Happy Joyous Fun Times!

[Cuppy/Wonders]

Kale stepped away from the decrepit blue box and looked around the deck, realising that it was barren of any life. He was vaguely confused for a few moments, but he quickly realised that the ship was in a dock. The crew were out exploring the down, but he doubted their captain would be.
With a smile he touched the pack, making sure that it was still there, and walked towards where he knew Lysander’s cabin to be. He opened the door without knocking, and watched as Lysander’s surprised eyes looked up from his desk and fell on him.
“Kale?” Lysander said, tilting his head to the side in confusion and staring at him. “I thought you’d disappeared… did you finally realise that our ship is where you belong?”
Kale didn’t say a word. He closed the door behind him, and turned the key in the lock. Lysander regarded him, a mocking smile on his lips.
“You shouldn’t try to be intimidating, Kale. You simply aren’t.”
Kale gritted his teeth, Lysander’s personality already grating on his nerves. He took a step towards him, his prosthetic legs making loud and unnatural booming footsteps. The smile on Lysander’s face fell away, and his eyes flickered over to his legs.
“What did you do?” he asked, false concern coating his voice. “I know your little brother likes inventing, but letting him cut off your legs is a little extreme, don’t you think?”
Lysander picked a pen up off his desk and tossed it towards one of Kale’s legs, smiling slightly at the metallic clang that echoed around the room as it bounced off.
“Are they solid metal? You really have been busy. And your eye looks a bit torn; can you actually see out of it? If I stay to your right am I in your blind spot?”
“Shut up,” Kale growled, sliding the pack off his shoulder. Lysander looked at him seriously for the first time.
“Something tells me that you’re not here for a social visit,” he said calmly, standing up and moving around his desk to stand close to Kale. He smirked then.
“Oh, so you couldn’t get them to make legs that would actually make you taller? You do realise that I’m still taller than you, maybe even more so. You’ll have to get in touch with your little operators – tell them that making you even shorter wasn’t the nicest thing for them to do?”
Without thinking Kale lashed out, kicking Lysander directly in the shin with his metal legs. The bone snapped cleanly, and Lysander fell to the ground like a stone. Instead of screaming, like Kale had expected, he was laughing.
“Are you going to kill me, Kale?” he asked, grinning up at him with tears of pain swimming in his eyes.
“Yes,” Kale said simply, watching as Lysander’s face suddenly fell. “But I see no reason why it should be quick.”
All of a sudden Lysander had nothing to say.

Kale reached into his pack and pulled out the hammer, the hand saws, the knives, and the nail gun before spreading them equally apart on the floor. The needle and thread were last, placed beside his hand as he stared at Lysander’s face. Despite his claim that he was unafraid, Lysander starting backing away from him slowly and painfully. Kale lifted the nail gun, and he pointed it directly at Lysander’s arms.
“Kale-” Lysander began.
“I have no idea what this thing even is,” Kale confessed, turning it over in his hands, “but it looked a little special, don’t you think so? Like a special kind of gun…”
Lysander was backed against his desk now, and he was staring at the nail gun with horror.
“Kale, stop…”
“From the first time I saw you, I vowed that I would watch you die,” Kale told him. “And I will enjoy this.”
He pulled the trigger, and a nail the length of his thumb flew out of the gun, straight towards Lysander’s right arm. He moved out of the way, and the nail embedded itself in the wood behind him. Without even giving Lysander a chance to beg he fired again, and Lysander moved his arm just in time once more. The nail missed his arm… but it pierced through the cuff of his crimson coat, nailing it to the desk. As Lysander stared at his arm in utter horror, Kale pulled the trigger a third time. He jumped and let out a gasp of pain that quickly transformed into a whimper of agony. While his right cuff was nailed to the desk, the next nail had pierced straight through his wrist, pinning it to the desk effectively while sending waves of agony through his arms. He tried to move his arm, and received a surge of agony for his troubles.
“I got you,” Kale said happily. “But one nail doesn’t seem enough, does it?”
Lysander’s head snapped up, just in time to catch the demented glee on Kale’s face as he pulled the trigger again and again, firing nail after nail into Lysander’s arms. He felt every single nail as it ripped through flesh and bone, and Kale’s laughter echoed in his ears.
When at least twenty nails were buried in his arms Kale placed the nail gun down, smiling.
“That was fun… and I don’t think you’re going anywhere any time soon.”
The smile fell away then, and he reached for the hand saws at his side.
“But… just to be sure…”
“You’re insane…” Lysander whispered, speaking the words in a quietly contemplative tone. “Whoever did this to you knew exactly what he was doing…”
“Be quiet,” Kale ordered, lifting the hand saws before deciding against it and lifting the hammer instead. “I need to do this quickly,” he explained. “I can’t afford to get stuck halfway through, otherwise you’ll lose too much blood, and that’s not how I want you to die. You kept talking about poetic justice when you were talking about killing Claude… to just let you bleed out would have little poetic justice.”

He brought the hammer down multiple times, shattering the bones above Lysander’s knees over and over to make sure that the saws wouldn’t get caught on any large shards. With every blow Lysander let out a pained whimper, but at the final one that whimper transformed into a scream. Kale watched him curiously, surprised at the sudden sound, and lowered the hammer before picking up the saws.
“You’re wide awake, aren’t you? You’re not going to pass out from the pain?”
“Just get it over with, Henessey,” he growled through his gritted teeth, bowing his head.
Kale considered disobeying him and dragging it out for as long as he could, but he decided against it. After all, he wanted Lysander to suffer as much as possible in the time frame. He lifted both hand saws, and he pressed the buttons that made the blades turn. He lowered them slowly, watching as the blades flew across Lysander’s skin, tearing it apart and sending spurts of blood across the walls and the floorboards. He watched as Lysander writhed, fighting against the nails keeping him against the desk, and heard his screams as he pushed the saws through the fragments of bones and the flesh. However, even when he was only halfway through his ‘work’ Lysander’s screams quickly transformed into abuse. He screamed insult after insult at Kale, and as the saws cut directly through all of his flesh and his bones he only screamed them louder.

“Shut up,” he hissed, dropping the saws into the pool of blood that had already started to gather around them both. Lysander didn’t.
Letting out an animalistic growl Kale grabbed the knife closest to him – the letter-opener – and shoved it into Lysander’s open mouth, resting the blade against his tongue. Lysander was abruptly silent, and Kale grinned.
“You’re not so tough now, are you?”
Lysander swallowed, and the small motion made the knife cut into his tongue. He tasted his own blood, and felt the cut. His tongue moved reflexively but he stilled it quickly enough. Kale’s grin widened.
“You did this to Krist, didn’t you? When I found his body in that alley, his mouth was open, missing a tongue…”
Kale smiled.
“I’m going to do one better than that.”
And he brought the knife down, cutting out his tongue. Lysander tried to scream, but the sound came out as a strangled, choking sound as the blood poured out of his mouth. Kale dropped the knife and grabbed his face, forcing his mouth closed as he reached for the needle and thread behind him. Lysander’s eyes widened and he started shaking his head, trying in vain to shake Kale off. Even with only one hand he managed to thread the needle, and he brought it to Lysander’s lips.

“Do you think that this has enough poetic justice, Lysander? You told me yourself that one of your only good qualities was your sharp tongue… and now that’s been cut out. And now you’ll never open that mouth to speak again.”
It took less than a minute for Kale to sew Lysander’s mouth shut, and then he backed away from the pool of blood gathered around himself to watch as tiny red droplets crept out of his closed mouth. He watched as Lysander’s face grew paler and then turned blue, and watched his body lurch and writhe as he tried to escape his quickly approaching fate. As he tried in vain to cough out the blood that was choking him.
Lysander eventually grew still, and Kale stood up then. He gathered up all of the weapons and wiped his bloody hands on his trousers. He unlocked and left the room without a backwards glance. He would leave the crew to deal with the corpse of their leader.

The blue box was exactly where he had left it, and he opened the door and stepped inside. The leader watched him with an unfathomable expression, but quickly started up the strange central device again.

Kale knew that he should be horrified, should feel some sort of disgust for what he had done, but he simply did not. In fact, he felt liberated. Free… yet hungry for more. He wondered if there was anyone else who needed dealing with…

[Cuppy/Wonders]

Vash had cried a lot since he had been taken to this horrible place, but he had rarely cried for himself. He had been forced to watch as his brother - big brother Kale who would always protect him - was gratuitously tortured, and been told that if he made all of those horrible things that he would be left alone.
He didn't know why he had believed him so many times... but now he knew that he had failed. After all that Kale had been through, he was broken. His brother was gone, and he had proved that when he had stabbed him in the back.
There was no point in making the inventions anymore, because they wouldn't make a difference. They wouldn't stop anything.

The leader was angry about that.
After his back had been stitched up - he had been told that he was incredibly lucky that Kale had missed all of the nerves in his spine - he had been left in that operating room with the promise that someone would be sent in to change his mind.
He had seen what they had done to Harley at the same time that he had seen what they did to Kale, and he had no doubt that the five-year-old torturer would be his visitor.
The door swung open, and he was not disappointed.

[Squid (Carys)]

Once Harley had exhausted all of the pins available, the men dragged him out, though Harley was fighting them the whole way, wanting to cause Oryn more pain. They left Oryn there, convulsing though, telling Harley that they had other things for him to do.
He was dragged reluctantly down the halls to another room, going willingly only because of the promise of more pain to cause.
When the door before him was opened his eyes fell on a boy he didn't recognize laying on a table in the middle of the room. The boy was older than Harley, but still obviously young, not that Harley minded. The only thing holding him back from having someone else to torture were the men holding him tightly, and preventing him from running forward.
"Spider fun?" he asked, sounding somewhat disappointed as they held him back.
"Will you calm down?" one of the men asked exasperatedly. Apparently finding out that a five year old torturer was more than they bargained for. "You don't even have anything to hurt him with yet. Or know who he is."
"So? Spider fun..." Harley stated glancing between the man and Vash.
The man let out another frustrated sigh and then shook his head at Harley. "I thought we'd been over this already, you're going to learn other ways to hurt people. There are plenty of things besides the Spider. Now come on. This is Kale's little brother, Vash. He isn't cooperating with us anymore though, so we just want you to help us persuade him."
"I don't care. Fun now," Harley whined, still tugging against the men.
The man seemingly gave up then and let Harley go.
Harley paused for a second, looking up at the man in confusion before he moved forward to the table in the center of the room and peered over the edge of it at Vash.
He reached up and poked him curiously as the man stepped forward, carrying a stool and a blowtorch. The stool he set down next to Harley, and the blowtorch he turned on, holding it up for both Harley and Vash to see as he demonstrated how to use it. "Just hold this trigger down, and have fun," the man told Harley. He started to hold the device down to Harley, but then pulled it back when he reached for it. He pulled a small remote out of his pocket and brandished it in front of Harley.
"Do anything I don't like, and I'll use this, and if you still keep doing things I don't like then your fun time will be over. Is that clear?"
Harley pouted at the man, but then reached up and took the blowtorch from him as he turned back to Vash with a grin and a soft giggle.
The blowtorch looked too big in his small hands, but he didn't seem to mind. He pulled back the trigger and stared at the fire for a moment, still grinning as he brought it closer to Vash. He moved the flame closer to Vash's hands, only to be greeted by a small shock from the collar.
He turned and glared at the man as he explained calmly, "Not his hands please, Harley. We need him to do some work for us, and I think it'd be best if his hands were still intact for any of the delicate work he might have to do."
Harley pouted more and then turned the flame on again and held it to Vash's upper arm instead. He seared away the skin on almost all of Vash's arm, although he carefully avoided the boy's hands.
As Vash screamed in pain, Harley only giggled a little.

[Cuppy/Wonders]

Tears sprang to Vash's eyes and he thrashed against the straps of the table, trying to get away from the flames that covered his arms. He heard his skin sizzle and burn away, and as the air started to bite into his wounds the tears spilled onto his cheeks. After many agonising minutes Harley moved the blowtorch away, but the pain still lingered, just as powerful. The man who had taken Harley into the room, the same man who had told him to make those devices in order to save Kale, moved to his side and leaned over him.
"Have you changed your mind yet, Vash? Your creations and adjustments were of a lot of use to us..."
"N-no..." he whispered, trembling. "I can't... It's wrong..."
The man's expression suddenly twisted, and he punched Vash directly in the face. Vash heard his nose break before he felt it, but when he felt it he couldn't stop crying out. He received another punch, and another, until he was sure that he couldn't open his right eye and that a few of his teeth were broken. He was crying freely now, and the man stared at him impassively.
"I can do this all day, Vash. I can do it for days. Just because we need your hands to work doesn't mean that we can't destroy every other part of you. You made enough prosthetic legs for us to be able to spare you some..."
"No..." Vash choked, the tears pouring from his black eye only causing the injury to sting more.
"Then do you agree to work with us?"
The cross around Vash's neck suddenly felt as though it was burning, as though it was telling him to oppose them and stand up for what was right. But as he wavered he watched the man crack his bloody knuckles, and he flinched.
I'm sorry...
"Y-yes..."
The man grinned.
"I knew we would get your cooperation."

[Squid (Carys)]

Harley glanced up at the man curiously as he spoke to Vash and then punched him again and again. He tilted his head a little, giggling at Vash as he cried out in pain. Harley stepped off of his stool suddenly and moved around the table as the man was still distracted with Vash and getting him to agree. He stopped at the opposite side of the table by Vash's lower legs and then turned the fire from the blowtorch on again.
That was when the man finally noticed him, after Vash had already agreed to cooperate. He scowled at Harley and spoke calmly. "Harley, put the blowtorch down. The fun's over now. Vash just agreed to help us."
Harley pouted for only a brief moment, and then brought the blowtorch forward anyway, burning away a patch of flesh by Vash's ankle.
The man let out annoyed sigh and pulled the remote to the collar out again. "Harley, put the blowtorch down," he warned, his voice cold.
Harley just shook his head with a mischievous smile and kept the flame against Vash's leg.
When the man pressed down the button on the remote, Harley cringed and pulled the blowtorch back as the flame disappeared from it. He stood there, watching the man guiltily as he started to come around the table to grab Harley. Just before he got close enough to grab him, Harley ducked under the table and stood up back on the other side of the table again by Vash's head. He didn't wait for the man to make another move before he started the fire again and held it against Vash's already bruised and swollen face.
Another shock came from the collar, and this time he dropped the blowtorch with a clatter. The man held down the button on the remote, continuing the shock until he could grab Harley.
He held the boy's arm painfully tightly but Harley just pulled against his grip and whined. "I was just having fun," he grumbled. "Lemme go! What'd I do?" He was tugging against the man and trying to reach the blowtorch again, but the man held him back firmly.
"Fun's over now Harley. I told you not to do anything I didn't like or your fun time would be done. And I don't particularly like you not listening to me when I give you an order."
Harley just scowled and continued thrashing angrily, just a five-year-old having a tantrum.

[Cuppy/Wonders]

The man had apologised for Harley's actions, but Vash had been too preoccupied with the pain in his ankle and the utter agony in his face to pay much attention. He had cringed when the man released him from the table's straps and pulled him to his feet, but he didn't say a word. He didn't even say a word when the man grabbed his burnt arm so tightly that it almost cut off the circulation and dragged him away, even though tears stung at his eyes.
He was dragged back towards the room that he had made so many horrible things inside, but he was stopped when the leader emerged from around the corner, grinning and swinging a bloody backpack from his fingers. He clearly saw Vash, but he ignored him completely as he grinned at the man.
"Have you heard what Kale has done yet?" he asked.
Vash tensed.
"You sent him after Lysander... is that his blood?"
"Yes. And he didn't just make him bleed. He cut him apart." He turned to Vash then, that same grin on his lips. "Did you hear that, Vash? Kale's been making us proud. Maybe you could even make some things for him to use against all of those who go against us."
He stared at the bloody pack with the one eye he coud open, dread filling him. He couldn't... he couldn't make any more things when they would be used for such things.
He jerked his arm down suddenly, despite the agony that flew across the nerves, and ran as fast as he could. He ran past the leader, dodging his hand as it reached for him, and he carried on running even when he heard their heavy footsteps, faster than his own, directly behind him.
He didn't know how far he would get, but he had to try to run.
His burnt arm was seized quickly, and the scream that passed his lips was one of both pain and terror. He was dragged backwards, back towards the operating room, and he heard the leader's laughter behind him.
"You're so stupid, Vash, for trying to get away... You should know that we would catch you."
He raised his voice then.
"Harley! It looks as though you'll be having some more fun after all."

[Squid (Carys)]

The men had left Harley alone in the room while they dragged Vash out. They weren't too worried of him causing trouble on his own with only himself to hurt apparently. Once the door closed behind them he pouted upon finding it locked, and then went sulkily back to the table and the blowtorch.
He stood on the stool and rested his arms and chin on the table while he idly held the flame from the blowtorch against the metal table. It wasn't nearly as fun as using it against Vash, but it was the only even vague amusement he had available to him.
Finally, the man returned and Harley looked up, grinning when he heard what he had to say and saw Vash being dragged along behind him. He watched gleefully as the men forced Vash back down onto the table. When his back made contact with the spot that Harley had been heating, a giggle escaped Harley's lips at his resulting screaming and thrashing. The men managed to strap him down though, so that the spot of heat would be unavoidable until it cooled on its own.
Before he could approach the table again the man in charge grabbed him roughly by one arm and stared him down threateningly. "This time, Harley, you will do what we want from you, and nothing more."
When the man let him go a moment later Harley stuck his tongue out at him and then moved away from the man to stand by Vash's feet. He turned on the blowtorch and pressed the flame to one of Vash's feet.
The skin burned away quickly, but Harley didn't move the blowtorch. The flame started eating into the muscle underneath then, but Harley only laughed and kept holding it there as Vash screamed and thrashed. When the muscle burned away too the flame started to scorch the bones beneath.
The flame ate a hole right through Vash's foot, leaving only charred bones crossing through it. The bones and just a little bit of flesh left on the edges of Vash's foot was the only thing keeping half of his foot from falling off.
Only then did Harley pull the flame away. He didn't have the stool where he was, so he stood on his tiptoes to get his eyes level with the hole and stared at it in amusement and wonder.
Curiously he poked one of the exposed bones, and having been made brittle and charred by the fire it snapped from even the light pressure. He giggled a little more and poked the end of the bone, wiggling it a little bit.

[Cuppy/Wonders]

Kale had been left alone in his room ever since Lysander's death, and he was worried that he had done something wrong. He had been left to his own devices when he had killed Lysander, and he didn't know if he had done something that the torturers had disapproved of. Had he been too brutal? Not brutal enough? He didn't know, but he just wanted to be let out and allowed to hurt someone else.
He stared blankly at the door, hoping that someone would appear and let him out.
He was not disappointed. The door swung open, and the leader walked in with a grin on his face.
"Hello, Kale. Sorry for leaving you alone for so long, but we thought you deserved a rest after what you did to Lysander. We were so very impressed with what you did..."
"I can do better," Kale said, looking at them desperately. "Let me out, let me hurt someone else. I can show you."
The leader looked surprised, but not at all disappointed. He moved out of the doorway, and Kale immediately scrambled to his feet. He was led back to the 'equipment room' and prepared a pack while the leader spoke.
"We're sending you after Archer Brigantine today. You can have a lot of fun with him, but make it slow won't you?"
Kale nodded, pulling the pack over his shoulder and following the leader to the strange blue box.

He stepped out of the box, finding himself in a richly decorated house instead of a ship this time. He glanced down the long corridor, vaguely confused, before he heard the leader's voice behind him.
"Archer's room is the third on the left."
Kale grinned and immediately headed towards the door, ripping it open. He was about to slam the door when he saw the leader leading in the doorway, preparing to watch the show. Kale turned around, facing the man who had ruined his life. He recognised the back of Archer's head, but he didn't say a word. He stepped closer to the chair he was sitting in, reaching into his pack and withdrawing the coil if rope he never ended up using with Lysander.
"Claude, get out," Archer said half-heartedly, but he still didn't turn.
Kale laughed softly, and watched as Archer tensed. He was directly behind him now.
"Guess again," he sang.
"Henes-"
Kale brought the rope down on Archer's throat, cutting off his air and silencing any screams. His arm was against Archer's back, preventing him from falling off the chair while he forced the rope into his neck with all of his strength. Archer was gasping and clawing at his hands, trying in vain to free himself while Kale just laughed. As soon as Archer began to go limp he removed the rope, watching with interest as he collapsed to the ground.
Kale moved to tie his hands immediately, glancing around the room for something to hang him from. There was a four-poster bed not too far away, so he made sure to tie his hands to one of the suspenders. Archer was weak but still conscious, and could hardly keep himself up.
"That's not going to make the job easier," the leader pointed out.

Without replying Kale reached into the pack, and withdrew the nail gun that he had used on Lysander. However, instead of pointing it at his arms he pointed it at Archer's feet. He fired, and planted three nails in each foot. Archer tried to scream, but his voice was too hoarse to do so. Kale smiled and tapped the side of the nail gun.
"If you can't keep yourself up, I'll fire more," he promised. "Don't think that I won't."
After making sure that Archer did in fact keep himself up, he withdrew a scalpel, retractors, and a small oscillating saw. Archer stared at the devices, his eyes widening.
"This will be a little challenge, Archer," Kale said cheerfully, twirling the scalpel in one hand while keeping the nail gun in his other hand. "I want to see if you can keep yourself up with only your arms, so I'm going to cut out your bones. I want to see how long you can last... but if you don't last long enough I'll fire more nails. Doesn't that sound fun?"

Archer stared, and once again tried to scream. Kale rolled his eyes and stuck the scalpel into Archer's leg, ripping down. Archer's knee buckled, and he fell down slightly. Kale fired the nail gun, embedding a nail in his stomach. Not pausing for a second Kale used the retractors to force the skin and muscle apart, revealing the bone. He lifted the saw and turned it on, bringing it close to the bone.
"Please," he heard Archer beg, and paused. "Please stop..."
Kale didn't saw a word, cutting straight through the top and the bottom of the bone, ignoring Archer's screams. He threw down the bloody saw carelessly and reached into Archer's bloody, mangled leg, seizing the bone and ripping it out. Archer screamed loudly then, and his leg, unable to hold him up, collapsed in a heap. He sank further down, only his arms and his remaining leg holding himself up.
Kale tutted, and fired two more nails into Archer's stomach.
"You're not very good at this game," he said sadly. "Oh well. Let's see if you're any better with the other one."
Archer was crying now, but Kale ignored him. He dug the scalpel into Archer's other leg, ignoring any noise he made before repeating the process. Archer fell to the ground as his other leg was mutilated, and Kale watched him. He was bleeding heavily, and Kale doubted that he would last much longer. So he grabbed Archer's face, pointed the nail gun straight at his eye... and fired.

Archer went still, and Kale stood up. He grinned at the leader, who merely stared at him.
"I'm done," he said. "Anyone else?"
The leader blinked, and then smiled at him.
"I was thinking that we could bring Claude back with us... for someone Harley can play with. What do you think?"
Kale laughed.

*

One of the torturers carried Vash out of the room, ignoring his sobs and cries of pain. The leader entered mere minutes after Vash had been removed, dragging a bound, unconscious man behind him. He grinned at Harley and placed a specially prepared backpack on the ground at his feet.
"Try to wake him up," he said cheerfully. "Then let's see what you can do."

[Squid (Carys)]

Harley pouted a little bit as they took Vash out of the room, but he wasn't alone for long before the leader of the men came in with someone else. He didn't recognize the man at all, but he didn't particularly mind either. He was bound already, so they didn't bother putting him up onto the table and instead only tied the rope around his wrists to one leg of the table. Harley didn't mind that either, it made it easier for Harley to reach him.
He looked over the man for a moment and then turned to look at the bag by his feet curiously. He set the blowtorch down beside him and then started going through the bag. He looked at the assortment of tools with interest, though most of them he didn't recognize.
"What's this?" he asked a few times as he pulled the items from the bag and set them around him.
"Impact driver, like a drill but it forces the screw in in one quick motion instead of slowly driving it in... Acid, make very sure that you don't get any on yourself or the other tools."
There were a few other things as well, but those Harley already knew and could figure out on his own. One of the things in the bag was a lollipop, which he happily pulled the wrapper off of and popped into his mouth.
He then picked the blowtorch back up and scooted over so that he was kneeling beside the man's head. He poked him a few time's in the cheek, and when he didn't wake up Harley lifted the blowtorch and pressed the flame against one of Claude's eyes. He jolted awake and his eyes opened instinctively, only to be greeted by the intense flame of the blowtorch and immediately try to close again. But his eyelid had already been burned away, and his eye damaged by the flame. Harley smiled a little at him even with the lollipop still in his mouth. He stared at the man for a moment, and then just giggled and moved the blowtorch to the other eye, disintegrating that eyelid and damaging the eye beneath as well.
He tried to squirm his way away from Harley but with his hands bound and fastened to the table he couldn't get far. Harley set the blowtorch aside and then looked over at the other tools.
He grabbed the impact driver and moved around to the other side of Claude and sat down there by his legs. "Your leg isn't real," Harley said, taking the lollipop out of his mouth to speak and pointing to the farther leg from him. "It's like mine are... Did they do what they did to mine?"
He didn't wait for an answer before he started sucking the lollipop again and then positioned the driver against the side of Claude's knee. He pulled back on the trigger and though the device moved, nothing actually happened. He looked up and over his shoulder, frowning at the man in charge.
"You have to put a screw in first," he stated, somewhat exasperated by the fife-year-old's need for explanations. He crossed the room and grabbed the box of screws from amidst the other things Harley had pulled out of the bag. He pulled the impact driver from Harley's hand and fitted one of the large screws into the front of the device, and then handed it back to him.
Harley put the driver against Claude's knee again and this time when he pulled the trigger the screw buried itself deep into the side of his knee. Harley held the driver up and looked at the man expectantly and with a sigh the man put another screw into it.
Harley positioned it again, directly on top of Claude's knee this time, and another screw forced its way through the bone there. He held it up again, and the man put another screw in it, and Harley fired one last screw into his knee on the other side. He went back and forth getting the man to load the impact driver and firing the screws into Claude. One into his shin, another through the top of his foot, one through each elbow and through both hands.
He then set the driver down, giggling a little as Claude writhed in pain as he poked at some of the screws. He picked up one of the other items from his bag then almost at random. It was just an ordinary hammer, and he looked at it for only an instant before he scooted over to where his hands were tied to the table leg. He didn't even hesitate before he raised the hammer above his head and then brought it smashing down onto Claude's fingers. He laughed at the crunching sound it made and then smashed them again for good measure.
He then started to move back to where all of his other things were arranged before stopping and looking at the hammer curiously. He stared at the claw end of it for a second and then grinned and swung it downwards. The sharp wedge of the claw end buried itself in Claude's shoulder, and Harley just laughed and left at there while he went and picked up the small bottle of acid.
"What'sit do?" he asked the man, standing up and holding it out in front of him.
"It's an acid, it'll burn him wherever it touches him," the man answered.
Harley smiled a little and glanced between the bottle and Claude, grinning wider as he knelt down next to Claude again. He started sucking on his lollipop again as he splashed just a few drops of the acid experimentally onto Claude's arm. When he shouted involuntarily from the pain, Harley forced the bottle and the remainder of the acid into his mouth. He was caught between screaming, gagging, and trying to swallow the burning liquid in his mouth so he could breath.
Harley moved back as he coughed and spluttered, but Claude managed only to spray the acid more onto himself. Harley watched with eager fascination as the acid ate away at his skin, and he laughed some more as Claude writhed from it.

[Cuppy/Wonders]

"I think that's enough for now, Harley," the man said, holding the boy back as he looked down at where Claude was. "I think we should put him out of his misery, don't you? But don't worry, you can help."
He glanced away from the two and called Kale, who walked into the room with his own little pack. He barely even glanced at Harley, grinning at Claude instead as he tried to back away. He sat on the floor in front of Claude, beside the still restrained Harley. Kale reached into his pack and withdrew a small knife. He pointed it straight at Harley, and the torturer pulled the boy back a little.
"If you try to hurt me again," Kale said slowly, turning the knife so that the blade caught the light, "then I'll hurt you twice as badly. Do you understand?"
He didn't even wait for Harley's answer, turning to the torturer for his instructions.

"You deal with his face," the torturer told him. "Harley can deal with everything else."
Kale nodded, turning back to Claude. His eyes had already been burnt by Harley, and his mouth was corroded by the acid, so they were the places that Kale went for first.
He placed the knife against the side of Claude's face, the tip of the blade touching his eyelashes.
"Hold still," Kale said with a grin. "I don't want to miss..."
He drove the knife into his eye, twisting it and turning it and ignoring the blood spurting out of it. He laughed as Claude screamed, and as he felt something sever he flicked the knife forwards, Claude's mangled eye flying across the room and hitting the floor. He moved over to his other side, making sure that he didn't bump into Harley, and drove the bloody knife into his other eye. Claude jerked away then - a result of something Harley had done - and the knife cut into the side of his face and the eyeball itself. He screamed even louder, the scream not wavering even when Kale had ripped the eye out of his skull.
He wiped the knife on Claude's clothes before he shoved it into his mouth, just like he had done with Lysander. But, unlike Lysander, Claude didn't stop screaming.
Kale tutted in displeasure, and starting dragging the knife slowly the the left, the blade digging into his corroded face and ripping his mouth into a steadily sloping frown. Every time Claude jerked the knife went of course, making the cut jagged. Kale admired the side of his face, bleeding profusely, and immediately moved the knife so that it was resting on the other side. He started cutting the other side of his face into a frown, making sure to do it as slowly as possible.
He leaned back to admire his work, and laughed at the grotesque face that he had created. He cut a line just above Claude's cheekbones, and slid the knife in between the cuts, ripping the skin away from his face and laughing as he did so.
"Can we kill him now?" he asked, glancing back at the torturer.
The torturer nodded.
He took the knife and drove it directly into one of Claude's empty eye sockets, using both hands to force it further in. His screams died quickly, but Claude continued to twitch even when Kale was certain he was dead.

[Squid (Carys)]

Harley struggled and pouted a little as the man grabbed him and held him back. But once Kale entered the room he froze, and his small hands curled into fists. He was trembling, but whether out of fear or anger couldn't be told. He glared at Kale and the knife in his hands and then Harley stuck his tongue out at him even as Kale was already turning his attention to Claude.
The man then pushed Harley passed Kale and back to where his own pack was sitting on the floor. He pouted and cast a few more glances toward Kale as he picked the blowtorch up again. He stepped over Claude, and then glanced down at him curiously before he giggled and then stepped onto Claude. He put his foot right onto the knee that he'd used the impact driver on. He didn't have to weigh much for it to hurt Claude, but as he jerked from the pain, Harley lost his balance and reached out to the nearest thing to catch himself--Kale. He steadied himself and put his other foot down higher up on Claude's leg to keep his balance. Only then realized that it was Kale he had put his hand on. He pulled his hand back quickly, and stared at Kale for a moment, waiting to see if Kale would react. When he did not, Harley carried on with his torturing of Claude.
He turned the blowtorch on and bent down to hold the flame against Claude's stomach. He held it there in one spot as best he could while still trying to keep his balance on Claude despite his writhing.
He kept holding it there even after Kale had asked to kill him, realizing only slowly when his writhing faded into twitching and then stopped altogether. He straightened again and frowned down at Claude as he let the flame disappear back into the torch. He stomped down on his already mangled knee once, and when there was no response he turned his head to glare at Kale.
"I wasn't done!" he whined. Acting on impulse, he turned the flame on again as he pressed it against the back of Kale's head, the fire quickly eating through Kale's hair and scalp.

[Cuppy/Wonders]

As soon as the pain registered Kale turned towards Harley, lashing out and hitting Harley across the face. The blowtorch went flying away, and Kale ripped the knife out of Claude's empty eye socket. He launched himself towards Harley, the knife ripping through tiny arm just as the torturer grabbed his arms and pulled him back. Kale immediately started thrashing, keeping his hand wrapped around the blade, glaring at Harley.
"I warned him!" he shouted. "I told him not to!"
"No, Kale," the torturer said. "You can't attack Harley. We need him."
Kale suddenly stopped struggling, and the torturer began to drag him out of the room, away from Claude's body... but as soon as he was by the door he shot forwards, breaking free from their hold and slashing the knife across Harley's stomach, spilling blood over his hands. He was about to slice through Harley's throat when he was grabbed again, the knife forced out of his grasp as he was yanked away from Harley.
"I thought we'd taught you not to disobey us," the torturer hissed. "Obviously you need reminding."
He turned to one of the men who had been lingering in the doorway, watching.
"Go get Harley cleaned up, then send someone to deal with Kale. It doesn't matter who."
Kale was dragged away, kicking and screaming, leaving the others to deal with Harley and the dead body.

[Squid (Carys)]

Harley fell back when Kale struck him. There wasn't even time for a cry to form on his lips before he felt the knife tear through his arm.
Kale was dragged away, only to break free and launch himself at Harley again.
Kale ripped through his stomach before being dragged off again and out of the room. Harley was sobbing and clutching his stomach as one of the men came forward.

As Kale was dragged away, his arm were bound behind his back, once at the wrists and again at his elbows. Then a pair of blacked out goggles were forced over his eyes. As he was pulled along he'd have only sound and his own sense of direction to tell him where he was being taken.
Eventually a new room was reached, though Kale had no way to see what was waiting in it for him.
The action was sudden when the man that had been dragging him jerked his arms upward, the motion forcing Kale to either bend forward or suffer the pain in his shoulders.
The man kept forcing his arms up though, until Kale had bent forward enough for his face to make contact with the tub of water. He recoiled immediately, but the man just used a rope to connect the bindings around Kale's wrists to the ceiling so that he had to stay bent over. Then he forced Kale's head underwater. He let Kale up only when he was certain he needed to breath, and then dunked him under again.
Again and again until he heard the cracking of bones in Kale's shoulders from his thrashing.
The binding around his arms were undone and then retied in front of him. He was dragged to another corner of the room and forced into a small chamber. Inside, the floor was a shallow pool of water made denser with salts and kept carefully at skin temperature.
"Enjoy your wait here until we're ready for the real reminder of your place here to begin," the man taunted before the door closed behind Kale. Once the door had been shut it was completely soundproof and black inside even if he did manage to get the goggles off.
Inside the sensory deprivation chamber Kale would have only his own thoughts to keep him busy as he waited for hours for whatever it was the men had planned for him.

[Cuppy/Wonders]

Kale was still shaking from the drowning, his mind screaming as he shook his head over and over, trying to get all of the droplets off of him. He tried desperately to get away from the strange water surrounding him, but it was no use. There was no way out of the chamber. Even though he wasn't drowning, his scars weren't burning, he could still feel every single sting as the water touched him.
Get it off, get it off, get it off, get it off, get it off...
He moved his arms, screaming as pain ripped through his shoulders and his bonds didn't loosen, thrashing even more when the substance around him didn't seem to move. He could just feel it around him, unrelenting, smothering him, crushing him, ripping into wounds long healed. But it didn't even feel like anything... just smothering nothingness keeping him in place no matter how much he tried to move.
He couldn't see, the pain in his shoulders making him unable to feel anything but that, and could hear nothing but his own screams.
The screams stopped after long time, but his mantra didn't. He could still feel the water droplets on his head, and he couldn't think to do anything but try to get it off. He was crying, but he didn't realise - only knowing that there was more water on his face that he had to get off.

The panic didn't lessen in the many hours that he was trapped in the terrible chamber, nor did the pain. Fear and agony were all he knew. When he finally heard the sound of the chamber door opening he flinched, the sound deafening compared to the previous silence.
He tried to back away, but the thick water stopped him.
"Hello again, Kale," the man said cheerfully, seizing him by the arms and jolting his broken shoulders. "We're going to remind you not to disobey us."

[Squid (Carys)]

In the hours while Kale had been locked away and deprived of his senses, Harley's wounds had been seen to. He had been taken care of until he was ready for more of his fun, and then the leader of the torturers came in to see him, holding something that Harley couldn't see. He moved his hand then, revealing the small knife he held, the same one that Kale had had earlier, although it had been cleaned of the blood it had had on it earlier.
Harley recoiled at the sight of the knife, wondering if the man would turn the knife against him.
Instead the man set the knife down in front of him. Harley stared in confusion from the knife to the man.
"Recognize that?" the man asked him.
Harley nodded.
"It's the knife Kale used to hurt you."
Again Harley nodded.
"How would you like to learn to use a knife like that?"
Harley hesitated, staring at the knife as the man went on, "We can teach you to hurt people in a lot more ways than what you've done so far. You can hurt Kale some more too, and this time he won't get to hurt you back."
This time Harley nodded, a slight smile forming on his lips.
As he reached forward and gripped the knife tentatively the man spoke again. "Just so we're clear, Harley, I highly suggest you do as we say. I may have stopped Kale this time, but don't start to think you're actually necessary to us. The only reason you're still around is because we like you. If you start doing things we don't like, then maybe Kale will get his wish of killing you."
Harley stayed quiet, still just staring at the knife in his hand.
Seeing that he wasn't going to answer, the man moved to the door, motioning for Harley to follow him.
Harley did so, but only while still staring at the tip of the blade. He poked the tip of it lightly, only to frown and pull his finger back with a dot of blood already beading from it.
He sucked on his finger, earning a sigh and an eyeroll from the man. "It's sharp, so don't touch it," he muttered slightly exhasperatedly.
He brought Harley to one of the many rooms in this place, and once Harley stepped through the doorway he could see Kale in front of him, strapped down to a table.
"Someone's here to see you Kale, but don't worry, this time we're going to try to teach Harley how to really do a good job."

Kale still wore the blacked out goggles, so he'd only have his hearing to follow the sound as the man stepped forward. Harley followed him curiously, moving to stand next to the table and poking Kale's arm with the tip of the knife so that small beads of blood formed and dripped down.
He watched the man out of the corner of his eye as the man lifted a bucked and suddenly poured the gallons of water over Kale's face.
When Kale thrashed as a result, the knife Harley was holding against his arm got driven in deeper. Harley just pulled the knife out again with a soft giggle.
"Careful now Harley, we don't want him to lose too much blood and die after all. Then you wouldn't get to have your fun."
Harley pouted. "But you did that... You made him move..."
"Well of course he's going to move, that's why you need to learn how to use that knife so that you can control it and hurt anyone how you want, even if they do move."
Harley was quiet again, and the man just went on, telling and then showing Harley how to hold it properly.
His small hands had trouble holding the knife properly, but he managed well enough at least.
Harley practiced then, making cut after cut on Kale's arm, none very big or deep, but the small cuts added up.
The man watched him as he worked on making the cuts straighter, and when he thought that Harley was doing well enough, he filled the bucket with water again.
Harley paused, watching him and waiting for him to pour it over Kale before he continued his cutting.
"Keep going," the man told him, "Kale needs to learn that he needs to listen, and to only go after who we tell him to."
Harley nodded and pressed the knife into Kale's arm again. The man sloshed the water in the bucket then, making sure that Kale could hear it and know what was coming. Then he poured the water over Kale, and for the second time his thrashing caused the knife in Harley's hand to be driven in deeper, and the cut to be more jagged.
At some point Harley moved around to the other side of the table, continuing his practice on Kale's other arm.
The man continued pouring buckets of water over Kale's face as Harley made his cuts. The cuts were still more jagged when Kale thrashed, but Kale's arms now served as clear indicators of Harley's progress with the knife.
Eventually the man told Harley to stop, and though he pouted, he listened to the man.
With a smirk, the man pulled the goggles off of Kale, watching him with interest as he reacted to the light after being in complete darkness all this time.
"So Kale, have you learned your lesson from all of this? You hurt only who you're told to hurt, and no one else. Is that clear?"

[Cuppy/Wonders]

It took Kale a long time to realise that they had stopped pouring water onto his face, and longer still to realise that his arms had been cut to pieces by Harley. He didn't answer the man right away - he was too busy trying to adjust to the pain and the light - and he tutted. He moved out of Kale's line of sight, returning with another bucket moments later. Kale flinched immediately, even more terrified now that he could see it. He could faintly smell lemon juice.
"Even now you don't learn," the man said, sighing dramatically. "I'm starting to give up on you, Kale. First you order us to hurt Harley and forget about it, and now you try to kill him... I'm getting bored with you. You don't listen, and you're not fun anymore."
He glanced towards Harley, grinning at him.
"What do you say, Harley? Should we kill him?"
Kale was shaking his head, too scared to speak. The man tipped the bucket, pouring the lemon juice into the may cuts on his arms.
"Watch closely, Harley. Remember how Kale made us lie to you and made us pretend he was the corpse? Well we're finally going to make that the truth."
Kale didn't even have time to beg before something was fastened around his wrist and tightened, cutting off the circulation, and a knife was driven into his wrist. He screamed as agony ripped through his arm, so much more powerfully than when his fingers had been severed. He sawed straight through the bone, ignoring the screams, and watched as his hand fell to the floor. He turned back to Kale and smiled.
"What do you think, Kale? What should we do next?"
"Please," he whispered, hardly hearing his own voice over the terrified, agonised pounding of his heart.
The man smirked. "I can't hear you, Kale. You'll have to speak up."
He vanished for a few moments, and returned with the same canister of gasoline that he had used on Harley, matches and the Spider. He splashed the gasoline on Kale's face and hair, watching him flinch as the liquid hit him, and slowly and carefully positioned the Spider so that it was resting on top of his closed eye. Kale froze, feeling at least 3 serrated blades touching his eyelid and terrified of them moving.
"What did you say, Kale?" the man said conversationally, and Kale heard the soft hiss of a match catching fire.
"Please, don't..." He was raising his voice, but he was unable to stop it from shaking, "Don't kill me. I can do better, I'll only hurt the people you say, I won't disobey, just don't-"
"But you have to learn. We're teaching you. Don't worry," he added, his voice suddenly sweet, "we need you just in case the new guys aren't suitable for our purposes."
Relief flooded through Kale, and he was about to thank him when the match was dropped and the Spider was switched on. The torturer stepped away from the flames that suddenly engulfed him, and Kale's screamed echoed throughout the room. The skin on his face sizzled and was torn away as his hair burned, while the Spider steadily drove its eight serrated blades into his eyeball, ripping it apart and spurting blood that hissed as it came into contact with the flames. The fire was heating the metal blades and the body of the Spider, making every cut burn as much as the rest of his face. The torturer watched him writhe for what Kale thought was hours before he suddenly threw a heavy cloth over Kale's face, blocking the oxygen to the flames and putting them out. As he ripped the cloth away he grinned at the mangled, burnt mess that remained of Kale's face. The back of the Spider had melted slightly, destroying the switch and the delicate machinery within and leaving burning, bubbling fragments of metal that were slowly fusing to Kale's face. The torturer used some tongs to pull the Spider back out, examining it and ignoring the ripped remains of Kale's eye.
"Looks like Vash has another job to do," he said. "I'm so sorry to leave you like this, but I have to go and visit our new guests. I'll see you later, alright?"
He left the room then, the door slamming shut and the breeze from it stinging the exposed nerves in his face. Kale watched him go with his one remaining eye, and wished with all of his heart that these people would just let him die.

Silas awoke with a pounding headache, and with the knowledge that he was not alone. There was the horrible stench of rotting flesh in the room, and he was chained to the ceiling by his wrists. He could sense someone beside him, also chained, and rolled his eyes. As if mere chains could restrain him. He yanked his arms downwards, fully expecting the chains to snap like twigs and the cuffs to split in two. But the cuffs only bit into his wrists, and his arms protested at the movement. The chains did nothing more than clink together.
Panic suddenly overcame him, and he tugged on the chains over and over, using all of the power he could. They didn't move.
It can't be... I can't be... human...
The door creaked open and light flooded the room. He paid no heed to the decaying corpse hanging beside him, nor the other person who he had sensed. They were only humans after all, and could wait for his attention. But the man that entered - the leader, the head torturer - couldn't be a mere human. He couldn't be. No mere human could capture him and take his powers away.
"Who the hell are you?" he demanded. "What did you do to me?"
"You shouldn't speak back."
Silas could see something in his hands, some sort of mundane human weapon that normally wouldn't hurt him. But he didn't know how far his powers had been removed, and the uncertainty scared him.
"What did you do to me?"
The man cracked a smile.
"Welcome to the fun."

[Squid (Carys)]

Harley stared from Kale to the man in silence as the man spoke, and then went on to further torture Kale. Harley stayed silent though, not answering the man even when he was addressed directly.
As the man cut off Kale's hand, Harley could only stare with wide eyes and grip his own prosthetic hand, remembering the same thing being done to him. Somehow, it just wasn't quite as funny when he'd actually felt the same thing.
He stared at the hand on the floor for several long moments, only looking up when he heard the man come back with the gasoline and the spider. He still smiled a little bit at the spider, but the canister of gasoline had about the same effect on him as cutting Kale's hand off had.
The man left fairly abruptly, leaving Harley alone in the room with Kale.
Harley stared at the door the man had left through for a moment, and then looked back to Kale.
He stepped up to the table and moved up onto his tiptoes, taking in Kale's face.
"Hey Kale... Do you know any more stories you could tell me?" he asked innocently, smiling a little even though the face he was staring at was mangled beyond recognition.

In another room, a young boy was just opening his eyes to react instantly with terror. He was only eight years old, and he could tell instantly that everything around him was wrong. He was held up by his wrists with chains, and the stench of rotting meat filled the air. The room was dark, and he could think only of everything that had happened to him in the past days. His little brother had gone missing. There were police everywhere suddenly. Always in his house and in the little town where he lived, all trying to find him and not finding anything.
And now amidst all that he'd suddenly wound up here. He had no way to know where here was, he only knew that he had to be somewhere very far from home.
He turned his head suddenly at the sound of chains clinking next to him, and he realized that there was someone else there. Only a moment later and the door opened, light filling the room as a man walked in.
Holt stared between the two men, as they spoke, glaring a little at the torturer's last statement. "Let me go! Let me go right now or the police are going to find you and you're gonna go to jail!" he shouted, thrashing a bit despite the chains on him.

[Cuppy/Wonders]

The man smirked at Holt, rolling the thing over in his hands as he stepped closer to the captive pair.
"The police? Do you really think that the police can do anything, Holt? They didn't find Harley, did they?"
He pulled another mundane human device out of his pocket, and Silas watched the movement intently. Maybe it would be a key to let him go - he had no idea what either of them were talking about and while they were human he wasn't. Whatever vendetta he had against the small boy was their business, not his.
A small flame flickered out of the device, and the torturer immediately started heating the metal head of the thing. He concentrated on it, trying to think of where he had seen such a thing before. When he recognised it he was disgusted.
The head of the branding iron was glowing red, and when the torturer inched towards Silas instead of Holt he immediately started trying to back away, but the chains easily held him in place. Instead he raised his hands further, wrapping the chains around his fists and forcing himself further away fromt he ground.
"Do you see him, Holt?" he asked, raising the branding iron so that it was level with Silas's cheek, "we're going to do the same things to him that we did to Harley and lots of others, and what we're going to do to you."
Holding himself up by the chains Silas lashed out, kicking the man in the stomach with as much force as he could muster and kicking the iron out of his hands. The man cursed, and as Silas moved to kick him again he suddenly seized his legs. All of his weight was put on his arms and shoulders, and he winced. The torturer held him there for a few moments before releasing him, reaching for the iron that he had dropped and shoving it into Silas's face.
Silas braced himself for pain, but he didn't expect it to be very powerful. His pain tolerance was high, and it took much more to hurt him than it would take to hurt Holt. The blistering agony that greeted him as the iron was forced into his right cheek, melting the skin and ripping into the suddenly-exposed nerves, was completely unexpected, but he still only grunted in pain. He didn't want to give them the satisfaction of anything else.
The torturer looked slightly disappointed, wiggling the iron in the wound and drawing out another grunt before pulling it away.
"It's your turn now, Holt," he said, turning away from Silas and moving towards the boy, clicking on the lighter and holding it to the bloody branding iron.

[Squid (Carys)]

"What did you do to Harley?" Holt demanded angrily. "Let him go! Let both of us go! The police are just going to be looking even more for you now, so they will find you!" He was still thrashing wildly, not watching the man or Silas but just trying in vain to get free of the chains, and all the while screaming things at the man.
He finally held still as the man pressed the iron into Silas's cheek, breathing heavily from the exertion and the anger he felt. He didn't watch the torture inflicted on Silas, instead keeping his head stubbornly turned away.
When the man finally turned to him he started thrashing again, although he'd already spent most of his energy.
"You know, Holt, your brother didn't scream nearly so much when we first brought him here. And with what he said of you I'd really been expecting you to be the braver one," he taunted.
"I'm not scared of you!" Holt shouted at the man.
"Oh? A liar and a coward I see." With that he pressed the end of the branding iron against Holt's cheek, just as he'd done to Silas.
It took all of Holt's strength not to scream out in pain. The man beside him hadn't, he wouldn't either. He wasn't a coward. His eyes were watering and he was biting down on his lip, but he didn't scream, he only moaned a little.

[Cuppy/Wonders]

It took Kale a few moments to realise that he had heard correctly, and longer still to fight back the fury that the question filled him with. How many times had he suffered because of Harley, and he asked him to tell him a story as though nothing had happened?
He took in a deep breath, feeling slightly light-headed due to loss of blood from his hand and the throbbing agony ripping through his eye, and tried to speak. The movement caused his mangled skin to sting and burn and the vision out of his only eye to flicker, but he still forced out the words.
"If you untie me, I'll tell you a story."
Written in blood.

Silas was too shocked by the pain pulsing through his cheek to even notice Holt being tortured, but he noticed when the entire branding iron, not just the head, was swung into his stomach. All breath left his lungs, and before he had time to catch his breath it was swung again, cracking into his ribs but not breaking them. Silas gritted his teeth against the cries of pain, his breathing ragged.
"What will this accomplish?" he snarled, his voice shaky as he tried to stop any pained sounds passing his lips. "You have enough power to take away mine, yet all you do is hurt us. Why?"
Silence greeted him, and he eventually raised his head. The branding iron struck his burnt cheek, ripping open the skin surrounding it and sending spurts of blood flying from it. Silas screamed as his face exploded in agony, feeling the blood dripping down his face and onto the floor.
The torturer merely smiled at his pain.
"Because I can."

[Squid (Carys)]

"Do you promise?" Harley asked, staring at Kale with wide eyes. He waited a moment, but not long enough for Kale to answer, and then he moved forward to one of the bindings keeping Kale on the table.
He tugged at it roughly, trying to pull it free simply by yanking at it. When this didn't work at all, he frowned, and then looked down at the knife he still held. Without thinking about it he pressed the blade against the bindings and sliced through them quickly, barely even noticing when he cut also into Kale's skin in the process.
He cut free Kale's legs and then arms, and then took a step back from the table and stared at Kale expectantly.
"Story now?"

Holt was fighting back tears desperately from the still burning area on his cheek. No matter how much it hurt, he wouldn't cry. He was eight after all, not a little baby.
And even if Harley wasn't here in this room, he was sure that it was this man who had kidnapped him. He had no idea what had happened to his little brother, but he would be brave for his sake.
The man just smirked at him knowingly and then slammed the iron into his stomach. Holt didn't scream, but only because his lungs no longer had the air in them to scream with.
"Don't worry too much, Holt. I'm sure you'll get to see your dear brother soon enough," the man said, pushing Holt's chin up with the end of the branding iron so that he was looking him in the eyes.
The tone in the man's voice was enough to send a chill down Holt's spine.

((-sigh- Harley's an idiot. Or maybe just naive, either way though... -sigh- Have fun Kupi.))

[Cuppy/Wonders]

As soon as Kale was free and on his feet he shot out, ripping the knife from Harley's hand. But as soon as he moved the world span, and he fell to the ground. He put his hands out to stop himself, knocking the stump where his hand had been and barely keeping hold of the knife. He bit back the cry of pain, and his remaining eyelid protested and burned as he tried to focus on his still-bleeding wrist.
It was at that moment that clarity returned to Kale, perhaps for the first time since he had woken up in that cell. He had lost his legs, his hand, his eye, his face. Something as simple as water terrified him, and alcohol made him fly into a rage. He had been completely and utterly destroyed, and as he stared at the blood dripping from the stump he was screaming inside.
Externally, nothing changed. He glanced at Harley, still looking at him expectantly, and realised what had happened to the boy. Through his nearly-blind eye, he turned back to the knife.
"No story, Harley," he said numbly. Taken my speech, taken my sight... "I can't tell stories. It's over."
Kale brought up the knife slowly, so that the tip was resting against where his eyelashes had been. He paused, wishing that there was another way, that he could screw his eyes shut and pretend that wasn't going to die.
No hell can be worse than this.
"Try to get out," he said, fighting the agony in his face to speak to Harley. "Find Holt. Live."
He drove the knife into the remains of his eye with all of his remaining strength. His grip on the knife became slack, and his body became limp. His hand slipped off the hilt and fell beside him, and the tableleg propped him up.
But Kale Henessey was dead.

The torturer regarded Silas and Holt with a blank gaze, swinging the branding iron back and forth idly.
"I'll go get Harley," he said with a smile aimed straight at Holt. "I'm sure he'll love to see you."
The torturer left the room, leaving the door open so that they could both see the entire corridor. Silas ground his teeth in irritation and glanced towards the prisoner beside him. It was obvious that they had some sort of vendetta against him or his family, a vendetta that Silas didn't particularly care about, but there was just something wrong with attacking a child. Even if the child was a human.
"Just ignore him," he said, ignoring the pain that the brand sent through his face when he spoke. "Your brother won't be too badly hurt, I'm sure. Otherwise they wouldn't have kept him."

[Squid (Carys)]

Harley frowned as soon as Kale told him there would be no story. His pout soon turned to confusion as he watched Kale life the knife to his own eye though.
Holt's name sounded strange to his ears, something distant and almost forgotten over his time here. Kale's words had barely registered before he went limp. Harley stared at him for a moment with eyes wide, and then he tentatively lifted a hand to the knife and pulled it free from Kale's skull.
He'd expected some movement from Kale. Something at least, but Kale was gone. Harley simply stared at his unmoving body with quiet confusion. It didn't make sense to him. So he poked Kale, and when he still didn't respond he poked him more forcefully. And when that didn't work he used the tip of the knife, and again, more forcefully. And every time Kale didn't respond he got a little more frustrated and a little more angry until he wasn't just poking Kale, but stabbing him.
He drove the knife in repeatedly, and all the while, without his even realizing it he'd started crying. He didn't know why.
He gave up on Kale, if not accepting that he was dead at least losing the patience to keep trying for a response from him. He sat there for a bit longer, staring blankly at Kale but not really seeing him anymore, until eventually he stood up and left the room.
He wandered out into the hall, still carrying the knife without being aware of it in his hand. He didn't know where he was going. He didn't know what he was doing. He just kept moving forward, empty.
When he saw the man up ahead coming towards him he didn't say anything but to turn around and start heading the other way. He wasn't running, or trying to escape, he just tried to walk away.
The man caught up to him easily, putting a hand on his shoulder calmly and telling him he had someone else that Harley could have some fun with. He hadn't learned yet of Kale's death, or realized that Harley was so shaken. He didn't think that the boy would use the knife in his hand, yet as soon as he put a hand on Harley the boy spun underneath his hand and jammed the blade into the man's stomach.
He pulled the knife out just as quickly, only to drive it in again and again before the man ever had a chance to reach for the remote that would shock Harley. His eyes had been squeezed shut the whole time, but finally he was forced to open them and take in the man's body, now covered in blood and stab wounds.
The man was just as unresponsive and empty as Kale had been. As Harley took in the sight of him he started to cry again, though it was hard to say if he'd ever really stopped.
He stumbled back from the man and backed up into the wall. He collapsed there and curled up into a ball, crying and trembling and confused.

Holt was quiet for a while even after the torturer had left. Now that the man was gone he couldn't hold back his tears of pain and fear any longer. It took him a few moments before he managed to respond to Silas. "Mom kept telling me not to worry, but I heard the police talking too, and they said they were probably just looking for a body by now," he mumbled quietly.

[Cuppy/Wonders]

Vash leaned on one of his crutches, glancing at the television adjacent to his workstation that hadn't been switched on in days. Ever since his last visit from Harley he had been unable to walk - any slight pressure causing agony to rip through his burnt and mangled foot. The very few breaks he had were spent making crutches, and hoping that the devices he had made (replacement Spiders, mainly - ones with serated blades, ones that spun in a circle, but also and a few little metal canisters that would open and release whatever horrors were within) wouldn't be used on children like Harley.
The door to Vash's room creaked open, and he flinched at the sound. One of the torturers walked inside, but it wasn't the leader that he had come to recognise.
"Come on," he said, his voice gruff. "You're going to visit your brother."
Vash remembered Kale stabbing him, and immediately shuddered. He shook his head slightly, afraid to even do the movement.
"I don't-"
Vash's arm was seized, and he hardly had time to keep hold of his crutches before he was dragged down the corridors towards where Kale was. They hadn't bothered to chain him to the desk since Harley had attacked him, knowing that it would be impossible for him to run away.
As they turned down another corridor the smell of blood reached Vash's nose, and he immediately gagged. The torturer continued pulling him along, but his lips twitched into a frown. Then they saw the corpse, and Harley cowering in the corner.
Vash screamed, and the torturer moved to the side of his fallen comrade. As soon as he was certain that he was dead, he grabbed Harley by the throat.
"I'll kill you," he vowed, and started dragging Harley towards where Holt and Silas were imprisoned. There was no point in abandoning their plans, after all. "You," he said, only just remembering that Vash was there. "Follow us, or I'll kill you too."
Vash obeyed, the voice of the torturer breaking through the horror and allowing him to look away from the corpse. But the blood stayed on his mind, even when the smell of it faded.

Silas paused, not knowing how to respond to that. He knew that he should be comforting, but he didn't know what to say or even why.
"That doesn't mean they'll find anything. I still think he's alive."
As soon as the last word passed his lips he heard Vash's scream echo in the distance. Suddenly he wasn't as sure.

[Squid (Carys)]

Harley struggled only weakly against the man's grip. He did not really care what happened anymore, but the instinct to claw against the hand around his throat was too strong to ignore. As he was dragged past the lead torturer's corpse he dropped one hand to reach for the knife still embedded in the man's body. The handle of the knife was out of his reach though, and when the man dragging him saw him reach for it he pulled him more forcefully and more angrily away.
When they reached the room with Holt and Silas inside, Harley was thrown to the ground, greeted by a shout from his brother. Even as injured and broken as Harley was, Holt could recognize him immediately and he cried out Harley's name.
Harley turned, staring at Holt with wide, confused eyes before the torturer stole his attention again by pulling out a knife and dropping it in front of Harley.
"So you want to be a murderer? You want to kill people? There you go. Your next victim's right there."
Harley turned again to Holt, staring between his brother and the knife in front of him until eventually he shook his head. The movement was jerky, nervous, but it got the point across.
The man scowled at Harley and then snatched the knife up again. He grabbed Harley's wrist and dragged him upright again, forcing the knife into Harley's hand. "I want you to kill him," the man growled.
Still trembling, Harley lashed out at the man with the knife. The man saw it coming and easily avoided Harley's uncoordinated attack. And then the man pulled out a small remote, the remote to the shock collar that he had taken from the lead torturer's pocket when he made sure he was dead. Harley didn't care, he just lashed out again, and this time the man pressed down the button. Harley crumpled from the electricity, and when the man released the button, the man instructed him again to kill Holt. Harley again lashed out towards the man with the knife, and again the man shocked him and told him to murder his brother.
Until finally Harley couldn't stand any more of the pain or anger. He got unsteadily to his feet, his muscles weak from the effects of the electricity.
He stumbled towards Holt, as all the while Holt stared at him, his expression growing more desperate until he was thrashing and shouting at Harley for him not to do this.
Harley didn't look Holt in the eyes as he neared him, and when he was finally only one step away he lifted the hand with the knife in it.
Holt shouted yet another plea that cut off abruptly, and in the silence that followed there was the sound of a knife clattering to the ground and ragged, tearful breathing.
Harley had wrapped his arms around Holt and dropped the knife he'd held. He didn't care that Holt couldn't hug him back, he simply held Holt and cried into his brother's chest.
It took Holt a moment to realize he hadn't been harmed and to open his eyes. The sight of Harley with is arms around him made him smile. His brother was alive, and no matter what they had done to him, it hadn't been enough to turn Harley against him.

[Cuppy/Wonders]

The torturer growled under his breath and pressed down the button on the remote, simultaneously shocking both Harley and Holt. Vash cringed while Silas just looked on in confusion.
"Little bastards..." he growled. "Why is everything going wrong?!"
Keeping his finger on the button he reached for the knife... just as Silas spoke up. "Bad planning, general stupidity... I would have thought that anyone powerful enough to take away my powers would actually know what they were doing..."
The torturer brought up the knife, ripping it up Silas's side. Silas bit back a scream, and Vash gasped as blood spurted across the wall.
"S-stop it!" Vash shouted. He was leaning heavily against the wall, and was brandishing his single crutch like a weapon. "Don't. I... I won't let you kill them like you killed Kale!"
The torturer stared at him in shock, the knife still dripping blood, before his face twisted. "We didn't kill Kale. Kale killed himself. Today."
Vash's eyes widened, and before he could even think he swung his crutch towards the torturer's head. The man caught it, ripping it out of Vash's hold and making him fall to the floor. He held the crutch over his knee and snapped it in two, dropping it and grabbing Vash.
"C'mon. I'll show you what happened to Kale." He dragged Vash towards the door, ignoring Vash's cries as his feet made contact with the floor. He slammed the door shut and locked it, trapping Harley in the room with Holt and Silas.

Silas pulled at the chains again. "What are you waiting for?" he growled, trying to ignore the pain in his side. "You can reach his wrists, can't you? So try to get us out!"

[Squid (Carys)]

Harley had collapsed again after being shocked. He was shaking, terrified now of what would happen, and terrified of how close he'd come to killing his own brother. He had wanted to. He had seen himself jamming the knife through Holt's neck. He had almost done it too. But he hadn't, and now he didn't know whether to feel weak for not doing it or happy that he hadn't.
He didn't know anymore what he was supposed to do.
He looked up when Silas growled at him, confused at first that the strange man was talking to him. Without even standing up, he glanced up at Holt, at the manacles around his wrists. "I can't reach. Holt's bigger than me," he mumbled quietly.
Holt didn't say anything. He could barely even manage to keep breathing, let alone speak. In a very short time he'd gone from joy just from seeing his brother still alive, to anger at the man hurting Harley, terror at the thought that Harley might actually kill him, relief when he didn't. Now he couldn't even bear to look at his brother, the combination of sadness at the sight of how hurt Harley was and the repulsion at how broken he was was too much for Holt to cope with. He was only three years older than Harley, still only eight, still just a kid. But here he was chained up by his wrists, his sweet younger brother at his feet turned murderous and pitiful.

((Sorry that there's not much there but thoughts and stuff, so not much for you to reply to. I have an idea of sorts, but I didn't want to use it quite yet. So you can just have Silas get mad at Harley, or do whatever you plan on doing with Vash, or whatever.))

[Cuppy/Wonders]

Vash was dragged down the corridors of the place, past the blood-splattered walls where the head torturer had been. The body had been removed - probably by another torturer - and the door at the end of the corridor was ajar. Vash tried to back away from it, knowing and dreading what he would find inside, but the torturer dragged him through.
Vash had to fight back a scream at the sight of his brother's mangled face. He couldn't even recognise him, the flames had taken away so much, but he knew that it was Kale. The torturer let go of him, shoving him towards Kale's corpse, and Vash barely stopped himself from falling over.
"Your brother ruined our plans for him," the torturer said, glaring at Kale. "He ruined everything. Bastard."
Vash knelt in front of Kale, trying to find some trace of his brother in that body, and saw something else instead. The canister of gasoline lying abandoned beside him, and the matches sitting innocently on top of it. He reached for it, angling himself so that the torturer couldn't see what he was doing. He slowly removed the lid.
"Kay," he said, his voice almost silent, "I'm so sorry."
And, despite himself, he still paused and waited a moment for Kale to reply. Then he swung the canister as quickly as he could, throwing it directly at the torturer and scrambling to light a match. He hardly noticed the gasoline splashing across his arms as the match flared into life. He threw it as the canister crashed to the ground, and the torturer's clothes went up in a blue inferno. The man screamed as the flames engulfed him, desperately hitting the flames in an attempt to put them out. Adrenaline crushing the pain in his foot, Vash ran towards the door... but the man on fire grabbed him just as he made it out into the corridor. His arms ignited, and he felt the man's burning hands around his neck, cutting off his air supply and suffocating him.
An alarm started whirring and water from the sprinklers started raining down on them, causing the flames to hiss but not putting them out. Another torturer came running with a fire extinguisher, and foam covered the burning torturer. Vash was lying unconscious on the floor, and the uninjured torturer lifted him off the ground. He was carried into a nearby room and forced into a kneeling position, his wrists clamped into manacles on either side of him and a large, metal collar locked around his neck, making him completely unable to get up. There was a large UV light pointed directly at his face, and the uninjured torturer turned it on.
Nodding in satisfaction the torturer left the room, going back to his burnt comrade.

From Silas's angle he could see no real difference in their height, and that only made him angrier.
"Try harder then!" he snarled. "You didn't even try! If you don't manage to get either of us out, then none of us will get out alive. We'll all die in here, and it'll be your fault!"

[Squid (Carys)]

Holt scowled at Silas. "Leave him alone!" he shouted back at the man. "He can't reach, okay? And you yelling at him isn't going to help anything."
When silence fell again, Harley murmured something quietly, apparently directed at Silas, though he didn't turn to look at him. "So why don't you just die already?"
Those words, spoken in Harley's eerily calm voice, suddenly made Holt a lot less comforted by his brother's presence there.

[Cuppy/Wonders]

Silas stared at Harley, surprised when he spoke up, but his face quickly contorted in fury. Pulling himself up a little he lashed out, kicking Harley in the face. Even without his inhuman strength he was so much stronger than Harley, and smirked when the boy was knocked away by the force of the blow.
"Say that again and I'll knock all of your little teeth out," he snarled. "I'm bigger than you, kid. Stronger. I can do so much worse to you than you can do to me, so don't forget it."