It was like suddenly being encased in lead. Nothing holding him back, no rope or wire, just sudden paralysis. Before him was wide, open sky, freedom and life, but he couldn't twitch a muscle towards it. Couldn't do anything but scream inside his head as he was slammed back against the wall. Caught. The force alone was enough to dizzy his small, far more fragile body. He could hear barking from another room, the scraping of Gizmo's claws as she began running towards the bedroom. Thank god, she was still alive.

The relief didn't last. Twin blades slid through his wings and into the wall like they were gliding through water, severing muscle and sinew with terrible ease. The pain was incredible. The owl's already overtaxed heart jumped against his ribcage, and Sam shifted back rather than risk a heart attack.

The knife handles stood out from the palms of his hands like black pins, hardly displaced by the sudden thickening of their target. A brief try to pull them out was quickly forgotten in a bundle of screaming nerves, sharp even under the adrenaline pounding in his blood. Naked, caught, doomed, Sam panted and sweat in pain against his bedroom wall. There was no shifting out of this - if he became smaller the knives would tear open whatever new limbs he grew. He turned scared blue eyes on Sylar, watching the man in misery and fear as he caught his breath, hoping Edgeworth wouldn't come home early.

He didn't want him to see this.