One in Ten Ch. 04

"That's enough," Magdalena said. I was curled up on the floor crying.

"Wimp," Flame laughed at me. It took me half a minute to regain my breath then I began laughing. For a second I believe they thought they'd broken me, mentally. Too late for that.

"What's so funny Israel?" Maggy asked.

"All you bitches are getting exactly what you deserve," I laughed through gasps of pain.

Flame came back with a kick to my shin but I couldn't stop chortling.

"Wait. What do you mean?" Magdalena pressed.

"Oh, just let Flame get back at me," I wheezed. "Someone might as well enjoy themselves and it doesn't look like it will be you or me."

"Wow," Magdalena chuckled, "you would rather take a beating than have sex with me? Damn, I suddenly feel ugly. Israel, why are you being so mean to me?"

"I'll perform sexually," I winced, "but I'm not giving you my spirit."

"I'll take the one now then we'll see about the other," Magdalena smiled.

I didn't question the audience, or her desire to have 'normal' sex at that time. I gave it my all yet I had the sensation she was disappointed, as if my best techniques weren't enough, or worse, bored her. Afterwards, the culminated stress, beating and sex had worn me down to the last of my reserves.

"Well," Magdalena sat up and pulled her knees to her chest.

"It doesn't take a psychic to realize you aren't happy," I mirrored her.

"You could have done better," she looked at me. "I know you could have done better," she held up her hand to stop me from talking, "and I'm used to getting the maximum effort from the people around me."

"You are not on the short - very short list of women whose opinions and expectations mean crap to me, Magdalena," I replied. "I'm going to go home and forget all about this night, your perceived failings of me, my efforts and the beat-down Bad Ass Princess Barbie gave me. I am never coming back to one of these things. The next time that swine Isobel asks, I'm hitchhiking to Alaska."

Apparently Flame didn't appreciate my 'Bad Ass Princess Barbie' comment but as I pointed out earlier, I was on my last reserves and those were really nothing more than fumes.

"Were you not breast fed as an infant?" I regarded Flame as she came at me on the bed. "Or did you choke out your mother the first time she tried to burp you?"

Flame was on me in a blink of an eye, pinning me down by the throat while hauling off to punch me.

"Not the face," Maggy reminded her. I started giggling.

"Is he mental?" Flame addressed Magdalena. She looked at me for some answer.

"It is so fucking ironic," I choked. "All this power and you refuse to save yourselves. Fucking hilarious. Let loose Flame. Do the world a favor - go out and punch every man you come across." If stress made men less fertile and these women were our shepherds, it was better for all if we died out as a species. Perhaps it wasn't all that funny, but I was past caring.

I received two powerful punches to the ribs. I had to wonder if I was becoming a masochist or if ten thousand generations of males refused to go howling into that Final Night without some savage, simple-minded stab at our enemies - which probably meant I had lost my steady decline into insanity. I kept laughing though it really hurt.

"We got you bitch," I rasped gleefully.

"What the fuck are you talking about, Dickweed?" Flame spat.

"That daycare center," I snickered. "If we could get to those kids, we can get to any of you. You aren't safe."

"What?" Magdalena intervened. "What are you talking about?"

"We are dying, you stupid cunts. Men have started figuring it out too," I humored them. "When is the next man, or group of men, going to figure it out and decide to come at any of you with a knife, or a car, or a truckload of toxic chemicals?"

"You lose Flame because fear only works if there is hope. You are tearing the hope away from us so all that is left for us is hopelessness and rage," I continued. "The hopeless ones will take care of themselves, but the ragers..."

"You fight like babies," Flame ridiculed me but at least she'd stopped hitting me.

"Have fun dodging shrapnel," I coughed. I probably needed to see a doctor. "Those three in Denver blew themselves up. A car bomb isn't that much harder and I'm sure some poor, over-worked and underpaid girl working at a chemical depot isn't going to turn down a little sex for a favor or two." I was getting tired of repeating that I was at the top of my class. No one cared.

Flame looked up from where she had me pinned to Maggy.

"This is one sick puppy," she snorted in amusement. "I like him." I had a psycho fan and here I had thought this night would be a total waste.

"Interesting Israel; I think it is time to take you home," Magdalena said.

I had confessed to genocidal thoughts toward the female gender by means of high explosive terror weapons and her response was to send me home...

"Can I get dressed first?" I requested as Flame dismounted my prone form.

"Of course," Magdalena grinned suspiciously. "We are not animals after all."

Getting my clothes on went normally if you considered dressing with three sets of female eyes studying you as you get dressed normal. We took the front elevator down to the first sub-basement where a limousine was waiting.

"Where is my ride?" I inquired without expecting an answer I would like.

"I'll drive you home," Magdalena informed me.

"Can I at least call somebody who might miss me?" I desperately tried to sound more flippant than terrified.

"Do you have a phone?" she reposed.

"No, I'd have to borrow one," I sighed. Maggy looked over at Flame.

"It's 'boxed' in the car, Boss," the hood responded. 'Boxed' probably meant the same sort of device that Sgt. DeMosa had placed my phone in on the ride over.

"You can walk home if you want," Magdalena told me. "I'll leave your phone fifteen blocks down along your home route."

"I was planning to take the metro," I shrugged.

"Do you have any form of ID?" she regarded me smugly. Outside of my bracelet - no, I didn't.

"Nope," I groaned.

"Still walking home?" she smirked.

"Sure. I doubt the local cops will know what to make of me - a person, not in a car, walking around," I made one more stab at levity. "Maybe they will assume I've slipped my leash and some frantic old lady is out looking for me." Flame slapped me on the back.

"You're funny. I like you. Little M, can we keep him?" Flame chuckled.

I was making a fool of myself, but not in order to entice a brutal psychopath. Sprinting for the exit was looking like a better plan every second and that was a definite disconnect from reality. For the love of God; they had a running car sitting right here. They could either run me down or get ahead of me and repeat the bedroom beating, this time on concrete instead of silk sheets.

"No Brigit," Maggy replied. "We know where he lives and what metro he rides. He'll be easy enough to pick up if we feel like it." Oh, psycho-Flame's name was Brigit; how poetic. That was pretty much a last gasp attempt at exhibiting any control over my life. I obediently got in the car then we drove away.

For most of the way, Flame listened to music, Silent kept scanning our surroundings outside the car and Magdalena studied me.

"What's your story?" she finally asked.

"What do you mean?" I shrugged and exhaled a puff of breath.

"You fight then you fold up. You fight then fold, again and again. There is no rhyme or reason to it that I can fathom," she stated.

"Normally I fold up," I reasoned. "This whole fighting back thing is new to me. I never knew that freedom would be so - so painful."

"Beyond numerous physical agonies and violations, I've lost my aspirations, my comfort and most likely my sanity. Still, now that I've tasted it, I wouldn't ever want to live without it," I revealed. "Monday morning, I'm going to slap the crap out of the first woman who touches me - unasked for. There is a small likelihood I may still have a girlfriend."

"I'm going to wear my own damn pants too - none of that tight shit. If the press corps wants to see how happy I am to see them, they'll have to take me to dinner first," I spouted my nonsense. "If Isobel fires me - well fuck her - figuratively speaking, of course. I think I've gone through so much crap I actually could stomach spending time with - another - strange woman if it meant leaving this place behind."

"I thought we could be friends," Maggy smiled seductively sweet - and lethal.

"Seriously?" I gasped in horror (genuine). "What the hell gave you that idea?" Brigit/Flame punched me in the arm proving she was paying attention. "Ow!" I rubbed my latest injury. "Magdalena, did your last boyfriend commit suicide, or was he shot trying to escape?"

That outburst earned me two more blows from Brigit, but it felt oddly worth it.

"What makes you think we didn't part on good terms?" Maggy inquired playfully.

"Got it - shot while trying to," punch, "Ow! - escape."

"See, that's what I don't understand about you," Magdalena shook her head.

"This resistance makes no sense. You can't win. You are clearly being hurt by Brigit when you act out," she stared at me, "yet, you keep fighting back with no goal that I can foresee."

"That's the magic," I coughed - I was really in some serious pain. "I can't win. If I play along, I lose. If I fight, I lose. At least if I fight, I feel better about myself as a human being."

"Magdalena, Brigit...Silent," I grinned. "We are all going to die and I don't mean everyone in this car, this city, or this country. The whole Human Race is doomed. That's not me ranting. We really are headed for extinction. Now, if there is a God, or Goddess, and she remembers her children after the last of us are gone, how do you want to be remembered?"

"For me, it is easy. Do I want him/her to see me alone, in a dark basement, raped and violated and really questioning if another day of life is preferable to death? Or, would I rather be remembered for standing up in Isobel Diaz's office and telling her to her face in a loud voice that she was a sow and a monster, knowing none of you women had the guts to do that," I related.

"Do you really believe in a Divine Power?" Maggy's eyes bore into me.

"This world is a retched Hell," I shrugged. "If I didn't believe in some nebulous spiritual presence and the hopes of a better afterlife, I couldn't see the point of carrying on. I don't expect any sort of revenge in this world or real justice."

"This isn't a struggle of Good versus Evil. It is Evil versus Banality and I don't give a crap which one of you wins," I pointed out, "which I guess is a victory for Banality."

"You are very interesting," Magdalena made up her mind. I had failed utterly to impress upon her my fading sanity. Maybe that's what she liked about me. I wanted to scream.

"I'll call you later this week - we'll get together," she informed me. There was nothing for me to say, no response that was appropriate since this was an order, not a request. "Oh, I almost forgot," she added. She took out her phone and scanned my bracelet. I thought this was supposed to be some sort of secret affair, but what did I know.

I had no clue where we were until the limo pulled to a stop.

"Get out," Brigit barked. If I saw her again, I was going to call her Flame - fuck her. After I got out, Flame threw three things at me rapid fire. It was my phone, my battery and my phone chip. I dropped the battery but it looked okay. I was in front of my complex.

"It was interesting meeting you, Israel," Magdalena said before the door automatically shut. I stood there as the huge vehicle drove away. I stood there for a minute as the reality came crashing in. I had survived. I wasn't some quivering mound in some psych ward. I wasn't a plaything dragged off somewhere to be a toy until Monday morning.

I had survived. I had to cling to that because otherwise the hammer blows to my mind would send the whole mad house of cards crashing down.

Angel.

I put my phone back together and made my way inside.

Angel being such a light sleeper was a huge pain in my ass. I had barely opened my door when there were several shapes moving around my living area, some rising and one coming right at me.

"Israel?" Angel sound scarily worried. I must have looked as bad as I felt.

"I need a shower," I muttered. I could make the shower. I knew I could make it to the shower. On the periphery I noticed that none of the women I had left here had departed in my absence. I had no idea what they were expecting to see when I got home, but I don't think me in my current state was it.

No one blocked my way down the hall, so I made it to the bathroom okay. I puttered around for a few seconds unable to come up with a cohesive plan. I gradually formed the idea that the tuxedo shouldn't end up on the bathroom floor, so I retired to my room, got a few hangers for it then returned to the bathroom.

I was piecing things together by the time I exited the shower. I had made it home a little past midnight, showered for maybe ten minutes and finally realized that I was both thirsty and starving. With a towel wrapped around my waist, I stupidly exited the bath and started down the hall toward the kitchen/living room divide.

All the girls were staring at me with a mixture of horror and awe.

"Oh God, Israel," Roni started coming at me, "what happened to you?" What had happened to me? I had to think about that for a second. Roni gracefully felt around my bruises. "Maybe we should have you checked out at a hospital."

"Been there, done that, not doing it again," I muttered. "I've pain-killers and bruises heal and fade. I don't need the domestic hassle with the police right now." Angel was painfully quiet and I could feel her anguish. She kept telling herself that she was supposed to protect me. By default, every wound on my body was a failing on her part in her eyes.

"What happened?" Kuiko was already crying.

"I wouldn't give the woman what she wanted so she had an associate beat me," I shrugged then winced.

"Why didn't you give her what she wanted before they did this to you?" Venus worried.

"I couldn't. She wanted me to look at her the way I look at Angel," I informed Venus. "They hacked this morning's security feed for my apartment then posted it for the client's viewing pleasure. I understand that Angel and my liaison was quite popular."

"Wait, don't they need a warrant, or something like that?" Samantha gasped. "Angel?"

Angel grabbed her badge and gun, spun and headed for the door. I had to do something.

"Angel, if you go out that door, you are doing it for yourself, not for me," I told her. Angel spun around and shouted at me.

"I have to do something!"

"Welcome to my life," I was looking at Angel but addressing the room. "If you do something, they win. If you do nothing, they win. The object is to do the things you can live with the consequence of." I let that sink in. I didn't know if any of them believed in heroines, but I didn't.

"What do we do?" Aniqua asked. I had to think over the whole concept of 'we'.

"We celebrate the fact that I walked through that door under my own power by grabbing some food and drink then crashing for the night," I outlined. "Tomorrow will be better and we can go from there."

"Maybe there can be more than two in bed?" Venus prodded hopefully.

"Venus, I'm going to bed to cry - a lot. My nightmare only ended with Magdalena," I related. "It started much earlier, like begging a certain cop to not give Angel crap over pointing a gun at her head."

"Magdalena?" Samantha furrowed her brow. "That's an odd name."

"Well her associate called her 'Little M'," I mumbled as I turned back into the kitchen. There was a deafening quiet behind me.

"Israel, did you sleep with her?" Roni asked. I gave a reply in the positive. "Did she scan you?" I repeated the positive reply.

"Let me see," Kuiko moved up and scanned me. "Oh fuck," Kuiko meeped. "Magdalena Keverich."

"So - wait, that name sounds familiar," I tried to focus.

"Maggy Keverich is head of the Keverich crime family," Angel murmured.

"Oh, one of Maria's kids," I guessed. "What the fuck was she doing at Isobel Diaz's soiree?"

"Wow, I never thought they would be trying to identify my remains after being missing for twenty years," Samantha shakily joked.

"I think that is a question none of us need to be asking," Aniqua referred to what the fuck Maggy was doing with Isobel.

"Does she know about any of the rest of us?" Venus inquired fearfully. I had one shot left in me.

"Well, she saw Angel on the video and I kept screaming out Kuiko's name as I pounded her doggy-style, but the rest of you should be okay," I stated coolly. By the deflating of tension around the room, everyone knew I was joking - except Kuiko.

"You really cried out my name during sex?" she excitedly beamed joy and happiness while minutely hopping up and down. "That was so awesome!"

"It will be awesome right up until they put a bullet in the back of your head," Aniqua teased.

"Alright, everyone else clear out," Angel took command. "We have our man back. Now go away and no ringing of the doorbell until nine o'clock."

A short time later I had put as much food and water into my stomach as that protesting organ could endure. As I turned toward the bedroom, I took Angel's hand.

"I can stay on the sofa, if you want," Angel offered.

"When it was at its worst, getting back here to you was one of the things that kept me going," I confided.

"Looking back on that moment when Isobel told me what she'd done to our private time, I think I realized that she didn't understand and would never understand what we had there. They could have been a hundred thousand miles away, or in the next room, but they weren't with us," I explained. "That intimacy is ours and no batch of electrons will ever change that."

"I don't get you," Angel shook her head but she gradually smiled.

"Join the club," I agreed.

"I'm furious and you seem to be taking this so well," Angel noted.

"I'm furious, heart-broken and sad Angel, but letting that master me now is admitting they got to me again," I related. "I'm tired of that. I'm going to get back at them."

"How?" she asked.

"For starters," I sighed, "we find a place they can't listen in on." Angel nodded. Crawling into bed after that was easy. I rolled over and faced the far wall and the blinds covering the window while Angel sat on her side, staring at my back. She sounded awake anyway.

At last the tears came, a sniffle, a few tear drops sneaking passed the eyes until the dam burst. Angel was good. She waited until I rolled over and rested my face into her chest before trying to comfort me. I cried until I ran dry but still the sobs went on until sleep finally took me. It was with some trepidation that I woke to my phone ringing.

"Let it ring," Angel counselled me. If it was this late - past four in the morning - it might be important so I crawled over my friend and retrieved my phone. It was from a 'Mary Wollstonecraft'. I didn't know her. Still, I'd made the effort so I took it.

*Israel Jensen. We are friends. If you are tired of your current life and wish to escape to an uncertain, hopefully better future, we can help you. If you do not reply or reply in the negative, we will understand but can never contact you again. If you wish our help in 'vanishing' then type 'yes' and we will initiate further contact. This message will delete itself from all call logs in fifteen seconds.*

Trap, or escape hatch - I didn't know for sure.