The pain endured for what seemed like eternity. The scientist seemed to be an evil version of the Energizer Bunny, and never tired of torturing his experiment. He taught Blackout new meanings to pain, and how to cause the most pain and agony with a single stroke, and where the pain centres of the body were located. Blackout's defences had crumbled long since, and he hung from his restraints limply, without hope. He had no idea how long he had been subjected to this torment. It could have been hours, or simply minutes of the most excruciating pain he had ever known. Finally, miraculously, it stopped. The scientist, Operator, he had been called, stepped back, a satisfied smile on his face, and the glowing rod held loosley in his hands.
"There. Have you come to your senses yet, Derek?"
Blackout just nodded numbly.
"Good. I have a special assignment for you." He left the room momentarily, and came back, holding a strange metal circlet. He placed it around Blackout's neck gingerly, and fastened the grips, which seemed to fuse together. "This is a Deathlock choker. If you disobey my orders, I will detonate the exlosives inside of it, and it will incinerate you in two seconds. If you try to take it off or disable it, it wil detonate automatically."
"Wha-what a-am I g-going to use it f-for?"
"You won't use it. You see, mutants like you are evil, and tainted. Now, you've come around to the light, by now. Your mission, whether you wish to accept it or not, is to aid the commandos that have been inserted to deal with your...problem...So go on. Your blades have been placed in the scabbards, and are awaiting you in the helicopter."
The restraints unfastened, and Blackout stumbled forward. He walked like a zombie to the chopper, each step regaining more and more strength as the pain began to wear off. Tinman escorted him, and the two soon watched as the city began to fly by beneath them as the Blackhawk took them to where the one designated as Noah and Daniel Fortesque were located. Blackout didn't care anymore; to him, life was like those dreams, where no matter what you tried to do, you always wound up doing something else completely. He simply decided to stop fighting.
----
Tinman had seen so much hatred when Operator "worked" on Blackout. In fact, it seemed to go against everything that the humans were standing for; peace and fair and humane treatment. If the public knew if this was how they were treating prisoners of the war, there would be a massive conflict. If the mutants got ahold of Tinman's recordings, well, things would go sour from there. Hmmm.... Maybe there was a way to stop this madness after all. If androids could smile, he would be grinning ear to ear.