Merry Christmas!

Well, I have no holiday chapter to offer today, with a black out earlier this week and a busy schedule.
But we wish you a merry Christmas, and hope the rest of the holidays go well!

-K (with G in spirit)

T.N - Chapter 74

Despite the blanket, my teeth were still chattering and my body was still shaking. I started to wonder if it was because I was cold, or because of the anger that was roiling inside of me every time I laid eyes on Kent...was it even proper to keep on calling him Kent? He was Kent and he was the Virus, he was someone I’ve known since birth, except I never really did know him. He was a stranger with a familiar face. Thankfully, he walked past me to lead the group along with the Dragon, so I didn’t have to look at him.

Wolfgang placed my glasses in my hands, but my hands were shaking too much for me to put them on. He took them back, crouched down, and placed them gently on my face. His hands were warm, and his fingers grazed along the side of my face. I averted my eyes and stood up.

A guard escorted me over to the hatch where the Dragon had already climbed down. At the urging of the guard, I clambered down the hatch. The inside of the submarine was dazzlingly black, the walls and floor of the corridors polished to perfection. The corridors were narrow, only wide enough for three people to walk side by side. I couldn’t see the Dragon in front, but I could hear him making small talk to Laura.

As we walked along the corridors and climbed up and down countless stairs, we passed by engine rooms with workers bustling about keeping the submarine afloat. We passed by other rooms with scientists tinkering with complex gadgets and writing equations on a whiteboard.

Climbing all of these stairs made my breathing laboured, and I could feel the thrum of my heartbeat accelerate with each step I took. I had tripped a few times on steps, but each time, either the guard or Wolfgang caught me and I would mutter a small thanks.

The last room we passed was the largest out of all of them, and the simplest. A large, circular table was in the middle, with twelve chairs around. Ten chairs were occupied by a variety of people dressed in formal, black clothing. I only caught the glimpse of a few faces, but I recognized them all from the Justice League’s most wanted. A man with slicked back hair glanced up from his conversation, and watched me walk past, his teeth bared in a large grin. I shivered, and looked away.

We descended one last flight of stairs to where the corridors were lined with closed, steel doors. A couple of guards opened the doors, and I was herded along with Heathcliff, Wolfgang and Charlie into one of the steel rooms. Inside were small cells separated by thick steel bars. The guard that was escorting me placed me in a cell alone, while the others were together in the one to my right. The guards locked the door of the cells and then walked outside of the entrance. The Dragon sauntered in, and looked at Wolfgang fondly.

“Your mother and I need to have an adult talk, along with her crew and the North heir” he said to Wolfgang. “I hope you don’t mind being left out of it.”

Wolfgang only stared at him with complete, unadulterated anger. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it and just let his glare do the talking.

“I’ll take that as a no,” said the Dragon. He walked out of the room, and paused by the guards. “Make sure my son and his friends don’t make any trouble. I’d hate to show them to Damien in less than one piece.” The guards nodded, and the steel door shut with a clang.

Wolfgang yelled in frustration, and pounded the wall. He said some expletives, but what he specifically said I don’t know. My mind started to become fuzzy, with white splotches swimming across my vision. I slumped against the wall, and slid down to the floor.

“Theo!” called Charlie’s voice, but it sounded muffled. He reached his hand through the bar and grabbed my wrist. His hands were hot, so uncomfortably, burning hot. “You’re shivering, and you’re freezing cold, are you feeling ok?”

I wrenched my hand away. “I...I’m fine, don’t touch me, you’re too hot...” I took the blanket off of my shoulders. “I don’t know...why everyone is worrying about me...” I grabbed the bars and slowly hauled myself up off of the floor. I let go and faced the others, smiling. “I’m totally fine...see?”

Everything turned white, and the last thing I felt was the sensation of falling. 

Geez, we've really let ourselves fall behind! Here's a longer chapter as my apology. School has been crazy and full of work, and I've forgotten that it was my turn to write here! Oops....

Of course, I've been working on other writing projects, so don't forget to look at Zone 1!

C.N. - chapter 73

The submarine rose out of the water. Its gray steel hood raised our inflatable raft right out of the ocean from below. A few meters away, Theo and Kyle, who was conscious now because he was squirming like a fish-out-of-water in his bounds, were sprawed too on the hood of the submarine.
This was a huge submarine we were on.
Normally a person can plunge into the Pacific Ocean for only a few minutes without freezing solid. When the person exits the water, the sooner they change out of their wet gear the less likely they will catch hypothermia. Theo and Kyle should get on some dry clothes as soon as possible, so I stood up to go over to them with an emergency blanket I found tucked under where I was sitting in the raft.
'Sit down boy, leave them there.' Mr. Kent ordered.
'If they don't dry themselves up they'll catch hypothermia, I know this because one winter I went ice fishing with my dad and a few of his buddies on the lake near where I live...' I didn't finish because Mr. Kent fired a shot into the air. And everyone including me ducked down.
'Shut up, you'll do as I say without questions, now sit down.'
A radio signal cracked to life. There was confusion for a moment, and then Mr. Kent took out a walkie-talkie out of his suit pocket.
'Did you just kill one of the hostages?' The voice in the walkie-talkie said. I recognized Mr. Dragon's voice because the volume in the speaker was surprisingly loud and high-definition.
'Uh no Dragon, that was a warning shot.'
'What have I told you about wasting your warning shots, you haven't got an extra magazine clip on you, am I correct?'
Mr. Kent patted himself down and replied, 'Uh no, I don't.'
'And there are more hostages with you than there are bullets in your gun to threaten all of them with, therefore if they had know earlier about your lack of sufficient ammunition, they could have overpowered you completely, couldn't they? As a matter of fact they can do so right now.'
Mr. Kent was speechless; he sputtered some things trying to come up with a reply, but failed.
'Damn,' Terry said, 'Knowing that we totally could have overpowered the old fart back in the flyasaurus, couldn't we, Terry?'
'Absolutely, Terry.' The other Terry nodded, 'And what more, we can do that right now, who's up to take a bullet or few for the team and maybe get killed? Anyone?'
'I am rather sorry to inform you, it is now too late for that.' Mr. Dragon's voice said. A hatch on the hood opened and two men dressed in military attires emerged first from the submarine, carrying automatic weapons, followed by Mr. Dragon himself, followed by two more men dressed and armed in the same way. The men trained their weapons at us. Mr. Dragon spoke as he approached our raft.
'I admire your dilligence in listening in on the coversation I was having with Virus here, I assume he had forgotten to put speaker volume on low, am I correct to say so, Virus?'
Virus! Mr. Kent's real name is Virus?
Mr. Kent, or Mr. Virus, I don't know which name to call him by, sputtered some more unintelligible things. I was under the impression that Mr. Dragon was ridiculing Mr. Kent/Mr. Virus quite harshly and enjoying doing it.  
Two more people exited the hatch, a man and a woman in orderly uniforms, and they approached Kyle and Theo with blankets.
Mr. Dragon turned to Laura and flashed a wan smile, 'Long time no see, Laura.'
Laura returned a smile which I couldn't decide whether it meant love or hate. 'Same to you, Clark, so we meet again.'
'I'm sorry I couldn't afford a better condition for this reunion, I hope you still understand me after all these years.'
'Don't worry yourself, I remember you like it all took place yesterday, you old scoundrel, at least you kept in shape.'
'So have you, my dear.' Mr. Dragon gave a gentlemanly bow. 'I'm still the same man when you left me, my dear.'
'Oh save your flourish, Clark, you can't fool me again with that old stuff.'
'Always for you, my dear Laura, always for you.' Mr. Dragon regarded Wolfgang next, 'Ah, my son! Our last separation was rather untimely, I did not even get to say goodbye.'
'Fuck you, dad.' Wolfgang spat. His stare seemed murderous, though the fire from his eyes had no visible effect on Mr. Dragon. Laura shushed him.
'Good! The boy still recognizes his own father. I had thought a bullet was too much for him to handle.' Mr. Dragon turned to me, surprisingly.
'Charlie, do you still have misgivings at me for having taken you hostage before our last parting?'
'I don't think I do, because I don't think you weren't really intending to shoot me in the head - maybe just knock me out, if the situation required it.'
'Well then I'm glad the trust between us is not broken.' Mr. Dragon shook my hand.
'What trust?' I heard Theo say and looked in her direction. She was wrapped in a blanket, staring murderously at Mr. Kent/Mr. Virus the same way Wolfgang was still staring at Mr. Dragon, 'Who exactly are you?' She said; the question was directed towards Mr. Kent/Mr. Virus.
Mr. Kent/Mr. Virus looked at her amusingly, 'I am Mr. Kent, as you know, or knew, more appropriately, and I am the Virus, tenth member of the United Terrorists. I have been planted in the North family since before you were born, Theo, I am a double agent - the grandmaster of double agents.'
'Now, now, Virus, I like like your introduction, but there's just a tiny detail I wish to correct,' Mr. Dragon said, putting a hand on Mr. Kent/Mr. Virus' shoulder, 'You're the eleventh, not the tenth, member of the U.T., Alligator is the tenth, and by the way, he's the T-Rex now.'
'That is incorrect, Dragon, I am the tenth member, Alligator-I mean, T-Rex, he's the eleventh.'
'That's not how I remembered it.'
'Well it's how I remembered it Dragon, do you want to bring this up with the others, because I'm right when I say this, I'm the tenth member of the U.T.!' Mr. Kent/Mr. Virus said indignantly.
Mr. Dragon waived him off dismissively with a hand and said, 'Enough of this standing around. Alright hostages, I have business with almost all of you, so let's get down to it. Welcome aboard.'
Escorted by the guards and Mr. Dragon, we entered the submarine.

T.N - Chapter 72

To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I could barely comprehend the sight of Kent holding John hostage, never mind focus on his demands. His mouth moved, but all I could hear was a roaring silence as thoughts flittered through my head. Kent...he’s betraying us? It couldn’t be...

I felt someone tug at my hand, pulling me towards the back of the truck where Graham was. I stumbled along and noticed that everyone, except for the two at the cockpit, was all piled in the back. “I’m sorry,” breathed Wolfgang into my ear as he squeezed my hand.

“What are you say—“

“I already said, no talking,” said Kent, cutting me off. He gently pushed the muzzle of the gun right against John’s head.

“This is just a clever trick, a way for us to focus on solving the problem instead of bickering by providing extra crisis! Like we’re going to crash in a few moments and we couldn’t figure anything out and so this was your way of helping, right?” I knew I was babbling, but I didn’t care. “You couldn’t possibly betray us, you’re Kent, you’re like family, you helped us so many times, you—“

A gunshot ran through the air, and I winced as I heard the shattering of glass. John was shaking, and clutching what was left of his right earlobe. Blood trickled through his fingers, running down his arm, and started dripping onto the floor.

Kent shot John. Kent shot John. Kent betrayed us. Kent betrayed us!

“If you would be so kind, Mr. Gable, please silence her before she becomes a hazard to John’s safety,” said Kent. “I’m afraid she’s close to hysterics, which makes delivery to the boss a little bit more difficult.” Wolfgang let go, only to clamp a hand over my mouth and wrap his other arm around me in a restraining embrace. I hadn’t realized until then that I was hyperventilating, and that tears were running down my face.

“Now then, Graham, I do assume that you’re finished preparations for landing?” asked Kent. “Otherwise, I’m not certain if we will be able to get out alive.”

“Done,” replied Graham. “Though quite respectfully, we won’t be able to open the back door with the vehicle’s systems down...”

“That is of no consequence at the moment,” replied Kent. He ushered John towards the pilot’s seat. “Now then, I’m going to turn the manual system on, meaning that you’ll be able to land us and the doors will be able to open.” He turned towards us. “If any of you try anything, and I do sincerely mean anything, I will blow John’s head off.” He pointed the gun back at John’s head and smiled.

The Terries growled, but didn’t move forward. I could feel Wolfgang tense up and pull me in even closer. Laura, calmly and coolly, said, “We understand.”

Kent pulled a small hard drive out of his shirt pocket and plugged it into a port on the dashboard. He then quietly pressed a few buttons, and the lights on the dashboard came back on. “That should do it,” he said, sounding satisfied. “Now John, if you could do the honour of landing us.” He glanced at his watch, “I hope to be on the water’s surface in one minute. I’d hate to be late.”

John’s ear was still bleeding, but he stopped compressing it in order to take control of the wheel. The nose of the vehicle started to dive down even more rapidly than before, and I could see the glittering blue Pacific Ocean coming closer and closer...

John suddenly pulled up, and the vehicle jolted and bucked as it met the water’s surface. He pressed one of the lit buttons on the dashboard, and the back door of the truck swung open. Water started rushing in at an alarming rate.

Graham quickly pulled a cord on the life raft, and as it expanded, he pushed it onto the water. Kent, escorting John, climbed in first, followed by everyone else. Heathcliff was hesitant, but as Wolfgang walked past with me in tow, he grabbed Heathcliff’s arm and hauled him in. The raft started floating away from the quickly sinking truck when I noticed someone was missing.

“Where’s Kyle?” I asked, panic creeping into my voice.

“Still inside,” said Kent. “He already fulfilled his role to me and the boss, he’s just deadweight now.” He smiled. “He made a good proxy villain.”

Kyle was only a proxy. Kyle was innocent. And he was going to die.

I wrenched myself out of Wolfgang’s grip, and before Kent or any of the others could do anything, I whipped off my glasses and dove into the water.

It was so numbingly cold that my breath was nearly taken away. Without my glasses, everything was blurry, and the salt water stung my eyes. I made my way towards the dark shadow that was the truck. I swam into the truck, and found Kyle still strapped in. Despite my fingers going numb, I managed to fumble with the seatbelts and free him. His limbs were still bound, but I was running out of breath. I grabbed Kyle around the waist and started to kick upwards towards the surface. Oxygen deprived, black spots started dancing in front of my eyes, and I could feel my mind turning fuzzy. I held onto Kyle even more tightly, refusing to let him sink. The black spots had multiplied until I could only see a tiny splotch of the daylight above, but even that was disappearing. The surface was so far away...the thought occurred to me that perhaps I wasn’t going to make it.

Suddenly, I felt a solid surface push up from underneath me, lifting me up to the surface. As soon we reached air, I gasped for air, filling my lungs with oxygen again. My mind cleared, and that’s when I noticed that the solid surface, the one I was pushed up to safety by, was a huge submarine.

Super long chapter to make up for the fact I was back for more than a week and hadn't posted anything...hope you enjoyed villainous Kent as much as I did!

Notice from K

Hello!

Hope you've been having a great summer, and have been checking up on this blog for new chapters! Speaking of summer and new chapters, I'm heading out to Vancouver until the 13th, so I probably won't have any time to post a new chapter (which leaves you, the reader, on a little bit of a cliffhanger). However, as soon as I get back, I'll be as busy as I can writing Chapter 72!
In the time that I'm not around, check out Zone 1, G's other blog, and this interesting (and hilarious) podcast I've been addicted to for awhile.

See you in 12 days!

-K

C.N. - chapter 71

I was just finished giving a detailed summary of the plot of Kingdom of Heaven, Director's Cut when the alarm in the flyasaurus blared from the cockpit. Everyone's attention turned to the control panel, which seemed to have malfunctioned, because most of the indicator lights were flashing on and off, some had already gone dim altogether.
Darn, I thought, I was just getting to the good part where I would explain how Kingdom of Heaven is very relatable to what Wolfgang went through in the past day. It looked like I had to put the explanation off until later.
'So what's up with auto-pilot, John?' Graham leaned over John's shoulders and asked. John was in the pilot chair, one hand pressing the panel's button instruments furiously, the other hand shaking the throttle like mad.
'Auto's dead,' John replied, 'And I can't get the ship back to manual piloting.'
'What do you mean auto-pilot's dead?' Graham shouted indignantly.
'The computer system manning auto-pilot, it got breached by a virus, and the virus is killing the system, that's what I mean!' John shouted even more indignantly.
'A virus? When the hell did the system get breached by a virus?'
'Just now!'
'What the fuck?'
'What the fuck indeed, this is a total clusterfuck!'
'Calm down there, you two,' Laura got over to John too. With three people crammed in the cockpit, I could no longer see the control panel. 'So what exactly is the virus doing?'
'It entered the ships's computer just now, corrupted the auto-pilot system, and made it impossible for us to switch back to manual controls.' John said.
'What about the firewall, the ship's computer came with a firewall, right?' Laura said.
'There is a firewall, but we haven't installed it.'
Laura's eyes narrowed, 'And why not?' She said.
'This machine is a test prototype, remember? It wasn't supposed to be ready until next year, until this recent turn of events forced us to take this out of the garage early. So yes, not all of the features on the blueprint are installed in the ship yet.'
'Yeah, even the coffee machine isn't installed.' Terry said. The other Terry nodded.
'See Michael, the bullet-proof glass thing wasn't my fault, this baby isn't supposed to fly until next year.' Eric said triumphantly.
'Aw will you drop it with the bullet-proof glass shenanigan?' Michael snapped.
'Just making my point, Michael.' Eric replied, smug in the face.
'Gentleman, I believe we have more pressing matters at hand,' Laura turned to the the rest of us and said, 'The ship can't fly for much longer, we'll have to make a forced landing.'
'Over water?' Heathcliff exclaimed, horrified.
'Yes, we're miles from mainland.'
'But-but I can't swim!' Heathcliff protested.
'I'll help you, it will be a pleasure to save Prince Charming from drowning.' Wolfgang said. I was happy that Wolfgang seemed to be back to his old self - the self I first encountered with Heathcliff in the warehouse.
'I don't need your help! I still haven't forgiven you for kidnapping my dear Theo, don't you forget it!' Heathcliff declared with indignation. Heathcliff was back to his old self too - the one I first encountered in the penthouse suite.
'Well Theo,' Terry said, with his eyes on Wolfgang and Heathcliff in their
heated argument, 'seeing these guys, I can't blame you for avoiding your suitors.'
'Totally.' The other Terry said.
'Hello? We're in a dire situation here!' John yelled from the cockpit, 'Is nobody except me scared shitless?'
'I am!' said Heathcliff, 'I don't know how to swim.'
'No, not because of that.' John said, 'I'm asking, is nobody except me scared shitless, because it seems I've been taken hostage, by Mr. Kent here.'
Sure enough, Mr. Kent was at the cockpit, with a gun pointed at the back of John's neck. Graham was no longer there, he had gone to the back to prepare the inflatable raft device on the flyasaurus.
'Exactly,' Mr. Kent said, in that cool-as-a-cucumber voice so reminiscent of Mr. Dragon's when he took me hostage at his compound, 'Now if you may all focus your attention on me, I have a few orders to give out.'

Notice

For some reason, the blog has reposted Chapter 32....please be patient as we try to fix this problem!

-K

*Edit: G seems to have accidentally republished it when he edited it...he apologizes for any inconvenience it may cause*

T.N - Chapter 70

Charlie started this long explanation about the movie Kingdom of Heaven, but unlike the others, I wasn’t listening. I was simply being observant. Wolfgang seemed to perk up a bit as the focus was drawn away from him and his family drama and onto the story that was Dennis and Charlie were unraveling (which, all I could really make sense of, was about crusades and battles of epic proportions). Laura watched him fondly, and a genuine smile, one without a single sign of her signature smirk, lit up her face. Heathcliff and the henchmen were all gathered closely around closely, asking questions with eager expressions. Kyle, despite all the hustle and bustle, was still out cold. The only person who was slightly distanced from everyone else was Kent, who was still at the cockpit, leaning forward and gazing out the window wistfully. His hands were on the dashboard for balance, and I hoped that he wouldn't accidentally doom us all by pressing a button.

I guess Dennis followed my line of sight, as he then called out, “Hey Kent! Stop being a loner and come over here! You liked Kingdom of Heaven when you watched it with me.”

Kent grinned. “I did like it, but obviously not as much as you. You threw quite the tantrum when we couldn’t find a copy of the director’s cut online.” He fixed his shirt pocket, and made his way over to the group.

I laughed. “I remember that,” I said. “It was on the rare occasion that Dennis was visiting home, and he was in the computer room in the basement. Despite the fact that I was on the 2^nd floor in my bedroom, I heard some yelling and things breaking. I think Grandfather and Kent panicked, thinking that there was a security breach.”

“Oh come on, it wasn’t that bad...” protested Dennis.

“Come now,” replied Kent, “let’s not forget the fact that he managed to short-circuit almost all the computers in the room.”

I smirked. “Oh yeah, it was quite impressive. There was a little ‘bang!’ sound, and a lot of sparks everywhere just like—“

There was a sharp sound, and we all turned our heads towards the unoccupied cockpit. Sparks were flying in all directions from the control panels, and all the buttons that were previously lit were completely dim. “—just like that,” I finished off my thoughts.

“Kent!” screamed John as he ran over to the control and started pressing buttons like mad. “What the hell did you do?!”

“I didn’t do anything!” yelled Kent. “I don’t even know how the machine works, I’m smart enough to know that I shouldn’t touch things I don’t understand!”

“Did someone jinx the entire blasted trip?! Or did Lady Luck decide to frown on me today” John growled. “First the self-destruct button was set off, and now the cockpit is on the fritz...in all my years building and piloting these vehicles, nothing like this has ever happened!”

“I think it’s time to stop grumbling to yourself and start trying to fix this,” said Laura calmly, striding over to the control and prying open a panel. “Otherwise, we have a worse situation on our hands than bad luck on our trip.”

Hello! Sorry, I did say I was going to write more, but I guess that was a lie...I've just finished volunteering, so I'm planning to try to get as much done as I can before school starts! There is construction happening in my backyard though, so it's a little but of a distracting environment to write in...

In the meantime, between chapters, check out Zone 1 (which I may start writing in), or listen to this very interesting podcast called Welcome to Night Vale (which I have been listening to and enjoying a lot).

-K

C.N. - chapter 69

It looked like Wolfgang wasn't going to give in, but neither was Theo.
Theo slapped Wolfgang on the cheek. The force of her palm jerked his entire face back towards her. Moments ago Wolfgang had turned his face away from Theo, and now they were facing each other again, Wolfgang's left cheek rosy from Theo's hand.
'Why did you slap me?!' Wolfgang said angrily.
'You deserved it.' Theo said harshly, grabbing Wolfgang by the collar, 'Are you so nearsighted you can't see beyond anything but what you think? You don't know what your mother went through to get you back, and now you push her away like what she did meant nothing?'
'And what do you know about her that I don't!' Wolfgang yelled back. His voice was hoarse. 'You've only know her for less than twenty-four hours, Theo! How can you say that to me when you, like me, KNOW NOTHING!'
Dennis, Heathcliff and I flinched in unison. The sound of Wolfgang's voice echoed throughout the flyasaurus; stealth mode was on, and by the looks of it everyone was listening.
'Are you saying this just to hurt your mother, or do you really believe what you say?' Theo said fiercely. Her grip on Wolfgang's collar tightened.
'I don't care I hurt her, and you don't know anything about Laura, why are you defending her? ANSWER ME!' Wolfgang shouted back.
Laura and Mr. Kent were about to say something together, but stopped. Theo had let go of Wolfgang.
Theo was suddenly dead calm. She spoke what she said next in a plain voice, and just then I realized that Theo was a very mature person, that was all there is to it. 'I might not know much more about Laura than you, but I know something about you I've picked up during the time you were, quote-unquote, holding me captive.'
'I was holding you captive.' Wolfgang said with indignation.
'You weren't, I know this because I knew you weren't going to hurt me when you, quote-unquote, kidnapped me-'
'I did kidnap you, and I had come up with the devious plot to take you all by myself.' Wolfgang cut in, with indignation and also a bit of his slyness which I hadn't heard since Mr. Dragon/Clark Gable shot him.
'Let me continue, Wolfgang,' Theo said, enveloping Wolfgang further into her coolness, 'In that warehouse where your ex-henchmen took me, when we had that chat where you asked me to marry you, which by the way I still regard as a preposterous proposal, I knew you had not intention of hurting me, or anyone for that matter.'
'It wasn't a proposal, you were going to marry me, whether you liked it or not.' Wolfgang said.
'Stop telling me what you were going to do and just listen, I knew you wouldn't hurt anyone because you were never like that. You weren't like that when we were children and you aren't like that now. That's not something you change out of.'
'What are you saying?' Said Wolfgang. The mark Theo left on Wolfgang's cheek was fading. It seemed Theo took care not to give him a that'll-leave-a-mark slap. (My sister educated me on the different slaps the hand can administer, she was a expert at slaps from her experience dealing with rural highschool boyfriends, who she thinks are all immature and needed some slapping around once in a while.)
'You took me hostage so you could propose to me. Yes, I was appalled above all else, but also a bit flattered.'
'Aww, I knew I should have done that! If only I knew that's what impresses you, Theo.' Heathcliff wailed.
'That's sweet of you, Heathcliff, but like I said many times before, I still intend to preserve my status of being single.' Theo turned to Heathcliff for a moment and said. She turned back to Wolfgang, 'Wolfgang, someone who doesn't care about hurting other people wouldn't quote-unquote kidnap me, propose to me while pretending to act ridiculously sly and calling it true love, and then take a bullet for me to prove it to me.'
'Aww, I knew I should have taken the bullet for you!' Heathcliff burried his face in his hands. Dennis put a hand on Heathcliff's shoulder to comfort him.
Theo continued, and everyone quieted down. 'When the Dragon fired his gun, the bullet was for me, you jumped in front of me and saved my life. You cared about me to the point you would get hurt if it meant I won't, and you say you don't care about hurting your own mother?'
Wolfgang didn't say anything. His eyes were wide with surprise and realization.
'You wouldn't hurt anyone, Wolfgang. You only responded to Laura the way you did because the Dragon forced you to be someone you clearly aren't.'
Wolfgang paused to let the words sink in, and then he burst into tears.
Laura went to Wolfgang and embraced him. Wolfgang leaned into her and embraced back.
'Aww.' John (who turned the flyasaurus on auto-pilot to watch Theo talk Wolfgang to himself), Michael, Eric, Graham, Terry and Terry, Dennis, me, and even Heathcliff enunciated in unison.
Laura looked up from her embrace and smiled at Theo. Theo smiled back.
Wolfgang sniffed, wiped his cheeks, and said, 'Well, this is embarrassing.'
'No, this is my son.' Laura replied. They saw eye-to-eye.
It was a touching moment, and it lasted for a long time. When Wolfgang finally loosened his grip on Laura (because the wound on his chest was throbbing again), he still looked slightly sullen, and just at that moment something came to me which I thought could cheer him up even more.
I asked Wolfgang, 'Say Wolfgang, have you ever seen Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven, Director's Cut?'
'You've seen it? Gosh, I was looking everywhere for a copy of the director's cut!' Dennis exclaimed. 'All the video stores near our place only stock the crappy theatrical version, director's cut, wow!'
'What about it?' Theo asked. Everyone looked very curious.
I took a mental note to let Dennis borrow my copy of Kingdom of Heaven, Director's Cut later. Right then, I had some explaining to do.

Now with summer starting...

We can now actually write more often! Yay!
I've updated the latest Theo chapter with some more content, as I felt it was a little too short (as well, what I had written was too short in itself to be a stand-alone). Hopefully, we'll have more time to write these next few months, though no promises on my side (as I'm volunteering and vacationing for a few weeks).
Happy reading!

T.N - Chapter 68

Excuse my late arrival! It's been over a month now since I've actually posted anything. Think of it as being fashionably late.
(P.S this chapter has been updated to be a little longer!)

Once the other vehicles arrived, our plan was back on schedule. I sighed in relief, but also silently cursed Charlie for forgetting something so crucial. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one who had a minor panic attack at the sight of metal scraps and scorch marks where the truck should’ve been. It took all the self-control I had to not run to Kent. I wasn’t a little kid anymore...and I had to prove myself that I could handle situations like this. Especially if we were going to actually face the Dragon, where a lot more could happen.

We all clambered into the nearest truck after Laura had a quiet conversation with Graham and Kent. I sat at the back, facing Graham with a captive Kyle. It was slightly more crowded inside, with Kyle and Wolfgang added to the mix. They were both soundly sleeping.

Kyle looked so small, with his hands bound behind him, and totally unconscious. Upon closer inspection, I saw that his face had thinned considerably, his cheekbones jutting out sharply. There were faint bags under his eyes, and what looked like a developing bruise along his jaw. He looked...fragile. Not the big, arrogant, bossy big brother I was used to seeing. I had an urge to go over and stroke Kyle’s head, but I quickly stifled it. What was I doing? He was the enemy. He was working for the Dragon.

“He’s awake! Wolfgang is finally awake!” I heard one of the Terries exclaim. There was a commotion as Charlie and I rushed over to where Wolfgang was still lying with his head on Laura’s lap. Even Heathcliff came along, though probably slightly grudgingly.

“Shush, you’ll make him go into shock,” replied Laura, still stroking his hair. “He’s been through a lot.”

I peered over and saw Wolfgang’s hazel green eyes flutter open. His eyes were at first glazed, but open seeing his mother’s face, they quickly focused. He shot straight up and fell off of the seat with a yelp.

“Who are you? What am I doing here?” he asked, panicked. He winced and clutched at his old bullet wound

I knelt down by him. “Calm down,” I said reassuringly. “These are friends. You’re safe.”

“What, are you not going to introduce me?” asks Laura bemusedly. “He must be curious, at least.”

Wolfgang looked at me quizzically. I raised an eyebrow at Laura, and then turned back to Wolfgang.

“Well, um, this is Laura. Laura Gable,” I said, gesturing at her. 

Wolfgang’s eyes widened. I faltered a bit, not wanting to shock him too much. But at an impatient cough from Laura, I swallowed and continued.

“Don’t freak out, ok? But...well...she’s your mother.”

It took a moment for Wolfgang to register what I was saying. His mouth gaped and widened as if he was about to say something, but he then abruptly shut it again. Finally, he managed to stutter out, “She’s...my...mom?”

“The one and only,” replied Laura, smiling. “Now how about you give me a proper hug?” She stretched out her arms.

Wolfgang stood up, and stared down at Laura. “You show up out of the blue after 19 years, and you expect me to just give you a hug?”

Laura slowly dropped her arms. “After 19 years of only being able to watch you from a distance, I would like to think that a hug isn’t too much to ask for.”

“Well how about an explanation on why you disappeared and left me with a criminal and manipulative father, huh? That shouldn’t be too much for me to ask!” Wolfgang yelled.

The Terries, Michael and Eric all scrambled out of the way as Laura stood up and met Wolfgang’s scowl with a cold expression. John looked back from the pilot’s seat to see what the commotion was, but as soon as he saw Laura’s expression, he turned back around and clenched the clutch.

Kent fiddled with his collar. “Laura, please don’t become emotionally compromised now. We have more important things to discuss—“

She cut him off with a wave of her hand. “Do you know what it’s like to watch the one you love slowly get driven mad with power and greed? Do you know what it’s like to have them never listen to you? Do you know what it’s like to leave your family behind just so you can keep your life and sanity? Don’t you underestimate the sacrifices I had to make; I had to leave you behind, my precious son,” she smiled sadly.

“Well if I was so precious, couldn’t you have sneaked in to at least say hi to me or something?” He gestures to the others, and the truck. “It appears you’re well-equipped enough to come see me secretly.”

“I was busy those 19 years building up this team, creating alliances with the Justice League, and getting your father under arrest! I didn’t have the time or the resources to come visit you, however much that pained me.” She reached up and caressed Wolfgang’s face.

“Don’t make up excuses, Laura,” he said, slapping her hand away. “I went long enough without a mother, I don’t need one now.” He turned around and headed to the back of the truck, slumped down next to the piles of weapons and clothing with his back turned to the others.

She still held her hand out, but slowly retracted and clenched her fists close to her chest. Her facial expression was not of resentment, or sadness. Instead, there was absolutely nothing. She marched to the co-pilot’s seat next to John, and sat down.

I walked over to Wolfgang and sat down next to him. He shifted away from me, sulking like he was back to being 5 years old. I grabbed his arm and pulled him so he was facing me.

“What are you doing, you idiot?” I hissed, shaking him slightly. “Here’s your mother, wanting to make amends with you, and you slap her away?”

“She’s not my mother,” he replied sullenly.

“Well then, who is she?”

“Someone who just wants to get into my life after 19 years of abandonment without any regards as to how maybe I don’t want to see her.”

“Wolfgang, stop acting like a kid and apologize to your mother.”

“Laura Gable will never be my mother, nor will I ever accept her!” he yelled, clear enough for everybody in the truck to hear.

That’s when I got angry.

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

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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.

T.N - Chapter 64

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I had suspected that Kyle was working with the Dragon, but deep down inside I had hoped that it wasn’t the case. No matter how much an idiotic jerk he is, and his awful taste in women, he’s still my blood relative. He was regressing as time passed on, but I still couldn’t get over the shock of him betraying the family. I absentmindedly passed my hand over the red marks on my neck, and minutely shuddered at the reminder of Kyle’s face when he was choking me. He looked so...desperate and angry. It was awful seeing that expression on a face I thought I knew.

“Theo, are you alright?” I heard Laura Gable ask, piercing through my thoughts.

“Oh, yeah, I’m ok.” I immediately dropped my hand to my side. “Sorry about that. What were we discussing, exactly?”

She glanced at my neck, but didn’t say anything about it. “We were just discussing options as to what to do next. You did bring up that it was an important thing to talk about at the moment.”

“Right,” I said, inwardly sighing that she didn’t say anything about the probably still prominent marks. “So what we have come up with so far?”

“We could all go to the hideout together,” said Graham.

“And then we could split up into two different parties: one to rescue Mr. North, and the other to distract the Dragon,” said one of the Terries (I will now refer to this one as Terry 1 and the other as Terry 2).

“Another option is to split up, one to continue onto where the Union is, and one to go back to the North stronghold and deal with Kyle North,” said Terry 2.

“Don’t forget, we also have to get Wolfgang from the mansion,” pointed out Kent.

I had nearly forgotten about him, in the bustle of the last few hours. And realizing that I had left him behind to face my brother’s wrath made me feel incredibly guilty. “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Gable, it’s my fault that we left him and he might be in danger because of my brother and my actions and...”

She started laughing. “Calm down Theo, I’m sure Wolfgang can take care of himself.” She gently patted me on the head. I would’ve found that gesture normally annoyingly patronizing, but with her, it was oddly...comforting. “And no need to call me by my last name. It belongs to a woman that doesn’t exist anymore.” She gazed out wistfully for a moment, and then turned her blue-green eyes towards me. “Just call me Laura. Everybody does.”

“Unless she’s mad,” snorted Graham. “Then you’d better call her Madam.”

Laura just bemusedly raised an eyebrow at him.

“I know this isn’t really an option we brought up,” I said, “but I think we should all head over to the mansion first before we start trying to attack the hideout.”

“What do you mean? That would be a waste of time, especially if the young man you seem adamant on saving seems to be perfectly fine,” said Terry 2. “If Laura says he’s fine, I’m sure he can take care of himself.”

“He’s bedridden with a gun wound that almost killed him!” I nearly yelled. “He did it...to save me from his dad. I can’t leave him behind in that viper’s nest.” I clenched my fist. Everyone fell silent, and Terry 2 looked awkward.

“And while we’re at it,” said Dennis, saving the moment, “we can take out Kyle’s forces. That way, we’re able to focus on the Terrorist Union without having to worry about someone attacking our backs.”

I looked gratefully at my brother. He gave a perfectly sound reason as to why to go back, other than the obvious guilt I felt as to leaving Wolfgang behind.

Laura chuckled. “Well you two are certainly Damian’s grandchildren,” she said. “Clever, with a hint of overbearing pride.” She looked at her colleagues and they immediately snapped to attention.

“Let’s go, boys and girl,” she said, pointing to the truck and smiling. “Time to go kick some traitorous butts.”

C.N. - chapter 63

Wow, Vivien Leigh in Catwoman's suit and ninja G.I. Joes. It's the strangest combination of people to see together under one pair of eyes. I couldn't believe it; someone who looks like my favorite actress and some people who look like my favorite action figures, and I'm meeting them all at the same time. This is the stuff to tell my grandkids!
Theo was being very ninja, even more so than the G.I. Joe she was combating over the hill where I crash-landed. The G.I. Joe tried to tried to grab Theo from behind after sneaking up on her while she was spying on what Laura Gable was telling me. In fact, she was telling me that Theo is spying on us from behind the crest of the hill, and her henchmen will escort her to us shortly. The henchman, I suppose, was the G.I. Joe.
Theo expertly dodged the G.I Joe's nimble moves and countered with swifter ones. I've already seen her take down three of Mr. Dragon's henchmen at his base in the mountains, and I was really impressed. But this was skill on a whole new level; I wouldn't be surprised if Theo goes into the country fight club back home and come out as the champion. I thought I might go to them and tell Theo that Laura isn't threatening, that way no one will get hurt, because the match between Theo and the G.I. Joe was getting quite heated.
'Should I go over there and tell Theo you're friendly?' I asked Laura.
'I don't know, should you?' Laura raised her eyebrows at me, 'How do you know I'm friendly?'
I thought about it, 'Because you look like Vivien Leigh in Gone With the Wind.'
'Oh please, don't bring that up again. I have all of my friends and the whole League of Shadows who tell me that, plus an ex-husband who used to tell me that, who also married me because of that, so I would really appreciate if you, Mr. Charlie North, isn't just another person who tells me that I look like Vivien Leigh!'
'Okay,' I nodded.
'Think about it, what does looking like Vivien Leigh have to do with you thinking that I mean you no harm when there's the very real possibility that I do?'
I thought about this question too. 'Intuition,' I concluded.
'Well,' Laura shrugged, 'I won't argue with you over that.'
By then, Theo had the G.I. Joe down and defeated. 'Will you look at that, Damien taught her well these years.' Laura said to herself. We walked over to her and Laura said while clapping, 'Nice work there, Theo. I'm sure he'll be teased later by the others about how he was beaten by a girl.'
Theo opened her mouth to say something.
'I let her win!' The G.I. Joe yelled from the bottom of the hill as he got himself up wobbly. Theo had had the G.I. Joe flat on the ground and he had rolled all the way to the bottom of the hill.
'I'm sure you didn't, Graham, now come back here so we can introduce us all to each other properly.' Laura said in a voice of humorous authority.
Grumbling very loudly, Graham trotted back to us gathered at the top of the hill. I noticed five other G.I. Joes escorting Heathcliff, Dennis and Mr. Kent to us also. Heathcliff and Dennis were each carried by the shoulder between two Joes. They saw Laura and their mouths opened to say what I think they were going to say.
'Boys, what ever you're going to say right now, please refrain from doing so.' Laura said, and the two of them closed their mouths simultaneously.
The henchmen ushered Heathcliff, Dennis and Mr. Kent together with me and Theo, and then stood behind Laura in a uniformed line. Six G.I. Joes looking straight out of a summer action movie poster.
'Oh my, is that you, Laura?' Mr. Kent seemed to have recognized Laura immediately.
'Ah, Mr. Kent, at last after so long, it's good to see you again.' Laura took Mr. Kent by the hand and shook it. 'Still working for Damien, aren't you?'
'That's right!' Mr. Kent said with zest. He and Laura are definitely old friends. He thought about something else to say but didn't know where to begin, 'Well...things are a bit complicated right now in the family, you understand...'
'You needn't tell me a thing, my associate in your home has been keeping me well informed on what's happening in the North family.'
'Why how did you...' Mr. Kent stammered.
'Ahem,' Theo spoke up, 'If I may ask, who exactly are you?'
Laura smiled at her, 'I'm sorry about all this small talk getting in the way of actual business. I'm Laura Gable, and what a pleasure it is to finally meet the granddaughter Damien spoke so highly of.'
I wasn't quick to make the connection, but Theo recognized her immediately, 'You're Wolfgang's mother!' She exclaimed.
'This is Wolfgang's mother?!' Heathcliff exclaimed. His mouth was gaped wide enough for a nectarine to fit through.
'Are you so surprised?' Laura asked with bemusement.
'I never expected...' Theo said. She looked at Laura up and down, her eyes gleamed with admiration. 'You were chasing us in that machine, I thought it was Dragon's men, or someone else who wants us dead.'
'Yes, right about now a lot of people do want you dead, or captured rather. I intercepted your brother's henchmen on the road so you wouldn't fall into Clark's hands.'
'Kyle is working for the Dragon, I suspected as much.' Theo said.
'Since you have extracted my son from Clark, in return the League of Shadows offer you our help to rescue your grandfather.'
'I have the location, of where he is being held prisoner.' Theo told her.
'I know you do. Clark's probably enjoying himself more than he ever did in his life.' Laura said in disgust, 'He captured Damien North, and now the whole Union of Terrorism is under his control.'
There was quietness among us. Suddenly the situation seemed very dire.
'Hello? Aren't you going to introduce us too to your new friends?' The G.I. Joe named Graham said. They haven't been included in the conversation until now.
'Fine, but I'm telling you Graham, you need to work on your patience.'
'Yeah, yeah,' Graham said and waved for Laura to introduce them already.
Laura turned to the rest of us and sighed, 'As suggested, I might as well introduce you all to my henchmen-'
'I prefer the term colleague.' Graham said.
Laura continued without pause. 'From left to right, this is Graham, Eric, John, Terry, Terry, and Michael.'
'If two people are called Terry, how do they know which one you're referring to?' Dennis asked.
'We don't' One Terry said and laughed.
'What? Of course you do, don't listen to that knucklehead, allow me to explain-' The other Terry quickly said.
'Can we go back to the relevant discussion?' Theo suggested.
'Excellent idea,' Laura replied. She eyed the henchmen and they quietened.
We then began discussing the relevant discussion.

T. N - Chapter 62

*Author's note: Well hello everyone! I've been bad, and put off writing this chapter for over a month now...whoops, guess I'm the inactive one now :P 

In this chapter, you'll see something called Aikido, which is a type of martial arts. The basic principle is using somebody's energy when trying to hit you and using it against them. "Sticky hands" is an actual technique that I've been trying to learn for awhile now.

Now back to the story!*

As soon as we landed safely on the ground, I quickly pushed off Heathcliff, and almost fell over as my legs collapse underneath me. Thankfully, I managed to shoot out my hands and break my fall instinctively. I stand back up, pain shooting up my right leg. I must have landed weirdly when I jumped into the helicopter earlier.

I started walking as fast as I could to where I approximated Charlie had landed. He had disappeared just beyond the hill I was on, so I couldn’t see him where I was. As soon as I reached the point right before the hill started to dip, I froze. A familiar monster truck was parked below, and just a few meters off from it was Charlie (still buckled into his seat, the idiot) and a mysterious woman in black. I quickly made the connection between the woman and the truck.

I immediately dropped to the ground partially to avoid being spotted, and partially to stop my leg from killing me. I carefully peered over the edge, and saw the woman and Charlie deep in conversation. From the distance, I couldn’t really see details, but Charlie’s mouth was wide open, so something stunned him. I was skeptical at first, considering that it doesn’t take much to astonish him (I’m just being blunt here), but there was a possibility that this was important. I started to inch forward to get a better look (and possibly rescue Charlie, if that was the case), when I felt someone tug sharply on my injured leg.

I wildly lashed out with my good leg, trying to get whomever it was to let go. My foot grazed something, but it wasn’t enough to hurt anybody. Now if it was Dennis, he would’ve said something by now (he’s been wary of my feet ever since I kicked him hard enough in the shin to give him a bruise that lasted a month). I doubted it was Kent or Heathcliff, as the former would usually pick me up in a more normal fashion while the latter would probably fall on me instead. I lashed out again, and my foot connected with the person’s kneecap.

The person let out a low grunt surprise and pain, and grabbed his knee. This gave me enough time to roll over, get up and ready myself. I quickly glanced over at Charlie and the woman down the hill, but they hadn’t looked up. Good. The last thing I needed was a skilled sharpshooter watching me with her gun.

The man had a sharp, fox-like face, and his eyes were constantly darting. He had a few days’ stubble over his cheeks. His body was solidly built, and I could tell he was at least a head taller than Dennis and probably a few pounds heavier too. He was dressed all in black, much like the woman. However, the front of his shirt was covered in chunks of some shiny (and probably hard) material, with enough gaps to allow movement around the torso while still being protected. He had a set of futuristic looking headphones on, with an eyepiece that covered one eye in green glass. If I may say so, he looked like someone straight out of G.I. Joe.

I tried to make my stance even as possible, but I could tell I favoured my right leg. By the way the man looked at me, I could tell he had noticed too. He immediately started lashing out with his feet, trying to make me fall over. I also wonder if it was out of revenge too. That kick I gave him would probably leave quite the mark for a while.

His moves were very offensive, trying to batter me down with blows. It was a common technique, especially of a person his size. Kyle would often use that technique on Dennis, who being a few years younger and smaller, was often quite defenseless. Thankfully, I learned from his mistakes.

Grandfather had taught me a version of Aikido, where you would constantly move with the opponent, always keeping your hands against the other person’s hands and arms. It was called “Sticky Hands,” a suitable name. As long as you did that, and kept up with the person, it was impossible for he or she to strike, as you would just redirect their energy elsewhere. It was difficult to learn, as it requires great concentration to stay with the other’s person “ki,” or energy. After some practices with Kyle, I managed to master it quickly. To this day, Kyle refuses to spar with me.

The man lunged at me, and I quickly shifted to apply my sticky hands to my opponent’s arms. He tried sweeping my feet out from under me, but I spin him so that he missed his mark. He tried punching me, and all I had to do was move my arm and he nearly lost his balance as his energy went forward without hitting anything.
To a bystander, it might've looked like we were dancing. To the man (I almost pitied him), it was a humiliating experience.
By the end of a few minutes, maybe only 3 or so, he was exhausted from expending so much energy towards useless hits. I was getting tired too, from concentrating on matching the man's moves and flow. That's when I got careless, and he managed to get one sweep of the leg in.
I was surprised to feel my legs suddenly disappear from under me, and I nearly didn't manage to break my fall as I was taught to. But somehow, instinct and training clicked, and I took the man down with me with one final kick in the same knee as before.
The man let out a sharp yelp, and started rolling down the hill. I slowly got up, my right leg shaking even more than it had been before. I brushed the dirt and grass off my clothes, and was about to make my way down the hill when I heard applause right behind me. Turning around, I see the woman in black, clapping.
"Nice work there, Theo. I'm sure he'll be teased later by the others about how he was beaten by a girl."