Chapter 11

"So it begins…"

"That is so corny." If looks could kill…

"Your friends have arrived and just on schedule. It's time for the fun to start."

"I can't believe you just said that. That is so cheesy."

"SHUT UP!" Seth had finally infuriated the insatiable Riley. Not like that was hard, but there were consequences. It was Seth's turn to glare as the teenager slapped Seth. Wasn't he in enough pain? He had a broken arm that was painfully tied behind his back and his recently broken ribs had begun to throb under the constant strain. And then Riley had to go and slap him, well that boy was in for quite a surprise when his twin and Shane showed up.

"We must proceed with caution."

"You sound like someone from a horror film, cheesy and stupid."

"Haha. Seriously Lillian, Riley Drake could be really dangerous, we have to be careful. We don't know what he is capable of."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be careful." But as soon as the door to the warehouse came within reach, Lillian threw caution to the wind and broke down the door. The door fell to the floor with a resounding crash. Shane could only roll his eyes at the teenager.

"When are the police supposed to arrive?" Shane whispered.

"Why? Did you want to wait for them, because you can go ahead and wait, but I'm not going to." Lillian announced suddenly defensively.

"I wasn't suggesting that we wait, I was just wondering."

"Ohh, then they should be here in about ten minutes and before you even ask, I'm positive that I gave them the right address. Happy?"

"Yes. Now no more talking, we want to take this person by surprise."

"Yeah, cuz that always works in the movies." Lillian sarcastically replied. Shane opted to ignore her comment and pressed on to more important matters.

The newest crime fighting duo slowly and quietly walked through the warehouse searching for their missing counterpart. It took some time to find the missing boy for the warehouse had not been emptied upon abandonment. Boxes and old machinery was still piled high and covered in a thick layer of dust. But amongst all the outdated material was the one thing that they were searching for and when they finally found it, they felt relief flood through them, but only for a second.

"SETH!" Lillian found Seth bound and gagged in the middle of a clearing in the old warehouse. Upon hearing his name the twin searched for his sister among the darkness, when his eyes found hers, they begged her not to walk forward, they filled with fear, but the fear was not over his own safety. Lillian did not take the hint. She ran forward to free the captured prey of the Lion. "Lillian, no!" Shane shouted, but it was too late. Sometimes that girl let her fierce loyalty and unnecessary guilt get in the way of common sense. Therefore, Shane was helpless as the Lion attacked his innocent victim.

"And the score is one for the Lion and zero for little ickle Lillian." Despite the seriousness of the situation, Seth just had to roll his eyes at that comment. His sister may have been on the ground, unconscious, due to a vicious blow to the back of the head from a shovel and the Lion may have a knife in his hands, threatening to end the life of the person lying beneath his feet, but the Lion… It was like everything he said came directly from another source. It just wasn't what Seth had expected from a real live situation. It was like he wasn't even at the warehouse, tied up with his sister lying in the middle of the floor. It was almost as if he was watching the whole thing on TV, but the sharp pains spiking up his arm told him that this whole situation was reality.

"Who's going to save you now?" The Lion asked bringing Seth's thoughts away from his epiphany.

"You forgot one thing." Shane walked out from the shadows that the night provided. One could say that Riley was startled. He had forgotten about the ex-Marine. Well, that's what happens when one relishes on victory for too long, they forget about the small details; the small details of an extremely large and muscular, and don't forget well trained, ex-United States officer. Riley knew he was outmatched at this point.

"I just have one question for you Riley. Why did you do all of this? Why stalk and kidnap Seth? Why try to get rid of Lillian? What kind of grudge do you have against the Plummer family?" Riley decided to go along with Shane for now; it could work towards his advantage.

"Seth and I were meant to be together. We're best friends you know."

"No we're not; we haven't been best friends since middle school." This angered the Lion and made Shane painfully conscious of the fact that Riley was still standing between Red 2 and Lillian and himself, a knife placed firmly in his hands. He was attempting to keep the boy talking to calm him to be able to get to the twins, but Seth was making it difficult. Shane glared at Seth, begging him to stay quiet for his own safety and asked Riley another question.

"How did you two meet?"

"Ohh, a long time ago. We were both the outcasts, you know. Neither of us really fit in with the other kids and we were both lonely, so we became friends. He was my only friend in the whole world, and I was his only friend. We do everything together, like we went to the movies together the other month, right before his accident."

"You've been stalking me that long!" Seth was outraged at this fact. Shane sent another warning glare in the boy's direction and told Riley to continue.

"Anyways, before I was so rudely interrupted, we did everything together. We just sort of understood each other. We both shared similar problems that the other could understand and sympathize with."

"What changed?"

"Lillian.You just had to show up." The Lion whispered to his unconscious prey as he brutally kicked her in the side. "After she showed up, Seth began spending all of his time with her. First as Sammy and then as Lillian. He just didn't have time for me anymore. I had to remind him of our friendship."

"The letters and the mugging in the alleyway." Shane guessed.

"Seth had to be punished for his failure to comply with my terms."

"That doesn't sound like a friendship to me Riley, if you're making all the decisions."

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT FRIENDSHIPS! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" Riley yelled, infuriated at the ex-bodyguard. Suddenly Riley didn't care if this was a match he couldn't win, suddenly Riley didn't care about how much bigger the man was than him, all that mattered now was that this man was in the way of his friendship with Seth. Shane must go. Riley, flustered with anger, rushed at Shane in one last desperate attempt…