Thanks for staying with me so far.
If you like mine and ThiessenClocks' writings, also check out her latest story Lock & Load. It's listed as a crossover, and I know that many don't like to read those as much, but it's really good and worth it.
Chapter 8
It didn't take long until Brandt started thinking that it probably was a bad idea to go alone, especially considering he was not in top shape himself. But Skye had been visibly upset, and after what he had gathered from their conversation he simply hadn't wanted her to have to go back, and leaving her alone had also seemed like a bad idea. Yet while the injury on his leg wasn't very bad, he was starting to feel the continuous blood loss, general exhaustion and what probably was a concussion.
He almost ran into someone twice as he followed Skye's directions. The first time he had managed to duck into a room which had turned out unlocked and empty. The second time they had passed hardly a meter in front of him, while he squeezed himself against the frame of a closed door. Both times, luckily, they had passed without noticing him.
Brandt waited a few seconds until he was sure the coast was clear, then he moved on carefully, keeping close to the wall until he rounded the corner. There he found a hunched over figure lying on the floor.
It took him a while to recognize Elaine. A thick black bruise had started spreading outward from her right eye-socket, the corresponding eye swollen shut. The rest of her face was smeared with blood, a small stream running down over her left cheek, fed by a trickle emerging from her nose and a gaping circular hole in the middle of a forehead.
Brandt dropped his caution and ran the last few steps. He only took a quick glance around to make sure there was no immediate danger before he dropped down beside her. Gently he turned her head to the side to search for a pulse under her jawline. He was almost surprised, and also very much relieved when he found it, slow, but strong and regular.
Carefully he examined the cut on her forehead. White bone was shimmering through the gory mass of half coagulated blood, and while it looked gruesome enough, it indicated that it was only a superficial injury.
Brandt let out a sigh, then noticed movement. "Hey," he said softly and she blinked back sleepily. "How are you doing?"
Elaine's gaze swept across him unfocused for a moment before it started to zero in. Then he thought he could see something almost like a smile when she muttered: "We should really stop meeting like this."
"Agreed," Brandt replied and helped her sit up. She looked more than a little unsteady. "But that doesn't answer my question."
"Headache of a lifetime," Elaine replied and blinked again. When she caught his concerned look, she elaborated: "Concussion, whiplash, probably broken nose."
As if remembering it just then, she ran the back of her hand, and in extension her sleeve, over here face and looked at the bloody snot it gathered in dismay. Brandt gently caught her hand before she could also wipe it over her forehead and probably mess that up even more.
"Oh, and I got stabbed," she added, almost proudly holding up her bandaged right hand. Then Elaine seemed to recall something else, her voice suddenly urgent: "You have to find Skye."
"She's alright," Brandt reassured her calmly. "Benji's with her."
"Good," Elaine sighed and leaned back against the wall, so he could examine the cut more closely.
"You should probably have that stitched up," Brandt decided, dabbing away the surrounding blood with his shirtsleeve, careful to not actually touch the wound.
"Yeah," she agreed, almost sarcastically.
Brandt looked at her more closely. Under the layer of blood and grime, she looked very pale. "Can you walk?"
"I'll do my best," she muttered and tried to push herself up. Between Brandt and the wall, she managed to get into an unstable standing position.
Brandt put a stabilizing arm around her waist and let her lean onto him. Like that they started off in the direction of her lab when a rumbling voice behind them made them stop.
"Oh, isn't that cute."
"Dorian." Elaine leaned back against the wall with a sigh, but Brandt kept his arm in place, just in case.
"It was pretty clever of you to try and play me against the old man," the bear said stepping closer, flanked by four of his minions. "I almost started to think you're actually a decent person."
"I did not play you," Elaine replied calmly.
"And yet you're here with one of our prisoners, who you supposedly killed earlier," Dorian said. Standing right in front of her now he had to bow down to face her. He shoved an accusing finger at Brandt: "They are the people who killed Chester!"
"They are not," Elaine hissed. "Can't you see this is all Nestor's doing?"
Dorian took a step back and slapped her square across the face, hard enough she slipped to the floor.
But the woman just glared up at him. "He's going to kill you, too."
The bear had started to reach for his gun but then decided against it. Instead, he rammed his foot into the side of her head in a well-aimed kick that knocked her out.
"Take them," he ordered his minions.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
When Ethan opened the door to Elaine's laboratory he found himself suddenly facing two guns. Reflexively he reached for his own firearm, but his opponents were already lowering their weapons.
"Thank god, it's you," Benji sighed and tucked away his gun, making space so Ethan and Luther could enter.
"Where is Brandt?" Hunt asked, looking around.
"He went after Elaine. We wanted to meet up back here," Benji replied, then frowned. "It's been quite a while. They should be here by now."
"Something happened," Skye muttered, then more loudly she added: "We should go after them."
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Brandt fell hard onto the bare concrete floor. Before he could even orient himself, something soft, but heavy landed half on him, half next to him. He was somewhat relieved when it emitted a low groan on impact.
There was a loud clang as the door fell shut, followed by the click of a lock. Then the lights turned off and everything was suddenly dark.
Gently Brandt rolled Elaine off himself while his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness. Then he looked around.
He had already noticed that their new prison was much colder than the outside. The only source of light was the dim glow of an emergency exit sign above the door, but it was enough to confirm his suspicion that they were locked into a walk-in freezer. The room was big enough that he couldn't see the walls clearly, and it was filled with rows of mostly empty metal racks.
Brandt quickly checked on Elaine, but she was already trying to sit up, so he stood up to take a look around. The door was bolted from the outside as he had expected. There was no lock visible from the inside and the frame was overlapping with the door, so short of unscrewing the hinges it was very much tamper-proof.
He started going around, but quickly found it was a single room with no other exits and no vent shafts that would be big enough for either of them to fit through. Still, he kept his eyes open for potentially useful materials.
"This is starting to feel like the worst day ever," he heard Elaine mutter when he came back around. She had worked herself up into a sitting position, leaning against the metal scaffolding of a rack.
"Starting to?" Brandt asked ironically. He had found some empty cardboard boxes and an old, dirty tarp, which he used to line the floor in a corner behind the door.
"I've had worse," she commented dryly. "But this is becoming a close contender."
Brandt couldn't help but smile. "Well, on the plus side, we're not dead," he put in.
"Yet," Elaine muttered, while he helped her up and over to their make-shift camp.
Both the cardboard and the tarp were as cold as the rest of the room, but at least it provided some insulation against the bare concrete floor and the frigid air around them. Huddled together with their knees drawn up, they managed to wrap the canvas around them both. They sat in silence for a while, but the longer they sat, the more it became uncomfortable.
"Can I ask you something?" Brandt finally broke the silence, and when Elaine replied with a non-committing sound, he continued: "Why did you leave? Without telling anyone?"
Elaine clenched her teeth. Her first impulse was to talk herself out of the question, but then, very softly, she replied: "Because I care about you. And I didn't want anyone to be killed."
Brandt couldn't tell if she had purposefully formulated her answer this general, but he liked to think that in part at least it was directed specifically at him. At the same time, he scolded himself for wishful thinking. "You know," he said, "that equation works both ways around."
"You'd be the first," Elaine whispered under her breath.
Brandt was relatively sure he hadn't been meant to hear that, but he acted on it anyway. "I think Benji cares a great deal," he countered.
She seemed to ponder this for a moment, then sighed. "I guess you're right."
"And I know I do," Brandt replied. He had wanted to make it sound casual, but his voice suddenly felt dry and raspy.
Elaine shifted.
He more felt than saw her looking up at him, questioning, judging whether he actually meant what he had just said. Brandt turned towards her, trying to return her gaze. Suddenly he was acutely aware of his own heartbeat, when only now he realized how close their faces were. And too late.
Their noses touched and she flinched away, her face scrunched up in a painful grimace. Brandt mumbled a quick apology and focused his gaze back ahead, while he cursed his own ineptitude.
Elaine took a few deep breaths, then leaned back again, although she seemed more tense than before. "I think I'm just not used to people caring about me," she said after a while.
Brandt cleared his throat in the hope of making his voice sound more normal again. "Says you who apparently cares about everyone else."
Elaine shrugged, he could feel the movement of her shoulders rubbing against his. Then they sat in silence again, more comfortable this time.
After a while, Brandt reverted to counting the floor tiles to keep himself occupied, when Elaine suddenly flinched. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"Yeah," she muttered, straightening herself up. "I shouldn't fall asleep."
"It's alright," Brandt replied. He knew that falling asleep was one of the dangers of freezing to death, and as long as they were awake they were alive. But there was nothing they could do to get out and she had already seemed thoroughly exhausted before they had been thrown in here. "I'll keep watch," he reassured her.
"But..." Elaine started, but then seemed to see through his reasoning. "Thanks," she muttered snuggling closer and turned her face into his neck for warmth.
Brandt carefully drew the tarp closer around them and gently rested his head on hers, which nestled perfectly under his chin, as he listened to her breaths growing longer and deeper. He couldn't help breathing in her warm scent wafting up to him, mingled with blood, sweat and a hint of flowery shampoo. Her short blond hair was astonishingly fluffy.
