Ezra was pacing the floor of the command centre again internally kicking himself. He knew that he'd messed up big time the moment they'd watched Frank called back from the hostages and entering the ward where Dante was being held. Dread had filled his entire being when Joe had been dragged from the floor moments later. He had a feeling Dante knew exactly who he was dealing with. Now Ezra had both the Hardys neck deep in hell and there was nothing he could do about it without possibly endangering the lives of the other remaining hostages.

Speaking of which, the speakers crackled suddenly as a voice blasted from them. The officer in charge of the party the Chief had sent inside to intercept the released captives was making contact with the home base.

"Hostages present and accounted for sir," he said through the static, "bringing them home. Repeat, bringing them home now."

"Understood, medics on standby for full evac. Get them here in one piece officer," Ezra replied breathing a tense sigh of relief.

They'd managed to get a couple of those people out at least so far, it was the best news they'd had all day. Although they wouldn't know the full status of the doctor who'd taken one to the stomach until he was brought from the building and loaded directly into the helicopter standing by ready to take him to the nearest hospital.

The irony of having to evacuate the doctor from the one place which should have been able to save him wasn't lost on Ezra. They had a full team of EMTs just waiting to pounce and save his life moments from the hospital exit designated by the Chief to the officer in charge of the retrieval team.

It wouldn't be much longer but the Chief wouldn't allow himself to feel any less tense about their status until he saw them in the flesh. Although after looking back to the live stream for a moment he felt the tension grow as the forms of Joe and Frank Hardy were shoved bodily back into the room from the ward they'd been taken into, and pushed into a position where the Chief could see every detail of both of the men.

A tension which turned to nausea as the guards surrounding the pair suddenly fell upon them both beating them down to the ground.

Frank tensed as he was marched back to the waiting room. He couldn't see any way out of the situation which didn't result in someone being killed. He stumbled slightly as they were pushed to the clearer end of the room a little ways from the remaining hostages. Suddenly they found themselves surrounded by Lance, Pietro, Nick and Tony.

Abbie was still, her face a mask of pure professionalism as she stood guard in between the Hardys and the sitting people. Precisely where Lance had put her incase they got a little rowdy at what they were about to witness.

Frank glanced over at Joe who nodded as their eyes met. His own face set in a grim determination. Frank lowered himself slightly as he eyed the bristling men before him who were barely containing their need to act on the adrenaline rushing through their systems. In the quiet moment before the storm, Frank looked over at his brother once again and resolved that he would not go down without a fight.

"Boys...sic 'em."

At Lance's word, the three stocky brutes under his command leapt forward arms raised and snarls on their faces. Frank sidestepped as Tony aimed a hammer like blow directly at his face, using his own momentum to hurl a fist into his stomach. Tony fell down, winded, but Frank only had a moment to consider him before he was rugby tackled from the side by Pietro. They crashed to the ground, Frank's shoulder taking most of the impact and the air rushing from his lungs. He took a second to compose himself before wriggling his arms free of Pietro's bear hug and launched a punch at the man's face. Pietro's head snapped backwards and he grunted before whipping his fist back and answering with his own punch. Opening a split on Frank's lip and sending hot blood rushing down his chin. Frank blinked quickly as the blow rattled his head. He took a moment to glance over at Joe who was currently being circled by Nick.

Nick had thrown himself at the younger Hardy the second he had a chance. Clearly in the mood to deliver a little revenge for his earlier beating. Joe's reaction time was not the fastest it had ever been, his body had been put through considerable stress over the course of the day and it was beginning to show. So when Nick aimed a hit as his ribcage, Joe rolled out of the way a moment slower than he should have and the blow glanced with enough force to take his breath away. Keeping his left arm clutched across his body so he wouldn't aggravate his injured shoulder, Joe whipped upwards from his crouched position and lashed out with an uppercut. Nick dodged most of the blow grunting slightly as it clipped his chin. Knocking his teeth together with an audible click. He growled and took a step back before rushing at Joe and throwing them both to the floor. Joe landed hard and the jolt sent a bolt of lightning pain across his shoulders and back and made him gasp aloud. Nick straddled the younger Hardy and launched a punch at his face. Joe hit it out of the way with his hand but couldn't block Nick's other fist in time and the blow made him see stars. He was aware of the distant sound of his cell phone ringing once again, though the all the noises in the room seemed suddenly to be muffled as his ears rang. Nick grasped Joe's flailing good arm and pinned it to the floor before winding up for a knock out blow.

Joe saw red for a moment as he heard the unmistakable sounds of flesh hitting flesh and saw Frank crashing to the floor once again from the corner of his eye. This whole situation was just not fair, they were the good guys for pity's sake. He attempted to move his good hand but it was well and truly secured in Nick's grasp. So he took a deep breath and steeled himself against the inevitable pain and whipped his left arm back, as far as he could from his position on the ground, and jabbed it directly into Nick's already broken nose. The resulting wave of pain across his shoulder made Joe's stomach churn and he had to take a moment to just ride it out before allowing himself a snarling smile of grim satisfaction. His rabbit punch had cause Nick to throw himself back howling, blood erupting from his nostrils once again and drawing tracks down his lips.

Joe rolled himself away from Nick and attempted to stand in order to help his brother who was curled on the floor as Tony delivered stinging kicks to his torso. Pietro was out for the count, a bruise forming on his temple. Tony hadn't fared much better. Blood streaming openly down his cheek from a gash on his eyebrow. But despite Frank holding his own, he had been trained in a number of fighting styles after all, he couldn't face off forever against two opponents and the punches they had landed had finally brought him down. Joe snarled as he threw himself forward onto his knees, his eyes tunnelling slightly. He brought himself up as high as he could. Standing was out of the question for the moment as waves of dizziness crashed over him. He threw himself at Tony's legs. Tony who was perched on one foot as he brought back the other to aim another kick into Frank was already slightly off balance, and the unexpected form of Joe tackling into him sent him crashing to the ground again. He snarled as he rolled to the side before bringing his arm up to deliver a murderous blow to Joe's face. The younger Hardy was lying on his side where he had fallen. The fight all but gone in him as his exhausted body called time.

"Enough!" The ringing sound of Lance's voice broke through the glazed rage of Tony's face and he looked over at his boss, panting with exertion. He aimed a hate filled glance at the Hardys before bringing himself to his feet and staggering over to the prone form of Pietro who was slowly coming round.

Joe rolled to his back, heaving great lungfulls of air in an attempt to calm his hammering heartbeat. After a moment he pushed himself over and pulled his body towards his brother who was still lying curled on the floor gasping. Frank's face was a mask of cuts and bruises and his eyes were closed tight as he attempted to control the pain coursing through his abused torso. He opened them and his field of vision was taken up by the concerned face of Joe, who smiled a little as Frank looked up at him.

"Hey," he said gruffly, relief evident in his voice, "check it out, matching war wounds." He pointed to his split lip before collapsing back to the floor with a humourless laugh at Frank's responding eye roll. Joe attempted to gather his remaining strength and give his body a moment of respite. The attentions of both the Hardys were drawn to Lance's voice as he spoke once again to the Chief on the line.

"There see, play time's over so you can. Stop. Yelling. Down. My. Ear," he said holding the phone away from his face slightly as the garbled roar of Ezra's voice hurling abuse was evident from the speaker. "Hush up Chief, pops wants a word."

Frank slowly straightened himself out, blowing out his cheeks as he did so as his body protested the movement. Tony had really bashed out a tune on his ribcage and it was taking it's sweet time for the stinging to ease off. He glanced over at his brother who was still lying on his back, eyes closed as he got his breath back. Maria caught his gaze from across the room, her face a mixture of shock and frustration. Frank shook his head at her slowly. The last thing he wanted was for people to get involved in the madness. Her expression glazed over as she noticed the movement and grudgingly accepted.

Frank strained his ears to listen to Dante talking to Ezra. From the waiting room there was no chance of hearing the Chief's response but Frank's blood turned to ice when he heard Dante's closing sentence.

"You know what we want my dear. If we don't get some sort of response soon then we're going to start killing the hostages. One per hour, starting with the women. Goodbye for now. I expect we'll be hearing from you soon."

Frank's mind whirled as he attempted to see a way out which wouldn't result in the Marchettis getting what they wanted or the need for anymore body bags. His attention was brought back to Joe as his brother caught his gaze, the same worry he felt reflected right back at him. They had never been in such a mess before and he had no idea what their next move would be. But if he did know one thing it was that he and his brother wouldn't take it lying on their backs.

Thanks so much for the reviews. I haven't had a chance to respond to each of them like I usually would like to but they are really appreciated. Every one which pops into my inbox makes my day just that bit brighter.

I'm thinking I have almost finished writing this beast! Seems like I have a couple more chapters to go to wrap it up but yeah, it's been a fun journey and thanks for being aboard.

As always, any thoughts or critiques are welcome.