Sorry it's been a while guys, all I can say for myself is that I owe a massive thank you to Pyre for being absolutely wonderful, and for your magnificent Bound series!

Special thanks and warm greetings to kattfan12001 for being the newest reviewer of this story, hey! It was such a lovely surprise!
If there's anyone else reading who hasn't reviewed yet, care to drop a line just to say hi, pretty please? ;D Virgil says he's willing to reply to you personally!

Chapter Ten

Back in Jane Parker's office, Virgil was feeling surprisingly relaxed given the events of the day. So far he'd been chased, threatened and almost pushed down a flight of stairs, he'd been grounded by Scott and then surprisingly helped out by John, caught up in a terrorist siege and held at gun point while forced to give his father ransom money demands, and if that wasn't enough he was now locked in an inescapable room while the terrorists gave his father hell and he could do nothing about it.

But he wasn't alone, and that was the reason why he felt so calm.

He was sat with his back against one door of the metal cupboard, knees drawn up to his chest, conversing quietly with his best friend who for now was stuck inside while John was sat on a chair in front of the desk. When Dan had revealed himself to them John had decided it wasn't safe to find a way to get him out just yet, not with the blind up on the window meaning their guards outside could see everything they did. There was every risk Dan would be removed from the room if he was seen. So instead, Virgil had merely sagged against the cupboard so he could talk to Dan but had his eyes fixed on John so if anyone looked in, it would look like the two brothers were just talking.

After telling Dan what they'd been through so far that night, Dan updated them on his side of things, how he'd come without Virgil anyway out of sheer boredom. Virgil didn't mind, after all it was his fault that they hadn't been together from the start. That, and he was sure if he was in Dan's shoes he'd have done the same thing. Virgil had four other siblings to help keep him occupied at home whereas Dan only had his nineteen year old brother Joey. It just troubled him that it now meant his friend was also in the same precarious situation. If they'd come together, they'd have come straight after school and would have left long before nine when this whole thing had begun; they'd be safe.

But no. Because I was such an idiot and got myself grounded I've put both my brother and my best friend in danger! Not to mention put pressure on dad, look at what he has to deal with now! Good going Virge. If you'd just kept your feet on the floor in art this morning none of this would be happening! Or even better actually, if Gary had pushed me down the stairs at least I'd have been out of the way and we wouldn't be here. Why oh why did I have to fight back?!

Anger at himself welled up, and then dissipated when he caught John looking worriedly at him. Virgil shook his head and gave a half smile, silently telling his older brother he was okay. John was the reason he'd fought back, Steelton had insulted him - and Scott - and Virgil wasn't having any of it. He loved his brothers and it was instinct to protect them as much as it was their instinct to protect him. John had given himself up earlier without any thought to his own safety just because he hadn't wanted Virgil to be alone in this ordeal.

His thoughts turned to Scott, Gordon and Alan. Were they outside right now like John thought? He hoped Scott wasn't beating himself up too much – Virgil knew his eldest brother would put the blame solely on his own shoulders probably even more than the artist right now blamed himself. It was just in Scott's programming as a big brother.

Virgil's gaze snapped to the door as he saw a figure approaching out of the corner of his eye. It was one of the henchmen who had brought him here earlier, known as Red. Both brothers watched as he made a sweeping glance of the room to assure the brothers were sealed in before reaching up and tugging on the string of the blind, sneering gleefully as the dark material was lowered over the window.

"Dad's here," John muttered, standing up and hurrying around the desk until he was sat in front of the computer, his fingers operating the mouse to bring the screen back from its slumber.

Virgil scrambled up from the floor and hurried over. "What are you doing?"

"Getting us out of here…maybe. Search these desk drawers for a set of keys. I'm pretty sure Dan would like to get out of there, don't you?" he replied, nodding his head in the direction of the cupboard.

Virgil nodded, before going back over to the cabinet and speaking in a low voice – he didn't want to risk shouting should somebody hear and they all be caught out. "Dan, I'm just finding the keys alright?"

"Won't mom have kept them with her?" came the reply.

The artist couldn't hide a smile. "No, she's on our side. She told me you were here, so she must have left them somewhere. Lucky that; she said she didn't know we were here until she saw us."

"Virgil, keys!" John cut in pointedly, eyes fixed on the screen. There was a slight frown of concentration on his face as his fingers fumbled over a few buttons on the keyboard.

"Right sorry." Virgil scurried back over and began to hastily search the drawers for a sign of a ring of metal. In most there was nothing but office equipment, stationery, staples, paperclips and more files. But in the bottom underneath what was presumably scrap paper was a keychain and a set of three slightly different keys, all unmarked. As quick and quiet as he could, Virgil tested the lock. The second key fit and the cupboard opened.

Dan let out a low groan, half in relief and half in pain as he clambered out and stretched his legs, rotating his limbs and wincing as some of them clicked, causing Virgil to grimace in sympathy. His friend had been in there for a while.

"What time is it by the way?" he asked, stretching his arms over his head. "Feels like I was in there for hours."

Virgil shook his head. "No idea, our cell phones are still in John's coat back at the cafe."

"Dan, do you know your mom's password?" John asked and the two ninth graders went over to stand behind the blonde, looking over his shoulders at the screen. The username was filled in already with 'JParker', obviously remembered as the frequent user of the machine, but the password bar was blank.

"Try 'EdwarddanielMathers' – capitals E and M, no spaces. It's our home computer password – gramps was always Mom's favourite."

"How come you couldn't crack it Johnny?" Virgil frowned, as his brother typed. John was an absolute whizz with technology and could usually hack into any password-protected device in seconds – he'd done it to Scott's laptop to prove it once.

"I don't want to risk locking us out. These bank systems are known for their tighter-than-tight security and I don't reckon even I could get past the initial firewalls without it setting something off, even if they have disabled the alarms. Much safer to have the password as free entrance to satisfy the system, and then work some magic. Right, I'm in."

"Tighter-than-tight?" Dan repeated incredulously. "I think I need to persuade mom to get some improvements done!"

"It's lucky you were here," Virgil said back, his gaze returning to the screen. Only to do a double take as it was now filled with four different squares of CCTV footage. He gave out a whistle of appreciation, exceedingly glad that John was with them.

"Wow, Johnny, when you're good, you're brilliant."

"Thanks. Now I bet you there's a person up in the security room right now ensuring everything's clear for these goons – I'm guessing that's how this whole thing was staged, they've had people on the inside for weeks, maybe months. But I'm smart. I know what to expect and so can steer around those walls so only we can see what's happening from this monitor and we'll be undetected. There's no camera in here, I've already scanned the room. Those idiots outside really didn't do their homework very well. Ah there he is!"

Virgil watched as the screen played the footage. It was live, as the time in the top left hand corner matched the time on the bottom right of the screen; it was nearly eleven. Had they really been here that long? Virgil had lost complete track of the time through the events of the night.

There was the guilty feeling back in his stomach as he watched his father on the screen. He was being held between two guards while a third, Virgil recognised Bane the leader, was apparently talking to him – no doubt repeating the demands Virgil had given over the phone earlier. The room was larger than the one the three boys were currently in, but with a desk and computer being the similar furniture. What seemed to be the reason they were in there was the floor-to-ceiling metallic door at the end. That was the safe, Virgil deduced. Even through the slightly grainy quality of the footage, the artist could tell it was securely protected - passcode, retina and fingerprint scanner that sort of thing. There was no sound though, and Virgil turned to give his brother a nudge but John was already typing furiously and sure enough the sound kicked in a split second later.

"-you want to get your precious boys back Tracy, you better get moving."

"I'll get you what you want. Just please, don't hurt them."

Bane nodded at the two guards who then released their grip. Dad moved immediately, heading for the monitor.

"What are you doing?" Bane barked. "Open the safe!"

"You won't get ten million dollars out of there. It'll have to be pulled from my business accounts and then transferred – most of my money is wrapped up in shares, you won't get cash. This may take a while."

"He's playing them," John muttered. "Scott's definitely outside. If Dad doesn't get to us soon then Scotty will."

Virgil didn't have time to marvel at his brother's intuition, however, as Bane slammed his fist onto the desk. Somehow their father did not flinch.

"Hurry it up then, Tracy! We don't have all night!"

Virgil didn't like the shivers that shot down his spine; things were getting dangerous. Bane was getting increasingly frustrated, and that could end very badly. He silently urged on his eldest brother and the authorities outside. From what John had said, his brother believed the police were planning a raid to get everyone out, and their dad was currently stalling for time. These terrorists were not getting any money; they were going to be caught by surprise. And Jeff Tracy was giving nothing away to his current captors.

The prickly feeling of dread intensified when Bane suddenly spun around to the two henchmen. "Bring me the younger kid; Virgil."

"NO!" John and Jeff cried simultaneously.

Yeah sorry, guilty as charged for yet more cliffhangers..I can't stop! XD

Shout out to the TIWF for some incredibly helpful writing tips!

I'm sure dishing out the gratitude this chapter haha this is the guilt talking for not posting in such a long time. Okay, one final thanks to all who gave me wonderful feedback for 'True Colours' – I really didn't expect that, thank you so much! :D

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