Let's go DEFY TERROR

(I think I'll go with your suggestion. =) )

Erica slowly began walking, her head down. The Pyramid was nothing now. April had destroyed it.

Beside her, John urged Izzy on: "Come, we're leaving now." She glanced at Kitty and Theo. "Come!" she willed to them.

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On the other side of the city, a shadow ran.

Kittie opened her mouth to say something else, but her voice wouldn't work. Eventually, she gave in and let Theodore pull her along.

. . .

The Asian boy smiled. His plan was going well, so of course he would follow; he quickened his stride to match that of the man carrying Jack.

"My name is Baek Min-Su." said Min-Su. He gave him a little salute once he had caught up. "You should call me Min-Su, o-k?"

"I think I'll call the boy Baek," John grumbled. "أيا كان اسمه مين سو كان غريبا جدا، تتأثر ليس فقط في الرأس."

Erica grunted dismissively.

"Very well then, Min-Su." Replied the man, giving no further information as to his own name. After about half an hour of walking, the group arrived at a pair of skyscrapers. One of them had been partially knocked over, with the upper half now serving as not only a bridge between the two, but essentially as a third building, upside-down between the two. The group entered the toppled building, the lobby of which appeared to suggest it was a hotel of some sort at one point. They headed towards the stairwell. The group most likely would have stopped, when the small group being escorted heard a 'ding' and an elevator opened, despite the fact that any form of locomotion would be impossible since the cord would most likely pull the elevator out of the top of the building, then upside-down into the bridged one.

Erica looked over. "How interesting," she said mildly.

John was still grumbling in Arabic.

Izzy gazed around, as if she was about to see again. "Where exactly are we?"

"This is sick," Kittie grumbled, mussing her already frumpled white hair. Theodore passed her a sideways glance, and then his eyes darted away. Yeah, yeah. She got it. But it didn't make any better.

The twins both seemed rather on edge all of a sudden, something about the building. Their eyes both darted nervously about the room. They whispered frequently. When the elevator dinged, Kittie was the first of the two to spin around.

"Bottom floor of our base of operations. Care to explain why you find this disgusting?" Queried the man, leading the group into the stairwell. They ascended to the twenty-seventh floor, and then entered. A series of hotel room doors greeted them, which had obviously been reinforced.

Erica raised her eyebrows. "Decent," she muttered.

John silenced Izzy with a quick squeeze. "It's okay. We've just arrived at an upside-down hotel."

"It isn't really any of your business.." Kittie began, glaring at the man.

Beside her, Theodore sighed.

"...but our parents died in a place like this. I don't think you'd like it any better. But I bet your parents died or something, too, or you wouldn't be so dang mean!"

She stamped her foot--think small, frustrated child--and pulled Theodore ahead into the group, away from the man.They walked closer to Erica and John and Izzy.

Min-Su yawned and stretched his arms over his head, looking all around at the doors.

Erica looked at Min-Su coldly. "Have a prob?"

Min-su didn't seem to notice the bite in her words. Or, if he did, he didn't let on. He just smiled at Erica, cheeks dimpling, and said, "No, No, thank you for concern."

He lowered his arms slightly, but, instead of going to his sides, they went to his hair. Erica's boy-cut blonde made him remember just how painfully boring his own hair was. Just...flat, black..like pretty much everyone else in his family, in Korea, in all of Asia...In his eyes, her blonde looked practically exotic.


"I also like your hair. Very pretty." He held up an O.K. sign.

Erica lent out an unimpressed grunt. John could not help but laugh a little. She ran her fingers through her choppy black hair, saying, "Ya think she's pretty, eh?"

One of the members of the group opened one of the doors. "You two." He said, pointing at Erica and Kittie, "In here." They repeated this procedure until everyone was in a room with someone else, in pairs that wouldn't kill eachother.

In reply, Min-su just smiled at John.

----

Kittie tossed her head and stomped into the room after Erica. She didn't even bother saying goodbye to Theodore.

As soon as the door closed, she went off.

"This. Is. So. Dumb! Can you believe this? You were just defending yourself! He was trying to kidnap Kat!" She started pacing. "I'm. So. mad. Ugh! What are they gonna do to us, Erica? Why are they splitting us up? I'm just...ugh, this is really, really dumb!"

----

When Kittie and Erica were sheparded in, the only ones left were Izzy, John, and Theo. Ironically, John and Theo were probably the only two that actually would kill eachother.

Theodore offered his arm to Izzy. He was fairly certain she was blind, so she would need a guiding arm, right? "Let's pair up. I don't want to be in a room stuck with John over there," he offered. That would, of course, mean that John would be alone. He looked at the man to see what he would do about it.

(You guys can go on. I'm going to be a bit slow in replying to everything.)

Erica sighed, rather calm compared to Kittie and her outburst. "Honestly... I couldn't have agreed more."

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Izzy had seemed blind as well as mute when she had walked with them. But now, she talked. "Uh, sure. I just... haven't been able to see since... well... the attack." She shifted uncomfortably.

"That's ok. Just hold onto my arm and I won't let you run into anything. The hallway's actually pretty clear of furniture..." Without further comment,Theodore looped his arm in hers and guided her quickly into the room that the sorting-man had gestured to.

The door clicked behind them, and Theo released the girl's arm. He also shrugged off his pack. It flopped sideways and a pear rolled out, but he didn't bother to pick it up.

----

Kittie stopped her marching long enough to look at Erica gratefully. But soon enough she resumed her pacing. "I'm glad you agree. I really hope they don't hurt you. Maybe we should plan an escape!" She swiveled around as if this was some great revelation.

Izzy stood in the room, not moving. "What now? We just sit here?"

_____________

Erica frowned at Kittie. "We should NOT try to escape!!! If ever, we should just stay put. Kat will do something, I dunno what. Maybe she'll come, hand over a remedy, then escape. She's good at escaping. I'm not. Plus we have nowhere to go. Right now we have all we need-- shelter, and hopefully room service. We're better off here than out there."

"The brochure said bingo's at two," Theodore replied, speaking in the serious tone he used only for questions he thought stupidest. He took a cracked iPod out of his bag and stuck the little earbuds into his ears, sat down against the wall by the door. So his voice came suddenly from below. "Meanwhile we could play I Spy, but I don't think you'd be very good..."

----

Kittie thought on it for a moment, then finally relented, since Erica seemed adamant on staying. "If you say so..."

Kittie spun around a few times, staring up at the ceiling.

"Do you have any ponytail holders?"

Izzy sighed. "Or, we could ask questions about eachother. Like, what do you look like? Or, what's your full name? I'm Isabel Larsen, but everybody except for a few select teachers calls me Izzy."
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"Ponytail holders?" Erica, for once, was bewildered. Coming from her, this might've sounded strange, but honestly she had no idea what Kittie was talking about.

(Izzy Larsen is a real girl in my high school, but don't call her blind! [because she isn't])

"Like what you hold your hair up with. Whad'ya call 'em? Um..." Kittie spun around again, thoughtful. "Those loopy things."

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Theodore kept quiet for long enough that Izzy might have thought he wouldn't answer. Then he took out the headphones.

"Theodore Turner. I have whiteblondish hair, I guess, brown eyes...a really soft black jacket that I found in a shopping cart...Ok, so, um...If you had thirty random dollars--right now--what would you buy?" She couldn't see it, but he looked pretty interested all of a sudden. The question game. It wasn't his first time playing.

Erica thought. "Rubber bands?"
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"Uh... hm. I dunno, maybe a hamster? A seeing-eye hamster." Izzy thought for a moment. "What's your favourite colour?"

She snapped and nodded. "Exactly! I need two if I'm gon' to do pigtails. And I am. Do you have any?" And so she went ahead and started parting her hair; the idea that Erica might not have any (since her hair was so short) never even registered.

"...You know, I usually wear my hair is pigtails anyway. I have since I was probably ten. It's good luck, you know? Like a bracelet, except it grows on you, so you always have it with you...Can you see how dirty my dress is? I'm embarrassed. And all my stuff got left when that bozo with the accent came and screwed things up! D'you think that they'd have clothes here I could borrow? I'd rather die than wear pants, so maybe I'd better not ask because since we're prisoners I might have to wear something ugly. At least if I went naked or something I'd look good. But neon colors wash me out. Theo too. I think it's the hair..."

-------

Theodore yawned and stretched out his feet. "Murky blue or something...Sit down, sheesh. Question two. What's the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to you?"

Erica sat there, stunned, as Kittie rambled on. "Hey, um... I have one rubber band." Erica dangled a small dark green rubber band from her finger. "I despise dresses; you can't do anything in them. I'd like overalls, like the ones ith a big pocket in front. I think that would be quite useful. But pants are genuinely wonderful." Eric smiled.
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"Murky blue," Izzy murmured as she sat down on the hard floor, or rather, ceiling, crossing her legs. "The most embarrassing thing..." At one memory, Izzy felt her face go warm, and she flushed a deep shade of pink. "Oh, one day my boyfriend and I were doing a project together, and we had to present the project in front of class. When the clss applauded, of course my boyfriend just had to kiss me in front of everybody...." Izzy shook her head. "Anyways, question 3. What kinds of books do you like reading?"

Kittie smiled, and, with a swift motion, fixed what she could of her bob in a smart little ponytail. She also took off her flats. They were muddy. "What does the word 'despise' mean? I think I've heard it before but I still don't know."

---

"You're blushing," he observed. "What grade did you make on the project?"