Chapter Text
Now exactly a week since they assume Katie had gone missing they finally are all caught up with all the information they share. Ewron told them about Dark Cucurucho. He told them all about how he runs the dark workers and how he works for them. Still secretive of course, but he only told information that would be useful in saving his bestie. He told them Dark Cucurucho resides in the nether and that was the best place he could think of they would take her.
They still couldn't rule out the federation completely due to her history with them, however, they decided the dark federation was their best bet from all the evidence pointing to them. The men have primarily been together for the past couple days theorizing about what might have happened but the tension has been high. None of them trust each other except for Don and Ash which have made things difficult. They all care about Katie in their own ways so they try to push their differences aside.
The past day or so they have been preparing. First, preparing their plan. None have been in the nether before but they have heard stories. Stories of the unbearable heat, the never ending lava, and the horrors of what waits inside, all shapes the way they have to plan. They begin mapping out where all the nether portals they have seen are, choosing one not to close, but not too far away from the spawn. They don't know where Katie is in the nether specifically, but they know they need to be able to get in and out as quickly as possible. They settled on one Ash had seen near the regime. It's close to where everyone is, it's close to extra weapons, supplies, and strong forces. The next step would be once they get into the nether to look around at their surroundings, find a way to track her down, and find a way in. It shouldnt be that hard right? The four men are the strongest people on the server. One is a mad scientist who has access to nuclear bombs and reactors, another is the leader of the regime with one of the strongest fighters on their side, and the other is working with Dark Cucurucho himself. There's no way they fail this mission. They can't. They need her to be okay. They have to make sure she's safe. They need her. They understand how strong Katie is both physically and mentally but can she really hold her own against Satan himself?
After mapping the plan out they all split ways. All using their own strengths and powers to get prepared for the mission.
Don and Ash decide to work together, going back to the regime they make new armor and weapons for everyone. Full netherite, new shields, and new potions were all needed for this journey. They couldnt risk one of them losing all their stuff and not having any backups. Fire resistance potions for the lava, invisibility potions to sneak in and potions of strength just in case. In the middle of their respective smelting and mixing Ash breaks the silence.
“Why didn't she message one of us when she was in trouble..? We help her with everything. We give her everything. Weve been there with her since childhood. Why..just why..??”
Don can tell he's crying again. It's rare that Ash cries, atleast in front of people. Don only saw him cry a total of 3 times. 2 being within the past week. Don understands his pain and he wonders the same question. Mostly, Don has been beating himself up over Katie being gone. He was supposed to be there for her. He was her older brother. He should have known something was wrong. Turning around to face Ash he shares his pain. It breaks Don's heart to see his siblings hurting after all they have been through. If Don learned anything from Katie, it was that shared experiences and talking it out always helps, he learned that from her therapy business…Pulling Ash into a hug and talking to him was the only thing he could think to do.
“I know. Let it all out. I dont think she meant it to hurt us. She's always been independent, not wanting to worry us. She's strong, we both know that, but it seems she must have overestimated herself.” Don takes a deep breath, taking a beat to breathe to recompose himself and continues
“When we last saw her she was hurting. I think she feels like equals with Multi and she just sees us right now as not wanting to be a burden or worry. To her, Multi trusts her and she trusts him. With us.. I think we baby her too much sometimes. Not telling her everything has hurt her feelings. She feels she cant trust us anymore because she thinks we dont trust her and we need to show her thats not true. We will save her Ash. I promise. And when we do, we can talk. Together. As a Family.”
The brothers stood together for a while, just holding each other. They have to be strong for Katie but they also need to be strong for themselves.
Multi and Ewron split off from the group as well. Ewron going his own way he starts by talking to dark workers, getting food, and preparing useful weapons. Katie has always been his bestie since they met. Sure they prank each other and sometimes go a little too far but they always come back to each other. The week before started with Ewron and Katie fighting. 2 days in Ewron just assumed she was ignoring him. Which he hated. With no other choice he decided it was his turn to apologize to his bestie, although when he went to find her.. She was nowhere to be found… Ewron has been in her bedroom plenty of times before. It's where she always is after a day at work, it's where she decompresses so her not being there was more than weird. Ewron notices everything different about Katie, no matter how big or small, he notices when somethings wrong. When he went into her room he immediately knew it wasn't as simple as her ignoring him. Ewron was probably the 2nd person to notice she was missing.
The first person to notice she was missing was Multi. Multi and Katie spoke everyday, they said it was because of Nacho but sometimes they even talked without him. Multi noticed something was off when she didn't answer her communicator about Nacho. That same night he got the kidnapping message from her, Nacho was having trouble sleeping and wanted his mama to sing him to sleep. This has happened a few times before, Nacho frequently wakes up in the middle of the night and asks for both his parents. Multi and Katie are used to this, they are used to dropping everything to lay with Nacho together. So thats why it was weird when Multi didnt get a response back from Katie. It was 11pm, but Katie has always responded and came immediately. But.. maybe she had a long day he thought. The second red flag was no message the following day either. Multi waited the whole day awake to see her respond. That response never came.
Today, Multi would never admit it but he loved and cared for her and needed to save her as soon as possible. He needed her back home safe for both Nachos sake and his own. He had grown to trust her as his own family, waiting day by day to see her face even just for a second. Waiting to feel her touch, her hugs, her hands on his. She always knew how to calm him down. These past few days have been rough for him. Hes been struggling to sleep, struggling to keep calm and Nacho has noticed.
Nacho has seen how worried his been and knows somethings wrong with mama. Nacho hasnt seen him sleep or take a break once. Nacho asks a lot of questions which Multi has been putting off until today. Multi sits down on Nachos bed and starts to explain
“Nacho, Mama needs help. Me and her brothers are going to help her out, she will be back home soon. I will save her. I need you to promise me to stay here and not move. Do not trust anyone except for uncle Aldo. He will come and see you soon. I will be back soon I just need you to trust me.”
Multis legs are shaking, he's unable to sit still. Nacho jumps onto his papas lap, trying to calm him down saying
“I trust you Papa! When Mama come home we will go somewhere fun as a family! And she can sing to us so we can both sleep again!”
Multi laughs silently remembering her singing but Nacho was right. Her singing did calm him down too. He needs to get her back.
Later in the night all 4 men meet back up at the regime. Bringing all their supplies together, sharing potions, weapons, armour. They had everything they needed to start their plan tomorrow. The energy in the room was harsh. Everyone was on edge and ready to kill. Don was the first to speak
“So, everyone has the plan? In simple terms we get in there, look around, find her, break in, then get out. With the potions they shouldn't be able to see us and even if they do we have the armor and are ready to teleport out if needed. We are gonna save her. We need to work together and do this for her.”
Ash speaks up next,
“Everyone better be here at 7 am on the dot. If your not we are leaving without you. We need to kill those piece of shits before they even think of messing with her again.”
All four nod and go their separate ways yet again. Preparing themselves for the next day. Preparing to get Katie back.