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Gale's nod induced a mingled, contradictory surge of anger and relief, but whatever it was Taym had hoped to get out of it, it had apparently worked. He unfolded stiff limbs to stand, and without a passing glance at anyone else in the room--least of all Peyton--he left.

EXIT

Being thrust back into the waking world, Jason groaned, coughing as he clutched at his sore throat and then at the throbbing headache. Surprise was evident at the fact he was still alive, granted the last thing he remembered was being in a water filled maze. Just how he had been rescued was anyones guess. A casual chuckle in his head made him realize he now had his weapon back.

As he came to terms with being conscious again, the moon looked around his surroundings, and promptly gasped, hands grasping at his desk. Wasn't this the same exact room where everything had first begun? Where he had taken that test? It brought back vivid memories for him, but he wasn't able to sort those out as he soon realized Caelius was there and lecturing to them about what it meant to be hunters, how they knew next to nothing and they should be grateful. As well as a ton of swear words thrown in.

The lecture put a sour taste in his mouth. It wasn't like he had asked to be thrown in a capsule and forced to fight for his life, to run around in a maze until he drowned. He would love to have all the answers, but half the time he was just told what to do and hoped he didn't die.

When prompted to leave, he stood up from his desk and walked outside, eyes downcast and not wanting to meet anyone else's gaze.

Exit

Kostya stared blankly at Lucky, unblinking.

He had trusted him once, and would not make that mistake again.

In a daze, Kostya shuffled out of the room.


EXIT

Finn waited in silence, his smug smile slowly slipping away when his name was called first. He just had to...sign a paper? That was it? His gaze narrowed just slightly, a feeling of indignation welling up inside of him. He truly believed he had done nothing wrong, and if the stories Fini had told him were true, well the, Caelius was the last person who should have been giving them hell for misconduct.

He stood up from his chair abruptly, causing it to scrape against the floor as it was pushed back, before striding over towards the desk. He reached forward to grab the pen from the box.

"I don't suppose I'll be given a chance to contest this so called misconduct?" He asked, his voice carefully neutral, his eyes their usual cold fierceness, devoid of emotion. He didn't agree to signing this, no. He had only sacrificed one to save the lives of many...which hadn't exactly panned out but still.

Though the fact that Finn was questioning Caelius at all at that moment would likely make people wonder just how much survival instinct he actually had.

"If you think you are above the rules as a Hunter," the Death lead replied, a long pause later, "then you will be treated as such." Those were already very cautionary words, and if the Moon trainee took a good look at Caelius, at the Death lead staring impassively at him the same way he had judged Lucky, Finn might have had an inkling of sense as to how far past the veil the trainee had already gone.

Finn was ignored for an awkward moment longer. Even Death leads had their quota of questions they were willing to answer for the day, who knew.

"It sounds like you think you have a choice. That we are somehow equal."

And in one movement he picked up a standard handgun off the table and shot Finn in the shoulder. He angled it to make sure no blood sprayed on him or his desk.

"You seem to think I will think twice about of killing you. That you are protected by some level of importance, that maybe you have immunity or promise or potential, that you are a hero."

Another shot rang out. The bullet sank deeply into Finn's thigh.

"You are not protected. The only reason you even exist is because of time. It takes an inconvenient amount of time to properly dispose of bodies. However, if you ever make yourself inconveniently important, then time will be made for you."

A third shot. At this point Finn was just a bloody mess on the ground. Caelius however, had no problems continuing his lecture in standard Death lead fashion.

"You do not have power. You wish for it, your actions crave for it, but you are ******** powerless. You are powerless and it is inconvenient for me to spend lengthy lectures consquence after consequence saying the same thing. You have no power. You will obey orders. You will obey my orders. If you cannot accomplish something so simple, I will find a solution for you."

No more shots rang out, though the Death lead moved swiftly, grabbing Finn by the collar of his coat and pushing him onto the desk. Papers went flying, folders upturned, and any semblance of negotiation was destroyed. There were quite a few interesting objects on the table, odds and ends that really didn't mean much since the Death lead hoarded artifacts in the same way dragons hoarded treasure, only the former a little more obsessively. He took one of the items now, a small black vial, and calmly held Finn down by the neck as he poured a few drops over the trainee's ribs.

The result was immediate, a thick dark smell, the smell of burning flesh that flooded the room and a terrible hiss, as the liquid, the acid, if that was even what it was, cut through fabric, as it tore through skin and muscle and bone and left gaping cavities of seared tissue in its wake, sunken, deep and hollow. Finn was already thrashing uncontrollably, he might have already been screaming, and the Death lead waited patiently, holding the trainee down still. Blood from the bullet wounds splattered everywhere and he took a second despite the screaming still to wipe down the flecks on his glasses.

He then just as calmly lowered the acid over Finn's face and poured it directly over one eye.

Yep. Definitely a mistake.

How had he not noticed that there was a handgun on the table? How...

The bullet took him straight in the shoulder, and for a just an instant, there was no pain, only shock. He'd been shot before, but with Trynt in his hands and a Fear shield to protect him. It had been more like getting hit with paintballs then.

This was not that. This was real. He could feel the hot blood, as it bubbled up from the wound, could see the splatters of red that sprayed to the side, somehow away from the desk, hitting the floor, a wall. That first instant was gone, his brain comprehending what was happening in a wash of pain. He'd been shot. This ******** psychopath had shot him for asking a <******** question.

If only that had been the end of it. He could barely focus on Caelius's words, (killing you), his left hand coming up to press against his shoulder, perhaps to attempt to stem the flow of blood (maybe...potential), the red staining the white of his jacket, flowing between fingers (hero...).

The second shot took him high in his left leg, and Finn was not a hero, no. He was nothing more then a man who suddenly found himself collapsing to the ground as fresh pain blossomed, burning up his leg, blood spurting fresh from a new wound. There were pained sounds coming from him, from between gritted teeth. His breathing was rapid. Nothing Caelius was saying now was really sinking in, not right at first (Inconvenient. Bodies. Time.).

There was no time. Not to get away when the Death lead shot him for a third time, this one taking him on his side as he lay curled up on the ground, covered in his own blood. It was a mistake. Should have just signed the papers. Fini had warned him.....

(Powerless).

Yes, he was powerless as Caelius made a grab for his collar, hauling him up from the floor only to slam him down on the desk, forcing him to watch, and then to struggle to breathe as an arm pressed against his neck, choking him.

The black vial. He could barely see it through vision blurred with pain, but he caught a glimpse. He tried to struggle, tried to get away though it was futile to do so. He was only a trainee, after all, and one with no weapon to summon at this time, not with the cuff still around his wrist.

The first few drops on his chest had his struggles increasing, the pain not unlike what he had felt on the Sahara, only concentrated in specific areas, burning through flesh. He could hear his skin hissing, could actually feel the acid as it seared through him, cleanly, only nothing about this had been clean.

He was shouting now, or at least trying to, crying out because he couldn't keep himself from doing so anymore. There was no respite, even when the Death lead stopped, because the pain was absolute, overwhelming, and it wouldn't stop.

And then Caelius was leaning in above him, and he had only a moment to regret everything, while simultaneously thinking, and possibly even trying to choke out through a throat still held restrained. You ******** b*****d. You're just proving me right.

And then that thought too was gone, along with everything else, as the acid was poured over his eye, and Finn began to scream.

It was too much. The acid that ate through his eye, through the flesh around it, had been his absolute breaking point. He didn't want this. He just wanted it to stop. For the sake of the pain stopping, for the sake of his ******** vanity....

"I don't want it.." It was a choked whisper, verging on a sob. "I don't..."

The pain was gone, and in it's place was brightness, white. A white table in a white room with a woman seated across from him, one he did not know, though maybe he should have known her, maybe if he thought about it, then he would figure it all out, maybe---

It was Fini! He could feel his lips curling into a smile, and he was flooded with relief. She was here, she was smiling, and that meant that everything was okay. Maybe none of it had even actually happened. Just a bad dream, just....

He shifted himself into a standing position, and walked towards her, hand coming up as though to cup her cheek, gliding down.

Resting on her neck. Squeezing. Two hands now, crushing her throat, until one stopped only to grab for a vial of black liquid, to lift it up, to pry her mouth open while carefully tipping it into her mouth, making shushing sounds. "It's all going to be okay. You mean so much to me, Sunshine. Everything. You're the only one that gets all of me." He continued to pour, and as she struggled, he continued to soothe her, upending the vials entire contents and---

Pain. Agony. Blood soaked clothing and disorientation. A single eye struggling to be able to see, as desperate breathing wheezed from his chest. For once, despite everything, Caelius had his rapt attention, and he took in every word, before being tossed to the floor. He was garbage. He was expendable. He was no hero.

But he was a hunter. He didn't want to die, not like this. He wanted, like many others, for his life to have some meaning, for his decision to come here to have meaning, and he did not want to die.

He groped for the key, his fingers trembling as he reached for it. This was how he was going to live, crushed beneath the boot of his superiors, but alive. "Yes.." He gasped out, his voice laced with the pain he was experiencing. "I want..." To be a hunter, to survive, for this to end. His fingers clutched at the key, dropped it as is slipped through blood, then grabbed for it again. "I'll sign. I'll sign.." He closed his eye, his only eye.

"Please stop."

Fini was screaming. He could hear her. It was drowning out everything else. She was in agony, and it was his fault. His voice was choked with anguish, a dry sob rattling in his chest.

"Please."

The key slid into the latch, turned.

"Stop."

It wouldn't stop.