Author's Note: For some reason, my brain decided Julianna had dark red hair. I've fixed it now, but sorry if it confused you.
Lucas searched for anything to help him. The dark space only held the music that had been downloaded before they left for Node3. He pushed that away in a rage. I can't freaking believe this! Why would she do this... after everything that happened, why? He thought to himself in frustrated desperation. Why didn't I install a wi fi modem in this thing? How could I have been so stupid?
Light flooded his small prison, and he could see a small, dingy hotel room. His captor smirked at him, directly in front of the vido-screen's camera. "I know you're there, no point in hiding."
What do you want?
"We'll get to that. Now that York isn't here to screw everything up, I can take my time."
You were working for him?!
"More like working with him, my boss was his financial backer. We have the same goals."
To take down the UEO? He received a nod. Why?
She shrugged, "A lot of people want the UEO gone. I'm doing it purely for the substantial amount of money I will be paid."
Was anything that happened... between us real?
A small played at her lips, "some, the fun stuff." She admitted.
You were working with him from the start, everything was a lie.
The teen shrugged again. "Oh, Lucas you are always so trusting of a pretty face and a bit of flirting. Who do you think programmed the interface?"
I thought Hardwick did that.
"Oh please, Bruce couldn't hide something like that from you. But I could, I knew what you'd look for."
I nearly died.
"That wasn't my fault, if you hadn't been playing with that stupid dolphin, you would have just been knocked out." A cruel smile crossed her face. "But after my boss found out what happened... well... let's just say I got a raise. And when I bring him to you, I'll get even more."
What does he want me for?
"You'll be hacking into the World Bank again. And this time, you'll be depositing all of the UEO's funds into our accounts."
I won't do it, I don't even know if I can.
"You did it before."
Yeah, and now I can get literately fried by the firewalls, it'll probably kill me.
"You'll figure something out."
What if I refuse?
"Lucas," she narrowed her eyes at the screen. "You are in an unformatted hard drive with no way out. I'm sure you already realize that, but I want to ask you one thing, and please be honest. How long has it been since I unplugged you?"
Five or six hours.
She shook her head while smiling in triumph. "No, it's been about forty-five minutes. I'll turn the screen on once a day and ask you again. Think about this, you have put yourself in the most intense solitary confinement there is. You'll go crazy before long. And if my boss starts to get impatient, I'll find another way, probably involving bloodshed."
No! Don't do this... please...
The screen went blank at the push of a button. She sat back and regarded the bound person in the room with her. "So, want to take a few bets on how this will turn out?" Obscenities were screamed through a gag and pure hate sparked from her eyes. "You're right, never bet against the house."
Nick knocked on the open door of the medbay. Kristin was inside, cataloging incoming medical supplies. "What is it Nick?"
"Um, have you seen Jayde? Or Julianna?"
Kristin set down the bandages in her hands, "no, not since last night? What's happening?"
Nick scuffed his shoe on the metal floor. "Well, probably nothing, but I can't find them. And I think they have the hard drive Lucas was hiding in. Maybe they just found a place to work that was quiet."
"Without you?" Kristin raised an eyebrow.
"I... uh... I ran into Ben when I was looking. He called the PAL that Jayde was given. No one answered. Ben... said the three of them may be doing something... together..." Nick flushed. "I'm not sure if he was joking or not... I know it's possible but..."
Kristin pulled her PAL out before he finished talking. "Nathan, we may have a problem."
"What is it?"
Jayde, Julianna, and Lucas' mind may be missing. And... if they're not, Mr. Krieg is going to be receiving the most painful physical of his life."
There was a pause, "I'm on my way."
The light came on again and Lucas flinched from the sudden influx of information. It seemed like he had been alone for days, but knew it was probably just hours. He didn't know how long he could deal with his imprisonment.
"Have you thought about it?"
That wasn't a day... I... I know it wasn't.
"No, but my boss wants me to give you another chance right away. He seems to think now that you understand what you're up against, you'll reconsider." She snorted softly. "He doesn't know how stubborn you are."
Tell me how this happened.
"How what happened?"
Why you are working with them. I know you, I know that you would never do this. You would never hurt people just for money. Do they have something on you?
"You barely know me at all, Lucas." She responded quietly. "I need an answer."
No, the answer is still no.
"Fine." His world went black again.
"Is there any security footage of anyone leaving the ship?" Nathan asked, running a hand through his graying hair.
"No sir, it's tampered with. We can't see anything near the loading dock or outside. The WSKR's were on, but that would only tell us something if they went into the water." Ortiz reported.
"And because we're docked, they could have just walked off the ship and no one would have noticed a thing." Nathan pointed out in frustration. "Tim, can you try to find where they went? Check for credit card charges for rental cars or hotels."
Tim grimaced, "I can't do nearly as much as Lucas, but I'll try."
"Thank you." Nathan played with the PAL in his pocket, thinking. Finally, he got up and went back to medbay.
He found Kristin checking Lucas' vitals once again. "Has anything changed?"
When he saw her eyes, he knew something was wrong. "He's... he's dying Nathan. His body is getting weaker. I don't know if it's because his mind is so far away, but his heart is getting weaker."
"We will find them." Nathan promised her. He turned to Nick, "how are the repairs going?"
The young man nodded happily. "Very good actually. I was able to replace the original receivers with the pads used for EKG's, and most of the electronics are fixed. As soon... as we find them, I should be able to get Frankie back."
"Any idea how to get him there from the computer?"
Nick nodded again. "I think it will be as easy as him moving through the systems. The conduits were destroyed before, that's why it wouldn't work, it should now."
"That is more 'shoulds' and 'thinks' than I'd like to hear young man." Kristin interjected, agitated about her patient.
"Yeah, I know... but I just can't give you a one hundred percent yes right now."
Nathan clapped a hand on the teen's shoulder, "we understand, Nick. Thank you for what you are doing." He paused, "what can you tell me about the militants that took over Node3?"
"Well, like I said, they showed up after Mycroft left. At first it was small changes, we had to get permission to leave and we had to be working on certain things at certain times. Then, they wanted us to test the security around major UEO files. We've done it before, but a few kids said no..." Nick closed his eyes for a moment. "They beat the crap out of them."
Kristin let her breath out in an angry hiss. "What did they want?" Nathan asked softly.
"We aren't sure, everyone was working on different things. All related to the UEO. When we tried to talk to each other about it, and try to figure it out... they... would get mad and punish us again." The young man had a haunted look in his eyes. "There was nothing we could do." He tried to explain in his defense.
"Nick, we don't blame you or anyone else there for this." Nathan assured him. "Right now, we have to find Julianna and Jayde. Do you think the people that took over Node3 could have followed you here?"
He shook his head, "I don't think they could have followed us, but they could find us."
Nathan nodded, "ok, I want you to go to the bridge. Find Lt. O'Neill and help him."
"Yes, sir." Nick said in a broken tone. Nathan immediately thought of how prisoners respond to their jailers when he heard the boy.
If he was in his body, Lucas would have rolled his eyes when the light came back. You said you were leaving me alone. I'm trying to design new fractal geometrical patterns here. It isn't to easy when I can't write the numbers down! Lucas stopped his rant for the sake of bravado, and gawked in horror. What is she doing here?
Julianna smiled over Jayde's shoulder. The scared, but angry looking girl was tied to a chair, and Julianna pressed a knife to her throat. "She's going to help you decide, Lucas. You don't want see your new little sweetheart get hurt do you?"
