Fluey shifted into a kneeling position, and began wriggling his wrists to get them out of the ropes. He knew if he could get his wrists loose, he would be able to untie himself. Finally, he managed to work one hand free, and he easily pulled his arm out from the ropes tied around his chest, pinning his arms to his sides. From there, he pulled his other arm loose, and yanked off his gag. Then he started untying his ankles.

"Whew, that's a relief!" he shouted, tossing the ropes aside. "Now all I gotta do is figure out how to get out of here!"

Fluey walked up to the cellar door, and pushed on it, even though he knew darn well he was locked in. The chain rattled against the doors as Fluey pushed, and it gave him an idea.

"If I can get that maniac to open the door, I might be able to make a run for it," he said. "I just have to get him out here to open it."

Immediately, Fluey began pushing on the door as hard and as fast as he could, and he started screaming for help at the top of his lungs. He was making quite a racket, which drew the Shadow's attention, which was what Fluey was hoping for. He continued this until he heard the Shadow unlocking the chains and removing them. Fluey then pushed the cellar doors open as hard as he could, and made a break for it. The door ended up whacking the Shadow in the face.

"Hey!" he shouted. "Why you little . . . . ."

"I'm outta here!" Fluey shouted, and he took off running. The Shadow growled, and ran after him.

"Wait'll I get my hands on you!" he yelled.

"You'll have to catch me first!" Fluey shouted.

Fluey ran through the back gates of the house and down a pathway. He was just glad this wasn't a desert island, but he did have a feeling the island was deserted (big difference). That meant there would be no one around to help him. He ran to the shoreline of the island and stopped.

"I think I lost him," he said. Then he looked out toward the horizon, hoping to see something, but all he could see was water.

"Water as far as the eye can see," he groaned. "There's no way I can swim that far, even if I had my powers. I've gotta find that boat of his. It's the only way I can get off this island."

Fluey walked along the beach, hoping to find the Shadow's boat somewhere along the shore. As he was searching, he discovered the boat house.

"Eureeka!" he shouted. But before he could make a run for it, a cloth was suddenly tied over his mouth, and he felt himself being pulled backwards.

"Now who did you think you were kidding?" the Shadow asked, throwing Fluey to the ground, and wrenching his arms behind his back. He tied the teenager's wrists together, and then grabbed hold of his hair, pulling him to his feet. Fluey let out a pained shriek, though muffled by the gag.

"Shut up!" the Shadow yelled, slapping Fluey across the face. Then he began dragging Fluey back to the old house. Fluey resisted, struggling and squirming, and refusing to walk.

"Get moving, you little brat!" the Shadow shouted, beginning to lose patients. He finally reached the cellar door, opened it, and threw Fluey down the steps into it. Then, instead of locking him in, the Shadow went down the steps himself, pulled Fluey to his feet by his hair, and guided him over to a far corner of the cellar. He threw Fluey against the wall as hard as he could. Fluey moaned as he hit the wall, and then slid onto the floor, too dazed to move.

"You've been a bad little boy," the Shadow said, loosening his belt. "And bad little boys must be punished."

Fluey gasped as the Shadow raised his belt, and struck the dark-haired Impossible with it, as hard as he could, repeatedly. Fluey screamed in pain, but the Shadow wouldn't stop. Finally, after about twenty lashes, he stopped. Fluey collapsed to the ground, and moaned.

"Maybe that will teach you to stay put," the Shadow said, putting his belt back on. "This is your only warning, child. If you try to escape once more, you know what will happen!"

Fluey didn't respond. The Shadow just looked at him and laughed.

"No one's going to come for you," he said. "Your grandfather will never find you. Don't even think there's a shred of hope that he will!"

And with that, the Shadow left Fluey alone in the dark, dreary cellar, laughing maniacally. Fluey just let out a moan, and closed his eyes, wondering if the Shadow was right. There was no way he could contact his friends, or the chief. And he didn't even know where he was, either. How was the chief ever going to find him?

Meanwhile, Multi, Coiley, and Skittles had returned to Big D's office with Phyllis, who was still clearly upset over the earlier incident. Big D sitting at his desk, while Reggie was moving some kind of contraption around the room. It looked like some sort of metal detector, but it made clicking noises like a geiger counter.

"What's going on, Big D?" Coiley asked.

"Checking for bugs," Big D said. "I'm not taking any chances."

"What is that thing?" Multi asked Reggie.

"My super sonic spy bug buster," Reggie said. "I've been dying for a chance to use it."

Multi and Coiley just nodded. After a few minutes, Reggie put down his device, and turned to the chief.

"No bugs in here, chief, he said. "Not even so much as a flea on Skittles."

"Good," Big D said. "You're excused, Johnson. This is a private matter."

"Gotcha, chief," Reggie said, and he left the office closing the door behind him. Skittles barked, and walked over toward Phyllis. She picked up the puppy, and sat down on the couch. She didn't even look at Big D.

"Boys, have a seat," Big D said to Multi and Coiley. "What I have to tell you may surprise you. First of all, Phyllis, what you said before you ran out of my office . . . . . about me not being your father . . . . . you were right. I'm not your father."

"And Jack isn't . . . . . wasn't my older brother, I take it," Phyllis said.

"Correct," Big D said. "I meant to tell you this sooner. I really did. But I never got the chance."

"What are you going to tell me next?" Phyllis asked, glaring at Big D. "Jack wasn't your son, either?"

"No, Jackson was my son," Big D said. "And . . . . . you're Jackson's daughter, and Fluid's half-sister."

"Hollerin' hi-fi's!" Multi shouted.

"Well . . . . now that sixteen year age gap between them makes sense to me," Coiley said, shrugging.

"Is that why you never really answered questions about the huge age gap between us?" Phyllis asked.

"Yes," Big D sighed. "Let me explain. You see, Phyllis, Jackson was . . . . . how do I put this?"

"A swinger?" Coiley suggested.

"Well, that's putting it mildly," Big D said. "But you get the general idea. The boy was completely out of control. When he was in school, he considered himself a real ladies man. He was a sports hero, good looking, and he knew it. When he was sixteen, he was dating a girl named Frieda Macintosh, who happened to be about as out of control as Jackson. Maybe even more so. In any case, to make a long story short, it was the same circumstances as Fluid's birth. Jackson and his girlfriend spent a couple of nights in a hotel room, which resulted in a pregnancy. I have no idea how she kept it from her parents. Nine months later, she arrived at our door, with the baby, and told Jackson she couldn't take care of it. Her family was moving, and she didn't want her parents to know she had been pregnant."

"Kind of hard to hide a pregnancy, isn't it?" Coiley asked.

"As I had stated, I don't know how she did it, but she did it," Big D said. "In any case, we took the baby in, and . . . . ."

"And told everyone you were my father," Phyllis said.

"It was to save face," Big D said. "I had a reputation around the agency back then. I had just been promoted to chief, and this sort of scandal would have cost me my job. People would begin to think I couldn't handle a super secret organization if I couldn't even handle my own sixteen-year-old son."

"So now I'm a scandal?!" Phyllis shouted, jumping to her feet.

"I didn't mean it like that," Big D said. "I just couldn't tell the truth. It was during a time when children born out of wedlock, especially to teenage parents, was a serious social stigma. We had to do it this way."

"Well, it doesn't really matter now," Phyllis said, as she sat back down. "What's done is done, and there's nothing that can be done to change it."

"Not unless we rebuild Timeatron's time machine," Coiley said.

"Don't get any bright ideas, Coiley," Multi said. "Altering the past may have drastic effects on the present."

Coiley nodded. Things got silent all of a sudden. Big D finally cleared his throat.

"About what I had said earlier," he said. "It was mainly out of frustration. This entire business with the Shadow is really starting to get to me. I didn't mean a word of what I said. People say a lot of things they don't mean when they're angry."

"Or frustrated, or worried," Phyllis sighed. "I'm guilty of that, too. When I said the stupidest decision you ever made . . . . . I didn't mean it, Da---uhhh, chief. I'm just really worried about Fluey. We don't know where he is, and we can't track him down."

"I know," Big D said with a sigh.

"Yeah, we're worried, too, Phyllis," Coiley said. "But we're not going to give up."

"That's right," Multi said. "We're going to keep searching until we find Fluey."

"I just hope he's all right," Phyllis said. "He doesn't have his transformer with him."

"Well, standing here talking isn't going to do any good," Coiley said. "We're going back to search in the Impossi-Jet, chief."

"Good," Big D said. "That's about all we can do for right now."

And with that, Phyllis, Skittles, and the two Impossibles left Big D's office. Phyllis was still a little upset with the chief, but there were more important things to worry about right now. She stood at the window, and stared outside, not really looking at anything. She was wondering where the Shadow was holding Fluey, and wondering whether or not he was all right. She was hoping he was, but fearing he wasn't, and it was her fear that was winning out over hope.

Big D wasn't in that much better shape himself. He was standing at the window in his office, staring outside at nothing himself, chewing the stem of his pipe nervously. It took quite a lot to make Big D nervous, and this was definitely making him nervous. And it made him even more nervous not knowing where the Shadow had taken his grandson, especially with no way to contact him, and no way of knowing if he was hurt or not, or even still alive. Big D shuddered a little at that last thought. He knew the Shadow was not above murder. He only hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"I'll find you," he said. "No matter what the cost, Fluid, I will find you."