Hey everyone!

So this fic is for my good friend Adam! It was actually supposed to be a birthday gift but I'm hella late with it xD

Warnings: Contains torture, kidnapping, murder, and TJ in much pain.

I know nothing about Political Animals, so this is really just a stab in the dark. I repeat: this story does not follow canon seeing as I have no idea what the canon is.

Happy Birthday my beeb! Enjoy!


How had this happened?

How had he gotten himself into this situation, again.

No, wait, this one wasn't his fault. All he had been doing was walking down the street. Sure, the three men in suits that were giving off a dangerous vibe had been following him for three blocks, but that happened all the time. Seeing as the first three times it had turned out to be security hired by his mother to make sure he didn't go buy drugs, he didn't think much of it.

But when one of the men blitzed him and put a bag over his head, he thought to himself that maybe he should have called his mother just to check. That was the last thought he had before a blinding pain hit his head and he blacked out.

When he came to, the first thing he noticed was the scent in the air.

Stale blood, urine, and somehow, tears.

"Ah, fuck." He mumbled. This wasn't going to turn out well; he just hoped that he managed to make it out of this one alive. He'd had his fair share of kidnappings, he didn't know why people seemed to think that he was the kid to kidnap if they wanted to get a reaction out of his mother. Sure, she had gotten secret service to retrieve him, but it had been a cold reunion, and it hadn't brought about the frantic desperation the kidnappers wanted.

"He's awake." A heavily accented voice spoke. The voice did nothing to assure TJ that this was not going to end in bruises and him bleeding.

TJ blinked opened his eyes and squinted against the harsh light that assaulted his eyes.

"Wakey wakey, sleeping beauty," A cruel voice mocked. TJ couldn't make out his face but from his voice, he knew it was a different man from the one who said he was awake.

"What do you want with me?" TJ croaked, still trying to shake off his lingering headache from being hit so hard in the head.

"How did you escape?" The first man asked, harshly.

"Well, I mean…I just walked out the front door. That's generally how most people "escape" their house," TJ replied. He knew it was a bad idea to answer this guy sarcastically but he couldn't help it. What did he mean how did you escape? TJ doesn't try to escape anymore. Well, unless you count him getting trying to 'escape' his mom for the day.

Turns out he was right, being sarcastic was a bad idea. The man with the cruel voice slapped him harshly, the sound echoing in the dingy room.

"Okay, first, OUCH. Second, what are you talking about? Can't we just have this conversation like mature adults? Do I really need to be tied to a chair?" TJ asked, rolling his shoulders. They ached from being tied behind his back for who knows how long.

"NO! You will tell us how you escaped, and you will tell us NOW!" A third man shouted from behind TJ, who flinched. He hadn't realized there was someone behind him.

"You need to work on your diplomacy skills," TJ mumbled, shouting in surprise and pain when the man behind him gripped his hair and forced his head back.

"What did you say to me?!" He exclaimed, getting right up in TJ's face. It was an awkward angle since TJ's head was forced back and he was looking at the guy upside down.

"Shit, man, get a breath mint," TJ said, "If you know you're going to be capturing and torturing someone, please, at least chew some gum. Basic kidnapping etiquette. It's really not that hard."

"Shut up, Asset," The first man snarled, "Tell us how you escaped."

"You do realize that I can't talk and shut up at the same time, right?" TJ mocked, sobering up when he felt the cool metal of a knife against his throat.

"Not so cocky now, are ya?" The second man sneered. They all laughed and the man with the knife pressed it harder against his throat.

TJ swallowed a pained whimper as he felt the blade start to slice into his flesh and blood slowly trickling down the length of his throat; he didn't want to give them the satisfaction.

"Now, I'm going to ask you again, and this time, you better fucking answer me," The second man, who now stood directly in front of him, threatened, "How. Did. You. Escape?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" TJ croaked, neck straining from being held back. The knife pressed harder and the blood started to trickle faster.

"HOW DID YOU ESCAPE?!" The same man roared, punching TJ in the stomach, hard, again. TJ lurched forward, and since the man hadn't let go of his hair or the knife, his movement caused the knife to press even deeper than before. Blood was now flowing in a steady rivulet and TJ moaned in pain.

"Let go of his hair," The first man demanded, and TJ let out a relieved sigh when, both the hand gripping his hair and the knife, left.

However, he only had a second of relief because as soon as the man behind him let go of him, the first man punched him in the face.

Grunting in pain, TJ spit out blood and gasped, "I don't know who you are and I don't know what you're talking about!"

None of the men were convinced; in fact, the more TJ talked, the angrier they got.

The man with the knife slashed him across the forehead, leaving a deep cut. Blood flowed down and into his eyes, making it hard to see.

"TELL US!" The second man screamed, punching him yet again in the stomach.

TJ folded forward, as far as he could with his arms tied behind his back, in an effort to protect his stomach from more blows.

"Stop," He cried, "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"YES YOU DO! TELL US HOW YOU FUCKING ESCAPED!" The man with the knife bellowed.

"I DON'T KNOW, OKAY?!" TJ yelled back, only to scream in pain when the man brought the knife down and stabbed him in the thigh. He ripped the knife out and laughed as blood soaked through TJ's pants.

He let out another gut wrenching scream when the second man pressed down on the stab wound, growling, "Tell. Us."

"I don't know. I swear I don't know. Please stop," TJ sobbed, tears now mixing in with the blood running down his face.

"If he's not going to give us anything, we're going to have to take him to someone who'll get him to talk," The first man said to the others, looking at TJ's broken and bloody form.

The other two gave nods of confirmation. The first man stayed while the others went to get the car ready. The room was silent except for the occasional pained whimper TJ let out. The man just stood there, watching disinterestedly at the young man in front of him, who, by now had blood covering the left side of his face and all down his throat. The vibrant red was prominent against the white shirt TJ was wearing.

"You know," The man started, "All this could have been avoided if you would have just told us what we wanted to know. You made us do this. It didn't have to go this way. Huh, Bucky?" The man's face twisted into a mocking, cruel sneer at the mention of the nickname.

"Who the hell is Bucky?"

"Tsk tsk, wrong answer, Asset," The man mocked. He moved until he was crouched in front of TJ's broken form and whispered, "You have one more chance. How did you escape?"

TJ forced his head up to look at the man, holding his eyes for a moment. Cold, cruel eyes stared back at him.

So, TJ spat in his face.

The man flinched back, closing his eyes.

"Shouldn't have done that," He growled, moving to stand up and do who knows what, but was interrupted by the other men entering the room once again.

"Car's ready."

"Fine. Let's get him moving," He said, giving TJ a look that promised pain at a later time.

That look was the last thing TJ saw for a while, the man who had stabbed him whacked him across the head so hard he blacked out.


I hope you guys liked the first chapter!

Lemme know what you think?