Elsa searched around in the dark cave. An hour ago she had received a message from Janixsaur telling her to meet him here. But he was nowhere in sight, no one was here.

"The time is now, Elsa."

She jumped and quickly turned around, seeing Janixsaur behind her. "You're lucky I don't kill you where you stand," she snapped.

He laughed, finding her amusing. "You're welcome to try." Elsa eyed him carefully; she could never tell if he was with her or against her. "...But then you wouldn't be able to hear how I plan to put an end to Mesogog, along with his other half." He walked circles around her, eyeing her.

"I'm beginning to think it's you I shouldn't trust."

Janixsaur grinned. "Perhaps it's I who shouldn't trust you; for weeks now I have ranted about how I will destroy Mesogog to you. What reason have you given me to trust you, Elsa?

Elsa's face became blank. He had been honest with her from the start, always looking out for her. "I-I…"

"But yet I trust you. Why cannot you trust me?" His eyes glared right at her, staring her down.

"I-I trust you; I'm sorry if I offended you. Of course I want to hear your plan on finishing off Mesogog once and for all."

"Good. Here's the plan…."

Eric was out back, setting up the new punching bag to replace the old one. It just didn't seem right not replacing it, even though Mr. Collins probably wouldn't have cared one way or another. The two had barely talked to each other since Eric had given him the news about Wes. He sighed heavily, wondering how Collins was doing, if he was all right.

"Need some help?"

Eric turned around, to see Alex standing a few feet away from him. For what seemed like forever the two just looked at each other in silence.

Alex could see that Eric wasn't making any movement to start up a conversation with him, or even accept his help. He couldn't blame him, if he were in Eric's shoes he'd probably act the same way. "Look, this isn't easy for me." Alex bit his lips, if there was one thing he hated more than losing a case, it was admitting he was wrong. "I think we got off to the wrong foot. I said some things I shouldn't have, and as of lately I haven't been the easiest person to get along with." Boy, this was hard. "And I'm sorry for blaming you and Hayley about what happened to Jen. And I'm really sorry if I made it sound like it was your fault, with what happened to Wes. I know he was your friend. And I had no right saying the things I said."

Alex making an apology, there's something I never thought I'd see or hear. Perhaps they had a lot more in common then he thought. "Thanks. And I'm sorry about trying to hit you."

"I probably deserved it."

Eric smiled. "Yeah you did." He licked his lips. "So you just going to stand there, or are you going to help me hang this thing up?" Together he and Alex hung up the new punching bag.

Tommy sat at his desk going over old notes. Most of the notes were faded and partly burnt. They were all he had managed to save before Mesogog, and the monster he had created, took over the lab. The notes were useless now, unreadable and with pieces of information missing, but he thought just maybe he would find some answers, but every time he came up empty handed.

"Find anything?" asked Hayley, walking up behind him.

Sighing heavily, he turned around. "No. Nothing. Just the same as always." He bowed his head, and ran his hand across his face, frustrated. "I created those things. I should know how to destroy them and figure out how Mesogog came to be."

Hayley sighed and gave a faint smile. She knew Tommy was always too hard on himself. Perhaps back in college, that was the reason she had fallen for him. He was a quiet, sad, lonely guy, who had just gotten out of a relationship with Kat, realizing he hadn't ever been in love with her, just a crush. And then she too had broken up with her high school boyfriend, Andy. And the two just seemed to click; first it just started out as talking to each other and hanging out. She had told him everything about her relationship with Andy and he told her a little bit about Kim and Kat, and from there their friendship had grown into something much more, but that too had fallen apart.

"Maybe you should get in contact with Anton Mercer? He was your partner."

"I've tried; he doesn't return my phone calls. The last time I spoke to him was when he got the cops off my back. And even then he wasn't too talkative." Tommy bit his lip.

"What? You think something's going on with him?" asked Hayley, recognizing that look.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. It's just…a couple of weeks before our lab was destroyed, he had been acting real weird. A couple of times, he had even tried to send me off on vacation, to get away from the lab, but he never would say why."

"Maybe he thought you were working yourself too hard. You do tend to do that."

"Yeah. Maybe. Or…I don't know? I guess…I guess I always felt there was something he wasn't telling me."

"Have you talked to Trent; maybe he knows something?"

He shook his head. "No, every time I have brought anything up about his father he finds some way of changing the subject. There's something going on between them." He eyed Hayley. "Has Trent ever mentioned anything to you about Anton or his real parents?"

"No. Not really. He has said Anton doesn't seem to always agree with his wanting to start a career in cartooning and drawing. As for his real parents, he has never said anything to me about them."

Tommy bit his lip. "Something just doesn't seem right." For the past four years, he had thought Anton was dead, but he wasn't. Why hadn't Anton tried to make contact with him? Although for the past four years he hadn't been the easiest person to get a hold of. Maybe he was just being paranoid and everything was alright.

"I'm sure we'll figure all of this out, it's just going to take time," responded Hayley, giving him a kind smile.

"Thanks. You're a real good friend, Hayley." She was more than just a friend. He had called asking for her help, asking her to give up everything to help him out. And she had dropped everything to help him. Even after everything that had happened between them, with him leaving, without a goodbye, just a note.

"Well, that's what I'm here for."

"No. I really mean it." He leaned forward in his seat. "I don't know if I would have been able to get this far without your help. You have always been there for me, and I just want you to know I'm grateful, for everything." He smiled faintly. "I know I don't deserve it."

"Yes, you do. You have given up more then I ever have for the safety of the world. It should be us being grateful to you."

"Thanks."

Anton Mercer sat in his office going over paperwork. His desk was filled with stacks of folders filled with papers. He turned to his right and saw a picture of himself and Trent; it had been taken about a year ago, they were happy but something was missing. He could see it in his own eyes, the monster that lurked in the shadows. Next to that picture was another, it was much older. He was a good ten plus years younger; standing next to him was a young couple along with their young son, Trent.

He just stared at the photo for a long moment, guilt and shame filling his eyes.

"Dad?" Trent came into his father's office and found him at his desk. He noticed that his father was looking at the old picture. "You still have that?"

"It's good to remember the past, Trent."

Trent sighed. "I don't remember them," he answered all too quickly.

"You were five years old," replied Anton.

Trent's face was blank, as if he had been doing all he could not to remember. "….Um, Dr. Oliver called for you again."

"I know. He has been trying to get a hold of me for the past few weeks."

"He might be able to help you, you know. He's dealt with this kind of stuff before, and he was your partner."

Anton bit his lips. "I know, but as I said before I have put too much on his shoulders as it is. The less contact I have with him the better. Mesogog would only be using me to get to him and I can't allow that to happen." He eyed Trent." Look what almost happened to you."

"But everything turned out okay."

His father sighed. "But it almost didn't."

Trent sighed, struggling with his frustration and agony. "I just-"

A huge explosion hit, BOOM! Debris and glass were all over the place. A boulder had fallen onto Trent and had knocked him out, his body lay limp on the ground. "TRENT!" yelled his father who had been protected behind his desk.

"I wouldn't be worrying about him. You should be worrying about yourself," said a voice.

Anton looked through the cloud of smoke as it began to die down and watched as a shadow approached him. His eyes widened with fear; it was Janixsaur. "What do you want?" he demanded.

"What I want? I want you, or at least one half of you." He laughed and raised his hand up. "Don't worry, this wont hurt one bit - well, I can't really say that. No one has ever lived long enough to tell me."

"You don't want to do this. You won't be able to handle the power. Mesogog's too powerful!"

"I'll be the judge of that. Any last words?"

"Don't do this. You can't control him!"

Trent slowly opened his eyes; everything was hazy and dizzy. His vision was blurry. He was barely able to make out the conversation between his father and Janixsaur. He tried moving his wrist towards his mouth to contact the others for help, but he couldn't move his arm, a large piece of the wall laid on top of it. "Dad…" he whispered. He then watched in horror and terror, as Janixsaur zapped his father with a powerful wave of energy, unlike anything he had ever seen. He watched helplessly as his father cried out in pain, screaming, calling out his name. A bright blinding light then flashed, and all was silent….