"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"

19. Defenders

The phone was still ringing, as Rachel reached into her pockets, looking for any sort of ID. "Rachel, the phone…" Puck pointed.

"I know, I'll get it, but what do you think will happen to us in this place if I can't say who I'm supposed to be?" she explained, and he blinked.

"Oh… good point," he started doing the same. When she found what she was looking for, she picked up the phone.

"Yes?" Her face blanched. "We'll be right there," she hung up.

"Tony Almeida," Puck found his ID. "I guess I can deal with not being Jack Bauer. That dude gets put through the…" He turned to Rachel, noticing she'd gone silent. "Wait, you're Michelle then, right?"

"Yeah," she confirmed, then just as evenly, "Who's she?" He nodded to her hand and she looked down, spotting a wedding ring. "To you?" He nodded again. "My second Tony… There's a joke in there somewhere." Now he was worried.

"What's wrong?" he asked, and she looked back down to the phone.

"Oh, they need us out there, something about a dignitary's daughter going missing."

"A kid?" Puck asked, instantly on alert.

They had left the office, and Puck directed Rachel toward the room where they'd be gathering. The information was still coming in, but from what they were told, the missing girl was seven years old and was believed to be in great danger. With the kinds of enemies her father had gotten himself over the years, it wasn't unlikely the girl might be executed to make a point.

"This has to be a filler plot point or something," Puck commented as they left the briefing.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Just something that happens at one point, it'll look random, but then it'll probably tie back in to the bigger story."

"How do you know?"

"I'm just making a guess, but Jack's not here, so…"

"What about us? We're… well, married."

"Has to be between season two and three. Or maybe three and four… I can't remember, but it's definitely one of those, because after…"

"After?" she asked, and he looked at her.

"Never mind, it's not important now. We have to find that kid."

"Or we don't get to go home?" she added.

"Or she doesn't get to go home," he corrected, and she let out a breath. He was right. Even if this was all pretend, as long as they were there it was very real, and making sure that girl was safe was more important than them getting home.

"We'll find her," she promised, and he bowed his head.

The next few hours had not been their easiest. They couldn't do much more than go along with the flow and use the information that they could access. There was more, but getting their computers work involved a few hiccups, and they couldn't call for help.

Eventually a few leads had come in, and they had both been sent out to follow two of those leads, separately. The GPS had been a lifesaver, and Rachel soon found the man she was meant to tail. She wasn't nearly as afraid as she thought she might be, which in the present situation would be a good thing. She knew if the man did catch on to his being followed and spot her, then she might not be nearly as brave as she was at the moment, but if she stayed the course and made sure not to be seen, then everything would go right… she hoped.

She followed the man into a residential neighborhood, and when she saw him pull into a driveway, she drove past, to hide her car and make an approach.

It was only as she came around that she saw someone move by. Instincts kicking in, she rushed up and tackled him, only to find… "Puck?"

"Get off me," he grunted and she gasped, moving out of the way.

"Are you okay?"

"My back," he winced, trying to stand. "If we don't get sent home soon, I'll be in a body cast by the time we're done," he complained. "Wait, what are you doing here?"

"I followed my guy," she whispered.

"I followed mine, too, he's here."

"So's mine!" They paused and looked at each other. "They're in it together!"

"Then the kid has to be here," Puck added.

"We should call it in, call for backup."

"Right," he didn't argue with her on this.

"Do we need to get her out of this ourselves?" she wondered. He paused, waited.

"We're not leaving yet, so I'm guessing yes. Now how do we get her out?" He looked at the house. "How many of them do you think there are?"

"They wouldn't leave her alone, right? Then there has to be at least one more in there."

"Three, we could take them," he nodded.

"Take… Wait, what are you saying?" she asked, sensing trouble.

"I'm saying let's go in there, bust the door in, guns out, shoot them if we have to."

"Okay, I think you hit your head, when I tackled you," she frowned. "Unless you're trying to get us killed, then I'm sure that plan will work fine. There are other ways to be a hero, you know?" She thought for a moment, then smiled.

"Oh, what's that look?" he pointed to her face.

"Wait here," she told him, skulking back toward her car.

"Rach… Rachel!" he called after her, keeping his voice down, but she was already gone, forcing him to wait. When he saw her coming back, she was holding something he couldn't make out until she was closer, and then his eyes went wide. "Is that a…"

"Stay close to the ground," she told him, pulling away, tugging at something on the can and throwing it. The window shattered, and then a moment later smoke billowed out.

"You scare me sometimes," he looked back to her.

"You go and take care of whoever comes out, I'll get the girl." Once again she had not left him a chance to argue, so he went to the front of the house, ready to intercept. When the men came out, he had his gun pointed at them. Luckily, they didn't put up much of a fight, putting their hands up and getting on their knees. Once Rachel got the girl, they'd be good to…

The sound was muffled, but he knew it was definitely what he thought it was: gunfire, from inside the house. "Rachel?" he shouted, taking a step toward the house, just as the other noise filled his head, the one that meant they were moving. "No, wait, Ra…"

TO BE CONTINUED (SUNDAY)