A/N: That was short... Welcome back, readers! Malaysianpro bringing you another chapter. You probably expected this to be published about another week or so but here it is! I've been writing on pen and paper ever since my iPad was taken away because I'm grounded (thanks a lot, math results), but expect some more chapters coming soon! Malaysianpro out.

Disclaimers from past chapters and/or stories will be applied to this chapter.


Chapter 9

Taken

Château de l'Arif

Wednesday - March 26, 2014

0904 hours

Began a new day after a night's rest. Nightmarish everything was in my dreamscape, and it was safe to say that the days after this were not going to be perfect... not since the vision I had the other night.

My mind raced with thoughts during and after breakfast. Who were those men? Why were they after Charlene and Melanie? What were they planning to do?

In an attempt to escape the things that troubled me, I sat down on a deck chair at the yard and decided to walk through my mind literally in a lucid dream, or more like a virtual reality walk, visiting the museum of memories from the past I had collected. I stared at the photos which housed in frames, hanging on nothing but pure blue vastness of...well, nothing. If it's to hard for you to picture, then think of it this way; remember the third season finale of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic? Before when Twilight turns into an alicorn, she walks with Princess Celestia through her memories in Ponyville in that empty, blue space? That's sort of how the virtual walk was.

I still had the HUD on even in the VR walk, telling me anything about the real world so that I'd wake up. An alert of a heat signature of a person lurking from behind popped up in my HUD while I was reliving a memory that started to play. I used the Force to identify that person, or, rodent, perhaps, and that rodent was actually Thea.

I said out loud: "I'm a Jedi, Thea. I know you're behind me."

I sensed that she froze in place. "You're no fun when you get to sense someone about to jumpscare you," she said. "Whatcha doing?"

I opened my eyes to exit the VR walk. "Taking a virtual reality walk through my mind. It's another way to review the memories I had stored in the chip."

She sits down on the grass beside the chair. "Virtual reality, huh?"

"Yeah. It's basically my way of saying that it's actually lucid dreaming, where your conscious roams around without your body moving and you get to wake up whenever you want. But the VR is slightly different, though. It's like you play a game with the Oculus Rift."

"Can anyone else access it?"

"Yeah. If given the permission."

"Can I?"

I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "...Why not?"

She positioned herself closer to the chair. "Take my hand," I instructed, holding mine out.

She held onto my hand, and I lowered my eyelids. "Close your eyes..." I said.

I brought her subconscious into my own, and started the VR walk in a lucid dream. "You can open them, now."

I saw her reaction; I've taken her breath away. "Great melted cheddar..." she murmured, starting to shift her head around.

The hanging pictures started to rise from the bottom and stopped in midair at eye level, left and right.

"How does it feel like?" I asked her.

"It's so...surreal," she answered.

I moved forward with her joining me. "What does it remind you of?"

"Season three finale of My Little Pony." My smile grew wider in pride while looking the other way.

"All of it is here. From the day I got that chip." A photo rose up from the infinite space below and stopped at our left. We halted to view that memory as it played like a video.

It was the time when I first had the chip implanted into my brain, waking up on a hospital bed inside of Caltech's underground labs. Professor Philips was there, along with his partners and my family, and it was the first time it was being tested. "Are you feeling better, Danial?" said the professor in the playing memory.

"Yeah...great actually," I replied.

He checked something on his tablet. "What I'm seeing on this tablet is your eyesight. In the software installed in your chip includes a heads-up display in your eyesight. Try to think of the letters: H-U-D."

The HUD pops up in the eyesight. "I got it, prof!"

"HUD is functional. Now for the moment of truth... Danny, (shows screen of the tablet) I want you to activate any of the apps available in this tablet. Just wave out your hand and say 'activate' and the name of the app in your mind. Try it!"

My 11-year-old self did as told. On the tablet screen, I activated the Google Chrome browser. "It worked... It worked!"

"Good God... Ladies, gentlemen, the chip is a success!" All of them applauded. "There are more features about the chip which you will know later, Danial, but for now, you should get some rest."

The playback stopped. "What was your most precious?" Thea asked.

"Of course the ones with The Crew, and my two sisters. Sarah, and you."

I sighed, and she saw me frown right after. "Are you feeling okay, Dan?" she said softly.

She's read my face yet again. "No, not really. I'm actually worried. About two things, Charlene and Melanie, and-"

"I thought Charlene and Melanie are already two things."

"What are you talking about? That was only my first point." Trust me, this is one of her ways to make me forget about my problems. By kidding until I get agitated and make her my problem.

"So that would make it three things..."

"ANYway... We gotta wake up before I show you my second problem."

We returned to reality after ending the VR session. "What was your second point again?" Thea returned to the topic.

"This." I took out my iPhone from my pocket and unlocked the screen, displaying a webpage. She read the headline quickly.

"Henry Gurney School infiltrated, one prisoner escapes with attackers?" she read.

"Henry Gurney Prisoners School back in Malaysia was where Firas went to serve his time for his juvenile involvement with The Technologists. You remember him, right?"

"I do. Your best friend who backstabbed you."

"There was, according to local news, an attack towards the school. The guys who attacked the school brought away one of its prisoners."

"Firas."

"Exactly."

"And your worried about him?! He sold us out to The Technologists! He sold YOU out!"

"So? He was still my friend, Thea! No matter what happened. I just can't let go of the fact that we are still friends..."

"Why?"

I took a deep breath."...He was the closest thing I ever had to a sibling ever since my family died and before I met you and The Crew. He treated my like his own brother, and we'd acted like siblings every time we were together. We even made a promise to each other, that we'd still be friends till the end of the line...no matter what."

She smiled. "It's like what they say, right? Friendship is magic."

"That's what bronies and pegasisters say."

"Still the same thing..."

"You...have a point."

Then Geronimo shows up from the sliding doors. Strangely, he was in his black suit and had a badge strapped to his belt. "Danny! Thea! there you are," he said in relief. He sounded grave. "Grab your gear, we're going back to Hotel Shangri-La."

"Whoa-whoa-whoa, slow down," I said as Thea and I got up.

"Yeah, what's the rush, G?" Thea said.

"You both know that Danny's visions never lie, right?" he squeaked.

"Yeah, why?"

"I think you already know, Thea."

While Geronimo was ready to get back inside, I froze. "Wait...you're not saying that-"

"Yes, I am, Danny," he cut me off. "Melanie and Charlene have gone missing."


Hotel Shangri-La

0932 hours

All of us, and I meant ALL of us took a speedy ride to the crime scene with lights and sirens. Afterwards our arrival, we took two separate elevators up to the fourth floor.

We hurried down the hall to Charlene and Melanie's suite, where the French police was all over outside and inside the tape.

We showed our badges at the guard of the crime scene and went under the line with Geronimo being a gentlemouse lifting it up and letting everyone through, then caught up.

Hussein who also stayed at the hotel was seen, speaking to the officer in charge. "Geronimo! Guys! Just in time," he began.

"Tell me what we have so far, Hussein," Geronimo requested for a briefing as we walked along.

"Two of the contestants for the Fashion Competition, Charlene Evans and Melanie Johnson are missing. Since these women were the only two competitors of the event in this floor, kidnappers weren't afraid to take the guards head on and tasered them until they knocked out, then hid them inside their targets' own suites. Right now, they're at a hospital for further treatment."

"Who was the one that realized their disappearance and when?"

"Hotel room service. When the restaurant sent their waiters up to deliver the women's breakfast, there was no answer when knocked. They called the hotel manager for keycards in suspicion, and when they entered, that's when they found the guards lying limp on the floor and the women missing, about half an hour ago."

"Any idea how the women were taken?"

"Probably the same way Danny described to me about his vision through the phone, last night."

"Any traces left by the kidnappers or the targets?"

We approached and entered Charlene's suite. "As you can see now, nothing yet except for those escape ropes at the balcony. That, and lack of signs of struggle suggests these guys were professional," he said. I stepped closer to the officer taking photos of the rope at the balcony, taking a far view of the d-links attached to the balcony safety bars. "Security tapes are still rewinding, and the French police are currently investigating, so they'll contact us whenever they find something."

"In the meanwhile, I think we should do some investigating ourselves," Geronimo insisted.

We came back up from the cars with forensic kits packed in our cars. We slipped on our gloves and began canvassing for the finest detail related to the kidnapping.


We've split into teams, The Gazette Crew in Charlene's suite, the Thea Sisters in Melanie's, and Benjamin Pandora and I watched the tapes to see what happened. The Crew were equipped with the specs from Night 1, they also have the ability to highlight the smallest of forensic oddities.

"I can't see anything more with these specs," Trap complained, shifting his head around.

"Me neither," Geronimo said. "Found any blood, Thea?"

She replied from the bedroom: "I sprayed luminol on everything, no dice."

"There's that..Alright, Crew! Let's wrap this up. Thea Sisters, ready to call it a day?" He radioed.

"I am," Pamela replied.

"Me too," Violet followed.

"I am finished as well," said Colette.

"Paulina?" Nicky called, look back at her friend in the bedroom.

"You go ahead, I'm gonna finish up in here," Paulina told.

As Nicky packs up and left with the others, Paulina went on to examine the bed.

She started by shedding some black light from the bottom. She detected nothing as she made her way up, but as she shone it near the pillow, she noticed a small blotch fluorencing neon blue on the pillow itself. The specs highlighted it on sight in its HUD. She grew curious about her discovery.

Paulina laid the black light just beside the blotch so it'd keep luminating though the specs already marked the spot. She then grabs the DSLR camera hung on her neck and snapped a few photos of it. Later, she brings out her switchblade she kept from its holder strapped around her ankle and cuts around the evidence off the pillow case.

Once the rodent broke free of the last thread of the silk fabric from the evidence, she handled it with a pair of tweezers, stuffing it in a small glass evidence vial from the forensic kit and sealed it up with a cork.

Paulina strode out of the suite, giving the vial to a forensic investigator of the French police before regrouping with The Crew near the police line.

"Ah, Paulina! Did you manage to find anything?" Geronimo said.

"Lucky I did. I found some kind of dried up invisible stain on the pillow with the black light. I pawed it over to the French so the could analyze what it is," Paulina explained.

Not to be rude, but I had to interrupt them out of the blue. "Crew, I need you all down at the security room. There's something you need to see," I stressed.

"We'll be right down," Geronimo replied.

Once they took the elevator down, I heard and saw them enter the security room from behind us. Meanwhile, the three of us junior agents kept rewinding and playing the footage, watching it over and over with a French detective.

"Agent Stilton, it is a pleasure to meet you, and your team," the detective greeted in his French accent. "I am Detective André Gaston."

"Likewise, detective," Geronimo replied. "What do we have from the footage?"

"It is as what ze junior agents say, ze kidnappes were professional." All of them got closer to the monitors, where I was with Benjamin and Pandora. "Take a look.'

"Just like Hussein said, G. Kidnappers took the guards head on," I spoiled the video for him.

I started the playback. It showed the guards aiming at someone off camera at the halls. Then they came, attacking and knocking out the guards without sound and not even giving the guards a chance to fire a single shot. Then the kidnappers picked the locks of the suites, gaining access and dragged the guards in, closing the door.

"Masked... we can't get a facial recog out of those guys," Pandora concluded.

"Are there any cameras outside the building?" Geronimo asked.

"There are," Benjamin replied without turning around. "Two are present just outside at the pool, one facing the building and the other facing the fence."

He played the footage from the two seperate cameras. It showed the kidnappers climbing down the balconies of the suites at once, two of them carrying their targets on their shoulders. They made a run across the pool area once they made it to the ground. We shifted our focus to the second camera's feed, watching them jump the fence. At the other side was a van, with its tall roof just seen over it.. we saw its rear door on the right side open sideways when they were about to drop the two women in. That was when I paused and zoomed into the van.

"That's a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter," I indicated. I zoomed in further at the left rear door, enhanced the image, and found anotherr lead. "Sprinters have licence plate mounts on the left rear doors, so..." I explained as I did my magic. When the enhancement was done, we had a clear image of the licence plate, almost blockd by the fence. "There we have it. Suspect vehicle's plates.

"Have a BOLO issued, detective,' Geronimo requested. "This van could lead us to the women."

"Making ze call right now," said the detective, dialing while on his way out of the room.

'Benjamin, get a start on searching the plates in the French vehicle registration database."

"On it," Benjamin responded.

"Has the General Secretariat heard about the kidnapping?" I asked Geronimo.

"He has, through Hussein. I'm expecting a call from him, but I have no idea what it's about." Suddenly, the iPhone in his jacket pocket rang. Before we knew it, that was our cue. "Geronimo Stilton," he introduced when he answered. "Yes sir, I'm still at the hotel with my team. You want us at the main headquarters in Lyon? For an emergency meeting ASAP? Um... Benjamin, ETA."

He calculated quickly on his Ben Pad as the search was still in progress. "If we go Code 3 at a hundred and twenty-five miles an hour, we should ge there in less than three hours with current traffic."

"Less than three hours on Code 3 at a hundred twenty-five on the highways. "Yes, Hussein is still with me. I'm on my way." After he terminated the call, he announces: "Crew, time to leave. We've been called for an emergency meeting at Lyon. Pamela, have you seen Hussein?" But, there was no answer. "Pamela?"

"Pamela IS with Hussein," Violet told. "They're at the lobby."

"Then get Hussein to his Aston and get Pamela behind the wheel of Danny's Ghibli. We're going Code 3 all the way." He exited the room as we followed his lead.

"Road trip!" I announced.


Interpol Headquarters - Lyon, France

1258 hours - 3 hours later

We hurried up the building from the underground parking garage and proceeded to the conference room at the fifth floor. Geronimo and Hussein went in while the rest of us stayed outside and watched from a wall-mounted flatscreen.

The rest of us witnessed the meeting consisting the event's organizer, Roux, the French broadcasting team and the General Secretariat himself, Roland N. Kobel, taking the seat at the end of the light-colored wooded conference table.

"We apologize for being late and for keeping you all waiting," said Geronimo, pushing through the doors as he adjusted his collar.

"Nonsense, Agent Stilton. We entered the room just minutes before you did," the Secretariat forgave. "Take a seat."

They sat at the empty chairs opposite of Roux and Antoine. "Ladies and gentlemen, you have all been called here today for an emergency meeting. Our current agenda is to discuss the fate of the Interpol Women's Tactical Fashion Week following the dissapearence of two of its contestants, Charlene Evans and Melanie Johnson. Should we continue it or put it to a halt until we find them?"

Roux was the first to speak. "Sir, if I may..."

"Go ahead, Miss Roux."

"We should continue ze competition, Mr Secretariat. Ze people all over ze world have been excited and anticipated zis ever since it was announced."

Kobel turned to Geronimo. "Stilton, your view?"

"I'll have to say otherwise, sir. These people who have been kidnapped? They are veterans in their careers which means they've been holding a high position in their respective agencies long enough for them to keep government secrets. As well as the other competitors, they need to be in protective custody before they get taken."

"But sir, we cannot just put ze competition to a stop!" Roux defended her part of the argument. "It took us months just to plan zis. And remember ze hardwork we put into zis: ze agreement for ze broadcast with ze broadcasters, ze advertisements! And many more zat I cannot list!"

Geronimo decides to defend as well. "Have you split your cheese, Roux?! Those women hold government intel that if leaked to a hostile nation or a terrorist organisation, can threaten the national security of their country! The lives of millions are in their hands alone, do you know that?!"

"That's enough, the both of you!" Kobel said. "Now, if we can't get along and because we have different point of views, I say we vote. All In favor of continueing the competition say 'aye'."

"Aye," Roux uttered.

"Aye," Antoine supported.

"And I suppose that you two vote the opposite?" Kobel predicted, shifting to the two members of The Crew.

"Excatly, Mr Secretariat," Geronimo answered.

"Agent Stilton is both my leader and friend, sir. And as both, I should respect and support his idea. You have my answer, sir," Hussein said.

"So it's up to me to make the call, then. In that case, I choose that we get on with the competition," Kobel decided.

"What? But sir-" Geronimo protested.

"I can't be biased here, Stilton. Like it or not, Roux has a point. We've spent millions of the agency's budget in planning and getting this thing running and I'm not lettting all that go to waste. I know what is at stake in this situation, but in the same time we cannot let the tactical fashionistas out there get dissapointed."

"So what about the other contestasnts?" Geronimo brought up.

"I know you're concerned, Stilton. That's why I'm having you and your team to investigate around the disappearences of these women while in the same time show the prettiest face on international TV. Do you think you can manage that?"

"We'll do the best we can, sir," Geronimo assured.

"Good. Antoine, Roux - you two can leave."

"Thank you, sir," the both said simultaniously. They stood up and left the room.

"Stilton, get the rest of your team in here," the Secretariat requested.

We heard him wanting us in from the flatscren feed. So after the two French people went out, we went in.

"You requested us, Mr Secretariat?" Benjamin started.

"Indeed I did. Take a seat, all of you." We each grabbed a swivel chair close to Koble and got curious of what was the meeting's next agenda.

"What are we here for, Mr Secretariat?" I asked.

"You are here so we could discuss about how are we gonna protect the rest of the contestants for the competition," he explained. "As of last night, I believe that two guards aren't gonna cut it for the protection of the women. They've become possible targets for more possible kidnappings, and I say we take the security up a notch. Stilton, what type of security mesures are you going to propose?"

"Trippling the number of heavily-armed guards at the contestants' place of accommodation, the place where they design their gear, and at the event itself on all levels of the tower," Geronimo suggested.

"Do we need any men from GIGN?"

"If necessary. For their traveling safety, I advise that we use escorts, both on motorcycles and patrol cars, and for the competitiors, they would be chauffeured in a high-powered, armored limosines driven by a trustworthy Interpol agent. We'll cooperate with the French police for the escorts."

"Agreed," Kobel said. "Moving on. What has yout team concluded about the kidnappings so far?"

"Current forensic evidence tells us that the kidnappers were professionals," Pandora squeked up. "We've viewed the security footage and we saw that the victims' bodies were limp when they were carried down the balcony. Maybe they used chloroform or other types of sedatives to knock them out."

"Speaking of drugs, I think I may have found some on the pillow. I shone some black light on it, and a stain glowed," Paulina mentioned.

"These kidnappers got balls too, took those guards head on," Hussein added.

"We're currently trying to find out who they are and who're they possibly working for," I interrupted. "Good thing there were cameras by the pool and one of them managed to get the kidnappers' vehicle's make, model, and plates. Benjamin is still running them through."

A beep came from Benjamin's Ben Pad. "And they just got back. The plates don't exist within the database."

"Fake plates," Geronimo muttered, sounding dissapointed. "All we can do now is hope that the BOLO results turn up positive,"

"Do you detect any MOs?" the Secretariat asked.

"Not yet," Nicky started. "There are a lot of terrorist organizations that use fake plates, drugs, and don't leave any traces in kidnappings,"

"What about ze van itself? Mercedes is German," Colette came up with an idea.

"What do you have against German cars?" Thea asked.

"I am not finished. Audi is also German. Remember what organization uses Audis as their prefered vehicles?"

Violet started to get the idea. "Wait... you don't mean-"

"Yes, I am Violet! The Technologists don't just drive Audis, they prefer anything German! Even back then. Thea, Danny told me that you saw a black Sprinter van in ze car park back in Malaysia when you were nearly killed in an attempted car bombing. Do you remember zat?"

I took a split second to reach into the archives for that. The day when Thea and I went to the KL tower for grubs. I remember having a bad feeling, about the Charger exploding. I did see it in the background, a black Merc Sprinter.

I got back to reality. "Yeah, I do," I confirmed.

"So, what you're saying, Colette, that from this, The Technologists might be back?" Kobel said.

"Precisely," Collete replied.

"But what are the chances of that? Geronimo, Hussein, and his team saw McCarran International's Concourse D collapse while Danny and Williams were inside!" Pam theorized. "There's no way the leader of The Technologists survived the Force Maelstorm!"

"No wonder Prof. Philips contacted me to tell Danny to be extra cautious four hours ago..." I heard the Secretariat mumbled. "Alright, back to the kidnapping. How'd the kidnappers know where the contestants stayed at? We didn't leak this in the press."

"I suspect that it was an inside job, sir," Geronimo deduced. "No one outside the involvement of the event has information about this."

"Then I want that mole exposed ant exterminated before anymore of the women go missing," Kobel ordered. "As for the escorts, have them alerted about Audis. If they see black new-gen Audis driving in groups, take evasive action."

"Yes, sir," Geronimo obeyed.

"The next thing I want to know about is have you discovered who the woman is?"

"The one Danny claimed planted a device at the Eiffel Tower? No, unfortunately."

"(Sigh) That will be all. Keep me posted of any leads you find."

"What are you going to tell the press about this?"

"I'll deal with them."

We stood up and exited the conference room. "The Technologists...return. How?" I said as we all huddled at the door.

"Zat was just a theory. Maybe I am right...maybe I am wrong," Colette squeaked.

"Even if they are returning, who's leading them?" Trap questioned. "For all we know, Williams perished in the Force Maelstrom."

"Copycats, maybe?" Thea said. "Many Brits were under Williams' influence, especially the ones who knew British and American history as well as extremists. They knew what was his objective, and decided to form The Technologists 2.0."

"And even if he survived... How?" Benjamin asked.

"I don't want to know... C'mon, let's just go home," I interrupted, trying to change the topic.

"Indeed..." Geronimo agreed.


"I can't believe that Melanie and Charlene are gone!" Flash exclaimed. We had a video call session in the car on the way home, with Benjamin too. Fortunate enough, Pandora fell asleep so we could discuss about the talent show in the open.

"We know..." I said.

"Is Interpol still gonna run the competition while they're missing?"

"Yeah. Uncle G said we should stop, but considering that we've put a lot of effort into this, General Secretariat decided we should continue," Benjamin summarised. "We're looking into this as the competition runs."

"Oh... Anyway, will you guys still be able to make it back to practice?"

"Probably an hour late," I informed.

"I'll be waiting then..."

We terminated the session, yet we kept Terra and my Quattroporte's comms on. "I'm bored..." I complained.

"Me too," Benjamin said. "Up for a game of I Spy?"

"Sure..."

"You start."

"I spy...with my little bionic eye..."


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