Chapter Four, A :: Good Job Guys!

[ST]

Okay, everyone who was part of "The Risk Involved" will now be posting here.

You can have your characters start waking up if you want to. They should be groggy and weak though, from the gas. They are all sitting (or laying, I guess) down in the dark with their hands cuffed behind their backs and their ankles cuffed together. The floors and walls are cold steel. They are obviously aboard something, like an aircraft or ship. Judging from the vibrations through the floor and walls and the rumbling sound all around, it's more likely an aircraft of some sort.

[Zacke]

First there was the loud rumbling. Then there was the awkward way his head was positioned; he could feel every vibration through the painful crick in his neck.

Zacke's eyelids parted slowly. They were heavy, and even though the room was dark and there was no light for his eyes to adjust to, it still somehow hurt for them to be open and working. The dull ache behind them made him want to immediately close them again, but he kept from doing so as he realized the urgency of his situation. He tried to move his arms and legs a little, even though he could feel the weight of the cuffs around them. Of course it was a silly hope, both sets were firmly secured around him.

He lifted his head upright from the uncomfortable way it'd fallen over against one shoulder. He couldn't feel the familiar weight of Seraphim around his shoulders, and could only assume that whoever had taken them -- most likely DotNA -- had taken their weapons as well...

Iris?

No answer; and he wasn't surprised. Just like the missing weight of Seraphim, the weight of Iris was missing from his mind.

Am I... alone?

That thought hit him with more alarm than anything else. Zacke cleared his hoarse throat and tried to peer through the darkness. "Guys?" It came out as a harsh whisper. "Hello? Is anyone else here?"

[waterlily43]

Rayden tried to blink, but it was like lifting boulders with his eyelashes, talk about wasting energy. So instead he tried to reach out in the darkness, but that was again futile since his hands were bound behind his back and his ankles similarly incapable of movement. He tried to wriggle like a worm, his muscles immediately sent stinging needles in protst of the action It seemed whatever he had inhaled had stiffened his body or it may just have been the sideeffects of lying in an awkward position for extended period of time.

"Hello? Is anyone else here?"A raspy whisper broke through the air. It sounded like Zacke.

He grunted in response. "Body's here but they took everything else. We're lucky they didn't strip us naked."

[Zacke]

The sound of Rayden's voice was a small comfort to Zacke, and he actually managed a small half-grimace-half-smirk at the other man's wry comment. As his eyes began to adjust to the darkness he could make out some other forms. He counted four in total aside from himself, and at this he relaxed just a little.

At least we're all together.

It was a very thin silver lining.

"Where do you think we are?" He spoke out to Rayden or anyone else who happened to be listening.

[Blaze Sanaku]

"We're on an airship, obviously," Blaze's sarcastic voice snarled through the darkness. She had been awake for a couple of minutes prior to Zacke's chatterings but didn't dare say anything since she couldn't see very well.

"Where are our captors?" she demanded, eyes flashing, "I still have my mouth unchained, I swear I'll bite their heads off!!"

[Hadrian D'arcell]

Is this heaven?

"We're on an airship, obviously," the distant voice was getting closer. "I still have my mouth unchained, I swear I'll bite their heads off!!"

Hadrian's eyes slowly parted when he heard people's voices. He blinked. Once. Twice.

"Tch..." He groaned. No way this is heaven... He wouldn't hear Blaze if it were. More importantly, they were bound. He lifted his head, back against the wall.

A splitting headache suddenly shot through him, then the annoying ache on his back. They all pulsated back to him in a blink of an eye. He remembered his back pain but headache? Did he hit his head somewhere?

Flashdrive. He quickly felt his backpocket for it. He was starting to remember the previous events. After a brief pause, his jaw tightened. Hadrian tapped his head lightly against the wall. It was gone. Of course.

Awesome... he thought sarcastically. He tried to think of an upside to ease his annoyance. Atleast he was right when he had this gut feeling they wouldn't die. Yup, he was alive. All hope was not lost.

"Hey comrades," he groggily spoke from his spot, eyes fixed on the ceiling. "Files are gone."



==============
If Hadrian is supposed to have his flashdrive with him, then lemme know. I'll edit.

[Gemma]

Dark

Why is it so dark?

Cold...why is it so cold

The only thing she could see was the hollow darkness. Was she really awake? When does the dream end and reality begin?

10-letter password--

Hadrian and his laptop--

Got-em!

----favorite color?

RED------

throw the bugs on the moniter they're good at hiding!

Locked in. Trapped. No Way Out.

Cackling-blue screens--watching-----always watching--

Files--- Did you get the files?

Mist--

Choking, gasping, fighting

Zacke---

Zacke falling.

Tears. Her tears.

Screaming

Blinded

Darkness

Like a vaccuum, a rush of oxygen was sucked back into her lungs and Gemma's eyes snapped open. The oppressive curtain of blackness was lifted over her. Everything that had happened in the Dotna mainframe--their failure: she remembered. As if the someone had unblindfolded her and uncovered her ears, she was becoming quicky aware of her situation. Her arms and ankles were chained together. Paleruin? Obviously, the captors had confiscated all weapons. Twisting herself as much as possible, she felt the hard metal coolness of the steel walls that surrounded her.

So that explains the coldness

She could still barely see, but as her eyes adjusted themselves to the darkness, she could make out the greyish outlines of four figures.

"Hey comrades." Even though the voice sounded slightly hoarse, there was no doubt that it was Hadrian. "Files are gone."

Inwardly, she groaned. So the mission had been a complete failure.

[Zacke]

Ahh no Rica you did perfect, you're totally right DotNA would have taken his flash drive. -_-; I'm sorry for any confusion I may have caused, I really should have mentioned that somewhere in my first post. THANK YOU!

---

"Files are gone."

"Shit," The curse came out under Zacke's breath. He hadn't even thought of the files yet. Damnit. They had officially botched the mission completely. The best they could hope for now would be a way out of this situation, but by the looks of things... it was a lofty hope.

He sighed and closed his eyes, resting his head against the wall behind him. He tried to turn his mind away from his fears and think, but all things considered it wasn't an easy thing to do. Who knows where they're taking us... The thought brought on an even more discomforting one, Wait... Why are they even keeping us alive? He opened his eyes suddenly and frowned in the darkness.

"I hate to have to say this guys, but we should just forget about the mission." He spoke out to the rest of the team. "It's sucks that we failed, but if you think about it, we're lucky to even be alive right now. They must want to use us for something; why else would they bother with keeping us alive?" He paused for a second, giving his mind a moment to work. ... she wears her hair up.

"Gemma," The name came out with urgency. "Do you have something in your hair that maybe we could use lockpick these handcuffs?"

[Gemma Ridean]

"Gemma," There was an urgency in the voice that caught her off guard.

Relaxing a bit, she shuffled around to face the person addressing her.

"Rayden?" she tried to make out the face.

"Do you have something in your hair that maybe we could use lockpick these handcuffs?"

But of course. Why hadn't she thought of that herself? Although she always tied her hair with a rubber band, the thin silver hairpin that pinned back her bangs was a perfect pick.

"Yes!" her eyes lit up brightly. "My hairpin! It's the perfect size. Except--" Suddenly her face fell flat. There was only one problem. Her hands. They were chained behind her back. As was everyone else's..

"Except..." she let out a moan of despair. "I can't reach it."

[Zacke]

She has one! Sweet. A little spark of hope flared within him, but that spark flickered out at the sound of her woeful moan.

"Actually, not Rayden. It's Zacke." He responded with an amused smirk. "And... I guess I didn't think about it long enough to realize our hands are cuffed. Sorry."

Duh.

Zacke mentally kicked himself for being such an idiot. A hairpin did them no good if they wouldn't even be able to get it out of her hair.

Unless...

As soon as the idea struck, he decided with little thought that it was the only way and it must be done. He shifted around awkwardly until he was able to get to his knees and began to move toward her. His eyes had adjusted better to the darkness now, and by the direction her voice came from he was pretty sure he was heading for the right person. It was a slow process with his ankles cuffed together behind him, and with almost every few inches he moved he felt like he was going to fall forward onto his face, but he persevered...

I'll just get it with my teeth!

Zacke had never been someone who considered the comfort zones of others. It's not that he never cared about offending people; he actually cared very much. It's just that with him being so open and free-spirited himself, oftentimes it wouldn't even occur to him that something might be offensive or unappealing to someone else until after the fact. A perfect example of this would be his current idea regarding Gemma's hairpin. This idea, to anyone else, might make for an uncomfortable situation or maybe even seem kind of gross, but it simply did not occur to him that Gemma might object.

"Okay, tell me what side of your head its on so I can get it." He said, finally coming up in front of her. "As soon as you unlock yourself you can help the rest of us. Yeah?"

[Blaze Sanaku]

"Gemma!" Blaze hissed from her corner, "What do you think you're doing?! You're honestly going to let him slobber all over your hair??? It is Zacke! He is going to rip out hunks of your hair and you'll have a giant bald spot on the back of your head! He's a boy he has no idea how women's hairpins work!!"

Blaze huffed. Nothing they ever did was with flair or style, it was always just a mess, everything they did always fell into shambles and nothing ever went according to plan. Now they were resorting to playing find the needle in the haystay in the dark with your teeth and attempt to unlock intricate handcuffs with it. She rolled her eyes as Zacke shuffled blindly across the room, he looked so awkward and ungraceful. It was about as unromantic as you could get, watching him struggle towards Gemma and almost faceplanting the floor a couple times.

Well it's not as if we're characters in a romantic comedy Blaze thought sarcastically, suddenly imaginging the scenario she was in as if it really was a romantic comedy. She could picture the rendition, the directors would put a fan in front of Zacke who would incidentally have most of his shirt unbuttoned and he would basically float or glide towards Gemma with his chest thrust out instead of sluggishly inching towards her with his face covered in grime and his hair in severe cowlicks.

Gemma would have her mouth open in a small, feminine "o!" as he floated towards her and say something girly like, "oh Zackery you must free me from my chains, take my hairpin, though it may damage my ever so silky locks!" Zacke would continue to glide towards her and trip and fall upon Gemma, his tooth expertly snagging the hairpin on the way. Her hair would immediately be let loose in slow mo and she'd shake her head, letting her hair whip around her face like in those shampoo commercials. Zacke would open her chains with his teeth clutching the pin and they'd both take down the bad guys single-handedly, making some witty comments about how evil shall never prevail and ride off into the sunset.

Hadrian and Rayden? They'd be the side-characters who got shot but no one really cares, and Blaze wouldn't even be in the picture at all. She'd be the one watching the whole thing from her couch, repeatedly saying, "ughh you've got to be kidding me" and "this is the lamest shit I've ever seen." At least, that's the role she wished she were playing at the moment.

"Okay, tell me what side of your head its on so I can get it." Zacke said, snapping Blaze away from her daydream. Realizing how absurd her rendition of the current situation was, she burst out laughing.

"sorry," Blaze laughed, "the gas got to me or something. Carry on."

[Gemma Ridean]

Sitting in the dark, Gemma waited pensively for someone to suggest a solution to their dilemma.

There was some loud rustling to the left of her.

"Actually, not Rayden. It's Zacke."

Fortunately for her sake, the darkness shrouded the horrified expression on her face. Realizing now that they all knocked out by Bio+gas, it only made it worsened the fact that she had...overreacted...in the most recent event...

Please...let no one remember what happened...

More scuttling. Then, from out of the shadows, he emerged. Crawling---no. Wriggling towards her like a freakish earthworm. It would have been a valiant gesture, if he wasn't struggling so much, with the occasional fall every few feet.

"Okay, tell me what side of your head its on so I can get it." She didn't know which one to react to: the fact that they were about to free themselves with a hairpin or the disturbing look of determination on Zacke's face as he surveyed the circumference of her head. "As soon as you unlock yourself you can help the rest of us. Yeah?"

She could hardly pay attention to a single word he had just said. All she could see was the looming shadow over her head, a strip of white glinting in the dark. And it didn't help that Blaze was cackling in her little corner. "You're honestly going to let him slobber all over your hair??? It is Zacke! He is going to rip out hunks of your hair and you'll have a giant bald spot on the back of your head! He's a boy he has no idea how women's hairpins work!!"

When she envisioned being this close to Zacke, it never involved them being chained up with hair in someone's mouth.

/Whoa...now that'd be the fourth, maaybee third, date.\

The darkness might have masked the redness of her face, but there was nothing to be done about the sheer heat radiating from it.

"R-r-right side." she stuttered, unconsciously closing her eyes in anticipation. When nothing happened, she slowly opened one eye and glanced upwards with eve more uncertainty. "Are you sure you know what you're doing? Maybe Blaze should do this..."

[Zacke]

Zacke involuntarily felt himself flinch a little at Blaze's loud and harsh bout of laughter. He wasn't at all surprised by the fact that she was able to find the desperate situation funny, and he also wasn't at all surprised that she was making fun of him for it. Typical Blaze, right? But no matter the fact that he should have expected this, it still somehow bothered him. He usually loved Blaze's ability to find humor in the most pathetic of circumstances, but this time he didn't. This time he felt like he was getting repeatedly kicked in the ego. As soon as he felt upset, he felt annoyed. Since when did he let Blaze's obnoxious behavior get to him?

Oh, ha ha! Funny YOU should mention biting heads off, He shot a quick glare at Blaze's corner. 'Cause that's probably exactly what YOU would do... Cow...

"Maybe Blaze should do this..." The hesitance in Gemma's tone recaptured his attention, and he turned to face the space in front of him where he knew she sat.

"Look, just trust me, I know what I'm doing." He lied. "I grew up with a sister, hairpins are not exactly rocket science." He embellished the lie. "Just sit still. I promise I won't chew your hair out." That one wasn't a lie. Well... hopefully.

He came up onto his knees and leaned forward, pressing his cheek against her head and feeling for the coolness of a metal hairpin. He was careful to maintain his balance so as not to bang their heads together and incite another round of hee-hawing out of Blaze. No matter how hard he tried it was still a relatively ungraceful procedure, but how else could it be done? The group of them sat in almost pitch black, there was no way he was going to be able to find a tiny hairpin in her dark hair with his eyes. So he suffered on through what seemed like long moments of holding his balance at an awkward angle over her and gently pressing the side of his face against her head until, at last, he found the damn hairpin.

Okay... He pulled his face a few inches from her head. Now what... ?

"Uhh," He glanced downward through the dark at the approximated location of the hairpin. "Heh. I'm going to use my teeth now, so... try to be real still."

Ironically enough, in this moment he was actually very grateful for the dark. Even though everyone knew what he was attempting, no one could actually see it happening before their very eyes. That seemingly small thing was actually very comforting. Leaning in toward her head with his lips parted and teeth bared had to be one of the most awkward moments of his entire life. It was definitely top-five status, right up there with stuff like "first kiss" and the time his mother found a condom in his wallet when she was doing the laundry. To top it all off, this wasn't just any girl's hair he was about to chew on. It was Gemma's. He met her in his boxers, for Hyne's sake. During their first and only dance ever, he was randomly attacked -- and humiliated -- by a wild kitten. And now he was about to... Well, he hated to agree with Blaze, but he was honestly about to slobber in her hair.

I've gotta seem like such a freak...

He took a deep breath into his open mouth to hopefully dry his teeth before diving in. The cold air against them hurt a little but he wasn't very concerned with that. Normally he would consider hair between his teeth a pretty gross thing, but he was honestly too preoccupied with how gross she must think this was to care much about his own feelings.

He could say one good thing about the situation; in comparison to the stench of their room, her hair smelled absolutely heavenly.

Luckily for him, her, and them all, he was able to find the thing and get his front teeth around one end of it with relative speed. Excited by the taste of his surprisingly quick victory he tugged on the hairpin to pull it from her hair. Unluckily for her, he'd clamped his teeth on the wrong end. His sharp tug resulted in a painful yank that probably ruined her bun-styled hair. Once he'd realize what he'd done his eyes went wide and he released the hairpin from his teeth immediately; which, coincidentally, fell from her loosened hair and onto the steel floor between her legs.

"Shit Gemma -- sorry about that," he blurted the words, almost wincing as he said them. At least he'd heard it drop. At least it was out, right... ?

It was just a split second later that he realized where the pin must now lay.

Shit.

"Uhh... Blaze?" He glanced toward her corner.

[Hadrian D'arcell]

"Hadrian and Rayden? They'd be the side-characters who got shot but no one really cares, and Blaze wouldn't even be in the picture at all." ---> LOL I always crack when I read that XD
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Struggling ain't easy, eh... he thought, annoyed.

Hadrian amusingly watched Zacke grope Gemma from behind, or so that what it looked like with all the body rubbing. Apparently, he was able to take Gemma's hairpin using his mouth and it landed....somewhere. The place needed a little more light.

He would asked Blaze to light some fire but she probably would set herself on fire if she casted it with her hands cuffed behind her.

"What's wrong, Zacke?" The dude seemed hesitant about something. Could it be... "Hey, it didn't slide inside her chest, didn't it?" Hadrian snickered. Now, they were all desperate to get out of here when they didn't even put up much effort getting out of that control room.

[Blaze Sanaku]

At the sound of the hairpin clinking against the floor Blaze groaned and rolled over to a sitting position to try and see where the hairpin had gone.

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing, hairpins aren't exactly rocket science 'cause I took 10 years of hairpin training removal with my Sensei sister and know exactly what I'm doing." Blaze mimicked in a high pitched voice.

Hey, it didn't slide inside her chest, didn't it?" Hadrian snickered, apparently thinking he'd made some witty joke.

"Relax, I heard it fall. Unless Gemma's boobs are made of concrete, I'm pretty sure it's on the ground somewhere." Blaze replied snidely. "Whatever, there's no possible way we can find the hairpin now!! We'll have to resort to some other means. Why don't we just tear out Hadrian's lip ring and use that instead?? What do you say Hadrian?" Blaze snickered.