A/n: little bit of a gore and description of torture warning for this one bois *wiggle dances*
Cloaked teleported them and Schlatt to a rooftop closer to where they needed to be, fully ready to chew the ram out before they were interrupted.
"You owe me a new fucking chair." Schlatt grunted, taking a minute to steady himself, not used to being teleported.
"I- what?"
"You owe me a new chair," Schlatt re-stated, dusting himself off. "I had to break the one I brought while I was waiting for you to show up on one of those little shits."
The Cloaked just stared at the man, blue eyes glaring daggers at him from behind the veil of void seemingly attached to the hood of the figure's cloak.
"I- fine, I'll get you a new fucking chair. But I told you I needed help with catching her, and you never showed up!" Cloaked snapped, fists clenched tightly.
"Did you forget the part where you told me to stay put like some fucking dog?" Schlatt retorted with a scowl, crossing his arms as he looked at the figure.
"Well if you would just check your fucking texts for once-"
"I don't have your number saved! And every time I do I get another text from you with a different number!"
"That's the fucking point you idiot!" Cloaked growled, silver strings flickering in and out of existence as they pinched the bridge of their nose.
"Gods- look, I don't fucking care anymore. I already got her, I just need your help getting the information."
"What information?" Schlatt asks as he brings a hand up to fix his hair, earning a quiet chuckle in response from Cloaked.
"You'll see. Now c'mon, I'm not going to be able to hold time still for too long and I want this over quickly."
~~~~~~~~
"Let me go you fucking bastard!!" She calls out angrily, struggling against the silver strings holding her down, one of her wings flapping crazily while the other lay limp at her side.
Black speckled white feathers are scattered around the dirty, vine covered floor of the abandoned power plant. The feathers heavily contrasting the dulled colors of the plant and greenery that has grown over time.
"Shut the hell up!" Schlatt growled, sending a kick to the large white wing that is limp against the ground, sending a sharp pain through the woman's body.
She hissed at the pain, her struggling ceasing for a moment as she dealt with the pain.
"Snow Angel. The only villain wanted dead or alive by Lmanbug's Hero Agency." Cloaked spoke as they stepped out from a dark corner of the wearhouse.
"That's one hell of a title Elena, and here I thought you only did your best work in the labs." Cloaked said, the mocking tone in his voice making the villain hiss at the backhanded compliment.
"For as long as we've known each other, I would've figured you knew the extent of my work already." Snow hissed, struggling against the strings again, which earned her another kick.
Cloaked sighs, most likely rolling their eyes with the head motion they make. "I'm not here to reminisce, I've asked you here because-"
"'Asked' me here?" Elena hissed, a deep threatening hoot building up in her chest. "You ambushed me and trapped me in a fucking box! If I wasn't tied up I would!-"
The villain is cut off when a stinging feeling starts to burn within her limbs, searing pain building up in her muscles and veins. She refused to scream, instead hissing in pain as her body tensed at the feeling.
Cloaked let out a disappointed sigh, the stinging feeling underneath Snow's skin ceasing afterwards.
The Cloaked walked closer, the strings around Snow's arms dragging her up to where she was now in a standing position. Although the only thing supporting her was the thin lines of silver barely visible in the air.
They got closer to the villain, lowering their head a little when they were two feet from her.
"Listen, all I want is information." They stated simply, holding their hands out in mock surrender.
The villain glares a thousand daggers at him, another deep hoot rumbling in her chest as she spits at his feet.
Cloaked just looks down at where the spit had landed, staying silent for a moment.
He rolls his eyes with a scoff.
"Look, I know you, I know you wouldn't just burn all of your research like that without making copies. Just give us the copies, and we'll leave you alone."
Snow hissed, glaring daggers at both Cloaked and Ram, she would screech if there weren't strings wrapped around her neck as well.
"And why should I give anything to my captors? Why should I willingly give my research to a traitorous piece of shit like you?" She kept her voice steady, her expression and puffed facial feathers showing that she clearly wasn't the slightest bit happy about her current position.
Cloaked growled, taking a step closer, clenching their hand and making the stinging feeling return as he speaks.
"Our research. You wouldn't have figured out as much as you did without me!"
Schlatt groans as he listens to the two of them, rolling his eyes a bit with a deep frown on his face.
"Whenever you guys are done with your family feud, or whatever the fuck this is, I have more important things I need to be getting to."
Cloaked's head snapped to Schlatt as he spoke, glaring at him from under their hood while a hoot rumbled through Snow's chest, not liking the fact that the Ram used the term 'family'. They weren't, not anymore, and certainly not after what happened..
Cloaked has just about had enough of Schlatt's bullshit at this point, no longer able to stand his constant whining and impatience. An idea came to mind almost instantly, and he turns his head back to Elena with an annoyed huff.
"I'm going to ask once more, where are you hiding the copies?"
Elena didn't budge, clenching her mouth shut as she looked- glared back at Cloaked.
Cloaked just stared at her, staying silent for a moment before turning to Schlatt.
"Step on her wing."
The ram hybrid gave him a confused look.
"Excuse me?"
"I said, step on her wing." The hooded figure replied- no, demanded, making Schlatt frown more at him.
"I'm not doing shit, you just told me to make sure she doesn't escape."
"And now, I'm telling you to step on her wing. Or would you rather me put you back in prison?" Cloaked tilted his head a bit as he asked the question, almost daring Schlatt to say something else.
Schlatt clenched his mouth shut with a click, having to bite his tongue, knowing damn well if he said something else Cloaked would hold up his threat.
He walked over to the villain, ignoring her protests and the threatening hoot, just lifting his foot and bringing it down on her wing, maybe with a little more force than he needed.
Elena bit back a yell, feeling the pain flare up in her already broken wing was the farthest from a comfortable feeling, making her struggle against the strings again.
Cloaked sighed as he watched the villain writhe, shaking his head as he decided to try something different.
"Listen, Elena, I don't want to do this to you. If you give us the copies, if you come with us, all of this stops and we can just forget about it."
Snow stares at the hooded figure. Forget? He wants her to just- forget this ever happened??
He wants her to forget that he bound and caged her to get information?
He wants her to forget that he contacted her out of the blue after years of not talking to each other, just to ambush her and break one of her wings?
He wants her to forget the day he killed a hero in her lab, and then threatened her chicks?
He wants her to just- forget it?
The villain barely even thinks before she's letting out a signature snowy owl screech, sending Clocked and Schlatt stumbling back a bit from her, their ears ringing terribly with the loud sound echoing through the abandoned power plant.
It takes Cloaked's silver strings tightening around Snow's throat to shut her up, a deep growl coming from the hooded figure as he balls his hands into fists.
Snow struggled and squirmed against the stings, writhing as she fought to take a breath in, her legs kicking out and her non-broken wing flapping wildly as she gave a strangled noise of pain.
Cloaked just stood there, watching as the villain's air supply was slowly cut off by his strings, letting out an annoyed huff as he uncurled his fists, allowing Snow to breath without restriction again.
Snow gasped for air as the strings loosened, coughing as she relaxed a bit, using the strings holding her up as a sort of crutch as she regained her breathing.
"That fucking hurt, Elena." The Cloaked growled, giving an annoyed huff as he glared at the villain from behind the veil of void that covered his face.
Snow was still catching her breath, otherwise she would've given the Cloaked a response, a harsh one, but a response nonetheless.
"Right then," Cloaked spoke up after a beat. "If you won't give us the copies of the research, can you tell us where the living experiments are? I know for a fact that there are some that managed to survive and escape."
Snow huffed, rolling her eyes at the hooded figure, still sending them a glare.
"Of course some of them survived, but I don't know where any of them are."
Cloaked just stared at her, if anything was able to see their face, they would be seeing them deadpanning at the villain, crossing their arms over their chest in the process.
"Really? You, not keeping tabs on your only living experiments?-"
"What about the kids?" Schlatt interrupts, taking a step closer to Snow with a scowl on his face, and Cloaked snaps their head over to him.
"Schlatt, don't."
"No, shut the fuck up. I want to know what happened to Toby."
At the mention of the name, Snow gave another rumbling hoot, her feathers fluffing up, making herself look bigger on instinct. How dare he say the name of one of her chicks, he wasn't even present for most of his life, the man has no fucking right to ask about him.
Not like Snow would be able to answer anyways...
"I'm not telling you shit about the kids. I haven't even seen them since the fire." That was a lie, she's been keeping an eye on them as best she could from a distance. She wanted to rekindle her connection with the four, but she's a wanted villain, and she didn't want them getting caught up in that.
Cloaked growled, more silver strings glitching in and out of existence around Schlatt, they were pissed that the man had the audacity to fucking speak up, especially about the kids. They knew the topic would make the villain clam up, and that is the exact opposite of what they wanted.
Fucking bastard.
However, Cloaked did pick up on something in Snow's voice, something that couldn't be easily noticed by anyone other than him.
Snow was lying.
Elena was lying about knowing where the kids are.
Cloaked just stared at the villain, crossing his arms over his chest as he tilted his head, glancing over at Schlatt as he spoke.
"Pull a clump of feathers out of her wings."
"She gave you an answer-"
"She was lying, pull out the damn feathers!" Cloaked barked, bright blue pin pricks glaring at Schlatt from behind the veil of void covering Clocked's face.
The ram hybrid scowls at the hooded figure, snarling as he walks behind the Elytrian, digging both of his hands in Snow's wings and ripping out the handfuls of feathers. Snow flared her wings out, she would've screamed had it not been for the thousands of tiny silver strings that wrapped around her mouth, muffling any noise she made or tried to make.
As Cloaked watched Snow writhe and try to escape the strings once again, he couldn't help but be reminded of a time when he and Snow were friends.
Times where they would smile and laugh.
Times when they would help each other with whatever they needed help with. Whether it be when Cloaked needed help in a fight, or whenever Snow needed help dissecting an experiment to try and figure out what made it tick, there would be no hesitation for either of them to help.
He even remembers times they'd spend together outside of messy work related things they did.
Building a nest of pillows and blankets, sitting in sometimes complete silence and just- existing together.
Preening and cleaning each other's wings, the bird calls, the nicknames.
Times where they considered each other family.
It was just ʟ̶̘̆ʊ̸̮̬͑̀̅ȶ̴͇̫̋͊̊ʊ̴̝̊͌̕ʍ̵͇̣̤́ and Elena, existing together as a small sadistic and fucked up family.
And then the kids showed up.
At first Snow didn't care for them, just experimented on them like she was supposed to, even found a way to brainwash one of them to use as a lab assistant.
But then something happened with one of them.
One pair of wings traded for another, and suddenly Snow's instincts decided to kick in, and the kids were hers, and Cloaked lost the last of the family he had to four little b̶r̴a̸t̷s̵.
Cloaked was so wrapped up in his mind and memories he failed to realize that Snow had gotten free from the strings he was using to keep her restrained.
It took Snow's talons just barely grazing Cloaked's hood for him to fully realize what was going on.
He jerked away quickly, his pupils turning to slits as one of his hands coming up, silver strings wrapping around Snow's wrists, pulling her hand away from his face and sending her flying back.
In the midst of his slight freak out, his strings wrapped around a section of Snow's good wing, pulling her back and away from him by it.
Once Cloaked was able to fully comprehend what had just happened, he growled, clenching his hand into a fist and making the strings around Snow's tighten.
He's starting to lose his patience, so he can't help it when he clenches his fist a little too hard, the action accommodated by a loud snapping sound and Snow's muffled scream.
The pain of having her other wing broken shocking Snow enough for her to calm down a bit, her limbs seizing as the pain sets in.
Cloaked relaxed his hand, scowling at the villain as he forces himself to calm down. He wasn't done with her yet, unfortunately, otherwise he would have got rid of her earlier.
The hooded figure sighs, making sure to restrain Snow again as he thinks about what to do next. Physical torture doesn't seem to be working much, if at all, and he can't think of what else would work on her.
But then he's brought back to a few minutes ago, before she somehow got out and attacked him while he was lost in his head.
Cloaked glances over at Schlatt as he thinks, finding that the man is nursing slash marks on his right cheek, probably from when Snow escaped.
He thinks for a moment as he stares at the ram hybrid, an idea coming to mind as he turns his gaze back to Snow, who seems to have finally snapped out of her shocked state.
"You lied." Cloaked states simply, tilting his head as he looks back at Snow.
"When I asked if you've seen the kids, you lied. I can only assume that means that you have seen them, recently."
Cloaked takes a few small steps forward, getting closer to the villain.
"Do they know what you do now? Do they forgive you for what you did to them in that lab?"
Snow hisses, the sound slightly muffled by the strings as she once again glares daggers at the hooded figure.
Cloaked pauses for a moment as he studies Snow's face, smiling a bit as he chuckles.
"You haven't talked to them. They don't even know you stalk them, do they?"
Snow stays quiet as she scowls at Cloaked, another hoot rumbling in her chest.
And Cloaked can't help but laugh.
"You cared so much for those brats, and after all these years you can't even bring yourself to go see them. That's fucking hilarious."
He just continues to laugh, completely ignoring the protests and struggling coming from the villain, leaving Schlatt to deal with her again as he tries to collect himself.
It takes a few minutes, but eventually Cloaked manages to calm himself down, his laughing turning into a fit of giggles as he just shakes his head.
"Well damn, if the kids are still alive out there I might as well pay them a visit. I'm sure at least one of them would be happy to see me."
Snow squawks, but it's muffled, moving forward to try and get at Cloaked, the strings and her broken wings the only things holding her back from tearing the bastard limb from limb.
Cloaked just stands there and stares at the villain, chuckling as he just leans back away from Snow.
"Maybe I could randomly show up at the place they work, I think that would be fun. Do you happen to know where any of them work by the way?"
A deep threatening hoot rumbled in Snow's chest as she started pulling at the strings, writhing and struggling to get closer to him.
"Dry cleaners? Library? Liquor store?" Cloaked starts throwing different work places around, chuckling a bit at the last one.
"Coffee shop? Bakery? The fucking Hero Tower?"
Snow paused in her struggling for just a moment at the last one, suddenly struggling even more against the strings as she tries to get at Cloaked.
The hooded figure pauses, smirking to himself as he gets it down.
He knows that pause.
That hesitance before she started wanting to kill him even more.
The split second of weakness she showed when he guessed it right.
Schlatt couldn't tell which one she reacted to, Cloaked knew that, and for once he was thankful for the ram hybrid's ignorance. Because it meant he didn't know and wouldn't figure it out.
Storing the information away in his mind, he decides to move on.
"You didn't give me the location of any of the other experiments that are still alive, or tell me where the research is. If I can't find either while looking for your hideouts, I might as well stop by the kids house once I find them."
Snow wanted to screech again at the hooded figure's words, but was cut off by her own straggled scream of pain, the strings forcing her to stay quiet.
Thousands of Cloaked's strings clustered together, going stiff as they tore through her skin, ripping a hole in her abdomen that looked as a stab wound would.
Cloaked crouched down in front of her, sighing as he sends another cluster of strings through her stomach.
"You chose this." He says simply, pausing for a moment to just stare at Snow.
"I'm sorry Elena, my goals are too important to abandon for attachments. Once I finish, maybe I'll come visit you. I already have one person to visit." He whispers, making sure she's the only one who can hear him before standing up.
"Leave her. She won't be going anywhere anytime soon." Cloaked speaks up as he turns to Schlatt, starting to walk past the ram hybrid, allowing the flow of time to continue as he walks away.
"Tie her up here or something, and meet me back at the hideout when you're done."
And with that, the hooded figure is gone.
All his strings disappear with him, leaving Snow to fall limp against the ground, gasping a bit as she takes in deep breaths.
Schlatt just stares after him, a slight scowl on his face as he turns his attention back to Snow.
"You're the fucking reason I'm being used as a tool." The Ram hisses at the injured Elytrian, a death glare sent in her direction as he walks over to her, kicking at one of the limp wings.
"He may want you alive, but if your 'subjects' are still alive? Surely he doesn't need you alive, right?"
Schlatt grabs Snow, roughly dragging her to his hidden car around the backside of the abandoned building.
Snow struggled weakly the whole way there, kicking and trying to scream for help, but the ram hybrid stuffed an old rag from the rundown power plant into her mouth.
He would kick and hit the struggling Elytrian anytime she would manage to get ahold of his arm or legs, being sure to make it hurt when he roughly shoved Snow into the trunk of his car.
Schlatt had to strike Snow in the head at least twice in order to get her to stop struggling, effectively knocking her out. More hollow snapping can be heard as the trunk slams shut.
He drives for a while, trying to find a secluded spot to drop her off at.
At some point, Schlatt decides to just drop her in the first alleyway he sees, pulling around the back and taking the key out of the ignition.
He gets out, walks back to the trunk and opens it, grabbing Snow by her hair and dragging her out of the trunk.
Schlatt grabs Snow's wings roughly as he drags her into the back alley, throwing her onto the ground.
Schlatt pats down his pockets, growling when he can't find his go to weapon, having forgotten to grab it before he left the hideout.
"You're fucking lucky I don't have my gun on me, bitch." He snarled, pulling a dagger from its holster hidden on his hip.
The ram hybrid barely wasted any time in crouching down to Snow, taking his dagger and stabbing indiscriminately at the Elytrian.
He made sure to pin down Snow's arms, hell he even stabbed her arms a few times when he was sick of her shit, effectively making her stop trying to claw at him.
Eventually Schlatt got bored of stabbing the villain, letting out a grunt as he finally standing to his feet and kicking her body away from him.
He stood above Snow's body, glaring down at her as she wheezed, blood slowly starting to fill her lungs, making it hard to breathe.
"Fucking pathetic." Is all he growls as he begins to walk away, using the edge of his suit to clean his dagger before putting it back in its holster, wiping his blood stained hands on his suit as well.
Snow laid there, unable to move or call for help; simply stuck slowly starting to choke on her own blood.
Distantly, as she glanced around the alleyway, she was reminded of a time when she'd first met C̵͚̀l̵̲̚o̷̱̾a̵̟̿k̵̹͛e̸̩̋d̴̲̂. A time when they weren't enemies, times when they were close...
Unfortunately though, that memory didn't last very long as Snow's vision began to blur, making her let out a slow croon as she closed her eyes.
Snow's mind flared up for a second when she tried to move, so she decided that movement wasn't an option, just laying there on the ground as she bled out.
She took deep breaths, trying to blink open her eyes but failing. In fact, her eyelids became incredibly heavy, making it hard to even think about trying to open them.
Eventually, as Snow laid there in a slowly growing puddle of her own blood, Snow began to lose consciousness.
She tried to keep herself awake, tried to fight to stay awake, but she just couldn't. The whispers of exhaustion started to weigh down on her shoulders heavily, and she was unable to keep her eyes open.
It didn't take much longer for her to pass out, her consciousness finally slipping from her grasp, her breaths struggling and wheezing as she lay there.
As she lays there, a little butterfly with obsidian wings with purple accents flutters into the alleyway, gently landing on her shoulder.
It sits there for a while, seeming to almost contemplate something as it stares at the unconscious body, but eventually makes up its mind.
The butterfly's wings glow purple for a moment, and suddenly Snow is able to breathe a bit easier.
Once it's wings stop glowing, the butterfly flaps its wings, fluttering back up into the air and circling around Snow a few times.
After the butterfly makes a few circles around Snow, it flutters higher into the air and flies away, leaving the unconscious Elytrian breathing a bit easier, and with a little gift from Death.