Disclaimer: characters by Aoki Takao, Beyblade Project, etc.

Warning: Swearing, explosions, terror… then it's all over.

Reviews: Thank you to Party in the Afterlife, Rapunzelle, and Elemental Gypsy!

Author's Note: Thank you all for being patient. It's shorter than I wanted, but I hope it is worth the wait.

------OUT OF MY CONTROL------

by destinykitty

------Part 6------

The Chase

Kai's captors had a head start of several minutes between time lost before I found Miguel and while we saw Raul to safety. But I had the advantage of a fast bike, years of experience in trick riding, and the burning conviction that tonight's mission was not over.

Fueled by one success, I anticipated another with single-minded determination.

When he heard I was coming Bryan eagerly told me to get my ass into the race; he was keeping up with the convoy but didn't mind the thought of back-up. I knew this was as good as a cry for help from him but that he would hold his own until we caught up. I wondered briefly whether Max was still with him, but since I had lost the mouthpiece of my intercom, I didn't ask. My headphones didn't seem to be working well either, and Miguel no longer had his.

Hilary grudgingly gave me the coordinates of the retreating road race as I quickly sped away from Spencer's van. The burning wreck of Boris's complex was already lost behind us, though the sound of emergency sirens permeated the air over the loud whine of our engine. I gunned the stolen bike faster.

"Hold on!" I shouted to my rider, unnecessarily; Miguel had a tight grip under my bruised ribs. He nodded briefly, squinting into the sharp wind thrown up by the speeding bike. Neither of us was wearing helmets. I hoped we would not need them.

I stepped on the gas and the motorcycle shot toward the highway.

Speeding through the city under the enveloping darkness of night is something I normally find relaxing, soothing. Often I ride at this time to take my mind off the complexities of life. Now I allowed all my thoughts and worries to fall away, left behind in the dust of the road. All that remained was one solid purpose: rescuing Kai.

Bryan's voice crackled over the intercom, directed at me. I tuned in and he gave me a very brief explanation of the chase, then told me to go north. I was to head off the convoy and try to stop them before they got much farther. Every passing minute put Kai's life in greater danger – if Voltaire's mobsters managed to escape the city and our sights, it would be nearly impossible to catch up with them again or find Kai before he ended up back in Russia. Getting him away from Voltaire would be a nightmare of a task.

It was on a curving stretch of road we found our target. The armored truck was alone; either Bryan had managed to take out its escorts, or the others had fallen back to keep my friend away from the main prize. Clearly a fierce battle was raging; there was a gaping hole in one side of the vehicle where the back door had been ripped off. I could only imagine the kind of maneuver Bryan had thought up to cause that much damage to the armored truck. As I sized up our target, a dark-clad man leaned out of the hole, firing several warning shots in our direction.

I hate being shot at, and luckily for me, the motorcycle I had stolen from Boris's garage came equipped with a selection of firearms. I grabbed a long handled pistol and flicked the safety catch.

"Hold this thing steady!" I shouted at Miguel, leveling the gun at our target as I stood up in my seat.

"No, don't! What if you hit Kai?"

"It's an armored truck, damn it! Just drive!"

Ducking around me Miguel did as I had ordered, holding us at a relatively straight course. I cocked the gun and shot, hitting one of the rear tires of the SUV. It swerved erratically as the driver fought to compensate for the sudden loss of control, and more gunshots whistled through the air around us and ricocheted off the concrete. I aimed again, missing the other rear tire as the driver rounded a turn.

"Follow them!" I shouted, but I knew Miguel couldn't drive properly from behind me. Jumping down I shoved the gun at him, barking at him to hold it as I again took control of the steering. Almost past the turn, I banked sharply to follow the escaping SUV. Miguel clutched at my leather jacket, holding on for dear life.

The driver of the escaping vehicle must have been paying most of his attention to us because as I swung around that corner, barely keeping the motor bike in control, it was to watch another vehicle nearly run headlong into the side of the armored car. Both turned sharply so they merely sideswiped each other, but from the force of impact I knew that each had suffered significant body damage. The armored car was listing badly. The other had lost its front bumper.

I glanced inside to realize the new vehicle was being driven by Bryan. He gave us a cheeky wave as a shred of relief graced my mind. We had back-up.

Bryan's voice, always most intense in the heat of battle, crackled in my ear. Through the damaged head piece I could barely make out his words.

"Get out in front and make some obstacles! We'll deal with this thing back here!"

Raising a hand to relay my understanding, I gunned the already straining engine of the motor bike and shot forward to pass the armored truck.

I was uncertain how much damage we could do on a bike – it would be much easier in a car to knock things loose into the road – but somehow we had managed to drive into a construction area. Numerous signs, cones, and barriers were available for easy disruption.

I started swerving back and forth across the roadway, preventing the SUV from passing us or getting in a clear shot, sideswiping various potential road blocks. On the back of the bike Miguel was twisting around, trying to watch the battle going on behind us. I had to catch us abruptly as his bodyweight shifted and the bike nearly bit the dust.

"Miguel, knock it off! Are you trying to kill us?"

"Tala, Kai—"

I glanced in a rear view mirror and saw a vaguely familiar blue convertible catching up with the SUV, pulling alongside the damaged truck opposite Bryan. "He'll be fine!" I shouted back. "Help me!"

Terrified – I could feel his chest heaving against my back – Miguel turned forward. He was still too distracted by the fight going on behind us to be of much use, but at least it was easier to steer without him hanging off the side. I glanced in the mirror again to assess the situation.

There was a small blonde behind the wheel of the blue racer who I quickly realized must be Max. He was pulling in tight beside the damaged truck, trapping the crippled vehicle between Bryan and himself. I saw a lithe purple-headed monkey shoot up out of the back seat and into the SUV through the hole where the door was missing; Ian was up to more trouble.

I turned back to driving just in time to bank sharply; concrete barriers blocked off the road in front of us, forcing a detour across a bridge. Something large and dark fell from the SUV as Max's car slipped out of sight and a garbled "Igottem!" crackled over my broken headset. The SUV veered hastily to follow the road; Bryan fell back as a familiar buzzing against my chest alerted me to the new plan. I stomped on the gas, trying to put as much distance between us and the armored car as possible before—

A massive explosion rocked the bridge.

"Kai, no! Go back!" Miguel screamed as I rocketed away from the exploding SUV. I ignored him, trying to dodge the larger bits of molten metal raining down around us. Only after we'd achieved a safe distance of a few hundred yards did I stop the bike abruptly, turning to survey the wreck.

Parts of the bridge were on fire. Chunks of twisted car parts were scattered in a wide circle from the point where the bomb must have exploded, demolishing the armored vehicle from inside.

Miguel struggled off the bike, almost too overcome with terror to command his own body. Between gasps I could hear him whimpering desperately, "Kai, no, no, please, Kai…." Barely coherent, he stumbled toward the fire.

I almost followed the distraught blonde but was cut off as Bryan's half-burnt wreck of a car screeched up next to me, followed by Max's light blue racer. My manic silver-haired friend jumped out of the driver's seat, whooping , "Now that was worth the night out! Right, Ian?"

Our smaller compatriot agreed immediately, grinning in a self-satisfied way that only followed one of his truly spectacular explosions. He turned to the convertible out of which he had catapulted himself, waving to the young blond driver climbing out of the driver seat. "Max! What did you think?"

Max didn't respond. Instead he turned back to his racer and gently helped a bruised, rumpled, newly freed blue-haired teen from the back seat.

Clutching Max's arm unsteadily, Kai surveyed the scene before him with less than his usual alertness. His dazed, anxious crimson eyes passed over me, to Bryan and Ian, then to Miguel. In a quiet, hoarse voice he called his lover's name.

Miguel's blond head jerked around at the sound of that soft voice; catching sight of Kai standing beside Max's racer, he immediately bolted for him. Kai staggered forward at a fast limp, throwing his arms over Miguel's shoulders as the blonde caught him in a fierce embrace.

"Oh my god, Kai…" I heard Miguel sob as they clung to each other as closely as possible. Kai's face was buried in Miguel's shoulder, but as his lover choked on another harsh sob Kai pulled the blond head against his neck, momentarily revealing tear-streaked crimson eyes.

The couple sank to the ground, rocking slightly, but not enough to cover their continued shuddering as both struggled with tears of intermingled fear and relief. One of Kai's hands left Miguel's broad shoulder to run along the back of his head; when Miguel gave an uncomfortable twitch, I realized he had been seeking the place where Miguel had been struck, assessing the damage done.

"Are you alright?" I heard my friend ask. His lover gave a hoarse bark of a laugh in answer.

"Does it matter? I thought you were dead."

"I'm fine, Miguel, really."

"I was so afraid that I'd lost you," Miguel whispered fiercely. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if—"

Kai apparently didn't want to think about what could have happened, for he turned and caught Miguel's lips with his own, abruptly silencing the blonde's desolate train of thought. His lover immediately responded, deepening the kiss and enveloping Kai in the shadow of his larger body.

I turned away to give them privacy, scuffing the ground with the toe of my boot. Waves of elation were still pouring from Bryan and Ian's general direction as my manic friends congratulated each other and verbally replayed highlights of the chase, but I didn't quite feel like celebrating. Something was missing, though I didn't know what it was. The thought worried me slightly.

"Hey," a soft voice called.

I looked up to see baby blue eyes turned toward me; Max was standing halfway between me and his car. He smiled and asked, "Want to give me a hand with this thing?"

I watched him indicate the drop top of the convertible and found myself nodding. "Yeah, sure."

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Remind me never to get into writing action movies or stories. Please review!

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