Chapter 13 - 24th June 2010 - NAB - Little Creek VA.

JasperPOV

The sunlight beaming through the bedroom windows dazzled my tired eyes as I blinked to clear away the fogginess of sleep. I'd slept restlessly, much like I had every night since returning from Port Angeles. If I'm being honest it's not just Emmett that needs a break from all this, all of us guys on the team are suffering from that experience. Yet none of us want to succumb to the shrink. Yesterdays phone call from the CIA guy had stirred up feelings that I thought I would never have, I was actually coming to dislike this life, the sacrifices that I, my friends and family had made for the good of our beloved nation were becoming too heavy on my heart. I knew that when the time comes to re-up or ship out, I'd be hitting the ground running in order to get the hell out of dodge and I wouldn't be surprised if most of the guys went with me.

When I had enlisted straight out of high school I had this image of an ideal life, adventure, sun and sea. The reality of course is something else, sure the adventure is there, the sun occasionally and the sea played its part, but they didn't mention the fear, the fatigue, or the pain of seeing your friends die, sometimes in your arms, often for a trivial cause. Is this what I wanted? Could I really subject my Alice to any more of the pain, she'd already lost her brother, my best friend, could I really live with myself or understand the abject fear she must live with every time that my pager beeps. Don't get me wrong, I've loved being a seal, but the more dangerous the situations we encounter are, the more I start to think, there must be more to life than this.

Shortly after 8am, I dragged my sorry self from the comfort of my bed, Alice had already left for the early shift at the hospital, I trudged down to the kitchen to grab a coffee, bless her heart she'd set up a pot before she'd left this morning. I grabbed a cup and headed across the hall to my office, I felt restless, since coming back from Port Angeles, we'd been on leave, yet I still had reports to write and statements to send in, I needed to shut down and forget everything for a while, but I knew that with the latest developments and being back on standby, my much desired R&R was going on hold. Sighing I sank into my large leather seat, sipping my coffee like a drowning man in the desert I flipped open the file on the desk, we had a new guy joining us, so we'd need to get some training in, check him out, test his strengths, Haze his ass. Sure he was replacing Edward, but that didn't mean we had to treat the guy any different from any other noob joining our team. We're a well oiled machine, everyone of us knew each other so well that we didn't even need to talk to communicate. This guy was going to need to hit the ground running and have some bloody huge balls to boot. He was due to arrive at Little Creek later today, I scratched my head, well damn, guess I'm going to have to go meet this guy, perhaps I could round the guys up, get some time in the kill house while we're there, wouldn't hurt to throw him in the shit from the get go.

I grabbed my cell and sent a text to the team.

Little Creek, 1400. Noob 1430, kill house 1500, bring coffee.

I contemplated for a few minutes as to whether or not to call Em, I'd put him on emergency leave, Rose being pregnant actually helped, I was right when I told her that he would be stoked, he was overwhelmed, like a kid in a toyshop with a blank cheque. On one hand we all needed some time with this new guy, but on the other, we need the R&R, Em especially. Fuck it, I grabbed my cell from the desk and hit 2. It managed two rings before Em picked up.

"Wassup," he called down the line.

"Quoting budweiser adverts now?"

He chuckled in response, a hint of my brother, my friend from 7 days ago sneaking in there.

"So..." I started, suddenly unsure, "Um... the noobs due at Little Creek this afternoon, figured would be a good time to get the guys in for some Kill House action, you coming? No pressure bro, but maybe some no shit shooting would do us all some good."

"Er..." I could hear the uncertainty in his voice, "yeah? I guess I could do with some no shit shooting, so er, this noob, anyone we know?"

"Nope, he's just out of boat school in Coronado, so not been around long enough to pick up any bad habits yet, I say we need to corrupt his ass and sharpish."

"Damn, bet he aint even got his feet wet yet, primary skills?"

"Medic and navigation, according to his file, the guy could navigate his way to the moon with a piece of string and a cup of water. His weapons skills are pretty good, but until I see them for myself, I'm not going to pass judgement, either way bro, I need your input, this guy ranks as a PO like Jake, but until I can see he's not another bullshitting armchair general, I won't have him endangering our team."

"Ok bro, I'll see you at Little Creak in an hour," Emmett bellowed before hanging up.

I smiled to myself, thinking that he seemed more like the old Em, before all the fucked upness of the past week. I quickly drained the rest of my coffee before grabbing the file, my car keys and my cell and hightailing it out to the garage to head on out to Little Creek.

It was close to 11am when I parked up at the administration block at Little Creek, our assigned base of operations stateside. There were a few teams stationed here, we covered the East Coast and most International Operations, while the other teams in Coronado covered the rest of the US, the fact that we'd gone to Port Angeles was a fluke, the teams on the West Coast were either training somewhere out of the country or on their own missions, so in a sense it was fated that we would end up covering their back yard, fated or fateful, it was definitely fatal.

Shaking my head to clear my weary mind I leant over the centre consol and picked up the files and my phone before heading into the Admin block, if I could get our time in the kill house logged in ahead of the boys arriving, I'd still have the time to get a few reports out of the way and turned in.

"Lieutenant Whitlock!" a voice called from down the hall. I looked up to see General Garret standing in the doorway to his office.

"Sir?"

"When you've completed business with the clerk I'd like a word." he responded.

"Yes Sir, right away." I responded, trying desperately not to roll my eyes, sure he'd been a big shot back in the day, but now, just like all the rest, he was an armchair general in every sense of the word, the most action he got nowadays was paper clip requisitions and even they were dictated to the clerk.

I approached the clerks desk intentionally making my footsteps loud as she had a habit of being oblivious of her surroundings and jumping whenever someone approached, needless to say most of the guys on the teams found this a great source of fun and teased her mercilessly. Thankfully she took it in good humour.

"Morning Elisabeth," I said lightly.

"Why good morning Lieutenant, what do we owe the pleasure of your company this morning?" she responded, batting her eyelashes.

"I've got some reports to hand in and while I'm here, I need to book a slot in the kill house for the boys, we've got a new guy joining us today, figured it would be a good chance to break him in and have a bit of fun at the same time. I'm thinking 1500hrs if possible." I laid the charm on thickly.

"I'm sure I can accommodate you and your boys," she responded in a purr, I tried not to snort at her double entendre, no need to encourage her.

"Thank you Elisabeth, if Emmett arrives can you get him to meet me at the crew room, I've got to go see the old man quickly."

She nodded in response and went back to her filing or whatever it is that she does. I turned then and headed down the hall to the Generals door, he'd left it open and gestured me in when he noticed me standing there.

"Lieutenant, how are things on the team? Anything I need to know?"

"Things are pretty good sir, I've just been booking us in for some Kill house time this afternoon, we've a new guy coming in, so figured it was a good time as any to get acquainted." I responded dryly.

"And at home, I know you guys are all close, and I know that losing Cullen has hit hard, just know that we have the means to offer support if needed son."

"Thank you sir, I'm not going to say things aren't tough right now, we're a close knit team and losing Cullen has been... difficult on all of us, but we have a job to do and we will do it to the best of our abilities, he'd want that."

"So this new guy, do we know anything about him?"

"I've glanced though his file, on paper he seems great, but I won't make a judgement until I see him in the kill house, if he can work with our guys and not rock the boat then we'll take it from there."

"It's good to see you keeping an open mind Lieutenant, however regardless of how he does in the kill house, you're stuck with him, I won't have an incomplete team on this base, so if there's any problems with this guy you and I mean YOU Lieutenant will be responsible for shaping his ass to meet our needs, so you best hope that he hits the ground running and he hits it hard."

"Sir, yes sir." I responded, well that's just peachy.

"That's all for now Lieutenant, I'm sure you have better things to be doing than standing here talking with me."

"Thank you Sir."

I quickly turned and left his office, scrubbing my face roughly as I walked down the hall to the front entrance and out to the parking lot. I didn't really think as I jumped back into my car and drove over to the crew room. As I approached along the drive I could hear heavy bass thumping through walls, Emmett’s big ass hummer was parked out front. I smiled to myself, the number of times this very sound had greeted us made me feel nostalgic. I may be the ranking officer, but Edward was the crew chief, I held back the melancholy that threatened to descend at the memory.

Edward strode into the crew room, Emmett was sprawled across the weight bench, hip hop blasting through the speakers on the wall, he didn't even notice Edward was there until he smacked him across the back of the head and jumped back laughing as Emmett dropped the free weights he was using and fell of the bench.

"What the fuck Edward?"

"Seriously Em, you're getting into this now? I could've been anyone and I snuck up on your unobservant ass." Edward laughed.

Emmett sat back on the bench, crossed his arms and pouted moodily. The whole room erupted with laughter and his lip was soon twitching with a hard to hold in smirk.

I shook my head and pushed through the door, just as I remembered there was Emmett sitting on the bench lifting weights, hip hop blasting through the speakers, I smirked, nothing changes.

"Hey Em, turn that shit down, I could hear it all the way over at the Admin block." I shouted over the noise.

"Dude, I need these heavy beats to keep this body the temple that my Rosie loves to worship."

"Seriously Em? that's my sister, I don't need to know that shit, hell I'm convincing myself that her pregnancy is an immaculate conception and not the result of your hairy ass 'tappin that'"

A large guffaw filled the room, "Oh man did you just use 'tappin that' in relation to thoughts of your sister on me, damn if that aint the funniest shit ever."

"Em, if you don't want me to castrate your ass, I recommend you shut the fuck up," I responded sharply.

He held his hands up in submission the smirk never leaving his face, his eyes sparkling with mirth. I offered him the hairy eyeball in return.

"It's good to see you bro," I slapped his back, "But damn you need to get some better music tastes, I can't believe you're my brother."

"So any news on the new guy?"

"Nah, he's not due to land at Dulles for another hour, but I've fixed us a slot in the kill house for 1500, also I spoke with the General before coming over, he says that regardless we're stuck with him, so if he sucks, we've got a lot of work on our hands to desuckify his ass."

"Well that sucks balls bro." Em responded.

"Oh it's more than that, he practically implied that if he sucks ass, then we've gotta pick up the slack, cause he won't have an incomplete team on his base, and I doubt he'd think twice about shipping our asses back out to Coronado."

"Mother fucker." fumed Emmett.

The banging of the crew room door swiftly followed by the sounds of the guys loping into the room bought our quick conversation to an end, I had to stifle a laugh as I spotted Embry and Jake rough housing as they pushed through the doors, on closer inspection I saw that Jake was holding a pizza box, a slightly worse for wear pizza box and Embry was ragging him.

"Seriously dude lighten up, 10 second rule man, geez you're an uptight asshole!" Jake joked.

"Uptight! fuck you man, that 10 second rule is bullshit, if we eat that monstrosity we'll probably catch some awful disease and die," replied Embry seriously.

Jake stopped, lifting his eyebrow in response to Embry's tirade, by now the whole team were stood silently watching the verbal sparring between the two guys, I grinned at the memory that came to mind as Emmett and Sam caught my eye.

"I bet I know what you're thinking," whispered Sam, so only me and Emmett could hear.

"Uhuh," Emmett nodded, "I bet I'm thinking the same thing."

"Leptospirosis." We all said at the same time, grinning widely as the memory hit.

Embry was the new guy on the team, he'd been with us for about a week now, wet behind the ears and straight out of boat school. He was a hypochondriac, we were doing some close quarter training and spent some time on the ranges, sharing canteens and mugs during down time. He hated that.

"You don't know what shit you could pick up, you aren't exactly the cleanest fuckers around," he said.

"Too true," replied Jake "I was in the far east and contracted Leptospirosis, lost about 28 pounds, sucked balls."

"You caught lepto sucking balls dude? I thought you got that shit from dodgy water sources and animal matter." retorted Quil. Jake quickly got him in a headlock and proceeded to give him a massive noogie.

"See exactly what I mean, although Jake that sucks, bad luck dude, when did that happen?" Embry continued.

"Last month," responded Jake his lips twitching and eyes twinkling mirthfully.

"Dirty fucker!" screamed Embry, throwing his canteen to the ground and stomping back onto the range to the sounds of laughter.

"Damn Jake, his going to be ragging on about sharing mugs and hygiene for the rest of the fucking week" groused Quil.

A short while later Embry came back to the safe area, eyeing us all suspiciously.

"You know I think you're all dirty fuckers, sharing your shit an all that, but I know for sure I'm safe, you lot though, there's no telling what ya'll are gonna catch."

"And why is that my friend?" grinned Jake.

"Because I've been pissing in the coffee pot in the crew room all week," he smirked before grabbing his keys from the wall and heading off to his jeep.

I smirked at Emmett and Sam, that was some funny shit, it was that time that we knew Embry was going to fit in fine with the team, sure he had his 'issues' but hell it took balls for him to do what he did, needless to say since then we bring in our own coffee, although the other teams still drink from the 'piss pot'.

We looked back at Embry and Jake, they were still going back and forth, by the time this was over, the pizza wouldn't be worth eating anyway.

"Guys, enough already, Embry just call for a fresh one, either way this shit ends."

They both looked chagrined but nodded in response. Jake loped his huge ass frame to the tables in the corner and began to devour the rough ass looking pizza, I shrugged, maybe Embry was right this time, while Embry grabbed his cell and called for another to be delivered. We all eventually meandered to the tables and discussed the new guy and what it meant for the team. Fresh pizza soon arrived and the group discussion was replaced with the sounds of eating and general bullshitting that you get from a group of guys.            

"So LT when's the noob arrive," Seth murmured over his pizza.

"Anytime now Seth," I answered glancing at my watch.

I'd barely spoken when the sound of a vehicle was heard pulling up in the parking lot. I glanced around the table, each of the guys had heard the vehicle too and were looking to me as to what to do next, I shrugged and took another bite of my pizza, if this guy is going to fit in, then he'll get no special treatment, he needs to step up. A minute later we heard footsteps then suddenly the door opened and a tall dark haired guy with deep brown eyes stood before us, his eyes bounced around the room and finally meeting ours at the table. He sighed quietly, I guess he was nervous of the reception. Stepping in the door, he dropped his duffel to the side and walked slowly towards the table.

"I'm looking for ugh... Lieutenant Whitlock," he said glancing at his orders.

The guys looked at him, and then at me before going back to eating, well they're no help.

"That'll be me," I nodded at him.

He stood straight and went to salute, "Dude stop that shit before you start, we don't salute, the stuff we deal with, well let’s just say that acknowledging rank causes problems." Emmett interjected.

"Oh ugh, yeah um right I forgot," he replied nervously, visibly gulping at the hulk that had spoken to him.

I smirked to myself before standing and heading over to him. "Come on, lets get your stuff stowed and introductions made, we've got a session in the kill house in 30 minutes."

I walked him over to a row of lockers, "here, this one is yours, they'll have your name plate for you up at admin, so until then, you'll just have to remember which one is yours, I suggest you memorise your neighbours."

"Thanks, ugh sir, um LT, since we don't mention rank, what exactly do I call you, for reference?"

I grinned, "Jasper or Jazz, ignore the hulk who spoke before, I will not answer to J-dog or Jasperdoodle or any other hair brained fuckery that he comes out with."

He smiled, his first genuine smile and promptly offered his hand, "Peter Jackson, or Pete although for a while they did call me Kojack at Coronado, I have a bit of a thing for lollypops."

I laughed quietly at that, "Well Pete, I think we'll save the nicknames to the guys, we all have them, although if you're unlucky enough to be named by Emmett or Jake, well you have my sympathy. Time to meet the team, then we'll head on out to the Kill House for some CQB."

We walked back over to the tables and Pete was introduced to the team, first impressions he seemed a pretty stand up guy, a little quiet, but then he knew why he was joining our team and had the sense to not ask about it. Jake decided to take him under his wing, I decided that this could be either very good, or very bad, but until we see him in action, time will only tell.

A little before 1500 we suited up and headed over to the kill house, it's really just a derelict looking building out on the back roads of the base, well away from all civilisation, we used it for planning assaults, CQB and stress relief, today it would not only serve all of those purposes but also help us determine if we had a lame duck on the team with the new guy.

"Ok guys listen up, you'll be going in, in teams of two, Em and I will go last, as we'll be timing you," I started and was quickly interrupted by Jake groaning.

"Something to add Jake?"

"Yeah, you guys do this every damn time; we already know the routine, how about we sex this up a bit?"

"Um dude there's no way in hell I'm calling your girl and getting her to play hostage, that chick scares me." quipped Emmett.

"Dude!" Jake laughed, "No I meant what about a wager, say fastest team gets all their drinks paid at the bar tonight."

"Don't you think that's a bit unfair Jake, we all know Em and Jazz are the speed demons here." replied Sam.

"Nah I got a good feeling about my new homeboy here." Jake nudged Pete.

"Fine, if that's what motivates you Jake, sure what the hell." I muttered.

Jake pumped his fists and practically vibrated where he stood. "Well what are we waiting for?"

"Ok, inside the kill house we have unknown X-Rays and 2 civilians, you need to enter and clear all the rooms as quickly as possible, before exiting, if you lose a civilian you will be penalised with a 10 second time cap. Questions?"

There were grunts and head shakes all round, so I gestured for the first team to posse up and head on in. As the afternoon stretched on, Jake and Peter were holding first place, closely followed by Seth and Sam. It was finally Em and my turn, we'd both done the kill house so many times that it was almost second nature now, although recently we hadn't done so together, I'd partnered Edward and Em had been with Jake, so this was new to us. Taking up positions at the door and side window, we listened to Jake count us in.

"3, 2, 1, GO GO GO"

Em lobbed a smoke canister through the window as I steadily pushed the door open, hitting the corner and checking my blind spots, BANG an X-ray target popped out half way up the hallway ahead of me, 'pop pop' it dropped as I hit it with 2 silenced shots head and chest. Em followed in behind me and signalled he was hitting the stairs, Bang another X-ray appeared on the landing, quickly followed by two shots from Em. We moved quickly and quietly through the house, the smoke canister billowing through the halls obstructing our sight although not enough to cause a problem. I approached the first door in the hall, it was wide open, but pitch dark inside, I pulled down my NVG's and observed the green hued image before me, ah, 2 X-rays and a civilian, stepping quietly into the room I dropped the first one with a well made shot to the head and knocked the second down before the first hit the floor. I chirped my throat mic to call Em, "1 civilian free, moving on bro", he chirped back a whispered "yeah!"

I slowly crept back into the hallway, heading back through the house to the central room, I heard white noise ahead of me and smoke pumped through the hallway, visibility was getting more and more difficult. That fucker Jake wanted his beer bad! I heard two more silenced shots then Ems voice through the mic, "2 X-rays down, no Civs up here I'm coming down."

Less than 15 seconds later Em appeared to the left of me, I gestured to the doorway ahead of us, we crept forward, hunkering low to the ground to make less of a target of ourselves, as we reached the door Em stopped me from proceeding. I raised an eyebrow, before rolling my eyes at him as he lifted a flashbang from his belt. Using the tip of his gun to edge the door open, he pulled the ring on the flash bang and lobbed it into the room before pulling the door shut once more as the loud bang erupted in the room beyond, at that moment we both sprung through the door taking separate directions and rolled into the room, knocking out the remaining X-rays with a flourish, leaving the Civilian standing in the middle.

"Clear!" we both called.

"Son of a bitch!" yelled Jake, "1 minute 55 seconds. How the hell do you to do it that fast?"

"Practice Jake, now pay up." I laughed.

"Yeah that and he designed the damn thing, seriously Jake what idiot would bet against Jasper in his own goddam house?" laughed Emmett.

"I forgot," mumbled Jake.

The rest of the guys laughed even Pete seemed to join in, the jury is still out, although he handled the kill house fine, at least I know he can handle himself. I clapped Jake on the back, as we strolled back to the crew room, shouting and joking amongst ourselves. The kill house was just what we needed and it didn't hurt in getting the new guy to join in either. I can only hope he's as good when he does the real thing.

Chapter 12 -23rd June 2010 - Bourtzi, Nafplion,

BPOV.

I was so groggy and it didn't matter where I looked, all I could see was darkness. I couldn't tell up from down, left from right, heck I'm not sure if I remember my own name. I do remember the thud of his footsteps, the cadence of his breaths as they blew across the shell of my ear when he whispered what he intended to do to me once he was aloud some alone time. I remember the smell of sweat and stale beer, the fact that he smelt a little greasy as if he'd spent time around engines or mechanical things. I could smell the damp of the room; it was different from the last one they'd bought me to. It had a chill to it too, it smelt and felt old, musty. It smelt like death.

The first time he beat me I was too out of it to register the pain, of course I remember the pain now, the throb in my stomach from too many kicks, the ache around my jaw from too many back hands. I could still taste the dried blood on my lips. I don't know how long they took between the beatings and the questioning, always the questions, always followed by a punch or a kick when I couldn't or wouldn't answer. I'm sure he took some kind of sick pleasure in seeing my blood fly.

The worst one though was the woman, Jane he said her name was. She liked electricity and took great pleasure in seeing me fry from the contact with the electro shock baton. I wasn't really paying much attention what with the feeling I was burning from the inside out, everything ached or throbbed from the beatings I had already taken, couple that with the spasms and convulsions bought on by her sadistic use of the baton, I didn't have much faith in getting out of here. I'm sure my screams carried for miles. I only wish someone would answer my pathetic call. Jane wasn't happy with me, her torture methods still hadn't made me talk and she was not a patient person. I found that humorous, she was the third person to say that to me recently. I laughed at her, she electrocuted me. No sense of humour that one.

I don't know how much more I can take.

There are few things in this life that I am sure of, the sun will rise in the morning, it will be dark at night, my dad could burn water and my mother although flighty was and always will be more of a friend than a parent. Right now I was certain of one thing... I'm going to die. Even to me that sounds melodramatic, in fact up until now I would've credited that thought with nothing but partial amusement and figured that I'd heard it on a daytime soap. That was before my life took a trip down the dark side of existence.

Before today, heck before last week, I was happy go lucky, sitting confident in myself made cocoon, I had friends, a home and a job I simply loved, then that fateful day in June all it took was one small piece of information to land on my desk and the carefully constructed house of cards that I resided in came crashing down, and when I say crashing down I mean literally not figuratively. Everything that I had worked for, for the past five years lead to this moment and now here I sit, staring into the darkness, unable to move due to the ropes tied tightly around my limbs, waiting for them.

I know they're out there, I've heard them, I've heard the violent sounds of torture, I've heard the screams of the other person that they have entombed in what I can only describe as being akin to hell. I know it's only a matter of time before they come for me and there is nothing that I can do about it, except wait and pray that my inevitable end is swift.

The lock turned in the door, the sound amplified by the darkness. I made no move to react to it. I knew it was him and not her this time, his scent preceded him. I felt him behind me, his hands on my shoulders I cowered away from him. I should know by now not to encourage him.

"Alone at last Bella." The four words I dreaded more than the questioning.

I screamed, loud and tortuously.

EPOV.

I was cold and wet and my body ached, well at least I know I'm alive, if it hurts or aches that means I'm not dead... yet. I cracked an eye open and could just make out a bright overhead light and a sterile chemical sort of smell. My head throbbed and when I went to run my hands through the back of my head I felt the restraints on my arms. Where the hell am I? The pain went from dull to intense and back to dull again and a wave of nausea went through me. I really felt like shit. I closed my eyes in hope that I was just holed up in the hospital and they'd strapped me down to stop me from moving, yeah that's what it was, so why didn't it feel like I was in bed? I must've dropped off to sleep again, because the next time I awoke it was to a streak of pain in my shoulder, it was like being struck by lightning and catching on fire all at the same time. I screamed in pain as my eyes shot open, when I eventually managed to focus I was greeted by the sight of a young blonde woman, no more than 21 years old staring down at me. A knife was firmly entrenched into my right shoulder and the vicious blonde bitch was standing over me glaring with malicious fervour. The moment she realised she had my full attention she smirked, a dark and sinister looking grin on her face before grabbing the hilt of the blade and twisting, I hollered in pain.

"What the hell are you doing that for?" I screamed.

"You've slept long enough, time to wake up," her high pitched voice trilled at me.

"Did you have to stab me, for fuck sake woman, never heard of coffee?"

She bent in closer to me, her face merely inches from my own, now I'm a big guy, a trained Seal and this little bitch gave me the heebie jeebies.

"I don't mix breakfast with pleasure, and you certainly don't deserve the former."

"Fuck you!" I groaned.

The evil little troll grabbed the knife once more and pulled it from my shoulder, wiping the blade on a cloth, before playing with it between her fingers. I closed my eyes once more, maybe if I went back to sleep she'd leave me alone. No such luck, I could sense her pacing around the room, the sound of the blade slapping on her palm reverberating in the silence of the room. It wasn't long before I heard a door open, the creak of wood and metal, the sound of footsteps echoing on stone. I could sense a presence to my left.

"Jane, did you have to stab our guest?" a male voice spoke.

"Alec, I just wanted to wake him up and the water didn't work." The evil harpy responded.

"Hmm, we should perhaps get him up, I'll have James and Victoria bring in a chair and some rope."

Who the Fuck are James and Victoria and what the hell will they need rope for?

"Alec, I hope you're not trying to spoil my fun." She replied.

"Never sister dear, I just think we could make our 'guest' a little more comfortable."

"Do I get a say in this, you know as your 'guest'?" I spat out.

"NO!" they replied in unison.

"Ok just thought I'd ask and all that, I must say your customer service is pretty shite." I quipped mirthlessly.

"Oh a smart ass, just what I like, I'm going to enjoy our time together." The harpy trilled in my ear.

The guy left the room, returning moments later with a dirty blonde haired man and a red headed, wild eyed woman, carrying a chair and rope. Oh well I guess I'm not in hospital after all. The throb in my head was getting unbearable, and my shoulder was pulsing with pain, not to mention blood. I relaxed my muscles as they undid the straps on my wrists and ankles, in an effort to make any movement of me as difficult as possible, they may be holding me for whatever reason, didn't mean I was going to make things easy for them. The two men grabbed my shoulders and pulled me bodily from the table or counter or whatever it was I had been strapped to, my dead weight making things particularly awkward for them. I groaned as the pain in my shoulder flared as they struggled to haul me across the room to the chair that had been bought in.

"If you stopped relaxing so much, this would be over so much quicker." The big blonde guy ground out between his teeth.

"Or you could just fuck yourself." I spat in response.

They dropped me on the chair as they reached their destination. The first guy, Alec? held me against the chair by the shoulders, digging his hand into the stab wound that vicious little bitch had given me.

"Hey there's no need for that shit, asshole!" I screeched.

The blonde guy sneered at me as he stood in front of me and back handed me across the mouth, I would say that shit hurt, but honestly Emmett could hit harder with his little finger. The Red head glared at me as she came over with the rope and proceeded to tie me to the chair. I rolled my eyes, honestly I've had this shit in SERE's training, do they think it'll get them anywhere? After ensuring I was securely restrained the blonde harpy approached again, an evil glint in her eye, the hunting knife she'd stabbed me with twisting between her fingers.

She waltzed around me, dragging a finger across my chest, my shoulders and eventually ended up behind me, her hand tugging at my hair, pulling my head back to look at her, she bent down to my ear, her hot breath blowing across my overheated skin.

"If that's meant to be seductive sweetheart, you need to get out more and practice away from the cattle you associate with." I groaned.

The little witch tugged harder on my hair, before biting down on my ear, the red headed bitch laughed at the blonde woman's antics before strutting over to me and straddling my thighs. The two women exchanged knowing looks, the blonde handed the blade to the red head, who proceeded to trail it slowly up my leg and across my torso aimlessly.

"We'd like some information from you, now we can make this easy, or if you don't co-operate, we can make it very, VERY painful, we'll start simple...name" The blonde witch said into my ear.

"Cullen, Edward, Master Chief," I replied automatically.

"Well Mr Cullen, do you think you could help us out, you know, you help us, we'll help you, an agreement so to speak." she responded.

"Its Master Chief bitch, and no I can't help you with that."

"Tsk, Master Chief, you disappoint me." she seethed. "What is your unit Master Chief?"

"I'm sorry I can't answer that."

The red head continued to trail the blade up my leg; she glared at me and then looked at the blonde who shook her head.

"Again Master Chief, what is your unit?"

"I'm sorry I can't answer that." I replied robotically.

The blonde growled in frustration, before nodding at the red head, which stopped trailing the knife and stared at me maliciously before standing from my legs and slamming the blade into my thigh. I rocked with pain, before gritting my teeth to suppress the scream that bubbled up inside of me.

"Answer me Master Chief. What is your unit?" The blonde screeched into my ear.

"Cullen, Edward, Master Chief, FUCK YOU BITCH" I shouted.

"The red headed witch pulled the knife from my leg, and wiped it along my pants before thrusting it into my leg again. Pain flared through my limbs, like fire licking over a corpse. I ground my teeth and set my jaw, raising my head to stare the evil witch in the eyes.

"FUCK YOU" I spat, saliva spattering her face.

She screeched in anger before punching me firmly in the face, blood poured from my nose as my head was thrown back against the back of the chair. Damn she had more of a right hook than that other shit bag.

"Let's try again Master Chief, what is your unit, where are you based?"

"Read my lips bitch, FUCK YOU and the assholes you work for."

"You are not being very co-operative Master Chief, and if there is one thing I will not tolerate, its uncooperative guests." The blonde seethed at me.

"Then by all means let me check out of this hell hole and make some room for a better class of guest."

"So Master Chief, let me guess, is it Coronado or Virginia? See I know what you are Master Chief, all I need is your unit number and a little bit of information and all this nastiness will come to an end, I'd prefer it if we did so on friendly terms."

"I couldn't care less if you think I'm the fucking Easter Bunny, you are getting shit from me lady." I spat.

"I only have so much patience Master Chief, and you are losing mine quite swiftly."

"Save yourself some time bitch, go fuck yourself."

The blonde harpy tugged hard on my hair, my head fell back against the chair from the force of it, while the red headed bitch paced beside me, waves of anger rolling from her. I smirked to myself, even if I don't make it out of here, I'll drive them to insanity before I go. The red head strode over to the chair and stood fuming in front of me, the knife all but forgotten in her hand, her free hand fisting with rage.

"SPEAK DAMMIT, you're going to die anyway, so tell us what we need to know." She roared in my face.

The blonde bitch tugged my head back or I would've spat at the bitch, instead I laughed, not just a chuckle a full out belly laugh, that bitch doesn't intimidate me. There was a knock at the door and a large dark haired man, dressed in a dark suit with a grey over coat strode into the room, followed by an equally tall man with dirty blonde hair.

"Tsk Jane dear, must you stab the guests every time?" Said the shorter man.

"Demetri, he's being very uncooperative, and you know how much that annoys me." she responded.

"Hmm, I think I have something that can help with that." He grinned at her before turning to leave, "have him bought to the other room and for pities sake can you stop him from bleeding all over the damn floor." He said before leaving the room.

The two women exchanged looks, I had no idea what they were meant to say, but whatever it was I just knew I wasn't going to like it. The blonde one stood from behind me; letting my hair go, good because that was really starting to piss me off, and gestured for the huge dark haired guy to come over, the guy was huge, I mean Emmett is huge but this guy, damn this guy was enormous. The big dude towered over me, his angry eyes boring holes into me.

"See something you like?" I smirked at him.

I guess he didn't appreciate my attempt at humour as he backhanded me across the face, my head was thrown back violently, damn that guy hits hard.

"Shut the fuck up, if I want your shit I'll squeeze your head," he sneered at me.

"Sure sure princess." I replied snarkily.

The huge guy grabbed the back of my chair and dragged it with me across the room and out the door, the two cackling witches followed, sauntering provocatively behind us, on exiting the room, we found ourselves into a small oval hallway with multiple doorways and a set of stone steps leading up to a light source, well at least I now know some of the layout I thought to myself. The hallway gave way to another room, an old wooden door lead to another stone floor, dark and dingy walls, fluorescent lights and no windows, I guessed we were below ground. As we entered the room I felt material touch the back of my head before I was plunged in to darkness, a dark cloth sack covered my head. Well that's just typical, although somewhat amateurish considering I've already scoped the layout since they dragged me across from the other room. I could sense that there were more than three people in the room, it felt close, claustrophobic, and I could hear multiple breathing patterns, of course I couldn't let them know this, they were trying to intimidate me, fools.

A loud female scream echoed through the room, followed by a loud feral sounding snarl. Bloody hell, they've got someone else in here.

I felt the presence of someone to the left of me, before I heard a loud thud over to my right, followed by another blood curdling scream.

"Now then Master Chief, shall we try again, every time you fail to respond adequately, Ms Swan here, you do know Ms Swan I presume, well Ms Swan will incur a penalty." said the voice beside me.

I sagged in the chair, shit, they could do this to me all they want and get nothing, but her, fucking hell.

"Don't tell them anything," a soft, pained voice croaked from across the room.

I heard movement to the right, before a loud whack reverberated through the room, followed by another piercing scream.

"Stop!" I yelled out, "don't do this, not to her, beat me all you want, but if you hurt her you get nothing."

It was a long shot, but right now it was all I could think of, I needed to stop her pain. I heard footsteps moving across the room, they eventually faded out and I couldn't sense anyone else in here but me and Ms Swan. We thought she was dead, all this time they had her, she must've been through hell. The darkness from the hood prevented me from seeing for myself, but I had to know that she was ok; all this would be worth nothing if she was badly hurt.

"Ms Swan," I spoke tenderly, needing for her to trust me, "I don't know if you remember me, I'm Master Chief Edward Cullen, we met last week at the hospital, I need to know how you are."

"Edward?" she responded weakly.

"Yes Ms Swan, do you have any injuries, can you tell me how bad?"

"I ugh have some bruising, I ugh guess, Gigantor, the big one, he's beat me a few times over the past few days, I think I have some broken ribs." She responded breathlessly.

"Your breathing sounds laboured Ms Swan, does it hurt to breath in? "

"Bel-Bella, call me Bella," she replied her breaths coming short and sharp.

"Ok Bella, does it hurt to breath?"

"Yes, on the 3rd day, Gigantor he kicked and beat me so much that I've been coughing blood ever since," she wheezed.

"Ok Bella, I need you to relax and breath slowly, don't force it, in 1, 2 out 1, 2, slow and easy, can you do that?"

Shit, I really needed to get out of here, much more of this and she wouldn't make it. I could hear her taking shallow breaths, they sounded raspy and laboured, all I could think was internal bleeding, perhaps one of her lungs was collapsing, and that would explain the breath noises

"You're doing great there Bella, I want you to concentrate on breathing ok, can you do that for me?"

"Yes..." wheeze, "Edward..."wheeze, she responded

We remained silent, I sat and listened to her breathe and she concentrated on doing just that, breathing, one breath at a time, it helped to keep my mind occupied, prevented the blindfold from sending me nuts. I don't know how long we stayed there like that, it could've been minutes, could've been hours, hell it could've been a whole day, what I do know is that for a long time, nobody came back, we had no food, no water, nothing. The darkness was all encompassing, but I fought through the anxiety that was building up in my chest to listen to my surroundings, I could use the noise to focus, concentrate on living, and formulate a plan to get us out of here, or die trying. I could hear a low rumble coming from somewhere above us, a vehicle of sorts, perhaps a helicopter, although if they needed a helicopter to get here, that would make an escape pretty difficult. No don't consider the negative, think positive, think getting out, think living.

Footsteps, I could hear footsteps, shuffling, laboured as if something was being carried, they weren't rushing, but they were getting nearer, I counted the steps, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6... Come on, come here and take this hood off, let me look in your eyes you bastards. The door creaked, ok so it wasn't locked, well as things stand, it's not like either of us were going anywhere fast. Two sets of distinct steps crossed the room, I guessed they were male, the strides were long and heavy, although that red headed bitch was kind of tall and built like a man, no concentrate on these assholes, one was holding back, slowing up, the other had stopped in front of me... fucking hell! Blinding light, I scrunched my eyes swiftly before cracking them open, only to come face to face with the dirty blonde haired guy that was with the red headed bitch. I glared at him in disdain, that mother is going down.

"Good your awake, we have some things to ... discuss." he sneered into my face.

"Hey asshole have you never heard of personal space?" I spat back at him.

He shook his head at me, rage and something else that I couldn't figure out flaring in his eyes. I glared at him, waiting for the inevitable backhander across the face or a kick to the gut, but neither came. He stood and walked away from me, it was only then that I saw Bella. I grimaced at the sight of her.

The atmosphere in the dingy little room was an overpowering mixture of fear, hate and adrenalin. I could see the broken form of Bella slumped across the back of an old wooden dining chair, her hands tied  in front and low towards her ankles in a 'stress position' to make even the feeling of sitting down uncomfortable. Her breaths were coming fast and shallow, the fear in her eyes paramount, it was obvious; our captors were going to use her against me in order to get information. 

I tried to convey with my eyes what my voice and body language was unable. 'Forgive me, and I promise you this, I will kill every one of them for what they have done.'

He stood behind Bella, I could see his light blue eyes piercing into my own, daring me to deny him. A sneer spread across his face as he raised the thin rubber tubing, and provocatively drew it along the length of Bella's back. She flinched at the feel of it on her already aching and bruised flesh.

"Look at me Bella, look at me" I plead

Her head bobbed over the back of the chair, she was already in obvious pain and this vile cretin was making me hurt her further.

"Bella, LOOK AT ME DAMMIT”

She let out a whimper as her swollen, eyes met my own, I tried not to wince, he would only get off in seeing how much this hurt me and that would do neither of us any good.

"I'm sorry sweetheart, this will hurt me as much as you, don't let him break you, don't let him break us, forgive me sweetheart.”

Bella let out a deep sob and tensed as the rubber tube brushed across the back of her neck once more.

He grinned at me before focusing back on Bella. "Tell me what I want to know and I'll not touch a hair on her pretty little head, it would be such a shame to ruin something as exquisite as this.”

I felt the growl building in my chest as I struggled against my bonds, "Touch her mother fucker and I promise you, I will end you."

He smirked at me, as he continued to stroke the rubber tubing up and down her back, Bella flinched and tensed at the contact, her breaths coming shallow and erratic, the fear in her eyes sending waves of anger burning through my veins.

"You know what you have to do Master Chief, answer the questions and she'll come to no harm. Well nothing that'll leave marks at least."

"I'm sorry sir, I can't tell you that.”

THWACK

"aaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrghh”

"No! You bastard, get off her!”

THWACK

"Care to change your mind?!"

THWACK

"I'm sorry sir, I can't tell you that." Always the same reply, always followed by that terrible sound, always met by the blood curdling scream that will forever haunt me, until my last breath.

After what seemed a lifetime he stopped and angrily left the room.

 The room was silent apart from Bella's heaving breaths and occasional sobs.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry, if there is one thing I could do, it's get her out, get her away from the hurt, the pain, the terror. That bastard was going to pay if it's the last thing I do.

The podgy little guard smirked at me from the corner of the room; his eyes glinted in the dim light. 'Enjoy it while you can arsehole, you'll get yours’

Bella shifted slightly on the chair, her hands rubbing uncomfortably against her ankles, her wrists chaffed by the rope chord bound tightly around them. She groaned in obvious pain, a sob forcing its way from her chest and choking her on its way out. Blood trickled from a wound somewhere on her and dripped down the leg of the chair and onto the floor.

"Bella," I tried to sound as normal as possible, I didn't want that little shit to think they'd gotten to me.

She tried to raise her head to me, but it dropped back down, she was suffering and it was my entire fault, why do I have to be such a fucking asshole? If I just told them what they wanted then I could just end this, but I knew it wouldn't be that easy, I knew the moment I gave it up, we'd both be dead.

"Bella, don't move I know it hurts, I'm here, I'm here with you and I'm not going anywhere, we're going to get out, we're going to get home and I'm going to take care of everything.”

After a while that sadistic fuck came back in, he'd changed into a clean pair of blue jeans and khaki t-shirt , if you met him on the street now, you'd never know the evil he was capable of. He looked almost normal, for a psychopath.

He crouched in front of me; I could feel his putrid breath waft across my face as he sneered at me.

"Now then, you've had some time to reflect, shall we try again?" he said while pulling a tatty looking sack from his pocket. The guard had followed him over and was standing over Bella.  'Give me a reason fucker’

The sick fucker nodded at him and he unbound her hands and legs, she winced at his touch and the sick bastard laughed before turning her to sit in the chair, but not before I got a good look at what that bastard had done to her back. She was covered in long angry welts from where he had beaten her with the rubber hose; I'm going to make him regret that. 

Once she was situated, he bound her arms behind the chair and tied her ankles to the chair legs, before putting the sack over her head. Sadistic mother fucker!

"Let her go you sick fuck!" I spat at him

"tut tut, that's not the game" he taunted me, that sick fuck was enjoying this too much.

He knew what buttons to push, he knew that the only way he was going to break me, was to break her, that fucker is going to die.

The guard left the room briefly, before returning with a large bucket of water.

Arsehole smirked at me, I struggled against the bonds holding me to the chair, if I could get them lose, then I could get her out, get her safe, as long as she was safe that's all that mattered to me.

"Patience, you'll get your turn, but we're going to play with princess first, if you co-operate, she'll feel no more pain.”

Bastard!

I struggled and wrenched my body harder, shaking the chair, mother fucker laughed, before standing and walking over to Bella.

He bent to her sack covered ear and whispered something to her, she let out a heart breaking scream, and her whole body shook.

"Bastard, leave her the fuck alone, she doesn't know anything!”

He sneered at me, his steely blue eyes bit into my flesh, turning my blood cold and setting my mind on fire. He stood from Bella and strode to me, kicking the chair before grabbing my hair and yanking my head roughly so that I could see Bella clearly.

"You're going to talk, you may not want to, but you will, because I'm going to hurt little princess until you scream your secrets, and then when you're done I'm going to blow her fucking head off and leave you tied up next to her body, so the sooner you get over yourself pretty boy, the less of a mess I make of little princess.”

Bella's body was shaking; the guard tugged her hair forcing her head back over the top of the chair, elongating her neck. Mother fucker could see right down her shirt, well what's left of it, I could feel the bile rising in my throat.

"We'll start easy pretty boy... Name”

"Cullen, Edward," I replied mindlessly.

"And why are you here Edward?”

"I'm sorry Sir, I can't answer that." Fuck!

“Tut tut, you were doing so well, must I remind you the consequences of not answering me?”

"Cullen, Edward, Master Chief,”

"Yes yes, we know the drill Edward, but what are you doing here?" he continued, his eyes blazing with fire and eager for information.

"I'm sorry sir, I can't answer that,”

"Well Master Chief, we appear to be at an impasse, perhaps a little persuasion..." he smirked

This does not bode well, sadistic sack of shit. He stood suddenly and walked to the bucket of water, before nodding at the guard to lift it. Mother fucker!

"Last chance Master Chief.”

"I'm sorry sir, I can't answer that," I responded.

"Shame." He muttered, before nodding to the guard and holding onto Bella's shoulders to hold her down.

The guard lifted the Bucket over Bella's head, her neck stretched across the back off the chair, and her head pulled all the way back. He began to tip the water into her mouth through the cloth, she choked, coughing and spluttering through the sodden sackcloth, the water filling her mouth and spilling out as she writhed in the fuckers grasp.

Water boarding, even during SERE training, I never could stomach that, fucks with your body and your mind. Sick fucker!

"You're killing her you sick fuck!" I yelled

Bella was fighting for breathe, her chest was rising and falling at an alarming rate, her body writhing against the torturous restraint, coughing and spluttering, wheezing gasps billowing from under the now sodden sackcloth.

"Tell me what I need to know and I'll end it quickly." The fucker sneered at me.

"I'm sorry sir, I can't answer that," but I will rip your head off and shit down your neck!

He looked back at the guard, who for some reason had stopped pouring during our exchange, he gestured for him to continue. Bella writhed as the water hit her, soaking her shirt and causing her body to convulse. Son of a bitch, she's going to drown. Fuck face saw it too and knocked the bucket from the guards hands before kicking Bella's chair over, she hit the ground forcefully, a loud 'oooof' sound coming from her as her body connected with the solid floor, the sack cloth falling from her head. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as the convulsions shook her whole body, before she went limp. From where I lay I couldn't tell if she was breathing or not.

Fucker laughed and stalked over to me, "well seems like little princess has had enough for today, think about what you're going to say when I come back, this isn't over by a long shot." He promptly turned and left the room, closely followed by that little shit fucker of a guard. Shitting hell, Bella please be ok.