AU of Pitch Perfect 3 in which the hostage situation is actually dangerous and Beca has returned to join the group at the café to tell them the news immediately rather than returning to her hotel room.
This is the rewrite, they'll be a sequel to this at some point soon, but I have to write that from scratch so it may be a while... anyway, I hope you enjoy this because I think it's better than last time!
The sun shone brightly over the city of Nice, its rays warming residents and tourists alike. Seven young women sat in the afternoon sun, sipping drinks and chatting happily, a nervous buzz in the air whilst they awaited news from DJ Khaled. Chloe laughed at Aubrey's clumsy attempts at French, her eyes fondly glancing around the assembled group. There were no people in the world that she loved more than this group of girls. This was it; this was all she wanted... wasn't it? These girls were her family, her own long since left behind. The redhead's brow furrowed in confusion as she tried to figure out why she felt like something was… missing. Glancing around again, she put the empty feeling down to the fact that there were two Bella's missing: Amy and Beca.
Where were they? Chloe realised that she didn't know where either of them where, and what exactly they were doing that was so important that they were missing out on quality time with their sisters. They were in the South of France, miles away from anyone else they knew, so what on earth were they doing instead? She was about to raise the question with the other Bella's, when a familiar brunette came bounding up to the table. Chloe felt her heart jump into her mouth as the sun illuminated the chestnut hair of the small singer, seemingly something out of a rom-com. The redhead quickly shook her head, bringing herself back to reality as Beca reached the table where her friends were waiting for her.
"Beca, where have you been? Are you okay?" Chloe asked, sensing the distress radiating from her roommate as Beca fiddled nervously with her bag strap.
"Um… I… look guys-" Beca started, not quite sure how to deliver the news to her closest friends. How on earth was she supposed to tell these girls, her sisters, that DJ Khaled wanted her and not them. They had always done this together, Beca didn't know how to do it without them.
She opened her mouth to start again, but was interrupted by an unfamiliar man in a suit. He was tall, lanky, and greasy looking. Beca glowered at him; something about this guy seemed… off.
"Bonjour Bellas! Chicago has sent me to escort you to an event, if you would follow me."
He gestured towards a black van, a sinister smile on his face. The Bellas exchanged looks, none of them knowing what he was talking about.
"Event? What event?" Chloe asked, brows furrowed in confusion, "Chicago never mentioned any event."
Beca resisted the urge to roll her eyes, crossing her arms across her chest.
'Fucking Chicago.'
She'd seen the way the redhead had practically swooned when they first met the soldier Spain, and the way Chloe turned to jelly every time he walked into a room. She hated it. What the hell did she see in that overly muscled douchebag?
'Ooo get me, I'm a soldier man, I have a big gun, I put my life on the line to serve my country, come fawn over me and my rippling muscles! Dumb ass…'
But what did she expect? She'd lived with Chloe for nearly two years now, they'd barely spent a day apart, hell they even shared a bed, and still she'd never been able to work up the courage to tell her friend how she truly felt. How she ached every minute they were apart. How she felt her heart skip every time she heard Chloe sing. How she'd thought of no-one else since she joined the Bellas all those years ago. Even when she was with Jesse, the flame haired singer was the only person she could think of. It wasn't that Jesse was a bad guy, he just wasn't… Chloe.
Beca was pulled from her thoughts by Aubrey, who nudged her as the rest of the Bellas piled towards the van.
"You coming Beca? Or are you gonna stand there like a lemon?" The blonde grinned, knowing exactly what the younger singer had been thinking about. Beca and Chloe were not as subtle as they seemed to think they were, and it was more than a little amusing to watch them have no idea how they felt about each other.
"Wha- no, I'm coming, I'm coming." Beca shook her head and followed Aubrey into the back of the van with the Bellas, an uneasy feeling settling over her.
"Where did he say we were going again?" Beca asked, settling into the seat in between Chloe and Aubrey.
"A beach party! He said something about an announcement, so you know what that means!"
Despite the unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach, Beca couldn't help but smile broadly at the musical tone in Chloe's voice, forgetting in that second that the announcement was not what Chloe or the others were expecting, lost in the glittering excitement of her crush's sky blue eyes. The ginger grinned widely at her roommate as the Bellas broke into song like they often did on the road, Cynthia-Rose leading them into an a cappella rendition of 'Cake by the Ocean', momentarily washing away all the doubts that the co-leader had. This is the way it was supposed to be. All of them together, against all the odds, all the people who said they couldn't, they shouldn't. Who could she ever think of leaving them? Of betraying them by going solo?
"Very good ladies!" The chauffeur's voice rang around the cabin, sending chills back down Beca's spine, once against being pulled from her thoughts. Something was definitely off here. The brunette sat forward, panic staring to flutter in her chest as she realised the windows were blocked off. Where the hell were they?
"Hey, where's Amy?" Beca whispered to Chloe, who frowned in response, looking around the cabin. After Beca showed up, Chloe had just assumed that the whole group was assembled, that empty feeling gnawing at her dispelled when the alt-girl had stood next to her at the café. She felt bad that she hadn't noticed Amy was missing, after all she loved the girl to bits, so much so that she'd happily moved in with her, yet for some reason it wasn't the same as Beca.
"Excuse me?" Chloe moved towards the driver, a serious expression on her face, and a small bubble of panic threatening to overcome her, "We're missing Amy, and we're not the Bellas if we're not all here. Can we go back and get her?"
The chauffeur had since turned his back on the girls, and with Chloe's words he slowly began to raise the dividing window between him and the young women.
"Hey, are you listening to me?" Chloe's tone became more irritable, barely suppressing the panic that threatened to consume her.
"Yo, dude, we're talking to you!" Beca cut-in, scooting forward, and banging on the window that divided them, subconsciously moving protectively in front of the ginger.
The back doors of the vehicle were suddenly thrown open, and a metal canister hit the floor, smoke filling the small space.
"What the-" Beca's sentence was abruptly cut off as the smoke entered her lungs, causing her to cough and splutter. Her eyes began to burn, and she reached out instinctively for Chloe, unable to see her friend but desperate to help her. Before she could find her, she felt a pair of hands grab her roughly, a hand clamped over her mouth, the other wrapping tightly around her waist. The brunette struggled hard, totally bewildered, desperate to help her family. She still couldn't see anything, her eyes watering heavily, but she knew she was in trouble. That they were in all danger. She could hear muffled screams and the sounds of struggling. Who were these people? How many of them were there? What did they want?
She felt a sharp scratch in the side of her neck, her legs almost immediately starting to buckle under her. She realised all too late that she'd been drugged, and that things were about to get a whole lot worse.
'What the fuck is going on? Oh god, Chloe… where are you?'
Her heart was breaking as she heard the distress her friends were in. The world slowly faded from blurry to black, as the muffled cries of her friends slowly quietened down.
'No. No. What is happening? Somebody... anybody…'
Fergus Hobart stood on his yacht, observing the ensuing chaos through his night vision binoculars.
"All sorted boss, we've got the Bellas." A voice came over the walkie talkie.
"Excellent. Bring them to the boat, stash the roommates in the luggage hold, tie the rest to the barriers on the deck." Hobart responded.
He lowered the binoculars, grinning cruelly. Pulling his mobile from his pocket, Hobart dialled his daughter's number.
"Patricia! No need to say anything, I just thought I'd let you know that I've borrowed your friends for a little while. If you want to see them alive again, you'll get down to the docks in the next two hours. Otherwise, I'll put a bullet in each of their pretty little heads and throw their bodies in the sea."
With that, he hung up the phone as Amy started to respond, smiling smugly at the tones of panic and anger in her voice.
"Well… now we're going to have some fun…"
'Ow…' Chloe winced as her head throbbed. 'What's going on? Where am I?'
The young ginger sat dazed, unsure of what was going on. Then, the memories came crashing back. The van. The smoke. The screams of panic from her friends. The hand clamped over her mouth. Fear began to rise in her chest, her heart pounding, her breathing becoming laboured.
'Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh CRAP! Where is everyone? Where's Beca? Where am I?'
Tears formed at the corner of her eyes as she looked around her, trying to figure things out as her panic attack threatened to overwhelm her. Wherever it was, it was cold, dark, and metal. Chloe tried to adjust her position, her arms aching, only to find that her wrists were tied tightly behind her.
'Shit. What is happening? Why am I here? Where is everyone?'
She heard a soft moan to her right, and quickly turned her head, her anxiety soothing slightly as her eyes adjusted and her eyes found the semi-unconscious face of her best friend.
"Becs?" she whispered hoarsely. God her throat was dry. How long had she been out?
"Ugh crap…"
Beca groaned softly, head pounding as the world swam back into view. Where the hell was she? What happened after she blacked out? Where was Chloe?
"Chlo?" Beca croaked, her throat aching. She moved to stand, and, finding she couldn't, tugged at whatever it was that was keeping her arms pinned behind her back. "Guys?" Beca called again, panic starting to flutter in her chest. She tugged harder at her restraints, eyes adjusting to the darkness around her, desperately searching for her flame haired friend, for any of her friends in fact. "Guys?"
"Hey, weirdo." The brunette's heart soared as Chloe's voice rang through the dark.
"Chloe? Where are you?"
"Right side, dummy."
Despite the thinly veiled fear in her voice, Beca calmed a little, as she turned her head to the right, relaxing a little as her eyes met the glittering blue eyes of her friends. Chloe managed a little smile, though her chest was pounding hard as she tried to understand what had happened.
"What the hell is going on Beca?" Chloe's voice shook a little, her eyes searching Beca's for the strength she so sorely needed in that moment.
"I have no idea." Beca sighed, frowning. "I mean, who kidnaps an a cappella group? It's not like we're flush with cash, why else would three of us be living in a studio apartment? It's not like we have sponsors either, let alone ones with deep pockets. Who do they expect to pay a ransom? John and Gale?"
Chloe snorted in spite of herself at the thought of the two commentators turned stalkers receiving a Bella ransom note.
"Can you imagine?
'Good evening a cappella fans, we're here today with a very strange note!
It is indeed Gale, this note claims that a group of French mercenaries have kidnapped the Bellas, and expect us to pay a ten-thousand-dollar ransom.
The audacity of these people Gale. Mind you, what more do you expect from these Europeans?
Indeed John, they simply don't understand the American way.
They're probably women Gale.' "
It was Beca's turn to laugh as Chloe impersonated the two presenters with startling accuracy, the pair somehow managing to make light of the desperate situation they found themselves in.
"Where are the others?" Beca adjusted her position slightly, trying to get as comfortable as possible with her wrists and ankles bound tight.
"If they are, wherever the hell we are, they're keeping them somewhere different." Chloe sighed softly, biting her lip and resting her head on the wall behind her.
Beca's brow furrowed in confusion. Who had grabbed the Bellas from that café? What did they want from them? Who on earth had they pissed off this much, to kidnap them from the back of a van. Sure, they hadn't made any friends on the USO Tour, but even Evermoist didn't hate them this much.
"Beca?"
"Hmm, yeah?"
Beca turned to look at her friend again, and noticed the tears slipping down the young woman's cheeks.
"I'm scared…"
The brunette could feel her heart breaking. She'd never seen Chloe so vulnerable, so terrified, even on the day of her veterinary exams. It was so out of character, and if she was being truly honest it frightened the brunette more than the situation they found themselves. Beca, rather ungracefully, shuffled closer to her friend, closing the gap and resting her head on Chloe's shoulder. Chloe tried to calm herself by focusing on the smell of Beca's hair as her tears threatened to overwhelm her.
"It'll be okay Chloe."
"You don't know that Becs. We don't even know who took us, or what they want with us, or-"
"Hey, hey. Don't wind yourself up, it's not gonna help either of us."
Beca lifted her head to look at Chloe, smiling softly as their eyes met again, the ginger's glistening with tears. Chloe was right; she didn't know if they'd be okay. In fact, they probably wouldn't be and Beca was terrified. But she couldn't tell Chloe that, especially not now. Not when Chloe was this frightened and vulnerable.
"Chlo?"
"Yeah?"
"Are we bobbing?" Beca lifted her head from the ginger's shoulder, frowning again.
"Bobbing? Are you sure?"
The Bellas, minus Chloe, Beca and Amy, sat on the deck of the ship. Tied up, bewildered and terrified, they watched as Fergus Hobart paced back and forth, clock watching.
"Where are Beca and Chloe?" Aubrey's voice trembled but her face was defiant, full of concern for her missing friends.
"Elsewhere." Came the curt reply, the Australian grinning cruelly at the older blonde, "Why? Do you want to join them?"
"I want to know that they're safe." The leader spat, eyes narrowing.
"Oh, they are. For now, at least. Whether or not they stay that way is down to Patricia."
Aubrey glared at the career criminal, but she remained silent, concerned that if she said anything else she'd put her friends in more danger than they were already in. Instead, she shifted her position, so she was closer to Emily. The younger Bella was taking the situation a hell of a lot harder than the rest of them, and hadn't stopped crying since they regained consciousness. Legacy rested her head on the older singer's shoulder, sniffling quietly.
"What's going to happen to us?" Emily whispered.
"Nothing. We're gonna be fine sweetie. Amy will get here soon and kick his ass."
Emily giggled softly, relaxing slightly. Aubrey silently prayed for it to be true, desperate to get off this damned boat and find her friends. She knew them better than most, Chloe especially, and she knew how hard they'd be finding this. Hell, anybody would, this man was clearly unhinged enough to kidnap a group of women off the streets of France in order to blackmail his daughter out of $180 million. God only knew what levels of depravity this man would go to in order to get what he wanted. She wondered how Beca and Chloe were holding up. The feelings they hid for each other were certainly not going to help the situation, but hopefully at least it would help them keep each other safe, even if they didn't know why.
"We're gonna be just fine." She whispered, half reassuring herself as well as the young Bella.