Acrasia

Chris hid around the corner, holding Rae to his chest and stroking her hair in an attempt to calm her down a little bit. The police were investigating the scene, trying to find clues that Chris knew they would never ever find. It was called organized crime for a reason.

Chris thought Frank Collins was the last person he expected to show up, but the mystery shooters? They definitely weren't the organization, because Chris knew they stuck to silent snipers. And as far as he knew, the Alliance didn't shoot in public at all, let alone something huge like that. And they definitely wouldn't have done anything to put Frank in danger.

"You're sure it wasn't you?" Jeremy asked, arms crossed.

"Yes, I'm sure," Chris rolled his eyes. "Do you know how risky it is for us to step foot in California? There is no way something like that could be planned."

"Then who was it?" Rae muttered, biting her lip. "Do you think it was the kidnappers?"

"They did take Ty and Britney away," Jeremy pointed out.

"And they may or may not be holding a grudge against us for stealing Tyler and their hippie van," Rae added.

Chris thought for a moment, then went wide-eyed.

"It's been them all along," he realized. "They've been following us. And making it harder for us to get to California so that-"

"We'd be in their territory," Jeremy finished. "Which they seem to think is everywhere, since they have bases in both New York and California. How have they been slipping past our radar?"

"Maybe they've been laying low until now?" Rae shrugged. "A bunch of scattered child abductions wouldn't look too suspicious if they're covering their tracks. And both your dads are respected crime lords. Having them both in the same place, with their sons, and the only kid that got away... It would've been the perfect time to intervene."

Chris and Jeremy both stared at Rae's surprisingly accurate analysis. Neither of them had thought of it that way.

"What?" Rae frowned, putting her hands on her hips. "Just because I'm not a trained ninja like you guys doesn't mean I'm weak and incompetent."

"You are anything but weak and incompetent, Rachel Warrick," Chris grinned, kissing her forehead.

He turned around the corner again, but the police officers were gone this time. Instead, a man dressed in all black was sneaking towards them, a gun in his hand. Chris's instincts took over, twisting the gun out of the man's hand and shoving him back into the ground. He turned to find two more behind him, one pinning Rae's arms behind her back, and the other wrestling for power over Jeremy. Before he knew what was happening, he felt a sharp pain in his neck. He reached up and yanked out a small dart. Suddenly, his head started spinning. He wobbled for a moment, then passed out on the ground. The man who fired the dart chuckled, shaking his head.

"The guy was like a bear or something. We had to use a tranquilizer gun to put him down," he said, in a thick southern accent. He shot another one at Jeremy, who slowly stopped struggling and fell down as well. Rae squirmed, trying to get to both her men and save their sorry asses like she always did, but the man had a tight hold on her.

"Don't worry," the man who fired the darts pouted, stepping up uncomfortably close to her and stroking her cheek with the back of his gloved hand. "We treat our ladies much better than that."

"Fuck off, turdface," Rae squirmed, attempting to kick him.

"I'm not going to lie, I'm disappointed," he sighed. "You're pretty. If you were stupid, and under the age of eighteen, I would've kept you for myself. Oh well."

"Huh?" Rae frowned. A cloth was suddenly held over her nose and mouth, and it didn't take long for her to fade to black as well.

.::.::.

Chris woke up in a cold, dark room. It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust, but when he did, he realized he was inside a holding cell. He sat up, rubbing the back of his head, and looked around.

Tyler and Britney sat in one corner of the room, and Ty would repeatedly mutter "there's no place like home" over and over again. Jeremy was leaning against the wall, staring at his father who sat next to Jim on the steel bench. Jim and Frank looked tired and annoyed, but weren't trying to kill each other. Chris turned to find Rae on the floor next to him, still passed out. He picked her up off the ground, pulling her in and cradling her unconscious body in his arms.

"Well, this is terribly awkward for me," Frank sighed, scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah, it is," Jim muttered.

"Just shut up, okay?" Jeremy snapped.

"Don't sass me," his father warned. "I'm not done with you, kid. You've got a lot of explaining to do."

"I don't have to explain shit to you," Jeremy rolled his eyes.

"But I'd like you to explain something to me," Tyler spoke up, looking at his uncle. "Like how I never knew about all this and why you tried to kill me?"

"Aw, Ty," Frank groaned. "Please don't start this. You're part of the reason we're in this mess in the first place."

Tyler opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it shut again and turned away. Jeremy reached out to touch him, but Tyler flinched away. Chris sighed, looking down at Rae who was just staring to wake up.

"Where am I ?" she groaned, rubbing her eyes and sitting up.

Everybody shrugged, unsure of what to do next. For the first time, no one had a plan.

"So, it's all come down to this."

Everyone looked up towards the voice as the man with the southern accent from earlier stepped up towards the cell, a sly smirk on his face. Frank and Jim both shot up, furiously going at him and trying to grab him through the bars. The man simply stepped back, watching as they fought forward and shouted threats until Jim's hip gave out.

"Dear lord," he panted. "God bless the days when I used to look like my son."

"Are you done?" the man raised an eyebrow.

"Who are you?" Frank glared at him.

"Elijah M. Conoway," he introduced, giving a little bow. "The man that managed to catch you fools."

"No, you misunderstood my question," Frank rubbed his forehead impatiently. "I was just about to end the ECO. We were just about to start one of the biggest rival gang wars in history. So, who the hell are you?"

"Ah, I see what you're going at here," Elijah laughed. "I'm the leader of the Mountain and Central Coalition, also known as the part of America y'all tycoons don't have control over. We don't murder innocents like you do. Rather, we sell them. To better homes. Take curly here, for example."

Tyler blinked, melting into the wall behind him.

"Poor kid hates his life at home. Parents fight, dad isn't ever home... He told us- well, he told 'Sasha Cornell'- all about it on the Internet," he said, staring at a pale Tyler. "So, we saved the kid. Took him away from that terrible place. If he hasn't been a little prick and tried to get away, we would've sold him to a home that would've... Taken care of him."

Rae gasped slightly, never having been more horrified. She had been frightened when she learned about Jeremy and Chris's careers, but selling children? It was awful. Chris stood up as well, stepping forward.

"If your bases are in the central region, what are you doing in New York and California?" he asked.

"You see, soon we'll expand even further than there. That's why we're going to kill you lovely folks," Elijah explained. "First, we'll make it look like Frankie and Jimbo here killed each other, which like they said, will spark one of the biggest secret wars in history. One that will likely destroy or significantly diminish both groups. Then, we'll swoop in and take what's left. We'll have control over the entire country. It'll be fantastic!"

"These organizations have been going on for centuries!" Rae spoke up. "What makes you think you guys can get rid of them so easily?"

Chris bit his lip, grabbing the hood of her sweater and lightly pulling her back to him. He pulled her in by the waist and held her in a way to warn her not to get too involve, but she was much too stubborn for that.

"Well, m'lady," Elijah gave Rae a suggestive look that made Chris use every ounce of self control he had not to lunge at him, "We're much bigger than both of these little conjunctions. We have nothing to worry about."

"What if they were to team up?" Chris brought up. "Did you think about that?"

Frank and Jim both spun around and stared at him, like they were two teenage girls who constantly fought over a boy and were just forced to be partners for a homework project. When they realized Chris was serious, they looked at each other. It simply wasn't done. The groups hated each other, and have been enemies for over a hundred years, but was this their only change at survival?

"Yeah," Jim muttered. "Yeah, what if we did that?"

"What if we send every goddamn sniper and spy after you? To find you, and kill you all off one by one in the most painful way possible?" Frank glared at him.

For a moment, fear flashed through Elijah's eyes. They'd cracked him.

"It won't matter," he growled, "because you fools won't live long enough to tell the tale."