Disclaimer: I don't own Austin and Ally.

Radio Signal

Chapter 3: World of Denial

Mike and Mimi Moon stumbled into the front door, exhausted from the long day. Business had been booming at the mattress store the past few days and they were thankful for the business, but it was really starting wear them down. With a tired sigh, Mimi shut the front door and kicked off her shoes. It was ten at night and it was pitch black outside. The moon hidden by a thick sea of clouds.

"I'm starving." Mimi said.

"Want me to go upstairs and ask Austin if he's up for a late night dinner?" Mike asked, kicking off his own shoes.

Mimi nodded. "Yeah."

As Mike walked up the stairs, Mimi slumped onto the living room couch. She let out a relieved sigh as the plush piece of furniture engulfed her. As she stretched her legs out, a clang of glass resounded in the room. In confusion, Mimi looked down at the floor, where the sound had come from. "What in the world?" Her favorite lamp was in pieces, littered across the living room floor. She rolled off the couch and picked up a piece, inspecting it.

Mike came down the stairs. Mimi looked up at him, confusion still etching her features. "He isn't up there." Mike said, confused. "That doesn't make any sense, his car's here and he's not downstairs."

"Is he in the bathroom?" Mimi asked.

"No," Mike stared down at his in confusion. "Why are you on the floor?"

"Something happened to my lamp." Mimi said. She gestured to the mess of glass. "It's all over the floor, in pieces."

"How'd that happen?" He asked.

Mimi shrugged. "I don't know."

"Here; how about I get my phone from the kitchen and I'll call Austin to ask where he- Crunch!" Mike had stepped on something. His gaze went to the floor. Mike's eyes went wide.

"What is it?" Mimi asked.

Mike's mouth hung open as he bent over to pick up the broken object from the floor. "Austin's phone." The screen was shattered, the plastic was heavily cracked. He could tell that most of the damage wasn't caused by him stepping on it.

Mimi got up from the floor and ran over to her husband, taking the broken phone from him.

"The back door isn't shut." Mike said. "look." He pointed to the back door.

Mimi followed his gaze, sure enough, it was cracked open. Panic twisted at her insides, he motherly instinct screaming at her that something was terribly wrong. "Austin?" She whispered out. "Austin!" Her voice rose. "AUSTIN, WHERE ARE YOU?" She began to frantically search the house, hoping to find her son.

"Mimi, don't panic. Maybe he's with Dez." Mike said reassuringly.

"Then why is his phone broken? What happened here?" She asked desperately, tears threatening to fall.

"I don't know, Honey. Let's just call his friends first. He probably just accidentally broke his phone when he came here to get something."

"His car's here, Mike."

"Maybe Dez picked him up. Look, let's call them. I'm sure we're just overreacting."

Mimi gave a hesitant nod. "Okay."

"Don't worry, honey. I bet he's fine." Mike said as he dialed Dez's cell number. They waited patiently in silence as the phone rang. It didn't take long for the redhead to pick up.

"Hello?" His voice sounded from the phone's speaker.

"Dez, this is Austin's father."

"Oh, hey Mr. Moon. What's up?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Well, we were wondering if Austin was with you."

"No, he's not. In fact, he left Sonic Boom and went home earlier today to take a nap. Is he not there?"

Mike tried to keep down the panic that was starting to form in him. He swallowed a lump in his throat and answered the redhead. "N-no, he isn't here. We thought maybe you or Trish or Ally came and picked him up because his car is here."

"I know I didn't; and I'm pretty sure the girls didn't either. They're having a girl's night at Trish's. Have you tried calling him." Concern was starting to coat Dez's voice.

Mike gripped his phone, his knuckles turning white. "He- we found his phone on the floor, broken, when we got home. One of our lamps is on the floor in pieces and the back door was left open. Dez, please tell me you know where he is?" Mike begged. Fear etched in his every word.

The line was silent for a while, Mike and Mimi's hearts beat in apprehension. Dez suddenly let out a shaky sigh. "L-let me get a hold of the Trish and Ally, surely they've heard out of him. I call right back when I'm done talking to them."

"Okay. Right after." Mike said.

"Right after. So..um; bye."

"Bye." The line went dead, the conversation leaving the couple filled with dread. Mike looked at his wife, his eyes filled with dread. Mimi was barely holding in sobs, scared out of her mind. They sat in the living room and waited for Dez to call back.

~0~

Ally and Trish laughed together at their favorite movie. They were curled up on Trish's plush bed with all the lights off; the only light coming the television. Dez had called twice now. They had ignored it, seeing that they were in the middle of a movie but then Ally's phone started to ring again, showing the Dez was calling once more.

"What the heck does he want?" Trish asked in agitation, annoyed that her movie night was being interrupted.

"Pause the movie." Ally said, a bit agitated herself. Trish groaned but paused it anyway. Ally answered her phone. "What is it, Dez?"

"It's about time you picked up." Dez said, his voice quieter than usual.

"We're in the middle of a movie, Dez. What's so important that you had to call? You knew that we were having girl's night, tonight." Ally defended herself.

"Have you seen Austin?" Dez asked in desperation.

Ally raised an eyebrow in confusion and looked over at Trish, who could hear the other side of the conversation. "No," Ally said warily. "I haven't, why?"

The line was silent for a moment, though she could have sworn she heard a whispered "dammit" from the other end.

"Dez?" Ally asked, thinking maybe the line went dead.

"What the heck does the bozo want?" Trish asked, still annoyed.

"Something happened at Austin's house and now his parents can't find him." Dez said.

Ally's eyes widened. "What do you mean something happened?" She asked.

"Apparently when Austin's parents got home, one of their lamps one the floor, shattered and they found his phone on the floor. It was broken too. The back door wasn't shut, either." Dez explained.

Ally could hear the panic in his voice, causing her to start panicking. "What-what are you saying, Dez? Did something happen to him?"

"Ally?" Trish asked, concerned. "What's going on?"

Ally quickly put her phone on speaker so Trish could hear.

"Look, I really don't know. It could be nothing, but it might be. Please tell me you've seen him?" Dez asked, he sounded like he was holding back tears.

"Seen who?" Trish asked.

"Trish, something happened to Austin." Ally said. "I'm sorry, Dez, but neither of us has seen him."

Dez sighed in defeat. "Okay, just...get to Austin's house. I'm going to call Austin's parent's back and tell them you guys don't know, either. I'll meet you guys there." Dez said.

Ally nodded, even though he couldn't see her doing it. "Okay, we'll see you soon." The line went dead.

Austin's parents were devastated when they found out that Ally and Trish hadn't seen him, either. When they all met up, they did a quick search of the house, finding nothing. Mike looked out the back door, hoping to find something. He found a set of tire tracks in the ally behind their house, sparking the slightest bit of hope, yet causing dread in all of them.

They searched for hours, in the dark. They walked through the neighborhood, drove to all of Austin's favorite places to hang out, and even double backed to each other's houses, hoping that maybe he would show up there. They called anyone else who might have known where he was, but they either didn't know or they didn't pick up the phone, seeing how it was so late. They never found him. They found absolutely no evidence of as to where he might be. Eventually, the realization began to hit them. Austin was missing and there was an incredibly strong chance that someone had taken him.

It was nearly morning by time they gave up searching for him, all of them exhausted but none of them wanting to sleep. They sat in the Moon family living room, fully aware that they could very well be in the same room where Austin had been taken. Their tired forms were slumped in the couches, hearts heavy.

Finally, Mike pulled out his phone. With a deep sigh, he dialed a number and listened to it ring. The rest of the group watched in sorrow, knowing fully well what this all meant. Tears were pouring from most of their eyes, Ally was sobbing as well was Mimi. Mike swallowed a lump in his throat when the line finally picked up.

"911, what is your emergency?"

"Hi, my name is Mike Moon and I'm calling to report a missing person."

"Come on!" The Colonel spat angrily as he dragged Austin by the arm, pulling him through the ship. His wrists were tied behind his back, making it hard to walk with the man's hand on his arm. Austin knew it was morning. He had been trapped in that black room all night. It was the longest night of his life and right now, he wished that time by himself wouldn't have ended. Sometime at the crack of dawn, the Colonel came in and tied his hands behind his back and dragged him out of the room.

Austin was exhausted from the sleepless night. He had little energy to fight the man. His face and front of his shirt was still caked with dried blood. It seemed like no one was going to make an effort to clean it up.

He stumbled into a wall, slamming his shoulder into it, when the Colonel suddenly made a sharp turn. He yelped in pain, a noise which went unheard. The Colonel threw him in a small room, filled with machines that he didn't recognize. There was a desk with a computer chair on the left wall. The desk was full of these machines. Wires and dials covered them. He could see a compass on the far right side of all the machinery as well as a set of headphones. Austin stared at the equipment in confusion. Why did the Colonel take him here?

"This is the ship's radio station. It's not as modern as I would like it, but it get's the job done. We were able to update it a little so it's easier to intercept radio transmissions. This is where you'll be working kid." The Colonel said.

Austin knitted his eyebrows in confusion. "What? Why are you putting me in here?" He asked.

The Colonel untied his wrists and shoved him into the desk. Austin nearly fell but was able to catch himself by grabbing onto the desk. "We've been told that you've got a gift."

"Gift?" Austin asked in confusion as he lifted himself back up.

The Colonel laughed at him. "You don't have a clue, do you? You're a Polyglot."

Austin stared at the man, thinking that he was insane. "A what?" He had to be making that up.

"Some one who can learn languages easily. Well, technically it's someone who knows several languages, but those kinds of people pick up on languages, real fast. It won't be long until you're a true blue Polyglot."

Austin shook his head at the man. "I don't know any other languages. This is all some crazy misunderstanding. I am not what you think I am. I'm a singer and- and a musician, not a language expert." Austin said.

"What about the time you were giving that European supermodel English lessons?"

The blonde gaped at him. "How'd you know about that?"

"It was all over the news, that case about you being accused of stealing a song. How about the time you helped out that French woman at that store you're always at? What's it called, Sonic Boom? Wasn't that yesterday? Or when you learned Pig Latin after you met that guy John Paul Paul John?"

"How do you know all about this? And Dez learned Pig Latin with me."

"No, you told him what it meant. The government has been watching you, Austin. They suspected that you might be a Polyglot and now believe that they got enough evidence to be proven right."

"Why? Even if I was, why would they care?" Austin's mind was reeling. This was all just crazy. None of it was making sense to him.

"They need one to intercept and translate radio transmissions." The Colonel said nonchalantly, acting like none of this was a big deal and that the kid he was talking to hadn't been kidnapped.

"Radio transmissions? For what? And why me?" Austin demanded.

"Out of all the people they were looking at, you had the most potential. The U.S. needs to know what the rest of the world is up to, so you're going to listen in on transmissions between other countries."

"You want me to spy for you? Isn't that illegal? No, I'm not helping you do it." Austin insisted. He was rewarded with a hard slap to his face. The desk dug into the small of his back.

"Listen to me you little brat. You will do what I say and you will do it without question. You argue with me, you will be punished. Do I make myself clear?" The Colonel hissed.

"Crystal." Austin said with a sunken heart. "But I can't do what you think I can. I can't-" The Colonel slapped him again, harder this time.

"What did I just say?" The older man spat. He grabbed the front of Austin's shirt and forced him into the chair. The Colonel grabbed the headphones and forced them into Austin's hands. "You will stay in this spot with those headphones on until you learn to keep your mouth shut, do you understand me?" He spat in Austin's face.

"Yes!" Austin said. "I understand! But, please. If you just listen to me. I'm not a-" The Colonel punched him square in the jaw. Pained exploded in Austin's sensitive bone. He screamed in agony.

The Colonel shoved the headphones onto Austin's head, pulling at his hair. "Shut up and do as you're told!" He screamed at the blonde. He pulled out a roll of duck tape and began binding Austin's writs the arms of the chair. "You will not move from this chair until you learn to respect me. You're going to sit here and do what I tell you or so help me, I will end your miserable, pathetic little life; do you hear me?" The man spat in Austin's face.

Austin stared up at the man, bug eyed. Fresh blood dripped from his scabbed-over lip, coating his already stained shirt even more. His heart was pounding in his chest at a mile a minute. His mind was a mess of jumbled thoughts. Fear rocked his very core, threatening to overwhelm him. This man had completely lost his mind. He was a lunatic; a psycho. He could see the wild rage dance in the man's green eyes, his blonde hair coated with sweat. Austin also had a thin sheen of sweat on his form, but it was much more prominent on the Colonel.

The Colonel shook the chair Austin was bound to. "DO YOU HEAR ME!?" He raged.

"YES!" Austin screamed back, driven purely by complete terror. "Yes, I understand."

A satisfied grin pulled at the man's lips, the rage never leaving his eyes. "Good." He breathed in almost a gleeful manner. He stood up, his hands no longer resting on the chair. "Now," he said, flipping a switch Austin hadn't noticed. His ear were instantly bombarded by various voices, all speaking a jumbled mess of languages. Austin flinched at the sound of it. "You sit here and listen in on what our friends in Africa have got to say, got it? I'll be checking in on you later this afternoon. You better be ready to talk then, or else you and I will have a serious problem." The Colonel hissed.

Austin nodded, his eyes still wide with fear.

The Colonel gave him a pat on the cheek. "Good boy." He said, gleefully. He turned around and opened the door. With one last glance at the blonde, he turned out the lights and shut the door.

Just enough light came in from a good sized window on the far wall. Austin looked through it, seeing miles of ocean. Wait, when did they leave the docks? he didn't remember ever noticing the ship move. The thoughts of escape hardly crossed his mind. With one glance, he could tell that the window was made of rather thick glass and it obviously didn't open. Where would he go anyway? He couldn't escape. Everywhere around the ship was nothing but open ocean. Something told him that they were miles from any land and he would more than likely drown if he tried to escape. Maybe if he snagged a lifeboat, he could escape on that. He scoffed at the thought. He would be found long before he got close enough to one to escape. Let alone get in the sea.

A jabbing pain spiked through his skull, forcing him to cringe. The voices hurt his head. He tried to blink back the pain but it only worked for a moment. His thoughts went back to what the Colonel had called him. A Polyglot. That didn't make any sense to him. Wouldn't he have known if he were one? Okay, yes, he had actually passed his Freshman French class with an A and he picked up on the Spanish pretty well at Trish's Quinceanera, but that didn't mean he was some god in learning languages. The very thought of that idea was a complete joke to him.

His captors were insane, nut jobs of the finest. They probably weren't even Mercenaries like they said they were, let alone being hired by the Department of Defense to kidnap him. But that thought didn't help Austin with his situation. Lunatics or not, he was still at their mercy. That thought scared him. These men unpredictable and he had no clue how to handle the situation he was thrown into.

Austin looked out the window again, the voices being the only noise he could hear. Despair pulled at his heart. He was royally screwed. He just hoped that his parents realized he was gone soon. Maybe, just maybe, they could track down and save him.

Tears rolled down Ally's cheeks like a waterfall. She, along with her friends and Austin's parents, were sitting in police station, while the police ran through the missing persons paperwork. That thought made her heart clench. She was having an incredibly hard time grasping the situation. Austin was missing. Well, not officially yet. They were still running through all the evidence and calling any contact that might know where he was before they decide to officially declare him missing.

Something in the pit of Ally's stomach told her that he wasn't going to suddenly show up anytime soon. From what she and the rest of them learned, Austin had been taken, Kidnapped. She covered her mouth with a hand as choked sob threatened to rip from her throat. No, that wasn't right. There was no way that Austin could have been kidnapped. This was all so unreal. She has to be dreaming. Austin wasn't gone. She wasn't sitting at a police station. She was asleep in her warm bed underneath her plush comforter and Austin was home, curled up in his bed, fast asleep.

If only. She already pinched herself a dozen times, just to check and make sure this wasn't a dream. Her left arm was covered in red marks. It didn't matter how many times she pinched; she won't wake up.

Her head shot up when an officer walked up to them. Austin's parents immediately jumped to their feet and bombarded the man with questions, tears streaking from their eyes as they did so.

"Do you know where he is?" Mimi asked

"What happened?" Mike said.

"Did you find him?"

The officer's face was grim. The news was not good. "Sir, mam. I think if it's best that you sit down for this." He said.

With horror struck eyes, they sat. Ally stared up at the officer, her heart pounding. She felt like she already knew what he was going to say and the frightened her to no end. She didn't want to be right.

"From what we were able to gather, it seems like someone had broken into your home before Austin got there. They didn't steal anything, which tells us that they were there specifically to kidnap Austin." Ally, along with everyone else, cringed. "The broken lamp and the phone had no useful fingerprints on them. We only found Austin's on his phone and Mrs. Moon's prints form the lamp when she picked up a piece off the floor. The door had absolutely no prints on it, whatsoever. I'm sorry but this is definitely a kidnapping case." Ally couldn't hold back the sobs anymore. She burst into tears as the cries racked her body. Trish held her as she cried too. Ally could hear Mimi sobbing. Mike and Dez let silent tears fall as they hung their heads against their chests.

The officer continued. "We'll start a search party as soon as possible. We'll get it out that he's missing. It hasn't even been 24 hours since his kidnapping. The first 48 hours are the most crucial in this kind of situation. There's still a very high chance that we'll find him. There's also a very strong chance that he was taken for a ransom, which means we might hear from his kidnappers at any given moment. Don't give up yet. There's still a chance that we'll find him." The officer said.

Ally really hoped he was right. Otherwise, she wouldn't know what to do with herself if she never saw Austin again.

"This isn't real." She heard Mimi whisper. "This isn't real. This isn't real. This isn't real..." She kept repeating.

It's here! Chapter 3. We've got some Ally in there. Please tell me what you thought.