CELL

/ TWENTY THREE /

Some decisions can be made with haste and regretted at leisure.

Weeks could be spent on them, with lists made that considered every possible option and outcome, and their failure could be mourned for a lifetime. Whether it was leapt at with vigour or approached as if you were the cat and it the mouse, the decision can be life changing, life ending, or inconsequential when the results are played out.

The decision to taunt the twin, and the greater organisation, and bring him to Ryan's cage had no real thought behind it. The planning was non-existent. The outcome ignored. That was fine, though. If nothing was deliberated, there could be no disappointment. There just needed to be action of some sort. Inaction would bring them in their own time anyway, so why wait? Why jump to the beat of their drum when he could make them dance to his own?

If nothing was deliberated, there'd be no disappointment. Or doubt. Or plan. Ryan was suddenly hit with the realisation he didn't know what to do next. He wanted to be back in the room with Bradley and the others, but what then? He could hardly leap into action, taking them all out with well-timed kicks or neck chops or any other martial artistic moves he didn't know.

Or did he?

How the fuck was he meant to know what he could or could not do? And that was the problem. He didn't, and he wanted to. He had to! They had nefarious intentions towards him and the rest of his cellmates. He couldn't just sit and wait. It wasn't him.

Probably.

Realisation wasn't the only thing to hit him. Jarvis's fist came up behind it and connected with Ryan's cheek. He was knocked sideways and his head hit one of the bars, sending him reeling.

"Bastard!"

Jarvis punched him again, this time in the stomach, causing him to drop to his knees. Shit, but that guy was stronger than he looked!

"It's what you deserve for thinking you're special, fucking idiot! Why do you do this? Why force the cycles? Why be with her so much?"

"Because I'm not a fucking lab rat," Ryan said through teeth clenched to hold his pain and anger in. "I need to know, and get out of this place!"

"Ha!" Jarvis exclaimed, though his voice was kept low. "That's exactly what you are! And do you know what we do with lab rats?"

"What?"

"Dispose of them when they're no more use."

"So, you are planning on killing me? All of us?"

"No. We're not. We want you to live. That's why you're here. If you die, though, it can't be helped. Tough shit. Only so many cycles to go round."

"What the fuck is a cycle? What does any of that mean?"

"JARVIS!"

Bradley's voice split the night like the blades from the torch, and Jarvis jumped.

"Don't blame me for this," he said with a shrug of his thin shoulders. "Just because I enjoy it doesn't mean I like it."

The taser should have been expected, but Ryan still had time to be shocked before he was... shocked. Jarvis held it in place for longer than was necessary, and Ryan felt as if bees were crawling into his skin and shaking his brain like a peanut in a jar. Once he was, thankfully, unconscious, he was grabbed by the neck of his top and dragged out of the cell, dropped unceremoniously so the door could be locked, then taken again. As Jarvis passed the cage of his original target, he scowled at the occupant.

It said, with only a low growl, not to get comfortable. The time would come, as it always did. As it had many times already and would again.

The snarl and stare were unnecessary. The trembling target was fully aware.