A/N: Times are put to help keep events in order when you read through them. Enjoy!


11

Undisclosed location, time unknown~

"Ugh... My head..." Tootie groaned softly, lifting a hand to press against her eyes. She felt heavy, sluggish, like she'd suddenly gained weight in the time that she'd blacked out. Even her eyelids felt loaded down, as she struggled to open them, then gave up after a moment.

What had happened? She could barely remember the battle at the Spire and it was all some blur of pale blue paste and people screaming in a fury. She didn't even remember blacking out at all. Had she taken some hit that forced her into unconsciousness? But if so, then why didn't Timmy heal her already? Tootie flicked her fingers and felt around herself. A floor? What was she doing on the floor? It felt nothing like the asphalt and pavement of the Spire's lot and this certainly wasn't a bed in the infirmary back in the Ivory Tower. So, where was she?

The sound of voices filtered faintly into her ears and she strained to hear them more clearly. Maybe she could find a clue to her location from them. She heard the rustle of fabric closer to her and a faint whimper came to her ears.

"Romi?" Tootie whispered, recognizing the sound.

"I don't... feel good..." the fairy mumbled in return. There was the sound of her moving, or attempting to move, and Tootie felt her weight flop against her arm. "Where... are we?" she asked softly.

Tootie didn't answer, as a door opened and light streamed in, blinding her and making her head hurt even more as someone walked into the room. She groaned softly, struggling to get up as she heard Romi cry out in weakened protest, her body pulled away from the Goth.

"Hey...!" she managed to exclaim and squinted to make out who stood over her. The fairy was stuffed into a sack and then tossed back down carelessly.

"Now, get her in the truck and take her to her new cell or the two of you won't be enjoying the rest of the day." Remy's voice growled and Tootie felt a surge of rage course through her. So that was it! She had somehow been captured and that bratty millionaire thought he could get away with sticking her in some dungeon? Infuriated, she began struggling to get up, launch an attack of some kind so she could save Romi and get away, but she still couldn't get her limbs to respond. "Oh, bugger. She's waking up. Doctor, would you be so kind as to give her another injection?" Remy went on in irritation.

"Fine, fine." Dr. Bender's voice groused and Tootie flinched as she felt her arm being grabbed.

"No! No...!" she growled weakly, wincing as a sharp pain went through her arm and the hazy feeling of drug-induced sleep came over her again. She was being taken somewhere, and she couldn't even get enough information to figure out where she was and where she was headed now.

How humiliating.


Ivory Tower, 12:02 p.m.~

Chester marched into the conference room of the Tower with all the fury of a seasoned general facing a mid-war crisis. The rest of the team had already headed for home, each arming themselves with alibis and excuses to avoid suspicion of being near the Spire that night. Danni Phantom had taken off for Caleb's place in New York, as far as the blonde knew, which meant that he was pretty much on his own for this.

"Let's see what we got here." he muttered, tapping at keys on a pad at the head of the table. This was one of a few recent upgrades the Ivory Tower had received during renovations and repairs from Remy's attack with the tank. The conference table had a holographic projector hidden in the center and could be controlled with the keypad at the head seat, where Timmy usually took his place. Chester often sat to his right; Tootie to the left. Caleb often snickered at the placement of the two of them, murmuring over the 'appropriateness' of the arrangement. He got more irritated if Trixie began fighting for that position. No one was quite sure why.

A square section of the table's surface opened to make room for the disk that rose from within to take its place. It flickered to life and emitted a soft green light that traced out a floating cube, each face displaying the same thing, a map of Dimmsdale.

"Tootie was kidnapped from here, at Spire Three. The only people who could have taken her are Dr. Bender and Wendell, and Remy." Chester remarked aloud, tapping at the keys to mark the spot on the map. He stood in thought, considering the map again. "Now, Bender's office is over here, in the zone of Spire Two. Remy's mansion and the rest of the upper class are in the zone of Spire One." he went on, marking those locations as well, "Both of them are covered in nullifier waves or whatever, so magic and mana doesn't work so good there. That means either one could be blocking the signals from Timmy's band." He rubbed his head in thought, considering the placements carefully. "There's the Dimma-Dump. Timmy is going there right now." he added and tapped another key to mark that off, "That's nowhere near Bender's or Remy's places."

So now here was the problem, as far as Chester could tell. Tootie was being held someplace that couldn't send or receive signals from the Fairy Wand Locator in Timmy's armband. The two possible places that she could be held in were the dentists' office and Remy's mansion, both of which were capable of deflecting the signals. The team wasn't around to do anything and Chester himself had to head home as soon as possible to make his own alibi work out. But the sooner those two places were checked out, the better the chance they could rescue Tootie.

And yet, the team was still exhausted. Even with this information, Chester couldn't pull them all back and send them after Bender and Wendell for a search right now, far less than going after Remy. That was just asking for disasters to happen.

"I'm sorry, Tootie." the blonde finally sighed miserably, lowering his eyes as he pulled his hand from the keypad, "We can't do anything for you right now. Just stay strong."

Nothing could be done for Tootie right away, but they still needed to cover Trixie's trail. Chester blinked as he remembered that the Asian was still sleeping in the infirmary and rubbed his head again, thinking quickly. The android assistants that Caleb had put into the Ivory Tower to help maintain it were still around, and they could probably do that same voice imitation stuff that Caleb could do. Maybe he could get one of them to mimic Trixie's voice?

"Ms. Sage!" Chester began calling as he ran from the conference room, "Hey! I need a favor!"


Ibrahim Residence, 12:05 p.m.~

"Mom, Dad, I'm home from the study sleep-over!" A.J. declared as he entered the house, pack slung over a shoulder as he looked around furtively. There was the thumping of footsteps as his parents rushed in from the living room, dropping next to him and gathering him up in hugs and kisses. "Agh! Mom! Dad! What's going on?" he protested, wincing from the tight embraces.

"We saw the news this morning about the Buxaplenty Tower!" Mrs. Ibrahim exclaimed between planting kisses on his head, "We were so worried about you being out so late last night! What if those terrorists had come across you?"

"I was having a sleep-over at Timothy's house, Mom." A.J. explained reasonably, "We were studying for the algebra test on Friday." He tried to look shocked, "And what happened with the Buxaplenty Tower? What terrorists? What's going on?" His father looked grim as he led the family back to the living room.

"Last night, one of the Buxaplenty Towers was destroyed by a terrorist group, up near the financial district. It's been all over the news. Watch, the noon update is just about on now." Mr. Ibrahim replied, sitting them all down on the sofa and picking up the remote to turn on a wide screen television, "There used to be eight of them, but lately they've been disappearing. This is the first time we've learned what's been happening to them. Guess those other towers were taken down by the terrorists too."

A.J. looked between his parents before watching the television screen, eyes narrowing angrily when he saw Remy appear on the news. The blonde was grinning smugly as he talked on a cell phone, free hand gripping the aionis staff tightly. He hung up when someone gestured to him and the boy millionaire stepped up to the podium for an address.

"Dear citizens of Dimmsdale, there's nothing to be afraid of. It may seem horrifying that one of my expensive towers has fallen prey to those hoodlums, but Remy Buxaplenty will not stand down against such evil people!" the blonde declared defiantly, "And in doing so, all of Dimmsdale will stand strong against this vigilante band! They're only doing this because they see our poor city as weak and defenseless without the Heart of Dimmsdale. Well, we'll show them, won't we?"

A.J.'s fingers gripped the edge of the sofa as he watched intently, his parents unaware of his tension while they gazed at the screen with determined expressions on their faces. The teen wasn't liking where this was going. If he knew Remy and his underhanded schemes, then this was the point where Remy was gonna try something sneaky to turn the whole fiasco to his advantage. All he could do was watch and see when the bombshell would drop.


Boyd Residence, 12:08 p.m.~

Elmer trudged into the house and made his way to the kitchen, plopping himself into a chair at the table with a mumbled greeting to his mother as she prepared lunch. She paused and looked back at him with a concerned expression, turning down the volume on the wall-mounted television.

"Oh, sweetie, thank goodness you're home! I just got started making lunch for the two of us and turned on the telly for my afternoon soaps and this awful news came on!" Ms. Boyd told him worriedly, "I'm so glad that you were safe and sound at your friend's house for the study sleep-over, far away from that evil group of people that blew up poor Mr. Buxaplenty's tower!" Elmer managed a smile for his mother's sake, wincing slightly at the phrase she used.

'She'd faint right on the spot if she knew I was one of the people who 'blew up' the Dark Spire.' he thought weakly. He accepted the plate of sandwiches she handed him and picked one up to eat as his eyes wandered over to the television. He froze in shock, watching the news play out for a moment before dropping the sandwich and standing up, planting both hands on the table.

"Mom! Turn up the volume!" he blurted out.

"Elmer! Indoor voice!" his mother scolded in alarm.

"The volume! Now!" Elmer insisted more firmly, "I have to hear what's happening on the news!" Flustered, Ms. Boyd pressed her finger to the wall-mounted set, raising the volume to audible range. She blinked at the figure standing at the podium, addressing the crowd of reporters.

"Isn't that Remy, one of your little friends from school?" she asked and blinked again when Elmer hissed at her.

"Sshhhh! He's not a friend of mine! And I'm trying to hear this, Mom!" he pointed out and glared at the screen.

"-this because they see our poor city as weak and defenseless without the Heart of Dimmsdale. Well, we'll show them, won't we?" Remy's voice came in mid-sentence due to the muted volume during the beginning of his speech, "Perhaps this is a sign that we, as a city and as a community, must stand up and show that we are not weak and certainly not without a Heart. We must show these people that we cannot be pushed around by this violence." The blonde's smile seemed syrupy sweet and borderline arrogant, a failing attempt to look gentle and firm at the same time, "Perhaps it is time to move to the next step to prove our strength, our unity!"

"Oh, hell no." Elmer growled under his breath, ignoring his mother's scolding over his language. He had a sinking feeling that he knew what Remy was getting at. And the Others were not going to stand for it.


Avery Bunker, 1213 hrs~

Sanjay had to file a full report on what he was doing last night, plus scramble to make up for his morning exercises before his stepfather decided to be lenient and let him into the mess hall to eat. And it was while nibbling on a celery stick and listening to his mother fiddle with the radio that he heard a piece of the news at noon.

"Mother! Turn it back to the previous station right away, please!" he exclaimed, waving his arms and flinging the rest of his celery all over. Mrs. Avery blinked once and twirled the dial with a flick of her fingers, landing it perfectly on the news station.

"-it is time to move to the next step to prove our strength, our unity! We must show those ruffians that we have progressed beyond grief and sorrow to a new age!" Remy's voice declared boldly.

"Spoken like a true American soldier-boy!" Master Sergeant Avery boomed, ducking the barrage of celery sticks with ease, "Sanjay! You could learn a thing or two from that young man!" A carrot stick joined in, bouncing off his nose at that remark. He blinked a few times and shook a fist in exaggerated outrage. "We don't allow for mutinizing in the Marines, soldier!" he bellowed.

"Hush!" Sanjay shouted and jumped over the table to turn up the volume on the radio.

"People of Dimmsdale! The time has come to prove we haven't lost our Heart!" the blonde millionaire went on passionately, "The time, dearest citizens, to declare a new Heart of Dimmsdale; a Heart that will stand strong and proud against these vicious terrorists that threaten our city!"

"Male son of she-dog!" Sanjay shrieked, grabbing the radio and ripping it from the table it sat on, "We will never call you the Heart of Dimmsdale! We will die before giving you Timmy's title!" And he hurled the radio against the floor, startling his parents with his vehemence.


Bradley Manor, 12:25 p.m.~

Mr. and Mrs. Bradley cowered on the sofa, clutching each other for dear life as they watched with wide eyes the burning remains of their giant screen television, their eldest daughter standing before it with a flame-thrower in her hands. The sound of animalistic growling filled the air and the couple shut their eyes, shaking almost violently.

"P-p-p-please, V-v-v-vicky! S-s-s-s-sweetheart, we're sure he-he-he didn't mean that!" Vic babbled frantically, hoping that if he couldn't see anything, then maybe he couldn't be seen either.

"Everyone knows th-th-that T-t-timmy T-t-t-turner will always be the H-h-h-heart of D-d-d-dimmsdale!" his wife supplied through her chattering teeth, "Please don't kill us!"

The growl faded down considerably but remained audible as the carrot-top turned her head to glare down at her parents. They easily bought the story of Tootie being invited to another sleep-over; who were they to dare contend with the words of Icky Vicky? And she had also commented that they weren't allowed to try calling her at any time, since she was going to be busy with Goth stuff that no one understood. On top of that, Vicky added that she would be out more often to do some 'errands' and that neither parent were allowed to question what those were 'if they knew what was good for them'.

And then the news came on and Vicky froze in the middle of her death threats to watch the speech with gaping mouth and wide eyes that quickly twisted into a furious rage that resulted in her whipping out one of her favorite toys to demolish the exorbitantly expensive appliance at the end. The Bradleys dove for the sofa, praying to whatever god was listening that they be overlooked in their daughter's fury.

"Timmy is the one true Heart. And don't ever let me catch you thinking otherwise!" Vicky snarled and stormed out of the living room, "Clean up that mess!"

And they praised whoever had listened for sparing them and sat put for another five minutes before daring to leave the sanctuary that was the sofa.


Tang Mansion, 12:20 p.m.~

"And you're all right, Trixie? You're still your pretty self even after that horrible thing that happened last night?" Mr. Tang worried on the phone after hearing the ringing while watching the news. His wife stood by him, hands clutched together in agitation as she listened in on the conversation.

"Of course, Daddy! I was nowhere near that tower or any of those unpopular terrorist people." Trixie's voice chirped brightly and both parents breathed sighs of relief.

"When will you be home, sweetie? We want to shower you with love and adoration and expensive new clothes!" her mother exclaimed, recovering from her earlier worries as though they never happened.

"Well, I was invited to spend the day at Adrenaland with Timothy and his friends, but I'll call again soon and let you know. Bye-bye, Mom and Dad! Love you! Kiss, kiss!" Trixie giggled before hanging up.

And in the Ivory Tower, Chester tried his best not to laugh as Raine Sage set the phone down and gave him an icy glare.

"And that will be the last time I do such an embarrassing thing! Now, go study or do homework while I tend to the real Trixie Tang." she lectured and walked away in a huff.


12:32 p.m.~

With Trixie covered for, Chester made his way to his own trailer home, mumbling his alibi to himself as practice. Since the whole city had been rattled by the fall of the Dark Spire so early, schools were all closed down until the mayor decided when it was safe to resume them. Hopefully, that bit of news would work in favor of the alibis, as the cover story for the night had been that Team Turner was having a study sleep-over for various tests. Since, from the parents' points of view, none of them knew about the attack before it happened, it was perfectly understandable for them to waste the night studying for tests that could possibly never take place.

"Like, gosh, he's still trying to get the city to give him the title?" a girl's voice asked incredulously and Chester jerked his head up from his thoughts, puzzled as he took in his surroundings quickly and spotted a cluster of teens hanging in front of an appliance shop. Sensing something wrong, he hurried over to listen in on them, pressing his back to the side of the building and staying out of sight. He couldn't afford to get spotted on a route that didn't pass anywhere near Timmy's mansion; it would poke a huge hole in his alibi.

"What a jerky... jerk!" another girl agreed sullenly, "Everybody knows that you can't replace the Heart of Dimmsdale. Especially not with that snobby rich kid!" Chester frowned, folding his arms over his chest as he listened on, catching snippets of a news conference review between the teens' chatter.

Well, well; Remy was trying to make another push for the title again, and using the destruction of his own Spire as leverage. Man, what was it gonna take to get it through that guy's head? Timmy was the Heart; the Heart was Timmy. There was no ifs, ands, or buts when it came to that. It was simply cold, hard fact.

But, and the blonde frowned deeper as his thoughts traveled along a new route, Remy had recently gained something that could potentially rewrite that fact; Timmy's blank mana. With that and the aionis scepter, Remy could find a way to ingrain himself into Dimmsdale's mind as the new Heart. Until the team could get it away from him or destroy it, they had to treat Remy as though he had the same limitless influence Timmy held.

'This could be trouble.' Chester thought to himself grimly, 'Remy as the new Heart of Dimmsdale leaves us all open to attack. The title is connected to the insignia, and the insignia is on our armor. If Remy takes over the title, his fairy gains control over the armor through his wishes!'

This was definitely not good. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and flipped it open, scrolling through his list of contacts before clicking on one and bringing the phone to his ear. He listened for the beep of a voice-mail recording to leave his message.

"Hey. Remember that night a couple years ago? I'm calling in the favor. Meet me at the Heart's candle Friday night, after town curfew." the blonde murmured. Sometimes, training in the alleys of Dimmsdale at night paid off in ways that he didn't realize until now. Chester clapped the phone closed and slid it back into his pocket, resuming his walk behind the store to stay hidden.


Finally arriving at the Happy Trails Trailer Park, Chester braced himself and went into the oversized mobile home, expecting his father to jump him with questions on where he was on the night of the attack and other parental worries. After a few moments of standing in the doorway with nothing to show for it, the blonde grew faintly worried and began searching the trailer from top to bottom.

"Dad?" he called out several times and paused as he passed by the answering machine in the den. The LED was flashing, listing several messages in its memory. Tapping at his braces, he shrugged and pushed the button to recall them.

"Chester! Boy, you better be asleep in your bed after all that ruckus on the T.V.! Naw, don't worry 'bout it right now; I'll tell you about when I get home from workin'."

"Chester, you better be in the bathroom right now! I'm expectin' ya to pick up the gosh darn phone next time and lemme know you're okay!"

"Chester... C'mon, boy, pick up the phone! You can't sleep through all this ringin'! What's the matter wit' ya? You been eatin' special dip again?"

"Hey, son! I can't remember your number now, so I'm calling here again! You better be there! Don't you leave that house till I get home!"

"Chester, just double checkin' to see if you're home from that sleep-over thing. That kid on the T.V., talkin' 'bout the Heart and all got me worried about ya again. If you hear this, boy, gimme a holler. Let a dad know his son's still alive, y'know? ... I love you, boy."

"Love you too, Dad." Chester mumbled, dropping onto the couch and letting his arms and legs sprawl out, "But I dunno how much longer I got to live if we keep gettin' screwed over by Remy and his punk schemes." He relaxed for a bit, collecting himself and reviewing his alibi one more time before he reached for the phone, pausing as it began ringing on its own. The blonde waited a moment more, then grabbed and answered it, "Chester, here. Super-cool Leader of the S-List."

"Finally! Boy, where the hell have you been? I've been worried sick all mornin' and right on till now!" his father blurted out in aggravation.

"I just got back from the sleep-over. Kinda overslept somethin' fierce, but I got a pretty good lunch out of it. Why? What's up?" Chester asked, feigning ignorance.

"There's this hullabaloo all over the news about some bunch of people blowin' up towers and that rich kid tryin' to play it up to make himself Heart of Dimmsdale! I wanted to make sure you were okay. You didn't hear nothin' about that tower stuff, did ya?"

"Nope. Timothy was helping me with my homework and my baseball playin' all last night. His house ain't near any tower or anything." Chester placated his father, closing his eyes as he thought through what he knew of Dimmsdale's layout, the dentists' office, Remy's mansion and the probability of one of those places being where Tootie was held.

"Okay, just wanted to make sure my boy was still in one piece. I'll see ya when I get home; then we can go get some good eatin's!"

"That'll be great, Pop. See ya later." Chester managed to make himself sound cheerful and oblivious before hanging up and setting the phone back on the cradle. He hoped Timmy made it to the dump and found that friend of his; they could use more help looking for Tootie. And the day after tomorrow, he was gonna go meet with an old friend to pull some strings of his own.


Buxaplenty Manor, 12:49 p.m.~

Juandissimo watched his godchild worriedly as Remy continued practicing his use of the aionis scepter, the boy smiling hugely as he worked the magic trapped in the orb to his whims. The more he played with it and its power, the more he was beginning to understand how it worked and bettered his use of it. And with that growing mastery came increasing jealousy of how much greater Neogene's prowess was in comparison.

Of course, it would make sense if one considered just how long the brunet had to work with it. Four years over maybe sixteen hours, tops? Juandissimo refrained from an audible 'Duh'; such a word was not muy bonito.

But what worried the Latino fairy the most about the whole thing was the orb itself. Magic tended to be free-flowing and often went rampant when pulled from various sources. Condensing it created a variety of crystals, gems and tokens. Certain kinds of magic became certain items when concentrated down to its purest form. And the kind of magic that formed into an orb like that was used only by creatures that were capable of conjuring as well as destroying.

So far, all Remy could do was destroy with it. Timmy was able to conjure and destroy. Juandissimo just couldn't quite grasp what that meant despite the constant nagging in the back of his head that this was very, very important to understand. In the end, he simply shoved the thoughts aside and returned to musing over how to win Wanda over. He'd bested Cosmo in combat, though only because he'd gotten distracted by his godchild, and Wanda still refused him. What more could be done?

"It's only a matter of time now." Remy snickered, snapping Juandissimo out of his thoughts, "Just let them stew over it for a day or so and these people will come to my doorstep, begging me to become the Heart of Dimmsdale!"

"And then you won't be needing these Spires, verdad?" the fairy godfather asked hopefully.

"No, I'll still need them. The whole world has to be covered in them so that everyone except me will be miserable." the blonde remarked offhandedly, fascinated by the wisps of mana that wrapped around his fingers before grinning at them, "This is absolutely wonderful! Not only do I have that mongrel's magic, but I actually was able to use it against him after that riveting address!" Juandissimo rolled his eyes discreetly. He had watched that one-sided battle, and it looked more like Timmy had thrown the fight rather than get thoroughly beaten, like Remy claimed. As for the godchild... upon returning in triumph to his mansion, he declared he would practice more with the scepter so that he could use it to its full potential against the rest of Team Turner. He'd been tossing small fireballs around with them since then, setting several pieces of furniture ablaze before wishing them back to normal. He had also taken to naming the various little 'spells' he invented; Luster Light, Money-Maker, Fancy Fire... Remy wasn't that good at names.

And he wasn't that good at spell-casting either. Nearly everything he came up with was a pale imitation of one of Timmy's spells. Calling up one of his many consultants didn't really help; without being able to 'see' what they suggested, he couldn't craft it out of the mana trapped in the orb. At least the Remy Ray was a moderate success, being both powerful and easily cast since its conception at the fall of Spire Three. For the time being, it looked as if it was going to be Remy's staple spell, since the others would either peter out soon after casting or go out of control and destroy everything around the boy millionaire.

Juandissimo sighed and dropped his chin back onto his fist, returning to his earlier musings over how to win Wanda's heart. Remy had promised to use Timmy's power to bring her to him. Would he even know how? Had it completely slipped both their minds?

Magic of that kind couldn't make someone fall in love with another against their will.


12:30 p.m.~

"Excuse me! Coming through! Pardon me!" Timothy exclaimed his apologies as he hurried through the crowds of people that seemed to clog the streets of the financial district like bacon fat in the kitchen sink. What the heck was going on that had so many people out in the streets anyway? He managed to squirm through the crowd and ducked into an alley, panting to catch his breath before poking his head out to scan the area and see what was happening. Was this an investigation into the Dark Spires? Maybe he could influence it to show how bad they were for the city and get public approval for destroying them.

And then he heard the roaring of mixed reactions, some of agreement, some of disapproval, some of outrage and some of pride. Whatever the heck was going on, it sure had the streets dividing up pretty fast.

"I wish I could get a better view of what's happening." Timothy sighed, quirking a corner of his mouth into a grin as he watched Cosmo and Wanda pop into view and smile at him while waving their wands in unison. In a burst of pink and green smoke, the trio vanished from the alley and were deposited on a rooftop closer to the action, a block from where they started. The brunet glanced around quickly both to be sure no one saw them and also to regain his bearings. He was supposed to be moving towards the Dimma-Dump, after all, not away from it. Once he had all that down, he peered over the edge of the roof at the streets, taking in the scene.

There were a lot of reporters standing around a podium, all waving microphones and cameras in the general direction of Remy Buxaplenty as he shook his head and began walking away from them, clutching the aionis scepter in both hands. Normal citizens who were standing around, watching and listening to the event had begun turning on one another, all shouting and shaking fists at each other, pointing and accusing neighbors of something or other. Timmy stared down at the riot in horror. What the heck happened that caused all this? What did Remy say?

"Cosmo, Wanda! I wish-!" he began, halting when Wanda quickly placed a hand over his mouth.

"We can't, Sport! Remy's still in the area! If you make a wish, he'll notice the effects and will search until he finds out who made it." she pointed out worriedly, "If he finds you, he'll wonder how it is you're able to make wishes when you've told him before that fairy wishes don't affect you."

"But the wish isn't for me! It's for them!" Timmy blurted out, waving his hands towards the frenzy of emotions called a mob down below.

"He won't see it that way." Cosmo muttered, wincing slightly, "And he's still got your mana trapped in that ball." The brunet moved his mouth silently a few times before sighing in dismay.

"So I have to let them wreck themselves and this part of the town?" he asked plaintively, "But that's not fair! What if people get hurt? They'll blame all this on the destruction of Spire Three!"

"All the more reason to stop destroying them, like Anti-Cosmo warned us." Wanda pointed out bluntly, "I knew we shouldn't have done this, but you were so insistent on it..."

Timmy shook his head, running fingers through his hair as he tried to get an idea of what to do. He could try doing crowd control the normal way, but there was little he could do without a stronger influence as Timothy Neogene in Dimmsdale or the use of his magical alchemy. A moment longer on thinking about it and he finally smacked himself in the forehead. Nope. Nothing. There was nothing he could do without compromising himself, the city or the mission he'd given himself to find Mark.

He was going to have to call this one a loss.

"Ugh. Let's just get to the Dimma-Dump before I do something stupid." he grumbled, running for the fire escape of the building. Wanda sighed and gazed over at her husband as he attempted to clean his ear and poked himself in the eye instead.

"That sounds familiar." she muttered, "Like I've been reciting it for almost ten thousand years or something."


Once again wearing a pink watch and green iPod, Timmy ran down the sidewalk towards the dump, dodging the still rioting people as they swamped the streets in their relatively unknown feud. He'd heard snippets of what they were fighting over, something involving him as the Heart of Dimmsdale and 'new age' or whatever. He groaned softly; he could only hope that the city wasn't trying to gear up for some kind of holy war on the rest of the States in his name.

"Please don't go tearing up the continent just because you think it'll make me happy." Timmy sighed and stopped abruptly as he caught a glimpse of Remy walking along with a smug look on his face. "Uh oh. I don't like the looks of that." he muttered, "What's he doing just wandering around here? I thought he'd have taken a limo back home or something."

"Probably enjoying all this chaos he stirred up." Wanda grumbled.

The blonde across the street was indeed looking around himself with that proud expression... up until he noticed Timmy standing on the opposite side. Then his face just darkened and his grip on the scepter tightened further.

"Did he just notice us?" Timmy whispered in alarm, tensing as he shifted slightly into a running stance.

"Looks like it." Wanda returned softly.

"Run for it?"

"He's got your mana under his control and there are too many innocent people here. Looks like he wants to use it on you and not care who's in the way."

"Running."

And Timmy bolted, making straight for the Dimma-Dump as Remy yelled and gave chase, shoving people aside with sweeps of his hand that lashed out with magically created wind that sent adults tumbling to the pavement.


It didn't take that long to reach the dump, just like it didn't take that long for Remy to catch up to him and start hurling all kinds of attempted spells at him. Everything from gusts of wind to laser beams tore into the surroundings in attempts to hit him. None of the actual mana connected, but Timmy was definitely being battered by the debris flying around from the misses.

"Run like the cowardly mongrel that you are!" Remy shrieked in twisted elation, lashing out with a wave of fireballs that rained down on the Dimma-Dump as Timmy scrambled to get inside and find cover among all the piles of wreckage and garbage. Something exploded and he found himself flailing through the air before landing roughly on one pile of trash.

"Gah!" the brunet gasped painfully, pushing himself up and shaking his head clear of banana peels and grime, "If he keeps this up, he could blow up Mark's ship and me along with this place!" He rubbed at his forehead, smearing something black across it absently, "Cosmo, Wanda, I don't suppose you two can help me with this?"

"Not without blowing your cover, Sweetie." Wanda replied worriedly, "We just have to find a way to get him off your trail and out of here!" She looked up at her husband as Cosmo continued dangling from his position over Timmy's heart, yelling 'Wheee!' over their impromptu flight. "Cosmo! Quick! Change into something that Remy can't see!" she yelled at him.

"Okay!" the green iPod declared brightly and immediately poofed into a Fenton Phone look-alike that was clipped to Timmy's ear. The brunet lifted a hand to it with a grin.

"That's perfect! Now he'll think I'm contacting the team and maybe it'll spook him enough to leave!" he remarked and jumped away once he spotted the blonde race around to face him, hurling a burst of pink and gold light in his direction. The pile of garbage exploded from the blast, sending both boys tumbling away as debris rained down. Remy scrambled to his feet, aiming the scepter at Timmy while he flipped back to standing and threw out his hands, Bulla Scintillare blooming around them in flickering red and gold.

"Now that I have your magic, I'll be able to defeat you and destroy that wretched urchin's memory forever!" Remy declared with a laugh, "The city is already moving to name me the new Heart of Dimmsdale!" Timmy's eyes widened in shock and the spheres of fire around him died away in an instant.

"No! That can't happen!" he blurted out unthinkingly, "That name is tied to the insignia!" In a flash, his hand went up to his mouth, mentally clubbing himself for being so stupid as to yell about the threat to Team Turner's magitech armor. Remy stared at him in confusion, then smiled in dawning realization at what was being implied.

"Ah, that's right! Wishes made by fairies other than the one assigned to the Heart of Dimmsdale can't affect anything bearing its likeness, correct?" the boy millionaire purred, drumming his fingers on the top of the orb.

'Actually, only Cosmo and Wanda can affect it, but if Juandissimo suddenly stops granting wishes that affect you if you manage to steal my title, it could start throwing suspicions on the rest of Da Rules concerning the other 'immune' people.' Timmy thought fearfully.

"But if I were the Heart of Dimmsdale, then I'll have the ability to do whatever I want to anything that bears that insignia!" Remy crowed in anticipated victory, "Including destroy that wretched armor your miserable allies wear!" He lashed out with his hand again, throwing another spray of fireballs in Timmy's direction.

"Boltzman's Shield!" the brunet cried, throwing up the wall of mana in time to deflect the fire and wincing as they ricocheted off to slam into more piles of garbage. "Stop it! You'll tear this whole place apart!" he yelled, dropping the shield hurriedly to avoid more damage to the dump.

"It's just a filthy lot filled with garbage! The perfect place for you!" Remy laughed, swinging the scepter wildly as burst after burst of pink and gold fired from the orb, exploding violently as they impacted the ground, more garbage and Hanuman's Rod that Timmy finally was forced to bring out in defense. Each time the two collided, the brunet was shoved backwards. "Filthy, rotten, mongrel urchin!" Remy ranted on, accenting every word with a swing of the scepter, "Give up already! You've lost! In tearing down my Spire last night and publicizing it, you've given me the ammunition I needed to cement my glorious rising as the new Heart of Dimmsdale!"

"The people haven't decided yet!" Timmy snapped back, dodging another blast while twirling the rod to deflect flying debris, "That's why they're all storming the streets! You idiot, you're turning Dimmsdale against itself in an effort to take that title from Timmy Turner!"

"It should have been mine from the beginning!" Remy screamed in a fury as another blast rained more pieces of garbage and metal down on the brunet, watching him bat the larger one away with the pink and gold staff. "Juandissimo! I wish that blasted stick of his was out of his hands!" In a burst of purple smoke, the bow tie at Remy's neck vanished and appeared as the Latino fairy, one hand raised to shield himself from the mini-war as he waved his wand. Timmy gasped as Hanuman's Rod was snatched out of his grip by invisible hands and sent spinning into the air.

"How could that-?" he cried in alarm.

"There wasn't anything on it to protect it from wishes! It didn't bear any markings of either of your identities or the insignia!" Wanda told him quickly, eyes wide with shock and fear, "You have to get Remy out of here, now! Or Mark Chang could be killed in this battle!"

The blonde grinned hugely and thrust the scepter up towards the airborne staff, unleashing another burst of magic that impacted Hanuman's Rod and exploded, demolishing the weakened weapon with that final blow. Timmy covered his head as fragments of wood and metal rained down on the dump, then straightened and glared at Remy, ignoring the panicky look on Juandissimo's face as his godchild leveled the scepter to point directly at him.

"Get him out of here. I've got to get him out." Timmy murmured to himself and licked his lips, shifting anxiously as he braced for a plan, "He's not gonna leave until he thinks he's won. So let's give him a victory to go home and gloat over." Wanda's eyes went wide on the digital screen of her watch guise.

"What are you planning? Timmy?" she questioned in growing dread.

"Looks like the game ends here, Neogene." Remy chuckled, "All the power that you possessed is now in more capable hands. Too bad my benefactors are going to have to pick through trash if they want their payment." Timmy had a split second to look confused at that remark before the blonde fired another burst of pink and gold, a larger blast that shot straight for the brunet and collided with an explosion that shook the buildings around the Dimma-Dump.

When the dust and shower of trash finally began settling, Remy blinked a few times to clear his eyes from the blinding effects of his attack and gestured towards his fairy for him to stay close. With Juandissimo floating by his shoulder, the blonde walked forward carefully, keeping alert for any sudden movements. This would have been a lot easier if he'd thought to wish for the Aces High armor before getting into the fight, but hindsight was always clearest and it turned out that he didn't even need it. Just a few well-placed blasts of magic and the annoying immortal was bested... and by the magic that had been siphoned out of his own body no less! The irony was deliciously sweet.

Remy paused to savor that thought, smiling dreamily at it before shaking himself off and resuming his cautious approach. Finally, he saw the results of his work and grinned again.

The brunet had been blown clear of where he'd been standing, now lying limply at the base of another pile of garbage. His clothes smoked slightly, and the remnants of a magical shield was fading before him. Obviously a weak attempt at defense that broke under his more superior skills at handling magic. Juandissimo fluttered around the young immortal once, then headed back to Remy.

"He is no longer aware of this world, amigo. So can we get out of here now?" he whispered loudly, "Antes que se vienen la policĂ­a por favor?"

"Such a worrywart." Remy murmured in response and lifted the scepter again, "But I still have to hide the evidence." He swung it once more and a blast of wind shook the already unstable pile of garbage enough to have it tumble down over Timothy, hiding him from view as well as destabilizing several more heaps of trash enough for them all to collapse into a field of rubble and broken down cars and appliances. "That should do it." the blonde muttered, backing away from his handiwork, "You shouldn't have gotten in my way, Neogene. If you had just stayed out of the way, you wouldn't have been made a casualty as well. Ah, but that's the way life goes. Sadly, it was all beyond my control." He glanced up at his fairy godfather and sniffed disdainfully at the dust settling on them both. "Juandissimo! I wish we were home! This dirty battle has made us less than pristine." The Latino fairy jerked back to awareness and nodded quickly, waving his wand so as to whisk them away from the scene of the young immortal's fall.

12:45 p.m.