[2er RPG] The Shepherd [ENG]

"Shut up or I break another one of your ribs", Marcus said, but didn't act on it.
Instead he reach behind him and tried to find the remote. It took him a second but once he had it in his hand, he knew exactly what buttons to hit. The TV turned on, than he entered his digital library without looking and skipped down two rows and then six movies to the right. He hit enter and the screen went black. A few seconds later, a bunch of logos flew across the screen. Marcus chose a movie, Logan would probably enjoy. Not much story going on and great action sequences: The Raid by Gareth Evans. Which was definitely not a children's movie. And with about one hundred minutes of play time, the movie would just fit in before their next appointment.
Marcus didn't need to see the movie. He knew it by heart. It was one of those movies he watched, when he was angry but had no way to dispose of the anger. He hoped, it would help Logan the same way.

"Don't be over-dramatic, I didn't break any of my ribs. I still can proudly say I didn't break any bone in my body ever, maybe I'm half gummybear.", Logan answered while rolling his eyes a little, although Marcus couldn't see that. Then he turned his gaze to the TV. Marcus knew exactly which movie he wanted to watch, while Logan reached for a thin blanket next to the couch. Everything was much more comfy with a blanket.
It was a good movie and Logan tried to really watch it, but his head felt like it was on fire and halfway through he fell asleep. His head was empty and he didn't dream. It was like he closed his eyes for just a second. He woke up when the doorbell was ringing, which startled Logan a little. Did he really sleep almost an hour now? The movie was paused.
He sat up to look for Marcus, maybe he was in the kitchen or on the toilet and this guy was a little early, hence Marcus didn't wait for him to come before doing anything else. The doorbell rang again and Logans head felt like it would explode any minute now.
He stood up and walke the few meters to the door to open it. A man with a uniform showing the logo of the soundproof company stood before him. Logan was still adjusting his eyes to the bright sunlight which shone directly in his eyes after he opened the door and he just wanted to lay down again. He felt like he had the baddest hangover.
"Good Day, I'm Marcel Milehill! I'm here to--"
"Yeah I know, come in." Logan interrupted and shortly shook this mans hand. He closed the door after him and then led the way to their bedroom.
"This is the room. I'm going to go downstairs again, if you need anything, just shout for me. But my boyfriend should show up any second now anyway."
"No problem, I'll just begin measuring the room."
Logan nodded slightly and then walked downstairs again to lay down on the couch. He finally drank the glass of water after dropping an Aspirin in it and soon after he was asleep again. He didn't even had the strength to torture that man with stupid jokes he had prepared.

Logan woke up again when the doorbell rang a third time. He wasn't even sure if he just closed his eyes for a second or if he had slept again. He stood up to get the door, maybe this guy forgot something and the door closed behind him, or it was somebody else. He opened the door and saw the same logo he did before, but two people now.
"Hi, you had an appointment to--"
"Yeah, your colleague is upstairs already."
"Colleague?"
"Yes he came here earlier and is working already."
"What? Hm, maybe we have double booked your order, let me check this." The man showed Logan a piece of paper which stated the address and what they ordered. Logan quickly skimmed through the order and only now a slight bad feeling broke through his headache.
"Could... could you wait here for a second please?" He didn't wait for an answer and closed the door in their face. "Marcus?!" He immediately was on his way upstairs. Maybe this was just a misunderstanding, maybe it was not and Logan didn't want to take any chances.

@Insane Pumpkin

As soon as Logan fell asleep, Marcus stopped the movie. There was no reason in leaving it on. He stayed a little while, then he carefully got up and let his boyfriend rest for a while. He told Logan to have a relaxed weekend with him but if the man was sleeping all day long, he could just as well work in their home office.
For the one hundredth time he read the files and crosschecked every thought he had. It was an excruciating task without a new result. And this was the very definition of madness. Plus the reason for Marcus' recent headaches.
The annoying sound of his phone vibrating on a stack of files brought him back into reality. Unknown number. Marcus got up and closed the door to the office, before picking up.
"Hey Francis."
"Hey little brother. How are you doing?"
Marcus had called Francis the morning after Logans disappearance. He didn't know why but it helped him keep his calm and concentrate on working. Also, his brother offered to help. Marcus told him that as long as he didn't hurt anybody, it was okay with him. They actually talked to each other every day since.
"Logan's back. So I'm good, I guess."
"We both know you are not okay until you get this guy who likes to blow up things."
Why did Francis know him so well?
"And I think I might be able to help you with that."
"You got something?", marcus asked way more excited than he should've been.
"It's not much, but I know that he's still in Washington. Apparently, he want's to keep tabs on you. I'm currently figuring out where exactly he's hiding. Oh, and I managed to rebuild one of his bombs. The one from the ice cream shop. And before you say anything: No, I'm not gonna use it. Not my style."
"I know. But please, don't sell it on the black market or something."
"That's fine with me. I send you a guide on how to build it yourself. Or whatever the law enforcement does with the blueprints of explosives. Say hi to Logan for me, will ya?"
"He's not gonna appreaciate that."
"I'm counting on it."
Francis hung up. Marcus sighed and waited for the text message with the bomb instructions. He looked over his shoulder, when he heard footsteps on the stairs. Muffled voices. Was it already three? Wow. Time was a weird thing, really. His phone buzzed again and Marcus' attention shifted back to the litte screen. Logan had it handled already, so he didn'tneed to bother about the guy in their bedroom.

Around the same time, a website deep down in the Dark Web opened up again. A live stream started and showed a man in a room, topless, strong. The room was completely empty. The man walked up and down, again and again, while trying to loosen the muscles in his arms. He looked scared, rushed, determined.
A door opened and he went outside. The view of the stream shifted, now showing what could only be called an arena. I was shaped like miniature colosseum. About a three foot above the ground, on the first step, lay a couple of rottweilers. They were calm, observing. When the man tried to climb the stairs, their demanor changed in an instant. The got up and growled, bareing their teeth.
"I wouldn't do that. Those dogs eat everything leaving the arena. They don't even listen to me in here", a voice said.
It was another man without a shirt. He was sitting on the opposite side of the door. He was as calm as the dogs were, not even looking at the other guy.
"So this is it?", the man asked, keeping a close eye on the dogs, which lay down again, "This is the big fight?"
"It is. And as promised you'll be free, if you win. The dogs are trained to not enter the arena unless they get a certain signal. I have no controll over the signal. If one of us leaves the arena, the dogs get fed early. The fight ends as soon as one of us is unable to move on their own. The winner can leave through the door behind me. The loser is dinner. You may chose your weapon now. And because I'm a good sportsman, you get the first hit."
In between the two men was a table with a couple of wepons. There was a baseball bat, a machete, a knife, brass knuckles. The contender chose his weapon, still watching the dogs. He slowly circled through the arena and towards the other guy who was still sitting on the floor, eyes closed.
With almost inhuman speed the guy stopped the punch the contender threw at him the the brass knuckles. A moment later, the guy was on his feet and threw the contender over his shoulder onto the concrete floor. He let go and went back two steps.
"You have to try harder than that to kill me", the guy said relaxed.
The contender stood up slowly. The second attack wasn't even parried. The guy just stepped aside and the contender punched a hole in some air. Only a second later, the fist of the guy slamed into the contender, sending him to the ground, where he puked. The guy sighed, then he grabbed the contender by the neck and elbow. In one smoothe move he threw the contender through the room an onto the stairs. The dogs immediately started barking and ran over to enjoy their meal. The contender screamed in pain while the other guy calmly walked out of the arena.

Marcus was reading the file, his brother send him. It was amazing what he managed to do with the little data he was able to provide him. He had the whole thing figured out.
When the door behind him opened, he expected Logan.
"Hey, sorry that I-"
It wasn't Logan.
"Nice to finally meet you, Mr. Williams."
Marcus' hand went for the drawer, where he and Logan kept their weapons.
"Ah! I wouldn't do that, if I were you", Miller said, "Well, you don't know the rules, so I forgive this little... itch of yours. Let me explain. I just planted a bomb in your bedroom. I also planted seven more bombs throughout the whole city of Washington, DC. YOu know my work so you believe me when I say that nobody will be able to disarm them without the proper code or instruction."
THat was the passage, marcus just read. It was scary how well informed Miller was.
"You get the code for the bomb in here as soon as we left the street. The other seven will be rewards for good behavior."
Miller had no gun, no detonator, nothing. Marcus could just lunge at him. But something was telling him not to. He wouldn't be fast enough. Miller would use the bombs if Marcus didn't cooperate.
"And what do I need to do for that?"
"First things first, Mr. Williams. Would you please come downstairs with me? We have a car waiting for us."
Grinding his teeth, Marcus slowly stood up and left the office. Miller was closely behind him but still relaxed as if they were old friends.
"Let's let Mr. Hunt sleep, shall we? He earned it. And for what I know, he didn't took well to your last kidnapping, did he?"
How did Miller know this?! This information was confidential!
They left the house and Marcus sat down on the backseat of a limousine, as did Miller. As the engine started up, Miller apologized and pushed a needle in Marcus neck. Seconds later, the world around him went black.

On the desk within their home office was a bunch of paperwork. But not one file was opened. And on one of the brown folders was a note, written in a very neat handwriting:

Dear Mr. Hunt,
Mr. Williams and I went for a little trip. Before you
start looking for us i would advise you to first disarm
the bomb I openly placed in your bedroom. To do so,
carefully open the black box and type in the number
456895321 before hitting #. Please be careful, the slightest
mistake will trigger the system to explode. I also would
like to inform you of seven more bombs randomly placed
within the city. The codes to disarm them will be earned by
Mr. Williams by passing certain tests. Please make sure to
keep an eye on the website whose accessdata will reach you
shortly. It is a website on the Dark Web so you may wanna
call in some technical help.
Sincerely yours,
Michael L. Miller

Logan rushed up the stairs. "Marcus?!" Still no answer, even if he was working he must have heard that. Logan wasn't sure to first check on this guy or to search for Marcus, who probably was in his home office. He decided to got to the office, since his gun was there and he maybe needed it anyway. After opening the door he knew something wasn't right. Folders lay on the desk, but Marcus wasn't here and the door wasn't locked. Even if Dylan wasn't at home, that was not like him. Short after the note caught Logans eye and he scanned the text. A shiver went down Logans spine and he clenched his fists. Again he wasn't sure what to do. Maybe he still had a chance to catch up, maybe the bomb went up as soon as he opened the front door once more. He couldn't know how big the explosion would be. He didn't even care about the people outside or his neighbors, but getting hurt now wasn't helping. And when that wasn't enough, Marcus would care and Logan didn't even know when they left.
Logan rushed into their bedroom and immediately stopped when he saw what Miller left there, while he took his phone out of his pocket to call Stan. What if this was a trap? What if not? Miller seemed to like playing and he needed his play pals, so he wouldn't kill Logan just like that right?
"Logan? What's up."
"Miller got Marcus, he took him somewhat between now and half an hour ago. Could you... I don't know, scan the streets for suspicious cars or anything? And call everyone to the office. Wait a minute, I'll put you on speaker."
"Sure no problem, I'm on it. What exactly happened?"
"That wasn't everything, he said he'd give me some link to a website in the Dark Web. And he left a bomb here, just gonna deactivate that."
The ex-soldier was shaking, not because of his headache which grew by the second, but because he was scared. Scared of loosing Marcus, scared of talking to Dylan about this, scared he wouldn't find Marcus before it was to late, whatever Miller was planning.
Logan breathed in and out for a second, put himself in some kind of work mode, put the phone on the floor next to him and opened the black box as it was stated in the letter.
"Wait wait wait... what?!"
"He left me instructions..."
"You trust them?"
"Well... yes? Is that stupid?" He started to type in the numbers.
"Uh... he's a terrorist."
"The other bombs will look the same I guess, if we get this one undamaged, maybe we have an advantage?"
"Or he builds other ones, or you explode?!"
"Marcus would do the same...", Logan murmured and put in the last number. He took a deep breath before pressing the # Button and... nothing happened.
"Logan?"
Logan held his breath and looked at the bomb before him.
"Logan?!"
"You can stop you Metal Gear Solid screaming, I'm still alive."
"Oh. I'll send someone to check this thing and pick it up if it's safe."
"Okay, I'll wait here."
"Maybe you wanna change floors."
"Miller took Marcus while I was in the house, he even planted this bomb and I was just sleeping. Maybe I didn't notice because of my fucking headache, but still, this guy is good. I won't let him take this away too."

Logan did what he said and waited beside the bomb, ignoring the workers ringing the doorbell until they left. Andrew came after a few minutes with their bomb specialist. Logan explained again what happened.
"They just went past me...I didn't notice anything. I even let him in our house! Me, the only one who actually know him, and saw him, just like in the prison!" Logan was more than angry with himself, nobody could tell him this wasn't his fault.
"He knew about your concussion, maybe he even is responsible for it.", Andrew said, Logan didn't respond.
"I'll have to talk to Dylan. I'm not sure what to do..."
"His smart, he'll know if you lie."
"I know. But, can he stay here with me? Should I get him to Mike again? Or Leila? I'm not sure if Miller would do anything to him, neither am I sure if I got proper time for him. Maybe I could even bring him to my parents, far away from here. Miller wrote there are more bombs, what if he planted one in Dylans school, or the supermarket? Sorry, I guess I'll have to figure that out myself." Logan sighed and gave his phone to Andrew. "I'm sure he'll send me the address on that phone. Although I doubt Stan can track him, take it for now. I'm doing the right thing this time and talk to Dylan. Then I'll help where I can to find Marcus."
"You need a ride."
"No thanks, I..."
"That wasn't a question. Call your sister."
"Leila? Why...?"
"Because you won't let any of us off the hook now and maybe you want her to leave town as well."
Logan nodded.

He called his sister and she immediately came over. Logan meanwhile packed Dylans stuff. Logan explained the situation to her just briefly then she drove him to Kyles house, where Dylan was. Leila said she would take him to their parents and stay there as well, but Logan wanted to talk to Dylan first. He wanted him to understand this decision and give him the possibility to suggest a better solution.
Logan sat next to Dylan in the car. Dylan immediately noticed something was wrong.
"Where's dad?"
"He's... you remember the situation a while back?"
"Is it my grandfather again?"
"No! He's in jail. A bad guy threatens a lot of innocent people and you know your dad, he can't just leave them. So he took it upon himself to safe them and he needs to play by the rules of this guy. Do you understand that?"
"Why him?"
"You know your dad is special, just like you. Bad people get jealous of him, or even scared."
"But you'll find him! Just like last time!"
"Stan and the others are working on it already. I wanted to make sure you are safe. You see, we don't know where this bad guy strikes next, maybe its close to school. Although your dad won't let anything happen to anyone here, I'd feel much better if I know you're safe. And your dad doesn't have to worry too."
"I...I understand... I want you to focus on work too!"
"So, are you good driving to my parents with Leila? She'll stay there with you and you get to meet our parents and our brothers."
"Y...yes! I wanted to meet them anyway..." Dylan tried to be brave, but Logan could tell he was on the brink of crying. The ex-soldier grabbed the boy and pressed him against his chest.
"Everything' gonna be alright, okay?"
Dylan nodded, but he couldn't hide his tears anymore and started crying. Leila looked at them from the drivers seat, she was worried, of course. Logan looked at her shortly, then he cuddled Dylan even more and let him cry as much as he wanted.
After he calmed down a few minutes later, Logan slowly let go of him. He looked him in the eyes to assure him, that he would do anything to find Marcus.
"You can call me, alright?"
"Yes! But only pick up if you have time! And..."
"What is it?"
"Can... can you tell Kyle and his parents to leave town too? I don't want them to get hurt..."
Logan smiled, although that wasn't so easy. He couldn't just tell someone there were bombs all around town, that would start a panic.
"Your dad protects them, right?"
"Yeah right! I...I'm gonna miss you..."
"I'm gonna miss you too, but this isn't for long."
Dylan nodded a little.
"I'm good Logan. You can go to work now."
"Actually you're driving me there. So we have a little more time."

After Leila and Dylan dropped off Logan at work, they took off. Dylan was brave and understanding as always, but this wasn't easy for him and it wasn't the first time. Logan was going to kill Miller for this!
He went upstairs to meet with his colleagues, surprisingly all of them stood in Stan office and stared at one of his screens.
"What's going on here?", Logan asked while coming inside. He looked at the screen as well and couldn't believe what he saw there.
"Stan? Send this to Francis."
"Francis? Like in Francis Ackermann Jr.?"
"Yes. I know you know how to contact him and he'll help his brother getting out of there."
No one didn't dare to mention Mike may disapprove and Logan didn't care.

Sometimes, Stan would love to have an extensive CCTV in Washington like London had. But yet again, that would be creepy. It would just make his work so much more easy at the moment. He liekd Marcus, too. He was the grumpy new guy when he first started at Shepherd's but every night they watched movies together. Marcus showed him some real gems. They didn't talk much but Stan considered him as one of his closest friends. Having him kidnapped two times within a couple of months was torture. He couldn't imagine how Logan felt. Or Dylan! The boy was awesome! He didn't deserve that.
His algorithms were drilling into a couple of security systems so Stan could analyze the footage, while he was entering the Dark Web. Andrew stood behind him, looking at the screens without knowing what Stan actually did. The suit had brought Logans phone over after it buzzed with a message from Marcus' phone. Of course, Stan was trying to track the other phone.
Stan established a save line and entered the web adress they were send. The page was plain black. After a couple of seconds, a video started. Andrew called over the whole team to watch it and about half way through, Logan joined them as well. After it was over and the screams were gone, a message popped up:

Don't worry, Mr. Williams does not need to enter the arena. Yet.
What you just witnessed was the last fight my dear brother fought.
Usually it's more interesting, so I apologize for that. The man, who died,
was Jeffrey Andersen. He lived in Wisconsin. He was the 149th contender
to fight in this arena.
Mr. Williams is going through a couple of tests to prove himself worthy
of being the 150th contender. By now, you should be able to discern how
many of those tests Mr. Williams has to pass. I will live stream every single
test and at the end Mr. Williams will receive the code for one of the bombs
I placed within the city. During the tests, there will be hints for the location
of my bombs. It is upon you, Mr. Hunt, to find the bombs and disarm them.
You may use as much ressources as you need for this task. This website will
go offline at five o'clock EDT. You will recieve a link to the live stream thirty
minutes before the start of said live stream.
Good luck.

"This guy really is playing a game, eh?", Stand said after reading through the message.
This was ridiculous! Stan felt as if someone had pushed him head first into an action movie or something. He would trace every single piece of data he could get his fingers on! They needed to get Marcus back before he had to go into this arena. But what would they do about the bombs? Stand had no idea how to crack them and apparently their bomb people were pretty cueless as well.
Stan rolled over to another one of his computers and started his search for Francis Ackerman. Logan said, he knew how to contact the guy but that was easier than done. That guy was a ghost! And he only used those cursed pay per call phones... Stand hated them. But he knew his ways around the Dark Net so he postet in some of the shadiest forums and used the same code language, Marcus was using when he openly talked with Francis through pages like this. Stan was a code cracker. A few looks and he had cracked theirs. Marcus didn't even know...
It took this bastard an hour, before he responded.
"Logan!", Stand called out, "Ackerman wants to meet you. He said, you should go for a walk with the dog in the park. Since when do you have a dog?"

Logan read the message over and over and over again. He asked himself if he was also a reason as to why Miller was doing this, or if he just wanted to prove he's smarter then Marcus and everyone else. Stan said they had to find Marcus before he had to go to this arena, Logan had another opinion, they had to find him before any of these tests.
He ignored his headache, he couldn't let go Marcus go through something similar his father had done to him. If Marcus was to go to fight there, he'd probably won't be able to kill someone he knew nothing about and if he did anyway, he finally changed and maybe his father had won.
Logan tried to forget the guilt he was feeling, he could have stopped Miller at the prison, at their doorstep, in their house... and he did nothing. He looked at him twice and didn't even get it and when he now thought about it, Miller told Logan. Marcel Milehill? Reordering these letters spelled Millers name.
He told Stan about his idea of Miller using some kind of code paired with chance, but as far as he knew, he could just roll a dice. Maybe predicting what he was planning was still somehow possible.

When Stan told Logan Francis wanted to meat him, the ex-soldier immediately took his jacket. "I don't have a dog. I have no idea if that is a joke or something... maybe he means Andrew."
"Hey!"
"Sorry, but you always follow Marcus or me around...?"
"At least you still make jokes..."
"Wasn't a joke completely, well, I'm off."
Logan went to the park as Francis demanded. He hated that guy, but he was smart and he did everything for Marcus, just like Logan did. And Logan also knew Marcus liked talking to him, he just wasn't sure if he liked that. As much as he hated Francis though, they had some things in common...
As always he didn't notice Francis anywhere until he was standing next to him. That was kinda scary, if Francis really wanted, Logan would have been dead in seconds.
"It's really creepy how fucking close you always are. Don't have a life of your own?", Logan asked and kept walking. "Marcus really needs your help, I don't care what our boss thinks, I'll tell you everything I know and you help us. Deal?"
Logan wondered if Francis disliked Logan even more, since Logan was supposed to keep Marcus safe in a way and this time was even a little responsible for what happened. Marcus telling his brother to leave Logan alone might not be enough at some point.



Marcus was being watched. It took a while until the medication wore off. His little room was not very comfortable, but it had what a human being needed. A bed, although not very comfortable, a toilet and he would get something to drink and eat. Miller didn't want people to say he won this game by weakening Marcus just enough.
In fact, this little room looked like a prison cell, without any windows though. Miller had worse in his life.
He was sitting on the floor, legs crossed, looking into Marcus calm face. He knew he wouldn't do anything to him, he couldn't. He held a whole town hostage and if he learned anything, it was that Marcus greatest weakness was his need to safe everyone. Even the bad guys. That was what made Miller the better one, he wasn't pulled down by the weight of the lifes of other people. Logan understood that, so he needed to separate them. Two against one wasn't fair right? And Marcus didn't want to play by the rules.
Marcus eyes twitched a little, he was waking up, Miller grinned a little.
"Finally we meet face to face. Sorry about the needle, but I can't let you know where you are. Well... you may feel a little dizzy the next few hours, but don't worry. I won't give you your first little task until you are at your full capacity again. Don't want to be calles a cheater, you know?"
He didn't try to hide his British accent, not like before when Logan kindly opened him the door. He was able to lay bare his cards now, without fearing any consequences.

"Actually, I don't, little brother", Francis answered.
Today, he was dressed like a rich lawyer or accountant. His suit was perfectly tailored to his massive body, the tie was flawless, his hair unusually long. He wore a wig. Long blond hair in a stylish ponytail. But in the leathery suitcase were no files, no paperwork. Instead, there was a big Bowie Knife resting in foam, ready to kill at any second, just like its owner.
"Since I promised Marcus to not hurt anybody. It's actually kinda fun to get information for him without using physical violence. I like a challenge."
Francis grinned but it seemed more like the dogs in the arena, baring their teeth in anticipation of their next meal. This man was a predator, nothing more.
"The thing is that I need access to your ressources. I need to get into your offices. So you should worry about what little Mike is thinking. But I'm not coming with empty hands."
Francis stopped in his tracks and sighed. He thought long and hard about this and what he was going to say and going to do was all Marcus' fault. He actually wanted to wait with this a little longer but the situation changed and now Francis had no other choice.
"I'm gonna turn myself in. In exchange for everything I need to get my brother back, you get me. I'm still not convinced, that I can be used for good, but my brother thinks that. So I'm willing to give it a shot. But: I do it my way. Whatever it takes to get Marcus back. I'm doing it and no Shepherd will stop me. If so, I will not put my weapons down. And as you know, I am a weapon. Now tell me: How and where's my nephew?"



Was it weird that Marcus got a good amount of refreshing sleep everytime he got kidnapped? Probably. He put it on the list of strange things in his life.
Coming back to consciousness was a struggle. His eyes, no, his whole body was just heavy. He didn't want to move. Blinking was exhausting. He heard a familiar voice. Who was it? Miller, right. Against the wishes of his body, Marcus opened his eyes. There was barely any light in here, which helped. And just to show Miller the middle finger, Marcus forced himself into a sitting position. True, he needed the wall behind him to lean on, but he sat. Miller smiled friendly.
"But you are a cheater", Marcus said, "You threatened my family to get my attention instead of just asking."
Miller's eyes darkened for a split second. But Marcus noticed.
He reached for his neck. The point where the needle hit him burned a little. Marcus was surprised to see that his hands weren't tied in anyway. Miller was pretty sure of his superiority. Well, in his current state, Miller probably was right.
"I should've hit the other side, shouldn't I? Sorry 'bout that. Didn't wanna irritate your scar. How was that actually? You almost died, didn't you?"
Marcus stayed silent. How in the Hell could Miller know about all of this confidental stuff? No one outside the Shepherd Organisation should be able to have access to information like that. But at the same time, Marcus celebrated a little victory: Miller had changed subject very fast to not talk about the whole cheating-thing. He had found a weak spot.

"I'm not your little brother.", Logan hissed at Francis although he knew the killer's only reason calling him that was that he knew it annoyed Logan. Francis looked strange today, this look didn't suit him and was totally out of place. But he spent a lot of money on that attire.
Logan looked at Marcus brother, his grin was scary and he always had the charm of a hungry lion. But Logan saw worse, Miller for example.
When Francis stopped, Logan did as well, turn around and looked at him. Giving him resources wasn't a problem, Logan didn't lie when he said, he'd do anything. But he didn't see the next lines coming. Still, Francis always found a way to make Logan angry.
"You're telling the wrong person to not get in your way and if I need to, I'd kill Mike to get Marcus back, don't like him anyway. For Marcus sake I'll try talking to him nicely." Logan just realized that that meant, he needed to stick to Francis probably all the time. Mike wouldn't agree without supervision for Francis. On the other hand, he probably knew that Logan was the worst person to assign this job to. Maybe Andrew got the honor.
"I'll need you to help me convince Mike. I'm probably not the best person to plead your case, but he needs Marcus and he won't sacrifice him. He's not a good person either and as long as no higher ups know about this, you should be able to help right away."
Logan couldn't believe he was doing this, but he shook Francis hand. It felt like they both really tried to have the stronger handshake and at least Logans hand hurt a little afterwards.
"Dylan trusts us to find his father and he is safe. He's with my family, but I guess you already know that. Took you an hour to answer and I guess you didn't just take a shower in that time... But don't think you can have any part in his life, just because of all this here. I won't let you near him and Marcus wouldn't either!"

"You don't want to talk about your father? That's alright, I'm not to keen about mine either and I already know what I want to know anyways. My tasks will be different to your dads... maybe not all, but at the very least, I'm not doing this to program your brain. I don't want to make you into your brother. I want to play and you are a worthy opponent. You can feel proud now, I don't say that to many people... actually you are the first one I'm telling this." Miller smiled again, Marcus didn't seem to feel like talking though. "I think with our two brains, we could have splendid conversations, while you are not occupied with anything else. You'll have plenty of free time, at the very least I have to give your friends some time to solve some Tasks too and we both know, they aren't as smart as we are. Better give them at least a little chance."
Miller tilted his head a little, scanned Marcus face and smiled even wider. "You don't need to be that angry at me. Logan got the code to disarm the bomb and I can tell you this: He made it. And I knew your son wasn't home, I won't harm him. Even I have some boundaries I wouldn't dare to cross. He is safe now and he is going to be, no matter how this ends. But if you rather be alone, I'll come back when we start the first game."
Miller stood up to demonstrate he meant it when he said he's leave him alone.




Convincing Mike wasn't easy. Mainly because of the paperwork and questions he got himself, but Marcus apperently suggested somerhing like this so Mike looked into that once before. And Logan was right, Mike didn't want to sacrifice Marcus, he needed him and if taking in an insane criminal meant catching more of his kind, that was fine. Saving a whole city was Francis chance to provw himself to the higher ups.
It was late at night already when they finally wrapped things up and Logan just wanted to get some sleep. But introducing Francis would be necessary and maybe most of his colleagues would rather want to sleep at home tonight. Andrew greeted Logan, seeing how he felt and that he needed some sleep. Only after that his gaze turned to Francis, whos appearence was scary in itself. He subconciously backed away a little.
"May I introduce you, Francis Ackermann Jr."

So Marcus didn't tell him? Francis couldn't stop to wonder why. Bt he didn't say anything, since he wasn't really good at relationship therapy, even though he saw himself as perfectly qualified to give psychiatric evalutaions.
For now, he just went with the flow. Logan had a lot of work in front of him and Francis didn't want to interfere with that. The sooner the paperwork was done, the sooner he could get to work. Of course he could just start and sitting around in this horrible office made him sick to the stomach. He distracted himself by getting rid of the suit. Didn't like it anyway. Without any costume one was able to see the what Francis Ackerman really was: A killer machine. His muscles were big and defined just like the man himself was. He wore a simple black t-shirt, revealing dozens of scars of all kind. There was not an inch of intact skin on this man. He wasn't nervous about not having a weapon around, even though four people were babysitting him during the process of convincing little Mike. When the man put down the last signature, Francis came to his feet, standing in at 6'5". He wanted to get started right away.
Logan brought him back down to the boring offices and they met another team member as it seemed. Slim, suit, perfect hair. Francis was disgusted. In a previous life he had killed people like this.
"May I introduce you, Francis Ackerman Jr", Logan said and Ackerman smiled.
The other man scanned him top to bottom and back. He didn't seem happy to see Francis. Well, in this facility, no one was.
"Don't you think, we spent enough time on the formalities, little brother?", Francis said, looking for the computer guy.
This Miller person had a nack for technology, so they would need some tech support.
When Francis found the tech cave, he headed straight towards it, waiting for nobody. A fat guy with no shirt sat in front of a bunch of screens, typing and typing. Francis was not great with tech but still better than most people. He took a second to catagorize the tattoos the man had. He had no clue what they were. Mario and other videogames weren't part of his edjucation.
"Show me the video", he demanded.
The fat guy turned around and froze in fear.
"Y-you are...", he muttered.
"Francis Ackerman, Jr. I know. Now show me the video, I need to find my brother."




"You got the wrong guy, you know", Marcus said, when Miller reached the door, "I may suffer from overstimulation and I may have a perfect memory but... I am no genius. I got tested, you know? My IQ is just as average as police coffee. I've seen your file. You are by definition a genius. You won't have fun with me."
Miller smiled. Why did he smile?
"We'll see about that. You are clever. You'll figure things out. But for now, you should rest. Save your strength. It's late."
Miller left the room and Marcus could hear how an intecrate and complex lock closed behind him, leaving him in the darkness. As a kid, he was terrified of the dark. There were monsters everywhere he looked. But since his father had worked on him... He understood a part of what Francis had to endure as a kid and he understood why his brother found comfort in the dark. Marcus let himself slide back into a horizontal position. Everything was mushy. It was as if someone had put cotton in all his senses. Did normal people perceive the world like this? Dull and soft and... boring? Marcus had cursed his hightened senses all his life but now... he wanted them back.
He rolled over onto his back and stared into the black nothingness. All he could do was hope. Hoping that Logan took care of Dylan and the he would come and get him just like the last time. He chuckled when he thought about the fact, that his boyfriend had to probably work with his brother again. Maybe he should hope that they didn't kill each other before finding him.

Logans head felt like exploding when Francis rushed off just like that. He didn't want to be responsible for this guy and would Logan not need him right now, he was sure sooner or later he'd strangle this man.
"You look tired.", Andrew muttered worried.
"I am tired. But I can't sleep now..."
"You should though. I mean, I'm really scared of Francis, but he won't kill us, right?" Andrew seemed to really want an answer to that question.
"Not yet at least."
"Funny."
"He needs us to find Marcus and we need him. Sooo, I guess for now everyone is safe."
"Right, well. Then I'll look after him while you take a nap in Marcus office. His comfy couch is still there and you better be fit when the first Task begins. I'll get Francis what he needs to help us find Marcus meanwhile."
Logan wanted to disagree, but even for that he was too tired. He wanted to spend the day on the couch, resting and now all this happened. He wasn't sure if Andrew was the best candidate to watch over Francis, but as he said, he won't hurt them. "Alright...Help Stan before he shits his pants.", Logan sighed and headed for Marcus office.
As sonn as he laid down and closed his eyes, he fell asleep.

The buzzing of Logans phone woke him up. He got a message from an unknown number, if Stan was still awake, he surely noticed to. Logan was awake in just a second and jumped up to get in Stans office.
"I got a message!"
"Yeah I know...coffee, please?"
"Sure." Logan was nervous and he wanted to provide Stan with everything he needed. At the moment he was the most important person in this investigation. So Logan made some coffee, he had half an hour time in which he needed to calm down a little, so why not helping with things like that. After he was finished he came back in Stans office and put a mug full of coffee on his table.
"How late is it?"
"4:30 AM."
"Where's Francis?"
"Uh... dunno. He kinda made me nervous so Andrew took him outside."
"I'll call Andrew then..."

After a few minutes Stans office was full of people again who waited for whatever was coming next. The room wasn't that big, but nobody wanted to stay close to Francis. Logan and him took the sweetspots left and right from Stans chair and intensely looked at the screen. Both of them were tall, Sara needed a chair to stand on to even see anything.
"Can't you put the stream on all monitors, Stan?", she asked while stretching a little.
"I need some to monitor the traffic."
"Mike should probably buy some more screens..."
"You don't need to watch it live, I'll record it anyway..."
"We don't know what'll happen and how much time we've got to get the hints and find that bomb.", Andrew added.
"He's only keeping us busy with that shit...", Logan grumbled. If they didn't have to care about the bombs, they would have had more time to search for Marcus.
"Only one minute left..."

Marcus tried to relax. Miller would try to shake his confidence, weaken him until he could break him. His biggest chance of success was to simply keep calm. Quite an easy task with the remnants of whatever sedative the guy's given him still in his system. Everytime Marcus moved his head, the world started spinning. So he just didn't. He lay there, eyes closed, relaxed. He concentrated on his breathing to kinda mesmerize himself. Marcus was surprised, how zen he was about all of this.
Just like the last time he was locked in a dark room, he lost every sense of time within only a couple of hours. He only realized that it was hours because he got hungry. As if Miller had read his mind, a small tray with food was pushed through a little slit at the bottom of the door. Marcus could've refused to eat like he did in the hands of his father. But something told him that he shouldn't do that. So he ate. It was quite good actually. After the meal, he crawled back to the futon and sat down. He couldn't do much more than wait.



Francis watched these people buzzing around like a scared colony of ants and wondered. Did they know that stressing out about this situation was just a hindering factor? He himself was as calm as ever. Maybe it was because he couldn't feel any form of fear. Maybe it was his training. But while everyone was walking and typing and worrying, Francis just stood there and watched. The air in here grew thick rather fast. He had to get out of here.
He just assumed that the suit-guy would follow him, wherever he went. The fresh air from the lonely piece of green on the ground of the office building was enlightening. Francis never liked locked rooms and just knowing that he put himself in one by agreeing to help these people who apparently couldn't do anything was just... Why did he even do this? He could find Marcus on his own. All it took was time. Time, Marcus did not have.
With a deep sigh, Francis sat down on the short grass and started to meditate.

An hour later, he and the guy in the suit were called back in the building. Apparently they got the first link to the live stream. Interesting. Francis had expected that they had about two days before Miller would start his game. At least. Maybe these tests weren't that hard?
He went back inside and right towards the tech cave of the fat guy. He wanted to stand front row and everyone just let him past. It helped that everyone was so tiny comapred to him. The screen showed a dark grey background. On the left side was a chat window and more and more people engaged in the conversation. Everyone was curious about the new contender, since the last one was so boring. The majority of the screen was taken over by a black nothingness. A countdown informed about the remaining time until the stream started. Currently watching: 743 people and counting.



Marcus didn't know what he was expecting. More rooms, torture, a twisted videogame task in real life. What he didn't expect was the small red light in the upper right hand corner of the room he was in. He looked at it. A webcam? Miller was observing him, sure, but Marcus thought that he would do that wit the three sixty cam in the middle of the ceiling. Why would der be a webcam?
He had no time to think about that. The lights went on and blinded him for a couple of seconds.
"Welcome to trials, Mr. Williams", a voice said from everywhere.
It wasn't Millers voice, although this person had a british accent as well.
"The following tasks will test your physical and metal capacities to determine, if you are worthy of the arena. You don't need to hold back. After every completed task, you will be allowed time to recuperate with food, water and time to rest. If you need me to repeat the rules for a task, just say so."
The door to the room opened on its own. Behind it darkness. Marcus sighed and got up. All of this felt like a sick gameshow of some sorts. As soon as he stepped into the next room, the door behind him closed and the lights went on. The room was empty but the walls were weird. There were three metal circles in front of him and on each side. There were Numbers etched into the metal and screens in the middle of each large circle.
"You won't be able to leave this room until you have finished your task", the voice said, "I will ask a series of questions. The answers will show upt on the screens in the wall. To answer a question, touch the circle. If you pick wrong, the cirlce will shoot electricity through your body. It's enough to seriously damage or even kill you, so beware. The right answer will deliver a small shock due to the previous charge. If you are ready to begin, please hit the green button on the screen in front of you."
This was a sick gameshow. Marcus looked around to spot the cameras. There was another three sixty in the middle and three more webcams, each showing one side of the room. He sighed again. They were live streaming this shit?!
Marcus stepped foward and pushed against the digital image of a large green button. What other choice did he have?
The screens all activated and showed different words even before the voice asked his question. The question itself was a weird one but Marcus played along. He read the possible answers, then he touched the metallic circle of the right one. The 'small shock' was a lie. Pain shot through Marcus' arm, the muscles cramped and because of the surprise, he actually went down on one knee. The screen went black again and Marcus got back up. His hand was shaking and twitched a little bit. This would be harder than it looked. But he had no time to worry, since the screens showed new answers already and the voice asked the next question. Something told Marcus that there were going to be more than seven questions...

The game got harder with every question he answered. Marcus was glad he never read anything about electricity and how it affected the human body over a long period of time. What question was he at? Sixteen? Seventeen? His body twitched all over the place. He was tired. His vision was burrly.
"Last question", the voice said.
The screens lightened up again. Marcus needed to focus on every word to even read the answers. He asked the voice to repeat the question one more time. He was so unbelievably tired...
One last time, he told himself and put his shaking hand on the circle. He knew what was coming but it hurt nevertheless. Panting, he went down on his knees, unable to pull his hand back. After a couple of seconds, the pain in his hand stopped. The screens went black and the door to his little enclosure opened up.
"Well done, Mr. Williams. Please proceed to leave the room. You will be given some time to rest and get your strength back", the voice said.
Marcus dragged himself up and out of the room. The little futon in the corner was heaven on earth right now. As soon as he touched it, the door closed and the lights went out.



This was interesting, Francis thought. The whole system behind this fist test was intecrate just like the arena was. This was not just a regular kidnapping. Someone had build a big facility, probably underground even, to do all this. There was a lot of money and a lo of thought involved. They probably even modified the system to send Logan and his people on this wild scavenger hunt through the city while playing their game with Marcus.
For the viewer, it was clear that the man who killed this guy within the arena was the same person talking to Marcus. Francis had also noticed that his little brother knew that his adventures were streamed. Or at least recorded. Clever little Marcus.
The chat went crazy whenever Marcus had touched a circle. A bunch were already fans of him, a couple of others wanted him to touch the wrong cirlce. And they called him, Francis, a monster.
"Why are you still standing around here like trees?", he asked and got the attention of everybody in the room, "You were just given the coordinates of Washington State Parc. Don't you have a bomb to find or something?"
The screen of the live stream showed only black and aseries of numbers. This was probably the code to disarm the bomb. Francis had put together the numbers on the circles of Marcu's answers and came up with the coordinates. Stan checked it, while Francis was reciting the numbers. A picture of the park showed up. He was right. That was almost too easy.

Logan never felt so much anger in his life, not like this. Not even Marcus father was able to piss him off that much, maybe because he didn't see what he did to him. But this? Not only did he stand in front of the screen, having to watch Marcus while he couldn't help him at all, these other people found that funny. Every time Marcus answered a question, every time he fell on his knees, panting, Logan clenched his fists even more. He didn't say anything, but hell he wanted to beat the crap out of this Miller guy and he really meant it. When he got to him, and he sure would eventually, he wouldn't just shoot that asshole in his fucking face, he'd pay him back what he did to Marcus tenfold.
After the screen got black and only numbers where left, Logans gaze turned to Francis who didn't look fazed by this one little bit. Logan got even more angry, while Stan checked the coordinates and everyone else was getting ready.
"You better stay here...", Andrew slowly said, being pretty brave sneaking up on Logan from the side like this.
"I know...", he answered as calm as he could. Him being near a bomb right now? Not a good idea... His chest felt heavy, not only because of his bruised rips. But he had no time to breath right now.
"Having these circle things under electricity the whole time sure needs some power, which has to come from somewhere. And taking into consideration not much time has passed since they got Marcus, they can't be that far away. Also, we haven't seen much yet, but I guess this must be a rather big underground facility." That sounded about right and Logan really needed some hope right now. The only thing that bothered him was, that it seemed like Miller wasn't involved in this 'Task'. He could very well be somewhere else entirely. Saving Marcus had top priority, but stopping Miller was important too.
How much time would Marcus really get to rest? And if Miller wasn't with him, wouldn't they need to have Marcus finish all these tasks to disarm all the bombs? If they wanted to get Marcus out of there, they should also spend some resources on finding and disarming the bombs early, or make sure they'll get Miller too. Well, for once Logan was glad Mike had to decide this.
"Marcus probably noticed the webcams. Maybe he can figure something out on his end and send some hints as well, while he's doing this Tasks.", Andrew said and Logan sighed. This feed was their only lead right now.
"Show me again."

After a small team successfully disarmed the bomb, everyone was back in the office, checking electricity providers, old underground facilities, the possible radius of where Marcus could be and so on. Stan checked the Dark Web for people who know of this and may be able to provide more information.
Logan watched the clip again in hopes of finding something. Maybe something about the room, or Marcus trying to tell them anything. It was hard to concentrate and after he had watched it a third time, Logan left for the training room. He needed to let out some steam, actually a lot of steam. When he got Marcus back, he'd put a tracker on him... His life was just a series of tragic events, normally no one experienced any of them or one at max and Marcus was pulled into that shit over and over again. It was hard for him to even start to recover from the last incident, not to speak of his childhood and Logan couldn't help. Not now, not when he was kidnapped and not when Marcus needed someone to understand. He turned to his psychopathic brother instead and all Logan did was run away. And Dylan was in the middle of all this too.
Punching the punching bag in front of him wasn't nearly enough to calm Logan down, imagining Millers face didn't help either. Logan could only imagine how Marcus was feeling right now and what shit awaited him soon. Logan couldn't even put into words what he was feeling right now. But he needed to be calm if he wanted to help Marcus... He put all his strength in one last punch, his rips hurt, his hands too. Logan tried to calm his breath. Then, maybe he could help find Marcus again...

Francis couldn't care less about those bombs. He knew how they were build and how they worked, that's all he needed. So he stayed behind with Logan and watched the tape over and over again. But while Logan couldn't shift his attention away from Marcus, Francis could. He analyzed the whole set up and was quite impressed. This must have taken years to build. The Shepherds wouldn't find it by just checking the light bill of every house in the city. In fact, Francis was sure that they were not in the area any more. Maybe Maryland. Easy to hide in the stretched out woods, lots of private ground. If they were able to find this place, they would do so by checking the real estate, not the electricity. But even then Francis knew that it would be a hard piece of work. It was easy to get ground with false identities and by proxies. And if his opinion about Michael L. Miller was correct, they wouldn't find anything remotely connected to him or his so called brother.
"IT-Man, do you have something on Miller's brother?", he asked the fat guy.

When Logan left to go where-ever Stan tensed a little again, being alone with this mountain of a man again. A shiver went down his spine, hearing Ackermanns question. He just stared straight at his screen, eye-contact was the last thing he wanted. Dogs get angry if you look them in the eye, right?
"Uh... Apparently he is kinda famous for not even flinching, you can even bet on these fights online. Much money was bet on him when he fought as it seems... almost unbelievable he won that fast... Well, that's what I found about him in some chats. And as far as we know Millers life; he has no brother... but we don't know his real name, so maybe he has. About the other guy, Jeffrey Andersen, I found a guy in Wisconsin, but I doubt that's the same guy. He went missing a year ago, but... he was 65 years old at that time."
Andrew joined the room and listened to what Stan hat to say. "I'm asking myself why he specifically told us his name and where he lived. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."
"I haven't got much more about him anyway. He never was found and as for his life, he was working at a bank and retired one year before he went missing. "
"Can you show me the two texts Logan got from Miller again?"
Stan nodded and put it on the screen.
"He is rather distant all the time, it is polite, but more like on a business level. But he mentions his brother, you wouldn't do that in a business correspondence. And why would he tell us about where Andersen lived? Also, why does he allow Logan specifically to use all the resources he wants to use. If he wanted to play with them both, he would have ordered Logan to at least disarm the bombs personally and I'm sure he could've made sure he does. Maybe that's a far stretch, but it seems like he is inviting Logan to follow another lead meanwhile. He gave him the means, a name and a location after all. Furthermore, Miller doesn't seem to be part of these tasks Marcus is forced to do directly, it happened like this before, 149 times probably, and he's not the one speaking, maybe his brother is. This is all a game for him he wants probably all of us to play. Would he sit back and just watch?" Andrew looked at Francis, he knew this man wasn't just muscles, at least he proved it when telling them the coordinates in an instant. They all would've figured it out eventually, but he did while watching the stream the first time. "Maybe Miller was pointing also at you with writing 'as much resources as you need' and mentioning his own 'brother'. He seems to know a lot of things, the timing he kidnapped Marcus was perfect, the execution too. Maybe he knows about you as well."

"It's not unbelievable", Francis said, "The man is highly trained and fights in a known setting. He is confident in what he's doing, his oponents are not. This is his main advantage."
Francis had analyzed the fight in every detail. Hometruf always made a difference but this man... he was good. Francis could not see a chance for his brother. As soon as Marcus entered that arena, he was a dead man. So Francis needed to find a way to get in there and help him. Which would probably end up to be the death of them both. Whoever this guy was, he was good.
He crossed his arms and thought. His face looked almost like Marcus' as he stared at the screens without paying attention to any of his surroundings. Polite way of talking, ex-military, bla bla bla. Francis didn't care about that kinda stuff. He left the psychology part to others, even though his father made him learn psychological warfare and everything. Francis had the profiles of every great serial killer memorized by heart when he was fourteen years old. What he thought about was the game part. Miller was playing a game. This guy, he called brother, was playing a game. And both of them were predators just like him.
"The voice from the stream is the voice of the guy who fought in the arena", he finally said, breaking the silence, "So we have Miller, playing around with his toys - the bombs - and a highly trained fighter with a codex. Yes, he kills people, but he makes sure, they're worthy. These tests... they are just that. Marcus could've said no instead of answering the questions. Sure, he would've been stuck in that room without food or water, but he had the choice. Also, he was the one controlling the speed of things. He did it rather fast, to get it over with. Probably so we could disarm the bombs as fast as possible. But he could've waited after every question, get his strength back and ask to hear the question one more time. These tests aren't part of Miller's game. They are part of an evaluation and training for the final fight in the arena against this Gladiator. I bet my arms that the Gladiator did all those tests himself just to prove himself. He has a high standard. His last fight? Sure, he won fast, but only because he was good. The competitor was athletic, he knew how to fight. Not the survival tactics from the military. It looked more like learned skills from a dojo. The man did fights others and he did so to survive but not in a war. He was not following orders, when he killed. He did kill for sure. The Gladiator wouldn't chose someone for his arena, who never ended a life before. Because those people are the ones who are willing to do it again, if they need to."
Marcus was a perfect candidate. He had the killer instict, the will to survive, the knowledge to do so and a physically optimated body.
"Whatever the realationship between Miller and the Gladiator looks like, Miller uses the Gladiator. The Gladiator has learned to controll his hunger by killing only worthy oponents and by doing it with his bare hands. Miller works different. He observes, he plans, he plays a game. Marcus is only part of the GLadiator's trials, because it fits in the game. Miller is not only interested in my brother. He wants to play with Logan or your whole little club you have going on here. I mean, he plays a psychological game for the brain guy in a suit, he uses advanced technology for the IT-dude and he plants bombs all around a high density city for the bloodhound who dealt with situations like this before. The only one, he could not design a game for, is Marcus. Because they think in the same patterns. It's like playing chess against yourself. So he put Marcus in the arena and watches him. Like one of those Let's plays or whatever they are called nowadays."

Logan joined the others in the room mid-conversation and just stood by the door and listened. When Francis was finished he started talking, not really agreeing with what he said.
"Marcus does not have any kind of killer instinct, he isn't like you or your father, so shut your trap. I don't exactly know what happened when your father got him, but I know that it nearly destroyed him. He is protective and kind, that's the only reason he might kill, but not before he isn't sure there isn't any other way. If he fights for his own survival then only because of others, not for himself. He values life, something you won't ever understand. If what this guy is looking for in an opponent is as you say, Marcus is the wrong candidate. He'll hesitate and he'll..." Logan paused for a moment. "And he'll probably die because of that. It won't be much of a fight, even if Marcus is threatend to kill."
If looks could kill, Francis surely would be dead by now. Andrew noticed Logans deathly glare at Marcus brother. Francis on the other hand was calm, but not less intimidating. That probably pissed Logan off the most.
"Okay, what do you suggest we do now? Not playing his game doesn't seem like an option anymore, but playing it won't bring us anywhere either.", Andrew asked directed at everybody in the room, before Francis had the chance to say something to anger Logan even more. If Miller was as smart as they thought, did they even stand a chance?

Francis started to doubt his brothers ability to chose a fitting partner. This situation was the result of a blind man. Logan clearly couldn't see what Marcus knew all along. Francis had noticed it back when he and their father killed their mother and the man she'd married. When he'd found Marcus in the attic, he could see it in his eyes. It wasn't the hunger, thankfully. Marcus didn't inherit all the family drama. But he had the same spark in his eyes. A spark, Francis had seen year after year, day after day, when he was locked in a small, dark room. When there was light, there were the eyes of their father with the very same spark. He saw it in the mirror, too. But this killer instink wasn't bad, like Logan thought. It was nothing but the ability to kill, before getting killed. Marcus had done this before. Marcus had kiled for less. And Francis knew that he would do it again. For himself, for his son. Maybe even for this Logan-guy. The problem was, that he would not win this fight.
"We have to play the game. Marcus knows that, too."
Francis ignored the death stare and shifted his attention back to the screens, where the video of Marcus' first trial was stopped at a random point. Marcus had looked at the cameras. Analyzing the room, looking for a weak spot. God boy.
"There is no other way to disarm the bombs. There is no other way to find them, either. We need the codes and the locations and we will only get them, when Marcus succeeds at the trials. So he will do that and he will count on us - or rather you, little brother - to save the city. But there is no way, Marcus is going to survive the fight in the arena. His chances are somewhere around two percent. I need to get in there with him. That raises our chances to about twenty percent. Maybe twenty-five, depending on Marcus' condition. You are allowerd to use every resource you got," he turned back to Logan, his face completely blank, "So for you, it's a micromanagement game. What are your resources and how do you use them. For Marcus, it's a survival game. Pure stamina and will power. Miller wants us to play a third game: A stealth and infiltration game. We need to find a way to get me inside this arena before the final fight starts. I suggest you have a team ready to disarm the bombs rather than doing it yourself.We should have days between each test for Marcus. During this relaxation time, we need to focus our attention not on finding Marcus, but on solving the Gladiator case."
The guy in the suit seemed to understand what Francis was talking about.
"That makes sense. Until now, we were unable to find Miller. Partially because he was protected by the british government. But 149 cases of missing people can't be easy to hide. if we crack the secret behind those online fights, we can find the arena and therefore Marcus. Stan, can you-"
"I'm already diggin' my teeth into the website, Andy. Got my little bugs all over the place and gettin' information."
"Good. Treat it like a cyber realted crime."
"Got it."
Francis looked at Logan again. His ears were red, his pupils slightly dialated and his carotid atery was pounding faster than it needed to. His knuckles were red, too. Anger issues? Cute.
"I know my brother better than you think", he said in Logans direction, "Not because we share DNA or an insane father. I know him better, because I have the same kind of killer instinct. Mine was groomed until it became a defining factor of me, which is why people call me a monster. But do not think, Marcus is not like me. Because he is. If his life is threatened, he will defend himself and he will kill to survive. You have the same killer instinct. Only yours is paired with uncontrollable rage. You never learned how to harness that anger and hate. You target yourself with that, than those who deserve it. Even now I can clearly see the guilt you are feeling. Pathetic."
He left the room and went to the very same training area, Logan was in just a couple of minutes ago. Andrew wasn't sure, if he should follow him or if he should care about Logan.
Francis knew, he was a monster. He firmly beliefed, that he was the evil the world needed to see the good. There was no other way. It had to be like this, because if not, he had no right to exist. During the process of becoming the monster he was today, he learned how to controll his anger, his hate and finally his hunger. Thelast one was the hardest to contain and he was still learning. But anger and hate were easy. It sounded almost like a magic trick but he used this energy to fuel his actions. There was no reason to torture oneself with useless emotions like that. Instead, Francis targeted his enemies with them. Of course, he had no problem with torturing himself. He actually wuite enjoyed it. After all, pain was one of the few things he could feel and therefore enjoy.

Logan was so close to just follow Francis and punch him in his fucking face, but that probably would prove him right. His heart was pounding and he felt like having a fever. But Francis was wrong if he believed he knew Marcus and he was wrong if he believed he knew Logan. Even if Marcus had such instinct, it would destroy him if he killed anybody else, even if he had to. Francis thought talking to Marcus now and then made him an expert? He didn't see how bad Marcus was doing the last month, he didn't see him struggle.
And Logan? Logan never felt this angry before, but he also never saw something like this happening to his family. He only ever got angry because of someone hurting his family, nothing else.
"Logan?", Andrew asked since Logan didn't move from where he was standing and didn't say anything too.
"He thinks he knows everything. And I know being angry doesn't help Marcus, but how can he watch his brother being tortured and be this calm?!"
"Don't try to understand him. You don't have to be friends and I don't know if he does this on purpose, but he knows how to push your buttons. Try not to listen to him."
"I can't work with him. Maybe I should just care about the bombs and you handle the rest."
"It's possible Miller even knew you'd say that. Maybe that's exactly what he think would happen. But I can't know that, I could be wrong."
"I'm not sure if you really think that or if you're just trying to motivate me. But I can't really find this Gladiator guy or whatever Francis called him. I'm not good at such things. I can try managing us and I am good at punching someones face in, but that's it."
"Well, Francis promised his brother to not hurt anybody, right?"
"He's crazy if he holds onto that in this situation."
"You didn't promise Marcus anything like that. And you don't want to tell me that you view Francis as a sane person, do you?"
"Stan?"
"Yeah, if you'd been here a few minutes earlier, you would have heard what I have on Millers Bro."

After an hour and a half Logan joined Francis in the trainingsroom. He wasn't sure if Francis actually was training, or if he just wanted a quiet place, at least he was still there. Not that Logan would have been overly sad if he had bailed.
"Jeffrey Andersen is our only lead right now, until Stan can dig something up online. Stan can provide us with a safe line to view these links and he get's every message which is sent to my phone if it were to happen, that I can't look at it for a while. Andrew - you know him as suit-guy - is managing things over here. Getting the coordinates, disarming the bombs and look up every other lead we can think of. Maybe even finding the bombs without the coordinates if there is time to spare in between these tasks, Marcus won't give up on playing this game if we haven't found all the bombs. Doesn't matter if we find the Gladiator, this facility or him. We have a specialist outside of the organisation working on the blueprints of the bomb to figure out a way to disarm them without a code. Which leaves us to do the dirty work over in Wisconsin. Do you have any objection or insult you want to share before we start?"

Francis was always training. It was quite nice to actually have proper equipment for that, even though it wasn't necessary. And for what he was doing when he reached this room, he needed nothing at all.
He sat on the ground, legs crossed, eyes closed. He meditated. It was a great way to clear ones mind and to catalyze rage, anger and hate into more productive ways. Of course, he heard Logan coming. He just wasn't bothered.
"Dirty work, hm?", Francis answered, smiling.
He took a deep breath before standing up. He rolled his shoulders, then his neck, which cracked just like Marcus' did. He was ready for battle.
"I need to get changed before we get there", he explained, "The whole country is looking for me."

Every little movement of Francis which resembled Marcus fed Logans disgust of this man. Every time he looked calm as if he was on a picnic made Logan hate him more. He didn't want to look at him, not mentioning talking to him. Sitting in a plane or car with him would be utter nightmare, but Logan did that for Marcus and he would have done anything for him. He wanted him back and he didn't want him to get hurt, last time was enough to make Logan this paranoid and angry now. He saw him almost die, literally and inside, he didn't want that for him or for Dylan. Francis better killed this Gladiator guy himself when they found Marcus.
"You could wear your suit thingy again, or do you expect me going shopping for you?" Logan looked at Francis again, maybe his things would fit, but then again... he'd need to burn them afterwards.
"You don't need to dress too fancy. We won't take a plane departing from a big airport, actually I can fly small machines and that allows us to skip most of the authentication everywhere and it's faster. No one will ask who flies when booking through this organisation and even if someone feels the need to ask us, no one would suspect an ex-military to smuggle a wanted criminal, right? I'll just play that card..." Logan actually didn't brag about his time at the US military, it was kinda weird to be treated as a hero just because of saying that. Maybe he should still wear something that said ex-military.
"Since I need to get some things from our home, you can wear that wig you had on and choose some of my old cloths... should fit you.", Logan said and couldn't believe he let him in his house. But fooling around costs time, and they haven't got any to spare.

Said and done. Soon both of them were wearing something suitable and sat in a small airplane that was headed towards Wisconsin. Logan thought about Marcus refusing to fly with him. He didn't want to take a ride on Logans bike, because Logan always drove like a lunatic - if Dylan wasn't around - and flying was the same story. Marcus probably was scared Logan flew them into a mountain or something. And now he sat here with Marcus brother. Which he let into their house... although he didn't take his eyes off him.
Also Logan warned Francis about saying anything unnecessary, he'd probably kick him out of the plane if he needed to talk about how well he was informed about Marcus, how wrong Logan was, how the Shepherds were a bunch of idiots and whatnot.
Logan took the time to think about what they'd find. He had no idea what Miller was planning now and probably they did jut what he wanted and anticipated now. Logan wondered if they could break out of this, or if they were just some pawns.
Also he thought about Marcus and this tasks, if every task was something like this, he'd need a lot of time to recover properly. Sure, more time for them to find anything, but more time Marcus was in the hands of two psychopaths. And more time Dylan was alone. When they landed he should probably call him to ask if they arrived well and were fine.