It was bound to happen, Red supposed. He had made far too many enemies in his life to be able to avoid attempts at revenge. He understood that.
But it didn't matter.
Because they had taken Lizzie, too.
He could handle being threatened, he could handle pain, and punishment, and descriptive promises of worse to come.
But they took Lizzie.
He felt an edge of guilt well up, knowing hat they had taken her because she was with him, but he pushed it aside. Guilt was nothing new, and he didn't have time to deal with it just now.
It was odd though, wasn't it, that he did not recognise the men who had them. Of course, it was not rare to hire help in such situations, as he was acutely aware; but when the man himself made his grand entrance, Red did not recognise him, either.
He heard a quiet gasp beside him and Lizzie stiffened, and he slowly understood. The man hadn't taken Lizzie because she was with him. He had taken Red because he was with Lizzie.
He looked over at her as best he could from his position, and saw the recognition across her face. She knew why they had been taken.
"William Morris," she said.
"Elizabeth, how nice to see you!" William replied.
"What do you want'," she said it as more a statement than and question.
"Why, darling girl, I want to spend some time with you! And of course, your friend. Elizabeth, I must say, you are being rather rude. You haven't introduced me," there was a nasty smile, a smirk that made Red think of putrid things.
"Raymond Reddington," he responded calmly.
The man's left brow rose high. "Indeed? Why, Elizabeth, you certainly have taken a few steps up in the world since I last had the pleasure." There was a sneer in his voice, but Red could hear the undercurrent of fear he was trying to mask with blithe confidence. Good, Red thought. He ought to be frightened. The world was full of stories of what the great Raymond Reddington was capable of. This man was about to find out for himself how little the world knew.
"I will repeat myself," Lizzie gritted out. "What do you want"
William flung his hand onto his chest, over his heart.
"How hurtful! Can you not believe I simply want to spend time with you? Well, I suppose I understand. I would most likely be wary of believing that as well, considering what you stole from me." The last was hissed more than said, a bit of spittle flying out.
"You want to back."
"Elizabeth," William began, (Reddington was quickly getting tired of this man saying her name) "It is more than something I want. I will do whatever it takes."
And from the strange gleam in the man's eye, Red knew that he was telling the truth.
"I don't have it." Elizabeth was only speaking in short sentences, abrupt and harsh. William didn't seem to notice. He merely tutted at her, lifting his left brow again.
"I handed it off to the sergeant as soon as I left your house. I haven't seen it since."
"But my dear Elizabeth, I already know that! Do you think I have done so little research? You positively wound me."
"What, then?" She asked.
"I know you can get it back. You are a sneaky little thief. You stole it from me, now get it back."
"No." Raymond was surprised at her short answer.
William raised his brow again. "Excuse me?"
"I said no. You won't believe me if I try to lie or buy for time. So no. You won't get your hands on that thing every again. You can do anything you like to me, you will not be seeing it again, William."
Red felt his stomach drop. She had just volunteered to be tortured. He didn't know what this mysterious item was, but it must be bad. It didn't really matter, though. Nothing- and he meant nothing- would be worth her being hurt.
"Lizzie." He said. He did not expound, she understood. But she still shook her head stubbornly, turning to the man in front of her.
"Do your worst," she dared, not breaking eye contact, and Raymond felt his eyes slide closed. He was not sure if he would be able to watch her be hurt. He didn't know what would happen to him, but... He was pretty sure he could not. "Lizzie."
"You know, I am rather hurt. You never would allow for me to call you that. Even when you were cozying up to me, trying to win my trust, you insisted I call you Elizabeth. Why is he so special?" William turned to Red, slowly walking toward him, considering.
"This man, this monster..." His eyes whipped to hers, "What is he to you?"
Lizzie gritted her teeth and said nothing, but Red could see the tell-tale jerk of the muscle to the left of her nose. She was angry.
"What is he to you, Lizzie?" Still she remained silent.
William sighed, disappointed that she was withholding a toy from him. "I see. Well, I suppose it doesn't matter really, does it?" There was a dangerous inflection in his voice, and Red's eyes didn't leave the man's face. "He is obviously important. We will just have to find out how important." He jerked his head at one of the men by the door, silent until now. The man brought over a case, and laid it on a table. Red closed his eyes as he understood what was about to happen. Strangely, the only thought in his head was "thank God it's me," which was a little ridiculous, he had to admit. But there it was.
As he opened the case, Lizzie shouted. "No!" William smiled softly, but did not stop. "William," there was desperation clearly in her voice. "Please. I beg of you, William!" She screamed his name. "Don't touch him."
Red did not like her begging to this man. He wasn't exactly in a position to do anything about it, however.
The man standing over him simply tutted again, infuriating Red.
He picked up a knife from his briefcase, and then the world turned to pain.
When he came to, Lizzie was panting, but they were rough sounds. She had screamed herself hoarse. Her wrists were bloody and bruised, and one of them looked to be broken from her struggle with the ties. Her head was hung low, and she looked absolutely defeated. But other than that, she didn't look to be hurt. Red wanted to say her name, wanted to help her, but his throat was raw too, and anyway, he wasn't about to bring William's attention back onto him.
He thought for a moment about how he couldn't feel his left leg below the knee, and about how he kept sliding against the board behind him, slick with blood, and about how he couldn't seem to think straight. He realised he was breathing shallowly, and his heart was beating a mile a minute. He was worried. He might not make it out of this one.
William came back into the room, back from a short break it seemed, and walked over to Elizabeth again.
"Well?" was all he said.
"Okay," she rasped, a pile of defeat. Red wanted to scream. He wanted to tell her to stop, don't do it, he wasnt worth it. He wanted to ask her since when was he this much of a weakness for her. He wanted to fight, but he did not even have the strength to lift his head. He simply could not. He was helpless.
"Untie me, I will do what you want. Just please, please don't hurt him anymore." He could hear the exhausted tears in her eyes, and thought briefly that she was worse off than he was. The thought was gone soon, his mind adrift from the pain and blood loss.
William looked like a cat that got the canary, smug and satisfied and superior. He must have been distracted by all those smug thoughts.
William nodded his head, smirking down at her, extremely proud of himself. She thought she was all that? He had most definitely shown her.
As he used the bloody knife to slice the ropes that bound her wrists to the wall, the world seemed to stop. In the space of an instant, his Lizzie had the knife in her hands, William's arm caught in a lock. She knocked him out quickly as the two men guarding the door came at her.
It was not graceful or smooth, but harsh and quick, as she knocked the men out and took their weapons away. They were quickly tied and then Red waited for her to come and untie him. She did not.
Instead, she spun and stalked to William, quickly trussing him up in the remainder of the rope. There wasn't a whole lot left, so the ties were tight. She slapped William awake, exhausted but merciless.
"Look at me." He did. "I want you to be awake for this," she said. Red was confused. Might be because of the loss of blood? he thought.
He decided that that probably wasn't why as he saw her slowly but cleanly drag the knife across William's throat, and saw the life fade from his eyes.
Well. That was unexpected.
She looked down at the body, eyes a little empty, and repeated herself, repeated what she had been screaming for the past hour and change.
"I said. Don't. Touch. Him."
She went to Red. Her eyes were immediately soft, scared and worried and careful and loving, and... Loving. And loving and loving and loving.
"Hey," she said softly. "Let's get you down from there, huh?" And despite himself he felt the side of his cracked lips lift slightly at her tone, so scared, so worried, but still a bit wry, desperate for a reaction out of him. Apparently that was good enough for her, demonstration that he wasn't on the very edge of death, anyway, as she then cut his ties and did her best to catch him as he fell.
"Come on, let's get you home," she murmured softly, throwing the knife onto the floor, unable to touch it any longer. Then she slung his less-injured arm around her neck and slowly, slowly helped him up, helping him drag himself out of the room, then slowly down the hall, slowly, slowly until they were outside. At that point he needed to rest, unsure of how he hadn't passed out yet, and so she let him down, propped against a wall as she sat next to him, breathing heavily. She got out her phone and sent a short text, then turned to him, stroking his cheek. "Don't worry, everything is going to be okay now. Help is on the way." He managed to nod imperceptibly, then felt his eyes slip shut, this time into darkness and rest, knowing she would watch out for them both this time.