Sanders Supers [Sanders Sides AU]

Forty one

I can explain.

TW: swearing

"Any luck?" Virgil asked as he peeked his head in Thomas's office. He shook his head. Virgil frowned. Logan had been missing for weeks. Everyone had thought they found where Deceit and Remus was hiding but when they got there, there was no one. They knew that most were false alarms, but they were desperate to find Deceit, Remus, and Logan. Virgil was scared for Logan. He was only in an illusion for five or so minutes and that was bad enough. He tried to imagine being in an illusion for hours, or even days. Virgil shuddered just thinking about it, and how much worse it could be for Logan.

Thomas groaned, and he looked as if he hadn't slept in weeks, which might have been accurate, considering that Virgil hadn't been able to sleep, either. Virgil's worried insomnia had led to many late nights with Roman, just talking or having a midnight snack of pizza or cookies, Patton joining them when it was the latter.

"Thomas, you really need to sleep," Virgil told him.

"So do you," he yawned.

"I'm an insomniac, I'm fine. But really, you need to get to sleep. You can't let... him... get to you," Virgil didn't want to say his name, almost afraid he could hear him.

One of his nearby computers beeped and flashed a light. "Wait! Virgil, I've got a hit! It's a 67% match- 74%- holy shit! We found him! And- he's close! Only about fourth five minute flight from here! Wait- oh shit! Oh shit! It's the Pennhurst asylum! Why does it have to be the asylum?!"

"What- oh my god. Buzzfeed Unsolved was there! Holy shit, can I use a spirit box?!" Virgil asked excitedly before tempering that it was a rescue mission, not a ghost hunt. "I'll go tell the others," he ran down the hallway to the elevator.

How come we couldn't find him before? He's so close, yet we weren't able to find him. Maybe it's a false alarm. We have to check at least, Virgil thought. He went to the lounge where everyone else was.

"Guys, Thomas found Logan!" Virgil gasped. He tried not to hurl all over the nice white carpet under the couch.

"Wait, really? But you know how many false ala-" Roman began. Virgil shot him a glare to shut him up. Roman closed his mouth.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Logan needs our help!" Patton shouted enthusiastically. They all nodded and got ready for the horrors to come.

Virgil took a deep breath as he stared at the abandoned hospital. Thomas had said that it had closed down a few years, but it looked like it had been abandoned decades before that.

"You think we'll be able to see ghosts in here?" Roman chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. Everyone was so focused on the old, rickety building.

"So you know the plan, right?" Thomas asked for the millionth time, at least to Virgil.

"Of course, same as all the false alarm plans." Roman responded.

Sneak up on Deceit, work together, save Logan, and maybe even capture the villains.

They all ran into the building as quietly as they could. The lights were hanging by a thread and the paint on the walls were peeling off, graffiti spray painted all over the walls, some saying ominous threats and pretending to be ghosts, a bunch of names drawn on the walls, and Virgil even spotted what he thought was a pentagram. This looks depressing. It looks more like a hospice or a prison to me, Virgil thought. Something scurried across Patton's foot and Virgil covered Patton's mouth to keep him from screaming.

"I hate rats." Patton squeaked.

"That pretty much goes for everyone." Roman said. They came to a stop in front of the stairs. Cobwebs covered every corner and railing. They looked at each other, waiting for someone to go first. Roman went in front of them and lead them to what might have been their deaths, his small flame held above his head, their muffled footsteps the loudest sound in the entire abandoned building.

"You know, I figured that Deceit would be somewhere super creepy like a Scooby-Doo villain, and so far, I've been right," Roman said, trying to lighten the situation. No one seemed to hear it, as they were focused on not making a lot of noise. They heard what sounded like whispers coming from the other end of the hallway. When the whispers-or whatever they were- stopped, Virgil felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, as if there was some kind of static in the air.

The light of Roman's fire flickered for a split second before going out, a cold wind coming through the hallway, making Virgil shiver. He couldn't tell if it was from fear or from the cold, but he nevertheless moved closer to Roman and Patton.

"Roman," Patton whispered nervously. "We need the light, can you make more?"

Roman tried snapping and even rubbing his hands together to create a spark, but nothing happened. "I don't-" Roman began. But before he could finish his sentence, Roman collapsed to the ground. Virgil knelt next to Roman and looked at Patton, his face in shock.

"Great, Roman chooses to pass out now?" Patton said. "Did he not drink enough water or something?"

"No, he would have shown signs of dehydration or said that he wasn't feeling well. Wait, remember when we were stuck in an illusion and it was so strong it made us pass out?" Virgil explained.

"He could be stuck in one right now."

"They must be nearby, but why would they want Roman to just collapse?" Virgil wondered out loud.

"Maybe it's because Roman was our only source of light? I mean, it is pitch black." Patton was right. Virgil couldn't see five feet in front of him and strongly regretted that he let Thomas talk them out of bringing other sources of light, claiming that one, controllable flame from Roman would be better for a stealthier mission than three bright flashlights.

"We should probably carry Roman. What if they hurt him, too?" Patton said. Virgil nodded, knowing that Patton was right again.

Man, he's bringing up a lot of good points. Virgil thought. With great difficulty, they both helped Roman up, the maneuver extremely awkward to perform as both Patton and Virgil were much shorter than Roman.

Roman's head lolled towards Virgil, and he was struck with the realization of how close they were, mostly literally, but also of how close they became over the course of helping Thomas take down Deceit and whoever was working with him.

"Where do you think they're keeping Logan?" Patton asked in a whisper.

"They could have put him where we least expect him to be." Virgil answered.

"So he could be anywhere? He could be right next to us and we wouldn't even know it! What if Deceit is hiding him!? Ooh, what if we never find him!"

Virgil could hear Patton sniffling, and Virgil realized that Patton was crying.

"Hey, Pat. You're starting to sound like me, with all those 'what-if's'. We'll find him," Virgil said as he shifted Roman's still-unconscious weight. "Look, I know you like Logan -don't deny it, we both know you'd be lying- and I promise that we will find him, okay? And even if something has happened to him- which I doubt anything has- people can heal, and if he's physically hurt, there are doctors. If he's afraid, than there's no better person to help him than you, Patton."

Virgil reached around Roman and put his hand on Patton's shoulder, trying to comfort him.

"I'm just afraid for him. I was scared when he hurt me, but this is so much worse because I can't do anything to stop it," Patton's voice wavered.

Virgil was about to reply, but stopped. "Do you hear that?" He whispered.

"What?" Patton asked, looking around.

"There,"

Virgil heard it again.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

"This is going to sound really weird, but... I can kind of feel the vibrations. And I think it's coming from above us."