1st anniversary here at North by North

One year ago, we introduced ourselves, our concept, and our characters. Today, we have solid and intriguing characters and 67 chapters (and counting)!
It's been one year already since this blog has started, and a lot has changed. Hopefully, the quality of the story has only gotten better.
To whoever reads the novel, you have our thanks.
And G, thanks for being a wonderful coauthor! Without you and your ideas, there'd be no North by North.

-K

C.N. - chapter 67

Man at twelve o'clock; Graham shot the man at twelve o'clock.
Man at nine o'clock; Eric shot the man at nine o'clock.
Two men at seven o'clock; Terry and Terry each shot one man who were at seven'clock. More of Kyle's henchmen burst from behind closed doors, their automatic weapons half-raised, and got shot before they could begin to squeeze the trigger. This continued until the main hallway was full of slumped bodies, put to sleep by extra rapid-speed sedative darts fired with deadly accuracy from Graham, Eric, Michael, John, Terry and Terry's dart-shooters.
Laura's ninjas really have amazing reflexes.
We had landed on the roof of Theo's house, were Kyle's henchmen first spotted us (the flyasaurus, which also has a stealth mode, made our entrance as quiet as a mosquito landing) probably after hearing the impact of some monstrous fly machine touching down on the ceiling over their heads. They opened fire on the flyasaurus and shattered a few of its windows; we couldn't get out because of this.
Michael complained that Eric should have installed the bullet-proof glass on the flyasaurus sooner, and Eric replied that the shipments were delayed, so it wasn't his problem; they got into an argument and completely ignored the firing from outside.
Theo was clever to have used the perfume grenades, though I must agree with the other fellow guys who were there that the perfume grenades were intolerable. Kyle's henchmen on the roof all passed out within a matter of minutes (Laura interrogated the last one of them who didn't fall unconscious yet for the location of Kyle, and afterwards she knocked the guy out too) and gave us cleared entry into the house.
Graham, Eric, Michael, John, Terry and Terry blasted through the second floor with Laura in toll. They moved so quickly Dennis was having trouble keeping up with their pace because he was wearing a ninja suit three sizes too small for him (the right sized uniforms were all taken because Dennis was the last to suit up) which reduced his walking speed to an agitated penguin shuffle. I helped him along while Theo went on ahead with Laura and the ninjas. Mr. Kent twisted his hand somehow, so he stayed behind at the flyasaurus.
We came to Mr. North's study, which still had the evidence that a bomb had been set off there, and entered the secret tunnel. Many of the branches in the tunnel had caved in except for one that had been cleared of debris. It led us straight to what Laura called the Batcave (it very much did look like Batman's secret cave, I realized it too), where I found the hovercraft.
Mr. Wayne and Mr. Parker jumped out of the shadows of some land-rovers that were under construction and Terry and Terry shot them down.
The Batcave was dim and silent. Kyle must be close.
'Halt!' Kyle's voice echoed in the huge chamber.
Graham fired a dart at where he perceived Kyle's voice to have come from.
Kyle swore loudly, 'You almost hit me!' His echo traveled through the chamber.
'Come out of the shadows Kyle North,' Laura said with absolute confidence, 'Come out so we can talk face-to-face and therefore work towards a solution to this traitorous business you've unwisely gotten yourself into, because that's quite honestly my only intention.' She was definitely in control of the situation.
'No! You're bluffing!' Kyle replied.
'Damien would be very disappointed if he sees you now, what you've become, how you've misused the powers of the North family to your own gain.'
'Shut up! I'm the one calling the shots here, not you! I have a hostage! I have Wolfgang, what do you say to that!'
Theo replied angrily, 'Don't you dare harm Wolfgang! You are trapped! Come out and surrender or else!'
'Or else what?'
'Well well, the nerve he has to even ask that.' Laura remarked calmly. I wonder what she had up her sleeve that would make Kyle surrender.
'I will KILL you! You hear? I will rip you open with the most painful surgical tool I find and strangle you with your own filthy guts, and if that doesn't satisfy me I'll-'
'Whoa, listen to that, my kid sister has already learned to make death threats in detail, how-' Kyle's voice was cut short by the sound of something metallic hitting a skull, Dennis was looking at Theo as if for the first time, and I noticed that Michael and John were no longer with us.
Several moments later, Graham and John emerged from some hovercraft parts a few yards away. Graham was carrying the unconscious form of Kyle, and John was carrying the equally unconscious form of Wolfgang, bond and gagged by bedsheets.
Laura took Wolfgang from John and untied him. She stroked his hair lovingly. Wolfgang appeared to be sleeping peacefully, one arm still in a sling from the gunshot wound inflicted by Mr. Dragon.
'He's sedated, but he should be okay.' Graham said of Wolfgang, 'Kyle North clearly knew nothing of the advantages of having his hostage conscious during a hostile negotiation as to having his hostage unconscious.'
'Oh shush Graham, now it not the time for jokes,' Laura said with a dreamy smile, 'you're witnessing the reunion of long-separated mother and son, show a little respect.'
'And like you told us, we followed his voice and found him hiding behind one of those propeller engines, I knocked him out with a good blow to the back of his head.' John said of Kyle, 'For someone who's supposed to be the mastermind traitor in the family, he sure is an amateur.'
Laura didn't hear us, she was immersed in her ethereal moment of joy. No one disturbed her until the moment passed and she looked at each of us in turn.
'That was swift and well-done, Graham and John, carry Kyle with us, will you? I will hold on to Wolfgang myself for now.'
'Just a second,' Theo said. She went forth to Kyle's unconscious form on the pavement and kicked him in the shins. 'That felt good.' She breathed deeply and smiled. Graham and John picked Kyle up and we started back for the roof, with two new members among us.

We got back to the roof and found the flyasaurus completely wrecked. Mr. Kent sat some distance away massaging his injured hand.
Graham screamed, 'What in the name of the devil's fiery inferno happened!'
'I-I don't know,' Mr. Kent stammered, 'I was just sitting inside there and suddenly there was this beeping sound like an alarm...and-and the red light was flashing so I thought I'd better get out of there...and t-then just as I got out the thing blew up...I don't know what caused that to happen.'
'That doesn't make any sense,' said John.
Graham screamed some more, 'Blasted devil's buttcheeks! You gotta be kidding me!'
'The red light is the self-destruct signal. It couldn't have activated itself. Someone must have pushed the button.' John continued. His reasoning was drowned out in the clamor of voices, arguing over how we would get to Mr. Dragon's island with the flyasaurus destroyed.
Laura too was removed from the argument, looking both amused and annoyed as she stroked Wolfgang's sedated head. She beckoned me to her side and said, 'Charlie, you haven't forgotten what I told you, have you?'
'No I haven't.' I replied.
'Have you forgotten about the part about telling the others what I told you?'
I thought for a bit, 'That part I did forget.' I confirmed.
'Alright then, why don't you go now and tell those colleagues of mine what I told you, so they can stop their arguing.'
I did as she told me and got everyone's attention.
'I forgot to tell everyone what Laura told me before we flew here. She called her other colleagues and told them to come here to Theo's house and meet us with more flyasauruses. When they arrive the plan was to attack Mr. Dragon together. They should be almost here, so the plan should be able to continue unhindered.'
My announcement was met with slaps to the head, exclamations of 'Why didn't I think of that before!' and cheers.
'Damn it!' Mr. Kent said through his lips. He almost looked disappointed for some reason.
'What did you say?' said Theo.
'Oh, uh...damn good...damn good we have a back-up.'

T.N - Chapter 66

-->

The plan we had conceived was nice and simple, almost to the point where the invasion sounded like a walk in the park. However, it didn’t come as much of a surprise for me when I ended up stuck in the truck while outside it was raining bullets. Ok, so I wasn’t expecting that exact scenario, but I was anticipating some sort of roadblock.

Thankfully, the glass in the windows was still intact, though cracks spider webbed the surface. I peeked up from where I had instinctively ducked and looked outside. I could see several of the henchmen only a few meters away from us. They too were dressed in black, though their armour was much bulkier. I also saw some other black figures on the house with sniping guns.

I fingered the array of grenades that we were given, trying to think of a way out without killing anybody. I temporarily lapsed out of reality, and it was only because of Kent that I didn’t get shot in the head by the first bullet that punctured through the glass. He pulled me down while simultaneously covering my head to protect from the downfall of glass.

“Watch what you’re doing!” scolded Kent. “Once you’re in plain sight, they target the glass where your head is until it breaks.”

“Sorry,” I said, and swallowed hard. I had nearly died, and it was because I wasn’t paying attention. We needed to act and think fast.

I looked down at the grenades again. Tear gas grenade? Nope, they would make moving outside difficult. Same goes for the glue grenade. Explosive grenade? They would probably kill or seriously injure somebody, and I don’t want to go that far yet. The only ones left was the mysterious perfume grenade.

Laura had no time to explain what it was, as she was busy alternating between shooting and ducking; the same went to the other “ninjas,” as Charlie calls them. I decided the perfume grenade would be worth a try.

When I heard a lull in the shots outside (probably thanks to Laura) I yanked the cap off of the grenade, popped out of my hiding spot, and threw it as far as I could.

The henchmen closest to the truck dove out of the way of the incoming grenade, and the snipers stopped firing in fear of accidentally setting it off too early.

The grenade exploded, sending small shards of the shell flying. Following it was a large cloud of purple gas. The henchmen were caught in this billowing cloud, and promptly doubled over coughing and wheezing (and some losing their lunches).

The cloud diffused into the truck, and I was surprised to see (or rather smell) that it was rather fragrant perfume. It reminded me of those nights that my mother would accidentally spill a bottle of her expensive, musky perfume, causing the room to become slightly nauseating. Granted, the perfume grenade was slightly more sickening, but not bad enough for me to feel like I had to faint.

“Ugh, what is that smell?” said Dennis, pinching his nose.

“A little bit of Chanel No. 5, sandalwood, lilac, and a secret ingredient I made myself,” said Laura. “For some reason, most people can't stand it. I think it's quite pleasant." She took out her own perfume grenade, and threw it towards the snipers in the back. “Good call, Theo.”

Heathcliff behind me gagged. The fact that he was probably still quite intoxicated probably didn't help his nausea from the perfume. 

"She had to train us to get used to the smell,” said Graham, and he jerked his head towards Laura to indicate he was talking about her. “It was absolute hell that we had to go through…rooms full of this perfume that we had to stay in until we passed out.”

“Or until you got better and didn’t gag at the smell of it,” said Laura. She smiled rather wickedly at her colleagues.

By this time, all firing has ceased as the snipers gagged at the scent. Laura opened up the door and walked outside. She grabbed one of Kyle’s henchmen from off the ground by the collar and brought him up so she could look him in the eyes.

“Where is your leader?” she asked calmly.

“I don’t know,” said the man, “he’s somewhere around here…” His eyes nervously darted around.

 She twisted the collar and brought the man’s face close enough to hers that their noses were touching.  At the same time, she took out her gun and placed the muzzle right at the base of his neck. “I asked,” she said with a cold, piercing stare, “if you knew where Kyle North was.”

I shivered. I kind of felt bad for the man, even if he was working for the Kyle, and subsequently the Dragon.

“He’s—he’s in the house. In the Justice League headquarters,” he stammered out, his face pale and his teeth chattering.

Laura let go of him and smiled. “Thanks for your time.” He could only stare at her as she turned around to face us.

“What are you guys doing, sitting around twiddling your thumbs?” she yelled over to us.  “Let’s get going to the Batman cave.”

“So I’m not the only one that thinks it came straight out of the comic,” Charlie says, and hops out of the vehicle.

We all climbed out of the truck and went over to where she was standing except for Kent, who to my alarm, had fallen over. I rushed back to where he was now sitting and helped him up. He winced in pain and leaned against the side of the truck.

“Ah, I’m getting old,” he said. He grimaced a bit. “Seems like I pulled a muscle or something. My knee is killing me, and my hand is strained. Won’t be able to walk over to the headquarters, or be of any help.”

“Will you be ok?” I asked. “One of us can always stay behind and help.”

“No, it’s fine,” he replied. “Go on ahead without me.”

“But Kent—“

“I said go!” he said vehemently. I jumped back a little to hear the tone of voice. He seemed to have noticed my surprise as his voice softened a bit.

“I can defend myself. Now go on, join the others.”

I looked back at the others, and saw that the others had already started heading towards the house. I started towards the group, and then glanced back behind me. For the first time, I saw that he had aged a lot; he had grey streaks through his hair, and there were more wrinkles in his face. And, for some reason, he seemed so much smaller. He waved at me to keep on going, and I turned back to the house and started to run.

If Kent, the caretaker that had seen me take my first steps as a baby, thought I was strong enough, then I’m definitely stopping Kyle. No matter what.

Charlie - chapter 65

Here was the plan:
Laura would radio her entire team of G.I. Joe ninjas to head towards Theo's house in more of those angry Magic School Buses of hers while we do the same. We should all be able to get back there in ten minutes. After we all arrive, we were going to shoot and blow up anyone and anything that got into our way, pick up Wolfgang where we left him, maybe kick Kyle in the shins (Theo's suggestion) for being such a traitor, convince the Justice League to come back to following Mr. Kent's orders (shouldn't be too hard, said Mr. Kent, if worst comes to worst he just has to fork over a few rare issues in his superman comics collection to bribe them and they'll do anything he says instantly), and finally leave for the Terrorist Union's island (or Mr. Dragon's den, as Laura likes to call it) with all the ammunition we can carry.
It would be like Rambo, only in real life.
We climbed into Laura's flying vehicle, which Eric the Ninja likes to call the 'flyasaurus' (he gave it that name after inventing it by combining mechanisms of a monster truck with that of a military airship prototype), even though it doesn't resemble any species of dinosaur that I know of. Despite the outward appearance, the interior of the flyasaurus was quite roomy, with enough space to seat 15 people. The instrumentation in the flyasaurus were much more complex than what was in the Justice League hovercraft. I couldn't figure them out.
Mr. Kent was also very impressed with the technology of the flyasaurus. He poured himself over the dials and controls and radars and exclaimed repeatedly, 'My goodness gracious, Laura! How did you do it? The ingenuity of this vehicle is nothing short of brilliant! Why I can't even begin to make out the beginning and end of this thing. My goodness indeed!'
Laura just smiled and said, 'I have my helpers'. Graham, Eric, Michael, John, Terry and Terry gave her a satisfied smile each and a thumbs up.
The flyasaurus took off smoothly. We had decided that we would travel by air and do a drop-down landing once we're flying above Theo's house.
I sat next to Theo and Dennis sat next to me. Since we were passengers, we sat in the backseats while Laura and the G.I. Joe ninjas took up their stations around the front.
'Since we're heading back to your house with the intention to fight Kyle, are you worried that your house might get really shot-up?' I asked Theo.
Theo looked at me for a second and smiled, 'I won't worry about it, it's nothing that repairs can't fix. I resented Kyle painting the walls of the house that light pinkish color, it needs a good renovation anyway.'
'And plus, I always wanted to do something like this,' said Dennis leaning over to join the conversation, 'Trash my own house, I mean. It happened in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Batman Begins, and Lethal Weapon, multiple times too!'
'You like movies, so do I!' I said to Dennis.
'Action movies especially. Ever seen The Matrix?' He asked.
'Yeah! My favorite part is where Neo fights Agent Smith in the subway.'
'My favorite is the rooftop scene. With the Bullet-time, it a classic now.'
Dennis and I listed our top-ten favorite scenes from the movie and then quoted some dialogue from it too. Then we got to discussing like most Matrix fans how the sequels sucked and before we know it, Theo tapped both of us on the shoulder and said, 'Laura is telling us, that we'll arrive in two minutes, you two movie-lovers should suit up.'
'Aww I wish I can slow time down like they do it in the Matrix.' Dennis lamented.
We glanced at her and saw that while we were talking she had gotten into a black ninja suit identical to the ones Graham, Eric, Michael, John, Terry and Terry were wearing. Mr. Kent had changed into a suit also.
Dennis and I stepped into a pair of black ninja suits each. The suit was equipped with tear gas grenades, explosive grenades, glue grenades, perfume grenades (Laura said she'll explain later), and other ninja weapons. I thought the assorted grenades were the most interesting.
'Wait, how are we going to-' Dennis began, but he got interrupted when a stream of clangs assaulted my ears. Judging by this sudden explosion of machinegun fire, we've already touched down somewhere on or near Theo's house, and someone - or everyone - was shooting.