Filler chapter, anyone?

Calling Out

The sound of metal clanging on metal woke him. Noise groaned and tried to stretch, but the agony that ripped through him prevented him from moving any further - that and the strips of fabric wrapped tightly around his arms and wrists, tying him to a pole of some sort.

Where was he? It was still dark, but he could see slivers of sunlight scattered on the floor, just enough to illuminate the dark room. It looked like a basement apartment or something, with a table and a molding couch in one corner, and a window with thick blinds in the other. There was more off to the left side, but he couldn't turn his head, and that side of his face had swollen too much for him to open his eye all the way.

The longer he sat, the more aware he became. He wiggled a little and confirmed that he was tied up, but his broken wrist had been wrapped with some sort of splint, as had his ankle. He was slumped on the floor, leaning backward, but it hurt too much to sit up straight, so he stayed where he was. There was a horrible sick taste in his mouth, half from the thick cloth tied around his mouth and nose, and half from whatever drug they'd forced him to take to knock him out. He took a deep breath and gagged, lurching and nearly throwing up into the cloth. The jerky movement sent a wave of that agony through him again, making him cry out, but his voice was muffled. For the first time in nearly seven years, he was helpless.

A sudden terror struck him, borrowing in his chest and making him sick again, his stomach turning. He felt a cold sweat trickle down the back of his neck as his heart rate increased and his breathing grew quick and heavy. Everything that happened to him now was completely out of his control. Now it wasn't just orders. He literally had no control over his life from this point on until he was either set free, rescued, or killed. Two of those options seemed very unlikely at the moment.

This couldn't be happening. He was the strong one. He was the one who survived everything, the one who went on impossible missions - and he'd completely blown his chance of taking Rogue's place.

He tried to calm down, but the strange sounds that filled the room haunted him and kept him full of fear. He hated being afraid, but he couldn't help it. No one came in, which Noise thought was strange, and that only make the dark, uneasy feeling grow worse.

He didn't know how long he sat there, alone in the dark, watching the sunlight slivers move across the room, but he determined that now it was somewhere around late afternoon, as he'd watched the sunlight creep up the wall and disappear. He found himself wishing for someone to come in. He didn't care if it was an Alpha or another Raider, or even some monster from a different dimension. He just wanted to make sure he wasn't the only person alive here. 

And then he heard something - voices, carried by the wind. They were far off, but they were familiar and he felt his hopes rise against his will. How would they find him down here? There was no point in getting his hopes up when there was almost no chance of them rescuing him.

"What's this?" Puppet's voice said, drifting toward him. He still sounded far away. What was Puppet doing here in an Alpha camp?

Noise wondered if he could wiggle around enough to loosen the cloth tying him down. If he could, maybe he could get over to the window or the door to get his attention.

"That's Braken's mask," Rogue said, and Noise sighed through his nose.

Just my luck, he though bitterly. The person I hate just happens to be the only one who can save me.

"What was Braken doing here?" Puppet asked.

"Look. Scorch marks. There was a fire here, and ..." Rogue's voice trailed off. "What is that?"

"That's ... very disturbing, that's what."

"I haven't seen someone look like this since ...  Monster's rebellion."

"Oh. Tristam was here, too, then."

"Let me guess," Rogue said. "If Tristam and Braken were here, so was Echo. Tris was back at camp. Were the other two?"

They weren't even looking for him. Noise sighed again and continued trying to loosen the knotted cloth, biting down hard on the gag to keep from screaming. Everything hurt. He had to brace himself on both feet, including his broken ankle, and had to wiggle his broken wrist, and he couldn't move much without hurting his cracked ribs. If those two idiot kids had just kept quiet, he thought angrily, I wouldn't be in this mess.

After a few agony filled minutes, he had only succeeded in hurting himself, and slumped over to catch his breath. His hair was damp with sweat, his palms were slick, and his shirt was plastered to his back uncomfortably. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get himself free. The gag tied around his face wouldn't come loose, either. He was stuck, and he was going to lose his chance of getting rescued. The two Raiders' voices were drifting farther away. He tried to shout, but his voice was too muffled and he only hurt his dry throat. They probably would have been able to hear him if they were right by the window, but they were much farther than that. They were leaving him.

He started to panic again and pulled harder against his restraints, but his sweat was soaking the fabric, preventing him from tearing it. "Don't leave me!" he screamed, but no one could hear him. He wiggled and twisted, and finally, the gag slipped enough for him to rub it off with his aching shoulder. "Hey!" he shouted, his voice cracking. He tugged at the cloth again in vain, trying to raise his voice. "Hey! Hey, guys!"

It suddenly occurred to him that the Alphas could hear him as well. He waited for someone to burst in and punish him for attempting to escape, but no one came, so he continued yelling, praying the two Raiders would hear him.

"Wait, what's that?" he heard Puppet say from somewhere far across the camp.

"What?" Rogue asked.

"I thought I heard something. Must've been the wind or something. Isn't it weird that no one's here?"

"I'm here!" Noise yelled. "It's Noise! I'm here! Don't leave me!"

But by then, he couldn't hear them at all.

He paused for a moment to catch his breath, and then let out a scream of rage and terror. "No, no, no, no, NO! This can't be happening! I hate you, Echo! Get back here, you useless daydreamer! Don't leave me here!"

"You called?" Rogue said, suddenly right at the window, pushing the blinds out of the way.

Noise yelled again in surprise and then simply stared, drenched in sweat and breathing hard. "You actually came?" he gasped out, struggling to catch his breath after his outburst.

Rogue smirked back at him. "Yeah, well, I couldn't leave you here to die all on your own, could I?"

"Okay, okay, just hurry up and get me out of here."

"What do you say?"

"If you want me to beg, it's not going to work," Noise growled.

Rogue shrugged apologetically. "Then I'm afraid I can't help you." He turned to leave and Noise's heart leapt up into his throat.

"Hey, wait! Come back! Please get me out of here! I'm sorry!" he yelped.

Both Rogue and Puppet started to laugh, and he felt his face turn red in anger and embarrassment.

"We wouldn't actually leave you, Noise," Puppet said, shoving his way through the door. "By the way," he added, kneeling next to him and flipping open Noise's own switchblade. "How'd you get all ... beat up?"

"None of your business," he snapped as Puppet cut away the damp fabric from his wrists. He cringed as he accidentally rested his weight on his broken wrist, and then sat up with a hiss of pain, his ribs burning.

"You really should stop getting into fights. You're going to get seriously hurt one day."

"As if this wasn't hurt enough?" Noise muttered, leaning heavily on Puppet's shoulder as they staggered and stood up.

"Question," Rogue said from the window.

"Answer," Puppet replied. "Let's see if they match."

"Why is the Alpha camp empty, and why were Tristam and Braken here?"

"You'd cause a rip in the time and space continuum, creating a black hole in both universes and killing everyone." Puppet frowned. "Nope, they didn't match. As for your question ... I have no idea. Noise?"

"Braken and Echo were captured," Noise said carefully, leaving out specific details and twisting some of the others. "So I tried to rescue them, sort of, and then Tristam came and took them back. As for why everyone's gone, unless Tristam killed them all, I have no idea." Puppet helped him take a step and he yelped loudly in pain.

"There's only two bodies," Rogue said thoughtfully as Noise and Puppet staggered across the room. "And one of them was in a sort of healing tent with a massive head wound -"

"Braken killed him," Noise interrupted. "Claimed he was protecting Echo."

"Not again," Puppet mumbled.

"And the crispy one must've been Tristam's doing," Rogue said. "I don't think the others are dead, as Tris isn't the kind of guy to clean up after himself ... at least when burning someone to a crisp ..." He sighed sadly and adjusted that strange helmet he wore. "I can't believe he killed someone else. This isn't really him. He told me that there was something trying to control him. We have to help him get it out. Wait, Noise?"

"What?" Noise snapped, breathing hard as they finally made it to the window. He felt numb all over, but at the same time, everything was burning up from the inside out.

"If Tris was here, why didn't he take you with him?"

Noise kept quiet and stared at the floor. Even though he knew Rogue couldn't read his mind, he felt like the other Raider knew exactly what he was thinking. His hand moved to his ear, where his jammer usually was, but the Alpha who'd stolen it hadn't given it back. Maybe he was the burnt one, and Noise could get it back. He didn't want to go back to camp without it, not if Braken was there.

"He left you here to die," Rogue said, breaking him out of his wandering thoughts.

"No," he protested.

"Then why did he leave you?"

"I'm sure he had a good reason."

"Sure," Puppet said sarcastically. "Face it, Noise. You're not as cool was you thought."

"You're not helping." Rogue glared at him.

"Look, just get me back so Fij can fix me up and we'll never speak of this again." Noise had almost forgotten how irritating it was to work with Rogue.

Rogue and Puppet exchanged a glance and seemed to communicate perfectly without saying a word. The look suddenly made Noise uncomfortable. "Noise," Puppet started hesitantly. "We're starting a sort of ... new pack, if you will, and since you're not really on good terms with Tristam anymore ... well ... would you like to join us?"

Noise just stared at them. He almost couldn't believe what he'd just heard. "You mean you're planning to split away, or is this something more serious?" he accused. "Are you planning a mutiny?"

"Uh ... yes," Puppet said. "If you want to call it that."

"You're going to get yourselves killed," Noise hissed, glaring right at Rogue. "And going against your leader? Your best friend? What kind of second in command are you?"

"Listen," Rogue said. "You don't know him like I do. I've heard him say things about this monster in his head. If we win, we give him a chance to fix his problem without the stress of being the leader."

"I don't believe that for a second." Noise yanked his arm away from Puppet's help and nearly fell over, grabbing the window sill for support. "And I'd rather die than follow you anywhere." He shoved Rogue out of the way and struggled to pull himself out of the window, biting his lip and squeezing his eyes shut to keep from screaming. He toppled over and dragged himself to his feet, determined to keep going without help. The pain was crushing him, taking his breath away with every step. His knee buckled and he collapsed, but Rogue caught him before he hit the ground.

"You need help," he said gently.

"I'm fine. Don't touch me." Noise tried to push him away again, but his cracked ribs were screaming at him and he couldn't find the strength. Rogue's grip slipped anyway, and he crashed to the ground with a silent scream.

"Come on, let's get you home," the other Raider said, his voice echoing through his head as his vision blurred and he passed out.