The League [Phan AU]

Chapter 24

Anne took the three of them to the same office Phil had sat in when he first joined. He felt like Ashton, who had recruited him to the resistance. He wished the Australian was still around to help them with all of this. Dan sat in the chair and Anne sat behind the desk. Phil remained standing alongside Katie.
"Why did you bring them here, Phil?" Anne asked.
"Donovan has taken over the Hideout," Phil explained. "We don't have enough people to fight him on our own. We need your help."
"This is what we've been preparing for, so of course we will fight. Have your people meet with me and my forces in the woods around the Hideout at nine o'clock tonight."
"So you've been alive this whole time," Dan said. "And you didn't feel the need to tell me?"
"I couldn't tell you," Anne answered.
"Did Phil know?" Dan demanded.
"Yes, but I ordered him not to tell you. He wanted you to know, but if you had then Donovan would have found out. I needed him to believe he had succeeded in killing me."
"Is Adrian alive, too?"
"He is."
'She betrayed you.'
She had to.
'She doesn't love you.'
That's not true.
"Are you alright?" Anne asked her son. Dan nodded.
"Yeah, we should get going," Dan said, standing up from his chair. "What's the plan?"
----
Jim and Tanya called everyone they knew would help to their house. Zoe, Alfie, Marcus, Niomi, Tyler, and Troye were the only people they could trust. Joe and Caspar gave them the news when they all arrived. Troye's eyes were puffy and red, undoubtedly because of hearing the news that his father had been killed in the massacre. When Dan, Phil, and Katie returned everyone gathered in the living room to hear the plan.
Phil got a large piece of paper from Tanya and a pen, he drew a rectangle to represent the Hideout and then clouds for the forest around it.
"They have a decoy team going in thirty minutes before the main forces," Phil started. "Their job is simply to distract while we quietly take out any opposition on the outside. Once that's done we'll sneak inside through the various side entrances. The goal is to take out all the enemies, and to get Dan and his mom to Donovan."
Dan watched Phil reciting all this from afar. Phil was in his element when working with others, and when using his brain. He had such great potential in their line of work, and Dan felt stupid for never realizing how badly Phil wanted out. He had been dragged in when he was eleven and handed a gun. When he was fourteen he was dragged into combat, without sufficient skill or enough training. When he was eighteen he became a full member of a League that tortured him mentally and had given him anxiety around an object his job required him to use. Phil was a victim, and Dan was so angry that he had not noticed or done anything sooner. He owed so much to his boyfriend... no his fiancé now.
I won't let anything bad happen to you ever again, Dan swore in his head. I promise Philly.
'You won't be able to.'
I will.
'He'll probably end up dead because you couldn't protect him. You're weak and pathetic. There's no way you can save him from anything.'
"Dan, you okay?" Phil's voice asked him. Dan came to, realizing how tightly he was clenching his fists. He was on the floor... had he passed out?
"I'm fine... what happened?" Dan questioned.
"You just collapsed, are you sure you're okay, babe?" Phil continued, Dan's heart fluttering a little at the pet name.
"Yeah, totally."
"You should still lay down for a while," Jim chimed in. "We still have a few hours before we have to gear up."
"Okay, yeah," Dan agreed, letting Phil help him to his feet. The two left to go upstairs to the guest bedroom. Dan plopped on the bed, Phil laying beside him, just like they had before they found out about everything.
"We're going to win," Phil whispered, pressing his cheek against Dan's chest.
'No, you won't.'
"Yeah, of course."