A/N: Thank you for the reviews! This chapter… well… please don't kill me for it.

I don't own Mission: Impossible.

Chapter 2

"I think you know that this conversation is not happening," Luther looked even more cheerless than earlier that day as Ethan and Jane sat on his couch and they nodded in understanding. The entire atmosphere made them feel very uncomfortable. They sensed that something very important remained untold. Something that was clearly bugging their colleague. They both felt their worry increase.

"Does Brandt know what happened to Benji?" Jane asked awkwardly.

"He does," Luther's mouth became a thin line. He was about to add something but paused hesitantly.

"And he just went on vacation?" Ethan looked incredulous. Surely Brandt would have waited for them so that together they would be able to do something. Luther just shrugged, his expression unidentifiable.

"Do we really have no idea where Benji is?" Jane felt her heart pounding in her chest as she watched Luther's expression harden even more.

"The official statement is that we never saw him after he had been disavowed".

"But this official statement is bullshit?" Ethan read in his friend's features. Luther nodded.

"It's kept secret for whatever reason I don't know and care about but I thought you had the right to know," as he spoke, the other two agents got the increasing unsettling feeling in their stomachs. Something was wrong. Something was even more wrong than they had already been told. "IMF know exactly where Benji is now. He's dead".

There was a silence which seemed to last for ages. The guests' eyes went wide as they were trying to process the information.

"What?" Jane whispered as her eyes were beginning to well up.

"How do you know that?" Ethan demanded, trying to block the emotions.

"I was there when it happened," Luther let out a shaky breath. "In fact, I was wearing the sunglasses with an in-built video camera. I have the video. I was thinking… maybe if you watch it, you can make sense out of this because I still can't believe it".

He motioned for them to come up to the desk where his laptop was. Jane was blinking rapidly as she walked, trying to clear her vision from the tears. Everything was just going from bad to worse that day. And now she was going to watch one of her best friends die. That thought alone made her dizzy. She looked over at Ethan whose face didn't show any emotion at all.

"I don't have the sound though," Luther remarked, opening the file. "The audio track was lost when I was retrieving the file from Lovett's computer. I can go through everything that was said… Or I could leave it to you," he added to Ethan, who nodded. Lip-reading was one of the most useful abilities he had. "And before we start… I have no idea what the mission was all about. I was called to come there as escort. No-one would explain me anything".

The video started with a man both Jane and Ethan recognised as agent Steiner walking into some room which looked like it hadn't been visited in quite a while, as everything was covered in dust.

"They are here," Ethan said out loud, watching the man's lips move.

There was a short pause as Steiner was listening to something from off screen.

"That's Lovett telling to let them in," Luther commented.

Jane was about to ask who "they" were but then she saw the door open and two men entered. Both she and Ethan felt their hearts sink at the sight. One of the men was Benji, looking nothing like the cheerful and amiable technician they knew. His hands were bound behind his back and he seemed to be slightly unsteady on his legs. His face was covered in various cuts and bruises, including a split lip and an equally split eyebrow. The blood from those injuries had seemingly dried out but nobody had bothered to clean it up. The expression on his face, emphasised by the beatings, was so not Benji that it made the agents cringe. His eyes which had usually had a fun spark in them were now dark and full of some different kind of energy. His glare was heavy, drilling holes in its target. It seemed like he would strangle the person he was looking at if he had enough physical strength left in him.

The sight was unsettling enough but it wasn't all, as Jane and Ethan were now looking at the second man who was holding Benji's arm, as if to prevent him from making a run for it. The man also had some beatings on him, including a nasty looking black eye and a cut on his lip, but his injuries were cleaned up and tended to. But it wasn't what startled the agents. The worst thing was that they recognised the man. It was Brandt.

The two agents found themselves looking from the screen to Luther and back, unable to hide their disbelief. Their older friend seemed to have had the same reaction at the time, as the camera also moved from the newcomers to Lovett before returning to its previous position. Benji moved his gaze to Stickell for the first time and now that he looked directly into the camera he was even scarier than before.

"Luther," Ethan read, thankful that he couldn't hear what the techie's voice had actually sounded like back then. There was a quick change in his expression, as if he was stricken by seeing Luther there, after which his features hardened even more. Jane found herself shrugging. Now she understood what "mentally unstable" had meant. That look of pure murder on the once smiling and youthful face looked terrifyingly insane. It was the look of a hunted animal.

"I see you're not done brainwashing people, are you, Lovett," Benji suddenly spoke, his eyes fixed on Lovett again. Brandt visibly winced at that. It was clear that seeing his friend like that hurt him as much as it hurt Jane and Ethan.

"Now Lovett's asking Brandt if Benji was as paranoid when he found him as he is now," Luther commented quietly and they watched Brandt nod slowly. The analyst then turned to the secretary and the pain in his eyes became more visible to the viewers.

"So what are you going to do with him now?" Ethan voiced him.

"We'll keep him somewhere safe and under watch," Luther supplied his colleagues with Lovett's reply. "Where he won't be able to put IMF under threat".

"How nice of you," Benji smirked. "But I kinda like it here. I am not stupid, Lovett. I know what you are up to".

"You are delusional, Benjamin," Luther's voice was trembling as he recalled the secretary's voice saying this.

"I'm sorry to be breaking it to you but your plan is doomed," Benji's expression was uncharacteristically smug despite the beatings and the fact that he was restrained. "I've made some friends here. Powerful friends. And they are watching me from distance. You're not taking me anywhere from here".

Luther turned his head to Lovett at last and Ethan saw the man's eyebrow rise.

"Do you have any confirmation of this?" he asked. The camera moved to Brandt who shrugged hesitantly.

"I don't know… Maybe it's the paranoia again?" the analyst suggested.

There were more shaky movements and Steiner ran into view.

"Sir, I don't like this!" he blurted out. "Several cars are approaching, and I can't figure out where they are from".

"You better leave me alone," Benji's face was suddenly calm. "They won't let you escape. They are tracking me".

There was a pause for a few seconds when suddenly Brandt took his gun out.

"I am so sorry, Benji," Ethan's voice was strained as he pronounced the analyst's words. He and Jane watched in horror as Benji's eyes widened in an expression of child-like vulnerability as Brandt pointed the gun at his chest and pulled the trigger.

Even though there was no sound, the agents could hear the gunshots in their heads. Two of them. To be sure. They felt sick, watching Benji's jaw drop a bit as blood escaped the two wounds in his chest. Brandt was shaking, fumbling with his gun in an attempt to hide it and ending up just dropping it to the floor instead. Benji fell to his knees, still looking Brandt directly in the eye. William rushed to him and took hold of his shoulders, obviously not thinking much of the threat upon them and of the fact that they had to leave.

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry," Ethan read out, his voice trembling as his vision was getting blurry. Brandt led Benji to the floor, supporting his neck and seemingly trying to get some sort of a reply to his apologies. But there was no reply. Benji just convulsed for a few more painful seconds before going completely limp.

The camera started moving, approaching the two. Brandt was pulled away forcefully and a hand appeared on the screen, pressing against Benji's neck.

"I wanted to confirm it myself," Luther explained in a low voice, reliving the sickening moment when he found no signs of life in someone who had once been so full of it. "He's dead".

The video was over.