Disclaimer: Mr Andersons, not mine, I'm just taking them out for a spin, again. Once again, slightly re-written but all reformatted. Enjoy, AM Feb 2010
A Brothers Bond - Strange Awakenings
By Angel Mouse
Unknown Location
The first thing that registered with John was that he couldn't move very much. The next thing his noticed was that his head was pounding and he had a horrible taste in his mouth. It took a few moments but then he recognised the horrible taste in his mouth, it was exactly like the aftertaste of the drugs that had been used on him over ten months ago. But that knowledge didn't really register quiet yet.
Groaning, he opened his eyes to encounter darkness. He blinked a few times, trying to get the fuzziness in his vision to clear up and it finally did after a while. And what he saw, combined with the eventual realisation of the knowledge he'd been drugged again, caused panic to well up within him. Pushing it back with a massive effort of will, made harder by the pounding of his head, John forced himself to focus and look around.
He was in some sort of stone cell, his arms hanging slightly above his head, chained to the wall. It was cold, dark, damp and he shivered involuntarily as he kept looking around. His eyes finally alighted on the slumped over form of his big brother.
"Scott!" John shifted his leg, trying to get Scott's attention as he kicked his brother. His brother groaned and began to move slowly. "Come on Scott, wake up." Scott groaned again and his head slowly began to rise up. John heaved a sigh of relief. "Come on Scott. You're not going to leave me alone here are you?"
"Never." The word was soft but it was in his brother's distinctive voice. John turned his around his head some more and looked at Scott.
"Come on Scott. Need more than one word from you here." Scott coughed slightly and turned his head towards the sound of John's voice. Blue eyes met blue eyes and John smiled in relief as he saw awareness flood back into Scott's eyes.
"John. Are you okay?" John gave him a wry smile.
"I've been better Scott." Scott winced slightly at the pain in his head and looked around and then sighed in resignation.
"We're up the creek aren't we John?" John couldn't help the small laugh, trying to make sense of the situation.
"Oh that we are." The two brothers shared a small smile and then Scott looked closely at his brother. There was something in John's eyes that he didn't like.
"John, are you okay?" Scott stared into his brother's eyes and John sighed, looking away after a moment. He was unable to meet Scott's eyes, to show his fear and panic to his brother.
"I will be. It's just, well, it brings back some memories you know. Memories I thought I had dealt with." John tried to make light of it as he looked back at Scott. "I must admit though, my accommodations last time were a tad nicer." Scott inwardly cheered for his brother. John wasn't one to let things get him down. But still, there was that shadow in John's eyes and Scott knew that his brother wouldn't be handling things as well as he normally would.
"I can imagine. So, what do you think is going to happen now?" John just looked at Scott, trying to shrug but unable to due to the chains.
"I don't know. We just wait I guess, for our host to show themselves." Scott sighed and tried to get himself comfortable.
"I have the feeling it's going to be a little while John." John shifted as well.
"Yeah, so do I Scott."
New York City
Captain Nigel Striker stood at the window to his office and stared at the New York skyline. His expression was troubled and for the last twenty four hours he had barely moved. His colleagues were becoming worried and finally, his boss came along and knocked on his door. Nigel called out for him to come in, his voice hollow and empty, and Inspector Rogers came over to his side.
"Nigel, is everything okay?" Nigel didn't answer him; he wasn't really concentrating on anything other than what he had done. Inspector Rogers reached out and put his hand on Nigel's shoulder. "Nigel. Nigel, I need your attention now." Nigel suddenly realised that someone was standing next to him and he shook himself.
"Oh sorry sir, I didn't see you there. I was thinking about something." Inspector Rogers nodded and just sighed softly.
"Look Nigel, I have some bad news." Nigel looked at him sharply, his expression concerned.
"What is it sir?" Inspector Rogers sighed and just spoke quietly.
"I've just gotten a call from the 28th Prescient. A young girl's body was found yesterday morning and she's just been identified as your sister, Alicia. I'm sorry Nigel." Nigel just looked at him in shock.
"Dead? How?" Inspector Rogers took a deep breath; he hated this part of the job sometimes. Especially when it involved one of his men.
"According to the preliminary autopsy, it was a drug overdose, but examination results also say it looks like it was deliberate. I'm sorry Nigel, she was murdered." Nigel stood there, stunned to his core. Grief, shock and guilt over whelmed him. He shook his head and murmured softly, as if to himself.
"They promised me they'd let her go. I did what they asked and they promised. Oh my god, I've betrayed those good men and she's still dead." Nigel shook his head, unable to believe his ears. Inspector Rogers was concerned.
"Betrayed two good men, Nigel, what are you talking about?" Nigel turned and grabbed his car keys.
"Penny! I've got to call Penny and tell her." Nigel raced out of the office and Rogers took off after him, following him to the car park. Calling after him all the way but not getting any answers.
"Nigel, what's going on?" But Striker ignored him and got into his car. Moments later as he turned the ignition, the car exploded in a fiery ball.
Unknown Location
Scott and John had managed to move closer to one another, providing comfort to each other in their rather dire situation. Just then there was noise from the door and the large wooden door opened. Three men holding machine guns and wearing masks walked in.
They were followed by two more men. One was wearing a red mask, the other a blue one. The one in the blue turned to the one in the red. His voice was hard, commanding, obviously the one in charge by the way he spoke and his actions.
"Untie them and have them brought to better quarters. Make sure they eat, are cleaned up and then brought to me."
"Yes sir." The one in the blue left and the one in the red looked at the two men before him. Two pairs of defiant blue eyes looked back at him and for a moment, a shiver ran up his spine as he suddenly had the feeling that this was an enormous mistake. He dismissed it how ever and reaching over, he unlocked the chains and gestured for the two brothers to stand and follow him.
"Come with me."
Scott helped John to his feet and they both stood for a moment, supporting each other as they were both extremely unsteady on their feet. They then followed the red masked man out of the room, the guards falling into step behind them but just out of reach. John and Scott fell into step as they walked along dark, dank corridors. John glanced at Scott, a tiny smile on his face as they walked.
"Is it just me or did we see this place on an episode of the worlds worst dungeons?" Scott grinned at his brother. John's resilience never ceased to amaze him. For the moment he played along, anything to keep their spirits up and their minds off their predicament.
"Yes, I think we did. Also, is it just me or do we keep attracting this sort of bad attention lately." John shrugged in reply.
"Yeah, we have been getting a bit of it lately, think it's because we're the good guys?"
"Probably is. Perhaps we need to start thinking about another line of work?" John's eyes twinkled with mirth as he answered Scott.
"That might not be a bad idea." The two brothers laughed softly and kept walking. The man in the red mask glanced over his shoulder once at them and then shaking his head, kept walking.
They were led to a room with two beds and only one door. It was a large, iron door and only had a handle on the outside. John glanced at Scott, raising an eyebrow as if to say oh well. There was one option gone. The room had no windows or anything except the two beds. They were directed to go inside and they did, glancing around. The man in the red mask pointed to a door.
"The bathroom is through there. Towels are provided for you if you want to shower or anything. My master will call for you presently." He left and the door closed with a clang and they could clearly hear the lock slide into place. Scott went into the bathroom and looked around. No windows, doors or anything they could use.
He sighed and went back into the room to see John sitting on one of the beds, looking a bit tired, frazzled and more than a bit nervous. Scott went and sat next to him, putting his arm around his younger brother.
"It'll be okay John. I'm here this time. You know I won't let any harm come to you." John leaned against Scott, drawing comfort and strength from his brother.
"I know Scott, I know. It's just… it's just too soon, you know."
"I know John." They sat in silence for a little while and Scott knew that he had to say what was on his mind. He knew that John would understand, and would do as he said. "You know, no matter what, what ever it is they want from us, we can't give it to them." John nodded.
"I know Scott." Scott looked at John, his eyes firm and unyielding and John's reflected the same back to him.
"No matter what they do to either of us John, we have to promise each other we'll be strong and we won't say anything."
"I promise Scott. But we'll get out of this, together. We've been in tough spots before." Scott laughed softly, pulling John close into a one armed hug.
"That we have. But we're here, together and that's all that matters."
New York City
Inspector Ian Rogers sat at Nigel Strikers desk and wondered what the hell was going on. Sighing, he began to open desk drawers and then finally found Nigel's address book. He opened it and began looking through it. The last words Nigel had said was that he had to tell Penny. And that he had betrayed two good men. What was that about?
The fire department had said that there had been a bomb placed in Nigel's car and wired to the ignition. The oldest trick in the book and the automatic bomb detectors in every police station hadn't picked it up.
That was the worrying part.
But what was more worrying was that first Nigel's sister turns up murdered, then Nigel says he was promised she'd be let go and that he'd betrayed two good men. Ian leaned back and thought that bit over.
After a few seconds it didn't take a genius to figure out that Nigel was obviously being blackmailed into doing something against his will. And two men had been betrayed. But who was Penny? Perhaps she knew who these two poor men were and what was going on.
Ian picked up the address book again and frantically began paging through it. Finally he found an entry marked Penny and an international phone number. Picking the phone up he then began dialling. Time to find out just what the hell was going on.
Tbc… In out next chapter the boys are discovered to be missing and things start to go badly for the two brothers.