Hostile 21! All right!

Spoiler alert: Hostile is almost over.

But it's gonna continue into a different story, so woot!

Mia Teresa Davenport: "._. I don't understand."

ShyMusic: Lol well, you'll find out eventually, right?

So who wants to find out what just happened? Yahn?

"Zara doesn't own Lab Rats or anything you recognize. If you don't recognize it, it's probably hers."

"Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, "It might have been."

Kurt Vonnegut

"You might be looking for reasons, but there are no reasons."

Nina LaCour, Hold Still

Adam

The building seemed larger than Adam remembered. Maybe it was that he couldn't get to that office - whatever office Bree was in - fast enough for his liking. Or, possibly, his mind playing tricks on him in his fear and anger. Whatever it was, Bree was in trouble, and he wished he had her speed.

And that he knew exactly where she was. It'd save time.

Unfortunately, half of his wish came true. Bree's terrified scream gave away her position in what sounded like the next-to-last office in the hall. When said scream cut off abruptly, the second half of his wish was granted. A burst of adrenaline pushed him to his limits as he bolted towards the room even faster than before. Within seconds, he reached the closed door of the office.

Despite a nagging voice in the back of his mind about how vandalism was wrong, Adam ripped the door off of the hinges, accidentally tearing out chunks of the doorframe and wall before he flung it aside. Screw locks and door knobs. His baby sister was in trouble! He barreled into the room, getting his heat vision ready to fire. "Get away from her!"

Of course, this entrance - one that would likely have made the toughest criminal shit himself - was absolutely wasted. All that Adam saw was a melted computer, crushed pieces of a USB drive and comm. set, and, standing in the center of a ring of burnt carpet, Bree with the most absent expression he had ever seen.

Adam frowned, looking around for whoever had attacked her while moving towards her slowly. "Bree? You okay?"

No answer. No movement. Not even the slightest sign that she heard him at all.

"Adam, answer me!"

Mr. Davenport's words snapped Adam out of his focused state. It was no longer just Bree, the missing attacker, and him. He was aware of his surroundings more generally again. Ignoring Mr. Davenport, Adam bent down a little bit to look Bree straight in the eyes, waving his hand in front of her face. "Bree? Hello? Anybody home?"

Still nothing. She just stared straight through him.

Mr. Davenport started again. "Adam, I swear-"

"Something's wrong with Bree," Adam interrupted. "Oh, and the mission kind of failed. Everything in here is destroyed."

"Forget the mission," Mr. Davenport said, his voice worried. "Just get out of there."

Adam took a second to scoop up the pieces of the ruined USB drive and comm. set before very carefully picking Bree up, holding her almost like she was a small child. He started out the door, his jaw set. "You're going to be okay, Bree. I promise."

She remained unresponsive.

"Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I'm not stubborn. My way is just better."

Maya Banks, Rush

Chase

Do not turn into a cat in an attempt to get Perry to carry you anywhere. I repeat, do not do it! Especially when you're up a tree.

All she did was grab my scruff and drop me, saying something about wanting to see if I'd land upright.

For the record, I did. I was limping a lot more than usual afterwards because the landing jarred my legs quite a bit, but I stuck that son of a bitch. I was equally satisfied when she had trouble climbing down in the form of falling flat on her ass, so I supposed it turned out all right.

The mission to expose the embezzling was a different story, though.

The mood at home was tense while Mr. Davenport and Douglas examined Bree, who was oddly unresponsive. Adam was sitting on the couch with his face buried in his hands. Sometimes, he would mumble that he wasn't fast enough. Tasha, meanwhile, was rubbing Adam's back. I was staying quite a ways back myself. She was practically radiating magical energy. It was like I was standing next to both Azazel's Bane and the Arm of Raziel.

It didn't make sense, though. Why would any kind of magic be protecting a Hunter's computer? Weren't they anti-demon?

"She's in some kind of vegetative state," Mr. Davenport finally declared, his expression grim.

"But she'll be okay, right?" Adam asked, looking at her hopefully.

No, Adam, I thought, my wings, ears and tail drooping. She will definitely not be all right.

You should tell him, my voice instructed. Pulling thorns out quickly and all that.

He might shoot the messenger, I reasoned, staying quiet.

Adam shot Mr. Davenport a hopeless, desperate look. "Right?"

"Look, Adam," Tasha began carefully, "maybe she'll be better by morning? And the faster you go to sleep, the faster morning will come."

Adam was silent for a moment before standing up. "She's not going to get better, is she?" He rounded on everyone. "I'm not as stupid as you guys think I am." He pointed at Douglas. "You're some kind of doctor, right? Fix her."

Douglas winced. "Adam, it's not that easy. Her cognitive function –"

"Say it without all of your fancy words," Adam huffed. "I'm not in the mood for guessing what you're talking about."

"What makes Bree, 'Bree,' is gone," Douglas explained bluntly. "And she's probably never going to come back."

"But she's right-"

"Because she's physically unharmed," Mr. Davenport took over. "Whatever happened left enough of her brain intact to keep her body alive. Bree, however, isn't around."

Adam started with a new onslaught of questions that Mr. Davenport and Douglas were trying to answer as gently as possible. I, however, missed the vast majority of it because Yahn started to tug on my pant leg. "Half-Breed? Can I speak with you upstairs?"

"Why?"

"Please?"

I sighed and followed Yahn up the stairs, leaving behind the chaos that was the living room. If my tail was still as long as it was originally, it would be dragging on the floor. My sister was gone. What did I have to even be happy about right now?

Yahn lead me past the room Kevin had crashed in – thank God for whatever made that guy so damn sleepy, because that made hiding stuff very easy – and into my room. He hopped on the bed before turning back to me. "I know what happened to Bree."

I perked my ears excitedly. "Really?"

Yahn nodded, glancing nervously around.

"What is it?" I growled when he stayed quiet.

"She's in our world," Yahn answered unexpectedly.

I wanted to throw him out the window. "Don't make jokes, or I will eat you. I'm not in the mood-"

"I'm not joking," Yahn hissed. "Someone sent her into our world."

"How?"

"I don't know," Yahn answered. "I can't do it. Most of us can't. It takes a big demon. Like Lucifer. Or Joraed. Or Soad. But they tear her soul out and throw it into our world. I promise that she's not having fun there, either."

It took a full five minutes for me to respond. I had to let it all sink in. It was a big ass leap of the mind for me. For starters, that would mean souls existed, which I didn't believe in at all. More importantly, it meant that she wasn't dead. I finally perked my ears. "So…she could come back?"

"It's possible," Yahn answered. "She probably won't, though. It's very, very hard for a human to come back from our world. All the demons won't want to let her go."

I pinned my ears, growling. "There has to be something we can do. Can someone get her out?"

"Any demon that gets released won't follow an order given by a Summoner," Yahn hissed. "Our wills aren't bound anymore wen we're dismissed."

Why don't you go? My voice suggested. I want to see our world.

Are you being helpful? I responded. Besides, why do you care?

I don't care about her, came the answer. I don't want to listen to your whining every time you see her. And, like I said, I want to see the other world.

You know damn well that no one would dismiss me, I countered. They wouldn't want to lose me, too.

What if they understood the reason? That Leo kid is very good at doing impulsive things.

I considered that. Leo had been aiming to get involved, right? So, if I explained what happened to Bree, then he might send me to Otherworld after all.

After that, I perked my ears again. "A powerful demon? Guarding a Hunter's computer?"

"I'm just as confused," Yahn responded. "It doesn't make sense."

"Okay," I answered. "You start figuring that one out, and I'll get Leo to dismiss me."

"Dismiss you?" Yahn asked, tilting his head.

"Oh, right," I answered. "I had a whole conversation in my head. I decided to let Leo dismiss me so that I can bring Bree back."

Yahn was quiet for a moment before nodding. "Risky, but probably her only chance. Good luck, though. It's very different from this world."

"I don't care," I huffed. "I'm not leaving her in there if I can do anything about it." With that, I spun around on my heel and trotted out of the room.

Otherworld, eh?

Who took Bree down into that Hell hole?

We're gonna find out later, aren't we?

So, until then, feel free to review. Or don't. Meh.

And enjoy.

*Bows and exits*