Chapter 4:

As soon as they were back down in the locker room, Tom was immediately greeted by the worried stare of Penhall. Mr. Gale was nowhere to be seen.

With Stern's hands on his shoulders, holding him firmly in place, Tom let the man lead him back toward the pipe he had been cuffed to previously. But before he locked him there, Stern made sure Doug had a chance to fully take in Hanson's physical condition.

Hanson must have looked as bad as he felt, because Doug was quite obviously infuriated, "What did you do to him?" he yelled, looking up at Stern who gave no immediate answer. His eyes quickly darted back to Tom, "are you okay?" Penhall's eyes looked up and down Tom's body over and over again, as if he was trying to figure out what exactly happened. Tom could also hear the grinding of his partner's handcuffs as he tried with futility to free himself and come to Tom's aid.

Tom nodded, "fine," he managed, trying to sound as okay as he could. He was still in quite a bit of pain from the beating he had received, and still exhausted from his struggles to escape. Even with all the adrenaline running through him, he still felt terrible. He could only imagine how sore he'd feel in the morning... That is, if he lived until morning.

Stern led him back to the pipe where he had been chained before. He un-cuffed one of Tom's hands, wrapped the cuff around the pipe, and then cuffed the hand again. This time, Tom didn't even try to fight it. He felt too weak and knew he'd never be able to get both himself and Doug out of this while he was in this condition. If he tried to escape now, he'd only end up more hurt. At the moment, he was just glad no one was hitting or kicking him, and no one was touching him. If Stern wanted to lock him here and then leave him alone for a while, that was fine by Tom.

"Have you seen photos of Victor?" Stern looked over at Doug who stared angrily back, "you know, the boy I killed? The boy I fucked."

Doug looked sick. He didn't answer. Instead he looked back at Hanson, still seemingly trying to make some sort of judgement on his injuries.

"Tommy looks like him, don't you think?" Stern asked, squatting next to Hanson and then glancing back over to Doug, "I know you've seen photos of Victor. If you're investigating the case, you'd have to have seen him. You two probably got assigned to this case just because of what the other boys looked like. I can't believe your captain sent you in as bait..."

Tom tried to scoot as far away from him as his restraints would allow. Stern reached for Tom's hair and messed it up with his hand. Tom flinched back, but it did no good. He couldn't get away from the man. The principal kept his fingers in Hanson's hair, sort of petting his head and rubbing strands of it between his fingers.

"His hair's so soft and dark, just like Victor's," Stern continued, "And when his hair gets sweaty or wet, sometimes it hangs down in his eyes, just like Victor's used to. You know... there's something really attractive about a boy with messy, unkempt hair," He moved his hand down from Tom's hair and to his cheek. Though Tom tried to turn his head away from the man's touch, Stern would not allow him. He tilted Tom's chin upward so that the officer was forced to look at him, "his eyes look like Victor's too. Victor had this look in his eyes, whenever he was feeling scared, vulnerable, trapped, hurt... Just like how Tommy's eyes look now."

"Get off him," Doug growled. He didn't yell it like he was frantic, but rather sounded like he would likely snap and kill the man if he didn't comply. Unfortunately, he wasn't in a position where that would be possible. Tom frowned when he heard Doug's handcuffs grinding against the pipe again. He imagined his partner's wrists would be quite damaged by the end of this.

Stern moved his hand down lower, running his fingers down Tom's chest. Tom held his breath, "in fact, his entire body is quite similar to Victor's."

Tom tried to back up more, pulling on the cuffs and groaning in the pain it caused and in the frustration he felt. He knew what Stern was attempting. He was planting seeds in Doug's mind, trying to make him think he had raped Tom. Tom would just have to assure Doug that it didn't really happen. But the more he sat here, the more he felt it wouldn't really matter. Even if he convinced Doug that he hadn't been raped, they probably would both be raped by the end of this, and dead. What difference would it make?

"You get the hell off him," Doug's voice was calm, even though he wasn't, "right now."

Stern traced his finger down to the button on Tom's jeans and then back up his chest. All the while, Tom was squirming, trying to get himself out of the man's reach, "fair enough," Stern grinned, standing and taking a few steps back. Now he stood where he could easily see both men, but could reach neither.

"What did he do to you, Tom?" Doug looked right in Tom's eyes, and he looked terribly worried and even sad.

"It's not as bad as it looks," Tom assured him, "and it's not as bad as he's wanting you to think."

Now Doug looked confused. He glanced over at Stern for a moment, but then fixed his gaze back on Tom. He didn't have to ask for Tom to read in his eyes that he wanted to know more details.

"All he did was knock me around," Hanson informed his partner, "I can't imagine why, but he wanted you to think he did more than that. He's just messing with you."

"More... as in... what?" Doug's expression was serious.

"Sex," Stern cut in, smiling hugely, "he's quite ashamed, but I can't see why. For his first time with a man, I think he did a great job. He was even better than Victor."

Tom frowned. Why would the man want to play this game? He looked over at Doug who looked more upset now than ever, "he didn't really," Tom assured his partner, "I don't know why he wants you to think that, but he told me that was what he was doing, trying to make it look like that happened... But it didn't. That's why he cut off my shirt and unbuttoned my pants. He just wanted it to look that way."

Doug's face looked more sympathetic than Tom thought possible, "it's okay, Hanson," he sounded so sad. His voice was even shaking ever so slightly, "you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. But I'm here if you need me."

Tom sighed and shook his head, "There's nothing to talk about," he urged.

"You be the judge," Stern said, looking at Doug, "if he wants to pretend it didn't happen, let him. But we smell like sex, don't we?" he inhaled deeply and smiled. He then nodded, "yeah. We do. Anyway, you boys have fun. I'll be around."

With that, he turned and left the room. But Tom had a strong feeling he was going to keep himself within ear shot. He wanted to see Doug's reaction to all this. He probably just wanted the two officers to be able to speak more freely without the feeling of being listened to.

"Doug, I swear that didn't happen. I'll tell you exactly what happened up there, and that isn't included," Tom persisted, "he took me up there and hit me and kicked me. He cut my shirts off, and unbuttoned my pants. He even told me he wanted you to think he'd raped me. I have no idea why he cares, but he said he wants to see how you'd react."

Doug looked like he was considering all of this. He looked Tom up and down, "you're bleeding and you've got bruises all over you, and red marks," Doug noted, frowning.

"Those will be bruises too, soon enough. He kicked me so much I thought I might pass out," Tom admitted. He didn't like complaining or showing any sort of weakness, but he needed to show Doug what actually happened so that his partner wouldn't think the worst. The then looked down at his own chest, at the small cut there, "he got me with the knife a bit when he was cutting my shirt... On accident, I think."

"Are you really badly hurt?" Doug asked. He looked Tom up and down again, but his eyes hovered over Tom's unbuttoned pants for a few more seconds than necessary. Tom could tell Doug didn't believe him, but could see that he didn't want to press the matter any more than he already had. He'd never seen his partner's facial expression look how it looked now. He looked so sad, but also angry angry shocked.

"I know you think I'm just traumatized and you think I'm in denial, but I'm really telling the truth about what happened," he promised his partner, "it all looks suspicious because he planned it that way."

"If he had raped you," Doug flinched at his own words, "would you tell me?"

Tom looked down at his feet. He probably wouldn't, "I don't know, Doug. I guess you'll find out when he actually does it. You can believe me or not," he felt himself getting angry, and he wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was just the stress of the situation mixed with his friend's lack of faith in his truthfulness, "it doesn't really matter, does it? He didn't do it yet, so I'm denying it, but he'll get us both in the end, and maybe we can sit together and discuss it before he stabs us to death."

Penhall frowned, "okay..." he gave in, "I'll take your word for it. But those bruises and welts look pretty bad. He didn't break anything did he?"

Tom shook his head, "I don't think so."

"We're going to get out of this, Hanson," Penhall smiled at him reassuringly. But by this point, Tom was feeling pretty hopeless. It was getting pretty late, and no one had come in to check on them. Fuller and everyone else probably thought they had just stayed at school late, or gone to a party, or just went home to sleep... No one was looking for them. No one was going to find them until they were stone cold corpses, bloodied and bruised.

He wanted to remain positive for Doug, but couldn't bring himself to agree with his words verbally. So he just shook his head in agreement, not at all actually believing it.

"Listen," Doug whispered, leaning forward so that he could be as quiet as he could and still be heard by Tom. He must have had the suspicion they were still being listened to as well, "I talked to Gale while you were gone. He didn't take part in the rape or murder of those other boys. He was there when it happened, but he didn't actually do it. It was all Stern. I had him this close," Doug tried to move his hands to gesture, but only achieved a clanging sound. He shrugged and continued, "I was close to convincing him to let us go. If we can get him down here alone, without Stern, we might be able to get out of this. We've just got to convince him he'll face little or no jail time."

"Easier said than done," Tom commented. He then sighed, "I'm sorry," he shook his head, closing his eyes and keeping his head down.

"What for?" Doug wondered.

"For being so negative..." Tom answered, "I just... This is looking so hopeless..."

"It's okay, Hanson," Penhall assured him, "you can feel hopeless. Leave the positivity up to me," he forced a small grin, "if you can't get us out of here, I will."

Tom shook his head, "you say that... but I'm not sure I see it happening."

"You'll see," Doug smirked again, "and when we get out, you're probably going to get a big dose of morphine. Nothing makes everything all better like morphine does."

Tom looked up at him and laughed. They both knew morphine was something they were often given after cases where they got beaten the hell out of. Tom welcomed a nice dose of morphine after all that violence Stern had inflicted. If they could just get out of this before either of them was raped or killed, everything would be alright. Doug was right - morphine really would make everything better...

"You know, Stern might need some too," Tom smiled, "I landed a few pretty good punches on him up there."

"Oh, did you?" Doug smiled, "how did you manage that?"

"He unlocked my cuffs so he could lock my hands behind me instead. I didn't even plan it really... When my hands were free for a moment, I just lunged at him. It was short lived..." he frowned, remembering how quickly Stern had wrestled him back down. It didn't help that Stern was bigger than he was, and Tom was weakened and already hurt. It hadn't been a fair fight.

"Well, at least he's not going to walk away from this unscathed. And if I get my hands on him, he won't be walking away at all," Doug told him.

"Is that so?" Stern was walking back into view, and this time Gale was along with him. He made his way towards Doug and stood over him, "you're a big tough man, aren't you?" he said mockingly, "well, there's a reason they put you two in undercover high school cases. Because you look like kids. Not because you look like tough cops."

"If we're not a threat, then unlock us and let us settle this in a fair fight," Doug suggested.

Stern laughed, "I'm not here to be fair," he smirked. He then turned around to face Tom who was glad he hadn't lost his patience with Doug. He had expected Penhall to get some sort of retaliation.

But Doug wasn't ready to let it go, "you scared?" he called back.

Tom could see Stern's face, since the man was facing him. Anger flashed in his eyes for a moment, but he quickly repressed that emotion and replaced it with amusement. He turned back around to face Penhall again.

"I have no doubt that Mr. Gale and I could take you guys on. In fact, I could probably beat both of you myself," Stern told him, "but why waste my breath?"

Penhall raised his eyebrows, "because you're scared," he shrugged.

Tom couldn't see Stern's face, but he could sense that the man was becoming angry at Doug's taunts. Tom debated whether or not he should advise Penhall to shut up before he got himself hurt. Why was he teasing this man who had complete control over him? Did he really think the principal would accept his proposal to fight him?

Mr. Gale cut in next, "you could fight him," he looked at Stern and gestured toward Doug, "and I'll take the little one," he laughed.

Stern let out a frustrated sigh, "nobody's fighting anyone. Are you a fucking idiot?" he yelled at Gale, "We're not running a fucking game here where we've all got to fight fair. We've got these guys chained up in a basement and I just beat the fuck out of this one. Do you think I'm here play fair with them?"

Tom and Doug looked across at each other. Tom shook his head very slightly, trying to tell Doug to shut up while he was ahead. Stern was obviously losing patience with all this. One more word, and Doug was probably going to get hurt.

But his partner just offered a crooked smirk, raising his eyebrow and shrugging, "I understand," he called out, bringing the attention of both men back down to himself, "I wouldn't want to fight me either."

Tom was right about Stern's fuse being short. It was no time at all between Doug's words and Stern's foot connecting roughly with his leg. He didn't even reiterate his whole 'not here to play fair,' motto. He just kicked Doug until Tom's worried voice interrupted him.

"Stop!" Hanson screamed, but Stern didn't listen. He bent down closer and punched Doug right in the ribs, "stop it!" Tom yelled again. He knew there was no point in it, but he tugged at the cuffs that bound him to the pipe, wincing as the metal bruised and cut his skin. He wished he could break free and help his partner, but there was no way that was going to happen, "please stop it!"

Stern either listened to Tom's pleas, or decided he had done enough damage. He stood up, still looking down at Doug whose facial expression showed he was in pain. Then the principal turned around and glanced down at Tom.

"Look at you," he said, sounding disgusted, "You're just covered in sweat, blood, dust, and god knows what else," his eyes looked Tom up and down.

Tom just stared up at him. He wanted to cover up his exposed chest, but had nothing to cover it with. Nor did he have his hands free. Even if he did have some sort of cover, he wouldn't be able to position it.

"I think he could use a shower," Stern looked over to Doug, "what do you think?"

"I think he's fine," Doug frowned, wincing from the pain Stern's punch had caused to his side.

"What do you think, Gale?" Stern turned toward the janitor.

"Oh, I think so," Gale laughed, "we got showers right down here. Real convenient. I can take him for a shower for you if you want."

Stern looked annoyed, "No."

Gale frowned, "why am I even here if you won't let me in on anything?" he growled.

"You can have at him when I'm done," Stern offered, "but don't kill him. I want to do that. Maybe I'll let you kill the other one. Maybe." he looked over at Doug, "probably not. These guys are just both too fun. It would be a shame for me to give either of them up to you... Maybe you need to find your own next time."

Gale looked quite angry, "Fuck you," he growled and stormed up the stairs.

Stern shrugged, "I swear that man is on the verge of being retarded," he laughed and looked at Tom as though he was sharing in his little joke, but Tom didn't laugh. He wasn't sure if Doug's plan of getting Gale to let them go was going to work. It seemed like the janitor wanted to kill them just as much as Stern did; he just wasn't allowed to. But maybe they could appeal to him with the 'if you can't have us, no one can,' sort of logic.

"Here's the deal," Stern started, looking down at Tom, "I'm going to take you over to the showers and you're going to rinse yourself off. I'm not going to try anything, so you don't have to worry. I'll un-cuff you, and you can take your own pants off, or I can do it for you."

Tom remained still and silent. He could feel that his eyes were wide in disbelief. Was this man seriously suggesting that he willingly strip naked? What was he going to do if Tom refused? More importantly, what would he do if Tom complied?

"So what's it going to be?" Stern asked, "you gonna do it? Or am I?"

Author's Notes: I hope you're liking the story still. :) Thank you again for all who are reviewing. It's going to be a while before I update this story again, but please don't lose patience with me. I am going to be without internet access for a bit, but when I am able to do so, I'll upload more.

If you never see another chapter of this story, assume I died, because that's the only way I'm not going to finish it. I've got the whole thing already written and am quite proud of it. The only way I won't put it up to share with the world will be if I'm dead.

So if in a month you've not seen any more updates, please hold a memorial service for me. You'll be some of the only strangers on the internet who are aware of my death.