Kidnapping
Kidnapped masterlist
Taglist: @extrabitterbrain @wolfeyedwitch @fuckcapitalismasshole @ghost-whump @whump-tr0pes
@rainbowsandwhumperflies @whumpinggrounds @actress4him @painful-pooch @i-eat-worlds
@a-funeral-romance @rainydaywhump
AI-less Whumptober alt 8: kidnapping
(I am absolutely not writing these in order lol, I needed to fit them into the story. Also this one is mostly background I think)
Phoenix discovers that Brynn has gone missing.
2k
CWs: hero whump, panic, uncontrolled transformation, assumed kidnapping, past abuse and whump, nightmare, asshole managers
“Phoenix.”
Phoenix looks around in their dream, very confused. That voice, coming from the roof of the shed, there shouldn’t be anyone there.
“Phoenix!”
Phoenix jolts upright with a gasp. It takes them a moment, but then they see the string of coloured lightbulbs, the light-up sign, the glow-in-the dark stars on the ceiling, feel the weighted blanket wrapped snugly around them. They're not in the shed. They're not in the shed.
“Phoenix! Get down here, we need to speak to you!”
Phoenix flinches, and then– oh. It's Wildfire. They throw a hoodie on and hurry downstairs.
The cell block is cold tonight, but they hover around the entrance anyway, red lantern shining off the brickwork. Wildfire looks agitated in it, tracking Phoenix urgently.
“What’s wrong?”
“Sovereign has escaped.”
Phoenix staggers back a few steps. Sovereign. Escaped. No.
“When? How? Brynn– I–”
“Three days ago. The guards were discussing it. I thought you should know.”
“Right. I, um, thank you, I– I should–”
“Go!”
And Phoenix bolts. Straight back up to their flat, flying into their room and ignoring any commotion, dialling the number because if Sovereign's out that means he'll be coming for them, he'll be coming for Brynn because she double-crossed him and nobody lives to tell that tale.
Brynn's phone goes straight to voicemail. Fuck, fuck fuck fuck no.
Gemma. They can try Gemma.
She picks up after a few rings.
“Hello?”
Her voice is groggy and Phoenix immediately feels guilty.
“Sorry, I didn't mean to, um, wake you up, but do you, um, is Brynn there? And can I, um, can I speak to her?”
“Phoenix?”
“Yes, sir?”
“It is you then. She left yesterday, to surprise you by coming back early. Did she not arrive?”
Phoenix's heart skips a beat. No. No. This can't be happening. They can't lose her.
“No. No, um, no, she didn't. And Sovereign's escaped and–”
“Sovereign's escaped?” Gemma sounds alarmed, and far more awake now. “When?”
“Three, um, three days ago. And they didn't tell us and Brynn–”
“I understand. They didn't say anything to us either. I'll keep my eyes peeled for Brynn, but your contacts will probably be more useful.”
Phoenix nods, then remembers Gemma's on the phone. “Right. Thanks. You, um, thank you.”
“Call me if there's any updates.”
“I, um, I will.”
They say their goodbyes and Phoenix dashes out and up the fire escape, heading for the roof. Because Gemma's right, their contacts are more useful.
They're just not sure exactly how to reach him.
It's crossed their mind before that he might have the place bugged. They've never been sure how to feel about it, but right now, they cross their fingers and pray to everything they no longer believe in that he does.
“Electrocus!”
They scream their call to the cloudless sky, a desperate plea for the only person who might be able to help. Because Brynn is missing, and Sovereign's out, and the only person who might have a clue where they are is another villain.
They watch the skyline, fists clenched. Come on, come on, please let him be spying.
They watch.
And watch.
He’s not coming. He’s not coming.
They look down, blinking hard. He didn't hear. He doesn't care. He's not coming.
There's a soft thump behind them.
Phoenix spins around, heart leaping to their throat. “Electrocus?”
And there the supervillain stands, arms crossed, weight shifted to one side. Silhouetted against the streetlights.
“Firebird. Who do I need to kill?”
Phoenix flinches slightly at the strong voice. They still haven't quite worked out whether he'd do that for them.
“Sovereign's out. I think he, um, he's kidnapped Green Raptor. Have you, um, have you heard anything?”
“No. But there have been… rustlings. Among the villain community.”
Phoenix swallows hard. They don't know what these rustlings could be, but if Electrocus hasn't heard anything… how are they supposed to find her?
Electrocus steps forward and squeezes their shoulder. “I'll keep my eyes and ears open. We might hear something.”
“Thank you,” they choke out. Not the answer they were looking for but… maybe. Maybe there's still time. Maybe Sovereign will do something stupidly obvious.
Yeah, that last isn't likely.
He steps back, nods, and they turn their back for him to disappear. They don't know how he arrives on or departs from HAL’s rooftop and out of respect for them both it's a secret that's kept.
Phoenix wipes their eyes as they descend the metal stairs and enter back through the broken door (thankfully, it hasn't locked automatically for as long as they've known it). They just want to curl up and cry, but they can't. They can't. If Sovereign has Brynn, their team is probably next, and they need to tell someone. The door slams shut behind them and they stand there, uncertain, all their brain on Brynn, Brynn, Brynn.
“Phoenix? Come in, Phoenix, what's wrong?”
Phoenix blinks. Warm, steadying hands on their forearms. Santhiya's face in front of theirs, brow pinched in concern.
They try to shape the words, to convey, somehow, the depth of what's happened.
“Brynn. Sovereign.”
_
“...and you didn't think to tel us that the supervillain who we helped capture, who Brynn defected from, has escaped? You didn't even think to tell Brynn?”
Phoenix huddles under the blanket against the sofa and watches as Kai paces, phone to his ear, looking increasingly frustrated.
“You thought– why would she do that? How would she do that, she betrayed him! He'd kill her! Just because you can't conceive that someone might have a change of heart– yes. Yes, she's disappeared.” Huh. Phoenix didn't know Kai could grow claws when not in wolf form. “Fuck you. Fuck you, if that's your assumption! She's a member of my team, she's a good person and has made amends, she's been a hero for years now and your takeaway is that maybe she’s joined Sovereign again just because she was once his sidekick? That she can't have changed her mind despite how she helped arrest him? Fuck you.” He pants. “Yes, sir, I apologise, but– I– yes. No, we're not just going to leave them! And–” Kai listens, and then growls, wolf-like. “No. No, if we need to go after them, when we do it, it won't be for an arrest, or questioning, because we don't operate on assumptions of guilt. She helped us arrest Sovereign, what more do you need? For her to not have been adopted and abused by him in the first place, since she was a small child? God. We're not arresting her.” Another, longer pause, in which Kai twitches violently, his nose seeming to start lengthening. “We're rescuing her. I won't leave a member of my team to be arrested over bullshit. You can always order us not to go, or put us on probation, but we can resign, sir, and I know that Phoenix Costello and Santhiya Choudhary, for two, are willing to if you keep trying to stop us from doing our jobs. Everyone is worth rescuing, they're worth second and third chances, and I'm not going to let you stop us rescuing Brynn.” His ears, changing shape and colour, twitch. “Yes. Thank you, sir. You'll inform us of any developments? Thank you.”
Kai drops the phone and growls.
“Management didn't tell Brynn because they thought she might see how powerful Sovereign is and decide to join him.”
“What? But that's, um, that's not– she wouldn't! And, um, and any of us could do that. Just because she used to be a villain?”
Kai nods. Phoenix pulls the blanket tighter around themself, hiding what they're sure must be messed up patterns on their arms by now. If anyone knew how close they'd been to joining Electrocus that one time… and not even because he was a villain, just because he cared. They'd deserve their punishment but even so, they don't want management ever finding out.
“Gemma had lots of shouting matches with management over me,” says Morfydd, dumping cinnamon into the hot chocolate pan and stirring. “They didn't like that I came from Razor originally.”
“Assholes,” grumbles Lian, setting the mugs down with more force than necessary. “As if you'd have been more loyal to someone who did experiments on you and tried to shoot you.”
More and more, Phoenix wonders why they don't just leave. Just get up and walk out of here. But they can't – people are relying on them. There's no point in them if they're not going to be a hero.
They hum in agreement. They hate this. And Kai is– Kai is–
Santhiya kisses them on the forehead. “What's on your mind?”
They nod at Kai, whose claws have definitely lengthened. “Wolf.”
“Oh yeah. He did that when your secondment got increased too. Er, Kai? Claws?”
Kai looks down at his hands with visible surprise. Clearly his senses haven't started changing yet then. Are physical changes first?
“Oh.” With what looks like enormous effort, the claws shrink back into his hands, and his nose and ears go back to normal. He blushes. “Sorry.”
Santhiya glances at Phoenix, squeezing them tight. “It's fine. We need to talk about Brynn, and not losing anyone else.”
Kai nods, pacing. Lian and Morfydd bring over hot chocolate, sitting down together. Phoenix curls their hands around their mug, taking a gulp. It's scalding. Good.
But Morfydd’s hot chocolate is definitely not something to punish themself with, so they try to just nurse it for a while. It feels nice.
“We need to pair up,” says Kai decisively, “like we’ve done before. One pair and one three now, I guess. We each have a specific person to look out for. And if we have to leave the flat we don’t do it alone.”
“We should, um, call Aaron too,” adds Phoenix quietly. “They're, um, part of the team and Sovereign probably, um, probably knows.”
He's very dear to Brynn. Phoenix knows he was the first person she trusted here, and if Sovereign finds out just how important he is to her…
Kai nods. “Good idea. You'll do that?” Phoenix nods, already pulling out their phone. “One more thing. The trackers, from the time with The Chosen Ones. Do you still have yours, Phoenix?”
Phoenix shudders, blinking hard to banish the memories. “No, sir. It um, I was, um, it got lost.”
They worry Kai will want to know more but he just nods again. “Right. We’ll figure something out. Everyone else, put yours on. I know Sovereign is likely to remove them straight away but… just in case.”
Just in case. Just in case Sovereign infiltrates, or blows up a wall, and kidnaps one of them.
Of course, being in pairs won’t help if both of them are kidnapped. Would that be better or worse?
Lian stands abruptly. “I'm going to cook. If I sit here doing nothing I'll go mad. I can't help being angry at Brynn but she wouldn't betray us again. That's a stupid excuse management are using because they don't like that she used to be a villain. And I can't just sit here while they try to do what they would've done to Morfydd if it hadn't been for Gemma. They take ex-villains because it looks good but they can't deal with fucking nuance. So I'm going to cook.”
“They’d’ve liked me to disappear,” explains Morfydd quietly. “I wasn't a hero or a civilian, so.”
Phoenix shivers. They're close enough to villains that if anyone found out…
If Gemma helped Morfydd, maybe there’s something they could do to help people more. Before they get to medbay. Maybe Aaron will know. Or Gemma, but they… she’s still a bit of an unknown.
Not now, though. Later. After Brynn is back home safe.
They clutch Santhiya tightly, watching as Morfydd disappears into the kitchen and Kai sinks down to the ground, running his hands over his face. They don't want to lose anyone else.
Please don't let them lose anyone else.