I've surprised myself here with how often I've updated this story. I don't know exactly how many more chapters I will post before the story is finished but I'm hoping for five or six more chapters. Also, thank you for the reviews, follows favourites, etc. They really mean a lot to me and I'll try to stop rambling, don't forget to review and may I present Chapter Nine...

Jack blacked out from the pain.

Kim struggled against the guards to get to Jack. She needed to know that he was okay.

"Please..." Kim murmured

"Wake him up." He Liu ordered before he walked over to Kim and the others "What would you do for his safety?"

Kim didn't have to look for reassurance from Milton, Jerry or Rudy before saying "Anything."

"Good answer."

A member of the Black Lotus returned with a jug of water and chucked it over an unconscious Jack. When Jack was woken up, he was fearful that he might wake up back in The Room.

"You should consider yourself lucky Jack." He Liu showed him that his friends were being pushed into the room without being untied as they would be able to work together against them. Jack saw this and tried to lunge at him but he only made it a step further before his leg collapsed on him. "You should really put some ice on that ankle."

Some members grabbed him and sat him down and tied him to the chair while he was still feeling groggy. They forced him to watch his friends suffer.

"Okay try to remain calm and focused." Rudy said "Try meditating, tai chi or something to keep you relaxed."

Milton agreed "How can we do tai chi if we're still tied up? But I agree. If we stay focused on something and block out our senses then we may be able to avoid seeing or hearing things like Jack did."

"But no one's more focused than Jack."

"Kim's right, if he can crack then so can we." Jerry replied but he was then distracted when a voice yelled "Jerry!" Jerry then looked around but couldn't see anything and he knew that none of the guys had said it. "Did you guys hear that?" Jerry asked

"Hear what?" Questioned Milton

"Jerry!"

"That. That voice."

"I don't hear a voice."

"Pathetic."

"You don't hear it?" Jerry became worried

"Weak. Stupid. An idiot. You're no friend of mine." Jerry now was freaked out by the voice that didn't have a face to match. He backed into a corner banging his head against the wall, as he couldn't cover his ears due to his bonds, to try and stop the voices getting to him. "Waste of space. Good for nothing. Just a yellow belt..."

"Jerry!" They all surrounded him trying to comfort him but by then it was another's turn to be affected.

"Nerd. Weakling. Pathetic. Wannabe. You don't deserve to have friends like us... We're all just great actors."

"I hear it..." Milton muttered. The voice started shouted abuse at him "Pathetic excuse for a martial artist. How did he get his yellow belt?"

"Who's saying that?!" Milton yelled

"Milton! Milton what are they saying?!" Kim asked with an fearful tone. But Milton couldn't answer. He didn't see Kim's face but instead he saw multiple disappointed faces. He saw Julie, Rudy, teachers, his mother, his father and many others. "Milton! Milton what's wrong?!" Kim asked when Milton back cautiously away from her.

When Kim turned around she saw Rudy screaming at something that she couldn't see.

"Rudy!?" Kim yelled "Rudy!?"

Rudy heard more voices as he imagined the things that haunted his nightmares and darkest thoughts.

"Moron. A waste of space. Lowlife. How are you a third degree black belt? Pathetic excuse for a sensei. Your students are better than you and you didn't help them."

The room had now affected each of them but why hadn't the room affected her yet? Kim pondered. She then realised that they were saving her for last to use against Jack.

She looked around but couldn't see anything then suddenly a piercing scream filled her ears.

"JACK!" Kim yelled at the top of her lungs "JACK!" She looked around again but saw something this time. She saw a shadow. It moved as she did but it wasn't hers. She knew this because the shadow was moving their arms while Kim's were still bound. She heard a noise and she crouched down hugging her knees before she saw something that she wished she hadn't. "JACK!" This time when she screeched his name, Jerry, Milton and Rudy stopped hearing the abuse from the voices without faces. They slowly walked over to Kim who was hysterically crying on the floor. They soon saw what she saw. Rudy dropped to the floor beside Kim crying. Jerry stumbled around as if he were going to be sick and leaned against a wall to balance him while silent tears rolled down. Milton stood there in disbelief before beginning to hyperventilate and drop to his knees where he used to be standing.

They cried waterfalls over something that Black Lotus had forced them to envision. They had heard their fears and worries that are always in your thoughts or they saw what they secretly hoped to never see and that's what connected them. They were all afraid of the same thing which gave them the ability to stop all the other methods of torture like those abusive voices. But Kim didn't hear voices. She only heard one and that voice wasn't faceless. Because she then saw her biggest fear and concern that had usurped her thoughts since the letter had opened up Jack's dark past. She saw the dead body of the only person she had ever truly loved... Jack Brewer.

Members had to drag each of them out individually. As they left the room, all their common senses had returned.

They all were pushed out of the room crying only to see what increased their fear.

They were dragged out of the room to see Jack tied to a chair with a bloody nose and he was doing something that they had never truly seen; he was crying.

They were pushed to the back of the room as He Liu walked up to Jack.

"Have you had enough?" He Liu smirked "I warned you in the letter Jack and my father told you when you were young. The Black Lotus gets what they want. And I want you to be here always."

Jack looked over to his friends who shook their heads or gave him looks of concern.

Jack didn't speak but instead shook his head in response. He was slapped seconds after by He Liu.

"You have already seen what we can do. You have felt what we can inflict on those who oppose us. You have been tortured and made to watch your nearest and dearest suffer. Yet you still choose to oppose us? Why!?"

"I swore by the light of the dragon's eye to remain loyal and honest and never say die... I never say die."

Jack was punched this time.

But Jack wasn't dazed and instead, spat the blood in his mouth at He Liu. Members seeing this grabbed him out of the chair and threw him unto the ground. Kim noticed that someone had just entered the room and carried a Cat O' Nine Tails whip. He took it out and as the others tried to stop them they brought it down on Jack's back. Hearing Jack cry out in pain had become a recurrence but every time it happened now, all she could picture was his dead body that she depicted in the room.

He Liu ordered them to stop whipping Jack after the third time as they were bringing it down for a fourth.

"Have you had enough?" Jack didn't speak but He Liu took Jack's heavy panting and flinches as a sign. "Will you join us?" This time Jack was in too much pain to say anything so he just weakly shook his head again.

He Liu yelled something in Chinese but Jack was too weak to attempt to understand what He Liu had said. But everyone knew what he had said when a member had come back in with a gun and pointed it at Jack.

"Shoot me then." Jack called out on their bluff but then realised what they were actually threatening to do when he pointed the gun and Milton, Jerry, Rudy and Kim.

There it is, so once again, tell me what you thought, what you think will happen, whether it was what you expected or not or just general all-around comments. This means YOU MUST REVIEW!... Please? Okay... byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!