AN/ Hey everyone! Sending a major thankyou to you all for reading this far! I'm so sorry for the lack of updates! I know it's been ages! I lost motivation for the story and kinda got a tad stuck! But I'm back on track and ready to continue on with the story! As requested, (and as an apology for the amount of time it's taken) I've made this next chapter EXTRA long so I hope everyone likes it!

Thanks to cresdin, Ivory Greed, TheNaggingCube, saides, brynn, slytherinprincess91, Chaoslilfury, JaffaCake13, Zena-Xina and guests , Ashotaway, Baba-boo, heroblade221 & Brea for reviewing and to the wonderful people who followed/faved the story! I really love your feedback and encouragement! It truly makes my day and creates an incentive for me to continue the story knowing that you're all supporting it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Leverage. All characters belong to their respected owners. I do however, own the plot of this particular fan-fiction and the baddies within it!

P.S this chapter contains some torture, graphic violence and blood— just giving a heads up.

Eliot's head flew backwards as the rusty nail collided with his abdomen, blood oozed from the wound. Archer pulled the plank out of Eliot's body and repeated the action several times.

Zane stepped up, holding a small leather-bound book. "We have some exciting 'activities' planned for you Spencer." He opened the book and flipped through the pages, "ah, foot roasting...now that sounds exciting!"

A heavy fist collided with Eliot's head...light bounced before his eyes, dancing ironically.

Zane glanced down at the book again "Did you know that Chinese water torture is listed as the third most gruesome torture method?"

Archer stepped back and grabbed Eliot's face. "Huh... I actually didn't...well... let's put that on the menu!"

Zane laughed at his partners comment, watching as he brought his knee up to Eliot's chin with a thunderous force. The loud crack indicated that he had broken the young man's jaw. Eliot squeezed his eyes shut and tried to breathe through the pain. Tried being the key word.

He could hear the slow drip-drip of blood fall from his bleeding mouth onto the concrete below. Counting each drip took his mind off the pain and allowed him to control his breathing.

*Drip 'Eighty seven'

*Drip 'Eighty eight'

*Drip 'Eighty ni-'

"-diot are you even listening to me?" So lost in his meditation, Eliot had only just registered that someone had been talking to him.

Zane, now standing directly in front of the chained man leaned in close as he spoke again. "I thought you were supposed to be this unstoppable tough guy—"

"-Yeah but then someone gives 'em a wack over the head and he's drooling like some kinda dopey donkey" Archer cut in, squinting at Eliot as he spoke.

Zane shook his head and turned to the cockney Englishman "Seems kinda anti-climactic don't you reckon Arch?"

Archer shook his head in disbelief, making his blonde Mohawk wobble slightly. "Unbelievable... Just a waste of our bloody talents."

"Would you two SHUT UP and get on with it?!" a voice screeched from the intercom on the wall. The raspy voice belonged to the smoke-smelling man that had left the room only moments ago.

"Uhh sorry boss" Zane called out, turning his attention to the camera situated in the upper right corner behind him.

Eliot had been slowly worming his legs out of their imprisonment during the ranting, just waiting for the right opportunity. He took this distraction to swing forward, slamming his legs into the short, beefcake of a man.

Zane grunted in surprise as he was pushed off balance. Landing heavily on the floor he sprawled around for a few seconds trying to find his feet. Once he was vertical, Zane reached for Eliot who in turn head-butted the South-African when he came into arm's length.

Archer, seeing the situation spinning out of control, ran to the far side of the room where their 'equipment' was situated and picked up a length of barbed wire from the table. He ran back to the centre of the room just as Zane went flying again. Archer wrapped the barbed wire around Eliot's throat twice and pulled him back onto his chest.

Eliot gasped and immediately halted his attacks. He could feel the warmth of his blood dripping down his neck in little rivers. He tried to pull away but the chains around his wrist and the wire encircling his neck held strong. He was at risk of permanent damage if he tried to escape the barbs slicing into his throat. Defeated, he became still and lowered his gaze to the floor. Waiting for the punishment he was sure to receive.

"THAT. Was a very rookie mistake Mr Spencer" Zane whispered. His words were cold, devoid of any playfulness he had previously exhibited. As he slowly approached the wilted man he reached up to his own face and wiped the blood away from his mouth that he'd received during the scuffle. Standing before him, he ran the back of his hand across Eliot's cheek and mouth, smearing both of their blood together. The different shades of red made the paleness of his prisoner's skin stand out. The contrast of the colours were harsh, almost artistic. Zane's chest quirked with satisfaction. His dark eyes met the glassy blues in front of him. He desperately wanted to stab and carve and slice away at them, but unfortunately, he was under strict orders not to damage the eyes as they would be needed later on.

Eliot felt the icy stare of the South-African shift from his face down the length of his body to rest on his dangling legs. The man then walked around him and out of sight to somewhere else in the room. Loud clinks, scrapes and clanks of metal things being shuffled and moved could be heard from behind him. He could feel Archer, still holding the barbed wire, start to shake. Eliot was confused. 'What's going on?' he thought to himself. Suddenly a strange cackling sound erupted from the man behind him. Archer was laughing. Something was about to happen. Something that wouldn't be fun or funny for Eliot at all.

Zane emerged from the shadows and what he was carrying made Eliot's stomach drop.

In his hands was a grotesquely oversized meat mallet. Atop its long black handle was the mallet's head; - it was made of rusted steel, four times the size of a human skull. All six sides of the rectangular head was covered in large spikes that somewhat resembled rose thorns.

Eliot's breath quickened. 'What the hell is that? He's not going to use tha…Wait…waitwaitwait… why's he swinging it back? Oh God! Oh fu—'. All forms of thought left Eliot's mind the very second the spiked mallet made contact with his right thigh. An inhuman scream ripped through his body as all the bones from his femur to his fibula shattered at once. It took all of his willpower to not throw his head backwards as doing so would cause the barbed wire to rip his throat into ribbons. Instead he screwed his eyes shut as tight as they would hold and screamed through his teeth as the mallet was twisted. The thorn-like spikes had punctured straight through Eliot's leg and was protruding out the other side of his thigh, they moved with every sudden spasm or little shudder that Eliot's leg gave. The mallet was then pulled backwards, the spikes sliding out of Eliot's leg with a sickening squelch sound. As soon as the mallet was removed, blood began to gush out, pooling down his leg and onto the already stained floor. The pain was unbearable and Eliot quickly welcomed darkness.

Archer released his hold of the barbed wire and slowly walked round to face the unconscious man. Letting out a sigh of frustration, he shook his head "disappointin', Mr Spencer. Disappointin'".

Peaceful.

Everything was peaceful, and quiet and dark.

Peaceful…quiet…dark…

It was too peaceful, it was too quiet and it was far too dark.

Something was wrong.

Deprived of all senses, Eliot tried to remember what had happened. His memory was hazy so he figured it would come back to him if he sat up and assessed the environment. It didn't take long to realise that not all of his senses were gone- his pain receptor, for instance was still, unfortunately, intact. Just a slight jostle of his legs sent a shooting ripple of pain up his leg. It all came back to him then. Realising that he was no longer hanging by his wrists, he reached down to check the condition of his injury. To his surprise a scratchy piece of material had been wrapped around the wound. 'I guess I'm worth keeping around' he thought to himself. They obviously didn't want him bleeding out before they revealed why they had taken him. Feeling around he discovered that the puncture wound on his stomach had also been wrapped up. Eliot knew he wouldn't be walking on his leg anytime soon and just the mere thought of moving it at all made his stomach churn. However, he needed to test the room out, find the weakness and compose a plan to get out of this situation he had found himself in. Pushing himself onto his left side he slowly dragged himself around the boarder of the room, he rested one hand on the floor with the other on the wall to guide himself in the dark. After a very gruelling and painful few minutes, his assessment had turned up…nothing. He had found nothing that could help him. He was in an unfamiliar room, sitting in an eerie silence, shrouded by darkness.

All of a sudden an intense white light snapped on, assaulting Eliot with its sheer brightness. He had been in the dark for longer than he had thought. When his eyes had finally adjusted, they shifted to the door and watched as a young woman entered through it.

Her dark chestnut hair whipped around her waist as she swung the door closed behind her. She had a dark, tribal tattoo beneath her left eye. Turning around she held up a Taser.

"We can do this the easy way or we can do this very, very hard way… I'm telling you now, I'm really not in the mood for you to choose the latter." She moved closer. Slowly she tossed over a pair of handcuffs. They skidded to a stop inches away from Eliot.

"You want me to cuff myself?" he asked in disbelief.

A slow dip of her head and a raised eyebrow was the only answer he got. Sighing he obliged and slid the metal over his wrists. On a normal day, he would have been more than capable of taking out an opponent with his feet alone. Unfortunately, with his current leg injury, his chances of beating her dropped by half.

Seeing that he had finished, the woman smiled and pulled out a burlap sack that she had tucked away into the back of her pants— or so Eliot assumed…women had secrets and tricks when it came to that sort of thing. He hoped that the sack was the only thing she had tucked away.

As she kneeled in front of him she stroked a hand through his long hair.

"So pretty" he heard her mutter. Her hand became rough as it fisted and pulled his head back. Eliot tried to jerk away but she elbowed him in the temple and held him tight. "So playful tonight aren't we? That's good! You'll need as much energy as possible for this".

Before Eliot could question what she meant, the sack was pulled over his head and he was met by the same stupid darkness as before. He was getting real tired of this.

The smell of smoke was the first thing he noticed when the woman had brought him into the new room. The click, click of the woman's heels echoed beside him as she removed the sack from his head. Forcing him to his knees, the woman turned to the back of the room and smirked "he was pretty compliant sir, most likely due to his injuries…but he is known to be…unpredictable. Is that all you require of me sir?"

"Thank you Quinn. You may leave us" a hollow voice from the back of the room said. With a curt nod the woman left.

The man stalked up to Eliot and placed a hand on the young man's shoulder, turning him to the right. Eliot found himself facing a large wall made up of TV screens.

"I know all about you Mr Spencer. I know your past…I know your present…" as he spoke the screens turned on, revealing the inside of Nate's apartment. All four members of his team could be seen pacing and talking to each other, they were obviously in distress.

"…And I know your future, Mr Spencer. Are you ready to as well?" The man taunted, a condescending tone heavy in his voice. "I must warn you, though, you might find it a bit…distressing."

To be continued…

Well there we go! Did you love it? Hate it? Whatever opinion you have, let me know. I'd love to hear what you think! Make sure to watch out for the next instalment! (I won't take as long to update this time - I promise!)