Maybe Then Someday
by
Numb3rsfan
Chapter Six: Find You're Here
Charlie felt his heart racing; racing...so beyond his control. His skin was crawling, itching, making it very uncomfortable to continue laying on the gurney; the gurney where he had spent the better part of a day.
The music continued to play through the speakers. It was non stop music; had been for hours and hours. Most of it was soft, relaxing but on occasion the music changed to rock, pop and oldies.
The current track being one that Charlie recognized; The Neverending Story, yes that was the title.
Charlie could feel Don getting closer and closer; the brotherly connection being something he wholly relied on. It was one of the things that kept him calm; sane and gave him renewed hope. He closed his eyes, feeling another tremor run through his body, this tremor thankfully being rather mild.
The one thing Charlie wanted; in fact longed to feel right now was his brother's strong arms wrapped around him, holding him. Some might find it weird but not Charlie, no Charlie found it comforting and after the day he had it would be even more so at this point!
"FREEZE!"
Hmm...that sounded like Don. Charlie still had his eyes closed; a smile coming to his face when he heard Don's voice. It didn't occur to Charlie that he wasn't daydreaming; that Don was really just a few steps outside the double doors.
"Don..." Charlie whispered.
"DON'T MOVE!"
…
A laugh...then...
Charlie opened his eyes and looked towards the set of double doors, seeing what looked to be a shadow.
"DON!" he yelled, gathering strength he didn't even know he had. Wanting nothing more than to be able to stand up, Charlie strained against his restraints once more, expecting them to be just as tight, just as secure as always but the second be strained against them they failed, pulling off of the gurney like tissue paper. Confused, Charlie looked at the restraints; they had been ripped away, but how was that possible...unless...
The attributes! Had he developed some kind of super strength? Biting his lip, Charlie sat up, taking it easy at first because he didn't want to get dizzy; didn't want to collapse back down on the gurney. Take a deep breath, in and out, in and out. After a moment, Charlie gripped the IV lines in his hand, gave a soft yank and a hiss. The IV, needle and all came out of his hand, swinging back to clank against the pole that held the now empty IV bags.
Rubbing hand Charlie jumped off the gurney, landing on his feet just as the set of double doors opened to reveal his brother.
"DON!" Charlie proclaimed, running over to his brother.
NUMB3RSNUMB3RSNUMB3RSNUMB3RS
The facility, there it was. The building was huge; larger than a four story house and longer than the Las Vegas Strip.
Shit, this was going to be harder than he thought! But still, if Charlie was in there then Don wasn't going to leave without him!
Up ahead was an entrance to the building; a set of glass double doors. Don, Colby and David were dressed in full gear; flak vest, goggles, earpieces and weapons; each having their weapons out and at the ready as they headed for the doors.
While Colby and David took up positions to cover Don should a firefight erupt, Don peeked through the glass, not seeing any one or any cameras near the door. Keeping one hand on his weapon, Don tried the door, surprised and a little glad to find it unlocked. Opening the door, Don stepped forward, letting the glass door hit his back as he trained his weapon down the hall.
"Clear." He said after a moment. Both David and Colby nodded their heads, both standing up and entering the building, taking up positions on either side of the hallway just inside the door. Once they were ready, Don entered the building, hearing the door close behind him.
They found themselves in a lobby. To the right was a receptionist desk complete with comfy chair, computer and keyboard. Eying the single hallway that led in to the main part of the building, Don gave a little flick of his wrist; the classic 'move out' flick. Taking point, Don led David and Colby down the hall, following the hallway's natural curve to the left.
There were many rooms, some with labels on or beside the door, and some not. "It's going to take some time to find Charlie in this place." Colby muttered, making sure to keep his voice low so that only Don and David could hear him.
From Don's stance it was easy to see that he knew that Colby was right in what he said; both David and Colby saw that.
Don stopped by a door, flexing his hand muscles as he did so. Colby was right. With a building this size it would take hours to search it from top to bottom and who knows? Joshua could move Charlie and they would never know it! There had to be a faster way to search the place; back up wasn't due to arrive for at least a good ten minutes, so that was ten minutes that they were going to be on their own.
"Don, over here."
Don looked to right, noticing David looking at a door. Keeping his weapon out and at the ready, Don went over to him, noting the label that was beside the door David was standing in front of.
"Security room, good thinking David." Don said with a nod of his head.
It really was good thinking. If there were functioning security cameras then that could help to find and pinpoint Charlie's location. Trying the nob on the door, David found that it was unlocked; highly unusual for a security station.
Entering the room they found ten small monitors, all on and showing different hallways and doors in the facility.
While David guarded the door, Colby was quick to hack in to the system, using the cameras to search the building. Even so it took him a good five minutes before he said, "Got em."
Don looked at the screens; narrowing on one that showed his brother still strapped to the gurney; IV's going in to his wrist. The familiar hatred caused his blood to boil when he saw the IV's. No one but no one did that to his brother and got away with it!
Tightening his grip on his pistol Don asked, "Where's that room Colby?"
Colby pulled up an internal schematic of the building, quickly finding the room in question. He then plotted the most direct course from their position to the room before speaking up.
"Once you exit the room turn right. Go to the end of the hallway and make a left and go straight for a few meters. Then you'll come to a T in the hallway. Turn right and the room should be up ahead."
Don nodded his head in understanding; exiting the room. Once out he had to literally force himself to slow down. It wouldn't do for him to just walk in to some trap just because of his over eagerness to see his brother.
Moving slowly, keeping one foot in front of the other, Don reached the end of the hallway, making a left before going the required 'several meters.' Just as he turned right at the T he saw a man in a white lab coat filling a syringe with some sort of dark looking liquid.
"FREEZE!" Don yelled, raising his gun; pointing it at the scientist. The scientist for his part just looked at Don, a big if not goofy grin plastered on his face; as if he knew something that Don didn't.
"DON'T MOVE!" Don ordered. He kept his gun trained on the other man, but he just laughed an evil laugh before literally stepping in to and through the nearest wall!
At first Don was confused; not really believing what his eyes had just seen, but hearing his brother call his name was enough to jar him out of his confused state.
Holstering his gun Don hurried through the set of double doors and into the morgue looking room. He saw his brother standing on his own two feet; the IV lines hanging limply from the pole.
"DON!"
"Charlie...!" It was all Don could get out before he was almost knocked off of his feet by his brother's shaking form. Wrapping his arms around Charlie's shoulders, Don just held him. He didn't want to let him go, not now and not ever for as long as he was there, nothing was going to be able to harm his little brother.
Don could feel the heat coming off of Charlie's body; more heat than what was normal. Looking at Charlie's pink cheeks and flushed face it was clear to him that his brother had a fever. This made Don madder than a wet hen. He hated, absolutely hated to see his brother sick! "You are okay Charlie...you are okay..." Don whispered, doing his best to comfort his brother.
There was a sense of urgency in Don's gut. They weren't safe; not by a long shot but getting Charlie calm enough to get him out of the building was the first step.
"Charlie, we need to get you out of here, do you think you are strong enough to walk on your own?" Don asked.
Charlie was cut off from answering by a laugh; that evil laugh that came from the scientist; Joshua Moore.
Looking back towards the door Don saw Joshua standing there, a gun pointed at Don's chest.
"How...?" Don asked; his thoughts from earlier making him ask the question as he pushed Charlie so he was now standing behind Don.
Joshua laughed again. "Besides rapid healing and power sensing I also have intangibility; the ability to walk through walls. It's quite amazing really. And now my dear Charlie...didn't I say this would happen hmmm? I did say that your brother was coming, didn't I? And now it is time for you both to die. I'm afraid your death won't be as quick as your brother's, Agent Eppes. You see...your brother has already suffered...but you haven't, and I did promise my father that you would suffer." he said.
Don watched Joshua reach in to his pocket and withdraw the needle filled with a black liquid; as dark as charcoal.
"Now Charlie are you going to be a good boy and take your shot or are we going to have to do things the hard way again?" Joshua asked.
Charlie, having quite calmed down now that Don was here, risked a smartalec reply of "Go to hell!"
Inwardly Don was proud of Charlie's comment but he kept it off of his face. Now was not the time to grin nor make any sudden movements. There was no way he could get his pistol out before Joshua took a shot; and Don didn't think that Joshua would miss...not at close range.
Joshua shrugged and steadied his hand, pulling the trigger of the gun. Things seemed to move in slow motion for Charlie. He saw not a bullet, but a small dart heading straight for Don's chest. So, that's how Joshua was going to play things huh? Paralyze Don and then kill his little brother? Don if Charlie could help it!
Stepping in front of Don, Charlie reached out and with reflexes that no human had, he gripped the dart and stopped it; the dart being just inches from Don's chest. Charlie knew that even with the flack jacket that Don wore, the dart would have passed straight through; it was that sharp.
The dart still in his hand, Charlie looked at it before making a decision. Rearing back, he threw the dart straight at Joshua's chest, even as Don pulled out his pistol, aimed and then fired.
#BAM#
#BAM#
Wait..what...two shots? Charlie was confused. Joshua's face that had held a smirk now held a shocked and dazed expression; the face quickly paling as he slumped to his knees. The dart was sticking out of Joshua's neck, and there was a bullet hole in Joshua's chest; that had been Don's shot.
With a sick sense of satisfaction Charlie watched Joshua pitch forward, hitting the ground with a sickening thud.
It was then that both Don and Charlie saw a second bullet hole in the back of Joshua's head! A dart and two gun shots; one in the head...even with advanced healing, no one could survive that! Gun still out, Don was surprised and grateful to see not only David and Colby enter the room, weapons drawn, but right behind them was Megan and four other officers; their weapons out as well.
Nodding to his team, Don holstered his gun before turning to Charlie; amazed at how quick his brother's reflexes were.
"Charlie how...how did you?" Don asked. He watched his brother's face; seeing Charlie contemplating answer after answer but when Don watched Charlie's face instantly pale he knew that twenty questions would have to wait until later.
"Don...can...can we please get out of here?" Charlie whispered.
He felt more than saw Don nod his head. To Don it was obvious that the fever was starting to get the best of his brother.
"Sure Charlie...we're going, we're going." Don said. He took hold of Charlie's left shoulder while David took hold of Charlie's right. Colby got the door and Megan stood behind Charlie, supporting him with a single hand to his back.
As they all helped him out of the room Charlie was speechless; these people were all Don's team, not his, but the way they were treating him made him feel like he really was part of their team and not just the Mathematician.
"An ambulance will be waiting for us at the entrance." David softly said to his boss who could only nod his head in reply.