Soundtrack for this chapter:

To Keep You From Breaking - (instrumental piece by Kelsey Woods)

Chapter 7:

It was an hour later the tears had finally stopped flowing. She had hardly noticed, truth be told. Her face felt numb. Her muscles felt stiff over having been laying on her side for so long.

Becky raised her head, peering towards the window. All of the sunlight was finally gone from the outside. She had not turned any lights on before the sun had set, so her room was extremely dark. Perfect. She was going to have to scrounge around for that light switch over by the door. She huffed as she attempted to sit upright on the bed.

It was hard to move. Her brain felt sluggish, almost as if she had too much to drink. Not a particularly pleasant feeling for Becky, as usually too much to drink meant friends and fun. Being there was far from both of those realities.

As her eyes really began adjusting to the darkness and she could make out the door a few feet away from her bed, she slowly made her way in that direction, hands out in front of her. She felt around the side of the door in the darkness for the switch. She felt a button of some sort, which gave a buzzing sound for a second before shutting off.

Becky cursed under her breath. She did not need Tobey's butler wandering down thinking something was amiss and nor did she feel like talking to him at that moment. She wasn't in the mood.

Finally, her hand traced over the light switch and light engulfed the entire room from the overhead light. She glanced around the room again, truly taking in the layout, unlike earlier when she had just been going through the motions.

Besides her full sized bed, she had a wooden desk directly across the room from her bed. The dresser was shoved into the corner directly next to the desk. Becky knew there was no point in trying to get comfortable with the butler on the way. Or Charles, or whatever his name was. She leisurely walked over to the desk and ran her hand along the wood of the desk. The material was smooth to the touch.

The whole thing was somewhat strange to her. She wasn't more special than anyone else in that facility, and yet she was getting a nicer room supposedly. Not that she didn't want it, but part of her felt like she didn't deserve it. A lot of other people that were unfairly incarcerated in that place. She scowled at the thought.

Not only that, but feelings of betrayal sat in the pit of her stomach. The entire ordeal with Tobey- Her mind felt like a whirlwind when it came to him. Upset with this situation, angry over his nonchalant behavior towards her, sad over the loss of the friend she once had, guilt over him treating her better than everyone else, and even a little bit of an undistinguishable feeling buried within the rest. It was all a little overwhelming

A soft and hesitant knock on the door caused Becky to snap back to attention.

"Hello? Ms. Botsford? You called for me?" Charles called from the other side of the door, very gently from the other side of the door.

Becky sighed, reaching back for the door to open it. Just because she wasn't in a good mood, didn't mean she had to be rude to him. He was only doing his job after all.

"Oh hello, sir. I apologize. I called you on accident. I tried to turn on the light switch but seemed to press the call button instead. Sorry about that," Becky apologized bashfully.

"Oh. Well, that's quite alright, ma'am. Is there anything I can do for you while I'm here?"

"Um, not thank you, sir."

"You may call me Charles if you'd like," He informed her as he took a little bow.

Becky couldn't help but smile slightly at his very regal action, "Well, you can call me Becky."

"Well, while I'm here, would you allow me to escort you down to the dining hall? It is about meal time after all."

Becky thought for a moment. She hadn't really planned on leaving the room yet, but after the mention of dinner, she could feel the hunger in her stomach she didn't know she had. An ache deep in the pit of her stomach that only seemed to travel up the rest of her body like a wave of realization. Maybe it wasn't a bad idea to go eat after all. And it wasn't like Tobey had shown her the way, so it was an opportune moment to get the rest of the tour she had been denied.

Plus, maybe it was better she not continue to wallow in loneliness.

"Why not?" Becky told him, shrugging her shoulders, beginning to walk out of the room. Charles gently closed the door behind her and the two of them began their journey to dinner.

"Tobey didn't give me a full tour, so like he had promised so, I appreciate you taking the time to help me out," Becky continued, disliking the silence. She made the decision she did not want to be alone with her thoughts, lest she fall back into the depression of the last 24 hours.

"It's no problem at all. I understand this is a major adjustment. It can be overwhelming," Charles reassured her, "I'm here to make the transition as painless as I possibly can."

Becky gave him a small smile, appreciating the gesture. But she couldn't push the thought away that nothing would make this situation painless.

"That was insensitive of me, I apologize Miss Becky," Charles quickly corrected himself, flustered and embarrassed.

"It's okay," Becky lied, knowing it wasn't his fault she was here, hence no reason for her to take her anger out on him. He was genuinely trying to be kind to her...it wouldn't hurt to have him on her side.

"Then allow me to be your tour guide."

As the two continued walking down the long hallway, Charles began telling her a bit about the architecture and construction of the building. Being this was Tobey's side of the facility, it was a bit nicer than the rest of the areas. She actually found the discussion a bit fascinating as well as distracting.

In what felt like no time at all, the two of them arrived at the entrance of the dining hall. The brightly lit and open room was packed to the brim with employees digging into their food. It was the first time Becky saw the other factory workers. There was a large variety of people scattered throughout the cafeteria. Women that huddled together in the center, a group of frat looking boys close by, scary looking folks in the corners, but also quiet folks seated throughout reading books while they ate.

Becky could relate to being alone and diving into a good book to pass the time.

"Follow me, Miss Becky. I will show you the ins and outs of the kitchen," Charles informed her, as he held out his hand showing her the way to the kitchen, "As well as meet our head cook. He's very friendly."

Becky smiled and followed him to their right and into the kitchen door. She could feel people gazing at her as she followed Charles, but she kept her eyes ahead of her.

It was the smell of sauteed onions that filled her nose first. It was after that she began noticing the hustle and bustle about the kitchen staff. Busboys hurrying every which way, ingredients flying through the air, the cooks yelling at one another. Overwhelming might be an understatement.

But Becky continued behind Charles, no matter what was happening around her.

"Need more flour in the front, Karen," a familiar voice rang out above the others.

Becky peered around Charles and wasn't surprised in the least to who was running the kitchen. In fact, she really should have guessed.

"Chuck?" Charles tapped the cook on the shoulder in an effort to get him to turn around.

Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy, as he used to be called, was manning Tobey's kitchen. Figures.

"This is Becky. She is one of our new employees," Charles continued with the introduction, "Becky, this is Chuck."

Knowing she very well couldn't feign meeting him before as Becky, she gave a smile and raised her arm in greeting, "Nice to meet you Chuck."

"Well, hi there! Nice to meet you too, Becky! Welcome to the factory!" Chuck beamed at her, as he took her hand in his and shook it happily.

Becky couldn't hold back her flinch at the mention of the factory, and Chuck didn't miss it.

"Oh, I'm sorry, miss. Didn't mean to offend you…" His facial expressions turned instantly apologetic as he pulled his hand away. His cheeks turned red and he downcast his eyes in shame.

"Oh no, it's fine. You didn't mean any harm," Becky reassured him, putting all her sympathy into her words. True, she didn't want to be there and she didn't particularly want to be reminded of that every second, but she knew he hadn't meant to be insensitive towards her, "How long have you been working here, Chuck?"

Truth be told, Becky knew how long he had been there. She had kept track of when she finally had taken down each villain and when they had got sent to the factory. She had been at peace crime wise since she had sent away a majority of the villains. Seeing Chuck again after so many years was quite the shock to the system.

The knowledge that she was locked within the same factory as the rest of them was finally sinking in. A wave of fear rushed over her and she had to remind herself to breathe as Chuck informed her of how long he was there and how he had gotten his position in the kitchen.

Thankfully, no one knew her secret identity, so she shouldn't have to worry about any of them taking their revenge on her for putting them in there.

"...and so Mr. Tobey lets me do the thing I do best," Chuck finished telling her the story.

Becky snapped her head up to look at Chuck following the mention of Tobey's name. Her first instinct being to grit her teeth at bringing him up, but she had to push those feelings down one again, "Tobey huh? Do you often see Tobey around here?"

"I personally do. I see him everyday. I make all of his meals and he comes to get them personally each and every day."

Becky nods, prior to Chuck turning around and handing two meals over to Charles.

"Speaking of Mr. Tobey, will he be joining the two of you for dinner? Do I need another meal?"

"No thank you, Chuck," Charles answered quickly but kindly, "Tobey is busy tonight and will be getting his meal sent to his room."

A small twinge of disappointment appeared on Chuck's face, while Becky inwardly was relieved. She did not have the mental energy to deal with Tobey that day any more than she already had. She smiled and thanked Chuck as she took her meal from him.

As they made their way back out, the same people were still glancing in her direction. Some were not doing well in hiding their jealousy or suspicion. Becky could read them like a book and it wasn't making her feel at ease.

"Why are they all staring at me?" Becky whispered to Charles, trying to keep quiet as they sat down at an empty table on the outskirts of the dining hall.

Charles took the moment to glance around to see exactly what she was referring to.

"Ah. Well I'm not exactly positive, Miss Becky, but the news of your arrival spread quickly through the factory from my understanding. Many people know of the only girl ever to volunteer on behalf of another," Charles informed her.

"But why would they care? I'm just like everyone else," Becky insisted, refusing to drop the subject. Some people were giving her angry expressions so it had to be more than she was just a volunteer.

An unsure expression crossed his face, "Well, not exactly…"

"What do you mean?"

Charles began looking even more uncomfortable than he had already been and it was making Becky really confused and suspicious.

"Becky," he cleared his throat, "you are the first volunteer to the factory. This is new territory for us. You are going to have a bit of a different experience than everyone else. Have you noticed your quarters are not with everyone else?"

"Are you saying I'm getting special treatment?"

"I'm saying that you will have a different experience."

Becky frowned as she dropped eye contact with Charles. She wasn't supposed to be different from everyone else. It wasn't fair that she got to be treated better than the rest of the population just because she gave herself up instead of being forced to come here.

But then again...was she really going to complain about having her quarters on the other side of the factory? That she was far from some of the villains she put in there? It wasn't necessarily a bad thing…

Movement out of the corner of her eye caused her to snap back into the present. She slowly turned her head only to find Tobey attempting to remain in the shadows in the hallway. He flinched the second that Becky met his eyes, realizing she had caught him. But clearly he refused to be embarrassed, and doubled down on standing there and watching the dinner carry on.

Becky couldn't help contain her glare towards him. He couldn't leave her alone for two minutes, could he?

Unfortunately, it was something she was going to have to get used to. It was his factory after all. He could do whatever he wanted and go wherever he pleased. She had no say whatsoever. It only seemed to remind her of how lonely she felt. Of how even if he could get up and surround himself with people, with people like Chuck, she could not. She didn't have friends here.

With that thought, Becky picked up her fork and began digging into the food in front of her in an effort to distract herself from the overwhelming loneliness that was threatening to envelop her at any moment.