This is the new perfect chapter! :D SORRY FOR TAKING SO DAMNED LONG!!!!!

Alright, so in the last chapter we were with Rhett, who was being held in a very compromising position by Shantz. Ooh, baby! Kinda looked like he was gonna get raped, huh? You never know, maybe Shantz secretly IS the pedo she seems to be! :D Just shitting- or am I??? ANYWAY- Sara's chapter is next! :D BUT- You're not getting a whole chapter on just her. :P Prepare for the rover. Also, prepare for a new appearance by one of my favorite people in the whole world!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Da-da-da-da-da- BOOM! I sigh, trying to block out the music. Personally, I love to dance and am danced good at it, but tonight it doesn't feel right. I'd been grinding with a few guys earlier, but it hadn't felt right. My mind roamed for a while, and I let it go. It wasn't that I didn't want to dance; I really did! I was in the mood for it, but it wouldn't matter even if I was- the vibes I was getting in my head kept dragging me down. Couldn't they just leave me alone for once? I'd had a bit of trouble getting into this whole thing, but now that I have it it seems to be a bit of a nuisance. All that work for nothing...

Alyssa looked around,shivering with the indelicate chill of the evening. It figured that it would be cold on a night like this, on a night so important. For once in her life, it would be nice if things just happened in her favor. As she and Lauren urged their boards over the Small hills and raced through the valleys, they were fighting for time that they didn't have.

He was in trouble,and they needed to get there,before something awful happened. They could hear his voice in their heads, at least at first. After a while the connection grew strained and he drifted off. He'd been traveling away at the same time, which had made the whole thing even more disturbing.

As they followed the path of his scent, it seemed to grow less and less. They couldn't shake the thought that it would be a long time before they saw their friend again. In the event that they didn't find him tonight, Lauren would have to resort to ground testing, and that was tiring as well as time-consuming. Alyssa didn't know what to think, or even how she could help, but it was beginning to dawn on her. As the drunken stupor of their haze began to fade, and they eased back into a soothing buzz, their thoughts began to collect.

I don't know where I am. That's the first that runs through my mind. The second thing to rise to the surface is that I can't feel my body. I lift my head to look around, and am greeted with a mind splitting headache. I wish to all that I know that I couldn't feel my head either, but I know that I could never be that lucky.

I glance down at my body, that sick feeling of being trapped growing in the pit of my stomach, because somehow I already know what's happened. I'm stuck to some sort of metal slab, my body held back by heavy restraints. In all the previous places I'd been, the technology was more high-tech. Why so crude? Where were the sleek walls, assistants, and scanners? This place was as rusty as it looked, both metaphorically and literally as possible.

"Ah, you're awake, Rhett." It's a smooth, flowing vocie that I don't recognize. I crane my neck as far as I can to see the owner of that feminine voice, but I can't twist far enough.

"Who are you?" The steady, manly tone I stray for doesn't come, and I am instead left with a pitchy, wavering excuse of a voice.

"Don't you remember me?" I can hear the smile in her voice, and I long to hurt her. It's amoral to hurt women, at least as far as I've been taught, but I'm so full of rage I could kill her a thousand times over. Her sickly sweet voice, doubled with the way she acts as though I'm a child- I can't stand it!

I lean into the embrace of the metal, trying with all of might to break it, but it's for nothing. "They won't break, you know."

That matter of fact tone curls my lip, and furthers my attempt, though in the end I flop back in defeat. I hate quiting as much as I loved breathing- which is a lot. Life was forever important to me, though I don't know if I can handle being locked up and ordered around anymore. After the very taste of freedom I had vowed never to come back. But then I'd made a meal of it, and that was a grave mistake on my part.

We pull to a stop, and I jump off of my board. The ground is unsettlignly resilient beneath my feet, and it makes me wobble slightly. "It's been too long, huh? I can't believe I forgot how much fun this is... I hate that it had to come to this for me to remember it..."

Alyssa nods, and I sigh. "You gonna do this or not? We don't have all day to walk down memory lane, girl." She bites her lower lip, cocking a brow. I nod before letting out a breath of nervous tension. I haven't done this in a while, let alone on purpose. I nervously pull my glove off, the feel of air unfamiliar. After all this time, I still haven't removed my suit. I couldn't bear to. As much as I'd forgotten about this life- the one out here- I couldn't bear to part with this much.

I clutch the glove in my left hand, my trembling hand as hesitant as ever to touch to the ground. I force it to still, and close my eyes as I place it to the ground, praying for some sort of sign that tells me it'll be okay. I don't get that sign. But at least I get one.

The flashes that I get are of a ship, crossing over the ground. It is more an air-tank than of a ship, but I will take what I can get. I have to zoom-in flashes of the thing, and a close-up shot before I'm inside, through an entry point in the hull. I am zooming down a corridor, and suddenly I hit a door. My hand retracts from the ground as I feel the impact of the door on my skull.

"Damn! Ow... He's on some sort of air-ship or tank- something like that," I state, rubbing my head vigorously. "Wanna get moving?"

"Not yet," Admitted Alyssa, hopping back and forth. "Gotta pee!" She dorkily flashed a smile before dashing off to do her business. I didn't watch her go, but instead I turned to stare at the ground. I was falling into a stupor, and I knew it. I yanked myself back, popping a pill into my mouth. It was a pill that I'd found in the city, and I used them to concentrate when I got spacey. It wasn't technically advised to take them more than once a day, but my liver could handle it, and my body burned them up faster than regular people's.

Alyssa jogged back, and I sighed before pulling my glove on. I didn't know what was going to happen, but I had a hopeful feeling. My hopes were often misleading, and I couldn't bear the thought of failure. I patted the bag on my back to make sure that it was all set. I'd been saving all my money, and buying little trinkets from the spy store. There was always that part of me that had denied that it was over- the part that even hungered the chase. It had been ingrained in me, and I'd kept adding to this bag, the only one I never unpacked. Could it be that I expected this?

Pushing her finger to the door, Anna hummed softly with impatience. As the rest of them waited, she rummaged through her shoulder bag. Something didn't feel right...

"Where's Alyss and Lauren? I haven't seen Rhett since yesterday... Where the heck are they?" Anna wondered aloud. I snort and roll my eyes.

"Chill, Anna, they're probably off doing some... Drunk stuff." The moment it leaves my mouth I know that I'm wrong, because that's not something either of the three of them would do. Lauren, maybe, but she was more careful when she was drunk because she was always a lose cannon. I was so sure a second ago but now I just wanted to crawl back into bed and forget about them. I'd rather forget than worry.

"Ian, they're not gonna-"

"I know!" I snapped at Anna, lacing my fingers uneasily behind my head. "See if you can reach 'em. We gotta figure this out. What the hell could've happened- I mean... There's probably nothing wrong but I'm kind of... scared. I don't know why..."

Anna groans in frustration and stomps her foot. "Damn! This is great." She pulled her bag off of her shoulder so she could search more effectively. Just what the hell was she looking for? She pulls out a small, tube and unscrews the lid. She swallows it with a quick gulp and then sighs.

"What was that?"

"Liquid energy. I need to think straight, but I'm really tired and frankly I'm a bit drunk. I need a clear head, and so do you. I've got more upstairs. Come on." Anna turns back to the elevator, and then snorts in disdain. Of course it's not here yet. Was everything going to be working against us today?

Sara, Jacob, Jaimee, and I quickly fall into discussion as we wait for the lift. It arrives just as our conversation starts to get somewhere, and of course it's full of a ton of people. Jacob keeps talking, so I feel an elbow to the ribs is well justified. He lets out an oof! of displeasure and punches me in the side of the head. It stings for a moment then fades. We're even for now.

"Oi! Get the heck off the lift, we haven't got all day!" Sara demands, tapping her foot. She tosses her red hair and fixes them with a harsh glare. One of them actually shivers. I don't understand why; Sara's glare wasn't exactly one to harm. Had we just gotten used to being the crude killing machines we'd been programmed into?

I could see the way that they looked at us. They were terrified by all of us... What the hell had we become? 'Well, Ian... We've become Perfect... Everyone wants it, but no one can ever achieve it. They're terrified of us. No wonder we'd had no problems in the city...'


I knew I'd been drugged, but I couldn't remember when or why. All I knew was that I was freezing, and withdrawing into myself. I try to force my blue-eyes open, but I can't tell if it works or not. It's dark behind my eyelids, and appears to be just as dark in the room that I am. I try to call out to Lauren and Alyssa, but it hurts my head to do so. What the fuck!? I try harder, and the pain increases. It's some sort of barrier. I give up for a moment, because it hurts terribly.

I feel something inside my head. Not an actual thing inside my head, but a person. It was like all the times Lauren had accidentally-on-purpose pried into my mind to see if I was lying or not. As mad as I'd been at her before, it was helping me out right now. I don't push back to get them out of my head, but I produce a brain buzz. I focus on the metal screeching I'd heard earlier and I reproduce it in my mind. I warp it and twist to make it more and more unpleasant. It hurts my own ears just thinking of it, but I can feel the grip of whatever has my mind wavering.

It's starting to hurt again. Whatever it is that's keeping my from contacting Alyssa and Lauren is what is blocking my mind as well. It's some sort of barrier- that much I know for sure. I'm not sure if my mental screeching will stop it but I do know this: All barriers have a weakness that allows them to be broken. All I have to do is find out is weakness and make sure my attack is stronger. I'm not even sure if there's a god up there because of my upbringing, but I pray to it anyway. There's no harm in trying, right?

The hours pass- at least it feels like hours, I can't honestly be sure- and the grip is still the same as always. It feels weaker than when I first noticed it, but I still can't bring myself to shake it. I relax my screech and create a general fuzz. It's a verbal manifestation of the fuzzy wall-screens that I've seen. If I can't confuse it, then I can keep myself from thinking on that level.

I travel through my mental cavities, roaming through the various levels of thought in my head. Just like I had channels for telepathic thought with the others, I have different levels of thought in my own head. We all do. It was a design flaw in our programming. We were supposed to think of a singular level. I didn't know this until I was roaming through my thought channels and picked up a strange buzzing. I stopped immediately, and tuned in. They weren't my own thoughts, that was for damned sure.

'Where are they hiding... Come on, you stupid fucker! I'll get in there whether or not you buzz me to the Sun and back... I wonder why he stopped buzzing... Thank Circumstances- that was killing me.' The thinker's mind reached forward a little more, and Rhett hesitantly tried to push against it. 'What the hell... His... something pushed against me! He can't do that! He doesn't have a brain that advanced! He can't-'

I angrily screeched over the buzz of that annoying voice, and then it screamed in frustration. My heart-leaped in surprise and I tried to push harder. I could feel the pressure behind my eyes increasing as I pushed and pushed. The muscles in my legs were taught, and cramping as I pushed and pushed with my mind, my body, and everything I was worth. I grunted as my legs burned with the need to relax, but I didn't let myself. The grip it had on me was loosening, and I knew it. I pushed harder with the thought of freedom and I felt something inside of my head pop. I was almost there. I pushed harder and harder, until a wave of pain so great washed over me that I passed out. I was slipping into the darkness, but I was free at last. The only question that remained was for how long. I could only hope they didn't worm their way back in as I slept off the pain. I'd try to contact my friends, but the chances of that were slim.

We couldn't understand this thoughts; they were garbled and didn't make sense. But, the important thing was that we could hear him. Lauren sighs and bends backwards on her board as we glide along, and I do the same. I'm stiff.

The weird thing of a ship is still high in the sky, but we're following it with all of our might. I only hope that they touch down before the next night is over. Even as surgically enhanced as our bodies are, they can only take so much. Lauren is out of shape; her time in the city wasn't spent doing the hardcore activity that we did while traveling. I'd missed traveling on my board, and had resorted to riding it everywhere I could. Lauren had been doing... other things. It didn't keep her as good a shape as before, though.

Her body was regenerating faster though, and it was driving me crazy. I needed to be faster, and better so I could help her find Rhett. But, what the hell could I do? Pop some magical pill? No. I'd do it on my own, and we'd stay up with him and catch up to him. Soon, I hoped.

"Damn! Are they slowing down anytime soon?" I shouted up to Lauren, my voice cracking with the sudden use. I couldn't remember how many hours we'd traveled in silence.

"How the fuck should I know?" She spat bitterly. I furrowed my brows in disgust. She didn't have to be a bitch just because she had no idea when they were stopping!

I sped up my board and squatted down a little bit to lessen the drag of the wind. The scales on my suit rippled and adjusted to allow a better flow of air. I'm contemplating tackling her off of her board, but I know it won't solve anything. All i want to do is surpass her speed for a little while and I'll be satisfied. I near the end of her board and smirk ever-so-slightly as I begin to surpass her.

She notices my move, and then that damned bitch speeds up. The sudden burst of speed she puts on throws up a dust cloud, but I surge through it. Pushing my body to its impassable limit I force myself into a faster speed. My board is made for this, but my own body is not. I began to tremble slightly as gravity threatens to pitch me. I mentally swear, my sight swirling and pitching as I struggle to control myself. I can see the blur that I know is Lauren stop short, too short. She is thrown from the board, but I don't worry for her. She'll be caught by her guards, and I've got to worry about myself. I can't even remember if I'm wearing mine... Did I even put them on when we left, or was I in too big of a hurry?

I'm trying to slow down now, my body trembling and pained with the mere effort. I'm going too fast to move very much now, but I'm slowing down little by little. Lauren's voice is inside my head, but I can't filter the words into meanings. My brain is overtaxed as it is. At this rate I'm just hoping that death will be quick and painless. How trivial these things are that can trigger things so important...

"Hey, wake up..." I grunt slightly, ignoring the voice and gentle prodding at my shoulder. I want to go back to sleep. I was sure something important was happening. I can vaguely remember thinking of Lauren, and knowing that she told me something very important. I was supposed to remember it, and... do something about it. But, the thing is, I can't remember. That's why I must sleep some more. I'm hoping I'll remember that way.

"Rhett!" A low, husky voice whispers my name in a quick hiss very close to my ears. I open my eyes to find myself and my company in heavy semi-darkness, and I frown. Who the hell is this? It took me a second to remember where I was. I merely grunt in response.

The tall woman folds her arms across her chest, and I wince slightly. That glare is... penetrating. It makes me want to tell her what she wants to hear, only I haven't the slightest clue what to tell her. "Don't you glare at me like that, boy!" She smiles slightly, and I try to relax my features. The smile fades as I fail to brighten, and her arms unfold. "Don't you remember me at all?"

I struggle to shake my head left and right. My muscles are still like putty after the taxing fight I put up with the "pryer" that had tried to weasel into my mind. I let out a low moan as I shake my head.

"You'll remember me soon enough." The girl whispers in a low tone, leaning closer. "Don't remember me too quick, though. They'll be mighty upset if they see it in your head. Keep fighting."

She rested her smooth hands in an awkward yet comforting on my shoulders, smiling pleasantly. "I'll be back, sugar. Rest, and try to relax. You're going to need it if you wanna survive here."

She abruptly lifted and moved away, headed for the door. I tried to lift my arms and call her back, but I was too tired. Her suggestion weighed on me as it revolved through my mind over and over. The more it circled, the more tired I became. I let myself go, because I knew she was right.

I'm too tired at first to think about the possibility of them prying into my mind, but by the time I think of it I'm too far gone. I hadn't been worrying about that, but about other things. I was worried that Alyssa and Lauren would get picked up as well, and have the same thing done to them. I didn't know if they'd be able to hold out as I was trying to. But, if they did manage to make it here and attempt to free me... would it be to late?

Author's Note: So. I am TERRIBLY sorry this took so long. I've been at a loss as for inspiration. However, I've been sparked again by the little nugget of creativity. :) Reviews fuel inspiration as well.

Will the new woman help Rhett?

Or will she damn him and his friends to a life of captivity? YOU DECIDE!

:)

Mellokai/Lauren