"Stop right there," The figure from the back seat pointed a weapon at us.

"Oooh, nice dagger you have there," I complemented the person, analyzing her weapon. "Is the blade ivory or bone? I can never tell the difference between those two visually."

The two people looked at each other, confused. The person with the ivory-or-bone dagger clutched in both hands tried: "Surrender, members of the Crowns and come with us peacefully. Or we might have to do it the hard way."

"I guess we'll choose the hard way," Pay said with a smirk, removing his backpack.

"That was very cliche of you, Pay. Very unoriginal. Almost all villains' main characters say I'll choose the hard way to their enemies. Try and think of something original next time," I let him know.

"Is the fact that this is not a plotline or story ever going to go into your head?" Pay asked. "This is the real world, Target. Get used to it."

"Well, the universe proves otherwise," I pointed out.

The other person (not the girl, but the guy) cleared his throat. "Do you want this to be easy for the both of us and just surrender, or do you Crowns want to put up a fight you're never going to win?"

"Actually, we got fired from the Crowns today morning," I added before Pay could say anything really cliche and unoriginal monologues again. "So we're technically ex-Crowns."

The girl with the dagger pointed at us lowered it down. She looked at the other person, a guy, confused. The other guy, however, looked annoyed.

The dagger lady had a studded nose ring on her left (from where I look at it, it was the right side and studded earrings. Her thick black hair flowed along her back. Her skin was brown, and her eyes were chestnut colored. Meanwhile the guy had piercing dark brown eyes, light brown skin, and short jet black hair. Oh, and a scar above his cheek.

Both people were wearing the Defendant's uniforms: the white lab coats with the Defendant's symbol and black pants. The symbol consisted of a teal shield with a pastel lime outline towards the middle. The sigil was placed on the right hand side of the coat (my right, their left). The girl had a gray satchel hanging from her side.

"Does that mean we can go peacefully now?" I check in. "I'm trying to find another villain organization to work in. I've been fired from my hundredth and fifth job."

"You're still coming with us, we've got orders," the other guy stated. "Acra, give me the dagger."

Acra, the girl with the dagger, didn't even get a chance to say anything. The other guy just took the dagger from her hand and started to walk up to us, with the dagger pointed towards our necks.

"Listen here. We can make this easy, or we can make it hard for you. It all depends on what you choose..."

"Can we make it hard? I like challenges."

Pay, in the background, actually seemed to agree with me for once. I could tell because he wasn't complaining about my choice and calling me dumb. He started to crack his knuckles.

"Fine. Lose this battle like you've lost all your other ones. You brought this on yourself, Crowns," the guy kept using the word "Crowns" like it was a bad word. He turned his back at us, walking until he was shoulder to shoulder with Acra.

"Are you sure V-" Acra barely finished before the guy cut her off.

"Do not utter my name in front of these villains," he harshly said. "And do not question my orders. Last time I checked, I was in charge of this mission, not you. Therefore, you have choice but to obey my word."

Then, Acra looked like she wanted to attack him her yell at him, but she didn't. Instead she brought out a little tube out from her satchel. Bringing it up to her lips, she blew through it, making two darts appear and coming straight towards us.

Before Pay or I could react, the point had already pricked our skin. Oh, hey, the world is going dizzy! All the shapes and colors look like blobs. They're blending in together.

Now comes the part where I'm losing consciousness.

***

I woke up in a car, which was being driven by the person driving it. Who else would be driving it?

Sitting up, I noticed my hands were tied together with some rope. It was wrapped around three or four times before it was actually tied, making it hard for me to burst out of the rope with just muscles and strength.

Wait, only my hands were tied? My feet were free. Completely free, as in I could walk out of the car and into a bouncy house. And there was no tape over my mouth. It wasn't gagged either, as in I won't be choked and cut out of the mouth oxygen.

I turned around to grasp my surroundings. The seat on my left was empty. The one on the right contained Pay, who was still passed out from whatever made our heads go black.

Sitting in front of me were two people: Acra and a completely random Defendant stranger. The person driving was all the way up at the front, on the first row. The person driving was the other guy who was present when the world went pitch black.

I didn't know it was possible for a car to have a front, middle, and back row. That's three whole rows in one car! But then again, anything was possible when you were the "good guys" and had the public support and government on your side.

Turning back to Pay, I tried to shake him awake with my tied-up hands. He had decided that he wanted to keep sleeping in the back seat. At least, that's what he was conveying by not waking up.

As we all know, actions speak louder than words. Rule number one of storytelling: show not tell.

So I rode in silence for five minutes, just me in the backseat left alone to my own thoughts. That is, until I leaned over, poking my head to join the Defendants sitting in the front row.

"Hi people who are currently kidnapping us," I striked a conversation.

"Oh, you're awake," the new guy said, looking back. He currently had a computer on him, and he seemed to be doing research. Or hacking, depending on how you looked at the situation and computer screen.

"Where are we going?" I asked. "Wait- let me guess. Is it Hawaii?"

New guy turned to Acra, who was sitting on the rightmost side of the front row, then back to me. "Hawaii is on an island. Islands are surrounded by water. We're currently driving. In a car. Cars go on land."

"Ohhhh. So we're going to the airport, and then from there we're going to Hawaii. Got it."

"We're not going to Hawaii," Acra told me. "We're taking you somewhere else."

"Oooh, a surprise. Where is it?"

"Can't say. We're under orders not to say."

"Can I guess?"

New guy answered instead, with a simple "No."

There was more boring silence. Pay wasn't awake yet. New Guy and Acra weren't talking to me. I would talk to the Driving dude, but he was driving. My neck couldn't stretch all the way towards the first row to talk to him. Even if it did, I didn't want to distract him and crash the car.

I looked back at the ropes tied around my hands, then at Pay's hands. Even he had the ropes tied around his hands. Looking at the current situation: the rope, losing consciousness, and the backseat, realization hit.

"Ohhhh. You guys are kidnapping us!" I asked at last.

"You just realized that?" The New Guy asked.

"You guys aren't doing a very good job of it."

He looked taken aback, maybe even insulted. "What?"

"Well, for starters, why am I not blind-folded?"

New Guy shut his computer. But he didn't say anything. Instead, Acra turned around and said, "Not to be rude, but my friends, er, colleagues, might get angry, if you keep talking, and..."

I shrugged the best I could with my hands tied. "Well, that's your fault. I mean, who doesn't gag their victim? I mean, come on guys. It's the second thing you're supposed to do when you kidnap someone."

Acra looked around. "I'm not the one who tied you up..."

"Also, why aren't my feet tied?" I continued on. "I mean, I can just walk out of here, you know?"

"We're going at sixty miles per hour," New Guy deadpanned.

"I never said I was going to get out of the car."

New Guy leaned in front. "Can we throw this one out?"

"Don't be mean, Axis," Acra scolded him. "And we have orders to bring those two Crowns back, remember?"

"I'm Target," I corrected. "Not 'this one'."

A mumble came out of the front. I think that was the driver. Axis, previously known as New Guy, just rolled his eyes and opened his computer again.

Before I was able to say anything or ask another question, I felt a sharp prick. I looked down, and, hey, I saw another dart on my arm. The world started to spin again. It was like I was on a merry-go-round, the world going dizzy and spinning around me.

I heard Acra say, "Sorry about that."

Then the entire world faded to black, and I joined Pay.