The first thing Tony noticed when he started to come to was that he was in a lot of pain. And the more he woke up, the more pain he felt. The memories were flooding back as well.
The man had started easy with just a blow now and again, but he soon grew tired of that and walked behind his back. Tony didn't like it at all. He had no way of stopping anything that that man wanted to do to him, but he would at least like to see it coming. What came next was the only comfort he had at the moment. Not much of a comfort though.
He soon came back into view and this time with toys. In one hand he held a steel rod. He gave a sigh of relief when the man continued up the stairs and out of view.
He thought he had gotten off quite easy on this one. A few bruises, but nothing that serious. Painful though. It seemed like every inch was throbbing.
Then he came back. Tony could see that the steel rod had been switched with something else. He couldn't see what it was until he was at the bottom of the stairs tough.
"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to run around with scissors?" He smiled and he was quite suprised when he got one back.
"Oh, she did." The man crouched down in front of him and looked at him with a spark in his eyes that frightened him. "But I‘m sure your mother ran after you with a pair of scissors."
If Tony hadn't been tied to the chair he would probably have fallen off. The sad thing about that statement was that it wasn't to far from the truth. She hadn't run after him, she had just thrown it them at him when he had spilt some soda on his sailor suit. ‘I hated that suit, so it had kinda been worth it.'
"I hit a nerve there I see." He looked at him with glee and then he laughed. "Well, then lets see if we can't find some use for this then." The man held up the scissors in front of his face. "The blades are sharp."
Tony really wished that he could have gotten a hold of the knife he had hidden in his belt. "What's the matter? A knife is too much for you to handle?"
He barely registerd that the man jumped up and took a swing at him with the scissors. He felt a slight pain on his cheek and the feel of his blood runing down the side of his face. Damn, that man was quicker than he looked.
"Oh, don't you worry. We'll get to the knives soon enough." The man was only a few inches away from his face at this point. Tony collected every ounce of will power within him to keep himself still, and to try and not pull away.
"Yay for me then." The sarcasm was dripping from his voice.
"Hmmm..." The man looked at him thoughtfully. "I was planing to wait with this one, but I think you deserve it now."
"What? I get a reward," Tony said as the man went back upstairs.
"If that's what you want to call it." Tony could hear the smirk the man must have.
He knew what ever came next couldn't be good. In desperation he started to pull at his bindings as much as he could, but all it did was slice into his already raw skin.
And then he returned. With the steel rod. Only this time it was glowing bright red at the end with heat and a promise of pain. All Tony could do now was hope that he had enough controll so that he wouldn't scream.
***
"I think we can come to the conclusion that this was what the killer/kidnapper wanted." Kate was was pacing the floor in of the bullpen. "The killing of the officers was to lure NCIS out. He also shot at you or Tony at the first site. He then killed a NCIS agent and hurt another on a second site in the park. The killer then changed his MO." She stoped and locked eyes with Gibbs. "He got what he wanted. He found Tony on his own. He saw an opening to take what he originally wanted to hurt or even kill. A possibility to inflict more pain and he took it. He was after Tony all along. Everything else was just to get to Tony."
Gibbs was resisting the urge to pull his fingers through his hair in frustration. It's been several hours since Tony had disappeared and no clues had been found, only speculations.
"There are no obvious clues that we found," McGee said and paused, but quickly continued when Gibbs sent a glare his way. "But Abby is still going through everything that we did find and we are still checking through Tony's history to find people that might have a grudge. Then we can crosscheck with what Abby might find."
"But that list is long and it's getting longer by the minute," Kate said sadly. "Tony has been involved with a lot of big cases over the years, but we are consentrating on the ones that mostly involved Tony, as there hasn't been any reports about anyone going after anyone Tony has worked with and who would possibly have the same enemies."
"Have you found anything at all?" Gibbs looked from one agent to the other. "How inconclusive it might be. Is there anything that can at least point us in the right direction?"
There was a quiet that followed, that finally Kate broke. "Nothing so far I'm afraid."
"We need to find out what the connection to Tony is and we need to find it NOW."
"Actually it has nothing to do with Anthony at all," a voice said. Gibbs turned around and looked at the other man.
"Then who does it have something to do with?"
***
Tony felt terrible. He wasn't quite sure what had happend with the steel rod. But it hurt like hell now and the pain it had caused was enough to make him pass out. He wasn't quite sure if that was a good or a bad thing. He was just so tired. Both in body and in mind.
When he looked over himself he could see that he had several injuries now and he was slowly losing blood from several wounds. Shallow stabs and cuts as well as the burned flesh he knew was on his shoulder.
He had been trying to get lose from those ropes for what felt like hours now, but that only opened up more wounds and it didn't get him anywhere. He was still stuck to that damn chair that was nailed to the floor.
He cried out in a wail of desperation and aggravation. Everything was aching and his vision was bluring. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm himself.
The chair was nailed to the floor. He could barely move a finger, let alone an arm. He was losing blood. Probably not fatal. He would probably get an infection. If he hadn't already gotten several.
He knew he was helpless and that made him angry too. He was starting to lose faith in himself, but the faith in his team mates was still there and still strong. He had every belief that they would get him out. He just hoped he wasn't in much worse condition than he already was.
So then there was just siting there and waiting for someone to come. Either it was the team or the man. He was really hoping that it would be the former. But it appeared that he wasn't that lucky.
He could hear someone stepping closer and then the thud like something heavy had been droped. And then the door opened. The man came into view and leaned over the railing. "I got you a friend." He then steped out again, but Tony could hear that he didn't walk far before he came back.
Tony was starting to breath heavier and it felt like his heart would burst through his chest. ‘Maybe that would be enough to loosen up the ropes,' a little sarcastic voice said. But the fear of what would come through that door was overvelming. And what he saw made him lose the little breath he had.
Chapter End Notes:
It's all comming to an end soon. I hope that the last part will be up within a few weeks.
How am I doing so far? Anyone reading this stuff?
How am I doing so far? Anyone reading this stuff?