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Chapter 47 – The Search Begins

Karen sat on the sofa at Arles and Samuel's flat. Arles hadn't left her side since she had arrived. Genie had brought her a cup of tea, which she had politely refused. She was still unsure of how she had arrived, even though Arles had explained to her that it was a harmless remote transport system that they all used frequently.

The flat had filled with people within moments. Karen continued to hold Arles' hand and had only been able to form the words, "Please don't leave me."

To that, he had kissed her hand and replied. "I wouldn't dream of it."

Several men's voices seemed to be having a discussion in the kitchen. It contained words like, "bounty", "ship", "left orbit", "cloaked" and things that just didn't make sense to the situation.

Arles rose up and grabbed a box of tissue. He sat in on Karen's lap. She took a tissue and wiped her nose. She couldn't think straight. What was happening to Samuel?

Someone sat in front of her and softly spoke. "Karen."

She looked up to see Lance, the man she had met only hours ago. He still wore his suit and had the saddest eyes. Beside of him, sat Lewis. She recognized him from the phone conversation.

She wiped her eyes. "Lance?"

"Yes. Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

She hadn't even thought about that. She shook her head. "I don't think so."

He nodded. "Okay. Someone is on their way to talk to you."

"Is he alright?" She asked.

Lance sighed. "I don't know."

Arles suggested, "Uncle Tony has that recreation tool-"

Lance nodded, "He's there. He's running it now."

Karen shook her head. "The men said they had Tony. That's why Samuel said he would go with them."

"They said they had Tony?" Lewis asked.

She nodded. "Yes. He told him he was….Soler?"

Lance asked, "Soler of Chaomlean? Son of Mageer?"

She nodded. "Yes. That's what he said."

Lance looked back at Lewis. They both walked back into the kitchen together.

Lance sighed. "Samuel sang on stage at the Expo tonight. Tony didn't announce who he was…"

"And now the Vesuos think they have Soli. Damn it. Where is Soli, now?"

"Exton took him and Pepper to the island as soon as he heard something had happened. Arcite is with them."

"Good. Good."

"Adriano is with Jack at the Space Dock. He's running everything to see if he can see where they went."

Lewis nodded.

"Does John know?" Lance asked.

"What am I going to tell him?" Lewis insisted just as another loud pop was heard. Pete had arrived with Legate and a very tall, very thin, grey haired man with a military haircut and glasses. "Where is she?" He insisted immediately.

Lewis took Pete and the new man into the sitting room. As soon as Karen looked up, she burst into tears again, "Daddy!"

He sat down and held her close to him. "I'm here. Shhh….."

Pete pointed back to the kitchen. Lewis and him rejoined the others in there.

Pete asked. "Have you spoken to John?"

Lewis took out his phone. "I was just about to ring him as soon as we have an update to know what the hell is even going on."

Pete nodded. "Alright."

Another loud pop broke the silence. Tony Stark had arrived. "Alright. Well, I have a good idea what happened. I made a video of it, so you guys can put it all together. Is Karen alright?"

Pete glanced back, "I went to fetch her father. I thought it would be best since Arles is really the only person she knows out of this lot."

Tony pat the cabinet. "She knows me. She met me tonight."

They looked back to see Karen's father speaking softly to her. She had calmed down considerably.

Pete sighed. "We need to ring John to put all of this together. Lartius with Jack is up at the Space Dock."

"Have him run a thermal imagining scan. If they had a cloaked ship, that's the only thing that will pick it up." Tony insisted.

Lewis nodded. "I'm telling him now."

Tony pat Lewis' shoulder and walked over to sit in front of the sofa. Karen's Dad let go of her as he looked at Tony in shock. Tony took Karen's hand. "Karen. Are you hurt?"

She wiped her eyes. "No, Tony. I'm alright. No one is telling me where he is."

"It's because we don't know." He admitted. "Karen, we're still trying to figure out what is going on."

"They said they had you."

He shook his head. "No. They meant Tony Tyler. Pete's son. Not me. Tony is a strange name to these people."

"Tony Tyler is a child." The man insisted.

"Yes, sir. You're right. And that child is with John. John Smith at the moment. He's fine. But, there is also another version of him here. An adult version. That's the one they have."

"And Samuel." Arles added.

Pete called for Tony. He kissed Karen's hand, "Pete needs me. But, I'll be right back. Okay?"

She nodded and wiped her eyes.

Tony walked back into the kitchen.

Lewis pointed at him, "Brilliant. Lartius spotted a small ship, unreported, jumping into hyper space moments after this happened. They are calculating their position."

"But, that might not be them." Tony insisted.

"Oh, I know it. But, it's our best lead at the moment." Lewis nodded. "And now we can inform John."

"Shall we have Karen in with this?" Tony asked.

Lewis looked back at her and shook his head. "No. Not yet."

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The Doctor sat at a desk in his office at the hospital of Plentitude. He felt cold and had asked the computer assistant to turn up the heat in the room yet again. Naxie walked into the room, carrying a warm cup of liquid. "Are you sure you won't take anything?"

He groaned, "I'll take something when I'm done with this."

She put her hands on her hips, "Your wife rang."

He coughed, "Yeah?"

"She insisted that I throw you out of here as soon as King Reslean was sent back home."

He grinned, "He went home yesterday. I'm just finishing up-"

"I can do all of this. Go and rest! If you have what he did-"

He groaned and sat back in the chair. "Oh, it's not that. I'm sure of it."

"Symptoms are the same."

He coughed and shook his head. "Nah. I have a cough, he didn't have that."

She rose her eyebrow. "Denial is not an effective treatment option."

"You sound like my Rose." He sipped the liquid she had brought him. "Oh, that's what I needed. Thank you, Naxie."

She rolled her eyes as she walked out of the room. "Men."

He put his face in his hands and moaned. "Oh, I don't have time to be sick. Damn it. Life on the slow path. Ugh."

His lamenting was interrupted by his phone. He coughed and answered it. "Yeah?"

Lewis appeared on the screen with Legate, Lance, Tony, Pete and several others. He was taken aback. "Oh, hell. This is not good news."

Tony nodded, "You're not wrong."

Pete started. "Okay. We're still gathering information, but this is what we know right now. Vesuos have taken Samuel."

"What? Karen-"

"She's fine. She's here." Lewis nodded. "Arles and her father are both with her."

"She's hurt?"

"No. She's just…in a bit of shock."

"I imagine so. What do we know?"

Tony took over explanations. "Three Vesuos killed the Quauthin that were with Samuel. Timon and ummm…."

"Aaron." Lewis helped. "Looks like they ambushed them quickly and they didn't have a chance to call for help."

"Damn."

"Samuel put his bracelet on Karen, and sent her here." Lewis told him.

He groaned and rubbed his face. "Oh, damn. This son of mine. What has he gotten himself into now?"

"Karen says that they claimed to have Tony." Tony told him. "So, he went willingly, claiming that he was Soli."

The Doctor groaned. "Oh, that wasn't the best idea."

"As soon as she disappeared, they hit him with a burst of something."

"Well, yeah. They believe he is a Khrele. They hit him with a transient electromagnetic disturbance tranquilizer."

Pete asked, "What will that do to a human?"

"He's going to be out for a while. But, it also…damn it. He has a tracker in his arm that has probably destroyed now, too. What did the Space Port see?"

"A cloaked vessel leaving. I'll send you the vector heading-"

Lance added, "Lartius has transported back to his ship and is in pursuit. Well, if that was even them."

The Doctor sighed. "Oh, Sammy. What have you done? I'll leave immediately, and inform Rose. Let me know if anything changes."

Pete nodded, "Right."

They ended the call.

Tony sighed and looked back at Karen. "We should probably tell her something."

Pete agreed and walked into the sitting room with them. Pete sat on the table in front of Karen, her father, and Arles. Lewis and Tony flanked him.

Tony took Karen's hand again. "Karen?"

She looked up.

Pete smiled at her. "Hi Karen. We've met before. I'm Samuel's grandfather, Pete Tyler."

Karen wiped her eyes and nodded, "Hi, Pete."

Pete pat her other hand. "Karen, my dear. We're doing everything we can to find him."

Arles asked, "Does Dad know?"

Tony nodded, "We just spoke with him. He's on his way back now."

Arles sighed. "I don't know what happened to Genie. She was so upset."

Lewis looked up and whistled. "Legate! Genie."

"Yes, sir." He left the room in a hurry.

Lewis spoke. "It's late, and I'm sure you want to rest."

"I don't think I can sleep." Karen insisted.

Lewis continued. "I understand. I know we've already spoken to you, but if there's anything else you can remember?"

"He took off his bracelet, and said a very long name."

Lewis chuckled proudly. "My son has a very long name. Samuel Alistair Peter Tyler-Smith. The bracelet you are wearing is voice activated. Only Samuel and Tony Stark can remove it."

Tony nodded his head. "In fact, we better sort that out now."

Karen watched as he took the bracelet and tapped it. "Stark Program 1."

The bracelet spoke. "Super User Access."

Tony grinned, "I love it when shit works. Enable program Training Wheels until further notice for user."

The bracelet spoke. "Enabled."

Karen's father looked surprised, "Training wheels?"

Tony rubbed his chin. "That shuts out everything on that bracelet, except for things that will protect her. The personal force field, the tracking device, things like that."

"And, she won't be able to pop anymore?" He asked.

"Not on her own." Tony shook his head. "It's the same program that we run for the children's bracelets. The younger children. Keeps her from accidently popping to India, or some damn where."

Karen sighed. "If he hadn't put this on me, you could track him couldn't you?"

Tony shook his head. "No. They used an EMP right after you jumped. It would have shorted the bracelet out."

Arles narrowed his eyes. He knew the bracelet had safe guards against that happening, but decided Tony was lying to Karen to keep her from crying again.

Pete asked. "Do you remember anything else?"

Karen shook her head, "He didn't make a lot of sense. He was speaking to them, and the bracelet at the same time. He told it to return me to Arles, and some numbers. Commands, I guess."

"Yes." Pete nodded.

"And that they were…whatever you called them."

"Vesuos." Lewis helped.

"Yes." Karen wiped her nose. "And then said something odd. That Arles was One and Legate was Two?"

Tony, Pete, Lewis all looked at one another in surprise.

Pete smiled, "Arles is One and Legate is Two?"

She nodded, "Yes."

Tony took her left hand and looked at the ring. "That damn kid. He told me this was serious."

Lewis laughed under his breath. "Wow. My boys."

Arles mouth still gapped open. "One? I'm One?"

Lewis pointed at his son. "And you know what that entails?"

"Yes, Papa." He nodded.

Karen shook her head. "What does that mean?"

Tony groaned, "Ugh. That I need to go and run some scans. Try to sleep. I'll see you, tomorrow."

Karen nodded.

Her Dad took her hand again. "Where are you staying tonight?"

Lewis shook his head. "Going back to her flat probably isn't the safest option. They might have put it together that she lives there."

Karen's Dad agreed.

Arles suggested. "Well, she can stay here. Or, I can take you home to your Mum and Dad's."

Karen's Dad nodded. "That may be best. We can get some MPs-"

Karen groaned. "Dad."

Pete pat her knee. "Karen. If you stay here, you are protected by a dome. Also, body guards that call themselves Quauthin Warriors. I'm also going to put some Torchwood agents here."

"If I return home?"

"Torchwood agents and bodyguards. Lewis has extended a dome there at your family home in Florida, as well."

"Why?" She asked.

Lewis rubbed his chin. "It's another layer of protection."

"Why can't you do it for my flat?"

"Ummm. You have some neighbors that, wouldn't appreciate it."

Karen's Dad rolled his eyes. "I managed to find a set of apartments with some odd aliens in it?"

Pete shrugged his shoulders. "It was classified. I only just found out, myself."

Karen's Dad nodded. "Ah. Well, we'll work that all out."

Lewis nodded. "Karen, your Dad, Pete and me are working closely together to ensure your safety."

Karen wiped her eyes.

Lewis added, "Arles, also remains with you. No matter where you go."

She looked back at Arles. "Why?"

"Samuel wishes it. That's the reason he has named him as One." Lewis informed her.

Karen looked around Samuel and Arles' flat. "I believe I'd rather go home. It's odd being here without him." She fought tears.

Her Dad kissed her head again. "Okay."

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