A/N: Started this before Kurt came back to McKinley, so that's the timeline. Spoilers up to Original Song, but not really in the focus of this story.

Response to a prompt at the glee_angst_meme.

—

As he pulled up into the driveway, Kurt was in a good mood the likes of which didn't happen too often to him. He was pretty much over the Warbler's loss at sectionals by now, which was both helped by the fact that practices were suddenly a lot less strict and a lot more fun, and the fact that he had spent the entire lunch hour making out with Blaine in an unused study lounge.

He lifted his hand to his neck, fingers grazing lightly over the hickey that was just hidden underneath his collar. When he had realized what Blaine's actions (that he hadn't protested at the time) were going to lead to this, he had given a rather undignified yelp, and given Blaine a lecture about how sensitive his skin was. Which Blaine had endured with that lovable grin of his, that made it impossible to be angry at him.

So Kurt had decided to get him back by returning the favor. And Blaine had apparently not noticed that it had been enough to make a hickey form, since he took no measures to hide it.

And that had earned Kurt a stern talking to by Wes, not to disfigure their lead singer "even if he begs for it". The word choice, combined with the look on Wes' face had made everyone in the vicinity burst out laughing. Except for Blaine, who actually blushed a little, but didn't try anything to hide the mark even after that talk.

The idea that his boyfriend was walking around school, going about his daily business right now with a hickey, that Kurt had left there, was enough to make him grin. The fact alone that he could finally call someone his boyfriend was enough to shake up the butterflies in his stomach.

As he walked to the front door sorting through his keys, he noticed a car parked on the other side of the road. It was a pretty normal, dark grey sedan, that in and of itself didn't really draw any attention, but something about its presence there gave Kurt pause.

There was no one inside it, though, so he simply unlocked the door and slipped into the house.

Usually he would've just called that he was home at something close to the top of his lungs, but something stopped him. Something intangible was off about the whole scene, even though nothing looked out of place.

Still, he decided to check first, before he made is presence known. Just in case his feeling was correct.

He reached out with his thoughts, to see if anyone else was in the house. He found Finn's messy thought pattern, which matched with the fact that his car was outside, and he started to relax.

But something was off about it, and he couldn't quite put his finger on what the problem was. Until he noticed two other thought patterns in the vicinity, both of which were ordered and incredibly disciplined.

Military.

He pulled back as though he'd been burned, and could only hope that they weren't trained to notice telepathic intrusions, or at least hadn't noticed the slight brush against their minds.

He had to get out of there. He was just about to turn around and leave, when he realized that going through the front door right away again would probably get noticed, if those two weren't the only agents that were there. And somehow he doubted they'd gotten that lucky.

He made his way as quietly as possible to the garage door. From there he could slip into the Navigator quickly and speed off before they found him. It wasn't a perfect plan, but maybe he'd get lucky. He'd have to find a way to get a different ride after a while, but maybe that could be solved, if he just made it to his Dad's garage. Assuming they hadn't already started looking for him there.

His dad had alway warned him, that something like this might be a possibility, someone could come to look for him, but having someone actually in the house after not having faced any of that danger in so many years, made him feel hot and cold at the same time, and he noticed he was sweating.

His dad's instructions for a case like that had been clear. Just get out, and don't let them catch you. Even if they ended up having to build a completely new life somewhere else, it was better than getting caught.

And he would do just that.

Except…

Finn was alone in the house with extremely dangerous people, who were there because of something that he had no idea was even possible. His dad had always said that if it came for the worst not to wait for anything or anybody and just get out.

But now Kurt didn't feel like he could just do that.

He concentrated, and carefully zeroed in on Finn's thoughts, avoiding touching the other two minds in the room. Apparently Finn was in his bedroom, his eyes closed, for some reason.

Even though he had always refrained from using his abilities on anyone in his environment, he did know how Finn's normal thought processes felt, even if he didn't know any details. And something was clearly wrong with them, now. Finn's thinking was always a little disorganized, seeing how he was easily distracted, but now it was as if he couldn't hold on to any conscious thought for more than a few seconds. Everything seemed muddled, and as Kurt dug deeper than he himself was strictly comfortable with it didn't seem to get any clearer.

"Dudes, what do you want?", Finn said sluggishly, and Kurt was deep enough in Finn's mind to unconciously mouth the words along. If he was that deep in already, why couldn't he access the memories that lead Finn to that moment? They had done something, clearly. Maybe drugs?

The men were answering, but it was difficult for Kurt to make out, because Finn wasn't really listening. Kurt really didn't like invading his stepbrother like that, but he needed to know. He nudged Finn's mind a little, to pay some more attention.

He really shouldn't be using his powers to mess with someone's mind, and he felt terrible about it, but since Finn's mind had been messed with, already, it wasn't that objectionable, now was it?

"Are you sure this is the right place?", one of them said, and Kurt really wished that Finn's eyes were open, so he could get a visual to go along with the voice. But even if he used his powers to make Finn do that, he wasn't sure if Finn would be responsive. The lack of awareness in him was really rather worrying.

"This is were all the clues lead us. It has to be here."

"Well this doesn't really look like a super powered killing machine. More like a tall, goofy teenager", the first man said.

"Okay, first of all? Get your language together. We're not looking for a super powered killing machine, we're looking for an abilities enhanced experiment, which goes by the label 734. And second of all, you should know as well as I do that there's no specific way any of them look. Outside appearances mean absolutely nothing when it comes to judging the experiments." Kurt only now realized that this voice belonged to a woman. And he already didn't like her. He remembered that number. He remembered it well, and this was all the confirmation he needed, to know that his initial fears were right, all along.

Then again, he hadn't really doubted that. What other reason would two specially trained military agents have to invade their home? Certainly not to have a tea party.

"Okay, but if he his the long lost prodigy, then why was it so easy to take him out? Shouldn't he have tried to use his abilities by now?"

"It's entirely possible that those abilities are not offensive in nature. The brief didn't say. The experiment was never completely analyzed before it was abducted." It. Of course it wasn't surprising they would call him that, since all of these people were specifically trained not to view him and others like him as humans, but hearing it now was incredibly unsettling for Kurt.

"So, what, we just bring it in, and hope for the best?"

"They'll be able to fully analyze whether this is the right subject back at the base."

"But if it isn't, and we take him, we could alert the real experiment to the situation by doing that."

Kurt almost lost his mental connection when he heard that, because his own thoughts were racing too fast. This was his get out of jail free card. He could run away right now, and they would take Finn, never knowing they had the wrong person, and Kurt would be far away and hopefully well hidden from them by the time they realized they hadn't found the right boy. It was perfect.

Almost.

Except for the fact that Kurt had some ideas what testing Finn to find out whether he had powers or not entailed, and even if Kurt didn't remember much from back then, he knew that letting Finn live through that would at the very least smother him in guilty conscience.

And if they found out Finn wasn't who they were looking for… There was every chance they'd simply get rid of him the way they did with 'experiments' that didn't have any powers.

If Kurt left now, he would most likely be scot free.

And also condemning his stepbrother to almost certain death.

His hand tightened on the doorknob, and he pushed it open, making his way back into the house. This was dumb. Beyond dumb, really, getting close to the realm of suicidal but he quietly made his way up the stairs, towards his enemies, with no real plan in mind. His best bet was probably manipulating their thoughts, but with the training these people received it was far from a safe bet. He could also try to use his other ability on Finn, but there was no way to predict what would happen if he did that. It could also lead to some misconceptions that could put Finn into even more danger, so Kurt decided against it.

So, mind bending. On two highly trained military operatives at a time. When he had barely ever had any occasion to practice that skill.

As he opened the door into Finn's room, he had a hard time hearing the noise the door made, over the beating of his own heart. Both of the agents wheeled around at the noise, and looked at him.

"And who are you?", the woman said. Neither of them looked all that special, both in a business outfit that didn't suggest anything sinister, but he saw her reaching into her blazer, which he was pretty sure was bound to contain a gun.

"You've got the wrong house", Kurt said, in a tone that surprised himself with its calmness. He entered her mind, and was surprised to find that she barely had any defenses in place. The organization apparently really didn't know what his abilities were, and he took full advantage of that. It took a lot less effort than he would've expected to convince her, and he quickly turned his attention to her partner, who didn't look as suspicious as she had.

Kurt was also surprised by having to suppress the urge to say: "These aren't the droids you are looking for." He'd only seen that movie once, and not really payed that close attention.

"You should go", he said sternly, and both of them left the room with a complacent look on their face that would've been somewhat creepy if he hadn't known what made them look like that. He did his best to muddle their memories of what he and Finn looked like, but he knew he couldn't do too much, because that would be too suspicious.

Since he also didn't really know what he was doing, manipulating someone's memories.

He let out a breath he wasn't quite aware of holding, when he heard the front door slam shut, and he couldn't find their thought patterns in the house anymore.

He turned his attention to Finn, who now looked like he had just fallen asleep playing Xbox, which was running on his TV. The fact that he was drooling and there was a small but shiny metal thing attached to his temple gave away that that wasn't the case. Kurt went over to remove the metal thing, which went surprisingly easy.

He looked at it closely, and almost immediately got a headache when he held it too close to his face. He dropped it and stepped on it for good measure.

"Huh?", Finn groaned sleepily and Kurt turned to look at him.

"Are you okay?", he asked.

"Hm? Uh… mhm," Finn said eloquently, and Kurt took it as a sign that was at least not particularly bad.

"We need to leave. Take whatever you absolutely need, and then let's go", Kurt instructed and ten went into his own room. He took his bag out of the closet, that he'd been keeping packed just in case a situation like this ever occurred, where he needed to leave suddenly.

He really only had been keeping it, because it had become a habit. He still had trouble processing that his nightmares had finally become a reality.

It had all seemed so far away. He hadn't heard anything about people looking for him ever since they left, he'd barely ever used his abilities, and it had made it so easy to forget that he even had them, and just feel like a normal teenage boy. Now, though…

They couldn't risk staying. He knew his manipulation had been sloppy, and either the two would realize themselves that something wasn't quite right, or some supervisors of theirs would realize something was off.

He honestly didn't want to drag Finn into this, had never intended to get anyone involved in any of this mess, not that he had really been planning for something like this, but he knew it was too late to keep him out of it. He wasn't at all sure, if he had made them forget their faces, and if they did remember Finn, he was not only in danger, but possibly also a liability if Kurt left without him. He threw some toiletries in his bag, unwilling to think about the fact, that if they really didn't have a chance to come back, he'd have to seriously cut down on his moisturizing routine.

He went back into Finn's room, where he found that his stepbrother had only managed to get up and put a hand to his forehead.

"What happened?", he asked groggily, but at least he was a bit more coherent than before. Whatever that device was, it was obviously not meant to cause any long term damage.

"We need to go", Kurt said sternly.

"Why?" Finn looked around the room confusedly. "And where did those people go? Wait… there were people here, but they weren't supposed to…"

Kurt managed to find an empty bag and began to throw some of Finn's clothes into it. He didn't pay too much attention to which pieces he picked out, since he didn't have the time, and to be honest, Finn's wardrobe was way too bland to make any of what he wore more of a priority.

"They're not here anymore, but they might come back, so we have to go", Kurt said, and went into the bathroom to retrieve Finn's toothbrush.

"Shouldn't we… like, call the police?", Finn asked, and looked around the room slowly. "Doesn't look like they took anything…"

"Calling the police wouldn't be a good idea", Kurt said, and zipped Finn's bag. "Come on, let's go."

"Go where?", Finn asked, and looked up at Kurt.

"I don't know yet, but we can't stay", Kurt answered, and took Finn's and to lead him out of the room. The taller teen was still too out of it to complain about it.

"But…", he said weakly, but didn't seem to know where his thoughts were actually leading him.

Kurt led him down the stairs, and was impressed that he managed to navigate those. It seemed a little risky to him. He went to the front door to check, and was relieved to see that the grey sedan wasn't there anymore. There was no way to be sure it was their car, but the assumption seemed more or less reasonable.

He ushered Finn out the door, and locked it behind them even though he was sure that if those people wanted to get in, that wouldn't do anything to stop them. He threw both bags into the trunk of his car, and then went to push Finn, who was still busy blinking in the sunlight onto the passenger seat. He pulled out of the driveway, only to realize that he didn't really know where they should go.

His Dad would probably know what to do, but Kurt had a bad feeling about calling. He didn't know for sure if they were listening to their calls, but he had no way to know that they weren't. If they really weren't sure if they were the family they were looking for, he might get lucky, but he wasn't comfortable risking it.

He made up his mind and set off in the direction of his Dad's garage. If they could talk in person, they could probably figure out what to do, and to be honest, Kurt was eager to give away the responsibility in this situation. He had been told they could be coming, but that didn't mean he was prepared to deal with it, no matter if he had any super powers or not.

They got there quickly, since their new house was chosen in part because it was near the garage. Finn was mumbling something all the way there, but Kurt didn't pay attention. He really hoped that his stepbrother's confusion was only a result of that weird device, and not because Kurt had been digging through his brain.

Kurt got out of the car, and Finn followed him, slowly but surely getting a little steadier on his feet.

They went in through the office door, and Kurt was surprised to see that the lights were off. And it was also very quiet. Except for the pained yelp Finn made when he stubbed his toe on the potted plant near the entrance.

"Sh!", Kurt said and put a finger to his lips. Finn looked at him in confusion, but didn't question the instruction.

Kurt quietly made his way to the garage itself, and was greeted with complete silence. The lights were off, and none of the characteristic work noises filled the air. He again decided against calling out, and reached out with his mind, only to find the garage completely empty.

"Why is no one here?", Finn asked. "Isn't it, like, a weekday? They should all be working, right?"

And Finn was right, of course. And the emptiness was making Kurt very nervous.