Evie walked down the alley behind the hotel. There was an empty garbage container and a trash can, but other than that, there wasn't anything else except for some sort of wooden shack not far away, and then some bushes along the alley wall. The only sign that the shack was there was the graffiti on the side of it.
"Evie, we need to talk," Zeth said.
"You sent Draco to his room, I see," Evie said. Paul, Everett and Finn were there too, standing behind Zeth. They all looked stressed, "Zeth, I'll give you an earpiece tuned to my bodyguard channel." She said, handing him one.
"And what do we know so far?" Zeth asked as he put on the earpiece.
"BC-13 has videos from all the cameras in the hotel where our blonde suspect is the star, even those from the gym when Alex was there. Our criminal genius wanted to be seen. She introduced herself as Vanessa Helsee."
"I don't consider someone a criminal genius if they've given us a face," Zeth said.
"You also think she did it on purpose?" She put her hands on her hips.
"Do you think she wants us dead?" Finn asked, trembling.
"If she wanted to, she would have carried a rifle during a concert like the hunter in Paris during last year's world tour," Evie said.
"Draco was paranoid! He flew over city all night!" Everett said. "People thought he was gargoyle."
"That's why I told the Animaniac to go to the suite." Zeth replied. "Paul, your band is in the suite at the end of the hall in the north tower. I'd appreciate it if you'd go with them. Your powers might come in handy in an emergency."
"I'll be there in a flash," Paul nodded, looking Evie straight in the eyes. She looked back at him, but there was something in his purple eyes, a certain air of doubt. "Be careful, okay Evie?" And then he made his way out of the alley.
"Vanessa Helsee, that's not a very subtle fake name," Zeth replied, crossing his arms. "I think she was trying to make us look at her."
"She mentioned that she was looking for Jade, that she was only going to scare her, and that she already had her own plans in motion," Evie commented, and although she tried to hide it, Zeth heard some stress in her voice, "The hunters at the tour shows were interested in putting you guys to sleep with darts. I don't think she and those hunters share the same employer."
"Someone is interested in kidnapping us. But Vanessa Helsee... Why use that alias?" Zeth asked.
"We all know who that crazy bitch was," Evie said with a low grunt.
"Except for Jade," Everett replied, "And me."
"I don't know who Vanessa is either," Finn raised a hand like a child in school. "But my grandfather mentioned that last name a couple of times. He said that was the last name of the original Hunters."
"Whoever this blonde is, she is not a Helsee. If she becomes a problem, she must be eliminated or turned into an ally, which would be ideal," Zeth said.
"She was trying to get into your suite but stopped when she saw a camera," Evie said. Zeth snorted and rolled his eyes, "This Vanessa girl just moved the handle, there was no lock-picking this time."
"That confirms my theory, she wants us to see her," Zeth put a finger on his chin, "She wants us to know where she is all the time. When we have no information, we do what King Ptahrek did."
"Build road that connects all kingdoms?" Everett asked.
"No! We ask people what they want, we visit each kingdom and..." Zeth was left with the word stuck in his throat and turned to look at Everett doubtfully, "Wait, how do you know about the Road of Ptahrek if you are a Yeti from Mount Everest?"
"I'm Yeti, not uneducated," Everett said, "And Road of Ptahrek is as famous as Times Square."
"My grandpa always talked about that road," Finn said.
"Zeth, if you want to go and play twenty questions with this blonde girl, don't get overconfident. She has no scruples and she's pretty dangerous. She was number three in the top five most dangerous Hunters, just one spot above me but... You're immortal so, whatever," Evie said.
"Faced worse than her during my early and mid-twenties," Zeth said and crossed his arms, looking up at the sky, grunting, "This girl wouldn't last a day in Evalon. There, you lost your tongue for saying that King Shesmund Rahman was the puppet of Draco's father, you lost your hands for refusing to pour more wine for the drunken King Viktor Rubinstein, you lost your head for making Queen Batrix Von Stroker angry, or got stabbed to death by your fellow Guardians of Evalon for asking the Felines beyond Guardian Fort to help you defeat the Zeldrichs. I'm not overconfident, but I don't want collateral damage, so... Do we have a name or not?" Zeth asked and Evie froze for a moment, "Wait... Is she who I think she us?"
"Who?" Everett cocked his head.
"Is she an ex-girlfriend of yours or something, Zeth?" Finn asked and Zeth laughed.
"Ha-ha! Yeah, right. Someone's jealous, huh Seamons?" Zeth winked and Finn widened his eyes.
"He is," Everett replied, "He actually got jealous because Jade kissed you. I read diary."
"Shut up!" Finn blushed and Evie chuckled slightly. Zeth shook his head and smiled, but it was a sexy smile.
"Any fantasy you've written about me on some page?" Zeth wiggled his eyebrows and bit his lip.
"No." Finn snapped, blushing even more.
"Yes," Everett said, "Chicken Soup."
"Everett!" Finn yelled.
"Don't be shy, Finn. Did you write something like 'I love Zeth's abs and want to lick them' maybe?" Zeth bit his lip.
"No."
"In fact, he wrote something about licking your..."
"Everett!" Finn yelled again, "Shut up!"
"We still need to figure out how to beat this blonde girl." Evie said, crossing her arms. "Miley said she lost track of her, but she's probably looking for Jade."
"Fine. I'll go to Jade and wait for the blonde to come for her." Zeth said, walking away.
"Wait!" Evie exclaimed and Zeth stopped dead in his tracks.
It was so strange to see her nervous.
"Will we fight?" Everett asked, slamming his fists together, "Because I was dying to fight in restaurant!"
"We already told you that, in case of hunters, you should only protect and not fight, Big Guy!" Finn said.
"Are you sure this blonde has nothing to do with your past, Evie?" Zeth asked, "Your fake-sister, maybe?"
"I... Don't know what you are talking about."
"Evie, we have been here for two minutes and you're getting anxious," Zeth leaned against the brick wall next to the trash can, "You're not telling us something."
"I'm not hiding anything from you guys," Evie crossed her arms.
"Zeth, we can all go with you to wait for the blonde to show up, you know?" Finn said, "Maybe we can ambush her, together!"
"That won't be necessary," a mocking female voice said from above.
And then Kasey fell from the sky with a flip, quite literally, with her grapple gun in hand.
Evie barely had time to react.
The blonde kicked Finn, making him fall on his back.
"Finn!" Evie gasped.
The blonde quickly climbed onto Evie's shoulders, firing her grapple gun and ascending into the air with Evie's head between her thighs, swinging, letting Evie go with the momentum.
Evie landed hard on Everett, both of them falling to the ground.
The blonde then landed in front of Zeth, flipping her hair.
"Well, well. If it isn't Zeth Rahman. It's almost an honour to meet you." She said with a smile while the metal cord of her grapple gun retracted into the gadget.
Zeth looked at Finn on the ground, coughing, trying to catch his breath. Evie and Everett groaned, both in pain.
"The dishonour is all mine," Zeth said.
"Put your hands where I can see them, Ken Doll," Kasey raised her grapple gun, aiming at him.
"Zeth!" Finn stood up quickly, trying to take the gadget from the blonde.
Kasey punched Finn's eye, sending him back to the ground.
"Finn! Stay out of this!" Evie said, throwing a kick. Kasey dodged it, grabbing Evie by the arm and quickly flipping her over. Evie fell on her back.
"Death Match!" Everett shouted, standing up, summoning an ice sword. Kasey ducked to avoid the frozen blade, grabbing Everett's hand and twisting his wrist to make him drop his ice weapon. Everett screamed.
"Pathetic!" Kasey shot her grapple gun, and slowly moved up to kick Everett's chest hard, knocking him down.
Kasey landed after a flip in the air, but as she raised her grapple gun again, Zeth's hand snatched it away.
"Enough!" Zeth ordered, throwing the grapple gun to the ground, looking the blonde in the eyes with anger, "There is no need to fight! We're not going to hurt you!"
"I wouldn't stress about it," the blonde said with a laugh.
"I know why you're here."
"No, you don't know anything."
"You obviously wanted to meet me," Zeth said, winking, walking closer slowly, "You're a fan, aren't you?"
"What?"
"You wanted to get our attention, right? Well, here I am," Zeth continued walking towards her, but she didn't move an inch, "Surely you just want an autograph or a photo with me, right?"
"Oh yeah! I so obviously wanted that!" She mocked. "In fact, I actually came here to see if I could kiss you on the roof of some shitty building, if you know what I mean."
"Oh really?" he was suddenly too close, and with one hand around her waist, he slammed her against his body, "Because I must say, I love girls who play rough."
"In your dreams," she said, pushing him away.
"You know?" Zeth laughed, "You... You stole something from me."
"Fine!" She replied with her eyes rolling, placing her hands on her hips before looking at him directly in the eye, "I'll give back your wallet."
"You stole my..." She could swear he said the word 'heart' in his mind, "What?"
"Bad habits. I recommend you not to put your hands on me again or you will lose something and it won't be your wallet next time," she said, taking his wallet out of the pocket of her leather jacket, inspecting the inside, "Two condoms and nine hundred dollars." She threw the wallet in his direction and he caught it, "I will keep the money, though." She held up the bills and with a mocking laugh put them in her jacket pocket.
He eyed her up and down, hummed and nodded.
"You didn't come for a kiss I see," Zeth crossed her arms.
"No, I'm not interested," she rolled on the ground, throwing a punch. Zeth caught her fist, spinning her around and putting her in a headlock, pressing her tightly against his body, grunting with his arm around her neck, "Ooohh! You know how to defend yourself, Ken Doll. That's so sexy," She taunted, and then threw him over her shoulder in one swift motion.
Zeth fell on his back but rolled on the ground, quickly getting to his feet.
"I expected more from you, Rahman," Kasey said, throwing a punch, Zeth dodged it. A kick, Zeth blocked it.
"Ha! I'm not even giving you a fight," Zeth said.
"I'd like you to," Kasey said.
"As you wish," Zeth caught Kasey's fist, and with a quick twist of her arm he flipped her over, sending her to the floor on her back, knocking the air out of her. "You done already?"
"Nah!" Kasey kicked up, taking a defensive stance. Both walked in circles. Zeth smiled, walking calmly as she looked at him with her fists up.
"You really want to do this, girl?"
"Yeah," She threw another punch, Zeth dodged.
"I'll be a gentleman and not fight," Zeth said, dodging a kick with his arms crossed, taking a simple step back.
"Where's the fun in that?" Kasey laughed.
They both stood still, looking at each other with mocking smiles.
"It's in your best interest to stay on my good side," he said.
"You should be the one to stay on my good side," she said and pulled out an old fashioned handgun from her jacket.
He didn't even flinch.
"You can't kill me with a bullet," Zeth said overconfidently. "Stop playing the villain and maybe I can help you redeem yourself... Kasey."
"Ooohhh. Evie told you my name, I'm so scared!" She scoffed, "I don't need redemption. I need money and power, that's the way the world works."
"If you want that, just send me your resume," Zeth said, "How about we make this a job interview? Tell me about yourself."
"Good. I am ambitious, I work alone and I have problems with authority." She replied, but he just stood there, smiling as always, with his arms crossed as if she weren't pointing a gun at him.
"Are you not going to shoot?" he asked, cocking his head.
"Stop being so arrogant, Ken Doll. Now, put your hands where I can see them," Kasey ordered, her voice filled with authority.
"Sorry, but I won't," Zeth replied, chuckling.
Kasey pressed the gun against his chest.
"Put them up now."
"Nope!" In a reflex, Zeth swiftly took away her gun, and swiftly aimed it back at her. The sudden movement caught her off guard, she had to admit, "Now is when you put your hands up and surrender."
"Not quite," she chuckled, quickly jumping backward, using her foot to knock the gun out of Zeth's hand, sending it flying into the air. She landed gracefully on her hands, then on her feet, like a skilled gymnast in stilettos. As she rose up, Kasey snatched the gun out of the air and aimed it directly at him. "Checkmate."
"Predictable. I highly doubt that's how you actually deal with close encounters," He said, crossing his arms, still smiling.
"Shut up."
"So, I was right." He half-shut his eyes.
"Right? About what?"
"You're not here to fight, just to get our attention," he answered, knowing full well the answer. "You saw Evie at the club and thought putting yourself in the spotlight would be your next move, right?"
"Shut up," she took a step toward him.
"Go on, hunter. Shoot," Zeth said, eyes half-shut, "Show the world who the real monster is. Your bullets mean nothing to me."
"I will shoot if you don't shut up," she insisted.
"How about you don't, Kasey?" a voice behind her said, and she turned around quickly, coming face to face with Evie's gun.
"Now this is some fake-sibling rivalry," Kasey said and turned quickly to aim her gun right between Evie's eyebrows.
"Why are you here?" Evie asked, squinting her eyes. She then turned to the right, seeing BC-13 silently hiding behind the wooden shack.
"What's it to you," the blonde replied, then quickly placed her hand on Evie's gun and pulled it away.
Evie did the same, taking Kasey's gun and aiming it at her.
"I knew you would take my gun," Kasey said, smiling. "So I made sure it was empty."
"My gun was empty too," Evie said, letting a cocky smile escape her lips. The blonde frowned, pulled the trigger... But only a click came after she did.
Evie smiled even wider.
Kasey lowered the gun.
"Well, well," the blonde chuckled, "I can't believe you anticipated my 'carrying-an-empty-gun-anticipating-it-would-be-taken-and-used-against-me' trick and used it against me!" Kasey put a hand on her hip, turning to see Finn and Everett approaching.
"Angry Blonde makes me angry," the Yeti said, rubbing his sore chest.
"Relax, Big Guy," Evie said, "She is going to cooperate."
"And how do you know I will?" Kasey asked.
"Because you're surrounded," Finn said, rubbing his eye, "Fuck. I hope I don't end up with a black eye."
"I don't want to fight you, Kasey," Evie tossed aside her empty gun and took a step forward, locking eyes with her fake-sister. "And you don't want to fight me."
"And she won't!" Frank said, walking into the alley with his arm-cannon at the ready, aiming at the blonde, "Unless she wants an electric shock!"
"I've never seen Frank so serious or angry," Everett said.
"When I heard the commotion, I knew you needed backup," Frank said, glaring at the blonde, "And you're not going to hurt my friends or my future wife."
"W-What?" Evie swallowed hard.
"Hey, Zeth. Why did you hug the girl? Don't you think Evie would be upset or jealous?" Finn whispered, but Zeth immediately pulled out a black phone from his pocket.
"It was to take this from her, in case we could not capture her," Zeth laughed and raised his other hand. The bills were between his fingers. "And this money? It's mine. I took them back when I headlocked you, Kasey."
"How did you do that?" Kasey raised her eyebrows in shock.
"Oh, girl! I'm older than you! Being a pickpocket is so old-fashioned!"
"You amaze me, Ken Doll. What concerns me is..." Kasey turned to look at Finn, then at the floor. Her grapple gun was at his feet. "Did you get jealous, tuna fish? Because 'I've Seen The Darkness' in these two and believe me, it's going to hurt when you know what happens when nobody is watching."
"Wait. Evie? Zeth? What does that mean?" Frank asked.
"She's trying to play with your mind, Frank. We'll take her with us, tied up," Evie said.
"You know ropes won't stop me," Kasey scoffed. With a kick, she sent Finn backwards, and after rolling on the ground, she picked up her grapple gun, aiming up. She then fired the hook.
"Shit! She's going to escape!" Frank gasped.
"See you around," Kasey said. But just when she was about to make a triumphant escape, a dart stuck in her neck. "Ouch! What the Hell?"
"Do you know the difference between you and me, Kasey?" Evie laughed. "I don't work alone anymore."
"W-What the..." And then, Kasey fell unconscious to the floor with a bang.
"You okay, Finn?" Frank asked, running over to help him up.
"I've been better," Finn said, "That girl kicks like a mule!"
"Yeah, she's dangerous blonde," Everett said, picking up an unconscious Kasey from the ground, slinging her over his shoulder.
"Do you think SM-13 can take a look, Evie?" Zeth asked as he tried to unlock Kasey's phone to no avail.
"I'm sure yes," Evie said, pressing her earpiece. "Nice shot, by the way, BC-13. She is snoring like a bear in winter."
"Nothing to thank," said BC-13 through the coms, "Good thing I kept the blond waiter's dart gun."