Warning: This story my not be suitable for young readers. At some point in chapters there will be mature content that some parents may not find suitable for their children to read.

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade. I only claim my OC's Ana and Issac and of course the plot

Chapter 29:

He stood there looking solemnly ahead. His mind was both empty and clouded. Guilt was ever so slowly creeping up from the ground grabbing at his ankles. The red headed Russian knew it wasn't his fault, but he still could not shake the feeling of guilt. Overhead the sun shined brightly even though dark clouds were in the distance. The air was crisp from the season of fall being in full effect for the month of November. Thanksgiving was in a couple of days, but the holiday didn't seem important to him at the moment. No holiday for that matter had any significance to him and it never really had. He felt cold inside which made him feel warm whenever the wind blew. Next to him Issac was babbling quietly to himself and pointing at a random bird that flew across the sky over head. The child was the only one speaking or making any noise. He gripped the little boys hand a bit tighter to make sure that he stayed close and at the same time it quieted little Issac down. Tala avoided the gaze of the little boy and returned his attention back to the long black box that was fifteen feet away. Someone put a light hand on his shoulder, well at least he could feel it, but it didn't register in his mind of who it could be. He knew that Spencer and Ian were on either side of him his brain just couldn't comprehend the events of the past few days fully.

The ice blue irises that belonged to him never wavered from staring forward. A slight breeze made its way through his hair and ruffled the collar of his white jacket. Originally people had scoffed at his outfit choice when he'd shown up, but he didn't care. As he had stood in his room getting dressed the black suit he'd put on first just didn't seem right. Tala had stared at himself in the mirror long and hard only to rip the clothes off and put on his favorite white dress shirt, white jacket, white slacks, black tie, and black dress shoes. White wasn't something one usually wore to an event such as this, but Tala Ivanov was never the type of man that followed the crowd. Hell Issac was standing there in a Halloween costume of Robin, Batman's sidekick. When he'd gone to dress the boy he'd found him rolling in the floor struggling to put it on by himself. The little red head was gritting his teeth and calling out for help.

"Ta-ta! Ta-ta! Tuck. I tuck!" Issac had cried out reaching up to him as he walked into the room.

So there they were standing together. The four of them, himself, Issac, Spencer and Ian listening to the priest speak. Spencer was wearing a long brown jacket, with a dark purple sweater vest on underneath, and a light purple long sleeve underneath that. It was the green cargo pants and black combat boots that threw off the ensemble. The man always had an interesting taste in clothing. Sometimes he believed in the back of his mind that the tall burly blonde was color blind, but he wouldn't dare ask the man. Spencer would most likely beat him to the ground.

Ian however had on a pair of ripped jean shorts, a black tank top, and black boots. The black jacket he'd had on his shoulders had been removed and put on Issac after the little boy had complained of being cold. His imp friend was certainly a cold type of person and he proudly showed it. Ian could probably be stark butt naked in negative below temperatures and still mention it being too hot outside.

His gaze wondered by down to his side. Now the little red head was sucking on his own thumb and gripping Tala's pinkie finger with the other. As he looked down at the boy, Tala couldn't help the small smile that made its way onto his facial features. It made him think back to before Halloween when he and Ian had gone shopping with Ana to look for an outfit for Issac. She had this idea to dress the little boy up in a wolf outfit so she could dress up as little red riding hood. Her plan had been to dress up with the boy so the two of them could have a theme together. Ian had spent most of his time in the adult section constantly showing off stupid potential ideas. Later on Ana had wound up smacking him because of him holding up a kinky mini skirt version of the character at the store. Tala had merely raised a red eyebrow at his friend refusing to give a response of any type. After she had walked away Ian had thrust the outfit into his face questioning him about it. He had looked at the image on the package and imagined her wearing it and yes he thought she would look quite nice in it, but he didn't want to give anyone the impression that he was interested in her because he wasn't at that time. Tala had snatched the outfit from Ian's grasp and beat him repeatedly with it which in turn had caused stares in the store and Ana's face turning redder than a tomato. The end result was her quickly buying the Robin outfit and leaving the store without looking back

A sob to his left reminded him of where he was. His mind had wandered elsewhere without him even realizing it. This was not the time for him to be thinking about such things. He had never been good at functions like this. The first sign had been how he was dressed, but typically he was the type of man who laughed at these things rather than cry. Now he was at a point where it was difficult to pay attention to what was going on. He ran his free hand through his hair. A sadness was beginning to overwhelm him as he watched the paul bearers begin to lower the casket into the ground. Tala looked down and closed his eyes fighting the emotions welling up as he thought back to the events that led him to the funeral.

THREE DAYS EARLIER

Brian removed the mask from off his face. They had raided the warehouse only to find it didn't have Ana there. It felt as though his heart had been ripped from his chest. He had thought for sure if they'd moved quickly enough that they would find her. Behind him Spencer reached out and gripped his shoulder firmly. He knew the bigger man was trying to reassure him, but it didn't make him feel any better. All the silver haired Russian wanted was to get her home. Deep down he blamed himself for everything that was happening at the moment. The others that were on his team were busy collecting evidence while he could only walk around. His green eyes scanned the large room. Silently he prayed to himself that a sign of some sort would be there. He needed to know where she was. Losing another sister was not an option. Bryan punched the nearby wall growling with rage. Blood was smeared on the wall as he slid his fist off of it. His knuckles had split from the force of him hitting it, but he barely noticed the stinging pain in his hand. Thankfully Tala wasn't there with them, things would have really gone South then.

Movement to his right broke his thoughts. A door opened off to the side and peering through the crack of it was Garland. He narrowed his eyes as he watched the man disappear into the darkness. Looking around it seemed that no one else had noticed him so the silver haired Russian took advantage of everyone else not paying attention and side stepped to where the man had gone. When he walked through the doorway there was a flight of stairs that led deeper down into the building. Blindly he walked down into the darkness. He reached out and felt for the railings to the stairs to help guide him. Bryan knew where he was going was dangerous, but the thought of his family being in danger urged him onward. He watched a light click on at the bottom and saw the shadow stretched out across the cement floor.

"Come now Bryan. I pegged you for a more punctual type of man." Garland's masculine voice floated through the air.

The Russian's only response was to jump the rest of the way down the flight of steps to the floor. Sure the guy could have a gun and pull the trigger at any second, but Bryan had never been a completely sane man anyways. It was one of the many reasons he'd decided to go into law enforcement. Fear wasn't an emotion that he was very good at exhibiting.

"I'm here you bastard, now where is she?" he asked standing up tall to give off an intimidating aura.

Garland smirked at him as he folded his arms up in front of himself. Something about the look sent a small chill down the Russian's spine. The amber colored eyes of his adversary told a story that he didn't want to hear. However the other man simply flicked his ponytail over his shoulder and continued to speak anyways.

"Tsk tsk." the other man waved a finger. "You and I haven't seen one another in ages and then you come into my house taking what is mine and now you are demanding answers from me? That's not how the world works Kuznetsov."

Bryan gritted his teeth with rage. Every part of his being screamed at him to keep calm and make him talk more, it was how he would get answers. Garland wasn't making things easy though and his attitude was egging the Russian on.

"You are very good at what you do."

Bryan's green eyes followed Garland's every movement at the man began to circle him in a predator like fashion. The Asian was a fighter and very good at it. He would never forget when Tala had gotten into a fist fight with the man during their youth. His red headed friend had wound up in the hospital in a coma for almost a week because of the damage done to his body. The incident had happened almost ten years ago and he was pretty sure that the slate haired man had improved a great deal considering his choice of profession.

"Tell me Bryan. The auburn-haired young woman, how important to you is she really? My employer will not give her back as willingly as you think. I'm sure you noticed she's not here, but if she was you wouldn't want to lay eyes on her anyways. You see Brooklyn is a short tempered man, and once he's angered there's really nothing you can do but just take it. I must say too she is a tough one. It wasn't until he mentioned you and your buddies that she began to crack. Although my personal favorite was the look on her face when he spoke of…oh whats his name again?" Garland paused to rest a finger on his chin and look up in thought, then a sly grin curved his lips upward before he turned his head back to Bryan. "Ah yes I believe the boys name is Issac right?"

"QUIT PLAYING GAMES!" Bryan snarled in anger.

Garland chuckled as his amber colored eyes gleamed malice. A full smile had placed itself on his face reminding the Russian of the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland.

"There is no game anymore. It ended when you left that house and came here." the martial artist explained.

Bryan roared with anger and charged at the other man. The Asian sidestepped smoothly out of the way and hit him in the back making him fall. He fell onto the cold cement floor and rolled out of the way just as Garland slammed his foot down where Bryan's skull had previously been. Quickly he got to his feet and swung his fist at the other man only to miss again and earn a kick to the stomach. He was a street fighter and not a kick boxer. Where Garland had been training in a ring, Bryan had been in an office most of the time doing research to find the bastard that was now in front of him. He had probably spent way too much time behind the barrel of a gun. Mentally he noted to himself that he needed to get more combat practice in, it was clearly showing that he had slacked off. His green eyes saw a nearby two by four and he quickly grabbed it swinging madly at his enemy. The act only seemed to amuse Garland a great deal before he swung his left arm and snapped the piece of wood in half. Bryan didn't hesitate and continued forward hitting the Asian man across the head with the wood he still had left in his hand. Madly he swung his fists after dropping the object in his hand wanting nothing more than to bash his face in.

The other man put his arms up to defend himself it was strange that Garland was just standing there and taking the beating. The Russian felt really good hitting him repeatedly. Quite a few times he tried to upper cut the other man, but he couldn't get past the barricade of arms. Something in the back of Bryan's mind told him that this wasn't right and that something was wrong. His arms were beginning to feel like lead and fatigue was settling in. Dammit. Garland had planned to make him waste his energy. He wanted Bryan to tire himself out. His breath came out heavy and labored. Amber colored eyes peered at him from behind the other mans arms before he began to strike back. Garland swung left and right hitting Bryan in his jaw several times. He saw the other man smiling as he stumbled backwards unable to block the hits. A forceful kick collided with Bryan's abdomen and the power of it slammed him back against a concrete wall. He crumpled to the floor coughing and trying to catch his breath. The taste of copper filled his mouth and he was pretty sure that Garland had already done internal damage to him. Pain was consuming his ribs informing him that some of them were broken and that they possibly may have punctured an organ in the process.

Garland approached him and yanked his head backwards. His lips were merely inches from the Russian's ears.

"Try with all your might Bryan, but you don't stand a chance. As we speak I'm sure Brooklyn is already in your house."