Part 11

Jeff opened his eyes and closed them as the bolt of pain shot through his head. For a few minutes the pain was so bad that it was all he could do not to cry out in agony. When the pain finally subsided he took a deep breath and tried again.

White. That was the first thing that registered in his pain-dulled mind. The second thing he noticed was that he was trapped in some kind of cage. The third and final thing - and this was the thing that brought him fully to his senses - was that there was another cage in the room. "Chyna!"

"Jeff!" She cried, throwing herself against the bars of her cage. "Oh thank Christ, you're alive!"

"Why wouldn't I be?" He couldn't help feeling amused at the older woman's relief. "What happened? Where are we?"

Chyna's face turned serious and she looked around carefully. "Name one person you know who is likely to paint an entire room white."

Jeff could think of several people and none of them were good. "Oh..."

Chyna nodded in understanding. "They fucking got us. X-Pac handed me over to Lesner and Heyman. Little fucker. I'll annihilate the bastard."

"Tsk, tsk, there's that guttermouth of yours again Chyna doll." A smug voice replied. Jeff spun around in surprise; he hadn’t heard anyone enter the room. Ivory stood there, looking more like a librarian than ever. He glaned back at Chyna, who's expressive face had twisted into hatred. "Don't call me Chyna doll."

Jeff watched the confrontation between the two women with interest. He had no idea how long they'd been there, but he didn't think it could be two or three days at the most. Ivory hadn't even noticed he was awake yet, she was so intent on tormenting Chyna. Until he had more idea of what was going on, Jeff didn't want to draw any attention to himself.

"Alright Chy, there's a few people who'd like to have a little chat to you." Ivory stated eventually. Chyna rolled her eyes. "Tell Richards to go to hell. "

"Oh no, Steven is… busy at this point in time." Unconsciously, Ivory's gaze flicked over to Jeff then back. It was so quick that it was only the fact that Chyna had been holding the younger woman's gaze steadily that she noticed it. Ivory involuntarily took a step back as the look of pure fury spread over Chyna's face. "How'd you get him?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Came the smooth reply, but it was too late. The mask had slipped, if only for a second and in that second Chyna had pieced together most of the tale. Ivory snapped her fingers and as if they'd been waiting for her command, Bull Buchananon and the Big Bossman appeared. With a worried look at Jeff, she turned around, holding her hands behind her back. Bossman smirked. "Not giving us any trouble today?"

"Well since I'm not going to have electrodes strapped to my nipples while submerged in a cold bath, then no, I don't think I'll waste the energy." She replied flippantly, but there was a tone to her voice that Jeff found disturbing and he wasn't entirely certain she was joking.

"Where are you taking her?" he asked worriedly. Ivory spun around, smirking. "Don't worry. Chyna's not the one you have to worry about now."

At Ivory's smirk, he threw himself against the bars and glared at her. "Who do I have to worry about?"

"I bet you've got a lot of questions, don't you?" Ivory slowly stepped backwards. "Well I'm sure they'll all be answered when the Godfather arrives."

Jeff felt a swell of pure fear, but quenched it, like he'd being doing ever since he'd known where he was. While Ivory had been baiting Chyna, he'd been thinking of his worst fears and imagined facing them. That way, he figured, it wouldn't really be so bad when it happened, because imagination was usually worse than the reality.

"The Godfather?" He thickened his accent. "What does he want with a simple country boy like me?"

He knew what the Godfather had planned for him and it wasn't going to be fun. Instead of dwelling on it, Jeff wanted to see if he could put the slightest crack in Ivory's mask. She just shook her head at him. "Poor Jeffy. You think you deserve the attention of Steven? He's busy with your brother at the moment. See he thinks Matt is the leader of your little band of outlaws. He doesn't think that an irresponsible child like you could ever achieve what you have. I think it's possible… but only if you had help from other people."

"What's your point?" Jeff managed to fake a giant yawn. "Hey, you didn't really strap electrodes to Chyna's nipples while submerging her in the bath did ya?"

Ivory's eyes glittered a little dangerously. "Give us the information we want and you may not find out the painful way."

She reached behind her and flipped a switch, turning on the electric bars of the cage Jeff was in, leaning against indolently. He screamed in pain as he was thrown backwards. Bull Buchanon and the Bossman walked in again. "Godfather's ready."

"Good." Ivory nodded coldly. "He was starting to get on my nerves."

The door of the cage was thrown open and Jeff was dragged to his feet. He struggled vainly against Bossman, yelling for help as they dragged him out of the room.

Jeff was dragged down a hallway and pushed into another room. 'White again.' He observed. 'The colour of purity.' The door slammed behind him, the sound sending a child through his very core. It was one thing to try and psyche himself out of being afraid when what he was afraid of was still a shadowy threat. When it was up close and about to happen, the fear was very real. 'And what the hell is that?' He asked himself, spying the thing in the middle of the room.

"That is what is going to hold you, while I get information out of you." A grim voice replied. Jeff gasped. He hadn't realized he'd spoken out loud or that there was someone else in the room with him.

The Godfather stepped out of the shadows and walked towards the jumble of chains hanging from the roof. His face was blank, but there was an odd gleam in his eyes that Jeff found disturbing. Looking around the room, he saw Kurt Angle, leaning against the wall behind him.

"It's not as complicated as it looks. We put each of your wrists in one of these," He lifted what looked like a handcuff out of the mess. "There's a metal bar between them, which goes over the back of your shoulders and neck. Once you've been trussed in properly, we raise you until you're stretching, but not enough to actually lift you off the ground."

"Then, we'll go to work on you." Added Angle with a smirk, moving forwards and hitting the younger man from behind. Moving quickly the Godfather chained Jeff up, containing his dazed struggles easily. Angle and Godfather exchanged looks as Jeff was raised to his feet.

"So Jeff… where are the rest of your friends right now?" Angle asked in a harmless sounding voice. Jeff tried to shrug, but couldn't. "No idea."

"Wrong answer." The Godfather punched him in the stomach. "Where are they?"

"I don't know!" cried Jeff, all the air rushing out of him as he got hit again. The room blurred from the pain as they kept at him, asking the same questions, over and over.

"Where are they?"

"Who's helping you?"

"Do you have anyone working for you within our offices? Who are they?"

"Where do you get your supplies from?"

Jeff refused to tell them, insisting he didn't know, over and over again. After a while, the pain was the only thing he could feel, unable to tell when one punch ended and the next one began.

~~~

"The information you've given us so far has been extremely helpful Matthew." Stated Richards. "So young Stephanie McMahon is pregnant and engaged to Christopher Jericho? I wonder what her father would think about that."

"I doubt Vince would be impressed." Snickered Matt.

"What about Jericho? What would he do if his fiancée and child were in danger?"

"There's nothing he wouldn't do to protect them." Replied Matt confidently. Richards raised an eyebrow. "Are you certain?"

Matt felt a vague stirring of unease, but nodded anyway. The older man smiled cruelly. "Good."

In silence, they turned the corner. Matt could hear screams of agony coming from one of the rooms. "What's going on there?"

"Godfather and Kurt Angle are having a little... discussion with your brother."

Matt felt a wave of horror wash over him. He'd heard every possible emotion in Jeff's voice, but there was nothing to describe the bone chilling cries of pain he could hear now. 'Lord, what have I done?'

Steven kept talking as they joined Ivory for a coffee. "I'm very interested in how you people get your hands on so many supplies. Do you have any outside help?"

He was referring to the 'Mother's Club.' Matt hadn't mentioned them earlier, planning to give Richards a full list of everyone who had helped the NCC in any way or form. Now, upon hearing the pain his little brother was in, he was having second thoughts. 'Maybe I didn't think this through.'

"No." Matt sighed. "Other than help from a few friends and family members, like Linda McMahon, there was nobody else helping. Well that I was aware of. Jeff was very secretive like that."

Richards and Ivory began a discussion about how unhelpful Chyna had been and pondered the effects of putting electrodes on her nipples while submerging her in a bath of water, like Chyna had been joking about since Heyman had handed her over. They both agreed that the jokes they'd been suffering through meant she was terrified and covering it up or stupid and not scared at all. After a while, Richards stretched. "Well, it's nearly time to check on Jeffrey. Do you have anything else to tell me?"

Matt didn't even hesitate. "No sir, I don't."