Az woke up in an unfamiliar bed. He looked around and recognized the room as the suite he had rescued Kinley from. He looked down at his clothing. He was wearing a light blue suit that looked far too fancy with its cravat and such. He turned copper eyes onto the only other person in the room. It was Brutus, the fat leader of his brother’s guard who had shot him. Az made to move and hissed as his arm stung from the bullet he’d received from said fat man.

“So you’re awake now,” Brutus laughed. “Remember what happened?” Az blinked a few times. He remembered lifting Kinley so the blonde could climb into the helicopter. After that, he tried to climb up as well, but was shot in the arm. The fat man had promised to let his friends go safely if he had stayed behind. He agreed and then…it was all dark.

“Don’t bother talking to him,” a voice came from his right. Az turned and saw his brother, Emris walk into the room. “He probably won’t answer you anyway.” Brutus shrugged and walked out of the room.

“You’re going to talk to me without your guard dog here?” Az growled.

“Oh, please, dear brother,” the blonde sat down on the bed next to him. Az reached for Sharona, but found his gun missing. “Looking for that?” Emris pointed to a gun that was chained down to a table some distance away. “I couldn’t very well have you shooting at me.”

“So why exactly did you want me here?” Az rolled his eyes. He turned and saw an open window and began formulating a plan.

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Emris said, looking at his manicured nails. “The fall alone would kill you, super human or not and you couldn’t get away from even regular bullets at the moment.” Az then realized that his armor suit was gone.

“I can not believe you didn’t turn around!” Kinley nearly screamed at Balin as Randa dragged him into their base. “We have to go back.” Kinley stared up at the much larger man with fire behind his aqua eyes.

“Damn, you remind me of Az,” Balin just laughed. Then his handsome face got serious. “You know we would have died if I stayed there.”

“Balin’s right,” Jinxie walked toward the teens. “It was best for the group to come back to the base.”

“But was it best for Az?” Kinley was furious. He felt tears prickling the corners of his eyes. He hadn’t cried since his parents had died in the explosion. He took a deep breath to calm himself. He knew it was best for their team to come back, but he couldn’t help but be worried for his friend and mentor.

“Listen, there’s no way we can go back today,” Rakin broke the silence. “Emris has probably tripled the guard around the penthouse by now.”

“Speaking of Mister Evil Blonde,” Jinxie turned toward her quasi-boyfriend, “how do you know his name and how did you know Az was planning on fighting him alone?” Everyone turned toward the brunette mechanic with confusion written on their features.

“I,” Rakin took a deep breath and sighed. “Red’s gonna kill me for this,” he shook his head and continued. “Az isn’t exactly who he says he is.” Kinley’s eyes widened and he nodded. Emris had told him all about it. “You remember the incident at the palace ten years ago?”

“Of course we do, it’s only the whole reason we have Freedom Day!” Tam barked, her eyes a bright green and her voice an octave lower. “Can the history lesson and tell us about Az.” Randa was about to hit the other girl, but Balin grabbed her small hand.

“Well, I happened to be at the party with my parents the night it all went down,” Rakin said and took a seat on the old beat-up couch in their common room. “The royal family was never allowed to leave the palace because the king feared someone may want to hurt one of his family members.”

“Well, he was right,” Jinxie said as she took a seat next to the brunette, “it’s a shame he couldn’t protect them even in his own home.”

“How, even with such heightened security, did the bomber get in?” Tam asked, her sweet blue eyes full of interest. Rakin sighed heavily. Az was going to kick his ass for this later, but he had to tell them the truth.

“You don’t usually need security to protect you from your own son,” Rakin sighed again. “Only members of court were allowed to see the royal family because they were the most loyal.”

“Okay, okay, we got it,” Tam growled in her deeper voice. “What does this have to do with Az?” Rakin ignored her and continued.

“King Regius had three children,” he listed them off on his fingers, “Prince Emris, who I’m sure you all know and love,” he laughed as a few growls came from his audience, “Princess Hope, our city’s namesake and last, but not least, Prince Ignaz.”

“So, you and Az knew the royal family?” Randa furrowed her eyebrows. “He wasn’t the bomber was he?” Her silvery blue eyes went impossibly wide. Rakin just chuckled and shook his head.

“He was a seven-year-old kid and besides,” Rakin paused, “Prince Ignaz would never hurt his family.” It took a second for the group to digest the information.

“You’re saying that Az,” Jinxie began, “our little Azzie was, is Prince Ignaz?” Everyone’s face showed shock save for Rakin’s and Kinley’s.

“The one and only,” Rakin ran a hand through his brown hair. “We were really good friends, I remember when I found him…” the brunette sighed and shook his head. “Anyway, we’ve definitely got to make a plan and go after him tomorrow.”

“What if tomorrow is too late?” Kinley went back to being worried. “Emris tried to kill Az ten years ago, I’m sure he’ll have no qualms about killing him now!”

“Big words from such a little kid,” Rakin ruffled the blonde’s hair. Balin looked back and forth between the two. He knew that Rakin had known Az for a long time and that Kinley looked up to and loved Az more than anything.

“Perhaps it would be best if we all had something to eat,” Balin interrupted whatever it was Kinley was about to say.

“Did someone say ‘eat’,” Arach’s slim form appeared in the common room. “You guys hungry?”

“Starved!” Randa smiled and walked over to the man. For a moment, everyone had forgotten about their missing leader. Kinley didn’t like that.

“Arach, where exactly were you today?” Kinley raised an eyebrow.

“I was at my part-time job, like always,” the cook smiled at the young blonde. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh, no reason,” Kinley eyed the man with the ponytail with a look that Balin couldn’t help, but notice. He’d definitely have to keep an eye on the young blonde tonight.

Several hours later, it was time for bed. Randa went to sleep easily. Kinley knew that she cared for Az, but had a feeling she wasn’t too worried about the man. He suddenly wondered if Az had been kidnapped from them before. Kinley waited in his room for at least twenty minutes before he decided it was time to sneak out and save his friend.

“I just have to get to the surface and I’ll be fine,” Kinley whispered the encouragement to himself as he stalked down the long hallways of The Snipers’ base. He turned a corner and nearly had a heart attack.

“Going somewhere?” Balin’s huge form blocked his way. Kinley knew that he was no match for Balin, but he had to save Az.

“I was,” Kinley began.

“Sneaking out to save Az, right?” Balin sighed and scratched his head through his raven hair. “You are so much like him.” He put a large hand on the blonde’s head. “Was Az always sneaking around the palace?” Balin asked over his shoulder.

“Yeah, but he didn’t get caught so easily,” Rakin’s voice chuckled from somewhere behind Balin.

“Listen kid,” the large man continued, “you can’t save Az by yourself.” Kinley was about to argue, but Balin’s silver eyes shined with some sort of promise.

“That’s why we’re going with you,” Rakin appeared behind the larger man. “I can’t leave Red stuck with that bastard,” he smirked.

“So we’re going to save him?” Kinley looked hopeful.

“We’re going to assess the situation,” Balin corrected. “If it looks like we can get to him tonight, we will, but if the guard is too much, we’ll turn around and go back with the whole team tomorrow.” Kinley nodded, glad they were as worried about Az as he was.

“Alright, enough planning, let’s head out and save Red,” Rakin cracked his knuckles and the three boys headed out into the night. It wasn’t long until they were at the foot of the building. There were still a few people out, since the apartment building was located on a busy street filled with bars and social clubs.

“So, do we just go inside?” Kinley asked, sounding a little nervous.

“I’m not detecting any weapons inside,” Rakin looked down at a handheld reader. Kinley tried to sneak a peek at the screen, but Rakin and Balin were so much taller than he was. “It’s as if they want us to come in.”

“I don’t like this,” Balin said in his deep voice as they walked into the building and got into an elevator. It took them straight to the penthouse with no special key cards and they walked right in. It was dark. “I really don’t like this,” Balin muttered.

“Red, you in here?” Rakin walked forward. Suddenly, as if they stepped on a sensor, the lights turned on.

There was no one there.

“Shit,” Rakin threw down his reader. “He’s already taken him somewhere else!” Balin punched the solid wall, making it split all the way up to the ceiling. Kinley had no idea that the two men were so upset. He was so wrapped up in his little world of worrying about Az, that he didn’t notice the affect the redhead had on the rest of the team.

“We’re just going to have to send out search parties,” Kinley decided to take charge. “We’ll begin tomorrow when it’s light out.” Rakin and Balin turned toward the blonde. The brunette smiled and the large, raven-haired man had a tiny grin on his face.

“You are so much like Az,” Balin shook his head and chuckled.

The next morning, the search parties were sent out. The Snipers had even gotten help from some of their hidden allies in the city. After an entire day of searching they still had no Az. Kinley was beginning to get really frustrated. Az had saved him so easily, why couldn’t he return the favor?

“This is complete and utter bullsh-,” Tam’s deeper voice began, but was cut off by a glare from Jinxie. “Well it is! Where the Hell is he?”

“Emris obviously took him somewhere we can’t find him,” Jinxie said matter-of-factly. “I’m sure that sounds obvious to all of you, but last time he made it obvious.”

“She’s right,” Rakin stepped forward, “when Emris took Jinxie and Kinley he made it very obvious where we should go.”

“So, he really doesn’t want us to find Az?” Randa said, looking worried for the first time. Kinley wanted to hold her and tell her it was okay, but he couldn’t. He was still too worried about his mentor to comfort anyone else.

“Maybe he’s put an ad out,” Tam said in her girly voice. They all turned towards her with confused looks on their faces. “Emris is all about publicity and telling the city what he’s doing, right?” Everyone nodded. He made sure everything was a big deal. “So, maybe he’s put an ad on the television telling the city all about his long lost brother.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Balin said as he picked up the remote from their old coffee table and turned on a dusty television set that Kinley had never noticed before. Rakin hit it a few times with his fist before the picture showed up clearly. They saw a flash of red on the screen and gasped.

“Sources say that the man shown in this home video is none other than Az Headway, leader of the supposed ‘mythical’ rebel group Team Sniper,” the newscaster stated. The video was grainy and obviously done with someone’s personal camcorder. It showed Az jumping from rooftop to rooftop searching for something.

“Wait,” Kinley furrowed his blonde brows, “If Az escaped, why wouldn’t he call us?” He turned toward his teammates. “Is this an old video?”

“This shocking video taken only minutes ago shows the renegade rebel chasing a thief who, moments ago, stole a woman’s purse outside of a local pub,” The newswoman went on. “We have no leads on the thief, but-” Balin shut the television off.

“Why is Az chasing robbers when he should be coming back to the base?” Randa said somewhat angrily. They looked around the room for an answer. “He’s busy saving damsels in distress while we’re worrying about him!”

“I’m sure this is all a misunderstanding,” Jinxie tried to calm the group. “When he comes home we’ll ask him all about it.” But Az never came home that night. Or the next night. Or the next. A week went by before anyone from Sniper heard a word about their leader. It was a note that Tam found inside of her control room.

“My security gets breached far too quickly,” Tam muttered as she handed the paper to Balin, who read it aloud.

“I’m surprised you haven’t tried to save your precious leader,” Balin furrowed his brows and read on. “He’s been dealing with the testing pretty well, but I’m not sure how much longer his body will last. I suppose I should tell you where he is, but where’s the fun in that?”

“But Az escaped,” Kinley’s face showed confusion, “we saw him on the TV.” Balin read on.

“I suppose if you don’t find him soon, I’ll give you a hint. Yours, Emris,” Balin balled up the note and growled. “What the Hell is he trying to pull?”

“If Emris still has Az in his custody,” Jinxie put a hand to her small, heart-shaped face, “who was that on the television?” The group was honestly confused and, for the most part, angry.

“So that means that Emris still has Az and we’ve been letting him have his way with him,” Kinley growled suddenly, “and there’s an imposter running around the city saving little old ladies and stopping purse-snatchers.”

“What the Hell is going on?” Rakin scratched his head.

“What the Hell is going on?” Emris echoed Rakin’s comment, even though the man was on the other side of the city. He was in one of The Silence’s many hideouts. This one was newer and unknown to all of Team Sniper except for their ‘mad’ scientist, but she had been blindfolded when she was taken to and from the location. “It appears as though there is another you running around, dear brother.”

“Mm,” Az barely managed. He was hooked up to a machine that was pumping him full of Jinxie’s steroid cocktail, but it was stronger. It must have been what Emris had her working on when he kidnapped her. He knew that he was only getting small doses, but it was mixed with a cold saline that kept his body feeling uneasy and extremely uncomfortable.

“I wonder who he is,” Emris paced back and forth in front of his teen brother. “They haven’t gotten a good shot of him, perhaps he’s just a regular man in a wig.” The blonde continued pacing. “I certainly hope you didn’t have someone ready to replace you and lead your group.” Az let out a gurgled moan. The medicine wasn’t painful, but the constant exposure to it made him woozy. He was either going to come out of this super strong or dead. He was hoping for the former.

“Boss,” Brutus came waddling over, “why are you trying to make him stronger, isn’t he the enemy?” The large leader of the blonde’s guard had asked the very question Az had meant to ask, if he could find a way to form words.

“I am simply seeing if this will work,” Emris explained. “If it does, then I’ll have him killed and start filling my soldiers so they’ll be better equipped to deal with any rebels who oppose me when I become king.”

“And if it doesn’t work and he,” Brutus let his gruff voice fall to a whisper, “yanno, dies?”

“Then we’ll have to get that blonde woman back to make another recipe,” Emris smirked, not lowering his tone at all. Az suddenly wished that the world wasn’t spinning so he could get up and punch his sorry excuse for a brother. Actually, Az would have settled for being able to speak properly so he could tell his brother exactly where he could stick his domination plan.

It was early in the morning the next day when Team Sniper decided to make their move. Tam whipped out her long list of known Silence hideouts and they split into groups. Tam went with Rakin and Jinxie while Kinley took Balin and Randa with him.

“We’ve checked nine of these places already,” Randa said in a tone that could have been taken as boredom or depression. “How many do we have left, Kinley?” The blonde eyed his list.

“It looks like there are four more in this area and that’s it for us,” Kinley sighed. He wanted so badly to find his friend. First he’d scold him for staying behind and then he hug him and never let him leave again.

“I’ll take this building if you and Randa want to check the one across the street,” Balin said to Kinley in his usual deep voice. “Call if you need help.”

“I could say the same to you,” Kinley tried his best to smirk. He knew that Balin was much stronger than him. That’s why Randa and Kinley had to fight together. They didn’t have enough time to get their injections to be as strong as the other members of Sniper. They’d have to wait until after they found Az.

“Do you think he’s in here?” Randa said as they began climbing the steps to the door of the brick building. She had asked that at every stop and Kinley still had no definite answer. He just had this feeling that Az was somewhere completely different. Somewhere that Emris wouldn’t allow them to find.

“Maybe,” the blonde said and smiled. He really liked Randa, but it was hard to concentrate on the pretty girl when he was so worried about a certain redhead. They broke into the building effortlessly, having done it nine times prior, and began to climb the stairs in the dark building.

“This place is creepy,” Randa said as she eyed a cobweb. “I don’t think The Silence has been here in years.” Kinley had to agree with her. The building definitely looked like it hadn’t been used it a very long time. He was about to say they should head out when he heard laughter.

“Did you hear that?” he whispered to the brunette. Randa nodded. He motioned for her to be quiet and they walked over to a long hallway. The entire hallway was dark except for a small beam of light showing from under one of the doors. They crept over to it and put their ears against it.

“So Brutus-the-kiss-ass tells the boss that he’ll be happy to carry his little redheaded friend over to the new hideout,” the man laughed loudly and it sounded as if he had consumed a bit too much of the good stuff.

“Hey, isn’t that redheaded guy his brother or something?” another voice slurred.

“Yeah, the boss said he’s a prince or something,” came the first voice again. “Anyway, ante up, I’ve got a date tonight and I need to take this chick someplace nice.”

“Whatever, as if you could get a date with that ugly mug,” came a third voice. Kinley heard two chairs scrape against the ground.

“What’d you say, asshole?” the first voice growled.

“Come on guys,” the second voice and mediator slurred, “let’s just play the game, he didn’t mean it.”

“Yeah, yeah,” the first voice huffed and Kinley heard the chairs slide back into position. “Anyway, Brutus tells the boss he wants Red over at the new lab, right?” There was silence and Kinley assumed the other men were nodding. “So guess who has to drag that skinny ass over there?”

“Hey, it comes with the job,” said the third voice, obviously trying to bug the man, but not wanting to provoke another scuffle. “So where’d you end up taking him?”

“I told you, the new lab on Mite Street,” the first man growled. “Now are you in or do you fold?” Kinley turned to Randa and smiled. She returned it and the two began sneaking out of the building. They made it back to the street to find a disappointed-looking Balin.

“He wasn’t in that one,” he sighed. “You two find anything?”

“We sure did,” Kinley’s smile stretched from ear to ear. “We know where they took Az!”

“How are you feeling, dear brother?” Emris asked as he leaned over his nearly unconscious test subject. “Are you feeling a little weak?” Az tried to growl, but he couldn’t. It was too much. He’d been receiving this treatment for a week straight with no breaks.

“Boss,” Brutus came loping into the room, panting heavily.

“I told you not to bother me unless it was important,” the blonde glared at his army’s leader.

“But Boss, we’ve got a problem,” the fat man went on. Before Emris could question him there was an explosion at their door, successfully knocking down the huge metal doorway. “They found us,” Brutus panted.

“You’re going to give Az back to us now!” Kinley ran in, his aqua eyes filled with fury.

“You’re going to have to get past my guards first,” Emris said smugly.

“Hmm, that’s really interesting,” Rakin smirked. “Considering we took out about twenty or so on our way in here.” He saw Emris flinch slightly. “You don’t have any more hidden around here, do ya?”

“There he is!” Jinxie ran forward, pushing past the men to get to Az. “Azzie, are you okay?” she asked the drugged form. He barely let out a moan and she turned toward Emris. “How much did you give him?”

“Oh, just a little bit,” Emris still managed to smirk at her, even with his odds, “all day, everyday for a week.” Jinxie’s amber eyes widened. “You could have killed him.”

“I don’t think he cares too much about that,” Balin growled. “Now we’ll be taking Az back.”

“I don’t think so,” Emris grabbed his sword and ran over to Jinxie before she had a chance to defend herself. He held the sword against her neck. “If you think it’s a fair trade, her life for his, then go ahead and take a step forward.”

“You fight dirty, you bastard!” Kinley growled. He had gained a lot of courage since the first time he’d met the man. “Let her go or we’ll kill your head guard,” he jumped forward and, with Balin’s help, grabbed onto Brutus.

“Please, that’s no major loss,” Emris rolled his copper eyes. “Go ahead and kill him.”

“Boss…” the fat man stared at his master in disbelief. Suddenly, Rakin ran forward and pushed Jinxie away from Emris. He was not about to lose her because of some arrogant jerk.

“You again, eh?” Emris growled as the two men locked swords. “I think I remember you,” he said smoothly even though they were striking at each other. “Yes, you were one of the nobles’ sons,” he continued, “you and Ignaz were good friends weren’t you?”

“We still are,” Rakin growled and successfully cut the other man’s arm. Emris hissed in pain, but didn’t stop fighting.

“Not for long,” Emris pushed forward and knocked Rakin into the machine attached to Az. The redhead screamed loudly, his back arching off the medical table.

“What did you do?” Rakin stopped fighting the blonde to see what button he’d accidently pushed. Jinxie looked at the charts that continually printed out of the large machine.

“You’ve increased his intake ten-fold!” she screamed. “We’ve got to shut this thing off!” Emris just laughed and began backing away to an open door where five of his soldiers were waiting for him with a sleek black helicopter outside.

“It’s a shame I can’t stay to see his death, but I’ll catch you all later, yes?” the blonde smirked and ran out of the lab.

“How do we shut it off, Jinx?” Rakin looked for any off switch or big red button on the machinery. Az was still arched off the table, eyes wide open, but unseeing as he screamed.

“Az!” Kinley and Randa ran over to their leader.

“We’ve got to get these tubes out of him,” Randa pointed to the wires that were sending, not lethal, doses of the steroid into the redhead.

“Jinxie, what do we do?” Kinley turned toward the blonde scientist.

“This machine is unfamiliar to me,” Jinxie put her small hands to her cheeks. “I don’t know how to switch it off or turn it down!”

“So let’s just rip the damn tubes out of him,” Balin stepped forward, but Jinxie stopped him.

“We don’t know what will happen if we do that!” she tried to block his large body with her slim one.

“Well, we have to do something,” Rakin argued from his new spot beside his long-time friend. “He’s not going to make it.

“Can’t…” Az began, back slumping back down only to arch back up again.

“What is it, Az?” Kinley leaned over his mentor.

“Pain…too…” Az started convulsing.

“He’s seizing!” Jinxie ran back over to the machine, frantically searching for a way to turn it down so Az wouldn’t overdose, but at the same time, wouldn’t go into shock from losing the drug too quickly.

“Get…off…me!” Az screamed and began clawing at the tubes in his flesh. He’d pulled himself loose and was seconds away from ripping the wires out.

“You can’t, Az,” Kinley and Randa tried to hold him down, but he was too strong. “Balin, help us!” The large man tried holding the redhead down, but Az knocked all three of them off. He pulled out the wires and stood up on the table.

“Gotta…” he looked around frantically, copper eyes wide, “get…out…” he saw the opened door that Emris had used only minutes earlier. “Out!” he yelled and ran to the door. No one was fast enough to stop him.

“We’ve got to go after him!” Kinley shouted and the team ran outside. “Where’d he go?” they looked around, but saw nothing.

“Shit, he’s gone,” Rakin yelled and threw his sword.

“Jinxie,” Tam spoke for the first time since entering the laboratory, “will Az be okay out there?”

“I don’t know, Tam,” Jinxie’s amber eyes were filled with tears, “I don’t know.

Brutus looked to the group and slowly made his escape. Even if his boss had given up on him, he’d find a way to make it up to the blonde ex-prince.