Vigilante Justice [Closed]

It wasn’t often that Chase was rendered incapable of sleeping. In fact, it was usually only when he was sick, or when something was weighing on his mind that he was struck with insomnia. The last time had been when he and James had been at war over the Adam situation not so long ago. But this was a new breed of insomnia. It was hard to sleep when you were worried about your partner cheating. It was even harder when you were worried about your partner’s safety. About your child’s safety. He couldn’t sleep because that criminal was still out there.

He’d managed to avoid going into Sean’s office after the meeting yesterday. Too concerned to leave James’ side. Though he’d feared being too clingy, James hadn’t complained. He hadn’t even complained when Chase had suggested delivery. Neither one was in a state to cook mentally, and James wasn’t in a position to do it physically, either. Nobody seemed to complain. Through it all, Chase had tried to be calm, normal, for Niko. It was hard when neither of his parents was quite there, but Chase had tried.

But today, he wasn’t so lucky. He had no excuse not to go, and he knew it. Which was why he’d dragged himself to Sean’s office. What he hadn’t expected was the answer he received. For a moment, Chase couldn’t talk. He just scoffed and looked away, gathering his thoughts. Well, he hadn’t expected much else. “I can’t do that. I’m not going behind James’ back and calling because he needs to trust me. I know something has to happen soon, but I’m not gonna push him.” If that made the eventual scar James would have his fault, so be it. He was doing the right thing in his eyes. (Love made you do something irrational things, sometimes.)

As for being accused of something foolish, well, Chase glanced up, trying to meet Sean’s gaze. “You’re talking about yesterday. At the meeting. You heard what I was thinking.” Who wouldn’t be thinking those kinds of thoughts after an attack like that? “Are you gonna lecture me on it?” He was well aware he was acting a bit like a bratty child, but he couldn’t help it. Why couldn’t Sean see that something was seriously wrong here? Chase’s powers were in the same family as the twisted puppeteer’s. And if powers didn’t work, there were always other options. “What if you were me, Sean? What if you were in my position. What would you do?” I can take him. Or at very least, he’d try.

“Yeah, I know.” Chase was familiar with mental powers, seeing as he possessed one himself. He understood the risk that was being taken. But how could he try to push James into talking to someone about it when he was still in such a state? He couldn’t even make him do it mentally. No. It wasn’t that he couldn’t. It was that he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t abuse the trust James had in him. They’d just have to figure out some other way to fix this. Something that didn’t involve scarring James any more than he already was. It wasn’t something Chase planned to compromise on. “I’ll do what I can, but I can’t promise anything. James is... pretty rattled.” Rattled enough to shy away from his own husband. Rattled enough to not even care where they ordered from last night. Yes, Chase wanted his confident, smug, anal retentive, OCD partner back. But he wasn’t willing to compromise their relationship to do it.

Great. Just great. Chase was thirty seven years old and he was getting a lecture like he was still in grade school. He didn’t need this. He needed to be out with his students. He needed to be planning. Anything but this. He could see that Sean wasn’t in the mood for him being difficult, but he couldn’t help it. Why hadn’t he shielded yesterday? Then he wouldn’t be in this mess. Sean wouldn’t know, and they wouldn’t be talking about it now. It only made things worse when Sean brought up the Bruce Wayne crack. “You think I wanna go superhero on this freak? You’ve gotta be kidding.” It wasn’t that he was trying to hide it. It just sounded strange, worded like that. “That’s suicide. This guy, he’s got connections, doesn’t he?” Chase didn’t know much about Gabriel Underwood, beyond the fact that he was the bastard that had threatened his son, and hurt his husband in more ways than one.

In theory, by now he should have calmed down. The homicidal rage he’d felt yesterday should have subsided. And it had, sort of. It was no longer that white hot blaze of emotion, but rather a quiet simmering, deep down. He was rational. He knew that going after Gabriel blinded by his own feelings would only put him in exactly the same position as James. Hurt and violated. But the difference was, Chase knew how to protect himself from mental attacks. And if he could get into Gabriel’s head, before he managed to take hold of him, he’d have half a chance. “I’m not rushing off anywhere, Sean. Look at me. I’m calm. I’m fucking rational. I know I can’t take a blind run at him and expect to win.” But if they could take him by surprise... “Look, he might even be expecting something right now. A retaliation. I know that.”

As for getting the authorities involved, who could help them? They didn’t even know where Gabriel was. “I’m focusing on James. And Niko. That’s why I need to find the bastard. How else am I supposed to promise to keep them safe?” Get rid of the root problem, and the whole thing would go away. James would be safe. Niko would be safe. The staff and students at Hammel. Things would be okay again. “I don’t care what you call it. I want to protect my family, Sean.”

At least he had the sense to quiet down and listen to what the telepath, what his friend had to say on the matter of Gabriel. Though he didn’t show it on the outside, he mentally winced at the imagery used. So the guy was a sadistic freak. He already knew that. “And I’m probably one of the best chances we have at fighting him. If I can get in his head before he can get into mind, if I can get him alone, I can do this. It won’t be easy, but I can do it.” He knew it wasn’t without risk, but nothing worth doing ever was. Right?

“I’m tryin’. Trust me.” At least his thoughts were in agreement with that statement. It wasn’t that he wanted to risk James being scarred for life after the attack. He was just weighing his priorities. Right now, James’ well being was first on his list. Making him talk to the guy in Boston, or even Sean, was just a little much right now. All Chase wanted was for James to be calmer, and if he couldn’t do it with his powers, this was the only other way he knew how. Maybe he was just a sucker for giving in to his husband, but either way, he wasn’t about to force James into anything. Sure, they’d talked about it, but James had been clear. Not yet.

“And you know that... why?” Chase could feel the point Sean was trying to make, and tried to sidestep it. He might not be a puppeteer, but his ability was similar to Gabriel’s. It would be the same. Only Chase wouldn’t use his to force Gabriel into destroying something that meant so much. (Not that he could, even if he wanted to.) But if he could get into his head, he could at the very least subdue him. Maybe he wasn’t out to try and gun him down. Maybe all he wanted was for him to be in custody. Sure, he was angry. Sure, he’d wanted to kill him. But that would make him no better off that Gabriel. (Still, if he got close enough, he supposed there was no harm in attempting to rough him up. One way or another, he’d learn that what he’d done was wrong in every sense of the word.) “How the hell did he make these connections?” He chose to ignore the jibe about shielding. Sean was right. He’d have found out. It was near impossible to hide things from a telepath.

So maybe the anger was born out of the drive to protect his family. As far as Chase could see, it was entirely justified. Clever, maybe not, but it was justified. No one messed with his husband, hell, nobody hurt his husband and got away with it. He wasn’t trying to tread the same line as Gabriel Underwood. Not by a long shot. And if he wanted to get even, he wouldn’t be targeting Gabriel himself, but his partner. Whoever that might be. His only target was Gabriel. If he could ever get out of this office, that was.

He listened to what Sean had to say. Granted, he had points. Good points. He was pointing out things Chase hadn’t even thought about. He’d never considered being hurt in action, let alone killed. A guilty look crossed his face. No. James wasn’t in any position to handle that kind of thing. But Chase was confident. If things went his way, James wouldn’t even have to know. “I didn’t think about that,” he admitted, not meeting his friend’s eyes. “No, I know he’s not in any position to handle it. But I can’t just sit around and do nothing when that psycho is still out there.”

Chase should have expected Sean not to give up, but asking him point blank about his plan was a little much. If he was honest, he didn’t exactly have a plan, beyond hunting Gabriel down. He frowned and leaned back, crossing his arms across his chest. “I don’t know, okay? I’ve been a little preoccupied to come up with an actual plan.” Most of his so called “plan” were errant thoughts about ambushes in dark alleyways. And now he was realizing how stupid this all sounded. He didn’t even know what Gabriel looked like. No wonder Sean was trying to sway him off this path.

“That is important to teenagers now?” Maybe from a child like Niko, he could understand. He’d already learned a few odd things here and there from the kid. But stuff like that? Still, it gave Chase a small edge. Sean had family too. He could use that against him. Try to make him see things his way. Yes, he was grasping at straws, but he was running out of options. There was no way to make Sean understand how he felt. It was an awful feeling. Violated, angry, and at the moment, quite useless. He couldn’t use his powers to comfort his own husband, and it was only now he was realizing how much of a crutch mind control could be. Before, he’d have never thought twice about easing James out of one of his stressful moods. It was never much, just a small nudge, but it was always enough to calm him down. Now, when it might have helped the most, he couldn’t do it.

As Sean began to detail exactly why Gabriel was where he was in life, Chase listened. It had never occurred to him to use his power like that, to gain influence and money. The only real connections he could admit to having were at Hammel, and a few non-meta friends back home. Nothing that would really benefit him, apart from having people to go to for advice, and support. Nothing that would rival the connections Gabriel Underwood might have. “Shit.” Yes, that really was all he had to say on that particular matter. This wasn’t going to be easy, not by any stretch of the word.

At least Sean could agree that the feelings involved were justified. Nothing had been turned into actions just yet. But if Chase had his way, they soon would be. Somehow, he’d find a way. And he planned to do it alone. There was no point involving the other staff members, or the students themselves. He would protect the school, and his family.

“Sean, I don’t want to let someone else handle it. For all we know he’s planning something else. Fuck, we already know he knows about Niko. God, what if he’s next?” Chase put his head in his hands, mussing his hair. “I can’t sit around doing nothing.” And it was only made worse as Sean pointed out the biggest problem he had. “I know I don’t know. But Jesus Sean, somebody around here knows about him. Hell, you must know something. Anything. You can help me.” He glanced up. He had to try a better angle. “What if it was Josh he’d attacked? Or it was Ryan he was threatening? Sean, I need to see that file.” He was done listening to the older man’s wisdom. Once he had the information he needed, he could make a plan.

The hardest part wouldn’t be finding Gabriel, or even attacking him. No. The hardest part of all was going to be keeping this from James.

The interest in comics and the like certainly weren’t exclusive to the younger generations. Chase remembered reading about Spiderman and Batman and all those comic book heroes. It didn’t help when the meta human population was rising. Too easy to read into things too much. All those heroes, they had enemies. Enemies with powers. Then again, Chase realized that metas did have enemies. Those of them that fell, for lack of a better word, to the dark side. It didn’t happen often. Not with training programs like Hammel and its’ sister schools. He’d never even considered going bad, not once. As it turns out, some of his peers hadn’t been so moral.

He was also coming to realize that choosing to go up against him was dangerous. Very dangerous. Thought it didn’t exactly deter him, it did slow him a bit. If he was this dangerous, he would need a plan. Just like Sean had said.

“He’d better not be. This guy touches Niko, and he’s gonna pay for it.” Sean’s reasoning as to why Niko might not be next made sense, but it didn’t make Chase any calmer. “He threatened him. James said he did. If he’s recruiting his own teenagers, what’s to stop him from taking Nikki? He’s impressionable, that kid. He’s innocent. God, if someone like Underwood got his hands on him...” He didn’t want to know what would happen.

The trainer could see that he’d struck a nerve with Sean, after spouting Josh and Ryan’s names. He should have been sorry, but he wasn’t. All he wanted was for Sean to understand what it was like. How awful it felt to have your loved ones in danger. He was worried about Niko, he was worried about James, and he was worried about the safety of the school, of his students. This situation was far from good, and he needed to find a solution. Quickly. “I know that,” he managed to grumble. Yes, it wasn’t just personal. “We can protect the kids, yeah. The ones that are here. But what about our recruits? What happens when he gets to them first?” He didn’t want to think about it.

Whatever Sean had on Gabriel, Chase wanted it. He wanted it now. If he was going to be prepared, this was the way to do it. Find out everything he could from one of the only people who knew he was dangerous. He needed this, he needed help. He was realizing he couldn’t do this alone. Though being denied access to the files made him scowl, he understood. Leaning back on the couch, he crossed his arms. “All right. What do you want in exchange?” He couldn’t think of anything the older man might want from him. Unless it was convincing James by any means necessary to see him, or his colleague. That was something he couldn’t promise. So he tried focusing on the questions instead. “How can we find him? What are his limits? How does his power even work?” Anything Sean could tell him at this point would help.

Chase had a immature streak that had never quite died out after he left his twenties. Now he was approaching forty, it still hadn’t left. It let him relate to his students, but it made situations like this difficult. He wanted to race off like a teenagers, no further thoughts other than “revenge.” No thoughts of consequences, not to himself, not to anyone else. If nothing else could be said about him, he was fiercely loyal to his family. He wouldn’t sit idly by while a madman wreaked havoc on his life, on the people he loved. Vendetta or no, Gabriel Underwood had messed with the wrong meta. “It doesn’t matter. He threatened him, I’m taking it seriously.” Nikki was his son, dammit. It didn’t matter to him how big a liability Niko might be to Gabriel. He was going to protect his family.

It seemed like, when thought about logically, they had the upper hand. They had a team of recruiters, and even if James couldn’t direct them, someone could. But then Chase thought about Gabriel. And his resources. Who knew how many people he had at his disposal? How many people he had to race them to the new recruits? “I don’t know if he’s up to it yet. He might need backup.” For all he knew, James would want to continue on like nothing had happened. Keep busy.

He had no idea what Sean’s condition might be. He’d guessed it was something to do with him not going. But when he said it, he couldn’t wipe the surprise off of his face fast enough. “What? Come with me?” He didn’t get it. Just a moment ago, he could have sworn that Sean was against this in every way possible. “Why?”

He was suspicious, but it wasn’t enough to derail him from finding information. This was important. He listened, more attentive now. The answers weren’t what he wanted to hear. He wanted to hear that it would be easy to find him. “There’s no easier way?” Not that he was complaining. … Okay, he was. But really, there had to be an easier way. A faster way. As for his power… he sighed. So that was what had happened to James, in all its’ sordid detail. It made his stomach knot up, his shoulders tense. The bastard. “I can shield. I can handle him.” What else could he ask? “What about weaknesses? Does he have any? Is there any way to get at him?” If he was as twisted as everyone seemed to think, he didn’t think it would be as simple as threatening his loved ones. … If he was even capable of loving anyone.