A/N: I am almost positive most of you are going to continue to hate me because of this chapter. You'll find out everyone else's fate in chapter 12. I'm also sorry for my absence. I'm doing a double post to make up for that. :D
Chapter Rating: T/PG-13 (For Mild Violence)
Warnings: Non-Magical AU, Criminal AU, POV Change
Full Summary: See Chapter One.
Chapter Summary: Doublespeak - (n.) language used to disguise actual meaning, used by the military and government agencies ie "enhanced interrogation" instead of torture, "neutralize" instead of kill, "preemptive war" instead of illegal invasion, "terrorist" instead of freedom fighter, etc.
Disclaimer: See Chapter One.
"He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious."
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
The kid wakes up in an unfamiliar room. The walls are painted in various shades of blue with posters of superheroes and famous athletes on them. There are toys all around the room, various action figures strewn about, even a Playstation 4, and an XBox One, hooked up to a TV bigger than the two he had at home, combine.
Is this room for me? he thinks as he slips out of bed, and scrambles to the nearest window. He is on the second story. He could climb down but the windows is covered with wrought iron bars. It strikes him as odd because it's something he's seen on the tenement building in the city. Not on a country house.
He isn't near Granny's house. The trees look different here. Evergreens and Maple, not like the Apple and Oak trees he's familiar with.
Tears well in his eyes. Henry wants his mother. He hopes she's ok. He hopes that Emma's looking for him right now. He hopes she's still alive. But she wasn't wearing her special jacket. It meant that his mother could get hurt. And the time he saw her - it didn't look good. Emma had given him the jacket so he would be feel safe. And he still has it on. It smells like his mother, like premium tobacco and the cologne she likes. But the kid would much rather have Emma with him than her jacket.
She's not dead… he tells himself. His mother wouldn't leave him too. She promised him after his father's car accident that she'd never leave him. She swore that she'd be his mother for real this time.
"You and me against the world, kid," Emma had told him. "Partners in crime."
"Partners in crime, Mom," he whispers. "Please come and find me."
The sound of the bedroom door opening has him jumping out of his skin with a scared yelp. Henry grabs the nearest heavy object he can find; the nightstand lamp next to the best, and wedges himself in the corner of the room.
"Easy, Henry…" the man says when he enters the bedroom and sees the kid readying himself for a fight. "I'm not going to hurt you."
The man looks beat up. Busted lips, black eyes, and his arms are bandaged up. He knows who this man is. He's the guy that hurt Miss Regina when she came to his rescue. He's the man that shot his mother.
"Who are you?" Henry asks.
"I work for your grandda'," the man replies.
The kid frowns. "My grandpa is dead. My dad told me."
"Sorry to have to be the one to tell you this but your grandda' is alive. Your da' lied to you, boyo."
"My dad wouldn't do that," Henry shouts.
"Parents aren't perfect," the man says. "David lied about your grandda' just like he lied when he said Emma was your ma'. Your real ma'."
"She is my real mom."
"Mary was your mom."
The kid nods. "I know that. So is Emma. I can have two moms."
"Is that what she told you, boyo? That she's every bit your ma'?" the man asks.
"No, I tell her that," Henry replies. And it's true. Emma has never been able to commit to being his mother. She's always been too afraid to tell him that he's her kid. Emma tells other people to try it out and see how it fits. But she never told him as such, until she saw him that day in the hospital when they both lost David.
Before that, the kid would called Emma mom and she'd just make a joke and dismiss it. Then David died and she needed to step up. And so she did.
"You're just confused, Henry," the man says. "Emma was filling your head with lies. But don't you worry. I got some breakfast for you. And after you're done, I'll take you to see your grandda'."
"I'm not hungry." As soon as the kid speaks, his stomach growls.
"See, I think that you are, boyo," the man tells him, putting the tray on the desk in the room. "Eat up. It's good."
Henry eyes the man, cautiously. He doesn't want to eat but he has to. He's just so hungry. When the man backs away, the kid sits and pokes at his food. It's not pancakes like his mom makes. Or even French Toast. It is a plate of baked beans, sausage, bacon, eggs, and hash. There also this circular black disk that look like the corpse of a hockey puck. But he's not touching that at all.
It smells funny.
As he eats the man watches him, inching closer as Henry quietly eats. The kid tracks him in his peripheral. He still doesn't trust this man. He hurt Miss Regina. He hurt his. He is a bad man.
And the kid knows it.
"It's okay," Henry replies., taking a bite of eggs. "It's not pancakes. But the eggs are good."
The man kneels down near the desk. "What are you talking about?"
The kid responds by grabbing the lamp and hitting the bad man with it hard. As the man drops, Henry hits him again and again.
"YOU HURT MY MOM!" he shouts, throwing the lamp at the man's head while he was on the ground.
Henry runs out of the room, down the hall, jumping rather than running down the stairs. He has to get out of here. He has to get back to his mom. He doesn't know where Emma is, or even where he is. But he vows that he'll find his mother. Because she's his family. For better or for worse. And he wants nothing more than to get back to her. By any means necessary.
As soon as he reaches for the door he hears the man call for him. "Henry!" he yells. "Where are you little piece of shite?!"
Henry doesn't wait for him to find him and opens the door, rushing outside. The heat hits him in the face, the hot air making it hard to breath. But he keeps running. Toward a road. He has to find the road. Then he'll be able to find Emma. He just needs to get the road.
The kid hears cars far away and he runs toward the sound. He's almost there when he hears the man yell that he's run off. "THE KID IS GONE! FIND HIM!"
Henry knows that he can't let them catch him. If they get him, they'll bring him back. He doesn't want that. He just needs to leave. The cars are getting louder. He knows he's getting close.
Almost there… he thinks, rushing toward the road. Almost there…
Truth be told, Henry doesn't know what he's going to do once he gets to the road. Maybe flag down a car? Ask to use their cell phone? He knows Emma's emergency number by heart. She made him memorize it just in case he ever got separated. Her regular phone in the jacket. But he knows Emma has another cell just for him. So he can start there.
If he can reach the road.
He just needs reach the road.
Strong hands grab his shoulders and lift him off the ground. Henry kicks, and scratches trying to break free. But the grip on him is too tight and he's so little.
"Get off of me!" the kid screams. "Let me go!"
"Easy, there boyo…" the man whispers. "I got you."
"Lemme go!"
"Hans!" Someone else calls to the man. "Put the boy down."
The man does as he has been told. Henry hits the ground and tries to punch Hans. Not one hit lands and he stops when he hears laughter. The kid turns and sees a very severe looking man with white hair cropped close to his head. He's wearing a dark blue three piece suit, with a light blue silk tie. The older man is studying Henry, his expression pensive. Then he smiles.
"Don't see so much of your da' in you, boyo," the older man says.
"Who are you?" Henry asks.
"I'm your grandda'," he replies. "Name's Albert Nolan. David was my son."
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