Chapter 5: The Hope for Freedom

Whisper woke up, chained to a wall. She looked up and saw a window. It was too high up for her to potentially escape, but at least she could tell from it that some time had passed, with it not raining anymore, and the little bit of sky she could get from the view was blue and nearly cloudless. Whisper started thinking. Thinking about how she could possibly escape, and let the world know that Wilma is indeed guilty. Before she could get any real ideas from those thoughts, let alone act upon any of them, she heard some footsteps coming down the stairs to this place she's stuck in.

"Don't play your game while walking down the stairs dear, you could get hurt." Whisper automatically recognized the voice.

"You…"

The lights flicked on, confirming what Whisper already knew.

"Ah, glad to see you awake. At least I have SOMETHING to entertain me right now…" Wilma said. "With Relic busy keeping the clinic in order for Clysdale, and Clysdale himself having to rush out to Station Square… I'm alone for a while, it seems…" She continued.

"What the hell are you doing in Station Square?" Whisper angrily asked.

"Ugh… And here we thought that your curiosity would lead you into our good graces, as it was with Relic… But you're just too vindictive for that, aren't you?"

"Answer the fucking question! I WON'T LET YOU HURT ANYONE ELSE!" Whisper yelled out, violently trying to free herself from her restraints, but the chains didn't even crack.

"Oh please, like you have any power at all. But, sense I have nothing else to do right now anyway, I'll humor you." Wilma smirked. "The ol' doctor went to Station Square to pick up my eldest son." She said bluntly. Whisper was confused, every source that Lux supplied her, Tangle, and Jewel with said that Wilma had only one child, that being Garrick.

"Your…. What?!"

"Oh, you must be confused. The media keeps saying that I'm a mother of one, and for a good 4 years, that's how I considered it. But then, one day, around two years ago, my eldest came crawling back to me, after all the awful things he had done, he decided to turn things around. That's also when I met Clysdale and Relic. They must've been the two he knew he could turn to when he grew out of that rebellious phase of his… If I were to give you his name, you'd know who he is in an instant, thanks to that rebellious phase... " Wilma explained. Whisper was dumbfounded, how was the media, the public in general even, so unaware of what was really going on, what this woman was doing?! Sure, Wilma herself has a lot of baggage on her, a lot of trials, a lot of suspicion, but no one knew of her accomplices?! No one knew of this other son of hers, especially when he's apparently so well known on his own?! This case was already a lot for Whisper to wrap her head around at the beginning, but now?! Is this even something that COULD be figured all out without the bad guys revealing it themselves?!

Suddenly, there was a shout from a familiar voice, a voice that gave Whisper hope.

"HEY LUX I THINK I FOUND A WAY IN!" That hope wasn't much though. Whisper was glad to know that Tangle and Lux came around to free her, but groaned at the stupid move Tangle just made.

"NOT ON MY WATCH!" The angry voice of Relic followed quickly after.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me.." Wilma sighed, annoyed.

Meanwhile, outside the house and clinic, Relic was trying the best she could to chase Lux and Tangle off of the property.

"You can't go back here! You're trespassing!" Relic shouted. Lux pulled on Relic and got a hold onto her, though not for long, as Relic squirmed her way out of Lux's grasp, and ran after Tangle, forcibly pulling her to the ground as she was getting up the stairs. Tangle, however, managed to pull Relic down with her.

Practically at the moment they both hit the ground, there was a blood curdling cry from Relic that even Whisper and Wilma could clearly hear, followed up by the sound of a cracking bone. Tangle instantly got up, and despite Relic's involvement in Whisper's supposed kidnapping, she instantly felt extremely guilty.

"M-M-My arm...! I-I can't move m-my arm…!" Relic was crying heavily, and Tangle could tell that her arm looked seriously screwed up. "It hurts! IT HURTS!" She screamed in pure agony. Wilma ran outside and went to Relic's side.

"Get off of our fucking properity right this instant before I call the police! Don't you realize what you idiots have done?!" She yelled at them, tears in her eyes. Tangle ran away from the scene, terrified.

"Holy shit Tangle! What happened back there?!" Lux asked, trying to get her friend to calm down. Tangle didn't respond, she just kept crying.

Whisper could hear Wilma and Relic from the basement, Relic was still crying very loudly, barely able to speak, while it seemed that Wilma was calling someone on the phone in the room right above where Whisper was. At first, Whisper's heart dropped as she realized this, as she assumed that she was calling the police on Tangle and Lux.

"Okay, I know you're coming back the old fashion way as to avoid suspicion, but I really need you three here ASAP, two of those girls came by trying to break in and attack Relic- I think they broke her arm!" No, it seemed that Wilma was just calling a close friend, most likely Clysdale and her eldest son, drawing from what she had told Whisper earlier, though she said "you three" and not "you two", so there seems to be a mysterious third person with them.

"Yeah, I know that I could drive her to the hospital myself, but she told me she wants you here, and I need someone to look after our captive." This basically confirmed that theory to Whisper.

"Don't worry, it's not like she's alone right now or anything. I'm here, and Garrick and your little ones are being a great help calming her down a bit." Or maybe not? Actually, thinking back to the voicemail Doctor Clysdale sent, he did mention having "parental experience"... Is Doctor Clysdale a father? These "little ones" must've been asleep when Whisper came, then. Every time Whisper learned something about this mystery, more questions came from it. With every answer came with a legion of new questions, but this is what Whisper signed up for, this is what her, Tangle and Jewel signed up for when they agreed to help Lux out, and accept her as part of the Freedom Trainees, and now it is the job of them four to finally unravel this twisted mystery! Whisper listened in more.

"... Where are you, anyhow…? Spiral Hill, eh? I think that's where those girls are from… Yes, those two out of the four that are investigating my killings, Whisper included… One of them was the big burly tiger girl, the other one was that slim lemur… Lux and Tangle, huh? We should pay them a visit some time, ya know… To pay them a lesson. Don't you think?... Heheh… Oh absolutely..! But we need to get Relic to the hospital first, at LEAST!" Whisper gulped, hoping that she would be able to escape and rejoin her friends before Wilma and Clysdale decided to "pay them a visit", per-say.

But for now, it seemed that she just needed to wait things out.

She heard a bit of commotion going on a few minutes later, and could somewhat hear the voice of Doctor Clysdale for a few seconds, but it was too quiet and muffled to understand. The ruckus only lasted for a few seconds, as it seems that they were quite quick about getting Relic to the hospital.

After that… complete silence, other than the occasional sound of whoever stayed behind to make sure Whisper didn't escape getting something, most likely food.

Eventually, Lux and Tangle made it back to their house, Tangle immediately ran up to her room.

"Hey! Tangle! What's wro-" Tangle slammed her door on the concerned Jewel. Lux ran up the stairs, and Jewel immediately turned to her. "Lux! What happened?!" Lux explained everything that had happened during their attempt to free Whisper, including Wilma's threat to call the police, which made Jewel's heart drop.

"O-Oh… I see…" Lux quietly opened the door to Tangle's room, and saw her softly sobbing, laying in her bed.

"Hey… Tangle... " Lux said softly as she made her way to Tangle's bed. "I know you probably feel pretty guilty-"

"No… That's not it… Well…" Tangle wiped her eyes. "That's not my main concern…"

"It's not? Then what is?" Lux asked. Tangle started to cry again.

"I just want Whisper to be okay!" Lux hugged Tangle.

"I know, we all do."

"Um… If you feel up to hearing it… I got some more info while you guys were gone." Jewel mentioned as she handed Tangle a box of tissues.

"Oh…? What kind of info…?" Tangle asked.

"Yeah Jewel, what'd you find?" Lux was curious as well. Jewel told Lux and Tangle everything that Amy had told her.

"Did she ever tell you about that theory she has about Wilma?" Lux asked Jewel.

"No… she didn't. I bet she'll tell me the next time she's available, so I'll ask her then."

"Ah okay."

"But yeah.. I actually honestly figured that the person who betrayed Amy would be Shadow." Tangle butted in.

"Yeah, he's weird…." Lux said. "But hey, forget that for a sec, you okay now, Tangle?"

"Mhm…. Thanks for asking." Tangle hugged Lux, Lux rubbed her head.

"Glad to hear it." Jewel giggled a little, which caused Lux and Tangle to look at her.

"Sorry! It's just that… well, you two are so cute!"

"JEWEL!" Tangle shouted, embarrassed and blushing.

"Heeey… Hey.. Settle down there Tangle. I mean, you gotta admit, she's at least half right!" Tangle pouted, but knew that whether she was talking in her own opinion, or for her, Lux had a point. She just didn't want to say it, especially cause the two had practically just met. Tangle's known Jewel since they were kids, and she's known Whisper for two years, meanwhile, she's only known Lux for a DAY.

"Anyway, anyway... I have an idea." Jewel said. "An idea on how to get Whisper free."