Page 3 of Bender

With my eyes adjusting to the light, I meet his stare to see nothing but compassion. He keeps his attention on my face, ignoring my nudity and the way chains bind me to Gray’s naked body behind me.

“S-sorry, sir.” I really should try harder not to be a brat to Superhero. Grey’s right. If I’m not nice to him, he could turn around and leave us here. Sure, the door’s open now, but what would we do?

Chained, naked, no money or clothes. No way to help ourselves. Grey’s been a pet even longer than I have. Practically since he was a kid. It’s not like either of us would know how to get out of here and find a safe place.

“It’s okay, girlie. I know you’re scared. You gotta let me help you outta that hole, though,” he soothes. Grey pushes against me from behind, nudging me closer to the opening.

“Only if you take Grey out, too. You can’t leave him here, Mr. Superhero.” I try to sound bossy. Confident.

“Ain’t leaving either of you in this shithole, girlie. Now, be a good girl and let me lift you outta there.” He sounds kinder now. Like he knows I need him to be gentler than he looks.

Because he sure doesn’t look gentle. He looks like a warrior in his dark gray sweater and black cargo pants. Some sort of belt with tools and bullets is slung across his wide chest. The pockets all over his cargos bulge with who knows what weapons and other stuff a superhero might need.

I decide that’s what he is, even without a cape and tights. He’s a superhero, for sure. Or he will be, if he gets me and Grey out of here. I slide my other foot toward him, and he wraps his fingers around it with the same hand still holding my other ankle. My stomach roils with nerves. He’s so much bigger than us. If he turns out to be as bad as master, we have no hope of getting away.

“Relax, girlie. I’m gonna take hold of your legs and his and slide you both out so you can stand up. Okay?” He pauses while I nod and try to relax.

“Now, give me your feet, too, Boy.” He’s still talking soft and slow. The rumble of his voice flows over me like a warm blanket, and for the first time I remember, I feel a little bit safe.

“It’s gonna be okay, Grey. I won’t let him take me without you,” I promise, though I don’t think I could stop this man from doing whatever he wants. I’ll fight if I have to. Grey always says there’s no hero coming to save him, but he’s wrong because I’ll never leave him

“You’re both going with me, dammit. Now, give me your feet, Boy, so I can get us out of here before the cops show up and start asking questions none of us wants to answer.” Superhero is firm, but his hand around my ankles doesn’t hurt.

Grey’s toes scrape along my calves as he pushes his legs toward the man. They’re like scratchy blocks of ice, and I wonder how cold it is outside. Neither of us has been out of the house in ages and ages. I don’t even know where we are.

Worry starts to make me panic, and my body shakes with fear. The unknown feels so much bigger without master here. When master’s around, the only thing I have to focus on is pain and fear. Suddenly, the world feels too big, and I’m so small.

“What’s happening to her? What’s she doing?” Superhero’s voice sounds as if it’s in a tunnel a billion miles away as my brain shuts down to block the scary changes around me.

Chapter

Four

BENDER

“I dunno. I think she’s too scared, sir. Sometimes, when Blu thinks too much, she kinda, I dunno, goes somewhere in her head and doesn’t say anything for a little while,” the boy says.

I close my hand around his ankles, and they’re nearly as delicate as hers. The two of them are so small. Fragile little birds I find myself wanting to wrap in my arms and protect. I use as much gentle care as I can to pull them from the narrow box they call a kennel.

Fury, as incandescent as napalm blazing across a burn site, blazes through me as their frigidly cold, abused flesh is revealed. The boy’s skin is so pale the blue veins below the surface create road maps joining bruises and old scars in a tale of clear, ongoing torture.

Her skin is a little darker but no less marked. It isn’t until I get their bodies pulled out nearly to the waist that I realize why the boy curls so tightly around her. He’s protecting her nakedness as best as he can with his own bare body.

I look around the room for anything I can use to cover them. The closest fabric is the thick brocade curtains hanging from the floor-to-ceiling windows, and I stretch to grab and rip one down. The material isn’t as soft as it should be for them, but I’m more concerned about getting them warmed up.

“Why the fuck is it so cold back there? Makes no damn sense.” The air in the rest of the room is warm enough they should have been sweltering in that fucked-up cubby.

“I-I think master has a fan. S-so we don’t get comfortable,” he stammers.

I wrap their lower bodies in the curtain and resume pulling them out of there. I’ll need to figure out clothing for them before we leave. There’s snow blowing, and we’ll need to get ahead of the storm moving in.

“You need to let go of her, Peanut, so I can get you both out of there without either of you getting hurt.” He’s nearly as tiny as she is, though his legs are longer and I know he must be taller. Still, pulling the two of them free while she’s pretty much checked out is clunky. The last thing I want is to drop or hurt either of them.

“I can’t let her go, sir. We’re chained together. It’s okay if you hurt me to get her out, though. I don’t mind.”

Such a brave little guy, trying to protect her even though he’s just as much of a victim.

So many questions are piling up in my head. I need to know who these two are, where they came from, and how they wound up in a cage behind the wall of a monster’s mansion. All of that can wait until I get them safe, though.

---