Yusei set Kalin's newly repaired duel disk down. How his friend kept breaking it, he had no idea. He always fixed it though; the team needed its leader to be at full capacity.

He looked around and realized he wasn't alone any more. Jack was dozing on the couch. Crow was trying to hook up a gaming system to their meager power at the hangout that Yusei had rigged a while ago. Yusei would probably end up having to step in and help him later, but for now Crow was doing his best. Kalin was trying to figure out their game plan on his trusty chalk board. He kept stepping back and muttering to himself, starting over every time he hated something he'd come up with.

The only person he didn't see was Lise. "Hey guys, where's Lise?"

Kalin sniffed, clearly displaying he disliked her absence. "Taking the day off, or so she says."

"Wait," Jack sat bolt upright and looked dead serious at Kalin. "We can take days off?"

"No," Kalin glared firmly at his friend.

"But Lise is taking a day off right now!" Jack protested.

"Come to think of it, she took a day off last month!" Yusei added.

"Thank you, Yusei," Jack gestured to him. "See, Yusei noticed too! It's weird! Why does she get 'days off' and we don't?!" Jack used his fingers as quotations marks.

Crow dropped his controller and stared at the others. "You guys seriously don't know?"

"Nope," Yusei shook his head.

"She just told me she was sick," Kalin shrugged.

"She never tells me anything," Jack turned his nose up.

Crow rolled his eyes. He sighed and put a heavy hand on his face. "Oh god…how do I explain this? Um…"

Before Crow could explain, their hideout exploded. What was left of it, anyway. At least, that's what the boys described what it had felt like later.

Smoke canisters had burst and filled the room in seconds. Eyes watering, the Enforcers attempted to locate each other and figure out what was going on.

"Whoa!"

"Guys?"

"Um, who turned out the lights?"

In seconds the boys were blindfolded and hogtied. Each grunted from the force of being subdued and tossed to the ground.

"She's not here," someone said just over Kalin's head.

"What?" A very familiar voice growled.

"Kota," Yusei whispered, confirming the suspicion of the others. Besides Lise, he'd had the most encounters with the psycho.

"Keep looking. She's got to be here!"

"Negative. We've only got four confirmed."

"Shit," Kota swore. His footsteps were louder then softer, louder, softer. He was pacing.

Finally Kota stopped. "Leave the bitch a note. We'll take these boys with us, give her incentive to come visit us."

"Understood."

"In hindsight," Crow whispered. "Maybe we should've relocated…"

/

"I'm worried," Martha announced. She bit at her already chapped lips. "I know the boys don't like brussel sprouts, but I at least thought they'd stop by for dinner."

"I know," Lise said. She eyed their four empty plates and seats. "It's almost dark too."

"Did something happen between you?"

"No. Although Kalin didn't seem too pleased when I told him I was taking today off yesterday. I just wish we had more pain killers."

Doctor Schmitt winced. "I'm sorry about that, Lise. We used up the last of all our painkillers and anesthesia a while ago. I'm not sure when we'll be able to smuggle more any time soon."

"It's not your fault, doc," Lise waved away his concern. "I've just gotta make do until the pain passes. I'd probably die without Martha."

"All five of you kids would have died without me. Although, you seemed to want to help them get there as a child," Martha raised an eyebrow at Lise.

"Hey," Lise frowned. "I realized very early on that punching Jack in the face was much easier than asking him to leave me alone. He got the message better that way."

Martha sighed and shook her head. "You've always been a little spitfire."

Lise flushed. "I did my punching out of love. Speaking of, if we don't find my brothers then I'll have no one to punch affectionately. I'll go look for them after I finish helping with the dishes."

"Oh would you?" Martha's eyes twinkled with renewed light. "I hope they're all right."

"Me too," Lise frowned and got up to start washing the dishes. She'd always helped Martha the best she could with chores, since she wasn't good with machines or cooking. She could cook exactly one thing; potato soup.

/

Lines of pink and purple sliced across the sky like an explosion of technicolor. The sun was halfway done setting, and Lise wanted to find her friends while it was still daylight. Soon the sky would be a deep blue and purple, then too dark to find anything.

Just in case, Lise had slipped a heavy duty flashlight into the pocket of her pants. She would not be caught unawares in any situation. Besides, if she was attacked the flashlight was heavy enough to also double as a blunt weapon.

"Guys!" Lise called as she made her way up to their hideout. "Hello? Did you just lose track of time? HELLO!?"

Lise quickened her pace when no one answered. That was unusual. Even if Yusei had been working on duel disk repair alone, he usually answered her with at least a grunt.

The hideout was completely deserted. Lise clicked on her flashlight and shone it into all the darkening nooks and crannies just to be sure.

"Wh-What does this mean? Where would they go?"

Lise wracked her brains. Had Kalin said they were going to try a gang raid tonight? No, Kalin was ambitious, but he knew the importance of the gang sticking together. Was it a different kind of mission? No, Kalin wasn't that creative.

A flutter of paper caught Lise's attention. A piece of yellow notebook paper lay on Yusei's work table. Its edges had long since curled up, probably from wind or something.

She crossed over and smoothed the paper down to read it. The handwriting wasn't one she recognized, but as she read on she soon figured out why.

Lise snarled and tore the paper into shreds. "I'm gonna kill that motherfucker!"