Phoenix Field Agent
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Joined: 11 Jan 2006
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Season: season 3
Episode:Passages
Vehicle: Jeep
Jacket: Black leather
House: House boat
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Here is part two--again rated R just in case.
Dark Visions Part Two
Rated: R
“Remember who did this to you….”
“Remember who did this to you…”
A menacing voice continuously echoed in MacGyver’s mind as he slept. Images of his torture returned and replayed themselves accompanied by the voice. Blinding, hot sparks of light hit his vulnerable, naked body as he dangled from a beam in chains, and he realized he was being shocked with an intense wave of electricity, defenseless against the excruciating pain. He cried out, and the man shocking him laughed. The man was Pete. It was unmistakable. MacGyver struggled to comprehend what he was looking at. Pete had been his friend for years, yet here he was, administering the torture and laughing at him, cruelly enjoying inflicting pain. MacGyver begged him to stop, but he kept laughing and shocking him, dragging the instrument across his body.
“Remember who did this to you,” the voice said. Pete’s face once again flashed in his mind.
The calming effects of the sedative began to wear off, causing MacGyver’s movements to become more fitful and restless. He fought against the disturbing nightmare, snapping his eyes open and searching the sterile hospital room frantically, hoping his torture was over.
“Pete, no,” he whispered, tugging against his restraints. He looked at them, horrified, wondering what was going to happen to him next.
When Pete entered the room, his eyes widened and he turned his head away from him, refusing to acknowledge him and hoping that he could make him disappear like the nightmare.
“Mac,” Pete said quietly, approaching his friend with caution. “Mac, it’s all right. It’s me, Pete. I’m here for you. I’m going to help you get through this.”
As he got closer and tried to touch him, MacGyver recoiled, pulling harder against the restraints. It devastated Pete to see him act that way after all they had been through together during all the years they’d known each other. Now, MacGyver turned to look at him, his stormy dark eyes filled with a mixture of sadness, distrust, and fear. Pete backed away a few inches to show MacGyver that he was not a threat.
“You still don’t want to be touched, do you?” He asked.
MacGyver shook his head and stared at him wildly, pulling on the restraints.
Pete sighed, trying to suppress the anger he felt toward the person who had turned his friend into a frightened, mistrustful animal. “Listen, I don’t know who did this to you,” he said, “but we’re going to find them, and you’re going to get well. I need you, Mac. I need to bring you back from wherever it is in that dark corner of your mind right now where you see me as your torturer. I’m not, Mac. You have to believe me. You know me. I would never harm you. I’d kill someone before I’d do that to you. Please, Mac. Listen to me. Hear me. You’ve got to pull through this.”
MacGyver stared up at the ceiling, his eyes becoming dull and vacant. He didn’t respond to Pete, almost as if he was in a catatonic state. Finally, he spoke, his voice sounding blank and mechanical.
“Why did you do this to me, Pete?” He asked flatly, emotion completely absent from his question. He continued to stare at the ceiling. “We were friends.”
Even though he showed no emotion, Pete saw a tear rolling down his cheek. He struggled to maintain his composure when he saw this. Someone had broken MacGyver mentally, somehow convincing him that Pete was to blame for his condition. It was almost unbearable to watch him.
“We still are,” Pete said, his voice trembling as he fought back tears.
“No,” MacGyver said. He fell back into silence, lying completely still and staring.
“MacGyver,” Pete said. MacGyver remained still and silent. “MacGyver, please…”
Unable to take it anymore, Pete slowly exited the room, taking big gulps of air once he was out in the hallway.
“Pete, are you all right?” Nikki asked, watching him.
“No, I’m not,” Pete said, sighing deeply.
“It’s MacGyver, isn’t it?” Nikki asked. “How is he doing?”
Pete looked at her and shook his head. “You wouldn’t believe it,” he said. “I was right. He does think I tortured him.”
“What? How? Are you sure?”
“He asked me why I did this to him,” Pete said. “He referred to me by my name. Nikki, I’ve never seen anything like it. He was afraid of me. He wouldn’t even let me near him. Imagine your best friend treating you that way, like you were a total stranger, like he didn’t even know you. Whoever did this was thorough. They transformed MacGyver from a strong, confident man into a broken, miserable, and frightened captive. I never thought this could happen, not to Mac. He’s always usually so resilient.”
“Well, everyone has their breaking point,” Nikki said, “even MacGyver. It sounds like someone brainwashed him, conditioned him to associate you with his torture.”
“Yeah,” Pete said with disgust. “But who?”
“Obviously someone who knows the special friendship you and MacGyver share,” Nikki said. “They exploited it to their advantage. If MacGyver thinks you tortured him, they can get away with it, destroying your relationship in the process.”
“There are many enemies of Mac who know about me as well,” Pete said. “Sadly, it’s the nature of our business.”
“Maybe I should go in there and try to talk to him,” Nikki said. “He might reveal more to me since he trusts me.”
Pete nodded. “Give it a try,” he said.
***
When Nikki entered the room, MacGyver still lay staring at the ceiling, unresponsive. He didn’t even notice her.
“MacGyver,” Nikki said, approaching him slowly and sitting in the chair next to his bed. “Talk to me, please.” She gently touched his arm, and he still didn’t react. She sighed, finding it difficult and painful to see him that way. “You can talk to me,” she said. “You can trust me. This is Nikki, remember? I know we didn’t always get along, but I like you. I’m here to help you.”
MacGyver turned to look at her, his eyes filled with sorrow and agony. He glanced up at the restraints and began pulling on them again. He looked back at her, pleading with his eyes.
“Please,” he said, pulling on the restraints. “Please…”
“Oh, you want me to loosen the restraints,” Nikki said, finally understanding what all his motions meant.
MacGyver nodded.
Nikki looked around the room. She knew that if he was fully competent, he could easily escape from them himself, but right now, he was helpless and confused, suffering from the effects of his torture and whatever mind control techniques had made him that way, forcing him into a world of terror and darkness.
“All right,” she said, “but you have to promise not to hurt yourself, and you have to stay right here and talk to me, okay? Remember, I’m here to help you. I won’t hurt you.”
MacGyver nodded again. For a brief moment, Nikki almost thought she saw him try to smile, a small glimmer of recognition in his otherwise dull eyes. She smiled sweetly at him, reassuring him as she undid the restraints.
“I’m really not supposed to be doing this,” she said. “The doctor says you might endanger yourself, but it’s going to be all right, I promise.”
Once she finished, MacGyver continued to lie perfectly still, staring. She touched the side of his face, comforting him.
“It’s all right,” she said. “You’re safe with me, now. You can talk to me.”
MacGyver continued to stare.
“Come on, Mac,” Nikki said. “I know you’re in there somewhere. Somewhere, hidden inside that clever brain of yours, you know what really happened to you. Tell me, please. I can help you. I want to help you. You have to know that Pete wasn’t involved in your torture. Someone else was. Someone else planted that image in your mind. Who was it?”
“Why did you do this to me, Pete? We were friends,” MacGyver said again, his tone still flat and unemotional. He stared blankly.
Nikki looked at him with concern. She stroked his arm again. “Pete didn’t do this to you,” she said in a soothing voice, going along with him, trying to coax him out of his trance. “Someone else did. You have to know that. You have to tell me who it was so I can help you—so Pete can help you, too.”
She waited a few more minutes. When it appeared that MacGyver would do or say little else, she quietly left the room, meeting back with Pete.
“Well, did you learn anything from him?” He asked.
“Not a thing,” Nikki said, shrugging. “His behavior was the same as when you saw him. He wasn’t afraid of me the way he is of you, but it’s almost like he’s locked away in a world of his own. He will barely speak about anything. All he does is stare.”
“Yeah, that’s about how he was with me, too,” Pete said sadly. “It’s like his mind just shut down.”
“What did he say to you when he accused you of being his torturer again?” Nikki asked. “What were his exact words? Do you remember?”
Pete rubbed his eyes, feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. “He asked me why I did this to him, and then he said that we were friends. He wasn’t even angry or sad when he asked me, either. It was as if it was an automatic response.”
“That’s exactly what he said to me, too,” Nikki said. “It sounded like a conditioned response of some kind.” She sighed. “He’s been programmed, Pete. We need to get a psychiatric specialist in here from the Foundation to deprogram him. It’s the only way to try to reach him.”
“I agree,” Pete said. “I’ll get Dr. Beatty here as soon as possible.”
***
“Why did you do this to me, Pete? We were friends,” MacGyver said again, staring at the ceiling.
“You see?” Nikki asked Dr. Beatty.
They were the only two in the room with MacGyver. Dr. Beatty had instructed Pete to remain outside so he wouldn’t risk upsetting MacGyver and cause unneeded stress on him. Pete had objected at first, but he knew she was right. MacGyver still saw him as a danger. Until those thoughts were removed from his mind, Pete knew he had to maintain his distance from his friend, no matter how hard it was.
“Yes,” Dr. Beatty said, examining MacGyver. “It certainly sounds like a classic programmed response. Whoever did this was covering their tracks by programming MacGyver to think Pete is his torturer. They don’t want us to discover who they are. Hopefully by using hypnotism, we can uncover more of his subconscious mind and find out what really happened.”
“Does this really work?” Nikki asked. “I mean, how effective is it?”
Dr. Beatty shrugged. “It varies,” she said. “It’s not always completely accurate.”
“Oh, that’s great,” Nikki said.
“Keep in mind that I’ve successfully deprogrammed many operatives,” Dr. Beatty said. “Sometimes, hypnosis is one of the few methods I can try to get someone to relax and be more receptive to sharing information without them feeling that they are being interrogated or that I’m being invasive. MacGyver will still be aware, but his awareness might increase under the influence of the hypnotic state.”
“You mean he might be more willing to share information with us?” Nikki asked.
“Yes,” Dr. Beatty said.
“I guess it’s worth a try,” Nikki said.
Dr. Beatty sat near MacGyver. “MacGyver, can you hear me?” She asked. MacGyver remained still, staring blankly. She looked up at Nikki in concern, and then returned to MacGyver. “Please give me some kind of indication that you can hear me,” she said. “Can you understand me?” They saw a brief flicker of movement from him. Slowly, he turned his head in the direction of her voice, looking at her. Dr. Beatty smiled and looked back at Nikki. “That’s a good sign,” she said. “Okay MacGyver, I want you to relax. You’re here safe with me. You can trust me. I won’t harm you, all right?”
MacGyver blinked slowly at her and then nodded slightly, showing he understood her.
“Good,” Dr. Beatty said. “Now, what I want you to do is relax your whole body. Your arms, your legs, your eyelids—everything is becoming relaxed. You’re in a peaceful, pleasant environment where nothing can harm you. I’ll be here with you the whole time to protect you, I promise. Just relax.”
Nikki watched as MacGyver listened to Dr. Beatty’s calming words, his body becoming less tense and his eyes slowly closing. She hoped it would work.
“Now,” Dr. Beatty said, “when I count to three, you’re going to be completely relaxed and ready to talk to me. One, two, three…”
Even though MacGyver appeared to be asleep, his facial muscles relaxing, Nikki thought she saw an expression of greater awareness on his face. He appeared more in control and less fearful, almost as if he was ready to open up to them.
“This is amazing,” she said.
“Well, we’ll just have to see how willing he is to talk about what happened,” Dr. Beatty said. “MacGyver, can you still hear my voice?”
“Yes,” he said faintly.
“Good,” she said. “Now, what I want to do is take you through what happened to you.”
He winced and squirmed. “No,” he said. “No, I’m afraid.”
“Don’t be afraid, MacGyver,” Dr. Beatty said. “What happened to you is over. I’ll be with you this time so that nothing can hurt you. Can you tell me anything about where you are, what is happening to you? Describe it to me.”
In MacGyver’s mind, he began to see high, impenetrable, sober brick walls and doors with bars in them. “Asylum,” he whispered.
Nikki and Dr. Beatty exchanged looks. “Tell me what you see, MacGyver,” she said.
“Asylum…prison…” he muttered.
“Can you describe anything else? What is happening to you?”
The images in MacGyver’s mind shifted again, and this time he was restrained in a chair, some kind of device clamped over his head preventing him from crying out as someone cut into him, laughing.
“No,” he said, thrashing around in bed. “No, please…please stop…no…”
“What is it, MacGyver? What is happening?” Dr. Beatty said.
Pete’s face flashed before MacGyver again, and he screamed. “NO! Pete! No! Why are you doing this to me?” He began thrashing around even more violently in bed, curling up in a protective position, shivering and sobbing.
“Can you stop this?” Nikki asked, looking concerned. “Look at him! He’s completely terrified! He’s reliving it too intensely!”
“It’s all right, MacGyver,” Dr. Beatty said soothingly. “It’s over. You’re safe and you can relax now.”
MacGyver relaxed, his expression once again peaceful.
“Good,” Dr. Beatty said. “It’s all right, MacGyver, I’m here.”
“Asylum,” he whispered again. “Asylum, prison…”
“That’s good,” Dr. Beatty said. “What about it? Where is it? Can you tell me anything else about where you’re being held?”
“Distant…remote…no one can find me…no one knows I’m here…I’ve been gone…they think I’m on assignment…can’t get out…oh God—Pete, why?”
“Tell me what you see now,” Dr. Beatty said.
“I’m…chained to a wall…I can’t think…everything comes in flashes…blurs…I can’t see suddenly…I…NO! Pete, please! NO!” MacGyver shot up in bed, his eyes opening and searching wildly.
“It’s all right, MacGyver,” Dr. Beatty said, remaining calm and gently pressing him back down into bed. “It’s over. It’s all over. Do you understand me?”
MacGyver sighed and closed his eyes again.
“Good,” Dr. Beatty said.
“Remember who did this to you,” MacGyver whispered, tears leaking out of his closed eyes. “Remember who did this to you…”
“Where are you hearing this?” Dr. Beatty asked. “Who’s saying this to you?”
“Pete…it can’t be…no…how…why? NO!” MacGyver shouted, squirming on the bed again.
“It’s okay, MacGyver,” Dr. Beatty said. “It’s over. It’s all over. You can rest now. Do you understand me?”
“Yes,” MacGyver said, his voice sounding so distant and small, his fear overwhelming him.
“All right, now when I count to three, you will be completely relaxed again. You will forget about your unpleasant experience. You’re safe now, and you can rest. No one is going to hurt you again. One, two, three…”
MacGyver moaned and fell asleep.
“That’s good,” Dr. Beatty said, soothing him and stroking his arm. “Rest, MacGyver.” She smiled at him and stood, facing Nikki.
“Well, that wasn’t much, was it?” Nikki asked. “Somehow he still sees Pete as his torturer.”
“His conditioning is ingrained deeper than I thought,” Dr. Beatty said. “It’s going to take time to convince him that his memory is false and that someone else did this to him. If we can do that, we can learn who the real torturer was. And, we did learn where he might have been kept.”
“He kept saying asylum,” Nikki said. “What do you think that means?”
Dr. Beatty shrugged. “I’m not sure,” she said. “It’s going to take more sessions with him to learn more, but for now I think he’s had enough. Let’s leave him to rest.”
***
“Did you learn anything new from observing Dr. Beatty’s session with him?” Pete asked, meeting Nikki back out in the waiting area of the hospital.
Nikki sighed, looking at Pete sadly. “I’ve never seen anything like it, Pete,” she said. “MacGyver talked more under hypnosis than he has while fully conscious, but he wasn’t too specific about anything. He began reliving his torture, and he kept seeing you there.”
“My God,” Pete said. “Whoever did this was even more thorough than I thought.”
“It was horrible, Pete,” Nikki said, holding back tears. “I’d never seen MacGyver in so much pain. Whoever held him captive must have held him for a long time—months.”
“When he was supposed to be gone on assignment,” Pete said, shaking his head. “I couldn’t contact him because the mission was highly secretive. We couldn’t risk compromising it. Now look what happened.”
“Pete, it wasn’t your fault,” Nikki said. “You didn’t know what was happening to him.”
“I know,” Pete said. “It’s still hard.”
“I know it is,” Nikki said, placing her hand supportively on his back.
“Did he say anything else? Were there any clues as to where he might have been held?”
“He kept mentioning the word asylum,” Nikki said.
“Asylum?” Pete asked.
“I know. That doesn’t give us much. Dr. Beatty says it’s going to take time and a lot of hard work before we’re able to crack through this barrier of fear and anxiety that MacGyver has built up, his silence being his only defense mechanism. He’s so terrified that he’s reluctant to share anything except that he believes you did this to him.”
“I wish I knew who it was,” Pete said, clenching his jaws. “I wish I knew so I could confront him and make him pay. MacGyver doesn’t deserve this.”
“I know he doesn’t, Pete,” Nikki said. “But we’ll get there. It’s just going to take a little time.”
The television in the waiting area began showing the news, and the reporter showed the grisly scene of a murder as the top story. A familiar face flashed on the screen, and Pete jumped in alarm, turning up the volume.
“Pete, what is it?” Nikki asked.
“This latest murder comes after a recent string of murders in the same area,” the reporter said. “Although the police don’t believe there is any direct connection between them, some suspect that this might be the work of Dr. Zito, a patient at the maximum security mental hospital who recently escaped, overwhelming several guards and murdering one of them during the escape. Dr. Zito is still a wanted fugitive, and he is considered extremely dangerous.”
“My God,” Pete said.
“Pete?” Nikki asked.
“Asylum,” Pete said. “Why didn’t I think of it? The psychotropic drugs, the mind manipulation, the torture…it was Dr. Zito.”
“Who is Dr. Zito?” Nikki asked.
“Someone you don’t want to know,” Pete said, looking at her with intense eyes. “MacGyver and I had a couple of run-ins with him in the past. He’s a chilling psychopath. He escaped once before and took me to an old, shut down asylum, holding me there to lure MacGyver into one of his sick games.”
“It could be the same asylum that MacGyver kept talking about under hypnosis,” Nikki said.
“Exactly. He’s just the kind of person to do this to MacGyver. We didn’t think he could escape again since he was transferred to a maximum security institution, but he’s out there again, and he tried to destroy MacGyver’s sanity.”
“If you’re right, and it was this…Zito who tortured MacGyver and conditioned him to believe that you tortured him instead, it sounds like we’re dealing with a brilliant man who understands the psychological complexities of the brain,” Nikki said.
“Yes, and he uses that knowledge to his own sick advantage,” Pete said. “His specialty is twisting and manipulating people, influencing them to do what he wants them to.”
“What are we going to do?” Nikki asked.
“First, we need to see if Dr. Beatty can make more progress with MacGyver,” Pete said. “Then, maybe it’s worth taking a trip to that old asylum again to see what we can find.”
To be continued…
 "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer."
--Henry David Thoreau
brains+brawn+beauty+personality=MacGyver
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