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Post by ~ ADMIN on Oct 8, 2010 4:59:38 GMT -5
Continued from this thread.
I'm thinking posting order: Anna, Ben, Luke, Ally.---------
Anna was in a complete tizzy; her best friend was missing. She hadn't acted quick enough, in fact, she'd made a big mistake even letting Ally take part in this mission in the first place. This was why she was the bait, why she put herself in danger; one, she was the twenty-one year old super soldier, and two, she couldn't deal with the guilt of losing Ally like this. Especially not when she had to see the look on Luke's face when he arrived.
She'd scoured the area surrounding the warehouse as much as she possibly could in the circumstances and found nothing. Either R4 had some sort of beaming technology, or they could vanish into thin air. After walking around like a headless chicken for a little while, she'd run all the way back to the apartment where Ally had been staying, looking for any clues whatsoever, nothing.
Next, she went back to her surveillance room and started running the faces from the camera footage through the system. The picture was dark and blurred, so it was taking a while. Five hours since Ally had disappeared, and still nothing. Anna sat chewing her nails nervously, curled up in a ball on the chair, her stomach churning. It was stupid, but she really needed Ben to arrive and just hold her or something. She wasn't sure it would make things any better, but it might help to calm her down.
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Post by karen2 on Oct 8, 2010 14:07:03 GMT -5
After receiving Anna's message, it had taken Ben a total of maybe two minutes to jam a gun into the waist-band of his jeans and then run up to the flight deck to tell Luke what had happened. Almost as soon as the words, "Ally's in trouble" left his mouth, the other man was on his feet, and the two of them hastily made arrangements to go and meet Anna.
Though Ben was, of course, worried about Alliana's well-being, he was also worrying about Anna. Knowing her, she was no doubt beating herself up right now about losing Ally. Hopefully she'd be all right to come with them, because there was no way in hell he was going to leave her there alone when Alliana had been abducted already.
Upon arrival Ben and Luke headed instantly for the surveillance room, and though he knew there'd likely be nothing here Ben found himself looking for clues--which, when he didn't know for sure what he was looking for, was pointless "Anna?" he called as he led the way inside.
He found her huddled up on the chair in front of the footage system, her expression unreadable but her eyes miserable. "Anna, love, we're here," he said gently, coming over to wrap his arms around her. He almost grinned a little when he saw that she was wearing one of his shirts, but the situation made it impossible to. "Do you have anything yet?" |
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Post by Luke Martin on Oct 8, 2010 14:26:29 GMT -5
Those three words, 'Ally's in trouble' had been the words Luke had least wanted to hear, but expected almost as soon as he saw the man at the door; there wasn't any other reason Ben would be running to tell him something. His heart thundering in his chest, he'd immediately leapt up and gone with Ben, their co-pilot could deal without him, there was no way in hell he wasn't going to go looking for his girlfriend, no matter how dangerous it was. Ally wasn't like Anna and Ben, sure, she was strong, but she would also be so afraid right now. As was he, for her.
Not knowing exactly what had happened, he could only imagine it was something to do with Davis. That bastard was determined to take Ally from him, but they wouldn't let him succeed. Luke couldn't lose Ally now, they had so much to look forward to, from this Christmas to their future together.
When they got to the surveillance room, Anna looked a wreck with nerves, and to be honest, he was too. He wasn't exactly sure what to say, he was pretty sure the look on his face said it all - so instead he just waited for Anna to answer. |
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Post by Alliana Porter on Oct 9, 2010 4:29:35 GMT -5
Ally creaked her eyes pen slowly, blinking them closed again as they adjusted to the low light of the room. It was a cold, concrete room, dark and definitely creepy. Rather than start awake like she managed last time, she adjusted slowly, wincing as the pain flooded her. First it started in the back where the blow took place, then spread like a migraine to her temple and forehead, pounding like a hammer. Her throat was dry and she felt like crap.
She pulled at her wrists, only to realize that they were handcuffed to the back of the chair she was so uncomfortably seated in. That would explain the back and shoulder pain. Ally sniffled and wiggled her ankles a little. At least her feet were free, not that she could really do anything anyway.
Well, at least he hadn't hit her in the face...yet. She heaved a small sigh, craning her beck painfully to fully grasp where she had in fact ended up. This wasn't part of the plan, wasn't how it was supposed to down. Something had gone horribly wrong, and she couldn't remember how it all happened. It was just a painful blur. She thrashed and twisted a little, only to feel the sting of the metal cuffs as it rubbed her smooth wrists raw. She inhaled a little at the pain, then bit her lip. It bled.
Crying wouldn't fix anything, as much as she wanted to. She was confused, and in pain. What exactly had happened, and why had Davis wanted her so bad?...Alive? She hoped Anna was looking for her, knowing anna, she probably was. No doubt Luke was a frantic mess, this was most likely hell for him. It wasn't exactly fun and games here, and she wanted nothing more than to leave this nightmare of a place. Ally sniffled up again, fixing her eyes to the shadows. The door creaked open slowly, and she held her breath.
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Post by ~ ADMIN on Oct 9, 2010 5:04:13 GMT -5
Anna didn't hear Ben the first time he called her name, she was so lost in her own thoughts. But the second time was harder to miss, because no sooner as he'd said the words, his arms were around her. She held him tightly back, allowing herself this moment of insecurity, finding strength in another - and just being comforted. Pulling back a little, she let her legs uncurl themselves and she cast a glance at Luke, who was wearing the same expression she could imagine she was.
"No, not yet," she said, looking back at Ben, "I've been running this facial recognition software for the last hour and it's still searching. Either these guys aren't in here, or they're buried deep." Knowing R4, it was probably the latter. She should have put the camera in a different location, somewhere with better light. She'd had the time, right? And it wasn't like she wasn't stealthy. She could have even hidden in the room, or on the roof, then this never would have happened.
Mentally slapping herself, she forced herself to focus. Thinking about that sort of stuff over and over again wasn't going to get her anywhere. "Maybe we should go back to the warehouse," she said, "see if you see anything I missed." In her state, she didn't trust herself enough to say that she'd got everything. Heck, maybe even Luke would spot something. Speaking of Luke, she looked over at him again. "I'm so sorry," she said, completely reproachful, "I know you trusted me to take care of her and I didn't, I'm sorry, really." |
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Post by karen2 on Oct 14, 2010 0:44:11 GMT -5
It was a relief when Anna seemed to come back to herself, even if she still appeared to feel as guilty as sin. At least she was able to hug him back, if nothing else. He kept an arm around her shoulders as she explained the situation to them. It didn't sound good--which only made their mission all the more urgent.
At her suggestion to go back to the warehouse and look things over for anything she might have missed, Ben glanced over at Luke, who, so far, had been unusually quiet. He'd been about to ask what the other man thought of the idea when Anna spoke again, and his eyes shot back to her instead. He frowned a little.
"All right, all right," he interjected before Luke could speak, pulling her to her feet. "Let's not play the blame game here. It's not your fault, Anna. It's not anyone's fault--unless you want to pin it on those R4 bastards, in which case, by all means, do. But otherwise, let's all just keep our heads and get over to the warehouse to take up the search again, all right?"
They really didn't need Anna blaming herself for this--not if they wanted her sharp and on top. But Ben had also said what he had, just in case Luke believed it was her fault, too. Luke wasn't that kind of guy, from what he could tell, but if it had been Anna who had been kidnapped while Ally was supposed to have been taking care of her, he wouldn't see shades of grey. Then again, he did have a short temper. |
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Post by Luke Martin on Oct 14, 2010 3:52:01 GMT -5
Luke didn't need to say anything. Ben was right; it wasn't Anna's fault, not in the slightest. It was R4's fault, it was Davis' fault for being such a git. It was a good thing Ben was with them otherwise Luke and Anna probably would have just collapsed in a heaped wreck together. "Ben's right," Luke nodded, finding that thing otherwise known as his voice, "let's just get Ally back."
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"Alliana Porter," Davis growled, emerging through the door, pushing it closed behind him. Loathing didn't even begin to describe how he felt towards this woman. She, her family, and her friends had screwed him over one too many times. The last time had been the last straw, that arrogant bastard Will Blake coming in and taking his prize from him, his chance at catharthis. Little did Will know, he was going to get his just desserts. But for now, he had Porter right back where he wanted her. He could finally get the revenge he so desperately wanted, and hell be damned if she was going to come out alive at the end of this.
He approached her chair slowly but menacingly, his eyes black in the low light. "I'm going to give you hell," he drew his face down right next to hers, "like you can't even imagine." |
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Post by ~ ADMIN on Oct 14, 2010 10:48:57 GMT -5
Anna looked up at Ben with her wide green eyes as he hoisted her onto her feet, taking charge. She was a little surprised by it at first, but slowly she came to the realisation that he was right. Sometimes there wasn't anything you could do to provent something, no matter how hard you tried. She needed to get a grip and get this sorted. Her best friend was out there somewhere and needed her help. She knew she could count on Ben. He was being strong for her when she wasn't - she needed it.
She swallowed, clearing the thickness in her throat, "okay," she said, finding a more confident stance, deciding it was time to buck up and relocate her determination. "The warehouse isn't too far from here, about fifteen minutes on foot. Let's go." She gestured towards the door and Luke went first. Anna cast a glance back at Ben, giving him a quick squeeze. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
The walk to the warehouse was quick and was made in silence. Luke was obviously internalising all his feeling about the situation - she hadn't seen him the last time Ally had been taken, she didn't know how he had coped, if at all. Pushing through the door to the building, she did a quick visual check to make sure none of the guys had come back - there was a slim chance of that happening, but it was still possible. They might want to check they'd covered their tracks.
"Okay, so, I was positioned on the roof across the way," Anna said, describing what had happened, "I had a video/audio link to the room. Ally entered, and almost straight away something was off. There we two guys; a large thug, he looked like he could have been a hired hitman from one of the outer lying planets; and another smaller, Russian guy, who seemed to be doing the negotiating. He got impatient and ordered the big guy to..." she hesitated, "kill Ally, but then Davis stepped out of the shadows and said he wanted her alive. That's when I started running." She sighed slightly, "I didn't see or hear anything after that. I arrived here and they were gone." |
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Post by karen2 on Oct 20, 2010 22:24:37 GMT -5
The change in Anna was noticeable almost immediately--she stood up straighter, and some of her fire seemed to return. This heartened Ben. True, he could have taken over for her if she wasn't able to, but he knew that Anna would want to be the one to solve this, and he was going to help her in whatever way he could.
"To the warehouse it is," he said with a nod, smiling at Luke as the other man led the way. His smile turned onto Anna when she spoke, and he kissed the top of her head affectionately. "You'd go on like you always do, love. I'm just lucky enough to tag along. Speaking of which..." He gestured for her to lead the way.
The walk over was quiet, and Ben felt sorry for Luke. The poor guy looked awful. He wished there was some way he could help, but really, there wasn't. And so he just walked silently beside Anna as the warehouse loomed closer and closer. Inside, they listened to her recount what had happened, and he pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment.
"Where do you propose we start?" he asked in general, not caring really who answered him. There had to be something around here that could tell them where Ally had gotten to. But what, and where--that was the question. |
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