House of Chaos ~FemaleOC x Joy Mercer~ (Seasons 1-3)

House of Rendezvous/House of Rescue

Rufus came back with a water bottle, he unscrewed the cap and lifted Max's chin up with his hand. "Drink." He commanded.

Reluctantly, Max guzzled down the water, knowing she'd be better of with it than without.

When she drank about half, Rufus took the bottle away and set it down on a table. "Now, hope you don't mind, going to need to borrow these."

He picked up her feather mask she had used from the play and also her phone, which had been broken.

Max watched him silently. There was nothing she could do.

~~~

Later that evening, Rufus returned. "Time for us to go."

"Go?" Max frowned.

Rufus smiled. "Behave yourself and I won't break anything." He told her as he yanked her out of her chair.

Max wince and struggled against him as he escorted her out of the warehouse.

He shoved her into the back of the van and locked it.

Max looked out the tinted window longingly. "I hope the others are okay..." She closed her eyes, bowing her head. "I hope you're okay, William..."

~~~

It wasn't long until the car stopped, and a few minutes later Max noticed something sticking in between the doors at the back of the van. Her eyes widened as she watched it move around.

And then the doors were opening. Max gasped.

Fabian, Nina, Amber and Patricia yanked her out of the car as it drove off, sending them all tumbling down.

"YES!" Fabian cheered.

"YOU FOUND ME!" Max exclaimed in delight, tears welled up in her eyes. Fabian hugged her tightly and soon the others joined in.

Patricia gasped when she saw the chains. "That slime." She sneered.

"Wha- Max!?" They all turned to see a tearful Mrs. Andrews. "You're okay!" She hurried over to them.

Fabian managed to untie the chains, freeing Max's hands, which were bruised around the wrists.

"ENOUGH!" Patricia hissed at Mrs. Andrews. "NO MORE SECRETS. WHERE IS JOY, WHY IS RUFUS AFTER HER, WHAT IS GOING ON!? TELL US EVERYTHING!"

Mrs. Andrews went stiff. "Do not get involved."

Max scoffed. "How about this, tell us or I go global about this entire thing. We're in it Mrs. Andrews, deeper than you know."

At this, Mrs. Andrews sighed in defeat.

~~~

Later that evening, Mick was leaving for a little while, so everyone had gathered to say goodbye.

"Don't get use to all that free space." Mick teased. "I'll be back before you know it."

Max smirked. "Wouldn't dream of it."

~~~

The next day at school, Victor pulled them all back to the house, saying he was going to give them the answers they wanted. Mrs. Andrews also announced during class they'd be holding an election to decide on a school representative.

~~~

Victor brought them up to his office and locked them in, which did make Max sweat a little.

"You alright?" Fabian mumbled to her.

She nodded stiffly. "I'm fine, just the first time I've been locked in a room since...you know."

Victor booted up his laptop and turned it to them, and to their shock, Joy was on video chat.

"Joy!" Patricia exclaimed happily, quickly sitting down. Amber sat next to her. "I tried to meet you but-"

"Too dangerous." Joy sighed. "That's why I didn't show, sorry."

"Hey it's not your fault, so when are you coming back?" Patricia asked.

At this, Joy hesitated. "Hey is that Amber?"

"Joy I have so much to tell you. Mick and I split up and Nina and Max joined our house. Nina's from America and Max is-" Amber cut herself off. "Um...F-Fabian's roommate!"

Joy's eyes widened. "Oh, hello there. So I guess Nina is the new me?"

"Sort of...um, so do you wanna tell us where you are?" Nina asked awkwardly.

Victor spoke up. "No she does not."

"...And Fabian's here." Max brought up.

Fabian smiled. "Hey Joy."

Joy's eyes widened. "Fabes...hi." She looked impossibly fond, which made Nina frown.

"So when are you coming back?" Patricia asked.

Joy bit her lip. "...I'm not."

Patricia gasped. "What do you mean you're not?"

"Look I can't say too much but...but someone is after me and my family, so we had to move and change our names and stuff..." Joy explained softly.

Max felt her skin prickle uncomfortably. "Rufus...my uncle..."

"Your uncle?" Joy breathed. "Wow...that's unfortunate."

Mr. Mercer came and told Joy to get off the computer, he took her seat. "You see, Zeno is after some top secret information. I work in the government and he's after me. I'm afraid that's all I can tell you."

Victor turned the computer back around. "Satisfied? Now go, and from now on nobody is to go anywhere but the school and the house, Rufus Zeno is still out there and I'm sure I don't need to tell you what a threat he is." Victor pointed at Max's wrists with a pen in his hand, making her flinch.

With that, he unlocked the door and allowed them to leave.

~~~

When they got down the stairs, Max scowled. "There's more to this that they're not telling us, I'm proof of that. My great uncle hasn't aged, my ring is obviously important for something, and there's still the whole elixir business."

"But at least we know Joy is safe." Patricia insisted gently. "So there's one thing we can rest about."

"So then...are Victor and the teachers good?" Amber questioned.

Nina sighed. "Who can say?"

There was still much unknown, but at least they could rest a little easier knowing Joy was being protected.