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[blindblood92]

Zeph was gone. His best friend and captain was gone. Ethan paced back and forth across the Lionhearts’ main room, tossing his favorite knife into the air and catching it. Somebody had taken him. Ethan didn’t know who, and he didn’t know why. All he knew was that he was gone.

Ethan began to climb the stairs up to the third floor, muttering to himself.

“But what would they want with Zeph? He was a mercenary I know. Was it somebody wishing for revenge? But he was also a master mechanic. It could be some organization wishing for a new creator. Shoot, for all I know he could have been taken by the Septs. But I’ll tell you what, whoever took him is gonna pay.”

Ethan stepped onto the third floor balcony and began circling the indoor lookout point. He walked up to the door of Zephyr’s vacant room and pushed it open.

Ethan stepped into the dimly lit lounge area of the suite and looked around. There wasn’t much to be seen, Zeph was a simple man when it didn’t involve his technological creations. Ethan decided he wouldn’t find anything relevant in here.

Ethan pushed open the door to Zeph’s office, surprised that there was no explosion greeting unauthorized entry.

“It must be rigged to only blow Luc up.” Ethan laughed, looking around the office.

He spotted a filing cabinet, containing who knows what.

“Well, it’s easier then trying to hack Mr. technogenius’ computer for information.” Ethan smirked, pulling out his lock picks.

Opening the filing cabinet was an easy feat, Ethan pulling open the top drawer and leafing through papers.

“Zoid blueprints, OOO that looks deadly. Let’s see what’s in the next drawer. Mission logs, eh? Well let’s see what our boy Zeph has done in the past.” Ethan smirked, drawing out a rather thick folder.

After an hour of reading, Ethan placed the folder back in the filing cabinet and moved to the next drawer.

“Let’s see, here we have financial records. Zoid and mod purchases, repair bills, nothing relevant. Just one more drawer to check now. Now what do we have here?”

Ethan pulled out a folder labeled “Contacts”

“These may serve a purpose. Perhaps one of Zeph’s contacts knows where he has gone.”

Ethan quickly left Zeph’s room and walked to his own, picking up the phone and beginning to dial numbers.

Zeph’s contacts were many and varied. Ethan got ahold of everybody from high-ranking dignitaries, to repair shop owners, to less than reputable dealers of goods, to fellow Zoid pilots. But none of them knew where Zeph was.

“Well, this was a massive waste of time, unless…”

Ethan pulled out a notepad and began to sketch. One of Zephyr’s chop shop owner friends specialized in non-Zoid vehicles. Ethan knew that his motorcycle and Luc’s sports car may not be enough non-Zoid transportation to get Zeph back. The Lionhearts needed something a little stronger. They needed something a little more heavy duty, more in your face as well. By the time Ethan had finished drawing, he had sketched a pickup awesome enough to make the most toothless backwoods redneck wet himself.

“Now that I have a maker, and a blueprint, all I have to do is place the order.”

Ethan began dialing his phone and waited for a response.

“Daniel’s Bar and Grill, best hot wings this side of the Freedom States. How may I help you?” A jovial voice said over the phone.

Ethan consulted Zeph’s notes by the name and read what was written there.

“The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain.”

“What’s your pleasure?” The voice said, the jovial demeanor being replaced with a much more dark and business like tone.

Ethan gave his truck specifications clearly and concisely, specifying everything from color to wanted top speed.

“I can do that, but it’ll cost ya a pretty penny.”

“Price is no object.” Ethan replied. “And I know you will do a good job, Zephyr recommended you highly.”

“A friend of Zephyr eh? Well you indeed came to the right place. We’ll have that truck ready in 3 days time.”

“Get it ready in 2 and I’ll throw in a little labor bonus.”

“2 days it is Mr?”

“Blood, just call me E Blood.”

“Very well Mr. Blood. Come out to the shop in 2 days and collect your technical. She’ll be ready. I trust you know where to meet us?”

“Of course. Thank you for your business.”

With that, Ethan hung up the phone and jotted down the directions written beside the word code. He had 2 days to get his truck. Then, their rescue mission could begin.

[blindblood92]

The Cetan Centuria rocketed northeast, shooting over the edge of the continent and over the sea. Ethan flew the Centuria over the ocean, following the map he had taken from Zephyr’s archives to the shop which housed his now complete Technical. Ethan flew quickly, wanting to get the vehicle back to base as quickly as possible. He wanted to begin searching for his captain as quickly as he could. He had spent the last two days probing into different areas of the Freedom States, using Nappa for quick transport. But so far, he had found nothing.

As the Centuria continued flying over the sea, Ethan once again mused about the whereabouts of his captain.

“I have no idea where he could be, and that pisses me off. All I know is he was taken. I just don’t know who took him!”

These ramblings had been the vast majority of Ethan’s thoughts of his missing captain for the past two days. He had spoken in great depth with Luc, but neither of them knew anything. Despite having working with Zeph for a while now, the two men still did not know much about their captain. This was of course due both to his unwillingness to talk and the others’ unwillingness to press the man. Each Lionheart figured that what the other did not mention was not to be discussed.

The Centuria began to slow as Ethan spotted an island in the distance.

“Jackpot.” The man smirked, lowering his transport down slowly.

Ethan adjusted his LeMat MKII on his hip and disembarked the transport, entering the single small building that sat on the island. Within the shed of a building there sat a solitary table. Ethan walked to the table and pulled the nearest leg to him. The table slid aside easily, revealing a narrow shaft with a ladder descending into darkness. Ethan attached the tactical light to his LeMat and flipped it on, descending the ladder by the light of his gun.

Ethan reached the bottom of the shaft and knocked thrice on a metal door. The door slid open, revealing a skinny man wielding a shotgun. The man was about five feet ten inches tall, wearing a pair of coveralls that were stained with grease.

“Mr. Blood, here to pick up a Technical.”

“Ah, Mr. Blood, it’s a pleasure to see you in person.” The man said, lowering his shotgun.

The 2 men walked into what looked like nothing more than an underground cave hung with electrical lights and full of scrap.

“Your purchase is this way.” The man said, leading Ethan deeper into the workshop.

The two men passed large Zoid guns sitting in large open wooden crates, Zoid bodies in cradles for reconstruction, even the occasional core in tubes of liquid. But the majority of the shop was filled with non-Zoid vehicular pieces. Car, truck, and tank bodies were lined up against the walls, engines disassembled and placed all around the room. Piles of armor plating were sitting up on pallets beside machine guns and automatic grenade launchers. This man could furnish an army just from what was within ths workshop.

The two continued deeper into the shop, reaching a large vehicle covered in a tarp.

“Here, is your technical.” The man said, ripping off the tarp to reveal a truck, just like Ethan wanted. “It’s got everything you asked for. Dual-wheeled construction, extended cab, tool box, machine gun, remote weapons station, and I even threw in cup holders.”

“Thank you.” Ethan nodded, whipping out his checkbook and writing out the appropriate amount in a check with “For truck” written in the memo line. “I trust this will cover it?”

“Indeed it will.” The man said, taking the check. You can drive it out via the ramp over there.”

Ethan took the keys to the Technical and hopped in, starting his new baby up. The motor came to life, the engine thundering like a thousand wild horses running freely across the open plains. Ethan turned the truck and drove it up the ramp, quickly driving into the mouth of his Cetan Centuria. He closed up the transport and took off from the island, flying home. Now that he had what he needed, he could get down to business.