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

Chapter XXI

"We still haven't found anything here."

"I say we should just move on. If we deem it necessary to come back here later, we'll do so. For now, we're just wasting time if we stay here any longer," Avery suggests.

At that moment, Mia, Mackenzie, Sean, and Shanna show up. "We've already finished and paid. Are we going or what?" Mia asks. I can slightly sense impatience from her.

"Yep. Let's go," Sam replies, standing up. The rest of us proceed to do the same.

LUKE

Music: Rika on the Beat from Gokujou Parodius

As the ten of us are walking out of the entrance, we pass by a doorway leading to a heavily occupied bar. At first, the bar doesn't mean anything to us, so nobody gives it any regard.

Then the sound of commotion reaches our ears. A quick turn of heads and we find a seriously drunk man arguing with one of the bartenders, who's doing his absolute best to remain calm. Without discussing it, the ten of us move forward to get a better feel for what's going down.

And then we notice the girl that's with the drunk man. Her back is turned to us, so I can't tell who she is. Her sandy blonde hair is awfully familiar, though. She's wearing a white tank top with black leggings on and either Nike shoes or plain old converse; I can't really get a good look at her feet right now.

"Sir, minors are simply not allowed in the bar. It's public law," the bartender says, using calm hand gestures to help convey his message.

"I don't care! She belongs to me and I want her here with me!" the drunk man replies. He stutters and slurs on almost every other word, and his body movement is very unstable.

"Definitely intoxicated," Skylar mutters.

"Well, if you're not going to leave, I'm going to have to call the authorities," the bartender says, his voice a bit more stern than earlier. His expression, while not bloody murder, is pretty serious.

"Go ahead! See if I care! I could have your entire family killed in an instant!" the drunk man yells, getting the attention of other people in the bar.

"Now is probably a good time to leave. Let's go," Avery urges, starting to walk back toward the door.

"Hang on. I've almost got a good view of the girl here," Sam says, taking a step closer. He then hisses, "Psst!" a few times, trying to get the girl's attention. She turns our way, and I immediately know who she is from her face.

Sara.

"Sam?" Sara says, stepping away from the drunk man and walking toward us. "What are you guys all doing here?"

"Who is this?" Avery asks. She wasn't with us when we went after Carson, Sara, and their other friends. She doesn't get an answer.

"It should be obvious. We're saving you, again," Mia replies.

"Good. Hanging out around a dude who loves drinking himself crazy? Not my definition of fun," Sara snorts.

"Let's just go," I sigh.

We only get about an inch before a hand grabs Sara's shoulder and pulls her back. "Hey, where do you think you're going? She's mine!" It's the drunk man, now staring at us with not very creepy eyes.

"Let go of me!" Sara yells, trying to push herself away.

Another man comes from behind Sara's captor and knocks him in the back of the head. "Let her go, you sick bastard!" He seems slightly more sober than the first man, but he's still slurring his words.

"Both of you, stop this at once-" the bartender says, walking between the two men. Bad idea on his part. All three of the men go down to the ground and start tackling each other, calling each other really offensive names, and throwing some hard blows.

We use this fight as our chance to leave. We quietly slip out of the restaurant without any of the men noticing us, and Sam pulls the teleporting pad out of his pocket.

Soon, the three men take notice of the fact that Sara's no longer in the restaurant. But by the time they've made it outside, Sara's already back home, and we've already taken off.

Pretty interesting chapter. Two conflicts might seem like a bit much for one chapter, but once again, wasn't sure how splitting it would be a good idea.

Things will start getting a lot more interesting by the next chapter. This is where things start happening to the team lol

(also, the story is already almost 100 pages in Doc length and there's still 33 songs to go, jfc)