Chapter Text
"Thomas, Thomas, they're here, they're gonna find us," Virgil hissed, barely stopping himself from yelling.
The static buzz from his handheld radio remained uninterrupted.
"Thomas," he demanded. "Thomas!"
Nothing.
He dropped the radio and stomped on it over, and over, venting his tension through anger.
Remus watched him as he ground the communication device into pieces. "Must've made you mad, Ever-Virgilant."
Virgil spun around, hands curling into fists as he bared his teeth. "It wasn't helping."
"And breaking it will certainly make it work," Janus drawled from across the room.
Virgil scowled. "Screw you."
"No, screw me," Remus cut in.
"This is why we have plan B," Janus said, and waved them both over. "Escape route," he offered, pointing at a vent above.
"Yeah, screw it," Virgil muttered, and dragged over a chair. "Something's better than nothing."
Janus hesitated. "Virgil, I know you're not great with small spaces, but-"
"Get in the stupid vent, Janus."
The blonde shut up and hoisted himself up. When he disappeared, Remus and Virgil stared at each other.
"You first, Incredible Sulk."
"Over my dead body," Virgil growled.
"A dead body can’t go first-"
Virgil shoved Remus up to the vent, and the boy disappeared inside.
Virgil was going to follow them. Really, he was. But their pursuers were right outside the door, and if they realized the boys had escaped through the vents, then they'd be able to find them, and catch them, and Virgil could not let that happen.
He replaced the vent cover and dragged the chair to the door. It was a feeble barricade, but more importantly, it was no longer revealingly beneath the vent.
Virgil was glad he'd made a "no looking back" pact with the other two. They wouldn't notice he wasn't following until… well, until they escaped, and he didn't.
The door crashed open.
Virgil saw glowing blue eyes, lightning, and then nothing at all.
~~~
Janus and Remus watched the Facility adults carry Virgil out. He was hanging limp over a man’s shoulder, and he looked tiny.
Janus grabbed Remus to stop him from sprinting down to the group. “You could definitely fight off all of those adults single handedly,” he growled, sarcastic as ever.
Remus spun around to yell at him, but froze when he realized Janus was trembling. There was a harsh glare on his face, but it was clearly nothing more than a front, designed to hide the tears in his eyes. Remus lunged toward Janus and squeezed.
They sank to the ground, clinging to each other desperately.
The radio at Janus's hip made a sharp static noise before a voice came through.
"Janus, are you there? Answer me! Are you okay?!"
Janus scrambled for the radio and stared at it, silent as it spoke.
Remus reached out and pressed the 'speak' button. "Thomas," he said, voice breaking.
" Remus! Where's Janus? Are you alright?"
"I'm, we're- Janus and I are safe," Remus stammered. Janus buried his face in Remus's shoulder.
"You're okay," Thomas breathed with relief. "You and Janus… wait, what about Virgil? Remus, tell me you're with Virgil! Is he hurt?"
Remus let out a high-pitched wail, barely remembering to muffle the sound. "They took him! They knocked him out, and I don't know if they used a taser or hit him or tranqued him, or maybe an electrokinetic- if it was an electrokinetic, I'll kill them!"
"They… they took him?" Thomas whispered.
Janus pulled away from Remus and grabbed the radio. "Are you going to come pick us up?" he asked, sounding deceivingly composed.
"I'm already on my way. Hang in there, boys. I'm almost there. I'm coming, I'm coming for you," Thomas said. He continued whispering reassurances through the radio as Janus curled back into Remus's hold, and Remus dropped the radio to better wrap his arms around the blonde.
"I'll keep you two safe," Thomas promised, the number glaringly obviously wrong .
~~~
Virgil knew he had a headache before he knew he was awake. Once he realized that he was actually conscious, it didn't take long for the rest of his body to start screaming its pain.
Getting struck with electricity can do that to a person.
He fought to open his eyes and hoped that he hadn't ended up in a coma. Losing who-knows-how-many months, or even years, of his life was one of the worst things he could think of.
When he opened his eyes and came face to face with a red-eyed pyrokinetic in official Facility uniform, it occurred to him that some things were much, much worse.
"Welcome to the waking world, sweetie," the woman purred.
Virgil ignored the chills racing up his spine as he stared at her.
She pulled away, so that she was no longer creepily leaning directly over him, and sat down. "You're in the Facility now. It's much safer than outside, I can assure you. You needn't worry. And we'll teach you how to properly use your ability."
She looked at him expectantly, but he didn't say anything. Her eyes flashed, glowing for a moment, but they were back to normal a moment later. "Let's start with rules, shall we?" She hummed. "Yes, let's. First, you must never use your ability without permission. If your eyes so much as glow, you will be punished."
One rule in, and Virgil could already tell he was in for a lot of punishment, whatever that meant.
"Two, you'll follow your schedule to the letter. Punishment varies based on how much you miss. Three, do as you're told. Simple enough." She smiled and stood. "Of course, those are only the basics, but I'm sure that will give you enough to think about. Welcome to the Facility. Oh, and tell me your name, sweetheart?"
Virgil stared at her from beneath his bangs. Her smile tightened but didn't drop as she left.
The 11-year-old relaxed just slightly once he was alone, but that was when he realized they'd changed his clothes. He was dressed in a Facility uniform, and his own clothes were gone. Glancing around what he assumed was an infirmary, he didn't find his belongings sitting nearby, either.
His hoodie was gone. His soft, oversized comfort, his perfectly woven warmth, his handmade black fabric gift from Janus and Remus- it was gone.
He couldn't be without it. He couldn't be without Janus and Remus. He couldn't be trapped in the freaking Facility all alone.
The monitor next to him started beeping louder, spiking along with his heartbeat, but no worried doctor came running.
He figured they probably didn't care.