FicWad

Gerard woke as he was being dragged to the wall of the basement where he was being held. If he’d had time to consider, perhaps he would have waited until he was fully awake to make his move but he reacted immediately out of distress and panic.

“Wha... what are you doing? Let me go!” He cried, pulling and twisting in the grip of the man and one of the women.

He didn’t see it coming, but the blond man’s fist silenced him immediately as it crashed into his jaw. Gerard’s mouth hung open briefly as his dazed mind gathered himself together and performed a brief check to be certain every part of him still functioned despite the excruciating pain. By the time he regained his composure, his back was against the wall and the chains had been shortened using a simple arrangement of a pair of padlocks looped through the links nearest his wrist and the ones nearest to the wall, essentially holding his arms flat against the wall. Not only that but the woman had worked quickly to duct tape his ankles together and was now wrapping the roll of tape around his legs, just above his knees.

“What do you want?” He whispered hesitantly, making certain his jaw was intact first.
“We’re going to hack into Battery City TV and you’re going to read our demands.”
“No,” Gerard shook his head. “No, I’m not.”

The man smirked slyly as he pulled on a pair of leather gloves.

“I hoped you’d say that,” his smirk grew into a wide grin as his right fist slammed into his left palm.

*

Edward was now poring over the blueprints to the building, determined to work out how the intruder entered without being caught on camera. The plans were spread out over the dining room table; him not having left the boys’ apartment since the news of Gerard’s disappearance.

Mikey was sitting on the couch, his knees pulled up to his chest. He had been the one to discover his brother missing. Having risen in the night, thirsty and needing to fetch himself a glass of water, he had noticed the couch empty and Gerard gone. He had also found the note. It hadn’t said much, just that they would be in touch and he had immediately raised the alarm.

Now, hugging his knees, his eyes fluttered and he frowned deeply, digging his fingernails into the back of his hand as he tried to force himself to stay awake. He felt guilty that he was tired despite only having had a few hours sleep, but needing much more. His head dropped briefly as sleep tried to claim him, but he continued to fight it. Edward looked up at him; a sympathetic expression swept across his face as he stared at the ten year old.

“Mikey,” he began softly, “why don’t you get some sleep? I’ll let you know the moment we hear anything.”
“I’m not tired,” Mikey objected, his voice slightly slurred.

Edward gave a slight smile; he had to admire his loyalty and determination, but exhausting himself would do him no good.

“Why not just have a lie down, then? Even if you’re not tired, you can get some rest. You’ll need it for when he comes back.”

Mikey thought for a moment before nodding and lowering himself down, he stretched out on the couch, resting his head on the pillow still there from earlier.

“I’m not gonna sleep though,” he replied with a determined tone. “I’m just resting my eyes, that’s all.”
“Of course,” Edward responded convincingly; he knew that within moments, the exhausted boy would be fast asleep.

Returning to his review of the building plans, he was struck by something unusual in the details. As far as he had always been aware, the single express elevator began on the ground floor and would travel without stopping to the thirtieth floor, directly into Gerard and Mikey’s apartment. A second larger elevator did the same but opened out into the corridor beyond the apartment. It remained a private elevator, as only the brothers’ apartment lay on that floor. It was often used for anything from deliveries especially of furniture that required a larger elevator to formal visits, requiring them meeting the visitor at the door. What he hadn’t realised was that the plans suggested that the penthouse suite was actually located on the thirty-first floor. It could only be one of three things: the plans were wrong, they had been changed so that one of the floors had not been built so leaving the building at an even thirty floors or, finally and disturbingly, an extra floor existed beneath the building of which he was unaware. Could it be how the intruder made his way into their apartment? Who would know about it though? And it still didn’t explain how the correct entry codes were used.

Edward’s brow creased as his communicator crackled to life. Snatching it up quickly, he made sure to keep his voice low - he didn’t want to risk waking Mikey if it was nothing, and more so if it were bad news.

“What have you got?” He asked quietly to one of his team.
“Switch on the TV,” the tense voice responded quickly.
“What channel?” He asked with a frown.
“Doesn’t matter,” came the reply. “It’s on all of them, it’s been hacked.”
“Get a trace on it,” he barked, realising that, whatever it was, it was probably a live feed.

Scanning the room for the TV remote, Edward found it quickly and switched on from standby. Lowering the volume, he gasped at the picture on the large screen. The scene made him relieved that Mikey was asleep; Gerard was chained with his arms fastened close to the wall, his legs and ankles bound with tape. His eyes lowered, Edward wasn’t certain if he was conscious. Gerard’s left cheek and the area surrounding his left eye were severely swollen as was his apparently split lower lip. His face, cut and bleeding, and his shoulders appeared to be shaking slightly. On the screen, next to him, a blond, garishly dressed man was spouting rebel rhetoric, calling for freedom for all political prisoners and gloating about what he would do to Gerard if his demands weren’t responded to within the hour.

It wasn’t the demands the man was making that shocked Edward the most. It wasn’t even the condition that Gerard was in or that the coward had severely beaten a defenceless young boy. No, the most shocking thing on the screen was the man himself and the fact that only the previous day Gerard was scheduled to order his and two rebel females’ deaths at Traitor’s Square.

Instead, somehow they were free and had managed to access one of the most well guarded and secure buildings in Battery City without leaving a trace and abduct one of the city’s most high profile figures.

It was impossible to think that he, possibly they, had even managed to escape from the S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W Unit cells without assistance. The facts were piling up in his mind and the inescapable conclusions he was now reaching seemed equally impossible. Continuing to stare at the television, his mind raced as to what to do with the information he now believed he held. There really was only one person who could have arranged every aspect of this most unusual crime.

Even as he was thinking his name, the live feed crackled and the camera was suddenly diverted from the man and Gerard. Now pointing toward the floor, the camera continued filming and Edward watched as he saw shadows flash by, he heard male and female voices, a female apparently begging for her life, screams and laser fire. It seemed to last only moments and finally a lifeless arm fell into view of the camera - a man’s arm covered in a bright yellow jacket stained with blood. A pair of legs appeared in shot beside the dead man moments before the camera was shut off: there was no mistaking that they belonged to Korse. He would be hailed as a hero for rescuing Gerard, but Edward felt sick to his stomach with the certain knowledge that the Exterminator had arranged it all. One single answer eluded him - why? What would Korse achieve by placing his nephew in grave danger only to rescue him? Whatever the answer, Edward knew one thing for certain - Korse was willing to do anything, risk anything to satisfy his own needs. The boys could no longer be considered safe under his guardianship. But what could he do? Raising his concerns would result in his removal or even his death. With everything at stake, Edward took a slow deep breath, vowing to help the boys should they ever really need to get away. All their lives might very well depend on it.

Switching off the television, Edward pondered his next move. It would be better if he claimed to only have seen the video from after the moment the camera had been pushed away from Gerard and the rebel. That way, Korse may not realise that he had both seen and recognised the rebel. This of course meant that he couldn’t tell Mikey that his brother was hurt and he had to act surprised when he saw him. Putting his hand up to his mouth, Edward tapped his finger on his lips; he desperately wanted to call for the doctor as Gerard would need medical attention when brought home, but felt that he couldn’t without giving away that he knew he had been hurt. He hoped instead for some word from Exterminator Korse that they were on their way so he could ask about his condition.

Crouching down, he gently shook Mikey. At first, sleep continued trying its best to claim him but his conscious mind brought him back to wakefulness quickly as he hoped for news.

“What…?” he muttered as Edward shook his arm, before almost sitting upright at the insistent motion. “What is it? Is Gee okay?” He spoke quickly and urgently.
“He’s been found,” Edward smiled. “He’s alive and Exterminator Korse has found him.”

Elated, but emotional, Mikey pushed himself forward and flung his arms around Edwards neck, happy tears flowing freely.

“Is… is he hurt?” Mikey choked out.
“I don’t know,” Edward lied in response. “I just know he’s alive and he’s been found.”

Mikey clung to Edward for a few more moments as he gathered himself, nodding as he finally pulled back.

“He can get better if he’s hurt,” Mikey reasoned, the relief obvious on his face. “At least he’s alive. When is he coming home?”
“I don’t know,” Edward smiled as he noticed the grim shadow of concern had lifted from Mikey’s brow. “I haven’t heard from Exterminator Korse yet. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything.”
“Should we get Dr Roby here? To check him over, just in case?” Mikey asked, nodding again as he spoke the words.
“I think that’s a very good idea, Mikey,” Edward replied with a comforting smile, and a gentle hand cupping the boy’s cheek. “I’ll call her now.”

*

Gerard looked up; although one eye was effectively closed from the beating, tears were still forming and rolling down both cheeks. His chest heaved as he tried to control his breathing but he was bordering on hyperventilating - the result of pain and shock, combined with the relief of rescue finally allowing his body to react to the terrifying situation. Exterminator Korse crouched down to be at eye-level with his nephew, still chained to the wall while behind him a draculoid searched the pockets of the dead rebel, looking for the key to the padlocks. Reaching into his boot, Korse drew out a sharp knife from a concealed sheath and gently cut through the tape binding Gerard’s ankles and legs before resheathing the knife. As he pulled the tape away, he made sure not to pull hard in case his legs were sore. Balling up the tape before throwing it aside, Korse offered a gentle smile.

“Where does it hurt?” He asked.
“Face, jaw, chest and back,” he replied in a slightly muffled voice caused by the swelling and split lip.
“I’ll take you to the hospital,” Korse replied with a slight nod, noting that Gerard’s breathing appeared to be settling.
“No,” Gerard replied, his voice surprisingly firm. “I want to go home.”
“Are you sure?” He tipped his head in a questioning manner. “You’ve been treated badly by that scum.”

A small noise escaped Gerard’s throat as he once again tried to control his reactions. It even surprised him that at the forefront of his mind his only thoughts were around how Frankie had suffered this treatment from his guardian on a regular basis and, of course, how strong he had been to cope with it. Now Frankie was staying with them and Gerard wanted very much to be there with him, to also be strong. If he had an appreciation for what Frankie had suffered before this, he admired him all the more now and he just wanted to be with him.

“I know how I’ve been treated,” he replied bitterly as the draculoid returned with the key. “I want to go home.”

Korse nodded; medical attention could be provided anywhere. Inserting the key into the lock securing the chain around Gerard’s left wrist, he opened it enough to release one link, lowering Gerard’s hand gently to his side and leaving the padlock hanging on the remaining link. Repeating the task with his right arm, Korse stood and made room for paramedics with a stretcher to get to Gerard’s side.

Gerard had been brave. He had refused to give in to the rebels, fighting them all the way despite his injuries - having watched the entire event on a monitor in his office, Korse was satisfied with the boy’s loyalty. Petra was mistaken. She had wasted his time and that, in his mind, was unforgivable.