Operation M.I.A: Missing in Action (IN NEED OF REVISING)

Chapter VI

AVERY

Music: Stage 7 arrangement from Gradius Galaxies

When we walk through the front doors of the studio, we immediately run into a wildhouse. People are walking and pacing all around, mumbling to themselves, looking through every nook and cranny of the premises for... something. Some girls are off in small little circles whispering to each other while some younger ones are crying as older girls and chaperones try to cheer them up. The entire place is just filled with pandemonium.

"Okay, this is certainly not what I expected to see," Skylar comments.

For a few seconds, we all just stand there, unsure of what to say or do. Eventually, Sam whispers to the other guys, "Hey, since there's a good chance no one's guarding the concession stands right now, what do you say we all go splurge on some free food?" Sean, Heath, and Luke nod their approval and the four guys sneak away.

"Boys," I mutter to myself. The rest of us girls decide that we need to figure out the underlying reason for all this ruckus, so we locate my dance teacher.

"Excuse me, what's all this frantic searching about?" I ask.

"Oh, Avery... well, apparently two of the girls from one of the other teams have gone missing. They don't appear to be anywhere in the building, and some people are saying they haven't heard from them at all since last night," my teacher tells me. I don't even have to look behind me to know that the rest of the girls are a bit frightened by this news.

"That is a bit odd..." I reply, trying to sound cool. "Is this going to affect the competition in any way?"

"Their team might have to drop out, but other than that, probably not. As a matter of fact, we really should be getting ready."

"Alright. Just give me one minute." We then search through the crowd of people until we meet back up with the guys, who each have a bag in their hand that they're eating out of. I decide that it's not even worth complaining about, and it seems like the other girls think the same way.

And yet, Sam still comments on the topic anyways. "This is complete bullshit. They have all kinds of soda and pop here, yet they don't have water bottles."

"Maybe because there's a drinking fountain right over there?" Elle says, gesturing towards a drinking fountain just a few feet away.

"I don't care. I want a water bottle."

"Did you find out what the big deal is?" Heath asks, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah. Apparently two girls from another dance team went missing or something," Mia replies.

I notice Heath and Luke exchange glances with each other, and one of Sam's eyebrows arcs up as he glances at the rest of the group.

"Sam. We are not getting involved in this. For all we know, they just got lost in the city or something. It is pretty crowded in there," Shanna sighs.

"I don't know... Heath and I saw a headline on the news this morning about a possible kidnapping that happened just a couple nights ago..." Luke says, scratching his forehead.

Before anybody else can add a reply, I hear one of the younger girls call my name. "Hey, I've gotta go. We'll talk about this later, okay?" I tell the group as I begin to walk away.

Everyone else nods and goes back to conversing. I let the topic slide from my mind, as at the moment I've got more important things to focus on.

Still though, something about this situation doesn't feel right...

---

Music: Space Athletic from Super Mario Galaxy

A small, private jet flies into a landing strip in front of a building around the size of a corporate headquarters and an apartment complex combined. The Black Shadow sits near the strip, waiting half-patiently for the passengers of the plane to get out.

The jet's door opens, and the pilot is the first to hop out. "Well, what did you get for me?" the Black Shadow asks.

"Take a look," the pilot replies, sounding really confident in himself. The Black Shadow grumbles and pokes his head inside the jet to find two girls, both around the age of ten or eleven, cowering in the backseat.

The Black Shadow growls and yells to the pilot, "You IMBECILE! I told you to get me TEENAGERS, not children!"

"What do you want from us!?" one of the girls (the slightly taller one) asks, her voice wavering as she speaks.

"Quiet, you!" Black Shadow answers. He puts his hand on his forehead, closes his eyes, and begins thinking of a way to make this work. When he comes to the conclusion that nothing will make this work, he turns to his lieutenant and orders, "They're useless to us for now. Take 'em to the dungeon."

The lieutenant salutes at the Black Shadow, and then proceeds to pick up both of the girls and carry one over each of his shoulders. The girls scream and kick at the man, but he doesn't even flinch. The pilot starts to follow the lieutenant to the dungeon, but is halted when the Black Shadow calls out to him, "Huh-uh. You come back here."

I should probably mention that the pilot is also the Black Shadow's second-hand man, so I will refer to him as that from now on. He walks back to the Black Shadow, trying to make it so that the fact that is body is shaking out of nerves is not apparent. It works, for the Black Shadow does not comment on it.

"How many times do I have to tell you, we've got a specific age group to focus on? That's the third time this month that we've received underage girls," the Black Shadow hisses. He appears a bit calmer than he was just a few seconds ago.

"Sir, I wasn't able to get my hands on anyone else without risking the possibility of it being obvious. I had to work with what I could get," the second-hand man replies.

The Black Shadow sighs. "Rupert, this corporation has been in my family for three generations. And at the moment, it's going down the drain. We've had two suicides in the past week. Our stache is slowly starting to lose quantity and quality. Now go back and start searching for more appropriate targets."

"Yes, sir." The two men give a farewell nod to each other and disperse.

A mixture of mystery, serious situations, and comedy gold. Not much else to say.

First part of the next chapter is giving me some trouble (since I basically need help from MC to write it and it's hard to find time for that), but once I'm past that I'll be able to work a bit more smoothly.