Hi. It's me.
I realized that i might have made Frank a bit too brotherly. Haha. Thank you very much for letting me know. I am so sorry about that.

I do prefer them as equals too since they complement each other so well. Sometimes I just forget though, in this case i hadn't realized it. Do forgive me. I will try to do what i can to fix it.

I appreciate and love all your reviews. Thank you all for taking your time to comment. It means a lot :).

Hope you like this chapter. Sorry for the wait.

Chapter 3

(Frank's POV)

I know that in terms of money, the library isn't always the best place to rob.

However, there are quite a lot of priceless one-of-a-kind books here that could be sold for a lot of money, so I could understand.

But still. A library? That's clever, but pretty sad.

I wanted to scold those people for their lack of respect for the books and culture when I remembered what I was looking for in the first place.

"Mrs. Thatcher," I called out softly to the librarian who had taken me to the library's archives to hide. "Have you seen Joe?"

If I weren't worried for Joe, or worried for the books in the library, I would have looked around more carefully, but making a mental note to ask her to bring me back here was good enough for now.

"Joe?" She seemed confused. "Your brother?"

I nodded. "Have you seen him? Blonde, blue eyes, sticks out like a sore thumb here?"

She blinked a couple of times then gasped and stared at me. "That's your brother? Oh Frank, I didn't know you had one."

I sighed. Mrs. Thatcher was pretty old. Probably older than the library, but she loved books so we got along pretty well.

"Have you seen him?" I repeated. "And you keep saying they are robbers. How do you know?"

"There was a boy just now, over at the counter." She said. "There were two men who came in dressed as exterminators and they shooed everyone out saying they had to do their work. They had the proper paper work and everything, so I thought everything was fine and went out with everyone else. But I starting thinking it was strange since I never called any exterminators."

"So you came back?"

"I wanted to ask who assigned them here when I saw a blonde boy knocking on the "Staff Only" door. I was just about to call out to him when one of the men came out and grabbed him. I'm pretty sure I saw a gun with him. After that I just ran and hid." She continued. "I'm so sorry, was that your brother?"

"Sure sounds like it…" I said weakly.

What did you get yourself into, Joe?

The large guy standing over me let go of my jaw and stepped back. I didn't see a gun in his hands and he didn't have any rope with him. I waited for him to do something, but he just stood there, watching me.

So I just did what anyone else would do in my situation.

I blurted out something utterly stupid that could get me killed.

"You shot me!"

I'm sure when I get out of this, if I get out of this, I'm going to go back to this moment and slap myself. If not me then Frank will probably do it. Why, you may ask? Probably because it's a stupid statement, and I was stupid for saying it, and it will probably end with me dying in a stupidly tragic way, but I needed to assess the situation. Usually having a stupid moment can catch them off guard. In my case, since I'm a kid, maybe the guy won't shoot me for real.

"We didn't shoot you, stupid boy. Otherwise you would be dead." I could swear he raised an eyebrow. See what I mean about the off guard thing. I'm not dead yet, and he doesn't seem to want to kill me yet.

"Obviously, not that kind of gun I was thinking of. I'm not stupid." I said rubbing the back of my aching neck. Yes, I am. Frank deliberately told me not to do this kind of thing. Too bad my body(namely my mouth) sometimes thinks faster than my brain. "A stun gun, right?"

The large guy studied me carefully but didn't move.

"Thought I was dead for a second." I laughed. "I do have to thank you for that though. Most of the time the bad guys whack me over the head with something more painful." Not that I'm not ouching all over the place right now.

My family did always tell me I was more action than thought. Ah well, it got things done. I wasn't having a staring contest with the guy. Since I usually lose, I count this as getting things done.

I started flexing my arm and moving my fingers around. "So what am I still doing alive and unbound?" I matched eye contact. "I'm not a threat. I'm just a kid."

The other guy laughed at me. "Right. The son of Fenton Hardy, the famous detective. Not a threat."

I shrugged. "It was worth a try." I sat upright on the floor but didn't make any sudden moves. I had to show him I wasn't going to run. Not yet at least. "You know who I am. It's your turn."

The man narrowed his eyes at me and for a second I thought he might actually shoot me with a real gun, wherever he hid it on him, but then his face relaxed a little. "Mason. That's all you can know."

"That's fine." I waved it off. My dad said that once you have a name, you can start identifying or personalizing with the… well, person. "Then I don't have to keep referring to you as 'the man' or 'that guy' anymore." I said with a grin. And hey, if they start to like me, then they might not hurt me as much. I hope.

Mason looked at me curiously. "You're unnaturally brave."

"It's experience really." I find that delaying the kill-Joe-Hardy plan by yammering works most of the time. "You know my dad is a detective. And I don't see how freaking out would do me much good."

"Smart kid."

I sure hope so. I thought to myself. Hopefully I can keep all their attention on me so they won't go after Frank.

"What are you doing?!" A larger guy with huge biceps stood at the doorway. This time I saw a real gun in his hands and froze. He reached me in just three strides, and the door was pretty far away from me. He grabbed me up by my collar and shoved me painfully against the wall.

"He's just a kid." Mason came up behind him. "He can't possibly-"

"You know who they are and you're still thinking that way?!" The other guy growled. "Why else do you think they are such good detectives? People keep underestimating them."

Ouch. That wasn't the only reason we were good. We were good because we were good. Though it was a little true that our age helped with a lot of things, I have to admit.

"Go find the other one. We can't have the cops coming when we haven't even started." The guy's hands pushed me harder against the wall and it became harder and harder to breath.

"I'm alone." I gasped out. "My brother isn't here."

Mason hesitated for a bit when I said that and stayed quiet I could swear I saw pity in his eyes. Not good.

The other guy then turned his full attention on me. His eyes dark with anger.

"I know you're lying, kid. You think I'm just like one of those idiots that always seemed to be fooled by you two? Think again."

I had to keep them away from Frank. So I tried the only think I could think of at the moment. Being stupidly brave (and just plain acting stupid). Again. "Could've fooled me." Things like this is probably why I am not known for my intelligence.

"Try goading me one more time and you'll regret it." His knuckles were biting into my chest.

Gotta stall them. Gotta give time for Frank to escape. "The only thing I regret is walking into another pair of criminals today. Typical Saturday." I tried to sigh as best I could without letting too much of my precious air out.

"We aren't criminals." He spat out. Behind him, Mason seemed to look a little sad.

"Then you're a bully." Frank, get out! Please! I don't want them to hurt you like they probably will to me. "Picking on a kid half your size." They were too smart to fall for me insulting them, I had to take it a step up, which would definitely get me killed. Goodbye Frank. Goodbye Mom, Dad, Aunt Gertrude. You guys were the best.

I lashed out and kicked the guy as hard as I could in the stomach. It probably hurt my foot more than it hurt him but he dropped me. I scrambled to the door as fast as I could but Mason stepped in front of me before I could reach it.

"I'm sorry, kid." He clenched his fist. "But we need this."

He swung his fist at me. It was so fast I hardly had any time to dodge, his fist clipping me in the side. The other guy came up behind me, grabbed my right arm and twisted it forcefully behind my back, pushing me to my knees. I stopped moving. If I did, my arm might snap off. So much for my distraction. Though hopefully it bought enough time.

"I have no qualms about hurting a child who gets in my way. Remember that." He said and twisted.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Hardy Boys

I actually wrote this a while ago but changed a few things. Do let me know what you think. Sorry if i disappoint .

Don't kill me plz.