Fred waited for a few minutes after Ricky had left before he acted. He twisted his hands around a little to get a feel for the handcuffs. They weren't tight, but they also weren't quite loose enough for him to slip right out of. It was close, and Fred tried for a few minutes before he had to admit that it wasn't going to happen. At least, not yet. That was okay. Fred had an idea.
His head was heavy and he felt tired in a way that he always did when he got upset. Moving and talking felt impossible, but an idea was able to cut through the numbness, and just that one idea was enough of a push to get Fred to move.
Fred looked at his wrists. The handcuffs were wrapped around the leg of the bed. If Fred was bigger or stronger he could have just lifted the bed and slipped the chain out. His hands would still be trapped, but he'd be able to leave. Ricky's bed was too heavy for that though. Fred spent a few minutes trying, and the bed didn't lift at all.
Maybe if Fred had more time he would be able to find another way out, but he wanted to get out as soon as possible. He didn't want the bird to hurt him again, and he didn't want Ricky to come back and try to gain his trust again. Fred just wanted to get out and go home.
Fred struggled and twisted, trying to reach for his pockets. He usually had a bobby pin or safety pin or something, because they could be very useful. He couldn't reach them though. His hands were in too awkward of a position to reach his pockets. He tried for a long time before he had to admit defeat.
Fred just needed his wrists to be a little smaller or more slippery. Fred's gaze landed on the pizza that Ricky had left him. Pizza was greasy. Grease was slippery. Fred smiled and grabbed at the pizza slice. He pushed the handcuffs as far down his arm as they could go to get them out of the way. He took the pizza and rubbed it across his wrist, trying to get as much grease as he could.
It wasn't as much as Fred would like, but every little bit helped. Fred adjusted himself and grabbed the handcuff on his greased hand. He pulled and twisted and tried to shimmy his wrist out. It was close, so close, he just knew it. Fred bit his lip and continued pulling. His hand was starting to hurt where the metal of the cuff pushed harshly against it, but he couldn't stop. He needed just a little bit more.
Fred continued to pull as he tried to twist his hand in just the right way to let it slip through. This was going to work, he just knew it. It had to. If it didn't work, he would be stuck for who knew how long.
Fred pulled and pulled until he felt something shift with a pop. He felt an intense burning pain in his hand. Fred screamed and instinctively tried to pull his hand close to his chest to cradle it. While doing so he made the cuff nudge against his thumb, and it sent a searing pain through the digit. It felt like his thumb was on fire.
Fred screamed and cried as he curled up on the ground, half under the bed. His thumb hurt so bad. He cried for several minutes before he was able to bring himself to open his eyes. He was scared to see his hand and how bad it was, but he was also incredibly curious and it was too strong to resist.
Fred looked at his hand and felt like he was going to be sick. His thumb wasn't supposed to go that way. The knuckle of his thumb looked like it had been pushed inward and was trying to rest in his palm. It looked like something from the scary movies that Fred wasn't supposed to watch
His whole hand was red and scraped, but his thumb was so red that it almost looked like it was burned. In the back of his head Fred wondered if his hand would be able to slip through the handcuff now, but he was terrified of trying. His hand had hurt when he'd just brushed the cuff against it. He didn't want to feel that pain.
He forgot about trying to escape. He just laid on the ground and cried as he wished for the pain to stop. He didn't know how long he was there for when he heard the door open. Fred lifted his head just enough to see Ricky, and he didn't feel any of that betrayal or hurt from before. All Fred felt was relief.
"Help." Fred whimpered. "Hurts." At that moment it didn't matter to him that Ricky had kidnapped him and he probably shouldn't trust him. All Fred cared about was that Ricky was gentle, and he was an adult who would know what to do. He'd make everything better, because that was what grown-ups were supposed to do.
Ricky froze in the doorway for a long moment before he rushed to Fred's side. "Kid, what's wrong?"
Fred tearfully lifted his hand. Even that small motion made his hand hurt. He didn't dare try to move his thumb. Ricky frowned and carefully took Fred's hand in his own. He gently ran his fingers against the scrapes on Fred's hand. When he touched his thumb the boy screamed and tried to pull away. Ricky let go.
"Kid, what did you do?" Ricky sighed. Fred whined and curled up against Ricky. He wanted the man to make the pain stop. Ricky looked at his hand for a long moment before he cursed and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small key, and before Fred could figure out what he was doing he unlocked both of the cuffs and picked Fred up.
"Things have gone too far." Ricky muttered to himself. "Nobody was supposed to get hurt." Ricky carried Fred out of the room. He stopped for a bit at a crossroads in the hall. Ricky looked left and right, conflicted. Finally he closed his eyes in resignation and turned left.
"I know it hurts, but I need you to be really quiet for me." Ricky said. "Do you think you can do that?" Fred nodded and buried his face in Ricky's chest to muffle the sniffles that he couldn't keep in. "It'll all be over soon, I promise."
Fred wasn't watching where they were going, but they seemed to be walking for a while. Finally Ricky set him down on a hard surface and Fred saw that he was in what looked like a very fancy kitchen. It was so clean and bright in here. He didn't know if he liked it. Kitchens were supposed to have food, and yet there was nothing in sight. It was weird.
"I can't do much." Ricky said as he grabbed a bag and went to the freezer. He started putting ice in the bag. "Brad and Judy were the ones that learned how to fix dislocated bones."
"Dis-huh?" Fred didn't know that word. "Who?"
Ricky paused for a moment before he wrapped the bag inside of a small towel. "Dislocated. It means that your bones are in the wrong place." Oh. So that was why Fred's thumb looked so weird. "And Brad and Judy are old friends of mine."
Fred frowned. "Real friends?" Ricky had said that his dad was his friend, but it was clear that wasn't true. Fred didn't even think that Pericles was actually his friend.
Ricky grimaced ever so slightly. "That's complicated."
"Are they nice?" Fred asked. Ricky laughed a little bit, but he didn't look like he thought it was funny.
"They're nice to each other." Ricky said. He gave Fred a careful look. "Although, they might be nice to you."
"Why don't you have nice friends?" Fred asked. Ricky raised an eyebrow at him.
"So you're talking again." Ricky said. Fred didn't understand what he meant. He'd been talking this whole time. "And I do have a friend that is nice. She's way nicer than I deserve." Ricky reached into his pocket and brought out his phone. He stared at it for a long time. "You know, I've been meaning to call her, but I've been a little scared to do it. Do you want to help me?"
Fred frowned slightly. "If she's nice, why are you scared?"
"She is nice." Ricky insisted. "I'm the one that hasn't been very nice to her."
"Do you need to apologize?" Fred asked. He knew that he had a hard time saying sorry sometimes, not because he wasn't sorry, but because it took him so long to even know that he needed to say the words, and by the time he figured it out the person that he needed to apologize to seemed to have moved on, and Fred didn't want to upset them all over again by reminding them of what he had done.
"I probably have a lot of things I need to apologize for." Ricky said. He slowly opened his phone and started dialing the numbers, but he didn't make the call itself. He just stared at the phone.
"Do you want me to push the button?" Fred asked. He knew that pushing that last button was really hard to do sometimes. Ricky looked embarrassed as he handed Fred the phone. The boy pushed the call button while Ricky put the ice towel on his hand. The boy cringed, but it didn't hurt as much as he'd been scared it would. Ricky was very gentle.
The phone rang for a long time before it was finally answered. "Ricky Owens, you had better have a very good reason for calling me." A woman's voice said. Fred perked up when he heard the familiar voice.
"Angel?" Fred frowned. Ricky knew his babysitter?
"Fred?!" Angel sounded even more surprised than she had been when Fred had showed up at her house in the middle of the night because he'd been afraid to stay home by himself while his dad was doing research at some library. "What are you…I thought you were a friend of mine."
Ricky had been leaning close to Fred to listen, and he brightened at Angel's words. "And here I thought you had revoked my status as your friend."
Angel was quiet for a long moment. "Fred, what are you doing anywhere near Ricky Owens? He can't be trusted."
"I know." Fred said. His dad had already told him as much. "But he's nicer than the bird."
Angel made a funny sound, and when she finally spoke again her voice was stiff. She sounded a lot like Fred's dad did when he was trying really hard to not show that he was angry. "Fred, kid, I need you to give the phone to Ricky. I have some grown-up things to talk about."
Fred frowned. "Am I in trouble?" Angel frequently said that she had grown-up things to talk about when she needed to talk to his dad or teachers about his behavior. Nobody ever had good things to say about his behavior.
"No, you're not." Angel said, and she had never lied to him before. "I just need to talk to Ricky."
Fred thought that was fair. Ricky had been the one who had wanted to talk to her, after all. Fred handed the phone to Ricky, who held the phone close to his ear and walked a bit away so that Fred couldn't listen in. He strained to hear, but both Ricky and Angel were speaking in hushed tones. Fred huffed and adjusted the ice pack. He would just have to talk to Angel later, though he couldn't help but be curious. How did Ricky know everybody that Fred was close to in his life?
Ricky kept one eye on Fred and both ears on Cassidy as she scolded him. If it weren't for the fact that neither of them wanted Fred to overhear, she would probably be shouting.
"I have so much I want to talk to you about." Cassidy said sternly, and Ricky had the feeling that none of it was good. "But we'll start with the easy questions. First off, why is Fred with you, and more importantly, why does he know about the parrot?"
"Pericles broke out." Ricky said. "I stumbled upon Fred yesterday, and Pericles is trying to use this to get Jones to give us back our piece of the Planispheric Disk."
"Jones doesn't have the piece." Cassidy said dismissively. "The Freak took it."
"The Freak also took Brad and Judy's child, and we both know who has him now." Ricky said. "You've seen Fred. There's no way you don't know that he's Brad's son."
"The boy is far too sweet to deserve to be related to those two." Cassidy said. "And Jones is only slightly better than them."
Ricky blinked. "You think a kidnapper can actually care about the person they took?"
Cassidy scoffed, and Ricky could practically see the way she was probably rolling her eyes. "Oh, like you haven't found a soft spot for Fred yourself. He's why you're calling me, isn't it?"
Ricky hated it when Cassidy was right. At the same time, he had missed her so much that he even loved hearing this superior tone of hers.
"Yeah, he is." Ricky said. "This kid doesn't deserve this. It was just supposed to be a short thing, to convince his father to give us his piece. It was supposed to be a simple trade, but Pericles has already talked to Jones twice, and all he seems worried about is taunting the man. I think Jones is ready to give us the piece, but Pericles won't even give him the chance. He's making this a game, and the kid is just going to keep getting hurt if this goes on."
"Hurt?!" Cassidy sounded panicked. "I swear, if laid one finger on that boy-"
"It wasn't me." Ricky said quickly. He felt guilty, but he wasn't technically the one that had harmed the kid. "He tried to run away, and Pericles was just a little aggressive in stopping him. He just got a few scratches on his head. I already took care of it."
Ricky looked over his shoulder to see Fred. He'd set the kid on the kitchen counter. "What I'm more worried about is his hand. Pericles had me handcuff him,-" He ignored the offended and furious noise that Cassidy made. "I think the kid was trying to escape, but now his hand's all scraped up and his thumb is dislocated, if not broken."
"Ricky!" Cassidy sounded furious, which was as much as he had expected and the least that he deserved. "If you don't take that kid to a doctor-"
"I know, I know." Ricky said. "I was actually thinking of letting the kid go." He hadn't been completely sold on the idea, but when he said it outloud he found that he was actually ready to follow through with it. Fred had nothing to do with this treasure hunt of theirs. There wasn't even a real reason to fight over just a single piece of the disk. It would do them no good without the others. Ricky didn't see why they shouldn't focus on the other pieces before trying to get this one back.
Cassidy was quiet for a long time. "You're going to defy Pericles for the sake of a kid you barely know?" Her tone was quiet and full of a cross of disbelief and admiration. Ricky felt both annoyed and very pleased with himself. Cassidy had always had that effect on him.
"I'm not defying him." Ricky said. To defy somebody, they would have to be in a position of superiority. Ricky did what Pericles said, but that didn't mean that his oldest friend was in charge of him. They were equals. "I just disagree with his methods."
"M'hmm." Cassidy hummed in clear disbelief. "And when was the last time you ever disagreed with him?"
Ricky wanted to tell her of the many instances, but his mind was blank. There had to be something. Ricky refused to believe that he had always been such a doormat for his bird to walk all over. His silence must have been enough of an answer for Cassidy. She sighed.
"Where are you?" She asked. "I'm coming over."
"I'm not a child anymore." Ricky said indignantly. "I don't need you to clean up my messes and fight my fights for me."
"You may not be a child, but Fred is." Cassidy said. "He needs all the help he can get. Besides, you kidnapped a child. Forgive me for not trusting that you'll follow through with protecting him."
Ricky hated to admit it, but Cassidy was right. She always was.
"Fine, you can come." Ricky said. Cassidy would probably have an easier time sneaking in and out than he would have just getting out of his own company. Pericles always liked to keep a keep leash on Ricky. He had known that he wouldn't be able to get Fred out completely. He'd brought him out of the room, back into the main part of the buildings, and to the kitchens close to an exit. He had thought of just letting the kid walk out the doors and figure things out on his own, because what else could he do? Having Cassidy come was a much better alternative.
"Do you know where Destroido Corp. is?" Ricky asked.
He heard Cassidy scoff. "I doubt there's a single person in the city who doesn't know about that eyesore." Ricky should probably be offended, but he found himself chuckling at her teasing tone.
"I've missed you." Ricky found himself saying without really meaning to. It just came out.
Cassidy sighed. "I missed you too." Ricky was filled with all kinds of warmth. "Look, I'll be there as soon as I can. Keep Fred alive until I get there, and then we can talk."
Ricky nodded and glanced over towards Fred, only to freeze. The kid wasn't in sigh, but the door was wide open, even though he had been sure he had closed it.
"Darn it, Fred." Ricky cursed.
"What happened?" Cassidy asked.
"Just get over here." Ricky said. "I'll take care of it." He hung up rather unceremoniously and hurried out of the kitchen. He needed to find Fred before he got himself in trouble. He should have been keeping a closer eye on him. Of course Fred had tried to escape. Ricky would have done the same thing in his position. And it wasn't as though the kid knew what he was doing.
"Fred, you'd better be okay, or else Cassidy is going to kill me." Ricky said.
Fred hadn't planned on running, but the door was open, Ricky wasn't watching, and as long as he didn't move his hand at all the pain was low enough that he could at least think about other things.
Fred held his hand tight to his chest as he ran. He didn't know why Ricky had brought him out of the secret area of his business building, but Fred couldn't be more relieved. Business buildings had exit signs all over the place, pointing to where he could get out. It didn't matter that he didn't know where he was, he still knew where he was going.
Fred followed the signs and felt like he was going to start crying when he saw a fire exit. He didn't care that he had been told over and over again to not touch the fire exit except in the case of a real emergency. If this wasn't an emergency, Fred didn't know what was. He laughed as he pushed at the door, only for it to not budge. The door was locked.
"No!" Fred screamed. He kicked at the door, but it didn't do anything. Fred needed to find another exit. He shouted in frustration and turned around, only to run into a firm form. Fred's hand was pressed between his chance and the one he ran into, and it hurt. Fred screamed and stumbled back, dropping the ice. Gentle hands grabbed and steadied him, and when Fred tried to shy away they just tightened.
"Well, would you look at that?" A familiar woman's voice said. Fred looked up with tear filled eyes to see a woman that he didn't think he'd ever seen before kneeling in front of him. The woman put a hand on Fred's cheek, ignoring his flinch. She turned his head this way and that, as though she was studying him. "Our old friend was right, he really is the spitting image of you, Brad."
"That he is, Judy." The man standing behind Judy, the one that Fred had run into, bent to get a better look. Fred really didn't think that he knew who these two were, but they were staring at him like they knew him, and Fred didn't like that at all.
He tried to pull away from the woman, but she grabbed his hurt hand and gave it a small squeeze. It normally wouldn't hurt, but she squeezed Fred's thumb as well. He screamed again. His throat was really starting to hurt.
"Let go!" Fred hit and grasped her hand with his free one, but she didn't release him. She just frowned in displeasure in a way that reminded Fred of his mean teachers.
"Such disrespect." Judy said. She looked over her shoulder towards Chad. "Can you believe our boy has such ill manners?"
She was hurting him, and she was worried about his manners? She really was like Fred's teachers and bad babysitters.
"I'm not surprised, Judy." Brad said. "He was raised by the Freak, after all."
Fred stomped his feet and tried to pull away from Judy as he growled slightly. The pain wanted to make him curl up into a ball, but he was so tired of trying to hide when it didn't get him anywhere. Fred was scared, he was upset, and after hearing strangers talk bad about his dad, he was angry too.
"Shut up!" Fred screamed. "Shut up! My dad's not a freak. He's not! Stop talking like you know him when you don't." They couldn't really know his dad, or else they wouldn't say such a thing.
Brad came up to Fred and effortlessly picked him up. He ignored Fred's shouting and squirming, and Judy still didn't let go of his hand, making it even more awkward and uncomfortable.
"My boy, we know things about Jones that will make your blood boil." Chad said. He sounded like he couldn't decide whether to be angry or amused. Fred didn't know which one he would prefer. "I think it's time we had a family meeting."