"Ha ha ha shut up."

As Matt left, Helena looked up at R.D.. "By the way...I never thanked you for saving me from that robot."

"It was nothing," R.D. said, waving it off. "I'd have done the same for anyone."

Time passed, until there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it," Helena said. She walked up and peered through the tiny eyehole. "Wait a minute, that's not-"

Something punched through the lock, knocking it and the alarm clean out. It scattered on the carpet as a hand took the hole and pushed the newly opened door aside. Helena backed away from the man who walked in, dressed in a black business suit, his blond hair neatly combed over his scalp.

"Ah," he said. "I'm glad I was able to find you, Mr. Hiroshi."

The Asian man stood. "Geese!"

Ileyna shrieked, diving over to the other side of the bed and onto the floor. There was a quick, sharp sound of a Phase Blade being activated, and R.D. quickly made his way in front of Mr. Hiroshi, an emotionless look on his face.

"So, you're the guy who sent Oswald," he muttered, holding his sword out in front of him.

Geese made a downward gesture with both hands. "Put that down. I'm just here to speak with Mr. Hiroshi."

"Do you think I'm going to back down now?" Mr. Hiroshi said. "I'll do everything in my power to put you in jail where you belong."

"With what evidence?" Geese asked. He smiled. "As far as I'm concerned, some rogue mercenary decided to attack your home for no actual reason."

"You're the one that hired him!" Hugo clicked the chamber of his pickaxe back. "Now you'd better get out of here before things get ugly."

"All I wanted to do is ask Mr. Hiroshi if he would reconsider," Geese said.

"Never!" Mr. Hiroshi shouted.

"All right." With the back of his foot, Geese pushed aside the door, and another man in a suit stepped in. This one wore a bandanna around his head and carried a long red staff. "Get the girl."

"Over my dead body," R.D. growled, taking his sword in both hands. Pushing forward on his foot, R.D. shot forward, attacking with a vicious diagonal slash at the two intruders.

Geese caught R.D.'s wrist, stopping his attack dead cold. "Nice try." He yelled and thrust his palm out at R.D.'s chest-a burst of energy expelled into him, sending him flying toward the wall. Hugo pointed his gun, but as Geese waved the air, creating an arc of visible force, the Mettaur was knocked away as well.

"Get away from her!" Mr. Hiroshi rushed foward, only to be met by the other man's staff right in his stomach, and he doubled over in pain.

Helena screamed as the staff-wielding man grabbed her. "Let me go! LET ME GO!"

"Quiet." Geese tapped her on the forehead with a light chop, and she fell unconcious. Without any hassle, the two left the room.

As R.D.'s wrist was caught, he growled.

"Oh, you cheating son of a..."

His words were never finished as the attack smashed R.D. into the wall and window, breaking it as his arm struck it. Bouncing off of the wall, he fell to his knees, but quickly got back up.

Not even bothering to see if Ileyna, Hugo, and Mr. Hiroshi were okay, he dashed from the room, giving chase to the two suit-clad kidnappers.

"Mr. Howard, that kid's coming!" the man with the staff said.

"Take her to the car, Billy. I'll take care of it." Geese turned around and smiled, waiting for R.D. to approach within range.

Using the damaged Lumiya's power, R.D. grabbed hold of both light and dark energy, weaving them and forcing them together. Gathering every bit of strength he could from the superweapon, he thrust his hand out at Geese and fired the Disruptor blast.

A pitch-black sphere lined in a white aura exploded from his palm, leaving a trail of sonic shockwaves as the light and dark emission raced down the hall.

Geese threw up a hand, creating a jagged wall of energy in front of him. The Disruptor struggled to overcome it when they collided, but ultimately, it was spread apart in all directions.

Part of a grin spread across Geese's face. "Reppuken!" He threw up his other hand and sent the wall rushing at R.D. to great impact.

"Oh, shit!"

R.D. deactivated his sword and crossed his arms in front of his chest, bracing himself for the unavoidable blow. The attack smashed into him, knocking the wind out of him as it flung him backwards down the hall, where he landed on his back with a grunt and slid.

Geese dusted his hands, then turned and walked away. "Scum should knows its place."

"R.D.!" Hugo shouted. "Where are you?" He turned a corner and spotted him, prone to the ground. Geese had vanished. Damn it! "R.D.!" He ran over. "Are you okay?"

"No," he groaned, coughing. "I feel like I got hit by a semi."

He struggled up into a sitting position, with Ileyna's help. "Go find Matt, tell him what happened."

"I already know what happened," Matt called from down the walkway. His lip bleeding, he clenched his ribs as he shambled toward R.D.. "Geese and his goon jumped me."

"They kidnapped Helena," Hugo said.

"Fuck!" Matt braced himself against the wall with a hand. "What about Mr. Hiroshi?"

"Howard's toady hit him hard, but he should live."

"Wonderful."

R.D. pushed himself up onto his feet, and looked at Matt. "Any idea how we're gonna track those two losers? We know who he is but we don't know where he goes."

"I can track them," Ileyna suddenly spoke up. "That Helena lady's got the Omega Essence, so I can find out where she's at."

"Ha ha!" Matt clapped his hands together, and winced. "I love it when a plan comes together!"

Hugo walked back toward the hotel room. "I just hope you can heal your injuries, because we've got to get moving. I'll check up on Mr. Hiroshi."

R.D. nodded. "I'll go get the car and my bike ready," R.D. said, taking Ileyna's hand and making his way down the hotel.

Later, his ribs still feeling unpleasant, Matt said, "You gotta stay here, Hugo."

"What?" the Mettaur snapped. "Geese kicked my ass too! I want revenge!"

"But you gotta watch Mr. Hiroshi." Matt looked to the older man, now lying on the tightly made bed. "If anyone besides us comes in here, knock 'em out."

"I'll just blow their brains out."

"NO. We don't need anymore of that, just knock them unconcious."

Hugo scoffed. "Fine."

"Hurry it up, Matt!" R.D.'s voice, a bit distant, came through the open window over the sound of a revving car engine.

Edited by RisingDragon on October 27, 2008 at 19:47:19.

"I'll be back, keep this locked!" Matt scrambled toward the door.

"Wait!" Mr. Hiroshi cried out.

Matt turned back to face him.

"...good luck."

Matt nodded. "I'll get her back. Don't worry." With that he left and locked behind him, scrambling to the Firebird.

Edited by The Helldragon on October 27, 2008 at 22:45:24.

As Matt climbed into the driver's seat of the Firebird, he'd undoubtedly notice the large, triangular-muzzle weapon, the Bone Jack triple-barrel shotgun, being cradled in his lap.

Behind them, sitting in the back seat, was Ileyna, strapped in and her eyes closed as she concentrated on bringing her powers to the surface. Suddenly, there was a chime as her hair lit blue for a second, and with a cry, Ileyna suddenly spouted out the direction Geese was traveling in, pointing with a hand.

"And away we go!" Matt flattened the pedal, and the Firebird screamed onto the highway. No time to drive properly now-it was do or die! His eye went to the Bone Jack. "That's a neat toy. Where did you get that from, and what exactly have you been killing with it?"

"Found it in my house when I came back from the Sanctuary," R.D. said. "Haven't killed anything with it after the memory loss, dunno what I've killed with it before the memory loss."

He frowned. "I do know that its gonna bust open some robots if Geese sends more of them after us."

Matt grinned. "I actually look foward to seeing that."

The night lights sped by like fireflies on acid. Ileyna directed then into downtown, toward the propsperous business sector. As they tried to make good time in spite of the constant red lights that halted their progress every so often, the more rubbish buildings gave way to lording skyscrapers. A huge spike in particular came from the tallest one of them all.

As they neared the building, Ileyna's hair flashed blue and chimed yet again, and she cried out. "It's here!"

"Big and imposing," Matt remarked, glancing up at the building. "Compensating for something much?"

They drove into the parking lot and stopped neatly between a set of painted lines. Like he was going to risk losing this ride. There were lights on near the top, but for the most part, the building seemed closed.

"All right, this is gonna take crackerjack timing," Matt said. "Total concentration. You ready, R.D.?"

As R.D. and Ileyna clambered out, R.D. used one pumping motion of his arm to chamber the rounds in the Bone Jack, making a loud noise. "Ready."

"R.D., get behind Ileyna and watch our backs." Matt walked up to the front door and hefted his favorite ass-stompin' boot. "Knock knock!" He kicked through the glass.

The security guard at the front desk stood and held up his gun, but Matt just waved his hand in a wide arc and shot a burst of spiralling air that sent the officer flying into the wall. "Remember. No killing."

"Right," R.D. said, taking the Bone Jack in both hands. Behind him, Ileyna stood close by, trying to sense the Omega Essence.

It came with the usual theatrics. "It's at the top of the building," she said, looking up.