Warnings for child abandonment, torture, murder, disposal of a body, mentions of rape and of continued sexual assault, and Clarke trying to rationalize that it's okay.

The foreboding words on your arm

Chapter 10

Everything is yours now, including us

Abby Griffin had been beaten by Clarke's mates, then tortured and cut to pieces with knives, her head removed.

Abby's body was soon destroyed, broken down, burned, the bones and teeth smashed to bits. The head, however, they kept fresh. They wanted Clarke to see it.

They wanted her to know that Abby couldn't hurt her ever again, and that they wanted her to feel pleased that the person that had hurt her so severely, was dead.

However, as Maria began to carry the decapitated head down the hall to the room where Clarke was kept, Wanda began to walk out of the room and her eyes widened when she saw Maria carrying the head.

She shook her head.

"No," she said urgently, "Just destroy it, don't let Clarke see it, Maria."

Maria frowned. "Why?" She asked, "Shouldn't she know?"

Wanda nodded. "She should," she said, "But let me tell her. Don't show her Abby's head, please?" Wanda winced sadly as she said, "I think she's already shaken up as it is."

Maria paused, appearing unhappy.

"Fine," she said, "But you better tell her clearly."

Wanda nodded and Maria turned and walked back down the hall, carrying Abby's severed head with her.

She would toss it into the fire and then they'd crush the skull to dust.

Wanda went back into the room where Clarke was and said softly to Clarke, "It's been done. Abby Griffin is dead. We cut her up and decapitated her. She's dead and can't hurt you any longer."

Clarke tensed up, cringing.

Wanda fought the need to wince yet again.

Clearly, hearing this, wasn't doing Clarke any favors.

"You killed her that way?" Clarke asked, shuddering, her eyes squeezed closed, "You all did that?"

"We did," Wanda said, "For you."

Clarke raised both her legs, her knees going to her chest as she hugged herself around her legs. "I didn't want you to," she said.

None of Clarke's three mates in the room said anything. Neither Jessica, Wanda nor Thor said, 'yes, you did,' or 'didn't you?' or 'it's okay, you can tell us the truth.' Instead, they let her tell herself that she didn't want them to dispatch Abby.

She had, and even Clarke in all her denial, knew that.

She had wanted Abby dead for what Abby had done to her.

But still? It was horrible. Didn't her wanting Abby, the woman who had given birth to her, dead, make her a horrid human being?

"Clarke," Wanda said finally, "You haven't done anything wrong. Abby was the one that did something wrong, not you."

"She shouldn't have had to die for it," Clarke protested, staring at Wanda.

Instead of saying nothing, deciding that Clarke could think about it herself, Wanda decided to respond. She said, "And what should have happened to her? She stole the money meant for you. She abandoned you. Left you to be in danger for years. And yet, she was never punished for it. What would you have suggested her punishment be?"

Clarke glared at Wanda. "Uh, jail?" She said, as if Wanda should have guessed at the most obvious answer in the world.

"Jail?" Jessica snorted, "And what exactly would have happened after that? Clarke, we've seen people like Abby, dozens of awful people just like her go in and out of prison? Rapists, murderers, pedophiles, human traffickers, abusers? Do you have any idea how many of them do the worst things possible, but fucking get released on 'good behavior?'"

Clarke tensed, watching Jessica.

Thor nodded. "Yes," he said, his low, thick British accented voice angry, "Abby Griffin would have remained in prison for abandoning you and thieving from you, for only so long. She would have been out within likely only a couple of years. Especially with the money she had in her possession."

"So, we did to her what she deserved," Wanda said, "What the law wouldn't have had the courage to do. Maybe she deserved to stay in prison for the rest of her life. But that wasn't going to happen. So, we made the hard decision."

Clarke half thought of saying, 'it sure didn't seem hard for you to do.'

But she said nothing on it.

Finally, Jessica just sighed, looking at Clarke sadly, "Look, Clarke? We aren't ever going to hurt you, okay? And what we did to you? Keeping you here, and…and violating you? We'll take responsibility. We'll make sure you have the chance to make us pay for it."

Clarke stared at Jessica, her eyebrows narrowed.

The chance to make her mates pay for it? What did that mean? Pay for it how?

Jessica didn't answer Clarke's curious expression, but instead, went on to say, her face taking on a fierce sneer, "But Abby? We'll never regret that."

Clarke shivered at Jessica's tone. Jessica really meant that, didn't she?

"So, what happens now?" She asked dryly.

"Now?" Jessica asked, shrugging, sounding flippant, "We destroy Abby's body. The money is going to all be yours. And we'll give you a few days to deal with this. But after that? After that, at least four of us are going to be in here with you…taking care of you."

Clarke shivered, and was disturbed to find that it wasn't a disgusted or horrified shiver. She knew what Jessica meant by "taking care." Just another euphemism for them intending to rape her again.

What Jessica said was clear enough. They'd give her two days to get past the shock of her mother having been killed. After that, they'd show her their own way of comforting her.

Meaning fucking her against her will.

Clarke wanted to tell them that they were sick. That they needed to be committed to a mental hospital or something. But she had understood them so well, when listening to them and seeing them. She understood that they likely already knew this, or at least already assumed this about themselves.

But for them? Their love for her excused everything.

And it seemed that they also were going to give her the chance to take revenge on them for what they were doing, if what Jessica said, could be believed.

In what way was she going to be allowed to get revenge on them for all this? She had no idea.

But unless they were lying, then she was going to have a chance to hurt them for them locking her up here, and taking turns forcing themselves on her.

As Clarke contemplated this, Thor said, voice sounding uncharacteristically gentle, and the lilt in his voice sounding hopeful, "We'd also want to give you other things you want. Like the pets you want to have. We could find some for you, if you'd like. Unless you'd like to tell us what animals you want."

Clarke threw a glance at Thor, at that.

It was similar to the question Tony asked.

She almost laughed. They kept essentially trying to give her what she wanted. Trying to, she supposed, make her feel better.

She never would have thought she would have tied the attribute, "ridiculous," to a bunch of murderers and abductors, let alone the same ones that raped her and intended to keep doing it, but she couldn't help but feel that particular attribute applied with this group.

Her mates were bizarre. Ridiculous, honestly.

Clarke knew that she probably shouldn't find it endearing. But she did.

She supposed she might as well tell them what some of the animals were that she wanted, if only to gain something out of it.

"If you've been watching me as long as you keep implying," she said, "Then you probably should have an idea."

"We have some idea," Wanda said, "But nothing specific. We also made a decision about that. We know that there a lot of animals you think about potentially getting. But we're not going to let one take up almost all of your life. We know that many of these animals tend to live very long lifespans. So, we narrowed down a list of reptiles and amphibians that have the shortest lifespans. So, you won't have to worry about looking after them for up to potentially sixty years."

Clarke glared. She felt mild annoyance at that, but was even more annoyed that she felt herself understanding Wanda and the others' decision on this.

As much as she wanted to say that it wasn't their business, even if they were her mates and even if they hadn't crossed loads of lines with her, already, she saw their point.

A lot of reptiles and amphibians could live for a really long time. Especially the reptiles. Some turtles, tortoises, snakes and certain species of lizards, could live up to sixty years or even longer than that. That was a big commitment. And as much as she wanted some pet reptiles and pet amphibians, she recognized that an animal that lived up to fifteen or twenty years at the most, might be better.

"So," Clarke said, "What are some of the options that you found?"

"Well," Wanda said, smiling, clearly hoping that Clarke inquiring about it, was a good sign, "There's the horned mountain lizard. It lives up to at least ten years in captivity. Alligator lizards live up to fifteen years. Crocodile skinks live up to six years. Frilled lizards, ten years. Ackie monitors-"

"Okay, okay, I get the gist," Clarke said, finding a chuckle spilling out of her as she nodded, "Basically, nothing that keeps me committed for longer than fifteen or twenty years. And isn't big enough to take my hand off, am I correct?"

Now appearing awkward, Wanda smiled sadly and Thor nodded and Jessica scoffed.

"We know you also like the larger lizards, Clarke," Thor said, "And we're sorry, but we can't risk that. Some of those beasts can take your fingers off, even your hand or foot. We cannot risk such harm to befall you."

Clarke sighed, nodding. He had a point, as well. There were so many amazing reptiles and amphibians. But yes, many of them, if you weren't careful, could take off a finger or a hand.

The snapping turtles weren't the only dangerous ones.

And her mates clearly wouldn't allow any possible danger from coming near her.

A pity. Because there were a lot of interesting and amazing large lizards out there.

But admittedly, even she had suspected that that would be a lot for her to deal with. As amazing and as interesting the lizards that were the Asian water monitor lizards, they grew to freaking six or seven feet and had the biggest diet you could imagine.

Not to mention, lived for a long, long time. A big commitment, for many reasons.

And then there was that other thing. The potentially dangerous bite. Asian water monitors, they tended to be surprisingly tame. Even the wild ones, supposedly.

But since Clarke's mates were more or less trying to make life in general safe for her in every way, and as her happiness and safety were equally important to them, they were not going to risk it, clearly.

"Fine, fine," Clarke said, supposing she could see their point-at least about this, "So, there are a bunch of empty terrariums in the other room," technically not exactly empty, there were plants and stuff in them, but no animal life inside, "How many can I get?"

"As many as you want, honey," Wanda said, "Just nothing big enough to really hurt you. And nothing that will live for longer than at the most twenty or twenty-five years."

Clarke nodded.

Alright, lessons about her mates that she was taking away from all of this; lesson number one-they literally would do anything for her. Lesson number two-they wouldn't ever risk harm to her. Lesson number three-if she demanded they give her something, as long as it didn't put her at risk, they'd probably give it to her. Lesson number four-she probably would get away with hurting them, because they'd allow it, even would ask her to do it, if it made her feel like she was more in control, after what they had done.

Honestly, Clarke wasn't sure she didn't have the weirdest mates in the history of the human species.

Clarke huffed out, "Fine. You might want to take notes since I have a list."

Clarke almost laughed when Thor actually reached into his pocket, pulled out a pad of paper and a pen and looked at attention to Clarke.

Clearly, he had expected this.

She knew it probably was not a good sign that she was finding them more endearing, regardless of what they had done to her, or had done to her mother.

(You mean the same mother that abandoned you for dead all those years and never came back for you?) There was that mocking voice in the back of Clarke's head and she winced, trying to dismiss it.

She hated how some part of her was grateful to her mates for killing Abby. But some part of her was.

Abby had thrown Clarke out of her life, first chance she got, had stolen all of the money meant for her, and had never come back for her. Not even one time during all those years after Clarke had first been left alone.

Clarke could have handled the abandonment-she could have, if Abby had eventually come back for her.

It wouldn't have mattered how many years it was, Clarke could have handled the abandonment, if Abby had just eventually come back for her and had been her mother.

But she hadn't.

Abby had never come back for her. Ever.

Clarke fought a near sob that was just begging to break free. She knew the moment she let that sound out, all three Wanda, Jessica and Thor would be endlessly doting on her, and she couldn't deal with that right now. She still was trying to not care about them-and even though she already knew that that was probably a lost cause, she didn't want to lose more ground than she already had lost.

So, she pushed her thoughts down, deep down in the back of her mind, trying to keep her pain at bay.

She swallowed a painful lump in her throat, as she said, "You know what a blue tongued skink is? They're not tiny, but they're definitely not big or have sharp enough teeth to take even a fingertip off. And they're usually pretty friendly. And they usually, at the most, live up to about twenty years in captivity."

Thor instantly started writing the animal down.

Wanda nodded, smiling, "Yes," she said, "We know you like those. And other animals?"

Clarke shrugged as she said, "Bearded dragons are usually a good bet. They live up to at the most, fifteen years in captivity. Then there's the green basilisk lizard. It lives at the most up to fifteen years in captivity."

She also knew that just because some animals could potentially live up to that long in captivity, even if they were taken care of all the time, it didn't automatically guarantee that they would live for that long.

Some living creatures' lifespan just ended for one reason or another, and it just couldn't be helped. That was just called "life." And it sucked often.

After Clarke gave them a list of some of the animals she hoped to have, Thor smiled and nodded as Clarke completed the list. She had a lot more in mind. But honestly, if she was going to have a small zoo, in a place where her captors were keeping her, she figured she might as well start with a small number.

She'd figure it out later.

So, there was the list; a list so far of six animals; a blue-tongued skink, a bearded dragon, an Ackie monitor lizard, an alligator skink, a Chinese water dragon and a green basilisk.

Thor, Wanda and Jessica assured Clarke that they'd get these animals for her, and that they'd be from trusted breeders.

Clarke almost smiled at that. Because they clearly knew their stuff about reptiles, precisely because they had been looking that information up, for her.

She really wished they didn't have to be so endearing.

They made it clear-they'd give her two days. Two days to recover. Then four of them, were going to come in here and fuck her brains out against her will.

When Jessica, Thor and Wanda left, Clarke mentally kicked herself for being so compliant with them.

Yes, all of what they were doing apparently, was for her.

But what was that? They abducted her-and even if she sort of understood why, because she certainly wasn't getting help for her drug problem, and often had wondered if she'd wake up at all the next morning after getting high as balls, it didn't change that it was abduction, they were murderers, and they had raped her regularly.

(And yet,) that treacherous voice whispered in the back of Clarke's skull, (You want them to do the last of those things to you again. You want them to treat you like a fuck toy. You get wettest when you're treated like that.)

Clarke shuddered, disturbed by her own thoughts. She knew the truth. But that didn't mean that what her mates had done to her was okay.

Hell, they seemed to know that too. And they still did it.

She felt a sticky, disturbed feeling throughout her body. And she recognized its origins.

She felt that way, because while she could feel the fear of what was to happen in two days, some part of her was yearning for it.

Still, she planned. She knew she had no weapons to speak of in this room. But she knew that she had the blankets and sheets on her bed, and she had multiple books, while not heavy on their own to be weapons, could be stacked up together.

Two days passed by. She got ready. She ate a big meal, to get her strength up. Whether from repeated sexual assault or fighting against those that meant to force her into anything, she would need her strength.

She started stacking up books, and she pulled the sheets and blankets off of her bed.

From the control room, where Clarke's mates were watching, Bruce furrowed his eyebrows. "What is she doing?" He asked, confused.

"Not sure," Steve said, frowning. He and the others had talked. And they'd decided that it was Steve, Brunnhilde, Yelena and Pietro's turn to go into Clarke's prison, and have their way with her.

They knew eventually, that they would have to address the "mommy issues," and send Melina, Wanda, Jessica, Hela, Simone, Sylvie, Elektra and Pepper, to open that mommy wound up and try to heal Clarke, holding her and cooing to her as she fell apart.

But they knew that they would need to give Clarke more time to recover from what happened to her biological mother.

Opening that particular wound that Clarke had, when it came to her mother and mommy issues in general, would potentially be dangerous for Clarke emotionally.

They'd need to prepare for that.

Right now, they were sticking with the "daddy kink," which was what Steve, Brunnhilde, Pietro and Yelena were for.

However, for the life of all of them, they couldn't figure out what Clarke was doing with those sheets and blankets of hers.

Or at least, they couldn't, until she got up, carried the sheets and blanket over to a camera and without a second's hesitation, as she stared mercilessly into the camera, and Clarke then threw one of the sheets over the camera, blocking the view.

"Oh," Tony said, eyes wide as Clarke left that sheet there and then she showed up on another camera's feed, throwing another sheet over that camera's lens, "So, that's what she's doing."

"Shit," Natasha growled.

The cameras were too sturdy and too deeply embedded into the walls, for Clarke to be able to pull on the sheets or blankets and tear the cameras down-so damage to the cameras, while not impossible, was unlikely.

But it didn't change that they couldn't keep an eye on her, if the cameras' lenses were obscured.

"Should all of us go down?" Thor asked, on alert now.

"No," Brunnhilde answered, "Steve, Pietro, Yelena and I can handle this."

The others felt like protesting, but said nothing as Brunnhilde, Steve, Yelena and Pietro began heading down to where Clarke was being kept.

The four of them picked up the bag that they were going to take with them to Clarke's prison.

The bag held a few tubs of lube, a packet of birth control pills, a couple of strap-ons, nipple vibrators, lengths of velvet rope to restrain Clarke, and a dildo.

All four Steve, Brunnhilde, Yelena and Pietro, went to Clarke's prison, and went inside.

The moment they began stepping inside the huge room, they discovered what Clarke had been planning.

It was a bit comical, but as soon as both Steve and Yelena entered the room, Clarke, who had long since used up all her sheets and blankets, tossing those items over the lenses of the cameras around the prison, leapt at them, arms up, her hands holding a stack of books and she brought her arms down, swinging the books at them.

As soon as she did, Steve and Yelena, who had far too good of reflexes, both jumped out of the way and Brunnhilde and Pietro, who had equally as good reflexes, hopped out of the way, as well.

Yelena laughed as the doors closed and she tossed the bag of toys down, turning to Clarke with a grin.

"I never woulda thought of that. Nice," she reached out and Clarke tried to pull away, but Pietro went around her in a second and grabbed her arms, holding her still, as Yelena reached out again and pulled the books out of Clarke's hands.

"Nice try, baby," Pietro said, chuckling, "But that's not gonna work." He then looked to Yelena, "Might want to get the birth control out."

Clarke struggled harder at the mention of birth control, but Yelena nodded to Pietro, leaned down to the bag, unzipped it and pulled out the box and popped out one of the pills.

She shoved the box of pills back into the bag, and carried the small pill to Clarke.

Steve went to the kitchen, grabbed a plastic cup and filled it with water, carrying it over.

"You might want to just take the pill, Clarke," Yelena urged, "You know we can force you to take it."

Clarke glared at the older blonde but finally reached out and snatched the pill from Yelena's hand, tossing it into her mouth.

Steve handed her the plastic cup of water and she gulped that water down in seconds.

She then threw the plastic cup right at Steve. Because it was a plastic cup that weighed nothing and it hitting Steve would do equally nothing, Clarke was able to throw said plastic cup with excessive force, her soulmate connection doing nothing to her, as a result.

In hindsight, she realized that that meant, that even if Yelena, Steve, Brunnhilde and Pietro hadn't gotten out of the way in time, she probably wouldn't have been able to do anything with those books.

She had just picked up the thickest books she could find and had raced at the four of her mates entering her cage, and had lifted the books, ready to swing them at her mates, but now, she was positive, her body would have locked up before she could ever bring those books down onto their heads.

Brunnhilde put the books that Clarke had tried to use, down onto the kitchen counter, then she began to move closer.

Clarke knew that nothing was going to happen as of yet. She had just taken the birth control pill.

And they'd wait about an hour, before starting anything, wanting to make sure that the birth control pill was taking affect.

After they were sure that Clarke had swallowed the birth control pill, Pietro let her arms go and they gave her some space, waiting.

"I presume you recall that paper we showed you," Steve said, smiling, "The paper indicating that you won't pick anything up from us."

"Yeah, I know, I know," Clarke growled, "How reassuring. It certainly excuses what you've done to me. Or killing Abby."

"Abby had it coming," Pietro protested, "You know what she did. And now we made her pay. What's more, Clarke? Everything she had, is now yours."

At Clarke's confused look, Pietro chuckled, and what Pietro said next, kept Clarke from even murmuring, as Steve removed the sheets and blankets from the cameras around them, "I would have figured you'd guessed. Before we killed that bitch, we made Abby sign over her and her late husband's entire fortune, over to you. Everything is now yours, Clarke."

Clarke gasped, her eyes wide.

Her father had been a very well to do man. And Abby certainly had been successful in her job on her own.

After Abby had gotten all of Jake Griffin's money stowed up into her own account, bilking it from Clarke's inheritance, Abby more or less had been filthy rich. At least by the Griffin family's standards, she had been.

And now, what she was hearing, was that all of the money, every single cent, was hers?

Clarke stepped back, startled and ended up dropping on her rear on the edge of the bed, which Steve had already covered again with the sheets and blankets.

"Don't worry, Clarke," Brunnhilde chortled, snickering, "We made sure nothing could be traced back to you. And we made sure that the money all is in your name and in your account. In other words, the only one who that money belongs to, is you. And no one will ever be able to access that money. Except for you. We won't be able to touch it. And all of Abby's possessions, as well? We made sure they're yours as well. You can do what you want with them; we emptied out Abby's apartment and confiscated it all. It's all yours, baby girl."

Clarke felt like she had the wind knocked right out of her, just with those words. Everything that Abby owned, now was hers. Everything.

This was…how was she supposed to deal with all of this?

Seeing her expression, Yelena said gently, "You don't need to worry, Clarke. We'll take care of everything. All you need to know, is now, everything is yours."

"Including us," Steve said, and something about how Steve said it, even if his words technically meant that they were the ones not in control, since the way Steve implied it was, "we're yours," not that she was theirs, made a chill run down her spine.

She remained silent for the rest of the hour.

Then, when the hour ended, that was when she tried to move back from them, but to no avail.

Steve grabbed hold of her wrists and pushed her down onto her back on the bed, holding her arms above her head and Pietro grabbed her legs and after he removed her shoes and socks, began to pull her pants down.

Brunnhilde and Yelena opened up the bag that they had brought, and began pulling out the soft, smooth velvet ropes.

Soon, Clarke's arms were tied above her head to the bed and her ankles were bound as well, her legs tied apart, and her body completely naked.

Yelena purred by Clarke's ear as she slowly leaned down to kiss Clarke's neck, "Like we said, Clarke, everything is yours. And we are too. Yours completely."

Pietro chuckled, leaning down between Clarke's bare legs, gently biting Clarke's left inner thigh, as Yelena cupped and squeezed Clarke's right breast and Steve began to suckle at Clarke's left nipple.

As Clarke writhed, those familiar and wonderful moans filling the room, Clarke's blue eyes squeezing shut as she shook, Pietro snickered and lowered his head down mouth at last, wrapping around Clarke's clit and sucking at it, his right middle and index finger, pushing slowly up into the young woman's cunt.

The rewards that they got for their ministrations-Clarke's weak and broken screams, made all of them pleased and only fed their hunger.