Insanity Chapter Thirty-Nine

Insanity

Chapter Thirty-Nine

~Alister’s Tower~

Day Thirty-Two

Sage sat in his office. He looked deep in thought. His office was large with a desk in the center. The walls were lined with bookshelves and bookshelves of books. It was late in the afternoon and he was getting some last minute things done before he had to check on some of his Agents.

There was a knock at the door. Sage looked up and sighed.

“Come in,” he said.

A man dressed in a black suit came in, “Hello sir.”

“What do you want?” Sage asked without looking up from his work.

“We have a situation, Sir,” the guard said.

Sage looked up, “What situation?”

“If you would follow me, sir?” the man said.

Sage stood up and followed the man out.

***

The Mansion

“I’m bored!” Alister lay on the couch, “Can’t we do somethin’?”

Fang walked by with duster in hand. He ignored Alister and kept himself busy with the chores that the others seemed to always avoid like the plague. Shadow even seemed to be suspiciously missing when Fang went to ask him to clean the house. Alister just didn’t seem to care either way.

“I’m bored!” Alister complained again, “Is there anythin’ to eat?”

“Keep that up and you might not be able to lift your dead body off that couch,” Fang snapped.

Alister kept his mouth closed. When Fang turned his back he heard a faint “yeah, but at least it would put an end to my boredom” coming from Alister. He let the comment slide. There were more important thing to do than deal with Alister right now. Alister had his own category of problems. On top of that, Fang didn’t have much sleep the night before. There was something bugging him in the back of his mind. He tried the whole night to figure out what it was. Even Shadow stopped by when he saw the light under the door.

Fang glared at a few cobwebs in a high corner. As much as he was pleased that the spiders were getting rid of the other more unpleasant insects, he did wish that they would choose to make their homes in a less attractive corner. He crossed his arms. There was no stool high enough to get him up there. He turned to Alister.

“Alister,” Fang stated.

Alister looked over the couch back. He looked at Fang. His eyes looked guilty, he must have been muttering other things that Fang was wise to ignore.

“Make yourself useful and help me clean,” Fang said.

With a heavy sigh, Alister got up and walked over to where Fang stood. Fang handed him the duster and pointed to the spider webs. Slowly, Alister looked at the duster that up at the corner. He started to make the connection.

“How do I—” Alister started to ask.

“You’re creative,” Fang said as he patted Alister on the shoulder, “You can figure something out.”

“Why do we have to clean again?” Alister asked.

“Would you rather we live in a pig sty with rats crawling around?” Fang responded in a question.

Alister shrugged, “I’d be good target practice.”

“It wasn’t an opinion question Alister,” Fang stared at the younger man in front of him.

“I knew that! I was just sayin’!”

There was a knock at the door. Fang watched for a moment as Alister contemplated the situation he had to conquer. Then he went to the door.

“Who is it?” Fang asked before opening it.

“The man who pays you so you’d better open up before I cut your pay,” a voice said on the other side.

Fang opened the door, “Sage?”

The Tower director looked agitated, “No, it’s Bob. Who do you think it is?”

“It’s just that we don’t normally get many visits from you,” Fang said cautiously, his natural skepticism was in overdrive. He was expecting to overrun by Agents at any moment now.

“In fact,” Fang continued, “This is the first.”

“And I assure you, it will be the last,” Sage angrily crossed his arms, “Are you going to let me in or do you usually let your guests stand here on the front step?”

Fang stepped back and allowed Sage to walk in. Sage looked around briefly before sitting down in a chair. His back was to where Alister stood looking up at the high corner full of cobwebs. Fang sat across from him.

“Would you like something to drink?”

Sage waved his hand, “I don’t have time for that.”

“Well, then,” Fang said, “May I ask why you are here?”

Fang glanced in the back ground. Alister tried unsuccessfully to jump up to the spider webs. After a few tries, Alister stopped and sighed. He seemed to lighten up and walked off somewhere.

“I sent a few Agents to take keep an eye on Zeta at their last known headquarters.”

“You knew where they were?” Fang asked.

“Yes,” Sage stated, “But from what the Agents said I didn’t think of them as an immediate threat.”

Fang raised an eyebrow, “Crazy Other with the intentions of ruling the world didn’t ring any alarms?”

“Let me finish,” Sage sighed, “Well anyway, after the incident at Chicago I had my Agents look deeper into what they were doing. Recently, I instructed a raid on their headquarters. I was just informed that the Agents found nothing.”

Fang sat quietly. Alister came back into the room. The sound of wood scraping against wood broke the silence. Sage glared over at the red head. Alister continued pushing a large desk over to the corner. This took several minutes of off and on scraping. When he finally reached the corner he smiled an apologetic smile and waved at Sage.

“Which one are you?” Sage asked.

“Name’s Alister,” Alister smiled.

“Oh, so you’re the one,” Sage nodded, “Tell me, you really don’t have an imaginary friend named Shifter, do you?”

Alister’s face went plaster white. He looked to Fang for guidance.

“Not really an imaginary friend exactly,” Fang answered, “more like a voice in his head.”

Sage looked at him, “Really?”

“Yes,” Fang nodded, “He’s always muttering about something when I’m around. Talking to this Shifter that we don’t see.”

Alister narrowed his eyes. This was payback about earlier. Little did he know that Fang only really listened to one of his mutterings and not all but he assumed that Fang was getting back at him.

“The company you keep, Fang,” Sage shook his head, “I wonder about your sanity.”

“Let me worry about my sanity,” Fang said, “Why exactly are you here?”

“Right,” Sage paused, “As the Agents were looking through the building, they found evidence of a device. They searched everywhere but didn’t find where it could be.”

Alister walked away and came back with a chair and a small stool. He placed both on top of the desk. Fang started to get a queasy feeling in his stomach. Alister placed them in a way so that the opened end of the chair and the seat of the stool were even with each other. After that, he walked away again.

“And?” Fang asked.

“I had our engineers look at some blueprints they found and analyze them. It’s a unique device that turns normal humans into Others.”

“He said he’d do something like that,” Fang muttered.

Alister came in again, this time with a small filing cabinet. Assuming it was empty, Fang watched Alister place the box onto the chair. Alister stepped back analyzing what he had done. He then moved the stool and chair over a bit before walking away once more.

“Yes,” Sage sounded like he was swallowing something bitter, “You see we can’t have that happen. And quite frankly you…are one of the best teams…out there.”

“Did it hurt to say that?” Fang asked.

Sage glared at him, “Don’t push it.”

Alister came in again with five large pots. He placed one on the desk behind the chair face down. He placed another one on top of that face up. He continued doing that until the five pots were placed. They were collectively higher that the back of the chair. Alister stepped back and stared at his creation. Then with duster in between his teeth, he started to climb Alister’s Tower.

“We need you to go after Zero and stop him before he uses that weapon,” Sage seemed to gag on something.

“That hurt too, didn’t it,” Fang stated.

Alister stepped onto the stool and climbed up onto the box on the chair. He had to steady himself because of unsure footing but then continued upward.

“I assure you,” Sage went on, “It will be worth your time.”

“Well, I guess we’ll have to,” Fang said, “The fate of the world depends on us.”

Sage smiled, “You don’t really care about that, do you?”

Fang shrugged, “Have you seen the news lately? They hate us Others so frankly I could care less. But personally, I would hate being ruled over by someone like Zero. And a kind of like this island. It’s sort of growing on me.”

Alister stepped onto the pots. He reached up and cleaned the corner.

“We’ll need you by tomorrow to discuss some things,” Sage stood up.

“Beats sitting around here doing nothing,” Fang stood as well, “Right Alister?”

“Yep,” he said as he reached for the last cobweb.

Just then Arisa came screaming down the stairs with Blue close behind her. She ran through furniture, not noticing that Mt. Alister was on the verge of collapse already as it was. Arisa accidentally bumped into the magnificent sculpture causing the bot to bump into the chair, making the chair bump into the pots, and sending the pots, plus Alister, crashing to the floor.

“Ow…” Alister moaned as he laid sprawled in broken pottery.

Sage glanced at him, “Will he be alright for tomorrow?”

“He should be fine,” Fang answered.

“Oops,” Arisa said as the unbalanced chair started to topple over in Alister’s direction.

Insanity Chapter Thirty-Eight

Insanity

Chapter Thirty-Eight

~Taking the Past Under Perspective~

Day Thirty-One

It was a dark and stormy night. Undertaker sat on his ankles as he stared outside through a glass window. He didn’t wear his hat or his grey robe, just a black sleeveless shirt and black pants. His gold eyes staring through his hair were easily seen. They were cold and heartless, far from the child he had once been. But, as most things, it was too late to turn back. As an adult now, killing people was all he knew.

He sighed as lightning crossed the sky and was followed by a booming thunder. Not even a bad storm could rattle him now. His eyes lazily shifted to a figure in the darkness.

“What do you want, Sage?” his voice sounded younger, “Another diplomat threatening to squeal that there’s an Island of Others out here?

“No,” Sage looked at him, “Are you alright?”

Undertaker shrugged, “I’m fine.”

“How do you feel?” Sage asked.

“The same,” Undertaker’s expression didn’t change.

“Nothing?”

Undertaker paused. He mentally kicked himself. Sage and him had talked a few days ago as a requirement for his line of work. For the first time, Undertaker actually told what he felt. That would be the last time he would tell Sage anything about himself.

“Nothing,” Undertaker answered after a while.

“Maybe you should sit this one out,” Sage said before turning toward the door.

Undertaker stood up, “What needs to be done? I’ll do it. It is my job after all.”

“I think you should take a break,” Sage’s eyes looked at Undertaker’s gold ones.

Undertaker sighed, “I don’t see why I should.”

Sage turned and headed for the door. A sudden emotion rushed through Undertaker. His calm complexions suddenly flared into fury. He reached for the nearest object, a snow globe, and threw it with dangerous precision. The snow globe shattered when it hit the wall just less than an inch from Sage’s face. Sage slowly turned to face Undertaker.

Undertaker scowled at Sage. There was pure hatred in his eyes. It looked as if he was saddened that he had missed. Slowly it faded into the blank stare of nothing. Undertaker breathed heavily.

Sage watched him, “I happened to like that snow globe. There’s something in you waiting to come out. I can’t sent you on another mission.”

“If you sent me on one more, I’ll take a break!” Undertaker shouted, his eyes flaring again.

Sage was silent, “Fine. But you have to promise one thing.”

Undertaker nodded.

“You retire after this last mission.”

The breath caught in Undertaker’s throat. He wasn’t expecting that. As well trained as he was he was experienced enough to expect the unexpected. But this wasn’t even in a pest of a thought in his mind.

“Do we have an understanding?” Sage asked.

“If this is about the snow globe—”

“It isn’t,” Sage stated and walked out the door, “Beta. He’s popped up on our radar. Apparently, he’s an assassin lord or something. We have reason to believe that he had something to do with the fire that killed his leader. He’s a growth threat. He’s responsible for five of our top Agent’s deaths. Kill him or die trying. Either way, we won’t be seeing each other again.”

Undertaker nodded slowly, “What will I do?”

Sage shrugged, “What you usually do. I don’t care how you kill him.”

“No,” Undertaker paused, “I meant after.”

Sage stopped and sighed, “I don’t know. Start a business or something. Do anything other than kill people for yourself.”

Undertaker nodded but it was apparent that he didn’t like what he was hearing. He faded into the shadows. That was the last time he had seed Sage.

The rains fell harder, plastering Undertaker’s hair to his face and head. He managed to narrow down Beta’s location in a matter of hours through contacts and over all snooping around. Who was the one who said that curiosity killed the cat? This specific cat lived off of being curious.

He sat on a roof top overlooking a bar. A figure with black hair walked out. Undertaker stood and followed him. He walked along the roof tops, glad only that the rain hid him from view in its torrents. When it rained, people rarely looked up. Beta reached another building. Undertaker jumped to the ground. He followed silently.

“Hey Beta!” a few voices called out.

Beta ignored them and walked into a room. He looked out a glass window. He was deep in thought when he saw a silhouette outside. It started running and he turned around. Someone pushed him through the window.

A boy looked up from his rummaging through trash.

Beta pushed his attacker off. Undertaker rolled off and took a pace back. Others who had heard the noise came out to aid their leader. His gold eyes closed as he filed through all the powers that he stole. He opened his eyes again and thrust out his hand. A large force pushed back the other assassins. A few flew into the trashcans. A small satisfied smile broke on his lips.

A boy jumped back in time.

Beta got up and ran in the other direction. Undertaker sighed. What a bother. Tracking in the rain was always harder. But at least it would be fun. Undertaker’s eyes seemed to glow with delight. He ran after his target. Beta ran into a construction site that was nearby. In hindsight that wasn’t the best of ideas. Undertaker followed and looked around. He saw a figure running up the half built building. Undertaker followed. Something in him seemed to stir, something dark but strangely enjoyable.

A boy watched from the ground.

Beta finally ran out of floors to run. He stood on the edge of one looking down the dizzying height. Something made him turn around. Undertaker stood there. His eyes were glowing fiercely now and the smile on his face was truly frightening. He extended his hand. Something inside Beta didn’t feel right.

He fell to his knees in pain. It felt like his insides were being crushed within him. He screamed in pain. Undertaker’s smile only widened. The noises seemed to bring some sort of sick pleasure to him, a pleasure he had never felt before. Once he had joined the Tower, everything he had once enjoyed was taken from him. Since then he had made himself feel nothing. But his recent missions brought forth something dark inside him and he welcomed it with open arms. At least it was something, something was always better than nothing. This was his last one, wasn’t it? Why not give himself to it completely?

Undertaker smile with pleasure as Beta screamed louder, “You might as well get used to it,” he said, “Because it will be a while before I let you die.”

Beta screamed again.

A boy heard the screams and went inside.

“Please!” Beta screamed, “Just kill me!”

Undertaker’s eyes narrowed, “Why would I do that? We’re having so much fun. Don’t you think so?”

Beta screamed in response.

Undertaker smiled, “I thought so.”

A little boy ran in-between Undertaker and Beta. His arms were stretched out to protect the screaming bleeding man from something he couldn’t yet understand.

“Stop it!” the boy yelled.

Undertaker’s smile faded, “Get out of the way boy, I’m busy here.”

“Stop it!”

Undertaker sighed, “Well, as they say, the more the merrier.”

The boy gripped his stomach in pain. Tears raced down his face as Undertaker laughed.

“I told you to get out of the way, boy!” Undertaker laughed, “You’re just getting what you deserve.”

The boy looked up at Undertaker. He stood up with great effort and turned around. The boy staggered over to the man. He knelt in front of him and placed his hands on the man’s shoulders. Beta looked at the boy for a moment. The boy smiled and extended his arms. Beta felt himself leaning back into nothing. He remembers falling and falling after that he remembered finally feeling no pain.

Undertaker saw his toy falling over the edge and was suddenly overcome with anger, “You little brat!”

 The child looked over his shoulder at the man behind him. He smiled. For some reason, that angered Undertaker even more. He shouted in anger and clenched his fists. The boy screamed in pain.

Then there was silence. Undertaker’s anger was spent and the boy sat still. Since seemed to come to Undertaker again as he realized what he had done. The boy silently slumped over. Undertaker ran toward the boy as he fell to the side. He caught the poor bloodied boy in his arms. Undertaker stared at disbelief at what he had done. He cried into the rain as the lighting danced around him.

It must have been hours, he couldn’t tell anymore, as he held the boy in his arms. His tears were long spent as he stared at the rain. He felt something this time as he stared at the lightning and listened to the thunder: sorrow and grief. He hadn’t even known the boy and he ended the child’s life.

Something stirred in his arms. Undertaker was too dazed and grief stricken to notice. Something was warm in between his arms. Again, the slight anomaly didn’t register in Undertaker’s mind. There was a sneeze.

A sneeze? Undertaker didn’t remember sneezing. Maybe he was so exhausted that his mind was skipping.

“Um,” a voice said, “Excuse me, Sir? Can we get out of the rain? It’s cold.”

Slowly, Undertaker looked down at the bundle in his arms. Large purple eyes looked up at him.

“I though…” he began but stopped.

He understood. The child had the same gene he did: the Other gene. He lifted the boy up and held him close to him, keeping the child warm.

“Let’s go,” Undertaker said.

Undertaker lifted the boy. The boy looked at Undertaker and smiled.

“I…promise to…always…stop you,” he seemed to have difficulty speaking, “from…hurting people.”

Undertaker smiled, “I’d like that. What’s your name?”

The boy tried to speak but nothing came out. He shrugged.

“Well, we’ll have to give you a name,” Undertaker thought, “How about Reighn? Because you reigned me back from something that I’ve become over the years. For that, I thank you.”

The boy buried his face into Undertaker’s clothing and shrugged with embarrassment. Undertaker helped the boy down to the ground. He looked for a moment where Beta’s body should have been but it wasn’t there. It seemed two people with the gene died and came back to life.

***

Transaction Square

Undertaker smiled with interest as he sat at the table. An idea seemed to be forming in his mind.

“Alpha, Beta and Zero,” he said out loud, “Now the real question is, why did Sage pay me a visit recently?”

Insanity Chapter Thirty-Seven

Insanity

Chapter Thirty-Seven

~Instincts~

Day Thirty-One

A figure sat in the darkness, his mismatching eyes staring into shifting shadows. The scent of roses reached him and he turned slightly. A smile touched his lips as he saw the man behind him.

“Hello Rose,” the man said, “How’s Flare?”

“Not much better I’m afraid,” Rose answered.

“That isn’t good,” Zero muttered, “I’ll have to talk to her.”

Zero stood up lazily. Rose looked at him with curiosity.

“You’re going to see her now?” Rose asked.

“Might as well,” Zero said, “As of right now, she is completely useless to me. If she doesn’t snap out of it soon, I might as well cut my losses and kill her. There are plenty of other fire wielders out there.”

Zero walked past Rose. Rose was careful not to make any movements that might come across as disapproval. He had known Flare since he had been found by Zero. Flare made sure that Rose felt comfortable. Rose places a rose near his nose. Zero glided past him. Inside, Rose hoped that Flare would snap out of it soon.

Flare lay in a concrete cell. There were no doors or windows except for the bolted metal door that kept her in. She lay in a corner, her orange eyes staring into the darkness. She held a piece of chalk in her hands that Rose had snuck in for her. The walls were covered in suns with ‘X’s through them. Each sun was different in appearance. There was one that didn’t have an ‘X’ through it. She looked at it without blinking.

The door opened with an eerie creak. Flare shifted to see who it was. Her breath caught in her lungs when she was Zero. He looked at her.

“I hear you aren’t doing so well,” Zero said.

“I certainly have been better,” Flare looked away.

“Are you going to be alright in a few days?”

Flare quickly looked at the sun that wasn’t ‘X’ed through, “I’m a lot better now. I could go back to work this minute if you wanted me to.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear,” Zero said, “I can’t afford wasting any more time with you like this.” Zero looked around the cell, “I’ll have to punish Rose for giving you that chalk.”

Flare flinched. She hadn’t intended for Rose to get in trouble.

“I made him get it for me,” she said.

“Not likely,” Zero said before turning around.

He started walking toward the door. Suddenly he stopped.

“Whoever he is to you,” Zero said, “I want you to kill him.”

Flare looked at Zero. Slowly, she nodded.

“Now get up,” Zero exited the room, “You look pathetic down there in the dirt. We’re headed out. Nest finally finished putting the device together.”

“It’s finished?” Flare asked.

Zero smiled and left the room.

***

Pawn Shop

Undertaker stood behind the large desk while Reighn calculated how much profits they made. His gold eyes looked out the glass window of his shop. There was something off and he didn’t know what. He looked down at Reighn.

“I think I’ll go for a walk,” he said.

Reighn shrugged. He didn’t care.

Undertaker left the shop and walked down the street. He wasn’t sure where he was going but life had thought him not to ignore instincts, even if you didn’t quite know what your instincts were saying. Undertaker walked toward Transaction Square. He sat at one of the tables and waited. His eyes looked at the sky. Yes, this was where he was supposed to be.

“Mom, I hate algebra!” a child complained, “Stupid alpha’s and beta’s! They make no sense!

Undertaker’s eyes shifted over to the child. His eyes narrowed on the child’s shirt. It had the number zero on it.

“Hey, Mr. Undertaker!” a voice said in front of him.

Undertaker put on a smile and turned toward the little girl, “Well, hello, Arisa. How are you and Blue doing today?”

Arisa looked behind her as Blue walked up, “We’re doing great! Fang let us go out shopping!”

“Well, that’s great!” Undertaker nodded.

He looked up at Blue. Blue seemed to be somewhere else at the moment. He had a worried look on his face that he kept hidden from Arisa.

“Arisa darling,” Undertaker smiled, “Why don’t you let Blue and I talk for a bit, hmm? I heard there was a man with a parrot somewhere around here.”

“Yay!”

Blue looked in horror as she ran off without him. He was about run after her bit Undertaker grabbed his arm.

“It’s alright,” Undertaker said, dropping his light hearted accent, “She’ll be fine. She is a wolf after all.”

Slowly, Blue sat down. Undertaker smiled.

“You are fairly interesting,” he said.

Blue glanced over in the direction where Arisa ran off to. He looked at Undertaker. Undertaker filed through Blue’s mind. Blue knew the feeling and was slightly surprised. But he had nothing to hide.

“It’s been a while since you’ve seen her hasn’t it,” Undertaker said.

I guess.

“Kyra’s become Flare,” Undertaker stated, “You do realize that she might not be the same person.

I know!

“Hate me all you want but the fact is that she is the enemy in this battle. You have to know that she will kill you in an instant if she has too. Are you ready to do the same?” Undertaker questioned.

I could help her. She saved me. I have to return the favor.

Undertaker laughed, “I hate to break it to you but if you did manage to rescue her and bring her to the mansion Arisa would probably murder her in her sleep! The girl hates Kyra for taking you away and hurting you. At least that is how Arisa thinks of it.”

Blue stared blankly at the man in front of him.

“Because Kyra showed up you went all dark to the world. You were hurting and little Arisa, the poor dear, didn’t know how to help you. She was depressed for a while. As a child, and as a human, she needed something to blame for your pain and her inability to help. The obvious choice was Flare aka Kyra.”

Still the blank gaze from Blue.

“Don’t believe me?” Undertaker looked around.

Arisa came running up talking about the parrot man and Josie the parrot. She sat down on Blue’s lap.

Undertaker smiled, “Flare.”

Arisa stopped talking almost immediately. Her eyes narrowed slightly and her fists tightened.

“Oh, what’s the matter, little Miss?” Undertaker said.

“Nothing,” Arisa said through clenched teeth, “I just want to talk about something else.”

“Why not?” Undertaker asked, “We were just talking about Ky—”

“I don’t wanna talk about her!” Arisa shouted.

She jumped off Blue’s lap and ran off.

Undertaker nodded, “Yeah, there might be some jealousy in the mix somewhere too.”

Blue looked in dismay as he watched Arisa run off. He soon glared at Undertaker in an ‘I blame you’ sort of way.

Undertaker shrugged, “I’m just showing you the truth. She’s still very young. Up until now she never had to fight for your attention.”

Blue craned his neck to see if he could see Arisa anywhere. Eventually he got up and ran after her. Undertaker watched them run off. He smiled a little then went back to thinking. Alpha, beta and zero.

Insanity Chapter Thirty-Six

Insanity

Chapter Thirty-Six

~Divide and Conquer Through Cookies and Milk~

Day Thirty

Fang was stuck with Shifter crashing at his house. Alister and Shifter seemed to hit it off after the initial skepticism on Alister’s part. They managed to turn the water in the pool purple with Shifter’s knowledge in chemicals; set off a series of dangerous explosive fireworks with Alister’s experience; and nearly drive Fang to his breaking point. All of this happened in about twenty-four hours. Seven. That was way too many, Fang noted. Now six insane people running around the house, that he could handle. Heck, he probably could handle six and a half if that were possible.

But for right now, Fang on his bed in his room. He was near to pulling his hair out when the Destructive Duo, Shifter and Alister, wondered what would happen if they played the ‘Who Could Throw A Grenade The Farthest From On Top Of The Roof!’ game. That didn’t end well.

Fang sighed and looked at the clock by his side. He seemed calm enough do deal with the situation rationally now. Fang got up and walked to the door. He was about to touch the doorknob when his mind suddenly wandered.

Someone was banging on the front door.

“Open up! Tower Agents! We have reason to believe you are in position of stolen property! Open up!”

They didn’t wait for Fang or anyone to open the door. The door flew open and Agents ran into the house. Like ants, they were everywhere in a matter of seconds. They searched through every room, overturning everything they touched and throwing what they weren’t looking for on the ground.

An Agent walked up to Fang with a document, “We have the authority to search the premises.”

“Look who we found!” an Agent called.

Shifter didn’t look at all happy in between two strong looking Agents

“We found what we came for in the back!” another announced, “They are the ones who did it!”

“Fang,” the head Agent started to say.

But Fang felt a sharp pain on his forehead and the scene melted away.

Fang rubbed his forehead in pain. It had been a while since he had one of these strange visions and it had to get interrupted by a door getting slammed in his face.

“Oops,” Shadow said standing over him with his hand still on the doorknob, “My bad.”

“Don’t you know how to knock?” Fang asked.

“Why,” Shadow shrugged, “It’s just you.”

Fang rolled his eyes, “I was in the middle of something.”

“Right,” Shadow nodded but it was apparent that he didn’t believe Fang.

Fang pushed past Shadow, “Where’s Strider?”

“Don’t know,” Shadow started to walk after Fang, “Probably with his new found twin of destruction.”

“Find him and hide him somewhere no one with find him.”

“Hmm,” Shadow thought, “Does this place have a secret dungeon someplace?”

“I’m serious, Shadow,” Fang looked back at the man.

Shadow raised his hands defensively, “Okay! It wasn’t like I wasn’t going to do it!”

“Raven! Penelope!” Fang called as he walked down the hallway.

Penelope walked out of her room in her pajamas and bunny slippers. She rubbed her eyes.

“I can hear your voice through my nap! That is freaking scary! I should have your voice as my wake up alarm on my alarm clock!” she complained.

Raven walked out of her room without her cape, “You called?”

“I want you two to fly around the island in the shadowcraft a few times,” Fang said.

The girls looked at each other.

“Um,” Penelope looked confused, “okay…may I ask why?”

“No,” Fang said.

“How many times?” Raven asked.

Quickly, Fang’s mind calculated the Islands size and about how long it would take to go around once in a shadowcraft. He estimated the time it would take for the Agent’s to leave in his vision. Taking that time he just plugged in how many time the shadowcraft had to go around to accommodate the time he estimated.

“On the safe side, let’s go with seven,” Fang said.

The girls continued down the hallway and outside. All the while Penelope complained about how she just got the slippers from hacking a store website and how hard it was to get it just right and now she had to get them dirtied.

“What’s going on?” Arisa asked.

She held Blue’s hand a little tighter than usual. It was noticeable how nervous she was. Blue had the same look on his face.

“Nothing you need to be worried about,” Fang said.

Shadow walked up the stairs. Alister joined him with a suspicious look on his face.

“Now, what do you think your doin’, Fang?” Alister complained, “Tellin’ Shadow ‘ere to hide Shifter in the false wall! What’s all that about?”

“False wall?” Fang looked at Shadow.

Shadow shrugged, “In a house this big and this old and the previous owner being kind of a weird guy, there had to be a secret compartment or two somewhere.”

“He did his little shadow wall thing and found one,” Alister glared at him, “But he didn’t know how to get in. So he just pulled Shifter into the wall.”

“It isn’t like I left him there,” Shadow defended.

“At least that problem is taken care of,” Fang said as he breathed a sigh of relief.

A hard knock fell on the front door.

“Open up! Tower Agents! We have reason to believe you are in position of stolen property! Open the door!”

Fang walked down the stairs. He was determined not to have to repair the door once it was kicked down. Fang opened the door as the head Agent was about to kick down the door. The Agent, expecting a hard surface to kick, ended up kicking in midair and losing his balance. He fell into Fang to stood like a rock looking down at him.

“May I help you?” Fang asked as the man rubbed his sore head.

There were some laughs from the other Agents. The head Agent glared at them. It looked like he would have to tend to his pride more than to his injured head. He looked at Fang with anger.

“Think you’re such a big shot, huh?” the man said. The man shoved a piece of paper in Fang’s face, “This gives us permission to search the premises!”

The man looked in Fang’s face for any emotion. He smiled. There was no way the man in front of him was going to like this!

Fang just took the document and looked it over. He nodded, “It certainly does. Have a look around. If you are staying long I could get a batch of cookies in and out of the oven. They aren’t homemade unfortunately but it’s all I have for you right now. You should have called ahead of time. I could have made an early lunch.”

There were more laughs as the man just stared at Fang. Fang handed him back the paper and stepped out of the way. He told Shadow to start baking cookies and Shadow did as he was told, all the while hiding a grin on his face. Alister was less subtle.

“What a dope,” Alister said, “Does he even know who he’s dealin’ with ‘ere?”

Blue shrugged and Arisa sadly shook her head.

I guess not.

The head Agent stood in one spot as everyone else searched the house and the surrounding property. One of them came back to the man, whose face was red with pent up anger.

“What do you mean you found nothing!?” he shouted.

The poor Agent shrugged and walked away. The man glared at Fang as he walked up with a tray of warm cookies. Fang set the treat on a table while Shadow started pouring cold milk. The tired Agents were happy for the treats and ate them completely disregarding the man whose face was reader than a tomato. The man looked up at the balcony then back at Fang and Shadow. Something wasn’t right.

“There are supposed to be seven of you! Where are the other two?!” the man asked

Fang looked up all cool and collected, “Oh, you mean, Penelope and Raven? They went out for a late morning walk. They haven’t come back yet.”

“Well, we’re staying until they do!” the man shouted.

The Agents didn’t seem to have a problem with that. They ate their cookies and drank their milk in blissful happiness.

Fang wasn’t worried. He calculated that into his equation too. Any moment now the girls should be back from—

“That was so lame!” Penelope’s voice.

She walked in from the back yard and stopped short. Her eyes scanned the place that was filled with Agents. Some of them waved at her and she tentatively waved back.

There was a sigh, “What’s wrong? Did Alister and that weirdo Shifter blow up the floor or something?” Raven stepped into view and looked around. She saw Fang’s eyes glaze over, “Oops.”

“Now where have you two been!?” the man yelled, he pointed at Penelope, “You! Tell me where you walked today! Starting now!”

Penelope’s eyes grew huge, “B-b-but, I-I-I, w-w-what’s g-g-going ooooon! Faaang!” she stared to cry.

“Now look what you did,” Fang recovered from his ‘that wasn’t supposed to happen’ moment, “She doesn’t handle very well to yelling.”

The Agents glared at the man with cookies and milk in hand. Making a poor girl cry! Shame!

“I don’t care!” the man yelled, “I want my answer! Where did you walk!?!”

“Waaaa-hater-faaa-haaaaal!” Penelope wailed.

The man’s eye bows furrowed, “What did she say?”

“She said ‘waterfall’,” Raven looked at him.

“What waterfall?”

“The one in our back yard,” Raven answered, “We would have been home sooner but she found something interesting in the water and went to check it out. She fell in so we decided to just sit in the sun until she dried.”

“Fine!” the man yelled defeated, “What about Shifter! Where is he!?”

“You mean Alister’s imaginary friend?” Raven stated.

All eyes turned to Alister. Even Fang looked to see how Alister would handle this one. Alister froze for a moment but he loosened up and glared at Raven.

In a tense voice he said, “I thought I told you not to go an’ tell anyone.”

From that day on, Alister was never able to live down that he had an imaginary friend named Shifter.

Raven shrugged. Her part was over. The ball was in Alister's court now.

The man looked at Alister, “Is that so?!”

Alister took a deep breath, “Yeah, so what? People can’t have imaginary friends anymore? It isn’t my fault you know though! I was all alone in the psyche ward when I was there. The only friend I had was Shifter. He helped be keep my sanity…well, most of it anyway. Sometimes I think he’s better that any friend I’ve had in the past.”

“A likely story!” the man laughed.

“Really?” Alister pointed to his left, “‘Ee’s standin’ right there giving you goofy faces. Can’t you see ‘im?”

The man looked at the empty space beside Alister. He stuttered as he searched for something to say.

“Shifter!” Alister pretend to scold the air beside him, “We don’t give people the finger! It’s downright rude!”

Arisa hugged Blue to hide her laughter. A slight noise escaped from her laughing.

“But you can’t prove—” the man started before hearing the laughter, “What are you laughing about?!”

The spotlight was on Arisa now. She pulled away from Blue’s leg and wailed.

“I wasn’t laughing you meanie Agent!” she said as fake tears, tears that were most likely from her laughing, rolled down her face, “I was crying because Alister must have been so alone!”

She wailed and cried as Blue stooped down to comfort her. She deserved an Emmy but a hug from Blue would be enough. Fang thought it was a good time to step in.

“I think you’ve stayed long enough. You’ve caused more damage that I could ever though one man could.”

The man looked at him, “But!”

“Now if you haven’t found what you were looking for, I suggest you and your Agents leave,” Fang said.

The other Agents looked at the man with death in their eyes. This was the nicest insane bunch of suspects they have ever had the honor of searching and their squad leader ruined everything. He looked at them all. There was no way he would ever be able to make things right now. Everyone in the room seemed to have a disapproving look on their faces.

The man stuttered before giving in, “Come on! We have to tell Sage we didn’t find anything!”

The Agent’s filed out, leaving the rest of the cookies and milk on the table. Fang walked to the door. He stepped out on to the porch to watch everyone go. When the last van pulled away, Fang walked inside and slowly closed the door. He paused for a while before turning around.

A rare smile was spread across his face. He looked up at Arisa and Blue. Arisa whipped the tears from her eyes. Blue looked fairly proud of his little Arisa. Alister looked like he was about to shoot himself. He looked really pale. Raven just stood looking calm and satisfied. A tiny smile adorned her lips. Penelope’s eyes were still a little wide but not nearly as before. She wiped her tears with the back of her hand. The girl looked like she needed another nap. Shadow’s shoulders were shaking as he tried to cover a laugh. His tries were unsuccessful because he burst out laughing. He laughed for a long time and was eventually joined by Arisa. Penelope started laughing slowly at first but quickly started to join the fun. Alister, despite himself, started laughing too. Raven snickered. Blue smiled widely. Fang leaned his head the door and laughed, good and long.

“And that,” he said, breathlessly, “is how you use you divide and conquer. Cookies anyone?”