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Tony's POV-
I heard the voices getting closer and I took a deep breath ignoring how much it hurt my ribs. I rolled my stiff shoulders in preparation for what was going to happen next, and had the smallest pang of regret for what I had done. No, I had done what had needed to be done to get Gibbs out, I reminded myself. If I hadn't Gibbs would still be here, and we both knew there was not much usage in two hostages other than ransom. And by now I was starting to wonder if I were only here for ransom. I doubt Jeff would have kept me alive if he did not want to exact revenge from when I put him away for ten years. At least like this I had a little protection of being the only one in custody.
The voices were very close now and I felt deja vu. Only earlier today had I been sitting somewhere very similar to here dreading and waiting for when the voices found me. At least then Gibbs had been there and I hadn't been alone. Where was McGee? I had not thought to ask Gibbs where he had been during this whole time. And what about Ziva? I couldn't really remember much from the collapsed building. I vaguely remembered Ziva finding me, then I think Mark kidnapped me? But that didn't make sense because how did he get past Ziva, and why did she trust them?
All of these unanswered questions were making my head hurt. I needed to focus. Within a turn I knew that the men would find me. I straightened me back, and I prepared myself for being forced to stand without help. I assumed they would make me do that or they would drag me, and neither option sounded appealing nor favorable. Or maybe they would just would kill me.
As my time estimation prediction was sadly correct, in a half minute five men dressed in all black rounded the corner to where I was sitting. At first they didn't notice me, they only looked at Jeff's beaten and unconscious body a few feet away. But eventually there eyes trailed to find the culprit, and there I sat with my legs sprawled in front of me. The tallest one in the center stepped forward and I felt a startling urge to shrink back.
"Did you do this?" Demanded the man who appeared to be second in command next to Jeff.
"No idea what you're talking about," I informed him stubbornly. That sure seemed to make him wrathful. He crossed the distance between us and grasped my damaged arm. He wrapped his thick hands around it and tightened his grip vigorously enough to leave finger shaped contusions. I tried to pull away and retract my arm, but he only pressed stronger. No matter how hard I attempted I couldn't contain the cry of agony that slipped past my parched lips. A sadistic smile crossed his face, and then he abruptly dropped it.
"You know, we should set that. If you lose it, it will cost us." Without giving me any interval of time to ready myself he put his meaty hands around the area where the bone was cracked in half. He then thrusted the bone into its proper place and I had no chance of stopping my shout of anguish. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did that hurt?" he questioned me, in his conceited and mocking tone.
Spontaneously, I heard calls coming from down the hallway asking 'where did you guys go'? I glanced at the man who had just set my arm, and I decided to name him Meaty Hands. He seemed irritated at the least. "We found Tony. Come over here!" Meaty Hands bellowed in answer.
"Coming!" Someone answered with a rather high voice that made me want to snicker at him. Meaty Hands must have agreed on some level because he rolled his eyes at their incompetence. My acute hearing barely caught the word 'idiots' that he muttered. After a minute, two more additional men came to where all six of us were already bunched.
"Welcome to the party," I told them with a smug smile.
"Who did that? Did Tony? Should we chain him?" High-Pitched-Person inquired while pointing to Jeff.
"That's what I was finding out when you interrupted," Meaty Hands told High-Pitched-Person. Meaty Hands turned back to me. "Did you do that?" he repeated.
"Do what?"
"You know what I'm talking about!"
"No I don't."
"Should I jog your memory?" he grabbed my arm in a painful threat.
"I did it."
"I don't believe you. You don't look like you can even stand at the moment."
"You know, there was another guy," High-Pitched-Person cut in.
"Why the heck didn't you say anything?" Meaty Hands demanded.
"I didn't think about until now!" High-Pitched-Person defended.
"Did your friend do this?" Meaty Hands asked me.
"No," I told him as strong-willed as ever. Meaty Hands stood up from next to me, and for the first time I noticed he had steel-toed boots. That was about the only observation that could count as a warning before he sent the first kick for my ribs. He sent what felt like thousands, but what I assume was no more than five. If I thought that I had struggled for breath before, now I was nearly suffocating.
"Who beat Jeff?" Meaty Hands tried again.
"I don't know," I insisted while panting, and I didn't like how slurred my words were.
By now the total of seven men had surrounded me in an inescapable circle. They all wore dark jeans and v-neck, black t-shirts. It almost reminded me of a school uniform, the way they all matched. It was a rather comical sight, and to me, it looked like a scene from a cheesy movie instead of a life-threatening situation. "Did you coordinate your outfits or something?" I queried them managing to keep my face serious. I think High-Pitched-Person answered with something like 'No! It was Jeff's idea', but I couldn't really hear because I broke into a hard coughing fit. When it finished I gulped in the cold air and found that I tasted copper in my mouth. That couldn't be good.
"Lets just assume the other guy did it. Do you know his name?" Meaty hands asked, but he was no longer paying attention to me.
"It was Gibbs," someone offered who I had not heard speak yet.
"Where is he know?"
"He must have escaped with Tony. Made it halfway, realized Tony was slowing him down. Ditched him then ran off. He doesn't know his way out, he's probably lost somewhere in the tunnels." This time I couldn't see the face who had spoken, but I recognized it as Mark's voice.
"Here that, Tony? You got abandoned." Meaty Hands taunted with a smug smirk. I resisted the urge to tell him that I was positive that was back-up was already on their way right now with Gibbs in tow. The only outcome of bragging though, would be giving them time to organize a counterattack before they arrived. I settled for simply staying silent and staring up and Meaty Hands.
"Mark, chain him up in the basement. You know the directions right?" Meaty Hands asked.
"Uh, could you write it down real fast?"
"Fine." He grabbed a napkin from his pocket and scribbled down a few things that I couldn't see with a pen. He handed it to Mark and told him, "Hurry up."
Mark grabbed my decent arm's bicep, and hauled me to my feet. The men broke their circle to allow us entry, and one of the guys we passed shoved my mutilated arm. I bit my lip and barely managed to remain silent. The other men plainly just laughed as they watched my face become etched with torment.
Mark basically had to drag me the long trudge to the basement. After we were a few turns away though, he helped me into a better position that supported my ribs. It was close to how Gibbs had helped me, with my arm looped around his neck. He wasn't quite as careful as Gibbs was, but he much different from the way Meaty Hands had treated me. I guiltily took the opportunity to slip my hand into his pocket and pinch the napkin with my index and middle finger. I felt bad for taking advantage of his kindness, but the situation was life and death.
When we reached the basement he helped me sit down with my back leaning against the wall. He brought two chains with cuffs at the ends over to me and snapped them tightly into place. I grunted when it was put over my snapped arm, and Mark gave me an apologetic glance.
"Sorry," Mark muttered.
"You're Cleo's brother?" I questioned off topic.
"Yeah," he pronounced dragging out the word to show his skepticism. He seemed puzzled that I knew that Cleo was his sister, and that was her name.
"That's a large age gap," I observed.
"Yeah."
"Gibbs rescued her." I informed him bluntly. I knew I shouldn't have told him, but I felt obliged to. He stopped what he was doing and I felt his hazel eyes bore into me.
"What?"
"The other guy, Gibbs, rescued her. She came in and gave us water and bandages. I convinced Gibbs to leave me and he promised he wouldn't leave without her." He hadn't really promised in the traditional way, but I took anything Gibbs said as a promise.
"Thank you," he told me with his voice quiet.
"Don't thank me, thank Gibbs."
"Will he be coming back?"
I hesitated if I should tell him that much, but I decided to trust him. "Yeah. Charges on you will be dropped if you Cleo testifies that you were forced to do this with her." Mark simply gaped at me blankly. I wasn't sure if he was in shock or merely could not process everything I had told him.
"I should go," he said still looking at me like I was an enigma.
"Okay." He stood up to go, but stopped with his hand hovering over the door handle.
"Don't escape."
"What?" He came over and chained my broken arm.
"Please don't escape or Jeff will have my head."
"Thank you," I told him because it really had taken off a great deal of my pain.
"I'm serious," he replied one more time before leaving. I heard the click of a lock, but only one. When I had came in I was almost certain that there had been two locks.
Sorry this chapter was a little short! The next will be longer, I promise! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! I'M ON MY HANDS AND KNEES! And please tell me if you got confused with so many people in one scene. It was sort of hard to write it.