Warnings for captivity, people using excuses for sexual assault, mentions of child abandonment and child neglect, and plans of torture and murder and repeated mentions of sexual assault.

The foreboding words on your arm

Chapter 8

Revenge is satisfying, isn't it?

To say that Clarke's expression, as her mates watched her, screamed "shock," was a hilarious understatement.

Her eyes grew huge, her lower jaw dropped and she stiffened as if her mind couldn't entirely process what she had just heard.

Clarke shook her head, one time, then twice, as if working to accept the information she had just been given.

"My mother," Clarke said at last, her words coming out slowly, "Abby? Abby Griffin? She's…she's here?"

"Yes, sweetie," Pepper said, keeping her voice soft, "We brought her here for you. So that you can watch her pay for leaving you. We'll make her pay for abandoning you."

Clarke actually gasped at this.

"Make her pay?" She asked, "What-what do you mean by that? What are you going to do to her?!"

Several of Clarke's mates sighed. They had suspected Clarke would be against this.

It wouldn't matter, though.

They were going to kill Abby, one way or another.

The wretched woman had thrown their mate away, had abandoned her and left her without anyone to look after her. And what was more? She had stolen Clarke's inheritance, by making sure that Jake Griffin's lawyer would change the will.

For all of this? They were going to make Abby suffer in ways she couldn't come close to fathoming.

"We're just going to hurt her the way she mentally and emotionally hurt you," Elektra said, snickering, "You might not like hearing it, but it's what she deserves."

Clarke shook her head, panicked. "No," She sounded quiet, but desperate, "Please, I don't want you to."

"Why not, honey?" Steve asked, keeping his voice gentle, as Pepper had, "She left you to die practically. And she made sure that your father's lawyer changed your father's will. And she stole your money. She has done nothing for you to want to protect her."

They watched as Clarke stiffened up. Clearly, she hadn't realized that they knew that much about her.

She said quietly, but loud enough for them to hear her words, "I don't care what she's done to me. She's my mother. I don't what anyone hurting her."

Yelena scoffed.

Natasha said calmly, "She may have given birth to you, Clarke. But she's not your mother. No real mother would do to their child, what Abby Griffin did to you, my love."

Clarke glared up at the camera. She said, "And do you think any soulmates could do what you've done to me?"

Many of Clarke's mates flinched. They understood that what they had done to Clarke was wrong and knew that she had a point, and had every right to throw barbs at them like this.

But it still hurt.

"We deserve that, love," Natasha confessed, her face in no way changing its expression, regardless of feeling a harsh pang in her heart at Clarke's words, "But we would never abandon you. We know that what we're doing is wrong. But we will take responsibility. And we intend to give you everything you could ever want. Abby would only take and give nothing back. One of the things we're going to give you? Is to witness Abby's execution."

Clarke shivered, standing up, her legs still somewhat wobbly after everything, and she still glared at the camera she said heatedly, "If you kill Abby, I will never, ever forgive you."

Clarke's words hurt. But Clarke's mates were in no way fooled into thinking that Clarke was going to forgive them anytime soon, so, Clarke's words, while hurtful, did not sway them remotely.

"Maybe not," Bruce said, "But at least it will keep you from ever being hurt by her again. And at least it will give her what she deserves. And…well, we'll arrange the money part, so that you can get the money that was meant to be yours. We will make sure that the money that Abby stole from you, will be placed into your account, sweetie."

Clarke's eyes widened again, before she snapped, "I don't care about the money. I care about whether my mother will be safe or not."

"Your mother," Danny snorted, "Is that what she's supposed to be? Was she that, when she threw you out of the house? When she stole your inheritance? When was she your mother?"

"It doesn't matter," Brunnhilde said, smirking, "She's going to get what she deserves. And we're going to enjoy doing it."

Tony said, leaving no room for argument, "We'll bring you out of your room, and you can watch her die slowly."

They watched Clarke shiver, and Clarke said nothing else after that.

Maria said, getting up from where she was seated, "I'm going to go get the tools for when we torture Abby to death."

She walked from the main panel of the surveillance desk, and walked to the locked cabinet, where the torture tools were.

They didn't break the torture tools out very often. They only did it when there was someone particularly heinous, harming other people, who they needed to keep in line.

Maria grabbed the key from the wall, put it into the lock of the cabinet and opened it up. She, Carol and Sam, pulled the trays full of tools out and placed them down on a table nearby.

"Okay," Natasha said, standing up from the control room, "We can't kill her in Clarke's room, we're not going to stain her room with that woman's blood."

"Agreed," Pepper said, "We'll bring Clarke out of her room, make sure she can't try to escape, chain Abby up and cut her to pieces. Easy enough."

Pietro, Wanda and Luke, went to the room where Abby was being kept and they opened up the door, watching as Abby backed up, looking at them, her eyes wide.

Abby demanded, "Let me out of here. Now!"

"I don't think so, bitch," Pietro said, snickering.

"It's time to pay for your crimes against your own daughter, Abby," Wanda said, her voice hard and icy.

"Let's go," Luke said, his own voice low and dark as he stepped into the room, his right, huge hand reaching out for Abby.

"No!" Abby cried out, but Luke didn't listen as he grabbed Abby around the arms and worked to drag her out of the room.

Pietro and Wanda both cackled at the sight of Abby's fear.

When Abby was pulled all the way out of the room and thrown into the main room on her chest on the floor, Wanda and Pietro went to the trays of tools and waited.

Pepper nodded to them and Laura and Clint moved to where Abby was getting up, grabbed for her and pinned her back down to the floor, making the woman cry out in surprise.

Simone and Barney went to one of the other back rooms, opened up the door, and reached inside, pulling out the restraints.

They had various types of restraints, used solely for containing prisoners that they meant to kill.

And Abby certainly fit that description.

So, Barney and Simone pulled out the uncomfortable restraints-that being, a set of heavy duty chains, with chain cuffs at the ends of the links.

Barney opened up each cuff and Simone connected the other ends of the chains to the wall, one to the right and the other to the left-hand wall.

Barney slapped one of the cuffs around one of Abby's wrists; the wrist that Clint was holding out for his brother to restrain, and then he slapped the other cuff around Abby's other wrist; the wrist that Laura was holding out for her brother-in-law.

When Abby was fully restrained and chained back, the people chaining her up, ignoring Abby's continual pleas of, "Please don't do this," and "I didn't abuse her, I swear!" and "I can explain," and "this is illegal!" and on and on and on.

They chained Abby's legs to the back wall, as well, keeping her in a very uncomfortable position.

Deciding to put an end to Abby's pleas, Laura turned on Abby and wrenched her right hand forward, slapping Abby right across the face, hard.

Abby cried out, whimpering in pain, as she slowly turned back to stare at Laura, even more terrified now.

Laura stared at Abby, unflinching.

Laura said coldly, "Do you know who we are, Abby?"

Abby shook her head, her entire body, shaking.

"You haven't even guessed?" Laura snorted, "Abby Griffin, we are Clarke Griffin's soulmates. I'm sure you noticed all the words along Clarke's left arm. Words signifying that she's going to meet her soulmates under less than ideal circumstances. Signifying that we were going to kidnap her."

Abby suddenly became dangerously pale, and her eyes jumped from one person in the room with her, to the next.

"You?" She asked, voice stunned, "All of you, are-?"

"Yes," Barney said, smirking, "That would be us, yes. Now does it make sense what we're doing?"

But Laura had a point to made. She glared at Abby as she spat, "You know who we are. You know that the words on Clarke's arm, meant that we were going to end up kidnapping Clarke. You knew that those words implied that Clarke would end up learning to be scared of us, before even meeting us. And then you abandon her. Instead of trying to help her find a way of defending herself against her mates who might just abduct her and maybe even rape her, or giving her to a family that would have helped her protect herself, you abandoned her, didn't leave her with anyone to protect her, leaving her alone in an often unforgiving world, and left her to become our prey. You know, we're monsters, and we just accept that in our line of work. But you? You didn't have to do this. Your profession doesn't even demand you do all that you did to Clarke, and you still treated her like she was less than garbage!"

Laura's same hand went flying again, and it struck Abby even harder, and none of the others missed how Laura's hand, this time, was balled up into a fist.

Laura had just punched Abby.

But this violent reaction didn't disturb any of them.

If anything, seeing Laura give Abby just the beginning of what the bound woman deserved, made several of them; Clint, Yelena, Natasha, Maria, Wanda, Pietro, Carol, Pepper, Steve, Brunnhilde, Hela, Loki, Simone, Barney and Jessica, laugh.

Abby's face clearly suffered the damage of Laura's enraged, second strike.

Blood began to pour out from Abby's nostrils, and the right side of her upper lip was torn, from the first strike.

Laura grit her teeth as she lowered her arm and sneered, "But that's fine. Because it all worked out in the end, didn't it? Now, we have Clarke with us. We're going to keep her safe, going to take care of her. And you? We're going to kill you slowly. And we're going to make sure Clarke enjoys watching it. If she doesn't? Well, there's still something to benefit from your death. That being justice done for Clarke, for you abandoning her."

They were not going to mention that they were planning on forcing Abby to change her will, so that Clarke could get all the money that her father had hoped for her to get.

If they mentioned that, Abby would panic and might not allow them to force her into signing that will, and making Clarke her own recipient.

Abby shuddered, shaking her head, terrified. "Please," she began, but again, Laura threw a punch, right into the other woman's face.

This punch must have been the last straw, because Laura's fist went right into Abby's left eye, bruising the eye up, making Abby throw her head back and cry out, and after that, Abby whimpered, but besides that, stayed quiet.

Laura laughed coldly at Abby, "You really are pathetic, you know that? Unlike you? We protect the people we care about. We know that Jake Griffin wasn't your soulmate. But that excuses nothing. That doesn't excuse practically destroying his daughter. And too bad for you, because we know who your soulmate is. And we killed him."

Abby turned to stare at Laura, eyes becoming bulging.

Finally, Laura grinned.

Abby had no soulmate words on her arm. Because Marcus Kane, Abby's soulmate, was dead.

Clarke's mates had made sure of that.

When they had tracked Abby down, they had discovered who Abby's soulmate was. And they knew that Abby had known him and that they were planning on marrying.

So, to make sure that Abby was never ever happy? Clarke's soulmates broke into Marcus Kane's home, knocked Kane out, then beat him to death.

And they knew that Abby had felt it.

When someone's soulmate died? That someone would feel pain and emptiness, unlike anything anyone could imagine.

And knowing that they had hurt Abby that way?

Made all twenty-seven of Clarke's mates, intensely happy.

Abby stared at them. "You killed him?" She whispered, voice sounding dead, almost.

"You heard what she said, Abby," Clint said, grinning, "Your mate's dead. We're the ones that did it. As you know from the reports from the coroner, we used baseball bats."

Every single drop of blood appeared to have left Abby with those details. Yes, Marcus Kane had indeed, been beaten to death with baseball bats. Metal ones. The culprits never found and no witnesses available.

The metal baseball bats, weren't traceable. What metal broke off and was lodged in Kane's corpse, had been tracked, but no one knew who had purchased all the baseball bats.

And there were no fingerprints or fibers or fluids found. Well, no fluids, except for all of Marcus Kane's blood. Nothing.

"You killed him?" Abby asked, tears beginning to form in her eyes as she struggled against the chains, the question coming out like a sob.

"Yes, we did, so glad that you're catching up, Abby," Sam chuckled.

Abby shook with sobs as she lowered her head.

Smirking, Natasha said, turning to the others, "I think now is a good time to bring Clarke out. She can see for herself how pathetic her so-called mother is."

The others nodded.

They knew they'd need to decide who was going to get Clarke out of her room.

But first?

Jessica went to the control panel and pressed her finger against the button, as she said, "Clarke, we'd like you to get dressed. There's something we want to show you and it doesn't involve sex."

Clarke looked like she wanted to say something-likely that what Frank, Elektra, Sam, Carol, Bruce and Luke, had done to her, had not been sex. And she would have been right. That wasn't sex.

It was sexual assault.

But Jessica kept her finger on the button, glancing behind her at Abby, who had lifted her head when she had heard Clarke's name.

And Jessica? She knew parents like Abby. Parents who would throw their kids away, and as soon as they had the chance to gain something from that child they threw away, they would instantly put on the sweetness and all the desperate pleas.

And Abby didn't disappoint, as soon as the woman heard Clarke's name from Jessica.

Abby started yelling, "Clarke! Clarke, help me! It's me, it's mom! I'm in here! Please!"

Jessica snickered, pulling her finger off of the button, not allowing Clarke to hear any more of Abby Griffin's pathetic mewling.

Abby's cries had the effect that Jessica had wanted.

Clarke looked around the room, at the speakers, desperately, a panicked look on her face.

"Mom?!" She cried, "Mom, where are you?!"

Jessica looked over her shoulder at Simone and nodded to her.

Simone grinned, grabbing a roll of duct tape, tearing off a piece and slapping it over Abby's mouth, to keep Abby from spewing some more.

Then Jessica turned back to the control panel and pressed the button again.

As soon as she did, she said, "Get dressed, Clarke. We'll give you your privacy. But get dressed. We want to show you why we brought Abby Griffin here. Don't you want to see her after all these years?"

Clarke stared at the cameras, then she went to where the clothes were, pulled out a bunch of new ones and went to the bathroom.

Jessica smiled pulling her finger off of the button a second time.

When Clarke entered the frame again, she was fully dressed and glaring again at the camera.

"Well?" She said, "What are you waiting for?"

Jessica grinned. Even caged and even having been sexually assaulted multiple times, Clarke still refused to yield-not completely.

Jessica looked to the others, and Pepper spoke up, "Tony and I will go get her."

If only Tony was going? Then they'd be hesitant, because they knew he'd likely say something that would make Clarke want to punch him. But if Pepper went with him? Then this might go somewhat smoothly.

Pepper and Tony walked away from the others and went downstairs, to the room where Clarke was.

Tony and Pepper got to the room where Clarke was, switched off the locks and opened up the doors.

Clarke turned around and faced Tony and Pepper.

Tony and Pepper observed Clarke, watching how she tensed up, a brief expression of panic flitting over her face, before she calmed down when she took in the sight of both Pepper and Tony.

Pepper realized that Clarke must have been expecting Elektra, Carol, Sam, Frank, Bruce or Luke.

She tried to ignore the painful remorse she felt over what they were doing to their mate, but she quashed it quickly.

They were going to give Clarke so much more this way, than had they never abducted her.

"Please come with us, sweetie," Pepper said, smiling.

"Oh," Clarke said, glowering at Pepper, "You're the one that keeps calling me 'sweetie.' I have a name, you know."

"I know," Pepper said, still smiling softly, "My name's Pepper Potts." She gestured to Tony, "This is my other mate, your other mate too, Tony Stark."

Tony smiled, hoping to look enticing to Clarke, but Clarke just gave him a cynical look and turned away.

Pepper ignored that, and ignored Tony's disappointed expression and continued, "Would you prefer it if we just called you 'Clarke?'"

Clarke stared at the couple hard, then said, "Yes."

"Alright, then," Pepper said, knowing that that would be difficult for all of them-as they all wanted to keep giving endearing names to their mate-endearing names of love and affection. But if Clarke preferred just being called by her name, then they could do that.

"Please," Pepper said, nodding to the hallway that led away from Clarke's prison, "Come with us, Clarke."

Clarke eyed Pepper, then Tony, who gave what likely had meant to be a reassuring smile, but likely just put Clarke off more, but then she huffed out, nodded and followed Pepper and Tony out, down the hall.

The three of them went down the hall, and of course, Tony being Tony, instantly started asking Clarke about her "accommodations," and if Clarke liked her room and the things that they had gotten for her.

Tony added one last thing, "Oh, Clarke, do you know what animals you want to keep in those glass things?"

"Terrariums," Clarke said dryly, glowering at Tony.

"Yeah, those," Tony said, trying to grin innocently.

Clarke snorted, "As if you can erase what you've done to me by getting me all the animals I could ever want."

Both Pepper and Tony winced.

"That isn't what we mean, Clarke," Pepper promised, "It's not like that. We just want to give you everything you could ever want."

Clarke looked like she wanted to snap a hurtful comment about that, and Pepper suspected that Clarke was going to bring up the rapes, but Tony said something quick, instead, "Okay, so, we're talking how many turtles you want? How many lizards?"

Pepper glared at Tony when Clarke eyed the man again.

Tony gave Pepper a blatant look that screamed, "What?"

Tony mumbled to Pepper as they got close to the doorway to where they were going, "I'm just trying to help, Pepper."

"I know," Pepper all but growled at Tony, throwing a nervous glance at Clarke, as the blonde now watched Pepper and Tony's interaction, confused, "But when you try to help, things tend to get more chaotic."

Tony grumbled, "Ouch. I mean, you're not wrong. But ouch."

Pepper chuckled at Clarke's befuddled expression.

The two of them likely were…interesting to watch.

And Pepper wasn't sure how she could begin to confess to Clarke, why they forced themselves on Clarke. That it wasn't about using Clarke. It was about giving Clarke the pleasure that she had denied herself for so long.

Somehow, though, Pepper had a feeling that Clarke wouldn't appreciate that explanation.

The three of them entered the next room and Pepper lost her smile, getting ready for serious emotions to arise.

As soon as Clarke got into the room, she froze, when she saw the rest of her mates there, Clarke swallowed, shuddering and her she almost whimpered in what she realized with horror, was a combination of fear and arousal, when she saw all six Carol, Frank, Sam, Bruce, Elektra and Luke in the room.

"Hello, Clarke," Bruce said, looking over at Clarke.

Clarke steeled herself. All six of them being in the room, was…

But Clarke's attention, soon was on something else.

It was on where the groaning was coming from in the room. A woman's groaning.

Clarke looked at where the sound was coming from. The muffled noise, was coming from a woman, chained up, with a strip of duct tape over her mouth.

Clarke's eyes widened.

If she wasn't feeling horror before? She certainly was now.

This was Abby. This had to be Abby.

Her biological mother.

Clarke's jaw dropped as she stared at this woman, staring back up at Clarke with pleading, terrified, tearful eyes.

Clarke could barely remember what her mother looked like. She wasn't so young when she had been abandoned that she couldn't remember her mother's face.

It was that she had tried to always block Abby's face from her memory.

It was just too painful to be able to recall Abby's face.

But the moment Clarke had heard that voice on the speaker? Regardless of how muffled the voice had sounded?

Clarke had recognized that voice. Instantly.

It was Abby's voice, alright.

"Clarke Griffin," Tony said, his voice taking an almost bravado like tone, "Meet Abby Griffin, after all these years."

"And now?" One of Clarke's other mates said, a woman with long black hair, dressed in a black leather jacket, from where she leaned against the wall, smirking at Clarke, "You get to watch Abby, the woman that abandoned you, suffer."

Another of Clarke's mates, a woman with blonde hair in a long ponytail said snidely, her voice bearing what Clarke suspected was a Russian accent, "Revenge is satisfying, isn't it?"

Author's note

As I've said, this fic is an inspiration of many fanfic authors, including Fireclaw111.