Light, a magnum p.i. fanfic

Author's Note: This one is a bit more out there and a bit darker than I usually write, so please be warned.

"I tell myself I have to build defenses
'Cause once you are in love, you are defenseless
Everything was easy when it meant less
But once you are in love, you are defenseless."

Askjell - To Be Loved ft. AURORA

#5 of the Defenseless Series

"No, Magnum, don't do this."

The look in Magnum's eyes as he held the gun to the forehead of Milek Krovopuskov terrified Higgins. She'd seen him angry before. Disappointed, morose, irritated, conflicted - all of it. This, however, this was something different, this was cold, unwavering fury.

True, Higgins wasn't exactly pleased with Krovopuskov either. He was a trafficker who specialized in torture and murder fantasies. He was an actual psychopath who lacked all empathy or guilt and found fascination in watching others suffer.

He was also highly intelligent, always thinking ten steps ahead of everyone else, so when she and Magnum had tracked down one of his facilities, he'd had contingencies in place. He took both of them down with little effort.

When they had woken, they discovered that they were in a dark room filled with just about every tool and weapon one could think of and the two of them had been tied to chairs facing one another. And that was when things went from bad to much worse.

Krovopuskov was standing in the corner, obsessively cleaning and organizing a tray of tools. He must have heard them waking because he turned and greeted them with a chilling smile.

"Good evening," he said. "I trust you slept well?"

Higgins flexed her wrists to find them bound painfully tight.

"What are you thinking, Krovopuskov, taking us?" Magnum admonished. "HPD was right behind us. They know where we are."

"Where you were, perhaps." The man shrugged.

"There's still time to release us," Higgins said, her eyes meeting Magnum's. She knew it was pointless, but maybe if they kept him talking, it would buy the others time to find them. "Come in quietly."

"Yeah, there's no need for this to get ugly," Magnum jumped in. "I'm sure we can arrange for some leniency for coming in of your own will. "

Krovopuskov tilted his head to the side thoughtfully. "I like you two," he began. "You have come the closest to my apprehension as anyone ever has and I admire that. I don't make it easy."

He picked up a scalpel and seemed to admire the shine. "You must understand that I am but a facilitator at this point. I provide the canvases and the tools so that others may discover their own personal artistry," Krovopuskov explained to them as calmly as if he were talking about the weather. Higgins felt sick at the idea that this man thought that men, women, children, and animals were just "canvases" and she saw in Magnum's face that he felt the same. "However, when beings as intriguing as yourselves arrive, I find myself with that old familiar tingle." He smiled in a far away manner. "You are an opportunity I cannot pass up."

Magnum's eyes flicked to Juliet's. "Think about what you're doing, Milek. Everyone knows we were investigating you, so if you kill us, they will know it was you. They will put you away for life."

"I'm quite sure I will manage," the man replied as he picked up a garrote and examined it. "Tell me, Mister Magnum, have you ever watched someone die? Oh, silly me. Of course you have. I did my research on you as well." He twisted and stretched the cable between the two handles, seemingly checking for strength. "With your record, I imagine you've seen a great many die, quite a few at your hands as well. What about loved ones?"

Higgins watched Magnum's brow furrow.

"Ah, you've experienced that as well. And what of you, Miss Higgins? Same as Thomas I suppose?" He shook his head and tsked. "I love when people speak to me as if their hands aren't covered in blood as well."

Krovopuskov moved slowly around the room, still twisting the garrote in his hands. "Having a loved one die is quite… well, it's interesting." He moved to stand directly behind Higgins. "But experiencing a loved one being killed is… just exquisite really."

Magnum's stiffened, eyes widening. "Milek—"

Juliet was so tightly bound to the chair that she couldn't turn around to see Krovopuskov's face, but she could feel the warmth of him standing so closely behind her and it made her feel sick to her stomach.

"Do you love Miss Higgins, Mister Magnum?"

"Don't touch her," Magnum seethed, a look of loathing that Higgins had never seen before passing over his face.

"Ah, you do," he hummed. "Wonderful."

Higgins watched as the cord of the garrote descended in front of her, Krovopuskov's hands to either side of her head.

"Don't!" Magnum immediately began fighting against his bindings.

"No, you're correct, Mister Magnum," Krovopuskov said, "this isn't quite right." The garrote disappeared back over Juliet's head and she heard the clatter of the wooden handles hitting the ground. "Back to the basics, shall we?"

Higgins couldn't see him and didn't understand what he meant until she felt the warmth of his two large hands encircle her throat. Her eyes shot up to Magnum's a moment before painful pressure was suddenly applied.

"No! Milek, stop!" Magnum shouted.

Juliet's lungs immediately began to ache and her mind began to race. She struggled against her bonds, tried to pull her head away from Krovopuskov's hands, but he held her securely.

Magnum efforts to escape were more frantic and over the thundering throb of blood in her ears, she could hear him yelling.

Blackness began to creep into her vision and her lungs began to spasm. Her head thudded as the pressure continued to build, feeling as if it were about to explode.

She just barely made out Krovopuskov say, "Watch her eyes, Mister Magnum. Watch her light." He squeezed harder.

The last thing Juliet saw as the blackness swallowed her completely was the panic in Magnum's eyes.

…..

...

Juliet gasped as she came to, coughing violently as the air trickled down her abused throat and into her lungs. She blinked rapidly, trying to banish the remains of the darkness from her vision, and that was when she saw them.

Krovopuskov was on his knees, his face battered, blood dripping from his mouth and nose, and Magnum was holding a gun to his forehead.

She had no idea what had happened. She was on her side, still tied to the chair, but it looked as if somehow Magnum had broken free. She saw the ragged flesh around his wrists where he had seemingly torn it getting out of the ropes. And there had clearly been a fight because there were tools and weapons strewn all over the place.

It took Juliet a few moments longer for her hearing to catch up with her vision and what she heard chilled her.

"They'll believe me that it was self-defense. No one will care. No one will remember you. No one will ever even know your name."

"You will know," Krovopuskov replied defiantly. "You will remember, and for me, that is all I need. Pull the trigger, Mister Magnum."

Higgins watched as Magnum immediately tightened his grip on the pistol and she knew in that split second that he meant to do just as Krovopuskov asked.

"Magnum, don't do this," she rasped, voice rough from the abuse.

Magnum's snapped a glance her way and she saw relief in that moment, but the rage was also still there. "He almost killed you," he said coldly.

"But he didn't," she returned. She knew Magnum, she knew that he wasn't a man to take justice into his own hands. He was a man who wholly believed that everyone deserved their day in court, regardless of their crimes. She also knew that if he took Krovopuskov's life, no matter how much the man deserved it, his choice would eat at Magnum for the rest of his life. She couldn't allow that to happen, especially not when he would be doing it in her name.

"He would have," Magnum replied, breathing rapid and hands shaking just so.

"But he didn't," she vehemently countered. Her mind rushed, looking for a way to connect with him. She thought of her anger toward Ian Pryce, about the pressure of the trigger against her finger as she struggled with the decision to kill him or to listen to Magnum.

She took a pained breath. "Remember when you told me that you know me? Well, I know you, too, and killing a man, whether he deserves it or not, is not you." She could see the struggle still here. "Magnum, please."

Magnum toiled a few moments longer before he finally dropped his hands to his sides.

That is until Krovopuskov grinned, then he pistol whipped the man across the face and watched him drop to the ground, violently unconscious.

Magnum stood there for a few seconds, breathing hard, before he turned his attention to Higgins. He grabbed a knife from one of the displays and came up behind her, carefully cutting her free of her bonds. Her hands tingled with pain as blood flow returned to them.

Rounding the chair so that he was in front again, Magnum helped her into a sitting position and then ducked his head to get a look at her neck.

Higgins reached up and brushed her fingers against the tender flesh. She could already feel the hand-shaped bruises forming.

"Are you okay?" Magnum asked as he looked anxiously into her eyes.

She nodded, replying, "I am now." And she was. Yes, she was going to be bruised for weeks, but they were both alive and Krovopuskov was going away for life. He would never hurt anyone again.

Most importantly though, or most importantly to Juliet, Magnum's soul remained intact.

END

Author's Note: I will admit, this one was weird. Where deep down in my bizarre psyche it came from, I'm not sure, but there you have it. I almost didn't include it, but then I've read some other really dark fanfic before and this didn't seem quiiiite so bad. And also, this was also originally written for Whumptober, so a bit of depravity is always expected during that month of writing, right? Forgive me if I offended or triggered.