*All characters copyrighted to Poseidon Simons

Chapter 11

Failing...

"What are you going to do to me?.."

Kain glared at her, "I WANTED to find whoever was with you when you were taken, but your Protector stopped me. Now, I have to figure out what to do with you...Ace seems to enjoy you very much...any reason why? He doesn't HAVE a girlfriend...at least, not publicly."

Mary fidgeted.

Kain smiled, "Oh ho...I see...damn. It's too bad I have to use this body." He waved her away. One of the men led her back to her seperate cell.

Kain paced back and forth. Now what? He could easily continue to torture Babe as he was, but so far he'd lost two captives to him. One he was sure was dead. Then there was that thing he wanted to do with Bill...and he still had Sarah here. He needed to come up with something. He walked down to where the captives were. Kain watched Sarah as she tried to keep herself busy. Ralph was still keeping Babe's mother occupied...Kain hated kids. He'd get rid of the boy next...but how could he maximize the effect it could have on Babe? He wanted to get rid of SOMEONE close to Babe. He--wait...that was it...Kain laughed and grabbed Sarah, Babe's mother, and Ralph. All THREE were going to be on his next list. There was no way Babe could save all of them, and he'd be faced with one of the most difficult decisions of his life. Who would he save? His mother? The love of his life? An innocent child? Either way, two out of three were going to die.

Soon, a fake was sent out to do combat and deliver the message.

"Lance! Hey, Lance! C'mere!"

Lance came bounding at the sound of his father's voice, "Yeah dad?..who's he?" Lance asked when he saw the boy.

"His name's Griffy...I found him digging out of a dumpster...I thought he'd like some FOOD tonight. You guys wanna play?"

"Sure!" Lance smiled. What would this kid like? He took Griffy's hand and led him to his room, "Well, what do you want to do?"

Griffy just looked around...he seemed awed by something.

"What is it?"

"Look at all your toys! I--I've never had HALF this much!" Griffy jumped to a set of building blocks, "How'd you get the whole set?! I got some when mom and I found them at a yard sale!"

"I got them for my birthday."

Griffy held one of the blocks in his hand, "I didn't even know they had one like this...wanna build a tower?"

"Do we get to knock it down when it's built?"

"Yeah!!" They set to work. Lance brought out some of his other sets. With all of the different blocks to use, they created a whole city before using them all up! Griffy set down the last block, smiling, "Wow...this is huge!..ready?"

They looked at each other then stormed through their city, laughing as it tumbled down around them. Lance opened up the window to his room and grabbed a tree branch, "Hey, do you like to climb trees?"

"Sure!"

"Well, this here is one of the biggest one's in my neighborhood! C'mon! I'll show you a cool secret at the top!"

Griffy climbed out after Lance, enjoying himself more than he could ever remember doing. There was so much to do here! How could they afford all this stuff?!..what was that?.."Lance?"

"Yeah?" He looked down from his perch in the tree.

There it was again, "Does someone around here own a pet?.."

"Huh? Oh! That's Shima! She's a stray. The whole neighborhood takes care of her. We leave out food and water each night....it's our turn to do it tonight."

Griffy was getting excited. A pet? This place was like a dream come true!..except for mom...he started crying...

"Griffy? Hey, what's wrong?"

"My mom...I can't find her..."

"You're lost?.."

"No...I know how to get home...but she was taken away...and I don't know how to get her back!" He shouted and let another burst of tears leave him.

"Hey...hey, it's alright." Griffy felt Lance lay his hand on him, "Griffy..."

Lance was interrupted by a shout from the house, "Hey you two! It's time to eat!!"

Griffy wiped away the tears...time to eat?..his mouth watered at the thought of food...he looked back up. There was still quite a ways to go before reaching the top, "But what about our climb?.."

Lance grinned, "That's better." Lance cupped his mouth and shouted, "HEY DAD, CAN WE EAT IN THE TREE HOUSE?!!!"

There was no answer for a second, then, "Alright, but bring the dishes back inside!"

Lance whooped and jumped from the tree. Griffy followed him down, finding his footing and moving slowly so as not to slip. Lance came back when Griffy reached the bottom. He held two plates...with two burgers on one, and one on the other. Both were also nicely loaded with some fries. Lance handed the plate with two burgers to Griffy, "Come on. It's not hard to reach the tree house." Griffy followed him to a rope ladder her hadn't seen before. It was angled so that climbing up with one hand would be easy, like they had planned it this way.

Maik gave a grunt as he shoved aside another piece of wood. The others were working on a room each. Maik had taken the task of clearing away all the stuff in front of the blocked out room. He'd gotten somewhere close to about halfway done, but the work had taken him most of the day. He plopped down and squirted more water into his mouth. there was so much dust being thrown up in the air, his throat dried out fast! He listened to the sounds of the rest of the band working. Loud crashing sounds were coming from almost every room. The guys were STILL trying to get through the larger pieces? Man...this place was trashed...Maik got back up and started working on his pile some more.

"Come on...I still haven't found him!" Babe had nearly exhausted his power supply while flying. He couldn't understand why he couldn't find Kain's hideout...it didn't seem possible. Kain had to be in the city somewhere...didn't he? Babe groaned. If he had to start searching away from Yann city, so be it. He angeled towards the power plant closest to the edge of town. He'd search there one last time, then start looking at other places. The power plant he landed at was the first one he'd been to. He switched off his tracking system and walked inside. The dead quiet settled around him in a heartbeat. His feet clanged a little on the floor. He followed his first set of prints in the building, wandering around and picking at things. Why couldn't he find them?

Sarah's eyes went wide when she saw Babe, "HELP!!! HELP US!!! WE'RE DOWN HERE!!!!! BABE, WE'RE DOWN HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He passed over them again...

Babe listened carefully. He thought he'd heard Sarah shouting at him...it had been so faint, he'd thought it was just his imagination again. He sat down, ready to give up. A tear fell to the ground, "What the hell?.." Babe looked at the spot in wonder. There was something clear under all the dust...he wiped the floor with his hand, watching in awe as a mirrored surface started to reveal itself. He bent close to the surface...it had an odd tint to it...he remembered seeing the same in bank windows..."One way mirrors..." The revelation hit him. He shouted and punched at the mirrored floor, breaking it away as fast as he could. He found an empty cell underneath, "What? But I was so sure..." He moaned and slammed another section, not continueing after that. It was hopeless! Every lead he got was thrown aside! He was always SO close!.. WHERE WERE THEY?!!!!! Babe started crying, picked away at the small shards of glass he'd broken up. A small hole about as big as his fist was what he'd managed with that one punch.

Sarah waited. Was that it? she hadn't been able to call out while he'd picked at the glass...if she had, he might have gotten ahead of himself and crushed it all as fast as he could...it would have harmed them all. Now it looked like he was done..."Babe! Babe, we're down here!"

"What?" Babe stared through the hole, "SARAH?! MOM?!!!" He tore at the hole he'd made. he didn't want to hurt anyone below him, but it was so hard to not just crash through the glass. He'd FOUND them!

"NO! Damn you!" Kain crashed through the door and grabbed three of the four prisoners inside, then ran away. He held the kid in one arm, and the wrists of the women in his other. One of the fake robots he had was all set to carry the boy. Kain handed Ralph to it and grabbed a wrist each. He shot out of the opening as quickly as he could, hoping to gain some time. The robot was close behind him. He glanced back. Babe was chasing them, and in such a rage that he looked ready to kill...well, so was Kain. He flew along, glancing down at the two he held. Both were trying to force their wrist out of his hand so they could fly away. He growled and brought up one knee. It hit Sarah's wings. The blow was at the perfect angle, breaking them and putting the girl in enough pain so that she wouldn't be a problem. Babe's mother caught on and managed to avoid the first blow, but not the second. Soon, she too was unable to fly. He glanced over at his robot. Ralph's mouth was open in a scream, but Kain couldn't hear it. The kid knew he was in trouble...

He quickly turned around and shouted, "Well Babe, this is it! Now prove if you can REALLY protect those who are counting on you the most!" He dropped Sarah and Ania, then ordered his robot to drop Ralph.

"What?" Babe watched, horrified, as the three fell. Without a moment to lose he shot after them, managing to catch Ralph easily. He was too far away to catch Sarah or his mother though...he dropped after them, tried to catch them in time. His eyes were watering from the speed he was going. He managed to grab his mother's arm and stop her from falling...but not Sarah. Her scream was all he heard as she fell and hit the ground...then nothing. Babe slowly set his mother and Ralph down...Sarah's scream was still too fresh in his mind...all he could hear, all he could see, was her, over and over again, hitting the ground..."No..." She'd hit the ground...he'd failed, "No...it can't end like this..." Babe felt himself fading. something was taking over...he could feel himself just...lose it.

Well, two...Babe had managed to grab and save two of the three...but he'd still failed. One of them had hit, and that's all Kain had really wanted. One of the people Babe cared about the most was dead.

He watched, expecting what happened next. Babe looked up at him. At first, there was no sign at all that Babe had been hurt by what had happened. At first...then Babe's mouth curled into a snarl. He activated his arm cannon...to which Kain activated his shield. This made Babe get even more angry, and he shot up. Kain laughed. Babe was being reckless! Perfect! He would leave his defences wide open! Babe used his cannon like a battering ram. It was charged, ready to fire, but Babe never did. The glow from the barrel made the shot look like it was halfway out. Kain deflected each blow, surprised at how calculating Babe's mind was even though he was so enraged.

Babe slammed again and again. He'd break through sooner or later. The shield was wavering . . . each blow made it more unstable. It would be gone soon. . .and then Kain would pay. . .

Kain shifted to fly backwards. He made himself gain speed...How was Babe doing that?! He was so strong...much more than Kain had made him! His rage was giving him strength! How...Kain gasped. The shield! Babe had deactivated the shield!!!! Now...now or Kain wouldn't get another chance! He activated his arm cannon and shot at Babe's chest. Sparks flew as the blast melted parts of Babe's body together. Babe didn't seem to notice. He kept right on coming at Kain...the look of murder clear in his eyes. Kain shot again and again, fusing piece after piece of Babe's body together. Babe never seemed to get that he was losing. He kept coming, even when all he had left were the rockest on his back. Kain blasted those off.

"You'll pay Kain! I'll kill you!!!! I swear I'll kill you!! I don't care how long it takes! You're going to die for that!!!!" He couldn't move . . . for some reason, he was unable to lift his gun to shoot. Babe screamed and tried to lift his arm. Warning! Stress overload! STRESS OVERLOAD! Cease actions! Warning! Bah . . . Babe didn't care anymore . Kain had to die, even if it meant Babe was going to die too. He wasn't going to let up. The last time had cost the life of someone he held dear . . .

Kain slammed his fist into Babe's central power core and ripped it out. Babe's systems shut off...he dropped. Kain flew down and grabbed Babe before he could break by hitting the ground. He left the three earlier victims...he had what he'd really wanted.