Omega woke up as she was carried back into the Fett-Jinn home and set on the couch.
She rubbed her eyes and looked around.
"What's going on?" Omega asked.
"Miss us, kid?" Wrecker smiled.
"Wrecker?" Omega gasped. And then she saw the rest of her friends there. At first, she was happy to see them all again, but then she realized she didn't know how she got there.
"Why am I here?" Omega asked. "Did my parents ask you to babysit me?"
"Why would people who make you miserable ask for a babysitter?" Wrecker asked.
"What do you mean? I was happy there." Omega said. "I got adopted."
The others looked at each other. They'd just committed kidnapping without realizing it!
"Technically, we were lied to and committed it unintentionally." Tech said. "But her family may see it differently."
"Why did you guys take me away?" asked Omega.
"Some woman there told us you were miserable." said Carmine. "And she told us to get you out of there. So, we brought you here."
"Well, in this case..." Caroline said. "We'll just have to take Omega back and explain what happened."
Just then, a very tired Hunter came into the room, having just arrived after paying the Sith again for what felt like the thousandth time and having just finished a long and hard shift at the bookstore.
"It's hopeless." said Hunter, picking up Omega when he saw her and holding her in a hug as he plopped onto the couch. "We're done for."
With so much hard work, the team managed to get their debt down to only three-thousand-eight-hundred-forty-three credits. And Tech's meeting with the owner of the company he worked for was in just a few days.
"Long day?" said Anakin.
"Worse. The Sith just told me their raising the amount in our debt. They want ten thousand credits in three days."
"WHAT?!" everyone said.
"The remaining amount in our debt was four thousand!" said Caroline. "Less than that even."
"Do they have any idea how hard we worked to earn that money?!" Crosshair said angrily.
"I know! I know." Hunter sighed. "But the Sith can't be reasoned with."
Omega hugged Hunter. So did Boba. Hunter was a bit surprised at first, but he returned the hug and held his brother and Omega close.
"Where have you been, Omega?" said Hunter. That was when he got a glimpse of Omega's necklace and took a look at the address on the back. "Wow, you've been living a luxurious life, haven't you?"
"My new sister Mirabel designed this necklace for me when her parents adopted me." Omega explained. "I really wanna go back to them."
"And we'll get you home." Hunter said. "We don't want to end up in court. They probably could hire lawyers who would destroy us in a snap, given their millions and millions of... credits."
Hunter suddenly had an idea.
Sometime the next morning, Julieta called everyone downstairs for breakfast.
Mirabel took her place at the table as Julieta fixed everyone their plates of huevos pericos and arepas, when she noticed Omega wasn't in her seat yet.
"Omega, breakfast!" Mirabel called.
But when there was no answer, Mirabel figured her sister was still sleeping.
"I hope she didn't catch a cold playing in the snow yesterday." Mirabel said, getting up. "I'm going to check on her."
Mirabel went to Omega's room and knocked on the door.
"Omega," she sang. "Hermanita. Buenos dias."
No answer. She knocked again. Still no answer.
But then, Mirabel opened the door and found Omega's bed was empty! But Mirabel didn't jump to conclusions just yet. So, she searched other parts of the house. But Omega wasn't in any of the bathrooms or any other room in the entire Casita. So, Mirabel got her cell phone and tried calling Omega's, only to find it ringing in her bedroom.
If Omega wasn't in the house and her phone was here... it could only mean one thing. Omega was missing!
What was she going to do?!
By the time she finally got back downstairs, everyone already had to leave for work, including Mirabel's parents.
"Mirabel, how is Omega?" Julieta said.
"Great! Just great. She's just got a really bad headache. Do not disturb her. I'll take care of her."
"Oh, mi pobrecita." said Julieta, sounding worried. "I hope she feels better. I will have a nice big pot of ajiaco made for her when I get back, Mija."
"Sounds good, Mama." Mirabel said, a forced smile on her face.
As soon as the others left, Mirabel quickly got out her phone and called 911.
911, what's your emergency? said the operator who got Mirabel's call.
"I just found out my little sister apparently disappeared sometime between last night and this morning." Mirabel said. "She's not in her room or anywhere in the house, her phone was left behind. I'm really worried."
"Okay, relax, ma'am." said the operator. "Did you notice any sign of kidnapping in your home?"
"Well, no. No one else in my family knows that she's missing either, but I know she must be lost. She's only twelve."
"Okay, here's what's going to happen. We'll send the police immediately to investigate. What's your address?"
Mirabel gave her address, and she was told to wait for the police. And then she hung up and sat down, looking really worried.
"Mirabel?" said another voice. Mila. "Why did you sound like you were talking to an emergency service?"
Mirabel looked at her cousin wordlessly, the worry clear on her face.
"Mirabel," said Mila. Now she looked worried. "What's going on?"
"Omega's gone!" Mirabel said.
"What do you mean 'gone'?"
Mirabel explained to Mila how she discovered Omega was missing and she didn't tell her parents because she knew they would freak out. And then she called 911.
"Mirabel!" Mila said. "You can't keep things like this secret!"
"I know! I know." Mirabel said, sounding extremely guilty. "But I was scared and didn't know what to do."
But then, Mila remembered something. Recently, Miracle Tech created a special GPS microchip that connected to a new app called Lost & Found. The chip could be installed in necklaces, watches, bracelets, earrings, brooches, even hair accessories.
Luckily, Mila had installed a chip like that in an accessory on every Madrigal family member and uploaded their names into the app on her phone and linked the others'.
"As long as Omega is still wearing her necklace, this app will help us find her." Mila said.
Just then, Mirabel's phone rang, and she answered it.
"Hello?"
"Is this Mirabel Madrigal?" asked an unfamiliar voice.
"Yes, this is she. Who is this?" Mirabel asked.
"My name is Hunter." said the caller. "Please listen. My friends and I, we have your sister Omega at our place."
Mirabel gasped.
"You kidnapped my sister?!" Mirabel said. And she started yelling angrily in Spanish.
"Whoa, whoa! Calm down, please!" Hunter said as Mirabel began breathing heavily. "Please, let me explain. We didn't kidnap her on purpose. Your oldest sister Isabela apparently told my friends that she was miserable and needed to be taken away."
Mirabel thought. That sounded like Isabela; to try to get rid of Omega. She still disliked her, even though Omega had bonded with the rest of the family. But she wasn't sure she believed Hunter.
"Look, Omega is safe and well. We have no intention of hurting her and we want to do the right thing and return her. I'll hand you to Omega now."
And Hunter passed Omega the phone.
"Mirabel?" Omega said.
"Omega! Are you okay?" Mirabel said, sounding worried.
"I'm fine. And these people really are my friends. But they need help."
Omega told Mirabel about the Sith being really bad people who were after her friends for money and they needed ten thousand credits to pay off their debt, otherwise they were in danger.
"Why don't they just talk to the police?" Mirabel asked, placing the phone on speaker.
"The Sith have eyes everywhere. And one of my friends is a cop. He's been trying to find a way, but no luck." Omega said. "Please, Mirabel. They need help."
"We're willing to do everything we can to pay you back too." Tech said. "Can you meet us in two hours?"
"And who is this?" Mila asked.
"Tech Fett." Tech said. "But that's not important."
"Where do you work?" Mila asked.
"I work in the software development department at Miracle Tech." said Tech. "You can ask any of the employees there, or the owner of the company should be able to verify it."
"Did you recently apply for a promotion?"
"Yes. I have an interview in a few days with the owner." said Tech. "I never even seen him."
"You mean her?" said Mila, emphasizing the word her.
"You know the owner?"
"I am the owner." Milagro said. She got out her computer and confirmed Tech was telling the truth that he worked for her. "Look, here's what's gonna happen. We'll get you the money, but Tech... if I find that this thing with the Sith is just a scheme for a quick payday, so help me... you might not have a job anymore."
"Understood, Miss Madrigal." Tech said. "This is the address."
Tech gave Mirabel and Mila an address to go to, which Mirabel quickly wrote down on a piece of paper.
"We'll meet you there in a couple of hours." said Hunter. "Omega is safe now and she'll be safe when we bring her back to you. I promise."
And he hung up.
Mirabel and Mila quickly got to one of their cars and made a quick rush to the bank to make a withdrawal.
But they didn't know that their call had been intercepted by someone.
"Is now the time to make our move?" asked a young Togruta dressed in a dark brown outfit as she sat at a computer with mugshots of the Sith as well as evidence of many victims.
"Not yet." said a human named Mace Windu. "We make one wrong move, the Sith could harm more victims and get away all over again."
