A Hero In The Dark

Chapter 116: A Flashback of Pain

By the time I regain some form of consciousness, there is little I can place.

I am in a moving van. That much I can tell. Though other than that, I have no idea where I am or where I'm being taken.

I'm sitting on a bench in a strait jacket. My ankles in thick steel chains. I'm surrounded by a plexiglass wall that spreads from the floor to the roof of the van, the only air I get coming through 8 tiny holes in the center.

Clearly there isn't an easy way out of here, if any.

I can feel the four pendants rest on my chest still, hugged tight under my arms. That includes mine. Good. I might need it.

There is a man sitting across from me on an identical bench. He watches me shuffle and wriggle to get free. And beside him, there is something that which I dread.

A small silver cage.

But it isn't the cage that makes my heart plummet. It's what is in it.

Pixie. Lying weakly on her side in her rabbit form. Staring up at me with sadness and pain in her green eyes. There appears to be a collar around her neck different from the pink one I placed as her owner; being it a dark navy blue that it may as well be black in the close to nothing lighting.

"Pixie, are you-" I start but stop myself. It is pretty clear that she is not alright.

At the sound of my voice, she tries to stand but ultimately falls over. All she manages is a feeble wobble of her dirtied white tail.

"She's fine," says the man sitting restlessly beside her. "Only had to give her a couple more shots with the tranq gun. Put her right to sleep in minutes. She won't be gettin out any time soon."

"Who are you?" I ask, trying to get some answers. "Where are you taking us?"

"You'll find out soon enough," he replies. "We are almost there."

And soon enough, I find that he was right.

When I finally get a glimpse of daylight again, a building lies ahead. Large enough to act as an old warehouse for storing – as the name suggests – 'Valued Goods.'

The man that rode the trip with me in the van opens the back to meet a few others, leaving me and the bunny chained and captive in our tiny compartments to which we cannot escape.

I think that's how many there are anyway. Staring at the cage that holds Pixie, I pay all of my attention to the voices that I hear. The man I spent my initial moments of awakening with, a feminine voice, and another raspy male voice. I listen to them talk, muffled as their voices are through my plexiglass barrier.

"Finally, you manage to complete a task," chastises the girl; sounds like a kid's voice.

"I'd like to see you try acquiring the asset that's surrounded by superpowered teenagers," replies the arrogant man blandly. "Take you months I guarantee. Only took me a couple weeks."

"That's a couple weeks too long," says the gruff male. "We could've used her before then. Mr. Bray will be here tomorrow. You better hope everything still goes to plan and that the Doctor is able to work fast enough."

"He will. He knows the stakes," replies the Arrogant One. "Now that we have her though, what do we do with her?"

"Take her to the Doctor straight away so he can begin whatever work Bray wants done," says the Gruff One. "And take Freakshow with you, just in case."

"And the rabbit?"

"What rabbit?"

"We captured a rabbit also. Think it's one of the Loric animals or whatever."