Chapter 51

The lights in the cold dark room suddenly turned on.

Fluttershy had her head down on the table, having been left in the dark silence after the conversation with the deep voice for an unknown number of hours.

The shy girl slowly lifted her head, her messy pink hair hanging across her face as she looked around the room with her eyes, taking in the details of her surroundings. The room was fairly small, with walls of plain steel and a floor of concrete. The steel table was a permanent fixture, with the single loop at her end that the hand cuff chain was hooked through. There was an empty chair seated at the other end of the table, making her wonder who was going to be seated there…and what they were going to say or do to her.

She looked up at the ceiling, which appeared to be made of concrete as well, with two banks of fluorescent lights mounted directly over the table.

Directly ahead of her, past the opposite end of the table was a steel door with one little eye-height window with a cage over it, and a sliding shield to cover it from the outside.

The shy girl sat up in the chair, taking a deep breath as she waited to see what was going to happen. Her hair still felt crusty where the blood from the windshield had soaked into her once-innocent pink locks. She looked down at herself, realizing she was still wearing her blood stained top, complete with the bullet holes from when Cody shot her. She still had her dirty green skirt on, but her boots were gone from when she’d been cuffed around the ankles, leaving her feet bare against the cold floor.

After a moment, there was a faint beep from outside of the room, and a loud click from the door, followed by the sound of the latch being released…then finally, the door swung open and a man in an off-white shirt and tie under a sweater vest casually walked into the room.

He closed the door behind him, carrying a binder that he was looking down at as he pulled the other chair out and sat down, setting the binder on the table and opening it up, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly as he scanned the pages of the documents, looking as though he was filing out his tax return or something mundane like that.

Fluttershy’s heart rate was elevated slightly as she wondered what he was going to say. She looked closely at him as he read. He had a round face, although he wasn’t an overweight person…his hair was short and very dark, and he had thick eyebrows with a dark mole on his left cheek.

After reading for a few moments, he shook his head and looked up at her. He watched her for a moment and sighed, looking as if he was disappointed with his new assignment. “So…” he finally said. “You’re the new weapon they’ve been talking about…”

The shy girl looked down at the table, her heart sinking when she heard herself referred to as some kind of inanimate object.

He suddenly closed the binder and slid it to the side, then folded his hands on the table. “I might as well introduce myself. I am Agent Stubz, I’ll be your handler for the duration of this project.”

She continued to stare blankly at the table.

He waited a moment to see if the pink-haired girl would respond, then he continued to speak. “Do you have any questions about what we’ll be doing before we begin?”

She slowly looked up at him, pausing for a moment before opening her mouth to speak quietly. “Why are you doing this to me?”

He shrugged and shook his head. “I honestly don’t know. The guys upstairs seem to think you’re gonna be the next big thing…but to me, you just look like a skinny little girl. I personally think we’re wasting our time here.”

She scowled for a second, insulted by his assessment of her…then she saw an opportunity to try to talk her way to freedom. “Well then, Mr. Stubz…um, do you think you could tell them I’m a waste of their time…and maybe convince them to let me go home?”

He shook his head immediately, sending a shot of disappointment through her. “No. I’m afraid their minds are made up. Besides, no one leaves this place…”

“But…” she insisted. “You said it’s a waste of time to-“

He slid the binder in front of himself again and opened it before speaking again, cutting the shy girl off in mid-sentence. “It says here you single-handedly thwarted a school shooting…you took down five armed shooters without any loss of innocent life…” He looked at her and nodded. “Commendable.” Then he looked back at the pages in front of him. “But then it says here you killed six highly-trained CIA agents…and you gave poor Agent Cody quite a run for his money, along with lots of cuts and bruises…no easy task, I must say…Agent Cody isn’t exactly a pushover.”

“He kidnapped me from my home…” she said flatly.

Stubz shook his head. “He was just doing his job.”

Fluttershy shook her head in disagreement.

He looked at her briefly, then closed the binder again. “Well, regardless of how you feel, you belong here now…and they want you trained and conditioned as soon as possible, so we might as well get started.” He leaned back in his chair before continuing. “First order of business will be testing. We’re going to observe your basic functions…physical strength, reaction time, problem-solving, stamina…and so on. And of course, we will be doing extensive testing to figure out what the limits are of your supposed indestructibility.

She sank down in her seat when she heard this. “Oh boy…I don’t like the sound of that…”

Stubz got up from his chair suddenly and walked around to her end of the table. Fluttershy kept her eyes on him as he approached her, holding a brown leather belt with a chain attached to it. She shifted nervously as she reached around her and wrapped the belt around her waist, clasping it behind her back which placed the chain at the front.

“Stand up.” He ordered.

She complied, slowly standing up, bringing her waist closer to the table. He lifted the chain on the front of her belt, which had a little locking clasp on the end, like a miniature hand cuff. He latched the chain on the belt to the chain binding her hands together, keeping her hands tied close to her waist.

Stubz then walked back to the other end and inserted a white card into a slot at his end of the table. There was an electronic beep that sounded out, then the loops that were holding her hand and foot cuffs down suddenly receded into the table, freeing her from the spot. She was far from free however, her hands were trapped in front of her, and her bare feet could only move about six inches from one another, making it difficult to walk, much less run.

“Let’s go.” Stubz said sternly, turning to walk to the door.

She paused for a moment, wondering if he expected her to walk in her current state of imprisonment. “Um…I can’t wa-”

“COME ON!” he shouted after opening the door and looking back at her, causing her to jump at the sudden order.

Fluttershy started shuffling her feet, looking almost comical in her haste as she tried to appease the impatient agent.

Stubz held the door for her as she shuffled into the dark hallway, which was lined with steel doors similar to hers. Each door had a number on it, as well as a small tag on the wall beside it, all of which too small for her to read as she shuffled down the hall after the agent.

“This way.” He said, indicating her to a door at the end of the hall.

The shy girl looked ahead at the door, trying to keep up as she shuffled along as fast as she could when she mis-stepped and fell forward onto her face, unable to stop herself with her hands.

Stubz turned around when her heard her fall, then groaned when he saw her laying there, face-down on the ground, helpless to get herself back up onto her feet. “Fuck sakes…” he growled as he walked back to her. “We don’t have time for this…” Stubz hooked his hand under her arm and violently hoisted her up again, then started dragging her along the hall towards the door.

Fluttershy struggled to stay on her feet, trying not to be dragged by the man as he took her to the end of the hall. She tried hopping with both feet to keep pace for a bit, causing him to look over at her and roll his eyes.

“God dammit,” he mumbled. “How did I get stuck with this project? What a fucking joke…”

Fluttershy’s chest tightened up when she heard his cruel words. “I’m a joke?” she thought to herself as tears started welling up her eyes. She felt worthless in that moment, confused by the fact that they were keeping her there if they thought she was good for nothing…”If they don’t think I’m any good, then why are they keeping me here? Why is this Stubz guy so mean to me?...” she wondered as she began to sob, blurring her view of the door that they were now approaching.

All she wanted in that moment was to go home…to be curled up on her chaise lounge with Angel Bunny at her side, and Link on her lap. She yearned for the feeling of my arms around her…to smell the vanilla scent of Rarity’s hair…to hear the sound of her friends’ laughter…

But it was all gone now, taken away by Cody. Now she lived here, in this cold steel prison with her hands and feet tied up, being shoved down this dark hall by an angry man who already didn’t like her…who treated her like a failed student, or a defective VCR…

“Stop it!” he said to her when he saw the tears on her face. He swiped the card in the slot on the box beside the door, then pulled the door open for her. “In there…” he ordered.

She began shuffling her feet to get through the doorway. Evidently, Stubz felt she was moving too slow, so he put his hand on her back and shoved her forward into the room. It was a tiny room, only the size of a phone booth with a door on the other side. She fell forward into the room under the force of his push, hitting her face against the other door, landing with her front against the floor, unable to stop herself with her hands.

Stubz kicked her feet inside the little room so he could close the door behind her...trapping her inside, crumpled up on the floor, unable to move. She laid there, sobbing with her face against the cold steel door, the tears wetting her cheeks and spreading the salty moisture against the metal that imprisoned her.

There was a beep in the room, which caused her crying to pause as her eyes popped open to listen. She felt her cuffs all click simultaneously, then go loose on her wrists and ankles. She looked down, wondering if she was actually free, then pulled her hands out and kicked her feet to get the chains off. She quickly stood up, wondering what was happening…was he setting her free? She reached behind her back to unclasp the belt and dropped it to the floor.

Fluttershy then noticed that the light on the second door was green, which meant to her that it was unlocked…with her heart racing, she reached out and pulled the metal handle, slowly opening the door and peering around into the new room with the same dark steel walls and concrete floor with three rows of fluorescent lights on the ceiling. One thing that was different was the shape of the room…instead of a square, it had six walls and was noticeably larger.

She timidly stepped in to get a full view of the room, looking around briefly before freezing up at the sight of three large men standing there, looking at her with sadistic anticipation on their faces. They were large and muscular, wearing cargo pants and tight black t-shirts, all three of them were clean shaven with buzz cuts.

“Oh…” she said quietly. “Hi th-“ she was cut off by the door suddenly slamming shut by itself, then locking. Fluttershy jumped at the sound of the metal clanging, covering her mouth as she gasped.

One of the men put his hand out towards her with a confused look on his face. “Hey Stubz…is this some kind of joke?”

Stubz’s voice replied over a speaker in the room. “No it isn’t, unfortunately. Just do your thing and let’s get this over with.”

One of them huffed and shook his head. “They brought us here for this?” he shrugged.

Fluttershy stood there, staring at the big men, wondering what they were talking about. “What’s going on here?”

“Girl!” Stubz’s voice shouted over the speaker. “This is your first exercise. We will be observing your basic functions and skills in combat to make an assessment of your abilities, then we will move on from there.”

“COMBAT?” Fluttershy thought to herself in a panic.

“These men,” Stubz continued. “Are former Navy Seals. They have been recruited here by us because they were the top of their units. They are unmatched in hand-to-hand combat and will be testing your skills through the duration of your processing.”

“Oh…” she said, looking at them. “Just a test? Th-that doesn’t sound so bad…”

One of them smirked and looked at the others.

“Let’s just get this over with.” Stubz said, followed by a click as the microphone turned off.

The three men stood there awkwardly, watching the shy girl as she folded her hands in front of her, timidly bringing her knees together as she looked down at the floor. Her hair draped over one eye as she looked back up at them. “So…um, who’s going first?” she asked quietly.

They chuckled as all three of them approached her, fanning out to surround her as they closed in slowly.

“All three at once???” she panicked in her mind. “How am I supposed to fight three of these big guys?”

The man to the right of her suddenly stepped forward, throwing a left hook at her face. She leaned back, missing it as it passed right in front of her nose, then she ducked and scampered to the left of the one who was directly in front of her. He swung his arm out to try catching her, but she spun on her heel as she passed by him, then fired her heel into the back of his knee from behind.

He grunted a bit and staggered forward, but caught himself quickly and turned to face her. She gasped at the ineffectiveness of her counter-attack, then turned to the right to see the third one swinging his fist at her.

She ducked again, missing his fist by mere inches, then moved in to swing her slender arm at him, connecting the biggest left hook she could muster with his cheek…only to have her arm jarred to a stop when her fist hit his face. His head didn’t budge at all, and he looked at her for a second before he started laughing at her pitiful strength.

Her eyes went wide as she helplessly looked back at him…then she backed up a step to jump up in the air, twirling around to deliver a spin-kick to his face, but she had only gotten half way through her spin when she was shoulder-checked by one of the other guys.

She fell hard to the floor, rolling a couple of times before getting up to her hands and knees to look in their direction. She didn’t even have time to look when one of them came up and swung his boot up into her stomach, flipping her over onto her back.

Fluttershy blinked a couple of times, looking around the room to get her bearings, when she saw the one who kicked her approaching her again. She quickly rolled away and got to her feet, then tried to run past him, but he caught her by the throat with his hand and picked her slender frame up off the floor.

She gripped his wrist with both of her hands as he carried her to the middle of the room again, then lifted her up higher and thrusted her down to the cement, slamming her down on the back of her head and shoulders so hard her body crumpled up and her feet touched the floor above her head.

The shy girl unraveled flat again, laying on the floor on her back. She didn’t feel any pain, but it was not a pleasant experience being jarred like that…the sound of her head colliding with the concrete frightened her, knowing that she, even though invincible, was at the mercy of these three brutes.

One of them was laughing as he bent down to pick her up by the arm, then whipped her around in a circle so one of the other men could swing his arm across her shoulders, clothes-lining her so hard she flipped over backwards, landing on her stomach on the concrete again.

“S-stop…” she begged quietly, the tears coming back to her eyes again as she wished for the unfair barrage to stop.

“Oh…the little girl is crying…” one of them teased, pretending to be sad for her, placing his fingertips over his mouth. She got up to her hands and knees, turning her head to look up at him just in time to see him swing his fist down at her, connecting his knuckles across her temple and forcing her face to snap down against the floor, bouncing off the concrete once again.

“Why would he do that??? I’m already crying…” she thought, curling up into a ball, hoping they would leave her alone if she stayed down.

Just then, she felt a pair of hands grab her right ankle and drag her in a circle across the floor, then they started to spin her around so fast she came up into the air. He swung her slender body around by the ankle a couple of times before letting her go, sending her head-first into the wall, where she collided with the cold steel and slid down to the floor. She stayed still, laying face-down as she started sobbing harder as the men approached her again.

To her relief, Stubz’s voice sounded out from the speaker again. “OK, that’s enough for now. She’s not even trying anymore.”

They stopped, then turned towards the door.

One of them waved her off, dismissing her as a lost cause. “Better send this one back to the lab…” he quipped as the metal door unlocked and swung open again, allowing them to make their exit.

The others were chuckling as they left the room, then Fluttershy distinctly heard one of them say: “She’s cute though…we could keep her around for sucking dick…”

The others roared with laughter, which was quickly silenced by the door swinging shut and locking again.

Fluttershy slowly brought herself up to a seated position, leaning back against the wall as she brought her knees up to her chest and hugged her legs with her arms. She rested her head on her knees and cried quietly to herself in the cold steel room. She wondered if this was going to be her life now…stuck in this cold, ugly place with these sick people, not knowing what they might do to her next. She missed her friends, her house in the woods, her lovers, her animal shelter…all of it had been stripped from her, leaving her in a prison of cold dark violence.

“You might as well stay in here.” Stubz said over the speaker. “I don’t feel like putting all your restraints back on just to have you sit in a different empty room. You’ll be back in here again before you know it anyway.”

She lifted her head, slightly relieved that she wasn’t going to be chained up again, but then her sorrow was amplified again by the sound of a heavy switch being flipped, which plunged the room in total darkness.

Fluttershy put her head back down to her knees and proceeded to fill the darkness with the sound of her soft voice wailing as she cried out loud to herself, hoping that one day she might be free from this place…to see the light of day once again.

Author's Notes:

I hated writing this chapter, just so y'all know. Yes, it's dark, but hang in there...I promise the payoff will be fucking tremendous.