"Papa how did you meet mom again?" Nema asked quietly, kicking the the oak wood desk of the temporary safe house in the woods east of Snowpoint City. Her, Papa, Summer, Ben and Murph had moved over to the creaky cabin after she delivered the letter to Summer. No one had told what the man with red eyes had written on the paper but it must of been something bad.
Rand looked over at his daughter from the computer screen. "You've already know that story, and if I remember correctly you pretended to vomit when your mother told you it." The older ranger looked like he had aged many years over the course of less than a week, he was becoming more ragged and not taking any care for his own appearance. Most of the time he had a clouded look and just stared off into space ignoring most of society.
"I just wanna hear it again, that's all."
"Nema I'm not in the mood," he growled, turning back to stare at the blue screen again. "Go play outside or something."
Not wanting to spark one of her father's violent swings, which where becoming increasingly more common, Nema quickly left the room and puttered down the hallway, muttering to herself. Perhaps if she had lingered just a bit longer outside the door she would of heard Rand cry for the first time in her memory.
Stalking down the hallway in a huff, Nema hadn't noticed a certain ranger on the stairwell untill she bumbed into her.
"Nema!" Summer shouted while regaining her balance against the banaster and at the same time catching the young girl's elbow before she herself went toppling down the stairs. The young ranger might have been trained to take punches, break out of hostile situations and become an overall badass; a charging six year-old whose mother had been kidnapped by a sadistic freak was an entirely different matter. "What the hell? You have to look where you're going!"
Normally Nema would have an earful for anyone who said a bad word in her presence, but she simply no longer had any motivation to do anything. Instead she flung herself at Summer and began bawling as she let the floodgates open. Summer, caught off guard just stared at the girl.
"I want Mom back. I want Mom back." She repeatedly wailed against the ranger' s leg. Summoning the material instinct, Summer knelt down to the sobbing child's level and embraced her shaking body.
"Hey kiddo." She cooed, rocking Nema back and forth. "I promised you we'd find her didn't I? Ben and I always keep our promises, we're moving heaven and earth to find Leanne and we won't stop until we do." Nema started to quite a little and wiped a bit of snot and tears on the older girl's uniform, much to her chagrin. After a few more moments she stopped and burried her face between Summer's neck and collar, letting out the occasional hiccupped breath.
They stayed like this for several minutes until Ben suddenly bounded up the stairs. His face was bright red and winded from the bitter cold with a dusting of snow on his unwashed brown hair, but his mouth was open and stretched into a wide, elated smile.
"I got it!" He yelped triumphantly before kneeling over to catch his breath.
"Got what?"
His eyes lighted up as he stood up. "Leanne' s location." He said waving the older man's styler. "It got a burner message from an unknown number with coordinates signed Leanne J.T."
Line break
"No handcuffs?" Leanne asked while she tailed behind Red Eyes. "Thought Purple would want me safely blindfolded and roped up in a high security cell, not wondering free with a kid." The boy looked back at her and glared, she was becoming increasingly defiant and sarcastic with each passing moment she was locked up here.
No wonder Purple Eyes had a thing for her.
"Do you want me to handcuff you?" Red Eyes hissed. "'Cuz I'm starting to find that idea tempting."
"I'm just saying I could knock you out and escape."
Red Eyes seriously doubted her physical capabilities but her excessive arguments and counter-arguments might be enough to give him a hemorrhage. "How in Arceus' s name are you still married?"
"Because Rand is a wonderful man and does not kidnap people from their families!"
Red Eyes stopped abruptly, snatched her arms and slammed her against the grimy, metal wall. "I'm trying to help you Talga! I don't want Purple Eyes to use you, I'm on your side." Leanne stood quite for a moment, shocked by the sudden turn of events. Trying to ignore the fear of being trapped against a foreign, slightly terrifying man she forced herself to look up at him.
"Use me?" She whispered. "And why are you helping me?"
"One question at a time. First; I don't know, still trying to figure that part out and second; I owe someone a favor."
"Summer?"
Red Eyes loosed his grip and stepped a way, close enough though for Leanne to feel his breath. He slipped a square like object into her skirt pocket. "My business will stay mine Talga, I'm not pestering you why you're daughter was born two and half months early or why Rand still doesn't know you have night terrors about the ruins in Oblivia.
"H-How the hell do you know that?"
"Purple Eyes has some scary habits, now go back to you're puke cell and turn on the tracking system, send it to your husband's styler number and it'll give them your position. Hurry." Red Eyes said stepping farther back before breaking into a full run, leaving Leanne standing dumbfounded. Looking down she stared at the object from her pocket. It was small, black and square with a flashing blue screen. Seeing as she didn't have much of a choice, Leanne decided to trust the slightly less psycho man rather than the stalker with a full blown psychosis and began typing a very familiar number in the device.
