>> "Sorry... I don't respond well to orders, boys."[/color]

Bones growled as he grabbed and pulled at the spit on his nose and eyebrow. Whatever this crap was, whenever he pulled at it, it stuck fast and nearly pulled his eyebrows off. The few bits that he did manage to get off, though, he peered at and saw that it was not just some stringy spit but instead it looked almost like webbing. So, the little brat was a mutant, or so it seemed. It was the thought of that that just made him grin wide.

Two could play at that game.

He sighed, almost regrettably, as he shared a glance with Teddy. When that same, twist grin appeared on the thinner man’s face, Bones turned back around to Megan. Webbing still partially clinging to his face, the man walked behind her, knelt down and forcefully turned her so that she could clearly see Vicente.

Hands gripping her arms, he squeezed, and it was immediately evident that he had a grip that was far stronger than that of a normal man. As a matter of fact his grip felt so tight that even the young woman’s bones could feel the tension, almost like they were trapped in a vice of some sort.

“You know how to be a pain in the a**,” he muttered. “But here is some advice,” he was so close to her ear that her teeth nearly scraped the lobe as he was whispering to her. “Don’t screw with people you don’t know, especially when you are in the predicament that you are in. You know why they call me ‘Bones’?” he asked idly, his hands squeezing tighter to the point that it felt just bit more pressure would break her arms. “Because I’m so good at breaking them. But…it is obvious that physical threats won’t affect you.”

He stood up and snapped his fingers. It was apparently Teddy’s turn. As Bones stood up he moved over to the glass wall that separated Megan from Vicente. Teddy, meanwhile, had circled around and stood behind her, his fingers twitching, itching to get started.

Meanwhile, the sadist twins had shoved the plastic tube into Vicente’s unconscious mouth, attached it to the funnel and held it high above the man’s head. While one held that, the other came around with the disgusting concoction and tipped I straight in. One could see the contents as it slowly moved it way down the tube but the other twin held Vicente’s mouth closed tightly around it and tilted his head just enough so that he could not choke.

There was the struggling of an assassin’s body that attempted to be free, to open his mouth, but he was still fairly unconscious for the most part. With little effort they managed to hold him still long enough until every last drop was gone.

Bones grinned as he turned his attention back to the girl.

“You know, you two aren’t the only ones with some…gifts,” he said with a nod. “I was hoping to spare you some of that, seeing as you were just caught in the crossfire. But…if you won’t tell me your relation with Vicente de la Sangre,” he gestured to the unconscious man with pink dribble at the corner of his lips, “Then we’ll have to resort to more…drastic means.”

Teddy grinned, wide and slowly reached down, the long digits of his hands curling around Megan’s hair until finally the flats of each hand found a spot clamped onto the sides of Megan’s head. The pressure she would feel would be unbearable. Seconds would feel like hours, but just as quickly as the pain started…it ended.

“You see…Teddy here has a rather…nasty gift,” Bones said as he strolled towards Megan. Suddenly there was shadow out of place in the hallway outside. Slowly it strolled through the glass walls, dead eyes aimed directly at Megan. It was like something out of some Japanese horror movie. Bones, nor anyone else, saw it so the man sighed as he knelt down in front of Megan again. “When he touches you, he digs. Digs through every last layer of your mind and pulls out only the most terrifying aspect you can think of. The thing which makes you wet your bed at night. I can only imagine what you are seeing…”

The shadowy figure, as it drew closer, slowly solidified. Misty blackness hardened and took on more definition. First the outline of a body, then clothes, then finally last details that brought out a rather ghastly looking form of a human being. But not just any human being…

”My little spider…” Trent grinned as he looked at her with pale, dead eyes. Spiders crawled in and out of his mouth as he grinned and held up the decapitated head of a very large roach. “Didja miss me?”

>>“Don’t screw with people you don’t know, especially when you are in the predicament that you are in. You know why they call me ‘Bones’?"

The pressure was damn near unbearable. Now, she'd had broken bones before in her life, every kid who was good at being a child had... but she had never had to feel someone put enough pressure on her to break one before. Just a quick snap, and a swift ride to the doctor later. This, however, was completely different. Just the few moments that he squeezed on her were terrible. She had to bite down on the inside of her cheek to keep from uttering any sounds that would give away her discomfort.

>>"Because I’m so good at breaking them. But…it is obvious that physical threats won’t affect you.”

The pressure vanished instantly, and she slumped over a little. A few more smarty pants comments jumped to mind, but she was still too busy trying to push the feeling he had left behind from her arms. She was distracted, however, by the sights (and sounds) coming from the next room. The were force feeding him the rodent shake... It was gross enough that she wrinkled her nose and turned her eyes away, and she didn't understand in the slightest why they were doing it. Unfortunately, she didn't have much time to ponder on it...

>>“You know, you two aren’t the only ones with some…gifts, I was hoping to spare you some of that, seeing as you were just caught in the crossfire. But…if you won’t tell me your relation with Vicente de la Sangre, Then we’ll have to resort to more…drastic means.”

... Who the hell was Vicen--.... Oh. Things clicked into place quickly in her mind, and her eyes darted from Bones, to the newly named Vicente and back. So, he had been using a fake name the whole time? Smart of him... she really wasn't surprised. In fact, it would have surprised her more if he had given her his actual name, considering their attitude toward each other. ...But still, a little part of her was mildly insulted. She had slept with the man after all, and as it turned out she didn't even have a solid name for him. Well, until now, anyway. Her musings were interrupted by the other man man striding behind her. She half turned, ready to swing closed fists and all into one of his kneecaps... but he latched onto two handfuls of hair before she could manage it.

She was forcefully jerked back into sitting forward, and while her hands rose to pry his from her hair, Bones knelt before her again. She has just focused on him, when the pain set in... Megan wasn't able to stop sounds of discomfort from falling from her now. She thrashed harder, held in place securely by teddy, and after what seemed like ages... it stopped.

Tears had collected in her eyes, and though she willed them away, they stayed. With one eye cracked open, she landed tear blurred vision back on Bones and panted softly. She wasn't entirely sure how much more of that she would handle... Some kind of movement caught her attention from the corner of her eyes, and she glanced away from Bones. It moved, and she expected another person to enter the room... but it didn't open the door. It was black, a mass of shadow... and as it got closer she felt a chill wash over her.

>>“You see…Teddy here has a rather…nasty gift, When he touches you, he digs. Digs through every last layer of your mind and pulls out only the most terrifying aspect you can think of. The thing which makes you wet your bed at night. I can only imagine what you are seeing…”

The closer the shadow got, the easier it was to pick it apart. Suddenly, the pain she had just been in all washed away. Her eyes widened and the tears that had been clinging to her lashed fell. 'It's not real...' She found herself chanting inwardly, even as her heart beat sped up and she felt herself suck in a terrified breath. 'It's not real...! A demon from her past materialized before her, looking like he had crawled from the grave... just to say hi. Megan's whole body twitched, her lips trembled. "... not real..." She whispered... and then she heard it's voice. My little spider..

Something deep within her snapped. The last shred of control she had been clinging to since that dreadful night was torn to shreds as fear rippled through her entire body. The notion that this was an illusion, created by none other than the man holding her forcibly to the spot vanished, and she was left staring at Trent as he moved ever closer. Violently, she attempted to scoot backwards. Teddy's legs and iron grip kept her still. She cold feel herself starting to hyperventilate as each breath came in quicker than the last. "Stop it!" The vision knelt before her, Roaches head balanced on one knee, and he leaned in close. "MAKE IT STOP!"

"...I missed you."

A scream ripped it's way out of her without her knowing, or consenting. She squeezed her eyes shut and covered her face with her hands. When she ran out of breath, she sucked in another and shrieked all over again. Everything she thought she had dealt with, all of the raw emotions and regrets, came flooding back up to the surface. The boiled over. She didn't weep, as she should have done the night she had seen Roach die, she sobbed. Tears fell freely, and when the ghost before her opened it's mouth and spoke again, she screamed again to try and drown out it's words..

Bones said nothing as he knelt there, his head tilted and watching the young woman closely. Teddy had a firm grip on her head and, feeding into her fears, it was easy to keep her subdued. Though it was difficult because of how she thrashed around, the beauty of Teddy’s powers was that once he held on, it was very hard for the victim to scamper away. He was a true being of malevolence.

Neither of the men could see what Megan saw, but it was clear that she was reacting badly. She was scared, terrified beyond her wit’s end and she was struggling to keep herself from crumbling into a quivering, crying heap. It was a sight that only someone truly as sick and twisted as the men gathered here could enjoy.

And enjoy it they did.

>> "... not real..."[/color]

Bones smirked as he merely watched the woman’s face. How many times had he heard that in the presence of Teddy. Sure it was easy to say that something was not real, to try to convince yourself that it was only a trick of the light, a shadow, a phantom that could now harm you. But the human mind was a miraculous thing. When tricked hard enough, it could make even the most impossible things seem real enough to the victim.

For example…

>> "Stop it! MAKE IT STOP!"[/color]

No one knew exactly what she saw, but it was twisted enough to cause her to freak out. Was it a monster? An abuser? Some other sort of torture that she had no comprehension of admitting was real? Whatever this boogeyman turned out to be, it had the desired effect. She was screaming so loud and so lovely that Teddy made a mental note to record it for later. Everyone screamed differently. Like snowflakes, no two were alike.

Bones smirked, wide, as he nodded to Teddy.

His hands made the most ungodly sound, like the plop of suction cups being pulled off of a smooth surface. Teddy removed his hands, flexing his fingers, and grinned as the red imprints of his fingertips visible on her scalp. Gently, calmly, he pet her hair as Bones spoke in a most soothing voice.

“No, that we are all on the same page,” Bones said, speaking as if he were her oldest friend. “Tell me what you know about Vicente,” he grinned. “And leave out no details. If I get the slightest hint that you are lying to me, I’ll have Teddy here hold you again…for a full hour, instead of the 30 seconds (more than likely it felt like an eternity to her) that he just did. “Do you understand?”

The screaming stopped when Teddy's fingers left her scalp. The feeling of Trent's fingers on her skin still lingered... a ghostly, imaginary touch. It sent shudders through her anyway. She quieted as the vision vanished, soft sobs and anxious panting. It wasn't until Bones stopped speaking that she was able to gather her wits to her.

It had only been a vision... only a figment of her own imagination. She could still feel herself reeling from the effects, from having Teddy's damn mutant fingers wiggling around in her brain. A swift, vengeful anger immediately overrode her fear. She shivered and shook, but her cheeks reddened with anger to the point that she could feel their warmth. She could take a hit or two, yeah.. it hurt, but it would stop eventually. She could take dumb questions and unfunny jabs at her appearance... but she could not take them messing with her head. That wound was still raw and festering. It hurt to even think about, and to have them flaunt it right before her eyes?

She wanted to kill them. More than she had ever before, she wanted to make sure they suffered painful, horrible deaths.

>>“Now, that we are all on the same page, Tell me what you know about Vicente, And leave out no details. If I get the slightest hint that you are lying to me, I’ll have Teddy here hold you again…for a full hour, instead of the 30 seconds that he just did. Do you understand?”

She dropped her hands from her face, fingers clenched into tight fists, and locked eyes with the man. More than ever before, they looked alive. Filled to the brim with angry tears and a very passionate hate. "You stupid, dumbsh*t motherf#%$er... you really think that man would be attached to anyone? I can sit in here all day long, screaming while you f@!$ with my brain, and he won't so much as flinch. I'm nothing to him! You're wasting your goddamn time!" The laugh that flew from her was so bitter and filled with hate that it suprised even her. Blue eyes locked on his for a moment, her grin curled into something maniacal, and she giggled.

"I didn't even know his real name until just a few minutes ago..." Her laughter doubled, and her wrists strained against the cuffs binding her hands together. "You wanna know what I know about him? Here's what I know... He's going to f@$%ing murder you when he wakes up. He's going to shove your head so far up your own a@$ you'll be seeing what you ate for breakfast!"

She threw her head back suddenly, straight into Teddy's crotch, with enough force that it earned an Oof! from him, and darted to the side. The room she was in had an assortment of it's own shiny torture implements. With her shoulder, she knocked Teddy out of her way, barely escaping Bones' out reaching hand. She was on her feet in a flat second, and racing for one of the trays on the table at the far end of the room. If she could just get a weapon...

The twins circled around Vicente, making sure that every drop of the concoction was swallowed whole. The assassin was passed out but one that finally drop fell past his lips, his body acted with such revulsion that he nearly, automatically, hurled. But one of the twins was swift enough to clamp Vicente’s mouth shut. He either was going to swallow or suffocate. Sadly, the assassin swallowed all of it and it did not take long after for the man’s body to accept the changes.

The twins sneered as they leaned back and glanced at one another, congratulating for a job well done. It took a lot of research but they managed to figure out how the man’s powers work. He had to eat the animals he wanted to shift into, or at least the parts of them. They already knew that the man had some dangerous animal DNA floating inside him. The concoction from this batch would go a long way pacifying the man’s powers. Harmless bat wings and a rat head should be enough to take the danger out of him.

One twin grinned as he leaned in close and sniffed at the man. His nose wrinkled.

“Blech. He smells like beer and sweat.” The man said.

The other just scoffed. “That’s what you get for leaning in so close. Besides, what does it matter? He is going to die anyways…”

The other snickered as he pulled out a rather nasty looking bone saw. “Oh I cannot wait…”

They heard screaming and a ruckus in the other room. A glance over at their spied Bones and Teddy torturing the young woman so fiercely. She screamed and cried and it was a sound that made the twins moan a bit in envy. How they wished that she was their toy instead. But before long, a gasp from bound assassin alerted them that he was waking up.

Vicente gasped, hacked, and coughed as he suddenly away and slouched forward. What was this taste in his mouth and why did he feel so hazy again? For a moment he had no idea what was going on but after a couple of careful thoughts he suddenly remembered: the apartment broken into, Megan passed out on the ground, and then those men. Instantly he began to sober up as he darted his eyes around, looking, seeking for her.

But he only met two grinning faces.

“W-What’s going on?” he gasped and struggled. Despite his muscles he didn’t have the strength to break free. He turned and his eyes grew wide as he noticed Megan, screaming and being tortured in the next room.

Well f***!

***

Bones had laid down the ultimatum. It was up to her if she wanted to walk out of here with just some bad memories, or mentally scarred plus with broken bones. He figured it was a simple enough request; after all they had asked her in such a nice way. So there was absolutely no reason to be rude about it. The only person that was making this whole ordeal difficult was her. Bones hoped that she saw the light of that and decided to play nice. She just didn’t look good after all that sobbing and crying.

But, kneeling there, suddenly he saw the flash of indignant anger in the woman’s eyes. He had to smirk because she must have been such a firecracker to deal with in the everyday sphere. On top of that he was impressed; most people were whimpering for mercy by this time. This girl, though, seemed more pissed off any anything.

>> "You stupid, dumbsh*t motherf#%$er... you really think that man would be attached to anyone? I can sit in here all day long, screaming while you f@!$ with my brain, and he won't so much as flinch. I'm nothing to him! You're wasting your goddamn time!"[/color]

Bones sighed. He looked up to Teddy and made the motions to start this whole process again. He wanted to see how far they could push this girl’s torture before she was a drooling, gibberish spouting mess.

>> "I didn't even know his real name until just a few minutes ago...You wanna know what I know about him? Here's what I know... He's going to f@$%ing murder you when he wakes up. He's going to shove your head so far up your own a@$ you'll be seeing what you ate for breakfast!"[/color]

Teddy gasped and fall backwards, struggling for some composure but the pain that erupted through him was far too much to ignore. Bones straightened up, slowly as Megan darted about the room like a bee trapped inside of a house. With Teddy struggling to breath, and the girl maneuvering around in a lost mess, he arched a brow and tilted his head.

She made for the table of shiny implements.

From his pocket, though, Bones produced a small cylinder. But a click flick of it and it extended into a baton. As the girl darted past him and made for the sharp thing, Bones suddenly lashed out. With such precision he struck hard and fast directly into the woman’s side. She would be lucky if he had not broken on of her ribs in process.

Once she was subdued, he casually walked over and seized her, hard by her arms. Instantly those pressures and vibrations tore through her skeleton as he roughly pulled her onto her feet and turned her to face Vicente in the opposite cell.

“You wanna play rough, we can play rough,” he growled and made the motion towards the twins. It was time for the sparks to begin.

She mas dash was short lived. Something hard, and very, very painful bit into her side with a sick thud. Something cracked and it knocked the wind from her. She was sent flying to the side until she skidded to a halt on the floor.

Thankfully, she managed to avoid landing flat on her back, as her new brood of children was hidden behind the lower part of her towel. Unfortunately, she also landed hard enough that she caught her mouth on the hard floor, and her split lip re-opened. She struggled to keep her towel on, grasping the top with both hands and set about forcing herself to breathe. The most horrible thing about having the wind knocked from you was the five or so seconds where your lungs just refused to work again. It always felt like a slow suffocation, and it was rather unpleasant.

Another unpleasant thing was having one of your ribs broken. The act of being hauled to her feet set her side ablaze with a new kind of pain. She didn't bother stopping herself from grunting this time. It only intensified too, as he set his annoying power into motion.

Megan was not a fan of this kind of pain. Not. A. Fan.

It was hard to breath, hard to stand even, and with the pressure on her arms and body slowly getting worse she was finding it hard to concentrate. Bones turned her to face the large window where the twins were waiting. She dribbled blood from her lip across the floor, a trail of red, and behind her a hand full of Wolf spiders dropped out from under her towel. They skittered past Teddy as he regained some of his composure, and attempted to stand again. "Goddamn B!%@$..."

They made a bee line straight for the table and it's many metal implements, working directly on orders from Megan, to find something sharp and small that she could use to defend herself.... If she ever got the chance, that is. She was in a mighty amount of pain at the moment. Each little jerk and squeeze left her wanting to double over... but the guy had a secure grip on her. She wasn't allowed to fall to her knees or anything. Instead, she was forced to grit her teeth, bite down on her tongue to keep from moaning with each new spike of pain, and watch as the twins in the other room set about doing whatever it was they had planned.

Teddy, once he had himself on his feet, joined Bones. He stood at Megan's side and sent a swift elbow into her ribs. The resulting pain tore another short howl from her. She let her head hang, eyes squeezed shut, and bit down on her bottom lip to stop herself from whining. That was the last thing she wanted them hearing from her, pathetic whining like a dog. More blood dribbled out, running little tracks down her chin.

The spiders still on her person sat waiting in the hollow of her back. Crouched Widows, a few more Wold spiders, and a Jumper or two. She didn't know what she was going to do with them quite yet... but figured she would already be dead before she got to used them, or at least incapable of doing so.

Vicente spat off the to the side. He felt that something was different about him but he really could bnot put his finger on it. There was the obvious feelings of being restrained or watching ass Megan was nearly beaten to a bloody pulp, of staring down these odd face boys who eyed him up and down like a piece of meat that was ready to be experimented with. They had darker intentions for him, but as to what they were, Vicente simply didn’t know. What he wanted was for this hazy feeling to lift from his mind. But, judging by the amount of tranq they pumped into him, he was surprised he was capable of any type of coherent talk.

But he tried to keep his ground, glaring at the man and trying to figure out what was going on: obviously he was the target because they attacked his apartment, Megan was pulled away probably because they wanted information about him, and the rest, well, that he really could not figure out. What was that taste in his mouth? It was almost like…blood. It took a second but it finally dawned on him that indeed there was blood in his mouth. It could not have been from him, though, since his face didn’t hurt. But then why did he taste blood? And fur?

Realization slapped him across the face and Vicente’s eyes went wide. They fed him something. They maybe him eat something but wha—

A squeak of terror rang out and Vicente glanced to a nearby table and saw a truly horrendous sight. Two animals had been mutilated quite horribly. He could only assume that the reason for it was because of him.

“What kind of sick frea—“

SLAAAAP![/b]

Vicente growled at the sting he felt on his cheek. It quickly evaporated though as he lifted his gaze to glare at the twin that had slapped him. The young man smirked back and boldly stood, showing no fear.

“We know about you, Vicente,” the man said. “Your jobs with Falcone, where you are from, and most of all your powers. We just successful counter attacked your mutant power by…by feeding you a little lunch.”

The second twin stepped forward to get his own jabs in, but before he found he heard the commotion from the other cell. Vicente turned to see that indeed Megan was giving them a run for their money, but she was quickly subdued. Forcefully she was turned and made to face him while the short, muscle man pounded on the glass and made a gesture that Vicente did not recognize. But boy…did he wish his head.

He struggled again to no avail. Instead all his efforts earned him nothing. So much so that the assassin could only sit there as his anger began to build up. What they were going to do to him? What about Megan? No…he needed to get out of these cuffs and get them the hell out of here. No one tortured the little spider queen without his permission!

KNOCK! KNOCK!!!![/b]

The glass was pounded upon and Vicente looked up to see just one thing…the work “sparks” being uttered. Vicente gasped in realization as he struggled to get out of this chair but it was far too late. The twins smirked at each other before on grabbed a dial from another of the tables. The chair, that Vicente sat upon, looked more and more like an electric change.

“Wait! Just sto—AAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHH!!!”

Vicente screamed out as a dial was turned. Instantly currents of electricity lashed through his body, directly in front of Megan…

She could hear him speaking from the other room. It looked as if he had finally woken up. Though she wanted to grin, and see if her previous words would indeed come true, the sounds of him being zapped kept her eyes firmly planted on the ground. She didn't need to see someone she knew get tortured... As much as she hated the man, there was a certain fondness for him at the same time. He was dangerous, violent, annoying... and yet vastly entertaining to be around. With all of the chaos already running through her mind, she didn't need to add his pain to the list right yet.

Teddy, though, had other plans. His fingers found it's way back into her hair, and he lifted her head forcefully. "It's rude not to watch, you know, we put alotta effort into putting this little show together." His other hand gripped her chin and forced her to look through the window. She started to close her eyes, but a whispered warning against such a thing stopped her. "You close those eyes of yours, and I'll just have to cut your eyelids off."

Bones jerked on her arms, earning another soft, pained cry from her. Inside the other room, one of the twins was toying with the dial that controlled the chair. The grin on his face was possibly the most sadistic thing she had ever seen... The other twin turned away, walking across the room with a shiny metal blade in his hand. He stopped by the table, setting the saw down, and picked up a dull, worn out looking hammer. It was medium sized, and stained with little flecks of crimson around the hard to scrub edges. With a grin, he turned back and joined his brother at Vicente's side. The other twin flipped the chair off, chuckling softly.

"Anyone else smell seared rat?"

In Megan's room, she watched the scene unfold mutely. She had seen (and done) worse, honestly... but to people that she knew deserved it. She wasn't quite sure if she could count the Assassin among those types just yet. "Wait..." She rasped, her voice trembling slightly. "...I... I want to say something before this goes any further..." She hissed in pain when Teddy released her, and Bones allowed her to drop to the floor. It was both a relief, and torture. The men stood silently on either side of her, Bones lifted a hand to halt the Twins momentarily ([/i]which they didn't look pleased about[/i]) and she struggled to come up with something to say through the mass of muddled thoughts in her head. She just needed to stall them, give Rafa--... Vicente, a little time to figure things out on his own end, maybe.

Every cheesy, over the top movie line popped into her head all at once, and she struggled to choose one. She could claim to love him... maybe that would take some of the attention from him, and back onto herself? Or... she could ramble on about how she would never forget him, or about how much she really, truly hated him. In the end, sh recalled something he had once said, oddly enough the last time she had seen him...

"You think yourself men..." She started, her voice low and soft. Bones was forced to lean down a little to hear her. So, she raised her voice, though it hurt like hell to put any power in her words. "... You tie him up and torture him, because you are afraid of him. If he was unbound, none of you would stand a chance... Only cowards threaten a bound man." She echoed his own words, grinning like mad, and locked her eyes on him through the window. It was bound to get her another elbow in the ribs, but hell, it had been fun to say...

Before anyone reacted, she heard the soft mumbling of her spiders, The group she had sent off had found a little blade, wrapped silk lines around it, and were in the process of dragging it off the table. They skittered onto the underside, the scalpel they had snagged dangling from under them as they clung upside down, in the shadows.

Teddy snorted, and stood. "This b!$@% talks to much, I'm gonna go get the bucket." Bones gave a little nod, before latching back onto Megan's arm. She was hauled to her feet again, and carted off to the table. The few instruments lingering on it were swiftly knocked from it's surface, out of her reach. Bones' grip switched from her arm, to her throat, and he pushed her back roughly onto the table. Behind him, Teddy waltzed back in... The man still had a little bit of a limp from her last attack, but the grin on his face was proof that he was no longer bothered. In his hands, he carried two sloshing buckets of water, and a clean, white rag. Neither of the men noticed that Teddy had neglected to shut the door. The hallway outside was empty, as every other body in the building had either gone downstairs, or was in the third room, watching the monitors and chatting like a group of football spectators.

Megan struggled to push the arm away that was holding her by the throat, but the pain from her side made it nearly impossible. She just didn't have the strength to physically make him move. Bones turned and took the rag from Teddy, looking to make sure the Assassin in the other room could see, before he plopped it over Megan's face. Before she knew what was going on, Teddy started pouring old, dirty water from one of the buckets over her head. The instantaneous feeling was like drowning as water flooded her nostrils... She gasped for breath, kicked and thrashed, but was unable to make the situation any better...

Vicente growled so fiercely and with such pain that it seemed as if the man was having his very insides cooked alive. Maybe that really was the case. After all, he was sitting there with volts of electricity coursing through his body; not enough to kill but definitely enough that he was going to feel in the morning, if he survived that long. The man shuddered and gasped as he clutched onto the arm rests of his chair, struggling not keep from swallowing his tongue or breaking his own teeth from how hard he was clenching his jaw.

The man had suffered and been tortured before so this pain was not something that he wasn’t expecting. But that didn’t mean it hurt any less.

The twins grinned sadistically as they glanced at one another and then turned their attentions back onto Vicente. The loved watching the man involuntarily dance the way he did when electricity was pouring throughout every nerve ending in his body. And Vicente certainly did not disappoint them. Fingers clench, teeth bared, eyes tightly closed, it was enough to make them happy, but as always they definitely wanted to see more from him.

One had walked away to grab a small hammer. Oh the wicked ideas that he had for it. But as they continued to pour electricity through the older assassin, there was a sudden signal from their boss, Bones. Pouting slightly the twins turned their attention back to Vicente and slowly lowered the current until it was completely off. Though he didn’t set the dial aside, he had the chair turned off and simply waited for the signal for them to continue.

Vicente, meanwhile, had slumped forward, head lulling down as muscles throughout his body involuntarily spasmed from the abuse that they had just been put through. A weak cough fell from his lips (lungs too sore to cough louder) and the man felt just pure pain and exhaustion roaming throughout his body. He really did not know what he was going to do. In the back of his head, he knew what had happened, they figured how his powers worked and fed him something, some animal parts that would be of no use of him in order to lessen his danger. But what did they made him eat? He saw a bat as well as some headless rodent.

Useless. Utterly useless! Even if he shifted into them, they were disproportioned to the rest of his body and not only would he look ridiculous but he would end up dead. He gasped as he opened his eyes weakly and turned his head. Megan was on the ground and her head was raised…shouting in a loud voice…

>> "... You tie him up and torture him, because you are afraid of him. If he was unbound, none of you would stand a chance... Only cowards threaten a bound man."[/color]

He smirked. Yup…she definitely had nerve…

>> "This b!$@% talks to much, I'm gonna go get the bucket."

Things moved fast after that. Suddenly Megan was hauled up and thrown onto a table. From there, one of men returned and with a pair of buckets and a thin towel. Apparently her big mouth was getting her into trouble again. But while Vicente knew that the girl probably deserved most of the scars and wounds she received, he was still not going to just sit around and allow her to suffer. If she was going to suffer by anyone’s hands…it was his.

Trembling, he snarled as the twins grinned at each and suddenly turned back to Vicente. Since torture was going on next door, it was only fair that it should continue here. In the blink of an eye, the dial was raised again and, suddenly turned to its maximum.

There was a hum but it was followed by the intense pain of electricity pouring through his system again. Vicente growled and tried to keep the pain in but no one could hold against it. His heart beating rapidly, his muscles tweaking, Vicente suddenly felt a snap at the back of his mind and he roared out in the most horrendous and painful manner he ever did before.

“AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!![/b][/color]

Muscles tensed, Vicente yelled louder and louder, struggling against his bonds before finally, he felt one and then other popped free from the arm rests. The twins gasped and bounced away in fear, wide eyed and staring at the man who glared and moved onto his feet. In doing so, though, Vicente hissed and snapped as his head and arms began to change. Bones snapped painfully in order to reshape themselves. But while they were expecting tiny wing and a comically small head…instead they got a nightmare.

Vicente removed himself from the chair in such a way that the jump of electricity flew back into the outlets and immediately fried the lights, not only in his room but the entire floor. With barely any windows, everyone was plunged into darkness. The only thing that the twins could hear was the cracking of bones, a hiss, and two large, vermin eyes glaring at them in the dark.

The twins whimpered. Then screamed as the last thing they experienced from the darkness was the feeling of being buffeted by large, leathery wings, and of very large, sharp rat teeth biting into their flesh…

Each gasp brought in equal amounts of air and water. It was starting to become hard to spit it all back out and the oxygen her body needed. As Teddy dumped the last of the first bucket on her, she got a moment to suck in a lung full of air, as he turned and reached for the other one.

Then, all hell broke loose in the other room. A roar so powerful that it shook the twins in the other room rang out, and Bones' head snapped up. Teddy paused mid lift, water sloshing out of his bucket onto the floor, and stared through the window at the spectacle as it unfolded. "Get in there!" Bones hisses, turning and pointing over his shoulder at Teddy. The nightmare giver didn't hesitate to follow the orders, dropped the bucket and ran out of the room, just as the lights flared and flickered, before finally dying. Pitch darkness fell over the entire top floor, and from out in the hall swearing and shuffling feet could be heard. Megan only spared a moment to order her kids to bring her the weapon they had stolen, as Bones was more than a little distracted.

Megan shifted so that her ribs were not being pressed into the table, which brought the man's attention back to her. One muttered curse word later, and the hand around her neck started squeezing. His other joined in, and suddenly she was unable to breathe. Panic sprang to life in her chest, and she thrashed harder. Something bumped into her elbow as she struggled, it felt like little fuzzy legs. Her spiders... The twenty five year old turned her hips and reached over, desperation driving her to ignore the pain the motion brought. Her fingertips found the scalpel first, but she didn't feel the bite. She scooped the small blade up in her palms, and stabbed at the arms holding her down.

A hiss of pain in the darkness signaled that she had hit, and without waiting to see if he would pull away, she struck out again. The second slash caused him to drop a hand from her neck and step back. It had sliced neatly into his collar bone, deep enough for blood to flow freely. She managed to wiggle away from the other hand, gasping as she sucked in a glorious, beautiful breath, and dropped to the floor. On all fours she tried to crawl away, another livid curse in the darkness followed behind her. A brief flare of excitement filled Megan from within, at the prospect that she had gotten away. Then... anger. Hot, overwhelming anger. The trauma of the vision that had been inflicted upon her, for what felt like ages, came flooding back. Her arms shook, and she sat back on her heels. The man in the room with her had been responsible, she had told herself that if she had the chance she would make him pay... The blade gripped in her hand was a cold reminder of that promise, and as a slow, boiling rage slowly overtook her, she set about imagining all of the terrible things she would do to him. She wanted to stab him over, and over, and over... right in his smug, stupid face, and not stop until she was covered in his blood and he was unrecognizable. She would make damn sure that it was ten times worse than what she and Allison had done...

But, just as she started to get to her feet Bones stumbled directly over her. She raised her knife to stab at him again, but he was faster. A hand latched onto her wrist, easily overpowering her, and she felt him drop down onto her. Her delusions of teaching him a lesson evaporated instantly, as he straddled her and a hand was once again pressing down on her neck. The squeezing, terrible pressure on her bones returned. She squeaked, kicking uselessly, and as she was overwhelmed with the unbearable pain of his mutation and the slow depletion of oxygen, she could feel herself slowly starting to fade out. The usual fuzzy blackness at the corners of her vision were non existent in the darkness of the room. Instead, she started seeing flashes of different colored lights. Her body kept getting harder to move, her hearing was slowly vanishing. Megan felt her heartbeat in her ears, and as the sounds of her own struggling were muted, she blacked out completely...

The influx of the sense of smell was nearly overpowering for Vicente. He smelled everything and, though he was in the dark and he couldn’t see anything, the twitch of the whispers at the end of his nose was enough to give him a sense of where he was and what was around it. It was a strange feeling though. The current of electricity that shot through him had caused enough agonizing pain to force the man to shift in order to protect himself. He had fear that the shifts would have been disastrous, after all, when he experimented with his powers growing up, he had to eat an animal limb of equivalent size.

This though, was completely new. He knew that he had the head of a rat and the wings of a bat for arms, but they were proportional, extremely large and suited to him just fine. Vicente didn’t know how it happened but for some reason his power had accommodated the shifts.

That opened a WHOLE new world of possibilities and the assassin could only grin. But as his thin, rat head peered through the dark, blood smeared across his nose and whiskers, he sniffed at the dead bodies of the twins. They were dead, their hearts had stopped beating about a second ago. With a grin, he turned and began to stalk through the room. It was as one of his wings brushed the wall that he felt the first opening. One of the twins had attempted to flee the room but Vicente had struck him dead long before he could make it out.

There were the sounds of more screaming, more shouting, and he peered through the dark, registering the movement of another body rushing up to him. A flashlight swept across the ground and he looked close to see that it was the man from the other room, the one that had been torturing Megan. He hissed as he stood to his full height.

Teddy clenched his teeth as he swept the flashlight left and right before he suddenly focused it on the…creature before him! The huge bat wings, the rat head, the muscular body of a man; he made a terrifying visage for anyone to lay eyes upon. He looked almost as if he stepped out of some mythological story of something.

But the truth was that he was far more terrifying than that.

Teddy attempted to raise a gun, to get his hands on Vicente’s skull, anything to give him the upper hand, but the assassin was obviously not going to allow such a thing. With a hiss and snap, the assassin suddenly lunged and gnashed his teeth.

Teddy didn’t even have time to raise his hands.

Standing in the shadows, illuminated only partially by the fallen flashlight as it spun, Vicente turned back and watched the flashlight stopped and settle upon a scene. Megan’s naked leg thrashed in panic as another figure was clearly seen straddling her from above. Beady eyes narrowed, Vicente turned and suddenly stormed into the room. Those pale legs began to stiffen up and slowly down as the sounds of choking filled the air.

Vicente growled as he suddenly saw nothing but red. With one swift motion, the assassin suddenly expanded his leathery wings and wrapped them, tightly around the struggling man and pulled his diminutive yet muscular frame off of Megan.

“Arrgh! What’s going on?!” he screamed. He looked up into the rat face and screamed. It was almost as if he were staring from a true demon of hell.

Vicente wasted not a second though as his jaws opened and sank his teeth directly into flesh. Bones collapsed into gurgled screams and was pulled away into the darkness.

She was unaware of the weight being lifted off her. Nor did she heard the sounds of screaming, gnashing teeth, and struggling. Though her eyes were half open, she wasn't all there. The last bit of oxygen in her lungs was quickly being burned away, but she wasn't moving...

A few tense seconds after Bones had been removed from her person, she gasped and jerked back awake. Her head swam and she wasn't sure what was going on for a few moments. Then, all at once, her sense returned to her. She gripped the scalpel still in her hand with a renewed strength, and pushed herself up onto an elbow. A lone beam of light flooded in, casting a glow on her legs, she was swift to pull herself out of it's path. After letting her self wake up fully, she cast a weary eye around the room. The guy was gone... the metallic smell of blood hung heavy in the air... and her towel was falling off again. She darted for the door, hissing through her teeth, before the voices of her children stopped her in her tracks. Someone else was in the room with her...

Whether it was her still fuzzy state of awareness, or the fact that she was in too much pain to really pay attention to anything, she turned and pressed her back to a wall. The little ( and now obviously pathetic to defend ones self with) blade was hefted out in front of her as she hiked her towel back up and glanced around. 'Who is it...? She questioned the spiders silently, while trying to stifle the little grunts and pants she couldn't help but make.

The answer that came back only served to confuse her more. Scary mammal meatbag male... After a moment of silently question whether her brain had been broken somehow, a thought struck her. Meatbag... that was the name the spiders had oh so affectionately called Rafael the last time. She didn't bother to open her mouth and ask any questions just yet, deciding to just go with her hunch and make her way to the flashlight. Outside of her room, she couldn't hear thing. Megan sent the handful of spiders she had left, those that hadn't been neatly flattened under her by Bones, out into the hallway to scout. Meanwhile, she tiptoed around the corner to retrieve the flashlight. She shined the beam into the opposite room first. The chair was empty, and when she dropped it a little lower, she saw that the twins had been...er, taken care of. With a wince and a wrinkle of the nose, she turned and shined the light back into her own room.

What she came face to face with however, made her damn near jump out of her skin. "Sonofab*tch!" A horrid, monster like, rat headed, bat winged man was standing over the body of... bones, as it turned out. Who wasn't moving, and was a right mess. Her initial fright vanished, and she sighed heavily, hissing again as the action screwed with her injuries. "Ow... damnit... I think I liked you better with the cat face..." The rat head was.. kind of disturbing, and the wing arms just made the whole thing worse. Had she never met him before, she probably would have wet herself a little at the terrifying image he made up. Considering she knew him though, she was less shocked, and more ready to keel over from exhaustion. She was tempted to shine her light on him directly, maybe throw out a snarky comment or too, but when she tried to put any thought into it she just didn't have the energy.

She had been low on fuel before she had bothered to show up on his doorstep. Now... now she was running dangerously low. The want for revenge and all of the anger that had previously been fueling her washed away, and she dropped to her knees. Instantly a weakness overtook her, and Megan found herself shaking and unable to stand again.

From out in the hall, she could hear the sound of a door open, and a second later the sound of a bullet being loaded into a chamber. Megan's attention was brought swiftly back to the situation at hand, and though it was damn near agonizing, she forced herself to stand. Not that she'd really be much of a help. Her position beside the door was a bad one, and she knew it, but if she tried to move she would too much noise and alert them to her position. The twenty five year old tried to listen for footsteps, but couldn't hear any. Then, without any warning, a flashlight clicked on and she was blinded by it's beam.

"It's the woman... Drop the knife!"

She was kind of surprised that they hadn't just shot her the moment she had been spotted, but, since the attention seemed to be pinned on her, she did as she was told... if painfully slow. Her hands rose from her sides, the knife glinted in the light, and she glanced off into the shadows briefly. Then, the blade fell from her hand and she adopted a frightened, mouse like expression. "Please... please don't shoot me. I'll do whatever you want..."

Montoya was not have a good night. It started off with a simply plan, grab a man who was wanted by the former Wayne mob family for crimes against them and make him pay. It was a task that they had done time and time again with no fault. It was such a simple thing that Montoya and his brother Teddy were more than sure that the night was going to go uneventful. After all, there was five of them and one of him, what could possibly go wrong?

Yeah, then Montoya got shot. That had never been part of the plan. Normally for the bed jobs he wore his dead father’s old Kevlar vest, but today he did not because of how simple the job was supposed to be. The bullet had entered and he was lucky he didn’t die.

But they succeeded for the most part. The man was tranq’d, they got the bimbo with the sweet rear who was half naked, the night should have been looking up. Never having the taste for torture that his brother Teddy had, Montoya had slipped away once they got to the facility in order to get himself patched up as well as await the next orders. Bones could be particularly nasty so the man decided to leave him to his work.

It was not until he had just been finished being patched up that the lights had gone out. Staff screamed and shouted orders, and there were the bloody cries of death down the hall. Instantly Montoya feared that the worst; he was sure that he heard screaming that sounded like Teddy’s voice.

A gun and flashlight in hand, Montoya led the charge. All he could gather from the guys watching surveillance was that something went wrong. Vicente had gotten out and spread his bloody revenge on The Twins (creepy buggers) and was moving before everything went black.

In the hall way, pressed on all sides by darkness, Montoya narrowed his eyes as he shined the flashlight: blood and gore everywhere. The glass walls were smeared, what was left of flesh was too disgusting to look at. Montoya felt like he was going to lose his lunch. Obviously whoever this guy was, his reputation was accurate.

But as he continued to sweep the scene, he suddenly paused on one lifeless body. Teddy. His mouth dry and close to choking, he suddenly raised the light and illuminated the figure standing there. It was the girl…

>> "It's the woman... Drop the knife!"

He could feel his own hot tears welling up. He wanted to shoot her dead, he wanted to stop her breathing and have his revenge for what she did to his family. Shakily and boiling over, he stormed on and kept the gun trained on her.

>> "Please... please don't shoot me. I'll do whatever you want..."[/color]

Montoya passed the doorway and stopped as he kept the gun centered directly onto her. He was not going to let her get away with this! But just as the white hot hatred drove him forward, gun nearly pointed directly at her forehead, he found himself standing next to the doorway of the room that she had just been in. Though he wanted nothing more than to kill her, he needed one vital piece of information.

“Where. Is. He?!” he growled.

“Boo,” a menacing growl answered from the dark of the doorway.

Montoya snapped around and raised his gun and flashlight only to see the tremendous rat head glaring back at him. A loud shriek fell from Vicente’s mouth as he suddenly lunged forward and bit hard. Montoya screamed but every quickly melted away.

Lifeless body lifted up, Vicente hissed at the gathered men who were behind him and hurled him directly at him. People screamed and dodged out of the way but it was enough of a distraction that allowed Vicente to throw himself into the fray. Massive batwings struck hard and fast, knocking men aside, while teeth gnashed and bit into flesh. Before long the men were retreating, unfortunately they would be back.

A snarled and a crack of his neck and suddenly his head and arms began to painfully shift back into their normal shapes and sizes. Before long, the muscular man had returned as he moved up to Megan and arched a brow as he looked down at her.

But out of his mouth did not spew hatred or taunts…

“Come on,” he said as he offered her his large hand. “I’ll get you out of here.”

She damn near went cross eyed trying to keep the gun in her sights, but after a moment had to abandon it because of a looming headache. Instead, she let her eyes widened, and opened her mouth to let few well places stutters fall from her lips. She caught sight of movement behind the man, however, and stopped herself short.

“Boo,”

A manic grin curled her lips. She didn't even need to answer his question! What luck! Squeezing her eyes shut and turning her head, she shielded her face with a hand as Rafael.. er, damnit, Vicente, took care of the few remaining men. It was a blood bath, she was sure, and she didn't want to look. It wasn't until the sounds of screaming stopped that she dropped her hand and let herself lean heavily against the wall.

Was it over now?... Could she go home and sleep for a few months?

"Come on, I’ll get you out of here.”

Her eyes had just slipped closed. One blue eye cracked open, and with the light from one of the flashlights illuminating him from behind, he looked like a solid, man shaped wall of darkness before her. She would have eyed the hand, probably a little suspiciously, if she had been able to focus on it. Instead, she grinned, wincing as her injured bottom lip complained. "...Guess i'm not the only one who gets people into trouble, huh?" She didn't even have the energy to laugh.

Her eyes adjusted finally to the darkness, since she no longer had a flashlight blinding her, and she noticed the outline of his hand. Weakly, she reached out to take it. "Sorry... didn't really help much... " She had probably only made it worse, somehow. She was well aware that she had a tendency to do that. With the current condition she was in, it was certain that she was going to be nothing but dead weight, as she felt like sitting down and falling asleep right where she stood. Really, the only thing keeping her up on her feet was the wall, and once she left that, maybe the Assassin.

With a grunt, she pushed herself away from the wall, one hand keeping her towel in place, while the other gripped his hand. She swayed on her feet for a moment, before managing to catch herself.

At the other end of the hallway, where the door that led downstairs sat, the sound of locks slowly clicking out of place could be heard. Megan didn't notice it, she was having too much trouble just forming her own words and standing at the same time. From downstairs, a skinny man in a suit emerged with a newspaper in his hands. The merry tune he was whistling stopped the moment he noticed the lack of lights, and he paused on the stairs.

Then, just like in any good horror film, he called out, "...Eh... Bones?.. Teddy...?" The darkness wasn't a good sign, but since no one downstairs could have possibly heard the commotion that had happened, he was unaware as to what had happened. "...Montoya..?" He called out again, apprehensively.

>> "...Guess i'm not the only one who gets people into trouble, huh?... Sorry... didn't really help much... “[/color]

Vicente rolled his eyes. As if he really expected her to be of some use during this whole ordeal. It was a ridiculous thought, but it was one that he was going to have to comment on at a later time. Right now, his most important task was to get the both of them out of this place before more of those guards to gather up enough courage to attempt to take another pass at the both of them. Despite the fact that Vicente did not fear anything they threw at him, after everything, he knew that he needed a rest. He needed to be able to fight on his own terms.

Her hand slipped into his and he helped her to lean away from the wall. Just as she did, though, he could immediately sense just how useless her legs were going to be. She was weak and tired from her own ordeal. She was going to be nothing but dead weight to him but he could not afford to leave her behind. In her current state she would probably spill absolutely everything about him (well, what little she knew) and he needed one less squealer in his life.

So, taking her full body weight, Vicente began to move, heading towards where he suspected the nearest exit was. It would be difficult moving through the building and back outside without being noticed, but he was sure that there had to be some wa—


>> "...Eh... Bones?.. Teddy...?... Montoya..?"

The sudden voice drew his attention and Vicente growled. He was still standing in the light of the dropped flashlights and this immediately drew the man’s attention. God how the assassin wished that he had had his throwing knives, but he would have to make due. Making sure that Megan was secure against the wall, Vicente suddenly took a straight on run at the man.

“Crap!!” he shouted as he tried to run back into the stairwell and scream, “Loose! We have guests that have gotten loos—URK!!”

His voice was suddenly cut off when a well place chopped forever silenced that voice box. As the mand gasped and struggled to breathe again, Vicente growled and kicked him hard enough to go tumbling down the stairs. Once the man vanished from sight, Vicente slammed the door closed and did his best to bar it with potted plant stand. Making sure it was secure, he returned to Megan’s side. There was no way she was going to walk on her own accord. Quickly he hefted her up into his strong arms and turned about, trying to find some way some exit…

…then he spotted the balcony.

Stupid idea. Stupid idea. Stupid idea.

Rushing footsteps filled the floor and suddenly, Vicente felt himself out of options. He ran for that balcony with Megan tight in his arms…