AN: I'm going to give you all a warning here: this chapter is angsty, and if you're not comfortable with (mention of) (almost-)rape, you probably shouldn't read it. Not that I go into so much detail, but still. Yeah, that kind of gives away what's going to happen, but I thought it would be just fair to warn you beforehand.

And a cliffy (at least, I think it counts as a cliffy). 'Cause I can.

Chapter 21. Mission: Impossible

'Where is she going?' Fiyero whispered as he and Glinda entered the bar and positioned themselves at one of the tables, from where they could overview the entire bar.

'She waits outside,' said Glinda. 'Our target is lieutenant Ross of the Gillikin Army. He's one of the few people that has a key to… well, I don't know to where – Corry never tells me that – but it's important to the Resistance. Anyhow… Fifi? Are you okay?'

He was looking immensely pale, and she waved a hand in front of his face. 'Fiyero?'

He snapped out of it, blinking and looking at her, a terrified expression on his face. 'We have to get her out of here.'

Glinda was confused. 'Fiyero, what-'

Just then, however, the lieutenant walked in, still in uniform, and ordered a whiskey. Elphaba entered not much later, positioning herself on a crutch next to him and talking to him.

Fiyero cursed under his breath.

Elphaba threw her head in her neck and laughed about something he'd said, after which she inched closer to him, placing her hand on his arm. Glinda grinned. Her friend really was getting better and better at this.

'Glinda.' Fiyero's voice brought her back to their conversation. He was leaning over the table, his sapphire eyes more serious than she had ever seen them. 'I know lieutenant Ross,' Fiyero said urgently. 'We've met a couple of times during the past two years. Glinda… she can't go home with him. If she does…' He took a deep breath. 'He's known for his… escapades with women.'

Glinda was still puzzled. 'Yes,' she said slowly. 'That's why Elphie is supposed to seduce him. If he were a humble and decent family man, he would never let her do that, now would he? I don't understand your problem, Fiyero.'

He shook his head, frustrated. 'Not just escapades, Glinda. He…' He swallowed. 'He hurts them,' he said quietly. 'All kinds of stories circulate about him, and I don't know how many of them are true, but… but some of them certainly are. He hurts the women he's with – he rapes them if they don't work with him. Sometimes he even invites his friends along… I've seen some of those women, Glinda. We can't let something like that happen to her. Please… you have to break this off.'

Glinda shook her head. 'I can't,' she declared. 'This is an important mission, Fiyero. And frankly,' she added sternly, 'I think you're just making up some story because you don't like seeing Elphie like this,' she nodded towards the green girl, who was allowing the officer to kiss her neck, making a face at Glinda over his head, 'and you're jealous.'

'What?' Fiyero was horrified. 'No! I swear that's not it! Glinda…'

She held up one hand. 'Don't. I'm not stopping it, Fiyero, and neither are you,' she told him.

He grew angry. 'Glinda!'

'Fifi, stop this!' she snapped at him. 'We all know you're a jealous little prick. Get over it. There are things more important than your hurt ego!'

'Like Elphaba's safety and well-being?' he snapped back, and she could see the sincerity in his eyes, confusing her. Was he serious about this? 'Fifi…'

'I don't care what you're saying,' he declared hotly. 'I'm getting her out of here right now.' He turned around… but she was gone, and so was the lieutenant. Neither Glinda nor Fiyero had seen or heard them leave.

Fiyero looked absolutely panic-stricken, and the expression in his eyes convinced Glinda of the fact that he really was serious about this. Suddenly hurried, she grabbed his arm. 'Come on. I know where he lives.'

Elphaba pretended to be impressed with lieutenant Ross's residence. 'Oh, my,' she said, splaying her fingers against his chest in an exaggerated gesture. 'Do you live here?'

'Whenever I am in the City, I do,' he said, kissing her hand before waggling his eyebrows at her. 'But this is not my only house.'

'Wow,' she purred. 'You must be very rich, then.'

He pulled her closer and kissed her, short and hard. 'I am, baby,' he growled. 'In more than one way.'

She let out a fake girlish giggle. 'Show me,' she whispered seductively, and his grin widened. 'My pleasure.'

He turned to open the door, and Elphaba risked a quick glance at her surroundings. She was in one of the richer parts of the City, but she barely even noticed that; she was looking for Glinda.

She frowned. She didn't see the blonde, but she had to be there, right? Unless Fiyero had been distracting her and she hadn't seen Elphaba leave. The green girl grunted softly. I'm never going to let Fiyero come on another mission ever again.

She didn't worry too much, however. She knew that Glinda knew Ross's address, so the moment the blonde would notice Elphaba's absence at the bar, she wound drag Fiyero right over here. Glinda was an excellent tracker and an expert when it came to picking locks, so there wasn't really a problem; but still Elphaba promised herself to have a nice long conversation with Fiyero as soon as this was over. Just to teach him a lesson. She appreciated his concern, but the fact that he was actually interfering with her missions, now, rubbed her the wrong way.

Ross pulled her inside his home, closing the door behind him and immediately starting to kiss her passionately, groping her everywhere. She made a soft, indignant sound and swatted at him, trying to look playful. 'Not here!' she giggled.

Suddenly, he whirled around and pinned her to the wall with such strength that she was taken aback for a moment. He brought his face close to hers, and she could smell the alcohol on his breath when he whispered harshly, 'Don't you dare protest, you little whore. You're mine for tonight and I plan on using my time effectively.'

Cold chills ran down her spine. He started kissing her again, then grabbed her arm and harshly started dragging her up the stairs with him and into his bedroom. He threw her onto the bed and locked the door behind him, his small, pig-like eyes gleaming. 'Now, where were we?'

Elphaba swallowed. The lieutenant started undoing his pants. 'Well, this is fun,' he grunted, 'but I shouldn't keep you all to myself, should I? That would be selfish of me.' He walked past her and through another door, into the adjacent sitting room. 'Guys?' he called.

A new voice came from the other room. 'That's about time, you moron! Did you bring us something nice to play with?' Another man walked into the room, a third one following him.

'I certainly have,' Ross said smugly. One of the other men whistled. 'Nice one.'

The third one licked his lips, and the lust was audible in his voice when he said, 'Let the fun begin.'

Elphaba's eyes had widened upon seeing the other men and she scrambled backwards onto the bed. She tried to remember a spell – any spell – but to her absolute horror, she found that she couldn't. She couldn't remember so much as a single word.

The men advanced on her, eager looks on their face. 'She's pretty enough,' one of them commented and the other one groaned, 'Up for some fun, darling? Don't worry, you're gonna love it – you're being spoiled, you know that? Three of us and only one of you…' He jumped onto the bed with her, grabbing her and pulling her towards him. She struggled, but his grip seemed unbreakable.

'You should know, though,' the man continued casually, holding her down with one hand and using the other to brush some of her hair away from her face, studying her features, 'that we like it rough. I hope you don't mind that.'

'And even if you do,' Ross grunted, struggling with the zipper of his pants, 'we don't care.'

The man on top of her bent down to lick her neck, his one hand moving down to the hem of her top. She struggled again, but he didn't even move; then she spat in his face.

He stopped, glaring down at her menacingly. Then he raised his hand and struck her hard across the face.

'Don't make me mad, darling,' he warned her. Then he started kissing her again, pushing his tongue into her mouth and moving his hand under her shirt.

Elphaba was trying her hardest to get her mind to work properly. In a moment of clarity, she brought her knee up between the man's legs, and at the same moment she bit down hard on his tongue.

He yelped and pulled away, and she used the opportunity to kick him off her with both her feet and scramble off the bed, stumbling into the adjacent sitting room. Panting, she hurriedly looked around, trying to find an exit; but to her horror, there wasn't one. The room was a dead end.

She whirled around to face the door to the bedroom again and gulped. She was trapped.

Ross stormed in through the door, grabbing a fistful of her hair and yanking her head up to look at him, making her cry out in pain. 'You shouldn't have done that, you dirty little slut,' he hissed, pulling out his belt. He threw her down onto the floor and hit her with the belt. She yelped in pain.

'Let's teach you a real lesson this time.'

Okay, Elphaba, think. You've been trained for these situations. Cast a spell.

She couldn't remember a single one of them. Her mind seemed to have gone fuzzy.

Then use physical force. Do something. Get out of here. Your training, remember your training – when you're stuck in a situation like this one, what are you supposed to do?

Her breathing was coming fast and ragged now. She didn't remember. She didn't remember anything anymore. She had no idea what to do, her mind had gone blank; the only thing she knew right now was that her instincts were screaming at her to take flight, to get away from these men. That was all that was going through her head: she had to get away from them. About the how, however, she didn't have the faintest clue.

For the first time in her life, something was happening to Elphaba that she had sworn would never, ever happen to her.

She was panicking.

'Here it is!' Glinda looked up at the mansion. She couldn't see any lights on in the house, and no sound disturbed the quiet night; yet she didn't really trust it, either. She knelt down in front of the front door and, after quickly glancing around to see if anyone was there to see them – which wasn't the case – she started picking the lock with her hairpin.

Fiyero waited next to her, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, impatient. 'Do you think they're even here?' he demanded. 'Maybe you're wrong and this isn't where he lives. It doesn't look like anyone is home.' His eyes widened. 'Perhaps he's taken her somewhere else!'

Glinda cursed when her hairpin broke off in the lock and she pulled out a new one. 'Stop this, Fiyero,' she ordered through clenched teeth, continuing to poke the pin around in the lock. 'We'll see, okay? We'll break in and just hope she's here.' She looked up at him. 'Is Ross really as bad as you were saying he was?'

Fiyero nodded unhappily. 'He is. Like I said, I don't know which rumours are true and which aren't, but… well, let's just say I don't want to take any risks.'

Glinda placed her hand on his arm for a moment in a comforting gesture. 'Don't worry, Fiyero,' she said, her cerulean eyes solemn for once. 'If she really is in danger, we'll get her out of there.'

'I know.' He sighed. 'I just hope we're on time.'

'So do I.' There was a clicking sound and Glinda rose to her feet, pushing open the door. 'There. Piece of cake.'

'Upstairs?' Fiyero suggested, and Glinda nodded, already halfway up the stairs. 'Seems the most logical decision.'

'Stay still!' one of the men yelled at the emerald witch, pushing her down onto the floor. He straddled her, his weight pressing her down, her arms pinned down next to her sides. 'Not so saucy anymore now, are you?'

'Hurry up a little,' Ross commanded him impatiently. 'You're not the only one who wants to have some fun tonight.'

'I know,' his friend said, grinning down at Elphaba. 'But I like to take my time.'

She managed to wiggle one arm free, but it was immediately pinned to the floor again, above her head this time. 'I know of a way to make her look even prettier than she already does.'

His companion laughed. 'Do tell.'

The first man smirked. 'Don't you think she'd look much better with less clothing on?' She started squirming beneath him, but he easily held her down and grabbed her top with one hand, starting to tear it off her body.

The other man was still laughing. 'Well, I must say,' he offered, 'I do like my women in tight pants.'

The first man grumbled. 'Yes, well, I don't, so you're going to have to put them back on her when it's your turn,' he snorted, fiddling with the button of her trousers. Finally, he succeeded in pulling off her top and he shifted a little, allowing lieutenant Ross and the other man to peel the trousers off her legs.

The man on top of her whistled again. 'Nice. You did well, Ross. Here I was thinking you had no taste in women.'

'What did I say about hurrying up?' Ross snapped, and his companion rolled his eyes. 'Like I said, I'm going to take my time.' He eyed Elphaba up and down eagerly. 'Much better,' he declared. 'But still not good enough.' His eyes bored into Elphaba's and he grinned down at her maliciously. 'Here we go, darling. I hope you're not too attached to those undergarments you're wearing.'

Suddenly, he laughed. 'Oh, babe,' he said smugly, reaching for her face and grabbing her chin, making her look at him. 'Look at you. Crying with happiness.' She hadn't even realised there were tears streaming down her face until he made that remark. 'You should be, too,' he told her. 'You're the luckiest girl in all of Oz, to belong to the three of us for an entire night. Believe me, we know what we're doing. By tomorrow morning, you're going to be begging us to take you again.' He roughly wiped the tears from her cheeks.

She hated herself for crying, for showing such weakness, but the truth was that she didn't feel like herself at all. She had always been strong – if not physically, then at the very least both mentally and magically, and she had always managed to get herself out of sticky situations. Now, however, there was no magic, there were no spells and there were no thoughts; there was just pure, unadulterated fear coursing through her body.

She wasn't someone who was easily brought down by something. She had defied the Wizard, for Oz's sake. She'd crashed against a rock wall, she had been in Southstairs, she had been shot. She had jumped off a high building with the intention of sacrificing her life without so much as blinking an eye. But now, for the first time in her life, she felt weak. Weak and scared and absolutely powerless.

The man roughly pressed his lips to hers as his hand moved down.

Elphaba squeezed her eyes shut and just hoped that it would be over soon.

There came a thumping sound from upstairs, and Glinda quickened her pace, nearly running. 'I go left, you go right!' she shouted at Fiyero, who nodded quickly, and they split up. Fiyero ran down the right side of the enormous hallway, pushing open doors as he passed them, but they were all dark and empty; there was no sign of life anywhere.

Suddenly, he heard more sounds coming from the other side of the hallway – thumps and something that sounded an awful lot like a cry - and he turned and ran back in the direction Glinda had gone in. 'Glin?' he called anxiously.

The blonde had just halted in front of one of the doors. She tried the doorknob, but it was locked. More sounds came from inside, and Glinda stepped back, raised her high-heeled foot, and kicked in the door with one well-aimed movement. She stormed into the room, and Fiyero sped up to catch up with her.

Just then, however, he heard her gasp, a sound that made the blood run cold in his veins. 'Elphie!'