FicWad

Gerard didn’t have much time to take in his surroundings as he was dragged through the main hallway of the mansion and towards the back of the building. Few doors were open, but he was surprised to see that the layout and style of furnishings could easily have been chosen by the same person or people that had furnished his own family home. The functional but antique style seemed quite distinct and it unnerved him to think that whoever owned this mansion could have been close to his parents. Was it Emmett? The idea that the man who was supposed to be taking care of him and Mikey being responsible for his abduction terrified him.

Pushed through a doorway, Gerard pulled up sharply as a steep stairway loomed immediately in front of him leading down into a dark basement that, as yet, remained unlit.

“What? Afraid of the dark, kid?” Mason cackled, happy to point out Gerard’s nervous response.
“I’m not afraid of anything!” Gerard snapped back, although he had to admit, even if just to himself, that he was scared about what was currently happening to him.
“Yeah, right,” Mason laughed. “It’s coming off you in waves, kid and you’re not even fooling yourself. Now get down those stairs, or do I have to push you?”

Gerard edged forward, uncertain where his foot would land. Tapping the floor with the toe of his shoe before risking putting any weight on it. Behind him, Mason gave a heavy impatient sigh before shoving Gerard forward. Catching his heel on the step as he tried to regain his balance, Gerard cried out in shock as he found himself stumbling forward and with nothing underfoot to prevent a fall, he lurched forward. Unable to grab for a rail with his hands still locked behind him, Gerard screwed up his eyes, preparing himself for a painful roll down the stone steps resulting in severe injury at best or his likely death.

Holding his breath, it was a moment or two before he realised that he hadn’t yet landed, but could feel he was still moving. Opening his eyes, they widened and he gasped, unable to comprehend what was happening. He watched silently as he floated roughly three feet above the stairs then across the floor. Reaching, or at least trying to reach, for the floor with both his arms and legs, Gerard was unable to even change position and he remained held in mid-air. Turning his head back towards the sound of Mason walking slowly down the stairs he saw the man’s smirk, suggesting he was enjoying the sight of Gerard’s confusion and now obvious fear.

“How… how are you doing that?” Gerard stammered.
“Really?” Mason rolled his eyes as finally he switched on the lights illuminating the basement. “Your own brother can do it but you’re asking me?”
“Mikey?” Gerard stared in response, not knowing what else to say.

Mason tipped his head to the right as he noted Gerard’s expression, the furrowed brow, staring eyes and his mouth slightly open, all told him one very important piece of information.

“You really don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?” Gerard asked; his voice holding a slight shake, he wasn’t entirely certain he wanted to know.
“Surely you know about your parents? The Paladins, the Academy? The Sentinels?”

Gerard swallowed thickly; he had watched the DVD, it had even explained some of what he had mentioned but even having heard it, he had found it impossible to truly absorb. Being told about super powers was one thing, seeing it in action was another entirely. Part of him had dismissed the idea out of hand and assumed his parents had referred to high intelligence and other more natural gifts. This was much more than he had believed, or even wanted to believe.

“Boy,” Mason chuckled to himself, “do you have a lot to learn! And, I’m guessing probably not the way you wanted to learn it.”

Tipping Gerard until he was now floating upright, Mason lowered him down, allowing him to simply drop the last few inches to the floor. Now standing upright and back on solid ground, he looked around the basement. Even if Gerard wasn’t already scared, Mason knew that the sight of the room would be enough to draw it out of him. Saying nothing, the man waited as Gerard looked at the bed located near the far wall, a small sink with some toiletries to the left of it and another area that was sectioned off. All of this stood behind a row of solid steel bars with a sturdy and secure looking gate, slightly ajar, in the centre. Gerard’s breathing began to come to him in quick, shallow breaths and his mind was racing, all the while listing and dismissing potential escape plans that he knew couldn’t work.

“This used to be a wine cellar,” Mason explained, adopting an almost conversational tone and ignoring Gerard’s obvious distress as he turned a worried and somewhat bleak expression towards him. “They put the expensive stuff in there to keep it safe. We’re doing the same, but with you. Inside!”
“You’re keeping me safe?” Gerard scoffed; the idea sounded ridiculous to him. “What from? What do you want?”
“I want you to go inside. Did you not hear me?” Mason growled.
“And if I don’t?” Gerard replied, lifting his head and staring, despite his fear, with his best attempt at a defiant pose.

Mason shook his head and laughed. As he did, the gate flew open and Gerard was propelled at speed through the air as if he had been picked up bodily and flung inside. He landed heavily on the cold stone floor rolling still further towards the back wall, driven on by the force of the attack. As he drew to a halt the gate slammed shut behind him, locking automatically.

“I do it for you,” Mason replied simply. “I suggest you get comfortable, you’re going to be here a while but don’t worry, you’ll have company soon enough.”

Gerard pushed himself to his feet and limped back to the bars, his face a picture of misery. It was too much for him to take in. Only the day before he had been excited about going to his first choice of art college, now he was locked in the basement of a man claiming to be his uncle, for what purpose he couldn’t even begin to guess and now this other man was threatening Mikey.

“Leave him alone!” Gerard gripped the bars, staring frantically at Mason as he retreated towards the stairs. “Whatever this is, you don’t need Mikey!”

Mason allowed his lips to turn up into a mocking smirk before nodding.

“You’ve got a lot to learn, Gerard,” he laughed shaking his head. “I hope you’re a quick study.”

Gerard watched silently as mason left the basement, leaving the light on as he went. Overwhelmed by events and his imprisonment, Gerard rolled a half turn across the bars until he faced inwards, taking in his surroundings. He had no way of contacting Mikey, the police or indeed anyone. They had taken his watch and his phone leaving him completely without contact with the outside world. Taking a few steps into his cell, Gerard was surprised to find that the sectioned off area included a small bathroom area and a selection of clothes in his size and taste. Lifting the top shirt from the small pile he noticed the label - it was from one of the shops he liked. As he sorted through the clothes, including jeans, dress pants, t-shirts, button downs, underwear, even footwear, his heart sank as he realised that they must have been watching him for a long time. But who were they and what did they want?

*

Frank and Ray watched as Mikey paced back and forth across the room, neither boy willing to suggest he sit down and both remained more or less fixed in their positions, not really daring to move themselves. After ten minutes of watching the younger Way stalk back and forth, Ray felt a thought land in his head. Closing his eyes he sighed quietly before giving Frank a sidelong glance. It wasn’t that he particularly minded Frank communicating with him that way, but the clumsy and heavy-handed way he had done it told him that the younger boy wanted to be certain that Ray couldn’t simply ignore that it had arrived. It was particularly annoying because he couldn’t reply in kind and would be forced to speak. The only saving grace was that it was actually a good idea.

“Mikey,” Ray began only to be interrupted almost immediately.
“If you’re going to tell me to sit down, I can’t.”

Mikey turned to face him, shaking his head and waving his arms across his chest in a gesture that suggested the idea was impossible and confirmed either his inability or unwillingness to sit. Ray’s expression, initially one of surprise at how animated the boy was, softened into a gentle and empathic smile. Mikey’s movements had been jerky and fast, reminiscent of a tightly wound clockwork toy. It was as if, any moment now, he would flip over in the air and start again. He looked pale, his brow furrowed and his words were clipped. Frank had been right, something was needed to distract him and his idea was perfect. Ray just hoped Mikey would listen.

“I wasn’t going to say that,” he replied in a low, smooth tone that seemed to calm Mikey’s agitation on its own.
“Oh,” Mikey sighed - ironically, he had now stopped pacing to listen. “What was it you were going to say?”
“I thought that maybe we could be doing something practical?” He replied with a hopeful shrug. “Perhaps we could practise our powers? We’re going to need them and I know these guys have got years on us, but maybe we should be at least as ready as we can be?”

Mikey seemed to ponder the idea. The idea of them being so inexperienced in comparison to the people they were up against was a daunting one and normally enough for him to question the point of even doing a few hours of extra training - as if it would be enough to make even the slightest difference. But Ray’s final comment of being at least as ready as they could be really hit home with Mikey and he found himself nodding.

“Yeah,” he pursed his lips. “That’s a good idea. How should we do it?”

Ray gave the question a few moments’ thought before looking up and smiling.

“I think maybe we could make it as real as possible. We should all go to a different room and take it in turns to try to make our way back to this room. The other two should try to stop the third. Ideally, the way to do it would be that the two looking should have no idea where the other is or, if they do sense him to not be able to find or stop him. Does that make sense?”
“Hide and go seek with powers?” Mikey raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the idea.
“Essentially,” Ray shrugged, hoping the idea didn’t sound as lame to Mikey as he had made it appear.
“I like it,” Mikey grinned. “Who’s first?”
“Frank,” Ray replied. “He’s got the most to learn.”
“What?” Frank’s head snapped up in a mixture of indignation and alarm. “It was my idea!”

Mikey smiled, he had a fairly good idea what Ray was referring to.

“Yeah, but you need to figure out how to be a bit more subtle with your thought placements. That idea landed with all the grace of a drunken duck!”

Frank straightened himself up and scowled at Ray.

“That was intentional,” he replied, almost pouting as he did.
“Prove it then,” Ray smirked.
“I will!” Frank snapped in return. “And you two can’t just hang around in here waiting for me!”
“Okay, that’s fair,” Ray agreed. “Now, you have two minutes then we’re looking for you. And don’t forget, we can use our powers too and work together if we want to.”

Frank’s face formed another scowl; he hadn’t considered that aspect of the chase.

“How do we know who’s won?” He asked.

Ray glanced around; what caught his eye was a pot of coffee still standing on the table near the couch.

“If you can get back in here and pour yourself a coffee without us catching or stopping you, you’ve won.
“Right, you’re on!” Frank replied, turning on his heels and racing from the room.

Watching as Frank headed quickly down the corridor, Mikey glanced at Ray, a playful smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“I don’t suppose we could just hide the coffee?”

Ray grinned at Mikey; at least he had somehow managed to hold onto his sense of humour. It wasn’t going to win them anything, but somehow it gave Ray a sense of hope.

“I like it, but no,” he chuckled. “Come on, let’s find him.”

About to head out to practise their powers by tracking Frank and stopping him from returning, they were interrupted by the doorbell. Mikey sighed and flapped his arms to the side.

“Typical!” Mikey rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Frank! There’s someone at the door. We’ll put this on hold for a minute!”

Mikey shouted down the corridor before setting off for the door. Part of the way there, Mikey hesitated, remembering the last time when Gerard had answered the door alone.

“Ray?” He spoke quietly as the doorbell rang again. “Last time when Gee answered…”

Mikey had no need to finish the sentence as Ray immediately knew what he meant and jogged over to accompany him.

“I’ll open it, Mikes,” Ray placed his hand on the door handle, “I’m older and bigger. It won’t be quite so easy if someone wants to try anything.”

Mikey nodded grateful for Ray’s thoughtfulness and stood behind him, out of sight, as he slowly opened the door. Ray frowned, his brow creasing with concern as he saw no one waiting outside. There wasn’t even any sign anyone had been there, no car, no delivery, nothing. Suspicious but unwilling to step outside and make himself vulnerable, Ray made use of his powers. By bending light carefully around himself, he effectively made himself invisible. Feeling secure in the knowledge that he couldn’t be seen Ray crept outside, moving soundlessly over the stone paving. Frowning once more, Ray stepped back inside, returned the light to its usual straight route and closed the door.

“I don’t know what that was,” he said with concern. “Are all the doors and windows secure?”
“Yeah,” Mikey nodded, “this was the only door we’d opened since we got up.”
“Come on,” Ray added, let’s go back in.

Heading back to the living room, both boys were surprised to see Frank sitting on the couch drinking a mug of coffee.

“You took your time!” He laughed.
“You can’t claim that!” Ray laughed at his audacity.
“We told you it was on hold,” Mikey scoffed.
“Someone was at the door?” Frank asked with a grin.
“Yeah… well, no…” Ray narrowed his eyes. “Was that you?”
“Of course it was me!” Frank tipped his head and toasted them with his mug. “I put the thought in your heads that you’d heard the doorbell and neither of you felt me do it! So, yeah, I’m claiming this one.”

Ray and Mikey glanced at each other. Ray nodded and Mikey shrugged.

“Yeah,” Mikey nodded, smiling at his friend. “That was pretty impressive actually.”

Frank leaned forward to place the now empty mug on the table.

“So…”

He didn’t get any further before the doorbell rang again. Looking up at Mikey and Ray, he could see them staring back at him with accusatory glances.

“That’s not me,” Frank shook his head.
“Really?” Ray tipped his head.
“Really!” Frank replied, finding it hard not to laugh at their disbelief.

Ray sighed, if this was a prank, it was in poor taste.

“All right, but if you’re messing with…”
“Ray, I’m not!” Frank insisted as the bell rang again.

Ray headed to the door with Mikey trailing behind. This time on opening it, two men stood in the doorway. One was tall, bald with sharp features and an almost mischievous air about him. The other dark-haired in a modern cropped style with a stubble-beard and athletic build. Both appeared to be in their late forties or early fifties.

“Can I help you?” Ray asked, polite but with a suspicious edge.
“We’re here to see Mikey and two of his friends,” the bald man with the Scottish accent replied. “I guess you’re one of them? I’m Grant. You’re expecting us, yeah?”
“Yeah, we’re expecting you,” Mikey replied with uncertainty; his parents had made no mention of the other man.
“You got any ID?” Ray asked, still blocking the door.

The bald man laughed lightly and nodded.

“You’re right,” he nodded, reaching carefully and slowly for his wallet. “Given what’s happened.”

Showing Ray several debit and credit cards and his driving licence, he allowed Ray to inspect them before allowing them to come in. Heading through to the living room, Ray introduced everyone to the newcomers.

“I’m Ray, this is Frank,” he pointed to the boy on the couch. “And this is Mikey,” he added pointing to the boy standing next to him. “This is Grant.”
“We were expecting you,” Mikey added with a frown looking at the second man. “But no one said anything about anyone else.”
“Oh,” the second man laughed, “I’m sorry, I thought you’d recognise me, but we haven’t seen each other since you were just a little kid. I’m your Uncle Emmett.”

Mikey’s eyes widened and it was as if all the blood drained from his face in a single moment. Almost staggering, he gaped with horror, he seemed almost ready to pass out.

“You’re Uncle Emmett!” He gasped. “Then… then who was that guy yesterday?”