A Hard Day's Night [IC]

[Avenger Assembled]

"Hello." The voice rang through the half-lit room in an eerie, chilling monotone, even Zealot's supernatural vision not cutting through the chilling darkness at the edges of the room, away from the bright light where he and Phantom were suspended in their tableau of torture. The voice was a choking cough, a malevolent growl that spoke of death and pain. "Did your mother dress you like that, little boy?" Behind Zealot a figure dressed in black leather appeared as if from nothing, his white hockey mask burnished bright and gleaming in the light as he emerged into it, his blue eyes reflecting death itself. He moved implacably fast for Zealot, big leather-clad hands reaching out, and struck directly for Zealot's holy scourge!

[Eviscerus]

Zealot was highly perturbed by the interuption and looked at the newcomer. He did not smell of magic but he moved damned fast and was strong. Before he could reach for it, the man ripped Witchbreaker from his belt, which did not please Zealot at all.

"Meddling Interloper! You will pay for that with your life." Zealot snarled and crouched down in a wary stance.

[Avenger Assembled]

"You mistake me, boy. You mistake my intention. You mistake my nature. You are nothing." Avenger circled in the darkness, his bone-white mask gleaming in the brilliant light of the overhead lamp, the scourge in his hand whipping back and forth in the air, as if a sentient thing uncertain at its new master. "Your puny flesh. Your puny spirit. Your puny faith. They are nothing. Tonight, I break them." He wrapped his gloved fingers around the business end of the scourge, pulling the indestructible weapon taunt in his fingers. "You want this back? _Come and take it._

[alderwitch]

"Avenger," Phantom closed her eyes and let out a shuddering breath at that gravelly voice. She flattened her mouth in a determined line and narrowed her eyes on the two men.

Phantom twisted her bound wrists, trying to yank on the bonds that held tight.

[Eviscerus]

Zealot doesn't say a word, he just bolts over to the wall where the rope is hanging and busts the hook, dropping Phantom back into the ice cold water. He turns to the black clad figure and smiles mockingly while taking a defensive posture.

"What to do, what to do eh creature?"

[Avenger Assembled]

When Avenger laughed, it was a terrible sound that seemed to ring off the doors of Hell itself. "I told you. _You mistake me._" And with that, Avenger smashed his free hand through Zealot's silver armor, his gloved fist penetrating as far as the boy's midsection before pulling outward, the sheer force behind the blow pulling away a huge chunk of the armored metal. It felt good, remarkably good, so Avenger did it again; this time his iron-hard fingers ripping the silver armor open wide. The metal fell away with a noisy clatter, leaving Zealot wearing only his leather under-armor. "Now."

[Eviscerus]

Zealot snarls and looks to his ruined armor.

"You will pay for that!" Zealot flips in the air over the insanely strong figure and aims a his asp for the man's back and hits solidly. The impact sends a ringing through his fist from the unnaturally solid skin.

[Avenger Assembled]

The kid was faster than he looked, and devilishly strong in the bargain. Jack knew he'd have to work fast. "I told you. Your weapons are nothing. You are nothing. I show you." Avenger didn't bother with fancy strategy this time, instead he drove his fist into the boy's midsection with fantastic force, using the manuever to throw his other arm around his waist and pull him close.

[Eviscerus]

The punch was devestating. Stars and multicolored lights sprang up before Zealot's vision and he could do little to stop the coming man-handling. His body seemed not to want to cooperate and mind seemed even less able to function. If it wasn't for the creature's hold on him, he might have just collapsed to the floor.

[Avenger Assembled]

Avenger pulled Zealot's scourge from his belt and hurled it away, the mystically empowered lash glowing in the air as it lashed across the tank containing Phantom. With a sudden shriek, the metal parted, a sudden cascade of water battering down on the two men so hard that only Jack's empowered vampiric strength kept them both on their feet. They were both soaking wet as the water ran out on the floor all around them, electrical current sparking where the water found open lines. Avenger was only vaguely conscious of Phantom coming into view as he looked down at the battered, soaking wet boy in his arms, the cold, curling rage inside him pushing him forward.

With a sudden, spasmodic movement, he tore off his mask, both his masks, revealing Jack's face to Phantom but not to the boy he had grappled from behind. He knew what he had to do; what he had to do to make sure this boy never again threatened Taylor or anyone else he cared about. "You were wrong about her, you know. But you were right about me." As Taylor watched, Jack's eyes turned a malignant red and yellow, his teeth bulging out into monstrous fangs, his face lengthening and sharpening into the unmistakeable look of the vampire! When he spoke, though, it was with malignant, agonizing grief that struck him at his very core. "I am a monster." And then, he bit him on the neck.

[Eviscerus]

Zealot's face stretched in horror, bucking uselessly against his captor he screamed in fear as the teeth sank into his skin and the creature's will into his mind. There was nothing he could do, he was petrified. He'd never felt so helpless, so completely and utterly defenselss. In a small corner of his mind he wondered if that's what the girl had felt, or any other's he hunted. Is that what he did to the tainted?...

[alderwitch]

The wall she'd thumped against gave way with a shriek of metal audible even though the water. With her hand bound behind her back and her ankles still chained, there was little Phantom could do but be carried with the current and try and roll with it. She smacked into something large and heavy that finally stopped her uncontrolled skid accross the floor and muffled a groan. Coughing the water out of her lungs, Phantom twisted around in time to see Jack's face.

If she'd had any color in her face it would have bleached white as her world condensed down to an image she didn't think she'd ever forget in her entire eternal life. Her thoughts were a chaotic tangle. An embarrassed 'How could I miss that?' mixed with a horrified 'Oh, sweet God...' with a dash of furious 'He should have told me!'.

Finally, soundlessly, her lips shaped the words, "Oh, Jack."

[Avenger Assembled]

When it was done, and when Jack knew the boy's soul inside and out, he pressed his bloody mouth against his ear. "Listen to me, Victor Harrow. You bear my mark now. That means your life belongs to me. If you want a monster to fight, come find me. Until that day, if you come against any of my friends again, I will have my vengeance." And with that, he smashed Victor's head into the ground repeatedly until the boy was unconscious, then hurled his body aside into the darkness.

He looked up at Taylor as his fangs faded back, his face reshaping itself into a perfectly human, completely innocuous guise. His eyes were wide. She'd seen everything. Of course she had. "Taylor." He stood up and went to her, awkwardly pulling his ski mask back down. "Need to cut you down."

[alderwitch]

Her mask was torn under one eye where the whip had lacerated the skin below but it was otherwise intact. Dark hair streamed down her shoulders and she was, of course, soaked from head to foot. Realizing she was staring at him utterly blankly, she gave him a quick jerky nod and twisted to allow him to snap the bonds on her wrists first. As feeling returned to her fingers, she choked down a quiet groan. The leather gloves had protected her wrists from the worst of the abrasions but she was sure when she peeled them off, the skin would be red and tender. She flexed her fingertips, hissing softly as she worked feeling back into her hands while Jack dealt with the rest of the pully apparatus that had held her suspended.

By the time he'd dealt with it, Taylor had peeled off one ruined glove and reached for him with the bare hand. Her fingertips were ice cold from the repeated dunking and her hand trembled as she reached out to press it against his chest, her head turned slightly to the side. She knew - she'd seen with her own eyes - but Taylor couldn't restrain the impulse as she flattened her palm against his leather jacket and listened for a heart beat that was never going to be there. Her eyes closed under the mask and when she looked up at him, the white glow had vanished to be replaced with Taylor's warm, brown eyes.

"You should have told me," It was low, angry, and her voice was raspy from the ordeal but it was Taylor's softer tones. Not Phantom. She frowned up at him and then, after pausing to struggle with her other leather glove - which took some doing as leather wasn't easy to get off the best of times and her fingers were still clumsy - reached up to pull his mask off with shaky hands. It was the first time she'd done so, actually. She'd seen the transition from Jack to Avenger and back again, but she'd never reached up to remove the mask with her own hands. Still scowling, she smoothed a cold hand over one cheek. "I am so unbelievably pissed at you, right now, I could cheerfully strangle you. I'm pretty sure that if I try hard enough, I could manage it, too. Feeling will come back to my hands eventually. I'm very sturdy, you know. Tough, even."

Still muttering, she dropped her hands from his face and reached up to shove off the heavy weight of the cloak and let it fall to the ground with a wet thump. Once freed from all of that, she scooted forward and slipped her arms around him and tucked her head under his chin, cheek pressed to that too silent chest. Holding onto Jack tightly, she twisted her face into the leather of his jacket and, after the wost day possible, finally indulged in one thing that Taylor never, ever did. Taylor wept.

[Avenger Assembled]

Jack walked out into the darkness, easily supporting the weeping Taylor as he scooped her up in his arms, keeping to the shadows as they left the warehouse behind them. "Let's take you home," he murmured to her. "Or to the Lair." He looked down at her, worry for her in his eyes even as he pushed aside the dreadful knowledge of all the secrets exposed that night. "It'll be all right," he assured her. "We'll get you somewhere safe. I won't let anything else happen to you."

[alderwitch]

"I never cry." Taylor informed him as she mopped her face with the edge of one grimy sleeve. She cried very quietly, eventually only taking in the occasional shuddering breath. Around the second swipe, she noticed the state of the remains of her costume, "I need a shower. And clothes."

She remembered the state of her bedroom - or what was left of it and winced slightly, mind shying away from that one. Carefully, she requested, "I'd rather not face my apartment just yet. I guess the Lair's fine."

Emotionally exposed and physically drained, she was honestly reluctant to go to the Lair. Elena was a friend but even at her most composed, she felt raw under the telepath's eyes. Tonight, she'd felt raw under anyone's eyes. She didn't, however, have any other options. She'd have to move, of course, even with Jack's threat, she'd never feel safe sleeping in that bedroom again. Phantom shuddered once, an involuntary gesture.

[Avenger Assembled]

Jack studied Taylor for a moment, trying to read the meaning behind her eyes, and nodded. "We'll get you somewhere safe." He found the car he'd brought out there and carefully loaded her inside, pulling a blanket up from the back to wrap her up and heading off into the city. He headed not for Wading Way, but for Midtown. "We'll go to my apartment," he finally said, one part of their relationship that they hadn't explored beyond this before. "It's safe there. God, Taylor...I'm sorry I didn't come looking sooner. I'm so sorry."

[alderwitch]

Taylor slanted him a glance. She reached up to peel her mask off. It came free with a wet squelching sound as the skintight cloth finally peeled away and she winced. Taylor flipped the mirror down out of some sort of morbid curiosity. In addition to the laceration from the barbs of the whip, the other side of her face was coloring up nicely. That alone told her that her body was working over time to deal with the damage. "You have a way in that we won't be seen? I don't think that everything's going to heal up before we get there."

She reached out to him, resting her hand on his leg in a soothing gesture, "It's okay, Jack. I'm okay. I'm bruised and I'm battered, yes. I'll heal. How would you have known?" She turned towards him, snapping the mirror shut with a soft click. Her eyes darkened as she remembered the other threats that had been made.

"You got there before," she hesitated a moment over word choice, "Before he could do anything truly awful. Or permanant."

[Avenger Assembled]

"I have ways in nobody knows about," Jack said immediately. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, then reached up to adjust the mirror. With Taylor paying special attention to him now, she was able to see the way his hand didn't reflect in the glass. "I wanted to kill him," he finally said, "I thought about it, and if anything had happened to you..." He shook his head, then laughed bitterly. "But you don't need to hear about that now. You've already been through enough."

[alderwitch]

Her gaze flicked up to the mirror. This time, at least, it was less of a shock. Still, how could she have missed this? Taylor didn't have a lot of false pride, but she was one of the most accomplished mystics in the city. Did he do such a good job hiding this? Or did I not want to look? Although she'd never pried into his secrets, she hadn't dreamed that it would end up being anything quite like this. She examined his profile in the light. It was a decidedly odd sensation, to know someone so intimately, and still know so very little.

"Tell me," she invited, letting her cheek rest against the head rest. Her features were still drawn and too pale, but her eyes were curious if still guarded, "Am I really that special to you?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"That's a loaded question," said Jack, the ghost of a smile tugging at his lips for just a moment before finally fading away as he peered in the glass behind them. "You're more special to me than anyone's been in a very long time. What I feel for you is much more...more real, than I've felt for anyone else." He turned and looked at her. "That much is true, Taylor. I want you to believe that."

[alderwitch]

She searched his face for a long moment, her eyes very dark in her face and her expression pensive. Taylor's fingertips slid over the surface of the amulet at her throat, and then closed around it's comforting weight. 'Either you trust someone, or you don't. It's still that simple in the end, the choice itself is just more complex.'

"I believe you," she said finally, her guarded expression easing. Taylor remained silent for another long moment, before she returned the faint smile at last, her cheek dimpling, "I am glad you pounded his face into the floor. It would only have been more satisfying if I'd been able to do it myself."

[Avenger Assembled]

"I had to teach him fear," Jack finally said. "People like that will only be put off if they truly believe that you're more frightening than the wrath of their god. And I think I gave him that." He flexed his fingers on the wheel, the hard rubber beneath creaking. "If nothing else, I know who he is now and where he came from, and that'll mean he can't come back the same way."

[alderwitch]

"He's insane, repressed and dangerous." Taylor said flatly, her hand tightening on the pendant until it almost hurt, "He's a sociopath with a deadly mixture of violent and sexual tendancies-"

She bit off the end of that statement and forced herself to release the necklace before she yanked it right off. When she was certain that she had her voice back under control, Taylor managed, "I hope he learns the lesson, and, if I'm being entirely honest, I'm glad it hurt."

[Avenger Assembled]

"If he comes back again, I'll do something to him that he won't recover from," said Jack flatly. "I know how to do that. He'll never be a threat to you or anyone else again." Jack turned out to dwell in a really nice neighborhood in Midtown, the apartments secured and well-guarded. "I have an elevator these days," he told her as they headed into the darkened parking garage, "we'll get up there privately." She still hadn't mentioned it yet. Maybe she was right not to.