Chapter Warnings: Derogatory language, the faintest suggestion of non-con/rape (non-graphic, just Face speculating). LOTS of gore and descriptive torture methods, not for the faint of heart!
"I will never let you fall. I'll stand up with you forever. I'll be there for you through it all, even if saving you sends me to heaven." Guardian Angel (Red Jumpsuit Apparatus)
"So… you gonna cooperate?"
The look of utter desperation and fear on the pilot's face was enough to bring a lump of rage and horror to Face's throat. He watched helplessly as Murdock's eyes moved across his "team," then fixed on his captor once more.
He nodded.
"Good." Hayes smiled. The three decoys were left to sit or kneel across the center of the room, silenced further with gags and monitored by two other guards. Hayes looked down at the kneeling captain with a cruel smirk. In one swift movement, the muscular man took a fistful of Murdock's disheveled hair and wrenched the pilot's head back, forcing Murdock to look him in the eye.
"I told you you'd regret what you did… didn't I?"
Murdock said nothing, jaw clenched and eyes on the ceiling.
"Didn't I?" Hayes asked again, giving Murdock's head a jerk. When his victim still didn't answer, the big man leaned down, putting his face only inches from Murdock's. "You better answer me or you're gonna lose this bet pretty freakin' fast." Murdock turned frustrated, fearful eyes on the man, who snarled down at him. "So… I'm gonna ask you again. Did I tell you you'd regret it?" Murdock winced as the fist in his hair tightened but he nodded and both Hayes and the guard on Murdock's left smiled. "That's better. Now… how about we start with a little old fashioned payback?"
The beatings started slow, Hayes and his friend taking turns breaking in their new punching bag. Face eventually skipped ahead because the punches, the laughs, the falling down and being ordered to get up again was nothing they hadn't faced before as a team. Being captured by enemy forces in Iraq really prepares a guy for that sort of thing. The hours passed rapidly with only a few short breaks. By the time the recording reached the time Face was making the final preparations for the rescue, Murdock was slumped against the wall, out cold with blood dripping down his face. The captain must've stayed silent because Hayes and his pal left for a proper rest, taking the three decoys with them and leaving only one guard who stood by the door, watching Murdock closely.
An hour or so passed and by the time the two men returned, Murdock had levered himself up to sit against the wall, poked and prodded where he could, apparently finding no broken bones, and closed his eyes for a few more minutes' rest. As the men entered, bringing the fake team with them, Murdock straightened and Face could suddenly make out the source of the blood running down his chin. He'd bit his lip, that or his cheek but either way, it was a testament to how much he hurt… or how much he feared making a sound.
Hayes ignored the blood, his boots pressing dried droplets further into the padding as he approached the seated captain. Murdock didn't look up, just stared ahead at the prisoners and ignored the ape of a man who stopped a few steps to his left.
"We're going to do things a little differently today, aren't we Ray?" Hayes started. His buddy, Ray, grinned thuggishly, crossing his arms and waiting while his scarred pal spoke. "This time, I want you to lie down." Murdock's eyes flicked to Hayes then went back to the prisoners. The bigger man just crouched, patting the floor invitingly with a twisted smile. "Come on, boy… lie on your back like a good little doggie."
Face felt a two-ton weight land on his chest. All three prisoners were struggling and protesting now but Face couldn't tell if it was genuine or just good acting on their parts. Either way, they seemed to understand some small part of the horror Face felt clawing at his insides. Slowly, keeping his eyes on Hayes, Murdock lay down. Face's hand was centimeters from the pause button, ready to stop the tape if his suspicions were confirmed and do… he didn't know what… but it was bound to be violent and painful. Then he caught sight of Ray in the corner at Murdock's feet.
The man had pulled a cloth and jar from a bag beside him and moved to Murdock's leg before laying out the plain, white rag and covering it with a powder from the jar. Murdock had propped himself up on one elbow to fix a wary, confused frown on Hayes who'd put both his knees on Murdock's right leg and his hands on Murdock's left, pinning the captain's legs in place. Ray moved closer and Murdock must've realized what they were doing because he started to struggle. Then he seemed to remember that fighting was against the rules and he lay back and closed his eyes, jaw tense and breathing tight.
Ray undid the makeshift bandage around the pilot's leg, shoved the tattered cloth aside and clapped the powdered rag over the gash. Instantly, Murdock's back arched and he writhed under the men's grip, blood dribbling down his chin from where his teeth dug into his lips. Face tasted blood and realized he'd been biting his own lip as well, fists clenched and arms shaking.
As Ray ground what Face now recognized as salt deeper into the cut, the first piece to the puzzle of Murdock's behavior in the hotel fell into place. The captain's hands moved to his throat, silencing the cry that threatened to break past his bloody lips. The two guards just laughed, added more salt and did it again. When they finally stopped, an hour later, Murdock's tense body relaxed slowly in shaky, fractional movements, the pilot breathing harshly and staring at the ceiling in silent shock. The men took their things and left but they weren't gone long.
When they returned, they ignored Murdock who'd rolled onto his side, keeping his back to the wall and his leg still held stiffly with pain. Instead of carrying some new torture device, the guards just stood between Murdock and the three decoys and proceeded to eat their lunch, or breakfast or whatever the heck it was, right in front of Murdock who seemed unable to keep himself from watching every bite. The men were both completely aware of what they were doing and openly relished every bite of sandwich and every sip of cool water. They drew it out as long as they could, taunting Murdock with scraps, promising to let him eat or drink if he asked. The pilot endured it all in helpless silence. For a while he tried closing his eyes but Hayes noticed before too long and demanded Murdock open them. The pilot had no choice but to obey and spent the next long minutes staring dully at the men towering over him.
When they finally finished, both men left and Face used the few minutes of peace to watch his friend closely. Malnutrition had been obvious the minute Face had seen him lying on his bed looking so thin and worn. Blood loss wasn't a problem yet but it would be if the state of Murdock's clothes when he'd been found was any indication. What they hadn't seen could wind up being the most deadly, though. Face was no doctor but he knew that lack of food and water meant a dangerous imbalance of chemicals and vitamins in the body that periodic IVs couldn't totally cure. But that was something they couldn't check on their own in a hotel room with only a first aid kit and their limited field training.
It only took about half an hour for the guards to return, this time with a small bag. Murdock looked up but only sighed softly, cutting off the sound before it became a whimper.
"Just eleven hours left." Hayes smirked, looking over at the clock. "We'd better step things up a bit, don't you think?" He crouched in front of Murdock and upended the bag, sending five metal pins of various sizes tumbling onto the padded floor. Each was about three inches long but different widths from the smallest which was thin as a sewing needle to the largest which had to be half a millimeter thick. Ray dragged Murdock upright and forced the captain to bend his knee, bringing his hurt leg closer like the beginning of sitting cross-legged. The movement drew a sharp intake of breath from Murdock but he managed to keep from making a sound beyond his gasping.
"We're a little tired this time around, pal." Ray gestured to the needles on the floor as Hayes gathered them up and set them in a little pile next to Murdock. "So you're going to have to help us with this one." Hayes smirked at Murdock's 'I really don't care, please just drop dead and let me sleep' look and held up the shortest pin.
"These… are going to go here." The man moved to touch the pointed end of the pin against the wound on Murdock's leg. The pilot flinched as Hayes reached for his bound hands then pulled them forward to grasp the pin. "And you are gonna do it for us."
Murdock looked from the sharp metal to Hayes and back, alarm obvious in his stiffened posture. All three of the other prisoners were frozen; the big black man who was meant to be B.A. mumbled something past his gag but was ignored and fell silent when his struggles and protests were of no use. When Murdock looked back to Hayes, the square-faced guard chuckled, giving the pilot's bound hands a final pat before moving to sit against the wall to Murdock's left, crossing his legs and watching lazily.
"There are five of them, so make sure you leave room for the others. And they gotta go all the way in, pal, no halfsies on this one," Ray added, grinning and taking up the four remaining pins before he settled himself beside Murdock. The captain seemed to have locked up, just staring at his leg and the gash that had been lengthened by repeated blows. It reached nearly from ankle to knee and oozed blood sluggishly. It wasn't too deep from what Face could see but it was long and with all the blood around it, Face couldn't be sure how wide it was.
Eventually, it was Ray's voice that jerked him back to reality. "You should really thank us, you know." Murdock looked up, startled, to find Ray watching him with a smirk. "If we did it you wouldn't be able to keep quiet. You'd probably wind up crying like some little retard kid on the playground." Ray laughed and Hayes chuckled along with him. Murdock's eyes were fixed on the thin needle in his hand and Ray watched for a moment before speaking again. "Unless you don't want to do it?" He reached for the needle and Murdock jerked away, causing both of the big men to laugh.
"You see that, Hayes? He wants to do it himself!"
"Well, you'd better let him, don't you think?" Hayes answered and Murdock shut his eyes, probably trying to block out the laughter.
That or prepare himself, because seconds later, the bound hands swung downward and the pin disappeared into his calf. Both guards stopped laughing, watching closely as the captain's body stiffened, breaths stopping for a long while, and then restarting raggedly. His head was hanging, shaggy hair hiding him from Face's view but he could tell by the barely noticeable tremors in his friend's shoulders that Murdock was doing his utmost to breathe through the pain.
"Well, what do you know?" Ray chuckled and found the next pin, this one slightly wider than the last. He shoved it between Murdock's shaking hands and peered at the pilot's face. He sat back and Murdock's eyes must've been closed because Ray guided the bound hands to a place just next to the first pin. "Right there's good. Whenever you're ready, captain."
This time was slower and Face couldn't stand it. Murdock was moving like a wind-up toy running out of juice, pressing the pin into his leg bit by bit and pausing in between. Maybe it was less pain to deal with all at once. Maybe it would be less likely that he'd make a sound going slowly than he would trying to deal with the sheer volume of pain caused by jamming it in. Whatever the reason, watching was starting to physically hurt. There was a knot in Face's chest that wasn't easing, he'd nearly bitten through his lip when Murdock had plunged the first pin in and now he was clenching his teeth so tightly it hurt clear down his neck.
It took Murdock nearly half-an-hour to finish the second pin and Ray wasted no time handing him the third. Face skipped past most of it. If he hadn't, he probably would've driven back to that hellhole and done something very, very violent. By the time this third needle was buried up to its head in bloody flesh, Murdock's hands were shaking so hard he could barely keep the fourth still. Ray and Hayes watched in sick fascination as the captain worked and Face was pretty sure the decoys for Hannibal and Bosco had closed their eyes a long time ago. His own decoy, though, had his eyes glued to the scene. The young man was twisting and struggling but his efforts seemed to be focused on getting the gag out of his mouth rather than freeing him from the zip ties. No one noticed him and Ray's gleeful voice drew their attention.
"Hey, looks like we've got a winner, Hayes!" Ray was bent over again, looking into Murdock's face and smiling in wide, sick satisfaction.
"Yeah?" Hayes chuckled and Ray clapped a hand down on Murdock's shoulder, making the captain's thin frame tense.
"Those are some real crocodile tears, aren't they?" Ray leaned in close, putting his face right by Murdock's ear and letting out big, fake sobs between every other word. "We've got… a real… big… baby here, Hayes." Murdock just turned away and pushed the fourth pin the rest of the way into his leg, breathing hard and trembling all over. Ray sat back and handed him the last, thickest one. Murdock grasped it clumsily, blood-slick fingers slipping on the pin and his head hanging even lower than before. He sat there for a while, just breathing, holding the pin over the bloody mess that was his leg. After a minute or so, Ray leaned down and snapped his fingers near Murdock's ear.
"Hey, wake up, or I'm going to have to do it for you." Before Ray could follow through on his threat, and just as Murdock was inching the pin closer to his leg, a new voice called out, "Why won't you just say something?" All eyes turned to the young man who'd managed to get the gag out of his mouth and was staring at Murdock, looking both sickened and disbelieving.
"Just give them what they want! Why are you doing this?" Murdock's head was up now, pain-narrowed gaze fixed on the man he thought was Face. The pilot took in deep stilted breaths, face looking gaunt, pale, and wet from sweat and tears. He looked like he wanted to speak, to explain but he kept his mouth shut, communicating instead with only a slow shake of his head. Face let out a choked breath, wishing with all his heart that this was a dream, just some horrible nightmare that would be awful but would end soon with only hints and whispers of memory that would fade quickly in the light of day.
Why won't you just say something?
Face had asked the same thing back at the hotel. He closed his eyes, scrubbing a shaking hand down his face and wishing he'd just kept his mouth shut because that was very nearly the worst thing he could've said.
He didn't open his eyes until the ragged breathing coming across the speakers calmed somewhat, then was overlaid with voices. Ray spoke first.
"Looks like we're all done here, Hayes." Hayes chuckled and Face slowly opened his eyes, feeling both sick and somehow numb as the big man walked over and ruffled Murdock's hair with one large hand.
"He's a good dog, isn't he? Very obedient." Murdock didn't respond, just stared down at his leg and the last two dots of metal visible there where the blood hadn't yet covered the pins. "Let's see just how obedient…." Hayes moved to stand a few steps away, between Murdock and the other prisoners, and Ray joined him as the bigger man crossed his arms and studied Murdock's hunched form. Behind him, the decoy Face had been gagged again and had followed the others' lead in closing his eyes, blocking out the gruesome scene. Hayes spoke again and the words caused ice to clutch at Face's heart.
"Get up."
Murdock's shoulders slumped but he didn't move to stand or look up.
"I said get up," Hayes repeated.
Slowly and wearily, Murdock's head rose and he met the guard's stare.
"I meant on your feet, stupid."
The pilot let out a sharp breath, looking down at his leg then back at Hayes as if to say, 'I can't, you pretentious numbskull, not anymore, so just crawl under a rock and die so I can rest' but Hayes just sneered and leaned down.
"I said, get up." He flicked a finger upwards as if Murdock didn't know which way he was supposed to go and had to be told like a dog learning a new trick.
Face almost hoped Murdock would refuse, just hang his head and let these freaks think up something else, something possible. But Ray was moving leisurely toward the door and talking in a casual tone.
"Guess we'll just have to call in the doc then. Only nine hours to go and he's chickened out already." Murdock watched him go for a moment, eyes squinted in desperate frustration and jaw working like he wanted to call the man back. Face let out a soft groan as the pilot shut his eyes tightly, then began to move. It was slow going and Murdock had to stop several times to catch his breath, but five or so minutes later, he was on his feet… barely. The captain's right leg shook beneath him, his left bent slightly at the knee and dripping blood down to join with the stain gathered beneath him. The only thing keeping him upright was the grip his fingers had found between the seams of the wall's padding and even that might not last long because he looked sick and pale and every bit of him seemed to sag with exhausted pain. It had done the trick though and Ray returned to his place beside Hayes, hands on his hips and a satisfied grin spreading across his face.
"Good job, retard," Hayes spoke with mock pride and glanced over at Ray, still addressing the captain but watching his pal for a reaction. "Now walk." Ray's grin widened across his face just as quickly as the blood drained from Face's. Murdock breathed out a stuttered breath and leaned his head against the wall, as if closing his eyes and looking away would make the men disappear.
"Come on," Ray coaxed, in a voice like a wolf luring a lamb from its mother. "Just one loop around the room and you can have a break. How's that sound?"
"Better than the alternative, I bet." Hayes eyed the three other prisoners, leaning himself back against the right-hand wall and crossing his arms. "Come on, we haven't got all day."
Murdock opened his eyes and looked over at his 'team' and Face wished bitterly that the man playing Hannibal would do something more than just look away because the expression on Murdock's face was hurt, lost, and beseeching. He was begging Hannibal with his eyes to do something, have a plan and get it moving already, because he hurt and he couldn't take much more of this. But Hannibal wasn't Hannibal and the man didn't so much as glance at the thin, trembling man a few feet in front of him.
A hard lump rose in Face's throat as Murdock looked down, frowning, eyes darting to and fro in a way Face recognized as him trying to understand something vitally important. He'd had that same look when Hannibal had quizzed them on their code words and signals, but this time there was no hidden message to be found in the silver-haired man's actions. So instead the captain drew himself up as well as he could, which amounted to locking his right knee and squaring his shoulders, and he took a step.
He didn't fall, which was more than could be expected of him at this point, but that one step had him clinging to the wall and breathing so hard it shook his whole frame. The next few steps were taken in kind, with a bloody footprint, then a few minutes of gasped air. Hayes and Ray did nothing to help or hinder his progress; they just stood back, Ray marking where Murdock had started and Hayes still leaning against the right hand wall. After the fifth step, Face allowed himself to close his eyes, rubbing his temples with one hand and trying to swallow the lump in his throat that had grown steadily since this newest ordeal had begun.
A few minutes passed and Face was afraid to look up. He could still hear Murdock's strained breathing and the hitches therein that spoke of stumbled, limping steps. It was a sharp change in that rhythm that drew his wide, fearful gaze at last. Murdock had gasped and at first, Face thought one of the guards had done something to him but when he looked, neither Hayes nor his pal had moved. Murdock though was on the ground, curled over and choking off another cry. The bloody streaks on the wall showed where his bound hands had slipped, sending him crashing down onto his knees.
"That didn't last long, did it?" Ray commented, watching from afar as Murdock struggled to breathe without groaning.
"Not even halfway done, freak. Better get up and get moving if you want that break." Hayes's voice was utterly ignored by his victim and Murdock waited a few minutes more before making the agonizing climb back to his feet. By the time he'd reached the door, Murdock was alternating putting his weight on his good leg and supporting himself by his arms, his bloody foot dragging on the cushioned floor and leaving a trail of blood to mark his path. It took nearly an hour for Murdock to make it around the room to where Hayes stood and by the time he did, Face wasn't sure he was entirely aware of his surroundings. The captain's face was pasty and shimmering with sweat, his hair plastered to his forehead and every inch of him trembling. The green eyes were downcast and unfocused, watching the blood slip down his leg to soak his sock and leave livid red marks on the padding. He stopped, leaning heavily on the padded wall, a foot or so from Hayes' shoulder. The two tormentors shared a look and Ray chuckled.
"You're supposed to be over here, dimwit. You've still got one more corner to go." The shaggy head rose slightly, the pain-fogged eyes flicking up to Hayes. The big man shrugged and stayed put, blocking Murdock's path and jerking his head toward Ray.
"Go on, then, move. Don't let me stop you." Murdock stood there, breaths coming in heavy puffs. Finally, he pushed himself up on his good leg, let go of the wall, and took a step to go around Hayes. The result was instant and awful. Hayes stuck out a foot, catching Murdock's unsteady step and causing the pilot to fall hard, slamming onto the ground right on top of his hurt leg. Bound hands leapt to bruised throat and cut off the inevitable cry just in time, leaving Murdock to curl in on himself stiffly, eyes shut and body tense with currents of pain. Hayes and Ray left him there until their chuckles faded and the pilot's rasping breaths returned, then Hayes moved forward, nudging the fallen captain with the toe of his boot.
"Okay, up and at 'em. You've got a lap to finish."
"You know," Ray spoke up. "Does it really count as a full lap if he wimps out partway?" Hayes smirked at his pal.
"No. I don't think it does."
Murdock was ordered to his feet and twice they made him walk around the room. Each time, he fell at least once and was told to get up and go again until at the beginning of the third lap, he didn't respond to their kicks and orders. After making sure Murdock really was out and not just faking, by way of kicking his bloody leg hard, the two men left, taking the others with them and leaving a guard with orders to call them as soon as the prisoner woke.
