By the time he was out the door, Ben was already using a large knife to slice off the teen's shirt, purposely cutting flesh whenever he could.

Unfortunately, it also exposed his biggest weakness. There, dangerously close to his heart, was a fresh puckered scar, still somewhat red. Ben grinned at the sight of it, even as K Unit gasped.

"That looks pretty recent. I'll bet it still hurts- a lot," Ben growled, pushing his palm onto it, hard.

Alex couldn't help it, he screamed. Ben smirked, and pushed a little harder. Another agonized cry filled the basement as Alex felt a rib break under the pressure.

"Stop it!" Snake shouted. "If you damage his heart he'll be dead before he can give you any answers!"

Ben hesitated, then removed his hand. Alex sagged in his chains, desperately trying to catch his breath. "Password kid," Ben growled.

Alex couldn't muster the breath to speak, so he merely shook his head. He was still a little dazed when he felt Ben move away from him. And then he heard it before he ever felt it, the unmistakable sound of a whip whistling through the air.

He didn't bother to try and stop the cry that burst from his lips this time. The edge of the whip was sharp, and Alex had felt it slice through his skin like butter. The cat already having sensitized his back, the warm blood that came from the cut felt like fire.

Ben seemed to prefer to ask questions in between batches of fives. By the time he had completed 25 strokes, Alex was hoarse and barely able to stay conscious. The waist of his jeans were now soaked in blood.

"Password!" Ben shouted, drawing back for another set.

"It'll open the file!" Alex suddenly cried out, tears of pain staining his cheeks. "I swear! MI6 didn't want to take the chance that Dellaware would welsh on the deal. It's the real thing."

He was drawing ragged breaths, trying desperately to fill his aching lungs. Ben moved in front of him, grabbing his chin and forcing Alex to look at him.

"It's the real thing, I swear," Alex repeated quickly.

Ben hesitated, but then let go. "What is the password?"

"Let K Unit go, first, then I'll tell you," Alex insisted stubbornly.

Ben shrugged, and moved away. For a moment, Alex thought he would get a reprieve when he saw Ben rolling up the Bull. But then he frowned at the device Ben had pulled from somewhere. It looked like a belt with some kind of pack on it. Alex had never seen or heard of anything like it, and was, morbidly, mildly curious as to what it was.

From the collective "Shit" that had been breathed from the cell, it obviously wasn't going to tickle.

Ben attached it around Alex's waist, making sure it fit tightly. The buckle pressed against his overly sensitive back, while the belt itself pressed into the deep cuts that the whip had left. He hissed painfully, but continued to curiously watch the process. For the first time, Alex noticed a remote control in Ben's other hand. The guard saw Alex looking and smiled. "Curious, are you? How about a demonstration?"

"Actually, I do have a question," Alex spoke up. His voice was harsh and raspy, but at least he could almost breathe properly. "Do all you torture guys get the same handbook every month? Latest Dumbest Clichés-"

His smart ass remark changed in a scream as 300 volts of electricity were put through his body. Then, just as suddenly as it had come, it was gone, leaving fine fibres jolting through his trembling muscles.

"What's the password?"

"Let K Unit go-"

Another jolt when through him, but this time Alex was too hoarse to do more than groan, his breathing stuttering.

Wolf glanced at a very pale Snake, their resident Field Medic. "How much more of that can he take?" he asked quietly.

Snake shook his head. "If that scar is what, and as recent, as I think it is, not very much. I wasn't joking. His heart will give out."

They watched as Cub jerked with another dosage of electricity, screaming.

Eagle, having overheard the quiet conversation, gripped the bars tightly. "Cub, just tell him! Christ, it's not worth dying over!" he shouted.

Ben smirked. "Listen to your buddies, the ones you're trying so hard to protect. Just tell me."

Alex weakly shook his head, still gasping for breath as though he'd been underwater for too long. He tried to brace himself for another jolt, but the tensing of his already abused muscles made him cry out, and thankfully, pass out.

Wolf shook his head. The guard had left over an hour ago, and Cub was still out cold, his arms holding all of his weight off the floor. Wolf knew from personal experience how much his shoulders and wrists were going to hurt when he tried to move them.

Fox and Eagle were both very quietly sitting in on their individual cots. The last two hours had been horrifying to watch, and hear.

Snake walked over to where Wolf was leaning against the bars of their cell. "You have to respect him, that's for sure," he muttered.

Wolf grunted. "I'm just wondering if he actually has a plan, or if he's just suicidal. After his performance earlier today, I can't say as I'm too sure which it is."

Snake frowned. Something Wolf had said had triggered a mild memory, but he was having a hard time holding on to it. Has a plan? Suicidal? His eyes went round as he gasped.

"Shit!"

"What?" Wolf demanded, immediately looking for danger from habit.

"Both! He's both!"

"What are you going on about man?" Fox demanded harshly.

Snake waved them all over so he could whisper to them, sure the place was bugged. "MI6 has a bit of a back up plan for all their agents. I just remembered it, from years ago. They inject a very small tracking device into the bloodstream."

"So MI6 is on their way right now?" Eagle asked hopefully, with a quick glance at the kid.

Snake screwed up his face. "I'm trying to remember. I think, oh no, I think-"

"My… heart… has… to stop," Alex gasped out as he tried to bring himself to his feet, groaning as he did so. The whispered buzz of conversation had cut through the haze and brought him to consciousness.

"Take it easy, Cub," Snake advised, wishing he could look the boy over. "Nice and slow or you'll go into shock."

They waited patiently while Alex got his feet under him, hissing as some of the weight was taken off his shoulders.

"What were you saying?" Fox asked. But it Snake who answered.

"His heart has to stop in order to activate the tracking device. I remember now. It's got something to do with electrical pulses. I wonder if the shock therapy fried it?"

Wolf frowned. "That's your back up plan? Die?

"Didn't seem… like such a bad idea… at the time," Alex answered weakly. "Just forgot… how hard it is to... kill me."

"What bloody good is a tracking device if you have to be dead to use it?" Eagle demanded angrily. Then his face cleared. "Oh. To recover the body."

"I don't think it's a valid plan anymore, Cub, if it ever was. Like Snake said, that EST probably fried it," Wolf pointed out.

"Neither is… yours," Alex ground between clenched teeth. Bloody hell, he felt worse now then he had when he was being tortured!

"What's yours?" Fox inquired, turning to their leader.

"He wants to take… ah shit… take my place. Noble idea… but you… don't have the info… I do."

Wolf never got a chance to answer as Troy and his shadow reappeared. This time, the guard was carrying a tray of hypodermics.

"Well, I'm glad to see we've made some progress, but this is taking too long. As enjoyable as it as been, we have to move this along." Troy grabbed one of the needles. "Sodium thiopental. Do you know what that is Alex?"

"Truth serum."

"Very good," Troy praised, even as he injected the boy with it. "There. In a little while, we'll get every answer we want from you."

Both men left promptly when Alex slumped, unconscious.

"We have to get out of here. Cub doesn't have the training we do, and even we're vulnerable to that stuff," Fox muttered.

Wolf only nodded. He agreed, but they weren't exactly in a position to plan the great escape. Snake elbowed him as Cub started coming around again.

"How long do I have before this takes effect?" Alex asked as he closed his eyes, trying to gather every once of strength he had left for what he was about to do. It was stupid, and he knew he'd end up worse for it. But it was the only way he could think of to get out of the chains. He'd seen it done once, in a Circus.

"You're pretty small, Cub. It depends on how much he gave you, but I would say, not long," Snake answered.

All four men were starting to notice Cubs level of concentration, and deep breaths. Frankly, it made them a little nervous. Too many times today Cub had proven incredibly unpredictable, and more worrying, intensely self destructive.

"Cub, what are you planning?" Wolf asked carefully.

"Nothing. Just, leave me be for a minute," Alex answered shortly.

Apparently, the dose had been large because Troy and Ben were already back. They noted the expression on the boys face and smiled.

"Having trouble concentrating?" Troy sneered.

"Yes," was Alex's immediate answer.

"So tell me the password."

"Can I sleep?" Alex replied drowsily.

"Sure," Troy purred. "We'll let you rest for about three hours before we come with more questions. Do you think you might be more amendable to answering them then?"

"Yes. I'm tired."

"Then what's the password?"

"MEGAT/2257-8800" Alex rattled off instantly.

"And it works?" Troy insisted, just to be sure.

"Of course it does. You said you'd let me sleep," Alex whined.

The older men both nodded, and turned to see K Unit watching in disappointment. Troy grinned. "Hardly a challenge."

The door slammed shut behind him.

Snake, Fox, Eagle and Wolf all watched as Cub's head snapped up immediately, his eyes clearly focused. He grounded his feet on the floor. He obviously hadn't been as out of it as he had been pretending, confusing K Unit even more.

"Cub, am I going to approve of what you're about to do?" Wolf asked cuttingly, as it was glaringly obvious Cub was preparing to do something.

"Probably not."

The four men stood watch as Cub tightened his hold on the chains, crouched down as far as he could without tearing his shoulders from their sockets, screaming in agony as he did so, then launched himself as high as he could jump, creating a lot of slack in the chain. He flipped his legs up, just like he would have if he were pumping himself on a swing, trying to shift his mass to his upper body.

Snake could immediately see what Cub was trying to do, and had to admit, with the cast iron being as old as it obviously was, and weakened by the welding, it might work, though Cub was going to suffer for it horribly.

As he'd intended, Alex was now almost completely upside down. He swung his weight behind him, and completed a full flip over the chains. As his momentum carried his full weight downward, the weak links snapped, leaving Alex in a free fall.

He tried to hit the floor in a crouch, but didn't quite manage it and landed on his side, crying out and breathing heavily.

There was nothing the unit could do but watch the trembling young man breathe through the pain. Once he had himself under control, Alex tried to lift himself off the floor, but he'd exhausted his last reserves of strength, the pain from his rather stupid stunt was draining him quickly. The flow of blood on his back told him he was also loosing blood at a great rate. His shoulders burned and he knew that both were dislocated. He could hear the manacle clanking against the floor as his muscles shook.

Alex put his fevered forehead to the floor. All for nothing, he thought, and felt the wash of unconsciousness threaten him. He wanted badly to let it take him. He was so tired.