This one took a little longer than I thought it would, but it's finally done. Hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 3: The Scars We Don't See

Wes pressed back against the wall, his blaster clasped firmly in front of his chest. He looked back down the dark hallway he came through, satisfied that it was empty he looked ahead. The faint light filtering in through the window told him that it was a dead end and he shuffled closer to the edge where a corridor opened up to his left. He held his breath as listened for a moment. When he didn't hear anything he pushed off the wall, turning sharply to face the corridor, blaster thrust out before him.

Blue eyes scanned the corridor but it was too dark for him to make anything out. Cautiously, he stepped forward, eyes trained on the point where the corridor T-ed off. He veered to the right, pressing his back against the wall as peeked around the left corner. Stepping out he took a quick glance and whirled around to the right.

"Arghhh…."

A guttural sound echoed down the corridor as something green and fanged shot into his face. He stumbled back and instinctively reached for his face, lowering his weapon when something hard slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. He pulled the material off his face just in time to see the tail of a shirt and sneakers dart into the corridor he came from.

"Darn it," he grumbled as he looked at the cheap, rubbery monster mask in his hand and pushed himself to his feet. He partially stuffed it into his pocket and darted down the corridor, blaster raised in one hand and the other reaching for his earpiece.

"Found one. Heading back to the ground floor. How's it going on your end?"

Eric leaned to his right, avoiding a punch, and swiftly reached out to grab the hand. Dark eyes stared into wide green ones through a Jack-O'-Lantern mask, as he kicked out, hitting his assailant in the solar plexus. The man stumbled back, breaking free of Eric's grip, and growled as he reached into his belt and pulled out a switchblade.

"Should have minded your own business pig," he heaved as he raised the knife and charged.

"Not a cop," Eric grunted as he blocked the hit, holding back the knife. He felt something move behind him but was stuck and couldn't move. A hand slid into his holster and ripped out his Quantum Defender. He stiffened and glanced up at the knife, steadying his footing he leaned in and pushed up, forcing his attacker to stumble back. He whirled around but froze when a tall, heavyset man wearing a white gorilla mask held his weapon to his face.

"Yeah, yeah, we know who you are. Big shot Silver Guardian," the knife wielder taunted as the man in the gorilla mask grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around. A fist met his jaw and he stumbled back into the man but regained his footing and stood stiffly with this weapon pressed against his back.

"Here's what's going to happen," he continued, pacing before Eric and tapping the knife against his hand. "You are going to walk us out of here, let us get into a car and drive away. You're going to order your men and the cops to stay back or you're going to get your head blown off. Is that clear?"

Eric's eyes drop to the knife, when he sees his moment he rushes forward and grabs the hand holding it, pulling it out, and twisting it behind its wielder. The man gasped and grunted as the knife was forced out of his hand and he was pulled around with his hands now held behind his back.

The man in the gorilla mask stared wide-eyed and fumbled with the Quantum Defender, aiming it at Eric's head.

"Shoot him!"

"Yeah, shoot me," Eric taunted, kicking the knife away and pulling out a zip tie to bind his captive's hands before shoving him to the floor. His accomplice brandished the blaster, standing his ground. "I'm serious, you move and I shoot. It'll make a nice headline: Silver Guardian gets shot with his own weapon."

"Doesn't quite have a ring to it. But take your shot."

He stepped forward and held his arms open. The man grunted and steadied his hand before pulling the trigger. Nothing happened. He looked at the muzzle and then up at Eric who had a smirk on his face. He pulled the trigger again but it refused to budge.

"Yeah, that's not exactly standard issue," Eric teased as he rushed forward and dropped low, surprising the man with a sweeping kick that knocked him backward, before making a grab for the blaster.

The fall however was not enough to disorient the man and he recovered quickly. Noticing Eric reach for the blaster he took the opportunity to kick out at him, this time catching the Silver Guardian off guard, hitting him in the side, and knocking him down. As Eric doubled over he seized the opportunity to scramble to his feet and make a run for the door.

Eric grunted but pushed himself up and secured his Quantum Defender in his grasp, his eyes following the retreating man. Quick for his size, he reached the door but just as he reached for the knob it flung open hitting him in the face. With a howl of pain, he grabbed his nose and hopped away from the door as another figure ran in, heaving and carrying a sack.

His eyes met Eric's and widened. He turned heel and ran out only to stumble back in as Wes entered after him, weapon raised. "Drop the bag! On your knees, hands behind your back."

Eric tilted his head towards the man in the gorilla mask who was double over, groaning to the side as blood trickled out of his nose, staining his mask.

Behind him, the man with the pumpkin mask looked up at Eric's back before turning his gaze to Wes, whose focus was on his teammate as he bound his hands. His eyes tracked back to Eric and he slowly pushed himself to his feet and took a few gentle steps backwards. When he gauged it safe, he turned around and bolted for the door on the other side.

A shot whizzed past his head, close enough for him to feel the flash of heat as the wind caressed his cheek, and hit the wall. He froze mid-run and slowly turned around to find Eric facing him with his weapon raised sporting a smirk. He gestured for him to come closer and once he was within reach grabbed his shoulder and led him toward the other door where Wes was now binding the hands of his other teammate.

"That was interesting."

The two Silver Guardians walked their charges out to flashing lights as police cars surrounded the building, only giving way to a fire engine and ambulance. Eric glanced to his right as the police stood guard as the firemen worked on the car that had crashed through the side of the building, trying to extract the fourth member of the masked troupe. Paramedics stood to the side waiting for him to be pulled out. He raised a hand to get their attention.

"We're going to need a medic over here."

One of them broke off and headed towards them as Wes and he handed the three men over to the officers. One of them held the man with the gorilla mask down as the paramedic pulled off the mask and tended to his nose. Another officer pulled off the pumpkin mask as well and began placing them in evidence bags.

"Hey hold on, I have this guy's mask," Wes called out, pulling the green monster mask from his belt.

"Thank you, Commander."

"They had two bags with them. They're in the room straight ahead. We haven't touched them," Eric informed them.

"Thank you. We'll secure it and get the techs in there immediately," said one of the officers before darting off.

They walked over to their car and leaned against the hood as they watched the officers move, some heading inside to secure the building, others to man the blockade as stragglers began lining up behind it and a couple of news vans pulled up. The man in the car was carefully extracted and propped on a stretcher before behind herded off to the ambulance while the other three were cuffed and escorted into different squad cars. The masks were handed over to one of the crime scene techs.

"If you glare any harder they're going to burst into flames. That's evidence," Wes pointed out with a chuckle.

"Of all the masks…"

"I thought it was on brand, no one would think it was strange."

"Sure men driving around in creepy masks, there's nothing strange about that."

"Around Halloween? Not really. To be fair though, we did surprise them, they probably just forgot to take them off. What is your problem with masks anyway? I don't remember dealing with this hostility last year. So far, you've glared at every person we've seen in costume like they're going out of their way to offend you or something. What are you going to do tomorrow?"

Eric looked over at the confusion etched on his partner's face and raised an eyebrow as she readjusted his glove. "Keep my eyes and ears open, and one hand on the Quantum Defender the whole time."

Wes chuckled and shook his head. "And I thought increasing patrols was extreme."

"I'd rather get ahead of the crazy that deal with the aftermath. The extra patrols are voluntary, and it looks like quite a few of the guardians agree with me."

"They signed up because they want to impress you, Commander Myers, not because they believe that the crazies come out on Halloween."

Eric waved his hand at the scene in front of them. "There is a car sticking out of the building. And the next right turn isn't for another block. Not the craziest thing we've seen I'll admit but it's a start."

Wes chuckled but it quickly turned into a groan as he noticed a figure walking towards them, brushing his jacket aside and tucking his hands into his pockets. "Gentlemen, it's been a minute."

"Detective Bernatto," Eric acknowledged the tall brunet striding towards them. He was almost as tall as Eric but his hair was dishevelled and there were dark circles beneath his honey-hued eyes.

"Detective," Wes added with a nod.

"It looks like you two hotshots couldn't keep yourselves from interfering in our investigation, again."

"We were just trying to help," Wes gritted out with his best fake smile.

Eric nudged him with his elbow and turned to the detective whose attention was focused on him.

"What my partner means is that we were on site, we saw them leaving and followed. We didn't mean to interfere, but didn't want to risk losing them. We didn't realise that they'd get so… for lack of a better word spooked and crash like that."

The detective turned back to the car which was now being searched and fiddled with something in his pocket. "That may not have been all you."

"Did you find something?" asked Wes.

"We're still piecing things together," came the reply before he turned back to Eric. "And why were you at Avery's in the first place?"

Eric turned to Wes whose forced smile had given way to a frown. "We had business there."

"Personal or professional?"

"Why does that matter? You've got the thieves."

Honey eyes hardened as they shot towards him. "Because Mr. Collins, this is a police investigation. I need to establish a chain of events and provide a logical explanation as to why you were chasing down criminals through the city. A case does not close just because we 'have the thieves'."

Wes narrowed his eyes, fingers twitching at his side but he stayed quiet as he felt Eric's shoulder gently brush against his. "We understand that you have to follow protocol detective and we do not intend to impede your investigation. The Silver Guardians are taking over security at Avery's and we were just checking in."

"Of course you were, just checking in required both the Commanders of the Silver Guardians?"

"We…" Wes began but the detective kept his gaze focused on Eric. The brunet raised an eyebrow but nonetheless explained, "That is our protocol. And we did have a personal errand to run, so we decided to kill two birds with one stone."

"At a jewellery store?"

"At a jewellery store."

"Hrmf… right. What happened next?"

Eric snuck a glance at Wes but continued, detailing how they saw the men run out of the store and gave chase, following after they crashed into the building and split up to go pursue on foot. The detective grunted here and there as he made a few notes in his notebook.

"That should be all. Thank you for your assistance. You should know this by now, we'll need access to your database to rule out your fingerprints and DNA. And your reports as well."

"Sure, we'll get that to you as soon as possible. You can always stop by headquarters if you have any more questions for us."

The detective turned sharply taking Wes by surprise but Eric placed a hand on his partner's shoulder nudging him towards the car door as he let the detective know that they were happy to stop by the precinct as well.

"That guy hates me! I don't know why but he hates me," Wes exclaimed as they strapped in and Eric pulled the car away.

"I know this is hard for you to accept, but not everyone is going to be nice to you."

"I didn't do anything!"

"We stepped into his case."

"Yet it's me he has a problem with," the blond huffed, turning to look out the window as he folded his arms. "He's had a problem with me since he joined the force and it's just so frustrating. We get along fine with everyone else. Why are you so calm about this?"

Eric scoffed as he turned down a familiar street and steered the car forward. "I'm used to people hating me," he offered with a shrug.

Wes rolled his eyes and turned back to face him. "Except Detective Dick loves you. So it can't be the Silver Guardians he has a problem with. It's just me. And I know everyone isn't going to like me but I'd at least like to know what I did to deserve being such a… well dick all the time."

Eric chuckled. "If that wasn't actually his name I'd say you were being immature about the whole thing."

"Right, I'm the immature one."

"Wesley"

"Eric"

Eric rolled his eyes as he watched a group of people pour out of a costume store clutching their purchases. "Have you ever considered that from his perspective, I'm the lesser of the two evils?"

"Lesser of the…"

"He is not the first cop, nor will he be the last to have a problem with a private agency getting involved. But you know that and it's never bothered you before, so want to tell me what the real problem is?"

Wes fell silent and once again faced the window. As the car turned down a street, he sat up straighter and looked left and right. "I thought we were going to swing by the carnival?"

"Right now your face looks like one of those masks you have hanging on every corner. The kids don't need to see that and we have reports to write."

"Yeah, right. You just want to avoid Taylor because you're too much of a chicken to tell her how you really feel about her leaving", he bit out.

Eric gripped the steering wheel tighter and tilted his head slightly, "Is that really where you want to go? The last time I checked Taylor and I weren't the ones having a problem communicating."

Wes stiffened and gripped his seatbelt with both hands. "I don't want to talk about it."

"We both know that's not true. You just don't seem to want to talk about it with Jen. Which I might add is the whole reason you are spiralling and making me seem like the calm and rational one."

"I don't understand why she isn't more upset about postponing the wedding and everything that seems to go wrong. It's not like I want her to feel bad but it feels like it doesn't bother her at all. Like it doesn't matter to her," he blurted out. His cheeks flushed red as he caught himself and he turned away from his partner

"Wes," Eric said with a soft sigh, gently shaking his head. "You need to talk to her."

The blond shook his head. "I… I don't want to push it, I don't want to upset her."

"How else are you going to know exactly how she feels about all this? Maybe she feels the same way but doesn't want to bring it up to make you feel worse. You're being hard enough on yourself."

"But…"

"Jen and you aren't the same. Has it occurred to you that she might not care as much about the where and how of it all, just the who?"

"I just want it to be perfect."

"Perfect doesn't have to be grand. And now that you've used up some of that party-planning energy, maybe you can sit down and talk about what you both want."

Wes' lips stuck out in a pout as he turned to watch his partner whose eyes were fixed on the road, the pout slowly giving way to a soft smile."Look at you offering relationship advice like an expert."

Eric scoffed, 'I'm no expert in relationships, clearly. But I am an authority on the subject of Wesley Collins. I know something is going on in that brain of yours that you're not talking about. You've made some strange connection between our last case and your wedding situation, haven't you?"

"When did the tables turn?" Wes groaned as he leaned forward to rest his head on the dashboard, only to feel a hand against his chest pushing him back into a sitting position.

"Talk"

"I… It's not that I made a connection, it's been on my mind since we lost the venue. But everything that happened with those kids…. I was talking to the coordinator and something she said hit home, and they reminded me of Jen. It's not the same, but she had to give up everything to be with me. Her family, her friends, her job, everything she knew. Everything she has here is connected to me, and there are so many rules she needs to live by. I'm afraid that she resents me for it, you know, not having the people she loves help her plan her wedding and that's why she isn't upset about things getting delayed. Maybe she doesn't want it to happen," he admitted, his growing softer as the words spilled out."

Eric's eyes slid to the rearview mirror before he pulled the car to the side on a street lined with stores. "Okay. You need to stop overthinking." He turned to face him. "You said it yourself, it's not the same. Jen and those kids are nothing alike. What happened to them was horrible and the guy responsible is going to be paying for a long time." He took a deep breath and flexed his fingers against the steering wheel.

"Jen isn't like them. She is a grown woman who made a choice. She chose to leave the life she knew behind and work within these complicated rules to build a new one with you. And she still has her job, it just looks a little different. Yes, she may not have her family at the wedding, but she will have the one she built in this time, the one she chose. She's been here for a few years now, if she regretted any of it, she wouldn't have said yes. For goodness sake, she dressed up as a vampire because you love this not holiday."

Wes blinked as he stared at his friend, but Eric wasn't done yet. "You two have been through a lot to get here. Talk to her before you let your thoughts drive you insane. The answer might be a lot simpler than you think."

"Since when are you so good with relationships?"

Eric leaned back in his seat and readjusted his seatbelt as he closed his eyes for a moment. "Technically your dad gave me that advice." He looked out the window and scoffed when he saw Enchanted scrawled on top of the store across the street. "Everything that happened last year, flipped a switch of sorts. I realised I didn't want to lose Taylor, and we both figured out we had insecurities we needed to deal with. And Allan helped me pull my head out of my ass." He took a deep breath, still looking out the window as cars drifted by and a stray cat screeched as it darted under a car and into the alley beside the store. "Despite what you might think, we've both been putting in the work. Never thought I'd have to tell you and Jen to do the same, but here we are."

Wes huffed and folded his arms as he grumbled, "The two of you should be getting married then."

"And here I thought you wanted me to be mad at her," he mumbled as he started up the car and steered it forward, oblivious to the streak of light peeking out of the dark alley behind them.

Thanks for reading. Would love to hear your thoughts.

More to come soon.

Till next time...