Honeymoon In Hell

[Desman Black]

Desman couldn’t even remember the last time he had slept alone. It left him on edge, tossing and turning throughout the ‘night, well, at least the bits after Ash fell asleep, before that they were happily just talking like they were back at the hotel in their own private room. It went like any other conversation the two would have, Ash, teasing him, Des getting flustered, he even managed to find out what a kama-sutra was. One moment they were having a hushed conversation, the next he could hear only her breathing.

He laid there, just listening to her breath, wishing he could at least sleep beside her.

It didn’t take a genius to see the insomnia wasn’t of any help to him in the morning though. He’d had flopped around the ‘bed’ so much and so hard he was afraid he’d wake Ash and eventually fell silent while staring at the metal surface of the prison he was in. He made observations of his cage all night - like the claw marks on the ‘ceiling’ - but if it wasn’t for the guard coming in and literally dragging him out he probably would’ve stayed on the floor all day despite how disgusting, hard, and moldy it may be. “Ash…” he said weakly, reaching out as he was dragged away from the medium-sized cages slowly, all he could manage was a whisper in this state - his throat was tight from not talking while she slept. It was unlikely she, or anyone else for that matter, heard him.


They reached their destination in no time at all, or at least in Desman’s eyes it wasn’t, he had finally managed to take that quick nap before he woke up there. The sleep wasn’t much, but it was enough to help him at least a little bit… He lacked the focus that was required to catch what the instructor had to say, so he missed all of that… “You get all that because I’m not repeating it again.”

“Ah-uh” Des lied sleepily, he didn’t mean to, it's just he hadn’t fully comprehended what was happening.

“Good!” The big red and muscular demon responded, not bothering to acknowledge the sleepless tone in the human’s voice, the oblivious tone the human answered him with, or any other obvious signs that Desman had indeed not been listening. Personally, he didn’t care. “Now get out there and fight!”

Before Desman could do anything the guard from before was already roughly pushing him to the coliseum door, Des knew that a quick flick either way could easily have broken his arm so he didn’t argue, even after he was let go...


What he set his eyes upon when he was released, however, wasn’t very grand. It was relatively creepy, actually. About the height of Desman himself(human, not robot), the upside-down drop-like creature just stared unblinkingly at him, not moving, just staring. Desman assumed by the surrounding 9-foot walls that protected the potential bystanders that crowded around to see w he was meant to fight, but he wasn’t prepared to have to be the one to have to attack first.

Awkward...

Moving up to the creature hadn’t provoked any response either, it just stayed there, staring through the human’s very soul with its bloodshot eyes. Circling around the creature didn’t help either as it just rotated effortlessly like it wasn’t even attached to the ground.

Something nudged at the back of the no longer robot’s mind like something was watching him. Waiting. Eventually, that part of him snapped and just went ‘fuck it’, and had his charge at the creature with uncharacteristically bold action. Only then did this nightmarish creature finally respond to him, tentacles bursting out of the ground and raced to attack him slamming force.

Desman was quick to defend himself, blocking the tentacles by making his arms into an ‘X’ shape. The impact hurt Desman way more then he thought he would, it stung immensely as he wobbled back. It wasn’t a big stumble, just enough to indicate he was surprised, that is if this thing could recognize emotion. Unknownst to him, large bruises would form on the flesh he’d defended with.

“Hey!” Desman said, trying to build up some banter, maybe if this thing was intelligent he could distract it or find patterns in its attacks. Course he could do that anyway, it was just easier when they spoke. “So, what are you down here for?” He clearly was out of practice…

The only reaction this got was an attempted, instinctual, and completely angry bludgeoning to the face. Long tendrils of red and black flung towards him with impressive speeds. Luckily Desman managed to avoid it by bending backward in an epic dodge, not unlike the movies with their special effects. Unfortunately, though, this left him open for the next attack, a beam of light purple circles, sounding like a siren under water. It hits the ground at his legs, and if that wasn’t enough to throw him off balance, the force of the move threw the creatures competitor off his feet and flat on his back; His skull cracking against the hard floor of the fighting arena.

“Ow…” Desman said, with a hint of sarcasm to his complaint. The man's head was pounding horribly at this point, his eyes had blurry, double vision and his brain felt like it was going to puke, faint, or faint into its puke at any second. But of course it felt like that, what human wouldn’t be like that after hitting their head that hard.

Wait! That was it! The reason he was doing so poorly was that he was human now, no extrinsic shell. Desman still hadn’t the hang of this body. He felt the same though. It was a long shot by maybe…

Holding his arm up, Desman struggled to concentrate due to the aching in his mind but pushed through it and thought about whatever it is he would normally think while doing this. Concentrate and--- swoosh -- a ball of blackened light shot out from where Desman’s palm was. Course, being in the state he was in Desman didn’t end up hitting the underground tentacle thing like he had meant to at all, but he did see the crater it made on the wall of the coliseum through his spotty vision.

“What do you know… it works…” And with that the human fainted, blissful to the fact that he’d lost.

-

Neujmin wasn’t a hands-on kind of guy and left the two in the hands of the facility as he has done in the past. While he set the human up for his first mock fight and then signed him off for hard labor to help with the false advertisement his body had made up, he left instructions not to touch the female until her shoulder wound was healed up. Every day when they picked Desman up from his cage across from hers, someone would demand to see her shoulder.

Always it was a chore, too. Ash could have just pushed the jacket off to show them, but she refused. She would stare up at them defiantly and they would usually have to use force. Most times it was as simple as walking into her cage, slapping her across the face hard enough to push her back and then the attendant would wrench back the clothing and check. Sometimes it involved them yelling at her like she was deaf and then walking in and slapping her.

Once it was a higher up demon.

Raissa was covered in armor, head to toe, and was here to simply take the male slave to his appointed fight. He was of higher rank than most demons that would be down here in the shitty part of the imprisonment. To be told he had to check the girl’s shoulder before taking the male out was already too much to ask of the battle-ready demon, but he had to comply because the only lesser demons he had with him were broad-shouldered and barely smart enough to take orders and know that failure to do so would be death. They wouldn’t know what a wound would look like, much less a healing one.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c4/a0/95/...a61127.jpg

With some disdain, he approached the female’s cage. She was laid about in the corner, apparently had summoned a blanket and pillows to support herself. He remembered at that point that he was dealing with primes. That did very little other than make him aware of their possible power. “I am to look at your h’art, present your chest that I may make the appropriate report.” He said, his old fashion way of talking and his thick tongue making it obvious he knew nothing of what went down here.

Ash did not move from her perch. She wasn’t doing anything in particular at that moment, but it was obvious that she was rather comfortable. Primes had the ability to summon whatever they liked so she’s been very well kept, bowls of her previous meals both summoned and served by the ‘cooks’ of this establishment were stacked near her. They could keep them from summoning with the cuffs from before, but the longer the prime is exposed to it, the better they resist it. The doors were locked with magic that only demons with ‘clearance’ could open, so they could summon freely in their dwellings without being much of a problem. Even weapons, there was a barrier built into the metal work that if the seal was not broken any weapons from the inside could not be used on anyone outside.

“Are you hard of hearing, wench? I said present your chest!” He raised his voice to an authoritative level. The two lessers he brought were intimidated by his show of force, but not her.

“If you are here to see my chest, big guy, you’re going to have to come in here and take it for yourself.” Ash taunted with a flick of her tail. Normally just staring blankly at them would work, but this guy was obviously someone more important. And what kind of girl would she be if she treated him like anyone who was obviously below his status? “Don’t be shy about it either~!”

Desman has seen Ash flirt before, he’s experienced it, but that was a bit stronger than he was used to hearing from her. He was preparing for the fight he’d been told about since a few days ago, but he stops to look over and watch.

Raissa’s reaction was hidden by the full-faced helm, but they could tell he wasn’t expecting to be flirted with. After a stunned moment, he sighed out. “I see they failed to inform me of your inability to follow simple commands.”

Ash’s tail curled tighter as she smirked at him. “I’ll follow your every command, baby, come join me~!” She made a point to roll over now, to show how willing she was and touched the measly blanket as if she could entice him to bed. It was a blanket over a haystack, it was hardly the most inviting bed. But she was still dressed like she had been when she left for Coruscant. Her legs practically bare, her skit hardly existed, her top compressed around her bra-less breast.

The demon behind the armor did not seem amused. “You will come-”

“Keep talking like that, and I will~!”

The armor-clad demon did not find this funny, and in reality, it flew past his head a bit. He now understood that he would have to go in there, but not for whatever sexual fantasy she’s grown fond of while waiting for him. He would have to get physical.

“Right.” His voice was calm, he touched the door and it submitted to his authority and opened. While she made no movement to escape, the two stood at the ready in case she did. He moved towards her, his armor clanking and his heavy looking tail waving behind him. “You have one more chance, present to me your chest for inspection.”

“Is that what you call it these days? ‘Inspection’? Let’s not be coy~! You wanna see my tits.” She toyed with him a bit more as she sat up on her knees and reached for her shirt. He thought he was finally getting somewhere. He was proven wrong when she stopped and just her breasts were hanging out. She scooted closer and tried to look appealing by pushing out her breast but tucking her chin down at a ‘cute’ angle.

He didn’t even examine the presented cleavage, he just silently judged her intelligence for a long moment. Then with silent impatience reached over and grabbed her roughly by the horn. She let out a loud moan at the same time. This made him pause to look down at her blushing face. It was definitely off-putting, but he pushed on, grabbing for her jacket. She was faster and grabbed it from him, hugging it close and acting offended that he’d play rough with her.

“Enough of your games, woman.” He said, anger starting to show in his voice, an orange light was visible in the cracks of his armor plating. “Show me the wound or I will break the arm.” He went to pull open the jacket, only for her to deny him again.

Well.. He did warn her.

Raisass grabbed the wrist she was using to stop him from doing such a simple and annoying task and while letting go of her horn he threw the girl from her bedding to the bare disgusting floor, twisting the arm in the process so that she landed on her belly with enough force to knock the breath out of her and possibly crack a rib. He shoved his boot into the middle of her back and with all the force of a battle demon, twisted and pulled at her arm until it came clean out of her socket but was still attached to her body.

A scream of pain pierced the silence of the underground shit hole that was her prison.

The demon then lets go of her arm, it fell uselessly at her side before he stepped off of her. He straightened his chest piece before turning back to her. She was breathing heavily and panting erotically. Ash was looking up at her with the same defiance as she did to anyone below him, but what stood out the most was her willingness to fight this even more.

He used his powerful tail to flip her onto her back in one motion without hesitation. Her arm followed uselessly and made her cross her chest with the other one to grab her dislocated shoulder; She didn’t hate the fact that she was covering her heart in the process... He didn’t notice this until he flipped the jacket’s flap over and saw that she was still defying him by gripping the pained limb. “I will break that one next.” He threatened, but she only glared up at him. “Very well.”

Raisass dropped to one knee, but so that that heavily armored knee crashed down into her stomach, knocking the wind - as well as some spittle - out of her in a harsh cough. She was transported back to Coruscant in memory, the blue armored man doing the same thing to her leg. She snapped back with the same attitude as she had then. She remained stubborn, responding with. “Do you leave every woman you talk to this breathless?” She wore a smirk.

He grabbed her arm and squeezed with such force that they both felt the bone snap! She cried out and jerked at the same time, making her agony sound short but still very real. He was tired of playing games. Coldly he then yanked her arm away and tore away her jacket, finally able to inspect the bullet wound has mostly healed by now, miraculously fast as most primes did. But the damage done to her body to get the answer was arguably not worth it.

He looked down at her, she hadn’t even shed a tear due to the destruction of her body, she just looked up with those same defiant eyes and a grin that made even him uneasy. He would briefly wonder if she had planned this all later, but for now, he lifted his weight off of her and began to leave. His footsteps and his record a bit heavier, a bit darker.

While Ash had not reacted much past the pain, Desman was clinging to the bars of his cage and wrestling with himself internally of what to do. Inside he’d been screaming for them to stop hurting her, but some part of him understood that he shouldn’t show how much Ash meant to him or else they would exploit it. After all, the last time he let it slip had only gone so well because of Ash. Still, his knuckles were bone white by the time he was done watching the display of unrestrained power this man had. His breath heavy and his jaw clenched, his amber colored eyes burning a hole in that armor of his.

“We can go now, get the man,” Raisass told his lackeies, and then began to leave the area.

Desman watched the man leave before his eyes turned to Ash once more. She laid motionless where she was, except her heavy breathing. He would have liked to call out to her but did not want to tip the others off. He would have liked to heal her the most, but found that he lacked the precious resource… He might have to change that if she was going to continue to be this stubborn.

His hands were extremely sore when he finally pried them off the bars, and it hurt to do anything with them. Thankfully he didn’t need to grab anything in preparation for his fight, he just had to be there. He allowed the lessers to pull him along, still staring into Ash’s cage and feeling his heart sink. Stupid woman… Why did the woman he cared for have to be so careless?


Raisass stopped to give his report while he waited for his lesser demons. “The wound upon the woman’s chest is no more, her master should be informed of the progress. He should also be informed that due to her behavior, I was forced to break one arm and dislocate the other. The dislocation should be an easy fix.”

“And the break?” The female he was speaking to at the front of the dungeons asked.

“It will heal, but if he wants her to be of any use he might want to get it attended to.” He looked over to make sure his orders were being taken care of and the male was being fetched. “Inform him that she should be held fully responsible for the situation and that I recommend sending her in for reconditioning. Even though I warned her, she refused to cooperate until I used force.”

“Yes, sir.”

At this point, Desman was coming into view, no one was the wiser of how much if any of that he heard. “Now, for you. Your master is waiting in the Colosseum to inspect your next performance, let your companion’s foolishness be a warning.” With that, he leads the way as he would normally do, unaware that man-handling Ash has brought the shaky wrath of Desman onto him.


When Desman returned, he found Ash was gone. During his fight, they gathered the proper permissions and collected The Storm Demon. He did not know any of this until the next time his master came to him. “Where’s Ash?” He asked, from between the bars, they framed his masculine face.

He was never without a cigar, Neujmin took a long drag of it as a demon began gathering the things that had been summoned by the woman. He noted quickly that Desman was upset that his apparent friend was gone. “The detention center for bad slaves.”

The humans amber colored eyes look behind his master as the demon picks up the blanket Ash had been using. He looked a little desperate. “Did you get rid of her?” His eyes turn to the bulky figure in front of him.

“No.” He said, turning back to see what the human had been staring at. He blew his smoke into the air. “I just came down here to tell you that you have another practice fight in a few days.”

Desman grabbed the cage and rammed his weight into it, frustrated by all of this. He glared at the humanoid before him, his amber colored eyes glaring daggers into his very soul. He wanted her back!

As the demon began to leave with the things they found in the cage, Neujmin grabbed him by the throat. Desman watched the brutality and the swiftness of the man who’s purchased him leave the other demon gasping for air. “The blanket.” He demanded, and the order was followed without much fight. He took it and ran it between his fingers, imagining something. Then the nicely dressed demon nodded, only to pause and glance over. “And the top pillow.” When it was offered, he took it and let go of the demon who scurried away. Immediately he tossed Desman her blanket but held the pillow under his arm while he pulled the cigar from his lips. The human caught it more out of reaction, but then became aware of how much it smelt like her. “You have one hell of a mate there, bud.” He mocked.

Desman’s face turned bright red at the accusation and then while holding the blanket tightly threw his hands down. “What are they doing to her!?” He tried to sound demanding, not worried.

“Just teaching her a lesson.” His voice calm.

“That bastard is the one at fault.” The used-to-be robot said hotly!

Neujmin looked at him with judgmental eyes. “We both know his report wasn’t falsified. She refused a simple request and he felt the only action would be to use force.” Desman tried to argue, Neujmin let him. When silence hit him, he just shook his head and began to leave. “Enjoy your blanket.”

Desman’s face became warmer. He watched the man start to leave, but called out after noticing the pillow. “W-What are you going to do with that?”

“None of your business.” He called back and then left Desman feeling confused. But after laying with Ash’s blanket, her scent at hand, he could almost feel her lying beside him. He finally relaxed enough to take a bit of a nap.

What felt like weeks on end passed, and she hadn’t returned...

However, rumors began to circulate among the guards, who spoke freely with each other, of a woman that was proving to be impossible to tame. Apparently, she would respond to every form of torture they could inflict with sexual satisfaction. They’ve burned her, shocked her, whipped her, and all other sorts of things but instead of pleas to stop and crying, they were met with screams of bliss and the most unusual comments they’ve ever heard.

No one could understand her...

“They brought a specialist of sorts to come in finally.” A bulky tall being said to a more slender one that was across from him at a makeshift table of dark black bricks, they were supposed to be watching the slaves.

“Specialist?” The slender one sounded a bit surprised as he picked up a card and placed it on the middle pike, his voice being comically higher pitched than most. “That’s gotta cost a pretty coin..”

“Aye.”

“And they think this will finally work?”

“It has to. There’s nothing else.” The bigger reached up and scratched his jaw.

“What if this don’t?”

“I heard from someone else that they guarantee it, or her master don’t have to pay for all this that’s already been done.”

The taller one whistled out. “I bet that’s an even prettier coin.”

One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. That was the rhythm of rocks Desman had to mine. The instructor called it ‘Training” but Desman knew it was just free labor. He was smart enough to keep his mouth shut though, especially when it came to times like this.

Desman had been listening to everything the guards had said, and he didn’t like it, he had to find a way to get more info on where this place was.

By now the subject had moved away from Ash’s misadventures, mostly becurse the skinnier one started complaining about how hard the other guy had hit his hand. This was quickly forgotten about however when both of them were hit by their own separate rocks.

“Hey, you!” the brawly one said, turning around to face the labourer right next to Desman. “Why did you throw rocks at us?”

“I-I didn’t” they replied, obviously not wanting to be one to get on the guard's bad side.

“Then who did?”

“It was him.” The unnamed labourer pointed directly at Desman.

“Be careful.” The skinny one whispered to his companion. “They say that one got mind control powers.”

“Yes, it was me.” Desman monotonically added, probably trying to mimic Ash, unfortunately, it was a bit to monotone.”

“That sounds like mind control to me, come on.”

“B-but I didn't do anything.” replied the Labourer as he was dragged away by the bigger guard. “I swear.”

“As for the rest of you…” The skinnier man took control of the situation of everyone else. “It’s about time you head to your cells anyway. That includes you too red, move it!”

Desman did as he was told, and entered the back of the line heading out of the mine; He needed a new plan of attack. ‘I don’t care what it takes, I will find her…’


Two weeks later...

“Are you sure you want to do this? If they catch you in there, you aren't ever getting out of there.”

“I don’t care what it takes, I will find her.” The redhead responded to the shadow on the other side of the table, it was covered in a tuxedo, top hat, and monocle, Desman had already questioned why he wears such nice clothes while mining, he never got an answer.

“Okay then, here you go.” The black semi-opaque hand slid a red metal box across the table, it reminded Desman of himself. “But you didn’t get the contents from me, okay?”

Before Desman could respond one of the guards on duty shouted. “Alright! Breaks over! Back to work!” And then began to herd the crowd of slaves towards their daily duties as mining labour.

Both the shadow and Desman got up and went in opposite directions, but in a different type of shadow with glowing red eyes awaited the latter. A pair of hands grabbed the admittedly muscled arm of Des and pulled him into the shadows within the shadows, the red eyes soon disappearing and Desman casually strolling back out with shades on and flipping a coin the size of his palm.

Outside the mines, from the ‘town’s’ entrance (really it was just as much of the prison as the cage area and mine, just for the more popular of coliseum fighters) came a familiar patch of red hair, attached to the familiar face and body of Desman, he was likely that he could summon enough money to pay the shapeshifter for doing this. Course, most slaves were dumb enough to escape without one, or smart enough (common sense wise) to not try and escape in the first place.

Clinging to the wall, Desman used his enhanced senses to look around, checking to see if there was anyone behind the corner. He had finally figured out how to do it without his technology, or more accurately, he accidentally discovered that he could do things he was used to without the usual wires and computers.

The once robot knew if he could make it three or four blocks away that he would be safe, the hard part was just getting there. It was moments like this he wished he could leap across rooftops like the ninja he had summoned prior to this adventure, unfortunately, he would have to stick to the ground.

Somehow managing to not cross the path of a single person, Desman walked into his destination; A large broken down and abandoned building that didn’t hint at anything it was meant to be used for before it was forgotten. There were cobwebs everywhere and everything covered in a good half a centimeter of dust, but it would do for what he needed it for.

What was it’s purpose? To look at the contents of the box. It was fairly simple to open, just a few clips and a little force and voila, the contents were revealed.

Inside the Desman-colored box was a smaller less hollow silver box with a button on its side. Mister Black didn’t hesitate one bit in pulling the strange item out and seeing what the button does with a push, which turned out to be a holo-map.

That’s when he heard the beeping from outside.

Looking down he just managed to catch a handwritten message attached to the bottom of the box that said ‘Ps. The Map has a tracker that activates when on.’ before the door was blown in and two guards entered.

One of them grabbed Desman as fast as he could. The other, remembering him from Neujmin’s collection lifted his hand up and pressed the button to inform whoever was listening at the moment: “We have one runaway Slave.” He snatched up the contents of Desman’s package and added, “And he seems to have a map to the deformation center.” A pause was heard before a more sinister sounding reply came back from the grinning guard. “Give him what he wants? Okay.” What had Desman gotten himself into…


Desman was dragged through a pristine white and grey hallway, bright fluorescent lights buzzing above him and the strong scent of cleaning supplies made it feel like a different verse entirely. If he was not being half carried by the two guards that had found him in the dusty place he might think he was in some kind of dream. He still did. His heart pounded in sync with their dominate marching, equipment shaking in rhythm beside him.

They made a sharp turn into a set of doors that then lead through more doors where the atmosphere quickly changed once again.

The doors burst open and Ash watched a pair of big dudes carry Desman into the dark room. She watched hope hit him across the face as he recognized her and even called out her name. “Ash!”

With that their unspoken plan to remain distant to each other in public was shattered. Not that it mattered, some part of her was glad to see him and her broken fingers pressed into the chair ever slightly. As well, if he was being dragged here there was a reason and she could only guess it is being her...

The guards strapped him into his own chair, it was exactly the same as her’s. It had a tall back, an abnormally tall back - taller than her’s even. It was heavy when he attempted to shake it, it would take a much stronger being to tip it over. He watched the guards strap him in with metal bindings and heavy-duty locks, magic too. One strapped his chest into place, another at his waist, two for each arm, one across each shin. He tested them like a newly caged animal while the two approaches the third figure. Then they left.

“It seems we have ourselves a guest, miss.” The voice was dry, emotionless and professional. He had an accent but it was impossible to place. He approached Desman. Out of the darkness came a very tall figure with a bald misshapen head, his mouth, and nose area were pure tentacles, his eyes shrank at the dim light that blanketed the human in the chair. He was taken aback if only by the sudden and silent appearance of the creature. Thin gangly arms with only 4 digits on them reach up and begin to strap Desman's head into position, so he looked directly at Ash from across the room.

She was strapped in too, except for two differences, just the same as he. One was there was no strap binding her chest, it dangled freely off the side. The other difference was the comically large screw heads sticking out of her wrists. Large puddles of blue liquid sat at the feet of the chair, he found this by following the lines he could just see on the chair itself. Like dark blue candle wax that streamed down it. It was still fresh, glossy enough to catch the light. She didn't move. “Fun.” Was her only comment.

“I don't think he will be agreeing with you.” The man said, but Desman would quickly realize the voice was coming from him but was not spoken so much as it was projected out from his mind. “There. It would be assumed he came here to save you.”

“He does that…” Ash replied dryly, turning to look Desman in the eyes as the strange figure floated away.

“I can’t wait to see for myself.”

Ash didn’t look away, not even as the man moved back over and lifted a bloody scalpel. He inspected the midnight blue blood on it but made a point to let Desman see it specifically. He could fill in his own blanks as he put the utensil down.

“Well... One more chance to save yourself, and this Desman.” He said, but everyone in that room was prepared for her response.

“Bite me Squid-Face.”

“Very well.”

The man grabbed another tool from the table, this time it was just a remote. He dialed up the light around Ash and himself so no detail would be missed by their audience. He tossed it back over and positioned himself behind her. Her chair was not as tall as Desman’s.

The stranger in a lab coat reached around and took her by the shoulders, rubbing them as if attempting to make Ash relax. “Let’s start with your name.”

“Ash. Ash, The Storm Demon.”

“Your real name. Your full name. The one you were born with.” There was a long silence, the same kind of silence that would come before someone who is about to tell the truth but hesitant. “What’s wrong? Did you not want Desman to know? Well, there are no secrets here.”

Ash made an impulsive decision in that moment as she looked away from Desman finally. “Emma... Emma Shutter.”

“Ah… Is something wrong? Your brainwaves changed..”

“Fuck off.” Ash lashed out immediately. “What’s he even fucking doing here?”

“I already informed you.” His words slowed down while Ash’s picked up. He took her bait. “He is here to save you. He was captured with stolen equipment. Why? Does it bother you he’s here so suddenly? Did you not want him to know something? Are.. Are you hiding something from him? All this time?”

“Leave her alone you coward!” Desman had no idea where his voice came from, but it was loud, and it was angry. It echoed off even his own eardrums. The force behind it surprised him.

The man did not smile, but they felt it when Emma didn’t answer, he continued. “Tell me about your family, You didn’t have a great relationship with your mother, did you?”

Ash reacted on instinct but hoped he’d pick up on the changes of attitude. “Who does?”

“She abused you?”

Ash hesitated again. A long time went by, but even Desman could see she was thinking about it. As if no one asked her that before, and now she had to process what abuse was, what classified as abuse, and if any of her assumed eighteen years with her mother counted. “Huh... I guess she was a bit abusive in a technical kind of way.”

“It’s more accurate to claim she neglected you. For…” There was a long pause for dramatics probably before he finally continued: “Isabelle, your twin sister.”

In that moment Ash understood the point of the questions now. “I get it... You can only read surface thoughts.” She gave him a speculating look. eyes narrowed in at him.

“I can do much more than that, Emma. It is just easier if you cooperate. Other methods leave the slave… Limited in what they can do afterward. It gets... Well, it gets pretty messy.”

Ash responded by twisting her head in his direction, and then as if she’d planned to all this time, spits at his face.

Desman watching this whole time. That attitude would get her killed, again. The professional seemingly unamused by this produced a cloth and wiped it away. He moved to the side of the chair and flicked some kind of contraption that lifted the chair a bit higher and made the back smaller. When she was in prime position he turned it off and moved back.

“Your choice, my dear. I get paid for this whether you survive mentally or not.” The voice warned her one more time, taking handfuls of her hair and running his fingers through it so that the black strands fall across her shoulders. She didn’t respond.

The tentacles on the masculine figure fan out as he lowered its spread across the crown of her head. Some of them entangle themselves in her ebony colored hair, other’s gripped her by the horns. Of note, the moment the tendrils did grab her horns Ash let out a sound of pleasure.

The next moment was of awkward silence as she tried to pull away, by just leaning forward out of his reach but he just pulled her back and held her still while the external process became internal. She gasped somewhere between pain and bliss as she felt something slither into her Jack-In point. Of course, that would be the best way directly into her brain, and he could figure that out with surface thoughts, but it was a strange invasion of privacy that no one has ever committed and this surprise both distracted her and was plain in her facial features.

Ash tried to claw at the chair, Desman would note the swollen and pus-yellow discoloration of her otherwise usual slender fingers. They did not bend properly and it was unsettling to watch, even more so when even if she struggled her wrists were literally screwed into the chair so barbarically. Desman couldn’t make himself keep watching the grotesque image of her fingers desperate for whatever it was they seek.

He couldn’t take it anymore!

The grown man grabbed his own chair, digging his unkempt nails into the wood and trying to force himself out of the chair. The wood strained against his fight, he even thought he heard the sound of splintering, but fell back into it when it produced nothing of the sort. He next tried to Hulk his way out of the bindings, flexing the muscles in his upper arm and trying to break the bindings on his wrists. He didn’t even realize how tight his jaw had become until he was forced to relax and he felt the soreness spread throughout his arms and jaw.

“Stop it!” He screamed out of frustration, tears surfacing at the corners of his eyes as he tried not to think about the real problem here. Someone was hurting his friend right in front of him, and he could do nothing once more.

Ash let out a cry of pain, as he touched something inside of her. He could have sent demons to rape her for days and nights and she didn’t think she’d feel as violated as she did with this single stroke of his tendril. However, worse than that. It felt gross. A shiver raced through her spine and made her want to hurl. “You son-of-a-bitch. Fuck off.” She chose to fight back, throwing her head backward and trying to headbutt him. Her skull only found a soft impact before he pulled harder on her horns.

This confused and delighted her, which was awful given the situation.

“You had your chance..” He warned, and then dove deeper.

Ash remembered when she got the Jack-In point. She was only 16 at the time, ready for the ultimate rebellion of doing something horrible to her body that would surely make her mother ‘proud’. They couldn’t knock her out because you have to be aware enough for them to catch anything that goes wrong. So for three hours, she had been sitting in a similar position, her spine being drilled into and the ‘surgeon’ carefully inserting tool after tool into her soft squishy brain.

The difference here being is that that was consensual. Emma felt the same strange gliding sensation as he invaded her mind. It was not enough to turn her off from the horn pulling. Worse, she felt the mucus that he produced naturally slither across her horns and it was erotic from beyond her understanding. She noted she needed to explore that avenue with a partner she’d rather dance with.

The self-proclaimed storm demon tried to shake them off her by shimmying her whole body - that she could control - but felt a strange pain that didn’t feel good at all. Her jaw clenched in frustration. Not in the way her assailant would have liked, but in the way that she was upset she couldn’t properly punch his face in. Hands grabbed her again and pulled her into the back so that he did not have to strain his neck more than he had to.

“You are strong-willed, but you will break. Just submit.”

Ash took a brief moment to question the repetitiveness of her ‘fuck off’ phrases. “Go rape some high schooler you Hentai-themed bitch.” Admittedly that was a weak insult. She blamed the fact that there was something wiggling around her brain for any lack of coherence. He responded by stabbing into her again.

Whatever that was it bypassed the physical sense of the pleasure she got when she was subjected to pain and went straight to the broken arm level of misery. She hissed out and shoved herself back again, trying to distract herself from it. However, there was no getting around it...

Desman could sense her pain, later when- if he dared to think about this again - he would understand that she had the ability to sense emotions on a more instinctual level and he was just naturally mimicking it; it pleased him to know that that part of him still worked. It was the same in the cages with that demon in the armor. He could even almost feel the violated feeling that she experienced from having a tentacle or many in her spine.

Ash has always been the rock, the roots. That’s why he chased after her into this godforsaken place. Not just this clearly defined torture chamber, but to the Underverse itself. He couldn’t let this place take another person he loved away from him, especially not someone as precious to him as this woman. He couldn’t help but question what he wanted from her. Obedience? Was that even possible? Could Omni himself get that from the storm demon?

Meanwhile, the woman across from him continued to fight, trying to rip her head away, using her entire upper body to wrestle away. It was not impossible, but being literally screwed into her seat made it highly improbable. She was losing her patience very quickly though. That was the real problem here: For all the effort he was putting into it it was just pain. Anyone can cause her pain, and she’s proven already that she can fake her way through the unimaginable pain. He would have to try harder if he was going to get her to submit.

“Very well, then. I will.” The voice came, and then a stabbing pain in the center of her brain.

Ash screamed out, her voice filling every corner of the room, and filling Desman with dread as he watched her body arch. She felt him dig deeper, responding naturally with a moan. Her hands turn into fists. “Do your worse then, sucker.”

Without the lights changing, they felt the room get darker at her challenge. The red-haired human across from her couldn’t decide to call her stupid, or brave.

A psychic wave slammed into her so hard that her body felt like she imagined it would if she jumped off a building and didn’t have her hook. As she exhaled her gasp this time, navy blue liquid exploded out of her mouth, as if both lungs had been punctured by her ribs from the life-crushing fall that came to mind.

“You have a unique perspective, I’d hate to break you into pieces.”
She could not tell if the comparison image that washed through her imagination was her mind or his doing. She coughed up some more blood before stubbornly holding her ground. “If that was your worse, this is going to be easy.”

Another wave crashed through her, reaching deeper, hammering her nervous system harder. It was a mental pain, but Ash let out an ecstatic moan. As if she had it at the ready. It hit her again, at the same strength, over and over. It felt no different than someone taking hands full of her hair and just knocking her into a slab of concrete on the sidewalk repeatedly as hard as they could. She didn’t fear a concussion so much as she expected one.

“You have a vivid imagination… That or a rough life.”

“You are still going on about that?” Ash shot back, twisting her head to look at him despite knowing it wouldn’t work.

“It wouldn't be torture without some taunting, would it?” Desman’s seductress looked back towards him, he could see the tired expression despite her bravado. “I imagine it’s both.. Abused by your mother, with her insistent comparison to your twin sister. You were a troublesome kid, weren’t you? Of course, you were, just look at you. What did you do to look like this?”

Ash didn’t look like a victim, mostly because she smiled at his poor attempts to make her feel bad for herself, or worse - for her mother. “What’s wrong, can’t figure that out yourself?”

“No, but it's rude to keep your boyfriend in the dark… Maybe he’d like to know about your troubled past.”

“HAH!” Ash actually laughed at that, a genuine laugh for the monster in her mind. “You are a fucking moron who can only gather information. This is what my master is paying for? Mediocre bullshitting your way out of some professional trap? Desman doesn’t give two shits about what I’ve done in the past.” The human male across from her stopped looking at her like she was a puppy that was being beaten half to death before his eyes and started paying attention to her words.

This was Ash, of course, he wanted to know more about her. It just... Never crossed his mind. It has only been a month at most, after all. But hearing these little clips made him wonder who it was who had the really sad backstory. It only made him appreciate her more, appreciate what she’s done for him.

“He’s fucking smarter than that, far more than even I give him credit for, he knows that I am a Prime. He knows that our past doesn’t mean shit here except to flavor the conversation.”

“And you think personality will get you further?” The voice did not sound convinced, even as if it mocked her.

“If my charisma stat is high enough.” Ash lashed back quickly. She didn’t want to think that was dangerous of actually giving him something to use.

“How quaint.” He sounded bored.

The ‘doctor’ released another powerful wave of psychic damage straight into her. The problem with attacking the brain in this was was that her body reacted to it as if physical damage has been inflicted. With the element of surprise, Ash coughed up another alarming amount of blood from her insides. When she looked up again, Desman would note the blood trickling down from her nose. A sign that his attacks were getting strong enough to damage her mind. He found the strength to fight back against the chair again, but no matter how much adrenaline pumped into his body it was not enough.

“Doesn’t his feelings mean anything to you? Look at him, he’s driven by his love for you.”

“He’s pissed you are hurting me. Nothing more.”

“I don’t believe that. I don’t think you do either.”

“You are fishing again. Desman has a more troubled past than me, if you ever want to feel sorry for someone, go talk to him. Friends to him are more valuable than your primitive gold pieces down here. He’ll kill you if you release him.”

“I’m sure he will try.” The voice was under no duress. “Let’s stay focused on you.”

“Is that what gets you off?” Ash purred, only to be stabbed again with a hiss.

“Ah. I was beginning to disbelieve them.” The voice sounded again. Ash noted that it had an echo effect. She heard it inside her skull then outside of it. It was unpleasant. “When a girl is overly sexual in the way that you are, it points to some sign of sexual abuse.”

Ash’s lips curled back into a smirk. “Please... You think I can be broken by you bringing up my past? Is this for the sake of including Desman, or are you just hoping that I am so ashamed of my life that I have to hide it from him while still thinking about your questions? Pathetic.”

The man did not respond, but there was hesitation regardless.

“Even a half-limp dick would know what you are doing.” She said, perhaps unintentionally insulting Desman.

The creature at her back wasn’t amused. “I a-AHH!!”

As soon as she finally had his attention, Ash released a build up of energy that she’d been charging up for some time now. It had been so hard to keep it hidden.

Electricity shook him to the core before force magic slammed into him. As if she’d used Thunder Clap and Shocking Grasp at the same time. Without the blue sparks or the noise. Well, there was plenty of noise. The expert they hired to take care of her was forced back and into a wall of hanging instruments and cabinets full of things. He convulsed in his paralyzed state.

Next Desman heard a snap, crackle, and lots of pops as lightning began to dance across Ash. Instinct hit him at that point, so hard that he stopped breathing. He could practically see the storm clouds rolling across her face, and when he looked up he half expected to see her eyes have gone black and her skin had turned more violent. Instead, he was relieved to see her usual grin.

Moments later, however, the same two demons that had dragged him in, and a couple more in white coats, slammed through the doors and immediately went for her. He watched as she pinned herself back into the chair a moment before the two tackled her there. One wasted no time in slamming his fist into her face, navy blue blood jetting behind its wake as it pulled back to sock her across the jaw.

She spat another mouth full of blood onto the floor, along with a tooth, but powered down just the same. They took it favorably and one slipped away to aid with the doctor. But they pronounced him dead soon after. Electricity and mucus didn’t mix well, but she could have warned him had he bothered to ask, that you really didn’t want to stick anything in there that wasn’t meant to be put in her Jack-In point. They looked at the two that were strapped into the chair, and then the more guard looking one's size Desman up. “Get him out of here, call their master.” He shook his head. “Tell him he can have his bitch back.”

Consequences Of Action

Neujmin grabbed Desman by the hair and yanked him out of the grip of the guards, tossing the human around like a Raggedy Ann Doll and into the cage where he fell on his face. What surprised him the most was the strength of the man that had claimed him and Ash as his own. But maybe that’s why he was so patient because he was actually very capable of taming the two of them physically. He scrambles to his feet, pieces of moldy hay springing from the lifting of his feet as he ignored the pain in his crown to race to Ash’s side. Not in the physical kind of way, as she had not been brought with him to the dungeon

“Wai-”

“Silence!” Neujmin’s voice roared without him having to raise it more than he normally had to. Desman went to argue, but the thick finger rose to his face. It was not the most intimidating thing he’d endured down here, but it left a lasting effect on him. The demon who had purchased them has never been so stern.

He watched helplessly while the gangster style turned his broad back to him and growled at the lessers who were still standing there. “I’ll be expecting a full report on this, and I want to know who decided it was a good idea to have them both present for the session.” He stomped on the ground, unintentionally it would seem but it instilled them with urgency and fear nonetheless. They fled for their lives.

When they were alone, the shadows grew darker as Neujmin slowly turned back around. His dark crimson irises were peaking out from the shadows of his wide-brimmed fedora.

The human in the cage, who clung to the bars, gulped. Still, he understood now that he had permission. “Well... I... “ He shut his eyes and gave his head a shake, the red hair shifting under the light. “It was my fault! All my fault. Ash had nothing to do with it.”

“Ash...” It was the first time he used her name. “..is most definitely at fault here. I will handle her later, what the fuck were you doing outside of the mines?” He asked, sternly, with more weight in his demands than he's ever carried.

“I-I...” Desman couldn’t find the voice to express himself, he was well and truly afraid at this moment, it probably would’ve helped if he had planned things out instead of recklessly trying to help the person he grew so attached to...

The demon before him growled from the throat but could tell he would be useless. As he has proven in the ring so far. The dark haired male just slowly pulled away at that. “You’re grounded.” Is all he said, leaving it at that and stomping away.

No further explanation was offered, but the implications were clear. More than that, he felt like he was being punished. Truly punished. He lowered to his knees, still clinging to the bars, his head bowing and his remorse could be seen. If it had anything directly to do with Neujmin’s reaction to this whole ordeal, it was hard to see. More likely that he was thinking about what would possibly happen to Ash.

-

Ash was in another cell, another part of the prison… She would swear she was in another place if she wasn’t seeing the same people and treated to the same ugly circumstances. They had been sternly instructed to bandage the wounds they’d inflicted on her, and toss her in the reserved cell. She had more than just bandages over her forearms where the screws had been firmly embedded, binding her to the chair itself. There was all kinds of gauze and stitching all over her body, she almost looked like a patchwork doll. Albeit a demonic one.

She heard someone approaching, but as someone who has gone through a great deal of trauma - just today - she couldn’t be bothered to even set up from her position on the only solid wall in the new cage. They had taken the liberty to enact bodily harm onto her as a punishment they saw fit after realizing her electricity was what had been to kill the doctor. Still, she somehow knew it was for her. The polished shoes that appeared before her and the bulking body that was her master only confirmed this.

She groaned from behind a swollen jaw and stared back from bruised eyes. Her whole face looked terrible, absolutely tired. She looked as good as you'd expect someone that just came back from the highest level of reconditioning would. Maybe worse.

“Well, you look like shit.” He said, gruffly.

He could see her trying to debate if talking back was worth the pain it would force upon her. “Your mother.” Apparently, it was worth it.

He stuffed his hands into his pockets, entertained by the idea that her attitude was still so fully intact. “I see. Not even the specialist could break you..” He mocked.

“Bite me.” She said, not even concerned about the repetitiveness of her words. Then her head lulled back.

Neujmin became quiet. The kind of silence that comes just before the storm. It forced Ash to look back at him. “You are being put in the ring tomorrow.” He finally explained, then stood there as if he expected another smart-mouthed retort. When all he got was her glaring, he felt like he could continue anyway. “You’re boyfriend’s been grounded, and you bullet wound has been healed. I don’t see anything stopping me from throwing your prissy ass in there, so be prepared to go in the morning.” He added, pulling his large hands from the cage he’d been casually touching. He paused once more, expecting her to respond. She didn’t. He couldn’t tell if that was good news or a terrible omen. “I expect you to fare better than him since you cost the most.” It was the last comment he managed before pulling away completely and walking back the way he’d come.

Ash just blinked at the empty spot. At first, it was because it was the only thing she could do. Then it was because she was exhausted... Quickly, she was finally able to rest.