The multicolored lights of the Benabar Bar could be seen flickering through the bottom of the door. The Volunteers were all huddled tight into one room, in the bar's hidden section, which they were forced to use for meeting in secret. There were not many safe places left that hadn't been burned down or discovered by the Villains. The battle between the two sides had been going on for decades, but it seemed as though, recently, its pace seemed to be speeding up, however, not in their favor. VFD had once been one large empire who had vowed to protect and honor its citizens. The organization had owned their own schools, police stations, churches, and, most famously, a fire department. But it was the schism that caused it to all fall apart. A small fight between two sisters, who were the daughters of the founders of VFD, had evolved into a full fledged argument that had torn the Volunteer Fire Department into two relentless sides. The Villains that start the fires and the Volunteers who had to put them out. Both sides would stop and nothing to defeat the other. The Volunteers tried to put a stop to the Villains reign of terror, but ultimately failed most of the time. The Villains were crafty, and they sure weren't a bunch of idiots. Their level of charm and ability to worm their way around the law was a big factor in why they were, currently, triumphing over the Volunteers. Their strategy had been to destroy as many safe houses as they could, so the Volunteers would have nowhere to plan how to defeat them. Which left the Volunteers in places like they were now, shoulder to shoulder in an abandoned office space in the back of a bar.

The meetings they held rotated, in and out each month, who was scheduled to lead them. Lolita Lionne, the leader for this week, grabbed her wine glass and clinked her spoon to on its side.

"I hereby call this meeting to order, everyone did attend our urgent meeting on Tuesday as well, correct?"

All the hands in the room went up, except for one.

"Ah that's wonderful, it's good to know that everyone could come, except for you Wilson. Always be on the alert when we send out invitations. Whether they're planned or not, we expect everyone to be present."

Wilson's, the man in question, face could not be seen as it was hidden behind his oddly large bowler hat. Lolita was about to go into their business for the week when a tall, brunette woman stood up with her own wine glass in hand. Her smile was wide and inviting.

"Well, before we start, I think we should toast our wonderful Mrs. Kit Snicket, since she took care of everyone taxes by herself this year," the woman, whose name was Beatrice, announced.

Everyone in the room held up their glasses and toasted, some even handing Kit some white roses, which she accepted with her wide faux grin. Beatrice hadn't mentioned the fact that everyone had, pretty much, forced Kit to do all that calculating on her own.

The Snickets were the grandchildren of two of the founders of the VFD. Over the years, the Snickets had accumulated a fortune from the donations given to them by other VFD recruits, which they used to keep the organization up and running. Everyone loved and adored them. They worshiped them like gods, and now they had entrusted them with the entire future of the Volunteers. Everyone adored the three remaining heirs. The Snicket siblings had, also, been the inspiration for the odd variations of names that seemed to now be a tradition for all the Redder members. Jacques and Lemony, the two brothers, were important writers and researchers to the Volunteers, and they were often the leaders of many of their expeditions. But most of all, they loved Kit, the sister. As the saying went among them, "every wants a little piece of Kit Snicket". She was idolized as the perfect lady, perfect leader, perfect everything. Every Volunteer building was flooded with pictures of her likeness. And, whether she wanted to be or not, she was the true leader and face of the Volunteers.

"Here's to the Snickets!" a voice from the crowd called

"Especially you, Ms. Snicket!" another one exclaimed.

Kit smiled at her little minions. She would always tell them that, "as long they were taking little pieces of her, she was also taking little pieces of them". They just loved her sense of humor.

And Kit loved how gullible they were. Sweet little lambs living in euphoria with no knowledge of the wolf that waited just outside the fence, ready to pounce and devour them all. She knew that, when the day came, the wolf would attack and she'd be watching humorously as it tore their flesh up for its meal, blood seeping through its teeth. Oh, how she hated each and every one of them. Their undying love for and devotion to her made her sick to her stomach. She hated the meetings even more, each filled with more and more false prophecies of nobility and non-violence. It was meetings like this where all she wished for was to be at home with her husband.

Despite it being Lolita's scheduled day to run the meeting, Beatrice reached for the black case that sat on the table and began to speak.

"Now as you all know, the world is becoming more and more dangerous every day. A series of murders has been occurring lately, and the Villains have destroyed over half of our safe buildings, leaving us with few places to meet in secret."

Mumbles of agreement circled around the room.

"Not that I have to remind anyone, since this war between sides has been occurring for decades now, but anyone found with ties to the Villains, and especially the Evenings, is untrustworthy."

Kit scowled at her.

The Evenings were the most dangerous family that existed within the Villains. Before VFD had split up, the Evening family had been the main influx of crime within the city, and after the two sides split, the Villains quickly joined forces with them so as to gain power. There was no one that the Volunteers hated more than the Evenings.

Beatrice cleared her throat, pretending not to see Kit's glare towards her, and continued her speech.

"I know we all do have those we used to consider friends who, sadly, have defected over to the other side. But I must remind you that we can't afford to risk any association with them. Therefore, anyone found with ties to them will also be declared untrustworthy."

The members in the room nodded and began inspecting those around them, looking around with general mistrust. Some glancing nervously, and knowingly, over at Kit.

Kit closed her eyes, tilting her head up towards the ceiling. Her lips began to move ever so slightly, and she smiled. She was mouthing words, telepathically conversing with someone who wasn't in the room. Beatrice saw this and was nervous, knowing she'd have to speak quickly.

"But enough of the negativity for today," Beatrice suddenly began to whisper, "What if I were to tell you that we now possess a file, that has enough evidence within it, to send any and every Villain to prison for life."

Gasps were heard throughout the room, and excited and intrigued voices echoed.

Beatrice reached and opened the black case that was sitting on the table. She removed a smooth manila folder that appeared to have hundreds of papers inside. Everyone began cheering as Beatrice held it up victoriously

"Now, it is important that we keep this file hidden. It is a collection of all the evidence we have that could convict them of their crimes. Some of these documents are irreplaceable and cannot be recovered, so it is important that we don't let this fall into the wrong hands."

Beatrice opened her mouth to respond just as Kit opened her eyes. A large flash of lightning was seen outside and the lights in the room went out. Panic ensued for a moment as the members began grabbing onto each other in fear. After moments of darkness, a light shown within the room. Kit was glowing, her smooth skin lighting up

"Oh Kit, you always come to our rescue when we need you!" a woman said dreamily as she smiled up at their leader.

"Of course my love," Kit said, smiling the sweetest smile she could muster up, which, those who weren't blinded by their admiration for her, could sense had a not-so-hidden maliciousness within it.

A scream was heard from within the main section of the bar and a dark, suffocating smug began seeping its way through the door.

"FIRE!"

People pushed and shoved their way out of the back door. A chorus of coughs could be heard as they all stumbled out to the alley.

Beatrice brushed her hair out of her eyes and frowned as she saw many of the younger women going up to hug Kit.

Everyone seemed to be coming down from their original panic, until a mumble of dread was heard from someone standing near the door.

"The file…" Jacques said in disbelief, "it's gone."

His eyes had widened as he noticed the disappearance of the one thing keeping them in the game.

The panic that had just dissipated, managed to resurface in a matter of seconds as everyone began searching the ground for the file.

"Looking for this?" A voice bellowed from the end of the alley.

A group of sinister looking Villains stood with taunting expressions as their leader, Terrance Olaf Evening, held up the file they so desperately needed.

"Oh you good-for-nothing slimes! Why don't leave us alone!" Lolita snapped, raising her fist in anger.

"Ms. Lionne, do try and control yourself. We wouldn't want anything bad to happen now, would we?" Olaf smirked proudly.

"Don't you understand what you're doing!" One of the younger women yelled from the back, "you could've killed us all of it weren't for Ms. Snicket!"

Olaf's eyes brightened for a second as he spotted his wife in the crowd, and Kit smiled back at him.

It wasn't a secret that Kit and Olaf were married. Everyone knew, and most people even tended to forget, but that didn't mean they were okay with it. However, most chose not to comment on it since the others who had, went "missing", permanently.

Kit stretched her arms out to her husband like a child wanting to be picked up by its mother.

"Hi honey, you should come home have dinner with me and the kids!" AngelBaby smiled, a real one this time, in his arms, "I made spaghetti and biscuits."

"Anything for you my dear," he replied deviously, "well, if you all will excuse us, my wife and I have somewhere to be."

Beatrice ran to grab Kit's arm.

"You're gonna get the file back right?" Beatrice asked quietly, even though it sounded more like a nervous command. She whispered so that even Olaf couldn't hear.

"Maybe," Kit said smirking, "if I'm feeling generous."

Kit jumped back into her husband's arms as the smoke from the building seeped through the windows, leaving the alley and the Voda members, once again, in a dark cloud.

By the time the smoke had cleared, Kit and Olaf were long gone.

By noon the next morning, the news was filled with reports of another dead Voda member. It was Franklin Wilson, the bowler-hatted man.

"Such a shame," Olaf said listening to the radio, one arm around Kit, "that someone would do such a thing."

"I know my dear," Kit sighed, "what is becoming of our world?"

A girl with pitch black hair and glowing green eyes watched the couple cuddling on the couch from the top of their staircase. She had a feeling her parents would be there a while. She sighed and ran to the roof of their mansion. From the top she could look over all of the city. Cars, buildings, people late for meetings, trees, shops, and animals all ran around on their daily routines. Her eyes stopped, however, on two children, a boy with glasses and a book in his hand and a girl whose hair was tied back with a ribbon, sitting on the steps in front of their house.