A Call To Arms (A Crown The Empire Fanfiction)

Bennett.

20,8,5. 16,5,18,19,15,14. 8,1,22,9,14,7. 1,14. 1,19,20,8,13,1. 1,20,20,1,3,11. 23,1,19. 1,14,4,25'19. 3,15,21,19,9,14.

Taylor's P.O.V.

"GIVE ME BENNETT BACK OTHERWISE I WILL FUCKING SHOOT" I scream as I charge my way into the room.

To my surprise, the room was pretty much empty.

No Scarecrow torturing Benn.

No Benn being tortured by a Scarecrow.

100% confusion.

The Scarecrow in my arms chuckles to itself and I tighten my grip on the gun and shove it against the wall to scare it into giving me some answers.

I am completely oblivious to the small CD player sitting in the centre of the room until I hear the same:

"WHY DO PEOPLE KEEP DISAPPEARING INTO YOUR BUILDING?!?" that I was once certain was coming from inside this room

Then there's a silence where 'Bennett' doesn't answer and the sounds of an electric shock.

Then comes Bennett's ear-splitting scream that sends yet another chill down my spine and the sound of a slap then a sudden grunt of pain.

All exactly the same as last time.

This pisses me off more than it should have.

They used the sounds of an old form of torture to lure me further into the building.

Clever manipulation.

The panic and rush to find Bennett clouded my judgement and caused me to misjudge my decisions.

A rookie mistake.

God knows what they're going to do with him now.

Now they know I'm here.

Now they probably know everyone is here.

This whole 'operation rescue mission' will fail and only David will be left. At least he is safe back at RHQ.

I've wasted too much time here.

I snap back into reality.

No wonder the shouts and screams sounded distant even though they were coming from behind a door.

How stupid was I?

For absolutely no reason apart from to vent my frustration, I shove the Scarecrow up against the wall and force the gun closer onto the it's temple and half pulled the trigger before realising how helpful it may be to me.

"If you fucking dare try anything," I whisper directly into its ear, so close that I was leaving wet moisture from the water vapour in my breath on the cartilage of its disgusting, pathetic excuse of an ear "If you fucking dare. I will shoot a bullet from one temple through to the other, pick up the fucking bullet and then shoot you again directly through your black heart with the same bullet because youre clearly not worth wasting two bullets on. Then I will search this entire fucking building for a rope to hang you from the ceiling until someone finds your smart ass and takes you down only because they feel sorry for you not because anyone actually cares for you. Have I made myself clear?"

It nods it head

I pull its head and slam it harder against the wall, gun still to its temple.

"I said HAVE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR?"

"Yes" it whimpers in my arms, clearly terrified

"Good," I say with a smug smirk on my face "Now I don't want to hear another sound out of you. You'll only come in useful when blackmailing people now. I want you to stay in my peripheral vision at all times otherwise I WILL shoot."

And with that I shove the room door open and make my way down the corridor and down some stairs, the Scarecrow scurrying along beside me, petrified.

I am running purely on adrenaline and anger by this point. And desperation to find Bennett and Erika and get out of here.

.

.

.

After what seemed like half an hour of aimlessly wandering around this giant building, I came across a door, it seemed to be the only way through from where we were.

The Scarecrow whimpered. I slammed the butt of the gun against its head.

"I thought I told you to be quiet" I whispered violently again

It turned away.

I open the door slowly, unsure as to what was inside.

Complete darkness.

Complete and utter darkness.

I step inside, curious, and feel the walls for a light switch.

I find something that feels like a button and press it.

The entire flooring opened up, as if it were a trapdoor, and the actual slammed shut.

The Scarecrow and I fell into a dark abyss but I try not to show any fear in order to reinforce my role as the superior in this situation.

We landed on the same concrete flooring, in a corridor that looked exactly like the one we just came down to get to the trapdoor room.

And surely, there was no way out but to escape through the door at the end of the corridor.

The exact same as last time.

I slowly open the door and brace myself for the same darkness and then quick decent into nothingness as I open press the button but this time I am blinded by too much light.

The complete opposite of last time.

This room seemed to huge but it was impossible for me to tell until my eyes had adjusted to the sudden light change.

Millions of mirrors lined the walls and made corridors through the room and surely enough the door shut behind us again.

The mirror maze.

Great.

Complete mental manipulation.

I make my way through the maze, knowing full well this could take hours due to my lack of decent memory and zero sense of direction.

We wander around the maze for what seems like hours. No one spoke so there was no sound apart from out footsteps, our breathing and the occasional scurry of an insect.

Both of us jumped every time we saw the reflection of the another in a mirror and I am 100% confused.

I may as well have been walking around this maze with my eyes closed because we didn't appear to be making any significant progress after what felt like hours of wandering around this place and by this point I cant tell whether I'm more scared or confused but I press on of the sake of Benn and Erika and use Dave as my incentive to carry on.

After another three or four hours we finally reach the door at the end of the maze.

I am pretty certain that by now anything they throw at me will no longer be a surprise so I open the door, ready to face the next obstacle and then catch sight of him.

Lying down on the floor, hands ties to one wall, feet to the other, tape on his mouth and cuts, scars and blood all over his body.

Bennett.

Half dead.