The atmosphere in the room was thick with tension as the boys stared expectantly at Edward. Each boy displayed a different expression on his face. Mikey was angry; his knit brow forcing deep lines to form across his forehead, his jaw clamped tight. Gerard looked scared, even upset; his eyes wide, his shoulders dropped and his skin clammy and pale. Frankie seemed both confused and concerned for Gerard’s well-being and barely moved his eyes from the older boy. Slipping his hand into Gerard’s he offered a comforting squeeze and pursed his lips as he noted that Gerard was so distracted, he barely registered the action.

Edward looked from Mikey to Gerard to Frankie before settling his eyes back on the accusatory glare of the younger Way brother.

“Well?” Mikey prompted. “What’s going on and why have you allowed it?” He snapped.

Edward ran his thumbnail across his right eyebrow as he considered the question. It was reasonable for them to ask, but he doubted that he had the answers they were expecting.

“We have about half an hour,” he gestured to the dining table near one of the large windows on the opposite side of the room. “I’ll tell you everything I know, and the stuff I suspect. But, and this is important,” he added as they all gathered to take a seat at the oval table, “I can’t prove most of it and even if I could, I’d disappear. Do you understand?”

Gerard nodded grimly; Frankie shrugged his shoulders, still only barely aware of anything but Gerard and Mikey merely continued to glare, reserving judgement until he had decided whether Edward could be trusted. Pulling out a chair each, all four settled at the table, the boys uncertain what was going to be revealed.

“Okay, I have my own theory but I don’t know for sure why Gerard was abducted. However, I do know who did it.”
“It was the three rebels,” Mikey frowned, “we know that already.”

Edward appeared thoughtful, as if he were considering letting them in on the wider secret.

“No,” he shook his head. “That’s what you were supposed to think.”

Each of them frowned with a mixture of concern and confusion and they continued to stare, waiting for more detail.

“But, I saw them...” Gerard finally spoke. “They... they beat me... I...”

Gerard paused, looking away, unwilling to show the distress in his eyes to Mikey, only looking back when he felt a gentle squeeze of his hand. Glancing back to the table, he smiled weakly as he noticed Frankie’s concern and the younger boy’s small hand wrapped around his own.

“Gerard,” Edward sighed, gaining his attention once more, “did it not occur to you as strange that three rebels managed to obtain access to this building and this apartment? One of the most heavily guarded and fortified in the city.”
“Of course it occurred to me!” Gerard snapped. “It’s given me nightmares ever since.”
“And that the three rebels who took you are the same ones that you were supposed to have had executed that night in Traitor’s Square?” Edward allowed the secret he had been keeping out into the world to a stunned silence.

All eyes widened in shock at the words. Even Mikey lost his angry and stony glare, to be replaced by wide-eyed surprise.

“They...” Gerard gasped. “But how? I mean... it’s not possible.”
“No, no no!” Mikey shook his head in disbelief. “You’re telling us that somehow these three escaped from their cells, found their way into this building, took Gee and got away? All without anyone seeing them?” Mikey scoffed, gesticulating as he spoke. “That’s not possible! You said it yourself, this is one of the most...”
“But it did happen,” Frankie interrupted, drawing a hesitant silence from the brothers. “So... how?”

Gerard lifted his eyes to look at Edward, a deep sigh on his lips, his shoulders sagging as if under the weight of some new burden.

“There is only one way it could have happened,” he whispered, closing his eyes again in disbelief.

Mikey and Frankie looked from Gerard to Edward, puzzled expressions adorning their faces as they looked back once more to see Gerard shaking his head slowly and pushing a hand through his hair.

“I should have realised,” he said, finally looking back at Edward.
“How could you have known?” Edward replied with a soft and gentle tone and a sympathetic tilt of his head.
“What?” Mikey asked, irritable that he was in the dark while Gerard and Edward seemed both to have the answer.
“What have we missed?” Frankie asked, equally puzzled.
“Korse,” Gerard replied. “Only he could have got the rebels out of their cells and in here.”
“No, what about Petra?” Mikey tipped his head at what he saw as a strange suggestion. “She could have let them in. You know she didn’t like you, Gee. That would explain why she disappeared after. Either she’s hiding from Korse or she’s dead.”
“She wouldn’t have been able to get them out of their cells,” Edward corrected. “And if she’s dead, which she is, she couldn’t arrange for Gerard to be being drugged now.”
“She’s dead?” Gerard’s eyes widened in surprise. “How do... Korse?”

Edward nodded grimly, and he continued to stare questioningly at Gerard. He had to explain everything now, there really wasn’t much choice.

“You were taken to a secret basement inside this building, Gerard. So secret, in fact, even I didn’t know about it until I studied the plans.” Edward explained. “When you arrived back here, you were unconscious so I can only assume that either after Korse found you, you passed out, or more likely, you were knocked out in some way.”
“This doesn’t make any sense!” Mikey insisted. “Why would Korse hand Gee over to rebels? And he couldn’t have been in the basement? He would have got back much sooner if he was. It was over an hour before he arrived after you woke me.”

Edward took a deep breath; he had long suspected that Gerard’s indoctrination hadn’t been successful, but he knew that Mikey’s had. It was going to take a lot to convince him that Korse wasn’t the protective guardian that he claimed to be.

“Mikey, I found a way down there,” Edward explained carefully. “I found the room where he was held. I believe that Gerard was found so quickly because he was so brave.”
“What do you mean?” Mikey frowned, the statement didn’t seem to make sense.
“Gerard was supposed to read their list of demands,” Edward cast a concerned eye toward the older Way brother. “But they couldn’t make him. So the male rebel stood in front of the camera himself. Korse had to get in there, shut down the camera and kill the rebels before anyone recognised the man and realised his part in Gerard’s abduction.”

Mikey chewed his lower lip; as much as he didn’t want to believe it, the explanation was convincing. Korse had been certain of his brother’s rescue, he had found him at almost the very moment the rebel appeared in front of the camera. To do that, he would have had to have literally been standing outside the room. Perhaps he had even taken the rebels to the room himself? Raising his eyes, Mikey looked at Edward, who noticed the boy’s skin had paled slightly and he appeared nervous.

“Okay,” he began tentatively. “But why?”

It was Edward’s turn to be hesitant. He had to be very careful how this was handled - Mikey, if not all of them, seemed wary and uncertain. If he were to reveal too much of what he believed was Korse’s true nature to them, he feared they might reject the possibility and even have him arrested.

“I believe that Petra was trying to have Gerard put through indoctrination again by suggesting he was disloyal to BLI.”
“That’s garbage!” Mikey snapped.
“What is?” Frankie interrupted. “We all know that Petra hated Gee.”
“No...” Mikey corrected. “I meant that he’s not disloyal.”

Edward spared another glance toward Gerard, but his expression was unreadable.

“I’m not saying that,” he replied, deciding to err on the side of caution. “I’m saying that she was trying to make Korse believe it.”
“And you think that he had Gee abducted to prove a point!” Mikey’s eyes widened in surprise.
“No,” Edward replied carefully. “To test a theory. Petra was proved wrong and now she’s dead.”

Edward took a deep breath as turned a dark penetrating stare towards him; he could see how hard it was for Gerard to hear. He knew that Korse had tortured Mikey to forget aspects of his past, that he had tried to do the same thing to Gerard. The one point he wasn’t certain of, was why had his expression darkened so much? Had he taken the explanation too far?

“What’s troubling you, Gerard?” Edward asked carefully.

Without changing his expression, and keeping his eyes locked with Edward’s, Gerard replied:

“You think Korse is callous enough to have me severely beaten? Just to test a theory?” He spoke in a low almost monotone fashion.
“Honestly?” Edward paused; Gerard had very possibly been drugged on a daily basis with a low dose of Kanslokal for six months now. The reply he gave now could potentially lose him his life. “Yes, and I’m willing to bet that he’s been dosing you with Kanslokal for the last six months to keep you from seeing it,” he continued, holding his breath for a few moments to gauge Gerard’s response.

*

It was a particularly rocky section of Route Guano that had become a favourite with rebels hoping to ambush BLI supply trucks, but because it had become commonplace, any convoys travelling through that area were now protected by a contingent of draculoids. Today would be no exception and the Rebel Stars were ready for it.

Settled low on the ground, Dr Death Defying had positioned his men beyond the main attack point and in a place with much less cover. His thinking being that once past the usual trouble spot, both draculoids and drivers would have lowered their guards, making it much easier to strike. The plan today was daring - instead of merely raiding the trucks and taking what they could, this time the plan was to take the trucks themselves. They would be driven to a place where four vans would be waiting before filling the vans and driving them away to a number of locations, all desperate for supplies. The trucks could then simply be abandoned without alerting anyone of any hideouts or the destinations of the supplies.

The jeep had been positioned at the side of the road. The hood was up, affording the doctor some protection. A simple gadget that produced copious clouds of steam sat on top of the engine giving the impression of a damaged radiator. On one side of the road lay Flex and Leech, armed and ready to attack. On the same side as the doctor, Jet and a younger doctor - not long qualified before his enrolment into the army - the nickname BabyDoc had stuck and was now impossible to change. He wondered how old he would have to be before being allowed to cast it aside. However old that was, he very much hoped to reach it.

Behind him, Jet noticed a rocky outcrop which was raised above the road. From there he could see Dr Death Defying, and much further down Route Guano than he could from his current position. Keeping low, Jet moved to the outcrop, from which point he would be able to see the trucks approaching; it seemed a big improvement on his previous hiding place. Please with himself, he settled in to watch for draculoids approaching before the convoy arrived. It was only a few minutes later that he heard BabyDoc shouting in horror.

“Doc!”

Death Defying turned his head to see a laughing draculoid standing over him, his ray gun aimed and ready to fire. From where he stood, he could see that the man who had shouted didn’t have a clear aim and the two men he had spied on the opposite side of the road couldn’t shoot without hitting the doctor.

“Throw down your weapon,” the draculoid ordered. “And tell your friends to do the same.”

Death Defying spared a glance toward where he knew Jet should be, but there was no sign of the boy. He had been perfectly placed to look for draculoids and warn them all, but he was nowhere to be seen. Death Defying took a deep breath as he dropped his gun.

“Tell the rest to...”

It was as far as the draculoid got before falling heavily to the ground, a black burn mark staining his otherwise pristine white uniform. Death Defying turned his head sharply to the right to see Jet, now standing, his gun in his still shaking hand and his skin so pale as to appear translucent.

Jet had moved out of position. There would be time later to explain why it had been a mistake, almost a fatal mistake, but for now, the doctor could see that the boy was visibly trembling. Taking a life was bad enough for a veteran soldier, but Jet was only twelve years old. To him it was unthinkable and he right now, he could barely see, hear or think. Dropping to his knees, Jet emptied the contents of his stomach and leaned on the rock, coughing and retching even after he had nothing left. Moments later, Flex was by his side and placed his arm across Jet’s shoulders, leading him to a safe area, beyond the strike zone. Jet was barely aware of what was happening, let alone who had guided him away. He had just killed a man and he could feel nothing but the horror and guilt of that moment.

Flex frowned as he saw the boy struggling to come to terms with what he had done. He knew that it would happen at some point, it was always on the cards - but at age twelve? He doubted, from the condition of the boy, that he would recover from the shock quickly, if ever.

Notes

Hello lovely readers!

Well, finally an update. It takes so long because uni is so busy (final year) and I have to give that priority. So this is a combination of several evenings - an hour here and there. It adds up, but it takes ages. I hope you’ll bear with me and that you’re still enjoying it :)

Thanks for reading!
Sas xx