Avery lay on the floor where they had left her the night before, the purple bruises prominent against her pale skin. Dried blood remained from the welt on her lip, her fingernails torn and bloodied from the moment of desperation where she had tried to scratch through the skin on her wrists, hoping she would do enough damage to bleed to death.
She opened one eye weakly, the other swollen shut, and she managed to drag herself along the ground towards the toilet. She heaved, her frail body racked with the force it took her, and she threw up the little contents that were in her stomach to begin with. She had cried herself out, there were no more tears left inside of her, but what good did crying do anyway?
She clutched onto the side of the sink with her good hand and turned the tap on, trying as best she could to clean herself up. To give herself a small amount of dignity, of control. But it was no use. No sooner had she made her way back to the cot bed in the room, did it begin again. But this time, it was much worse than anything she had encountered thus far.
And with one final telepathic scream, her shields collapsed and pictures of what was happening to her played out over the strings of her strongest connections.
~*~*~*~
Zac had been running the bath for Shepherd, his son sitting on the closed toilet lid, chattering away happily to his father, when it hit him.
He keened, feeling the revulsion and sorrow hit him in waves, and without noticing it, he had melted the tap handle away from the wall in his anger.
Sensing the new emotions in the room, Shepherd let out a wail, causing Kate to come running in. She saw Zac's face, white as a sheet, and quickly picked Shepherd out and took him out of the bathroom. She sat him on his bed and gave him his favourite toy, kissing his forehead.
"Shep, I need you to stay here for Mommy, ok?"
He nodded, wordless, tears falling down his face.
Kate managed a smile and went back to the bathroom, where Zac appeared to be frozen in place.
"Zac?"
"It's Avie," he managed.
Isaac, Taylor, Nikki, Natalie, menagerie & Christian
Nikki cut off mid conversation as Isaac suddenly fell against the wall in their hotel room and hid his head in his other hand.
"Ike?!" she exclaimed, jumping up from the bed.
"Oh my God..." he breathed, his eyes squeezed shut.
"What is it?" Natalie frowned, making sure Viggo was safely off the bed before standing up too.
"Ike? Ike?! Talk to me!" Nikki put a hand in his hair.
"Avery!" Isaac opened his eyes suddenly, then turned to look between them.
"It was Avery! She was..."
He cut off, licking his lips and shaking his head.
"Where's Tay?"
"In the bathroom..." Nat trailed off as Isaac bolted.
He threw the door open, finding Taylor sitting on the floor with his back against the bath. His arms were around his legs - his knees brought in to his chest. He looked up as Isaac entered.
"Ike...?"
"I saw it," he stepped over and knelt in front of him, "are you okay?"
Taylor just stared at him wide-eyed, then slowly shook his head.
"Ike... it was me. She's going to think it was me!"
"No she won't," Isaac insisted, grabbing one of his arms as he saw tears well in his brother's eyes, "she knows you, alright? She knows you wouldn't do that to her!"
"But she doesn't, Ike," Taylor shook his head, "she doesn't know any of us. She can't remember!"
Natalie blanched as she took that moment to follow Isaac in. She immediately went to Taylor's side and put a hand on his shoulder, sending her power to work.
"Tay it's okay..." she said softly.
"No it's not!"
~*~
Christian awoke suddenly and sat up from the dingy motel bed. His face turned into a scowl as he processed what had happened.
"You've got to be kidding me," he almost growled.
He threw the covers off and quickly got dressed, pulling on his biker boots and grabbing his shades before taking his backpack and heading out to where his bike was parked. As he started it up he took a moment to think about what he'd seen.
"F***ing telepaths, I swear to God..." he shook his head, "the most demented sons of bitches on the planet. Sorry Craig."
He looked skyward for a moment and kissed his ring ringer, before revving the engine and starting to head for the hotel he knew the Hansons had been staying at.
Zac & Kate
After assuring Kate that he needed her to stay with the kids, he opened the door and skidded out on his way to Taylor's room. He didn't bother to knock, just ran in, heading straight for where he could hear his brothers.
"Did you see?" he panted, pausing to catch his breath. "We need to find her."
Isaac, Taylor, Nikki & Natalie
Nikki's hair swept aside as Zac ran past her. She made to say something, but opted to stay outside with the kids.
"We saw," Isaac confirmed gravely, standing up, "Nat, have you heard from your Dad?"
"Last I heard he was on his way here. He should be here any moment now," she assured, rubbing Taylor's shoulder.
"She's going to hate me," Taylor said, eyes staring at the floor, "she is really going ot hate me. First the Chris thing, and now..."
"No she won't," Natalie said firmly, "she knows better. Have some faith, Tay."
Zac
Zac looked towards Taylor, then at Isaac.
"Nat's right," he sighed. "She might not remember us very well, but she knows us well enough to know that it's not you."
He brushed the tears away from his eyes impatiently.
"I know she's not, technically... but she's still a kid. She's still our baby sister. I swear, when we find these assholes..."
Isaac, Taylor, Nikki & Natalie
"And we will," Isaac insisted, "as soon as Nat's Dad gets here."
As if on cue, Natalie's phone rang. Nikki promptly answered it.
"Mr. Bryant? It's Nikki. Ah... I would say 'not bad', but things have kind of taken a turn... how far away are you?"
Taylor's eyes went to the door, listening to her half of the conversation.
"Tay?" Nat frowned, noticing the slight movement.
"They were telepathically raping her," he said softly, not moving again, "she is bruised, and beaten, and can barely move. And at least one of them looked like me."
Natalie bit her lip, her other hand flying to her mouth in shock.
"You might have your work cut out for you," he added, finally turning his head to look at her.
Zac
Zac sniffed, rubbing his nose with the back of his arm. He touched Isaac's shoulder, looking at his older brother, as if Isaac held the answers.
"I better go let Kate know what's happening."
Isaac, Taylor, Nikki, Natalie
Nikki gave Isaac the thumbs up, and Isaac nodded to Zac, "meet you in the lobby? He must be almost here."
"I think I should stay with Taylor," Natalie looked up.
"Yeah I think so," Isaac nodded to her.
"I'm okay," Taylor insisted with a nod.
"No, you're not," Natalie scorned, "you only think so because of what I'm doing."
Taylor rolled his eyes, but conceded defeat.
Nikki hung up.
"He's in the taxi, like five minutes away tops," she looked between Isaac and Zac.
Zac & Kate
Zac nodded to Nikki, and then head back to his and Kate's room. She looked up, still tending to a sobbing Shepherd.
"What's going on? Is Avery alright?" she asked.
He just shook his head, feeling the grief hit him hard. "I don't think so. But she will be. Nat's dad has found her, we're... we're heading there."
Kate stood and closed the distance between them, kissing him lightly. "Stay safe, promise me. And bring her back."
"I promise," Zac wrapped an arm around her. "We will."
Isaac, Christian, Taylor & Natalie
Isaac didn't even remember walking down to the lobby, but he soon found himself there checking his watch.
He was vaguely worried he might not remember what Nat's father looked like. It had been a while since he'd seen him.
He looked back toward the elevators as he wondered how long Zac would take, before he heard a motorcycle pulling up out the front. Squinting a little, he shook his head.
"You've got to be kidding me..."
~*~
In the bathroom, Taylor suddenly jumped to his feet.
"Tay? You should really-"
"Christian's here," he looked at her, worried.
"What?"
"Why would he be here?" Nikki looked confused, "he wouldn't know anything-"
"How do you even know?" Nat asked.
"It's this weird... it's a long story," Taylor swallowed.
Zac
Zac arrived down in the lobby just in time to see Christian getting off his motorcycle and he scowled a little, though, he had to admit, having Christian on board would help.
Though he still wanted to punch him for touching Avery.
"What do you think he's doing here?" he asked Isaac.
Isaac & Christian
Isaac nodded when he locked eyes with Christian, and Chris made his way inside and over to them.
"Hey," he ran his fingers through his hair.
"You saw it too, didn't you?" Isaac had to check.
"I did," Chris nodded, making Isaac groan a little on the inside, "what's the plan?"
Zac
Zac squared his shoulders and before anyone could say another word, he raised his fist and punched Christian hard across the face.
"Right, I just had to get that out of my system," he said, then continued on as if nothing that happened. "Nat's dad is on his way, he knows where Avie is."
Christian & Isaac
Chris fell backwards a little, a hand cupping his face.
"Right. I guess I deserved that."
"Nat's Dad has Finder," Isaac also ignored what had happened, opting for the more pressing issue, "if it takes all night, we will find her."
"Appreciated," Chris nodded, rubbing his cheek and checking for blood.
Zac
"Yeah, you did," Zac muttered.
He glanced at Isaac, almost sheepish.
"I've never seen her so..." he trailed off. "We just have to get there before something else happens."
Christian & Isaac
"Right. Well, I've got my bike but I can only take one of you..." Chris thumbed over his shoulder.
"Tay will want in on this too," Isaac pointed out as he noticed a cab pulling up outside.
"Right."
"Excuse me," Isaac patted his shoulder as he stepped past, and jogged outside.
"Mr. Bryant?"
"Isaac," he nodded, getting out with his small travel bag and shaking his hand, "I would say it's good to see you, but..."
"Under the circumstances, I get it. How did you go?"
"She's definitely still in the city here," he nodded, "but I can't hone in unless I get closer to her. I'm afraid we'll have to do some driving around."
"Fine by us. When can we leave?"
Zac
"The sooner the better," Zac nodded, going over to shake Natalie's father's hand.
"Thanks for coming so quickly. And for doing all of this."
Christian, Isaac, Taylor & Natalie
"Mr. Bryant?" Chris made sure he had the name right, before stepping forward to also shake his hand, "name's Chris. I'm a... family friend."
"Dad!" Isaac turned to see Natalie and Taylor making their way over.
She ran forward and hugged him.
"Sorry I couldn't get here sooner," her father said pointedly to Zac, before looking between them all, "Taylor."
"Thanks for coming," Taylor nodded, "did you need to leave anything here?"
"No, I'm pretty good to go," the older man nodded, "I saved us a maxi cab. I guess that was a good idea..."
Zac
Zac scoffed a little at Chris calling himself a friend, then shook himself out of it.
"Thanks," he said again. "Ok, let's roll."