Author's Note: Wow, chapter 10. That's another milestone for me! Thanks to everyone for reading this! Be sure to review and vote for the poll on my homepage, please!
I decided it would be wiser if I parked the car around the corner from my house. I turned off the engine and took a slow, calming breath. I couldn't hear anything happening inside, which I took as either a really good sign or a really bad one. I turned to Ace who sensed something bad in the air. I ran through the objects I had in my possession, just to make sure I wasn't going in blindly. Then, I got out.
"You ready, Ace?" I asked him; he shook his head. It amazed me to see how much a dog could really understand. I quickly scanned the area and saw that it was too quiet—like horror movie quiet. I tried to focus on Terry and I's last lesson.
"Ok, Dana, the last thing you need to learn is how to control your pain."
"Hmm?" I had asked him. "What do you mean?"
"Dana, there might be a time where you need to put the pain aside so, you can continue to fight." I had rolled my eyes because I didn't believe that I would ever be in such a situation. I wished I could go back in time and tell myself what was going on now—maybe, I would have studied more. I tried to think on what he had told me next. "You have to focus on your overall goal in order to eliminate pain."
"What?" I had asked, confused.
"You have to keep thinking of the reason you're fighting and that will get rid of pain."
Well, I knew what my goals were. Protect my Dad and get Terry back. I took a few shaky steps to my house Ace right behind me. As I got to the door, he growled.
"Someone in there?" I whispered. As I put my hand on the doorknob, his growl increased. I grabbed a batarang and carefully opened the door. "Can you scan inside, Mr. Wayne?"
There was no answer.
"Mr. Wayne?"
No answer. I cursed mentally and carefully stepped into the house. I heard his footsteps and spun around and tossed the batarang in his direction. He countered it with his own and they fell to the ground.
"Where's my Dad?"
"Not here." Came the answer. I saw there was a note right next to me saying that he had went to the store and would be back in about an hour. I sighed in relief, but was snapped out of it when Ace growled menacingly.
"Good Doggy." The voice was Terry's, but more sarcastic and mean.
"Terry?" I asked, cautiously.
"No." He took a few steps toward me. I didn't flinch as Ace and I stood our ground.
"I want to talk to Terry." I demanded coolly.
"Your boyfriend is busy, Miss Tan." My heart skipped a beat when I heard him say my name, but I made sure to not show it.
"You lost your computer voice." I said, frankly. He shrugged.
"Well, I gathered enough information on humans from Terry so I would be able to be like them."
"What are you?"
"Didn't I kill you?" He countered; I glared as Ace barked at him.
"What can I say? I'm a very stubborn girl." He nodded.
"I'm starting to sense that."
"Why are you doing this to Terry?" I asked, sincerely. "What did he ever do to you?"
"I'm afraid we've talked too much." His face mocked a pained expression. "As much as this hurts me, I'm going to have to kill you for real this time." I prepared for him to attack.
"Bring it," I growled. He laughed out loud—It was Terry's laugh and that made my heart ache.
"You're going to fight me?" I nodded; his face grew serious. "Fine, then." We both waited for the other to make a move, but one thing I knew for certain:
I wouldn't fail.
Author's Note: Review and vote for the poll or I'm going to send evil Terry after you! (foreboding music plays)