way, now that we're finally meeting! I'm the Doctor, this is Donna, and we came here to get your help!"