Categories > Celebrities > 30 Seconds to Mars > Escape
~~~~~~~~~~~*
It had been an hour since Tomo had dropped Shannon back to his home after being discharged. He decided that he had better change his clothes as he had been wearing them for days. As he went to throw his jeans into the washing machine he paused as his hands brushed against something that he had not previously noticed in his pocket. Shannon's brows were contracted in confusion as his hand was withdrawn from his jean pocket holding a folded piece of paper. With no recollection of the origin of the paper he unfolded it reveling a small narrow strip. Upon it in black, slanting ink was:
'Until you see, I shall not speak' a phone number was also inked below it.
Perplexed, he continued to stare at the paper, but was unable to glean any more meaning from it or from whom it was from. He concluded that it was very unlikely to be Tomo simply giving him his new number and turned over the slip.
Instead of a name as he had been expecting, a symbol was drawn upon the otherwise blank page. A religious cross entwined with a rose. His brows furrowed as he stood completely non-plussed. Shannon kept flipping the paper around as though simply by staring the meaning to the equally puzzling sides of the paper would leap out at him.
He was drawn from his musings by a knock on the front door and hurried off to answer it. Tomo raced throughlooking a little dazed.
"You haven't bought a dog have you?", He asked distracted.
"Err, No... why?-", Shannon replied perplexed. Tomo shook his head and then started as if remembering something.
"News!", He suddenly shouted causing Shannon to jump, "News! Have you seen the news?"
"N-No... Tomo what's happened?"
Tomo didn't answer, but rushed to the Leto's Living room and began flicking through the channels until 'ABC' news flashed on the large, wall-mounted screen.
A well-dressed, straight faced women was speaking into the camera, a photo of Jared smiling was super-imposed behind her.
"Yes... I've already seen the report on his dissap-"
"Shhh, listen", Tomo instructed. Shannon did as he was bidden and soon the picture changed to that of one he instantly recognised, in fact he had spoken to him on the night Caspian phoned - though he severely doubted that he could possibly have any recollection or the phone call. The photo was of the 30 year old, onstage, with his long black bangs.
"Gerard Way," The Anchorwomen read, "Has also been reported missing by younger brother Mikey. Mikey states that he has not seen Gerard in five days"
Shannon was about to speak when Tomo cut him off.
"Keep watching... it gets worse!"
As if on cue Gerard's picture changed. This time to a woman.
"Hayley Williams... As well?", Shannon gasped whilst Tomo nodded solemnly, "This is... - I mean - Three singers of three bands go missing in one week... It can't be a coincidence!"
"Where're you're going!", Tomo asked as Shannon dived for his keys and ran to the front door.
"Somewhere... You comming?", He replied. Tomo sighed before following Shannon out of the door.
Shannon ignored any of Tomo's queries as they both got into the large silver car.
"There see!", Tomo exclaimed as Shannon pulled out of the driveway, he was pointing out of the window where a large, black dog lay below a bush in Shannon's garden, partly hidden by view.
"He ain't mine, must be a neighbours dog... or Jared's been turned into a dog that would probably make things simpler", Shannon muttered under his breath.
"Shann, please where are we going?",
"Mikey Way's in L.A, I want to have a word with him.", Shannon sighed as he finally answered Tomo's question. He did, however, consciously leave one crucial element out of his answer, but Tomo would find out soon enough he told himself.
Mikey and the band were staying in a hotel a short drive from Shannon's home. Shannon received a quizzical and slightly sceptical look from Tomo as he pulled up in front of the grand building and exited the car. Tomo drummed his fingers against the dashboard, humming to himself as he waited for Shannon to return from the depths of the large hotel.
It was ten minutes before Shannon emerged, with a slightly ill looking Mikey Way behind him, and got back into the car. Tomo swivelled round and gave a smile to Mikey, who sat in the back seat. Mikey returned it with a smaller, plastic smile through which concern for his brother flooded through, as present as it was in Shannon's eyes.
The car was silent as the car once again moved along the busy street. The gigantic sign standing guard over its precious city towered over them, growing closer with each impossibly fast revolution of the car's wheels.
"Shann, where are we going?", Tomo asked growing evermore suspicious. He felt as though he had an inkling of where the car was heading and it made an army of many-legged creatures scuttle across his spine. Shannon took a long pause before muttering something incoherent under his breath, "sorry?" Tomo replied
"The warehouse...", Shannon spoke louder this time his face sheepish. Tomo's mouth dropped into an 'O' shape
"What? Shannon have you gone insane? The last time you went there you were drugged!", Tomo shriekedincredulously. They argued for several minutes before Tomo finally backed down, he had learnt from his time in the band that trying to change a Leto's mind always proves futile and simply resorted to staring out the window, Mikey shifted slightly in his seat.
Shannon sighed and reached down to switch on the radio. They listened, indifferent, as a host prattled through the speakers. His voice began to fade into the bars of a unintroduced song. Shannon shook his head slightly and smiled as he instantly recognised it as one of their own 'Saviour', Tomo began to tap the beats out onto the car'sinnards whilst Shannon mouthed the words his brother sang, listening intently.
"Until you see, how could you believe?"
Shannon gasped dramatically.
"What! What? did you see him?", Tomo asked excited. Shannon didn't reply, instead performed an illegal U-turn andreceived some colourful swear words from Mikey, "Shannon, what the hell do you think you're doing!" Tomo yelled, nursing the arm that he had banged due to the car's voilent swerve.
Shannon was not listening, he knew exactly what he was doing and he could feel that little fragment of paper tingle inside his jacket pocket. The car pulled up outside the city library, Shannon exited the vehicle followed by an infuriated Tomo and slightly confused looking Mikey. It was only when they were inside the library did Shannon decide to explain his behaviour by taking out the paper and waving it at his two accompanies. Although Shannon's mind was whirring too much to give what most human beings would class as a sufficient explination. Instead, he breathlessly babbled words and sentences of little value to Tomo and Mikey's ears as they followed him through the marble building.
"I knew it, knew that I had heard those words - 'Until you see'- before. Beleive get it! It's either Jared or that Caspian bloke trying to tell us something", Tomo tried his best to interrupt Shannon especially as Caspian wasmention but failed miserably as the Leto steam rolled on, "It's simple! And I bet you anything...", Shannon didn't finish the sentence, he had reached his destination and was conversing with a middle aged librarian sitting behind the large oak desk whilst showing her the reverse side of the piece of paper. She nodded and pushed her glasses further up her nose before exiting her station and beckoning the party to follow.
"It's a strange story really", The librarian addressed the three men following her, "A man came in and donated the book about a week ago, said that someone might find it interesting." Shannon raised his eyebrows at Tomo in a 'I told you so' manner. They were lead into a desrserted area of the library consisting of rows of leather bound books. Their blonde guide mumbled to herself as she ghosted her hands along the various delicate spines of the many books as though the desired one would leap out from it's sanctuary.
"Ah-ha!", she wiggled the fingers of her hand hovering over one of the battered spines before drawing from its snug spot, not unlike a warrior unsheathes his sword for battle. "Here you go sir, if you decide you wish to take it out of the building, then please consult me first.", her gaze lingered on Shannon and then Tomo for a few long seconds, as though wishing to say something, but thought better of it, instead, she gave a small smile before turning on her heels and leaving the room.
"Right", Shannon prompted as he took one of the seats surrounding the table upon which the book lay, Mikey andTomo followed suit. Shannon gasped when he saw the cover of the book. There was no title or author on the book, instead, embossed upon the brown peeling leather was a symbol one that Shannon was now very familiar with: a Rose entwining a
Christain cross. The three of them stared at the book.
"Shann... what's this about?", Tomo asked pleadingly. Shannon looked at his friend before explaining about the paper and showing the two men the symbol.
"So... you really think that this will help find our brothers?", Mikey asked
"Yes", Shannon replied licking his lips, "I do",
The book looked very old, peeling and faded with anonymous stains. In itself it was not overly large, which slightlydisapointed Shannon as somewhere deep down he had wanted to dramatically heave the cover open, for it to make a resounding thud on the table and cause clouds of dust to billow up. Instead, he merely flicked the A5 sized book open with an anti-climactic air. All three men leaned in to study the book's contents. Tomo furrowed his brow as the books pages were flicked through, as did Mikey, Shannon however, wore a satisfied grin upon his face.
"... Vampires...", Tomo said in a weak voice.
That was exactly what this book revolved around, but it did not talk about vampires as though they were fiction. It was a sort of information book the kind that you might get if deciding to buy a puppy, including sightings, methods of turning vampires, it even included graphic drawings. But what inrigued Shannon most was the mention of two little words:
'The Den'
He gasped and pointed at the them before reading out loud the paragraph that followed.
"'Whilst many organisations for the prevention of vampire (and other creature) exposure to the general public, none is perhaps more well-known than 'The Den'. Working to protect 'so-called mythical creatures' and mortals from the dangers of each other, The Den is rumored to be based within Calafornia, North West America, and to be head command center of the 'MCP - Mythical Creatures Protection'. Other than mentioned above little is known about the facility due to the persistent secrecy of its leader Caspian' -" Shannon paused an squinted his eyes for something had seemingly been spilt on the page causing the ink of the next few lines to blur and spread and was now completely illegible. He continued to read what he could "- 'Vampires and werewolves are alleged to be the main creatures at The Den although reports of a' -", Shannon paused again" - bloody hell -... 'a Phoenix have been present'... blah, blah, blah something about the author not being responsible for misinformation on the bird..."
"Well... Either someone is going the extra mile for one of the most elaborate practical jokes in history or I do believe that you owe me an apology, Milicevic", Shannon lent back in his chair looking smug as he watched Tomo, who seemed to be slightly lost for words.
"Of, course it could be all made up..." He stated slowly, but then took a deep breath and shook his head, "but I don't think it is, you were right Shann...", He replied apologetically
"So you believe it?", Shannon asked him, Tomo swallowed
"Yes, I do... It just makes the whole situation a heck of a lot more complex... What about you Mikey?",
"Well... I-", Mikey seemed lost for words it was a lot for him to take in. He was prevented from answering by Shannon's mobile phone ringing. Shannon fumbled for it within his pocket, pressed the 'answer' key and held it to his ear:
"Hello... Oh, Hi!... Brilliant... yeah, uh-huh... what! Really?... okay, well thank you very much... okay goodbye",
The other two waited for Shannon to finish
"That was the hospital, they had the results of the drug test in aaaand... Nothing! It's never been discovered before and they have no idea on its origins and want me to contact them as soon as I feel strange as they're not sure of any side-effects - obviously, as it's an unknown drug. But they think that it should be out of my system by now"
"Woah, so it looks like vampires don't just invest in Desflurane and the likes to go around knocking everyone out..." Said Tomo with a raised eyebrow. It was a few minutes of silence before Mikey asked asked to look at the book, Tomo obliged by sliding it across the table
"Creating Vampires, Sustaining them... Destroying them - that could be useful!" Mikey summarised some of the chapters after flicking though the browning pages. He was interrupted by Tomo coughing to indicate that they were no longer alone. Mickey threw the book down so that it lay open. No one though to cover or conceal it as they were preoccupied by the figures at the entrance to the small back room of the library they were in.
It was clear that the two girls standing there had been doing so for a while, it was also clear that they knew exactly who the three men sitting at the table were - the fact that one girl displayed a 'Triad' necklace proudly on her neck made a small icy cube of dread slip down Shannon's throat, at that moment fans were not on his list of things to deal
with.
One of the two, she was blonde and wearing a small gold key threaded on a string of ribbon instead of the triad, stepped forward tentatively. Her friend followed her example and soon both girls stood next to the table. The 'triad' girl gave her long purple hair a nervous shake before clearing her throat.
"S-sorry to disturb you... We just wanted to say that we're so sorry about Jared and that all of the Echelon arelooking for him - and Gerard", she added turning to Mikey, "We'll find them"
Both girls smiled reassuringly at the three men who all smiled of thanks.
"Thanks guys... Sorry, we didn't catch your names", Shannon said politely. The blonde girl waved her hand at herself and then at her friend.
"My name's Leah, and this is Abbie. We were on holiday here when we heard the news... We were due to fly back to Wales today, but we've deferred our flight for a week."
"What's this?", Shannon spun around to see Abbie peering over his shoulder at the open pages of the sincediscarded book.
"Err, it's nothing... We were just" Shannon stuttered
"Vampires!", Abbie exclaimed excited she then paused, thinking, "Wait... you don't mean... really?... No surely not!"
"Really, it's nothing!", Shannon said briskly, shutting the book with a thud
"It's fine...Mr. Leto - Shannon - May I call you Shannon?... I get it!"
"Get what?", Leah asked, bemused.
Shannon sighed before turning to Tomo and Mikey for advice, Tomo gave him a 'we're gonna need as much help as we can get' shrug. Mikey indicated to two vacant chairs for the girls to sit upon
"Okay", Shannon breathed before launching himself into a retell of what had happened since the first night Jared had acted strange. The girls were left slightly in shock after he had stopped talking, "I know that you probably don't believe me...", He said with his head tilted slightly.
"No, we do!", Leah said fervently, Abbie nodded to confirm this. "We'll help you in any way that we can."
Shannon lent back, musing as he stroked his slight beard.
"welllll, I guess there is something - no I can't..." He looked lost a deep contemplation was taking place beneaththose hazel eye. Finally, he inhaled deeply thinking of his baby brothers glowing face. "Ok, we'll need to get into the den somehow, Gerard and Jay must be in there Hayley as well I hope! I think Caspian wants me to talk to him... 'Until you see, I will not speak' So that's what I'm gonna do",
"Shann, I dunno about that",
"If it gets them back then I don't care what I have to do! Besides it's not as if it's his fault, he's trying to help Jared and the others"
"It's just... the guy creeps me out and I haven't even met him!"
"I know Tomo... But what other chance have we got?", There was silence for a few minutes, then suddenly, "I'mgoing in",
"What! No Shann you can't... not by yourself",
"I'm gonna go in there and find them! I don't care how, I just am!", His brown eyes were smouldering now like logs on a fire, "Leah, Abbie do you think that you could get some help... round up the Echelon and MCRmy?"
Both girls gave a mock salute
"/To the warriors and keepers of the gate... we wait/!" Abbie quoted with a smile,
"A call to arms", Leah added, "Time to go to war"
Tomo shook his head incredulously, but Shannon could tell that beneath his bushy beard lay a toothy grin.
"Your brother must have planned this when making that album",
"Well the Echelon are warriors... We'd go to the edge of the earth and fight to the death for you guys", Abbie winked
"Yep, There is a fire inside of this heart and a riot about to explode into flames" Leah giggled
"And whoever took them had better run away 'cause I'll attack".
"of course, we're not afraid to keep on living, awake and unafraid", Leah finished, grinning at Mikey who's lips
curled
"Okay! Okay! Enough with the lyric quoting before I go mad!" Tomo chuckled waving his arms above his head.
"Brilliant," Shannon clapped both hands together.
"What's the plan then?", Mikey asked
"Right, after I've gone in there and hopefully found them I might need some help getting out again! Caspian didn't seem too keen on me seeing Jay the last time so I might need to use a little force!",
"So your not as trusing of him as you seem" Tomo said looking pleased
"I'm not sure... If I can get in there and out, then that's brill... but if whatever is going on in there is not quite what it seems, then I guess we're gonna have to fight! And that's where we may need outside help!".
~~~~~~~~~~~*
Shannon and Tomo were sitting in Shannon's car on the road adjacent to the warehouse. They were concealed by trees and busy going over the plan to each other.
"It's 1600 hours" Tomo raised his eyebrows at the way in which Shannon had decided to deliver the time, "What? we may as well make this sound like a proper military operation... anyway, so if I'm not out of there by... 8:00 amtomorrow morning them initiate 'operation Buffy'"
Both friends looked and laughed, "Gotta love Leah for that name. Right, so that should give me 16 hours to get in and out which should be just enough time to get Jared, Gerard and Hayley out of there and hopefully not enough time for me to get killed or something... You never know though, the Jackson 5 could be down there for all we know so it may turn into a full-blown rescue mission."
"...and Leah, Abbie, Mikey, Frank and Ray are at your house, which is where I'll be going after dropping you off"
"Correct", Shannon nodded
"Just be careful Shann... please" Tomo begged with sad eyes as Shannon reached for the car door.
"I'm always careful, See ya later Tomislav!", Shannon slammed the door behind him, placed his index and ring finger to his forehead and brought them swiftly away again to say goodbye to Tomo before promptly tripping over a rock.
"God help us...", Tomo muttered as he watched his friend dust himself off and walk towards 'The Den'
~~~~~~~~~~~*
It had been an hour since Tomo had dropped Shannon back to his home after being discharged. He decided that he had better change his clothes as he had been wearing them for days. As he went to throw his jeans into the washing machine he paused as his hands brushed against something that he had not previously noticed in his pocket. Shannon's brows were contracted in confusion as his hand was withdrawn from his jean pocket holding a folded piece of paper. With no recollection of the origin of the paper he unfolded it reveling a small narrow strip. Upon it in black, slanting ink was:
'Until you see, I shall not speak' a phone number was also inked below it.
Perplexed, he continued to stare at the paper, but was unable to glean any more meaning from it or from whom it was from. He concluded that it was very unlikely to be Tomo simply giving him his new number and turned over the slip.
Instead of a name as he had been expecting, a symbol was drawn upon the otherwise blank page. A religious cross entwined with a rose. His brows furrowed as he stood completely non-plussed. Shannon kept flipping the paper around as though simply by staring the meaning to the equally puzzling sides of the paper would leap out at him.
He was drawn from his musings by a knock on the front door and hurried off to answer it. Tomo raced throughlooking a little dazed.
"You haven't bought a dog have you?", He asked distracted.
"Err, No... why?-", Shannon replied perplexed. Tomo shook his head and then started as if remembering something.
"News!", He suddenly shouted causing Shannon to jump, "News! Have you seen the news?"
"N-No... Tomo what's happened?"
Tomo didn't answer, but rushed to the Leto's Living room and began flicking through the channels until 'ABC' news flashed on the large, wall-mounted screen.
A well-dressed, straight faced women was speaking into the camera, a photo of Jared smiling was super-imposed behind her.
"Yes... I've already seen the report on his dissap-"
"Shhh, listen", Tomo instructed. Shannon did as he was bidden and soon the picture changed to that of one he instantly recognised, in fact he had spoken to him on the night Caspian phoned - though he severely doubted that he could possibly have any recollection or the phone call. The photo was of the 30 year old, onstage, with his long black bangs.
"Gerard Way," The Anchorwomen read, "Has also been reported missing by younger brother Mikey. Mikey states that he has not seen Gerard in five days"
Shannon was about to speak when Tomo cut him off.
"Keep watching... it gets worse!"
As if on cue Gerard's picture changed. This time to a woman.
"Hayley Williams... As well?", Shannon gasped whilst Tomo nodded solemnly, "This is... - I mean - Three singers of three bands go missing in one week... It can't be a coincidence!"
"Where're you're going!", Tomo asked as Shannon dived for his keys and ran to the front door.
"Somewhere... You comming?", He replied. Tomo sighed before following Shannon out of the door.
Shannon ignored any of Tomo's queries as they both got into the large silver car.
"There see!", Tomo exclaimed as Shannon pulled out of the driveway, he was pointing out of the window where a large, black dog lay below a bush in Shannon's garden, partly hidden by view.
"He ain't mine, must be a neighbours dog... or Jared's been turned into a dog that would probably make things simpler", Shannon muttered under his breath.
"Shann, please where are we going?",
"Mikey Way's in L.A, I want to have a word with him.", Shannon sighed as he finally answered Tomo's question. He did, however, consciously leave one crucial element out of his answer, but Tomo would find out soon enough he told himself.
Mikey and the band were staying in a hotel a short drive from Shannon's home. Shannon received a quizzical and slightly sceptical look from Tomo as he pulled up in front of the grand building and exited the car. Tomo drummed his fingers against the dashboard, humming to himself as he waited for Shannon to return from the depths of the large hotel.
It was ten minutes before Shannon emerged, with a slightly ill looking Mikey Way behind him, and got back into the car. Tomo swivelled round and gave a smile to Mikey, who sat in the back seat. Mikey returned it with a smaller, plastic smile through which concern for his brother flooded through, as present as it was in Shannon's eyes.
The car was silent as the car once again moved along the busy street. The gigantic sign standing guard over its precious city towered over them, growing closer with each impossibly fast revolution of the car's wheels.
"Shann, where are we going?", Tomo asked growing evermore suspicious. He felt as though he had an inkling of where the car was heading and it made an army of many-legged creatures scuttle across his spine. Shannon took a long pause before muttering something incoherent under his breath, "sorry?" Tomo replied
"The warehouse...", Shannon spoke louder this time his face sheepish. Tomo's mouth dropped into an 'O' shape
"What? Shannon have you gone insane? The last time you went there you were drugged!", Tomo shriekedincredulously. They argued for several minutes before Tomo finally backed down, he had learnt from his time in the band that trying to change a Leto's mind always proves futile and simply resorted to staring out the window, Mikey shifted slightly in his seat.
Shannon sighed and reached down to switch on the radio. They listened, indifferent, as a host prattled through the speakers. His voice began to fade into the bars of a unintroduced song. Shannon shook his head slightly and smiled as he instantly recognised it as one of their own 'Saviour', Tomo began to tap the beats out onto the car'sinnards whilst Shannon mouthed the words his brother sang, listening intently.
"Until you see, how could you believe?"
Shannon gasped dramatically.
"What! What? did you see him?", Tomo asked excited. Shannon didn't reply, instead performed an illegal U-turn andreceived some colourful swear words from Mikey, "Shannon, what the hell do you think you're doing!" Tomo yelled, nursing the arm that he had banged due to the car's voilent swerve.
Shannon was not listening, he knew exactly what he was doing and he could feel that little fragment of paper tingle inside his jacket pocket. The car pulled up outside the city library, Shannon exited the vehicle followed by an infuriated Tomo and slightly confused looking Mikey. It was only when they were inside the library did Shannon decide to explain his behaviour by taking out the paper and waving it at his two accompanies. Although Shannon's mind was whirring too much to give what most human beings would class as a sufficient explination. Instead, he breathlessly babbled words and sentences of little value to Tomo and Mikey's ears as they followed him through the marble building.
"I knew it, knew that I had heard those words - 'Until you see'- before. Beleive get it! It's either Jared or that Caspian bloke trying to tell us something", Tomo tried his best to interrupt Shannon especially as Caspian wasmention but failed miserably as the Leto steam rolled on, "It's simple! And I bet you anything...", Shannon didn't finish the sentence, he had reached his destination and was conversing with a middle aged librarian sitting behind the large oak desk whilst showing her the reverse side of the piece of paper. She nodded and pushed her glasses further up her nose before exiting her station and beckoning the party to follow.
"It's a strange story really", The librarian addressed the three men following her, "A man came in and donated the book about a week ago, said that someone might find it interesting." Shannon raised his eyebrows at Tomo in a 'I told you so' manner. They were lead into a desrserted area of the library consisting of rows of leather bound books. Their blonde guide mumbled to herself as she ghosted her hands along the various delicate spines of the many books as though the desired one would leap out from it's sanctuary.
"Ah-ha!", she wiggled the fingers of her hand hovering over one of the battered spines before drawing from its snug spot, not unlike a warrior unsheathes his sword for battle. "Here you go sir, if you decide you wish to take it out of the building, then please consult me first.", her gaze lingered on Shannon and then Tomo for a few long seconds, as though wishing to say something, but thought better of it, instead, she gave a small smile before turning on her heels and leaving the room.
"Right", Shannon prompted as he took one of the seats surrounding the table upon which the book lay, Mikey andTomo followed suit. Shannon gasped when he saw the cover of the book. There was no title or author on the book, instead, embossed upon the brown peeling leather was a symbol one that Shannon was now very familiar with: a Rose entwining a
Christain cross. The three of them stared at the book.
"Shann... what's this about?", Tomo asked pleadingly. Shannon looked at his friend before explaining about the paper and showing the two men the symbol.
"So... you really think that this will help find our brothers?", Mikey asked
"Yes", Shannon replied licking his lips, "I do",
The book looked very old, peeling and faded with anonymous stains. In itself it was not overly large, which slightlydisapointed Shannon as somewhere deep down he had wanted to dramatically heave the cover open, for it to make a resounding thud on the table and cause clouds of dust to billow up. Instead, he merely flicked the A5 sized book open with an anti-climactic air. All three men leaned in to study the book's contents. Tomo furrowed his brow as the books pages were flicked through, as did Mikey, Shannon however, wore a satisfied grin upon his face.
"... Vampires...", Tomo said in a weak voice.
That was exactly what this book revolved around, but it did not talk about vampires as though they were fiction. It was a sort of information book the kind that you might get if deciding to buy a puppy, including sightings, methods of turning vampires, it even included graphic drawings. But what inrigued Shannon most was the mention of two little words:
'The Den'
He gasped and pointed at the them before reading out loud the paragraph that followed.
"'Whilst many organisations for the prevention of vampire (and other creature) exposure to the general public, none is perhaps more well-known than 'The Den'. Working to protect 'so-called mythical creatures' and mortals from the dangers of each other, The Den is rumored to be based within Calafornia, North West America, and to be head command center of the 'MCP - Mythical Creatures Protection'. Other than mentioned above little is known about the facility due to the persistent secrecy of its leader Caspian' -" Shannon paused an squinted his eyes for something had seemingly been spilt on the page causing the ink of the next few lines to blur and spread and was now completely illegible. He continued to read what he could "- 'Vampires and werewolves are alleged to be the main creatures at The Den although reports of a' -", Shannon paused again" - bloody hell -... 'a Phoenix have been present'... blah, blah, blah something about the author not being responsible for misinformation on the bird..."
"Well... Either someone is going the extra mile for one of the most elaborate practical jokes in history or I do believe that you owe me an apology, Milicevic", Shannon lent back in his chair looking smug as he watched Tomo, who seemed to be slightly lost for words.
"Of, course it could be all made up..." He stated slowly, but then took a deep breath and shook his head, "but I don't think it is, you were right Shann...", He replied apologetically
"So you believe it?", Shannon asked him, Tomo swallowed
"Yes, I do... It just makes the whole situation a heck of a lot more complex... What about you Mikey?",
"Well... I-", Mikey seemed lost for words it was a lot for him to take in. He was prevented from answering by Shannon's mobile phone ringing. Shannon fumbled for it within his pocket, pressed the 'answer' key and held it to his ear:
"Hello... Oh, Hi!... Brilliant... yeah, uh-huh... what! Really?... okay, well thank you very much... okay goodbye",
The other two waited for Shannon to finish
"That was the hospital, they had the results of the drug test in aaaand... Nothing! It's never been discovered before and they have no idea on its origins and want me to contact them as soon as I feel strange as they're not sure of any side-effects - obviously, as it's an unknown drug. But they think that it should be out of my system by now"
"Woah, so it looks like vampires don't just invest in Desflurane and the likes to go around knocking everyone out..." Said Tomo with a raised eyebrow. It was a few minutes of silence before Mikey asked asked to look at the book, Tomo obliged by sliding it across the table
"Creating Vampires, Sustaining them... Destroying them - that could be useful!" Mikey summarised some of the chapters after flicking though the browning pages. He was interrupted by Tomo coughing to indicate that they were no longer alone. Mickey threw the book down so that it lay open. No one though to cover or conceal it as they were preoccupied by the figures at the entrance to the small back room of the library they were in.
It was clear that the two girls standing there had been doing so for a while, it was also clear that they knew exactly who the three men sitting at the table were - the fact that one girl displayed a 'Triad' necklace proudly on her neck made a small icy cube of dread slip down Shannon's throat, at that moment fans were not on his list of things to deal
with.
One of the two, she was blonde and wearing a small gold key threaded on a string of ribbon instead of the triad, stepped forward tentatively. Her friend followed her example and soon both girls stood next to the table. The 'triad' girl gave her long purple hair a nervous shake before clearing her throat.
"S-sorry to disturb you... We just wanted to say that we're so sorry about Jared and that all of the Echelon arelooking for him - and Gerard", she added turning to Mikey, "We'll find them"
Both girls smiled reassuringly at the three men who all smiled of thanks.
"Thanks guys... Sorry, we didn't catch your names", Shannon said politely. The blonde girl waved her hand at herself and then at her friend.
"My name's Leah, and this is Abbie. We were on holiday here when we heard the news... We were due to fly back to Wales today, but we've deferred our flight for a week."
"What's this?", Shannon spun around to see Abbie peering over his shoulder at the open pages of the sincediscarded book.
"Err, it's nothing... We were just" Shannon stuttered
"Vampires!", Abbie exclaimed excited she then paused, thinking, "Wait... you don't mean... really?... No surely not!"
"Really, it's nothing!", Shannon said briskly, shutting the book with a thud
"It's fine...Mr. Leto - Shannon - May I call you Shannon?... I get it!"
"Get what?", Leah asked, bemused.
Shannon sighed before turning to Tomo and Mikey for advice, Tomo gave him a 'we're gonna need as much help as we can get' shrug. Mikey indicated to two vacant chairs for the girls to sit upon
"Okay", Shannon breathed before launching himself into a retell of what had happened since the first night Jared had acted strange. The girls were left slightly in shock after he had stopped talking, "I know that you probably don't believe me...", He said with his head tilted slightly.
"No, we do!", Leah said fervently, Abbie nodded to confirm this. "We'll help you in any way that we can."
Shannon lent back, musing as he stroked his slight beard.
"welllll, I guess there is something - no I can't..." He looked lost a deep contemplation was taking place beneaththose hazel eye. Finally, he inhaled deeply thinking of his baby brothers glowing face. "Ok, we'll need to get into the den somehow, Gerard and Jay must be in there Hayley as well I hope! I think Caspian wants me to talk to him... 'Until you see, I will not speak' So that's what I'm gonna do",
"Shann, I dunno about that",
"If it gets them back then I don't care what I have to do! Besides it's not as if it's his fault, he's trying to help Jared and the others"
"It's just... the guy creeps me out and I haven't even met him!"
"I know Tomo... But what other chance have we got?", There was silence for a few minutes, then suddenly, "I'mgoing in",
"What! No Shann you can't... not by yourself",
"I'm gonna go in there and find them! I don't care how, I just am!", His brown eyes were smouldering now like logs on a fire, "Leah, Abbie do you think that you could get some help... round up the Echelon and MCRmy?"
Both girls gave a mock salute
"/To the warriors and keepers of the gate... we wait/!" Abbie quoted with a smile,
"A call to arms", Leah added, "Time to go to war"
Tomo shook his head incredulously, but Shannon could tell that beneath his bushy beard lay a toothy grin.
"Your brother must have planned this when making that album",
"Well the Echelon are warriors... We'd go to the edge of the earth and fight to the death for you guys", Abbie winked
"Yep, There is a fire inside of this heart and a riot about to explode into flames" Leah giggled
"And whoever took them had better run away 'cause I'll attack".
"of course, we're not afraid to keep on living, awake and unafraid", Leah finished, grinning at Mikey who's lips
curled
"Okay! Okay! Enough with the lyric quoting before I go mad!" Tomo chuckled waving his arms above his head.
"Brilliant," Shannon clapped both hands together.
"What's the plan then?", Mikey asked
"Right, after I've gone in there and hopefully found them I might need some help getting out again! Caspian didn't seem too keen on me seeing Jay the last time so I might need to use a little force!",
"So your not as trusing of him as you seem" Tomo said looking pleased
"I'm not sure... If I can get in there and out, then that's brill... but if whatever is going on in there is not quite what it seems, then I guess we're gonna have to fight! And that's where we may need outside help!".
~~~~~~~~~~~*
Shannon and Tomo were sitting in Shannon's car on the road adjacent to the warehouse. They were concealed by trees and busy going over the plan to each other.
"It's 1600 hours" Tomo raised his eyebrows at the way in which Shannon had decided to deliver the time, "What? we may as well make this sound like a proper military operation... anyway, so if I'm not out of there by... 8:00 amtomorrow morning them initiate 'operation Buffy'"
Both friends looked and laughed, "Gotta love Leah for that name. Right, so that should give me 16 hours to get in and out which should be just enough time to get Jared, Gerard and Hayley out of there and hopefully not enough time for me to get killed or something... You never know though, the Jackson 5 could be down there for all we know so it may turn into a full-blown rescue mission."
"...and Leah, Abbie, Mikey, Frank and Ray are at your house, which is where I'll be going after dropping you off"
"Correct", Shannon nodded
"Just be careful Shann... please" Tomo begged with sad eyes as Shannon reached for the car door.
"I'm always careful, See ya later Tomislav!", Shannon slammed the door behind him, placed his index and ring finger to his forehead and brought them swiftly away again to say goodbye to Tomo before promptly tripping over a rock.
"God help us...", Tomo muttered as he watched his friend dust himself off and walk towards 'The Den'
~~~~~~~~~~~*
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