Peter was sitting in his cell, feeling the effects of his treatment. Ever since he and Serena had been brought to the compound, they had been separated. He knew that this was standard procedure for many captors, as it prevented prisoners taking comfort and strength from each other. The massive, dark-skinned man had taken great delight in dealing with Peter personally.
In the time he had been here, he had been kept in a pitch-black room, with only a small amount of light allowed in through the vision slit on the steel door. Peter had taken in every detail he had been allowed to of his place of capture. Every step they had taken sounded like it was on steel floors, and the entirety of his cell was also steel. He doubted a steel building would go unnoticed in the middle of a city. Since he hadn't felt any kind of movement, he figured they weren't on a ship, and had decided they were probably in a bunker of some description.
He had been barely fed, not that he'd consider what Jarvis had brought him food in any stretch of the word, and he was kept isolated in this uncomfortable cell, which he figured was for the purposes of sleep deprivation.
He didn't really care though, all he could think about was Serena. He hadn't known her long, but he knew that she was strong enough and stubborn enough that she would never give up any information, or give him up for her own freedom, something he was sure they'd want him to think to encourage him to talk. That only left two options, she was either somewhere else, or...it was a thought that he didn't even want to entertain. It hurt just to imagine it.
The locking mechanism triggered, and the door opened, revealing Jarvis standing there. He smiled to see Peter curled up on the floor, blinking as the light blinded him.
"It's time you and I had a chat little man." He greeted him, pulling out some handcuffs. He could see the way Peter was looking at him and just snorted. "You think you can take me? I used to be Delta Force! Just give it a try."
Peter didn't bother though. If what the dark-skinned captor had told him was true, then that meant he was former Special Forces, meaning that he was more than skilled enough to rival Peter's modest Martial Arts training. He was also almost double Peter's size, and his demeanour suggested that he would love any excuse to take liberties with him. Peter just allowed him to put the handcuffs on, before slipping the hood over his head.
"Let's go." He told him. Peter just let him take him, but all the time considered his layout. One of the gifts he had with his intelligence was a remarkable attention to detail. He not only remembered every turn they made, but he counted the steps they took between them. In his mind, he was already starting to form a layout of the complex based on what he had experienced.
They finally got to the room, and Peter was pushed in. As the hood was pulled off, Peter looked around in disgust. He had seen pictures on the internet of the equipment, but he couldn't believe anyone would actually assemble it. It was a torture chamber.
"The boss likes clever questions and sodium pentothal, but as you can see, I have other ways of getting information." Jarvis told him. He went to a bench, with straps on it, which tilted at his touch. The head end angled downwards, indicating that it was used for waterboarding.
"Is this where you ask me if I want to talk?" Peter asked him. "I know my rights. I read the Geneva Convention when I was thirteen."
"Where do you think you are pipsqueak?" Jarvis asked him, shoving Peter to the floor. He went to a desk in the corner. From where he was, Peter saw him shuffling a few papers, before picking up a telephone book. He came back across.
"As you can see, we have plenty of tools at our disposal." Jarvis stated. "But to start with, I think I'll try an old classic."
Placing the phone book against Peter's ribs, he punched it hard, winding the younger man. He understood the physics behind it, the phone book transferred the force of the blow, but distributed it over a larger area, meaning that no matter how hard Jarvis hit him, the blow would not bruise. It was an urban legend that several law enforcement agencies had used this method for years to get confessions from difficult prisoners.
Jarvis slammed his fist into the phone book another half-dozen times, each time picking another spot to hit. He seemed to delight in his task. Peter gasped for air as he finally let up.
"Come on bookworm, tell us who you are." Jarvis told him. Peter tried to think of anything he could to summon strength in this situation. He had always believed that High School was a survival experience, but Jarvis had already equalled anything that the bullies had dished out. He also had a feeling that he was more than willing to do more, given his obvious enthusiasm.
"Bookworm?" Peter asked him. "Boy, you're the brains of the outfit aren't you?"
"Keep talking poindexter." Jarvis replied, pacing the room. "I can keep this up all day."
"I'll bet you can." Peter stated. "You're a big guy, you look fit, I bet you have plenty of stamina."
Jarvis seemed a little taken aback by this outburst. He seemed confused if anything else. He wasn't expecting a compliment, or at least, what sounded like one.
"You know, I have something of a confession to make." Jarvis told him. "I really couldn't care less what you or your little girlfriend were up to."
Peter stopped as he heard this. He presumed he was talking about Serena.
"What did you do to her?" Peter asked him. Jarvis just smirked as he saw his reaction.
"Yeah, the girlfriend...or is it the wife? Oh, I don't know, and I really don't care." Jarvis commented as he put down the phone book and picked up a wickedly-carved looking blade. "It's getting to the answers that's the fun part. That's why I look forward to bringing her in."
Peter picked up on what he had said. Jarvis was clearly no brain surgeon, but here, he had just tipped him off not only to the fact that Serena was still alive, but that she was here in the same place.
"Yeah, I'll bet it's the pain thing that really gets your juices flowing." Peter answered. "You've always been a big guy haven't you?"
Jarvis just looked at him as he started speaking, shifting a little in his stance. Peter had read that right, and hit on something.
"Yeah, I'll bet you were a jock weren't you?" He asked. "What was it? Football? Hockey?"
"We aren't talking about me!" Jarvis snapped, kicking Peter in the ribs. "Now, who are you?"
"I'm guessing wrestling." Peter commented with a bit of a smile on his face. "All that close contact with other guys..."
Jarvis grabbed him and yanked him up, holding him off the ground by his shirt. Peter struggled against every fear instinct in his mind and body as he realised he had well and truly hit a nerve with Jarvis.
"That's it isn't it?" He asked. "I'm guessing you asked for me specifically..."
"Shut it boorkworm!"
"After all, I was with a beautiful young woman, and you wanted me first." He continued. "Like, you WANTED me."
"You're not the only one that can read this, I'll bet you were a little computer geek weren't you?" Jarvis asked him. "When you saw that little piece of ass in the other cell, you signed up like a shot because you knew that someone like her would never look at someone like you!" This last remark hurt, not least because it was at least partly true. He had started to think of Serena differently, but she didn't seem to notice him, and at times had even put him down directly to his face. He knew he didn't have a shot with her. As he saw the rage in Jarvis' face, he kept pressing the matter.
"Yeah, you wanted me in this situation didn't you?" Peter asked him. "You loved tormenting the little nerds at school, and you never grew up, and do you know why?"
He drew as closely as he could.
"Because you couldn't deal with how pathetic you really are!" Peter told him. Jarvis threw him though the desk, leaving him in the wreckage. Just then, his radio sounded.
"Jarvis, we need a hand in cell block three." Kirk's voice sounded. Jarvis just put it back on his belt and left the room.
"You got lucky." He retorted. "When I get back, you'll realise how lucky!"
As he left, locking the door behind him, Peter coughed loudly as he rolled around, trying to get his bearings. He finally saw something among the wreckage that could help, a report, bound together by a paperclip. He rolled over to it, and fumbled around, picking it up.
A little while later, the door opened and Jarvis returned to the room. He looked around curiously as he saw no sign of Peter. Just then, he called out in pain as a blade was rammed into his left leg, causing it to cave in under him.
Peter closed the door, before jamming the blade into Jarvis' shoulder, shoving him to the ground. He started unclipping his belt, pulling it off. Taking the asp, he slammed it into Jarvis' head, knocking him out cold.
He clipped the belt on, and handcuffed Jarvis to the bench, before heading out the room.
He took in his surroundings for a moment in the hallway, before noticing a door marked security room. He listened carefully, before slipping inside, finding only one man there, who didn't even notice he had arrived. He went up behind him, and smacked him across the back of the head, sending him to the floor.
"Alright, where are we?" He asked, beginning to work on the system. He looked through several cameras, before finding one showing Serena in another interrogation room. His heart relaxed a few beats as he confirmed that she was still alive, but seeing her in danger, it was still running on adrenaline. He had never felt anything like this, no matter how difficult a system he had just hacked. He was in a literal life or death situation, armed guards everywhere, and he could only guess as to why they were there.
"Room 4." He commented. He flicked through another few cameras, and his mind worked overtime. He had never understood it himself, but he just saw patterns and numbers and systems in a way no one else did. Where everyone else only saw images from the cameras, in his mind, he was already forming a map of the layout, one that he knew he could rely on. Once he had satisfied himself that he knew what he was doing, he left.
He sneaked down the corridor, as carefully as he could, and keeping out of sight. Fortunately there had been no alarms yet, because by the look of the few guards he had seen, they were significantly bigger than him and would probably mop the floor with his face if he tried to take them on. That kind of thing was why Daisuke had chosen Serena. Finding the door, he paused for a moment, remembering that both Fox and Kirk had been in there. He noticed a grenade on his belt, and took it off, pulling the safety pin while holding the safety lever, or "spoon" as it was called. He slipped it into the door handle, jamming it in place in such a way that the spoon would not trigger until the door was opened. He then retreated to a safe hiding spot, and hunkered down out of sight. He covered his ears as the door handle triggered and the grenade fell to the floor.
"Get down!" Kirk screamed, but it was too late, the grenade went off, fortunately it was only a flash grenade or he was sure it would have been worse. He ran into the room as the smoke started to clear, and saw Serena on the floor. Breathing a sigh of relief, he ran to her side, unlocking her handcuffs.
"Peter?" She asked.
"Serena, we need to get out of here!" He told her. She just held her head, trying to get her bearings, but was barely able to even sit upright of her own volition. From the way she was acting, he guessed that they had put her on something, a fear that was confirmed as he saw a syringe on the nearby table.
"Uh...sorry maybe next month." She commented. Peter left her for a moment, looking around frantically for something to bring her round, but only seeing a bottle of Evian. He sighed, before coming back to her.
"You can kick my ass later." He told her.
"Kick your ass for what?" She asked. With that, he threw a bottle of water in her face. Before she could react, he slapped her hard across the right cheek, before doing the same to her left. "Peter!"
"Hey, it's not scientific, but its the best I could come up with on a truncated timetable." He told her, helping her to her feet. He handed her an asp, before taking one from Fox. "Come on!"
"Where?" She asked. "I haven't seen..."
"I have a great sense of direction." He told her. "I can quite literally remember where I've been blindfolded."
"I hope so." Serena replied. "So how did you get out?"
"Jarvis underestimated me." He told her with a little smile. "Never leave a nerd alone with a paperclip."
As he ran out of the room, Serena followed him, seeing some guards running towards them. Peter held his asp, ready for action.
"Sorry Serena, but my skills are a little basic in this field." He told her. "This is where you take the lead."
"With pleasure." She remarked, twirling the baton in her hand in anticipation, before ploughing into the guards.