Insanity
Chapter Four
~How We All Met: Part Four~
Before Day One
“Penelope Patience,” Fang read.
“Try saying that three times fast,” Undertaker muttered, a goofy smile on his face.
“Neope,” Reighn said.
It was nearing closing time and the Neuw has just put away the log book and locked the cash register. The little creature was a much harder worker than his counterpart. Fang wasn’t sure if the Undertaker knew this fact.
“Looks like she has multiple personalities,” Fang went on. “That could be useful.”
***
Penelope Patience
Penelope sat in her dark apartment, surrounded by computers, laptops, gadgets, and manga. She stared wide-eyed at one of her screens, her glasses reflecting what she was looking at. She appeared to be trying to hack into a database of some sort.
She’d just reached for a soda and taken a sip when there was a knock on the door. Penelope nearly jumped out of her seat. Regaining a bit of her composure, she pressed a few buttons and stopped the hacking process.
“Uh-um, w-who is it?” she stuttered, pushing her glasses up her nose.
She stood, brushing the crumbs off her blue and yellow shirt and staring down at her jeans and white tennis shoes. In a way, she looked like ‘Where’s Waldo?’
“I’m from the Tower,” the voice on the other side of the door said. “I’m just here to talk.”
From the moment he said ‘Tower’, Penelope was all over her apartment. She threw some disks into her microwave to destroy any information on them, then grabbed a huge magnet, running it over her computer towers and laptops, erasing information. She clicked on a program on her main laptop that started deleting file after file. She, of course, had a back up drive on a flash drive. She tied string to one end of the flash drive and attached the other end to her tooth, then swallowed the drive.
There was another knock at the door. “Penelope?”
Penelope looked around, going down a checklist in her mind. Everything looked to be in order.
“Penelope, I’m coming in,” the voice said.
She hid behind one of her computer towers in the nick of time; the door flew open and Fang stepped into the dark room. Seeing the laptop on the table deleting file after file, he carefully walked deeper inside.
Outside the complex, four very bored people — two boys and two girls — sat or stood on the curb. Alister yawned as he leaned against a lamp post, his automatic weapons plainly visible. Arisa sat in Shadow’s lap, playing with one of his daggers, the owner of which looked very tired. Raven stood on Shadow’s left with her hood covering most of her face, making it hard to tell that she wasn’t having a good time, either.
“Why did ‘e ‘ave to drag us along?” Alister complained. “What could possible ‘appen that ‘e would need us ‘ere for?”
“Just be patient,” Raven answered. “I’m sure he has his reasons. He always does.”
Alister rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I know that! I just wish he’d ‘urry up!”
Just then, Fang flew through a wall, Penelope at his throat. They flew through the air and fell on a passing car. Alister immediately drew one of his weapons and fired at the girl, who vanished and appeared just inches behind him. Raven drew a large, long sword from her cloak and lunged at Penelope. Just when the weapon was about to hit her, she vanished again and appeared behind Raven. Shadow reacted quickly, throwing three daggers at the girl. She dodged, backflipping away from the threat. Arisa snapped her fingers and one of the shops towards which the girl was headed exploded. They waited for the fire to die down before checking to see if they got her. Penelope stood, unharmed, and ran towards them. The others raised their weapons in preparation to attack.
“That’s enough!” Fang shouted.
Everyone stopped, looking to Fang as he walked towards them. He didn’t look hurt, other than a scratch on his right cheek. Penelope looked at him through broken glasses. She slowly took them off, revealing purple eyes.
“This is Penelope Patience! She is a member of our team!” Fang shouted.
There were many ‘oh’s of understanding and nods of heads as the information sunk in.
“T-t-team?” Penelope asked hesitantly.
Fang sighed as he calmed himself. “Yes. I need a team for my work with the Tower. If you had just let me explain, I could have told you that before you threw me through a wall.”
The others looked on, intrigued. It took a lot to catch Fang off guard.
“S-s-sorry,” Penelope stuttered.
“You can make it up by following me,” Fang said as he walked through the crowd of people that had gathered.
The others followed, Penelope looking after them, then glancing back at her apartment. At least she wouldn’t have to pay room and board. She ran after them, apologizing for the misunderstanding. Naturally, they forgave her, though Fang kept his distance for the rest of the day.
***
Pawn Shop
“Well, this is interesting,” Fang said as he studied the last file.
“Why’s that?” the Undertaker inquired, smiling.
“This one doesn’t have a name,” Fang explained.
“Well then, that must be Blue. Don’t know his real name. He never told me.” The Undertaker paused. “In fact, I don’t recall him ever saying anything to anyone. But if you look hard enough, you can see what he is saying through his eyes.”
“Interesting,” Fang hummed.
“Yeaps,” Reighn mewled as he scribbled one last thing in the large log book.
“He spent most of his young life in Crawford Labs,” the Undertaker continued.
“Crawford Labs?” Fang paused. “I think I’ve passed by that place before. Isn’t it closed now?”
The Undertaker nodded. “Since the public found out that they were using children in their experiments, the U.S. Government shut it down and sent everyone involved to trial. They were trying to turn humans into us Others. It’s a wonder he escaped. Most of the kids who went in came out in body bags. The U.S. Government won’t tear the place down. Considering how many unmarked graves there are around the territory, the Lab is their only grave marker.”
A moment of silence passed as Fang read the file.
“I might have seen him before,” he said quietly.
***
Blue
“There they are!”
“Get ‘em!”
“Over here!”
A sixteen-year-old boy, later known as Blue, ran through a dim hallway of Crawford Labs. The lights were tinted blue, making it hard to see clearly. A girl, one year younger than Blue, ran just ahead of him. They’d been cellmates for as long as either of them could remember. The stream of scientists and guards were quickly gaining on them.
“This way,” the girl pointed to a fork in the hallway.
They both veered left. Neither had any idea where they were going, just that they had to get out. When Blue looked a little sick, the girl guessed that they, the scientists, had given him the Injection. He stumbled over his feet most of the time, holding one hand to his head. He hadn’t said anything since they escaped their cell, and that’s what worried the girl most.
Blue loved to talk.
“Come on! We can make it! They can’t get us once we’re outside!” she shouted, hoping to encourage him.
Large water pipes lined the sides of the hallway. The girl wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing. All she knew was that they had to keep running.
“They can’t get that far!”
“We can get far,” she reassured herself and her friend.
“Catch them!”
“They can’t catch us,” she said resolutely, contradiction everything their pursuers shouted.
Blue gripped the side of his head in agony, his brown hair slipping through his fingers and his brown eyes slightly unfocused. The girl had seen what the Injection had done to some of her other friends. They were either mutated or they never came back to their cells.
Blue whimpered.
The pipes alongside the corridor released some of their pressure, emitting a hissss through some of their cracks. A drop of scalding water fell on the girl’s neck, making her scream in pain. But she kept moving.
She pulled Blue along until they turned a corner and reached a pool of boiling hot water. It stretched down the hallway for about a good twenty feet. Looking behind her, she saw the looming shadows of their pursuers. Blue fell to his knees. The girl crouched beside him, wrapping her arms around him as he began to cry from the pain.
By now, the pipes were really beginning to leak and drip. The shadows grew longer and the girl could feel the agony of defeat. The first of the scientists turned the corner. He smiled.
“There you are,” he said triumphantly. “They’re over here! Oh, and make sure we tell management about the leak this time!”
He was joined by the guards and more scientists, two of which pulled out syringes. Four guards stalked towards the two children. This was it.
The girl held Blue tighter.
Blue began to cry harder.
The pipes’ rattling grew louder.
“I think we have a plumbing problem down here,” the scientist noted. “We really should get it fixed.”
The guards looked uncertain as they crept forward, taking care not to get burned by the boiling water.
Blue gripped his aching head with both hands.
The pipes rattled and steamed.
Blue couldn’t stand it anymore. He didn’t want the pain. He didn’t want to be captured. He didn’t want to die. He screamed. He screamed for everything to go away. The pipes burst and cooled. The guards and scientists screamed in horror before being suddenly silenced. Only when he heard the girl’s calming voice did Blue stop.
He was shaking. He looked up at the girl’s face and noticed something sticking to her blonde hair. She looked down at him, smiling, and looked around. Blue followed her gaze.
Everything was coated in ice. The guards were trapped in their positions of shielding their eyes, and the scientists were frozen in various stages of running away. The puddle of water behind them was an ice skating rink. He looked to the girl for an explanation, questions in his eyes.
“That was all you,” she said with a smile and a laugh. “You should look in a mirror, too. Your hair is blue.”
She pulled him up and together they made their way across the ice. Blue was surprised to notice that his head didn’t hurt as much anymore.
When they reached solid ground again, they took off in a sprint through the hallways. An alarm went off. People began to chase them once again. They reached a metal ladder that lead to a door in the ceiling.
“You go first!” the girl shouted.
Blue was about to protest when she shoved him towards the ladder. He climbed quickly, reaching the top and grabbing the handle of the trapdoor, finding it locked.
“Try freezing it,” the girl suggested from just below.
Blue grabbed hold of the handle, watching with fascination as water formed around it, then crackled into ice. The temperature change was so sudden and so drastic that it shattered. Blue pushed open the door and looked out into a street just outside the Lab.
Underground, a troop of at least fifteen guards came at them from all directions. Blue pulled himself out quickly, waiting at the edge for the girl to join him. Just when she was about to take a step, a guard crabbed hold of her leg. He gripped her ankle, trying to pull her down from the ladder.
She lost her grip and fell.
“Run! Go, run!” she screamed. Blue watched a second longer before turning and running into the city.
Fang stood atop one of the city’s rooftops, simply watching the child go. He would have liked to do something, but he had assassin’s work to do and couldn’t afford to be late.
***
There was a knock at the front door of the mansion. Fang, a little skeptical, wasn’t expecting anyone that day. The members of his team couldn’t have done the shopping that fast. He set his tea down and headed for the door, opening it after the visitor knocked again.
A man stood there. His blue eyes, from the Injection, looked Fang over. His blue hair had grown long over the years. He stood without a word.
“You must be the one they call Blue,” Fang said slowly.
Blue didn’t answer. His expression answered for him.
I guess, he seemed to say. He seemed uncertain about the situation.
“Well then, I guess I’d better let you in,” Fang said, stepping aside and leaving the door open so that Blue could walk in. “Your room is down the left hallway, second door to the right.”
Blue stepped in, closing the door behind him.
“Welcome home, Blue.”
***
Pawn Shop
“I’ll tell him to stop by when I see him again,” the Undertaker smiled. “Where shall I send him?”
“That’s the thing,” Fang sighed, “I don’t have a place big enough.”
“Might I suggest the old Reaper building down the road?” The Undertaker laughed. “No one wants to buy it because of the ghost stories and such. Because no one wants it, the city is thinking of tearing it down, but the relatives of Ol’ Man Reaper don’t want the property to go that way. I’m sure that you could talk down the price.”
Fang thought for a moment. “I’ll look into it.”
He took the files into his arms and headed for the door; it was getting late and the shop was set to close soon. Reighn had even put away his pencil, expecting no more profits for the day. The Undertaker laughed in Fang’s wake.
“I’m sure we’ll be hearing from him a lot, eh?” he said, laughing like a mad man.
“Yeaps,” Reighn said as the bell above the door jingled, signaling the end of the day.
