Ch. 12: The Other Side

Benji sat, strapped to a chair. His bleeding leg had been bandaged. He shivered in his seat. Sweat plastered his clothes and hair to him, and the musty cold of the room he was in sent a chill over him. Tears and dirt stained his face. He tried to control his breathing.

Do what Ethan would do, don't give them the satisfaction of knowing they hurt you.

But he was hurt. Hurt and scared.

The door burst open and guard entered. Benji sat up straighter in his chair, putting on a brave face. The man only laughed at him, which made him feel angry. Angry was good-he tried to hold onto that. At least if he focused on being angry, he couldn't think of everything else he was feeling.

The guard was tall and muscular. Had Benji been standing, the man would have been well over a head taller than him. He leaned into the agent's face, who flinched. He tried not to, but did nonetheless.

"So," the man spat, "You're the one from the IMF building."

Benji tried to stay calm.

"They tell me your director got away," the guard continued.

Benji said nothing. The guard looked to Benji's wrapped thigh.

"That hurt?" The guard asked.

Benji's heart was racing. Sweat started to pour again. They had left him tied in this room for hours. He was exhausted, thirsty, in pain, and scared. The guard walked up to Benji and reached towards the agent's leg. If Benji could have crawled out of his own skin and rushed to the wall behind him he would have. The guard pressed a thumb above the bullet wound and pushed down, pulling a whimper from Benji's lips.

The guard smiled to Benji, whose eyes clouded with tears.

Stay strong. You have to stay strong. Remember your training. Think of Ethan, no-god, don't think of Ethan.

"What happened to your director?" the guard asked, pushing down harder.

Benji let out a cry, his head tossed back and knuckles going white as he strained under the pain.

"Where is he?"

Tears poured down the agent's face as he strained under the searing agony.

The guard removed his thumb. Benji's head snapped forward and he struggled to catch a breath. The wet dripping from his face into his lap.

"Where?"

What would Ethan do?

Benji's wet eyes snapped to the guard's. His lip quivered a moment, but his eyes creased in the angriest glare he could manage, "Pull up a chair...I've got all night…"

His words shook and his eyes still held a glint of fear, but his statement still stood.

The guard nodded, impressed, then slammed a fist down on the agent's thigh, emitting a terrible scream from the wounded man.

In a room down the hall, Ethan's stupor was interrupted as the door clanged open and the lights flicked on. He turned his face away, trying to adjust to the sudden brightness. A blond man stood in the doorway, looking at Ethan like a child looks at his presents on Christmas morning.

Benji, meanwhile, began sobbing at the hands of his torturer.

"You sure you don't want this all to end?" the guard asked, "We can make it all stop. You just have to tell me where Hunley is."

Benji closed his eyes and cried.

"You think you know what pain is, but if you don't take my offer, in an hour you're going to be wishing it felt as nice as what you're feeling now."

Ethan, where are you?

"I'm Adyn Kane-" the blond man told Ethan.

"I know who you are."

Kane smiled lightly, "Good, we can skip that part, then, but do you know why you're here?"

"Something about suffering."

Benji let out a terrible scream as the guard pressed on his wound again, but at a pounding on the door, the guard let go of Benji, whose teeth were gritted. The guard opened the door and in walked Rand, smug as ever. Benji's eyes locked with him. Through the tears, Benji glared at him.

"You…" Benji hissed.

"Me," Rand replied, smirking. He leaned against the wall, turning to the guard, "Oh, don't let me interrupt."

"We should have killed you," Benji forced out, teeth grinding.

"You should have, but you didn't. I'm going to make you sorry you didn't."

He nodded to the guard, who pressed down on Benji's thigh again.

Benji screamed again, straining in his chair. Rand sat a two-way radio on a nearby table and watched Benji carefully. The guard released the pressure, and Benji pulled against his bonds, shaking the chair.

"Stop it! Just stop! Please!" he pleaded.

In the next room, Kane clicked on the radio, and the sounds from Benji's room suddenly enveloped Ethan. He knew whose laboured breathing echoed on the other side, but it didn't make the blow of hearing his voice any less painful.

"Please...please stop…"

"Then tell me!" the guard snapped.

Benji's head dropped, he spoke into his lap, "I...I can't…"

Rand touched the guard on the shoulder, and jerked his head towards the door. The guard sighed and left the room, leaving Rand alone with Benji.

"You'll just h-have to kill me…" Benji told him sadly.

"Oh, know, you don't get to join Hunt that easily," Rand taunted.

Benji's head snapped up at the name. The feeling of pain subsided as adrenaline coursed through his body, "What?"

"Oh-did no one tell you?" Rand laughed.

Benji's breathing slowed.

"I thought for sure they told you. This will make things so much more fun."

"Tell me what?" Benji pressed.

Rand cocked his head to the side and raised a brow, "Ethan Hunt is dead."

Benji felt sick.

"No. You lie."

Rand laughed, "It's true."

"No, he's not dead," Benji shook his head.

"He's not coming for you."

Benji puffed out his chest, "I'm a field agent. I...can look after myself."

"Clearly," Rand snorted, "Either way, he's dead. Here…"

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the dog tag and threw it at Benji's feet. When the agent's eyes hit the tag, the world stopped spinning.

Tears brimmed in Benji's eyes again and bile threatened to climb up his throat. His head was swimming. Not because he wouldn't be saved, but that Ethan was dead. Suddenly it became so plainly simple, the man he loved was gone. Not much else seemed to matter but that fact. The one and only person on this planet he had ever really truly loved was dead. He would never get to tell him how he felt. It was all too late.

"Please god no," Benji whimpered.

"It's true. So, where is your director?" Rand pressed.

Benji stared at the tag and allowed more tears to fall.

"Hey," Rand snapped, slapping Benji across the face.

Benji let out a groan. The pain seemed so far away right now.

"You're almost as much fun as Hunt," Rand taunted, "His screams were like music to my ears."

Benji's tears stopped all at once. His eyes locked with Rand and the slow boil of rage built up in his chest. He imagined himself gripping Rand's throat with his hands and squeezing the life out of him, or hitting the man over and over until he was dead. Suddenly the images of hundreds of scenarios of his captor's demise flew through his head. The spark was flying toward a powder keg.

Rand leaned in close, "Do you want to know what I did to him?"

Explosion.

Benji let out a primal scream as something was unleashed in him. He pushed with all of his leg strength, tipping him and the chair onto Rand, taking the man by surprise. The chair broke and Benji's bonds loosened. With a drive he didn't know was in him, Benji wriggled out of his ropes as Rand tried to scramble away from him. Benji turned and kicked the man with his good leg and quickly untied his bonds.

Rand tried to roll away and pulled out a gun, but Benji was on him, a frenzied fight ensued. Benji threw a punch, snapping Rand's head back. Benji rolled on top of the man and they scrambled for the gun. Pushing all of his weight on Rand's wrists, Benji turned the gun towards Rand's face and pulled the trigger. Rand went slack under him. Benji rolled off, laying on his back. He reached over and grabbed the chain of the tag. He clutched it to him and let out a gentle sob.

In the other room, Ethan stared wide-eyed at the radio. His heart stopped beating for a moment.

No...he can't be dead.

Kane smirked at Ethan's broken expression.

"Now you know how I feel," Kane gloated.

Ethan couldn't feel anything. He was flashing back to the moment Davian tricked him into thinking he killed Julia in front of him.

It's a trick, it has to be a trick. Not Benji. Please not Benji.

Ethan's mind raced to put the pieces together that somehow added up to Benji being alive. He could no longer feel the pain in his wrists as he dangled from the ceiling. He couldn't feel any of the other physical pain. He was just empty. Benji was gone. He thought he could let himself love again, and now the man he did was ripped from him.

Kane pressed a button on the radio.

In Benji's room, Kane's voice cut through the silence.

"Rand, it's Kane. Bring Benji's body into room 203," Kane commanded before the click of him releasing the button echoed.

Kane smirked to Ethan, "I want you to see him."

In Benji's room, new life was breathed into him. There was no way he could fight his way out of this place. He was going to die here, he knew this, killing Rand had been his last act of defiance, of revenge, whatever it was. Now?

Kane...203

His eyes flicked to the door. This was just down the hall. He clicked off the radio on the table, letting out a groan of pain at the movement. He picked up Rand's gun, checking the magazine. More than enough bullets.

Benji wasn't leaving this compound alive, but now, he decided as he gritted his teeth, neither was Kane.