Skyfall Chapter 17
17 My head spun around in the darkness. I couldn't tell if I was asleep or awake anymore. My body had become numb as I hung from the shackles around my wrists, and I lost the ability to move my muscles. They must have moved me at some point, because the next thing I was aware of was lying on a stiff bed of some kind in a dark room. Stumbling off the bed, I waved my hands around in the pitch blackness. I still had the bonds around my wrists, but they didn't seem to be tethered to anything. I ran into some bars not far from where I was laying down and sighed. I sank down slowly, feeling the slick prison walls. A rustling in the corner of the room caused me to yelp in fear. I coughed a bit after the noise came out of my mouth, which was still damaged from the drug they had given me. My throat felt raw and dry as I coughed violently. I hunched over the bars that imprisoned me. My ears shot forward at the sound of a wheezy whimper. "Are you new here?" a voice echoed. The sound was blurry, and I wasn't sure if it had been real. I narrowed my eyes in attempt to see through the darkness and scanned the area. I could see blurry shapes in the darkness. It looked like I was in a room with a few different prison-like cages. I saw dark blobs lying on the floors of the two cells across from me. "Hello?" The voice called out again. I thought I saw one of the blobs on the other side of the room move. Dazed, I shook my head and attempted to respond to the voice. I coughed and the noise that came out was a husky growl. "You must be new." The voice wheezed. It sounded feminine, but rough, as if she were in pain. "What exactly are you?" She asked me, but at this point I think she was talking to herself. "I saw them drag you in when the lights were still on." I sighed as she continued to speak, trying my hardest to focus on the molecules in my mouth to repair them enough to speak. I coughed up a dark fluid that must have been blood as I attempted to do so. The voice seemed to be coming from the cage across from me. "Did they make you?" She asked. "No!" I said as I hacked up more blood from my lungs. "Oh you speak!" She said, her voice had a hint of excitement. "There are not very many things to talk to down here. Most of them pass out after their treatments." "What about you?" I wheezed. "They keep me pretty alert for what they do to me." She said flatly. I didn't want to press the issue farther, and I doubted she wanted to talk about it. "I'm an alien." I said after a few moments. "An alien the guards found outside of Skyfall. I was being trained as an assassin before they discovered what I really was." "I'm a werewolf. Well, I was a werewolf." She said with a sigh. "I don't really know what I am anymore. Last time I checked I was some sort of strange, ugly in between." I wished I could see her. My eyes strained in the darkness and I still felt too exhausted to try and focus them more. "Are you trying to look at me now?" She said with a snort, perhaps a laugh, I couldn't really tell. "Don't bother. I'll be different by tomorrow. Perhaps you can see me then." I nodded, too exhausted to speak. It occurred to me that she probably couldn't see me, but I didn't have the energy to care. My mind drifted away as she continued to speak, and I passed out with my face pressed against the cold, metal bars. "Do you think he's stable enough for another dose?" I heard a distorted voice ask. "No." Doctor Hale's unmistakable voice said. "His pain tolerance test was high, but he is still responding poorly to the serum. You say our drugs seem to be destroying his original DNA. Tell me why that is." "I don't know, sir." "Figure it out before he dies and I have no sample to work with." Hale's voice was losing it's calm edge. "Finish the sampling. Find me a pure sample of that alien DNA. Force a transformation if you have to." I wished I was dreaming, but I didn't think I was. I must have given them some kind of sign that I was becoming conscious, because Hale snapped at me, "Are you awake, two-fifty-seven?" I was cautious to respond, but I attempted to open my eyes to answer him. "Why not transform into what you really are, two-fifty-seven?" He asked with a straight face as he towered over me. I realized I was on another metal table. Had I dreamt the girl in the cell across from me? My vision focused to crimson eyes gazing into mine. The liquid eyes poured into mine. I blinked as I tried to escape eye contact with him. Hale's expression was haunting. "You will transform." He said. I had never seen Hale upset like this before. Every other encounter I had with him he had conducted himself in a calm, authoritative manner, but now that his face held an emotion other than sadistic humor, I was even more afraid. "How should I force a transformation...we tried that..." The other man's voice mumbled. Doctor Hale spun around and slammed the man against the wall. "You tried, and you failed. You used the failed attempt that Aras threw together, didn't you? Find Aras; ask him to analyze the new data. Make him figure out why it didn't work." I couldn't see what was happening, but I heard the man stumble away, probably out of the room, before Doctor Hale's attention was back on me. He hunched over my face and glared down at me from above my head. "Your life will be so much easier if you just do this for us." He hissed as his face returned to his usual calm. I swallowed hard and whimpered. "I can't." I was able to whine. "Why?" "It takes great concentration." I wheezed, trying to avoid Hale's eyes as I tried to think of an eloquent way to explain why. "I cannot think or focus here...and the drugs I've received do nothing but inhibit my ability to concentrate." "Cute." Doctor Hale said as his sadistic grin returned. "You want us to take you off all the drugs, then? You think I'm an idiot?" He laughed and placed his hand on my forehead. "You and I both know you'd try and escape. Nobody would willingly stay here...oh, but that's right, I have the phoenix!" Was he monologuing? I wasn't sure he was talking to me anymore, or at the very least I doubted he expected a response as he continued. I waited for his invasive energy to pick at my thoughts, but instead I just heard him rambling on. "Perhaps I will just take you off your drugs. I'll let you become fully aware of everything we do to you. Is that what you want? You can rot here knowing that if you do anything to test my patience, I will imprison Kato once more. Not that Kato would mind it." Doctor Hale laughed as he stepped away from the table. "If Kato wanted to escape, why hasn't he? He likes it here, two-fifty-seven. You're trying to free a dead soul. That's what fear does to you, but you know this. Look at you, you had plenty of chances to run but instead you handed yourself over to something you were more afraid of! Yet you still won't let go of him, will you?" My heart raced as he spoke of Kato like that. It was true, Kato stayed out of fear, just like I had, but I knew Kato longed to escape. I was also aware that this place had scarred Kato in ways I didn't understand. The way he talked about the basement, I knew bad things had happened to him down here. Those things would eventually happen to me, too, but I still couldn't trade myself in for Kato, and they knew that. Doctor Hale knew my emotions made me weak and would keep me here as a submissive test subject. "It's all a game, two-fifty-seven. Give and take." Hale said to me as he pressed his other hand into my chest. "I did say we'd let you go someday as well, and I meant it. First, I need you to cooperate." He was searching my mind. I could feel his energy prodding at my memories in my head. Glimpses of my filthy home world surfaced in my mind. My eyes squeezed shut at the sight of smog and debris caused by our city. I was searching the wasteland outside of town, plagued by the blackened skies...home to the toxic creatures that poisoned our resources...forced us to filter all the energy we consumed from food and water...A toxic creature sat in the wasteland, three mouths on its vicious face, all dripping with venomous teeth. No eyes could be seen, but its tongue snaked out and tasted the air for the scent of its next victim. It caught the sight of its next victim, which had been me at the time. I was about to take off running when the memory became hazy. The image blurred as Hale moved to another memory. I was standing in front of the Council. The tall figures were cloaked in darkness, the edges of their bodies barely illuminated by the cyan glow of their energy markings. I knelt before them, bound and bleeding. The guard shoved me closer to the center of the Hall of Judgment; which was a giant pit sunk deep into the ground. It was so deep that even during the day the light was hardly visible. This was the moment I could have died...the moment I was never fully sure I escaped. They began to pass their judgment.
The memory was transcribed in my own language, and as such, I was certain all Doctor Hale was able to hear was the hissing clicks and trills my kind made. The sound must have been wrenching to hear in his body, because he jerked away from me not long after one of them spoke. My mind felt heavy with the emotions and fear that surfaced with the memory. The smog cleared from my eyes as I opened them, and the memory vanished. A heavy pain dug into my head where Hale had been touching it. I furrowed my brows as the painful pressure throbbed in my skull. "You'll have to tell me more about that." Hale said quietly as he caught his breath. After he took a few deep breaths, he seemed to have recovered. I was disappointed it didn't take him longer. It was possible that he felt some of the emotional turmoil I was experiencing in the moment. I wondered if there was some kind of memory I could show him next time he tried that...some kind of memory that would shake him. I doubted it. Doctor Hale had seen and been a part of evil I couldn't begin to understand. Even the with horrible things I had witnessed on my planet, I was sure at this point that Doctor Hale had seen, and done worse. I glanced over at him as he took a few more steady breaths. His residual energy in me felt ancient. I assumed he had lived for a very long time, far longer than I had, at least. I was still relatively young, even when considering my people... I was barely an adult... practically a child. A foolish, confused child that never should have disobeyed, or strayed from the chosen path they were meant to walk. I was a child they attempted to murder out of fear. They feared what I might do, what ideas I could spread...what change I could create in the hellish existence they had created. I would never understand why they chose to stay slaves to the corrupt system they had forced upon themselves. Fear...the motivation for everything that had twisted and torn my life apart. Doctor Hale turned swiftly and picked something up off the counter. It was another needle. Because his energy still swam around in my head, I felt his intent. He was going to knock me out again. I was unsure why, but I welcomed the sting as he plunged the drug into me. The drug silenced my thoughts, and my mind became empty. The darkness consumed me and my emotions until nothing but the void remained. When I became conscious again, I was being led by Fleur and another doctor I did not recognize. I wasn't sure how I was already standing, or where I was. Before I could spend too much time questioning it, I was being laid down on another metal table. The surface was cold and slick, and my muscles ached against the hard surface. My eyes squeezed shut at the blinding light above me. "Is he responsive today?" A muffled voice asked as I became slightly more coherent. When my vision adjusted to the light, I saw Fleur's face hovering over me. She was staring into my eyes with a curious expression. "Two-fifty-seven?" She asked, shining a small light into my eye as her finger pried it open. "Are you aware of what's happening?" I blinked furiously as she let my eyelid go and groaned. I nodded instead of replying with words, and struggled against the bonds that they had locked into the sides of the table. "He's conscious enough, but why don't you give him an extra energy boost?" Fleur said as she placed some sort of transparent cone over my muzzle. The cone had a tube attached to it that led somewhere I couldn't see. A strange, chemical smell entered my nostrils. I exhaled quickly a few times, but the cone forced me to breathe in the gas that seeped from the tube. I didn't notice any change when I breathed in the gas, but the smell was strong and potent, and I had a bad feeling about it. After a few minutes of breathing in the gas, Fleur pulled the cone off while the other doctor stuck a needle in my arm. I hardly felt the prick, but the liquid gave me a nostalgic feeling. Instantly my body became energized. I was still unable to think very clearly, but I definitely felt energized compared to the dead state my body was in before. I remembered that Misha had given me a similar drug after my pain tolerance test. A blurry memory of Misha's concerned face flashed in my mind briefly, and then I remembered Doctor Hale had mentioned my pain tolerance test when he visited me. Fleur came back over to me and began to study my body. She lifted my arm as far as the bonds would allow her to do and measured around my biceps. I focused on her blurry shape as she wrote down her notes. "He weighs a bit less today." She said with a sigh as her fingers began to prod at my abdomen, "I think he lost some muscle mass in his arms and torso." "How bad of a sign is that?" The other man asked. "Not sure, but we should finish sampling and get the data to Hale." Fleur said, "We have all the external tissue, now we just need a few more internal tissues." I winced, fearing that they were planning on cutting me open. My body squirmed involuntary at the thought. I wished they had left my body dead and numb. I was painfully aware of how trapped I was now that their drugs were taking effect. "Stomach and heart?" The man said as he pushed a tray of medical tools over to my side. I decided against looking at them. "What about the...uhm.." The man seemed uncomfortable as he spoke. "The fluids...what about those?" "Please." Fleur rolled her eyes as she picked at the utensils on the tray. "Aras will have to come down here himself for that. I'm sure he's dying to." I felt sick when I considered what they were talking about, but I was distracted by the giant needle the Fleur held over me. "You'll feel a pinch on your heart, but don't move." Fleur instructed me. I stared at the thick needle that was attached to a handle of some kind. At least they aren't cutting me open. I thought in attempt to reassure myself, but as Fleur lowered the needle towards me I became extremely nervous. She placed her hand on my chest and felt for my heartbeat. Her touch made me jerk with the anticipation of the pain. "Calm down." She said before turning to the other man, "Can you hold his shoulders so he doesn't squirm?" The man nodded and placed two heavy hands on my shoulders. He stood above my head and looked down at me, but my eyes were fixed on the needle as Fleur raised it up again. She brought it down quickly and jabbed it into my chest. My breath caught in my lungs, and the sharp pain made me unable to breathe. She pressed a button on the side of the handle that caused a deep pinching pain as it tore at my tissue. She quickly removed the needle from my chest and brought it over to the tray while the man stuck a piece of gauze to the spot in my chest. I panted heavily as she came back with another needle. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" Fleur asked with a small smile. Wasn't that bad... my mind growled at her. Fuck you.... The man held my torso while she stabbed me with another needle and tore the tissue from my stomach. My muscles were all tight and ached from my panic. The pain wasn't actually that bad, but it was still terrifying. It was better than being cut open, though, so I couldn't remain too upset. After Fleur was done stabbing me with needles, she dismissed the man, who seemed eager to leave. It seemed like he didn't usually come down here, I had noticed he was uncomfortable. I wondered what happened to Fin briefly before I glanced at Fleur, who was placing the tissue samples into small containers and sealing them. She then came back over to me and dabbed the last of the bits of blood that were leaking from my puncture wounds. "Well, that's it for me, two-fifty-seven." Fleur said as she pat my shoulder. "Your friend is coming by in a bit, though. Maybe he'll make you feel better." I closed my eyes tightly at the thought. There was no way my "friend", Misha, would make me feel better. Unless by some miracle he got me out of here, I was certain I was going to hate whatever happened when he arrived. The click of the lock made me open my eyes and glance towards the door. The entire room was lit, and I was feeling more energized than I had in days due to their drug. I was tempted to look around the room, but my mind wouldn't focus on the insignificant details of what it contained. I tried to focus on repairing any parts of my body that felt extra weak, but I didn't quite have enough energy to perform any healing on myself. The thought of using magic crossed my mind, but I had no energy and no natural resources to help me. Even the air around me was stagnant and dead. Upon realizing there was nothing I could do to avoid it, I sat my head back and tried to relax as I waited for Misha's arrival. Seeing him was punishment enough, but the fact that they left him to collect a "sample" from me made me feel angry and a bit betrayed. It wasn't that any of them owed anything to me, but I had expected more kindness from Fleur. She didn't seem like the cruel type, so I figured she was unaware of my feelings towards him. Maybe she thought sexual pleasure would somehow make me happy. Maybe she didn't realize that I hardly understood these feelings. She certainly could not have known that I had grown to despise these feelings...feelings that had gotten me trapped here. That's all it had been, I decided. My feelings, emotions, Misha stirred all of them, and I hated him for it. I hated feeling. I needed to stop feeling. My mind wandered to the day Hale had visited me and the thoughts I had about fear. Fear was too powerful, and I couldn't let it control me. I knew this, but at this moment, I was consumed by it. I heard footsteps coming towards the room I was trapped in. The crisp, loud sound of his shoes thumping against the cold floor sent chills through me. Every aspect of his arrival was clearly defined, and my mind locked onto every detail as I waited in icy anticipation. I stared at the ceiling above me as the door unlocked. I desperately wanted to calm myself, but my heart raced against my wishes and adrenaline energized my weak muscles. He walked over to my bedside nonchalantly. I could feel the smile on his face as he pulled a chair over to the side of the table. "Hi, Decipher." He said softly. "I've missed you so much. I hope you're doing okay." I sat perfectly still as his eyes scanned over my body. I was suddenly aware that I wasn't wearing clothes, and probably hadn't been this entire time. I tried to ignore the sick feeling that surfaced at the thought of being strapped down naked in front of Misha. The fact that he was acting like nothing had happened made me wish I could run.
"Are you awake? Do you need an extra energy boost?" He asked, digging in his pocket. I cringed as he pulled out another syringe. "No." I said, "No more, please." I begged him. I did not want to be any more aware than I already was. His hands slid across my body. The familiar touch made my muscles tense up. After he had felt all the lines on my torso, he stood up and picked up a clipboard full of papers. "You've lost some weight." He commented flatly. His lack of concern was unnerving. "Why did you do this?" I asked as I stared at the ceiling. "I just need to know why." Misha sighed. He had no answer, but still he spoke. "I had to." He said. "Don't give me that shit." I said, narrowing my eyes. Misha walked over to the door and locked it, peering out of the small window to see if anyone was around. He walked back over to me and removed the bonds from my hands. I remained perfectly still. I knew what he wanted. He wanted some kind of reaction from me. I continued to stare at the ceiling as he began to rub my body all over. "Talk to me, Decipher." He said quietly. "I'm sorry, but I can't do anything about it! Can't we just enjoy our time together?" I glared at him when he said that. "Fuck you, Misha." I growled as I slowly sat up and pushed his hands away, "Stop pretending you care about me. I know what you want. I know why you're here. Why don't we just get this over with?" Misha sighed and walked back over to the cabinets. I watched him pull out a plastic container and write a label on it. "I do love you." He said with his back turned. The word love made me snarl. "I really wish I could help you...but Hale said he'd let you out eventually!" When he turned back at me, he had a small smile again. "Soon they'll be done with all of this, and things can go back to normal." "Normal...?" I asked quietly as I looked away from him. I wasn't sure what he considered normal. The thought of going back to the way things were made me feel sick. Unlike Misha, I couldn't just forget about the terrible things that had happened. Misha wasn't experiencing them, I was. He couldn't possibly expect me to go back to the fucked up "normal" that had been my life before. "Yes!" Misha said, "Just hold on for a bit longer and things will be fine, I promise!" I hardly heard his promise, knowing it was a lie. I glanced down at myself. It was the first time I had seen my body in a while. My once-bulging muscles were flattened under my fur, which had lost its silky shine. I glanced down to the bonds on my ankles and briefly considered attempting to escape. Before I could even begin to formulate an escape plan, Misha was back at my side with the container. He took my hand, but I jerked it away from him. He sighed again and frowned. "I guess I'll have to use this, then." He said as he pulled up the leather cord that wrapped around my chest. He quickly pushed me down and wrapped the cord around me, tightening it just enough to keep me in place. I sank back down on the table, too weak to struggle anymore. Instead, I tried to focus on numbing my mind for what was about to happen. "I could have helped you." I said to him. "But you never wanted to become something else, did you?" "Of course I do..." Misha whispered, "and you are helping me! With your help, we'll discover so many things." I did not respond. I didn't know what more to say to him. It was clear he was living in some sort of ignorant denial. He refused to see the truth, and there was nothing I could do to make him. Misha's hand stroked down my body and reached my sheath. As he played with me, my chest felt tight and I was struggling to breathe evenly. His touch brought so many memories to the surface of my mind. I wished I could have forgotten them forever, but my brain had catalogued every detail of his violating touch with haunting clarity. It occurred to me that I had never felt completely comfortable with his touch. He must have known this. Each time I tried to shy away until he pushed me into a corner and forced me to feel the physical pleasures. I was never strong enough to say no, and it had been my fault all along for letting him get this far with me. I never should have let him touch me. I never should have let him use me. He stroked at me rapidly. The feeling was good yet I felt no pleasure. My muscles involuntarily relaxed and tensed at his touch. The stress of the past days...weeks, seemed to come and go with it. Misha continued to work out my stress, and my tip began to break free from my sheath. I gasped as his pace quickened, and my body betrayed my emotions. Some stress left, but it was replaced by fear and discomfort. The pleasured feeling was nearly painful. I tried to avoid focusing on it. All it did was confuse and torment my mind. While it felt good physically, my terrified mind was deeply disturbed. My eyes avoided his, but he stared down at me with a haunting smile. Slowly, he brought his face down to my crotch and began to lick at my swelling organ. The mix of terror and stress caused my body to climax quickly. I moaned and jerked my hips towards his mouth as he played with me until he pulled away. He continued to stroke at me until the white liquid shot out of my tip. He placed the container above the stream of liquid and caught some. Quickly, he capped the container and placed it to the side. I panted. The orgasm had felt empty, and I was happy it was over so fast. I closed my eyes and sighed, hoping Misha would just leave now. I heard Misha shuffling around, and opened my eyes to see him removing his clothing. My ears fell and my eyes widened. No. I thought. We're done. What's he doing? "It's been so long." Misha said with a laugh, "Guess you're not used to it anymore, huh?" He stripped down to his boxers and moved to the other side of the table. He crouched down near my crotch and touched the area below my balls. By now, I was fully panicking. "Misha, no..." I begged him, "No. You got what you needed...just leave me, please." I wasn't sure what he was about to do, but I knew it would be bad. He glanced up at me only for a moment before he returned to what he was doing. "I want to show you how much I care..." He said softly. "I've wanted this for so long, Decipher." Misha took his hand and rubbed my sensitive, still swollen penis with his hand. He collected some of the liquid that had spread over the surface of it and moved his hand back down to the hole under my tail. I cringed at his touch as he pressed at the hole. "How much you care?!" I gasped in disbelief. How dare he use that line again? How dare he continue to pretend? I squeezed my eyes shut, "Misha, no!" My muscles clenched and I struggled against the bonds on my ankles. Misha looked up at me and smiled. "Calm down." He said, pulling out a needle. I stared at the needle with wide eyes. "Misha, stop!" I pleaded with him, "Why are you doing this? How could you do this to me? HOW COULD YOU?!" I screamed. Now that I was brave enough to say no, it was too late. My heartbeat thundered in my skull as I panted heavily in fear. "Shhhh..." Misha whispered as he slid the needle into my vein. I snarled and struggled in vain. The injection relaxed my muscles and I became weak. My mind was hazy, and I welcomed the blurry film that surrounded my thoughts. I sat in my mind and curled up into myself. If I couldn't escape, I would hide. I felt Misha's fingers press against the hole again as he forced them into me. My muscles were only able to twitch in reaction to the uncomfortable feeling. He smeared his wet fingers across the area and slid them in and out of me. I whined in discomfort as I waited for it to end. Soon after, I felt his soft, fleshy tip press against my hole. I closed my eyes and mentally cried out for help...for anything. Sleep, death, anything was preferable. Misha began to thrust, forcing himself inside of me slowly. He grunted as he slipped deeper inside. The pain and fear overwhelmed my mind and soon I was unable to feel anything that was happening to me. All I could see was a blurred image of Misha's body above me as he pressed into mine. He moved in and out of me rhythmically as I laid there with a blank expression, unable to move or react. Misha seemed to want a reaction. He grabbed at my sheath again, but my body had locked any feeling out, and I wouldn't react this time. He moaned softly as he continued to violate me. He spoke to me, whispering miscellaneous lies about how much he cared, or tortured me with the fact that I made him feel great. I tried to ignore him and retain the numb feeling. Eventually my fear and anguish turned into rage. I wanted to push him away, to tear into his chest and crack open his ribs. I wanted to eat his still beating heart. I fantasized about turning into the beast that had sealed Sheila's fate, wishing I had just torn through Misha. She was right to want to kill him. I opened my eyes and glared into Misha's face, which was hovering above me. When he saw my eyes, his became afraid. For once, I basked in his terrified gaze. I would make him feel terrified, just as he had done to me so many times. After a few moments he looked away and continued, and my fierce glare didn't last. My expression became afraid again as my mind shifted back into the terrified fool that I was. Misha's body began to shudder next to mine and he panted heavily as he wrapped his arms around me. He was talking to me again, but I was not listening. He continued to pet my body as he rested against it. The weight of him was heavy, and I relaxed slightly when he lifted himself off of me. As he slid out of me I cringed and continued to stare at the ceiling. He rolled off the table and let out a heavy, pleased sigh. He slowly began to get dressed, and then wandered over to my face once more. "I love you." He whispered. "I had to...It's because I love you..." Something snapped in my mind as he whispered those last words. My eyes narrowed and slowly met his as he pulled away from my face. Love? This was love to him? I had used the word hate before, but I don't think I had ever truly felt hate until that exact moment. I had not felt this level of hatred towards those on my planet who sought to destroy me. Even through all that pain, I actually just pitied them. I did not pity Misha anymore. The thought of Misha was paired with a burning desire to make him suffer. My expression seemed to make Misha uncomfortable as I glared at him. He turned quickly and finished dressing himself. I vowed to make him suffer for what he had done. I no longer even cared about my own well-being. Knowing he had done this to countless others before me, I knew I had to make it stop. My heart began to race at the thought of destroying him. I hated Misha Aras, and I would find a way to make sure he felt how much I hated him.