Bobknap Ch. 3: Winds of Change

[Magneto]

Its hard for Elliot to stay focused when so much is going on around her, and even more so when John is doing his best to keep her out....or maybe she's doing that herself. Ever since her 'discovery' of the whole Bobby/John thing, Elliot has been distancing herself from the boy she strove so hard to cling to and with whom she used to make up all sorts of excuses just so she could be around him. Magneto's temper and the other boy's mouth were almost too much for her to block out, but with enough effort, she finally found John, even if only for a brief second. Glad that she had only had to brush minds with John for that long, Elliot relinquished her power and opened her eyes, clearing her throat to try and intercede without really doing just that. "Ummmm...boss?," she whispered out, trying to keep her involvement here as minimal as possible, "He's still here, sulking in his room," she said hoping that she herself would be finding herself on the same list that both of these boys seemed to be on at the moment.

Magneto watched Bobby as he looked up and smiled as the boy tried to answer but failed and deep down within him somewhere, Magneto just wanted to end this pathetic boy's life, right here and now, but that would have been foolish. Magneto needed Bobby alive for now for without him he lost whatever tiny hold he had on the X-Men and on Pyro. He let the chains loosen on Bobby just enough to allow the boy to breath a bit easier and then turned as Elliot's soft and frightened voice piped up. "Thank you Elliot, now be a good girl and go keep an eye and open mind on Pyro for me," he ordered her and judging by the look she gave the 'boss' in return, Elliot wasn't too pleased. "Sure thing boss," she said softly and turned to leave Bobby alone with Magneto once again.

"You know, it was a good thing your little friend showed up at our little ambush when he did. It saves me the trouble of having to send one of mine to let Ororo and the others know just who has you," he said with a smile as the door to the room swung closed again, "Now, why don't we have a little talk about you and John," he said with a look that told of a story which would only be filled with pain, both physical and mental.

[Bobby Drake]

> " You know, it was a good thing your little friend showed up at our little ambush when he did. "

Under normal circumstances Bobby would be confused by that… who showed up when to do what? But compared to the other emotions running through Bobby’s’ head confusion doesn’t manage much more than a toehold… between fear and pain and anger and shame, he just doesn’t have the mental space to devote to it. No doubt Magneto will explain if he wants to, and won’t if he doesn’t, and it’s not like Bobby can believe a word he says anyway.

> " Now, why don't we have a little talk about you and John. "

That actually does confuse him. Me and John? Is that what this is about? He tries to shrug and say “What do you want to know?” but the chains crushing his chest make both of those impossible.

So he returns his concentration to trying to ice up again… no doubt, if his captor actually wants Bobby to answer questions, he’ll ask some and let him breathe enough to answer them. Or not, if he doesn’t. Either way, Bobby’s primary goal remains the same: escape if he can, take the old man down with him if he can’t. If I can freeze these goddamned chains enough to make them brittle, I might have a shot at bucket-head before he can react… not much of a chance, but the best chance I’ve got. In a way, it’s fortunate for him that Magneto hasn’t mentioned dosing the needle with Cure to anybody… knowing his powers are gone rather than just suppressed would be even more terrifying.

[Magneto]

Of course, by talk, Magneto meant, 'I'll talk and more than likely rip you apart while you just sit there and take it', you know....the usual. Magneto wasn't one to let any situation take place without him being the center of attention and anything short of the main spotlight wasn't even an option. Bobby didn't have anything that Magneto really wanted, after all, he was just a junior wannabe X-man, still a long way from being part of the real team. This whole kidnap and torture really only had one true purpose and that was to break Pyro...plain and simple. Sure the old man used the guise of keeping Bobby hostage so that the X-men would stay off their back while the Brotherhood destroyed Neverland, but hey, wasn't Magneto a master of saying one thing while doing another....sure he was.

The chains wrapped up around Bobby, untangled effortlessly with a thought from Magneto and then dislodged from the ceiling, letting Bobby fall completely to the floor right in front of Magneto. The old man smiled and flicked his finger, causing the chain attached to Bobby's right wrist to shoot off to the left and then behind the boy's back, pinning his right hand on his left hip. "You see mister Drake...I can't have you influencing young John the way you have as of late," he began as he flicked his finger again, this time the chain attached to Bobby's left wrist pulling off to the left while the right pulled to the right, putting more pressure on Bobby's left shoulder. "I've invested too much time and effort into Pyro and I will not have some upstart pretender coming along and ruining all my hard work," he continued as the left chain pulled even more, "So, what do you suppose I ought to do about this little problem, eh mister Drake?," he asked as his smile faded and took on a more sinister and quite devious look. The pressure on Bobby's left shoulder would be immense by now and the boy would slowly begin to feel his left shoulder gradually slid from the socket, the muscle and ligament tearing as it did so.

[Bobby Drake]

Bobby experiences a momentary flash of hope when the chains loosen, and sucking air into his lungs is the sweetest thing he’s experienced in a long, long time.

Of course it doesn’t last. He manages to avoid tearing an ankle as he hits the ground, but is completely unprepared for Mags starting to pull him apart like a wishbone on Thanksgiving. He screams with the shock and pain, tries to choke the scream down, changes his mind when he realizes the alternative is whimpering, and puts his heart and soul into the screaming.

Logan had told him, once, that the best thing to do when being tortured is to scream as loudly as you can… trying to ‘iron-man’ it out just encourages more sadism. He hadn’t believed it at the time, and doesn’t really believe it now, but he likes the idea anyway… it’s something he can do, and distracts him from the fear.

> " I've invested too much time and effort into Pyro and I will not have some upstart pretender coming along and ruining all my hard work. So, what do you suppose I ought to do about this little problem?"

For just a moment, incredulity wins out over both pain and panic. All this just because he doesn’t like Bob and John dating? Jeez… and he’d thought his Mom was bad.

Much, much later, looking back on this from the vantage point of years, he’ll actually manage pity for a lonely old man’s attempt to maintain a relationship with the closest thing to a son he knows he has; he’ll see it as more pathetic than evil. But that’s later. For now, he just wishes he could get his hands free and around the old man’s neck.

He doesn’t even try to answer the question. A number of snide replies course through his mind – “I suppose you should grow the fuck up and get over it” being his personal favorite – but to his abiding shame, the prospect of even more pain keeps his mouth nailed shut. Besides, it was a rhetorical question: it’s not like he actually needs to say anything, or like it matters what he says. It appears all he needs to do is suffer, and then probably die.

It occurs to him that maybe, if he promises never to see John again, Magneto might let him go. He doesn’t do it. Afterwards, when he has a chance to think clearly, he’ll decide that the old man wouldn’t have let him go anyway, and convince himself that he’d kept silent for that reason. Certainly not out of loyalty to someone who’d sold him out – he may be dumb, but he’s not that dumb… is he?

He screams again as something goes <pop> in his shoulder with a sudden spike of agony, and notes with some dismay that he’s crying again. Real heroic, Drake. Nice touch.

[Magneto]

Bobby put forth no show of 'toughness' and made no attempt to try and suck up the pain....no, he just screamed and cried like a little girl.....touching (No really, I mean it. I might even get choked up here. Seriously...there could even be tears. ) Magneto finds it a bit distracting, the pain he's inflicting on Bobby and the way he goes about doing it, the screams bringing back an all to familiar feeling in his own gut and a slight 'clicking' noise in his own mind. Torture was an art and one Magneto had learned quite well as a lad....it seemed the Nazi officers at Auschwitz had took a slight like to him...or rather a like of making him scream. The 'clicking' noise fell in line with his own footsteps as he moved to Bobby's left, the footfalls of his feet echoing those he had come to hate as a child.

Bobby's shoulder stretched and pulled until with a slight wet and sickening sound, it finally gave way. Magneto instantly released his hold on the chains and gave Bobby a slight bit of respite. "Why mister Drake.....I must say I'm quite disappointed. I thought a boy such as you would offer much more resistance than this," he said with mock pity in his voice, even as he did his best to suppress a smile, "A far cry from what I saw back at Alcatraz. Why I thought you would exercised those interesting abilities of yours long before now...," he said teasing Bobby now, knowing the boy had to have tried numerous times now to use his powers, "Perhaps," he said smiling a bit more broadly now as he drew his cape back and let a small needle slip from his side and levitate toward Bobby so he could see the instrument Pyro had used to betray him, "Perhaps now that their precious little Bobby is no longer a mutant but just another homo sapien, mommy and daddy will take you back again," he said as he chuckled now, enjoying this little moment with Bobby perhaps a bit too much now.

[Bobby Drake]

At first, nothing matters except that the pain stopped. Well, not stopped exactly… his shoulder still feels very much like a dislocated shoulder, which under normal circumstances would be agonizing, but by comparison it’s a relief.

So it takes Bob a moment to work out the implications of Magneto’s comment, and of the needle.

When he does, it’s like someone’s set off demolitions in his chest. No wonder he hasn’t been able to ice up the chains; no wonder they’re so damned cold! It’s temporary, he tries to reassure himself. Usually temporary, he shoots back. The truth is there hasn’t been a lot of careful research done… some people take longer to recover, it seems, and in some cases the Cure can be permanent.

There was a time he’d have prayed for the opportunity to just be a normal kid, but that was years ago… and the truth is, even without his powers there’s no way he can ever be a normal kid again. And now that he knows, it’s like he can feel them gone, an empty ache like his guts have been scooped out. Any moment now he expects Magneto to carve a pair of eyes and a jagged little smile into his belly and use him as a Jack-o-Lantern.

" You… he… " Bob can’t bring himself to finish the sentence, and is irritated with himself for being surprised that John would dose him with Cure. Hasn’t he learned his lesson yet? John would do anything… and whatever Bob had thought they’d had, it was just another con, and he kicks himself for having fallen for it so completely. (A stray part of his mind points out the inconsistency here… if Magneto is doing this because of the effect Bobby is having on John, then it couldn’t have just been an act, right? Bob blocks the voice out… he’s been fooled once, no way he’s going to fool himself a second time.)

Even afterwards, Bob’s not sure if the sudden surge of rage that follows is him getting his second wind, or just a complicated form of attempted suicide. He doesn’t think about it now, though, as the world goes red and cold. For a moment pain is forgotten, all that matters is getting back at the smug, hypocritical sadist chuckling at him from across the room.

He launches himself off the ground, crying out in pain as his dislocated shoulder jerks against the weight of the chains. Long past words, he roars a primal challenge as his other hand grabs the floating needle. He doesn’t stand a chance of reaching Magneto, he knows, and it’s basically empty anyway, and his captor will no doubt just snatch it out of the air anyway. But it’s the closest thing to a weapon he has and this is probably the best chance he’s going to get, and good odds or bad he just wants his shot.

The world suddenly narrows to him, the needle, and his target – one of the few spots on the man’s body not covered by helmet or body armor. God, please, make this shot count! With that semi-prayer he hurls the needle as hard and straight as he can at Magneto’s left eye.

(( OOC – I’m assuming he misses, or Mags just snatches the needle out of the air… it’s an implausible attack, made more for style points than anything else. Feel free to resolve however you think most dramatic. ))

[Magneto]

The look of mixed horror and confusion on Bobby's face was priceless as he glanced from the needle and then back to Magneto, stammering and trying to form some sort of coherent sentence. The cure had been an added bonus, one Pyro had no clue about, but Magneto wasn't about to tell Bobby that, no...he wanted Bobby to think of John as a traitor and a betrayer, a fitting final twist of the knife just before the blade was finally drove home. Of course, Bobby was just the first to pay his dues and answer for his crime, another carefully calculated step by the old man. The younger ones would be the first, not the students, but the ones who had been there with the X-men that night at Alcatraz, the junior betrayers. Ororo was too fond of her 'little ones' and this would be the torture Magneto would inflict upon her and the others....Logan and Hank. He had warned them all, all the mutants who didn't want to be involved with him and his Brotherhood, he told them to stay out of the way, too bad Ororo wasn't as smart as she thought.

When Bobby made one last desperate play for some sort of vengeance, Magneto had to admit that he was pleased, he had gotten to the boy, he had angered him and thus conquered him. Of course, Bobby was far to weak and broke to physically be of any threat and that pitiful and pathetic attempt with the needle didn't even merit a smile. The chains attached to Bobby would be violently jerked to the floor, taking the upstart with them, while at the same time the needle would stop effortlessly right in front of Magneto's left eye. The old man manipulated the magnetic fields within the room with perfection, affecting each thing he wished differently and easily, a testament to his devotion and skill.

The needle fell to the floor at Magneto's feet and the old man simply stared at his young prisoner. Things were done here and preparations had to be made. Killing Bobby was the only thing left, but Magneto had decided to wait on that until he had returned from Neverland, victorious. He would want to let Bobby know just what had happened there and how dearly his homo sapien friends had been slaughtered. "It'll all be over with soon boy, I promise," he said as he turned and the metal door opened at the same time, "Oh, and don't worry. I'll make sure your body is cleaned up and properly dressed before I send it back to Ororo," he added gravely, stopping in his step for a moment and then through the door, leaving Bobby helpless and alone...a boy with no time left to live.

[Bobby Drake]

Bob hurls the needle, follows it up with his body… or tries to, anyway. But he’s too weak, too slow, too broken. The heavy metal chains smash him back to the floor like a child’s toy, and he’s pretty sure the splintering sound he hears on the impact is one of his ribs. He tries to pull out of the chains as he scrambles to his feet, managing only to rip both his shirt-sleeves and the skin underneath them before a final wrench on his already-dislocated shoulder sends the room spinning and he falls, first to his knees, then flat on the floor, like a puppet with its strings cut.

He almost passes out as his head strikes the unyielding floor, but manages to retain a grip on the world. He expects a final blow, now that he’s proven himself a worthless opponent, and is strangely disappointed when it doesn’t come… when Magneto casually walks out as if he isn’t even worth finishing off.

"hey… " he mumbles, barely audible (and tries to convince himself that it’s because he’s weak from the beating, and not because of his fear that his captor might otherwise hear him and turn around), "…I’m not done with you yet… "

He lies on the cold floor for a long time, becoming reacquainted with that feeling… he remembers it vaguely from before his powers manifested, but had forgotten how awful it feels. He starts shivering uncontrollably, whether from cold or fear he can’t be sure, and almost throws up from the pain when he tries to warm himself up by rubbing his arms, forgetting the dislocated shoulder. The blood from his arms has stained his shirt, though it seems to mostly be a flesh wound… it would be a little too much, even for the pathetic showing he’s made so far, if he bled himself to death trying to get out of his chains.

He knows he needs to pop his shoulder back into place before he tries to do anything else. He’s seen this in first-aid class, he knows how it’s done… he just needs to stand up, make his way to the wall, and do it.

Any moment now, he will, he assures himself. He just needs to get his second wind, that’s all. It’s not that he’s frightened by the notion of inflicting still more pain on himself after that brief but brutal beating… no, not that at all. He’s an X-Man, after all – or was, anyway – and nobody that cowardly would make it as an X-Man. He’s just gathering his strength.

He shuts his eyes tight against the tears that still pour down his cheeks and tells himself that again. Maybe this time he’ll believe it.