Whipped

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Dick Wolf owns everything.

Rating: T

Summary: A string of kidnappings and murders lead Olivia and Elliot to go undercover into a sex club. Note: My imagination ran wild, thanks to a specific 30 second clip from "Shadow."

Angelina Strobes sat with Karl in his private office at the club. She took out the newspaper clipping once again and slid it across the desk to Karl. "Special Victims Unit Special Cop" was the headline, and above it was a photo of Olivia holding a child in a bright yellow jacket. Karl skimmed the article.

"Are you sure Alexis is this..." he paused to check the article, "Detective Benson?"

"I'm pretty sure. I saw the photo and realized she was a dead ringer for Alexis, but I wasn't about to say anything without being sure. I am a reporter; I like to get my facts straight before I say anything."

Karl nodded approvingly. "And?" he said.

"Well, I went down to the Special Victims Unit, and I asked to speak with Detective Benson regarding a story. Get this, she's on leave." Angelina said.

XxXxX

"Very well, Mistress, I understand that you want to view your merchandise personally. We have a training room set up in this building, along with our best girls. Miklos will take you there, and I'll have the girls that match your description sent in. Please, take all of the time you need. And, before you ask, they have all been fed three times a day, and given no restriction on water. Miklos, please show Mistress Alexis to the training room." Miklos offered his arm to show her out. Elliot stepped to follow him, and was stopped by Demetrius.

"Sorry, I can only allow one customer in the training room at a time. You understand." Demetrius pulled out a gun and held it casually over his body. Elliot reluctantly stayed behind and hoped that Olivia would be able to handle things on her own, considering how it looked like she was close to faltering just a few minutes ago. "Come, James, we can both watch from in here." He led Elliot over to a series of monitors that captured the training room from every angle.

The training room was the size of a small gymnasium, and it dwarfed the New York dungeon. Miklos pulled the door closed. An electronic combination lock was fixed on it, and it made a deafening click as the door swung into place. Miklos also extracted a gun, stood by the doorway and watched Olivia. Two more muscled men entered, carried cow prods, escorting a line of a dozen girls who were all crawling. They knelt in a line in the center of the room. Olivia slowly paced in front of the girls, noticing how the hard floors enhanced the clack of her shoes. One by one, she had the girls stand while she inspected them from head to toe.

"Well, now, you've been holding out on me. This selection is far superior to what I saw in New York." She issued basic commands to each girl, which they followed to the letter. She was doing everything she could not to actually hurt them without blowing her cover. She eyed Miklos who was giving her a quizzical look. Damn, she thought. They're going to make me.

"String them up." she said to the two that had escorted the girls in. They took each girl and put her in suspension restraints. "How well do they tolerate the lash?" she asked Miklos.

"I assure you, Mistress, they are all properly trained to accept whatever punishment you seem fit." Olivia turned back to them.

XxXxX

Elliot watched everything Olivia was doing on the monitors. She was so dangerously close to being made. It was so against her nature to play this particular role. They were expecting her to be cruel and ruthless, neither of which she was, and all he could do was watch.

XxXxX

Olivia's mind was racing. This was the do or die moment; she was either going to have to put on one hell of a show, or she and Elliot were going to be made. She surveyed her options. All three men in the room were standing toward the edge of the wall. She went down the line one more time.

"No, no, maybe, no, no, no, no, maybe, maybe, no, no, no." The ones that she had dismissed were led out of the room, leaving her with three. She walked up to the first one. Using the guise of giving her a more thorough inspection, she took the opportunity to whisper in her ear, "Scream when I hit you." She walked around to the other side of the girl, and gave her 5 gentle blows, courtesy of Mistress Sasha's excellent instruction, which she exaggerated for show. The girl screamed as if she were in genuine pain. She repeated the process for the other two. Smiling, she turned back to Miklos.

"I think I've seen what I need to see. My husband handles all of the financial transactions, so I'll need to speak with him before I can make a final selection."

"Very well, Mistress. I'll escort you back to the office." He clapped his hands twice and the three girls that remained were led away.

XxXxX

Olivia re-entered the office followed closely by Miklos. She sidled over to Elliot and slipped a hand around his waste and boasting a smile of sheer bliss.

"Thank you, Miklos, I'll take it from here." Demetrius said, leaving him alone with Elliot and Olivia.

"What did you think, honey?" he asked.

"I have to choose just one?" she looked up at him, with a mock disappointed look on her face. The fax machine in the room beeped and whirled as it processed an incoming message. A sheet of paper, containing the image of "Special Victims Unit Special Cop" slid over the roller and out onto the tray. Elliot chuckled.

"Alexis, honey, I think maybe you should sleep on this one. Demetrius, can we schedule another appointment with you tomorrow to give you our decision and make travel arrangements?" Elliot asked.

"Of course. Shall we meet at, say, 1:00?" Demetrius said.

"1:00 is fine. Thanks." Elliot said. They were escorted back out to the same car they had arrived in. The driver drove them back into Budapest and dropped them off at the luxury hotel they were booked in.

XxXxX

Demetrius walked over to retrieve the fax as soon as his guests had left. He scanned the article quickly.

"Miklos!" he yelled. "Get in here!"

"Yes, sir?" Miklos said.

"The couple that just left here…the girl is Detective Olivia Benson. I need you to go take care of the problem. Take out her husband too, if that's who he really is, just to be safe." Miklos nodded and turned to leave. Off in the distance, a black car drifted out on the road to follow him.

XxXxX

Agent Varga from INTERPOL had been following Elliot and Olivia since the moment the stepped off the plane in Budapest. So far, they had made contact, and more importantly, they had lead him straight to Demetrius' hideout.

"Varga to base. I have a location. A vehicle left the premises, heading toward Budapest."

"Base to Varga, our phone taps show in incoming fax from a US number. Be advised your undercover may be compromised."

"Any idea what the content of that fax was?"

"Not yet. We're working on it. You'll be notified."

"Acknowledged."

They were approaching the city limits. The increase in traffic flow allowed Varga the opportunity to speed past Miklos and reach the hotel before him. A tone sounded on his Blackberry, indicating a text message.

"They've been made. Fax was newspaper article from Benson's past."

XxXxX

Olivia had changed into a pair of sweats, and Elliot had opted for jeans and a T-shirt. She had been very quiet since they had gotten in the car.

"You ok, Liv?" Elliot asked. She took in a deep breath and let it out.

"I'm fine, El." she said. He sat next to her and took her hand in both of his.

"You did what you had to do." he said.

"I know. I'm fine. Really. Let's just drop it, ok?" She moved to the center of the bed, pulled out her file and buried herself in the paperwork for the day. Elliot took the hint and went to the bathroom the change into pajamas. Olivia's head bolted upward at the sound of a knock at the door. She grabbed her gun and headed over.

"INTERPOL agent, open up." came a voice. Olivia opened the door a crack and saw the flash of a badge. She pulled the door open to allow the agent to enter.

"Where's your partner?" he asked urgently. He started to gather their personal effects and throw them haphazardly into suitcases.

"He's in the bathroom, and what are you doing?" she asked.

"No time, you've been made. We believe Demetrius has an assassin en route now. We need to get you both out of here tonight." Olivia's eyes widened. She hurried over and banged on the bathroom door.

"El, El! Get out here, now!" The door opened.

"What's wrong? Are you ok?" he asked.

"No, we've been made." Everyone flew into high gear. They opted to leave behind the larger suitcases, taking only their small carry-ons with the absolute essentials, including all the paperwork and evidence they gathered. Agent Varga took them down the back stairwell and slipped them into his car.

"How were we made?" Olivia asked, afraid that the answer would have something to do with her being too gentle in her role. Varga slid the phone over to her. Her face paled as she saw the image of the article on the screen.

"That fax that was sent while you were in there…that was the content. Someone in New York must have connected the dots and raised red flags over here." Olivia passed the phone off to Elliot. He recognized the article.

"This is, like, 5 years old. How did they find this?" he asked.

"Good question. Just so you can sleep better tonight, we have agents waiting at the hotel to nab the assassin. Demetrius' little shop of horrors is being raided as we speak. You did great." He handed them boarding passes, bid farewell, and drove off.

XxXxX

"I'm telling you, we need to go after the husband. This guy has motive, opportunity, and a rap sheet longer than my arm." Munch was telling Fin.

"I still think it was the son. There's something about him that just isn't sitting right with me." Fin replied. He looked up and saw Elliot and Olivia come through the door.

"Well, well, well, look who's back! What the hell happened to you two?" Fin said, standing up to greet them.

"Rumor has it, Olivia has developed a new fondness for leather. Can we put you down for entertainment at the Christmas party?" Munch quipped. Olivia rolled her eyes.

"I'm not sure where you heard that because it's classified," she said, accenting the last word, "but what we can tell you is that we were on loan, and now we're back."

"Olivia, we didn't expect you back so soon. There was a reporter in her yesterday looking for you, Angelina Strode. She said she was putting together a piece on women in traditionally male dominated professions. You might still be able to reach her." Cragen said. Elliot and Olivia exchanged glances. Cragen sighed. "What did I miss?"

"Elliot, that article. Didn't we meet a woman named Angelina that first night at the club?" Olivia said. Elliot had already bolted over to his desk.

"A reporter that we happened to meet, and we get made by a newspaper article? That can't be a coincidence. I'll call Porter."

XxXxX

Elliot and Olivia sat outside on the front stoop of her apartment building late that night. She was sipping a cup of tea, while he preferred coffee.

"Feels like we've done this before, doesn't it?" Elliot said. She nodded.

"Yep, except we were at your place, and I paid for the drinks." She took another sip of tea. "The hardest part of all of this is not knowing what happened to those girls. Not being able to tell them I was a cop or apologize to them…"

"You can't do this to yourself, Liv. You can't beat yourself up. If you had acted differently, we might all be in pine boxes. Us and those girls. You had a choice to make, and you made the one that saved everyone's lives." She stared into her cup.

"You hungry?" she asked. He chuckled.

"We have had this conversation before. Sure, but this time, you're buying." The two stood up and strolled down the street, content to be back in New York, back in SVU, and say good-bye to the Mancinis.

I love the last scene in "Burned," and I couldn't resist a nod in that direction for the end of this. Also, the newspaper article is cannon…it was on the back of a door in "Quarry." Let me know what you think! I hope you've enjoyed reading this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it.