A/N; Remember to submit your questions! I'm accepting anything and everything! 300 hundred questions from one person! Deep questions! Asking what Rena's favourite colour is! What Fred's deepest, darkest fear is! Whatever! I'm gonna make the deadline the 5th January 2021 - so you have a week from now! Go wild! Please!
Also I hope you like these odd little dynamics. I've tried to shake things up a bit - Fred and Rena, Gogo and Hiro, etc. I've really enjoyed writing it even if Gogo and Fred are a little out of character. Anyway, I hope you liked it nevertheless :))))
'Fred! Can you try and be a little quieter... Please?!'
Fred stopped humming and rolled his eyes, 'fine! If you don't want this to be our superhero adventure then I'll stop!'
'Fred, these people want us dead-'
'All the more reason to keep our spirits up!'
'What?!'
Rena rolled her eyes and looked round the corner. 'We're clear.'
Rena was exhausted. The adrenaline was wearing off and her entire body was aching. Her nose was still trickling blood and her eyes were itching for sleep. She knew that if they ran into anyone else, they certainly wouldn't win. Which is why she was so keen to keep a low profile. Rena was hoping that her and Fred could sneak out of the building without encountering anyone else. However, this was proving to be a difficult task. For one thing, the building was like a maze. There were so many corridors and so many possible turns. More than once, they'd walked into a corridor that they'd only just left. The whole place was stinking as well, the walls were slick with dirt and slightly damp. Secondly, Fred kept singing. Truthfully, she didn't mind it. But she was also very afraid of getting caught, and his singing was doing no favours in helping them to stay hidden.
She waved him forwards and crept down the empty corridor. Rena reached the end of the corridor before Fred and craned her neck around the corner. Her ears pricked up at the sound of voices and she threw her arm out. Fred, seemingly not paying any attention, crashed into her and began to swore very loudly. Suddenly, the voices stopped and Rena could hear footsteps in their place.
'Shit!' She whispered, 'that's my fault. Fred! They're coming!'
Fred's eyes widened in alarm and he backed up rapidly, almost tripping over his own feet. Rena grabbed his non injured arm and quickly looked back down the corridor. 'There's a door! Quick!'
They ran as quickly as they dared, the footsteps getting closer. A man yelled 'WHO'S THERE? WE KNOW SOMEONE IS THERE!' in a loud voice. Rena clamped her hand over her mouth to prevent a scream.
Fred reached the door first, throwing himself against the side. 'It's locked!'
Rena wanted to cry. 'I'd kick it down but then they'd know where we went!'
Fred studied the lock. 'Do you have a hairpin?'
The footsteps were getting closer. The man would be on them within seconds. Rena's heart was racing.
'I don't... Possibly?' Rena fished around in her birds nest of hair for a second before she produced a wiry pin out of nowhere. She handed it to Fred.
He jammed it into the door, his tongue stuck out in concentration. 'I've nearly got it.' He hissed.
'Well... Hurry!'
Fred yanked the pin and the door swung open. He leapt forward, grabbing Rena and pulling her inside with him. The door swung shut behind them, leaving them alone in darkness. The room was tiny, and they were pressed against one another. Rena could feel his breath on the side of her neck.
The man who heard them stumbled past the door. 'OI! I KNOW THERE WAS SOMEONE HERE!' He screamed as he charged down the corridor, thankfully missing the door. Rena almost laughed. Not one of these guards had two braincells to rub together.
'That was close.' Fred muttered.
'Yeah. Way too close. Have you always been able to pick locks?'
Fred laughed softly. 'Yeah. Ever since I was 13. Thought it would look cool. It definitely wasn't.'
'Well, it might have just saved our lives. It's extremely cool.'
'...Do you think we're gonna die?' For the first time, Fred sounded truly afraid.
Rena sighed. 'I don't... I don't know. Hopefully not, but there's always that chance, I guess.'
'You almost died alone in that room.'
Rena blinked, 'I mean... Probably. How do you even know that?'
'I could just... Tell.'
'Ah. Okay.' Rena cleared her throat awkwardly, 'we're in deep shit now. If that guy is going around screaming about intruders. They're gonna be looking for us.'
'Ah. Shit.'
'Yeah. We'd best get moving... and quick.'
'Okay.'
Fred twisted to the side and grabbed a hold of the handle, pushing it open with some difficulty. They spilled out into the corridor, blinking in the light. Fred grabbed Rena's hand and pulled her in the opposite direction in which they'd just run.
'Where are we going?!' Rena hissed as they ran.
'I'm just trying to get us far away; I don't know!' Fred replied, 'you're the smart one! Think of something!'
'Fred, we can't keep running forever! I'm literally gonna pass out-'
'Then think of something!'
Rena stopped, almost crashing into Fred's back. Her chest was heaving as she gulped in air. Her head was spinning. Her arm was aching dully. Her ribs were on fire. She closed her eyes and drew a shape in the air with her finger. Muttering something under her breath, she traced a path through the air. They were next to the river. Going by the dampness of the walls, the river was on the East side. This was an old building, going by the rotting walls and lamps as opposed to modern ceiling fixtures. What did old buildings have? A staircase down to the river. They needed to head East.
'Rena... What are you-'
She gasped, her eyes snapping open. 'East!' She breathed, grabbing his hand. She drew an imaginary clock in the air, the way her Father had taught her. Draw the clock, with the hour hand pointing to the time to create the North South line. She pointed towards the East. 'That way!'
'What... Why?!'
'Fred!' She gasped, 'this is an old building. Yeah?'
'I mean... yeah? I think so?'
'And what do old buildings by the river always have?'
'Rena, I don't fucking know! How did you know it's by the river?'
'The walls are damp.'
'Okay but how does that-'
'There's a stretch of old warehouses in an abandoned retail park by the river. Balance of probability, that's where we are.'
'Surely that's a coincidence-'
'There's no such thing as coincidences! The universe is rarely so lazy!' She turned to Fred and grinned, 'now I ask you - what's on the side of the building?'
Fred's eyes lit up. 'OH! The staircase!'
'THE STAIRCASE!' Rena said, whooping. The adrenaline was returning and the pain was beginning to numb, making it slightly easier to run. 'They used it centuries ago when they needed to do the washing! Of course, they were more often used in houses. But you'd be very unlucky if there wasn't one here.' She ran a hand along the wall, and, just as expected, it came away damp.
Voices were behind them. It seemed the lunatic from before had announced there were intruders. Rena could hear people running, and the sounds of arguing.
'Rena-' Fred gasped, holding his side, 'we need to slow down!'
Rena nodded, despite her fear of the people behind her. Her ribs were aching horribly. If it weren't for Fred running next to her, she may have been tempted to curl up on the ground and sleep. 'Just keep heading East.' She muttered, more to herself than to the boy next to her.
After about ten minutes, Rena came to a stop outside a huge metal door. Fred's arm was draped around her shoulder. At some point, he'd tripped and managed to twist his ankle. They must have looked a right sight. A teenage girl dragging her injured friend along a filthy corridor, tears streaming down both of their faces. Rena could scarcely move to open the door. 'This is it, Freddie.'
'Finally.' Fred gasped, his face white.
Rena stretched her hand out, her fingers just grazing the door-
'Not so fast.'
Rena gasped loudly, her grip on Fred slipping. He crashed to the floor, swearing loudly as he landed on his ankle. She whirled around, unsurprised to see Jason Fournier stood opposite her.
Damnit. They were so, so close.
Rena glared at him, wordlessly moving to help her friend. 'Fred-'
'Move again and I'll kill him.'
Rena froze, her hand in the air. 'Kill... Who? Fred?' He had no weapon. Surely he wasn't about to kill this teenager with his bare hands? This guy was a psychopath... but he still had class.
Fournier laughed. 'No, my dear. I will kill him.' His hand gestured to the left of him, where someone stepped out of the shadows.
Caine. His arm was around Tadashi's neck, his other hand pressing a gun to the side of her brother's head.
'One wrong move, and your darling brother dies.'
Rena's words had failed her. She stood there, hands in the air. Staring at her brother. He wasn't crying. He wasn't pleading. He didn't even look afraid. Instead, he stared straight ahead as though he was bored by the whole proceedings. Did he even see her? Was he even there?
And Caine. The boy who was so sweet, so kind. So interested in her, so keen to know more about her. He was her friend. And what was all that for? So he could use it all against her? He had tried to kiss her! Was she an idiot for thinking this was an indication that he liked her? She liked him - loved him, in fact. Platonically, of course. But what did that matter? She loved Caine. And now he was looking at her, with a gun to her brother's head. She'd hoped when she'd seen him in that room that it was just another hallucination. A fabricated image of her exhausted mind. But no. She'd held onto that glimmer of hope like a lifeline. But it was true. He'd betrayed her.
His hands were shaking. Why?
'Oh dear. What an unfortunate turn of events. One click of the fingers, that's all it takes. Bang. Dead.'
Why didn't Tadashi look afraid? Why was he looking at the wall behind her head as though she wasn't there? Did he even care about her anymore? Why did EVERYONE have to let her down? Why had Caine pretended to be her friend? Why had Hiro gone botfighting in the first place? What the hell had he even done? Why did he try to kill himself? Why did they NEVER talk about it? Why was she thinking about this now? She was going to die. She knew that. What was Aunt Cass going to do when she was found dead? When Tadashi was found dead? How was Hiro going to cope? Was he going to die too? What about the rest of her friends? Why had Clara moved away? Why didn't she text her back? Was Rena going to die without ever having lived? Was she going to see her parents?
She took a deep breath, wanting to scream. 'Please don't do that.' She said quietly, her voice shaking with supressed rage.
Jason clicked his fingers and Rena jumped backwards, almost landing on Fred. However, instead of her friend shooting her brother, two burly men stepped forwards. How many men was he hiding around the corner?
'Boys. Take him up to greet the others.'
'Others?' Rena yelped, her mind racing. Christ - who else had he captured?!
The two men stepped forwards, cracking their fists menacingly. One of them stepped towards her and brushed her aside so easily it was as though she was made of paper. She smacked into the stone wall, wincing.
They yanked Fred up by his arms. Rena cringed as he let out a cry of pain, his arm being twisted out of his sling. 'Fred! Don't hurt him!'
'Don't worry about me Rena! I'll be fine!' Fred gasped, 'I'll be fine!'
They dragged him out of earshot, his cries of pain and anger still echoing in the corridors. Rena straightened out and faced Fournier, her fists clenched and eyes blazing with fury. 'How dare you?' She said, her voice low.
Jason grinned. He pointed at her. 'You and me... We're going on a walk. Now.'
He turned on his heel and strode down the corridor. Caine trotted after him, the gun still being firmly pressed to Tadashi's skull. After a moment of internal conflict, Rena reluctantly began to walk after them.
