FicWad

“This must be the other code I picked up,” Ray announced as he and Bob joined Frank at the bars.
“Yeah, you’re damn smart after the event, aren’t you,” Gerard laughed.
“So much for you supposedly hating your job!” Frank retorted. “You were quick to protect the very thing that you say you hate.”
“No, I did this to protect me and Mikey! First to get Mikes away from you and second there was no way I was going to risk ending up in prison because of them thinking I was helping you.”
“I thought you’d never come across an innocent man jailed!”
“I didn’t want to be the first!” Gerard snapped back, unaware that almost the exact same thing had happened to Frank.

Frank ran his hand through his hair; he had mere minutes to think of a way out. Otherwise, the police would arrive and it would all be over. He glanced guiltily at Bob; this was to be his last job before trying to find his abused son. He was pale and scared, if they were arrested, there was no chance he’d even be allowed to see his son again, let alone get custody of him.

“Bob,” he said urgently, “will that gadget open the lock?”
Bob shook his head. “It’s for mechanical locks, not electric. Sorry, Frank.”
“Damn it! Ray,” Frank turned to face his obviously scared associate, “try anyway.”

Frank looked beyond the bars to where the brothers still stood. He was out of options; with no explosive to blow the lock, they were trapped unless Ray could somehow manage to programme something to beat the timing between code changes. As Frank looked out from within the vault, pale and fearful, only Gerard faced him now; Mikey had turned away.

“You might well look scared, Iero,” Gerard crowed, “and you should get used to those bars too. Attempted robbery, kidnapping, murder? I’d say that was life, wouldn’t you?”
“We haven’t murdered anyone!” Frank insisted.
“Nice try, but haven’t you forgotten my manager? You tampered with his car.”
“What are you talking about?” Frank cried in frustration. “We didn’t touch his car, we just broke his leg so he couldn’t go to work.”

Mikey turned back; could Frank be telling the truth? But surely Gerard wouldn’t lie about that. They couldn’t both be right, but they could both think they were right; his experience in court had taught him that.

“What did you do?” Mikey asked quietly.

Frank turned his eyes towards Mikey before lowering them briefly. What he would admit to wouldn’t make him look good, but it would at least show him that he wasn’t a murderer

“Leave it, Mikey, don’t let him bother you any more, you’re safe now,” Gerard spoke softly and comfortingly.
“You really care about him, don’t you?” Frank said with a faint smile on his face.

Gerard frowned, puzzled by the comment; of all things he expected Frank to say, that was not it.

“What did you do?” Mikey repeated, taking a few steps closer to the bars.
“I had your brother’s phone bugged for weeks; his and his manager. As soon as I heard you were coming to visit, I arranged for an attack on the bank manager. We broke his leg, it wasn’t smashed or anything really bad, just enough to keep him off work for a few days. Then, when Gerard had to cancel his vacation and he went into work, we kidnapped you.”
“Liar!” Gerard snapped venomously. “You tampered with his car! He crashed on the way into work! You told me that yourself!”
“No I didn’t!” Frank cried, astonished by the accusation. “I just told you he’d had an accident.”
“Yeah, his car.”
“I didn’t say anything about a car!”
“Gee,” Mikey cut in, “who told you about the manager’s car accident?”
“His wife called. She was already at work on an early shift when she found out and went to the hospital.”
“Did anyone say his car had been tampered with?” Mikey asked. “Or did you just assume when Frank mentioned the accident?”
“Don’t play lawyer with me, Mikey! Why are you defending these people?” Gerard replied, confused by Mikey’s behaviour.
“Isn’t it possible he tried to drive himself to the hospital, not realising how bad it was and he crashed?”
Gerard shook his head in bewilderment. “Why are you doing this? Don’t you want them locked up for what they’ve done to you?”
Mikey paused for a few moments; he surprised even himself that he was considering the question.
“No,” he finally replied, much to everyone’s surprise. “Gee, it’s not that straightforward. Let them go, please?”
“What?!” Gerard’s face twisted in confusion as his brother said the very last thing he expected him to.
“Please, Gee, they’re not all bad, there’s so much you don’t know.”
Gerard shook his head in disbelief.
“What are you talking about? Oh, yeah, I know! This is that… that thing where people sympathise with their kidnappers and end up liking them.”
“Stockholm Syndrome,” Mikey replied with a small shake of his head.
“That’s it! That’s what this is, isn’t it?” Gerard looked pained. “Mikes, it’s a recognised reaction, but that’s all it is. These guys kidnapped you and beat you up! They threatened to kill you Mikes! You can’t really like them.”
“I… I know and yes, I have grown to like them… I…”

Mikey turned to look at Frank, watching silently from behind the bars, engrossed in the conversation, realising that Gerard’s behaviour was borne of filial love and concern. Now he noticed Mikey staring at him and he returned the gaze with a faint smile.

“I don’t understand you, Mikey,” Gerard stated shaking his head.
“You don’t have to. Can you open that gate?”
“What? No!” Gerard pulled at the cuffs in frustration, wishing he could simply grab Mikey and drag him from the vault room. As far as he was concerned, Mikey had suffered a terrible trauma leaving him confused and disturbed.
“Please, Gee! You don’t understand!”
“You’re damn right I don’t understand!”

As the last few exchanges were taking place, Ray was making something of a breakthrough.
“Bob!” Ray called quietly from where he sat cross-legged on the floor near the wall. “I need your help.
“What is it?” he asked dropping to one knee at Ray’s side.
“I’ve managed to override the code changing and I’ve got the code to open it, but I need you here to get out as soon as it opens and stop them making a break for it.”
“He’s a fool to have stayed.”
Ray glanced up and smiled. “Well, he thought he was safe, didn’t he?”
“Okay, I’m ready, open it.”

Frank turned his head sharply as the barred gate started to move and he saw Bob poised to run out as soon as the gate had pulled back far enough. The sudden movement took Gerard by surprise and he turned urgently to face his brother.

“Mikey!” he called, nodding toward the door. But by the time he looked back, Bob was at his side, seizing his arms. Struggling in the ex-soldier’s grip, Gerard was astonished by how strong he was and no longer surprised at how Mikey was overcome by him.
“No!” Frank yelled, stepping forward to join them. “Don’t hurt him.”
“After what he’s done?” Bob replied incredulously.
“We still need him,” Frank explained with a slight shake of his head.
“Why?”

From beyond the vault room, almost as if on cue, they heard a man shout from beyond the vault room.
“Mister Way, are you safe in there?”
“Don’t come in!” Mikey shouted. “They’ll kill us.”
“What the…”
Gerard was perplexed by the reply, but cut short as Bob clamped his hand over his mouth. Unlike Ray, Bob knew the right technique and not only was Gerard silenced, but he was held firm and unable to struggle.
“Who is this?” yelled the man outside.
“Mikey Way,” he called back; hearing a quieter voice say ‘the brother’.
“If even your shadow comes this way, we’ll blow his head off!” Frank shouted convincingly.
“There’s no way you can escape,” the man replied.
“Oh, I think you’re gonna just let us walk out of here, or there’ll be a lot of blood on these walls.”
Frank turned to Mikey and shrugged playfully.
“Tell them to bring a car to the door and get right back. Mikey…” Frank began hesitantly. “Why are you helping us?”
“Because I was right all along,” he replied with a faint smile.
“About what?” Frank asked bewildered.
“You’re not a bad man.”

Gerard felt Bob’s grip on him relax and he pulled with all his strength to get free. Finally breaking from his grip, Gerard headed quickly for the door. As he appeared in the corridor a single shot rang out and he slumped immediately, dropping to the floor, crumpled against the wall.

“Gerard!” Mikey cried rushing forward only to be held back by Bob.
“Let me go!” Mikey struggled furiously, tears forming in his eyes as he stared terrified at the unmoving form of his brother. “They shot Gee! Let me go!”

Frank quickly moved past Bob and the struggling Mikey.
“Hold him,” he ordered as he past.
“I’m trying to! It’s like trying to keep hold of a rabid puppy!” Bob replied in frustration.
As Frank reached the door, not daring to step beyond, he stared long and hard at Gerard; finally sighing with relief as he saw him move and groan.
“Way to go, dumb ass!” he shouted to the gathered police. “You shot the guy who tipped you off! Now, I’ll tell you what you’re gonna do. You’re gonna move back, slowly but you’re gonna get right out of this bank and bring a fully fuelled car to the door. I have access to all the security cameras in here and if I see even one of you in here after two minutes, I’m going to finish the job. Okay?”
Frank was met with total silence.
“I said, okay?”
“Check the cameras, we’re pulling back now,” came the reply.
Frank turned to look at Ray. “Ray, any chance you could…” he began in a whisper.
“Already on it, Frank,”
“Bob, he’s okay, I think it’s skimmed his leg. Do you think you could fix him up?”
Bob nodded as Mikey stopped struggling. Realising that Gerard was alive and only slightly hurt was good news in itself, but knowing that they cared that he was looked after only served to confirm in his own mind that they were worth saving too. They would all have to use all of their talents and skills to get out of this one, but Mikey found himself smiling as he thought about the challenge ahead.