Jet's POV

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I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty damn shocked to hear that, to be straight I think I might have frozen for about a minute before finding myself capable of even comprehending what he said.

I went to school with him? This was a real stab in the dark here, I've been to a couple of different schools and I never end up being able to remember anyone, not by name anyway. Not to mention, what if I've been completely wrong about everything and in reality this dude is a complete nutbug that likes to act out some weird high school fantasy thing before he murders someone? Yeah, I've seen those murder shows and I've read crime books, I know exactly where this could end up going and it involves my body being hidden in the cement foundation of a new building.

Unable to reply and beginning to freak from my own theories I took a step away from him, towards the ladder...maybe if I'm really quick I could get up there, lock him down here and call the police using Vera's phone.

Instantly he saw the panic written on my face as clear as day and he held his hands up, as if in surrender and walked a little away from me. I would have found that comforting if he didn't still have a gun hanging around his neck and a verified psychopath as a friend keeping an entire bank hostage upstairs.

"Whoa, I'm not gonna do anything to you. I just thought I should get you away from Pax, I have no idea what he'd do if he found out someone I knew on the outside was in here. I mean, he hasn't exactly been on his best behavior towards you anyway. I'm really sorry for what he did in the backroom, I had no idea he'd actually done any of the stuff I'd heard about. Well, I knew he dabbled in some smuggling but murder and rape is a whole different ballgame." As soon as he started talking Gee fell into a babble, barely taking a breath as he explained his friend's behavior.

"Pax isn't what matters right now. I still have absolutely no idea who are." I crossed my arms and for the first time looked him straight in face, time to fake being brave.

"We were in elementary school together, I was really mean to you, especially when I shouldn't have been." He seemed almost embarrassed as he talk ms I felt my well of doubt beginning to dry up, he certainly did seem as uncomfortable as I'd imagine a bully would feel after meeting someone they picked on but it still didn't make him anyone special in my memory. Bully's weren't any new addition or one time thing in my life.

"I got picked on by a lot of people so saying that you were mean to me doesn't really make you stand out of the crowd. Were you the boy who stole threw away my clothes on school swim day and made me catch the bus home in my swimsuit and a towel?" If he said yes then I'd have no other option than to kill him on the spot, that kid's on my hit list for if I ever get some kind of terminal disease and want to go around righting any wrongs. That had been one very long, very uncomfortable and very awkward bus ride home, I didn't end up going to school for a week after that.

"No, I um," he looked around for a moment as if expecting someone to walk out of the shadows and explain whatever connection we had to me. "My name's Gerard, Gerard Way. You stood up for me once...and my dad hit you because of it. I ended up staying at your house for like, four days." I froze mid-breath and tried the best I possibly could to completely step away from the reality of the situation to look past the gun in his hands, the bulletproof vest and the fact that I was (like it or not) a hostage.

Gradually, bit by bit the memories I had of 'Chris' began to sink in. His eyes were still the same as far as I could tell in the light, he still had that weird fairy nose and when I imagined his hair as something dorky, short and brown, that's when the puzzle pieces all came together. He looked tired and a whole lot sadder than I remember him being, not to mention he was taller than me now but he was still the same kid I remember seeing climb into the back of a big, black car with his little brother in tow.

As a kid I'd counted him as one of my few friends and it just about broke my heart seeing him leave, about as much as it did to meet him again like this.

"Gerard...what happened between then and now that would make you want to do this?" I asked and he averted his eyes, looking away from me almost as if he were too ashamed to reply.

"The foster system's cold, Jet. Mikey and I just got bounced around from place to place until I was old enough to pull him out and get a job and for the record I never wanted this. There was never supposed to be this many people and Pax said he wasn't going to shoot at all, it got blown up so much bigger than it was supposed to and shit, I didn't think I was going to end up bumping into you here. I thought you would have left Monroeville." By this stage I was too far engrossed in conversation to notice the small tunnel I stood in or the gun, I knew I no longer hand to worry bout him shooting me anyway; Pax was the real problem when it came down to it.

"I did end up leaving. Mom missed the family and wanted to come back. Why would you stay? Come on, you couldn't have picked a worse place to rob a bank. Not to mention, why?" He snorted, the sound abrupt and rather quiet in the brief silence.

"This is pretty much the only place I know and I used to go into the bank plenty of times with my dad so I know my way around the place. Mikey needed the money, he got mixed up with some bad people and I didn't have the cash to bail him out. I had no other choice and I thought Pax was someone I could rely on, this all just turned to shit." Gerard sighed, pushed his hair out of his face with one hand then turned around and started walking. "We better go, if we're not back soon hell knows what he'll do."

I'd just been hit with a curveball. I had no idea why he might have wanted to go buddy/buddy and rob a bank, greed had been my first guess since who doesn't want to be a millionaire but I found it hard to reject his reasoning. If I was put in the same position and I knew someone I loved was in danger then I'd probably put myself in the line of fire too and although it would more or less be impossible with my socialization issues I'd just as likely have a shot at robbing a bank if I thought I was stuck with no other option.

I couldn't imagine anything I could come up with being half as organized and Pax and Gerard's plans though.

"He won't hurt my friend will he? Vera, she's the one who's panicking, she's got anxiety issues." I do have to admit it did make me feel a lot better to know that I had at least one fully functioning person on my side in this but I knew Vee was my weak spot and it was hard for me to let my mind drift of her for more than a few minutes at a time.

"I don't know. At first I would have said she'd be fine but after his little display on the phone, what he said...I need to just get this over and done with." The worry of what might happen had turned my stomach into a solid knot and if I had a full stomach I probably would have chucked. I wanted to be a doctor and I was supposed to be able to handle high pressure situations but this was not looking good in the slightest.

"And you're still going to give him a cut of the money, even after all the shit he's put everyone through? He tried to rape me."

"Did I say I approved of what he's been doing? No. But I don't know how I can get everyone out of this alive without giving him what he wants. If he gets even the slightest hint that something's up he'll lose it. You're not blind, you can see what he's like." That's an understatement, a baboon could as easily look at him and understand that the way Pax is conducting himself is not how normal (or at least somewhat mentally stable) people are meant to behave. He's like a vicious dog in a yard full of poodle puppies, none of them would stand a chance.

"Well couldn't you, you know...shoot him? Wouldn't that be considered humane murder since he's ward for the criminally insane kind of crazy? The police wouldn't even care, you would have stopped a robbery and probably just saved them some jail space because no matter what that guy's gonna be getting the death penalty if he ever gets caught." I'd never expected to be making such a suggestion about someone but yesterday I also wasn't placing my bets on being both part of a bank heist and the long lost friend of one of the people running it.

"I would have already done that, trouble is he's a much better shot than I am and even if I kill him my head's still on the chopping block because Mikey needs that money and I can't come back without it because if I do. He'll be the one getting killed." Try as I might I couldn't think of anyway out of the situation for him.

If Gerard ran out on Pax then everyone would get killed and he wouldn't get the money to pay for whatever Mikey's debt may be. He stays here there's still a chance everyone will get killed and now to top it all off he could get arrested and put in jail for a very, very long time which yet again means that no debts will be getting wiped clean.

I suppose there's a small chance he might be able to get away with it all, that he won't get caught hours or days or weeks from now and that everyone will be safe but it's even more likely that this will all go down the drain and I'll be the unlucky innocent bystander who's stuck smack bang in the middle of it.

But the final question at the end of it all is how am I supposed to lie myself into believing it's all going to be okay when everything in me says that it's not?

Notes