A/N: Darlian, Darlian, you are a dear. :)

I'm going Albert Hirsch, now. Because he scares me.


He's always thought that sleep deprivation was the most fascinating of tortures to inflict upon the mind and body.

Starvation was interesting, true, and water-boarding was curious in its moments of panic, but sleep deprivation was (in his humble opinion) the most beautiful to watch of them all.

It is incredible to watch the mind deteriorate, untouched by drugs and physical abuse. Bit by bit, piece by piece, it loses its grip with reality and, slowly but surely, begins to spiral downwards.

There are some that fight it. Some that are incredible at fighting it.

But Albert Hirsch knows that you can only fight yourself for so long before you lose.

He enjoyed working with David Webb. He enjoyed having victims with which there were no bounds to how far he could stretch them, push their brains and bodies until they just gave up.

Before he had been chief psychologist of Treadstone, Albert had worked exclusively with black-ops on...specialized...interrogation techniques.

The truth is, Albert loathes physical torture. Often he finds it unnecessary and unneeded; people forget that the human body is an incredible, ever-adapting organism. You cannot snuff out rebellion with cutting digits or electrocution. Those methods are archaic, and –most importantly– don't always work.

But the mind doesn't adapt as well as the body. It is far more complex than the body and, in that step, far more fragile. You just need to know which legs are the most fragile on a table to start breaking them off. Whether or not it wants to, then, the table will collapse.

That's what Albert told black-ops. They didn't necessary like it (or him) but they heeded him because of what he showed them. What he forced them to watch.

They were scared when Dr. Albert Hirsch showed them one of their companions after sixty-three hours without sleep.

And he enjoyed that.

Some part of Albert would find it ironic that, after all his work, all his studies and examinations of his patients well-being that some of them wouldn't follow through like they were created to.

Jason Bourne –David Webb– is one of these fine examples.

He was supposed to kill Albert, wipe him off the earth and save him the trouble of doing it himself. Albert's brains were supposed to be dripping onto the linoleum floor in the florescent-lit confines of his office, and he was supposed to be spared from all the trouble that would follow after Bourne left (or died).

Albert Hirsch does not regret what he did. And he never will.

But Albert Hirsch understands that he is no longer safe, and that his practice will no longer fly under the radar.

He will not be exempt from punishment.

Albert Hirsch is sitting in solitary confinement in a grungy prison outside New York City.

And Albert Hirsch...Albert Hirsch is having trouble sleeping.