You Saved Me (Emison Fanfic)

Ch. 28 - Running Out of Time

Emily's POV

My heart started thumping in my chest and I knew that Charles was not bluffing. I knew instinctually that his threats were real and there was no doubt that he was serious. Either we found a way to disarm this James Bond-like wall or else Charles would hurt someone on the other side. And the worst part? He was going to make us choose who that was.

There was no hearing anything unless Charles allowed us to. Regardless of the fact, I don't think I needed to hear anyone to understand how scared we all were. I was holding on to hope but it was fading fast. I tried to get a grip but every time I thought I got a good hold of it, it started slipping away and I would think about what would happen if Mona and Caleb couldn't do this.

I looked up and forced myself to look at my parents. My mom was crying, leaning as close as she could to my father who I could tell was trying his hardest to keep it together, to stay strong, and to be okay so my mom didn't have to be. He met my eyes and made a small nod, like he was trying to convince me that we were going to be okay.

I sucked in an unsteady breath and my mind drew me in again, pulling me into the recesses of my memory, uncovering another lost document of my past that was filed away and labeled unreachable...and it was all Charles' fault.

From what everyone has said, I was the one to get the least mad or upset about things, the one among the five of us that tried to reason and solve the issues in the most peaceful way possible. Charles had told me I was weak because of it, and that he did me a favor by putting me through all of this all these the years; he credited himself for making me strong.

I used to be peaceful. But there was no peace in my mind, I didn't even feel it in my heart. And even when we started the hunt for Charles, I was willing to consider finding a way to restore his humanity: turning him in, reinstating him to a mental institution and do the "right thing." But that's not what I was feeling right now. Right now, I was feeling red, hot, boiling anger. Underneath the minute feeling of empathy for a man that had lost his way, was a stronger, less subtle hatred for the sick coward that was behind all of this.

"We're going to figure this out Em," Caleb tried to coax.

I tried to say something to him nothing came. There was really nothing to say, either we pulled it off, or not.

"How much time do we have?" I finally managed to speak, my eyes glued onto everyone on the other side.

"About seven minutes," Caleb answered.

"And are we getting anywhere?"

Mona cleared her throat and made a small move towards me. I recognized it as a cue to come over and so I did, reluctantly pulling my aching eyes away.

I knelt onto the cold floor, "what is it?"

Mona looked up through the wall at Charles and swallowed hard, "he's good, but he's not the best. Charles bought that on the black market, and there's no records on it but it belonged to the government during testing and somehow was 'lost' during transport to an unnamed facility but, with Caleb's help," she lead off, "I," Caleb jumped in, "actually hacked into the NSA, which I'm sure I'll be getting arrested for as soon as the realize there was breach in their system."

"Okay, but what does this all mean."

"I seen the trade happen and we were able to verify the manufacturers of Charles' stupid wall. I used the vin number to trace where it's been and found out that it was made by some company LCorp. Where I hacked that too."

There was a growing energy about them and Caleb continued to whisper excitedly, hopefully out of Charles' earshot.

"We found it Em, we found a way through it."