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Chapter 21: Disconnected

Leo stood in the middle of the mess that was once the manor. He looked around, not really looking at anything in particular. He rubbed his sore shoulder, the one he hurt when he was thrown over the railing of the stairs.

The phone rang and Phoebe answered it. Leo did pay attention to her until she shouted with surprise, "Piper! Oh my God! Where are you?!"

Leo ran to Phoebe and got close enough to hear Piper's end of the conversation.

Leo could hear from her voice she was trying not to cry. "I'm at--," her sentence was cut off by a long, high-pitched scream followed by a loud thump. Leo winced when he heard it.

"Stupid bitch," he heard a masculine voice say and the phone call ended.

Phoebe looked at the phone with the buzzing dial tone in her hand. "I was less worried before she called."

Me too, he thought as Phoebe began to cry and he hugged her. Me too.

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Piper's head was swimming. The last time he punched her she thought her head was going to explode. It burned with pain, and with her hands tied, literally, there was nothing she could do about it. She just braced herself for the next punch.

When she thought she couldn't take it anymore, she cried out, "Bathroom. I have to use the bathroom." Piper just hoped it could buy her a few minutes. Her cell phone was in the pocket of the light jacket she was wearing.

Her captor released the ropes that bound her feet to the chair, but he left her hands tied. He led her to a small bathroom across the warehouse she was being kept in. He shoved her into the bathroom and said. "Three minutes, not a second more." He then closed the door, waiting on the outside.

When Piper and Leo went to visit Eric in the hospital, Piper had turned her phone on silent. She was happy for that now since her phone made no noise when she turned it on and dialed the number for home.

It took all she could not to cry when she heard Phoebe's voice on the other line. "Phoebe," she whispered, not wanting her captor to hear. Her voice broke when she said her sister's name.

"Piper! Oh my God! Where are you?!" Piper couldn't hold back the tears when she heard the concern and worry in her sister's voice.

"I'm at --" But Piper spoke to loudly. Tony Wong came crashing into the bathroom, face red with anger.

The came towards her, fist raised. As he punched her she screamed and dropped the phone. The punch came so fast in knocked her to the ground.

"Stupid bitch," he growled at her. He slammed the phone on the ground, breaking it.

Piper wiped her mouth and pulled back a red hand. Her lip was split and bleeding.

Tony grabbed her by the hair and forced her to stand up. AS he marched her out of the bathroom, Piper saw her reflection in the mirror. The left side of her face was purple and blood was oozing from her lip. She was openly crying now, she didn't care. He tied her back up in the chair, mumbling in Chinese the whole time.

When Piper first heard his voice, she thought it had been Mark. But that was stupid on her part. He was dead and never coming back.

He thoughts drifted from Mark to Leo. He had to be dead. The way his body fell from the stairs to the top of the table… it made Piper want to cry every time she thought about it. When she cried out to him, he didn't move. He had to be dead and it was too much for Piper to bear.

Tony Wong was pacing in front of her, talking. But Piper hadn't been listening. Now she tuned in mid-conversation.

"…can't wait 'til we get to China and I can kill you without the American cops on my ass."

"China?"

"I'm going to off you once we get there. Or maybe on the plane." He bent near her and whispered in her ear. "I can't wait to kill you. It's going to be so much fun."

Tears were leaking down Piper's face. "Why?" she whispered.

"Why?! Why?! I'll tell you why. You ruined everything. You just couldn't let your little boyfriend stay missing could you? You had to find out where he was. You led the cops to believe it was him dead, not me. Stupid bitch!" He looked like he was going to punch her again, so Piper closed her eyes and waited for the punch.

But it didn't come. Tony was too wrapped up in himself now. He barely seemed to realize Piper was there. And that's the way she wanted it. But he eventually turned back to her, eyes like fire.

Tony was now going over the details of Marks deaths. Piper wanted to close her ears, but with her hands bound to the chair, it was impossible. So she suffered through the horrid details, tears streaming down her face. He was describing the details of Mark, her first love, the first man she was willing to spend the rest of her life with. Piper closed her eyes and shook her head, not wanting to hear anymore, but Tony continued on.

When Tony was done, Piper asked him, "Why? Why Mark? Of all people why him?" It was a question she frequently asked herself. Why him? Why not the next man to walk down that alley? Piper had so many questions to ask him, but she was afraid to. She had so many questions she didn't want to know the answer to. Yet, she was compelled to ask them.

"Because I needed his identity."

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Author's Note: Like I said, this story is going to follow the first season (but with my own twist). So Wong killed Mark for the same reason he did in the show. That's identity theft for you.