I think this may be my favorite section but I'm not sure the one right after seems good too. I hope you all don't think me strange for enjoying writing a torture story so much. This story as with most that I write has become larger than originally planned.

It is now determined that this is about halfway through. The rehabilitation and therapy which will feature plenty of angst/fluff for our favorite soldiers and spy will probably make up the other half.

Please let me know what you all think.

After a day Alex was still unconscious with no sign of improvement. He was mostly warm now but his fingers and toes remained stubbornly icy. The fact that he was warm yet not conscious left the three men very worried about his recovery from his latest torture session.

They continued to watch him closely to find anything that could prove their darker thoughts wrong. They also had to watch Wolf too. Despite their numerous efforts to keep him awake, he did eventually slip into unconsciousness and had been that way for over six hours now. His fever had grown worse and his remaining teammates were beginning to fear that they had a very real crisis on their hands with no sign of reprieve or rescue. Each of the men simply took turns checking on the two sick ones to help them anyway they could.

Alex awoke slowly, trying to hold on to the shallow feeling of bliss he felt slipping away. He felt relatively good considering what he had just been through and he assumed that it was just numbness and that the pain would soon resurface. Therefore he wasn't in a hurry to wake up. Absentmindedly he moved his cold feet around in search of something warm to touch them to as he thought back on what had happened in the last session.

He felt his feet touch something surprisingly warm like a hot water bottle and settled them there to warm his toes.

Alex was beginning to really wonder why these men wanted to know so much about their investigation. Apparently the man thought that they were here to check him out but Alex knew that it was obvious that they weren't. When the sadistic guy and his thugs had come out to ambush them on the road, K-unit's Envoy had already past the entrance to their freakish lair if the direction they had come in was any indication.

Alex thought about it carefully. He had been sent along with the rest of k-unit to follow a lead that they had for the culprits of the bombings back home which had killed a total of 11 people. MI6 thought that it was the handiwork of suicide bombers despite the fact that no bodies were found that could conceivably be those of suicide bombers. But MI6 was basing their assumption off of the fact that the bombs were not detonated by remote either. The only and most probable suspect had been a Muslim group here in the Bahraini desert. But these guys that had captured them had nothing to do with what was going on yet they seemed as though they wanted to be a part of it.

The questions they were asking also led Alex to believe that what ever it is that they would have found out at that safe house would have been of some importance to them.

Alex suddenly heard a pained groan from behind him and his 'hot water bottle' shifted. He was embarrassed to discover that his warmth had been coming from a pair of feet and upon rolling over he realized that the feet belonged to Wolf. Alex immediate snatched his feet away but soon realized that his icy toes hand actually been of help to Wolf because the man was quiet feverish. That was why his feet were so unusually warm.

Alex decided to examine his teammate properly for a moment. His bare chest was disgusting colored by widespread black bruises in addition to the painfully swollen one on his left cheek.

He had his arm draped over his eyes and he seemed to be muttering to himself. He was also hyperventilating slightly and from time to time he would groan or shift uncomfortably.

Alex hesitantly touched his cold hand to the man's forehead, which was burning up as he had thought. Alex also noticed that his own arm was sluggish to respond to him.

Alex sighed sadly and took his hand away. Perhaps all of this could have been prevented had he been more professional and less childish when they had first been captured. Most likely the response Wolf would have given their captors, had he gotten the chance, would have been enough to free them before ever really being prisoner. No doubt Alex's outburst had confirmed the men's suspicions about his real identity and now no one knew where they were, whether they had reached their destination or if they hadn't, who had taken them. How could they hope for rescue if no one knew they needed it?

For the time being, Alex rested his hand on Wolf's forehead once again knowing that the gesture granted the man a slight reprieve from his discomfort.

About ten minutes later after Alex had already warmed his right hand completely and taken it away; Wolf groaned again and groggily opened his eyes. He was quite frightened to find Alex staring at him steadily with impossibly large, sad eyes. He closed his eyes and looked again to see if the boy had looked away but he was still staring steadily with no difference; almost as though he was looking beyond him actually.

He was glad to see that Alex had awoken but the unblinking staring was unnerving him.

"Why the hell are you staring at me?" Wolf demanded without thinking

Alex quickly looked away without saying anything looking surprised and Wolf immediately felt bad for his attitude despite his irritation.

He tried to ease the harshness of his first remark with a second one.

"Um, how are you feeling?" He noticed some improvement in the condition of his tongue meaning he didn't sound so dumb when he spoke but the thunderous pounding of his head had increased if anything.

Alex shrugged but didn't speak or look up.

"Why aren't you talking?" he continued in his usual insensitive way, enhanced by his headache.

Alex gestured to his throat, closing his eyes for a moment.

Wolf mentally berated himself for forgetting that all the screaming that Alex had been forced to do would have no doubt damaged his throat.

"Does everything else work?" he sighed.

Alex did a mental assessment of himself before answering with a simple shaking of the head. But he didn't elaborate on what exactly didn't work.

Eagle suddenly started awake from where he sat on the bench. He was supposed to have been on watch to make sure Alex wasn't suddenly taken in their sleep, but he had fallen asleep eventually. When he noticed that Alex and Wolf were awake and relatively fine he smiled. "Looks like everyone got a good-" he was promptly silenced by a chorus of 'shut up's from Wolf, and Snake who had also awakened. Wolf was still angry at Eagle for apparently worsening his headache and calling him soft. Snake was angry with him for falling asleep while he was supposed to be on watch.

Eagle was momentarily stunned by the duet of harsh responses. But he quickly brushed it off and went to check on Alex without further comment.

"Don't mind them." Eagle said as he helped Alex into a sitting position. "They just can't find anything nice to say." He checked over Alex trying to be cheerful. Feeling his arms and shoulders to see if he was warm and making him move his limbs around to make sure they were functional. "After two days of worrying us to death you finally decide to wake up. You have to stop doing that." Alex looked up at him sharply but didn't comment

As Eagle examined Alex, Fox chided the other two. "That was kind of harsh you know. We're all in one piece so the least we could do is be civil; the enemy is on the other side of the door you know."

Snake just shrugged "I'll just remember not to put him on watch again." And Wolf didn't respond at all.

"So how exactly do you feel?" Eagle asked only peripherally acknowledging the other men.

Alex shook his head and gestured to his throat again.

"You can't talk?" Eagle asked worriedly

Alex nodded slightly

"Can't or won't?"

Alex just shrugged

"Well why don't you try; at least you'll know for sure."

Before Alex could answer, Wolf interjected "Why don't you leave him alone. You never know when to quit it and give a person some space to breathe; always fussing over them at the wrong time like a blasted mother hen."

"Shut up Wolf!" Snake cut him off extremely annoyed "Just because you don't feel well doesn't mean you should try and drag everyone else down with you; he's just trying to help. At least he's getting somewhere; when you tried all you did was mess things up."

The room was eerily silent after this declaration. No doubt the stress was getting to them all and Snake had been known to say some pretty harsh things before, but that was mean. Alex quietly broke the uncomfortable silence with a raspy whisper. "No. He did what he could; things just didn't work out well it's not his fault." He swallowed to try and speak more clearly but his throat was too raw so he reluctantly fell silent again.

Wolf looked stunned for a moment by Snake's remark and unforgiving expression before he reluctantly agreed, "No Cub, he's right actually, I did mess up." Wolf corrected him sadly, suddenly subdued "and it has cost us, you especially. Now that I got myself busted in the head doesn't give me the right to blame anybody else either so I'll just shove off and sleep or something. Don't mind me."

It pained Alex to hear Wolf so sad and he had known that Wolf was eventually going to adopt that frame of mind but he also knew that nothing he said now was going to change his mind after what Snake had said and he just didn't have the strength. After a moment Wolf apologized to Eagle and then painstakingly rolled onto his other side, facing the wall eventually falling asleep

The room remained gloomy and quiet after that.

After two more days the atmosphere was much the same. Everyone was depressed and quiet. They knew that at any minute those men would be back to take Alex away again but they did not have any idea when it would end or whether they would be rescued at all. It was very disheartening.

Alex soon found out that he was really only stiff from the electric shock session and that the particular stiffness in his neck would wear off if he exercised it. So from time to time he would walk around the tiny room and talk to Fox who was the only one of the men who hadn't seemed to have lost all hope.

Again, Fox watched as Alex shuffled around the room slightly chuckling from time to time at the insane emptiness of their stomachs. When he had finished his third circuit, careful to avoid Wolf's fingers which were in the way again, he passed Eagle and Snake who were each absorbed in some sort of mundane task they had set for themselves and came up to Fox again who was observing him carefully.

"What's so funny Cub?" He asked

"Nothing really Fox, I was just listening to our stomachs growling and the sound was so absurd I had to laugh. I've never been so hungry in my life."

"Neither have I Cub." Fox agreed watching him go around again. "Come here" he called after a moment. Alex slowly came around without protest although he didn't want to. He knew Fox wanted to check him over again. He did it often and it was sometimes annoying but he knew Fox only meant well.

When he stopped in front of Fox who was sitting on the bench, Fox grasped Alex's wrist with his index finger and thumb and held his arm up in the air. He was genuinely worried not only because of how thin Alex was becoming, but he had also noticed that from time to time during his sleep he would pause breathing completely, sometimes for up to ten seconds. Then he would gasp and struggle for breath before finally going back to sleep again. He had dark circles around his eyes now from the lack of adequate sleep and he was surprisingly light.

"You're losing weight fast." Fox observed, noting how prominent his ribs were and the thinness of his arms. ", faster than the rest of us." he released Alex who shrugged at his remark. "That's to be expected." he responded

"You're right" Fox agreed "But we shouldn't allow it. The next time we get some bread take my slice; you need it more than I do."

Alex was silent for a moment as he made another circuit. He was hungry enough to accept the offer but not at Fox's expense.

"No." He said simply

"Alex, don't be difficult." Fox began but Alex cut him off

"I'm not taking your share Fox." His tone was final

"Well then you can have one quarter from each of us and then you'll have an extra slice anyway and we'll all have made a small sacrifice instead." Eagle suddenly interjected with detached finality

"Okay" Alex eventually agreed before returning to his pacing.

Alex was beginning to really worry about Wolf. They were all eating the meager rations of a slice of bread each with Alex getting his extra portion as promised from the day before. But Wolf just sat in the corner with sort of glazed eyes, refusing to eat, or talk or move for that matter. Alex found out from the other men that Wolf had been suffering from an intense headache. Apparently it had gotten much worse.

Alex quickly finished his musty tasting bread and went over to him. When Wolf didn't acknowledge him, he knelt down in front of him and called. "Wolf, what's wrong, aren't you hungry; you can't not be hungry unless you've got a camel hump we don't know about?" he tried to get a response from the man

Wolf focused on him for a second and grimaced but didn't answer.

"Exactly where hurts Wolf?" Alex insisted seriously as the other men watched

Wolf frowned at him miserably in annoyance but gestured to the back of his head near the top and then the whole thing. "It feel like its going to explode." he whispered before waving him away to go back to daydreaming or whatever it was he was doing.

Alex got up, dissatisfied. "Do you think he might have fractured his skull?" he whispered cautiously.

Fox and Snake glanced at each other before answering; Eagle was also watching them intently.

"We think that may be it." Fox answered cautiously

"And?" Eagle insisted

Snake dropped his voice to a whisper so that if Wolf was listening he wouldn't hear them

"I think a headache like that means that he- he's bleeding in his head."

Alex stared at him with a horrified look on his face.

"You mean he may be bleeding in his brain?" Eagle asked suddenly very scared for his friend

Alex looked back and forth between the men as Fox answered again "I think so."

"Isn't that fatal?" Alex persisted

"I'm sure if you catch it soon enough then it's not." Snake answered with a sigh

Alex shook his head and went over to Wolf again seeing the double meaning in Snake's words immediately. Wolf looked at him this time and tried to smile. "I'm not going to die any time soon Cub." he said apparently having heard the conversation "It's just a headache; a bad, bad headache." He shifted against the wall and tried to get up. Just doing that must have hurt though because he had to close his eyes grimacing all the while, stumbling in the process. When it seemed as though he was about to collapse again Alex grabbed his arm and help him up completely. Once he was standing Wolf glanced at Alex seemingly annoyed for a second but then the corner of his lips twitched in a small smile.

"Thanks Cub; I guess I needed that." He said quietly, his words slurring slightly as he shuffled over to the bench with the bread on it.

"No problem." Alex whispered to his retreating back

Alex was considering a plan to tell his torturers to let his comrades go in exchange for information but that was hard to do when he didn't know what they wanted. Still this could not continue. As he watched the guys savor their bread and swarm Wolf with questions about his health, Alex gradually built up the nerve to tell them about it.

Before he got to say anything though, Eagle noticed his thoughtful expression. "What are you thinking about mate?" he asked

"Well, I was um," Alex began hesitantly "wondering if-" He was interrupted by the sound of Wolf retching in the urinal.

When Wolf reemerged Eagle sighed and asked him if he was alright.

Wolf mouthed 'no' and lay back down in the corner with his hand over eyes.

Eagle watched him for a moment, his face etched with worry before glancing at the others meaningfully and sighing again.

"What were you saying Cub?" Eagle eventually continued sounding even more depressed

"Nothing Eagle." Alex sighed. He didn't think that now was the right time to speak, or maybe he was just stalling for time in case they actually accepted the idea, which was highly unlikely but still…

"Really?" Snake asked, sitting down next to him. "It sounded like you were about to tell us about some idea you had; we're all open to ideas."

Alex just leaned his head back against the wall trying to fight down a wave of despair that threatened to overwhelm him. The way his stomach rolled and tumbled in a mixture of hunger and angst was sickening and the dread he had for the next time those men walk through the door to get him again was very real. When he sat around and talked to his comrades now he felt like he was awaiting the return of the boogiemen. Boogie men from Hell that were coming to break his bones and fry his nerves if he couldn't answer their questions. The fear, the terror, was very real and there was no one to run to, nowhere to hide to escape them because everyone who could help would be hurt as well; like Wolf.

Snake suddenly squeezed his shoulder to cheer him up. "Don't worry Cub; no one is going to die in here. Not you, not Wolf, not any of the rest of us either, we're not gonna let that happen. I'm not going to let anybody die here, Understand? So don't be so sad while there's life there's hope 'cause we can still think. When you give up is when the enemy really has you."

Alex smiled despite himself but before he could respond, the door opened with a bang that was echoed by the sudden pounding in his chest.

Three men walked in at the same time that K-unit simultaneously stood up minus Wolf who slowly sat up watching intently.

One of the men was the leader himself and he looked angry.

"All of you are coming this time and if you resist," the man barked looking meaningfully at Wolf who still hadn't risen "I can guarantee that somebody is going to die today. Get up!" he snarled at Wolf

Wolf cursed under his breath and slowly rose but he stumbled once he was standing and had to hold on to the wall for support.

Alex suddenly didn't like they way how the leader was looking at Wolf; with narrowed eyes as though he had just realized something and the slow wicked grin that formed on his face was revolting.

"I got you good last time didn't I?" the man gloated seeing Wolf trying to fight off the dizziness he felt.

The rest of men stood around waiting wearily as the leader continued to taunt Wolf into responding.

The man suddenly shoved Wolf in the chest so that he nearly fell to the floor on his rear and laughed. "You're pathetic." the man smirked. Alex unconsciously held his breath. "You can't even fight back."

Wolf stared at the man with an almost feral glare for a moment before suddenly leaping at him with an angry yell, punching him in the face repeatedly and kneeing him in the stomach twice and once in the crutch.

When the other two men finally pulled Wolf away, the leader-man had a splintered nose and he was holding one eye shut. He glared at Wolf, who was staring back, with his one good eye, but before he could say a word Wolf yelled at him, shoving him in the chest with unexpected force. "You haven't gotten ANYBODY except yourself fucking cornered in a goddamn box you bloody maggot! And if I don't make it out of here alive I'm gonna make damn sure you don't either; not in less than a dozen fucking pieces! You here me?! You're NOTHING!" Wolf spat in the man's face struggling powerfully as the two other henchmen held him back.

The leader man swiped his hand across his nose as he tried to stop the continuous flow of blood from his distorted nostrils and wipe the spit from his face. When he moved his hand away from his eye the area around it looked weird as though one of Wolf's punches had damaged the bone underneath it and the eye itself was extremely bloodshot. Wolf stood there staring at him, his breath coming in great rapid gasps and he looked just about ready to collapse again.

The man suddenly charged forward and pushed Wolf into the wall. Miraculously his head did not make contact with it though.

"You are going to die in this forgotten little hellhole. I'm going to kill you myself slowly and painfully and after I get the information I need, I'm going to kill every last one of your pathetic teammates too and NO ONE is going to stop me!"

Then before Wolf could say another word he went through the door to clean himself up, ordering his men to escort them to the torture room. Before he was properly out of the room, Snake went over to Wolf, who looked as though he was losing consciousness, ignoring the other two men who tried to stop him.

"You really should learn to control your temper Ry," Snake whispered as he slipped his arm under Wolf's shoulder to help him stand up. "You're gonna kill yourself, is that what you want? Just because you can't ignore a stupid remark."

As the other men herded the rest of K-unit out of the room, Snake tried to help Wolf to follow them but Wolf couldn't seem to find the strength to stand up.

Snake swallowed the lump in his throat and gave him his full support practically dragging him out the door.

"Are you trying to leave us without a leader, huh? You know you're not in a condition to fight. You could have saved your strength for something better than this. I know you're smarter than that." Snake scolded him as they inched down the hall. "You're too hot headed for your own damn good that's the problem, just like Eagle."

"You have to take over Snake." Wolf suddenly slurred out

"What?!" The statement caught Snake off guard. Everyone knew that Wolf was stubborn and hardheaded and he never admitted defeat until he really and truly was subdued. Snake's surprise was soon replaced by anger and denial.

"Just shut up Wolf." Snake answered immediately not wanting to believe it "Don't even start. No one is going anywhere. You hear me? I made a promise to Cub, that I wasn't letting anyone kick the bucket, and I always keep my promises. You hear? No one is going anywhere!" He felt the stubborn lump in his throat grow larger as his voice broke for a moment.

"Then you're just going to have to unpromise him Snake because I don't think I can keep this up any longer; I'm too tired. I'm just too weak. Now I can't even protect my team Snake, I can't keep leading in this demented way. You have to promise-"

Snake felt tears stinging the back of his eyes as they neared the dreaded room but he did not let them fall.

"If you're tired then sleep Ry, get a little rest while we think things over and when you wake up you'll probably feel better. You just over exerted yourself right now. You can't give up 'cause that's when you're done; you told me that. Don't you practice what you preach?"

Wolf took a while answering "If I sleep, I know I'm not going to wake up Sky; ever."

Snake didn't get to respond because they had entered the room now and two different men had grabbed Wolf to secure him to the same type of chains, hanging from the ceiling that he'd been restrained in before. They did the same to Snake.

On either side of him, seated in one of the bolted chairs was Eagle and Fox. Alex had already been chained up in one of the transparent rooms and the leader man, looking partially cleaner, came storming in from a different entrance and entered the room where Alex was, slamming the door behind him. A large pot of water sat on a metal table near by him billowing steam into the room fogging up the walls. The thought of what it was for made Snake feel sick to his stomach.

There you have it. Don't you feel for those poor guys? I know I do. But I still like putting them in these situations so I can rescue them and teach them to depend on each other and to develop their friendship further.

Let me know what you think.