Insanity Chapter Thirty-Four

Insanity

Chapter Thirty-Four

~Inner Demos in Outdoor Settings~

Day Twenty-Five

Undertaker smiled as he left the house late at night. He had just informed them that the Director of the Tower, the most prestigious company known to man (by the higher ups in government who will have their memories wiped after they leave office), was actually Sage. Undertaker was pretty much sire that Fang knew. If he didn’t know then he certainly does now. He just knew that they were lucky Sage underestimated them and let them escape for a short period of time.

Reighn appeared at his side after they turned the corner. The creature hated being the small thing on Undertaker’s shoulder. It made holding a pencil very hard and uncomfortable. There was a purple light and he stood in human form.

They were walking into Transaction Square when the bell on Reighns right hand rang.

“I know,” Undertaker smiled.

Four people stood alone in the square. Undertaker’s yellow eyes seemed to glow underneath his hair. He tipped his hat as he was about to pass. The four people, men in black suits, blocked his path. Reighn’s fists balled making the bell ring.

“Calm down, Reighn,” Undertaker said, he turned to the four men, “Now what can I do for you gentlemen on a fine night like this?”

“Undertaker?” one of them asked.

“Who’s that?” Undertaker smiled.

There was always a chance they would believe him and walk away.

The bell rang. The perpetual liar.

“You know who you are,” the man said.

“Of course I know who I am,” Undertaker said, “but do you know who I am?”

The four men showed their weapons, “We don’t have time for this. The Tower needs you to come back.”

“Oh, but my little shop,” Undertaker looked sad, “business was getting good, wasn’t it, Reighn?”

Reighn nodded.

“Sorry, can’t,” Undertaker tried to walk away but was stopped.

“Sage asked for you,” the man said.

“Sage who?” Undertaker smiled again.

“You know who Sage is!” the man shouted.

“I may know who Sage is but do you know who Sage is?” Undertaker tilted up his hat, showing his eyes.

The man stuttered, “But—hey—you just said—”

“Exactly,” Undertaker said before walking away.

Reighn rolled his eyes and followed him.

The four men turned and drew their weapons. One had a gun, the other had a knife, another had silver nunchuks and the last one looked like he didn’t need a weapon with all his muscle.

“Wait right there!” the man yelled.

Undertaker turned slowly, his voice changed suddenly, “I thought I made it clear that I don’t want anything to do with the Tower as I turned in my retirement papers.”

“Well, Sage needs you!” the man cocked his gun.

The clocks in the square ticked silently. Undertaker looked at one and smiled. Time. It’s been a while since he used his powers. Let’s see if he still knew how to use them. He took off his hat and handed it to Reighn.

“Hold this,” he said as his hair parted fully revealing his scares and eyes.

He walked toward the men slowly. They stepped back nervously.

“What are you doing?” the man asked.

“I know what I’m doing, but do you know what I’m doing?” Undertaker mused, “You know, there is this saying: “It all gets better with age”. It works with most cases like love, friendships, wine, I heard violins even do, powers. Oh, yes, you can train and train to use your powers but that doesn’t always make them better or get you more. I have powers now that I didn’t have twenty years ago. Would you like to see what I mean? This one I’ve had for quite a while.”

Undertaker’s eyes glowed and the steady ticking of the clocks stopped. He stopped his advance.

“Did you feel that?” Undertaker asked.

The other men looked at each other, unsure of what he was talking about.

Undertaker sighed, “I guess I’m not surprised. Only those who are really in tune with the world can feel it. What? You ask? Time stopping.”

The men looked around. There were a few telltale signs that something wasn’t right: a bird suspended in the air, a child frozen while chasing a white ball, the ball ominously spinning slowly in midair. The looked frightened. The man with the gun looked at Undertaker angrily.

“Just to let you know, we’re Agents!” he said.

“No, you’re not,” Undertaker smiled, “I’ll let you know when I see any. Reighn, I want it back when you’re done.”

Reighn nodded. He rang his bell and the hat glowed silver. Reighn flicked the hat and it turned into a sword. The man fired his gun at Undertaker. Undertaker’s eyes shined and he disappeared. Reighn ran forward with the sword. The strong man ran at him. The ground shook. Reighn jumped high above the spikes that appeared from the ground. In the air the bell rang and the sword turned blue. It lengthened into a long rod.

When Reighn landed on the ground, he swung the rod and hit the strong man behind the knees. The man stumbled but didn’t fall. Reighn swung it the other way hitting him in the chest and knocking him backwards. With the man on the ground, Reighn rang his bell the rod turned blue and grew two long points, one on each end. He plunged one end into the man’s heart.

One of the men screamed behind him. Reighn looked over his shoulder; there was no time for action. The man with the knife was charging at him. But suddenly he was lifted off the ground and hurled into the air by and invisible force. Seconds later he came crashing back down to earth. Reighn glanced over at the tables. Undertaker sat there casually with a very dark smile on your face.

Reighn pulled the rod out of the man. He heard the gun and rang the bell. The rod turned into a shield. The bullets were unable to penetrate the shield. When the rain of bullets stopped, Reighn took the shield and transformed it at a ring into a disk with sharp edges. The nunchuker was closest so Reighn threw the disk at him. The man fell back onto the ground.

The gunman looked at his three companions. He took one look Reighn and Undertaker and ran in the other direction. Undertaker stood up from the table he was sitting and walked over to Reighn. Reighn watched him closely. Undertaker seemed to be radiating an evil aura. His gold eyes stared at the fleeing man for a while. Undertaker smiled and extended his arm.

The man screamed and stopped running. He clutched his heart and stomach in pain. His screams were horrible like someone was clawing at him from the inside of his body. Reighn looked at Undertaker. He smiled as if he was enjoying torturing the man. Reighn walked over to the nunchuker and pulled out his and transformed it back into a rod. He took one edge of the rod and swung it, hitting the side of Undertaker’s face.

The screaming stopped.

For a moment, nothing happened. Undertaker’s face was turned away so Reighn couldn’t see him. Reighn held the pole defensively in case Undertaker turned on him. Slowly, Undertaker turned to look at Reighn. His eyes still glowed but they were different.

“Reighn?” Undertaker said in his usual voice, “I would very much like my hat back.”

Reighn nodded. The bell on his arm rang and the rod turned back into the hat. Reighn handed it back.

“I did it again, didn’t I,” Undertaker said to Reighn.

Reighn nodded.

“That’s what years do to you in the Tower. Sure, you act like it doesn’t bother you but in reality we know we’re killing a fellow human being. The more you ignore it the bigger the demons get until one day you can barely control them on your own,” Undertaker looked at Reighn, “If you hadn’t have come along during that last mission when you did. I probably would have killed everyone. A little creature like you stopping a monster like me; who would have thought?”

Reighn looked away, hiding his embarrassment. The bell rang.

“Oh, I know I can be hard to deal with sometimes—”

The bell rang a couple times.

“Well, I wouldn’t say all the time—”

The bell still rang.

“Fine, most of the time,” Undertaker amended, “but the truth is that if it weren’t for you, I don’t think I could deal with those demons inside of me.”

Reighn shrugged.

“Oh, Reighn, don’t be so modest,” Undertaker smiled, “you know it’s true.”

Again, Reighn hid his embarrassment. The bell rang.

Undertaker looked at him, “What was that? I didn’t quite catch it.”

The bell rang again.

“What was my first power?” Undertaker shrugged, “There is no name for it really. I just steal others powers. Well, not stealing exactly. I copy their powers. Picked up some useful ones over time.”

Reighn nodded.

“Well, I guess I should start time up again, shouldn’t I?” Undertaker said.

He walked toward the boy and his ball with Reighn close behind him. Undertaker picked up the white ball and walked toward the boy. When he was in front of the child, still frozen in time, Undertaker looked at the white ball for a while. He smiled on of his thoughtful smiles like he knew something you didn’t.

“One day,” he said quietly.

Undertaker opened the boys closed running fist and placed the ball in his hand.

“Let’s go home,” he told Reighn.

They walked down the street a little ways. Time started and the boy started running again. He stopped and looked at the object in his hand. The boy looked around. He didn’t recall catching up to the ball. But oh, well. He had it. The boy ran off home to tell his parents what a day he had.

The boy ran past a man who wore a star on a silver necklace. He stared at the fading figures of Reighn and Undertaker. He took out a small notebook and wrote something in it before walking in the other direction.

On a roof top close by, the dark man sat and watched the scene play out. He smiled.

“So you’re hiding here too then, are you Undertaker?” he said.

He stood up and turned around. There was nothing else to see. He had thought only Fang could stop him but now it looks like the old crazy retired Agent had a few tricks up his sleeve. But then again, he didn’t seem interesting in the goings on of the Tower. He might not be that much of a threat. Time would have to tell.

Insanity Chapter Thirty-Three

Insanity

Chapter Thirty-Three

~Bruised Inside and Out~

Day Twenty-Five

Fang sat on the edge of his bed. It was about six in the morning. The sun was still hidden but the sky was getting bright. There was a quiet knock at the door.

“Come in,” Fang said.

“Penelope said that she could customize the shadowcraft so that the others can’t find it or track it. She said that way we couldn’t need to steal another one,” Raven said as she walked in.

“That’s good,” Fang said only half listening, “How are the others?”

“Shadow is still unconscious. Do you really think it was a good idea to punch him that hard after he had been through an accident?”

“He had it coming,” Fang answered.

“I’m sure,” Raven sighed, she continued, “Alister is still complaining about the bump on his head. Arisa hasn’t talked to anyone and Blue is still out of it. He hasn’t said a thing since last night.”

“Blue’s awake?” he finally turned to look at her.

“Yeah,” she shrugged, “He’s been in his room the whole time. I honestly don’t think he’s even blinked.”

Fang stood up and walked past her. She stood there for a moment.

“I hate being second,” she muttered and slowly turned to leave the room, “I wish I was forth or something. But Shadow had to start freaking out and now I have to take on his duties. There is no way I’m cooking breakfast.”

Fang walked to Blue’s room. The door was closed and when Fang opened it he realized that it was dark inside. The blinds were all closed and all the electronics pulled out of their sockets. Blue wasn’t in his bed. Fang walked around and found the bathroom door open. He walked in and saw Blue curled up in the bathtub. The faucet was dripping and Blue’s hair was soaked. He stared off into the distance. Even if he was looking at Fang he wasn’t seeing him.

“Blue?” Fang said.

Blue didn’t move.

“Blue, I’m talking to you,” Fang said a little more forceful.

Blue’s eyes slowly shifted to where Fang stood, focusing on the figure in the dark.

What?

Fang looked a little disappointed, “So you aren’t talking again.”

Since when have I actually said anything?

Blue looked away again.

“Blue?”

Blue looked up again from the tub.

What?

Fang paused, “You should get some rest.”

I’m fine.

“No, you’re not, Blue,” Fang said, “Do you remember what happened last night?”

Clear as day.

“Then who was she?” Fang asked.

Blue didn’t say anything. His eyes started to stray again.

“Blue, concentrate,” he knelt down, “Who is she to you?”

But Blue had already retreated deep into his own mind. There would be nothing coming from him for a while. Fang stood up. He looked at the dripping faucet. At this rate Blue would catch a cold. He helped the broken man up and helped him to his bed. Fang grabbed a towel and dried Blue’s hair. Blue just laid there like an empty doll. He didn’t seem to notice that his location had changed. With some hesitation, he left Blue’s room.

As Fang closed the door he noticed something down the hallway. When he turned to look the someone or something it hid from his sight. Fang sighed and walked quietly to investigate. Arisa sat on the floor with her arms around her knees. She wore a black and pink dress with long white sleeves. Slowly, she looked up at Fang. Her eyes were puffy and red. She looked horribly lonely.

“Hi,” she said quietly.

“And what are you doing here?” Fang asked.

“Nothing,” Arisa buried her face into her legs.

“Come on,” Fang said, “I’ll walk you to your room.”

Reluctantly, Arisa stood up and followed Fang back down the hallway. She paused momentarily at Blue’s door.

“Blue hates me,” she said all of a sudden.

Fang stopped walking. He couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth. Those three words were like someone saying you’re going to die soon. They could stop a heart. They almost stopped Fang’s. Fang looked back at her. She was still looking at the door that she once was so excited to see. Fang turned and walked up her.

“Blue doesn’t hate you,” Fang said, “He’s just not well right now. When he’s better I’m sure he’ll tell you that himself.”

“When you’re sick you don’t push people away,” Arisa said.

Fang paused, looking for the right words, “Sometimes when you’re sick you want to be left alone for a while. But later when you feel a little better you ask others for help. Right now, Blue just needs some time to figure it all out. When he’s ready I’m sure you’ll be the one he asks for help.”

Arisa turned away from the door. Fang placed one hand on her arm. She twisted away from his touch as if she was in pain. Fang’s eyes narrowed.

“Let me see it,” Fang said.

With her head down she pulled up her sleeve. A dark bruise took up most of her arm. Fang sighed.

“Did that happen last night?” he asked.

Arisa nodded, “I just wanted to help,” she said quietly.

“I know you did,” Fang said, “I’m sure Blue will realize it soon enough.”

Fang brought her down to the medical closet, where anything from a Band-Aid and a defibrillator was kept. As they passed the kitchen Fang stopped.

“What are you doing, Alister?” Fang said through the closed door.

“Getting’ myself a snack!” Alister said, “What’s it look like?”

Fang pushed the door open, Alister stood in front of the counter with a flamethrower in his hands. Fang crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow in question.

“Eh,” Alister paused, “I know this looks bad.”

“It is,” Fang said.

“Let me explain,” Alister looked up as if the answer was on the ceiling, “Raven. Yeah, it’s Raven’s fault! She didn’t want to cook breakfast.”

“You’re sticking with that?” Fang asked

“She threatened me?” Alister said as an afterthought.

“Out,” Fang said.

With slumped shoulders, Alister walked up to his room. Fang took Arisa’s hand and continued on their way. He looked through the closet while Arisa waited a little ways behind him. She looked down at the ground while she held on to her bruised arm.

“Are you sure it isn’t broken?” Fang asked.

“Yeah,” Arisa said.

Fang found what he was looking for. It was the bruise remedy that Undertaker gave them before. There was still quite a bit left so Fang brought Arisa to the living room. She sat in a chair while Fang gently rubbed the salve on her arm. As Fang used the ointment he could tell Arisa was feeling less and less pain. She stared at the bottle the entire time.

There was a knock at the door. Fang sighed. Interesting how Raven coincidentally disappeared when you needed her for house work. He got up and answered the door.

“Well, it’s so nice seeing a pretty face like your own,” Undertaker said, “I heard the Tower’s looking everywhere for that mug.”

Undertaker had his hand on Fang’s chin.

Reighn sat up, “Yeap.”

“I’d lie low for a while if I were you,” Undertaker smiled, “Well, aren’t you going to let me in?”

Fang stepped to one side. Undertaker whistled.

“You have gotten yourself in quite the trouble, haven’t you?” he said with a smile that one would have if they knew something others didn’t.

“I might,” Fang said, “You tell me.”

“I mean walking up to the Director and asking for directions. Did you really think the Director wouldn’t know you weren’t supposed to be there?” Undertaker laughed.

“Director?” Fang asked, “And how would you know about what happened?”

Mentally, Undertaker slapped himself. For a brief moment his gold eyes were visible under his mess of hair. He did it again. Even Reighn wanted to bite his ear off. Reading minds wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. You had to make excuses why you knew things others didn’t. Undertaker spun on one foot, masking his initial pause.

“I have friends, Fang. My friends tell me things,” he said in a sing-song tone.

“Your friends know quite a lot,” Fang stated.

“Oh, please, Fang,” Undertaker turned to him, “It’s mostly street chatter. Everyone knows a little something of the truth, whether they know it or not. Just piece the fragments together and vuala! You get the truth!”

“If you’ll excuse me,” Fang said, “I was attending to Arisa’s bruise.”

“Speaking of which,” Undertaker looked around, “Where is the little pearl?”

Fang looked at the chair where she was sitting, it was empty. The ointment was even gone. He looks around the room. Fang wasn’t worried because of course she had to be in the house somewhere. But she was down.

“Ow, my head,” Shadow moaned from the top of the stairs.

“My, my,” Undertaker said, “looks like someone asked to many questions.”

Fang glanced at him.

Undertaker noticed, “What? It looks like your handiwork. But I would have through you’d skip the trouble and shot him then and there.”

“He’s still valuable,” Fang said.

“It feels great being talked about like I’m a chicken or a cow while I’m standing right here and you two don’t seem to notice,” Shadow muttered.

“Did you see Arisa up there?” Fang asked.

“Yeah, she ran up here with something in her hands. I’m not sure where she went. I think I’m seeing double,” Shadow answered.

Fang walked past him.

“‘Oh yeah, Fang, I’m doing pretty good for being punched in the face,’” in a deeper tone he said, “‘Oh, that’s good Shadow. I hope you’ve learned your lesson.’ ‘That I have, Fang. I will never again question your wisdom.’ ‘Good.’ Like, seriously Fang! I can barely see here!”

“I hope you’ve learned your lesson,” Fang said and walked away.

“Okay, okay,” Shadow nodded, “I can live with that. Next time though we’ll have to go through the whole dialogue, alright! Because that is what you say to people you hurt. Other people might say something else like ‘I’m sorry’ but you don’t say that. Not in a million years would you say that,” Shadow paused, “Gosh, I need pain killers. I feel like I ran into a truck.”

“Just a truck steering wheel and windshield,” Undertaker shrugged.

Shadow moaned.

Fang walked down the hallway. Blue’s door was slightly opened. Fang pushed it open a little more.

“Come on, Blue,” he heard Arisa’s voice, “You have to put this on. It helped my arm. See? So It’s gotta help you too.”

Blue lay still, his eyes looking past her.

“Blue?” Arisa said, “Come on, wake up, Blue.”

Slowly, Blue seemed to notice there was someone else in the room. He looked at Arisa as she explained how the ointment works and that there was plenty left for him to use wherever he was hurting. His eyes looked over to her busied arm; her sleeve was still pulled up. The light was enough that he saw the dark streak on her arm. Arisa said that there was no way they were going to be able put on the salve in the dark and she went to turn on a lamp. Blue closed his eyes for a while and slowly opened them as they became accustomed to the light.

He sat up as Arisa climbed up in to the bed with the blue bottle. She poured some in her hand. On accident some got onto the bed. Arisa looked at what she spilled and apologized repeatedly for making a mess. Blue didn’t seem to notice the mess. His eyes were still on Arisa’s arm. Blue picked her up, she spilled the remaining ointment in her and as she was pulled onto his lap. She asked him what he was doing. He held out his hand for the bottle and she gave it to him.

She started talking about how this was her ‘bestest idea ever’. If the ointment worked for her, why wouldn’t it work for Blue? Blue poured some of the liquid onto his hands. He placed the bottle beside him and rubbed his hands together. Arisa seemed happy that Blue seemed to think it was a good idea too. Blue grabbed Arisa’s injured arm and started lathering it in the ointment. Arisa was so surprised that she stopped talking for the first time in five minutes. She stared at her arm than up at Blue.

I’m sorry.

Insanity Chapter Thirty-Two

Insanity

Chapter Thirty-Two

~Voice of the Unheard – Part Three~

Day Twenty-Four

“Fang! You’re sure you know where you’re goin’?” Alister looked around, “The floors all look the same.”

Fang didn’t answer. He walked ahead of the group as if he knew where he was going. The fact was that he felt drawn to something. On the top floor he came across a room. It appeared to be an office. It was dark inside and when Fang entered. There was a heavy dark aura in the office yet something about it felt familiar.

He walked behind the desk and sat Thomas. Upon seeing the body, Blue covered Arisa’s eyes. She squirmed of course but Blue managed to get her out of the room.

“How long ago did he die?” Fang asked.

“It’s weird,” Penelope said, “His body’s freezing cold but there is no decomposition and rigor mortis hasn’t set in. Without the strange temperature, I’d say about thirty to forty-five minutes. We sorta just missed his killer.”

“Someone’s been watching too much TV,” Alister muttered.

“I would like to just get it out there that I was a Forensic Scientist for three years,” Penelope said.

“Yeah?” Alister almost laughed, “Doing what?”

“Cyber Forensics,” Penelope said, “I tracked down bad guys through the computer.”

“And how do you know about rigor and decomp and the like?” Alister crossed his arms.

“It’s not like you live in a bubble when you’re assigned a certain department! You do talk to people you know!” Penelope stomped her foot.

“The coroner was your only friend, right?” Alister shook his head.

“Not true,” her voice lost its forcefulness.

“Well the coroner and his assistant,” Alister added.

“Why I aughta—”

“He looks empty,” Fang said.

Penelope looked down, “Well, yeah he’s dead.”

“I’ve seen many dead people before and they still look like they have life. The color in their skin is still there. Their eyes are still wet. In certain cases it looks like they’re still sleeping. But him,” Fang pointed, “he looks completely empty, like something was taken away from him.”

Alister leaned over to Penelope, “The boss is creepin’ me out.”

Penelope nodded.

Fang stood up, “He’s no use to us now. Let’s get out of here.”

Alister and Penelope did as they were asked. Fang stayed behind for a moment. He walked to the window and listened. There was nothing to hear. Fang’s eyes narrowed. Where were the police? They should have been here by now. Keeping the matter in mind he walked out of the room.

In the hallway, Blue, Arisa, Penelope and Alister were trying to pry open an elevator door. When they opened it, Raven climbed up the shaft and stood there. She looked annoyed. Shadow climbed up after her.

“I told him the elevator was a bad idea,” Raven said.

“It worked fine!” Shadow defended.

“Yeah, until it stopped and started to fill with water and we had to scale thirty odd stories,” Raven walked away from him, “I told you we should have taken the stairs.”

“Yeah, but—” Shadow started.

“Shh!” Fang shushed.

Everyone grew quiet. After a moment Fang ran to the stairwell. The others followed after him.

“Care to fill us in?” Arisa asked as they ran after him.

“A helicopter is coming,” Fang said, “We need to get to the roof.”

As they entered the stairwell they heard a door close above them. They ran faster than ever and when they reached the top the door was stuck. Fang kicked down the door and ran onto the roof. A running helicopter sat ready to leave as its passengers situated themselves. He caught a glimpse of Edonya entering the helicopter. Others still stood out of the craft.

“Get them!” Fang yelled, “Get them now!”

Alister pulled out a grenade from his pocket. Penelope picked a handful of black beads from her bag and threw them. Shadow threw his daggers while Fang fired his gun. Raven dashed forward alongside a strip of flame coming from Arisa.

A man in black stared at them with a grey eye. Their combined attacks seemed to meet their mark. But suddenly a grey shockwave sent their attacks back at them in a form of energy. They were blown back and some almost fell off the side of the building. Raven who was the closest to the wave was one of the ones who fell to their deaths but she clung on to the edge.

Fang got to his feet.

“Oh, Fang,” the man said, “You’re always so quick to finish things off. Now, I’d have loved to kill you now but I have a previous engagement,” The man turned and entered the helicopter, “You two delay them.”

“Yes, sir,” Flare and Rose said in unison.

“Who are you?!” Fang asked.

The man smiled, “Ask your beloved Tower. I’m sure they know a few things about me. I’ll see you later, Fang.”

“Wait!” Fang said, there was something familiar about this man.

Rose flicked the black rose in his hand. The ground shook and a large stem of a plant shot out of the roof in front of them. Arisa stood on shaky legs and shot out her arm, setting the plant on fire. It burned and withered. Flare took a deep breath and blew. A raging fire escaped from her mouth and Blue was directly in its path.

“Blue!” Fang called.

Blue seemed out of it. His eyes didn’t seem to stray from the girl in orange. Words seemed to be forming on his lips but his voice failed to project.

“Blue!” Fang ran at the helpless being.

Fang pushed him out of the way just as the fames passed. On the ground, Fang slapped Blue.

“Blue, are you there?! Snap out of this, Blue!” he said.

Blue didn’t seem to hear Fang. His eyes were still on the orange girl. Flare turned around after Rose and headed into the helicopter. When it was her turn to climb in Blue pushed Fang off of him. He stood and ran a little ways. At that moment, Fang and everyone else heard something they had never heard before. Blue’s voice.

“Kyra!” he shouted.

In surprise the girl turned around.

“Kyra!” Blue sobbed.

The girl was pulled into the helicopter and the door was closed. She returned to the window, banging on and screaming something. The helicopter lifted off the ground and started to leave. Blue ran toward the helicopter. Fang and Shadow were at his heels. They caught up to him. Fang grabbed his left arm and Shadow got his right. They held him back and Blue struggled violently.

“Let me go!” Blue screamed.

Just let me go please! I’m begging—”

“Kyra!”

The tears were streaming down his face. As he watched the helicopter leave. When it was finally out of site he dropped to his knees. He wept and cried as if someone had ripped his hear out. Fang looked down at him. He tried to help Blue up hut Blue pushed him away and screamed.

“Get away from me!” the voice was filled with anger, sorrow and longing.

Fang looked at Arisa. She stood there wide eyes, not sure what to do. She had never seen Blue like this and certainly had never heard his voice. Her eyes slowly filled with tears. She felt helpless. Her legs gave way and she fell to her knees. She crawled to Blue’s side and tried to comfort him. Blue pushed her away. His hand hit her face and she flew to the side. She landed awkwardly, sprawled to one side. Tears started to flow down her face faster. She curled up into a ball and cried silently.

“Kyra,” Blue muttered over and over again.

Raven had just pulled herself from over the edge. She seemed to have heard him as well when he first cried out.

There was a noise that Fang couldn’t make out. Suddenly, the ground exploded in front of them. shadowcraft dropped out of its cloak and flew over them. Fang and Shadow were blown back by the blast but Blue barely seemed to notice. Shadow looked around in the sky. There were several shadowcrafts around. Looked like the Tower caught up with them. He looked at Fang.

Fang got up, “Come on! We have to get out of here! Blue!”

Blue was still unaware of what was happening. Alister walked up took his gun and hit Blue in the back of the head.

“‘E’s not comin’ back any time soon,” he said, “This is the best way to transport him. Penelope you can teleport him to the craft right?”

She nodded.

“You do that and get ‘er started,” Alister commanded.

Penelope ran up to the unconscious Blue. She looked over at Arisa.

“What about her?” she asked.

“I’ll carry her,” Raven said, “I can carry her on my back. Lost my last sword when I almost fell.”

“That sound good,” Shadow looked at Fang, “What do you think?”

“It can’t hurt,” he said, “Whatever we’re going to do we have to do it now!”

Everyone nodded. Penelope placed a hand on Blue and they both disappeared. Raven situated Arisa on her back. Another explosion happened on the roof. Their place of standing was getting pretty small.

“You are surrounded,” the voice sounded familiar.

“Sage,” Fang muttered.

“Resistance is futile,” Sage said, “You are in ownership of stolen property. I repeat you are surrounded.”

Fang looked at the undamaged side of the wall.

“What does everyone think about free falling?” Fang asked.

“Sounds good,” Shadow said.

“Anything to shut him up,” Raven said.

They all ran to the edge and jumped over. Raven ran down the side of the building. Shadow merged with the wall and went down that way. Fang and Alister fell. Alister landed on a parked car and Fang landed on the sidewalk*. Raven jumped off the side of the building and onto the street where she continued running.

They ran down the street. Shadow was nowhere to be seen but on one of the streets they passed a car started. The car drove up to Alister and Fang.

Shadow smiled, “As awesome as you three think you are; you can’t out run a shadowcraft. I’m sorry but that just isn’t happening. Hop in.”

“Everyone buckled?” Alister asked inside.

“You’re kidding,” Shadow said, “I think that this situation can be an exception.”

“Safety first, is all I’m sayin’,” Alister said.

They got in and Shadow sped up. The army of shadowcrafts followed close behind him. Alister sat in the back of the Hummer assembling a rocket launcher*. He looked at the skylight and smiled. Alister broke through it. He propped the weapon on his shoulder as Shadow did some evasive driving.

“Any idea where Sage is Fang?” Alister asked.

Fang rolled down the window and tilted mirror so it looked up. He heard the strange sound that he heard before.

“Shadow, dodge left,” he said.

Shadow did as the ground where they had just been exploded.

“Try the one just to the left of two-o-clock,” Fang told Alister, he looked at Shadow, “Right.”

Shadow drove the vehicle right and the ground to the left of them vanished in flames.

“Is that my two-o-clock or your two-o-clock?” Alister asked Fang.

“Yours,” Fang sighed, “Take this next left, Shadow. Stop!”

The car jerked to a stop, slamming Alister’s back into the edge of the sun roof. The round in front of them blew up. And temporarily they were surrounded by flames.

“Now you can go,” Fang said when the flames dissipated.

“Ow,” Alister muttered.

“Suck it up, Alister,” Fang said, “Three-o-clock, go.”

Alister aimed the rocket directly to his right he fired and watched the rocket reach its target. The shadowcraft exploded in midflight. Alister whistled.

“Look at that,” he said, “Prettier than fireworks.”

“Where’s Raven?” Shadow asked.

“Stay close to the buildings on the left,” Fang said, “She runs faster that this car does. But I’m sure she’ll wait somewhere down the line. Good job Alister.”

“No problem,” Alister ducked down to get another rocket.

“Nice try Fang,” Sage said, “you will have to do better than that.”

Fang closed his eyes, “Twelve-o-clock.”

“There ain’t anythin’ there,” Alister said.

“Turn right,” Fang said.

The ground exploded behind them, almost knocking them over as they made the turn. In front of them was the view of the lake.

“What was that?” Alister asked.

“It’s cloaked,” Fang said, Now Shadow, just survive a few more minutes, okay.”

Shadow looked at him, “Why wouldn’t I?”

“I’m just saying,” Fang said, “Dodge left.”

Shadow did and as usual they barely missed their deaths. Alister ducked his head inside the vehicle.

“Can I drive?” he asked.

“No!” Shadow answered.

They saw Raven just ahead of them. She looked over her shoulder. Her eyes found Fang and she seemed to be asking a question. Fang nodded and she continued running toward the water.

“Fang?” Shadow asked.

“Keep going,” Fang answered, “Left.”

Another explosion.

Fang unbuckled, “Right.

Shadow looked at him in the red glow, “Should I—”

“Unbuckle? It might be easier in the long run if you do,” Fang pointed, “Alister get in the car. Right.”

Alister sat down. Shadow shook his head.

“No, I mean do you want me to—”

“Drive through the railing and dive into the water?” Fang shrugged, “Yeah, that’s pretty much what I had in mind. Increase speed, please.”

“How can you be so calm?” Shadow asked, he was obviously starting to freak out.

“This will work,” Fang said, “If you speed up. This is in no means fast enough. We’ll just end up like pancakes at this rate.”

The car sped up.

“I’ve already almost died once today!” Shadow said.

“Um, guys,” Alister interrupted.

“Now you will almost have died twice,” Fang looked at him, “Speed up.”

“You are going to kill us!” Shadow shouted, “Is this like some form of mass suicide?!”

“Hey um, you might wanna—” Alister tried again.

“You’ll kill us if you don’t go faster,” Fang said still keeping a cool head.

“This is pretty fast already,” Alister stared ahead, “The railing is coming really fa—”

“We still have a ways,” Fang interrupted.

“Like heck we do!” Shadow shouted, he looked forward, “We’re all going to—shi—”

They drove through the railing and into the lake below. Raven jumped over the edge and plunged in with Arisa. From above there was no action as the shadowcrafts tried to find any signs of life.

Moments after the Hummer plunged into the cold waters another shadowcraft shot out of the water. It cloaked itself and disappeared into the night before the other crafts could fire at it.

*I know, I know, not realistic. So sue me.

*Don’t ask me where he keeps them. Just go with it

Insanity Chapter Thirty-One

Insanity

Chapter Thirty-One

~Voice of the Unheard – Part Two~

Day Twenty-Four

“What do you mean you had to fall back?!” Thomas shouted into the phone, “Why?!”

“I’ll tell you why!” Zorah yelled on the other end, “We’re being flooded out, that’s why!”

“A little water never hurt anyone!”

“A little? A little?!” Zorah was losing her patience, “There’s enough water here to drown a great whale! The first two floors are flooded and my knees are gettin’ wet! There are barely any survivors while you sit there rather comfortable like!”

“I want Fang killed!” Thomas shouted, “I need Fang killed!”

“Well, it ain’t happenin’ today, dear,” Zorah said.

Thomas frantically looked for a solution, “How many of you are there?”

“As far as I know,” Zorah paused, “just me.”

Thomas felt his heart sink to his stomach, “But that’s still a chance.”

“What was that?”

“Kill him,” Thomas said.

“I’m sorry, thought I ‘eard you say kill ‘I'm,” Zorah said in disbelief.

“I want you to kill him!”

“By myself?!”

“If you have to! I want him dead!” Thomas hung up the phone.

Zorah stood by the phone for another minute. She couldn’t believe what she had just heard. The water was already up to her waist and he wanted her to kill Fang all by herself. In anger she hung up the phone. There was no point in standing around anymore. She needed to get to the stairs. At the stairwell she came across a surprise.

“He’s gone insane,” she muttered, “He’s gone bloody insane.”

“There she is!” Edonya waved at her from a floor above.

“I thought I heard her muttering,” Thae said

“Come on up, up, up,” Edonya said.

Relief washed over Zorah and she ran up the stairs to meet them.

“So this is where you blokes were hiding!” she hugged Edonya, “I thought you were dead!”

“Thae saved me!” Edonya chimed.

“Is ‘at so,” Zorah looked at Thae.

Thae crossed his arms and looked away, “Yeah, so what.”

“Nice to know someone has a heart,” Zorah’s smile disappeared, “At least half of one! Why didn’t ya save me too?”

“Look at her,” Thae said, “She can barely make it through this story let alone a current.”

“We’re in a story?” Edonya asked.

“Never mind,” Zorah glared at Thae.

Thomas breathed heavily. There was a chance. Not a big one but a chance is a chance. He started to breath normally again and even began to laugh.

“Thomas,” a voice said in the room.

Thomas’s half chuckle stopped. He felt cold all of a sudden. A hand came up behind him and touched under his chin. The hand forced Thomas to look into another man’s eyes. He trembled as he looked into the man’s eyes.

A pair of eyes looked into his. One was grey and the other was a dark glowing purple. A thing smile appeared in the darkness. The man had flowing black hair.

“Thomas,” the man said, “You failed me.”

“No. no,” Thomas shook his head, “There’s still a chance. There’s still a chance!”

“Oh, Thomas,” the man placed one finger on Thomas’s lips to silence him, “Let’s be logical now.”

Thomas hit the man’s hand away, “No! Stay away from he!”

“But you have something that belongs to me,” the man smiled.

The man’s purple eye stirred into a bright purple. Thomas screamed. When the room was quiet Thomas’s lifeless body fell in a heap on the ground. The man’s eye returned to its normal dark purple. He smiled.

“Now, now, Thomas,” the man looked down at Thomas, “We did have an agreement. Your soul for failure and life for Fang. You did fail, didn’t you?”

The man looked around the office. He left the room.

“Come on!” Zorah said as she ran up the stairs.

Edonya was fast asleep on Thae’s back. She had grown tired after the first or so flight of stairs and complained continuously after that so Thae let her on his back. He looked up Zorah.

“Try running with this lazy on your back,” Thae said.

“I wasn’t the one who decided to help her,” Zorah smiled.

Thae’s stance suddenly got defensive as he looked at something past her. Zorah grabbed her staff and looked at the threat. Two people stood on the landing just ahead of them. One was a man and he wore red. He smiled sweetly while smelling a black rose. His black hair hid part of his face as he looked at the three below with red eyes. He wore a red cloak with black roses on them. The other was a girl. She stared blankly at them with orange eyes. All that she wore was orange. Her hair was orange and short. She just wore orange leather and high heeled boots.

“Look what we have here, Flare,” the man said.

“Three survivors,” Flare said.

“That’s right,” the man said, “Right where Master said they’d be.”

“What do you what?” Zorah raised her staff.

The man bowed, “My apologies, we haven’t introduced ourselves, have we? I’m Black Rose but you can call be Rose. This is my associate Flare. Say hello, Flare.”

“Hello,” she said.

“That’s nice,” Rose said, “We are here to offer you the same invitation that our Master offered to us a long time ago. He asks if you would be interested to join us, the Zeta of Darkness.”

“And why should we join you?” Zorah said.

“We’ll have to kill you then,” Flare said.

“Hold on, Flare!” Rose said with a smile, “We should at least give them reasons why.”

“But Master said—”

“Master also said they’re valuable assets. If you kill them, they aren’t valuable anymore,” he looked back at the tree, “Again, my apologies. My partner here is a little too good at her job. She takes everything literally. You don’t have to join our team but you would be missing an opportunity to go down in history.”

“Really?” Edonya woke up.

Rose smiled, “Of course, my dear.”

“What would we go down in history for?” Thae asked, “The three stupidest people to fall for a line like that?”

“How about you name’s in the book for reforming this world?” Rose’s eyes narrowed.

He was really beginning to hate the one in black.

“What do you mean?” Zorah said with her weapon still raised.

“We Others have been put down enough. The humans hate us and wish we were all dead. They will continue to make our lives miserable. So we’ll have to either turn them all into us Others or kill them off,” Rose smiled, “There’s no need to worry though. Our Master is giving humans a chance. When we finally take over this world, we’ll be like kings!”

“And what makes you think we’ll join?” Thae asked.

“We’ll have to kill you if you don’t,” Flare said.

“We can also help you get Fang,” Rose nodded, “We want him dead. He is honestly the only one that can catch on to what we’re doing and stop us. It’s so sad how naïve people will be. We’re doing what we’re doing for a cause.”

“The end justifies the means, is that right?” Zorah asked. She lowered her weapon, “I do have a beef with Fang and his band of merry men.”

“We all do!” Edonya said, “And I don’t wanna die.”

Thae rolled his eyes, “So you guys are buying into this crap?”

“I don’t see why not,” Zorah said, “It’s the logical choice.”

“I’m in!” Edonya said.

“Great,” Thae said sarcastically, “Someone has to look after you. That forces me to join.”

“I have Zorah,” Edonya looked down at Thae.

“Yeah? Well look what happened,” Thae said, “You nearly burned to a crisp, got pulled into the floor and drowned in less than an hour. Face it, you need an army of people to look after you.”

“Thae, you’re mean!” Edonya jumped off his back and went to stand with Zorah.

“So you’re all joining?” Rose asked.

“Looks like it, Flower Boy,” Thae said.

Yeah, he was really hating this Thae.

“Well, that’s good news,” Rose said through clenched teeth.

Flare turned away slightly to hide a faint smile.

“That’s very good news,” a voice said.

Everyone looked up. A man with different colored eyes looked down at them.

“Master?” Rose asked, “What are you doing here? I had everything under control.”

“I’m sure you did,” the man said, “I never doubted you. I just got board of waiting. Come on, let’s get to the roof. Nest is waiting.”