Chapter Eighteen
One Week Before Christmas...
"Hello Nanase," said Mr. Hsu as Nanase entered Ming's restaurant the next day.
Nanase looked up at him. "Hi, Mr. Hsu. How are you?"
"I'm all right," Mr. Hsu sighed.
Nanase raised an eyebrow with worry. "Is something wrong?"
"Sort of," Mr. Hsu answered. "It's just that Rena was supposed to be here an hour ago. I called her apartment, but no one's answering. I figured maybe she thought she was working the same hours as you and I hoped that she would come in with you, but apparently she's not with you. When was the last time you spoke to her?"
"Last night at the dojo a few blocks away," Nanase replied. "She's still trying to cope with my brother leaving to look for Mayor Haggar's daughter, but she seems to be doing a little bit better each day."
"Then I wonder why she didn't show up to work today," Mr. Hsu wondered.
"I know her sister has a cell phone," Nanase said. "Do you want me to call her sister to see if she knows what happened to Rena?"
"Sure," Mr. Hsu replied. "We're not busy at the moment any ways."
Nanase walked to the back of the restaurant. She took out her own cell phone and searched through the number directory on her phone. She finds Maki's number and pressed 'enter.' Immediately, her cell dialed Maki's cell number automatically.
However, after a few rings, there was no answer and it went straight to her answering machine. Nanase, sighed and decided to try back later.
Throughout the day, Nanase kept herself busy with her job. As much as she tried, she couldn't help but worry about Rena. 'It's not like her to not show up to work,' she thought. 'I imagined she would at least try to call.'
By the end of her shift, Nanase went to call Maki again. However, before she had the chance to dial, her phone rang. Seeing who it was, she was relieved to see that it was Maki who was calling.
She immediately answered. "Maki?"
"Nanase!" Maki said. "Something happened last night. Damn it, and I didn't notice anything wrong until I left."
Nanase felt her heart jump to her throat, noting how upset Maki sounded. "What's wrong?"
"It's Rena," Maki replied. "When I left home this morning, I thought she had the day off and was sleeping in her room. I got home ten minutes ago and saw a note. Nanase, the note is from Mad Gear! They kidnapped Rena!"
Nanase gasped upon hearing that. "What? Where are you?"
"I'm at my apartment!"
"Okay, just stay there, I'm coming right away."
Quickly hanging up her phone, Nanase started sprinting out of the restaurant and into the streets of Metro City. She was very grateful to have chosen to wear flat shoes today.
Ten minutes, she managed to reach Rena and Maki's apartment. The door was slightly ajar and she went inside.
In the living room, Maki noticed Nanase coming in, tears staining her face. She also held a piece of paper in her hand.
"Did you call the police?" Nanase asked.
"There's no point," Maki said as she handed the younger woman the note. Nanase briefly read through it;
'We have Rena. We know that her boyfriend is helping the Mayor search for his daughter. Cease searching and we will let Rena go alive. You have been warned.'
More tears fell down Maki's face as she looked over at Nanase. "What are we going to do?"
"We're going to have to tell the others," Nanase said. "Kairi and Hokuto should be home from work by. Then, we'll go down to the dojo. I'm sure Kyle will be there."
An hour later, everyone met up at the dojo and went into the back. Nanase told everyone about Rena.
"WHAT?" Kairi cried out in shock. "I could understand how Mad Gear wants Jessica, but Rena?"
"She's Guy's girlfriend and it's for pay back for helping Haggar and Cody out," said Maki, showing them the note that was left behind. "But then again… someone attacked her in the apartment once before and he was from Mad Gear. Even despite their current reasoning, something tells me that they wanted her for a while.
"I wonder if Guy, Cody, and Haggar know about this," Hokuto wondered. "I just wish that there was a way for us to contact them."
Then, to everyone's surprise, Kyle stood up. "Then let's go help them!"
"We can't," said Hokuto. "They told us to stay here."
"No!" Kyle cried out, smoothing back his short blond hair. "I can't just sit around anymore and wait to see if the girls will be saved or not! Maybe Guy, Cody, and Haggar don't know a thing about Rena! Since we know, it's up to us to go out there and save her! Metro City is a big city, and it could be weeks before she's found! It'll just be the five of us, and if we happen to unite with them, then we will! I feel like a bum just waiting!"
Kairi stood up as well. "For once Kyle, you have a point. I'm with you on this one!"
"Me too!" Maki said. "This is my sister we're talking about!"
"Count me in," Nanase said.
"Same here!" said Hokuto.
"Good," Kyle said. "Then we're all in on this."
"One problem, Kyle," Kairi said. "You don't have as much training as your brother."
"I don't give a crap," Kyle replied. "I'd rather die an inexperienced fighter trying to save Rena and Jessica than sit on my ass here waiting to see what happens."
"That's the spirit!" cried Hokuto.
"So let's go out there and help our brother and friends!" said Kairi.
"Yeah!" cried everyone.
A few minutes later, everyone walked out the dojo in their respective fighting uniform.
"Let's go," said Kairi. He began walking down the streets of Metro City. His sisters and friends follow him.
Later that night; Metro City Bay Park
Guy, Cody, and Haggar walked through the park near the Northeastern area of Metro City. "Hard to believe it took us twenty-four hours to get here," said Guy.
"Well, it took us a while to get out of the subway," said Haggar. "Especially since we almost got hit by one that, once again, took us South. We slept down there again and woke up late and began walking towards here."
"You don't have to tell us that whole thing," said Cody.
That's when they noticed a group of people crowded not too far from them.
"Want to see what's going on over there?" asked Cody.
"Fine by us," replied Guy.
The three of them walked over to the crowd. They noticed that some of them have multi-colored hair and a couple of them also had capes on.
Then, one of them turned around and spotted the three. "Look! It's the Mayor and the two other punks," he said with an evil grin.
The three of them immediately stood in their fighting stances. "Yup, there's more of Mad Gear," said Cody.
Immediately, the thugs ran over to them, their fists and weapons ready. As each one went up to the three, they were knocked down after two to four punches or kicks. After a few minutes, all of them were knocked out.
"Belger sure hired some crappy fighters," said Cody.
That's when they heard a maniacal laugh coming from behind them. They turned around and saw a tall man with an evil grin coming towards them.
"You took down my men pretty easily, I'm impressed," he said.
"And who are you?" Haggar asked.
"The name's Abigail. And yes, I am a member of Mad Gear."
"Where's Jessica?" Cody demanded, his eyes narrowed.
Abigail laughed. "I'm not sure where Jessica is, but I'm pretty sure that wherever she is, she is having a very good time with Belger."
Guy immediately turned his head to Cody and Haggar.
"You asshole!" yelled Haggar.
Cody quickly took out a knife. "I'll cut your tongue for that!" Then, he sprinted over towards Abigail.
Abigail waited until Cody was an arm-length away. He quickly picked him up by his shirt. Cody was stocked by this and dropped his knife.
"Have a nice flight!" Abigail said and tossed Cody into the air. Cody screamed until he crashed into a bench, breaking it. Then, he rolled on to the ground and groaned in pain.
"Cody!" cried Haggar.
Abigail laughed again and he turned his head to Guy. "You know, as a matter of fact, Belger is probably having double the fun...with Rena as well."
As soon as those words escaped Abigail's mouth, it seemed as if a baseball bat smacked Guy hard into his stomach.
'NO! RENA!' Guy screamed inside his head. Anger filled his heart as he tightened his fists.
"What have you done to her?" Guy demanded.
"Nothing yet," Abigail replied. "Ever since our Mad Gear crew laid eyes on her a few weeks ago, we knew that we wanted her with us. We could've had her then, but then you came along and saved her...twice. Now that you're on this mission, it was the perfect time to take her."
"So why do you want her to become a member of Mad Gear?" asked Haggar.
Abigail sneered. "No, we don't want her to be an official member of Mad Gear. We want her for… our own personal endeavor."
Guy clenched his teeth tightly. "You sick bastards! I'll take you all down before any of you touch her!"
"I'd like to see you try," Abigail said and held up his fists.
Guy leaned forward and then started running towards Abigail in fast speed.
"Guy, no!" Haggar cried out, knowing that the Bushin warrior would end up fighting Abigail with rage. He began running after him.
Guy jumped up, his right foot extended out. Abigail immediately grabbed him by his leg and swung him back. Guy flew away from Abigail and crashed into a big tree. He did his best to ignore the pain as he tried to get up.
Haggar got closer to Abigail. Abigail tried to wrap his arms around him, but Haggar managed to duck under and tackle him down to the ground. The two of them rolled around and tried to throw punches and kicks at each other.
Cody slowly got up and saw the fight between Haggar and Abigail. He got to his feet and ran towards then.
Haggar managed to tackle Abigail and held him down. "Where's Belger's hideout?"
Abigail turned around and spitted blood at Haggar's face. "I don't know."
"You better tell me or I'll-"
That's when Cody came by and swung his arms. A cyclone quickly formed knocking Haggar to the ground and sending Abigail into the air.
Cody jumped in the air and grabbed Abigail. "This is for almost giving me a concussion!" Cody cried. He got on top of Abigail and put his foot on his stomach. As they fell back towards the Earth, Cody extended the foot on Abigail's stomach sending them both flying down in high speed. As soon as they landed, Abigail cried out in pain as he felt the pain between landing on the pavement and feeling Cody's foot digging into his stomach.
Cody kept his foot there for a few seconds before jumping off. Abigail curled up into the ball and held on to his stomach. Cody brushed himself off as they heard police cars coming closer.
"Let's go," Haggar said getting up. They began running towards the other side of the park with Guy following them. When they were far enough, they stopped running.
Haggar immediately turned to Guy and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Guy, we'll-"
Guy brushed Haggar's hand off of his shoulder. "I need to clear my mind for a few minutes," he said. He began walking towards the Metro City bay.
When he was out of earshot, Cody walked over to Haggar. "What's wrong with him?"
Haggar turned to him. "Mad Gear has Rena. Abigail told her. Come on Cody, let's rest for a while. He wants some time to himself."
Cody nodded and the two walked over to a nearby bench.
Guy looked down at the bay. For the first time since he was a young teen running amuck after the death of his parents, he felt a kind of anger that he knew he could hardly control. It was the kind of anger he used to feel for so long until he learned the Bushin arts, the training greatly helping keep his cool. Despite how he was feeling at this moment, he knew that he was going to have to go much deeper than his training in order to focus on the mission at hand… for her sake.
'Don't worry Rena,' he thought. 'I'll find you before those bastards hurt you.'
