"Please let us go" Relena blurted at once. This man frightened her, but she wasn't going to let that stop her from negotiating Catherine's release. "O-or at least let Catherine go." Catherine let out a strangled 'no' as Relena continued, "S-he shouldn't be here, so please spare her and-," Relena had no time to finish. The man had walked up to Relena, kneeled down in front of her and swiped his hand across her face. She let out a yelp as a red mark began appearing on her cheek.
"Relena!" Catherine cried. She stared coldly at the man, who had turned his attention to her. She felt a sudden surge of confidence, "Don't you hit her, you ass hole! Why the hell are we here? Who the hell are you? Give us some damn answers!" She demanded furiously letting her Circus tongue take over.
He looked her over with an impressed, but slightly annoyed look in his eyes.
"Out of those questions, Catherine Bloom, I shall grant you one." He spoke quietly with his cold voice, which had melted a little since his conversation with his ex-employee.
" How do you-,"
"Ah-ah. One question only my dear," he played, with a slight smile. Is this man flirting with me? She thought as he leant a hand to help her up. Cautiously she took it, then helped Relena up, all the while thinking about which question to ask. Relena gave the man, then Catherine a confused look. Then Catherine decided on her question.
"Who are you?"
"Are you sure you want that question Catherine?"
"Who-are-you?" she repeated.
"Very well my dear," he straightened his shoulders and smoothed a wrinkle on his jacket. He ran a hand through his neatly kept dark hair, and offered her and Relena seats.
When he settled himself down in a chair, he looked at the girls with a blank expression.
"My name is Joshua Robert Catherton the Third. Son of Joshua Robert Catherton the second." Catherine's mouth twitched as she fought a smile, "I own Catherton Industries, and I also own 11 other companies located all around the world."
"Your Joshua Catherton!" Relena exclaimed, a slight blush coming over her cheeks.
"Like I just said, Miss Peacecraft." He snapped sending her an icy glare, that made Relena retreat once again. This isn't good. This man has power, and lots of it. God I hope the guys find us soon…
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After looking through two hours worth of video each, the guys all leaned back in their chairs exhausted, with no leads.
"There's no one in these videos. Only her bodyguards are the same. And that's us." Duo grumbled wiping some sweat off his brow. "And why is it so hot in here?" He stripped his jacket and picked up a clipboard to fan him self. Wufei followed suit, then Quatre, Trowa and finally Heero. The rooms' temperature felt as if it had exceeded 85 and all the computer equipment had just made it heat up quicker.
"I'm not sure, but we have to keep looking. I'm sure there's bound to be something. We have to find them." Heero pressed, hunching over his monitor and watching the video. There was a silence as the guys resumed their tedious task. After ten minutes, Trowa looked up.
" I still think we're looking in the wrong direction." Trowa said once more. Heero's head snapped up, his anger toward Trowa near its boiling point.
"Why do you keep saying that Trowa? It has to be Relena! People are always wanting ransom money for her!" Heero barked suddenly standing up. Trowa stood up to, and looked down on Heero.
"Then why isn't there a ransom yet? They've been gone five hours! Don't they usually send one by now? Huh?" Trowa argued, raising his voice.
"Who cares about the ransom! She's gone, and this is entirely your fault Trowa! If you hadn't been so lax, Relena wouldn't be gone!" Heero yelled, even louder.
"Hey! Don't forget that Catherine is gone too! Don't forget that! It isn't always about Relena! You act as if she's been the only one kidnapped! And don't you think there's even the slightest possibility that they wanted my sister!" Trowa exploded for one of the first time in a while.
The others stood watching in amazement as the two roared at each other. Even Wufei who was feeling very aggravated by the heat forgot it as he watched the two fight. Right before Heero had a chance to say anymore, Sally walked through the door with a tray of water.
" I hope I'm not interrupting anything." She smirked, knowing very well what she had interrupted. Wufei got up to help her with the tray and kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you. I think they were about to shoot each other," he mumbled into her ear, and then took the tray to the guys.
" I'm so sorry about the heat guys." Sally apologized, using a handkerchief to wipe sweat from her neck. She too, had also stripped down to her undershirt. " Using this old boarding school as a temporary head quarters, wasn't exactly one of the presidents best ideas. The air conditioner has broken over ten times this summer." She wiped more sweat from her brow, and took a swig from her cup of water. " This heat is just unbearable. There was just another fight down the hall. What this building needs is just a little bit more funding, a little more money so that the air conditioner can stay fixed." Sally continued to ramble about the heat, but some of her words echoed in Trowas head. Funding…Money…
He suddenly remembered. It had to be him. The man who came to watch the show every day the last time they were on earth. One day there was an accident. One of the trapeze artists slipped and landed on the net. However the net was worn and it stretched too much, making the girl slam her leg into the ground. The circus didn't have enough money to get another net, but after seeing the accident, a man came forward and offered a donation of $300,000. That man…Trowa remembered watching thatparticular individualcome into the tent every show, and watch it from the same exact seat. He would always leave after Trowa and Catherine's act however, so he never saw the end. That man…what was his name?
"Catherton." Trowa announced, interrupting the small conversations being held by the others.
"What?" Quatre asked, his ears perking at the name of the well-known Billionaire.
" Catherton. Joshua Catherton." Trowa repeated, more confident this time. It had to be him.
"You think he could help us search?" Wufei asked, cooling himself with a folder.
"He has them. I know he has them." Trowa sat down, ignoring Wufei and typed something into his computer.
"What makes you so sure? We didn't find anything on the computers." Heero added skeptically. Trying to keep a cool head (though difficult with no air conditioning) Trowa relayed the story to them about the net, the donation, and how he watched Catherine all the time. How that man's eyes smiled evilly when he shook Catherine's hand after the donation. How that man always… stared… at Catherine. It made Trowa feel sick knowing he let that man take his sister. What could he be doing to her?
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"Tea?" a young woman in a maid's uniform offered to her master and his guests.
"Yes I'll have some. They wont have anything though." He gave no thanks to the woman as she poured his cup and left the room. "If your wondering why- its because you must not forget how you got here. You are my captives. So you shall eat like one." He sipped his tea gaily as the girls watched. " Well now that you have gotten your answer, I'm going to send you to your quarters." He pushed a button that Catherine didn't notice before, on the dark wood side table.
Two men, different from the ones before, marched into the room and yanked each girl up by their arm. This time they brought out proper handcuffs and put the on the girls' sore wrists.
"Move" One demanded pushing Relena forward, making her stumble towards the door. Catherine took one look back at their captor, who was still sipping his tea, before tripping out the door after Relena.
The men lead the girls down two flights of steps, until it began getting eerily cold all around them. The furnishings around them had been out of commission for a long time, Catherine noticed, because of the thick coat of dust on everything and the collapsed dining table that lay in one of the rooms they passed. There were no windows on this floor so they guessed they were under ground and to their dying surprise, they were forced down yet another set of steps. This floor, was much more dank and unwelcoming. It smelled of dust and rotting wood. One man lit a torch, there seemed to be no electricity down in this basement area, and finally they reached their destination. A cell. There was a little barred window in the door for air, and a little food flap at the bottom of the door. When they opened the door, an even worse odor filled their nostrils. Relena tried to suppress a gag, as they were released from their handcuffs and shoved into the cell. The man holding the torch came in and lit the various torches that hung from the wall.
"Have a fun night ladies," he spoke with a gruff English accent," the master said to give you these." He reached out of the cell to his companion who handed him two bottles of water, two loafs of hard bread, and two blankets. " Its gets awfully chilly down here, I' suppose. Ta'ta." He laughed and closed the door behind him with a dreadful 'clang'.
Alone for the first time since their abduction, Catherine stared at Relena horrified. "Wh-what are we going to do?" she asked nearly in tears. The girl she had shown that man had disappeared. Relena walked over to her and gave her a hug before breaking into tears her self.
"I'm not sure, Cathy. I've never met a man like this. I don't know!"
They stood hugging each other for a long time.
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"Catherton…. Catherton- ah! Here's the right one." Trowa nodded after he ran the name through their information database.
"What does it say?" Duo asked looking over his shoulder. He offered a cup of water to Trowa who took it eagerly. Ignoring that the water had already become nuke warm, he drank it down in two gulps.
"Read it out loud," Heero suggested.
"Joshua Robert Catherton the third. Born- June 16th A.C. 157, in London, England, he's 6'2" and both of his parents are deceased. In AC 175 He married June Trebeck… and it seems she passed away last year in February. Er- there doesn't seem to be an address though. Well heres a picture." Trowa clicked on it. The man had dark brown hair and penetrating gray eyes. There was a scar underneath his left eye, and he had a goatee. Yes. Trowa was 100 percent sure that this was the man who was at the circus. There was no other explanation. "Well there seems to be a picture of his wife here. Lets see what looked like." Duo commented, reaching over his shoulder and taking control of the mouse. No sooner had he said that and clicked on the picture, did everyone's mouth almost hit the ground. On the screen in front of them was… Catherine.
"Are you sure that's his wife?" Trowa asked in disbelief. He read the caption over again.
'June Marie Catheron. Birth-AC.162 Death-AC. 199. Cause of death: heart disease.' The rest kind of blurred.
Thank god it really wasn't Catherine. Trowa breathed deeply and he re-read the caption that seemed more like a death certificate than just a picture caption.
" Is that proof enough for you Heero?"
Heero, who could also not believe the picture in front of him, nodded. " I'm sorry, Trowa."
Okay- that was the end of part 2! Hope you enjoyed it. In the next part of Resurrected, you'll get to figure out what this madman has in store for Catherine and Relena. Tell me your thoughts!
