Alex didn't feel very good. He had been left in the closet for well over 10 hours, but of course, he didn't know that. He had no clue how long he had been there, but he knew it was too long. He had found out, though, that he didn't mind the closet anymore.

It wasn't so much that he had conquered his claustrophobia, but more that he found that he could take a break from Ian's wrath in the dark silence of the closet. He was very grateful to Eagle and the sergeant. Even if he was never able to go back to them, he was grateful that he had gotten a chance to know them. And how he prayed that he could go back! He couldn't imagine living with his father and Ian long-term.

It was then when the door opened. Alex swallowed visibly hard. He knew who it would be.

Without a doubt, it was. "Miss me?" It was Alan Blunt. He hadn't changed in the weeks Alex hadn't seen him… except that he'd possibly gotten more psychopathic. Alex scooted back towards the wall, knowing that it wouldn't do any good and would only get Alan angry at him.

"Well, well, lookey who we have here," Alan sneered. He reached in and grabbed Alex's hand firmly, enjoying the look in Alex's terrified eyes. He knew that he did not have long to spend right this second, as he had a more pressing issue to address, but he wanted to make sure that Alex knew that he was in charge.

After all, that damn sergeant had his kid for too long. Who knew what damage he could have done to Alex? His blood burning, Alan pulled hard against his sons' hand. He chuckled, watching Alex feebly struggle. He shoved his son against the white wall, grinning at his sons' pain.

"You're going to be in pain," Alan told his son happily. He glanced down at him and frowned.

Alex had passed out.

Damn. Well, at least he could now handle his issue with the bird now. He could always go back and torment his son later.

## break ##

Eagle groaned as he rolled over. He had been left on the all-but-threadbare cement floor, and he felt more exhausted than he ever could have remembered feeling before. It probably had something to do with the stab wounds that were now all over his arm - wounds that would no doubt be permanent reminders of what he'd experienced, of the kid he tried to help.

He exhaled slowly as he closed his eyes. He was trying to "enjoy" his few minutes of alone time. Ian Rider had tortured him for what he thought was most of the morning, and he was quite happy to get a break. If he had had more energy, he probably would have tried to plot an escape, but he just couldn't think about that right now.

The door creaked open, and Eagle exhaled forcefully. He was trying to convince himself he wasn't scared of Ian, but he was. Ian had spent half an hour torturing him for no reason at all other than he'd made the mistake of caring for Alex.

It didn't matter. Eagle wouldn't take it back for the world. He'd been abused. Hell, he'd been badly abused. One of the things he had been admittedly afraid of was that the sergeant would think badly of him (think he had a twisted mind, or something) for trying to help Alex. It had been the total opposite; the sergeant had been extremely grateful. And up until Alan Blunt had the audacity to interfere with Alex's life, they'd been getting along great. Cub had even opened up a little bit – something that had taken Eagle much, much longer to do. Now, all that progress was probably ruined, thanks to Alan Blunt.

Well, actually, if Eagle wanted to be really technical, it was thanks to Ian Rider, who had kidnapped both him and Alex. But he had no doubt that Alan Blunt had orchestrated the entire kidnapping. Or would be here during some point of it.

Groaning as he moved his arm, Eagle tried not to look at it. He failed. Ian hadn't bothered to clean off his arm after he'd finished tormenting him (and why would he? After all, it wasn't in his best interests to keep his arm clean). The blood was matted and, if Eagle didn't know better, he would have thought that someone had taken blood and just dumped it over the arm. Eagle would have cleaned it off himself, but he'd tried using his shirt and that hadn't worked. There was virtually nothing else in the entire room that he could even attempt to use.

The door opened again, and Eagle glanced up. Much to his horror, there were, indeed, Alan Blunt and Ian Rider standing there. They both had smirks on their faces, and somehow, Eagle just knew that this was going to be very, very bad.

## break ##

Wolf was understandably pissed. He and his men had been captured, being held by hostile agents. Agents that shouldn't even be legally wearing their uniform, because that's how bad (well, how illegal) they were.

So far, they'd mock-executed Katakana, shocked Fox with an electric wire, and beaten Snake. What was Snake's crime? He moved when he was told not to. One inch, that is. He'd moved his foot one inch.

The door that was blocking them from their escape opened. Wolf glanced up. Katakana – who had been the medic on his team – was talking with Snake, trying to calm him down. Snake's beating had been very, very bad, that was all Wolf knew. On one hand, he wished he had more medical training so that he knew how bad Snake was. On another hand, he was grateful that he didn't know – sometimes denial was a pleasant thing.

There were two men there, with guns. They had grim smiles on their faces. Wolf just knew that this was going to be bad. He swallowed hard, worried about his chances of survival.

Suddenly, another body was dumped there. Not just any body, though. Wolf recognized the form of Eagle being dropped on the ground, and his anger grew. Were these men in cohorts with Alan Blunt? It had every possibility of making sense, Wolf thought, the worried knot in his stomach growing. He swallowed hard, trying not to look fearful in front of the man.

"Well, well, well," the man said. "We have all of K-Unit here. I think it's time for a little fun, don't you?"

Sure, all of the K-Unit was there. If you counted the fact that Snake and Eagle were both sleeping and injured. Wolf felt his anger against them grow.

"I just wanted to set an example of what NOT to do while you're under arrest here," the first man said. "Hey, you with the red shirt. Back against the wall."

Katakana backed away nervously, raising his hands as he looked at the man, trying hard not to flinch as the muzzle of the gun was pointed directly at him. Wolf swallowed hard. Were they seeing a torture session? A mock execution? Or… another murder?

What in heaven's name was happening here?

"You have been found guilty of a crime," the first man said. "You can pick one of your team mates to suffer for it, if you desire, or you can suffer for it yourself. It is your choice."

This couldn't be happening.

"I will take it," Katakana said as he placed his hands on his head, laced together, just as he had been ordered.

"Good," the first man said. "It's only fitting, anyway. I did really want to kill you that first time."

And then, with that, he fired his gun directly at Katakana. Wolf heard himself screaming, but was unable to do anything because of the arms that restrained him. Blood spilled all over the floor, and Katakana gave a cry of pain.

Before anyone could do anything, Katakana had been removed from this life, having been only the first one to actually sacrifice his life for Alex Rider.

And their week of hell was only just beginning.