I know, I know. I said I was gonna update, and then I didn't. Sorry. This thing called Real Life (which is a total ass) got in the way, and I got different inspiration, and my mind has been all screwy lately because I restarted school, and I really shouldn't have taken AP Language, and my school's been through some major shit lately, and I just couldn't. Sorry. Yeah. On with the belated chapter.
H4cK3R—Chapter 4
When he came back to his laptop, it took Merlin a second to realise something was missing. He was all wrapped up in his coffee and toasted sesame bagel, so he was quite distracted for the first few minutes. He began pulling up Tumblr and was halfway through his twenty-eight-character password (encrypted, duh) when he remembered the programming window and the Tweets he'd opened.
Merlin's eyes widened when he tried to pull up the previous window he'd had open. "What the..."
In the Tweet's place was a single line of text, in a decadent French script that hurt to look at: There is no other way.
His eyes narrowed. Arthur was missing, someone had just completely wiped the Tweets he needed from the Internet, and did he mention that Arthur was missing? He had seen this happen before, and if it was what he thought it was, this whole situation was actually a whole other world from "not good"—try "really effing bad".
Merlin jumped up from his laptop, grabbing his keys off their hook, and flung the front door open. Seeing those people again would really be a damper on his day, but he'd gladly deal with them if it meant that Arthur would be alright.
A minute or five later, Merlin was in his car, racing down the highway about fifteen over the speed limit, but he didn't care—Arthur took priority, kind of always. He knew the route well, despite not having taken it in several years. He drove on, back to the past that still haunted him regularly.
"Please let him be okay, please let him be okay..." Merlin muttered, jaw tight.
—
When he pulled into the parking lot of an old, abandoned-looking office building on the edge of town, Merlin gritted his teeth. He had hoped never to see this place again, dammit. With fire in his eyes, Merlin threw open the door of his royal-blue Mazda, stepped out, and after slamming and locking it, yelled, "I'm here, you bastards, now what do you want?!"
He began stalking towards the building, kicking in a door on the side, one that he knew was made of shitty wood, and would splinter easily. "You wanted me here for a reason didn't you? Now get the hell out here and tell me why!"
His head whipped his head up when he heard a female voice call from the balcony above, "Because taking your little boy-toy was the only way to make you come back, Merlin. Would you like to see him?"
"Morgana..." Merlin snarled. She was his old boss, and they had been friends once, but not anymore. She had turned her whole company from a nice little firm of programmers and software development into a great big clusterbug of hackers and skulduggery.
"Careful, Merlin," Morgana laughed, "I've got Alex keeping your pretty boy, and you know of their past, yes? What if I were to let him just..." She waved a hand. "...have his way?"
Merlin's glare deepened. "What do you want?"
Her cat-ate-canary smile widened. "You. I want you to return. Keep working for me, just like the old days. Those were the best, were they not? You really were magic when it came to programming..."
Without a moment's consideration: "No way in hell!"
She shrugged, seeming to consider her actions, and called behind her, "Alex, bring out the little Pendragon, would you? Our dear friend Merlin seems to require a more acute form of...persuasion."
Merlin could only watch in horror as Alex (the bastard) led Arthur into view, his forearms bound, and silver duct tape over his mouth. The blonde looked pretty battered, and a gash near his forehead looked pretty bad, but that was nothing compared to the look in his eyes. They were filled with suspicion, fear, confusion, hurt; it pained Merlin to see him that way, and he hoped that after this, Arthur would never be forced to look that way again. He winced, thinking, Hold on, Arthur. Just a little longer, and we'll be out of here.
"Alex. It's been a while."
The boy nodded grimly. "Shame it had to be under these circumstances, yeah."
Another emotion showed in Arthur's eyes—alarm. Merlin could practically hear his boyfriend's brain shouting "You know each other?!"
He smiled grimly. "I'll explain everything later, Arthur. I promise."
Arthur nodded slowly, still looking confused and totally weirded out.
Morgana spoke again, calling Merlin's attention back to her with the sound of a bullet chamber loading, training the handgun on Merlin. "Now let me ask you again—"
"You were hardly ever asking..." Merlin muttered.
"Quiet!" She swung the gun so it was aimed at Arthur, and Merlin stopped mid-breath, raising his hands in an "okay, okay, I'm listening" gesture. "Now. either you accept my offer, or I let Alex have his way, then blow Blondie's head off. How's that for a question?"
Only a few minutes...c'mon... Merlin thought, mentally tapping his foot and checking his watch before speaking. "It's still not really a question..."
Morgana rolled her eyes. "Fine! Would you rather join me, or have your boyfriend die?"
"Better, thanks," Merlin chuckled nervously, "but is 'neither' an option?"
In response, the dark-haired woman flicked off the safety.
"Okay, okay! No need to get hasty..." Merlin replied, waving his hands frantically.
"Well, Merlin? What'll it be? Will he live, or will he—"
There was a rapping on the metal front door (locked, probably), and Merlin thought, Thank god, they're finally here as a voice, possibly female, yelled, "This is the police! Open up!"
The looks on Morgana and Arthur's faces (blatant alarm and total relief respectively) were so totally different that Merlin couldn't help but smirk appreciatively.
"Actually, Morgana," he said thoughtfully, "I think 'neither' has quite recently become an option, don't you?"
The police pounded on the door again, calling out to them, but she just stared at him like he was a total psychopath. "But you were a part of this too, a while ago. You could still get in deep shit for being even associated with the company!"
Merlin smiled coldly. "You really don't get it, do you Morgana? It's not about me. They can do whatever the hell they want to me. But no one, no one, hurts Arthur, in any way, under any circumstance, ever."
"We'll see about that..." she muttered, barely loud enough for Merlin to hear as the door was broken down, SWAT teams flooding the room.
Merlin shouted a quick, "She's armed!" and guns immediately started going off.
A tsunami of panic crashed over him when he realised the very first shot fired had not been from his level.
It had come from above.
I know, I know. Please do forgive the (extreme) lateness. I really have been dealing with a lot of super-sucky shit lately. Which is stressful as hell. Ugh. I'm pretty sure I can get this finished in one more chapter. Then you don't have to worry about this old thing anymore. Okay? Okay. (I hope for your sake that you understood that reference)
Ta,
Lorakeet