"Get him to talk," Ford growled, directing his words to one of the two bulky men as he walked past them toward the locked door, "Lloyd, you'll come with me," he added as the other guard walked behind his boss.

The remaining guard cracked his knuckles as he took a slow step forward toward the tied man on the chair in front of him.

Brendon gulped, he knew what was going to happen to him, but there was another concept playing in his mind, he was not the type that would just sit there and receive the beating until he would spell everything out.

He would never give the chance for Ford to win.

Brendon used the time when Ford was blabbering about his childhood to loosen one of the knotted ropes around his ankle, taking the benefit of the other's man speech as his guards were almost hypnotized by his story, he could weaken another knot on one of his wrists, making it easier for him to untie it if he used enough force.

"Let's play a little game, shall we?" the guard spoke, taking his jacket off and throwing it aside.

Gathering his strength, Brendon pulled his arm off the loose rope along with his leg, sending a hard kick to the guard's knee.

The huge man staggered back, giving Brendon a few precious seconds to untie his other wrist and ankle.

"Son of a bitch!" the guard cursed as he charged at the smaller man.

Brendon stepped aside in time, pulling the chair with him and using it to hit the guard over the side of his back, the chair lost the battle as it flew in bits and splinters around them.

The guard sneered, he could gain control over Brendon as he sent a hard punch to Brendon's ribs, driving him back as he used the weight of his massive body to pin the other man on the wall with an arm on his neck.

Brendon's breath caught in his throat, he clawed at the guard's arm as he tried to set himself free of his vice-like grip.

Using the remaining of his energy, he managed to deliver a well-aimed kick to the guard's lower abdomen, taking advantage of the fleeting moment when the guard's arm loosened over his neck to pull it off him and clock him in the face with a surprising power.

The bulky guard was almost unbothered by Brendon's punch, he returned it to him with more abhorrence, sending him crumpling to the floor.

Colorful dots swam in Brendon's vision as the world swayed in front of him, finding a rather long splinter of the broken chair within his reach, he grabbed it as if his life was depending on it.

The guard, thinking that he finally got the upper hand over Brendon, launched himself at the smaller man again, but this time, his malicious sneer turned into a shock as the tapered tip of the wooden splinter punctured the hollow point under his throat.

pressing his weapon deeper into the guard's neck, Brendon pushed the bulky man's slackened body away from his, watching him fall to the side with a low thud.

Panting, he climbed over the dead man's body, searching him for a key to unlock the door, he grinned as his fingers brushed over the small metal item in his breast pocket.

Brendon pondered why the guard was not carrying any type of guns, it didn't make sense for him.

Retrieving the small keychain from the fallen guard's pocket, he ran toward the door, trying every key to unlock each one of the numerous locks on the heavy door.

The cool, humid gust greeted his face as he finally stepped outside the dim room into a bit brighter corridor with fainting neon lights illuminating the path ahead of him.

Brendon didn't know where he was, he didn't even remember how did they bring him there, he hated himself for being so slipshod and careless that he couldn't pay attention to such important details, but given the circumstances, he might let it pass this time.

Brendon ran through gloomy, crossed corridors, watching every corner and every shadow loomed over his sight, the place was empty of any human presence and everything around him was scarily quiet, except for a strange sound of a hum, he didn't like it.

Turning to the left, a red 'EXIT' label shone over a metal door, Brendon let out a small sigh of relief as he strode toward what he thought it would be his way to freedom.

"Going somewhere, Mr. Urie?" a rough voice echoed around the narrow corner as a nozzle of a gun was pressed on the back of his neck.

************************************

"I can't find him anywhere," Jake sighed as his fingers kept working over the keyboard of his laptop, "he's definitely not in LA, in fact, he's nowhere," he finished, frowning.

Nicole paced back and forth in the small space of the safe house's living room, chewing on her thumbnail, the gears in her brain worked on full speed as she thought of all the possible places Brendon could be in at that time.

"How do you even know that?" she argued, looking sharply at Jake who was perched on the sofa next to where she was pacing.

"I've made an algorithm that helps me to trace the GPS on his phone across a geographical..." he began to describe, stopping himself as he saw the quizzical look on Nicole's face, "I just know, alright?" he finished, explaining.

"Whatever," Nicole murmured, getting back to her pacing, hugging herself with her arms.

"The police," Nicole said after a moment, more to herself than to Jake.

"If the police caught him, you'd have seen his mugshot on every screen in the States right now," Jake replied, looking up at his partner.

Nicole ran her hands in her hair, she was a moment away from whacking her head on a wall just to silence the grim voices that kept shouting 'HE'S IN DANGER!' in her brain.

"This is not getting us anywhere," she shouted, waving her hands in the air, "he can't just disappear in thin air like a fucking ghost just like that."

"In my opinion," Jake said, "there's only one explanation for this.

***************************

"Are you going to keep looking daggers at me?" the black-clad guard spoke as Brendon glared at him while he was securing the zip ties on his ankles in place, "Because I can show you daggers."

"You know you're making a big mistake, don't you, Lloyd?" Brendon replied, remembering the guard's name.

Lloyd gurgled, it was his version of a laugh as he crouched behind Brendon, locking another pair of zip ties around his wrists, deliberately applying more pressure while doing so.

That time, Brendon was in another place, it wasn't a dark, shapeless, large room like the last one he was in, it was a rather small, brightly lit space, the off-white walls were lined with wooden shelves and cabinets, they were clean swept of any objects.

Brendon stared around him, sharply searching for anything that might come in hand, apparently, they left nothing to be useful for him, they even took his shoes, jacket, and shirt off him, leaving him barefoot in his slacks and undershirt.

"So, you're not going to tell me where did you hide the Devil's Key," Ford announced as he pushed the door open and entered the room, closing the narrow distance between him and Brendon in a couple of wide steps.

Brendon remained silent, glowering at Ford with evident repugnance.

"You know, Urie," Ford started, "I've been a huge fan of your work," he continued, pulling another chair and sitting in front of Brendon, resting his arms on his knees, "I've always liked how neat and spotless your jobs were, no traces, no loose ends."

"I think you're losing your touch, my friend, you've caused a hell of a mess so far," he finished, indicating his last killing of that guard and smiling at the bound man in front of him, the smile didn't reach his flaring eyes.

"Or maybe you and your folks don't deserve a peaceful death," Brendon spat, cringing, his voice laced with malignity.

Ford snorted, shaking his head, after a second he rose from his seat and walked toward Lloyd, his remaining guard, and whispered something to him.

Brendon couldn't make out most of that whisper, he just watched as Lloyd walked out of the room, he could hear his heavy footsteps fading as he went further.

Brendon idly wondered why Ford had only two guards with him at this place, were they more outside? Were they too far from any source of threat that might need an extra force to end?

Was he actually losing his touch, was he too weak to fight his way out of there with just three men around?

Flashes of images began to float in his mind as he started to remember the way they took to arrive at the place they were in.

"It doesn't have to be like this, Brendon," Ford reasoned, "you can still make it up for what you've done."

"How so?" Brendon asked with displeasure, he began to get tired of Ford's never-ending lectures.

"Straight to the point? I can make use of your talent," Ford stated, crossing his arms over his chest, "you're a gifted man, Brendon, your work's like magic, you never fail to amaze, it'd be a shame if I let this talent slip off my hand."

"You want to recruit me," Brendon scoffed, raising his eyebrows at the other man.

"Why not? I'll make use of your dexterity, and you'll make use of all the profits you can get while you're under my wing," Ford explained, looking down his nose at his captive.

"Also, you get to keep your innards inside your body," he added in a lower, more venomous tone, "so, it's a win-win situation."

"Robert Ford," Brendon announced, seemingly unfazed by Ford's threat, "your offer is very gripping, not gonna lie."

"And?" Ford probed, narrowing his eyes at the other man, expecting his reply.

Brendon leaned forward, as close to his enemy as his bonds could let him.

"You can kiss my beautiful ass, one cheek at a time," he whispered, smirking as he caught the momentarily upset expression on his captor's face.

"Okay, then," Ford said after few moments, walking toward the door in time to open it for Lloyd who came back with a brown box in his arms.

Brendon watched anxiously as the guard began to unveil the content of that box, revealing a tripod, a small laptop, a couple of cables and a digital camera.

"Really, Ford," Brendon mocked, "you're going to ask for a ransom while broadcasting my execution online? So cheesy of someone like you."

"In fact," Ford replied, watching Lloyd as he started to set up the camera, "I have a better thing in mind," he added, winking at Brendon.

"Why don't we call your precious girl?" Ford suggested, pressing a button on the camera, a tiny red light blinked to life, "I'm sure she's sick worried about you."

Brendon's heart leaped to his throat, he watched with wide eyes as Lloyd tapped a number of buttons on the laptop, a cruel smile stamped on his features.

********************************

Nicole's phone vibrated in her hand, she almost lost her hold of it as she jumped off her seat, staring at the lit screen with evident concern.

"It's an unknown number," Nicole announced, "and it's a video call," she added, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.

"Answer it," Jake replied, standing by her side.

Her thumb hovered over the 'Accept' button for a moment before she taps it and raises the phone in the level of her face.

Her heart fell as Ford's face appeared on the screen.

"Hello, gorgeous," he cooed, smiling at her image.

Nicole's tongue felt like a pebble in her mouth, she could see the shock on her face on the little square at the top of her phone screen where Ford was still staring at her.

"What, you're not happy to see me? After all that we had together," he faked a sad face.

"How did you..." she tried to speak, but the mixture of panic and animosity inside her chest has clouded her thinking.

"knew your phone number? Let's just say that you're not the only one who has a geek in their team," Ford finished the sentence for her.

Jake's jaw fell in horror, he took a step back, finding the nearest chair, he dramatically threw himself on it.

"Anyways," Ford dismissed, turning the camera away from his face, "I'm hosting your partner here," he said, setting the camera on Brendon.

Nicole's gasped, the grim voice in her head screamed 'I TOLD YOU!'

"He might be a bit implacable," Ford continued as he stood beside his hostage, "maybe you can change his mind."

"Nicole, don't listen to him," Brendon hastily yelled, "he's gonna..."

A punch to the side of his face spun his head to the other side and silenced his words.

Brendon didn't dare to turn toward the camera again, partially because his face hurt badly and partially because he felt humiliated, he didn't want her to see him like this.

Nicole raised a hand to her mouth, sudden tears stinging her eyes, her stomach twisted as a blow of guilt hit her in the heart, Brendon got caught by Ford because of her.

It's my fault,

If I didn't act like a bitch and reject him that fucking night,

He'd still be here,

He'd be safe with me,

He'd be safe...

In my arms.

"Where's the key, Nicole?" Ford asked, his face was shown again on the screen, "or should I call you Erina?"

Nicole fell silent again, she ground her teeth, feeling an overwhelming urge to slap that wicked smile off his face.

"Asking one more time," Ford declared, "where's the Devil's Key?"

"I don't know," Nicole answered, trying her best to remain calm.

She watched as Ford looked down as if contemplating something.

"Well, then," he said after a few agonizing moments of quietness.

"Here's the deal," he spoke, "I know that he left the key with you, it makes no sense to think that you could sell it in such a short amount of time," he shrugged, "so, you either tell me where did you hide it or be a useful little girl and bring it to me."

"I told you that I don't..." Nicole almost shouted, her eyes heated with anger.

"If you don't bring me the key," Ford interjected, "I'll cut a random part of your precious boy's body and send it to you, starting from..." he looked down at his wristwatch, "now."

Nicole diverted her frightened gaze toward Jake as his face took an alarming shade of green.

"If you touch a hair of his head," Nicole growled, "I swear to God I'll..."

"You might think that you can hide from me," Ford interrupted her again, "think again, pretty girl, nobody fucks up with me and gets away with it."

And with that, Nicole's phone screen went blank.

*************************

"I'm disappointed in you, Urie," Ford directed his words toward his captive, "I thought you or your partner will be able to carry a civilized conversation and make this easy for everyone, especially for you."

"Don't you dare, you fucker," Brendon hissed, "don't you dare to touch her."

"Such a keeper!" Ford mocked, "don't worry, I have no interest in her, although, she'd be a very nice doll."

Rage broke out within Brendon and fogged his rational thinking, he pulled at his restraints in a vain attempt to free himself and lash out at the bastard who was standing in front of him.

Lloyd closed the laptop he was holding and stood next to his boss as the latter started rummaging through one of the cabinets on the wall next to him.

Brendon's eyes scanned the area around him one more time, looking for any useful item that might help him to break free.

His lips parted as his gaze fell at something on the far corner of the room, a large-sized ax was leaning on the wall beside a discarded wooden box.

Maybe there was still hope for him.

"I can do a lot, Urie, I have many ideas to make this worse for you and your people," Ford talked, catching Brendon's attention.

"But I'm an old-fashioned man," he added, turning toward the bound man, holding a pair of shiny, metal pliers in his hand.

"Wisdom tooth hurts like fuck, right?" Ford asked, smirking as he watched the instability of Brendon's features with a slight pleasure.

Turning his eyes toward his guard, he nodded to the bigger man as he rolled the sleeve of his shirt up.

"Open his mouth."

*****************************

A/N: Well, it seems like things will start to go south for our man *evil grin*

Question: Who would you like to cast as Robert Ford?

Also, don't forget to vote and comment, all will be appreciated <3

Thank you for reading :)