Eddie panted as his body finally got a reprieve. He'd been through a lot over the years, but being electrocuted was unlike anything he'd ever dealt with. It felt like every muscle in his body was cramping and every nerve ending was burning. He would've said before that he wouldn't wish this on his worst enemy, but he would wish it on the four men surrounding him right now.
Eddie hadn't had a chance to fight back when the wall opened up and he fell through it. Before he'd been able to get his wits about him, the prongs of a taser had stabbed into his side and sent enough jolts through him to incapacitate. He couldn't do much besides twitch as they dragged him further away from his friends and Buck, tying him down to a chair in another room.
One of the men was saying something, but Eddie couldn't focus on the words. He'd heard Buck's voice earlier and was about to call out for him, but the knife pressed against his throat stopped him before he had the chance. The only noise he'd been allowed to make were ones of pain.
Buck was probably so worried about him. Eddie knew he'd be climbing the walls if the roles were reversed. This was supposed to be a relaxing vacation for them, but apparently their bad luck followed them from home. Whatever this was blew everything in Los Angeles out of the water though. It was one thing to get caught up in something with your crew around. Now they only had themselves as backup.
"Passionate friends you've got there. Eddie, was it?" one of the men said, pulling Eddie from his stupor. Whatever he'd been speaking into had been switched off, severing Eddie's connection to the others. He had to assume he was on his own and rely on himself.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Eddie mumbled, working his jaw as his words came out muddled.
"How boring. Those were the same questions your friends asked. Are you all working off the same script?" the man groaned dramatically.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Why not?" the man asked incredulously. Eddie squinted up at him through blurry eyes. He looked like someone you wouldn't give a second glance to if you passed them on the street. None of them did. That was what made people so dangerous. You could never tell what was lurking under the surface.
"Hurting people is wrong. And against the law," Eddie replied, feeling his strength slowly building up as more time passed since his last shock. The men snickered, as if this whole thing was a joke. If Eddie got free, they wouldn't be laughing for much longer. Resorting back to his cage fighting days was never something he wanted to do, but he wouldn't hesitate to use his skills in this situation. Anything to get back to the others and get to safety.
"In here, we make our own rules," the first man smirked, before turning to the others in the room. "You all know where to go. Have fun."
"Wait. Wait!" Eddie shouted, trying to twist to see where they were going. His hands tied behind his back made it hard to see much more than the men leaving through a door behind him. At least Eddie knew the way out now. "Don't you dare touch them!"
"You're not really in a position to make demands here. It would be smarter to sit back and preserve your energy."
"If you hurt them, I swear I'll make you regret it," Eddie growled, straining against his bonds. If he could just get a hand free, this would all be over.
"Oh Eddie, you should probably start worrying about yourself." That was all the warning he got before the electricity hit him again.
"Eddie! Eddie!" Buck screamed, matching the volume of Eddie's cries of pain. TK tamped down on his urge to panic, knowing that he needed to keep a cool head. If it had been Carlos who disappeared, he'd probably be a bigger mess than Buck. It was all he could do to shove away his personal feelings and stay calm, since that was what was best for everyone.
The sound from the speakers cut off abruptly, leaving them with only Buck's agony echoing in the room. For a few harrowing seconds, TK thought that meant that Eddie hadn't been able to make noise any longer. That they'd heard the last sounds to ever come from the man.
"They shut the speaker off," Carlos said quickly, giving TK a reassuring nod. "I can't hear any background sounds." TK trusted Carlos' word, thanks to his fiance's attention to detail.
"They're hurting him! They're fucking hurting him," Buck ground out, muffling a sob behind his fist.
"Eddie's strong. And he's a fighter. They won't take him down that easily," TK said as confidently as his wrecked nerves would allow him to. It was true that Eddie was strong, but it terrified him to think about what could be happening to him to get that sort of response.
"We have to find him."
"And we will. We just need to figure out a plan first," TK replied, looking desperately toward Carlos. TK had experience being kidnapped, but he didn't have much to do with the finale of that ordeal. His one play had ended with him bleeding on the floor with a concussion. This time, there was no Tommy to keep a cool head or his dad to swoop in at the last second. They only had themselves.
"We have to assume they can hear everything we're saying," Carlos said, walking over to pull everyone into a tight huddle. Buck looked to his side, clearly mourning the lack of his partner there.
"Do you think they know who we are? Do you think that's why they took Eddie first?" TK whispered, flicking his eyes up to Buck's face. They all knew Eddie had the most experience in combat, and unfortunately with taking lives. He would be the most dangerous out of the four of them, especially since none of them had weapons.
"It's probably safer to assume they do. Better to overestimate than to underestimate," Carlos replied softly.
"Even if they know who I am, they have no idea what I'm willing to do," Buck growled, almost vibrating with anger. TK had never seen him this way before. Buck was always the type to go into a situation with a smile on his face. But everyone had their limit. TK hated that they were being pushed to that level, but they would do whatever it took to survive.
"If there isn't a way for us to get out of this room ourselves, our only play is to negotiate," Carlos said quietly.
"Negotiate with the people hurting Eddie?" Buck hissed, looking revolted at the idea.
"They didn't seem to care what we had to say earlier," TK pointed out.
"Maybe we can offer them something? Just talking to them more may humanize us to them."
"Befriend them? How about we invite them out to dinner?" Buck sneered.
"All I'm saying is that it's easier to hurt someone you don't know. When it's less personal. That's why we never named the animals on the ranch that we were going to- to-"
"Slaughter," Buck finished for him. TK shuddered at the word. They really were sitting ducks here. If there was no way for them to get out themselves, the only option was to wait and try to be prepared for whatever was thrown at them.
"That's not going to happen," TK insisted, clutching both of their arms. "I know this is hard, but we have to stay focused. We can't let them catch us off-"
The lights suddenly went out and they were plunged into darkness. Before TK's eyes had a chance to adjust or he could even think about moving, something barreled into his side and knocked him into the wall. His head bounced off the hard surface and he fell to the floor in a daze, blinking rapidly as he tried to get his bearings back. TK snapped back into focus at the sound of fists hitting flesh. He scrambled to grab his phone out of his pocket, turning on the flashlight and illuminating the room slightly.
There were three men with them now, wearing some sort of goggles. Two of them were fighting with Buck, while one was with Carlos. As much as he wanted to go to his fiance, he had to try to even the score. He rushed at one of the men who was attacking Buck, tackling him in his midsection. They both fell to the floor and immediately started tussling for control. In the melee, TK's phone was knocked from his hand and slid across the floor with the light side down, only leaving a faint glow around the edge. It distracted TK just long enough for the man he was fighting to get a lucky strike in across his cheek. He fell heavily onto his side, then caught a kick to the stomach before he could get up again. TK coughed, trying to get some air back into his lungs.
"TK!" Carlos shouted, recognizing the sound. "T-" Carlos' voice cut off with a grunt, followed by a groan.
"Carlos!" TK wheezed, sucking in a breath as he got back to his hands and knees. He needed to get his phone back, so they would be on a level playing field. If those goggles he saw were what he thought they were, the men attacking them had too much of an advantage. TK crawled over to his phone as quickly as he could and flipped it over, just in time to see Carlos being hit over the head and slumping to the floor. "No!"
TK scrambled toward him, but was intercepted by another one of the men. It may have been a while since he'd physically fought someone, but TK had rage and survival instincts on his side. He lashed out at the man with all he had, hitting any part of him he could. They were wearing some sort of protective gear, but TK didn't care. If there was a chance to do damage he would take it.
He tried to get a glimpse of how Buck was faring, but everyone was moving too fast and the light wasn't strong enough. TK was probably taking one hit for every three he threw, but his adrenaline was keeping him from feeling any of it. Hopefully he'd be lucky enough to live to be sore in the morning.
"Shit!" Buck hissed from somewhere to TK's left, before going abruptly silent. Carlos was on the opposite side of the room and TK hadn't seen him move since he fell. Even if he tried to go to one of them, the man who was currently trying to beat him to death wasn't going to let that happen. The man landed a lucky strike to the center of TK's chest, knocking the air out of him again. If a few of his ribs weren't cracked at this point, it would be a miracle.
"Let's go!" one of the men grunted. The man fighting TK pushed him to the side like he was nothing, but TK wouldn't let that slide. He charged at him, willing to do whatever he could to stop them. What was the plan? To come in and beat them up for the fun of it? To drag this all out for entertainment? The whys didn't matter. All that mattered was finding Eddie and getting the hell out of there.
TK jumped on the back of the man he'd been fighting, taking them both to the floor again. Maybe the others would abandon him and they could do a trade? Or find a key or working cell phone in his pocket? Unfortunately there was something in the man's pocket. Something TK had forgotten about until he felt it slice into his side.
TK cried out as he felt his skin split below his ribs. Hot blood immediately ran down his side, soaking into the top of his pants. He tried to cover the wound with his hand, but his vision whited out as soon as he made contact. TK lost his balance, landing roughly on his back. A dragging sound cut through the fog and he turned his head just in time to see a door open up and two men taking Carlos out of the room.
"No," TK moaned, trying to pull himself toward his fiance. They couldn't take Carlos. Carlos was the only thing keeping TK sane. He was always the one who was able to talk him down from the ledge. It had been so long since TK had to go through something without him and he didn't know how he would cope. But before he could get anywhere close, the door closed behind the men, cutting them off with finality. Carlos was gone.
