Chapter Eighteen: On Our Way Out

Hank went on for hours until he finally managed to snap off the zip ties. His arms dangled down to his sides. They vibrated and stung and felt like pins and fucking needles. It felt strange to lift them as he went to rip off the leftovers from the zip tie, the plastic hitting the floor. He groaned and rubbed at his wrists, doing his best to get blood flowing properly again.

Connor had fallen asleep again. Thankfully no one had come in to check on them, not even Luther. Hank wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He supposed he would find out soon enough.

He made his way over to Connor and shook him lightly. "Wake up, kid."

Connor shook his head lightly before opening his eyes. His eyes widened. Hank reached over and untied his hands before taking the gag off. The kid started taking deep breaths and rubbing his wrists frantically.

"Breathe easy, kid," Hank said, ruffling his hair.

Connor tried to do so, taking slower breaths. Meanwhile, Hank also did his best to get the blood flowing properly, gently rubbing his wrists. Now would be a good time for Connor to do that strange tic of his and rub his hands.

After a couple minutes, Connor calmed down. Hank watched him closely. Connor pulled his knees to his chest and hid his face in them. Hank sighed.

"Connor, what's wrong?"

They didn't have much time at the moment for a deep heart-to-heart. Hank needed to execute his plan to get them out of there. He needed the boy's cooperation for that and he knew he had it, after they had their quick discussion before they were free. But right now, Connor seemed defeated before anything happened.

Hank squeezed Connor's shoulder, hoping that would get some kind of reaction. Connor sniffled and looked up. Tears were brimming in his eyes again. Said tears looked ready to spill any moment now.

"I am so sorry, Hank," Connor said, his voice trembling. "I'm so sorry- you've helped me so much but I hurt you, I'm so sorry, Hank!"

Hank stared at him for a long moment, watching Connor do his best to keep his tears in. The kid gripped at his head and bit his lip, trying to hold back sobs.

"Connor…"

At the moment, Hank knew that anything he said that would be reassuring would go on empty ears. Connor was drowning in too much guilt to realize Hank truly wasn't upset with him. Hank was an adult. He wouldn't blame or hate a kid for anything that happened in this kind of situation. Hank knew the kid had no choice.

Connor should've known that he didn't have a choice either. Maybe he did. Maybe the guilt was too overwhelming at the moment for him to understand. Hank hoped that would go away, or at least settle down, soon so that the boy wouldn't be hurting like this.

Hank pulled Connor into an embrace. He rubbed his back. He couldn't help himself from saying, "it's going to be okay, kid."

Connor pulled back and rubbed his eyes. He took a deep breath. Hank waited for him to settle down, keeping his hands on the kid's shoulders. Connor swallowed hard and looked up at him.

"Should we try your plan now?" he asked.

Hank nodded. Now was as good as time as any, especially because Connor had thoughts that Hank was really upset with him. Connor's acting would probably be pretty good. Hank on the other hand...Well. He could probably be convincing, yelling at him, as much as he hated that.

What he hated even more was that he had to wrap his hands around Connor's neck and shake him up a bit.

He was hesitant as he did so but Connor gave him a nod to let him know it was okay. Hank sighed deeply. He hated this part but he couldn't just yell and not look like he was about to beat the shit out of Connor or choke him to death.

"You fucking lied to me! I trusted you, you fuckin' piece of shit!"

Connor's eyes widened. "I-I'm sorry! I'M SORRY!"

Their voices were much, much louder compared to how they were just talking. Hank doubted Daniel would come in. He didn't care about Hank or Connor. Luther would come, though. There was no way he would let this happen.

"Bullshit! You knew what you were doing!"

"Hank, stop! PLEASE!"

Hank shook him and Connor gripped his wrists and tried to pull them away. Hank felt terrible, seeing the fear in Connor's eyes because he knew. He knew that the kid probably thought there was a chance his anger was real. Reassurances would come later.

"You deserve it! Own up to your mess, fucker!"

"PLEASE HANK!"

Hank hated this the more it went down.

"H..HELP! HELP!"

Finally it sounded like footsteps were coming in their direction. Hank shook Connor again.

"PLEASE HELP!"

The door flew open and thankfully it was indeed Luther who came in. His eyes were full of shock and confusion, though confusion seemed to be the more pressing emotion. He shook his head, getting out of his thoughts, and ran forward to Hank and Connor.

The second he reached towards Hank, he let go of Connor and grabbed Luther's arm. He shot up and forced Luther away, throwing him against the wall and holding him in a tight grip. Connor also shot up and slammed the door before turning and watching.

"Alright, motherfucker, it's time you answer my questions," Hank snapped, lowering his volume to neutral now, but there was still bite in it.

"How'd you manage-"

"I'm the one asking questions, asshole!" Hank shook him roughly.

Luther shut his mouth.

"Where are we? Are we in the room connected to the one where the ambush happened?"

Luther shook his head. "Not quite. It's further down but not by much."

"How much closer are we to Detroit?"

"We're still working on getting back," Luther said. "Another day or two, I think."

Hank scowled. He wasn't sure if that was the truth or not. At the moment, because of how much time he felt pass, he would take Luther's word for it.

"Why are you doing this? Don't give some bullshit excuse that you have no choice."

Connor laid a hand on Hank's shoulder. Hank didn't turn to face him. "He really doesn't, Hank-"

"Stay out of this, Connor."

"Let him explain, please," Connor insisted.

Hank sighed deeply again. He loosened his grip on Luther but only a little. "Explain."

"Remember my wife and daughter? Kara and Alice?" Luther's voice was dismal as he spoke. "The Stern Institute has them. Amanda handed them to Zlatko and since then…"

Hank stared into Luther's eyes in silence. He would be lying if he said he almost did forget Luther had a family. Or that he remembered but after what happened, he assumed Luther had been lying just to gain his trust.

Hank let go of him and looked to the floor now. It made sense now. Everything felt like it was slowly coming together. Hank should've been able to figure this out a while ago, even if his cop instincts weren't the best anymore. He should've realized.

He stepped back, almost bumping into Connor who quickly side-stepped. He looked up at Hank and Luther looked to the side. Hank was in a room with people who were forced to do things they didn't want to. Shit.

Hank didn't even have to question why Zlatko would take Kara and Alice. He knew the fucker's history. If Luther made a mistake, Zlatko could do what he wanted, and what he always wanted with victims was to do operations on them. Alice and Kara wouldn't stand a chance against him if this Amanda gave the order.

"Who exactly is Amanda? The head honcho?"

"Yes," Connor answered for Luther. "Her word is everything."

Hank nodded. He thought so but getting confirmation was always a good thing. He could give that information to Jeffrey. Unless Jeffrey already knew. Hank hated not knowing anything.

"I understand why you're working for the Sterns but...why the fuck did you let them beat Connor?"

Connor shook his head.

Luther looked up. "I didn't know. I had no idea they beat him."

"It's true, Hank," Connor said. "Luther wasn't around. It was just Daniel and Shaolin...Well, mostly Daniel. Shaolin held me down."

Hank nodded. He didn't want to hear that. It just made him angrier knowing that he didn't protect Connor despite the fact he promised to.

"Luther isn't a violent person," Connor said. "He'll only hurt someone if there's no choice."

"So you don't have my gun."

"No."

Hank ran a hand down his face. It wasn't Luther's fault. Sort of. No. Most of this was Hank's fault. If he locked his door, or at the very least put his gun box away, said gun would not have been stolen.

"Daniel still has it, last I checked," Luther said. "I'm sorry."

Hank waved lazily. "Whatever. I can't blame you."

He couldn't blame anyone but himself. Well, himself and the Sterns. They were the ones making this happen. Hank, Connor, Luther and lord know who else is part of the game. Chess pieces, Hank supposed.

"You two should get out while you can," Luther said, snapping Hank from his thoughts. "Get your coat- I know your phone is still in there."

Thank god.

"What are you going to do, Luther?" Connor asked, tilting his head.

"I'm not taking any chances. Doing this and sharing what I did is bad enough," he replied. "If Zlatko finds out I did any of this…"

Connor rubbed his hands together. "Okay…"

Luther leaned down in front of Connor. Hank side-stepped and watched the scene.

"I'm sorry, Connor. Really, I should've tried to help you with Daniel. If I knew the things he was planning on doing to you, I would've done something."

Connor frowned. He rubbed his cheek lightly where one of the bruises was. Hank wondered the kind of betrayal Connor felt after the beating, thinking that Luther probably let that happen on purpose.

"Zlatko wouldn't have cared if I stopped some of the things Daniel did to you, the things that weren't planned. He would've only cared if I stepped out of line and let on we were part of the Sterns."

Hank wanted to ask what things were planned and what things weren't. He knew the beating wasn't, but he wondered what else there was. A lot had happened to Connor, Hank felt. What was fake and what was planned? What did Connor expect would happen and what didn't he? So many questions.

Connor looked up at Hank, looking conflicted. Hank wasn't sure what to say, so he shrugged. It was up to Connor to decide whether he should forgive Luther or not. Hank thought that he would. He wondered if he did right now, now that he knew the truth.

Connor looked to Luther. "Alright," he said.

And that was it.

Luther nodded and stood. "Go on now, you two." He looked at Hank and smiled, almost weakly. "I know you can take care of him better than I can."

Hank said nothing, he only nodded.

He exited the room with Connor, carefully keeping a hand on his shoulder. If Connor dropped he would be able to catch him quickly. He knew there was a chance of that happening, considering the lack of food and water. Not to mention improper sleep. Not to mention he still had his injuries from his beating to worry about that.

The two of them were in a fairly narrow hallway. There was little to no light but there didn't appear to be anything for them to stumble over. The only real problem was that if someone came by, there wasn't anything to hide behind or enough room to fight properly, if it were to come to that.

As long as they were quiet, and there was no reason why they wouldn't be, it should be fine. Hank just hoped his coat would be in the upcoming room. Even if they were in the lower decks, there was still reception, he knew that. The thing he was really worried about was if the battery was out.

"This hallway doesn't really look familiar," Connor said, furrowing his brows.

"It's fine. It seems pretty straightforward," Hank said.

And it really was. The door was at the very end of the hall, it was in their sights. It was just the worry that anyone would come out of the door at any moment. They got a lucky streak so far. Hopefully it would stay that way.

Either way, the two of them were on their way out. It was time to get out of this ship.


Author's Note: Finished the final chapter the other night. Oof, it's an emotional one. Prepare yourselves (ya'll got a few weeks anyway).

That's all for now. I'll see ya'll in the next chapter.

Thanks for reading!

~Kurosaki