~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Author's note: Thank you ever for putting up with "I'm With You" for as
long as you have! You'll never know how grateful your reviews have made me.
I'd especially like to thank Mistress of the Night for reviewing each one
of my chapters. Thankz! Now without further delay here's chapter 12!
~*~*~*~*~*~
Shadow glanced around; he didn't feel right about leaving Xena all by herself-who knew what kind of trouble that girl could! Besides, Raven didn't think it would be necessary tell her that he and Reese were leaving to do some 'errands'. That was just it: Raven didn't think period! And that was the end of it.
The day's battle had proved to be an interesting one; then again ever since that silver haired Ancient Zoidian came along all the battles were something else. There were two fights going on in the same area. Xena versus Raven in a showdown of power while close by was Van versus Draco, the same one who in fact had that miserable organiod Tiamat with him. Shadow wasn't too fond of Tiamat to put it simply and the feeling was mutual. Quite a showdown indeed. If he hadn't been in the battle himself, Shadow would have been curling up with a big bowl of popcorn and watching the show, cheering his master on. What he really wanted was to get back at Tiamat but no, master wanted to put Xena in her place as he put it, and that he did with flying colors.
It went like this, being the superior organiod that he, in his opinion, kept track of both battles while participating: ~*~ "Shadow!" Raven yelled from inside the cockpit of the blue Zaber Fang. "Don't you dare listen to a word she says or I'll disown you! Is that understood?!"
Yes, the dark organiod nodded meekly. He knew that those words signaled that Raven wanted to end the battle quick and was about to call on him. Damn and he was having such a good time too. It would be difficult but he would have to do it, because he did was not in the mood to feel the master's wrath.
Meanwhile in the other battle, the Blade Liger was hit by a mirage of missiles it shook violently and fell flat on it's belly. Shadow snickered to himself, hoping Raven wouldn't hear him. Haha Zeke was getting his butt kicked, he thought gleefully, wait until master gets a load of this!
"Gah! Get up Liger! Get up! We can't lose now!" Van Flyheight begged.
Draco laughed. "I can't believe I'm actually beating the mighty Van Flyheight, and here I thought it was going to be difficult.how foolish of me."
"Grrr. Shut up already! You haven't beaten me yet!" he snapped and Zeke in the Blade Liger rose onto his feet, threw his head back and let out a loud roar.
Shadow sweat dropped; that Zeke was roaring victory when he hadn't even won yet! What a loon. Now that he thought of it he never really liked that Zeke. But he despised that Tiamat more though.
Inside of the cockpit of the Blade Liger:
Van fumbled with the controls as he tried desperately to figure out how much damage was done to his zoid from that last attack. Great his performance was down by 25% and that severely ruined his chances for winning this battle. He hoped Zeke could last long enough to at least cause some major damage to that zoid. It was like it was invincible, he'd never fought against anything so power..well with the exception of the Genobreaker. But damn! He was going to have a hell of a time trying to beat this guy.
"Zeke, we gotta beat this guy! We just gotta!"
Zeke agreed, but the question was how they gonna do it? The Liger was still recovering from the last battle, beside the left front leg was still damaged.
'Tiamat, aim for the left leg, it's a weak spot. If we hit him there the Blade Liger will collapse and then we'll hit him with everything we got!" Draco said happily.
Shadow narrowed his light blue eyes at the sound of the name, did the master have any idea what was going on in the other battle? No, Raven was too busy toying with Xena. Shadow could tell he really enjoyed it for he was laughing a lot. And it was making Xena furious.
"Damn you Raven! Damn you to the farthest reaches in all of the seven hells!" she growled.
"Seven hells? There are seven hells?" Raven blinked, confused but still very much amused.
The Zaber Fang turned to the dark organiod who merely shrugged. How the hell was he supposed to know? He was an organiod for crying out loud, organiods go to heaven or hell. They go to Zoid Eve.
"Duh! Ya dumbass, in my religion there are seven hells. But that's besides the point! C'mon Mini Me we can take this loser on," Xena said to her zoid.
Mini Me roared and flung itself onto the Zaber Fang, which sent it to the ground. It made several attempts to get up, but the weight of the liger was too much. Raven had it. How dare she. He maneuvered the zoid to bite the under chest of Mini Me. It shrieked with pain as the Zaber lifted it up of it and threw it into the Blade Liger.
"Raven! You could have killed her!" Fiona shrieked from behind him.
Suddenly everything came to a halt; the Blade Liger turned around to the Zaber, it's jaw open. While the Bahamut and Mini Me tilted their heads to one side. Shadow just grinned, the fools never knew. Haha the master was real clever that time. Of course the master is never really clever.
"Fiona?!" Van's image flickered on the com link inside of the cockpit of the charging big red zoid.
To Van's amazement and horror, there seated behind his arch nemesis was none other than Fiona. She was saying something to him and he shrugged it off.
"Hey Van!" she smiled at his bewildered face.
"You have got to be kidding me! You.and.RAVEN?! What is this world coming to?!!?!"
The Blade Liger set it's hind quarters down in defeat.
Fiona laughed nervously. "Listen Van, it's not what you think. Honest. I had er, a vision.." Raven cut her off.
"And she came to me," he said with a victorious smirk. Finally, he had beaten Van in his own game! Wohoo.
"WHAT?!"
"You should really calm down Van. that vein on your forehead is showing like it does every time you get mad.it's not what it looks. I promise," Fiona said calmly.
"I hope it is, gah!"
The Bahamut fired its hybrid cannons at his zoid and made a direct hit. "Whoops," Draco said in a less than convincing voice. "My bad, do continue."
Van scowled and cut off the com link, he had had just about enough of this. Now that Draco must die.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Tiamat turned to his master; they had been walking through the city of Mastique for some time carrying the Ancient Zoidian girl who could unwittedly cause the destruction of planet Zi. She was out cold and been so for the past hour and a half and frankly Tiamat was getting tired of having her limp form on his back. It was 8:15 p.m and the weird looks they had been getting from passerbyers had been amusing in the beginning but now it was getting old and disturbing, especially when people saw the thick heavy metal chain laced around the girl's arms.
"No Tiamat, we have to go back to the base and find that spell it should be on file somewhere," Draco said in annoyance.
His organiod had been hesitant about the whole thing since the beginning almost as if he was scared for the girl, what happened to him to make him so loyal to her? It was impossible to tell. But the clock was ticking and the sooner they got that spell the better everything would be.
The sound of groaning met the warrior's ears and then a silver blob appeared over the tan colored organiods back.
Xena opened her eyes groggily, ah her head hurt and when she tried to put her hand over her head she found she couldn't. She was on top of something that was moving at a steady pace, but on top of what she had no idea. Her vision was blurred.
"My head." she moaned.
"Your head is the least of my worries," said a strong male voice.
She straightened only to find she could to a certain extent. Walking behind her was the man in the Bahamut who had fought with Major Hottie a.k.a Van 'Hottie' Flyheight when she and Raven had bickered. She heard a low growl and to her surprise Tiamat was carrying her. He was apologizing to her.
"Tiamat, is that you?"
The tan organiod nodded it's head grimly.
"What is going on? Where am I?" her voice was barely above a whisper.
"Can you walk?" Draco asked casually.
Xena turned to the best of her ability and glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean? Can I walk? You beat your ass I can and will all over you."
Draco smirked at her while a part of him was hurt, why did she have to be so rude? He reasoned it was all because of Raven, ah he despised Raven. But that was beside the point! Maybe apart of him was doing this to get back at that raven-haired punk and to save the planet. Who knew? All he knew was that Xena had to be returned from where she came from.
"Okay then," he yanked the chain that had been resting in his hands.
She fell onto the cement sidewalk with a loud 'THUMP'. Ouch that was gonna leave a mark. Tiamat loomed over her and cocked his head from one side; humans.they're so weird.
Soon Xena found herself on her feet again; she had to hand it to that guy he was really strong but then again so was that son of a bitch Raven. Her arms were chained behind her back with some modern device that restricted any movement that was attached to her forearm and went to her other one, then big bulky chains tied the rest of her arms together. It didn't take much to see that Draco meant business and didn't want his prisoner to escape.ever. And to think she thought he was cute.man was she regretting those thoughts.
What would Raven do? Her mind asked over and over even though it knew she was pissed off and beyond at him. At every corner they passed, she silently prayed that Raven would magically appear and save her.What was the matter with her frickin' mind?! She was even at the point of asking Draco to let her pound her head on a pole.
Raven would play it cool, she decided, he would act unafraid and silent. Yeah that's what Raven would do. Her hopes of being rescued grew slimmer as the sun set in the horizon. Any second now Raven and Reese would come back to the hotel from wherever they went to and scour the whole city for her. Or they could wait until she came back. Shit, Xena prayed to the gods the latter would not happen.
"Say uh, Draco.why did you kidnap me and tie me in a long unbreakable chain? she asked nonchalantly, watching the empty streets for any signs of anyone she knew.
"Because I have to," came the monotonous reply.
Xena was feeling curious, never before had anyone tried to kidnap her. "Why do you have to?"
"Why do you ask so many questions?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"I'm telling you Raven, Hiltz is in this for his own personal gain. He can't be trusted. We have to think about the Zoid Eve here, she is at the center of all this, whether we like it or not," Reese said pointing her knife at Raven.
They were seated in a booth at the back of a small café in Mastique, hours before their weekly midnight meeting with Hiltz. Raven had ordered some French fries and a chicken sandwich while Reese, on the other hand, was starving: she ordered a salad, a steak, French fries, and a chicken sandwich. The two had gone out for dinner to talk things over, it wasn't smart to be talking about these kind of things in front of Xena she'd freak, plus Reese was starving. They had no idea that Xena wasn't at the hotel.
"I guess," Raven took bite out of a French fry he had been holding while he watched Reese inhale a chicken sandwich and a salad in less than seven minutes. "But if the Zoid Eve has something to do with this, how does Xena fit in? I mean, I think the Zoid Eve alone is pretty impressive without another Ancient Zoidian."
"True the Zoid Eve is impressive, I'm not a hundred percent sure about this but I think the reason Hiltz wants Xena is because of her power. You have to understand she's no ordinary Ancient Zoidian, each of us are blessed with a power. Mine is psychic, Fiona's is well unknown and Hiltz's is something beyond comprehension. That's how we all survived; we are the last of our kind. Xena's is her power over organiods."
Raven nodded slowly, taking everything in, and ate the rest of the French fry and then grabbed some more. "Alright say your little theory is correct, how do we know he won't just kill her when she refuses to do what he says?"
The blue haired Ancient Zoidian smiled. "I didn't know you cared, I see something you and Flyheight have in common."
Raven practically lunged at her but not a moment too soon decided it was too public a place to strangle her, so he amused himself by glaring daggers at her. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? I thought we were trying to have an intelligent conversation here."
She bit back an icy comeback and smirked. "We were I just found it amusing the little connection you two have together that's all. You both have a soft spot for Ancient Zoidians. Flyheight likes Fiona and you like me and Xena."
"No! I do NOT!! Grr... I do not Reese."
"Yes you do," she calmly cut a small piece out of her steak with her knife and fork and put it in her mouth like the conversation was casual.
"I do not!"
"Yes you do. End of discussion," Reese raised her hand to silence him and it worked. "Now let's go back to our intelligent conversation."
Raven growled and nibbled on his French fries still glaring at her. "Fine."
"If anyone were to know about her ability the end results could end up in chaos, although I am curious of how you managed to find her not to mention awaken her from her eternal slumber."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Van mentally groaned as he listened to Moonbay and Irvine argue over which place they should go to eat dinner; Moonbay wanted something fancy and Italian while Irvine on the other hand wanted something simple and cheap. He wished they'd hurry up and decide, his stomach was growling loudly and there was nothing he could do to stop it. It was embarrassing. This was a large city so naturally there would be hundreds of places to eat, would those two just decide already!? There were better things to do in the universe.
"Will you guys make up your minds already?! I don't care where we eat as long as we EAT! And by the time you two resolve your issues it will be next millennia and I will be a pile of dust," Van snapped suddenly.
Both Moonbay and Irvine turned to the young pilot in disbelief, as if the idea of him butting in was unheard of. He couldn't help but smirk at their shocked features. From the corner of his eye he could see Fiona's head roll on her shoulder, lost in sleep. She had no idea what was going on around her, actually Van found it kinda cute but said nothing.
"Well?!" he met the two's eyes one at a time, waiting for an answer.
"Alright hot shot, since you decided to butt in why don't you decide? Since it appears Moonbay and me can't seem to make up our minds," Irvine said calmly.
Moonbay narrowed her eyes and shot Van a look that clearly read 'You better pick Italian or I'm going to hang you.' He gulped, although the thought of some breadsticks from that fancy Italian place the Olive Garden.was that what it was called? Oh well that didn't matter. He most definitely didn't want the transporter to beat him into a bloody pulp but he also didn't want Irvine to make him die a slow and painful death. Irvine already promised that after what happened to the Lightening Saix the day before yesterday.so either way he was screwed.
"Can we go to that place with the yummy breadsticks where they give you as many as you want?"
Moonbay threw her head back and laughed victoriously and stuck her tongue at the mercenary. "HAHA! Try that on for size Irvine!"
"Oh shut up, just because you won this round." he turned to Van who was beginning to regret his words. "I'm going to kill you."
"Gee Irvine, I feel loved. It's wonderful to know I have friends like you, now I don't need any enemies.all I gotta do is make Raven my friend and BAM! I won't need any enemies because I'll have friends like you," Van said sarcastically.
Irvine just smiled and sat forward in his seat. This was a well-deserved break for the young pilot, he decided, Van had had a tough couple of days. And he needed some rest to get his bearings up, because he was getting snappier than usual then again he always got like this when Raven was around. The effect that guy had on Van was something else; those were the only words to describe it.
""...jigga what..."
Van blinked at Fiona who was mumbling in her sleep, a warm smile crossed his lips as he watched her. His girl, his angelic girl. She kept muttering incoherent things and something about Zoid Eve, was it possible she was remembering something in her sleep? He hoped so, the sooner the search for the mysterious Zoid Eve was over the better their lives would be. Fiona could finally have peace with her past and that was what he wanted the most.
"...that saying is so stupid.."
"Fiona," Van said softly as the Gustav came to a halt at the side of the street. His hand gently caressed her soft porcelain cheek. "It's time to wake up, honey."
She groaned even though there was a soft smile on her face as he stroked her face. "Mmo. go away.."
"Hey Prince Charming, you wake up sleeping beauty while we get us a booth okay?" Irvine said with a smirk.
Van glanced up at him, a blush creeping up on him. "Huh? Da ok. Make sure they have those yummy breadsticks!"
"Yeah yeah." And they were gone, leaving the two teenagers alone in the Gustav, alone.
All sorts of dirty thoughts entered his head at once but Van quickly shook them off, he couldn't think of Fiona as some sort of cheap thrill. He loved her and was willing to do anything for her, she completed his existence. And he respected and loved her for it.
"Fiona.."
"Mmm and the cow jumped over the moon.."
Van arched a dark eyebrow and let out a short laugh, this was getting more amusing by the second. Man could that Fiona sleep, shame she didn't sleep too often, he thought unhappily.
"Honey please wake up I'm hungry and we're at the restaurant," he sounded a little more urgent, maybe that'll do the trick.
Nothing, it just succeeded in Fiona turning onto her side and stretching her legs over Van's lap. She made a soft purring sound. Van mentally sighed and yawned; damn, she was making him sleepy too. But his stomach was stronger then the pull of sleep. He had to get something to eat or else he'd go crazy. Dammit! Fiona looked so damn innocent he couldn't bring himself to yell at her in order to wake her up. Just then someone turned on a little light bulb in the inside of his head.
A devilish smirk found it's way to his lips; if he couldn't wake her up by talking to her.. maybe he could indulge in her fantasies until she did come to. It was worth a shot, what did he have to lose? As Fiona slept peacefully, Van carefully removed her legs off of his lap he did not want to wake her with that. With her legs safely tucked under him, Van awkwardly crawled over her until he reached her face. He licked her lips ever so slowly, enjoying every second of it. His lips connected with hers as her eyelids fluttered open.
Van grinned as he felt Fiona's mouth open in surprise and run his tongue over her upper lip. She was completely shocked, first she had thought a dog or something was licking her face but instead it was Van! She laughed and pressed her lips against his.
She broke the kiss and laughed. "Van, what on Zi do you think you're doing?" she asked breathlessly.
A mischievous look sparkled in his gray eyes. "Waking up my girlfriend," he replied innocently.
"Haha yeah right, sure," she glanced at the front of the Gustav. "Where's Moonbay and Irvine?"
"Inside of the restaurant, waiting for us."
"Oh then we should get going, ne?"
"But, we don't have to go if you don't want to," his eyes got that the twinkle in them again.
Fiona laughed and pushed Van off of her and sat up, the Gustav wasn't exactly her idea of the perfect make out place. But then again, Van was a guy and to him any place was the perfect place. She sighed as she opened the canopy and carefully got out of the zoid. The streets were peaceful, dark but peaceful.
~*~
Fiona glanced through the glass window that was besides their booth. Now that she thought about it she wasn't all that hungry. Her lips were suddenly dry so she rubbed her tongue over them. Damn, she had left her chapstick back in her that was back at the base. So she was forced to suffer in silence.
The pink Shirley Temple swiveled as the blonde absentmindedly twisted the straw. Her thoughts were someplace else, probably back where her chapstick was.
"Fiona?"
"Hmm?" she blinked and looked up to see a pair of gray worried eyes staring at her.
"Aren't you going to order?" Van questioned quietly.
Fiona blinked again and saw a young waiter shift his weight uncomfortably, he nervously ran his hand through his brown hair. She figured this was his first day, maybe she should go easy on him-nah. Well, hm. nothing popped out at her. She saw Irvine and Moonbay pointing out stuff in each other's menus. She smiled faintly.
"Er..I'll uh, have whatever he's having," she pointed at Van, who grinned widely in response.
Once the waiter got Moonbay and Irvine's orders he left. Fiona glanced at her side, the transporter was seated next to her and in front of her was Irvine and Van.
Fiona leaned her stomach against the side of the table. "Van! What did you order?"
The young warrior flashed her a toothy grin. "Wait and see."
"Wait and see? If it's fish I'm gonna hurt you," she hissed.
Van threw his hands in the air. "Everybody wants a piece of Van! God I swear!"
A flicker of light flashed from the corner of her eye, she looked out the glass window with the green words that read 'Olive Garden!' and saw a man holding what appeared to be a chain, a woman, no, girl with long silver hair that looked awfully familiar.well she was attached to the chain, oddly enough. A tan organiod trailed behind them. Fiona gasped and did a double take: it was Xena! She was being held captive by some guy who's face was shadowed so Fiona couldn't see it. Acting solely on impulse, barely knowing what she was doing herself, she murmured a quick excuse to Moonbay as she fumbled to get out of the booth.
"Fiona?" the transporter blinked.
"I uh.forgot.forgot my purse! Yeah that's it!" she wasn't the world's best liar but judging from the surprised looks on her friends' faces, they believed it. Thank God.
Disappearing into a pink and blonde blur, Fiona dashed out of the front door and practically dived into the now open canopy of the Gustav and quickly closed it. One good thing about those was that people couldn't see her. She silently thanked whoever it was that had invented it. She saw Xena lean over towards the tan organiod, no doubt trying to talk to it. But it shook it's head and returned to it's spot behind it's master.
Xena glanced over her shoulder and said something the hiding Ancient Zoidian Fiona couldn't hear. But by the smirk on his shadowed face, it was supposed to be an insult. She was good, Fiona thought, she was trying to press his buttons she he'd get pissed off enough to let go of that chain. She was very smart indeed.
"I wonder how come no one sees them," she thought of out loud. "Maybe people notice but don't want to say anything incase it's someone bad."
She shook her head and answered her own question, sadly enough. "No.that doesn't seem right. And here I am talking to myself in an unnatural fashion."
"Yup, you can say that again."
That voice, were did it come from? From beside her, she thought sadly. She froze and gathered all of her courage and whirled around to see Van sitting in the passenger's seat next to her. And there she was sitting on her knees, peeking through the canopy like an overly curious kitten. She wanted to kick him. The least he could have done was knocked! He always took her by surprise, it wasn't fair.
"V-van, what are you doing here?" she stuttered, willing herself not to overreact and beat Van over the head with his dad's knife.
"I saw you dive into the Gustav and told the others a little story about me having to go to the bathroom. Now, what exactly are you doing here?" Great, now he was turning the tables on her. Just great.
"Like I said earlier, I forgot my purse," she replied indignantly.
Van stretched his legs over the gray dashboard, crossed his ankles and folded his arms over his chest. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. He was thinking.
Now get a grip girl, her mind told her, just because he's super sexy AND your boyfriend doesn't mean a thing! Don't tell him anything! Fiona nodded and tore her gaze from him to her thumbs.
Ever since they had kissed on Monday, his life got increasingly more complicated by the second. Then that silver haired girl everyone called a demon from Fiona's past appeared and soon chaos had ensued. All he wanted was a nice quiet uneventful evening, no battles, no Xena, no Raven, no people trying to destroy the world, no nothing. Just one peaceful little evening, was that too much to ask for? Apparently so.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The room was cold and empty, everything looked exactly the way it did when he left. Now the small hotel room looked ominous and threatening, and gave him the feeling of being small. He hated feeling small. His good graces vanished the moment he had twisted that doorknob. Everything looked as though they were laughing at him, having a wonderful time at his stupidity, at his expense.
A low growl came from beside him, she wasn't here. And hadn't been here for some time.
"So she's not here, well go figure. Good work at any rate, Shadow," the young man sighed, what he wanted more than anything was to go to sleep. But knew he couldn't, too much was at stake here.
Shadow cocked his head to one side and growled. His master was acting very strangely, he decided, but why? Aside from the obvious that she was gone. Why did he have the feeling master was sad?
"Can I help you, sir?"
An old man bowed as the young man turned around to face him. His kindly wrinkled face wore a worried frown, even though he automatically did not met his gaze. Working at the hotel for nearly 30 years as a butler had taught him how to read people, kind of like the way one reads a book. He could tell the young man was troubled, almost depressed.
Raven took in a deep breath and decided to tell the old man. What did he have to lose? Besides it looked like the old man knew something was wrong with him. How right he was.
"Ah yes, I need your help. My wife. well, my wife is gone," to his complete surprise his voice came out as a whisper.
The old butler nodded understandingly. "I'm terribly sorry sir. Tell me sir, when was the last you saw your wife, sir?"
Raven swallowed. "Well uh, about two hours ago. We're new in town, you see, we were heading up to New Helic City my wife wanted to see the malls they have up there. My sister took me out to dinner; I asked Nina if she wanted to come with us but she wanted to took a shower. So we left, and now she's not here."
Well it wasn't that big of a lie, he reasoned, just a little white lie. But what bothered him the most was why he was letting the old man into his business, what the hell was wrong with him? The moment he got his hands on Xena he was going to strangle her. Yes, he was going to make her pay for what he was about to do.
"I see," the elderly butler said thoughtfully. "Would you like us to help you find your wife, sir?"
He nodded real slowly; maybe if he played his part well enough he could fool everyone into thinking that Reese did it. "I'd really appreciate that. But you don't have to if you don't want to."
His head would break off if Shadow titled his head anymore, what in the name of everything holy did Raven think he was doing? His master had officially gone crazy. He knew it was bound to happen one day, but never imagined so soon. Oh well, maybe his master would be happier crazy.
"It would be my pleasure, sir," the old man smiled kindly.
"Excuse me for just one minute while I get my uh, coat!"
Raven dashed into bedroom, his organiod at his heels. "Shadow," he said whirling around to see they were eye to eye.
Shadow blinked and nodded.
"Listen, I'm going with the old dude to find Xena. You stay here and scour the nearby area for her, while your at it make sure all the zoids are there. I'll be damned if she took one of the zoids, but somehow I doubt that. No, nothing is wrong with me. You know me and Reese talked, right?"
He nodded. Just what was the master getting at? He wondered, but kept his mouth shut.
"Anyways she got me thinking, Xena's got more enemies then we thought. Hiltz wants her and I'm sure he'll probably find an excuse that I got attached or something retarded like that. Fiona got me thinking too, and quite frankly I don't like thinking this much."
Shadow snickered and Raven shot him a dangerous look. "Oh shut up you stupid piece of tin."
Raven quickly grabbed his hat from off the bed and a black coat, and raced back to the open door. Just before he locked the door, he glanced over his shoulder to see Shadow give him a thumbs and sighed. His dark organiod was such a pain.
"Now sir, do you have any idea where Mrs. Witherspoon might go?"
He shook his head, he had a couple places in mind but didn't really want to voice them aloud. The Moulin Rouge.that coffee shop.the mall.. The old guy would think he was crazy, hell his organiod thought he was nuts.
"No I don't. Like I said earlier, we're new in town and have no idea where to go and stuff."
"I think it would be wise to go this way sir, to the surveillance room. There are security cameras in the hotel, sir, and I'm sure the guard would be more than happy to show you the tape."
The old man placed a comforting arthritis crippled hand on the young man's back and lead him down the hall, to the elevator.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Please sir, describe your wife to me. And I'll also need the window of time you and your sister went out,"
Raven did so, silently hoped that no one would recognize him or Reese. Or Xena for that matter, what would they do if they found out he was really a wanted criminal, in deep shit with the Guardian Force and wanted for mass murder? No matter, he would have to take of them if things got to risky. Hopefully Shadow already found her.
On the large screen, he saw Reese and himself walk into the lobby, Specula and Shadow trailing them. He inwardly winced. The way he and Reese were walking could make any one believe they were more than friends, he couldn't believe he didn't even notice!
"Ah there's Reese and me," he muttered numbly.
The camera was above them so it didn't have a good look at their faces, thank God. But one thing was for sure, they dressed funny so they stood out of the crowd. Great.
The black man with white hair, who was in charge of the camera, nodded to Raven. "Yes Mr. Witherspoon, now if I fast forward the tape just a bit we should be able to see Mrs. Witherspoon."
The image turned distorted and soon stopped, there was Xena, her long hair clung to her back. She was walking, a big man knocked into, she shuddered and continued on her way out the door. But there was something else that caught his eye, a tan organiod was a couple feet behind her. The dark man next to it no doubt it's master.
What a tick-that was the same guy and organiod that Van had fought against early in the morning! While he and Xena fought, shit. That meant that guy was after her.. Keyword being 'WAS'. He probably got to her by now and that was most likely why she wasn't back. But one question haunted him, why did she leave the room? What on Zi possessed her to do such a thing?
The elderly butler watched the young man he knew as Mr. Witherspoon, gape at the screen. He knew Mr. Witherspoon wasn't with them, he was off someplace else, thinking of all the possible reasons his wife had left. Poor boy, he thought, he's probably in shock. Currently on the lower portion of the screen was a black organiod carefully making it's way across the crowded lobby. But no one seemed to notice it.
Raven unconsciously narrowed his eyes and muttered something incoherent. Shit, he was in some deep shit. He had a plan, he would find that little bitch even if it was the last thing he ever did. He'd find her and kill the guy who kidnapped her. Then when no one was looking; he'd lead her off into a dark corner, seductively run his hand through her silver hair, gently brush his lips against hers and then grab her by the throat and hold her above his head while she turned blue, all the while laughing manically.
"Yes sir? Would you like one of us to accompany you?" the butler asked.
Raven shook his head and forced a smile. "No thank you. That won't be necessary, thank you for your time."
With that said, he turned a heel and walked out of the workers' area of the hotel and into the lobby. He pushed the door and vaguely thought of the man in the surveillance room, who was probably watching his every move. Did they have cameras outside of the hotel? Most likely. He dashed into the weedy lot.
"Shadow!!"
The dark organiod turned to him, it's head tilted curiously.
"Shadow! I got it!" Raven said breathlessly, his hands on his knees and panting.
Got what? Shadow wondered, as he watched Raven straighten and gaze around. Yes, he decided, master has definitely gone crazy.
"I know what happened! That guy kidnapped her," he placed his finger thoughtfully on his chin. "But why? There's nothing really special about her.maybe he wanted her for the same reason Hiltz did. To destroy/rule the world, however the heck you do that."
Something moved from the corner of his eye, Raven whirled around just in time to see a big bulky man whack the butt of a gun onto his head. Raven fell limply on to his knees and collapsed before he ever saw his assailants face.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Author's Note: Woohoo! Chapter 12 is done! Cliffhanger, ne? hehe. I hope you guys liked it! What will happen to Xena? Who is crazy enough to attack Raven? And what does Van and Fiona have to say about all this? Find out in chapter 13 to "I'm With You"! lol. Sorry, I couldn't resist. Now read and review like the responsible people I know you are! Later. PEACE OUT!
~*Mi ChElLe*~
~*~*~*~*~*~
Shadow glanced around; he didn't feel right about leaving Xena all by herself-who knew what kind of trouble that girl could! Besides, Raven didn't think it would be necessary tell her that he and Reese were leaving to do some 'errands'. That was just it: Raven didn't think period! And that was the end of it.
The day's battle had proved to be an interesting one; then again ever since that silver haired Ancient Zoidian came along all the battles were something else. There were two fights going on in the same area. Xena versus Raven in a showdown of power while close by was Van versus Draco, the same one who in fact had that miserable organiod Tiamat with him. Shadow wasn't too fond of Tiamat to put it simply and the feeling was mutual. Quite a showdown indeed. If he hadn't been in the battle himself, Shadow would have been curling up with a big bowl of popcorn and watching the show, cheering his master on. What he really wanted was to get back at Tiamat but no, master wanted to put Xena in her place as he put it, and that he did with flying colors.
It went like this, being the superior organiod that he, in his opinion, kept track of both battles while participating: ~*~ "Shadow!" Raven yelled from inside the cockpit of the blue Zaber Fang. "Don't you dare listen to a word she says or I'll disown you! Is that understood?!"
Yes, the dark organiod nodded meekly. He knew that those words signaled that Raven wanted to end the battle quick and was about to call on him. Damn and he was having such a good time too. It would be difficult but he would have to do it, because he did was not in the mood to feel the master's wrath.
Meanwhile in the other battle, the Blade Liger was hit by a mirage of missiles it shook violently and fell flat on it's belly. Shadow snickered to himself, hoping Raven wouldn't hear him. Haha Zeke was getting his butt kicked, he thought gleefully, wait until master gets a load of this!
"Gah! Get up Liger! Get up! We can't lose now!" Van Flyheight begged.
Draco laughed. "I can't believe I'm actually beating the mighty Van Flyheight, and here I thought it was going to be difficult.how foolish of me."
"Grrr. Shut up already! You haven't beaten me yet!" he snapped and Zeke in the Blade Liger rose onto his feet, threw his head back and let out a loud roar.
Shadow sweat dropped; that Zeke was roaring victory when he hadn't even won yet! What a loon. Now that he thought of it he never really liked that Zeke. But he despised that Tiamat more though.
Inside of the cockpit of the Blade Liger:
Van fumbled with the controls as he tried desperately to figure out how much damage was done to his zoid from that last attack. Great his performance was down by 25% and that severely ruined his chances for winning this battle. He hoped Zeke could last long enough to at least cause some major damage to that zoid. It was like it was invincible, he'd never fought against anything so power..well with the exception of the Genobreaker. But damn! He was going to have a hell of a time trying to beat this guy.
"Zeke, we gotta beat this guy! We just gotta!"
Zeke agreed, but the question was how they gonna do it? The Liger was still recovering from the last battle, beside the left front leg was still damaged.
'Tiamat, aim for the left leg, it's a weak spot. If we hit him there the Blade Liger will collapse and then we'll hit him with everything we got!" Draco said happily.
Shadow narrowed his light blue eyes at the sound of the name, did the master have any idea what was going on in the other battle? No, Raven was too busy toying with Xena. Shadow could tell he really enjoyed it for he was laughing a lot. And it was making Xena furious.
"Damn you Raven! Damn you to the farthest reaches in all of the seven hells!" she growled.
"Seven hells? There are seven hells?" Raven blinked, confused but still very much amused.
The Zaber Fang turned to the dark organiod who merely shrugged. How the hell was he supposed to know? He was an organiod for crying out loud, organiods go to heaven or hell. They go to Zoid Eve.
"Duh! Ya dumbass, in my religion there are seven hells. But that's besides the point! C'mon Mini Me we can take this loser on," Xena said to her zoid.
Mini Me roared and flung itself onto the Zaber Fang, which sent it to the ground. It made several attempts to get up, but the weight of the liger was too much. Raven had it. How dare she. He maneuvered the zoid to bite the under chest of Mini Me. It shrieked with pain as the Zaber lifted it up of it and threw it into the Blade Liger.
"Raven! You could have killed her!" Fiona shrieked from behind him.
Suddenly everything came to a halt; the Blade Liger turned around to the Zaber, it's jaw open. While the Bahamut and Mini Me tilted their heads to one side. Shadow just grinned, the fools never knew. Haha the master was real clever that time. Of course the master is never really clever.
"Fiona?!" Van's image flickered on the com link inside of the cockpit of the charging big red zoid.
To Van's amazement and horror, there seated behind his arch nemesis was none other than Fiona. She was saying something to him and he shrugged it off.
"Hey Van!" she smiled at his bewildered face.
"You have got to be kidding me! You.and.RAVEN?! What is this world coming to?!!?!"
The Blade Liger set it's hind quarters down in defeat.
Fiona laughed nervously. "Listen Van, it's not what you think. Honest. I had er, a vision.." Raven cut her off.
"And she came to me," he said with a victorious smirk. Finally, he had beaten Van in his own game! Wohoo.
"WHAT?!"
"You should really calm down Van. that vein on your forehead is showing like it does every time you get mad.it's not what it looks. I promise," Fiona said calmly.
"I hope it is, gah!"
The Bahamut fired its hybrid cannons at his zoid and made a direct hit. "Whoops," Draco said in a less than convincing voice. "My bad, do continue."
Van scowled and cut off the com link, he had had just about enough of this. Now that Draco must die.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Tiamat turned to his master; they had been walking through the city of Mastique for some time carrying the Ancient Zoidian girl who could unwittedly cause the destruction of planet Zi. She was out cold and been so for the past hour and a half and frankly Tiamat was getting tired of having her limp form on his back. It was 8:15 p.m and the weird looks they had been getting from passerbyers had been amusing in the beginning but now it was getting old and disturbing, especially when people saw the thick heavy metal chain laced around the girl's arms.
"No Tiamat, we have to go back to the base and find that spell it should be on file somewhere," Draco said in annoyance.
His organiod had been hesitant about the whole thing since the beginning almost as if he was scared for the girl, what happened to him to make him so loyal to her? It was impossible to tell. But the clock was ticking and the sooner they got that spell the better everything would be.
The sound of groaning met the warrior's ears and then a silver blob appeared over the tan colored organiods back.
Xena opened her eyes groggily, ah her head hurt and when she tried to put her hand over her head she found she couldn't. She was on top of something that was moving at a steady pace, but on top of what she had no idea. Her vision was blurred.
"My head." she moaned.
"Your head is the least of my worries," said a strong male voice.
She straightened only to find she could to a certain extent. Walking behind her was the man in the Bahamut who had fought with Major Hottie a.k.a Van 'Hottie' Flyheight when she and Raven had bickered. She heard a low growl and to her surprise Tiamat was carrying her. He was apologizing to her.
"Tiamat, is that you?"
The tan organiod nodded it's head grimly.
"What is going on? Where am I?" her voice was barely above a whisper.
"Can you walk?" Draco asked casually.
Xena turned to the best of her ability and glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean? Can I walk? You beat your ass I can and will all over you."
Draco smirked at her while a part of him was hurt, why did she have to be so rude? He reasoned it was all because of Raven, ah he despised Raven. But that was beside the point! Maybe apart of him was doing this to get back at that raven-haired punk and to save the planet. Who knew? All he knew was that Xena had to be returned from where she came from.
"Okay then," he yanked the chain that had been resting in his hands.
She fell onto the cement sidewalk with a loud 'THUMP'. Ouch that was gonna leave a mark. Tiamat loomed over her and cocked his head from one side; humans.they're so weird.
Soon Xena found herself on her feet again; she had to hand it to that guy he was really strong but then again so was that son of a bitch Raven. Her arms were chained behind her back with some modern device that restricted any movement that was attached to her forearm and went to her other one, then big bulky chains tied the rest of her arms together. It didn't take much to see that Draco meant business and didn't want his prisoner to escape.ever. And to think she thought he was cute.man was she regretting those thoughts.
What would Raven do? Her mind asked over and over even though it knew she was pissed off and beyond at him. At every corner they passed, she silently prayed that Raven would magically appear and save her.What was the matter with her frickin' mind?! She was even at the point of asking Draco to let her pound her head on a pole.
Raven would play it cool, she decided, he would act unafraid and silent. Yeah that's what Raven would do. Her hopes of being rescued grew slimmer as the sun set in the horizon. Any second now Raven and Reese would come back to the hotel from wherever they went to and scour the whole city for her. Or they could wait until she came back. Shit, Xena prayed to the gods the latter would not happen.
"Say uh, Draco.why did you kidnap me and tie me in a long unbreakable chain? she asked nonchalantly, watching the empty streets for any signs of anyone she knew.
"Because I have to," came the monotonous reply.
Xena was feeling curious, never before had anyone tried to kidnap her. "Why do you have to?"
"Why do you ask so many questions?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"I'm telling you Raven, Hiltz is in this for his own personal gain. He can't be trusted. We have to think about the Zoid Eve here, she is at the center of all this, whether we like it or not," Reese said pointing her knife at Raven.
They were seated in a booth at the back of a small café in Mastique, hours before their weekly midnight meeting with Hiltz. Raven had ordered some French fries and a chicken sandwich while Reese, on the other hand, was starving: she ordered a salad, a steak, French fries, and a chicken sandwich. The two had gone out for dinner to talk things over, it wasn't smart to be talking about these kind of things in front of Xena she'd freak, plus Reese was starving. They had no idea that Xena wasn't at the hotel.
"I guess," Raven took bite out of a French fry he had been holding while he watched Reese inhale a chicken sandwich and a salad in less than seven minutes. "But if the Zoid Eve has something to do with this, how does Xena fit in? I mean, I think the Zoid Eve alone is pretty impressive without another Ancient Zoidian."
"True the Zoid Eve is impressive, I'm not a hundred percent sure about this but I think the reason Hiltz wants Xena is because of her power. You have to understand she's no ordinary Ancient Zoidian, each of us are blessed with a power. Mine is psychic, Fiona's is well unknown and Hiltz's is something beyond comprehension. That's how we all survived; we are the last of our kind. Xena's is her power over organiods."
Raven nodded slowly, taking everything in, and ate the rest of the French fry and then grabbed some more. "Alright say your little theory is correct, how do we know he won't just kill her when she refuses to do what he says?"
The blue haired Ancient Zoidian smiled. "I didn't know you cared, I see something you and Flyheight have in common."
Raven practically lunged at her but not a moment too soon decided it was too public a place to strangle her, so he amused himself by glaring daggers at her. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? I thought we were trying to have an intelligent conversation here."
She bit back an icy comeback and smirked. "We were I just found it amusing the little connection you two have together that's all. You both have a soft spot for Ancient Zoidians. Flyheight likes Fiona and you like me and Xena."
"No! I do NOT!! Grr... I do not Reese."
"Yes you do," she calmly cut a small piece out of her steak with her knife and fork and put it in her mouth like the conversation was casual.
"I do not!"
"Yes you do. End of discussion," Reese raised her hand to silence him and it worked. "Now let's go back to our intelligent conversation."
Raven growled and nibbled on his French fries still glaring at her. "Fine."
"If anyone were to know about her ability the end results could end up in chaos, although I am curious of how you managed to find her not to mention awaken her from her eternal slumber."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Van mentally groaned as he listened to Moonbay and Irvine argue over which place they should go to eat dinner; Moonbay wanted something fancy and Italian while Irvine on the other hand wanted something simple and cheap. He wished they'd hurry up and decide, his stomach was growling loudly and there was nothing he could do to stop it. It was embarrassing. This was a large city so naturally there would be hundreds of places to eat, would those two just decide already!? There were better things to do in the universe.
"Will you guys make up your minds already?! I don't care where we eat as long as we EAT! And by the time you two resolve your issues it will be next millennia and I will be a pile of dust," Van snapped suddenly.
Both Moonbay and Irvine turned to the young pilot in disbelief, as if the idea of him butting in was unheard of. He couldn't help but smirk at their shocked features. From the corner of his eye he could see Fiona's head roll on her shoulder, lost in sleep. She had no idea what was going on around her, actually Van found it kinda cute but said nothing.
"Well?!" he met the two's eyes one at a time, waiting for an answer.
"Alright hot shot, since you decided to butt in why don't you decide? Since it appears Moonbay and me can't seem to make up our minds," Irvine said calmly.
Moonbay narrowed her eyes and shot Van a look that clearly read 'You better pick Italian or I'm going to hang you.' He gulped, although the thought of some breadsticks from that fancy Italian place the Olive Garden.was that what it was called? Oh well that didn't matter. He most definitely didn't want the transporter to beat him into a bloody pulp but he also didn't want Irvine to make him die a slow and painful death. Irvine already promised that after what happened to the Lightening Saix the day before yesterday.so either way he was screwed.
"Can we go to that place with the yummy breadsticks where they give you as many as you want?"
Moonbay threw her head back and laughed victoriously and stuck her tongue at the mercenary. "HAHA! Try that on for size Irvine!"
"Oh shut up, just because you won this round." he turned to Van who was beginning to regret his words. "I'm going to kill you."
"Gee Irvine, I feel loved. It's wonderful to know I have friends like you, now I don't need any enemies.all I gotta do is make Raven my friend and BAM! I won't need any enemies because I'll have friends like you," Van said sarcastically.
Irvine just smiled and sat forward in his seat. This was a well-deserved break for the young pilot, he decided, Van had had a tough couple of days. And he needed some rest to get his bearings up, because he was getting snappier than usual then again he always got like this when Raven was around. The effect that guy had on Van was something else; those were the only words to describe it.
""...jigga what..."
Van blinked at Fiona who was mumbling in her sleep, a warm smile crossed his lips as he watched her. His girl, his angelic girl. She kept muttering incoherent things and something about Zoid Eve, was it possible she was remembering something in her sleep? He hoped so, the sooner the search for the mysterious Zoid Eve was over the better their lives would be. Fiona could finally have peace with her past and that was what he wanted the most.
"...that saying is so stupid.."
"Fiona," Van said softly as the Gustav came to a halt at the side of the street. His hand gently caressed her soft porcelain cheek. "It's time to wake up, honey."
She groaned even though there was a soft smile on her face as he stroked her face. "Mmo. go away.."
"Hey Prince Charming, you wake up sleeping beauty while we get us a booth okay?" Irvine said with a smirk.
Van glanced up at him, a blush creeping up on him. "Huh? Da ok. Make sure they have those yummy breadsticks!"
"Yeah yeah." And they were gone, leaving the two teenagers alone in the Gustav, alone.
All sorts of dirty thoughts entered his head at once but Van quickly shook them off, he couldn't think of Fiona as some sort of cheap thrill. He loved her and was willing to do anything for her, she completed his existence. And he respected and loved her for it.
"Fiona.."
"Mmm and the cow jumped over the moon.."
Van arched a dark eyebrow and let out a short laugh, this was getting more amusing by the second. Man could that Fiona sleep, shame she didn't sleep too often, he thought unhappily.
"Honey please wake up I'm hungry and we're at the restaurant," he sounded a little more urgent, maybe that'll do the trick.
Nothing, it just succeeded in Fiona turning onto her side and stretching her legs over Van's lap. She made a soft purring sound. Van mentally sighed and yawned; damn, she was making him sleepy too. But his stomach was stronger then the pull of sleep. He had to get something to eat or else he'd go crazy. Dammit! Fiona looked so damn innocent he couldn't bring himself to yell at her in order to wake her up. Just then someone turned on a little light bulb in the inside of his head.
A devilish smirk found it's way to his lips; if he couldn't wake her up by talking to her.. maybe he could indulge in her fantasies until she did come to. It was worth a shot, what did he have to lose? As Fiona slept peacefully, Van carefully removed her legs off of his lap he did not want to wake her with that. With her legs safely tucked under him, Van awkwardly crawled over her until he reached her face. He licked her lips ever so slowly, enjoying every second of it. His lips connected with hers as her eyelids fluttered open.
Van grinned as he felt Fiona's mouth open in surprise and run his tongue over her upper lip. She was completely shocked, first she had thought a dog or something was licking her face but instead it was Van! She laughed and pressed her lips against his.
She broke the kiss and laughed. "Van, what on Zi do you think you're doing?" she asked breathlessly.
A mischievous look sparkled in his gray eyes. "Waking up my girlfriend," he replied innocently.
"Haha yeah right, sure," she glanced at the front of the Gustav. "Where's Moonbay and Irvine?"
"Inside of the restaurant, waiting for us."
"Oh then we should get going, ne?"
"But, we don't have to go if you don't want to," his eyes got that the twinkle in them again.
Fiona laughed and pushed Van off of her and sat up, the Gustav wasn't exactly her idea of the perfect make out place. But then again, Van was a guy and to him any place was the perfect place. She sighed as she opened the canopy and carefully got out of the zoid. The streets were peaceful, dark but peaceful.
~*~
Fiona glanced through the glass window that was besides their booth. Now that she thought about it she wasn't all that hungry. Her lips were suddenly dry so she rubbed her tongue over them. Damn, she had left her chapstick back in her that was back at the base. So she was forced to suffer in silence.
The pink Shirley Temple swiveled as the blonde absentmindedly twisted the straw. Her thoughts were someplace else, probably back where her chapstick was.
"Fiona?"
"Hmm?" she blinked and looked up to see a pair of gray worried eyes staring at her.
"Aren't you going to order?" Van questioned quietly.
Fiona blinked again and saw a young waiter shift his weight uncomfortably, he nervously ran his hand through his brown hair. She figured this was his first day, maybe she should go easy on him-nah. Well, hm. nothing popped out at her. She saw Irvine and Moonbay pointing out stuff in each other's menus. She smiled faintly.
"Er..I'll uh, have whatever he's having," she pointed at Van, who grinned widely in response.
Once the waiter got Moonbay and Irvine's orders he left. Fiona glanced at her side, the transporter was seated next to her and in front of her was Irvine and Van.
Fiona leaned her stomach against the side of the table. "Van! What did you order?"
The young warrior flashed her a toothy grin. "Wait and see."
"Wait and see? If it's fish I'm gonna hurt you," she hissed.
Van threw his hands in the air. "Everybody wants a piece of Van! God I swear!"
A flicker of light flashed from the corner of her eye, she looked out the glass window with the green words that read 'Olive Garden!' and saw a man holding what appeared to be a chain, a woman, no, girl with long silver hair that looked awfully familiar.well she was attached to the chain, oddly enough. A tan organiod trailed behind them. Fiona gasped and did a double take: it was Xena! She was being held captive by some guy who's face was shadowed so Fiona couldn't see it. Acting solely on impulse, barely knowing what she was doing herself, she murmured a quick excuse to Moonbay as she fumbled to get out of the booth.
"Fiona?" the transporter blinked.
"I uh.forgot.forgot my purse! Yeah that's it!" she wasn't the world's best liar but judging from the surprised looks on her friends' faces, they believed it. Thank God.
Disappearing into a pink and blonde blur, Fiona dashed out of the front door and practically dived into the now open canopy of the Gustav and quickly closed it. One good thing about those was that people couldn't see her. She silently thanked whoever it was that had invented it. She saw Xena lean over towards the tan organiod, no doubt trying to talk to it. But it shook it's head and returned to it's spot behind it's master.
Xena glanced over her shoulder and said something the hiding Ancient Zoidian Fiona couldn't hear. But by the smirk on his shadowed face, it was supposed to be an insult. She was good, Fiona thought, she was trying to press his buttons she he'd get pissed off enough to let go of that chain. She was very smart indeed.
"I wonder how come no one sees them," she thought of out loud. "Maybe people notice but don't want to say anything incase it's someone bad."
She shook her head and answered her own question, sadly enough. "No.that doesn't seem right. And here I am talking to myself in an unnatural fashion."
"Yup, you can say that again."
That voice, were did it come from? From beside her, she thought sadly. She froze and gathered all of her courage and whirled around to see Van sitting in the passenger's seat next to her. And there she was sitting on her knees, peeking through the canopy like an overly curious kitten. She wanted to kick him. The least he could have done was knocked! He always took her by surprise, it wasn't fair.
"V-van, what are you doing here?" she stuttered, willing herself not to overreact and beat Van over the head with his dad's knife.
"I saw you dive into the Gustav and told the others a little story about me having to go to the bathroom. Now, what exactly are you doing here?" Great, now he was turning the tables on her. Just great.
"Like I said earlier, I forgot my purse," she replied indignantly.
Van stretched his legs over the gray dashboard, crossed his ankles and folded his arms over his chest. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. He was thinking.
Now get a grip girl, her mind told her, just because he's super sexy AND your boyfriend doesn't mean a thing! Don't tell him anything! Fiona nodded and tore her gaze from him to her thumbs.
Ever since they had kissed on Monday, his life got increasingly more complicated by the second. Then that silver haired girl everyone called a demon from Fiona's past appeared and soon chaos had ensued. All he wanted was a nice quiet uneventful evening, no battles, no Xena, no Raven, no people trying to destroy the world, no nothing. Just one peaceful little evening, was that too much to ask for? Apparently so.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The room was cold and empty, everything looked exactly the way it did when he left. Now the small hotel room looked ominous and threatening, and gave him the feeling of being small. He hated feeling small. His good graces vanished the moment he had twisted that doorknob. Everything looked as though they were laughing at him, having a wonderful time at his stupidity, at his expense.
A low growl came from beside him, she wasn't here. And hadn't been here for some time.
"So she's not here, well go figure. Good work at any rate, Shadow," the young man sighed, what he wanted more than anything was to go to sleep. But knew he couldn't, too much was at stake here.
Shadow cocked his head to one side and growled. His master was acting very strangely, he decided, but why? Aside from the obvious that she was gone. Why did he have the feeling master was sad?
"Can I help you, sir?"
An old man bowed as the young man turned around to face him. His kindly wrinkled face wore a worried frown, even though he automatically did not met his gaze. Working at the hotel for nearly 30 years as a butler had taught him how to read people, kind of like the way one reads a book. He could tell the young man was troubled, almost depressed.
Raven took in a deep breath and decided to tell the old man. What did he have to lose? Besides it looked like the old man knew something was wrong with him. How right he was.
"Ah yes, I need your help. My wife. well, my wife is gone," to his complete surprise his voice came out as a whisper.
The old butler nodded understandingly. "I'm terribly sorry sir. Tell me sir, when was the last you saw your wife, sir?"
Raven swallowed. "Well uh, about two hours ago. We're new in town, you see, we were heading up to New Helic City my wife wanted to see the malls they have up there. My sister took me out to dinner; I asked Nina if she wanted to come with us but she wanted to took a shower. So we left, and now she's not here."
Well it wasn't that big of a lie, he reasoned, just a little white lie. But what bothered him the most was why he was letting the old man into his business, what the hell was wrong with him? The moment he got his hands on Xena he was going to strangle her. Yes, he was going to make her pay for what he was about to do.
"I see," the elderly butler said thoughtfully. "Would you like us to help you find your wife, sir?"
He nodded real slowly; maybe if he played his part well enough he could fool everyone into thinking that Reese did it. "I'd really appreciate that. But you don't have to if you don't want to."
His head would break off if Shadow titled his head anymore, what in the name of everything holy did Raven think he was doing? His master had officially gone crazy. He knew it was bound to happen one day, but never imagined so soon. Oh well, maybe his master would be happier crazy.
"It would be my pleasure, sir," the old man smiled kindly.
"Excuse me for just one minute while I get my uh, coat!"
Raven dashed into bedroom, his organiod at his heels. "Shadow," he said whirling around to see they were eye to eye.
Shadow blinked and nodded.
"Listen, I'm going with the old dude to find Xena. You stay here and scour the nearby area for her, while your at it make sure all the zoids are there. I'll be damned if she took one of the zoids, but somehow I doubt that. No, nothing is wrong with me. You know me and Reese talked, right?"
He nodded. Just what was the master getting at? He wondered, but kept his mouth shut.
"Anyways she got me thinking, Xena's got more enemies then we thought. Hiltz wants her and I'm sure he'll probably find an excuse that I got attached or something retarded like that. Fiona got me thinking too, and quite frankly I don't like thinking this much."
Shadow snickered and Raven shot him a dangerous look. "Oh shut up you stupid piece of tin."
Raven quickly grabbed his hat from off the bed and a black coat, and raced back to the open door. Just before he locked the door, he glanced over his shoulder to see Shadow give him a thumbs and sighed. His dark organiod was such a pain.
"Now sir, do you have any idea where Mrs. Witherspoon might go?"
He shook his head, he had a couple places in mind but didn't really want to voice them aloud. The Moulin Rouge.that coffee shop.the mall.. The old guy would think he was crazy, hell his organiod thought he was nuts.
"No I don't. Like I said earlier, we're new in town and have no idea where to go and stuff."
"I think it would be wise to go this way sir, to the surveillance room. There are security cameras in the hotel, sir, and I'm sure the guard would be more than happy to show you the tape."
The old man placed a comforting arthritis crippled hand on the young man's back and lead him down the hall, to the elevator.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Please sir, describe your wife to me. And I'll also need the window of time you and your sister went out,"
Raven did so, silently hoped that no one would recognize him or Reese. Or Xena for that matter, what would they do if they found out he was really a wanted criminal, in deep shit with the Guardian Force and wanted for mass murder? No matter, he would have to take of them if things got to risky. Hopefully Shadow already found her.
On the large screen, he saw Reese and himself walk into the lobby, Specula and Shadow trailing them. He inwardly winced. The way he and Reese were walking could make any one believe they were more than friends, he couldn't believe he didn't even notice!
"Ah there's Reese and me," he muttered numbly.
The camera was above them so it didn't have a good look at their faces, thank God. But one thing was for sure, they dressed funny so they stood out of the crowd. Great.
The black man with white hair, who was in charge of the camera, nodded to Raven. "Yes Mr. Witherspoon, now if I fast forward the tape just a bit we should be able to see Mrs. Witherspoon."
The image turned distorted and soon stopped, there was Xena, her long hair clung to her back. She was walking, a big man knocked into, she shuddered and continued on her way out the door. But there was something else that caught his eye, a tan organiod was a couple feet behind her. The dark man next to it no doubt it's master.
What a tick-that was the same guy and organiod that Van had fought against early in the morning! While he and Xena fought, shit. That meant that guy was after her.. Keyword being 'WAS'. He probably got to her by now and that was most likely why she wasn't back. But one question haunted him, why did she leave the room? What on Zi possessed her to do such a thing?
The elderly butler watched the young man he knew as Mr. Witherspoon, gape at the screen. He knew Mr. Witherspoon wasn't with them, he was off someplace else, thinking of all the possible reasons his wife had left. Poor boy, he thought, he's probably in shock. Currently on the lower portion of the screen was a black organiod carefully making it's way across the crowded lobby. But no one seemed to notice it.
Raven unconsciously narrowed his eyes and muttered something incoherent. Shit, he was in some deep shit. He had a plan, he would find that little bitch even if it was the last thing he ever did. He'd find her and kill the guy who kidnapped her. Then when no one was looking; he'd lead her off into a dark corner, seductively run his hand through her silver hair, gently brush his lips against hers and then grab her by the throat and hold her above his head while she turned blue, all the while laughing manically.
"Yes sir? Would you like one of us to accompany you?" the butler asked.
Raven shook his head and forced a smile. "No thank you. That won't be necessary, thank you for your time."
With that said, he turned a heel and walked out of the workers' area of the hotel and into the lobby. He pushed the door and vaguely thought of the man in the surveillance room, who was probably watching his every move. Did they have cameras outside of the hotel? Most likely. He dashed into the weedy lot.
"Shadow!!"
The dark organiod turned to him, it's head tilted curiously.
"Shadow! I got it!" Raven said breathlessly, his hands on his knees and panting.
Got what? Shadow wondered, as he watched Raven straighten and gaze around. Yes, he decided, master has definitely gone crazy.
"I know what happened! That guy kidnapped her," he placed his finger thoughtfully on his chin. "But why? There's nothing really special about her.maybe he wanted her for the same reason Hiltz did. To destroy/rule the world, however the heck you do that."
Something moved from the corner of his eye, Raven whirled around just in time to see a big bulky man whack the butt of a gun onto his head. Raven fell limply on to his knees and collapsed before he ever saw his assailants face.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Author's Note: Woohoo! Chapter 12 is done! Cliffhanger, ne? hehe. I hope you guys liked it! What will happen to Xena? Who is crazy enough to attack Raven? And what does Van and Fiona have to say about all this? Find out in chapter 13 to "I'm With You"! lol. Sorry, I couldn't resist. Now read and review like the responsible people I know you are! Later. PEACE OUT!
~*Mi ChElLe*~
