Jake flipped through the papers in his hand; a myriad of orange prints (not blue prints as normal people would order), rough sketches, part orders, receipts of sales and mismatched notes. He was in Dirk's apartment, eyes narrowed at the piles of rubbish- or in his terms rubbish since they were just spare parts and tools- that was lying around. There was so many there- he wasn't really sure what he was looking for either. Something perhaps to take his mind off of the fact that Dirk had been gone for two days. No word on any line of communication- and Jake had made sure every one of them including smoke signals was open for him to use if he wanted… Roxy hadn't spoken to him and Jane was checking all the avenues that she could under the assumption, as Jake asked her to, that Dirk was simply with someone else. But as each passing second continued to click away against the clock, he started to wonder if Roxy had been right. Dirk would have never dropped his phone, he was upset and alone, with someone that none of them knew, had taken a picture with this unknown person and he was the last one to see Dirk besides a bartender who claimed that Dirk was so drunk he couldn't stand. Each one of them knew Dirk was not a lightweight and cut himself off far before he ever got that drunk. Jake sighed, rubbing his temples, reading through a few of the orange penned notes. He needed to just… stay calm.

The more he looked into the apartment, the more it seemed to depress him. Dirk was an absolute genius from how he could make things work. He knew just what parts fit into what, how to make them turn or move, how to make a mechanical heart beat just like a human's could. Jake swallowed, knowing that he didn't compare. Yes, he was intelligent and knew his way around with a wrench- even Dirk had honored him with his own set of tools last holiday- though he knew that he couldn't put as much detail into this machinery as the blonde did. "Dirk." He sighed, wanting to just say the name. Jake stopped short at one of the paper sketches of robots. His face was mixed in with them; a position he'd been in a few weeks ago- half thrown into the armchair of the room, shirtless and tired from a workout. Like his work, Dirk had added detail into the sketch so much it almost looked like a black and white photograph made of just lines. Another one was him eating a bowl of ramen noodles, and another of him just smiling at Dirk- which had been far more recent. Jake shut his eyes, letting the sketches fall back to the table, revealing an actual photo… it was a group shot they'd taken at the beach when the world had been created. They had all woken up on the shoreline, the world recreated after they won the game. The group had been so scared and broken from their experience that they had sat on the beach for hours huddled together and watching the waves roll in. The picture had been suggested by Jane and taken by Dirk since he had the longest arms. The blond had been seriously thin; Roxy's lips were her normal shade since she had run out of lipstick, Jane had a crack in her glasses and Jake had a harsh cut on his forehead. They all were smiling though, relieved to be alive and together. Too many deaths, too many narrow escapes, too many hours praying and crying.

Jake rubbed his eyes before setting down the picture. They all had a copy of it. It showed how far they had truly come from the sixteen year olds who had entered SBURB. He frowned, remembering the conversation he and Dirk had had. They were mentally around forty because of the time traveling and twisting the different areas. But physically, they were about twenty-one or twenty-two, the former being what their ID cards stated that Dirk had made for them. Jake stood finally, wondering through the apartment back into main hallway. All of their doors were open as per usual and he knocked on Roxy's. She was leaned over her large pink wall computer. Roxy glanced up at the sound of him coming in, but didn't say a word. "Roxy, I know you're angry with me. Trust me, I share the feeling." He swallowed looking at the black shag carpet. "But… I'm starting to think you're right about Dirk. The circumstances are worrisome and…" He scratched the back of his head. "I'm sorry… I won't stop saying that. Especially to him I just… have to know he's alright."

Roxy turned her chair toward him, eyes still red rimmed from the lack of sleep and tears. In many ways, Roxy was like Dirk with trying to hide her emotions, though never very successful as he was, "You're an asshole. A jerk and- and- so much more. No one deserved that- even drunk." She shook her head angrily, "But I'm glad you came to your senses." The woman sighed, "It isn't me you need to apologize to for the rest of your life." She turned her chair and gestured with her hand for him to come closer. Jake knew he deserved every bit of that and walked to her, pulling up one of the spare chairs. "What is it?" Roxy tapped a small box in the corner of her computer screen reading '98% complete'. "It's taken me two days to get to that point. I'm the best hacker in this country and it still took me two days to get past the FBI's firewalls and defenses." Jake blinked, "Wait what? Why are you hacking the FBI? Can't they trace it back to you?" Roxy gave him a look, "Not when I leave a trail through almost twelve hundred other cities and lead them to a lot worse people than me. I replaced a boom recipe with cupcake instructions from Jane last week. They'll be lucky if they figure out what's happening for another three days." She muttered and it went to '99%' mid-conversation. "But why?" Roxy shrugged, "I'm going to use their facial recognition software to trace the guy in the picture. If he has prior convictions I can get his address from his case file since police agencies report most of their files to them… then we can go find out what happened to Dirk ourselves from this guy." Jake blinked before wrapping his arms around her, "You're brilliant, Roxy!" He looked back as it hit 100% and Roxy blushed, "Just thought about it... Since we have a picture, why not use it?" Dirk usually the one complimenting her on how brilliant she was. The entire group was intelligent but they all had their areas of expertise. So many just assumed with them; Dirk was anti-social and depressive, Jake was an idiot, Jane was a 'typical' girl and Roxy was a drunkard. Dirk firmly believed that she was the best hacker in the world, as did Jane and Jake. Meanwhile Jane went above and beyond in cooking skills, Jake with marksmanship, Dirk with robotics. Just because they didn't do well in some things, did not mean they were worthless. And more often than not, they had to remind each other of that.

She held her hand out for Jake's phone, which he immediately handed it over. She sent herself the picture, cropped it to show only the face, and marked it into their system. "I don't know how long this will take… there are millions of criminals. He may not even have a record…" She murmured, biting her lip. "It's not a fast lead but it's the only lead we have…" Jake shook his head, "Any is better than none. Don't worry about how long it takes. We just need to find this man and see if Dirk's alright." There was a short pause, "What… are we going to do if he really is alright." There was silence between them, "Or if he isn't." She added with a whisper, watching the faces flip past on her computer screen.

xXx

When Dirk woke, he stayed still as he possibly could besides his chest rising and falling. Not sure how exactly what had woken him, he realized how terribly he hurt. So badly he didn't wish to move even if he wasn't playing dead. His head was just felt like it was in pieces and swollen. His lips were dry, and he felt too weak to do it even if he wanted to. His fingers twitched shooting a pain through his arm. Dirk felt a tug on his collar and opened his pale blond lashes to see Nathanial dragging him down the hall by the back of his gray scrub shirt. He was muttering, words Dirk could only just barely pick up over the sound of his own heartbeat pulsing in his ears. "I may have been wrong to keep you away from others. Humans need friends. I'll let you play with the others for a little while. You'll be much better then, I'm sure." Dirk felt his eyelids about to slam shut again, so weak he couldn't even shiver from the cold ground he was being slid across. There was a bang of a door and a soft gasp from somewhere in the room. "You have a playmate now. Isn't he beautiful? Much better than the others- make sure you take care of him. He brought it on himself, you know." Dirk collapsed on the ground when he let him go, his orange eyes slowly opening to a florescent light bulb hanging above him, swinging back and forth like… he didn't complete the thought, passing out again.

xXx

He was dreaming. It was nice, simple and for a moment was his escape. He had never slept well before the game because of having a constant waking and sleeping self, and it had been even worse after it from the horrors they had all gone through. Jake had sent the nightmares away most nights… but now he was gone. The dream was not a nightmare for once but instead a memory; they were dancing in the snow like when they had gone on a trip to New York a year ago. Since only Roxy and Jane had seen snow, both he and Jake had found it fascinating. They were just dancing, a slow spinning waltz, when Jake had asked him where he had learned to dance like that. Jane had grinned at the remark, knowing she had taught both of them how. Roxy and her clapped as they spun in Time's Square, while the shops were shut down and the snow fell around them. It was nice… so very… very nice.

He woke slowly and unwillingly, knowing what he was waking up to. It would have been nicer to die in his sleep, be stuck in the dream forever. Just dancing and never tiring. Nothing had been wrong inside the dream- now he was here again. Dirk felt himself propped up on something, it felt like scratchy material of wool blankets. Water dripped down on his face and there were gentle movements of someone using a towel against his cheek. His eyes slowly opened and the towel rose up a bit. "Sir?" A female's voice asked, and he blinked unsure what to say, brain sluggish to answer her. He didn't know what to say even when his mind cleared a bit. She was about the same age as he was, dark blond hair put into an uncombed and messy ponytail. She had bandages around every part of skin he could see including the neck and fingers. The bandages were bloody though her face was mostly clear of the white gauze material. When he didn't answer she swallowed, "I'm Jenna." She smiled gently, her voice soft. Her uniform was a faded pink, blood splattered like his was now, with a noticeable bump around her stomach.

"I know you probably hurt a lot." She said with a sigh, "Can't do much about that, but I'll need to set your bone soon." Dirk blinked before looking down at his arm, it was at an awkward angel from where the mallet had hit it. The throb he could ignore- he'd cut off his own head before for Christ sake. He looked around the room as she kept speaking softly to him, "Besides the head injury, do you have anything else?" She asked and Dirk raised his other hand to gingerly touch the back of his head. The welt there was almost the size of a baseball and it hurt to even hover his fingers near it. If he didn't have brain damage he would be seriously surprised. "I'm missing a kidney…" He croaked, breath coming out of his mouth feeling like sand it was so dry. Jenna offered him a little bottle. "Here, drink some. We have enough water thankfully." She nodded, pushing back the rat nest of hair and trying to comb her fingers through it. "I'm really such a mess, sorry about the terrible introduction." Dirk shook his head then realized how badly that hurt and stopped immediately. "Don't worry about it." He murmured resting his head- the uninjured side- on the mess of blankets behind him, "I'm Dirk." He swallowed; this sick bastard had someone else here to torture.

"How long have you been here?" He dared ask, glancing at her stomach. Very pregnant. "Oh about seven months." She shrugged as there was suddenly banging and screaming from upstairs. Dirk had looked up in fright, while she just seemed to know the sound now. "Don't worry, I'll be next." His head turned toward her and Jenna was still smiling, though it seemed forced, "Next?" Jenna nodded, "He only keeps two- that's all he can manage. And he alternates between the gender of who he kills." Dirk swallowed, "So… he killed the last male he had… and that's why I'm here." She nodded and she looked at her fingertips that were covered by bandages. "Bobby." Jenna pointed to the source of a smell that had made him gag not too long ago.

A body was slowly swinging from a noose; impaled through the chest from some sort of twin pole- after a moment he realized it was a pair of tree clippers. Dirk swallowed, looking to her. "He's going to do that to you?!" Jenna shook her head, "Not yet." There was a pause and Jenna swallowed, "Dirk… I have to give you the same advice that Bobby gave me when I came here." Her darkened eyes were tearful, "Don't fight him… whatever he does to you… it only makes it worse. A lot worse." Dirk was about to ask what she meant by that too when the door banged open to reveal a very angry Nathanial.