Hey guys, sorry for the delay, life and stuff, mainly cause I started a new job.

Isaiah 57:21 - "There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked."

Chapter 5, Searching

The thug yelled as Clint dislocated his arms and then Clint let the rope go slack, making his captor fall to the ground. Clint lifted his head up, "Know I gotta deal fer the two of ya." He let go and stood up, looking at both of them. "Whichever one of you, tells me who yer workin' for, I'll let ya go an' you got a chance of escaping the Cevians. Cause, we all know what they do to rats like you two. However, my concern ain't with you two, so I'm feelin' a bit more generous ta you. So, which one of ya wants ta meet see the Cevians?" He looked at both of them and they looked at each other.

"I-I can't be caught... not by them!" The thug Clint had strung-up whimpered. "An' my arms..."

The sitting, tied-up thug growled lightly, "You remember what he said? We don't talk and we'll be fine..."

"He's gonna let us be taken by the cartel! Wake up man! We're just pawns!"

"You know what this guy can do! The connections he has!"

"He has no reason to keep us alive!" The now-scared, and hurt thug looked at Clint. "I don't know much! All I got is a name! That's it! I overheard it from my boss!" He whimpered, "Now get me out of here!"

"What was it?"

The other thug growled, "Don't..."

"Catenary!"

The other thug yelled and started thrashing, cursing up his partner.

Clint nodded and walked behind the angry thug and hit the back of his neck, knocking him out. "Well, guess he'll if this, Catenary, pulls through for him." He looked at the hurt thug and approached him. He lifted him up, "This'll hurt, but it'll make your chances of getting free higher."

"Wh-wha..." The lombax howled in pain as loud pops rang out; the sound of his arms being pushed back into place. The thug whimpered and groaned.

"You'll need some work fer yer arms ta be fully better, but they're better now than before." Clint looked up, "Scrapper!"

"Yes boss?"

"Let's get this guy outta here, an' make sure the Cevians don't get him. Also, let's get em patched-up a bit."

Scrapper nodded, "An' the other guy?"

"We'll hand em over to the Cevians, he made his bed. We'll take em back to Aaron an' head back home."

"So Garth, whatcha like ta do fer fun?" Gaze asked as he sipped his drink.

"Well... I like to play my Outlier and sing."

"Oh? ya any good?"

He shrugged, "I'm just a self-learner, ain't that good."

"Yeah? Care ta play?"

"Uh... sure heh," Garth got up and fetched his instrument and checked to make sure it was tuned right before he started strumming. The lone instrument gave a warm sense of hopefulness as Garth began to sing.

She was standing in the crowd

All alone and lookin' pretty

Listening to the music that I played

She walked up and whispered

I leaned down and listened,

To the request that she made,

"Do you know, 'You Are My Sunshine'?"

She asked so sweet and tenderly,

"Do you know, 'You Are My Sunshine'?

And would you do it one more time for me?"

Border to border,

And ocean to ocean,

I still look for her everyplace,

Chasing the sunshine,

Each and every night I'm

Searching every crowd for her face,

She was gone just as quick

As the song that she asked for,

Taking my sunshine away.

But someday when I finally

Look down and see her,

I know just what I'm going to say,

Do you know, you are my sunshine?

Do you know what your smile did to me?

Do you know, you are my sunshine?

And it looks like you're always going to be.

Do you know, you are my sunshine?

Do you know what your smile did to me?

Do you know, You are my Sunshine'?

And would you do it one more time for me?"

Do you know, You are my Sunshine?...

Gaze gave an impressed nod, "I'm assumin' this is fer yer girl?"

"Heh, yeah... it's from a dream I had. I love music, and maybe she'll find me if I can make it big y'know?"

"I gotcha, though don't underestimate Clint's connections."

"How does he have such good connections? I mean, we're just kids."

"This is true, though Clint has; as you've probably figured, always been wily."

Garth nodded, "Yeah, he used to stall a worker at the orphanage by talking with them while I got some candy or drinks or whatever we wanted."

Laughter came from Gaze, "Now that sounds like Clint."

It was lunchtime and Weiss sat with Kaden and a friend of his and his friend's brother. A slightly-larger (tall and pudgy but not fat) kit with white fur and crimson stripes. His brother was just slightly smaller with silver fur and gold stripes.

"This is Alistair and Seth," Kaden introduced as they sat down with their lunches.

Weiss smiled and waved, "Whatcha think of the tour?"

Alistair, the older brother, shrugged nonchalantly, "Eh, it's all pretty cool, just ain't a scientist type."

Alistair's younger sibling playfully elbowed him in the arm. "Basically, he's saying he ain't smart."

The older sibling grunted and returned the gesture, making Weiss and Kaden chuckle.

"Well, I think it's interesting," Kaden remarked, "Though, I'd kinda like to be outside of a lab. You know, be an explorer and a scientist?"

"So, like the Scientific Scout Guard?" Seth asked.

The gold-furred lombax nodded, "Seems the most balanced, you get to roam around and do science stuff and still have some action." He made a "gun" with his fingers and pretended to shoot around in the air, giving everyone around him a good laugh. Once everyone had calmed down, he looked at Weiss, "What about you? What do you wanna do?"

She shrugged lightly, "I like learning about new things and working on projects and experiments hehe."

"Nerd eh?" Seth remarked with a light grin.

"Hey!"

The smart-mouthed kit snickered a bit, making Alistair give him a light smack upside the head. "Aw just messin'" He rubbed the spot where his brother hit him. "that could be cool."

"You all have ten minutes to finish up!" The Tour Guide shouted to the roomful of kits.

Garth looked up as Clint and Scrapper returned. He and Gaze had just finished playing some video games when they walked in.

"How did it go?" Garth asked with a slightly-nervous tone.

Clint shrugged, "Got one of em ta sing like a bird. Just gave me a name though, Catenary..."

"Who's that?"

"No idea, whoever he is, he got them boys spooked enough that they were nearly willing ta face the Cevians."

Gaze looked up, his expression was quite serious, "Ya know that pretty much everyone is petrified of em... who's worse than the Cartel?"

"Dunno, but I'm gonna have ta tell em the name. They're gonna get the one guy an' he'll start talkin' eventually. I tell em the name an' maybe get some recognition." He looked over and saw Garth's Outlier, "An' speakin' of recognition," he picked it up and offered it to Garth, "I think we could be a good band or singing group."

"We'll need some help though," Garth said as he took the instrument, "I'm only self-taught and not sure I'm good enough to teach you three."

Clint thought for a moment before Scrapper spoke up.

"You wantin' ta find yer girl don't ya?"

Garth nodded, "Of course."

"Well, how about we go out and look for her? Along the way, we'll keep an eye out for anyone who might be able ta teach us."

Garth smiled and nodded again, "That sounds great!"

"An' perhaps find out about this Catenary person," Clint added. "We'll go out tomorrow morning."

The black-furred kit yawned and stretched as the warming, morning sun's light started to trickle into the rented apartment. He groaned sat up on the couch he slept on. It was okay, better than the streets by a long shot, still made his back kind of hurt. Still, the excitement of perhaps both finding Weiss and a musician to learn from enthralled him and he couldn't wait to get up and to get moving.

Scrapper was asleep, sitting in an armchair and snored quite loudly. It was amazing that anyone managed to sleep through it. Garth chuckled a bit as he saw that Scrapper mouth was hung open and he was drooling rather badly.

However, seeing Gaze asleep made Garth laugh. He was on the other side of the couch; the older kit had his tail-side up in the air and his head was almost buried under a pillow. His arm hung over the side and he could be heard snoring lightly.

He stepped off of the couch and almost tripped over Clint, who was sprawled out on the ground. Despite being the leader of the four, it was comforting to Garth to see that his friend didn't sleep in any better conditions than he did. To know that his friend didn't strive to put himself above their needs bolstered his confidence that he had made the right choice to stay with them.

A grunt came from Scrapper as the big lombax woke up and blinked lazily as he yawned. "Aw bax... morning huh?" He grabbed a pillow and threw it at Gaze, hitting him squarely on the tail. "Wake up ya freakshow."

A pained groan came from Gaze as he kicked the pillow aside and sat up. He rubbed his eyes, "Yer one ta talk waterworks..."

A light glare was Scrapper's response before Clint woke up.

The head of the four yawned and popped his neck from side-to-side. "Mornin' guys... ready fer some scoutin'?"

"Sounds good," Garth said excitedly, "Whatcha guys got for breakfast?"

"Kipper sets us up with a friend of his, it's where we get our food from..." the tone of Gaze's voice showed that he wasn't particularly thrilled about the dependence. "They give us food an' a place ta stay an' we do runs fer them..."

"We ain't gonna be under the Cevians forever..." Clint stated firmly as he threw on his vest and that determined look from the day before returned. "This'll be our first step towards that goal."

They all got dressed and headed out a few minutes later.

"What if they want us to do a run today?" Garth asked as they headed into a backalley.

"It'd be too risky, especially after the holdup yesterday," the deeper voice that came from Scrapper rang out. "They'd be too busy tryin' ta get the guys behind this. Even if things went smooth, we'd still be off today. They rarely ask us to do runs two days in a row."

"Okay, so what's the plan?" The black-furred lombax after they had breakfast and headed into the streets.

Clint turned around and pointed at Scrapper and Garth. "How about you two go an' look fer a singer an' yer girl? Gaze an' I will try ta find out about this Catenary. We'll also keep an eye out fer the girl as well."

"We'll get more ground covered that way," Gaze agreed with a nod as well.

Scrapper and Garth had been walking for about a half-hour, heading for the main market and arts district of Fastoon's Capital. It was bustling with lombax's going to and fro about their business. There were kits running and playing around, people buying goods, some sitting around in cafe's and enjoying the morning, and some were street performers. There were quite a variety of performers, some painters, some musicians, some put on puppet shows for kits, others did magic shows.

This made it rather easy hunting grounds to look for a musical teacher. Though, determining what kind of teacher would be a bit more difficult.

"You know a bit more about music... who would ya recommend?" Scrapper asked as he looked around at the various performers, not having a clue of what to look for.

"Well, we need something new... something lombaxes haven't heard..." The black-furred lombax closed his eyes and listened, searching for a sound. His big ears moved around as he tried to tune in the music and tune out the other sounds of the street. He listened and walked around with Scrapper for about two hours; before the strumming of a string instrument caught his attention, along with a familiar voice.

Clint and Gaze headed back to Aaron's inn and went to his office.

"Back again kid?"

"Catenary, you know the name?"

The middle-aged lombax shook his head, "Why?"

"The thugs from yesterday, one of 'em gave me the name."

"I've never heard it before, though I can ask around. You talk to your bosses yet?"

"Have they been by here yet?"

"Nope," He looked at Clint for a second. "They already got what they want didn't they?"

Clint shrugged, "Possibly..."

"How rough were you?"

"I used the Dislocater..."

Aaron looked down for a moment before pulling out a smoke and lighting it. "Geeze kid... that's dark stuff fer someone yer age... why? Wouldn't turning them over to the Cevians be enough?"

"No... whoever this guy is, he had those two thugs more scared of him than the Cevians."

The older lombax raised a brow as he blew out a cloud of smoke. "Yous serious? Even the dumbest lowlife knows not to cross the Cevian's business."

"So either this guy is an idiot or a genius, an' you know pretty much anyone worth knowing in this world. You ain't heard of em either."

"This is quite interesting..."

"You have any ideas on how to get in contact with this Catenary?" Gaze asked, joining the conversation.

"I gotta find out if this guy even exists kid... I'll have to ask around."

The white-furred lombax nodded, 'Thanks Aaron, I'll ask Kipper a bit an' see what he knows."

The innkeeper's eyes took a serious glint as he looked at the two, young lombaxes. "Sure, just don't ask too much, the Cevian's get jumpy. Remember, yer only streetkits and make no mistake, if Kipper gets an order to get rid of you guys, he will... and I don't always mean death."

The amateur musician followed the strumming and singing down the street, "C'mon Scrapper!"

"Whatcha hear?"

"If I'm right..." He said as they turned a corner into a short passage that led into another street. Sitting on the curb was a lombax that looked to be in his mid-thirties and was strumming on a custom-made Outlier that was painted blue with yellow flames on the base. His dark-crimson fur shimmered in the morning light, broken by the light-blue stripes. The metallic color of his eyes contrasted his colorful fur as he looked up at them. He had some strands of longer fur around his mouth and chin, a kind of beard. The fur around his mouth started to turn grey a bit, despite his relatively-young age. However, it was one of many signs that he had been on the streets for a decent time, the smell of booze hung in the air though his music was quite smooth.

"Can I help ya kits?" The street-musician wore just a thin, unbuttoned-shirt with a vest on top of that. He wore a pair of dirty, ripped-up pants and no shoes.

"You're Tucker Helix ain't ya? One of the singers of the Torus Vocal Group before ya went solo weren't you?"

"What about it?" He said gruffly before setting the Outlier down and pulled out a flask, taking a swig a second later.

"I uh... well... would you teach me and my friends how to sing?" His voice held a desperate admiration as he begged.

He looked up at the kits and sighed, "You on the streets?"

"No sir," Scrapper jumped in, "We got a compartment a few miles from here."

Tucker raised a brow, "How many of ya are there?"

"Four, including him and I."

"You have food?"

"Yeah..."

The down-and-out musician rubbed his face an thought for a moment. He put his flask away and stood up. "Give me a roof and meal, and I'll teach ya four, maybe even set up some gigs if you're any good."

Garth beamed at his answer, "Really?! That's great!"

"I'm tired of picking through scraps and trash kid," He looked closer at Garth, "Ya know what I mean eh kid?"

"I do..." Garth's mind flashed with images of his nearly five-month stay on the city's streets. Running from vendors and Guards for stealing a piece of food, shivering in the cold desert night under a frigid walkway with only a thin blanket he lifted, hiding in a pipe from psychotic thugs, the lightheaded sensation from being too hungry and/or dehydrated, the shame felt from civilians who had jobs, lives, and family, the loneliness and yearning for a friend...

"Just a head's up, don't try anything okay?" Scrapper's voice snapped Garth's mind from his forced-reminiscing.

Tucker held his arms up and flapped open his shirt and vest, "I ain't armed, don't even have a blade on me... you can search me if ya want."

Clint's confidant approached the worn performer and gave him a quick pat-down on the side-street.

Once finished, Scrapper nodded, "Good," He smiled lightly, "This way."

"I got one question for you, who pays for your place? If your pals are close to your age, not much work you can do to be able to own any kind of comp."

"Think it'd be best if we talk about this back at the comp with the other two." Scrapper suggested as they moved out and headed back to their pad.

Meanwhile at The Nonagon Center of Education, a professor has just finished a class and was saying goodbye to his students. He felt a vibration in his pocket and he pulled out his InteLink device, he had gotten a response and looked at the content of the message.

Anon: they used kits, Fletcher caught, next move?

The professor sighed deeply and rubbed his head with his free hand. Like a chess-player thinking about what should be done, he took a bit to respond.

C: how many?

Anon: four

C: Cartel response?

Anon: Quiet

C: Can't get to the kits directly to warn, they'll be watched.

Anon: Agreed

C: Need more details, meet me, you will get directions as to where.

Anon: yes sir.

The professor turned off the display and put the InteLink away before looking up to see a student of his ask him about the homework. He smiled and explained the assignment.

Well, well, what do you guys think?