"So child, what have you got to tell me?" Slugworth was sneering down at his daughter, still leaning against an old packing crate on the floor. It was getting very monotonous and very uncomfortable.

"I have nothing for you, and I'm hardly a child." Veronica said sharply.

"We have been through this a hundred thousand times now, and you still won't tell me? What makes Wonka's chocolates so different, what is his secret? You know it, I know you do."

"I know nothing."

"Your beloved chocolatier is refusing to pay his ransom. Are we going to have to up the stakes? Or was I wrong? He really doesn't care about you at all, just his precious candy. In that case, it wouldn't matter to him if we destroyed you… And believe me, we will do it."

"If you want your fudge recipe back so badly, why don't you come and get it?" Slugworth whirled around. Standing on a pair of packing crates, idly twirling his cane in gloved hands, was Willy Wonka. "Although, honestly, if you want the recipe so bad, why did you forget it in the first place?" A quirked grin spread over his face, showing his perfect white teeth. Slugworth growled, baring his own grimy, crooked teeth.

"I didn't forget my own recipe, idiot! I want to know what makes your version so special. Why does it fly off shelves when mine doesn't attract a customer? It was my future and you stole it from me!" And he lunged at Wonka, who leapt deftly off the packing crates just before Slugworth sent them flying.

"I stole nothing. I bought a recipe from a pretty lady in my shop who was willing to part with it. The only dirty parasitic thief in this room is you, sending in spies to snatch up my secrets." Wonka jabbed Slugworth in the back of his left shoulder with his cane. Slugworth spun round, trying to yank Wonka's cane from his grasp, but Wonka was already gone. He popped up from behind another large packing crate.

"You know, it smells funny down here for being the basement of a candy shop. What do you make in here? Arsenic crunch? Mildew ice cream? Eww." He tapped Slugworth again, this time on the opposite shoulder, before disappearing back behind the packing crate. Slugworth advanced on the crate.

"Looking for me?" Wonka giggled. He was now perched atop the crate, in a move definitely borrowed from Veronica's strategy. He tapped Slugworth now on the top of his head, before slipping away.

"Stop being juvenile, Wonka, and face me like a man!" Slugworth bellowed, looking around at the stacks of packing crates surrounding him.

Veronica meanwhile was squirming about on the floor trying to work her blindfold off. She wasn't keen on missing all the action. A pair of hands grabbed her arms, but she bit back her startled shriek when she realized they were clad in gloves. They pulled off her blindfold and began to work clumsily at the rope around her hands, but Slugworth had noticed this and was now advancing on them, jagged bit of wood from an old packing crate in his hand. Veronica saw a few rusty nails sticking out from it. Wonka wasn't paying attention, he was now entirely absorbed in untying Veronica.

"Willy…" She mumbled.

"Huh? Oh…" He looked up. Slugworth was standing over him, weapon raised. Wonka took his cane and slid it through the loops in Slugworth's shoelaces and yanked, sending him sprawling.

"Come on!" He pulled Veronica to her feet and yanked her off behind another set of crates. Attacking her bindings once more, his gloves fumbling on the ropes, he tapped his foot impatiently on the floor. Finally, they seemed to be loosening. Veronica slid her hands free, but no sooner had they turned around, than they came face to face with three men from the EHA. Veronica didn't even see him move, but Wonka had jabbed the first man in the stomach with his cane, whacked the second over the head, and thrust the pointed end of the cane into Veronica's hands. He looked at her for the briefest of moments, and then the two rushed forward, Veronica shrieking a battle cry for good measure, and clotheslined the third. And then everything went black.

When Veronica came to, she was lying in a white bed with white sheets, squinting at the bright white lights of the room. Her right arm was covered in bloody scratches, and her left one was bound up in a makeshift sling. The back of her head was very sore, and the room swam before her eyes for several minutes before settling into clarity. She was entirely alone, but not for long. The door swung open and in strode Willy Wonka, looking harassed. When he saw her, however, his face brightened into a grin.

"Thank god, you're completely unharmed…" He said absently.

"Never thought I'd be seeing this place again so soon." Veronica said groggily, with a smile. It was then that she truly noticed Wonka. His left cheekbone was badly bruised, right beneath his eye. And his hands were bandaged in a similarly haphazard manner as her arm. He wasn't wearing gloves because of this.

"What happened to you? And… for good measure, what happened to me?"

He sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Right after we knocked out those three people from the EHA, Slugworth knocked you out with that big ugly board, and before I could stop him, someone else came to and grabbed my ankle. Go figure! Well, I smacked him pretty good with ole' reliable here…" He twirled his cane awkwardly through his bandaged hands, "But Slugworth was still beating on you so…" He looked sheepishly at his feet and picked at the bandages on his left hand. "I gave him a good whack. I didn't really want to hurt him or anything, just distract him enough to leave you alone. So he got me back…" He indicated his face with a wince. "And then I grabbed the piece of wood… Didn't know it had nails in it till afterward…" Well, he ran off after that, and I flipped out because you were bleeding, and I was bleeding and… we all know what sort of contamination there is there…" He shivered, staring off into space for a moment. "So I… sort of carried you back here."

"You… carried me here? All by yourself?"

"Well, yeah, I couldn't exactly call the Oompa Loompas to help me, now could I?" He grinned proudly. "Don't worry, you're not that heavy. And look! I did that myself too!" He pointed at her bandaged arm. "Trust me, it wasn't pretty before."

"Thank you…" Veronica said quietly.

"That's nothing…" Wonka said, taking off his hat and playing with it.

"You wanna tell me what day it is?" Veronica changed the subject awkwardly.

"It's Thursday, almost the end of April. You missed seeing the fudge room become the pretzel room this morning. It really is neat!" Wonka smiled. "It's good to have you back. Besides, I was starting to get sick of the taste of those invisibility jellies! I had to save you sooner or later! But that was one heck of a test trial! I might just take them back to the inventing room, and that's a first!"

"Maybe you can get them to make clothes invisible too." Veronica smiled.

"Yeah… that was…weird."

There was a long, awkward silence. These seemed to punctuate their conversations quite a lot nowadays. But something pricked at the back of Veronica's mind, and finally, she had to ask.

"When you were invisible… could you see yourself?"

"Not really." Wonka said. "That would be really weird."

"Yeah… but then, if you couldn't see your hands, how did you know where they were? Like… when you tapped me on the nose… How did you know you weren't gonna poke me in the eye?"

"I dunno… I guess you just sort of know. You can try it some time, if you want!"

"Not until you figure out how to make clothes invisible too."

"Well, you're no fun." Wonka pouted. "I had to do it."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures." Veronica said stiffly. "I don't need to be invisible for anything, so I can wait until you can vanish my clothes too."

"Well, maybe you can be my test subject… 'Course, we might run into an odd candy or two that only vanishes the clothes…" Wonka was just pulling her chain now, and she knew it.

"Shut up." She growled. "Don't make me hit you, because I'm pretty sure it'll be painful for both of us."

"No need to snap." Wonka turned back to her, grinning. "You should sleep. I don't want you all groggy and sleepy tomorrow. I get to teach you the secrets of candymaking tomorrow!"

"But… I can't boil water without burning it…" Veronica mumbled. "I thought we both understood that 'the secrets of candymaking' was code…"

"Code? I'm not good at codes." Wonka smiled, cheerily. "Why? What'd you mean when you said…?"

"Sex." Veronica mumbled under her breath.

"What'd you say?" Wonka asked, enigmatic grin spreading.

"Nothing. I didn't mean anything by it." She said quickly.

"Oh, well, I can't just have you freeloading here. You said you were gonna learn the secrets of candymaking, and that's just what you're gonna do!"

"Yeah, I'll bet…" Veronica mumbled sarcastically, sinking back on her pillows.