Edward cradled Frankie in his arms for several more minutes, simply rocking him gently. He thought about the treatment his guardian had given him in the three years before he had managed to escape, the love and kindness he had experience in the six months living at Gerard and Mikey’s suite and how he had been growing in confidence every day. Now, Korse had shattered all that in a matter of a few hours. The poor boy had seen how safety could be snatched away in a moment and would probably never feel safe again. He swallowed hard, pulling his anger deep inside him; the last thing he wanted was for Frankie to see him angry in case he believed it was aimed at him. But for his efforts, the boy noticed and lifted his head from Edward’s shoulder.

“Are... are you okay?” He asked quietly.
“Me?” Edward’s heart ached at the words. Brushing a few strands of Frankie’s hair away from his tear stained face, he smiled kindly. “I’m fine, why do you ask?”
“You’re really tense,” Frankie replied with deep uncertainty.

Edward exhaled and nodded.

“Frankie, I’m sorry. I can’t tell you how sorry I am that this happened to you.”
“But...” Frankie looked down, at first uncertain how to respond. “It wasn’t you, was it?”
“No, but I...” Edward shook his head. “I didn’t see it coming. I should have been there to protect you.”
“From Korse?” Frankie gasped; he knew the dynamic and likely outcome of defying the exterminator.
“Yes, Frankie,” he replied kindly, smoothing his hair and gently wiping the tear streaks from the boy’s cheeks. “From Korse.”
“Like you protected Gee? I miss him, Edward.” He looked down, big round tears dripping from his eyes once more. “I’ll never see him again, will I?”
“Why do you say that?” Edward asked with a frown.
“Korse isn’t going to let me go. He’ll kill me, I know he will. He lied to Mikey about not knowing where I was. If he was going to let me go... he wouldn’t have done that, would he?”

Edward sighed; the boy was more intelligent than most would give him credit for.

“I don’t know,” he finally replied with a resigned sigh. Whatever Korse’s reasons, it would do the young boy no good to believe himself under a death sentence, even though it seemed most likely.

Edward grimaced; he was faced with an impossible choice. Allow Korse to kill Frankie or enable his escape. If he helped him escape, Korse would go after him. He liked his life in Battery City, he liked his job and his company. If he allowed Frankie to escape, it would be the end of the life he had built for himself, it might even mean his death.

“It’s okay,” Frankie spoke with an unnatural calm. “With illnesses and Lawson, I never really expected to live this long.”

Edward’s eyes widened. In that moment his mind was made up.

“And you have a lot of years left to live yet, Frankie. I’m going to see to that!”
“But if you... No...” Frankie began, only to be cut off by the sound of the office door opening.

Ahead of him, in the chrome of the desk, Edward could see the source of Frankie’s distress.

“Follow my lead,” he whispered almost silently, shielding his mouth for additional security.

Turning to look behind him, Edward rose, a grim expression fixed firmly on his face.

“I expected better from you, Edward,” Korse’s voice rang out, icy and scathing. “If only for the fact that you didn’t notice the room is fitted with hidden security cameras.”

Korse shook his head as he took several steps forward.

“My team managed to pick apart your excellent programming, young Frankie. I know that you changed everything to make it appear that Jakob had taken Gerard, but I just couldn’t work out why. At first, I thought it was because you didn’t like him or rather what you thought he was doing, but that seemed an extreme response and then, finally I realised that you were protecting someone. Who could that possibly be?” He asked the rhetorical question as he waved his arms in a dramatic gesture of confusion. “Apart from the Ways, there really only was one possibility. So, Edward, why don’t you tell me where Gerard is and maybe I can forego the pleasure of your execution and merely exile you to the Zones?”

Edward took a step forward and heaved a deep sigh.

“I think you need to reassess your team, sir,” Edward shook his head lightly. “I don’t know where your information has come from, but I can tell you that you’re wrong on all counts.”
“Do you take me for a fool? I just heard you telling him that you would protect him!” Korse snapped; puzzled by Edward’s somewhat unexpected response.
“Of course I’m going to tell him that,” Edward replied with an expression of disbelief clear on his face. “If he thinks I’m going to help him, he’s more likely to confess than if I beat it out of him. This boy had been severely beaten for three years by his guardian, do you honestly think I can do any worse?”
“He also said you protected Gerard,” Korse replied angrily.
“I did,” Edward replied bluntly. “That’s my job. I protect both of them, Gerard and Mikey. What do you think he meant?”
“He meant that you had Gerard taken somewhere.”
“Why would I do that? What would I be protecting him from?” Edward asked. “You suggested yourself that Frankie invented the idea that Jakob was drugging him. Or was it specifically the Frammen that you’re saying he made up? Was Jakob giving him Kanslokal or something else?”

Korse stared in response, Edward’s responses seemed highly plausible and in fact, seemed to point to some questionable activity on his own part. He had to be very careful how he responded.

“We still haven’t found Jakob, but preliminary tests indicate that there was Kanslokal in the brand of coffee he was giving Gerard.”
“So, he was drugging him?” Edward tipped his head and raised a questioning eyebrow.

Korse suddenly realised after his reply that he had sounded defensive, as if he were being interrogated. Feeling very much on the back foot, he opted to go on the attack again.

“Where is Gerard?” He demanded again.
“Don’t you think I wish I knew?” He offered a puzzled expression. “It really doesn’t matter what he gave him, does it? The result was still the same and, as it turns out, if had removed him from the suite, I actually would have been protecting him. I don’t understand why you would find that suspicious.”

Korse drew his lips into a thin line, Edward had an answer for everything so far, but there was still one final sticking point.

“That doesn’t explain why the boy deleted security footage and made it look as though Jakob had been drugging him with Frammen.”

Edward remained silent, it was a damning piece of evidence.

“I... I can tell you,” came a small voice behind him.

Korse looked down at the small boy and sneered.

“Really?”
“I woke up one night and saw Jakob putting something into the jar of coffee that Gee likes. I didn’t know what it was, but I was worried. Gee’s been acting so strange, I knew it had to be related. When Jakob left and Gee ran out, I wanted to make it look like he had engineered it so people would realise and do something about it. But then neither Gee or Jakob come back and I was too scared to tell anyone what I’d done. I meant well, but I... I can understand why you’re angry with me, but... well it’s made you suspicious of Edward and he’s done nothing wrong! He’s been worried sick and barely left us on our own since Gee left. I’m sorry,” he looked down. “I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to cause all this but I didn’t know what to do!”

Frankie was crying again and Edward found himself automatically reaching down to scoop him up. Looking at Korse’s grim and almost defeated expression, Edward assumed that the best course of action was to behave like a totally innocent man.

“Exterminator Korse, I understand why your suspicions were raised and I do appreciate you giving me the chance to explain. I expect Frankie feels bad enough that he caused so much trouble for everyone but, given his age and apology, I assume you won’t be taking this further. I’d like to take him home. Is there anything else?”

Korse nodded stiffly; he wasn’t sure what to believe. He had been convinced that Edward was lying to him, but every accusation was countered either with the truth or with supreme skill - at this moment he wasn’t certain which definition to apply, but he was determined to find out.

“No, thank you Edward, you may take the boy home,” he growled through gritted teeth as he glared at Frankie.
“I am really sorry, sir,” Frankie added with a convincing hiccup as he spoke.
“Do not meddle again,” Korse growled in reply.

Watching, deep in thought as Edward headed for the door, still carrying Frankie, Korse’s eyes widened suddenly.

“Wait!” He barked. Waiting for Edward to turn, he narrowed his eyes as he spoke to Frankie. “Mikey backed up your version of events. Was he lying too?”
“No, sir,” Frankie replied sheepishly. “I told him that I was using the laptop to find out what had happened and then told him what I had done, pretending it had actually happened.”
“Is that so?” Korse sneered.
“Yes, sir,” Frankie’s eyes widened slightly. “I doubt Mikey could lie to you. He respects you to much.”

Korse closed his eyes briefly. If this was all true, it meant that Mikey’s indoctrination was still in effect and serving its purpose. He wanted to believe it, but he wasn’t so naive as to be blinded by it. The next few days would be crucial; if there was a plot, he would uncover it.

“Very well,” he nodded. “Take him home,” he added in a terse, dismissive tone.

He watched carefully as Edward left the office, carrying Frankie in his arms.

“If you’re lying to me, Edward,” alone in the office he growled through gritted teeth, “rest assured, you won’t live long enough to regret it.”

*

Gerard tapped the top of the pencil on his lips. He had started with a simple list, but that had long since grown into an intricate mind map, crawling across the page like a giant spider. He looked up as the door opened again; it was Leech accompanied by Dr Death Defying.

“Hi!” Gerard smiled cheerfully. “What’s the electricity supply like in the Zones? I see you have it here, but is that normal?” He asked, his hand hovering over one corner of the map.
“Hi to you too,” Leech smiled in return and offered Death an optimistic glance.
“How are you feeling today, Gerard?” Death asked brightly.

Gerard offered him a broad grin in return, lowered the pencil and paper and got to his feet.

“Better than I have in...” he paused as he thought about it. “Months... easily.”
“That’s good to hear, Gerard. I think you’ll be able to go home now.”

Gerard frowned with uncertainty as he thought about returning to Battery City and in particular to Korse who he now accepted that, far from being his guardian, had actually almost killed him, or at the very least, risked driving him insane through the administration of Kanslokal before his body was old enough to handle such a powerful drug.

“What’s wrong, Gerard?” Death tipped his head to the right and eyed him with a concerned glance.
“I’ll be going back to the place that... or, rather the person that did this to me, won’t I? He’s already arranged my abduction and now the Kanslokal. What’s next? And what about Mikey? Or Frankie? He has too many options to get to me. I think he knows my indoctrination failed. If I go back, he might use this as a reason to do it again.” Gerard lowered his eyes and his shoulders sagged. “What if it works next time?”
“What do you want to do, Gerard?” Death asked his voice gentle and curious.
“I want to help the Zones. You’ve shown me what it’s really like and I’m ashamed of how Battery City has treated you. But to have any chance I have to go back.”
“But going back is dangerous for you.”

It was almost a question, almost a statement. Gerard let the words sink in and pursing his lips thoughtfully, he nodded briefly.

“I have to do it though. What can I do from here at my age? Besides, I have to be with Mikey and Frankie... I need to look after them. Yes,” he nodded with determination. “If I do nothing, I’ve wasted an opportunity and something needs to happen.”

Death Defying looked at Leech and nodded.

“He was right about him.”
“Edward? What did he say?” Gerard tipped his head, curious about what was said.

Death hesitated; there was still an element of doubt in his mind and he could not risk his former sergeant’s life.

“I’m sorry,” Gerard lifted his hands up, palms facing out, “you can’t tell me who it was, I understand.”
“I’ll arrange for you to be collected as soon as possible. We may have to drug you...”

Death paused, halted by the expression of alarm on Gerard’s face. Now it was Death’s turn to raise his hands in a comforting gesture.

“I know how you feel about needles and I know that’s probably been intensified by the treatment, but I can do it without an injection.”

Gerard’s eyes returned to their normal shape and size before he allowed a held deep breath to leave him slowly.

“It’s still pretty scary, but I understand, and I’m okay with it.”
“Okay, we’ll sort it out for you to leave,” Death nodded and moved to turn his chair around, only to be stopped by Gerard as he held a hand out as a signal to pause.

“Wait...” he looked at both men in turn. “Thank you. Really, thank you. I know you gave up a lot and risked more to help me and I don’t know how successful I’m going to be at changing things but I promise I will try my best. I owe you my life and I’ll never forget that.”
“I’m glad we could help and I’m glad we did,” Death replied with a faint smile. “Whatever you can do, we’ll be grateful.”
“Can... can I see Jet before I go?”

Death had already turned his chair to wheel out, but Leech looked back.

“Sure, I’ll bring him.”

Gerard smiled; he’d grown very fond of Jet and the two had struck up a friendship over the previous week in particular. He couldn’t help but wonder if he would ever see him again.

Notes

Hello lovely readers. Well, another chapter and we’re moving closer to the end. I know where that is, just not how it gets there! :P

I hope you enjoyed this instalment. More when uni allows.

Sas xx