𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅𝐈𝐒𝐇 | 𝐀. 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐑 [𝟐]

➛⠀𝟯𝟴 | 𝗖𝗛𝗢𝗜𝗖𝗘𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗘𝗥𝗦

"Oh, like you handled him before?" Chase questioned in disbelief. "Didn't we just have a heart-to-heart of the fact that you don't know what you're doing?!"

"If you go out there, he'll kill you and then come in anyway." Nico scolded, still holding the spell up. "Just stay put."

"I thought you was a gangster, Alex." AWOL continued to mock. "You just gonna let your friend die? 'Cause, that's what's gonna happen if you don't do what I say. Bring me that footage and come out quietly."

Alex hurriedly took the footage while Chase dashed to Alex's computer. "I have to go out there!" Alex yelled.

"Alex—" Alex quickly left his room despite Karolina's attempts to stop him. Molly spun around to follow Alex after turning on her powers. Molly pulled Alex down to the floor by the collar of his jacket and said, "I'm sorry, Alex." While Alex was still lying on the ground, Molly put her foot on his chest. "Jesus, Molly!" Alex exclaimed as he tried to get her foot off.

"Really sorry, but you're not going anywhere." Molly picked Alex up and sat him down on a chair, holding him in place so he wouldn't escape. "This is ridiculous!" Alex yelled. "You guys are gonna get Livvie killed! I can't let a friend of mine die because of me!"

"I'm sorry, Alex." Molly apologized for the third time. "But we have to stick together."

"And we have to be smart," Chase stated. "Negotiate. If he's working with our parents, then he's not going to really want to hurt any of us."

"You think he's bluffing?" Karolina asked.

"No, he's not!" Alex yelled once more. "You saw what he did in Compton. He didn't seem to have a problem killing us back then."

"You don't get a vote here, Alex. All right?" Chase scolded. "You've already shown that you're not capable of making a good decision for the group. What do you think will happen when it comes to finding (Y/n) after this?"

Alex clenched his jaw until his and everyone's attention turn to Nico who started yelling. "Please just do something! Okay?" Nico snapped. "This is a big spell, I don't know how (Y/n) could even keep this up, and I don't know how much longer I can focus on it! I've never held a spell for this long before!"

Alex stared at Nico while Chase stood up. "Alright, let's do this."

"Wait!" Alex exclaimed.

"What now?" Chase questioned.

"If you talk to him through the front door, he'll know where the entrance is," Alex explained. "My security system's got an intercom. Use it."

Chase turned to check for the intercom when Karolina nodded at him. He found it and turned it on to communicate with AWOL. "We want to negotiate," Chase stated.

"It'd be easier if we could look each other in the eye," AWOL replied back as he looked down at the camera.

"Not gonna happen. And you can't see this, but I'm pointing a weapon directly at you, so don't try anything."

AWOL scoffed. "Huh. I'm not sure that I buy that."

"Take one step closer and find out." Chase threatened.

AWOL's men looked around while AWOL raised his hand defensively. "Oh." He chuckled as he placed his gun down. "Alright. So what are you gon' give me?"

"If you're working for our parents, why haven't you called them here yet? Or Flores?"

"Flores is out of the picture. I'm in charge now." AWOL answered, causing Alex and Molly to exchange glances. "And I can handle this without your parents' input."

Karolina leaned into the intercom to talk. "First things first. Get that gun off of Livvie, and stop hurting her."

AWOL gestured one of his men, Mitch, to draw the gun away from Livvie's head. "I'm so sorry." Livvie apologized once more. "They made me."

"It's okay, Livvie," Karolina reassured. "We're going to get you out of this." Karolina leaned away while Chase took the intercom. "Alright. Here's our offer. We'll give you all the footage Alex has."

"No! Chase, you can't—" Alex tried to stop Chase, however, Chase kept going and Molly gripped Alex's shoulders tighter. "But you got to give us Livvie."

"You haven't done much negotiating before, have you?" AWOL questioned.

Nico clenched her eyes close, struggling to keep the spell up. Chase sighed. "You can't see through this shield. And we're not coming out. So are you gonna make a counter-offer or what?"

"That's a pretty impressive little trick there," AWOL commented. "Reminds me of when the red witch took our guns away and that goth girl with the magic wand froze our faces back in Compton." Alex clenched his fists while Karolina glanced worriedly at Nico.

"But here's my counter-offer," AWOL stated. "I'll take that footage, as long as the two witches bring it out to me."

Molly immediately shook her head while Nico opened her eyes, looking down at her friends. Karolina looked at Chase. "What do we do? We can't send Nico out there, and (Y/n) is still missing. He just wants to get the shield down so he can come in."

"But if we don't do it, he's gonna kill Livvie." Chase reasoned.

Alex, who was quiet, briefly closed his eyes as he devised a plan in his head. "No, he won't." He stated as he opened his eyes. Molly turned the chair around so Alex could face Karolina and Chase while still holding him down. "Think about it. She's all the leverage he's got. If he kills her, he's got nothing."

"You really wanna take that chance?" Molly asked worriedly. "I mean, you were willing to risk your life for her just a minute ago."

"I know," Alex mumbled as he looked down. "I was being... irrational. I thought of (Y/n) in that situation and I just..." He sighed heavily before looking back at Chase and Karolina. "But I swear, if you guys listen to me, I can get us out of this—all of us."

"Hello!" AWOL began yelling impatiently. "I'm waiting."

Chase rolled his eyes and pressed a button on the intercom. "Boo hoo. You're going to keep waiting, 'cause you're on our timetable, pal!"

AWOL raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Oh. Am I?" AWOL pulled out his taser and tased Livvie causing the poor girl to scream in pain and fall down on the ground. Chase and Karolina flinched. AWOL grabbed Livvie and showed her to the camera. "Y'all thought I was playin' when I said I'd kill her? Look, and I don't need to do it quickly. In fact, I prefer to do it slowly. Pull her apart piece by piece."

Chase groaned in frustration. "Alright! We'll give you the footage! Just give us time to get the computer!" He exclaimed.

"We can't give him Nico or the footage," Alex stated just as Chase stood up in his seat. "We gotta get Livvie away from them, and we got to get help for Gert and Old Lace."

"Listing our problems isn't exactly solving them, Wilder." Chase scolded as he marched his way toward Alex.

"Just do what he says, Chase!" Nico yelled. "And do it fast so I can let the spell down!"

"AWOL is holding all the cards right now," Alex explained to Chase. "He has a hostage. What we need is a hostage of our own."