Yeah, short chapter. Don't bug me about it. At least it isn't a ten-liner, like a fanfic I rean some time back that was filled with ten lines of story and Author's Notes as the 90% filler. I'm not that guy.

Ryaku

I called up a friend the next day, to help me try to identify the character in the picture. Sadly, he couldn't help me, because the character was slightly deformed, and bruised. It also didn't help that I didn't get the entire face area…

I simply shrugged after he left, and trashed the photographs.

I was alone today. Kenji was out doing… something. Mitchell was with Irene at who knows where, probably an Italian restaurant or a movie theater, and Diana was with a friend of hers, visiting a hospitalized relative. I don't know; I'm not that good with small details.

But what wasn't a small detail was the small note taped to the door. It said:

Dear pest,

I have captured your sister again. I expect you to turn yourself over to me at 15555 Sparked Blvd AT ONCE, and I promise your death will be quick and painless, and I might consider sparing your sister. If you do not within 24 hours, you'll never hear from her again. And I'll make sure that you die painfully.

"No. This can't be," I said to myself.

This is all some wicked adaptation of a nightmare. Nevertheless, Diana was my flesh and blood. I had to save her.

I popped the kickstand off of my motorbike, and rode all the way to the address shown on the note. 15555 Sparked Blvd, here I come. But not to turn myself in. I was to rescue my sister.

I slowly opened the door, sword raised and lightning ready. I looked for the cells where prisoners were kept, but found no one in them.

What?

It's a trap! I gotta get out of here!

I rushed for the door, but a barbed wall appeared right in front of my nose. I'm trapped in here till someone comes for me.

I felt stupid for falling for that trap.

Bouncing a tennis ball, I waited for something to happen. Something did when I heard a gunshot, then a scream.

I figured that I didn't want to go investigate.

Some people came into where I was held. That only means one thing: I'm boned. No words necessary.

The big man held a knife up to my head. He decided to talk to me before killing me.

"So, you got a big bounty on your head, did you know? I wanna get me some money like that. It's a whole fifty G's."

Fifty thousand dollars was a big bounty! Is Moldox really that eager to do away with me?

"Fifty G's could buy me what I really want."

"What's that?"

"I dunno yet… But it'll be $50,000! I'll buy everything!"

Stupid.

He made a mark on my neck with the knife. I could smell my own blood, feel it drip.

"Feel good, kid? Well, get comfy - you're gonna die here."

All of a sudden, a knife came out of nowhere, and the steel hilt knocked the man out cold. The knife sailed away from me. That was a good thing.

"I came as soon as I saw the ransom! Let's get outta here before someone else finds us."

I nodded, then asked him to board my motorbike. Note to self: buy a sidecar.

Kenji spoke up again. Hey, Ryaku. There's something I wanna show you. Turn down here."

"Um, Kenji?"

"Yeah?"

"There's some weird feeling I get when I'm captured. I don't like playing distress mode, you hear?"

"Yeah. That's the worst. But someone came for you, so why complain?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I do feel grateful you came."

"I'm glad you're okay."

"Well…" I showed him the mark.

"That shouldn't be a problem. Turn left"

"Where are we going?"

"Here. Stop."

I stopped in front of what looked like a hole in the wall.

"What's this?"

"A breach in the movie theater. You can hear everything from Iron King 3 from this wall today at about… now."

We crawled to the wood, and listened to the movie for the next hour and fifty minutes before going home.

Thank you for reading this far, and have a fantabulous day.