"I wonder if I've been changed in the night. Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!"
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

"I hate it here."

Brick turned his head to the rear view mirror to look at his fuming brother in the backseat. His red gaze quickly returned back to the road when he had to give the wheel a sharp turn. The car swerved just in time, just barely missing the large, dead animal in the middle of the road.

"Butch, it's not that bad-"

"Is so! Why did we have to come here?!"

Brick sighed, pausing at a stoplight. Here the roads were packed, and it seemed like everyone was feeling the over-powering need to honk their horns and scream for no reason. Ok, maybe they had their reasons, but Brick personally wasn't in a very understanding mood right now. Butch had been whining the whole drive here and it had gotten old after they'd already gone 10 miles from there home town's city line.

The light flashed green and he sped forward. Boomer gave a soft snort in his sleep, his face meshed against the window. He'd been smart and put on his headphones the minute they'd all gotten in the car. Brick, ever the responsible one and already stressed, didn't want to risk the distraction and put his brother's well-being at risk.

'Really starting to re-think that decision.' He thought to himself, glaring at Butch who was still fucking bitching about the move.

When they were finally in the parking garage, Brick slammed on the breaks. Butch never wore a seat-belt ("We're freaking superhuman, Brick. What's the worst that could happen, Brick? You're not my mommy, Brick."),so predictably he was jerked forward, his face bashing against the back of the driver's seat.

"What the hell!"

Brick unbuckled his seat-belt and turned around to face his brother. Butch, who'd been preparing more than a few choice words for him, immediately shut his mouth when he saw the look on Brick's face.

"You agreed, dammit. We all fucking agreed that we were going to give him his life back. We all knew that the Professor was never going to be safe as long as we were in his life. This was the right thing to do, so don't you dare say another fucking word about it. Do you really fucking think-?!"

"Brick"

Brick's eyes snapped to Boomer, who had placed a hand on his shoulder. Looking down, he saw his hand was aflame and burning a handprint into the small compartment placed between the two front seats.

The left side door burst open and Brick quickly stormed away from the car and towards the building entrance. He ran his hands through his shoulder-length red locks, trying to calm down.

His brothers got out as well, albeit a bit slower. Butch crossed his arms leaned against the side of the car while Boomer went around to the trunk to unload their bags.

Brick had already entered the building and gone up the stairs. Butch glared at the door he'd left open. "Can you believe that guy? The fucking nerve of him; he's the one who said we had to come here. This was all his damn idea. I can't fucking stand-"

Bang!

Butch flinched. Boomer had slammed down the trunk hard, to the point where he was lucky he hadn't thrown the whole back of the car into the pavement.

"You just won't stop. Do you not get it?"

Boomer walked to Butch's side, 2 heavy duffels on his arm. He lifted a third one from the ground and shoved it roughly into his brother's arms. The calm, goofy grin he always seemed to sport had deteriorated, leaving only a thin, hard line. Boomer's sweet baby blues were glaring at Butch's forest green eyes with disdain.

"Yes, Butch, the nerve of him. The nerve of our brother, trying to protect his family. The nerve of him, trying to piece together a plan as fast as he could after the shit storm you got everyone in-"

"I didn't ask for his help! I could've handled it-"

"NO! No you couldn't have, dammit!" Boomer screamed back. Butch's eyes widened and he took a step back.

Boomer never got angry. Not like this.

"It…it wasn't my fault… It's not like I meant to…"

"Do you know where you'd be, if he hadn't done this? If he hadn't begged the mayor to release you into our custody. Where would you be, Butch?"

Butch stared at his brother, stricken. Boomer's eyes hardened and Butch had to look away.

"You'd be in jail, Butch. Brick and I would've had to throw you in jail."

Brick sighed. The minute he'd stepped into the large apartment, he'd wanted to break something. A dark feeling was welling up in his stomach, bubbling underneath his skin. Ever since the accident, the weight of his body seemed to double. Just standing sometimes exhausted him. Ironically, he'd lost almost 13 pounds; logically, it was from all the meals he'd missed worrying and working to clear his family's name.

He looked around his new home, trying to distract himself. All of their furniture, plus a few new items he'd purchased, were placed accordingly, each piece exactly where he'd instructed the movers to leave them (he had no doubt that Butch would move everything around later to piss him off). Boxes stood on every available flat surface, waiting patiently to be opened and unpacked.

Brick wandered into his room. His bed was already made and he quickly threw himself on the red, Egyptian cotton. He shut his dark red eyes, praying for sleep to over-take him.

"You're fault"

Brick quickly sat up, ready to scream for Butch to go fuck himself and get the hell out of his room. His eyes nearly dropped out of his head when instead of his brother, he saw the Professor standing at the foot of his bed.

"Professor?"

"Why didn't you stop him Brick? You could've done something, anything! You could've stopped him!"

Brick screwed his eyes shut. His hands clutched his head tightly, covering his ears, trying to block out the echoing words.

"No. No, I did everything-"

A blood-curdling screech rattled the room. Brick's eyes flew open as his bed started to shake. His sheets were dripping onto the floor, a puddle of blood forming around his bed. He moved to jump off only to come face to face with an eye-less Professor. His father's face shifted, his chin jutting out sharply. Pale skin shifted to a sickly green. His short, neat black hair grew long and greasy.

The familiar, broken face of Ace D. Copular snarled at him, his empty eyes bleeding black.

"You could've stopped him! You could've saved me!" Ace screeched. Brick screamed when the man's hand shot out and clawed straight into his stomach.

"You let me die!"

"Brick?"

Brick shot up from his bed, breathing hard. Sweat trickled down his brow, and his hair clung to his skin.

"Brick?" Boomer called, knocking on his closed door.

The door opened and Boomer stood back. A shaken Brick stepped out, pulling on his jacket. "Hey…you ok? I thought I heard you screaming…"

Brick brushed past him, heading towards the door. "I... I'm fine. I just need some air. I'll be back later, ok? There isn't any food, but I left some take-out menus on the fridge."

Brick reached into his pocket as he walked by the kitchen counters that adjoined the living room space. He slapped down a few 20's and zipped up his jacket. He stopped when he felt Boomer grab his upper arm.

"Come on, bro talk to me. You've been like a ghost this past month, man, and you're starting to freak me out. Butch went out, so maybe we can-"

Brick brushed off his brother's hand, bolting for the door. He ignored his brother's shouts, quickly flying down the 5 levels of stairs and out the door.

-333333-

Brick walked the streets of the unfamiliar city with the hood of his jacket up, already too worn out to fly. It was already late and the streets were deserted, save one or two groups of bums in the alleys, huddled around a burning trashcan. Brick shoved his hands in his pocket, looking up to the black sky. He sighed, missing the star-filled skies of his home.

Skreeeeettt, skreeettt

Brick's eyes shot back down, scanning his surroundings. His hands began to shake, his mind automatically expecting to be torn apart by yet another illusion.

He was relieved when he finally found the source of the sound. A girl stood about a yard away from him, shaking a can of spray-paint. She was standing in front of a wall that was covered in flyers. A large group of flyers were advertising a new showcase of exotic jewels at the one of the city's bigger museum, the Utorium.

The girl, with her long, rose-colored hair and frilly party dress, had sprayed a large pink x-across the museum's flyers. Her face was covered by a black and red Noh fox mask.

"Hey, kid!" he called, making his way towards the small female. She turned towards him and he grabbed the can out of her hand. "Cut that out! You're defacing public property, you could get arrested for this!"

The girl tilted her head, staring at him curiously through the holes of her mask. Brick sighed heavily and turned to show her his back to throw the can far away from them. He limited his strength in the throw and it landed about a yard away. He turned again to walk away only to be pulled by small, delicate-looking hands fisting into the material of his jacket. He was thrown against the graffitied wall harshly with strength not fitting someone her size. Brick was surprised to find she'd nearly knocked the wind of him. He looked down at her with an agitated glare. "Back up lady, I don't want to hurt you but I will if you make me."

The masked woman laughed in his face. "You must be new."

Brick's left eye twitched and he raised his hands to pat her head patronizingly. "Look kid, you don't want to go down this road with me and I'm sure as hell not in the mood to fight a little gir-"

The delinquent before him cut him off, grabbing his outstretched arm and twisting it out of his shoulder socket. Brick gasped, shocked by the sudden pain, and in this distracted state she scored a knee to the groin followed by a flawless upper-cut.

How is this happening? It feels like I'm getting hit by a freight train!

It just had to be his deteriorating mental state. Yes, that must be why this petite menace was getting the best of him, why his body was sensitive to her blows. 'But still, how…'

Now on the ground holding his gushing nose, he lifted the increasing weight of his head to stare at the masked stranger. The darkness was creeping closer; the hero could feel his limbs going numb. He moved to rise but her dainty foot slammed to the back of his head and his face was smooshed into the sidewalk. "Don't forget your place, peasant. Not in my town."

After a moment, her foot lifted. Brick raised his head again, wondering if he could get away with shooting this punk with his laser vision. Yet as he twisted his head left and right he found himself alone.

He leaned against the wall behind him to catch his breath, his frazzled mind racing. From afar, he heard a faint chuckle that sent a shiver down his spine.

"Welcome to Townsville."