Liz wanted to touch the instruments, curious as to what they were, but her hands didn’t seem to have the drive to move. Or perhaps it was the thick bindings that held her wrists in their spot above her head. From her daze, Liz couldn’t really tell if she was sitting or standing or lying down or even perhaps doing a handstand.

Liz caught sight of her toes and let out a low giggle. She started to wiggle her toes but, try as she might, her legs were unable to move. Again, the bindings forced her body down against its will, unknowingly through Liz’s stupor.

“Liz?” Liz looked around, caught off guard by the calling of her name. She glanced through the undulating air, with its vague walls beyond. Liz felt a whine in her throat. She wanted to see who was there.

“Hello-o-o?” Liz called back. “Come out, come out from wherever you are!” She lifted her head and squinted her eyes, trying to distinguish solid forms but failing horribly. Her head fell back against hardness, creating a dull ring.

“Liz? Liz! Listen to me.” Liz scrunched her eyes closed and tried to concentrate on the voice. Shaking, as if it had shocked her, she found the voice had come from right beside her.

Liz turned her head and looked at very panicked Alex.

“Hey Alis-s-s!” Liz slurred, grinning at him.

Alex grimaced at Liz’s lack of sanity, realizing all of this was about to go down very badly. Both he and Liz were tied down to some very creepy tables with some weird kind of straps holding them down. All he knew was that if they planned on bailing, he was going to have to come up with a plan quickly, including the plans of powers to get these damned straps off.

He had seen the guard poke Liz with that needle, and it was going to take a lot more than sheer willpower to escape.

“Liz, c’mon, concentrate for me. We need to get out of here. They’re going to hurt us.” Alex watched Liz’s state of confusion reside for a moment before Liz blew up into full panic mode. Probably promoted by whatever had been interjected into her. Her emotions were flying around without a moment of restraint.

Liz tried to move her body, flailing anything that would move, but she was undoubtedly disappointed. She whipped her eyes towards Alex’s blurry form, and screamed out in anguish.

“Alis, get me outs, please!” Liz’s struggling forced her binds to tighten against her flesh, which made Liz cry out even louder. “Alis… pleash, use your powersh!”

Alex stared wide-eyed at Liz.

“What? Powers? Liz, I don’t have powers!” Did he? No, he would remember if he had powers. Wouldn’t he? But how could he remember having powers when he couldn’t even remember anything else.

“Khikhi, he’s going to hurt me! I don’t want to have his-s-s demon child! Help me! My child will be a KIWI.” If the situation had been any different, Alex probably would have laughed and hugged his best friend. Yet in this situation, he couldn’t even have the luxury of laughing for fear his bindings would tighten.

“Liz, even if I did have powers, he would have disabled them!” Alex was silent for a moment, trying to formulate a plan or something, anything in his mind to help them.

Alex jumped with an idea, but winced when the straps tightened. He ignored them for now. “Liz, maybe you can break through the blocks! Remember what you told Maria? It’s your mind! He can’t do anything to you that you don’t want him to! Liz, you’ve got to try!” Alex looked to see if Liz had even heard what he had said.

Liz nodded her head with immediate agreement. She was desperate to get out of this thing, and fast. Closing her eyes, letting concentration sweep over her, she reached out into her own mind. It’s creamy backdrop filled her sight, and she investigated her own mind.

Blocks to her powers were more than apparent and she began to dissipate them. Surprisingly, the blocks dissolved easily and soon the humming of her powers refilled her. Feeling utter stupidity for not trying before, because Alex was right. How could Khivar control her mind when it wasn’t even his to begin with?

“Alex,” Liz breathed, fighting off the effects of whatever drug Khivar had given her. “You can do it too, just reach out into your mind. Imagine yourself disbanding the blocks.” Liz’s breath started to turn to pants, as trying to hold her powers with the drug still in her body was strenuous.

“Liz, you’re going to have to help me. I don’t even know how to do whatever you want me to do. I don’t even know if I have powers.” Alex looked helplessly at his best friend, who still was trying to gain enough strength to open her eyes.

“Give me a moment…” Liz whispered, fighting off unconsciousness.

“Hmm, what do we have here?” Alex turned his frightened eyes towards Khivar’s towering figure. Khivar must have entered only a few seconds ago, as he was walking towards the Liz and Alex with a calm, but fiery glare.

“Now, Leandra, I thought we had discussed this. You’re breaking the rules again.” Khivar reached over and let a stinging slap encounter Liz’s face. She let a shrill scream, startled from her previously calm concentration.

“LIZ!” Alex screamed, earning him his own hit to the shoulder. Alex cringed at the throb in his shoulder, which inevitably tightened the straps again.

Khivar turned back to Liz, who was freely sobbing now. Fleeting moments of struggle appeared, but Khivar knew she was feeling the emotion of utter desperation. It excited him with only the taste of pure despair could fulfill.

“I don’t understand Earth people. They continue to defy and rebel against superiority, knowing they’ll never win, but continuing nonetheless. It’s a waste of time. Don’t you think, Leandra?” Khivar stroked a single finger down the side of Liz’s face. She jerked her face away from the offending touch.

Liz’s crimson eyes turned on Khivar, and she spit squarely in his face. “That’s where you’re wrong. We’ll win, and when we do, you’ll be wishing you were kissing my feet from your grave.”

Khivar’s expression was nothing but amusement. He took a small handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the slimy splatter off his face.

“Silly girl. I thought we could work this out, and maybe even have a child out of something similar to… love. But I guess I was wrong.” Khivar grinned with certain maliciousness, and waved his hand over Liz’s throat. “No more talking from you, stupid woman.” Khivar leaned down to Liz’s ear, whispering, “The only feet kissing we’ll have is you on your knees, bowing before your King Khivar.”

Khivar straightened again, and walked over to the door. He opened it and a line of guards and three unknowns came filing in.

“See, this was my plan,” Khivar continued. “I figured Leandra and I would have a little discussion, hoping to work out our little love session with contentment. I’m not blind though, because for backup, I brought in a group of some of Antar’s great physicians. You see, on my planet, knowledge of the human body is pretty rare. And what better to bring back to my people than real human body parts? Human body parts of a royal.”

Khivar pointed to Alex, directing the non-guards to advance on him. They were all the same, characterless and silent. Alex just stared at each one of them, terrified and horrified by the thoughts that were running through their minds, but even more sickened by what Khivar could possibly be concocting.

“I know Leandra would have done anything to save her poor Rylo, but, ah, he recent actions have directed me otherwise.” Khivar turned to the doctors, and commanded them with strict tension. “Cut him apart. I want him alive and awake until the very last possible moment.”

Alex let out a cry of terror, horror enrapturing his whole body. Despite the breathless tight binds, he could do nothing less of thrashing around. His eyes moved to Liz, who was staring at him with absolute revulsion at what was about to happen. Regret shined through her coming tears, but Alex didn’t notice. His body was about to mutilated in every horrible way possible, and he’d be conscious through the whole thing. The heartlessness of the whole situation was swallowing him whole, and he wasn’t sure if he could even stay conscious before they began their slicing.

All three physicians came to Alex’s side, surrounding him. They callously poked and prodded at him, preparing him for his torturous fate. Alex wanted to scream, he wanted to cry out in fury, but he was paralyzed by the cruelness of the situation. He couldn’t even feel his fingers or toes except for the painful throbbing that overwhelmed his whole body.

“First incision,” one of the nondescripts called out into the steely room. Alex clenched his jaw, and tightly pressed his eyes shut. The coldness of the blade was still shocking, despite Alex’s knowledge of its’ descent. The deep cut bled immediately, and Alex could feel a stream of blood running down the course of his lower stomach. The numbness of his body couldn’t acknowledge where exactly the incision was made, but steady flow of blood could. They were starting with his stomach, and moving in.

Alex heard a loud bang of a door somewhere in the background, and whispers. Whispers that seemed to flood his body with its’ incessant distraction from the freshness of pain that captured him. Alex welcomed them willingly.

“Stop!” Khivar’s booming voice decreed. “Don’t continue until I return, something else is calling my immediate attention.” He pointed at two of the guards. “Come with me.” Khivar moved from the room, with his guards following him.