Finally, finally, FINALLY I have finished this chapter! Sorry it's been so long since I updated, I was grounded, then stuff happened, blah blah blah... - Legitimate Excuse. So, yeah. Here you go!

The two Vesper lackeys shoved the incapacitated Ekat into the room. Richard stumbled, and his legs crumpled beneath him. He would have landed on his face if Nellie and Fiske hadn't caught him. As the door slammed shut, they gently lowered Richard onto his back. Nellie knelt next to him. "Richard, are you okay?" His only response was a groan. "Richard? Richard, say something if you can hear me."

He winced. "I feel terrible."

Fiske smiled. "Well, if he's well enough to quote, I'd say he's pretty much okay. Except for…" He trailed off.

Regan leaned over to get a better look. "Hey, Richard, when'd you go emo?"

Richard rolled his eyes. "I told Vesper One you'd ask me that, but he listen? Nooooo."

Nellie shooed everyone else away. "Back off, you guys. He needs to rest." As they did, Nellie asked, "What did they do to you?"

"Oh, nothin' much. They were like, 'Tell us what you know,' and was like, 'No way, Jose.' Then, they were all, Pow! Wham! Kerblooie! and I ended up back here."

"Wow." Nellie's expression changed to concern. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Richard tried to grin. "I never said I was."

Nellie rolled her eyes. "Not this again. Can't you ever take anything seriously?"

His face fell. "You have no idea."

In the next few hours, Richard somehow convinced Regan to let him work out with her. She didn't think it was a good idea, but he insisted.

After two hours of push-ups, sit-ups, and other things, Richard collapsed into a corner.

"Are you okay?"

Richard waved Regan away. "I'm fine. I just need to rest." She shrugged, then walked off.

See what you think of that, Vesper One. I'll never tell you anything.

Attention hog.

"Huh?" Richard looked around.

"What?" Nellie asked.

"Oh, uh, nothing." Attention hog and oblivious.

"What? Who said that?" Do you really have to ask?

Okay, voice in my head, what do you want? What are talking about?

You. You never really believed in Christ. You just thought it would get Mr. Whitaker off your case.

Says who?

Says me.

Well, it doesn't really matter now, does it? I mean, I don't really have time to think about this.

And why not?

Well, for one, I'm about to die.

All the more reason.

Okay, okay. You've got a point. But, why now?

You don't have any idea, do you? You want to know why you keep miraculously getting out of these things? Because God wants to give you all the chances he can.

But-

No buts. This is it. Your last chance. What are you going to choose?

The pain was unbearable now. His head was throbbing, his whole body was on fire. Fine, he thought. You win. I give up. Richard closed his eyes. God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

You have chosen…wisely.

Suddenly, Richard couldn't breathe. He gasped. It was happening. This was the end. He fell to the floor, then blacked out.

Nellie had seen the whole thing happen. She walked over to Richard's limp form. "Richard? Dude, this isn't funny." She knelt beside him, and put her fingers to his neck. No pulse. "No!"

As she yelled, a group of Vespers ran in and surrounded Richard. Nellie clawed at them, trying to pull them away. "You killed him! How could you?"

Just as quickly as they had entered, they left, taking Richard with them.

Wha-? I- I thought… "So, you couldn't wait 24 hours, could ya?" Richard was back in the interrogation room. But this time, he was strapped to a table, him wrists and ankles attached by ropes.

Vesper One snarled at him. "Don't pull something like that again, Maxwell."

"What? Afraid I was gonna die?" He grinned. "I have one question, though."

"And what's that?"

"Why am I still alive?"

Vesper One held up an empty syringe. "One of my men administered this antidote just in time."

"Oooh… I see… Not. Why? Wait- don't tell me, let me guess. You still want information, and you didn't want me gone. Well, what would you say if I told you this was all a part of my plan?"

"I'd say you're bluffing."

"And I'd say: …Yup." Richard twisted his wrists. "Wow. You guys sure know how to tie a good, solid knot. Well, now what?"

"We return to what we were doing earlier."

"Oh. Well, ya see, I don't think I'll be able to stand much more of that."

Vesper One chuckled. "That's the idea."

"No, you don't get it. What I mean is, I'm never going to tell you anything. You can't do a thing to me that would make me tell. Besides, if you keep this up, you'll just have a dead Cahill to worry about."

Vesper One pointed to a corner of the room. "Do you see that monitor?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Although, whatever you want to show me is obstructed by that video feed from the room where the hostages are."

"That is what I wanted to show you."

"Oh. You know, they don't look so good. Maybe if you fed them a bit more…"

"Shut up!" Vesper One took a deep breath. "Let's play a game."

"Ooo! I love games!"

"Here's how it works: I ask you a question. If you don't answer, then the Cahill of your choice… wait, here's the best part… Dies! Isn't that just lovely?" Vesper One was about to call in the guards again. "I'll just send you back in there for, oh, ten minutes. Then, one of them dies."

Oh, boy. You can't bluff your way out of this one. Let's see... "This is not really the best system."

"What are you talking about?"

"All of this. You throw me into that room, pull me back out a minute later, drag me all the way into here, play around a few hours, send me back, go get me, drag me into here again, say a whopping two sentences to me, then send me back, then go and kill someone. I mean, talk about bad time management."

Vesper One was getting very irritated. "What would you suggest," It grinded out through gritted teeth.

Richard smiled. Hooked. "Well, for one, you could let the hostages go."

"Not going to happen."

"That's what I thought. Or, you could make peace with the Cahills and stop trying to kill them." Richard pulled, trying to get his right arm out. He broke the skin, and it stung. At least it'll be slipperier now. Vesper One didn't notice.

"Never."

"Then, I guess that leaves only one choice."

Vesper One nodded. "Yes, it does."

"No, not that choice. Seeing as I'd rather die than tell you…" He shrugged. "You could just kill me. Get it over with. You know you want to. I'm just too dang annoying. Or…" He pulled his arm free. "I could do this!" Richard swung his arm around and aimed for Vesper One's face. It ducked, then yelled for the guards.

"I swear you'll regret this, Maxwell."

"What're you gonna do, kill me? We've been over this."

Vesper One smiled, although Richard couldn't see. It wiped off blood that Richard had slung on to its shirt. "No. One of your precious Cahill buddies will."

Richard's expression changed as the realization of what he had done hit him. "No!"

"Yes. Oh, yes." That laugh again. It sent shivers down Richard's back. Then, he was dragged out of the room.