The Hunt for Sviederbach

Disclaimer: I do not own Shake it Up

A/N:

Chapter 14 (Controlling the Collar)

"She's back!" Estelle cried out as Aveline carried her brother into the house. The other two brothers slowly walked inside with her. Estelle took Kuno into her arms and looked to Aveline with concern. "Aveline? Are you all right?" Her muscles were tense, she was sweating bullets, and Malisa's blood had splashed out onto the bottom of her trousers. Her eyes flicked up to her cousin and Estelle put a hand to her shoulder. "I'm sorry Aveline, I know it's hard…you did what you had to do."

"It shouldn't have to be like this, Estelle. Anything I do might risk my family, and I can't take it." She wasn't a hero, not at all. How could anyone expect her to be? "They were slowly dipping Kuno into the water, Estelle…they were torturing him." She'd received the clue to the next, but it was a bit confusing. The clue was obtained from Michael, as Malisa put the clue in his shirt pocket. "I got another riddle by the way. I think it's for Mia, we have twenty-four hours to find her…the clue mentions also that we have an hour of 'break time'." The thing about it was, they were required to take that break. They were not allowed to begin searching for the next until the break was over.

"Good, you need some rest."

"I can't rest, don't you see? That's the torturous part." She looked over at Uncle René and Aunt Madeline, their friend was over and talking with them. The scientist was a man that looked a little older than René. He had grayish-brown hair, a fuzzy moustache, and wore casual dress. "Is that Uncle René's friend?" Estelle glanced over her shoulder and nodded.

"Yes." Estelle looked to the collar around Kuno's neck, then back to the collar on Aveline's and Astor's. "Hey, Kuno doesn't have a camera on his collar!" When Michael started walking past them, Estelle put a hand on his shoulder and looked down at his neck. "Michael doesn't either." Aveline raised an eyebrow and glanced over to Astor, smirking. He started to smirk in return, perhaps coming to the same conclusion. The hostages didn't need cameras on their necks when there were cameras nearby that were positioned on them. Martin only needed cameras on Aveline and Astor in order to see what they were seeing, to warn his family when they were getting close!

"Good, then I think it's safe to do this…" Aveline walked over to the end table and picked up a notebook and pen. She flipped it open and began scribbling down a message for her cousin, and Michael. Michael looked up and read with his eyes, figuring it was important to remain silent.

"Be silent and allow Uncle René's friend to work on the back of your collar. We are going to discuss with Estelle the clue to finding Mia." Michael nodded and took the notebook from her, then walked over to René and held up the book. René looked over to Aveline, she gave him an affirming look, then motioned for Estelle to follow her. Still holding onto Kuno, she moved to Estelle's bedroom with Astor. "Okay Estelle, here's the clue to Mia…" She pulled the slip of paper from her pocket and handed it to Estelle.

Her cousin read the clue aloud, then hummed in thought. "Alone in a dark place without my brother, not even the diamonds surrounding me look pretty to me. Wait an hour before you look, you have twenty-four hours to find me." Estelle lowered the clue and looked up to Aveline. "The only place I know that she could be is the caverns in the Diamond district."

"Seriously?" That place was named for the caves in there, home to the only diamond caves in Sviederbach. Not only were the caves dark, minus a room deep within the caves that was lit up with millions of beautiful diamonds, but the caves were very treacherous. "First they separate the twins, and then he considers putting her there? Why?"

"It's a guess, but if you remember that time you and I took your brother and sister over there…" How the hell would Martin know about that? Then again, if his family knew about Kuno's fear of water and that lake, then he did do his research. She and Estelle had taken Michael and Mia to the diamond caves about three years ago, Mia of course started to wander off, but Michael found her and brought her back to the girls. They made it all the way to the diamond room, then left without bothering the diamonds there. "If they took her there, it wouldn't surprise me. Think you can get her out?"

"It'll be tough, because I know those caves aren't all that safe…I barely even want to take Astor along on this whole mess, but he insists." She didn't think she was allowed to look without him anyway, Martin may just be that cunning.

What if they searched the wrong place and Mia wasn't there, where else would she be? She was certain not every one of them could be stuck in Sviederbach, Martin didn't seem all that clumsy. They'd have to check the caves anyway, and she truly wanted to hurry up and get there now rather than waiting a whole hour.

The hour passed by slowly for Aveline, much of it had been comforting the young child while Michael sat patiently with René and the scientist friend. Of course, neither Astor or Aveline could see him, otherwise they'd be giving Martin clues as to what was going on with their camera. She was impatient though, and kept sending Estelle back and forth to figure out how everything was going.

From what she understood, the back of the collars had four special screws attached to the strange flap and could only be removed with a special screwdriver that René's friend did have. Once the flap was open, it seemed there were two wires, one would blow immediately while the other would deactivate the bomb. René had history being on a bomb squad when he was younger, so he knew exactly which wire to snip, and so after nearly an hour of working, they finally deactivated Michael's collar.

The trick was now doing that with a crying toddler, who even after all this time, still wouldn't shut up. Aveline carried Kuno through the rooms, her head pounded with each step. "I know Kuno, I know, but you need to be quiet…" She set him down in the chair Michael had been in and knelt in front of him. She met his eyes and smiled softly, reaching up to broom his hair a bit. "You're safe now, okay? Nobody is going to hurt you anymore, Kuno." Kuno sniffled and reached up to hug her neck again.

"Promise?" Kuno blubbered. Aveline grabbed a nearby tissue and carefully wiped the boy's eyes and nose. "Big Sis, you pomise?" Her eyes glazed over and she gently kissed his forehead. She would do everything to protect her siblings. Now that they found a way to deactivate the bombs in the collars, she wanted to deactivate Astor's. However, she wasn't going to deactivate her own.

"I promise." She was sick to her stomach, imagining the worst to come should she fail her mission to save her family. She didn't want Astor or her siblings to suffer because of her own failure, and thought over this for the past hour before making her decision. Should something happen, should she fail to save Ander or her father, her siblings would not be killed when Martin triggered the bombs. Astor could take care of them, but she would willingly let her collar go off as she knew well the vengeful person she might become if she failed to save them. "Kuno, you couldn't be any safer than you are now…I'll bring Mom and Dad back as well, I'll bring everyone back."

"Will you be safe, Sis-Sis?" She chuckled and bowed her head for a moment. What was she supposed to tell him? Aveline moved her gaze back up to him as he stifled a whimper. "Avey?"

"No matter what happens, Kuno…I will always protect you, I will always love you, and as long as you are safe and happy…so am I." Kuno appeared satisfied, smiling slightly and hugging her neck.

"I love you big sis."

"I love you too, now be quiet for big sis and Uncle René okay? Do whatever they ask, and stay out of trouble. Can you do that for me?" Kuno nodded and sat up straight, smiling proudly in an attempt to impress his elder sister. She rubbed his head and rose to her feet. Tears stung her cheeks and she slowly turned away as René and his friend moved behind Kuno. "I be good for sis."

"Good." She started to walk off and looked over to Astor, he was eyeing her with great concern. The bomb in his collar had been deactivated, but he was still upset over the fact that she hadn't deactivated hers. They couldn't talk about it either, because Martin could hear. She could see the confusion and fear in his eyes though. He would just have to trust her, regardless. "Let's focus on saving Dad and Ander, all right Astor? Our family will be safe, I'll make certain of it."

"Aveline, if we don't make it…"

"Do you think you would be able to rule the country if you had to?" His eyes grew large. She walked over to the other side of the room and took her seat on the couch. Astor hurried over to her, protesting the statement. "If somehow you survived and I didn't, do you think you would be able to rule in place of me? I know you're twelve, but…You wouldn't be the youngest person ever to rule a country."

"But I'm not going to have to worry about that, am I, Aveline?" She responded only with her silence, dipping her eyes onto the floor. "Aveline?" He pushed her and she quickly looked up at him. "Come on…that won't happen…"

"You never know what may happen, Astor."

"I don't even have a choice for a spouse!" He wasn't even dating, much less interested in dating at the moment. How could he find a spouse at twelve years of age? Even now, their father made May 16th the official day of coronation for a new term king, no matter what, with an interim ruler. Should something happen, Astor would have that amount of time to find a spouse. "Come on Ave, please don't…"

"Just relax…" Her collar started sounding off and Martin's voice came over. She raised an eyebrow and cleared her throat. "These things are radios too, Marty-boy?"

"Yes," Martin replied. "For ease of access to you. Your hour's up, you'd better start looking for your sister. I must say, I'm intrigued, though the last hour has been pretty boring if you ask me." She narrowed her eyes and growled at him, responding only with sarcasm.

"So sorry I haven't been entertaining for you, asshole. You should know, I'm not too thrilled with what you've done to my siblings."

"Why do you think I'm letting you find them first?"

"I don't know, you don't have a damn heart." There was a long pause before anyone commented on that. When Martin did respond, there was a dangerous sneer in his tone.

"You think I don't have a heart? My grandmother is fucking dead and your siblings are alive. If I wanted to, I could blow them all to hell right now. So I wouldn't be questioning my hospitality, Bitch." Oh he did not just call her that. She narrowed her eyes and slowly rose to her feet.

"You better enjoy the last few moments of your life, because as I said…when I save my family, I'm going after your ass."

"Oh I'm so scared…good luck, Princess." The collar clicked off and the static noise was gone. She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself down. Now that the hour was up, she was more than happy to go after her sister.

So tell me your thoughts on this, what is surprising to you? What relieves you, any questions?