Chapter 18 - When All Plans go to Hell

"... thanks. I'll have the team go over the footage," Gray said over the phone. "Are you sure it's the Phillips twins?"

Frank could hear the spy's scepticism over the line. It was justified because Frank hadn't really given him anything other than a vague account of their disgust towards Carl Winters and their possible presence at the cafeteria when Brandon stabbed himself. It wasn't enough by any means to pin anything on the girls, especially considering that he never divulged the girls' abilities to Gray.

"Yeah, it seems like it," he replied quietly.

Constance was making another call from the opposite side of the deserted corridor, while Temperance stood quietly next to her. Joe kept an eye on the staircase that led to the rooftop from the left wing, making sure that no other students went up there from this side. They had all left the dormitory soon after the text and now they were in the main building; Constance was talking to someone from the Council about the violations of laws done by the Phillips girls while Frank filled in the Network agent. Judging by the excited hand waving and frantic nodding, Frank figured Constance was having much better luck than him.

"I don't think we can prove any of it using conventional methods, which is why you need to contact that number I just gave you, according to Constance and Temperance, they–"

"Frank, this is a Homeland Security number," Gray interrupted, sounding confused and surprised. "My system informs me that this is a restricted number of a classified branch. I need to contact my director before calling this number," then his voice went sharp with suspicion. "How the hell did you get this?"

Joe mimicked going inside the library to look around. Frank nodded and turned his attention back to his call when Gray called out his name in exasperation. "As I said, there are things that are not mentioned in their files, Gray," he said patiently. "This branch is the only one that can handle these girls safely. They are dangerous."

"Dangerous how?" the spy demanded.

"Even if I did tell you, you wouldn't believe me," Frank sighed. "Listen, we're going up the rooftop to meet some of them. I want you to inform the dean and evacuate the entire main building after we get there, then block off the stairs, elevators and all entrances and access to the building, can you do that?"

"No, Frank I can't," Gray snapped. "If I do, that would mean I'm cutting off you, your brother and the girls I'm paid to provide security for, from support. I can't let you go there by yourselves if the other two girls are that dangerous–"

"You have to," Frank insisted, cutting the spy off mid-sentence. "Otherwise you'll be sending men with guns who will just turn on themselves and start shooting each other, just because the girls asked them to. That's how dangerous they are."

Arthur Gray was completely silent for a few long seconds before he spoke again. "What?"

Frank sighed. "Gray, just call that number. They'll brief you and send a team who can actually deal with them. Constance is calling them already from this end."

"We are going to have words about operational protocols after this," Gray declared through gritted teeth. Frank rolled his eyes. Yeah, right, because we work for you, he thought sarcastically. "What the hell have you gotten yourselves tangled in?"

Isn't that the question of the week? Frank sighed. "Nothing you've dealt with before, I'm sure," he said softly, getting ready to end the call. "Gotta go now."

There was another urgent voice in the background on Gray's side, saying something unintelligible. "Frank, wait," Gray said before presumably turning to the person who was trying to get his attention. "What's that? Try them again," Frank heard him say faintly before the spy returned to the call. "Listen. I've just been informed that there's been an incident with my team on the left wing in the main building. We've lost contact with two of my agents. Might be nothing, might be something, so keep an eye out. I'm sending back a backup team there in five–"

As the spy kept talking, the door to the library opened. The twins gasped to his left and Frank felt a cold knot of dread form in the pit of his stomach at what was revealed by the open door.

Joe stood there with his hands up in the universal sign of surrender. His face had gone pale and his bright blue eyes were fixed on Frank. Carl Winters, wearing Melvin's body and a satisfied smile, stood about two feet behind him, slightly to his left, aiming a handgun at the back of his brother's head.

"Frank, are you there?"

The gun moved a fraction closer to his brother and Carl shook his head, wordlessly ordering him to cut the call.

"Nevermind Gray," Frank said, lowering the phone. "Things just went to hell."

"Throw it away, kid," Carl gestured at the phone and Frank did as he was told, sending the phone skittering away on the tiled floor, away from all of them.

"Hands up where I can see them."

Frank complied, nodding at the Saunders twins to do the same. They were both scared, he could tell by the wide eyes, rigid postures and the slight tremble in their hands as they all mirrored Joe's pose. A door somewhere banged closed, startling him, and Constance cried out in surprise at the same moment Temperance twitched next to her.

"Don't worry, it's just a precaution," Carl said conversationally, his gun never wavering from Joe. "We don't want any one party crashing our reunion now, do we?"

There was something about Carl Winters, Frank realised as he kept his gaze on the body snatcher. The very air seemed to ripple and blur around him as he stood there, and Frank was sure that it had something to do with the sudden chill that rose in the isolated corridor around them, engulfing them all in freezing cold in mere seconds.

"He's doing magic!" Constance whispered, bewildered, confirming Frank's suspicion.

Another door closed with a loud bang, followed by the piercing wail of the fire alarm going off everywhere in the building.

Ah, well, that at least takes care of the evacuation, Frank thought to himself. Nobody came running out of the library or the restroom at the end of the corridor. Which meant Carl had managed to chase everyone out before they got there. It also seemed that he was informed enough to find a gun to keep them under control rather than depending on whatever abilities he had acquired in his controversial state of being at the moment. Frank wondered where and how the wayward spirit had gained enough knowledge to keep a safe distance from his brother or how he learned to do magic in such a short time period since his death.

"Now, you, Frank, right?" Carl nodded at him. "You start walking towards the restroom, nice and slow." The restroom in question was just at the end of the corridor, right next to the library, only about twenty feet away from where Frank stood on the opposite side.

"Carl–"

Whatever Joe was about to say was cut off by the click of the safety of the gun going off. Frank gritted his teeth and glared. Carl was not acting anywhere near as unhinged as a maniac. He was patient, observant and in control, which was extremely disturbing to witness after all they knew about what he was.

"Start walking before I start shooting." His clipped tone left no room for argument.

Frank did as he was told. He started to walk towards the end of the corridor in slow, measured steps, all the while keeping his eyes on the spirit and Joe. Constance and Temperance moved to follow but were brought to a halt by Carls' swift orders. "Girls, you stay put. This is between me and these two pesky hunters. We don't need them both for what lies ahead of us."

Frank didn't like where this was going. The grimace on Joe's face told him that his brother was thinking the same thing. So I've drawn the short straw to stay behind and miss out on all the fun! He mentally groused, knowing that Carl was planning to leave him behind when he took the others to do whatever he had concocted. Or maybe he is planning to end me right here, the thought rose unbidden, sending another shiver that had nothing to do with the unnatural chill in the air, down his spine.

Carl followed with Joe in front of him. "Open the door and step right in," he said when Frank made it to the restrooms.

Frank did as he was told and turned back around, putting the rows of stalls and sinks behind him to face their captor. The gun moved, its barrel becoming visible in the space between Joe's raised left hand and his head. Joe realised what Carl was planning to do at the same time Frank did.

"Carl, no," Joe said urgently, his eyes wide in fear. "You know a lot already. I'm sure whoever you met while you were floating around told you that killing a living soul is the big no-no. The only reason you're still here is probably because Melvin was already dying when you stole his body–"

"Shut up." Carl bared his teeth and snarled.

"Frank is very much alive and you can't come back from that act, Carl. You'll cease to exist and the balance between two worlds will be disrupted–"

Melvin's eyes narrowed in anger as Carl's spirit visibly debated whether or not to listen to Joe. Frank had no clue what Joe was talking about, but apparently, Carl did, even though he was clearly not happy about it. He saw the moment the spirit came to a decision when the corner of his lips turned up into a cruel smile.

Frank wasn't sure what happened next because it happened too fast for him to track. The air around Carl blurred again when he took a step to his right, his gun firmly moving to cover them both. The next moment, Joe went sailing in the air as if he had just been grabbed by his collar and thrown away by a giant invisible hand. Frank's instinctive move forward was halted by the gun that moved to the centre of his forehead.

"He should really have kept his trap shut," Carl said conversationally at the same moment Frank saw Joe hitting the corridor thirty feet away in a loud, bone-crunching thud. Frank's entire concentration tunnelled to one point where Joe's unmoving body was flanked by the two Saunders twins on their knees next to him, who looked just as shocked and scared at what they just witnessed. As completely focused as he was on his brother, Frank didn't even see the gun that moved at lightning speed towards his forehead. He had no time to brace himself against the explosion of agony between his eyes as his vision whited out. He was unconscious before his body crumpled to the cold, tiled floor.

-oOo-

He was hurt.

Nope. Scratch that. He was in agony. An elephant had stomped on his entire right side, his befuddled mind supplied because all his limbs, bones and muscles on that side felt as if they had been crushed. He had definitely woken up too early, he thought tiredly. The darkness surrounding him was comforting and if he could go under a little deeper, for a few more hours of sleep, he might just wake up to a manageable level of pain.

Hopefully, the wild animal who had taken a heavy dislike to him wouldn't end him while he slept off the pain.

A soft sniffing voice was suggesting a different plan, however. "Oh God, Joe," the very familiar voice begged. "Wake up, please…Please!"

Another wobbly voice joined the first. That one also sounded familiar. "Constance, is he–"

"Yeah," he felt a trembling finger on his neck - presumably Constance's - fumbling to find a vein. "His pulse is strong,"

"I think his wrist is broken." the other voice, Temperance, he was more or less sure, made a hiccuping sound.

Is it? Really?

He tried to move the limb in question. God-flipping-damn it! It was. The rest of the complaints from his body were positively minor compared to the agony that flared at the minuscule movement of his wrist. The pain cleared his mind enough to figure out a few more things. He was on the floor, on his right side, hence all the hurting.

How did I end up here?

The memory crashed into him then with the unforgiving intensity of a freight train. There was no elephant. He was not in a wildlife sanctuary... He was at Lincoln College, on his way to confront a body-snatching spirit when the asshole confronted him first.

Frank!

All his aches and pains were forgotten when he recalled that his brother was alone with the gun-toting spirit. He opened his eyes and blinked to clear the blurry vision. He was greeted by the twin reddened, teary-eyed faces of Temperance and Constance, staring down at him worriedly.

"Frank?" he winced at the hoarseness of his voice.

"Carl pistol-whipped him and left him inside the restroom," Temperance said softly. "He didn't shoot–"

Immense relief at hearing that had him closing his eyes again. An old gut instinct told him that he was alive because Frank wasn't dead - his life was bound to his brother's, but not the other way around. He didn't exactly know the whys or the hows of that bizarre theory. Or maybe he did. Maybe he didn't want to closely examine that memory just yet. All he knew was that it was the consequence of his actions all those years ago, and he was happy to leave it at that for the moment.

"Enough laying about and napping, kid," Carl's voice snapped him back from his thoughts and made him open his eyes again. This time Melvin's face and the barrel of the gun stared down at him. "We've got work to do. Appointments to keep. Up you get."

Okay. He hadn't really given any thought about getting up yet. It was going to be a time-consuming endeavour of pain and endurance. But Carl didn't seem to be in the mood to indulge him.

"Get him up," he growled at the girls.

They were at least mindful enough to haul Joe up from his intact left side. He was not impressed with the amount of groaning and whimpering that was required for the process. He felt lightheaded and listed to the side alarmingly before Constance caught him by the shoulder to keep him upright. He concentrated on breathing for a few seconds, pushing the agony away as best as he could. He felt like a giant bruise with a broken wrist. But he was on his feet and he was fairly sure that he was mobile - if mobile meant diverting his entire mind and strength into putting one foot after the other while leaning heavily against Constance.

"Let's head up where the party awaits, people!" Carl herded them up the stairs - Temperance in lead with Joe and Constance next while he brought up the rear at a safe distance. Once they reached the end of the stairs, Temperance pushed the emergency door outwards, finally revealing what was waiting for them in the hangout.