Sam looked at the little red button on his phone. Once it was live he took a sip of a large brown bottle of a heavy stout he found by chance walking back to the room he was currently recording in. He was wondering if the Dragonspeak gem was wearing off but knew it wouldn’t matter for the intended party. She knew Russian, she knew English and she knew his language, any variation of it.

Sam set the bottle down and cleared his throat. ”Hey…
Been a while since I’ve seen ya. So… yeah had a girlfriend and…” Sam cleared his throat and rolled his eye and took another swig of the drink. ”That doesn’t matter, anyways. If you get this video good chance I was kidnapped.” Sam took another sip then stared at a wall. He smirked then looked back to the camera, ”Correction, I’ll be escorted shortly I can seem them through the walls.” Sam said pointing past the camera’s view.

”Anyways, Odds are I’ll need a little back up, and no. I don’t want anyone from the X-Men involved this is… more….” Sam waited for the word to come then raised an eyebrow, ”Personal?” he shrugged and then hefted the bottle again, it was clear he was drunk and to the point of sleep deprivation he seemed slaphappy almost insane.

Sam looked at the photo and smirked holding it to the camera so anyone watching the video would have seen the beautiful blonde frozen in time as a model on the piece of paper. ”I’m a $&*( photograph but man…” Sam smirked as he took a large swig of the bottle, ”I mean, not as beautiful as you but…” Sam smirked as he pointed to the photo and to the subject, ”She makes me feel like I can take the perfect photo.” he ran his hand in a wrap it up gesture signaling the people he saw from the other side of the thin walls of his room.

”She’s sweet too. Like you.” Sam said taking a second to let the message sink in, ”Found her. Probably not involved with the people you want or in the situation you want but.” Sam shrugged, and sipped his beer, ”I’m supposed to be dead so…” Sam looked up and started to laugh, ”So long story short, contact the matchmaker and tell her I owe you a favor, she owes me one so she will be able to give you more information than I can at the moment.” Sam smirked, ”So, this is me… signing off… Next time you see me I’ll be on the big screen.” Sam smirked and sipped his beer just as the door was kicked open.

The video continued as Sam raised an eyebrow and looked to the intruders who were out of the camera’s view. ”Only five?” his Russian started to turn English before he realized his translation gem wore off. ”Kinda insulted…” Sam sipped his beer and then threw the bottle at the nearest guy then kicked the table with his phone up towards another assailant. The camera spun in the air as Sam ran forward and took out the other three with a few punches. Then in a flash as the camera hit the ground Sam collapsed after the sound of thunder. Sam looked towards the camera and gave a little chuckle before passing out.

Top priorities:
1. Find the Matchmaker
2. Find Sam
3. Find Bo with Sam's help
4. Rescue Bo and possibly Sam
5. Beat Sam's face in for making lewd remarks about Bo

Sveta had her week all planned out.

For better or worse, Svetlana had not left the USA on official business since she arrived... so many years ago. And now, she was heading back to Russia, to the very same person that had sent her here once upon a time. Deep down, she had known for a while that something must be wrong, when she could not get through to the Matchmaker at all, or when she did and she was told Bo was out and not available at the moment. Sveta did not have much contact with the kid; she loved Bo, but the less she got involved with mutant issues, Sanctuary, registration, and whatnot, the better. She sent money for her regularly, but they rarely talked. If the picture was not lying, she was a young woman by now.
It was dangerous to be a young woman in the Matchmaker's household.

Sveta watched the video again and again as she made her way to her flight, and again once she landed in Moscow, and got a taxi to take her to the Matchmaker's apartment. It was like going back in time, full circle, to the place where she had started our once upon a time, under a false name. She really hoped that Sam was right, and that the Matchmaker could tell her where to find him. She was a vile old woman, but she had not been unkind to her. Hopefully, some things did not change...

thump-thump-thump

Sam opened his eye and grabbed his head first there was an intense pain from where he was struck that caused him to be knocked out. The smell of ozone still lingered in his nostrils causing him to exhale fiercely.

thump-thump-thump

Sam sat up slowly and examined his small little room. The steel door seemed familiar, he had of course never been in this cell but after a while all prisons seemed the same. It was a small cell, just big enough for him to lay down from one side of the room to another. Made him think they were trying to save space. No doubt he was where he needed to be. The thumping after a few moments started to sound like foot stomps more than his headache.

Sam rubbed the back of his head and got up slowly pushing his back against the wall spotting the red ring of an inferred camera in the upper corner. A finger shut up as he notified his captors he was awake. A sharp shooting pain erupted from his body the second his finger rose and he twitched as the manacles he now noticed around his wrists and ankles lit up with a small red led strip. His body convulsed for a second and the pain stopped when the red light around his limbs vanished.

It seemed his captors repurposed the collars he was familiar with. Great…. Sam raised his hands up like he gave up. This time instead of his manacles lighting up it was a light in front of the door, which then opened and the sound of the thumping got ten times louder.

---

There was a knock on the door. The Match Maker looked from her cup of warm tea to the door. She didn’t need to say anything the girls already knew what to do. A young blonde walked to the door and answered allowing the guest to enter. “It’s been a long time young Svetlana.” The matchmaker said not needing to see her before she started talking. “Your… handsome friend mentioned you’d be coming to see me.”

Sveta steeled herself before she walked through the door. Once she had promised herself never to go backwards; she had walked out, got on a plane, and had no intention of looking back. And yet, here she was. She immediately looked around for Bo, but could not see her sister anywhere. The girls were strangers, but all familiar in a way that only shared experiences could create.

>>“It’s been a long time young Svetlana. Your… handsome friend mentioned you’d be coming to see me.”

"He could never stay away from hot women" Sveta smirked, stopping at a respectful distance from the Matchmaker "I hope he didn't make any trouble."

Honestly, Sveta hoped the old woman didn't make any trouble. Sam could be annoying, but he was not a bad person. And he had gotten himself into some trouble over here in Russia. Whatever the Matchmaker had to do with it, if she was not helping to find Bo and Sam, then she was on the other side of the table...

First rule of fight club, is you don’t talk about fight club. The second rule is you don’t talk about fight club. Sam shifted his weight as he avoided a punch to his face throwing out a counter strike of his own landing a few knuckles on a rib of his current opponent. It didn’t take long for Sam to figure out what was going on.

He was a contestant, slave or whatever forced to fight. At first he resisted but he found his competitor was more eager to fight than Sam was. The manacles around his ankles stopped buzzing when he stopped trying to run. Sam frowned as he blocked a crescent kick to his head. Honestly why do people throw that kick so high? Sam caught the kick then swept his opponents leg forcing his adversary to the ground. Sam took a step back and tried to figure out everything around him.

His sixth sense wasn’t working as well as it should have, mainly because there were so many heat signatures around him. They were of course on the other side of the cage and yelling loudly throwing beers, food, whatever. It was clear to Sam now that he was supposed to lose, but the beers didn’t need to suffer.

The sound of heavy metal reverberated on arena floor that should have been the second rule of fight club. No heavy metal on the dance floor. Sam ducked just in time avoiding another blow to his head. If he didn’t have access to his powers at all the attack would have connected. So it meant he could use his powers only if he used them for the fight. Made sense he guessed, if he was to fight for entertainment they probably wanted a show.

The crowd started to stomp there feet and the thumping he heard a few minutes ago started to drown out the heavy metal music. Sam wasn’t sure which one he would have rather heard. With everything going on he failed to notice his opponent was getting bigger and uglier, an ongoing theme in his life it seemed when he had one problem it seemed to snowball.

Sam turned and lifted his hand smirking hoping this would be over in one, shot a nice large popsicle for the crowd. His hand turned blue as a beam of ice erupted from his hand only to fall to the ground when the cuff around his hand lit up.

A distraction like that was what the giant needed to land a large fist at Sam’s chest. Jumping away and knocking himself off his feet by the punch Sam landed on the cage wall. Where he hit his back tensed up. Electric walls. This place sucked.

----

“He gave off that presence. Quite the trouble-maker as well. He shows up on my doorstep and days later people I thought… I hoped I would never see again show up to my doorstep.” She sipped the tea and looked back out the window. Letting the information settle. More for herself than for her uninvited guest, who she knew would appear. Just as Sam had said.

“Bo… She’s not here anymore.” The old woman said into her cup of tea. She didn’t want to part with Bo. The young woman showed such promise. The fact that she was forced to part with her was still a sore subject. “In fact that’s where your friend was headed as well.” She set her tea down and tried to imitate a large brute and puffed out her chest, “I’ll go and make sure Bo is all good.” Hmph. Match Maker waved her hand off and then placed it on her knee. “Now, tell me about your husband!” she said trying to change the subject.

The Matchmaker had always had a facade that was hard to read. Sveta realized how little she knew about the woman, other than the persona she put on when she dealt with her charges, picking them up, dusting them off, and sending them on to a hopefully better life. She had to have a story, a childhood, a family... but Sveta did not know it. The woman, in an adult's eyes, was a complete stranger, and Sveta was not sure she could be trusted.

>>“He gave off that presence. Quite the trouble-maker as well. He shows up on my doorstep and days later people I thought… I hoped I would never see again show up to my doorstep.”

Sveta's eyes narrowed. So, Sam had been here, and he did bring trouble, even if he was not the cause of it.

"Bo?"

>>“Bo… She’s not here anymore. In fact that’s where your friend was headed as well. I’ll go and make sure Bo is all good.”

Sveta's stomach sank. Bo was gone, and so was Sam. She fought the urge to yell, or shake the woman, to get some kind of a reaction out of her.

>>“Now, tell me about your husband!”

"I never married him. He was not what he said he was." Sveta said shortly, shutting the conversation down. She was not about to indulge the story of the past seven years to the Matchmaker. "I'm not a child anymore, and I take care of herself. And others. Where did Sam go?"

One thing a lot of people tend to forget about electric fences, one it causes your body to tense up and if the current is strong enough it can cause the body to lock in where it was. Right against the fence his back arched slightly and he felt himself be thrown from the fence. Whoever was working the fence it must have turned off for a second. Long enough for his body to loosen enough to get launched back towards his completion.

Sam’s body ached. His wrists were green again meaning he must have had access to his powers though now he was a little more afraid to use them. Sam’s sixth sense came back online just in time though. A sudden flash of read appeared before him. His body hurt but he could move meaning he could fight. Sam rolled just in time as a foot belonging to the size of Shaq slammed down where his head was.

The guy was big and slow. Sam’s favorite sparring size, big and slow meant he’d have to be faster and smarter and as much as he just wanted to punch something till it stopped moving it wouldn’t be too useful here. It wasn’t the fist size shifter Sam had run into and a lot of them seemed to have a similar skill set. Loud, slow and strong. Joints however were hard to strengthen, even with some mutant abilities. They still had to bend a certain way and the way this mutant was moving he seemed human enough.

Sam pushed himself up and brought his hands up to intercept a kick. If his hands weren’t there it would have made full contact with his ribs. His wrist bent into the kick and a loud pop could be heard. Sam yelled as he got to his feet jumped back and popped his wrist back letting out a low pain stricken hiss which was drown out in seconds by the crowd who erupted in cheer to Sam’s discomfort.
------

“Dear, don’t insult me. No man is ever what he says he is. I don’t care who they are. I’m a matchmaker, he seemed right for you. What a shame. Well, I can always try again. In fact I have a few other possible candidates. One happens to be a duke.”

The old crone took a sip of her now semi warm tea and she cleared her throat. “Well, you used to have manners as well. Whatever happened to pleasantries? The Matchmaker waved her hand and one of the few girls that was living under her careful watch appeared with a piece of paper and a tablet with a black screen on it.

“I asked around, he is at this location probably getting broken and bruised for the amusement of the so called elite. Press play” she had no doubt it would be one of the few fights Sam had been in since he had been taken captive. “Such a shame too. Such a handsome young man, the eye patch was a little much but he had promise.” She said not thinking too much on it. “It’s where your sister is. She attracted a ruffian with a god complex.” Another sip of tea, “I’m exaggerating slightly but I hardly wanted to agree to match. He seemed more interested in arguing than your sister.”