Hello Neighbor: Into The Basement Chapter 8: Finding A Way In, a hello neighbor fanfic

"Wow, that was a fun episode! Didn't think I'd enjoy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles this much. Thanks for showing me it, Jeffrey!"

"No problem, man. It's my pleasure to show you some of my favorite shows. Which turtle is your favorite?"

"Michelangelo! He's awesome!"

"Really? That's your pick? Come on, everyone likes Michelangelo."

"Well, why wouldn't people like him? He's pretty much the best character!"

It was another day in Hortonville. Today, Jeffrey had come over and offered to show Jake a new show, which Jeffrey had apparently watched very delightedly when he was younger. Jake was skeptical at first, but Jeffrey had just shown him an episode of the show, and now his outlook on the show as much brighter. He felt glad he had a friend around to do things like this with him; it would have been very lonely being by himself in Hortonville, since the town was general quiet, and the residents never left their houses.

Right now, the two of them were sitting on the couch in the living room, giving their thoughts on the characters of the show.

"I mean, I could see why you like him, but I always liked Donatello more." Jeffrey continued, speaking his mind on the show. "He's a smart guy, you know? And he's an inventor, too. You'd want to have a guy like him around."

"Yeah, I guess so. He's kind of weird, though. Then again, all of the turtles are weird. But, you know who's the weirdest one? Raphael."

"Oh, yeah, he is kind of weird himself. But I'd say he's weird in a good way. He may be sarcastic and temperamental, but he's pretty tough, too."

"Huh, now that you mention that, he's kind of cool."

"Mmm...you know what, though? I think we've watched enough tv for now. We should do something else."

"Sounds fine. Let me turn the tv off."

Jake grabbed the tv remote, which had been sitting on the arm of the couch, and snapped the tv off.

"Alright!" Jeffrey said, and then he stood up, clapped his hands, and rubbed them together. "So, what should we do today? I'm up for whatever."

"Well...do you think we should go for a walk? Maybe go out, admire the countryside, and get some fresh air?"

"That does sound good...but I'm not sure we should do that. It's not really safe to be outdoors, what with the neighbor keeping this town under threat of kidnapping all day, every day."

"That is true, but...speaking of the neighbor...oh! I know! Let's have another go at entering the neighbor's house."

"Oh! Well, uh, I was actually thinking the same thing! We should try again. And, if all goes according to plan, things might turn out great."

"Exactly! With any luck, the neighbor will leave his house and we'll be able to search the place without problems."

"Let's hope we're that lucky. Now, let's look out the window and get a view of the house. We'll be able to make a new plan from there."

"Right. By the way, where's Jo-Jo?"

"He's in your room again. You don't mind him sleeping on your bed, do you?"

"Oh, that's all? Yeah, I'm not concerned. He's probably tired and hasn't had a decent nap since he was freed from the neighbor's clutches."

"He did seem pretty happy when I saw him...but, since he's safe, we can leave him alone for now. Let's just continue with our plan."

They headed over to the front window in the living room, looking out at the neighbor's house, still standing there at the other side of the street. Coincidentally, as soon as they came up, the front door of the house opened, and the neighbor came out, closing the door behind him. Jake, wanting to hear what the neighbor was going to say, opened the window a crack as he had become accustomed to doing.

"Yet another mediocre day." The neighbor grunted. "At least the sun's out in the sky today. No clouds, either. Now, what to do today? Perhaps I might be able to go on a run around town and clear my head. Just got the fence upgraded yesterday, so the house should be safe."

Jake paused. Upgraded? His mind wondered. He looked over at the fence, and, for the first time, noticed that the fence had been changed yet again: the fence had been reconstructed into rigid, hard stone this time around, with tiny holes in it so the neighbor could look through it.

"Yes, this fence will do. And the other things I've added should keep the house secure." The neighbor assessed as he walked out onto his front lawn. "Now those dumb rabbits AND those stupid teens won't be able to get inside. This ought to be a good day for once."

The neighbor headed out the front gate, closing it behind him. He jumped across the moat, and, surprisingly, made it all the way across without falling in. Then, as he stepped out onto the sidewalk, he looked up and down the street, then, once he seemed satisfied, turned and ran down the street, in the same direction he always did when he ran: to the left.

Jake watched for a moment, making sure the neighbor had ran far enough away so that he was nowhere near the house, then he grinned and said: "Alright, he's gone! This is the perfect time to get into the house and search for what we need!"

"Huh, so all he did to keep us out was add thicker walls?" Jeffrey pondered. "I expected him to take more security measures than just that."

Jake shrugged. "Maybe he thought the fence would be enough? I'm not sure, but at least it won't make this too much harder. Let's go."

They headed out of the living room, into the foyer, and out the front door, just as they always did. After a quick walk across the front lawn and then across the street itself, Jake and Jeffrey got across the moat and right up to the gate. Jake grabbed the handle of the gate and pulled. It opened easily.

"Oh. It's unlocked." Jeffrey voiced, sounding surprised that things had been going so easily so far. "I guess he forget to lock his front gate again."

"Yeah, I figured he'd start learning to lock his ga-" Jake started to say as he and Jeffrey entered the front yard of the neighbor's house, but he stopped short as he noticed something peculiar: Right at the front porch area of the neighbor's house, there were two black cameras situated onto the wall on either side of the door. "Wait...are those?"

"UNRECOGNIZED VOICE DETECTED. ACTIVATING."

And, before he could talk anymore, the cameras turned and pointed directly at the two of them. Red lights flickered to life on the side of the camera, and a loud beeping noise started to sound over and over, startling Jake and Jeffrey.

"INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT."

"Wait...cameras?! Damn, the neighbor must've installed them!" Jeffrey cursed. "Now he's bound to know that we're here!"

"We're toast!" Jake exclaimed. "We need to hurry and leave before-"

"Oh, I don't think you're going anywhere."

Jake whirled around: the gate had been thrown open, and the neighbor was standing there, grinning evilly and clutching his fists. Jake's mind nearly blew up with the befuddlement it felt seeing the neighbor there; how had he gotten there so quickly?! The cameras had only noticed them seconds ago!

"Well, hello again, you twits." The neighbor growled. "Now, what do you think you're doing near my house?"

"Uh...we wanted to ask to borrow a cup of sugar?" Jake joked weakly.

The neighbor didn't laugh. "I can see right through your lies. I'm not stupid, you know. I know exactly why you're here: you two want to raid my house again, don't you? I knew you couldn't resist coming over. I even purposefully unlocked the front gate so you'd fall right into my trap, and I wasn't disappointed. Now...it's time for you two to pay. Again. Get on over here and don't resist, and I might just make this easier for y-"

"NEVER!" Jeffrey suddenly shouted, and he tackled the neighbor, who stumbled a bit but did not fall. The two of them began to wrestle in each other's grips. "Jake! I can't hold him for long! Hurry and run!"

"But-!" Jake protested, but before he could argue, things turned bad fast; Jeffrey had only had the element of surprise on his side, and now that the neighbor was back on proper footing, he didn't stand a chance. The neighbor reared back and punched Jeffrey across the face. Jeffrey yelled out, fell roughly onto the grass, and was out cold. "No! Jeffrey-MMPH!"

The neighbor had ran over to Jake faster than Jake could even process, and now the neighbor was holding Jake in his grip, covering his mouth. Jake struggled to breath, thrashed a bit in an attempt to escape, but it was no use.

"How pathetic." The neighbor chuckled. "Your friend was ready to distract me to try and let you escape...but you were too helpless to get away. Tragic, isn't it? But, enough of that. It's time to say goodnight."

Jake continued to struggle, to try and fight, to try and resist, but now that the neighbor had him where he wanted him, there was nothing he could do.

And things were getting darker...darker...darker...darker...

"AAAAAH!" Jake screamed, suddenly coming awake.

He was back home, sitting on the very same couch that he had been sitting on earlier. The tv was on, blaring with the sounds and visuals of another episode of that same show Jeffrey had shown Jake earlier.

Jake, feeling a bit groggy, looked to his left. Jeffrey was sitting on the couch with him, tiredly watching the tv, staring ahead blankly.

"Jeffrey?" Jake mumbled.

"Mmm?" Jeffrey whispered, and then he looked over. "Oh, hey. You're awake."

"Awake? I...wasn't awake before?"

"Don't you remember? The neighbor knocked us out. We're back home."

"Oh...oh...oh, that's right. That did happen to us."

"Yep."

"So, uh...what are you watching?" Jake said this even know he already knew the answer, but his mind was too busy trying to recover to care.

"More TNMT. I figured I'd do something to take my mind off of...what just happened."

"And...you didn't wake me up so I could watch the episodes too?"

"I tried too, but you were pretty conked out. Not much I could do except wait for you to wake up on your own."

"Oh. And he put us here on the couch?"

"Yeah, and we're lucky he was in a good enough mood to do that. He could've thrown us out onto the dirty street instead."

"...yeah. Hey, uh...thanks for trying to provide a distraction back there, but I was too slow. And the door was unlocked and everything! I should have been able to make it, but...I didn't. Sorry for making your efforts to save me be for no reason..."

"It's alright, it's alright. Sometimes, we can't react fast enough. It's happened to me before, and now it's happened to you, too. We've just got to learn from our mistakes and move on. And, speaking of that...I think we should try again."

"Try again? At what?"

"What do you think? Getting into the neighbor's house."

"Oh...I'm up for that, actually. The neighbor knocking us out didn't feel too good, but I don't think I'm down and out yet. Yeah, I guess we can give it another try."

"Great. Get up whenever you're ready, and we can make another plan."

Jake didn't waste any time sitting there. He didn't feel particularly tired yet, and the initial grogginess of waking up had already faded. He felt like he was ready to give things another go and see if he could fix the mistakes of the first plan.

Both he and Jeffrey stood up and made their way back over to the front window of the living room, looking out at the neighbor's house for the second time.

"Okay, so it's pretty much clear that the front way is a no-go." Jake decided. "He seems to be expecting us to keep going that way."

"Right, he did seem that way. And if we're going to get in there and find a way into the basement, we'll need to be sneakier than just barging through the front door."

"Then I think we should go around and see if there's a side or back entrance we can take. We might be able to get in without detection if we take that route."

"Good idea. Let's go and do this again."

After trekking the same distance they had last time, the two of them went to the right of the house and started to sneak around the side. Based on what Jake could see as he looked at the fence from the area they were at, there was good news and bad news. The good thing was that the fortified stone addition to the fence was only added to the front of the house, and the rest of the fence was still wooden. However, the bad thing was that the moat didn't only stretch in front of the front of the fence, but also the sides and back of the fence too.

"I've got an idea." Jeffrey voiced as they looked at the fence. "See those trees on the sides of the fence? I think we can climb them to get over the fence."

Jake looked and saw that this was true: there were several trees next to the fence, and Jake noticed that, although they were in the moat, the neighbor had dug the moat around the soil where the trees were, allowing the trees to stay in the exact same spot.

"You're right." Jake agreed. "Let me give it a try. If this works, I'll head in first, and you follow behind me. Got it?"

"Understood. Go on."

Jake walked over, waded through the moat again, and made it over to the tree. Placing his hands and feet around it, he began to climb up it; it was a hard process, but thankfully, Jake was experienced with this. Back in his old home, he had liked to climb trees with the neighborhood kids in his free time, and he was quite experienced doing it. With this ability in place, Jake managed to climb up higher and higher, until he was up to a branch of the tree that he noticed was hanging over the fence. Carefully crawling along it, he made his way to the edge of the branch, braced himself, and jumped down to the side of the neighbor's house.

Jake grinned; he had done it! He was past the neighbor's fence! The branch he had climbed across had broken in the process, but he had made it!

"Jeffrey, I did it! It worked!" He began to shout excitedly, but before he could even celebrate, he was interrupted by a familiar robotic voice:

"MOTION DETECTED. UNRECOGNIZED VOICE DETECTED. ACTIVATING."

And then, Jake saw it, yet another black camera, put on the side of the house, and looking down on him. The red light was on, and the loud beeping was back.

"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS JAKE ANDERSON! INTRUDER ALERT!"

"Here, too?!" Jake exclaimed. "Dang it! I need to hurry away!" Jake turned around, but he saw that he could not get access to the tree from the other side of the fence. He could not go back the way he came.

"Jake, you need to get away!" Jeffrey urged in a panic. "The tree isn't accessible from where you are! Hurry and run to the exit before-"

And then, Jeffrey froze in shock. Jake froze too, as, behind him, he could hear someone clearing his throat. Jake turned around...and the neighbor was there, sporting the same evil grin and clenched fists from earlier. He looked more devilish this time.

"Ah-HA! So you've already come back again, have you?" He laughed.

"I...what? But...how did you get back here so fast?" Jake stammered.

"I have my ways, you imbecile, I have my ways...but I'm certainly not telling them to you. So, it looks like you've come back here again. What, did you not think I'd put cameras on the sides of my house, too?"

"I..."

"And I could see what those cameras recorded! So you decided to try climbing the trees, eh? And now you've messed one of them up! I was annoyed at first, but now I'm angry. You thought the first time being knocked out was bad? Wait until I make you face the music twice, BOY! But, before you go...any last words?"

"Um...bunnies are kind of...weird?"

"That's all you've got to say? Okay, I'm losing my patience. Go to sleep, little brat!"

"No! Don't!" Jeffrey begged, looking upset. "Don't you even dare try to-"

"You think you can stop me?! Well, you CAN'T! It's curtains for YOU!"

"NO-"

And then, Jake felt the familiarly painful sensation of something as heavy as a brick colliding with his face, before everything went dark once again.

"WAAAUGH!" Jake screamed in fear as he shot up.

For a second, Jake had an extraordinary sense of Deja vu. He was back on the couch in his living room, at the same position as before, with the tv turned on to TNMT and Jeffrey sitting there, staring at it and silently watching it, just as he had been last time. Then Jake came to his senses: the episode displayed on tv was different footage than the one he had seen the last time he had been in this scenario.

"Are you up, sleepyhead?" This time, it was Jeffrey who spoke first as he turned to face Jake. He looked twice as tired then he the last time he had been sitting there to address Jake, even though Jake knew that Jeffrey probably hadn't been knocked out the second time. "I hope you're alright. That looked like it really hurt."

"Oh...we're back here again. And I see you're watching the show without me again?"

"Same answer as last time, Jake."

"Right, right. Man, that went worse than the last plan did."

"Yeah, tell me about it. It was pretty awful, and...and...I guess I'm the one apologizing this time, huh?" He gave a dry chuckle. "Sorry about you being left to deal with the neighbor there. I tried to stop him, but I was too late. He went and knocked out out, then threw you over the fence to me. He told me to scram after he did. Then I carried you home and let you rest again. I didn't get to tell you this until now, but...I feel horrible. I keep saying how I'm going to save people, but I couldn't even save you. I-"

"I'm not mad, okay, Jeffrey? The neighbor is too quick for the both of us, you wouldn't have been able to do anything without getting yourself knocked out too. I'd rather he gets one of us than both of us, so I'm happy you got away safely that time. Let's just move on, okay?"

"Wow, you're...not mad? Well, then, I...okay, let's move on. And next time, I'll make sure to get you out of danger, alright?"

"Me too. We'll both give it a good try."

"Speaking of tries...can we give the whole 'invading the neighbor's house' thing one more try? I still don't feel like quitting yet."

"You know, I don't either. Besides, we still haven't tried every way yet! We tried the front and the side, but what about the back? Maybe the back way won't have any cameras!"

"It's worth a shot! Let's go out there and give this one more try!"

For the third time that day, the two of them trekked the route over to the neighbor's house. This time, they went around the left side of the house instead of the right, and they managed to make it to the back of the fence surrounding the house without being spotted; there weren't any cameras in the vicinity, as far as Jake could tell.

Thankfully, at the back of the fence, there were more trees that were available to climb.

"Alright, we can climb the trees over at this area of the fence, too. Now we can definitely get in." Jake mentioned, nodding. From where he was standing, he could also see the ladder on the back of the house surrounded by the metal enclosure. The metal door was ajar this time. "And look! The ladder to the roof is open! We can get to the second floor and work from there!"

"Sweet, this sounds like it might work this time." Jeffrey told Jake, grinning. "If we go from the roof, the neighbor might not know that we're in the house. Let's give this a go!"

So they did. They climbed up one the trees in the backyard. Jake went first again, and once he got to the top, he helped Jeffrey climb up too. Then both of them jumped, made it over the fence, and dropped down into the backyard.

"Alright, I think we're in the clear." Jeffrey said.

"Great!" Jake celebrated, and he strolled across the yard, over to the metal enclosure, and reached out to open the metal door. And then-

"UNFAMILIAR VOICE DETECTED. ACTIVATING."

Jake froze in place with his hand on the handle of the metal door, and slowly, he turned to the left. On the back wall of the house...was yet another black camera. And, as soon as Jake and the camera's eyes met, the red light came on and the beeping returned.

"INTRUDER ALERT. THE TWO INTRUDERS ARE BACK AGAIN. INTRUDER ALERT."

Jake facepalmed. "There's a camera back here, too."

Jeffrey sighed. "I should have known there'd be one watching the backyard, too. Dang it! What do we do now?"

"You should say cheese, you brats, and show some respect."

"AAAH!" Jake and Jeffrey yelled out and whipped around. The neighbor was standing right behind them. Before either of them could run, the neighbor reached over and grabbed both of them by the collars, holding them in place.

"We meet again, nuisances, we meet again. Back for the third time, eh? Figured you could avoid my cameras? Get caught once, shame on you. Get caught twice, still shame on you. Get caught three times, and then you're just pathetic."

"Funny meeting you here." Jake forced himself to say sarcastically, gritting his teeth. "You get here so fast, don't you?'

"Oh, yes, I think being there when intruders dare to break into my house is the most IMPORTANT part. Comes in handy when you need to stop any...interlopers. Now...are you two little imbeciles ready to do this song and dance a third time? I don't care how many times I need to knock you out, you know. The worse I can make your day, the better my own day gets!"

"Alright, enough of these stupid games!" Jeffrey spoke up, taking on a brave tone of voice. "What did you do with those missing people?! Where are you keeping them?!"

The neighbor let out a laugh. "So THAT'S why you're so interested in me? Well, don't you worry your head, fool. They're under my care...and they're not leaving, even if they wanted to! They all tried to get rid of me, one by one, one after another. They asked to be dealt with once they trifled with me, and now they're reaping their eternal reward!"

"How can you say that?! They're innocent! They only bothered you because of the awful state you've put this once-peaceful town in! Everything was great until you came here, messed with this place, and caused everyone to be suspicious of you! You brought this upon yourself!"

"Brought this on myself?! Oh, no, no, you've got it all wrong. It's THEM who brought this on themselves! I run this town now, and nobody has any say in it. They stepped out of line, out of the boundaries I set, and tried to bother with me and my building! But now they've paid the price they set upon their little heads, and now they can't step out of line anymore. And now that this town is in my grip, not a single person is ever going to step out of line again! This is for the best!

"And, as for those that question my authority, be warned: my secrets and belongings are not yours to investigate. Learn to leave me alone, and your life will end up being much more pleasant! But..."

And then he threw them to the ground. Jake winced as he hit the grass with roughly, not having had the time to stick the landing to make it less painful.

Then, the neighbor raised his fist. He was no longer smiling or enjoying the moment; his concealed fury had come out of hiding, and now he looked ready to riot. "...as long as you dare to keep coming here, to keep bothering me...then I'll make sure you'll never have a peaceful life ever again! Now, let this be a reminder to you...to STAY OUT!"

He moved with a swift motion, and his fist came down, and then Jake could feel unconsciousness pulling him down, deeper and deeper, until he could not think anymore...

"NOOOO!" Jake called out in protest, and as he sat up, he raised his own fist, ready to counterattack.

But the need to fight back had already passed. He was, for the third time that entire day, back on his couch, in the living room, with the tv on, and Jeffrey sitting there, watching it intently.

"Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me!" Jake groaned. This time, he wasn't tired nor was he groggy. The only thing he felt was annoyed. Three times, now it had gotten to three times that the neighbor had caught them in the act. Jake was beginning to get sick of being knocked out; usually, it only happened once or sometimes twice a day, but now it had happened three successive times within less than 24 hours, which was definitely not a record that Jake had been hoping to break anytime that day, or at all.

"I know, it's getting pretty dumb at this point." Jeffrey chimed in, shaking his head. "This is probably the most unlucky streak we've ever had while trying to break into the house."

"Yeah, and I'm over with this! And that neighbor...he thinks it's the RESIDENTS' faults that they got kidnapped?! That's what he thinks?! Ugh, he makes me so angry! We're going right back over to the neighbor's house and making him pay RIGHT NOW! Turn the tv off!"

"Calm down, Jake, I'm turning it off." Jeffrey held up the remote, which had been in his empty hand, and snapped the tv off. "But, I feel the same way you do, almost. Didn't I tell you he's not a great guy? It just sickens me how much contempt he gives human beings. No way am I going to sit here and let him get away with this."

"Exactly, that's what I thought. Let's go back over there. I know, fourth time's the charm doesn't sound altogether too good, but if we sit here and do nothing, it's like he won! We can't let him win. Now, let's get back to the neighbor's house. I have a plan.

After a few minutes of travelling the way they had came for a fourth time (and Jake was disappointed that he was even thinking this at all), they found themselves back at the area of the fence behind the house, with the backyard waiting beyond. This time, Jake could see the black camera, which seemed to stick to a pattern: activate, look left, look forward, look right, then deactivate for a few minutes. This 'deactivation' period wasn't exactly deactivation, though, because now Jake was aware that this period of not looking around was a trick. The camera would instantly come back on the second it heard any kind of sound, including their footsteps and their voices.

Now that he was aware of this trap, he scoped out the backyard: thankfully, there was only one single camera looking over the backyard, and it focused its attention more on the left side of the backyard, the area where the shed was, then the right, where the back window into the neighbor's bedroom was still waiting, albeit with barricades still attached to it.

Jake wordlessly gestured Jeffrey to follow him. He didn't want to speak in case he ended up triggering the camera, so he made sure to communicate silently with Jeffrey instead. Together, he maneuvered over to a tree by the fence that was close to the right-most part of the backyard.

Okay, so if we enter by climbing through this tree, we might be able to sneak over to the back window without the camera seeing us. Jake planned out in his thoughts. Doubts were present in his mind, of course, but he was confident that the plan was the best chance they had of getting inside.

He tapped Jeffrey's shoulder, then pointed at the tree, the backyard, the camera, made a gesture as if his fingers were walking through the backyard, and then pointed at the window. Jeffrey took a look at each thing Jake had pointed at individually, then nodded, seeming to understand what Jake wanted to do.

With both of them in on the plan, they had no reason to delay their arrival, so they sprang into action. Jake climbed the tree he had focused on, helped Jeffrey climb up too, and then both of them dropped into the backyard, specifically at the very corner of the right-most part of it. Then, they crept across the yard, sticking to the wall of the fence, and made their way over to the window.

Jake climbed up the ladder that was still there and went up to the window, where he then ripped off the barricades. It only took seconds to do so this time, because the barricades had been hammered in with much less effort than the first time they had been placed. This came as odd to Jake, considering that the neighbor had the foresight to install cameras and an upgraded front fence, but then missed the chance to install stronger barricades.

So he climbed through the window and dropped into the bedroom, Jeffrey following right behind him. However, as soon as they entered, Jeffrey's eyes widened and he pointed into the room. Jake looked, and then quickly moved behind a small wall that was between the area of the room where the person entered and the area with most of the furniture, including the bed.

The neighbor was already in the room. He was sitting lazily on his own couch, his arms hanging around the backrest, and looking at the tv across the room from him as it buzzed with the sounds of what seemed to be a comedy show. An annoying laugh-track was playing repeatedly, going over and over, and coming back almost every ten seconds. It was getting overused within moments, and Jake was already starting to wish he hadn't come in the way he did, but the neighbor, for some reason, didn't seem affected. He didn't look as if he was enjoying the laugh-track, either, but based on his facial expression, Jake assumed that the neighbor was in a middle ground between "this laugh-track is amazing" and "this laugh-track is horrible".

After a minute of this nonsense, the neighbor stood up and walked over to the tv, turning it straight off, and departed from the room without another word. He passed by the wall Jake and Jeffrey were hiding behind as he went, but he was looking the other way and as a result did not see them.

"Phew, he's gone somewhere else." Jake breathed. "I completely forgot he had a tv in here. Good thing he didn't notice us this time."

"We're making progress. Now that we've gotten in, it's time we look around." Jeffrey decided, pointing ahead at the door the neighbor had exited through. "I think we should follow him and see what he's going to do. From there, we can figure out what's next."

"Alright, then lead the way."

Jake followed Jeffrey this time as the two of them left the bedroom.

The neighbor had gone ahead and was nowhere in sight, so they were able to head through the front hallway, pass by the foyer, and end up in the living room without detection.

From there, they peered around the corner. The neighbor was busy working at the kitchen setup nearby the front window of the kitchen, setting down slices of bread and putting many condiments on them. From the looks of things, the neighbor seemed to be in the mood for a ham and turkey sandwich with many extra additions.

"I have an idea." Jeffrey whispered. "Now, this is going to sound crazy, but hear me out."

"Jeffrey, we've failed to infiltrate this house three times already. Nothing you say is going to make me doubt you."

"Let's look in the bathroom and see if we missed anything."

"...okay, that does sound crazy. Why do you want to look in there?"

"We didn't search it thoroughly enough. I feel like there's something in there we didn't see."

"Hmm...that seems like a funny feeling to me, but your funny feelings tend to end up leading to something...fine, you know what? We've got nothing to lose at this point. Let's go over there. Make sure to stay quiet while we sneak past the neighbor."

"Will do, Jake."

Jake nearly thought searching the bathroom would be a fruitless and altogether unnecessary effort, but Jeffrey's sudden urge to look in there was making him reconsider his plan of action. They had only taken a very short and barebones look the first time they went in there, without bothering to examine the details, so maybe this time they'd find something interesting? Jake wasn't sure at all, but he was willing to try.

So they went. They crept through the doorway and headed to the left towards the small hallway leading to where the bathroom could be accessed. The neighbor continued to work at making his lunch and did not bother to look at anything but his main focus at the moment, allowing Jake and Jeffrey to sneak by undetected. So far, their luck was beginning to turn around.

The bathroom door was there, to the right. They opened it and went through. Predictably, the bathroom looked the same as it always did at first glance: a nice and considerably-cared for room with shiny floors and a shower big enough to fit a small crowd.

"We're in. Search around and look for anything suspicious." Jeffrey told Jake as he went into the shower and looked around at it. Meanwhile, Jake looked around the rest of the room. The sink was as ordinary as ever. The towel rack was fit with fresh towels, this time in different colors. The toilet was the same too, of course, as Jake knew there would be no chance of anything special being in there.

However, Jake then spied something that finally caught his interest: a shelf that he had never noticed before, with a small box sitting on it. Jake stepped over to it and examined it: the shelf was high up, but not to the point where it was inaccessible. In fact, Jake could see that it was just in his arm's reach, if he stood on his tiptoes.

So he reached up and took the box off of the shelf, holding it up so that he could see its details. The box itself looked plain and altogether simple, like something anyone could buy at a corner store for a cheap price, but there a sticky note stuck to the lid. Jake recognized the neighbor's handwriting as he looked closer at it, which read:

Reminder: Remember to keep this box in a safe place. Don't let anyone get their hands on it, or else.

Jake interpreted the reminder's meaning as soon as he finished reading it: this note was essentially a giant flashing neon sign that said 'Very Important', and Jake knew that anything the neighbor didn't want anyone else to have was going to be important.

"Jeffrey, I found something!" Jake called.

"What is it?" Jeffrey asked, standing bolt upright and coming over. Jake held up the box, and Jeffrey looked shocked. "Woah! I had a feeling something might be in there, but...I've never seen that before!"

"I know. The note on it is a reminder for the neighbor to not let anybody have the box, either."

"Then you know what that means. Let's open this sucker up!"

Jake didn't even hesitate as he shoved the lid of the box open. He grinned in excitement as he and Jeffrey saw what was in there: a keycard. It was the same keycard they had seen the neighbor carrying around with him, and now it was here, right in their grasp. Written on it, it said:

Basement Security Keycard

Use in case of emergency only

"The keycard!" They both said.

"Finally! The third item!" Jeffrey exclaimed. "And since we've got the basement key, now we've got all the items needed to open the basement! This is great!"

"I knew we could do it." Jake added, grinning and nodding happily. "We've found what we needed! Seems pretty convenient that this just happened to be sitting in his bathroom, though."

"That is true. He probably put it here for safekeeping. But now that we've got it, let's get home. After that, we can-"

"CAMERA CHARGING PHASE COMPLETE. ACTIVATING NOW."

And from the very same shelf, the head of a camera looked up. Jake gaped at it; he had been so intrigued by the box that he hadn't even noticed it was there.

Without warning, the camera's light turned on, and it sounded the alarm.

"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!"

"HEY!" Another voice came...from directly behind Jake and Jeffrey. They turned and saw the neighbor. He had suddenly appeared in the room, right behind them, and this time there was no smirk of satisfaction on his face. This time, he meant business. "You kids are back here again?! Grr, that's it! I'm not doing this anymore! I've lost my patience with you!"

"Uh...we're out of here!" Jake shouted rapidly. He threw the box down on the floor, tucked the keycard into his pocket and then he grabbed Jeffrey's shoulder, pulling him out of the room with him as they were going back into the small hall. "RUN!" He added, and Jeffrey listened without pausing. They ran into the kitchen, through the living room, and back into the foyer. The Neighbor's footsteps sounded behind them; he had given chase, as he always did.

Jake ran up to the front door and tried to open it, but it was locked up tight, and Jake didn't have a key to unlock it with. "The front door won't open! Go back the way we came!"

They ran into the front hallway just as the neighbor came running into the foyer, and they continued the chase right back up the entire hallway, and then they turned left, and back into the bedroom. Then, they vaulted out of the back window. As Jake went out, the Neighbor ran in and leaped after Jake, trying to grab Jake as he had the time before. However, this time, Jake was much more prepared, and his faster reflexes kicked in; he jumped out the window much more nimbly than before, and the Neighbor's hand closed in on thin air.

Jake looked back as he and Jeffrey made a scramble towards the area on the right side of the house. The Neighbor looked annoyed, but not discouraged, and he was already leaping out of the window to keep going after them. The two teens kept running, going all the way around the right side of the house and into the front yard. As they ran up to the gate, Jake realized that the gate was also locked, so there would be no way of them getting out.

Or at least, that was what the Neighbor would have thought. Jake decided to do the boldest move he could've done at that very moment. Without holding back, without stopping to think of the chances of it working, Jake thrust his shoulder forward and bashed the fence gate with all of his might.

Amazingly, the lock on the fence, which turned out to not be very strong when a lot of force was applied to it, was unable to keep the door closed, and the door flew open, giving a way of escape.

Jake could see that Jeffrey looked bewildered that Jake's sudden plan of escape had even worked, but with escape close by and the Neighbor on their heels, they didn't have time nor reasoning to complain about something that worked in their favor so well.

They jumped out the door and halfway across the moat before they both landed in it. They waded through it once they landed, ignoring the water that had splashed their faces when they had landed, and climbed out of the moat. They didn't even dare look back to see how close the neighbor was once they got out of the moat, and they ran across the street at top speed, arriving at the other side.

It was only when they had made it to Jake's front lawn that Jake dared stop and look back to see how close they had come to failure at escape. However, their efforts for the final stretch seemed to not have been completely necessary, as the Neighbor had stopped right at the opened gate and had not followed them any further. He looked cheated to see that the teens had managed to escape him, especially after they had failed three times before, and on the same day too.

"Damn slippery brats!" He growled. "Hmph. Fine. You two are VERY lucky you managed to escape again. I'll be generous and let you get away this time, but be warned: come back again, and I'll be even worse than before!"

He slammed the gate closed, turned, and went straight back into his house. He unlocked his front door, went inside the house, and disappeared as he closed the door again, locking it up again as well.

Neither Jake nor Jeffrey spoke, but as soon as the Neighbor had left, they headed into Jake's house without a word, closing the front door behind them to keep themselves secure. When they entered the living room, Jeffrey spoke up.

"Do you still have-?" He began, but Jake waved him down and grinned.

"I got it right here." Jake confirmed, taking out the keycard. "Didn't fall out of my pocket at all while we ran to safety."

"Phew!" Jeffrey, relieved, flopped down onto the couch and sagged into it. "Man, I'm beat. That was a lot of running."

"True, but now we've got the keycard! And, since we also have the basement key, we can probably get into the basement now! Well, we are missing the crowbar, though-"

Jeffrey perked up. "Oh yeah, we don't have that, do we? Well, leave that part to me."

"Leave it to you? What are you going to do to fix the problem?"

"I won't describe my idea to you right now, but I will say that I think it'll solve our problem. Until then, try not to ask me about it too much, okay?"

"Hey, we're cool. If you've got a good idea on you, then I'm respectful enough to wait for the right time before we put it to use."

"Glad you understand, Jake. We make a great team."

"Yeah, I was hoping so! Anyway, what now?"

"Let's lay low for now. We've accomplished enough for the day just by getting this third item, so I say we just relax for the time being. Tomorrow, we'll get back to work. Until then, do you want to watch more tv?"

"Sure. I've got nothing better to do."

With a sense of accomplishment in his mind, Jake sat down on the couch with Jeffrey and began to watch the tv as Jeffrey activated it. He would need a good, long period to rest and relax before they got to work. He knew that tomorrow would be their biggest project yet...