A/N: a mostly dialogue-centric chapter for you all. Yay arguing!

Enjoy~

Stan had never ran so fast in his life. Not when he watched Trent getting shot down, not when Shelly caught him reading her diary for blackmail, nothing on earth could have propelled him as quickly towards the base as what he'd just witnessed. He had no idea how the group would proceed, if they even could with Kyle being gone. Gregory wasn't nearly as up-to-date on the Rats as Kyle, and, even though he was a great strategist, there was a reason why the redhead always held the reins.

Worried blue eyes flickered back and forth, looking for Rats as he continued pummeling down dried grass and kicking up copious amounts of dust with his steps. His heart was beating uncontrollably, unable to gather his thoughts into a cohesive line. He was worried sick. Worried about the team, worried about the chances of escaping, and of course the most prominent fact in his mind: His best friend was caught in the Rat's lair. He had no idea what they could want with him, he didn't know why he'd heard one of the Rats say 'that's him'. Had they been targeting Kyle this whole time? Did they know that he was their main source of intel? Maybe they saw him starting the fire earlier that day.

It was all too much. Way too much. He needed the team. They had to rescue him before Kyle was just another casualty to add to the list.

He finally made his way to the camouflaged door of the base, methodically scanning the area for any Rats lurking around who may find them before tearing it open and shutting it behind him, his feet pounding as he rushed down the steep dirt hill into the main room, finding the group staring at him with wide eyes.

Christophe got to his feet and shook his head. "Kyle...iz 'e..." he bit his lip and scanned Stan up and down.

He shook his head and ripped the scarf from off his hair and face, running his fingers through the black locks wildly. "They...they took him!" he shouted, looking at them with tears filling his eyes.

They all jerked back a bit in shock and Clyde stammered out, "T-took him? You mean they didn't-"

"No!" he exclaimed, anxiously pacing the forefront of the small room. "He...The branch snapped and he fell and then the Rats and-"

"Calm down, Stan," Gregory walked up and grabbed him by the shoulders, staring at him with firm hazel eyes. "You need to slowly walk us through what happened."

Wendy came up, pushing Gregory off and gently grasping Stan's arm. He let her lead him to a chair and sat down, slamming his face into his palms. "Oh god they..." his voice cracked and he shook his head slowly. "Kyle oh god..."

"Stanley," Christophe sighed, lighting a cigarette and taking a shaking drag. "What 'appened?"

He took a deep, shuddering breath, looking around the room at the absolutely distraught faces, his own in the same shape. "He...he got the transmitter through the window," he said slowly, remembering with heightened adrenaline watching the glisten of it as it sailed through the crack like Kyle had been born to make it happen. "Then he didn't signal, which you know Ky never forgets," he bit his lip.

"And then...?" Token urged him on.

"So I could see him, right? Just barely, but I could see him trying to move back on the branch as quick as he could...but it just snapped," he sniffled. "It snapped and he fell and the four Rats that were there were right on him, he didn't have time to so much as think of running," he wiped tears from his eyes, dropping his gaze down to the ground.

"Four of them and no one shot him?" Cartman blinked. "The fuck were they doing then?"

"T-they didn't even raise their guns at him!" he raised his arms in exasperation. "And then one of them went to grab him and he slit his throat."

"Atta boy," Tophe muttered, nodding approvingly.

"Yeah but two of them grabbed him and he couldn't get out of it," he said. "And...and the one Rat died and the last one did the weirdest thing," he cocked his brow at them all.

"What?" Craig tilted his head, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"He said 'check him', and they pulled off his scarf," he held his own in front of him, waving it around like a madman. "Then he said 'that's him' and 'take him to the room I'll tell the boss' or something," he pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation at his blurry memory. Too much was happening way too quickly. Kyle always told him that the two of their biggest weaknesses were their emotions. Kyle learned to shove those deep down inside of him to unleash when the time was right, unfortunately, Stan had never quite been able to follow suit.

He looked up to see the team staring at him in complete shock before Christophe grunted, "Zhey were targeting 'im," he shook his head. "Zhey were after 'im and only 'im out of all of us I'm willing to bet."

"But why?" Butters perked up from beside of Cartman. "W-why would they go after Kyle?"

"Because he's our most valuable asset," Gregory sighed.

Stan looked over at Ike, who was staring straight back at him with frightened eyes, the young boy shaking in place. "Ike..." he started.

"They...Ky..." Ike tried to force out before breaking into sobs, placing his hands over his face. Bebe rushed over to his side, cooing at him and rubbing his back. "Oh God not Kyle, not him!" Ike broke out and clasped around Bebe, burying his face in her shoulder.

"Shhhh," she said, stroking his hair. "I gotcha." She looked up at Stan and bit her lip. "Do...do you think they'd..."

"Non," Christophe interjected, ashing his cigarette onto the dirt. "If zhey targeted 'im, it means zhey want some'zhing from 'im. Zhey wouldn't keel 'im," he paused. "At least, not yet." He looked over at Ike who burst out into heavier sobs, looking around at the team with heavy brown eyes. He sighed, walking over and placing his hand on Ike's shoulder. The boy looked up at him with tears streaming down his face and Tophe tried his damnedest to give him a reassuring smile, as far out of his comfort zone as it was. "Zhere zhere," he said. "Your bro'zher iz far too smart to be done in by zhese Rat bastards."

Ike sniffled, breaking off of Bebe and looking up at the mercenary. "It's my fault," he croaked. "If...if I hadn't of-"

"Non," he cut in firmly. "I told your bro'zher zis when we lost Kenny, zees zhings 'appen in zis field. Kyle will be fine," he nodded at him. "And so will you."

"Does that mean we're going to break in and get Kyle back?" Token asked.

"Of course we are!" Stan said, jumping to his feet. "We all know that Kyle would be planning out to rescue any one of us were the circumstances switched!"

Christophe looked around at the team once more and sighed, taking a heavy drag from his cigarette. "I...I do not know if zhat iz our best course of action," he said lowly.

They all blinked at him in shock before Gregory cut in, "He's right, you know. As much as it pains us all to potentially lose Kyle completely...a full frontal break-in of the main building just doesn't seem feasible."

Stan glared at him, his teeth snarling in the midst of bitter tears falling down his dirt-caked cheeks. "What the fuck are you talking about?! We need Kyle or this entire team is going to fucking fail! We're all going to die if we don't get him back!"

Gregory and Christophe looked at each other, each with concern and a clash of anger and sorrow on their faces. "How did they know to target him?" Gregory asked softly. "He was always so careful."

"Even if you are careful, you can still be spotted," Tophe answered. "Kyle would not be 'ard to pick out of us," he gestured around the room.

"His hair," Stan said blankly, staring down at the ground. "They had to see his hair to see if it was him."

Christophe nodded, "Exactly. If zhey were able to see zhat he was ze one running our intel from 'is scouts, zhen zhey would 'ave no problem waiting until 'e came close enough to capture."

Tweek bit the heel of his hand and shook his head. "Oh man, and they probably know that he was always out on every mission! They could've been waiting for him this whole time! Jesus!" he hiccuped, curling up on the floor against the wall. "It's all over, Man! We're dead!"

"Calm down, Tweek," Gregory sighed. "Look, getting Kyle back is something that we all want, but I just don't see how it's possible. Maybe...maybe he could have figured something out, but he was much more versed in this than myself," he said guiltily, looking at Kyle's blueprints still strewn about the table beneath him. "He could count off the Rats' numbers off the top of his head, I unfortunately have not done the same amount of work in this matter..." he trailed off and shook his head softly. "I just don't see how we possibly could."

Stan could practically feel his heart break with the words. He knew exactly how things would go down for his kidnapped best friend: Either he would comply with whatever they were after him for and be held hostage until the very end. Or, much more likely considering Kyle's stubborn nature, he'd refuse and be killed just the same as so many before them. "We...we can't lose him," his voice cracked. "Kyle would-"

"Tell you the same fucking thing," Cartman interjected. They all shot their heads over at him as he leaned against the wall with a sneer. "I want you to think about this for a goddamn second, Marsh. Let's say it was..." he looked around the room, "Token who got captured instead? Do you really think that Kahl would be planning to go save his black ass?"

"Yes, he would!" Stan spat. "Kyle knows that every member of this team fucking matters! You saw how he got over us losing Kenny!

"But Kinny was killed," he reminded him. "If Po'boy got dragged in instead of him, he'd probably be saying it was 'too dangerous' to risk it or some shit!" He glanced around at the team with narrowed eyes. "You all know that the only reason this is even being considered is because it's Kahl. If it were anyone else, the matter would be done, we'd take the loss, and just keep on fucking going."

"Zat may be true," Christophe said, gaining a dark glare over his face at the man across from him. "'owever, Kyle iz far too important to ze team to just-"

"Oh, I'm sorry," he interrupted angrily. "I forgot! Kahl's the only one who matters, right? After all. It was him that took down that line of Rats a few weeks ago, not Marsh, right? It was him that managed to sneak in all the food we need from their supply tents, not Tweek, Butters, and Kinny! And how could we forget the brilliant bug he built-oh wait," he rolled his eyes. "Maybe that was his shithead brother instead!"

"Cartman I am fucking warning you..." Stan sneered at him.

"With fucking what, Hippie?" he challenged. "You all are standing around acting like that fucking Jew was the god of the fucking universe! If he was so great, then we'd already be out of here and living somewhere where we're not killed just for the fucking fun of it!"

Christophe threw his smoldering cigarette on the ground and stamped on it angrily with his boot, staring the boy in his eyes, both sets of mocha brown irises clashing against one another in a furious rage. "Let me tell you some'zhing, Fat boy," he hissed. "Were it not for 'zat fucking Jew', you would not even be 'ere to insult him!" he pointed a long finger at him accusingly. "Or 'ave you forgotten zat two years ago, 'e saved your wide ass from the Rats when you got caught getting food for ze team?" he raised his brow.

Cartman just glared at him with an unmoving face, shifting his weight uncomfortably on his feet. Everyone knew that Tophe was right. Had Kyle not been there to distract the Rats by using himself as a target, Cartman would have no doubt been killed right on the spot after sneaking out of the Rats' supply tent. It was perhaps the only moment between the two of them in the midst of the war where they were civil to one another after the fact. Neither spoke of it, but everyone had been told the story by one of the old scouters they used to harbor with them. It was a defining moment for the team, one that they reminded themselves of whenever things got rough or they just wanted to break from the pressure. If Cartman and Kyle could set aside their differences and lay down their lives for one another for their cause, then anybody else in the world could find a way to do the same.

"But, Christophe," Gregory said softly, finally breaking through the tension of the room. "Cartman does have a point. Not saying that Kyle was the most important piece of us, but that we need to know when to take our losses."

"No...no..." Stan shook his head slowly. "No, Kyle is the one person here that we cannot afford to lose!"

"Right," Wendy stood beside him and nodded her head. "He's the only one of us who can even begin to get close to an answer to getting out of here."

"But what if he couldn't?" Clyde asked softly. "You heard him, he said we have three, four weeks tops to get out before we're completely sealed in. He was starting to run out of ideas."

"Maybe...maybe his usefulness finally ran its course in intel," Token added quietly.

"But the Rats sure as hell don't think so!" Stan argued. "Otherwise they wouldn't have taken him hostage!"

"Maybe t-they just want him for ransom," Rebecca suggested timidly. "I-I mean, if they know he's so important..." she trailed off, softly tapping her fingers together and looking off to the side.

Gregory nodded, "That is always a possibility."

"What the fuck do we have that they'd want to trade Kahl for?" Cartman rolled his eyes. "Newsflash, people, we live like the goddamn mole people!"

Christophe scoffed and shook his head at his outburst, "Zhey could easily say if we surrender, zhey'll give us back Kyle un'armed."

Stan's face sunk and he stared at the dirt. "He'd never let that happen, Kyle would rather die first," he said quietly. "Jesus Christ..." he closed his eyes, fighting off more tears threatening to worm their way down his face. His eyes opened a bit as Ike came over and grasped him in a hug, softly returning the embrace. They were together in this. Regardless of how important the rest of them felt Kyle was to just the team, the redhead was both of those boys' entire world. They all knew it as they watched the two of them huddled in together in complete loss.

"I highly doubt they would be willing to actually trade him," Craig muttered. "They could have taken any of us for that kind of deal. Hell, they probably would've taken Ken today if that was their idea. But they were looking specifically for him, so they probably want his information on how to wipe us out."

"Kyle would never do that," Ike said firmly. "He'd...he'd..."

"Die first," Token echoed Stan and sighed, rubbing his neck exhaustively. "Guys, I don't know if Kyle will make it out of this one."

The idea shattered around them like a mirror, each shard reflecting every ounce of fear in the team's eyes. Losing two team members in one day was strenuous enough. Losing the top man for plans as one of them was an absolutely devastating blow that they could all feel the residual effects coming down from. Without the plans, they'd have no missions. Without the missions, they'd have no chance.

Christophe sighed again, looking around the room at every face. "We...we should...sleep on it," he said slowly. "We all need to 'ave clear 'eads. And I don't zhink any of us 'ave zat. Everyone iz to go to bed and we will discuss it in ze morning." The team nodded and he looked at them once more. "Each of you must really zhink about it. If ze consensus iz zat we rescue Kyle, zhen we will plan it out. If not, zhen..." he trailed off and sighed. "'e was a fine soldier to work with and we will continue fighting for 'im, oui?"

Each of them slowly and silently made their way down the tight corridor to their own separate alcoves. The sound of old mattresses squeaking as they each sat and stared at the dirt floor filled the claustrophobic environment, tensing them all the more. Only Ike and Stan stayed together, neither of them even needing to ask the question as they both walked into Stan's alcove and sat on the bed, still clinging onto one another. Sleep was the furthest thing from anyone's mind, but they all knew that regardless of whom they lost, the battle was still going to be raging on. The Rats would want nothing more than to break down what little defenses they had, especially knowing that now they held the piece of the puzzle that was working so adamantly on keeping the team afoot.

Stan stared at the edge of his room, eying Sparky propped up in the corner. His lips curled back and he snarled, bringing Ike closer into his side. Nothing but red shot through the boy's deep azure eyes, knowing full and well that Kyle would be shouting at him to keep himself under control were he there with him. But he wasn't. Kyle couldn't be there to keep him in check as he had for so long, Stan knew that this fight was his own now. Whether or not he himself made it through, regardless of whether or not he could pull Kyle from the depths of the thrall, one raging thought was perfectly clear in the boy's devastated mind: He'd get those Rat bastards back.

A/N: Ah Kyle you're so important pft. Next chappie will be a short one, so it shouldn't take long to get to. No promises, though. You know me.

Thanks for R&Ring!