It all appeared to go in slow motion. A waft of pot, cheap aftershave and sweat rushed towards him, all covered in a package of denim and curls that desperately needed a wash. The only thing out of place was the pink purse the snatched firmly clutched in his hand. He hopped over a homeless man, ducked under the arms of a couple on their way to the movies, then came straight at Zach.

Zach, who barely registered what was happening, looked around for a cop, finding none.

He turned back to the snatched, wondering if he should help. It definitely wasn’t any of his business, but… Saki would have helped. Clocking him between the eyes with her yo-yo before quietly disappearing into the sunset…

Zach’s hand went into his satchel and his fingers locked around of the three tennis balls he kept there. He pulled it out, held it between his hands as if he were on a pitching mound, taking deliberate aim.

As he pulled his arm back, he got a good look at the blue eyes under the mesh of curls, then threw the ball.

It flew true…

...Through the glass panes of a phone booth to be exact.

Zach gasped, glad to see there was nobody, then felt the snatched sweep by him.

“Girl, Stop him!” the middle aged lady chasing after him yelled.”

It took a second to realize the woman was addressing him, but then he sprang into action. He turned on is heel and set off after him. He ducked and weaved through the early evening crowd, feeling in his satchel for the second of his tennis balls. He pulled it out from his bag, only to feel it slide out from between his fingers. With a light tho-thock, it rolled into traffic.

He looked ahead, seeing he’d lost his mark, but still kept running. He hopped on a bench, jumped over the lap of of the woman feeding birds, then hopped onto a concrete divider that kept the pedestrians out of the roadworks.

He looked carefully and found his target. He had slowed down, more out of necessity than choice. He was currently trying to pass by a crowd of kids, who were all excited, yelling and being a headache for their guardians.

Even though he’d had no luck with the previous two, Zach took out his last tennis ball and launched it at the snatcher, jumping off the barrier in the same action.

He was on the ground just in time to see the ball bounce behind his target, neatly arching over his head and landing in the group of kids.

There was a moment of silence, then the screaming and running went into overdrive as twelve children all tried to catch the sudden toy that appeared between them.

The snatcher thought this was the chance he’d been waiting for, but instead fell over one of the children, slamming his chin roughly against the stone. It was what Zach needed to gain on him.

Before he could get up, Zach firmly planted his foot on the thief’s back and bent down to take the purse from him.

Some of the children clapped. Their guardian just looked confused at the whole ordeal and others were rushing to help apprehend the thief.

“Get off,” the snatcher snarled, struggling to get out from under Zach’s foot.

“...Razor?” Zach asked quietly.

“...Harper?” was the response.

Zach pulled his foot back, watched Razor scramble to get up, then sprint into an alley.

“Why’d you let him go, girl?” the purse owner yelled, “He has to go to jail!”

Zach was about to make up an excuse when he remembered. He’d run off without telling Yuki where he was going. He pushed the woman’s purse back in her hands, then ran back to the movie theater.

He found her looking uncharacteristically nervous, pacing in front of the building.

“Zach...y,” she said, “There you are.”

“Sorry,” Zach replied, using a barrier to lean on and catch his breath, “What has you rattled?”

“Your sister.”

“Tara? Why?”

“She is not going to a horror movie…. She is going to the club.”

“She’s undera…” Zach started, then suddenly remembered the fake ID’s and realized Lucy’s duffle bag must have been a change of clothes.

“What were they wearing?”

“What?”

“Lucy and Tara,” he snapped, dropping his girl voice for a moment, “What were they wearing?”

A few passers-by glanced at the girl, wondering why a boyish voice like that came from her, though most forgot it a second later as they rushed to reach their movie.

“Does it matter?”

“Yes! Then we can figure out where they went. Dress codes, Yuki…”

Yuki stared blankly, trying to remember.

“Yuki, think!”

“They both had black leather jackets,” Yuki said, thinking out loud, “Lot of makeup. A Bit pale. ...Wild hair. Lucy was her name? Lucy had a giant blue wig.”

“Shirts, Yuki. Was there anything on there shirts?”

Yuki closed one eye and cocked her head, then clapped her hands when she remembered, “Lucy did not have a shirt. She had a cor...corsage?”

“Corset?”

“Yes!”

“And Tara?”

“Cut up t-shirt. It said ‘B-A-U’, but I could not read everything.”

“Bau...Bau..Bauhaus!” Zach muttered to himself, “...Probably.”

“Bauhaus?”

“Die Welle!”

“Zach, I do not speak German.”

“It’s a club. Probably where they are.”

“One, it’s not that far from here. Two, they play stuff like Bauhaus I think and three, goth girls slather on white makeup like nobody’s business.”

“So?”

“So,” Zach explained, already starting to walk in the direction of the club, “It would be a lot easier to lie about their age. …A lot of makeup and you don’t look like your ID photo. Do you think a cop would believe that’s my driver’s license?”

“I think not even your mother would,” Yuki teased, dutifully following Zach.

A little bit into an alley, a stairway led into a cellar, only recognizable as a club by the sign on the side of the laundromat it was under. Across from the alley was a bench, where Zach and Yuki were quietly observing the comers and goers to Die Welle. Even though the sun hadn’t gone down yet, they had seen all sorts of people enter. Regular goths, a man who was leading another man, or woman, clad entirely in rubber on a leash, a girl dressed like a fairy princess, all who seemed like regulars to the place. Other potential patrons that stood out like sore thumbs tended to be turned away. An exception being a man dressed in a white pantaloons and a floral printed shirt left so far open that Zach could see the man’s chest hair bursting out, interrupted only by a couple of thick gold chains. The man was escorted by two suited men, dressed in trench coats that looked pointedly around them, trying to look inconspicuous.

There was a brief exchange between red-shirt and the two suited men. The two seemed to insist on staying with him, but then shrugged and left as their ward headed into the club.

They crossed the street without looking, heading for the cafe behind Yuki and Zach.

“Underage?” one of the men said, gesturing to Zach and Yuki.

The other looked over his sunglasses, winked at Zach, who instantly felt he needed a shower, and confirmed it for his buddy.

“Maybe they’re waiting till they’re old enough to get in,” the first laughed, “You want to get coffee? I’m not waiting for Vinnie when he’s scoping out club sluts.”

“Why there anyway?”

“Have you seen the girls that go there?” was one of the last things Zach heard, “Smoking hot and enough daddy issues for any shrink. Free money for Vinnie if he convinces them to be in his little home videos…”

Zach paled at the thought of his sister being the mark for this ‘Vinnie’, wondering if he should somehow make his way inside the club and get her out.

“Yuki?” he whispered, “Did you hear that… Yuki?”

Zach turned to see his friend had left the bench, crossed the street and was already heading down the cellar stairs.

He hoped she had a plan…

She was gone for about ten minutes before returning to the Bench and dropping down next to Zach.

“How’d you get in?” he asked incredulously.

“I pretended I had to pee and kept pleading with him until he let me go.”

“He didn’t just send you to,” he jabbed his finger to the cafe behind him.

“Oh, I sorry mister,” she said, purposely playing up an accent, “I very bad English… Please. I need pee.”

Zach laughed, “Aha… And what did you find out?”

“I saw Tara and Lucy from the hallway before the bouncer kicked me out again. Never left my side. They are dancing, but it is boring. The club is still empty at this hour. Only a few dozen people.”

“Understood. So they should be saf…”

Zach trailed off, seeing his sister hand in hand with the man he understood was called Vinnie.

He got up to rush across the street, but Yuki grabbed his skirt to stop him. There was an angry honk from a bus and a middle finger from the driver.

When the bus had passed, his sister and Vinnie were gone, leaving only a forlorn Lucy in the middle of the pavement.

He checked to make sure he wasn’t about to became a stain on the road, then rushed to the other side, grabbing Lucy’s shoulder.

“Where are they going?” he demanded, switching to his girl voice halfway into the sentence.

“A motel,” Lucy muttered, “He says he wants Tara to be a model.”

“Name?” Zach demanded.

“Parkview!” Lucy cried, then put her fingers in her mouth to chew on her nails, “Her dad’s gonna kill me.”

“Go to the diner across from the movie theater,” he instructed, “We’re getting her back. The diner and stay there.”

“Who are you?” the girl stammered.

“Does not matter,” Yuki insisted, “Go, girl.”

Zach nodded to Yuki, not really caring if Lucy would listen to him, far more concerned with his sister’s fate. He set off towards Parkview, his feet seeming to gain wings as he ran.