A time later, another man joined Chaud and the first man.
"Everything ready, Sid?" said the first man.
"Sid" nodded in affirmation. "All set and ready to blow…I mean, go," said Sid, smiling nastily.
The first man groaned. "How can you make puns at a time like this?"
Sid shrugged. "I dunno, Rick. It just sorta…came out that way."
Rick rolled his eyes. "If you say so." Then he turned to Chaud, who glared at him. "What's with the sour face?" said Rick. "This will all be over soon enough, if you cooperate. Now, make the call."
Chaud gritted his teeth but did as he was told, pushing a few buttons on his PET. Within moments, Manuella had come onscreen.
"Chaud?" she said in surprise. "What is it?"
"There's…a situation," he said. "Maylu's been taken hostage."
"What!"
"The kidnapper's have a list of demands—" he began, but was cut off by the man in charge of the operation, who took the PET from him.
"Understand this," said Rick, maintaining his nonchalance despite the gravity of the circumstances. "If the Net Police send any of their little heroes on a rescue mission, we can and will blow up the entire Fitness Center, along with the girl we have hostage inside. All it will take is for me or one of my colleagues to hit a button, and the place will be up in flames before you can blink. And believe me, we'll know if any of your people have snuck into the building.
"I also ask," he continued, "that you set up a ring of police around the area as soon as possible. We wouldn't want to cause any unnecessary mess if some unfortunate passerby were to wander on to the scene, now would we?"
Chaud ceased to listen as the man began to explain the rest of the demands. He gazed at the Fitness Center intensely, as if he could somehow will it to give up the captive girl it held within itself. He felt completely helpless, and hated it. He couldn't lift a finger to save Maylu, because in doing so he would only sentence her to death. It was infuriating.
Minutes later, the Rick ended the transmission. Then he powered down Chaud's PET. Chaud could hear Protoman's cry of protest get cut off as the PET screen turned black.
The man turned to Chaud. "Now, then. What to do with you, Mr. Blaze…" He looked to his left and hollered, "Hey, Sid. Bring the shackles. We don't want this one getting any ideas."
Sid nodded and stepped over to a portable storage container. He pulled the lid open and rummaged around for a moment. A jingling, key-ring type sound could be heard as he lifted a set of chains out of the container. Shutting the lid once again, he came over to the boss and handed him the chains.
Rick looked at Chaud. "Sorry, kid. Can't have you pulling anything sneaky. Hold out your hands."
Chaud stared at the chains. He was just supposed let himself be shackled up?
Rick's eyes narrowed. "C'mon, Blaze. Do you really want to try my patience?"
Chaud gritted his teeth, feeling his body tense. But he didn't have a choice. He could not put Maylu's life in danger by allowing his pride to get in the way. He held out his hands in front of him and looked away as Rick snapped the manacles shut around his wrists.
The metal felt cold and heavy against his skin. It was going to be difficult to ignore his bindings. He had been hoping he could somehow distract himself from them, but their presence was too blatant. He looked down at them. Connecting the two, there was a thick metal bar that spanned the length of a few inches. Attached to this bar, coming out of the top, was a single, long chain.
Rick held this chain in his hands. He tugged Chaud closer to the trunk of the oak tree that they still stood under. Then, standing beneath a thick branch, he threw the chain up and over, grabbing it as it came back down. He pulled the length of chain until Chaud's hands had been raised above his head, and the boy's heels were just barely off the ground. He then held two of the links against each other and slipped a thick padlock through them, clamping it shut around them.
Rick stepped back to examine his handiwork. Satisfied, he turned his back on the boy and returned to his men.
XOXOXOX
"Boss, I'm bored," Sid grumbled. "Those cops sure do take their time making decisions."
"Maybe so," agreed Rick. "But then again, you've always been impatient."
Sid glanced at Chaud out of the corner of his eye. The boy's eyes were closed, and his chin rested against his chest. "Can I play with the kid?" he asked Rick, sounding hopeful.
Rick sighed. "I suppose I need to let you have some way of venting that destructive energy of yours, lest you end up screwing up the plan somehow. But please, Sid, don't kill him." Sid's cruel grin spread from ear to ear, and he turned from his leader. He paused as Rick added, "And keep him conscious. We might need him."
Sid shrugged. He could do that.
Maybe.
XOXOXOX
As his intelligent mind continued to test out idea after plan after idea to find a way out of this situation, Chaud was roused from his meditative state by a light kick to his shin. His cat-like blue eyes opened, and he found himself looking at Sid.
"So, Sleeping Beauty wakes to a kick just as well as a kiss," said the man, sneering nastily.
"Yeah, and it wasn't worth it at all," said Chaud, closing his eyes again. "You're the ugliest Prince Charming I've ever seen."
A second later, he felt a sharp pain as Sid's booted foot connected with his side. He cringed.
"I may not be good looking," Sid snarled, "but I least I haven't been turned into a human piñata, pipsqueak."
"If someone's life wasn't on the line, your lot would never have been able to get me in the first place, you third-rate gangster."
This time, Chaud felt his breath being forced out of him as Sid threw a punch to his gut.
The boy sagged against his manacles slightly, gasping for air. "Boy," he gasped. "You must get a huge self-confidence boost from knocking around someone who's chained up and can't fight back."
"Actually," Sid replied as he grabbed a fistful of the boy's hair and yanked his head back, "if it wasn't so important to make sure you didn't try anything, I'd have let you down so you could fight me. I know who you are, and what you can do, and I'm not afraid of a challenge. But what the boss says goes, so for now, you get to play the part of my punching bag."
He released his grip on Chaud's hair and said, "Though it will be fun to see how you hold out. Your smart remarks are more than I'd expect from most other prisoners."
He punched the boy in the mouth, smiling with satisfaction as blood began to trickle out from between his lips.
However, as he prepared himself to strike again, Chaud suddenly jumped and slammed his feet into Sid's chest, knocking the man onto the ground. Surprised, Sid rubbed his chest where he'd been hit. Then he grinned. "Gotta admit, you've got spunk," he said. "I really will have to take you on in a fair fight sometime."
His leg whipped up and out, catching Chaud in the ribs. He could hear a strangled sound come from the boy's throat as his face contorted in pain. Sid could see sweat beginning to break out on his face. And yet still, as Chaud raised his head, panting, to look Sid in the eye…still, there was that defiance, blazing as strongly as when Sid had first seen him. Sid smirked. This was turning out to be more fun than he'd expected.
XOXOXOX
