The sound of a door opening.

Rey blinked slightly from where he was, opening his eyes a little blearily. The white ceiling was still above him, the faint smell of antiseptic was still in the air, he was covered by a thin, somewhat rough blanket. He sat up slowly, looking around, and saw that he was in a hospital room.

No, not just a hospital room....THE hospital room. He was still here.

Rey sat in confusion, trying to think back quickly. He'd seen Hell, he'd been tossed back and forth from here by Kane, hurt and accused of all sorts of evil chicanery. Dave had finally left him and he'd waited for sleep to come because he'd known that whenever he'd fallen asleep here, he'd woken up down in the dark, horrible basement, with Kane, who had promised to torture and torment him for all eternity.

But for the first time, he'd woken up from going to sleep, and he was still here.

But someone was coming in.

The door was open, and as Rey glanced over, all his mental processings having completed in a second, he saw two people in the gray uniforms he recognized as belonging to employees of this hospital...so they said they were, anyway...and pulling a wheelchair along with them. He didn't recognize either of them, not as nurses or as the guards he'd seen earlier. One of them, a giant man who passingly resembled Mark Henry with a buzzcut, came over to Rey and took hold of his arm.

"All right, c'mon, get inna chair..." the man groused, tugging him off the bed and guiding him a little roughly to sit in the wheelchair, as the other, a large woman with chin-length brown hair, leaned down and fastened the seatbelt almost too tight, in a sort of careless pull.

"Wha...what's going on?" Rey murmured, looking around as the brown-haired woman turned and started pushing him towards the door. "I don't..."

"Shaddup," the Henry look-alike grumbled, reaching over and starting to strip the bed of blankets and sheets. "Need ta get everything all cleaned up in here 'fore the next one gets in."

"Yeah, yeah..." the woman muttered in boredom, knocking on the door and stepping back enough for it to be opened, then moving on through, gesturing to an apparent janitor who was standing by with a cart, mop, and bucket, wearing the same gray uniform. "Marco can handle it, this one didn't make too much of a mess. Come help me get him set in."

The first man rolled his eyes, but tossed the sheets back onto the bed and started after them, walking beside the woman as she pushed Rey down the hallway. "T'ain't like he's ever been any trouble."

"I know he hasn't but we're supposed to have the door covered just in case. That Daniel fellow from last night tried to bolt and it took three guards to get him back in and taken care of."

"What's going on...?" Rey asked softly, looking back towards them. "Where are we going?"

"Session's over, ya gettin' moved," the man answered absently, working on a clipboard he had procured from somewhere.

"Brad, why do you even bother talking to them? It's not like it's gonna ever mean anything," the woman asked, turning the opposite direction from the elevators as they reached the center of the hallway plus sign. Rey could see an open door at the end of the hallway, with a strange glow coming from it, a vaguely reddish light.

"Why t'fuck not? Ain't gonna remember none'a it anyways. Might'a well keep my own self occupieds."

Rey glanced back at the two of them, then back towards the room as they approached. He winced a little at the red light. So that was what this was. One last little trick from Kane. Trying to keep him off-balance and scared right up till the end. That must be the door that led down into the basement, and this was a final way to spook and frighten him. Rey couldn't help a whimper as he cringed back in the chair. "Oh God..."

"The fuck's his problem?" the woman asked from behind him.

"Just finished session five," the man replied "Ended up with result D, m'thinkin'. Almost record time."

"Shit, all the D's crack fast. The one last night was a D. Wonder what that's gonna mean."

"We ain't hadda single B yet though. They'd all still be strummin' on along if we'd let 'em, m'thinkin'."

Rey stared at the door as the two continued chatting behind him, making absolutely no sense. All their talk of sessions and results seemed completely out of place. It didn't take long to figure out though. Finished session five...he'd been thrown to Kane five times. Sessions. Kane was putting way too much thought into this scenario...way too much. The bastard was really good at the mind games. Results probably just mean that he had given up so fast...and Daniel. Daniel, who had been in the same trouble, who had recognized it and tried to warn them all...he'd given up as well. Been taken away for the last time last night. He'd fought it all the way but they'd been able to catch him and bring him back, and he was gone.

Part of Rey wanted to fight as well. His muscles were tensed and practically screaming for him to react, to take off the belt and run, to turn and hurt the demons carrying him towards doom and get away. But another part kept hearing Kane's sneering voice in his head, mocking him. You're just making it better for me...Kane wanted him to fight, loved to see it, to watch him strain futilely to free himself from this predicament, just to make himself more frightened and hopeless. Despite everything, there was still a sense to him that he didn't want to give Kane the satisfaction. No matter what he'd done to deserve Hell, Kane had done more, and if all Rey could offer at this point was a passive resistance, he would use it.

They reached the door, and Rey winced, clutching at the handles of the chair, unintentionally squeezing his eyes shut, just waiting to hear Kane's voice as they entered, waiting for the pair of guards to hand him over and leave to go and take care of whatever business denizens of Hell took care of in their daily lives. The chair was pushed forward-the room was cool, almost cold, he didn't expect that-and he heard the woman speaking.

"Hurry it up, we need to get him in there and fix things before too much time goes past."

"I know whatta do, damnit. Do th'same damn thing every day."

"He's gonna have to forget everything about this before we move him on. Orders say to reset him back to...the end of session two...damnit. That's gonna take hours. I was hoping to take an early dinner today."

The sheer routineness of that statement caused Rey to open his eyes, and he blinked a little at what was actually in the room. Kane was nowhere to be seen, and the room looked pretty similar to the MRI room he'd been in before, so far as size and the presence of large pieces of machinery. But none of it was anything like he'd ever seen in a hospital. There was a metal table in the middle of the room, with an ominous set of leather straps hanging from the sides, a tray of instruments pushed up against it and a giant light hanging over it, looking very much like a surgery table. The red glow came from the corner...there was a giant screen, like an enormous television, that was off, but the panel in front of it was covered in buttons, switches and lights, all red. Even as he looked at that, the giant surgery light flicked on, filling the room with a vaguely bluish light, and his attention was drawn to the white chair in front of the monitor. It seemed like it could be comfortable enough, but it too had leather straps across the arms and hanging from the back, and there was a sort of strange helmet sitting on top, that reminded him worryingly of the image of an electric chair he'd seen several times before on television.

The woman stepped in front of him and reached down, unfastening the seatbelt of the chair, and she took hold of his arm, pulling him up with a surprising amount of strength even for her size, and she guided him over towards the chair. "All right, all right, come on, sit down. We need to get a move on."

"Wait...I don't understand..." Rey said, pulling away from her, but as he did, she immediately snatched hold of his arm again, and his other arm was grabbed by the man, and they lifted him, actually physically lifting him and throwing him into the chair, and the man held him as the woman quickly pulled the straps over his arms, fastening them securely to the chair. "Wait...wait! I don't understand, what's going on?? What is this?? Where's Kane, why is this happening??"

"Session five must be brutal," the woman muttered, stepping around and pulling another strap from the back of the chair and around Rey's shoulders, pinning him against the back of the chair.

"That 'Kane' character is who's brutal," the man answered. "He did so well on this'un that Doc Bettler wants to keep him 'round for it."

"Doc...what?" Rey shook his head, blinking, involuntary pulling against the straps, trying to work himself loose. "Kane...keeping...this is another trick...another of his tricks, isn't it...oh God..."

There were a few seconds of silence, then the man was suddenly in front of him, leaning down and in his face, a faint sneer coming across his face. "Got that right, boy. Gonna be a real spectacular trick gonna happen t'you."

"Brad, stop it. We don't have time for you to fool around, we need to get him ready."

The man grinned, then straightened, reaching up and getting the helmet, starting to pull it down. "Go getta cocktail ready, I'll set th'thing up."

Rey shook his head, trying to scootch down and away as the man put the helmet onto his head, but before he did, he heard the woman speak up. "Wait." She came over, and held out a black mask, one of his. "If we're gonna reset him to the end of session two, he'll need that and his other clothes."

"Yeah, but let's do this first. Says on his file he'a puker. No reason to change him if'n he just gonna spew."

The woman shrugged and tossed the mask over onto the surgical table, then walked over to the monitor and panel, starting to work on some things as the helmet was pulled down onto Rey's head and a chin strap fastened. After only a few seconds, the woman crouched and took something from beneath the counter, then walked back over, carrying a tube of a thick red liquid that was disturbingly bloodlike. "Okay, open his mouth and let's get this down him."

Rey flinched at the sight of the tube and yelped when the man grabbed his face and started to force his mouth open. A spike of fear went through him and he screamed, starting to struggle frantically, trying to pull away. That tube was blood...what sort of blood he didn't know, but he was sure of it. There was blood in it, and as soon as he drank it, something awful was going to happen, he just knew it. He couldn't let them do it. "N-no!" he cried, kicking as best he could at the woman, though she moved to one side to avoid his feet. "No, please, stop it, don't! I don't want to do this, I can't do this!"

"Sorry, honey, we got our orders," the woman answered, not even the slightest bit of sympathy to her voice. "Once this is all done you can go sleep it off before your new session starts."

New session...new session with Kane...God, he was lying, he wasn't about to end it at all, he's still playing his mind games on me...Rey whimpered, trying to pull free as she leaned in. "No, no no no, don't, please, don't do this! Don't make me go back to him! Please, I can't do it, please, stop, I'm sorry! I don't know what I did but I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

The woman just grabbed his face as well, and pushed the vial towards him, pouring some of the liquid into his mouth. He didn't recognize the taste as the usual taste of blood, but whatever it was, it was beyond foul. Rey screamed and spit, getting both of them in the face, and both recoiled with shouts of disgust. Rey kept spitting though, trying to get every last bit out, the horrid wretch on his tongue causing bile to rise in his throat.

"Goddamnit...that shit better not stain..." the woman snarled, pulling at her top. "These things take forever to get washed and there's only a few in my size." She lifted the vial and moved forward again-

Behind them, the door suddenly slammed open, and a familiar voice called out. "Get away from him, Amanda!"

Rey blinked, gasping, wanting to turn his head and look but unable to move from the restraints. "Dave??"

"What the hell are you doing?" the woman said, as the man shook his head and walked backwards, out of Rey's line of sight. "You're not supposed to be here today, his new session won't start until-,"

"There isn't going to be a new session. Untie him right now."

"C'mon now Davey boy," the man said. "Y'know ya ain't got much other option here-,"

The man's voice cut off in a grunt of pain, and then there was an odd screech and a loud crash from the vicinity of where the surgery table had been, followed by the sound of blows falling rapidly and heavily.

"Hey!" The woman dropped the vial to the floor and ran over, and Rey heard a sound of fabric ripping and a snarl, then a few more heavy blows and a shriek of pain. For only a second, everything was quiet, but Rey still flinched and gasped when Batista was suddenly crouched in front of him, wearing jeans and a torn black T-shirt, looking worried and sweaty, as though he'd just finished a hard workout.

"Rey...shit...got here as fast as I could...did they give you that shit?" He yanked at the straps holding him, untying Rey quickly.

"They...no...I spit it out...what's...Dave, what's happening...?"

"Don't worry about it. Here." Batista removed the helmet and helped him to his feet, then guided him towards the door, where a pillowcase had been dropped to the floor. He picked it up and handed it to Rey. "Get changed quick. It's too cold outside for what you've got on."

"Outside...outside?" Rey shook his head in confusion. "Dave, what's...what do you mean outside? How...why are you here? Is this part of another trick? Did Kane make you...?"

"No, Rey, no...Kane's not involved anymore. This is me, I'm here getting you outta here."

"Out of...out of Hell?" Rey blinked up at him.

Batista gritted his teeth for a minute, then shook his head slowly. "Look, don't worry about that right now. We just have to move fast or we aren't gonna make it, okay? Do you trust me?"

"Well...o-of course I do, but-,"

"Then just get changed so we can go, okay? Please."

Rey stared at him, but then scooted back, crouching and opening the pillowcase, pulling out a pair of jeans, a black sweatshirt, running shoes, and a heavy red jacket, debating the items only a second before easing out of the pajamas-stained with blood from where he'd spit it. As he dressed as quickly as he could, he saw that Dave kept looking worriedly out into the hall, and also that the man and woman who had brought him here were sprawled over by the table, both apparently unconscious and with the man bleeding from a cut across his forehead. "You beat up those demons..."

Dave looked back at him, then over at the two. "Demons? Yeah, they might as well be." He stared at them a second more, then sighed deeply. "Okay, come on, I got some stuff to talk to you about before..." Dave took hold of his hand, moving him towards the door, then stopped, seeing the black mask laying nearby. He hesitated, then moved over and got it, handing it to Rey. "Hang on to that. Never know when you could need it."

Rey looked down, then started to flick it and pull it on, but he froze as soon as it was over his head, and he pulled away from Dave quickly. "No...oh God..."

"What? Rey, what...what is it?"

"You're not taking me to Kane, are you? He always had me dressed and in my mask...you're not part of it...you can't be..."

"Rey..." Batista turned and gripped his shoulders. "I am not taking you to Kane, okay? I promise. I'm taking you out of this place, getting you home where you belong...back to your family."

"But how can you do that? I'm dead, I can't go back..."

"Rey, it's not like that-,"

Rey shook his head slowly, stepping back again, hesitant. He wanted so much to believe Dave and go with him, but on the other hand, that didn't make any sense. How could he be taken out of Hell? No one could do that save God Himself. It wasn't possible. Especially since Dave was here with him, how could he? How could they escape from Satan's realm on their own?

Before he could ask that, there was a sound of running out in the hallway, and Dave turned and tensed, readying for a fight, pushing Rey behind him. A person stepped in, and Rey stopped in his steps, eyes wide when he saw the newcomer.

"Dave! Holmes, we need to get a move...on..." He stopped where he was, staring towards Rey, his eyes going just as big as Rey felt his were at the moment. "Dios mio...Rey-Rey...wowito..."

Rey stepped back against the wall, staring, unable to comprehend what this could mean, what was happening...but able to form just one incredulous name.

"Eddie??"