A/N: Well…this is um…very…different from what I normally write. But don't worry too much. It'll all make sense in the end…probably. Also, if you haven't seen Repo!, I highly recommend it. Anyway, slight amount of grossness and a fair amount of language here, hence the high rating, but nothing too graphic (cause I'm not a big fan of gore, either). Enjoy!
The sensation that she was falling jolted Juliet awake. She gasped before realizing that her feet were safely on the ground. Safely…chained to the chair in which she sat...
Panic caused her bright blue eyes to widen, pupils dilated. She looked around the room. Cement walls and floor, an operating table, surgical instruments, blood. What is this place? Juliet struggled against her restraints, to no avail. The rattling chains woke the man in the chair beside her, whom she had failed to notice until he spoke.
"Juliet?"
Her head turned sharply in the direction of the voice. "Jack?"
"Are you alright?" he asked, taking in the gruesome sight of their holding cell.
"I think so. Where are we, how did we get here?"
"I don't know. Last I remember, we were still on the island. I was talking to Locke, and then—everything else is a blank."
"That's the last thing I remember, too," she agreed.
"You don't think—"
"That he did this?" Juliet finished his thought, "No. I don't recognize this place. The only medical equipment like this on the island is at the Staff and the Hydra. We must be off-island somewhere."
"But how? Locke blew up the sub."
"Ben has his ways," she said, brow furrowed with disdain.
"You think Ben's behind this?"
"Seems like a logical assumption," she said with a defeated sigh, sinking back in her chair.
"You know what they say about assuming things," an unfamiliar female voice chastised from the doorway as it swung open. A dark-haired young woman stepped into the room, followed by two men, one of whom appeared severely disfigured and looked as though he was wearing a mask of some sort.
"Who are you?" Juliet asked, fearful of the answer, "Where are we, and what do you want with us?"
"So many questions, so little time," the woman said. "We're your new bosses. I'm Amber, but you may call me Ms. Sweet. These are my brothers, Luigi and Pavi."
"Bosses? What is it you think we're gonna do for you, exactly?" Jack asked defiantly.
"You're a repo man, aren't you?" the woman asked with a sly grin.
"What? No, I'm a surgeon. The repo thing was a joke—wait, how did you—"
"Silence!" Ms. Sweet interrupted, "You're a repo man, and you're a repo woman, and now, you work for GeneCo. For me."
"So you want us to repossess stuff for you…can I ask why you felt the need to chain us down to tell us that?" Jack questioned sarcastically.
"You won't be repossessing houses and cars. This job is a bit…different. We gave these people a gift, and they've defaulted on their payments. We need you to bring back what they stole from us."
"What's that?" Juliet asked. The two men cackled, sending a chill up her spine.
"Life," Amber responded, "Organs."
"What?" Juliet and Jack exclaimed in horrified harmony. "That's not even legal!" Juliet protested.
"Actually, it is. Besides, let's not pretend you're above illegal actions, Juliet," Amber said with a sneer. Juliet's mouth gaped slightly, words failing her. "The two of you will do as I tell you, or there will be some very serious consequences."
"What'll you do, kill us?" Jack scoffed.
"No. But there are a few friends of yours we'd like to have some fun with," Luigi said, brandishing a knife and running a finger across the blade. "That Kate is quite a woman. I'd like to create some new holes to fuck her in." Juliet had to swallow down the vomit threatening to erupt from her. "You're quite a woman, too, Juliet," he said, drawing closer to her. She cringed, and he pressed the tip of his knife to her throat.
"Leave her alone!" Jack shouted. The three siblings seemed not to hear him.
"You'll do what you're fucking told, won't you?" Luigi inquired.
"Do I have a choice?"
Luigi cackled, pulling his knife back, "She's fucking feisty, Amber! I like that," he suddenly bent, shoving his face into hers, his forehead pressed against hers, "Killing feisty bitches is my greatest pleasure, aside from fucking them. I'd love nothing more than to have you and Kate, preferably at the same time! What do you say?"
Juliet spat in his face. Luigi pulled back in surprise, but continued laughing maniacally. "Feisty. Give me an excuse, I beg you."
Juliet paused, turning to glance at Jack, who nodded. "We'll do it," she agreed softly, turning back to the hellish trio.
"I thought you might say that," Amber declared with a smirk. She pulled a ring of keys from her pocket and approached Juliet, "Before I unlock you, I'm gonna need you to sign this," she insisted, producing a contract, "Luigi?"
Her brother grinned, "Gladly," he said, slicing into the tip of Juliet's index finger. She cried out in surprise and pain. Jack struggled, desperate to break free so he could pummel the psychopaths. Amber siphoned the droplets of Juliet's blood into a pen barrel. "Sign!" Luigi demanded shrilly.
"Don't I get to read this first?"
"SIGN!" he demanded again, his knife now back at her throat. She obliged grudgingly. When she finished, they did the same to Jack, and only then did Amber free them from their restraints. Juliet massaged her raw wrists and stood at Jack's side.
"Are you alright?" he asked her softly again, his hands resting protectively at her waist.
She nodded, "Are you?"
"I don't know yet," he replied with a soft, grim chuckle.
"You need equipment!"Pavi exclaimed, "Then you'll begin on your first assignment."
Jack and Juliet were taken to another room, where they were fitted with their new outfits. For Jack, an all-black cross between a hazmat suit and a ninja costume, and for Juliet, a more skintight and revealing version of Jack's outfit. Each had a pair of boots in which knives could be stowed, gloves, and a mask.
When they were fully equipped, Amber brought them to her office and put a customer profile on the screen behind her. "This man has failed to pay us for his new spine," she explained, "And you're a spinal surgeon! This should be easy for you. His address is there. Bring it back."
Juliet had to force herself to stay calm and keep from shaking. Jack took her hand. "Let's do this," he said, leading her from the room.
x x x
Once they were outside, on the way to their victim's address, Juliet spoke again. "How are we supposed to—"
"I don't know," Jack broke in, "We'll figure something out."
"Jack, we can't. We can't just—this is murder."
"I know."
"There has to be some way we can—"
"If we don't do this, Juliet, they're gonna hurt our friends. Maybe kill them."
"So we have to murder someone else? There's got to be a way out of this. They could be bluffing."
"Are you willing to risk that? Because they looked pretty damn serious when they were holding a knife to your neck and slicing our fingers open to make us sign a contract in blood."
Juliet sighed, "I know they were. I just—I can't do this, Jack. How can we do this? Ripping a man's spine out of his body?"
"I don't know," Jack stopped walking and rested his hands on her waist. "We'll figure this out, Juliet, I promise. Maybe if I can knock him out first—" he sighed, and Juliet caressed his cheek.
"We'll get through this," she said softly. The duo held hands as they journeyed on, each needing to have a tangible reminder of why they were participating in this insanity.
They reached their destination within 15 minutes, hands still joined. "Here we go," Jack whispered, brandishing a large knife. Juliet rang the bell, and a few moments later, their scrawny-looking victim – a man called Phil – opened the door. His eyes widened at the sight of them, as if he knew exactly who they were and why they were there (in fact, he did). He tried to close the door, but Jack kicked it all the way open. Steeling himself for what was to come, he forced his way into the small house. Before he could take action, however, Juliet stepped in and whipped her elbow across Phil's face, as she'd done to Jack not so long ago. Phil was instantly rendered unconscious.
"Thanks for that," Jack said, his heart pounding.
"Anytime," Juliet replied, her voice shaky. "We should just—we should do it now. I don't want him to wake up while you're—I don't want to hear him scream." Juliet swallowed the lump in her throat, doing her best to stay calm.
Jack nodded and closed his eyes momentarily, begging whatever God was up there to forgive him for this. He plunged the knife directly through Phil's heart and watched the life leave him. Jack stood and took a deep breath, trying to keep the vomit down, and Juliet put her arms around him. There were tears in both their eyes, but neither would let them fall. After a few minutes of silence, Juliet spoke gently. "We should finish this. They'll be expecting us." She knelt beside Phil's body and turned him over onto his stomach. "Do you want me to do it?" she offered.
Jack shook his head, "I'll do it." Juliet watched as he made the cut, as he severed the spine and removed it, leaving a large, bloody cavity where it should have been. "Is there a plastic bag somewhere?" Jack asked, feeling almost completely numb by this point.
Juliet wordlessly got up and retrieved one from the kitchen, and Jack placed the useless spine inside of it. "Let's go," he said, removing his bloody gloves after securing the knife on the side of his boot. Juliet grasped his free hand and interlocked their fingers. They walked the entire way in silence, until they were once again standing in front of the gruesome sibling trio. Jack handed the bag to Amber, who grinned in twisted delight.
"Well done, pets! You've earned a good night's sleep. I'll give you your next assignments tomorrow night. Report back to me at 7:00. You may go."
"Go where?" Jack questioned.
"Oh! Silly me. There's a room for you on the fifth floor. Nighty night!" Amber dismissed them with a blood-curdling cackle, tossing the spine to Pavi and Luigi, who joined in her raucous laughter.
Jack and Juliet made their way to the fifth floor and found the open room. It was cold, with cement floors and walls, and bare except for one bureau (in which they found a few changes of clothes and sleepwear for each of them) and a bed with a small table next to it, on which sat an old-fashioned, battery-operated alarm clock. There was a sink on the far wall next to a small window, and an adjoining bathroom with a toilet and a rusty shower. On the sink lay his-and-hers toothbrushes and razors, shaving cream, soap, and toothpaste, and atop the bureau were a hairbrush and comb.
"Well, at least we can practice good hygiene," Juliet joked morbidly, prompting a soft chuckle from Jack. They took turns in the bathroom, Juliet first, then Jack. Juliet paced the room while she waited for him, and once he emerged, clad only in a pair of striped pajama pants, he approached her and took her by the hands. "Sorry," she said, "I just can't sit still right now."
"I know," he replied, letting go of her hands and holding her at the waist instead. He pressed a kiss to her temple as a tear slid down her cheek. He kissed it away, and then moved his lips to her neck. Juliet closed her eyes and tilted her head, her breath heavy. Jack's lips met hers a moment later, in a hungry kiss that stole the breath from them both. They needed to feel, to remember that they were still alive, that they weren't alone, to take solace in one another; and for the next hour or two or more, that's exactly what they did. They memorized one another's bodies, touching and kissing and fucking until the blood-red sunrise peeked through their window. Only then did they succumb to the exhaustion, and they slept the day away, limbs still entangled.
x x x