Angels From the Neon 6
Part 5
Despite the blasthole in his shoulder, Gerard launches himself out of the van, snarling like a wild animal. Frank holds himself still, even though everything in him is screaming to help Gerard, that he’ll injure himself more, that Korse will decide Gerard’s not worth the trouble and have him ghosted right there in front of him in the parking lot. As it is, it feels as though his heart is going to burst out of his chest as one of the Dracs reaches out, catching a gloved hand in Gerard’s hair, yanking on it hard and stopping him with a crash mid leap and sending him sprawling to his knees.
Korse already has his gun out. “Now, now, Gerard.” He says in a horrifyingly reasonable tone. “That’s no way to behave, is it? I see we have our work cut out for us.”
Gerard tries to jerk his head away from the Drac with its hand in his hair, but its grip seems too strong. “Fuck. You.” He says clearly, his eyes boring into Korse. He hasn’t so much as glanced at Frank and Frank feels oddly grateful for that - he’d probably give the game away if he had to pretend to be a Drac again with Gerard watching him like that.
Korse doesn’t even seem to hear Gerard, he just looks past him to Mikey lying still in the back of the van, “Ah, and that must be your brother. Excellent.” He turns to the second Drac and Frank. “You two take that one down to one of the empty cells in the experimentation block.” He gestures with the gun at Mikey, who doesn’t as much as twitch. “Gerard here has an appointment to keep.”
Gerard screams something unintelligible but full of swear words and Korse shakes his head. “Such an ANGRY young man.” He sighs, “May I remind you…” he steps closer to Gerard, leaning forward to mutter into his ear. “We have your brother now, Gerard. Try anything and I’m sure we can find something more… painful to experiment on him with than just pills.”
Gerard stops struggling immediately.
The other Drac starts moving towards the van and Frank manages to get his feet to move after only a split second, dragging Mikey out of the van. Mikey groans and it sounds like a question but there’s no way Frank can answer him. Instead, he gives his ankle an extra hard squeeze. ‘It’s okay,’ he thinks as though Mikey can read his mind. ‘Gerard’s fine. It’s all going to plan.’
In the next thirty seconds Frank discovers two things. First, Mikey is very, very good at pretending to be unconscious, letting himself remain totally limp as Frank and the Drac haul him upright and sling his arms over their shoulders. Secondly, and more importantly, he’s a hell of a lot heavier than he looks.
As they start half-carrying, half-dragging Mikey, the elevator doors slide open again for a small party of Dracs who must be here to deal with Gerard. For his own part, Gerard says Mikey’s name as they pass him and Frank feels Mikey’s fingers spasm against his shoulder.
Just before the elevator doors close on them, Frank hears Korse’s voice echoing across the parking lot. “When you’ve dealt with him, come and see me. I’m sure you’ll have a fascinating story to tell me.”
Frank knows that it’s directed at him.
***
Frank and the Drac drop Mikey on a bed, or at least a flat, faintly padded surface Mikey hopes is a bed. He feels a slight, reassuring squeeze of fingers on his shoulder before the sound of boots on a tiled floor and the slam of the door.
Mikey flickers open one eye to see a plain white, brightly lit room with no windows and no furniture other than what he’s lying on. He opens the other eye. The thick door has a sliding observation window, but it’s closed. Not that it matters too much, Mikey’s sure there are cameras hidden in the room.
He forces himself to relax, crossing his legs at the ankle and stretching his arms to fold them under his head. All he can do now is wait for Frank to put the next part of the plan into action and try not to die of a stress or panic induced heart attack.
***
As soon as he leaves Mikey in the cell, Frank goes to find Korse. He’s been practicing his story since they decided to try his plan so he knows what he’s going to tell him, but he also knows where Korse is likely to be and it’s going to be hard to keep in character if he’s right.
He walks down the corridor of pictures. Someone has already replaced the ones of Mikey and Gerard with ones that have a large red cross through them. BL/ind were always efficient. The only one left alone from his new-found family is a particularly unflattering one of Ray - fuzzy and slightly out of focus it looks like it was taken from a long distance. Frank allows himself a small smile behind his mask. One day, he tells himself, his picture will be here too.
Korse is precisely where Frank had known he would be - an observation room with a large window into another one that is used for ‘treatment’. He feels a little like he’s going to throw up; Gerard’s in the room beyond, strapped to the chair. Frank knows from experience that Gerard can see everything that’s going on in the observation room even though he can’t hear what’s being said.
Frank tries not to look at Gerard as he crosses the observation room to Korse, who’s staring at Gerard through the window, but he can’t help it - in the unremitting white of the clinic it’s like Gerard is the only thing in the room, a violent splash of riotous colour struggling against the straps that keep him bound in place. The glass is soundproof, but Frank can tell Gerard is screaming, wild eyes all but rolling back in his head. He looks as crazy as he did the first time Frank saw him and he’s suddenly reminded of why Mikey worries about him like he does.
***
Gerard fell asleep as soon as he’d lain down, leaving Frank to watch him. He thinks it should still feel weirder, creepier maybe, just sitting next to Gerard and watching him slowly breathe in and out but it doesn’t. It feels absolutely right, like something he was born to do. The thought makes Frank smile and he braves reaching down to run his fingers through Gerard’s long hair. Gerard makes a small noise that sounds like a question and shifts slightly but doesn’t wake up. They remain like that for a while. Frank feels peaceful and oddly protected even though Gerard’s asleep and he doesn’t even flinch when the door to the main room creaks open.
Mikey leans up against the doorframe and studies them for a while. Frank turns his attention back to Gerard, pushing his hair away from his sleeping face.
“Can I talk to you?” Mikey says eventually.
Frank’s been expecting this. “Yeah,” he replies, “I’ll see you outside in a moment, okay?”
Mikey doesn’t say anything but lets the door creak shut behind him.
Frank tugs a little on Gerard’s hair. He makes the questioning noise again but this time his eyes flicker open. Frank grins at him.
“I’m just going outside.” he whispers, “Not for long. Mikey wants to talk to me.”
Gerard makes another noise that Frank takes as a sign of assent.
Mikey’s sitting on the hood of the Trans-Am, staring at the diner with his arms folded. He looks like he usually does serious and deadly calm. Frank wonders if it’s his natural state of being or if it’s something he’d had to learn to stay safe in Battery City and hasn’t managed to rid himself of the habit now he’s out here in the zones. He jams his hands in his pockets and walks over to him, trying to hide his nervousness. It’s a little ridiculous, Frank thinks, the only person less physically intimidating than Mikey is himself.
“Gee’ll be pissed if you kill me now.” he tries to joke, but Mikey raises an eyebrow. “Heh… I just meant, well, you know…” Frank tails off, not sure if Mikey does know. He doesn’t even think HE knows.
“Gerard’s insane.” Mikey says flatly.
Frank swallows. “Uh…”
Mikey shakes his head. “He hasn’t had a nightmare since we met you.” he continues, “and I’ve been listening.”
Frank gets the feeling that his place in this conversation is to listen to whatever Mikey has to say.
“He used to wake up screaming almost every night.” Mikey unfolds his arms and puts his hands palm down on the hood of the car, “Unless he’d drunk so much he was practically in a coma.”
Frank nods hesitantly and Mikey gives an odd one-shouldered shrug. “He sleeps.” he says matter-of-factly. “With you, I mean. With you he just sleeps.”
Frank bites his lip. “I know he’s your brother…” he starts, Mikey doesn’t sound accusing but it seems as though he should reply. Mikey just keeps talking over him.
“It’s okay. I don’t pretend to understand it and I’m still pretty creeped out by the, uh…” he gestures to the side of Frank’s head, “But I trust you, I guess. And Gerard deserves to get some fuckin’ rest for once and I know you’re not gonna ghost him in his sleep or anything. It’s pretty shiny…” he kicks his heels against the bumper of the car and Frank is suddenly reminded of how young Mikey really is. It’s kinda shocking after watching him ‘running the zones with a gun in his hand. “It’s just…” he kicks the bumper one last time and looks up at Frank. “You should know how bad he is… was. Whatever. I think it’s you now. I think it’s always been you, ever since he first saw you; you were gonna be the one to keep him grounded. And you gotta be sure about this, okay, because I’m his brother but you’re FRANK and he sleeps when you’re there. So if you’re gonna leave us, leave HIM, you better fuckin’ do it now before he decides he can’t live without you, because if you fuck my brother over… I will fuckin’ END you. ”
Frank’s sure his eyes are the size of plates. “I’m not gonna fucking LEAVE!” he says, astounded that Mikey could even think that he could.
Mikey does his odd half-shrug again. “There’s more than one way to leave.” He says matter-of-factly. “You know there is. Especially here.”
Frank shivers, even though it’s a warm night. “I…” he starts, trying to think of anything to say. “You know I can’t promise that.”
Mikey nods, once, and sighs. “Feels like I’ve been worrying about Gerard for forever.” he says, “You can’t blame me.” He’s not actually looking at Frank, just staring past him to the diner.
Frank shakes his head and then says, “No. No, I don’t blame you. Fuck, Mikey… I know I wasn’t there and you have no idea how much I wish I had been but…” he huffs out a deep breath. “I thought about Gerard every single day until they took that away from me. I did my fair share of worrying about him, believe me.” he stops, trying to pull his thoughts together. “I didn’t shoot him.” he tries, “I could’ve. Probably should’ve done, but I didn’t. I think despite everything BL/ind did to me, I knew who he was. It was - HE was the only thing that broke through, Mikey. They made me do so many terrible things and I did them, no questions, no emotion, nothing - but Gerard? For Gerard I stopped, if only for a moment. I don’t want to leave him. I can’t even think of leaving him… But… I still can’t promise nothing will go Costa Rica tomorrow...”
“Nobody can.” Mikey says, “But you better fuckin’ try.”
Frank laughs, the suddenness of it surprises even him, but nothing about this situation is even remotely funny.
Mikey jumps off the hood of the car. “You realise that you’re both just holding each other together?” he asks, “I’m not sure that’s healthy.”
“Fuck healthy.” Frank says succinctly. “It works.”
Mikey nods and starts walking back to the diner. “Get some sleep, Frank. Big day tomorrow.”
***
Korse doesn’t bother looking at Frank as he approaches, he never did. Frank doesn’t think Korse thinks of the Dracs who work for him as human. He might have a point. He watches Gerard’s silent struggles for a few more moments and then says “I’ll never understand these… people. It’s disgusting.”
Frank doesn’t think anything about zonerunners in general or Gerard in particular is disgusting - If anything, it’s Korse and BL/ind’s white sterility, but of course he doesn’t even move a muscle. Korse finally turns. “Where did you find them?” he demands. He never asks.
Frank’s trying to remember what he sounded like and how he spoke when he’d been here last. He just hopes he gets it right. “Zone three.” he says. He uses short, clipped sentences, no extra words; only answering the question he’s being asked. Korse nods.
“And your team?”
“Dead.”
Korse glances back at Gerard for a moment. “Not much of a loss.” he says eventually, “They had a third.”
“Dead.” Frank repeats. They don’t need any patrols sent out to look for Ray.
“Good.” Korse says coldly. “Follow me.”
He starts towards the door and Frank’s heart leaps into his mouth. If Korse wants him to help ‘interrogate’ Gerard then he’s going to be sick, no question. It takes a few seconds to force his feet to move, but Korse doesn’t seem to notice. He pushes open the door to Gerard’s room and Frank can’t do anything but follow him although his heart is beating so hard and fast that he’s shocked that Korse hasn’t heard it.
Gerard stops yelling when they enter and looks at Korse with pure hate again. His fingernails are broken and there are deep scratch marks on the arms of the chair. “Where’s Mikey, you fucker?” he demands.
Korse barks out a laugh that has absolutely nothing to do with humour. “Your… brother,” he replies, saying the word as if it’s entirely distasteful, “Is being looked after.”
Gerard’s eyes go wide. Frank doesn’t blame him. In Korse’s voice it sounds like the worst kind of threat imaginable, like Mikey’s already dead and rotting in hell. He wishes there was some way of allaying Gerard’s fears.
Korse just smiles again. “You, Gerard.” he says almost pleasantly, “were one of my biggest failures, No matter what we did to make you normal, you always ended right back up here.” he shakes his head as though Gerard has disappointed him.
“You never made me normal.” Gerard spits, “I’m normal NOW, you fucking maniac.”
Korse tuts at him like he’s a small child refusing to see the truth. “Tell me how you did it, Gerard. Tell me how you escaped. There was no way you stopped taking those pills on your own - I made sure of that, so someone helped you and then you dragged your poor innocent brother down with you. It’s your fault he’s here. You know that.”
Frank wants to laugh at that. At the fact that Mikey was just that good at convincing BL/ind that he was still their good little citizen, but Gerard’s shaking his head at Korse,
“No one helped me.” he says.
“More lies, Gerard? I think we’ll have to cure you of that first.”
As if summoned, the door opens again and two Dracs carrying a tray are revealed. Frank can see the light glinting off the wicked-looking needle of a full syringe. Gerard starts struggling again, swearing at the top of his voice. “Oh fuck… Shit, no. You can’t fuckin’ do this…” Frank gets the feeling his panic isn’t faked.
Korse turns to Frank and nods at the tray. “Do it.” he says, “Let’s see if we can curb his temper somewhat.”
Frank’s stomach is rolling now, he’s afraid of giving himself away but he really, really doesn’t want it to be his hand that gives Gerard back to the grip of the drugs.
“You two,” Korse says to the other Dracs, “Hold him still.”
The Dracs start moving immediately, clamping down on Gerard’s uninjured arm and shoulder. Frank knows he had no choice but to pick up the syringe and pray that everything is going to work out. Gerard’s gone cold turkey from BL/ind drugs countless times before, he’s just gonna have to do it again. If they get out of here.
Gerard’s arm is trembling under his hand when he holds it steady and Frank watches him for a second. Gerard’s gone paler than he usually is - almost greenish under the harsh lights of the room, and he’s muttering under his breath. Even as close as he is, Frank still can’t quite make out what he’s saying, but just before he slides the needle into Gerard’s arm he watches him exhale, close his eyes and nod, just once. Frank knows he’s been forgiven for what he’s about to do.
Gerard slumps down in the chair as the powerful drug hits his bloodstream. Frank removes the syringe and replaces it on the tray, resisting the urge to hurl it across the room and hoping that Korse hasn’t noticed how badly his hands are shaking.
Korse isn’t even looking at Frank. “Bring his brother.” he says, watching Gerard. “He should see this.”
***
Mikey gave up on pretending to relax several minutes ago - it was too stressful. He had no idea when Frank would be able to let him out of the cell, and there was a part of him that wondered if he could, or indeed would.
The room was small, but Mikey was pacing it. “Fuckin’ stupid.” he muttered to himself and anyone from BL/ind who might be listening. It was getting harder and harder not to start worrying about Gerard. He was on his three hundredth and eighty first circuit of the room when the door crashed opened. He wheeled round to face the Drac in the doorway. It - He - was panting heavily, but Mikey said nothing. If it wasn’t Frank then he didn’t want to give anything away.
“It’s me.” the Drac said after catching his breath and raising his mask just high enough for Mikey to see Frank’s mouth. “Listen to me, Dracs are coming. You gotta go. Here, take this gun. It’ll help, but don’t draw attention to yourself. I’ll cause a diversion so you should be able to get everyone out but you gotta get to Gee. I… they, they gave him their fuckin’ drugs. Get him outta here, get him clean.”
Frank shakes his head as Mikey opens his mouth to reply. “Grace is in the test centre. Gerard’s up in treatment. This is the only way. Korse’ll know I’m not… well, not theirs anymore by now and this is the only way, okay?” He quickly glances up and down the corridor before turning back to Mikey. “Tell Gee… Fuck. Tell Gee not to give up, right?”
Mikey nods mutely, turning the white raygun over in his hands. There’s nothing he can say. It won’t change anything.
Frank points down the corridor. “Grace is that way. Gee’s three floors up. There’s signs. Take care of him for me, and whatever you do, don’t let him follow me. Tell him I changed my mind…” he takes a deep breath. “Mikey.” He says, “I’m so fuckin’ sorry.”
With that, Frank runs off down the corridor in the opposite direction to the one he’d pointed in. Mikey doesn’t lose any time in running.
A minute and a half later, alarms start to ring.
***
The moment the Dracs join him in the corridor to fetch Mikey, Frank knows he’s dead, dead and ghosted and over. He just hasn’t stopped moving yet. This was always the risky part of the plan and while technically it’s all still shiny enough to get Grace, Mikey and Gerard out, Frank can’t see a way of carrying it out so that he leaves with them. He’s good at forward thinking - BL/ind made sure of that, but the plan they so carefully worked out back in the zones is all fucked up now. He’d been banking on the thought - hope - that he’d be able to spring Mikey from his cell without the Dracs or Korse knowing but he’s got a fucking escort now and if he waits any longer then Mikey will be in Korse’s hands and then there won’t be anything he or anyone else can do. The plan is useless from here on out, so it’s all up to Frank.
There’s nothing else for it, he thinks as he hangs back just enough to get slightly behind the Dracs walking with him.
He’s gonna get the three others out of here and back to the zones where they belong and if he can do that then he doesn’t care if BL/ind kill him. He almost doesn’t care if they manage to get the control box working again as long as his last real thought is of Gerard ‘running free with the wind in his hair. At least he finally got to meet Gerard for real.
Just around the corner from Mikey’s cell he grabs one of the Drac’s rayguns. Frank’s got his own, of course, but it’ll be useless for what he has to do.
He’s fast and the Dracs barely have enough time to react. Two swift headshots and they’re both down. Frank runs for Mikey’s door.
***
Mikey feels kinda ridiculous, edging down totally empty corridors clutching the gun. He keeps thinking that the Dracs’ll catch him at any moment but apart from the sound of running feet close by a few minutes ago, he’s neither seen nor heard anyone else. He’s following the signs to the test centre - he knows they’re underground on this level so it makes more sense to get Grace first, but if he’s being honest with himself he’s dreading the moment he has to look Gerard in the eye and tell him what Frank’s done. Mikey’s almost - ALMOST - wishing for Gerard to be so far gone on the drugs when he finally reaches him that he won’t know, understand or care about Frank’s actions. He’s dealt with his brother popping so hard on pills that the only thing he cares about is his next dose and it’s not easy by any stretch but Mikey’s been doing it since he was fourteen and he’s used to it. The loss of Frank though, is something he doesn’t see his brother coming back from, not as the same person anyway.
He tries to push that whole train of though to the back of his mind for now. Grace is his priority at the moment. He’ll deal with Gerard when the time comes.
The test centre is just as deserted as the route to it had been. Whatever Frank’s diversion had been, it’d been a good one.
***
Frank doesn’t let Mikey say anything when he opens the door to the room they’re holding him in and he barely lets himself stop to think about what he’s saying. The most important thing is to give Mikey all the information he needs to get Grace and Gerard and to get out of the clinic. He gets the feeling Mikey knows what he’s about to do anyway.
Hopefully he’ll pass on his message to Gee, it’s too dangerous now, especially with the fucking drugs flowing through Gerard’s system and he just knows for sure that Korse isn’t the sort of person to stop there, not while he can still find a vein.
He’s getting close to his destination now and he pauses for a second, leaning up against the wall of the corridor. He tries to steady his breathing and then reaches up to pull the black and white mask away from his head. He’s either gonna die or spend the rest of his life not knowing that he wished he had. Either way, he’s gonna walk into it with his own fucking face.
Frank hopes they haven’t moved anything around. He doesn’t think they would, BL/ind isn’t the sort of organisation that changes things around just for the hell of it. Frank doubts anything has changed here for years. He leans carefully up against the door anyway, he can’t hear anything in the room beyond but that’s not necessarily a bad thing - Dracs aren’t exactly chatty.
Strangely, after everything that has happened to him during the days and weeks before this, Frank now feels totally calm. He knows what he’s about to do, but it doesn’t scare him as much as the idea that Gerard would remain in the clutches of Korse and BL/ind along with Mikey and Grace, leaving Ray all alone in the zones again.
Frank runs his hands through his hair - it’s longer now than he can ever remember having it before, plasters a wide shit-eating grin on his face and pushes open the door to the Drac’s meeting room.
***
Mikey peers through the small windows of the cells in the test centre trying to find Grace, but all the rooms are deserted. There are empty beds in every one. Mikey starts worrying after the fifteenth room he checks and outright panicking after the twenty fifth. There still aren’t any Dracs around, which he’s grateful for even if it means they’re all still busy with Frank.
He’s at an intersection trying to decide which direction to try next when he hears a noise. In the silence of the clinic it startles him. It’s a muted, regular banging noise and his first instinct is to head in the opposite direction but he’s barely heard a noise apart from his own breathing since just after Frank let him out of his cell and he realises that it might be worth checking out.
Mikey follows the sound down identical white corridor. The noise isn’t quite regular after all, thump-thump and then a pause before the thumping again. He traces it eventually, one plain door among many.
Keeping his gun at the ready, he peers nervously through the spyhole. At first, he can’t see anything, just another unmade bed pushed up against the far wall but then he looks further down to see the top of a curly-haired head. Grace seems to be lying on her back in the middle of the floor and Mikey realises the noise he can still hear is Grace banging her feet on the closed door. He glances down at the keypad next to the door. Frank didn’t say anything about the locks, but it’s electric and Mikey’s got a raygun. It’s worth a try at least.
“Grace!” he calls as loudly as he dares. Just because he hasn’t seen anything around doesn’t mean they’re not close by.
The thumping stops and Mikey hears Grace scrambling to her feet.
“Who’s that?” she hisses in return, sounding defensive.
“Grace, it’s Mikey… I mean Kobra. You know me, Poison’s br… crew.”
There’s a pause and then Grace says suspiciously, “Where’s Jet Star?”
Mikey fiddles with the keypad but it seems pretty secure. “He’s waiting for you outside.” he replies, “Just stand back. I’m gonna get you out of here, okay?”
There’s no reply, but Mikey guesses she’s moved. He steps back and points the gun Frank gave him at the lock. “Here goes nothing…” he mutters, taking aim, closing his eyes and pulling the trigger.
***
Frank knows he’s a fast shot, and he’s got a secret weapon. He pushes open the doors to the meeting room a crack and tosses the homemade bomb through. He slams the door closed just before it explodes. Almost immediately a loud alarm starts to ring, a deafening wailing noise that must be sounding throughout the whole clinic. The Dracs are definitely distracted now; hopefully he’ll be able to ghost all the ones who didn’t get caught by the bomb blast.
Throwing the doors open once more, Frank bursts in and starts firing through the smoke. He knows he doesn’t have long, the explosion will have drawn attention, and it turns out that he only has a few seconds once all the Dracs are dead to overturn one of the desks for cover before the alarms bring reinforcements through the door on the opposite side of the room.
Frank thinks he’s laughing as he’s shooting. He’s got a pile of guns he took from the dead Dracs so he’s not going to run out of ammo any time soon. The alarms will keep the Dracs busy and away from tracking down the others until he’s either dead, captured or he’s ghosted every motherfucking Drac in Battery City and beyond.
He doesn’t know how long he’s there, firing blindly into the room, the Dracs’ blasts whizzing past his head until finally, eventually, inevitably, he’s surrounded. The gun in his hand is clicking on empty and he’d make a dive for another but there’s two Dracs both with the barrels of their blasters less than a foot from his face and Korse is staring down at him with his hands on his hips.
Frank grins up at Korse. “Surprise!” he says. He can feel the hysterical laughter pushing its way up his throat.
Korse narrows his eyes in reply. “Get him out of there.” he orders a nearby Drac.
Frank finds himself kneeling in the middle of the room surrounded by Dracs with guns pointed right at him. He has his hands linked behind his head and he thinks he’s done well - hopefully the distraction had given Mikey enough time to be able to get everyone out - and he can’t stop smiling.
Korse has his arms folded now, still looking down at Frank. He tips his head slightly to the side like Frank’s a problem he can’t work out.
“You hesitated.” Korse says finally. “I asked you to inject him and you hesitated.”
Frank just can’t stop himself. He just starts laughing. It bubbles out of him in choked-off gasps.
“Find them.” Korse orders the surrounding Dracs. “Keep them alive. This one here needs to be fixed and we wouldn’t want his new friends to miss it…”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Part 7
Despite the blasthole in his shoulder, Gerard launches himself out of the van, snarling like a wild animal. Frank holds himself still, even though everything in him is screaming to help Gerard, that he’ll injure himself more, that Korse will decide Gerard’s not worth the trouble and have him ghosted right there in front of him in the parking lot. As it is, it feels as though his heart is going to burst out of his chest as one of the Dracs reaches out, catching a gloved hand in Gerard’s hair, yanking on it hard and stopping him with a crash mid leap and sending him sprawling to his knees.
Korse already has his gun out. “Now, now, Gerard.” He says in a horrifyingly reasonable tone. “That’s no way to behave, is it? I see we have our work cut out for us.”
Gerard tries to jerk his head away from the Drac with its hand in his hair, but its grip seems too strong. “Fuck. You.” He says clearly, his eyes boring into Korse. He hasn’t so much as glanced at Frank and Frank feels oddly grateful for that - he’d probably give the game away if he had to pretend to be a Drac again with Gerard watching him like that.
Korse doesn’t even seem to hear Gerard, he just looks past him to Mikey lying still in the back of the van, “Ah, and that must be your brother. Excellent.” He turns to the second Drac and Frank. “You two take that one down to one of the empty cells in the experimentation block.” He gestures with the gun at Mikey, who doesn’t as much as twitch. “Gerard here has an appointment to keep.”
Gerard screams something unintelligible but full of swear words and Korse shakes his head. “Such an ANGRY young man.” He sighs, “May I remind you…” he steps closer to Gerard, leaning forward to mutter into his ear. “We have your brother now, Gerard. Try anything and I’m sure we can find something more… painful to experiment on him with than just pills.”
Gerard stops struggling immediately.
The other Drac starts moving towards the van and Frank manages to get his feet to move after only a split second, dragging Mikey out of the van. Mikey groans and it sounds like a question but there’s no way Frank can answer him. Instead, he gives his ankle an extra hard squeeze. ‘It’s okay,’ he thinks as though Mikey can read his mind. ‘Gerard’s fine. It’s all going to plan.’
In the next thirty seconds Frank discovers two things. First, Mikey is very, very good at pretending to be unconscious, letting himself remain totally limp as Frank and the Drac haul him upright and sling his arms over their shoulders. Secondly, and more importantly, he’s a hell of a lot heavier than he looks.
As they start half-carrying, half-dragging Mikey, the elevator doors slide open again for a small party of Dracs who must be here to deal with Gerard. For his own part, Gerard says Mikey’s name as they pass him and Frank feels Mikey’s fingers spasm against his shoulder.
Just before the elevator doors close on them, Frank hears Korse’s voice echoing across the parking lot. “When you’ve dealt with him, come and see me. I’m sure you’ll have a fascinating story to tell me.”
Frank knows that it’s directed at him.
***
Frank and the Drac drop Mikey on a bed, or at least a flat, faintly padded surface Mikey hopes is a bed. He feels a slight, reassuring squeeze of fingers on his shoulder before the sound of boots on a tiled floor and the slam of the door.
Mikey flickers open one eye to see a plain white, brightly lit room with no windows and no furniture other than what he’s lying on. He opens the other eye. The thick door has a sliding observation window, but it’s closed. Not that it matters too much, Mikey’s sure there are cameras hidden in the room.
He forces himself to relax, crossing his legs at the ankle and stretching his arms to fold them under his head. All he can do now is wait for Frank to put the next part of the plan into action and try not to die of a stress or panic induced heart attack.
***
As soon as he leaves Mikey in the cell, Frank goes to find Korse. He’s been practicing his story since they decided to try his plan so he knows what he’s going to tell him, but he also knows where Korse is likely to be and it’s going to be hard to keep in character if he’s right.
He walks down the corridor of pictures. Someone has already replaced the ones of Mikey and Gerard with ones that have a large red cross through them. BL/ind were always efficient. The only one left alone from his new-found family is a particularly unflattering one of Ray - fuzzy and slightly out of focus it looks like it was taken from a long distance. Frank allows himself a small smile behind his mask. One day, he tells himself, his picture will be here too.
Korse is precisely where Frank had known he would be - an observation room with a large window into another one that is used for ‘treatment’. He feels a little like he’s going to throw up; Gerard’s in the room beyond, strapped to the chair. Frank knows from experience that Gerard can see everything that’s going on in the observation room even though he can’t hear what’s being said.
Frank tries not to look at Gerard as he crosses the observation room to Korse, who’s staring at Gerard through the window, but he can’t help it - in the unremitting white of the clinic it’s like Gerard is the only thing in the room, a violent splash of riotous colour struggling against the straps that keep him bound in place. The glass is soundproof, but Frank can tell Gerard is screaming, wild eyes all but rolling back in his head. He looks as crazy as he did the first time Frank saw him and he’s suddenly reminded of why Mikey worries about him like he does.
***
Gerard fell asleep as soon as he’d lain down, leaving Frank to watch him. He thinks it should still feel weirder, creepier maybe, just sitting next to Gerard and watching him slowly breathe in and out but it doesn’t. It feels absolutely right, like something he was born to do. The thought makes Frank smile and he braves reaching down to run his fingers through Gerard’s long hair. Gerard makes a small noise that sounds like a question and shifts slightly but doesn’t wake up. They remain like that for a while. Frank feels peaceful and oddly protected even though Gerard’s asleep and he doesn’t even flinch when the door to the main room creaks open.
Mikey leans up against the doorframe and studies them for a while. Frank turns his attention back to Gerard, pushing his hair away from his sleeping face.
“Can I talk to you?” Mikey says eventually.
Frank’s been expecting this. “Yeah,” he replies, “I’ll see you outside in a moment, okay?”
Mikey doesn’t say anything but lets the door creak shut behind him.
Frank tugs a little on Gerard’s hair. He makes the questioning noise again but this time his eyes flicker open. Frank grins at him.
“I’m just going outside.” he whispers, “Not for long. Mikey wants to talk to me.”
Gerard makes another noise that Frank takes as a sign of assent.
Mikey’s sitting on the hood of the Trans-Am, staring at the diner with his arms folded. He looks like he usually does serious and deadly calm. Frank wonders if it’s his natural state of being or if it’s something he’d had to learn to stay safe in Battery City and hasn’t managed to rid himself of the habit now he’s out here in the zones. He jams his hands in his pockets and walks over to him, trying to hide his nervousness. It’s a little ridiculous, Frank thinks, the only person less physically intimidating than Mikey is himself.
“Gee’ll be pissed if you kill me now.” he tries to joke, but Mikey raises an eyebrow. “Heh… I just meant, well, you know…” Frank tails off, not sure if Mikey does know. He doesn’t even think HE knows.
“Gerard’s insane.” Mikey says flatly.
Frank swallows. “Uh…”
Mikey shakes his head. “He hasn’t had a nightmare since we met you.” he continues, “and I’ve been listening.”
Frank gets the feeling that his place in this conversation is to listen to whatever Mikey has to say.
“He used to wake up screaming almost every night.” Mikey unfolds his arms and puts his hands palm down on the hood of the car, “Unless he’d drunk so much he was practically in a coma.”
Frank nods hesitantly and Mikey gives an odd one-shouldered shrug. “He sleeps.” he says matter-of-factly. “With you, I mean. With you he just sleeps.”
Frank bites his lip. “I know he’s your brother…” he starts, Mikey doesn’t sound accusing but it seems as though he should reply. Mikey just keeps talking over him.
“It’s okay. I don’t pretend to understand it and I’m still pretty creeped out by the, uh…” he gestures to the side of Frank’s head, “But I trust you, I guess. And Gerard deserves to get some fuckin’ rest for once and I know you’re not gonna ghost him in his sleep or anything. It’s pretty shiny…” he kicks his heels against the bumper of the car and Frank is suddenly reminded of how young Mikey really is. It’s kinda shocking after watching him ‘running the zones with a gun in his hand. “It’s just…” he kicks the bumper one last time and looks up at Frank. “You should know how bad he is… was. Whatever. I think it’s you now. I think it’s always been you, ever since he first saw you; you were gonna be the one to keep him grounded. And you gotta be sure about this, okay, because I’m his brother but you’re FRANK and he sleeps when you’re there. So if you’re gonna leave us, leave HIM, you better fuckin’ do it now before he decides he can’t live without you, because if you fuck my brother over… I will fuckin’ END you. ”
Frank’s sure his eyes are the size of plates. “I’m not gonna fucking LEAVE!” he says, astounded that Mikey could even think that he could.
Mikey does his odd half-shrug again. “There’s more than one way to leave.” He says matter-of-factly. “You know there is. Especially here.”
Frank shivers, even though it’s a warm night. “I…” he starts, trying to think of anything to say. “You know I can’t promise that.”
Mikey nods, once, and sighs. “Feels like I’ve been worrying about Gerard for forever.” he says, “You can’t blame me.” He’s not actually looking at Frank, just staring past him to the diner.
Frank shakes his head and then says, “No. No, I don’t blame you. Fuck, Mikey… I know I wasn’t there and you have no idea how much I wish I had been but…” he huffs out a deep breath. “I thought about Gerard every single day until they took that away from me. I did my fair share of worrying about him, believe me.” he stops, trying to pull his thoughts together. “I didn’t shoot him.” he tries, “I could’ve. Probably should’ve done, but I didn’t. I think despite everything BL/ind did to me, I knew who he was. It was - HE was the only thing that broke through, Mikey. They made me do so many terrible things and I did them, no questions, no emotion, nothing - but Gerard? For Gerard I stopped, if only for a moment. I don’t want to leave him. I can’t even think of leaving him… But… I still can’t promise nothing will go Costa Rica tomorrow...”
“Nobody can.” Mikey says, “But you better fuckin’ try.”
Frank laughs, the suddenness of it surprises even him, but nothing about this situation is even remotely funny.
Mikey jumps off the hood of the car. “You realise that you’re both just holding each other together?” he asks, “I’m not sure that’s healthy.”
“Fuck healthy.” Frank says succinctly. “It works.”
Mikey nods and starts walking back to the diner. “Get some sleep, Frank. Big day tomorrow.”
***
Korse doesn’t bother looking at Frank as he approaches, he never did. Frank doesn’t think Korse thinks of the Dracs who work for him as human. He might have a point. He watches Gerard’s silent struggles for a few more moments and then says “I’ll never understand these… people. It’s disgusting.”
Frank doesn’t think anything about zonerunners in general or Gerard in particular is disgusting - If anything, it’s Korse and BL/ind’s white sterility, but of course he doesn’t even move a muscle. Korse finally turns. “Where did you find them?” he demands. He never asks.
Frank’s trying to remember what he sounded like and how he spoke when he’d been here last. He just hopes he gets it right. “Zone three.” he says. He uses short, clipped sentences, no extra words; only answering the question he’s being asked. Korse nods.
“And your team?”
“Dead.”
Korse glances back at Gerard for a moment. “Not much of a loss.” he says eventually, “They had a third.”
“Dead.” Frank repeats. They don’t need any patrols sent out to look for Ray.
“Good.” Korse says coldly. “Follow me.”
He starts towards the door and Frank’s heart leaps into his mouth. If Korse wants him to help ‘interrogate’ Gerard then he’s going to be sick, no question. It takes a few seconds to force his feet to move, but Korse doesn’t seem to notice. He pushes open the door to Gerard’s room and Frank can’t do anything but follow him although his heart is beating so hard and fast that he’s shocked that Korse hasn’t heard it.
Gerard stops yelling when they enter and looks at Korse with pure hate again. His fingernails are broken and there are deep scratch marks on the arms of the chair. “Where’s Mikey, you fucker?” he demands.
Korse barks out a laugh that has absolutely nothing to do with humour. “Your… brother,” he replies, saying the word as if it’s entirely distasteful, “Is being looked after.”
Gerard’s eyes go wide. Frank doesn’t blame him. In Korse’s voice it sounds like the worst kind of threat imaginable, like Mikey’s already dead and rotting in hell. He wishes there was some way of allaying Gerard’s fears.
Korse just smiles again. “You, Gerard.” he says almost pleasantly, “were one of my biggest failures, No matter what we did to make you normal, you always ended right back up here.” he shakes his head as though Gerard has disappointed him.
“You never made me normal.” Gerard spits, “I’m normal NOW, you fucking maniac.”
Korse tuts at him like he’s a small child refusing to see the truth. “Tell me how you did it, Gerard. Tell me how you escaped. There was no way you stopped taking those pills on your own - I made sure of that, so someone helped you and then you dragged your poor innocent brother down with you. It’s your fault he’s here. You know that.”
Frank wants to laugh at that. At the fact that Mikey was just that good at convincing BL/ind that he was still their good little citizen, but Gerard’s shaking his head at Korse,
“No one helped me.” he says.
“More lies, Gerard? I think we’ll have to cure you of that first.”
As if summoned, the door opens again and two Dracs carrying a tray are revealed. Frank can see the light glinting off the wicked-looking needle of a full syringe. Gerard starts struggling again, swearing at the top of his voice. “Oh fuck… Shit, no. You can’t fuckin’ do this…” Frank gets the feeling his panic isn’t faked.
Korse turns to Frank and nods at the tray. “Do it.” he says, “Let’s see if we can curb his temper somewhat.”
Frank’s stomach is rolling now, he’s afraid of giving himself away but he really, really doesn’t want it to be his hand that gives Gerard back to the grip of the drugs.
“You two,” Korse says to the other Dracs, “Hold him still.”
The Dracs start moving immediately, clamping down on Gerard’s uninjured arm and shoulder. Frank knows he had no choice but to pick up the syringe and pray that everything is going to work out. Gerard’s gone cold turkey from BL/ind drugs countless times before, he’s just gonna have to do it again. If they get out of here.
Gerard’s arm is trembling under his hand when he holds it steady and Frank watches him for a second. Gerard’s gone paler than he usually is - almost greenish under the harsh lights of the room, and he’s muttering under his breath. Even as close as he is, Frank still can’t quite make out what he’s saying, but just before he slides the needle into Gerard’s arm he watches him exhale, close his eyes and nod, just once. Frank knows he’s been forgiven for what he’s about to do.
Gerard slumps down in the chair as the powerful drug hits his bloodstream. Frank removes the syringe and replaces it on the tray, resisting the urge to hurl it across the room and hoping that Korse hasn’t noticed how badly his hands are shaking.
Korse isn’t even looking at Frank. “Bring his brother.” he says, watching Gerard. “He should see this.”
***
Mikey gave up on pretending to relax several minutes ago - it was too stressful. He had no idea when Frank would be able to let him out of the cell, and there was a part of him that wondered if he could, or indeed would.
The room was small, but Mikey was pacing it. “Fuckin’ stupid.” he muttered to himself and anyone from BL/ind who might be listening. It was getting harder and harder not to start worrying about Gerard. He was on his three hundredth and eighty first circuit of the room when the door crashed opened. He wheeled round to face the Drac in the doorway. It - He - was panting heavily, but Mikey said nothing. If it wasn’t Frank then he didn’t want to give anything away.
“It’s me.” the Drac said after catching his breath and raising his mask just high enough for Mikey to see Frank’s mouth. “Listen to me, Dracs are coming. You gotta go. Here, take this gun. It’ll help, but don’t draw attention to yourself. I’ll cause a diversion so you should be able to get everyone out but you gotta get to Gee. I… they, they gave him their fuckin’ drugs. Get him outta here, get him clean.”
Frank shakes his head as Mikey opens his mouth to reply. “Grace is in the test centre. Gerard’s up in treatment. This is the only way. Korse’ll know I’m not… well, not theirs anymore by now and this is the only way, okay?” He quickly glances up and down the corridor before turning back to Mikey. “Tell Gee… Fuck. Tell Gee not to give up, right?”
Mikey nods mutely, turning the white raygun over in his hands. There’s nothing he can say. It won’t change anything.
Frank points down the corridor. “Grace is that way. Gee’s three floors up. There’s signs. Take care of him for me, and whatever you do, don’t let him follow me. Tell him I changed my mind…” he takes a deep breath. “Mikey.” He says, “I’m so fuckin’ sorry.”
With that, Frank runs off down the corridor in the opposite direction to the one he’d pointed in. Mikey doesn’t lose any time in running.
A minute and a half later, alarms start to ring.
***
The moment the Dracs join him in the corridor to fetch Mikey, Frank knows he’s dead, dead and ghosted and over. He just hasn’t stopped moving yet. This was always the risky part of the plan and while technically it’s all still shiny enough to get Grace, Mikey and Gerard out, Frank can’t see a way of carrying it out so that he leaves with them. He’s good at forward thinking - BL/ind made sure of that, but the plan they so carefully worked out back in the zones is all fucked up now. He’d been banking on the thought - hope - that he’d be able to spring Mikey from his cell without the Dracs or Korse knowing but he’s got a fucking escort now and if he waits any longer then Mikey will be in Korse’s hands and then there won’t be anything he or anyone else can do. The plan is useless from here on out, so it’s all up to Frank.
There’s nothing else for it, he thinks as he hangs back just enough to get slightly behind the Dracs walking with him.
He’s gonna get the three others out of here and back to the zones where they belong and if he can do that then he doesn’t care if BL/ind kill him. He almost doesn’t care if they manage to get the control box working again as long as his last real thought is of Gerard ‘running free with the wind in his hair. At least he finally got to meet Gerard for real.
Just around the corner from Mikey’s cell he grabs one of the Drac’s rayguns. Frank’s got his own, of course, but it’ll be useless for what he has to do.
He’s fast and the Dracs barely have enough time to react. Two swift headshots and they’re both down. Frank runs for Mikey’s door.
***
Mikey feels kinda ridiculous, edging down totally empty corridors clutching the gun. He keeps thinking that the Dracs’ll catch him at any moment but apart from the sound of running feet close by a few minutes ago, he’s neither seen nor heard anyone else. He’s following the signs to the test centre - he knows they’re underground on this level so it makes more sense to get Grace first, but if he’s being honest with himself he’s dreading the moment he has to look Gerard in the eye and tell him what Frank’s done. Mikey’s almost - ALMOST - wishing for Gerard to be so far gone on the drugs when he finally reaches him that he won’t know, understand or care about Frank’s actions. He’s dealt with his brother popping so hard on pills that the only thing he cares about is his next dose and it’s not easy by any stretch but Mikey’s been doing it since he was fourteen and he’s used to it. The loss of Frank though, is something he doesn’t see his brother coming back from, not as the same person anyway.
He tries to push that whole train of though to the back of his mind for now. Grace is his priority at the moment. He’ll deal with Gerard when the time comes.
The test centre is just as deserted as the route to it had been. Whatever Frank’s diversion had been, it’d been a good one.
***
Frank doesn’t let Mikey say anything when he opens the door to the room they’re holding him in and he barely lets himself stop to think about what he’s saying. The most important thing is to give Mikey all the information he needs to get Grace and Gerard and to get out of the clinic. He gets the feeling Mikey knows what he’s about to do anyway.
Hopefully he’ll pass on his message to Gee, it’s too dangerous now, especially with the fucking drugs flowing through Gerard’s system and he just knows for sure that Korse isn’t the sort of person to stop there, not while he can still find a vein.
He’s getting close to his destination now and he pauses for a second, leaning up against the wall of the corridor. He tries to steady his breathing and then reaches up to pull the black and white mask away from his head. He’s either gonna die or spend the rest of his life not knowing that he wished he had. Either way, he’s gonna walk into it with his own fucking face.
Frank hopes they haven’t moved anything around. He doesn’t think they would, BL/ind isn’t the sort of organisation that changes things around just for the hell of it. Frank doubts anything has changed here for years. He leans carefully up against the door anyway, he can’t hear anything in the room beyond but that’s not necessarily a bad thing - Dracs aren’t exactly chatty.
Strangely, after everything that has happened to him during the days and weeks before this, Frank now feels totally calm. He knows what he’s about to do, but it doesn’t scare him as much as the idea that Gerard would remain in the clutches of Korse and BL/ind along with Mikey and Grace, leaving Ray all alone in the zones again.
Frank runs his hands through his hair - it’s longer now than he can ever remember having it before, plasters a wide shit-eating grin on his face and pushes open the door to the Drac’s meeting room.
***
Mikey peers through the small windows of the cells in the test centre trying to find Grace, but all the rooms are deserted. There are empty beds in every one. Mikey starts worrying after the fifteenth room he checks and outright panicking after the twenty fifth. There still aren’t any Dracs around, which he’s grateful for even if it means they’re all still busy with Frank.
He’s at an intersection trying to decide which direction to try next when he hears a noise. In the silence of the clinic it startles him. It’s a muted, regular banging noise and his first instinct is to head in the opposite direction but he’s barely heard a noise apart from his own breathing since just after Frank let him out of his cell and he realises that it might be worth checking out.
Mikey follows the sound down identical white corridor. The noise isn’t quite regular after all, thump-thump and then a pause before the thumping again. He traces it eventually, one plain door among many.
Keeping his gun at the ready, he peers nervously through the spyhole. At first, he can’t see anything, just another unmade bed pushed up against the far wall but then he looks further down to see the top of a curly-haired head. Grace seems to be lying on her back in the middle of the floor and Mikey realises the noise he can still hear is Grace banging her feet on the closed door. He glances down at the keypad next to the door. Frank didn’t say anything about the locks, but it’s electric and Mikey’s got a raygun. It’s worth a try at least.
“Grace!” he calls as loudly as he dares. Just because he hasn’t seen anything around doesn’t mean they’re not close by.
The thumping stops and Mikey hears Grace scrambling to her feet.
“Who’s that?” she hisses in return, sounding defensive.
“Grace, it’s Mikey… I mean Kobra. You know me, Poison’s br… crew.”
There’s a pause and then Grace says suspiciously, “Where’s Jet Star?”
Mikey fiddles with the keypad but it seems pretty secure. “He’s waiting for you outside.” he replies, “Just stand back. I’m gonna get you out of here, okay?”
There’s no reply, but Mikey guesses she’s moved. He steps back and points the gun Frank gave him at the lock. “Here goes nothing…” he mutters, taking aim, closing his eyes and pulling the trigger.
***
Frank knows he’s a fast shot, and he’s got a secret weapon. He pushes open the doors to the meeting room a crack and tosses the homemade bomb through. He slams the door closed just before it explodes. Almost immediately a loud alarm starts to ring, a deafening wailing noise that must be sounding throughout the whole clinic. The Dracs are definitely distracted now; hopefully he’ll be able to ghost all the ones who didn’t get caught by the bomb blast.
Throwing the doors open once more, Frank bursts in and starts firing through the smoke. He knows he doesn’t have long, the explosion will have drawn attention, and it turns out that he only has a few seconds once all the Dracs are dead to overturn one of the desks for cover before the alarms bring reinforcements through the door on the opposite side of the room.
Frank thinks he’s laughing as he’s shooting. He’s got a pile of guns he took from the dead Dracs so he’s not going to run out of ammo any time soon. The alarms will keep the Dracs busy and away from tracking down the others until he’s either dead, captured or he’s ghosted every motherfucking Drac in Battery City and beyond.
He doesn’t know how long he’s there, firing blindly into the room, the Dracs’ blasts whizzing past his head until finally, eventually, inevitably, he’s surrounded. The gun in his hand is clicking on empty and he’d make a dive for another but there’s two Dracs both with the barrels of their blasters less than a foot from his face and Korse is staring down at him with his hands on his hips.
Frank grins up at Korse. “Surprise!” he says. He can feel the hysterical laughter pushing its way up his throat.
Korse narrows his eyes in reply. “Get him out of there.” he orders a nearby Drac.
Frank finds himself kneeling in the middle of the room surrounded by Dracs with guns pointed right at him. He has his hands linked behind his head and he thinks he’s done well - hopefully the distraction had given Mikey enough time to be able to get everyone out - and he can’t stop smiling.
Korse has his arms folded now, still looking down at Frank. He tips his head slightly to the side like Frank’s a problem he can’t work out.
“You hesitated.” Korse says finally. “I asked you to inject him and you hesitated.”
Frank just can’t stop himself. He just starts laughing. It bubbles out of him in choked-off gasps.
“Find them.” Korse orders the surrounding Dracs. “Keep them alive. This one here needs to be fixed and we wouldn’t want his new friends to miss it…”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Part 7