WHO: Caitlin Holloway, Nikolai Peterson WHERE: Deep underground in Nik's 'cell'. WHEN: Time is irrelevant down there. WHAT: Caitlin comes to break him out! ... WARNINGS: Look, it's me and Tracy. We have two speeds. Gooey, and Holy Jesus Christ Why Would You Ever Do That? Let me put it this way. It's not the former.
Thunk.
Torture takes many forms.
Thunk.
Some were more obvious than others.
Thunk.
But the idea remained the same.
Thunk.
To break the will of someone via pain, or anguish.
Thunk.
Sometimes both.
Thunk.
The consistent hammering stopped, replaced by ringing silence in the near pitch darkness. Those few moments let sensation flow back into Nikolai's brain. His eyes suddenly focused clearly on the dim wall in front of him. The rough indents at chest height that made it appear as if someone had been trying to claw their way out through the actual rock face. And the silence. The silence was so loud it was terrifying in itself.
All this because he'd stopped moving his hands.
The fact remained that if there wasn't enough product by the time his handlers came to check on him, he would soon receive something of his daughters. That beautiful girl who wasn't quite six years old yet. He'd pushed them once before, and received a significant amount of her hair for his trouble. It held her usual smell of fresh clean soap, and coconut. He wasn't willing to see what they'd cut off her next. It isn't terribly hard to break someone's spirit when you hold the power over something that they deem greater than their own life.
With very deliberate thought, Nik forced his arms to lift up again, and sunk his fingertips into the cool stone. This was what his life was now. He worked through each day and night, never sleeping because each day they seemed to want more, pushing him past any limits he might have had in his human form. What little light there was glinted off steel colored muscles as he flexed, and pulled, and for a brief moment there was the sound of collapsing rock. Then there was the routine of putting all this mess into his cart, before he once again began chipping away at whatever was contained in this cave. For all he knew, this could be entirely pointless. Just a way of keeping him busy so he didn't have time to make escape plans.
Comparatively, this was still a good day. Much better than those when he heard footsteps, and voices echoing down the winding caves. Better than the days when the red light started blinking on his shoulder. When anything like that happened, then it only followed that he would be instructed to go out. Back into the sunlight. Inevitably he would be forced to 'track and subdue' someone who he had probably known in the past. One day, he knew, it would be Caitlin. The knowledge that they would use him against her was absolute. But what could he do? They still had his daughter.
No. He would concentrate on the task he had been assigned. This, at least, didn't appear to be harming anyone.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. crunch Thunk.
< Quiet .>
Metal hands fell still once more, pressed against the surface before him. Was that footsteps he heard?