He hadn't been expecting anything as he walked towards the van. They were on their way to the pizzeria; he and Joe were supposed to meet Callie and Iola. Someone had grabbed him and shoved him against the wall, ordering him to be quiet. They'd left him there for a few minutes until Joe had come out. That's when Frank saw the sign on Joe's back.

"I'm Joe Hardy, please kidnap me." Who would put that sign on his back? Joe had been trying to lay low since one of his father's enemies escaped from jail. Now everybody would know who Joe was! Frank was furious with whomever had done it.

--This Is A Line--

"Quiet!" The man had hissed, slapping the duct tape over Frank's mouth. Before Frank even blinked, his hands were tied firmly with rope. "Get him," the man had said, nodding to Joe's brother. He turned towards Frank. "You should really thank your brother," he said, "Without that sign we never would have known he was Joe Hardy. We knew you, of course, and were planning on grabbing you first – getting the information out of you. Luckily, we didn't have to do that."

--This Is A Line Or At Least It Appears To Be--

Joe absently chewed on his bottom lip as he eyed the man slowly approaching him. He was beginning to think that it had been really dumb of him to take that dare. Biff and him had had been joking around earlier, and Biff had dared him to walk around town with a sign that said, "I'm Joe Hardy, please kidnap me." In retrospect it probably hadn't been the smartest plan.

As the man got progressively closer Joe pondered whether he should run, or fight the guy off. The decision was taken out of his hands when a second man rolled down the dark tinted windows of the car he sat in and shoved his brother's head out the window allowing Joe to see that they had already kidnapped his brother before quickly pulling his brother back into the car.

"Look at this, he's asking for us to kidnap him." The first man shouted back to the man in the car before gesturing for Joe to walk toward him. Joe sighed and resolved never to listen to Biff again before walking slowly toward the kidnapper.

The kidnapper grabbed Joe's arm and shoved him in the van. Before he could even blink he was grabbed, shoved in the back of the van, and tied up. "Let's go," the second man said.

The sign was ripped off Joe's back and tossed out the window. "I thought you said it would be hard to find the Hardy brats," the driver whined. "I'm always up for a good challenge. You said I might even get to use my pistol!"

"Shut up!" The man holding the gun swung with the car. "You'll get to use your pistol, don't worry," he said, looking threateningly at Frank.

--This Is A Line Or At Least It Appears To Be--

It was a long and silent ride to where they were going to be held. When they arrived, Frank was yanked out of the car and thrown to the ground, then forcibly dragged into the deserted building. He had no idea who the men were, but they obviously knew him. When they opened the door, they had handed the brothers off to two other masked men. Only one stayed.

"Let's show Hardy we mean business," one man barked. "Get the video camera, Hobbes."

Great. Frank hated it when people had planned kidnappings in advance. He wasn't sure what was worse, planned-in-advanced kidnappings or abductions done on the spur of the moment.

Hobbes was back with the video camera within thirty seconds. It took less then twenty seconds to set it up. The gunman stood in front of the camera.

Dammit, Frank thought. They obviously had this planned to the teeth.

"Fenton Hardy," he said, "We have your sons. Both of them. If you do not comply, we will kill them. First, let us show you we mean business." The gunman grabbed Frank and held him to the floor.

"First," the gunman said, "We will return Frank. But not in the best condition, I'm afraid. Rest assured, we can re-grab him if need be. But I don't think that will be necessary. Hobbes, begin."

With that, Hobbes slammed his fist into Frank's stomach, causing him to gasp in pain. "Naturally, we do not want Frank to talk about this event," he said, grabbing Frank by the throat and squeezing hard.

The elder Hardy was soon gasping for air while the kidnappers laughed appreciatively. "The trick is to squeeze hard enough that his vocal cords are significantly bruised, but light enough that you don't snap his neck. It took a few dead kidnap victims before I got the combo just right." The kidnapper remarked cheerfully, he finally removed his hands from their position around Frank's neck when the boy's lips had turned blue. He allowed Frank to slump to the ground, struggling to draw in air.

"Don't try our patience, Hardy; you will receive further information with our demands, and the location of your eldest son. You better hurry, if I get bored I tend to practice my technique…" For good measure the man kicked Frank several times in the ribs causing the teenager to see black spots in front of his eyes. An ominous cracking noise indicated that his ribs hadn't held up well against the onslaught.

Spots danced once more before Frank's eyes and his world turned black. "Looks like Frankie boy isn't doing so hot. You better act fast, Hardy." And with that the other man turned off the video recorder. The gunman neatly stepped over Frank's fallen body to talk to his partner.

"Good job with the tape." The first kidnapper said nodding toward Frank's fallen body, "That'll have Hardy freaking out for sure, add Frankie boy's injuries to the fact that we still have his youngest and Hardy will be eating out of the palm of our hands within hours. I must say this is one of our best plans." He finished ignoring the fact that Joe was struggling against his bonds on the other end of the room and glaring at the two men.

"Yo, blondie, give it a rest, you're not going to escape, now I'm going to go drop off your brother where your daddy can find him and you're going to stay here and behave, seeing as you want to keep your brother alive," The man who had strangled Frank ordered Joe.

"Where are you taking my brother?" Joe yelled as he pulled against the man who was dragging him.

"I was thinking of someplace real nice," the kidnapper said with a smile. "You know, like maybe the bottom of the lake if you don't cooperate!"