Back to the present. This picks up where the first chapter left off.

Disclimer: I do not own Evil Genius.


"We're going to do what?" Cadel yelped, almost forgetting to be quiet.

"I know. Ingenious, isn't it?"

"Why do we have to do that?" Cadel asked, just short of a panic attack.

"It's the only way to get them to leave you alone completely." Anna said in a matter of fact voice. "If they think you're dead, then they won't have a reason to be looking for you. You can disappear, go to a different country, get surgery to alter the way you look and they wont suspect a thing. Basically, they wont be looking for you, so they wont find you."

It made sense. He had to admit that. It just seemed so daunting.

"So, how am I going to kill myself?"

"Well, we do have a nice cliff handy-"

"Oh no. Un-un. No way."

"Come on, Cadel. The ocean's at the bottom, so I can grab you once you hit the water. You won't drown." She said tartly.

"That cliff has to be at least a hundred feet tall!"

"That makes it all the more convincing that you're dead. Besides, it's only fifty. I measured."

"It's still a fifty foot cliff!"

"Get a grip, Cadel!" Anna snapped through the mouthpiece. "I thought you wanted to get away from them. Now," She continued in a slightly softer voice with no less bite. "If you're too chicken to take the plunge I suggest you find a better way to fly the coup."

"Pun intended?"

"What do you think?" Anna was still mad. Cadel waited a minute for her to cool off.

"Are there rocks at the bottom?" He asked cautiously.

"Well…." She trailed off. A feeling of dread grew in his stomach.

"Some?"

"A few." She responded vaguely.

He shook his head before he remembered she couldn't see him. "I don't think so." He said. "There has to be a better way."

"Fine. Contact me if you when you're ready." The earpiece went silent. Cadel sighed and shut it off at his end. She could be so stubborn sometimes. He liked the idea, he just didn't like the method. He wasn't jumping off any cliffs unless he absolutely had no other option. There had to be another way.

Time shift

Cadel waited until Wilfrda had left before he slipped his shoes back on and brushed the earpiece to bring it to life. He was back in Curramulla. Maybe there was no other option.

"Did you miss my company so much you had to come back?" Anna asked in a honeysweet voice.

"Do you have a sarcastic response for everything?" He snapped back. Sometimes Anna could be so annoying.

"Sarcasm, Cadel, is an art form. There's something for everyone." She responded in a lofty tone. "So, you ready to learn how to fly?" Cadel sighed and stood up. His head spun sickeningly.

"Are you ok?" Anna must have hear his breathing speed up.

"Fine. I'll be better once I get out of here." He slipped out of his room and into the hall.

He had almost made it down the staircase when the living room door burst open, spilling light into the dark hall and making Cadel shield his eyes.

"Elspeth?" Thaddeus hissed. "But you're dead! I saw you-" He stopped suddenly, but it was too late.

Cadel's blood ran cold. "You killed her," The words barely managed to get out of his mouth.

"Cadel?"

"You killed my mother." It was all so clear. Cadel had heard the hatred and fear and anger in Thaddeus's voice.

"Cadel, my god. You escaped?" Thaddeus stepped forward.

"Get away from me!"

"Listen-"

Cadel turned and bolted up the stairs.

"Cadel! Get out!" Anna's anxious voice said in his ear. But he couldn't. The patio next to the cliff was downstairs. He would have to pass Thaddeus. Just then the psychologist's hand closed over his arm in a steel grip.

"Let go!" Cadel cried. He lashed out, dazed with fear and the remainder of a headache pounding at the back of his skull. Anna swore in his ear.

"I gotta go. Diversion. I'll be at the bottom of the cliff. Hurry." She said in a rush. He heard the slap of feet on wood and them a whoosh as she tore the comminucator off her head. Then it went silent.

"Cadel-" Thaddeus's voice snapped him back.

"I know what happened!" He cried. He heaved, struggling to get away. He kicked and clawed, exploding against months of fear, lying and manipulation. "You were afraid, so you killed her! You scum! You murderer! You've made me a murderer!"

"Shh. Calm down."

"NO! You-" Cadel was cut off as an explosion rocked the house. The floor bucked, throwing them all off balance. Thaddues's grip loosened and Cadel jerked free, stumbling down the stairs and dashing for the door. He could hear Thaddeus behind him, catching up. Cadel put his head down and ran faster. A second explosion, an aftershock of the first, almost knocked him off his feet. Luckily he had had both feet on the ground.

There was a thud from behind him as he darted outside. Thaddeus must have been in midst ride when the aftershock hit, and been thrown to the ground. Cadel saw the black emptyness of the cliff a few yards away, it was zooming closer as her ran.

"Cadel, STOP!" He heard Thaddeus yell. There was real fear in the psycologist's voice. Footsteps pounded from behind him.

The edge of the cliff, looking like the end of the world, yawned in front of him. Cadel shook his head like he was shaking tears out of his eyes and pretended to trip, falling over the cliff and into empty air.

"CADEL!" Screamed a voice from behind him as the world dropped away. In the dark it was almost as if he way floating. The sea melded with the dark sky to form an encompassing blackness. Only the air rushing past him told him he was moving at all. It was almost peaceful. He felt lighter than air.

Suddenly there was a glint from below him. Star light reflected off the rough water below, showing how close the water was. How close the rocks were. They were scattered all over the water below, dark voids ringed by white foam. A particularly big one loomed up below him. Cadel screamed as the water rushed up and the rock dodged to his right. He missed it by less than two feet.

The water was hard s he hit it, feet first. It closed over his head with a slap that hurt his already sore head. Bubbles streamed out of his mouth as the impact knocked the air from his lungs.

The water was dark like the air had been. The velvet darkness muffled all his senses. Cadel was utterly lost. And his air was running out.

Suddenly slim, strong arms, white in the darkness, licked around his chest. Something pulsed behind him, and then he was moving forward. Water battered his eyes as he passed through it, forcing them closed. Seconds later his head burst through the water and he took a deep breath, starved for air.

He opened his eyes to more blackness. This time, not even the stars were visible above his head. The slap of the water echoed all around him.

"Hey." Anna whispered. Her voice came from right in front of him, but echoed all around like the water. They must be in a cave.

He was so relieved that for a minute all he could do was breath. Then he said the first thing that came to his mind.

"Some rocks?!" He burst out. It had looked like the coast had been checkerboard with them.

"A few." Anna laughed.

"Where are we?" He asked. Red spots were beginning to play along the edges of his vision from lack of light.

"In a cave created by the explosion." Anna chuckled. "You should have seen the way the cliff trembled. It was awesome!" Something nudged him in the rids. He suspected it was her elbow. "I told you someday you might need to jury rig an explosion." Cadel remembered that.

"What did you use?" He asked.

"An alkali metal. And the ocean." Anna responded with glee in her voice.

"Anna, are you a pyromaniac?" Cadel asked.

"Only in the mornings." He could hear her grin. "Got your breath back?"

Cadel nodded before he remembered she wouldn't be able to see.

"Good. Squeeze my wrist when you start to run out of air. I've had seal's longs for my entire life, so I don't know how long regular people can hold their breath."

"How did you know I nodded? It's pitch black in here."

"Seal's eyes, remember? Made for oceans at night." Her arms locked around him again and he took a deep breath before they slid gently under the water.

Anna moved fast in the water. She also went deep. Cadel could feel the weight of water above them pushing down. It squeezed the air from his lungs, giving them less travel time before he has to squeeze the wrist that went around his chest. As soon as his finger encircled Anna's slim wrist he could feel the water lighten and they breached the surface.

Cadel looked back and saw they were a good distance from Curramulla. The house had shrunken and he doubted they could be seen from the house.

"Is he still by the cliff?" he asked Anna. She raised her head farther above the water. She shook her head, spraying his face with seawater. Then she laughed.

"He's too busy with the police." Cadel looked again and noticed the pricks of headlights against the walls. "Good thing the blast destroyed his boat." She grinned. "Did you feel the second explosion? That was when the gas in his boat caught fire. The thing must have been filled to the brim." She chuckled.

Cadel wondered how she had managed to create such and explosion with an alkali metal and seawater. Then again, he noticed, she hadn't mentioned which metal she had used, or how much of it. He guessed it hadn't been any of the smaller ones.

It took them two more trips to the surface to reach Anna's boat. The sleek catamaran was bigger than he had thought. Probably around fifty feet from the front to the back. He didn't see a bulge of a cabin. He climbed up the ladder, noting the tall mast and swinging boom. They looked like empty skeletons against the sky. The were hatches above each of the two hulls.

Anna had to pull herself aboard. After her trip in the ocean, she would have the brown tail for a long time. She had often complained about how much water her thick fur seemed to hold.

Anna told him to look in one of the hatches for a towel as she slid across the deck and stopped in front of the wheel. Cadel noticed it had been lowered into a well, so she could comfortably use it even sitting on the floor as a seal.

There was a growl from the back of the boat as Anna started the motor. Cadel was opening one of the hatches to reveal a small room with a hammock strung up when Anna called his name. He whirled to see a light fixed on the front of their boat. The source was rapidly approaching.

"Police boat." Anna called up. Cadel's heart settled. It sped up again as Anna slid away from the wheel and pulled herself toward the edge of the deck.

"Where are you going?" He cried.

"I can't let them see me like this." She said. " You'll be fine with the police, but I'm not going to give them a chance to put me in a lab. Good luck, Cadel." She called as she slid into the waves licking the boat without a splash. Cadel rushed to grab the wheel before the catamaran could veer into the police boat.

Cadel put on a relieved smile as he waved and called for help. As he saw the policeman's face his heart lifted. He was safe.


And that's the end. I don't think I could go into Genius squad without ripping the whole plot to pieces, and it's a very nice plot.

So tell me what you think. Please? *puppy dog eyes*