Zi nodded. “Yes. Nobody got hurt.” A lie, but it would suffice.

She relaxed after hearing that. Allowing herself to lay down and be taken to the hospital. Her tail and mane a mix of white. Pain. And whatever worried was.

He stayed by her side until a doctor was able to convince him to return to the house and get some sleep. He wouldn’t be getting any sleep though. He needed to find Whisper, fast.

Whisper, meanwhile, hda been taken to an abandoned warehouse just outside of the larger city limits. She'd been appropriately restrained, much to her dislike, and most of her weapons had been taken from her. She still intended to be difficult though. Currently, she was being interviewed- again- about Bee's defenses, but considering how little she actually knew, it was proving futile to keep asking her the same questions. She was bleeding from multiple cuts made by her captors, but still conscious. She wasn't going to tell them anything. After another minute or so, the captor interviewing her gave up, leaving her alone in the room. She twisted in her bonds, trying to wiggle her hidden knife to a point where she could grab it. This proved more difficult than it should have been.

After a few minutes, she became exhausted and ceased her attempts, panting rapidly. This wasn't as easy as it should have been; she'd lost her touch.

Zi took his phone from his pocket and started fiddling with it, trying to pick up Whisper’s signal. He found only one encrypted signal, probably hers since he remembered the FBI codes that he sometimes saw. She was the only agent he knew of that was in the city. He hacked her firewall with minor difficulty. He followed the signal to the abandoned warehouse.

Whisper could hear her phone vibrating from the table. She couldn't reach it. She realized that if it was still on, she could still use the handsfree system she'd installed.

"Hey, Siri. Call Four-Thirty-Two," Four-Thirty-Two was probably unreachable, but Whisper could hope. The phone rang silently, luckily being on silent mode. There was no answer. She muttered a curse. "Hey, Siri. Power down." The phone shut down. The evidence was gone. So was Zi's signal he was tracking. She knew perfectly what had been happening behind her firewall.

Zi sighed as the signal was lost. But he knew she was inside the warehouse. He did the obvious and tried the doorknob before kicking the door in.

The doorknob, it proved, was unlocked but jammed. Whisper's captors had been smart enough to jam a chair under said knob, so the door refused to open. From a balcony nearby, Damian Ryder, one of Jaden's goons, leveled a sniper rifle at Zi's head. But he didn't shoot, instead waiting for Jaden's command. Meanwhile, Whisper heard the foot slam against the door. She cried out, knowing it was Zi. Who else would it be? Sure as hell not 432. "No!"

Zi heard Whisper's word and tilted his head. He almost called out to her using her real name but remembered what she had said to them a little bit ago. "Russ?" He called quietly.

Whisper pulled against her restraints now, her voice breaking as she called out again. "Leave!" She called back as the other captor strode into the room. "Shut up, girl. Master Jaden will be seeing you soon so save your breath." He scolded her, backhanding her as he spoke. Whisper whimpered.

"The hell is she on about? I'm trying to help her?" He muttered, moving around the side of the building as he attempted to find a se one entrance. He knew there would be one.

And there was one. Not even twenty feet away, a door was slightly ajar. Damian focused the rifle again and fired, not intending to miss. He'd messed up leaving that door open and Jaden would be mad at him, but he'd pay that price later, after he stopped Zi. He switched the rifle to its automatic mode and let off a string of bullets. Very rarely did he miss.

Zi noticed the muzzle flash and ducked, rolling behind a stack of boxes. He cursed and tried to find a way to get himself clear. He'd dropped all his weapons- his single pistol and his knife- when he had gone after Bee, probably leaving them in melted chunks from his magic.

Damian waited. He would shoot Zi when the time came to it. He radioed Jaden. "The man is here. Do you want me to shoot him? He's trying to help her." "Kill him. At all costs. We do not lose her." "I understand." Damian moved across the rooftop to get a better shot at Zi. This would prove futile.

Zi scanned the area, finding nothing useful. He sighed and stepped out of his hiding place, hands up. "Russ doesn't know anything. I'll go instead of her. Let her go." He spoke calmly, but even then his voice shook a little.

Damian chuckled and slung his rifle over his back, dropping down from the roof. "You sure you want to do this for a girl you hradly know?"

"I know her well enough."

Damian stepped closer. "You sure about that?" Only visible now was the smaller pistol in Damian's hand.

Shit. "Damn sure."