Puppets on strings (r)

William Stryker stood before the girl chained in the cell. He had ordered the chains. That young man Isaac may think he had things under control, but he didnt know nightwolf like Stryker did. 

He was becoming frustrated with the girl. The trigger scent was working too well. She had an unbreakable devotion to that fool. Or so she thought. Everything could be broken with the right leverage. He just had to find it. 

He grabbed her by the chin and yanked it up so that their eyes met. "You are mine you little bitch. Not his. So unless you want to join the headmistress of the school you better start cooperating." He was refering to the dead mermaid in the detetion center morgue at that very moment. The delicate woman wasn't as strong as her wolfy student it appeared.

Loika's arms were chained at the wrists and behind her back at a painful angle. Anytime she tried to pull or at least rest her arms a few times and everytime it hurt. 

She had been losing more and more of herself the longer she had been under Isaac's control. He was the only thing in her world now. Memories of mack and Peter and all of thier friends were faded and almost gone. If she stayed under much longer there would be nothing left. 

She looked stryker in the eyes and a few memories came back. Memories of her with a big belly. In one she was relaxing by a pool with a blond woman. The woman's laugh was infectious. She waved to a couple of guys in the pool and the guys waved back. 

Something in loika snapped and she snarled. In a lightning fast movement she jerked her chin free of his hand and bit down on it hard. The rush of blood into her mouth only fed her inner predator more. She was clamped down on his hand like a vice.

Stryker yowled when the mongrel bit him. How dare she? That filth. She was only showing how much of an animal she was. Humans could be reasoned with. Animals could not. 

He brought his free hand up and backhanded her hard then pulled his hand free. "Lexi!teach this this beast a lesson! I need to bandage this up before it becomes infected!" He stormed out of the cell angrily while blood dripped from his hand.

Lexi stood outside of the cell with her arms folded over her chest. She wanted a smoke but Stryker had her on a short leash. She felt like his personal assistant anymore. This wasnt the worst job though.


Click. 


With a flick of her wrist she extended her riot stick and strode into the cell with purpose. She noted the bite on her boss' hand on her way in. She probably would have done the same. 


This was her job. And she was good at it. A mutant was put in its place and she could let off some steam. And letting off some steam was just what the doctor ordered. She started to beat the mutant mercilessly with her riot stick.

Peter was just few cells down the hall. He couldn't see Loika, but he knew she was there. Many different players, are now were running the show. Whatever happened to that bitch Scarlett? Nothing made sense anymore, but he knew where the woman started swinging her stick, it made Peter sick on the inside. 

His pent up anger was all he needed to scream out for them to stop.

"HEY!" yelled Peter in anger. "WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE, I WILL PERSONALLY MAKE SURE YOUR FUCKING HEAD IS DISPLAYED TO THE PUBLIC!" Peter knew that his threats were empty words and behind these bars, he was nothing more than just a caged animal. Tears began to form in his eyes. He felt helpless. 

Why was it always them who got the bad end of the stick? Why couldn't they leave his family alone?

Loika barely felt the backhand. It took alot more than that to take her down. She was living proof of it. Stryker wasnt the only one that was good at cheating death. Shed done it more times than she could count. She couldnt really count them now because she had no memory of her past. Everything pre- Isaac was gone.

Loika wished Isaac would come and stop this. He was the boss. She trusted him. When he found out what they did, they would be in big trouble big time.

Every strike to Loika's body was painful. At first she didnt make much noise but this lexi girl was smart. She didnt hit in the same spot too much. Didnt give the tissue a chance to harden up. Her cries of pain echoed through the cell block.


She heard the man's voice and it sounded familiar. The beating seemed to fade away as she very fuzzily remembered two people arguing. The girl was pregnant and the guy was yelling at her. The girl was yelling back but she was crying.


Loika lifted her head and looked in the direction of Peter's cell and whispered, "Peter?"

"Loika," Peter whispered back. He was so very tired from lack of sleep and constant gnawing thought of what if. There was no hope for him, he was too exhausted from screaming and feeling helpless. Every time they found some peace and quiet, someone always destroyed their lives. Where was Mackie? Who was watching her? 

What if she was dead? What if someone killed his precious baby? Peter leaned against the wall and slid down with his head inside his hands. He was dirty, tired, hungry, and just wanted to let out some steam on someone. Is this the future that awaited them both? Were they so cursed that no one would be able to save them? 

Peter looked up at the wall in front of him. "Loika."

Lexi stopped hitting the wolf girl when she spoke the man's name. " You want to go visit your friend huh? Lets go then." She was sweaty from working the wolf girl over so hard.

She put her riot stick away and unchained Loika from the wall. She could have given her food or water. She could have done the right and human thing. But she didn't. Instead she drug her down to the cell of the metal man.

She dragged the broken and bleeding wolf girl into his cell and grabbed her hair roughly, forcing her head up to look at Peter. " I'll make you a little deal. You kill him and make it look like an accident and i'll make sure you see your precious Isaac by the end of the day. Sound like a deal?"

Peter raced to the bars of his cell with eagerness to see Loika. She might have been a strong woman than, but now, she was just a broken girl. Like the one that showed up to school of Xavier's a long time ago. He didn't know who the woman was that was dragging her around, but Peter knew without a doubt that she would have to die. He would personally see to it himself. 

"Loika," whispered Peter, trying to force his arm between the bar to reach out to his wife. But he couldn't. He couldn't touch Loika despite his best efforts. "Loika, Loika..." continued Peter. 

Seeing her in the state that she was just tore his apart on the inside. He wanted to hurt others so bad. And Peter knew that he would get too much enjoyment out of watching these people burn and suffer. The weary boy looked up at the strange, blonde woman. 

"Please, whatever you decided to do withe her, please let me be the one." pleaded Peter. "Please, just don't hurt her anymore."

Loika was beat to hell. A swollen eye, split lip, fractured cheekbone. That was just her face. The rest of her was bruised and bloody. She looked at peter and there was no recognition in her eyes that she knew Peter. Thanks to the drug Isaac had given her, everything before the drug was a faded memory. She was able to fight it at first, but the longer it was in her system the more she was loosing herself. Isaac was the only thing of importance now. 

She seemed to perk up at the mention of isaac's name. "I want to believe you...but you are lying. You wont bring me to isaac and you wont bring him to me. You would have me kill someone i dont know for no reason?" It was the most she had said in months. 

The wolf girl was smart. She saw right through lexi. Lexi would never actually make good on letting her see her beloved Isaac. 

Her curiosity shifted to the situation at hand. Their intel had been right. The faelith girl had a past relationship with the Jackson boy. It was so juicy seeing this mutant grovel and plead for a woman that barely remembered her own name. 

"Oh its so much more fun beating her. She can't die like you can. I could do this for days if i wanted. Besides, Stryker wants intel from her. Now you." She pulled Loika's hair hard again. "Ain't that right sweetie. Sorry boy, but thanks to the trigger spray Isaac used on her, she doesn't do or say much without his approval. She don't even remember you."

All was lost t Peter. 

Everything he remembered, knew, loved, cared about was simply torn away from him. Like a baby taken from her mother. He was finished. Is this how how Peter was supposed to die? Is this the future that awaited him. Peter didn't have long life, if he was going to die he wanted to do it by fighting and not sitting in a cage like an animal. 

"Please..." Peter wiped tears from his eyes. "Please, just let her go." Peter knew well that Loika had no recollection of him. Maybe it was meant to be maybe he was never meant to have a peaceful life like the others. He felt powerless, weak, torn, defeated. There was no hope left in him.

Lexi shook her head and dragged Loika back to her cell. She looked skinny but she had more strength than one thought. She easily dragged yhe docile girl. She was a lion tamer and all these beasts her lions. "Sorry Jackson no can do. She is Isaac's pet. I can beat her but If i were to let her go, I'd be dead before morning."

She returned to the beating after Loika was chained up. When it became boring she turned the lights off and left.

Peter was loosing his chance of ever seeing Loika again. "No, no, no, wait..." said Peter racing to the bars and grabbing them. At that same moment, he received a shock from the bars electricity, but he didn't care. He was going to hold on as long as he could to get her attention. Peter didn't even know who the lady was to begin with.

"Wait, you can't...you can't..." said Peter. The shock was so great he was forced to let go and was thrown back into his cell. Dark and cold box from where he was probably never going to emerge. 

Will there ever be a happy end to his life or will Peter remain in chains, bound to his masters? Peter couldn't speak anymore. He was torn and broken. All he could do was wait in hopes of someone maybe rescuing them. It was all over. 

Lights went off and the blanket of darkness covered him.