The Only Hope for Me Is You

“GOD DAMN IT!” Gerard yelled as soon as Mikey was no longer visible through the window.

“Gee, baby calm down…” I said, lightly touching his arm, only to have him throw it aside and turn to face me.

“NO! He’s being taken away, and we can’t do shit about it!” he yelled back at me. “Fuck!”

“Gerard, we’ll save him,” Frank said, walking forward to put a hand on his shoulder. “Have faith.”

“Faith my ass! They’re gonna kill him!” he replied, shrugging Frank’s hand off his shoulder and walking a few strides away from us, muttering something I couldn’t make out.

“We don’t know that for sure,” Ray said. “For all we know Exploder’s telling the truth.”

“Do you know what you just said, Ray?” I scoffed. “It’s Exploder we’re talking about.”

“Exploder or not, two of our ranks are in his control, and we have to do something about it,” Frank said, his gaze turning to Gerard, who was now crying tears of anger as he paced back and forth. “And sooner rather than later.” He turned his head back to me, frowning.

“They can’t do this to him…” I heard Gerard repeat as he paced back and forth, staring at his hands. “They can’t…they just can’t…”

“I say we go in, guns at the ready, and fuck shit up,” I said, taking out my gun.

“To be honest, that’s really all we can do,” Ray agreed, putting his hair behind his ear. “We don’t have any time to plan things out.” At this moment, Gerard stopped pacing and stood still, his head raising slowly as he spoke.

“Then let’s go,” he said, and started walking towards the door. I held my arm out to him as he walked by and he stopped next to me, and looked at me as he put his mask on his face.

“Gerard…” I said, and he shook his head, responding only by blinking slowly. He kept walking, Ray and Frank following behind him. I hung my head to stare at the ground for a minute before jogging to catch up to them, cocking my gun as I did so, and followed them into the lobby of the building, surprised at the lack of security that BL/ind was throwing at us. There was the occasional Drac, but every time one revealed itself, Gerard continued walking, effortlessly raising his gun and killing them as he walked without breaking stride; at this point neither me, Frank, or Ray had our guns out, believing Gerard could take out an entire army at this point.

This continued until we turned a corner, and walked down the connecting hallway until we reached a room that was tinted greenish-gray. As we walked up to it, I saw Lauren, awake, sitting in a hospital bed, bound to it by leather restraints, struggling to get free.

“LAUREN! YOU’RE AWAKE!” I shout as I started running towards the room, but Gerard ran after me, shouting for me to stop.

“NO CY, WAIT!” He pulled me by the shoulder to a halt, just as I reached the door. A hoard of Dracs lined up in front of the door, aiming their guns towards us, and in return we all did the same to them.

“The pads on the floor,” Lauren stuttered from her hospital bed. “they’re sensory pads, if you step on them you’ll set off the bombs. They’ll kill you instantly.” My face fell as I aimed my gun at the Drac in front of me, my anger building up even more.

“I’m so sorry guys…I fucked up again.” Lauren said, hanging her head. Frank pushed past me from behind the group, limping slightly, gun still raised.

“No.” he started, his gaze on Lauren. “It’s not your fault at all, Lauren.” He said reassuringly before turning his head to Gerard beside him, “Gerard…there has to be some other way.”

“There is no other way, guys, you have to get out of here, find Mikey and get the fuck out of here before they get you.” Lauren responded, her voice cracking as she spoke.

“Fuck that!” Ray shouted from behind me.

“Ray I’m sorry…guys just go, Mikey’s in one of the cells.” Lauren said, managing a smile but, but I saw in her eyes that it wasn’t even close to being realistic. She was right, there was nothing we could do for her right now but to go save Mikey.

“We’ll get you out.” I say to her, blowing her a kiss before turning to Gerard, “Come on babe, we need to find your brother.” I said calmly, linking my arm in his as the others lowered their guns.

“Just find him for me, tell him I love him and I’ll see him soon, okay?” Lauren said through muffled sobs. Seeing her like this broke my heart; I was on the verge of tears as well.

“We love you, Lauren.” Ray said quietly, giving her a sweet small smile before patting Frank on the back, making him jolt slightly as he sniffed. “Come on guys.” He said, turning around with Frank.

“I love you too.” Lauren mumbled as we turn away from the hospital room and make our way down the hallway.

“OH AND GUYS!” we hear Lauren shout suddenly. We all stop, turning towards her, waiting for her to speak. “If you get tapes sent to you, by god please don’t watch them, especially Mikey, please don’t let him watch them…”

Gerard nods once, and motions for us to follow him down the hallway.

“Follow the blood trail,” he said, his voice wavering. “I have a feeling Mikey’s at the end of it…”

“Gerard…” I said quietly, tightening my arm around his. He shook his head, a tear falling down his face from behind his mask. I moved my gaze to the others, who mirrored Gerard’s expression as they walked. Following the blood trail left behind from whatever happened to Mikey earlier, I couldn’t even begin to imagine what happened to him.

We followed the trail of blood all the way down the hall, around a corner, and noticed it stopped right outside a cell in front of us. Surprisingly, it was unguarded, so Gerard immediately sprinted forward and started pounding on the door, screaming and sobbing uncontrollably.

“MIKEY! MIKEY WE’RE HERE!” he sobbed. “Fuck, please say you’re still alive, damn it! MIKEY!”

“Watch out,” Frank said, pulling out a long cylindrical object from his back pocket.

“Frank, what’s that?” I asked him, and he shrugged, putting it in front of his face.

“Pipe bomb,” he said simply.

“Uh….Gerard, I suggest you move,” Ray said, grimacing. Gerard slowly backed away from the door after pounding on it a few more times, hanging his head as Frank lit a cigarette, and put the tip to the pipe bomb, lighting the fuse and threw it at the door.

“HIT THE DECK!” he yelled, and we all ran back down the hall, and hid around the corner as we heard a gigantic explosion, followed by a loud metallic CLANG of the door falling.

“Nice…” Frank said proudly. “I made that out of the parts from the bomb I dismantled…didn’t think that would actually work.”

“Mikey!” Gerard yelled, scrambling to his feet and running back down the hallway. We followed him, and once we got back to the cell, we found Mikey sitting in the corner of the tiny cell, rocking back and forth as Lauren was displayed on the tv screen being tortured and screaming. There was no sound, but you can see it in her face that she is in pain. Mikey looks up at us, his face puffy, nose and mouth bleeding, his right eye puffy and swollen from a black eye, his hair untidy and matted all over his face. Gerard immediately fell on his knees in front of him to wrap his arms around his brother, sobbing heavily, his cries echoing in the small cell. I look back at Frank and Ray, Frank reaching out to hold my hand, tears falling from both of their eyes as well as mine.

“You’re alive…alive….Mikey…oh god…I thought I’d never see you again….” Gerard choked out through his sobs, holding his brother tight in his arms. “Mikey, talk to me, please…what did they do to you? I’ll kill them…I’ll kill them all…” Mikey didn’t respond, his eyes still darting back to the tv.

“Gerard…look…” I said, pointing at the screen. He sniffles, and moves his head to the tv just in time to see Lauren get shock treatment, her screams silent from the tv, but still audible from down the hall.

“Sick motherfuckers, this isn’t a tape,” Frank said, mouth agape. “THIS IS A LIVE FEED.”

“What the fuck?” Ray exclaimed, turning to look down the hall. “Who the fuck does that shit?”

“Fucking Exploder is going to get it so fucking hard,” I growl, cocking my gun and turning around. “I’ll be back.” I start to walk down the hall, but Frank and Ray stop me, pulling me back by the arms.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” Frank whispered in my ear. “You can’t go at it alone. You have no protection.”

“But—“

“No buts, Cy. We can’t do anything for her right now. Mikey’s our main focus…just look at him.” He motioned his head to Mikey, and I looked down at him, seeing how glazed over his eyes were. It was like he was a patient in an insane asylum, not really there mentally. What had they done to him in such a short amount of time that made him like this?

“Mikey…” I said as I joined Gerard on the floor next to him, Gerard still clinging onto his brother. “What did they do to you?” He sat there, silent, and hung his head, shaking.

“Mikes…come on…you can tell us…” Gerard said quietly, his voice still quivering.

“Mikey, we need to know what happened to you,” I said, moving his bangs out of his face with my hand, gingerly grazing his black eye, causing him to wince. Mikey was silent for a few more minutes, but slowly began to speak, raising his head to look at Gerard.

“They…they lured me into a trap,” He said, a tear falling from his left eye. “They took me in to see her…and started beating me up.”

“Mikey—“ Gerard started, hugging him tighter, making him groan in pain.

“They pinned me to a wall and punched the shit out of me right in front of her…” he continued, hanging his head again. “Right fucking there in front of her.”

“What the fuck…” I heard Frank say as he punched the side of the doorframe. “Those sick bastards.”

“It was all Exploder…” Mikey continued on. “He did this to me so…so Lauren and I don’t get married…” He put his hands over his ears, beginning to sob as he spoke. “I don’t even know why he is doing this, but he wants it so one of us is dead, and the other to suffer…”

“Who the fuck does he think he is?” I said, shaking Mikey’s shoulder lightly.

“We’ll get him,” Gerard said, kissing his brother’s forehead. “I promise, we will get him, and kill him, and then Korse will be our only problem from now on.”

“But for now,” Ray said. “We have to get you out of here, little buddy.”

“I’m not leaving without her…” he said, shaking his head. I squeezed his hand in mine as I spoke sweetly to him, smiling.

“Mikey…Lauren said we have to save you before her…she wants you to know that she loves you, and will see you later, okay? She promises…” Mikey stared into my eyes for a minute, then nodded slowly. Gerard and I helped him to his feet and walked him out of the little cell. I saw him take one more glance at the screen before Frank took out his gun and shot it, sparks flying from the glass as it exploded.

“Let’s go,” Frank said, holstering his gun as he walked, leading the way. We nodded, and walked behind him, Ray and Frank in front, Gerard and I supporting Mikey in the back as we walked down the halls, eventually making it to the lobby by the entrance of the building. Gerard and I walked Mikey outside to the car and slowly put him in passenger’s seat, his head lolling as he sat down. Gerard kissed his forehead once more, and patted his shoulder, smiling slightly.

“You’re gonna be okay, buddy, I promise,” He said. “Frank’s gonna take care of you now okay?” Mikey nodded, his good eye squinting in the sunlight.

“Protect her, okay?” he asked Gerard. “Save her, bring her back to me in one piece…please…”

“We promise we will,” I said, pretending to smile. “And I’ll grab your shades too, Mikes.” He nodded as Gerard leaned forward to hug him tightly.

“I love you Mikey,” he said.

“I love you too Gerard,” Mikey replied as Gerard leaned back. “And do me a favor?”

“What?”

“Beat the shit out of Exploder for me.”

“You got it,” I said, saluting. Just then, Frank and Ray walked outside to join us. Gerard tossed the keys to Frank, and he caught them, nodding.

“Take care of him, yeah?” Gerard said as Frank got into the driver’s seat. “Call Dr. D, tell him what’s going on. Show Pony too, and anyone else out there that will listen.”

“You got it,” Frank replied, nodding. “Do you want me to come back for help?”

“I think we got it from here,” Gerard said. “Just keep him safe, and for fuck’s sake don’t let him try to run away to come back and help.” Frank saluted, and started the engine, gunning off into the desert, the sound of the motor dying as he got further and further away. I turned to Gerard, holding his hand.

“He’ll be okay,” I soothed, getting on my toes to kiss Gerard lightly on the mouth.

“I hope so…” Gerard said as he pulled away. “Let’s go.” I nodded, and followed him back into the building, Ray behind us.

“So, what’s the plan?” I asked. Gerard shrugged, thumbing the trigger of his gun.

“We find Exploder, kill him, and save Lauren.”

“Perfect,” I said, looking up at him. He looked back down, his face stern, but in his eyes I knew he was still worried about his brother and Lauren.