Born Mad

Chapter Five: Dinner for Two with a Side of Torture

"Glad you could join me, Hon. Eat."

I opened my eyes at the voice, snarling angrily at the owner sitting opposite of me as he set a plate in front of me. His previously crisp suit was now soaked in blood, and I assumed it to be mine, but he didn't care, and neither did I. All I cared about was that a steak knife was sitting beside my plate with him in arm's reach.

"Now, now, play nice," he scolded lightly before I could even grab the knife. He nonchalantly took a bite of his own meal which appeared to be a T-bone steak with mashed potatoes and green beans. Mine was the same except for the vegetable which wasn't included.

We seemed to be in the parking structure still, but this looked more like an office. We were seated at the desk, using it as a table, with nobody else to be seen or heard in all of the rest of the area.

"What the bloody heck are you doing?" I demanded bitterly, unconsciously gripping the knife in my hand until I felt the barrel of (what used to be) my .38 caliber poking me in the knee.

"Giving a poor starving girl a good meal. Is that so bad?"

"Why do you want me to work with you?"

"Your mind is not something seen often," he answered simply around his food. "We're alike, you and I. We just want to have a little fun in the world. Go on ahead. Eat."

I took a bite of the steak, ignoring his curious look as I snapped, "I just want to find my parents. The rest of the world could collapse on itself for all I care."

"You ate."

"No kidding."

"You didn't think it was poisonous?"

"You're holding a gun, and you want me to work for you. Why would you poison my food?"

"Good. Good. You really are bright. How's your head now?"

"Why should you care?"

"I can't have my newest officer dying off; now can I?"

"I won't work for you. You may as well shoot me now."

"Now why don't you just tell me why you won't work with me?"

"I can find my parents without becoming an international criminal, and I can wipe out the fact I'm a fugitive. Then I can have a normal life."

"Oh, Honey, but normal people are so boring! Come with me, and we can rule the entire world with the flick of a finger."

"And you can kill me with the flick of your finger. Pull the trigger, and we'll be done here."

"Oh, what must I do to make you see what a fool you're being?" he sighed, setting aside the gun momentarily as he stood. "You've been cast aside, and yet you remain loyal to these bloody pigs. Why?"

With a flash, I had lunged across the table and grabbed my revolver. I grinned triumphantly upon finding it loaded, and I backed my kidnapper into the wall. "That's where you're wrong. I will never be loyal to them. I won't be loyal to you, and I won't be loyal to anyone. Now, if you don't mind, I've got parents to find. I bid you adieu."

He chuckled, pulling out his own pistol. "You really think I'm letting you go that easily?"

"I've taken down fifty of Parkhurst's bodyguards in one evening alone. You don't think I can take a little man in a suit?" I laughed.

"My dear, you don't know who you're crossing," he said giddily. "I wasn't lying when I said crime lord."

"Oh, what? Am I going to 'sleep with the fishes'?" I mocked, giving the line from the Godfather with the same voice effects in the movie just for good measure. "I'm fine with life and death. Though today, the Grim Reaper isn't lucky."

"You're right," he remarked thoughtfully. "He won't be. Look behind you."

Gosh darn it! Man, I have bad luck.

I felt a swift prick in the side of my neck, and I was down. Again.

"Hello there. Are you ready to join the land of the living again?"

"No," I answered bitterly, not bothering to even open my eyes. I knew who was standing in front of me. I also knew I was tied to a chair so I couldn't move.

"Come now, my dear," he cooed. "Think about this sensibly. You're not leaving me, and you're not dying. Why not just join me, hmm?"

I opened one of my eyes, the only increasing headache making it hard enough to just do that. I gave a sigh, shaking my head. "Listen. I know I'm supposedly insane, but your mind has got to be pretty messed up."

He simply grinned, placing his hands his pockets as he stared up at the ceiling. "Well, I certainly like to think so."

"Before, you said we were the same, you and I," I said reasonably after a bit of silence, making him look at me. I smirked dryly, making sure to tick him off with every word I said. "That's where you're wrong. We are nothing alike, you sick, twisted monstrosity. You said I didn't know who I was messing with. Well, I do. I'm toying with a sad, pathetic, weak, little son of a-"

My swear was cut off by his fist connecting with my stomach to knock the air out of my lungs and his hand wrapping my throat to prevent any air from being drawn in.

"I could end you right here," he snarled, and I finally had him.

I gave the best laugh I could muster with my very limited air supply. "But you- you won't. You have every- every reason to keep me alive."

His grip tightened around my windpipe, and he leaned in close to growl, "I also have every reason to kill you."

"Wrong," I chorused in a sing-song voice. "You only have one: so I don't escape and tell the- the world about you."

The world was spinning now, and I felt my chest tighten at the restriction of air. Gosh, this wasn't a good week for me...

"Remember my name, Girl," he whispered in my ear as his hand flew back to his pocket, and I gasped for breath. "James Moriarty. It will be the last thing you ever hear in your sad life, and it will undoubtedly be the first to bring utter terror into your existence."

I shouted after him as he turned and left my cage, "I've survived worse than this with no medical treatment! I have lived in utter agony every day of my existence! You will never strike fear! Never!"

He shot me a wicked grin as his hands lingered by a panel on the wall, and my cloudy mind just realized that my chair wasn't ordinary. It was electric.

"Moran, strap her in."

Mister Blonde-and-Green-Eyes was back, and I soon found my head locked into place along with every other limb.

My mind flew to every science paper I had read online, desperately trying to think if there was any way to survive electrocution. I had survived shock treatment- years worth, in fact, but this was nothing like that. In the last second, I tensed, tightening my muscles and praying to my Father above as the switch was flipped.