A seat in hell
by Gail (gem225@hotmail.com)
JAG
Clark Palmer/Harmon Rabb
Rating: adult
Clark Palmer comes back for the one thing he didn't get from Harmon Rabb. An alternate and evil ending to Imposter.
Disclaimer: If wishes came true, I'd own them, but instead they belong to Belisarius Productions and CBS.
Please do not archive this story without asking me first. It's more than likely that I'll agree, but I want to know where my stories are.
Warnings: Rape and character death. Very dark story with a very dark and unhappy ending. I already scared one friend with this story, and I don't like scaring people, contrary to popular belief. If you like Harmon Rabb, you don't want to read this. Trust me, O.K.?
Spoilers: Impact, Imposter.
Summary of Imposter, adapted from http://www.onscreen-credits.com/JAG/:
After Clark Palmer, a renegade government agent with whom Harm crossed swords months earlier, breaks into Harm's apartment and incapacitates him, he makes a cast of Harm's face in order to prepare a mask he can wear to pass for Harm. As he prepares the mask, Palmer explains that he plans to murder the key witness in the trial at which Harm and Mac are currently prosecutors. But when Harm doesn't show up for the start of the trial, Mac takes his place, leaving Bud to search for the missing JAG lawyer. When Bud finds Harm in his ingeniously booby-trapped apartment, the two find a way to escape before the assassin can carry out his plan. Then Harm and Bud hurry to JAG, where Palmer is questioning Vickers, the key witness, and is about to kill him. Harm finds and knocks out Palmer, nobody dies, and all is well.Palmer tells Rabb that he's got a timer set up for eight hours from now, and that he's attached a bomb under his chair, but this *is* Palmer. Why should we assume he's told Rabb the truth? He treated Rabb pretty well for someone he was going to blow up. I think it's just as reasonable to think that Palmer had plans for Rabb after he killed Vickers. This story is my version of what might have happened. It deviates from Imposter sometime in the courtroom when Palmer-as- Rabb is questioning Colonel Vickers. In this version, Palmer accomplishes his mission, Vickers is killed, and no one suspects Palmer.
Scarlet beta'd this, but I wrote it, and everything in it is my fault, and Palmer's.
*****
Harmon Rabb stared at the motion sensor on the wall and tried to relax in the straps Palmer had fastened around his wrists and ankles. He didn't get anywhere. The chair was hard, he couldn't feel his ass any more, his hands and feet were getting numb, and he could only breathe through his nose, since his mouth was taped. He wished to hell... he didn't know what to wish. That someone would rescue him? That would set off the bomb, since there would be no way to warn anyone with his mouth taped. Then he and his would-be rescuer would be killed, and no one would know what the hell had happened to them. He believed Palmer's statement that anyone going through the ruins would be lucky to find his teeth.
Weird as all hell to see his own face on another man, hear words he'd never say come out of what looked like his mouth. Had Palmer fooled Mac? Bud? The admiral? Why not? Palmer had been studying him. He could pass off any mistakes as fatigue from his night in the hospital or forgetfulness. The admiral might get pissed at him, but it wouldn't matter to Palmer. He'd do his job and work out the day, then vanish into the protection of the fucking DSD.
He glanced at the clock. Palmer had been gone for almost six hours. Fuck. He must have succeeded. Colonel Vickers was dead, and others in the courtroom might have been exposed to whatever gas Palmer had let loose. Mac would have been prosecuting, and probably Bud assisting. They might be dead. Oh, god.
He slumped against the chair, trying to breathe evenly, then stiffened as the door opened.
"Hey, Harm."
His own face grinned at him. Harm tore his gaze away to check the motion sensor. The lights were climbing rapidly. They were both going to blow up. Should he want that? But he didn't get a choice. Palmer laughed and reached down in a swift motion to shut it off before it hit the critical zone, then shut the door.
Palmer was back. Why? What did he want now? Harm kept his eyes on Palmer's eyes and tried to ignore the mask of his own face.
Palmer took off his cover and tossed it like a frisbee. It landed somewhere out of Harm's line of vision, probably the floor. It shouldn't have mattered, but it did. Palmer was fucking up his whole life and having fun doing it.
"Oh, sorry, guess I should hang that up."
He didn't, though. He came over to Harm, glanced at Harm's crotch, and laughed at the wet spot on Harm's boxers. "Couldn't hold it in, I see."
Harm flushed. It had been bad enough when his bladder cut loose and he pissed himself without Palmer bringing it up. Palmer laughed and patted him on the cheek in an almost-slap, just like when he'd put the tape over his mouth.
"No control at all. Daddy would be ashamed of you." He reached down, worked a corner of the tape loose, then tore it off. Harm let out a hoarse cry from the pain that burned his cheeks and lips. "And you can't even take a little pain." He laughed and balled up the tape, then tossed it in the trash on his way to the bedroom.
Harm wet his lips as soon as Palmer was out of sight. Water would be good, but he wasn't going to ask Palmer for it or anything else. He listened to the sounds coming from the bedroom and decided that Palmer was getting out of the uniform.
Palmer came back in jeans and an undershirt. He'd taken off the false face with the uniform. He grinned at Harm, then bent down and came up with a syringe.
"What?"
Palmer licked his lips as he came over to Harm. "Time to go to sleep, baby. Just for a little while." He stabbed Harm in the upper arm without ceremony, and Harm caught his breath. "I'm going to get what I came back for."
That didn't sound good, Harm thought as he fell into unconsciousness.
*****
"Wake up, or you'll miss all the fun. Wouldn't want that."
Harm tried to move, but he couldn't. Bound again, this time on his face, his arms over his head and his legs spread. And he was naked, with Palmer there, talking to him. Palmer had stripped and bound him on his bed. Was Palmer into guys? Was that what this was all about?
"You're no lightweight." The bed shifted, and Harm felt a hand on his back. "Lucky I'm strong."
Harm tensed as the hand slid down to his ass and rested there. "What do you want, Palmer?"
"You haven't figured it out, Rabb? Naked, tied down, me here?" Palmer's hand squeezed his ass, and Harm hated that he couldn't stop it. He knew what Palmer was talking about. "Come on, I thought you lawyers were smart. You did well enough in law school, after all. Not the first in your class, but not everyone can be first. But I think I'll be first with you. I like that thought. First, and only."
Palmer was going to rape him, but maybe there was a way to stop him. "You want sex with me?" He made himself laugh, but it came out as a croak. His throat was too dry. "That hard up?"
Palmer's laugh came out much better than his. "Nice. But you really don't have the talent for mind games." Harm felt a dry finger stab into his asshole. "Let's see if you have the talent for anything else."
The finger withdrew, and Harm took a breath. That had hurt. It would hurt worse before Palmer was through, he thought in a dispassionate part of his mind. Palmer wanted to hurt him. All right. He could live through this. If Palmer let him live.
He tried to swallow again. His lips were parched, and his throat hurt. "Water," he croaked.
"Water?" Palmer's voice had laughter in it. "Well, O.K. Won't hurt anything to give you that."
The bed shifted as he stood. Harm heard him walk away, then the sound of a faucet running. When Harm heard Palmer returning, he tried to lift and turn his head so that he could drink, but instead he got a faceful of cold water. Harm gasped and licked his lips and cheeks frantically to get the moisture, and Palmer laughed.
"Want some more?" He didn't wait for an answer, but dashed another dose on Harm's face. "There you go."
Palmer forced Harm's face back into the blanket before he'd finished licking off the water. Harm's mouth felt less parched, and he tried to get his breathing steady. It wasn't going to help to panic.
Harm turned his head to the side so that he could talk. "It'll be easier if I've got my legs free, I'd think. How about undoing them?" It was worth a shot. If he got his legs free, he might be able to kick Palmer, knock him out, and then maybe he could get his hands free.
"Didn't know you were so desperate for sex, Harm," Palmer drawled, and Harm could hear the grin in his voice. "No, I don't need to untie you. I'll just shove these pillows under you," Palmer suited actions to words, and Harm felt the ties dig into his wrists and ankles as the change of position pulled them taut, "and that tight ass of yours will be where I can get at it."
He had to stay calm. This wasn't the end of the world. Maybe Mac would decide to stop by after work to check on him if Palmer had seemed strange, or Bud might want some advice on Harriet. But then they'd be in danger from Palmer. He didn't want that. He screwed his eyes shut and prayed without words for something, not to save him from the rape, but to keep him alive.
Palmer was taking off his pants. Harm could hear the zipper and the rustle of cloth. Then Palmer climbed on the bed, settling in between Harm's legs. Harm made himself keep breathing.
"Is there anything you want me to do?"
Palmer laughed. "Sure, like I can trust you. No, baby, you just stay there. I'll take care of everything. I'll have fun, but you won't. Unless this is some dark fantasy I didn't know about. Wouldn't be surprised, with you."
He could feel something blunt and warm brush against his asscheeks, then settle against his hole. Palmer's dick. He tensed. Then Palmer shoved, and Harm's hard-won calm fled him with the pain. He let out a cry, then turned his head back to bury his face in the blanket. It hurt so damned much, and he didn't think it was going to stop any time soon. He wanted it out.
"You're tight, just like I knew you'd be, baby," Palmer whispered into Harm's ear. Harm let out another cry as Palmer bit his earlobe, then shoved his dick in further. "Hot hearing you, too. You don't mind I didn't use any lube, do you? I like fucking dry."
It hurt like hell, sharp, stinging pains with every thrust as Palmer took his time getting his dick in, then a constant dull pain and cramping. Harm tried to hold in his cries, but after a while he couldn't. It was too much, something he'd never thought would happen to him, pain rolling over him like waves and stabbing him like knives, never letting up.
Palmer seemed to take forever to come, but finally Harm felt a series of hard thrusts that made him groan even louder with the pain, then Palmer slumped on top of him, and Harm felt himself shivering. It was over. Palmer had come. He'd survived.
Palmer lifted his body up again, then pulled out in one quick motion. Harm was still shivering. His ass felt like it was on fire, every muscle ached separately, his wrists and ankles were numb, and his throat was dry and sore from all the cries. This was hell.
After what seemed like a long while, Harm managed to turn his head and find Palmer. He was standing by the bed, dressed and smiling.
"Took you long enough. Thanks for the fuck, Harm. Time for me to get out of here."
"But - I'm - " Harm tried to form a sentence, but he couldn't. "No," he ended weakly. He was shivering again. Palmer couldn't mean to leave him like this.
"You're a loose end, baby. I don't leave loose ends." Palmer crouched down to look in Harm's eyes, and Harm knew he could see all of the fear and the pain. "Hey, told you, you'll be in heaven before you know it. Nice place, I hear. Want me to knock you out? You were a good fuck. You earned that."
"Let me go. Please." Harm hated begging, but he had to.
Palmer's warm hand came up to stroke his cheek. "Heaven with your daddy, baby. You know he'll be there. Not a bad place to be. I'll just set the timer and get out of here. You sure you don't want the drug?"
Harm just stared at him.
"Guess not." He patted Harm's cheek again. "Too bad you have to go, baby. I could have fun keeping you around. Remember, if you end up in hell, save me a seat. Not that I believe in it."
Palmer stood and walked away, and Harm sank into a daze of pain and disbelief. He hurt so much. He was going to die. He wasn't ready to die.
Then there were footsteps coming back, and Harm managed to focus. Palmer. Had he changed his mind?
"Can't leave you like this." Harm felt the sting of a needle in his ass, and moaned. "You'll be out in a minute. No pain, baby. No pain at all."
"No..." His voice trailed off as a numbness took over his body. So cold, so tired, he couldn't fight.
He was out when the bomb went off fifteen minutes later.
The End
Posted 11/14/01
