Open Wounds

Chapter 7

Valeria and Sportacus packed everything they could and rushed to the airship. On their way there, they met the teens.

"Hey Sportacus, where are you guys going?" Trixie asked.

"Well, long story short – Stephanie and Matias were kidnapped," Sportacus said and the two were about to leave but the teens stopped them.

"WHAT?!" they shouted in unison.

"Look, we have no time to lose, Alex and I are going to find them and save them, so if you'll excuse us..." Valeria said.

"Wait, wait for me! I'm coming with you!" Pixel said and wanted to go to his house to pack a bag for the journey.

"Pixel, no! You can't come with us," Valeria told him.

"What? Why not? It's my girlfriend who had been kidnapped!" Pixel raised his voice.

"I know, Pixel, but it's something that Alex and I need to do just the two of us. It's not just about your girlfriend, but about our two children. But I promise you, we will return both of them safe and sound. OK?" Valeria softly told him and laid her hands on his shoulders. He nodded.

"Good. So we'll see you soon, then," Valeria softly smiled at the teens and left with Alexander.

"And then again, I see why you are the mother of my children," Alexander smiled at her on their way to the airship, and she blushed.

*****

In the airship, Sportacus tried to track Matias and Stephanie in his GPS tracker, while Valeria was throwing up in the bathroom. The movements of the airship in the air didn't do her good.

"Oh, god, remind me not come up here again while pregnant," Vale said and went back to the bathroom to throw up a little more.

"Well, now it's too late," he told her back and kept looking at the monitor.

"Still no sign for them?" Vale asked as she came out of the bathroom.

"No. They're probably kept somewhere underground," Alex said.

*****

Meanwhile, in an underground basement like Alex suspected, in an isolated village, Stephanie and Matias were kept. Tied to each other back to back, Stephanie couldn't even tranquil her baby brother, who kept sobbing and weeping. He was scared. Even Robbie Rotten wasn't that scary. Stephanie, as much as she was scared just like her brother, tried to be strong for him and tried not to show weakness to the kidnappers.

"Will you finally answer my questions and tell me who are you and why you kidnapped us?" Stephanie demanded.

As if on a cue, Mark came in to answer all her questions.

"Hello, Stephanie. My, you've grown really nice. And you must be Matias! Man, you're handsome just like your father," Mark said.

"You know our parents?" Stephanie asked.

"Of course I do! Your annoyingly beautiful mother, Valeria, and that superhero – what am I saying? Super-zero... father of yours."

Matias and Stephanie looked at each other. They realized that a man who calls their dad a "super-zero", can't mean good news.

"And now to your questions – my name is Mark Prescott. And I deeply, truly hate your father and everything related to him, such as his happiness, his admirers, and his family, of course, which leads me to your second question, why we kidnapped you two. Well, the truth is that you two are just the bait to lure Sportacus and Valeria, so I could finally destroy them. And once that will be done, then both of you of course," Mark dryly ended his story.

Matias shrieked and Stephanie gasped. She couldn't believe what she just heard from that man. But what was his motive to do all this?

*****

It was over 8:08PM, so Alexander decided to stop the searching for the day, as both he and Valeria were tired. In fact, Valeria didn't speak to him much during the day. "Parking" the airship in the middle of the sky and got up from the pilot seat, he saw her sitting next to a wall, hugging her knees and super-quietly crying.

"Vale, my love, what's wrong?" he sat next to her.

"What if we never find them? What if they're already dead?" she quietly asked him.

"Don't even think about it! We will find them and bring them home safe and sound, and put Mark under arrest once and for all!" Alex tried to calm her down, but with no luck.

"I'm not ready to lose neither of them again, Alex! I can't let it happen!" she let out the rage she held all day long and burst into tears. Alex was overwhelmed by her reaction, all he did was hugging her tight and letting her cry on his shoulder.