Recap: Kevin learned that Edward had abandoned what was left of The Anarchists though nobody knew why and Kiki encouraged Kevin to call Amy; but when he did, brother Edward answered the phone…


Chapter 28 – Maelstrom

"Oh Kevin, you forgot all about the fifth element, didn't you? You should have killed me when you had the chance Kevin, because now you're about to find out how it feels to lose something precious to you, big brother."

"E-Edward?" Kevin whispered, the laptop slipping from his legs and clattering against the floor.

"That's right," Edward sneered into the phone. "When I planned my initial attack on the Muscle League, I made a small mistake. I thought that there were only four ways to get inside the heads of the pathetic Justice Chojins. Four elements to manipulate so that I could dominate the Muscle League. Element number one: the girl next door, a sure way to control Mars. Element number two: the princess, a sure way to control Kid Muscle. Element number three: the chairman's sister, a way to control Jaeger and the IWF. Element number four: the beauty queen, the key to controlling Terry Kenyon. I never realised that there was a fifth element, a means of controlling the almighty Kevin Mask! Element number five: the scar-faced spy."

"What have you done?" Kevin asked, his voice a little uneven. "Where is she?"

"She's right here with me, big brother. Say hello to Kevin Mask, scarface!"

Kevin almost choked on the mounting tension in his gut as he faintly heard Amy's voice call out through the phone.

"Kevin! Help me, Kevin!"

Amy's voice was a pitch higher than usual, and it sounded as though she was or had just been crying; and to his utter disbelief, she had just asked for his help.

"She's still alive Kevin," Edward said, sounding almost cheerful about the matter. "I was going to kill her and send her head to you as a parting gift, but then I remembered a few things about you and your silly little hang-ups over mother and the DMP, and I decided that it would be far more fitting to allow you the opportunity to watch this bitch burn alive right here at the hideout."

"The hideout?" Kevin growled. "You're at old DMP hideout? With Amy?"

"Well done Kevin, you're finally showing shades of the intellect they all claim that you possess. I don't want a wrestling match with IWF officials counting people out, and checking for vital signs… I just want you back here, where it all began. You and me, in the "ring of death", no cameras, no silly fans, no press, no aides, just you, me, and twenty feet squared of wrestling ring. Only one man escapes alive."

Kevin hesitated, the faint, barely decipherable sound of sobbing reaching his ear.

"Let her go," he tried. "I will gladly fight you again any time, any place, under any circumstances, but let Amy go, this has nothing to do with her."

"Let her go?" Edward repeated, before laughing in a dark and disturbing manner. "After going to all that trouble to bring her back here? And miss the look on your face as she melts into oblivion in the fiery pits of this volcano? Oh I don't think so, Kevin! You know where we are, don't leave us "hanging" too long, will you?"

"Edward, you let her go!"

Kevin stood abruptly as his demand was met with more laughter before the line went dead. He yanked back the phone, glaring at it in disbelief. He remained frozen in that position for a moment before hurriedly hitting the redial key and moving the phone back to his ear; but a robotic voice told him that the phone he was trying to call had been switched off. Kevin opened his fingers, allowing the phone to fall to the floor. The agonising tension that had been building within him suddenly vanished to be replaced by a calm confidence and utter sense of invincibility that literally crackled around him, creating a soft glow of yellow within the room.

Kevin walked from the room, his face expressionless, and began navigating his way through the hallways and down the staircase that would take him outside.

"Hey Kevin, Mars said that you're not allowed to use your bike any more, so I was thinking maybe I could borrow it?"

Kevin paused, turning to glare at Kid, who clattered back against the wall, staring at him fearfully with wide eyes.

"K-Kevin?" he whimpered meekly. "You okay?"

"I have to go somewhere Mantaro," Kevin said quietly. "I may be gone some time. Tell the others for me, won't you?"

Kid made an inhuman whine that Kevin took to be an agreement, and he turned from the cowardly prince, continuing out the front door and down the steps to the forecourt. It was raining outside, a horrid, hard, frost-ridden torrent; but each splat of ice water sizzled against Kevin's skin as he pushed the button to open the garage door.

"Kevin, you're not allowed to use your bike, remember?" Kiki screeched, running out after him.

Kevin ducked under the door and entered the garage, not even noticing as Kiki skidded to a halt halfway across the forecourt, staring dumbly after him.

"Whassup, sweetheart?" Mars called to her.

Kiki pointed at the garage and opened her mouth to speak but was sharply cut off as the roaring sound of a motorcycle coming to life filled the air, the noise magnified as it echoed around the garage walls. A second later the bike shot out of the garage in a blur of black and yellow.

"Hey baby, didn't I tell you not to push Kev too far?" Mars said, shaking his head at Kiki. "See what you gone and done now? Kev is a real sensitive guy ya know, ya gotta consider his feelings when you're sayin' stuff to him, yeah?"

Kiki turned to Mars, thinning her eyes and arching her eyebrows at him, wondering when he would realise the hypocrisy of the statement he had just made.

"He could get into a lotta trouble goin' out dere on dat bike!" Mars added, pointing in the direction Kevin had disappeared in.

"Well darling, don't you think that we should go after him then?" Kiki asked.

"Nah, he'll be back, he probably just wanted to let off some steam, yeah?"

Kiki sighed in resignation and followed Mars back into the mansion, silently hoping that Kevin was not about to do something reckless.


"I've come to collect my things."

The ironmonger cried out, almost falling off his stool at the sight before him. He had been enjoying a short break from his work, and the sound of a customer entering the shop had not overly bothered him; but he had not expected to find a monstrously huge man emitting a golden light suddenly standing over him.

"Uh…" he began nervously. "Y-your mask and your armour, you mean?"

"Yes."

The iron-monger cringed a little before gulping nervously.

"Y-your mask isn't ready, I did say that I needed another week to complete it…"

"What about my armour?"

"I uh… I haven't started on it yet."

"Give it back to me as it is, it'll be fine."

The ironmonger obediently grabbed the heavy dark blue metal from a nearby shelf and pushed it onto the counter towards the frightening man before him.

"Those cracks are quite bad…" he said slowly. "The whole thing could break apart quite easily."

"It's fine."

The ironmonger watched as the man collected his armour and walked off again, taking the unnatural gold light with him.

"Well that was weird…" he muttered, scratching his head.


The flight from London to Tokyo was long, and the massive shift in time zone ought to have been exhausting; but Kevin could not sleep. He had lost any desire to eat or sleep since his conversation with Edward, and he had no real concept of time other than the faint idea that it might not be on his side if Edward grew impatient waiting for him. Many times during his journey Kevin wondered about Edward's sanity, challenging him to a fight where it was impossible for either to escape. A fight with no cameras, no entrance music, no fans and no McMadds was exactly the sort of thing Kevin longed for, but it still seemed distinctly odd that Edward should wish for such a thing. He was sure that his deranged younger brother's plans would soon be made clear to him, and he considered himself prepared for all possibilities, from an ambush to the whole thing having been one big elaborate lie.

Kevin had hoped he could have collected his mask, and since the ironmonger had not worked on his armour, it unfortunately still bore the damage inflicted on it by Fargo's claws. But it was reassuring to have it with him regardless, and so Kevin ignored the dull and damaged appearance of his trademark wrestling gear.

Upon arriving in Tokyo it did not take Kevin long to complete the last lap of his journey to the dismal remains of the old DMP hideout. As he drew nearer to his destination, Kevin silently hoped that his brother had not just played another stupid trick on him. It was late evening by the time Kevin reached the main entrance to the hideout, and although it ought to have been too dark to see inside the caves, flickering lights informed Kevin that somebody had already preceded him inside and lit the flame torches along the walls.

Kevin followed the line of light to the ring of death, the name the students of the DMP had given to the training ring they used due it usually being the death of at least one Chojin a day, fragments of old, almost entirely forgotten, memories passing through his mind as he walked. The caves were deathly silent, which came as somewhat of a surprise to Kevin, who had expected to hear traces of what he was heading for as he travelled; but Kevin's eyes located what awaited him before his ears did as he quietly stepped into a large opening within the belly of the mountainside, the ring of death surrounded by torches, the largest of which had been mounted onto the corner-posts, just as they used to be during Kevin's time with the DMP.

Kevin slowed to a halt then, carefully shifting his eyes from side to side. Although the lit torches and prepared ring was indicative that Edward was ready and waiting for him, Kevin could not see or hear any sign of his brother or Amy. He had partially expected an ambush of some sorts, and so, tensing himself in preparation of a surprise attack, Kevin continued to the ring, stepping up onto the ring apron and taking one last look around the rocky hollow before stepping through the lines of barbed wire and into the appropriately named ring of death.

Kevin slowly paced the length of the ring and back again before the sound of muted footsteps reached his ears. The slight echo inside the cave distorted the true direction of their origin, but Kevin soon located Edward walking towards the ring, dressed in faded blue jeans and a DMP T-shirt with the sleeves torn off. Edward was not wearing his mask, and the blank expression on his face almost made him seem normal, making his resemblance to Alice Mask all the stronger.

"You got here fast," Edward commented flatly, stopping a short way from the ring and folding his arms over his chest.

Kevin started to look about himself again, but suddenly noticed something amiss on Edward's face.

"What happened to you?" he asked, pointing at his brother as he spoke.

Edward visibly faltered, looking a little more like his old self as a look of childish embarrassment passed over his features.

"Nothing," he recovered, adopting a scowl that lost some of its effectiveness in his current state.

"Looks like you got what you deserve," Kevin commented casually. "Who did it to you?"

Edward inhaled sharply through his nose, unfolding his arms to touch a hand to the bruise around his right eye, his face contorting angrily.

"Never mind that now," he said firmly, starting towards the ring. "The important thing is that you are here, and you are here alone."

Kevin looked about himself again before turning his attention back to Edward as he climbed into the ring.

"Where's Amy?" Kevin asked him as he straightened up inside the ring.

Edward grinned darkly.

"Really Kevin, you're no better than our father!" he snorted. "He just missed being great because he let our mother be his weakness."

"Lucky for you that he did, or else you never would have been born," Kevin pointed out. "Where's Amy?"

"I'm surprised that you do care Kevin," Edward continued, ignoring Kevin's remark. "She's not exactly the sort of girl I pictured you with… Not that I ever pictured you with a girl at all, but I guess I expected you to go for someone a little more like mother."

Kevin twitched involuntarily, missing his mask as he felt his face twist and saw Edward smile at the look he adopted.

"A simpering, homely type," Edward continued, twirling a hand in the air as though trying to work through the correct adjectives in his mind. "A quiet, retiring sort who fawned over you, accepted your lifestyle of "train hard, eat nothing, destroy everyone" and overlooked your bad manners… A loud-mouthed, hot-tempered, hard-headed, gourmet chef who lives with the Kinniku family isn't exactly what I expected of you, brother."

"You presume to know a lot about me, my life, my thoughts and my feelings," Kevin replied coldly. "But if you're going to insist on having this conversation with me, understand that it works both ways: what are you doing with an androgynous, melodramatic fashionista on your arm?"

Edward smirked and cocked an eyebrow at Kevin's words, which was not the response Kevin had been expecting of him.

"Fashionista, eh?" Edward repeated. "Careful there Kevin, you almost sound like you have some concept of modern society, using such a word so freely."

"That probably comes from living with Kiki," Kevin replied. "You remember Kiki? She's Mars's girlfriend."

"Ah yes, Kiki. I had hoped to keep that little ace up my sleeve, but what a disappointment she became. I had hoped that you still had feelings enough for her that my removing her from your group would cause a bigger breakdown between you and Mars."

"There you go with your presumptions again. I have never had feelings for Kiki."

"Your behaviour during the Chojin Crown told a different story."

"What are you talking about now?"

"You couldn't leave her alone."

"I was dragged into the drama of her relationship with Mars – against my will, I might add."

"And the reason you fight is honour, right?"

Kevin narrowed his eyes suspiciously as Edward actually turned his back on him and took a few steps away from him, seemingly perfectly confident to leave himself so exposed.

"I was furious when you joined the DMP Kevin, but that was nothing compared to how it felt to watch you win the Chojin Crown and suddenly assume the role of leader of the Muscle League…" Edward said quietly. "There's an obvious attraction to the path of least resistance though, right Kevin?"

Edward looked back over his shoulder at Kevin, the confident smirk on his face making Kevin suddenly feel a little panicked.

"You always run away Kevin, I'm really surprised you came here today," he added. "And all for the sake of an unpleasant rat of a woman."

"I think you're getting your wires crossed, Eddie," Kevin said sternly. "I have never run from anything. You, on the other hand, have been running and hiding all your life."

"Not really," Edward said, turning away from Kevin again, his stance suggesting utter confidence that he was safe to allow his enemy to remain out-with his sight.

"So humour me," Kevin returned. "Tell me why I'm the coward who runs and hides and you are the strong one here today."

"You ran away at mother's funeral," Edward began slowly. "You ran away when training with dad got too much for you, you ran away with the DMP when you couldn't handle living on the streets any longer, you ran away from the DMP after Mars made you show your true, cowardly, colours, you ran away from the Muscle League when Kid Muscle offered to be your friend, you ran away from your crowning ceremony after the Chojin Crown, you hid away during most of the Chojin Crown, you hid away during most of Kid Muscle's wedding, and you're very noticeably alone in life because you run away from yourself and hide from your own true feelings all the time."

"What?" Kevin grunted.

"I, on the other hand, have never run away from anything," Edward casually continued. "I stayed to watch them drop every last shovelful of earth over mother's coffin, I endured father's training until I was taken to the DMP where I endured Doomsmane and scarface as my tutors for many years, I stayed after the DMP was destroyed and worked hard to rebuild the league of Devil Chojins, I have never been without friends in my life and I just called out the reigning Chojin Crown Champion – who is also allegedly the most lethal and dangerous man on this planet – to challenge him to a no-holds barred, last-man-standing death match. And I'm still here, aren't I?"

Kevin squared his jaw and thinned his eyes, watching Edward carefully as he spun around to face him, the glint in his eye looking disturbingly brighter against the dim lighting inside the cavern.

"That's an interesting opinion you have on the matter," Kevin said. "It's always nice to hear the inner workings of the mind of a madman. Thank you for sharing that with me, Eddie. Now where is Amy?"

Edward's lips peeled back to reveal a grin that made even Kevin feel a little apprehensive.

"She's hanging around," Edward said carefully.

"Define "hanging around"," Kevin growled.

"Well, you know, getting her off of Muscle Planet was surprisingly easy, but once I got her back to Earth, she was a little… Less than cooperative, shall we say?"

Kevin gulped quietly, the smug look on his brother's face doing little to ease his mounting concerns.

"Getting her away from the Kinnikus was simple," Edward continued, pacing across the ring away from Kevin. "I just "borrowed" myself a Kinniku messenger uniform and walked straight into Muscleham Palace. Finding your girl wasn't difficult either: she can be heard a long time before she can be seen. I followed the sound of unnecessary yelling and found the girl with the king and queen of Muscle Planet. Some nonsense about a sampling session or something else equally as mundane and trivial, apparently. I simply announced that old Martha MacLeod had died suddenly, and your girl was virtually begging me to take her back home."

Edward paused tilting his head to one side and studying Kevin thoughtfully for a moment.

"Martha MacLeod is Amy's mother," he explained.

"You killed Amy's mother?" Kevin asked.

"No, it was a lie, I know nothing about Amy's mother other than her name, which I found out with relative ease, thanks to old Mrs. MacLeod's occupation, which has earned her quite the reputation…"

Edward grinned darkly again, and suddenly Kevin began to worry about just what line of work Amy's mother was employed in.

"I revealed my identity to Amy at the palace, but even then it wasn't difficult to get her off of Muscle Planet and back to Earth," Edward continued. "Whereupon I told her of my plans and attempted to take her here to the hideout to put them into action… Which is when the trouble began… But she is still just a girl, and I quickly got what I wanted out of her, including her phone so that I could contact you."

"What have you done to her?" Kevin demanded. "Why can't I see her?"

"Would you like to see her?" Edward asked sweetly.

"Where is she?"

"She's hanging around…"

Kevin marched across the ring to his brother, grabbing handfuls of Edward's DMP T-shirt and leaning into his face.

"Stop wasting my time: where is she?" he snarled.

Edward grinning his malicious grin again and slowly shook his head.

"First, we fight," Edward said. "First I beat you to within an inch of your life and then I will allow you to watch as I kill the girl by the slowest and most painful method I can think of. Then I will come back and finish you off."

"I have a much better idea," Kevin replied. "How about I flatten you and set Amy free?"

"I'd like to see you try…"

Kevin was a little taken aback that his brother was still seemingly brimming with confidence, despite his rapid loss at the hands of the Muscle League the previous month; but Kevin dismissed Edward's egotistical manner as just another mind game, and tightened his hold on Edward's shirt before yanking him up into the air. Edward quickly wrapped his legs around Kevin's waist and hooked an arm around his neck, yanking backwards and pulling them both to the mat, where he slammed Kevin's head into the steel wool. Kevin instantly regretted not having his mask on as his skin burned from the contact.

"You don't get it yet, do you Kevin?" Edward sneered, grinding Kevin's face into the mat as he spoke. "Now I've finally got you right where I want you…"

"You're the one who's mistaken," Kevin replied, his voice muffled against the mat. "Because again you have just grossly underestimated me!"

Kevin drew up his knees and grabbed Edward's shirt, sitting up sharply and hoisting Edward up and over his head, slamming him onto his back. Kevin leapt to his feet and rounded on his opponent, but Edward was up almost as quickly, and the two found themselves face-to-face.

"Touché," Edward said with a smile. "I can see you're going to be a bit of a challenge after all."

"Ditto," Kevin returned. "And I'm glad. A match with no media, no fans, no managers, no friends and no interference is exactly what I've been craving. I can only hope that you are strong enough to at least give me a decent work-out."

"You arrogant bastard, you haven't seen half of what I can do!"

Edward and Kevin pounced at each other, quickly becoming locked together in a test of strength. Perhaps, Kevin thought silently, Edward did have a reason to be so confident after all.


"What do you mean "gone"?"

Kid choked and yelped and flapped his arms helplessly in the air. He was unsure how it had happened, but one moment he had been announcing Kevin's last words to the others and the next he had found himself flat on his back on the hall floor, Sprite sat astride him, his tiny hands gripped dangerously tightly around Kid's throat, shaking his head back and forth, smacking it mercilessly against the hard floor.

"Why does everybody leave me, what did I ever do?" Sprite wailed, shaking his arms relentlessly, strangling Kid and battering his head against the floor.

"I still can't believe he took his bike," Trixie sighed. "Kevin may be a little bit DMP sometimes, but it's not like him to totally ignore the law like that."

"Hey it's okay, I got it covered," Mars announced as he rejoined the group gathered around watching Sprite torture Kid Muscle.

"Oh God Mars, what did you just do?" Roxanne asked, cringing in expectation of a terrible answer to her question.

"I just made sure dat Kev'll come back real soon," Mars replied with a shrug.

"You just called the police, didn't you?" Dik Dik asked, thinning his eyes at Mars.

"Sure," Mars replied. "When dey arrest Kev, I'll just go bail him out."

"Can ya do that over here?" Terry asked, scratching his head and frowning. "I mean, does anybody here actually know how English laws work? Maybe they don't let folks out on bail."

The others all exchanged nervous glances before turning to glower at Mars, who was the picture of innocence, even under the pressure of fifteen pairs of eyes glaring at him accusingly.

"Vot have you done zhis time, boy?" Broken Junior asked with a sigh.

"Hey, when da hell did you get here, old man?" Mars yelped, eying over Jaeger's mentor in alarm.

"Hey, who ate the pizza out the fridge?" a voice called into the hall. "I was gonna have that!"

Mars turned towards the kitchen, his eyes widening as he spotted a shirtless Buffaloman, one hand clutched to a can of beer, the other scratching at his rear-end.

"Hey, what da hell is goin' on here?" Mars demanded.

"I thought we were leaving today!" a teenage girl moaned, walking over the join the group.

"Hey!" Mars protested, pointing at her.

"You said my sisters could come here," Trixie said to him, putting an arm around the girl's shoulder.

"Sisters?" Mars repeated. "Sisters? How many do ya got?"

"You really don't want to know…" Kiki muttered to him.

"Right, dat does it!" Mars roared. "Everybody get da fuck outta my house!"

Silence fell in the mansion – even Sprite ceased his attack on Kid Muscle to turn questioningly to Mars.

"Dis ain't funny no more!" Mars added. "Dis place used to be all about peace and tranquillity, and you bastards are ruinin' it!"

"Isn't that really hypocritical?" Trixie snapped. "You invited us here, and you moved yourself and all your crap in here just because Kevin let you join the Muscle League!"

"Yeah Mars," Roxanne added. "Kevin hates people, but even he never told us to get out like you just did!"

"You've all out-stayed your welcome!" Mars retaliated.

"So have we, but that hasn't stopped us squatting here and taking over…" Kiki muttered.

"You ain't helping, sweetheart!" Mars sang.

Kiki sighed, slouching her shoulders in defeat.

"Look, everybody, don't you think it's really bad that we're all staying here?" she asked, looking around the others. "I mean, this is Kevin's house at the end of the day, and he never invited any of us to be here. He doesn't even like any of us, and none of us like him."

"I like Kevin!" Kid called out, holding up a hand from the floor.

"I love Kevin!" Sprite cried.

"Kevin left here in a rage," Kiki continued, ignoring both Kid and Sprite. "And he went out on his bike, and now the police are after him and he could end up in jail! What if the DMP come back, how can you all manage without Kevin?"

"Pretty well," Mars said confidently.

"And besides Kiki, the DMP ain't comin' back!" Terry laughed. "Wasn't you payin' attention? We defeated 'em all, and then their leader done turned on them! They ain't a group no more!"

"Oh yeah!" Kid squealed. "Sweet dude, I never thought of it like that before!"

"You shut-up!" Sprite wailed, slapping Kid weakly over the face. "You wait and see, Edward will bring glory to the DMP again!"

"He ain't bringin' glory to nothin'…" Mars muttered.

Kiki sighed, shaking her head. She quietly left the group, wandering over to the table where the telephone docking station sat, pondering calling the police and reporting Mars's call as a hoax; but as she reached the table, Kiki noticed something odd. There was only one phone line in the mansion, despite its extensive size, but the line did have four handsets, all of which usually remained parked in the docking station in the main hall; but Kiki could only see three of the handsets in their rightful place.

"Mars, did you put the phone back?" she called to Mars.

"Yeah!" he replied, frowning a little. "Sheesh, I thought it was just Kevin who nagged me about dat…"

Kiki nodded, slipping into the sitting room and commencing a search for the missing handset. It seemed odd for it to be missing, as Kevin loathed having any of the handsets off the station – even though the purpose of having four handsets was to allow for keeping one or more handset mobile about the house. As the arguments continued in the main hall – Mars insisting that everyone should leave, the others arguing their case to stay and Sprite battering Kid Muscle – Kiki continued her search through the many rooms of the Mask Estate, rapidly losing the will to continue as she started discovering rooms she had not previously been aware of as she searched.

As Kiki entered the gym, she decided to return for one of the other handsets and use the locator function to find the missing handset, feeling a little foolish for not having thought of doing so sooner. Before she left the gym, Kiki looked about herself, her eyebrows twisting as she took in the damage Kevin had caused in his earlier rampage. There was not a single item in the room unharmed; but despite the carnage around her, Kiki still managed to spot a pile of torn paper a short way ahead of her. Jogging over to it curiously, Kiki gasped as she realised just what it was.

"Kevin…" she moaned, crouching down and turning over the paper fragments to confirm her suspicions. "Oh Kevin, how could you?"

Kiki lifted up the paper she had given Kevin with the numbers for Hiroshi's Hot House and Amy's apartment.

"You really are a heartless jerk, Kevin Mask!" she grumbled, picking up the shreds of Amy's business card. "I guess I was wrong about you…"

Kiki sighed, hurrying back to the main hall, sneaking out a handset and running off again before the others could drag her into their still ongoing battle. She quickly pressed to locator button as she ran, listening carefully for the sound of the missing handset. Kiki explored the entire ground floor before heading upstairs, still hearing no trace of the fourth handset.

"Weird…" she whispered, slowing down as she began to grow tired racing about the extensive old mansion. "Really weird…"

Kiki walked along the upper hallway, ready to end her search when she began to faintly hear the missing handset beeping from a room somewhere far ahead of her and to the right. Kiki sped up again, running down the hall to the apparent source of the noise. But as the handset began to beep clearly in her ears, Kiki skidded to a halt, her conscience screaming at her to stop; the handset appeared to be inside Kevin's bedroom.

Kiki had never gone into Kevin's bedroom, and despite enjoying tormenting him, she would never have dared invade his personal space so; but the insistent beeping of the handset drew her a little closer, her interest peaked as to why Kevin – the one who was so adamant that the handsets be left in their docking station at all times – would leave a handset abandoned in his room.

Kiki glanced about herself nervously before lightly kicking the door, which opened far enough for her to peer inside. A red flashing light drew her attention to the floor, where the handset she sought lay as though it had literally been dropped there without a care. Next to it, Kiki could just make out Kevin's laptop, which was half open and standing on its front edge.

Kiki glanced about herself one last time before slipping into the room, her face growing hot as she considered where she was. Blinkering her eyes with her hands and inwardly telling herself that she was just there to retrieve the missing handset, Kiki dashed over to the fallen items, scooping up the phone and deactivating the locator alarm. She turned to the laptop, tilting her head curiously at it, chewing on her lip as she wondered what she ought to do next.

"Well, I've come this far into the wolf's den…" she muttered, grabbing up the laptop and sitting herself onto the edge of Kevin's bed.

Kiki rested the laptop on her legs, surprised to find that it was switched on, but had gone into sleep mode. Kiki quickly pressed a key, bringing the screen to life, frowning at first as she found herself on a Japanese directory website. Her frown soon turned into a smile as she saw that Kevin had been searching for telephone numbers for Hiroshi's Hot House, High Park Ladies' Club and The Palace; Kevin had decided to track Amy down after all.

"Heh, heh, heh!" Kiki chuckled. "I knew you was a big softy really, Kevvy!"

Kiki's face dropped, her mind silently repeating her own words over and over.

"Oh my God, I sounded just like Mars!" she whispered incredulously.

Kiki laughed, shaking her head at her own silliness. She turned to the recovered handset, clicking through the on-screen menu to bring up a list of recently dialled telephone numbers, her smile turning into a smug grin as she saw several short and recent international calls to Japan appear on the list: Hiroshi's Hot House, High Park Ladies Club, The Palace, a residential number Kiki did not recognise and what looked like a cell phone number. The call to the cell phone number was considerably longer than the others, and so Kiki concluded that Kevin must have found Amy on that number; though why he had chosen to drop his laptop and phone so carelessly to the ground and run off in a rage was still a mystery to her.

Shaking her head, Kiki gathered up the two handsets and the laptop, making her way back down to the main hall, where, much to her chagrin, she found the others still deep in a heated debate. Kiki slipped through them, returning the handsets to their rightful location, turning to see Sprite sobbing pitifully against the wall and Kid carefully rising to his feet. As he caught her eye, Kid smiled sheepishly at Kiki, who returned his gesture.

"Hey Kid…" she said, an idea occurring to her. "Your chef came back to Earth for a funeral, right?"

"That's what dad said," Kid replied, casting a nervous glance at Sprite, who was watching him darkly.

"It's just that I think Kevin went to see her," Kiki explained. "Do you know whereabouts on Earth she's originally from? I don't think she was in Japan, and I know she's not Japanese, I thought maybe she was with her family."

Kid shrugged, picking at his nose.

"I dunno, she was just the chef," Kid replied.

"Ugh!" Sprite groaned, rising to his feet.

Kid swiftly slid to one side, tugging Kiki around to stand between him and Sprite.

"Do you seriously think Kevin went to find that horrid woman with the scars on her face?" he asked Kiki.

"You know Amy too?" Kiki asked him.

"We found out about her during the Chojin Crown," Sprite replied. "Edward stole her diaries so that the McMadds could publish the truth about Kevin and Mars in their books. Why would Kevin go to her?"

"Kevin's in love with her!" Kiki replied with a smile.

Kiki's smile slowly faded as, for the first time since it had begun, the argument behind her dropped into silence. Turning her head, Kiki found all eyes on her.

"Kevin's got a girlfriend?" Trixie yelped.

"Sure, he's got it bad for dat Julie chick," Mars replied.

"Julie?" Roxanne echoed. "Who's Julie?"

"Oh God, not that scar-faced girl who wrote all those things about him in her diary?" Jacqueline asked.

"Yeah sure, dat's da one," Mars agreed.

"Kevin's gone to see her!" Kiki said cheerfully, deciding that since the secret was out, there was no longer any point in trying to hide it. "Only I don't know where she is…"

"She was from Iceland or some shit," Mars said casually.

Kiki quirked an eyebrow at him and he grinned.

"I mean uh… She was Icelandic, sweetheart," he said sweetly.

"She wasn't Icelandic!" Jacqueline argued. "I thought she was English!"

"I thought she was Irish," Sprite offered.

"I thought she was Canadian," Kid said.

Kiki sighed, hanging her head in despair.

"Hey wait, ain't she French?" Mars asked.

"No, not French…" Jacqueline muttered, rubbing her chin in thought. "Maybe American? Mexican? Possibly Spanish, she was dark-haired…"

"French-Canadian?" Kid asked.

"She was Russian!" Mars said, snapping his fingers. "I remember now, she was from Russia! Dat accent, it's so obvious!"

"I thought she had a Dutch accent," Kid muttered.

"You just said you thought she was French-Canadian," Roxanne pointed out.

"Maybe she vas German?" Jaeger offered.

"Nah, she was Polish, or Azeri, or Lithuanian," Mars said. "Her name was Anastasia Bruckner, right?"

"Geez, you guys are hopeless!" Kiki groaned. "Doesn't anybody know anything about this girl? Come on guys, she's Kevin Mask's girlfriend, surely somebody knows something solid about her?"

"Amy MacLeod?"

"Yes!" Kiki squealed, turning to the source of the voice. "Oh!" she yelped as she found herself facing Robin Mask.

"She was Shcottish."

"Scottish, there you go!"

Kiki sighed, shaking her head.

"How hard was that?" she laughed. "So there you go guys: Kevin has gone to Scotland!"

Kiki paused, a sudden rush of dread tingling around her body. She slowly turned to Sprite, who was staring at her, his face deathly white.

"Kevin's girlfriend is Scottish too?" he asked quietly as their eyes met.

"Saint Andrew's Day…" Kiki muttered. "And…"

"Four girls…" Sprite muttered. "And…"

"Amy's the fifth element!" Kiki and Sprite yelled in unison.

"Huh?" Mars grunted.

"Don't you get it?" Kiki wailed, rounding on him. "It's Amy! Amy is the fifth element! Edward got what he wanted by kidnapping the four of us, and now he's come back to get revenge on Kevin by kidnapping girl number five: Amy!"

"Who the hell is Amy?" Trixie asked.

"Kevin's girlfriend, keep up, Trixie!" Roxanne sighed.

"When did Kevin Mask get a girlfriend?" Jacqueline demanded. "Mars told us yesterday that Kevin is a virgin!"

"Shut-up, all of you!" Sprite screamed.

Everyone fell silent, turning to him expectantly.

"If Amy is the fifth element, and Edward did go after her, and he did call out Kevin, don't you see what all of this means?" he growled. "It means that right now, somewhere else in this horrid world, Kevin Mask and Edward Mask are fighting each other to the death! Am I the only one who is terrified right now?"

The others all slid back a step as Sprite began sobbing dramatically again.

"So uh…" Mars began awkwardly. "I guess me callin' da police on Kev wasn't such a good idea, huh?"

"Oh Mars!" Kiki groaned. "What if they arrested Kevin and he couldn't get to Edward and Amy?"

The others all began muttering various thoughts on the matter, before Kid interrupted them.

"We have to find out where they went!" he announced, smacking a fist into his palm. "And we have to go there and show our support for Kevin Mask!"

"When did you get so devoted to the team?" Roxanne asked sceptically, folding her arms over her chest.

"I think it's very important that we go and witness this battle," Kid said, looking uncharacteristically serious.

"I guess we oughta be there for our leader…" Terry muttered thoughtfully.

"Also, this will be such an awesome fight, and none of us are in any danger any more, because now it's just all about Kevin!" Kid added, skipping on the spot in delight. "We get to watch a bloody fight without the fear of getting involved with either of the wrestlers fighting!"

The others sweat-dropped as Kid suddenly began waving miniature Hercules Factory flags and singing a cheerful little ditty in alleged support of Kevin.

"But we don't know where they are!" Wally pointed out.

"And we don't even know where to begin our search," Dik Dik added.

"Aw man, no fair!" Kid said moodily.

"I wonder what they're doing right now?" Roxanne mused.


Kevin swung the flaming torch around, stubbing it out against the mat with an angry hiss. He ducked, Edward's foot swinging over his head, before straightening up and swinging his arms around and whacking the extinguished torch against his brother's face, sending him crashing into the barbed wire ropes of the ring, which stabbed into his arms. He hissed angrily, tearing himself from the barbs and grabbing up another torch from another corner-post and swinging it at Kevin, who caught it against his own unlit torch.

"You're bleeding, Kevin," Edward sneered, leaning closer to Kevin.

"So are you, you little shit," Kevin growled back, thrusting himself around and using the weight of his body behind his attack to dislodge the torch from Edward's hands.

The torch flew out of the ring and bounced along the cave floor, hissing angrily against the damp rock. Kevin swung his stick at Edward, but Edward quickly kicked it from Kevin's hand, sending it out the other side of the ring. He lowered himself into a defensive stance, beckoning with both hands for Kevin to advance. Kevin grinned, dragging a hand along his chin to clear the blood that was congealing there.

"Not bad," he said. "But not nearly good enough, either!"

"Good enough is never good enough!" Edward said teasingly.

"Exactly…" Kevin growled, before lunging at his brother.


Next Chapter: The never-ending showdown continues, as both brothers remember that they are no longer restricted by the rules of the IWF, and take the fight to another level. Meanwhile, a growing crowd head out in search of the warring siblings to witness their epic battle. Chapter 29 – Mask Versus Mask.