AN: Hehe, Action chappie at long last. Thank you for sticking through the filler chapters. I'll re-edit them on completion but they have a use! I promise;)

John had to bury the tenacious smile that threatened to burst as he talked to his wife. It didn't matter that she could hear it, and that most of the others couldn't see it in the privacy of the crowded environment, but it did seem highly inappropriate. His cover was that of a banker… People had underestimated because of her delicate and beautiful stature- even when she was working. 'Apparently nurses are only hired costumes.' He remembered Helen ranting as she treated him once and almost felt guilty about leaving the unsuspecting unit in the lurch, almost. There was still an element in him that liked to mess with the SAS boys, for seasoned soldiers, they were always ridiculously easy to prank.

"John, I don't know how long they'll stand down for. At the moment they're going to wait for you."

"It'll be fine, I'm not far behind Fox now. I'm holding off until they reach their final destination before I extract him. Tell Cossack to wait in tonight for my call… I'll be home soon."

At the other end of the line she rolled her eyes. How many times had she heard that before?

"I'll see you then." She hung the phone back up on it's cradle. She knew her life could have been different, care free at the least. At St Dominic's Helen could only guess at his job; that man was either accident prone or incredibly lucky. Although it wasn't really curiosity that drew her to him.

Patients who didn't have visitors were usually the ones to be doted on like lost strays by the staff and the cute ones were fought over at times. So of course when the flirty, six foot blonde was first wheeled in; the claws came out. The Head Nurse was an older woman and a bit of a dragon to her subordinates. As soon as the chitter started- it was extinguished by her curt demand that, 'Miss Helen will be assigned to this patient.' When the fire-breather left a lot of the younger girls flocked behind her looking surprisingly geese like in their white coats, waddling behind the large matriarch. Only one or two of the experienced nurses that stayed had anything to say, even if it was far from being worth-their-while.

They fixed pointed glares upon bayonets and set forward their charge. Exclaiming their whispers of gossip of how Helen was 'Dragon's pet', and that she was, 'Too grim and bossy to ever catch herself a man.' The remaining staff laughed. Two months ago it was rumored that it had been Helen that put salt in the Dragon's tea, a week later she'd been caught swapping sugar pills and lactulose tablets in a sort of Russian roulette type Vitamin C bottle by the Dragon herself. She would've been fired if she wasn't as good as she was.

And she got offers. A lot of them. It was normal for nurses to be propositioned for dates, but she was proposed to on a weekly basis- half may have been from doped up soldiers and a couple of rich idiots who thought she could be bought- but it was something about her honey like ways that seemed to bewitch everyone. Helen could have had any life she dreamt of, the only one she needed was with him.

A quite rap on the kitchen door broke her reverie. The young Russian stray who had found a family among the Rider's stood in the frame. "That English Unit is crazy."

"Why's that Cossack?"

He rolled his eyes, did she really have to ask? "They keep trying to secretly plan some way out. They want to get Fox when Hunter is already doing so."

A frown pulled at the corners of her lips, as much as he had improved, it seemed that the boy was far from fixed. Not from lack of trying, but they did the best they could given the circumstances because she knew John loved the boy like a son. The training was a formal protection so that he could survive when and if he chose to leave. John knew he had to be better than the rest in order for that to happen, so he was a strict task master by choice and standard, but a kind mindful mentor in temperance. The boy knew that; he followed him like a puppy, loved him as a father and protected both Rider's with a fierce determination. He was still unable to recognize them as family, or apparently recognize the same traits in others… "Cossack, if it were John missing and they were his rescue, would you stay?" The red hair shook adamantly. "And if it were you missing, John would have already disappeared after you." 'No discussion or argument there.' She smirked mentally. "Fox is family to those men, they will fight tooth and nail for each other. They're also soldiers and they'll follow orders most of the time."

It was the sensation of falling that jerked him awake. When his mind had decided to stop breathing, just before the body tried to jump out of it's skin and lungs gasped for deprived oxygen. The feeling was terrifying. But Ben also whacked his head on whatever was above him. He couldn't believe his luck, although more than that, he didn't want anyone to tell Alex about the biggest Rookie grade mistake he had made. So far he'd been sent back in time, had to watch his brother have a breakdown, get shipped off, drugged with a dart gun and woke up in what felt to be some twat's boot with a killer headache. 'Just another mission then.' He snipped to himself. Ben did not want to know exactly how many times he'd been through this and frankly he never wanted to be informed just how many times his partner had.

He forced his body to go limp as the car came to a halt, premature or not, if anyone was coming to take him it was safer for him to play possum. There were very few psychopaths who would beat on someone already unconscious; into and beyond consciousness? That was another story entirely. All of his efforts went to listening for slight noises around him, searching for something that will give him an edge. The place was silent…

A barely human scream tore through the stillness; ripping at it with enough force to spilt reality and fantasy. The sickening crack of the whip when it struck flesh cast light upon it's cherished value throughout the years of dedicated service. Blow after blow fell, giving way to animalistic grunts as the poor man's voice grew scratchy and hoarse. As more rough, jagged lines where cut into his back, his clothes lost there definition, the shreds of patchily colored fabric over his torso no longer resembled the grey T-shirt he wore hours earlier and the metallic scent in the air stayed pungent and fresh.

Crack! "You are a foolish man." Crack! "To kill the men who delivered you here unharmed!" Crack!

The door burst open, slamming back against the wall and bouncing closed again until it struck the boot of the new arrival. The brighter lights from outside silhouetted him.

"Etot chelovek bly ne postradayet. Markova podnyato yego po prikazo bossa. On dolzhen byt' zhivy, idiot! (This man is to be kept alive. Markova picked him on the boss's orders. He is to be kept alive, idiot!)"

"Prosti menya (Forgive me...)"

"Konechno.(Of course.)"

Crack!

It was a deeper sound this time echoing in the confines of the room. One that didn't leave a burning sensation on the prisoner. His torturer collapsed forward in a heap before him, blood stained whip still in hand. A bullet hole drilled neatly into his forehead.

"Get him out." Two new men rushed forward, appearing from somewhere beyond the world behind him.

They took the body and dragged it between them. The door slammed again; shut.

"A shame really, he was such a nice guy…" Ben muttered through gritted teeth removing himself from the forced kneeling position he had adopted to return to the single cot, kilometers away on the other side of the room.

AN; review if you want to find out about Ben.