A/N. I apologize for taking forever to update *bows*. I've been busy with life. I hope I'll have more time to update this story as well as my other stories in the near future. And yes, I still have no permanent beta even though I desperately need one ^_^

UNDER THE MASK

Part 3

"What will he do to us? Is he going to kill us?"

House rolled his eyes at the repeated questions. "What am I, a fricken fortune-teller?!

"This is your fault!" Chase hissed as his hand absently massaged his sore neck, "If you at least tried to be nice to your patients, none of this would've happened!"

"You know, I think I liked you more when you were sleeping," House said seriously.

"We might die and it's your fault!"

The older doctor rolled his eyes again, "If I had a gun, I would happily shoot myself right now. At least it'd be quiet."

Chase stopped talking, and for the next hour silence descended the room. Both men were quiet, but their minds were full of questions and fears which they tried, unsuccessfully, to ignore by concentrating on the marks and cracks decorating the walls.

Both men tensed as they heard footsteps approaching. The door slowly creaked open, and four men stepped inside, this time Darian was not present.

Chase swallowed and involuntary pressed himself further against the wall. Two of the men were carrying bags. They dropped them and the third man proceeded to empty their content.

Chase's heart thumbed painfully inside his chest as he surveyed the suspicious looking metal objects being pulled out of the bags.

One of the men then turned his way and slowly approached him, some weird object in hand. Chase sprung to his feet and stumbled fearfully away. House propelled himself against the wall and pulled himself painfully to his own feet.

He watched as the two men caught Chase easily and restrained him. They wrestled him to the floor and soon the young doctor was secured to the far end wall. Chase breathed hard as one of the men ruffled his hair mockingly. The other seemed busy preparing the tool to be used.

House cleared his throat, "Guys, what exactly…?"

His words were cut off by a hard punch delivered to his stomach by the fourth guy. He doubled over in pain and his weak leg gave way sending him to his knees.

A high pitched scream followed instantly pulling House from the pain. He turned to where Chase was held and watched with horror as one man wrapped a muscled arm around Chase, restraining him, while the other plunged a long metal tool inside the soft flesh of Chase's now bare side.

Another blood-curdling scream escaped Chase as the men calmly removed the instrument then re-plunged it- mercilessly - into his other side.

House tried to speak only to be kicked in the face by the other guy. He could taste blood in his mouth and spat the foul taste. His pain was again forgotten the moment he heard another scream from Chase.

This went on during the next half hour. The sharp metal object was inserted in and out of Chase's side, until his flesh turned purple and bloody and unrecognizable.

Soon Chase stopped screaming, and House watched worriedly as the young doctor seemed to go into shock.

It seemed forever before the men ceased their torture. They released Chase and dropped his limp body carelessly to the ground. One man kneeled down over the curling, sweaty figure of the blond doctor and put a hand to his neck to make sure the young man was still breathing. Satisfied, he patted the damp locks and climbed to his feet.

The fourth man shoved some stuff in House's direction before he and the others left the two doctors alone. House looked down at the stuff that was thrown at him: fresh bandages, needle and thread, and alcohol. He sighed before he crawled to the motionless figure of Chase. House batted his cold cheeks and waited for response. There was none. He batted again and again, more urgently and was rewarded with a slight moan.

Satisfied, House turned his attention to the bloody mess that became Chase's sides. He realized that to work on him, he needs to move Chase to the bed. That way it would be more comfortable for both of them since kneeling was getting more painful each second. He carefully propelled Chase against him and lifted, dragging both of them to the bed. The process was harder and more painful than he had imagined.

After he had Chase on the bed, he slowly and skillfully went to work on the injuries. He was glad that the bones were left untouched. The flesh however, was torn and damaged beyond recognition. House took his time patching what he could and after he was satisfied with his work, he bandaged Chase's side. The young doctor seemed to come around half way through the procedure but did nothing other than groan and hiss in pain as House's skillful fingers did their work.

"Thanks," Chase muttered softly sometime after House had finished. House said nothing as he watched the young man close his eyes, curl against the pain, and will himself to sleep despite the intensifying pain flaring all over his body.

Leaning against the bed and stretching his paining legs, House could not help but wonder where this was going and how it was going to end.

He leaned back his head and closed his eyes. Indeed, if he knew all this would happen, he wouldn't have killed the man.

TBC

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