Perspectives

Chapter 44

The echoing clink of metal against ceramic resounded as Kalen set his fork down against his plate. Despite the fact that he no longer needed to without Piper there, he had still elected to have his breakfast in his room. He felt certain someone would take notice of just how anxious he was feeling if they spent too much time around him. 

Kalen had interrupted his meal without hesitation when IRIS announced he had received a message from an unknown source. Certain it would be from Devon, Kalen hurriedly turned on a holographic screen to access the message. 

'They got her' appeared on the screen, staring out at Kalen harshly. He could practically his blood turn cold. Absolutely everything they had done had been for nothing. Piper had ended up exactly where she would have had Kalen handed her over to Rothgard in the first place. 

The image of Piper being restrained while scientists prodded at her with metal instruments could not be chased from Kalen's mind. Rothgard's true colors had been revealed to Kalen, he knew he would experiment on her to her death. Kalen's hands balled tightly into fists. He couldn't let that happen. 

~

Piper felt as though a vignette filter had been placed over eyes. The edges of her vision had become faded and everything between seemed blurry and out of focus.  Her lungs were screaming for air but none would come. 

Just when Piper felt sure this would be how she would die, oxygen began to flood back into the room. Piper sucked in greedy gulps of air, filling her oxygen starved lungs us much as possible. Color gradually began to return to her face, quickly turning red with rage as she glowered out at the man responsible for her near death experience. 

"I hope you're feeling more chatty." Rothgard commented wryly. 

"You're some kind of sick sadist." Piper coughed, her voice shaky. 

Rothgard rolled his eyes. "Don't think I derive pleasure from this situation." He stated. "I'm quite indifferent to it frankly, but I intend to get the answers I seek from you by whatever means necessary." 

Piper had seen people be torture-interrogated dozens of times on TV and in movies. The heroes always seemed to be able to resist it, preferring to withhold whatever information they knew rather than reveal it to the enemy. But Piper was no hero. The last thing she wanted to do was give up Kalen, Devon, and Celia, but she didn't trust herself to be able to withstand whatever horrors Rothgard could concoct.  "There was no one else that helped me." She lied as she staggered unsteadily up to her feet. 

"I find that difficult to believe." Rothgard replied. "You pulled a complete disappearing act from Stenton Estate, someone had to have helped you and I don't think it was Jedidiah Ambrose." 

Piper shook her head. "I did it on my own." 

Rothgard moved his face closer to the glass, dark eyes closely scrutinizing Piper. "You have the appearance of a liar." He finally stated after several long and agonizing moments. 

"And you have the appearance of a douchebag." Piper retorted without hesitation. 

A flicker of anger flashed in the giant's eyes, and for a moment Piper expected him to finally lose his composure, but it was gone as soon as it had come and he was back to appearing icy and unfeeling. "It would do you well to show some respect to the person who holds your fate in his hands." He responded coldly. 

"You don't know me so you wouldn't know this, but showing respect to people who have done nothing to earn it, isn't really my thing." Piper hissed. She had lost count of the amount of times teacher, school officials, and other various adults had demanded she show them some kind of respect that they hadn't earned. As far as Piper was concerned, just being older or an authority figure didn't automatically make you deserving of respect. Piper wasn't about to abandon that principle just because this asshole was threatening her. 

Rothgard narrowed his eyes at Piper for several long moments before pressing a button on his remote again. Piper winced, expecting the oxygen to once again be removed from the air. Instead she looked up to see that the top of the cage had opened up. She could only stare up in fear as Rothgard's hand appeared above the opening and swiftly descended down upon her. The unfortunately familiar sensation of being grabbed into a fist surrounded Piper before she was dragged up into the air kicking and screaming. 

~

"Kalen, there isn't much we can do." Devon sighed, his forefinger and thumb massaging the area between his eyebrows. 

"So you're just going to let Rothgard have her kept as a lab rat for the rest of her life?!" Kalen demanded fiercely stepping closer to look down at the slightly shorter man. After receiving the message about Piper, Kalen had rushed over to the Bradford Manor immediately, disregarding the whole low profile thing. 

Celia sat in a bergere chair with her hands folded solemnly in her lap. She had a mournful look on her face, and Kalen noticed the distinct lack of floral adornment that she usually sported. "We will do everything in our power." She said softly but with clear determination behind the words. 

"Great, then let's get to it." Kalen replied hurriedly. 

Devon shook his head gravely. "Our approach to this must be carefully thought out and purely diplomatic." 

Kalen's eyes widened. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "That could take forever!" He gasped. "Who knows what could happen to her in the mean time!" 

Celia lifted her gaze to meet Kalen's. "You don't know how much I wish I could storm in and get Piper out of there." She told him. "But the only thing that would accomplish is getting us imprisoned and damning Piper for sure." 

Kalen tightened his jaw. "Diplomacy isn't going to be enough." He said through gritted teeth. "Rothgard is beyond reason at this point." Rothgard had made it clear that he was willing to go against the council to get what he wanted. He had gone off the reservation and Kalen doubted he could be brought back by any amount of diplomacy. 

"Kalen--" Devon started but Kalen didn't stick around to hear the rest of it before he stormed out of the room. He heard both Devon and Celia calling after him as he stepped into the transporter and disappeared from the Manor.