The Hostage and the Wanted

Louis felt his body dragged from the cell, his vision focusing in and out and the electricity coursing through him. He had never seen it coming. At least four prongs were currently hanging from him – he was certain of that but compared to Harry and Liam – he got off light.

“Bring them to my office, we’ll do it there.” Ethan walked ahead to the elevator and got in, waiting for the other men to follow. When they got in he was dropped to the floor next to Niall.

Niall looked half dead, probably the same way he currently looked but he was regretting the decision of the fight, it was a stupid argument over a stupid bitch and Louis could think of more important things at the moment other than Isabella but he didn’t let it go and that was his fault.

When the elevator moved up, it moved for a few minutes before it seemed to stop at a private sector, Ethan had to put his handprint in before being allowed to move forward, before both their bodies hit white carpet and a decorated hall before they turned a corner, right back onto solid floor.

“Put Louis in the examining chair, use the four points on him and use the additional buckle there, strap his chest to the chair,” Ethan ordered as he motioned the other guards who still had Niall to the other side of the room and pointed at another examining chair. “Same order.”

Niall couldn’t even move his muscles, he looked around and saw everything and nothing, he felt his body lifted and felt soft fur incase his wrists and ankles before a white belt was slipped over him and buckled to his upper body and the chair, adjusting the straps so he was secured.

“Secured, Mr. Bright.” One of the guards nodded, stepping away from the blonde and looking at Ethan expectantly for more orders.

“Good, you and the others may go but stay positioned outside the door at all times unless I instruct otherwise.” Ethan continued to construct before waving his hand, releasing the men to wait outside.

Once Ethan knew he was alone in the room he took to humming, grabbing a stool and sitting down on it, moving Niall’s head in his direction.

“When I give an order, Niall, I expect it to be followed. Just as I expect the same respect you give Mr. Saudimere to extend to me. I can be your friend or your enemy, that is completely up to you but I am hoping that we can come to exist peacefully around one another, eventually.” Ethan chuckled, seeing a sliver of fear from the boy’s blue eyes. He waved his hand passively. “Relax, I’m here to do my job, not torture you –that’s Glen’s job and judging by the order he gave me, I’d say you and Mister Tomlinson did a well good job at pissing him off this morning.”

Niall swallowed and tried to speak but his voice quivered and he couldn’t get himself to stop shaking from the volts that were still going through him, although slowly dying off even though the initial shocks were already gone.

Ethan shushed him, his eyes scanning his chest before grabbing the wires with the prongs imbedded into Niall’s flesh, pulling them from him.

“There, that should feel a little better.”

Niall heard a groan from the other side of Ethan.

Ethan followed his stare and smiled, pulling back the privacy curtain.

“E-el-la?” Nial tried to call but Ethan shushed him again, standing up and walking away momentarily.

Niall just stared, her face was covered in deep bruises and cuts, her one eye was swollen shut, her nose looked bruised but as he looked at her hands, he let out a shaky breath – her fingernails had been removed.

“W-wh-“Niall couldn’t stop shaking and it began to anger him.

Ethan came back, carrying a small scanner looking device, turning it on and sitting down again on the stool, bringing it over Niall’s body and slowly running it back and forth.

At first Niall wasn’t sure what Ethan had been doing but as the jolts seemed to diminish he knew what the scanner had been used for.

“Thank you.” Niall said when he finally thought he could speak again.

“I told you, stop thanking me. I’m not doing this for your benefit and I wouldn’t have had to if you and Louis just followed orders. So the next time you say thank you, I remove your tongue. Are we clear?” Ethan asked, setting the scanner down and reaching over onto the desk, grabbing a warm bottle of water and opening it, offering the drink to Niall.

Niall shook his head, refusing it.

Ethan shrugged, setting it down and reaching back again, pulling a thin brown leather collar, only about two inches thick, and a small metal disk inside dead set in the center. A buckle with a small latch to keep it locked and irremovable.

“This is called a silence collar. A concept to a barking dog’s collar only more sensitive. It detects your voice pattern and sends a nasty shock straight to your vocal cords if it detects that you speak or go to speak – I could give you the technicalities but you don’t look very bright.”

Niall’s body stiffened, his eyes locked to the collar.

“Why would you –“Niall didn’t finish his sentence. He knew why.

“Glen’s idea, not mine. I personally couldn’t give a shit if you all murdered each other but apparently he does so –he asked me to keep things quiet and under control. This is the best thing I could come up with aside from binding and gagging everyone but I don’t believe in making extra work for myself or others, so this is the solution and there won’t be any hesitation for me to do it to all of you if problems persist.” Ethan threatened before forcing the brown leather to Niall’s throat and hurriedly put it around, buckling it to him and connecting the locking latch so it couldn’t be unbuckled or taken off without his assistance.

“If you pull or attempt to take it off, it will give you a shock that will vaporize your vocals and I find your voice quite pretty when you’re not crying – which, before I even activate it you may want to get that out of your system because you’ll find yourself shocked either way. Glen thought it may help you toughen up.”

Niall just looked at him shocked, tears falling down his face, they had been since he saw the collar. It sent so much panic through him that it literally took his breath away.

“Any questions?” Ethan smirked, seeing the complete loss in the blonde’s eyes.

He waited a moment before shrugging and taking out a small, nearly visible key, placing it on the top of the circular device that stuck out from the top and clicked it to the right before clicking it eight more times.

“The clicks you heard was me setting the intensity. I set it to eight. It can go to twenty five but like I said, vocals would be completely obliterated. Eight will give you just above a tickle of a shock – well, it’s still intense. Glen says that with every day you don’t set it off, I can click it down one. He hopes a week will calm things down.” Ethan shrugged, standing up. “While I go and get Louis situated, you can watch Isabella. Oh and if you think she’s going to help you, she can’t even stand. I broke her toes – Glen’s orders. I could have thought of something simpler but hey, who am I to argue with the boss?” Ethan asked with a ‘hah’ before turning and going to Louis.

Louis could barely move. Even as Ethan took a seat next to him and ripped the prongs from his flesh, showing him the same collar Niall now adorned.

“Matching accessories. You already heard me explain everything to Niall, so you should be up to date.” Ethan said, seeing Louis pull weakly at the belt around him but couldn’t manage much more than that.

Ethan shrugged uncaringly and positioned the circular device to his vocal cords and positioned it right to the center before attaching and locking the collar, repeating the same amount of clicks.

Louis growled, his eyes going wild a second later.

A high pitch zap could be heard, it struck true and powerfully at its target, freezing his vocals as all he could feel was pain. He tried to scream but now his voice was completely stopped.

Ethan chuckled and put the key back in the collar clicking it up another notch.

“You have a day added, each time you set it off you get a day added and another notch in volume. I should warn you though, fifteen damages the vocals and twenty-five completely wipes them away. You can live without a voice so it won’t kill you but I’m not that cruel. So behave Tomlinson or I’ll click it up to twenty-five.” Ethan winked and stood again, calling for the guards.

They came in, waiting for orders.

“Take these two back to the cells and kindly get Killian in here. I’m going to need some help with Anastasia, Glen wants her moved and go ahead and get Zayn from the infirmary, he’s awake and can be moved back to the cells.” Ethan was back to business like nothing happened, making orders like usual.

Niall and Louis were unstrapped, Niall was allowed to walk back but given as Louis was still unable to, he was carried unceremoniously as he had been before.

The walk was long and by the time they were pushed to the floor of the cold floor and the cell door locked again, their strength and fight had well and truly been extinguished.

It took Niall a few seconds but he got up and tried to help Louis from the ground but he tugged his arm back with anger and slowly crawled to his corner of the cell. Since he lacked strength to pick himself up to the bench, he simply crawled under it and faced the wall, putting his head on his arm with defeat.

Niall saw Liam holding onto Harry, his head prompted up on his lap, and his own body prompt up against the corner weakly.

He went over to them, kneeling down and shaking the oldest member.

“Hey Niall, we’re ok.” Liam whispered, opening his eyes. “Oh my God, what’s that?” He was leaning forward, reaching for the collar but Niall grabbed his hand.

Liam could see the panic in the younger man’s face, shaking his head desperately.

Don’t touch!

Niall mouthed, screaming out loud as a curt shock made its way through his throat, making his body flop back to the ground like a fish suddenly out of water.

“Oh God.” Liam breathed, gently setting Harry down on the ground and going to Niall. “Niall, mate? Oh God, what is that thing?”

Niall couldn’t answer even if he wanted to, all he could do was let the tears fall and stare above at Liam’s face, his vision fading. He was about to pass out, he could feel the consciousness start to slip from him.

“Niall? Niall!” Liam screamed, his voice fading from the younger boy’s ears before everything else followed.

Notes