I updated quickly, huh? Well, keep in mind that there isn't a single part of me that wants to prevent you guys from reading the story, but sometimes it takes a while for me to update. Okay? This time it didn't, but you never know. Sorry for the wait last time. O.o;

Oh, and people? REVIEW MORE, DAMNIT!

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Freezing cold water cascaded down on the small neko-jin. His hair clung to his face, as did his shirt to his torso. He hugged his knees to his chest and tried to stop shaking, but the uncontrollable shiver that had bewitched his body refused to let go. His leg burned in pain, the wound threatening to open again. The very thought worried the boy so greatly that he was almost sobbing. Not again… Not again…

It could be worse, he told himself. Think World Trade Centers, think Saving Private Ryan, it could be so much worse. But not matter how hard he tried, he couldn't picture the destruction the two towers that had been broadcasted world wide, or the opening fifteen minutes of the patriotic war movie he had watched on a past trip to America. He could only focus on the cold sting of the falling water and the aching, burning pain in his leg.

He could hear the table being moved away from the shower door. He could see it opening and a man stepping forwards, sticking the handle back into its original place and jiggling it until the water stopped. But he was so numbed by the cold that he could barely feel the man lifting him up and carrying him out of the room. He couldn't stop shaking as the man dropped him onto the couch and threw a thick blanket on top of him.

As the heat slowly caught up to him and thawed out his freezing body, Kevin couldn't help but feel a wave of utter fatigue wash over him. All he wanted to do was sleep, and since he could barely move, he figured it was his only option.

Mariah, Rei, Lee… Anyone… Help.

-x-x-x-

Gary tightened his grip on the makeshift bow, aiming his arrow towards the doorway. He waiting there for a decent ten minutes before deciding that no one was coming to see why the guards were taking their time in the room. Carefully, he relaxed his arrow and lowered the weapon.

The iPod was still playing, repeating different quotes from the Napoleon Dynamite movie. Were there other guards in the hallway? And if there were, how were they not hearing it? Gary stepped towards the doorway slowly and peered around the corner into the hallway. What he saw made him smile broadly;

Not a single guard.

Cautiously, Gary stepped out of the room pulling his weapon back into the ready position. He made his way down the hallway to an unoccupied room about three doors down and hid there, waiting for someone to come out into the hallway. In only five minutes time, someone did.

The emerged from the room in the midst of a conversation, which Gary to only understand part of.

"-Never even bothering to do something for himself."

"The guys only looking to get to the top, Hal. We all want that."

"Some more then others, apparently." The voices of the two men grew closer to the room with each word, and Gary flexed his muscles to prepare himself for if they entered the room. The shadows of the two guards flashed through the room as the two men walked by, but neither turned their attention into the room or acknowledged the iPod playing softly in the room down the hall. They walked right on into the elevator and were gone in a moment.

Gary stood back up, and leaned out the doorway again. He was five rooms away from the only door that way shut, and he assumed that it was the room were the others were being kept, so that would be his goal, or at least to get as close to it as he possibly could. Gary ducked back into the hallway and slowly began to make his way down it, checking over his shoulder every few moments to make sure no one was sneaking up from behind.

The made it three doors down until he heard the door to the room open. He dove into the nearest room and rolled across the floor under the bed where he hid as a figure entered the room.

"Call the number we gave you and tell the police that we don't want to reveal the goal yet. Now repeat that back to me."

An unsure, familiar voice sounded from the other end of the room. Gary held his breath, wondering if the person had seen him.

"Y-you don't want to reveal your plan yet." The shaken voice was that of a young girl; younger then Gary.

"Good. Do it now." Then the figure by the door exited and a long pause followed as the girl punched in the number on a cellular phone. In an instant, someone answered.

"They're not ready to reveal what they're planning… No, I haven't heard any gunfire… Okay…" The phone flipped closed and a silence followed in which Gary was unsure what would happen. And then,

"G… Gary?" The voice was small and hushed, fear ring back and forth between each syllable pronounced. It wasn't until then that he recognized the voice and rolled out from under the bed.

"Yeah, Emily."

-x-x-x-

"No, you retard, it happened again!"

"Oh... What the hell is with the security issue?"

Lee and Mariah exchanged a glance. Someone had to stopped the argument soon, but neither wanted to get involved.

"Listen, Mohan, all I'm sayin' is dat I said I would help dem and you know I'm a man a' my word." Ripple tried to explain, though he was having a hard time keeping his temperature. There was a pause before the younger, scrawny boy spoke up again.

"Alright, I'll assist. But on one condition…"

Lee stepped forwards. "We can't pay you this time unless Kai feels generous afterwards."

The boy shook his head. "No, no. I don't want money, I'm interested in a job at the BBA to help AID the security."

Lee and Mariah looked at him with blank expressions before Mariah sighed and shook her head slowly.

"Mohan, we can't promise you a job-"

"No, not that either. Just put in a good word for me."

"Uhh… Alright, so long as you save our friends."

"Of course."

Ripple smiled and clapped his hands together, announcing that they would still need a few more crew members for the gig to work. Lee frequently reminded them that they didn't have the time to find everyone, and that someone would have to be left out.

"'Eit, 'eit. I know, lil dude. No worries." Ripple assured them, with a smile on his face. Mariah smiled inwardly at his way of talking. The large boy was practically everything the stereotypical New York city gang member would be, yet Mariah knew he was a good person at heart. He would have to be, to risk his life twice for people he hardly knew.

-x-x-x-

"Kenny, what kind of music do you listen to?" The black haired woman questioned, breaking the silence. Kenny looked up slowly, a little startled by his sudden involvement with the woman.

"None." He answered quickly, realizing how nervous he sounded. The woman smiled.

"Oh, come now. Surely you must listen to some music while your working so hard on what ever it is you do."

Kenny shook his head quickly.

"No, it's to distracting." His reply made the woman frown.

"That's too bad… Max, what about you?" The American swallowed and took a breath.

"You know… Common stuff." For some reason, Max felt that giving a specific answer to the woman was dangerous. For whatever reason, he didn't want the woman to know anything about him.

"Enlighten me."

Max nervously looked around the room, trying to think of a band he liked. His mind was coming up blank. "Uh… AC/DC, I guess…"

"Oldie but goodie." The woman said with a smile. "Anything else?"

"Why?" Kai suddenly asked, bringing himself into the conversation. He saw no point in talking about something to irrelevant to the current issue. The woman frowned even more and glared down at Kai while pushing out her lower lip.

"Goodness, Kai, you're quite the wet blanket today."

"Yeah, sorry if I get a little pissed off when someone shoots me in the arm in a drive-by and then holds me hostage in a room with Tyson." The comment, however cold it was, made the woman laugh.

Much to the surprise of Kai, the laugh was hoarse and frightening. Not something he expected after hearing her talking to sweetly to everyone.

"Witty little child, aren't you?" She looked away towards a guard standing by the door.

"I'm a little restless in hear… Go fetch news on my sweetie." She shooed the man off with a flick of her wrist and glanced at Rei with a smile. He was sitting alone in the corner, trying to calm himself.

"Worried about him, Rei?"

"Why shouldn't I be?" His voice was calmer then it had been earlier, but he was still angry.

"Well, he hasn't been shot yet. That's something to be thankful for. I can't say what he has been through though. Boss has a creative way of doing things, one can never guess." She circled her hand clockwise like she was stirring something, and gazed up at the ceiling curiously.

"He's insane." Steven growled, stating the obvious. The woman laughed again, sending shivers down the captive's spines.

"Thank you for your insight, dear."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; Short chapter, I know, but I'm not looking to break record this time. I just felt the urge to update, and since it took me two weeks last time, I decided to compensate and update a day after I last did this time.

Kai; How kind of you.

xChewy; Hey, at least you're personable in this story. Normally you're a cold hard bastard.

Kai; I am. Why don't you get that?

Rei; Oh God, you're making me emo.

xChewy; :pauses and considers it: Holy f--- I am!!

Rei; :sobbing: I don't want to be like Kai!

Kai; -.-;

Mariah; If Rei is emo, I won't love him any more.

Kai; Hey, what are you implying?

Mariah; That I don't like you.

Kai; Hn.