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The fake dressing room rattled as the members of BTR were driven away from their concert venue by Hawk and his assistant.
Logan paced around the small area, arms pressed to his chest in panic.
“Oh God, we are so dead.” He said hysterically, “This kind of stuff never happens in Minnesota. I hate this town!”
Kendall ran a hand through his hair and sighed, “Calm down, Logie. I’m trying to figure out a plan.”
Logan spun around and pointed a finger right into James’ face, “Why would you ever work with that guy?!”
“I didn’t know he was crazy!” James defended himself immediately, but his expression turned sour as he looked around the room, “I didn’t mean to.”
Kendall sighed again, looking around for anything they could use to escape, “We know, James. It’s alright, we’ll figure this out.”
“Don’t worry, guys.” Carlos said as he backed up a couple feet, “I know what to do.”
The shortest teen ran forward as fast as he could and crashed into the metal door keeping them locked in, causing it to shudder and make a screeching noise as it resettled.
Kendall grabbed at his friend’s arm and pulled him back from trying again, “Don’t do that, ‘Los. Not only is it too strong to bust through, but we’re also obviously driving. You’d just fall out onto the road and get hit by a car or something.”
Carlos nodded in dejection and sat down with his arms crossed, “Then what should we do?”
The three teens all turned to Kendall expectantly, and the blond stared back at their scared and hopeful expressions.
He cleared his throat, “Ok, we need to have the element of surprise on our side. So I think that as soon as that door opens, we rush whoever is on the other side and then make a run for it.”
Logan paled at the plan, “Are you sure that’s going to work?” He asked nervously.
“No,” Kendall confessed, patting Logan on the back to somewhat ease his anxiety, “But we need to try something. We can’t let Hawk get away with this.”
His best friends nodded in agreement and they readied themselves to pounce when they felt the truck rolling to a stop.
The metal door was pulled open and the teens tackled the men on the other side with a resounding yell.
However, they quickly realized that they were outnumbered, and shrank back as the intimidating men pulled out matching black devices from their pockets.
One of them grabbed onto Carlos’ arm, yanking him close before Kendall caught him on the jaw with a wild punch. Another man hooked his arms to prevent the blond from striking again, but Kendall just lashed out with his legs as James tried to detach the guy from his friend’s back.
Kendall suddenly felt something press into his side, and then a white-hot current ripped through him as he screamed from the intense pain. It only lasted a moment, and then Kendall was pushed to the ground roughly by two pairs of strong hands. He turned his head and saw that his friends had also been tased, twitching slightly on the concrete as the men tied their hands together.
They were brought into a large warehouse, its corners were darkened ominously and there was a single spotlight in the middle of the room.
“Well, well, well.” A voice said from the shadows before Hawk slowly walked into the light, “If it isn’t Big Time Rush.”
“But it is us.” Carlos responded back to him, struggling in his restraints and furrowing his brow in confusion.
The producer stared at the teen, “No, it’s an expression-”
“You’re Hollywood tricks won’t work on us!” James shouted at him, muscles tensing as he tried to free himself.
“Shut it, you talentless idiots!” Hawk roared, causing the boys to flinch back.
Kendall continued to glare at the man, “Hey, we’re not talentless!”
“That’s what you decided to fixate on?” He heard Logan mutter beside him.
Hawk looked thoughtful, and then he smirked at Kendall, “You,” Hawk walked up to teen, “You’re Gustavo’s favorite, aren’t you?”
Kendall stared up at him with an impassive expression, “Not really. What’s your deal anyway? You know this is, like, super illegal?”
The blond saw it coming a mile away this time, bracing himself on the back of the chair as the taser made contact with his skin.
Kendall doesn’t give him the pleasure of hearing him scream, not like before when he hadn’t been expecting it. His hands clenched painfully into a fist, fingernails biting into the skin of his palm. He convulsed in his restraints and his face was screwed up into a tight grimace as Hawk held the device to the meat of his shoulder longer than necessary. Kendall vaguely thought he could hear his friends screaming at the man to stop and calling out his name in fear, but he really wasn’t certain over the deafening static in his ears.
James looked on in horror as his best friend flinched in his seat, his tears freely falling down his face at the nightmare that they were in. He struggled further against the ropes, it’s coarse braid rubbing his wrist raw.
As soon as Hawk pulled back the taser from Kendall’s skin, the teen’s eyes rolled back in his head and he fell unconscious.
“Are you serious?” Logan screeched, eyes locked on Kendall’s slumped form, “You can’t do that to him!”
“I don’t really care.” Hawk smiled, placing one foot on the base of Kendall’s chair, “I’m filthy rich, kid. I can do anything I want.”
He then kicked the seat, causing Kendall to tilt back and land harshly on the floor still restrained and unmoving.
Hawk knelt down next to the teen, “Maybe I should send a picture to Gustavo.” He mumbled in thought, pushing Kendall’s limp head to the side by his jaw, “I’m sure he’d love that.”
“Don’t fucking touch him!” James snarled, fighting his restraints as the man looked over at him.
He stood up slowly, brushing off his expensive suit while he moved in front of James.
“And you,” Hawk tsked in disappointment, “We had a deal. As far as I’m concerned, this is all your fault.”
James stared up at him incredulously, “You’re completely insane!”
The man growled and pushed James’ seat back as well, laughing at the way the wind was knocked out of the teen’s lungs at the impact.
“So what if I am?” He sneered, “I’m also a winner. You boys are going to miss your first concert, destroy Gustavo’s career, and be completely irrelevant by next week!”
Logan looked about five seconds away from a panic attack, but he mustered up as much courage as he could and looked at Hawk, “You realize we’re minors, right? The jail time for kidnapping alone is-”
“Can it, nerd.” Hawk sneered and slapped him across the face, “Now, I do want to catch your concert so I don’t miss the look on Gustavo’s face when he loses everything.”
The man laughed maniacally as he left the warehouse, and James shifted his chair to the side once the door shut closed behind Hawk so that he wasn’t just staring at the ceiling. Kendall’s face was turned toward him as they laid on the ground, eyes still shut and breathing heavily.
“Kendall!” James hissed, chest tight with worry, “Kendall, wake up!”
The blond’s eyes cracked open, then clenched shut again as pain shot through him, “What the hell?”
“Hawk’s gone!” Carlos explained hurriedly, “He’s going to the concert!”
Kendall winced as he stared up at the ceiling, trying to get into a more comfortable position on his upturned chair, “Alright, just give me a second. I’ll think of something.”
A minute passed but Kendall continued to squirm against the heavy ropes in silence.
“We’re going to miss our concert!” James cried and looked up at Logan, “What should we do?”
“I-I don’t know!” The shorter teen stuttered, anxiety rising as his gaze darted around the room.
“Don’t worry, buddy.” Carlos said determinedly as he started hopping in his chair towards the stairwell, “I got this.”
.
The boys made it to their concert with not a second to spare. They performed their hearts out and cheered when Hawk and his assistant were led out of the venue after being arrested by the police.
Gustavo, Kelly, and even Griffin said that they were proud of them and that things were looking bright for the teens’ careers. Everyone was in high spirits as they made their way back to the Palm Woods.
The band collapsed in a pile in their apartment’s living room with packs of ice on their sore muscles and bruised cheeks, too tired to properly celebrate their successful first concert and newly obtained album deals.
It wasn’t until the next day did they realize the toll that Hawk’s kidnapping had taken on one of their friends.
“You performed with a broken arm?” Gustavo, Kelly, and Logan all screamed at him in unison.
They had returned to Rocque Records for the afternoon, and the blond had just joined them after being suspiciously missing for the entire morning. The only reason why the group didn’t assume another abduction was because the teen had been sending them texts the entire time he was out.
Kendall looked down at the new cast covering his arm and shrugged, “Doc said it was only a hairline fracture.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Logan pulled at his hair in exasperation, “We could’ve gone to the hospital yesterday!”
The blond’s eyes briefly flicked towards James and then refocused on the dark-haired teen, “Then we would’ve missed the concert.”
Logan threw his hands up in the air, “You’re unbelievable!” He declared angrily and stomped out of the room. Carlos sent the blond a small frown and then quickly followed their friend, presumably to comfort the agitated teen.
Gustavo pointed a finger at Kendall as he steadily became more red-faced, “Never do that again, do you hear me?”
“Sure thing, boss.” He smiled and watched Kelly drag their producer from the room before he got more upset.
James stood silently in front of Kendall, his eyes avoiding the blond teen.
Kendall sighed, “I know I have to talk to Logan and Carlos. I didn’t mean to make them upset, but I just really wanted the concert to go well.”
“But what if you were more hurt than that?” James argued, gesturing to Kendall’s cast.
The blond narrowed his eyes at his friend, “You fell in your chair too.” He reminded James a bit petulantly.
“But my hands weren’t tied behind my back!” James yelled at him, “What if you dislocated your shoulder or lost feeling in your hand forever or something?”
Kendall rolled his eyes, infuriatingly blasé about the whole situation, “It’s not any different than that time those Duluth jerks jumped us after hockey practice, or when Jenny Tinkler broke your arm in the 2nd grade! I’m seriously fine, James.”
“But what if you weren’t?” The brunet choked out angrily, “If you would’ve just told someone instead of doing the stupid concert then-”
“Are you serious?” Kendall interrupted, “You nearly chewed my head off earlier when I wanted to quit the band. If the concert didn’t go well then our music careers would’ve been over!”
James took a step closer, his face an unreadable mix of emotions, “That’s different!”
“How?” Kendall asked incredulously, confused and frustrated by his friend.
“It wasn’t my fault then!” James shouted, plunging the room into immediate silence.
“James,” Kendall said carefully, “It wasn’t your fault now, either.”
James scoffed, and Kendall noticed the sadness in his eyes, “If I hadn’t made a deal with Hawk, then none of this would’ve happened.”
Kendall took a step closer to him, “You don’t know that. Hawk probably would’ve just targeted another one of us. Then we’d be in the same situation.”
The brunet didn’t look convinced, but he nodded anyway, “I’m sorry, Kenny. For everything.”
“I’m sorry too, Jamie.” Kendall lightly nudged his best friend, “But we’re fine now, right?”
A ghost of a smile passed over James’ lips, “Right.”
“Now come sign my cast, dork.” Kendall beamed at James and held up a marker, “Before Carlos decides to draw aliens and dragons all over it.”