"Any progress?"

"Negative, sir. They appear to be trying to wait us out."

"Has Dr. Crane arrived?"

"Yes, sir."

"Put him on the phone."

"Crane."

"What's the status of the S.A.I. drug?"

"It exists, but has not been thoroughly tested and has potential to interfere with the mental enhancements in operatives."

"That's alright. I don't plan to use it on an operative."

OoOoO

"So, they're going to keep us in here until… what? Until we starve to death? Die of boredom? I would have thought they'd have given us a more concrete incentive."

"They probably didn't think we'd need an incentive. Or, at least," Aaron's voice was tight with fury, "that I would need an incentive."

They sat on opposite sides of the room, stewing in righteous anger, until Marta suddenly burst out, "What the fuck is happening right now?!" Aaron started. They hadn't spent that much time together, but he'd never pictured her as someone who cursed.

"I mean, I'm just a scientist! How did I end up naked and locked in a cell with a total stranger? This is just surreal. What is going on?" She was degenerating back into hysterics. "Who the hell are these people? I thought I worked for the Department of Defense; in what universe does the American government force employees to be prostitutes?" She looked directly at the security camera in the corner. "Who the hell do you think you are? Did you think I would be okay with this? That I would have sex with a man who's name I don't even know while you watched?" She deflated against the door again.

"Wait, wh- Seriously? You don't know my name? You're my doctor."

She shrugged. "I was never told. They want to keep it clinical."

"What do you put on my blood work? In my file?"

"Five."

"Five, like the number? That's all I get?"

Her eyes flashed. "Don't you dare get angry at me for being too detached. In case you didn't notice, we're in this situation because you weren't detached enough."

He closed his mouth. "You're right," he said after a minute. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," she said softly. "You can't help how you feel. It's not you I'm angry at, not really. Actually, in a ridiculous way, I guess I'm kind of… flattered? That you broke rules just to see me." She offered him a small smile, which he returned shyly. "Don't— please don't hold me to this," she stuttered out, her voice small, "because I haven't decided yet, but if I… if I said yes? If I agreed to sleep with you, would you be… gentle?"

Aaron closed his eyes against the wave of mental images her words brought to mind; thoughts of worshipping every inch of her skin, using just his hands and his mouth to work her up to the edge again and again.

"If you said yes… I would still say no."

"What?" She sounded shocked.

He opened his eyes to meet hers and gave her a wry smile. "Don't I get a say, too, Doc?"

"Of course," she said, blushing. "I just thought… well, they told me…"

"It wouldn't make a difference whether you said yes or not. You're locked in a room, naked, and been told you can't leave until you have sex. You know what capacity for consent is? You don't have it right now. It would still be rape, and I won't… I won't do that to you."

They were both silent for a moment. "Thank you," she said.

"Don't thank me yet; we might both die because of this."

Her bottom lip quivered, but she looked resolute. "I still appreciate it."

Minutes of silence passed. Then he spoke up. "Aaron, by the way. That's my name. Aaron Cross."

"Marta Shearing," she replied. They shared another tiny smile, and his lips formed her first name silently, privately.

Another moment of silence, but this one wasn't interrupted by one of their voices. Instead, there was a hissing sound, followed by a gas seeping out of the vents at floor level.

"What is—?"

"Hold your breath!" Aaron said quickly. Marta did as she was told. Aaron took a quick, tiny breath in and closed his eyes against a wave of dizziness.

"Knockout gas," he said softly, using as little of the air in his lungs as possible. Marta's eyes widened with fear. He sprang up and over to the door, kneeling next to the keypad and kicking himself for not trying this earlier. He had only a few minutes of air before he would need to breathe again, and Marta had even less than that. Their only hope was for him to hack the lock and get them out.

It was tough, a card-reader, which meant his only hope was going at the hardware between the reader and the lock. He looked around for something to cut the glue where it was held to the wall. His eyes fell on Marta, who was still just a few feet away from and clearly struggling to hold her breath. He held his hands up and looked her in the eye, giving her a look that said, 'I'm about to do something, don't get scared,' then he reached a hand into her hair and stole one of her bobby pins.

Aaron broke the bobby pin in half and pushed the sharp end of one half into the glue, then began trying to slice through the seal. It was slow work, and he had barely gotten a few inches before he felt Marta slump, passed out from the gas. He estimated that he had four and a half minutes before he would be forced to breathe, or risk passing out anyway from asphyxiation. He had considered faking passing out, but there was a high probability that whoever was monitoring them was watching the readouts from his implant, making that impossible.

Four minutes later, there were spots floating in his vision and he slammed his hand into the card-reader fruitlessly. He had been trained not to let frustration affect his performance, but he literally could not see a way out, and there was a very real chance that the next person through that door would be there to kill Marta. Because of him. He beat against the door, just as the last of his breath ran out and he slumped helplessly against it.

OoOoO

Marta woke up. Which was somewhat of a surprise in itself. She woke up with her head throbbing, feeling slightly feverish, but she woke up.

There was a flush on her skin, and Marta started to get up, to throw off the blanket she was wrapped in, when she remembered Aaron. She looked around quickly. He was there, against the door, and they were still in the same room. It seemed like nothing had changed. But then, why…

"You alright, there, Doc?" She blinked, trying to throw off the haze.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. What happened?"

"Don't know," he replied, eyes tight with worry. "You sure you feel okay?"

"My head hurts, from the gas, I assume. And I feel a little… hot." She was wrapped tightly in the same comforter, more tightly than she had been before, and it struck her that Aaron must have carried her to the bed. Using one arm to hold the top of the blanket up over her chest, she pushed it loose on the side toward the wall, allowing a draft to play over her skin. She leaned back to put her weight on the same arm, when suddenly,

"Ow!"

"What?" Aaron was up immediately, moving over to her. "What is it."

Marta looked down at the place where there had been a small but unexpected pinch. There, against the pale skin of her inner elbow, was a tiny red dot. A needle mark. Fear gripped her chest, and she looked up into Aaron's eyes, where her worry was mirrored in his face.

"What… what did they do to me?"

"I don't know. Doc. Dr. Shearing," he said urgently, fighting through the roar of fear in her ears. "Marta, I need you to focus. How. do. you. feel?"

"I feel…" she started, trying to gulp down the terror of having some unknown substance coursing through her veins, put there by people who had no qualms about seeing her raped or dead. "I feel… warm. Is it warm in here?" She looked at him, crouched beside her. His hands were clenched on the bed, like he was holding himself back from touching her.

"No. It's actually pretty chilly, that's part of the reason I wrapped you up. You do look a little flushed, though, may I?" He gestured toward her forehead.

"Yes," she replied, and he laid a hand gently on her skin. Suddenly Marta felt an intense flash of feeling go through her.

"Shit," she whispered.

"What?"

"I know what the drug did to me."

"What?"

She reached up to the hand on her forehead and wrapped her fingers around his wrist. Then, without even giving her body permission, she was dragging that hand downward, over her cheek, her jaw, her neck.

"Marta, what are you…?"

"I want you, Aaron."

His eyes went wide, and he sucked in a shocked breath. Then he yanked his arm out of her grip and practically threw himself across the room.

"No!" she cried, genuinely devastated to have lost his touch.

"Those bastards," he said under his breath. "Those total fucking bastards."

Marta was working on disentangling herself from the blankets.

"Dr. Shearing, please, you don't want this. You know you don't, just think! Remember the last two hours; remember what they did to you."

She did remember, it just didn't matter; nothing mattered but getting Aaron's hand's back on her body.

"Marta, for the love of God, please stay under that blanket. Please don't get up from that bed."

But he couldn't touch her if she stayed away from him. She stood up, the blanket falling away and revealing her totally naked, and she smiled at the look in his eyes, the want that was bleeding through the desperation. His gaze flicked over her body like he just couldn't help himself, and he probably couldn't. He closed his eyes in shame, and Marta moved toward him, needing to wipe that shame away and replace it with desire.

"Aaron, don't worry. I want this. And you want it too, so what else matters?"

"You don't, you don't want this," he said, eyes still closed. "It's a drug in your system. The drug, remember?"

"Don't be silly, of course I want this. You're so beautiful, and you were so kind to me, how could I not?" She was right up next to him now, standing naked over him where he was sitting up against the wall. She dropped to her knees, straddling his legs, then pressed herself against him.

She barely even had a second to enjoy the heat of his skin against hers before he stood up forcefully, pushing her away.

"No!" he said, moving away from her. She reached for him, and though he got away, he wasn't quite quick enough to stop her from getting hold of the sheet he'd tucked neatly around his waist, pulling it away.

He turned to face her, and his hands dropped to cover himself, but not before she saw that he was hard. She smiled triumphantly and stalked toward him.

"Want you to touch me, Aaron," she said in the sultriest voice she could muster. "Want you push me up against the wall." She was cornering him, thanks to his reluctance to touch her, which was keeping him from shoving past her. "Want to feel you inside me, filling me up." His eyes were fixed on hers, and his pupils were blown so wide there was hardly any blue left, but still he backed up. Finally, he hit another wall and pressed himself against it.

"Please, please stop, Marta. I can't… I can't think when you talk like that."

"Don't want you to think," she replied, moving right in front of him. Her hand reached out to his bare chest. "Want you to fuck me." His hand grabbed her wrist. They were both breathing hard now, and for a second they just stared at each other, waiting for his next move. Then, in a flash of movement that startled and excited her, he suddenly had her flipped around and pinned against the wall by her shoulders.

"Yes," she breathed. The look in his eyes sent a delicious tremor down her spine, but they still weren't touching anywhere but his hands on her arms. She arched forward and felt the brush of the head of his cock against her belly, which made her shudder with arousal. For his part, Aaron gasped and jerked his hips backward, away from her. Then he braced one forearm across her shoulders and looked her intently in the eye.

"Doc, I am so, so sorry about this."

And he pressed his other hand over her nose and mouth, cutting off her air.