Undercover (Ben)

[~ ADMIN]

Anna let out a weird relieved noise when she heard Ben's voice, leaning her head back, taking a deep breath. Thank the Lord. If that hadn't been him, she would have freaked out, because if he hadn't been there, then that would have surely meant that he was dead. She hadn't been able to stand the pain in her chest as she'd waited to hear his voice, but now that she'd heard it, a huge weight eased off her chest.

Unfortunately, she didn't get to tell him that she was okay and ask the same before they were interrupted. She studied the man in the poor lighting as he walked towards her. It was easy enough not to answer his questions, if he did anything to her, she wouldn't give up the information. And all the while her mind was ticking away, getting ever closer to figuring out where she'd seen him before, or how she knew him, recognised him. It was the features of his face, they were familiar.

Anna remained still as he walked round to Ben, not letting on that it was making her nervous. She didn't like his tone or his air. She closed her eyes when the man's fist did damage to Ben's face, trying not to make any sort of noise. He punched Ben again, and it took all of her strength not to try and break out of the chair and snap this guy's neck. Now he was coming round to her, and Ben practically exploded. She opened her mouth to tell Ben to be quiet when the man's fist collided with her bleeding stomach.

She couldn't help but yell out in pain. "That's right, it hurts, doesn't it?" He lifted her head up with one finger under her chin, then smashed his knuckles into her face. She rolled with the hit as much as she could in her pain, then he dug his gloved thumb right into her wound. The shriek she let out was unearthly. Tears burned their way down her cheeks, she was unable to stop them. "Feel like talking now, huh?" the man said, "or should I torture your lady friend some more?"

Anna's head lolled forwards, tears falling from her face into her lap. "Don't tell him anything," Anna croaked, unable to lift her head. She didn't need to tell him that it was an order. The image of the man was burned into her brain now, the intensity of her focus on his image became greater as the pain lessened. Her eyes snapped open. No, no, it wasn't possible. The man was dead, he had told her himself. He said they'd cremated his body. His father's body.

"Blake," Anna murmured, "Henry Blake," she repeated a little louder, catching him off guard. "How do you know who I am?" For someone who was determined to get information, he wasn't very good at keeping it. Now she knew it was true. She didn't know how Will's father had miraculously come back from the dead, but he was here, and he was very much alive. "That's another thing you'll have to ponder while you're rotting in a cell for the rest of your life."

[karen2]

Ben wasn't normally one for emotion. Hell, most of the time he acted like he didn't have any beyond devious and/or pissed. But there was no way to get around the fact that the reason his heart was pounding, the reason he could barely choke back shouts of his own as Anna's screams reverberated around the room, was because he was terrified.

Not for himself--hell no, nothing was happening to him--but for Anna. That man was hurting her. With every shriek that was torn from her throat, Ben grew more and more distressed. She was suffering, and he couldn't stop it. That was the part that killed him.

When her screams finally subsided, Anna murmured one word, and it made Ben pause. Blake. Henry Blake. As in William Blake's dead father? Why would she bring up his name? But then the man asked her how she knew his name, and Ben's eyes widened. How was that possible?! He'd heard of people dodging death before, but hadn't Henry been six-feet-under, so to speak, for almost four years now? There was no way he could have gone unnoticed for that long.

"Why do you care so much about who we are?" Ben demanded before Henry could hurt Anna again. "Are you one of Senator Kelly's lap-dogs or something?" Blake stepped around to face him again, his eyes flat and emotionless. "Try the other way around." Ben lifted an eyebrow cockily. "Really? So you're the big boss, huh? You're not someone else's little bi--"

He wasn't all that surprised, really, when Henry's fist found the side of his face again. Wiggling his jaw a little to make sure it wasn't in too bad of shape, he sighed and looked up at him with mock disconsolation. "You know, I do look good in blue, but I would really rather that stay a reference to clothing rather than my face."

"Oh, really? And how do you feel about red?" Ben only had a few minutes to really register that before he receieved a boot to the stomach. Over the sound out his cry of pain, he vaguely heard a cracking noise. Was that a rib breaking? Gods, he hoped not. He'd only just had them fixed. He choked up a mouthful of blood, gagging on it a little. "Now wasn't that a little extreme?" he rasped, making sure to spit blood on Henry's shoes.

[~ ADMIN]

Ben directed Henry's attention to him once again, and Anna desperately wanted to scream no, to keep the torture on her, but her face was throbbing, her side positively crying out with the pain. Her head felt fuzzy again, and she shook it, trying to wake herself up. Come on, Anna, hold it together. By now, the Venia would have registered that she nor Ben had returned, and would hopefully be sending help.

The crack made a whimper escape from Anna's lips. If she found out that someone had leaked the information of their mission, which was the only possible scenario right now, and she found out who that was, that person was going to wish they'd never been born. As for Mr. Blake here, he was going straight back to prison, if she had anything to say about it. She just hoped he didn't leave before the team sent to rescue them got here. If there was a team.

"Define extreme," Blake said, circling them both. Both of them had been trained against torture, that was certain. That meant they were military or one of the government agencies. MI7 perhaps in the female's case. CIA for the man. He didn't appreciate people coming in and snooping around like they had. They wouldn't make it out of here alive, but before he killed them, he wanted answers. Unfortunately, he wasn't going to get them.

At that moment, one of his security team hurried in. "Sir, a team just arrived, they've come for the hostages." "Can't you deal with them? What else do I pay you for?" "They've taken out half of the staff already sir. We need to get you out of here." Blake looked at the two of them. "Now sir." There wasn't enough time to finish them off. Never mind, he couldn't be caught. The chances of the UGAP believing that he was still alive was slim. "It's a shame we couldn't finish our chat," he said as he whisked from the room, just in time.

Once he was gone, Anna choked out the sob she'd been holding back for several minutes now, and tried to feel for Ben's hands - both were cuffed behind their backs. Her fingers brushed his, and she caught them, holding them. He was shaking, but then, so was she. Seconds later, a SWAT team piled through the door. They started yelling that they'd found Anna and Ben, talking on their radios, getting medical assistance in there as fast as they could. Both Anna and Ben were in terrible shape.

Anna felt her feet, then her hands come free, and she grabbed Ben's hand, not wanting to let go. It was all over, but she didn't want to be torn away from him now, not after all that had just happened. "Ben," she said, struggling to stay conscious. "Ben." The SWAT team tried to pull her up and away towards the medical team, they did the same to Ben, and she felt the warmth of his hand leave hers. She tried to struggle, to reach out for him again, but she didn't have the energy. She felt a prick against her neck as they administered a sedative, and she dropped straight out.

((Right, going to start a new thread in the medical bay on board the Venia. Feel free to reply to this one though =D ))