And then as she fought to keep her balance and find some leverage against the tall villain's overpowering assault, Cody's foot shifted...kicked out...and the pick went pinging and bouncing across the floor to land hopelessly out of Bryn's reach. He growled in wordless, heart-searing frustration, and pounded his fist against the unforgiving concrete. Suddenly, the sheer weight of the deep exhaustion which pounded through him seemed to press down like a ton of lead. It had been a long, fearful, and tiring night, with no real rest to speak of...and even the dauntless young Bryn was starting to feel the strain of it all. Looking up at his bravely-striving twin, he felt a fresh welling of gratitude and affection for her and how hard she was fighting to save them both from this nightmare. And how much fire she seemed to have left. Hard behind that wave came a blaze of hatred and fury at the cold-hearted bastard who had been the bringer of their torment, and that flood of emotion banished Bryn's moment of weariness, pulling his spirit back from the brink of despair. He leaned forward again, growling fiercely, "Get your hands off her, ya ogre! NOW!" That he wasn't able to do more to help Cody than shout was tearing the hot-tempered youth up inside, and a stifled groan of aggravation rolled at the back of his throat.

Cody growled herself, voice a strained groan as she staggered and pushed in the throes of the almost brutally dance-like struggle with the towering criminal. As she shoved and wrenched at the striving villain's gun-arm, Cody felt her ears twitch in surprise at the sound of the pistol clattering to the floor. Her momentary surge of triumph was squashed still-born though, as he harshly jerked his wrist from her grasp and grabbed her wrist in return, yanking hard and pulling her off-balance. While with his other hand, he wrenched Cody's other weapon-arm around hard, digging his thumb into the soft underside of her wrist hard enough to make her fingers twitch open with a hiss of sudden pain. The stun-gun dropped from her hand to send its own distinct clatter echoing through the smallish room, and in the blink of an eye, Cody's valiant resistance seemed to have been brought to a crushing end. "Get off'a me! Let go!" she howled, twisting and thrashing against the vicious thug - to no real avail.

"Let her go! If you hurt her, I swear, I'll...GRRRRR! Let her go!" Bryn roared, bucking against his chain bonds and reaching out furiously, plaintively, toward his struggling twin and her overwhelming, looming captor.

"Hey! Get in here!" the bigger goon shouted over his shoulder, working steadily to hold his thrashing captive still. "And bring some rope! The little she-kitty decided to come back and play..."

The other, comparatively shorter, kidnapper-thug appeared a moment later, striding through the door with an almost eager spring in his step. "Your sis's got more guts than brains too, huh kiddo?" He chuckled nastily. "And here I thought she was the smart one..." The rough-edged creep laughed harder at Bryn's furious, hateful growl - the fuming catboy's only reply...


----------------------------
On to "Rescues and Reversals", pt8