Katherine, you're scaring the girl. [ Julia's words come through a gargle of blood that drips from her lips, three teeth knocked onto the floor of the Colosseum. Distantly, Kate is aware of some long-held repulsion for the red liquid that seeps all around her, of the fact that there is far more than there should be for three wounds like this. Yet, she can't conjure up any emotion other than the pulsing, snake-tight clench of fury that wraps around her entire frame and holds her still and drawn so she looks taller than she is. ]
I didn't know you cared about humans, Rosenberg. [ After all, so many of them lay dead or permanently incapacitated due to imprisonment and experimentation on her orders. Kate tilts her head, strokes her gun while regarding the woman knelt in front of her. It would be so easy to slice open Julia's chest, to saw through her rib cage and expose organs and the glowing, gunmetal heart of her powers. It would be all too simple to wrap her hand around the organ that floods each spiderweb vein with the ability to absorb powers and crush it, drag it out of her body and step on it. She knows exactly how much pressure a power core can stand, knows exactly how painful it is to have your skills ripped out of your body (and she knows Julia will stay alive, because, hell, she's here now after taking a sword to the chest seven years ago - a simple autopsy is nothing) and the thought sends a shudder through her body. The screams would be wonderful, would be the only time she's ever relished the sight of someone trembling in fear at her.
... But she doesn't have a saw.
(Still, there are other options.) ]
You might want to look away. [ It's directed at Emily, who really shouldn't be here right now. Who should be in another place, another dream that isn't this one. And somehow, just somehow, that's Rosenberg's fault too. More daggers are plucked from her pouch - where is she getting all of these from - and plunged into each of Julia's shoulders, limiting the mobility of her arms. Left in, they'll stifle any bleeding, which is exactly what Kate needs.
After all - ] You can't have them bleeding out too soon.
[ Kate just laughs, focuses on the fact that finally - finally - she can do what she should have done seven years ago.
Repay Julia for years upon years of misery. ]
So, Rosenberg. [ And her voice sounds far too casual now. ] Tell me. [ If there's one thing which Kate, in some twisted way, should thank Julia for, it's that she now knows which parts of the fingers to twist and snap to cause the most pain. Knows how to grab a person by the jaw in just the right way to keep them talking while making them wince in discomfort. All of it would never be possible without the woman's twisted idea of punishment.
Of course, it should never have had to be possible in the first place ] Who did you take out that hit on? [ She doesn't bother to expand, because it's obvious to both of them which hit Kate means. ]
Would knowing that bring your parents back? Or Marc? [ Kate has her last blade in her hand before Julia even finishes that half-answer, half-taunt of a response. By the time Julia gasps out Marc's name, Kate's dragged it down one of Julia's cheeks, slicing open a long-healed scar. ]
[[ okay I swear this is going to be the most graphic of it. ]]
cw: now we're just getting gory (torture, autopsy fantasies etc)
I didn't know you cared about humans, Rosenberg. [ After all, so many of them lay dead or permanently incapacitated due to imprisonment and experimentation on her orders. Kate tilts her head, strokes her gun while regarding the woman knelt in front of her. It would be so easy to slice open Julia's chest, to saw through her rib cage and expose organs and the glowing, gunmetal heart of her powers. It would be all too simple to wrap her hand around the organ that floods each spiderweb vein with the ability to absorb powers and crush it, drag it out of her body and step on it. She knows exactly how much pressure a power core can stand, knows exactly how painful it is to have your skills ripped out of your body (and she knows Julia will stay alive, because, hell, she's here now after taking a sword to the chest seven years ago - a simple autopsy is nothing) and the thought sends a shudder through her body. The screams would be wonderful, would be the only time she's ever relished the sight of someone trembling in fear at her.
... But she doesn't have a saw.
(Still, there are other options.) ]
You might want to look away. [ It's directed at Emily, who really shouldn't be here right now. Who should be in another place, another dream that isn't this one. And somehow, just somehow, that's Rosenberg's fault too. More daggers are plucked from her pouch - where is she getting all of these from - and plunged into each of Julia's shoulders, limiting the mobility of her arms. Left in, they'll stifle any bleeding, which is exactly what Kate needs.
After all - ] You can't have them bleeding out too soon.
[ Kate just laughs, focuses on the fact that finally - finally - she can do what she should have done seven years ago.
Repay Julia for years upon years of misery. ]
So, Rosenberg. [ And her voice sounds far too casual now. ] Tell me. [ If there's one thing which Kate, in some twisted way, should thank Julia for, it's that she now knows which parts of the fingers to twist and snap to cause the most pain. Knows how to grab a person by the jaw in just the right way to keep them talking while making them wince in discomfort. All of it would never be possible without the woman's twisted idea of punishment.
Of course, it should never have had to be possible in the first place ] Who did you take out that hit on? [ She doesn't bother to expand, because it's obvious to both of them which hit Kate means. ]
Would knowing that bring your parents back? Or Marc? [ Kate has her last blade in her hand before Julia even finishes that half-answer, half-taunt of a response. By the time Julia gasps out Marc's name, Kate's dragged it down one of Julia's cheeks, slicing open a long-healed scar. ]
[[ okay I swear this is going to be the most graphic of it. ]]