For those of you who are familiar with, or follow W.I.T.C.H, you'll see I took a few liberties in these next chapters regarding possession of the Heart of Candracar and the powers it grants people. That was because I wrote this chapter before researching the item on Wikipedia, and didn't wish to go back and re-write anything. I hope you will excuse me for taking some poetic license.
"Explain to me again why we have to hang out here?" Cornelia asked.
"Those hero guys thought it would be best if we stick together" Will explained "and I agree with them."
"I don't care if they have weird powers, I don't trust them" Cornelia said "how do we know they weren't sent here by Phobos to lure us into a trap?"
"The girl has a point" Taranee added "I mean, have you ever seen a superhero before that didn't exist in comic books?"
"How about five that can control the elements and wear multicolored tights?" Irma asked.
"Okay, bad example, but still, 'the Huntsman?' Isn't that a character from Snow White?" Taranee countered.
"I don't know about you guys, but I trust them" Hay Lin said "they had no reason to lie to us."
"All right" Cornelia replied with a huff.
"If you guys will excuse me, I need to check on the inventory" Hay Lin said, "I'll be right back."
The girl left the meeting room and headed to the storeroom. As she made her way past the large numbers of cans and bags, she heard something clatter on the floor.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" she asked, but there was no response.
"Must've fallen over on its' own" she said, and made her way over to another shelf.
As she reached for a can, a large pair of arms grabbed her from behind, clamping one hand over her mouth to stifle any attempts at screaming.
"Well done" said a sinister sounding voice "now that we have this one, the others will come looking for her. And like dominos, they'll each fall."
Hay Lin struggled in the grip of her captor, but she couldn't get loose. Her first thoughts were of her friends and how she could stop them from falling into a trap. Then, the burly man began to shake her like a ragdoll; before she slipped into unconsciousness, she swore that she saw a man in an animal skull helmet.
"What the heck is taking Hay Lin so long?" Cornelia asked, after several minutes had elapsed.
"Maybe she has a lot of food to count" Irma suggested "this restaurant is pretty popular."
"One of us should go look for her" Will suggested "she might be in trouble."
"I'll go" Taranee volunteered "and if I run into anything dangerous, I'll contact you guys."
"Be careful" Will cautioned.
Taranee soon made her way down the back of the restaurant. "Hay Lin, where are you?" she called "are you okay?"
But there was no answer, and that started to make her nervous.
Okay girl, get a hold of yourself she thought nothing real serious could've happened to Hay Lin, right?
Her thoughts were roused when she heard some moans coming from a nearby door.
She threw it open and was surprised to find Hay Lin, tied and gagged with several dish towels; upon seeing her friend, the girl began to make louder noises from under the towel tied about her mouth.
"Hang on, I'll have you out of there in a sec" Taranee replied, as she headed inside the room, but Hay Lin started making more frantic murmurs.
"Calm down, I'm your friend, remember?" Taranee said "honestly, what's gotten into…"
WHACK!
The last thing Taranee saw before everything went black was Hay Lin struggling furiously to help her.
"I don't like this" Will said a few minutes later "Taranee and Hay Lin should've been back by now."
"This is starting to feel like a horror movie" Irma said "some mysterious person is out there, picking us off one by one. Although I don't know why he didn't get Corny first."
"Knock it off!" Cornelia yelled "your little jokes are not helping."
"Okay, I get it" Irma replied "but if anybody sees a guy in a hockey mask, stay away from him."
"We have to find the girls" Will explained "but this time, we all go together. That should lessen the chance of any more of us disappearing."
"Why didn't we just do that in the first place?" Irma suggested.
So saying, the three girls departed the room and set out to find their missing teammates.
"Okay, if I was a crazy guy in a hockey mask, where would I hide the bodies of my victims?" Irma asked aloud.
"If you don't stop talking about that, the only person who is going to die around here will be you!" Cornelia shouted.
"Keep it down" Will replied "if someone is here, we don't want them to know we're coming."
A few moments later, as the girls stepped into another part of the floor, a net engulfed them and pulled them to the ceiling.
"I think they know" Irma replied.
"So nice of you three to fall into my little trap" said a sinister voice "it saves me the time of having to find you myself."
"Who's there? Show yourself!" Will ordered.
The figure did as the girl asked and emerged from the shadows.
"Hey, isn't that the Huntsman guy we were ordered to stay away from?" Irma asked.
"In the flesh" Huntsman replied "as you can tell from my name, hunting is my specialty. And I can catch any prey, as long as I have the right bait."
"So you're why Taranee and Hay Lin have disappeared" Will said "what have you done with them?"
"They're all right" Huntsman replied "how long they stay that way depends on your cooperation."
He gestured to the Huntsboys who were nearby "cut them down and prepare them for the trip" he ordered "very soon, the Heart of Candracar will be mine, and not even Vilgax will be able to stop me!"
Back at their hotel room, the heroes were unsuccessfully attempting to interrogate their captive.
"Okay Weather Vane, tell us where Huntsman's holed up and we might look into reducing your jail time" Static said.
"Technically, that would be up to the district attorney" Gear added "or whatever passes for one in that futuristic universe Ace hails from."
"Forget you, heroes" Weather Vane replied "there's nothing you can do to make me talk."
"Actually, we could torture you, but I believe that violates our moral code" Gear added.
While this was going on, Jake heard his cell phone ring and went to answer it. "Hello?"
"Hey ya kid" Fu said from the other side "how's the search going?"
"Better than I thought, actually" Jake replied "we found the girl with the Heart thing and warned her, but we haven't been able to locate Huntschump."
"Anyway, me and the old man have been researching the Heart, and here's what we found" Fu explained "apparently, it has the power to locate tears in the Veil, which separates this world from a whole bunch of others. If it were to fall into the wrong hands, people from those other worlds could come to this one, and vise versa" Fu continued "and beside the immigration nightmare, there's also the whole potential for being conquered to think about."
"Thanks for the 411 Fu" Jake said "but it's okay, there's no way anything bad can happen to it."
But Jake had no idea how wrong he was. Back at his secret base, the Huntsman was gloating to the tied up Will.
"At long last, the Heart of Candracar is mine" he said "and with it's power, I shall eliminate the American Dragon and all other magical creatures."
"I don't think you fully understand what the Heart can do" Will said.
"Oh, but I do" Huntsman said "for you see, I studied about Meridian, but I know the Heart can access other realms as well. But besides that, it can grant great power to its' user, power I have big plans for."
"The Heart only works for the Guardians, not for you!" Will said "it's useless without us."
"You're truly foolish if you think I'd believe that" Huntsman said, before turning to his apprentices "shut her up, and then keep a guard posted on them. I have a magical artifact to test."
"Don't you worry Huntsmaster, we'll keep a close eye on those girlies for ya" #88 replied.
"You two couldn't guard a piece of bread" Huntsman replied "no, Mr. Joker's stooges will stand guard, they'll stand more of a chance if someone shows up to rescue the Guardians, though that won't matter very soon."
"Well what should we do?" #89 asked.
"Come with me as I prepare to test the Heart's powers" Huntsman said "I think downtown will provide a suitable place for a demonstration."
Back at the heroes hotel room, most of them had left, leaving only Gear on guard duty. Seeing that he wasn't looking at her, Weather Vane generated a tiny lightning blast and burned free the ropes on her wrists.
Then she used more lightning to break the ropes on her torso and quickly untied her ankles. By the time Gear looked to check on her, she was free.
"Hey, what the.." he said, but was blasted by a gust of wind.
"Did you really think you fools could hold me?" she asked, then jumped out a nearby window, using a wind gust to travel away. After she left, the door opened and the other heroes came in.
"Did it work?" Leonardo asked.
"Like a charm" Gear replied "thanks to the tracker I placed on her, we can follow her to where the baddies are holed up."
"I can't believe she didn't suspect anything when no one tried to stop her from escaping" Sonic said.
"I think she was just happy to be free" Leonardo said "okay, trace that signal and then we'll head out."
"Um, you might want to rethink that, fearless leader" Static said, as he pointed at the TV.
The others gathered around to watch the news story. "This just in from downtown, where an odd man in an animal skull helmet is wreaking havoc" the reporter said "he appears to be using some kind of handheld laser device to blast buildings. But whatever it is, it packs incredible firepower."
"What do you want to bet that Huntspunk has the Heart?' Jake asked.
"Then that means the girls are in danger" Leonardo replied "change of plans; we'll split up into two groups, Jake and I will deal with Huntsman, the rest of you, continue to track Weather Vane and find his hideout. If he's as predictable as I think, he may have the girls hidden there."
"Can do, oh shelled one" Gear replied.
"Let's go, we don't have much time" Leonardo replied.
In the final chapter, the two groups make their moves, but will they be tough enough to beat their foes with a few men short?