A.N.: Chapter three is here! I had to rush a bit to upload this, I'm gonna travel tomorrow and wanted to update before I went, since I'll only be back in January! Aren't I nice? ;p
God, how many times must I "QuickEdit" this until the bar is in the right place!
Well, have a good time!
THE WAY YOU ARE IS FINE ENOUGH
CHAPTER 3 – BRILLIANT MIND
"But how in the world will we find kaichou, Takamura-senpai?" Akira asked the ninja.
Suoh looked at him with an obvious smirk. "There's only one way, Ijyuuin. Since we have absolutelyno idea who took kaichou, there's only one thing we can do to locate him: using the CLAMP Campus Satellite Tracking System."
"The CLAMP Campus Satellite Tracking System! But that system was especially developed by kaichou! No one else can use it besides him! It's too complicated for someone who's not as a genius as he is, Takamura-senpai!"
"Ano, forgive me, but what the hell is this tracking system you're talking about? And why's it so complex no one else can use it?" Erii asked curious.
"Because it was developed by the most brilliant mind in this planet: CLAMP Gakuen Shoutobu Seitokai Kaichou, Imonoyama Nokoru. It is so complex no other scientist was able to keep up with his explanation on how to use it! When I watched his explanation, I got dizzy before the first 10 minutes were over! And the other scientist and researchers couldn't handle it either… they all fainted after half an hour because they're brain was overworking! The Hospital had a fairly busy week back then!" Akira explained, eyes sparkling at his kaichou's brilliance. "Come to think of it, the only one who didn't faint was Takamura-senpai, as I learned later when I woke up," the younger boy said as he looked at the older one.
"Well, that's because kaichou had already told me how to operate it… it's quite simple, actually, but you know how kaichou is… he wanted to play a prank on the others, so he complicated the whole thing. Not that he lied or anything, he just didn't explain to the others how to operate it as easily as he explained it to me…"
"Oh," the boy whispered. "Then, does that mean you can use it to find kaichou?"
"Well, yes, but there's one problem."
"What is it, Suoh-kun?" Kotobuki asked.
At this question, the blue-haired boy's face became serious. "I'm going to need all of you working with me, because the tracking system kaichou developed has loads of cameras, and we have to keep an eye on each and every one of them with all the concentration we can master. My eye-sight is not as accurate as kaichou's, so I can't look intently at them all at once like he can."
"WOW! Is it really possible for a 6th-grader to be that great!" Takeshi asked marveled how someone so young could be so intelligent.
"How come we have to be that much concentrated?" Erii asked not understanding how such agreat inventionrequired so much from the user. "What people consider to be wonderful machines are the ones that can do incredible stuff without making the user have to do much at all, right?" She inquired, one eyebrow raised.
As the older student asked him this, Suoh heavily sighed. "Because it's kaichou's doing."
Akira couldn't suppress a chuckle at this answer, but immediately looked away regrettably as his senpai looked at him furiously. "Ijyuuin, stop laughing and let's move!"
And with that command, everyone filed out to the astronomical tower, where the CLAMP Gakuen Satellite Tracking System was located.
When they climbed all the way up the high tower, the group discovered the last door was locked.
"Damn it! We'll have to break down this one!" Said a very exasperated Kentarou.
He was about to transform his words into action, when a hand gripping his arm tightly stopped his movements. Looking back, he came face-to-face with the Takamura boy.
"There's no need for that, I have a copy of the key," he said calmly. "Move away." Kentarou couldn't help but to obey the command, it was like his body stopped listening to his orders and suddenly started following the younger one's. The older student was greatly impressed, especially with the way Suoh had stopped his actions the moment the blue-haired boy's hand landed on the red Dunklyon's shoulder.
As the CLAMP Gakuen Elementary School Student Council Secretary opened the door, the others, except Akira, who had been there before, let their chins drop: the place looked like a secret laboratory from a cheap horror movie. There were computers everywhere; large machines spread all over the main room where they stood in; other adjacent rooms, each with minor equipment and an environment of its own, yet somehow linked to the biggest one; and, at the far corner, close to the big observation deck which was separated by glass doors from a charming varanda, stood the probably largest machine they had ever seen in their whole lives… connected to about 23 large monitors.
"Oh my God!" Erii murmured.
"I didn't know such a place existed in this campus," Kotobuki commented, his curious eyes darting everywhere around.
"Well, people are not really supposed to know, unless they work here. Kaichou didn't want anyone to slack off from work once he and the others started," Suoh answered as he directed himself towards the machine, followed by Akira. Pointing to it, he quickly explained, "As you've probably guessed by now, this is the CLAMP Gakuen Satellite Tracking System. I'll turn it on and have it running in a minute's time, so please discuss who's watching which camera while I do so."
The others nodded and did as they were told. As promised, Suoh got the complicated machine to work soon enough and they all concentrated at their respective monitors.
"Kaichou, where are you?" Suoh mentally asked. The truth was that the 5th-grader was feeling greatly responsible for all that was happening. Nokoru no longer had his bodyguards around him because the Takamura boy had promised to protect him, and the blonde deposited great trust in him, but the fact that neither the bodyguards nor he were watching over the Imonoyama heir, thus giving others a chance to successfully capture his senpai was probably the only reason why they were in this situation… why Nokoru was in that situation.
Suoh couldn't help but feel that he had failed his duty and his one.
However, as he had instructed the others, they had to keep their eyes totally focused, for concentration was the essential key to finding anything with the system Nokoru had developed, so he temporarily brushed those thoughts aside and kept his eyes glued to his assigned monitors.
He had to admit, the functioning of the machine was thoroughly complicated, but the way it worked was simple: using the complex keyboard Nokoru had also developed exclusively for it, the user had to use equations, logarithms and other mathematical tools to indicate the kind of thing he or she was looking for, and the monitors would rapidly change their display as they showed anything that might match the missing object or living being… in a huge space as was CLAMP Gakuen, however, there were thousands of matching descriptions, which is why all the monitors were seemingly going crazy…
After a few minutes, their eyes were already burning when Akira gave a suppressed yell.
"Ah! There he is!" He shouted, pointing to a scene in one of his assigned monitors as it was about to change again. Before it had that chance, however, Suoh brought down his fist in a very strong hit to a red button in the center of the keyboard before him, thus stopping all the monitors' activities. The others came closer for a better look and, sure enough, there was their missing blonde, unconscious, being carried by three black-dressed men, the same who had kidnapped him.
"Give me a minute!" Suoh said as his fingers rapidly danced across the keyboard.
"What are you doing!" Asked the girl.
But Akira relieved his senpai of explaining, as the older was very concentrated on the task at hand. "Takamura-senpai is rounding up the exact address that monitor's showing, and we'll head there shortly."
As if on cue, a paper suddenly slid from a hidden printer in the machine and Suoh grabbed it. Reading it, he dashed to the door. "Let's go! Kaichou's at the docks! I think they're about to take him out of the campus!"
Needing not be told twice, the others followed the Secretary, picking up a speed they never before thought possible to them.
That's just how much the blonde was worth to the group.
They ran as fast as they could.
The limousine they used to get to the docks was driven at such a speed they would surely be fined.
And when they arrived at the designated place, it was mysteriously vacant… not a soul in sight, which was pretty odd, considering the port was always a very busy place.
Brushing the thought away, Suoh looked down at the paper with the printed words in his hand: "storage #21", it read. Looking around, he saw they were currently in front of storage #8, and considering the next to his left was #9, he darted down that direction, hoping the one he was searching for wasn't so far away.
The others followed him yet again.
As they stopped before the designated storage, the two Dunklyon rangers broke down the door, silently apologizing for the damage.
Looking around, they heard loud noises, but they couldn't see much because everything was completely wrapped in darkness, if not for the little light the moon now provided through the recent opening. Searching around, they found a switcher and turned the lights on… only to be taken by surprise as their eyes rested on a very unexpected sight: about twenty men, all equally dressed in gray jumpers, and about a dozen more, who were equally dressed in black suits, were running from one side of the storage room to the other, carrying objects of all sorts and shouting different things… it was a wonder they were getting anything done in the middle of the mess where it was impossible to hear the person next to you.
And behind them stood a small rocket, like a small intergalactic taxi, surrounded by more of the men in gray jumpers.
The moment the lights were turned on, all movement stopped as all the workers looked up at them with startled faces, afraid they had been caught doing whatever it was they were doing, but those expressions eventually relaxed and turned to relieved ones.
The moment the lights were turned on, the six intruders were able to read the labels all men had in their chests… and it clearly read, "NASA".
The moment the lights were turned on, a voice was heard coming from inside the small rocket. "That blond brat! He got my suit all dirtied with his blood! And I just had it washed!" A brunette shouted as he exited vehicle through a side door.
At his outburst, Suoh, Akira, Kentarou, Takeshi, Erii and Kotobuki all looked up at him, silently thankful for telling them where the object of their search was.
But his words weighted greatly in their hearts… Nokoru was bleeding… they hoped it was nothing serious, at least, but the mere fact that these kidnappers had made the precious blood come out of the 6th-grader's body was enough to drive all of them to madness… no one had the right to make Imonoyama Nokoru bleed… no one.
As if in practiced union, the Dunklyon team set out to knock out all of the NASA members now heading in their direction, obviously trying to eliminate witnesses, while Akira and Suoh made their way to the small rocket, not without dealing with some "obstacles" first.
When the two Student Council members were merely five yards from their goal, a loud voice, the same they had heard before, echoed through the room. "Whoever you are, I suggest you stop if you want this boy to live a little longer! Look above you!" The voice ordered.
And they did, their eyes widening at what they saw.
Above them was a large screen, obviously showing the inside of the small rocket. Inside it were a transparent windscreen and a few of the control panels behind a blond man, obviously the one to whom the voice belonged to, since he was still holding a microphone, and two pairs of what looked to be leather armchairs… one of the latter held a small figure completely tied up tightly to it, obviously unconscious…
A figure that was obviously beat and bleeding…
"Kaichou!" Suoh and Akira screamed.
The Dunklyon team remained quiet, obviously perplexed. Even if this boy wasn't their chief, they knew this was clearly wrong… no one had the right to treat a 6th-grader like this, after all, as genius as the kid was rumored to be, he was still just a child.
But when they looked more attentively, their minds clicked both images… of this kid… and of their boss.
"Chou…kan…" all four whispered as they finally realized the beaten blond kid was their choukan after all.
As they got over their initial shock, the Dunklyon team was invaded by anger.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO OUR CHOUKAN!" They shouted furiously in unison.
The previous brunette still standing just outside the side door to the small rocket smirked at their question. "Let's just say our institute got tired of trying to ask him to join us, so we tried a more… uhm… convincing way to get him to join us, but the stubborn kid won't agree. Our chief decided that if we couldn't have his knowledge, no one else would, just to be sure that it wouldn't be used against us. So now, we're sending him to a little trip to the sun… on the house!"
That did it!
"If he's got no chance, then I'm definitely not letting you get what you want!" Kentarou screamed as he proceeded to once more beat the hell out of everyone that stood in his way.
Taking that as their cue, Akira and Suoh advanced again, after all, if their kaichou was going to be sent to his death if they didn't do anything, then risking everything for his safety was the best choice they had.
The man seemed a bit taken back by their forward attitude, but he recovered in time to enter the vehicle and lock the door behind him. Suoh tried to break it down as the Dunklyon pair had done to the storage door, and although he knew he could do it, the boy's heart seemed to be painfully shrinking as he realized he wouldn't bring the door down in time.
Akira stood behind him to make sure no one would interrupt his senpai, but the Dunklyon team was already doing a good job with the remaining NASA workers.
After a minute of pounding, the door screeched, but it didn't give in. The two boys looked up to the big screen and they literally began to sweat cold when their eyes landed on the gun being pointed at their unconscious kaichou's head.
"Keep doing that and there'll be no more of his brains to worship!" The earlier brunette said coldly, as the other man, the blond one, prepared the spaceship for takeoff.
Apparently all the preparations had been finished before they arrived, so it looked like everything was set.
This wasn't looking good… definitely not.
END of CHAPTER 3 – BRILLIANT MIND
A.N.: I think that was a big chapter!
Well, the next one will be a bit short… write ya' all then!
Oh, before I forget, Merry Christmas, everyone! And a Happy New Year to all of you out there!
Syaoran-Lover KaiLi signing out!