-1-

“I begged you--,” Haley says quietly.

“How the hell was I supposed to know--”

“I told you---I told you they would hurt my family," he continued, his pitch rising. “I tried to tell you and you punished me. You called me stupid, you got mad and you---you--”

"I got mad with you because you tried to blackmail me, not because you tried to tell me about Felix and Marco."

They stood in Maxwell’s office,  barely a foot  apart from each other.  Haley shakes his head wiping the tears from his cheek.

“I warned you before then," Haley says.“I told you Felix and Marco would do something and you let them leave...they almost killed Isla.”

“But they didn’t,” Maxwell reminds him. “Because as I told you they are incompetent little assholes--”

“Felix will try again, he’ll go after Gram  next--”

“No he won’t. Lt. Winthrop had an RLA Police unit pick up Marco and Felix from their homes last night.”

Haley blinks up at him.

“Are they being sent back to camp ?”

“No--They haven’t admitted to anything yet.”

“So now you have to be guilty to be sent here ?”

“Don’t be a smartass. This conversation is over for now--”

“I want to talk to Isla--,”

“You can call her tonight,” Maxwell says. “Right now you’re going to suck it up and get back to work. Audrina has a job for you.” 

***

Haley walks to the infirmary but his sister occupies his mind.

Isla had lost all the physical memories of the life she’d had in that house fire. No doubt all of Harlow’s stolen items she had been selling were perished. Isla didn’t have a lot of money and she’d have to move back in with Gram—which he knew would drive her crazy.

He enters the infirmary to finds Audrina and Corp. Strange wearing gloves and frantically bandaging a private with enzyme wraps. The private had somehow managed to cut his thigh clean open—the cut was so severe bone was showing. Blood dripped all over the operation table and on to the floor. One of the privates in the bed across from him was throwing up in a bucket from the sight.

It takes them nearly a half hour to get make the bleeding stop and when the leg is wrapped up Audrina  acknowledges  Haley with a nod before turning to Corp. Strange who was carefully removing his gloves with a satisfied smile.

“Thanks for your help,” Audrina tells Corp. Strange.

“It’s the least I can do,” he says. “May as well use my medical degree.”

Audrina rolls her eyes at that.

Strange removes his bloody shirt, revealing the taught and tanned muscles of his stomach. Audrina gives him a sidelong glance before quickly adverting her eyes. Corp. Strange catches her stare and he smiles back at her as he slips on a scrub shirt.

Haley pretends not to see any of it.

 “Sgt. Maxwell said you had something for me, Audrina ?,” Haley says.

“Yes,” she says handing him a small cup of pills. “Those are for POW III. He’s in the upstairs confinement cell.”

Haley takes the cup of pills and pauses.

“Did Sgt. Maxwell tell you about Isla--”

“This isn’t a social hour,” Corp. Strange barks at him..

“Just give us a second. ” Audrina says holding a hand up to Corp. Strange. Corp. Strange gives her a half smile and wanders to the small closet to finish changing out of the bloodied uniform and into scrubs.

 “What happened to Isla ?”

“Felix and Marco tried to kill her. They burned her house down--”

“Shit. Is she okay ?,”

“I don’t know. She’s alive atleast.”

“That’s good. Don’t worry, Maxwell will take care of this--”

“He caused it. I told him to keep Felix and Marco  here and he let them go because of his ego,” Haley says his voice unexpectedly cracking. “I’m feel like I'm losing everything because of this place...I need to get out."

"Alex, don't do anything stupid."

"I'm not."

Audrina stares at him, her eyes betraying more  emotion than he’d ever seen from her but she doesn’t say anything else. He can feel that he is overstaying his welcome.

Haley picks up the pills and heads for infirmary door.

“Alex, wait,” Audrina  calls after him.

He stops and turns to her expectantly. She is  leaning against the infirmary door her arms folded over her chest.

“Nevermind,” she says. “Just…it will be okay, okay ?”

Haley nods before turning his back on her and walking to the solitary confinement cells. Corporal Maddox is guarding it and Haley remembers to ask for the key before going inside. He walks up the flight of stairs and sees III facing the small window in his cell, the III tattoo prominent on his back

When Haley enters the room the man doesn’t move. A part of him wished he knew III’s name so he could come off as less of a threat.

“Hello ?,” Haley calls to the III. "I have some medicine for you.”

The prisoner turns and Haley is surprised to see that III’s eyeblind has been removed. It dangled from his hand.

III walks towards Haley and grabbing the bars  he leans his body against them and looks down at Haley. His eyes were the same color as his fellow POWs, but there was something wanting in III’s expression. He stared down at Haley as if he were prey. The prisoner was close to Maxwell’s height, but with none of the muscle.

“You have to come to my level so I can unlock your…mouth cover,” Haley says his trembling voice betraying his intimidation.

III drops to his knees and leans his face to the bars, his eyes still sweeping over Haley.

Haley quickly  replaces the eyeblind over III’s eyes before moving to unlock the mouth gag. When it comes out the man immediately spits into the corner before wetting his lips.

“Are you going to put the pills in my mouth ?,” III asks with a wicked smile. His voice is polished but leery.

“I’ll just hand them to you,” Haley tells him.

“So do it,” III tells him.

Haley slips his hand through the bars and places the two pills into III’s open palm. With almost inhuman speed III snatches  Haley’s wrist, jerking him flush with the outside of the bars.

“Let me go. Now.” Haley says, summing up the most authoritative tone he can.

“Not yet….” III tells him.

III digs his fingernails into Haley’s wrist. Overcome by the pain Haley is caught off guard when III’s other hand goes for his mouth and pushes the two pills into Haley’s mouth. III grabs the back of Haley’s neck and presses his mouth over his, using his tongue to  force the bitter pills  to dissolve in Haley’s mouth.

“What the hell are you doing ?,” Haley shouts when III releases his mouth.. He attempts to wipe the residue off the pills of his tongue, but the POW has both his wrist captured.

Curious as to how the prisoner was able to reach so far out of the bars to grab him, Haley looks past III and panics as he realizes  III’s shackles are no longer connected to the wall and his eyeblind had disengaged somehow.

Haley feels his mouth going slack.

“How did you... Let go of me…,” Haley slurs.

“Not yet,” III repeats

A gun shot sounds outside, followed by the door downstairs being kicked open. Haley can hear the sounds of violent struggle but the struggle sounds suddenly distant and far away. A stray bullet shoots through the ceiling and lands inches from Haley’s clouding vision.

“What is going on ?,” Haley demands.

His other muscles begin to relax against his will and he knows if III wasn’t holding his wrist  he’d collapse to the floor.

III is silent as a series  of footsteps thunder up the stairs. The last thing Haley can properly hear is… Sgt. Maxwell’s voice?

“RUN!,” Maxwell’s voice screams.

III releases Haley’s wrist and Haley’s body slumps to the floor. It seems like it should hurt more than it does. Haley catches a blurry glimpse of POW I and POW II before someone straddles his body and something tight is pulled over his eyes turning everything pitch black.

He is vaguely aware of burning sensation as needle breaks his skin and he falls out of consciousness.

***

-2-

When Haley awakes everything is still pitch black. He opens his eyes and the darkness is still there. Reaching up he can feel the tightly sealed magnetic eyeblind pressing over his eyes. He's slumped against a cool smooth surface.

A chill runs through his body.

 Haley tries his wrists and is marginally thankful they aren’t bound and that his mouth is free.

Water drips down his back and he reaches up to feel his hair is damp. Reaching his hand down his body he realizes he is completely naked. Searching his surroundings with his hands  he comes in contact with short sloped walls.

“Alex ?,” Maxwell’s voice echoes from in front of him.

Maxwell’s voice sounds commanding and very much in control. Had this all been another one of Maxwell’s perverted games ?

“Take this off of me,” Haley demands, pulling at the sealed tight eye blind.

“I can't," Maxwell says.

"This isn't funny---I don't like this--"

"Neither do I. My eyes are covered too, Haley...I don't have a key,” Maxwell says bitterly.

"I don't understand," Haley says slowly.

“You’ve been out for almost almost 24 hours. We've been contained in this place all day..." Maxwell explains. "Shit, I thought they’d fucking killed you,”

“Where are my clothes ?," Haley stammers.

Maxwell’s footsteps move carefully across the room and Haley can feel Maxwell’s breath on his back.  Maxwell takes Haley's hand and guides him out of wherever he had been sitting. It was  like a shallow pool.

“The drugs made you vomit,” Maxwell said. “I put you in this.....bathtub-- so you wouldn’t soil your clothes.”

 “Bathtub ?” Haley asks as he begins to dress.

“I'm only assuming it's a bathtub as I can't fucking see” Maxwell says. "What is the last thing you remember ?,"

"I remember POW III drugged me and then you came in....why were you in solitary confinement ?"

 “It doesn't matter," Maxwell responds tersley.  "I  was a few feet away when I saw POW II shoot Corporal Maddox at the door of the cells. I tried to call in backup, but my Syndicate was dead so I took Maddox's gun and went in after him myself.  I didn’t realize I and III were also free and they took me by surprise. One of them knocked me out with a gun.When I came to  we were in a car or a plane— I can’t be sure because I was blinded. Then we were here."

"Did they say anything ?"

"No."

“ Do you think we are in the East  ?,” Haley asks

“I can’t be certain. I was so disoriented,”  Maxwell says. “We’ve been in this room for the last day and a half. I’ve gathered as much intel as I can from walking around. It’s 10 x 20. No furniture, no bars, no windows. The door  must be  flush with the wall. The tub has cold running water,  but it's  too shallow to be a regular bathtub. We could be in a house, but I haven’t heard anyone else.”

“What's going to happen to us?,” Haley asks

“I don’t know. The POWs definitely mutinied.” Maxwell says. “Either way we will follow RLA protocol.”

“Protocol ?,”

“There is protocol for being captured. I've been trained for this.You’re a civilian, so they will release you immediately Then they’ll contact my commanding officer and I’ll create a record of the circumstances of capture--”

“But we weren’t captured, sir” Haley says, his voice breaking. “We were kidnapped."

Despite the tight seal of the eye blind tears escapes down Haley’s cheeks.

“You treated the POWs so poorly..they're going to kill us for that,” Haley stutters. "This is all your fault--"

"If they were going to kill us they would have done it," Maxwell snaps. "People are taken all the time during conflicts and there is a process and rules---"

"You don't understand," Haley cuts him off "...I talked to the POWs. Their names are Merrick and Jon. I delivered a message between them…Merrick was upset  because the inmates were beating him up…they were afraid--”

“Fucking hell, Haley” Maxwell spat at him, his voice suddenly turning venomous. “I told you not to talk to them. How the hell can you blame this on me when it's really your god damn fault we're here--"

"None of this is my fault, sir. I shouldn't even be here--"

"Bullshit. I offered you an out on day fucking one and you didn't take it because you're a sanctimonious son of a bitch--"

"If I'd known how much you were going to ruin my life I never would have stayed--"

"I ruined your life ? Me ?," Maxwell says with a biting laugh. "Maybe you should learn to take responsibility--you never once said no to me--"

"Yes I did and you attacked me at gunpoint and then you let Felix and Marco burn my sister's house down and then you let one of your corporal's murder my brother--"

Maxwell banged his fist in to the wall creating a reverberating clang.

"Fine.I fucked you up. I'm a fucking asshole. Fine. I'll admit to that, Is that what you want ? " Maxwell yells. "But this particular situation is all on you, Haley. You probably delivered some kind of secret message. We could both be put in an  EUS prison camp  for the rest of our lives because you couldn't keep your damn mouth shut. I can't believe after all the shit I’ve been through I am going down like this because of you.”

 

 

***

“Where are you ?,” Maxwell called to Haley in a gentle tone

“Here, sir.”

The two hadn’t spoken in nearly 24 hours and Haley was relieved that Maxwell’s temper seemed to have died down.

Maxwell followed  the sound of his voice and sank down next to him. His hand grazed over Haley’s.

“I’ve been thinking about it," Maxwell said. "I don’t think the EUS headquarters knows about us. Their commanders would have taken us to their headquarters by now...the POWs may have gone rouge...they may be doing this on their own...It's very unprecedented.”

“But how ?,” Haley asks.

"I don't know. They're probably negotiating with RLA Headquarters as we speak. The RLA will want proof of life soon...when they come do that I will negotiate you out of here. You will follow my lead."

"Yes, sir."

 

***

Day 3

“Why is it taking so long ?,” Haley asks

“I don't know," Maxwell admits in frustration. It had been 72 hours and they hadn't heard from a single person. "Maybe I was wrong.I was being stuipd...Three POWs can’t take over the whole camp.Maybe there was a fire fight and RLA subdued them and they are torturing them to find our location.”

“Can’t you connect to your Syndicate remotely and give them our location ?”

“You think I haven't tried that ? I can’t touch anything out here.” Maxwell says. "But they'll find us. The RLA will come for us soon."

"How do you know ?," Haley questions. "What if the RLA accidentally killed the POWs and no one knows we are here--"

"Don't talk like that,"

"How can you be so calm ?," Haley asks his voice raising. "What if we've been buried alive ? What if we starve to death ?"

"It's called having decorum in the face of the enemy... this room could be  made glass....they could be watching us

“You think there is something on the other side ?”

“Maybe.”

***

Day 4

The hunger had set in a days earlier but Maxwell and Haley had been able to stave it off by drinking water from the sink. Now the hunger was becoming more present.

Despite the hunger pangs, Sgt. Maxwell  walked miles around the confined space, feeling every inch of the walls for a break in the wall.

Haley bangs his fist against the walls.

“Let us out!,” Haley shouts. “Let us out of here!”

“That isn’t going to help--”

“Open the door!,” Haley shouts.

“Haley--”

"Help!"

"Haley."

“We have to try. Maybe someone outside can hear us.”

“Calm down," Maxwell says.  "They can’t let us die in here. It would serve no purpose.”

Day 6

BANG BANG

“OPEN THE MOTHERFUCKING DOOR!,”

BANG BANG

“LET US OUT !"

BANG BANG

“HELP ! PLEASE HELP !”

BANG BANG

“PLEASE!,”

BANG BANG

“GET US OUT OF HERE!”

BANG BANG

“HELP!”

“HELP!”

BANG

“PLEASE!”

Day 7

 Hunger was becoming less of  nuisance and more of an immediate issue

Haley's head  had found a permanent spot on Maxwell’s chest where a tear stained patch of Maxwell's shirt dampened his skin. Maxwell’s stubbled chin rested on Haley's head  and his arms wrapped around him. Too weak to yell anymore they gotten close only for the purpose of warming each other as chills from hunger spread through their bodies.  Maxwell had removed his jacket and wrapped it around Haley.

Maxwell knew every inch of Haley’s body and he could feel his subordinate losing muscle as his body started absorbing itself.

A part of him feared they would both die here and never know why or who did this to them.  He considered asking Haley for repentance for how he'd treated him like a pretty object.  But he couldn't form the words. He'd probably just die and go to hell.

Atleast it would be warm.

“Should we scratch our names in the wall ?,” Haley whispers

“What do you mean ?,”

“So they can identify our skeletons,” Haley says. “Isn’t that what soldiers do ?”

“There is a biochip in my dog tags,” Maxwell grumbles in a lethargic tone. “It deactivates when my heart stops for more than 12 hours. They’ll use it to determine time of death and my identity. Hopefully they’ll put two and two together on who you are.”

“...How long  do you think can we survive like this, sir?,” Haley asks.

So, they'd both been preoccupied with thoughts of death Maxwell thinks. This was going to be shitty way to go.

Maxwell tilts his chin down and touches Haley’s mouth into a soft kiss, they're breath warming the other up. They'd been blinded and confined for a week and human touch was his only luxury

“I’m going to be honest with you,” Maxwell tells him. “We have water from the tap for now so…we could live weeks, maybe. Eventually our bodies will waste away....it will be very painful and awful...if it does come to that….I’m not going to let us suffer.”

"I don't want to die...," Haley whispers. "Don't kill me no matter what."

"Fine," Maxwell says

Haley can feel something wet dropping on the back of his neck and he reaches up to feel Maxwell’s face wet with tears. In his mind Haley can barely imagine what Maxwell would look like crying.

***

Day 8

Maxwell dreams of the blonde boy who visited the hospital bed. He is on the battlefield and this time it is Maxwell who has shot him.

***

Day 9

“I can’t fucking  figure this out.” Maxwell says. “This isn’t political. This isn't strategic. This has to be personal."

They were laid out in the confined space now, too weak to even sit up anymore. Maxwell's long body was cramping from so much inactivity.

“How do you know ?,” Haley asks

“Because I’ve been replaying that day in my head,” Maxwell tells him. “The POWs didn’t try to take me or the camp---they drugged you even though they knew you were a civilian.  I wasn’t even supposed to be in the cells at that time.”

“But why take me?,” Haley asks. “To blackmail you?”

"Blackmail ?," Maxwell says. "Why would they think you are that important to me ?"

"One of them thought I...belonged to you."

“...but that doesn’t explain how they had this confinement spot ready.”

“....What if it's not their space. We’re blindfolded...what if we're still at camp ?,” Haley asks."Maybe we aren't that far away."

“No,” Maxwell says. “I watched Camp Harmony get built. I know every inch of it and I don’t know this place.”

“What if it’s the RLA ?,” Haley asks."What if they're mad about something ?"

“I have considered that,” Maxwell says.

***

Day 11

“Please let us out…he’s sick. He’s a fucking civilian ! ”

Maxwell slams his weak fist against the wall for posterity. He was convinced there was no one on the other side. He was convinved there was no one anywhere. There were hundreds of nuclar shelters still intact in the obliterated cities, they could be in one of those.

 Haley’s body was curled up on the floor away from him. He was sobbing as pains shot through his stomach.

Because of his smaller size Haley had been experiencing starvation symptoms ahead of Maxwell and Maxwell was terrified for his future. Maxwell had studied survivalism in basic. He knew how this would go.After the pains there would  be emptiness, followed by more pain and finally their bodies would slowly loose function.

When it got to that point Maxwell didn't care what Haley wanted--he intended to suffocate Haley and asphyxiate himself. Atleast with suffocating death  you got a bit of a serotonin thrill before you went.

"I don't believe in a higher being but I know you do so I'm going to confess to you," Maxwell says putting a hand on Haley's back. "Once upon a time I went on a mission to recover some spies The mission went bad. In the mess I shot my pilot--he was a good man with a family....the RLA, well, General Hinkley covered it up. They gave me the Purple Heart for surviving...which is protocol. So, despite having the Purple Heart...I never actually earned it...I'm not sure I've ever quite earned anything..."

Maxwell has a funny thought.

"Well, except for maybe this...I may have earned this."

-3-

Day 13

The familiar, dark silence is suddenly broken by a soft beep in the far wall.  For a moment Maxwell doesn’t even believe the sound is real, but he can hear Haley rolling his body over too.

Maxwell drags himself in front of Haley’s body, prepared to finally take control of the negotiation.

His heart races in fear and anticipation as single set of  footsteps approach him. He wished he trusted himself to stand. This was his reckoning; his negotiations would either keep them here forever or get them out.

“My name is  Kenneth Maxwell, I’m a Command Sergeant with the Republic Liberation--,” Maxwell begins

He is interrupted by the feeling of flesh on his face as his eyeblind is unlocked.

He opens his  itching eyes slowly, adjusting to overhead lighting. After two weeks in darkness the brighntess stings his eyes. It takes him several moments to get the human blur in front of him into focus.

“Audrina,” he says staring at the woman before him. “They got you too--”

She leans over to Haley and removes his eye blind with the key.

“It’s not what you think,” she says, returning  to Maxwell and dabbing his eyes with a cool wet cloth that erases the pain.

She kneels on the floor to Maxwell's level and  opens the medical bag slung over her shoulder. She produces a capped plastic cylinder filled  with a creamy white liquid.

“Call Winthrop--we need to debrief Headquarters." Maxwell tells her. "Get Haley to a hospital now--"

“ First you need you energy, sir. This is s a nutrition supplement,” she explains

Maxwell  wanted answers but there was a part of him that trusted Audrina implicitly. She put Maxwell’s head in her lap and let the liquid flow into his mouth---it was warm and tasted vaguely of warm milk.

Partially sated he sits up and rubbed his eyes, taking in the room he’d been kept in for over two weeks. The floors were dull linoleum the walls were metallic and high. There was a waist level shallow tub built into the wall. It looked like a laboratory.

“NO!,” Haley yelps weakly.

Maxwell turns to see Haley pushing away the  container with the nutrition supplement out of Audrina’s hand and throwing it across the room.

“Haley, you have to drink--,” Maxwell starts

“No--She's with them. She helped drug me,” Haley says in a rambling voice. “The POW who gave me the pills knew they were muscle relaxants. Why does a POW chained up need muscle relaxants--"

Maxwell turns to Audrina who is still kneeling next to Haley's body. She looks up at Maxwell, her eyes so regretful that he just wants to forgive her for whatever she had done.

“You…colluded with them ?,” Maxwell asks  her. “Why, Audrina ?”

“It’s not what you think,” she tried to explain. “You weren’t supposed to be left here this long, but the cover up took longer than we planned--”

“Cover up ? Dammnit, Audrina--,”

Maxwell goes silent as he hears more footsteps approaching. The door is suddenly blocked by a man Maxwell recognizes instantly.

Corporal Strange stands at the door with his arms folded surveying the scene with a cool demeanor.

“You too, Strange ?,” Maxwell barks.

“I guess now is a good time to tell you that isn’t my name,” Strange says.

“What the hell is going on ?,” Maxwell demands. “Who are you ?,”

“It’s not important. I have a lot of names,” Strange says. “Most people call me Alan Gray.”

Corp. Strange,  Alan Gray or whoever the hell he was walks into the room and looks from Haley to Maxwell.

“Impersonating an RLA officer to free some POWs is very  negligible Mr. Gray,” Maxwell tells him.

“I always hated how cocky you were,” Gray says putting a pistol to Maxwell’s chest “You thought you knew everything when you didn’t know anything.”

“Alan--,” Audrina starts.

 “I’m not impersonating anyone. I'm a real RLA soldier," Gray says.  "And those POWs were just in the right place at the right time. This was never about them.”

Gray walks towards the corner of the room and points his gun towards Haley.

“This is about him.”

 ----

A/N

I am sure you all have a lot of questions, but we will get there..in other news... timelines have officially converged !