Meeting enemies.

Sam grinned enthusiastically at the two men who entered the small room she was being held captive in. Her cheery demeanor was a strange contrast to the brutal conditions; with cinderblock walls, a lump mattress on the floor, and a small metal toilet and sink, it evoked a Soviet-era prison cell. Nevertheless, she greeted them with legitimate warmth.

"Good morning, boys!" she said. "What'll it be today? Wanna try the sensory deprivation thing again?"

The taller one grunted with irritation and the shorter one sneered. She had been calling them Bullwinkle and Rocky, which they definitely didn't like.

"Why are you so happy today?" Rocky sneered. "Is your owner getting a blowjob?"

"Like you can't tell," she chuckled. "Do I look like I'm getting head? No, I'm just in a good mood. Better than usual, I mean. It's a pretty exciting day."

"Why's that?" Bullwinkle asked, but she just shook her head.

"Nice try. You boys have had me for 8 months now, and I know you've captured other members too. What makes you think you can make me talk?"

"We're working on that," Rocky said gruffly. "Any news you'd like to share?"

Since these strange men had **** her, they had tried everything they could to get information about Jake from her. Unfortunately for them, the only information she gave them was what Jake wanted to her to, and it was never helpful.

"Nope, all quiet. I mean, there's a lot of news but nothing for you. So what's it gonna be? Maybe you could hypnotize me or something! I've never been hypnotized."

"We're not a fucking magic show," Rocky grumbled as Bullwinkle tossed a granola bar and water across the cell to her. "And what good would it do even if it worked? It's not like your owner is gonna let you say anything, even under hypnosis."

"Aw, more solitary?" she asked with a mock pout. "You must be running out of ideas. Remember, I'm never alone!"

Before she finished speaking, the men had left the cell.

Eight months earlier...

They pulled the bag off of her head and she looked around with mild curiosity. A dingy cinderblock room with a bed, a toilet, and a sink. Her two captors were staring at her intensely.

"I take it this isn't your first time dealing with a member of our group?" she asked pleasantly.

They looked at each other with mild surprise, but remained silent.

"You know, a lot of us have gotten dragged into a lot of rooms like this over the last few years. We pretty much know the playbook by now. My guess is that you're involved with some government and you've been tasked with tracking down our leader. If you weren't, you never would have gotten close to such a high-profile target as me, and if you hadn't dealt with us you would have been shocked by how unperturbed I am."

"Well done," the tall one said. "Is this you or your owner talking?"

She scoffed. "I'm sure you've heard this before, but our leader is not my owner. He's... he's sort of the glue that binds us together."

The short one scoffed and she ignored him. "And the leader couldn't possibly talk to you, but you know. It's a one way radio; you can hear him but he can't hear you. He actually doesn't know I've been taken yet. Let me offer you some advice - you're gonna want to chain me to the bed before he finds out."

They tried unsuccessfully to hide their surprise at her suggestion. Bullwinkle hesitantly stepped forward.

"It's not a trick, guys! Our leader is not a very emotional person, but they have a particular attachment to me. When they find out I've been taken, I suspect they'll get extremely angry, and when they get angry..."

"Right," the short one said. The tall one hurriedly knotted a rope through her handcuffs and tied it to a fetter embedded in the wall. She watched disinterestedly.

"Make it tight," she said. "The boss is gonna be pissed."

As he finished, a look of fear rippled across her face. "Oh shit," she said softly. "Where's Sam?"

The men watched with fascination as her expression slowly mutated from fear to shock, then became a vicious snarl. She lunged at them, straining at the rope with all her might.

"Fuck you!" she roared, her voice hoarse and animalistic. "Fuck you! What have you done with Sam? Where the fuck is Sam?"

The men backed away slightly, clearly startled by the abrupt transformation.

"Guess he found out," the shorter one said. She roared one more time, then sat on the bed and fixed them with a hateful glare.

"Ok, you shitheads. You've got my attention," she said. "What the fuck do you want? What will it take to get you to give Sam back?"

"We'd like to meet you in person," the taller kidnapper said.

"That was rhetorical," Sam said with a roll of her eyes. "He can't hear you, dipshit. Remember? One-way ra-"

She stopped midsentence and spoke forcefully. "Alright, whoever you are, I can only assume you want information. Here's the only piece of information you'll get: you will regret this. I'm not scared of you, and Sam's not scared of you, because I can do more to make her feel good than you can to make her feel bad. I've honed my technique to the point where I can blast so much euphoria into Sam's skull that she won't notice your ****. If you let her go now, I'll do you the favor of forgetting this ever happened."

"No deal," the shorter one said. Sam rolled her eyes.

"Dude, how many times do I have to tell you? The boss can't hear you. He'll just- oohhhh, fuck me, that's good..."

She sighed suddenly and slouched forward slightly. Her eyes became half-lidded and she stared through the shorter one's knees at the floor.

"Oh man, he wasn't kidding about the euphoria," she giggled. "I feel... I feel so great right now. You guys are kinda cute, you know that?"

The short captor was getting visibly angry, which got another giggling fit out of Sam. "I'm sorry! I know you want me to tell you about the boss, but I can't! I wish I could repay you..."

"Repay us?" the taller one asked. She laughed again and spoke to the shorter one.

"He's not the brains of the operation, huh? I think I'm gonna call you guys Rocky and Bullwinkle. And yeah, repay you for taking me here! I've never, ever gotten anything like this out of the boss before! He must only do this for members who are really bad spots... I guess I am, but I just don't care!"

Rocky whispered something to Bullwinkle, who left the room abruptly. They sat in silence for a few minutes, him seething and her smiling, when Bullwinkle returned with a metal tray full of sinister-looking tools. Sam looked over it, then gasped with delight.

"Oh my gosh, are you gonna **** me? I've never been tortured before! This will be really interesting, especially since Jake can just override all of the pain and make it feel like a massage."

Bullwinkle picked up an evil-looking thing with hooks and a serrated blade and approached Sam as Rocky looked on. As he neared her, she suddenly thought of something.

"Oh, sorry, one word of warning - you'd better not mess me up or disfigure me or whatever. I don't care right now, but the boss is gonna be furious if you do any lasting damage. Now, let's see what you've got, Bullwinkle!"