It had now been a week since 2D's sudden disappearance. Murdoc had spent long hours of the afternoon puttering around in the jeep while Russel and Noodle had been making posters and asking around. They had scoured the entire area around Kong, with no hide nor hair of him. The only evidence they had to work off of was the strewn pizzas in the front driveway, and a squick of blood in the dirt. This lead to much unrest in the group.
"2D-san was taken!" Noodle had come to the conclusion a few days after he had disappeared. Her eyes had been red with worry, her hair messy and un-kept. The group had spent the day at Kong, planning and mapping out a grid of the surrounding area. Murdoc preferred to do so drunk, which pissed Russel off to no end.
"Oi, oi, oi, quiet down ye brat. Wot make's yew think someone took 'im?" Murdoc hissed, licking the opening of an empty bottle. They had gathered in one of the recreational rooms of Kong, accumulating all of their material onto one pool table for discussion.
"There is no other way. He did not disappear, someone take him!" Noodle choked, her hysteria growing. She had always had a special bond with the azure boy; her heart had been absolutely broken when everything began pointing to kidnap.
"Shhh, babygirl, it'll be alright. We'll find him," Russel cooed to her, scooping her up in his massive arms. She nuzzled her face into his shirt, worn from the hours of deliberating 2D's disappearance.
"Someone took him..." she moaned, her voice muffled. The girl radiated pure agony, and everyone could see it. Murdoc paused with his tongue down the neck of a bottle, staring at the girl. Russel put a hand on her back, growing more and more distraught.
"We'll find him, I promise. Right Murdoc?" Russel said sternly, glaring at the drunken bassist.
"Uhh...oh. Yeah, yeah, 'course we will!" Murdoc chirped, slamming the bottle down on the big table before them. He hiccuped. "Couldn've gone far, 'ell get hungry sooner or later."
"He is not lost! He has been taken!" Noodle exclaimed, hopping off of Russel's lap. "There was blood! And..and the pizzas were all over! He was struggling!" Tears were brimming in her eyes as she yelled, her small frame shaking with unease.
"Well, we don't know that for sure, Noodle. You know D, he just wanders some times. That blood could have been from some animal who got hit by a car," Russel said to her softly. He reached a hand towards her, but she swatted it away. Russel recoiled in surprise as Noodle glared up at him.
"Why no one believe me?! Don't you want him to be home?!" Noodle exclaimed, a fire burning behind her eyes. She had a quiet exterior, but she definitely had something fierce inside her.
"Ya'know, we coul' always check th' *urp* er, security cameras," Murdoc chimed in, molesting a different bottle. The room was silent for a moment as everyone watched him suckle the last few drops of alcohol from the thing.
"You mean to tell me...that Kong...has fucking security cameras?!" Russel exploded, getting up from his chair quick as a whip. He swatted the bottle away from Murdoc, smashing his face down into the pool table. "YOU SENILE OLD DRUNK!"
"WATCH TH' FACE! WATCH IT, WATCH IT YEW OAF!" Murdoc squirmed under Russel's enormous hand as Noodle chattered insults in Japanese. Russel grabbed him by his thick mop of hair, almost lifting him off of the ground.
"Where are the tapes to the cameras?" Russel hissed into his ear, his face inches from Murdoc's. His eyes had turned from ghostly white to a more pinkish color as his temper grew red hot.
"Ow, ow, ow, tat 'urts! Lemme go, lemme- aaaargh!" Murdoc screeched as his feet left the ground. He clawed at Russel's hand, but to no avail. "In th' basement! Th' security room is in th' fucking basement!"
Russel dropped him to his knees, storming from the room. Noodle followed after him, still cursing in Japanese. Murdoc smoothed his hair grouchily, grabbing yet another bottle of alcohol and following the others. He joined them at the creaky old elevator, making it just in time to slip into the rusted metal doors. They rode down to the basement in silence.
The elevator "dinged" as they reached the basement of the spooky building. Murdoc was barely able to step out of the decrepit box before Russel had picked him up by the neck. He made a gargling sound, which only tightened Russel's grip. Noodle stared up at the drunken man with crossed arms.
"Where is security room?" Noodle asked sternly. Murdoc narrowed his mis-matched eyes, growing more and more contempt for the two.
"Down th' 'all...to th' right!" Murdoc choked out, barely able to breath let alone talk. Russel dropped him once more, picking up Noodle and walking down the dark dusty hallway. Noodle took her usual position on his back, staring down connecting hallways as apparitions floated from room to room. Murdoc picked himself up from the floor, staring sadly at his spilled alcohol. He growled and cursed, following the two once more.
Russel stopped in front of a room with a dusted iron door. Letters were strewn above, and upon a light dusting, appeared to read "SECURITY". Noodle tightened her hold around Russel's neck, eager to finally find out what had happened to her friend.
Russel wrapped a thick mitt around the rusty doorknob, jiggling it expectantly. It did so appear to be locked.
"Haw haw! Y'see, yew old brute, i's locked on yew!" Murdoc laughed down the hallway, jolly towards the fact that the drummer was inconvenienced. He didn't get another word out before Russel had punched the door in. Not kicked; punched.
Murdoc shut up right quick, rubbing at his neck nervously. The three of them crowded into the small, dusty room, the only illumination being the wall of TV screens, each one showing a different angle of Kong. Noodle extended her little arm to the wall, catching a light switch with her finger. She gasped as she recognised that one overlooked the spot where 2D was last seen.
"Get the tape!" Noodle exclaimed, pointing towards the desired TV. Russel reached up, pushing a button to turn off the camera. He pushed another to eject the old, dusty VHS tape.
"I dunno who does it, but someone seems t' change th' tapes in 'ere. They're changed weekly I think, so that one'll 'ave footage of that night," Murdoc explained, for fear that Russel would grab him around the neck again.
"Alright, let's watch this thing," Russel said, sitting in the single tiny swivel chair of the room. One of the TV's was black, which Russel assumed was the one used to watch tapes over. He popped the rectangular tape into the slot beneath the screen.
The screen lit up as the tape slid in, white noise spewing from the tiny speakers as snow danced on the screen. An image began to form, and eventually the front area of Kong studios was revealed. Russel fast-forwarded through the scenes, watching zombies trudge around at an exaggerated pace.
"There, there!" Noodle exclaimed as the seedy picture of a pizza delivery car pulled into view. Russel stopped fast-forwarding, leaning forward in anticipation. Murdoc struggled around the huge drummer to see the screen.
They watched as the pizza delivery man trudged up to the front door, pizza-less. After about a minute, they immediately recognized the blue-haired singer as he walked down to the car, trailing after the pizza man. Noodle flinched, still slung across Russel's back. He patted her arm reassuringly.
They watched in curiosity as 2D bent down to look in the back of the car; but their curiosity turned to horror as they saw the man attack 2D with a crow-bar. Noodle whimpered as she saw 2D go limp, his beautiful blue hair stained with blood. They watched on as 2D was stuffed into the back of the car, his limbs folding awkwardly in the small space.
"Pause it, pause it!" Noodle demanded. Russel pushed a button on the small TV, freezing the image just as the car began pulling away. "You can see the car number!"
Murdoc squinted his eyes, moving closer to the TV to see the small, yet evident license plate of the car. Russel ejected the tape from the TV, turning it black. Grabbing it, he turned to leave the room struggling to worm his way around various cords and TVs.
"See? He was taken!" Noodle exclaimed triumphantly. Despite this, she had still been shaken by the sight of 2D being attacked.
"That's right, babygirl. Now we have a place to start."