Backstab

Chapter 11: Plan B

A/N: Hey guys! This week has gone by really fast, and now it's already time to update once again. This chapter is gonna be a bit slower in comparison to the last one, but bear with me. Thanks so much as always to the fans, readers, followers, reviewers, and… you get my point.

Disclaimer: The words "… the room like a trapped lioness…" is part of a line from Lestaki's fanfiction, "Puella Magi Homura Magica".

Claimer: Wolfie recently gave me all rights to Tyler Summers.

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I sat silently on the floor, hugging my knees as I watched SweetPea pace the room like a trapped lioness. She'd been like this ever since we'd learned Rocket was still alive, the ache of missing her sister overpowering her normal thought.

"We have to get her out!" she'd insisted, her tone bordering on desperation. "Who knows what Blue has planned for her… or what he's already done?"

"But how do we know for sure this isn't a trap? The photo easily could have been when you were still in the institution, and Blue could have brought it out to lure you to coming back." Tyler pointed out, taking a more rational approach to the problem.

"I'm positive it's new. Rocket almost never left my sight while we were there, and back then Blue wouldn't have had a reason the tie us up like that."

Lowering my knees so I could speak, I joined the conversation. "SweetPea, Blue's a cruel man, with a lot of power. He could have easily found a girl who looks like Rocket, drugged her and tied her up to lure us back. And… there's no way she could've survived that wound." I hesitated, still haunted by the memory of the cook's knife driving through her flesh. "I'm sorry SweetPea, but she's gone."

SweetPea was silent after that, though I could tell by her set jaw that she still refused to believe that her sister was gone. The photo had given her hope, hope that the person she loved most in the world was still alive. Hope that maybe all was not lost, that she could still reclaim her baby sister and return her home safely to their parents. She was not willing to let that hope die so easily.

So now, I watched with interest as she broke her stride, turning to face me with fierce determination. "Let me see the picture."

Confused by her sudden change in pace, I handed her the photograph, watching her curiously. She was quiet as she scanned the picture, and just as I was about to ask her reason she shouted out.

"Baby, Tyler, come look at this!"

I rose; followed by Tyler, who had been sharpening sticks with the cook's knife.

"Look look right there where her stomach is showing."

We examined the photo, catching a small gap between her shirt and skirt where her bare skin was exposed.

"Yes we see that but-

"Look on the left side, you see the scar?" SweetPea interjected excitedly. "Rocket never had a scar like that before, and it's in the same place where she was stabbed."

Tyler and I looked back at the picture, noting a tiny stitched line just peeking out under the hem of her shirt.

"She's still alive," I murmured, my voice a mix of disbelief and flaring hope.

Tyler was silent for a moment, his eyebrows knitted in concentration. Then he spoke, amusement finding its way into his tone. "Blue certainly isn't making our job any easier."

I nodded. "I guess it's time for plan B." I walked across the length of the shed. Kneeling down, I lifted a loose floor board to reveal our secret hideaway for our most valuable items: the tranquilizer gun, the lighter, the knife (when Tyler wasn't using it), and Blue's map of the institute. I carefully pulled out said map, slowly unfolding it until every corner of the institute was laid out in front of us.

"Alright," I said, the map crinkling on protest as I spread it across the floor. "Let's start with what we know."

SweetPea kneeled next to me, holding out an old pencil. "Right," she agreed.

"The front entry is here," I pointed, watching SweetPea print Entrance in bold letters where I indicated.

"And Blue's office is here," she added, writing his name in an office off the main hallway.

"But he wouldn't keep her in his office," Tyler noted, "He'd need to keep her somewhere only him and his lackeys could get to her. Is there like, a secret basement or something?"

"If we knew about a secret basement, that would kind of defeat the whole 'secret' part of it," SweetPea pointed out. Tyler turned his head the other direction, embarrassed.

I had to resist from rolling me eyes. "Ok, SweetPea, you know the institute better than any of us, where would be the best place to hide her?"

SweetPea's face turned serious as she surveyed the map. "Here," she said, pointing to a cluster of rooms in the back corner of the institute. "They used to be more rooms for housing patients, but they've fallen into disuse."

"And they're the farthest away from any marked exits, therefore the hardest to reach." Tyler commented, observing the institute's layout.

SweetPea breathed out, circling the abandoned rooms and labeling then 'Rocket'.

"Do you really think we should still go after Blue?" I asked quietly, leaning back. "Rescuing Rocket will be hard enough, but killing Blue as well?" I shook my head.

"You have to," Tyler insisted, "rescuing Rocket won't do you any good if Blue's still hunting you. He has to be stopped."

"Why are you so insistent on taking out Blue?" SweetPea suddenly questioned, eyeing Tyler. "If we manage to get home, then Blue wouldn't be able to get us anyways."

"He'll still find you," he demanded, though his confidence seemed to falter under our direct interrogation.

I sighed. "Let's just focus on saving Rocket," I said. "And if we don't have any other option… we'll kill Blue."

SweetPea nodded. "I agree."

"Me too," said Tyler, after a moment of hesitation.

"Let's do this."

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A/N: Thanks again to the readers, especially those who hung on through the slow middle part. All comments and reviews greatly appreciated; I'd like to know whose reading this!