FicWad

I am sooooo sorry about the long wait! I got seriously blocked... Also, I apologize for the shortness of this chapter. I didn't realize it was so short until now. D: Anyways, here it is (finally)!

Fun Ghoul wasn't exactly sure how long the interval between the torture stopping and Korse entering the room was, but it felt very short. It was definitely shorter than he would have liked; he hadn't quite gotten ahold of himself yet, and if Korse noticed his distress, he was in deep shit and he knew it.

He tried to sink down in his chair, even though that really wouldn't help- Korse was bound to check their reactions, why else would he have made them watch Party Poison being tortured?- and made an effort to ignore the concerned looks he was getting from Jet Star and the Kobra Kid.

"Did you enjoy my little show?" Korse sneered from behind them. "I personally found it quite entertaining. Lucky for me, I'm going to get to do that a few times every day from now on! And you all get to watch!"

Ghoul's eyes widened. A little whimper escaped his mouth. Jet and Kobra both glanced at him, looking a little panicked.

"That is, unless one of you feels like telling me what I want to know," Korse continued.

Ghoul gulped. Don't say a word. Don't you dare.

As it turned out, he didn't even have a chance to. Korse took that moment to walk around and face them. His eyes moved slowly over Kobra's face, then Jet's. The corners of his mouth twitched upwards.

His eyes fell on Ghoul.

The look of shock on his face appeared almost instantly. Ghoul cringed slightly.

"Take those two away," Korse said absently, gesturing towards Kobra and Jet. "I need a word with Fun Ghoul."

---

Kobra didn't put up much of a fight when two Dracs pulled the restrains off and hauled him out of the chair. Normally he would have struggled as hard as he could, but his injured leg was throbbing and Poison's screams were ringing in his ears and all the fight had gone out of him.

He was exhausted. It was quite the struggle to keep every scream and sob and plea he'd wanted to release since the clap earlier that day (or had it been yesterday? His sense of time was a little out of wack) locked inside himself. Keeping your face blank and neutral while your brother and best friend is being tortured in front of you is fucking tiring, it turns out.

He couldn't keep it up and remain defiant at the same time, and he refused to let BLI have the satisfaction of seeing his pain. So instead of fighting back, or even standing in a defiant manner or SOMETHING, anything, he let them drag him back down the hallway and throw him in a tiny little cell with Jet. But when they slammed the door and turned the lock from the outside, something inside him cracked.

Jet took a perfunctory look around the room, looking for escape routes that he knew already weren't there. When his gaze fell on Kobra again, he was alarmed. Kobra's eyes were wide, brimming over, and his mouth was trembling. He stared straight ahead, unblinking, at something that was not there.

"Kobra?" said Jet tentatively.

Kobra turned to look at him, but his gaze was still far away. He stared right through Jet. A single tear escaped and trailed down his cheek.

Jet tried again. "...Mikey?" he said quietly, hoping there were no Dracs within earshot.

Kobra's inner defences gave way. The dam broke. Jet watched, horrified, as another tear escaped, rapidly followed by another, then another.

Kobra sank to the ground and sobbed his grief out into his hands, and Jet did not know what to do.

...

Ghoul hit the ground hard, barely catching himself before his face hit the floor. Poison looked up when he heard the thud and the retreating footsteps of the Dracs.

"Ghoul?" he said, startled. He was surprised at how raspy his voice was. Ghoul looked up ad Poison felt somrthing drop out in his chest.

"What happened?" he asked worriedly, taking in Ghoul's tearstained face and disshevelled appearance. "what did they do? Are the others okay?"

Ghoul was silent for a second. His hands were shaking.

"They made us watch," he said dully.

Poison hoped he was misunderstanding.

"You saw all that?" he asked, attepmting to get to his feet. His entire body protested and he fell back to the ground.

"Don't try to stand up," Ghoul said, looking concerned.

"You saw all that?" Poison repeated. "All of you?"

"Yes," Ghoul said simply. He did not want to think about it.

Poison squeezed his eyes shut. Damn it.

"Where are Kobra and Jet?" he asked.

"I don't know," Ghoul said helplessly. "They took them away before me. I guess they're in a different cell."

"Why?"

"I... They think..." Ghoul ducked his head. "Just... I don't know."

"They think what?"

"Just... Never mind, okay?" He raked a hand through his hair, bit his lip.

Poison stared at him searchingly, but Ghoul refused to look him in the eye.

---

Korse frowned at the screen. "This is proving nothing," he muttered to himself. He needed proof, conclusive proof. He wanted to be sure that he wasn't wasting his time.

He did have one idea that he was sure would be effective, but he didn't want to use it too soon- Fun Ghoul was undoubtedly a valuable asset and he would prefer to take advantage of that before carrying it out.

Although...

A smirk spread across his face. He reached out, grabbed his walkie-talkie and hit Talk.

"This is Exterminator Korse requesting access to the Prototype Lab."

The reply was prompt.

"Access granted. Proceed to Prototype Lab. Draculoid 106321 will provide you with the code."

Korse was pleased. Soon all four of the Fabulous Killjoys would be putty in his hands, and there was nothing any of them could do about it.

---

"Pony?"

The voice was sad and scared, and so quiet that Show Pony was not quite sure whether or not he had heard his name called. Then there was a little tug on his hand. He looked down. Grace blinked up at him.

"You said we were going to save them," she said.

He sighed and knelt down to her level, but, upon finding himself looking into her eyes, could not find anything to say.