Headquarters::Location Unknown::Mega and Macon

[_into_the_fray_]

Roger and Aaron tried to walk next to Macon as they moved through town, leaving the Zapper HQ together and trying to look as if they simply blended into their surroundings. Leading Macon through town to their quiet headquarters on the outskirts, Aaron entered the building first. Melvin stood in the foyer with a clipboard, talking to a few Technos,

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[_mega_]

Mega stood with his back to the doorway, standing with his heels 12 inches apart, legs straight but not stiff. His hands where behind his back, at the small of his back, elbows bent, and his hands were folded together, palms outward, right hand in the palm of his left, right thumb over the left, forming an X. His head was straight, thought his shoulders slumped forward naturally, and he was silent and immobile. His eyes seemed as if they were trained on the monitors in front of him, watching the quiet streets, no one was fighting anywhere, not color war kids, not virts, nothing. His right hand lifted simply and he snapped, a silent command set in place long before the arrival of Macon.

Three large Technos came forward and grasped Macon, one under each arm, the third grabbing his legs at the knees. He was backed up into a tall black chair, formerly used for testing subjects with the reality space units. Once Macon was thrust into the chair, rather forcefully and in the blink of an eye, the Techno men went to work, strapping him down, his legs, his arms, his hands, his hips, tightly.

[_zappers_]

Macon waited uncomfortably for Mega to speak, his eyes shifting around, the silence almost unbearable. He didn't know what was in store for him, but the silence of Mega was never a good sign. Macon briefly contemplated making a run for it, Mega and his band of psychotic Technos could do some rather scary stuff, as Macon had witnessed and experienced for himself in the past, but he knew he'd never make it out of the front door. Macon knew how this worked, and he also wasn't a pansy, he would take whatever was given to him and he'd survive. Mega needed him, he wouldn't throw him away, there was no way he could train a new person to replace him, and that fact helped Macon keep his cool.

His blood pressure shot up as he was attacked, thrust into a chair and strapped down before he could blink, struggling against his restraints. "Wait, what?!" Macon struggled again, "Mega, come on man, it's not that bad, I mean, what...what's going on man? Don't..talk to me man, come on, it's Macon, I'm Macon," he spoke quickly, frightened, the silence was even scarier now and he felt his heart racing with anticipation.

[_mega_]

Mega listened, returning to his parade rest position, one hand folded into the other, a military stance taught to all Technos. He could feel the anger fuming inside of him, but his voice came out evenly, finally, after a few more minutes of silence and Macon's frightened whinging. "Shut up Macon," he told him smoothly, not turning, as if he wasn't good enough to have Mega face him. "I know who you are, you incompetent idiot," Mega finally turned, but his face kept it's steely gaze, not looking at Macon, "You know, the best way to maintain control of a city is to fill it with fear, but not to actually give it anything to fear. Fear of the unknown is quite a tool, and you," he walked towards the boy, circling the chair, "you have messed that up," he stopped and bent over to look the boy directly in the face.

"You have one of your Tribe members running around the city wildly, killing the Stingrays. How am I supposed to maintain control over the city with a color war if one side is being killed? How can I rehabilitate those that your members take down if they aren't using TGuns to do it? You don't know, of course you don't know, DON'T TALK!" Mega stood before the boy now, at the foot of the chair, glaring, his arms crossing across his chest. "Then, in a test of my patience," the words were coming out harshly now, stern, spat at him as if they tasted quite foul, "you traipse down to the Mall and confront the City Leader. If you give her faces and names, then you ruin that whole "fear of the unknown" thing we had going on," Mega made small finger air quotes as he spoke, now shaking his head. "Macon, Macon, I think you have forgotten your station with us here. You can't get your rewards if you don't follow the plans, Macon," Mega snapped his fingers, another silent command for one of his specific Technos. "I think Mr. Line here will help you to remember your place with us, where you belong, and why what you did was a very, bad, thing," his tone ended condescendingly, as if he was talking to a five year old. He moved away from Line and Macon in the chair, taking a seat in his computer chair and waiting passively for the lesson to begin.

[_into_the_fray_]

The man tied to the chair before him was the first thing Line noticed upon entering the room. His trademark rolling metal cart was pushed forward effortlessly in front of him before coming to an abrupt halt. It wasn't hard to tell through the thin mask of anger the young man strapped to the chair was wearing that the boy was clearly scared. The knowledge of that fact was certainly welcome and would have made Line smile, that is...if he was one for smiling. A pair of surgical gloves were taken out of a small plain white box that was sitting atop the cart. Under normal circumstances he would have brought something to munch on during one of his jobs but in his haste to gather the necessary materials he'd overlooked his noon-day snacks. It was unfortunate, but he could wait. There were plenty of things stashed away in the lab at any rate. He practically lived there now-a-days anyway.

The sound of a glove snapping onto his left hand followed seconds later by the right filled the uneasy quiet of the room as Line turned his full attention to the boy who he'd been informed went by Macon. A syringe was already laid out, ready for use and Line took no additional time for introductions as he walked behind the bound man. "I've been told you've been..." His free hand went to lift the back of the boys shirt up just enough to give him access to his lower spine. "causing a bit of a problem lately." Without warning Line injected the needle into the proper location just briefly brushing over it first with a disposable sterilizing pad. "I'm here to make sure you don't have that problem anymore."

It wouldn't take long. Judging by the boys size, approximate weight and projected mental state...maybe 38 seconds. "I've just paralyzed you from the waist down. Which means you won't be making any more trips down to the mall I'm afraid. At least, not in the usual way." Line looked back to his cart, completely unphased by the news he'd just given the scared man. The serum would wear off in a matter of about 2 hours, give or take, depending on his his body reacted to the drug, but there was no reason to tell him that. Line wanted him to think that he'd just permanently taken away his ability to walk. And now, he was going to make him think he was going to permanently take away the use of his eyes as well.

[_zappers_]

As Mega walked around him, not looking at him, Macon felt a strap being wrapped around his shoulders, holding him back against the chair, then one across his forehead as well, he was imobilized, whatever moving he did do only hurt him as the straps, pulled as tightly as they could be, seemed to cut into his skin. He could barely breathe, he didn't know if this was from the straps, or from his fear. His skin prickled with nerves, standing up in little bumps, and he shuddered.

In an effort to explain himself, he babbled out an excuse about Jordan being crazy and how he would deal with him the moment he caught him, but Mega shot back with an angry tone he had only used once on Macon before. Once, before someone had done horrible things to him. The sound he heard next horrified and chilled him to the bone, that squeaky push cart, and then, his face, the one that sometimes haunted his dreams. "No! Please, not Line, please," he cried out in fear, he had lost all of his strength at the one sight that could freeze blood, the sight of Line and his little cart.

The snap of gloves sent that chill up Macon's spine again, and he blinked a few times, hoping this was only a dream, oh god, let it be a dream! When Line came at him and lifted his shirt, he tried to squirm again but found it impossible, "Please! Don't hurt me, Mega, please, I won't do it again, come on man, I swear, I know my place, no," he held his breath as the needle pierced his skin without warning and the area burned, spreading warmth and then nothing through his lower extremities. "Oh god, no," he whimpered in a quiet tone, his eyes tearing up, was he really paralyzed? Oh...oh god, he ...he was going to die, wasn't he? He was too afraid to ask questions, almost in shock, and his eyes kind of glazed over and he watched listlessly, waiting for whatever would come next, hoping the death would be swift and painless.

[_into_the_fray_]

The pleas coming from the strapped down boy were absolutely saturated with fear. Line heard them day in and day out, and had there ever been a time when cries for mercy had moved him, it could be said that time had desensitized him to it all. As it was, the pleading of another human being moved him about as much as cold macaroni and cheese. The cries of another were only sounds to him.

The next readied vial contained an exceptionally dark cloudy liquid, and Line wasted no time in retrieving it off the cart. He stared hard at it for a few seconds as if checking for something he wanted to make sure wasn't there. Satisfied with what he saw, Line made his way back over to the visibly shaken young man with syringe in hand and without so much as another word to him, quickly sterilized his right temple. He had made it a point to begin sterilizing those places he intended to use a syringe on while in Mega's presence. He got the unmistakable impression Mega preferred him do it that way, and keeping Mega happy usually boded well for his research projects.

The vial was placed in a relatively small syringe but the needle attached to the end was abnormally large in both length and width. If anything, it looked more like what a veterinarian would use for a large farm animal. As it happened, that was precisely its original intent, but trial and error had uncovered other uses for the needle as well. It could only be used at certain points on the body, but in regards to those it could be used on, it never failed to produce an extraordinary amount of highly localized but overwhelming degree of pain. Taking the now used sterilization pad, Line reached into his jean pocket with one hand and tucked it away. "Since you find it so hard not to go looking for trouble," Line placed the tip of the needle firm up against the boys head, letting him feel the coldness of the sharp metal for a moment before administering the shot. "I'm going to help you with that problem as well." The needle plunged into the panicked boy's temple with expert precision, barely breaking through the tough material to get to the softer inside. It was always tricky to get it just right. You had to break through the thin bone or nothing would happen, go too far, and you risk killing whoever you're trying to blind. Line stopped just as he found the spot he needed, pleased that the straps were doing their job and he woudn't have to compensate for the boy's thrashing.

The effects were instantaneous, and as soon as the liquid had been administered Line could tell just by glancing into the young man's eyes that he couldn't see a thing. Fear. Overwhelming fear was the only thing evident in the boys eyes that could no longer see anything more than darkness. "Your eyes are dying, for lack of a better word. As the nerve endings disintegrate one by one, you might feel a burning sensation at the back of your eyes." Line knew as he was saying it that the affects were already taking place. The horribly painful process tended to last at least 14 minutes before finally subsiding. As an added benefit, the sudden blindness tended to make the feeling all the more stronger as there was little else to focus on except the pain and knowing exactly what it was doing. What he had told Macon was true, but not the whole truth. The serum did exactly as he said but an added compound triggered regeneration as well. It was time sensitive however, and would only react after the half-life of the original compound decayed. Line had found that he could administer the regenerative compound up to 34 minutes after destroying someone's eyes but discovered that simply combining the two saved some time.

Line walked back over to his cart and calmly set down the metal instrument, looking over his items for something that seemed to be alluding him. "I hear you've got quite a mouth on you too."

[_mega_]

Mega preferred not to interfere in situations such as this, and though he generally did not watch Line perform his little sessions on the prisoners, he was rather enjoying this one. Perhaps it was because he was so disenchanted with Macon, and he would be full of anger, if he let himself feel emotion. He felt it, deep down inside of course, but Mega had long ago convinced himself that turning off his emotions was the best way to deal with everything. He sat in his computer chair, watching with great passive interest as Line explained more of what he was doing, injecting something into the boys temple. This would have made any regular man cringe, and a couple of the Technos standing behind Macon's chair at parade rest sort of flinched and squinted their eyes together, but Mega just watched, as if it was some boring soap opera.

Mega took great perverse pleasure in the whimpering pleas coming from Macon and the pop that sounded when Line made him lose his sight, what a horrible thing to do to a person. Mega knew that Line was not really doing any of this to Macon, only making him believe it, because in the end Mega still hoped that Macon would find his station in their hierarchy and get back to his place. Of course, if he didn't seem worthy of wasting more time on, a lost cause, Mega had no qualms about deleting him either.

Mega put his elbows on the arm rests of the chair and put his forefingertips together, resting them against his lower lip, his other fingers clasped together, his thumbs under his chin, his eyes focused on the way Macon's eyes clouded over, waiting for him to come out of the initial shock and give some kind of reaction, hopefully a loud one that would remind everyone of their station in this world.

[_zappers_]

Macon sat still with fear as the needle was pressed against the side of his head, he was not seriously going to put that in his skull? Make him go blind? It worked so quickly he almost wondered if it wasn't all in his head, a suggestion, maybe the pain had confused him, and he blinked a few times, waiting for his vision to come back. When it didn't, he began to moan low in the back of his throat, almost a whine, waiting, whimpering, and then the burning did in fact happen, sharply, and he began to cry.

Macon was the toughest man he knew, he was the leader of the Zappers, and here he was, lowered down to less than a man, a boy, a wuss. It was as if he was not in control of anything anymore, he couldn't feel his legs, he couldn't see, and the burning was intense, and as it increased, he began to cry louder, until it became a wail, imploring those around him, "Please help me! No more, please, Mega! MEGA? Stop him!" Macon didn't even want to begin to imagine what he was going to do to him next, cut out his tongue maybe, they were torturing him to death, "Just delete me," he cried out, "get it over with, make it stop!"

[_into_the_fray_]

[OOC:Continued HERE.]