Just as a warning, this chapter will probably be harboring the most violence.
Hardison's breath quickened in fear as the towering twins approached him. He tried to wriggle out of the handcuffs, but pain, exhaustion and fear made him clumsy. All he managed to do was accidentally kick one of the twins in the shin. Oh shit.
The kicked twin angrily punched Hardison in the face. Blood dripped down his cheekbone from the hit.
The other twin grabbed Hardison's left pinky. He bent it backward, breaking it as easily as Hardison would a small twig. He continued all along Hardison's left hand, breaking every finger with a look of fascination on his face. He then took Hardison's left hand in between his own and squeezed with all his might.
Hardison struggled not to cry out in pain as he felt the bones in his hand being crushed.
Finally, the twin let go. Hardison barely had time to breathe a sigh of relief before the first twin punched him in the nose. Hardison could feel his nose collapsing under the huge fist. But worst of all, this hit caused the comm to go flying from his ear. Lucas might not have noticed if it hadn't hit him.
"Stop," he said icily, picking up the comm. The hand twin slowly pushed Hardison right pinky backward until it snapped as the first twin lowered his fist. "Well, well, well. Looks like Hardison has been communicating with someone on the outside." He rose the comm to his ear. "Who is there, may I ask?"
Even Hardison could hear the list of expletives that Eliot was yelling at Lucas. Hardison had never heard him that angry; on most jobs he stayed cool as a cucumber while knocking people out.
"My my, we are angry, aren't we? That's a shame." Lucas dropped the comm on the ground and stepped on it, crushing it. When he turned to Hardison, his eyes were burning with rage. "What did you tell them? What did you tell them!"
"I- nothing," Hardison replied desperately.
"Don't you fucking lie to me! I know you said something!" Lucas screamed, spit flying out of his mouth. He took a deep breath, and seemed to calm down a bit. "I'll give you one more chance. What. Did. You. Tell. Them?"
"Nothing, I promise! I didn't say anyth-ahhhh!" Hardison's sentence turned into a wordless yell of agony as Lucas grabbed his right arm-his injured arm- and twisted it violently. Hardison screwed up his face, just waiting for the snap that would accompany a broken arm.
But it didn't come. When Hardison opened his eyes after waiting for a good thirty seconds, he was shocked and somewhat repulsed to see Lucas' face right there.
"That hurts, doesn't it?" Lucas asked, laughing. "Yes, I know the perfect amount of twist to create extreme pain without," he twisted Hardison's arm more, finally earning a crack, "breaking it." He stepped back, eyes burning less now. Wordlessly, he waved his hand at the twins, then ascended the ladder.
"Please! You don't have to do this! He won't know if you don't!" Hardison begged desperately.
They of course did not listen to him. In perfect synchronization, they each grabbed one of Hardison's last unbroken fingers. "No, no! Please don't, anything but that! I won't be able to type," Hardison pleaded.
With identical grins, they bent his fingers back. More pain washed over Hardison as both of his fingers were broken.
Before Hardison had a chance to recover, one of the twins punched him in the face, again. Then the other twin punched the other side of his face. Back and forth they went, until Hardison could feel the blood running down his face. He could taste it in his mouth. Just when he thought that he couldn't take it anymore, and would pass out, he heard Lucas return. "Stop." Both twins immediately backed away.
"What the hell are you doing? If you kill him, the whole plan is compromised! Get over there" He pushed the twins to the other side of the suitcase, then turned and faced Hardison.
"So sorry about that. Apparently, we don't know how to treat guests," Lucas said cordially.
Hardison eyed him warily. "You haven't been doing too well yourself," he said, spitting blood out of his mouth.
"Oh, what have I done to you, really? My men have hurt you far worse than I have."
"Are you kidding? You shot me! Twice!"
"Oh, ah, well, anyway back to my original point. I came back down here to, ah, test something out on you." From his pocket he produced a vial of clear liquid and a long nasty-looking syringe.
"I don't suppose you know what this is, do you? No, didn't think so. This stuff is very, very rare. I purchased it through a colleague of mine."
"What does it do?" Hardison hated being hooked like this, but as he assumed it would be injected into him, he needed to know.
"It is a poison. Attacks the blood cells, wreaking total havoc. This dose," he held up the vial, "would kill you in a matter of minutes , depending on how fast your heart is beating."
"Yes, that's the funny thing about this. Your body basically betrays you. The natural response to fear is quickened heart rate, which is exactly what kills you faster. As soon as it travels to the brain, it's lights out. Very, very nasty stuff, no?"
In spite of the blood continuing to pool in Hardison's mouth, it suddenly felt quite dry. "Are you just gonna kill me now? After all the work to capture me and ultimately Nate?"
"No, no! You see, the whole dose will kill you. Half a dose is only supposed to cause extreme pain with minimal lasting damage. Well, besides the emotional scarring of course. Are you familiar with Harry Potter?"
Hardison just stared at Lucas, unsure where that seemingly random question had come from.
"What, criminals can't enjoy popular series? Well, in case you are not familiar, this poison has been compared to the turture curse, the Cruciatus Curse. It is said to inflict the most pain imaginable upon the human body. There are actually two characters who went insane due to overexposure."
"But that won't happen withe injection right?" asked Hardison nervously.
"We shall find out shortly," Lucas replied, carefully measuring half of the liquid into the syringe. "Let's see, I believe I will take your left arm."
"There's gotta be some other way to test it! On someone else!" Hardison cried out desperately struggling, trying to free himself.
"Hold him down." The twins walked over and grabbed Hardison's arm, pinning it flat. As hard as Hardison struggled, he could not break free of their grip.
He felt the cold prick of the needle, entering the vein on his wrist, then felt fire. It literally felt like the injection point had caught fire, and with each frantic heartbeat, the fire spread.
Hardison was screaming. Tears were running down his face, but he hardly noticed. The pain had now enveloped his entire arm. He could feel it creeping closer to his heart. He didn't know what would happen when it reached his heart, but he knew it would be bad.
"Kill me! Please, just kill me now!" he screamed in agony.
"Do not worry. The pain will get worse." Lucas replied with an insane grin. He was enjoying this! He was laughing as he watched.
The pain was creeping closer, closer, ever closer, until finally it reached his heart. It felt like a firework had gone off in his chest. Hardison was screaming so loudly by now that his throat felt raw.
"Scream all you want!" Lucas yelled in apparent joy. "There's nobody around to hear you!"
The pain was moving on now. It still was in his heart, arm and lungs, but it now was spreading all over his body. It was a part of his blood as algae is a part of the river. It was heading up. He could feel it snaking up toward his brain.
Meanwhile...
Eliot picked up his cell and dialed the number that had once been as familiar to him as his own. It rang once, twice, then was picked up.
"We need you back." Eliot said. "It's Hardison."
Aha! I updated on a Friday, not a Saturday like usual! 11:30 is still Friday! I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people that have followed, favorited, and reviewed this story. I honestly anticipated minimal interest in this; there's a ton of Eliot/Parker stories. Nonetheless, I am very pleased with how it is turning out and the reaction I am getting. thank you everyone!
