To no one's surprise, Beretta quickly arrived at the Nest once Lady Bird called her. The hero had said little on the phone before she hung up. She knew the look on her rival's face, that determined one that said nothing was going to stop her.

"All right, I'm here. Tell me what happened in detail."

Lady Bird let Number One brief her. She stared at her cell phone. Wayne hadn't texted back, which could mean he was in a meeting or something worse. The minion assigned to watch him had checked in and reported nothing suspicious, but he also wasn’t in the building. Finally, something came through.

Held up at meeting. Fine though. Keep me updated on situation.

Lady Bird breathed a sigh of relief. The last time Wayne had been kidnapped by the two mercs, he'd ended up in the hospital thanks to the fact that to get him, they'd caused his car to crash and had not handled him gently afterward. The two probably didn't even remember Wayne. To them, it was probably just another routine job. Hopefully, the kid would fare better.

"So the tunnel led out to an alley a block away and they found no traces of anything? Show me on a map. I can see if anyone has cameras nearby." Beretta stated after Number One finished. "Lady Bird, I need all the information on the Alchemist you have. I hope we can find Terri before they turn her over to him, but it never hurts to be prepared."

"Right. Number One…"

"Already compiling the files, Boss."

Lady Bird brought up the map of the city on her pad and marked the spot where the minions said they'd come up. Beretta studied the area and then drew a circle around it.

"I'll check to see if anyone has street-view cameras around there."

"Do you think that two professional mercenaries like them would get themselves caught on camera?" Lady Bird questioned.

"No, but they carry around a signal disruptor that can make security cameras glitch for a minute. We can probably at least find out which way they're going." Beretta took a screenshot of the map and sent it to herself.

"I'll get some minions out in the area and have them ask around. Meanwhile, I'll…"

"You'll stay here in case the Alchemist wants to call and gloat. And call the social worker. She should hear it from you and not a police report."

Lady Bird sighed. She’d never liked just waiting around, but Beretta was right. The Gemini Duo would probably not slip up, but the Alchemist probably would. He was smart when it came to his products and making money, but he was inexperienced when it came to the villainy side of things. He was only an A-Lister because of the money he raked in.

"I'll guess we'll carry on business as usual until something comes up." There wasn't much they could do until they had more information. "You know, I'd thought you'd be more… upset."

Beretta shook her head. "Oh, believe me, I am and we'll have words later, but getting Terri back is the top priority. And I will get her back."

With that, Beretta left. Number One took the business cell phone.

"I'll have our tech guys put bugs on this so we can try to trace the call when it comes in. He might not call from his lair."

"Right. I'll be on stand-by for any more information. I'll put out some feelers and see if any of my connections might know something or have heard something."

Number One nodded. "I wouldn’t worry about Terri too much. I have a feeling that she won't be idle."

--

Orion sat at the table cleaning his gun when Chiron came in. Even with his mask on, Orion could tell he was frustrated.

"What’s the matter? Did dumping the van not go well?"

"No, I just got the call from the Alchemist. He can't come right away and he didn't give a time."

"So we're stuck babysitting. No big deal. We've done it before." He put the slide back on. "She shouldn't be any trouble."

"I'm going to go check on her."

"You're too paranoid Chiron. She's just a kid."

Chiron went to the room they were keeping her in. It didn’t lock, but as far as Chiron could tell from the rushed research he did, there was nothing to indicate that the package could get out of handcuffs without seriously hurting herself. Civilians tended to stay away from escape techniques that caused too much pain. He touched the doorknob and turned it, only to find that it wasn't turning, as if the door was locked. Chiron went back to Orion, who was finished cleaning his handgun.

"Did you tie her ankles?"

"No. I figured that the chair's heavy enough to slow her down. She'd get tired of carrying it before she'd get very far… if she could even open the door with her hands cuffed. Why?"

Chiron motioned for his partner to follow him. They came to the room the kid was in.

"Go on, Orion, open the door."

Orion shrugged and twisted the handle. After a few more attempts he let it go.

"You don't think…"

"You should've tied her ankles." Chiron examined the situation. "She’s wedged the chair under the handle. So much for her being out for a while."

"I don't know. You took a pretty long time to come back, Chiron. Besides, I know what to do."

--

Beretta came back a few hours later. She looked tired.

"Well, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that they left a trail with the camera disruptions. The bad news is that we don't know what kind of vehicle they were in and the trail goes cold in the industrial district."

"My contacts don't know anything." Lady Bird told her. "But my minions did learn that a couple of people in the area of the exit to the tunnel saw a plumbing van park in the alley for a while and then leave."

"Well, that's better than nothing. I'll check to see if anyone has reported a missing plumbing van…"

About that time, the cell phone rang. Lady Bird answered, putting it on speakerphone. No doubt Number One had started running the trace already.

"This is Lady Bird. What do you want?"

"Ah, it's nice to hear your voice again, Lady Bird. Rumor has it that you've lost something valuable recently."

"You don't need to play coy. I know you have the kid. What do you want for her?"

"Straight to business then." The Alchemist let out a breathy chuckle. "I want the item you stole from me and for you to pay for damages. You won't be able to pay it all at once with your B-List profit, but I'm willing to discuss a payment plan. Oh and don't bother trying to trace this call. I'm covering my tracks."

She wanted to do nothing more than reach through the phone and clock him. "I want to talk to the kid."

"You'll have to wait to do that in person. I'll send you the instructions later. Ta tah for now, Lady Bird." He hung up.

"That was a surprisingly short call from someone like him." Lady Bird commented. "I expected him to not stop talking for a while."

"It’s because he doesn't have Terri with him," Beretta commented. "From what I've read about him, he's not the prisoner taking type. He probably doesn't have the means to properly contain her and is leaving it up to the Gemini Hunters until it comes time to make the deal."

"Sounds like him. If I were an A-Lister, I could pay those two off and that'd be that."

"Our best hope is to find her before they turn her over. If not, we'll have to come up with a way to do it at the meeting. I'll go check on that missing van. Let me know if he sends the instructions."

Lady Bird sat at her desk when Beretta left. Number One came in.

"We couldn't get a trace. He was bouncing the signal around." He informed her. "Do you think Beretta will have much luck?"

"She'll bring back something. I don't know how much it will help. They've always been good about covering their tracks." Lady Bird leaned back into the chair. This was turning into a mess.

"What did the social worker say?"

"To keep her posted. She took it better than I thought. But maybe they'll put her back where she belongs after this."

Although this whole thing was making her re-think her's and Wayne's plan for kids. If someone was willing to go this far to get to her through a kid that was just staying with her, then what would they do if she had one that was hers?

--

Orion's grand plan turned out to be breaking down the door, which was easy enough to do. Somehow during the process, Terri's chair had tipped over and she landed on her nose. It wasn't broken, but it had bled. The cut on it wasn't bad and Chiron easily doctored it, but neither merc was inclined to wipe any of the blood off her face at the moment.

They placed her and the chair in the area they had set up in and tied her ankles to the leg of the chair. Orion went back to cleaning his weapons while Chiron checked on some other business prospects. Terri sniffled loudly as the dried blood partially blocked one of her nostrils.

"You only have yourself to blame, kid," Orion remarked as he started taking apart his secondary hand pistol. "Never had anyone try to bar the door with a chair while they were still in the chair before."

Terri didn't reply to that. She instead watched as he removed the slide and then the spring and finally the barrel.

"What caliber do you use?" She questioned as she leaned forward to look. "A .45? A .50? I can't see someone in your business using a 9mm or .22."

"And what would someone like you know about calibers and such?" He wiped each part. "See them in one of those arcade shooters that are so popular now?"

"I live with someone who goes by the codename of Beretta. I'm no expert, but I know enough."

Orion put down the barrel and picked up the magazine. He turned it to show her a bullet sitting on top.

"All right, guess if you know so much."

"Orion, stop engaging her." Chiron started from his computer. "She’s trying to endear herself to you by finding common ground. It's step two of the "What to do if You're ever Kidnapped by Supervillains" guide. Step one is to attempt your kidnapper's mood by doing something frustrating without being too defiant."

"If you say so, Chiron." He went back to his gun cleaning. "One last question and then it's quiet time, kid. Is your mom still single?"

It was nearly possible to hear Chiron's eyes roll.

"She's not available and that bullet was a .45."

"Too bad. I enjoyed our date last time, even if it was just a distraction. And you’re right about the bullet."

Chiron made a mental note to add that they would no longer hold prisoners under 18 for their clients for more than three hours.