FicWad

Gerard felt groggy, as if he’d been up all night and only managed a few minutes sleep. If he had been older, perhaps he would have likened it to a hangover, but he was still years away from knowing that feeling. He felt slightly nauseous, his head pounded and his body ached. Was he getting sick? Finally opening his eyes, he was grateful that the room was dark, but his heart began to race when he saw that he was lying on a gritty, dirty floor. Sitting up quickly, suddenly alert and panicking, his eyes wide and scanning the room for clues of where he was, he moved to push himself to his feet and only then spotted the chains at his wrists.

A sudden sinking feeling, followed by a wash of heat hit him and he began to hyperventilate, his breathing now quickening with his heart rate. A small sound escaped his lips as he looked around urgently, frantic to find both an exit and a source for the chains. The question of the chains was easier - they led to the wall nearby; he saw that almost immediately, but the location of the exit eluded him. From what he could see of the darkened room, it appeared to be made from stone and brick. It was dusty, dirty and ill-kept; the lack of windows suggested a basement. The main questions remained. Where was he? How had he got there? Who had him and why?

The last thing he remembered was going to bed. He took a deep breath and corrected his thoughts; no, he had slept on the couch, Frankie was using his bed. Security wasn’t just tight in the building, it was impenetrable, which, of course, led to the inevitable question - how had they managed to get inside? Or for that matter, to get him out? Where was Edward? Petra? Korse?

Despite the growing nausea, Gerard pushed himself to his feet, thankful that the chains were long enough to allow it. The only light to be seen in the entire room was a tiny red light in the corner that he assumed was attached to a camera. Well, if they knew he was awake, it was time for him to find out more about them.

“Hey!” He yelled up toward the bright red dot in the corner of the room. “You know I’m awake, so how about you show yourselves? Come on! What are you waiting for?”

Gerard glanced around before finally, after only about a minute, a thin strip of light could be seen under what he now realised was a door. Bracing himself for whatever awaited him, Gerard made a conscious effort not to look afraid but he felt it was probably not entirely successful.

Almost as soon as the door opened, a tall man thumped a switch on the wall with the side of his hand, causing Gerard to squint as two bright fluorescent strip lights flickered to life filling the room with harsh white light.

Frowning as his eyes adjusted slowly, Gerard stared as sternly as he was able at the three oddly dressed people before him. One was tall, male and blond, the remaining two were women with brightly coloured long hair - one with pinks and purples, the other green and blue. Their clothes - man and women - were garish and well worn to the point of falling apart at the seams. The only things that seemed in good condition were their boots. Gerard couldn’t help but notice their boots, they were all identical and, he noted, standard draculoid issue. Had they stolen them?

“Who are you?” He asked, stemming the potentially nervous shake in his voice so that he sounded confident.
“Why do you care?” The green and blue haired woman asked with an unpleasant and condescending laugh.
“I care because I want to know where I am, who has me and why,” he snapped in return, his confidence growing at the current lack of a physical threat.
“Sassy, ain’t he?” Said the other woman.
“We can’t be intimidating enough,” the man growled, cracking his knuckles as he stared, unblinking at Gerard.
“What am I doing here?”
“Where?” The man chuckled.
“Wherever this is,” Gerard was growing increasingly frustrated and his anger was showing. “What do you want?”
“We...” the pink and purple haired woman raised her eyes to the ceiling as she considered her words. “... rescued you.”
“Rescued?” Gerard repeated, unimpressed by the explanation.
“Sure,” the other woman added. “Why, what would you call it?”
“I’d call it kidnapping,” he growled.
“It’s only kidnapping if we’re planning on ransoming you. So, maybe you’d want to call it abduction? But we’re sticking with rescuing.”
“I’m chained up! How is that a rescue? And what are you supposed to have rescued me from?”

Suddenly, their last words hit home with Gerard and he paled, taking a step back, his lips parting in surprise.

“And there it is,” the man laughed, pointing a finger at Gerard and finishing with a knowing smirk.
“If not for ransom, what do you want?” Gerard was unable to hide the shake in his voice this time.

All three lost the laughter in their expressions and stared harshly at the young boy, who appeared suddenly very scared. Slowly, the blond man stepped forward and pushed Gerard back against the wall.

“We want change,” he snapped. “We want freedom. We want a whole bunch of things. And you, the pretty face of BLI, are going to help us get it.”

Gerard swallowed hard as the two women now stood either side of the man, crowding him against the wall and staring with intimidating, even threatening, glares.

“I’m not going to do anything to help you.”

Gerard’s words were brave, but the shake in his voice let him down prompting the woman with purple hair to chuckle.

“Well, of course you are, sweetie,” she cooed as she played with a lock of his hair. “You don’t get a choice in the matter.”

Screaming with sheer anger and frustration, Gerard lunged forward at the blond man, catching him off guard and shoving with all his might until the chains at his wrists were at full stretch. Watching as the man sprawled backwards onto the floor, Gerard yelled, his voice no longer shaking.

“I don’t know how you got me here, but people will be looking for me and when they find me, I’ll order your deaths myself! Then I’ll watch, laughing as you all swing and burn!”

The blond man pushed himself up from the floor, trying to hide the limp caused by the rapidly forming bruise on his hip.

“Big words for a small boy,” he spat.

His expression was one of pure loathing as he stalked towards Gerard before grabbing one of the chains as Gerard raised his arms defensively. With no idea what to expect, Gerard was taken by surprise when instead of hitting him or returning the shove, the man spun him around and quickly wrapped the chain around his neck, pinning his left arm across his chest in the process. Pulling hard on the chain, the man laughed as Gerard struggled, kicked and scrabbled desperately to loosen the choking hold of the chain. In only a matter of about fifteen seconds, Gerard’s knees were buckling underneath him and his eyes rolling in their sockets. With one last sharp tug, the man released the semi-conscious boy and watched as he slipped to the floor, gasping and choking.

“Threaten all you like boy, but no one’s gonna find you here.” Using his foot to roll Gerard onto his back, the man spat on the floor to emphasise his disdain. “When we get what we want, if you’re still alive and very lucky, we might let you go.”
“So you better do what we want, sweetie,” the purple haired woman chuckled unpleasantly as she kneeled next to him and pinched his left cheek. “If you don’t, well you won’t ever see daylight again. Understand?”

Gerard’s mind was reeling. The pain, disorientation, shock and the after effects of what he now realised was a drug conspired against him. His eyes closed and he sagged where he lay, unconscious once more.

*

Too many people were there and they were all talking at once; it was too much for Mikey.

“Shut up!” He yelled as loudly as he could manage, much to everyone’s surprise.

The room fell silent and all eyes fell on the ten year old. No one was taking care of his feelings, neither were they explaining anything to him. It was as if he were irrelevant and as young as he was, he was not about to be treated like that. The environment in which both Gerard and Mikey lived required and even encouraged them to grow up fast. Both boys were mentally and emotionally older than their years would normally suggest, and at ten, Mikey was more than willing to stand up for himself.

He looked around, grateful that so many people were doing their jobs but less so that they were ignoring him in the process. Korse appeared as grim as usual as he ordered three junior exterminators around. Petra - well, he didn’t like the expression on her face one bit. To him it seemed that she knew exactly what had happened and even hoped for the worst possible result. Edward appeared bewildered and stressed as he repeatedly searched footage of security cameras and use of entry and exit codes. He kept coming up with the same result - someone had entered and left the building between 3am and 3.20am - the security doors registered it as an override of all codes but there was no one on the cameras at all. Worse still there were very few people who had sufficient clearance and knowledge of how to use override codes without setting off alarms and most of them were in the room.

“Where is my brother?” The words emerged tight and strangled as the stress of speaking the words seemed to make it more real.

Korse turned to face him, staring with an almost kind expression before placing a hand on Mikey’s back and steering him towards the table.

“We don’t know, Mikey, but I promise you, we will find him and we’ll deal decisively with whoever has him.” Korse replied; to Mikey it sounded like an automatic response, almost a brush off.
“Assuming he hasn’t just gone off somewhere,” Petra sniped with a huff of disdain.
“There is no way he would do that,” Edward snapped in reply, briefly looking up from his work with the security logs.
“And you’d know, would you?” She asked, her hands on her hips, unimpressed by what she saw as a mere lackey making unsubstantiated statements.
“I know a lot more than you think I know,” he growled in return.

The statement drew a surprised and somewhat unnerved glance from Petra and an expression of curiosity from Korse. He knew how good Edward was at his job; it was one of the main reasons he was given the position of head of security in the first place. The other being his easy charm and likeable personality that provided personal comfort to the Way brothers.

“What are you doing to find him?” Came a hesitant voice from Gerard’s bedroom door.
“What’s he still doing here?” Petra complained.
“He’s here because we want him here!” Mikey snapped back, turning an angry expression towards their personal assistant. “Much more than we want you here, actually!” He added, thinking after that Gerard would be proud of him for that.

Korse’s lips twisted into a slight smirk; if Petra had to leave for any reason, it appeared she would not be missed.

“We have methods and devices that will help us find him,” Korse replied calmly, flicking his hand and wrist in a quick circle to indicate to the junior exterminators that they were about to leave.
“What exactly are you going to do?” Mikey pressed again with Frankie’s question.
“We are going to find him and bring him back safe and sound, Mikey. Whoever has done this will pay dearly, don’t worry.”
“I am worried!” Mikey tried to sound angry, but it came out with a catch in his voice that gave away his true feelings.
“I promise you, I will find him,” Korse reiterated, his voice even more determined this time.

Edward kept his eyes on the screens he was reviewing; he was suspicious but had no intention of revealing his suspicions to the Exterminator. Korse was either foolishly making promises he couldn’t be certain of keeping or he knew exactly what he was saying because he knew exactly where to find him. Either way, Mikey and almost certainly Gerard were being manipulated. But for what purpose, he wasn’t sure.