FicWad

"Are you Investigator Way?" Gerard looked up from his work and nodded silently. The dark-haired man standing before him offered him one hand. "Chris Wolstenholme. I'm part of Matt's team." Gerard shook his hand warily. The last thing he wanted right now was more orders from Matt.
"G! I found something," called Frank.
"Excuse me a moment," Gerard said to Chris. He walked over to Frank, who was going over the wall with a black light. He tossed Gerard a pair of orange-tinted glasses. The senior investigator removed his sunglasses and slid the plastic glasses over his eyes.
"That is...disturbing." Frank nodded in agreement. There was a message on the wall, written in cleaned-off blood.
'You'll have to look around if you want to find her.'
"Frank, we need to work fast," said Gerard, taking off the lenses.
"Matt said I'm supposed to help you two while he and Dom talk to the police," said Chris.
'What a waste of time,' thought Gerard. 'It's not like they're going to know anything we don't already know.' But he said nothing.
"We need to try and find the girl...if she's even here," said Frank skeptically. They split up and set to work searching the building thoroughly. Frank searched the ground floor, Chris went upstairs, and Gerard went down to the basement. He used a flashlight to look around, rather than turning on the lights. He wanted to leave everything exactly as he found it. He crossed the room to the north wall and found a huge vault. It wasn't that surprising, considering they were at a bank.
His heart nearly stopped when he heard muffled screams coming from within the vault. He took out his phone and called Frank, telling him to get the bank manager there as soon as possible. In the meantime he tried to keep the girl calm. There was no telling how much air - or time - she had left.
Gerard internally cursed Matt. He could understand if the British man disliked him, but someone's life was at stake. Surely he could have put aside their differences for the girl's sake.
"G, how much time have we got?" asked Frank as he jumped to the floor, completely ignoring the last five stairs. Gerard shook his head.
"I don't know, Frank. I have no idea how long she's been in there or how much air this thing can hold. The sooner we can get her out, the better." The manager came and unlocked the safe about a minute later. They opened the door about a quarter of the way, but Gerard suddenly stopped them.
"G, what is it?"
"Can you see that, Frank?" he asked nervously, stepping aside. Frank took his place and looked inside the vault.
"Is that a tripwire?" Gerard nodded grimly.
"We're going to have to find another way in, or at least a way to disarm this."
"Disarm what?" the manager asked. Gerard turned to face him.
"We believe there may be an explosive behind the door." The man's eyes widened.
"What are you going to do?" Gerard stepped back and studied the door.
"As much as I hate to say this...I think we need Matt. He's small enough to get in there without opening the door further and tripping the wire." Frank smacked his forehead with one hand and sighed in exasperation.
"Fine. I'll go get him." He stomped up the stairs one at a time. Gerard looked inside the vault and saw the girl. She was tied up and lying on her side.
"I think someone has a grudge against us," he said to Frank when he returned.
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, think about it. In the past year, we've encountered not one, not two, but three incidents involving explosives. This will be the fourth." Frank slowly nodded.
"Yeah, I remember. The case with that Brian in the trunk of the car, the time our lab - and my face - was destroyed, and that one case with the suicidal on the train." Gerard watched as Matt easily crawled under the wire and into the vault.
"Doesn't that strike you as odd?" Frank shook his head.
"I'd just call it bad luck."
Matt took out a screwdriver and began to take apart the black box in front of him. He set the plastic cover on the ground next to him and studied the insides carefully.
"Don't mean to rush you, Matt," said Frank sarcastically, "But we're sort of on a deadline here."
"This is delicate work," he responded, taking out a pair of wire cutters. "I suggest you not speak to me right now."
"Matt, seriously, I know how fast you can disarm a bomb. Quit stalling and do your job," said Dominic. He sounded annoyed. Frank silently thanked him; it was about time someone other than himself and Gerard told Matt what to do.
Matt blinked a few times in surprise, but obeyed Dominic's words. He cut two different colored wires and pressed a few buttons in sequence, then frowned when there was no result.
"Screw it." He tore the whole thing off the wall and unceremoniously threw it behind himself. Everyone waiting outside the vault cringed as it landed on the concrete with a crack.
Nothing happened. There was a collective sigh of relief, and Matt tore the tripwire off the wall with a conceited smirk. There was nothing like scaring a room full of people all at once. He pushed the metal door open and waved in the paramedics.
"All yours." They walked by and began treating the girl. As Matt reentered the room, Gerard pulled him aside.
"Matt, what were you thinking? You could have gotten us all killed!"
"Relax, Way, that thing was harmless." Gerard's eyes widened.
"Harmless?! I don't know what planet you're from, but explosives are generally under very high pressure." Matt rolled his eyes and began to walk away from Gerard, but the senior investigator pulled him back by one shoulder. "When is it going to stop, Matt? The aggression?" Matt gave him a smirk.
"As soon as you give us back the colonies." And with that he walked away, leaving Gerard with his jaw wide open. So that was Matt's sense of humor.