[h1]Injae Park[/h1]
[@Mr Allen J][@BurningDaisies]
[hr]
"I've only got one," Ratchet replied. “Jen, keep looking for a key. I might be able to help these people off the tables while you do…”

Ratchet took a look at the latches binding the people to the tables. Standard, albeit somewhat large, padlocks; a simple mechanism. Ratchet’s gears began to turn. She slipped the rip key out of her pocket, placed it on the table, then silenced her cell phone.

She silently set to work, her tongue hanging out as she took bursts of kinetic energy from the flywheel and transferred them to the padlocks’ springs. To Ratchet, it felt a bit like trying to push the same poles of two magnets together; the spring mechanisms opposed her transferred force, and pushed back in perceived indignation. Sweat beaded on her forehead. But finally, she heard a short, satisfying click, signifying the latch’s release. The padlock popped off and Ratchet frantically caught it by the hook, before very gently placing it on the ground.

Something had bothered Ratchet about the two children that the big palooka had lugged into the operating room. She continued working on the current person’s padlocks until that person was totally free.

She then glided over to the end tables, taking care to duck under any windows, and in shock, realized exactly what had bothered her about the fact that [i]Winston and Kate[/i] had been kidnapped as well, confirming her worst fears.

“This is total BS,” Ratchet muttered under her breath.

“Sis?” Winston asked, struggling to sit up. It looks like he had been strapped a bit [i]too[/i] tight.

“Winnie, shut up, they can’t know I’m here!” Ratchet hissed. Winston immediately clammed up and let Ratchet use her power to work the locks. She slipped once and had to start over on Winston’s legs, cursing under her breath all the way. Kate pretended not to hear Ratchet’s French.

“Where the heck did they catch you?” Ratchet asked.

“Kate saw you getting knocked out from behind and screamed and ran,” Winston explained as Ratchet worked on his torso.

“I’m sorry, I’m such an idiot,” Kate moped.

“You’re not an idiot,” Ratchet chided, undoing the last tumbler on Winston’s torso. “You’re just young and governed by instinct.” She walked to Winston’s neck and undid the latch on the collar.

Winston rubbed his arms; the straps had chafed him. “Who do they think they are, kidnapping children like… grumble, grumble…” Ratchet muttered, working now on Kate’s locks.

[h1]Tanner Park & Holly Park[/h1]
[hr]
“Wait—No! They were [i]what?![/i]”

Tanner and Holly peeked downstairs, nervously clutching the handles of their travel bags. Their mother seemed quite agitated.

“You aren’t joking? Kate, Winston, [i]and[/i] Injae? By who?”

“What?” Holly asked, glancing over at Tanner. “Wait, what the heck happened to Ratch’?”

“I don’t know, but it sounds awful,” Tanner whispered.

“Have you called the police? Yes?” Mrs. Park asked, pacing through the hallway. “Surely there must be a search warrant… You’re saying that this has happened to others? And the police has done [i]nothing?[/i]”

“Do you think this means the trip is cancelled?” Holly whispered to Tanner.

“I hope not. I don’t want to leave Ratchet up to dry,” Tanner replied.

“B-but is it safe for my twins?” asked their mother.

“Maybe she has her phone on her,” Holly suggested.

“Are you kidding? We can’t text her if she’s in [i]trouble![/i]” Tanner hissed.

“Don’t you want to know what [i]sort[/i] of trouble she’s in?”

Tanner had to admit that he was quite concerned for their cousin. He pulled out his Galaxy and typed a quick message: [i]”Ratch’, where are you?”[/i]

Thirty seconds passed, and there was no answer.

Neither of the twins decided to state the obvious.

“My question is why the police denied any of this was going on,” Holly muttered.

“For a literature nerd,  you’re certainly good at stating the obvious,” Tanner remarked.

That earned him a light punch to the shoulder. As in, Holly’s definition of light. As in, quite heavy.

“OW,” Tanner snapped.

That got both of them a scolding from their mother about making loud noises while someone was on the telephone.

“I’m sorry…Yes, we are still coming…Of course…We’ll be there as soon as we can…"