Third chapter :D The next whole week I'm going to be away without any reception because of the area, so hopefully, I can get some peaceful writing time cut into my activities. Either way chapter four isn't done soo—^^; Alright, anyhow onto the chapter.

"Jackal on site, orders?" Trevor said as he held his hand up to his com in his ear.

"Stay there Jackal, Harbinger's on her way," Deuce said, as he looked back at the blueprints in hand. These blueprints at hand were specifically made for missions like these from none other than their tech. They can pull up any blueprint of any building that's in the area, it won't hide any secret passages, it even recommends certain ones to use. Therefore making breaking in as easy as pie.

"Harbinger has locked eyes on Jackal. Further instructions?" Miho and Trevor looked at each other and then waited for a signal from Deuce.

"Both of you head north 200 meters, take a right and there'll be a doorway within the walls. The doorway is located inside the bricks, find a slightly newer-looking brick and put pressure on it. The door will appear."

"Roger/Copy that." They said in unison.

Deuce nodded and turned his attention to the third person who joined them. "Shiver, are you near your required location?"

Myles nodded before answering, "I'm about 10 yards away. This place is—"

Myles abruptly stopped as he laid eyes on a new sight.

"...deserted." He continued, as he was now in the middle of a night squad.

"Shit." They all turned to him, bringing their guns up and starting to shoot. As they tried to shoot, Myles turned into dust wherever a bullet hit. Except for some of the ones that were Seastone, he couldn't focus on all of them so there's a few in his body.

"Oi! What's happening over there, Shiver?!" Trevor yelled into the coms as he and Miho pulled out a camouflage cape as other night watches ran by them. All you could hear from the coms were heavy breathing, shooting, and curses here and there.

Myles finally got enough time to talk, so he did. "I may or may not have—" BANG BANG. "—been compromised!" Deuce let out an aggravated noise.

"How many?" Deuce asked, holding his free hand to his forehead.

"Uhhh maybe around—" BANG BANG. "—30? I think."

Deuce cursed at himself. "Shiver, I'm sending Jackal over to you. You two will finish that up and as soon as you're done, get back to Harbinger. I'm gonna look around."

"Roger that." The three said as they signed off.

Deuce sighed, then decided to get up. Damnit, he thought, why does this always happen? He sighed, again, while running a hand through his hair. Once he was prepared he ran into the building, going the opposite direction the others were in.

Where is it…

He stumbled upon a giant door with multiple do not enter signs. Of course, he enters it. Once he's in he looks down at the blueprints in hand. This is the E.P.R? What does that even stand for?

He notices little writing on the bottom of the page, explaining every synonym of a name. E.P.R is the room where experimental patients are taken care of. If there have been any problems with the patient they are to be taken there immediately. He reads to himself.

Huh. Pathways are leading along the sidelines of the room, but they don't show. More secret doors?

As he walked over to one of the tables, he saw their "tools" had fresh blood on them. He gagged as he inhaled the immense irony smell from the tools. Someone's been working recently…On Ace? He hoped it hadn't been Ace, because there were many more tools in the room which were all drenched in crimson red blood.

For some reason there was a light blue substance drenched on the tools as well, he assumed it was just some kind of liquid for an experiment. But, as he looked at other tools that were covered with it, he got closer and realized the substance smelled irony, like blood. Blue…blood? He didn't know of any creature that had blue blood, so he was mildly confused. He decided to later ask Lyla to search it up.

He then noticed the same blue colored blood oozing out of a brick over by the wall, and coincidentally right where it was oozing from there was a hallway behind it on the blueprints. What in the—

"Deuce." Trevor said from the coms. Deuce jumped back in surprise. "We've dealt with all the government officials. What now?"

Deuce looked back at the brick, and slowly raised his hand to his com.

"R-right. Where are you guys now?"

"We're by the generator. Anything you want us to do here?"

Deuce looked away from the brick, walking towards one of the tables as he laid the blueprint on it. He analyzed the area they were near. "No, you're fine. Head over to your previous location, I'll meet you there soon."

"Got it." Trevor said, as he signed off.

Deuce looked back at the brick, still oozing the same blue blood. Guess that'll have to wait. He thought, as he turned back and started walking to the door.

"Alright, we willing to bust some ass?"

"Jackal, shut up."

"Stingy." Trevor whispered.

"Stingy?" Miho said, slowly turning around to Trevor.

"Stupid stingy woman!"

"You thieving raccoon!"

"Why the hell am I a thieving raccoon?!" Trevor yelled.

"Well that's probably because—" Miho started.

"Okay okay, how's 'bout we stop this there? Because as lovely as this petty argument is, I'm afraid my BRAIN CELLS can only handle so much stupidity in one go." Myles let out, with a sigh.

They were both about to retort when Myles put a hand over both of their mouths.

"Quiet." Myles said, still holding a hand over their mouths. Trevor slapped the hand away, as he was about to yell at Myles, Miho pinched Trevor. An unapproving whine was made.

"Shut up you dimwit, Germa just showed up." He widened his eyes. What?! He eyed Myles, who was surprisingly focused on the Germa group running into the room they were supposed to be in.

"We gotta tell Deuce." Just as Miho said that, Myles raised a hand to his com, trying to access it. But it didn't work. Confused, Myles grabbed it, shook it, and tried again. But that didn't work as well.

Just as Myles was continuously shaking the com, Miho sighed, "Myles it's not going to work." She said, as she pulled out a snail-looking figure. Trevor looked disgusted at the sight.

"Uh—I'm sorry, but what the hell is that?!" Trevor said, horrified. Miho gave him a disapproving look. So did the snail.

"This, my dear stupid Trevor, is a Den Den Mushi. It's a backup way for us to contact Deuce. We used these a lot before you joined, because they were practical."

"Why is it giving me that look." Trevor asked, staring at it, uneasy.

"It's alive you dimwit, and it can understand us as well. You spoke ill of it, now it's mad." She said, starting to dial Deuce's contact number.

"Whoa whoa whoa, it's alive?"

She chuckled, "What, you think I'd bring a dead Snail with me on a mission?"

Trevor looked at her, and then back at the snail. "I mean…it's you, I wouldn't be that surprised if you somehow brought a dead horse on a recon mission without us noticing…" Myles nodded in agreement.

She punched them on the head as an answer. They both reached for their heads, whining.

Miho stood up, making sure the Germa troops were gone. She started walking towards the now closed brick wall, and stopped. She turned her head and said, "And for your information, I'd bring a dead seal, not a horse."

Trevor was about to ask why, but Miho answered for him.

"—Just in case we run into Trafalgar again, I'd hope for the dead seal to scare the shit out of him. Maybe I'll cover the seal in bread and put it on his front doorstep…" She said, getting lost in thought. They both grimaced at the sight.

Once they were both getting up and heading over to Miho, they heard a weird noise.

Purupurupuru, purupurupuru, purupuru—gatcha.

"Miho? Why are you calling from the Den Den?" From what they could hear, it sounded like Deuce.

"Deuce, we just saw Germa agents entering the room we were supposed to occupy. Any reason why that is?" She asked, with the Den Den Mushi copying her annoyed face.

"Germa agents? Why would they be here?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out. Got any ideas?"

"Not in particular, but they're Germa. It's not like it would be weird if they were affiliated with the Government."

"That's true."

"Don't worry about it, just focus on the task at hand. Don't deal with the Germa agents unless you have to."

The only answer he got was silence.

He sighed, "Alright, I'm hanging up now. You guys be careful."

"Okay…" Miho said, as Deuce hung up.

Miho looked really aggravated. She almost threw the Den Den Mushi onto the floor, but last-minute threw her com on the floor instead. She was pissed.

"..."

Here we go… They both thought, looking at Miho, as she was on the peak of rage.

"That. Fuckin'. Asshole! 'Don' worry 'bout it' he says. 'Deal with it if ya need ta' he says. Well m' SORRY if I'm tryin' ta be CAREFUL. Cut me sum slack for God's sake."

Trevor and Myles both looked at Miho, who was continuously hitting the Den Den with her hand formed in a fist while spouting gibberish and curse words here and there.

"Yep. Let's just leave her alone." Myles gave a slow nod at Trevor as they walked to the brick wall to unlock the door. As they walked to the room, they looked back and both shared a sorry look for the poor Den Den. By the time they were inside the room, Miho had calmed down a little and the Germa Agents were nowhere to be seen.

There isn't supposed to be any other entrance besides the one that leads to the operative room, but that room has no exit besides it's entrance, which just leads back to the room before. So it made them all wonder how a group of Germa agents were able to leave the room without them noticing. In the end they paid no mind about it since, well, they're Germa agents for christ's sake, therefore they decided to think about it later, when they had retrieved Ace.

As they looked around they noticed how clean and neat the room looked. A little too neat in fact.

Someone's been here… and it's recent as well. With the short amount of time, the Germa Agents were in the room, sure there was a possibility that they could have cleaned the room. But it's too clean, they wouldn't have had the time to make it this tidy. They continued their search of the room until they decided there was no more to look at. They then moved to the operative room.

Camera's, more cameras, television, computers, wires, more wires, videotape, technical boxes— wait. Videotape..? Myles decided to open up one of the tapes and inserted it into one of the more old looking television screens. He did not like what he saw.

Not one bit.

"Guys…you might wanna take a look at this." Myles said, with a barely audible voice. That piqued their attention so they walked over to him.

As they watched the tape, they could only stare in disbelief and disgust.

"What in the world…why? Why—what, how?" The last part came out with Miho ending it in a shaky breath, raising her hands to cover her mouth. They all shared the same reaction, more composed than others

Nonetheless on the inside they were asking the same question.

Just what kind of tests do they make people do here?

Purupurupuru, purupurupuru, purupurupuru—

"Why aren't they picking up on the coms and the Den Den?! For god's sake pick up the damn call!"

He sighed, pinching the top of his nose in annoyance. What are they doing? Deuce asked himself, frantically pacing the halls searching for their supposed meetup place.

You guys need to get out of there.

"Ace, Ace, Ace, Ace, Aceeee~ where are we goingggg?" Luffy asked, barely keeping up with Ace.

"Haaaah? I've already told you so many times!"

"But I wasn't listening! There were some super cool beatles!" Luffy whined.

Ace sighed and walked over to his brother. "We're visiting the graves." He said, as he stretched his little brother's face knowing it wouldn't harm him.

"Ouhhhh, riht" Luffy whined while trying to escape his brother's grasp, failing miserably. Once Ace had stopped they continued running through the forest to the grave. Sabo's death was fairly recent so they made it a routine to visit his grave every now and then.

"ACK—"

Thud.

Ace didn't hear anything so he continued running through the forest. As he continued running his speed became faster to where he realized Luffy wouldn't be able to keep up. He quickly stopped and turned around to check for Luffy. All he saw was an empty space. Confused, he turned back and repeated again to see if his mind was playing tricks on him.

Huh? There's nothing there…

Sweat quickly formed on his face.

Shit.

He rushed back to the spot he last saw Luffy, but nothing was there. As he looked around, he heard a scream.

"Luffy!" Ace yelled, as he ran towards the scream. When he got there that screaming quickly turned into giggling.

Luffy was lying in the middle of a path with a wolf licking him all over, it looked almost like a mother besides how rough the wolf was. Ace was puzzled, while Luffy finally noticed him.

"Ah! Ace! Look, this pup likes me!" Luffy exclaimed, shining as bright as the sun. 'Blinding' Ace thought, as he looked at Luffy.

He walked over to him and hit him on the head. Luffy made an unapproving whine.

"Why'd you hit me?"

Ace sighed, and ignored his question. "Do you know why I hit you, Luffy?"

Luffy looked confused. "No, I don't. That's why i just asked—"

Luffy got another hit to the head before he could finish his sentence. "OW! Why're you hitting me more?! Is it because I got a wolf friend and you don't?!"

Another hit to his head was his answer. Before Luffy could lash back, cause oh he was mad, Ace spoke up.

"You left."

What? What does he mean by 'I left'?

"What do you mean i left—"

"You didn't keep up. You got distracted. And in the process you got left behind."

Ace's calm exterior was wavering. Slowly his expression turned to a sad, worrisome face.

"I-I left you behind. I wasn't paying attention and I didn't notice you were gone—I was acting too stupid and didn't think of anything when I didn't hear your voice anymore—When I saw you gone I didn't know what happened! I didn't know if you got eaten by an animal or if you got kidnapped again!"

Luffy felt warm droplets fall on his face, and Ace be damned if he ever admitted those were tears. "I already lost Sabo. I don't wanna lose you, okay?" The last few words were like whispers, but Luffy understood. He put Ace under a lot of pressure and it made him sad.

Luffy stood up and went closer to Ace to give him a hug. "M'sorry, Ace." Luffy whispered into his brother's chest. There was a sniffle heard before Ace replied. "...Better be."

Ace's eyes shot open. He tried to get up but was stopped by these black straps. Suddenly he felt weak, unable to open his eyes as much. One of the doctors noticed him awake and headed over to him.

"How're you feeling?" The doctor asked, writing things down on his clipboard.

"Where am I…?"

The doctor sighed, "You're in a laboratory. Now, how do you feel?"

"Dizzy…where is this laboratory at?"

"Oh, I don't know, Narnia."

Ace shot the physician an annoyed look. The doctor glared back.

The doctor sighed, and went back to writing in his clipboard. Ace took that time to look around at his surroundings. There wasn't much to the room, just some equipment here and there. The walls were blindingly white; it makes Ace wonder how people are ever comfortable in hospitals. He turned his head to the right and saw a bulletin board. He couldn't make out what was on the board, but there was a good amount of papers on it.

After getting a look at the room, his eyes fell back on the doctor he'd sawn earlier. The doc oddly had pink colored hair, long and straight flowing to his shoulders. He had squared glasses with a tint of green on the rim of the lenses. He had a more feminine style than other males, but hey, who was he to judge the guy. Most of the time Ace himself walked around without a shirt on at all, so he didn't have much room to judge a guy's preferences.

The doctor sighed, he finished writing and put his clipboard down. "I'm going to get food. Stay put."

"Go get me some then."

"Huh? What do you mean get you some?! You can starve for all I care."

"You can't let me starve because I'm your precious test subject, aren't I?"

"You're replaceable—"

"No, he isn't." Akainu said, as he walked in.

Suddenly, the room felt as if it were a volcano. You could hear an angered growl coming from Ace.

"Akainu." Said man grinned in response.

"Hello, Fire Fist. How are your injuries? Surely not as bad as your brother's."

SNAP.

"Say that again." Ace said, as he broke one of the straps, releasing part of his haki.

"Is Fire Fist worried about his little brother?"

Ace was already behind Akainu before he could finish the sentence.

"What the fuck is this place and what in the hell are you doing with my brother." He said, having his fired fist ready right behind Akainu's back. His haki was radiating immensely in the room, so much that most of the doctors either fainted or were barely standing. Excluding the pink one of course.

"Oh, Fire Fist. I thought that would have been obvious?"

Ace's hand went closer to Akainu's back. "Stop playing coy with me, you fucking asshole."

Akainu smirked in response. "You really should be more careful, Fire Fist. Letting your emotions get a hold of you so easily isn't the wisest decision."

Ace was visibly confused, but before his confusion could get a hold of him the room went black. He'd been drugged with a toxin to put him to sleep. With his abilities he was confused on how someone could have snuck up on him. He couldn't burn away the toxins from his body since he was still under the influence of the seastone.

He drifted off into the darkness with only one thought in his head.

Damn it, not again.

Haha, cliffhangers. How I hate them happening to me but love writing them. Life is confusing _ Anyhow, I'll try to upload chapter four soon, no promises though.