The feeling that he was being watched never left Will, always sensing a pair of hidden eyes evaluating his every move. Even in the supposed safety of Helios Grove, Will no longer felt completely safe. Being constantly on edge, always looking over his shoulder had made him emotionally exhausted. It had been three days since Dart's unexpected visit; three days after his threat, and so far nothing had happened yet.
Will knew that Dart wasn't a person to procrastinate, especially when it came to something like this, which only made him more wary about every little thing around him. He couldn't walk out of Helios Grove without at least an ounce of trepidation, not knowing when or where Dart's secret plan was going to be put into motion. That was the worst part for Will, the fact that he could be kidnapped while out in the city centre or perhaps even assassinated after stepping a foot out of his home. Yep, he wouldn't put it past Dart to commit murder.
Thane though, had to put up with all this added tension. After the realization that he was in love with Will, he grew protective of his boyfriend. He knew he was at risk as well, but he felt that if anything were to happen, he hoped it would happen to him. Of course, other than the time he said he loved Will while he was asleep, the words were never spoken aloud again, though it did repeat in his mind like a defective record. They had enough on their plate as it was, and adding anything that could even remotely cause more stress was a definitely a no in Thane's mind.
Varek was on high alert at all times, taking every precaution necessary to ensure his families safety. He had instructed Alena to live with Sarah at her separate apartment for the time being, in case Dart decided to use her as leverage to get what he wanted. Cassandra was as tough as always, taking the news of Dart's visit without so much as a flinch. He knew the possibility of Dart going after them was low and if anything were to happen, Cassandra would be able to handle things well, but he still had that nervous itch at the back of his neck whenever he thought about anything happening to them.
Yes, the whole Hopper family, including Will, was on standby. Getting help from anyone outside the family was social suicide. Spreading rumors, although true, about Dart and his twisted mind, could get you arrested for planning a coup, and getting locked up or worse, executed, was simply doing the job for Dart themselves. So they remained silent.
The thought did cross Varek's mind, to hole themselves up in Helios Grove, a fortress to protect themselves in so to speak, but life had to go on. Cutting contact with the outside world would have raised suspicion and once again, cast a not so innocent spotlight on the family. No, they had to pretend everything was normal.
Will was sitting on his couch, looking at the TV but not really paying any attention to it. Neither Varek nor Will, was in any mood to conduct elite training, so they had simply decided against it. Now though, Will was wishing they hadn't. Sitting around all day simply gave him too much time to think, to worry. Thane had left earlier in the day because he had some work to attend to, and Will had spent almost every second wondering whether he was safe.
Suddenly, his door was pushed open, quite forcefully, and there stood Steve. At first Will was shocked, knowing that Steve always knocked before entering. Hell, everyone always knocked before they entered. Will was about to question it when Steve spoke up. "Will, Varek needs you to head to his office immediately. It's of utmost urgency." He droned. Immediately, Will tensed. That didn't sound good, and his mind went straight to Thane. Panic rose in him as he jumped off the couch, running past the robot and sprinting down the hall towards Varek's office. His mind raced, hoping that what he suspected wasn't true. He prayed that it was something else, anything else, as long as Thane wasn't involved in it.
As he ran as fast as his legs could carry him, never had Varek's office seemed so far as it did at that moment. Paintings on the walls became a blur as he zoomed down the halls, swerving past obstacles and corners. Finally, Varek's office came into view, the door wide open, which in itself was an odd occurrence, but Will was much too preoccupied to care at that point.
He ran in, speaking before he had even seen Varek. "Please don't be anything to do with Thane." Will panted. Varek moved around his office, picking up notes and his tablet, stuffing them into his briefcase.
"We need to go." Varek said, not so much as answering Will's question. He had heard the question, but he couldn't bring himself to say the words.
"Varek, please say it's not Thane." Will pleaded, still trying to catch his breath. Varek looked up sadly at Will, who immediately got the answer he didn't want to get.
"He left me this message." Varek said, pressing a couple buttons on his BIC, causing a voice message to play.
"Dad, no time to explain, I need you to get Will somewhere safe." Thane's voice rang over the speakers of the BIC. "I think I'm being followed and I have a feeling it's something to do with Dart. I need you to..." The message cut off.
"Why did it stop? What happened?" Will asked, panic lacing his voice.
"The recording ends there. I have tried contacting him but communications to his BIC have been halted." Varek said, continuing stuffing things into his briefcase. "Only a few people can do that, Dart being one of them."
"We have to find him."
"Yes, we will, but first I need to get you somewhere safe. If this is really Dart's work, then we can assume he's gonna come after you next." Varek said, closing his packed suitcase and pulling Will as he left the room, heading to their hovercar.
"I don't care. I need to find him." Will shouted, on the verge of losing it.
"Will listen to me, we need to be clever about this. Getting caught now isn't gonna help anyone, especially not Thane. I need you to compose yourself." Varek said, looking sternly into Will's eyes. Will took a few shaky breaths, nodding after calming himself down. "Good. Now we need to get out of the city centre. Dart will probably be searching for us here first. Can we go to your parent's place?"
Will thought about it, knowing it probably wasn't a very good idea seeing that he hadn't spoken to his parents since the day they fought. "I don't know Varek, I..."
"We need someone we can trust." Varek said, finally arriving at the hovercar. Will thought about it and really, there was no other choice. He nodded as he got into the vehicle, telling the driver droid the address.
"Wait but, won't Dart be able to track our BICs?" Will asked as they vehicle started moving.
"That's why I'm going to do this." He said, pulling open his briefcase and pulling out his tablet. Connected to it was a wire with an electrode on the other end. "I've been researching the BIC for the past few days, and I think I found a way to disable it?" Varek said, attaching the electrode to the screen of his BIC. "I think if I can trick the BIC into giving a shock that is above the set limit. The shock should, in theory, fry the circuits enough to cause it to shut down."
Will looked on as Varek typed away at the tablet. "You're talking about the alarm clock shock to the system?" Will asked.
"That is correct. The BIC is programmed to limit the volts to be nothing more than a sting, but if I can remove that limit, it might be able to fry itself." Varek took a deep breath, hovering his finger over the button that would execute the command. "I'm sure this will hurt. Best-case scenario, the BIC shuts down. Worst-case scenario, I die from the shock." He said.
"What?" Will shouted, but before he could have the word out, Varek had pressed the button. Immediately, Varek let out a shout as the watch shocked him, with how many volts Will didn't know. He took solace in Varek's screams, as that at least told him that the older elite hadn't died. After five full seconds of screaming, Varek finally stopped and slumped into his chair. For a moment, Will panicked at the thought that his mentor was dead, until he noticed Varek's chest moving as he breathed.
"Well that was a lot worse than I expected." Varek said, moving his BIC up to inspect it. "At least it worked." He chuckled, tapping at the blank screen of his watch.
"Damn it Varek, what if you died?" Will asked, appalled that Varek had just sacrificed his own life at the prospect of maybe turning off his BIC.
"Occupational hazard. C'mon now, your turn." Varek said, as he pulled the electrode from his wrist and attached it to Will's. Will just sat there, slightly nervous about it but knowing it had to be done. "Ready?" Will nodded his head, breathing as he felt electricity surge through his body, emanating from his wrist. He bit his lip, suppressing the cry that wanted to escape. He was sure we would never complain about the tiny shock his BIC usually administered ever again, this being way worse. Finally, it stopped and Will panted, recovering from the electric shock he had just experienced. "Are you okay?" Varek asked.
"Yeah, I'm good." He said, bringing his BIC up to ensure that it had worked, and true enough, the watch didn't light up. As Varek put away the stuff back into his briefcase, Will stared at his wrist. It was the first time that he was truly without his little wrist companion, at least without ripping it off of course, and it was somehow kind of liberating.
Their little experiment took slightly longer than they had actually anticipated and soon after, they were stopped in front of Will's old house. The pair got out quickly, Varek speaking to the driver. The hovercar drove off as Varek directed the driver to a secluded spot, so as to not bring any attention to themselves. Stopping in front of the door, Will waved his BIC in front of it, knowing that it usually opened the door without problem, but this time nothing happened.
"Will, your BIC is shut down." Varek reminded, and Will almost slapped himself at his stupidity. It's funny because he had lived with it for his whole life, it would take some getting used to, to remember that it was no longer working. Instead, seeing that he couldn't get the door opened, he did something he had never done on this door. He knocked.
They stood there, waiting for the door to open. Varek busied himself by looking up and down the street, making sure that there were no street cameras that could give away their position. Thankfully there were none. Will however, waited, counting the seconds as he did. After ten seconds, he wondered if his parents weren't home, haven't yet returned from work. Of course, he didn't know if ten seconds was the norm for his parents, having never waited for them to open the door for him. For all he knew, they could have taken an average of half a minute to answer the door.
Eventually, at the sixteen second mark, as counted by Will, the door slid open. Sarah looked up and a surprised look graced her features, not expecting the person at the door to be her son. "Will? What are you doing here?"
"Hi Mom. Not to be rude but, it's kind of urgent that we come in. Is that okay?" Will asked, unsure if he was welcomed back into the house after his last visit.
