Breathe ⭐️ Reddie

53

"Come on. You've got work to do."

That was the only thing Zack said to Richie when he came out of his haze, grabbing his arm.

Richie didn't react, thinking about how to try to think about how to listen to El without making it obvious. He sat down at the seat and let Zack chain his arm to the desk, before opening up the computer and lazily pulling up the document.

"How do I postpone this?"

Richie couldn't think of a single way to make it seem like he hadn't done anything wrong.

A guard sat beside him, watching his every move. There was no way to hack anything or try to contact anyone without getting caught.

Irritably, Richie laid his face on the desk, groaning.

"What's wrong with you?" the guard asked, grabbing Richie's hair and forcing him to sit up.

"This could work," Richie thought, smiling internally. "My head is fucking killing me and i can't focus and I know if I don't do my work that they're gonna hurt my brother and I'm worried about my boyfriend..." he continued to ramble, hoping the guard wouldn't stop him.

After a few minutes of continuous talking, the guard slammed his hand over Richie's mouth. "Stop fucking talking. Look, if your head hurts that bad, I'll go get you a pain killer."

"Would you?" Richie asked, forcing tears to his eyes. "Can I go see my brother, too? While waiting for it to kick in?"

The guard closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'll ask for permission. Stay here and do your work."

With that, the guard turned to leave.

Richie smiled and waited for him to disappear out the door before opening a new page.

"Time to tip off the FBI and the CIA," he murmured to himself, typing in a message.

There was no telling whether or not it would work, but it was worth a shot. Then, he physically broke open the console box that ran the computer next to him.

"This should start a fire," Richie hummed, ripping up wires and tying them together, wincing as he felt the electric shots snap at his fingers.

Then, when the wires were combined in such a way that couldn't be good for any system, he closed the console and got back to his computer, just as the guard and Zack walked into the room.

Zack sat in the chair next to him, a glass of water in hand, as well as a bottle of Advil.

"Your head has been hurting?" he asked, pulling out two of the pills and handing Richie the water.

"Yeah."

"And you want to see your brother?"

"Yep. Preferably not through a screen when he's being tortured," Richie said with a scowl.

Zack laughed lightly. "Fine. You can see him. You've run diagnostics?"

"I'm getting to it. My head has been throbbing so it's been a little difficult to focus," Richie said, faking a dry sob.

It seemed to convince Zack, who undid the cuff on Richie's hand. He led him to a door, before unlocking it and allowing Richie to step inside.

"You've got thirty minutes," Zack said, and Richie mentally hoped that was enough time for his plan to fall into place.

Mike laid on the floor, opening his swollen eyes and clutching his head when the door open. The minute he saw Richie he offered and weak smile, before attempting to sit up.

Richie rushed over to his brother, helping him to lean against the wall. It was obviously painful, but soon the two were sitting side by side in silence.

"So... how's your day been?" Richie asked with what he thought was an award winning smile.

Mike just stared at him, wishing he was strong enough to bitch slap Richie. "Fucking splendid, as you can tell. I love getting electrocuted and injected with poison every hour. You should try it sometime."

Richie gently hugged Mike, trying to inflict as little pain as possible. "I'm so sorry, I'm trying to get us out of here, but it's a little difficult."

"It's okay. I'm thriving in here."

Richie laughed weakly at the joke, before leaning into Mike's ear. "Fake cry so they don't suspect anything," he hissed.

Mike faked a sob, adding to the drama by hugging Richie back.

Richie began to whisper quickly, "El contacted me in my head while I was asleep. She and my friends are on their way, so we need to hold on. I'm trying to put a pause to what they're making me-"

Richie was cut off by the door slamming open and both Zack and Donald running inside. They looked livid.

"What the fuck did you do, Tozier?" Donald growled, his hands curled into fists so tight that his knuckles were white.

Richie tried to give them a convincing puzzled look. "What are you talking about?"

"The computers. Why the fuck did we walk in to the whole row being melted and burned?" Zack asked, his composure a little better than Donald's.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Richie stated, fighting to keep his voice from shaking.

"Bullshit. You did this!" Donald hissed, stepping closer to the teenagers.

"Maybe they overheated? I swear, i have no clue what you're talking about."

Donald obviously wasn't convinced, but Zack seemed to be. He narrowed his eyes, searching Richie's face for a lie.

"The boy may be telling the truth," he finally said, breaking the tense silence.

"He's not!" Donald yelled when Richie nodded in agreement with Zack.

"It doesn't matter. We're not the ones who get to judge. Tozier, come with us," Zack said, sounding bored.

Richie was quick to stand up. He looked at Mike, who was laying on the ground with his split lip, covered in bruises, and saw him smile weakly. Encouraging him to follow them without a fight.

Richie followed Zack and Donald down the hallway to the room he had been in just weeks ago, being told by the superiors to go on mission. However, this time was different. The only superiors in the room were Donald and Zack, joined by a man sitting in the head seat that Zack had taken up when he worked there.

The man was older, with white hair and wrinkles. He was wearing a dark blue suit, extremely dressed up for being in a facility hundreds of feet underground. He smiled at Richie before standing up and limping toward him.

"Is this him?" the man asked, and both Zack and Donald nodded. "Very well, then. My name is Dr. Brenner. Welcome to the real Hive."