"ARRIGHT, WHO WANTS PANCAKES!" came a yell from downstairs. "BY THE WAY, WE NEED SOME KIND OF COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, THIS MAKES MY THROAT HURT."

Rylan blinked a moment. He didn't remember having an oven...?

"Ugh, what the hell-?" Selena groaned from her bed.

Sikes awoke with a jolt. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SMELL?!"

"IT'S PANCAKES!" Cyrus replied loudly.

Of course, the last one up (or, more accurately, the only one NOT up) was Syndrome, who slept the farthest away from the room and was also recovering from a "coffee crash." And he was a heavy sleeper.

If any of those variables hadn't been in play, he probably would've woken up...

Selena threw her pillow over her head.

Let me sleep, you deadbolt! she thought to Cyrus.

Her head was buzzing with all sorts of different thoughts. "Ugh..."

Imma push a button nao...

Selena started to laugh.

The loudest of all thoughts- the closest- would have been Syndrome's.

She got up and walked over to his room. She raised herself on a carpet and thought...

OY, SLEEPY HEAD! YOUR GIRLFRIEND'S MAKING PANCAKES!

Syndrome didn't even stir.

Not now, fool. Imma chargin mah lazer!

Selena about fell off her now-magic carpet with laughter.

meh... Stop it, Incredible, you has no right to laugh! I has a lazer...

I'm not Mr. Incredible, dumbass. Now wake up. NOW.

Ahaha, teh super can has identity crisis? I win... I be full of epic win...

Selena growled, and then she realised she had lost her concentration and was falling. She landed on her feet softly- wasn't quite so soft for Syndrome, though.

"Ow."

The ginger blinked, now awake. "Get offa me."

"Well, it's about damn time you woke up. Didn't you hear me? Your girlfriend's made breakfast and woke everyone except you up." Selena growled, jumping off.

"No, as a matter of fact I did NOT hear you, I was having a rather pleasant dream where I was about to annihilate Mr. Incredible when you so rudely interrupted. And he even had an identity crisis this time, too..."

"I could tell." Selena snickered. "'Ahaha, teh super can has identity crisis? I win... I be full of epic win...' You are so full of yourself, even in your dreams."

"What the...? How did you...? Oh, damn it! Stupid powers..." Syndrome left, grumbling angrily to himself.

"CYRUS, THERE WAS NOT A FIRE DOWN HERE BEFORE YOU CAME!" Rylan shouted.

"WELL, THERE SHOULD'VE BEEN!" Cyrus shouted back. "YOU HAVE NO OVEN!"

"MY POINT EXACTLY!"

"Where's the witch?" Sikes shouted, the fire raging in his face. "She could stop this!!"

"IT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN STARTED IN THE FIRST PLACE! SERIOUSLY, CYRUS, IF WE HAD WANTED BREAKFAST, WE COULD'VE JUST GONE TO BURGER KING."

"The WITCH's name is Selena. Get it RIGHT, Sikes," Selena thought angrily as she stormed down the stairs. Her black coat was flying viciously- she was moving very fast and you could tell by the way she walked she was pissed. She summoned a bucket of water from outside and opened a boarded window so that it could come through. She dumped the water on the fire.

"There. Problem solved."

"I think we need an oven..."

"Cyrus, if you're going to be doing any cooking, it will be OUTSIDE from now on, understand?"

"Yessir," she replied quietly.

"Now, if you don't mind, I'm going back to bed," Selena growled.

"WHAT?" shouted Syndrome from the top of the stairs. "YOU WOKE ME UP JUST TO GO BACK TO BED?"

I'm not hungry enough, I'm just dead tired! she thought, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Syndrome?"

"Oh, no... Not this again."

"SYNDROME~" Cyrus shouted, and bolted up the stairs toward the person of her affection with fangirlish speed.

"Damn. If I was as open about my obsessions as she was, I'd have been dead before I could even bring Syndrome here." Selena mumbled.

Syndrome was promptly knocked to the ground by his fangirl.

"HELP ME!" Syndrome pleaded.

Rylan shrugged. "She's your fangirl."

"That's your funeral," Sikes said. Selena looked at him like he was a ghost or something.

Syndrome barely managed an escape before Cyrus followed in hot pursuit. "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" he shouted.

"BUT YOU'RE AWESOOOOOOOOOOME~" came Cyrus's reply.

Rylan glanced at Selena. "Really, she's not always like this... She'll get over it soon. I think."

"I hope so. She could be useful if she weren't... well. You know." Selena rolled her eyes. "Makes my reactions look ten times better, though, dunnit?"

"But she's allowed a little leeway. With abilities like hers..."

"Yeah, she's a real doozy," Selena mumbled.

She hated being outclassed.

"Well, that... and...well. I'm sure she told you about... that part... of her dismissal..."

"What?"

"Well. Selena. We're talking about Cyrus here. She never shuts up. Surely she must've mentioned...?"

"What, she can make illusions? Yeah, she told me that," Selena said. "Nothing but a 'magician's' kind of magic trick."

"Not that. After that. I just want you to know that I don't do that to everyone who leaves my service. She was... a unique case."

Liar, whispered a voice in his head.

"That's what you would have done to me, eh?" Selena glared at him. "Wiped my memory blank? Left me in the DAMNED COLD OF WINTER?" A nearby clock's glass shattered. She had that effect when she was pissed.

"No. I would've wiped your memory blank and started over. Same person, same abilities, no memory. I wouldn't dispose of you... you were much too valuable."

"Well, dammit, Rylan! I don't believe you!" A crowbar came flying towards Selena, she grabbed it.

"Hey, what're you doing with MY JEMMY?" Sikes shouted.

"Shut up and lemme kill him," She said, crowbar at the ready.

"Listen, Selena, search me, I wouldn't have disposed of you... I would've started over, granted, but not actually let you go in the middle of winter..."

"How do I know?! You're ten times more demented than my dear mother at LEAST!" She had it at his throat. Just one small push...

"Listen... you have the ability, I'm giving you the right, search me. Go on. You know you want to."

She didn't want to. She wanted to kill the raving son of a bitch, with all but a small portion of her heart. She raised her other hand.

"How do I know you haven't done it already?"

Rylan didn't answer. "You need me, admit it. As much as you hate to believe it, you need me. Without me, this whole operation would fall apart. Syndrome and Sikes would fight, and Cyrus would get in the middle... then what? You're left with an uncontrollable Sikes, a temperamental Syndrome, or an extremely unhappy Cyrus. What have you got then?"

He paused to let it sink in.

"You NEED ME."

"Well, are you going to kill him, or are you just going to sit there with my jemmy?" Sikes asked.

Selena lowered her hands. She gave the crowbar back, angrily.

Dammit, Rylan. If you hadn't brought Sikes up...

"You could search me all you like, I've never wiped your memories thus far. Now I can't say as I haven't wanted to..."

She looked. She had to, she felt as if he were telling a lie again...

There was nothing there that hadn't been said.

"I... can't believe you're actually telling the truth. There's got to be some locked door there...?"

"Selena... the mind can't lie, and if it can, I don't know how..."

Selena growled. He was right. The mind can only lie if what it's thinking is thought to be true.

And as this was a matter of his own opinion and past... there was nothing that he could have done.

Quite suddenly, Cyrus (surrounded by a field of bluish light) flew down the stairs.

"WHOO!" she screamed before doing a couple of flips and a landing that would've normally sustained a back injury.

"STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!" Syndrome cried from the top of the stairs.

"He's a feisty one," Cyrus replied. She then whispered, "Actually, this is just an illusion, I'm actually upstairs. This is fun!" She then disappeared.

"It'll wear off…" Rylan started. "She'll get used to him and then she'll be fine…"

Yeah, and then when she's done obsessing over Syndrome, maybe she could kill Rylan for me... Selena thought to herself.

"She better be better before Basta is brought here..." Selena spit out.

"She WILL," Rylan spat in return. "Even if I have to make sure of it."

"Make sure of it? By going green-eyed? Do you know who you are, and what you are?" Sikes growled at Rylan.

"Sikes, I'm sure he all about it, who he is, and what he is. And personally, I wish I had been struck dead in the street before I had asked him for help." Selena replied in a sort of side-quote of Oliver Twist. Sikes seemed to notice.

"You sound just like Nancy... If I hadn't seen that oil-less light, I would've thought you were lying about the future, and that you, Nancy, were hiding something. More than just telling everyone about Fagin and I."

He held his jemmy almost the same way Selena had. She backed away two paces.

"I've told you before, I'm NOT Nancy."

"Sikes! How many times do I have to tell you, CALM DOWN AND KNOCK IT OFF!" Rylan yelled.

"You shut the hell up!" He said, turning from Selena to Rylan, and then back. He pressed the flat side of the crowbar on Selena's neck, and pressed lightly. Selena gasped a bit. "If you aren't telling the truth, I'll know before long. You were never a good longterm liar, Nancy."

Distract him!

"Sikes..." Rylan closed his eyes momentarily, and when he opened them, they were a familiar shade of green. He walked slowly toward Sikes. "Over here..."

"Damme," Sikes said before being overtaken.

DAMMIT, I MEANT USING YOUR BRAINS, NOT YOUR POWERS! Ugh, I should always remember that from now on. "Never ask Rylan for help." If you had just said something, I could have taken the crowbar from his hands and gotten away.

Rylan did not reply save for a flip of the mental bird.

Sikes was no longer himself again, just a vegetable controlled by Rylan's mind.

"Why in the blazes of Hades did you resort to that? You know there are other ways to control people besides CONTROL!" Selena shouted.

"What more did you really expect from a power freak?" Rylan asked with a smirk, dismissing Sikes and turning on Selena. "I'm never happy, never satisfied until I control everything."

"You've already controlled him once, you're still doing so to keep this operation moving, why the hell did you need to do more?" She continued angrily.

"I don't know, a hobby, an obsession maybe..." He trailed off.

"All I really know is that you were a challenge to put under... and I rather like a challenge."

Selena gulped. "You- you need to be careful how you word things-" she shuddered. "That's- that's rather creepy to hear from an old guy like you." She looked over at Sikes to get the thought out of her mind. He had gone into his room, where he sat on a chair, still seeming somewhat lifeless.

"You pervert..." he spat maliciously. "I didn't intend it like that. That would be highly uncalled for. I don't appreciate those methods of torture." He stopped momentarily, then continued. "And Sikes is older than I. So don't go thinking I'm old."

"He's twenty eight, dumbass," Selena retorted.

"He is still older."

"Only a few months difference. He looks younger than you."

Rylan growled and stared at Selena, eyes glowing brightly. "You should learn to shut your mouth, girl, lest someone shut it for you."

Selena realised what was happening not a moment too soon. She knew the control patterns, was there anyway she could think fast enough to break out of it?

Go to sleep, Selena, Rylan's mental voice commanded harshly.

Selena felt her eyes droop. "N-n-n-" She tried to say no. She fought against the exhaustion sweeping her body. She tried to think of anything- everything- to fight it.

He's got you! COME ON, SELENA!

She fell into a crumpled pile on the floor... sound asleep.

Rylan smirked. "Two down, two to go…" He really didn't know why he wanted everyone in the house under his influence… maybe it was just because he wanted some peace and quiet. He walked up the stairs and overheard whispering coming from Syndrome's room.

"So when are you going to test it on someone else?" Cyrus's voice asked.

"Soon, Cyrus…" Rylan could tell simply from the tone of his voice that Syndrome was smirking. "Very soon."

"Test WHAT on someone else?" Rylan entered, his ability at full strength. Cyrus was instantly captivated, but Syndrome had the foresight to look away before Rylan entered.

"Look at me, Syndrome," Rylan started.

"Nah, I'll pass," he replied.

"What the…?" Rylan blinked. There should've been absolutely no reason that Syndrome could defy him!

"Although, you might want to release Cyrus."

"Why? And I asked what you were doing!"

Syndrome pointed at Rylan, and a zero-point-ish beam struck him, although it was green instead of blue. Rylan felt his entire body seize up, and then his mind went blank.

"Seeing as how you won't remember any of this anyway, I'll tell you. I've been looking for a chance to monologue today.

"Cyrus was acting. She's a huge fangirl, but she's more interested in helping me than chasing me around. The whole bit this morning was just a ruse to allow us to conspire.

"I've created a device that mimics your ability, as you probably already guessed. Although mine has an added benefit… it can affect more than one person at a time. But unlike you, I'll only use it when I need to, because you don't seem to get the point that eventually they WILL build a resistance to it. I don't want to use it liberally enough to make everyone resistant, now do I?

"Now then. I heard you from the vent in the floor. Go release the two downstairs, then collapse right in front of them."

Rylan quickly nodded and headed out the door.

---

Earlier that day…

It was late night, or more accurately, early morning. Cyrus was exhausted (having just woken up from her faint), but nevertheless attempted to peer over Syndrome's shoulder. He, however, had different plans, and beat her at every turn, shielding the mechanism from her view.

"You almost ready?"

"Almost."

"You used the battery I stole for you?"

"Yes, thank you."

"And I still can't see what it is?"

"Not yet."

"Come on…"

"Well, I can let you in a little on it…"

"Okay!"

"Well. I had a function that allowed me to look briefly into people's thoughts, but if their thought had a memory attached, I could see the memory too. Well. I tested it on Selena and things ended… badly. So I'm modifying it."

"So now what does it do?"

"I can't tell you yet. It's almost done…"

"…Okay." Cyrus sounded dejected, and backed up.

"Now it's done…" He re-attached the control to his wrist and turned around.

"How does it work?"

"Well, it's similar to my zero-point energy in the trigger, but it's completely different in function… Do you want to see?"

Cyrus looked genuinely ecstatic. "Of course!"

"Alright…" He smirked and set off the trigger, surrounding Cyrus in a pale green light.

She froze.

He released her, but she didn't move.

"Come over here, Cyrus."

Cyrus walked almost mechanically over to him. Her eyes were glazed over and she didn't seem… "all there."

"Now…" he paused. "Don't bother me. I know you will, if you fainted simply from the sight of me, you'll bother me, but I'm asking you now not to. You can appreciate me, like me, hell, you can even be rather fond of me, but make sure that this instills in your little fangirl mind where the fine line between pleasantly annoying and crazily obsessed is, and stay on the pleasantly annoying side, please."

Cyrus nodded.

"You can wake up now."

Cyrus blinked. "What did it do?"

"Well, it mimics Rylan's ability, mostly. That was the major inspiration for it…"

"Oh. Can I see it work on something else?"

"Well, there's nothing around to put it to work on…" he stopped. "But basically, you push this button and it starts to function…"

Cyrus yanked the control off of his wrist with a "Yoink!", and before he could protest, turned it on him.

"Syndrome…" She stopped, and the light faded.

"Yes…?"

"You really need to go to sleep… On your bed, though, please…"

Syndrome walked over to his bed and promptly collapsed onto it.

Cyrus smiled a little and re-attached the control onto his wrist, then pulled the blanket over him.

"Sweet dreams, Syndrome," she whispered as she closed the door.