CELL

/ FIVE /

Light blasting into total darkness, especially when it's into the closed eyes of someone sleeping, can be so intense, it can cause an instant headache. For some, that headache can quickly become a migraine. It can be debilitating to the point all that can be handled is a curtained room, a bed and silence.

Light blasting into total darkness, especially when it's into the eyes of someone trapped in a metal cage and sleeping on a hard floor, is somehow more intense. There was no accompanying headache, thankfully, but there was shock and pain and confusion.

This was just what those brandishing the light wanted and, if it happened to be migraine inducing too, then so much the better.

He couldn't help swearing and holding up his arms to block out the blaze. He couldn't help scrambling backwards to get further away from whatever was blinding him. Was it a vehicle? A spaceship? His mother flicking on the bedroom light to wake him ready for scho...

No. It was Them.

The realisation came only seconds after his reaction, and he was already against the back bars of the cage. He knew what was coming. He was being taken away. Dragged off like his neighbour. He wouldn't allow it to happen! He'd hold on, that was it! He felt himself to be fairly strong so, even if they did manage to dislodge him, they'd have a struggle on their hands. He might manage to hurt one, if he was lucky.

He gripped onto the bars behind him, holding them as tightly as he could, and prepared to kick out at anything that might come too close.

The taser to his neck, applied from someone outside of the cage and behind him, where he hadn't expected anyone to be, released both his hands and his grip on consciousness.

It wasn't entirely the fluid injected into his arm that woke him. It was the act of the injection itself. The rough method of twisting his arm into position. The semi-violent rubbing of the skin and the needle piercing through. He jerked his hand away from the one gripping his wrist, not entirely understanding what was happening.

"Fucking idiot! Keep still. I nearly stabbed myself."

The voice was deep and gruff, sounding as if the Big Bad Wolf was moonlighting as a nurse and wasn't happy about having to.

"Watch your language in front of our guests," a softer voice said. It was smooth. Calming.

Scottish.

He recognised it immediately as his senses returned to him from they'd scattered to. He saw the hypocrisy in her statement, telling the other to not swear when she'd been very capable herself when they last met.

The Wolf muttered an apology and pressed something against the needle site. Probably a swab to stem any bleeding. So, they did offer some level of care, though it wasn't evident elsewhere.

"And speak up when you're with me! You know I don't tolerate mumbling. It makes you sound like an imbecile. Are you an imbecile?"

There was no vocal response, but he felt his arm moving where the pressure was, so assumed a head was being shaken.

"Right. Leave us."

His arm was dropped and it made a slapping noise as it landed on whatever he was lying on.

"Be careful, for fuck's sake. If you break any of these, you'll find yourself in the Vault. Is that what you want?"

Vault? What was the V...

"Speak, or I'll throw you in there myself! Fucking ignoramus. Don't mumble and don't just shake that fucking monstrous head. Use it! Do you know how to do that?"

"Y... Yes," said the Wolf.

His voice shook. Whatever the Vault was, had scared him. Or her words had. From the size of his hand and the depth of his voice, he was a large man. His tone was one of barely contained violence, even when he was afraid, so there was little doubt he was used to standing up for himself. Still, in the presence of the other, no matter her size or the lower gravity of her voice, he deferred.