AN: So, a few of you guessed it. Neon Tyler will show up later in the story. Also, it seems like you guys are going to be introduced to a new person. A person who will become very important very soon. Enjoy!

It seemed that every time Skipper moved, his body would cry in disagreement. His tailbone ached, his shoulders were on a numb fire, his mind was dizzy, and the rest of his limbs were barely keeping track with what his brain told them. At some points, he'd command his arm to grab a tree branch, and his arm would fail and he would fall a few inches before he would instinctively reach out to save himself. After that, he would ache more than he already was.

How long had he been at this, he wondered. Kowalski and Rico were busy securing an escape route, how long ago did they go and do that? Five minutes? Twenty? An hour? Skipper squatted again, ready to leap to the next tree. His tailbone cried again as his muscles tensed again. He had gotten so used to the pain, that he was able to ignore it a little. Which, was a blessing. His knees were burning too, from the weight of the squat. He finally released the tension in his legs and reached his arms out for the next tree branch of the next tree. His fingertips touched the bark, and he gripped it tightly, letting himself hang right above a three people from the NYPD.

His only strategy in finding Private, was to follow the trail of cops. As he got deeper into the woods, the more people there were. It was a bit risky too. If he was caught, Kowalski and Rico wouldn't be able to help him, and who knows what would happen to Private. He was also keeping an eye open for blood on the ground, or any sign of a struggle. It was just the littlest too dark to see, since it was still night. He could bits and pieces of conversation, but most of i were pointless blabber.

He lifted himself up, letting his legs rest for a moment. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he had an urge to look down. He had these urges a lot, he usually called them his 'gut feelings'. He taught himself a long time ago to listen to his gut feelings. They were usually what got the team out of danger, surprisingly. When he didn't follow his gut instincts, it usually gnawed at him until he did.

He looked down. At first all he saw was leaves and twigs, but then his eyes stumbled upon a pile of the forest junk, piled so much and tall that it looked suspiciously out of place. He stared intently at the spot, he knew in his gut it was hiding something underneath. Then, he saw it. A finger, breaking above the leaves. After closer inspection, he saw that connected to that finger was the outline of a man. He could also see that the area was more red than the rest of the ground.

A young man.

Skipper's mind was panicking. Was that Private? How could it be? The body obviously looked like it was covered up on purpose. So if someone had killed the little guy, they wouldn't have left him here, right? They would've brought him in. It felt like his head was about to explode. What was going on? If he wasn't already deathly confused, he was now.

Another gut feeling; telling him to look to his right. He didn't even question it this time. He looked over, and couldn't at first process what he saw. There, laying his feet across a branch and his back on the trunk, was Private. His blonde hair was almost like a white flag. His head was resting on his shoulder, and his eyes were half closed. Skipper's mouth was gapped open. Was Private no trying to get away as the others had been fighting for their lives?

"Private!" Skipper hissed, wanting to tell him how selfish he was. Private quietly stirred. His eyes opened fully, and he turned his head to look over at his leader.

"Hmm?" The boy answered groggily.

Skipper glared. "What are you doing? Just taking a nap?" He was on the verge of growling. He didn't care that police were casually walking by. Although, he questioned how nobody noticed Private's blonde hair, or the young man's body on the ground.

Private blinked a few times, before he realized what Skipper was saying. "What? Oh, no. Skipper, I can't move."

Skipper gave him a bewildered look. He inspected the boy's legs. They looked fine, no wounds or anything. His chest looked fine too. Skipper scanned his arms, and paused when he saw his right wrist. If you could call it a wrist anymore. Blood was covering it, and he could barely see any flesh on it. The blood had tinted the metal of a handcuff, which was attached to a chain that was wrapped poorly around the tree trunk. Judging by Private's wrist, he had probably been struggling with it for awhile.

"What happened?" Skipper whispered, now feeling a little guilty at having wanting to yell at the boy.

Private smiled sadly. "Long story." He pointed underneath him. "That guy chained me here, the accidentally fell. Don't know why. I think he's crazy."

Skipper remembered how Kowalski had said that before Private's GPS and his phone went sea, he was at the edge of the woods. If he ended up here, almost in the very middle of the woods, whoever dragged him here and decided to chain him to a tree high enough people couldn't spot him so easily, he must've been crazy.

"I think I still have a pistol on my belt. Maybe I can shoot the chain off." Skipper suggested. He had seen it in a movie once. He leaned slightly to try and see his belt.

Private's head snapped up. "Skippah! Listen!"Skipper snapped his head up, ready to ask what was happening, until he heard rustling. From behind him on the ground. He turned towards the noise, at the exact moment five cops and a woman step into view from some trees.

The woman was about in her mid thirties. Although, she looked like she just turned twenty. Her face was the kind of thing you would expect to see on a sixteen year old, by how young her facial features looked. Her hair looked recently dyed, to a platinum blonde. Her eyes were so bright that Skipper could see them in the darkness. A pale pink colour, like salmon. It was most likely contacts. Her skin was a silk peachy colour. She was wearing a short black dress, lace at the top, and a belt to match at her waist. She was also wearing heels that went up to below her knees.

Skipper scowled at the woman. He knew she couldn't see him, but he did not have a good feeling about her. Maybe it was all the plastic surgery, He thought.

The woman paused at the where the dead body was on the ground. She kicked, and the bleeding face of a man popped out of the piles of leaves. She smiled. "He was an idiot anyway." She looked up, almost as if she knew exactly where Private was. "Oh, you must be little one. Aren't you a cutie."

Skipper pushed himself more behind the cover of leaves, he was sure to keep in eye sight of Private, though. The woman made him sick. She was so calm about kicking a dead body. She knew where it was too, and where Private was. Her voice purred seductively with every word she said. It was... appalling, Skipper decided.

Private looked over at his leader desperately. This woman had scared him, and the five police men didn't help either. The way she talked, the way she looked. It was almost horrific, in his opinion. Did the woman need so much plastic surgery? What was wrong with her actual face or how she used to look?

"My name's Assana. I know who you are. The innocent little Private. How's your day going?

Private hesitated. "Well... uh, it's been a bit crowded. Not much for that shooting noise either."

It took Skipper a moment, but he realized that it was the perfect thing to say. Although Private was scared, he showed that he wasn't as intimidated as Assana obviously thought he was. It showed that he was confident that the rest of the team was out smarting her. The leader smiled. I guess if Assana could play, so could they.

"Oh! Your funny too!" She put her hands on her hips. "Why don't you come down? I'm sure you've been up there a while." Private didn't say or do anything. "Or can you?" Assana paused, inspecting the area around the young boy. When she saw the chain, she tilted her head back dramatically and laughed.

"Oh geez! It looks like that crazy idiot did something right before he died! Guess we can just come up there to get ya, huh?" She gestured up, and two of the police men walked to the tree trunk, ready to climb. "It's okay. I bet that chain is hurting you anyway. We'll fix you right up."

Private inhaled deeply, and glanced towards his leader once again for support. Only to see, that Skipper wasn't there. He exhaled, not sure what to think. He looked back down at Assana. He saw the two men, already half way up the trunk to him. His left hand gripped the branch he was on fearfully. He had no feeling in his right hand anymore.

The two man were about to reach Private when the first shot rang out.

Instinctively, Private ducked with his hand over his head. When his head went down, he was just able to see one of the men drop to the ground, blood had covered his brown hair. Surprised, Private lifted his head back up, just in time to hear the next shot ring, and without looking, he knew the second man with the light red hair had fallen. His notions were confirmed when he heard the dull thud.

Assana turned to the right, where the shots were coming from. Not one to distinguish fear, she grinned at the man with the pistol. "Oh, Skipper. Looks like you've got me trapped. What with that gun in your hand." She calmly started to reach into the deep pocket of her dress. "And how I had recalled all my patrol troops except for these five. Well three, now. I guess."

Quickly, her arm shot out of her pocket, holding a hot pink painted handgun, pointed above her head, slightly at an angle. "You killed two of my men, Skipper. Can I kill one of yours now?"

Skipper glared. His finger itched to pull the trigger, to just get rid of this horrible woman who he instantly hated. He couldn't though. The three men had there own handguns. Two were now pointed at Skipper, the last one was also pointing at Private. He was trapped.

"Don't hurt him." Skipper pleaded, but it more sounded like a statement.

Assana's grin broadened. She had him. "Put down the gun. I'll take you both in."

"To who?"

She scoffed. "Like I'd tell you that. The less you know the better. Or are you pigheaded enough not to see the lack of information you have on the situation?"

Finally, Skipper thought, some kind of intel. So that's why we don't know why we're being chased. Why most of the NYPD hadn't been talking openly on the situation. Why we've been left in the dark about everything. Because thats what they wanted. To take us by surprise. While we were confused, they would take us easily.

"Put down the gun." Skipper ordered. He wanted to feel in control right now. All through the terrifying night, he knew he hadn't been the one calling the shots. He desperately wanted it back.

"Honestly Skipper, I don't think you have the upper hand to call the shots here."

"Maybe. But I don't think you wanna die today. Even if it means I die too."

Private listened quietly. He wished that if he stayed quiet enough, the two guns would point away from him. He knew he was in the worst spot in the whole stand-off. Chained to a tree, with two hand guns aimed at him, no chance of getting way, or even avoiding a bullet. His life was in somebody else's hands.

"Oh, look who's figured me out in a few minutes." Assana mocked. "My job, Skipper, is to capture a solider from the penguins unit. Because I know what side I'm on, I know my course of action."

Skipper paused. Something about tat seemed odd. If all Assana had to do was to capture one penguin, what was stopping her from shooting him, and then taking Private in? She could've done that awhile ago, instead of taking the time to talk to him. Was she stalling? Something else, too. The way Assana said 'because I know what side I'm on, I know my course of action'. Her voice wasn't purr, but a firm, normal voice. Skipper felt like his head was throbbing from the confusion. Was he just over thinking this? Yet again, she had earlier said 'or are you pigheaded enough not to see the lack of information you have on the situation?'. Was that another hint? That Skipper didn't know of the situation. That maybe everything he was thinking was wrong. That Assana was on his side? What did that mean, anyway?

"Well, then do your 'course of action'." Skipper pushed her, not sure what was do happen.

Assana hesitated. Skipper had seemed confused to her. Was it something she had said? She had been taunting him the whole time, and suddenly he looked like he was concentrating hard on something. She glanced up to Private, who she had forgotten was there. He had suddenly looked behind her. Was it part of Skipper's confusion?

She turned.

And suddenly, the stand-off got even more intense.

"Kowalski. Rico. How wonderful of you to join our little party. Please. Participate."