As my body begins to materialise so do my thoughts. Every adrift memory, thought or idea that became lost to me in the mere few seconds it took to travel through the tubes returns with a vengenance. The disorientated mess of my brain scrambles over one particular face.

Iron.

Do I tell Ally I saw him? Do I make it even more difficult for her to leave him? Do I sacrifice my happiness for my friend's?

I feel abominable as my gut instinct insists that I keep quiet.

"She doesn't need to know" Jared's voice within my mind whispers. I whimper softly.

What makes me panic even more is that the recurring memory flashes glimpses of Warriors - hundreds of Warriors all lined up behind him in single file; ordered, structured and powerful. They're coming.

A rescue team for the rescue team - how ironic.

With my thoughts in line, my eyes open, I'm ready for the view of the Sicarii base.

Yet when my eyes open I do not expect what I see. My heart lurches into my throat and my hands press upon the suffocating tube, leaving wet finger prints against the glass. My breaths scratch upon the dry surface of my tongue, making each breath more laboured and shallower than before.

Before stands a black room lit up with the neon blue lights of control pads, computers and thousands of Letos. I turn my head to the right to see Kyle staring on, panic seeps from his widened eyes and dropped jaw.

Hoping to maintain a low profile is now out of the question. We've landed directly within the heart of the Sicarii as if we purposefully meant to throw ourselves in the middle of the spider's web.

The tubes are on an elevated platform above the central floor of the vast room. In some way it looks similar to the centre of the STO block. As I peer closer, I note that the computers, the desks, the enormous screens upon the walls are all set out in an indentical fashion to the one of the STO. The flashing blue lights create an eery, secretive aura that raises the hairs on my arms. The three large screens that are set in triangle formation around the sphere chamber display smaller screens upon them; each one alternating between videos of what I presume are different areas within the Sicarii base. My eyes flick between each of the videos, searching for Jared in every one. None of them strike a nerve.

Before us stand a crowd of Sicarii, all dressed in black, their outfits similar to our own. Despite the situation I find my head nodding in disgust - they really cannot think of anything for themselves. The two faces I despise most stand at the front of the V-formation; the Leto Rex and the Auctor. The Leto Rex smiles eerily at me and I can now see why. His shoulder is raised so that his hand grips tightly onto Ally's shoulder as if she'll escape at any moment.

I curse, carefully slide the dagger that I've held poised in my hand into a pocket of my suit.

I shrink back against the walls of the tube. I can't hear them, they can't hear me. My head turns to glance at Kyle who stares back at me in equal stupor. What are we supposed to do? This was not part of the plan. I turn back to face the Leto before us. If we go out, they'll kill us or lock us up but we cannot turn back now. My eyes wander to Ally's, desperately searching for some help no matter how useless. She's done her part.

Yet as our eyes meet, I notice that she deliberately looks done before refocusing on me again. She repeats this a few times before I catch on and look down. Discreetly, her fingers curl and then relax, signalling for me to come out of the tube. Her face remains nonchalant; she's Leto. My heart pounds as my fingers trace the latch on the door. If I unlatch this and climb out, I don't just open the door. I surrender myself to the Leto.

No matter whether Kyle and I can fight, the number of Letos would simply overpower us.

I turn to Kyle and nod my head forward. He stills, processing my actions and the consequences before he nods his head in agreement.

Carefully and slowly, I unlatch the door and step out of my security blanket. My boots shuffle awkwardly against the blacked floor. If it wasn't for the blue lights lining the pathway to the Tube, no doubt I would have fallen.

As I stare back to the Tubes, a thought occurs to me. If the Sicarii have these Tubes than why have't they already attacked the STO?

The silent stare off begins. I pull my shoulders back and my wie stance emanate power and authority, not the nervous wreck that I really am.

"Lara Hall, you've finally arrived" The silence is broken by the Leto Rex. I haven't missed the monotonous tone that makes my arms quiver and my breaths rattle.

I swallow, trying to provide my throat with moisture. "Leto Rex" My voice comes out shaky and rasped. I clear my throat. "An honour to be within your prescence once more" Sarcasm drips from my tone as I smile sweetly at the Rex.

"That is enough talking. Take Lara Hall and Kyle Hicks to the dungeons and make sure they are secured" The Leto Rex commands. Besides him, a ghost of a smile traces its way onto the mouth of the Auctor. I shudder. His eyes fall to my hip and my immediately flies protectively to the scar. When he raises his eyes to meet mine once more, they seem more alive than most humans...with fire and a very evident distaste.

Then again, according to him I should be dead.

I puzzle over how he seems so...emotional for a Leto before I remember that he isn't just a Leto or a Sicarii; he is a Mendosus. In fact, all the major leaders of the Sicarii are. The rest are just Letos, made to follow because of their loyalty to the Leto Rex.

I'm still eyeing up the Auctor and Leto Rex crudely as a few Letos march towards me and grab a hold of either arm. Swiftly they yank back my arms, causing me to yelp as my limbs bend at an unfamiliar angle. My wrists are bound and I'm pushed forward.

My head turns to see their carting Kyle along behind me. He gives nothing away in his face yet his grey eyes are burning and if the Sicarii get too close, they will get burned.

I sigh as I'm dragged forward. This is not how things were supposed to work out.

As we move forward, my eyes flicker up to the screen. My eyes almost bulge as I catch sight of the flashes of video.

It's him, talking to another man in a small room. His fists are clenched, his hair is been shaved close to his head and he's dressed in the Sicarii uniform. His brown eyes sparkle and he looks strong. The video suddenly alternates to show another location.

"Jared" I yell. The video of him flicks back onto the screen and I swear that I see Jared's head cock as if he truly heard me.

I scream for him again and this time the picture definitely shows Jared's head turning as if he heard me; that means he must be close. The picture switches to the other location as I begin to thrash against the restraining arms of the two Sicarii holding me.

I continue to yell and scream and struggle until I feel a sharp needle being inserted into my arm. The effect is immediate as my eyelids fight the fatigue the drug causes until eventually my surroundings fall away from me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I awaken, my head feels groggy and my eyes blink open. My wrists and ankle are notably denser than before as I peer down to see they're encased in thick metal cuffs. The chains that hang off my wrists, trail to the floor before returning to their source of attachment at the wall. The chain on my foot travels down to meet a solid metal ball. It looks from the medieval age.

However as I stand up and try and drag my arms away from the wall and strain the chain on my foot, I find they are highly effective as I cannot move.

"Don't bother, they're solid" I hear Kyle's voice. My attention is lost by the chains as I find Kyle in a cell opposite, with two barred walls and a corridor separating our cells. The cold, dark cells are identical with no furniture or decoration. The only source of light comes from a high window right at the top of each cell. Like the walls, its also barred. The smell of urine causes me to crinkle my nose in disgust; I find the source is a small bowl in the left corner. Kyle shakes his head in derision as he notice me staring around.

"Quaint isn't it?" He scoffs. "They've even put out dishes of water to make sure our stay is as pleasant as possible" He shakes his head again, the disgust evident on his face. Sure enough, in the right corner just close enough so that I can reach is a shiny bowl with a meagre amount of water in it.

Like me, he's chained to the wall and by his right foot.

"They cuffed my ankle too tightly" He scowls. "It hurts like a bitch"

I smile sympathetically, unable to come up with a suitable response.

"How long have we been here?"

"A few hours I guess" Kyle shrugs. "The leader came in while you were still knocked out. I pretended to be asleep as well"

"Did he say anything?"

"He said something like 'the broken heart is the most effective method for these humans'. I didn't really understand what he meant by that though" He says. He shifts his leg and lets out a slight groan.

"How tight is it?" I ask.

"Too tight, far too tight" He grimaces.

I realise that this is the most verbal he's been since I met him. Though it may be because our mission has gone to pieces. There is nothing to focus on anymore.

"What are we supposed to do now?" I ask. I'm heavily concious of the pressing weight of both the chains on my limbs and the urgency to get to Jared. What confuses me most is that in the shot I saw of him on the screen, he looked strong and healthy. He didn't appear to be weak and tortured as I feared he might.

But then again, he is a Torpen now.

And soon I will be as well.

"I don't know" Kyle sighs defeatedly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Days pass and no one comes. No Jared, no Ally, no rescue team, not even the Leto Rex. Nightmares riddle my mind every time I try and fall asleep. With the Auctor so close, I'm only reminded of the incident that happened on the Leto ship so long ago.

I wake up dripping in sweat and screaming. Only Kyle's comforting croons eventually calm me. They are the only times we make contact now; he's become the stony, silent man he was upon our first meeting.

My skin hugs closer to my limbs until its stretched taut. I feel weak from the lack of food and dehydration of receiving only minimal amounts of water. I wouldn't even be able to stand up and fight a Leto at the moment, no matter how predictable their patterns are. I suppose these feelings of being feeble and powerless is how Carlisle must feel.

With the cancer popping up like flashing red signs all over his body, I know that in all honesty that he has little time. What if I'm not there? What if I don't come back in time? What if I don't come back, full stop?

My thoughts are interrupted as the creaky door to cell swings open and a Leto brings in fresh bowl of water. He places it on the floor about a metre in front of me before getting up and locking the door.

'He never forgets to lock it.' I think begrudgingly.

I scramble forward and grasp at the bowl, greedily lapping up all the water. Every time the water comes, I warn myself to be prudent and save some of it. However as soon as the refreshing liquid touches my tongue, I find that I'm unable to tear away the bowl until I've emptied it. My parched throat is consistently unsatisfied.

One thought that has been rolling around in my head continously is that Jared would know I'm here. No doubt the Leto Rex would have used my prescence to torture him mentally seeing as they don't seem to be hurting him physically. On the screen it appeared as if he heard me call his name. So why has he not come?

'Because he's a Torpen' A nasty voice in the back of my head whispers. I shift uncomfortably at the thought.

I haven't lost control of my body since we got here. But then again, I have had little to no contact with anybody. I've been too exhausted to be angry.

I gasp. Angry. I need to be angry. I need to be Torpen.

"Kyle" I hiss, shifting so I'm as close to my bars as possible.

In the shadows of his cells, I see Kyle twitch in his sleep. His foot rests upon the top of the ball and chain. Despite the dim lighting, I can spot the red, swollen skin that emerges from under the cuff.

"Kyle" I raise my voice to just above normal. Still Kyle does not stir.

"Kyle" I try again, this time much too loudly. I wince as my voice echoes throughout the silent prison. This time, Kyle awakes with a grunt. As no Leto appears, I heave a sigh of relief.

"What do you want Lara?" Kyle asks irritably. He's just as exhausted as me from the lack of nutrition.

"Make me angry" I say, my voice brimming with excitement.

"What?"

"I said make me angry" I repeat hurriedly.

"Why?" Kyle says, sitting up straight. He hunches over and leans on his knees.

"I'm turning Torpen. When I get angry, I black out - I can't control my actions. Torpens are strong and I bet I could free myself of these chains so make me furious" I say excitedly.

"Furious?" Kyle repeats.

"Absolutely raging" I nod my head.

"Ok" Kyle says, sounding a little unsure. "How am I supposed to make you so angry that you will burst through metal"

"The most effective methods have normally been when someone talks about Jared, my sister Izzy or how useless I am" I shrug.

"You have a sister?"

"No" I say hurriedly. I must not let my emotions get the best of me and haze. "Try Jared"

Kyle rolls his eyes and huffs. "Ok, but you've got to promise me you won't hold any of this against me afterwards"

"I promise"

"Ok here we go then. Lara maybe the reason Jared hasn't come to find you is because he doesn't even care for you" Kyle says nonchalantly.

I feel my skin prickle.

"He probably won't even want to be with you because you're useless" He continues.

I feel my anger begin to bubble within me. My eyes narrow on Kyle's focused grey eyes.

"You're not even a very good Warrior and you cannot fight nearly as well as Iron, Nathan or me. You only have the number two spot because people seem to think you provide hope and inspiration for a life without the Leto. They dond't really need you."

His finaly comment sparks off the reaction. My mind and my body is taken from me. Yet for once I don't fight against it. The process is much quicker this time.

I wait and I wait. Time must move on but I have no indication of the measure.

When I finally feel my body returning to my control, it's a welcome sensation until I feel the cold metal burning into my bloody palms.

I twist around. It appears as if I managed to not only break out of my chains but also out of my cell. Stray metal bars lie scattered on the floor and my chains are in pieces. I flex my wrist and ankle, sighing in pleasure at the relief of them being freed. Kyle sits in the same position he was before.

"Impressive" He says.

"Why didn't the guard come?" I ask.

"You were very quiet" He says. "It was quite scary. Now go and retrieve the keys for mine from the guard"

I nod and withdraw my dagger from my suit. Placing my steps carefully, I creep quietly down the corridor; my boots don't make one sound against the black tiles.

Black seems to be the colour of the Sicarii...and of the STO.

As I round the corner, I poke one eye round. The Guard sits at a desk, typing away at a computer. I hear the keys jingle from his belt every time he taps his fingers against the keyboard. If you entered from the door that leads into the dungeons, it would seem as if this was some kind of swanky office. It would only be when you rounded the corner that you realised quite how different the situation was.

Taking a deep breath, I spring out from behind the corner. The Guard is on his feet immediately. I note with a sense of glee that he has no weapon. Clearly the Leto Rex did not think that there would be an escape any time soon.

With a quick punch to the face and a kick to the stomach the Sicarii goes down. I shake out my fist as the pain registers. I kneel down to grab the keys off the belt. I smile with satisfaction as I swing the keys around on my fingers. That was surprisingly easy.

I draw myself back to my normal height and turn around until a hand clamps down on my ankle. The Sicarii snarls and I realise that his actions were a ploy. He tugs me down hard so I'm on the floor, level with him.

"You can't win. Give up now" The Sicarii growls.

"Never" I say, lunging for him.