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Leaning against the blank wall in her empty room, Emma was trying anything she could think of to distract her thoughts from dwelling on Brennan. Her white surroundings didn't really help matters.
She kicked the wall, leaving a small dent. "Seventeen chips in the paint on the wall, seventeen chips in the paint... If anyone tries to repaint this wall, then I'll likely have to kill them all..."
Kicking the hideously boring wall again, she continued her alteration of Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall. "Nineteen frelling chips in the paint on the wall, nineteen frelling chips... And Farscape marathons aren't helping my vocabulary at all, I can actually feel my brain getting small..."
"Apparently, considering you skipped eighteen," commented Eckhart who was now standing in her doorway.
Pissed-off, Emma slammed her foot into the wall once more. Ouch, her heel was going to throb for a week. "Better?" she asked through gritted teeth.
He frowned. "Charming. Anyway, seeing as how Mr. Mulwray has broken our arrangement, I am no longer obligated to mollycoddle you. Consider yourself in play."
With that, he left and a guard entered. She was then escorted to one of the labs.
-----
"I'll need you to take off all your clothes and then lie down," she was instructed after her handcuffs were removed.
Emma crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest. "I will not."
The young doctor sighed. "Please."
"Bite me," Emma retorted.
"I'd rather not have to ask the guard to come back and do it for you." He fixed her with an annoyed stare.
She glared right back.
"Fine," he huffed, fetching a sheet. He held it up and averted his gaze. "And don't even think of trying any of that Kung Fu crap on me while I'm not looking."
Frustrated, Emma quickly stripped then grabbed the offered sheet and wrapped it around herself. As she finished, he turned back toward her and she quickly slapped him. "You looked."
He visibly fumed before attempting to control his temper. "You're infuriating!" He motioned to the table. "Now if you don't mind..."
Emma awkwardly hopped up onto the table.
The young man gave her an appreciative look. "Thank you," he said. "I think we've gotten off on the wrong foot here. My name's Jordan Mehler."
"Typical," Emma remarked. "First get the girl naked and then worry about introductions."
Jordan groaned. "I thought we could attempt being civil. Seeing as that isn't the case, can you just set aside the sheet for two seconds, I can run this damn scan, you can return to your quaint little room and resume moping, and if I'm lucky, I can repress the memory of this entire experience!"
"If you want this sheet, you're gonna have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands."
"That is most definitely NOT a problem!" he snapped at her. "God, you're every bit the pain in the ass that Mulwray is!"
She gave him a sweet smile. "Thank you."
"That wasn't a compliment!" He grabbed one of her arms and locked her wrist in the restraint.
Beyond upset, Emma swung her leg up and kicked him across the side of his face. Luckily for him, her angle and modesty hadn't allowed nearly as hard of an impact as she would have liked. He also had the bonus of her not wearing shoes.
Jordan rubbed his cheek. "What the hell?" He stared at her, deciding he'd better find a compromise if he didn't want to be rendered unconscious twice in one day. "How about no restraints and I let you lie on your stomach?"
Emma considered that for a moment. She knew she'd eventually be forced no matter how much she protested. "I guess that's acceptable," she mumbled.
Jordan just rolled his eyes. What was it about Mutant Xers?
-----
After the guards had enjoyed another round of the "Beat Brennan to a Bloody Pulp" game, they finally seemed to decide to get on with things. Brennan wasn't sure if he should be grateful for that or not.
He walked willingly beside his handler, knowing it would be pointless to fight. He couldn't make another move until he was certain he could get Emma out. He feared his past cooperation had been the only thing keeping her out of a stasis pod.
If something happened to him during this test, she'd be left to fend for herself. So he needed to obey them now, not give Eckhart more reason to be angry with him. He'd get another chance to fight later. And that one would be thoroughly planned.
So he remained submissive for the moment as he was led to an unfamiliar room and escorted inside. Several people were there waiting, including Eckhart. Brennan could feel his heart rate jump. Whatever they had planned most likely wasn't going to be very pleasant for him.
Inspecting his surroundings, Brennan made note that part of the floor was sunken. With another shove to his back, he was forced down the steps. There were several indentations in the floor, each containing a bolted down restraint.
"Lie down," he was instructed.
Unnerved by the growing feeling of dread, Brennan waited too long before obeying. His sub-dermal governor was activated, sending a strong jolt pain through him that sent him to his knees. He was roughly shoved the rest of the way down, then his restraints were switched again so that he was lying on his back with his hands trapped at his sides. His ankles were secured next, followed by a strap across his chest. The final strap wasn't tight, merely serving to keep him from being able to sit up.
His handler pushed his head to the side and deactivated his governor. Just as Brennan prepared to shock the crap out of him, water rushed from the walls of the sunken area, quickly filling the indentations and submerging his hands.
He turned his head to see if he could spot Eckhart. He'd briefly forgotten he had an audience. Whatever came next, they wanted him wet and helpless. He'd be at his weakest.
Leaving his side, his handler joined the others at the top of the steps. Brennan twisted to be able to watch what was going on. The water was no longer gushing over him, yet it hadn't stopped either. He was fast getting a very bad feeling.
"Stop when the level is just high enough for him to aspirate the water," Eckhart instructed the other nameless man. "Take him to lab 2 when it's over."
With that, Eckhart exited. And Brennan began fighting. He could endure beatings or electricity, but water... Water was not something he was prepared to deal with. He already felt tired and vulnerable.
He tugged fiercely at his restraints, none of them giving an inch. He tried again, tossing his full weight against the binds, yet he didn't have enough range of motion for his efforts to matter.
Blind panic started to set in, and Brennan struggled to stay calm. He had to think of a way out of this. The water was still slowly rising, and soon it would completely cover him.
Eckhart wanted him to drown.
-----
"I just got off the line with a lovely young lady who works for Genomex," Jesse said as he found Shalimar and Adam. "Apparently Eckhart is supposed be on vacation."
That could definitely be useful. "Where'd he go?" Adam inquired.
"Don't know," Jesse replied. "But as far as I can tell, he never left."
"He's right under our nose, I just know it," Shalimar said. She could practically feel him. Her skin crawled at the thought.
Adam nodded. "Jesse, I need you to check out all the large businesses in the area. One of them has to be a front."
"You think Eckhart has another company other than Genomex?" Shalimar asked. "Why wouldn't we know about it?"
"I think the entire point is us not knowing about it," Jesse said. "But I already looked them all up. Other than your standard banking discrepancies, they're all clean."
This couldn't be another dead end. "They can't all be legit," Shalimar protested. "What if we do this the old fashioned way and start busting into every place on the list?"
Jesse just closed his eyes for a moment. "I've narrowed it down to 37 possibilities. Now, the odds of us breaking into all of them in a reasonable amount of time without being arrested are actually pretty good. If we had a career criminal and a psionic with us."
Shalimar started pacing. "Well, we don't!"
Adam attempted to calm her down and she flashed her eyes at him. "We'll come up with another plan," he told her.
"Okay," she shot back. "Let's hear this great plan. What's the genius way to go about saving our friends?"
Sitting down, Adam watched her resume her cat-like stalking back and forth. He understood how she felt, but getting angry wasn't helping. "I don't know. Maybe we should all take a break and try to clear our heads."
"And waste some more time?" She was not about to stop searching while Brennan and Emma were still out there somewhere. Likely somewhere nearby. "The longer we wait, the more chance there is of Eckhart already having killed them!"
"I refuse to believe that they're dead!" Jesse broke in. Those were his friends! He stared at Shalimar.
"I'm sorry, Jess," she apologized. "I'm just getting a bit restless."
Agreeing, Adam stood and placed his hand on her arm. They all felt the need to act. "I'm not saying we give up on them," he told her. "I'm just saying... I don't know."
-----
The water was being stained red with his blood, but Brennan didn't care. He continued jerking frantically at his binds, tearing the skin of his wrists and ankles. The restraints were tight and bit more deeply into his flesh every time he yanked against them. He wasn't going to be able to break free.
Damn it! He began arching his back, straining the strap across his chest. It was leather, not metal, so there was the smallest amount of give. If he could force it loose, he'd be able to sit, and that would buy him time.
Water swept over his face and he lifted his head and gasped as it stung his eyes. It was no use. It would take several hours to work the strap free. He kept his head up and sucked in another breath. He needed help.
Jordan wasn't among his spectators. None of Eckhart's other men would feel even a trace of sympathy toward him. Oh god... And all Jordan had done was warn him not to struggle. Stupid little piece of shit. How the hell was he not supposed to struggle? They were trying to kill him!
And Eckhart hadn't agreed to his deal. Emma couldn't be left with him! He didn't want to die!
No, he told himself, he wasn't going to die. He collapsed back down against the floor and rested for a second before forcing himself up once more. His abdomen muscles already ached as though he'd done a thousand sit- ups, but he had to keep pressing up against that strap if he wanted air.
He told himself to take Jordan's advice. If he drowned, he'd probably wake up from it. Eckhart wasn't done with him yet. There were many other forms of torture he hadn't inflicted upon him yet.
Brennan let himself sink one more time. His fight was almost gone. He could just allow himself to die now. What use was prolonging it? He *was* going to wake up again. He had to.
And if he didn't, at least Eckhart's experiment would be over. He wouldn't be hurt any more. Eckhart wouldn't have him.
He'd only have Emma.
NO! Struggling to get his head above the surface, he gasped again. This time, he inhaled mostly water. Salt water? Choking, he fought harder, managing to get another breath. It seemed like the water had stopped rising, staying at a level that caused him to breathe it in along with the air, slowly filling his lungs. It was sick that Eckhart wanted this to be as bad as possible.
Brennan's mind reached out for Emma, but he couldn't find her. With her governor still on, she'd have no idea what was happening to him. If this was it, then he was dying alone.
He cried, and his tears mixed with the water. His neck hurt from straining it. He dropped back under and used the restraints on his wrists to pull himself with. If he could somehow slip under the strap...
Eventually feeling the burn of his lungs needing another breath, he gave up and resigned himself to the same struggle as before. He breathed in more air, and more water. Even without the strap over his chest, he would have only had a few minutes longer. What good was that?
If Adam had failed to rescue him in however many days he'd been here, what were the odds of him showing up now? Maybe he had betrayed him.
"ADAM..." he cried out futilely. "Where are you?"
He swallowed more water, choking profusely. It was now impossible to reach any more air. The level slid up a fraction too high, covering him with Adam's name on his lips.
Brennan didn't blame him, though. He couldn't. And even if it were true, Adam might not have been there for him, might have even willingly set him up and turned him over to the GSA, but he could still save Emma. She was never supposed to have been a part of this. Adam wouldn't allow her to be harmed. That was all that mattered now.
Because Brennan wouldn't be there to protect her.
Letting himself go limp, he rested his body, going weightless as the water completely surrounded him. He closed his eyes and tried to calm his thoughts. He couldn't hold his breath any longer, and there was no more air. It was time to face his fears.
Finally, he inhaled, first feeling the water sting his nostrils and then rush into his mouth. He didn't merely swallow the water, he breathed it into his lungs. It was over.
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