A/N: So here's the second chapter! Hope you guys enjoy it…

I don't own anything.

Chapter 1

Vision was coming back to him without any rush. His head was pounding and there still was ringing in his ears. He hated this feeling. He also hated the fact that he was familiar with this feeling just enough to have grown to hate it on a regular basis. His job sure had its down points. His eyes still rolling in their sockets, unable to focus, he began to blink furiously, trying to get his consciousness back as fast as possible. That was helped by what felt like a bucket of icy water pouring over him.

"Welcome back to reality, agent Dunn," the voice from earlier spoke again, as the captive coughed and shook his head.

He raised his head up, calculating his chances. His wrists were tied to a pole behind his head, his ankles also bound together. The place seemed to be abandoned and distant from people. The chances didn't seem to be very high.

"You're not very talkative, are you?" the voice asked mockingly.

"Well, I asked you a question and you didn't reply," he tried to keep his uncertainty under control.

"Playing dumb, are we?" the captor smirked, seemingly somewhat amused by the whole situation. "Anyway, that's not the point here. The point is that you know something we want to know. You and your friends put some of our friends away from us. And we miss them a bit, you know. And you will help us get to them, won't you?"

"Why would I do that?" that's right, play it cool while being tied up like this. There's no way they will let you walk away alive regardless of what you do.

"Well, you have two options," the goon shrugged nonchalantly. "Either you help us and die quickly and as painlessly as possible, or you refuse to help us… and we will do everything possible to convince you. And believe me, we have some very… strong… arguments".

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

It was about 5 o'clock in the morning when Ethan's phone rang. Not that he was ever fast asleep while on a mission, which was now, but being woken up so roughly was never good. Besides, it usually didn't promise any good, either.

"Hello?" his voice was still groggy and hoarse as he blinked, trying to clear his mind.

"Ethan, what the hell is going on out there?" Luther sounded both worried and pissed off. A bit like a father would sound like if his kid had been out playing under a heavy rain.

"What do you mean?" Ethan's heartbeat peaked, as the remains of sleep were finally leaving him.

"You don't know?!" Luther practically yelled out. "One of the members of your team has been captured. Even worse – he has been seen and recorded on a security camera, and you don't know about it!"

Ethan suddenly felt very ill. And not understanding what was going on didn't help matters, either.

"What? Who?" his throat felt dry, making it hard to speak.

"Benji!" Luther growled, exasperated. "I'll email you the pictures".

Ethan shut his eyes tightly. Benji had felt reluctant about going on this mission from the very start. Of course, here in London there was a possibility for him to bump into someone he knew from his previous, pre-IMF life. That's why, while Ethan, Jane and Brandt had settled in a hotel, Benji had insisted on staying in some apartment in some faraway area of the city. None of his teammates objected to that, as it was a perfectly reasonable idea.

"Who was it? Do we know where they took him?" Ethan felt ashamed of asking those questions but he had to.

"It looked like some of our old friends. You went on this mission to get them, and look, they got one of you. And you know the rules, Ethan. Benji's been caught. They are most likely going to disavow him now".

Luther didn't waste any time on saying goodbye before disconnecting.

Ethan sighed. He had no time to waste, either. First thing they had to do was to check Benji's apartment to see whether anything had been taken from it. And then… They had to proceed with the mission. Hopefully they would find Benji in the process. Hopefully alive and well. He knew the last part was too much of a wishful thinking. Cursing under his breath, he sprang to his feet, getting dressed in a hurry and hearing the sound of an email message.

It took him five minutes to wake up Jane and Brandt. It took them five more minutes to gather in Jane's room and look at the camera recording Luther had sent.

"What was he doing there?" Brandt asked, looking at the image of his teammate on the screen. "Wasn't he supposed to be getting some sleep?"

"I think that's what he had been worried about," Ethan sighed, running a hand through his hair. "He must have gotten sentimental. Went to visit some places he had fond memories of…"

Jane shook her head. As understandable as it was, the agents still couldn't help but admit that it was also quite unprofessional of Benji. They had to be prepared to work anywhere. They had to know how to push feelings to the side. And Benji seemed to be quite good at this, too.

"We must go check on his apartment," Brandt uttered hurriedly. Ethan nodded. Benji had screwed up by getting caught like that, but if they had been in his hideout, the team was even more screwed. They needed to know how bad the situation was.

The way to Benji's place was quiet. None of the agents spoke, feeling that saying anything might just annoy everyone else, sensing how the tension in the car was beyond palpable.

The door lock didn't seem to be that complicated to break, and yet it was taking longer than the three agents wanted. Annoyed, Brandt kept fumbling with the device he knew Benji was better with, and when he felt the lock was weakened enough, he delivered a mighty kick on the door, bursting it wide open, as it nearly fell off its hinges.

Brandt dashed inside on his top speed, followed by Jane and Ethan, but stopped a few steps in… to see a gun pointed right at his face.