Chapter four:

It's night time.

Michael and Gavin have managed to fall asleep but Ray is still up glad for the full moon shining its light into the dark room.

Ray is sitting with his knees pulled a little close to his body. He isn't sure he can get any sleep at the moment a little scared of what is going to happen to them.

Every time the kidnappers take them away they try to break them down and build them stronger.

One of Rays most hated parts is where they are tied, blindfolded and having a gun pointed at their head.

Sure it's been blanks so far but he is pretty sure he had heard a gunshot once meaning someone else was possibly shot.

Ray is scared that one of the shots will really shoot and not be a blank. He turns to look to one of the things that they have carved into the wall.

The R & R connection symbol.

He gets up walking over to it then sits down next to it only to gently touch it in sadly and longingly. "Ryan..." He says quietly to himself. "Please be okay." He closes his eyes to hold back tears and presses his forehead against the wall by the symbol. "I miss you." He stays there for a bit then decides to curl up hoping to get some rest.

That morning...

The lads are up and about looking over what they have so far.

"Ok. So far we have all that we know it seems." Michael says thoughtfully.

"An explanation of some things that they are doing." Gavin adds.

"What we know about them." Ray says glancing to the best description they could give.

"And that we aren't alone here." Michael finishes it off. "Seems like nothing to add yet." He lets his thoughtful look drop.

Suddenly they hear the door opening making them turn.

Three kidnappers come in and one grabs Michael while the two with guns keep the other two lads at bay. They take Michael out of the room and close the door that becomes locked behind them.

Michael is dragged to an uncomfortable wooden chair where he is tied and blindfolded.

"Ok kid." One of the kidnappers says. "It's your turn again."

Michael hears someone moving to grab something and he waits to hear the sound of the gun clicking to be ready to fire the blanks. He instead hears what sounds like a lighter then fire. He keeps himself from tensing as he's been doing to try to make this all go by faster. He's glad that they've been making him less likely to flinch at things like this though the sound of the fire is still scary especially since he can't see.

The sound of the fire is moved closer and soon the heat can be felt against his right arm.

"Now. I'll ask this one more time." The kidnapper says in a dark tone. "Who are you working for?!"

Michael keeps his mouth closed as he waits it out. He feels the heat move closer to his skin.

"Answer me!" The kidnapper shouts in an angry tone. "Or I'll fucking burn you alive!"

Michael just distracts himself with thoughts of his old life at Rooster teeth and he listens to wait to see when it's all over.

"You fucking piece of shit! Speak!" The kidnapper waves the fire across Michaels body close enough that Michael can feel the heat but Michael isn't caught on fire. "Fine. If you won't talk then I'll burn you alive then we'll get information out of your friends."

There is a few moments of silence then there is a few footsteps as the fire is moved away from him.

"Very good. I do believe that you will be ready soon. Soon your time to shine will come." The kidnapper says sounding rather pleased and the fire sounds like it's being put out with water making it hiss. "So what is it that we have told you that you are?"

Michael swallows harshly and opens his mouth. "I am a soldier. Two seven eight six nine." He says the words that have been drilled into their heads and he makes sure to speak without emotion in his voice.

"Very good." The kidnapper sounds a bit more pleased. "Out of all of your friends you have come the most far in all of this." The kidnapper chuckles. "Now. You may be dismissed but remember soon your time will come to shine. How soon?" There is a chuckle. "You'll just have to wait and see. Though I believe sooner than the others. It might not take you four years to be ready unlike some of the others."

With that Michael is taken back to the cell where the other two lads are waiting.

"How'd it go?" Gavin asks.

"Pretty well." Michael says. "But they said something strange."

"What is it?" Ray asks.

"They were talking about soon it being my time to shine. That it might be sooner than some others who had to take four years to be ready for whatever they are planning." Michael tells them. "I don't understand what it could mean to them but I doubt that it's good."

"That is a weird thing to say. You should add it to the carvings. Maybe someone else who might find this might know what it means." Ray suggests.

Michael nods. "Yeah okay."

Gavin hands him the Rock and Michael gets to work adding a note about what was said.

Ray sits down on the floor and he tries to think of what the kidnappers could mean by time to shine. He wonders if it is some kind of sign that whatever they are really here for means that they will be doing it soon or at least Michael will. He tries to piece the puzzle together with what the kidnappers are doing to them and what Michael was told. "It all just seems so strange." He says to himself a little quietly. "I don't understand."

...

It's almost been a month since they last saw the lads...

Jack and Geoff are in the achievement hunter office.

Geoff has to edit a thing's to do video that he and Jack had done while Jack is doing some other work.

Suddenly there is a small noise that grabs their attention.

"That's the missing lads email." Jack says opening the tab on his computer and looks it over.

Geoff puts his headphones down then moves closer to Jack. "What does it say?"

"It says that someone found a place that we could check to see if they are there. They say that was abandoned but they swore they saw someone around there a bit too much sometimes even with others. But they never seemed high or drunk and they do not look homeless." Jack says checking out the email.

"Then we should go!" Geoff says jumping to his feet.

Jack nods. "Let's go."

"I'll drive!" Geoff says as they race out and soon he is driving them to the location. "Hey. Isn't that Ryan?"

Jack looks around until he spots Ryan who is looking around trying to figure out where the lads could be. "Yeah that is."

Geoff pulls up to beside Ryan causing him to turn to them and stop walking. He rolls down his window. "Hey Ryan. We were just heading to a place that might help us find the lads. Wanna come?"

"You don't have to ask me twice." Ryan agrees then climbs into the backseat and with Ryan now joining them they head off.

Soon they are pulling up to an abandoned building in which Geoff finds a good place to park his car.

"Well. Here it is. This is the address." Jack confirms looking up from his phone as he used the GPS.

They get out and start to head towards the building.

"I can see why this might be a spot where we might find them. It's hidden and out in the middle of nowhere." Geoff observes glancing around.

They make it to the entrance way and try the door finding it unlocked so they head right on in.

"Let's explore but stay close. We don't know who else could be in here." Geoff says and they move forward into the building.

They walk peering down corridors and checking a few rooms staying in sight of one another as the search. Finally they open a door leading downstairs so they go down figuring that it's most likely where they would hold them. They get down there and see a few windows here and there allowing them to see outside. They keep going until they find a hall of what appears to be cells.

"This must be it." Jack gasps glancing around at the hall.

"Let's begin our search." Ryan says being the first one to move forward.

They examine cells opening them as they are unlocked but so far they are all empty.

Geoff opens another one to find it once again empty then Jacks voice comes from a little further down the hall.

"You might want to come see this!"

Geoff and Ryan head to where Jack is and step into the cell only for their own eyes to widen.

There is carvings in the wall all appearing white as it was carved into the wall. The main one that catches their eye is the slightly big symbol on the back wall that is the achievement hunter symbol.

They move further into the cell glancing around noticing that it's a mixture of writing and drawings including the team nice dynamite and R & R connection symbols.

"They're here." Ryan gasps gently touching the R & R connection symbol.

"Well were." Jack says looking at some of the writing. "It doesn't seem like they are here now."

"Well this appears to be the last entry here." Geoff says bending over with his hands on his knees. "Let's see..." He says as the other two turn to him. "It's been two days since they took Michael and Gavin away. I don't know what happened to them and I don't know what will happen to me." He begins reading out loud. "I'm scared because I don't really understand what's going on. They haven't actually told us what it is they want from us leaving us only guessing as to what the answer is. We hope that someone might find this room and find all of this stuff we are leaving behind. We hope that it will help any search thing that's going on perhaps allowing lives to be saved. We've left as much information as we could on these walls so hopefully at least something will help. I think the weirdest thing is when they force us to repeat the words I am a soldier. Two seven six eight nine. We don't understand why it's important for us to know those words at all. It's just something they have us do and it's one of the weirdest things that they do. It seems to be for no apparent reason. Well whoever finds this please don't let this go to waste and give it to someone who could use it to help. Oh and please tell Ryan at Rooster teeth I love him. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to tell him again. We miss Rooster teeth... Especially the achievement hunters... They were our family... Well hopefully all of this will help. Ray."

The three stand there for a moment allowing the words to sink in and Geoff straightens.

"Well at least we knew that they were alive possibly for quite some time." Geoff says as he clears his throat after a few moments of silence.

"Maybe we should inform the police about this. It could be useful." Jack says.

Ryan just turns back to the R & R connection symbol. "Thanks. I love you too my dear Ray. We'll find you. Just keep holding on." He leans his forehead against the wall closing his eyes softly as his hands rest against the wall by the R & R connection symbol.

In what feels like no time police are on the scene and have sealed off the building.

The gents watch as police begin working to find as much as they can.

Ryan feels much better as more hope of them finding the lads as filled him more than before. "They're still out there somewhere." He says in relief to have this confirmed. "They have to be."

"Well going by what they described it does seem like a weird thing. I don't get what they're trying to do with them." Geoff says crossing his arms over his chest slightly.

"Well. Whatever it is we at least know that they were kept alive. I doubt that they'd kill them off at this point." Jack points out.

"We just have to keep looking." Ryan says holding a fist close to his heart. "We can do it. They will be found."

They just need to keep up their hope because they feel like they are so close to finding the lads.

However... A week went by... And nothing else appeared...

Meanwhile...

Michael is sitting in a chair that his legs are tied to with a button on the table in front of him.

"All you have to do is push the button." The kidnapper tells him. "It's rather simple." The kidnapper gestures to the button.

Michael wishes that the chair wasn't nailed to the floor because he could have possibly escaped. He looks to the button not even sure what it will do.

"Come now. Don't fail us now." The kidnapper says in a cool voice. "All you have to do is push it. And when you do it for real the nightmare will all be over."

Michael swallows harshly and shakily reaches for it. He hesitates only a moment before pressing it.

On a table not too far away a Popsicle stick is flung into the air.

"Very good." The kidnapper nods. "Soon you must shine."

Michael looks to the kidnapper not sure that he wants to know what the kidnapper means. He hopes that it will be awhile before he does anything because whatever they are hinting at it doesn't sound good.