Hullo all! Apologies, Australian tech seems to hate me... with a bloody passion.

Please enjoy, and thank you all for sticking around to see the final chapters play out (yes, we are indeed getting there!)

You already know this, but I thought I'd remind you that I own nothing Fringey whatsoever.

This time, she was ready.

When her door opened, she faced Big Eddie straight on, driving all of her hatred through the death stare that she radiated, empowering her. Venomous green eyes never left his, not when he ordered two men to lift her up off the floor, nor when he brushed a big, sausage-like finger across her bruised cheek. Even though the tender skin beneath his touch was screaming in agony, she did not flinch or succumb to her pain. Only when Big Eddie stepped back and nodded at a particularly large guy to take a swing at her did Olivia double over in agony. The man had a power behind his fist that could have been propelled by the engine of a small car, and she could only be thankful that his blow was poorly aimed and glanced off one of her lower ribs as opposed to the center of her gut. She resumed starring at Big Eddie a moment after she'd doubled over, eyes full of hatred. Olivia refused to back down from his stare; in fact, she challenged him to look her in the eye.

Another two swings, both of which glanced off her rib cage, and Olivia was beginning to think that this one wouldn't be so bad… and then her luck ran out. A fourth punch hit her right below where her left and right ribcages converged with enough force to make her gag. Nausea over came her and she retched, but she was only able dry heave, seeing as there was nothing in her stomach to throw up. It was a good thing that she didn't – her gag was still on. Olivia almost felt nauseous again at the thought of it.

The two men dropped her back onto the floor where she sat for a moment. Then slowly but surely, she raised her head to once again meet Big Eddie's stare. Pure loathing met savage and ruthless in a battle of vivid green and deadly dark brown. He crouched down to her level and just stared at her for a moment. It was a look of pity mixed with something like arrogant superiority that made Olivia want to retch again.

"Hang in there, honey," Big Eddie whispered, a sneer hidden in his words, again evoking a wave of nausea in Olivia's gut.

She stared Big Eddie down until he left the room, only breaking eye contact for a fraction of a moment to snarl at the thug who clipped her on the shoulder on his way out. The guy just laughed and feigned a jab to her side with his foot. Olivia flinched; he chuckled and said something to his buddy, making them both turn to laugh at her as the door shut behind them.

Olivia leaned her head back against the pole and closed her eyes. Hunger was a nasty beast that clawed at her insides having been roughly awoken by the one successful blow to her stomach. It drained her more than the physical injuries did, but not by much. The mere thought of another beating in an hour made her feel sick all over again. So for the next fifty-eight minutes, Olivia swayed on the edge of consciousness, never quite falling into the black void below her.

X

Peter drummed his fingers on the hardwood table in Olivia's office at the Federal Building. The motion was restless; his fingers tapped the surface of the polished wood in a frantic dance as he passed it before continuing to walk slowly around the room. He looked at the clock on the wall, an action that had become no less than second nature by now. It was nearly eleven in the morning. They were getting ever closer to the twenty-four hour mark.

Pushing the thought out of his head, Peter began another loop around the office, but decided against it and instead came to rest on the edge of the desk. A frown creased his brow, adding to the overall look of exhaustion that had engulfed him for the past eighteen hours. His thoughts were back at the four different locations that he and a team had scoured from top to bottom on search of Big Eddie. Between his own past knowledge of the guy and that of the Bureau's, they had been able to come up with twelve locations that could be used as his hangout, and Peter's team had gone to four of the twelve – a dingy auto shop, the parking garage of an abandoned apartment building in Aberdeen, a back room in a long since abandoned bowling alley, and a motel room off the I-90. None of them had matched the room in the background of the video message. Each of them had been a fail, a dud, a dead end, and it was killing Peter that they were already running out of options. He was trying to preoccupy himself while agents in the room down the hall were searching the Bureau mainframe for past known associates. Peter had almost laughed when one particularly young agent had told him what they were doing. "The problem with that," he'd said with a hint of hysteria in his voice, "is that Big Eddie doesn't like to leave trails. He cleans up his messes, and leaves nothing behind. No trail, no clues, nothing."

The young man whom Peter had addressed had gulped and quickly scurried off. Peter was still willing to bet that they'd run the most in-depth search that the power of twenty combined tech agents could, but it was almost pointless.

As if he'd been doing it for years, Peter's neck muscles automatically swerved his head back in the direction of the clock on the wall.

11:01 AM

A vivid image of Olivia getting kicked by one of Big Eddie's men assaulted his mind, accompanied by Eddie's voice itself, telling him that Olivia would suffer every hour on the hour. Knowing that she was abused somewhere far away and out of his reach was enough to make him go mad. That added to his frustration over the complexity of the case was nearly more than he could handle. Where was Eddie holding Olivia? How was their kryptonian involved with all of it? A smile that did not reach his eyes covered Peter's face for a moment as he remember how Olivia had scoffed at the idea of calling the perp a 'kryptonian'. A hard lump formed at the back of his throat, but somehow he managed to swallow it down.

X

It was silent, save for the sound of her own, ragged breaths. No gag – a small blessing. Something cool was being brushed against her forehead. Olivia opened her eyes and, through her slightly blurry and not-yet-adjusted vision, saw the kind man leaning over her with a bucket of water by his side. The rag on her forehead was wonderful, and Olivia was not shocked to see that it was stained red from her blood and grey from the dirt on her face. Without speaking, the man rinsed out the cloth and returned it to her face, smoothing the hair off her forehead as beads of water ran down her cheeks. Olivia didn't try to sit up. She just lay on the floor and hoped that the man would continue to tend to her.

"How many?" she whispered so softly she was amazed that the man had heard her at all.

"Five," he replied equally as quietly.

They fell into silence again and, for what felt long enough that Olivia began to worry that Big Eddie would burst in at any moment, neither said anything, and the man continued tending to Olivia.

"My son is eight years old," the kind man spoke suddenly, causing Olivia to open her eyes again. Though the man continued to dab at her cheek with the rag, he was deep in thought, for his eyes had glazed over to give him the appearance of a man who was looking but not really seeing what was before him. "He turns nine next month. His mother and I have been in debt for the last couple years, and then, after my accident, we've been… in a rut. We don't have enough money to keep three meals on the table every day, much less be able to buy Jason something for his birthday."

His voice broke at the mention of his son's name and he closed his eyes. Olivia listened quietly, feeling a deep swell of pity for the man's condition. An image of a small boy sitting at home without a present on his birthday jumped to the front of her mind and Olivia's heart throbbed. She imagined what it would feel like to not be financially stable enough to give Ella a birthday present, and her eyes stung.

"I used to work at a lab downtown, but my research was… dismal, to say the least. My partner pulled out of our project a few months before the accident. He said it was going up shit creek and I was obsessed." The man gave a dry chuckle that momentarily brought an image of Peter to Olivia's mind. The singing in her eyes increased.

"We… well, I had been trying to develop a way to harness the solar radiation that the human body absorbs and put it to good use, as opposed to giving you melanoma and other diseases. It was supposed to use the energy to human cells, strengthen biological systems, fix any damage in the body…. It was going to revolutionize the way we look at solar energy and it would be able to help thousands of people." His eyes were downcast looking at the dirty floor as his gentle hands wiped away the dust caked on Olivia's chin and neck. When Olivia made no sound to oppose him, he continued. "Naturally, the drug had to be tested before major companies would even consider investing in it. I was pressured for time. I was pressured for money. I was pressured for results. I thought I had no choice." His voice dropped and he sighed deeply. There was a lot of regret and sorrow hidden in that sigh that Olivia picked up on immediately, but she could do nothing to ease his pain.

"It didn't work," she said softly.

"No, it did. That was the problem," he replied quietly. "You must know who I am by now – you chased my down in an alley the other day, remember?" A ghost of a smile graced both their lips for a fraction of a second at the memory that seemed too far off to have happened only one day ago. "They serum gave me energy – too much of it, and in weird ways. I didn't expect it to alter my DNA like this. Even though it worked, the drug just wasn't ready. My lab was shut down; I lost my standing in the scientific world; and now I can't get the drug out of my system. As long as I get solar radiation, I stay Superman-like."

"Bet your son loved that," Olivia attempted a smile again, and the man returned it.

"Funny you should say that," he grinned, meeting her gaze for the first time since the conversation had started, "he made me a picture of our family, and I was Superman come to save the day with tax money, a new job… and a birthday present."

He placed the sopping rag in its bucket and pulled a folded sheet of paper out of his back pocket and held it up to Olivia. She genuinely smiled at the sight of the child's colorful drawing that tugged at her heartstrings.

The kind man folded up the paper carefully as if it were the world's greatest treasure and continued his story. "I needed money fast. We were about to be kicked out of the house… and then I found Big Eddie. Or rather, he found me. Doesn't matter now, but I got caught up in his dealings. I told myself… I tell myself that I'm doing it for my family."

Olivia gulped. "And does it work?"

Again, the man met her eyes, and this time, they locked. Even though his eyes were the only part of his face not hidden under the balaclava, they looked heartbroken. "No," came his simple reply, but Olivia could tell that he was choking up behind the mask.

"Then get out if it. Just get up and leave. You have the power to do it." Olivia's eyes were burning again, but this time a passionate fire glowed inside them. "She lifted her head in an attempt to lean in closer to him, lowering her voice considerably. "I know that you could take down each and every one of those men in a heartbeat."

"I can't," the man's voice was even, but he possessed a fire just as bright as Olivia's. "The money I get from this isn't much, but we're getting by. I can't secure another job, not while I'm like… this."

"Clark Kent did," Olivia replied with a slight smirk.

"This isn't a comic book. This is real!"

Olivia was slightly angered at his response. "You think I don't know that?" She nodded down at her marred, injured body. The man tried to reply, but Olivia cut him off. "Why did you take me? If you're an honest man and this is really for your family, then you owe me that much."

Her stare was livid, wild, but it came easily.

The man swallowed hard, but kept her gaze. "Peter Bishop owes him money. But then again, I bet you already knew that."

Olivia nodded, wild gaze still in play. "But Eddie could have taken anyone close to Peter – why not Walter? That's Peter's father, I'm sure he means more to him than I do…"

The man sighed. "I'm sorry, I wish I could help you, but I can't, not without putting my family in harm's way. All I know is that Big Eddie wanted you because he knew that Peter would do whatever it took to get you back… and that meant getting his debts paid."

Olivia nodded. As much as Peter had tried to hide it that day he'd first made her laugh, there was something about him that betrayed his anxiety over the issue. She just never thought the matter would ever involve her on such a personal level.

He stood to leave and Olivia panicked. "You can help me! You can help your family! What did Eddie promise you that was so special? Just the money?"

"Protection for my family. If I do anything out of line…" the unfinished sentence left Olivia's mind to wander to all the horrible things that Eddie might do, and a sharp jab of nausea hit her in the gut.

"Please…" Olivia begged. She was close to tears now. For a while, she thought that she was getting somewhere with this man, but as he offered her a drink of water before standing up, Olivia saw the pain in his eyes had intensified. One glance showed that he hated himself for doing this to her. "Please…"

"Don't make this any harder for me than it already is," he spoke roughly but did not hurt her as he circled behind the pole and made sure that her bonds were still tight.

Returning to face Olivia, he sat her up quickly. "Listen to me," the man spoke with urgency as he cupped her face in his hands. "You will get through this. Do you hear me? Bishop will come for you. You'll be freed, Eddie will get his money and everything will be ok."

"But what about you?" Olivia's face was streaked with silent tears.

"I'll be fine."

He stood and exited the room in a hurry, leaving Olivia slightly puzzled and completely bewildered. His demeanor had changed from that of a scared man to that of a man on a mission. A faint hope blossomed inside Olivia, one that flickered in fear when the door opened several minutes later, and this time it was not the kind man come to visit her again.

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