OC's Revenge

The last of his deadlines had come and gone, and now he was enjoying what the rest of the civilized world knew as “a break.”  However, a few hours into drawing, his body had just given out.  So he lay, blissfully slumbering, slumped over his art board.  Days without sleep and the stress of one last semester had finally pushed him to the brink.  Now he slumbered deeply amidst piles of his drawings—pages of cardstock displaying the recesses of his mind.

It was perhaps because of his contentment that he did not hear the silent, wicked footsteps creeping up behind him.  Ignorant of the true danger that lurked just a few feet away he dreamed of half-demons and Dickensian heroes.  The footsteps stopped and a breath was taken in.

“HEY SCUFFY!”

The shock awoke him and he reeled backwards in the chair.  The chair, not wanting to be rude accommodated the backwards motion, but the unfortunate furniture was unable to keep it’s balance against its occupants momentum and tumbled with the man to the floor.

Scuff stared up at the intruder but couldn’t quite get a focus on who it was.  He rubbed his eyes and the figure became clearer.  He wondered how hard he had just hit his head and rubbed his eyes again to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating.

“Kate?  How did you get in my house?”  He asked with a yawn.

“Your roommate never locks the door silly, remember?” She chortled at him.

“Oh, hmm” he mumbled.  It was amazing what you’ll tell someone when you think you’re protected by an Ocean.  Now he had bigger problems.  He looked to his left scanning his bookshelf for missing notebooks, but to his relief found all his sketchbooks still in their proper place.

“I don’t suppose you’d help me up?” he asked rhetorically, greeted by a tittering and a shake of the head from the young-lady.

Scuff rolled himself and the chair to the side and positioned his hands under his body leveraging his weight until he was on his knees.  As he brought his head up he was confronted by a sheet of white rushing towards his face.  Was the girl crazy—he thought.  As the thought flitted in his mind he felt paper pressing hard against his face.  He rocked back onto his legs and tried to bring his arms up to stop the brutish Brit from her advance.  Instead he felt a force pulling his whole body forward, and before he could act to stop the assault he was on his stomach gasping for breath.

The world around him had changed.  He was surrounded on every side by white.  He looked at his hands and feet, but saw that they had changed considerably.  He felt his body, but the tactile response was nothing like he could have imagined.  He tried to turn around, but instead of turning he simply flipped.  No longer facing an endless field of white, he was now facing the world he had been in.  However, it was like staring at his room through a window, and staring back at him was his mischievous assailant.

Kate carried the sketchbook containing the harried hero over to the table and placed it on the art board.  She carefully sorted and piled the miscellaneous pages that were laid there.  Then, methodically, she clicked the lamp light to high.  She was sure to draw out the actions to raise the tension in her hapless hostage.

She leaned into the page, covering Scuff with her right elbow, and beginning to sketch with her left hand.  Scuff struggled to free himself from the attackers appendage, but just managed to loose his upper body.

“Kate, get off!  Your going to smudge me!”

“Only if you keep struggling silly.” she giggled mercilessly.

He placed his hands down on her sleeve and tried to push himself out, but to no avail.  He panted and twisted as she tittered and drew.  After a few moments she got up from the table, lifting her elbow off the page.  Scuff, now suspended in air fell to the bottom of the page with a crash.  He flipped around to see what his tormentor had wrought.

Now drawn upon the page where horrors that Scuff could only have dreamed.  On either side of the page were now walls, and on these walls were cruel implements of torment.  Flails, whips, paddles and other assorted devises.  On the floor sat a toy-box, filled to the brim with devilish wickedries.   Scuff saw a few leather restraints and what seemed to be a feather-duster peaking out of the box.  Most imposing though was a rack in the center of the page.  The ancient torture device loomed maliciously over him, and staring at it his eyes grew wide.  He desperately began to look for a way out.

After a few moments of futile efforts he heard Kate return to the table.

“Look what I found.” She said, holding up a cardboard box.

“No no no no no, there’s nothing in there.” He said desperately.

His objections were in vain.  She spun the box over, dumping out the assorted articles of clothing.  Out of the clothes fell a file-folder.  As the folder hit the ground card-stock fanned out from the dossier, revealing a stash of pages showing the history of varied torments the man had forced his creations to endure.

“That’s what I was looking for.” Sneered Kate

“How could you have possibly known about that?” yelled the trapped Scuff.

“Oh, I was tipped off by a mutual friend of ours.”

“I’m going to kill him.” muttered Scuff under his breath.

The girl went to work, pulling through the assorted pages until she had found three that she was looking for.  She laid the pages down next to the sketchbook.  She began to erase and drawn onto the pages.  As she worked she wore a smile and began to hum happily.

“What are you doing to my pages.  Hey Kate, that’s not cool Ka—”

He was interrupted as another page slammed down on top of his.  His whole world went dark for a second, and when the light returned he was no longer alone.  Standing across from him was a winged demon that may have been just a little too cute for what he was supposed to be.  The demon was frowning for a moment, but then looked over and saw Scuff.  Suddenly his expression changed.  The edges of his mouth curled up, soon the curl was a sneer, then the sneer was a smile, and before long it had grown into a broad grin.

They say in the desert when a rattlesnake is about to strike the observant traveler can tell by a flash in the serpent’s eyes.  As Scuff stared into the half-demon’s eyes he saw a flash.  He turned to run, but slammed against the newly drawn wall.  A strong arm wrapped itself around his neck dragging him backward.  Another strong hand grabbed his wrist and twisted it behind his back.

“Hello Scuff.” Whispered the half-demon into his ear darkly.

“Aero, what are you doing!” Scuff drew for breath as the winged man wrestled him around.  When he had spun around he saw that it was no longer just Aero he had to worry about.  A young-man, slightly younger than him and wearing a dress, stood with his arms crossed.  Scuff pushed back against Aero trying to distance himself from Agent Six, the involuntary cross-dresser he had so often tormented.

Aero spun his creator around and onto the ground.  After a moments struggle, Scuff felt two hands press down on his ankles.  He struggled mightily, but he was no match for the experienced Fiere (half-demon) and the enraged Agent.

“Come on Aero, I know we’ve had our differences, but come on.  I draw you doing awesome stuff, and I’ve only tied you up like twice, and both times you were being kinda a jerk.”

“Really,” said Aero through gritted teeth, “And what about the time you made me into a reindeer in a mini-skirt?”

Scuff stopped struggling for a moment and thought.

“Oh yeah, I completely forgot about that.  That was pretty funny.”

There was a whack as the Fiere struck the back of Scuff’s head.

Scuff struggled for another moment on the page before he felt something constricting on his arm.  There was a slightly sweet smell, and Scuff started to feel warm.  It was a warmth he had felt before and he know what was about to come.

“You should probably get back.” came an all too familiar voice.

The hands on his ankles lifted and Aero jumped from his back.  He rolled onto his back and looked up at the newest attacker.  He was beginning to feel drowsier.  The man stared down at Scuff with a small, distant smile.  Scuff looked at his shoulder and saw that a vine was wrapped around it.  On the end of the vine was a pretty and colorful flower.  It twirled out for a moment then bloomed, spraying pollen into Scuff’s face.

Scuff’s head lulled back and he tried to say something, but no intelligible word would come.  The new assailant knelt next to Scuff and cradled his head in his hand, lifting him slightly off the page.

“Welcome to our world Scuff.  Now count back from a hundred for me.”

***

He awoke slowly.  Slow enough that he knew not to move around too much.  His arms were behind his head.  He could feel leather straps on both wrists and figured they were attached to the rack.  He could also feel one of his three attackers strapping his right ankle to the bottom of the table.

“You two have no idea how bad it can get.” he heard Six complaining, “Before this is over, I will see him in a dress.”

“Relax would you.” said Lucian, who had been the final attacker, “We’ll all get a go at him, he isn’t going anywhere.”

Scuff felt Aero move from his right leg and decided to take a chance.  Putting all the force he could muster into his hip, he kicked out with his left leg.  The rebellion was fruitless, however, as Aero, was too well disciplined to be caught by the sneak attack.  The Fiere grabbed his leg and wrestled it down.

“None of us will get to do anything if you don’t help me restrain him.”

Lucian sighed and flicked one of the flowers still growing on Scuff’s shoulder.  A bit of pollen flitted into his face causing his muscles to relax.  His relaxation allowed Aero to easily slam the ankle down to the bench where he tied it to the rack.

The devilish demon stood, wiping off beads of sweat and fighting back a smile.  He moved to a massive wooden spool and began to turn it.  Scuff could hear chains clanking as he felt his hands being pulled above him.  Six and Lucian locked the chains on either side of him into guides pulling his hands away from one another.  Scuff was still dazed from the latest attack of pollen.

Lucian rested his arm against the side of the rack as Scuff’s lay helplessly, slowly being stretched out on the table.  He cradled something in his hand behind his back, just out of Scuff’s sight.  He reached down to Scuff’s shoulder and ripped off the vine.  It slowly browned and turned to dust in his hand.

“What are you doing?” asked Six.

“I have more of them if there’s a need.  I want him to be wide awake for this. Besides,” he said looking up at the girl who had made this all possible. “I’ve got to put on a show for my number one fan.”

Scuff’s eyes wondered up and he saw Kate giggling wildly, sketching the whole scene.  So there would be a record of all of this—he thought miserably.

Scuff could feel his body being stretched out until he could no longer move his arms or legs.  He slumped his head down but realized that he was completely immobilized.  Lucian slapped his cheek gently.

“Wakey, wakey Scuff.  The fun’s about to start.”

“I can’t believe you’d do this to your own creator.  Come on guys, I know I’ve put you through a lot, but I also make you guys really cool.  I mean think of all the neat powers I’ve given you.”

“Wait, I get powers?”  asked Six.

Scuff was silent for a moment.

“Lucian and Aero, think of all the powers I’ve given you.”

“Sorry Scuff, you can’t talk you way out of this.  I’ve lived in your head for a long time.  I know everything about you.  All your weaknesses, all your fears, all your insecurities.” Lucian leaned in close to his creator, “all your fantasies.”

“This is not one of my fantasies.  There are so many things wrong with this—”

“Come on Scuff.  I know you.  You hate being out of control.  You’re terrified of being helpless, but secretly you want all of that.  You want not to have to be in charge.  You want to just give in.  And now you can.  You don’t have to carry the weight of the world anymore.  I’ve got you.  Just give in.”

“Lucian, Aero, think about this.  You’re going to have to let me out eventually, and when you d—”

Scuffs voice was silenced by a ball being thrust hard into his mouth, slamming his head against the table.  Six pulled at the straps of the gag and tightened it around Scuff’s head.  He buckled the gag until it was secure, then tightened it by one more notch, just to make his creator more uncomfortable.  Scuff bleated out a pleading, garbled cry, but his three creations just laughed at him.  His eyes darted around wildly as terror sent shivers through his body.  He wretched hard against the restraints in desperation as his heart raced and his gasps drew quicker.

The table began to arch back, drawing him off his feet, making him more exposed.  Aero began unbuttoning his shirt and then pulled it under his back, draping it off the table-edge.  Six slowly removed his socks, taunting him with each as they were removed.  Scuff’s panic grew more wild, until finally it looked like he would pass-out.  As the moment approached he felt Lucian’s hand cup the back of his neck.  Staring up into his captor’s eyes Scuff was somehow calmed.  Lucian began to speak soothingly, in a strangely reassuring voice.

“I know this is your worst fear.  Being stuck in a situation and having no chance of talking your way out of it, but that’s just how things are going to have to be for now.  You don’t need to worry.  I know you’ve done some terrible things to us, but you’re still important.  You created us after-all, and we would never let you get hurt too bad.”

Scuff’s breath began to slow, and even as he could see Aero and Six exchanging feathers and grins, he was somehow calmed by Lucian.  Lucian patted Scuff’s stomach reassuringly and Scuff finally closed his eyes and took as deep a breath as the gag would allow.

“Now, all better.” Asked Lucian.

“Mmm,” mumbled Scuff.

“Good, you won’t get too hurt, but you’re in for a wild ride.”

Scuff’s eyes slammed open too late as Lucian brought the shirt over his face, tying it off and blinding him.  Two hands worth of probing fingers skittered across his sides and he giggled, trying to escape, but trapped between the attackers.  He heard Lucian crack-up into gloating laughter, and if he could have thought anything at that moment he would have thought—a wild-ride indeed.