(Continued from: Pied Piper)

***

"...Nnnggh..."

One eye cracked open, shortly followed by the other. A colorless ceiling greeted her, and the Native blinked. That... that was not the ceiling of her room. Nor did it look like the ceiling in a hospital, or Susan's office. Where was she?

Crap... must be at a new 'home', or something.

Turning her head slightly, first toward a gray wall that matched the ceiling, then towards an open, empty room. All thoughts that she'd been taken to a new family's house vanished in an instant. There was only one thing that the room reminded her of, and the very thought had her little heart beating like crazy in a flat second.

She was in @#$%ing PRISON!?

With a groan, she sat up and slung her feet over the edge of the bed. The room she was in lacked substance. It was barren of everything save her bed, a door, and a mirror. As she eyes darted this way and that, she couldn't find a single way to escape, except through said door. She was so screeewed.

Hopping to her feet, she headed for the door first. It was locked. Then, she went and inspected the mirror. They probably put it in there so she could see how miserable she looked on a daily basis. After making a few ugly faces at herself, the reality of the situation finally sank in...

They had locked her up, for god knew what reason, for an unknown amount of time. Maybe this was because she'd decorated a school wall with her 'art'?... or, as an alternative, was it because she had a habit from running away from foster homes? Maybe Susan had finally snapped and this was her solution to the problem.

Elke really didn't like any of those choices.

She could feel frustrated, frightened tears building up, and hurried back to the door. "Hey! Hey out there! Someone open the door!" Pounding on it with a fist, she hollered as loud as she could. "Heeeeey! I'm not an animal! Lemme out of here!"

One fist became two fists, and she kept pounding as hard as she could. "I wanna go home! Susan!? This isn't funny! ....Hello?? ANYONE!?"

Eventually, she didn't have the strength to keep up her assault on the door. The Native turned her back to it, sliding down until her rump was parked on the floor, and wept into her arms. "...I just wanna go home..."

Unbeknown to her, from the other side the the "mirror" a shadowed figure watched. He was so far unimpressed with his assignment; it was plain to see that he had a lot of work to do in order to meet the standards given to him by his superiors. Somehow, he was going to have to turn a sniveling brat of a child into a solider, and he didn't have much time to do it. With a quiet sigh, he left the girl to herself, and marched off to get a plan set up.

Up... down, thirteen...

Uuup.. down, fourteen.... Jesus, this was harder than the people on TV made it look....

Uuuup... down, fiiiifteen.... Those exercise commercial salesmen were so totally on steroids.

Uuuuuup... down, siiiixteeen....

Elke was having crazy flashes of Deja vu, concerning how she was being treated in her new home. The only thing different was that she wasn't being pitted up against a bunch of other people in fights to the death, and a giant cockroach wasn't threatening to eat her every five seconds.

Also, this wasn't a dream.

THWACK!

"If you stop again, I'll add on one hundred more."

The deep, booming voice of the man she'd deemed as her "keeper" caused her to cringe as she pushed herself back up. "One hundr--?! I can't even do twenty push up--"

THWACK!

"No talking back, maggot!"

She cringed again as his nightstick slapped into the back of her knee, effectively ruining the push-up she was in the middle of. How did he expect her to do anything when he kept interrupting her every five seconds?! No, you're doing that wrong! No, you can't say that! No, you cannot make a call home!

"Cattle don't speak..." She muttered under her breath, quoting the Roach-man from her dream.

"What was that?" A booted foot landed solidly on her ribs, earning a yelp from her as it knocked her over onto her side. "What did you say?"

The Native stared at him for a moment, before letting off a string of obscenities colorful enough that any weathered sailor would be proud. Her keeper remained silent, tall and imposing, with his hands clasped in a military fashion behind his back. His expression was blank, as it had been the moment she'd met him. ...Honestly, it kind of freaked her out. It was impossible to gauge his reactions when the expression never shifted-- not even when he kicked her, or yelled at her.

It also made it impossible to know when she was going to get the ever-loving tar kicked out of her, as she was so focused on his face that she didn't see his foot move. The strikes came hard and quick, and a moment after the rain of blows started, it ended just as suddenly. Her Keeper turned his back, marched a few paces away, then turned back. His expression passive; emotionless.

"Start over. Two-hundred push ups. If you falter, which you will, you will be beaten again. Then you will start all over again. Understood?"

Elke stared at him in disbelief, horror written all over her features. Her bottom lip was bleeding, fist size spots all over her body hurt from where he'd kicked her... but she was supposed to start over again? She noticed the man tense and cringed, quickly scurrying into proper push up position.

Up... down, one....

The next time her Keeper came for her, she hid under her bed. A clone was left sitting on the bed, staring absently into space seeing as there wasn't anything even remotely interesting for her to entertain herself with. When the door to her private prison opened and her trainer stepped in, Elke kept herself tucked away quietly next to the wall.

The clone tilted her head at the man and stood, following the orders she'd been given. It approached the trainer, but before she could even get one word out, he reached out and had his hands clasped firmly on both sides of her face. With a swift twist and a loud PapopPOP!... he broke her twins neck.

Cursing from under the bed gave away her position, or at least that's what she thought. Her trainer had eyes on her almost constantly, and had been onto her little ploy from the moment she split the clone off. He proceeded to reach under and grab her via the hair, before dragging her out from under the bed. Without a word, she was hauled to her feet and led from one room to another. Once she was released, the Native backed up into her usual corner and watched him silently. Was it going to be more physical labor today? An impossible number of repetitions, that he knew she was going to fail at, and then the familiar beating?

"You are going to make another clone." He informed her, standing in his usual spot. When she didn't move, he shifted his wait and raised his voice. "Now!

Elke hopped to it, unwilling to incur his wrath more than she absolutely had to. Within a few moments she had another twin standing beside her, both equally mistrustful of the man. "Now," he started, and fiddled with something at his side. "You are going to kill it."

A knife clattered to the floor between the two teens, both clone and original stared at it, before glancing at each other. "...before it kills you."

Twin expressions of fright flitted across the two young girls faces. Elke glanced back at the man, then at her clone. She knew it wouldn't attack her... they never went against what she said.

"You both have five minutes. If one of you isn't dead within that time frame, I will kill the both of you myself."

The fright shifted into horror, and Elke dove for the knife. The clone followed directly after and a short scuffle broke out. Elke kicked and clawed, keeping her grip on the weapon as she struggled... but her clone was an equal match in strength and determination. Seconds ticked by, each one heavy on the Natives thoughts, before she finally managed to land an elbow into the clones throat. The knife slipped free from the others grasp, and she skittered back as fast as she could.

The trainer watched, dark eyes flicking from one to the other, but the girl hesitated. She glanced from the clone to him, chest heaving with every panicked breath. "Two minutes." He barked, upping the tension in the room tenfold.

The Native felt a lot safer with a knife in her hands-- probably a very stupid thing to rely on when she was out weighted by the only truly dangerous thing in the room; the man. The clock was ticking, though, and she fully believed that if she didn't do as he said, he'd murder her in an instant. Fighting back tears born of fear and anger, she turned her eyes on the clone. She hadn't been trying to be valiant, or heroic by refusing to kill the clone; she didn't really consider them human, anyway. She simply didn't like the idea of metaphorically stabbing herself to death, or the pain that came with it... or the fact that she had to follow an order.

Shhiick

"One minute, thirty seconds."

The trainer flicked out his favorite weapon; the baton that he never seemed to part with, and Elke knew she was in some serious sh*t if she didn't act now. The clone screamed as Elke darted toward her, and turned to run. The native pounced sloppily...

.... then it was all over.

A pool of vermilion gathered under the body, while Elke staggered away. Pain throbbed through her chest where the knife had pricked the clone. It stole her breath away, and left her shaking until the sensation subsided.

"Good. Now, do it again." Her keeper barked, earning her full, undivided attention.

"...wha-- no! Hell no! You sick sonofa--" He crossed the room in the blink of an eye; one moment far away, the next he was directly in front of her. She felt her jaw pop from the force of a punch, as well as the bridge of her nose, before she landed directly on her backside. Blood coursed like a river from her nostrils... He'd expertly broken her nose. Without missing a beat, he had her hair clenched in a fist, and had pried the knife from her hands. Elke let out a strangled gasp as the man sliced cleanly through her length of hair, severing it just above her shoulders. Clumps of black rained down on he and he stepped back, knife in hand.

"Again. Now."

She shifted, drawing out the third twin, and cried silently as he tossed the knife between them again.

"What are you?"

"I am nothing..." Her voice was strained. The words were strangled and weak. She genuinely feared for her life.

"What is your name?"

"... I don't deserve a name...." Every time she answered wrong, he'd smack her. Pain was becoming associated with errors. She was uncertain about the things she'd been told to say-- to believe-- but she knew if she failed to say them right he'd hurt her again. She just wanted the pain to stop...

"What is your purpose?"

"I don't have a purpose..." Was it true? Did her existence mean nothing up until this point? She wasn't really inclined to fully believe him, but she also wasn't about to argue.

"Why are you here?"

"To earn a name and learn my purpose." He circled her in her chair, sending shivers of fear up her spine. Had she messed it up somehow? Had she doomed herself to another beating without realizing?

A tense moment passed, and he left her alone. Instead of the attack she had expected, he walked to the door and opened it. Elke sat and stared, dark eyes wide with uncertainty. What was he playing at now?

"Leave." Her Keeper ordered. The Native remained seated, gaze shifting from him to the door and back in nervous little flits. Was... was he serious?

"I said leave!"

... She refused. It was some sort of trick... it had to be some sort of trick! There was no way he'd just let her leave after all of the time he'd invested into her. She shook her head, and clamped onto the seat of her chair. The trainer remained by the door, silently watching her with an emotionless expression.

"Disobeying a direct order.. and here I thought you'd learned something." Slowly, casually, he closed the door again...

Elke was returned to her colorless, prison of a room thirty minutes later after her punishment had been given. Unconscious, but still very aware of what such an action might bring in the future, she never found out that if she would have stood and attempted to leave, her punishment would have been all the more severe. As it was she had gotten away with only a fractured forearm and a concussion, instead of a more serious set of injuries.