The team began removing the bandages and changing the dressings. One of them gave me a shot of morphine before being yelled at by one of the guards. Apparently this medical team was not part of my captor's sadistic group, because they kept treating me with human compassion until yelled at not to.

Turns out that my 'injuries' were actually surgeries. Since they destroyed my real life, I no longer officially existed, and they decided they would do anything they wanted with me.

What they decided they wanted was to actually, surgically turn me into they hostage they originally wanted.

After years of crossdressing and wondering what life would be like had I been born female. These psychotic animals had surgically transformed me into their Lady Eve. They also laced scars up and down my limbs and neck to resemble suicide attempts. 'Sweetening the bait' they called it.

After years of longing and dreaming, I had perversely achieved my hearts desire under the most sadistic dehumanizing circumstances. I managed a bitter laugh through the pain.

It didn't matter now. Nothing mattered. The battered soul inside was irrelevant to my captors. All that mattered was the shell. I was just a piece of bait, and if I stood any chance to survive this – which I doubted – or however long I managed to endure, the best thing I could do for myself was to try to disassociate from the physical world as much as possible. Catatonia may not have been achievable, but it was the only goal I could imagine, so I tried with my entire being.

The medical team replaced the dressings, examined the healing tissue, repacked everything and sent me back to my box. This repeated 3 or four time over what must have been several days. I had become an inanimate object, and eventually the guards stopped physically assaulting me to obey their commands. I think they just got tired of wasting their time. I was dragged around by the hair like a toddler's doll. I registered all this, but none of it mattered. I was slowly learning to tune out anything happening in the physical world.

Aaron had fed the security feed to the darknet, so when the next phase started, the outrage from the net was nearly as quick as his motion detectors to alert him of this latest change. The bandages had been removed and Eve's scarred and battered body was splayed naked before the camera displaying all the sutures and bruises. No doubt her captors wanted to show off their handiwork, so she was no longer even permitted underwear. It didn't seem to matter to her. Her eyes remained as lifeless as they had been since her injuries. He wondered if they had lobotomized her, but could see no evidence of cranial scarring.

Maybe it was an extreme defense mechanism, he wondered. If so, it was the only defense possible. When the guards gathered and began the gangrape, Aaron threw his careful plan out the window, and activated the detention wing's fire suppression system.

As the doors autolatched and the speakers blared their automatic halon warnings, Bill Lynch watching from the surveillance hub chuckled to himself. “Now we've got you, you little prick.”

Modesty was never one of Lynch's shortcomings. His absolute confidence in his ability – however misguided – had gotten him far in government service, especially dealing with superiors who knew less than he did and mistook confidence for ability. R00tkid and his “rogue army” had no such misconception. They counted on Lynch's clueless hubris for their plan to succeed. And as always, he more than met their expectations.

The guards quickly left the detention wing for the emergency exits at the halon alarm. If they thought about it, they would know the likelihood of fire just as they were about to begin their gangrape for the security camera was next to impossible, and was just a ploy to distract them. But they weren't paid to think. In fact, years of training had conditioned them to not think and simply, blindly, follow orders. And their training was, at the halon alarm they had less than 30 seconds to get to safety before all breathable air would be replaced with toxic fire suppressant gas.

In just under 20 seconds, the detention wing was deserted. Except for the one detainee. Still slumped like a ragdoll in her cell.

Lynch quickly ordered the guards to fortify the perimeter of the detention unit, knowing they would be coming for her soon. He also monitored the facility entrance, wondering how they were planning to storm that.

Nikolai Yeshenko never imagined himself as a ninja. He was a nerd. Far more comfortable decompiling an algorithm than slogging through utility tunnels like some hollywood action hero. Still, he was probably the most fit of the group, and with his childhood filled with martial arts lessons, school sports, and ballet training his mom insisted were as grueling athletics as any of the sports his dad insisted upon to get him away from his computer, he had a diverse and oddly suitable skillset for this mission. But he knew they really chose him because he was crazy enough to do it and succeed.

R00tkid had him and his team holed up in a motel near the facility while they devised a plan. When the GO came, it seemed a little frantic. He didn't know what had changed, but that just raised the stakes and made it more of a rush. He felt like he had just been bonused a level, and knew the adrenaline rush would raise him to the challenge.

Lynch and his team scoured the monitors, waiting for the strike. But everything was normal. “We're dealing with a bunch of punks, not trained commandos. It may take them time to get their assault on.”

“Maybe they're waiting for a bus” someone said. Everyone laughed.

“It took us weeks to set this trap. I'm not going to fuck it up now by being impatient.” Lynch bellowed to the team. That shut them up.

Aaron wondered if they would notice that the live surveillance footage was suddenly replaced by playback from the loggers. If he had time to do it right, he would make sure that each camera showed the same combination of personnel from the last time they all worked the same shift, but there had been no time. He had to count on them not noticing. He needn't have worried. When he signaled his gopher team to begin their final move, he fed his stream into the surveillance hub. Suddenly everyone noticed as the internal monitors switched to outside feeds from dozens of surveillance cameras around the country.

“What the fuck is this?”

“Holy shit. That's my parent's house” exclaimed one guard as on the monitor the SWAT team surrounded it readying their assault.

“Where's that?” asked another.

“My ex wife's house” Lynch laughed. As the terrified woman and 4 screaming children were carried from the house by another SWAT team.

“Your kids?” someone asked.

“I only have HER word for that” Lynch sneered. “OK. That little prick has gone too far. Lock us down.”

“No response.”

“Call the gate guard.”

“No response.”

“What the fuck? He's just sitting there!”

“Wait, Cooper's on post. I saw him when I checked in. That's... is that Braden?”

“It's a fucking playback! How long?”

“No idea”

“Sound the general alarm”

“No response”

“Fuck.” Lynch darted over to a handscanner on a wallplate and a weapons locker opened. “Grab a piece and come with me”. The door was locked, but he expected that and keyed in the override. As soon as they began to open it, the Halon gas began to pour in.

“Fuck! Shut it!” He scowled and paced it. “I told you to disable the Fire Suppression” he screamed at a tech.

“I did.” He was meek but adamant. “It must have been reenabled ….and triggered”

“No SHIT!” Lynch spluttered.

It was masks on and into the breach as Niko and his two companions undid the service panel that led into the facility. The Halon cloud was so thick, they couldn't see a thing. But R00tkid was watching everything through the surveillance systems and he caught the three heat sigs the moment they left the service duct. “To your right and 30 meters. I'll have the door unlocked by the time you reach it. And he was as good as his word. Each door opened at their request until they were deep inside the detention compound. When the cell door finally opened and Niko saw the limp figure he had become so obsessed with on his monitor, he was momentarily overwhelmed. He looked for a flash of recognition in her blank unfocussed gaze. He imagined he saw one, even though he would later admit it was probably his imagination. He wanted her to realize that her deliverance was at hand. Acting as if she had acknowledged his entrance to her cell, he flipped up his mask and grinned stupidly.

“I'm Luke Skywalker and I'm here to rescue you! …..I've always wanted to say that!” He searched for some response on her blank, bruised face, but saw none. His disappointment was shortlived.

“Stop screwing around and GO!” R00tkid yelled through his earpiece.

Back on mission, Niko took a mask from Lisa, his number two, and placed it over Eve's head. He picked up her limp body and draped it over his shoulder.

“Christ. She weighs nothing! Jesus... IS she just a fucking doll?” He poked at one of the scars to see if it felt real, and heard her let out a little groan. He blushed, allowed himself a nanosecond of remorse and then got them the hell out of there.