Tension's Like a Fire

When they made it all the way in Zack sat Alex down so he could limp around all on his own. Alex hobbled alright but that wasn’t good enough to take the stairs in a hurry.

As they looked around they saw Amelia unconscious only a few steps to the left of the door, and they found Sally tied up on the couch squirming with tape over her mouth.

Jack hopped over the couch to begin untying her instantly. He pulled the tape from her mouth and gave her a quick kiss.

Alex and Zack were searching the rest of the apartment for Jazz and Jenny.

Rian was dealing with Amelia knowing everyone else would be too caught up thinking of the other girls. He checked her pulse -which was fine- and found a huge bump on the side of her head.

“Are you ok?” Jack asked lightly stroking Sally's hair.

She was still trying to get her breathing more regulated because panic without being able to breathe through your mouth makes for not very good breathing.

“They got Jazz and Jenny.” She said breathing still uneven.

Out came Zack and Alex already figuring that out. Jack looked to them sympathetically toward them as he pulled Sally up into his arms just so he could hold her and know she’s really there.

Rian finally got Amelia to come to.

“I only saw it a moment before it happened.” Amelia explained as she slowly sat up with her palm pressed to her head. “I was going for the door to try and block it when they charged in. I’m pretty sure the door flying into me is where I got this lovely bump because after that I was out.”

Alex was frantic. “That mother fucker’s gonna get it.” He hissed and moved toward the door.

Amelia stood as quickly as she could without getting a head rush and stepped in front of the limping Alex with her hands up. “Alex I also saw what happened with you guys before they came. You guys need a real plan to get through him and you’re in no shape to play that game with him again.”

“Damn it I’ll be fine.” He growled back.

“Yes you will be.” She said more to appease him. “But you’re not now. You need a day or two. Since your power is so physical you probably heal faster than a normal person at least that’s how most of the people I’ve worked with have been. All of you guys probably do actually, except you Jack. But you can’t try to get back at Stefan when you’re in this shape.” She touched the back of his head to feel where she saw hit the car in her vision. “You do actually. This lump on the back of your head had a been bleeding and it’s already healed. You should probably wash the dried blood out of your hair and go to sleep. That always helped the others I’ve known.”

“You always know everything, huh?” He turned his anger on Amelia. “Why didn’t you see this earlier then?! Why couldn’t you have done something before it was too damn late?”

She didn’t let it bother her. “Alex, this isn’t going to solve anything. I can’t stop things that are supposed to happen. I’ve learned that there are things that I can change and things that I can’t. Nobody can fix everything. I sometimes forget that being 21 means you still think that you can.”

Jack left Sally’s side and walked over to Alex. “Come on man, this doesn’t help.” He said as he put a hand on Alex’s shoulder and began leading him to the bathroom.

Alex pulled himself as harshly as he could from Jack and stomped -as best he could- to the bathroom on his own.

After Alex slammed the door behind him with all the guys watching.

“That’s a huge step backward.” Jack said sad, feeling like he was watching Alex disappear all over again.

“More like a giant leap.” Rian said amazed how quick it happened.

“This time our plan’s gotta be really good.” Jack said again looking back at everyone else.

Zack scoffed. “No kidding.”

***

The room they were in was a different one this time.

Jazz and Jenny were in it together.

This one though didn’t have the bed in the middle, no this was a narrow little room with the paint chipping where they were simply chained to the wall by their wrists. Their feet hardly touched the ground, pulling on their wrists and pulling their arms out of place.

They were afraid.

This was the first thing they saw upon waking after the apartment was converged on by Stefan’s goons.

Jazz didn’t know why they got to be stored in the same room. She remembered she and Sally were separated.

“Why do they have us together?” She wondered out loud.

Jenny looked over at Jazz. “What?”

“They kept me and Sally separate. We weren’t hung up like this either. They’re doing things differently. I don’t know why.” Jazz explained.

“Maybe they just wanted us in a room that the guys haven’t already seen.” She said being as logical as she could be with the fear coursing through her like it was.

Jazz nodded but wasn’t so sure. She looked up remembering seeing the camera in the other room so she glanced up to check if there was one in here too.

“Jenny don’t say or do anything you don’t want them to know about, their watching us.” She said calmly.

Jenny just started tugging at her restraints. “Isn’t there any way to get out of this place?” She grunted as she pulled at them.

Jazz looked over at Jenny knowing she had a way out. “You could tell them your power. I‘m not sure they‘ll let you go but they‘d probably at least let you out of here.”

Jenny couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You think I should tell them my power so they can use it against us?”

“Jenny they already know the guys’ powers do you think your power could make it so much worse? We have no idea what they‘re going to do to us, if I could I‘d do it. It‘s better than being trapped here in pain and scared.” Jazz said softly, honestly pleading for Jenny to do something for her own good. “You shouldn’t get hurt if you don’t have to.”

“Jesus Jazz, you’re talking like you deserve this treatment.” Jenny said in total disbelief now.

“Well, no it’s not like that. There’s nothing I can do about it though. I always knew something like this would be the death of me.” Jazz couldn’t help but chuckle to herself. “I’ve always been so helpless and I never was the type to stand up for myself, I just knew I’d die in some ridiculous situation like this.”

“Woah, back the morbid bus up! We are not dyin’ here. Is there a doubt in your mind that the guys’ll be here to save us? If there is you’re insane.” Jenny said firmly. As she thought about it she couldn’t believe she was giving a pep talk in this situation.

Jazz looked over at Jenny still with the strangely serene smile that came to her face after her little chuckle. “I’m not scared of dying, Jenny. I don’t care if I die today, tomorrow, ten years, or even fifty years from now. I came to peace with death a long time ago.” Then her face changed. “But I am afraid of pain. I think you can avoid that though so go for it. No one would fault you for it.”

Then in walked Stefan with his hands crossed behind his back as he walked in regally.

“Hello ladies.” He spoke like he was flirting with them.

They both remained silent.

Although they both almost simultaneously thought, “So not what I expected him to look like.”

Everyone had kinda envisioned him as the old fashioned villain with the curly mustache without even realizing they had.

“Things would go so much better for you guys if you talked to me.” He said arrogantly and stepping closer. “If you don’t talk to me things can get very ugly.”

***

Everyone had gone off to their rooms Amelia was laying on her couch focused on getting the right vision. She needed to know what to do. These guys would start falling apart and making rash decisions if they didn’t do something soon.

As if on cue it struck her as she laid there searching through the vast abyss of the big black expanse of her mind that was her direct link to the future. Color flooded in and she knew this was a new vision.

She watched the vision eyes wide open like always. Taking in every move, every subtle nuance as those usually told her the most.

As this one came to an end a smile spread wide on her face.

She knew what had to be done.

“I know why they had to be taken.” She said to herself happy to know the answer now.

She sat up and grabbed a piece of paper to write down the plan to really solidify it.