Back In New York
Rome, Italy:
Juni was having an intimate night with Emperor Nero in her bed when her cell rang. She got up and answered it:
“X-girl here.”
“Juni, is that you?” a female voice asked.
“Yes,” she said, “who is this?”
“This is Nga,” she said.
“Nga? What’s up girl?", Juni asked.
“Juni, you’ve got to come back to New York right away! Our old friend Hanh’s been kidnapped.”
“Hanh’s been kidnapped? No way! Why?”
“Well, I don’t know why but her parents said that they found a ransom note asking for a ridiculous amount of money if they ever wanted to see her again, and let me tell you-her parents are loaded!”
“Sounds like a case to me. Okay, I’ll catch the first flight out of Rome tomorrow morning for New York.”
“Thanks J, you’re a lifesaver!", Nga said and hung up. After that, Juni sighed and Nero asked, “What’s wrong?”
“My friend’s been kidnapped and I have to save her.”
“if you go, I’m going with you,” the emperor said.
“Okay,” Juni said, “but you need to change your form.”
“Okay,” Nero said.
The next morning, Juni and Nero left for New York and met Nga at her house.
“Nga, how’s the situation?", Juni asked.
“Not good. The kidnapper has now threatened to keep Hanh unless her parents agree to the ransom demands. Juni, I’m scared! What if he kills her?”
“Don’t worry Nga. Nero and I aren’t going to let that happen. Consider us on the case.
“Great!", Nga exclaimed.
“Where is Hanh being held?", Nero asked.
“Her parents told me that she was being held in the basement of a house in the city, but I can’t remember the address. Damn! You know, I didn’t even write it down. We should go to her parents’ house and ask them.”
“Yes, we should. Let’s go,” Juni said.
The three got into Nga’s car and went to Hanh’s parents’ house. Her mother Kelly Nguyen exclaimed, “What horrible things could that kidnapper be doing to our baby?” Then she sobbed into Juni’s sleeve.
Her father Andrew said, “I can’t console her. We’re both so worried about our angel, but the kidnapper is demanding outrageaous amounts of money. We tried to negotiate with him by phone, but he won’t accept our offers.”
“Sir, I understand you loss,” Juni said, “my mom died when I was 19 and my dad died two years ago. Incidentally, I work for an Italian intelligence agency and both Nero and I had some rackateers busted.”
Kelly stopped crying and said, “Perhaps you both can help us with this kidnap situation and bring our baby back,” she said, “we would pay you nicely.”
“Oh no thanks, ma’am,” Juni said, “but as of now, my friend Nero and I are on the case.”
“Thank you!", the Nguyens exclaimed.
“You’re welcome. By the way, do you know the address of where Hanh is being held?", Juni asked.
“Oh, oh yes,” Kelly said, “I think it’s on the kitchen table. Come with me and we’ll see if it’s there.”
“Okay,” Juni said and followed her.
“Ahh, here it is,” Kelly said and gave it to her.
“Thanks,” Juni said.
“Please find her. We’re counting on you and Nero,” Andrew said.
“We’re on it,” she said.
“Bless you,” Kelly said.
Juni grinned and headed out the door with Nga and Nero following her. Nga asked, “Can I help too? After all, I love Hanh as much as you do,”
“Of course,” Juni said.”
“Great,” Nga said enthusiastically.
“Wonderful. Now we have to go to this address that Hanh’s mom gave me.”
“Well I’m driving,” Nga said, “so you might as well tell me.”
When they got into the car, Juni said, “Okay, the address is 647 Jefferson Drive.”
“Great. Let’s roll,” Nga said.
And off they went.
The group got to Jefferson Drive and stopped in front of a small, white house.
“Okay, we need a plan,” Juni said.
“How about if I say that our car broke down and that I needed to use the phone? Once we’re in, you can stop time and we can all go down to the basement, that is after you unfreeze us.”
“That is, if we know where the basement is,” Nero said.
“Nga, do you think he’ll believe that story?,” Juni asked.
“It’s worth a shot,” she said, “besides, what do we have to lose?”
“I’m not even going to answer that,” Juni said.
Nga gave her a goofy look and then said “Okay, let’s get on with this”.
With that, the three stepped out of the car and headed towards the house. Nga knocked on the door and a few minutes later a Vietnamese man answered it. He looked to be around 5′5″ tall and somewhere in his late 30s, slim with short, thick black hair, brown eyes and thick lips.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” Nga said, “but or car broke down and I was wondering if I could use your phone to call Triple A. This is an emergency.”
The man looked at her suspiciously and asked, “Are you telling the truth?”
“Yes sir,” Nga said.
Convinced, the man said “Okay, come in. You can use my phone, then you and your friends had better leave.
“Okay,” she said, “we promise.”
Once they were inside, Nga kept up her cover of calling Triple A by going to the phone and picking up the reciever. As she put her fingers on the dial pad, Nga whispered to Juni, “Stop time now.”
The mutant froze time but unfroze Nga and Nero. (The man however was still frozen).
“Let’s find that basement,” Nero said.
The three ran through the house looking for the basement, frantically looking everywhere. Juni knew the man would unfreeze soon, so she as well as the others didn’t waste any time searching. After some time, they found the basement and an attractive girl with over-the shoulder black hair bound hands and feet, with duct tape on her mouth.
“It’s Hanh!", Nga exclaimed, “quick-untie her! Nero, get that tape off of her mouth.”
Juni and Nero had partially set Hanh free when they heard shouting. Within a few minutes, the man had found them and Hanh exclaimed, “We can’t escape!”
“Yes we can!", Juni exclaimed, watch this!”
She stopped time again but unfroze the three. After they finished freeing Hanh, the group ran up the stairs to the top floor and managed to get out of the house quickly. Nga locked all the doors automatically and they sped off.
It was the most exhilerating night ever.
The four made it back to Hanh’s house and Juni said, “We got her back.” Her parents were thrilled and couldn’t stop hugging not only Hanh but Nga, Nero and Juni as well. Afterwards Kelly asked, “Are you sure you don’t want payment?”
The mutant thought for a second and then said, “Well, okay. I’ll be able to change it in Italy so what the heck?”
After Kelly went to get the checkbook, Hanh asked, “You live in Italy now, J? What city?”
“Rome. Incidentally, Nero’s my boyfriend and he lives there too.”
“Mmm...why can’t we have guys like this in New York,” Hanh asked-giggling, “he’s cute!”
“Down girl, he’s mine,” Juni said-grinning mischeviously. Nero only blushed.
Kelly came back with the check, gave it to Juni and said, “Thanks for all your help. By the way, do you and your friends want to stay for dinner?”
“Yeah, sure!”
“Of course!”
“Yes!”
“Great,” Kelly said, “I’ll go get dinner started.”
“Um, Mrs. Nguyen? Nero’s a big eater,” Juni said.
“Perfect,” she said, “I’ll make sure that he doesn’t starve.” Then she headed for the kitchen.
That night everyone ate dinner together (with Nero eating the most) and Hanh asked, “Mom, dad- can Juni, Nga and Nero spend the night?”
“Of course,” Kelly said, “by the way Juni, when are you two going back to italy?”
“Tomorrow morning,” she said.
“What a shame. We’ll certainly miss you,” Andrew said.
“Thanks, but I certainly won’t miss New York,” Juni said, “after all, I’ve lived here from age 13 to 24! My sister still lives here, though.”
“How old is she?", Kelly asked.
“She’s 24,” Juni said.
“Interesting,” Andrew said.
After dinner was over and everything had been washed and dried, Kelly said, “Okay, tonight you three girls are going to sleep in one room and Nero is going to sleep in another.”
“Why can’t Nero and I sleep in the same room?", Juni asked.
“Because Andrew and I don’t encourage sex in this house,” Kelly said.
“Oh, I gotcha,” Juni said.
“Good. Okay, everyone go get ready for bed. Lights out at 10.”
That night, everyone slept in their seperate rooms but Nero had snuck in in the middle of the night and woke up Juni. They snuck to his room and started making out. The kissing noises woke up Hanh, who went to their room and opened the door.
“Juni!", she sharply whispered.
The mutant broke away from the kiss and Hanh said, “My parents are going to kill you and Nero if they catch you guys!”
“Umm...Juni, I’ll handle it,” Nero said. Then he said, “Hanh, come over here.”
Hanh went to Nero and he said, “Relax and look deep into my eyes...relax. Look further into my eyes...deep into my eyes.”
She relaxed, looked into his eyes and Nero continued, “Very good...completely relaxed...look deep within my eyes. Look further into my eyes. Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t look away. Look further into my eyes. Always deeper...always deeper. Look further into my eyes.”
“Further into your eyes,” Hanh said.
“Yes,” Nero said, “now listen to me. You’re going to go back into the other room and go to sleep, and when you wake up, you will remember nothing of this incident. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Yes Nero,” Hanh said and left. After the two were alone again, he said, “We should go back to sleep too. After all, we’re going back to Rome in the morning and need our rest.”
“Okay, that’s a good idea,” Juni said.
They kissed goodnight and she went back into the other room to sleep.
The next morning, everyone sat down to a hot breakfast complete with orange juice. Kelly said, “Juni, Nero, I’m sorry that there’s nothing Italian here but I hope you like it anyway.”
“I certainly will,” Juni said, “after all, it’s rare now that I even have an American breakfast. Besides, I’m sure it’s better than plane food.”
Then everyone laughed.
After breakfast, Juni packed her bags and went with Nero to the front door, but they didn’t leave without getting hugs from the Nguyen family. Soon after, Nga got into her car with Juni and Nero and drove them to the airport, then before the plane was boarding Juni and Nga hugged and cried before she had to leave.
It was an emotional morning.