Bond saw as the body slumped against the wall, her head drooping, blood dripping from her face, and he could not understand how someone could show such violence against the Italian lady. They locked him up as well but he didn't resist; he was too clever to do so. He looked around the dungeons but saw nothing special there, only some blocks of hay stacked in the middle. He was too far away to physically contact Artemisia but he knew it would be pointless now, she was knocked unconscious. Every now and then he would try to speak to her but her head was slung down and no noise came out of her mouth, no acknowledgement whatsoever.

Through the small crate window, Bond had assumed that it was late evening. He was hungry and thirsty but he knew that now was not the time to think about food or drink; after all he had an unconscious woman chained down to the floor because of him and he couldn't even speak to her. He tried to fall asleep or somehow squeeze his rather large hands through the chain cuffs but to no avail.

The violent shaking of chains woke him up from his nap. He opened his eyes and saw a mountain of a man trying to shake Artemisia into consciousness. Bond stirred lightly.

"You're not going to get her back onto this planet by shaking her you fool." he said calmly.

"Shut up Brit." spat the Italian man. 

"Suit yourself, just don't forget that you can give her a concussion from all of that shaking, and that good sir will lead to some memory loss, maybe even the one you want to extract from her." replied Bond.

"Then what you want me to do?" said the man.

"Oh, I don't know, leave her alone." he replied.

"No way." the mountain answered.

"Do you feel no mercy for her? Look at her, she's so delicate and beautiful." replied Bond.

"So what? She's not my girlfriend or wife. I don't care who she is." replied the man as he got up.

The guard showed up again with a bucket of water which he then dumped on the unconscious woman. Bond heard her catch her breath and lift her head. He felt a sigh of relief but at the same time he feared for her. They couldn't torture her when she was unconscious but now that she was awake, they could taunt her.

"Ciao bella!" snarled the guard as he held her face tightly in his hand. 

The agent spit at his face in response, awaiting her punishment. The man smacked her across the face, ironically on the same cheek. 

"I will wear this as a badge of honor." replied Artemisia with a smirk. 

Bond couldn't help but sigh as he heard her say the words twice by now. She was as fearless as he thought she wouldn't be, snapping back at her assailant. The man left but Bond's eyes were kept on the Italian agent.

"How do you do it?" he asked her.

"Do what?" she answered in a fragile voice.

"Snap back at them as if nothing mattered, as if you weren't about to get slapped across the face for the second time today." he answered.

"They don't scare me." she replied.

"And yet the face you bore back there with the woman holding the gun was supposed to be overwhelming joy?" he asked her.

"No, that was fear." she replied.

"How do you choose?" he asked.

"When one has a gun, your life can be taken away in one second. When one only has his words or hands, there is always a way out." she said.

Bond imagined what she could mean by it but came to the conclusion that with one twist of her neck, the guard would have killed her. With enough pressure he could gouge her eyes out, with two hands at her throat he could choke her to death. He knew Artemisia meant it figuratively but he always imagined the literal.

"How long have I been out?" she asked.

"A good couple of hours. If I am not mistaken it's about midnight. I would take you to dinner or a drink but given our current situation..." he trailed off.

"Thank you for the offer. I'll imagine the dinner." she answered with a small laugh. He could see a small smile creep on her face, her split lip decorating her pale skin. 

"Wouldn't that make you hungrier? It already made me." he joked.

"Bond, every girl starves herself at one point in life. Maybe because the food is horrid, or she is sick, or she simply wants to be stick thin. I've done it before in Cambodia where the only thing they offered me were fried tarantulas. I went three days without eating, I will be fine and you will be as well." she replied happily.

Bond was never a fan of edible insects and critters who lived in the grounds below but he would have at least tried it. He gave the woman credit for being able to survive without food, but it would be harder without water. He assumed they would give him water at some point but he did not know when that point would come or what it would take for them to get it.

"Who was that woman, the blonde?" she suddenly asked.

Bond had feared that the question would pop up eventually. He knew he had to tell her the truth but it pained him to go through the memories. He already had to do that with Moneypenny.

"No one. She was once my love interest. It obviously did not last." he replied.

"She's not no one." replied Artemisia. "There's more to that." she continued.

"Fine. Imagine risking everything you have for a woman, putting yourself at risk, her as well, only to find out she's working with the enemy and she once dumps you by blowing up a British embassy and telling you you weren't a good shag." he said with such hatred in his voice.

"Sorry I asked." replied the Italian, "Just thought I could help. Clearly I can't." 

The two fell asleep with the moonlight shining through the crated window, one dreaming of his flat in London, the other dreaming about her missing brother. 

Two hours later, Artemisia woke up to the feel of water leaking on her through the ceiling. She looked up to see a crack and droplets of water falling down on her. She sighed unhappily and tried to shift in her spot, her legs stiff and asleep, her back hurting against the stone wall. Her arms hurt a little but her jaw hurt more, a large bruise had formed itself along with a bump. She looked to her left and saw James sleeping, his head leaned against the wall, his legs extended in front of him. Her throat ached for water, she was dehydrated and famished, but food was never her priority. She closed her eyes for a second but when she opened them, there was the face of the blonde woman in front of her, a vicious smirk plastered on her face.

"Not so pretty now, aren't you?" snarled the woman. "A red cheek here, a bleeding lip there, not to mention the bruise on your jaw... You really seem to be incapable of keeping your mouth shut." she spoke. "I'm sure you want something to drink."

Artemisia glared at her and the woman got up and reached for a carafe. The carafe was full of wine, a dark red one with a strong scent. She knew it was a strong wine, and without food she would get sick. The blonde woman pressed the beak of the glass carafe to the prisoner's lips. Artemisia could already taste the vile wine and it rendered her nauseous.

"You're going to drink or he will take care of you." the blonde said as the tall guard stood in the shadows, cracking his knuckles.

The Italian wanted to refuse to drink but she knew that whatever the guard had in mind was horrid. She chose the full carafe. The beak was tipped against her lips and she started to drink. The wine wasn't even fresh but old and fermented, a vile taste producing itself. Artemisia gagged on it but the wine kept flowing into her throat. She was choking on it and the wine dripped from her mouth onto her shirt, staining the white material with a deep burgundy color. Her eyes were glazing over with involuntary tears as she could not catch her breath and the wine was causing her stomach to churn over with disgust. 

"You know, this can stop." said the blonde. "You can always confess." 

"Confess to what?" managed to spit out the tortured agent.

"Tell me everything about Station I, tell me what he is doing here." she said, pointing to Bond slumped against the wall.

"I know nothing! He just showed up here and told me to come with him." lied Artemisia.

"Wrong." said the blonde before she slapped the other woman. "Now drink." 

The carafe was only a quarter empty and Artemisia was already getting sick to the stomach. She choked on the drink several times, keeping her word to stay silent. Bond awoke when he heard her frantically choking on the wine. He looked at the woman who was drenched in wine and sweat, covered in dirt and bruises, but he knew that she was doing the right thing even though she was enduring forced drinking. As she was finishing the last drops of the wine, she was aching to heave it back up but she knew better and held it down for the moment being. 

"Wow. You sure are tough. You drink the whole carafe and still nothing? See you later then." said the blonde as she walked away. "Oh, and I reckon you want some water after that drink." she said and the mountain of a man walked towards Artemisia with a large bucket of water. She looked at him desperately for a drink of clean water but her hope was foolish. The man dumped the entire bucket slowly on her head, making the water drip down her whole body until she was sitting in a pool of water. Silent tears streamed down her cheeks, hidden behind wet strands of hair. She tried to get a taste of the water but it was full of chlorine. She sat slumped against the wall, her head down, the water dripping slowly. The man left and she was left in her sadness. With a violent jerk she brought up all of the wine she had ingested. The carafe held around four liters of the vile liquid and the woman was trying to get rid of every drop she could. Her stomach cramped as she let herself throw up. 

Bond looked over at her and saw the tragedy of a person sitting next to him. She was bruised and beaten, sick to the stomach over fermented wine, chained up to the floor, dripping in cold water, and sitting in a pool of it. She was fatigued and helpless and yet she was a warrior. Bond felt a strange sensation in him, sympathy, as he kept his look on her. Her head bobbed lightly as she spit the remains of the wine. She turned lightly towards him, tears spilling from her eyes after her sickness.

"Happy with what you see?" she asked in a choked voice.

"What are you talking about?" asked Bond, a little worried.

"The mess with whom you are speaking, sitting in a lake of cold water which I can't even drink and which I am dripping in, accompanied by the horrid stench of thrown up fermented red wine. Four liters of it. Four bloody liters of it. You have no idea what it's like to be the one that is being pursued, you're only here to supposedly save me. And here you are, sitting next to me, untouched and clean while I choke on fermented wine and get drenched in chlorinated water because you are here with me." she cried in exasperation.

Bond was surprised at her sudden reaction. He knew that it was not fair that she was the one being tortured but what could he do about it? He was well chained down to the ground just like she was. 

"Do you think I don't care that you are the one being tortured? Do you think it doesn't hurt me to see you being tortured while I sit here and do nothing to me? By all means I am glad that nothing is happening to me because no one likes to be tortured, but do you think I enjoy seeing you being drenched in water and forced to drink wine? Because I do not, and I would well want to change it but there is a small problem, I am chained to the bloody floor and my hands are too big to slide through the cuffs. I try to anger the guard so he takes it out on me but it seems to be the blonde's orders that it's you who gets the worst of it. I'll try to do something, I promise. Try to get some sleep, you're no fun when you're cranky." he joked.

Artemisia glared at him for a moment but softened lightly at the joke. As sarcastic as Bond could be, Artemisia was one step ahead of him in that field. She took his advice and loosened up, shifting in her spot, and tried to fall asleep. Bond couldn't help but look at her curiously.

"I sense you staring." she said with a small laugh.

"If I would have been you, I would have thrown up way earlier than you had." he said and turned away.

Artemisia closed her eyes and tried to find sleep while Bond was sleepless, looking over at the woman sitting close by.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello!

It's been a while but here is the next chapter! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. There are so many things I can't wait to get my hands on and share with you in this story!

If you liked it, please leave a vote and a comment! I love interacting with my readers! If you have any suggestions, feel free to comment them and I'll be happy to consider them!

xIng