Chapter 9: Possessed writings
Vince carried Misti into the old lab, then placed her into a small pod, which softly lifted her up into the air, keeping her suspended there above a blue light.
Vince looked around. For it not being used in almost seven years, it was still in pretty good condition. There were a few broken windows here and there, and some of the older equipment was dusty. But, other than that, everything else was in pretty good condition. Even the electricity was still on.
"Do you need something, young man?" A gruff, old voice asked. Vince looked up to see an older man walking towards him.
"I'm sorry, sir." Vince apologized. "I was unaware that this lab was still in use."
"Yeah, it is." The man said. "By you. What're you doing here?"
"My wife is in grave danger." Vince replied. "Some kind of darkness has entered her body, and it's corrupting her. I just need the lab so that she can be in suspended animation until I can extract the darkness."
The man looked at Misti, then sighed heavily. "That darkness isn't going anywhere anytime soon, my boy. That's a special kind of darkness, designed to destroy what it seeks. If you can find who created this darkness, you could remove it, but for now, your wife's going to be in suspended animation, probably for quite a while."
Vince scoffed and started to say something, but stopped. He nodded, and left, sitting in the van in silence.
After a while, he finally spoke, letting his words swirl in the air around him.
"She couldn't have possibly done this, right...?"
Candace stuck her head out her window just when Phineas and the others were starting to get busy writing. they were in several different pods in a circle, their faces on the top of the projection screen. They chatted to each other when they heard the red head yelling.
"Phineas, Ferb, what're you doing?" She asked, moving her curtains to the side. "Argh, you stupid curtains, move already!"
"Hi, Candace!" Phineas greeted. "You've been busy. You usually wonder what we're doing earlier."
"I've been a little distracted." Candace explained.
"Candace, there's something running down the hall!" Stacy said, panicking. "I just saw something running down the hall at us, and we're dead again!"
"What?" Candace asked. "Running...they can run at you now?!"
"I guess so!" Stacy answered. "That was the cat, too, so I guess it can kill you two ways."
"Anyway, what are you doing so I can tell Mom and bust you?" Candace asked her younger brother.
"We decided to make a device that records our words and turn them into movies, which will appear on this screen." Phineas explained. "Wanna try it?"
"I have a feeling Ava had a part of this." Candace replied.
"Yeah, she was our inspiration for this." Isabella piped up. "Why? Does that matter to you, Candace?"
"I'm sure it does." Ava said coolly. "I can tell that she doesn't trust me very much. The reason to why she doesn't remains a mystery to me, though."
"How come you don't trust Ava?" Emily asked, twirling her pencil. "She's kind enough, and she really isn't as mysterious as she seems to be once you get to know her."
Candace was silent. "That strange air about has transferred itself to you, Emily."
Emily thought about what she had said, then nodded softly. "Perhaps it has, or maybe it was with both of us all this time..."
"Yes, perhaps you didn't notice it until you first met me." Ava added in. "I have been told that I do have a quite interesting aura."
Candace shook her head. "No, it's not your aura I'm concerned about. It's when Emily and you came back from wherever the heck you two were last night. I think something followed you, and got into your aura. It's affecting you. Slowly, but the aftermath will be definite. It'll never leave."
Ava smirked. "My, my, somebody's quite observant. When did you learn to read people's auras like that? Even I have trouble sensing corruption on that scale." Ava looked up slightly. "That armband...where did you get it?"
"I found it. Yesterday." Candace replied. "When the earthquake hit."
"I see..." Ava mused, leaning back slightly. "So, when they found the necklaces, you found the armband. We have a Changer around here, then...I'm surprised I didn't see it when I was doing recon..."
"A Changer?" Isabella asked. "What's that?"
"And what's this about recon?" Irving asked. Buford and Baljeet agreed. "Were you spying on us or something?"
"Alright, Dinner Bell, who exactly is this Ava chick?" Buford asked Phineas, who in turn recoiled slightly at his harsh tone. "You're not telling the whole story here!"
"Why are you hiding things like this from your own close friends?" Baljeet demanded. "All we want to know is who she is, and you won't give us a straight answer!"
"You guys, there's some strange people here, and they have weapons." Gretchen said, adjusting her glasses slightly.
Ava looked down at the ground and cursed loudly. "Sorry. I really, really can't stand these people." She enlarged her picture on the screen. "What do you want, you ba...idiots? I see the major isn't with you either, how typical."
Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella looked down and saw the man with long dark blue hair and the young woman with navy blue hair in a ponytail from the previous day standing in the backyard, the man holding a thick book in his hands and the woman with a small belt of grenades around her waist and a couple of heavy duty sniper rifles strapped to her back.
From the previous day, their clothes were quite different. Both had worn a heavy black cloak, like the one Ava had, with the hood off, but now, they wore different clothes. The man wore a loose fitting black robe, like one that a mage or wizard would wear. The woman wore a black tight fitting tank top styled shirt, going down only to cover her breasts, and a lighter gray vest going down to her belly button with baggy camo pants and black combat boots.
"What are they doing here?" Isabella asked Phineas. Phineas shrugged in reply.
"You know what we want, Songbird." The woman said, holding out her hand. "I'm surprised you managed to gain their trust so quickly." She clenched her outstretched hand into a fist, and everybody fell to the ground, the spheres opening up. "Now, give me their power."
Emily gasped and sank into her seat slightly. Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella sat up a little straighter and took off their helmets slowly.
Ava shook her head. She attempted to say something, but quickly closed her mouth.
The woman stepped forward, smiling. Everybody was too shocked to say anything, or even move. She gently tilted Ava's head up, her fingers brushing her chin.
"I didn't think you'd have the heart, or should I say, lack of heart, to do that to them." She purred. Ava's eyes slowly turned black and opaque. "I wasn't confirming if you'd already done it, I was asking you to do it now."
"Stay...away..." Ava finally managed to whisper. "Please...stay away from me..."
"What's that?" The woman asked. "Did something attach itself to you again? You poor thing..." Ava knocked the woman's arm out of the way quickly as her hand trailed up the side of her face. "Such aggressiveness...this is something new even to me."
Isabella slowly started to stand up. Phineas saw her and motioned for her to sit down again.
I can't control my powers... Isabella thought. But, I have to fight, for my friend...that's they do for you, after all, right? Don't friends fight for you, even in the most dire of situations?
Emily nodded softly, as if in agreement, and Ferb just looked up in confusion.
Phineas gasped softly when he saw this and realized what had happened. He had heard her thoughts in his head, and Ferb and Emily had, as well. Isabella, our thoughts...they're connected. I guess all four of us can communicate telepathically now.
The three of them nodded and agreed when they heard this.
We can form a plan this way, unless, of course, the enemy can hear our thoughts. Emily thought-spoke to them. And if they can, they're staying pretty quiet about it.
The four of them were silent for a while, the gears in all their minds turning rather quickly. All of them forming a plan of attack, yet staying rather quiet about it, blocking out everybody from their thoughts.
"Aeor..." The woman said softly. "These pests have been silent for a while. In fact, let's make them even quieter, shall we?"
The man, Aeor, nodded and opened his book, the words glowing on the page as he muttered aloud some of the words. Everybody except for Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, Emily, Ava, and Candace slumped over, unconscious. Candace cautiously stepped out of her window to the roof, hanging on the sill slightly.
"They're protected." Aeor said to the woman. "Shall I do the usual?"
"Go ahead." The woman sneered. "Except the Songbird. The Songbird's mine. But, I'll leave you to kill the rest. Have fun."
The four on the ground scattered, and the one left on the roof stood still, horrified. Phineas ran around to the front of the house, Isabella rushed towards Ava, and Ferb and Emily ran to the center of the yard.
Isabella summoned a sword, sparking with lightning, and plunged it into the ground, sending several shockwaves through the backyard. Ferb created shields of wind around everyone, and Emily linked her and Ferb's necklaces together, which caused a bright flash to emerge, sending them away from the others, into a world filled with empty auras.
The woman dodged Isabella's attacks, and pulled off her belt one of the grenades. Isabella gasped, and kicked it out of her hand and sent it flying into the air. She ducked as the grenade exploded, and Phineas leapt through the smoke and flames from the roof, brandishing a bow and arrow, and shot at Aeor.
Aeor nearly got hit by the fire arrow, but sidestepped it just in time to avoid being shot in the arm. Phineas landed on the ground and shot again, this time for his other am, then his leg. Aeor dodged the one going for his arm, but got hit on his calf, causing him to fall to the ground, the fire burning his skin.
Phineas put away the bow and switched out for Ferb, who ran towards Aeor, only to get pushed away forcefully to the side.
"I've got it!" Phineas said. "Aeor's blind, but he can see auras. That's why he couldn't see my arrows. Be careful around him!"
"He can probably use magic, as well." Emily said. "Let's get that book away from him."
The others nodded, and set out on a new strategy. Emily leapt into the air, Ferb using his wind manipulating abilities to keep her aloft. Isabella kept low to the ground again, attacking the woman straight on this time, with her sword. As Isabella attacked her, Phineas ran towards Ava and ushered her to the front yard, away from most of the fighting.
Emily levitated in the air, her hair blowing about her when she felt a strange light surround her. Her appearance changed again, this time with her hair long and free flowing white, and wearing a long white dress. She summoned a beautifully curved ivory bow, with ivy leaves on the wood and a white lotus flower on the top, which slowly turned into a light pink flame. She pulled back the string and fired, an arrow made of pure light piercing the ground in front of Aeor and sending large shockwaves through the air and engulfing everything around them in a bright light.
Doofensmirtz grumbled as he walked towards the Haunted Pizzeria-Inator, still annoyed by Norm's eccentric behavior.
"Well, let's charge this baby up!" He said, laughing. He flipped the switch on the side of the machine, and there was a sudden popping sound, and the lair grew dark once again.
"I...forgot...how much power this Inator used." Doofensmirtz said after a while, sighing again. "Norm, you're in charge of the animatronics. Animatronics, no biting! Or eating, for that matter. I'm going down to the basement...again..."
However, just as the evil scientist reached the door, a large pillar of light shot through the air, parts of the light beam flying in other directions, one of them being right towards the Haunted Pizzeria-Inator, which caused it to shatter into several small pieces.
"What?!" Doofensmirtz exclaimed, running towards the smoking remains of the machine. "My Inator...it's ruined! Gone! What the heck is raining from the sky?"
Small orbs of light, like rain, were falling from the sky to the earth slowly, gently. The animatronics dropped Perry and walked towards the balcony to see the light rain. The agent followed, and saw that they weren't the only ones to see it. Several people had stopped what they were doing to look at what was happening.
One of the animatronics, the beaver, lifted his hand to catch one of the light orbs. A soft glow went through his body, and he smiled.
"I feel...lighter, somehow..." He said. "It's like all the darkness has escaped my body..." The other animatronics and Norm nodded. Doofensmirtz lifted out his hand to one of the light orbs and felt the same way, as well.
"It's like all the resentment in my heart has been taken away from it and sent away to never be seen again..." The scientist mused. "Well, Perry the platypus, I guess you really have nothing else to do today, unless you just want to hang out for a bit. Vanessa's supposed to come by later today, you know..."
Vince saw the light rain from inside the van, and instantly knew what it was. He ran back inside the lab, unhooked Misti from the machines, and brought her out to the front steps. A few light orbs fell on her, and she slowly opened her eyes.
"Cleansing Rain..." Misti whispered softly. Vince nodded and embraced her. "She...used the Cleansing Rain..."
"Their powers are growing stronger than they did before..." Vince replied. "But, I'm still worried about what happened to you. There's definitely something wrong with Ava...if she actually is able to do that to you, then there's something that all of us are missing about her..."