-yawn- Well, I started this with the full intention of having a flashback in the beginning, and thought it over after re-reading the whole story and decided not to. So, bite me. I'm just going to start on a random note and see where it takes me.

Note for RES – I know you want me to update, but every time you ask 'have you finished the chapter yet?' I only work slower. Cause life is funny that way. Oh, and feel free to leave a comment at the end of this, so long as it's not a fugging paragraph.

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The streets were icy and the wind was merciless. Snow whipped around Mariah stinging her face and causing her to question why she had ever enjoyed the frozen white rain. Lee was only a few paces ahead of her, racing as fast as he could without slipping on the black ice that caked the streets. It was difficult to see, with her hair blowing in her face and her heart thudding so hard that she felt like crying. Still, she knew the importance of reaching the police headquarters before someone got shot – again.

"Lee, we're never going to get anywhere like this!" She cried over the howl of the wind. The storm around them had grown worse, and it wasn't benefiting them at all.

"Don't worry, we'll get there soon! Just a few more city blocks!" He called over his shoulder. Mariah didn't try to reply, because at that moment, the police station came into view. In only a matter of minutes, the two burst through the doors and gasping for breath. The warm air on their faces was so refreshing that the pair completely disregarded the officers that jumped up at the site of them. A few seconds passed before Lee recovered, and announced the situation frantically.

At the news, the officers immediately began making phone calls and organizing themselves for action. Lee remembered Mr. Dickenson explaining to them that the police in the entire tri-state area were on call if anything were to happen with the recovering bladers. Suddenly, the neko-jin regretted suing the BBA. All they had done was try to protect them.

"Samson, take these kids to my office and keep them safe." The chief of police, a man who's shiny golden name tag read off the name 'Chief Matson', gave Lee and Mariah a bit of a push towards another officer. The two knew what awaited them on the other side of the doorway they were being led through, however, and abruptly turned back.

"What?! No, we have to come!" Lee cried, his heart hardening as he realized that the police wouldn't let them go back into the hotel to help their friends.

"I'm sorry, it's regulation. You're a target and we just can't take risks like that." The officer shooing them towards the back room said gruffly, trying not to get the two teenagers over excited. Unfortunately, they already were.

"No, that's not fair! What if they'll shoot someone if we're not there, like last time?!" Mariah whined, trying to break away from the officer holding her. The policemen's grip on hers and Lee's wrists was too strong, and she couldn't break it.

"Please don't be difficult, we know this is hard on you." The policemen spoke quietly into Mariah's ears, obviously speaking out of term and trying to conceal it. Mariah stopped struggling and let her fists clench. The man was right, she and Lee would only get in the way if they went.

"Alright…" She breathed in defeat. Besides her, Lee was silently cursing each officer for not letting them go, but followed when they were led into the back office.

The Chief's office was neatly furnished with dim lights and heavy curtains framing the windows that spread across the left wall of the room. It was warm, and held a decent view of the alleyway outside. The two sat down in front of the Chief's desk, and let the thick tension build in the air. Moment's passed on slowly, as fear doubled over in both of their hearts. After only ten minutes of sitting, Lee stood.

"Mariah, we can't stay here." He said solemnly, not making eye contact with her. She looked towards him sadly.

"We have too. It's for our own good." Mariah looked down towards her feet timidly, her heart growing heavier with fear and sorrow. Lee clenched his teeth.

"In the hallway, when Kevin was in the other room with that woman, I felt completely helpless. I thought that trying to break into the room would only get someone killed, and it might have. But Mariah, the whole time I was sitting in that hallway I hated myself. The tension, the waiting… I won't sit through that again."

With the words spoken, Lee moved towards the window and unlatched it, pushing it open. The heavy curtains swayed in the cold wind, but Lee just pulled his jacket around him tighter and looked back at Mariah.

"So what do you say? You want to help the others or not?" He held out his hand for her to take, and after a moment of consideration, Mariah took it. He pulled her towards the window and jumped out, with the female on his heals. It was rare for either of them to break the rules. It had always been Kevin's position to fill, but he was incapable of doing it at the moment. The two huddled together and made their way quickly down the windy alley.

Just as the mouth of the alley was coming into view, Lee smacked into something – or someone – that he bounced off of only to be pulled up by the collar.

"Watch it, ya little street scum." The voice growled. At first reaction, Lee could only make out the threatening glare from the large person. But at a second more throughout look, Lee's startled expression fell completely blank, and then almost instantaneously, happy.

"Hey, you're that guy that helped Kai!" He proclaimed. Mariah smiled as well the second she recognized him. The stranger, on the other hand, took an extra minute before recognition dawned of his face.

"Hey! Well waddya' know? Lee and Mariah!" The large boy dropped Lee and brushed off the front of his shirt before straightening himself up.

"Hey Ripple!" Mariah said, hope building in her heart. Seeing the gang members face, however, reminded her of the situation they were in.

"Ripple, we need your help. The others are being held hostage in the hotel!" Mariah cried. Lee nodded vigorously in agreement, while Ripple's shoulders sank.

"Again? Damn, 'dose dudes don't give up, do they?" The two before him shook their heads.

"Will you help us?" Lee asked hopefully. Ripple pushed out his chest and turned his head to the side.

"Sure. Let's get da gang."

-x-x-x-

"You never answered my question. I asked how you faked your death, not why." Kai narrowed his eyes and glared across at the lady, who was sitting at the foot of the bed Kevin was lying on.

"Oh, silly me. I must have been on a different track of mind. It's quite simple, actually, how I did it." She mused, placing her finger on her chin. Kai tensed slightly, ignoring the burning pain in his upper arm where a bullet had caught him.

"I just killed one of the other woman in the helicopter and dumped her out in a field just out of the city."

The room fell silent. So many questions arose that no one could ask anything until finally, Kenny got up the nerve.

"But… The police would know, we gave them a description of you!" The ignorant statement made the woman smile more.

"Not one in depth. There were only three people that got a good look at my face. Kai, Mariah, and you, sweetie." She said sweetly, looking over at Kevin with a warm grin. From the look on his face, Kevin was horrified to be so close to the woman.

"She had black hair… and a mole. Hell, we all do. That's how he prefers his agents."

"Who?" Kai jumped on the comment like fire on a dried leaf. The woman looked at him with a raised eyebrow before laughing. Other then that, she completely disregarded the question. In doing so, she remember another question she had ignored.

"Oh, sweetheart, how rude of me. I never answered your question, did I? Well, my name is-"

Much to the disappointment of everyone in the room, a guard raced in with some important news.

"Two are missing." He said, out of breath from racing to the room. He must have been checking the rooms on other floors.

"I know that, you moron. I've been in here with all of them for a half hour now." She snapped. The man shrank back, biting his lip.

"But… They went to get help. The feds are outside." The man stuttered, uncertain what reaction he would get. Much to the man's relief, the woman smiled. She stood, gazing across the hostage group silently, compiling her thoughts.

"It's a little early to be back on the news with a new hostage situation. Get a message down to them saying that I'll shoot someone if the press gets this story on the air." The man nodded and the group stiffened, a few pairs of eyes traveling towards Kevin. Would he be the hostage again? Or would the woman choose a new victim who was a little more stable?

"Well. It seems that fate doesn't want me to tell you my name yet. I'm sorry, sweetheart." She directed to Kevin, who shook his head slightly and swallowed. With nothing else to say, the woman turned and strode out of the room leaving the teens alone with the large, burly, armed guards.

Rei slowly inched towards the bed, unnoticed by the two men and three woman standing around them. As he reached the place where Kevin was lying, he whispered his friend's name so quietly that one could only hear it if they had hearing like a cat; just like Kevin. The preceding conversation they had was so quiet that even they had to strain to hear it, but the guards couldn't.

"I won't let her hurt you, Kev. Not again."

A pause followed, and Rei worried that Kevin didn't hear him. This was, until the younger teen replied.

"I think she'll leave me till last."

"Too bad she likes you."

"Do you think I could use that to my advantage?"

"Honestly?" Rei narrowed his eyes, but didn't look up towards Kevin. Any indication that they were communicating would ruin it.

"... Yeah…"

"I think you're too scared."

"… Yeah."

The conversation ended there, for no other reason then they were both out of things to say.

-x-x-x-

Gary's eyes opened slowly to find himself lying on the floor of the kitchenette in their hotel room. His head throbbed and his muscles ached, but in the back of his mind, a note of urgency encouraged him to stand up. Slowly, the large blader got to his feet and looked around the dark room. It was empty, as far as Gary was concerned, and he could tell just by looking that something was wrong. The pillows for the couch were in various spots on the floor, the contents of the coffee table had been thrown onto the floor, and a smashed coke bottle lay about five feet away from Gary.

Gary took all of this in with once sweeping glance before deciding that he'd better stay low. The door to the hotel room was wide open, and light from the hallway poured into the room, illuminating the objects closest to the door. From outside, the only human on the White Tiger team heard someone talking.

"Tell them that she'll shoot someone if the press gets involved. And do it now before it's too late." The rich female voice ordered, before fading back down the hallway.

"Yes ma'am." Another voice replied. The male who was taking the order raced past the door, his shadow flickering past the room. Gary took a cautious step back into the shadows before swallowing and praying that the 'someone' that might get shot wouldn't be any of his friends.

Carefully, Gary inched closer to the door, picking up an empty decretive flower vase on the way, just incase he needed to defend himself. When he reached the door, Gary peered around the corner slowly, expecting to be jumped by a guard. Surprisingly, all the able bodied sentries that Gary had predicted to be outside were farther down the hallway, completely ignoring the room he was in.

A smile spread on Gary's face as he realized this, and decided to step back and evaluate his options. Stay in the room and wait for an opportune moment, sneak out and go find help, or wait a little longer before trying to rescue the others.

Gary found two of them inviting, and shunned the latter fully knowing that trying to save the others all by himself would get him killed. Quietly, Gary sank back into the room and looked around for anything that he might be able to use to his advantage. After fifteen minutes, Gary had assembled a dozen choice items and had already created the vague outline of a plan.

Being naturally gifted with his hands, Gary bent a stiff plastic BBC pipe from under the kitchen sink into somewhat of a C shape, and while it was tight and still bent, he tied a cord he had detached from the curtains on both ends before carefully unbending it. Much to his satisfaction, the new creation held up by itself, and when Gary tugged on the cord. Out of only basic objects found in a hotel room, Gary had created a bow.

All that was left were some arrows, and he found the perfect candidates in the bathroom, where oak towel racks lay just waiting to be sharpened into a point. It would take time, by Gary new that a hurrying hostage was a dead hostage, so he kept himself calm and quietly began to shave away and the end of a towel rack.

Time passed slowly, and eventually, Gary had three arrows. They would be hard to fire, but his homemade bow was tight enough to support them, and as long as he pulled back tightly, they would have plenty of power behind them. Next, he needed a distraction. But what could distract the guards in the hallway long enough for Gary to get a good shot? The answer came when he pulled Kevin's bag aside and a familiar green iPod nano fell out. But music would be a dead give away, and the guards would know that something was up.

Gary's heart fluttered as he remembered what he had been listening to during the meeting when Kevin had reluctantly let Gary use his iPod; The Napoleon Dynamite soundtrack.

For whatever reason, Kevin had the soundtrack on his iPod, and Gary had decided to listen to it. Half the tracks, however, had been direct quotes from the movie. Talking. Without music, just human voices. It could work!

Gary picked it up and looked back around the room, knowing that a makeshift bow and three arrows wouldn't be enough to take down a dozen guards with guns. He would need something else, along with strategy. Gary sighed, knowing that figuring it all out might take more time then he had. Slowly, the large blader sat down and looked at the flurrying snow outside, thinking of what to do.

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xChewy; Narg. Long chapter. X.x

Gary; Yay! I'm in the story now!

xChewy; That you are, big guy. That you are.

Oliver; So… Do I get anymore talking parts?

Eddie; Yeah, I haven't said a thing this whole time!

Tala; Oh shut up, at least she hasn't completely forgotten you.

Eddie; Hey, don't tell me to shut up!

Tyson; None of you should be complaining. I'm the main character in the show, I should be talked about most here!

Kevin; :laughing: No way, fat boy.

Tyson; Hey! I'm NOT fat!

xChewy; HOW DID YOU ALL GET INTO THE COMMENT ROOM?!

Everyone; O.o;

Tala; …The door was open.

xChewy; Damn.

RES: Comment cameo!

xChewy; :waves broom at you: Shoo, RES!