The night sky was reflecting off the walls of Tang Manor, and all throughout the outer gardens, Bagmen were patrolling the area. Timmy, Trixie, and Talbot were hiding behind one of the long hedge walls that surrounded the manor. To get any closer would be a greater risk than if the guards were human. The Bagmen would be able to see them from the corner of whatever counted as their eyes.
"Well that's just great," Trixie moaned, "I didn't think it'd be easy, but this is near impossible! How are we supposed to slip past the Bagmen?"
"You seem to be forgetting we have fairies on our side," Talbot replied, "I'm sure Timmy can think of something."
"This'll be a cinch," Timmy said, "Cosmo, Wanda, I wish we were invisible!"
Cosmo and Wanda flashed their wands, and in less than a second, the three humans had gone invisible. That was the good news. The bad news was that they couldn't see each other.
"Trixie," Talbot said, "Take that rock nearby and mark it."
Conveniently, Timmy had a marker in his pocket (there were still some things she took with her after she was chased out of her own home) and drew a star on it...or at least what looked like a star. It wouldn't be perfect on something that wasn't a flat surface.
"We'll use that to keep up with each other," Talbot said, "Trixie, you know your house better than any of us, so lead us inside."
Taking the lead, Trixie held the rock in the palm of her hand so the other two could know where she was and where she was leading them. Fortunately, the Bagmens' senses didn't extend to invisible intruders, but some of them did look their way upon hearing footsteps. Each time that happened, the three of them would have to pause and wait until the Bagmen resumed its post. The patio was more difficult to be quiet on, since it was made of wood rather than grass. Tiptoeing their way across, Trixie carefully opened the glass door to the Tangs' massive kitchen.
"No talking until we reach the control room," Talbot whispered.
The three made their way to the entrance room, immediately noticing mercenaries patrolling the area, two of them being snipers who currently aimed at the front door. They wanted zero chances of anyone getting in.
Unfortunately, invisibility wasn't going to work here. Trixie had failed to remember that the manor had advanced security, and while normally it was only activated during the late hours of night, it could still be turned on with the flip of a switch. They learned too late that the Commander had done just this. As soon as Trixie stepped on the marble floor, sirens went off all over the manor, and every mercenary had prepared their guns. Despite being invisible, the trio hid behind one of the white luxury loveseats nearby.
"Trixie?" asked Timmy.
"Uh, yeah, I forgot we had top-notch security," Trixie admitted.
"And you didn't think the Commander would take advantage of that?" hissed Talbot.
"Man, it must really suck to not be able to fly!" Cosmo exclaimed.
"Cosmo," Wanda said, "That's brilliant!"
"It is?" asked Cosmo, "I was just thinking out loud. Speaking of which, it must also suck to get salmonella."
"We get the picture, Cosmo," Timmy said, "I wish there was zero gravity in the manor!"
"Wait, what does..." both Trixie and Talbot said.
Before they could finish, everything in the room, including people and furniture, had started floating. The mercenaries didn't get a chance to fire their weapons.
"I see," Talbot said, "Now not only are we invisible, we can avoid making sounds with our footsteps by simply floating to our destination. Smart thinking."
One mercenary, however, seemed to be smart enough to hang on to his surroundings to make his way around. Grabbing the rails and stepping his way towards one of the mercenaries was Konda. Trixie stared at him with contempt and hatred. She hadn't seen Konda since she witnessed him murdering her mother. And last time Konda had seen Trixie, she was escaping the manor, still thinking he was their trusted bodyguard.
"What's goin' on?" asked Konda.
"Unsure, sir," the mercenary replied, "Everything just started floating!"
"I can only think of one reason for that," Konda said, "That boy is here. And I'll bet he brought company. Get th' mercs together and search th' foyer. I'm goin' to check on th' Commander. You go to th' portal to check on Jeffrey, make sure he stays there before th' boss digs up the Heart."
"Wait, they want him to stay in prison?" Trixie whispered, "I thought they were taking him to be executed."
"Something's not right," Talbot whispered, "You two follow that mercenary to the portal. That'll solve one problem for us."
"What about you?" asked Trixie.
"I'm going to make sure your father and whoever else they're holding here stays safe," Talbot whispered in reply, "And I'm taking the fairies with me. I have a feeling I'll need them more than you do. That is...if Timmy doesn't mind loaning them to me?"
"I don't mind," Timmy said, "The more power on your side, the better."
Cosmo, Wanda, and Poof floated behind Talbot as he went into one direction towards the portal. Timmy started following the two mercenaries, but Trixie kept her eyes on Konda. Not an ounce of regret or humanity on his face. Just an inhumane creature. A killer. She floated towards him, and with all the energy she could muster up for someone floating in the air, she kicked him in the face, sending him flying towards the ceiling.
"What in th'...?" Konda hissed.
He grabbed the chandelier to keep himself from floating all over the place, as it was one of the few objects nailed to a part of the manor. Seeing utter disbelief on his face gave Trixie a brief sense of accomplishment, being able to take part of her anger out on him. But it wasn't enough, nor would she settle her score at this moment. She allowed herself that brief victory as she too followed the mercenaries to the control room.
A few minutes later, the two mercenaries, still not having realized someone had attacked Konda, opened the door to the control room. But before either of them could enter, both of them felt something hard hit the back of their heads. Both Trixie and Timmy had picked up vases and knocked out the mercenaries.
"You're sure you don't mind using those?" Timmy asked her.
"There's more important things to do right now than worry about broken vases," Trixie replied, "But if we all make it out of this alive, Dad can just buy new ones."
For some reason, the control room was unaffected by magic, and therefore, Timmy's wishes stopped taking effect once the two of them went inside. Not only were they visible, but they also planted their own two feet on the floor, unwittingly opening the vents that were only opened upon a security breach. But that didn't make the Commander turn around. Yes, the Commander himself was sitting in the chair, watching all the monitors on the wall.
"It's him," Timmy whispered, "It's really the Commander!"
Trixie hit his arm telling him to be quiet. The Commander still hadn't moved. But that didn't mean he wasn't in the manor. At long last, they had found him. His days of hiding away pulling everyone else's strings were over. The one that had caused all this misery, especially Trixie's, was about to be unveiled.
"Now!" hissed Trixie.
Both of them turned the chair around to face the Commander. Instead, they faced an unpleasant surprise. Sitting there was not the Commander, but a test dummy. A test dummy with a circular speaker in its forehead. And on the top of its head was a small antennae.
"No..." Trixie said.
"That's how he did it?" Timmy asked, "He radioed in this dummy and used it to communicate? He was never in the manor?"
"NOOO!" Trixie cried, hitting the dummy repeatedly, tears coming down her face, "We were so close! SO CLOSE! WHY does he keep getting away from us?"
"Trixie," Timmy said, "I hate to point this out when you're already upset, but you need to see this monitor."
Trixie looked up at the monitor Timmy was looking at. On it was the results of the explosion at Dimmsdale Mall, the supposed execution site for Jeffrey Tang's supposed execution. All the bodies of the VIGILANCE agents, including Ming, were lying there motionless.
"No...no...NO!" Trixie cried, falling to her knees, "It was a trap. He did it again..."
Trixie didn't have time to finish her thoughts, and Timmy didn't have time to comfort her. The vents that opened when the control room opened were holding back knockout gas, and it had already taken its affect on Timmy and Trixie. Both collapsed side by side, their last thoughts before slipping into unconsciousness was how blindly they fell into the Commander's trap.
Cosmo, Wanda, and Poof were by Talbot's side when he found the portal. It was in the manor's library, and several bookshelves had been knocked down to make room for it. A large, circular portal, dark blue and purple, was how Gemini Labs and the Commander were able to store prisoners in an untraceable prison.
"We're here," Talbot said, "We're at the prison."
"Yes we are," Wanda said, "I was worried for a minute you'd slip up again."
"He didn't slip," Cosmo said, "He was flying!"
"Not slip, Cosmo," Wanda corrected him, "Slip up. It means Talbot started getting sloppy with his game plan."
"I'm sure I don't know what that means," Talbot said.
"I thought the first time you made a mistake it was just an honest mistake," Wanda said, "When you had admitted you knew we were Timmy's fairy godparents when clearly you should have had no idea who he was."
"I had heard the stories," Talbot said.
"But then there was the transmission the Commander made to announce Trixie's dad's execution," Wanda said, "You were very quick to come up with a plan even though you weren't actually part of VIGILANCE."
"I told you they gave me temporary command while..."
"Who did?" asked Wanda, "Because last time I checked, you had 'personal reasons' to not work with VIGILANCE. And I don't think your willingness to cooperate with them has to do with taking down the Commander."
"I suppose it would come back to that sooner or later," Talbot said.
He sat down on one of the fallen bookshelves, looking up at the two fairies.
"I guess I haven't been completely honest with you," Talbot confessed, "There are personal reasons I resent VIGILANCE. And there is good reason why I decided to lead this raid."
"Does it have to do with saving your uncle?" asked Wanda, crossing her arms, "Or to protect Trixie?"
"Not to save them," Talbot replied, "Nor to protect them."
Wanda got her wand ready.
"To kill them."
Before any of the three fairies could strike, Talbot held out his hand and had the three trapped in anti-magic spheres, which ironically required the use of magic. None of the fairy magic got outside the spheres they were trapped in.
"Gah! What is this?" asked Cosmo frantically.
"Anti-magic spheres," Talbot replied, "It keeps fairy magic inside and weakens anyone or anything inside. That's one of the few 'magic tricks' I learned from my mother, but once I get the Heart with Wings, that will all change."
"The Heart with Wings?" asked Wanda, "That's what this is about? And how are you able to use magic? You're human!"
"Not so much, no," Talbot replied, "But now is not the time for talk. I must guide you to the prison to unveil my biggest surprise yet. And believe me, you'll want to hear it."
Following Jorgen to the Fairy Armory, the small clerk had been scrambling to jot down every detail Jorgen was giving him.
"We will need every available weapon to stop him," Jorgen said, "He may not have much magic, but if he gets the Heart, Talbot will become more powerful than any fairy we know!"
"But why does a human, let alone a former godchild, have that kind of magic?!" the clerk asked in a panic.
"He is only half-human," replied Jorgen, "Norlene is the reason he has those abilities."
"Wait," the clerk said, "I thought Gildred was his fairy godparent. You mean to tell me Talbot was actually Norlene's godchild?"
"Not her godchild," Jorgen replied, bursting open the steel doors to the armory, "Her son. Her biological son."
Da-da-daaa! Now the Commander is unveiled! Guest reviewer David, you were half right. Talbot is/was Gildred's godchild, but he is ALSO the Commander. As for Gildred himself, we'll see about him next chapter!