CHAPTER TWO

Wo Fat twisted the knife in his hand, regarding Steve much like a sculptor would a new block of marble… he had to pick a place to start.

He made a shallow incision on Steve's pectorals. Steve had been trained to withstand much worse, and frankly, it was like a pinch compared to the pain from the bullet wound. Seeing what little effect this had on Steve, Wo Fat, never removing the knife from the initial incision, sliced a gash about 4 inches long across Steve's pectorals.

Steve felt the sharp sting as blood began to pulse out of the cut, dripping down his chest. Steve was completely unfazed, and doubted the gash would even leave a scar. "If this is what you call being persuasive, I think you may need to review your strategy."

Wo Fat laughed. "Never fear, Commander McGarrett. I was just getting warmed up.."

With that, Wo Fat dug the knife about an inch into Steve's not-shot shoulder. He took his time carving Steve's arm, creating a legitimate gash about 8 inches long.

Steve clenched his teeth together as Wo Fat cut, forbidding himself from making a sound. This time Steve began to bleed in earnest. Blood ran down Steve's arm, dripping onto the floor and rapidly forming a large puddle.

Wo Fat's voice sounded from behind him. "Where is Doris McGarrett, Steve? You're going to tell me anyway… you might as well spare yourself the pain."

"When hell freezes over," Steve growled.

Wo Fat sighed. "Very well."

Steve didn't see it coming – there was no way he could. All Steve knew was the explosion of pain in his shoulder blade as Wo Fat plunged the knife all the way into his back shoulder blade. He could not help crying out in pain as the knife stabbed through flesh and muscle.

Wo Fat yanked the knife out of Steve's back, bringing a fresh wave of pain before the first had even begun to subside. Gasping out in pain, Steve swung slightly from where he was suspended. He struggled and failed to compose himself as Wo Fat re-entered his line of sight.

Wo Fat's lips were moving, but Steve couldn't hear what he was saying. He could feel blood gushing out of his body. Everything throbbed in pain. The world around him became fuzzy… all he could hear was pounding. The pounding of his heart… the pounding of the blood pulsing out of his wounds… the pounding of his head, his bullet wound, and his stab wound.

Steve's vision began to blur, everything was numb. He thought he may have been able to make out Wo Fat's livid face before his head dropped and everything went dark.

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Danny had unsuccessfully tried to call Steve back several times after his partner faked losing signal. Cursing under his breath, Danny pushed the Camaro past the speed limit.

He'd had a bad feeling about this case from the very beginning. It was simple enough, but that was the thing. It was too simple. Danny had thought that the job was better suited for HPD, but Steve had wanted to take it.

There was a drug smuggling operation, and there was a report that the smuggled drugs were stashed on a freighter that had docked on the pier the day before.

They had agreed yesterday to check out the freighter the next morning. Steve borrowed Catherine's car and agreed to meet Danny there. However, Danny had run late dropping Grace off at school, and Steve had called, impatient.

Now Danny was rushing to the pier. He could not quite explain why he was so paranoid, but he did his best to convince himself that it was not because they had received a report a week before that Wo Fat was returning to the islands.

Danny sped in sped into the lot outside the pier, empty except for Catherine's car. Skidding to a stop, Danny jumped out of the Camaro and made his way over to Catherine's car. Cursing when he found that Steve was not there, Danny pulled out his cell phone.

"Damn it, Steve," Danny muttered as he dialed Steve's number. It rang several times, with no answer. Danny deliberated what to do. He had the strong urge to rush into the freighter, trigger happy, but he knew how hypocritical it would be of him to enter the freighter without backup.

Danny pulled out his phone again. "Chin, it's me. Where are you?"

"Kono and I just got to the office. What's up? Aren't you and Steve checking out the freighter?"

"My backup decided to start without me. How fast can you guys get down here?"

"10 minutes at most."

"I have a bad feeling, Chin," Danny said honestly.

There was a pause at the other end of the line. "We'll see you in five."

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Steve's pain when he regained consciousness back in his cell was much like a microphone malfunction. The quiet ringing that gets louder and louder and louder and then just stops. Except Steve's pain didn't stop. As he broke the surface of consciousness, everything was numb. And then he started to feel. And the more he felt, the worse it got. As the pain reached its climax, Steve hoped it would ebb away. It didn't.

He was laying on his back, prone, on the cold floor of his cell. He took labored breaths, trying to roll over onto his side, but failing as the pain nearly caused him to black out again. Steve let out a small moan of agony.

He felt weak and lightheaded, undoubtedly due to blood loss. Taking a shaky breath, Steve blocked out the pain and sat up to feel around to assess his most recently acquired injuries. To his surprise, both his gunshot wound and stab wound in his shoulder blade had been covered with gauze. It was a sloppy patch-up job, but it prevented Steve from bleeding out. Wo Fat still needed him alive.

Steve collapsed back onto the floor, covered in a cold sweat. Everything hurt… his wrists were raw and chafed from the rope that had bound them and hung them above his head. His arms ached and protested with every move he made. They felt like lead, Steve could hardly move them.

Steve tried to guess how much time had passed. He had no sense of time, and had no idea how much time had passed during his many spells of unconsciousness. There was not light to differentiate day from night…

One thing that Steve was sure of, though, was that his team was looking for him. Danny had warned him not to go into the freighter alone, and when he showed up and Steve was nowhere to be found, he would have immediately known something was wrong.

However, he couldn't stop the nagging in his head about what Wo Fat had said. That his team had no chance of finding him. Steve had complete faith in Danny, Chin, and Kono, but he couldn't help but worry that Wo Fat had taken extensive measures to hide him… all Steve could do was hope Wo Fat was wrong.

He heard footsteps outside his cell, and once again several men entered the cell. Steve was all but helpless as the butt of a gun swung towards him and it was lights out once again.

Please review! reviews honestly make me so happy, I literally squee :) have all you whumpaholics seen the description for monday's new episode? I'm pretty excited, it seems really whumpy! :))) (hint: it involves north korea!) so i'm not sure how long this story will be... we'll have to see how many different ways i can think of to torture Steve :) We do it because we love him :) until next time... don't forget to review!