After a moment the elf return, he said nothing to Zaku as he just turned on the TV again and switched to a channel before leaving with the control. The door was closed and locked but his chains were still loose enough for him to move around to investigate as it was before.
There was static for quite a while but eventually the Norcrest symbol appeared and switched to another video. This was shot from further away showing a younger Tri in swimming trunk staring at the water with dread, it was obvious he didn't want to go in.
"I don't want to, it make me sleepy " he tried to explained as the person who was likely his trainer now, with the patch of a stag on their shoulder frowned. "We know but we need to see it...remember how hard it was to convince Mara? Do you think she will let you ever try this again if you back off now?" he said quietly, watching the child stare fixedly at the water.
Tri took a deep breath but said nothing taking a step toward the stairs that lead into the shallow end. "The ladder" the trainer instructed
Tri looked up surprised but then nodded as he headed toward the ladder shakily and went down. As he reached the bottom he looked up with a drugged look and was already trying to get up again only to slip. "I .... " he struggled for a few seconds trying to grab the ladder again before going entirely limp. The officers stared at him, one called out to him another one crouch down to touch him and eventually pulled him up by his arm and put him on the ground. "...That's a liability" one stated as he checked for a pulse. "Alive..." before getting up and grabbing a towel to put over him as he started to dry him off. "... full body suit?"
"Possible. inside the SIU suits it won't matter.. but wings. "
"Either ways it will limit his uses when water is involved and that will not be often " another pointed out. "Other metas can handle that, Undine is the only one that is problematic, if she ever leaves her ship that is. Maybe even the shark " someone waved to the person filming and the video shut off. A Haven symbol appeared and this time showed Hexxis under going bone density testing. When that was done it switched to Silver undergoing her own type of programing. After that was done there was a 5 minute break before it all repeated again.
Like yesterday everything was the same, the sounds died down and there was silence again. On the other side of the moving glass door there was no one ...everything was nearly the same except for the spirits they were restless.
Zaku didn't want to look, he wanted anything but to watch these damn videos. He already knew Haven had been playing with their lives since the very beginning, and it was only making him more angry.
Finally he looked, he had to. The craving for more information was overwhelming as he couldn't help but watch what they did to Tri.. so young, so naive. It was heartbreaking to watch them learn about him when Mara wasn't aware, to see how they began to shape him.
He didn't get up this time. Just watching from his position.
But that wasn't even the worst of it, as it changed to Hexxis, his heart sank. Hexxis was being ushered into a room, so compliant to every request. They asked her to sit into a chair as she did so without question, her face blank. They strapped her into the chair with several tight straps, even strapping down her head to the back of the chair, even if she never even seemed scared or nervous. Just like a routine by now. Although, only one arm was left unrestrained. They gagged her, and only in a flicker of a moment did he swear he could see hesitation in her eyes. They moved a machine to the side of her, strapped her arm down tightly to it, a stand with a hole in the center, and what looked like a press above. As they finished setting up the device, the scientists filed away and behind a glass. "Commence bone density testing. Stage 4." a voice came over the intercom in that room. The machine began to whir, coming to life as the press moved downward to press against her arm. For a moment, not much happened, "Increase pressure." the voice commanded and it pressed harder and harder. Soon, Hexxis was whining, struggling, trying to scream but the gag wouldn't allow it. She was trying to move away but the straps held her tightly in position. There were tears already running down her face just before the loud snap echoed into the room and Hexxis made muffled screaming noises for a solid minute before going completely silent, passing out from pain. "Information collected. Take 001 to medical for repair."
Zaku was looked like he was about to cry, a hand on his mouth as he could barely stand to watch what they had done to her and the cold uncaring way they acted with Hexxis. It was too much.
But then there was even more.
As the next video played, it showed an amalgamation in a room behind thick plastic bars. There was soft breathing that sounded pained, the room dim as a scientist moved into frame.
"What is your name.."
The answer was a jarble of noise and soft screeches, a distorted voice that sent a chill down Zaku's spine, and the scientist looked uneasy. "What is your name."
"Ș̸h̶̪̲͕͚ͅ ̳̻i̭ ͍͎̯̮̝ ҉̤͖̭͓̺̜̙o̖̕ ̴ ̶̭r͈̜͘i̛̠̣̹͓̦̺" the amalgamation began to grow bigger, or maybe stand up, it was hard to tell. The girl at the forefront of the body, a small silver haired girl who finally opened her silver eyes and moved closed to the bars, grasped them, pulled them. "w̳͎̰͖ ̳͍h̭̱̦͇͎̝̟er͟ ̠̳̝́e̯̫̼̭̝̖̙ ̢̟ ̡̣̜̣̘͍i͖s̰͓̯̥̗͇̯ ̰̠̹̘̰s ͖͇̞͈͓͙͠h̴͓͓i̤͉̣͞ ̢̺o͔̙̺͓̼͈͜r̸̬̩̜̜͖̬ ̶̹̜̞͍i"
The scientist backed up, fearful of her. "You are to stay where you are." he commanded.
The amalgamation rocked back and forth against the bars, creaking slightly as they threatened to break. "W̖̬̹͔͍͜ͅH̢̖̗͕E̠̲̪̮̠͠R̨͏͔͖ͅE̷̢̛̻̪ ̛͙͇̣͔̣̟͕̀̕I̟̮̬̕S͎̯͖ ̫͉̜̩̟͚̖̕M̨̯͖̱̳̜̳̲͎͈Y͙̮͕͎̺ ͏͍S̷҉̖̬͇̗͎O̬̲͈̻̯̻̠͜N̢̫̮̩̭͎̥̘͕̳̕"
The scientist was terrified. "Silver. Stand down. Immediately!" he barked in fear.
The girl smiled, waited, then slowly moved back. A soft chuckle, " y͏͓̘͇̫o̺̭̩̩̼u ̨̜c̢̫̱͔̬̠aņ͔̳̠n̨̩̮̩͔͔̻o̩̯t̫̮͉ͅ ͔̼̥͖̗̟h̟̟̜̹i͕͙͔̯͍̪de ͙̮̖͍f̡͎ͅe͇͓͈͍a͍͍̟̦̰͞r͏̜̱ ̵f̣̣̺̩r͙͖̠͈̣̠͈o̝̭̩͔̣̜m͡ ͇͙̳̥̳ͅm̧̼e͙̹̣̤.҉̬.̪.͓̗̤̜ ̹̩i҉̥͖͚̤̙͇͙ ̳̠̘̳w̡͖ͅi̻̯̬̫͚̪l͈͚l̫͇̯̘̣ͅ ̞̬̠͖̟̪f̗̰͉̹̮̦̟i̟͇̥̹͟ͅn̡̳͔͉̲d͉̭̫̼̗͚͚ ̻̤̜̟w̞̭̘͎̣h͙͜a͍̯t̘̲̦͍͓͇͍ ͉̮̜̱̘̰i̸͉͍̮̺̹̮ ̪̝̥k̖̺͍͖͎̼n̫̻͕̙̜o͏w ̫̦̦̤e̞͈̣̟͘xi̢̤̜̜̺̜s̘͡t̬̗s̙͔͕̭ ̗̫̜͚̘̱͘i̳̞n ̲̱y̰͉̠o͍̮̣͖̫̺̝u̖̘̲̙r̞̪̱ ̟m̜͕͝i̢̭̤͖͉̠͎n̴d͓̱͡.̨̙̪ " she laughed and shrunk back more to move out of the light and into the darkness of the room. "...im sorry..." a small voice called out, her voice, frightened and so regretful it threatened to break down crying at any moment. "...im sorry..." she begged softly before the video cut.
Zaku had stood up by then, watching with full attention on the creature which he knew now to be his own mother. Is that what they really did to her... Gaia.... He didn't even realize the tears in his eyes as he backed up. Looking around, he felt desperate to do something. He moved to the soup, digging through it enough to grab a few of the solid bullet that were in it and sticking it into his mouth to hide them, where he could still speak okay and they wouldn't be seen. He could only manage two. Three was too much that he didn't want to chance. Then he took the bowl of soup and threw it as hard as he could against the tv, willing to break it if he could, if not, make a mess on it. After a bit of pacing, he finally sat down, crossed legged in the same position, taking a deep breath to focus his mind now.
Through luck or not the plastic bowl hit the TV in such a way that it left a large discolored section before bouncing off and clattering to the ground. However, the videos continued to play, no one came to investigate, even if the soft padding of feet stopped a while later and shook the door, only to giggle. "Nightmare becomes reality, hiding from them brings insanity. Poor little flower withers in the cold ...death in your hand and in your soul. Forget the fight, forget the dance, everything you know gone to chance " echoed the voice of the girl from the night before, almost singing it before she seemed to move away from the door.
Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 9:35 pm
Zaku didn't even react to the girl this time, never looking up, never moving. Maybe he was asleep, or maybe he just didn't care. He remained in the same spot until someone who come if... if anyone came in.
Nothing happened at all for the rest of the night. It wasn't until morning, which was hard to tell with the fake sunlight beyond the glass door, that someone jiggled the door and unlocked it. The scientist entered again carrying a small box as he was followed by the elf meta again.
He looked for Zaku first and focused on him before glancing around the room and looking at the mess he made. Silver's video was playing again but it was discolored with the indention of where the bowl had been thrown. "....I guess it is safe to say that he did not eat your cooking" he commented mildly to the elf as he placed the box down and shut down the video itself with the control that he brought.
"You can be quite cruel Zaku " he said quietly. "He did spent quite a long time on it only for you to waste it in a pique of anger " he shrugged finally and looked at him carefully. "How was your sleep? Have you even slept? " he frowned then looked as if he understood "You must have been waiting for our answer. We did finally decide. We considered it enough "
Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 10:32 pm
Zaku didn't react at first, sitting there. It wasn't until the distorted voice on the screen halted and was replaced by the scientists voice. He looked up at gim, tired but slightly annoyed. He noticed the box, tensing at the memory of the last time he brought a box. He didn't answer, he wasn't feeling up to it at the moment. Although, at the mention of an answer, his attention piqued. It was enough.... Really? There was a glimmer ofor hope as he glanced around before finally settling his eyes on the scientist. "Then where is she..." he asked, starting to become increasingly afraid of the answer.
The scientist moved to the chain controls. "She will be coming along soon" he said quietly as he pressed a button to tighten them until Zaku was forced to stand or hang from his arms as they were pulled to either side and his legs down. He picked up the box and placed it in front of Zaku and opened it.
Trigger:
Inside Hexxis head was propped up with something around her neck to prevent it from dripping. Dead sightless eye stared up at Zaku while the other was still covered by the eyepatch.
"At least what is left of her" he said idly looking down at her as if she were a curiosity. " Nearly broke the machine getting this off. but..." he looked up at Zaku as he lightly brushed a bit of her bang away from her forehead. "we did.... " he sighed and got up. "You understand none of this was necessary if you only told me the truth. " he said moving toward Zaku just as the elf behind him look to the clock and turned on the TV again. "Since you did give us someone to look into I honored the deal, yet I do doubt that it played out as you say. Kylar Gatt was recruited by Ree in Sanctuary during the time SIU had open recruiting for metas. Mara believes that he never used his powers for that until he started on Andy " he smirked. "Trust us we have been looking for Kylar, his skills are useful but I have my doubts that there is a large conspiracy between him and the Mafia, at least not in the way you say. Not when he steals a suit and kidnaps Hexxis again... instead of getting actual useful experiments. than a malfunctioning robot. " he chuckled. "The more you lie the more entangling things get..don't you think?"
The elf switched between channels until stopping on one, the messed up screen showed Tri strapped down to a table even his head was held immobile as Sol tighten the last strapped and stepped away as doctors moved a cart of instruments closer to him. Tri tried to look stoic but bits of fear and panic escaped his expression as he tried to struggle away from them to no avail. One of the assistants took a razor and started cutting off Tri's hair near his ornament.
The scientist reached out to lightly touch Zaku's hair. "None of this needed to happen if you were more truthful... less surly. " he said quietly as if he was a misbehaving child. "The counsel members in Belosh... do not own slaves or servants" he said quietly. "To have a working relationship we need to have details and truth.....details and truth or you suffer " he sighs regretfully but didn't look like he did. "Well ...here you can watch her in physical distance as I promise"
Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 3:28 am
Wjy didn't this feel right? The chain were being pulled in and his gut sank in anticipation. A finger..an hand... His eyes widened in horror at The contents of the box. Looking at the scientist then the box again in a certain disassociative disbelief. Not took him a few seconds to even register what this meant, what THAT was. There was a moment or two of numbness to the situation, trying to process it, like his mind refused to accept this reality.
The truth.... Did he know... Did he lose thay bet and this was the price? He listened, his face still void of understanding which was only now beginning to surface, a hitch of breath, a whisper of her name, followed by the inevitable shocked tears of regret.
His attention jerked away to the tv as the channels changed and there was Tri. There was struggle in him now, pulling and jerking before he started to scream. "No!! Leave him alone!! Tri!! TRI!!!!" he was yelling Tri's name as if there was any possibility he could hear him. He was fully panicked.
Zaku ripped back from the scientists touch. "DON'T TOUCH ME!! LET HIM GO!! HE'S DONE NOTHING WRONG!! ...........................please....please just let him go. I'll do anyrhing, just spare him, ...gaia please..." he was begging by now, unable to hold back the tears by now as he stared down at Hexxis' head with a despaired crestfallen expression. "I bargained for her safety and protection. This is absolutely nothing of what you promised..." he hissed with tear filled hateful eyes.
He was scared, scared to lose Tri as well. He worried they'd kill him but he still had 9 more chances? Or maybe that was a lie too.
"Nothing? She is safe and protected in death, because she will never find that here not even with you" he said unsympathetically as he stared at Zaku's reactions with interest. From the moment the muse saw what was in the box to the point he truly understood what had been done. "Still... it was a possibility that we could have tried if you didn't lie " he said quietly. "This is your fault, you force us to push our hand to get you to fall in order. " he continued mildly as he follow his gaze to the TV and looked back only to see him move away.
"You'll do anything?" He asked quietly, reaching out again to steal one of his tears with a finger if he could. . "Truth or another lie?" He asked seemingly untouched by his panic, if anything he looked irritated at the noise but fascinated by his expressions. "If it is... then I'll let you choose. His eye or his living metal ornament. One or the other ...you brought this on yourself and him. You decide his usefulness with every action you do "
Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 10:02 am
"THATS NOT SAFE AND YOU KNOW IT!" he screamed in frustration and despair.
"...anything. Please." he pleaded softly. He tensed as the scientist gave him a choice. His eye or living metal ornament. He wanted to beg not to make him choose such things but he already knew what would come of that. He didn't want this. He wanted to save them but every time they let him think he'd made a step forward, they pulled him back. Forced him into choices he didn't want anything to do with. And even so over the ones he held close. It was fair. None of it was fair. And this self righteous as whole revelled in what he thought was justice. Zaku frowned, out his head down, completely defeated. "...ornament..." he muttered softly, just trying not to cry at this point. Was that the right choice? Were there even right choices in all this? He doubted it.
"Anything..." he relished the word while never taking his eyes off Zaku. "Promise?" He asked as if it would make a difference. "Give me your promise and it will only be his ornament...this time. Dropping you down to eight more chances. " There was a pause as he thought about what he said. " Do you know normally most only receive four? Lucky aren't you " he said with a glance down at Hexxis. "I'm also feeling magnanimous, we will consider her only a warning about the dangers of lying....and breaking promises " he smiled, with a hint of caution in his voice. Pulling his hand away from Zaku's face he turned the tear on his finger over, letting it plop down on Hexxis's hair.
"All your actions from now on will reflect on Trisuri ...even your inactions, If you need a good moral compass ...think what will make me happy. When I am happy and you metas are following the orders of your betters... we are both happy. " he continued with a smile as he reached up to pat his cheek. Behind him the doctors on the TV where making dotted lines with a marker on Tri's head, following the way the ornament went. Tri looked like he had shut down, struggling but defeated, trying to prepare himself even as he snapped at someone's hand that came to close to his mouth.
Zaku nodded alowly, never looking up in his defeat. He accept whateva to come in his choice and whatnot all meant.
Lucky.... If you could really call it that.
"...then why is tri getting hurt if Hexxis is my warning..." he muttered, an inquiry at best, his voice showed how much he had given up on fighting it.
He didn't want to watch, but he would force himself to watch every bit of what they did to Trisuri. He wouldn't be a coward about his decisions and the supposed repercussions of his actions. It hurt deep how much Tri looked like he had almost given up like him. Did he even know they had Hexxis....what they did to her...always using her for selfish gains when she just wanted to be a normal person like everyone else.
"Say it, say that you promise" the scientist said staring at him, there was something more going on than just getting his agreement from an action. At the mention of a warning he laughed "Two separate occasions, this would have happened even had you not tried to make the deal. This is your punishment for not answering all the questions correctly and with the right detail. A little severe but a good reminder that on your way to zero, it will be a long torturous road for him. " he pulled away moving to head out. "You will have training after this... no breakfast for you " he said with a stare at the soup bowl and the soup on the ground. "Calise will be forced to eat your entire share today " he muttered as he moved to leave.
Trigger:
On screen they seem to inject a Tri along the area they were going to work at before they started cutting. It was what obviously what ever they did was not to give him anestsia as they cut and he struggled in fear and pain letting out only a partially gasp, it was with enough force someone had to push his head down when the binds didn't seem to be enough. The screaming started once the saw was added into the mix, sawing its way through bone and metal. It only stopped when the user accidentally nicked the ornament in the main part while in the process of trying to separate it from the skull. Tri went limp and there was a pause to check his vitals that were hooked up to a machine before they continued. At the end they tried to take as much of the metal out as possible until they were forced to stop if they wanted to keep him alive. The ornament itself was pulled out with pieces of his skull, but the feathers stayed put, connected to him by something unknown. No one could take them out as hands just passed through them easily but were moved my the metal itself. Eventually they started patching him up, separating what they could to fill the hole and even using what had been cut off from the day before to fill it in.
Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 5:45 pm
Zaku looked at him seriously, tears still in his eyes. "You want a promise... Let him go, alive, unharmed, no tricks or twisting words. You send him back to SIU right now with no other additions or subtractions to him, honestly and truly safe from you people to live his life without your interference.... I will give you my sworn unconditional promise to do whatever you want or tell you whatever you want. No lies, half-truths, or tricks." he spoke calmly despite his obvious despair. "You show him given back alive and unharmed.... And you will have it." he summed up and kept gaze with the scientist.
Once they started in on Tri, he kept his attention on that, having an obvious trouble with watching it but was forcing himself to see it, he refused to look away.
