Mike POV

Manitoba completely lost it. He tore around the room, searching desperately for our missing friend.

"NO! E-e can't! She must be 'ere! She 'as ta be!" He stopped and slumped down, defeated. "Th-this is all my fault! 'Ow could I let this 'appen?! Why 'er?" His despair soon turned to rage. He stood, jaw set, and balled up his fists in anger. "If 'e hurts a single hair on 'er head, Oi'll, oi'll... oi'll tear 'im apart! Oh, when oi'm done with that bloke, 'e won't know up from down! Oi swear 'E'll regret this, if 'e lives long enough!" His whole body was trembling. Fists clenched white, he dropped to his knees, hands over his face. I was honestly scared, he was the confident one, the one who kept us in check, seeing him like this was a shock. I looked around the room. Veto shifted uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact. Chester still hadn't come out of his room. Svetlana was obviously out of the question... I sighed. Well, I guess it was up to me... I walked up to him and cautiously placed my hand on his shoulder. He tensed at my touch, but then relaxed.

"Manitoba, we WILL get her back. Mal will get what's coming to him, you'll see." I assured my friend.

"Y-yeah, you're right mate..." He climbed to his feet. "Alroight lads, Our Sheila's in danger, and us blokes 'ave gotta rescue 'er!" He stood tall and proud, beaming with confidence. now THIS was the strong, determined, (slightly sexist) Manitoba that we all knew and loved. I heard Chester's door click, and saw him peek out. he walked over to join us.

"Glad ya decided ta grace us with yer presence, mate." Manitoba remarked sarcastically. "Now, any ideas?" He added as an afterthought.

"Heh, that's a lot to expect from some a yous. Veto never has those." Chester commented. Really? The man locks himself in his room while one of our own is kidnapped, and the first thing he says when he emerges is a diss? Oh well, bigger fish to fry. We spent the next little while in silence, thinking.

"Mani, can you track him like the first time?" I asked hopefully.

"I couldn't find that Wiley dingo anywhere in 'ere after a week of searchin' before Mate, I took a look around but I couldn't find anything new... Mal covers 'is tracks too well, even for me." He replied glumly. Disheartened, I kept thinking.

"Back in my day, we didn't have to make elaborate rescue plans! Ya just walked in, gave the bad guy the ol' one two, and walked right outta there." Chester complained. He got a withering stare in response.

"To do that, we need to know where he IS." at that, he shut up and sat silently for awhile.

"...What if we all just yelled real loud, and see if we c'n hear tha dame call back?" Veto suggested. Blank stares all around.

"Don't be too hard on him fellas. It wasn't bad for a first... Baby steps." Chester reasoned. Veto glared at him.

"What if?- no..." Five minutes of furious brainstorming later, we still had nothing. Zip. Nilch. Aaargh! Manitoba was on his last nerve, and Veto was wearing it down fast.

"What're we doin again?" He asked for like, the 18th time. Mani, who seemed about ready to explode, fumed silently.

"Hey, Vito, why don't you go out and... Um... Check the closets or something?"

"Why would I need ta do that? We looked earlier." He asked, puzzled.

"Did YOU check the closets?" I insisted. "well, no-but... Oh fine." He stood and left. Manitoba noticeably relaxed, heaving a sigh of relief. We enjoyed the brief window of silence. But it was all too short. Veto returned, rolling his eyes as he rejoined the group.

"I told ya jerks there was nothin' there." He grumbled, sitting down.

"Eh, it was worth a shot, right? You'd sure feel stupid if he WAS there this whole time and you missed him."

"I guess..." he begrudgingly conceded with a shrug. We continued to think, well, argue once again. Mani and Veto were nearly at each other's throats when suddenly, it came to me.

"Be right back." I said quickly, fizzling out before they had a chance to reply. I was back before they noticed I was gone.

"Guys, GUYS! It's 5:56! In four minutes, it's wake up call. I have a plan, but we have to act fast! If I can't take over when I wake up, Mal will by default. Ie need him to NEED to be in control to be awake, i.e. during activities. Then Veto and Chester go somewhere and cause a ruckus, to break his concentration. He will pour all his energy into staying in control, and won't notice Mani poking around, able to search uninterrupted with mal on the surface. Once he has Svetlana, everyone comes back here. We will do what we can from there. Now, to start I have to get knocked out or something else incapacitating. FAST.

"What? We can't do that t'ya ma-" mani's words died in his throat as Veto struck me down with a broken piece of furniture.

"Why would ya do that!?"

"Ey, it was his idea. I just listened."

"The one time you listen just 'ad ta be the one where Mike's askin ya ta bash in 'is block." Manitobans voice started to fade as my brain started to muffle sound from my ears.

"Well sor-ree-" the rest of the argument was cut of as blissful silence enveloped me and my eyes slowly drifted closed.