Big Time World Warriors

04 - Big Time Kidnapping

Katie walked back down the massive hallway to her and her mother's room content. Between pretty much every adult forgiving her for her stunt (if Gustavo's mumbling could ever really be considered that), to Karin assuring her that things would be perfectly fine, to the point that she'd doubled security around the premises just to put her mind at ease.

On top of that, the band had forgiven her (if they had even held anything against her in the first place). If she was honest with herself, she saw James, Logan, and Carlos as her brothers just as much as she did Kendall.

They'd been in her life for, well, all of it, after all.

Her tired mind wandered over to another topic. She could get over not being her usual self today, as she was dealing with more important things and most of the audience were adults who likely wouldn't be interested in the stuff anyway.

When all was said and done, though, she saw this day as a victory.

Remembering that her mother was asleep at this hour, she made a conscious effort to keep her steps quiet. Not helping matters was the fact that the halls of this part of the mansion seemed to echo with her every footfall.

Creepy.

Thankfully, the place was guarded around the clock by Karin's specially-trained ninjas, probably hiding somewhere waiting for...

For a split second, she thought she just heard the sounds of another pair of feet not belonging to her.

Who else could've been up this late?

Everybody she knew was asleep, the guests had long since left, and she doubted that ninjas would be making this much noise.

Suddenly, a mischievous, twisted snicker echoed through the halls.

The feelings of fear and panic that she'd so recently been freed from came flooding back at full force. Her steps quickened with her heart rate.

"Where are you running off to this late at night, little girl?" The voice was akin to a snake toying with a mouse before the creature devoured it.

The Knight daughter was in a state of pure terror now. She ran the remaining distance to her room until she saw something even more horrific: its owner.

A purple-cloaked, unusually tall man wearing a large hat greeted her, a sinister grin fittingly plastering his face.

"Hello there, little girl..."

Instinctively, she opened her mouth to scream.

"I wouldn't do that," the man said calmly. "Look underneath your feet."

"What...?" To her shock, she had been tracking some kind of purple dust under her slippers for quite a ways back.

"Now, where do you think those so-called ninjas that were supposed to be guarding this place are... You seem to be a smart girl. I'm sure you'll figure it out."

The man watched with deranged mirth as the gears turned in the poor little girl's head.

Tears of terror and sadness were now streaming down her face. "H-how...?"

He figured he'd answer her with a little demonstration. Removing one of his sickly, purple, unnaturally long talons from its sleeve, he flicked a few drops of purple poison onto the wood floor, disintegrating a small piece of it.

She took one look at that, and instincts long buried under her persona as a future business mogul took over. She spun on her heels and ran as fast as her feet could carry her, shouting the names of her Big Brothers...or at least, she had started to before suddenly feeling arms around her throat.