Chapter Twenty - One! Woo!

We're nearing the end! It steadily approaches.

It's just filler again, and it's a bit short, but it's here. :3

Thanks to my readers, my reviewers, my many shadow-steppers who follow Chase around. You're fun. :3

AllAmericanSlurp: Lol we welcome you and your sugar back. :3

Darkestking: Mmm, silence. The greatest sound in the world sometimes, isn't it?

DisneyXDGirl: "The voice in my head may like senseless violence, but I don't."

Mia-Teresa-Davenport: "Douglas is just protective. :3 And...say, a blue one?"

Moonlit: "Guns are the great equalizer."

Douglas, please don't go on a gun rant.

"Your loss."

Anyways, let's get through this filling. Hmm...Mr. Davenport?

"Zara doesn't own Lab Rats or anything you recognize. If you don't recognize it, it's probably hers."

"You can't win unless you try to win, but you can lose by trying not to lose."

Jack Campbell, Relentless (The Lost Fleet, #5)

"Always keep your foes confused. If they are never certain who you are or what you want, they cannot know what you are like to do next."

George R.R. Martin, A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3)

Chapter Twenty-One - Let's Discuss

Chase

Mr. Davenport was gaping at the laptop screen. "Seriously? That's all it took?"

I nodded at him, grinning as he examined the timer. In two days, the GPS block on Krane's chip would be broken again. In the event that we couldn't come up with a plan before then, it would lead us to Krane. Fun stuff, backup plans.

A sudden bang sounded from across the room, followed by a frustrated groan. "Brighid, Herne: Grant me patience."

Mr. Davenport and I looked over to see Douglas banging his head on the table repeatedly. Beside him, Tasha and Bree were frowning while Adam looked confused. Yahn - who had fallen asleep on Adam's shoulders - jumped slightly at the loud noise, snorting loudly as he woke up. "What now?"

"Who are Brighid and Herne?" Leo asked from the couch, where he was reading through one of Douglas' many summoning books.

"The Lord and Lady," Mr. Davenport explained. "Herne is a God and Brighid is a Goddess."

"Why haven't we heard of Them?" Adam asked.

"Yeah, Donald," Tasha echoed. "Why haven't we heard of Them?"

Douglas looked up from the table, an eyebrow raised. "Really? You tell anyone who asks everything about us being kids, but you didn't explain Them? Did these three never have religious questions?" He gestured at me, Bree and Adam.

Mr. Davenport shook his head. "Not really."

True. Honestly, none of us actually asked. We were too busy wondering what was outside the Lab to think about spirituality. It wasn't a concern to us. It still wasn't, really. That didn't mean that curiosity wasn't gnawing at me now, but it could wait.

Douglas leaned back in his chair, but dropped it. "Moving on," he began, "your plan won't work, Adam."

"Why not?" Adam challenged.

Yeah: Why not? Adam had great ideas!

...Wait...

Never mind.

"We don't have clones, a time machine, access to six different parallel universes, or a harp playing chimp," Douglas hissed.

"I don't see you coming up with anything," Adam huffed.

"Look," Bree suggested, "maybe we could follow the golem's trail of destruction? You said it ran away, right? Wouldn't that be visible?"

"Krane probably has a trap ready in case we do follow the golem," Oly pointed out. I was a bit surprised to hear her talk; I thought she was asleep. The way she was curled up beside Leo did nothing to dispel that impression.

"Maybe we should wait until he shows up again?" Tasha suggested. "He's on the run. He probably won't try anything until he heals."

"Tasha," I began, "Krane is injured, meaning we have him weaker than ever. If we're going to take him on, it has to be soon. Who knows when another opportunity like this will present itself? Yes, he's on the ropes. Let's keep him there."

"Maybe we can call in some backup while we think of ways to draw him out?" Leo suggested. "I mean, having an army of demons to take on a golem -"

"There isn't a demon alive that can touch that thing," Yahn informed him. "It has silver in it."

Douglas gave a sly smile. "I could always summon Ferran. See where that takes us."

I growled and pinned my ears. Just his name pissed me off. "I hate that guy."

Everyone suddenly looked at me. "Why?" Bree asked.

"No idea," I huffed. "I want to beat him up, though."

Ferran is a weak fool,anyways, my voice egged on. He would easily fall to you.

"Who's stronger?" Yahn asked, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"I can't tell, actually," I responded with a frown.

"No wonder," Oly snorted. "You two are so evenly matched that you can't tell the difference. Ergo, your need to test your power against his. You two want to find out who is the weakest so that you can either grovel or dominate accordingly. Yahn and Kora do the same thing."

Yahn snapped his beak together loudly. "I hate Kora."

I slowly nodded and crossed my arms. That made a lot of sense. "I'm stronger. Just sayin'. And - while I'm thinking about it - are you really going to report to the Council in the morning?"

Douglas sighed. "I'd rather not have an afrit break in and escort me there. So yes, I am."

"Is the Summoner's Council fun?" Adam asked.

"No," Douglas answered. "Most members have their smug heads so far up their -"

"Douglas," Tasha warned, glaring at him.

"Anyways, it's pretty boring," he finished, censoring himself to avoid Tasha's anger.

"We interrupt this pointless discussion for some breaking news!" Leo suddenly declared, holding up the book he was reading. "I think I found how to activate The Arm of Raziel." He stood up and walked to the table, where he gently laid the book down and pointed at a page.

Snap his neck! Just make that midget shut up! His voice is like a knife scraping against a metal pan!

Everyone glanced at the book. "Yahn, isn't this one you stole from Navarro?" Douglas asked.

"It's not like he needed it anymore," Yahn defended, crossing his arms as everyone stared at him. "Navarro died. As far as I'm concerned, it's not stealing."

"Who was Navarro?" Mr. Davenport asked.

"Good guy forced into our pursuit by Krane," I answered. I hesitated before finishing. "We barely knew him, and he sacrificed himself to help us."

"Technically, he was just trying to take Krane out," Oly corrected. "Honestly, he probably didn't care about us."

"But he stopped Krane from having two golems instead of one," Yahn countered.

"Jesus Christ, you actually did find something," Douglas suddenly stated. He looked like he was ready to gag over the admission that Leo wasn't useless.

Leo wore a smug expression, but didn't say anything as Douglas read, silently mouthing the words to himself. Finally, he stopped. "That's...shockingly easy. Wow."

"You're welcome," Leo said, giving a mock bow.

"We can take the golem out!" I cheered.

"Or you could just take the scroll out of it's mouth," Oly huffed. "Whichever gets you to shut up faster."

I picked up a pencil and threw it, hitting her beak with it. "No one asked you."

"I asked me," Oly huffed, sitting up. "I think that counts."

A ballpoint pen hit Oly this time.

Funny thing: I didn't throw it.

Bree did.

She leaned back in her chair, innocently checking her nails for dirt. When she realized that we were staring at her, she shrugged. "It slipped."

Oly jumped to the floor, scowling. "My foot's gonna slip up your -"

I stepped on Oly's tail as she marched past me, effectively stopping her.

Oly growled loudly and started to pull on her tail. "I'll take you out, too, Half-Breed. Try me."

"What's this about a scroll?" Mr. Davenport asked after a second of silence had passed.

"The golem has a scroll in its mouth," Yahn explained.

"You remove the scroll, you deactivate the golem," Douglas finished.

"There's just a few problems," I started. "It's moving and likely to defend itself, demons can't touch it, and the mouth is about ten feet in the air. It would be easier just to blow the thing up." I yawned broadly after that, snapping my jaws shut like a spring. It was three in the morning and we had to be up early tomorrow. Well, Douglas did, at least. He had a flippin' meeting with the Council.

In public.

Where we could be seen.

"I have an idea," I began. "What if we stay visible all day? Then, late afternoon, we go somewhere more private? Because he won't strike in public. He'll wait until we're alone."

"I don't like it, Half-Breed," Yahn said after a moment. "We'd be sitting ducks. I mean, we'd be expecting his attack, but he will still have the advantage of being able to time it."

"Do you have a better idea?" Oly asked.

"Listen," Douglas cut in. "We're tired. Before we do anything, we should probably get some sleep."

"But I'm not tired," Bree protested.

"Me, neither," Adam agreed.

"Because you just came from the middle of the day, guys," Leo explained. "These four have been awake a lot longer than we have."

I nodded. However, before I could say anything, a deafening crash cut me off. Glass, plaster and wood flew through the air around us as we ducked to the floor and covered our heads.

"The Arm of Raziel is mine!"

Well, Krane did come to us first.

The plan worked! Yay, success!

You thought it was just going to be filler, huh? I'm a tricky bastard. :P

So who's ready for some awesome fighting?!

Too bad! You'll have to wait until next time. :3 *Cruel*

Anyways, feel free to review. Or don't. Me no care.

And enjoy.

*Bows and exits*