Barney's entire world had been reduced to an unending haze of agony and suffering.
His shoulders shook with silent sobs, hands still bound behind him, the burns on his feet and his stomach making his skin feel as if it was on fire. The intense, searing pain drowned out any attempt at cohesive thought, as Barney just lay there, quietly gasping for breath, in a state of uncontrolled shock and horror.
They had left him alone for a few minutes, and he felt a weak sense of gratitude for that small mercy; he wasn't sure he could bear anything more at the moment without breaking completely.
Apparently, whatever force of fate hated Barney Stinson enough to have created this entire situation heard that particular thought, because it was mere moments later when Barney heard the dreaded sound of footsteps approaching him again.
Ryan crouched beside him, and Barney couldn't hold back a strangled whimper of pain and terror as he grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked his head up off the carpet. Barney bit down on his lower lip, struggling to control his own reactions, his eyes tightly screwed shut against whatever new horror his captors might have in mind.
Ryan's voice was hushed and softly taunting as he leaned in close to hiss in Barney's ear, "You didn't think we were finished with you, did you?" He let out a chilling laugh of cruel amusement, before his tone became deadly serious and he issued a soft order.
"Get up on your knees, bitch."
Barney's stomach lurched with panic. He knew there was no way he was physically capable of obeying the command; but he also knew that if he failed to obey it, he would certainly be punished with further suffering. He struggled pathetically to draw his legs up under him, drawing in a shuddering gasp as he accidentally dragged his burned feet along the carpet. He collapsed to the floor again with a choked sob, shaking his head pleadingly.
"I can't," he whispered, his trembling voice breaking over his pitifully desperate words. "Please, I… I can't…"
"Awww… need a little help, sweetie?"
Allison's coarse laugh joined Ryan's, her cruel words Barney's first indication that she was even there. She knelt in front of him, bracing her hands on his shoulders as Ryan moved to kneel behind Barney, abruptly shoving his legs forward so that his knees folded under him, and his ass was elevated. A shiver of revulsion passed through Barney as a large, rough hand stroked slowly, suggestively, over his exposed, vulnerable skin, and he realized what they intended.
He shook his head frantically, his hands flexing uselessly against the cuffs that bit into his wrists.
"Please," he sobbed. "Please don't do this… you don't have to do this…"
"Barney, baby," Allison soothed him with false sympathy, running a hand through his hair before jerking his head up, smiling coldly into his wide, shell-shocked eyes as she shook her head with a laughing smile. "Who said anything about 'had to'?"
A soft sound near his ear drew his attention, and Barney flinched as she brought the lighter, already lit, close to his face again. She settled comfortably on the floor in front of him, playing with the flame, lighting and extinguishing it again and again as she spoke in a voice of calm, subtle menace.
"Now, you're just gonna hold still like a good little slut… and do exactly what we tell you to do… and maybe I won't scar your pretty face beyond recognition." Her smile twisted into a nasty smirk, her voice a hushed, secretive whisper as she added, "Not that anyone but us is ever gonna see you again."
Barney was shaking hard, terrified by her words as much as by what he knew was about to happen to him. Contrary to Allison's demeaning assumptions about him, Barney had never been with a man before – well, unless he counted that brief experimental phase in college, and that had never gone anywhere near this far. He had no idea what to expect – besides utter, overwhelming agony. He flinched violently as he felt Ryan steady himself behind him, hard hands gripping his hips and shifting his body into position.
"Please, don't…" He couldn't stop the helpless, desperate pleas from leaving his trembling lips. "Don't, don't, no…"
"Shhh," Allison murmured, allowing his head to fall back against the floor, running slow, deceptively gentle fingers through his hair in a falsely soothing gesture. Her gentle tone was in chilling contrast to the harsh cruelty of her words. "Come on, Barney… don't pretend you don't want this. We both know what a little whore you are..."
Barney let out a sharp, hoarse cry of anguish as Ryan shoved into him without any warning or preparation, his back arching with agony as his body was torn open. Allison released his hair to deliver a hard slap to the side of his face, snarling with clear menace in her voice.
"Shut up."
Barney bit down on his lower lip until he tasted his own blood, struggling desperately to hold back the sobs and screams that rose in his throat. He tensed but kept still when he felt Allison's hand grip his hair, pressing the side of his face hard against the rough carpet beneath him. Ryan was thrusting slowly in and out of him, his progress ironically eased by the steady flow of Barney's blood as lubrication.
Between his two captors and the restraints that bound him, Barney found that he could barely move at all. He felt suffocated, claustrophobic, as Allison shifted in closer to him, reaching her free hand down between his trembling thighs to stroke soft fingertips slowly up the length of his utterly flaccid cock.
Barney shuddered with shame and revulsion as she began slowly circling his soft organ with varied and expert touches that, to his horror, began to slowly bring him to an unwilling state of arousal. His face flushed with humiliation; somehow, what Allison was doing to him was almost worse than the violation Ryan was committing. He tried to shake his head, gasping for breath, struggling to maintain his composure – and failing miserably.
"Please, don't…" he sobbed. "Please… don't touch me…"
Allison ignored his pathetic begging for mercy, simply intensifying her efforts as his traitorous cock began to swell and rise. She laughed, and a searing chill of sick shame flowed through his entire body at the mingled amusement and disgust in the sound.
"I knew it. Told you, Barney," she sneered softly, leaning in close to speak into his ear, without stopping what she was doing. "I know you… know who and what you are… and you're nothing but a disgusting little slut… a sick little whore who likes being used and degraded. You like this… don't you, Barney?"
"No," he insisted desperately. "I don't… no…" Tears streamed from his eyes, streaking his flushed face and trailing down to dampen the carpet beneath him. "Please stop… please stop…"
"You don't really want me to," Allison softly insisted as Barney's erection jerked slightly under her expert ministrations. "You can lie and say you do… but your body doesn't lie, Barney. You don't want to admit it, but you're getting off on this… on being raped and tortured and violated. You want this…"
"No…"
Barney desperately insisted that she was wrong – but he wasn't so sure anymore. He felt sick with shame and self-disgust as he felt his body tighten in response to her touch, and knew that he was on the vergeof completion. He was in pain, terrified, desperate for escape – but now, also desperate for the release she was giving him.
Ryan's pace had gradually sped up until he was pounding ruthlessly into Barney's body, slamming him again and again into the carpet – as his girlfriend provided a disturbing contrast, increasing the rhythm of her soft touches to bring Barney to the brink of orgasm. As Ryan thrust one last time, letting out a guttural cry of pleasure and satisfaction, Allison gave a slight twist as she pulled downward on Barney's erection, a smirk of cruel satisfaction forming on her lips as he came.
"See?" she whispered, leaning in close so that her warm breath brushed against his skin as she viciously hissed cold venom into his ear. "Can't lie about that, can you? Whore."
Confusion filled Barney's traumatized and violated mind and heart as he tried to comprehend what had just happened to him, and only managed to come up with one horrifying, humiliating conclusion.
She's right. You're disgusting. Barney Stinson, you are so irrevocably screwed up… such a worthless, pathetic slut… if you get off even on this. Sex is sex, right? And you'll take it anywhere you can get it. Dirty, disgusting, worthless whore… If you get off on it… guess you deserve it…
He was left in numb agony, the vicious circle of self-hatred swirling through his mind as he lay there, trying very hard not to move, not to feel… not to exist.
Barney wanted nothing more in that moment than just to die, so it would all be over – because he knew now, more clearly than ever, that that was the only way he was going to get out of this.
************************
Marshall paced anxiously back and forth in the waiting area at the police station, glancing every few seconds toward the closed door to the room where Robin had gone with the police detective, to give her statement and initiate the investigation. She'd been in there for nearly an hour – which was probably a good thing, as it could mean that they were taking her seriously – but the waiting was beginning to get to Marshall.
He had just sat down again when the door opened, and he looked up hopefully as Robin stepped out of the room, alone. The expression on her face quickly killed the hope on his own, as he rose to fall into pace with her. He glanced over his shoulder toward the door as they headed for the exit.
"What happened? Are they going to investigate? They believed you, right?"
"Yeah, they're going to investigate, but they haven't got a lot to go on," Robin sighed, her expression dark and troubled. She didn't look at him as they made their way to the car, clearly lost in her own thoughts. "And I got the distinct impression that a missing adult male with no signs of foul play isn't exactly the NYPD's highest priority."
"But that's ridiculous!" Marshall objected as he got into the driver's seat. "Barney's pulled some crazy stunts, yeah… but this isn't like him! He wouldn't just disappear – not for this long…"
"They don't know him, so they don't know that." Robin's frustration was clear in her voice. "And it wasn't like I had a lot to go on. I described that girl at the bar, but she probably didn't even have anything to do with it… and besides that, I've got nothing."
"Well, maybe she saw something." Marshall shrugged. "She's the last one we know was with him…" He paused, frowning thoughtfully as he pulled onto the road and headed back toward Barney's apartment. "Did they try to trace his phone?"
Robin nodded morosely. "Tried. They only can if it's on, and it's not."
Marshall nodded slowly, as if not really surprised by that answer. He thought a moment longer before making a suggestion. "You know… if the cops aren't going to do anything right away… maybe we can find out who that girl was, and talk to her."
Robin sighed, leaning back in the seat, resting her head against the headrest and covering her eyes with her hands. "Barney didn't even tell me her name…"
"Well, you said she was at the bar, right?" Marshall reminded her, giving her a glance before looking into his rearview mirror. "Maybe Carl knows who she is."
Robin looked at him, considering this possibility. "She wasn't a regular… but he might have noticed something…"
*************************
"Ashley something? I don't know…" Carl was at a loss, shaking his head slowly as he tried to remember. "I'd never seen her in here before…"
"Barney apologized to her," Robin offered. "That ought to be memorable enough to prompt something…"
Carl's eyes widened and he held up a halting hand. "Wait a second. Yeah. I did notice that bit. Caught me completely off guard. Thought maybe it was one of the signs of the apocalypse or something, you know?"
He swallowed, his smile fading when neither Marshall nor Robin laughed at his little joke. Carl frowned thoughtfully, trying to remember. "Yeah, I saw her. Pretty blonde… really didn't like Barney much… but he still ended up leaving with her, didn't he? And he didn't even remember her name when he walked up to the bar…"
Carl closed his eyes, thinking for a moment before opening them with a wide, triumphant smile.
"Allison. That was it. Allison Sharpe."