I do not own Chaotic nor anything related to it. It belongs to TCDigital.

-\/\/\/-

THe WaY To LuRe a CRiMiNaL

-\/\/\/-

...How long did I sleep for? Ugh, it's so disorientating waking up without a sun in the sky. Or a sky, for that matter. I raise a hand to my face and wipe the sleep from my eyes.

"Good morning, sleepy-head," Isis says.

I sit up and look around. Isis is standing in front of a mirror, adjusting and readjusting her dress. I flip the covers off my body and hop out to join her.

"You're overdue a hair-plucking," Isis notes as I draw closer.

"Not my favorite activity," I grumble.

"Aren't you going to get dressed?" Isis grins. "As much I like seeing you naked, we're going to spend our one day here helping Sarah. And I remember the look she gave you when we first met her, so that's another reason you need to get dressed."

I remember Sarah's flirting too, but something's off. "What was going on when we met her, again?"

Isis's grin falters. "I... don't remember that part."

"It was before we discovered Phelphor," I mutter to myself. I glance at the bed he'd been sleeping in. "Speaking of which, where is he?"

"We're late." Isis explains. "You were so deep asleep, nobody could wake you up, so the others decided not to wait for you and start the discussion."

I cringe and head for my bags. "Then I'd better be quick."

-\/\/\/-

"Absolutely not, Ashley!"

"But it'll work! Sett, I'll be fine!"

"And if someone messes up? If I mess up? What if I lose sight of you for five seconds and suddenly you're gone? What if you disappear into Mount Pillar as some Danian's slave?"

I did not expect Ashley and Sett of all people to be arguing when Isis and I finally arrived in Sarah's living room. The two of them are standing in the middle of the room in each other's faces, and everyone else, the soldiers, the servants, Sarah and her mandiblors, and Phelphor, everyone is staring at the two of them.

"What did I miss?" I sigh as Isis and I sit down.

Sarah turns her attention to me. "Ashley here spent all night awake coming up with a plan to discover and capture the Danians responsible for abducting Humans."

"It involves using herself as bait," I sigh. It didn't take a genius to figure that one out. "Ashley, Sett has a valid point. We could very easily lose track of where you are,"

"Can I at least finish?" she exclaims loudly. "You need to catch the people at that start of everything! If you can grab one of the abductors, then you can use them to find who he's taking the people to get infected, and suddenly you've taken an entire facility off the slave-making production line!"

"That's a valid point as well," I sigh. "Knock a cornerstone aside, and the entire structure will be weaker."

Sarah raises an eyebrow at me, but she speaks to Ashley. "Then how do you guarantee that you won't be taken captive?"

Ashley points at the Mipedian solders near her. "We have about a dozen people with the ability to keep a close eye on someone without being spotted themselves. With everyone invisible, it will look like I'm alone, when in reality anyone who tries to grab me will be walking into a trap."

Everyone stares at her for a while. Ashley turns to me. "You did say we're only staying one day. We're going to need to give our all." There's fire in her eyes as she glares at me.

Curse you Ashley, curse you and your guilt-tripping. I bury my face in my hands and groan, "Fine, fine, let's hear this plan."

Sett spins around to face me. "What?!" There's shock and fury written all over his face.

"Stand down," I say with a grimace. Sett glares at me for a few seconds, the stomps over to his seat and sits down heavily in it.

Ashley immediately begins to lay out her plan. "Obviously we need to set this up in the place where the abductions are most frequent..."

-\/\/\/-

Of all the places in Mount Pillar to be. Of every floor, of every corridor, our sting is taking place here, in one of the filthiest places in Mount Pillar. Not filthy in the sense of dirt and grime, it's actually quite free of that. No, the filthiness comes from what exactly happens here.

Unlike most corridors in and around Mount Pillar, the walls of this corridor are not smooth. There are many small caves, rocky grounds, places that someone could go to be unseen. It makes sense that many abductions take place here, with all the places to hide. There's a reason besides the abductions for all the caves and compartments, though...

A lithe mandiblor wearing a red ribbon around his neck looks up as I walk by. I give him a glance, keeping up my charade while still keeping an eye on Ashley several dozen feet away.

"Are you looking for companionship?" the mandiblor asks, stroking one of his mandibles with a hand. "Fifteen ambers an hour."

This is why this place seems so filthy to me. Welcome to the shady part of the hive, the corridor where prostitutes wait for customers. Danians aren't particularly picky about who they have sex with, apparently.

A feel my stomach constrict as the mandiblor attempt to make himself look appealing. "You're not my type," I mutter as I quickly pick up my pace.

The mandiblor tries to follow me. "I might be your type. Are you looking for a catcher? A pitcher? Maybe an equal partner?"

"I said no," I growl, and the mandiblor quickly leaves.

Those red ribbons, they are the accessory of choice for prositutes in Mount Pillar. I see many of them in this corridor, many on Danians, some on Human men and women.

I try to make sure Ashley stays in my sight. She's not wearing a red ribbon as part of her disguise, thank God. No she's pretending to be a nervous window-shopper, checking out the "wares" and trying to decide what she want. The few times I can see her face, I can clearly see the strain there.

I can understand her stress. Even with an unseen guard around her, she's still waiting for someone to grab her, and in the meantime she has to feign interest in the people around her.

"Two ambers for my services," a woman's voice begs nearby. "That's all I'm asking."

I glance over. A woman dress in rags hides partly behind some rubble. Her face is sunken, her hair is dirty, and her eyes are dull. She too has a red ribbon around her neck.

"I don't need your services," I say as I open my pouch. "Still, you look like you need this." I take out a couple seven-palm coins from the bag and flip them to her.

The woman scrambles to grab the coins as I walk away. Fourteen palms. I don't know exactly how many ambers they'll be worth, but the coins themselves are gold, so the metal itself is worth something if she can sell them.

Wait, where's Ashley? Oh, there she is. My heart stops trying to explode as I force myself to walk calmly down the corridor in her direction.

True, I'm a Human walking down a corridor dangerous for Humans, but I'm not alone either. Maliph and Malvadine are standing by invisible, of course, but Sarah also has provided me a quite visible small army of mandiblor guards. After all, if a Mipedian prince, even a Human-Mipedian prince, is in Mount Pillar, it makes sense that he be supplied a guard.

No, I'm not the one in any real danger. That would be Ashley.

"Hey there, Your Highness," a gruff voice says. I sense a mocking tone to the voice.

I feel a chill run down my back as I force myself to casually glance over. There's a large blue Danian with two legs and four arms, maybe a warrior, leaning against the wall. He's a lot closer than I expected him to be, within grabbing distance. A second glance shows a red stripe, a ribbon, around this creature's neck as well.

The muscular Danian's mandibles click together. "You've passed up nearly every service ever since you started down this corridor. What exactly are you looking for?"

Crap, someone had been paying that close attention to me? "I... uh..."

The Danian steps forward and reaches one hand towards my chin. I step back quickly, and the hand closes down on empty air.

"You're a bit of a teaser, hm?" the Danian chuckles. "You obviously were looking for a partner like me." He leans back against the wall. "Twenty ambers gets you an hour, though I can lower it to ten if you'll let me be the 'male' during our time together."

I shake my head and step backwards. "No, no no no, I've got somewhere else to be."

The Danian scowls and steps forward. "What are you playing at?"

"Attend!" I say firmly, and Maliph and Malvadine appear in front of me, swords drawn.

The Danian backs away. "M-my apologies! I won't give you any trouble!"

I sigh and turn away from him. That took too much of my attention, I need to find Ashley again.

...Where is she?

I look around, my heart pounding again. I can't see her anywhere! I can see her guards, visible and looking quite beaten, lying on the ground with a curious crowd around them, but Ashley's gone missing!

I rush over to the soldiers, dropping my customer act. "What happened?!" I nearly shout as I push through the crowd. "Where'd she go?!"

Every one of the soldiers that had been guarding her is lying on the ground, some unconscious, others groaning in pain. One soldier with his arms around his stomach gasps, "Spectral... viewers... They got... the drop... on us..."

I look up and around. "Malvadine!" I say, pointing at the closest cave. "Search there! Maliph! That one!"

My two guards rush to follow my orders.

I can't have just let them grab her! No no no!

-\/\/\/-

When they had recovered, I'd ordered every soldier to search every cave, every tunnel, for any hint of a passage a Danian, or rather group of Danians, could use to slip away with a captive unseen. Plenty of such passages were found, too many to discover which one was used.

So now I have to tell Sett, tell him that Ashley disappeared right in front of me...

...Sett's eyes widen when he sees me. The news must be written all over my face. "No..." he whispers. "No, you didn't lose her..."

"I... I..." My voice keeps escaping from me.

"You're going to tell me that she's safe, Michael," Sett says, his hands clenching into fists. "You tell me she's safe, and it had better be true."

My heart withers inside my chest. "I'm sorry, Sett..."

The pupils of Sett's eyes turn into pinpricks, and his eyes go wider still. "Please, no... No!" Then his face twists with fury, creases running from the corners of his eyes to the end of his muzzle. "You bastard! You were supposed to keep an eye on her!"

I don't see him lunge. One moment I'm standing, and the next I'm on the ground. Fists pummel my chest and my face. "You!" A punch to my eye. "F***ing!" A hit to my jaw. "BASTARD!"

And suddenly he's off. Two soldiers are dragging him away, and another steps in front of and reels back for a punch.

"Stop," I order as I push myself to a sitting position. "Stop!"

The soldier hesitates, then steps away. I push myself to my feet. "Sett, I'm so sorry. We're going to find her, I swear."

"How?" Sett shouts, his voice a blend of pain and rage and grief. "Where was she taken? Will we recognize her when we see her? Is she still Human?" Sett struggles against the grip of the soldiers holding him back, then sags. "Not Ashley, not you too..."

"Too?" Sarah asks.

I'd completely forgotten about Sarah. She must have seen that whole display... "Sarah, where have you discovered slaves being sold?"

"Many places," Sarah replies. "Too many to cover all of them."

"Where most, then?" I persist. "Ashley's somewhere in Mount Pillar, and it's my fault for letting her go out there! I need to know!"

-\/\/\/-

uP NeXT: THe SLaVe auCTioN

-\/\/\/-

Like I said before, Chaotic belongs to TCDigital.

If you like the story, please follow and leave a review!