The self-satisfied smile was replaced with an angry snarl almost immediately as a scream cut through the air. He glared towards the source of the noise, a middle aged brunette with a string of pearls dangling around her neck. Already more of the guests had begun to pour outside, gasping in shock at the unconscious man lying at Jack's feet.

He had hoped for a quiet exit, but it looked as though that would be impossible. Digging into the pocket of his jacket, he pulled out a tiny remote, pushing the single button on its surface.

The effect was instantaneous. The robots he'd spent months working on zoomed towards the two of them, the propulsion system- dammit, he'd forgotten the silencers!- nearly deafening.

The crowd fled back into the supposed safety of the inn, not even pausing to consider what fate could, and likely would, befall the man that had only moments ago been among them.

"Tch."

Another man watched the scene from nearby, gripping the steering wheel of his car so tightly his knuckles turned white.

"Nico." A tiny finger prodded his arm, and he turned to face the younger boy in the back seat. "The man on the ground. He is the one we were looking for?" He asked with a light Italian accent.

Nico's dark eyes flickered back to the scene. "Yes."

"What are we going to d-"

"I don't know!" He snapped angrily. His brother recoiled into the darkness, the action instantly driving away his anger towards the odd-looking rosso. He sighed. "I am sorry, Jacobi. I am not upset with you."

The seven year old seemed to accept this, as he immediately went back to his strange game.

They needed food. They needed the money from this job. If they were unable to destroy their target... well, Nico had heard rumors of what their employer did to those who failed him, or any he felt were in danger of usurping his place in the company. That they had been hired to kill Chase Young was proof enough that those rumors were true.

There was nothing they could do. If they tried to follow, they would surely attract the attention of at least one of the robots, which would no doubt lead to disaster. Nico just couldn't risk it; not with his brother in the car. They would have to track him down another time.

With a heavy sigh, he turned the key in the ignition, and the two drove off into the night.

...

When Chase woke up, he was in a strange place. His head hurt and he had no recollection of how he'd gotten there. He took a quick look around, glad to find that he was unrestrained, but somewhat disheartened to realize that he had been placed in a large metal cage.

Whoever had kidnapped him had been thoughtful enough to let him sleep on a mattress, albeit a ratty one, but it didn't seem as though they were planning on letting him go any time soon.

At the very least, the cage was connected to a restroom.

It seemed as though they had even taken the time to clean it. How odd. There was a sink, toilet, and even a shower stall crammed into the tiny space, and various products had been placed around the room as well. Liquid soap, a cheap plastic toothbrush, everything had been thought of. There was no razor, and the doorknob didn't have a lock on it, but those were small inconveniences, really. The last several people who had kidnapped him hadn't been nearly as considerate. Of course, they had all died in 'mysterious accidents' just before they went on trial, so he held no grudges, but all the same.

As for the room itself, it was spacious, but had no windows to speak of. A single fluorescent light was switched on, enough that one could see without running into anything, but keeping the room comfortably dark. Bits and pieces of machines were piled on every available space, and the technology was clearly far beyond what any conventional robotics major could hope to build. In all honesty, it looked like the laboratory of a comic book villain.

"Hey."

He turned. There was that pale face, grinning at him through the bars. Jack Spicer had switched out the suit in favor of more gothic attire, combat boots, skinny jeans, a red t-shirt, and a battered trench coat that hung loosely off of his wiry shoulders. He'd applied thick eyeliner, and had drawn a hook underneath his right eye? Stranger still were the googles: bright yellow, with red swirls for no discernible reason. They looked like something that would be worn with a costume.

"Jack," he acknowledged, narrowing his eyes almost imperceptibly. Of course. He really had no luck with relationships these days.

"The one and only, baby! Welcome to the lab of Jack Spicer, Evil Genius Extraordinair!" There was that infuriating smile of his again.

"I suppose you want me to ask why you've kidnapped me?" He suggested dryly, walking towards the albino at a leisurely pace. He braced his hands on the bars, leaning forward just enough that the tip of his nose reached the outside of the enclosure, as though he were the one in charge of the situation. Being face to face with someone was generally a good intimidation tactic, especially if he smiled just so...

It worked rather well, even if he did say so himself. Jack stepped back, his feet suddenly very interesting. "Just business. You know."

Chase 'hmm'ed, not looking away from his captor's face. He waited for a moment, but the man didn't move. His victory, then. He sat down on the mattress rather smugly. "I must say, usually when a group or an individual decides to hold me for ransom, they don't provide accommodations nearly so... pleasant." A pause, "Unless you had something else in mind, Jack?" His voice had taken on a mildly suggestive tone. "The standard seems to be rope or handcuffs. Now, I'm not one to enjoy being restrained, personally, but if you were..." he let the sentence hang in the air.

Jack seemed intent on avoiding eye contact, he had turned just enough that his face couldn't be seen. "I hope you're comfortable here, 'cause it doesn't look like you'll be l-leaving any time s-soon," he mumbled.

"You seem nervous," Chase teased. "Is this perhaps you first time, Jack?"

"I just-" he only looked back for a second, but it was enough time for the businessman to tell his face had turned bright, embarrassed scarlet.

Well, well.

Without another word, the previously cocky teenager turned back to his strange inventions, trying to distract himself from Chase's presence, although it clearly wasn't working very well, as he kept glancing in the elder man's direction every few minutes.

It seemed as though a certain 'evil genius' had a bit of a crush.

He watched the boy move around his lab for some time, only allowing himself to be mildly impressed by what he saw. Eventually, though, Chase grew bored, not to mention hungry. "I don't suppose I'm allowed anything to eat?"

Jack glanced at a clock that happened to be just out of Chase's line of sight. "Oh, shit, sorry! It's waaaay past lunchtime. Um, lemme just..." he hurried up the stairwell.

Chase snickered. He'd actually apologized? God, this was too much! Exactly what kind of hopeless buffoon had he been kidnapped by?!

"I already told you, you can't- hey, don't go down there!"

"What's wrong, Jackie? Don't want me to see your little toys?" A female? What was she doing there?

Chase glared at the girl. She was young, blond, and quite lovely. He already hated her.

"C'mon, Ashley!" Jack's voice increased in volume as he too made his way down the stairs. "Can you just listen to me for- oh, shit."

"Katnappe," she corrected automatically, not taking her eyes off of the Asian man currently glaring daggers at her. "You should have told me you had company, Jackie!" She purred.

"He's a hostage!" The goth shouted, pulling at his hair. "What the fuck are you doing here, anyway!"

"I may have kiiiiinda sorta broken this." she tossed a small pile of burnt wires and metal onto one of the metal tables, where it landed with a heavy 'thunk'.

Jack looked down at the ruined object in dismay. "I don't even know what it is anymore..." he whimpered.

The black-clad thief crouched down in front of the cage, pointedly ignoring Jack."He's kinda hot, too. Sure can pick 'em."

His face grew even more red. "I told you, Chase is the hostage!"

"So you were the nut who went and kat-napped the infamous Chase Young, huh?"

The man continued to glare at her with golden eyes, clearly not amused."And you are?"

She straightened. "Call me Katnappe," she told him dramatically.

"She's my crazy cousin." Jack called over his shoulder

"Cousin? So you two aren't...?"

The relatives looked at each other in revulsion."No!" They shrieked in unison.

"She's completely obsessed with cats!" He yelled."Have you heard her stupid puns?"

She hissed."At least I'm not some creepy robot-loving loser who lives in a basement!"

"At least I don't go around disfiguring helpless machines!" He scowled, holding up the unrecognizable lump for effect.

"Nerd!"

"Cat-freak!"

"Techno-geek!"

The barrage of insults continued for awhile, until Chase had finally decided enough was enough. Clearing his throat to draw attention to himself, "I take it you two don't get along very well." He deadpanned.

The duo ceased their verbal war, both turning to face the man with equally surprised expressions, as though they had completely forgotten his existence.

The crime lord sighed. "As entertaining as the two of you are," he stated calmly, "I tire of this. And I would appreciate something to eat right now."

Jack paused awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck."I, ah... I don't have any food..."

"I have some in the car, if you don't mind raw fish," Katnappe offered.

"Car?" Jack queried, "You don't have a... you bought a car?"

"Um...sort of?" She said, spinning a key innocently around her index finger.

"I'm trying to draw attention away from this place! A stolen car is not going to help!"

"Come on, it's all over the news how you demanded three and a half million for the safe return of golden boy over here directly from the cops! Sorry, Mr. Subtle, but that's not the way things are done!"

"So what? It got the point across, didn't it?"

"You're supposed to call the family and ask for the money from them, you know, disguise your voice over the phone and everything? Specifically say 'don't call the police or this guy gets it'? Not go right to the boys in blue for negotiations."

"I like to do things big." He sniffed indignantly. "Besides, it's worked so far."

"'So far' has been half a day, genius. This is so not going to work. I'd bet anything you come out of this in handcuffs or a body bag!"

Sticking out his tongue again, the albino began working on the devastated piece of junk in front of him.

"Ahem. I desire sustenance." Chase said after no attempt was made to give him any kind of meal, cooked or otherwise.

"Right. I think there might be some instant ramen in one of the cupboards...?" He hurried out of the room yet again, leaving the two in an awkward silence.

"Soooo..." the blond began, "you come here often?"

Chase snorted and looked away.

"Well, sorry, but you aren't giving me much to go on here!"

"What made you believe I had any desire to speak with you in the first place?"

She looked away, at the floor, the clock, anywhere but him. There was no noise save the monotonous whir of machinery for several minutes, then-

"I found this, it's not much but it should..." he trailed of as he realized the room's other occupants were both staring at him. "What?" He demanded.

"Nothing," they said in unison.

"Whatever..." he handed on of the styrofoam cups to the thief, and the other to Chase, glancing between them strangely. "Anyways, I'm all out of food, so I've gotta head over to-"

"NO!" Katnappe shouted, blocking the stairwell he had been heading towards. "I mean, um, I'll go instead! No worries, right?"

"Uh, right..." If Jack thought she was acting different, he said nothing. "You need money or-?"

"It's fine." She disappeared once more.

The evil genius turned towards his captive. "So... you come here often?"

He received only a groan in response.