.[ 37 ] 2014

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"I was just wondering how you're going to dispose of all the bodies once you're done here? Or will you just leave four rotting cadavers in this house when you return to good ol' America? People know you live here and the cops will probably find you, get you back to Australia, and throw you in jail. Killing people in your basement takes more thought than you're giving it."

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Calum stepped back away from Harley who was still unconscious atop an experiment table. He cocked his gun when the idea struck him and aimed it at the metal restraints that were holding her down. Arthur stopped him, knowing what he was about to to, and he placed a hand on Calum's shoulder, "Wait, Calum. You could hurt her if you do that. Let's try to find another way." Arthur knew of the risk he would take by attempting that. There were metal restraints at her wrists, ankles, and one around her waist. Each of them was about two inches thick. The probability of failure was too big to even attempt it.

But Calum shook his head. "I have pretty good aim. I wouldn't do it if I knew I could harm her."

"I still don't think it's such a good idea-" Arthur began, but it was too late.

Calum had pulled the trigger and a bullet shot out of his gun. With lightning speed, the bullet his the metal restraint and bounced off it, going past both Arthur and Calum, hitting one of the teenagers behind them. Calum turned to see Andrea fall to her side, where Niall caught her just before she hit the ground. He saw a bullet wound from where the bullet had been lodged in her upper leg and he winced out an apology.

"Sorry Andrea." He told her. But she probably couldn't hear him over her very own screams of pain.

Niall brought her down to the ground slowly, and observed the wound with tears in his eyes. "Calum, what the fuck did you just do? Why would you think that was a good idea?"

"It was stupid, I know." Calum admitted, looking at Andrea losing consciousness slowly in Niall's arms. He ran a hand through his hair and offered a solution, "I'm really sorry, and I know that doesn't fix anything. Look, just take Paúl's car and get her to a hospital quick. Make sure she's okay, and message me when she's been seen by a doctor. I'll take care of the bill when I get my money back from my uncle Cole." Upon seeing the way Andrea was suffering from her wound, he had been very close to yelling at his friend. But when he saw that Calum was no longer the unapologetic person he had once been, his anger at him softened. It had been an accident, Calum hadn't meant to injure her. Without even protesting, Paúl reached into his pocket for his keys and tossed them at Calum who handed them to Niall. Niall nodded his head and got back on his feet, easily lifting Andrea up in his arms. He hurried out of the house with her, and the group was left with two less people to help with their mission.

Minutes later, Paúl turned to Calum, asking, "What do we do now? We don't know how to get them out of these restraints."

The boy with raven hair walked over to one of the machines in the room, his eyes looking at every part of it, searching for something that could release the two girls. "Maybe one of these machines has some kind of release button." His index finger lingered over one of the buttons like he was about to press it.

This time, Arthur pulled his hand away from the machine. "Son, maybe it would be better if I had a look at these machines."

Calum sighed, but agreed with him. "You're probably right, uncle."

Arthur observed all the buttons on something nearby that looked like a control panel. After looking at it for a few moments, he got his cellphone out of his pocket and used it to snap a few pictures of the controls. Looking to the two boys who watched him curiously, he explained, "I have some people who work for me, and they would be able to determine exactly which button we need to press. I just don't want another disaster to happen." Calum knew they could have easily pressed any button to try their luck, but the last thing either of them wanted was to hurt the girls. Especially when they had no idea what would be the negative consequences. But judging by the tear stains on Dempsey's face, they knew it was something painful.

They were waiting on a response from Arthur's people when they heard the door to the basement shut with a loud bang. At first, they thought it was Niall and Andrea, but then they saw Dr. Barnes walking down the steps leading to the basement. In front of him was Niall, with Andrea in his arms, and the scientist was forcing them down to the basement at gun point.

He had probably found them leaving the house and knew there were more people inside. With an amused smirk on his face, Dr. Barnes said to the group who was already down there. "It truly surprises me how loyal your kind are to each other." Gesturing to Niall and Andrea, he added, "This one wouldn't tell me who else was down here, trying to steal my lab specimens, even though I would find out anyway."

With jaw clenched and through gritted teeth, Calum said, "Let them go, it was my idea to come here. She needs to get to a hospital, for fucks sake! She's dying!" He looked to Andrea who was unconscious. The blood that was seeping out of her wound was already staining Niall's clothes as well.

"I don't care whose Idea it was." The chemistry professor hissed. As they reached the bottom of the steps, he directed Niall to the middle of the room, where he had him get down on his knees with his girlfriend still in his arms. Tapping the blonde in the back of the head with the barrel of the gun, he instructed, "Set her down on the floor and place your hands behind your head." His eyes darted to Calum, Arthur, and Paúl. "If any of you try anything stupid, he'll be the first to die. I didn't come this far to leave empty handed."

But Niall shook his head, ready to make the sacrifice for Andrea, and his friends if necessary. "Don't worry about me. Save Harley and get Andrea to a hospital if I don't make it out of here."

Paúl got back on his feet by Dempsey's side. He had checked her pulse and determined that she was okay. She was breathing at least. He assured Niall, "We're not leaving anyone behind. You're all under my responsibility."

"Alright, enough dramatic friendship bs." Dr. Barnes rolled his eyes at them. "All of you get in between the experiment tables right now. On your knees, hands behind your head if you don't want this one to die." He tapped Niall on the back of the head once more. Each time the metal barrel of the gun touched his head, Niall jumped slightly in fear.

"Okay," Calum began to talk to him in a calm voice, trying to reason with the chemistry teacher. "We did what you asked. So you can let him take Andrea to a hospital. What would you do with all these people trapped in your basement?"

"I came here for Dempsey Johannsson, but that intrusive girl over there had to try to play the hero." He explained, gesturing to Harley who was on the table behind them. In front of them was Dempsey Johannsson. "Then you all had to come play knights in shining armor. I'm still taking the two girls, and I'll kill the rest of you one by one. The other girl will probably just die on her own, so I don't have to worry about her." He looked At Andrea who was still bleeding heavily on the ground. Niall watched her helplessly with his hands behind his head. He couldn't do anything to help her.

The three who was kneeling in between both experiment tables also could only watch as Andrea's life slipped away before their eyes. Calum's dark eyes darted to his right where Arthur was kneeling. In his hand was a cellphone, and it was set to call. The screen marked that it had been calling someone for a couple of minutes, which meant that he had been calling for help and someone was probably already on their way.

"People will look for us, you know, when they realize we're missing." Calum informed him, matter-of-factly.

Dr. Barnes gave a shake of his head. "Do you think I'm stupid? No one will look for you. We know all about your kind. Most of you are orphans because your kind die young. The world would probably be better off without you anyway. And the United States government will be able to duplicate your abilities to use them for our benefit. Just think of the wars that could be won with those abilities." His eyes shone with greed. It was clear that part of his involvement in the experiments was to bestow the special abilities onto himself.

"Harley isn't an orphan." Calum spoke out again with a bit of hesitance, but he wanted to keep him talking. He wanted to keep him distracted until Arthur's people could arrive to help them. "She has family. They'll look for her."

"Well, they'll never find her." Dr. Barnes replied. "She'll be long gone. Now who wants to be the hero and go first?" He asked the three teenagers and the man in the room who were his hostages. Each of them had a gun in their possession, but Dr. Barnes had been aiming his gun at Niall and they didn't want to risk it.

"I guess I'll go first, since you're gonna kill us all anyway." Arthur offered in a very nonchalant way, dropping his cellphone in through the back part of his shirt. The fact that it was tucked in prevented the phone from falling out and down to the ground. He was very confident that his people would arrive on time or that something would happen and turn things around in their favor. Many things in his life had turned out that way. Most things--except his relationship with Harleen. But for the most part, Arthur Vega had always had exceptional luck.

He always thought it a blessing. That God felt bad for giving him a terrible mother like Claire Feeney and was compensating him.

Dr. Barnes nodded and beckoned him closer, pulling his gun away from Niall and now pointing it at Arthur. With his hands still behind his head, Arthur got back on his feet and took the few steps around the experiment table where Dempsey laid. The scientist had him get down on his knees again and placed the barrel of the gun on the back of his head.

Now the chemistry teacher was standing between Niall and Arthur, with his back to Niall. 

Calum shot his friend signals with his eyes. It was their chance to immobilize him now that he was distracted. And it would be their chance to save Arthur, and everyone else in the room.

"Do you have any last words?" Dr. Barnes asked in amusement. He was just aching to pull the trigger.

"I do, actually. Thank you for asking." Arthur replied with a grin. Calum was surprised that he could smile in the face of death like that. Or if he was faking, he wondered how he was doing it so convincingly. "I was just wondering how you're going to dispose of all the bodies once you're done here? Or will you just leave four rotting cadavers in this house when you return to good ol' America? People know you live here and the cops will probably find you, get you back to Australia, and throw you in jail. Killing people in your basement takes more thought than you're giving it." He was making time for them, just like Calum had been. Even though they weren't actually related by blood, Calum noticed he and Arthur were more similar than he thought.

In the time that it had taken Arthur to give his final thoughts, Niall was able to get back on his feet and step over Andrea quietly. He grabbed his gun out of its holster and used it to hit Dr. Barnes on the side of head with the gun's grip. 

The scientist fell to the floor, unconscious and Arthur got back on his feet. Smiling at Niall, he said, "I knew I could trust you, Sniffy." He called him by the nickname Paúl had given him.

Calum and Paúl got on their feet next. Calum hurried over to both of them, asking Niall, "Why didn't you shoot him?"

"I don't wanna kill anyone!" Niall refused with a quick shake of his head.

Snatching the gun from his friend's hand, Calum pointed it at Dr. Barnes who was unconscious on the ground. "I'll do it." 

"Don't." Arthur stopped Calum again. "He's just a dumb human. A puppet of his government. Let him live so that he'll know he failed. And when he returns to America, they'll probably get rid of him themselves."

"Well," Calum tried to reason, "Let's at least shoot him in the leg so he won't follow us if he wakes up."

Arthur sighed. "Fine."

Calum pulled the trigger as he stood above the now immobile scientist. The bullet lodging into his leg had been enough to startle him awake and he winced in pain, bringing his hands to the injured area. The intense pain slowly took him into unconsciousness once again, and Arthur dragged him to a far end of the room where the scientist laid bleeding.

Niall lifted Andrea in his arms again and hurried out of the house, on his way to get her to a hospital. Just as he was leaving the basement, a group of hunters stormed into the house like an army. All of them were dressed the same way as Arthur was, and the majority of them looked to be in their late teen years. They all held guns in their hands--not Diamond Rose ones--and brought them down to their sides when they realized there was no longer a threat in the room. "We got here as quick as we could, boss." One of them, the leader of the group said.

"A little too late." Calum muttered to himself. "We almost died."

"Who are you? And why do you feel like you have the authority to reproach us?" The group leader asked Calum with a glare of his dark eyes. His pale skin contrasted with his brown eyes and dark brown hair.

"My nephew Calum has every authority to reproach you, James." Arthur informed them. "He's right. We almost died. We were counting on you."

James sighed, an apologetic look making an appearance on his face. "I take full responsibility, boss. Perth is four hours away, and when Naileah transported us here, we kinda got lost in the portal she opened for us." Arthur apparently had people who worked for him and held the gift of teleportation. It was the method the group had used to arrive from Perth so quickly.

"Its fine." Arthur shook his head. A moment later, he added a question. "Did you get what I asked?"

The leader of the group nodded his head. "Of course, boss."

"Thank you, James." Arthur said.

"Anything for your daughter, boss." James nodded. As he passed Calum, he bumped shoulders with him rather roughly. Neither of them had gotten off on a great start with each other. He walked to one of the panels with several levers and buttons. With his phone out, he was able to determine the correct one and pressed it. The metal restraints quickly disappeared from around the two girls. "Her brother and I were best friends back when they still lived in Perth, but you know that already since you assigned me to watch over her when she was studying at Applecross." His dark eyes now darted to Calum and he smirked. He hadn't given all that information for nothing, just for Calum to know that he had known Arthur's daughter first. He wanted to irk him since they hadn't gotten along.

But Calum wasn't interested in nothing more than Harley at that moment. He rushed to her side and pushed James out of his way. He pulled Harley into his arms and picked her up.

It was time for everyone to return home.

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a longish chapter for you all. guys, im super hungry right now. but i decided to go on a diet because i feel like a cow. so i can only eat 1400 calories a day, which would seem like a lot. but most foods have a ton of calories. its unfair. anyway, im just saying this because im starving and my brain feels like it isn't working properly. so sorry if this chapter is shit.

i'll try to have a new one up for you soon. thank you loads for reading and supporting me, and this story, and this series especially. its been two years now ;) and MITM is super close to 2M reads now. crazy! i never imagined this would happen.

so qotd: which is your favorite food? let me just fantasize about eating delicious things. haha. i really love cheese ravioli and chicken alfredo. but since im mexican, lets see what kind of mexican food do i like as well...hm. i really like enchiladas, tacos de asada, mole poblano, omg my mouth is watering. what are you guys' fave dishes? and which is the characteristic one of your country? usa i guess would be burgers and hotdogs. mexico would be tacos ^.^ mexican food wins tho.

HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK.

-clary xx