Part 29c (by Shannon)

Shannon was heading down to the hotel's bar and as she was 
coming around the corner she heard Gene and Paul talking.

"You're being stingy," said Gene.

"The answer is still no," said Paul emphatically.

"I'm not doing anything to you...I just wanna have a peek 
at their thoughts," said Gene.

"Gene, I am not going to let you use my powers through 
Shannon to find out what the groupies think of you! It's 
not fair to the women and it sure as hell isn't fair to 
Shannon," said Paul.  

"Come on...I'll let you have her tonight," said Gene.  
"She's really good."

"NO!" said Paul.  "I can see it now...you'd be watching us 
the whole time we were having sex," said Paul with a laugh.

"What harm can it do?  Come on," said Gene and Shannon 
stepped around the corner.

"I can't believe you!" she said.  "How could you do that to 
me?  I'm not a car to be lent out whenever you feel like 
it!  I'm a living, breathing person with FEELINGS!!  I 
can't help the fact that not only do I love you, but I'm 
your Slave!  There's nothing I can do to change that!  But 
you don't seem to care that every time I turn around you're 
hurting me!  Do you have any idea how many times over the 
last two years I've wished myself dead?  I know you don't 
love me and that you never could, but you could at least 
show some respect for my feelings!  I at least deserve 
that," she said before storming off to her room.  Gene 
stood there feeling all the anger and hurt that Shannon was 
feeling.

"Shit," he said.

"You better go talk to her," said Paul, knowing how upset 
Shannon was without having to read her thoughts.

"Right now I'm the LAST person she wants to see," he said 
and turned to walk toward the lobby.  He felt a sharp pain 
in his left hand and knew that Shannon must have punched a 
wall.  He bit his lip and put on his best smile as he 
walked in to greet some fans.

Shannon came out into the fading light and hurried down the 
street.  She wanted to put as much distance between her and 
Gene as she could.  She fought the tears when suddenly she 
felt something hard pressed into the small of her back and 
she froze.  

"Where are you going my little Snapdragon?" asked the voice 
in her ear.  Shannon felt her breath catch in her throat.  
There was only one person who called her that and she had 
hoped that she had seen the last of him the LAST time she 
saw him.

"What do you want Buttercup?" she asked. Buttercup laughed.

"We're going for a ride," he said.  She cleared her mind 
and pictured when she wanted to go and disappeared.  

When she appeared, she couldn't breathe.  Her body hurt all 
over and it only took a moment for her to remember what 
Envoy had told her.  Claims cannot be separated or they 
will die.  She cleared her mind again, found the right time 
stream and teleported back.  Buttercup was laughing.

"Back so soon?  You seem to have forgotten what your 
teacher taught you.  You can't be separated from Gene," he 
said wickedly.  "Separation by time or distance can kill 
both of you."  She was loaded into the car and something 
was placed over her mouth and she slowly lost 
consciousness. 

When Shannon awoke, she was surprised to find that they 
were on an airplane.  She glanced out the window to see if 
she could tell where they were.  All she saw below them was 
open water.  They were heading away from New York…and Gene.  
She could feel the Claim bond straining as the distance 
between her and Gene increased.  Her chest tightened and 
her head began to pound and she knew that if they went too 
far…she would die and so would Gene.

She was securely strapped down and couldn't move and tried 
to test her bonds inconspicuously, but didn't succeed.

"Ah, I see you're finally awake," said Buttercup.

"Why do you have me tied up?  It's not like I'm gonna jump 
out the door," she said nastily.

"I never know with you," he said.

"Gene will find me," she snarled.

"I'm planning on it," he said.  "I WANT him to find you…  
It's all part of my E.V.I.L. plan."

Shannon wished that Buttercup would knock her out again.  
At least when she was unconscious, she couldn't feel the 
pain in her heart…pain from being separated from her Master 
and pain from knowing that her Master didn't want her.  
Maybe death was better than living this way.  She stared 
out the window watching clouds drift by as they streaked 
along to their destination.

******************

Paul shook his head and headed off in the direction Shannon 
had run.  He knocked on her hotel room door and heard no 
response.  He knocked again, harder this time and was 
surprised by Lorie coming up behind him.

"What's wrong?  Isn't she answering?" she asked.

"No, and I need to talk to her," he said.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Gene and I were talking…he wanted to use my powers through 
Shannon to read women's minds and offered her to me for the 
night and she heard us," said Paul, surprised that he had 
told her everything.

"She's been really upset since Gene Claimed her," said 
Lorie, knowing that Bruce would never treat her the way 
Gene treated Shannon.  She felt sad because she hated 
seeing her friend's heart being broken over and over.

"I know...I need to apologize," he said.  Lorie held up the 
room key.

"Here, open it," she said.  Paul thanked her and slipped 
the key into the lock and opened the door.  He was 
surprised to find the room was empty.  He searched for her 
thoughts and found only fear, anger, sadness 
and...Buttercup.

"Shit!  Buttercup has her," said Paul running out of the 
room.  He hurried into the lobby where Gene was schmoozing 
with several women.  "She's gone," he said in Gene's ear.

"What?" asked Gene, not taking his eyes off the blonde 
woman on his lap.

"Shannon's gone...Buttercup has her," he said and saw the 
look of panic on Gene's face.  He moved the woman off his 
lap and stood up.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Positive," said Paul.  Paul could feel Gene's guilt and 
while one part of him wanted to tell Gene it wasn't his 
fault, he knew how upset Shannon had been and knew that 
maybe a little bit of guilt would make Gene realize just 
how important Shannon was to him.

"We have to find her," said Gene.

"If he has her, he can gain control of KISS," said Paul.

"Fuck that!  If he has her...he's going to hurt her," said 
Gene, anger in his voice.  "I won't let him hurt her...not 
again," he said.

Gene dragged Paul down the hotel corridor, knowing that 
they had to hurry if they were to save Shannon.  Suddenly 
Gene fell to the floor writhing in agony.  The pain was 
unbearable and he couldn't breathe.  Paul panicked, trying 
to figure out what was happening to Gene.  As suddenly as 
the pain started, it stopped and Paul helped Gene to his 
feet.

"What happened?" he asked, concerned for his friend.

"Shannon tried to teleport out...but she can't," he said.

"What do you mean, she can't?" asked Paul as they continued 
toward the front of the hotel.

"We can't be separated…that's what happened.  If she 
teleports to a different time...even a day's difference, it 
can kill both of us…distance is the same way," he said.

Gene realized that whether he wanted it or not, Shannon 
would have to become a more permanent part of his life.  
She was from Ohio...he was from LA.  Even the distance of 
2,300 miles could be deadly to both.  He tried to keep his 
thoughts positive, knowing that she would need all the 
emotional and mental support he could give her right now.  
He could sense her fear and then suddenly…nothing.

"He must have knocked her out," said Paul as they hurried 
out of the door of the hotel.  He could tell by his Link 
with Shannon that she was no longer conscious.

"He doesn't want us finding him through her," said Gene 
angrily.  He felt helpless.  Even with his powers he was 
helpless to do anything to help Shannon.  "DAMMIT!" he 
growled as they looked up and down the street for any sign 
of Shannon or Buttercup.  "Let's get the car," said Gene 
grabbing Paul's arm.

"Gene, we can't just go running off tearing through the 
city!  We don't know where she is or where he's taking her.  
We have to wait until she wakes up," he said.

"And what if she doesn't?" asked Gene, agony in his 
normally calm eyes.  "What if he kills her?  Do you know 
what that will do to me?" asked Gene.

"Stop thinking about yourself Gene, just for once!  She 
wouldn't be in this mess if you had kept it in your pants," 
said Paul heatedly.  Gene glared at him.

"I care about her!!!  If he kills her, even if I didn't 
die…do you know how GUILTY I feel?  Don't you think I know 
I screwed up?  I should be protecting her...  And you're 
one to talk...I'm glad to see you showed such great control 
when Stephanie came to you," he said and Paul sighed.

"This isn't helping get Shannon back," he said, realizing 
that Gene was acting the way he was out of desperation.  
"Let's see if Ace can help us," Paul said as they walked 
back into the trashed hotel lobby.  They collected Peter 
and headed to Ace's room.

*********************

When Shannon awoke again, the plane had landed and she had 
been loaded into a limousine.  She felt weak and achy all 
over and could just feel Gene's mind.  She could tell he 
was worried and sent reassuring thoughts to him.  She told 
him she was okay.  She had not been hurt but she was 
hurting from the separation.  How long could she survive 
away from him?  She didn't know and part of her welcomed an 
end to the nightmare than had begun as a road trip to see 
KISS.

She felt the Link between her and Paul open and she told 
him she was okay and not to come looking for her.  She told 
him it was a trap.  Buttercup knew they would come after 
her and that's what he wanted.  She would not let him win.  
If doing so wouldn't hurt Gene, she would have teleported 
back in time and waited to die just to deny Buttercup the 
success of capturing her.  But that would hurt Gene and she 
couldn't do that.

The limousine stopped and the door opened.  She was pulled 
out and taken into a building where she was then locked in 
a small room.  There was a small bed, a toilet and a light 
in the ceiling and that was it.  The rest of the room was 
bare.  She lay down on the bed and began to cry.  She had 
no doubts that Buttercup would torture her to get to Gene.  
She didn't care what he did to her.  She could handle that.  
But the thought of him hurting Gene brought the tears to 
her eyes.  She closed her eyes, willing herself to sleep, 
but it didn't come.  Maybe she would die quickly.

****************

Ace looked at Gene and felt his heart stop.  The desperate 
look in his eyes and the extreme paleness of his face 
instantly told Ace that all was not well and he knew it had 
to involve Shannon.  Gene's breathing was labored and he 
could no longer control the shaking in his hands.

"Gene, what's wrong?" asked Ace.  He stepped aside allowing 
Peter, Gene and Paul to come into his room.

"Buttercup has Shannon," said Paul, knowing Gene was in no 
condition to speak.  

"But he looks like he's seen a ghost," said Ace with a bit 
of a laugh.

"When Claims are separated by too much distance it can be 
deadly to both parties," said Peter helping Paul ease Gene 
down onto the couch.

"Any idea where he's taken her?" asked Ace, immediately 
becoming serious.  

"No, she's been unconscious for quite a while and she's 
obviously weak," said Paul.  "She says it's a trap and 
she's the bait and doesn't want us to come after her," he 
said.

"We can't just let her die...it'll kill Gene too," said 
Peter.

"If only we had gotten the Time Talker," said Gene weakly.  
"At least she won't have to live with my failure."

"She's not gonna die Gene," said Ace vehemently.  "We'll 
find her."

"She's giving up," said Paul.  "She's resigned herself to 
dying."

"Gene, you've got to order her not to give up," said Peter.  
Gene was already starting to lose consciousness.  He was 
tired and hurt all over and he couldn't stand it anymore.  
"GENE!!  You can't lose her," said Peter.  "I know you care 
about her!  You can't let her die!"  Gene slowly opened his 
eyes and stared at the drummer.

"What can I do?" he asked, his voice barely above a 
whisper.

"Order her not to give up!" said Peter.  Gene thought for a 
moment, sending the unspoken order to not give up...to keep 
hoping.  He would get her out of this mess...that was a 
promise he intended to keep.

Ace sat down at his computer and began searching for 
anything that might help them locate Shannon.  He knew 
that, with the distance involved and how it was affecting 
Gene they most likely flew to wherever they were, so he 
began checking flight plans.  Hacking into the air traffic 
control computers would take some time but he couldn't 
waste valuable time doing it the legal way.  

There were hundreds of planes leaving JFK International 
Airport on any given day and all had to file flight plans 
with air traffic control.  However, there was one Cessna 
Citation Excel, flight ID number N550VU that had filed no 
flight plan but had been given clearance for takeoff.  Ace 
did a search of the master control and, after several hours 
of cursing and hacking, found that the same plane had been 
given clearance to land in Sydney, Australia. 

"I found her...sort of," he exclaimed.

"Huh?  What?  How?" asked Peter, rubbing the sleep from his 
eyes before coming over to look over Ace's shoulder.

"I figured they had to fly wherever they were going so I 
checked with air traffic control," he said.

"Yeah...so?" said Peter.

"Every plane is required by the FAA to file a flight plan 
mapping out where they were going and when they anticipated 
arriving.  I guess it helps track planes in case the radar 
would ever fail...  Anyway, there was only one plane taking 
off from JFK that had no flight plan filed but had still 
been given clearance to take off," he said pointing to the 
ID number listed on the screen.

"They're in Sydney?" asked Paul.

"Yeah, they landed there about an hour ago," said Ace.

"How are we going to get there in time to save both Shannon 
and Gene?" asked Peter.  Ace smiled.

"Easy," he said.  Sticking his thumb out as if he were 
hitching a ride, the four of them suddenly appeared in the 
middle of nowhere.

"What the...how did you do that?" asked Peter.  Suddenly he 
fell to the ground, pain plain on his face.

 "Peter!!" said Ace rushing to his side.

 "Damn it Ace!  Raven and Peter can't be separated any more 
than Shannon and I can!" said Gene.  Ace quickly teleported 
them back to New York.

 "I'm sorry...I didn't think," said Ace.

 "Let's get him to Raven's room.  She'll need physical 
contact with him as soon as possible," said Gene, 
remembering the last time Raven and Peter were separated.  
After settling them together, Ace teleported Gene, Paul and 
himself back to Australia.

 "You never did say how you do that," said Paul.

"I'm not sure...but I can," said Ace triumphantly.

"She's here," said Gene.  He could feel her presence and 
was beginning to regain strength almost immediately.

"Close?" asked Paul.

"No, where are we Ace?" asked Gene, the cobwebs starting to 
clear from his mind.

"Lightning Ridge.  Now we just have to get to Sydney.  I 
didn't want to drop us in the middle of downtown Sydney," 
said Ace.

"Good thinking," said Peter.

"What are we waiting for?  Let's go!" said Gene.

*************

Shannon immediately felt her strength return and the pain 
had lessened.  Gene was near and she cursed herself for not 
making it clearer that he shouldn't come.  He was going to 
get himself captured!  Her mental tirade of Gene came to an 
abrupt halt when the door opened and Buttercup walked in.

"I understand your Master is coming for you," he said with 
a pleased smile.  "So predictable," he said taking her arm 
and dragging her out of the room.  "Time to let him know 
who the real Master is."