A river could be heard far below Yelena as she dangled from a thick rope. Her ankles had been placed in manacles made of titanium and an old rusted brank* had been put over her head. The lock was heavy and also didn't react to her pulling. She assumed it was tungsten. It weighed the brank down and caused the gag to dig into the roof of her mouth. The brank was iron, but it was painful to try and pull. Her head still hurt from being knocked out and due to being suspended upside down for over an hour, she felt like her sinuses and eyes were about to explode.

After an eternity, she felt a pull on the brank and slowly moved through the air to a nearby catwalk above her. Her captor stood with his arms crossed waiting for her. He wore a grimy gray undershirt that exposed strong arms covered in thick hair, and khaki fatigues tucked into old leather boots. His hair was tied half up and out of his bearded face. Round sunglasses hid his eyes and his mouth smirked around a thick Cuban cigar. As she neared him a thick glove grabbed the rope around her waist, pinning her arm to her side.

"I want some answers from you," he said flatly. "I'm going to take this bridle off you and I want you to answer like a good girl." Yelena thought if she glared harder at him, her eyes would pop from the pressure.

He laughed and unlocked the brank and it floated away from her. She started to work moisture into her mouth, the taste of rust and iron from both the gag and her blood mixing with saliva.

"Why did you try to break into my factory?" He asked. Yelena snorted hard and spat a bloody loogie at his face. "Rotten bitch!" He shouted as he let go of the rope.

She swung away from him and the force made her nauseous. As she swung back to him he reeled his arm back and punched her in the face, causing her to go flying again in a spray of blood. The momentum made her vomit, she tried to lift her head, but the bile and phlegm got caught in her throat and nose. It burned and she started coughing and hacking. Yelena forced herself to laugh between coughs.

At the height of her swing away from him, she pulled on the wall of the factory. She couldn't reach it but it halted her oscillation. Large scraps of metal shot up towards her. Fuck me, she thought. Closing her eyes she let go of the wall and swung down to try and avoid the shrapnel.

When she neared the catwalk again, the man held his hand out and she froze in motion again. Yelena was pointed like an arrow towards him. "That's interesting" he mused.

The man started pacing and Yelena was pulled along as he moved. He let out a barking laugh. Panic began to bubble in Yelena's throat. She tried to pull on scrap to throw, but anything she managed to pull just got caught in his magnetic field.

A terrible grin spread across his face. "I wonder" Yelena felt the draw towards him drop for a split second, and then a force like an invisible wall flung her away from him.

A scream escaped her lips as she flew across the chasm. Her hardened boots her the only thing that protected her ankles from snapping as the rope went taught. She fell again and swung along the rope. Yelena dry heaved and coughed when nothing came up. It felt like a punch to the gut.

He pulled her back. She was sweating now, and chills broke out all over her body. A piece of scrap sliced through the rope and she almost flew into him. Instead, he caught her and threw her over his shoulder. It dug into her stomach.

"I think I have a use for you." She tried to squirm and wiggle against him.

"Fuck you!" She murmured in a hoarse voice.

He responded by slapping her ass. "If you don't shut up, I'll put that pretty crown on you again, princess." The brank floated into her view.

Well shit, she thought and hung limp on him.

-,'-

After they descended deep into the factory, Yelena was placed in a chair, still bound up. The man turned and looked at her. He slowly walked around, she could feel his eyes on her. She felt naked.

He sat across from her in his own chair. "I want some fucking answers from you." The brank settled on his lap and she glared at it.

"One," he held up a finger, "Who the fuck are you?"

"My name is Yelena," she said.

He nodded, "Do you know who I am?" Yelena thought about giving a snarky reply but didn't have the energy, so she shook her head. "Call me Heisenberg."

The name tickled a memory in the back of her mind. "The Heisenberg Mining factory." She murmured. She didn't know where the name came from, but it had to be.

"You've heard of me, but didn't realize that it was me?"

Yelena cocked an eyebrow, "it's just a name, from a long time ago. I don't remember where it came from." She didn't want to tell him that her memory was filled with large gaps. He might take advantage and try to implant false ones. The human mind is strange and memory is even stranger, susceptible to influence.

"Why are you here?" He asked, "Why did you break into my factory."

"I didn't have a choice, not really. I got to the village after curfew, and those rabid creatures chased me here." She sighed, "I broke in through the fence because the gate was locked, and I didn't know if they would keep chasing me. I also didn't realize I'd be attacked once inside."

"Why here? Why not the castle or any of the huts in the village."

She squirmed under his stare. "I was told about this place. I've been around decades and never met anyone who can do what I do. I was told that you could and were here."

"Do you know why you're a glorified magnet?" Heisenberg leaned back in his chair. Yelena shook her head.

"I assumed the scientists that found me did it." At his silence, she continued. "They did a few surgeries on me. My arm, my stomach, and my head. They didn't tell me what their goal was."

"How long ago was this?"

"Khrushchev was premier. I don't remember the year." Yelena paused and looked at him. "Can I ask you a question?"

He smiled, "Shoot."

"Why are you a 'glorified magnet'?"

"A gift from my mother." His voice was riddled with contempt and his expression darkened. "I think you have the same 'gift' you know. I'm going to do a few tests on you. See if I can get some information." He stood up and started going through a stack of papers on a nearby desk.

"Now hold the fuck up!" She said, "I'm not a lab rat" Not anymore, "you can't just-"

Heisenberg cut her off with a backhanded slap. She felt her jaw pop and her ear was left ringing. "I can do whatever the fuck I want, little bitch. Just because I let you down and had you answer some questions does not make you a guest." He grabbed her cheeks so she couldn't spit again. "You don't need to be willing, I can get my answers if you're alive or dead, it doesn't matter to me. If you want to stay alive, you'll shut the fuck up and do what I say." He let her go with a push and went back to the desk.

Yelena tried to work her jaw but could only open it a little bit. "It'll be easier for us both if you cooperate." He said absently. "The choice is yours. Luckily for you, I am a busy man and can't drop everything to do this. So we'll have to wait a while, I also need to gather some supplies. Have you done factory work?"

She nodded. "Excellent, if you want some relative freedom, you can help me around here, or I can leave you tied up in a sack." They both knew she didn't have a choice. She nodded again.

Heisenberg grabbed a knife and cut her bonds. Once the shackles came off he grabbed her by the throat. "If you try anything, I'll gut you and throw you in the river." He looked over the rim of his glasses, his gray eyes boring into her. His hand tightened.

"Rodger." She whispered and he let go of her throat. She coughed.

"We'll start tomorrow." He walked over and pulled her pack out of a pile of trash. He lifted her arm out as well. "You can have this back when I decide to give it to you." He tossed her pack to her and then left the room, slamming the door behind him.

Yelena ran over and found it locked. It didn't matter, even if she could open the door, she had no idea where she was inside the labyrinth of a factory. She sat down and tried to think of a way out of this.

A/N: * Brank is also known as a Scold's Bridle. Medieval torture devices in the shape of a cage or mask were placed on women. Often with a gag that laid on the victim's tongue making it painful for her to talk and eat. It was used to humiliate and punish women.