Unmarked Bunker in Maine
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| Brooke Bishop | Siobhan Donovan | Lizzie Young-Bennett |
Siobhan doesn't know how long they've been here. She's assuming it's been nearly a full day since they've had both dinner and breakfast, (if either meager meal could be called that), and her body is telling her that breakfast was several hours earlier. Another way to keep them weak; the metabolisms of magic users, and most supes from what she understands, is a bit faster than a normal human's.
She's slept on and off in fits and spurts. Dreams have been fleeting, the tail end of nightmares more prevalent, when she hasn't been woken by the slightest sound or imagined noise.
The one blessing is that they've seen no more of Astrid and Marshall. The rather sharp and rangy woman who brought their food looked at them with a crazy glint in her eyes, but didn't taunt them with promises of torture. She didn't say anything at all.
~*~
It's the not saying anything at all that gets to Brooke. It means that underneath, whatever the woman is thinking is likely worse than anything she can possibly say.
The redheaded witch has been keeping an eye on the two younger ones. Catching a nap here or there as she can, but otherwise staying alert as much as possible to ensure neither girl is randomly taken from the cell.
The one time she was taken from the cell, it was to see a 'doctor', who poked, and prodded, and took her blood, and did something which she can only assume is a biopsy (or something rather like it with a large needle).
Brooke has been back for at least two hours now, and has been fairly quiet.
Pulling a small bit of bread she stashed away at breakfast, she breaks off three pieces and hands one to Siobhan, and one to Lizzie.
"It's not much, I know, but it should stop any hunger pangs until the next meal."
~*~
Siobhan doesn't think the woman had bad thoughts. She simply thinks that they weren't worth talking to. In her opinion, it's better to be ignored than singled out. It was bad enough when they took Brooke away earlier. Inside, Siobhan was screaming in terror, but she didn't want Lizzie to see that. If Brooke can be strong, so could she. It doesn't mean she didn't throw herself at the older woman and hug her for dear life when she came back.
"Thanks," Siobhan says with a sigh. She nibbles on the bread, and looks out at the dingy, instutional gray wall across from them. It hasn't changed at all in the last five minutes.
She stands and begins to walk the length of the cell. "What was it like, where they took you?"
~*~
"Like a really bad physical," Brooke says, wrinkling her nose. "They're gearing up for something though. They took some blood, poked me, prodded me. Trying to see if I was physically well, I suppose. At least they didn't try to do a pap."
That she would have made a fuss about. Not that she was all that willing in the room, but when they introduced the second 'doctor', she shut the hell up and did what she was told.
He didn't exactly look like someone that would put up with a fussy witch.
~*~
Lizzie nibbles a little at the bread, and quietly goes to sit in a corner.
"They did that to me before you guys got here. I'm not so good with the needles, or the blood. I passed out and I don't remember all what they did. I felt really sick afterward though. Do you feel sick?"
~*~
Fifteen paces. The size of the cell has not changed either. That's about eight or nine feet given Siobhan's stride length and foot size. She doesn't know what she's going to do with the information, but she's trying to focus on everything her father told her. It's a good distraction instead of worrying about what comes next.
"Maybe my sneeze when they kicked up the dust convinced them that I wasn't, so they don't want me." Siobhan tries to make the words a joke, but they come out sounding a bit hard edged and brittle.
Backing up against the bars of the cell, she walks it lengthwise.
~*~
"Maybe, but maybe they just didn't take you when they took me because you were sleeping." Brooke rubs her arm where one of the needles went in and frowns at the bruise. She'd really like to use a healing spell to get rid of it, but she knows the magic won't work here.
"They didn't blindfold me on the way down. There's eight other cells that we passed. Four of them had three people in them each, I think. I couldn't see all three of them in all the cells, but I did see at least three in one, and two in the others. The other four…"
Brooke shudders thinking of the blood on the wall of one, and the rest were just empty. Not yet occupied, or the occupants were gone already.
~*~
"They're empty," Lizzie says. "They've been empty for a while. One had people in it. Two disappeared. The other one… well Cruz got a hold of him and no one's seen him since." Wrapping her arms about herself as she finishes her piece of bread, she glances at Siobhan.
"Is the pacing a nervous habit, or just a way to keep fit in a small area?"
~*~
Sioban takes in what Brooke says, but doesn't stop her walk until her toes and nose practically hit the back wall. Eighteen paces. Probably ten feet. Meaning the other way is eight. Eight by ten cell; deeper than it is wide.
"Eight cells." Siobhan takes another bite of the bread. "Are we on the same level? Or up or down?" She really wishes she'd been paying more attention when they were brought in. "Eight feet across, so we're looking at six hundred forty square feet in cell space alone. Add in the area of the halls and the elevators and the stairs … we're probably in a goverment installation. Or a former government installation. It can't be a house, and we're too deep underground."
She stops and looks over at the younger witch. "I was measuring the size of the cell."
~*~
"Eight cells on this level. They took me up the stairs to what they called the infirmary." Brooke closes her eyes, then stops. She turns to the left and points. "That way. I don't know how many cells there are to the right. I just remember the long hallway when we first got here. If there were cells in it, they were either hidden with magic, or they took us through a back corridor so no one else saw our arrival."
There's a bit of a wince as she sits down, and her hand settles to her stomach.
"Even if one of us managed to distract the woman when she comes with dinner, I doubt all three of us could make it out. The two of you can try though."
~*~
"I wasn't thinking about escaping." Without magic, it would be foolish to even try. Siobhan finishes off the bread and leans against the wall, crossing one ankle over the other before wincing. She is going to need a healing spell on her feet if - no, not if, when - they get out of here. She sinks to the floor and crosses her legs lotus position so that her feet are off the floor.
"Just trying to remember and do the things my father told me. Learn everything. Note everything. Wait for the perfect opportunity."
~*~
"We may not get the perfect opportunity, Siobhan. If one arises, I want you and Lizzie to get out of here and not to look back, alright?" Because Brooke knows if the younger witches get out of there, they can lead someone — at this point anyone will do — to the location to get her out.
If not, than she'd rather save the lives of the two younger women.
~*~
"I'm not leaving unless all of us can leave." Lizzie looks over at the other two and then slides herself along the floor until she reaches them. "I'll wind up lost in the woods. I've always been awful with woods. Mom tried to take us camping once and I wound up sleeping in a cave because I wandered off from the campsite."
~*~
Siobhan's gut instinct is to protest and object. She doesn't want to leave Brooke behind, not for any reason. However, logically she recognizes the sense in the woman's words. If she can get away, she can find help. The hybrid nods to her friend. "Alright. I don't like it, but I'll do it."
Looking over at Lizzie, Siobhan sighs. "It makes sense. I don't want to leave anyone here either, but if we can make it out, we can get help. I'm a city girl, but my mom and dad taught us how to find direction based on the sun or stars." How much of that she remembers? She can't guarantee. "Once we're away from here, we might even be able to use magic to guide us."
~*~
"I know you don't, but if there's a chance, Siobhan… you're more fleet on your feet than I am, and in a hell of a lot better shape for running." Brooke can run. She walks the city enough that she's fit, but she's not stupid. Siobhan is on her feet a hell of a lot more often with the dancing, and she can likely run and jump over things that Brooke can't.
"Precisely."
~*~
"I still don't like it," Lizzie says, worrying her teeth over her lip. "If we do it though, we should each take different directions and that way one of us might get out." Fidgeting, she starts to count the bars, and the spaces between each. It doesn't help but it kills her focus on the bad things that could possibly happen.
"Just be careful you don't run into Cruz."
~*~
"Then if we see an opportunity, we'll take it," Siobhan decides. She knows that there's a camera, and possibly that their voices are being recorded too. It doesn't matter. Their captors can't expect them to sit here like animals waiting to be slaughtered.
"What's his deal?" Siobhan asks.
~*~
Brooke has no qualms with them being watched or recorded. Their captors must figure that people are going to try to escape if they can help it. They aren't lambs to the slaughter, and too terrified to make a move.
"Good. Then it's settled."
Beat.
"We should work on a plan a little later, and a lot more quietly. I'd hate to lose the element of surprise."
~*~
"Who? Cruz?"
Lizzie pales a little, then looks terrified.
"He's a bad man. A very, very bad man. Not exactly the type you'd be comfortable around for any reason."
~*~
Siobhan doesn't press the issue. The look on Lizzie's face and her reaction to the question speaks volumes. From there, there isn't a lot to discuss. They're trapped, in a cell, and don't know what people want with them or even who has them. To distract herself, Siobhan does some stretches and goes through some basic dance poses. There isn't a lot of space, but she picks a little corner to keep herself out out Brooke and Lizzie's way. Dancing is how she copes and this is a close as she can get.
~*~
"Did he hurt you, Lizzie?" Brooke watches the young woman, both with curiosity, and sympathy. There is little she can do to ease any nerves here, though she's been trying.
Watching Siobhan go off to her corner, she exhales a sigh. She knows a coping mechanism when she sees one. It's why she gets mothering around the two younger women. Treating them like the twins is the only way she's able to cope and not break down.
~*~
"No, but the girl who in the next cell… I didn't need to be there. I heard what he did to her when she wouldn't listen and behave." Lizzie gulps a little and sits down on the floor. "It's… I'm surprised there wasn't blood. I'm pretty sure when he was done having 'fun' with her, he tore her to pieces. It sounded like a mad dog in there, you know? One that went crazy and was eating its owner."
~*~
Siobhan shudders and blanches. She decides she doesn't want to think about that much more, if at all. With nothing left to do but wait, she sticks to her stretches. When they come for her, there's a brief moment of panic, but she beats it back and cooperates. Her eyes record everything that she can, all the steps she takes, the cells, the quick glimpses of those in them.
Siobhan is poked and prodded, examined the same way as Brooke was. The most excruciating part is when a woman somehow literally plunges her hand into Siobhan's gut. There's no open wound, no entrance, no bleeding, but she can feel the woman rooting around inside of her, burning her and clenching something deep within her soul. She stops screaming after a while and falls to strangled cries before she finally simply passes out.
When she comes to, she's back in the cell, with no recollection of when or how she returned.
~*~
When Siobhan is taken, Brooke begins to pace. She was really hoping that an opportunity to get them out of here would have arisen before they got to her. The pacing doesn't end until the younger witch is returned. Once she is, the redhead sits on the floor of the cell and cradles Siobhan's head until she comes to.
"You've been out a while," Brooke tells her quietly. "They did something different to you, didn't they?"
The needles, the poking, the prodding… that wouldn't have caused the younger witch to pass out.
"Do you recall what they did?"
~*~
Lizzie has been silent. She tried to rest a little, but knowing what was going on… unsettled her. She didn't pace so much as start tracing out random patterns in the dust on the floor. Some runic symbols that don't mean a thing. Sometimes flowers or other doodles. Anything to keep her mind from focusing too much.
~*~
She still hurts. It's automatic, the way Siobhan twists and curls in on herself, clutching her midsection. The pain isn't localized, and it's not the sort of pain that can be narrowed down. It doesn't even feel like real pain, more like a phantom pain deep in her soul.
"I …" Siobhan shudders at the memory, and bites her lip. She closes her eyes. Her head turns a little away from Brooke as a tear streams from the corner of her eye. The witch bats it with the back of her hand, resisting her body's urge to breathe too deeply. Everything is a clue.
"There was a woman … she … it was magic … somehow she put her hand inside of me … "
~*~
"She had her hand inside of you?" Brooke gives Siobhan an odd look at that, but pets her hand over the younger woman's cheek. "You'll be alright, Siobhan. I know you will. You need to rest."
Beat.
"Lizzie, is there any water left?"
~*~
"Uhm, not much." Bringing over one of the small plastic cups they're given with breakfast, she kneels beside the downed witch. "Here, Shiv. You need to drink this. It'll help. Well actually, ibuprofen might help much more, but we don't have any of that. You can just psyche yourself into thinking you're taking the pain killer though." Lizzie waits, then tilts the cup toward Siobhan's lips.
~*~
"I know … how it sounds." Siobhan sighs, winces, and then lifts her head to accept the water that Lizzie offers her to drink. She takes a few small sips and licks her parched lips. Screaming and crying will have that affect on you. "I don't know … how else to describe it. The bitch shoved her hand into my body."
~*~
"I don't know of any magic that does that." Brooke knows plenty, and that she hasn't heard of anything means it's either rather old magic, or something entirely new that no one's heard about yet.
"Lizzie, is that what they did to you?"
~*~
"Yeah. I screamed, and she threatened to send Cruz in with me, so I shut up rather quickly. It hurt. A lot." Lizzie bites her bottom lip, then chews on it. It's going to wind up raw at this rate.
"It felt like she was trying to pick apart something inside of me, and it burned a bit too."
~*~
"I don't think it's the kind of magic that we'd know," Siobhan says quietly. She allows herself to sit up fully, though she still cradles her mid-section. "I don't think it was witch or sorcerer magic. If it was, it was really dark …"
The hybrid nods at Lizzie's words. "Yes, she was feeling inside of me, but not my heart or my guts. It's hard to put into words … though I guess she didn't care if I screamed." Or maybe it was just one of those amusements for their captors.
~*~
Brooke doesn't like this, and she's… happy that it hasn't yet happened to her. Maybe she's too 'old' for that particular experiment. "Fae, perhaps, then. Dark fae. Thankfully I've yet to ever run into one, or if I have they've not meant harm at the time."
Looking between the two women, she really wishes she could offer a bit of calming magic, or perhaps a healing spell. Only, she can't, thanks to the barrier.
~*~
"Yeah it was something not physical, I think. Like… a feeling. It's hard to describe." Lizzie grabs one of Siobhan's hands and squeezes. "It'll be alright, in a day or two… I think. At least it stopped hurting then."
~*~
"My father has talked about fae, but said that he's never met one that he knows of." There is always that last little bit of additional info. Because clearly, one never knows what a person you're interacting with could be. Unless you're a magic user and they are as well.
Siobhan smiles at Lizzie and returns the hand squeeze. "Good to know. I'll just handle it the way I handle an intense bit of muscle strain." Without the healing balm and drugs, but Siobhan is odd in that she doesn't always use those with her dancing. She calls it an unfair advantage and insists she wants to experience what other dancers do.
~*~
"I know a few." One, for certain. The others… she's just really speculating about. Brooke closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "Finish up the water, Siobhan, and rest. You need to rest. Because you're the one that needs to get out of here."
Offering Siobhan her blanket so that the younger witch can prop up on it, the redhead leans against the wall.
~*~
"That's how I handled it, but I convinced myself I was taking the ibuprofen for it," Lizzie tells her.
"It really does help to trick your body."
~*~
Siobhan isn't her usual stubborn self which is the one sign of how much she's hurting. She does reach out and take Brooke's hand. "You're going to get out of here, too. Kieran would have missed you by now, right?" Siobhan can hope that her ring was found and that it's known she's with Brooke, but the only certainty is that someone is looking for Brooke. "He'll know to notify the Coven? Or Bridget? Maybe both?"
"Yeah, I've done plenty of that. Sometimes it's the only way to keep dancing."
~*~
"Probably."
Beat.
"Though I doubt he's contacted Bridget." Brooke squeezes Siobhan's hand and murmurs, "He'll likely have called in Bryn and the Priory though. Serafine works with them, and he knows that'll be the quickest way to find us."
~*~
"It is. Especially if you've twisted your ankle during the audition. Oh my god, that was pain." Lizzie just hopes she can get out of here and go back to school.
~*~
Siobhan automatically tenses just a bit when Brooke mentions the female vampire. She's trying to accept Brooke's friendship with the woman (vampire), but part of her clings to what she's heard in passing. Mostly that vampires are dangerous and to be avoided.
"She works with the Priory?"
Lizzie's words make Siobhan wince in sympathy. "Ow. Sorry to hear that, but it's good experience. You have to dance through it sometimes. I mean, you don't have to, but plenty of dancers are ready to take up your hard won spot if you can't dance."
Siobhan hopes that she'll be out of here and able to return to touring next month. Of course, if she isn't … she can't go there.
~*~
"She is their vampire contact." Brooke raises her shoulders, rolling them back slowly. It's a stiff movement. "She's dating Bryn, though I'm sure you've seen them together at social events."
~*~
"Ahh, Miss Bishop." A short woman with dark eyes stops in front of the cell and makes a clicking noise with her tongue. "My colleague, Doctor Kirkland, informs me that she… ah… missed out on a little bit of your examination."
~*~
Siobhan's reactions are instinctive. The moment she sees the woman, she tenses and attempts to shrink as close to the wall as she can. If it were physically possible to shrink into it and become one with the wall, she would do just that. The movement hurts, but it's eclipsed by the pounding of her heart and the way she breaks out into a cold sweat.
Without thought, Siobhan reaches deep in herself, seeking that source of magic that's rooted in her blood. It eludes her, but her metaphysical self responds to the attempt, sending a cramping and shooting pain through her, directly from where she was 'examined.' Gritting her teeth against the pain, she manages a glare at the woman. "Stay away from her." Siobhan can't do a damn thing, but she'll put up as much bravado as she can.
~*~
Lizzie's reaction is much the same as Siobhan's. She curls into her corner, and just hides there. The blankets are drawn up over her head, and she pretends to be anywhere but the cell.
~*~
The short woman smirks a little, waggling her fingers at Siobhan and Lizzie. "Easy, children. You can let the grown ups talk now." She doesn't bother using magic on them, nor do the doors of the cell open, and yet the woman is suddenly in there with them. "There's no point in hiding. I know this facility like the back of my hand, and you, Mrs. Donovan, cannot become part of the wall. Nor you, Miss Young-Bennet, with the paltry sheet you're cowering beneath."
There's a pause, and the smile becomes just a little dark.
"On the other hand, Miss Bishop, you have plenty of reason to worry. I'm about to find out what makes you tick. Any trouble from any of you, and Cruz will be here in a heartbeat. He's actually rounding the corner now to keep an eye on things in case you children get any ideas."
~*~
Brooke shifts her gaze toward Siobhan, then Lizzie. She wants to tell them that this is the time to make a run for it, but the fae is smart. There are no keys on her, and even if there were, she's guaranteed that at least one of them will be caught if they try to escape.
"You know, I'd really rather you didn't. No offence, but I don't see why you want to root around in our magical essence."
~*~
Siobhan doesn't like being dismissed. It's smart to stay quiet, and her indignation wars with her rationale. Finally, she settles for giving the woman a long glare, though her gaze darts outside of the cell. Not for an escape route, obviously there isn't one, but for some sign of the Cruz who is not someone to tangle with.
"You can at least tell us what you want with us."
~*~
"You don't need to worry about that pretty lady," Cruz rounds the corner. He's not what Siobhan was expecting. He has a bit of five o' clock shadow, and wears a short sleeve t-shirt, a pair of jeans and boots. There is nothing unusual about the man; he wouldn't stand out on the streets. Except for the look in his eyes. It's hungry, predatory, scary. "When it's all over, you won't care or it won't matter."
~*~
"You wouldn't. That's the trouble with you hybrids. You don't see the potential of your power. You're raised as one, or the other, but not both. For instance, we have here two witch-sorcerers, even if one of you wasn't aware of her heritage. We would have had three, but Mr. Knight is not worth the hassle. His sorcery hasn't developed yet. Miss Young-Bennett over there behind the blanket is a witch-psychic. Something we haven't yet discovered, but extremely interesting. The abilities she should possess, but has no idea of…" The short woman taps her finger against her cheek, smirking just a little more.
"No offense taken, though really Cruz is right. It's not going to matter to you. You'll either have evolved when we're done with you, or you'll be dead like the others."
Stepping toward Brooke, the doctor takes hold of the woman's hair and gives it a tug. "Now lay down and behave, or I'll let Cruz play with you first and that will be a tad messy."
~*~
Lizzie gags a little at the recollection (again) as to what Cruz did to the girl in the next cell. As she draws the blanket down and scurries toward Siobhan, she closes her eyes. "Oh god. At least he's on the other side of the bars," she whispers.
~*~
The redheaded witch doesn't blanch or seem all that worried at the moment. Lizzie's right. He's on the outside of the cell, so the most he can do is affect their psyche.
"So you're after our power? What makes us hybrids? Then what? You'll kill us? Just like that? Like we're lab rats?"
Giving a look to Cruz, she turns around and faces the two younger witches. "Lizzie, whatever is about to happen I want you to keep that blanket over your eyes and Siobhan's. No matter what you might hear."
~*~
Siobhan wraps an arm around Lizzie's shoulders, offering the girl what comfort she can. Inside, she's quaking at her very core, but she's determined to not give these people the satisfaction of anymore of her tears or fear. The hybrid twitches to lash out at them when they mention her brother, but a little voice in the back of her mind tells her that the only way to protect him is to get out of this alive. It's what keeps her seated with an arm around Lizzie.
Her dark eyes turns to Cruz and Siobhan studies him defiantly. He may be on the other side of the bars, and he may be a monster, but getting him to come into the cell is the one sure shot at getting out of here. Her gaze follows over his shoulder and into the corridor beyond, though a plan is still far from forming in her mind.
~*~
"I just like to have fun," Cruz says, and his voice is slippery like a snake and oozes along the skin like a sticky, tacky oil. "Witches are so much fun. All that power buried inside." He makes a slurping sound.
~*~
"Power, the center of it, if you die we'll find others. You and Mrs. Donovan are hardly the only two who are hybrids in the world, and the one running the show doesn't care how many we go through. You humans with all your fornicating, will just produce more." The doctor points to the bed, and very quietly says, "I told you to lay down, Miss Bishop." With that, the bed hurtles toward Brooke crashing against her knees and forcing her to fall onto it.
"That's much better. Not as sterile as the examination room, but it'll do."
~*~
"I… no." Lizzie shakes her head and looks over at Brooke. "You need help. We should help you." Even as she tries to be defiant and make her little stand, she rests her head against Siobhan's shoulder and curls the blanket up again. "Just play that game. Anywhere but here. It might help…"
~*~
"I'm sure you like to have fun," Brooke says to the man, raising a slender eyebrow ever-so-slightly. "Twisted werewolf? Vampire? I've heard that power can be tasted in the blood, but I've never heard of a blood-crazed werewolf before."
There's a surprised cry as she falls onto the bed. She wasn't expecting that to happen.
"I do so hope that when they come to claim my body, they tear the heads off yours."
Laying back, in a resigned manner, she exhales slowly and thinks about Kieran. About her boyfriend coming to save her. Picturing him tearing them all apart to get to her. That thought makes her smile a little, and she can't help but clear her throat and say, "Well hurry up. Get on with it then."
~*~
"If I die, I'm coming back for you." Siobhan snarls. It's hard to be sufficiently defiant when she's holding Lizzie close, but there's no doubt to her words. She's heard of restless ghosts and vicious, vengeful spirits. She'll do it just because of her parents' heartbreak, because of Harper's heartbreak. For Brooke and Lizzie.
Beat.
"If my father gets to you first, I'll be waiting for you on the other side."
~*~
"Do you think that you've heard of everything in your small, sheltered lifetime?" Cruz laughs, and the fact that it sounds genuine is more frightening than anything else he's done or said so far. "You don't even know your origins. Though you probably shouldn't talk about tastes." Cruz tilts his head, his eyes glittering wolf gold, and he sniffs the air. "The stink of that vampire you've been fucking sticks to you like a bad rash."
~*~
"Oh, you poor deluded child. If you die in here? You won't become a ghost. Your spirit will dissolve into the ether. If your soul manages to survive the attempted transformation process." The doctor moves across the cell and leans in close to Siobhan and Lizzie. "And if it does, we do have a rather nasty necromancer that would be more than willing to shove your soul over to the next side."
Wandering back to Brooke, she touches her stomach. "You're the one that's fornicating with a vampire? So there's no chance you're pregnant then. Good. That will make this a little easier." Without much more preamble than that, her hand is shoved right into Brooke's stomach, her hand almost melding right through the skin.
~*~
Listening to the doctor, Brooke is positive that it's psychological warfare. Designed to keep them well behaved and doing whatever they want them to do. She'd fight against it, but at the moment she'd rather the attentions of the others are on her and not the younger witches.
"Do you think I'm deluded enough to think I've heard of everything? There are plenty of supernaturals that are just now being found out about, or making themselves more known." Brooke snorts, and looks at Cruz. "I'm not hardly worried about my origins. Your little mercenaries took care of informing me on that." Not that she believes them. "As for the vampire, he happens to work for someone rather powerful. When he finds me, if you've hu—"
The threat is cut off with a loud scream as the hand pierces through her skin and begins to dig around.
~*~
The dancer laughs sarcastically. "Where do you come up with this shit? She's not sleeping with a vampire." It's only when Brooke doesn't object that Siobhan's mind de-rails a little and she begins to do a mental inventory of what she knows about Kieran Collins. Even that is interrupted by Brooke's scream.
Siobhan wants to look away. Her body recoils and she feels bile at the back of her throat. Her body twitches and quivers in memory of what was done to her. She wants to look away, but she fights averting her eyes with every inch of her being. Somehow, watching is worse than experiencing.
~*~
With her free hand, the doctor backhands Brooke. "Shut the fuck up, bitch." The words are growled out, and she delves her hand deeper. Raking her nails along the inside.
"You know nothing about your friend, do you, Mrs. Donovan?"
~*~
The backhand doesn't shut Brooke up in the least. The only way she can stop from crying out in pain is to bring her hand up to her mouth. Her wrist is shoved between her teeth and she bites down hard. Enough to be painful and draw her attention away from what the doctor is doing.
Tilting her head, she gives Siobhan a look of apology and then winces.
~*~
"Stop it!" Siobhan snarls. She pushes away from Lizzie, hoping the girl will stay clear, and drags herself to her feet. "Stop it! Stop it! You're hurting her! You let me scream! At least let her scream!" Every shouted word is taking Siobhan closer to the woman - fae - evil demonic bitch or whatever the hell she is. Her legs are shaking. She hasn't recovered from her brutalization earlier.
"Leave her alone, you fucking sadistic bitch!"
~*~
This is exactly why Cruz is present. The moment the little slip of a dancer gets to her feet, he shifts. He's amused at first, wondering what she thinks she will do. His movements are fluid, and wolf like. Quick and sharp. He has the cell door open before she's crossed half the distance, and his body impedes her path before she gets near the dark fae. "You only get one warning, and then I get to tame you. And I would love to sample a hot little piece of ass like yours."
~*~
The free hand is given a twist so the doctor can point to the cell door. As she does, it starts to close. "I let you scream because it was amusing to allow the fear to come through. Your fear and Miss Bishop's fear work differently, isn't that right, Brooke. You're not scared that I'll hurt you. You're terrified that I'll let Cruz go free on your young little friends."
~*~
Brooke doesn't say a word. She bites down harder on her wrist. Enough so that she can taste the blood. It won't help her, but it allows her to keep her focus.
Removing her wrist from her mouth, the redhead looks at Siobhan and quietly says, "I'll.. be… okay…" There's a glance to the cell door, but as it's closing she's not sure if Siobhan can reach it.
~*~
Siobhan provides a distraction, which Lizzie takes. She doesn't just stay still and wait for things. Once Cruz comes in between Siobhan and the doctor she crawls along the floor toward the closing cell door.
~*~
Siobhan has always been independent and stubborn. In dancing, in magic, in learning anything. She did it when learning to swim, when learning to cook, when learning to skate or ride horses. When she was twelve, she declared that she didn't need her parents hovering around her and she could manage to get around Upper Manhattan on her own thank you very much. Her mother had a fit, but her father promised her that they'd loosen the chains that bind if she took self-defense classes. In the end, once she completed the classes, it didn't matter because she seldom went anywhere without Jenna and Harper, and there was usually a car involved. The lessons, however, they were drilled into her, and all through high school her father insisted she take refreshers. While only mild use against boys getting too fresh (amazing what a threatened dislocated thumb can do to a boy bigger than her), she's now glad for the point of those classes.
Her hope is that the instinct behind what she learned is still good. Siobhan knows that she's only going to have one shot at this, and it's important that Lizzie reach that door before she tries anything. Once the witch is there, Siobhan launches herself at Cruz. He may be larger, but she's going to use that against him. She hits her shoulder to his solar plexus, twists, jerking his arm around and back at an unnatural angle. This isn't kid's play or practice, this is real and the crunch of breaking bone makes her sick to her stomach. Still, once going, she doesn't stop, easily hefting the man over her back and slamming him into the floor.
The witch is going on adrenaline now, pure and simple. She leaps, grabbing Lizzie by the arm and roughly jerking her along and out of the cell door.
It nearly catches on Siobhan's foot, peeling away a layer of skin.
~*~
The doctor refuses to be distracted from what she's looking for. She could choose to help Cruz, but then she'd be out one hybrid to delve into, and she's nearly gotten what she needs from Brooke Bishop. Just another minute or two of the burning sensation, and she can pull out the bits that she's found.
Hearing the kerfuffle behind her, she glances over her shoulder. "Cruz, pick yourself up off the floor this instant and go after them. I can't believe you let a child best you like that."
~*~
There's another shot of pain through her abdomen, and Brooke can feel herself beginning to pass out. Biting down into her wrist again stops her from meeting the blackness. She makes a pained sound as she extracts her wrist from her mouth again and yells, "Just run."
~*~
Lizzie thought she was doing pretty well going unnoticed. She stops and stares when Siobhan takes on Cruz though. Her eyes wide and almost comic like. "Where did you… how did you…" Jerked along before she can ask another question, she gets the full brunt of the cell door on her side. Managing to pull herself through, she knows she's broken a rib or something because she can feel the jabbing pain when she breathes too deeply.
"The other… ow… way… I'll go this way…"
~*~
"Hide!" Is all Siobhan has time to hiss at Lizzie before she heads in the opposite direction. She has no idea if there is a door, or if she can get through it, but at least there's possibly a chance. Her feet should hurt, she should hurt all over, but adrenaline is keeping her moving. Keeping her focused.
Siobhan doesn't realize she hasn't paid attention to her surroudings until she turns a corner and sees a door. It's too late now, she can't go back.
"Please be open, please be open, please be open …" The hybrid grabs the door and nearly cries out in surprise when it opens, revealing a semi-lit corridor. No time to think twice about it, Siobhan hits the hall, pulling the door closed behind her, and keeps moving.
~*~
Finding the one little thing inside of Brooke, the doctor whistles. "It's going to be difficult to separate you from this." Leaning down close, so Brooke can hear her whisper, she adds, "But it's going to be fun doing it."
Turning, she kicks Cruz and tells him, "Get up!"
Frowning, she looks back at Brooke. "We'll have to finish this later, Miss Bishop."
Moving through the cell again, she winds up in the corridor, trying to determine which way the girls went. Her wrist is twisted so the cell is unlocked. It's not like the witch will be in any shape to move for the next few hours.
~*~
As the hand is finally extracted from her abdomen, Brooke lets up on her wrist entirely. The pain floods into her body, and she screams again. Once that subsides, she hollers, "RUN!" It's the only warning she can give the two younger women.
~*~
Hiding is something Lizzie can definitely do. She's not going to make it very far with her injury. At least not until she takes a moment to calm herself down.
Ducking down the next corridor, she finds an open room and slides into it. It's not the best hiding place in he world, but if they send Cruz after her, he'll sniff her out and maybe Siobhan can get out.
~*~
There are no cells here, just empty rooms. None of them good enough to hide inside of. One has a rusted file cabinet, one an old desk. Siobhan moves on quickly. Opening doors, peering inside. She figures there's only a matter of time before they call out for reinforcements and she doesn't even know where she's going or when she'll reach a dead end.
Two more turns and there's another door. The hinges are old, rusting, and it looks as though it hasn't been used. Everything about this section of the building screams disuse.
The witch tries the door and it creaks. Wincing, she just squeezes between the door crack and door jamb, going face first onto a dark, upward rising staircase.
~*~
Cruz let his guard down and the little bitch took advantage. He underestimated her. Saw that pretty face and tight little dancer's body, and assumed she was broken. With the tears and the false bravada. It won't happen again. Shaking off the moment of stun, he sniffs the air and then heads out of the cell. The werewolf turns, heading in the direction Lizzie went.
~*~
Which direction to go? With Cruz heading one way, she goes the other. The doctor isn't rushing along, she knows that there aren't a lot of places two witches can get into that will help them at all. There are other cells to pass, and being good natured as they are, they'll want to stop and help them out.
"Do you think you're alone in here, children? Do you think the halls aren't monitored with cameras? That we can't see your every moves? However safe you think you are, just bear in mind that it's now night. We've got starving vampires on patrol, and things you can't even fathom out in the darkness." Even if they did manage to make their way to the surface, they won't get far.
~*~
Brooke reaches out, trying to grab Cruz before he can head out of the cell. She misses him by a mile, but the reach sends her toppling off the 'bed' and onto the cell floor face down. Her good arm goes to break her fall, and the wrist twists under her head. There's a popping sound, and that last little bit of pain causes her to pass out completely.
~*~
Biting her lip, Lizzie tries to quiet her breathing. To keep herself from being heard. She pushes back into the room, ducking between a filing cabinet and the wall. If she can be scented, she may not be seen. Her body is pressed pretty tightly between the two, and she can't breathe very well, but as long as she can remain hidden for enough time to let Siobhan get out then she knows help will be on the way shortly.
~*~
The stairs are old and dark, and lead up. There's no handrailing and from what Siobhan can tell, they're old, rusted metal. She uses the concrete wall to steady herself, beginning to limp a little as she goes. The witch still doesn't know where she's going, but finding a hiding spot is probably the best bet. If she can hide for a few hours, maybe she get out and nose around once they stop looking for her.
If they stop looking for her.
She loses her footing, slips and hits her knee hard against the metal. She can feel the skin tear, but she gets up again, pushing until she reaches the top of the stairs and an old door that leads into an old control room of some sort.
It's a dead end, no other doors, but there are windows. Which means that there's another way down. Siobhan closes the door behind her, and pushes an old rusty chair in front of it, and starts toward the window. The hybrid doesn't see the step down, and goes down hard, feeling her ankle twist and give way beneath her with a loud crack.
~*~
The witch's scent is strong. She smells like girl, like fear, like adrenaline and the wolf in Cruz responds with a low snarl. He doesn't even quicken his pace, slowing to enjoy the prowl.
~*~
"Little witch-child, you know that no matter where you hide, we are going to find you." The doctor knows that not every room has the camera, but she knows that the grounds are guarded.
"I know which way you've gone, and when I find you, you're really going to wish you hadn't pulled this stunt. I suppose it's time we separated the three of you. Once I get one of you I can always separate what I need. I did find the key inside Miss Bishop."
Moving toward the door at the end of the corridor, she uses magic to slip through it without opening it. Giving her the step up.
~*~
All Lizzie can think is 'goawaygoawaygoaway'. She's afraid to breathe, let alone say anything loudly. Closing her eyes, she tries to meld herself against the wall a little more.
~*~
Siobhan wants to scream out in pain, but she bites her lip. Hard. Hard enough to make it bleed, solely to stifle any sound that she might make. Pushing up on her arms, she uses them, and her good knee to crawl toward the far end of the room and the old, rusted consoles. She's pretty sure her ankle is broken, but she'll have time to be pissed off about that later.
She will have time to be pissed off later.
The woman's voice is still far enough away, but getting closer. Glancing over her shoulder at the door, Siobhan pulls herself up to one of the consoles. The night is dark, the grounds unlit, but her eyes have adjusted to the ambient light from the moon and stars. There's a narrow ledge outside of the window, and this room is old enough that the windows aren't double-paned reinforced.
Wide-eyed and breathing heavy, from both pain and trepidation, Siobhan blinks at the glass. No way in hell is this going to be as easy and painless at the movies, but she's run out of alternatives.
~*~
"Little witch, come out, come out whereever you are," Cruz sings in a chilling, grating voice. His footfalls are slow, heavy, determined. He opens the door and stands in the room, listening and sniffing. "I can smell your tears. I can taste your fears …"
The werewolf slowly begins to move toward where Lizzie is hiding.
~*~
The stairs are easily traversed. Quietly, the doctor continues to make her up. She's quiet now, not wanting to give Siobhan any indication that she knows which way she went.
Stopping at the top of the stairs, she pushes through the door and smirks.
"No where to run now, child. If you do manage to make it out that window, the werewolves are going to get you. They've been starved for week, so there's no telling what they'll do to you."
~*~
Hearing the door open, Lizzie nearly shrieks. Closing her eyes, she pretends that she's not in the room. Even when she really wants to point out that she's not crying.
Finally, she figures that Cruz is after her and not Siobhan. Slipping out from behind the cabinet, she sighs. "Alright, you got me."
~*~
Siobhan flinches when she hears the door open. The hybrid scampers further up on the console and presses herself against the thin pane of glass. "Is it any worse than what you'll do to me? I'm dead either way right?"
Despite her pain and her pounding heart, and the way her head is all woozy, Siobhan turns her gaze to creepy woman. She's biting back tears, pretending that her ankle isn't throbbing and pulsing and trying to explode on her. "At least it's my choice how I go."
~*~
The moment Lizzie steps out, Cruz pounces on her. He leaps across the room, grasping her by the hair and pulling her neck back. Feral wolf eyes glare menacingly down at her. "I hope that I get to mete out your punishment."
~*~
"True. You could make that choice. At least my way your life would mean something." The doctor smirks just a little, and leans against the door. "That way, you're just a useless waste of meat. My way, you have a chance of surviving." A glance down is given to the ankle. "I could heal that for you, but you'd have to come back to a cell."
~*~
Yelping loudly, Lizzie does begin to cry. This isn't what she wanted for life, and it's definitely not how she figured this would go.
"I… I hope not. I probably don't taste very good… and you don't want a girl that's… already broken."
Moving her hand from her ribs, she makes a face of pain and closes her eyes. "Go on. Take me back."
~*~
The dancer honestly considers taking her chances with starving werewolves. She might get lucky, and only be bitten a few times, mauled a little and turned. Then she could run with Quin and his pack at the full moon. The thought makes her giggle, which is a sure sign that shock and dizziness are truly starting to set in.
Siobhan is about to tell the woman to take her healing and shove it, when she swoons a little and lists on the console, her good foot slipping.
The witch squeaks and flails, her backside hitting the old rusted metal as she slides down toward the floor, hands scrambling for purchase on anything. She only manages to wrench her arm, whack her shoulder and hit the floor with a loud thud, her head slamming back against the console.
It's either that hit or the pain combined with the fading adrenaline that sets the witch to seeing blackness.
~*~
"Gladly," Cruz growls. He manhandles the witch into a tight grip, one hand on her shoulder, the other at the back of her neck, and marches her unceremoniously down the hall.
~*~
Shaking her head, the short doctor exhales a sigh. "This could have been so much easy for you, child, if you had just stayed in place. My employer is really not going to like the fact that you did this, and may choose to take it out on you."
Reaching for her radio, she says, "Cruz, I've got an unconscious one here at the top of the stairs. Tried to get out a window. Have you got the other?"
~*~
"Take me back to Brooke?" Lizzie bites her lip. "I promise, I won't run again. I really, really promise. I'll be good. Please?" The little witch is terrified of being on her own again. Terrified of being the girl in the cell that doesn't make it.
~*~
Cruz does exactly that, if only because he doesn't have any orders to put the escapee anywhere else. Once he has her back in the cell with the hybrid, he answers his radio. "She's back in the cell with the other one."
~*~
"Lock it and come get the mouthy one. Put her in a separate cell for now. When Bishop wakes up, you can transfer the other little girl, or spend the night monitoring them so they don't try to flee again." The doctor moves over to Siobhan, and turns the radio off.
"Silly little girl. Did you honestly think we'd make it as easy as that to get out? That was your one chance. Your second attempt, I'll just shoot you instead."
