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Ben's POV:
One wrong turn. Just one.

That's all it takes for your life to change forever.

My one wrong turn was one while I was out driving. I realized I was being tailed, and tried to turn irregularly to lose them, but staying at the same speed so as not to raise their suspicions. I was the only one in the car, and I didn't have comms because I was just going for a drive to pick up lunch.

"Hey Siri, call Erica." I said as I took another turn.

"Hey Siri, I need you to call Erica right now."

Nothing.

I picked up my phone and saw that it wasn't working at all. It wasn't dead, it was literally plugged into my car and charging as I drove.

I quickly realized the enemy had jammed the signals and fried my phone.

"Oh great." I huffed. "Just great."

One of the drivers seemed to realize I knew they were after me, and slammed on the gas, speeding after me. His buddies followed. His other buddies? The ones in the cars and not behind the wheel? They popped out of any available window or sunroof and started firing at me.

Rude.

Because of this, my leisurely drive soon turned into a high stakes car chase with gunfire. Lots of it. I was weaving in and out of cars at top speed, trying to get far enough away to lose them. But then it happened.

I made one rushed wrong turn down a dead end street, and there was nowhere else to go. As I sped in, the sign registered in my head.

'No outlet'

Ugh. Not cool. Not cool at all.

I tried to back up, but two cars blocked the way, and a third behind them.

I had a bulletproof vest on and various weapons stashed around my car because something I'd quickly learned as a spy, (yes from Erica), was to never go anywhere without either one. You never know who is going to be shooting at you, and from my spy experience, it seems to happen quite a lot. And anything can be a weapon if you're smart enough, but things intended to be weapons tended to give you better odds.

I reached around and speedily grabbed 2 glocks and my lucky Swiss army knife, as well as a nanobot tracking fluid serum that sent waves on a secret frequency that was typically heavily monitored by the CIA.

It was practiced and perfect, and for good reason. See, something I made sure to do while training was to make plans. Make plans for anything I possibly can so that I'm as prepared as possible, and then improvise whenever there aren't any plans. It gave me comfort, and I made sure to make specific plans for my team members as well.

But back to the story, I got my water and braced myself as I swallowed my Swiss army knife. No way was I planning on going down, but if I did, that knife would come in handy later on, and I never go anywhere without it. Did it hurt? Oh yeah. But I'd had to swallow it on several prior unfortunate occasions, so at least it wasn't as bad as it used to be. By my calculations, it would be beneficial in the long run, and my odds of survival and escape were a lot higher with Sven, (yes I named it), than without.

I jabbed the needle under my fingernail smoothly and injected the serum. The minuscule transmitters would make their way all through my bloodstream and would last for around 6 months.

Here's hoping they find me faster than that.

While this may sound like I would have been captured by then, I swallowed the Swiss army knife in 8.972 seconds, and injected the serum in just 3.471 seconds exactly. This is 12.443 seconds from after I stopped my car. The people after me had to make up the distance, park they way they had to ensure I couldn't drive out, get out, and start shooting at me all in those 12.443 seconds. They didn't.

They'd barely caught up, parked, and rushed out of the cars by then. I pulled and twisted a lever and a much larger gun swung up on it's mechanic rising slot from it's hidden compartment and I shielded my face as I shot out the back window. Glass shattered, flinging from the windshield and embedding in everything, including my hair and clothes. My body burned slightly from it, but I didn't have time to waste.

Now with a clear view out of the car, I saw them lift their guns and I shot with as much accuracy and speed as I ever had before.

You may be remembering me in my first years of training at the Academy, and how I couldn't hit a mountain from 20 feet away, and may be confused.

It had been several years since then, and I'd made sure to get as much weapons training and practice as I could because I was getting sick of being shot at all the time and not being able to defend myself. So, I asked Erica to help me train, and we spent a ton of time sparring and practicing my fighting and weaponry skills. For the first few years, it pretty much consisted of Erica beating me up and showing me up, with me scratching out a few wins occasionally.  Eventually, I got pretty good, and then really good, second only to Erica Hale herself.

But I'm getting distracted again. Back to the action, I counted down as I fired quickly. During the chase I'd counted 14 total, and figured I had pretty good odds.

I didn't really have the time to run the numbers, though we know I could have due to the whole super above average math skills, but I had a 45 mag and just needed a minimum of a 33% accuracy rate. I could manage that, especially with the training hours I'd put in over the years.

I went for non fatal shots, but enough to stop them. I ran at my car, jumped onto the hood, and pushed off as I jumped. I shot a grappling hook up on the roof railing of the building at the end of the alley, and the wire retracted as I was pulled up towards the roof. I was still shooting as I continued maneuvering up the wall, and was down to just 3. I was close to the ledge, when I heard several more cars skid towards me.

I let go of the grappling hook and grabbed onto the ledge. I quickly pulled myself upwards, almost in a full push up when I felt the sharp agonizing pain of hot metal tearing through my flesh. My right arm gave out on impact and since my grappling hook was no longer in my hand, I fell.

I fell down that 7 story building, free-falling.

I fell, and there was no one there to catch me. No one to help me get back up. No one but some enemy agents who awaited me on the concrete below me. As I fell, I tried to think.

What to do, what to do...

I grabbed at anything I could, and barely caught ahold of a fire escape railing and tried to slow down my fall. A searing pain shot down my arm again, and again I fell.

I slammed down onto the roof of my car, pain wracking my entire body as my vision blurred.

The last thing I saw was the enemy agents close in and surround me as I blacked out.

I'd been captured. Fuck.

I woke up to a bright light in my face. I went to rub my face and quickly realized I was chained to a metal chair in a dark box, hands behind my back.

"Well, well, well. Good morning sleepyhead."

I squinted, trying to focus on the person in front of me.

I recognized the voice, but my ears were ringing, and my head hurt bad, so my deduction skills were a little lacking at the moment.

I heard a clank as the person stepped forward, and immediately knew who he was.

"Joshua." I spat.

"Now now Benny, don't be rude." Murray chuckled from the shadows.

"I'm not the one who abducted you. And you wanna talk about manners." I countered sarcastically.

"If you'd been better, I wouldn't have been able to." Joshua replied.

"If you'd played fair, you wouldn't have been able to."

"Benny, Benny, Benny." Murray tsked.

"Come on now, I'm disappointed. I'm evil. Who says I play fair, hm?" Joshua continued.

"Can't argue with that logic." I rolled my eyes.

"Now enough chat, I have questions. You have answers." Joshua said seriously. "I'd like them, sooner rather than later, and I don't have much time to waste."

"Sorry to hear that."

"What was your objective?"

"Oh, for sure." I nodded. "My objective was lunch. 'm kinda hungry. Was thinking tacos maybe."

"Don't get smart with me."

"Aw, I'm sorry, can you not keep up?" I said in a condescending baby voice. "Should I use smaller words? Would that help?"

I was met with a jab to the jaw. My face stung and I could tell my lip was split where his knuckle had collided with my lip. I felt something trickle down my chin, and as I licked my lip, I tasted the salty metallic tang of blood.

"Enough." Joshua said firmly.

"Jackass."

"Do you want me to hit you again?" He asked in a confused tone. "Are you stupid?"

"Bionic bitch man say what?" I mumbled.

"What?" He asked again, confused as to why I was acting like this when he clearly had the upper hand.

But it was still hilarious to me.

I laughed but it soon became a cough when I felt a blow to the stomach.

"Still think you're funny?" He growled.

"I really do."

He punched me in the stomach again, and I coughed again, blood spattering from my mouth and onto my clothes.

"Come on man, that's just rude."

"Where are the weapons being stored? I'd like them. Very much. People are willing to pay quite a lot for explosive bioweapons of that scale, and I am willing to sell anything for a high price. You know this."

"The only weapon I know the location of is the toothpick from my pocket, and I'm sure you took that when I was out."

"Ben, I'm a busy man. I have a world to takeover and money to earn. Don't waste my time. I assure you, I don't stay patient long." Joshua said.

"You're one to talk about wasting time. I was busy too, but you still kidnapped me. Bit inconvenient if you will."

Joshua sighed, his frustration clearly growing.

"And as we've established, I'm a smart man Joshua. I know that once you get your answers, you'll just kill me. Not that I plan to tell you anything."

"Yes I will, but the way I do so will differ. Tell me and I'll end it quickly. Don't, and I'll drag it out. I will make you suffer Ben. You know I can. You know I will."

"Suffer how, with your breath? Or your ugly cyborg face."

Murray snickered.

"Enough!" He yelled. "I'll be back. I'll let you sit and think this through. Hill. Let's go."

He was gone for 9 hours, 12 minutes, and 37 seconds.

It was cold. Real cold.

I did not 'think this through.'

I did, however, come up with a plan. After several hours of beating myself up for turning the wrong way. That one wrong turn got me captured and put the entire team, country, and world at risk. All it took was one wrong turn and everything went to shit.

I'd had the scientists at HQ give us all tracking implants. Figured they'd come in handy after all the unfortunate things that happened on our missions. I knew that we weren't far from our initial location, and that a team would be here to get me soon. I hoped. However there were likely to be signal blockers, if they hadn't just removed it, so I couldn't count on it.

While I was hoping for a rescue, I knew better than to think it'd be easy. I also knew better than to just sit around waiting for help.

Joshua surely had some tricks left up his sleeve, I was just scared to find out what they were.

"Come to your senses yet?" Murray came in.

"Don't think so."

"Figured not." He sighed. "I'm tired man, just tell me. If you don't tell me, they're gonna send Joshy back in, and he's getting grumpy. Grumpy Joshy is a no-no Ben."

"I agree, but you know I can't tell you."

"Can't or won't?"

"Both."

"Fine Ben. Always have to make things difficult." He sighed. "Good luck dude. You're gonna need it."

In walked Joshua, with his metal leg clanking and banging on the cold concrete as he walked.

"Last chance before I try... alternative methods- to convince you."

"Just do it. Enough wasting both of our time. Torture me all you want, but I'm not gonna talk."

"Fine." He caved. "Join us."

In walked a very scarred, mutilated, and all around messed up Brain Damage, sorry, Dane Brammage. And boy, did he not look happy with me.

"You." He grunted out with his thick accent.

"Hey buddy, you're looking- nice."

"Don't." He glared.

"Yeah okay." I sighed.

It was then that I noticed the table that they'd moved from the shadows. Not a single thing on that table looked any fun. As in, it was all different torture devices. Which I'd anticipated, but it would have been really nice to be wrong.

After the first punch to the face, everything is a little fuzzy, and what I do remember is not exactly cupcakes and rainbows in any capacity, so I'll spare the kiddos reading the gory details.

What I will say is that 2 hours and 27 minutes later, they gave up for a while because of the blood loss. If they continued, I'd surely have died. And while they did want me dead, they needed the information I had, so they couldn't kill me yet.

At this point I was unconscious, but I woke up with an IV in and bandages on the fatal wounds. I was also shackled to a chain in the wall on a very thin mat on the ground.

I groaned as I opened my eyes and looked around. Several minutes later, Murray came in with a paper plate with a little bit of food.

"Here. You're gonna need it. It's not much, but it's enough to keep you alive. I'm sorry about this, but you should have joined us Ben. We could have stayed friends. You coulda been rich."

"Thank you Murray, but I couldn't betray my friends and family and country just for some cash."

"Yeah, your friends and family..." He trailed off. "I'm happy you still have them."

"You know, you could help me get out of here and come with. I'll convince them to let you come back and join us."

"I'm sorry Ben but uh, I think it's too late for that. And plus, I do like the cash."

"Just think about it."

"I gotta go, but good luck. You were the best friend I had when we were younger and I'd hate to see you die. Even after everything that's happened."

"Thanks dude."

Murray was still working for the bad guys, but he'd been nicer to me for a while, helping me out a little where he could.

"Later man."

"Later." I said weakly.

I ate my food and it wasn't long before Joshua came in.

"You get a day to heal before we start again. Otherwise we might accidentally kill you before you really suffer."

"Gee thanks, you're a real nice guy."

He left, taking the IV and plate with him, leaving me with nothing but the clothes I was wearing.

I let myself sleep most of the next day, not like I had anything else to do, and I did need the rest if I was only getting a day buffer between full days of torture.

After about 3 months of this on and off, I was getting weaker and weaker by the second, every day. I could tell I was running out of time to live, and they were running out of patience.

Everything hurt immensely, and I was not strong enough to keep going for much longer.

I started to hallucinate my friends and family talking to me.

First was Erica, of course.

It may have been 15 years, but I still had a pretty big crush on her. Not debilitating, but just about. I respected her reluctance to date, but that didn't mean I didn't want to be the one there for her through everything. Thankfully, I was that person for her anyways. I was the one she trusted the most, and we were best friends.

Next was Mike, then Trixie, then Catherine and Alexander, Jawa and Chip. Even Zoe and Cyrus.

It was nice to see her and my other friends, even if it was just my imagination.

We'd have conversations in my head, and I was so out of it at one point that I imagined an entire game of uno. Not sure how, but hey, I won, so I'm not complaining.

Joshua came in and stood above where I was laying, crumpled up on the ground.

"The great Ben Ripley." He condescended. "How the mighty have fallen. You look like shit."

"Fuck." I croaked. "You."

He kicked me in the stomach with his metal leg, hard, and I groaned loudly as I felt my ribs snap. I coughed and saw blood spattering all over my shirt again.

"Oh come on, now you're doing it on purpose."

"Shh." He cut me off with a sharp hiss. "Now, now, now, mind your manners Ben. That wasn't very polite."

"Neither was kicking me in the ribs dude. I like this shirt and you keep getting blood all over it."

"So sorry." He said flatly.

"Haven't you sick masochists had enough?"

"I'm not a- that's not the point. And no."

"Kinda is. You might as well kill me already, I know it's been months. I'm not talking."

"I wouldn't be so sure. We still need the information. And we are going to get it. From you..." He trailed off. "Or from her."

My spine shivered and the hair on the back of my neck stood up.

"From who..."

Lights flicked on in rows like a warehouse, and in a room similar to mine, I saw someone.

Someone I knew. Someone I loved.

Icy blue eyes looked up and locked with mine.

Erica.

"Erica!" I screamed, my eyes and throat burning. "No! Let her go! Joshua! Do it!" I roared. "I will kill everyone here! Don't think I can't and don't think I won't! You let her go now!"

Someone punched her and everything snapped. The bolt on my shackle that I'd loosened earlier fell out of place as I pulled my arm. I lunged at Joshua with the bolt and slammed it into his good eye. He yelled and fell and I took this opportunity to rip off his metal arm and run towards where Erica must be. No one had been alarmed yet, but I knew I didn't have much time.

I sprinted through the labyrinth like hallways and navigated as best I could.

I tried to remember any details that could help me, but nothing. I'd been drugged and mostly unconscious, and it'd been several months so there wasn't much coming to mind.

I zig-zagged around, staying as quiet as possible. It was dark, and quiet. Too quiet. With that, red lights began flashing, and an alarm rang.

"Ripley has escaped. Alert all personnel. Ripley has escaped."

"That can't be good." I sighed.

I finally found a similar cell and ran in.

"Erica?" I asked hopefully.

"Not quite."

I heard a whirring and an ominous pop. I saw a hot orangey red light grow bigger.

Not bigger- closer...

"Fuck." I sighed as I braced for impact.

That robotic son of a bitch had fired his stupid explodey arm at me.

I felt a hot hard object slam into my chest and I flung across the cell into the concrete wall.

But I took that. I thought as everything went dark.

Okay y'all, official update #1 on the schedule, sorry about the cliffhanger but yk how I roll, gotta amp up the anticipatory drama. See how much you missed me? Yeah okay, I'll go now lol. You can expect a new update on fun & games next week Tuesday, love y'all, byeeeeee.