Steven came back to life with a long groan, his body registering all the aches at once. He opened his eyes, closed them again, and noticed there wasn't any difference. The room was pitch black, so dark he couldn't see his fingers in front of his face and there wasn't any sound coming in either. The only thing he could hear was the slight hum of the vent high above him, a soft rumbling that came in like a roar without any other noise to compete with. The faint scent of cleaning fluids hung in the air, mixed with the metallic scent of dried blood in his nose.
Isolated. Cutoff. If it were hotter, he'd call it hell.
How long had he been out? He couldn't say for sure, but he felt rested enough to hazard a guess. Seven, maybe eight hours. It had to be morning. She had to be up.
It was only when he pushed his way up that he noticed how cold he was and the reason for it: He was naked, head to toe. The bitch hadn't even let him keep his socks. "Crazy." He ran a hand over his face and muttered under it. "She's crazy."
It took Steven about five minutes to recover enough strength just to stand back up, and when he did, it was on shaking legs. He might have even fallen over if he hadn't bumped into the wall and leaned on it. From there he felt around the padded walls, fumbling around, until his hand found the door seams. It was padded up like the rest of the room, but he was sure this was it, and the door handle had to be around there...somewhere...
There was no door handle. "Shit." He ran his hand over where he was sure the door handle would be, then let his frustrations out with a pounding fist, hammering at the wall. "Shit, shit, shit!" Harder pounding, stronger, letting it all out. "Let me out! Out! Open the goddamn door, you fucking stupid ass cunt! I swear to God, if you don't-"
He was cut off by a hard knock on the door, one that made him back away. Another knock came after that, then another, before the door sprung open and flooded the room with light. He brought his arms up to cover his face and give his eyes time to adjust, but even through the haze, he could make out a statuesque, female frame standing there, with her long shadow stretching across the room. As he came into focus, he could see a clearer picture, and most importantly, he could see he wasn't the only one without clothes.
Diana stood in the doorway, full nude, no lingerie to lessen the view.. He'd spent a good part of last night imagining her naked, and this didn't disappoint. She had her hair down now, and while he preferred her with red hair, the raven strands spilling over her bare chest weren't an unwelcome sight. She reminded him of a cavewoman, something raw, powerful and dangerous.
The sight was enough to make him forget she'd kidnapped him. For a couple of seconds.
She had a tray of food in her hands. Cheerios, a banana, and a glass of orange juice. Without a word, calm as could be, she stepped in and sat it down to the side of the door, then flicked the light back on.
"Good morning." Her tone was happy, cheerful, completely unlike what you'd expect from a nude amazon holding a man against his will. "Sleep well? Comfortable?"
Steven looked at her, then the door, then back again to her gleaming face. The thought of running for it crossed his mind, but he knew she wouldn't let him get too far. She was setting out bait for him, and he wouldn't take it.
Yet.
Besides, he still had questions that needed answering. Questions like: "What do you want from me?"
She scoffed, then thumbed at the food. "Right now, I want you to sit, eat, and listen. This isn't Q & A time, this is instruction time. Understand?"
His first impulse was to suggest an orifice she could stick those Cheerios up into. He even opened his mouth to do it. But he was hungry, damn hungry, and if he wanted to get out, he'd need to keep his energy up. She'd just caught him off guard last night. She was strong, sure but he was stronger, bigger, tougher. If they went at it again and he was 100%, he would win.
He sat. He ate. He listened.
She looked a little disappointed, but didn't let it bother her too much as she walked to the side, lightly bouncing on the padded floor with each step. "Here's how this is going to work, Stevie."
"Steven."
"Stevie." Diana had a quick, petty snort, then moved on. "I'm trained to kill. I could kill you. Pretty sure you felt that last night." She tensed up, flexing to emphasize her point, as if he needed a reminder that she was stronger than the average woman. The average man, too, if he was honest. "But I'm not going to. That's not what I've been paid to do. No, the women who hired me want to see that you get taught a lesson. So that's what this is: A nice, long lesson."
"Hired you?" He couldn't stay quiet at that, and he pointed the spoon her way after he finished off a big gulp. "Look, I don't know what those bitches told you, but like I said, they've got nothing. Nothing."
"Maybe." She shrugged off the accusation. "I don't care. I'm not paid to care. I make an effort to stay neutral on these things. Makes the job easier." She stopped pacing long enough to lean over and glower at him. "Saying that, though, it is nice to do this to someone who deserves it for once and not some guy who just pissed off his psycho wife. And you trying to put a roofie on me isn't exactly evidence in your favor."
Steven couldn't object much to that, so he settled back in and let her continue.
She waited a moment for a response that wasn't coming, then resumed her circling. "So, here's how it's going to go. Every other day, you're going to get a chance to get out of here. I'll come in, and if you can fight your way out of here, you're free to go. But if you can't, well, we're going to play a game. A little something to help you get a taste of what you've given to others. My employers have a long list of things they want me to try on you, so don't worry about getting bored."
He was still listening, but something she said was drawing his attention. "'Every other day'?" His breath quickened. "How long are you keeping me here?
"How long?" Diana ran a hand over her chin, as if the question had never truly occurred to her before he blurted it out. "Until my employers are satisfied. Or they run out of money. Or you escape. Or you die." She leaned back against the wall with her hands behind her back, looking as innocent as a naked manslayer ever could. "Guess which one I'm betting on."
What freaked him out wasn't so much what she said as the way in which she said it. Plain, businesslike, taciturn. He couldn't shake the feeling it wasn't the first time she'd given this little speech. "Someone's going to come looking for me, I have a job, I have family, I-"
"I already sent a message to your job, said you'd be out for the week. They didn't seem all that concerned. Can't imagine why, you seem like such a likable guy." She brought her lips out with a mock pout that still came off as a little sexy, despite how much it pissed him off. "2580 is a stupid pin for your phone, by the way." She wagged a finger his way. "It does save me the trouble of beating it out of you, though, so, you know. Mixed blessings."
Steven had to fight the strong temptation to smack himself in the forehead.
"You get two bathroom breaks a day, one at noon, one right before midnight, so make them count. If you make a mess here, you will clean it up." There was an underlying threat under there that he didn't want to think too much on. "And that about covers it for now. Questions?"
She was behind him now, at his back while the door was in front of him. He bit his lip, weighing the options, considering the chances. Diana didn't have a key on her, so that door had to lock from the outside only, right? If he could make it outside, close it before she had a chance to follow, he'd be home free.
But she was close. Only a couple of feet away. Too close, and he was sitting down. He needed a distraction.
"How do I know..." He sucked in a lungful of air and some courage along with it, then looked over his shoulder and up her way. "How do I know you'll keep your word? How do I know you'll ever let me go?"
Diana thought about that question for all of two seconds, before she responded with a shrug. "You don't."
That was about all the answer Steven needed to hear.
He made his plan in one instant and executed it in the next, grabbing the half-eaten bowl of Cheerios and flinging it behind him, flinging a spray of milk and stale cereal at her face, to say nothing of the bowl. He didn't stay in one place long enough to see the results, but if the indignant, shocked gasp she made was anything to go on, it was a big success.
This was the chance. He scrambled forward, knocking over the orange juice as he went, and made a mad dash for the door. Five steps away, four steps, don't look back, three steps, two, one.
Steven was outside the room, he was clear. He grabbed the door, spun around, and pushed it hard to slam it shut, and then-
It wouldn't close.
He pushed hard against it for a frenzied, panicked second, trying to figure out what it was caught on, until his eyes locked on the culprit. Diana's hand was grabbing the edge of the door from the other side, holding it in place, keeping it only a few inches from shutting. The gap was getting bigger, too. She was pushing the door open.
"No-" He dropped down and pushed against the door from the other side, bracing his feet against the floor and leaning in with all of his weight. At first, it seemed like he was making some progress, or he wasn't losing ground at least. The two were at a stalemate, the door wasn't budging.
