Mac shivered with cold. His fever must be back. He went to pull up the covers when he realized he couldn't move his hands. Mac moaned breaking off into wet coughs. He blinked. The sun shone bright on him. Mac remembered the safe house. There hadn't been any sun. He blinked and turned his head. The circle of headlight bright lights less than three feet from his head didn't allow him to process anything coherently. Everything was a black blur around the bursting suns of fire. What the hell?
"Awake? Good. Hello Angus." Mac looked down eyes wide. He was naked and tied to a chair a layer of frost on his body and the metal. He moved his hand and winced. His skin was stuck to the ice cold chair.
"W-who...r-r-r are you?" Mac managed around his chattering teeth. His breath fogged in the air.
"You don't remember? I should feel hurt. Do you know what today is?" Mac winced and shook his head. He couldn't see anything past the lights. The eyes began a slow pulse. Mac moaned feeling dizzy.
"Today is the anniversary of the day you murdered my babies." Mac's head ducked. The lights fell into sync looking like a ring of fire. Mac tried to turn away, but the lights sped up. No matter where he looked blazing brightness spun toward him, through him, then around him. Mac tried to squint his eyes. His eyelids did nothing to block the sickening effect. Mac leaned forward and puked down the front of him. A black glove reached out from the circle and painfully gripped his chin.
"Today is the day you die MacGyver, alone and broken."
"W-who...ar-r-r you?" Mac gagged trying to see the arm or a face. A solid punch tilted everything to the side. Mac heard whispered voices but couldn't focus enough to hear the words.
There was a buzz and the lights became flashing lights of color. Mac dry heaved. He felt a deep rumble in his bones, his heart sped up and he suddenly had trouble breathing. Subsonic frequency, his brain managed. Mac felt his body respond with gibbering terror. Mac tried to focus, but the lights began to strobe. Another set of lights flashed below him. Under the floor? Mac felt his hair stand straight up. He tried to look up but lights strobed there too. He had no idea what direction was up or down. There was another buzz and he was surrounded by painfully loud screams, shouts and blaring horns. Mac shook his head, but there was no relief from the deafening noise.
Suddenly a wave of freezing water hit him. Mac gasped, the frigid temperature steal his breath. His bare skin pulled away from the freezing chair as he shivered. The noise got louder. Lazer points began to puncture the blur of blinking. They seemed to burn into Mac's eyes. He felt as if he had no eyelids.
The lights moved faster blinking and strobing. Above the cacophony of noise he heard a constant chant of "murderer." Mac thrashed trying to get rid of the sensory overload, but there was nowhere to go and nowhere to stop his anguish. Mac screamed. The chair beneath him began to shake and heat. At first the heat felt good, then it became hot, then started to burn. Mac squirmed breaking out in sweat. His breath hitched as he was hit with another tidal of freezing water. The water hit the chair and thick steam folded around him. Mac's body tried to cough, but he couldn't take in air. Everything started to go black. He was hit by another wave of freezing water. Mac ducked his head unable to gag in air. His muscles hurt and he felt exhaustion set in. It went on for hours, or so it felt, before his body gave up and he fell into darkness.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Jack exploded through the safe house door ready to shoot anything that wasn't Phoenix. His gut clenched when he saw his TAC agents down and out on the floor. He paused and let out a small breath of relief. They were alive. Without looking over his shoulder he told Alpha four to call Doc Carl. He dashed through the house.
Jack's worst fears were confirmed. The back bedroom was empty. Jack frowned. Laura laid neatly on the bed under the covers out completely, but there was no Mac. Jack could make out faint drag marks in the berber and the imprint of a boot. Jack bent closer. Army issue. Damn.
Jack knelt beside Laura and gently tapped her cheek. The older nurse groaned and slowly roused.
"Laura? Sweetheart, wake up for me." Jack said. Laura's eyes cracked open. She slowly focused on Jack. Jack smiled, "That's it, c'mon I need…" Laura grinned.
"I like this dream." She mumbled. Jack moved to lean back confused, but the older woman reached up grabbed his head and tugged him down planting a five alarm long lasting kiss on his lips.
"Unghfp!" Jack protested as he tried to break free. Laura's eyes closed and her arm flopped beside her. Jack scurried back almost falling off the bed. He wiped his mouth and wobbled to his feet.
"Everything ok?" Jack jumped and turned glaring at Matty who stood in the doorway smirking. Jack again wiped his face and stood up, trying to be smooth.
"Everything's fine. Laura's...out...er, drugged pretty heavy."
"Aw, even a kiss from a handsome frog couldn't wake her up." Jack glared at Bozer. He hadn't realized the younger man had followed him into the room. Jack's face flushed with blood. He cleared his throat ready to push past the amused pair when his girl once again rescued him. Riley peeped into the room holding her laptop.
"I just got a report from the crime scene…" Riley frowned taking in her teammates, "Is, uh, everything ok here?"
"Oh it is just fine," Bozer laughed, "Jack here was-"
"Just going to get back to the search for Mac." Jack's glare silenced Bozer who looked contrite. He turned to confront Matty but she had already followed Riley to the living room.
Jack stared up at the big flat screen his gut twisting. Pictures of the murdered MacGyver dioramas and the bloody last supper filled the screen. They had been horrifying in the dark claustrophobic tunnels, in full light they were terrifying. Jack gulped back bile and looked at Riley.
"Like you said, Jack, all of the dead guys were members of Mac's EOD unit except the middle one, no ID on him yet. The ME hasn't had time to do autopsies yet, but it appears as if all the wounds were self-inflicted...except the beheading and dehanding, obviously." Riley closed her eyes and licked her lips.
"The FBI sent pics of the bomb bits to TEDAC, I emailed copies to Charlie too."
"Good job, Riley." Matty said. Jack nodded in agreement. He paused in his pacing to look at Bozer who was leaning forward to the screen.
"Something, Boze?" He asked. Bozer turned to him and pointed at the cape the middle figure was wrapped in.
"Doesn't that look like the cape used in Demon Loving Smile?" Jack leaned closer trying to picture the cape in his mind.
"Looks like it." Jack leaned back lips pursed. He turned to Matty and Riley, "What do we know about Wendell Kells?" He asked. Riley started typing.
"Nah, Jack couldn't be him. He died back in the '90s."
"I know that, Bozer. But this dude has some sort of tie to him or is the biggest film horror nerd to have ever lived." Jack's frustration burned through.
"Jack's right. You said that the guy had mad skills making prosthetics, who else could make those...things?" Riley looked like she wanted to puke.
"Good idea, Jack. Ok, Jack follow up on that angle maybe there's somebody who worked for Kells, a fanclub or something. Right now we need any leads we can get. Boze you stay and help Riley comb through the Kells history and crime scene info." Matty turned and slung her bag over her shoulder.
"Boss, where are you going?" Bozer asked. Matty smiled her cold interrogator's smile.
"To get some donuts."
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Pain woke Mac. Tearing trauma to his chest forced away any coherent thought. He gasped trying to arch away from the pain, it got worse. Mac cried out forcing his eyes open. He tried to suck in air but it made the torment worse. Mac's body thrashed when he coughed. Mac screamed, but his scream was choked by the shredding trauma. Tears poured down his face. He shook. Nothing could penetrate the blur his world had become. Mac twisted to get away from the pain. It got worse.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."Mac shook his head, a move that restarted the tidal wave of pain. He writhed trying to ease the continuous spasms wracking his body. Nothing stopped it. Mac tried to focus on the voice. It was electronically disguised and boomed from all around him.
Mac slowly looked down. He wished he hadn't. He was suspended twenty feet over a writhing mass of insects by two meat hooks poked through his pectoral muscles. He gritted his teeth trying to ignore the hungry chittering below him. His blood dripped down into the black writing mass working the insects into a feverish frenzy. Mac gagged on the thick smell of vinegar and formic acid. Ants. Mac forced himself to calm down. His hands were still tied behind his back. The room he was in was warm and swampy, but not as hot as the chair had been. Mac forced himself to take in a shallow breath. He closed his eyes and bit back another scream. The large metal hooks dug deeper into his muscle tissue scooping his meat away from its mooring. Mac painted fighting panic. It wouldn't be long before they cut through and Mac would fall into the endless vat of swirling insects. Mac fought panic. He glanced down trying to not move.
"Do you like the ants? Do you recognize them?" Mac closed his eyes trying to put his mind away from the dread of what was coming.
"No? I'm surprised, you always acted like you knew everything. These beauties below you are Paraponera clavata…" Mac's eyes widened and he looked down a new fear creeping through every pore.
"I see you know the name. You always were such a clever boy. Bullet ants, they're quite expensive you know; I only wanted the best for you. I was going to go with spiders, but they'd kill you and I don't want to kill you...yet. I have been dreaming of this night for a long time, been through so many versions of you dying…" Mac tried to talk, but his mouth was busy chattering.
"What was that? Ah, why? You ask me why? It's simple, Angus. You are a murderer." Mac screamed as his body dropped an inch his muscles pulled up. It was an endless bloody pain. His chest heaved like billows trying to force in air. Every breath was a rusted ax chopping deeper and deeper. Mac couldn't tell if it was sweat or blood that dripped down his naked body. Whichever it was the bullet ants sucked it up and crawled over each other searching for more. Mac tried to swallow, but he had no spit left.
Mac screamed as his flesh pulled apart another two inches. He leaned his head back. His hair was slick and his hands balled in fists. His feet pulsed as if trying to push the brake pedal to stop the pain.
"Do you know why they're called bullet ants? Rumor has it that each sting hurts like a bullet piercing your flesh. It won't kill you, unless you're allergic to them. I already checked and you aren't, if you wanted to know. I'm not sure how many are down there...10,000 maybe? Even taking into account the 3 or 4 thousand you flatten when you fall that's a lot...I wonder what it feels like to be shot 10, 000 times." Mac let out a full body scream as the hooks pulled free and he fell into the crawling mass of hell.
