Chapter 6:
A/N Torture.
'How long until someone finds me?' Alex thought, 'They must know something has happened. MI6 can't be that clueless!' It had been about a day since Scorpia had branded him; nearly 2 days since he was captured – or so he guessed. He had no way to tell the time. The empty cell enclosed him seeming to shrink the longer he was left alone.
He was almost more afraid of Scorpia now that they didn't care if he lived or died. He knew that if he died now then it would be slow and painful rather than quick and painless like the sniper would have been. Were they going to beat him to death or just leave him here to starve?
He wasn't going down without a fight; they would not defeat him. He needed to be ready for whatever they threw at him – possibly literally – there must be a reason that Scorpia was one of the most feared criminal organisations. Although, Julia Rothman hadn't seemed that scary but she had been deranged.
He wished that he hadn't did what Yassen told him to; maybe then he wouldn't be a cell with whip marks across his chest and a blistering burn on his arm.
He wished that he had never got involved with MI6; never went to Venice. He should have just gone to the orphanage when he was first blackmailed by Blunt. At least then he would have a chance of living to reach 15.
He was jolted out of his thoughts by the loud creek of the door being opened. Two guards entered and stood either side of the door, obviously to make sure he never tried anything. A third guard entered with a tray. The guard gave a brief pitying look to Alex as he placed the tray on the hard floor then all three left.
Shuffling forward, Alex grabbed his tray intending to drag it back to his previous position but as he went to move back he stopped. "Argh," he gasped. While turning he had inadvertently twisted too quickly and one of the whip marks had flared with pain forcing him to halt. Tears welling in the corner of his eyes he dragged himself and the tray back away from the door. Leaning heavily against the wall he stared at the stale bread and bruised apple with a pout. At least they had given him a glass of water. It had been almost 34 hours since he had last consumed a single morsel of food and his stomach felt like it was trying to digest itself. Carefully he lifted the bread to his lips and began to nibble making sure that there were no suspicious smells or tastes. He wouldn't put it past Scorpia to poison the only food he had got. After ensuring that the bread was safe (and slightly edible) he began to devour the food. Forcing himself to swallow the bread was disgusting. The dryness of his meal meant it kept getting stuck in his throat and so he had to take tiny sips of water to force it down. He tried to conserve the water: who knew when he would get a drink again?
As soon as he had finished the food and put the apple core back on the tray, the door opened. Alex forced himself to stand. A Chinese man walked in. It was Doctor Three.
Alex gasped, "You're supposed to be dead! MI6 told me you were."
His face was easy to remember as most of the armed forces and the opposition to Scorpia lived in fear of falling into his hands. The Doctor was well known as one of the most feared criminals within the organisation. This reputation was enhanced by the terrified stories of trainees. These stories of innocents grabbed off the streets so that Three could master his technique had passed through the organisation and so Three had become the face of Scorpia.
Alex somehow knew that he was going to be another experiment. Hopefully Three wouldn't take a leaf out of Doctor Grief's book and try to dissect him while he was still alive. It had become one of his fears ever since that mission.
Without blinking Three took out a gun and shot Alex. The bullet grazed his side, slicing deeply, before embedding in the wall behind him. Alex stumbled backwards, his hand automatically seeking the wound. Hitting the wall, his whip wounds opened leaving an imprint of the bloody injuries on the cold, smooth concrete wall. Forcing himself to stand up properly again he stood tall trying to show Three that he couldn't scare him. (This was a complete lie; Alex was secretly terrified and just wanted to curl up.)
Three finally spoke again, "You will suffer for every slight you have made against Scorpia." The torture expert's cold eyes drilled into Alex. He didn't even seem angry. How was it possible to hate someone completely, enough to be willing to torture them to death, and yet be able to appear entirely indifferent to them?
Alex replied, "Surely Scorpia has more to worry about than a teenage boy, and an injured one at that."
Finally, Three showed a tiny flicker of emotion. The man's lip curled into a momentary snarl. How dare the brat who had almost single handed brought the organisation to its knees laugh.
Three said, "Scorpia never forgives; Scorpia never forgets. It is the time the Rider family stops causing trouble."