Kyle's POV-1 day after kidnapping, 5 days before present time.

I woke up slowly, my vision blurry and struggling to adjust to the low-light. I blinked a few times and the room came into focus, although room was a bit strong of a word. As I looked around the small space I figured I was in some kind of small closet with a few travel supplies on the floor around me. The only light seeped in from the crack at the bottom of what appeared to be the door. I was propped up against the wall in a sitting position and lifted my head from laying on my shoulder, cracking my neck as I did so and rubbing away the soreness from sitting like that for presumably at least an hour. I turned on my suit lights to get a better look at the closet and saw it was smaller than I had first assumed, and my body barely fit in it even with my legs bent.

I continued to look around and managed to stand up, gasping in pain as I did so. I remembered that my team had turned on me and in my fight to get free I had gotten quite a few bruises. I felt dizzy from the sedative they had injected me with, but was careful to be quiet as I continued to take in my surroundings and status. I quickly took off my helmet and felt my neck. There was a puncture on the right side where they had injected me. I had smacked away the first sedative but Rogers caught me off guard when Henderson had me in a headlock. My helmet had been on the table at the med tent and they must have grabbed it for some reason.

There was a shake and I put my hand against the wall to steady myself. Turbulence? We must be on a Pelican. It shook again and I put my helmet back on as I started feeling around the edges of the door for a way out. Then it shook once more and stopped suddenly. They must be landing. I quickly sat down and let my head loll to one side. There were heavy footsteps coming towards the closet and I slowed my breathing. I heard the door slide open. There was a pause before I heard whoever it was crouch down down, probably Rogers from the pattern of her walking. She lifted up my head and let go. Completely limp, my head swung back down and bounced a bit.

Satisfied I was still sedated, she called behind her, "He's still out, I don't need this sedative."

There was a pause and more footsteps came towards me, probably Henderson and Grey this time. "Give it to him anyway, as he should wake up soon even if he is still out now. Just make it a small dose, he's been out so long that it should go a long way." He began to walk away and then paused, "Make it quick, the Pelican will be refueled in a few minutes and we need to be ready to leave ASAP."

There was a sigh from Rogers and Henderson walked away. After a moment Grey followed him. She leaned forwards and pulled off my helmet. There was the sound of talking outside and then suddenly I heard Steele's voice. He's here!! They must have tracked us and come to rescue me!

Rogers flicked the vile a few times before placing a hand on my head to steady it. There was a burst of gunfire from outside and she paused as she was distracted by it for a moment. I took the chance and lunged forward, punching her in the chin hard. She groaned in surprise as her mouth was forced shut and the vial rolled away. I struggled to maneuver in the small space and pushed her backwards into the opposite wall, pressing my arm into her neck. She gasped for air and tried pulling me off with one hand, the other grasping for the vial on the ground. I pressed harder but then she seemed to find the vial and I felt the needle prick my neck.

She managed to press half of it in before I could move my arm from her neck to push her other arm away. I ripped out the needle and threw it at the wall, shattering it. She punched me in my distraction and I fell back to where I was before.

I tried to get my leg between us to kick her off but I felt the sedative slowing me down. As my grip on her arm fell slack, I heard a bang and saw Grey hit the wall, unconscious, out the open door. She looked back and pushed my legs inside before stepping in herself and half closing the door. My vision began fading. Last thing I saw was Steele walking past the door before it all went black.

_______

I woke abruptly as my head slammed into the metal behind me. I was confused but remembered I was still in the closet of the Pelican, which must be flying now. I began to get up but suddenly I felt the Pelican falling, fast. I magnetized my boots as my body began to lift from the ground and leaned on the door as best I could to stand up. I was still half sedated but my groggy mind knew I had to do something immediately. What for? I don't know... something about rescue? The door had been left slightly open and I reached my hand out to press the release. It opened and I fell to the ground hard as the Pelican leveled out, then sliding into a wall as shock waves shook the Pelican. Before I knew what I was doing, I had gotten up and ran up front.

Henderson was about to press a button, labeled as Flares, when I grabbed his hand and pushed him off the seat before any of them could react. Rogers quickly took control of the Pelican but it was too late. An explosion rocked the Pelican and I slammed into the wall as it tilted heavily to one side. Grey quickly grabbed a vial and ran towards me with the needle. Henderson had gotten up from where he had fallen next to me and grabbed me in a headlock, ripping my helmet off. I was too weak but I struggled anyway. Before I knew it, there was a sharp pain in my neck and everything faded to black.

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Next day, 4 days from present.

My vision slowly returned to me and I saw the gray metal ceiling come into focus, indicating I was still in the Pelican. I went to sit up but felt straps on my arms. Looking down I could see multiple straps on my arm, legs, and chest. I had also given myself a dent and a couple new scratches from the fight earlier.

I also noticed that we weren't moving. We landed? I looked around and saw empty seats next to me and that the back hatch was open behind me. I struggled again, looking for a weakness but to no avail.

There was a thump and I looked up to see an upside-down Henderson walking up the ramp. He took a small breath of surprise and said, "I see you are awake, good, I was just about to wake you up myself." He pulled out a plate of food, a piece of stale bread and prepackaged but heated chicken. "You better eat, we don't want the cargo dying out of malnutrition." He said

I nodded to my restraints and set the tray down, only undoing one chest restraint and my arm restraints. I sat up, the leg and last chest restraint making it difficult. He handed me the plate. I noticed there was no fork. I lifted up my helmet and pulled off my gloves, picking up the chicken and downing it in four bites. The bread went the same way. He took the plate and roughly re-strapped me.

I grumbled a bit but complied. "So, now that that's out of the way, it's time for a little talk." He said. I interrupted, "Why did you kidnap me? What do you want from me?" He replied, "Right to the point then. You are here because you were told and given something that is very important to some very interested people. You need to tell us what those things are and give them to me. Then you can leave and act like this never happened."

I thought for a moment, "What people?" I asked.

"None of your concern."

I thought for a moment again. What is he talking about, what do I have and what did they tell me. I can't think of anything but when... Ohhh! But I can't tell him, who knows what would happen to it if he gave it to the wrong people. I quickly locked my armor, making it inaccessible to anyone but me. No one could disassemble it unless they destroyed it and what I carried would be lost. That was if they even realized what they wanted was also in my armor.

I quickly replied, "I don't know what you are talking about, I don't receive anything and I don't know anything out of the ordinary."

Henderson sighed, getting up and going over to a table. "Then I'll just have to pry it out of you. He grabbed a few things off of it, some kind of shocking stick, a hammer, and a torch. My heart rate rose to an alarming level and my breath shortened as I saw them. He came back over to me. "You sure you don't want to tell me? This is your last chance before things get ugly."

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"I'm telling you, I don't know what you are talking about!" I shouted more desperately.

He sighed again and in a dark voice said, "Hard way it is."

He sat the torch and shocker down and, raising the hammer, brought it down on my fingers. That's when the screaming started.

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Two days from present

My body ached. Seemingly endless hours of torture had made it hard to eat or even move. Burns lined my body, from my ear to my ankles. I was still wearing my armor because of the lock but it wasn't hard for him to make me suffer with it on. My fingers had barely started to heal and bruises covered all of the exposed areas, even a few places on my chest. My most recent form of torture was dehydration. I had still held to my previous claim of not knowing but he kept up. I had already been fed but it was all dry.

I licked my chapped lips. Today they seemed to be in a hurry and pushed me out of the Pelican. The clouds were dark and the air was humid, signs of a tornado. My visor adjusted to the light difference for my eyes from being in the dark.

I was pushed through the trees until I reached a clearing. Rogers put the stretcher on the ground and went back for a crate. I did a mental countdown as they left. I counted to one and pulled at the straps with all of my remaining strength. The stretcher creaked and started to bend. Then my strength left me and I slumped back, exhausted. They came back with more crates, one even had a hazard sign on it. Then, before the last crate came in, there was a loud snapping and crashing noise. A minute passed before a windswept Rogers and Grey came in.

They quickly made camp and I stared into the sky absentmindedly. After a few minutes they crouched over a map a few yards away. I didn't have Spartan hearing but I could make out random words. "plan... we have.. get there before...White... Steele."

He paused for a moment and looked upwards. He couldn't see it but I saw a little drone quickly move behind the treetops. After that however, he was quieter. I saw the drone move in closer as Fireteam Prime was packing up equipment in a large clearing, but then I heard Henderson walk over to me.

The drone moved down farther, hiding partially behind a tree.

Henderson knelt down by me. I laid still for a moment before finally moving, slowly turning my head from it's position laying on my right side to look at Henderson.

"Hello Spartan 324. Had enough?" Henderson asked. I waited a moment, and then tiredly spoke, my voice scratchy and hoarse, "Why am I here, what do you want from me?" I clenched my fists, straining at the restraints for a moment, shaking, and then let my hands fall. The restraints didn't budge an inch this time. I knew why, but after all this time it seemed strange that they were still interrogating me, it's not like I was going to give anything up or I would have done so a long time ago. They must have another goal.

Henderson seemed amused at my struggle. Bastard. "Oh you know very well why, don't you think there was a reason you were let out early, why they sent you on this mission? You must have thought something was strange about them sending a 16-year-old on such an important mission so far from the Inner Colonies. You also carry something important on top of that. You were told some information that we need, information they gave to no one else."

He moved into a squat, rubbing his hands a little and looking around at where Grey and Rogers were getting ready. He looked back down at me. "There are also people who have a list of demands that we need to deliver on, including a specific someone, but we have to keep you until they get their target."

I turned my head back over to my left side, I couldn't care less. "Why are you doing this?" Henderson shifted his weight, "Well see, I was on your side, dedicated to the mission, protecting 118. But then, I was given an offer. Not only will we be paid money and weaponry, but we will get to see the UNSC fall from it's blood-soaked throne, and we get to be the ones to start it all." He said a bit maniacally before getting up and moving out of my range of vision. I heard a clatter before he started walking back.

"You see, they were using us, and they are still using you. They don't care about our lives and they definitely don't see us as humans beings. Even if we die protecting the "greater good" they don't care. Because of them, my family died in the war despite being no where near the front lines and not being soldiers. The UNSC is too old, too stuck in their outdated and callous ways. The Navy needs a new face, a new chain of command. No more missions, no more financial problems, no UNSC to say I can't go back." He paused, turning around. "I won't die for them. Too many have. They don't get my death to use for their 'cause'. Anyway, a good payday is better, and with this opportunity I can finally retire and have a normal life."

I heard his feet shift and I looked back to see him bent down over me again. Leaning away from the device in his hands fearfully but still looking at him I said, "You signed a contract, you knew the risks and enlisted willingly. They told you that if you made it to the end of your career you could go back. You chose this life!"

"I don't care. Besides, as long as I get paid I'm happy, I have no one left to hold me back anymore anyway." Henderson said a bit woefully, turning on the device. I couldn't think about the sadness in his voice just now as empathy was replaced by immediate fear. Electricity crackled up the sides of the device. What the heck is that?! "Now, what did they tell you?" He moved the device close to my head, tiny arms of electricity sporadically jumping out onto my armor. I put my head back, leaning away as far as I could. In a strained voice I said, "I don't know what you're talking about." Of course I did, but although I was scared I would never betray the UNSC.

"You do know what I'm talking about, and I will get it out of you." He said, hitting a button that turned on electric restraints, ones I knew were impossible to break. Then he jabbed me in my side with the device, arcs of electricity spreading over my suit. My visor turned red as my suit's system diagnostics pulled up with multiple flashing warning signs.

I yelled in pain, arching my back as much as I could and pulling at the restraints, convulsing as the electricity sent my nerves mixed signals, the strongest being pain. My vision filled with white and my mouth tasted like copper as I screamed.

Finally after what seemed like minutes but was probably only a few seconds, Henderson pulled it away and I sank back to the stretcher, shaking slightly. The electricity still ran up and down my body, causing uncontrollable spasms in my muscles.

"Now, tell me what they said! I know they told you, we have proof! What did they say!?" He yelled. I could hear myself breathing heavily in my helmet, my body was on fire and my thoughts were all mixed up. "I'll never tell." I said defiantly in a hoarse voice, coughing.

Henderson jabbed me again, the electricity rolling across my body once more. I yelled again, shaking and straining against the restraints. It was too much! My suit's visor turned red again, flickering slightly, more diagnostics rolling down one side with multiple errors, significantly more than last time, but I couldn’t see them as my every sense, my every nerve and thought was overwhelmed with pain. I desperately tried to escape, bending the stretcher as I fought my own body spasming with the waves of electric current. Smoke began to curl from my suit. One last arc of electricity rolled over my visor before I finally passed out.

___________

One day later, one day before present.

I woke up again, this time strapped to a slanted table or bed inside somewhere. I looked down, immediately regretting it due to the pain, to see stiff straps holding me down. I was in a small white room with one side covered in one-way glass on my left side there was a door. The room looked weird however, as the other two walls were purple and curved upwards. The door was definitely alien and everything was covered in a soft purple glow.

The door next to the glass opened and I was disappointed to see Henderson walk out. Of course his armor was perfectly clean and mine was covered in scratches, dents, and melted spots. He walked up to me, one hand behind his back. "So how is our patient? Thirsty?" He asked, chuckling a little.

"I wouldn't be laughing if I were you." I said hoarsely. He stopped checking a panel next to me and said, "Why is that?"

"Because White team is coming, and they won't stop until they put you three down."

He smiled, "I've prepared for that. But, isn't it time we start interrogations again? Now tell me what they told you. I know they gave you a pretty important piece of intel, so you can save yourself a lot more pain by spitting it out now."

I shook my head, "I've told you a million times, I don't know what you are talking about and even if I did, I would never betray the UNSC."

He sighed, "Well then, we'll just have to keep trying to force it out of you." And with that he brought out a different device. This was oddly shaped and I couldn't tell what it was. He also had plugs in his ears. He pressed a button and the most irritating and loud pitch filled my ears. I screamed and turned my head, trying to block it out. He nocked up the pitch after a minute and I felt blood start to trickle out of my ears. Finally he stopped.

"Want to talk now."

"Never" I coughed out. My ears still rung, and everything sounded distant, but was still audible.

He shrugged and set the pitch slightly lower but enough to be painful. Then he said, "Yell if you want to talk," and walked out.

I whimpered and looked next to me where a machine was moving. It had a vial and quickly jabbed it into the soft underlayer suit of my inner elbow. It injected the maroon substance and after only a few seconds I felt the room beginning to sway. Snakes covered the floor and my worst nightmares became horrifyingly real.