Azazel looked over towards her, and nodded.

"Sure thing." he said.

"Lunch it is." he told her.

He then paused for a moment, and smiled.

"So." he said.

"How'd your uncle react to the news?" he asked.

After a moment or two, she heard some males talking.

"Get to it." one said.

"And get results this time." they went on.

"Or she will NOT be happy." they growled further.

It was clearly Azari's voice, and a few minutes after that, Chris walked into the room she was hanging in.

"....." he was silent, and then sighed quietly.

"Damned elf." he growled, before looking at the female.

"...and you are NOT looking good." he commented.

"......." Chris was silent, before shrugging.

"Probably." he said.

"At this point, nobody tells me anything." he said further, setting the long black briefcase-like suitcase he was holding, and opening it up. "I just get yelled at, or barked orders to." he went on, starting to assemble some sort of metal pole.

"Not even from Mistress these days. All through that damned smug wood elf." he growled, finishing it up. It looked like some sort of strange cattle prod... but with much sharper points at the end.

"He's really pissing me off." he grumbled, putting a weird cartridge-like thing into the pole.

"What the hell makes HIM so special?" he asked, jabbing the pointed bits into her side and pressing a button on the device, sending pure-aligned electrical mana through her body.

Chris withdrew the probes, and stuck them just under her armpit, sending more mana into her.

"Hah!" he laughed.

"As if." he said.

"Trust me, I've considered that in the past." he told her.

"But... she seems to lo-" he started to say, before pausing, and acquiring an expression that told her he was just realising what he was going to finish saying.

"...she likes him too much." he finished.

"Odds are if I were to try anything, that'd be the end for me." he went on.

"She doesn't seem to like it when I step up to the plate."

"........" Chris was silent again, before shaking his head.

"No." he said.

"Wait, yes." he corrected himself.

"No, I mean..." he stammered, before growling.

"I don't even know." he mumbled.

"What the hell do you care, anyway?" he asked, taking a small pin-like device out of his pocket and jabbing it into her side. It acted like a lightning rod for the electricity, making it a bit more intense when it surged through her. Less spread out, but hurt more where it DID hit her.

Chris just gritted his teeth... before letting out a light chuckle.

"To be fair, you're fun to torture." he said.

"Er... well, 'fun'." he corrected himself.

"And... I guess torture is relative..." he went on.

"And I guess it IS conversation..." he admitted, shocking her again.

"..." he was then silent once more, and sighed heavily.

"You're... one of the few that even TALK to me, you know that?" he asked.

"Seriously. I can count the number of people that legitimately TALK to me in this place on ONE hand."

"This place isn't bright." Chris replied.

"At all." he said.

"You know that." he went on.

"...." he was silent yet again, before shaking his head, as they heard footsteps.

He jabbed the prods into her again, and let loose with a massive blast, as Azari walked by and looked in briefly, before going on.

"Hmph." Chris mumbled.

"Just looking for reasons for her to toss me." he growled.

"....yeah, sure." Chris muttered sarcastically.

"There's nothing I can do." he said.

"I can't get out." he told her.

"I'm nothing." he continued.

"I can't do anything. I am nothing when compared to her." he said further.

"A mere insect before a giant..." he lamented.

He merely flinched when she asked her question.

"It doesn't matter." he said.

"I don't matter." he told her.

"I've never mattered, and if there's one thing life has taught me, it's that one is meant to be used up and thrown away. That is what life is." he continued.

"That is what one's purpose is, and to try and go against it is just stupid arrogance."

Again, Chris paused when she said that.

And she could see in his eyes, the conflict that was happening within.

On one hand, there had been what was beaten into him throughout his entire life, and what Vanessa had strengthened. On the other hand, there was a rational human mind in there somewhere, that KNEW something wasn't right about that.

"Just... just shut up!" he barked.

"I come around because I'm ordered to. I come here to break you!" he said, jabbing the rod into her ribcage again.

"Damn it!" he cursed, turning up the voltage to full... to the point where it caused immense pain... and then shorted itself out.

"....crap." he muttered when he heard that.