"Ivanov; explain."

"Oh, are we on second name terms now?" Tala asked tauntingly. He suddenly turned serious. "I don't have time to explain myself now, Kuznetsov; I need to find Kai."

Tala made a move to walk away again. "Wait, Tala." The redhead turned back around to look at the neko-jin. "Is… is Kai hurt or something? Tala, you have to explain, or we can't help you!"

Tala paused, his eyes hidden in darkness.

"Just tell us where Kai is and then you can tell us the rest on the way." Ray continued.

Tala looked up. "You can't come. It's too dangerous."

Bryan frowned. "Might this have something to do with Boris or Voltaire?"

Tala looked at Bryan. "Voltaire…" He said quietly. "He has Kai and I think they're in the old Abbey labs."

"And you were going to go in there on your own? How many brain cells did you lose in that coma?" Bryan exclaimed. He sighed after a pause. "Tala…we're coming with you and that's that; you can't stop you." Tala looked unsure. "Listen, if we come along, you stand a better chance of getting yourself in and Kai out. Ray's a neko-jin, for crying out loud. And plus you'd have firepower in a literal sense." He added, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at the hunters, who were now up and with it.

"…Fine. Let's go."

They had walked in silence for a long time now. Tala had assured the others that he would explain; he just needed to get it together in his head.

He sighed. "I guess I should start with the cause of this…" He murmured suddenly.

"Your cyber mind."

Tala glanced at Bryan in the corner of his eye and nodded. "You think that it shut down on its own."

"Well, now I'm not so sure."

"It wasn't. My mind was built to be perfect in everyway. Just in case I got out of control, a remote was built to shut my mind down; temporarily or permanently. But Boris didn't know about this; because he didn't built it, for once. It was built by Voltaire… or at least commissioned by him." He chuckled blackly. "If Boris did know about it, I would be long dead by now… the remote was hidden, but I found out where it was hidden. I suppose I should mention Kai at this point, eh? He's the one who persuaded me to get the file… and he's the one who took the punishment for me when they noticed the file misplaced… I don't understand why Voltaire didn't shut down my mind sooner, but I can guess it was because he was busy with BEGA."

"But Boris was head of BEGA." Ray stated, confused.

"Yeah, he may have been the head of BEGA, but who was funding it? Boris was left bankrupt after BIOVAULT caved in."

Bryan nodded. "And then when BEGA caved in because of Tyson and us, he got angry-"

"Planning his revenge." Tala finished. "I think I've worked it out, though. He's finally got it through his thick skull that when people stick together they're stronger, not weaker. Sure, he knows that Tyson brought it down ultimately, but without us, he wouldn't have done it; especially Kai."

"And you." Ray said. "No offence, but if you hadn't have been put in that coma, Tyson wouldn't have gotten the firepower to fight back against Boris."

Tala looked at him surprised. "He was fighting for me?"

Ray nodded. "You should've seen him in your room before the tournament. He gave this speech about getting Boris and getting you out of that coma; it was amazing… for Tyson, anyway."

A pause, the only sound heard being the crunching of the snow beneath their feet.

"So let me get this straight," Bryan said, "Voltaire shuts your mind down, therefore bringing Kai right to his front door when he's after the remote. He takes Kai, but somehow your mind is reactivated. You go after him; Moon Child somehow knows and brings us here, when we think that you've been attacked by the other hunters and-"

"Wait, wait, wait, time-out." Tala stopped walking and turned to Bryan. "Why would those other hunters want to attack me?" He caught a look in Bryan's eyes. "They… they attacked you… didn't they? How bad?"

"Half a meter…" Ray coughed.

"What?"

"Ray, can it."

But too late; Tala understood. "Half a meter gash?" He winced. "Jeez…" But his blue eyes turned deadly and piercing. "They're paying for this… Come on. We have to get there soon."

"Having fun there, Kai?"

Kai didn't reply. He was just bordering in between conscious and unconscious. He was manacled off the ground on a stone wall. He wasn't suspended as such, but the strain on his wrists were excruciating.

"I thought as much." Voltaire sneered. "But don't worry, Kai, all will be over soon… for you anyway."

/Evil grin/ Aren't I a nice author to my characters? (well, not 'mine', per se.) So Tala's explained and now Ray and Bryan know a lot more than they did. The (good) hunters are still on the rescue-Kai-bandwagon; but will they get there in time?

Anywho, review!