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Rep's first thought as he came to, was the dazed and hazy question of if he was still alive. This was quickly answered however as his senses returned enough for every single one of his muscles to wrack him with pain at once. At least that confirmed it, a dead man could never hurt this ******** much. His shoulders seemed to especially ache, and as he made a vague attempt to move his arms he found out why, the bite of ropes digging into his wrists. So he was a captive, but to who? He sought frenziedly to make sense of his surroundings, a laborious task hindered by his current state, bleary and with a headache of an almost blinding magnitude. The more he took it in, the more the hope they'd been saved waned. He remembered the mention of a bar, a bar on top of their nest.. their lair.

And then the leader arrived, it was clear just from his presence and the reaction of his fellows that he was indeed the ******** head honcho around here. Maybe he'd come to gloat as they were executed he thought, though as the figure spoke up it was a dark and terrible realisation in its wake.

There had been others. And they had broken them.

He could only look on in cold terror as it was duly demonstrated to them how the numbers of the beasts had multiplied so greatly, the explosion of gore making Rep flinch. Once upon a time he had laughed at such a sight. Today it wasn't anywhere near as funny. He had to fight the urge to throw up.

A faint but desperate rage slowly started to build in Rep again, that same rage that had begun as he fought the winged nightmares, as he had strived for his life. It wasn't just rage, it was bound up very tightly with hate, the sort of hate for a long time he'd reserved exclusively for the men who he'd had to call father, of the drug that killed his mother. The hate of ******** /leeches/. What he was looking at here was another festering plague on humanity, creatures who killed as they pleased, who used death itself as a means of propagation. A disease that had to be eradicated. He actually struggled against the bonds, no longer caring about his body's protests that this was futile, that it resulted in only pain, the pain felt like it woke him up, like it sharpened his senses again.

Hate. It was all he could think of. These /abominations/. Hate, pain, fury.

He narrowed his eyes as they threatened Eva. It would be a horrible way to die he thought, a horrible horrible ******** way to die. But put in the same situation he wouldn't really want people to compromise for him. He would never co-operate with these bastards, he would never give them what they wanted. He'd given up his old life. He'd died that day he left for Deus Ex, he'd prepared to die earlier in the fight against the monsters, and you know what, he thought he'd die again if he had to.

The only things he had to fight for were all back on the island. The people weren't much but to a man like him they were everything, not that he'd ever ******** admit it to their faces. Maybe now, he sort of wished he had. Just once.

" So do it ******** then." he spat, still bristling, still straining at his bonds. "Do your ******** worst. We are mortal, we are fragile, we are everything you guys ******** fear though right? Or you wouldn't be here, trying to find out what we took from you."

He laughed, feeling as if something in his head had snapped, that horrible hatred searing all emotion away, leaving just a cold nasty mirth in its wake. "I hope its ******** important, I really really do. And I hope you never ******** get it back."

He glanced almost madly at the pile of gore that was the unfortunate victim and then back to the leader. "Cause that's the ******** b***h about humans isn't it? Resourceful little /parasites/. You can kill the wee individual beasties but you'll never ******** kill the HIVE."

He felt like he'd completely gone off the deep end, and the free wheeling sensation was all he had left to cling to.

"Humans, always the righteous." It squeezed its clawed hand against Eva's chin, running its index finger against her cheek, petting her, tasting her fear, even in her denial. The young ones were the best, so easy to break. The parasite still wriggled in its free hand, dangling, screeching and writhing around, demanding nourishment.

The leader of this Lair ignored Rep's show of machismo: he would fall, just like the others, one, after the other, after the other. After all, Hunters often were built from the same mold, though Reine's wavering uneasiness, her uncertainty, did indeed cause it to grin, slowly, widely. The insect in its hand dropped a couple of inches lower, its legs already touching the tips of Eva's face, antennae feeling around, grasping for food. "What more do we want, yes, yes this is a good question it is good." Its free claw continued to trail down Eva's neck as it talked. "We want it back, that which belongs to us, don't lie to us, we can smell it, smell it on you, the Hunters who have been there, to one of our Lairs. Now tell me, tell me which Lair did you defile to take that which is ours."

Eva suddenly lurched, just a couple of inches forward, as the creature buried one claw, just a single claw, into her shoulder, twisting it back and forth. Dark red blood poured out - the pain alone would be nearly intolerable - but the creature simply grinned, waiting. "Is she your friend, is she? You wouldn't want her to suffer long would you. You wouldn't want to see your friend go like this, not yet right, not yet. If you tell me, I will spare you. I will spare you all. Just answer the questions yes, the simple questions, and you will save everyone."

Rep could only numbly look on as the creature didn't rise to their insults as he had vaguely hoped it might have, instead staying intent on its threat against Eva. He didn't know the other hunter well, didn't know a great deal about her. Somehow that made it easier for him to distance himself from her predicament. He tried not to think about her as another person, letting that rage, that defiance curl around his morals and strangle them into silence. She was just a necessary sacrifice

He tried again with utter futility to strain against his bonds, exhausted, utterly exhausted. Even Tracey seemed out of it, merely a sleeping presence in his thoughts. Silent, of no use to him. The leader's questions however made him question if there had been something in the lair where Sandy and Barney died, if Cael had gotten to it before they had. He had spotted the man in the room with the pedestal, he was sure of it. Had they just been a distraction? Were they just a distraction now?

He ******** hated thinking. He couldn't afford to doubt the organisation. Not here. Not now.

Already so very on edge he almost jumped out of his skin, flinching as he.. it buried its claw in her flesh as if it was nothing at all to do so. He almost felt it himself in sympathy, blue eyes wide with horror as he really couldn't look away. He'd seen blood and gore before, he had never seen it so indifferently perpetrated.

He had to remind himself she was no one. She had to be laid down for the cause. He couldn't be attached.

"Like we ******** believe that." He snarled, his voice a low raspy snarl, far more resigned than earlier. "We talk, you kill us all just the ******** same. Like we can trust your word."

He felt so helpless, utterly and completely, at the mercy of these horrendous things and whatever awful whims they might possess. He had to wonder if Reine had known anything about this mission, if she'd been trying to show off by picking it up, if she'd wanted to throw them in at the deep end? She was female after all. She was flawed. All of them were. He kept trying to convince himself otherwise his whole life but always always they let him down.

It made it easier to condemn Eva to her fate when he reminded himself she was female. She was flawed. She probably had it ******** coming.

She watched as Eva bled, each drop like a grain of sand through an hourglass, each second counting down to death.

And you are almost out of time.

She knew that, even without him telling her. They were out of time, out of hope, even. No weapon in her hand now could save them. Not even Circe.

Circe, and Caelius. Reine was torn between duty and loyalty, or were they the same thing, she didn't even know anymore. This wasn't about failure or success, this wasn't the kind of mission she'd expected, this.. was simply too much for a trainee to handle. She stared at Eva, and remembered Spencer. Remembered that sacrifices were made for the greater good, even if she had no idea what this greater good could possibly be.

The uncertainty gnawed away at any last shred of confidence she might have had, that she could pull them out of this with no casualties- no hunter casualties, at least, she thought bitterly. Clerise and Dakota lay unmoving, covered in blood. Rep had given up. Eva..

The trickle of Eva's blood, from the wound on her shoulder had reached her, and the warm stickiness on her fingers made her sick. Eva's face, deathly pale, looked so peaceful, with that fragile smile on her face, almost dead. Only the smallest movements told her the other girl was still breathing, still alive..

But running out of time.

She felt everything crack. Any semblance of a facade simply shattered, and Alynthe disappeared, desummoned, as Reine turned her face to the ground, giving up.

"We were--"

She couldn't say it. She had to say it.

The rest of her sentence came out in a barely decipherable murmur.

Dakota blinked as he came to from the regression. Blood and pieces of the body still remained on him as he looked up. His yes were hopeless as he heard Reine's voice break.

Nonononono. Eva and this and...What were they suppose to ******** do?

And then he heard the loud shrill of her phone and....blinked. just blinked before ******** man." Was all he said as before rolling his head back and laughing. The creatures gone now, he was left with the team and tied to a chair covered in gore. It seemed like all had come back to him in a sucker punch to his gut and all he had left was to...laugh. "Nice. Disposable." He stopped laughing and just rolled his head forward. "Wish they'd untie us too." He worked the bonds and yet....no freedom.

Clerise writhed in her bonds, the sickness and horror being washed away by...

Well.

To be quite honest with you?

Rage. At Caelius. She casually referred to him as a brat, but this by far escalated him to being a four letter word starting with c and ended with a boot to his scrawny little a**.

"You! Hey! a*****e! Order them to let us go," she snarled at Caelius, flailing suddenly in her restraints. It was to little avail-- Clerise fell forward, her bound body unable to do more than squirm. "Get back here you ******** b***h. I didn't sign up to be your <******** BAIT."

Her eyes were ablaze with hurt, confusion, and searing hot frustration. And tears. More tears than she would ever want to admit, but goddamnit, Eva was bleeding. That sweet little girl was bleeding and they were tied up like fat little piggies and--

The acrobat was not in her best state of mind. She was still a bit green, even, and was probably not a very intimidating sight. Clerise glared at the other hunters scrambling around to collect whatever it is that Caelius wanted them to. "One of you ******** pussies at least cut SOMEONE loose. So we can bandage her? Okay? Kick a knife at me or something, for <******** sake."

The unspoken word underlying all of that was 'please.'

Eva had been ready. When she felt the parasite's legs brush teasingly against her face, she braced herself in preparation. The claw that trailed down her face and her neck practically went unnoticed, her fear and attention fully focused on the insect.

Or at least, until the creature plunged the claw right into her shoulder.

The scream tore from her throat before she could stop herself. She bit down on her bottom lip as the creature twisted its claw, the combination of the pain and fear causing her body to wrack with violent sobs. She was barely able to make out the creature's words--its promise--though the pain, but she shook her head ever so slightly.

Don't do it.

But she didn't have to bother. The others knew better than to give in--knew better than to trust one of these things. They didn't plan on letting any of them go, whether or not they got what they wanted.

She was starting to feel dizzy. How much blood had she lost? Weakly, she tilted her head forward, taking in the sight of the blood strained ground. My...that didn't look good, did it? No, not at all. She stared at the blood--her blood--for a moment longer before her eyes fluttered shut, her face pale. Chara's voice was a desperate whisper in her mind, encouraging her to hang on, to stay conscious. Eva tried her best.

She was vaguely able to make out the noise around her, through her mind was beginning to feel thick and hazy. She caught bits of pieces of things--a cellphone ringing, an ear-splitting shriek, and then...orders? A familiar voice. Caelius'. Were they saved?

No. Eva opened her eyes just as Caelius ordered them to be left alone, her gaze focusing unsteadily on the man's retreating back. She emitted what could have been a weak laugh before shutting her eyes again, the corners of her lips curled up in a small smile.

How typical.

Her smile faded as she felt her consciousness begin to flicker. Too much blood, she was losing too much blood. She curled in on herself, her voice soft as she managed a whispered, "Sorry guys, I...I'm just feeling...a little dizzy. I'll...be fine."