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~BATB~

This was an idea that popped into my head once so I decided to write about it.


Disclaimer:

I DO NOT OWN THE WONDERFUL CW SERIES, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST!

Though, I do have it on iTunes!

:^]


Keep Me Safe

Keiko Fujiwara


~Tess's POV~

"What did the White House say?" I asked as Joe came back from his office.

"The situation isn't good, Vargas. The Vice President took my call and, to his knowledge, no helicopters or jets landed within the vicinity of the White House. But…somehow…he doesn't have me convinced."

"VP my ass! Why would Cat have a tracking USB sent to us if it was phony? Wait—why aren't you convinced?"

"Because when I asked him about any jets or helicopters landing near the White House, his voice seemed….jagged…when he answered."

"Maybe Mr. VP isn't as innocent as this country thought. It seems to me he is trying to hide something. What about the President? Were you able to get ahold of him?" I asked.

"No. The President is on vacation with his family. What about you? Did you reach the FBI?"

"Yeah but they assure me that nothing landed near the White House." I replied.

"Then tell me why I have an agent missing and a tracker still at the White House?" Joe asked.

"Maybe Science Geek over there could conjure a few theories." I suggested, pointing to JT.

"Alright…Bring him in here." Joe replied as I walked over to the interrogation room. While I fetched JT, Joe went back into his office.

"Tell me what you find, Vargas!"

"Will do!"

"You guys finally figure out what you're going to do?" JT asked as I pulled him towards my desk.

"No…which is why we need your brain cells to help answer a question for us." I stated.

"What?"

"The tracker indicates that Cat—and her boyfriend—landed at the White House. Now, tell me, why do you think everyone we've called is certain no birds landed within the vicinity?" I asked.

"May I?" JT asked, pointing towards the computer.

"Be my guest." I said.

Suddenly, JT pulled up a different map and zoomed in on Washington DC. He suddenly re-pulled up the map of the tracker and rewound the tracker's path. "I rewound the path of the tracker and, from what it appears, for a split moment or so, the tracker stops. My guess is, that's when they landed—which looks like Andrews AFB. Then, either they were transported via car towards the White House or…Hey is there any way to pull up the security system of Andrews AFB?"

"Yeah…Hang on…I'll be a sec." I stated. I reached over him and searched for Andrews AFB in the police's database. Within seconds, the files for the security cams came up. I clicked on one of them and said, "This is live footage. If you want to see what happened a few hours ago—"

"I think I know how to use a computer. No offense or anything." JT interrupted as he started inputting the time-stamp information into the system. The footage suddenly started playing the footage from forty-five minutes ago.

"Is that…?"

"Yeah…that's the helicopter alright…Now….let's see what this copter does to punk the FBI."

Suddenly, our eyes widened. "Did that copter just transform into a car?! I didn't even know those were made yet!" I exclaimed.

"I hafta say, that was pretty damn awesome…so jealous of Vincent right now. I wonder if he even knew he was riding in a future Transformer?"

I smacked JT in the shoulder and said, "Focus! Now…where does the coptermobile go to?"

"It looks like it's driving into the entrance to the underground tunnels…at incredible speed! This is wicked! Terrible! But wicked! I want me one of those!"

"You're not helping, JT."

"Oh. Right. Well, mystery solved. So when are you going to actually put Operation Save Cat and Vincent into action?" he asked.

"As soon as I give this intel to the boss, we'll be on our way." I replied. "You stay right here. I'll go and grab Joe and you reshow him what you just showed me."

~BEAUTY AND THE BEAST~

~Catherine's POV~

"TELL ME WHERE YOUR MOTHER'S RESEARCH IS!" Odin screamed in anger after sending a punch to my left eye.

"Screw you!" I spat, earning me another punch into the stomach.

I could feel the aftereffect of the punch stinging along with the various cuts on my abdomen. I hissed in pain but wouldn't submit to Odin's demands.

It has been at least two hours since he brought me up here—two long hours. I, so far, have withstood ten rounds of waterboarding, five rounds of whiplashing and almost twenty minutes of physical beating.

"I'm done playing nice, Catherine Chandler. Now, you're going to start feeling the real pain." Odin muttered darkly as he walked behind me. I heard him pick up something before walking back. "Do you know what's in this vial, Catherine?"

I shook my head.

"Maybe if I give you a sample, you'll be able to think back to your last Chemistry class." He smirked as he poured a tiny bit of the liquid onto my hand. I clenched my teeth and tensed my body as I felt the chemical burn through every layer of skin on my hand.

"Do you want to guess what it is?"

I shook my head as I tried to focus on anything but the searing pain.

"ANSWER ME!" He shouted, splashing my legs with the bottle's entire contents.

I screamed in agony—hoping the pain of my flesh melting would end.

"That's right, Catherine, you better scream in pain. In case you've forgotten your Chemistry days, I'll jog your memory for you. You were just given a highly concentrated amount of Hydrochloric Acid. Care for more?"

"G-go to Hell!" I managed to scream as tears started to fall from my eyes.

"You're quite the feisty one, Catherine Chandler. I wonder, do you know what it's like to feel your very flesh being burned off inch by inch?" He walked back behind me and, before I knew it, two men turned me on to my stomach. Odin came back and said, "Let me show you what it's like to feel your very muscle melt while still within your body."

He started to slowly pour another bottle of Hydrochloric Acid onto my back. The pain was unbearable. I could feel my body involuntarily shake as a response to the pain surging through my body. My throat ran dry from all of the screaming but I refused to tell him where my mother's research is. I didn't care what he did to me…but, I didn't know how much more I could take before death claims me.

"That's enough!" a man shouted.

"I'm not done with her yet!" Odin replied.

"If you continue, you'll kill her! Then where would we be? We need her alive, Victor." The man stated. So this d-bag's name is actually Victor. Wait…why do I recognize the other man's voice?

"I'm almost done. Just let me try one more thing." Victor smirked, heading back towards his table of doom.

"I said enough is enough!" the man yelled, "and that's an order!"

I heard Victor's footsteps pause from where he was. "Yes, Mr. President."

As my mind tried to wrap around the fact that the president was standing right behind me, I blacked out. I couldn't handle the pain anymore.

~BEAUTY AND THE BEAST~

~Vincent's POV~

Every time I heard her piercing screams, I literally punched a wall. I didn't care if I ended up breaking my hand. Catherine was in far worse pain and all I could do was listen as they torture her. I made her a promise that I would stay strong. I couldn't resort to the Beast right now. She's the only one capable of bringing me back to my senses and I need to be there for her when or if they ever bring her back.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps of people making their way down the stairs towards the cells. My eyes widened as I see two men in lab coats carry a naked Catherine back towards her cell. They tossed her into the cell without a care in the world. I focused on her heart beat. It was slow but even-paced. She must have blacked out from the pain. Not caring who was watching, I tried to reach for her hand. If anything, I wanted her close to me. But, despite my efforts, she was too out of my reach.

"What did you do to her!?" I yelled out of hurt and anger.

"I only put her in her place. She could have easily avoided all of this if she simply told us where to find her mother's research." Odin replied as he made his way down the steps. "Now, not only will she suffer from her current wounds, but she'll most likely suffer from serious infections."

"I TOLD YOU SHE DOESN'T KNOW WHERE IT IS!" I screamed.

"I think you're wrong, Vincent Keller."

I looked back at Catherine again and screamed, "YOU BASTARD!"

As Odin was walking back up the stairs, he said to his only guard, "Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Y-yes, sir!" the guard saluted. If only I can get my hands on his tranq-gun.

I noticed he was looking at me. I gave him a death glare.

"K-keep your distance!" He shouted as his body started shaking from fear.

I think I can outsmart this dumbass. He looks like he's younger than what Bryan was. "You can relax. What's the use in violence if I'm contained in an anti-beast jail cell?"

"T-taking p-p-precautions." He replied.

"How old are you, twenty?"

"S-s-seventeen."

"You've got to be kidding me! Muirfield's recruiting teens now? That's a bunch of BS! What's your story? Did you stumble upon something and now Muirfield's making you work for them?"

"I-I'm n-n-not in t-the m-military…My f-father w-was."

"Was he killed in battle?"

He nodded.

"Why are you working for Muirfield?" I asked.

"I w-was a-asked to help make a d-difference and t-to change the world. T-they said that i-if I h-helped, they could s-stop people f-from dying like my father did."

"No offence, but you don't seem like the military type. Your weight is too scrawny and by the way you're stuttering and having a hard time breathing, I can tell you're about to have an asthma attack. You should probably sit down before you hurt yourself."

"I c-can't!"

"Why?"

"T-they'll k-k-kill m-me if I d-d-disobey."

"Why are you even here? I would have thought Odin would have chosen a better guard than someone as weak as you."

"S-some f-f-future p-project…T-they said guys w-with my body t-type would prove m-more successful." He replied.

That makes sense…their muscles would have more room to grow.

"What's your name, kid?"

"A-Alvin…" he answered.

"Look, Alvin, I understand your fear. Believe me; I've been hiding from Muirfield for ten years because I know what they're capable of. Listen, if you let me out, I'll swear on my life I'll protect you. You shouldn't be here. You should be with your family, enjoying your senior year of high school. You're only seventeen once."

"T-they'll k-kill m-me!"

"Is there another way out? Besides the stairs?"

He nodded.

"Great…where?"

He pointed behind me.

"There's a hidden door underneath that vent. They installed it in there in case they couldn't bring you through the original entrance. Unfortunately, I don't know how to unlock it." Alvin replied, his voice calmer.

"No need, Alvin. They wouldn't have installed a traditional lock or opening device. They would have most likely hidden the switch. Do you know your tunnels?"

"My father helped with the blueprint. I know every route." Alvin replied.

"Okay…Make it look like you're doing your job. I'll be looking for the switch." I stated and turned around towards the door. He's right. There is a door here. I don't know how I could have missed it but I evidently did. It's metal…while the rest of the cell is cement. It smells different. Now I understand, they painted the door to make it look like part of the wall. Now, if I was a sneaky Muirfield agent, where would I hide the switch?

If I wanted to, I could easily destroy this metal door but, because I want to decrease the chance of them tracking us, I have to open it with the switch. Well, if there was a cave in of some sort, they would have had to make a switch easy to find but hard to notice in order to open the door quickly.

Suddenly, one of the jail bars caught my eye. It was a different color than the rest of them…If that isn't the lever, I don't know what is.

"Okay, Alvin, count to ten and open Catherine's cell. Then walk away. Count to sixty then open my cell door. When I go to get Catherine, you make it towards the door. I've found the lever. Alright?"

He nodded and started counting. I could tell he trusted me because his heart rate wasn't skyrocketing like it was earlier. Either that or he's one damn good actor.

I heard him unlock Catherine's door and then step back to his position. After counting to sixty, he unlocked my door. I waited for a few minutes before slowly approaching the door. Suddenly, I realized something. This kid…he would have known where the lever was if he had blueprints. Why didn't he tell it to me? As I approached the door, I noticed his skin. It was incredibly pale. Not to mention, he was scrawny. His heart rate was highly increased earlier; part of that could have been due to fear but now, I'm not so sure Alvin is who he said he is. This was actually way too easy…Was he planning on double-crossing me? Not to mention his movements…they were very sluggish. "Hey…I have a question for you."

"What?"

"Do you know if this place carries salt anywhere? I hear it's good for treating wounds." I lied.

"S-salt?"

His heart rate increased again. I could also hear his salivary glands salivating.

"You know what? Never mind. It wouldn't be worth it if we don't escape."

I exit out of the jail cell and he makes his way inside. I rushed and gently picked up Catherine, wrapping her body in my jacket. Without hesitation, I closed the jail cell.

"What gives?!" he asked.

"Sorry…as of right now, I can't trust anyone."

"Y-you said you'd help me!"

"I did but then I realized that you're not seventeen, are you. You only look young because you have Addison's Disease. You also claimed that your father had the blueprints. If that were the case, you would have known where the lever was all along. I just don't believe how a person could know about a hidden door without knowing about the hidden lever. I bet you weren't even going to lead me to a safe place, were you."

"You're pretty smart for a beast." Alvin…if that's really his name…smirked.

"You see, I lied about the door. That was just a metal wall painted over with brown paint. The lever doesn't exist. If you pulled that lever, you would have released a poisonous gas that would have killed everyone within a hundred meters."

"And you were betting on me pulling that lever, weren't you." I stated.

"Bingo. Since you didn't pull it, that leaves me no choice."

Damn.

As he ran to the lever, I bolted out of the lower level. I didn't care how many people I had to kill. As long as Catherine is safe, that's all I care about.

Suddenly, I felt a plume of gas intoxicate the air around me. I hold my breath and cover Catherine's with my hand. If there was a time and a place for everything, now was the time to transform. By centralizing all of my hate and anger towards Muirfield, I allowed my veins to blacken and my muscles to ripple. In a matter of seconds, I was the Beast. And we both had one goal—to save Catherine at all costs.


Keiko Fujiwara: I know this was a little bit on the short side but I thought this would be a good ending point.

The next chapter should be posted relatively around Saturday. :D

Have a great night!