Trifecta
Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly
A/N: So I wasn't actually going to write this, but recently dipping my feet back into the fandom has made this idea flare up. It's inspired by the recent psycho episode of Sam & Cat, and a few things that seemed off about what Nora wound up doing.
Also on a SIDE-NOTE, this was going to be a oneshot, but as I separated it into parts it developed into a little more than that. So, it's now a short story. Enjoy!
Chapter 1 (Conspiracy Theorist)
"Yes, for the last time, I'm doing just fine." Sam's eyes rolled as Freddie studied her closely on the Skype camera screen. He was seated on his bed with his laptop resting on his knees. "The psycho bitch is in jail, why are you worrying?"
"Just concerned about you." His eyebrows sank inwards as Sam's shoulders rose up. "Besides the way you explained what happened seems a little off. That's all. I mean, Nora's after us for revenge-yet she goes to Gibby and gets your address from him? He's the whole reason her first plot failed!" Not to mention the fact that Nevel had all but led them to Nora, even with his level of genius it didn't make any sense that he would pinpoint her down to one out of three homes. "I'm just saying, before my dad died-"
"Freddie, relax. Nora's in prison, and hell, Gibby's a friend. Right? The only thing I'm shocked by is that she didn't go after you."
"You know Mom and I flew in to New York that week to visit her brother. Nora couldn't have found me." Sam was laying on her stomach, her feet were up in the air behind her and her head was perched on her left hand. The reflection in her eyes revealed a web browser. "I just don't know why when Gibby was the closest one, she went after you."
"Wouldn't you go after the difficult one first?" She lowered her hand and moved her eyes to the corner of her screen, where his video box would be located. "Freddie, I know you like to investigate everything, but you're not a detective. Carly and I are safe, Cat's safe, Dice is safe. Quit making Nora's insanity into something that it isn't."
She was referring to his father, who passed away when he was a young boy. John Benson had been a private detective, and Freddie grew up loving to imitate him. Used to, he believed he was honoring his father's memory, but in time he figured it as his still being attached to him.
He stopped and focused his time and energy on studies and technology, a good distraction, but in the back of his mind he was always analyzing every little thing. This usually got on both Carly's and Sam's nerves.
"Fine Sam, I won't worry about it anymore. You say you're safe, and that's all that matters." He smiled at her and watched her feet gently sway through the air. "Hey Sam?" Her eyes drifted up to the light on her camera and she raised her eyebrows while curling her fingers over the keys on her laptop. "I miss you."
"Freddie." Her eyelids closed over her eyes and the corners of her lips fell. His heartbeat skipped. He was aware she didn't like ending the conversations like this, especially since he was part of the reason she was gone.
Her feet moved back onto the bed and her eyes opened halfway. She curled her lips into a tiny smile. "Yeah, I miss you too." His eyebrows rose and his body froze with shock. "I appreciate the concern." There was no indication that she still felt anything for him, or if there was, she was skilled at hiding it. Granted, keeping things inside had always been a specialty of hers. It never had been easy to read her, even when they dated. "Have you talked to Carly lately?"
"No." He lowered his shoulders and shook his head. "She doesn't talk to me much anymore. Not that I blame her." It had been Sam he thought would stop talking to him, his friends in Seattle chided him rather harshly when he dumped her and started going after Carly soon after-leading to a big fight with Sam when the girl left. "I think I'm going to go ahead and get some sleep."
Sam looked away from her computer momentarily and leaned to the right. "Same here, Cat just came in to go to sleep, so I'd better shut things down." Sam's hand moved up to the top of her laptop and her eyes turned to the computer with a look of seriousness in them. "You're going to stop worrying about Nora?"
"I haven't been worrying about her." He smirked and Sam rolled her eyes while flashing a smile. "But yeah you can take care of yourself, you're a grown woman. I'm not going to stop worrying about you anytime soon though, no."
"Of course not. Goodnight, Freddie."
"Goodnight Sam." Her camera flickered off and Freddie slowly leaned back into the pillow behind him. His chest sank inwards and he turned his eyes towards the sky. His stomach twisted as his thoughts swirled about like a violent storm. "Maybe she's right. Nora's back in prison, adult age so she's likely in maximum security. There's nothing to worry about..."
Freddie shut down his laptop and set it beside the end table. As he curled his fingers around the cord attached to his lamp, his eyes drifted towards the framed photo of Sam resting beside it. He furrowed his brow and shut off the light.
"Just don't know why I can't shake this feeling that something's not right." He pulled the blanket up and rolled onto his side, then muttered as he drifted off to sleep.
"Ready the prisoner for transport!" Nora lifted her head at the metallic sound of a nearby door slamming. "Remember the prisoner is dangerous." A large female guard walked to her holding cell and reached in, grabbing her shoulder. She winced as the woman's acrylic nails dug into her.
"A little less pain, please. I can still get an attorney for cruel and unusual punishment." The guard yanked her forward and grabbed her handcuffed writs in front of her. "So. Finally decided it's time to move me to the max? Maybe it's a good idea." A wrinkle formed on her forehead and the right corner of her upper lip curled into a toothy smirk. "I'm just a weak little girl, right? Maximum is too hard for me."
"Shut your mouth!" Remarked the burly guard.
"Rude." She rolled her head to the right and narrowed her eyes. "I'm just having a little friendly chat." The woman let out a grunt and pushed her from behind. She looked down to her cuffs and pulled her wrists apart some, wincing as the metal rings dug into her skin. "These are cutting into me, they hurt."
"Deal with it."
"If you could loosen them just a smidge, that would be nice."
"Who do you think I am?"
"Eh, it was worth a shot." Another guard opened the door and Nora sighed at the car in front of them. It resembled a utility van with two doors in the back, and was bathed in the neon glow of the moon. "Just more meat for the fire, I suppose."
She threw her eyes to the ground and her heart swelled with delight at the manhole directly beneath the vehicle. "That's a good song, isn't it?" She turned her head up at the woman. "Bill Joel sings it, surely you've heard?" The woman's nostrils expanded and she reached forward, opening the doors to the van.
"Please stop talking."
"Would you rather I sing for you?" She peered into the dark box and studied a circular metal plate in the center. Her fingers bounced as the woman helped her into the back. "Little rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac, Sputnik, Chou-en-lai, Bridge on the River Kwai. Lebanon, Charles deGaulle, California baseball." She took a deep breath as her guard climbed in behind her and growled. "Starkweather, Homicide, Children of Thalidomide…"
The woman sat at the edge of a dark shadow and glared as the doors slammed shut. The only light was what spilled through the rectangular slits where the doors were. Nora took a deep breath and moved to the chorus. "We didn't start the fire. It was always burning since the world's been turning. We didn't start the fire, no we didn't light it but we tried to fight it."
The engine started up and Nora felt a sharp sensation shoot through her as the car jolted forward. The plate in the center jumped and the woman turned her eyes down with shock. "What was that?" She paused and spread her lips into a wide grin as the guard slowly pushed the plate aside, revealing a large hole in its place.
"Oh my goodness, it looks like there's a defect in your car." The guard's eyes darted up and she moved her hand slowly to the radio on her belt. Two dark gloved hands reached out from the shadows behind the woman. The right arm reached around the woman's face, covering up her jaw while the left moved around her eyes. "Who's there!" Her shout was muffled under the muscular arms.
"Say goodnight, Gracie." In an instant the arms twisted the guard's head, snapping her neck. As the woman fell to the side, the figure moved out of the shadows. He had broad shoulders and a heavy build hidden beneath a black sweater and black jeans. His blue eyes were the only things peering from beneath the cover of a dark ski mask. "Oh good, now if you don't mind reaching into her pocket and grabbing her keys. Do something about these damned cuffs."
The man did as instructed and Nora breathed a heavy sigh of relief as her metal binds fell off her. While rubbing her right wrist, she turned her eyes to the figure. "Brace yourself. We're going for a little ride."
The car halted abruptly and Nora's body bounced. "Pity they had to drive past a construction site, am I right?" The man huffed and Nora leaned back, sighing as her body started to feel weightless.
After several seconds the car shook once more. The doors opened up and another man dressed in a ski mask, sweater, and pants signaled for them to exit. Stepping out, she took sight of her surroundings. They'd been picked up by a crane with a large magnet outside a junkyard, a preplanned route that her hacker managed to program into the driver's GPS.
"I do hope the driver's out of commission, I don't want any confrontation. We have some unfinished work to attend to, boys."
So I've got most of this already written, it's a short story but a good one. I'm taking extreme care to write this well, and I hope you enjoy it. It's investigative, kind of drawn in by old classic detective movies, haha. "Watching the Detectives" by Elvis Costello fits this tale-enjoy.