Kirk, Chloe and Christian
Kirk dug his cell phone out of his trench coat and answered the call.
"Yo?"
"Your boy's coming home."
Kirk hesitated.
"Which one?"
"Chris."
His eyes widened.
"Where is he?!"
"Heading your way. Alone. On a bike. Doesn't look too happy. Head North for about five minutes and you should see him."
"Thanks Joel."
Kirk hung up and nodded to himself.
"What's happening?" came Chloe's voice from behind him.
"Our friend Christian is coming home," Kirk could help but grin.
He turned to her.
"I'll go meet him. Be back soon."
Chloe nodded, as Kirk began to head North.
*****
As Joel had predicted, five minutes later, Kirk spotted a motorcycle in the distance. At first, Kirk thought it couldn't be Christian. He was blonde. But as the bike drew closer, he saw his face.
"CHRIS!"
Christian's head snapped up. He slammed the brakes on and spun the bike, stopping just in front of him.
"Steel?!"
Kirk waved.
"Yeah man. What's happening? Last I heard Spook had ya. Did you kill her for me?"
Christian shook his head.
"No? Damn. Have to do it myself. Love the look."
"Get on and shut up."
Spook
Christina swayed her bike into another curve, RK clinging to the seat on the back. "So, which way now?" She asked the cat. He tapped her right side, and she turned right. Tulsa again, hey? Well. He had been looking for Steel...
She revved the bike, loving the freedom it brought her, then swung ito one of her places. A few minutes later, she was driving out of there in a blue Chevy, shades firmly in place over her eyes. Here, Chrissy, Chrissy...
Kirk and Christian
"Mind telling me where we're going?!" Kirk yelled over the noise of the bike.
Christian ignored him. Kirk rolled his eyes and punched him in the shoulder.
"Watch it!" Christian exclaimed.
"Hey come on! Chloe's waiting for you. Left her on her own a few blocks that way," Kirk pointed.
"She can wait."
Kirk grunted as they pulled into and alley. The nike slowed, and he jumped off before Christian shut it off.
"What's going on?!" Kirk demanded.
"I need to know if you've found Taylor yet. And if so, if the doctor's dead."
"No," Kirk shook his head, "they've found a few new bases, but deciding on the right one without getting inside is kinda hard."
Christian took a deep breath.
"What the heck happened to you? What did she do?"
"What did she do?" Christian raised his eyebrows, "apart from driving me to the point of $#!+ing suicide, what did she do..."
Kirk frowned.
"What did you do?"
"What did I do? I apparently let her... feel something. I dunno. Alive again or some $#!+. That was her excuse. Apart from that, she had no $#!+ing reason to take me. She has a power called Null."
Kirk nodded.
"I spoke to Mouse. I know she was there."
Christian looked up, then away.
"She's ok, right?"
"Apart from the whole Taylor thing."
Spook
Christina spotted a girl standing near the edge of the street, looking up and down it. She looked very Goth.
The hunter looked at RK as the cat meowed, and jiggled the handle. "What? I should stop? You're a loony of a cat...fitting seeing who I got you from." She pulled the car to a stop near the girl and goot out of the car. RK leapt out over her feet. "Watch it, RK!"
The cat ran straight to Chloe.
"RK!" Christina walked after him, fingering the small taser in her pocket.
Kirk, Christian and Chloe
"It's unusual that we haven't tracked him down yet," Kirk added.
"I'll find him."
"Yeah, you'll find him and get yourself... Wait. You went in with Blakesley before, didn't you?"
Kirk nodded approvingly.
"And hardly a scratch on you."
"None of these scratches are from him," Christian glared.
"What's that from?" Kirk indicated his bandage.
Christian glanced at it.
"From slicing my wrist open. She stitched it so I ripped it out."
He chuckled a little.
"Ok Christian, not good. Why?"
"Why...?"
"Why do that?" Kirk looked concerned.
Christian shrugged.
"Too many reasons to mention at once."
*****
Chloe spun, seeing the cat. Being a very cat person, she smiled and knelt down to him.
"Hey there..." she began with a smile, petting him.
Then she looked up at Christina.
"Nice cat you have here..."
Then she hesitated.
"Have we... met?"
Spook
"I don't think so..." Christina frowned slightly. "Name's Jacinta," she said, borrowing her mother's name. "And that's RK. Stands for Road Kill. I didn't name him, the last person to own him did. She has a twisted sense of humour," Christina explained.
Kirk, Christian and Chloe
"Look man, we're on Taylor's trail, ok?" Kirk tried to insist.
"And how long's he been gone?" Christian frowned, "weeks. Freaking weeks. For all we know he could be dead."
He shook his head.
"He won't be," Kirk shook his head, "call my psychic, but he won't. I don't think Blakesley would particularly like one of his favourite subjects dead anyway."
Christian ran his fingers through his hair.
"Any news on Craig?"
"Latest... he's partnering with some girl, apparently. Tough light manipulator..."
"Miette."
"You know her?" Kirk raised an eyebrow.
"Ex-girlfriend of Isaac Hanson. Showed up when I was..." he cut himself off, "says she has control of him."
*****
"I'm certain you look familiar..." Chloe squinted a little, but shrugged.
"It'll come to me."
She stroked RK's fur.
Spook
"What's your name? We've probably met, but I can't quite remember..." Christina shook her head slowly. "Ummmm. You live here in Tulsa, right? Who do I know in Tulsa? Well, there's Mouse."
Kirk and Chloe
"Ah... so that's the story," Kirk nodded, "interesting. A light manipulator thinking they can control one of the greatest telepaths..."
He chuckled.
"But come on man, Chloe will be wondering where we are. I told her I was gonna meet you."
*****
"Chloe. Mouse? As in Jane Hall?"
Then Chloe suddenly... recognized... where she'd seen 'Jacinta' before...
"Spook?"
She shot to her feet and backed off a little, ready to use her power in defense.
Christina
"Oh, I'm famous, RK." Christina tilted her head slightly. "Christian talked about you. Said you had a peachy keen power that I would have enjoyed seeing in action. I wonder..." she blinked thoughtfully. "What he would do to get you back, hmmm? He sounded quite fond of you, at points." Christina got the tazer out of her pocket and advanced on Chloe.
Chloe, Christian and Kirk
Chloe froze for a moment, then squinted.
"Christian?"
Ok... not working. She should have collapsed. Damn it.
Chloe saw the tazer. Her eyes widening, she took off running.
Meanwhile, Kirk and Christian were beginning to make their way back to meet her.
Spook
Christina broke into a run. RK bounded along beside her as she gained on Chloe. Christina took a running jump off a low wall, and brought Chloe crashing to the ground, jamming the taser into her spinal cord and discharging it. She panted for a moment, and adjusted her shades.
RK mewed and she looked at him.
"Don't you start." Christina picked up the limp Chloe and started back to the car. RK trotted along after her.
Christian and Kirk
Kirk frowned slightly.
"Something's wrong," he tapped Christian's shoulder, not expecting him to hear him over the bike.
Christian shook his head, indicating he couldn't, before pulling over.
"I said something's wrong."
"Well... where's Chloe?"
Kirk pointed.
"Just three more blocks that way. Let's go."
Christian looked down the road, then revved the engine and took off again.
Spook
Christina reached her car and unlocked the door, before dumping Chloe on the backseat. She tied the girl's hands and feet together, humming slightly.
RK watched with disapproving eyes.
"I said, don't start, RK."
Christina closed the door and got in the driver's seat, switching on the ignition. RK jumped in after her before she closed the door.
Christian and Kirk
Christian pulled into the street before Kirk signalled for him to pull over.
They noticed a blue car up ahead, but thought nothing of it.
As soon as Christian slowed, Kirk was off the bike and heading for the nearest alley. Christian waited at the bike, running his fingers through his hair.
Then he heard Kirk cursing.
"What?!" he called.
"She's not here," Kirk emerged from the alley.
"So she could have gone for a walk," Christian shrugged.
"Not my Chloe," Kirk shook his head, pulling out his cell phone.
"Joel? Can you check surveillance on Chloe for me. Thanks mate."
He waited a moment as Christian looked back down the street, slightly worried for some reason.
Kirk's facial expression suddenly changed.
"She what?!"
Spook
Christina saw Christian go down the street on a motorbike with someone clinging to his back and pulled the car out from the curb. "Something tells me that he's not going to be happy with me..."
She laughed suddenly.
"Oh, this is fun!"
RK sneezed in disgust.
"I know, I shouldn'tve. But I did. And now I think I can get Christian back. For a while longer." Christina tapped her fingernails against the steering wheel as she merged with the city traffic.
RK sighed.
Christian and Kirk
Christian looke dup, startled at his tone of voice.
"When?! Just now?! $#!+," Kirk cussed.
"What? What happened?" Christian's worried look only got worse.
"That blue car. The one that was just here," he pointed in the direction it took off, "who the $#!+ was it, do they know?!"
Christian shook his head slightly, not knowing if he was talking to he or the perosn on the phone.
Kirk hesitated.
"I'm gonna kill that $#!+ing bitch."
He hung up.
"What?!" Christian exclaimed as Kirk headed for him.
"You're... 'friend' has paid Chloe a visit," Kirk sneered.
Christian frowned.
"Spook has Chloe. In that blue car that was just here. They headed that way," Kirk nodded in the direction Christina had driven off.
"Spook?" Christian's eyes widened, as he sat back a little.
He looked to the ground.
"Look man, I know you've had trouble with her. I won't ask you to do me favours on this, ok? Just let me clone the bike and I'll go after her..."
"No, no..." Christian shook his head, then looked up.
"It's me. She's after me. She obviously knows who Chloe is."
He gulped.
"And she knows she can get to me through her."
Spook
Christina laughed as she swung the car around and into one of her transient hiding place. "C'mon, little girl." She hefted Chloe over her shoudler and then opened the door of the new vehicle, a battered machine. But after she'd put Chloe in the backseat again, and turned on the engine, it purred like a race car.
RK bounded in again, very worried.
"I'll just leave him a note..." Christina scribbled out a note and stuck it under the windshield of the blue car.
Chrissy baby,
You know, dusting my shot gun *really* pissed me off. Chloe's fine. Well, she might be a little sore when she wakes up, but she's fine. You know what I want. You figure out a way to get it to me, and Chloe walks. Or I could just kill her. Do you think that would help, or just be really funny?
Love, Greenie.
She hopped into the new car and took off.
Kirk and Christian
Kirk's phone rang again.
Grudgingly, he dug it out of his pocket.
"What?! Oh. Thanks Joel. Where?"
Kirk looked Christian in the eyes and nodded, as Joel gave him some directions.
He relayed them to Christian.
"Thank you Joel. I'll get you something nice, alright?"
He hung up.
"Ok, that's where the blue car's gone. So that's where they should be."
"So what are we waiting for?" Christian started the bike again and revved the engine.
"Chris, Chris..." Kirk shook his head, hands up.
"Man, don't do anything stupid, alright? We'll get her back."
Christian just sneered.
"Get on."
Kirk shrugged and got back on, and they headed to the hiding spot.
They soon unconvered the blue car, and Christian wa sthe one to find the note. If Kirk had been, he wouldn't have shown him.
He read it out loud, then lant against the car and hung his head.
"You're not going back to her man, I won't let you," Kirk shook his head.
"And you'd rather save my good-for-nothing ass instead of Chloe's?" Christian demanded.
"Man, I want both of you. I created you. I don't want anything to happen to you," Kirk shook his head, "and with all this $#!+ going on with Taylor, I really don't need this. Can't we just hunt the bitch and do the rescuing thing again?"
"Yeah, that worked so well with Mouse."
Spook
Christina zoomed to another hiding spot. She wasn't stupid enough to think one vehicle change would throw Christian off her scent. Again, they changed cars. Christina knocked on the door and babbled to the family she had watching her stuff here in Spanish. The mother nodded, and a young man slipped out to work on the car. Christina thanked them, then moved Chloe into the new car.
The man petted RK before the cat jumped after Christina, and she took off again. After a bit, she stopped the car and let RK out. She drove up the road 500 m.
RK concentrated and placed a ward of confusion and misdirection between the car and where they had come from. He raced to catch up with Christina and leaped into the passenger seat.
"You're a very useful cat. Remind me to buy you some pastries later." Christina spun the wheel and headed out again.
RK crept into the backseat and nestled against Chloe.
Kirk and Christian
"The thing is, they're not here. And we didn't see them leave. Oh you saw another car did you? Why didn't you freaking mention it before?! Track them! Find them! Flippin' heck."
Kirk hung up again and made his way over to Christian.
The telekinetic was sitting on the kerb by the stolen bike, his head in his hands.
"Hey man, you gonna be ok?" Kirk sat beside him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Shouldn't I be asking you the same thing?" Christian almost chuckled, looking up as he rested his chin in his hands.
"Chloe's tough. She'll make it."
Kirk dipped his head a little.
"I don't want you thinking you have to do anything here. We'll find her on our own. Chloe has a distant relative that can do some pretty neat tracking..."
"Even if we find Chloe again and rescue her, she's only gonna come back for me again," Christian shook his head, "I didn't think she was this desperate, I really didn't. And who knows who she'd go after next time, huh? What if it's one of the Hansons? One of the younger ones? If anything happened to them because of me..."
"But it won't," kirk frowned, rubbing Christian's shoulder, "me and the guys can make sure of it. Someone was watching Chloe from an apartment across the street. I have eyes everywhere. They'll find her. And they'll track down your Spook and eventually..."
"Kill her?" Christian ended, raising his eyebrows, "yeah, wish I had the chance. Don't forget Null."
He got up and went over to the bike.
Spook
Christina started out of Tulsa. She knew that Christian, and more importantly Steel, wouldn't give up on Chloe. She glanced into the back seat at the unconscious girl and sighed.
RK gave her a dirty look.
"Hey, this will work out. You'll see." Christina changed cars again. RK followed her, still looking disgruntled.