#iwritewhump

Villain looks up, face twisted with pain as something jabs into his side. He turns quickly to see Sidekick capping a syringe. She smiles at him cruelly. 

Pain races through his veins, he doubles over and nearly collapses to the ground in less than a second. “What the hell is that?”

“I’m…not quite sure, to be honest.” Hero says. He squats in front of Villain and tilts his head, “Y’see, Sidekick and I were meeting with Supervillain the other day and she gave us a load of things she’s been cooking up. Some were labeled and some…” 

Villain moans in pain and curls into the fetal position. His vision turns white and he cries out. 

Hero coos and cups his chin, “Poor thing. How about Sidekick and I take you back to base and wait this out with you?” 

“No,” Villain manages, barely above a whisper. 

“Not a question.”

Sidekick picks him up, throwing him over her shoulder with a soft grunt. She follows closely behind Hero to the car and throws Villain in the car, not reacting when he shouts in pain. 

The drive seems to take forever, Villain can feel every rock in the road, his heart pounds in his chest and it feels like it’s trying to escape the torture. He presses his hand over his heart and feels it pounding, counting the beats. 

When the car finally stops, Villain whimpers at the sudden stop of movement. Without being jostled around, the only thing he feels is pain. 

The van doors open and Sidekick audibly rolls her eyes before grabbing Villain’s feet and pulling him closer to the end of the cab. 

She throws him over her shoulder again and carries him inside before grabbing his wrists and tying them behind his back; as if he could do anything to get away. She drags him to a table and ties him to one of it’s legs. 

“Cy, he’s awake.” someone says. 

Someone looks at him, their face right above his, “Fucker. You said the dose would keep him under until we got everything set up.” 

“Well obviously I fucked up. Just give him another dose.” 

The face above him rolled its eyes and pulled away. Things move around by Kier’s head and he strains to move. 

“Hey,” he says. Kier freezes. “That’s enough of that. Don’t want you to move just yet.” A needle plunges into Kier’s shoulder and everything goes fuzzy again. 

Something digs into Kier’s wrists and this time, he doesn’t waste time waking up slowly. He tries to fight against whatever’s holding his arms behind his back, and for a moment, it feels like the ropes are giving. 

He manages to get them undone enough to look around the room. He’s tied to the leg of a table, too heavy for him to move, and the window doesn’t show anything else outside, so it must be a high level. Or in the middle of nowhere. Kier doesn’t know which one is better.

He’s in a kitchen; there’s a fridge, oven, microwave, and cabinets. The floor is blue linoleum and the walls are yellow with white flowers painted on. If he wasn’t tied to the table, he’d think it was beautiful. 

Someone walks into the room. Kier hears their heavy footsteps and instantly goes still. He slows his breathing, closes his eyes, and lets his head loll back. 

He sighs and Kier can hear him coming closer. He strains his ears to gauge how close he is and as soon as he’s close enough for him to maybe hit him, he kicks out. 

He jumps back and frowns, “That was close. Maybe next time.” 

Kneeling in front of Kier, he tilts his head. “Do you know who I am?” 

Kier rolls his eyes. Of course he knows who this is. Anyone who’s been anywhere in the past decade would. He stares at him, refusing him an answer.

“Okay, fine. You don’t want to talk. That’s fine.” He sits down and kicks his legs out in front of him, letting his mechanical wings sag behind him. “Just to be sure you do know who I am, I’ll tell you. Lux. I’m sorta this city’s guardian. And I’ve been watching you for a few months. With at least seven kills, you’ve been at the top of my list of things to deal with.

“You’re just here at least until the mayor gets re-elected. Then we’ll figure out what to do with you. I’m thinking life in prison; but who knows. It’s still a while till elections and I could have a change of heart.” Lux says. 

He inhales sharply and stands up, brushing dust off of his clothes. “Well, I have some stuff to set up before that paralytic wears off fully, so if you’ll excuse me.” 

Kier glares at him as he walks toward the window. He looks up and nods, then walks out of the room. 

Kier sits there, the ropes digging into his wrists, until he hears more footsteps. These are lighter than Lux’s and Kier can only imagine they’re Phoenix's. Lux’s sidekick, she’s supposedly immortal, but as far as anybody knows, she’s never died. 

He leans his head back, letting it rest on the table leg, and watches her walk up to the window and toss a rope over the support beam running along the ceiling. 

She manages to make it over on her first try and silently celebrates before tying the ends together. 

“What’s that for?” Kier asks. 

She turns and tilts her head, “Cy said you weren’t talking.” 

“Curiosity got the better of me,” he says. 

She hums, “He’s getting the cage out from storage. Or the cell, whichever you prefer. I like cell, but he’s been calling it a cage. It’s been sitting in the basement for ages but since we finally found you, it can stop collecting dust down there.” 

“Okay…why the rope though?” Kier asks. “And while you’re answering my questions: why the fuck am I in the kitchen?”

“It’s gonna hang from the ceiling. I don’t know why, maybe it’ll make it harder for you to escape.” she says, shrugging. “Anyway, I’m here to string it up and put you in it. And you’re in the kitchen because it’s the only room with easy to clean floors. And Cy gets bored when he cooks. Likes someone to talk to.” 

He takes a deep breath and fights against the ropes again, grunting with effort. 

“That’s not gonna work, dude. I was in boy scouts when I was a kid. Those knots aren’t budging.” she says. 

He ignores her and feels his skin rip, and he bites his tongue to stop from crying out. Phoenix stands back, hands on her hips and looks up at the rope, “Good enough.”

She walks out of the room, promising to be back in a few minutes. 

Kier takes a deep breath and brings his wings out, they wrap around him and for just a moment, he feels safe. 

Lux stomps back into the room and laughs, “I was hoping you’d do that!” he cheers. Before Kier can pull his wings back in, Lux plunges a dagger into one. Kier shouts out. “Sorry for the extremities, but now it has to stay out, right? Since bringing them in would make it a lot worse next time?” 

Kier pants, “Fuck you.” 

“You wish,” Lux goads. He twists the dagger and rips it out of Kier’s wing, letting it clatter to the ground. “Hold still.” Lux’s hands fumble with the ties until they go loose. He uses the rope to tie Kier’s wings together. “Now,” Lux says, standing back to admire his work. “If you try to escape, I’ll have to find a way to keep you here, and it won’t be pleasant for either of us. I don’t know why you would try to escape though, you don’t have to do anything, just sit up in the cage and wait for the election to pass.” 

Phoenix walks back in the room, rolling a huge cage in front of her. It’s maybe four feet in circumference and ten feet tall. It looks like one of the sides is the door, and there’s a bolt lock keeping it closed. 

Kier watches as she pushes it upright, standing back to be sure it was facing the right way. 

“All ready for you, Cy.” she says, leaning against the wall. 

He nods and the metal wings flap, somehow lifting him into the air. He lands on the top of the cage and loops the rope into the ring on the top of the cage, pulling it tightly before sliding down the side of the bars. 

Lux pulls Kier to his feet and growls, “Do anything stupid and I’ll snap your fucking shin. Got it?” 

He pushes him in front of him to the cage and takes the lock off. He opens the door and lifts Kier inside. 

He slams the cage door shut and locks the door. He pushes the cage back, sending it swinging before leaving the room. 

Kier pants and slides to the floor, letting his wings fit through a gap in the bars. He glares at Phoenix as she stands in front of the cage. “What’s the plan now? Do I just fucking sit here until…until what? Huh? The election is over? Lux decides it’s too much trouble and kills me? What?” 

Phoenix sighs and walks up behind him. She unties the rope holding his wings together, “I don’t know. But, if I had any clue, I wouldn't tell you.” 

He bites his cheek as her hands grope at his feathers, attempting to smooth them out again. 

“Good news is you can’t see the blood.” she says in mock cheerfulness. “That’s a good sign, right?” 

“My wings are black,” he snaps. Phoenix huffs and walks away, muttering something about the silver fucking lining that Kier can’t quite catch. “So do I just sit here?” he asks himself. His wings wrap around him protectively and he pulls his legs up to his chest, resting his chin on his knees. 

A door opened in the distance and Whumpee stood right in front of the bars, face nearly touching the grimy metal as they glared at the heavy door Whumper would walk through any second. 

Henchman opened the door for Whumper and they walked in, “Hope you don’t mind the dirty cell. I didn’t expect company until later this week.”

Whumpee ignored them. “Let me go.” 

“Sorry, can’t do that until Caretaker comes to get you. This is sorta a hostage type thing here.” Whumper said, mocking sympathy as they stood nearly face to face with Whumpee. “I just sent them the note, so they should be here in…two, maybe three hours? How could we pass the time?” 

They sighed and tiled their head to the side, eyes closed in thought. Whumpee thought of punching Whumper through the bars, but before they raised their arm, Whumper had opened their eyes and was smiling evilly. 

“I have just the thing.” 

They walked out of the room and the door closed with a deafening “thud” and Whumpee was left alone once again. They kicked the dirt at their feet and huffed until the door opened once again. This time, Whumper entered pushing a small rolling tray in front of them. 

“I couldn’t decide which one I wanted to try, so I brought them all. There’s probably enough time.” They adjusted the brakes on the cart and stood in front of the cage’s door. “Now, are you going to be good when I unlock this or am I going to need to use this?” they asked, pointing to what looked like a shock collar. 

“Take a fucking guess.” 

Whumper sighed and nodded. “That’s what I figured you’d say.” 

They grabbed the collar and something else from the cart that Whumpee didn’t get a good look at. Whumper grunted and shoved something through the bars of the cage and Whumpee crumpled to their knees. 

The door was quickly unlocked and Whumpee was collared before they could comprehend what had happened. Whumpee recovered fast, standing up before Whumper had a chance to throw the shock stick out of Whumpee’s reach. 

They grabbed it from Whumper’s hand and jabbed it towards Whumper’s rib cage, but before they made contact, they crumpled to the ground. 

Whumper snatched the rod from their hands and held up the remote to the collar, shaking it slowly in their hand. 

“And that was the lowest setting.” they taunted. 

They waved Henchman inside the room to help them with whatever they were going to do. Whumpee looked around Whumper’s legs and inspected the cart. 

Whumper snorted and shook their head before waving their hand at Henchman. They nodded and grabbed Whumpee harshly by the hair, pulling their head up and shoving them against a wall. They pulled a handkerchief out of their pocket and tied it tightly over Whumpee’s eyes. 

Whumpee sat there on the dirty ground, waiting for Whumper to do something. Chains rattled somewhere in the room and Whumpee held their head up high. They wouldn’t let Whumper see how scared they were. Henchman laughed and grabbed Whumpee’s ankles. 

Whumpee kicked out, trying to land a hit, but Henchman was stronger than they’d anticipated. They held Whumpee’s feet down and clasped manacles around their ankles, then they did the same to their wrists. Whumpee fought against them, but all they succeeded in doing was tiring themself out. 

Ryker smiles and laughs before taking her own armful and following Kier out of his room. “Sure you don’t want to keep just one outfit? You don’t know when they’re coming back.” 

“They’re not.” Kier says. “Coming back. They told me a few days ago they weren’t going to come back.” 

Ryker frowns, but doesn’t say anything. 

They make it to her room and drop the clothes in two piles on the bed. “You sure you don’t want help going through it? It’s a lot of stuff.” 

Ryker nods and leans against the wall, waiting for Kier to leave before digging into his old clothes. 

Kier raises his hands in playful surrender and backs out of the room. “I’ll be in the kitchen.” 

She nods and waves him away; as soon as she can’t see him anymore, she digs into the piles. Throwing some skirts onto the bed, some into a new pile and doing the same with jeans, shirts, jackets, and skirts. 

In less than an hour, she’s gone through the piles and has a small, satisfied smile on her face. She stands, and takes up the discard pile in her arms. 

Kier’s leaning on the workbench when she walks out of her room, he’s inspecting his wings with a frown. “Hey!” he says, suddenly smiling, “Remember when I fixed your legs earlier this month and you said you’d dye my wings for payment?” 

“Not what happened, but sure.”

“Well. I need them dyed again soon because I found-drum roll please- Ardrich Whitaker! He’s been hiding out on some private island for the past few months but I found the fucker.” Kier folds his wings back in and kneels in front of the sink to grab a bag. “I don’t have any dye, so I can head out tonight and get some while dropping that off at the thrift store.” 

Ryker drops the clothes on the ground and her jaw drops. She huffs and bends down to pick it up while saying, “Back up. You found him?” 

Kier nods and shovels the clothes into the bag. “He’s eating dinner with the mayor later tonight and I’m gonna keep watch till he’s alone.” he stops and holds up a shirt, staring at it. It’s a light purple and has little flowers hand-embroidered along the neckline. “I forgot about this.” he smiles and holds it against his chest before shaking his head and sighing. He puts it on the top of the bag and ties it off. “So anyway, I’m going to pick up some dye after dropping this stuff off. I was thinking you could dye them and be done by seven?” 

“Sure, just remember to get the right brand-not the cheapest one. I’ll have the tub filled already. Don’t be late or the water’ll get cold.” 

“Alright, I’m off. Want me to pick anything up for dinner?” 

“Dude.” 

“Right, robot. Are you cooking anything for dinner or should I pick something up for myself?” he corrects. 

Ryker smiles, “I’ve really been wanting to try a vegan spaghetti recipe if you’re up for pasta?” 

Kier throws the bag of clothes over his shoulder and smiles, “Pasta sounds amazing!” he unlocks the door and pushes it open with his hip, “OK, I’ll be back in about an hour, bye!” 

He makes it to the thrift store and decides to take a look around after dropping the bag off in the back. There’s a handful of people meandering through the store, occasionally picking something up before deciding against it. 

Kier picks up a mug and holds it up, inspecting it for chips or cracks. It’s a soft pink with a bat hand-painted on. He sighs and puts it back on the shelf before wandering further into the store. 

After not finding anything he wants, Kier makes his way back to the front of the store and passes the mug again, this time picking it up and holding onto it tightly. He smiles slightly and digs in his pocket for some loose change. 

After checking out, Kier leaves the store with his newly acquired mug in hand. He looks down at his watch and curses. “How did I spend that long in there?” 

Finally finding a phone booth, he steps inside and dials Ryker’s number. She doesn’t pick up, so he leaves a message, “Hey, Ry. Sorry I’m late, I went into the store and lost track of time. Ardrich’s dinner is probably almost over so I’ll just go there before heading home. Sorry again, I got you a mug, so you can’t hate me! I won’t do anything tonight, I’ll just find out where he’s staying, I promise.” 

He hangs up the phone and sighs, leaning against the booth’s wall and takes a few deep breaths. “Ok,” he tells himself, “Last time. Then you’re done. Just one more.” 

A rock gets kicked behind him and he jumps around to look at who was there, but when he turned, there was no one. He shakes his head and sputters, shaking his hands to get rid of some of his nervous energy. 

He leaves the booth and walks quickly to the alleyway, knowing that even if he was imagining things it was best to stick to the dimly-lit areas. 

He constantly looks over his shoulder, gripping the bag tighter and tighter with every step. He can feel his heartbeat in his throat and his wings threaten to pop out. 

He pauses and closes his eyes, listening intently for any noise around him. A rat scampers around in a trash bin, but other than that; there’s nothing. 

He walks on and doesn’t let himself get in his head. There’s nothing following him, he’s just nervous. 

Something stabs into his back. He can feel something being pushed into his flesh. He turns quickly and tries to bring his wings out, but they don’t obey. He tries again before realizing he can’t feel any of his back. He falls forward and his hand lets go of the bag, he can hear the mug shattering to pieces. Whoever’s there catches him. He tries to turn his head, but his body doesn't do what it’s told. 

“That, Draven, was an injection of rocuronium, you’re not moving anything for a while,” they say. “And this…” they show him another syringe, “is something a friend’s been working on, he’s letting me test it out.” the needle sinks into Kier’s shoulder. 

“No,” Kier whimpers, “Please, no.” his head lolls to the side and his eyelids droop. 

Whumpee listened through the wall as thunder roared nearby. The cold of the metal soothed the bruise on his cheek, almost making it so he could ignore it. 

The sun had gone down over an hour ago and Whumper still wasn’t home. Why wasn’t she home? She was never late. Ever. 

Whumpee picked at the peeling skin on his hands to try to preoccupy himself, but all he succeeded in doing was making himself bleed. Whumper wasn’t going to like that. Not one bit. 

He sat on his hands and listened to the rain slowly hit the metal roof, pattering slowly and helping calm his nerves. Whumper would be home soon, she probably hit traffic. That was it, she’s still coming back. She wouldn’t leave Whumpee here alone. Not again. 

Car brakes squealed outside and Whumpee sat up straight. He sucked some of the blood from his hands and stood in front of the door, waiting for Whumper to open the door. 

The door opened and Whumper rushed inside. She dropped her bag on the floor and stared at Whumpee. She was panting, something was wrong.

“Whumper?” he asked, tilting his head to the side. 

She looked out the window on the door, cursing under her breath. “Get the rope.” 

Oh god. Not the rope. Anything but the rope. Please. Not again. 

He nodded and bowed his head before turning around and going down the stairs. 

Why was she doing this? What had he done? He didn’t do anything to deserve this. Not again. He’d been good! He’d been so good! 

The rope was where he put it last time, hung up on a hook in the back of the room. He lifted it off the hook and tossed it over his shoulder, then went up the stairs. 

Whumper had gathered a small bag while he was gone. He could see clothes poking out of the overstuffed bag. He dropped the rope on the ground and waited for her to tell him what to do. 

“Kneel.” 

And he did. 

She picked up the rope and wrapped it around his arms once, twice, a third time. She tied it tightly and cut behind the knot. She tied his hands together, then his feet. She tied the rope around his ankles and the one around his wrists together, making it so he couldn’t stand up. Then she pushed him onto his stomach. 

He looked up at her with tears in his eyes, “Whumper? What’s going on?” 

“Someone new is coming for you. Be good for them and they’ll let you live.” she replied curtly. 

“You’re…getting rid of me?” he whispered. 

Whumper rolled her eyes and kicked him in the side, “I told you I would.” she tossed the bag over her shoulder and opened the door. “Be good for him. It’d be a shame if they killed you before I have the chance to see you again.” 

The door slammed and Whumpee was left alone on the floor, tears welling in his eyes and thoughts racing. 

How could she give him away? Just like that? He’d been with her since he was ten, he doted on her every word and she just…left him. What did he do? He didn’t deserve this. 

The door opened and Whumpee looked up, smiling wide. She’d come back for him! He knew she wouldn't leave him. 

A black book poked out from the door and Whumpee’s smile fell. Whumper didn’t have any boots like that. 

This new person cleared their throat and shone a light into the room, poking around the door. He looked at Whumpee and rolled his eyes. 

“She told me you were bigger.” he said gruffly. “Oh well, you’ll do.” 

"Now Whumpee, that's no way to act, I'm letting you clean yourself up. Don't I deserve some gratitude?” Whumper said, their voice dripping with venom.

Whumpee tried to spit a reply, but the gag muffled their retort. Whumper smiled and opened a heavy wooden door. 

"I had Henchman prepare a bath. I know how much you hate a hot bath and cold water is such a pain to keep cold, so this is perfectly room temperature.” Whumper said, letting the door close behind them. “Now, all we have to do is get those pesky clothes off of you.” They dragged their eyes over Whumpee’s body, staring at all the bruises and scars they’d made over the weeks that they’d had Whumpee. 

Whumpee stopped fighting and their eyes widened, their mind already creating horrible scenes for what Whumper was planning.

Whumper waved their hand dismissively, "Oh, don't worry. I won't have you here. I've got a much better place for when you're ready for that.” They folded a towel over the back of a chair and smiled, almost sweetly.

"Now take off your clothes or I'll do it for you, and I won't be as gentle as I have been."

Whumpee's hands shook as they pulled their shirt over their head. They took off their pants and stood in just their underwear and gag.

"Come now, Whumpee, you know I meant all the way.” Whumper said, walking up to Whumpee.

Whumper ripped Whumpee’s underwear off of them, their nails cutting into Whumpee’s hips and legs as they did so.

Whumpee screamed behind the gag and Whumper closed their eyes. "Do you know what those screams of yours do to me? It almost makes me…” Whumper slid behind Whumpee and embraced them, almost like a lover would do. Tremors shook Whumpee’s body as Whumper's hand traced circles over their chest, "Now,” Whumper whispered. "Let's get this gag off so you can scream properly. Who knows, you might wake Henchman."

Whumpee heard a soft “click " and the gag fell around their neck where it stayed.

Whumper, still standing behind Whumpee, lifted Whumpee at their waist and carried them to the tub. They nipped Whumpee's earlobe with their teeth and whispered, "If you're good, I'll leave you alone tomorrow."

Whumpee shuddered but stayed still. Whumper gently put Whumpee in the tub and grabbed a washcloth. They wiped Whumpee down, going over the places where Whumpee’s breath hitched several times, Whumpee whimpered everytime Whumper touched the new cuts on their legs, so naturally, Whumper wiped over them more than anywhere else.

Whumper stood up and backed a way to look at Whumpee in the blood-stained tub.

“There we go, all clean.” Whumper purred. "I was hoping you'd say something about it, since you’re usually so perceptive, but this isn't water. Tell me, Whumpee, do you know what perfluorocarbon is?” Whumper smiled cruelly as they jolted forward with their hands out in front of them.

They shoved Whumpee into the tub, tilting their head back when Whumpee struggled under their hold. Whumper allowed them to the surface before pushing them back down, several times over. Whumpee's thrashes slowly weakened before they laid still under the perfluorocarbon’s surface and Whumper left them in the tub.

“Rest well, Whumpee, I'll see you tomorrow."

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