Ok, It's 8:40 on Friday the 18 of Februrary and I did update! So I hope it's enjoied and i'm sooooo sorryI couldn't put it up sooner. Blame school or I would have had this up last week.

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Chapter 4: Terrorists?

I spent the remainder of the day in the nurse's office after my lunch experience. At two, just after the bell rang to announce the end of the school day, Dual came and we walked out to the parking lot of the school to find his car.

"Looks like you're going to have a bruise," he pointed out as we got into his car. I knew he was referring to my left cheek where I'd been punched earlier. It still hurt like hell if someone touched me there, but not as much as it had before.

"I'll live," I replied.

So Dual drove us home. He made a snack once we got home while I began my homework. After setting a plate with a peanut butter sandwich on it next to me he moved off to another room to watch TV for a while. So I sat alone, nibbling on the sandwich and mulling over math homework for about an hour or so. It was then that I heard a sound from the dinning room…something that sounded like breaking glass.

I looked from my seat in the kitchen towards the door leading into the dinning room (a door which at was closed at the moment). Still on edge and not caring to take chances I got up and moved silently to the kitchen counter which was set up in two parts forming an island on one side that was between the other counter and the doors to both the hall and dinning room. Once there I opened the closest drawer, luckily finding the kitchen knives, and picked up the biggest one I could find along with a considerably smaller one that I could throw. Then I waited, listening. I heard movement. More then just one person was in the dinning room now.

In my mind the situation was possibly life threatening. I had heard breaking glass and there were now people (not just one, but many) in the dinning room of my house. My parents weren't home and wouldn't be for days and I was alone with my brother who probably had no idea what was going on. So what do I do?

In moments I was moving towards the door that lead to the hall. If I could make it passed the dinning room entrance in the hall (a door that was also closed at the moment) I could go warn Dual. Just one problem, the people in my dinning room decided to go exploring and opened the door from the dinning room to the hallway just before I set foot out of the kitchen. Since the door opened towards me though I had a split second to duck out of sight to the right and crawl back behind the counter gaining the element of surprise before they could investigate the kitchen. Once sitting behind the counter I chanced a brief look around the corner and was rewarded with a small glimpse of the invaders. I saw about five, all dressed heavily in black to the point where it was impossible to tell who they were. There were more for sure and two of them were walking towards the kitchen. All of them had guns which put me and Dual at an extreme disadvantage. Definitely not the best home situation.

My breath caught in my throat as I heard cautious footsteps on the tile floor of the kitchen. In moment's those two would come around the counter and see me. Against my better judgment I decided to take action, jumping up so that I had a perfect target not even five feet from me. Without hesitation I launched the smaller of the knives I had at the closest invader, gaining a somewhat crude satisfaction when I heard him fall to the floor with dull thump. Now just one left… but when I moved to strike the other intruder I found a gun aimed squarely at my head.

"Drop it," the man said to me, nodding slightly to the knife in my hand.

I was in no position to protest so I dropped the knife, which fell to the floor with a loud clang. I was hoping to gain Dual's attention. I found out later that he'd fallen asleep in front of the television and had been surprised when the invaders woke him so it didn't work. But it was a nice try.

About a half an hour later Dual and I were tied to chairs in the dinning room while our captors spread out, searching our house for something. They wouldn't tell us what. They left two to guard us. Once we were alone with our guards in the dinning room Dual decided to take action. I had to say, I was awfully surprised by the fact that he could remain so calm during the entire event. There was something about him that was…well to say the least it was as if this wasn't an unusual situation to him. And it also seemed like he knew exactly how to deal with these situations.

"Hope you guys aren't planning to use us as hostages. If you did well… you're sorta screwed. Dad's away on business for the week," Dual said, taunting them. Neither of the guards paid him any attention. Both just continued their conversation.

"Guess that's a yes. Well it was a good try. You guys did have the silent thing down. Didn't count on Kiyo here being a problem though did you? Probably didn't even know he existed. Serves you all right, he should have gotten the other guy as well," Dual paused a moment to see if he was getting a reaction. Slowly through out that last sentence both guards had been annoyed visibly. I was surprised to say I actually understood Dual's goal then. He wanted to annoy them to death. It was a great plan…if we had a way of untying ourselves. Dual mustn't have thought of that.

"So what is it you want anyway? If it's important it won't be here. Dad probably took it. Guess that means you're screwed there too. Oh well…"

"Will you SHUT UP!" One of the guards finally yelled.

"Make me," Dual replied, his tone switching to one of deadly calm. It made me very afraid.

"Oh I'll make you you bas…" the guard was cut off by the bullet that entered his right temple. In the time it took for that guard to reach the ground the other guard received two bullets to the chest, falling in mid grab for his gun. I turned to where the bullets originated from to see…a boy my own age? He was perched on the seal of the window that was broken in a way that reminded me very much of a cat. He had dark brown hair, some of which he kept irritably brushing out of his face, and cobalt eyes that were cold and calculating holding no warmth I could tell like Dual's did. The boy jumped down into the room with an almost inhuman grace and made his way toward us. Judging from the smile Dual wore he was a friend of sorts I concluded.

"It's about damn time," Dual said as the boy removed a knife from his belt, cutting the ropes holding Dual to the chair before doing the same to mine.

Once done the boy merely looked at him before shrugging.

"Would you rather have done it yourself?"

"A little sooner would be nice Phoenix," Dual replied. "What are you doing here anyway?"

Phoenix's only response was to point to me.

"Kiyo? It's too soon though. Dad said they wouldn't start on him for at least another year. Not everyone has the excessive skills you do Phoenix. Some of us are mere mortals you know," Dual said, the last part with a hint of amusement that brought a shadow of a smile to Phoenix's lips.

That smile, however small, faded moments later though as Phoenix gave his very serious answer.

"Something went wrong, but we can't talk about it here," Phoenix replied as he walked back over to the window. "I was sent to bring you both to Earth. We're leaving now."

Dual gave an audible sigh before he began to follow Phoenix.

"Just promise me you'll keep the life-threatening stunts to a minimum while we've got Kiyo. If anything happens to him I'm dead twice over," Dual muttered.

Phoenix raised an eyebrow before turning those cold eyes upon me.

"Great job so far," he answered. At that I self-consciously reached up to my bruised cheek and was rewarded with a wave of searing pain. I made a mental note not to do that again as I followed Dual and Phoenix out the dinning room window and stealthily out of the yard and down the street.

"Where's your car?" Phoenix asked as he looked about him.

We were on the street now, which was a good distance from the house. People were walking along casually not even 10 feet from us. They had no idea that we'd just come from a house full of terrorists…didn't have a care in the world probably. It was an interesting concept.

"Back at the house," Dual replied.

"Well that won't do…" I watched as Phoenix's eyes roamed the streets, a hint of mischief evident just below their normal coldness. So he did have feelings…

"Ah-ha," his eyes settled on a bright red two seat convertible on the other side of the street. By now the people I'd seen earlier had moved off and we were alone on the street.

On the other side of me Dual's eyes fell on the same car.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?"

I turned just in time to see a sly little grin on Dual's lips. Before I knew it both were heading for the car. I followed, not quite sure what those two were up to, but strangely interested anyway.

Dual stopped just short of the car and spent a few moments taking in full all of the surroundings.

"Clear."

At that Phoenix jumped over the door of the car and into the driver's seat, pulling out his knife again. I watched, disbelieving what I was seeing more in more with each passing moment. He'd hot-wired the damn thing in less then a minute!

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" I asked suspiciously. If I wasn't mistaken this fully fell within the boundary of Auto Theft.

"Just get in," Dual replied as he gave me just a minute shove towards the car.

With a quick look at the two, showing me both weren't worried in the least; I opened the now unlocked passenger door and climbed in. It was then it dawned on me that there were only two seats, one occupied by myself and the other by… Phoenix was DRIVING!

"Um…hey, why's he driving?" I asked somewhat shakily. I was uncomfortable with Dual driving…and he had a license. Phoenix though, being my own age, didn't even have a permit!

Dual jumped up and sat in between Phoenix and I on the edge of the top-cover.

"Oh he does this on a normal basis," Dual replied with a slight smirk.

A normal basis… who the hell was this kid?

Beside me Phoenix put the car in gear and pulled out into the street doing a full 180 and making a b-line for the shuttleport. Terrified I closed my eyes, finger-nails fully embedded into the seat. For once I was glad I wore my seatbelt.

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So that's chapter 4. Everyone else should come in next chapter... at least I hope to get that far next chapter. Thanks for the reviews as always!

Lil' Miss Tipsy: I'm sorry I made you wait so long. You're lastreview was heartwrenching and i'm sorry I couldn't get this up sooner today. Trying to balance advanced clases, music lessons, homework (the neverending piles i've accumulated), and writting's no easy task. But i'll try harder to get this story updated each week.

Stary Angel1: Thanks. I'm glad you like it so far. I wasn't sure how this fic would turn out just because i'm doing things differently. It's the first time i've used 1st person and my themes are a little more violent then usual. I'm happy you like it though. Thanks again for the review!