Episode Three, Part 2:

A r e Y o u W i t h M e ?

I found love where it wasn't supposed to be.
Right in front of me. Talk some sense to me.

Kane was crouching low into the bushes beside Rhea, Soniya, and the rest of Targo that were with them. They were all almost completely still - most of them trained to wander around place like this, unheard. Even the shifting of one's foot could rustle a branch or crack a twig under them, giving away their location to who they were hiding from.

They stared onward, all keeping their eyes on the two boys ahead of them, trying to listen in to what they were saying. But all Kane could think about was the likely hood that his people were going to hurt Ares who was now only several yards away from them.

"Kodiak, it's Fenn. Can you hear me?" The other boy spoke against a radio. He looked around, completely unaware of Targo's presence, believing they weren't being followed.

"Yeah. Are you there?" Kodiak replied after a minute, his voice hard to distinguish through the static. Targo couldn't work out what he was saying from their distance.

"Me and Ares. It's clear." Fenn answered. "You and Elara can come out now."

At that moment, Rhea reached over and grabbed onto the collar of Kane's jacket, forcing him to look at her.

'They have the girl.' She mouthed, turning around to repeat the same thing to the rest of her team in some sort of sign language that Kane couldn't read.

He glanced back over towards his son, praying under his breath that he would leave to avoid getting hurt. Even though it was Ares, Kane knew that Rhea wouldn't let anyone stand in the way of Targo returning their heir, even if was Elara's own family.

Kane looked behind him to try and warn Rhea that once they knew what was happening, Ares would try and go for them. That he didn't want anyone to harm his son, and if it came down to it, he would be the one to hold him back. But of everyone that was behind him moments ago, only four people remained with Kane.

"Where is everyone?" Kane whispered, his voice frustrated as his eyes narrowed at Rhea.

She ignored him and stood up from her place, two of the people with them making a sudden dart towards Ares and Fenn. Before the two boys could react, the radio was knocked out of Fenn's hand preventing further communication with Elara in the Bunker, and they were restrained by more of Targo's people that appeared from across the clearing.

Kane stood up and walked forward behind Rhea's lead to stand beside the two hostages. When Ares saw him, the fear in his eyes burned into an anger and what was once desperation to get free was now a desperation to lunge towards his father for all his injustices.

He knew what was happening.

The entrance of the Bunker shifted over, it's metal clanking signalling to the people of Targo to get in position. Ares tried to scream out to his sister, but it was muffled by the hand covering his mouth, and Elara wasn't able to distinguish what she heard.

As she appeared at the surface of the ground, her legs still dangling into the Bunker, a set of arms grabbed hold of her from behind and lifted her up. Elara shrieked out of instinct, trying to comprehend what was happening.

Her eyes landed on her brother held in the arms of a stranger beside Fenn, and then to Rhea and her dad, a weigh crashing into her chest instantaneously.

Below, in the Bunker, Kodiak was hovering by the bottom of the ladder trying to make sense of what he had just heard. Every instinct told him to climb up and see if Elara was okay, but if he went up there and found himself in whatever trouble she might have been in, there would be nothing he could do to help her.

He scrambled through his thoughts, trying to figure out what was his best option before anything else could happen to Elara. He reached for the radio clipped onto the side of his bag, dropping everything else he had hold of to radio Basilisk.

"Dreea? Riv? Someone come in, quick! Hello? Joren? Basilisk? Can anyone-"

"Kodiak? What's wrong-" It was Dreea, her voice sounding concerned, able to hear how frantic Kodiak was.

"I can't talk. You need to send a group to the Bunker immediately. Its Targo, or Riders."

"Okay, I'm leaving now."

"Drey, hurry." Kodiak begged. "I don't... I don't know if we'll still be here when you get here, if it's Targo."

Kodiak didn't even have time to explain what he meant or listen to hear Dreea's reply. He clipped the radio onto the side of his pants, pulling out a knife from his bag and sliding it into a compartment on the bottom of his shoe, then grabbing onto the ladder and climbing almost to the top.

He hovered on the ladder, his eyes peaking out of the surface, trying to see what was happening. Elara was held tightly by two women - their faces covered in strange markings made by a dark, dried up mud. Chains dangled from their clothing, poking out from one of the girls' pockets was a set of handcuffs, and fears of their intentions were began bubbling away inside of Kodiak.

"Elara, calm down. We're not going to hurt you." Kodiak listened in. He tried to creep up a little more, wishing he wasn't right, but he was: it was Kane speaking.

"What are you doing?" Elara cried to Kane, her voice breaking at the sight of her brother in danger.

"Elara..."

Kane began to step forward, but Rhea pulled him back, not wanting his emotion to dictate where this went. Kane sighed, exhaling away the guilt and composing himself.

"The City of Targo needs you."

"I'm not going!"

"You have to. This is who you are, Elara. You can't run away from that."

She didn't know what to say back. It was evident that Kane wasn't going to listen to her, and no amount of arguing would change his mind. She had been through this before with her mother, the reality of how this would end settling in, and it terrified her.

Elara thrashed around in her hold, trying to kick backwards at the women, wishing she was strong enough to break free.

"Stop resisting. It shows cowardice." Rhea called out to her.

Elara spat at the ground, blood on her lips from fighting so hard and being roughed about. "Then I am a coward." She challenged, hoping it was dissatisfy her . "Let me go! I will never be your heir!"

Rhea exhaled, her jaw clenching. She took one look at Ares standing beside her who's hands were tied behind his back, and a rope tied around his mouth so he couldn't speak. Without even a beat, Rhea slammed her elbow into the boy's gut, her lips raising up in amusement as he doubled over, struggling to find his breath.

Kane had to close his eyes, unable to watch his son choke in pain, having no doubts that his weary eyes would be looking up at him, begging for help despite knowing that he wasn't doing anything to stop it from happening.

"Stop hurting him!" Elara screamed. Desperation was streaming down her cheeks, the taste of salt reaching her lips as she cried.

"Fulfill the prophecy." Rhea ordered.

Elara shook her head, biting her tongue as she watched Ares heaving on the ground. "I can't."

Rhea shrugged and crouched down towards Ares, whipping out a knife from her boot. She grabbed onto the boy's collar, shoving him firmly against the ground, dragging the blade against his skin temptingly.

"No!" Elara shrieked once again, her voice piercing above all other noise. It was then that Kodiak knew he couldn't waste anymore time trying to figure out the perfect plan. He just had to show up. Let Elara know that he was keeping his promise: she wouldn't face anything alone.

The people of Targo were surprised by his sudden appearance, ready to make move to grab hold of him, but Kodiak revealed his gun and aimed it at anyone that tried to come close to him.

"Let her go!" He demanded, shifting the gun over to Rhea, but she wasn't scared of him. She knew, and Kodiak knew, that if he shot her, the rest of Targo would kill Kodiak, Ares and Fenn. No matter what happened, no matter how fearless he tried to seem, he knew he couldn't win.

"Let them two go. This doesn't concern them." Kodiak said, gesturing to Ares and Fenn.

"I suppose you're right, but I like my leverage." Rhea told him, pressing the point of the knife against Ares' skin, drawing a minuscule amount of blood.

"Kodiak, go. Go back to Basilisk so no one gets hurt." Elara pleaded with the Sovereign, unable to bare the thought of him getting for her again.

"I'm not letting them take you away."

"Koda, go!" Elara repeated with a bitter voice, eyes widening as she stomped a little. "After Blood Riders march, then you can figure something out. But you have to let me go, for now. They're not going to stop hurting you until you do."

Kodiak's lips trembled with overwhelming emotion, glancing over in her direction, hoping she would see right through him and know that Basilisk were on their way to help.

He began walking the few metres over to where she was standing, slowly and without much emphasis on the fact that he was still holding the gun. Because of how casual he was being about it, the two girls holding Elara were unsure what to make of the situation, not resisting Kodiak's advances as he neared closer to them.

He looked back over to Ares and Fenn, making eye contact with Fenn who seemed to understand that Kodiak was trying to shift attention for a moment.

Taking everyone by surprise, Fenn wailed against the rope stuffed into his mouth, collapsing onto the ground beside Ares as if he had suddenly been hurt by the person restraining him. As everyone, including the girls holding Elara, looked over at Fenn, Kodiak was able to pull the loose cuff form the girl's pocket, connect it onto Elara's wrist, and manage to lock the other side onto his own hand as everyone turned back around.

As they realized what had happened, Kodiak chucked the key to the cuffs far off into the bushes, with almost no hope for ever finding it again, especially not before Basilisk would arrive.

"Kodiak..." Elara mumbled questioningly, her eyes trailing up to meet his.

"If I can't stop them from taking you, at least I can make sure you won't face it alone." There was a hint of a smile as he spoke to her, repeating his promise, but it was miserable and full of fear, knowing that once Targo found a way of getting the cuffs off of them - if not by cutting Kodiak's arm off altogether - there would be no telling of the tortures they were set to endure.

"Oh how adorable!" Rhea mocked, clasping her hands together as she gasped exaggeratedly. "It looks like the Prophet has her first hostage. I hope you realize Sovereign that you've just signed your death warrant. Once Elara ascends the throne her first move will be to have you killed, unless of course we beat her to that..." She smirked, a playful look on her face as she glanced around at her people, taking pride in their amusement.

Kodiak lifted his chin up, pursing his lips together, suppressing the fear that tried to escape. He didn't say anything, but with the cuff around his wrist, he reached out and took hold of Elara's hand, her fingers instantly lacing through his - as if their hold was stronger than the handcuffs itself.

"Well, it seems we got ourselves a nice little hostage." Rhea announced.

"Kane?" She turned to look up at the man hovering over her shoulder.

He gulped and looked down awaiting what she had to say.

"Take over for me."

"What?"

"Hold the boy down. I need to get up." Rhea spoke through gritted teeth, annoyed that she had to speak twice. She knew what she was asking from him, but that was all part of her test to see how dedicated Kane was to the City of Targo. Using his son against him would give Rhea her answer.

"Dad..." Ares mumbled, his lips quivering.

Kane could barely look him in the eyes, listening to Rhea's request and taking her place - his knee on Ares' chest to keep him pinned down. Truthfully, he wasn't putting much weight on him at all; it would only take one real attempt and Ares could probably be free of his father, but that wasn't the barrier that was stopping him anymore.

Ares let his head drop back, tears subsequently spilling out of his eyes as he turned his head as far away from his dad as he could get, not wanting to ever have to look at him again.

Fenn - who was still on the ground - tried whispering something over to Ares - perhaps something to stop him from giving up, a final attempt to shove some fight onto him, but the noise of the world soon drowned out, and Ares couldn't hear anything as it all turned to a blur.

Elara and Kodiak's head shot up, the distant sound of Basilisk's motorbikes approaching could now be heard.

"Is that?" She was too afraid to ask.

Thankfully Kodiak nodded towards her, letting her know without revealing too much to Targo. But Rhea caught on, almost hyper aware of what was going on around her.

"Soniya, do it now." She ordered, hastily moving away from Ares and Fenn. As the girl moved over towards them, pulling out a round, foreign object, everyone that was restraining the boys - including Kane - jumped out of the way.

A gas was released as the object Soniya threw hit the ground. Elara watched on in tears, not sure what was happening as a cloud of fog shielded Ares from her sight.

"Hey," Kodiak mumbled, trying to get her to look away.

"W-what are t-they doing? What is t-that?" She sobbed.

"Knockout Gas." Kodiak answered. He turned around which forced Elara to as well, blocking the sight of Ares - now unconscious - from her view.

"It's harmless. They're just using it so they can take us and leave them behind. They wouldn't use it if they wanted to hurt them. It's alright, Ell."

The girl nodded, falling into Kodiak for comfort, her head leaning against his chest as his arm wrapped around her, waiting for Targo to steal them away from the night.

Three // Part Two

I can't stop them from taking you, at least I can make sure you won't face it alone.

Not gonna lie, I think that's my favourite chapter of S3.

Poor Ares though! It was bad enough that is mum turned on him for trying to keep his siblings safe, but now Kane has shattered their relationship once and for all.

If I don't get another chapter up before tonight, then I hope everyone has a very God blessed 2020! 2019 brought us Season 1 & 2 of The Boy from the Bunker, and half of Season 3! I can't wait to see what next year brings! I'm so excited and hope you all share that joy and relief in starting over as I do.

2.6K words, so enjoy, hahah.