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"Missing?", Chiro repeated, "What do you mean?"
"He's not here", Otto said, "Antauri's gone"
"Why would he just leave like that?" Sprx asked, "It doesn't make any sense!"
"Gibson, see if you can get a lock on his tracer", Chiro said. Gibson went right to work on the computer.

"Nothing", he said after a few minutes, "Either it's been disabled, or he's just out of range"

Gibson, Otto, and Sprx were still at odds about yesterday. But they had more important things to worry about right then. "Split up and search the city", Chiro ordered, "We're going to find him"

-0-0-0-

Antauri's head ached as he woke up. What had happened? He tried to remember. He had been in his room after trying to sort out what had happened between Otto, Sprx, and Gibson, and then…nothing.

He looked down at his body. It was completely bound by ropes. He struggled against them, but they were tied too tight. He tried to phase through them, but nothing happened. "Do you really think we'd let you keep your phasing ability?" a mocking voice asked, "We're not idiots, you know, no matter how our counterparts act"
His head snapped around. Standing in front of him was…Sprx? No, not Sprx. Close, but no. "You're smart", D.S. said, grinning wickedly, "Smarter than Nova and Chiro were, which actually isn't hard if you think about it—"
"What do you want with me?" Antauri asked, still struggling against the ropes that held him tight.

"Nothing, really", another voice said from beside. He craned his neck to see who was talking. "We just need you out of the way", D.N. said, "Too hard for us to fool you, you see"
"You're too patient for us to make you mad", another voice said. D.O., D.G., and D.A. were all standing on his other side.

"We couldn't use our usual disguises to trick you", D.G. said.

"So we decided to just take you out of the picture all together", D.A. finished. Antauri glared at them.

"So now that we finally figured out what to do with him", D.S. said, "What do you say we figure out how to finish off everyone else?"

"Fine", D.N. said. To D.O. she said, "Take him down with the girl. We don't want him to accidentally hear anything important"

-0-0-

They spent all day searching, and came up with nothing. Antauri clearly wasn't anywhere in the city. "What could've happened?" Chiro said, "People don't just disappear like that!"
"Like what?" a voice said from behind them. They whirled around.

"Antauri!" Gibson said, "Where have you been?"

"I left a note in my room saying I would be out all day", Antauri said, "Didn't you find it?"
They all looked at Otto, "There was no note!" he said.

"I left a note, would you like to see it?" Antauri asked.

"No", Chiro said, "It's fine. We were just worried, is all"
"I am sorry I worried you", he said.

"No problem", Chiro said, "No problem"

-0-0-0-

"There was no note!" Otto said furiously, "I searched his entire room!"
"Okay, okay, I believe you", Nova said. It had taken a good part of the night to get Otto to talk to her, but she'd finally done it.

"Why do you want to know, anyway?" he asked suddenly. She turned away. Now or never, Nova, she thought, You have to tell them. They need to know. Especially if…
"I don't think that's really Antauri", she said finally. He blinked, confused.

"What?"
"Otto", she said firmly, "What I tell you in here you have to swear to never repeat to anyone else. Not Chiro, not Sprx, not Gibson, and right now, certainly not Antauri"
"Okay, sure, but why?"

Before she could say anything though, alarms echoed throughout the Robot. They ran down to the Command Center. "Our little shadow friend is back", Gibson informed them without taking his eyes off the computer screen.

"If that's a friend, then I hate to see our enemies", Sprx cracked dryly.

"No time for that now Sprx", Chiro said, "Hyperforce, go!"

"We should have stayed home", Sprx grumbled as he pulled himself up. They were getting flattened. Again. No surprise.

"Where does this thing get it's strength from?" Chiro said furiously.

"Forget strength, what's it's weakness?" Sprx asked.

"Does it have a weakness?" Otto wondered out loud.

"Everything has a weakness", Gibson said, "Even if it is hard to find"

"Well this thing is pretty good at hiding it", Chiro said.

"Keep trying then", Nova said, "We can't just give up!"
"Right!"

-0-0-0-

D.O. threw Antauri into a cell. "This should hold you", he said as he locked the gate. Antauri pulled himself up (an amazing feat in itself, considering he was still tied up), and looked around. To his amazement, he saw Jin May tied near him, out cold.

"Jin May!" he said, struggling to push himself closer to her. Her eyes fluttered slightly and opened.

"Antauri?" she asked, sounding surprised.

"What happened?" he asked her.

"I don't know", she said desperately, "They just jumped me one day and brought me here, I don't know how it happened or what they want or anything!"
"It's okay", Antauri said.

"How did you get here?" she asked him.

"I don't know", he admitted, "The same way you did, I suppose"

"Who are they?" she asked, "They look almost like you guys, but they're all black…"
Antauri shook his head, "I'm not sure"
Silence, then, "Do the others know you're here?"
"I doubt it", Antauri said, "If they've said one true word, it's that they know what they're doing"
"Do you know?"
"No"

"I've heard them talking a few times", Jin May continued, "They're trying to split up the Hyperforce, they've been doing all kinds of really mean things, torturing Chiro and Nova, causing fights—"
Antauri looked at her, surprised. "Are you sure?"
She nodded, and he looked away. That explained it. If only he could explain it to the others.

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