7. A New Level Of Ridiculousness

Don't ask him how it happened, because honestly he had no clue. One moment Fermat was approaching the school gates after spending the afternoon on a school trip at the local art museum and the next thing he knew everything surrounding him vanished into darkness. When he woke up he found himself with his hands tied, mouth covered with duct tape and was lying on a hard ground. The room was barely lit and he couldn't make any clear estimate of where, what or who was in the room, but he didn't have to be a genius to know that he was definitely at Wharton anymore.

As he thought this, someone began humming the familiar melody Ode to Joy and then he realized who had taken him.

"You're awake," Vinnie said, after he stopped humming and turned away from whatever he was doing. "The boss will be pleased to hear about it. You would be no use to us if you died, after all you are the thing that will keep our blond-haired friend motivated to find and rescue you."

His words confused Fermat greatly, but he really didn't have the chance to think about it too long because Vinnie started to walk closer to him. Fermat sat up like he had been stunned before he tried to move away, for several and reasonable reasons to do so, but for each movement he made backwards resulted with Vinnie taking more steps forward. Once his back felt the cold and hard surface of a metal-covered wall he knew that he had no more options to keep a great distance from this man, who had caused so much trouble that resulted with Vinnie putting him and Alan in harms way and hospitalized three months ago. He could still remember Alan's fearful expression during the first meeting, so he knew that he had to be more cautions than ever around this man.

The sound of a door being opened and closed took his attention as he couldn't really see this other person due to the conditions of the room, however he could hear him perfectly. Whoever had entered the room was light and quick on his feet, almost catlike, and continued taking quick strides over to Vinnie while keeping his appearance unknown to him.

"So you are Mr. Fermat Hackenbacker, the son of Prof. Raymond Hackenbacker, fourteen years old, student at Wharton Academy For Boys," The unknown man stated with a well-informed and confident voice. Meanwhile he was shocked to hear some stranger know so much about him, especially since he was not as high-profiled as the Tracy family. So it didn't make any sense how or why this person knew so much about his background, but then he thought about it and realized that they must have done a very deep background check on him and most likely Alan's as well since he was the person of interest in this situation. "I do have to say I don't understand why Alan would find you interesting, someone he trust and is loyal towards and would do everything to protect and fight for, but then again Alan has always been defiant and disobedient towards us. Even though we were the ones who raised and took care of him."

Even with his mouth covered, he was simply speechless. These people had raised Alan? It was almost impossible to imagine how these people had a role in his best friend's life, especially due to the fact that these men were psychotic, which was the exact opposite of Alan's strong and kind-hearted nature. Sure, his friend was reckless and had is crazy moments, but that was innocent compared to Vinnie and this strange man.

"I really don't understand it either," Vinnie replied. He rubbed his left leg, the exact place where Alan had stabbed him during their first meeting. "That brat was overprotective and didn't try to cause a fight with me, even though I ticked him off, his main priority was to get away and keep him safe from me."

The man didn't say anything, but he didn't really have since Fermat could feel his gaze on him like he was looking straight into his soul in order to figure out everything about him. He felt violated and almost shivered in fear, but in the back of his mind he remembered how both the Tracys and Alan had advised him to not show how scared and frighten he was in his enemy's presence. That way they couldn't try and take advantage of his fear and use it against him or others who cared about him.

"You will be happy to know Mr. Hackenbacker that you wouldn't have to be in our company for long," The man explained. "However it depends on how fast and clever Alan is in order to find you and until then you will stay with us. During your stay I have a couple of rules I expect you to follow, and if you don't then I can assure you that you will be punished, do you understand?"

Frantically he nodded his head, thinking that it would be in his best interest to cooperate for now. He could figure a way out or at least how to simplify the situation later, but until then he had to play the role of the scared kid that he was.

The man didn't show it, but his voice indicated that he was pleased by the willingness to cooperate, probably because he expected that he was like Alan who was far too stubborn and determined to do anything someone else told him to do unless he found it reasonable, before he continued and began listing up his conditions.

"You will follow the orders that is given and you will not try to make contact with the outside world nor will you try and make any escape attempts. And if you break any of these rules then you will be punished harshly and if you don't take my word for it then you just have to remember the scares on Alan's body that should tell you how serious I am."

Fermat's eyes widen by the thought. Those painful scars he had seen on Alan's body was proof enough that these people weren't joking about harming him if he tried anything. And he would be of no use to anyone, especially Alan if he was hurt, so he nodded understandingly and agreed to the conditions that was set for him. Both Vinnie and the unknown man left the room shortly after that, leaving him alone with his confusion and unanswered questions. Whatever this was about, one thing was certainly clear and that was that Alan was of great importance to them based on how they talked about him and that they were willing to do drastic measures in order to retrieve him. Fermat could only hope that his friend knew what was going on and that he would come and help him as soon as possible, but he was concerned about his best friend's actions in order to reach the goal.

This was a new level of ridiculousness. Honestly, how in the world did they come to the conclusion that he was guilty for kidnapping Fermat? He could be crazy and reckless, sure, but he wasn't a functioning lunatic unlike his former co-workers and the organization. Besides other than the fact that he was being pinned for kidnapping, the FBI was handling the situation, so he wasn't sure if the situation could get any worse. Unfortunately it could when the local brought him to the federal building, took away the personal affects he had on him before they stuffed him inside an empty interrogation room.

"Honestly, can't they figure out that this is clearly a set up to pin me," Alan grumbled to himself. He was sitting on one of the chairs in the room with a metal table between one another. His hands were cuffed, limiting him from doing too much movements with his hands, but the main reason for the handcuffs were to restrain him from trying to something stupid. Not that that was going to stop him from doing it, but he would at least go along with it for now.

The door opened and two FBI agents entered, a man and a woman, and the woman sat down across from him meanwhile the man remained standing and was leaning against the wall and kept his gaze on him like he was a perp.

"I'm Agent Monroe and this is my partner Harrods, and I must thank you for dropping by, Mr. Shepard," The dark-haired woman or Agent Monroe replied with politeness and authority, with a slight hint of sass in her voice. "I hope that this isn't an inconvenience to you."

Alan had to force himself not to roll his eyes, "No problem, I mean I just love being arrested and being brought to the agency for no reason." His reply was sarcastic and rude, but at the moment he didn't care seeing as he was not responsible for kidnapping Fermat and they had definitely brought in the wrong guy. However based on her voice and both of the agents body language told him that they truly believed that he was guilty and that this interrogation was only a formality at best.

Agent Monroe blinked her eyes a few times, like she was trying to understand what exactly he had just said before she coughed in an awkward manner and continued the conversation. "It is of no reason that you were brought down here." She was about to continue her speech, but he interrupted her since he was too frustrated and angry about the whole thing to listen.

"I know why you brought me here," Alan sneered. "You think I kidnapped Fermat for some godforsaken reason, but I will be straight with you I didn't kidnap him. What reason do I have to kidnap my best friend? Absolutely nothing!"

He was almost tempted to stand up from his feet to convey his emotions even more, but Agent Harrods glared at him in a way that told him that if he tried to do so then the agent wouldn't hesitate to bring him down and shut him up. Meanwhile Agent Monroe sighed wearily and fidgeting with the pen she was holding and used to make notes of the interrogation.

"Correct me if it isn't true, but according to your personal background you were lost in the system until you were twelve years old and were taken in by the Cassidys," Agent Monroe stated. "And from what I gathered neither your adoptive brother or sister come from or have a huge income financially, both working for the government and receive a small paycheck, which would make your financial situation very limited."

Alan couldn't believe what he was hearing. Did these people think that he would kidnap Fermat and ask for ransom due to his family not so large economy? Sure, the occupations of being a cop and a nurse didn't exactly pay enough and they couldn't exactly go on trips like normally families did or live in luxury like those snobby rich people did, but still it didn't matter to him that they didn't have those opportunities because he knew how hard they worked for their money and would try and compensate the lack of money with alternative solutions. Jem and Haley had given him so many memories the last four years that is filled with joy and happiness by doing simple things as taking him to a baseball game or teach him about planes and how to fly them. Money could never replace that and definitely not motivate him to do criminal act in order to obtain it, especially if you look away from his more criminal past. Fermat was worth far more to him than what money and riches could offer him and there was no way he would do such a thing to his best friend.

"Let me tell you something," Alan was furious, even though his voice was oddly enough calm and collected. However his eyes were burning in fury as he glared at the two agents with his powder keg temper that was just about to explode. "I may not come from the wealthiest family, but don't think for a second that I would stoop so low and sell out my friend for money. I have a conscience that tells me right from wrong, and I will be straight with you and say that my conscience is clear and I have absolutely nothing to do with this. And even if I did I would never do it for something as insignificant like money."

Sitting by her desk sorting through her files, Agent Anna Farrell sighed wearily over the never-ending paperwork. She and her partner Agent Emerson were a strong duo of FBI agents and had many solved and accomplished cases behind them, so she had expected that they would be given the high-profiled kidnapping case, but oddly enough it was given to the snobbish Agent Monroe and Agent Harrods.

"Do you know why we were cut of from that case?" Agent Farrell asked her partner, who was sitting on the desk next to hers and looking like he was bored out of his mind. "I mean why were we not given the case, especially since we can get the job done and not care about who the victim's family is."

Agent Emerson shrugged his shoulders and said, "Probably because it happens to be someone close to the legendary Jeff Tracy, ex-astronaut and billionaire of Tracy Enterprises, we are talking about. And the boss thinks that the snob-duo is a better option to deal with this seeing as both they come from rich background."

"But that's…" Agent Farrell tried to argue, but her partner quickly waved his hand nonchalantly and continued saying, "I know it sucks, but who are we to discuss and argue with the big boss?"

Agent Farrell growled annoyed over how unfair the whole situation was, and then she decided to take matters into her own hands. So she grabbed the phone and before her partner had the chance to convince her to do otherwise she called up her boss and demanded to get back her case and if he didn't give it to them she would do the most unthinkable and quit the agency and he would lose two of the best agents for something frivolous as this. And with that said her boss reluctantly gave in, but made her promise that she wouldn't outstep her boundaries, seeing as it was still the snob-duo's case. She thanked him and hung up the phone.

"You know you can be very scary sometimes," Agent Emerson stated matter-factly, which she responded by shrugging her shoulder in a careless manner and opened up the file on her computer that explained the kidnapping case.

The kidnapping victim was a son of an employee and close friend to Jeff Tracy, Fermat Hackenbacker, who was taken from his school after returning back from a class trip. Apparently the case developed like any other kidnapping case with the whole money-ransom thing and drop sites. Mr. Tracy paid the random and followed procedure to a 't' as they tracked the signaled back to the suspect of the crime, Mr. Alan Shepard. However here was the part where things didn't make any sense to her. Based on the records Fermat and Alan were roommates and friends at Wharton, where the latter ended up quitting three months ago and stopped contact with the boy. So what caused the sixteen-year-olds actions to change so deliberately? And why would he go to such measures?

"What do you think?" Agent Emerson asked after he was done reading the cliff notes of the case. "According to this, it should be a simple and shut case."

She nodded her head, even though her expression didn't appear to be convinced. She leaned back in her chair, "It seems too quick and easy for my taste. I remember when I was a teenager and nothing was as neat and clean as this, and I was a geek back in high school. No, I think I'm going to have a chat with our suspect before I'm making my definitive conclusion."

She stood up from her seat and began heading in the direction of the interrogation room with her partner right behind her. His excuse was that he had to make sure that she didn't try and punch the two agents in frustration because it was no surprise that she despised them. She rolled her eyes in annoyance, but didn't bother to argue about his comment because he was pretty right on the spot about it anyways, so why bother deny the truth?

Alan wanted nothing more than to punch these two agents just for the sake of them getting some common sense, which apparently the both of them were lacking in great numbers. They continued going on and on about all the evidence pointing towards him and how his motive for taking his best friend and placed him in an unknown location because of money.

"How many times do I have to tell you, I did not take my best friend in order to get a huge paycheck," Alan argued once more, but was met with deaf ears.

"Our evidence…" Agent Monroe tried to argue and explain to him, but at that point he was too frustrated and angry to listen to this nonsense any longer.

"I'm stopping you there, seeing as I'm still a minor and know my rights," Alan glared at the two agents. "I asking for a lawyer or my legal guardians to sit in on the interrogation and I'm not talking to you anymore."

He shut down the interrogation completely, pressed his arms against his chest since his hands were tied and unable to fold before he leaned back in his seat with a smug expression on his face. The two agents looked taken back by his words, obviously not realizing that he had a point. Then again they probably thought that he was some stupid kid who didn't know his own rights, but based on what Jem taught him and his many trips to the police station he learned his rights. Although it seemed easier to issue it here in the federal building than back at the station, but then again he didn't have to deal with Jem biting his head off for doing something stupid unlike this where he was innocent and was being set up by his old crowd. And he had tried to explained that to the two agents, leaving out a few details especially involving him, but they didn't believe him and wasn't bothering to look for any new leads. So why in the world he make their job any easier if they refused to listen to what he had to say and for once take it seriously?

The two agents just scoffed before they gathered their notes and left the room with the promise to get him a lawyer or at least retrieve Jem and Haley. Once the door was closed behind them, he let out a relieved breath he didn't know he had been holding in.

"This couldn't be more horrible," He muttered to himself. His gaze moved around the interrogation room, thinking of possible escape routes from the room as well how things were going to resolve themselves seeing as things weren't looking good at the moment. "And if things doesn't change, then what am I going to do?"

That was a good question, but he knew that he had to do something in order to get Fermat back. However doing so would mean that he would have to return to his past ways and play the game that the Golden Cobra had set for him, but the thing was that no matter how simple the challenge would be nothing as smooth and easy as it would seem. There is always a catch to their demands; more importantly there was always something more with their plans than what appeared to be.

And as he thought this, the door opened again and another agent informed him that his lawyer was here to speak with him. Alan found it strange how fast that lawyer arrived, but he didn't say anything and nodded his head as a signal to allow the lawyer in. Moments later he found himself stunned to see it wasn't a lawyer, but Vinnie dressed in a formal suit and glasses. His body just froze to be in the present of his main torturer, but he kept his mask straight and waited for the agent to leave and allowing them to talk in private. Vinnie sat down on the chair where Agent Monroe had been sitting before and sighed exaggerated, "You had me worried there for a second brat, I would have thought you spilled your guts and told them everything. Nice to see you still hold some loyalty to your old crew."

Alan glared, "Loyalty has nothing to do with it, and shouldn't you worry about the fact that there is a camera and wires in this room that record everything?"

Vinnie shook his head nonchalantly, "Nah, I got that covered. It seems like there are some technical problems at the moment, the whole system is down and wouldn't be up and running for some time. Funny, right?"

His eyes grew harder and angrier and said with an exasperated voice, "Cut the crap!"

Vinnie chuckled by his stoic and angry voice, god knows why, and answered, "You still got that edge of yours, seems to me I have some work to do once you join us once again. We can't have you running your sharp tongue around. "

What in the world was his intention? Was the whole kidnapping and setting him up as a ploy to get him back? Nothing made any sense to him, if that was the organizations motive then why go through all that trouble and hassle for his abilities?

"I have no intention of joining you," Alan replied curtly. "Now let Fermat go, he has nothing to do with this. Your beef is with me, so leave him alone or else I will have to show you how serious I am."

This time Vinnie laughed like a hyena and leaned back in the seat to cover his stomach because he was laughing so hard that it hurt. Meanwhile he continued to glare at the man with annoyance and wanted more than ever to beat the crap put of him, but as the conditions were like they were he would be at the disadvantage and most likely beaten to pulp.

"Sorry, brat, but your friend is necessary in this plan of ours. The game has already started and the boss expect you to go and retrieve your prize, which is in this case that scrawny friend of yours."

Just as he expected then, it was a ploy to get to him and they must have realized that Fermat was one of few things in the world he cared about and was willing to do anything in order to keep him safe. And now because of his friendship, he had managed to put Fermat in even greater danger.

"Where are they?" Alan asked, getting straight to the point and was unwilling to waste any more time seeing as it seemed he didn't have much of another choice.

"Can't tell you," Vinnie replied and stood up from the chair. "Boss thought you were clever and good enough to figure that on your own, but he was considerate enough to give you something that could help you start on the right path."

He pulled out his suitcase and laid it out on the table, without giving him the chance to see what exactly was inside. However whatever he assumed the man would give was exactly what he didn't expect to get from him, because Vinnie pulled out an empty syringe and a colorless liquid, which was contained inside a tiny flask that could fit his pocket.

"What in the world is this for?" Alan exclaimed as he picked up the flask and held it up against the lamp to see something strange about the liquid, which he didn't, and set it down on the table again. "Or better question, what is it?"

"Relax, it is just something that can be used to knock someone out for a few hours," Vinnie answered lightly "Just in case, and with that I will take my leave. Good luck, brat, you are going to need it."

Vinnie left shortly after that, but Alan had taken a notice of the limp the man that was caused by his attack. He almost felt proud that he managed to do so, but then guilt started to nag him. Even though Jem and Haley weren't there to reprimand and yell at him for thinking so, they had done a good job in helping him developed a conscience, which appeared even during times he wished he wasn't guilty about like now.

Anyways once Vinnie was gone and he was alone in the room he came to a decision, seeing as no one was going to take his words seriously and was going to try and catch the real bad guys in this mess it all seemed to be up to him. However his priority would be to find Fermat and get him back safely to his father, he had no intentions of joining the organization again and if he had any side-plans in this then it would be to take them down for good.

So once his mind was set he lifted his hands and began searching through his long hair locks to find a bobby pin to pick up the cuffs. He always hid a pair of bobby pins in his hair, which would be covered by the extra layer of his hair, just in case he ever came up in situations that required him to pick on locks. And besides cops or in this case federal agents wouldn't normally do a search for personal effects on the hair that weren't in plain sight, which is why the cops never found the pins. It took a while, but he found them and pulled them out carefully before he moved the pins and began picking up the locks on his cuffs and while he did this, he continued planning the next few steps of his plan and escape from the agents and the building. After all his next opponents would be the entire herd of federal agents, who would arrest him the moment he found out he was out and was fleeing from them.

Jeff Tracy tried desperately to calm down his friend, Brains, who was pacing back and forth in distress and concern for his son, but his attempts were in vain and honestly he could understand why. If anyone had tried to kidnap one of his sons he too would be pretty out of it.

He and Brains were in a conference room along with his three sons, Scott, Virgil and Gordon, while his second oldest son John would meet up with them later once things back on Thunderbird 5 was cleared. Anyway they all were waiting anxiously to hear from the federal agents about how the case was going and when they would have Fermat back, hopefully alive and well. They had dropped everything, including International Rescue for the sake of getting the young boy back, which no one would have argued about once they first learned the news seeing as the boy was just as part of their family as all the Tracy sons were. And they wanted nothing more for the boy to return to their side and wanted those responsible for this would be punished for their crimes.

The door opened and two agents entered the room, introducing themselves as Agent Monroe and Agent Harrods, and they all sat around the table to discuss the case further.

"Have you found Fermat yet?" Jeff asked straight to the point. He decided to take control over the situation seeing, as Brains were pretty emotional and unable to stay objective and in control at the moment. No one seemed to be arguing with him, so he continued and had his gaze on both of the agents. "Any suspects in custody?"

"We don't know the whereabouts about the young Hackenbacker, but we do have a suspect in custody," Agent Monroe explained. "Hopefully soon we will get him to talk and then all of this will be over and everyone can go home."

Although her words were meant to be reassuring, there was something that didn't sit well with him, but he wasn't sure what exactly. After many years of dealing with various types of people he had learned to read them well enough, but based on both of the agents body language they were expressing that they were holding something back, something that was possibly an important piece to solve this situation.

"Can you tell us who the suspect is?" Jeff said with a mix of curiosity and demand in his voice. His arms were folded against his chest and waited patiently for the answer.

"A friend from Wharton Academy, Alan Shepard, does that ring a bell?" Agent Harrods intervened. His question was leading and it was clear that they already knew the answer, but wanted their confirmation anyway.

"O-Of….yes," Brains answered quietly. "Fermat s-spoke highly o-of him, b-b-but I can't u-understand why h-he would d-do this?"
Then the agents went on about Mr. Shepard's financial background and how his motive for kidnapping was like any other kidnapping an attempt to get easy money. This surprised both Gordon and Virgil, while Scott only frowned and looked ready to kill the boy himself. Jeff was almost certain that Scott didn't like Fermat's friend very much, especially after what had happened three months ago. Jeff never met the boy personally, but while he could understand Scott's anger and frustration he also thought that the thing was blown out of proportion and it simply was an accident.

And as he thought this, out of nowhere a loud alarm began to ring through out the building. Jeff noticed that the agents turned shocked between one another, not looking worried like the building was about to burn down, but more worried about someone has done something wrong, which he often saw whenever Gordon pulled out a prank. The agents immediately leaped out of the room in quite a hurry and quickly reassured them that nothing was wrong and that it would be best for them to stay there. And before neither of them had a chance to argue the agents were gone, leaving them alone in the conference room with confusion and concern on their faces. What in the world was going on?

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Thanks again for your response. I hope you guys like this chapter, now at this point things are going to escalate and become more action and suspense-packed. So please don't give up hope on this story despite how long it took to get to this point.

Anyways please continue giving me reviews, favorite and/or followings, and the next chapter will be out as soon as its done.

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