The In Between - 5. Lockbox

05 ~Lockbox~

Brandon sat in his room feeling lonely. Jordan had spent most of the past week at his house, packing up stuff to go in his new apartment. Thankfully, some of the students at school had gotten tired of picking on the "new gay" and had turned their attention elsewhere, allowing Brandon to slip back into the semi-anonymity that he had before the entire incident. Alexis and Andrew were still a phone call away, but what he wanted to talk about wasn't something they would understand.

He wanted to know what was going on. What he and Jordan were supposed to accomplish. At first, it was find the bad team, which they had kinda done, and convince Leia not to keep her baby. They had failed on that measure. But at least those goals had been clear, agreed upon and, while not simple, at least achievable. Now however...now what were they supposed to do?

For Brandon, it was simple. Find Leia. Find her and get her out of whatever mess she had gotten herself entangled in and get her the hell back. It was probably a little bit late to abort her baby, but they would just cross that bridge when it came to it.

Keith and Elizabeth were secondary. If he ran across them, he could deal with them in the process, but if he could get in there, get Leia and get her back without coming across either one of them, well, that was fine with him. He probably wouldn't be so lucky, but...

And they could find a way back. There was always a way back. No entrance without an exit. He had no idea how they would get back once they got over to that place, the in between and Charion, but maybe it was one of those things you couldn't figure out until you got over there.

But he did know one thing. He couldn't just sit here like a good little boy while waiting for the grownups to step in and save the day.

But the only way he could get to Leia, to the in between, was to find out how to get Enabled over there. Jordan promised him he would if Brandon could find the way. Instinct told Brandon that they needed something tangible, something they could touch and see, something physical to Enable them over there, and that the disc the game was loaded onto wasn't going to cut it. He needed the code. The original code...what had Alexis called it? The source code. Which was on Keith's computer somewhere. Which sure as hell wasn't here.

Frustrating much?

He thought vaguely about calling Dalaja or Nikki, but they were getting ready to head out of the hospital and go home now that the doctor had cleared Nikki.

Nope, no one to talk to. Except Jordan, and he sure as hell wasn't going to bring up that subject again, considering what happened last time.

Brandon sighed and hit a button on his laptop. He wanted to play the game some more, but he decided anything else that the fantastic world of Charion had in store for him he would rather see in person. Playing it through the game felt like a cheap imitation of something that was real and wonderful, and it didn't sit well with him to be sitting there playing it when there was a way to see the real thing with his own two eyes.

He just had to figure out a way.

Brandon logged onto YouTube and pulled up the Charion promotion that Alexis had shown him and wondered vaguely if Andrew knew about it. He would have a fit.

Brandon clicked play and studied the screen carefully. He watched it with the sound muted, not wanting to be distracted by the sound of Leia's pleas and screams.

The first several times he had watched, he had been focused on Leia, her tearful, terrified face. Now, though, he focused on other things. The piano could be the same one from the in between, or it could not. No way to tell.

But Leia...she wasn't in the in between. The in between was a long wooden room. When Leia was on the screen, she was shown against a dark red, almost maroon background that looked rich and textured... Not paint, but maybe some kind of fabric. Velvet? Silk? He couldn't tell. And that didn't give him any type of clue as to her location.

He studied the screen and his eyes caught something, something slightly off, an oddity near the bottom of the screen. He frowned and replayed the video. There, in the corner, were a couple of small dots set in a definite pattern. Then they disappeared to be replaced by another pattern, then another.

Brandon replayed it again, watching.

Braille, he realized, puzzled. It looks like Braille. Why the hell would someone put Braille, of all things, in a video?

He played it through again, pausing when the dots appeared, copying down the patterns. It took all of five minutes on the Internet to decipher their meaning. He tentatively reached out with inexperienced psychic fingers for Jordan. He wanted him home.

A few seconds later, his phone rang. Brandon picked up.

"Are you all right?" Jordan asked as soon as Brandon answered, not even giving him a chance to say hello.

"Yes, but I need you... I need you to see something. Can you-"

"Sure." Jordan's voice was calm, soothing to Brandon's jumbled up, overanxious mind.

Brandon was unable to sit still, pacing his room anxiously until Jordan arrived. When he came into his room, Brandon shut and locked the door behind him. His mom would have a fit if she found out, but he wanted to make sure no one would interrupt them.

"I found a message hidden in the video of Leia on YouTube." I hope.

"What does it say?" Jordan asked.

Brandon handed over the sheet of paper with the words written on it. "It says bank," Brandon explained. "Each of the Braille marks make up a letter, but I had to unscramble them to get the correct word."

"Unscramble it?" Jordan asked.

"Yeah. If I had it written down in the way it originally appears, it would make no sense."

"How did it appear?"

"K-n-b-a. It didn't make sense, so you just rearrange the letters and that's the only word that comes out of it." Brandon was too embarrassed to mention that he had initially Googled "knba" and had found nothing but a radio station in Alaska.

Jordan frowned. "That makes no sense. If...whoever this is, wanted to communicate bank, why would he scramble the letters?" He scratched his neck. "Let me see the video. Show me the Braille letters."

Brandon hit the replay button, pointing to the bottom of the screen each time the Braille letters appeared.

"Christ, you can see that?" Jordan asked.

"Yeah, I can see it fine. Maybe you need glasses," Brandon teased.

"Shut up," Jordan murmured. "I think...play it again."

Brandon did.

"It's strange, isn't it, that you have one Braille letter...here at the beginning of the video and the rest of them are kind of grouped at the end," Jordan said.

"Yeah. I almost missed the K the first time."

"So...play it again and pause it when you see the Braille letters. Then tell me what time they appear at, since you have the superior eyesight and all."

Brandon played it back again. "The K appears at twelve seconds." He reported, pausing the video and pointing to the bottom of the screen. He saw Jordan jot that down on the pad of paper.

"Okay. Next."

"N is here, at forty three seconds. Then B at fifty and A at fifty five." Brandon swiveled back around in his chair as soon as the video ended. It was easier to watch those tiny dots flashing across the bottom of the screen than to see Leia's screaming face. "So what are you thinking?"

"What I was thinking is that there was no reason to scramble the message. It wouldn't do much good, it is far too easy to unscramble. But, if you look at it this way..."

Jordan sat the pad down.

"You have each of these letters appearing at a certain time," he explained, pointing to where he had written them down.

K N B A
12 43 50 55

"So, when you unscramble them, they look like this."

B A N K
50 55 43 12

"Yeah?" Brandon said, not really understanding where Jordan was going.

"Let me ask you, Brandon, since you have lived here the longest. How many banks are in this area?"

"Um....lots."

"So, if this video is directing us to a bank, how are we supposed to know which one? All it says is bank, not which one specifically we need to look at. Right?"

"Right," Brandon said slowly, understanding beginning to dawn.

"But if you associate each of these letters with the time in which it appears, it forms a series of numbers. And if you arrange the letters to form the word bank, you rearrange the numbers, too. So first you have fifty and fifty five. There is a bank on 5055 Darken Street, correct?"

"I-I think so." Brandon opened a drawer and pulled out a phone book. "Yeah, you're right. How did you know that?"

"Dylan banks there," Jordan said. "These last four I'm not sure about, but I'm thinking that they might be an account number, maybe, or the number of a safety deposit box?"

"Safety deposit box most likely," Brandon said. "Account numbers are usually longer."

Jordan nodded to the phone book Brandon held. "What's the phone number? I'll give them a call."

Brandon read it out for him then checked the clock. "They won't be open right now."

"If this bank is the same one I think it is, it should have the same kind of safety deposit boxes that Dylan has."

"So I'm guessing we're going to need a key," Brandon said, his enthusiasm waning slightly.

"Not really. They have a key that they can use to open the box. You will have to provide the password."

"Password?"

"Yeah. It's a new combo lock system. You have to have a password to get in. If the password is incorrect, the key won't turn."

"Fucking wonderful. How the hell am I supposed to know what the password is?"

"Well, maybe we already do," Jordan said, tapping the computer screen where the title was displayed. "This video was made so we could find what he wanted us to find. It's not a complicated code." Jordan looked thoughtful. "I wonder who posted this video. It's not Keith's style."

Brandon had to agree with that. It wasn't Keith's style at all. Too subtle.

"Maybe his Enabler put it up," Brandon suggested, but that didn't fit either. He only saw her once, but the vague imitation he got from her didn't point to her being this subtle either.

"What would they want to keep in a safe deposit box?" Jordan asked.

"The coding for the game," Brandon said. "That's the only way someone could get into that place."

"Where did you get that information?" Jordan asked, raising his eyebrows.

"About coding? From someone who knows computers. Alexis," Brandon said.

"Well, if Keith and Elizabeth went through enough trouble to hide their coding in a safety deposit box, who would post a video giving us instructions on how to get into it?"

"Maybe they did want someone to find the code, but didn't want to leave it where just anyone could find it."

"Maybe. But this video wouldn't matter that much to anyone unless they knew Leia. Still feels like a trap."

"Well, then it's a trap," Brandon said. "You still said you would get us over there if I found us a way. The way is in that bank box. I would bet everything I own on it."

"Fine," Jordan said. "Let's go down to the bank tomorrow and see if you can get into that box."

Brandon breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay." He looked up at Jordan. "It'll be okay. We'll be fine. We're meant to go over there. I can feel it."

"Well, let's deal with finding out what's waiting for us at the bank first, okay?"

"All right."

Jordan drove Brandon to the bank after school the following afternoon. Jordan spent a lot of time talking to the banker about getting to the safe deposit box, and Brandon stood by quietly, not willing to say anything that might screw things up. The banker eventually showed them to the room where the box was kept. There was a lock where a key would fit and a small keypad set into the lid. The banker left the key on the table and gave them the simple instructions: type in the password, then turn the key. The banker then turned and left the room.

"That was entirely too easy," Brandon said softly as the door clicked shut behind him.

"There wasn't a very high security level on this," Jordan said. "They don't even really require real identification. But this is a good set up. Instead of the bank and the individual both having a key, the bank has one type and the individual has another. You can't steal a password from someone like you can a key. It's smart."

"Sucks for us," Brandon said. He kept his voice low as possible, he was absolutely sure there must be cameras in this place.

"Go on," Jordan urged.

Brandon took a deep breath and fit the key in the lock. He typed in charion on the keypad and turned the key. Nothing. The keypad beeped.

"Didn't work?" Jordan asked.

"No," Brandon said softly.

"Try her name," Jordan suggested.

Brandon typed in leia and turned the key. Nothing and the keypad emitted two high pitched beats, as if in warning.

"I bet an alarm or something goes off after a certain number of attempts," Jordan said. "Try one more and if it doesn't work, we'll have to stop."

Brandon was quiet for a moment, trying to think. A password. Password.

Come on, come on, Leia, help me out here.

Charion.

Leia.

The Goddess is in danger. Will you be able to save her?

Brandon typed in goddess and turned the key. The box popped open with a gentle click. He could hear Jordan next to him, letting out a relieved breath.

"You are a genius," Jordan said fervently, pulling the box across the table to look inside. "Shit," he said.

"What? What is it?" Brandon asked. He looked into the box and saw nothing too interesting. A couple of CDs and a large envelope.

"I think this is it. Charion."

Brandon pulled the envelope out and undid the clasp holding it shut. He reached inside and pulled out a thick sheaf of papers. He studied the pages. They showed typed lines of words and symbols that made no sense to him.

"Do you know how coding works?" Jordan asked.

"Not well."

"When you create a game for a computer, you have to use coding," Jordan said. "It's how the computer knows how to respond when you click the mouse or navigate through the screen. The game creators type the code into the game to control what happens. But if Keith and Elizabeth enable themselves into a game, they would have to have access to the original coding. This is it," Jordan said, tapping the papers. "I'm not completely sure, I'll have to take it back to the house and look through it more thoroughly, but I'm pretty sure that this is what we need." Jordan slid the papers back into the envelope and handed it to Brandon. "Put it and these discs into your bag. And don't lose them."

Brandon tucked the envelope in securely and slid the discs into an inside pocket where they wouldn't get scratched. He fastened the bag up while Jordan closed the empty box and put it back in its place, relocking it. They returned the key, thanking the banker, and left the bank, walking down the street. Right before they got to Jordan's car, Jordan tugged on Brandon's hand.

"Hey."

Brandon turned. "Wha-" He was abruptly cut off by Jordan planting his mouth squarely over his, kissing him. In broad daylight, outdoors, in the middle of town, no less. Brandon's eyes widened but he didn't pull away. He returned the kiss even as Jordan was pressing him up against the car, hip to hip, his fingers tangling in Brandon's hair. It was aggressive and passionate and Brandon felt his nerves, which had stretched to the breaking point from what they had to do in the bank, relax slightly, his energy shifting towards a different focus.

Brandon pulled away. "Let's get out of here, okay?"

Jordan smirked at him. "Sure thing."

They ended up having sex twice, once on the floor as soon as they got inside Jordan's apartment, and the second time on his bed, where Brandon kissed Jordan's rug burned skin gently.

"I can't believe we found it," Brandon said later. He was lying on his stomach, legs covered by a thin sheet, his body hot and dewed with sweat.

"Me neither," Jordan said. He was on his side, his head propped up on his folded arm. "It was too easy. But I'm impressed with the way you cracked that password. What made you think of Goddess?"

"It was the language used in the video," Brandon said. "It said, 'the goddess needs your help', remember? All the clues had been in the video; I thought that the password might have been, too."

Jordan nodded his head. He couldn't believe how excited he was over that small discovery. He still didn't like the idea that they were plunging headfirst into something he knew very little about. But still, the very idea that they could do this, step through into a reality that was not their own, excited him in a way nothing else ever had before. They could do this. If they fucking wanted to, they could do this.

"Bring the coding here, and let me take a look at it?" Jordan asked tentatively. Brandon nodded and got up, padded into the other room and returned with the bag. He opened it up and pulled out the envelope, passing it over to Jordan. Jordan opened it up, pulled the pages out and flipped through them, frowning.

"Is it the right stuff?" Brandon asked anxiously.

"Looks like it," Jordan murmured. "I'm not 100 percent sure, but--" He stopped at one page, looked it over carefully. "This looks right." He flipped through some more pages. "This is incredible. They must have been working on this for quite some time. How old is Keith anyway?"

"Seventeen or eighteen," Brandon guessed. Jordan frowned. "He must be a fucking prodigy," he murmured. "This is pretty complex."

"Is that bad?" Brandon said.

"It'll make getting over there a little harder, maybe," Jordan admitted. "Especially considering it's not our Creation we're dealing with. In fact, I wouldn't even think it was possible except that I believe Leia is already over there."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, normally I would say we can't even Enable over, because it's not our creation. It belongs to someone else. But in normal circumstances, I would also say that you couldn't bring someone else from our reality into a Creation's reality, like they did with Leia. So obviously they have found some way to bend the rules. And if they can bend them for one situation, I see no reason why they can't bend them for another. And they obviously want someone to be able to find them. Otherwise this-" Jordan thumped a finger against the thick stack of coding, "-wouldn't have been so easy to find."

Brandon raised his eyebrows. "Easy?"

"Whoever this was put directions to the coding up on an internet video that anyone could see. Anyone."

"Yeah, but the only person who might want the coding would be other people who knew how to use it. So only other Enablers."

"Or anyone who wanted to try out a new game," Jordan pointed out. "Anyone could have gotten to this. And if they had, we would have been stuck here, unable to find a way to cross over." Jordan shook his head. "This makes no sense and it's risky. Would Keith do something like this?"

Brandon shook his head. "No way. He wouldn't have something this important be totally out of his control."

"So that makes me think it might not be Keith who took the code and put it away."

"Maybe his Enabler?"

"Maybe. Or maybe somebody stole it."

Brandon frowned. "Why?"

"I don't know. But we've decided that Keith didn't put it there. I don't think the Enabler would either, not without him knowing. And here is another thing... they needed a copy of the code for them to cross over. So they would need another copy besides the one in the safe deposit box."

"Alexis said most people keep source codes on their computer."

Jordan shook his head. "They would need a paper code to cross. Any Enabler would. You can't enable through television or computer screens. Technology is making new forms of creating possible, but it's also hindering our access." Jordan put the papers away and slid down in the bed slightly, pulling Brandon towards him for a kiss. "Do I need to get you home?"

"Probably. It's late."

"Will it be okay for you to come home with me tomorrow and help me get unpacked over the weekend?"

"I'll check with Mom. I don't think she'll mind."

"She doesn't have a clue what we do, does she?"

Brandon smiled but didn't answer as he got up and got dressed. It was a small sign that his mom wasn't as accepting as she thought she was. She probably thought all the time that Brandon and Jordan were together was spent playing checkers or something. But if she was to hear that he was spending that much unchaperoned time with a girl, she would have a fit. Or maybe she did know and just wasn't worried, since there was no chance he could get Jordan pregnant.

He left the codes with Jordan, figuring it was safer there, and that night, before he went to bed, he watched the video again. The message was still there, but if anyone else decoded it, they would find nothing but an empty box.

"Don't worry, Leia." he said, pausing the video and looking at her frightened face. "I'm coming, Princess. I'm going to find you and bring you back home." He traced her face with a fingertip. "I promise."