"You stupid b*tch what do you want?!" Olivia shouted. "Honestly everything comes in due time. Just relax and enjoy the show. I know I will!" said Agni happily with the electronic voice. "No! I am done! Agni, I want you to show yourself now!" Olivia hollered into the air.
"Olivia...." Avery muttered as he laid completely beaten and broken on the floor. The muscles on the heavily built asian twitched and he bent over and hauled Avery onto his feet. Loreley started to stir when she heard Avery's voice. She lifted up her head, revealing her pale face and puffy red eyes.
"Daddy?!" she shouted but was instantly pulled towards the ground by the brunette male. He yanked the chain connected to the collar around her neck, causing her to scream as her body hit the ground hard. "Loreley!" Olivia shouted and tried to take a step forward but was quickly stopped in her tracks. The brunette pulled out his gun and aimed it at Olivia.
Avery tried to open his eyes but one was completely swollen shut while he struggled with the other. He was able to semi focus his eye and seen the scene before him. Adrenaline rushed through his veins as he saw his girls in dire need of help. "You f*cking bastard! Point that thing at me and let my girls go!" he shouted as he tried to struggle out of his captures grip.
Soon an electronic laugh was heard in the whole building. "Travis, Lee, please take our lovely hostages to their respective stations. We are going to test Olivia's choice and have a fun time while we are at it!" The men nodded and started to move their hostages a few feet to their left. The brunette kept his gun aimed at Olivia as he pulled Loreley towards the shoe grinding and buffing station.
The asian moved Avery towards a a conveyor belt that lead into a scary looking machine with heavy wiring that was protected by cages. Olivia stood her ground and looked up at the speakers waiting to hear what fun Agni had in mind. "Now little Livy, we are going to play a little game." Agni said monotonously while the men hooked up their hostages to the machines.
Avery was handcuffed feet first onto a conveyor belt so he could watch his impending doom. While the brunette used the chain that was attached to Loreley's collar and started to wrap it around the axle of the machine. Each hostage was a good 12 feet from their death but each machine moved at completely different speeds. "Livy you have about 15 minutes to try and save one of them. You see I didn't like the answer you gave me before and I think once you see, truly see what's happening before you I think your true colors will show." Agni said matter-of-factly.
Olivia's face paled as she looked at her father and her sister, one was blood while the other was not but it didn't make her any less then family. "What is your game, Agni." she said with determination in her voice. "Right, well whatever let's start. Lee bring out the 'puzzle' and little Livy can start the game." The brunette brought his arm down and shoved the gun into his side holster.
He cracked his neck and disappeared behind the door he came out of earlier. A very high pitched voice shouted out towards her. "No funny business! You move to save Loreley I'm ordered to start the machines at full speed." Olivia became speechless and stayed rooted to her spot. Soon Lee came back wheeling in a cart that had a thick black blanket over top of it.
Olivia gave a dirty look to Lee as she watched him wheel the cart before her. Lee gave Olivia a side smirk and pulled the blanket off to reveal a completed sealed, glass fish tank. Inside were two small bowls, a scale with a colored key in each holder, sharp pieces of glass pointing in every direction and a snake that happily coiled itself around. On the top of the tank there two holes, with more shards of glass pointing downwards.
"So here's the 'puzzle' little Livy, there are two keys, blue for Avery and pink for Loreley. The bowls are filled with hydrochloric acid. Each key is made of zinc but coated with a thin layer of aluminum, so if you drop your key in the acid you have a good two minutes to retrieve it before it eats away at the aluminum and disintegrates the zinc. Oh but surprise there is a lovely copperhead in there!" Agni said happily.
"You see if you try to retrieve both keys, you know how a scale works right? You take one key off and it slides the other into the bowl, well if you manage to get your hand out and try to get the other key.... well you can either destroy that lovely hand of yours or drop the acid on the snake. I do need to warn you though if you don't kill the snake with the acid it will b-i-t-e you!" Agni sang the last part.
"Though it's bite is not deadly to you, it is deadly to the little one inside y-o-u! Oh and no cheating you can't put both hands in at the same time! If you do we will just have to rush your timer then!" Agni said with so much joy in her electronically masked voice that it sickened Olivia to the core. "So little Livy lets begin! Timer up, 15 minutes if you please." Agni ordered. Travis stepped away from the main operating machine and walked over towards an old, square digital clock that he started to program for 15 minutes.
Olivia watched him closely noting that he was only a few feet away, she looked at Lee who was standing right behind the tank smirking at her dilemma. Loreley started to hyperventilate and Avery kept shouting to just grab the pink key. Olivia took a deep breath and did what she thought was best.
She kicked the tank and cart towards Lee, momentarily shocking him. She lunged at him and was able to wrap her arm around his neck and bring him down to the floor. The tank was securely fastened to the cart and only cracked. Olivia quickly got up and smashed her foot into Lee's throat, she turned and caught Travis running back to the main operating machine to turn the power on the stations.
Olivia bent over and grabbed the gun out of Lee's holster as he tried desperately to gasp for air. The gun was heavy and Olivia used both hands to take aim at Travis and fired, the recoil was fierce and caused her to semi-loss her balance. Travis let out a high pitched scream as the bullet hit his lower back. He turned to look at Olivia and gave her a deathly glare before he cranked up the power.
Olivia aimed the gun again and fired. She got him right under the throat, his eyes rolled back and he collapsed onto the floor. Loreley started screaming wildly as she tried to hold herself back as the chain was dragging her closer towards the spinning wheel.
Olivia looked at the tank and fired the gun again shattering it into a million pieces. She ran over and bent down to pick up both keys that were untouched by the acid while the snake hissed and coiled as it's skin was slowly being eaten away. Olivia ran towards Loreley first as she was closest. She used the pink key but it was a dud.
Loreley's screams started getting louder as her neck was only 4 feet away from the wheel. Olivia tried the blue key and it unlocked the collar. It fell to the floor with a loud metallic clank and Olivia gave her a relieved look before she ran towards her father. She realized that the main operating machine was closer and she changed directions and went head on.
She spotted the emergency stop button and slammed her hand on top of it but nothing happened. She tried again and still nothing, she took a step back and panic was starting to kick in. She slapped herself in the face to stop the anxiety and turned to run to her father. However Lee had gotten up and closed the gap between them. He was now blocking her path as he heavily wheezed.
Olivia patted herself and realized she left the gun on the floor beside Loreley. Olivia brought her fists up and was ready to fight, Lee looked positively rabid, his eyes demanded blood and his muscles flexed dangerously. There was a shot fired and Lee fell to the ground, with an earth shattering scream as he clutched his knee.
Olivia looked and Loreley was sitting on the ground while holding a smoking gun. Olivia ran past Lee and made it to her father her. He was a 3 feet away from the wiring and she fumbled to insert the pink key, sweat was dripping down her face as she turned the key but the shackles did not unlock. Olivia pulled the key out and went to reach for the blue one.
She froze from shocked, her eyes were now wide as she turned to where the blue key was. It was still inserted in the collar and it was now spinning around the axle. Loreley saw Olivia's face and quickly got off the ground. She ran towards the operating machine and started firing shots at it but it didn't stop the conveyor belt.
Olivia looked at Loreley and her heart dropped, she then looked at her father and couldn't say a word. Avery gave her a a gentle smile "It's enough... I love you Olivia." he said softly and he turned his head to look at Loreley who was still trying to fire an empty gun at the operating machine.
"My sweet angle Loreley I love you please let Laila know I love her too." he shouted towards Loreley. She shook her head, tears were streaming down her face as she took the hilt of the gun and started hitting the machine. "Daddy I love you, I will save you and you can keep watching over us!" she shouted with every swing of her arm. Avery sighed and looked at Olivia "Sweetie you need to step back now." Avery said gently, he was now a foot away from the wires. "No! No, no, no daddy we can find another way to save you!" she cried.
Avery shook his head. "Please Livy step back, do what you can to make sure your sisters will be ok. I will be joining your mother now." Loreley stopped hitting the machine and started running towards Olivia and Avery. Olivia took one last look at her father and kissed his forehead "Goodbye daddy, I love you." She took a few steps backwards and watched as her father's body reached the wires.
"NOOOOOO!" Loreley screamed as she dropped to her knees. Olivia couldn't watch anymore, she turned her head and shut her eyes as her father's body convulsed from the electrocution. The smell of burning flesh and hair was slowly filling the air while Avery's screams would be forever burned into his children's hearts.