Fall (sequel to Collapse)

Chapter 11: Torture

(Deadgates POV)

Music floated through my newly acquired Gate Pod, filling the silence. My Pod was a pet project of Salmes's, not sentient, but working. "Ah, humans. Such a curious species, but so naive. Thinking that they have control over anything, but really so manipulatable." I laughed at my own deduction. I'm wasn't original Deadgate, I used to be Daniel, Dan to my friends. But as a result of a few 'experiments' and 'tests' done, and the last Deadgates corpse, I was now a Deadgate. My first plan was to visit an old friend of mine, as orders from a benefactor of mine. The only name I knew him by was the Puppeteer.

(Delsin's POV)

I was sleeping in the Iris, what I had started calling the Pod. I wasn't sleeping alone, obviously. Some random girl I had met at the casino I was wasting time in was with me. "Well that was a fun night~" She was still asleep next to me. Showing her the inside of Iris was interesting, but since Angels and Demons being a normal part of life now made this explainable. So far we were being regarded as immigrants, which was fine by me. I still had the immortal credit card and Iris was my home, so it was fine. All was well, I was planning how to get rid of the new girl, when laughter filled the air.

"What the heck?!" I shot up out the bed, only to see a figure with glowing gold eyes punch me in the face.

(Time skip)

I woke up, tied to a cold steel table with shadows all around me. "This happens way too often." I muttered. The two glowing gold orbs came into my vision again, and the laugh started. "Hello Delsin~" "Who the hell are you?" It laughed and another pair of eyes came into my vision. "Oh Del, I'm hurt. And I thought we were such good friends~" He walked into the light and I saw, Dan? "Dan?! You're not dead!?" "Oh of course not. You know I'm more resilient than that. And guess who else made it?" The other pair of glowing eyes came in, and they were silver.

"Tasha?! You too!?" I couldn't decide if I was happy or not. She spoke with a Russian accent. "Tasha? Who is Tasha? I'm Minka." "Tasha, what happened to you're voice?" Dan laughed. "Oh she's not Tasha anymore. I had to do a bit of remodeling to assure I'd have a loyal assistant. Isn't that right Minkie?" She giggled and smiled in such a ditzy way I almost threw up. "That's right! Me and Gate are a great team!" "Gate? As in?" Dan smiled even wider. "Oh wonderful! You haven't figured it out! Well, this is a gooood story. You see, I'm the new Deadgate! And you thought only hybrids could be Deadgates. Of course I needed some help from Salmes, he's dead now. I frankenstained him."

He seemed so proud of that fact, but I couldn't register beyond what was happening. "And now Tasha is some ditzy Russian!?" "Yep, you proud!? And it was so easy to! Just plucked away the memories of you and replaced them with me! And guess what else, I have a Gate Pod." "I-I guessed..." I was panicking. I killed Deadgate the first time and it caused this nightmare, then there was another one!? "Oh and I'm going to have fun with you~" I saw him holding a whip...