Thanks for the reviews again!

Demile - No problem. But I'm still waiting for them :) I hope the chapters are still enjoyable.

Jae B - Thanks for reviewing every chapter with such an enthusiasm It really inspirits me to continue the story.

Number 6 - Helga were behaving more like an adult when she was nine. She was already a sinner, and knew how to live with it - just like a grown up. But a lot of years passed, and the others lost their innocence too. That's why they seem to be out of character. What happened to Arnold? Helga! That's exactly why he's in pain - because the innocent dreamer he was, and he still claim to be would choose Lila, but the man inside wants to be with Helga. But in to the end of the story, Arnolds will have to become the same optimistic leader if they want to survive the endgame.

CHAPTER 9 - THE FORSAKEN

Gerald were so happy, "Sound of the morning" weren't longer. He always found musicals boring, especially the ones written by Eugene. But this one was directed by Eugene too, so it was a lot more horrible. But the critics seemed to like Eugene's work - so he seen a lot of boring premieres in his future. Ever since Eugene entered to the world of theater, Gerald, and most of the old gang always had to be there since he considered them as "closest friends". The only thing that saved this night for Gerald, was Phoebe. Now she was living in Hillwood City again, she were able to come and see the play with them. Arnold and Helga didn't show themselves - they left time for some days, but they didn't tell anybody where are they going. So, Gerald and Phoebe spent the whole night together.

After the play, they went to one of Gerald's favorite places, where they listened to the music of Raytones. They played some pretty good Dino Spumoni adaptations tonight, so both Gerald and Phoebe had a good time. Actually, they never had so much fun together - mostly because all the tension from the old days was gone. Since Phoebe turned out to be a lesbian, she became one of Gerald's pals. One of his best pals actually. He never thought it's possible.

"Hmmm... maybe six." - Phoebe said after some thinking.

"What? Are you out of your mind?" - Gerald asked. - "Rhonda is pure nine!"

"I don't know Gerald. She seems a little too manufactured. I'm not really a fan of silicon implants." - she said

"I will never understand you lesbians." - he said as he drunk a little from his beer. - "If you ask any guy "Where is Rhonda Lloyd on a scale one to ten?", none of them would say less, than eight! Those boobs are killer, even if they're fake!"

"So... what about Lila?" - Phoebe asked.

"I dunno Pheebs. She's attractive in her sweet, innocent kind of way. But, with that "revengeful psychopath tries to kill everyone" thing, I wouldn't like to wake up next to her."

"Yeah. I wouldn't ever guess she will come out like this, back in school!" - She said as she drank from her martini. - "She's just like Harold!"

"What about Harold?"

"You know... everybody thought he will be an overweighted, stupid jerk. But now... he's a hottie." - she said.

"Yeah, like you would know." - Gerald said. Phoebe smiled at him.

"Gerald, Just because I found out how much fun I can have with girls, it doesn't mean I can't be attracted to males." - she said.

"You meen... You're still into boys? So you're like... bisexual? You never said!"

"You never asked." - Phoebe said, with a small smile on her face.

"But Helga said..."

"Well, Helga knows jack about sexuality. Less then you, actually. I had my first crush on her, and she hadn't even noticed."

"You don't say! What's wrong with you people, in the Helga G. Pataki fan club?" - he asked. - "Wait a minute! If you still into boys, what number would I got in your one to ten scale?"

A Phoebe's cute little mouth turned into shy smile.

"I think you already know." - she said.

An hour later they were in the door of Phoebe's apartment. Gerald felt like it's his responsibility to make sure the girl gets home in safe. He felt the old feeling in his stomach again.

"All right. You're safe now." - Gerald said as they reached the door.

"We've been walking on the streets after midnight when we were nine." - Phoebe said. - I think this neighborhood is the safest place in the world."

"So I should go then." - Gerald said.

"Don't even think about it." - she said, and she suddenly kissed Gerald. He was pretty surprised. It never happened before. He was the one, who used to kiss her. Phoebe grabbed her into the room in a pretty aggressive way, and then she started to open the buttons on Gerald's shirt. Her eyes were totally changed. Nice little Pheebs were gone.

"You sure you want this Phoebe."

"Of course I am" - she said, and she didn't stop for a minute - "You're the first man in years who turned me on! I want you Gerald! I smelled it on you... and I knew I must have you!" - Gerald was shocked. He never seen Phoebe like this. The shy little girl suddenly behaved like some wild animal, only driven be her instincts. But of course, Gerald had nothing against it. He never wanted any woman more.

Helga and Arnold had a pretty good time together in the last two days. This weekend in Mountwood was everything they always imagined it would be. It was like some cheesy romantic music video recorded on the shore, but with a lot of nudity.

As they got home, but after a joined shower. they had to leave each other. Arnold had to settle some things with the wedding, and Helga had to cook. It was the night of the Big Family Dinner With the Patakis. Helga was frightened, by only thinking about it. Especially because the list of her cooking-catastrophes was pretty long. She was able to ruin as complicated meals as "tuna sandwich" too. So last year, when she decided to make the thanksgiving turkey - just because she wanted to show Olga she can do it too - became one of the most horrible nights of her life.

It was pretty similar to this day. She just burned down the main course and reached for the telephone, to order Chinese food, when someone rang the door bell. And she was pretty surprised, when she opened the door. Lila stood there with a tall, handsome, but sort of creepy man,

"Hello Helga." - she said. She went trough some changes since Helga saw her for the last time. For start, her long, red hair was gone, she wore it pretty short. She left her pretty green dresses behind, she wore a simple green shirt and a black jacket. But most importantly, all the innocence was gone, from her face and some new found cruelty appeared instead. She seemed to grown up. To break away from Arnold was obviously the hardest thing she ever had to face. It ended the life of Lila, as a girl, but gave her the chance, to become a woman.

"Ms. Pataki." - greeted her the tall man. Helga felt like she knew him from somewhere, she just couldn't tell where did she met him.

"What do you want from me Princess?" - she asked. "What are you doing here anyway? I though you're in New York, doing charity work or something."

"I'm here to help you Helga. You must listen to me." - she said.

"Well, I think you helped me enough, thanks. If you want some more naked photos of Arnold and me, we will put it on the net for you!" - she said, right in the moment, when Lila slapped her in the face.

"You had it coming in years." - she said. Helga just stood there like she couldn't adjust to the fact, she's been slapped by Lila. The Lila she knew, never had the guts to confront someone like that. She remembered the first time she met her - Helga easily made her life so miserable, she never wanted to go back to school. It was Helga, who talked Lila into go back to PS-118.

"I hope you know I will break every single bone in your body for that!." - Helga said finally.

"Just shut up and listen. You and Arnold feel guilty for what you did to me, that's why you convinced yourself, I and only I could send those pictures." - she said. - "So, you hadn't even looked into it!"

"How do you know?" - Helga asked.

"Because if you did, you would know who really did it! And much more!"

"You tell me, you know is our mystery psychopath?"

"I'm not sure, she's a psycho. She's too clever for that." - the man said.

"So, it's a she?" - Helga asked.

"Give me five minutes Ms. Pataki, and most of your questions will be answered." - the man said. Helga just couldn't refuse an offer like that. Later they were sitting at the table, drinking Helga's very, very awful coffee.

"My name is Ralph White, and I'm a sort of private eye. Ms. Sawyer hired me, to do a little research in this strange case of yours." -he said, as he grabbed a pack of M&M's from his pocket, and started to eat it piece by piece - "Chocolate anyone?"

"Hurry up bucko, I have a mail to finish!" - Helga said.

"Okay. So, did you know about the strange anomalies in Brainy's medical report? - he asked. Helga shook her head - "I thought so. There were a lot of chemicals in his system, but they weren't able to identify what kind of medicines or drugs did he use. And that is, because, the Salvazin never made it to the official trade."

"Huh?" - Helga said.

"This treatment was developed for the Futuretech Industries till eight months ago. It was meant to be a revolutionary medicine for most kinds of mental illnesses." - he said. Helga got goosebumps - Futuretech was owned by Joshua Flanders since years. Plus, she never had the best experiences with this company.

"So Brainy tried to cure himself. That's nice." - she said.

"I don't think so. They stopped the project, because the Salvazin-treatment proved to be a failure. "

"Why?"

"Because - even if the Salvazin had exceptional results at most of the tests, it came out, it's almost impossible to calculate the right dose for the patient. And with the wrong dose it can damage the state of mind a lot more, than it can heel. It's worst than any drug, because it can support delusions weeks after it gets into the bloodstream. - he said, as he searched his package for the last piece of M&M's, but he couldn't find it. - "I'm not a scientist, but fortunately my friend I asked to identify those chemicals in Brainy's blood worked in the project too. He said, it was probably used to push Brainy over the edge." - he said.

"So, you tell me, someone did this to Brainy? They... made him crazy?" - Helga asked. It sounded very stupid.

"No, God, no! Of course he was insane! But he was that in all his life!" - Lila said - "But the one, who made those pictures, gave this shit to him, to make damn sure, he will act in his madness!"

"And here is the interesting part." - he said. - "I made a little research, and it came out, there is only one person in Hillwood, who ordered the necessary chemicals, to produce a Salvazin treatment in the last eight months." - he said. Helga looked at him with a grim expression.

"Her name is Paige Hoskins, and she's living right here in Hillwood. We don't have enough proof to turn to the police, but I thought maybe you know something about who the hell is she." - Lila said. Lila looked at Helga's face, and she knew, this is a moment, when the blond is capable of everything.

The Miller Institute was pretty quiet on Sunday afternoons. Most of the patients were sitting in the TV room, and watched the Wheel of Fortune, with the interns, while the guards played cards. The Miller was a pretty boring madhouse, with no exceptional cases. The doctors made a pretty good work, in making the life of the institute as peaceful and harmonic as it can be.

It was the most boring, for people like Brainy, who didn't had the permission to leave their cells. The left wing of the building was supposed to be filled with patients, who are showing the signs of violent behavior. But there was only Brainy and a young boy there now. And since the boy was busy being catatonic these days, Brainy was the only one, who needed to be guarded.

As he heard the steps of approaching people his face turned into a grotesque smile.

"Well, Miss Hoskins, you seem to care a lot for this poor fella. Visiting him so often." - said a man. Brainy recognized, because it was the only human voice he heard this day. It was one of his guards, who had to take care of him today. "It's interesting, because you know... he's such a silent type and... creepy you know."

"Maybe I like that." - the woman answered.

"By the way... I wanted to ask something from you since weeks.... - he said - Maybe... On one of these nights, You and I should..."

"Later." - she said as they arrived in front of Brainy's cell.

"Hello Paige." - Brainy said.

"Hello handsome." - Paige said with some irony in her voice. - "Are you ready to go?" - she asked.

"Oh yeah."

"Wait a minute... What the hell are you talking about?" - the guard asked. He was pretty sure it's some kind of sick joke.

"Oh, You will see it in...." - she looked at her watch - "...5, 4, 3, 2, 1 moments." - an then, after a huge sound of explosion the whole building shook. All the car alarms were activated in the institutes's parking lot. The guard was so surprised by the explosion he just stood there without any idea of what to do. He didn't know what's happening when Paige grabbed and turned him around and kissed him. He didn't realized what is she doing, even when she put her electric shocker against his stomach, and passed him out for two hours.

"Sorry pal, you're not my type." - she said, when the man fell down unconsciously next to Paige's foot.

"How did you sneak that in?" - Brainy asked. Now they could hear the running and screaming people as they tried to evacuate the building in a pretty unorganized way. If Paige's bomb worked like it supposed to, then the bomb blown up a piece of the north wall, and didn't hurt anyone. Not like she cared too much. It was only a hoax.

"I'm a shifty one." - she said, as she grabbed the man's key-card, and opened Brainy's door. - "Let's kick it, we have a plenty of job left to do." - she said. - "But first, You'll need a makeover, because what you wearing is just "yuck"!" - she said, as she looked at the unconscious guard. So Brainy took of his clothes, and put on the guards uniform. When he finished they both run toward the mass of escaping, panicking people. They've got out without any problem."

Helga, Lila and Ralph were standing in the elevator, staring at each other. Ralph was eating a Mr. Nutty as usual. Helga was pretty sure, they went to the same school as kids, but didn't remember the guys name, only the fact he ate chocolate all the time. They never hung out together in those days. And Lila... well, she changed a lot. She didn't like her, no way! But she were able to respect her, especially because the fact, she slapped her on the face. Lila was right, Helga had it coming.

"So, this name, Paige Huskins... Still not ringing any bells?" - Ralph asked.

"No, not really."

"As I told, this must be an alias. There is no record, on this person in the City Archives." - Ralph said.

"We will find out soon enough." - Lila said. - "I suggest we stop talking till then."

"So... what's up with this new "i grew up" extravaganza Lila? Facing problems, slapping people, normal clothes? You're totally out of character. Congratulations!"

"Shut you're face Helga." - Lila answered.

"See?" - Helga said, but there was no time for Lila to reply, because the elevator arrived. Some steps later they were in front of the apartment, what was rented under the name of Paige Hoskins. When Helga learned about this whole thing, she decided to cancel the family dinner. She never missed a good chance to piss of the Patakis. But she didn't tell Arnold to come with them. He didn't wanted to put him into danger, and she wasn't sure this whole thing is not only a set up by Lila.

Ralph rang the bell, but there was no answer. He rang it again.

"Crimney, she's not home!" - she said, and she tired to kick the old door in. She didn't succeed.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" - Ralph asked.

"Listen, I used to break in to people's houses when I was nine. I wanna know what's she up to, and who the hell she is!" - she said and kicked the door again. It didn't break in.

"We so don't have time for this." - Lila said, and she kicked in the door.

"Little Ms. Perfect." - Helga murmured as she walked in. Ralph turned on the lights. They were pretty surprised to see the biggest attraction of the living room.

"Oh my god." - Helga said - "This chick and you have a lot in common Lila." - she said. There was little doll hung up by the neck to the chandelier, like she's been executed. The doll had blond, plaited her, a pink dress, and a huge ping bow. But what made it even weirder, was someone draw her one thick unibrow with a pen. - "As a fact, this chick has a lot in common with most people I know."

Lila went over to the CD player. From of it's sizes she thought the neighbors must have serious problems with the volume Paige listening to her Cd's.

"Metallica, Papa Roach, Cannibal Corps, Ride of the Valkyres... how trivial..." - Lila said as she looked over her CD's.

"Check this out" - Ralph said from the bedroom. The girls rushed in.

"What is it?"

"There are mirrors on the ceiling!" - he said. - "How cool is that?" Helga recognized there are handcuffs on the giant sized bed.

"Crimney! Who the hell is she?" - she asked.

"Well... she's obviously not living here. I guess she's only coming here once or twice in a month." - Ralph said.

"Hey... You have to see this." - Lila said. In the next room there were a lot of test-tubes and different chemicals lying on the table.

"I bet she's not making milkshake with that stuff." - Helga said. - "It's like Dexter's Lab." - as she examined the room a little closer - "They used this equipment a few days ago." - Ralph said - "But why? If she's not poisoning Brainy, what is she using that Vaseline stuff for?"

"It's Salvazin actually." - Ralph said - "And I have no idea." - he said, but Helga didn't pay any attention to him. She was hypnotized by something he saw on a shelf. The first thing got her sight was an old magazine, with her on the front page. It was from her long forgotten IT-girl days. But then she recognized a small statue next to it. A small statue that made everything clear. She never wanted to be wrong this much in her whole life. The others recognized this at her too.

"What's wrong?" - Ralph asked.

"Ralph, I want you, to call you're friend, and ask him for the names of the people who were in that research." - she said. - "Can you do it?"

"Of course, give me a minute." - he said, as he dialed a number on his cell phone. Some minutes later he wrote down a whole list of names. After she read it, her skin seemed to turned grey.

"What is it Helga?" - Lila asked. Helga gave her the paper.

"See it for yourself." - Helga said. Lila's eyes widened.

"Heavenly father..."

"You're fired Chocolate Boy." - Helga said. Her shock seemed to give back memories from her childhood, like the nickname of the kid who later became Ralph White.

"I'm sorry, but you don't employ me." - Ralph said.

"Tell him Lila. This doesn't concern him. - she said, as she turned to Ralph - You did a great job, and I will pay you double price, if you don't talk about this case, or Paige Hoskins to anybody. Deal?" - she asked.

"Yes of course." - he said - "But I want to help..."

"You can't. Sorry, but you're not part of this." - Helga said as she walked toward the door. Lila was standing in shock. Despite the whole Stronger Lila act, she still couldn't function in extreme situations - "But you are missy. Now come!" - she said, and she grabbed Lila's hand. Soon Ralph was left alone in some crazy women's apartment, and stared at the small statue of Emily Dickinson. "What the hell this little thing meant to them?"

Helga drove Lila's Volvo like a maniac. Originally she wanted to recruit Arnold and Gerald first, but since none of them answered their cell phones, she couldn't. She knew that Arnold hated cell phones, and turned it off on many occasions, but Gerald made him worry, since he always seemed to talk on his phone. And when they heard on the radio about the explosion at the Miller Institute and Brainy's disappearance, Helga decided to go right into the cave of the lion.

The only good thing was Lila was able to talk again.

"I can't believe it... how can this be... All this long it was her..."

"Don't say it." - Helga said. - "Lila, you tell about this to anybody, and You'll regret it. I'm not kidding."

"But..."

"No buts. We have to stay together Lila, you have to understand it.. Things are not as simple as they seem to be." - she said. They parked the car in front of a building and rushed to it's door.

"We're not going to ring are we?" - Lila asked.

"Not this time Lila." - Helga said as he kicked in the door. The sight she seen was indescribable. There was a naked black man hanging on the wall in a black leather mask. Helga was able to recognize him because his weird hair - it was Gerald under it. He was alive but he was obviously used like some kind of toy - not to talk about the humiliation. There was Brainy standing next to him, wheezing with an insane smile. And there was the worst part - the part Helga tried to prepare herself, since she noticed the statue of Emily Dickinson on the shelf. That was the prize her best friend earned with cheating on a poem contest, but she had to give up because her conscience. Whatever happened to her, she was ready grab the things she always wanted, but she was too honest to take them. There was Phoebe standing, with a gun in her hand. She just grabbed it from her purse, when she heard Helga kicking the door in.

"Well... you wouldn't believe if I told you, we're practicing to a play, would you?" - Phoebe asked. Her face turned into a huge, self confident smile. Helga never seen this expression on her face.

"Oh my god." - Lila said. Phoebe's cute little mouth turned into a more and more insane smile.

"Goddess actually, but thank you." - Phoebe said. - It's nice you guys checking in by the way."

"Pheebs... How could you..." - Lila said in the edge of crying. Brainy's wheezing got louder and louder.

"That's not Phoebe. She's my best friend and she would never do such thing. This is Paige." - Helga said.

"Hey, you're smarter than you look, bitch!" - she said. Helga never heard Phoebe using the word bitch before. - "But that's not a hard thing of course!" - Helga just stood there, while Phoebe (Paige?) risen her gun, aimed it on her and pulled the trigger. The sound of the shot made Brainy's wheezing disappear for a moment. Then there was only the screaming left to hear.

So, what do you think? I guess some of you will hate me for this chapter. Don't get me wrong I love Phoebe's character, and I loved her the most in the episodes where she let loose her darker side (like in Hall Monitor, Phoebe Cheats. Or the way she enjoyed destruction in Career Day.). So we knew there's more into her then a little dorky girl. So Paige is everything Phoebe never dared to be.

About the cliffhanger: Who knows? Maybe Helga must die, to let Lila and Arnold be together again? :D

NEXT: I AM LEGION