AN: It's begun you guys. Life is happening. My time of updating something every two days has ended. Ew life.

Crutchie and Les were weak. Or, at least, that's how Snyder saw them. They were weak - already injured, one of them being a nine year old boy, the other being crippled. And without Jack and Davey to protect them, they were easy targets. And Snyder had been taking advantage of that.

It had been almost three days since they'd seen or heard anything about Jack and Davey, and they were trying not to assume the worst. They certainly weren't going to ask Snyder about it, that would just make things worse for them. So they worried in silence, and in pain.

On the afternoon of that third day, Snyder entered the room looking angrier than the two boys had ever seen him, and Les clutched Crutchie's arm, and the older boy let him, despite the fact that it was aggravating a bruise - his entire body was a bruise, at this point. Snyder walked up to them and grabbed them both by the arm (they each flinched as he did so) and led them out of the room without saying anything.

The two boys started trying to prepare themselves for what was to come, another beating, and a bad one, judging by the look on Snyder's face. But he led them past the room he normally took them. Past the stairs that they'd been warned led to the basement, a place that no one wanted to go to. 

Snyder dragged them all the way to the front door and opened it. "You're free to go."

They glanced at each other and didn't move. This could be a trick. The second they made a move for the door, Snyder would grab them back and beat them within an inch of their life for trying to escape. So they just stood there, and the man standing in front of them narrowed his eyes.

Without warning, he shoved them outside. Les managed to keep his balance, but Crutchie tripped over the front steps and landed hard on the pavement. Les glanced back at Snyder hesitantly before hurrying over to him, but Crutchie just waved him off, pushing himself into a sitting position.

"I'm fine." He assured the boy, twisting to glare at Snyder, who didn't react.

"I've been ordered to release you from this institution, but I'd watch you backs, because I will not hesitate to capture you again if you step out of line. I'll have your friend out shortly, you may wait for him, and then you will leave, or I will have you locked right back in there for loitering."

Without giving them a chance to respond, he turned and shut the door behind him.

oOo

Davey was going insane, and that was the only thing he was sure of. He couldn't see or hear anything, and he had no idea how long he'd been in this cell. It was a small comfort to know that Jack was next to him, but he was probably going just as crazy.

Davey had always considered himself to be an intellectual person, and Snyder seemed to know that this was just the sort of thing that would make Davey feel completely and utterly helpless. There was no stimulation, nothing to do, nothing to see, nothing to hear. He had considering talking to himself, just to give his brain something to do, but he decided that that would make him even more insane.

He had pretty much given up on trying to keep his mind going, and had resigned himself to sitting down on the filthy floor, leaning against a wall, and doing absolutely nothing. This is what he was doing when, all of a sudden, he was blinded by the brightest light he'd ever seen. For a moment he thought he had died and gone to heaven - the light at the end of the tunnel, and all that - but then he registered that it was just the light from the hallway. That the door was open, and Snyder was there.

The light that he thought led to heaven, was actually coming from hell.

Snyder glared down at him. "I don't have time for this, stand up. Those other boys are waiting for you outside."

"Outside?" Davey hadn't meant to say it out loud, but he seemed to be having trouble telling the difference between spoken words and thoughts.

"Yes, outside." Growing impatient, Snyder walked into the cell, and pulled him up to his feet. His muscles screamed in protest at the new position but he tried to ignore that. "Mr. Pulitzer's ordered me to release you."

"What about - "

"I'm not answering any questions, hurry up."

Davey struggled behind Snyder up the stairs, and down the hall to the front door, and he opened it (revealing an even brighter light, that was the sun), and sure enough, Les and Crutchie were waiting outside.

His younger brother's entire face lit up as Davey made his way down the front steps. "Davey!" Les raced towards him and hugged him tightly. The older boy winced at the sudden contact, but he smiled and hugged his brother back.

"Alright, you've had your little reunion, now get out of here."

The Spider's voice pulled Davey back into reality. They were free. But something wasn't right. There was something wrong that Davey couldn't pinpoint. But Crutchie knew exactly what it was.

"Where's Jack?"

Davey and Les exchanged a look. Jack wasn't here. He was still inside, and Davey felt a pit of guilt in his stomach for forgetting about him. The important thing now, though, was that Jack wasn't here. And Jack needed to be here.

Crutchie was giving Snyder a hard look that Davey didn't know how he managed. The man just smiled.

"Mr. Kelly is an escaped convict who needs to finish serving his time. He will be released at the end of his sentence. Now get off of my property."

The door slammed close. The three boys were left outside, not knowing what was going on. Just that Jack was still inside, and in this moment, there was no getting him out.