AN: Hey everyone! First of, many thanks to my Beta MegaDiary123. Also many thanks to everyone who has left a review. I hope you like this chapter. Even more, I am going on some vacation next week and so I am not sure what my internet connection will be like. So I will upload the next chapter on Tuesday and then if I can I will try next Saturday but I am not sure. Will try my best to upload and without further due...
All rights go to Marvel
Skye's POV
Waiting for May to wake up was one of the hardest things I had to do. I couldn't go near her, because of my restrains, and no matter how many times I tried calling her name nothing seemed to change. So, after changing among 'May', 'Melinda' and even 'Mel' a handful of times I eventually gave up and waited, staring at her sleeping form just to reassure myself that she was breathing and was alive.
Time seemed infinite for me in this holding room, and with no sun or clock inside I had easily lost track of time. I had not even the slightest idea of how many hours it was since the accident. Or even days for that matter since I had absolutely no clue for how long I was knocked out due to the head injury I had collected from the crash.
My thoughts were cut short when I heard a groan from across the room.
"May" the word escaped my lips before I even registered it. She seemed dazed as she woke up and it took her some time to register her surroundings. "Hey, hey Mel look at me" the nickname that only I used came out but thankfully all she did was snap her eyes to my direction. I let out a sigh once I saw her looking at me and her eyes were clear and she seemed superficially fine. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
I could see her irises widen once she focused on my form. I must have been quite the sight for sore eyes. "I am fine" she replied though I could hear the strain in her voice.
"This is not the time to be brave Mel" I told her all serious.
She let out a small laugh, titling one side of her mouth up in a half-smile. The laugh though made her flinch and that got me only more worried. "Just some bruised ribs, nothing serious" she answered honestly. I was really grateful that I wouldn't have to pressure her anymore to find out about her health status. "You on the other hand… how are you feeling? Where does it hurt more?"
Not 'where does it hurt', but 'where does it hurt more'. I guess I wouldn't want to look at myself in a mirror.
"My head is generally pounding with the slightest movement" I began and then truly focused on my injuries. So far, I had tried avoiding thinking of them and keeping my mind on other matters but it was important to know in what state I was truly in. And as I focused, all the pain came crushing in. I realised my wheezing every time I took a breath. "At least bruised, if not cracked ribs. Have no idea how many tho–"
"Well, I would say about one on your left side and two on your right" O'Brien interrupted as he came in the room. May visibly tensed at his presence, though I wasn't sure if it was his presence or the information that she had just gotten. "Now that I let you catch up a little bit, should we continue?" He finished as his fist contacted with my torso, leaving me breathless.
May's POV
I knew that this was supposed to be a realistic exercise of an interrogation, but this was too much. They had blocked me from the computer even since agent O'Brien returned to the room after the first time Skye woke up and so I had no idea what to expect when I was to be introduced to the scenario.
I woke up to a bloody Skye, with cuts all over her face that must have come from punches, and who had trouble breathing probably because of a similar cause. And for her to breath in that way… well, let's just say that I wasn't very keen to seeing how her torso looked beneath her soaked t-shirt. And all I could do was sit tied in a chair as she became a punching bag for the agent that I would definitely have a chat with once we met back at the Hub. More often than not I would tense on my seat and fidget trying to find a way to get out of the ropes that tied my hands and feet on the chair. True, I was supposed to look uncomfortable with what was happening and stuff, but it was really easy and most of the times I didn't have to pretend.
"Where is it?" O'Brien asked for what must have been the millionth time, always referring to the '0-8-4' that never truly existed. Well, as we did with all items of unknown origin it would probably be on its way to the Fridge by now and this was the answer that he would be looking for. But I couldn't give him that info, so all I did was tightly close my mouth. "Looks like I will have to change tactics again" and with that he delivered a powerful punch on Skye's face that knocked her out and her head was now hanging limply on her chest.
"Skye!" I screamed and moved on the chair but my restrains held me down. I just watched as O'Brien walked out of the room, brought in a bucket full of water and then walked to the machine that held Skye off the ground. He must have switched it off, because Skye's body just fell hard on the ground. I wasn't sure that even if she was conscious she would be able to keep herself up straight since she was hanging for far too long.
The man walked to Skye and grabbed her, dragging her across the room and dropping her once again next to the bucket of water. Then realisation hit me.
Waterboarding.
I looked towards the only camera that observed us in the far corner of the room. Well hidden in the shadows so that Skye wouldn't notice it, but I knew where it was placed. I imagined Maria on the other side and my eyes begged for this not to continue any further.
She had proved that she wouldn't say anything for fuck's say! My eyes darted back to O'Brien who was looking at me as well. "You don't have to do this" I told him, not saying anything else in the slightest chance that Skye could hear us. Though I was highly doubting that she could.
"Tell me what I want to know, and I won't have to" he said with a smirk. Oh, I was so gonna enjoy breaking him to pieces should anyone leave the two of us alone in a room. But for now, I couldn't do or say anything. "That's what I thought" and just like that he grabbed Skye from the back of the neck and dived her head in and under the water in the bucket.
Skye's POV
After all the beating that I had sustained in the last more-than-couple hours, my body finally shut down on its own allowing me to surrender to the darkness where it was quiet and peaceful. Though of course that wouldn't last for lost. It seemed like seconds to me when I was receiving a hit on the cheek from O'Brien and then I woke with my lungs screaming for air.
I thrusted my body in a try to get out of the water that my head was in but something, or rather someone, was holding me from the neck pressuring me even further down the water with my resistance. As I felt like my lungs were on fire and there were dots appearing in the edges of my vision, the cruel hand eventually released its hold and my body jerked up and out of the liquid. I was curled on the side, eyes tightly shut and water pouring out of my mouth as I was trying to swallow mouthfuls of air. I couldn't really register anything other than the wheezing sound of my breathing and the endless water that was coming off of my lungs. I mean, how did so much water even found its way down my throat?
It could have been seconds or minutes at best when I started faintly hearing a reassuring "Breath Skye… breath, that's it". I highly doubted that it would be more time than that since I guessed my captor would not allow more before the next round of what appeared to be waterboarding was about to begin.
The voice kept on trying to make me breath properly, but it was so hard and my throat was hurting. A second voice intervened and it was clear that O'Brien was asking for May to answer his questions. I had long figured that he had stopped trying to make me talk and had focused on May.
If he had found information about my name and status in the Academy, then I had no doubt that he knew about what May's skill were as well and had probably figured that breaking her through seer force wouldn't work very effectively. So, he was trying to exhaust her mentally by beating the living shit out of me and making her watch, helpless to come to my aid. Maybe then he would pick up on forcing intel out of her. What I did not know though, was whether he had also learned about our relationship or if he was focusing on me because I was the young agent in this case.
But whichever the case, I was determined to take all of the punches if it meant that May would come unhurt out of this. I slightly opened my eyes and saw that O'Brien was in May's face, whose eyes snapped at mine once she realised that I was watching her.
I could see her desire to take my pain away. She was full-out cursing to O'Brien and this worried me to be honest. So far, she had kept a quiet front and this sudden change meant that her resolve to withhold information and watching me getting hurt was running out. There were small signs like these that the man appeared to notice as well and he was wearing his trademark smirk, that I so much wanted to rip off his ugly face.
"Don't you dare Mel" I said, and my voice came out rough. Using the nickname that only I dared pronounce definitely got both of their attentions as all the talks stopped. I smiled with my teeth probably being a bloody mess, not that I cared. "I can take it, so don't you dare say a thing when I am the one getting beat up".
"You've never been on Mel's end, have you? Watching someone you love getting hurt and being able to stop it if only you answer a couple of questions? You are cognitive enough to ask her not to say anything, so why don't we change that?" And with that a fist rooted itself deeply on May's already bruised ribs making her cough hard.
"Hey! Stop!" I screamed and made a move to get up on my unsteady feet. No sooner had I managed to actually stand when O'Brien's foot hit me straight to the chest sending me on my back, making me take a few moments before I am able to catch my breath again.
I didn't know whether it was my tiredness, my desire to protect May or both but I could feel an all familiar buzzing feeling crawling itself all the way down my arms. The memory of what had occurred to the Academy's gym the last time that I had this feeling flashed through my mind and I tried to surpass the unsettling feeling.
I was slowly finding my way back on my feet and at the same time making the buzzing disappear when I heard May groan. My ever-so-little control over whatever was happening slipped at the sound and I could feel the floor start to shake.
"Hey! Leave her alone!" I said with the firmest voice that I could master, though it still sounded pretty weak even to my own ears. A sudden wave of exhaustion suddenly started to take over. O'Brien however didn't seem to peak up on the earthquake that had suddenly started and just looked at me from head to toes. "You gonna answer my questions now?" He didn't even make a move to throw me to the ground again. He knew as well as I did that I wouldn't be able to fight him as much as I wanted to.
My hands had turned to fists on my sides as I was looking at O'Brien with a great desire to hurt him for even touching May. But no, I was not going to answer his questions, not in a million years and he quickly picked up on that. I could feel the vibrations of the room get more and more apparent as my control over whatever was happening slipped away.
The final straw appeared to be when he grabbed May's neck and I could tell he started squeezing, stopping her airways. "S-Stop!" I screamed and with a newfound energy I felt a vibrational wave come out of my whole body, making the room quake violently.
"The hell? An earthquake?" O'Brien moved away from May when he finally registered what was happening. But it was too late. I could see pieces of the roof coming off and falling to the ground. He had to dive as a, quite large, piece of stone came down and almost buried him to the ground.
Crap! I ran, and by ran, I mean walked as fast as my feet would carry me, to May and tried to untie her bindings not caring for anything else other than getting her out of that chair and into safety. Though with every unstoppable vibration coming off my body and making the room shake even harder, I could feel my low energy levels getting drowned.
"Skye, get out of here" I could faintly hear May's concerned voice as if I was underwater and shook my head. "I am not leaving you" I whispered and only hoped for her to hear my words.
I somehow managed to untie one of her hands and she started working on releasing the second. Once that was over and done she threw my arm over her shoulder, helping me walk and we started making our way out of the room, with O'Brien nowhere in sight and the exit door wide open. "Come on, Skye, a little more" she urged me to move. I lifted my eyes a bit to see her face, as her whole focus was on the door ahead of us.
As the rumbles were falling all over us I thought that I heard Hill's voice from behind the exit, though there was no way that she would be close by, was there? We were almost out of the room when I noticed a rather large piece of stone falling off the roof and coming straight at us. With one last burst of energy I pushed May aside and I fell on top of her, as if to protect her from getting hit by the concrete.
The exhaustion finally caught up with me and I blacked out, welcoming the peaceful darkness once more.
