Xao:

Noon had finally come. We walked into the bar.

Jaden and I nodded to Salim as we walked past him with Sabrina. As we moved into the crowd, I opened the DNA scanner.

Before Jaden could say a word my hand flew up, my pulse cannon humming. I looked at a man dressed in black, his eyes covered by the shadow of a hat.

I let loose one blast after another, the man slamming into the wall as I yanked out my sword screaming, "GIVE HER BACK!"

Bloodied, laying over a broken table, the man looked up at me, his eyes turning yellow as the people around me started to run, me barely noticing them or Jaden- whatever he was saying. I held my pulse cannon over the man, glaring down. "You idiot, she's gone. Besides, what difference do you make anyway? Pathetic little Xao." His face seemed to morph into that of a snake, its fangs dripping with poison. "She's gone, and you can do nothing!" He shouted. His voice became quieter. "And face it, you never could do anything."

"Xao- Xao- Xao c'mon," I felt myself shaking as- my eyes slowly opened. "You yelled something about getting her back," Jaden said, as I slowly woke up, looking around the van. It was still fifteen minutes till and we were parked outside the bar. "I don't even have to ask."

I looked down. "Ever feel like everyone is leaving you behind?" I asked him.

He gave a guffaw. "Yeah, no kidding."

I punched the dashboard. "Would it even matter if I wasn't here?"

"Well," he chuckled. "Technically, the way Salim put it, I walk in there alone now I'll get shot. Please stick around at least that long."

I rolled my eyes at him but gave a smile. I clenched my fists. "She's my girlfriend- basically my fiance by this point. I want to think I could have done something, that I could have protected her if I was there when she was captured but... it's kinda obvious. Anyone who can take her down, I wouldn't even be a roadblock to."

"Not everyone is a fighter," Jaden said. "Never really thought of you as one, to be honest. I think people look more to you for wisdom in this group."

"They kinda look to you for that too- at least at times. I guess we're the level-headed ones." Considering the week we had just had, I gave him a lowered eyebrow. "Okay, mostly me."

"I don't think violence is your forte- least not as much as the others. But sometimes, what people really need, is someone to be there and willing to help. That's you. Someone has to go into this bar with me- think Kyle and Jessica could do that?"

I almost laughed out loud. "Those two, undercover in a bar? Nohohoho."

"Glad you agree." He opened his door, me opening the passenger side door. He looked back. "We do need you Xao... Let's do this."

Inside the bar, I kept my pulse cannon hidden under my long sleeve sweater, as I had done the day before. As we walked in, I did check the scanner. But, unlike in the dream, I just showed it to Jaden. He nodded.

Someone in this bar had indeed had contact with Jay.

Sabrina started scanning the patrons with her eyes.

We three went to the bar, Jaden wrapping his knuckles on the wood surface. Salim walked over to us on the other side. "The golden girl," he said to Sabrina with a nod. He waved at a man who walked over to us, then walked over to other customers.

The man sat on a stool next to us, ordered a drink, and sighed looking at us. "Did you honestly think we wouldn't know who you were?" he asked. "Hello, Jaden... don't know the chick."

"Probably better for you that you don't, sweet cheeks," Sabrina replied.

"Did you know before or after you saw us?" Jaden asked with a grin. "If before, I wager we would have been met by a group of attackers before we even entered the bar."

"After, obviously," said the man. He took a drink. "I'm armed by the way."

Jaden tapped the right side of his jacket where he carried his Glock. "Good for you," he said.

"You know what we want," I said.

"You want to know where she is?" he asked. "And if I decide to just walk away from you two, then what?"

"You won't be walking," I said, my fist tightening, but I refrained from raising my pulse device.

"The heck does the pipsqueak speak for?" he asked. "Let mom and dad talk kiddo. You're lucky I don't tie you up and throw you in my trunk."

"You're lucky you didn't try that," I said with a grin, hoping he would... but Jaden finally looked at me and cut the air in front of his neck with his hand, letting me know I should probably just be quiet for now. "Fine, I'll let the old people talk."

"You could try to walk, but you won't get far," Jaden said. "And I further wager, if you could have started a fight here, you would have done so already."

Sabrina fiddled with- a freaking hand grenade.

The man's eyes went wide. "HOLY... Um, Tyrin wants you and your family dead. Which is why he set this trap for you. If you want to walk straight into it, very well."

"You're not going to say, 'come unarmed or we'll kill her?' or something to that effect?" Jaden asked.

"She gonna put that thing down?" he asked back.

Sabrina bounced the explosive on the table, the man grabbing his chair and me jumping in my own.

"I would say that normally but- first get the crazy girl away from me, I get the point." She pocketed her shrapnel grenade. "That's only a marginal improvement." He just stared at her coat pocket with me for a few seconds. Finally, he licked his lips. "But Tyrin has it in his head that your group being unarmed really doesn't matter. Curious how that works." He gave us a bemused and confused look.

"You think we're gonna tell you or..." Jaden said.

"Not really." He took out a notepad and started writing. "I'll give you instructions right to where she's being held. You'll be expected of course, probably met with a hail of bullets." He ripped off the paper he was writing on and handed it to Jaden. "But really, that's what I and everyone would prefer. Please go ahead and come." The man got up and walked away.

"You're not gonna try something here?" Jaden asked, grabbing the man's arm.

The man shook off his hand and turned back to us. "I'd rather not, but if you push me, I might. I'm wagering the boy is armed so I'm outgunned.. her..." he pointed at the grinning Sabrina, "Her I'm not messing with. Most encounters with "the Tracers" seem to go badly for Jacobson operatives. I'd rather not be a statistic in that."