Operation M.I.A: Missing in Action (IN NEED OF REVISING)

Chapter XIII

LUKE

Music: The Position Light from Gradius ReBirth

"Boy, I am feeling great today!" I yell, stretching out after the events of five minutes ago. "Man, nothing excites you more than working together to take down a criminal, doesn't it?"

A few nods and murmurs come from the rest of the team. "Yeah, until the paparozzi shows up on our asses and unnecessarily publicizes us," Mia mumbles.

"Hey. When we finally take down this organization, you're going to be seeing this face all over the media," I smirk, pointing to myself with a little bit of arrogance.

"Yeah, on America's Most Wanted," Heath snorts. Him and Sam start cracking up hard, and they high-five each other.

I roll my eyes. "Ha ha. Yeah, laugh it up. Real funny," I sigh.

"Stay focused here, guys," Avery instructs. "We need to keep in mind the task at hand: Rescue Brielle. Let's not worry about anything bigger unless necessary."

"Which will probably happen," I mumble.

A notification pops up on the hovercraft's monitor. Heath taps it using the touchpad, and it reveals itself to be a video call from Dr. Scientist. "Hello there. I heard about your recent success in Denver," he greets us with.

"Yeah, we're not terribly excited about the attention that got," Shanna replies snarkily.

"Hey, a little fame doesn't hurt. Did you find any bases or anything of that sort?"

Sam shakes his head. "Nothing. We just paraded around 16th Street and came across the kidnapping."

"Hmm... I could've sworn there was a hideout of theirs somewhere around there..."

"We'll keep looking around for a little while longer. Until then-" Sam's statement is interrupted by Avery spotting something.

"Park the hovercraft! Now!" she barks. Heath reaches for the control and chaotically lands the hovercraft in front of a building with the label "Denver Shaolin Kung Fu Academy".

"A MARTIAL ARTS CENTER? Have you lost it, Avery!?" Skylar exclaims.

"It's the exact place nobody would expect a captive to be held. I say we check it out," Avery says. Before anybody gets to protest, she's already making her way to the front door, leaving the rest of us no choice but to follow her.

MIA

Music: Yie-Ar Kung-Fu Goes to the Dragon King's Palace from Sexy Parodius

I know I've demonstrated some karate skills before, but I've never actually been inside a martial arts center until today.

And honestly, there isn't much to see here either. From what I can tell, the room we're in right now literally is just a big, blue mat with a bunch of people training with various poses and stuff. A room-length mirror is present for no discernible reason. It's actually a lot more lame than I thought it would be. The current sessions seems to be wrapping up here, as the sensei is beginning a dismissal speech. The students themselves are quite diverse. Multiracial, multi gender, and ages from little children to young adults.

"Hey, maybe you should do some training here," Sean smirks. I nudge him in the shoulder but can't hold back a snicker.

"So, what's the plan?" Skylar asks.

"Search for anything suspicious, like a secret cubby or something. Or, at the very least, ask these people if there's a teenage girl hidden somewhere around here," Avery replies.