Dark Prospects

AngelicOne: Yes, Jack/Bernard is having a terrible, horrible, no-good, really bad, day. And this is me laughing! Hahaha— *men in white suits carry Phobic away*

Sanely Challenged: Interesting idea… I'll have to consider that… ^_^

TheAlmightyMasterT-Chan: Thanks for reviewing six times! I knew the guy from Raymond played Father Time, but I didn't know he was in SC1… ^_^ Yes, Noel is so funny to write when she's drugged!

GriffinFox: Everyone seems to like Noel all drugged up for some reason. ^_^

Criminally Insane: Wow. A nice review, are you feeling okay? You haven't been around Noel, have you?

Chapter 12: Party!

Bernard roughly pulled Noel behind a large statue of a gargoyle. Why did all big houses have statues of gargoyles? Was there some strange club for tycoons with gargoyles?

Noel protested weakly. "I don't like this animal Jack. It looks mean."

Sucked dry of patience, Bernard placed his hand over her mouth so she couldn't talk. But this turned out to be a bad idea, as she let out a strange sort of high-pitched noise that echoed off the walls loudly.

Bernard let go of her to see if they'd drawn any attention to themselves. Noel giggled and ran a short distance from him before crashing to the ground and laughing again. "Help me up, Jack! I can't get up myself!"

She didn't see the two distinctly evil-looking men behind her. Bernard stepped out into the space between her and the men. "Is one of you Bob the food guy?" Something possessed him to ask.

One of them narrowed his eyes. "I'm Bob the food guy. And you must be Jack. Turtle told us a lot about you."

Noel pouted. "It's Turtle Hat!"

Bernard cursed inwardly. He should have known not to trust someone with the name "Turtle Hat". He knew he had a better chance of convincing Santa to give everyone live elephants one year than beating these to sturdy-looking men in combat, so he summoned his strength and grabbed Noel's arm.

Unfortunately, he hadn't fully recovered from his trip here, so he only got them into another hallway. He glanced around, but couldn't remember being here before. They were lost.

Noel was cracking up beside him. "That was so fun, Jack! Can we find some more guys?"

"Do you know how to get out of here?" He asked, ignoring her question.

"Do you know the muffin man? The—"

She stopped singing when Charlie swaggered up to the pair. She grinned. "Charlie! I want you to know, I'm in love with Jack!"

Bernard stared at her. What had she just…? No, she was drugged. She imagined yellow cats. She didn't know what she was saying…

He turned to Charlie and grinned. "Charlie! You know we were just looking for you. I think we should have a party."

Charlie smiled. "The party sounds nice, but the "we" part really has to go. You see," He walked over to Bernard past a hopping Noel, "you are just too nosy for your own good. Now if you'd just left her here with me, you could be alive for the moment and happy…"

Charlie continued, but Bernard wasn't listening. He remained on the ground fighting a splitting headache while attempting to come up with a plan. Teleporting was out. He'd used the last of his energy getting them here. The farthest he would be able to take them was a few feet away. There was no hope of matching the power Charlie quite obviously had. What could he do?

Noel's singing voice interrupted his thoughts. "Frosty, the anteater—"

"Will you stop that incessant singing?" Demanded Charlie.

Noel regarded him seriously. "I think somebody needs some quiet time."

Another man entered the room and looked inquisitively at Charlie. "What's this, a party?"

"Yes! Yes, a party!" Bernard agreed. "Drinks all around!"

The two men gave him a look, which clearly conveyed that there would be no drinks today.

And Noel kept singing. "Rockin' around the Christmas beaver…"

It was like some really cheesy horror movie.

A/N: Sorry this wasn't up sooner, but my math teacher is bent on my destruction. _