Chapter 10
Franco watched as his guests were being brought in at gun point and noticed one he hadn't 'invited' and asked "Who are you?"
Glaring at the man she was sure had grabbed Elizabeth and her sons and said "Annie Logan."
"Oh, yes the woman brought in to help Elizabeth deal with what has been happening. So, Sam what is your opinion? Is Elizabeth Webber crazy as a result of her guilt over having an affair with Nicolas Cassadine, over having to shoot someone to save your worthless behind or is it because she knows that Jason Morgan knowingly is sleeping with you after you harmed her children, his children?"
The audience were split some watching as Audrey and Gail were tied up, others couldn't tear their eyes away from the spectacle of Sam McCall bawling as she stared into a mirror of herself with red curly hair that had very lovely bright iridescent blue highlights.
When she didn't answer, Franco just smirked then said "Mrs. Hardy, my men informed me that you put up quite a fight before learning that if you came quietly Elizabeth and her sons would be safe that while the men with you did some damage, it was you who took out their leader. Impressive for someone so old but when I chose you as the person to free Elizabeth last month, I knew that already."
Spinelli was lead into the room by two limping men and Sam who had stopped crying couldn't help calling out to him when he stared at her. "Where is Jason?"
"Mr. Morgan is rather busy at the moment. Mr. Spinelli, what happened to your arm?" asked Franco when he saw the bandage.
Glaring at the man, he said nothing until pressure was put in the wound. "My fair Maxiamestia's stalwart father shot me." He stated while staring at the strange device in front of him and then looked at Franco who ordered him to get on it.
"Why?" he asked only to be shoved onto what looked like a hamster's wheel that started to move as soon as he stood on it.
"If you tell us why you were shot, I won't make the wheel go faster. If you stop talking the machine speeds up." He said then started to lazily make the wheel go faster then slowed it down when Spinelli started to give in.
"He shot me because I told him the truth." He said defiantly. "I told him that he was wrong that women like Sam are the dreams of leaders and great men. That she is the epitome of beauty, wit, capability and sensual charm."
"So he shot you in the arm?" asked Franco while watching his audience's expressions. "I would have shot you in the groin; stop your obviously defective gene pool from propagating."
Jerry who was tied to the wheel of fortune groaned at what he heard while waking up. Franco who walked over to the wheel of fortune in the middle of the room asked. "Shall I introduce our game now?"
Seeing no reaction, Franco said "Then let's have Spinelli continue. How did speaking your mind get you shot?"
"The sta—"
"Can we call people by their names, you are taking to long and we only have a half hour until your buddy Morgan gets to the start of our game." he snarled.
"Uh, Mac Scorpio said I had no idea what I was talking about; that men preferred whiney, incapable women who cheat like that horrid woman who stole away my master's sperm that rightfully belonged to my goddess." Said Spinelli unaware that he had been slipped a legal version of truth serum by Gail earlier instead of pain reliever and found himself saying what he had kept hidden for so long.
"I still don't get why you were shot."
"Mrs. Hardy asked that the woman with the medical bag to shut me up since she didn't want to hear how inadequate her granddaughter is and she refused saying she couldn't proscribe the only drugs she had for the job."
Franco turned to Gail Baldwin and asked why not? "Because it is a strong sedative meant to be used for people suffering pain, not those that cause it by running their mouth about subjects they have no knowledge or understanding of." She glared at Spinelli as she talked.
Franco laughed as he got it. "So Scorpio shot him?"
"Just as we were exiting the plane." She replied. "He never got anything more than a mild truth serum when I removed the bullet though right now, I wished I had given him nothing."
Franco nodded then looked at Spinelli, "Since you are so up-to-date on gods and goddesses, could you tell me who nemesis is?"
"Nemesis, someone who is your opposite, your enemy?" he asked as the wheel was turned faster. He looked at Sam for help, but her hair was starting to do something weird and she was staring at it in fascination.
"Really, well you compare your buddy Sam to a goddess, what goddess are you talking about?" he asked while Jax from where he was tied up watched his brother who looked like he was plotting something. Hopefully something that would save his wife thought Jax.
Spinelli gave a silly grin then said "Aphrodite, the goddess of love, of course, with Athena, Diana and of course the Queen of the gods thrown in, Zena."
Franco looked at him then asked the crowd "Who has heard of a god named Zena?"
"She is the Princess Warrior." Said Spinelli as he went on and on only for Franco to shake his head as he finally understood then said "Television, you are comparing her to a television show? You do know that that is make believe, don't you?"
"No, I was comparing Jason's goddess to the gods of Mount Olympus." He said with a whacked out grin courtesy of whatever Gail had given him.
"You are sad and pathetically lacking in knowledge." Franco shook his head. "Let's start with Aphrodite; she is nubile and infinitely desirable. Let's compare."
Walking over to Sam in the bikini she had been forced to change into by her kidnappers, he pointed at her and said "Nubile, not likely…it means young looking, supple, and delicate. Sam already looks used up and as for desirable, I guess that is in the eye of the beholder."
"Stone Cold desires her." He said only for Franco to laugh.
"Then why would you have to send him fake e-mails from the mother of his child, Elizabeth Webber. Letters that would be considered hurtful and cruel even if your master's heart wasn't involved. If his desire for Sam was real, wouldn't he have bedded her long before he did and more than likely wouldn't have required drugs and a concussion to make it happen?"
Spinelli looked at Sam apologetically then said "My master was confused by his desire to be a good parent."
"Let's continue on, Aphrodite is vain, ill-tempered and easily offended. Yes, I do see that part of a goddess in Sam." He said. "Athena, the goddess of wisdom, strength, strategy and skill."
Laughing he said "Not in this lifetime, or the next. If you mean in the idea of her being the goddess of war, the real goddess avoided fighting by using wisdom. Something your pal knows nothing about. And lastly Diana, the virgin goddess of the hunt."
Spinelli flushed as Franco's derisive laughter moved closer. "You yourself know she isn't a virgin, you have first hand knowledge of that fact."
"How dare you…" Only for the screen behind him to give them a live and in color version of what had gone on in the penthouse between Sam and him. Most covered their eyes while Jax just rolled his eyes then snorted in laughter when the nerd called Sam, Maxie.
Spinelli sat down; with wounded eyes he looked at Sam then said "How could you?"
"Me, what about you, I gave you the best night of your life and you call me Maxie?"
Spinelli was mumbling something that had Franco laughing out loud. "Oh, this is too good not to share."
Walking over to the computer, he amplified the taped utterance and they all soon heard him saying "I have had better."
Franco then walked over to Sam, saying "Uh, what is going on with your hair?"
Sam looked at the mirror and saw her curls were gone and then feeling her head realized the back of her hair was chopped up and is some places cropped close to her head. As she felt the tears fall, Sam blubbered that her hair dresser had screwed up her perm after her coloring which caused Kate in spite of her fear to laugh.
"Uh, another contingent heard from, Ms. Howard, you have something add?" he asked only for the fashion icon to giggle in nervousness as she said "You never get your hair colored and a perm on the same day. EVER!"
"Oh, it looks like Sam never read your magazine."
"I hope not." She said affronted. "I wouldn't want anyone to think she got her lack of fashion sense from anything in my magazine. She is a fashion don't, if I ever saw one."
Tracy joined in the laughter from the women there while Alexis felt bad for her daughter in spite of everything going on.
"Almost time." Franco murmured as he saw that Jason and his band of merry men were almost where they were supposed to be. Time to shake things up.
"Mrs. Hardy, have you figured out who Nemesis is?" he asked silkily as he approached the pissed off elderly nurse.
"Nemesis, the Greek god who avenges those harmed as the result of hubris." She said sadly.
"Correct. That is why I helped you with Elizabeth, but I would prefer you not say anything more about what is going on, I am sure you can understand why."
"I just want to know, why help her if you are going to kill her?" she asked.
"I will allow Jason Morgan to make that choice, since it is his arrogance, pride isn't a bad thing, but he let his arrogance be pushed one way or another from the various sins of those in his life. His arrogance that he and only he could help them was led to this moment. Unfortunately, the same thing can be said for your granddaughter in a lesser degree. She seems to believe she is the only person who can save Lucky Spencer."
Luke shook his head as he stood and turned to the man with the gun at his throat and said "Shoot me because either way I am speaking. You have that last part wrong. Elizabeth was pushed by my family, by her own into giving herself over to help Lucky."
"But if she had just once, said no, said to you or your ex-wife or even her grandmother, we wouldn't have the mess with Mr. Cassadine and your son today, now would we?"
Luke sat down, feeling old as he watched the screen in front of him that showed Laura being held someplace where he couldn't reach her just as he saw Franco grin again.
Looking around, Luke saw that Monica and Tracy were monitoring Edward's pulse and he couldn't help feeling bad for the old guy. Seeing the triumvirate of Kate Howard, her cousin and Diane Miller seated together, he didn't think that was a coincidence. Nor that there were empty chairs scattered around the room.
He couldn't see past Epiphany Johnson who was seated with that blond female doctor from GH and the ADA who prosecuted Sonny but there was a blond woman sitting there followed by Jasper Jacks, and Mike Corbin.
Wondering about the missing people, he looked up at the stage. Jerry Jacks tied to a wheel of fortune, Sam McCall was in some sort of glass coffin and finally the nerd was on a hamster wheel that was moving. There was one more device but it was off to the side, hidden by the smoke and mirrors.
Hearing sounds, he was rather shocked to see four men being led into the room. Roy who had visited him days ago, along with Mac Scorpio and Frisco Jones, with one of Sonny's large guards being carried in and tied to a chair after being strip searched like the others.
Frisco and Mac were relieved to see Felicia but at the same time worried because Harper had let Maxie out of the jail cell and no one had heard from her since.
Clapping his hands, Franco said "Gentlemen, I do have to say nice try, but you four aren't part of this game. I would offer you some popcorn but I see you are a little tied up right now."
Looking at the small iPod in his hand, he said "LET THE GAMES BEGIN!"
As the ten screens around the room all kicked on and one came in clearer, he said "Morgan, can you hear me?"
Jason was sitting in the truck with the tools that were on the list then looking at the others said "Yes."
"Good, now the first place you have to go in this lovely bit of performance art is the first place the love of your life held a gun on you, remember that?"
Sam tried to recall then called out "Jason, he wants you to go to the marina."
Franco heard murmuring along with the audience then the central screen showed a street map that had a red dot traveling away from the docks. Sam said in a frustrated tone of voice "He is going the wrong way."
"Actually he isn't." said Frisco as he mentally thanked Ric Lansing for his need for therapy when he moved to LA. He had been an unintentional source of information. The audience only saw the inside of a house then the picture became clear and a gasp was heard around the room.
Ethan was following Jason's directions as they led to Ric Lansing's old house. He was giving Dante and the two others an update on all he knew before they arrived. Stopping outside, he warned them he had no idea what they were going to find in the panic room.
But what he did find when the door slid open made him whimper as he saw Cameron unconscious and tied up. As the door completely opened he realized why Dante was here as they saw Morgan in the same situation.
When Dante went to pass him to get to his little brother, Jason stopped him and said "Remember, we can save only one."
Glaring he said "I am getting my brother."
Pushing him back, Jason got what was going on. "No, we have to get Cameron out."
"Really and how are you…" Jason knocked him on his rear and said "Listen to me, this game is about my life, my mistakes. And one of my worst mistakes was connected to Elizabeth when she lived in this house."
Rolling his eyes, Dante said "What are you talking about?"
"I knew something was wrong with Elizabeth, but I was hurt and in pain and did the same thing you have all rode me about in regards to Sam, only it involved your Aunt Courtney who was no better than your father."
Feeling old, Jason approached the little boy who was starting to wake up and realized that Franco had planned for both boys to awaken.
"Mr. Morgan, I would explain to your helpmates what is going on, you have less than five minutes." Said Franco gleefully.
"Elizabeth, I loved her but walked away because it was easier to deal with everyone else." He said softly. "Then I made almost as big of a mess with Courtney as I did with Sam. I had a chance to fix things a moment in time in a chapel, but in the end, I was a coward, and that almost cost Elizabeth everything."
Looking at Cam, he said "I left the hospital, went home to deal with my mistakes and made things worse, almost costing Elizabeth her life. Then I sat there with her after she was blinded and something happened in that room. Well almost happened." He said closing his eyes to block out the pain. "I went home with my feelings of guilt and dug myself yet an even deeper hole."
"Good, very good." Said Franco gleefully while the audience tried to put together the clues. "Now, to make things even more exciting… Mr. Falconari, tell Mr. Morgan what you found out about Cameron Webber's parentage?"
Dante didn't get it at first then said "The tests at the hospital, in the computer weren't Elizabeth and her son's. Ric Lansing's didn't match and someone named Zander's results is missing."
Jason froze and fell back as he realized the possibilities and almost wept from the pain, Johnny glared at the enforcer and pushed him out of the way before kneeling in front of the kid. As he started to defuse the bomb, most heard Jason's panting as he tried to get control of his emotions.
When the little boy was freed, Jason went to pick him up but Cam looked around and saw Ethan and reached out for the man he knew. Morgan's clock stopped ticking as well and Dante picked up his brother and they left the house.
At the vehicle, Jason went to hold Cam but he just glared at the man then said "You went away and Mommy cried. I hate you."
His already shaky emotions on edge, Jason found himself saying. "I didn't mean to, I promise you, I…" he had nothing to say that wouldn't be a lie so he just let the little boy cling to the Aussie as Johnny started the car then grimaced as Dante said "We can't take them with us."
"Why not?" asked Jason as he wanted to protect them and that was- the house behind them exploded, shaking the ground as fell inside on itself.
At various locations, the hostages reacted, some from the rescue of Cameron and others from the loud noise followed by white then a black screen. Carly was pissed that Franco had grabbed her son then what was being said made her think and she was pissed on Courtney's behalf.
Her friend had been dealing with getting off drugs and Jason had been screwing around with Elizabeth Webber, how could he do that to his own wife.
Elizabeth was glad her son was safe and feeling guilty that she hadn't believed Jason would protect her son followed by confusion as she had no idea what they had been talking about. Jason hadn't been in her hospital room and he most definitely wasn't Cam's father.
As they were pulling into GH, Jason saw Steven Webber and called out to the man who just glared at him while Ethan jumped out with Cam and said "Trouble going down, can't explain but we need you to check out the boys."
"Not here." He said grimly. "I will take them to my grandmother's house."
Not sure what was going on, Jason helped Dante put Morgan in the car, then saw Cam cling to his uncle and saying "Grams cut my hair after I blew a really big bubble."
In spite of the terror going on around them, all five men chuckled as Cam talked to Steven about the lecture he had gotten. Jason felt a sense of relief at the reasoning behind the sudden cutting of his curls that reminded the enforcer so much of his mother.
In the gallery, Audrey breathed a sigh of relief that Cam was safe but looked at the clock and hoped Jason would get to everyone in time so he could save Elizabeth.
Franco clapped and said "Nice job, but you are now running behind. Good thing you don't have far to go. Two are tied up in a room together. A room you know very well and this time, there is a good chance you won't get both the question right and the bomb disarmed in time.
Racing, Jason flew up to the room where Elizabeth had been then realized it didn't exist since the fire. Racing around, he checked all of the rooms then cursed as he realized it was the chapel.
Thundering down the hall, the foursome saw Robin Scorpio tied up and bleeding while Patrick Drake had a bomb in his hands. "DON'T TOUCH ME!"
Freezing, Ethan looked at her then at Jason who said "We have to get you free."
With a sob, she said "My viral loads are up, you can't."
"Tick tock, Mr. Morgan. Now as to the question, how did your sister die?"
TBC
