People go about their lives in their own way. Some believe the world is against them. Some believe the world is their's. But when your world has been destroyed, what would you do? What would you pay, to get some part of it back. What would you pay, to balance those scales? At what price; love? Safety? Sanity? Justice? At what price; Revenge? *Warning- Does contain hyper-violence*

Daryl was pushing hard. Once they got to the crest of the hill, they had it. The only threat was twenty yards behind and closing. Daryl crested the hill, shifted left and was overtaken.

"GO DANA! GO!" Daryl yelled as she started to pass him, he planted his palm to her back and shoved hard to launch her down the hill.

Dana yelled back. "I'M GONE!"

Most people would look at the two and shake their heads. Not surprising, they were twins. Dana and Daryl Tempton, born exactly one minute and forty-seven seconds apart. Dana was the elder of the two. The joke was that since Daryl had been larger, he had to wait. Their mother would smile and say that Daryl had been born already with good manners, letting a lady go first. Daryl would joke back that he had such a good thing going already and knew it, therefore was reluctant to give it up. They had grown up looking extremely similar and it would take a parent to really determine which was which if they decided to play a prank. Dana's hair was thicker, Daryl's had more wave. Daryl's was also slightly lighter. They could hide that fact simply by Dana not wearing her hair in a confined style. Daryl wore his hair tied back most of the time and therefore it appeared Dana had the lighter hair and his was the darker.

Dana pedaled, even though she was going downhill. That would be needed to maintain their lead. Halfway down she heard some noise behind her, but didn't look. She wouldn't do anything to give up the lead her brother had worked for. At the bottom of the hill and a hundred yards further, she crossed the finish line and raised her left arm in triumph as people cheered. Minutes later, Daryl and one of their rivals crossed. Dana was puzzled. That wasn't the one she expected. Where was he?

Daryl took the water bottle handed by their mother. "Thanks Mom!"

"What happened to Jimmy?" Dana asked.

Daryl shook his head. "His front rim failed. He went down and was out cold when we passed. He was being picked up by officials. Just one of those things. Not your fault or his. Unless he knew it was weak and rode it anyway. I don't think he'd do that though."

"No way." Dana shook her head. "He loves his bike too much to do something like that."

The third place finisher came up. "Good race."

Daryl shook hands. "tough, but good. Sorry about Jimmy, Miranda."

"Yeah. Not fair, I wanted to go to line against him." Dana said.

Miranda sighed. "That's what he wanted too Dana. Maybe next time. They're taking him to the hospital, he planted hard."

Dana hugged her. "You held tough on the climb. I was worried about the final sprint."

They all knew that though Dana was light, Jimmy's weight would have given him the edge going downhill. The true battle would have been that flat leading to the finish line. Daryl was an all-arounder and Dana was a sprinter. Miranda was a climber and her cousin Jimmy a sprinter. Two teams that were hard to beat. Sprinters were fast and excelled on flat or mostly flat runs. Climbers were just that, they excelled at going up hills. All-arounders, like Daryl, were strong at all terrains. Not many actually made good all-arounders. Daryl was the best in their age-bracket of mixed team racing. They were jokingly referred to as the Wonder-twins. During a race, the only way to tell them apart, was the fact that Dana was a girl. Her feminine attributes. They rode identical looking bikes and matching shorts and jerseys. Even their shoes and helmets were the same. the only other difference was their sunglasses. Daryl wore purple mirrored-lens wrap-around shades. Dana wore pink-lens of the same style.

After the last pair crossed the line and cooled down for ten minutes, the officials began calling up the place-winners. Dana and Daryl stood holding up their tokens, a bouquet of flowers for her and the trophy for him. They hugged and shook hands with the other place winners then came down. A couple of Dana's girlfriends had arrived just before that and swarmed her as she came down. They teased and joked at Daryl. The twins separated to talk to those they wanted. For Dana, it was her friends, ogling the male competitors. For Daryl, it was the vendors and sponsors for the event. Some had shown interest in the twins' bikes as they were custom by Daryl. That was how things went until everyone finally went home.

To everyone, the twins had a typical relationship that any set of twins would, or just a bit better. Only their parents knew the twins had a secret. Most twins, as children, would try to imitate each other to fool people. Not so easy to do when they aren't the same gender. For Daryl and Dana, it had been. When puberty hit, they adapted. Daryl was able to maintain the voice his sister was developing. Dana could mimic his natural voice. For the most part, they even stayed the same size in clothing. Shoes were the only difference. Daryl began to wear larger shoes. For some reason though, it stopped at just the one size larger. They shared everything though. Both had their ears pierced. Both knew how to apply make-up. both could build and maintain their bikes. They knew how to dance and could do so in either role. If they dressed alike, wore the same make-up and styled their hair the same. It would take their mother several minutes to tell them apart, if they stayed still.

They did that quite often. Daryl impersonating Dana. She had two circles of friends and sometimes wanted to be in two places at the same time. Daryl usually had a good time so they did it often. At fifteen years old, social demands on Dana were getting harder to manage though. That was where things usually went wrong. And in the twins case, that's exactly what happened. There were two parties she had been invited to. A birthday slumber-party of one of the less popular girls she was friends with, and Saturday night bash with a group of the populars. Dana went to the birthday party, Daryl went to the social.

All had been going just fine, until Daryl started feeling tired. That's when things start becoming flashes. Someone held him. He was half carried to walk. Stairs were climbed. A voice laughing. Being laid down. Then voices that became angry. Being moved around. Being pulled at. Something heavy. Pain and being pushed. Angry voices. Another something heavy. More pain, being pushed and angry voices. Another something heavy. More pain, being pushed and angry voices. Pain. Voices angrier. More pain. Blackness.

Daryl woke up on grass. He looked around. It was blurry. Slowly things began to focus. Things began to hurt too. His legs didn't want to cooperate. Slowly he was able to roll over and crawl forward. He was in his front yard. Pain was coming on stronger now. His butt hurt. His balls hurt. His face stung. Blood was in his mouth, he could taste it. He looked down because the skirt didn't feel right and he couldn't feel panties anymore. The skirt was ripped. Not good, it was one of Dana's three favorites. He could see now that his balls were turning a dark color, like a bruise. That's when he noticed the spots of blood on his inner thighs and felt down there. His fingers explored upward and came away from his rectal area bloody. Daryl now understood and began to cry. He'd been raped. Savagely raped. His anus now felt on fire. It took what seemed like forever to get to the door. He punched in the code for the key-less lock and got inside.

Unfortunately, he'd made too much noise. The foyer light came on.

"OH MY GOD!" Carol Tempton shrieked.

Adam Tempton came running. "What's going on? OH GOD, DANA!"

Carol was reaching out to Daryl on the floor and shook her head. "No. It's Daryl. They did it again. Oh dear god, what have they done to you?"

"H-H-Hurt. Hurts, Mama." Daryl managed to mumble then passed out.

Dana had a good time at the party. She was walking home. It wasn't far, only ten minutes. A car passed, slowed to stop then drove off.

"Like I'm going to get into a random car?" Dana muttered to herself in disgust.

She was just about to reach her driveway when the same car screeched to a stop beside her and three guys jumped out. Dana got worried. They looked vaguely familiar, but she didn't know their names. They also looked VERY pissed off. One threw a punch as they reached her and she wasn't able to duck fast enough. The punch connected and she went down with a screech of pain. They kicked at her and were shouting something. Calling her names. then one said something that really made no sense.

"I dunno how you could possibly walk after last night, but everybody's gonna know what kind of freak you are!" One guy said then opened a jar and dumped it.

Liquid splashed on Dana's face and she felt intense burning immediately. Dana screamed for all she was worth from that pain. Her scream was cut off by a kick to her face. She felt the pressure and then her teeth breaking and passed out from it. She never heard the neighbor come out yelling, her attackers leaving with tires squealing or the ambulance and police arriving.

Dana finally woke up and was in alot of pain. Her face was bandaged and felt swollen. She turned slightly and saw through her right eye Daryl laying in a bed next to her. Their parents sitting on a couch, crying. All she was told later, was that she had been attacked. Her attackers had not only kicked her teeth in, crushed her nose, cracked her right cheekbone and broken four of her ribs; they had also poured acid on the left side of her face. It had burned to the bone, disfiguring her permanently. Nobody was telling why Daryl was there. In fact, he was taken out of the room for examinations. That was for three days. Miranda came by on the fourth, while their parents were taking a break and Daryl was being examined again.

Dana labored to talk, but managed to say. "Nobody is telling me anything. What happened to Daryl? Why those guys did this to me? I don't understand."

Miranda said as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Everybody knows that it was Daryl, dressed as a girl at that party. Some jerks Rohypnoled him, they thought he was you. They raped him anyway. There was a couple girls in there too. They were recording it. They hated you. It was supposed to be you. Those guys and girls got so pissed off that it was Daryl, they raped him with more than just the guys' dicks. They stuck other stuff up in him too. They wanted to hurt him really bad. Like, go away and never come back bad."

Dana started crying. She had no words to say, she couldn't find any. Miranda wasn't done though.

"Three of those guys saw you walking down the street. They thought it was Daryl again, trying to act like nothing happened. They're all star football assholes over at Able Forester High. Nobody'll do anything to them. They're football champs and rich. Them and those girls posted the video online. Everybody knows." Miranda informed her. "Nobody is taking your side. Or Daryl's."

Dana cried more. It was all her fault. Miranda had nothing more she could say or do. She offered her sympathy and left. As she was not hooked up to any monitors, Dana could move around. However, if she tried to go out of the room, she would be stopped. That night, after her father fell asleep and the night nurse had made rounds, Dana took the notepad from the nightstand. She took the pen as well and went into the bathroom. What she wrote took two of the small pages. She hid the notepad pages in Daryl's things then took her father's disposable razor from his shaving kit. Dana took it back to the bathroom, got into the shower stall and broke the razor apart. She made every effort to stay silent as she slashed into her wrists several times to be effective. Dana Tempton was successful. The Nurse making final rounds before shift change screamed, waking all.

Daryl was taken out of the room as his father broke down. He didn't understand. Had Dana had an accident in the bathroom? He was put into another room and a nurse stayed with him. He asked her what was going on, but she wouldn't tell him. Three hours later, some man he never met before came in. He said he was a Reverend Something-or-other and patted Daryl's shoulder.

"Son, I am sorry to be the one to tell you. Your parents are distraught, they can't break this to you, so I was asked. I'm very sorry, but your sister is no longer with us. She took her own life sometime during the night. We don't know why. We can only guess. Right now, that guess is that she could not go on with her life after being attacked as she had been. I'm so sorry, Son. I can never imagine what you feel, but I can tell you that she is in a better place." The Reverend said gently.

Daryl sobbed. Dana had always been there. She was part of him. He was part of her. The had always been together. Now they weren't. He didn't understand. Why had all this happened? The reverend left. An hour later, a woman came in.

"Daryl. I'm Christine. How are you feeling?" Christine asked.

Daryl sobbed. "I don't understand! Why?"

"Let's talk about that. Did Dana seem depressed? Had she ever mentioned hurting herself?" Christine asked.

"NO!" Daryl exclaimed then demanded. "Where's Mom and Dad?"

Christine tried to side-step. "Let's talk about something else. Did Dana seem withdrawn? Was she pulling back from everybody?"

"I WANT TO SEE MY PARENTS!" Daryl shouted.

Christine again tried to side-step. "You're upset and that's natural. Was Dana upset?"

"Stop your inquisition, this INSTANT!" A commanding female voice ordered.

Christine turned around and glared. "I don't know who you are, but I'm with a patient!"

The woman strode forward and stared her down. "You are badgering MY grandchild and you WILL STOP! GET! OUT!"

Daryl reached for her. "Gram! What's happening? Where's Mom and Dad? Is it true; what they said about Dana?"

Evelyn Tempton physically pushed the other woman away and sat down next to Daryl and sighed. "Dana is dead sweetheart. She killed herself during the night. We don't know why. Did she tell you anything at all?"

Daryl shook his head and sobbed.

Evelyn nodded in acceptance then went on. "Your father couldn't handle it. He broke. They've had to take him to the psychiatric ward. Carol went into hysterics so they've sedated her."

"DON'T TELL HIM THAT!" Christine demanded.

Evelyn turned around. "I told you to get out. Do it, or I will have you removed."

"He's my patient." Christine countered.

Evelyn played her card. "In absence of Parental supervision, I have guardianship over the children. That means I CAN make decisions regarding their care and treatment, including dismissing YOU. I am. Get OUT!"

Doctor Jason Firmin came in and heard the last statement. "Wait. What's going on?"

"Jason. Remove that woman. I want her nowhere near Daryl anymore. She isn't helping." Evelyn stated.

Firmin sighed and hooked his thumb over his shoulder. "Mrs. Tempton isn't playing around. You need to go. Don't argue; just go."

Christine wanted to protest, but the look he gave implied things would go from bad to worse. She left, throwing on last look of hostility over her shoulder.

Evelyn pointed to the floor. "Here, Jason. You WILL talk to us."

Doctor Firmin sighed and stepped to the place she indicated and began. "Alright Evelyn. Daryl was drugged, beaten and gang-raped. Dana was beaten and disfigured with acid. It's believed to be connected."

"What are the police doing?" Evelyn asked.

The doctor told her. "Daryl was processed as a rape victim when he was brought in. We took a rape kit and the police came. They collected evidence and the kit. Daryl was tested for STDs, those came back negative, thankfully. Dana and Daryl were both interviewed when they were conscious and coherent. That's what I know. Daryl's things are being brought in. Right now, in fact."

A nurse came in bringing a box of things and a duffel bag. She put them in the closet. Evelyn instructed that the investigating officers be called in. They arrived within the hour. The news was bad. Video of Dana at the slumber party was accessible. The party Daryl had attended, was denied ever taking place. It hadn't happened at the home of anyone he knew, so it couldn't be confirmed. The two girls that had invited Dana; denied Daryl ever being in their company, claiming they went on a double-date. In short, alibis and no contradictions. Ten minutes. The two Detectives gave them ten minutes and all it did, was make things worse.

After they left Evelyn sighed. "Well. It seems as everything has been all tied up in a messy knot."

"What now?" Daryl asked.

"First, you get released in the morning and I take you home with me. This weekend we have to bury Dana. It seems as though it would be a bad idea to hold a large event. Better to just be us. After that, we'll have to think more about." Evelyn said.

Daryl wept.

Evelyn looked at her surviving grandchild and said firmly. "Daryl, I have lost my granddaughter. My son is broken. My daughter-in-law isn't much better and you have been brutalized. Am I going to lose you to whatever all this is, too?"

Daryl took a moment then shook his head and asked. "No Gram, but what am I going to do? How do I; how do I?"

Evelyn knew what the question was that was refusing to come out. How was he to go on without Dana and his parents?

"That; we will have to figure out." Evelyn said.

As she said; the next day Daryl was released. He went to her home. That weekend, they buried Dana privately. It turned out, the hospital wanted her death kept quiet too. A patient committing suicide in the hospital wasn't something they wanted to be well known. Adam had practically dropped out. He was barely responsive and had to be attended to for practically everything. He wouldn't be leaving serious care it seemed. Carol went the other way. She became hostile and violent towards the staff and had to be sedated then secured as well.

Daryl was sorting through the things that had been brought with him from the hospital. In a jeans pocket he felt paper. He pulled and out came note-pages. Daryl sat down where he was and looked at them in horror. They were in Dana's handwriting. She had written first an apology then recounted everything Miranda had told her and then added the signs of trouble she had not recognized as such.

Evelyn came in and saw Daryl on the floor looking horrified. She slowly sat down beside him.

"Talk to me." Evelyn said.

Daryl shook his head. "No good. Nothing's going to happen. Everybody knows what happened to me and Dana. They know who did it. Dana figured out why. I got raped by ten guys. Three of them were the ones that attacked Dana."

Daryl went on to explain how they had been set up and why. Destynee, the girl that had invited Dana to the party, was angry. Her boyfriend dumped her when he found out she had slept around before taking up with him. He was a virgin and wanted the same in a girlfriend. Dana was as well, which was well known. Also, Dana was arguably more attractive. It seemed that Destynee and her cohorts knew well that Dana would not attend any party that the parents weren't there. The 'parents' Daryl had seen, weren't. They were members of household staff for one of the boys that had raped him. After being seen and assumed to be said parents, they were dismissed for the night. Drugs and alcohol were already being consumed, but not obvious to Daryl. After the bulk of the party attendees had left, that's when he was given the drugged drink.

Angry that it was not Dana to be raped of her virginity, they went ahead and savaged Daryl. The next day, the main three ringleaders saw Dana by chance and recognized her. However, they got the wrong twin again. They thought she was Daryl in disguise again. That was the whole of the reason they attacked and especially dumped the acid on her face. They were made aware of who their victim was. It made no difference. They even assigned monikers to further mock and humiliate the twins; the Fag and the Hag. No longer would they be able to fool anyone. To add further insult, the three boys were able to throw money at the local District Attorney. Even if any evidence or witnesses were produced, it would do no good. The investigation was being buried. Just like Dana had been.

Evelyn sighed. "Well. It seems they covered every angle."

"What now? They do all that, just because they can? We have to take it and nothing happens to them?" Daryl asked in dismay.

"It certainly looks like that is the way it's supposed to be. Is it that way?" Evelyn asked.

Daryl took on a look of anger. "Hell no, Gram! They need to pay!"

Evelyn mulled that over. "Ok. They need to pay. You want to get even?"

"No. Getting even isn't good enough. Getting one better isn't good enough." Daryl growled.

Evelyn looked at him intently and asked. "What do you want?"

One word. It said everything and so much more.

"Revenge!"

Daryl was withdrawn from school. For a month he searched over the net and made a list. Then he gathered up two bags of things, took the keys to his car and left with all the money he had. Two years he was gone. He went from place to place, seeking out people to learn from. Honest and not. If they knew something he wanted to learn, he found a way to convince them to teach him. Martial arts, street fighting, street chemistry, stage makeup, costuming, how to imitate accents all over the world, surveillance, theft, breaking and entering, searching and even blackmail. He learned every dirty criminal art there was. Then he turned around and learned the flip-side. Every method of countering those things the authorities used. How they succeeded and failed. He even found a teacher for electronic eavesdropping and more. A Cracker that finally had a crisis of conscience. He passed on all that knowledge and disappeared. It was assumed he went to some remote place and intended to live off-grid.

Daryl returned late one night to his grandmother's house. His whole demeanor had changed. He now had an intensity to him. Only it was not 'him'. It was Dara that had come back. The simple skirt, top and mid heels did not look out of place. In fact, Evelyn almost fainted, thinking Dana had come back from the dead. Quickly she came to her senses and ushered her grandchild inside. She listened until dawn. Dara laid out the entire plan down to the last critical detail.

She looked over to the radio.

"What's that song?" Dara asked.

Evelyn listened. "I believe that's Leonard Cohen. I can't remember the title though."

Dara went over to the computer and entered the lyrics. Leonard Cohen's Everybody Knows. She found it easily enough and listened intently. It struck deep to the heart. It described exactly how she felt. The town would never be the same when all was said and done. This wasn't simple revenge anymore. This was going to be 'scorched earth'. Daryl worked secretly for two months to get all pieces and preparations in place. He had found out more before returning. He now knew exactly how deep things went.

The police were easy to get out of the way. The officers that would actively protect the corrupt families had their bonding revoked. Without bonding, they had to be suspended without pay. The District Attorney found himself in front of the State Attorney General having to explain over two-hundred cases that suddenly come up for administrative review. All at the same time. His problem, many of those cases had been influenced. Too many to just ignore or marginalize as an overworked legal system. That was when the other shoe dropped. The State Bar Association had received the same information. They had better resources at their command than the A.G. No sooner than the D.A. started the review, he was informed his license to practice was now under review as well, therefore frozen. He could only review with the A.G. and nothing more.

Legal muscle now out of the way for the duration. Daryl went into local action. He hacked the computers of all involved in his rape and found the videos of it. Now unedited, he set up a file to store it in, as well as the full identities of each one. They could not hide or deny their involvement anymore. Now for the mind games to begin.

Dara began making appearances around town. People around Destynee noticed the pretty blonde looking at her intently from a distance. When she turned to look, the girl was gone. For days that went on. Then she finally caught a glimpse and tried to look better; only for the girl to disappear again.

Destynee asked her best friend, Fallon. "Hey. Have you seen some blonde girl around?"

Fallon nodded. "Yeah. People say that there's a blonde girl staring at me, but when I look, nobody's there."

"I saw her for a second." Destynee said.

They were sitting at a table in the mall talking about it, then Fallon paled. "Oh my god! There she is."

Destynee turned around and saw her too. A pretty blonde wearing a blue denim skirt, white tank-shirt and white mid-heel shoes. Suddenly, she noticed the sunglasses. Pink mirrored lenses in a white frame, the sporting wrap-around style. Only one girl they knew of wore sunglasses like that, but she was supposed to be dead. A group of people passed in front of her and she was gone. They looked around, but she was nowhere to be found.

"Dez. Did that look like?" Fallon started to ask.

Destynee shook her head. "Can't be. The little bitch killed herself. And even if she hadn't, the guys nailed her in the face with acid. No way could it have been her."

Fallon's phone rang. She went to answer and stared in horror at it.

"What?" Destynee asked.

Fallon turned the phone around and showed the display: Dana T. It even showed a picture, very much like the girl they had just seen.

Destynee grabbed it and answered. "Who is this?"

"Don't. That hurts. It hurts. Why does it hurt Dez? What's happening to me Dez? Fallon? What's happening Fallon?" A voice from the past asked.

Fallon had been able to hear as well. Both were looking at the phone in stunned silence. The past had come back. They both knew that voice. Had heard those questions. The voice didn't stop.

"Who are you guys? Don't hit me. No. I don't know what you mean? What did you pour on me? My face is burning! It hurts, it's burning! Don't kick me! Please stop! Please stop!" The voice pleaded then the call disconnected.

"Oh Yeah? Try this shit!" Destynee spat and hit the return-dial then stared in horror as her own phone began to ring and show Dana's picture on the display.

Fallon grabbed it and answered for her. "This isn't funny!"

They both looked at each other in shock. The return-dial had been directed to Destynee's phone, but gave Dana's name and picture as the ID. When they checked, the call to Fallon's phone had originated from Destynee's and the return-dial showed Fallon.

"Come ON!" Destynee ordered.

They grabbed their purses and left the table. Several times they saw the girl at a distance as they went around the mall. Finally they left, only to find the tires were flat on Destynee's car. She tried to call home for help, but her phone was no longer active. Fallon tried as well, but had the same result. Their phone service had been turned off. Destynee threw her phone to the pavement in anger.

"DAMNIT! Somebody's playing games with us!" Destynee shouted.

A woman passing by let them use her phone. Unfortunately the call home, didn't go there. Instead, they were informed the number was disconnected. She called a friend she just happened to remember the number of and begged her to come get them. They were dropped off at her house and she went inside.

Destynee's father looked up at the ruckus the two were making. "What's your problem?"

Destynee snapped. "All my tires are flat, my goddamned phone got cut off and the fucking house number is disconnected!"

He picked up the cordless handset. The dial-tone was clearly heard. He dialed her phone and to the girls horror; a ringing was heard in another room.

"You left your phone here, so what are you talking about?" He asked.

Destynee and Fallon went into the kitchen and saw the phone in question on the counter, showing a missed call. From home, just moments ago.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Destynee demanded.

Her father came in and glared. "Alright! What's going on?"

Destynee was about to say then caught herself. "I DON'T KNOW!"

"Uh-huh." He replied, staring at her intently.

Destynee knew he wasn't buying it. However, she had to keep her mouth shut. Her father would have no qualms over turning her over to the police for her involvement in any crimes. He'd been car-jacked once and been shot in the process. He absolutely hated criminals. He hated people that helped criminals just as much. To find out what she had done, and especially why; he'd lock her cell door personally and melt the key in front of her.

Destynee grabbed Fallon's wrist and pulled her to follow upstairs. In her room she made a call.

"David!" Destynee snarled when he answered.

David Mullen huffed. "What is it Destynee?"

"You said Dana killed herself. You hit her in the face with acid. She's dead. Right?" Destynee demanded.

David sounded bored. "Yeah and the freaky-fag brother is locked up in a nuthouse. Total Veg-out."

"You sure about that?" Destynee asked.

David huffed. "My cousin, Christine, is a psychiatrist. She did the transfers herself. Hell, even their bitch mom is locked up. What's your deal?"

Destynee insisted. "Yeah, well somebody is running around loose!"

She recounted what had been going on. He listened and sputtered. David jeered at her for making things up or confusing herself and over-reacting. They began to argue the point back and forth. Finally David hung up on her. His phone immediately rang again, but was someone else.

"What is it Mike?" David asked.

Mike said angrily. "LOOK AT YOUR FUCKING FACEBOOK PAGE!"

David went over to his computer and brought it up. A video was posted. He clicked on it and saw a video of himself drugging a drink and talking about it. It was very clear what he was doing and why. The drink was being spiked with Rohypnol and was going to be given to a girl. The girl was alleged to be virgin. He and several other boys drew lot as to who would have her first. It would be Mike.

"YOU ASSHOLE!" Mike swore over the phone

David couldn't believe it and protested. "No way!"

"WHAT THE FUCK, MAN?" Mike demanded.

David protested. "I didn't do this! I don't even have any videos!"

He checked in folders and was shocked into silence. Every video of every rape they had committed was there. Almost a hundred of them.

"NO NO NO! I SWEAR I DIDN'T POST IT!" David screamed into the phone.

Every single one of them was tagged in it. His phone started indicating other calls coming in, and from who. The rest of the boys tagged in the video. The video was posted on his page, using his account and apparently; from his own computer. He tried to go in and delete the post, but the password was changed.

"Mike! My account's been hacked! I can't take it down!" David said in frustration then realized it was worse than they thought. "FUCK! IT'S ON ALL MY PAGES! Twitter, Instagram, EVERYTHING! FUCK!"

The house phone rang and he looked at it in fear. It stopped ringing. Someone had answered it. Slowly he picked it up and listened.

"Hi Sophia." His mother greeted.

The woman on the other end spat. "Don't you 'Hi Sophia' me, Julia! That little bastard of yours needs to be hanged!"

"WHAT?" Julia squawked.

"I just saw a video of him and his gang drugging my niece and raping her! She was only fourteen! A virgin, Julia! We had to put her in a clinic for depression!" Sophia yelled. "Your sick little deviant posted it on MY Twitter page!"

Julia went over to her computer and pulled up her best friend's page. A video had been posted half an hour ago. She clicked and slowly became sickened. Her own son and his friends drugged a drink, gave it to Sophia's niece. It took effect fast. They drew lot and David started unzipping his pants, laughing. The drugged girl was dimly aware of what was happening and tried to protest. When David finished and tagged another boy, she almost vomited. The words she heard him utter dashed that feeling and sent her into a fury. She bolted from the chair and stormed up to his room and threw the door open.

"HOW IN THE HELL COULD YOU BE MY SON? YOU FILTHY, SICK, DISEASED." Julia screamed then slapped him. His phone rang again and she snatched it up after seeing the caller. "HOW DARE YOU ALL! I'M CALLING THE POLICE!"

David tore the phone from her hand and slapped her. "You won't! You, Dad and all your friends'll be ruined! Make it go away!"

"I have a BETTER idea!" His father's voice called from the doorway.

David looked at him. "Make it go AWAY!"

Two State Police officers came into the room.

"David Mullen. You are under arrest. Possession of controlled substance, distributing a controlled substance, statutory rape, accessory to statutory rape, conspiracy to statutory rape, obstructing justice, production, distribution and possession of child pornography" One informed him while the other cuffed him.

David's father snarled. "Lock his ass up!"

David realized now, that he was not getting out of his situation and began to struggle all the way to the cruiser.

Destynee opened her bedroom door and was faced by a male and female State Police officer. Destynee and Fallon were promptly arrested. After being processed, they were shown to separate cells. They had seen all of the boys being processed. The next morning they were arraigned and transferred to the county's facility. Or so they thought. When the transport van's doors opened. Both girls knew they were in very bad trouble. They were in a warehouse. They also weren't alone.

One of the transport guards chuckled as he said in a Latin accent. "Show a good time, maybe we take you somewhere not a prison."

The girls looked and tried to count the men. They went into double-digits fast, so stopped.

"Desnudar, chicas." The other 'guard' said then repeated in English. "Strip."

Fallon whimpered and began to undress. Destynee slowly began to do the same. Men came forward unzipping their pants. What both girls saw almost made their minds shatter. The men's penises were deformed and covered with bumps or lesions and some were dripping a colored discharge. Both now knew, they were not only being forced to have sex, they were also going to be infected with more than one sexual disease. The men took them and not just one by one. They began to go in multiples, forcing the girls to do more than vaginal. For over three hours the girls were used. They were allowed to redress, taken to a point in town and dropped off. Police units were on them within minutes. They had now been deemed as escapees and therefore held under higher security.

The boys were fairing no better. Word spread fast that they were child-rapists and had even posted videos of their rape-parties online. There was one factor inconsistent with the truth. It was being said that their victims were not teen girls, but prepubescent boys. Boys of a certain ethnicity; African-American. Their first night in County was anything but calm, quiet or gentle. In fact it was loud, brutal and didn't stop until almost dawn. All of them had to be taken to the security wing of the hospital. Their situation didn't improve. Under sedation they were relocated. For several days. When they managed to leave the warehouse they were being kept in, State police were on them immediately. It seemed that Mike's father, who had been very good friends with the District Attorney, had moved his boat to the docks five minutes away. It was stocked with enough supplies for ten people to consume for three weeks, full fuel tanks and very convincing fake passports.

At their trial a week later, they had been deemed extreme flight risk prisoners and would be held in the State's maximum security facility. That night; two managed suicide, one attempted unsuccessfully and another managed to provoke one of the most violent on the cell-block into murdering him in anger.

Two weeks later, the unthinkable happened. They had all escaped again. The remaining boys and both girls were unaccounted for. they were very nervous for quite a while, then started to relax. The boys were uncaring now of the diseases the girls were infected with and had repeated sex with them. They assumed they were in the place for only four days. They were wrong. Police announced themselves outside. One of the boxes they had access to contained guns. Guns they quickly put to use. Unfortunately for them, the ammunition was actually Simunition. Harmless rounds that marked hits with paint. It had only infuriated the police even more, and those officers were anything but good-natured.

All the escapees ended up in the hospital, heavily guarded. The strange part was, the day they were all being taken back to their prisons, each awoken to find short lengths of roughly cut black string tied to their wrists and ankles. As the two prison vans were turning out of the parking lot onto the road. A girl walking down the opposite side of the street took off a large sunhat to reveal long blonde hair and wearing mirrored sunglasses with pink lenses. As they looked at her through the window, she smirked and wiggled her fingers at them. Puppets on strings. It sent Fallon over the edge along with two of the boys.

Evelyn watched the realtor drive away after handing him the keys to her house. The movers had already left with all her things. Her grandson walked out of the house and pulled the door closed, locking it. He wore cycling shorts, jersey and shoes. He rolled his bike out of the garage. It had saddlebags that bulged and his helmet hung on the handlebars.

"That's that. What now?" Evelyn asked.

Daryl sighed. "We can't stay here Gram. I got you a house down in Florida. It's a retirement community. You'll be able to make friends there. You won't be lonely."

"Adam and Carol?" Evelyn asked.

"Already in long-term care facilities there. You won't have any problems seeing them and they will be taken care of." Daryl stated.

Evelyn nodded with relief but asked. "You said that psychiatrist was in with them. What about her?"

"Yeah. About her. It seems that she got caught having an affair with a patient under another psychiatrist's care. Her license got revoked. That and dummying up prescriptions for her cousin for narcotics. She got into a good amount of trouble." Daryl informed her.

"I see." Evelyn sighed. "What about that girl, the one that told you everything?"

Daryl's eyes became glassy as he said. "I gave her Dana's bike. Dana would have wanted her to have it."

"You never did tell me why you tied strings on them. Why Daryl?" Evelyn asked.

Daryl shrugged. "One of my mentors was a marionettist as well. To learn what he knew; I had to learn that too and help out in his theater. He liked that I wanted to get revenge. He told me that getting them wasn't enough. That I wouldn't be satisfied, until I had them all dancing on the ends of my strings."

Evelyn thought about that. "Quite the image."

"Yeah. He was right too. If hadn't done all I did, I wouldn't have been satisfied." Daryl admitted.

Evelyn asked. "So you are done with them?"

Daryl smiled. "They can die whenever they want to now. They won't get out and have pissed off so many people, nobody'll help. Dana can rest in peace now. I can if I want to."

"What will you do? Where will you go?" Evelyn asked as they hugged.

Daryl mounted his bike and put on the helmet and sunglasses. "I can work on bikes, even build them. As for where; I'm not sure Gram. There's a place I can disappear into. I just need to find it. I thought I'd do the old cliche first."

Evelyn chuckled. "Oh? Run for Mexico?"

"No Ma'am. Ride off into the sunset!" Daryl laughed then pushed off. "I'll be in touch."

Evelyn watched him ride away and sighed. "No sweet child, you won't. I'd be very surprised if you actually did. Please find peace. That's what your sister would have wanted most."

Four months later, Daryl passed a road sign.

Port Klasten
one mile

"Port Klasten." Daryl said to himself. "I hear you're a good place to be nobody in. The perfect place; to disappear."

He rode into the city and found a cheap room. The next day, Daryl paid a month's rent on an old machine shop on the Southern edge of town and set up residency. A month later D's Wheels opened and a pleasant looking guy stood in the door. People soon learned the new shop owner was very good when it came to bikes. He could even make custom tailored to the individual. Especially Road Racing bikes, those were where he truly shined. Several of the city's bicycle courier agencies' began referring their riders to him and he never let them down. Such became his day to day. Work on bikes. Build bikes. Sell bikes. He even found time to compete at regional events and did well.

That all changed one evening as he closed his shop. A man and a woman were walking by. A car slowed down and the stopped. A man in suit got out, walked up and stabbed the man. In seconds he was dead. The woman was in hysterics and quickly struck down. The killer looked over at Daryl and saw the strangest thing. Daryl glared then pointed at him, the car and a direction. As if ordering him to leave. Then Daryl started toward the woman. He gathered her up and walked her back to his shop. The suited killer got into the car and left.

Daryl called the local police. He wasn't very helpful to them. When they were alone, the woman asked why.

"There's more to this story lady. Why'd he really get killed?" Daryl asked her intently.

The woman choked then confessed. "He was a pilot and had his own charter jet. He wouldn't smuggle for them. He went to the DEA. He had no proof though, so they wouldn't protect him. Why do they get away with doing whatever they want? To whomever? Why won't somebody stop them?"

"You want justice, or revenge?" Daryl asked.

The woman understood immediately what he was offering and answered. "Revenge!"

Daryl stood directly in front of her. "It won't come cheap."

She nodded and said the words that changed things forever. "I'll pay!"

Here and there. People reached out for help, to be answered by Daryl. Word began to circulate about a strange new Revenge-broker. Bits of black string were being found on people that claimed to be set up, but had done horrible things. The worst of the worst. A crime-scene tech commented the strings were similar to those used on puppets and earned a moniker; The Puppeteer. Only one actual detective had interest in this mystery-player. He refused never say why he was so angry at this Puppeteer.

One thing was certain. Nobody could really pin down who the Puppeteer was. Conflicting reports denied identification. In fact, there were so many contrary stories; they didn't even have a real suspect.

Daryl put aside the remembrance as he set the small birthday cake on the kitchen table, opposite was the small framed photo.

"Happy birthday to us, sis." Daryl said then sang softly. "Everybody; knows."

To be continued....