"Jack? Jack!"

He groaned and forced his eyes open, furrowing his brow when he saw his wrists strapped to the arms of a metal chair. He raised his head and looked around the room, taking in the surgical equipment on the walls and tables.

"You okay?" Zephyr asked; he too was strapped into a metal chair, although much more than Jack was. "The creeps that put us in here said something about shocking you."

"I...think I'm okay," Jack said, his eyes settling on the empty surgery table to the right of them. "But...where are we?"

The memory of everything that had happened before returned to him, the jet exploding, the glass everywhere as he lost sight of Stryker in the passenger seat. He looked to the right and felt his stomach clench in fear. Stryker was laying on one of the surgical tables, his head tilted towards them. He was battered and bruised, with singe marks on the left side of his face. Miraculously that seemed to be it, and Jack sat back and sighed when he saw his chest rise up and down.

"It's pretty weird..."

Jack looked over at Zephyr, whose brow was knit as he gazed at Stryker.

"I mean, I'm glad he's okay, the creeps told me what happened. But...well he's been healing himself the whole time he's been there."

He and Jack met eyes, then Zephyr turned and stared at the blinding white tile.

"You wouldn't have recognized him if you'd seen him earlier..." he mumbled. "He...definitely didn't look alive."

Jack bit his lip and dipped his head, not even wanting to entertain the thought of that. A shnk sounded behind him, and the boys looked to see a man with gray-blonde hair and blue eyes enter the room, flanked by two lab rats in white coats and goggles. He didn't look menacing, especially not with his navy sweater and light brown suit pants. But the smirk he gave them didn't read as friendly.

"Sleep well?" he asked coyly, resting his hand on the back of Jack's seat.

"Where are we?" Zephyr barked as Jack shrunk into his chair. "Who are you?"

"Oh, don't worry about the details, boys," the man said, smiling down at Jack. "You won't be here for too long, I assure you."

Jack shivered. Something told him that they wouldn't be leaving out the front door. He straightened though when the man looked at Stryker.

"My my, he's looking better," he marveled, taking Stryker's chin in his other hand and turning it so he could get a better look. "For a second I thought he wouldn't make it."

"Sir," one of the lab rats purred, slinking up to the other side of Stryker's table. "Would you like me to wake him?"

"Of course, Eldritch. We wouldn't want to leave him in the dark."

The boy's breath caught in their throats when Eldritch pulled out some sort of gun.

"Hey, what're you doing?" Jack shouted, wrenching on his binds.

"We're going to wake him," the man said, putting a cold hand on his shoulder. "It will be relatively painless."

"For us," the other lab rat hissed as he turned up the voltage.

Zephyr and Jack started shouting for Stryker to wake up as Eldritch's gun started spurting sparks; Stryker grimaced at the sudden racket, then opened his eyes to see a strange man lowering a weapon to his chest. His eyes shot open and he struggled to move, but he was completely strapped in. He screeched as a bolt of electricity shot through him, making him feel as if his insides were being incinerated. Eldritch grinned widely, then thankfully took the gun off of him. Stryker collapsed back onto the table, heaving air in and out of his lungs.

"Well, he's awake now," Eldritch said with a chuckle, forcing Stryker's head back to him. "Such a handsome specimen. And healing so quickly."

"I think I'd rather be dying!" Stryker growled, craning his neck to pull his face away. "Who the heck are you?"

"This is Eldritch," the man in the sweater said. "He will be helping me with a little project you three unfortunately are involved in."

He grabbed a handful of Jack's hair and wrenched his head back, smirking at the boy when he cringed, then shooting a look at Zephyr.

"I hear you make special artifacts that may be useful to me," he said as Stryker fought angrily against his bonds. "For your friends' sake, I hope I've heard right."

Zephyr's eyes were wide and frightened, especially when Eldritch started up his gun again and grinned at him. He swallowed hard and nodded desperately at the man.

"Don't hurt them," he pleaded.

This caused the man to chuckle coldly.

"All you have to do is agree to my terms," he said, tightening his grip on Jack's head so his back arched. "And I won't harm a hair on your friends' heads."

"Zeph, don't you dare!" Stryker commanded, trying to keep the gun Eldritch was lowering away from his face.

"Y-You swear?" Zephyr asked.

The smirk on the man's face widened.

"On my honor."

Zephyr cringed. Jack opened one of his eyes and managed to shake his head a little before the man wrenched on his head again, but Zephyr already had his answer.

"Okay," he said, just in time to stop Eldritch from zapping Stryker. "Okay, just, let them go."

"Splendid," the man declared, releasing Jack and putting his hands up. "Then you can start right away."

Stryker growled helplessly as Eldritch reluctantly put his gun back on the tray.

"Eldritch, take these two to the boiler room please."

"W-Wait, what?" Zephyr shouted as the lab rats flanked Stryker and Jack. "But...you-you said-"

"I told you I wouldn't harm them," the man sneered. "But I'm sure some time in the boiler will convince you to do exactly what I say."

"Don't worry about us, Zeph!" Jack squeaked; the shorter rat pulled out a clothe and wrapped it around his mouth, avoiding his teeth.

"If you do what he says you're an idiot, Zephyr!" Stryker cried, wrenching against the binds of the table as Eldritch wheeled him and Jack out of the room.

Zephyr could sense the fear in his voice; he'd only said that to convince him not to make a Shen Gong Wu for this man, but there was no way he was going to let them fry if he could stop it.

"Here's how this will work," the man started, kneeling down to Zephyr's glare. "You will have an hour to create an artifact that can cause enough damage to kill a man. To ensure that you will do this I'm going to have my men turn the heat up fifty degrees every twenty minutes. If you still aren't able to create an object, well, then your friends will be reduced to ashes."

Zephyr shivered as he stood and motioned towards the door. Two more lab rats appeared in the corridor.

"Do you understand, little boy?" the man asked.

Everything inside him boiled with rage, but he grudgingly nodded and squeezed his eyes shut. He'd yet to take any lessons from Mz. Spicer, and the last time he made a Wu it was just a harmless helmet that shot hot air. How was he supposed to make a Shen Gong Wu that emitted enough power to kill someone?

"Good. Would you two take him to the viewing area please?"

He tensed as the two lab rats flanked his chair and wheeled him out of the room. In the halls, he got a good chance to look at his surroundings, and what he saw turned his spine to ice. In each small white room was a child, always between one and twelve, always playing with some sort of toy. Every so often one would look up and smile at him, or wave, oblivious to his plight. Before the rats turned the corner he caught a glance of the place's sign, a large object shaped into a rainbow with children dancing around it.

They were in a childcare clinic.