CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The Time To Strike

"So Katie knows what's going on now?" Noah commented a few days later.

He and Sydney were sitting on the top of the Palm Woods, keeping an eye on the boys. Unbeknownst to the boys of Big Time Rush, the Jacksons were always around them. Either they were sitting on top of the Palm Woods, or were just around, staying out of sight, to watch how the boys' powers were progressing. There hasn't been much of a change as the boys were still fairly weak. Sydney had been at the pier, following Kendall and Katie, just in case they needed his help. He was getting ready to emerge and help fight, but Kadin had appeared and protected the two of them just fine.

Sydney nodded at his older brother's statement. "Yes, Katie knows." He chewed his lower lip thoughtfully. "But I'm not sure that that's a good thing." He added as he rubbed his chin.

"What do you mean?" Noah opened his eyes and looked over at his brother, his hair falling into his face. He let out a small sigh and then sucked in a deep breath before blowing up his face, a strong gust of wind pushing his hair up and falling neatly back into place. He smiled a little. "I bet James would love having wind as an element just because of that.

Sydney giggled and then turned serious again. "I mean, if Katie knows, then the guys are going to have to worry about keeping her protected as well as themselves, and developing their powers more."

"I get what you mean," Noah replied after a second of silence. "We didn't have to worry about that with you because you're an elemental yourself." Sydney nodded. "This may be problematic; we just have to make sure that Wingz Corp doesn't find out about her."

"I bet they already have."

"Maybe not." Noah replied after a second as he thought long and hard. Sydney sat up and looked over at his older brother.

"You have an idea don't you?" Sydney asked and peered at his brother's face before nodding. "You do, but you're not happy with the idea." He added, not letting Noah even speak. "It's either that or you know that Riles and Rhubes aren't going to be happy with it."

"A bit of both." Noah admitted and stood up, dragon wings sliding out of his shoulder blades with ease. "We better get going."

"Wait a minute, what's the idea?" Sydney asked as he scrambled to his feet. "Why can't you tell me?"

"Because I have to think about it a little longer," Noah replied calmly. "Anyway, my other idea is that we should move into the Palm Woods."

"I'm not sure that dad would like that." Sydney replied as he raised an eyebrow. "He likes us to have our privacy you know? Besides," he raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms over his chest. "What good is it going to be to make sure that the BlackWolves, the DarkLions, the DragonGang, and Spirit-X stay away from the guys if we're by them?"

"It would be easier for us to watch them that way," Noah replied and scratched his forehead. "Besides," Noah gave a toothy smile. "Being here all the time, I'm starting to get sunburned." He pointed to a red patch on his arm and made a face when Sydney pressed a finger against his arm. The skin turned white before Sydney pulled his finger away.

"You should get Ri-Ri to look at that," he commented as a monkey's tail slid out the back of his pants. "Let's get going." He jumped down from the roof, toward a tree, his tail wrapping around the branch. The momentum brought Sydney in a circle and he grabbed onto the branch with his hands, steadying himself. "That's always fun."

"Showoff" Noah muttered as he rolled his eyes before bending his knees and taking off into the air.

"Are you sure that it was a good idea to let Katie in on what's going on?" Logan asked, looking over at the young girl skeptically. She had a camera in her hands and was taking pictures of the guys as they were in their normal form.

"I couldn't help it, Logie, I'm sure that she's going to be fine." Kendall replied anxiously, although he had the same concerns. "I'll protect her."

"But you can't protect her all the time." Carlos pointed out, looking concerned himself. He should be, the four guys were like her older brothers and she was all of their younger sister. It just worked that way for them.

"I know that," Kendall ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "But…I didn't have a choice; I couldn't let him hurt her."

"Its ok dude," James paused and posed for a picture that Katie took. "We'll all help you protect her, don't worry about that."

"Thanks guys." Kendall smiled and then looked annoyed as Katie's camera flash went off in his face. "Hockey pucks!" he rubbed his eyes, trying to get the bright colors to go away. "Did you have to do that?"

"Don't worry about me, guys." Katie replied as he moved to put her camera away, ignoring her brother. "I can take care of myself. And I promise that if you don't want me somewhere, I won't go."

"You're taking this really well." Logan replied suspiciously

"Do you know how much money pictures of you guys would go for on the internet?" she asked as she raised her eyebrows, a big grin on her face. "Just think of it, my brother and his friends, elementals. We could be rich." She rolled her eyes at the horrified expression on Logan's face. "Don't worry, Logan. I'm going to edit the pictures so you can't see who it is."

"Oh, that's fine then." Carlos replied with a simple wave of his hand.

"No it's not!" James replied and looked offended. "I make money off of 'the face'." He motioned towards his face, as if everybody should know how good looking it is.

"Whatever," Katie giggled and went to her room closing the door behind her.

"So what do you-"Carlos stopped in the middle of his sentence as a cold feeling washed over him. He looked over at his friends and knew that they were feeling the same thing, as they had all suddenly became vacant and shuddered, as if they had been stuck in a freezer. "What was that?"

"That was the same thing that I felt when Koto came around when he was attacking me and Katie." Kendall replied.

"They wouldn't be stupid enough to attack us here, would they?" Logan questioned, his eyes growing wide at the thought. He was thinking about his last battle and how he had barely lost the fight. "We're not strong enough to take him."

"The four of us together, we're plenty strong." James replied and then thought for a second. "As long as no one hits my face that is."

"Somehow I doubt they'll care." Logan replied sarcastically.

"Hey, the feeling is gone." Carlos muttered and Logan, Kendall, and James nodded when they realized that he was right. Carlos gripped his hockey helmet tightly, taking it off his head and cuddling it to his chest. "What do you think it means?"

"Well it could just be a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change." Logan replied and then sighed heavily when he saw the blank looks on James's, Carlos's, and Kendall's faces. 'I got to get new friends' Logan thought to himself as he shook his head. "An omen." He explained.

"An m&m?" Carlos repeated as he wrinkled his nose.

"Never mind."

"Well," Carlos shrugged. "Whatever it is, it's gone." He grinned and rubbed his hands together. "Who wants to play a prank on Bitters with our new powers?"

"Oooh! Me! Me!"

"It's been so long since we've been here" Sydney sighed as the Jacksons stood in front of a large mansion.

If you had asked how they got there, they wouldn't be able to tell you, it seemed that the house moved each time they tried to get there. Either that, or Core has gotten a new worker that is able to change the look of things. Either way, once the five of them saw Core's mansion, where Wingz Corp was hiding in the underground basement, they knew that they were in the right place.

All of the bad memories came back to them.

"Unfortunately, we might not be able to see as much of each other while we're here" Noah stated as he looked around, wiping his hands on his pants legs nervously. "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"It's a good thing," Patrick replied as he patted his brother on the arm. "Because they would get suspicious if we were together while we were in there."

"Patrick has a point," Rhuben agreed after a second of silence. "If we stay as far apart as possible, then they don't have to ask so many questions." She turned to Riley and waited for her to say something. But Riley just took a deep breath and blinked slowly. Rhuben spoke up again. "Other than that, we're going to have to be careful about whatever mission they send us on; we don't want to get any more media attention."

"Sorry." Noah smiled, even though the situation wasn't the least bit humorous.

"Let's go" Riley said and started to walk inside. The others followed her silently. "I have one thing to say and one thing only. Don't let your emotions get in the way of the thing you're supposed to do."

Patrick, Noah, and Sydney nodded and followed her inside, until the five of them reached a common area with two stair cases that met at the top in an empty foyer. Underneath the stairs cases were two doors and to the left was an elevator. Riley and Rhuben automatically turned to the left as they entered and got into the elevator that took them up to the floor where the DarkLions and BlackWolves reside.

"See you soon" Patrick and Noah said softly, giving small waves.

"See ya" Riley and Rhuben replied and the elevator doors closed, keeping them from sight.

The two girls waited in silence as they rode the elevator to the certain floor. The small bit of elevator music that they could hear was the only sound that made it seem like they were in a doctor's office. But they knew from past experience that they didn't want to be there again. But right now, they didn't have much of a choice. If they wanted things to go the way they planned, then it had to be like this.

"You do know, just to get back in, we might have to be experimented on again" Rhuben said after a few minutes of silence. She made a face and rubbed her arm, as if she had just been stabbed with a needle.

"Yeah, I know," Riley replied with a sigh. "But it shouldn't be so bad," she rolled her shoulders. "It's not like it hasn't happened before.

"True" Rhuben nodded as the doors to the elevator opened. "See ya"

"Later" Riley replied and turned to the left, going into a large metal door. Once it closed behind her, the person in the chair behind the large desk turned around.

She kept her face apathetic as Core smirked at her. She didn't know his last name, nor did she actually care to know it. All she knew was that he had caused her a lot of pain and suffering and that she had to stick to the plan at all costs, or else everything was going to be ruined.

Everything.

So I did the first part of my assignment," she stated coolly. "What do I do now?"

"You're going to go back to the prisoner's room and meet up with the other Black Wolves there." Core replied smoothly as he laced his fingers together slowly, his eyes trained on hers. "There, Kagenui will tell you what to do from there." Riley nodded. "You are dismissed."

"Yes sir." Riley turned on her heel and walked the familiar path to the prisoner room. When she entered, she saw Koto, Kuroko, and Kagenui all standing around a lump that was on the floor. As Riley walked closer, she noticed that it was a girl with long blonde hair. "What am I supposed to do?"

The three boys turned around, not looking that surprised to see her. Koto smirked as he rubbed his nose, the scar that was on the tip still evident after all of these years had passed. She waited for him to speak.

"You're going to sit here and wait for her to wake up, as soon as she does, call us." Koto explained and he stared to walk by her, shoving his hands into his leather jacket. "We're going to be out doing stuff" Koto replied.

"What kind of stuff?" Riley demanded, keeping her eyes on the girl.

"Stuff that you shouldn't care about" Kagenui replied coldly. Riley glared at him and he looked back at her with a calm stare.

"We have to watch you for a while, to make sure you're trustworthy" Kuroko said and stepped closer. "You remember the stakes" he added and Riley nodded.

Koto cracked his knuckled and rushed towards Riley, she stepped deftly to the side and grabbed the back of this jacket and punched him in the stomach. Koto let out a wheeze and fire raged in his eyes as he leaped towards her again. Riley jumped onto a desk and he leaped after her. She jumped out of the way and he broke the desk. Riley leaped towards Koto as he leaped towards her and held out her fist. As he pulled his fist back, Riley shot hers forward and punched him in the forehead. The two landed on the ground, barely out of breath. Koto's eyes were wide. A small trickle of blood fell down from his dirty blonde hair and in between his eyes. Koto's eyes widened and he fell to his knees.

"Anyone else want a go?" Riley asked coldly. Kagenui shook his head and left the room.

"Remember, tell us when he wakes up, we'll be in our rooms" Kuroko said and left the room, Koto following after him as he rubbed blood off of his forehead.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Kagenui broke off from the group and walked to Core's office. Once there he met up with Ruliyan, a boy named Raylen, and Tori, the leaders of the DarkLions, the DragonGang, and Spirit-X. Once all four of them were there, Core spoke again.

"Those four boys aren't going to have anyone to watch them for a while," he smiled sinisterly. "Now's the time to strike."

A/N: Uh-Oh, are the Jacksons really traitors? Or are they just trying to find out some things to use against Wingz Corp. Review and I'll update faster so you can find out. :)

Anyway, go to my profile and follow me and rhu separately and together on twitter to see sneak peeks on our stories, info on our characters, and upcoming art about BTR or our characters.

-Riley