Chapter 5
A/N: Here's chapter 5 for your viewing pleasure. I'm sorry I haven't updated but I'm really trying to focus on finishing an original story I've been working on.
Chapter Summary: The group meets and the "investigation" commences. They receive invitations to a certain tournament and Tala and Kai make an interesting discovery which leads to revelation.
The rain outside when the plane landed reflected the mood of the group perfectly as now each of them had several hours to wonder and worry of what had become of their friend.
"This is ridiculous! It's going to be impossible for all of us to stick together in a crowd like this, especially since we have Mr. Wanders-off-everywhere here!" Hikaru said as they grouped together, glaring at Tyson, who gave her a puzzled "WHAT?!" expression. "How about Charly and Kai find Cleo and the boys and we'll go to the hotel and wait there?"
"Sounds like a plan to me," Charly said, shouldering her carry-on bag and turning away from the others as she and Kai parted ways from the others.
"So… where do you think they are?" Kai asked as they walked, neither of them really sure where they were going.
"If I know Ian and Spencer like I think I do... the food court," the Amazon replied, brushing shoulders with someone who was passing by and then whipping around quickly to grab the back of their jacket as she felt a hand slip inside of her jacket pocket. "Hey!"
Instead of meeting the eyes of a thief who had just got caught she met the laughing gray orbs of Brian, who was holding up his hands defensively, in one of which he was holding her wallet. "Easy, Charly!"
"Brian!" she scolded, grabbing the wallet from him and smacking his shoulder. "Not funny!"
"I thought it was," he chuckled back.
"Someone's grown a sense of humor," Kai said, grinning a little.
"And someone's lost track of theirs," the lavender-haired boy replied and Charly smacked his shoulder again playfully. "C'mon. I'll take you to the others."
"Hey, Cleo," Charly said as the two hugged and then sat down. Both rolled their eyes as Kai nodded to Spencer, Ian, and Brian and all three nodded back. Communication often involved words but not for those four. A single nod could mean an entire breath of speech.
"Have you seen Tala yet?" Kai asked, folding his arms and standing just behind Charly's chair.
"I might've seen him earlier in the crowd but I'm not sure… the guy's a freakin' ghost," Ian grumbled, resting his chin on his palm. "He can appear out of no where and disappear without a trace."
"And whether you think so or not, I hear everything you say about me."
Ian fell out of his chair and Tala, who appeared behind him, laughed quietly and then focused his eyes solidly on the others present. "I see that I'm not too late for the party."
"How unfortunate," Kai grumbled beneath his breath and the two proceeded to glare at one another.
"Easy," Charly said, looking between the rivals and sensing amounting tension, "right now we're all on the same side… though it seems like you two still need to realize this."
"We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him," the Bladebreaker captain grumbled.
"How do you figure that?" Tala asked, eyes burning.
"Vega only went to Russia to look for you! It's your fault she went and it's probably you're fault she's gone!"
The red-haired Russian stepped nearer to his rival and grabbed him by the shirt collar. "Look, I'd never hurt Vega, alright?! She came looking for me, there's nothing I could've done to stop that! And if you really want me to say it, then fine Kai, it's my fault she left but never say I had anything to do with kidnapping her! You weren't there to see them carry her off!"
"You're right… I wasn't there to watch… but if I had been I'd of been trying to do something about it!"
The tension reached a breaking point but before it could come to blows Spencer and Brian stepped in and pulled the two away from each other. "Look, children," Brian growled, holding Tala by the coat collar, "Charly's right, we're on the same damn side here! We all want Vega back but the chances of that happening when you two are too busy acting like rivals is nil! C'mon, she's more important to both of you than a stupid rivalry and you know it. Now cut this bullshit out before I make you."
"Ah, Brian, ever the gentle peacemaker," Ian muttered sarcastically, by now back in his seat. His friend shot him a glare and pushed the chair the shortest boy was sitting in over with his foot.
Tala and Kai broke away from the two restraining them as Ian let out a string of curses from the floor that went ignored.
"Whatever," the two said simultaneously and then proceeded to glare at one another.
"Now only if there was a way to make them realize how alike they are," Cleo sighed.
"Are you kidding? If you ever even said that to either of them they'd be so insulted they would glare you into taking it back!" Charly replied, laughing.
"So what's our plan?" Spencer asked, crossing his arms and forcing Tala to take his seat across the table from where Kai stood behind the girls. This placed the two facing each other, not the ideal arrangement, but at least there was a table between them.
"Tala will take us to the spot where it happened tomorrow so we can pick up whatever clues we might there and we can have Kenny try to put a track on Kaosu's signature," Kai started.
"We probably should also look into people who might've been keeping track of her arrival here, this was obviously planned," Cleo put in.
"Yeah but whoever it was probably didn't ask at the airport for her arrival time. I think it'd be better to look for places they could take her. We don't know who planned this but they likely have motives and means if they're willing to do something so drastic," Brian finished, looking solemn. "It's probably a good thing that we can safely assume someone took her for a purpose."
Charly cocked an eyebrow at him in surprise. "How's that supposed to be comforting?!"
"It means that they're not likely to have abducted her just to slit her throat," Ian explained for his friend, "that's what's supposed to be comforting."
Charly sat up late in the hotel suite's 'living room', staring at the television, which was turned off. A million thoughts were racing through her head, which turned into just a whirlwind of muddled confusion in her mind after a while.
"Charly?"
The girl looked sharply up to find Kai standing behind the couch, looking stoic but a hint of worry shining in his gaze. "Hey, Kai."
"What are you doing up?" he asked, moving to sit beside her.
She shrugged. "Couldn't sleep," she murmured. "You?"
"The same."
Charly nodded quietly and stared into the darkened room, appearing fragile and much smaller wrapped in her throw blanket, eyes overcast and face pale.
"Charly, I know there's something else wrong… I can see it when I look at you," the boy said after a long break in conversation.
"I'm worried about Vega."
"We all are… but I promise we'll get her back."
"That's not what I'm worried about," she murmured, chin sinking to rest on her knees. "I'm worried about what's going to happen to her before that. We don't know why they've done this, whoever they are… how can we be sure that they're not going to hurt her?"
Kai sighed and moved close enough to wrap his arms around her, pulling her into his chest as she hid her face in his shirt. "We just have to hope and pray that nothing happens," he replied. "I have a feeling that they didn't do this to hurt her. You don't want someone like Vega against you, we both know that firsthand, and we know that she would never take abuse of any sort from anyone. The person who did this knows her so they'd know that."
There was a long pause and then the girl spoke, her voice small. "Kai?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you stay here with me tonight?"
The boy looked down at the top of her head, swallowed, and then nodded. "Sure, Charly."
She was asleep in a matter of minutes and when he considered just standing up and leaving her there on the couch, Kai couldn't do it and settled back into the cushions, running his fingers gently through her hair and looking out into the darkness.
He fell into a light sleep after minutes of quietly lounging and in his dreams figures and shadows danced. The identities of the unknown were never revealed but the girl who stood amongst them, eyes looking on mournfully, lips mouthing inaudible words, he knew and he knew well.
Vega.
And just as he came to this realization he woke with a start and was looking around the now lit sitting area. He glanced to the clock on the wall and cursed softly. Five-thirty. He looked to his side and found Charly gone but her blanket was gently laid of him and he sighed as he stood up, stretching. She must've woken before him and retreated back to her bed sometime in the earlier hours. He didn't mind all that much though, if one of the others, more so Tyson or one of the D-boys, had seen them together they'd never live it down.
"So you're
awake."
Kai glanced coolly to Tala,
who was standing just out of his line of view by the window. "What are you doing here?"
"I knew you'd be the first one up," the redhead replied calmly, looking to his rival, eyes piercing. "I figured we could get a jump on things this morning."
"Where would we start?" Kai asked.
"Same place you're thinking we should start: her hotel room."
"What makes you say that I was thinking that?"
Tala smirked. "We may hate each other, Kai, but that doesn't say we don't think alike. Let's go before the others get up, it'll be faster with just the two of us."
"Someone's quick to change their tune."
"Don't get the wrong idea, Kai," the Russian said over his shoulder as he headed for the door. "My being civilized with you has nothing to do with a change of heart and everything to do with Vega. Although I do agree with what Brian said yesterday… now let's get a move on."
"She took her camera and her wallet," Kai said, examining the two items resting on the modest room's dresser. "She was going sightseeing."
"I figured," Tala replied over his shoulder as he examined some of the girl's belongings sitting on the bedside table. "But she went to a warehouse… what's that say about her motives?"
"Nothing I can see… though that is a good question. Maybe something changed her mind," the other boy muttered.
The redhead made his way back to the door and opened it. "I'm going to go talk to the clerk at the desk."
"You do that."
"She received a note that morning," the clerk said as Tala leaned over the desk. "We're not allowed to give information like that out to just anyone. How would you know her again?"
"Family friend," Tala replied. "I'm here just to check in on her."
"Ah," the man behind the desk said, nodding and then removing a slip of paper from a file. "Well, we do not have a copy but I do remember the man who dropped it off here. Young man, thin-faced with black hair and these what you might call 'piercing' yellow eyes. He wore some pretty beat up looking clothes and had the personality of a piranha."
"Alright, thanks."
Kai was already waiting in an armchair near the entrance. "So?"
Tala sighed, running a hand back through his hair. "Some guy leaves a message for Vega to meet him at a certain address, and she goes. The guy wouldn't leave his name though... and I think I know why." His rival raised an eyebrow as if signaling him to continue. "I followed her every time she went out for the last day or so. One time I was being followed. Black-hair, yellow-eyes, same description as the boy who dropped off that note and the same guy who I watched help that other one carry Vega away."
"So, if we find him we find who's behind this?"
"You could try looking for him… but I doubt he 'exists' to any filing system we can get access to."
"Gah! I can't believe they did that!" Charly raged, crossing her arms and leaning against the cupboards.
"I can," Brian, who was sitting at the table with Spencer, Rei, Ian, Lily, and a half-asleep Hikaru, said, looking bored. "This is Kai and Tala."
"Which makes it even weirder," Ian put in. "It's bad enough they left without leaving a note."
"Tala left a note," Spencer interjected.
"Yeah, well not a very good one."
"But it was a note."
"Okay, okay, Mr. Technical," the shortest boy grumbled. "It's bad enough they left, leaving only a very crappy note behind, not telling us where the hell they were going… is that better?"
Spencer said nothing but grinned a little.
"Tala and Kai… you suppose one of them is dead yet?" Hikaru asked from her seat, taking a sip of her coffee.
"If so then I bet it's Tala," Brian said.
"I wouldn't put too much money on that, Kai's pretty tame now. Woe is the guy who gets in it with Tala… especially when all of this is happening," Ian replied.
"True," the lavender-haired boy agreed thoughtfully.
"Let's hope you're both wrong," Rei said, leaning his chin on his fist. "Charly, did you try calling them yet?"
"Kai has his phone turned off and if Tala has a phone I have no idea what his number is… besides, he'd probably hang up."
"Probably," Ian said, making a paper football out of a napkin and 'punting' it at Brian.
"Are you guys completely unfazed by this or what?" Charly asked, eyeing them.
"Hey, we can go out and do our own thing, we don't need to keep up with them," Brian replied. "We could wake up Kenny and force him into some research if that'll make you feel better. But they're probably doing everything we mentioned yesterday at the airport and they'll call us if they find out anything so there's no point in us going out to 'investigate'."
The girl sighed and leaned back against the cupboard.
"Charly," Lily started, frowning a little, "it's going to be okay."
Charly nodded and sighed. "I know."
"Hey, Charly, you might want to take a look at what your dad sent me earlier!"
"Sup, Kenny?" the girl asked, leaning over the back of the couch and peering over the boy's shoulder.
"Your dad faxed me some letters, check it out," he replied, handing over a few folded pieces of paper
"They're addressed to the Amazons, Bladebreakers, and Demolition Boys… it must be something from the BBA," she said, scanning the first over. "A tournament? I don't remember hearing anything about it."
Kenny shook his head. "It's not BBA sponsored and obviously it's extremely hush-hush because these were hand-delivered to your father to make sure they got there, that's why you haven't heard anything about it."
"But what's it about?"
"Some corporation called BladeTech is sponsoring and setting it up. They won't give details on the prize and the people coming are from all over."
"So, will there be the usual teams?"
"I doubt we'd find the Majestics or any of our normal opponents. This isn't BBA sanctioned, meaning these people invited only who they really wanted to show up. There's probably going to be teams we've never heard of or seen there. It's not set up like a normal tournament either."
Charly scanned the paper with a frown and sat down. "Sort of freestyle huh? We can't waste our time with this crap, we have bigger things to worry about," she said.
"It's next week… think about it before you just say no. We can discuss it with Kai and Tala and the others later."
"You still didn't cover why she would've come here," Kai said as they stepped into the warehouse. "It'd take a bit more than some random guy sending her a note to meet them somewhere."
Tala folded his arms and looked around the empty building. "She might've thought it was me."
"She would know your handwriting though right?"
"She could forge it last I knew," the redhead replied, shrugging, "but so can Brian and Ian. Anybody could learn."
"Well… that fits I guess," Kai muttered, "if she thought it was you she'd go in a second. It won our mystery kidnapper her trust. Well, let's check the basement of this place out and see if we can't find anything else."
"Well, clue one that this place was abandoned… someone jimmied the locks on the fuse boxes to get the lights working again," Kai said aloud, pointing out the scrapes on the side of the box.
Tala 'hmmed' quietly at this but didn't seem very interested as he poked around the remainder of the very large basement area.
His eye caught on something a few paces before him and as he neared and bent to pick it up he called out to Kai, "I got something."
"What?"
"Looks like a radio," he said straightening, showing his rival.
"There's nothing special about it," Kai replied, examining the radio. "But we might as well take a look at it so let's get back to the hotel, I'm sure the others are up and pissed."
"So, why are we taking this apart again?" Ian asked, watching as Brian unscrewed the back of the radio and then pulled it off, revealing the wiring inside.
"Just out of curiosity, besides what else do we have to do? Listen to the others argue over that tournament?" Brian replied, raising an eyebrow and then turning back to his work. "Hand me a magnifying glass and a flashlight."
The shorter boy grumbled as he retrieved the two items from the dresser and brought them back to his teammate. "Why do you have those with you anyways?"
"I was planning on passing the minutes by trying to melt a toy army man with the flashlight using the magnifying glass but I didn't really have any time," the lavender-haired boy mumbled back. "Here, hold the light for me."
"You could've just used the microwave; you know it's impossible to do that with a flashlight," Ian countered.
"Yeah, but remember what Cleo did to us last time we did that? Besides, I said nothing about intelligently killing time."
"This is true."
Brian nodded offhandedly as he pulled the chip out of the back of the radio and examined the wiring. "Why does this look so familiar?"
"I don't know you're probably just imagining it, you've taken hundreds of these things apart," Ian replied. "Can I put the damn flashlight down now? My arm's getting tired."
The other boy shook his head as he pulled at the wires. "This isn't like how everything else is wired… it's different. Look how it assembles."
"Every electronic device is put together differently," the shorter boy said, looking annoyed. He paused a second as Brian's eyes narrowed and his lip curled slightly. Something akin to hate ignited in his gray eyes and Ian took a weary step back. "Brian?"
A string of curses escaped the boy as he slammed the radio down on the desk and ran his hands viciously back through his hair as he ducked his head. "I know where I recognize that system from," he practically whispered, voice dangerously low and level, a tone he used when he was forcing himself to contain his anger.
"Where?"
"Take a look for yourself." Brian made a growling sound as he stood up and stalked out of the room cursing lowly in Russian. "Tala!" he shouted, making the walls seemingly quake and the loud 'discussion' in the other room fell to silence.
Ian glanced at the device and lifted it up. The outer shell was cracked in several places from the force with which Brian had slammed it to the table but that became of nil importance as the boy examined it and his eyes widened. "Shit."
"I hate it when they do this," Cleo hissed under her breath.
Kai, Spencer, Ian, Brian, and Tala were standing in a group near the door discussing, very loudly and rapidly in Russian, as the rest of the Bladebreakers and Amazons lounged around the living room, watching them, not sure if it was particularly safe to try and intervene.
"Do you understand any of this?" Tyson asked, looking over to Cleo.
She sighed. "Nope… you'd think that after living with three of them for so long I would but nope."
Charly looked on, the muscles in her neck and shoulders growing tenser with every moment that passed with her just knowing something was wrong. Tala and Kai's voices had raised above the other three's and both looked angry. Tala's expression and evident irritation didn't surprise her, she always figured that he was quick on the temper, but the way Kai was practically shouting at times in the conversation made her stomach twist.
Then the first time Spencer raised his voice, which seemed to boom, made everyone jump. Whatever he said was sharp and quick and made the discussion hush for a moment. As he continued on the other four started arguing again and the battle recommenced.
"This is intolerable," Hikaru growled, having just about enough of it and lifting two fingers to her mouth. The whistle she emitted caught the Russians' attentions and they all simultaneously looked at her. "What the hell is going on that's got you five so damn worked up?! And why can't you discuss it in a language we all understand?!"
The five glanced between one another, each not looking willing to say anything at the moment. "It's hard to explain," Kai said uneasily.
"It didn't seem so hard when you were talking with them," Tyson countered.
Random agreements came from the others and Tala glanced to his comrades and then sighed. "We think we know who took Vega."
"We don't know anything yet for sure," Kai rebutted immediately, "there's no point in saying anything to worry them."
"They need to be aware of the possibility," Spencer argued.
"I'm with, Kai, we don't tell them anything until we're sure," Ian put in, shaking his head and crossing his arms.
"We think Boris took her," Brian said bluntly, entirely toneless. The other four glanced to him and sighed. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
A/N: So there's chapter 5. Not really that bad of a cliffhanger, you guys already knew who it was. Anyways, again, I'm really sorry for the crappy updates.