AN: I just have a mild warning to give you guys as this chapter has some graphic violence depicted in here because Carter goes ham on HR...just an FYI.


"Rise and shine," came a voice John came to recognize as soulless.

John cracked an eye open. His chest felt like an inferno after the beating he took. It hurt to breathe and when he did it took a lot of effort. His shoulder throbbed with a deep pain from his gunshot wound that had been a source of torture for HR.

He didn't put up a fight as Simmons and a few other men he didn't recognize grabbed his arm and forced him up. John had to bide his time in hopes of protecting Joss from their wrath for his attempt on Quinn's life.

He collapsed in the back of a tinted SUV. Even when he died he didn't feel this sort of pain. It hurt but the hurt was gone after only a few minutes. John hadn't a clue how long they drove and wasn't even aware of if it was day or night, not when he had a black bag over his head. He closed his eyes and didn't open them again until the door to the SUV opened alerting him to the fact that they had stopped. He was dragged out and forced into a building before he was pushed to sit down. The bag was taken off first, then the cuffs. John instantly began fighting. His body hurt with every movement he made but he forced himself to fight. He got some good kicks and punches in before they swarmed him, forcing him onto the ground as they pummeled him.

"Enough!" Simmons commanded and they hauled him up and pushed him into a chair where they proceeded to zip tie his arms and legs to the chair.

John limply sat staring darkly at the men before him. He worked his mouth. "How are you going to make it appear as though I killed Joss with me sitting tied to the chair?"

"You won't be sitting here. But even if you were we have Fusco in our back pocket. He'd help us arrange it." Simmons assured. "It's nearly show time. Fusco is in the process of bringing her to us as we speak so there is only one last formality."

John wished he could do something but he was tied to the chair and weak. All he could do was watch as one of the men with Simmons and Terney pulled out a syringe. John merely cocked a brow at it.

"Sedative?" John remarked.

Simmons laughed. "No, if it was up to me you'd suffer more for the stunt you pulled yesterday with Quinn."

John nodded. "Ah, heroin, to make it look like I was high when I shot her." he murmured. They thought of every last detail.

"You'll be so out of it by the time Carter gets here; even if you try to save her it won't do you any good," Simmons assured him cockily as he sunk the syringe into him and shot the drugs into him system.


"Mike check, one two, one two," Lionel said as they drove to the location that he was given by HR to take Carter to. He did everything by the book. He went up to Carter at the precinct in front of the Captain to give her the news that he had decided to ask his informants to keep an eye out for John and had a lead. Joss was an even better actress as she literally dropped everything she was doing to demand that he'd take her there immediately, that John could be disoriented and in need of help. Lynch gave him a smarmy grin and Lionel gave one back, no one was the wiser.

But on the down low he informed Donnelly of where and when. The place surely was covered with agents, which would not only make sure that he and Carter came out alive but their angelic friend as well.

"It's a go," Donnelly responded. "Carter?"

"I can hear you," she snapped. She was just nervous. It was finally all coming to an end and she needed to make sure John was alive. Who knew what they've done to him since they grabbed him? She couldn't wait to see him just to make sure he was still with her.

Before she left the house she strapped a small pistol to her ankle as well as pocketed her trusty knife. Donnelly wanted them all taken alive but Joss didn't share the same feeling if it meant saving John. Joss's father had taught her how to throw a knife at a target since the age of five. It had been just something they did together. Her mom didn't even stop it either, not when she realized that their darling daughter was more tom-boy than girly girl. Joss made her dad proud when she hit the bullseye every time. Joss hadn't thrown knives in years but she was sure she could still do it, and if need be, for John's life and hers, she would hit the bullseye but this time it wouldn't be a round piece of wood painted by her father but instead between the eyes of a murderer. She just hoped it didn't come to that.

Fusco looked at Carter. She wore a determined expression on her face and little else but he knew what this was doing to her internally. "We'll get him back, Carter."

"I know. John promised me that he'd choose me and I'm going to hold him to that damn promise!"

He nodded. "We have to play this right, Carter. You can't go in prepared for gun battle. You are coming here thinking John is at this vacant warehouse because he's disoriented and mentally ill." Fusco reminded her.

"I know how to do this, Lionel, it's my job," she barked angrily. Lionel didn't take any offense knowing the strain she was under. "I'm sorry, Fusco," she said after a moment.

"It's okay, you're worried about the big guy. Let's just get him back and call it even. I'm looking forward to getting my head out of HR's ass and not need to look over my shoulder every damn day," he muttered.

"Me too. Plus, after HR is dealt with I can have my son come back home on the weekends."

They both fell into silence as they approached the out of the way vacant warehouse where supposedly an amnesiac nut job had run off to. Lionel had questioned Lynch about why out there that it would be a stretch for Carter to believe John would be out so far, but Lynch told him to convince her that it was wide open and would be easy to take her out there. Thankfully, Carter, the grand actress she was, had questioned it and believed his answer even though under normal circumstances she would never have.

Fusco pulled up to the curb and cut the engine. "We're here," he said for Donnelly.

"My teams have all checked in and have eyes on you. You're good to go." Donnelly responded in true professionalism.

Joss slid out of the car first. "Where is he, Fusco?" she asked, slipping into Actress Carter.

"In here. My informant said she saw a man matching his description with another man head this way. She thought they were doing drugs." he explained, deciding he was the next Kevin Costner.

Joss made a face. "I was hoping he wasn't a druggie. But it would explain why he hopped in front of my car in the buff," she replied as she stormed in front of Lionel towards the vacant warehouse. Lionel felt nervous but instantly shut it down and steeled himself for the fight to come. Wonder-Boy and Carter needed him to.

Joss entered first as they decided to make it look believable. The cry of sheer agony from Carter was anything but acting. John was lying on the floor nearby a chair, bloody, bruised, and clearly not with it. "John!" she called out, biting her tongue to keep in character, as she rushed to him. He was sprawled out, spread eagle and staring at her but not seeing her. She was scared he was already dead.

Joss ran to him and put her fingers to his neck and nearly sobbed in relief when she felt his pulse but it wasn't strong. "John," she murmured as she moved his head and saw his pupils were unnaturally small. Joss recognized the signs immediately; he was shot up with heroin and on the precipice of overdosing. Her eyes took note of the gunshot wound to his shoulder and his face was bruised and there was a gash over his right eye. They not only shot him but used him as a punching bag.

"I'm sorry Carter," Lionel said from behind her.

Joss turned to look and saw that Lionel was pulling a gun on her. For nearly a minute she forgot he was acting. "What the hell are you doing Lionel? I need to call 9-1-1!" she cried.

"You see that's where you are wrong, my dear."

Joss looked away from Fusco towards the voice and she crouched protectively near John as Quinn, Simmons, and Terney approached her.

She turned back to Fusco and made a face. "I should have figured it out sooner that you were dirty. That's what I get for actually believing I had someone to watch my back," she snapped. God, they needed to hurry this up so they could get John to the hospital.

Lionel shrugged. "Sorry Carter, but, I got a kid to pay for and playing by the rules gets me nowhere. If you didn't have the rulebook stuck so far up your ass you might have been quality HR material," he responded.

Ooh, Joss was going to pay him back for that one. She shifted to look back at Simmons, Terney, and Quinn. Quinn was the only one not holding a gun on her. She cocked a brow up at the bruising around his neck.

"So Alonzo Quinn is the head of HR," she said clearly and loudly for the FBI's recording.

Quinn smiled. "At your service, Detective Carter, and I wish I could say it's a pleasure to meet you but you've proved quite difficult to kill, which is why I'm here in person to make sure it's done properly."

Joss shrugged as she kept her fingers on John's pulse to make sure he was still with her. "So this is what?—a setup, John isn't some druggie is he? You nabbed him and took him here knowing I wanted to save him."

Quinn shrugged. "I was told by my men that you had a bleeding heart and when your stray saved your life after, once again, we failed to kill you in an inconspicuous way…I saw my opportunity. He's truly the perfect person to kill you Detective; he is amnesiac and was in a psych ward at one time."

Joss looked down at John making sure he hadn't stopped breathing before looking back up. Time to get this over with so she could save John; who knew how long he was like this and precious seconds mattered. "Do what you want to me but let John go. He's not a part of this," she pleaded.

"Bastard, tried to kill me!" Quinn growled. Joss's eyes widened as she realized the bruises around Quinn's neck were from John. He had attempted to choke Alonzo Quinn to death. "As I figure, he saw it as a way to protect you but his life ends with yours."

"He's got some balls I'll give him that," Simmons spoke up finally. "He didn't come willingly. But we always win and that will never change."

Joss's panic rose as she looked down at John as his breathing became even more labored; to hell with the investigation. "You never lose huh?—think again," she snarled as she reached for her knife inside her coat with a quickness that surprised everyone but her and flung it at Simmons head, and she didn't even flinch when she struck him between the eyes, just where she had aimed.

Quinn shouted, so did Fusco, and Terney aimed for her head and Lionel shifted his focus from Carter's back to Terney and began firing. "DAMN IT CARTER! TEAMS GO, GO, GO!" Donnelly shouted loudly in her ear but she didn't hear it over the roar of adrenaline as she pulled out her gun hovering protectively over John as she fired at any moving target. She didn't feel the pain as she was grazed with a bullet her focus solely on HR and blowing them away.

Quinn made a dash for the exit as a few loyal HR police officers wrestled to get their guns drawn, not having suspected she would go on attack mode or have Fusco at her side. Before Quinn could beat a hasty exit men dressed in black and Kevlar were bursting through doors and windows, out arming HR. They threw Quinn onto the ground.

Joss lowered her gun letting Donnelly's men apprehend HR as more than a few needed medical assistance thanks to her and proceeded to immediately check John over. "Hey, I got you." she whispered as she looked back to Fusco. "Call a god damn ambulance!" she growled.

Fusco nodded as he spared one look at Simmons who had a knife sticking out of his forehead and dialed 9-1-1.

Joss ignored the flurry of people as she stared into John's unseeing eyes. "Just focus on breathing, John. Fight through it. Breathe in and out," she ordered.

"What happened?" it was Donnelly.

"They shot him up with heroin and he's close to overdosing. We need a damn ambulance like a minute ago." she snarled. "And I won't lose him. I won't," she whispered, trying to believe it.


AN: Okay, I will admit the gruesome death that Simmons suffered by the hands of Joss Carter was because he killed her on the show and very therapeutic for me. Plus, John gets to have his badass moments so why not Joss? In my head canon I always figured Joss was a cross between a girly-girl and a tomboy. She enjoyed dressing up in dresses but did things that were considered not girly.

Now they have one last issue to tackle...making John realize the truth ;D

Thank you for reading!