One sentence fic prompt: His hands have held her face, they've held her hand, they've held all the parts of her body in between, but when those hands hold a gun to her head she can't fathom what has changed in him.
She's been missing for days. Six to be exact. 144 hours. 8640 minutes.
Six days ago, Maddy had gone out with a science team. He hadn't been that worried about it. They weren't even going passed the outer gates. The last anyone had seen of her she was close to the perimeter. Then she was gone.
There have been eight search parties, over the last six days. Mark has hardly slept. If he isn't out searching with her father and brother, he's tossing and turning and fearing the worst. His mind is coming up with some pretty awful scenarios.
Her tags were found on day one, hanging on a tree branch. Day two, a piece of her shirt, no larger than a washcloth was found under some rocks. Day three someone discovered a scrapings on a tree. It read please. Like breadcrumbs in a fairy tale. Nothing had been found since then and Mark was steadily spiraling out of control.
Anxiety, guilt, desperation, lack of sleep, physical exhaustion, her father's terse exterior, her mother's tears, even her siblings total breakdowns (he expected it from Zoe, but was surprised to see it in Josh,) all of it has him downing some pills Pollack had stashed away for a rainy day. Some kind of stimulant that he hopes will keep him focused. Instead it seems to make the nightmares worse and his waking hours foggier.
And when Carter, of all people, walks through the gates warning them that Lucas is alive and well and has Maddy, it's the pills that make him steal a rover; the pills that propel him beyond the gates, not giving a second thought to plans or backup or orders or really anything. It's the pills and his frantic mind that lead him to the odd looking cave at the base of a mountain.
He rushes in, all his military training forgotten. He's crazed and the only thing he needs is to find her and beat the shit out of Lucas.
Somewhere in the back of his mind he knows this is all wrong. He'll need help. Lucas is a loose canon but Mark knows whatever reason Lucas had for taking her wasn't arbitrary. Not to mention the fact that he's had her too long now, he'll be possessive.
Mark had heard Skye talk about the bizarre fixation Lucas developed on her and he prays to God that Maddy has managed to escape that twisted side of Lucas. Clutching his chest he realizes his tags are with him. That gives him a quick dose of comfort; the cavalry will be here soon.
Gun drawn, he runs as fast as he can. The cave is a maze of tunnels and he can't decide where to go so he stops, breathes deeply, and prays for some kind of sign, but none comes. He punches the stonewall and he's sure he's broken a few bones but he doesn't care because he hears something. It's just a faint cry, but it's there. He follows it down a passage and after 20 yards he sees light.
At the end of the tunnel he's greeted by a pistol in his face, and a famous Taylor stare. He's sure he could easily take the weapon, but as he walks further into the small cavern he sees that Lucas also has a gun on Maddy. She's on the floor, kneeing, dirty, crying despite being gagged. Mark's stomach rolls and his fists clench. It's then that he realizes he's still holding his weapon and Lucas finally speaks.
"Drop it." When he complies without a second thought, Lucas smiles and Mark feels his whole body tense with more anger than he's ever felt in his whole existence. "Good dog."
Repressing the growl that bubbles in his throat (it would only feed Lucas' ego) he fixes him with his hardest glare. It's not difficult to muster. Between the adrenaline, drugs, and anger coursing through him, Mark could probably kill a lesser man with that look. He doesn't break eye contact, but he knows exactly where he dropped his gun, close to his feet, still in his reach. Lucas is too busy baiting him and taking pride in his intellect to realize it.
"Let her go, take me instead," he manages to say through gritted teeth. "If you want to upset your father, you're better off with me than her." Maddy whimpers but Mark won't look at her. He needs to stay focused on Lucas. But the other man just laughs, maniacally, harshly. Mark hates the sound of it.
"You think I'm just trying to upset my father. Still? Does the world only revolve around him? Of course it does, for those of you, you faithful few, you know he is the sun."
Mark twitches. He doesn't have time for Lucas' crazy bullshit right now. Maddy is probably hurt, half starved if a look at Lucas' frame is anything to judge by. He wishes the lunatic would get to the point.
"I didn't take her randomly and I certainly don't think you're of more use." Lucas laughs without humor and looks down and Maddy.
Mark takes the excuse to do the same and his knees waver at the sight of her. She looks tired. So very tired. There are tear tracks down her dirt-covered face, she cradles her arm in a way that suggests it's probably broken. She's terrified, and he has to tear his eyes away, back to Lucas before he notices the weakness there. It's all mind games with him and Mark can't fail, he can't misstep or Lucas is likely to just kill them both.
"Do you even know? You probably don't," Lucas shakes his head and narrows his eyes at Mark. "Her mind, it's so full of information. She's got facts and calculations and this beautiful photographic memory. She needs to be trained of course, and taught. And then she's going to help me. She's going to help me escape this world."
"So now you're just looking to run away, is that it?" The words shouldn't have left his mouth, they won't help anything, they won't propel him further in the game of wits, all they do is hurt him, but he's starting to break. There's just too much going on.
Lucas shoots him in the gut. The sonic gun is on stun but it still propels Mark back. He's in the tunnel again. He turns his head and wretches then and stands up slowly and walks back to Lucas who is sneering proudly.
"I'm not a coward!" he yells and Mark closes his eyes.
"You sure throw a lot of bitch fits, though," he says eyes still closed. "Why don't you let Maddy go? You're the big genius around here, you love telling everyone about it, how you made the portal go both ways, how you survived in the jungle for years. Above average bad ass, you don't need a girl to help you."
"You and I both know she's not just some girl. You might not recognize it fully, it would emasculate you I'm sure, but she's smarter than anyone in that colony. And I need her pretty little brain to help me. I won't hurt her, much…I won't touch her like you think…well, not at the moment. Eventually I might, I mean look at her."
Those words, those last words, they cause something to snap. He knows the pistol is on stun, he'd already been shot once, he isn't scared of it happening again. Mark kicks the one weapon out of the other man's right hand. Lucas still holds the other, pointed at Maddy, in his left, but the action throws him a moment, long enough for Mark to bend down and retrieve his own gun. Instead of pointing it at Lucas though, he really confused the man by pointing it at Maddy's head. His hand shakes just once, when Maddy cowers, but he doesn't look at her more than his periphery will allow. Instead his eyes bore into Lucas.
"I'd rather ruin her brain, kill her right now, then let you use any part of her. Mind. Body. Any of it."
"Now who's waxing crazy?" Lucas says calmly, moving his weapon to aim at Mark, but Mark sees him twitch. "You can't do it. She's gagged because she wouldn't stop screaming for you. Don't tell me the knight in black armor could kill the princess. I'd never believe it."
"Six days you've had her, you bastard," Mark yells. He sees Maddy flinch again as the sound echoes off the walls. "My mind isn't exactly hinged the way it's supposed to be."
"Stand down, everyone stand, down!" Commander Taylor's voice rings out. He enters from another tunnel, one that Mark hadn't even noticed, on the opposite side of the small cavern. But Mark is strung too tight and Lucas just glares at his father. When his gun finally changes targets from Mark to the Commander, Mark collapses next to Maddy. He pulls the gag from her mouth, it hangs around her neck. He's checking her for injuries, avoiding her arm, he already knows there's something wrong with it. She sobs and he tries to pull her to his chest but she pulls away.
"You were going to shoot me," she croaks and he feels the lump rise in his throat.
"No, Maddy, Maddy, please, it was a lie, a bluff, he's right, I couldn't have done it." There's still a pissing match between the Taylors going on, but there are more soldiers now, as many as will fit in the cave. Yet no one approaches the two of them on the floor. And he's glad because he hardly notices anyone else, he's completely focused on her.
"But you, you were so…I've never seen you like that, what's going on, why were you like that?" she cries and he wishes she'd let him hold her, he can't stand to see her cry.
"I'm…I don't know what to tell you, but Maddy, I wasn't going to hurt you. I'm not going to hurt you." Mark sighs heavily and feels his own tears run down his face. He doesn't even have the composure to hold them back. He doesn't care how many of his peers are in this room, he doesn't even care who wins the battle of Taylor wills. He just needs her to know she's safe and she can trust him.
"Are you," she inches slowly closer to him. He stays still, trying not to spook her. "Are you high?" Maddy looks into his eyes and he doesn't hide his shaking hands.
"It's a really long story, and I'm sure it was a terrible idea, but please, just know, I'm not going to hurt you. It's just…you've been gone, so long, and I just, I couldn't deal, I needed to be able to get to you."
He watches her swallow. She bites her lip and searches his face and he hopes that whatever she's looking for, she'll find. "I lost track of the days. It's been six?" she asks meekly. He nods. "I'm tired."
"I know," he says and cautiously brushes some hair from her face.
"I'm hungry, too. It's been since yesterday," she says slowly. He holds himself together for her but he wants to kill Lucas.
"There's a protein bar in the rover, I'll go get it," he says, he starts to stand but she grabs his hand.
"Don't leave me," she says and it pulls something in him.
"I'm so sorry," he replies as she throws herself into his arms. Relief floods him but then guilt. "I was supposed to protect you."
Mark holds her, thanking every higher power he can think of. He doesn't even notice that the conflict has been resolved between the Commander and Lucas. But soon, he's being told they need to get out of the caves. Her mother is waiting at the rover. Her father, too, he assumes, though it's hard to imagine that anything kept Jim Shannon out of the mountain and away from this scene, but he can't bring himself to care. Mark whispers to Maddy that he's going to carry her out. She doesn't say anything, just holds onto his neck with her good arm. It bothers him how light she feels, but he ignores that, too.
Once at the rover, he ends up in the middle of a Shannon group hug. Jim doesn't try to remove Maddy from his arms and Mark is grateful. He's not ready to let go of her yet. He places her into the back of the rover and her mother begins to doctor what she can here, more will be done when they get back. And when they get back, he'll be reprimanded. Running off like he did, he stole a rover, he left his post, he broke more rules than the book had to offer. But he doesn't care. He'll take it.
As he cradles her to his chest, she whispers, "Take me home."
He kisses her forehead and finally feels his heart rate steady. "We're on our way," he says. "It's over."