The unevenness of the road rocked her to and fro, making it harder for her to keep her footing than she liked. The container she was in was old and nearly pitch black. The only light provided came from jagged holes that had rusted through the metal ceiling, providing brief glimpses of her surroundings as they passed under streetlights. 

She didn't like what she saw in those few moments. Every eight to nine seconds she'd catch glimpses of bulbous insect like eyes staring at her, unblinking. The quiet chittering sounds the creatures produced were also very unnerving. Her new abductors so far hadn't made a move towards her, or said anything, even though she knew they were capable of at least basic speech. 

"Oi, why you think we grab her?"

"Dunno, maybe dinner."

Her stomach lurched and her legs quaked and Shelby gripped the wall of the metal semi container even more desperately. In her other hand she still had her camera clutched in a death grip. 

They planned on eating her? Had that been the idea this whole time? 

She didn't know how long they had been on the road, but she had been trying to keep track. She'd read once, somewhere online, a few brief things to keep in mind when in a hostage or abduction situation... given that she'd only recently moved to New York shortly before she had read it, it had been a few years.... but she could still recall some of the things you were supposed to keep in mind exactly for the situation she currently found herself in.

Step one: Attempt to thwart the abduction.... She'd already attempted that and failed.

Step two: Regain your composure. 

She could work on that. Yes, that sounded like a good plan. If she was calm, collected, and rational she would be able to make better decisions. She wouldn't let fear cause her to screw up any chances for escape she had left.

Aside from the sound of the container lurching as the truck went over bumps, and the everyday noises of transportation, it was relatively silent for some time. The little minions talked; two were near her, another a little further into the room.

Roach, however, was not among them. He was above her head, attached to the ceiling. Staring. Angry? One really couldn't tell, could they? Maybe he was hungry. He often was. The woman steadied herself the best she could; he allowed her the kindness of some time to gather her faculties. She was an interesting looking one, wasn't she? Pink hair... glasses. Hipster, he believed they were called.

He focused for a moment on the reason they'd decided to haul her into the vehicle; the camera she'd decided to snap so many photos of.

That was enough time for her, he thought. Slowly he crept down a little lower, leaning in behind her.

"I see we fancy ourselves a photographer." He spoke, in a low, growling whisper, not forsaking his usual English accent.

Her shriek reverberated around the walls of the container and she lurched as far away from the voice as she possibly could. Jerking her camera up she flipped the switch on the small light attachment atop it. Thankfully it still worked.

Unfortunately, she was greeted by a larger, far more hideous bug person. She backed up further, lodging herself firmly in a corner of the container and kept the light aimed in the direction of the new threat and the smaller ones.

"...Photographs.. f-for reference pieces."

Oh god, she was stuttering... and she shouldn't have said that... Swallowing thickly, she attempted to gather her scattered nerves back up and compose herself. She couldn't let the large.. bug... thing scare her. She needed to stay strong and follow her mental list of things to do to ensure her survival.

What was step three? Shit, she couldn't recall. It had been years since she had bothered to read any of the safety stuff again. Maybe she could just skip ahead to what she did remember?

Step 4-ish: Be observant. Take in details that might help you escape. What do your captors look like?

She studied the guy silently, in horror, but tried not to let her expression betray it. He was a... beetle? Beetle-man. She would refer to him as that from here on.

Where was she?

...In some kind of goddamn storage container on the back of a semi.

Were they armed?

... Some of them had freakin' grenade launchers only a little while ago!

This wasn't helping.

"...W-what do you want with me?"

She shined the light on him suddenly, and he hissed loudly, covering his eyes for a moment, before freezing in place.

"Just kidding~" he dropped all sets of hands and allowed himself to slink down to the ground. His voice rang out in a jovial glee, all of the rasp missing.

"Oh ho ho ho! Miss, why are you hiding in the corner over there? Can't you see there really is nowhere to hide? Stop acting silly and come over here." He allowed a short beat of inaction before he spoke with a slight edge to his voice.

"I insist."

If she refused to come, his minions would make her.

"Lovely camera you have there. Shame it got a little beat up. You don't mind if I take a slight glance at it? I mean, it's why you're here, after all! I told my little friends here to grab it, but you see, they're simply terrible at following directions! Pity that, for you at least." The Roach held out hand, tilting his head, an then shaming himself for his lack of manners. "Goodness, how rude of me! I haven't introduced myself, have I?! I am called Roach... And yourself?"

Another hand reached out for shaking, this one a sharp looking little guy on his chest.

"Oh ho ho ho! Miss, why are you hiding in the corner over there? Can't you see there really is nowhere to hide? Stop acting silly and come over here... I insist."

Gulping, she continued to eye him warily even as she complied with his demand. She knew that there was some kind of rule about obeying commands like that, within reason. She certainly didn't want to piss him off. So, she shuffled out a few steps, closer than her instincts wanted her to be, but far enough away she still felt somewhat safe. 

"Lovely camera you have there. Shame it got a little beat up. You don't mind if I take a slight glance at it? I mean, it's why you're here, after all! I told my little friends here to grab it, but you see, they're simply terrible at following directions! Pity that, for you at least....Goodness, how rude of me! I haven't introduced myself, have I?! I am called Roach... And yourself?"

Gulping, she weighed her options quickly. She could hand her camera over and be done with it, or she could hold onto it in hopes that he wouldn't force to to give it up. If the pictures she had snapped where what had caused this... then, well she was in a pretty bad way. 

Mainly because with her particular camera set up her photos uploaded automatically to a backup space called 'Atmosphere' whenever wifi was present.... and considering that she paid a pretty penny to be sure she always had wifi via her data phone plan, her pictures were always uploading themselves onto the backup program passively. 

Not that she had much choice in the matter when it came to handing the camera over anyway. He was big enough to take it, and she had no feasible way of fighting him off. "...Shelby.." She answered back, not even bothering with any thought about a fake name. It was still slapped on her camera, after all. 

She eyed the multiple arms, quickly moving to hand the camera over to that man. No identified as 'Roach'.
She was hesitant to take the hand, but... felt it would be toeing a dangerous line if she flat out refused him. So, while beads of nervous sweat rolled down her spine, she did as he asked and prayed to god that he wouldn't know how a smart sd card worked....

Good! He loved it when they cooperated. It was simply his favorite!

With a quick pluck, he had the camera in his grasp; the fascination with the object caused him to turn away from her outstretched hand anyway. "Ohhh, a Nikron S25... Newer, isn't it? Not too expensive." The Roach promptly opened the storage slot, and removed the SD hard, glancing at it. He paused, and then looked up at her, slowly clacking his mandibles while he was at it.

"my darling, you don't mind if I ask to see your ph-"

-'IVE GOT A BIG BAG OF CRABS HERE... I'M GONNA PUT THEM IN MY MOUTH OOOOHH YAAAAS.' Her phone began to ring. Roach stared for a moment, and then steppe back.

"Answer it, Shelby. And remember! You're happy. You're safe. You're on your way home just now! Anything silly, and I will personally eat your head. All of it. Slowly. You will live through as much of it as you can."

He gave a short nod, and leaned against the wall, flipping through the pictures on the camera, and snagging a gun from one of his underlings to place on his head like a hat.

"ohh, that's a good angle..."

Oh crap, oh crap! He was opening it! Shelby mentally shat herself when the big bug man opened up the sd card slot and pulled it out. He KNEW! HE %$#@in KNEW!

A jolt of terror raced through her when her ring tone went off and she was pretty sure her heart stopped beating for a second there. She didn't make a move for it, her wide petrified eyes glued on the beetle-man, waiting. He stepped away, her camera still in hand, and told her exactly what he wanted her to do. Expected her to do. 

She swallowed thickly against the frog in her throat, blinking away moisture that was collecting in her eyes, and reached into grab her phone. The screen glared up at her, nearly blinding. It was Jen. Her roommate. She had never been so relieved yet simultaneously terrified in all her life. Well, actually no. She had been more relieved when she thought the Meta bots were coming to save her. She was less relieved right now. 

Swallowing her fear, she followed his instructions and attempted to put on a happy mask. Jen wouldn't be able to save her if she screwed this up. "...yessum?" 

"Shell? Bloody hell, where are you? Have you completely forgotten about the curfew?!" She could have wept at the tone of her friends voice, if she weren't trying so hard to keep it together.

"No," She sighed shakily, "no I haven't forgotten. How could I forget?" She heard her friend grumble incoherently at her. 

"Yea? Well where are you then? You said you were on your way back home over an hour ago!"

She struggled to come up with a good excuse. One that didn't sound forced. "I know, after I left that creepy apartment building I stopped and got some coffee... you know, my pity drink." She paused, glancing at Roach. 

"I stewed on it too long and missed my bus. I had to wait for the next one, and in that part of town it apparently takes a half an hour for the next one to come along." There was a brief silence on the other end, and for a moment she was sure her friend was going to call bullshit on her story. Then...

"Damnit, Shell. This is why I can't leave you alone for a second. How far away are you? Want me to come get you?"

She so desperately wanted to say YES! Yes, please come save me!... But she couldn't. Instead she hummed to herself, pretended that she was looking at the clock, and sighed shakily. "Nah, i'm not far away now. It would be a waste for you to get dressed and come get me when i'm right around the corner. I'mm be home right quick, kay?"

"Okay, Shell. But you bee-line straight here! No stopping for puppies and strangers with candy on the way home!" There was a bit of humor in there, and Shelby held in a sniffle. Yeah, she would... no stopping for puppies or strangers.

"Rodger that, Capn'. Shell's out." With a press of her thumb she ended the call, struggled to breath out calmly, and returned a nervous gaze to the one who had only moments ago threatened to eat her head whole. 

She had a terrific conversation. He might have pegged her for an actor, actually. He wondered if she was... A moment with the camera, however, told him the truth of where she spent most of her free time.

As soon as she finished her conversation, he snatched her phone from her grasp. It wouldn't be unlocked. "Ah, there we are. Lovely job, Shell! I couldn't have done it better myself!" That was a lie, but details were details. He tossed the gun to the side, and placed the camera on his head.

It was a nice hat.

"Now, Shell... while I look through your phone, I think it very important that we chat!" Considering she hadn't had a chance to close it out, the phone wasn't locked, and he was open to look up what was called home on her gps. Excellent! Contacts of who just called... Same address. "Shell, my dear. Why didn't you tell me you were an artist! You sly dog, you! I must say I'm smitten with your work. Sure, it could use some polish, but the talent is there! The perspectives with the skulls in them, I found rather striking."

He poked in her phone a bit more, and then grabbed the camera from his head and rather forcefully flung it into the wall, shattering it into many pieces. "I must ask you... Do you take commissions?" He stared at her expectantly for a moment, and then his antennae fretted about. "Oh, I can't lie. I know you do! I read your texts!" A chuckle escaped his maw, and he leaned in as if to tell her a secret.

"Shell... You'll be so glad to hear this. You aren't going to die here. You are going to go home. You are going to take those images you uploaded to the cloud, and no one is ever going to see them again. In return, I'm going to become a regular customer of yours! Great news, right?"

He leaned back, and nodded crisply to her.

"I really can't stress how much I don't want those pictures getting out, you know. I'm know that you are likely a brave little girl. You can't be brave here, Shell. You don't want to know what I can do to you. Aaaaand, that's where we get to the really. Good. Part." He rubbed his hands together, and then presented some information to her as if it here a pleasant surprise.

"I'm going to inform you now, that in a few days, your room mate Jen is going to go missing! You'll have the place to yourself! They'll find her body in an alley somewhere. Well... They'll find some of her body in an alley somewhere, at least. And you... You won't warn her. You wont tell a soul... Or it'll be your body..."

He leaned in real close.

"Do you understand, Shell?"

The camera shattered and she suppressed a shriek by forcefully covering her own mouth. The battery operated light clattered to the floor of the container they were in, casting a demonic shadow behind the giant bug man. She couldn't help it then, tears broke past her barrier and freely fell. 

"Shell... You'll be so glad to hear this. You aren't going to die here. You are going to go home. You are going to take those images you uploaded to the cloud, and no one is ever going to see them again. In return, I'm going to become a regular customer of yours! Great news, right?"

He.. He was going to become a regular customer? Her breath stilled. In other words he was going to be keeping an eye on her. In other words, she would never be alone, never be safe. Big brother would always be watching.

"I really can't stress how much I don't want those pictures getting out, you know. I know that you are likely a brave little girl. You can't be brave here, Shell. You don't want to know what I can do to you. Aaaaand, that's where we get to the really. Good. Part." 

He kept using that name... the nickname Jen gave her. shell... the more came from that... thing, the more it cause a sick, heavy bubble to grow in her stomach.

"I'm going to inform you now, that in a few days, your room mate Jen is going to go missing! You'll have the place to yourself! They'll find her body in an alley somewhere. Well... They'll find some of her body in an alley somewhere, at least. And you... You won't warn her. You wont tell a soul... Or it'll be your body... Do you understand, Shell?"


Right then, in that very moment, Shelby felt the world stop. The same thing she had pondered on earlier in the day, it was actually happening. It only lasted for a second however, and then her senses returned to her. Her heart hammering painfully in her chest. Her lungs struggling to breath evenly and calmly. Her limbs and core trembling as everything threatened to shut down from stress and exhaustion.

His words echoed in her head and she couldn't stop it from repeating over and over, relentlessly. He was going to kill Jen. Kill her... and if Shelby didn't keep her mouth shut, she would die instead. Or they both would die.

Like poison, traitorous thoughts crept into her head.

Better her than me...

I'ts not like you'd really miss her... only known her a year....

Gotta save yourself. Don't want to die!

She was suddenly reminded of all of those goddamn theoretical moral questions. Your grandma is tied to a train track, you can switch the path of a train to a different track, but on the other one sits a broken down buss full of school children. The train cannot stop... what do you do?

She knew what she had to do.

She was too young to die... she had too much to live for. To many dreams to just give up like that.

"....I-I... I understand.." She started, but broke down and sobbed half way through. "I won't... I w-won't tell her. I won't tell anyone.... I'll get rid of all the pictures..." 

She covered her mouth with her hands, the knuckles ghost white and struggled to stay on her feet.

Good... Good. He placed a hand on her shoulder, seemingly in an attempt to encourage her.

"Listen well... It won't be so bad. You'll never see me again, unless you try to cross me. You'll see my handiwork with Jen. I'll be sure to have pictures sent, and your morbid curiosity will, without a doubt overtake you. But you and I... We don't have to be at odds. I'm sure the emotions I make you feel will inform your art in the most... exquisite ways!"

He used that shoulder to steer her around, and toward the back of the truck while he tucked her phone into his shell. Small hands clasped her, while the larger one lifted the shutter once more.

"Now remember my dear... Not. A. Word."

Just outside of the moving truck the man that had saved her before was seemingly suspended in the air, slowly floating closer to them. Roach eyed him, he looked surprised for a moment, and then Roach gave the girl a shove his way.

"Goodbye Shell! Pleasure meeting you!"

He waved as the Masochist grabbed her, lost concentration, and fell into a rolling heap, trying to protect her from as much of the high speed fall as possible.

The clawed hand touching her made her flinch, but she didn't move to shake him off. She was too terrified. She allowed him to steer her, guide her, half hearing his words while she tried to reflect inwardly on herself. What kind of person was she? Why was this happening to her?

""Now remember my dear... Not. A. Word."

The door flung open, she was surprised to see someone out there, least of all the very same man who had tried to save her before... and then Roach shoved her. At the speed they were going she was instantly sickened. The sight of the roadway underneath her blurring past before she was snatched from an unknown, painful fate nearly made her pass out from fright.

She hadn't even heard the gleeful farewell, too encapsulated in her own little world was she.

Not until she was forcefully jolted out of it by the landing. Once more her mystery hero saved her. She was clutched securely to minimize damage as they rolled, and when they came to a stop she had to gather her wits back to her in order to even get her voice working.

Goddamnit, she didn't even know if this was the right thing to do, or if she was walking right into a trap, but she couldn't sit back and do nothing. Jen was so young. She was deep into her degree and she held so much promise. If there was even a chance what the stupidity Shelby was about to release would save her, she was going to go for it. "We have to go! You have to take me to my campus!"

The words blurted past her lips, and honestly didn't make much sense at first. Her frustration reflected on her face as her expression shifted and she balled a fist in his uniform. "My friend is in danger! They are going to kill her! We have to go to my apartment!"

He'd been forced to choose.

Pursue the villain, or save the girl.

For him, it was an easy decision. As he tumbled to the ground, checked to make sure the girl was okay, and climbed to his feet, he couldn't help but stare in the direction of the truck, speeding off. He took a picture with his communicator, but he already knew, just like the others, it was stolen, and would wind up scrubbed clean of evidence.

The X-Man sighed deeply, and turned to look at the girl. She'd gathered he witts, and was speaking frantically. Slowly, his fist clenched. "Slow down... We'll get there as fast as we can; I gotta call backup. Can you tell me where it is?" He was already hobbling toward a nearby car as he spoke.

He didn't have time to take down an address. He saw that monster's face. He knew that this poor girl had just made a very powerful enemy. He smashed the window, and unlocked the doors from the inside. "Get in." With expert ease he hot wired the vehicle, and they were on the road.

"Ain't gonna lie. What you did was brave, snappin those pictures, but it was also a terrible idea. You're lucky you're alive... Eh... What's your name, anyway?"

He swerved through traffic at honestly unsafe speeds, following her directions while he used his comms to call for backup. The problem was the force was stretched thin after the recent riots, and a large number of METAs were tied up at that fight in the lower east side. He'd left early to catch the semi, and save this girl.

He looked over at her for a moment, and then sighed. He wasn't good at this 2#$^. "You... eh... You okay? He hurt you at all?"

He listened to her, that was a first step in a good direction. She had been half afraid that he wouldn't even take her ramblings seriously. Then again, he had pretty much caught her as a mutant bug man tossed her out of the back of a moving semi truck. She gave him directions as calmly as she could, making sure to make them as easy to understand as possible, and buckled into the car. Heck, she didn't care that he'd just hot wired a stolen car; there were more pressing matters at hand here.

"Shelby." She muttered back, clenching and un-clenching her hands in her lap. "Shelby Walters." Might as well give him the full name. If he was associated with the force like she assumed he was, he would probably ask for it later anyway... after they got to the apartment and made sure Jen was okay.

"I am fully aware that it was pretty stupid move... but I was also fairly certain that I was going to die, and I didn't want a bunch of murderers to get away with it." She breathed deeply, slowly, and glanced outside the window. Watching the world pass by in a lazy blur.

His next question, Was she okay? That was a hard one. Physically she had a few bangs and bruises. She was still fairly certain that she had some form of a concussion, and wasn't entirely positive that she hadn't just imagined the whole thing a few moments ago. Giant talking bugs threatening to eat her head? If not for the lack of her camera and the aching physical pain she was in, she would have happily passed if off as a delusion.

Mentally, though... was she okay? She... didn't know. She didn't know what classified as normal in this situation. Was she supposed to break down and cry like she felt like doing? Was she supposed to stay strong and power through it, then deal with the trauma later when she was alone?

... would she ever be able to get over it? Put it behind her?

She decided rather quickly that those questions were less important that the safety of her friend, and so she shoved them somewhere back into the recesses of her mine. "I.. I'll be fine. I'm not very hurt. Few scrapes, maybe a bruise or two. Might want to have my head checked after..." She sighed tiredly, "...after I make sure she is okay."

She went back to staring at her hands, and her brows knit together. "That man, the... the one who looked like a giant bug? He wants me to destroy the pictures that I took today. He told me that if I didn't talk to anyone, and that I destroyed the pictures, he would leave me alone." Her voice cracked for a moment, so she paused to steel herself. "But he said he was going to kill my roommate. She called me while he had me in... in there. He has my phone... he..."

The horror of that statement settled in fully, then. "I need your thing!" She lurched to the side in her seat, panic on her face, and pointed at the com attached to his arm. "I need to see that! Does it have access to the internet?!" God, she sounded crazy even to her own ears. She made the extra effort to clarify lest he think she had officially lost her mind.

"He has my phone, which has access to the database that those pictures were sent too! If he figures it out before I can download them somewhere safe he'll delete them!"

Saph nodded. She was roughed up, body, mind and spirit, but she was hanging in there. Hopefully they would get to her friend in time.. He got a ping, and glanced down to the communicator.

"Alright... They called your place. She answered. Looks like she's fine for now... We almost there?" He turned right, and then she started insisting on using his comm... He protested for a half a second, and then gave in, detaching it from it's arm mount, and passing it to her.

"Hurry, then. The more people we can identify from this the better. This was an organised attack. Well organised. The man-if you can call him that- behind this is... Look, he ain't good news, okay? You likely aren't going to be able to return to your normal life... especially if he has your address." Another sharp turn and they were only a few miles out. It had taken him a little longer than he'd hoped to make it here, but the fact that she'd picked up the phone was a great sign.

A few minutes later, they turned the corner to the apartment.

She had answered? Oh, thank the gods. All of them. she wasn't going to be picky right now. "That's good, that's really really good." The news that they had spoken to her was honestly relieving. "Yeah, should be right around the corner up here. Big building on the left."

In the meantime, she greedily snatched the small computer away from him. It took her half a second to find here she could access the internet, and half a second more in order to find the site and log in. Immediately the pit in her stomach grew. She knew that she had taken a crap ton of pictures, but what greeted her was only a dozen or so.

"F%$#!" Furiously, she set about scrolling through and starting downloads on any and all pictures she thought could be used. Even if it was blurry, or a badly angled shot. She absently noted that most of the pictures of the bugman himself were already gone. She snagged one very blurry photo of him; probably the first, with what looked like a very blurry weapon slung over his shoulder. She managed to snag a few pictures of the first guy who had held her captive. The one who had tried to smother her, and there was a picture and a half (one was very sloppy) of one of the other man. The one who had taunted her with her own camera. Ironically, one of the best pictures happened to be from him.

"He's already in... most of the pictures are gone." She cursed again under her breath, watching anxiously as the pictures she had chosen were confirmed for download. "..I... I got a few though. Some from the guys right at first, and... and a really poor quality one of the 'Roach' guy."

With a frustrated sigh, she watched the last photo file she had taken vanish, confirmed that the pictures she had chosen were really fully downloaded, and moved to hand him the com back. They were approaching the apartments anyway, she didn't need it distracting her now.