Chapter 4

Wow, I still have a loyal group of reviewers! Bows thank you all, you don't know how happy I am for good reviews! I'm sorry this chapter is being put up after a month but I had a family vacation, and…never mind there's no excuse! Yell at me in your reviews if you wish.

Now lets all give a loud applause to my ever faithful beta and reviewer dragonqueenc! everyone claps

On a side note, I noticed on Chapter One the title of the city is different the title in Chapter two, so it should be Queen's Tower and will be from now on. I do not own SRMTHFG, I do not own Brother's Grimm, I own the creature, Queen's Tower, the people in it, and that's about it.

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On with the fourth chapter 4! Allegra sat on the roof of her house crying softly. Dinner had been good; the beginning was slightly rough, everyone had been slightly depressed because of the circumstances of the Hyperforce's presence. Though later on, her father had started a conversation about the history of Queen's Tower which spiked Antauri and Gibson's interests, and soon enough Allegra and Otto were discussing fairy tales, and Chiro, Sprx, and Nova were soon discussing Shuggazoom to Layla who had never heard of the planet. By the end of the dinner everyone was in much better spirits and plans were made for tomorrow's dinner. When the Hyperforce left however, dread had returned to Allegra's mind and so, after saying her goodnights to her parents she went to her room and then out the window and up to the roof.

She looked up at the moon crying softly, she remembered how Tessa and she had always snuck up here a few times a week giggling softly about topics that were never all that important to begin with. Upset and full of guilt, doubt began to fill her mind.

How were the Hyperforce supposed to rescue Tessa and the other girls? They didn't know the forest, more importantly, this wasn't their fight. What if one of them was injured by the beasts? Allegra hadn't known them long but she couldn't bear the thought of any of them being harmed. She herself had a better chance of finding her sister then anyone else; she was her sister's closest friend and family member after all.

Making up her mind, she got up, and carefully made her way to the side of the house. There, standing strong as it always had was a large weeping willow tree, its vines swaying close to the house. The weeping willow was her favorite tree, one she never feared, and one that had always sheltered her and Tessa during their worst times. It also served another purpose; the vines, though seemingly thin and fragile, were actually strong and bendable. Fondly she stroked a handful of vines before expertly flinging herself into the forest of vines. Letting the vines wipe the last stray tears off her face she began lowering herself down. This wasn't easy and required a lot of strength in her arms. It was a secret art she was extremely proud of. Once on the ground she took one last look at the house, gave a nod of recognition, turned and headed to the forest.

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"What have you learned about the forest Gibson?" Chiro asked, laying in his orange chair and thinking deeply. Usually right now he'd be playing video games, but like everyone else, Allegra's story kept running through their minds. The only one seemingly at ease was Otto who was enjoying reading more fairy tales from his book.

"I set up some of the surveillance cameras to watch the forest for signs of movement but not even the usual bird has shown itself. Odd." Gibson said while typing away at his computer. "I have looked into the land around the forest itself and have found no strange anomalies. The only strange things I've found were the history of the town and forest. It"

"Hey I thought you said nothings been moving on the cameras!" Otto interrupted loudly. The team looked at him and Gibson rolled his eyes.

"I did say that, glad to see you've been paying attention."

"Then what's that?" Otto asked pointing to the screen. There, walking into the forest was a large shape, outlined in red to show its body heat.

"I'm…err…not sure." Gibson answered, his face scrunched up in confusion as he typed quickly at the keyboard, soon the camera's zoomed in, and right as the figure disappeared into the forest, they caught a glimpse of long red hair.

"Allegra?" Nova wondered. "What is she doing out there this late at night?"

"Let's go find out." Chiro answered, heading to the door. "Gibson, Otto, and Antauri stay here and watch the forest, Sprx, Nova; we're going to the forest to see what she's up too."

They all nodded, and Sprx and Nova stood and walked quickly after Chiro.

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Allegra had been in the forest at night before. Often in fact, mostly the forest had been in good temperament before recently and going for midnight strolls, though not recommended, were not anything to upsetting. Not that her parents knew, not even Tessa knew about her adventures in the forest, she knew the layout, the types of trees, and most of the ordinary dangers within the forest. Though running through the trees tonight was much more difficult. Roots of the trees seemed to be higher off the ground, limbs lower, the height just at her neck, and all around her, though to her ears she heard silence, she still felt something watching, or following her.

"I won't back out of this, Tessa I'm coming! I promise." She kept whispering over and over to herself, this was not the time to back down and she knew it. Not only was the entrance to the forest a long ways behind her, she was sure this would be her only chance. Waiting another night might help her fears get the better of her. Her running soon slowed to a walk as the trees were coming in thicker and more numerous bundles.

"Aleggrrraaa…..Aaallegrra." Whispers from all around her startled her, and got her heart whispering. She heard, for the first time, leaves moving around her on the ground. She almost whimpered in fear but true to her temperamental ways, her eyes got their usual stubborn glint and she stood her ground.

"I'm not scared of you!" She screamed. "I will find them! Watch me!" She kept walking, with a stride that showed her strength, deeper into the forest.

The whispers stopped but a new noise started up, a dry, shaky, laugh. One that was quiet, but didn't need much volume to be heard, that laughter almost stopped her heart. This was nothing like Allegra ever new. She turned around her quickly, but all she saw was the faint outlines of trees, the moon and starlight that had once and always shown the path gone. Allegra took a deep breath and looked back ahead…and screamed for all she was worth.

There in front of her, was the familiar set of milky blue bloodshot eyes, and a large, decayed toothy grin stared back at her, right in her face. As she screamed, his large claw like hands rose and gripped at her arm with one hand, and her long red hair in the other.

Allegra's heart was on double time beating with horror as she screamed and tried to tear away, but the grip the creature had was strong, and she kept feeling pain in her scalp as her hair began to tear or strain. The creature laughed his dry laugh again and turned, while pulling her, and began walking once more into the forest.

"Let go of her!" Someone shouted as a bright bolt of green light hit the creature dead on. Startled he let his grip on Allegra's hair fall and switched to protecting his face, his grip on her arm however remained.

Gasping in shock Allegra looked over and saw an energy looking red color strike out at the monster, her attention on this new presence she screamed as someone grabbed her free arm.

"Allegra relax it's me." She heard Chiro's voice and could now make out his outline as well as two monkey outlines, one now striking the creature with giant fists forcing him to release Allegra's arm. Chiro instantly pulled Allegra towards a trail and began running down it, pulling her along. She ran, following him, and saw the two monkey forms following; the creature was not behind them however. As they got to what seemed like a clearing she could see them all more clearly and saw that the two monkeys were Sprx and Nova. In relief she began taking deep breaths to get her heartbeat under control.

"Are you okay?" Nova asked, as they all looked at her in concern.

Allegra looked at her arm where the claws of the creature had gripped her tightly and saw faint claw marks pressed into her skin with blood beginning to appear around it, her scalp was sore to the touch, and she felt that she had just ran a marathon, but she was alive. She nodded, "Yeah, I'm okay, thank you, I" She broke off not knowing how to thank them enough and instead she sat down holding her head as the shock of the nights events took over.

"We should get her back to the robot for now." She heard Chiro say as she felt him raise her up and up, and up. She looked down and in shock saw that she was rising into the sky quickly, as were Sprx and Nova.

"Relax, the trees limbs are pushed back enough that our jetpacks make this the best way to get back to the robot." Nova said seeing her expression. Allegra nodded and smiled as her original fear turned into enjoyment at seeing the forest underneath her pass by quickly.

Sprx chuckled. "See? She likes flying and it's only her first time!"

Nova rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to smack him. "Yes Sprx, we can talk about the wonders of flying later. Let's focus on going home now."

Allegra could hear Chiro holding back a laugh as the robot came into view and they all descended to the ground. Allegra resisted the urge to sigh with disappointment at the short flight and let Chiro lead her in to the robot as the door at the foot of the robot slid open.

"Allegra you're safe!" Otto bounded up to her happily before giving a frown of worry, "What happened to your arm?"

"The monster got her Otto, it was so tall with claws the size of your tail!" Sprx said with an evil grin. Otto's eyes got large and his mouth dropped open with fear. Allegra laughed lightly.

"Otto it wasn't that tall, and the claws were just about the size of my fingers, don't let him scare you." She smiled feeling more relaxed now that she was away from the forest. Sprx gave an upset sigh but was really feeling proud of himself for getting Allegra to relax and actually speak in a full sentence. Nova looked at him with a small smile noticing what his intention had been. He blushed and looked away quickly.

"Well large claws or small they still caused some injury, let's get your arm cleaned up! And then we can take you home." Gibson said, taking Allegra's unharmed arm and lead her to the med bay.

Allegra let her arm be cleaned and stitched up obediently and without complaint and instead looked around her in awe. Queen's Tower was nothing liked this. "Thank you for this, I'm sorry I caused you all to come and save me like that."

Gibson looked at her for a second. "It's fine, just be glad that you weren't harmed worse then this!"

"You were going to find your sister yourself weren't you?" Antauri said from the doorway, true to his ways he had walked in without making a sound and had heard every word.

Allegra lowered her head and nodded. "I couldn't just sit at home and do nothing, or risk you or anyone getting hurt, which didn't work considering I got you dragged in there already."

Antauri walked over to her. "You called us for a reason and now you don't want us involved?"

"I want help, I just don't want anyone else hurt, and I thought I might be able to get the girls back safe and sound on my own because I know the forest better then anyone else in the town."

"You didn't mention that before." Gibson said pointedly, trying to sound irritated but failing.

"No one knows, not even Tessa. The forest has always been feared but before this whole incident started it was harmless, I learned the whole forest and even found the old queen's tower."

"So there really is a tower?" Antauri asked interested.

Allegra nodded. "Yes, and a whole bunch of upright stones in a circle, thirteen total. It's the only building in the whole forest."

Gibson looked impressed. "You've been through the entire forest?"

Allegra smiled. "Every inch, it's why I thought I could save them; I know the only places they could be hidden. I'm sorry."

"We're not upset, many would he same in your situation, but you shouldn't feel guilty like you have been, it seems these attacks would happen no matter what, and one person won't have much luck trying to stop it." Allegra's smile got larger, knowing all was forgiven.

A new voice joined the conversation, "You said you knew the places where the girls could be hidden Allegra, where are they?" Everyone turned to see Chiro in the doorway.

Allegra looked grim. "In one place and in one place only, the center of the forest where the queen's tower stands."

A hush fell over the room as Otto's fairy tale story ran through their minds. Finally Gibson broke the silence. "It's almost daylight up, we should get you home Allegra."

Allegra sighed, "Wonderful, I can imagine my parent's reaction already."

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Chiro walked back into the robot an hour after returning Allegra home. Layla and Riah's reaction had been more of shock to see their daughter at their door instead of in bed to relief to seeing her safe. After a brief and soft lecture from Riah, Layla led Allegra to her room to let her sleep for a few hours, leaving Riah alone with Chiro.

"I couldn't punish her, not even for going into the forest. I know I should have…but I couldn't." Riah said in a broken voice. Chiro nodded understandingly but didn't want to say anything, because it didn't seem like his place. But after the silence drew on it seemed he had no choice.

"You knew she was feeling guilty for her sister's disappearance."

Riah smiled softly and nodded. "Yes I did know. But judging from the expression in her eyes this morning, the guilt's gone already, if not gone, then at least lessoned." Chiro stared at him in amazement and Riah laughed. "Oh I know I'm not as good as Layla when it comes to knowing a person's moods, but I do know my own daughter. Thank you for saving her, both in the forest and from her guilt." With these deep words he went back inside without saying goodbye, though it didn't seem that it was needed. Chiro blinked and let the words settle into his mind before turning and returning home.

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I hope this lengthy chapter (to me it's lengthy) makes up for my late updating. I didn't really like the ending to this chapter, it made Riah seem deep, and I had originally made him just as a "what you see is what you get" type guy. But maybe that's how angry dads are supposed to be, who knows. Anyway, read and review please, my goal is 25 reviews before the next chapter!