[Rainbowfox Ari]

====== I AM A TIMESKIP ======

Blacklight woke slowly, and seemed to have some trouble focusing his eyes for a moment. He moved his hands, and found that they were behind his back... tied tight. And it wasn't with rope. Who in the club owned nylon ties? He recognized the feel of them, having been tied up with them by a client once before. That hadn't been a pleasant experience. There was a tickling sensation just running down his cheek, and the coppery tang across his lips was all-too-familiar. Blood. He moistened his lips with his tongue, and tasted more blood.

"H-hello?" he called, looking around the room. It took him a moment to realize he was tied to someone. And that there was another person sitting not too far away, bent over a sketchbook. He looked about thirty, generously, and had a shock of black hair peeking out from under a cowboy hat. The rest of his clothes were pretty generic. White t-shirt, and bluejeans.

"U..um..." It wasn't until Blacklight tried another word that the man looked up, and met the boy's eyes with his own. They were stark, cold blue. Remorseless blue. It was about then that Blacklight realized they were in trouble. Serious trouble.

"Ah, you're awake. 'Bout damn time, kid. You were out for longer than I like. Your friend there's a heavy sleeper." the cold man canted his head to the bundle Blacklight was tied to. "Noticed you didn't even get his damn name. S'a damn shame. Should've been the first thing you asked for. See, I ain't like them others. I'll tell ya my name. S' Emille."

"E... Emille. O..okay. Where are we?"

Emille laughed quietly. "Now see, kiddo. That would be telling now, wouldn't it? You don't want to do it the easy way now, do ya? Damn shame you didn't see the ride here, though. Pretty place."

Blacklight tried to crane his neck back to see who he was tied to, but he had a sinking feeling it was the cute older man that he'd been in the room with. "C.. can you release us?"

Another soft laugh. "I think not. 'Least not yet. I ain't done with ya. We're gonna have some fun, what do you say t' that?" Emille put down his pen, and set the sketchpad aside, moving over to kneel beside BL, and reaching up to touch his face. "Ah, yer pale, kiddo. We'll get ya some water once your friend wakes up."

[zapdragon555]

Ugh, his head hurt like shit. Jadyr groaned softly as he felt something beside him shift, dark lashes fluttering as he creaked open his eyes. He was faintly aware of people talking... one somewhat familiar, and the other not familiar at all. Everything sounded fuzzy in his ears. Licking dry, cracked lips, Jadyr opened his blurry eyes and stared at the wall, little edges of acute pain beginning to come in waves from the binds on his wrist, the ache in his shoulderblades, some sort of bruise on his head... damn it, why couldn't he remember where he was, where he'd been...?

The club. Tobias. The Blood Room. Stethoscopes, knockout gas, damn it, fucking damn it, he was--! "H-holy shit," the soft, weak curse whimpered out of Jadyr's mouth, raw fear making him shake against Blacklight. He could barely see, the hair was in his eyes so badly, and his ears were ringing too badly to hear anything properly.

[Rainbowfox Ari]

"Ah. Your friend's awake." Emille said quietly, standing, and seating himself back on the stool while the man came to. He fetched the sketchbook, folded it back again, and began trying to sketch, seemingly unconcerned with either of his captives for the time being.

Blacklight immediately looked over, and bit his lip, trying to inch himself around so that the other wouldn't be forced to struggle on his side. He managed a sort of scoot-inch over to where he could ease the other into a semi-sitting position. Once that was done, Emille had finished again, and knelt beside the two of them.

The man took out a pocket-knife, and BL thought, for sure, he was going to get it across the throat. Instead, Emille cut the tie that fastened him and his customer together, letting them move separately. "Sorry. Should'a done that before. Rude of me. Y'see, I had to move ya, so... I forget sometimes."

"Th..th..thanks." BL stammered, even though they were still very much bound. He at least wasn't keeping the other from getting up now.

"So, since you chose to join us finally, I'll tell ya what I told the kiddo. M'name's Emille." he said to the other, tipping his hat. "I'd appreciate the benefit of knowin' yours. And I'm sure the kid you were about ta bone would enjoy that too."

Blacklight went red to the cheeks, before the pain in his head and chest brought him up short, and he went pale as milk, groaning a bit.

"Ah, you don't feel well, do ya kid? I did say I'd get some water, now. That I did. Sit tight." Emille said, reaching out to ruffle BL's hair, and disappearing into another room. It gave the pale boy a chance to talk to his customer at least.

"Can you move?" he asked. "I mean, can you wriggle? If you can wriggle, you can probably break these things... Mine are too tight, but if you get out, you can go for help, right? I don't.. feel so good. Chest hurts. Head hurts. How are you doing?"

[zapdragon555]

Some of the pressure on his arms and wrists was relieved, and for that, Jadyr could count himself grateful. He let out a huff of air, deflating slightly on the hard floor, eyes squinting open as Blacklight started talking. 'About to bone,' hah, Jadyr felt his fingers itch to land a knife in that Emille character's throat right about then.

Jadyr listened to the man's receding footsteps, his voice a little too rough to shout the blue streak of curses he wanted to. Instead he laid there, checking vital signs as they became more aware to him, his heartbeat loud in his ears and his skull pounding with headache. He groaned at Blacklight's stream of questions, rolling onto his stomach and scowling sideways at the other boy. "Just shut the fuck up for a second, alright?" he croaked, voice weak as his chest was pressed to the concrete. He breathed fast, panic beading as sweat on his collarbone, and he swallowed dryly, closing his eyes and fidgeting with the binds on his wrists. No luck. "Don't give me that 'how are you doing' shit--we just got kidnapped, you fuckwad," he snarled, thunking his head on the concrete with another groan as he laid there. "If we die here, I swear to god my boys'll find your body and kill it a second, third, and fourth time, you hear me?"

[Rainbowfox Ari]

Blacklight did shut up rather quickly, although his mind was still racing. Actually, his mind was racing far too much to be simple panic... and he was starting to see edges to things, and moving colors. He was used to the side-effects from the stuff he took, but this was taking it far beyond a bad trip. Fear started to creep its way up BL's spine, and settled neatly just under his skull like a stray cat or a bad habit. His thoughts were becoming less and less coherent, and more disjointed, mind flitting from topic to topic, and none of them incredibly useful at the moment. There was a stifling, burning feeling all around him - hot like a fever, with his head pounding like a racing train. Too much noise in his head...

Emille came back to find Blacklight spaced out, and clicked his tongue with a shake of his head, kneeling, and leaving the water within easy grasp. He recognized drug reactions when he saw them, and this kid was higher than a kite up a thunderstorm's ass. Perhaps the mixture of the gas he used was reacting poorly to what had already been in the boy's system. Interesting.

He crouched down beside his two victims, and eyed Jadyr. "Heh. You don't care much for him, do ya? Looks like I was wrong about ya." he said, touching the brim of his hat. "Mighty sorry 'bout that. But hey. We all make mistakes, after all."

Rising, he walked to the side of the room, and picked something out of a box that was nestled up against a small desk. He brought it back over, tossing it from hand to hand. It proved to be a roll of tape. "Now then... How about you and I strike a lil' dealio here?" he asked, crouching down before Jad again. "How's about you help me study this little freak... and afterward, I letcha go. Simple as that. Easy as pie. Scot free."

[zapdragon555]

Jadyr did notice Blacklight's heightened breathing, and he felt his brows knit together. Had he scared the kid that badly? Or was he just panicking from their situation? Under normal circumstances Jadyr would've laughed at him for being such a wuss, but... it was a pretty worrying situation. Jadyr wouldn't admit it, but he was pretty damn scared, too. Jadyr felt his nerves flare up as the stranger came back into the room, dark eyes flickering with distrust as he came closer. "Yeah, sure," he muttered in response to Emille's first words. Mistakes. Sure. Jadyr wondered if it was a mistake one of them was there; which one had been caught in the cross fire? Was this guy an enemy of Black Mamba? Or was he after Blacklight...?

It soon became rather clear which of the two of them Emille was after. Jadyr stiffened at the sight of tape, his eyes narrowing to steely slits. Freak... that was a little hurtful. Jadyr glanced at Blacklight, looking pretty strung out on the floor, then back at Emille, a darkness flickering behind his eyes. He didn't much like handouts like this, but he wasn't about to argue. It was either Blacklight or the both of them, and Jadyr didn't much fancy dying or being tortured. "I'm listening," he drawled, raising his head slightly to stare up at Emille, giving the older man a slight smirk. "I have a couple of questions for you, though. You working for anyone? Or are you just some batshit whacko who likes to kidnap people out of strip clubs? Hey, we all got our hobbies." It was a friendly insult, if anything; it didn't come out as mean spirited as Jadyr meant it in his heart. He wanted to stay on this guy's good side, at least for now, until he could get a bullet in Emille's brain somewhere down the road. He'd send a few boys after him, no big deal; especially once he figured out where the hell he was.

[Rainbowfox Ari]

"Well that's mighty rude, but no - I don't work for anyone. Nor am I particularly prone to attacks of insanity." He smirked, and slid a leg down so he could have a seat, then crossed them, still tossing the roll of duct-tape from hand to hand. "I'm a bit of an inventor, actually. I like experimentin' with things. Like this freak here." he toed Blacklight with his boot, extending his leg to do so. After which, he stood back up, and eyed Jadyr a bit, smirking.

"Now, I know what yer thinkin', and I'm sorry but I ain't gonna tell you where we are. That would be kinda stupid on my part, wouldn't it?" Emille said, picking through a box in the corner, and coming back with a water-bottle, which he set in front of Jadyr. "If'n yer gonna help me, you've gotta tell me you ain't gonna run if I cut yer bonds. I can't set you on 'im for tests if you can't use yer hands. Fortunately..." he tugged something on the floor, and there was rattling. "I gotcha chained, too. Him, too, but it ain't fair t'you to keep you all trussed up if'n yer really gonna help me."

Blacklight was still high, but he heard voices, and one of them was Jadyr's. Jadyr. That was his name. It was a nice name. Names... That was Emille, wasn't it? That was his name? Nice name. Not a nice man. Which direction was up? And why did his leg feel so heavy? What was that rattling? Was that his bones? Had he become a skeleton? ... How was he going to get laid if he was a skeleton? Did skeletons eat? Maybe it was bones from someone else. Or maybe... the world was skeletons, and he was the only one that had flesh.... Oh gods, what did he take?!

[zapdragon555]

Jadyr stared at the water bottle in front of him, then slowly raised his eyes up at Emille. One thing Jadyr wasn't too good at was hiding his facial expression. There was a slow burning rage in the depths of his eyes, though he wore a smirk on his face and nodded once. "I don't run," was his answer in response, and he said nothing more. Tests? This was getting weirder and weirder, and Blacklight looked pretty worse for the wear... well, Jadyr would ask questions once his bonds were free. Maybe see if he could weasel his way out of there... and get a few men on this Emille character's tail, as well. No one messed with Black Mamba and got away with it.

[Shortpost ahh sorry ;0;]

[Rainbowfox Ari]

"Now there, see? That's what I wanna hear." Emille said, leaning over to cut Jadyr's bonds [although still leaving him attached to the wall by a tire-chain that ran along the ground. The big, bulky chain, and the stuff around his hands, however, was gone. Emille stood, and walked over around the back of Blacklight, crouching beside him, and cutting the bonds around his hands - but not releasing the heavy chain around his ankle, or the smaller bike-chain like the one that was attached to Jadyr.

"See, I'm interested in this here freak." Emille said, toeing the mostly-unresistant Blacklight onto his back, and withdrawing a switchblade from his sock, neatly slicing that shirt to bits, as well as the wires and tech that were part of it. He threw it off like so much garbage, and pondered the boy on the floor. Blacklight's chest was heaving with labored breath, and his heart was beating so fast it was shaking the boy's body with each beat. He was obviously scared, but possibly not clear on what he was supposed to be afraid of, judging by the size of his pupils, and the overall 'stoned' look he had about him.

"Looks like he's having a bad trip or summat." the kidnapper said, taking his blade, and making a shallow, precise cut along the boy's side. He left the knife inside the kid's flesh, just as he was about to get to the pectoral muscle on the left. "Damn but his heart's hammerin'. Wonder what he's seein'..." he mused. "Ah well. Don't matter none to me, really."

Standing, the man made his way out of the room for a couple of minutes, before peeking back into it. "Now, you get all cozy-like, ya hear? I'll be back in two shakes. Gonna... get my experiment underway."

[zapdragon555]

Jadyr sighed internally with relief as his hands were freed, and he fought the urge to leap for Emille as fast as he could. His arms, having been held in an awkward position for so long, ached horribly, and he wasn't sure he could muster enough strength to attack the man, much less do any lasting damage. Jadyr watched with a kind of clinical curiosity as Emille freed Blacklight as well, a small tilt to Jadyr's brow revealing his confusion. Why untie Blacklight...?

Again, with that 'freak' shit. Yeah, Jadyr thought the same thing back in the club, but the repetition was getting on Jadyr's nerves. This jackass didn't know Blacklight, so what could he say about him? Then again, neither did Jadyr, but the rules of bullying had always bended to Jadyr's sense of self-worth. He frowned as Emille flipped the other boy over, and he tensed at the appearance of a knife, dark eyes flicking up to stare at Emille from his spot near the wall. Geez, Blacklight looked bad. Jadyr's mouth formed a thin line as he grimaced, flicking his eyes back down to the addict on the floor, and suddenly the knife was on Blacklight, pressing into skin and drawing blood, and Jadyr couldn't hold back the exclamation of horror.

He covered it up with a clearing of his throat, fixing his expression quickly. Okay. They'd been kidnapped by a looney. Great--this was wonderful. Damn he wished he had his gun on him; there was something about the whole situation that set Jadyr's skin crawling--and Jadyr had seen some shit.

The moment Emille left the room, Jadyr stilled for a few beats, then jerked against his chain and struggled towards Blacklight. "Hey, man--Blacklight," he whispered harshly, wishing he had some other name to call the boy. It couldn't be real, anyway, and it felt more like a stage name than anything else. With the short length of the heavy chain on his ankle, and a particularly painful wrench of his arm, Jadyr was able to grab hold of Blacklight's arm. He pulled, roughly, attempting to drag the boy closer so he could at least get that knife out of him. Maybe he could use it--that part wasn't really on his mind right then. There was a fucking knife in his side, and Jadyr reached to try to pull it out, his heart hammering somewhere in his throat.

[Rainbowfox Ari]

Blacklight was checked out. His pupils were almost the size of his iris, black swallowing up yellow in a torrent of fear and pain. He was trembling all over, fingers twitching in no particular rhythm. Red-rimmed eyes twitched as well, over toward Jadyr, looking at him, silently begging for the help his mouth couldn't ask for. Colors and thoughts were blurring together, sounds were indistinct and far-away. His heart was pretty much all he could hear, the incessant hammering driving more pain into his head. He didn't know what he'd done to deserve this... It was all pain. All of it.

Thankfully, he was still as Jadyr removed the knife, but started trembling again as soon as it was out. Now, he was cold. Unbearably cold. This wasn't like any trip he'd ever had. Ever. Even so, there was something he had to say. If he was dying, he wanted Jadyr to know. His real name, not his stage name. Not his nickname. "J.... Jonah." he whispered, eyes rolling wildly after a moment, tracking something that wasn't there. "Name... It's... Jonah." His breathing was coming in a slight wheeze, and very fast. Was there something else he had to say? It almost felt like it... like if he didn't say anything, something else would come up out of his soul, and it would belong to Jadyr. Did he already belong to him?

His body couldn't hold out at this pace for much longer, but it didn't have to. Jonah stilled as his heart skipped a bit too much, and his grip on consciousness slid away. The boy's eyes slid shut, and his head lolled to one side as he passed out, fingers stopping that spasmodic twitching, and his body relaxing. He was still shivering, as that wasn't a consciously controlled behavior, but he was no longer jerking back and forth like a live fish, and he looked... sort of at peace. Well... except for the blood flowing from the cut on his side, and trickling down his chest and belly, as well as dripping onto the floor. The cut wasn't a bad one, but it was a cut, and cuts had a tendency to bleed.

[zapdragon555]

Jadyr had to pull the other man closer to properly get a hold of the knife, and he kneeled over him as it slid out of Blacklight's side. This sort of thing had never bothered him before--why did he feel so sick, now? Jadyr stashed the knife in his inner jacket pocket, not bothering to clean it of blood, and pressed his hand to the wound on Blacklight's side. "Keep your eyes open, alright man? Keep--" he cut off as Blacklight's lips moved, and he spoke, and Jadyr's brows raised slightly, then knitted together.

"...Jonah," he repeated, nodding slowly. Must be the guy's real name. Somehow, Jadyr didn't feel much better in knowing. Then it looked as though Blacklight--Jonah? Jadyr wasn't sure how to think of him, now--was slipping away. Alarm flashed in Jadyr's eyes, and he gripped the other man's shoulder with his free hand, shaking him slightly. "Hey, you fucker, I said to keep your eyes open! The fuck are you... doing..." Jadyr trailed off as Blacklight went still, and with a frantic edge to his movements he brought a hand to Blacklight's lips, relief rushing through him as he felt breath. Just passed out.

Right. Jadyr sat back for a moment, taking his hand away from the cut and absently wiping the blood on his jeans. His heart was hammering in his chest--was he really that scared? Nah, he didn't get scared. And he most certainly didn't feel any kind of concern for this guy... none.

...Who the fuck was he kidding. He wanted to get out, but damn it, if he left Blacklight there he'd feel like shit. He couldn't put a finger on why, but he'd feel like something way lower than shit. Conscious of the probability of Emille coming back in, Jadyr carefully rolled Blacklight onto his side a bit, and tried to fiddle with the bonds as discreetly as possible. Maybe if he could just loosen them, little by little...

[Rainbowfox Ari]

Emille didn't breeze back into the room - and there was a strange snatch of singing or humming from the other side of the door. Whatever he was doing, he was enjoying himself doing it, so there was the chance that Jadyr still had a little time to work with. The bonds around Jonah's wrists were super-tight, and had actually started to cut off his circulation slightly. Jadyr's fiddling with them loosened them up, and sent shooting pins and needles down the boy's arm. It served to make him stir a bit, and mumble something incoherent. Whatever he had taken, he had taken too much of it, or it was reacting with whatever Emille had used. Close up, Jonah was coated in a fine sheen of sweat from the sudden raise in his core temperature as his body tried to burn off the excess drug. His breathing was labored, but at least he was still doing it. There was something Emille had missed, however. An inside pocket in one of the sleeves of Jonah's shirt, that hadn't been ransacked. The man hadn't thought to check the sleeves. Inside the left sleeve-pocket was a swiss-army-knife. Black, with a rainbow stripe across it, and his nickname engraved in golden plating - Jonah Baker. More important than that was that this was one of those lovely little gadgets with a scissor attachment, a screwdriver, several blades, a can-opener... Multiple things a dancer of his kind may need at the drop of a hat. Most of which would be useful for getting them out of there.

The madman chose just that moment to come back, though, whistling some sprightly tune beneath his breath, and tossing something from hand to hand, as he turned to drag something into the room with his foot. It was a monitor of sorts - something that looked well-used, but also well-maintained. What he was tossing between his hands was the jumble of cords that was attached to it. "Lesse... Got yer ducks all in a row, now?" he asked, wheeling the cart the rest of the way in. "Ah've got what ah need, so we're gonna get started."

[zapdragon555]

Jadyr's hands moved frantically over the binds once he realized the damn things just weren't coming undone so easily. He grit his teeth, anger seething out of him at his own incompetence; their kidnapper was practically giving him time to escape, and he still couldn't do it! In a fit of irritation Jadyr grabbed Jonah's arms, and he froze as he felt something hard inside the other boy's sleeve. What was that...? Jadyr leaned closer, squinting in the weird light of the room, then fumbled with the tattered remains of the boy's shirt to try to get at the thing inside... too late.

Jadyr stiffened as Emille came back in, and he put his hands on Jonah's chest, looking focused. "His heart's hammerin', man," he muttered softly, as though his intent had been to check the boy's condition all along. He hoped he sounded convincing. "You sure he's not gonna die on us?" He'd wait until Emille left again, and then see what that thing was. It was shaped like a pocket knife, and he damn well hoped it was one.

[Rainbowfox Ari]

"Ah, if he did, it'd be a cryin' shame." Emille admitted quietly. "Ah.... Dammit, I forgot th' most important thing!" He set the bundle of cords down on the desk to his right, and held a finger up to Jadyr. "You jus' hold on a tick. I've gotta run out to the shop for a few. Say, 'bout twenty minutes. I didn't plan fer having company, so it'll take a moment to find." He winked, tipped his hat to Jadyr, and was gone again. This time, some door or another slammed as he went out of it.

The slam of the door woke Jonah a bit as he struggled with his bonds, and with the effects of the drugs. He didn't really know where he was, nor what was going on. Just that he ached all over, it was hard to get a breath, and his vision was swimming. However, he did remember Jadyr, and muttered his name, as he tried to force his wrists out of the bonds. The central-tie snapped, but it tightened the circular ones around his wrist, cutting into his skin, and leaving his skin slick with blood. A deep, slow breath later, he calmed himself enough for his head to clear, and to realize Emille was gone. He could get out of these restraints - he'd been in them enough times before that he knew how, now.

Without checking to make sure Jadyr wasn't looking, he used a trick an old friend had taught him, crossing his thumb behind one hand, and grabbing it with the other, dislocating the joint just long enough to slip out of the bonds. He relocated it with a twist of his wrist and a light 'pop' before doing the same to the other hand, although it took him a couple of tries because of the blood. Once he was out of both restraints - a feat he had somehow managed with only a couple of whimpers - only then did he actually notice Jadyr was still there, and acknowledge him. He was exhausted, but he managed a shaky, sleepy sort of smile, and worked his sleeves down so he could pull the knife out of them. His arms, obviously, were still bound, but those weren't quite as tight. With a bit of a nudge, he flicked the knife over to where Jadyr could make use of it, without saying a word.