"Uncle, we must find a way to prevent the resurrection of Shendu and Tarakudo!" Jackie cried. "Is there anything in the volume that says what to do?"
"Quiet!" Uncle said, "I am still reading through to see what it says!"
Lydia's phone started ringing. "Hello?" she answered.
"Hey Liddy, it's Nate" said Nathaniel McPeek, Lydia's older brother.
"Nate! What's up!" Lydia asked excitedly as she walked to the main part of Uncle's Rare Finds.
"Oh gosh it's been a crazy day. How fast can you come down to San Diego?"
"Umm it's only an hour and a half flight from San Fran. Why? What's wrong?" Lydia asked with concern.
Nate was silent for a moment and then sighed. "It's mom. She's been kidnapped."
Lydia was so stunned that she stopped breathing for a minute. Her mind started spinning and she could hardly think. The Revengers weregoing after her family!
"Liddy, are you there?" Nate asked.
"Yeah..." Lydia replied in almost a whisper. "Don't worry, I'll be down as soon as I can, and I'll bring some people with me!"
"Darling, what's wrong?" Valmont asked when Lydia walked into the back room. His eyes filled with worry when he saw tears well up in her eyes and her face go pale.
"It's...it's...my mom" Lydia stuttered, "She's been kid...kidnapped."
Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and looked at her. "Kidnapped?!" they all said.
"This is not good. I think the Revengers are starting to hit more people in your family, Liddy!" Tag cried.
"I...I know. I need to go to San Diego at once, and I want you guys to come with me." Lydia replied.
"We're on it!" Tag said.
As everyone started leaving the shop, Jade started to follow. "Let's crack this mystery!" she exclaimed until Jackie stopped her.
"Jade, you are going to stay at Section 13 with Captain Black."
"Awwwwww!" Jade whined. Seriously, when would Jackie ever invite her on a mission?!
Two hours later, everyone had flown down to San Diego to the Navy base where Nathaniel and Lydia's parents lived. MC Cobra and Charmaine had come along also once Lydia told them what happened. Charmaine was feeling better, thanks to her boyfriend, but was still freaked out about the incident, especially after Cobra revealed to her his "magical" past.
"Hey Nate" Lydia said as she gave her big brother a hug. Nathaniel McPeek was a tall, muscular man with dark brown hair with some streaks of gray, the same kind blue eyes, and a voice that was soft but strong at the same time. His wife Kelly was tall and muscular as well and had long dark brown hair and brown eyes, looking a lot like her oldest daughter.
"Hi Liddy, it's been too long!" Nathaniel said as he hugged her in return. "Tag! What a surprise, it's so great to see you as well" Nathaniel added when she saw his long time best friend Tag.
"Good to see you too, Nate!" Tag replied, "Though I'm sorry it has to be under these circumstances."
Kelly and Cassie, who had come along to help support Nathaniel and check on his father, poked out from behind Nathaniel. "Ice!" Cassie squealed as she ran over to Strikemaster Ice and gave him a huge hug. Nate and Kelly found a reason to smile a bit more at the sight of their youngest daughter being temporarily reunited with her boyfriend.
"Hey sweet thang" Ice replied. "I missed you so much, yo!" he added as the two shared a long kiss.
"Kelly it's great to see you too!" Lydia then Tag said as they both gave her a hug as well.
After Lydia quickly introduced the people she had brought with, she looked into Nathaniel's eyes.
"How's dad?" she asked with concern.
Nate sighed. "Hanging in there, he's just very distressed. Follow me, he's in his office."
The group followed Nathaniel to a large building with lots of doors with unique passwords and entered into an office where Nathaniel's father, Vice Admiral Aaron McPeek, was sitting down alone on his chair, looking very distressed.
"Hi dad" Lydia said, running over and giving her father a hug.
"Hi honey" Vice Admiral McPeek said as he hugged her tight in return. "Taggart McStone! It's been a long time, how you doing, son?" he said when he saw Tag in the distance.
"I'm well, sir, it's great to see you" Tag said as he shook his hand firmly.
"Charmaine and Cassie, give your grandpa a hug!" he motioned to the youngest McPeek daughters as they came over and hugged him. "Where's Miss Kaysha at?"
"She's in Dallas at a basketball tournament. Dad, can you tell us what happened?" Lydia asked.
Aaron's eyes got sad again as he took a deep breath. "It was just awful. Me and Lea were asleep when all of a sudden we started hearing noises in the house. Your mother was brave and got up to see what it could be. I started drifting off to sleep when all of a sudden I started to hear her scream. I jumped up out of bed and ran downstairs to the living room and saw two masked men dragging away your mother. I tried to shoot them but they kicked the gun out of my hands and then kicked me over. Before I knew it, they were gone. Oh Liddy I don't know where on earth she could be, the Admiral's been trying everything to track her down." he concluded with more sadness in his eyes.
"Can you tell us anything about the criminals that you noticed, sir?" Tag asked.
"Well I saw that they had red Korean hangul on their shirts and remember them yelling at your mother 'You will surrender your knowledge to us, descendent of Lo Pei!' But that's it."
Everyone's eyes got wide. The Revengers had kidnapped Lea McPeek!
"This is crazy" Lydia said with despair, "First Kaysha and Charmaine and now mom? This is too much!"
"What does Lydia's mom know that the Revengers don't?" a voice said out of nowhere.
The group turned around and noticed that Jade was standing at the door.
"Jade! Why aren't you at Section 13?" Jackie scolded.
"Because I'm here in San Diego, duh" Jade replied sarcastically, which made Jackie groan.
"I don't know, kid" Viper replied, "But we need to find out pronto!"
"Viper's right" Lydia said, "Daddy, we should call Halmoni Hy and see if she can help us."
"Halmoni who?" Jade asked.
"My grandma on my mom's side" Lydia replied.
Ring ring! Aaron was calling his mother-in-law, Hy Kim, who lived alone in Seattle. He plugged his phone into a sound system so everyone could hear the conversation.
"Hello?" answered the voice of an 80 year old Korean woman.
"Mo chin, this is Aaron McPeek" Vice Admiral McPeek said, "How are you?"
"Aaron! I am fine, how are you?"
"I'm ok. I need your help. Lea's been kidnapped and we're trying to figure out why."
"Oh no! My ttal!" Hy gasped, "And who is we?"
"Your grandchildren Nathaniel and Lydia and their family and friends" Aaron replied, "Let me put Lydia on the phone with you."
"Hi Halmoni Hy!" Lydia said.
"Lydia, my dear son nyu! How are you?"
"I'm fine, Halmoni" Lydia replied, "Listen, do you remember the legend of Lo Pei?"
"Why yes, of course I do!" Hy replied, "I tell your mother and uncles that when they were young!"
"Do you know anything about a group called the Revengers?" Lydia asked.
"Revengers...oh yes, very bad group" Hy replied, "They loyal subjects of Lord Shendu and Master Tarakudo in ancient times who vow to help them get revenge when they defeated."
"Well I think they exist today, because they tried to kidnap your great-granddaughters, Kaysha and Charmaine, and they kidnapped Mom! Dad said they yelled at her about surrendering her knowledge to them when they were taking her away. What could they mean?" Lydia asked.
Hy thought deeply for a minute before answering. "Oh no, this is very bad" she finally said, "They must want to know location of evil half of Um Yang globe."
"Um Yang globe?" everyone in the room said.
"Yes. I...uh Aaron, I call you back" Hy said as her phone started crackling, "I losing coverage, very bad storm here in Seattle...". Soon Aaron lost coverage with his mother-in-law.
"Blast!" Tag exclaimed, "I hope she will get coverage back soon because we need to find out about this Um Yang globe!"
"Hotcha!" Uncle exclaimed as he found a description of the item in the same book that contained information about the Revengers. "Um Yang is Korean for Yin Yang. Says here that the Um Yang globe is a magic blue and red ball with two conflicting parts that was magically created once Shendu and Tarakudo were banished. The blue um part has the power to resurrect Shendu and all allying forces of darkness once activated by the leader of the Revengers group. The red yang part has the power to not only banish Shendu and all forces of darkness permanently but the power to banish all magic once and for all once activated by a Christian descendent of Lo Pei. The Um Yang globe was somehow separated and the two halves have been missing for thousands of years and have not been recovered."
"Whoa, freaky!" Jade exclaimed.
"So the Revengers must be after the um part so that they can give it to their leader and release Shendu! How can we stop them from finding it, Uncle?" Jackie exclaimed.
"By finding it before they do and destroying it!" Uncle replied.
Vice Admiral McPeek's phone rang. Hy was calling back.
"Finally I get coverage!" she said after Aaron had answered the phone.
"Halmoni, we found out what the Um Yang globe is" Lydia said, "Now what does Mom know that the Revengers don't?"
"The secret location of bad half, like I say before" Hy replied, "Secret has been passed down in my family for many years in order to protect it from being taken by ultimate evil."
"Is there any chance that you know where it is?" Lydia asked. "We need to recover it before the Revengers do!"
"Yes" Hy said, "On the peak of Jade Mountain of Taiwan. There is engraving of hanja of Lo Pei on top and the um is within area. If you wish to recover it, you must hurry! And be careful, ancient rumor say that Revengers home is somewhere in same country. Go and save world from the ultimate evil!"
"Thanks, Halmoni Hy" Lydia said, "We won't let you down!"
"Gang, it looks like we better pack up for Taiwan and do it fast!" Tag said to the Section 13 crew after Lydia and her grandmother hung up.
"Be careful! I'll have the Navy give you special escort for additional protection. And please, bring my Lea back home safe, and stay safe yourselves" Aaron said to the group as they were leaving the room.
"We will, sir" Tag reassured him, "We will."
After the group left the building and was heading back towards the Section 13 plane, a tall man in uniform randomly approached them.
"Taggart!" he said happily.
Tag's eyes got wide. "Timothy!" he exclaimed, "What a surprise!" he added as he gave him a manly hug.
"Oh my gosh! Timmy!" Lydia exclaimed as he hugged him also.
"Timothy McStone! It's been too long!" Nathaniel added as he shook his hand.
"Uhhh Liddy, who's that?" Jade asked.
Lydia smiled. "This is Timothy McStone, Taggart's younger brother! He's a commander in the Navy and is based in DC. What are you doing here, Timmy?!"
Timothy smiled a bit nervously. "Well uh, it's kinda short notice, but I'm going away on an assignment in Africa for three months and kinda need Tag to do me a big favor, since my wife Becky is coming with me and both our parents are busy."
"Umm what exactly is this favor, Tim?" Tag asked somewhat suspiciously.
Timothy stepped out of the way to reveal a short teenage girl with medium length brown hair, dark green eyes, a t-shirt, jeans, and Converse, surrounded with two green suitcases and a Robo Mercs backpack.
"I need you to take care of my daughter while I'm gone."
*Korean terminology for my readers:
Hangul- Korean symbols
Halmoni- grandmother
Mo chin- mother (formal)
Ttal- daughter
Son nyu- granddaughter