AN: This is the fifth part in my Oblivion series, and if you don't read parts one through four ("The New Kid," "Both Sides of the Story," "Everybody Hates Windmills," and "Frozen Pride") first, you may not understand certain aspects of the story. So, please read the stories in order. Enjoy!

Episode 5 - "Shake, Rattle, and Roll Over the Edge"

Chapter 1

-October 22-

Sunday evening, six o'clock. The sun, barely visible through the lingering clouds left behind by Vexen's killer ice storm (which had caused damage in the millions all over the place, but no casualties aside from one elderly gentleman who was in SF General with minor spinal damage due to a slip on the icy sidewalk. Thankfully, he was expected to make a full recovery) was setting, almost morosely, as the frigid weekend entered its final hours.

Tim and Axel Nemo were arguing over which show they would watch on the living room TV that night - The Walking Dead (which Axel wanted), or Dexter (Tim's choice.)

Rocky, meanwhile, had quietly pilfered Axel's laptop so he could finally get to see the latest Victorious episode, which he hadn't been able to watch as a result of the move.

Enzo Lessico quit reading his Latin-English dictionary, as he had become extremely irritated by the sounds of his wife sharpening her knives in the kitchen. Rather than throw the book across the room in his anger, he simply carried it up the stairs, imagined that Lara thought she'd just cut her hand, listened to the yelp of surprise and pain, then put on noise-canceling headphones as he opened the dictionary once again, to continue his long process of memorization while Lara tried to decide what she should do about the "injury."

The Claymore family sat down to a delicious dinner of bouillabaisse (although Xion, who was allergic to shellfish, simply ate an equally delicious, if much less filling, salade niçoise.)

Marley Flowers was sitting in the living room of the third townhouse, looking for an article on breeding black roses, when a tall, silver-haired figure unexpectedly walked through the wall right in front of her. She dropped her Nemo Stele Diamond tablet in surprise. "Goodness, Mr. Nemo," she cried, "you startled me."

Ansem frowned slightly. "Marley, how many times have I told you? Please, don't call me Mr. Nemo. Ansem will do just fine." He looked up the stairs. "Is Alexis here right now? I need to give him some details about the next phase of plans."

"Oh yes, the top-top-secret project," said Marley. "Don't worry, Alexis has been completely tight-lipped about the whole thing. He won't even tell me about it, he's afraid I'll go off and start gossiping to somebody or other. Not that I have anyone to gossip to, not in the suburbs." Ansem frowned again. "Oh, sorry about that. He's upstairs."

Ansem climbed the stairs to the second floor, where Alexis Terra, the big redheaded head of security at NemoConTech headquarters in Santa Marina, was busy polishing the axe-sword he kept on his wall. Ansem noted that there was only one bed in the spartan bedroom. "I see your girlfriend doesn't share a bed with you. I take it she sleeps in the master suite upstairs?"

Alexis looked up and nodded. "It's too high," he said, gesturing upwards in his typical laconic manner. Upon first meeting Alexis, it was the opinion of many that he was just your average dumb muscle, but careful observers would note that, while he was always a man of few words, he nevertheless took care to always speak in complete sentences.

"No offense, but I sometimes have to wonder what exactly she saw in you," said Ansem. "Your personalities are completely polar opposites, and you have such a crippling fear of heights that you can't go near any windows higher than, what is it, 25 feet? And here you are, engaged to be married."

Ansem wasn't known to prattle on either, but in this case it served a purpose for him to do so. He hadn't seen Alexis in over two years, even though it had been ten since he'd joined the company as a night guard trying to pay for his tuition at graduate school. And yet...Ansem was sure he'd just seen the man somewhere very recently. The usual mitigating circumstance of an identical twin was out of the question; according to Alexis' personnel file, he was an only child. He was trying to check and see if there was something different about his head of security. But no, he looked exactly the same as the last time Ansem had seen him, the day after the big gas explosion that took out half of Alexis Terra Senior's neighborhood. Maybe a little bulkier, maybe some more defined crow's feet, but otherwise...nothing.

"Do you have something?" asked Alexis.

"Yes, I do," said Ansem, handing Alexis a sheaf of papers from inside his coat. "Better read up on these plan updates. Your assistance will be needed this week."