I do not own or have any connection to the SVU characters or settings, nor do I claim to. I actually have not seen many episodes of this show, so if my story is in any way similar to something else someone has written, either for the show or for this website, I can assure you that the similarity is purely accidental and coincidental.

This story was written in the style of an episode, complete with procedural details. It also has perhaps more character focus than most episodes. Although the themes in this story can be expressly or implicitly intense and violent, I do not think that the scenes in this story are any more or less so than a typical episode of SVU. There's also no harsh language that couldn't be aired on network television. Nevertheless, my story is in keeping with the themes you see on this TV show, so please use the same discretion; I'm rating this "T", but it teeters at times on an "M" rating.

I'm a first-timer posting to this site, so please pardon any accidental formatting problems. I wrote this story for my own entertainment, and hopefully for yours. I anticipate 3 parts to this story; here is the first.

Olivia and Elliot fumbled through the stacks of papers on their desks, sometimes exchanging documents, in the course of trying to organize. Behind them, Fin and Munch were about to pull their coats on, starting another long day in a series of days that had demanded overtime due to the increased case load that seemed to pile up recently. Cragen promptly stopped the activity of all four.

"I have another assignment. I need all of you on it, and it takes priority."

The detectives collectively grunted.

"We're already pushing back cases; you want us to push them back even further?" Elliot's protestations spoke for everyone.

"Just for a couple of days. It's about those missing college guys."

They knew what Cragen was talking about. At first, the disappearances were sporadic and widely spaced; one boy wouldn't show up for class at one University then, a few weeks later, another student at another college hundreds of miles away would report that his roommate never seemed to be at home anymore. The disappearances occurred at colleges all over the state, with only one or two being reported in New York City, and it had taken a while before anyone connected the disappearances until investigators from the various jurisdictions began exchanging notes. When they realized that all these young men had last been seen at parties, this common thread prompted officials to issue a warning on the evening news, and this in turn had created a minor panic among college students and their parents.

Nevertheless, these disappearances had not been the immediate concern of the SVU detectives. The first several disappearances had been far outside their jurisdiction, and to date most still were. Also, they had too much on their plates already, and it would take days to get up to speed on the details of the investigation already in progress. Cragen anticipated this complaint and explained.

"The primary detectives on this case are still heading up the investigation state-wide; it's just that a rumor is going around that these guys were taken by some underground S&M cult, and they need extra hands to follow up on the rumor."

Fin scoffed. "No such thing. We would've heard about something like that." The others muttered in agreement.

"Yeah, I know." Cragen said. "It's just that there's a lot of heat on this right now, and they want to be able to tell the parents that every lead was followed up. So just go out there and talk to the people who are into that sort of thing, confirm what you know, then we'll get back to our own business."

Now all four detectives dragged on their coats as they plodded towards the door.

----------------------

The plan was reached that Munch and Fin would talk to the patrons and proprietors of the more hardcore shops, bars and "specialty" hangouts in one part of the city, while Olivia and Elliot would do the same for another area where such places were known to flourish. The pairs traveled from one place to another and, as they anticipated, everyone they asked about the rumor responded with amusement and derision.

"I resent being made an object of ridicule by people who think rubber underwear is the epitome of sexy." Munch said, when Olivia called him to check on their progress.

"The captain only said a couple of days. We'll finish up tomorrow and then we can get back to real work." Olivia's words helped carry everyone through the rest of the day, and they set out to finish up their thankless tasks.

When Elliot and Olivia opened the door to the last shop on their list for that day, a delicate bell announced their arrival with a lighthearted ring that seemed out of place in this bizarre galley of fetishes and extreme interests. The heavily pierced clerk took several moments to look up from her magazine of celebrity photos to acknowledge the detectives standing over her.

"Have you been helped?" The clerk's tone put an annoyed emphasis on the last word, making it clear that the last thing she wanted to do was help them or the lone customer who was browsing towards the back of the store. The detectives showed her their badges and introduced themselves.

"We're investigating the disappearances of those college kids. You've heard of that? We got a tip that their disappearances might be related to some sort of secret society that's into this kind of stuff." Elliot gestured generally to the store to punctuate his point.

"Yeah, I've heard about that rumor, but I don't know of anybody who would actually do that. There are plenty of people out there who want to get beaten and violated. No sense in risking going to prison by doing that to someone who's not into it." The girl sounded bored, as though she had recited this information several times before. Her acknowledgement of the rumor gave the detectives pause, however, and they exchanged a glance. She was the first person who had admitted any knowledge of the mere rumor.

"Where did you hear about this?" Olivia asked.

"I don't know. Around. The customers like to stand up here and talk sometimes."

"What did they say about this group?" Elliot followed.

"That they're big thing is going too far. Like, maiming people and doing stuff that nobody in the legit circles would approve of. Like, this one story I heard, they cut out this guy's eye and used…"

Both Elliot and Olivia held up their hands to stop her there. They didn't need to have the rest of that story explained to them.

"Which customers have you heard talk about this? Can you remember their names?" Olivia asked.

"Uh, despite what you may think about someone who works in a store like this, I'm not really into that scene. I'm pretty vanilla, especially compared to these people who come in here. I mean, if this is what they like, then that's cool with me, but I don't hang out with them or know them personally. I'm just trying to work my way through college."

Elliot got a flash of his daughters going to college and the thought of them becoming like this girl. He pushed the disturbing thought into the back of his mind.

"Okay, well, if you think of anything else call us." Elliot handed her his card and he and his partner departed the scene. Once outside, Olivia stopped.

"What do you think?"

"So she heard the same gossip we did. It's still just rumor. It had to come from somewhere. If there was some kind of crazy conspiracy of sadistic kidnappers out there, I really think there'd be more to go on, don't you? People can't keep something like that secret for long."

Olivia nodded.

"No substantiation, nothing to substantiate," she said.

"Exactly."

The pair started along the sidewalk back to their car and noticed the descending dusk. Olivia checked her watch for what seemed to be the fiftieth time that afternoon, according to Elliot's count.

"Why don't we call it a day? I need to get home."

"What's so great at home?" Elliot asked. Olivia smiled reluctantly.

"I have a date."

"Olivia going on a date? Nope, doesn't register. What is that?"

"Shut up. It's this friend of a friend. I know it's a bad idea, but I have to get out of the house. All any of us have been doing lately is working and sleep."

"I'll drop you off."

----------------------

The next morning, Olivia paced her desk, arms folded. As she predicted, the date the night before had turned out dull at best, and often irritating as she and her companion consistently contradicted each other during conversation. She just wanted to get her head back into work, but Elliot was running late. Cragen finally stepped out of his office and looked Olivia up and down.

"What are you still doing here? I thought you had more places to go. Munch and Fin left half an hour ago."

"Elliot probably overslept. He must be on his way, though. I called his place and there's no answer."

"Have you checked your voicemail?"

Olivia had to keep from smacking herself in the head. Her thoughts had been so consumed with annoyance at the previous night's date and at Elliot for not being there that morning, she hadn't checked her voicemail yet. She checked her office phone first- nothing.

When she listened to her new message on her cell phone, she went cold.

"Hey Liv, it's me. I just got a call from that last clerk. She overheard a customer talking about crashing a frat party tonight after we left. I'm sorry to ruin your date, but if you get this message call me. I'm going to go on up there to take a look around and talk to some people. I'll let you know what I found out tomorrow morning."

Cragen had been watching Olivia listen to the message, and he knew something was wrong.

"What is it? What did he say?"

Olivia ignored Cragen while she pushed a few buttons to speed dial Elliot's cell phone. Several rings, and finally his voicemail greeting. Olivia hung up without leaving a message.

"He went to follow up a lead last night without me," she said, finally answering Cragen's question.

"Get Fin and Munch back here. Right now."

----------------------

The first thing he noticed was the smell. It reminded him of an old house, except this moldy, mildewy smell was far more powerful, almost overwhelming. His eyes were open now, he knew, but he still couldn't see anything.

Blindfolded.

Elliot tentatively tested his other senses. It was hard to move, and he eventually recognized restraints on his wrists and ankles. His neck was sore, too, probably from being unconscious in the awkward sitting upright position he had been in up to this point.

What happened?

He tried to remember. He had felt out of place and obvious at the party the night before; no one wanted to talk to him, and everyone clumsily tried to hide their liquor every time he came near. He remembered thinking that going up there had been a mistake. Now he was sure.

Where am I?

He had to get this thing off his eyes. Elliot tried using his shoulder to push the blind up, but it stayed firmly in place. His movement caught the attention of the other people in the room.

"It's awake."

A female voice. A hard, wooden voice, but definitely a woman.

Elliot waited for a follow up comment, and when there wasn't any, ventured to say something himself. He was alarmed to find that he seemed to have trouble exhaling air with enough force to form words.

"Listen, I'm a cop. If you let me go now, things will go much easier for you. I won't even press charges."

A hard slap across the face shocked and then stung Elliot. He clenched his jaw and pulled harder on the restraints.

"Punishment makes it angry, not scared like the others."

This time a man's voice. Slightly whiny, followed by a wheezing breath. He must be allergic to whatever is floating around in the air down here.

As Elliot became more in tune to his surroundings, he noticed intense heat on his head and shoulders. He was under a spotlight. In high time the realization intruded into his muddy thinking that these must be the people who were supposed to be mere rumor. Then he remembered the story the shopgirl had started to relate to the detectives, and he could hear his own heart beating.

"It's starting to panic." The female voice again.

Their attempts to verbally objectify him were absurd sounding and ham-handed. Elliot would have laughed under any other circumstances. Instead, he tried to reason again.

"I'm a police officer. They're going to notice I'm missing when I don't show up to work, and then they're going to tear this city apart until they find me. Your secret little club will be exposed."

"It doesn't know what time it is." The woman again.

"It doesn't know how much trouble it's in." The man added.

Elliot felt his chair tip backward, and the loss of balance and disorientation caused him to lean forward reflexively, but he was still secured to the seat. The heat evaporated as they dragged him out from under the spotlight. He sensed he was being taken into another room, where the air was not as bad. He felt relief at being removed from under the spotlight, and now the blindfold was coming off. Elliot had to squint and blink several times until his eyes became accustomed to the row of bright lights near the opposite wall. Once he saw what was now in front of him, Elliot immediately regretted the loss of the blindfold. He couldn't stop himself from shaking, but he held his voice level and calm.

"Look, if there's something you want, you'll get it a lot more quickly holding a cop hostage. These boys are just students; they don't have any influence. They can't do anything for you. You've gotten yourselves in too deep. Let them go, and I'll stay with you. I'll help you get out of this." Elliot's offer sounded half-baked to his own ears, but it was the best he could think of under the circumstances.

"It thinks it's in a position to negotiate."

Finally Elliot got a glimpse of one of his captors, the man. He looked surprisingly young, albeit stocky and a little too pudgy for someone who should be in the prime of their life; by the sporadic blemishes still breaking out on his forehead and chin, perhaps not long out of high school. The young man's face was not what Elliot focused on, though. It was the syringe in the man's hand that held all of Elliot's attention as he thumped it to shake loose any air bubbles and pushed the plunger a tad to make sure it was ready to inject. The woman swatted at Elliot's right arm to bring the blood to the surface, and the man approached. Elliot tried to pull away, but couldn't.

"Wait! You're making a mistake; you do this to a cop and you'll be in prison for the rest of your lives." Fears started attacking his brain from every direction. What were they putting in him? Was the needle clean, or did they pick it up off the ground in an alley somewhere? Why were they doing this? What were they going to do with him next?

"We prefer not to listen to it anymore."

The needle painfully punched through his tense muscle. Within a few minutes the already highly lit room suddenly brightened, and what he was looking at started shifting, sliding out of form, and morphing into strange and frightening things Elliot had never imagined.

----------------------

Munch, Fin and Cragen began to discuss how to proceed and where to start, but Olivia already knew exactly where to begin.

"There was one girl we talked to yesterday who said she knew what we were talking about. Elliot said she called him last night about a party where something might happen. You guys go do whatever you want; I'm going to find that clerk."

"No." Cragen said, adamant. "Nobody is doing any more investigation alone until we find Elliot. I want everyone in pairs at all times."

"That's really going to slow us down, if we can't separate to cover more ground." Munch said. "Why don't we call in reinforcements?"

"Because we're going to find him. Us. Nobody knows this territory better than we do. Bringing in a bunch of uniforms and getting them coordinated would just waste time. And once we get him back, I don't want him to have to deal with a bunch of publicity. Nobody would ever look at him the same way again." Olivia's determination did not completely persuade the others, but it prevented any argument. Cragen nodded.

"All right, Munch and Fin, you guys go talk to your contacts until Olivia calls with the location of the party from last night, then I need you to talk to the students who attended. I'll go with Olivia and be her back up. Are we all on the same page?"

"Let's go" was Olivia's answer, and they were all walking briskly for the door.

Within the hour, Olivia and Cragen walked into the last store she and Elliot had visited the day before. She scanned the store for any sign of the clerk but only found another girl, not unlike the one from yesterday, absently chewing gum behind the check out counter. Olivia hurriedly showed the girl her credentials and spoke rapidly.

"I was here yesterday afternoon and talked to the clerk who was working then. I need her name, address, and any other information you can give me."

The girl appeared startled and shuffled through some papers that clearly did not contain the information she needed while she regained her composition.

"Uh, I think that chick's name is Andrea. I don't know her last name. The owner would, though."

"Where can we find the owner?" Cragen interjected.

"Like I know. We only see her maybe once every few months." After studying the doubtful looks on the officers' faces, she explained further. "We fax our timesheets to this number once every two weeks, and then we get our checks a few days later. As long as nothing crazy happens and she's making money, we never see her."

"Then we need to call her right now, because something crazy has happened." Olivia said, as she handed the clerk a pen and paper.

-------------------

The clerk had given them the phone number and name of the owner, but there was no answer at the number, and Olivia had to leave a message to call her back immediately regarding a very serious police matter. Back at the office, the store owner's name also wasn't turning up in any of the searches of addresses within the state. Unable to contain her irritation, Olivia threw her pen down before she called Munch and Fin. As she suspected, they hadn't waited on her call but had taken it upon themselves to find where the previous night's party had been. So far they had only talked to one or two students who were there, and these students provided no useful information. The continuing questioning might yield something new, however, and they would call her when they found someone who might help them.

Olivia also knew from the clerk that the girl from the day before wouldn't be due back at work until the following day. Until then, Olivia would stay busy. When Cragen disappeared into his office to handle other demands, Olivia slipped away to join Munch and Fin in their questioning.

She did not have much difficulty finding the two detectives, so obvious in their surroundings at this college.

"We were just about to call you. I think we found somebody good." Munch met Olivia's approach halfway and pointed in the direction of Fin, talking to a young man shifting his weight from one foot to another and gesticulating as he talked.

"Tell her what you just told me." Fin said when Olivia arrived.

"Okay, there was this old guy hanging out at the party last night. We thought either we were about to be busted or he was some kind of perv, so we didn't talk to him or anything. After a while, he was gone."

Munch blanched at the phrase, "old guy" and stepped closer to the kid.

"Did you see him talking to anyone? Go anywhere with anyone?"

"No, dude. I don't even know how he found out about the party. We keep our invites to a minimum."

"We're going to need a list of those invites." Olivia said.

----------------------

As the night wore on, the detectives continued to scour the invitation list to no avail. Only one girl named Andrea could be found on the list, and she wasn't the clerk. Of the other students they managed to track down, some remembered Elliot, others didn't, and none of them knew anything about what might have happened to him.

Olivia's eyes popped open and found her head on her desk, propped up by a pile of papers, some of crumpled from her restless nap. She looked up and there were the others, similarly engaged in slumber. The clock read 5:00 a.m.; had she really been asleep for three hours? Three wasted hours. Her hands fumbled for and found her cell phone. She didn't have to look up the number for the store's owner anymore; it was imprinted on both her and the cell phone's memory. Olivia was actually a little surprised when someone answered this time.

A rushed introduction, then "did you get my messages?"

The groggy woman on the other end paused, then said, "No, what's this about? Did something happen at one of my stores?"

----------------------

Suddenly the detectives were all awakened by the clarion alarm of Olivia's voice.

"I've got it!" She waved the piece of paper with Andrea's address in the air. "Come on, let's go!"

"Olivia, how about a warrant? Think we might need that?" Cragen, always the voice of reason.

"These are exigent circumstances; someone's life may be in danger." Olivia countered.

"You really want to risk trying to make that fly with a judge if we get over to this girl's apartment and find…" Cragen let his voice trail off rather than contemplate Elliot's possible fates out loud.

Olivia hesitated, finally saying, "Fine, just please make the call now."

"Of course."

----------------------

Time ceased to exist. Had he been there for hours? Days? Weeks? No, not that long, but otherwise Elliot could not tell. His existence alternated between being under a spotlight and being in almost complete darkness. He had figured out a few things, though. Whatever it was that they were shooting him up with made him weak; at times, even when not restrained, he found he couldn't move or only had the strength to barely shift a limb slightly. Also, whatever these chemicals were, they were making bright or even normal light unbearable, while his night vision became heightened. Just a sliver a light allowed him to make out shapes and depths in the room when it should have been completely dark. He also thought that the injections would contain some sort of sedative, but instead they kept him awake and hyperaware of his surroundings. Every creak became a scream, every touch felt like being stabbed, and every twitch of motion in his sight line jumped out at him. In the fleeting moments when he did sleep, his dreams were vivid, brief and horrible. He suspected that there were hallucinogenic properties to that stuff as well, and he was wondering how long he could hold on to his sanity under these circumstances when the female voice forced him from his reverie.

"Road trip" was the last thing he heard as the solid wall to his cell flung open and he was harshly pulled from the box and onto the floor.

----------------------

Olivia ridiculously thought of her dentist's sourness the next time she would go in for a check up. She was sometimes prone to grinding her teeth, and this had turned into a popular activity for her over the past 24 hours. It was midmorning before she and the other detectives arrived, warrant in hand, at Andrea's dingy apartment. Olivia banged on the door with the flat of her hand until Andrea answered. She opened the door, appearing as though the knocking had woken her.

"Oh, it's you" she said, recognizing Olivia. "What? What's so… hey!"

Andrea protested as the detectives pushed past her and into the apartment, checking every room and in the obvious hiding places.

"Where is he?" Olivia grabbed Andrea around her shoulders and shook her slightly.

"Who? What's going on?" Andrea seemed genuinely distraught and confused.

"My partner, remember him? He went to that party you called him about and now he's missing. Who told you to make that call?"

Andrea shook her head.

"I didn't call him. I didn't! In fact… I threw away the card he gave me right after you left."

"Where?"

"There in the store, in the trashcan just behind the register."

"Did you see anyone take the card out of the trash?"

"No, but I had to stock some inventory, so I was busy at one of the racks for a while."

A thought was forming in Olivia's mind; she had to stop and walk away for a minute to complete it.

"Someone else… there was someone else in the store when we were there. A customer, browsing in the back. Who was that?"

"I don't know! I told you, I don't know these people." Andrea started to tear up as the gravity of the situation sunk in. "I'm really sorry, okay? Your partner seemed like a nice guy. I feel really bad, okay?"

"Did the customer buy anything while after we left? Maybe buy something with, please God, a credit card? Think!"

Andrea wrung her hands and stared at the floor.

"No."

Olivia slumped, and the other detectives followed her lead. What now?

"But, I know she's been in there before. She's bought lots of stuff, and she's used credit cards, I'm sure of it. I think she was in there a week or two ago."

"If you saw her name on the credit card receipt, do you think you'd recognize it?"

"Maybe. I'll try."

-------------------------

What Olivia and the others expected to be a quick review of a few credit card receipts turned into an all-day project. The owner had given the go-ahead for the store to be closed while Andrea removed the stacks of receipts from the safe in the back and started the process of reviewing each one carefully and for a longer time than Olivia preferred. At first, Andrea thought she remembered the day the woman came in, and only looked at those receipts. When none of them seemed right, she started over from the beginning. The number of receipts was staggering, too. Far more than any of them had anticipated.

"I'm in the wrong business. This place is making money hand over fist. So to speak." Munch's comments were not productive or welcome, and Olivia's glance let him know it.

Andrea had managed to pick out a few receipts that she thought might have come from the customer in question, but she was not sure so these were separated into a "maybe" pile while Andrea continued her search.

Olivia checked the time. It was now late afternoon, and almost 48 hours since the last time anyone had seen Elliot. She had a sensation of being throttled. Also, in all honesty, she had to admit to herself that she was starting to smell a bit. Munch, Cragen and Fin had all taken at least a few hours to go home, shower and change clothes. She had not. So she was contemplating the option of going home for a couple of hours to freshen up a bit when Andrea stood up, clutching a receipt triumphantly.

"Is that her? Are you sure?" Olivia snapped the receipt out of her hand and studied it, with Munch and Fin looking over her shoulder. Now they could call the credit card company and get this woman's address.

"Okay, Andrea, now I need you to talk to a sketch artist and give the best description you can of this woman. Can you do that for me?"

Andrea nodded solemnly.

"I'll do anything I can to get your guy back for you."

Olivia patted the girl's shoulder in appreciation. "Hold on, Elliot." Olivia murmured to herself.

----------------------

The swaying of the van let Elliot know that they were on the move, and gave him some hope that a vigilant trooper or police officer would pull over this conspicuous vehicle with its windows blacked out. The movement and resulting disconnected feeling made him a bit nauseous, but he could control that. Trussed up in the floor of the van face down, Elliot had little range of vision, but there was a young man lying next to him, similarly incapacitated. When Elliot realized the boy was awake and apparently cognizant, Elliot put all his strength into trying to communicate with him.

"Hey. What's your name?" Elliot asked. It took some time for the boy to answer.

"Justin." The name wasn't familiar to Elliot, but he hadn't spent a lot of time getting to know the names of the missing students, either.

"You got to hang in there, Justin. We're going to get out of this. First chance I get, I'm going to get all of us out of this."

Justin stared back dully.

"You'll never get that chance." The flat, matter-of-fact tone in Justin's voice made Elliot's nausea suddenly come on stronger. "First chance I get, I'm killing myself. There's an easy way to do it. They talk about it in front of us. If we want out, we can just lean against the place where they pipe air into our boxes, so even after we pass out, we won't start breathing again, and the lack of oxygen will give us a way out."

"No- don't you do it. I mean it, Justin. Hold on just a little while longer. I'm a cop. I'm trained to take control of dangerous situations, and I can do it. They're going to slip up sooner or later, and when they do, I'll be ready."

Justin crumbled. "You're a cop? And you still got taken? What chance do I have, then?"

"It could have happened to anybody. This situation- it's not your fault, and it's not mine." Deep down, Elliot felt he was lying, and that this situation was almost entirely his fault, but he wasn't going to tell this kid that.

Justin's face reddened with the strain of holding back tears and he shook his head as much as he could manage, considering the side of it was flat on the floor of the van.

"You don't know. You haven't been here as long as I have. What they've done to me. What they'll do to you. I don't want to be rescued anymore. I just want this to end."

Elliot started to answer, determined to say something that would give this boy hope, when something cracked him on the back of the head.

"Shut your faces!" The man's voice seemed to come from far away, and then the world fell away into nothing.