Trapped : The Island of Torment

Chapter 3 : Underground Dungeon

Unknown location

I opened my eyes slowly, only to see a bright white light in the corner of my eye. I felt weak, no thanks to the strange odour I inhaled while working at my desk in my office at the consulting firm. I moved my arm to push myself up, but I found my wrists had been bound by a zip tie, as well as my calves. Slowly adjusting to the bright light I studied my surroundings. It was a large cell, designed to keep a dozen people with metal bars acting as guard rails. It was a general anaesthetic, I'm sure of it. Only one light source illuminated the area, the same white light coming from a metallic ceiling lamp. 

I soon realized I was not alone when I heard a groan as a woman with short black hair rose slowly. "West Point?" the woman asked, her eyes squinting. Aside from her short black hair she also wore black clothing from head to toe, minus the white shirt, and a pair of black boots, probably army boots. 

"Kate?" I whispered. "What are you doing here?" 

"I don't know, one minute ago I was trying to help Mary with her homework and now I'm here." she explained. 

"Same thing. I was working on a meeting for a client." I say. We heard the sound of a small panel being opened and stopped our conversation, hearing intensively as whoever opened the panel descended the metal stairs. It was a man, dressed in dark clothing, wearing no disguise but there was a bow and arrow strapped to his back. When his shoes touched the ground he looked in the direction of the cell where Kate and I were locked behind. 

"Hello Sayalfir." he greeted, stepping closer. "We meet again."

"Al-Sah-Her." I say. "Or should I address you as Malcolm Merlyn?" 

"You remembered, good." he said. 

"You know this guy?" Kate looked at me. 

"He left the League of Assassins long before me. His real name is Malcolm Merlyn, but his name in the league is Al-Sah-Her, or The Magician." I say. "What do you want from us Merlyn?" 

"Well... it's not me that is calling the shots." he said. The remaining hostages soon regained consciousness, all women, and had their wrists and calves bound with zip ties. The first to come to was Laurel Lance, wearing a pantsuit like me, indicating that she too was working when she was abducted. The second was Sara Lance, Laurel's younger sister, who also had a history with the League of Assassins. My cousin Candice was the third, also wearing a pantsuit. But the appearance of Nyssa al Ghul and Barbara Gordon was the odd one out. 

Laurel was staring daggers in Merlyn's direction, as well as her sister Sara. "What do you want from us?" Laurel asked directly, not mincing her words. 

"Like I told Sayalfir before, I'm not the mastermind in all this." he said. 

"My mind's a bit blurry here." Barbara said. "But who's this Sayalfir?" 

"You will regret taking us hostage Al-Sah-Her." Nyssa said, addressing Merlyn in his Arabic name. "I'll cut you down myself." 

"Try to get out from your current condition first, before you can come to find me." with a chuckle Malcolm Merlyn turned and climbed up the metal stairs, closing back the metal hatch. 

"I hate that guy already." Kate said. 

"Isa?" Laurel said, finally recognizing me. "You got captured by Merlyn too?"

"Hey Laurel." I say. "Merlyn didn't capture me, but someone did, by pumping in general anaesthetic through the ventilation system to render me unconscious, along with the office staff." 

"Can anyone answer my earlier question?" Barbara asked, clearly unhappy about the lack of answer to the question she posed. 

"And I thought you didn't care about Isabella at all." Kate said. "Since you recognized Selina as an ally and distrusted Isabella after hearing whatever lies she fed you at the party." 

"I agree with your statement Catherine." said my cousin Candice. "Since you and the majority of the family distrusted Isabella after buying into whatever she told you at the party I already knew that you guys would still not accept her, even though she had married Bruce." 

"How can you guys do this? She had been working for the family while she was dating him." Kate doubled down. "She nearly died just because they were working together, and you chose to trust someone who ruined her career. Isabella was trying to distance herself from the mess that is the relationship." 

"That's enough." I say. "We are clearly in an unknown location, where what we do or speak might be recorded. Do you guys think this is the time for arguments like this?!" 

"Isabella's right." Laurel said. "We need to get out of here." Looking at the zip ties I remembered a stunt I saw on television but I'm not sure if will it work. 

"I need space." I told Kate. Taking a deep breath I jumped up high and brought down the zip tie hard on my thighs while I landed. The zip tie holding my hands broke upon impact and freeing my wrists. "Okay, it works." 

"Cool, but can you free us now?" Kate asked. Candice was quick to replicate what I did just now and began to free Laurel and Sara. "You're going to officially teach me that after we get out of whatever this is." 

"You got a deal." I say. I went to free Nyssa after helping Kate to free herself while she insisted upon freeing the zip tie tying her calves together. "Nyssa." I greeted, helping her with the zip tie. 

"Sayalfir." she greeted. "I am surprised that Al-Sah-Her would target you, let alone Laurel and Sara." 

"He did say that he wasn't the mastermind, but I'm keeping my options open." I say, breaking the zip tie that tied around her calves. "I'm surprised that they didn't get..."

"My older sister, I know." she said, getting up. "They took my bow and arrows."

"We need to get out of here first Nyssa, then we'll discuss the issue of finding your bow and arrows."