And We Bring You A Christmas Interruption...

Theo woke up inside of a room that looked rather like her room, except that outside, it was snowing. She had to rub her eyes and clean her glasses to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. The last thing she remembered was that she was in a helicopter…in the middle of summer. She flopped down on her bed, and sighed. “Hey author, or authors…you dragged me out of the story again, didn’t you?” she asked out loud to whoever was in control. No otherworldly voice spoke, but a knock did sound at her door.

She got up and opened the door, where she saw a familiar face. “Hi there…Theo, was it?” asked a boy with shockingly grey eyes. It was those eyes that helped Theo identify the mystery person.

“And you’re Dennis,” affirmed Theo. “You look slightly different.”

“Really?” he cocked his head to the side in thought. “I guess I do. My author never really defined my appearance the first few times he or she wrote the story. Now they started anew, so I guess I have a slightly different look.” He combed his black hair with his fingers absentmindedly and fixed the large magnifying glasses on his face. “It appears we’ve been whisked off to an alternate universe again. I wonder what for this time.”

“Do you know the date?” asked Theo. “I was in the middle of summer, and I don’t think it snows in the middle of 20-plus degrees weather.”

Dennis shook his head. “No idea.”

“Well, I guess we’ll have to go find out for ourselves,” she replied, after a brief search around the room for a calendar. She and Dennis walked down the stairs where they found themselves in a large living room that didn’t belong to either of them.

“Hey, it’s you again!” said a voice, and they turned around to see a familiar girl with glasses and a boy accompanying her. “Do you remember me?”

T.N - Chapter 60

Well, I’m not sure if I would agree with the “Angry Magic School Bus” description, but I can work with it. I was hoping for a more realistic analogy rather than one taken from a children’s show, but it seemed to be the only really viable one at the moment.

After I got over my disbelief (I’ve had a weird past month…I don’t think much more can shock me for very long) I started debating with myself as to what the next course of action would be. I mean, this mystery person managed to destroy all of the men down there who were chasing after us. So quite possibly we didn’t need to run away and we could find out whom our new ally is. But then again, they or he or she or whatever was after us and gaining quite a bit of ground (which is usually not a good sign).

Finally, I came to a decision: better to be safe than sorry. I urged Charlie to keep us going as far away from the truck. “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go,” I muttered, watching as the corpses of Kyle’s men started disappearing out of sight. I shuddered, and thought about how that easily could be us in a few seconds.

“Well then, out of the pot and into the fire,” said Dennis, trying his best to be lighthearted.

“I believe it’s out of the frying pan, not a pot,” replied Kent drily, and there was an awkward silence. Dennis started tapping his fingers on the window rhythmically, and Charlie started humming some obscure tune.

“Well either way, we’re screwed unless we lose that truck,” I said, and the others nodded their heads in agreement. I looked back, and the truck was still tailing behind us, slowly gaining on us. “Take a sharp turn,” I told Charlie.

He stopped humming and glanced over at me. “Why?”

“Since we’re a smaller aircraft, we should be able to outmaneuver something so bulky, correct?” I asked the others.

“Logically, yes,” replied Dennis, “but right now, logic isn’t really in our favour.”

I couldn’t argue with that, but it was worth a try. I turned to see that once again, Charlie wasn’t at the controls, but rather looking behind him. “You idiot, if you’re going to pilot, stay focused!” I leaned over and yanked the throttle towards me. The helicopter took a very sharp bank to the right, and I could hear sudden complaints as Heathcliff and Kent were flung onto Dennis.
"Watch what you're doing!" said Dennis, pushing the two off of him.
"Well maybe next time be more prepared," I said. I looked over at Charlie, who looked a little startled. He was back at the controls again.
I looked behind me, and saw that the truck was still behind us. "Ok, turn left this time," I said. Charlie did so, causing a pile-up in the backseat with Kent getting squashed this time. 
"Oh come on, stop it already," complained Dennis. 
"I said it out loud that time didn't I? And I'm doing it again in a few seconds." I couldn't help but smile at my brother's obvious discomfort. "Charlie, do another right." 
This time, Kent was able to hold onto the back of Charlie's seat to prevent himself from toppling over, but Heathcliff was still too intoxicated to comprehend my warning. I could hear a clunk as Dennis's head connected with the window, and a muffled "Oof!" as the two collided.
I looked behind me and giggled. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
"Bah," said Dennis, pouting childishly. "After all that, we better have lost the truck." He looked through the window, where to my surprise the truck still was. He sighed. "Looks like we're out of luck."
Of course, at that moment, the helicopter suddenly decided to drop. Several lights on the dashboard started flashing, and there was an insistent beeping noise. I screamed, and I'm sure I heard a yelp or two from the others.
I calmed myself down, as screaming wasn't going to help the situation. "What is that?" I asked.
"It appears we have run out of fuel," replied Kent. "I knew there was a problem with the engine type."
"What do you mean, you knew there was a problem? Haven't you used this before?"
"Actually, I did mean to say that this was a prototype..." mumbled Kent.
I could nearly not believe my ears. A prototype? "You're kidding, right?"
"Uh, no...we've been meaning to test it out the last few days, but with you and your trouble there was no time to. This is the first time it's been flown."
I leaned back and covered my eyes. Great, we were either going to die by falling or by the truck. Absolutely fantastic.

? - Chapter 59

Mr. Dragon's jaw sort of dropped. He had to close it with a hand after he realized it gaping wide open.
Although his face was still bloodied and badly disfigured, Mr. North laughed like he never did before. Mr Dragon shot out his chair, tipping it over in the process, and grabbed for Mr. North's throat. Mr. North, his hands tied to his chair, couldn't do anything about it.
Mr. Dragon strangled Mr. North for only a few seconds, and Mr. North's face was being drained of color, when Mr. Dragon's phone rang.
'Jesus H. Christ!' Mr. Dragon roared in his furious voice, his let go of Mr. North's neck and turned around to his desk to pick up the phone.
'Who the FUCK is this?' Mr. Dragon raged into the phone, his face swelling a brilliant red, emphasizing the swear word in the sentence, which is uncharacteristic of him, because he was was usually a morally principled evildoer who used swear words sparsely, preferring action over blowing steam.
'Woah, Dragon, it sounds like your head is exploding over there!' The voice in the receiver said.
'WHO IS THIS!' Mr. Dragon roared into the speaker.
'It's T-Rex, at your service.'
'Alligator? Is that you?'
'No, no, no, I'm not The Alligator anymore, that's so not a cool codename, I am now THE TYRANNOSAURUS REX!' Mr. T-Rex said excitedly.
Mr. Dragon covered up the receiver with his hand and snickered into his sleeve, barely containing his laughter. Finally collecting his composure, he spoke into the phone. 'You know, T-Rex, why don't you just settle this codename crisis with the title of Mr. Reptile, since you've been pretty keen on reptilian animal names for the past while.'
For a moment, Mr. T-Rex was delighted at the suggestion. 'Why that's a wonderful...hey, wait a minute, was that an insult?'
'Of course it is!' Mr. Dragon began to laugh right into the speaker, 'T-Rex! Really, in the twenty years we've known each other this has to be funniest name you've retched up thus far, no joke, absolutely not!' Mr. Dragon was in an unnatural fit of giggles and laughter, forgetting entirely that at the moment Mr. North was working on untying his hands from his chair with a splintered fingernail.
'YOU! YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU DAMN YOU YOU...DAMN HERETIC!' Mr. T-Rex protested in frustration, 'IT'S NOT FUNNY! THIS IS NO FUNNY MATTER!'
Mr. Dragon laughed harder. 'Oh my dear T-Rexy, you just made my day!' He slapped his knee in glee.
'IT'S NOT FUNNY I SAID!'
Mr. Dragon was hysterical. He was slamming his fist on his table.
'DAMN YOU IN THE NAME OF SATAN! DAMN YOU!' Mr. T-Rex shouted.
'HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!' Mr. Dragon howled, 'Save your holy damnation for the enemy, Mr. T-Rexy, as for me, I'm not worth your while.'
'Well, now, how about this!' Mr. T-Rex huffed indignantly, 'Just now, your men were machinegunned by an unidentified flying vehicle that resembles the Magic School Bus in a really bad mood, how's that huh? Do I have your attention now?!'
Mr. Dragon laughed some more and then the message began to recall some sense into him. Suddenly, he sat straight up into his chair. 'WHAT DID YOU SAY?' He roared into the speaker.
'Ha! You didn't pay attention, well, TOO BAD FOR YOU MR. DRAGON! Because thanks to your insensitivity, I'm not going to repeat what I just said, how about that, huh? HOW ABOUT THAT!!!'
'MR. T-FUCKING-REX! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY!' Mr. Dragon barked, now furious once again. In the back of his mind, he thought musingly, at this rate, I'll have to start taking anti-bipolar medication. I'm getting too old for this job.
'I'M NOT REPEATING WHAT I JUST SAID, SO HA!' Just like that, Mr. T-Rex slammed his end of the phone and the line went dead, leaving Mr. Dragon itching to skin the man alive when he finds him.
Mr. Dragon was about to leave his office to go after Mr. T-Rex and teach him a lesson when a powerful, solid force struck him at the back his his head, knocking him down flat onto the ground.
Decades of Ancient Eastern Martial Arts training had taught Mr. Dragon to detect such types of attacks at split second notice. The leg of a wooden chair shattered against his skull just as Mr. Dragon braced his cranium from the impact and spun back up to his feet and around to find himself face-to-face with Mr. North, freed from his bounds.
Circling each other for the second time in a week, the two ex-friends and current enemies were all set for round two of an martial arts duel, and this time, Mr. North was out for blood.

? - Chapter 58

The Dragon was on a conference call, and he was not at all pleased. “What do you mean, Mr. Vulture? Are you saying your ingenious plan had failed?” he asked.

“No, no, that’s not what I meant,” said Mr. Vulture’s voice, his accent thickened by agitation. “Just some complications arose…”

“Did the job get done?” asked the Dragon, his voice lowering and softening with every word.

“If you mean the targets were blown to pieces, then yes we did. But one of our people got unfortunately…apprehended.”

“By who?” asked the Dragon, with some surprise in his voice. “I watched these men run, and it seems quite interesting someone would’ve been able to catch them, especially if my…patron over there ensured that there was no one who would be comparable.”

“Well, from what I could glean from one of those who returned, it was one of the guests…they believe it was a male companion of Theo North…”

“Someone with Theo, hmm?” asked the Dragon, mostly to himself. He leaned back in his chair.

“Yes, someone with her,” said Mr. Vulture, his voice revealing his relief at not being the target of the Dragon’s infamous rage. “I can’t say for certain, but do you have anybody in mind?”

The Dragon thought for a moment, spinning his knife on his desk absentmindedly. He closed his eyes and thought back to all the people who would be capable of doing something so He suddenly jolted up, and stopped the knife with the blade pointed towards him. “Was this mystery man dark haired and have a very lean build? And was he whistling to himself?” he asked.

There was some muttering on Mr. Vulture’s side of the line as he spoke to his men, and then he got back on the line. “Yes, to the first two, and they think he was humming one of those popular Western songs.”

The Dragon let out a short bark of a laugh, and leaned back in his chair again. “I thought so,” he said. He smiled, and dialed some numbers into his phone.

“Thought what?” asked Mr. Vulture, slightly confused at the sudden change in attitude. “What?”

“What now, Mr. Dragon?” asked a gruff voice. “You always call for me at the exact wrong times.”

“I apologize Mr. Wolf,” said the Dragon rather sincerely, ignoring Vulture’s questions. “What exactly are you doing?”

There was a whimper in the background, which was quickly silenced by something. Or someone. “Nothing much, just in the middle of tying some loose ends.” There was a muffled shriek of pain, and the Dragon grimaced.

“Could you maybe do that somewhere else? I would rather speak to you when there aren’t any distracting noises in the background,” he said.

“Just give me a second,” said Mr. Wolf. He said something in a foreign language, spoken to quickly to be identified, and then a gunshot rung out, punctuating his sentence. There was a silence, and then the Dragon cleared his throat and spoke.

“Finished, I see.”

“Yes, indeed. So what do you want me to do? I don’t have all day.”

“I’d like for you to gather as much information as you can on the activities and whereabouts of everyone in the North household, all the workers and Justice League men as well. I also want you to keep especially close tabs on Theo North and Charlie North. Vulture here will help you, am I correct?”

“Yes, of course, whatever you need,” said Mr. Vulture, speaking for the first time.

“Why do you want me to do this?” asked Mr. Wolf suspiciously. “Ms. Scorpion would’ve been better for this job as a young woman, or even that bastard Shark with all his ties in that world. What do you want with me, a human trafficker?”

“Let’s just say I trust you with this more than anyone else. As you’ve displayed earlier, you’re quite efficient at getting things done. Plus, you know how to convince people quick enough for my needs,” said the Dragon.

“How much am I getting reimbursed for? I have a lot of work to do you know…”

“However much you’re satisfied with, but that’s after you do the job. Got it?” asked the Dragon. “You either take the job or don’t. Better choose.”

There was a quiet lull in the conversation as Wolf pondered, and the Dragon could almost hear Mr. Wolf lick his lips at the possibility of the reward. “Fine, got it.”

“Great,” said the Dragon. Just before Mr. Wolf could hang up, the Dragon said “This little deal will stay just between the 3 of us, ok? Don’t seek help from the others, don’t say a word about your activities or there may be some…consequences.” Before the other 2 could reply, he hung up on them.

There was a scuffling noise behind him, and some coughing. “You surely have a way with people,” said Damian North in a dry voice. “Manipulating them to your every need.”

The Dragon spun his chair around to face him. “You’re not any better,” he said. “The Justice League…how would you have gotten to the top and gain the trust of every single man?”

“At least I didn’t step over my family to do so, not like you,” Damian hissed, and he could tell he had stepped on a sore spot as the Dragon narrowed his eyes. Foolishly, he decided to continue with it. “Your son was thoroughly neglected, oppressed and was denied the love that you should’ve given him. And Laura, poor sweet Laura, she tried her best to help you, but you closed her off. What else could she do but leave you?”

“You know nothing, Damian! Nothing!” shouted the Dragon.

“I beg to differ,” replied Damian, and a little bit of a smile crept up onto his sore face. “Laura says hi, and hopes you’re doing well.”

Sorry I've been kind of AWOL everybody! I've been doing no writing lately, as I've been busy with life and everything. Here's a long chapter to make up for it, and I hope to get writing all my novels again soon :D

Charlie's Little Story Within the Story

This story is for my co-author.

So many things had happened in the last few chapters, I never got around to explaining what I had said to Heathcliff at Selene's birthday party.
The reason why I understood one hundred percent what Heathcliff was going through was because I had experienced it myself, but it wasn't me who fell in love first. Here's my story:

By the time I got to ninth grade, where I lived, most kids have already gone on at least one date and have had their first kiss. I was among the small minority who didn't do either, but I didn't know that at the time, because I had no close friends and was poorly informed about school trends. Interestingly, all my classmates thought I was smart at science, so they would often socialize with me for a few moments, bringing me homework to do, or to me to ask about what they didn't understand in class. I helped everyone as best as I could, until my science teacher told me after class one time that nobody was really learning anything because I had done all their homework for them. She suggested that I should start a homework club at school instead if I wanted to help people with their homework. Through this, I found out how to start a club.
That's how I came to know my sweetheart (who back then wasn't my sweetheart yet); she was a frequent member of the homework club and helped me a lot with writing essays while I explained maths to her. Later I found out that she was writing an action-adventure-mystery-thriller-romance novel, so I read her manuscript and thought it was a really good book in-progress. After that, whenever she got stuck in a part of her book she didn't know how to finish, I gave her some ideas she could use. For these ideas I drew inspiration from old Hollywood movies I had watched, and she liked the ideas very much.
Eventually she became my best friend; we spent a lot of time together discussing the books she was writing (there were more than one!) and essays and maths. To show my friendship I invited her to watch my favorite movies with me; she liked my movies, just as I liked her books. We found out that we have a lot in common.
That was when she told me that she has a crush on me; it was after watching Superman at my house, and the credits were still rolling. She leaned against me and whispered it just as the romantic cue on the soundtrack came up, but I didn't make a remark about this amazing coincidence, because at that moment I felt very hot on the inside, which was strange, because I didn't think (and neither did all of my family) I had ever blushed before. I had never felt so uncertain in my whole life.
From then on afterward, her friends began dropping obvious hints that I should get together with her. One particular friend of mine did so too, because he had gotten to know her through me mostly. I still didn't know what to do, so I did nothing and didn't think much about it.
Gradually, my best friend and I, we drew apart. It might have been her doing, but for the most part I think it's because I was acting oblivious and not even saying anything. At this point, my friend was desperate, and he told me that my best friend thinks I don't like her, so she was trying to avoid me and get over the crush.
When my friend told me this, I was sad and angry at myself, because I had hurt my best friend's feelings.
If there's one thing I never wanted to do, it's to hurt someone's feelings. Dad always told me to never hurt anyone's feelings, because feelings are a lot more valuable and fragile than the body (which to hurt occasionally is okay, but only at fight clubs and in emergencies). It wasn't that I had hurt my best friend's feelings because of something I said or did, it was because I didn't do anything when she said she likes me, and not doing anything turned out to be a lot worse than doing something.
I thought about it, as I had been doing for some time. I realized that I like her, I like her a lot and much more than the books she was writing, and to my surprise, a lot more than my favorite movies too.
Of course, I didn't have the guts to tell her so late after she told me that I like her too, so I was helped along by a wonderful coincidence. My best friend attended the same English class as me, and at that time we were studying short stories. At the end of the unit, our assignment was to write a short story, so this was what I wrote it on.
I changed all the names and the places, but all of her friends and my friend too saw the parallel between my short story and what happened between me and my best friend.
In my story, the protagonist - a boy who likes movies - has a best friend - a girl who write books, which the boy also wants to do - who confessed to him that she has a crush on him. The boy was too shy to respond, and the girl thought he didn't like her. To make up for his mistake, he wrote a short story based on what happened between him and his best friend and read it aloud in class. The story was the same as the story he was in, with the main character writing a short story to tell his best friend that he likes her. In the end, the girl saw that the boy likes her too, and they joined hands and walked off into the sunset.
My English teacher loved my story, not because it was true (he didn't know that), but because I incorporated a story-within-a-story loop in my short story, and he complimented me, saying it was clever of me to have thought of that.
After school, my best friend walked up to me as I was walking home and said it was very touching of me to have done what I had done, she thought it was cute and she liked it very much. Then, she said if I wanted to cause a lot fewer misunderstandings like the one between me and her in the future, I'm going to have to learn to express myself better, of which I'll have plenty of practice, because from that moment on we were officially in a relationship.
That was how my best friend became my sweetheart.

I wanted to tell Heathcliff this story because I thought he doesn't have to try so very hard to woo Theo, because I'm sure that Theo is a good person who knows that Heathcliff's feelings are valuable and will value them like he values her.
When I get the chance, I'll tell Heathcliff this story...as soon as I lose the very angry Magic School Bus, which had just sped up and was near to catching up to the hovercraft.

C.N. - chapter 57

Now that I had rescued Heathcliff and got myself back behind the controls, I turned stealth mode back on so the noise of the hovercraft engines weren't that loud anymore. I didn't know how Dennis managed to turn off stealth mode, or if he didn't, how stealth mode got turned off; but I didn't have time to ask him either, because I heard some very loud metal-on-metal crashes that definitely did not come from our hovercraft. I turned around just in time to see a life-sized monster truck fly over the roadside treeline and land right in the middle of road behind us. It remained there like a roadblock that materialized out of nowhere and the crash must have been some of the trucks that were chasing us T-boning into it.
The monster truck was silver and shiny, the size of three steam rollers. It looked to be armored with steel from hood to underside. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
The trucks that were chasing us (they seem puny now compared to the gigantic truck in the road) were blocked by the body of the monster truck, stopping them in their tracks. I think the appearance the enormous truck surprised the convoy in pursue as much as it did to us. Because nobody moved for some time, I had let go of the controls and put the hovercraft at hover-parking and joined everyone else at the back of the hovercraft to see what was going to happen.
Then the monster truck roared back to life, made a ninety degree turn and started to plow down the truck convoy. Effortlessly, it mounted one truck after another and crushed them all flat under its huge wheels. This was so unexpected that for a moment I thought I was watching an episode of Monster Jam. Kyle's men in the trucks scrambled out of their trucks and raised their automatic weapons to fire at the monster truck, doing no damage. Turrets extended out of several portholes that opened up on either side of the monster truck and the turrets began to blast firepower at the men now attempting to surround the monster truck, mowing them all down in a matter if less than a minute. The scene was so violent and it was happening only fifty yards away down the road, I shut my eyes and opened them again when the firing stopped.
Kyle's men lay scattered on both sides of the road, wisps of smoke rising from the bullet holes in their bodies. The monster truck was silent for some time again after this massacre, and then it began to come slowly, and then accelerating in speed, at us.
Theo was the first to realize that I wasn't at the controls anymore.
'Get back to the controls! Get us out of here!' Theo yelled, pushing me into the controls seat.
I pushed the throttle of the hovercraft with all my strength and it sped down the road. I looked behind us to see the monster truck chasing us and gaining distance every instant.
'Go up! Go up!' Theo yelled.
I raised altitude rapidly, and found the monster truck shrinking in size beneath us.
And the unbelievable happened, once more. One moment the monster truck seemed to be speeding down the road beneath us, the next moment, wings shot out of its sides, and then the moment after than, it took off from the ground.
'Mamma-mia!' Heathcliff, Dennis, Mr. Kent and I uttered in unison.
'What?!' Theo couldn't believe what she was seeing either, but she didn't day mamma-mia.
The hovercraft was still rising higher into the air. I managed to get enough sense back into me to close the pressure-lock hood so we don't go unconscious in midair.
The monster truck flew like a plane, it did a wide one-eighty degree turn and was flying upwards towards us. From my angle, it looked like the Magic School Bus in a really bad mood.

T.N - Chapter 56

I watched Charlie attempt that crazy stunt with Heathcliff, and I urged myself not to shut my eyes or to scream at them. The propellers would’ve drowned out my voice, and I could already feel the soreness in my throat from my screaming earlier. I could only watch as their hands got closer and closer, and I gripped the edge of my seat. Suddenly, the helicopter lurched towards the jeep, and Charlie nearly slipped off onto the road below. Miraculously, he stayed on, and managed to grab onto Heathcliff and haul him up. The helicopter swayed back as they climbed up the ladder. I turned to Dennis, who looked like he was having way too much fun piloting the helicopter.

“What the hell were you trying to do, you dunce?!” I yelled at him. “If it wasn’t for luck, Charlie would’ve been road kill!”

“No need to freak out at me,” said Dennis, grinning. “I managed to help them up.”

“If you do anything like that anytime soon, I will personally kill you. Get out of that pilot’s seat as soon as Charlie gets up here,” I said. “You’ve never flown a helicopter before, have you?”

“Nope,” he replied. “I learn best through experience.”

Before I could let out the string of expletives that came to my mind at the moment, my arms were suddenly pinned down and my face buried in alcoholic smelling fabric.

“Theodora darling, you’re safe!” exclaimed Heathcliff, his arms tight and rather uncomfortable around me.

“Heathcliff, what the hell have you been drinking?” I tried asking, but my question was muffled under his bear hug. From the smell of him and the singsong tone of his voice, I could tell he was very intoxicated.

“What did you say?” he asked, pulling away just enough so I could speak properly.

“I asked you what the hell you’ve been drinking. Seriously, you’re in no shape to be walking, let alone driving and climbing up a ladder into a moving helicopter!”

My scolding was cut short by gunshots, and I heard the sharp crack of a bullet meeting the helicopter’s side. Without saying a word, Kent pulled Heathcliff off of me and into the backseat beside Dennis. Without me really noticing, Charlie was back at the pilot seat.

“What’s the plan?” Charlie asked rather calmly.

“Just keep heading to the location. I think we can take care of them,” said Kent. He calmly pulled out a gun. Then another one. And another. He tossed one to me and one to Dennis, who prepped it like it was a well-rehearsed action. He saw me staring at him quizzically, and smiled.

“I’ve been in plenty of dangerous places. I need to know how to defend myself,” he said. He clambered over Heathcliff, made his way over to the door on my side of the helicopter, and with calculated precision, shot at the jeeps. I heard the burst of a tire, and a couple of shouts as men clutched their arms and vehicles spun into ditches.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “It appears you’ve had more than enough opportunities to practice,” I remarked.

“I’ll tell you all about it on the way across the Pacific Ocean,” he replied, and fired a few more shots. So far, there were no casualties caused by Dennis’s shots. “Now, your turn to try,” he said.

I looked down at my gun. A thought of Wolfgang taking that shot for me a few days ago popped up into my mind. Blood, and that dread I felt listening to his shallow and unsure breaths seeped into that image. I shook my head, and handed the revolver back to Kent. “I can’t, sorry.”

Kent looked at me at first puzzled, and then he smiled a little. “Didn’t think you would,” he said.

I heard a loud squealing of tires, and both Dennis and Kent snapped their heads to attention. I peered out of the door just in time to see a heavy armour car shoot out from behind some trees and right in front of the jeeps chasing us. 

C.N. - chapter 55

So we were going somewhere, as Theo just told us, and specifically, that location was 4° 23’ N, 173° 8’ W. I was going to suggest that we should call the window installation company around to come and fix the windows I had exploded accidentally with sonic blast, but since men in black carrying high-powered rifles were flooding into Theo's room and coming at us, I had to put off the window fixing suggestion and maneuver the hovercraft away.
Judging by the speedometer, we were going at fifty kilometers per hour through the air.
After some discussion with Mr. Kent and Dennis which I did not hear, Theo told me to go faster. I looked down to the ground at the receding view of Theo's backyard and saw a number of black armored jeeps speeding up from an underground ramp. They seemed to be coming our way to follow us.
'Why aren't they coming with helicopters?' Theo saw the view too, she asked Dennis.
'I told my buddies at the airfield to disable all the other choppers.' Dennis replied.
'What about the one they brought to you?'
'It's still on the roof, I disabled it, like the rest,' Dennis said, 'Why didn't you tell me you have this getaway? That would have saved my buddies and me a whole lot of busting helicopters.'
'Don't look at me, I didn't know about this.' Theo said, she turned to me and asked with amazement, 'What did you do?'
I told a compressed version of what happened as I drove, 'I ran into the secret passage, just like you told me to, and then I remembered that you told me to go to the roof via the secret passage, but by then I had gotten lost, so I looked for a way to the roof but found this in an awesome underground cavern instead. There were other machines there too, I was awestruck, it's like the Batcave in the Marvel comics!' I paused, and then asked a question that came up just at the right time, 'Is anyone in your family a superhero?'
Theo didn't seem to know how to answer my question at first, she turned to Mr. Kent and raised an eyebrow, 'Can you explain this?' She said.
'Um...well...' Mr. Kent looked uncomfortable, he fidgeted and rubbed his fingers on his tie. Maybe he didn't want to reveal his superhero identity (that would make Mr. Kent the superhero who owns this thing I was flying in, wow!) and was trying to come up with a white lie. If Mr. Kent really was a superhero, I understood why he wouldn't want to reveal his secret identity, it's just like in the Marvel comic books, and I understand that.
The interruption came just in time for Mr. Kent not to answer the question of whether he's a superhero or not. We heard the honking of a klaxon, because stealth mode was still on and the hovercraft was flying silently. I looked outside of the cockpit and found a jeep racing below us on the ground in front of all the rest, which were behind us. The hood of the jeep was rolled back, and driving the jeep was no other than Heathcliff, his face distinctively red. I think he was intoxicated.
As he honked the jeep horn, Heathcliff raised one hand and waved up at us. The hood of the hovercraft was still open, so we could hear what Heathcliff was shouting very clearly.
'Don't leave me! I'm coming too!' Heathcliff was shouting.
Mr. Kent and Dennis, both leaning against the port side of the hovercraft, both did not know what to say. Theo pushed between them and shouted at Heathcliff.
'Go back! Go back before you hurt yourself! GO NOW!'
Heathcliff didn't shout, and we all heard him clearly.
'Nay, I shan't! You are the eternal love of my life, my dear Theodora, and where ever you go, I shall follow 'till death do us apart!' The expression on Heathcliff's face at the moment that declaration was made could not be more genuine, if the language he spoke hadn't been soiled by cliche, it would have been a grand moment. Sadly, Theo did not share my opinion; I think she is probably a more realistic person than an idealistic one, and that's why she didn't buy Heathcliff's gushy declaration of love on a speeding jeep racing next to a speeding hovercraft.
'I SAID GO! THIS IS TOO DANGEROUS FOR YOU! JUST GO! GO AND RUN, DON'T LET KYLE'S MEN CATCH YOU, GO FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!' Despite the lack of droning noises, Theo was shouting at the top of her lungs.
'Everything that is not too dangerous for you is not too dangerous for me, my love!' Heathcliff, proclaimed, throw me a ladder! I shall jump!'
Theo replied with another volley of shouting, but as I was rather deep in thought, I didn't hear exactly what she said.
Just then, I found, conveniently, a button located in the far left corner of the control board, it said 'ladder', I pressed it and a hatch at the left side of the hovercraft opened and a rope ladder unrolled from within and dangled towards the ground next to the jeep. I thought that if Heathcliff wanted to jump, he might want someone to catch him just in case if me misses, and I should probably do that, since I had stuntman experience on a movie set once, I'll tell more about that later.
I tapped Dennis on the shoulder and said, 'Can you steer the ship while I help Heathcliff up?' Without waiting for a reply really, I put his hand on the throttle and climbed out of the cockpit and onto the side of the hovercraft, where I held on to the railings, and then onto the flimsy ladder descending to the ground below. We were speeding out of the huge courtyard of Theo's house, and it was a vast flat field without a lot of obstructions. If I wanted to help Heathcliff up onto the hovercraft, I was going to have to do it quickly, because visibly up ahead was the outer wall that surrounds Theo's house, and there wasn't a gate for Heathcliff's jeep to go through and he was going to crash if he kept going straight ahead. While the hovercraft could fly right over the tall wall (if we adjust the altitude up a notch), a jeep couldn't fly, and Heathcliff was not going to drive away from the hovercraft (like he said, and I think he was very serious when he said it).
I suppose Dennis was not a very skilled aviator, because the hovercraft suddenly lurched and the ladder swung, I almost slammed into the jeep.
'ARE YOU CRAZY TOO!' I heard Theo shout, 'GET BACK UP HERE, CHARLIE!' Oh, she was yelling at me, I think she realized then that I wasn't at the controls anymore. She was yelling something else when a deafening sound blasted through my ears and the hovercraft swayed mightily. Somehow, stealth mode had been turned off, and not far behind us, the other jeeps with the men in black in them were catching up.
I reached out my hand, now that I was at the bottom of the rope ladder, to Heathcliff, who had one hand on the wheel of the jeep and was stepping on the gas pedal with one foot and standing up. The jeep was racing a meter beside where I was dangling on the ladder.
'Reach!' I yelled through the drone of the hovercraft engines.
I didn't hear what Heathcliff said in reply, but he certainly reached.

T.N - Chapter 54

I was glad that I kept the golf club from when Grandfather tried to teach me to play. I had kept it under the bed where it collected dust and was totally forgotten about it until I was knocked over by the sudden blast. When I regained my grounds, there it was laying besides me. It was small yet heavy enough to deal a knockout blow, useful for efficiently dealing with insane and violent older brothers.

I watched as Charlie expertly maneuvered the helicopter over to the window. I was going to have to ask him how he learned to control one of those things. From the little I knew it was a Justice League stealth helicopter, and the most recent model of it to boot.

He got as close as possible to the building without the blades and engines hitting the wall. There was a considerable gap between the end of my window and the edge of the helicopter, but it was jumpable. I motioned for Kent and Dennis to get on ahead of me, and they did. They easily leaped across the gap and moved to the back of the helicopter.

I heard the footsteps outside start to head towards my door. There was a collective murmur, and then pounding came on the door. I knew I had to work quickly. I looked at Kyle, who was still unconscious and flat on his face. I grabbed the sheets off my bed, and ripped a few strips from them. I swiftly used one of the strips to tie his hands together, and another to tie his feet. Then, in case he woke up, I gagged him with the remaining strip. The pounding at the door got louder, and so did the murmuring.

“Open up the door!” someone demanded.

“Before someone gets hurt!” yelled another.

I dragged the prone figure of Kyle into the closet and shut the door. Someone would find him sooner or later. I went over to the window, and being smart, I looked down. The gap suddenly looked larger, and I wavered at jumping. My bedroom door slammed open, and Justice League men started flooding in.

I swallowed hard, and leaped. The floor of the helicopter met my feet to my relief, and I sat down next to Charlie. I buckled myself in, and glanced over at the bedroom. Some of the men were running full speed towards the window frame, while others were pulling out various weapons.

“Go, go, go!” I nearly yelled at Charlie, and he obeyed, He pulled the throttle forward, and the helicopter sped away. I collapsed onto the back of my seat in relief.

“Hey, what’s with the red prints on your neck?” asked Charlie, looking over at me. “Are you al—?“

“I’m fine,” I interrupted. “It’s nothing.” Kent and Dennis didn’t say anything, getting the message that the topic was 100% off-topic at the moment. “Anyways, where’s the notebook?”

“In my pocket,” he said, pulling it out and handing it to me.

“Wait a minute…you were the ones that stole my notebook!” exclaimed Kent, and he opened his mouth to unleash a barrage of scolding.

“Not now,” I said. “It’ll all become clear soon enough.” I opened up Kent’s notebook to the page he had jotted down where Grandfather was. “Head 4° 23’ N, 173° 8’ W, and we have to go fast,” I said. “God knows what kind of trouble will be headed straight on our heels.”

C.N. - chapter 53

So I emerged from the ground at the far end of the field of Theo's backyard. As the hovercraft rose out of the ground, the huge circular sliding panels of the exit shaft begin to close. I looked to my left and could see Theo's house.
There was a helicopter on the roof of Theo's house and a person (very small from where I was) was standing beside the helicopter. He seemed to be gazing in my direction too. I hope I didn't make too big of a racket with the hovercraft rising out of the underground cavern. Just as I thought of this, some twenty people poured out of the back entrances of Theo's house and began running over this way. I guess I was making a whole heck lot of noise and I felt quite guilty.
I looked at the controls and found the throttle. I wrapped a hand around it and pushed it forward, the hovercraft moved forward slowly, parallel to the house. I saw that the people coming out of the house stopped some ten or twenty yards from where I was hovering above the ground in this batman-plane lookalike. I decided to go over there and tell them what I found and then land the craft on the roof if I could so I could give Dennis (who was probably the guy on the roof) the notebook Theo told me to give him. I turned the hovercraft ninety degrees in midair with the throttle and guided it forward towards the house.
Interestingly, the people on the ground below me started to run away in the opposite direction. How strange.
I continued to inch slowly towards Theo's house, I have found a button in the upper left instrument panel of controls labeled 'stealth mode'. I activated stealth mode because I thought the noise was probably what's driving all the people in the backyard away. So I canceled out the noise, that's better.
Then I realized that the hood of the cockpit could be opened while I was moving the hovercraft, so I opened it and it felt like speeding in a sports car with the hood down. Wind gushed mightily around me, stirred by the four engines of the hovercraft, but I didn't hear anything, because stealth mode was on.
I moved as close to the house as I dared without ramming into the wall. An idea came to mind that I should show Theo this cool thing I found below her house before going to Dennis on the roof, so I tried to look through the third floor windows, but the sunlight had tinted all of them, and I couldn't see anything through them.
I wondered if there was a klaxon on the hovercraft; I could alert Theo that way. I didn't find one, but I did find a button on the top right instrument panel filled with buttons. The buttons where all categorized under 'attack', and this particular button was labeled 'sonic blast', which I deduced to be equivalent to a klaxon. I pressed it.
All the windows on the third floor exploded.
I blinks, not registering the shock of it all. What was that?! I thought out loud.
Just so it happens, the window directly facing the hovercraft was Theo's bedroom window. Without the glass or the panels remaining over the wide broken window, I could see Dennis in the doorway, just getting up from the ground (he wasn't on the roof?), I could also see Kyle, flat on his chest and flailing his arms like a fish-out-of-water, and then Theo emerged from behind her bed.
'Sorry!' I stood up and called out.
There was some silence, and then Dennis, Theo and Kyle (who had flipped over onto his back and was staring befuddled at me like Dennis and Theo) rubbed their eyes with their knuckles simultaneously. They finished rubbing and blinked a few times each.
'Holy Crap!' Dennis said.
'Holy Shit!' Theo exclaimed.
'Holy fuck!' Kyle shouted.
'Holy holy holy!' Mr. Kent's head appeared from behind the doorway too, his jaw dropped.
'Sorry, again.' I said.
Theo was the first to break her gaze from the hovercraft I was in. She picked up a golf club silently and crept over to where Kyle lay, still staring trance-like at me. Before I could tell Kyle that Theo was raising a golf club suspiciously behind him, she cracked the club on his head and he was knocked out cold. I covered my mouth with a hand in surprise (this was a whole new level of sibling rivalry!).
Because the hovercraft was still in stealth mode, I could hear rapid footsteps and shouting echoing from the hallway outside Theo's room. Theo ushered Mr. Kent and Dennis into her room and shut the door.
Pausing for a moment, Theo called to me, 'Come closer, we're getting on!'

T.N - Chapter 52

I locked eyes with Kyle, and gave him a little smirk. “What would ever make you think that?” I asked him.

“You’re the only one with a motive in the house right now. Stop playing games, we need that notebook,” replied Kyle just as coolly as usual.

“How would you single me out of everyone that has been in and out of this house?” I asked. “Considering your lack of security, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was stolen by the same people who trashed Grandfather’s den. It could’ve been Wolf’s men, or Vulture’s men. Must I remind you about how if Charlie wasn’t there that the bomber would’ve escaped?”

“And how exactly is that my fault?” he asked.

“You decided to choose the burliest men out of all the Justice League. If you were smart enough, you would’ve chosen strong yet agile agents.”

“You are still so young, you wouldn’t understand my choices. You don’t know a thing about the world. You’re still caught up in the naïve and untainted ideals so many children hold,” he smirked. “Grandfather adores you because you’re an innocent child, so easy to control.”

I could feel the corner of my mouth twitch in irritation. In some ways, I was used to this type of abuse, but this is the first time he’s brought Grandfather into our arguments. It made me surprisingly very angry.

“Jealous, are we?” I sniped, and Kyle’s smirk fell. “Afraid that I’ll steal your rightful inheritance of the company from you?”

Within seconds, Kyle was directly in front of me, his hand gently placed around my neck. There was enough pressure so that I couldn’t move, but not so much that I was choking. It was a threat for sure. Kent coughed, and Kyle turned his head as if he just remembered that he was there. Kyle waved his hand, and Kent left the room quite reluctantly, constantly looking back. As soon as it was just the two of us, my insane brother quickly snapped his attention back to me.

“Don’t be mistaken, my dear sister,” he sneered at me. “You’re a disgrace to the family. You’re too hardheaded to obey Grandfather’s wishes to get married and settle down. You’re too reckless to act like a normal girl, let alone one of good birth.”

He squeezed my neck just enough to cut my air off. Alarm bells started ringing in my head; I had never seen Kyle act like this before. I tried fighting back, but lack of oxygen and panic made me lose concentration. He chuckled at my flailing attempts to free myself, and brought his face inches from mine.

“You know, you’ll never be worthy of the North family name,” he hissed. Kyle dropped me in disgust. I fell onto the floor, trying my best not to wheeze as air flooded into my lungs again. I looked up at him through clouded eyes.

“You’re one twisted bastard,” I spat, and got up to my feet.

“You don’t know half of it,” said Kyle. “Not even close.” He started for me again, and I swung my fist out. He caught it easily, and smirked again. “Too slow,” he remarked. He twisted my arm around my back and I cried out from the searing pain that shot up my arm. He slid his hand up my neck again, and I involuntarily wince.

I heard a mechanical click, and a familiar voice said, “Let her go, Kyle.” He let go of my neck, but kept my arm where it was. I saw whom the voice belonged to. It was Dennis, aiming a gun at Kyle’s head.

“What has the world come to?” asked Kyle melodramatically. “Brothers and sisters go against each other now?”

“Stop the shit Kyle,” Dennis said, the first time I’ve ever heard him use such a dangerous tone in his voice. “Let Theo go and it’ll all work out.”

C.N. - chapter 51

*milestone chapter + 1

Theo told me to run like the wind, so I did. I ran down the secret passage in Theo's closet and kept on running. It was a very nice feeling to run like so, and in near darkness too; I felt like a mole, or James Bond, either sounds like a pretty good comparison.
When there's a diverging path in the passageway, I ran on the spot while I picked which way to go. It was a while before I remembered that Theo told me about bringing the piece of paper and the bound notebook we took from the safe to Dennis, who was supposed to be at the helipad, where I was supposed to be heading.
By then I had gone by five or six splits in the passageway and up and down some narrow stairs, and I stopped in my tracks to think about where I was going. I arrived at the conclusion that I was lost.
I decided to head back the way I came, but by then I had lost track of which was I was facing when I stopped, and the tunnel was especially dark at this place, and I bumped into the wall when I turned around thinking it was the way back to where I came from.
I stood there for some time and decided to keep going forward, whichever way that may be, and just go out of the nearest exit I could find and then go to the helipad. It was a good plan, the best I got; I mean, how big was Theo's house that I'll never find a way out of the secret passages?
The first door in the passageway I came to, I tried the handle but found me handle; it must be sealed on the other side. Then there was a flight of stair and another, and ridiculously another! I thought I must be very deep underground already, but then came the biggest surprise, I stopped where I was in the dim and narrow passage I was running in, because there was a dark and winding staircase in front of me. It was steep and old and quite creaky when I put a foot on it. It went into the gloom, deeper down.
This is impossible! I said to myself, is there a dungeon in Theo's house? Because no room but a dungeon could be this deep underground. In the end, I decided to go on anyways because I already came this far.
I hummed a whistle tune as I jogged down the creaky steps, feeling the air getting cooler around me and also staler. At some stretches of the passageway I had heard voices and sounds of people. Those parts were probably very close to rooms and hallways in the house. This passage, however, was completely silent, and I thought it was getting even quieter as I kept jogging down the stairs. The stairs seem never-ending.
Splash! I stopped, I had stepped into something wet. I bend down and scooped liquid into my hands. It's water. There were puddles of water in the tunnel, but I could barely see, there was so little light in this stretch of the passageway.
I realized the staircase had ended and I was on flat ground again. The floor was concrete and as I've mentioned, wet with groundwater. As I continued, the tunnel widened and the air currents were stronger. I was very underground indeed and exactly where I didn't want to be; the helipad was definitely not here. I could smell an empowering stench of earth. I wondered what is this place?
Then I saw a brightness up ahead, I picked up speed and ran towards it. There was a door and the light was coming through a small glazed window. I felt the doorknob but found it locked. I turned to my pocket for a paperclip.
When I emerged from what turned out to be the end of the tunnel, what I found was so unbelievable, it came straight out of a comic book.  
It was like the Bat Cave from Batman!
An enormous cavern lay before me, it was probably the size of a football field from one end to the other. It was lit by a row of large ceiling dishpan lights hung from the high ceiling. A series of catwalks and platforms crisscross above the ground floor, where huge machines, screens and some awesome looking cars I've never seen before were situated.
On the granite wall to my left, a crest and giant block letters were embedded into the rock surface. The letters say, 'JUSTICE LEAGUE', and above it was the circular crest, ten stars surrounding arm-crossed fists. It was a dream come true, I was in the lair of the Justice League!
'Wow.' I said to myself.
I took a flight of metal stairs down to the ground floor, totally bewildered. I passed the vehicles and the computers, which just by looking I could tell were supercomputers, all look like the ones in superhero comics. I rubbed my eyes and pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming, and I sure wasn't.
I found five shelves extending to the ceiling of the cavern stocked with knives, guns and I-don't-know-what! It was all too much to describe. I had not been this lost for words since entering that five star hotel for the first time where I met Heathcliff.
I toured to the far end of the cavern, where the coolest thing I could ever hope to see sat, just beckoning for me to get in. It was a hovercraft, quadruple turbine engines, it looked like a cross between a giant F-16 and a more giant harvester, it was painted black with the Justice League crest, and a ladder was propped for direct entrance to the cockpit.
I soon found myself inside the amazing hovercraft, my heart pumping a mile a minute, and I set about figuring out the controls. It turned out, the controls were very simple, just like a harvester back home. Once that was accomplished and the engine was ignited, I noticed a beeping sound emitting from outside, followed by a piercing grind of metal. I looked above and found that the a part of the ceiling of the cavern, so far above, was opening up, revealing the bright sky outside.
As if on cue, the humming of the hovercraft got louder and I found myself being lifted from the ground (I fastened the seat belt), and the lifting continued as the craft made its vertical ascend up towards the circular opening in the high ceiling, and to outside.
So in the end, I found a way to the helipad after all.

T.N - Chapter 50

*we've reached Chapter 50!!! Yay!!!*

So Charlie did end up having to use a paperclip, and I guess he was satisfied with that. If he was anyone else, he would’ve been quite smug, but this was Charlie. I think he would question why anyone would be smug about the whole paperclip and safe thing.

“Got it,” he said, and the second door of the safe clicked open. We both peered in. I picked up the various books and documents on the bottom of the safe and flipped through them. There was his passport, his wallet, old notes in the twelve year old me’s handwriting about how to construct various types of explosives, and a couple of probably classified government letters and documents that would probably get me in a whole lot of trouble. Finally, I found the moleskine notebook that Kent almost always had on him. I guess that he decided to put it in the safe for the moment, since Kyle was now directly in charge of the mission. I pocketed the moleskine while Charlie replaced all the stuff I had taken out into a neat pile. We shut the safe doors, and I was relieved that this had gone much smoother than I thought it would. Of course, it was a little too early to be thinking that.

As Charlie and I were walking towards the closet door, we heard the doorknob to the den move and a collective murmuring start. I quickly grabbed Charlie’s wrist without thinking and dragged him into the closet. I shut the door as quietly as I could, and then leaned against it to hear what the people were saying. “Why are we staying here?” he asked a little too loudly for my comfort, so I placed my arm around his neck, pulled his head down, and clamped his mouth shut with my hand. I started listening intently to what the people in the room were saying.

“Mr. Kyle, sir,” said a muffled voice that sounded like Kent, “If we’re going to wait to see what the kidnappers have in plan for Mr. North, why do you need the information about where the hiding place is located?” There was an interesting (and rather unpleasant) emphasis on the sir.

“Do not ask questions of me, Kent,” said Kyle in a haughty and strict tone that cut clearly through the door. “I am in charge, so instead of wasting time questioning my decisions, just obey my commands. Otherwise, some unpleasant things may happen. You do understand, Kent, right? You’re not dumb.”

“Of course, Mr. Kyle,” Kent replied rather meekly. I grit my teeth in dismay. Kyle would never act like this when Grandfather was around! The new power of position he has is getting to his head.

I heard some noises, and then the robotic voice of the safe giving its approval. I heard the click of the key as Kent opened the second door. Then…silence.

“Kent,” asked Kyle in a low, quieter voice. “Where is the notebook?”

“I’m not sure, sir,” stammered Kent. “I swear I put it in here. And no one knows the password except me. Not even Mr. North knows…”

“I have a feeling I know who it is, though I have little idea on how she managed. Kent, accompany me to my brat of a sister’s room and check if she’s there. It would be impossible for her to know we’re coming, and she can be easily caught off-guard.”

I didn’t wait to hear Kent’s reply. “Charlie,” I hiss. “Do you know the way back?” Since my hand was still over his mouth, he nodded. “Ok, we’ve got to run as fast as we can, so just guide me back to my room!”

We push open the panel in the back of the closet, and he shoots off like a lightning bolt. I follow him as best as I could, and we burst into my room. I nearly trip over him, as he had suddenly stopped in front of me.

“Where’s Dennis?” he asked. “He’s suddenly disappeared.”

I see a dot of yellow on the blue bed cover, and I quickly snatched it up. It was in Dennis’s blocky handwriting. “Go to the helipad,” I read out loud. “Secret passageways wise, it’s one right, up the stairs, then two lefts, and another flight of stairs.”

I heard footsteps approach my door, and a knock resounded. “Theodora,” said Kyle. “I hope you’re decent because we’re coming in.”

“I’m in the middle of changing, idiot! Wait a second!” I yelled back. I quickly shoved the moleskine and the note from Dennis at Charlie. “Quick, take this up to the helipad. The instructions are on that note,” I hissed. “Go before Kyle and Kent get in here! Run like the wind!”  

“Will sure do,” he said, and in a blink, he was already inside the passageways. I managed to shut the door behind him just as Kyle and Kent opened up my bedroom door.

“Well, my darling sister,” said Kyle, closing the door behind him. “We were wondering if you had any secret mischievous behaviour you need to tell us about. Have you seen any notebooks lately?”

C.N. - chapter 49

I thought a bit more about what had happened with Theo and Kyle and arrived at the conclusion that families, regardless of social statuses, all have sibling rivalry. As I was thinking about this, Theo was talking to Dennis so quickly that the words coming out of her mouth were like splints out of a wood chipper back home. When I think about things, I often don't mind where my eyes settle at, so I maintained eye-contact with Theo as she said many things which I didn't hear.
Theo finished her train of thought and said, 'So what do you think?'
Dennis said, 'For lack of a better word, crazy.' He sat into a chair, deep in thought.
Theo sighed, 'I know, Captain Obvious, that's why it has to work. What do you think about it, Charlie?'
I blinked and said, 'You were talking to me too?'
Theo looked at me incredulously, 'OF COURSE I WAS TALKING TO YOU TOO! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!'
'Oh,' I said, 'I'm sorry, I was thinking, so I didn't hear.' I paused, 'Is it important?'
Theo fell back onto her bed mattress and covered her face with her hands. 'Are you always like this, Charlie?'
I didn't think I was like anything else, and by 'this' Theo probably meant myself, so I nodded and said, 'Yes.' I like to be true to myself.
'And has anyone ever, and I stress EVER, told you that your brain is a bit scrambled?'
I thought about this question, I said, 'I used to have an attention deficit disorder when I was in kindergarten, but dad wanted me to play football when I was older, so he took me to a doctor and I did a lot of focus exercises. Now I have a normal attention span like everyone else.'
Theo didn't seem satisfied by this response, but we were both interrupted by Dennis, coming out of his deep thought, 'Okay, I've convinced me, this can work, but we need the coordinates on Grandfather's computer, which is currently rubble, do you have an alternative?'
'Kent has the coordinates in his notebook.' Theo said.
'In that case, we need to take a look in his notebook.' Dennis said, 'Where is it?'
'He keeps it in his study, in the safe.' Theo replied.
'Aw, that safe,' Dennis sighed, he held a hand to his forehead and slid it down his face, looking like he needed a cup of coffee, he said, 'I designed that safe, and I'm telling you it's hard to crack.'
'I can use a paper clip,' I suggested, 'Why are we cracking a safe anyways?'
'No Charlie, I'm sure a paper clip won't do any good,' Theo said, 'It's a password safe.'
'Oh,' I said, 'Why are we cracking it anyways?'
'You missed the why part because you were thinking.' Theo said, she turned to Dennis, 'Does that secret passage go to the study?'
'It does, but you don't know the password, do you?'
'It's worth a try, I'm good at guessing, remember?' Theo smiled at Dennis.
'Okay, I trust you, remember, the keypad gives you three tries for the correct password, I designed it that way because Kent confuses his passwords a lot, after three tries, an alarm activates and the room locks down.' Dennis paused and added, 'While you're at that, I guess I'll ring my buddies at the airfield.'
'Let's move,' Theo said, she got up and told me to come with her.
'Take a left, two rights, and another left and the passage will get you to the closet of Kent's study.' Dennis said. He took out a very small cellphone and started to dial a number. Theo opened her closet and stepped into it, and beckoned me to follow.
We took a left, two rights and another left and arrived at the back of another closet. Theo pressed her ear to the door and heard nothing, neither did I, so very quietly we got out of the closet and found ourselves in a neatly organized room with the smell of air fresheners. Theo immediately went to a painting on the wall and removed it, behind which was the stainless steel door to a safe, with a keypad embedded in the center of the square door, next to a handle.
'Wow, how did you know where the safe is?' I gasped.
'I used to have a hobby of making explosives, Kent found out and confiscated my stash, so I spied on him and found out where he put it.' Theo said, as she stood by the safe, thinking.
'That's cool,' I said, 'Can you teach me?'
Theo paused and the look on her face said something like, darn, shouldn't have said that.
I took the look to be her response, so I said, 'I think we're alike, I know how to make firecrackers, which are kind of like explosives, we can trade notes on it sometime.'
Theo quickly said, 'Yeah, that's neat.' And she went back to analyzing the safe. She typed in something on the keypad, took a deep breath, and turned the handle.
'Password, incorrect.' A robotic voice said following a beep. Theo sighed heavily.
'You know,' I started, remembering the conversation with Heathcliff outside before the bomb exploded, and thought I should tell Theo about it, since I was alone with Theo and Heathcliff probably wanted Theo to know what he thinks, so I said, 'Heathcliff was talking to me outside, and he said he loves you very much.'
Theo didn't reply, I took it as an indication that she was being a really good listener.
I continued, 'He also told me that you don't feel the same way about him, and I think he's a little devastated by that. Um, I'm just wondering now, do you not feel the same way about him?'
Theo turned around and said, plainly and sharply, 'Heathcliff is an overbearing, foolish romantic dreamer who I for one knows just has too much hormones. And what I can't stand most about him is that he keeps on calling me by my full name which I hate, Theodora, I can't stand it!' As she was saying this, she smacked some more keys on the keypad of the safe, I think spelling her name.
'Password, almost correct.' The robot voice said.
'What?' Theo exclaimed in shock, I think she didn't know she had typed her name on the keypad.
'Try spelling your name backwards, maybe that's the password.' I suggested. Usually, if a password guess is almost correct, then the correct password is probably the guess spelled backwards.
'I-how could the computer say...' Theo couldn't finish her thought, so to save time I went over and typed her name spelled backwards into the keypad and the robot voice came on. 'Password, correct.'
'See?' I said, 'I guessed it right.' I pulled the handle and the door of the safe sprang open, revealing another square door behind it, with a plain keyhole at its center.
'ARE YOU KIDDING ME!' Theo shouted.
'I'll use a paper clip.' I said, and reached into my pocket.

T.N - Chapter 48

I sat in my room, with the door locked and no way of escaping. If I tried to leave out of my 2^nd floor window, the men would spot me and just bring me back in. Damn Kyle. This is exactly why I didn’t want him to know about the secret passage. Being the eldest, he had an unfair advantage over Dennis and me. As the heir of the company, he had nearly the amount of power that Grandfather does, and when Grandfather’s away, it’s Kyle in charge. I’m guessing that at that moment, he was abusing his power on everyone downstairs.

There was something strange about what Kyle was saying, and I wasn’t quite sure what it was…things have been all too strange in general to pick out exactly what was bothering me.

Since it was obvious to me that I wasn’t going to get out of the house anytime soon, I changed out of the now dirty dress into more casual clothing. I slipped on a pair of well-worn jeans and found my favourite black button-up shirt.

I was almost finished buttoning my shirt when my closet door creaked. My instincts kicking in, I immediately jumped into action and flung the door open. To my surprise, two familiar figures toppled onto the floor. The one with dark brown hair landed face first, while his blond companion fell on top of him.

“Dennis? Charlie? But how—“ I asked, but my question was cut short by Dennis.

“My dear sister, I think you should finish dressing before I answer questions,” he said drily, and it was only then I realized that my shirt was still half open.

I straightened up abruptly. I calmly buttoned my shirt up, and tried not to blush. “Next time maybe, you should knock first. I wasn’t expecting any visitors in the first place.” I finished doing so, and held out my hand to Dennis. “I had forgotten about the secret passages. I thought Grandfather had holed them up.”

“I think he did block off some of them, but he left yours open. The one in the main hallway closet is also open. I think he meant to keep it as an emergency exit for you to discover,” Dennis said.

“I would’ve gotten out of here by now if that was the case.”

“I think you should help up your friend here…he got the brunt of the fall unfortunately,” Dennis pointed out. Before I could extend a hand, Charlie was already sitting up.

“Dennis is certainly a fascinating person,” Charlie said to me. “And he’s not like my older sister. She’s annoying, always being the all-knowing one who orders me around. Besides, he also showed me the second passageway I’ve seen in less than 2 weeks.”

“Good to hear,” I said. I turned to Dennis. “Don’t let that get to your head,” I told him, and he just smirked. “Now what brings you two here?”

“When Kyle interrupted our conversation downstairs, did you find anything…odd about his actions?” asked Dennis, sitting down on my bed.

I was tempted to say something along the lines of how Kyle is always strange, but I knew that Dennis was being serious. “As a matter of fact, indeed,” I said, and sat next to Charlie. “But I’m not sure what. He’s been busy these past few days with his darling Selene that I can’t think of any suspicious behaviour except for what happened today.”

“Ok, so let’s recount what he said,” said Charlie.

“So first he enters the conversation by saying that the animal names for each of the people mentioned in the notes as pseudonyms,” said Dennis, “to protect their identities from everyone including each other.”

“How would he know that?” asked Charlie.

“I’m not sure,” I said. “To continue, you,” I pointed at Charlie, “told us about how Kyle entered the room that the mole was in without making a sound. That makes him suspicious…”

“And then he grounded you because you withheld information about Grandfather’s disappearance that he really wanted to know. Afterwards, he practically disowned me and then sent off Kent,” added Dennis.

“Why would he really want to know? If I gave Kent the information, then Kyle could just ask him about it since he’s the acting Justice League head.” I paused to think for a moment. “Something’s not adding up, and I can’t think of anything.” I looked over at Charlie. “Have you noticed anything else strange?”

“No…at least, I don’t remember anything odd,” he replied, his eyebrows furrowed in thought.

“Well we can all agree that this all seems more than a little suspicious, right?” asked Dennis. Charlie and I nodded our heads in agreement. “I think that’s enough proof for now,” he said. “I think now is the time to act.”

I thought back to the helipad rescue earlier for some reason. I had a little idea. “All right then,” I said. “I think I know what to do.”

C.N. - chapter 47

I didn't have any reservations about Kyle being included in the discussion about the letter (which Theo told me was written in Arabic), but from the faces of everyone else in the room, I detected an air of discontent.
I had no idea the man sprinting off after the explosion was a terrorist, and that he was running away. Back in dad's younger days, he said terrorists strap bombs to their bodies and blow themselves up along with whatever target they're after. I guess things changed now days.
Kyle had something to say to Theo, which he did, walking over to where she sat, 'You knew about the secret passage, why didn't you tell me?'
Theo did not meet his eyes, 'I thought you already knew about it.' She said.
'You're lying.' Kyle said plainly.
I thought about everything that had progressed in the past seventy two hours, now that Kyle knew about Theo's secret about the secret passage, so I no longer had to not tell Kyle about it, which meant now I didn't have to not tell Theo about my conversation with Kyle in the smoking room; the secrets had to be canceled out so it's fair.
'That day Theo and I were looking for the rat or mole or whatever you call it,' I interrupted the silence politely, 'after Theo left, Kyle came into the room very quietly that I didn't even hear him, and we talked a bit about Danforth County where I come from.'
Kyle, Theo's other brother Dennis, Mr. Kent and Theo all narrowed their eyes, and Kyle loosened his pink necktie. 'And Kyle told me not to tell Theo about the conversation we had. But now that Kyle knows about the secret passage which Theo told me not to tell Kyle about, I think it's alright to tell Theo about the conversation I had with Kyle that he told me not to tell Theo about because he thinks she is nosy.'
The four people in the room looked at me expectantly, 'And that's all I have to say about that.' I concluded. Then there was silence in the room as they all contemplated what I had said. Theo glanced at Kyle with suspicion, Mr. Kent looked perplexed and Dennis leaned back into his chair with a frown.
Kyle finally broke the silence, 'Anyway, that is not important. Theo, you should not have withheld this information about grandfather's secret room from me, he is missing and now we've lost a valuable lead that could help us find him, what you've done is very irresponsible, leave this room now so we can clean up this mess you created.' Kyle sounded a lot more mature than I've ever heard him before.
Theo stood up sharply with no intent of getting out of the room and spoke firmly, 'Speak for yourself, who was in charge of the house security when the burglars broke in? And have you gotten any idea who did it before I discovered that letter in the briefcase just now? And what if I had told you about grandfather's room, you wouldn't have a clue what to do!'
Kyle walked up very closely to Theo and they continued to stare into each other intensely. Mr. Kent was halfway to getting up, and Dennis gestured for him to sit back down.
'If I had know,' Kyle said in a low and controlled voice, 'I could at least have gotten my experts to go in and find out about a whole lot more than what you stumbled upon. Never mind that though, thanks to you, the room is nothing but rubble, so why don't you get out before you damage anything else in this investigation-.'
'Kyle, you're not helping this situation.' Dennis spoke.
'Shut up Dennis, you're not in this either.' Kyle replied.
'And how am I not in this when I'm the one sitting here trying to figure something out while you're the one ranting?' Dennis raised an eyebrow at Kyle and regarded him with disdain.
Kyle ignored Dennis' question and turned back to Theo, he said,  'I'm the co-chairman of the Justice League, right now I am commander in the absence of grandfather, and I order you, Theo, to get out of this room.'
'Or what?' Theo retorted.
'Mr. Wayne! Mr. Parker! Escort my little sister to her bedroom!' Kyle shouted, and two clean shaven men with shades and in pink suits came in and took hold of Theo's arms, to much struggling. 'You're grounded.' Kyle said to Theo, and I assumed that was the end of the argument, which Kyle won unfairly.
Mr. Kent got up and shouted at Mr. Wayne and Mr. Parker, 'Let go of her!' The men didn't budge, they still held Theo like shackles of iron.
'You're not the command of this agency, Mr. Kent, I am.' Kyle said simply, 'Go.' He ordered the men, 'Mr. Kent, you are to gather every agent stationed in this household to the meeting hall in the next five minutes, we have a plan to make.'
'This-I...' Mr. Kent stuttered, but could not say anything.
'I am giving you an order, go now.' Kyle watched as Mr. Kent, dejected, left the room after the men escorting Theo. Dennis had sat through this in silence, frowning at Kyle; he remained sitting.
'Dennis, you know what I expect you to do, don't you?' Kyle said, acting very much like a dominant big brother, just like my sister.
'Kyle, if I'm not mistaken, which I know I'm not, I think something's gotten into you, something not quite pleasant.' Dennis said.
'You are mistaken, my brother, go back to your businesses, this does not concern you.'
'It's a family matter, it concerns the whole family.'
'It concerns the family, yes, but you are hardly family to us.'
'You would deny your own brother,' Dennis sighed, motioning for me, he said, 'Come on, lightning-fast young man, I have not properly introduced myself to you, let's leave my brother to his secretive devices.'
I followed Dennis out of the room and the hallway was deserted. Without warning, he capped a hand over my mouth and pulled me into a closet and closed the door quietly. We heard Kyle's footsteps go past.
Dennis whispered to me, 'The back of this closet opens into a passage that connects several rooms in this house, we are going to Theo's bedroom. Something is up, and together we're going to find out what's going on.'
It was the second secret passage I've been in in less than two weeks.