Mutants|| Reddie [DISCONTINUED]

XVII

A/N: Why hello there

I bet you thought you'd seen the last of me

I'm back! Yay-

I don't even know if anyone's going to see this, it's only been over a month but feels like an eternity.

"Great events turn on small hinges." (if you know what that's from you win a gold star-)

     "Shit," Richie muttered under his breath. Eddie shivered, hating the way he was immobilized on the ground.

     Stan swooped down clumsily, dropping Bev down and flying back up. He set a young boy- who Eddie guessed was Georgie- on the ground as gently as he could.

     Instantly, Georgie flung himself into Bill's arms. Bill let out a small sob, relief and love sweeping over him.

     "I'm s-so-so-sorry," he whispered to Georgie. "I'm s-so-sorry I didn't cuh-cuh-huh-home sooner." Georgie clutched him tighter.

      Bev looked around. "What the fuck . . ." she murmured. Eddie heard her shock as clearly as if she was screaming in his ear.

      They were surrounded, but not by the heavily shelled security guards that had attacked them before. Instead, children ranging from age 5 to 17 stood in front of them, blank eyed. Eddie supposed they were under some kind of mind control. Was there a mutant that could control minds? And why wasn't Georgie affected?

      Oh, Eddie thought, watching Georgie tensen. Maybe he is . . .

      With much more effort than it should have taken, Eddie raised his hand and concentrated. Georgie's eyes rolled back into his head, and he went limp.

      Bill stared at Eddie. "Wh-whuh-whuh-w-"

      "We can't risk him falling under whatever that is," Eddie gasped, waving an arm towards the kids surrounding them.

     Glancing around, Mike thrust out his hands, cautiously weaving a barrier of bark and vines around them, which formed a dome above their heads. They huddled together, waiting for the moment when the people around would close in.

     A sudden, earth-shaking rumble almost sent Eddie flying. Even as it was, he landed hard on Richie, letting out a sharp hiss of pain.

     "That's that, I guess," Bev said numbly. "They're attacking."

     Ben looked from her to Bill. "Well, we can't just kill them! They're kids, like us, and they're under some sort of mind control."

     "How does that work, exactly?" Richie asked. "Is there, like, some mutant who can control minds?"

     "That wouldn't make sense . . ." Mike mused. "Then they could just control us and make us fight each other, or hand ourselves over . . ."

     "Or kill ourselves," Stan said. He perked up. "Hey, I have an idea! They can't kill us if we kill ourselves!"

     "Stan, no."

     Another tremor shook the ground, and Eddie lifted his head up, gasping slightly. He winced at the ground's sudden movement, pain spiking up his leg and mind racing.

     He squeezed his eyes shut, hand finding Richie's without conscious thought as he probed the minds of the children around them.

     All he found was a sweeping, baffling blankness. A word, one he had heard once or twice thrown around in those years in the laboratory, bubbled to the surface in his head. Hive mind. Maybe Ben's theory about mind control wasn't too far off.

     "Guys," Eddie said urgently. "I think-"

     The world shook violently as what could only be dozens of hands slammed against the hastily made dome of bark.

     "What do we do?" Bev yelled frantically, hands raised in a defensive manner. "They're gonna get in here anyway, what-"

     Eddie opened his mouth, feeling too weak to shout, much less talk. His leg was throbbing, as though a million knives were stabbing his calf over and over, sending white-hot agony through his body.

     (weak eddie-bear is very weak very fragile)

     "Guys," he said again in a raspy voice. They can't hear you they don't care and you're dead dead dead-

     Richie turned towards him, his breath coming out in quick, stressed breaths. "What?" he said, not unkindly.

     "I think . . . if there's no mutant controlling their minds- and I don't think there is," he let out a shaky breath. "There must be some kind of control place where they're doing- whatever they're doing- to the kids. Making them attack. If we can shut it down . . ." His voice trailed off. How could they possibly hope to get far enough away to avoid, for the time being, being caught by the kids pounding from outside? Even if, by some miracle, they did escape, what then? They were injured, Georgie was unconscious, what hope did they have?

     "But how would we shut it down?" Ben echoed Eddie's thoughts, glancing back anxiously. Mike was trying frantically to strengthen the barriers, but it was clear he couldn't keep it up for long.

     Another rumble shook the ground, but this one seemed different. It cut through the earth, but immediately after, the thundering around them subsided slightly.

     Yells ensued from outside, causing Eddie to lift his head in confusion. He scrunched up his eyes, probing desperately in an attempt to find out what was happening outside.

     What he found surprised him- someone else was out there. Someone other than the mind-numb kids. Or more than one someone.

     And the oddest thing was, these someones felt familiar.

     Not earth-shattering or groundbreaking, or even nostalgic, like someone he should remember, just . . . familiar. Like he'd flitted in and out of their minds before. But they didn't feel necessarily malicious, either.

     "Mike," Eddie said quietly. "Someone else is out there. Can I see who?"

     Mike looked at him like he was crazy. "What?"

     "Trust me, please. I want to see who's out there."

     Dubiously, Mike retracted a small, circular peephole, which they all crowded around, peering outside. Stan inhaled sharply. "No fucking way."

     Three teenagers whom Eddie identified as Henry Bowers, Belch Huggins, and Victor Criss stood a few yards away, surrounded.

     "Why . . . wh-whuh-why are they h-he-he-here?" Bill sputtered, shock written over his face.

     Henry glanced their way, and as a wave of his thoughts rushed over Eddie, he understood.

     Henry hated being in anyones' debt. They'd saved him, Victor, and Belch, and he owed them. There wasn't anything particularly heroic in his actions or even anything personal, he was just making things even.

     "We need to go," Eddie hissed. "Now's our chance, we can get back and shut down the control."

     Richie steadied him, glancing around anxiously as Mike lowered the vine-like barrier. "Eds, you can barely walk-"

     Eddie shook his head, frustrated. "I'm the best chance of finding and shutting it down."

     Bill stood up, hefting Georgie's limp form in his arms. "Yuh-you two g-guh-guh-go. N-no, Richie, luh-luh-listen. You t-tuh-twuh-two go, and we'll stuh-stuh-stay and f-fight."

     Eddie stumbled back, leaning against Richie. As they backed up, Henry sent Bill a curt nod, which he took as a sign of solidarity, as small as the gesture was.

     The others formed a tight-knit circle, and Eddie desperately wanted to join them, but he knew he couldn't. He'd be throwing away the only chance of them making it out alive. So, heart feeling heavier than his throbbing leg, he turned and limped away, the pressure of Richie's arm around his shoulder pulling him on.