The Misty Fire

by Punk19

With Master Vile taking over the Americas, Angel and her children, who's numbers have recently been boosted by the adoption of Guyunis, are forced to reside in a different country. Will they be left alone to live a normal life or will the ghosts of their kin bother them again?

36. Chapter 36

Berlin wasn't always the capital of Germany or the German government. Many thousands of years ago, before the country unified itself, the capital was with the imperial ruling family: The Hapsburgs, in Vienna, Austria.

Any old, historical textbook would say the following: that, after the Congress of Vienna created the formal German Confederation in 1815, a Federal Assembly convened at the Free City of Frankfurt, representing not the people of the individual German Lands but their sovereigns. The city of Frankfurt became a brief capital after the short-lived Revolutions that took place in 1848 in the German states. It was only during the 1871 Unification of Germany that the newly unified German Empire was assigned an official capital. Since Berlin was the capital of Prussia, the leading state of the new Reich, it became the capital of Germany as well. Berlin was the capital of Prussia since 1518; except for the brief period that followed the first World War, it remained the capital of Germany until the conclusion of War World II.

Germany, and its capital, Berlin, was split in half after the second World War; East Germany, as it was called at the time, had taken East Berlin as its capital while West Germany had taken the university town of Bonn as its. Historical documents claimed that, originally, the city of Frankfurt was to be the provisional capital of West Germany; the decision to make Bonn the capital was based on West Germany's intention of making Berlin the capital if the country was ever reunified—and, also, the officials of West Germany had feared that, since Frankfurt was a major city in its own right, it would ultimately be accepted as a permanent capital and weaken the West German support for reunification. There was also a little side-note in the textbooks that claimed that Bonn had also been chosen as West Germany's capital because it was close to Cologne, which was the hometown of West Germany's first chancellor, Konrad Adenauer.

The reunification of Germany took place in 1990; Berlin was also reunified at the time and, as intended, it reclaimed its status as the capital of the country. It took a year more before the decision to move the main seats of the country's government to the capital. The main government's move to the capital took eight years; the university town of Bonn became a secondary seat of government afterwards. It was still regarded as a secondary seat of government to that day.

"And so, ladies and gentlemen, as you can see here by these photographs, and the data that's been compiled over the last few months, our security has been breached more than once." Bettina Gottlieb, a modestly built woman, who had platinum-blonde hair and chartreuse-green eyes, said to the men and women that were seated at the long table, that was in one of the meeting halls, that were in the Reichstag building. "These... creatures have been video taped by both security cameras and civilian-owned cellular phones—while no civilians have been harmed by these creatures, it is still imperative that we stomp any advances that they may be preparing to in-act on our country. Our civilians—our people—and our very livelihoods are threatened by the appearances of these creatures—who, may I add, may be working on the behalf of the cretin across the Atlantic."

"Mrs. Gottlieb, we've been sitting here for nearly two hours listening to you speak on the security breach. While what you've said is true, and alarming, I see no point in disrupting the lives of one family who has no involvement in the issue with which this meeting is about." Ajeet Ballal, who was five seats down the table, said.

"I'd like to hear why this family's been brought up," Gustav Maihofer, a gray-haired man, who had gray-blue eyes, said. "I've been in numerous meetings the last few days; our president continues to declare their innocence, as has Mr. Ballal. Has this family done something to cause the breach in security or are they being scapegoated?"

"Mr. Maihofer, if you will notice the data that's on the whiteboard, no problems were encountered until after their arrival. All "alien" activity was centered in the Americas—no aliens came by or bothered us. We continued as we were peacefully." Bettina Gottlieb replied. "The "alien" activity that we've experienced the last few months started almost immediately after this one family's arrival here. The camp in the Rastatter Rheinaue nature reserve, the aliens being sighted in Munich soon after the discovery of the camp in the Rastatter Rheinaue nature reserve, and now the security breach by these short, Troll-like creatures... all of what we've experienced in the latter part of this year has happened after this one family's arrival here—even the strange weather that we've experienced."

"The family that you speak of isn't the only family that moved to our country in August, Mrs. Gottlieb." Katharina Fuchs, a mid-aged woman, who had graying brown hair and brown eyes, said quickly. "I see no reason for them to be brought up in conjunction with the security breach."

Ajeet, his chin nestled neatly on the end of his left thumb, nodded his head at Katharina Fuchs's words. What the woman had just said was true; the records showed that a little over five hundred families—some with children, some without children, and some with pets and some without pets—had moved to the country in August. All of them families had settled into the country, had become German citizens, and, as far as he was concerned, none of them had any involvement in the situation that Bettina Gottlieb was speaking about.

Bettina Gottlieb, the bitch who was the chief of his country's security agency, was trying her best to get the Irene family removed from the country. She was an insistent one; even after four meetings on the issue of the aliens that were in the Rastatter Rheinaue nature reserve, she still considered the Irene family the main point of interest. President Leinart had squared-off with her on the matter of the family more than once; he had dealt with her on the matter of the family twice now and, now, she was trying to get under the skin of others.

Except for the president, who was currently overloaded with paperwork, everyone who needed to be here was here. To his left was Wilda Schmidt, who was the current minister of the Federal Ministry of Health. To his right was Sigmar Röttgen, who was the current minister of the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Across from him sat Katharina Fuchs, who was the current president minister of the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and, to her immediate left, sat Gustav Maihofer, who was the current minister of the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Mrs. Gottlieb had sent notice to President Leinart about the meeting; the man's secretary had come back saying that he was deeply sorry for not being in attendance. He was the last one called in for the meeting; apparently, Mrs. Gottlieb wanted everyone who was involved with family, national security, military, and health affairs and who knew the Irene family best to be at the meeting. While he didn't know the Irene family that well he knew them enough to stick up for them—they were a good family; in his book, they were good, decent folk who tried their best to stay out of trouble and who also tried to be as normal as possible.

The file that he had in front of him had all the necessary data that Mrs. Gottlieb had asked him to bring to the meeting. All of what he was able to find on the Irene family was in the file; from the name of the businesses that Miss. Irene and her second oldest son, Lhaklar, worked at, to the hours and days that they were suppose to be in for work, and to their monthly purchases and bill payments. He also had on-file the people that the Irene boys were frequently seen with. The Irene boys acted much like human teenagers—they had friends; they bought certain items that normal, human teenagers would buy; and their out-of-the-house activities were very human-like in structure. Miss. Irene also acted very normal; she worked, she paid the bills, she bought groceries and things that pertained to her children's needs or interests, and she also took care of the house that she and her sons lived in. There were no discrepancies in the file; everything was checked and then re-checked and then checked again. He also had the conversation that he and Miss. Irene had on the morning of the eighth of November in the file. His participation in rescuing Lhaklar from the Rastatter Rheinaue alien camp was also in the file.

Except for lacking the man who knew the family best, he was ready if anything should come up about the Irene family.

"As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing that we should concern ourselves about with this family," Sigmar Röttgen, an aging, Afro-German man, who was wearing a dark blue tuxedo, said. "The breach of security is the issue with which we should be concerned about—the family that you've verbally included in this meeting seems to have no connection to the breach."

"What type of evidence is there to damn this family?" Wilda Schmidt, who was the youngest woman in the room, asked. "I see nothing on the whiteboard that's damning or worthy of our attention."

The interactive whiteboard, that was behind Bettina Gottlieb, was full of items that Bettina had either placed on it or that appeared after she pressed a button or two on her slim, Samsung laptop.

A date outline—with the exact date and time of Miss. Irene and her family's arrival to the country, Master Vile's take-over of the Americas, the Rastatter Rheinaue camp's discovery, and when the three drones were sent out to scope the Rastatter Rheinaue camp after its discovery—were the first things that were put up on the whiteboard. Reports of the erratic weather that was being experienced around the globe, newspaper clippings that had mentions of the aliens that were seen at Oktoberfest II, photographs of what he called the "main-dawgs" of the Rastatter Rheinaue camp, and photographs of the Troll-like creatures that were noted as being seen inside the shields that surrounded the country's various towns and cities were put up next.

He came close to laughing after a photograph—which had a datestamp of November the twenty-sixth and a timestamp of 03:21:12 AM in the lower left corner—of the Danceclub Musikpark showed up on the whiteboard. The venue was the holding-place of a hologram concert; one of many that the city of Pforzheim was showing at the time. The older of the Irene boys was in the photograph, as was Miss. Irene's adopted son; a few "Trolls" were also in the photograph, but they were way back from the boys. The security cameras at the venue had captured video and photographic evidence of ten Troll-like beings in the establishment and seven civilians had also come in contact with the beings—most of the civilians were inebriated or nearly inebriated at the time of contact; two of the seven civilians who had contact with the "Trolls" claimed that the beings just told them to scram. No bodily harm was done to them.

He and President Leinart both knew about the sighting; a call was placed right after the president saw the evidence of the "Trolls" at the venue. Miss. Irene was shocked over the sighting, but she kept her cool throughout the entire conversation. Bile and Guyunis were questioned on their concert outing; both claimed that they didn't see or hear a thing about any "Trolls" being at the venue. The two went to the concert, had a good time, then went to an ice cream, milkshake, and smoothie parlor afterwards—the parlor's security footage did show them entering, ordering, and then leaving the establishment. While the "Trolls" followed them to the parlor, they didn't mess with them or cause any trouble. The footage from the parlor had shown a clocking of 03:52:03 AM; Miss. Irene claimed that her sons returned home at nearly four in the morning. That collaborated with the parlor's security footage very well.

"The matter that I've called us all here to discuss is very security-based—this family is apparently being followed or searched-for by the aliens in the Rastatter Rheinaue camp. We have pictures that show similar, Troll-like beings in the camp, so we're assuming that the Troll-like beings, that have been seen inside the shields of our country, are commanded by one of the aliens that reside in the camp." Bettina said back. "Ladies and gentlemen, by letting this family be free-roaming, we're putting the lives of our human civilians in danger. We must prevent that from happening. We must—"

"You suggesting that we take the freedom of a family that's causing no harm to anyone or anything?" Katharina Fuchs asked.

"Where would we put them if we removed them from society?" Gustav Maihofer asked. "Are you asking for a move to a secure facility, that'd keep them under constant vigilance, or are you asking for them to be completely removed from the country?"

"The family that we're speaking of is of high importance to our human race," Wilda Schmidt said. "We'd be slapping the very face of our race—our people; the whole people of Earth—if we removed them from society or treated them wrongly."

"The head of the family has shown no interest in protecting this planet for a while now—since her return one thousand, six hundred, and one years ago. She has apparently turned her back on us so—"

"That is bull!" Ajeet roared. He stood up; his fists drummed the table's surface once before going still. "The head of that family has not turned her back on us!"

"Mr. Ballal, please. Calm y—"

"She strengthened some of the shields that needed strengthening a few months ago." Wilda, who's face bore the very look of shock on it, said quickly. "That, in itself, shows that she is still on our side and that she hasn't turned her back on us."

While it was very unprofessional to leave a meeting before a decision was reached, or before the meeting was called to a close, they all agreed that Sigmar Röttgen's action of standing and then leaving the room was rightly done. Wilda Schmidt shook her head at Bettina Gottlieb, then started collecting her things. She left the room at the same time that Katharina Fuchs did. Ajeet remained at his seat for nearly a minute; he stared at Bettina angrily before grabbing his file. He left the room; Gustav Maihofer followed him, he was mumbling under his breath about how disrespectful Mrs. Gottlieb was. Ajeet couldn't agree more with Gustav; Bettina had shown her real face, which was just as ugly as her usual, pleasant one. Evicting a family without cause was one thing; evicting the family, who was headed by their planet's heroine, was another. Everyone on the planet owed Miss. Irene a favor—if not for her, the entire planet's history would of been changed a long time ago.

No one in that family was bad; while he didn't know the family as well as the president did, he knew for a fact that that was true. Miss. Irene had raised them boys well; none of them acted in any way, shape, or form evil and none of them were causing any harm to anyone.

"She's going to be asked to resign from her post if she keeps it up." Wilda Schmidt was saying down the hall to Katharina Fuchs.

"If she hasn't been asked already—President Leinart would of demanded her immediate resignation if he was at that meeting." Katharina Fuchs said back.

"I don't go with or agree with backstabbers." Wilda said before walking down the hall.

"Ditto, Mrs. Schmidt." Katharina said to Wilda's backside.

Except for the glass dome, that had a staircase that spiraled up to the building's roof inside it, and the transparent glass handrails, that were on the stairs and walls, that allowed for visitors to see the goings-on of certain working politicians, the interior of the building that he was currently on his way to exiting looked quite a lot like a historical museum. A lot of the ruins of the old building had been preserved over the years; the masonry structure was still in its original shape, as was some parts where there was writing from Soviet soldiers.

Construction on the building that he was in had started on June 9, 1884; it took a full ten years before construction was complete. The building actually caught fire on February 27, 1933—historical documents, and the history books, claimed that the cause of the fire wasn't known, but what was known was this: the fire gave a pretext for the Nazis to suspend most rights that were provided by the 1919 Weimar Constitution in the Reichstag Fire Decree in an effort to weed out communists and increase state security throughout Germany. The building wasn't used for parliamentary sessions during the twelve years of National Socialist—or Nazi—rule; an opera house, that once stood opposite the building, was used the few times that the Reichstag convened. The main meeting hall of the building, which was deemed unstable after the fire, was used for propaganda presentations and, during World War II, for military purposes.

The building, which was never fully repaired after the fire, was further damaged by air raids in World War II; the building became one of the central targets for the Red Army—the Russians—to capture, due to its perceived symbolic significance during the Battle of Berlin, which took place in 1945. The preserved soviet writing and graffiti that was on the still-smoky walls was from that era.

The building became a ruin after World War II; it was a sad, empty building from 1945 to 1990. While the idea of tearing the building down was thought and spoken of, a decision of restoring it was done instead. The old cupola—or small dome—of the original building was the only thing demolished; the rest was either restored or reconstructed. A man named Paul Baumgarten was in charge of the rebuilding/reconstruction; he was the one responsible for removing all of the sumptuous heraldic statues, monuments, decorations, and the like that harked back to the mythology of the German past from not only the inside but also the outside of the building. The man had basically created a plain building inside the historic Reichstag; the artistic and practical value of his work was the subject of much debate after the German reunification.

The final reconstruction happened in 1992; a man by the name of Norman Foster was the architect in charge. The building was almost completely gutted during the first phase of the reconstruction; everything, including all changes made by Baumgarten in the 1960's, was removed. Respect for the historical aspects of the building was one of the conditions stipulated to the architects that were working on the building, so traces of historical events were retained in a visible state. The reconstruction was completed in 1999; the Bundestag convened there officially for the first time on the nineteenth of April of that year.

The glass dome, that was on the roof of the building, wasn't apart of Norman Foster's original design. The dome was built to symbolize Germany's reunification, and it was also built to symbolize that the people were above the government.

"And it was miraculously sparred in both the third and fourth World Wars—thank God for small favors!" Ajeet thought as he stepped out of the building.

A breeze, that had a nice, chilly nip to it, struck him after he exited the building. He stopped, relishing in its coolness, for a few seconds. The people that lived south of Berlin had gotten a lot of snow the last few days and, from what the people that forecast the weather were saying, they were going to have more falling in the next few days. He was honestly jealous; even though he complained a lot over the last few months about the weather, he did like the snow and he did fantasize about white Christmases. It looked like the people south of his location were going to have a white Christmas; the forecast for the people that lived up north wasn't assured. The one who was in control of the weather gauges was the only one who knew what type of weather would be experienced on the twenty-fifth of December.

He stood in place, letting the wind blow through his hair, and into his face, for nearly a minute before moving on. His action of going forward was what got him attracted to what was going on in front of the Chancellery building that was across from the Reichstag building.

"Tourists," he thought as he continued on his way, going towards the Reichstag parking lot, where his car was. "Even with the holidays coming up, they have to go looking at the Chancellery."

While civilians were allowed to tour the Reichstag building, they weren't allowed to enter the Chancellery. They were allowed to look at the building from the outside, but they weren't allowed to go in to see what the interior looked like. There looked to be a good number of tourists in front of the Chancellery; all were facing the building, so he couldn't tell what their features looked like and it was this fact that made him nearly miss what they really were. He was almost ready to turn towards the parking lot that his car was parked in when he saw a spot of green rise and then rush towards him. The green spot landed hard, then bounced up. It ran back to the fence that was in front of the Chancellery at the same time that a yell was heard.

The yell was all it took for him to get going; he dropped the file that he was holding then he pulled the military issue SIG Sauer P226 semi-automatic pistol out from the holster that was on the left side of his belt. He crept forward stealthily while releasing the safety; the figures that were near the Chancellery neither noticed him nor turned around. He found that to be a good thing, because there was no cover for him. The strips of grass, that were between the sidewalks that stretched between the Reichstag building and the Chancellery, had a few, thin-trunked trees on them; that wasn't enough to offer him cover. He'd either have to steal forward quickly, take in the situation, then decide what to do, or fire his weapon now and ask questions later.

He was halfway across the grass and sidewalk patches when another of the figures that were near the Chancellery rose and then flew off. The creature, which he automatically noticed wasn't human, did exactly what the first figure did: it landed on the ground hard, then it bounced up, then it ran back to fence-line that was in front of the Chancellery. He started running towards the group of figures when their formation pulled in tighter; a gasping yell was heard, then he heard someone with a gravelly-sounding voice chide someone within the group.

"That's enough!" the gravelly-voiced person said. There was a heavy hint of authority and annoyance in the voice.

"Should we rush in and grab or—" one of the creatures asked the gravelly-voiced person, that Ajeet hadn't yet noticed.

"Unless I tell you to, no."

His heart leaped into his throat after he saw what he was up against. The index finger, that was ready to squeeze the trigger of his pistol, went numb for a second; when he regained the feeling in that finger, he had to fight himself to not fire his weapon. There were seventeen, squat-sized creatures circling three, taller beings—two of whom he knew, while the other he had only seen photographs of. The complexion of the seventeen, squat-sized creatures varied; most of the creatures were dark blue, light blue, or green in color. There were two in the group that had light brown skin. Except for one, they were all very nicely attired in military garb and well-muscled; the one that was just inside the semi-circle looked a bit taller than the others and he—if it was a male—also looked thinner... emaciated, in comparison to the others.

As he crept closer to the group, he realized that he saw the one that was in the middle of the semi-circle in person before. He and President Leinart had fired at him after Lhaklar jumped into the back of the jeep that he had only just gotten through parking behind the kite-shaped ship that was in the Rastatter Rheinaue camp. The creature did something to make the ground split apart under the vehicle. While he worked to get the vehicle level-enough to make a clean get-away, President Leinart shot at him—from what he was told, the president wounded him.

The supposed wounding happened during the early evening hours of November the eighth; the alien looked none the worse for wear for whatever wound was given to him. He looked in fine shape, actually. The other two that were in the group were youngsters and it looked like they were in trouble and in need of some serious help.

"And Lhaklar just so happens to be in the way," Ajeet said as he crept closer, slower this time and with a lot more reserve.

He neither saw Ajeet Ballal's progress across the grass and sidewalk strips or noticed that he was wielding a weapon; the only thing that was in his sights was his father... and the "army" of Goblins that formed a half-circle around him and his brother. The Goblins, seventeen total, had come out of nowhere. He and Hazaar were surprised by their arrival. They hadn't had a chance to run away, much less get ready for a fight. Their father showing up had been an equal surprise—as was his father's accusing him of abandoning his brother "in his time of need".

Hazaar had froze up on the fence after the semi-circle of Goblins formed around them; the fence buckling down under his weight was the only reason why he was down here, behind him. The fence had buckled, his brother had fallen, then his father had gotten angry at him for not helping his brother to his feet—Hazaar had actually slapped his hand away from him, so it was pretty evident that he didn't want his help.

A good chunk of the Goblins that made up the semi-circle were from his father's army; they were mean-faced, there was a glazed look in each of their eyes, and they seemed to want to rush in to get him and his brother. The only Goblin that wasn't mean-faced, or that didn't have a glazed look in the eye, was Eldass; he was inside the semi-circle, just a few feet from his father. He started using his Telekinesis and Acidic powers after Hazaar rebuffed his attempts to help him to his feet; three Goblins were thrown from the semi-circle while another two were burned. His father only came into the semi-circle after he started using his powers; he tried to use his powers on him to no avail. His father was a fast, smart man; he was able to dodge his Acidic attacks and he was also able to prevent him from using his Telekinesis on him.

"Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh—rule number one my young son and heir do not attack my military Goblins." his father said, after he spoke a spell to make any and all of his power abilities—meaning his Acidic, Elemental, Transforming, and Energy powers—and learned abilities—his Telepathy and Telekinesis—become null and void.

Naturally, rule number two was for him to not attack his father. Now that he was stripped of any way of defending himself, power-wise, he was just standing by; Hazaar was behind him and slightly to his right. He seemed fine. His leg didn't seem to be hurting him any.

None of what was going on was helping his attitude any; he knew he was acting like a grouch for the last two weeks, but no one, other than he, knew the reason for it. His grouchiness, his standoffishness, and his nervousness wasn't caused by Guyunis's fight with his grandfather—his working overtime at the Die Heiß und Hastig and his need for nicotine was the cause for it.

He was kicking his ass the last two weeks to bring in enough money for his family for both next month's bills, their savings, and for his family's holiday shopping. His boss, Janina Duerr, had told him a few weeks ago that, if he ever wanted to come in for extra dancing, or for overtime, he could and, with Christmas coming up, he took her offer up. Money issues weren't a concern last month, like his mother had worried about, and they had definitely not been an issue this month—he was the full cause of that. The bills were being speedily paid; and the kitchen cabinets, and the refrigerator, were never low. His family was also allowed to splurge a little last month. While the bills and the pantries were still stocked and paid on time this month, the splurging for personal interests had stopped; they purchased their monthly magazines and smokes but nothing other than that and the reason for that was because their minds were set on getting things for one another for the upcoming holiday.

His mother was using her own hard-earned money to buy the family gifts for the upcoming holiday; he was fronting his brothers around a hundred euros for the last two weeks for their Christmas shopping. The underside of the tree, that was in the corner to the left of the gas-powered fireplace, was looking rather full nowadays. While he was proud of himself for helping his family out he did wish that he had a little something to smoke; his mother took his smokes two weeks ago, after he brought a badly beaten Guyunis home. He hadn't been allowed to smoke anything for a over a week because he didn't do more to help Guyunis with the "bum" that he picked a fight with.

"I'll take these," his mother said about two hours after he and Guyunis came home. The pack of Black Devil cigarettes, that he had just gotten through breaking the seal on, was snatched from his hand a short second later.

"Mom?" he was honestly flabbergasted over his smokes being taken; while there were other things taken from him, games and certain privileges and freedoms, he had never had his smokes taken from him before. He had just stared at her with his mouth half ajar; he bet Lazeer would of said something comical pertaining to how he reacted to his smokes being confiscated.

"For not helping your brother more in his fight, you're not allowed to smoke anything until the clock strikes twelve on New Year's." she said.

He wasn't able to speak with her on this; he was much too shocked over what was taken from him. He hadn't once thought about asking Hazaar or Guyunis or Bile for one of the smokes that they partaked in; he took the punishment maturely. Even though he kept telling himself that he had a little over a week to go before he could smoke again, it was still hard—he was doing his best to keep his nicotine withdrawal symptoms down and he was also trying his best to keep his family in the dark about his withdrawal issues. From what he could tell, they just thought he was on-edge from not getting enough sleep—which was true; between working overtime, and dealing with nicotine withdrawal, he wasn't getting as much sleep as he should.

"I commend you on your finding my sons and on your description of my sons, Mr. Zultoa." TazirVile Surfeit said to the Goblin that was standing a few feet behind him. After he commended the Goblin he turned his attention towards his sons. "You two decide to migrate north—beat the weather—or did that mean man force you up here?"

"Mean man?" Hazaar mumbled. "Either the old man's lost a screw or two upstairs or I don't know what he's talking about."

"Pardon, but I don't think I got any of that, Hazaar."

"Nothing," Lhaklar said quickly. "He said nothing."

"While I understand your need to be a chatterbox I do think I was speaking to your brother, Lhaklar." TazirVile said. "Hazaar, what was you saying?"

"Nuthin'," Hazaar replied quickly.

"Don't let your brother intimidate you now. Speak. I'm sure that whatever—"

"He said nothing." Lhaklar said back.

"Speaking over and interrupting your elders now, Lhaklar? Seems I have some work ahead of me in weeding out your bad habits." TazirVile said. He sounded very annoyed. "As I was sa—"

"What're you fuckin' deaf? You asked him a question and—"

"I do believe I was speaking to your—"

"—he came back saying nothing so you got your answer!"

"If memory proves me correct, I named my secondborn son Hazaar—not Lhaklar. And, if my memory is also correct, I do believe I was speaking to said named secondborn son." TazirVile now sounded angry.

"Dude! You really do need a nap after we—"

In a way, this was exactly how he expected for them to act. Hostile, rude, and with no regard for respecting their elders. With having no parental guardian keeping watch over them, they became wild. They reverted back to acting like children-children instead of mid-teenagers, who knew how to act and who knew the consequences of their bad deeds or actions.

Up to the last-minute dream that he had this morning, he was fully meaning to continue sending small platoons and squads of his Goblin army into the shields that surrounded the towns and cities of the state where his sons were frequently seen in. The dream, a very vivid one, had shown him leading a group of Goblins to some state that was north of the one that his and his family's camps were in; another group of Goblins were sent further north. While he didn't hear the name of the area that he sent them to, he had a feeling after waking up that Berlin was the place that they were sent to.

The dream was incomplete when he woke up and, except for the one, small sighting of one of his sons, it seemed pointless. The dream nagged him all throughout breakfast; up to his mentioning his dream to his mother and stepfather, he was still planning on having two groups of his military Goblins search Baden-Württemberg.

"Maybe what you dreamed was a sign," his mother said after he explained his dream in full detail. "You've turned this state over more than once this month and you've not found a thing of your sons—maybe it's time to search other states."

"With the weather being the way it is, they might of gone somewhere else." his stepfather said. "Might of followed the herds as they move north or, quite possibly, are looking for a place that isn't frequented by their tormentor."

The decision to search the northern states was made afterwards; he led a group of Goblins to the state of Thuringia while Eldass led another group to Berlin. He and his group found nothing, while Eldass and his group had. A whole day's search wasn't for nothing, and it did seem that his dream was a sign because here he was. He had not one but two of his sons in front of him and they had, indeed, been found in the north.

While their actions of being hostile and rude were expected he wasn't really expecting for them to act so violent towards one another. Eldass had said something about Lhaklar ignoring Hazaar, who was struggling to keep up earlier; when he and his group of militia Goblins showed up, Eldass told him that he thought his oldest son was "tired". That observation had made sense—his two sons were far from Baden-Württemberg; unless they used teleportation to get to the location, they traveled all night to get here. Lhaklar also had that wound on his head; it was possibe that that was causing him some grief too.

He said his oldest son's name, after he knocked his elbow into Hazaar ribs, then he walked forward, after his oldest son back-slapped his brother. One slap was enough to make his oldest son turn on him. Lhaklar pounced like an angry Tiger; he slammed his fists into his face and shoulders twice before being driven back. His oldest son shook his head after being driven back before coming at him again. He reacted in the same way that he had on the first offense—by grabbing and then throwing him back, against the fence-line.

"That is enough!" TazirVile barked.

When his oldest son tried to run off, he prevented him from doing so by blocking his path. Lhaklar lunged at him before turning and then going in the opposite direction. Towards Hazaar, who he came close to trampling. TazirVile reacted quickly to prevent the trampling; he grabbed his oldest son by the wrist then ripped him back. When his son turned to face him, he wasted no time in swinging his hand at him. His son, who had just been slapped in the face, stared at him in shock before surprising him; he turned then ran for the fence that was behind him. His son leaped onto the fence then started to climb; he was nearly to the top when he grabbed and then pulled him down. He placed his son in a headlock afterwards then found himself having to maneuver his footing after he started kicking his legs back.

Eldass inched forward, taking one step at a time, being careful to not scare the younger of his employer's two sons, who seemed very anxious. Young Master Hazaar had managed to back away from the goings-on of his older brother and father, but he hadn't been allowed to leave the semi-circle. For the last five minutes, the youngster's head was constantly turning; he was constantly looking from his brother, who was now thrashing about, to his father, who was trying his best to be both gentle, yet firm, in keeping the youngster that he had a-hold of under control. He didn't need to be told to head in to take the younger of his employer's two sons out of the area; he knew by instinct that it was way past time for Hazaar to be removed from the area.

Too much had gone on. Young Master Lhaklar had created a bit of chaos and he had come very close to hurting his brother more than once while creating that chaos. It was best to remove the younger boy from the area, so he wouldn't be hurt anymore than he was. His employer saw his progress—so did Young Master Lhaklar, who was now lunging in his direction—but, due to his need in keeping Young Master Lhaklar subdued and under control, he couldn't usher out any orders or take in his environment.

His employer's secondborn son turned to look at him when he was four feet from him. His wrap-around, deep purple eyes went wide for a second before going back to their original size. He took a step towards him before going back, towards the fence. He thought nothing of this; with all the chaos that his employer's oldest-born son was creating, he expected for the youngster to second-guess his actions and decisions. He jumped in the direction that his employer's young son went in then he held his arms out. He made a sort of net with his arms as he closed in on the youngster. Young Master Hazaar leaped out of his way twice more before he managed to grab him by the wrist; it was just his luck that, after he laid hand on the youngster that needed to be removed from the area, a series of gunshots were heard.

"Son!" TazirVile shrieked after a bullet narrowly missed Hazaar's hand. Eldass howled then turned to face the one that shot him; his wrist, from which the bullet had entered, was bleeding quite profusely.

The first bullet went through the wrist of the white-haired Goblin that grabbed Hazaar by the wrist while the second and third bullets missed their intended targets by a mile. He aimed and fired three more times—these firings hit their intended targets and they also made a bunch of the squat-sized creatures that made up the semi-circle, that was keeping Lhaklar and Hazaar trapped against the fence, mad.

A squirt of yellow-colored blood came out from the one creature that he shot in the shoulder; the other Troll-like creature that he shot had its leg blown out from under it. What made the Troll-like creatures mad was the bullet that went through the one that had Lhaklar in a headlock; the guy pulled forward at the last second so, instead of being shot in the neck, he was shot in the center of his right shoulder. Lhaklar took advantage of the mayhem after the grip of the one that had him in a headlock loosened; he twisted himself around, then shoved the guy back, then took off in a dead run. Hazaar, on the other hand, was still not in the clear. He fired twice more at the creatures then took to his heels after the kid jumped over the creature that was behind him; the kid, he was quick to note, had a really bad limp that hindered him from running fully out. His decision to stick by the kid's side was decided after he saw how bad that limp was.

"No! Don't cut across, go around the Chancellery—use the building as cover!" Ajeet said after Hazaar started to run across to where the Swiss Embassy was.

"Lhaklar?" Hazaar came close to stopping—he would have, hadn't Ajeet of shoved him from behind.

"Run, Kid! Don't look back and don't waste your breath in talking!" Ajeet said as he guided Hazaar around the right-side corner of the Chancellery building.

Lhaklar went off towards the TIPI AM KANZLERAMT, a variety theater, that was in a permanent, circus-style tent, that had pre-show dining and a bar with a terrace. While Ajeet didn't know where the youngster was he hoped that he was fine. He and Hazaar ran down Willy-Brandt-Straße, the stretch of road that connected to the bridge that spanned across the Spree river's left side, then they started down the bridge that'd take them to where some buildings were—they were just starting down the bridge when two, crackling red lights flew past them. Ajeet chanced a look behind him—what he saw was enough to make the hair that was on his arms stand on end.

The alien that, a little under a minute ago, had apprehended Lhaklar by putting him in a headlock was turning on the heat behind them. His legs were really going. He was racing them across the bridge, and he wasn't alone either. About eight or so of the Troll-like creatures were spread out behind him—all of them were holding some sort of hand-held weapon in their hands and they were all firing at him and Hazaar.

"What's going on?" Hazaar, who was already huffing and puffing, asked.

"Don't worry about what's going on," Ajeet replied. "Go north after you exit the bridge—use the buildings as a cover."

"Who's beh-behind me?"

"A friend—that's all you need to know right now. Keep running, don't stop."

The kid did as he was told. He ran across the rest of the bridge, then went north, towards the White & Case LLP building. More crackling red lights flew past them as they went towards the building then a type of clear liquid went past—the side of the legal services building started smoking at once, after the clear liquid struck it. When they ran past White & Case LLP Ajeet grabbed and then guided Hazaar to the right; they ran down Bertha-Benz-Straße street then they went across the parking lot that belonged to one of Berlin's top pizza restaurants—the Allermunde - Die Pizzamanufaktur. The civilians that were in the parking lot screamed then ran after they saw their pursuers. The run through the parking lot, which only took five minutes, was hard on Hazaar; Ajeet felt for the kid after a while so, instead of keeping the kid running, he grabbed him up from behind.

"Put me down!"

When the darkly tanned set of arms settled around his middle, Hazaar wasted no time in thrashing. After his feet touched the ground, he turned around; one look was enough to tell him to both turn around and keep running.

He had only met Ajeet Ballal, the little Indian-German man that was running behind him, once. Most of the time, the man spoke to his mother and, most of the time, their conversations were both long and were done on the phone. The man seemed of the friendly sort; he seemed polite and he also seemed to want to become friends with his mother and family. Lhaklar knew a little more on the man than he—the man actually helped in rescuing his brother from their father in early November; he owed the man his thanks for that because, if he didn't help his brother in November, his brother wouldn't be living in the same house as he.

Ajeet Ballal was the Chief of the Staff of the Federal Armed Forces; he was a very important man and he did seem to dress for the part well. The man was wearing camo—shirt, pants, his belt was dark green, and his shoes were a nicely polished black. His mother claimed that the man was in his late-fifties; Mr. Ballal's nearly white hair, which was set in a military undercut, was standing on-end on his head. The hair that was on Mr. Ballal's arms—which were very nicely muscled—was also standing on-end; the man stood just five foot, five and a half inches. With his hair standing on-end like it was he looked a little bit taller.

What got him going was his father, who was running like a bat out of hell, and who had a line of Goblins, all of whom had laser pistols in-hand, streaming behind him. His father looked furious! While there was a bleeding wound to the middle of his father's right shoulder, it didn't look to be fazing or slowing him down any. He had only to see his father—and the line of Goblins that were streamed out behind him—to be convinced of needing to run and run fast. He didn't want to tangle with any of the people that were pursuing him and Mr. Ballal.

His hip was killing him! The faster he tried to go the more pain he felt, but he knew that to stop or slow down would be sure capture of him and, maybe, the sure death of his running companion; there was a white tent-like building in front of him, he was debating on going to it when he saw the large building that was across the street. He raced across the parking lot; Ajeet yelled after three cars came close to hitting him after he started crossing the street. To avoid being hit by any cars he shot his left arm out; a red sedan, that had a sunroof, stopped then slid to the side suddenly, the vehicle that was behind it did the same thing while the vehicle that was behind that one nearly nose-dived into the asphalt. Tires squealed behind them vehicles; a traffic jam formed behind the three vehicles that he used his Telekinesis on. With the road clear of traffic, he ran on. He used his Telekinesis one more time to open the doors that were in front of the building that he was running towards. He ran into the building, with Ajeet hot on his heels. The doors that he used his Telekinesis on slammed shut behind them a second later.

"What is this place?" he asked after going around the first corner that he came upon.

"The Berlin Bahnof Einkaufszentrum." Ajeet replied. He pushed Hazaar along before stopping and then turning around. The sound of glass breaking behind them was nearly deafening! "Shit! Run then pick a store to hide in—quick!"

Up to the third World War, which was waged in the early twenty-first century, the Berlin Bahnof Einkaufszentrum was a normal train station equipped with a handful of small venues for train wary travelers. The trains rolled in, the passengers got out, then they shopped before either boarding another train or hailing a taxi. The Berlin Bahnof Einkaufszentrum, which went by the name of the Berlin Hbf (S-bahn) back then, had nearly been destroyed by the war; after major reconstruction and remodeling, it was turned from a normal, everyday train station to a sort of mall. The mall had grown over the years; just about every store known to man was in the building now.

He and Hazaar passed by the Domino's restaurant, which had been in the building forever, then they went by two shoe stores and then a perfume retailer before going around another corner. They ran down two small flights of stairs then made a left turn into a restaurant that was called Kamps. After entering the store, they went to the far back; Ajeet grabbed and then threw his companion behind the first counter that they came upon before turning his attention towards the restaurant's patrons and the three employees that were looking at him.

"Go by your business—act as if we're not here." he said. "We're being followed—chased—by a group of aliens that managed to get into the shields. Keep things to a low—don't attract any attent—"

"Search the building," a gravelly-voiced echo channeled down the hallways and corridors. It was loud enough for all to hear. "Find and bring me my son—dispose of the interloper with him."

"Shit!"

"You heard the man—go by your meals. Forget that they're here." one of the restaurant employees said. Even though the man seemed helpful, there was a clear hint of nervousness in his voice.

They sat on the other side of the counter for a long time before the signal was given for them to run again—one of the Troll-like creatures just barged into the restaurant. He just ran right on in. All of the restaurant's patrons and employees ran, screaming for their lives. Ajeet and Hazaar joined them; they dodged past the creature—who shot at Ajeet twice—then they ran back up the small flights of stairs. Ajeet guided Hazaar down the hallway that ran off the one that the small flight of stairs came from, then he pushed the youngster into another restaurant. The two of them yelled then turned and fled from the restaurant a few seconds later—one of the Troll-like creatures was in the restaurant when they went in. They practically ran into the creature, who was too stunned to raise his weapon, much less fire at them.

Ajeet lost count of how many times he was shot at; one of the Troll-like creatures had come close to blasting one of his ears off after they exited the one restaurant that they quickly left after discovering that one of the Troll-like creatures was in it. A crackling red light came close to hitting his leg after they narrowly escaped another of the creatures in another store and the buckle that was on his belt had actually deflected a normal bullet after he and Hazaar came out of a shoe depot. After spending fifteen minutes in the mall, running into this restaurant or retail store, Ajeet decided that it was time to find some other place that was safer for them to hide-out in.

The Berlin Bahnof Einkaufszentrum was a big building but, with all the Troll-like creatures running amok in it, it was just unsafe for them to be in it. Ajeet led Hazaar to the train tracks that ran through the building; their run down the tracks wasn't marred by anyone or anything for a few minutes. They were allowed to slow down for a little while before finding themselves having to race for their lives again. TazirVile Surfeit had come out of nowhere; he just jumped onto the train tracks then started running after them. Ajeet's heart was nearly in his throat; he was breathing hard and it seemed that every vein in his body was pulsating. He was terrified. Utterly terrified, and he didn't know what to do.

"Mr. Ballal?"

"Keep running along the tracks!" Ajeet yelled. As he ran along, he checked the magazine that was in his gun. The SIG Sauer P226 automatic, that he had in his hand, had a magazine that'd hold just ten rounds in it; he fired the gun ten times, so all of them rounds were spent. He discharged the magazine then slid in a fresh one quickly.

The kid tripped. He went to his knees for only a second before bouncing up and then running on; Ajeet ran behind him for a short while before pulling alongside him. Three clear blobs of liquid splashed the tracks behind him; when he looked back, he saw that the tracks were melting—as if the liquid that splashed them was acid! That scared him more—if what was being fired at him was acid then he was in dire trouble. Acid made things melt; he'd be tap-dancing in no time if that liquid touched his flesh.

Hazaar leaped over the one rail that the trains ran on; he became disoriented after leaving the dimly lit corridor that he and Ajeet were running down a few seconds later. He tripped twice; the skin on his knees was scraped away on the second tripping. After tripping for the second time, he decided to slow down. He shook his head, trying to get his eyes adjusted to the afternoon sunlight that he had just run into, then he felt a burning sensation on the back of his right heel. He shook his foot twice while he ran then, when the burning sensation continued, he looked back and then down.

"My shoe!" he shouted. The heel of his shoe, along with the heel of his sock, was missing. There was a trail of smoke coming up from both so he automatically knew that his father had used his Acidic powers on him in an attempt to slow him up.

"Your shoe and the back of my shirt, Kid." Ajeet said. The chuckle that came from the man made Hazaar want to smile. When Hazaar chanced a look at the man's backside he came close to laughing—the back of Ajeet's camo-colored shirt was missing; the man's darkly tanned back was exposed to the elements.

"Man! He got you good!" Hazaar said as they started running across the tracks that ran across the Spree river.

"He did and let me tell ya something—I thought it'd burn more than it did." Ajeet said back. "Burned a little, but not much to put in a squawk for."

The run across the train tracks was hard on all of them. Ajeet tripped. He slid a short ways before getting to his feet and then running again. Hazaar stumbled; the skin, that was on his right knee, was scraped even more away after he went down, then he managed to get up and run on. TazirVile fared a little better than they did; he stumbled over the track's one rail before correcting himself. Hazaar's chest burned just as much as his hip and ankle did after they reached the other side of the Spree river; he had to fight for every step that he took and he also found himself having to fight to keep looking forward. There was an odd-looking, green-colored Eagle flying just a few feet to his left; the bird was beautiful and he liked the peaceful feeling that it gave him. He found himself looking more at the bird than what was going on in front of him. That nearly cost him his life. Twice.

The train tracks ran over the street, so they had to leap to get down to the parking lot that belonged to the Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum; Hazaar came close to falling face-first to the concrete but, at the last second, he righted his balance. After their feet touched the surface of the parking lot, they shot across to the Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum building—which belonged to the university hospital that dominated the entire block. They ran around the side of the building then they shot across Virchowweg street; after they crossed the street, they ran around to the back of the Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie building. Hazaar, nearing his running limit, collapsed beside a dumpster while Ajeet ran on before sliding to a stop.

"Shit! Trapped and we're just about at our limit." Ajeet thought.

Or, nearly so. The university medical facility had long since purchased the area; a street use to run between the Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie and the Berlin University of Medicine. Sauerbruchweg was converted to lawn and the university was connected to the clinic some hundred to two hundred years ago. There were dumpsters lining the side of the clinic that they were on; the lawn was nicely tended, green in color, and it had no patches of weeds on it. There was just one opening on the partition that connected the university and the clinic; janitors usually used it to take trash out from the two buildings. The partition that connected the two buildings seemed to be pretty far away; they stopped running a little under half of the distance before reaching the middle of the two buildings.

His back wasn't really hurting him; being splashed by the liquid that their pursuer was throwing at them wasn't that bad. He was lacking a layer of skin on his back; nothing more, nothing less, and, thankfully, he wasn't bleeding or suffering any nerve-like pains that'd make running nearly impossible to do. He checked his pistol—which he hadn't used during the entire run from the Berlin Bahnof Einkaufszentrum—then he went across the lawn to where there were some vending machines. He slipped a fifty euro coin into the first machine that he reached then he punched in the number that went with the bottled water image that was on the side of the machine. Two bottles of water slipped out of the machine a second later, he grabbed them up then went back to Hazaar, who was still collapsed beside the clinic's dumpster.

"Keep yourself hydrated—we're doing fine." Ajeet said as he gave one of the water bottles to Hazaar.

"Where'd he go? He was behind us when we started running around that one building." Hazaar sounded a bit stressed; he opened his water bottle shakily, then practically spilled half of the water that was in it on himself afterwards.

"Calm down," Ajeet said. He opened his bottle of water normally then drank a quarter of it before placing the cap back on. "I'm not sure. We lost him after we rounded the Rheumatism research building."

Hazaar calmed down slowly; he took the shoe, and then the sock, that was lacking its heels off then, after a moment's consideration, he took his intact shoe and sock off. Ajeet thought that this was a good idea—removing the items that could possibly slow him up if he had to run again. A shoe that had no heel could slip. Could make one trip or could make one be slow when they needed to be fast. His backless shirt wasn't really preventing him from running so he kept it on; the cool air that was hitting his exposed back felt good. They remained behind the clinic for ten minutes, doing nothing but regaining their breaths and their sanities, before Ajeet decided to grab the cellular phone—which was perfectly and surprisingly intact—that was in his back left pants pocket.

"Hello?... Mrs. Raskop?... It's Ajeet Ballal. Where's the president, I need to speak with him." he said after dialing the number for Stefan's office. Instead of getting the president, he got his secretary. "He's where?... well, I need to speak with h—... Mrs... Mrs. Raskop, I understand that it's is his lunch-hour but this is rather important... M—... Mrs. Raskop—pardon me, I don't know how much longer I have available to speak—but I and one of the Irene boys have been chased for over five miles in the last half-hour by invaders who've been able to penetrate the shield that's around this city. I need to speak with the president and now—Code Five situation happening; I'm sure he'll understand and accept the reason for why his lunch is being disturbed."

It was a short, five minute wait for the president to pick up the phone; while he waited, he finished the rest of the water that was in his water bottle before deciding to walk around in circles. It was best for one to move around after having a rigorous work-out—it kept the blood flowing, the muscles oxygenated, and it also helped to prevent stiffness from settling in. He tried to get the kid to walk around a little. Hazaar only stood up; he refused to walk or move around.

He wasted no time in telling the president what all transgressed between he, Hazaar, and the aliens and Troll-like creatures after the man picked the phone up. While his words didn't fall over one another he did speak quickly and somewhat clearly; after relaying all that happened in the chase, he went quiet. He listened as his country's president told him to get Hazaar to the roof of the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung— which, in translation, meant the Federal Ministry of Education and Research— quickly before hanging up. He was in the process of closing his phone when he noticed two things that set the stage for what he'd later call The Chase Through Northern Berlin, Part Two.

The first thing was an animal and an odd one at that. The Golden Eagle was Germany's state bird; it was a protected species and it was treated as an honor to see one. The bird that he saw, which was perched atop the university building, looked like a Golden Eagle, but it was very oddly colored. It was green. A bright green—even the avian's eyes were green! The second thing that he saw was what got him and Hazaar running again; neither of them had expected for the creature to come strolling around the partition that joined the university with the clinic.

The alien was dark blue in color. It wore some sort of monocle over its left eye and it was very casually dressed—a white, tucked in, long sleeve, button down shirt, which a chocolate brown vest was worn over, brown formal pants, and Italian, brown leather shoes that shone brilliantly under the sun's rays; that was what the alien was wearing. After seeing the alien, he acted; he dropped his cellular phone—which would be picked up by one of the clinic's janitors a few hours later—then he rushed at the creature, who met him head-on.

"Jeez—these thing must be resilient!" he thought, after realizing that the alien that he was fighting was the first one that he and Stefan had shot at in November—he didn't remember who it was that shot the creature that he was fighting but he knew that it fell rather heavily after a bullet went into its leg.

He and the alien swung fists for nearly two minutes before he turned tail—he ran towards Hazaar, then grabbed him by the arm, then had him follow him as he ran a wide berth around the alien. They ran out of the opening that was in the partition that connected the university with the clinic at the same time. The dark blue-skinned alien gave chance immediately; there were times when he came within half an inch of them and there were times where they were three to four feet in front of him. They ran around to the front of the clinic, then they shot across to Charitéplatz street—which, thankfully, was empty of any and all traffic. Traffic was light on the street that they ran down next; they weaved in and out of the few cars that were driving slowly down Charitestraße then they encountered a problem after they started down the street that came off Charitestraße.

Reinhardtstraße was traffic-congested. It was either bumper-to-bumper traffic or motorists were speeding along... going ten or fifteen over the speed limit.

"Hazaar!" the alien that was chasing them yelled.

"Watch out, Kid!" Ajeet yelled.

He saw the vehicle and, while he knew that he should watch his guard, and slow down to avoid being hit, he also knew that if he did the latter he'd be caught. He didn't know where his grandfather had come from—up to recently, it had only been his father and a bunch of Goblins that were in the shield; Granddad Cheshire hadn't been with them, so he presumed that he wasn't in the shield to begin with.

There were two cars coming towards him; they were speeding along, paying no attention to what was running out in the road. He reacted to their speeding towards him by simply pushing his arms out and then to the side. The two cars sped around him then came to a screeching stop after coming in contact with the side of a building; the cars that already passed him did the same thing. A pile-up of vehicles happened; they piled up against the sides of the buildings that were on either side of the road or they piled up on one another. The motorists started yelling at once; Ajeet asked what the fuck just happened while Granddad Cheshire said good job, Hazaar behind him.

"Where to?" Hazaar asked after they reached the train tracks that ran across Reinhardtstraße.

"Down the tracks—to Bundespressekonferenz e.V." Ajeet yelled back.

"The what?"

"The glass-like building across the tracks."

There was only one building that looked glass-made; he went to it and he tried his best to be fast while doing so. His attempt in being fast was marred by his hip, which was really starting to get to him. The short break that he was allowed to have had only helped him a little; he was still winded and his leg still hurt him. It felt like his chest was set ablaze; each breath that he took hurt. His throat was sticky; the water that he drank earlier was zapped out of his system quickly.

He stumbled down the tracks twice, then dropped to his knees for a second before getting to his feet again; his grandfather closed the gap between he and his companion quickly. Granddad Cheshire was fresher. He hadn't been put through a run previously, so he had a lot more lung and leg-power to go—he was out-lasting them and it looked like he was going to run them down and, in fact, he did.

They were right in front of the steps, that ran up to the Bundespressekonferenz e.V corporate office building, when his grandfather grabbed Ajeet from behind. His grandfather grabbed the man then twirled him around; a furious fight ensued. His grandfather threw four punches to Ajeet's two; when Mr. Ballal fell to his knees he found himself being picked up and then attacked via fists again. Mr. Ballal's darkly-tanned face went from being darkly-tanned to bloody in seconds; he spat blood twice before falling back against the business's steps. Hazaar took two steps towards the pair before stopping; the oddly colored, Green Eagle flew over his grandfather once before swooping down. The Eagle pecked his grandfather on the head before grabbing the gold-colored chain that was connected to the monocle that his grandfather wore over his photo-sensitive left eye. His grandfather's hands flew up, towards the bird, at the same time that Ajeet ripped his pistol out from its holster—Ajeet aimed and then fired; Hazaar watched in stunned disbelief as his grandfather fell to his knees, then to his side. A circle of green-blue formed over the center of his grandfather's ribs; it spread quickly, going down the entire right side of his grandfather's shirt then on down to the top of his pants. The green-colored bird flew off; the goggled monocle, that it ripped from his grandfather's face, dangled from its beak almost like a trophy.

"Come on," Ajeet got up then grabbed Hazaar by the elbow. He pulled him up the rest of the steps then led him into the corporate office.

"You see that Eagle?" Hazaar asked as they ran across the lobby to the elevator.

"Yes—I'll probably need therapy after this one, Kid." Ajeet said back. "Aliens, Trolls, Green-colored Eagles... I'm betting that I'll be thrown in a padded room in less than ten minutes, Kid."

The ride in the elevator was pleasant; they enjoyed the cool, refreshing air that was pumping through the ducts that were built into the machine's sides and they also enjoyed the break that the ride provided them with. The ride to the building's top level was a long one; when the doors of the car opened, they stepped out then walked towards the flight of stairs that ran up to the roof. They took the stairs slowly. There was a door that had a plaque on it that said ROOF at the top of the stairs; Ajeet had just placed his hand around its knob when the characteristic sound of a helicopter started being heard.

"Mr. Ballal?" Hazaar nearly had to yell because of the helicopter, which seemed to be very close to them.

"Come on!" Ajeet said as he threw the door open.

The communicator that his stepfather had used to contact him with had shown a location south of him; he took four steps back after teleporting to the location before running forward. His stepfather, Cheshire Keueitt Ubalki, was in a seated position, but his shirt was very blood-stained. A quick examination showed that the man had sustained a bullet wound to the right side of his torso. His ribs were bleeding; a bullet had obviously hit his ribs and then traveled along his rib cage before exiting his back.

Cheshire was quite demanding that he let him in on chasing Hazaar down; after a minute of thinking the demand over, he agreed to let him aid in bringing Hazaar in. An order to one of his military Goblins was made; Cheshire was let into the shield then he went to work in looking for his son right away. He actually radioed the message that he found two of his sons, but lost one and was chasing the other, while in the mall-type train station building; his mother was ecstatic, while his stepfather was concerned. The demand of his letting him join the chase was made right after he relayed the message of what happened. If his foot hadn't gotten caught on the single rail that was on the train tracks, he'd of been able to keep up with his son and the human that was with his son; he was forced to run through the area after losing the whereabouts of his son after his shoe was freed from the rail. He had just gotten through walking around a school-type building when his stepfather's call came in.

"Cheshire," TazirVile said. Cheshire waved his hand at him, then pointed at the building that he was seated in front of.

"Forget about me, it's not the first time I've been shot—nothing to be concerned about." Cheshire, who was breathing heavily, said. "They went into that building—if you're fast, you can catch up with them."

He called his Goblins over; all but one remained in the shields. He sent Eldass back to his ship; the Goblin, who managed to dodge all of them flying bullets in early-November, hadn't been able to dodge the bullet that the darkly-tanned man had fired at him. Mr. Zultoa was probably now being treated for his gunshot wound; it was a nasty one and it'd probably make him not be able to feel anything in his right hand for a little while. His militia Goblins appeared at once; two of them went to work in stabilizing his stepfather—per request of his, of course—while the others formed a tight ring around him. His stepfather rambled on about what happened; the fight with the darkly-tanned man, the chase through the streets, Hazaar using his Telekinetic abilities to prevent being hit by speeding cars, then the second fight that resulted in his being shot.

One of his Goblins had just teleported his stepfather out of the area when the distant-sounding, resonant thumping sound started getting louder. He automatically turned his head up; his eyes went wide when he saw the vessel that he routinely called a "Whirlybird" flying in closer then his eyes became squinted after he saw the vessel hovering over the building that he was standing in front of. A rope ladder was thrown from the open side of the Whirlybird right in front of him; he silently watched as the darkly-tanned human went up the ladder, then he reacted after he saw his son climbing the ladder next.

"Phloowa!" he remembered shouting after his son was born and then plopped on his wife's chest. "PhloowaVile Epa Surfeit!"

He crouched low—so low that his bottom came within a half inch of the asphalt—then he sprang up like a grasshopper with the memory of his secondborn son being born fresh on his mind. He added a burst of flames to his jump at the last second while remembering the fact that it was his grandfather who noticed something amiss on his newborn son; when his feet touched the side of the building, that he had only just been standing in front of, he started using his Time Warp ability. The glass exterior of the building exploded at the same time that he remembered handing the scissors, that he was just given to use on cutting the cord that was connected to his young son so long ago, back to the maid that gave them to him.

Hazaar was said to be a girl all throughout his wife's pregnancy. After his hand slipped, and what he and his wife had thought was his son's genitalia was exposed, during the routine ultra-sound, Hazaar was referred as a Phloowa—a girl, instead of a boy. The name was changed after his son was born—names such as Noftagan, Epajik, Tureer, Zeeuh, and Gragsne were thought of and suggested before the name of Hazaar was picked. His father, who was currently dealing with a badly broken back on Gamma Vile, was the one to give his wife the incentive to give their newborn son that name. He said the word Hoozah; his wife modified it some so that it'd become Hazaar, then he said the name Tlair. HazaarVile Tlair Surfeit—it had a nice ring to it, and it wasn't an normal type of name. In fact, there was no other being in the Universe who had such a name.

He used his Time Warp to jump-appear from one building to the next; glass shattered or exploded on each of the buildings that he jumped from. When he was within reach of the rope ladder, that was still hanging out from open side of the helicopter, he held his hand out. He made a fist out of his hand after reaching the ladder then he started climbing—the memories of his son, who was removed from his house a hundred years after he was born, clicked away in his mind as he climbed the ladder.

"I'm surprised—after the ordeal he just went through, there isn't a mark on him." Stefan said, after checking Hazaar over for injuries.

"He's lucky. After what we just went through, we both are." Ajeet, who was sitting on one of the four cot-like chairs that lined the backside of the Westland Puma HC Mk.1 helicopter that they were in, said. "There was no way we could get to the roof of the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung—another blasted alien appeared. The fucker chased us all the way to the Bundespressekonferenz building."

Hazaar was more concerned over his lunch being disturbed than with the situation that he was just forced to endure. The first thing that he asked, after climbing into the helicopter, was was you able to finish your lunch before hopping on-board; he came close to laughing at that question. His lunch being disturbed was the last thing on his mind.

He did his best to get to the area that he requested Ajeet to take his young friend to after word reached him on the situation; while having to deal with Trolls and aliens wasn't on his agenda for the day he wasn't at all angered or annoyed over having to rescue them. A quick call to the Tempelhof Central Airport was made after Ajeet told him about the situation; a Westland Puma HC Mk. 1 helicopter met him on the roof of the Chancellery about ten minutes later. When the pilot wasn't able to locate Mr. Ballal or Hazaar on the roof of the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, he flew around; a quick scouting of the area happened before they found them on the roof of the nearby Bundespressekonferenz e.V building. Landing the helicopter was out of the question; after the rope ladder was thrown down, Ajeet climbed up. Hazaar was hot on his heels.

"Let's get you home—to your mutter." Stefan said. He gestured for Hazaar to sit next to Ajeet then he turned to the pilot. "Hans, get us to the air—"

The pilot, a young buck named Hans Seiderman, came close to losing control of the helicopter. He hadn't expected for another to get into the helicopter and he had definitely not expected for the one who climbed into the helicopter to be so hostile. The alien, who had light blue skin and large, bright silver, oval-shaped eyes, leaped into the helicopter then ran in the direction of the youngster that was heading towards the vacant seats that were on the right side of the vehicle. Ajeet removed his pistol then rushed forward; he was promptly knocked out by a good left-hook a second later. Stefan grabbed the pistol that flew out of Ajeet's hand then lunged towards Hazaar, who had become frozen in place. Stefan grabbed Hazaar by the shoulders, then held the weapon at the alien, who showed no regard towards the weapon at all. A stiff jab from the alien sent the president flying in the direction of the helicopter's tail; Hazaar went with him. A loud bong was heard a second later. Hans presumed that either the kid or Stefan had hit something hard. Hans was in the process of taking his own military issue pistol out from its holster when the alien turned its attention towards him.

"If you value your life, you'll keep this bird in the air!" the alien snarled at him.

Hans decided to not fire his weapon; he held his hands up for just a second, to show that he had nothing in them, then he placed them back on the helicopter's cyclic stick and collective throttle. The alien nodded its head then went towards the vehicle's back—Hans watched from the little mirror that was hanging from the cockpit's roof as the alien started searching the vehicle's back. The creature threw certain things to the side; it looked like it was looking for something or, quite possibly, someone. Hans, on instinct, steered the helicopter that he was driving to the right, then flew it to the north. Towards the shield that was over the town of Hohen Neuendorf, that was to the north-west of Berlin.

"Hazaar?" the alien said as Hans upped the speed of the helicopter, going from twenty-five miles an hour to fifty, then slowly increasing it to seventy-five, then to a hundred. "Hazaar? Baby? Hazaar?"

TazirVile knew that the vessel that he was in was being driven off to some unknown location but, at the moment, he was too enthused in trying to retrieve his son. The man who was holding his son hostage was in the same part of the vehicle as he—he didn't care if he came across him or not; right now, his only concern was in finding and then retrieving his son, who he accidentally hit.

He threw four, red-colored canisters, that housed a liquid that he thought was gasoline, to the side, then he grabbed and then threw two folding chairs to the side. His eyes searched the back of the vessel frantically; not missing an inch, trying to see everything at once. He had just tossed the fifth canister of liquid to the side when he saw a pair of legs, that were clothed in dark blue pant legs. He went to the pair of legs quickly. There were a few items on the pair of legs; he quickly discarded them before dropping nearly out of view after seeing that they belonged to his son.

The left side of his son's head was bleeding—the wound wasn't deep; it was no more than a scratch, which was a relief to him. After finding his son, he dug him out from the items that fell on him. After digging his son out from under all the stuff that was on him—blankets, medical containers, ammunition, weapons, folding chairs and empty, semi-full, and full canisters of fluid, and the such—he picked him up. He held him close before standing up; he carried Hazaar to the front of the helicopter then turned towards the vessel's pilot, who was steadily driving the vehicle far from the location that he was hovering over a minute or so ago.

"Land!" he said strongly.

"I can't, sir!" the pilot, who looked rather young, said back.

"If you know what's good for you you'll do as I tell you in landing this bird and now!"

"I can't just land her, sir! There's certain protocols that I—"

"Get this thing near the roof of a building then! Don't try anything funny now—I wield enough power to blast you and this vessel to the next bloody millennium." he warned the pilot, who's face went a degree paler at his words.

There were no flat-roofed buildings near them, so Hans was forced to fly around for a bit. As he searched for a building that suited his unwanted passenger's request, he noticed movement in the back of the vehicle. He held his breath as his country's president stood and then rushed forward. His country's president was heavier bodied than the alien—Hans automatically knew what was going to happen before it actually happened.

The president, who, prior to becoming Germany's president, spent twenty years as an Air Force Pilot, had taken time out to strap a harness around himself after regaining consciousness. The cord that was trailing out from the harness's back was thick. Strong. Durable. It'd suit the man well. The president rushed forward after standing up. The alien had no time to react; he howled in surprise then he, and the youngster that he was holding, flew out of the helicopter. Hans looked down after the three fell from his helicopter; he saw the alien, who was tumbling frantically as he fell down to Earth, first, then he saw his country's president next.

At first, he didn't see the kid. He went back and forth—from watching the alien fall down to Earth to searching for the kid that the alien was holding. After thirty seconds of searching he found him; President Leinart had the kid by the waist of his dark blue pants. The kid looked to be half-conscious, which was good. Hans drove the helicopter north, he glanced back twice to see his now disposed-of passenger fall down to Earth before concentrating his energies on driving the craft forward. The pink hue of the shield that surrounded the city of Berlin was just starting to come in when he heard a loud scream. Ajeet rushed over to the open side of the helicopter right when the scream was heard; Hans saw, from the corner of his eye, the man grab the cord that was connected to the back of the vest that President Leinart was wearing.

"Taaaaaazzzzzyyyyy!"

His mother's scream was so loud that it nearly masked the sound of his landing. The human that rushed at him—that knocked him and his son out of the whirlybird—had come out of nowhere. He hadn't expected for any of the humans that were in the vessel to attack him and he had definitely not expected for one of the humans that he knocked out to come to so quickly. As he tumbled through air, going head over heels, he remembered hearing his mother's request of his letting her into the shield that was around the city through his communicator earlier. He was so preoccupied with climbing the ladder, and then disposing the humans, and then finding his son, that he hadn't been able to answer her call. She was still on the other side of the shield, which, at the moment, he was grateful for. He didn't want her to be involved in what was going on. He didn't want her to get hurt and he didn't want her to slow him down either.

While he wasn't biased on sex, he did think that women had no place or right to be involved in missions like the one that he and his young son were currently involved in.

He slid quite a ways after striking the asphalt; the flesh on his left arm and thigh was scraped away after impact. He groaned painfully then went still. He became stunned; the few, precious seconds that he had in getting up and then back in with trying to reclaim his son as his were taken up by his trying to regain his senses and his breath. His military Goblins, sixteen in all, circled him at once; they became like Pigeons. Pecking at him. Checking him for injuries. Asking if he was okay. He sped his recovery by simply sitting up then, after thirty seconds went by, he stood up. He wobbled in place for ten seconds before stumbling forward; his eyes locked on his son, who was dangling from the arm of the human who dared to knock them out from the flying machine that was currently being driven from him. After he saw his son move he got in position. He took two walking steps forward then bolted; his arms swung back, a small ball of acid formed in his hands while he ran. His Goblins ran on after him—some begged him to stop, others said nothing at all.

His mother screamed for him to stop. To not hurt himself. To save his strength. He twirled twice, after the small acid ball grew in size, going from the size of a small golf ball to the size of a large beach ball, then he threw his arms forward. The Acid Bomb that he just released flew through the air quickly; it exploded in a brilliant glare of yellow and red after it slammed into the tail portion of the helicopter a few seconds later.

"What the hell was that?" Stefan yelled.

"Acid Bomb! Mr. Leinart—my father shot an Acid Bomb at us!" Hazaar yelled back.

"Get us as close to the ground as you can!" Ajeet yelled at the pilot.

"I can't! I have no maneuverability! No rotors—I have no control!" Hans Seiderman yelled back.

Ajeet repelled down the cord at the same time that the pilot abandoned the cockpit. Hazaar grabbed Stefan by the foot at the same time that the cord severed from the vessel; Hans barely had time to grab the end of the cord before it disappeared out of the vehicle. The helicopter fishtailed in the air for all of four seconds before crashing—right into the shield that it was close to.

Stefan landed hard. He bounced twice, then did a series of somersaults, before coming to a rest against the trunk of a fallen tree. Ajeet landed in a patch of grass; the grass scraped the flesh of his chin and forehead back. Hans Seiderman landed on his side, he slid a ways before coming to a stop near a gravel path. Hazaar landed nearly fifty yards away; the thorny bushes that he landed in cushioned his fall nicely. Stefan had a bird's eye view of the shield exploding in three places. The shield's base went up in a plume of red, while the middle and top exploded in a brilliant glow of pink, orange, and yellow. Terror struck deep within his heart after the shield dissipated. It just left. Disappeared. One second there, the next gone.

"Oh no!" he yelled as he got to his feet. "The shield! Master Vile!"

"Fuck the shield!" Ajeet, who was twenty yards away, yelled. "We all here? Stefan—I see you. Where's the kid? The pilot?"

It took them a little while to regroup, and then figure out the area that they crashed-landed at. Tegeler Forst was an old park. The documents only went back but so far on it; the earliest known record of the park was dated for July 1985. The section of the park that they crash-landed at was next to the Tegeler sea; wild pigs and other game animals gave them a casual glance or two as they worked their situation out. Hazaar, who was now sporting a busted bottom lip, wished that things could of been different, because the wild game gave him the sudden want to hunt. If his father wasn't chasing him, and his now-three companions, he'd be hunting. He might of brought down a boar or a deer or something for his family. A mother boar and her four piglets ambled by, while a Red deer doe grazed quietly in the distance. A Moose, that sported a rather impressive set of antlers, looked at the group stupidly for a while before moving on.

Hans Seiderman had the worst wound of the bunch—a badly broken arm, that Ajeet quickly mended. Stefan had a few nicks and cuts to his face, arms, legs, and neck. Ajeet discovered that he had two broken fingers and a deep gash to his inner thigh. Other than his lip being split, Hazaar had a bunch of thorns in him—all of which were removed by Ajeet—and he also had two deep cuts to his left arm and cheek.

Except for the general noting of their injuries, and of the animals around them, they were left alone to do as they wished. The oddly colored, green Eagle was seen perched atop a nearby tree when they started towards the still-present shield, that was around the town of Hennigsdorf, that was in the neighboring state of Brandenburg, that was a mile to a mile and a half away from them. They commented on the bird while on the walk then they snapped their mouths shut, after hearing two feminine voices—one older and seemingly wiser than the other—call out for some person called "Tazzy". Ajeet's already tired muscles went taut after the two feminine voices were joined by the familiar, gravelly-sounding voice of the alien that was obviously still after them. While Hazaar didn't huddle up next to Stefan, he did walk close to him. The youngster's limp had gotten worse. He was having a difficult time walking, so Ajeet automatically knew that running would be next to impossible for him.

"People in camp are going crazy, Tazzy." the one who had the younger-sounding, feminine voice said. "They're all wondering what's going on."

"They'll find out soon enough." the one that the young-sounding, feminine voice had addressed as Tazzy responded.

"Eldass's hand was treated—the wound was bad, but the table fixed it up like new." the one who had the older-sounding, feminine voice said. "He wanted to return to your side—to aid you in retrieving Hazaar. Your brothers had to grab and then hold him down to prevent him from leaving camp."

"Stepper's probably either on his way to Zeta Ren or just now getting down from the table—he could barely walk and he was having a real hard time breathing!" the one who had the younger-sounding, feminine voice said.

"I suspect he's got a broken rib or two—one of the humans that's with Hazaar shot him." Tazzy replied. "There were two wounds on him—the entry and the exit; one on his front with the other on his back."

"I hope that's the only thing ailing him." the female being that had the older-sounding, feminine voice said. She sounded right concerned. "He wasn't able to react to his monocle being removed. He said that an Eagle took it, is that true?"

"Can't clarify on the Eagle—I wasn't there when he was shot, sad to say." Tazzy replied. "The shock from being shot, coupled by the pain that he experienced after being shot, probably over-shadowed the pain from his eye being exposed to the sun."

"You'll probably be bed-ridden for a few days after this." the one who had the younger-sounding voice said. "Look right tired and sore as is."

"All of my aches and pains are worth it." Tazzy said back.

They walked along, being careful with each step. Being careful to not step on a branch or a leaf or anything else that'd give them away. None of them said a thing to one another. The aliens' whereabouts were known; they were talking, and giving their location away while doing so. They hoped to do the opposite. To steal by unnoticed.

The oddly colored Eagle hopped from tree top to tree top as they walked along; Hazaar noticed that it seemed to be watching them—its pretty head was moving, following them as they walked along. The other animals—the boar, the deer, and the moose—had left the area; the Eagle was the only animal in the area. Again, Hazaar felt a sense of comfort fall over him; the bird was a familiar sight, something he saw on several occasions during the chase through northern Berlin, and it also helped him and Mr. Ballal get away by attacking his grandfather.

They traveled for nearly half a mile, going through densely covered forest or heavily overgrown grassland, before being seen. The alien, that Stefan automatically remembered as the one that he shot in October, saw them; she screamed for "Tazzy" before running at them. The older female alien, who had dark blue skin, and who wore a long sleeve, purple dress, charged out from the dense forest a second later. The male alien, the one that Ajeet and Hazaar knew all too well, passed by the two female aliens quickly. He shot wads of liquid, then yellow-colored flaming balls, at their backsides as they ran across the marshland that was in front of the shield that was over the town of Hennigsdorf. One of the fireballs struck Hans on the arm; as he ran along, he patted the flames that spread across his arm out. Another fireball hit Ajeet on his exposed back; he hissed his pain, but refused to slow down or stop. The fireball that hit Stefan on the back of the leg was put out by a splash of water while the fireball that hit Hazaar on the shoulder made him fall to his knees. Stefan grabbed Hazaar by the shoulders after he fell then carried him along. The water behind him splashed; one of the aliens was practically breathing down his neck and he was sure that he'd have to fight physically in a few seconds. He was just bracing himself for the brawl when something amazing, yet totally unexpected, happened.

The Eagle suddenly took flight; it flew up high before swooping in low. Hans turned just in time to see the precise hit of the Eagle's talons against the closer of the three aliens' scalp. The alien howled, then continued chasing them. The Eagle came down twice more. It slashed at the alien's head and shoulders before flying off again. The bird's actions caused the aliens—all three of them—to slow up. Stefan, Ajeet, Hazaar, and Hans Seiderman ran freely for a little while; they were able to slow up some before having to churn up the heat again. The Goblins, all sixteen of them, shot their guns at them twice before dropping their weapons—per request of the light blue alien, who was now dealing with the Eagle that was trying to make-off with the pair of glasses that he was wearing.

Stefan tripped over an above-ground protruding root just before reaching the shield a little under thirty seconds later; he went down hard, while Hazaar went flying towards the shield. Pain roared through Stefan's right ankle as he stood up. He finished his run towards the shield on one foot; he practically collapsed after entering the shield's safety. Ajeet did the same thing, while Hans leaned against a tree. Hazaar crawled into the shield slowly, then turned back to look at what was going on outside of the shield.

"Where's the bird?" Hazaar asked. "Mr. Leinart—the Eagle! Where—"

"Right there," Hans said. He pointed at the bird, which was no longer airborne. The bird had sustained some sort of injury to its wing; it was running along on its legs. Its left wing was being dragged behind it.

"Poor bird," Stefan said. "Always like Eagles; they're courageous."

The Goblins—or Trolls, as Stefan, Ajeet, and Hans called them—arranged themselves before the shield. They were just starting forward when a whistle was sounded behind them. The light blue-skinned alien, who was now sporting some rather nasty wounds to his face and neck, walked up slowly. He gave his head a shake, then said something that none of them understood; the Goblins looked at the shield for a few seconds before nodding their heads. While the Goblins remained by the shield, they didn't go in. The light blue-skinned alien that was the Goblins' leader went to the other two aliens that were standing to the side; the guy spoke to his two companions for a few minutes before nodding his head. While Stefan knew the alien had accepted defeat, had given up the chase, he really wasn't expecting for the alien to act so hostily towards the Eagle that was slowly making its way towards the shield.

"Stupid bird!" the alien growled. Stefan made a noise after the alien sweeped his foot forward. The bird, a unique, yet oddly colored one, was thrown forward after the alien kicked it. It got up after being kicked then resumed its trek to the shield.

"Tazzy!" the dark blue-skinned, female alien, who was wearing the long sleeved, purple dress, exclaimed.

"Persistent bird," Hans said three minutes later, after the bird entered the shield.

"Persistent because it knows that this side of the shield is safe." Ajeet said.

Hazaar got to his feet at the same time that a green glow showered over him and his human companions. Stefan's hazel-colored eyes went wide as the bird grew in size, while Ajeet came close to fainting. Hans stood with his mouth agape. The Goblins and the three aliens that were on the other side of the shield reacted similarly. Stefan's orange-brown hair, which was in desperate need of care, thanks to all the dirt, mud, and sweat that caked it, was swept back by an energized breeze for all of two minutes before settling back against the sides of his face. The light blue-skinned alien's O-shaped mouth dropped in shock as Lhakar vacated the place that he had formerly occupied as a large bird of prey. Lhaklar took two steps forward before collapsing; Hazaar rushed forward at once. He hugged his brother at the same time that their grandmother started chiding their father.

"Long time no see, Bro. Watch the arm and the ass, please. Don't know which one hurts more." Lhaklar said.

"I should of known!" Hazaar exclaimed. "Green! Anything that you transform into is green!"

"Didja think I just up and ran off without wondering or worrying about ya?" Lhaklar asked.

"Where'd you go?" Hazaar asked as he helped his brother to his feet.

"Gave the "Trolls" the slip near the Spree river. I undid the spell that the old man put on me then I turned into a fish—they never knew the difference." Lhaklar replied.

"The Eagle that we've been seeing on and off for the last forty-five minutes was you?" Ajeet asked.

"Yep and let me tell you something—I had a good time with my Bird's Eye View of everything that happened between you four and my famous old man." Lhaklar replied. Hazaar and Stefan chuckled at his words. "My Eagle Vision saw everything—even the nice panties worn by the Berlin ladies. Speaking of which—any of you wanting to hook me up with a good-looking nurse? Tall, with blonde hair and blue or green eyes, please."

"What happened to your arm?" Hans asked. He was having a hard time keeping himself from laughing.

"The old man grabbed it." Lhaklar replied. "Was in the process of trying to take his glasses when he reached up—he just grabbed and then gave it a great big ol' tug."

"Trying to get a souvenir at the last second?" Hazaar asked. He fought the urge to elbow his brother in the ribs.

"Nope—already have one." Lhaklar held the goggled monocle, that had the gold chain on one of its sides, up. "Courtesy of Granddad Cheshire."

"Let's get you two in a vehicle then on the way home—there's a six-hour drive between here and Elchesheim-Illingen." Stefan said as he wrapped his arm around Lhaklar's middle. "Maybe on the way there, we'll stop for a bite to eat, and a "nurse-visit"."

"Sounds good on both to me." Lhaklar said.