Reminder that underlined speech means that it's spoken in English.

I think this is -the- chapter most people have been waiting for... :p It's kind of a "busy" chapter, but there's a lot of things that I wanted to cover, leading up to the remainder of the story, so I apologize beforehand if you find a lack of continuity in this chapter. But enjoy~

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Chapter Twenty – The Rage

The lights flickered off and Amelia's voice trailed off in a scream before it was cut short. Terrified as she couldn't tell what happened, Misaki shrank back against the metal. Did they finally send in the Contractor to kill the both of them? She wouldn't put it past the Syndicate to have such underhanded methods in getting their work done.

A pair of hands grabbed her and hauled her over a shoulder. She realized it had to be a man as no woman could possibly single-handedly carry her. Wriggling and struggling to get free, she couldn't escape as he only tightened his hold on her.

"Let go of me!" she screamed.

His response was to drop her to the floor before his lips were pressed against hers, rough and demanding. She struggled against him, wondering why everyone was obsessed with kissing her. She had been repulsed when Amelia had kissed her, even if she did think she was pretty. But her captor's hand held her steady. Then she realized that only one Contractor would behave this way.

"Hei," she murmured. "Stop. It hurts."

"Don't speak."

His lips found hers again. Relieved that he had saved her yet again, Misaki leaned against him as he held her steady with both hands at her hips. She sighed as he kissed along her neck towards the area exposed by the unbuttoned blouse. His lips trailed along her collarbone until he found the hollow at her neck. His tongue was moist against her skin as he used it to move away the ring and he kissed her where it usually rested. For some reason, it felt like he was renewing his promise.

"Hei," she whispered as she had heard something.

"We'll continue this later. Now stay quiet."

Before she could say more, the lights were off and he picked her up again. She wanted to remove her blindfold, but he ignored her. Instead, she was deposited against another metal wall. It was then that Misaki realized where she was. He kissed her once more before reminding her to stay quiet. Then he was gone as quickly as he appeared.

***

"Amelia, did you get anything yet? Damn it. What's with the lights?"

Trying to turn on the lights, there was no response as he flipped the switch in both directions. Suddenly, the lights flickered on and Jack frowned as he saw the empty warehouse. That witch wouldn't have turned traitor on him, would she? Misaki was gone and Amelia was nowhere to be seen. Glancing around, a movement from overhead caught his attention.

His eyes widened in surprise as Amelia's body was dangling from the ceiling by a wire. Her eyes were open and her icy gaze seemed to pierce right through him to his very soul. Even for a Contractor, the scene was ominous and it made a chill dance along his skin. Just as suddenly as the lights turned on, they were off again. He couldn't help thinking that she was staring at him from up above.

Stumbling backwards, he tried to catch himself and bumped into something behind him. Spinning around in surprise, he stared up into the frosty white mask of BK-201 and he panicked. What was he doing here? This was an attack on someone whose only relation to him was that she had been chasing his trail back in Tokyo. But now he was in America.

Even before he could react to activate his power, BK-201 had his neck in a death grip while he was glowing blue. Jack was surprised he wasn't electrocuted as that was his power. His eyes pierced his, daring him to move and Jack could see that they glittered dangerously.

"Wh – What do you want?" he asked, trying to pull his hand off.

It loosened slightly, but he still couldn't pry him off. He was going to choke to death before he even figured out what happened. He tried to use his power, but nothing happened.

"What did the Syndicate want?" Hei asked as he threw the lighter man against a metal crate.

"They wanted to know what Misaki Kirihara knew about you."

Struggling to stand up, Jack tried to call forth his power as he had to get out of here, but nothing happened. Even when he focused all of his attention on it, there was nothing. If he didn't have his power, he was only a ragdoll for BK-201 to play with. But how could this happen?

"Were you the one who did that to her?"

"Did what? I didn't do anything to her," Jack stated. "Amelia is the one who was supposed to ask. I can't even communicate with that woman."

"Is that what you call ask?"

"What's it to you? You've done worse and you know it."

He knew it too, but it didn't help the situation one bit. Beyond angry that they did this to Misaki, Hei flew forward to punch the other man in the face. She was safe, but he wasn't going to calm down until someone paid for it. Since he couldn't punish the Syndicate directly, he was going to make this man pay for his involvement. The woman had been taken out too quickly.

The other man was no match for him and he didn't even try to use his power. He was a Contractor or they wouldn't have sent him in. But he didn't care about any of that. He wasn't satisfied until he beat him to a bloody pulp. Using his power would have taken out the fulfilment aspect of it. They should just feel lucky that they didn't actually kill her or he would have gone on a crusade, killing every Contractor he could find.

Kicking the dead body, it flew against the crate and slid down into a heap. Misaki was going to despise him if she found out what he had done, which was why he had purposely left her blindfold on. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he knew they had to get out of here. His activity was going to show up on the radar. The CIA was going to show up any minute.

"Hei?" Misaki asked softly.

"Just wait."

He pulled out a pin to pick open the lock before he leaned down to untie her legs. She pulled off the blindfold, but couldn't see anything as it was dark in the warehouse. Before she could speak, he pulled her close and they stood like that for a moment, just holding each other. Finally, he scooped her up into his arms and they left out the back of the building.

***

"BK-201 is active in the Glenarden region and EL-940 has disappeared from the system."

"Not again... Get a move on and call the others," Jacob demanded.

"Understood."

Ryan sighed as he was looking forward to going home when this showed up on the radar. Now he was stuck puling overtime because he hadn't left early like the others. He called both Marissa and Devon, but he was unable to contact Jack as it went to his voicemail instead. April, July and Misaki had disappeared as April had been claiming that Misaki hadn't returned to the hotel. Now it was only going to be the four of them...

***

"Here's some ice."

"Is this a good idea?" Misaki asked as she sat in a small apartment with Yin and Hei.

She had never formally met the girl before and considering what Hei had said in the past, she was surprised that he would bring her here. Yin didn't speak and only sat there with her hands in a pan of water. Hei had decided to treat her wounds, but it wasn't anything serious and it was hard to explain if she was fully bandaged when she returned.

"I'm thinking. I think it's time we left soon... What do you think, Yin?"

"Whatever you want is fine."

"And you?" he asked, turning to Misaki. "I haven't forgotten my promise and I won't leave if you're not ready to. Even so, the Syndicate isn't going to forget this so easily when they know I went to save you."

"Oh... I don't know. I wasn't thinking of that. I mean, I didn't even realize that they would want to kidnap me."

"That was my fault. I should have warned you."

Misaki shook her head, but Hei pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her. She didn't ask about what happened in the warehouse and he was relieved. Remembering what the other man said, that was still the most brutal he had been – purposely. He had been called on to torture people in the past, but none of it compared to the rage behind his attack.

They were quickly running out of time in America, but he wasn't going to force her to leave if she wasn't ready. He also wasn't going to leave without her because he knew she was going to be on the Syndicate hit list along with him and Yin; he was going to do everything he could to protect her. Hei leaned in to kiss her and Misaki only smiled. A tingle danced along her lips and Hei made sure to hold her carefully when she crumpled in his arms.

***

"What happened here?"

The four of them stared at the scene in front of them, shocked beyond belief. They had recognized Jack's car out front and Amelia's body where it dangled from the rafters. The update was only on BK-201's activity here. EL-940's disappearance explained a Contractor's death. But why were there two of their own at the scene and which one of them was the Contractor?

Devon was finally the first to make a move, walking towards the body by the crate. Glancing down at it momentarily, he looked away and shook his head. He hardly recognized the boy and he still couldn't believe that one of them had been a Contractor. There was no way to tell which one either.

"I... I'll call someone in to cut her down," Ryan finally said.

***

April and July were making their way back to the hotel. Even though they knew where BK-201 had gone to find Misaki, they didn't know what they could do. It sounded like he was going to kill her. Depressed by the thought, they had been reluctant to head back to where they would be safe while she was in danger. Everything that could have gone wrong did.

As they neared the hotel entrance, there was a commotion and April rushed forward to see what it was about. Breaking through the crowd, she was surprised to see Misaki lying passed out on the front step. She looked like she had taken a beating, but otherwise alive.

"What are you all staring at?" she snapped. "If you have time to gawk, go call an ambulance!"

Kneeling down beside her, April gently touched her fingers to her neck to check for a pulse. It was still there. She didn't want to touch her any further, just in case she had internal injuries. They waited until an ambulance appeared and the three of them went together.

"What happened?" the paramedic asked.

"I'm sorry. I don't know. I just returned to find her like that."

"Okay, well she seems to be alright though we'll have to do the full set of testing and examination when we get to the hospital."

Nodding in reply, April glanced at July and he nodded as well. Whatever had occurred, they were lucky to find her alive as BK-201 had been after her. Now they just needed to wait for her to wake up before they could get the full story from her. Gently taking hold of her hand, April gave her hand a squeeze and she saw that July did the same thing on the other side.

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A/N: Okay, so Amelia might have been more obvious as a baddie, but did anyone guess that Jack would be her partner? :)

Also, just to clarify what happened there, in case it was hard to understand (since I wasn't explicit with it). But the part where Hei's glowing and using his power, but Jack wasn't electrocuted... It's referenced to the thing Dr. Schrader says in the anime about how his power can turn humans into Contractors and vice versa. Hei was so upset that he wiped out Jack's power. Saves me thinking up another power! Lolz~ But that's the essence behind what happens there, hence why his star disappeared, though he still dies.