Upon Collision

“Hey Steph!” Gerard spoke into the phone.
“Gee, where are you? It’s almost eight! You’re gonna be late for school.”
“Oh yeah, umm I won’t be in today.” The line went quiet for a bit before Stephanie spoke.

“Why not?”
“Oh you know, the job and everything.”
“Job? What jo-…oh right. I understand. Man, I’m gonna be on my own today.”

“Wait. Frank’s not at school?”
“Nope!” She popped the ‘p’. “He’s ‘sick’, but I think he’s just really upset with that Bob guy from yesterday. I mean, did you see the way that guy got his ass got handed to him on the stairs. Frank seemed really pissed.”

Gerard nodded, then he remembered Stephanie couldn’t see him. “Yeah, it’s true. I find it hard to believe they’re old friends.”

He could imagine Stephanie shrugging right now. “Well, I mean they’re not strangers. Knowing Frank, they probably have some history, but not ‘friends’ per say.”

Gerard nodded, again. “Well, I suppose it’s his affairs eh? We should leave him to it.” He heard Stephanie mumble a response before continuing. “Well, I got a meeting at nine, so I wanna get some coffee in my system and relax a bit cuz it’s gonna be thunder.” He chuckled.
“Alright Little Red. You do your thing.” Stephanie giggled.
“Did Frank?”

“Nope. Frank saw that picture too!? Seriously, I find it hard to be placing the nation’s safety partially in YOUR hands. I mean, you can’t even keep a phone to yourself, much less people’s lives.”
“Hey! Don’t say it like that. And when did you even get my phone. I even have a password on it!”
“You left it on my bag yesterday when you waited with me for cheerleading practice, remember?”

The memory played through Gerard’s mind as he remembered sitting by himself on the bleachers watching over Stephanie’s stuff. “Oh.”
“And what kind of password is ‘CATS’!” She yelled at him.
“Oh shuddup Steph! Anyway, I gotta go.”

“Bye bye Little Red!”
“Wadever Combat Barbie.”

He had this dumb grin on his face when he hung up the phone, and immediately deleted the picture.

He stared out the window of his bedroom and sighed, before turning to change out of his pajamas, when he was stopped short at the sight of his father standing in his doorway holding a cup of what he assumed was coffee.

“Uhh, mornin’ dad.” He greeted quietly.
“Who was that?” His dad asked.
“She’s a friend from school.” Gerard shrugged, ripping off his pajama shirt to reveal his toned, muscular abs as well as biceps.

“And you told her about the meeting?” Gerard shrugged.
“I don’t see the big deal. It’s not like it would harm anyone in anyway.”
“Son, you keep under-estimating everything and everyone-“

“So what, you’re trying to say she’s Ghost. Is every single person I talk to Ghost? What are you gonna do, just keep making me shift schools so I don’t get too ‘attached’? Dad, I want a life you know? You have NO idea how awkward it was for me, having to walk down the halls that Tuesday morning and have the whole school go silent with everyone staring at you. To have one of your only friends get mad at you for not telling them. Everyone was so weird. The teachers even looked uncomfortable teaching. It’s really unfair to me, has that thought ever crossed your mind!?”

Don was silent for a while, looking into his cup. “Don’t forget the meeting is in an hour. There have been reports of a drug ring on the west of New Jersey and this one’s big and well organized. Get your head wrapped around that in time for the meeting.” Don nodded at his son, then turned and closed the bedroom door behind him, before walking to probably the kitchen.

Gerard groaned angrily and plopped onto his bed, sitting at the edge and putting his face in his hands. His dad had left him with a desperate need to punch something. He got up and walked to the other side of his room, next to his dressing table which had a door. He opened it was walked in, flicking on the lights as he did so, to reveal a small, personal gym.

It wasn’t too large, and just had basic stuff that Gerard would need. A treadmill and a punching bag were just about the biggest ‘equipment’ it had. Other than that there was a shelf with various weights, a bar for pull ups and a table with mostly weapons. One wall had a kind of spongy material over-laying it with drawn-out targets where he could practice knife throwing.

He wrapped his hands in bandages before putting on a pair of boxing gloves and walking over to the punching bag. He spent a good ten minutes relentlessly punching and kicking the bag, actually succeeding in making it sway a little, before he stopped and decided it was time for a bath.

……………

“Hey Pansy!” Gerard greeted, balancing the cell phone between his shoulder and his ear and he struggled with balancing a few folders while trying to open the car door.

“Sup, Little Red.” Gerard managed to pry open the passenger door with his foot and just threw everything into the seat, dropping his cell in the process.

“Sh*t!” He cursed before finishing putting the files in the car and then picking up the phone again, dusting it before getting in the car.

“Wadev. Steph told me you weren’t feeling too good. Just checking up on you.”
“Oh nah I’m fine. Sort of. I’m just really not feeling too good after yesterday and all, I mean, you saw.”
“Yeah man, what was all that about.” Gerard asked while he turned the car on to warm up the engine.

“Oh…it’s uhh, personal.”
Gerard nodded, then facepalmed. Why does he keep doing that? “Yeah I understand. Oh well, wish you the best. I gotta go.”
“Yeh later dude.”

They hung up and Gerard put his phone in his pocket, before pulling out of their driveway and heading to the Embassy. 8:45, he wasn’t doing too badly. Hopefully there wouldn’t be any traffic.

……………

Gerard took his seat at the large, oval shaped desk. He felt sort of out-of-place in his jeans, t-shirt and leather jacket, amongst all the other dignitaries in their jacket and ties. The secretary, a short, dark haired, young lady with a lovely caramel complexion, stood and walked to the head of the desk next to his dad, her high-heels clonking on the floor with each step. She cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention.

“Good morning gentlemen. The time is now 9:00 am sharp. The meeting will commence.” She
then walked away to a small table and chair off the side of the room and sat down.
His father stood up to address all 12 men in the room.

“Good morning. I am Mr. Don Way, Minister of National Security. Let’s not waste time with protocol. There have been reports of a drug ring on the west side of Jersey.The last time we received these reports, we didn’t even get chance to act. Another independent organization took lead and wiped them out. It was later revealed that the gang was not only involved in the shipping of drugs, but also various murder cases, theft and other crimes. If our suspicions are correct, then Ghost is the one responsible for bringing these criminals to justice.”

One man raised his hand. “Then this Ghost seems to be working in favor with us.” Mumbles of agreement could be heard. Another man spoke up. “Why don’t we join forces with him. He could be a great asset to the government.”

“No!” One man at the far end of the table said firmly. “His methods are not approved by the government. Ghost is still committing a crime!” Everyone began arguing and raising their voices, some hitting the desk to get their point across.

“Quiet!” Don yelled over them all. Mutters of apologies scrambled throughout the room and then once again it was peaceful. Gerard just sat back quietly and observed. “Now, men, as I was saying, Ghost is more than likely responsible for the criminals judgments. As much as I agree that Ghost could be an asset, he is also committing a criminal offense. I would like to raise a notion that we dispatch some of our forces to investigate the scene and arrest as many dealers they find at the site, including the drug lord, and we bring him in for questioning.” Once again, one could hear the mumbles of agreement.

Gerard scoffed. “You’re kidding me right?” Everyone turned in their seats to look at the casual teen. “You can’t possibly think it’s that easy or that you’d get to just waltz in and casually arrest a bunch of drug dealers AND their drug lord, all in one go. Be realistic please.” Everyone kept their gaze focused on him, some looking like they understood, others looking offended, especially his dad, who also looked pissed.

“Well, what do you propose, son?” Don almost bit out the ‘son’ and you could hear the slight traces of venom in his voice. Gerard just chose to ignore it.

“I say, we send out a couple men to scope the scene, see what it’s like, estimate how many dealers will be at that particular venue and how well equipped they are. We can’t take action just yet. We need to observe them and evaluate their weaknesses.”

Many of them nodded their heads in agreement, then someone raised their hand to make a point. “What about Ghost?”
“Yeah, what about Ghost?” A chorus of ‘yeah’s and ‘what if’s arose, until Gerard casually raised a hand to quiet them.

“Him too. We observe the way he operates. We never know what kind of vulnerability he may portray and cover up, also if we just watch and wait, we could confirm whether or not he works alone.” Before more chatter arose, he added, “And, also if we could, by some miracle, get a hold of him, we could try to negotiate with him.”

“No!” Don spoke.
“What, why not?”

“Can you imagine how the government would look, searching for help from criminals?! The citizens will lose respect for us, we’d look incapable of everything! We don’t want that at all?”

Gerard sighed, as the other member agreed with Don. “I would expect that the safety of our country matters more than our image, am I right?” Everyone was silent. “Very well then. What’s next on the agenda?”

……………

Gerard sighed as he entered his bedroom with a cup of coffee. He looked at the clock on the wall, 9:14 pm. He’d had a long day, driving up and down the road after the meeting for various reasons…one being, he ran out of coffee.

He sighed again. The committee wasted no time in sending out about 4 police officers to scope out the scene from about midday to the rest of the night. Those men were like sheep without a shepherd, so dumb and clueless. It would be so easy to manipulate them, just use the right words and make it sound good and you could probably serve them horse sh*t on a platter and they’d eat it.

He took a quick shower and walked back into the bedroom, quickly throwing on boxers to sleep in and finishing his coffee. He then walked back into the bathroom to brush his teeth, before he finally crawled into bed after a long, mentally exhausting day. He lay peacefully on the soft pillow and closed his eyes, allowing his mind to drift off to sleep.

~~~11:54 pm~~~

BANG! BANG! BANG! “Gerard!”
His eyes flew open and he scrambled up off the bed and ran to the door, stumbling into various objects on his way there. He flung open the door to see his dad standing there, still in his work shirt and pants, while holding a cellphone.

“Hurry up and get dressed. Turns out Ghost showed up to the scene. Our men didn’t get a good view of everything, but they found one of the dealers still alive who managed to see Ghost’s face. Hurry up!”

Gerard cursed under his breath and walked back into his room, grabbing a pair of jeans and throwing them on, pocketing his cellphone and car keys and putting on his shoes at the same time. He threw a t-shirt on quickly before grabbing a jacket and racing out the door, just in time to see his father waiting in the car for him.

……………

“Speak up! What did he look like!?” Gerard could hear the voice of the investigator faintly as he and his father hurried to the room. Once there, they saw another officer, James, standing outside the tinted plexi-glass, watching the whole thing. When they stood next to him he began to update them.

“Hey Chief. They been going at it for about an hour now. The guy wouldn’t speak, blink…nothing.”
“Thanks James.”

Gerard watch as his dad walked into the investigation room and stood in front of the dealer. “Alright officer that’s enough. I’ll take over from here.” His father said, authority booming loudly through his voice.
The man visibly flinched, but remained still and silent.

“So, sir, it’s my understanding that you have some valuable information that you’re withholding from us.” Don slammed his fist on the table and leant forward til he was face to face with the man. Anything else he spoke softly. “We want to know what this Ghost looks like. If you do let us in, I could try and go easier on you at your trial, because like it or not you’re looking at…hmm let’s just say rotting for the rest of your life in a jail cell.”

The man blinked rapidly, his eyes slightly glassy and his chest rising and falling at uneven intervals. Gerard continued to observe the man’s behavior as his father spoke. The sounds of his father’s voice seem to fade as he watched the man. One could see his mouth twitching at the sides, almost as if…as if he was trying to speak but couldn’t.

Gerard thought about this, and then he decided he wanted a chance to speak to the guy. Following his dad’s previous actions, he took a deep breath, opened the door and walked in.

“Uhh dad?” Don spun around with a glare in his son’s direction, making him swallow hard. “I’d, uhh, like a chance.” Don could just tell by Gerard’s expression that he had some sort of important idea. After a long pause, Don replied.
“Fine.” And he left, throwing a last, threatening glare at the criminal before leaving.

Gerard sort of awkwardly sat on the desk opposite the man. “Mmm.” He heard faintly.
“What?” Gerard strained his ear, but heard nothing else. He sighed, but kept a sharp eye on the man. When their eyes met, you could see the panic in the man’s own.

“Hey buddy, uhh you okay there?” The man’s breathing began to quicken and his eyes began to water. “Hey! It’s gonna be ok, just clam down alright?” Gerard also got worried, but he kept his distance in case he was trying something.

“Dude…calm down. Just take smaller breaths.” But even then, Gerard realized that the breaths he was taking were small and forced. The man couldn’t breathe!
“Something’s not right….”Gerard mumbled. He walked quickly to the man’s side and stood in front of him. The man looked at him with scared, pleading eyes, but didn’t make a move to attack Gerard.

“Gerard, stand back, not so close!” He heard his father’s warning voice through the glass, slightly muffled. He just shook his head. It was almost as if, the man wanted to move and scream, but couldn’t.
He was trapped in his own skin, his own body…He was… “Paralyzed!” Gerard all but yelled.

By now the man was struggling for air. Gerard checked his pulse. It was out of control. “He’s paralyzed and it’s affecting his internal organs. Someone get a doctor!” Gerard yelled. He could faintly make out the image of James hurrying to a phone through the door when his father burst into the room.

“What’s going on?!” Don demanded.
“He’s paralyzed.” Gerard said. The man’s face was pale and his breaths were even shallower.

“No! no no no no no no!” Gerard watched in horror as the man stopped breathing and his eyes remained fixed on the ceiling, his lifeless body remaining on the chair in silence. “No!” He managed to breath out finally as the meds finally rushed into the room, pushing past Gerard who stood shocked, to check his pulse and his pupils. Everything else after that happened in a daze.

Gerard was left feeling a great sense of defeat. The closest thing they had to a lead…gone.

Notes

Happy Anniversary of My Chemical Romance's break up. Please for the rest of this day don't be sad. I know it feels like that final stamp that seals the reality..My Chem is over. But we have their memory that still burns strongly in out hearts...Don't let the legacy of this band die out. Stay Strong Killjoys! ^_^ Love you guys. COMMENT! RATE! VOTE! SUBSCRIBE!

Also i wrote a frerard one shot call More Gimme More! You can look it up...i'm thinking of turning it into a series of one-shots, what do you think?
~xXSleepingBulletsXx