The Case of the Haunted House--Part Fourteen
by HA
Shirley studied the man carefully. Although she could not see his face due to the Chinese fan, she noticed that his clothes were of the old Chinese style. They were white with some touches of red, especially at the end of his long sleeves and pant legs. His shoes were also old Chinese style. His hands looked metallic and resembled claws. From where she stood, Shirley saw that he was rather short and round and probably was around her height.
"You were expecting us?" Lucy asked the strange figure.
"To be honest, I was expecting the detective and her two sidekicks only," the mysterious figure answered, still blocking his face with his fan. "I wasn't expecting them to bring help."
"So you're an ENIGMA agent, huh?" Hiroshi said, looking over the man.
The man laughed from behind his fan. "Ah, you're awake finally," he said to Hiroshi. "My sleeping powder is usually very potent. I think I should consider improving it later."
Shirley's eyes narrowed as she looked at the man. "Who are you?"
The man chuckled a little. "If you're expecting my real name, I'm afraid I must disappoint you. My code number is a different matter, however. It is Number Eight."
"Number Eight?" Blake said. "That's a pretty high rank for an ENIGMA agent."
"How perceptive of you, Mr. Hewitt," the man said. "Like father, like son."
Bo took a step forward and faced the man. "What did you do with Bart?" he said, his hands forming into fists at his side.
"Ah, Mr. James," Number Eight said, seeming to recall something. "He's upstairs in the master bedroom. I'm afraid he's stuck there."
"Why you..." Bo started to advance, but Shirley grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.
"Bo, we don't know who we're up against," Shirley whispered. Bo nodded and stood his ground.
"My my, your friend there has quite a nasty temper, Miss Holmes," Number Eight said, laughing a little.
Katrina looked up the stairs and the second floor hallway. "Lucy," she whispered to her, tapping her on the shoulder and pointing to the top of the stairs.
Lucy turned her head towards where Katrina was pointing. "Guys," she said, motioning to the top of the stairs. There, Susan was lying on her side in the hallway unconscious.
"Katrina, Hiroshi, get up there," Lucy ordered. They did not waste any time going up the stairs and attending to their fallen friend. Lucy turned to Number Eight. "If you hurt her, I swear..." she started to say with menace in her voice, her hand reaching for her scarf.
Number Eight laughed a little. "Oh, no, she's alive, I assure you. Mr. James is also still among the living. Live bait works better."
"Bait?" Blake said. "This is a trap?"
"But of course," Number Eight said, chuckling. "I'm amazed you're even asking that."
"Not again," Bo groaned.
"All of this was to get me here," Shirley said, understanding.
"Exactly, my little detective," Number Eight answered evilly. "Your compassion and curiosity will be your downfall always. Like a moth attracted to the flame of a candle." At this point, he lowered his fan so that his face could be visible to everyone.
"Whoa," Blake said, his eyes widening at the sight before him.
Number Eight's head was covered by a mask that resembled the head of a Chinese dragon. The mask was mostly green, with white hair around the rim of the head, two strands of it shooting out from the sides of the elongated snout, and a goatee. Two horns shot out of the forehead. A red cylindric cap with a skull sat on top of his head. The mask's two piercing yellow reptilian eyes, with furry white eyebrows above them, dominated Number Eight's face, giving him an evil stare. The mask's mouth had long clinched teeth, giving the appearance of a large, permanent dragon grin.
"Well, I can see why you sent Shirley a Chinese dragon," Bo stated, beholding the face of the enemy.
Number Eight chuckled. "I couldn't help but drop a little hint at who was behind this little plan."
"What would that plan be?" Lucy asked the ENIGMA agent.
"To get me to this place by using Bart as bait," Shirley answered for her, staring intently at Number Eight.
"Nothing gets by you, does it, my dear?" Number Eight waved his fan around.
"Maxson hired ENIGMA to destroy this house, didn't he?" Shirley questioned Number Eight.
"How perceptive of you," Number Eight replied. "We've recently started advertising our services to the local underworld. He wanted so badly for this house to be gone that he contacted us. "
"So you knew Bart would be helping out with the protest rally," Blake said.
Number Eight laughed sinisterly. "It was too easy, considering Mr. James' interest in the supernatural. When I learned he was going to participate in the protest rally to save this house, I knew I found the perfect bait for you to come here, Miss Holmes." He slapped his open palm with his fan as he continued talking. "He wanted so much to see a ghost that I gave him one, thanks to the holographic projectors placed throughout this house."
"So he did see a ghost," Bo said. "Just not the real one."
"Exactly," Number Eight said. "We found an old photograph of the young girl and we used it as our basis for the holograms." He pointed his fan towards the top of the stairs, where Katrina and Hiroshi were trying to revive Susan. The poor girl was starting to regain consciousness, much to their relief.
Susan slowly opened her eyes and saw her friends. "H-H-Hiroshi? K-Katrina?" she managed to say.
"Yeah, it's us," Hiroshi said, giving his friend a reassuring smile.
"We're here," Katrina said.
Susan was about to say more when she saw something appear before them. It was the image of a little girl in a white dress.
"The ghost!" Hiroshi exclaimed.
All eyes were now on the top of the stairs. Number Eight laughed under his breath as he saw the kids watching the little girl. "She looks rather convincing, doesn't she?" With a wave of his fan, the girl disappeared. "That's how I piqued Mr. James' interest with those two appearances of the 'ghost' on the porch and in his room. That's also how I've managed to trap him in the master bedroom."
Susan picked herself up, then ran to the left and started banging on the door. "Bart! Bart!" she cried out. Finding no answer, she started pulling on the doorknob.
Katrina and Hiroshi joined her and reached for the doorknob, then pulled with all their might. Unfortunately, the door would not budge. "It's stuck!" Hiroshi shouted in frustration.
"We must keep trying," Katrina told him calmly. All three kids resumed trying to get into the room.
Number Eight laughed evilly at this spectacle. "Now that you're here, I can complete my contract with Maxson and my official orders from Mr. E." He raised his fan. "Time to close this trap!"
Bo heard a loud noise behind him. "Huh?"
Lucy listened closely. "That sounded like the back door being locked," she concluded. "That device on the back door must've been some kind of computerized lock."
"Look!" Blake pointed to the front door, where a device similar to the one on the back door was located. Both of its sides shot out coiled telescoping arms that grabbed the side of the door and started emitting electricity.
Suddenly, there was a clanging noise coming from around the room. Everyone looked around and saw that metallic panels were falling over the windows. The covered windows then started to emit a yellow glow.
"What's going on?" Marcus said.
"We've been sealed in," Shirley said firmly.
Number Eight brought his fan down. "Correct, my dear detective. As you can see, all the windows have been sealed and the back door has been locked. I believe that you've already tried the front door, but I've added a lock to it to make sure."
Lucy walked up to one of the side windows. "Sorry, but we need a way out," she whispered apologetically to the house. She yanked off her scarf and before everyone's eyes, it wrapped itself around her hand rapidly until it resembled a drill bit.
"Okay, this is getting weird now," Bo said, still trying to believe what he saw.
Lucy closed her eyes for a brief moment and breathed deeply. "What is she doing?" Shirley asked Marcus.
"You'll find out," Marcus replied as he watched his friend get ready.
The scarf started to glow and spin quickly around Lucy's hand. Lucy opened her eyes, then with a yell, she charged for the window with her drill hand outstretched. The scarf drill rammed into the window panel, and as contact was made, sparks started flying. In response, the glow intensified and after a few seconds, a brief explosion threw Lucy back. She hit the floor hard, with her scarf landing beside her.
Shirley and the others ran over to where Lucy was. "Are you okay?" Shirley asked her.
"I'll live," Lucy answered, managing a grin. "Scratch that way of getting out."
Number Eight stroked his white goatee. "Interesting display of psychic power. I'm very familiar with that way of using a scarf. A good thing I always plan for all possibilities, including the involvement of psychics. And the others thought I was overpreparing for this assignment..."
Bo and Blake helped Lucy to her feet. Shirley grabbed Lucy's scarf and handed it to her. "Thanks," she said to Shirley as she hung it around her neck.
Marcus faced Number Eight. "So you've psychic-proofed this whole house?"
"As best as I could, not to mention activated a communications shield that blocks all communication devices to the outside world," Number Eight replied. "I didn't anticipate any psychics to interfere in this assignment, but I never take chances. Experience is a wonderful teacher."
"Well, that explains why Katrina couldn't sense anything or disable the laser trap," Lucy said, having regained her equilibrium.
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa," Bo said, waving his hands in disbelief. "You and your cousin are real psychics?" he asked Lucy, who answered with a nod. "Bart, what type of people have you gotten yourself involved with?" he muttered to himself.
Shirley reminded herself to look further into the Strangers' Club. That is, if she survived the night.
Number Eight looked at the children with amusement. The permanent dragon teeth smile on his mask seemed to be mocking them. "As you can see, there's no way out. In ten minutes, you'll all be dead."
Shirley was not surprised by this announcement. "So how have you planned my demise?"
Number Eight chuckled evilly. "I've placed a bomb in this house. With the activation of the window panels and door locks, its timer has been triggered. You have about ten minutes to live now."
"A bomb?" Bo's eyes widened. "Isn't that a little too much overkill?"
"It accomplishes both my goals," Number Eight said to Shirley, amused at Bo's unintentional pun. "Maxson gets this house destroyed before it officially becomes a city landmark, and it'll look like a sinkhole opened here. You get caught in the explosion, and our little problem is solved."
Shirley eyed the fan in Number Eight's hand. "That has to be how he's controlling everything," she whispered to her friends, pointing out the fan to them.
"You're betting that it controls the bomb as well?" Lucy asked.
"Well, every time he waves it around, something happens, like the windows getting sealed and the hologram appearing at the top of the stairs," Shirley recalled.
"I'll take care of it," Marcus said, stepping forward.
"Uh, what can you do? Shoot fireballs?" Bo asked Marcus dryly.
Marcus reached into his pocket and took out a small yellow rod. With a flick of his wrist, the rod grew into a long staff. With this weapon, he faced Number Eight.
"Okay..." Bo said. "Now we're officially in the Twilight Zone."
Number Eight studied Marcus closely. "Interesting. Similar to the staff of the legendary Monkey King."
"That's because it is." Marcus smiled and started spinning the staff around. "Let's see how well you do against it."
Number Eight's body shook with laughter. "We shall see, young one."
"Lucy, is he going to...?" Shirley began to ask.
Marcus took a battle pose and answered Shirley's question by charging at Number Eight with his staff. He cried out as he ran toward his target.
END OF PART FOURTEEN
by HA
Shirley studied the man carefully. Although she could not see his face due to the Chinese fan, she noticed that his clothes were of the old Chinese style. They were white with some touches of red, especially at the end of his long sleeves and pant legs. His shoes were also old Chinese style. His hands looked metallic and resembled claws. From where she stood, Shirley saw that he was rather short and round and probably was around her height.
"You were expecting us?" Lucy asked the strange figure.
"To be honest, I was expecting the detective and her two sidekicks only," the mysterious figure answered, still blocking his face with his fan. "I wasn't expecting them to bring help."
"So you're an ENIGMA agent, huh?" Hiroshi said, looking over the man.
The man laughed from behind his fan. "Ah, you're awake finally," he said to Hiroshi. "My sleeping powder is usually very potent. I think I should consider improving it later."
Shirley's eyes narrowed as she looked at the man. "Who are you?"
The man chuckled a little. "If you're expecting my real name, I'm afraid I must disappoint you. My code number is a different matter, however. It is Number Eight."
"Number Eight?" Blake said. "That's a pretty high rank for an ENIGMA agent."
"How perceptive of you, Mr. Hewitt," the man said. "Like father, like son."
Bo took a step forward and faced the man. "What did you do with Bart?" he said, his hands forming into fists at his side.
"Ah, Mr. James," Number Eight said, seeming to recall something. "He's upstairs in the master bedroom. I'm afraid he's stuck there."
"Why you..." Bo started to advance, but Shirley grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.
"Bo, we don't know who we're up against," Shirley whispered. Bo nodded and stood his ground.
"My my, your friend there has quite a nasty temper, Miss Holmes," Number Eight said, laughing a little.
Katrina looked up the stairs and the second floor hallway. "Lucy," she whispered to her, tapping her on the shoulder and pointing to the top of the stairs.
Lucy turned her head towards where Katrina was pointing. "Guys," she said, motioning to the top of the stairs. There, Susan was lying on her side in the hallway unconscious.
"Katrina, Hiroshi, get up there," Lucy ordered. They did not waste any time going up the stairs and attending to their fallen friend. Lucy turned to Number Eight. "If you hurt her, I swear..." she started to say with menace in her voice, her hand reaching for her scarf.
Number Eight laughed a little. "Oh, no, she's alive, I assure you. Mr. James is also still among the living. Live bait works better."
"Bait?" Blake said. "This is a trap?"
"But of course," Number Eight said, chuckling. "I'm amazed you're even asking that."
"Not again," Bo groaned.
"All of this was to get me here," Shirley said, understanding.
"Exactly, my little detective," Number Eight answered evilly. "Your compassion and curiosity will be your downfall always. Like a moth attracted to the flame of a candle." At this point, he lowered his fan so that his face could be visible to everyone.
"Whoa," Blake said, his eyes widening at the sight before him.
Number Eight's head was covered by a mask that resembled the head of a Chinese dragon. The mask was mostly green, with white hair around the rim of the head, two strands of it shooting out from the sides of the elongated snout, and a goatee. Two horns shot out of the forehead. A red cylindric cap with a skull sat on top of his head. The mask's two piercing yellow reptilian eyes, with furry white eyebrows above them, dominated Number Eight's face, giving him an evil stare. The mask's mouth had long clinched teeth, giving the appearance of a large, permanent dragon grin.
"Well, I can see why you sent Shirley a Chinese dragon," Bo stated, beholding the face of the enemy.
Number Eight chuckled. "I couldn't help but drop a little hint at who was behind this little plan."
"What would that plan be?" Lucy asked the ENIGMA agent.
"To get me to this place by using Bart as bait," Shirley answered for her, staring intently at Number Eight.
"Nothing gets by you, does it, my dear?" Number Eight waved his fan around.
"Maxson hired ENIGMA to destroy this house, didn't he?" Shirley questioned Number Eight.
"How perceptive of you," Number Eight replied. "We've recently started advertising our services to the local underworld. He wanted so badly for this house to be gone that he contacted us. "
"So you knew Bart would be helping out with the protest rally," Blake said.
Number Eight laughed sinisterly. "It was too easy, considering Mr. James' interest in the supernatural. When I learned he was going to participate in the protest rally to save this house, I knew I found the perfect bait for you to come here, Miss Holmes." He slapped his open palm with his fan as he continued talking. "He wanted so much to see a ghost that I gave him one, thanks to the holographic projectors placed throughout this house."
"So he did see a ghost," Bo said. "Just not the real one."
"Exactly," Number Eight said. "We found an old photograph of the young girl and we used it as our basis for the holograms." He pointed his fan towards the top of the stairs, where Katrina and Hiroshi were trying to revive Susan. The poor girl was starting to regain consciousness, much to their relief.
Susan slowly opened her eyes and saw her friends. "H-H-Hiroshi? K-Katrina?" she managed to say.
"Yeah, it's us," Hiroshi said, giving his friend a reassuring smile.
"We're here," Katrina said.
Susan was about to say more when she saw something appear before them. It was the image of a little girl in a white dress.
"The ghost!" Hiroshi exclaimed.
All eyes were now on the top of the stairs. Number Eight laughed under his breath as he saw the kids watching the little girl. "She looks rather convincing, doesn't she?" With a wave of his fan, the girl disappeared. "That's how I piqued Mr. James' interest with those two appearances of the 'ghost' on the porch and in his room. That's also how I've managed to trap him in the master bedroom."
Susan picked herself up, then ran to the left and started banging on the door. "Bart! Bart!" she cried out. Finding no answer, she started pulling on the doorknob.
Katrina and Hiroshi joined her and reached for the doorknob, then pulled with all their might. Unfortunately, the door would not budge. "It's stuck!" Hiroshi shouted in frustration.
"We must keep trying," Katrina told him calmly. All three kids resumed trying to get into the room.
Number Eight laughed evilly at this spectacle. "Now that you're here, I can complete my contract with Maxson and my official orders from Mr. E." He raised his fan. "Time to close this trap!"
Bo heard a loud noise behind him. "Huh?"
Lucy listened closely. "That sounded like the back door being locked," she concluded. "That device on the back door must've been some kind of computerized lock."
"Look!" Blake pointed to the front door, where a device similar to the one on the back door was located. Both of its sides shot out coiled telescoping arms that grabbed the side of the door and started emitting electricity.
Suddenly, there was a clanging noise coming from around the room. Everyone looked around and saw that metallic panels were falling over the windows. The covered windows then started to emit a yellow glow.
"What's going on?" Marcus said.
"We've been sealed in," Shirley said firmly.
Number Eight brought his fan down. "Correct, my dear detective. As you can see, all the windows have been sealed and the back door has been locked. I believe that you've already tried the front door, but I've added a lock to it to make sure."
Lucy walked up to one of the side windows. "Sorry, but we need a way out," she whispered apologetically to the house. She yanked off her scarf and before everyone's eyes, it wrapped itself around her hand rapidly until it resembled a drill bit.
"Okay, this is getting weird now," Bo said, still trying to believe what he saw.
Lucy closed her eyes for a brief moment and breathed deeply. "What is she doing?" Shirley asked Marcus.
"You'll find out," Marcus replied as he watched his friend get ready.
The scarf started to glow and spin quickly around Lucy's hand. Lucy opened her eyes, then with a yell, she charged for the window with her drill hand outstretched. The scarf drill rammed into the window panel, and as contact was made, sparks started flying. In response, the glow intensified and after a few seconds, a brief explosion threw Lucy back. She hit the floor hard, with her scarf landing beside her.
Shirley and the others ran over to where Lucy was. "Are you okay?" Shirley asked her.
"I'll live," Lucy answered, managing a grin. "Scratch that way of getting out."
Number Eight stroked his white goatee. "Interesting display of psychic power. I'm very familiar with that way of using a scarf. A good thing I always plan for all possibilities, including the involvement of psychics. And the others thought I was overpreparing for this assignment..."
Bo and Blake helped Lucy to her feet. Shirley grabbed Lucy's scarf and handed it to her. "Thanks," she said to Shirley as she hung it around her neck.
Marcus faced Number Eight. "So you've psychic-proofed this whole house?"
"As best as I could, not to mention activated a communications shield that blocks all communication devices to the outside world," Number Eight replied. "I didn't anticipate any psychics to interfere in this assignment, but I never take chances. Experience is a wonderful teacher."
"Well, that explains why Katrina couldn't sense anything or disable the laser trap," Lucy said, having regained her equilibrium.
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa," Bo said, waving his hands in disbelief. "You and your cousin are real psychics?" he asked Lucy, who answered with a nod. "Bart, what type of people have you gotten yourself involved with?" he muttered to himself.
Shirley reminded herself to look further into the Strangers' Club. That is, if she survived the night.
Number Eight looked at the children with amusement. The permanent dragon teeth smile on his mask seemed to be mocking them. "As you can see, there's no way out. In ten minutes, you'll all be dead."
Shirley was not surprised by this announcement. "So how have you planned my demise?"
Number Eight chuckled evilly. "I've placed a bomb in this house. With the activation of the window panels and door locks, its timer has been triggered. You have about ten minutes to live now."
"A bomb?" Bo's eyes widened. "Isn't that a little too much overkill?"
"It accomplishes both my goals," Number Eight said to Shirley, amused at Bo's unintentional pun. "Maxson gets this house destroyed before it officially becomes a city landmark, and it'll look like a sinkhole opened here. You get caught in the explosion, and our little problem is solved."
Shirley eyed the fan in Number Eight's hand. "That has to be how he's controlling everything," she whispered to her friends, pointing out the fan to them.
"You're betting that it controls the bomb as well?" Lucy asked.
"Well, every time he waves it around, something happens, like the windows getting sealed and the hologram appearing at the top of the stairs," Shirley recalled.
"I'll take care of it," Marcus said, stepping forward.
"Uh, what can you do? Shoot fireballs?" Bo asked Marcus dryly.
Marcus reached into his pocket and took out a small yellow rod. With a flick of his wrist, the rod grew into a long staff. With this weapon, he faced Number Eight.
"Okay..." Bo said. "Now we're officially in the Twilight Zone."
Number Eight studied Marcus closely. "Interesting. Similar to the staff of the legendary Monkey King."
"That's because it is." Marcus smiled and started spinning the staff around. "Let's see how well you do against it."
Number Eight's body shook with laughter. "We shall see, young one."
"Lucy, is he going to...?" Shirley began to ask.
Marcus took a battle pose and answered Shirley's question by charging at Number Eight with his staff. He cried out as he ran toward his target.
END OF PART FOURTEEN
