Zac was at Isaac and Taylor's for a band practice when Tad arrived at the door to the music room, opened it, and was in the company of a couple of YIRAAS agents.
Zac didn't notice until after Isaac did and stopped playing.
Taylor
Taylor didn't notice anything until the music stopped, having had his eyes closed.
He glanced across at his brothers, before following their eyeline to the door. He gulped slightly.
"Ah... hello?"
Isaac and Zac
One of the agents stepped forward, paper in hand.
"Isaac, Taylor and Zac Hanson?"
"Yes..." Isaac said slowly.
"You have been requested by the YIRAAS to come in for questioning."
It was obviously by the tone of the agents' voice that it wasn't really a request.
"Questioning about what?" Zac frowned.
"You'll find out soon enough," and here the message was clear - get off your butts and come with us - now.
Taylor
Taylor's eyes widened, as he cast his brothers worried glances.
He awkwardly stood from the piano, almost tripping over the stool, trying to ignore the satisfaction he knew he'd see on Tad's face just by the pheremones he was casting.
Isaac, Zac and Tad
Isaac and Zac returned Taylor's look to him and to each other as they stood and began to follow the agents out.
"I need to lock up," Isaac said.
The agent paused, nodded, and then met Tad's eyes. Tad followed Isaac to where he kept his keys and watched him as he retrived them, and rejoined the others. He locked up the house as they headed to the van.
Taylor
Taylor gave Tad a nervous glance as they got in, and made sure he was sitting between his brothers when they were in. As the van took off, he noticed himself started to shiver.
"You know what this is about, right?" his voice was soft, though he was sure the agents could hear anything uttered.
Tad
"I have a pretty good idea," Tad responded, in what he intended to be a neutral tone of voice.
But inside, he was thrilled. At last, justice was being served!
Taylor
Taylor looked up at him, his face going almost white.
He looked between Isaac and Zac again before grabbing their hands and clutching them until his knuckles were the colour of his face.
Isaac
"Tay?" Isaac frowned. "Tay, are you okay?"
Zac looked at Taylor curiously.
Taylor
Taylor just shook his head, staring straight ahead.
It only took them about ten minutes before they arrived and were ushered inside the building.
Isaac and Zac
Isaac and Zac sat down. Two agents were waiting for them there and while they stayed, they said nothing. Tad went to
"Zac Hanson?"
"Yeah..."
"We'll see you first."
Zac glanced at his brothers, stood and then walked towards the door. He was lead to another room with nothing but two chairs and a table. He sat down at the empty chair and looked at the man who occupied the other. Wayne gave away nothing in his expression, but he was sorry for having to bring in Walker's kids like this.
"I have a few questions I need to ask you, Zac."
"I gathered," Zac replied.
"You don't have to answer me," Wayne went on, "but we do have an empath nearby who is monitoring you."
"Okay."
"Do you know who Christian Thomas is?"
"Yeah."
"Have you spoken to him recently."
"Well, that depends on what you mean by recently..."
Wayne coughed. Zac took the point.
"Yeah, I've spoken to him in the past few months."
"You didn't report it."
"Nope."
"Why not?"
"Well, for one thing, Christian's a dangerous guy. I mean, what if he found out that I did? He might have hunted down my family and killed -"
Wayne looked at Zac. He had a piece in his ear where he could hear what the empath was telling him, but he didn't need that information.
"Okay sorry," Zac couldn't help himself, he was nervous, and he always made stupid jokes in such situations. "I didn't report him because, well I didn't want to. He's a friend - albiet not a close one, and probably a dangerous one. But he is."
"I see."
Wayne went on to ask him a few more questions about his contact with Christain, which Zac (although not without a few bad jokes) answered honestly.
Taylor
Taylor glanced up at the agent standing watch over them, not
letting go of Isaac's hand.
"You wouldn't believe the self-satisfaction radiating from
Tad," he whispered as his eyes lowered.
Isaac and Zac
"I can imagine," Isaac muttered. "Man, I wish we could have gotten rid of him."
**********
Just as Zac was starting to get bored with the questions about Christian, Wayne changed topics.
"Okay," he said. "Now, about the Fudge Gang."
Zac's expression went blank.
"The what?" he asked.
Wayne paused for a moment as the empath spoke to him.
"Nevermind," Wayne said, glancing down at his notes. "Now, what do you know about an... Operation Tube?"
Zac started laughing.
"Zac?"
"Oh man..." he chuckled. "I can't believe it worked!"
"Excuse me?"
"Wayne, sir, I'm very sorry to have troubled you with that, Operation Tube... that was part of a prank we were pulling on Tad," Zac chortled. "You see, we kinda figured out he was spying on us, so we decided to give him something interesting to report. I can't believe he fell for it. Ha!"
"I see."
He asked a few more questions, and soon the interview was over. Zac was conducted into another room, by himself. Then an agent arrived back in the room were Taylor and Isaac were waiting.
"Isaac Hanson?"
"Yeah?"
"Come with me please."
Isaac stood.
"Where's Zac?"
"In another room."
The meaning was clear - so they didn't swap cover stories. Isaac followed the agent into the room with Wayne.
"Hi Wayne," he said cheerfully.
"Isaac," Wayne nodded, and waited until Isaac sat. "You don't have to answer my questions, but we do have an empath nearby."
Isaac nodded.
"Okay," he said.
"You know who Christian Thomas is?"
"Yes."
"You've spoken to him recently?"
"Last spoke a couple of weeks ago."
"So, you been in contact with him and never reported him?"
"Christian always comes to us. We have no way of contacting him."
"I see. But, still, you never reported him?"
"It's funny with Christian. We're... friends but we're not friends. I think it's... well, no I couldn't really say it's a mutant respect thing. It's more... we're both dangerous to each other, but we've also looked out for each other and stuff," Isaac shrugged. "I dunno... maybe it's that whole - the enemy of my enemy is my friend - thing going on. All I can really tell you is that my sense of honour prevents me."
"I see. And does that still come into effect concerning the things that Christian has done? Are you aware he's a murderer?"
"I shouldn't be surprised. But it's on the personal level. And probably the people he's murdered are people who would have murdered him, given the chance."
Wayne questioned him more about Christian, then moved on.
"Now, about the Fudge Gang..."
"The who?"
"The Fudge Gang. Do you deny having contact with them?"
"Well, I can't confirm or deny contact with the Fudge Gang - I've never heard of them."
The empath confirmed his confusion. Wayne checked his notes.
"On the 22nd of December last year you were approched by a couple of members of the Fudge Gang. You made some sort of monetary exchanged and passed a message onto Taylor."
"Uhh... " Isaac frowned. "No... I'm sorry I have no idea what you're talking about. But we got a lot of door knockers around Christmas time, looking for donations."
Wayne eyebrows raised. The Fudge Gang were known to do those kinds of scams...
"I see. Now, do the words 'Operation Tube' mean anything to you?"
He got pretty much the same reaction from Isaac has he had from Zac.
"Now, is it true that on the 26th of last month, you and Taylor actually conspired to murder someone?"
"The 26th?" Isaac asked. "Oh, yeah... that would have been part of the pranking Tad thing too. Chad - the guy we were supposedly plotting to kill - was actually a figment of everyone's imaginations."
A few more questions, and soon Isaac joined Zac. Then it was Taylor's turn.
Taylor
Taylor had been left shivering as Isaac had been taken in.
When it was finally his turn, he stood and made his way into the
room without a sound.
"Taylor," Wayne nodded to him.
Taylor sat down, twisting the chair a little.
"Hey," he replied nervously.
"As I told your brothers, you don't have to answer these
questions. We do however have an empath nearby monitoring
the room."
'Small consolation,' Taylor thought as his eyes met the door.
Wayne sighed to himself, deciding to reverse the questions.
Through what he'd read, Taylor would apparently know more
about Christian Thomas.
"Do you deny having contact with the Fudge Gang?"
Taylor frowned, not hiding his confusion.
"I can't," he said finally, "but I couldn't tell you that I had. I
know of them, but I wouldn't know any members if I saw them. I
don't even know what they do."
Wayne recieved confirmation from the empath, then wrote
something down.
"Do you know anything about an Operation Tube?"
Taylor again hesitated, trying to think of what that could be.
"Oh!" he exclaimed when he suddenly realised.
He started laughing.
"That was ah... something we... Zac got a few of his friends
involved and we pulled an elaborate prank on Tad," he chuckled,
"sorry about that. It's not really anything of significance."
Wayne nodded, adding to his notes.
"I also hear that on the 26th of last month you and your
brother Isaac conspired to kill someone. Would this be part of
the prank as well?"
"Yes," Taylor nodded, "sorry to waste your time, sir."
Wayne waved him off. It was time to get down to business.
"You know who Christian Thomas is?"
It was said more as a statement, and Taylor picked up on
that pretty quickly.
"I do..." he said finally.
"Am I to understand you've had contact with him recently?"
"Yes," Taylor began tapping his fingers on the table, his other
arm wrapped around his stomach.
"When was the last time, and how did it occur?"
"A few days ago. He contacted me."
"But not your brothers?"
Taylor shook his head.
"You never reported him."
"Actually, we have in the past," Taylor corrected, "March of
2003. That should be in that file you have there..."
He raised his eyebrows.
Wayne hesitated, not touching the file. Taylor turned away.
"He kidnapped my sister and I, I'd thank you to remember."
"Why didn't you report him this time?"
Taylor scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.
"I don't know," he admitted, "I guess I feel I owe him for
something. Or I think he's been through enough as it is."
"Yet he kidnapped you."
"That was under Craig's orders," Taylor shook his head,
"he's his own person now, as hard as it is for people to see."
"Hmm... Why did he contact you?"
"To check on me."
"So he was harrassing you?"
"Lord no," Taylor frowned, decidedly not giving away more
than necessary, "he was very humble about it."
After a moment of silence, Wayne leant forward making
Taylor shift uneasily.
"How long have you had regular contact with him?"
"I'm not sure," Taylor admitted honestly, "it's never been
regular. Possibly just over a year."
"And you realise that not reporting him is a rather serious
offence."
Taylor nodded.
"So you've... literally socialised with him. Talked about life.
Anything like that."
Taylor nodded, "yeah."
Wayne sat back again, deciding where to go next.
"Do you know where he is?"
"No," Taylor answered honestly, "but I also don't care to
know."
"Has he spoken with you about his plans for the future?"
"No," Taylor shook his head, "I don't care to know that either."
"You don't care whether he continues his crimes?"
"I've been trying to persuade him to stop if that's what you're
asking," Taylor glanced up for a moment, "but... nothing direct,
no."
Wayne added to his notes.
"Have you blatantly helped him evade the YIRAAS in the
past?"
"No."
The scornful tone of Taylor's voice made Wayne look up at
him for a second before turning back to his notes.
"We're not... that close," Taylor attempted to explain.
"How close are you?"
"It's hard to explain," Taylor shook his head, "but there's been
times... Both us of have had a really hard couple of years. We've
been through a lot of s**t. I mean we've got to depend on
someone, right?"
"So you feel you can depend on him?"
"No," Taylor shrugged, "I mean... yeah? I don't know. It's
complicated. I wouldn't put my life in his hands but he has
helped me and that can't go unseen."
"Helped you how?"
Taylor hesitated, his face going slightly white.
"I'd rather not talk about it."
"You realise that being evasive will not get you anywhere."
"Of course," Taylor almost whined, "but I've just... A week ago
I thought that part of my life had ended, ok? I don't want to have to
relive that anymore."
"So Blakesley was involved?" Wayne suddenly looked
interested as he looked up and caught Taylor's eye.
Taylor immediately turned away, almost embarrassed.
"Yes. He was."
"Was Christian with you then? What was his part in your
ordeal? We don't even need to mention Blakesley."
"Christian was there the last time," Taylor admitted uneasily,
"he was as innocent a victim as I was. He had no higher ranking
there than I did."
He gulped.
"Is this how your... partnership formed?"
"We don't have a partnership," Taylor corrected, "we barely
even see each other. We finally just have a sort of mutual
respect. But it's focused on me, my brothers have nothing to do
with it. Least of all Zac."
"Why would Isaac have more to do with it?"
"Long story," Taylor looked down at his lap, fidgetting
nervously.
"We have plenty of time."
Isaac and Zac
"Hey Ike," Zac said as Isaac entered the room. "How'd it go?"
"I know he's a pest and all," Isaac replied, "but I'm feeling a little bad about pranking Tad... y'know, now that we've just highlighted how guilible he is to Wayne."
Zac chuckled.
"Don't feel bad. He had it coming."
"Still..." Isaca shook his head. "Tay must be in there by now. I wonder how he's doing."
Taylor
"Are you able to contact Christian Thomas?"
It seemed to Taylor as if they'd been there for hours already.
"Yes," he replied, scratching his head.
"How do you contact him?"
"I'm afraid I can't answer that."
Wayne raised an eyebrow as Taylor tried not to blush.
"Why not?"
Taylor hesitated, trying to think of how to word it without
getting anyone else in trouble.
"I'd be risking the privacy, trust and very lives of many
people," he finally gulped.
Wayne paused as he recieved confirmation from the empath, then
sighed.
"What if we were to offer you witness protection?"
"You're taking it the wrong way," Taylor shook his head, "and
that's... all I can say without breaking unsaid promises."
Wayne
"I see," Wayne said.
He paused for a moment, considering.
"That will be all for now, Taylor," he said at last, giving the signal for an agent to come in. "He'll take you back to your brothers. I'll talk to you all again soon to let you know what's going to happen next."
He paused, and looked at the agent.
"Send Mr Forrest in please."
"Yes sir."
Taylor
Taylor gladly stood and followed the agent from the room. He made
sure not to make eye contact when he passed Tad.
Relief washed over his face when he entered the room with his
brothers, and went over to sit by them.
"Hey," he greeted quietly.
Isaac, Zac and Tad
"Hey, Tay," Zac said. "We were wondering about you."
"How'd it go?" Isaac asked.
**********
"You wanted to see me, sir?" Tad asked.
"I did, indeed," Wayne replied. "Sit."
Tad sat down on the chair obediently.
"Mr Forrest, you have been made a fool of."
"Sir?" Tad frowned.
"The Hansons are elaborate pranksters," Wayne replied. "I've been friends with their father for years, I should know. It would appear they became wise to you informing Leroy Brown about Christian Thomas and decided to make you look like an idiot."
Wayne leaned towards the startled Tad.
"And they've succeeded."
He pulled back. Tad opened his mouth to object but Wayne raised his hand.
"Now, I have no objection to you reporting contact with Christian Thomas. What I have an objection to is sloppy work. The fact that the Hanson's purposely fed you false information is inconsequential - that kind of thing happens all the time. You obviously did not take the time to gather actual evidence. Everything you supplied was conjecture. You took an idea and ran with it, and you didn't bother to actually look and see if everything really did add up. Tell me, Mr Forrest, are you aware that one of the Fudge Gang's favourite ploys is the charity scam? They go to people house requesting money for a charity that doesn't exist. It's particularity popular during Christmas time. Did it every occur to you that this may have been the transaction Isaac was involved with?"
Wayne berated Tad for quite some time. Tad seemed to shrink back in his chair.
"I'm going to discuss your assignment with Tanya, and see what arrangement we can come to," he finished. "But I can tell you this much, Mr Forrest, you will be enrolled in at least one training course to fix this little problem of yours in your technique. Now, return to the waiting room."
Silently, Tad stood and left the room.
Taylor
"I don't really know," Taylor shrugged awkwardly, massaging his
lap with his hands nervously.
"It got to a point where there were a few things I couldn't
answer. Either way I think we're in trouble."
He looked up at the door worriedly.
Tanya, Zac and Isaac
Wayne also left the room and rang Tanya.
**********
"Aww, it was just a little prank..." Zac said.
"Zac, we supposedly conspired to kill someone," Isaac pointed out.
"A completely fictional person," Zac defended. "Although, what I'm curious about is how the Fudge Gang got involved. I've never even heard of them."
"Yeah. And apparently I've had financial dealings with them."
"Tad sure has an imagination."
"Yeah."
**********
"Wayne... please don't ask me that. You won't like the answer," Tanya was saying.
"Tanya. I need to know why you had Tad staying with the Hansons so I can figure out how to deal with him."
Tanya paused.
"Look, let's just say it's to do with a side-effect of the damage to Taylor's mind that I'm trying to fix, and leave it at that. Tad's the only one around with the power to counteract it, but only as per incident. We are working on a long term solution, but we don't know if it's working yet."
"I see..." Wayne frowned.
Taylor
"I'm sure there won't be too much backlash for that," Taylor
insisted.
"We simply made obvious one of Tad's flaws. We didn't exactly
cause them too much paperwork or anything."
Zac and Isaac
"Yeah," Zac nodded.
It wasn't long thereafter that Wayne entered the room. Isaac looked up at him apprehensively.
"Well," he said. "I hope you three enjoyed your little prank on Mr Forrest, because that's the only think you're not in trouble for."
He paused long enough for them to digest that.
"Now, on the matter of Christian," Wayne went on, handing them a piece of paper each. "Consider yourselves reprimanded for not reporting him. By your own words, we consider you to be guilty of aiding and abetting. The human system jails people for that kind of thing, but we don't have the facilities to jail people for every little thing. Isaac. Zac. I'm sure you can afford the fine."
He stopped and then looked at Taylor.
"Taylor," he said. "Yours is a little more serious."
Taylor
Taylor gulped at that, before glancing at his brothers and
looking up at him.
"What's going to happen?" he asked, still obviously nervous.
Isaac and Zac
"House arrest," Wayne replied. "You'll be escorted home and you'll be confined to your home. There will be no contact with the media. Your home will be monitored - how high the level of scrutiny depends on your level of co-operation."
Confining people was a pain.
"What kind of monitoring?" Isaac asked.
"Entry and exit of the premises, for all residents and visitors. Telephone and internet."
"No more porno sites for you," Zac joked. "Uhh... sorry... I just... yeah..."
"That's a bit of a privacy invasion..." Isaac trailed off. "And as I live with Tay, I'm going to be exposed to that too."
"The price you pay," Wayne replied. "Besides, it's a lot better than being locked up in jail."
Taylor
"Wait, wait," Taylor began, barely having his head around it in
the first place.
"I've got... umm... once a month I have to leave to go up to the
space station for a checkup from Tanya. And along with that there's
a girl who comes to see me once a week. How long is this going to go
on for?"
He wasn't all that sure why he was taking it so well, but certain
things did have to be sorted out.
Zac and Isaac
"Visitors can come and go as they please. It's only you, Taylor, who may not leave - at least without authorisation," Wayne replied. "We'll organise an escort for your monthly appointments with Tanya. This will go on until further notice, such as Christian is apprehended, or you decide to co-operate, or after a favourable review in six months, whichever comes first."
"What about Tad?" Zac asked. "What's happening to him?"
"Tad is being reassigned to another post in Tulsa," Wayne replied. "We'll supply you with an emergency number in case you need the use of his power. It's self evident that Tad should not be living with you, and Tanya doesn't believe that he actually needs to be there every day - that the situation can be contained at least temporarily until Tad gets there if one occurs. You agree?"
"Yes," Isaac replied.
"Good. Any other questions?"
Taylor
Taylor closed his eyes for a moment, just trying to think clearly.
"Will we be getting this in writing?" he asked finally, "so we
know exact terms... what I can and can't do, etc.?"
His face had definitely gone red.
Wayne
"Sorry, I should have said," Wayne replied. "Your holding them already."
He gestured to the paper he had given him.
"You all have fines, but yours includes the conditions of the house arrest as well. That's why the envelope it s bit fatter than your brothers."
Taylor
Taylor hastily opened the envelope and began reading one of the
sheets inside - his other hand on his forehead.
"And I'd be right in guessing that this is effective
immediately?" he had to make sure.
Wayne
"Yes it is," Wayne confirmed.
Then his expression softened.
"I'm sorry to have to do this to you, Taylor."
Taylor
"It's ok," Taylor struggled with himself, not knowing where to look.
"I understand."
He put the papers back in the envelope, with plans to read them
thoroughly at first opportunity.
Zac
"Any other questions?" Wayne asked.
There was quiet for a moment, then Zac piped up:
"Where do babies come from?"
Wayne raised his eyebrows.
"Zac, if you don't know that by now, you have a serious problem."
Zac chuckled.