Dangerous Liaisons and Treachery

Part two of the Lily series.

He looked out over Lazytown in the fading light of the evening. His blue eyes didn't fall on the person he was looking for. He was certain she hadn't really left but if she hadn't left the town where could she be? Something inside him told him the answer but he didn't want to believe it. It his instinct was right the consequences would be deadly. Lazytown would be brought to its knees under the havoc that those two would generate. He would have to find out for himself whether he was right or not, if he was right he would have to stop them before any damage was done. Anything he would do would have to wait until the next day as it was getting close to the time he had to rest.

As he entered the airship from the platform he heard a mysterious tune playing from somewhere. The tune became more and more hypnotic as the light in the sky faded. The tune radiated around him and as it played he couldn't fight the tiredness that came over him. Eventually he could fight it no more and fell to the ground in a deep sleep.

In the darkness of the night someone stirred when everyone else was sleeping. That someone had dark blue eyes and wore green clothing. It was Lily. She tiptoed quietly around making sure that every window of every house was dark. There was no movement on the streets except her own. With expert ease she entered every house silently and without notice. The bag she carried with her became larger and larger the more houses she left. A wicked smile passed her lips at the ease of gaining these prizes. Her plan was working and she wanted to laugh long and loud but that would have to wait until she was safely back underground.

She started as she saw another figure in the dark; as soon as that figure saw her a smile similar to the one she had smiled earlier touched its face. She smiled in reply and handed over the bag only to receive an empty one. Understanding what he wanted she went to work emptying the trees of their plentiful crop. Once the trees had been done Lily pulled out a grappling gun from behind her back, it was something Robbie had been working on for some time.

Firing the grappling gun the hook caught on the airship and she pulled herself up. She entered the airship by opening the ladder hatch from the outside which made the platform come down. Once inside the airship she looked for her brother who was safely unconscious on the floor and finding the touch panel that activated the fruit vender filled her bag with Sportacus' beloved sports candy. She was immune to the sleeping music as she wore ear protection that blocked out all sounds. Her work done she retreated back underground with the rest of her prizes.

By the time the sun rose there was no fruit left in Lazytown. As everyone awoke in the town their exclamations at finding their fruit missing were met with deafening laughter from the two thieves that had stalked the night. Lily and Robbie both shook hands in between their fits of laughter. Their success had all been down to Robbie's 'noisy ball' which had been reprogrammed to play soft, hypnotic music.

"Why isn't he here?" The Mayor paced impatiently waiting for a reply to his letter.

He'd sent it up to the airship fifteen minutes beforehand and had yet seen no movement from the airship. He was extremely puzzled at this as whenever a letter was sent to the airship it was met with an instant reply.

'I can't wait here any longer. I shall have to speak to Sportacus about this when I see him next' the Mayor thought to himself, going over to the podium he quieted the whispers of the inhabitants of Lazytown as he addressed them.

"Everyone, Sportacus hasn't answered my letter. Until he does we shall just have to make do without him. I'm sure everyone is as puzzled as I am as to how this catastrophe happened."

"I'm not," piped up a high pitched voice from the second row of the congregation.

Everyone looked at the source of the voice, it was Stephanie.

"It must have been Robbie Rotten," she continued, "He's the only one in Lazytown that would do this. Maybe he did something to Sportacus too, how do we find that out?"

Everyone looked at everyone else, the part about Robbie stealing the fruit made sense but had he done so alone? If so how? The plan seemed too elaborate to be cooked up Robbie Rotten and had been his only successful plan thus far. The other conundrum that presented itself to them was how to find out where Sportacus was. If he was locked up in his airship how could anyone get to him? Would the airship respond to someone else's voice? It looked highly unlikely.

"I think I have an idea," said another voice breaking the silence, it was Pixel. "I still have the rocket stored away somewhere, perhaps we can use that to get to the airship. I can pilot it up there with Stephanie, it shouldn't take long to check it over and get it up there."

The Mayor agreed to this solution as it was the only one they had. He was unsure about sending Stephanie up there as he didn't know what they would find when they arrived, he let her go anyway as there would be no deterring her.

Twenty minutes later the rocket had been got out from where it had been stored and deemed in perfect condition. The kids got it in take off position and began the countdown when Pixel and Stephanie were safely inside. Pixel had shown Trixie how to start the launch sequence and she was ready with her finger on the button.

"Ok Pinky, Pixel, I'm ready to send you up. Any last words?" Trixie giggled at her joke, by the looks on the faces of the rocket's inhabitants the joke had worked.

"I can't think of any. Begin countdown," Pixel ordered feeling a little annoyed. He didn't like his inventions being criticised.

"5,4,3,2,1 BLAST OFF!" all of the kids called simultaneously. Upon the word blast off the weight was dropped on the see saw and the rocket went flying into the sky.

The flight to the airship wasn't very long but the kids had yet to find a way into the airship, it became apparent that they should have thought of it before taking off. They flew the rocket around the airship a couple of times trying to find some way in but to no avail. Stephanie could only think of one thing to do and hoped it would work.

"Door!" she shouted but it didn't respond, "Ladder!" she tried but it wouldn't respond either, "Platform down!" still there was no response.

After a few more minutes Pixel came up with an idea, he knew that there had to be a hatch where the ladder was stored because Sportacus had climbed up and down the ladder in and out of the airship lots of times. Pixel flew the rocket round again so he could descend just enough to get under the airship. Whatever they were going to try they didn't have long to do as the newly input fuel supply would not last much longer.

"Stephanie, I need you to try and find the ladder hatch and force it open. It's the only other thing we can try!" Pixel shouted over the noise of the rocket.

Stephanie shouted 'ok' and located the hatch. There were two hatches, one had to be the ladder hatch and the other had to be the platform, Stephanie tried to grab the ladder hatch, Pixel couldn't stop the rocket as it would fall to the ground. Pixel made another pass at the hatch and Stephanie made another attempt at trying to get it open. Finally after three more passes the hatch opened and the ladder fell out lowering the platform with it. Pixel levelled the rocket with the ladder and Stephanie jumped out successfully grabbing it. She didn't climb until the ladder stopped swinging; when it had she climbed to the airship with a feeling of dread for what she might find.

"Sportacus?" Stephanie called softly as she got to the top of the ladder. Looking around the airship she saw Sportacus on the floor, she gasped and ran over to him.

Not knowing what to do she ran over to the platform, "Pixel! I've found Sportacus. He's lying on the floor and I don't know what do!"

"Try dragging him to the platform and dropping him into the rocket as I fly past, it's the only way. You only have one go at this as my fuel is running low, you'll have to climb down the ladder!" Pixel shouted and made ready to make the pass which could prove fatal to Sportacus if he didn't land right.

With all her strength Stephanie dragged Sportacus the short distance to the platform. She didn't want to drop Sportacus into the rocket but something was wrong with him and if she didn't do something he might never get better. She heard Pixel calling her telling her on the count of three to drop Sportacus. They counted together and with an almighty push Sportacus fell out of the hole left by the descended platform and to the enormous relief of both Pixel and Stephanie he landed safely in the rocket albeit upside down. Pixel safely landed the rocket on the ground and the Mayor, Bessie and the remaining kids ran over to see what the matter was with Sportacus. Stephanie joined them shortly after, panting from her physical efforts. The Mayor and Bessie gently pulled Sportacus out of the rocket and set him on the ground. After a few agonising minutes Sportacus seemed to be regaining the consciousness he had lost.

"Wha- what happened?" Sportacus stammered, coming to.

He sat up quickly and laid back down again, his attempt at sitting up was much too fast for someone who had been lying down for quite some time. When his blood had stopped spinning around his head he sat up again but much slower. Suddenly he remembered the music he had heard in the airship and how tired it had made him feel.

"Did anyone hear music in the airship?" Sportacus asked suddenly.

"I didn't hear music, why?" Stephanie asked, a little confused.

"When I was in the airship I heard strange music. It was hypnotic and made me feel so tired I couldn't stay awake any longer."

Pixel thought for a moment and then came up with a theory, "It's possible that the noise from the rocket drowned out the music." He stated.

Sportacus and everyone nodded at this assessment. The Mayor was grateful for the rocket making such a terrible racket as Stephanie may have been mesmerised by the music too and no one would've been able to rescue them.

"How are you feeling?" The Mayor asked Sportacus.

"Fine I think. I'd feel much better after some sports candy though,"

"That might be a problem," the Mayor said reluctantly looking down.

"Why?"

"All of the sports candy in town has vanished. We believe that Robbie Rotten has stolen it but we can't be sure." The Mayor turned to Stephanie after addressing Sportacus, "Stephanie, was there any fruit in Sportacus' airship?"

Stephanie thought hard, she hadn't really been paying attention to the fruit dispenser but it was important that she remembered. Finally after coming up with a blank she shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. The Mayor nodded, understanding.

Whilst the inhabitants of Lazytown were trying to work out where their fruit had gone and how Robbie had stolen it all the aforementioned Mr. Rotten and Lily were still celebrating their victory despite Sportacus being rescued from the airship. This little problem had caused some disturbance between the two thieves of the night but it was short lived, without fruit Sportacus wouldn't have any energy and if he didn't have any energy he wouldn't be able to move. The realisation of this fact had lifted their spirits to even more immense levels.

"We did a wonderful job my dear!" Shouted Robbie joyfully, whilst watching and listening to the people on the surface through his periscope.

"We?" came a hissed reply from Lily.

This hiss caused Robbie to take his attention from the periscope and place it fully on Lily, "Yes, we." he asserted.

"I think you have something wrong here. Who came up with this plan? Who stole the fruit? Who swapped the baseball the kids and Sportacus were playing with over with the noisy ball? Who climbed up to the airship again to steal Sportacus' sports candy?"

Robbie frowned, he didn't like this. "You did. It was my noisy ball and my grappling gun that helped you. There were also my sacks that you carried the fruit in made out of some of my old disguises. The fruit is also hidden in my lair." Robbie stated motioning the four or five sacks worth of fruit in the far corner of the lair.

Lily got up out of the orange chair, her temper rising. As far as she was concerned she had done all of the work. Robbie had done very little compared to what she had done and he was trying to take credit for her work. Robbie sensed Lily's getting up from the chair was a challenge; he readied himself unsteadily for what was to come. Walking down the steps from the periscope Robbie moved closer to Lily to show her he would stand his ground.

This was a BIG mistake.

Lily took Robbie's moving towards her as an attack and she struck. Before Robbie knew what had happened he was on the ground and felt a stinging pain coming from his cheek. He raised his hand to his cheek and drew it back suddenly when he felt wet on his hand. Looking at what the wet was he was shocked to see that it was blood. He looked up at Lily in surprise to see she had her usual smug smile on her face. Robbie didn't know what to do, making his mind up in a second he got up and left the lair. Where he would go he didn't know but in that small action of Lily's she had proved just how bad she really was and he didn't want to hang around long enough to get another blow to the cheek. Climbing up the pipes he could hear Lily's coarse laughter resonating around the lair and through the pipes.

He made it to the surface safely; the light of the day had faded to darkness. The stinging in his cheek had turned to burning and he saw blood running down his arm.

What had she done to him?

Not knowing what else to do and panicking he headed for town, he knew he would receive a frosty reception for what he had done but that didn't matter. He would explain his side of the story and decide what to do afterwards. Knowing that Sportacus wouldn't be in the airship because of the noisy ball he headed for the one place that he could be, the Mayor's house.

The three occupants of the Mayor's house were awoken and startled by a series of extremely loud and hard knocks on the door. Sportacus motioned for Stephanie and the Mayor to stand behind him as he opened the door, he expected danger but from what he was unsure. Opening the door he let out a gasp at the sight of Robbie. Robbie's cheek had been scratched very deeply and four 'furrows' could be seen in it, the wounds had bled severely and blood had run down his arm.

"What happened to you?" Stephanie asked showing unusual concern for Robbie; she stepped round Sportacus and got closer to Robbie trying to see the wounds better, "you look like someone has scratched you, what happened?" she repeated.

"Your sister," Robbie said coldly looking directly at Sportacus.

"Lily?" Sportacus asked surprised, "I thought she left town days ago,"

"She didn't. As she was leaving I happened to run into her and we found we had a lot in common. She's been staying with me in my lair but as you can tell from the state of my cheek circumstances have changed a little." Robbie pointed to his cheek, he hadn't seen the damage done to it but could feel it all the same.

"You better come in so we look at your cheek and try to do something with it," the Mayor piped up.

Robbie came in without further invitation and Stephanie set to work wetting some towels under the tap in the kitchen to clean the wounds on Robbie's cheek. The Mayor motioned for Robbie to sit down and he did so, none of this happened without Sportacus keeping a very close eye on Robbie in case he tried anything. Stephanie handed one of the wet towels to the Mayor who helped Robbie clean his cheek. Robbie couldn't do it himself properly as the blood loss had weakened him and the wounds hurt too much when the towel was applied for him to subject himself to the torture of it. After cleaning Robbie's cheek with one towel the Mayor started to try and clean his sleeve but to no avail, the blood had soaked in and dried. Eventually Robbie grew tired after losing so much blood and could hardly sit in the chair anymore.

"Sportacus, would you mind awfully helping to get Robbie off the chair and somewhere more comfortable?" The Mayor asked wanting Robbie off the chair before he fell off it himself.

Sportacus tried to lift Robbie but was too weak; he needed sports candy to boost his energy levels.

Stephanie came up with an idea, "Why don't we move another chair round and put Robbie's feet on it? It's more or less like a bed and there isn't enough room for four people to sleep in the bedrooms."

The Mayor and Sportacus both agreed with this and moved a chair to put Robbie's feet on. By this time Robbie was much too tired to care about being moved about and offered very little resistance. Before going back to bed the Mayor placed another wet towel on Robbie's cheek and placed one of Robbie's hands to hold in place. Hopefully it would still the blood flow and prevent any mess on the floor. Sportacus stayed back a few minutes more after the Mayor had retired back to bed. He still expected Robbie to do something or Lily to jump out at any moment but thought better of it when he realised how tired he felt. Sparing Robbie one last look he went back to bed.

He felt awful when he woke the next morning and by the surprised gasp from Stephanie when she came into the room to see if he was having breakfast he looked awful.

"Sportacus," Stephanie whispered her hand covering her mouth. He was deathly pale and looked weak.

She guessed that it had come from Sportacus' having no sports candy for over a day. She had to do something and fast. Tears filling her eyes she turned away from Sportacus and headed for the kitchen, she had to speak to Robbie.

Entering the kitchen Stephanie looked almost as bad Sportacus, she had been terribly shocked by what was happening to him. Both the Mayor and Robbie looked up at her as she walked in, her eyes falling on Robbie Stephanie walked to him very quickly and she landed a hefty slap on Robbie's uninjured cheek. Breaking into near hysterics Stephanie then began to shake Robbie.

"What have you done? What have you done? Tell me where all the fruit is hidden, I need to know." Stephanie shouted in between sobs.

The Mayor pulled her away from Robbie who was too surprised at the force with which the girl had slapped and shook him to do anything against her. She'd made her feelings towards Sportacus dangerously obvious to both Robbie and the Mayor but neither said anything about it. The Mayor pulled Stephanie into her bedroom and sat her down on her bed while he closed the door.

"Why child what's the matter?" The Mayor asked brushing Stephanie's dishevelled hair from her face.

"Sportacus is sick, uncle. He needs sports candy soon otherwise he might-" Stephanie couldn't finish the sentence, the thought was too horrible.

Brushing her tears from her eyes she continued, "I have to find the sports candy. Only Robbie knows where it is, only he can help me."

"I guess I owe you a favour," both the Mayor and Stephanie turned to see Robbie standing in the doorway. "After all, you helped me with my cheek and took me in for the night. Don't think I'm doing this purely out of the 'goodness of my heart', I want my lair back and Lily out of Lazytown. The chances are that getting into the lair might be difficult; she'll be using the periscope to keep an eye on us so we won't have the element of surprise. There is one way I can think of to get us into the lair,"

"What?" asked the Mayor and Stephanie simultaneously.

"The noisy ball. It's what I used to send Sportacus into that deep sleep. Lily used my old trick and swapped it with a baseball. It's not on timer like the other one and plays continuously. If we get it from the airship we'll need ear protection."

"How would the noisy ball help against Lily?" the Mayor asked.

"It's simple really. We get the noisy ball and drop it down the pipe into the lair. Lily will be unconscious and we can deal with her then. Have you got any ear protection?"

"Yes, would ear plugs do? I have some for when Stephanie plays her music too loud. I find it works better than having to listen to it." The Mayor suggested.

At Robbie's nod he went and fetched two pairs. When he entered the room he noticed that Robbie's cheek looked no better than before. It had stopped bleeding but the wounds were very deep, he thought that it must also hurt quite badly.

"Here you are," the Mayor said snapping out of his reverie and handed the ear plugs to both Robbie and Stephanie.

Standing at the bottom of the ladder Robbie and Stephanie looked up at the airship. They had said nothing to each other since leaving the house as it was possible Lily would over hear what they said. It was possible that Lily would see them through the periscope if she happened to think to look through it but Robbie had looked in every location it was located and saw nothing. Both people but in their ear plugs. Robbie climbed the ladder first. If Lily was up there waiting for them Robbie thought it best that he take anything she might throw at them first. He breathed a sigh of relief that the airship was vacant.

When Robbie and Stephanie got into the airship Stephanie headed straight for the ball cupboard. The noisy ball had little LEDs on it which flashed while it played its music so it was easy to spot. Stephanie picked it up and handed it to Robbie who turned it off. Cautiously he took his ear plugs out and satisfied that the noisy ball had been turned off properly motioned for Stephanie to do the same. Their first task done they descended the ladder. When they got to the bottom the kids were waiting for them, they'd come as asked.

"Ok kids. What I want you to do is play around and make as much noise and hullabaloo as possible. Carry on until we give you a signal to stop" Robbie tried not to make what he was saying sound like an order and it worked, the kids started playing as nosily and energetically as possible.

Robbie and Stephanie started the short walk to the lair.

Lily was startled at the sudden clamour on the surface. All had been very quiet and then all of sudden she heard playful screaming and laughter. She ran up to the periscope to see what was going on. Looking around the town with it her eyes fell on the kids playing some sort game which involved balloons for swords. She growled in disgust and then went back to the chair to sit down. She was blissfully unaware that her undoing was twenty feet above her on the surface.

After climbing up the ladders to the hatch by which Robbie entered and exited his lair Robbie and Stephanie put in their ear plugs again. Skilfully and silently Robbie opened the hatch and turned the noisy ball on, he dropped it down the pipe and re-closed the hatch. All they had to now was wait.

'What is that noise?' Lily thought as she heard strange music coming from somewhere. Before she knew it she felt extremely tired and fell asleep with her hands still holding the periscope.

Stephanie removed her earplugs and called Pixel on a walkie talkie they had been given before setting off to Robbie's lair. "Stephanie to Pixel," Stephanie spoke into it and received and almost immediate answer,

"Pixel here, all done?"

"The ball is in the lair. All we need you to do is find the periscope and see if it's raised, if it is look through it and tell us if you can see Lily."

It took less than a minute for Pixel to reply, "The periscope was watching us play and Lily is asleep. She's leaning on it and looks like she's in a very deep sleep."

"Good, over and out." Stephanie said smiling. She put her ear plugs in and both her and Robbie, who hadn't removed his ear plugs, opened the hatch and jumped into the pipe.

After they had picked themselves up off the floor Robbie and Stephanie looked around the lair. Robbie went over to the periscope to check if Lily was really asleep and gave Stephanie a thumbs up when it turned out that Lily was well and truly asleep. Stephanie noticed the bags of fruit in the corner and went over to them. She picked one up and dragged it over to the pipe, when she got there she looked at Robbie helplessly asking him how they would get the sacks up. Robbie thought for a moment and went over to Stephanie. He bent over a little and clasped his hands with his palms facing upwards. Stephanie instantly realised that Robbie wanted to give her a leg up so she could climb into the pipe and push the sack in front of her until they reached the top. Lifting the sack up Stephanie placed her foot on Robbie's hands and he lifted them and her high enough so she could get into the pipe.

Successfully reaching the top of the pipe Stephanie threw the sack out and slid down the pipe again to get the rest. When she got to the bottom she landed in Robbie's fluffy orange chair and both of them did the same as before; Stephanie chose a sack, Robbie lifted her into the pipe and she came back down for another after getting rid of the sack. They did this four more times. Carrying two sacks each they made their back to the town. When Stephanie was closer to her house she dropped her sacks and pulled out several pieces of fruit. She then ran to her house and into the guest bedroom where Sportacus was resting.

Thankfully Sportacus didn't look any worse when she got back and she instantly peeled a banana for him. Sportacus took the banana gratefully and after a couple of bites the colour flooded back into his cheeks and he sat up feeling like his old self again. Stephanie smiled her biggest smile and Sportacus gave her his biggest hug. He was very proud of her and very much appreciated what she and Robbie had done for him. Thinking of Robbie he looked around the room but couldn't see him.

"Where's Robbie, Stephanie?" Sportacus asked.

"He might still be outside. I dropped the sacks of fruit I was carrying and ran here to give you some fruit."

Sportacus smiled and got up; he was feeling a little stiff after not moving for so long but wanted to thank Robbie. Both he and Stephanie were welcomed with applause and cheers as they left the house. Sportacus did a mock bow and tried to spot Robbie. He saw the four sacks of fruit, they looked they had been abandoned in a hurry. He knew that Stephanie had dropped her two but Robbie's two were also on the ground and Robbie was nowhere to be seen.

"Has anyone seen Robbie?" Sportacus asked still looking around for him.

All the kids, the Mayor and Bessie shook their heads. Suddenly Ziggy remembered that he had seen Robbie drop the sacks he was carrying and looked like he was heading back to his lair. Knowing that this information was important he told Sportacus straight away.

"Why would he go back to his lair?" Sportacus thought out loud.

He then remembered that Lily was staying there and remembered hearing Robbie say he wanted his lair back. Knowing that is was possible Robbie would do something stupid and would be in grave danger if he did it, Sportacus ran to catch up with him. After running for some time Sportacus still couldn't see Robbie, 'he moves incredibly fast for someone so lazy,' he thought and carried on running.

Robbie stood at the hatch of his lair, placing his ear plugs in his ears he opened the hatch and descended. Once in the lair he went over to where the noisy ball had landed, he was horrified to see that it was off. Before he could do anything a blow to the back of his head sent him tumbling to the ground. He tried to get up but a kick in the side stopped him and made him curl up in pain.

"How?" he gasped through waves of pain coming from his head and side. He wrapped his arms around his side trying to still it.

"I heard your little toy coming and put my own set of ear plugs in. I use them to block out your snoring. I pretended to be asleep, you didn't check hard enough when you tried to see if I was really asleep. You thought you could trick me, you were wrong." Lily laughed triumphantly. She kicked Robbie in his side again, his arms offered little protection and they broke under her kick.

Lily's kick was answered with an agonising scream from Robbie, his pain doubled and he writhed on the ground. Tears spilled from his tightly closed eyes and his teeth were clamped as tightly. He managed to open his eyes just enough to see Lily raise her foot as if to stamp on him, he closed them again and waited for his pain to get worse.

"LILY, STOP!" Shouted Sportacus. He'd arrived in the lair just in time to see Lily bring her foot down; she'd turned before it had stamped Robbie's head into two pieces.

"Sportacus," Lily hissed, "I wondered if you'd come or not. I hoped that your little pink friend might have detained you longer, long enough for me to deal with this pathetic, weak little worm."

Lily pointed at Robbie and landed yet another kick in his side to let Robbie know he was the worm. "Now," Lily said turning her full attention on Sportacus, "I think it's time I played with you."

Sportacus had never seen Lily like this. He knew she was violent but had never known her to be this bad. He was doubtful about how to stop her, violence wasn't his way but if he had to use it he would. Standing his ground he waited for Lily to make her next move. Lily smiled at him, she knew Sportacus never used violence to solve his problems but she could make him do it. After all, she knew how to raise his ever dormant anger so she could very likely make him use violence.

Slowly she walked towards him, the closer she got the more Sportacus seemed uneasy. She was testing him. Without warning Lily delivered a double handed blow to Sportacus' stomach. Sportacus doubled in pain and gulped back the bile that rose in his throat. He looked up at Lily, his light blue eyes meeting with her dark piercing ones. Smiling, Lily dealt another blow this time to Sportacus' face and he fell to the ground. Before Lily could kick him Sportacus rolled twice to get out of her way and got up off the ground. Lily's smile didn't fade at this; Sportacus was just prolonging any new injuries he'd receive. She rounded on Sportacus and was just about to hit him again when she was stopped. Lily felt pain at the back of her head; she turned to see Stephanie standing underneath the pipe. The pain had come from a Frisbee that had been thrown at her head.

"You." Lily hissed. Her smile was gone and had been replaced by a very angry expression. She began to stalk up to Stephanie.

"Stephanie, get out of here now! Run!" Sportacus yelled. He knew that Lily would attack her next and didn't want her to get hurt.

Stephanie took Sportacus' advice and moved out the way just before Lily struck her. There was nowhere for Stephanie to run to, she couldn't get up the pipe on her own. Lily came at her again but this time she was grabbed by Sportacus who forcibly shoved her away from Stephanie. Lily wasn't going to be stopped by two against one and ran at Sportacus; she didn't get close enough to him to do any damage as Stephanie landed a powerful kick to the backs of her legs which sent her falling to the ground. Lily hit her head on the floor and didn't get up again. Sportacus checked her pulse and was reassured to feel it beating, Lily was just unconscious.

Sportacus got up from kneeling near Lily and gave Stephanie a huge hug. He was glad she was safe and was even more proud of her than he had been before. She had saved him twice in one day and by doing so had placed her own life in peril. Sportacus broke the hug from Stephanie when he heard a low groan come from the other side of the room. Both turned to see Robbie still on the floor and still curled up.

"Robbie," Sportacus said going up to him, he knelt beside Robbie. "We'll get you out of here soon and everything will be ok. Lily's unconscious and won't hurt anyone else for a while."

Two days had passed since Lily's last attack. Sportacus and Stephanie had pulled her up the pipe to the surface. Once on the surface they saw a van waiting, the Mayor had taken the liberty of calling an old favour from a friend that lived in a town on the other side of the mountains. This friend ran a safe house and had agreed to house Lily there in a locked room; everyone had agreed this was best.

As for Robbie, he spent a couple of months at the Mayor's house as he could do nothing for himself until his arms had healed. At first he had groaned, moaned and grumbled about this but eventually became used to it. He resented the kindness as he'd have to repay it some time. He had resolutely promised to himself and everyone that offered him their best wishes that as soon as he was back in his lair he would return to his old ways.

Some things never change, do they?

To be continued…