I don't know Metropolis or its characters

Last in Chapter 13: A Little Thing Called- What is it Called?

Rock wasn't sure if the maid knew Tima's name or not, but knew that the description would suffice. The maid nodded, replying

"She left with the Duke not ten minutes ago." He stiffened

"Where?" The maid looked at him with a 'why is it your business' expression, than answered, "How am I to know? But if I were to guess, I'd say he was taking her to the Ziggurat."

Chapter 14: Our Time is Running Out

Kenichi kept the car a short distance away from the vast vehicle as it drove to the destination. After a short time he realized that the car was going to the gargantuan structure that finished construction a few months earlier: The Ziggurat. Now he didn't concern himself with following them road to road; that would be too obvious. He took a side street and parked a few blocks shy of the large building.

A satisfied smile crosses his lips as he thought back on how he made his uncle suffer. It was Shunsaku he blamed for his gift like curse, the one that started this mess in the first place. His uncle was the first one involved in his programming that died, but he wouldn't be the last. The smile vanished; he knew now that he would never be able to stop the bloodlust. His hunger for it would be his undoing, but that was his role now and he could do nothing to stop it.

Kenichi didn't like where this thought process was going, so he decided, before leaving his automobile, he would focus on what was at hand. He knew exactly what Duke Red had in mind for Tima. She would be the one to suffer, that was her destiny; or so it seemed. He would let the Duke have his fun for now; let him think he'll succeed. Then Kenichi would take the victory for himself at the most bittersweet moment.

He took his sunglasses out of his shirt pocket and applied them to their rightful place, opening the car door and stepping out. He wore a trench coat, which held several magazines in its pockets for his automatic handgun. It sat in its proper spot on his hip, inside the hostler.

"It's time…" he spoke to the city, as if to brace it for what was to come. Kenichi begins to walk to the Ziggurat.

The driver opened the door for Tima and Duke Red, stepping aside to let them pass. Neither had spoken a word to one another, Tima not sure what to say and the Duke giving off a stern demeanor.

The snow begins to fall and Tima pauses. She extended a hand to catch one, but before she could the driver placed an umbrella over his lord and the girl.

She looked up at the Duke and he looked back, no feeling in his gaze. She remembered a time when his face always showed kindness on her, and a blank expression on this man was unheard of. In fact the memory that came to mind happened many years ago; before her illness and even before Rock came into the picture of her household.

A five year old Tima is being chased in the snow by her loving father and watched by the adoring eyes of her mother. Red gets a hold of his little girl, and the two fall into a snow pile, laughing all the while. Her mother has a camera and takes a picture of the perfect moment between father and daughter. Tima remembers her mother's face as she follows the Duke up stairs to the entrance of the Ziggurat.

Tima continues on the storyline of her past, and she notices the happiness is slowly fading away. It all started when her mother became ill; the same sickness that almost took her own life. Mother still kept high spirits, even when the Duke's scientists had to cause her unimaginable pain to try to come up with a cure. Red became more and more desperate to keep her mother a live, but her death was inevitable. It seemed to Tima that all of the goodness and joy her father once held died along with her mother. It stayed that way for a few years until Rock came into the picture.

Tima now wondered what compelled the Duke to take a young boy into his household. Was it to try to gain back some of the joy he lost? Have someone continue on the Red name? Or maybe he saw the same sorrow in that boy's eyes as his own? Tima wondered, but didn't dare ask. While she pondered this they had already walked into the building and stepped onto an elevator.

"What do you plan to do? It's not like you're in any condition to save a damsel in distress." said an annoying voice in the back of Rock's mind. He held a hand over his wound, as if that would keep his stitches from tearing, while he walked as quickly as he dared down the sidewalk.

Earlier after the maid told him where the possible destination of Tima and the Duke was, he knew he had to work diligently. The Ziggurat was located at the center of the city, and at the moment he was roughly two miles away. At his current speed on foot and his current physical condition, it would probably take him at least three hours to get there and in the process he would rip his stitches and possibly bleed to death.

"How do you expect to get in the building if you do happen to make it there? You know they won't just let you walk in." This nagging voice wasn't making anything easier, but he just so happened to look through the window of the shop next to him, and his problems were solved. It was a costume shop. He entered, a bell attached to the door announcing his arrival.

It wasn't a large shop, holding three small aisles and the walls covered in masks, paint, and other apparel. At first glance the shop appeared to be empty, but then a balding white head popped up over the top in the last row.

"Why hello there, what can I do for ya my boy?" The shopkeeper smiled warmly, his aged face wrinkling. Rock was at a loss for words, he was making this up now as he went along. He knew he had to get inside the Ziggurat and save Tima, but he couldn't fill in the blanks of how this would happen. If he wanted or needed something, he would take it by force, but that was in another life. He didn't have any money and didn't want to threaten the kind old man. He chuckled under his breath

"Damn it Tima look what you've done to me…"

"Excuse me?" The owner blinked and applied a pair of round framed glasses to the tip of his nose. "Did you say somethin' son?"

"Oh no sir…it's just." Rock sighed, "I'm not sure how to explain in a few short words because the time is of the essence right now." The older man's ears perked up, and he could tell by the look on the boy's face that he was in some serious trouble.

"I'm not sure if you'll believe me or even want to help…but a friend that is very dear to me is in terrible danger." Rock hesitated, what reason did this old man have to believe a punk kid? He decided to take a chance, this was his only hope. The man gave Rock his full attention, waiting for him to continue.

" I have to get into the Ziggurat because that is where they have taken her…but they won't let me in unless I'm disguised…please sir I have to get her back" Rock's voice cracked at the end as he looked the old man full in the face for the first time. The man was taken aback, in all his 30 years of owning this shop he never gave any of his merchandise away; but he felt that everything happened for a reason and that this boy was genuine.

"This is more than just a friendship isn't it? It's love, I can see it on your face." The elderly man grinned and Rock's face turned bright red. He nodded slowly, he did love her. That was it! He loved her with every fiber of his being. The shopkeeper stared at Rock's face for a few moments, and snapped his fingers.

"I've got it! Comer my boy" and the dark haired boy followed the gentleman to the back wall of the store.

"Now just work with me on this one okay?" Rock just stared at the wall, a smirk trying to form on his lips, as he looked over the items the old man pointed out.

"Oh Tima I'll never let you hear the end of this if we survive."