The Hunt for Sviederbach

Disclaimer: I do not own Shake it Up

A/N:

Chapter 17 (Snared)

"Do you have any idea who this clue belongs to?" Aveline asked while sitting beside René on the couch. It was almost time to start moving, and she'd spent all night trying to determine who it belong to. The only thing she could come up with was possibly Rocky, but she wasn't completely certain. Where exactly would this location be if it were Rocky. "Rocky did lose to Tabitha once, I know that story." René snapped his fingers and smirked.

"Ah yes, I do remember this," René replied. Aveline was relieved now, she'd been worried they might not find the place before it was too late. Studying his face, she watched his expression fall for a brisk second, which told her this was not going to be pleasant. She prepared herself for a tragic tale and looked back as Ander walked in, brushing his teeth. Kuno and the twins were still asleep, but Aveline wanted to tell them goodbye before leaving. "I don't even know if that house is still there, to be honest." She looked back at him and pressed her lips together. "That's where the Bransford family lived when they were murdered by Tabitha, forced into acting on Adolf and Brustrum's orders. She arrived there and fought with Rocky, who lost against her, but the final blow had been dealt to Rocky's boyfriend at the time. He died to protect her."

"Oh god…" She put her hand to her cheek and dipped her eyes. How horrible did someone have to be to take Rocky to a place like that? So tender of a memory, a devastating one at that. She couldn't imagine what Rocky must be going through. "Uncle René, do you remember the exact location of that place? Have you ever been there?"

"Personally no, I haven't, but I do know it's located in Chicago, where your family's from." Of course, she knew that much. It was more a matter of where the place was. Ander would know, but that was the problem. "It was closer to the outskirts of Chicago." Chicago is still a big town, how in the hell was she supposed to search the entire place for a single abandoned, burned down home that could very well have been demolished by now?

"Shouldn't that place be in the records for the Royal Guard?" Astor asked. Aveline raised an eyebrow and looked to him. "Think about it, Rocky's the chief so she could have documented it. Before then, however, the Royal Guard did know the location." Aveline grinned and rubbed his hair, causing him to throw his hands up and swat her hand away.

"Good idea bro, let's check those records."

"You know where they're kept?"

"The Guard chambers."

They made haste to the guard chambers once Astor was completely finished brushing his teeth and getting ready to start the day. When they arrived, they were granted access into the Chief's quarters, which was an office with bookshelves lining the walls. Rocky's black metal desk sat in the middle of the room with a red leather chair behind it. There were various papers scattered about on the desk, Astor went to look at the papers and organize them in a neat fashion while Aveline eyed the rows of books lining the walls.

"How many volumes do the guards need?" They clearly knew everything about Sviederbach and the noble families, along with prisoners. She had to wonder just how many secrets the Royal Guards had. She listened to the shuffling of papers and glanced over to Astor. "Careful, you don't want to upset Aunt Rocky by messing up her documents."

"So I'm a little over compulsive, sue me." She laughed and walked towards the left corner of the room. Astor always had to have things in a neat and tidy order, just like their father. Aveline lifted her hand up to the books and started sliding her fingers along them. "How does Rocky find all the information?" Astor hummed, then exclaimed a discovery.

"File cabinet!" Aveline looked over as her brother made his way to the six foot tall file cabinet with six drawers. There were various labels, so he studied them carefully. "Probably going to deal with criminal activity."

"Right. Look under treason, attempted assassins, and somewhere we should find information on Tabitha. Or better yet, look up the Noble Families, find Bransford, and that should help us." She moved over to Astor, rubbing her chin. He hung his tongue from his mouth and opened the second drawer. It was surprising to see Rocky didn't lock it, considering how meticulous she was about security and privacy. "I wonder why she didn't lock it, but it's probably not all that important…"

"Yeah, I don't know." He pulled a file out and started thumbing through the documents. "Aha, Bransford Nobles. Check Volume XI." He looked up at the shelves, groaning. "Reference number 80-23941." Aveline put her hands to her hips, growling as she eyed the books. Normally she loved books, but in this case, she would prefer to be dealing with anything but books.

"I can't believe we have to do all this research just to find Rocky."

"Well, no one ever said this was going to be easy, Sis."

"True." She narrowed her eyes and started eyeing the tape on the bottom of each book. "We're going to have to talk to Rocky about her enormous book collection." Sure a lot of these books were there before Rocky's time as Chief. Each book was just a record collection containing new information. "Some of these books probably date all the way back to King Lothar and Chief Abelard."

"So let's look for the newer looking covers. See some of the ones back there have wear and tear…" He pointed to the books on the top shelves. Aveline chuckled and crossed her arms over. The books at the top were brownish in color and had some torn covers and pages, the ones towards the bottom were black or brown leather, and much cleaner in appearance. "So the record's going to be towards the bottom."

"Of course." She knelt down and steadied her gaze on the reference numbers on the spines of the books. Eventually she came towards 80-23941. "Found it!" She grabbed the book and brought it over to the desk, laying it down carefully. "What page?" Astor hummed and looked back to the file. The book was incredibly thick, like an encyclopedia, so she really didn't want to thumb through the thousands of likely pages.

"They're marked on page 421."

"Thank you." She quickly opened up to the book and grinned at the gold patterned letters on the page. The Bransford symbol was on the top of the page, and it begun the extensive history. She continued flipping through the pages until she reached Noak Bransford. She moved her fingers along the words, speaking softly. "The Bransford nobles were exiled in the 9th year of the 2nd millennia. Their deaths occurred in Chicago, Illinois, in the country of North America…blah blah, home burned down, blah, Selver street, surrounded by forest! Got it!" Now with the knowledge of where to go, she was certain to be able to rescue Rocky. Hopefully Wilbert and Karla would be there as well. "You ready to save them?"

"Yeah, should we put this stuff away?"

"No time." She pulled the teleportation device out from her pack hanging from the quiver on her back, then grabbed Astor's shoulder. Rocky could put the stuff up whenever she got back. "I can't imagine Rocky's going to enjoy being cooped up in Estelle's home until we get the rest, but there's no choice. Cannot risk Martin killing the rest because Rocky decided to join us."

"Good point."

The device teleported them to Chicago, in front of some mall. She groaned and looked around for any recognizable locations. A man and woman were walking by, so she hurried over to them, stopping in front of them. They stared at her, moving their eyes up and down her body. "Okay question, which way is Selver Street?"

The man pointed off to the right. "About three miles that way."

"Thank you!" She signaled Astor and started rushing across the street. Eventually they found a taxi driving along the road, what better to use than someone who actually knew where the hell they were going? She hailed the cab and jumped in with Astor, though the large man driving seemed a little ambivalent about letting someone in with swords and arrows. "Sir, can you get us to Selver Street?"

"Yes, will you have the money for it?"

"Yes." She fortunately kept some American change with her. As rare as it was that she would ever have to use it, she always wanted to be prepared, and kept various currencies in her purse. "So put your foot on it if you can, we're in a hurry."

"Got it. I don't know what's there for you though, it's just an old abandoned road…" She lifted her shoulders and glanced out the window as the man started driving. She wasn't sure what they'd be running into now, but she prayed they could rescue Rocky in time. Hell, if they failed, she still wasn't sure what she'd do. There was no possible way to imagine a life without any of her family.

Astor leaned up and whispered to her. "We need to be careful, there could be traps." It was a good reminder, and very true. If the taxi driver wasn't careful, he could be put in danger, and she didn't need any civilians at risk. Aveline folded her arms over her chest and hummed to herself.

"Hey sir, don't actually drive onto the street. If you can, park about a block away." The man acknowledged the suggestion. She took a sigh of relief and leaned back, thankfully this guy wouldn't be thrust in danger. "What are we going to do, Astor? I can't stand the thought of losing everyone…"

"We'll get them Ave, don't worry. I believe in you." She smiled and reached over, hugging him. It felt good knowing he was there to support her, and if she had to have anyone at her side, she was glad it was her little brother. "Just don't lose confidence, because I think that's the only thing keeping me confident." She chuckled and swept away the tears accumulating in her eyes.

"Thanks. You know, you're the one keeping me calm…"

"So it's good."

"I'd be going crazy right now if you weren't here, little Bro. You tell anyone I said that, though, and you're in trouble." He smirked back at her and stuck his tongue out.

"Pretty sure everyone just heard it, in case you've forgotten that we're being recorded." She narrowed her eyes, the moment died.

"Ah my dear sweet little brother. I'm going to make you do all my chores once we're done."

"Hey! No fair!"

They arrived at the corner of the street and paid the taxi driver what he requested. After he drove off, the siblings readied their weapons, in case they'd have to use them. "Carefully now…" She glanced at the trees across the street and sighed, "Just past that forest…"

"All right." Aveline pressed forward, ignoring a feeling in her gut telling her to get to higher ground. What could there possibly be in this forest that would be bad? "Look out for bears…" Though bears were likely not going to be there. She wouldn't put it past the Lamont family to bring exotic animals in here. "Remember those hunts Dad takes us on? Think you could kill an animal if you had to?"

"Wouldn't like it, but yeah…"

"I have a bad feeling there's going to be something here. In which case, we run." Astor nodded and slipped behind a tree. Aveline looked over and frowned. "What's going on?"

"I hear something." Astor poked his head out and looked around. Aveline was impatient, so she wasn't entirely aware of her surroundings. When she saw Astor looking at her, he froze. His eyes went large and his lips parted. "Ave…don't move…"

"What?" She looked over her shoulder and was immediately overcome with fear, there were five snarling wolves glaring at her like she was a ribeye steak. Her heart began to pump out blood towards her organs, to create the feeling of flight, but she couldn't move. "There shouldn't be wolves out here…At least I don't think Chicago has wolves…"

"They don't."

"Astor…run!" The wolves lunged forward and her legs took off, shooting leaves away from her heels. All wolves followed her. She eyed her surroundings, ignoring the yelping of one wolf behind her. She reached for an arrow from her quiver and looked over her shoulder, whimpering as the wolves closed in on her. "Shit…"

This was the most fear she ever dealt with, and surely she couldn't hit any of these animals with her arrow. They were too close! She couldn't lose now. Not here. Her fingers tensed around the arrow and her eyes shot up towards an oncoming tree branch. Thinking fast, she put the stem of the arrow in her mouth and leapt forward, stretching her arms out towards the branch. Don't fall.

Her fingers made contact with the branch, much to her pleasure. She swung her legs forward with a loud cry and flipped over the branch as three of the wolves ran under her. After twisting her body, she released the branch and dove towards the ground, landing on her legs and crouching mid-split. She jumped up and spun around, grabbing her bow from the quiver and putting the arrow up against it, aiming towards the wolves that were glaring at her.

"Weren't there just five of you?" The wolves were still snarling, their teeth glistening in the sun. She was in no mood for this. She slowly pulled the string and arrow back, aiming for the large wolf in the middle. Her eyes remained locked with the animal. She narrowed her eyes and the wolf started to lower its ears and lift its paw up. In an instant, the wolf took off running away from the scene. The brown wolf on the right began running towards her and she released the arrow into it's head, cringing slightly as the creature fell to the ground.

The next wolf caught her off guard, tackling her. She let out a scream and grabbed its head, trying to push it away as its drool fell on her. Her muscles ached as she continued her pushing. "Get off!" She screamed as the creature's claws tore through her left arm. Its snout came deathly close to her face and tears sprang from her eyes. The longer she struggled, the more her body began giving out. She was putting everything she had into this fight, she needed to reserve some of her energy for when she found Rocky and her captive.

"Get off my sister!" Her eyes widened as an object shimmering in the sunlight slid through the wolf's neck. Blood splattered onto her and all the air in her lungs shot out as her arms collapsed on the ground. Her chest heaved up and down with each attempt at bringing air into her lungs. Astor kicked the wolf's body off her. She looked up at him, devastated to see her little brother covered in animal blood, possibly from the other two wolves that had been in the pack. He was breathing heavily, his eyes full of fear and concern. "Aveline? Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine, Astor…I…" She closed her eyes and tensed her left arm as the pain stabbed her once more, reminding her the wound was there. The slash wasn't incredibly deep, a little more than a shallow cut, but it still hurt like hell, and blood was gushing from the wound. "Do you still have that first aid kit Estelle gave you?"

"Yes."

"I need it…that wolf got my arm." Astor gasped and dropped the blade beside her, quickly kneeling next to her arm. He had a leather sack hanging from his shoulder, this sack held many first aid utensils. He studied her arm and put his hand over his mouth. "It's not so bad, right?"

"Oh god…" He reached into the sack and started pulling out the peroxide and bandages. "I'm going to be sick, Aveline." She breathed in deep and let out a scoffing chuckle.

"Astor I need you to be strong, all right? I know we've had a lot of sibling quarrels and all in the past, but…we have to work as a team. Remember all those teamwork lessons mom and dad gave us?"

"Yeah…"

"This is it. Be strong for me. I won't move, just wrap my arm up." Tears dripped from Astor's eyes as he quickly nodded his head and went to work. She closed her eyes, wincing once she felt the sting of the peroxide pouring over her wound.

Whenever she found Rocky, whoever had her and set up this trap was dead when she found them, of that she was certain. She might not like killing them, but after this mess, one could bet it wasn't going to be pretty.

Ouch, that looked painful. Well, what do you guys think of the chapter? Tell me your observations ^_^