He counted in his head, already making it as high as 45 before he began to struggle. They say it's best to keep calm under these sorts of situations - and did he try - but there was no fighting instinct. Particularly the instinct to breathe.

They let him up from the icy water when he reached 103 and he gulped in a huge lungful of air forceful enough to physically hurt his chest. The subsequent coughing and gasping didn't help matters either.

"Ambrose, I really hate doing this to you." He said from his position at the back of the cell, watching and assessing every moment of the hellacious torture with a sickening grin. "Well, that's a lie."

"Fuck you, Helmsley." He gasped, still trying to pull in the oxygen his body so desperately needed.

Yet, Helmsley continued to grin at him. "You have no idea how ecstatic I am that you continue to fight back despite the fact that one of your best friend turned you in. Most men would crack."

Dean eyed him dangerously, hoping his eyes could convey the absolute hatred he held for the man staring at him with a contented smirk. "Seth Rollins is no friend of mine."

"Obviously." He chuckled. "At any rate, these little talks of ours have really become the highlight of my day. You know, I'm surprised at the amount of pain you can handle. I wonder if I can find your threshold before next week."

Dean stared at Hunter trying not to show the apprehension on his face. He knew where this was going, because that's where it was always going.

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" He continued with a widening grin. "The cage is almost complete. We're going to re-air the the broadcast with you as the first entrant."

Dean set his jaw, "I won't fight again."

"I didn't say you were fighting."

Dean felt the hot flush of realization hit him like a sharp blow to the head. There would be no chance to survive, because survival wasn't even an option. They were going to televise his execution.

He had no chance to protest or give a snarky comment, when the order was given from Helmsley to "Dunk him."

Sheamus, who had a strong hold of his hair throughout the entire exchange, gave a quick "Yes sir!" and pushed him forward into the icy tub and held him there. He started counting again.

They let him up again at 147. He didn't know he could hold his breath for that long.

As he gasped and fought for breath, he was now aware of another presence in the cell. Even with his eyes obscured by his wet, matted hair, he would always be able to make out the stupid blonde streak. Seth Rollins. He snarled at the man the best he could, even if he did pick up the flick of apology in his eyes.

"Seth here is going to take over." Helmsley said, that grin still on his lips. "I figure, If he truly does hate you like he says he does, this should be a walk in the park. Right Seth?"

Seth didn't answer right away, he was too busy taking in the scene; Dean shirtless, on his knees with his hands cuffed behind his back, shivering. He was, in particular, watching Dean's chest rise and fall with every drawn in, ragged breath he took and the older man wondered if the sympathy he was obviously feeling was evident to Helmsley. It was a backhanded slap to his shoulder and the phrase repeated that brought him back to the task at hand. Dean watched as he forced a matching smirk and leaned down so the pair were eye-to-eye. "Y-yeah. It'd be my pleasure. Can I have a second alone with him first?"

Hunter gave a quick nod and he and Sheamus left. Granted, not before the large Irishman whacked Dean in the back of the head for good measure.

Seth waited for a few moments, knowing they would be listening before his eyes slid to deans. His chest was still rising and falling rapidly as he watched him carefully. Then he whispered carefully, "Are you alright?"

Dean merely grinned, "It'll take a lot more than this to break me."

"I know, that's what I'm worried about." Seth replied. "You realize I'm going to have to torture you if he's to believe I'm on his side."

"You do what you need to, Seth." He said, determination and seriousness playing in his blue eyes as Seth searched them for any hint of hesitation. "Don't hold back on me. Make it believable."

With a sigh, he nodded and took a hold of Dean's hair, almost breaking at the hiss of pain from the man at his feet.

Seth closed his eyes and leaned back against the brick wall. The city was quiet this time of night and he was thankful for that. He had to think, had to figure this out. His mind was going a mile a minute and he just needed it to slow down enough to get a grip on this epically fucked up situation he found himself in.

He remembered what Dean had said to him. 'If it ever comes to it Seth, do what you have to. No one else can make this believable. It has to be you.'

He had tried to protest, but Dean was insistent it be him. He was right, no one else would have been believable. No one would have bought that Roman or Dolph or Paige or Becky or any of the others would have turned their back on the great savior of this city. Seth was the only one because Seth and Dean had always had just enough clashes to make him the logical choice, even if he would have gladly taken a bullet for the man before this. And what made it harder, for both parties, is that Dean knew it. But he asked Seth to do this. He asked him to betray him. He asked him to push him away. He asked him to hate him.

But he didn't hate him.

"Fuck." He breathed into the night and pushed his shaking hand through his hair as if the movement would calm his nerves. This plan of his had gone off perfectly, without even the slightest hitch as if Dean knew how everyone would react to every possible situation. He had to admire him for that at least; the man knew how to read people.

That didn't make this any less difficult. He'd just tortured someone he considered a brother because he'd asked him to, to make it believable. He had held his head under water as Dean struggled against his hold, and Seth broke inside despite the outward screams of hatred.

But Hunter bought it, every second. He stood back smiling while Seth damn near drowned one of his best friends. He pulled Seth aside after he had finally had enough of torturing Dean - his favorite past time as of late - and gave him the information they had been after.

"You know, Seth," he had said, throwing an arm over Seth's shoulder. "It's men like you that survive in this world. The ones willing to stab their brother in the back to get what they're owed."

It had taken everything he had to not push Hunter away, to not break his neck right there, to accept the backward compliment like he was supposed to with a grin of pride like his words were hitting home. "Thank you, sir."

"I'm going to let you in on a little secret." Hunter said, leaning in close enough that Seth could smell his breath. "We will survive in this world because we are smart enough to do what it takes. The food trucks aren't needed anymore because we've created underground factories for food production. The natural order of things will take over and it's men like us who will stand tall in its wake."

That was it? Darwinism at work.

"When it's over, I'll need someone like you." Hunter continued, poking Seth in the chest to accentuate his point.

Though he had bit back what he truly wanted to say and where Helmsley could shove his offer, he nodded gratefully. "I'd be honored."

He hated himself for that, even if it wasn't a truth he personally held. He hated that he had to lie and pretend to be something he wasn't.

But he'd gotten what they needed. The food production was located where no one would think to look...Directly under the Cage.

So now, he had to find Roman. He had to explain that this was all part of a master plan, that they would need to work together to not only save Dean, but bring Hunter down.

To be honest, he didn't expect him to accept the offer to meet. Why would he? Seth had become the monster in Roman's eyes, he knew that. Maybe that's why when a hand wrapped around his throat, he jumped more that he should have.

Roman's face was there when his eyes shot open, his face the picture of rage, his fingers bruising Seth's neck as they squeezed. He deserved this.

"You have a lot of balls." He snarled in Seths face. "I should just snap your neck and be done with it."

"I see Paige kept her end of the bargain." He croaked out over the pressure. "We need to talk about Dean, big man."

Roman growled at him, an honest to god growl, and his fingers tightened for an excruciatingly long moment. Maybe it was Seth's words or his unwillingness to fight back that made Roman release his hold, but his hand relaxed and Seth could take a real breath. "Five minutes. Make it good because I have absolutely no problem beating you to death."

Seth swallowed hard, not taking the threat lightly. "I know this is going to be hard to believe, but this whole situation wasn't my idea. It was Dean's."

"Bullshit." Roman snapped. That was fair.

Seth took a breath and huffed it out quickly. "Look, despite how you feel about me right now, we have bigger fish to fry."

"Why should I believe anything that comes out of your lying mouth?"

That was also fair.

"Because if you don't, Dean will be dead by Sunday." He countered and proceeded to explain the situation to Roman, who stood stone faced throughout the exchange. Seth knew this would be a hard pill to swallow, that his chances of Roman believing him were slim to none. "The point was to distract Hunter, to lull him into a false sense of security. It worked, Roman, it fucking worked."

The wheels were turning in the large Samoans head, Seth could damn near see them. Then, "If I were to believe you, what would we have to do."

Seth let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Roman could have easily disregarded everything he had just told him as a lie and slammed his head against the brick wall for good measure. But he didn't. He was studying Seth with some sort of unexpected perplexed acceptance. He still had to tread lightly though as it was clear from the clenched fists of the man standing in front of him that he was still on very thin ice. "We take him down, Sunday, in front of the entire city."

Roman shook his head. "We get Dean out before that."

"We can't." Seth replied, wincing at the deserved snarl from Roman. "Look, if we get Dean out now, everything will be fucked up. The city needs to see Hunter fall. Hunter trusts me, strangely enough, I will take him out while you cause a distraction."

"Will they fall for that again?"

Seth shrugged. "I don't know. I'd expect heightened security, so it'll be difficult, but we gotta try."

There was a long moment where Seth honestly believed Roman would turn him down. He was surprised when he nodded, slowly at first, as his understanding set it. "Sunday?"

"Sunday."

Then his hand was around Seth's neck again, "You betray me, and you'll wish you'd never been born. Is that clear?"

"Crystal."

He studied his face for a second, released his grip, and slipped away back into the night with a repeated "Sunday."

This was it. Their last stand. If this went wrong, the city was fucked. He could only hold to the belief that Roman would do what he needed to because Seth's task was far more dangerous.

He had to assassinate Triple H.