He woke up and found he was upright. That was the first shock of that morning. The second was finding every part of his body bound tight to the metal board behind him. He was bound and gagged, and still in his night clothes. Either that had been one wild party last night or he was in deep trouble.
Sem Van Dael opened his locker at school, ignoring the happy laughter behind him. It was at the expense of his overweight little brother, Roe. Edgar and Simon were somewhere nearby, and once he'd gotten his Chemistry book, Sem was going to join his friends. He grabbed the book and put away his History stuff, then noticed the sticky note stuck to the inside of his locker door. He scanned his dark eyes over the note and dropped his books in shock. He heard a chorus of laughter behind him, this time at his expense, and again he ignored it. He left the books on the floor and bolted for his bike. School was far from over, but he didn't give a damn. As much as he pretended to hate his guts...
...Sem's older brother, Pim, was important to him.
Someone stepped out of the darkness. Sandy squinted at him. Or her. He couldn't tell. Nope, him. Nightcrawler was a truly fearsome creature. Instead of hair, tentacles grew from his scalp. He had no visible eyes on his black and blue skin, sharp claws, a wide open mouth with chainsaw teeth and a large, thick tube of a tongue...The Dutch hero felt a shiver go down his spine. Nightcrawler crept closer and for about the eighth time in that past hour, Sandy tried to transform to his dust form. He struggled, bucking violently against his bonds. This was worse than being in that cell waiting to be pitted against another young super. Especially since this time he would feel every single wound inflicted upon him, see every horror before him...he was already covered in marks and sores from whatever the material holding him down was. He was panicking too much to use his brain by that point. He had never faced this thing before and didn't know what he could do, and right now he was completely helpless.
Sem approached the house, frowning. He raised his fist to knock just as the door opened, to show a tall man with black hair. He was in his night clothes still and looked ill. Sem's brown eyes met this man's hazel ones, and the hazel colour changed...the whole eyeballs changed colour...and Sem was gone.
Schizophrenia turned the hands round. The boy was shorter than he was, but stronger. Clearly sporty. He was tanned and moderately attractive, and Schizo could feel the boy's emotion in the back of his head. A slowly bubbling anger. Bad tempered. Brilliant. He walked back in, waving down Cupid when the large lump of winged muscle began to rise from the sofa, and headed to the basement.
As he descended the steps, the boy's older brother came into view. Nightcrawler stepped away, but he kept screaming through the gag. Probably the pain, the poor thing. "You sure bludgeoned him, Nightcrawler." Schizo said, awed, through Sem's slightly accented speech. It was an accent few heard, not even Sem's own family, as he had grown out of mimicking his parents' accents when he was about six. Pim's eyes opened, vision blurry with tears and blood. He had no clue why this was being done to him, but suddenly he realised something. Sem was somehow involved. he could just about make out his little brother, but something seemed off. Sem came closer, saying something the man didn't quite catch. he was moving oddly, jerkily, although his movement got more certain and smooth with every step. His face looked different as well...his eyes were blue...
Now, while working with Bathilda Brute and Thunder Fists, he had faced the Hall of Evil, and he knew Schizophrenia's takeover signs when he saw them. Nightcrawler disappeared and Sandy's binds came away. He fell awkwardly on his arm. Looking up and hugging his bare arms across his chest for warmth, he watched the younger brother step closer, terrified they were going to make them fight. Instead, Schizophrenia left, was now standing behind Pim. He smirked in an ill fashion as Sem's faculties returned to him.
"Pim!" He dropped to his knees and embraced his bloody big brother. Pim hissed in pain and hugged back.
"It's a trap." He hissed into the younger man's ear. That much should have been obvious, even to Sem, who pulled away and nodded.
"Bit too late for that."
"I know...run..."
Sem shook his head. "You're hurt..."
Pim stuck his hand out, and a soft breeze enveloped him. He could feel his toes disintegrating into a fine dust. "I can get out myself. Run."
Sem watched in shock as his brother transformed to his dust form, then his legs kicked in and he began to run for the door. Fate and Nightcrawler blocked his path and he screamed, turning back. Pim was in full dust form now, keeping Schizophrenia back. He was unaware Fate was in the building, but turned, detached his fist and sent it hurdling towards Nightcrawler, who got hit square in the jaw. His eyes widened when he saw Fate, who tripped Sem.
"For the fate of the world..." She began, raising her sword high over her shoulder, "this child must lose his head..." She swung, Pim screamed, trying to throw her with his dusts, Sem jerked away, Fate was thrown off balance as she chopped into the boy, who let out a shriek of pain. Fate fell. Landed on him. She lost her grip on the sword and when the black dust from the elder brother had settled and returned to his form, her throat had been slit and Sem's arm was missing from the elbow. Pim returned to normal, grabbed his brother, no clue where the arm had gone as when she'd slipped, Fate had flicked it across the room, and found himself challenged to get out of the room without getting killed by Nightcrawler, who had just witnessed his little sister die, or Schizophrenia, who looked quite bored by this whole affair. Plus there was Cupid upstairs, which Pim didn't know about...he could do it in dust form, but that would make it incredibly difficult to carry Sem without giving him blood poisoning or something equally as nasty...
He finally managed to get Sem to a hospital. He phoned an ambulance from near the corner shop Bridget Butler worked at and watched fearfully as the paramedics got to work. They would know the nearest and best hospital, which Pim sure as hell didn't, no matter how many hospitals he had been to before. He walked in through the doors as the paramedics brought him in and a nurse insisted on taking him for treatment as well. It turned out they needed more than just the nurse. His father stormed in when he was talking to a porter named Paisley, who was assuring him his brother was going to live, as that was what she had heard from the other staff.
"Willem!" Fritz bellowed, entering the cubicle, looking terrified. "What happened? Are you okay? Where's your brother?"
Pim's face crumpled. "I don't know where he is, he isn't on this ward...they cut off his arm, Dad, they cut off his arm..."
"Who did?"
"I don't know...I remember being at Claud's house because he was throwing a house party, and getting drunk and crashing on the couch, but then I woke up upright somewhere I didn't recognise, and I was bound and gagged and...and..."
"Okay, calm down." Paisley told him gently. Pim let out a moan, shutting his eyes tight.
"They sent a ransom note to Sem...I don't know why...and they tried to kill us, but..."
Fritz sighed softly, looking at the floor. "It's okay, Willem...it's okay...it isn't your fault..."
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