There are a ton of switches in POVs so I hope you can still keep up with what's happening.

CHAPTER 11 -DAY 4 continued-
Jade's POV

We had just finished up the broadcast for today. Sikowitz, in the corner of the main studio room, was clapping his hands together for us excitedly, a big smile on his face. He was extremely happy that we could pull off the entire show missing two people.

Mr. Highes had disappeared for the moment to call his usual reporters to come back in case we needed more help, although that was unnecessary since Tori and André would be back tomorrow, not that I missed them…well Tori, anyway.

"Yay! Wasn't that fun, Jade?" Cat came bouncing over to me. I sat sitting in the anchor's seat, too lazy to get up. The crew and cameramen had disappeared in the back, to take a break and let us have our own down time in the main studio. After all, it wasn't every day you get to hang out in a professional filming room.

"Oh, yeah. Tori not being here was like the best part."

Cat's happy smile drooped and I laughed upon seeing this. Robbie, Beck and Sikowitz came over to us. Everyone still wore their costumes and looked kind of sweaty from the extra work. Except for Beck. He looked perfect, like always.

"All right, kids," Sikowitz said, putting a hand on Robbie's shoulder, "let's get back to the—"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the whole room starting shaking like there was an earthquake or something. Cat grabbed onto my arm and I pulled her towards me protectively, holding her in my lap. Sikowitz had reached over and yanked Beck to the floor along with Robbie.

"What's going on?" Beck yelled over the noise.

The cameras in the corners were rattling loudly, and I figured that at any moment the lights on the ceiling were going to fall off and land on top of us. Beck and Robbie crawled underneath the desks, Sikowitz pushing them to go faster.

Cat had her head in my chest and I had a lot of trouble moving to a safer spot. I half-scooted half-fell off of the swivel chair and landed on the floor with a dull thud. Cat was practically choking me in her grip.

"Eck…Cat…ease off, will ya?" I panted.

"Jade, Jade, Jade," she repeated, tapping my head frantically.

I looked over her red hair and that's when I realized that there was a man in a black suit, holding a huge gun in the far left doorway of the room.

Mr. Highes? I thought. Holy cow I knew that guy was up to something!

"Who's in here?" the man shouted, and suddenly the room stopped shaking. That was certainly not Mr. Highes's older voice, so whose was it? Cat was breathing heavily in my ear, and I saw Sikowitz tense up under the desk. He motioned me to stay low with Cat.

"Are you sure no one's in here?" the man continued to taunt us. "I swear the main show takes place in here, and I've seen no one leave but someone in a blue suit. By the way, I've taken care of him."

"Mr. Highes," Robbie mouthed looking at us.

Without warning, the TV monitors above the desks shattered, spraying Cat and me with the miniscule pieces of glass. My hand jumped to cover Cat's mouth, but it was too late to suppress the scream she let go.

"Aha!" The man sounded triumphant.

Sikowitz shoved the boys out from under the desk.

"Run!" he yelled.

Beck reached over and pulled Cat off my lap. What was he doing? He shielded her with his body and then leaped behind the wall with the monitors and disappeared.

"Get back here!"

BAM! BAM! BAM!

The sound of gunshots split the air, but it didn't stop me from standing up. Robbie reached over and grabbed my hand, but I didn't think much of it. Sikowitz was running clean across the room, covering his head all the way.

We bolted in the opposite direction of Beck and Cat. I pulled Robbie in a zigzag pattern, but I don't think the man was aiming to shoot us, just scare us. I crashed into the door and fumbled with the push handle, throwing it open and dashing into the hall behind it.

"Jade, Jade, where are we going?" Robbie squeaked, probably not enjoying being dragged around by me.

"We need to find the others and get out of here!" We turned sharply to the left and continued down the black hall. I had never been back here before, and it was just a crazy maze, I'm pretty sure.

"I'm so scared!"

"Suck it up, Shapiro. I guarantee you'll be more scared if someone finds us," I responded, looking around. I had no idea what part of the studio we were in. "Do you have your phone?"

"No. I left it in the dressing rooms like they told us to."

I swore. Curse Mr. Highes and his dumb rules. We had to keep our phones away from the cameras because they apparently 'disturbed' the radio signals. But now we were trapped, and had no idea how to contact the others, let alone have a single clue about where the heck we were.

Robbie looked more terrified than usual. How in the world did I get stuck with this wimp? We paused, and I briefly wondered how the others were doing until I heard a sharp click at the opposite end of the hall.

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Beck's POV

I pushed Cat in front of me while we ran. Luckily, behind the wall with now-broken TV monitors was a door. Her fingers grasped the handle and she opened it. I almost ran her over in my haste to get us away from the man with the gun.

This is some sick joke Mr. Highes is playing on us, I thought.

"Where do we go now?" Cat whispered once the door was closed behind us.

"Uhm," I searched around hastily. "Let's go this way." I took the lead, making sure she was right on my heels and we went around a corner. I had no idea how many more people were in here, and I also had absolutely no idea where we were going.

"Stop right there!" A man in a black suit approached us from the end of the hall. He looked similar to the person in the main studio. How did he get here so fast?

I stopped, and Cat crashed into me.

"Oof! Beck what's…" her voice trailed off pathetically when she saw the man at the other end.

"Hello, kiddies," the man said calmly, stepping forward. "Pleasure to meet you both. You can call me, uh, Mr. Lowes."

Mr. Lowes? Sounds heck of a lot similar to Mr. Highes.

"Hi, Mr. Lowes!" Cat waved at him stupidly.

"Cat, shut up," I whispered, moving my mouth as little as possible. I grabbed her hand.

"Oh! Jade's not going to like that," she responded, looking down at our intertwined fingers. I sighed, unable to process the fact that we could be kidnapped at any moment and Cat was busy worrying about petty little things like holding hands.

I seriously want to know what is wrong with her sometimes.

"Oh, quiet down now, children. Too much talking pollutes the air, you know," Mr. Lowes said, stepping forward with astonishing calmness. He pulled a large handkerchief out of his pocket, ripping it in two.

"That's what my dad always says!" Cat exclaimed.

I rolled my eyes, taking deliberate steps backwards as Mr. Lowes got closer to us. Cat said nothing more but followed my lead, her breath soft on the back of my neck.

"Don't go anywhere. You don't want me to use this, do you?" Mr. Lowes reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a small and shiny gun.

I stopped.

"What do you want with us?" I hollered at him.

"I just need a small favor from the both of you." Mr. Lowes took one piece of handkerchief and wiped the end of the gun with it slowly. "You see, me and my friends are in desperate need of—"

"Walter? Walter are you over here?" a woman's voice echoed suddenly.

Mr. Lowes slapped his forehead. "Crap, you're ruining my case, Miss Left!" he shouted. I was frozen to the spot with Cat behind me. "I've got two of the children over here."

The door behind Mr. Lowes opened up, and out came a short, stocky woman with wispy blond hair. She carried a gun similar to the one the man in the main studio had carried, and looked just as mean.

"Oh, you do have some of the children. I thought you were kidding," she said.

What is going on here?

"Cat, on the count of three, run back and open up the door," I said breathlessly, squeezing her fingers.

"Kay kay," she answered softly.

"Mr. Lowes, you are not supposed to be talking to the children. We do not converse with them in the middle of a heist, remember?" Miss Left scolded her partner-in-crime.

"One…"

"I'm sorry, but I don't want to scare them."

"Two…"

"It doesn't matter," Miss Left said sharply. "We'll be taking char—"

"Three!" I screamed.

I felt Cat's hand leave my grip as she rushed to open the door behind us. I ran frantically behind her, listening to the sound of bullets erupt in the dark hall. I thought for sure that one of them was going to hit me, but I was wrong. We ended up in the room behind the door, not a single scratch on us.

"Walter! You do not, under any circumstance, shoot the children!" I heard Miss Left shouting again.

"But…but…but…"

The rest of their conversation was lost as I looked around the new room we were trapped in. It was extremely small, only about ten by ten feet big. There were three doors connected to it, well, minus the one we had just come through.

There were two doors to choose from.

"Maybe we should split up," Cat suggested quietly.

"No. We stay together, okay?" I said firmly, grabbing her hand and turning to the door on our left. Little did I know that Jade and Robbie were behind the door that was right in front of us.

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Robbie's POV

Jade stopped moving all of a sudden.

"Hey, are you ok—"

"Shut up, Shapiro," she muttered, and I immediately did as she said. There had never been a single moment in my life that I didn't listen to Jade West. The last time I refused, Rex almost died and I almost ended up buried six feet underground. It was just not worth it.

I looked around, and saw someone huge standing at the other end.

"Nice to meet you all, children."

"We're not 'children,'" Jade seethed.

Without warning, the figure lifted up a gun that was shaped oddly like a water gun in the dim lights of the hallway. Before we could react, there was a swish noise. Jade jumped in front of me, and suddenly collapsed right before my eyes.

"Jade!" I yelled, kneeling down to pick her up.

Oh no! Who's going to protect me now?

The figure at the end gave a loud, throaty laugh. I moved the hair out of Jade's face and saw something feathery sticking out of her shoulder. I grabbed it and gave it a swift tug, revealing the needlepoint end.

Tranquilizer darts.

"Jade! Jade wake up!" I whispered, shaking her shoulders stupidly. How did you wake up someone who was knocked out? Electrocute them? No, I didn't have any access to anything like that. Oh wait...you could also splash water on their face, right? But I didn't have any water with me at the moment. Darn.

The person started to walk towards me, their dart gun still raised.

Suddenly, there was a loud thud and a shout. The figure stopped, turning around, its back towards us, staring at the door behind them. I held my breath, shaking Jade as hard as my arms would allow.

"Jade! Please wake up!" I slapped her across the face to no prevail. Darn.

There was another noise; it sounded like a door opening and closing and feet thudding across a floor. I continued trying to get Jade to wake up.

The person was still facing the door. Finally they turned back around towards me.

"Stay here, son."

They raised the gun, and I knew they were going to knock me out too so I wouldn't be able to get away.

"R-R-Rob-robbi…" Jade was starting to wake up and muttering my name.

SWISH! SWISH!

They fired the gun twice. Fortunately for me, they missed. Unfortunately, that was because I ducked behind Jade and she took the two hits, falling into unconsciousness again. I splayed out on the floor, pretending to be knocked out and the person disappeared through the back doors.

When I was sure that they were gone, I jumped up, looking back down at Jade. The darts had hit her in the neck, so she was probably going to be out for a lot longer. I looked around us, trying to figure out a way to carry Jade around while I looked for my friends.

I scratched my head, thinking hard. I was not the strongest person on the planet, and Jade wasn't the lightest person ever. Well, she was heavier than Cat anyway.

I wondered how she was doing with Beck. Ironic how he went with her when he knows that I have a crush on her and that he's even in a relationship with the girl I was now stuck with.

Okay, then. Talk about weird planning.

I straightened my back and grabbed both of Jade's wrists in my hands. This certainly wasn't the smartest thing I could come up with, but if it could get us out of danger then so be it.

I ended up taking off my jacket and tying one of the sleeves around Jade's arms and the other sleeve around my waist so I could drag her around without too many problems.

She sure was not going to be a happy camper when she wakes up.

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Sikowitz's POV

I hoped my students were okay. I wanted them to be together, which was the reason for forcing Robbie to go with Jade and Beck with Cat. At least the pairs were what I would consider 'nicely' matched since Beck could probably take better care of Cat then Robbie could, despite how much more Robbie liked her.

I hurried down the empty hall, looking behind me every so often. This was not very fun being by myself, but I guess I could make do with it. After all, I had all my imaginary friends following after me.

I heard some thumping noises in the room next to the hall. I found the nearest door and charged through, finding the green room. Beck was standing in front of Cat, and there was a huge man standing next to them, a water-gun-like thing in his hands.

"Stop right there!" I shouted.

The man turned towards me, and I realized that it was a woman.

Whoops.

"You!" the woman shouted, her voice deeper than mine. Okay, maybe she was a man in disguise. I hope.

"Yes, it is I, Erwin Sikowitz, acting teacher at Hollywood Arts!" I announced proudly.

"What?"

The woman-man was confused. Exactly my plan. I reached down next to me and picked up the only thing I deemed 'heavy' enough. It was a huge, green potted plant, and I tossed it at the person threatening to hurt my students. They toppled forward onto their gun with a crash, and lay there, unmoving.

"Sikowitz!" Cat squealed, running over to me and jumping into my arms.

"Oh, hello, Cat. I'm glad I found you guys. Do you know where Jade and Robbie are?" I asked while Beck stepped carefully over the unconscious woman.

"No." Beck shook his head, his eyes showing pain for his missing girlfriend.

"Well, we're together now, okay? We'll find them both and see what's really going on here."

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Cat's POV

Beck held my hand again as we followed closely behind Sikowitz. I told him Jade wasn't going to like it when she found out that we were holding hands. She could pick up on things like this. She had the senses of a dog sometimes.

Hee hee, that's probably why we're such good friends. She's a dog and I'm Cat…get it?

"Where exactly are we going, Sikowitz?" Beck asked, breaking the silence.

"Let's try and head upstairs and see if we can find a window. Maybe we can jump out or get someone on the outside's attention," our acting teacher responded calmly.

"There's a second floor?" Beck questioned.

"I'm not sure, but we can go and find out."

"You know one time, when I was here in Vegas with my brother, he fell out of a fourth-story window and—"

"You don't say, Cat?" Beck sounded a little irritated.

"No, I just said it," I argued.

"Be quiet kids," Sikowitz hushed us.

We came to a door and went through it quietly. In front of us, to our disbelief, was a set of stairs, and on the second landing was a nice, wide window.

"This way!"

Still holding onto Beck, we marched up the stairs and peeked out the window.

There was a whole horde of police cars surrounding the building as far as we could see. I let go of Beck and pressed my face against the window. Mr. Highes, in his blue suit, stood next to one of the chief policemen, talking frantically and gesturing back to the studio. Many of the other cameramen and crew were nearby, all of them looking startled and shaken.

If everyone was out there, how come we were still in here?

"Gosh, look! It's Mr. Highes!" Beck exclaimed.

"So I guess he's not behind this after all," Sikowitz murmured.

"Who's not behind what?" a woman's voice said behind us.

Oh no! I spun around, seeing the woman who had trapped Beck and me earlier now standing on the first landing of the stairs. There was a huge lump on her forehead, and she looked upset.

"Miss, if you would pardon us, we're just trying to go, uh, home," Sikowitz reasoned, his back against the glass.

"No, we're going to the hotel!" I interjected.

Beck's hand clamped down on my mouth, but I didn't struggle.

"Hotel? You're part of the Vegas 777 thing, then?" the woman took a step forward. Beck's other arm came around me, holding me tightly against him. His skin felt very warm.

"Really, there's no need for that." Sikowitz pointed at the dart gun.

"No, I don't really trust you folk," the woman sighed, lifting up the gun to examine it and then dropped it back down at her side.

Suddenly, there was a swish noise and Sikowitz fell forward, rolling down the steps before landing at the woman's feet. I screamed through Beck's hand.

And in that same moment, the doors at the bottom burst open, and two policemen, armed with guns even more scarier-looking than the one the woman was holding, appeared.

"Freeze!" one officer screamed. "Put the gun down!"

The woman turned and the gun she was holding went off with more swishing noises. She missed, and the other officer tackled her to the ground. They both landed on the unconscious Sikowitz.

"Are you kids okay?" the officer asked.

"Yes, but our other friends are missing," I cried. Beck patted my head.

"Okay, well come with us. We've got other police officers trying to find your friends, along with some of the news crew," he said, holding out a hand. "I'm Officer Bradley, by the way."

I didn't want to trust him. Something just didn't seem right. I looked down at Sikowitz, seeing that he was breathing just slightly. The other officer had picked up the now-unconscious woman and snapping handcuffs to her wrists. I looked up at Beck, and he was just staring straight ahead.

I pushed out of his grip, bounded down the steps, and grabbed the officer's hand.

Interesting chapter, huh? But kind of a filler, unfortunately. Well, now that you know what happened to the rest of the gang, how are Tori and André are going to react when and if they ever find out?

Review! :)