The night soon arrived and Theo had finished his trip to the convenient store before arriving back at the apartment complex. As he started to walk up the stairs, something called out that made him pause. It sounded more like incoherent babble as he turned to see someone sitting on an abandoned sofa clearly out of his mind.

"Is everyone around here off their nut?", he pondered as he made his way inside.

As he reached his floor and passed Quinten's door, it opened and a Beagle dog came out and clearly was eager even though it was on a leash and Quinten looked firm.

"Thor! Down!"

Theo raised an eyebrow.

"Thor?"

Quinten looked a bit embarrassed.

"Yeah, as in the-"

"Guy from comics?", Theo guessed.

Quinten's cheeks turned a deeper shade.

"Yeah.", he admitted, "Exactly."

Theo looked a bit nervous.

"Well, I'm going to get my fridge filled. Don't wander out too far though. It's kind of spooky out there."

Quinten quickly managed to get Thor away and started going down the stairs, but tried to keep a smile on.

"We won't.", he answered, "Thor usually goes about three feet from the door anyway."

Theo unlocked his door once Quinten was gone and got inside to fill up his new fridge. He was in the middle of putting the milk in when he heard something from outside the door.

"Delivery!"

Theo paused as he came to the door and heard the faint sound of wheels screeching outside. He opened to door to find nobody there, but as he started closing the door, he noticed a letter taped to his door and finished closing the door before he put the note on the coffee table in front of the sofa in the main room and finished putting his groceries away.

"Who sent the note?", he thought to himself.

He took a moment to look over the note as he closed the blinders on his windows and locking the door.

"Theo, I hope this message got to you. A friend of mine called and said you were in the area as I was passing by to my next performance. Best of luck with the errand you're on. Lillie's fine and she's on the next ship on route to her part of the realm in case you're wondering about her. By the way, thanks for the resupply of my wonder dust. My party friends say hi too. Your friend Hyde."

Theo smiled as he put the note to his chest as he let out a sigh.

"Thanks Hyde.", he stated though he doubted Hyde heard him, "Hope your night's well enough."

He then got on the bed since he was feeling a bit drowsy for some reason.

"I take a four-hour nap and suddenly I'm tired again.", he groaned before his head hit the pillow and was out like a light.

/

The night passed by with hardly anything, but Theo was awakened by the faint sounds of an alarm clock ringing.

"What are these walls made of?", he thought bitterly, "Sheetrock?"

Still, he had gotten enough sleep to get up as the sounds ceased.

"Well, time to start another day in the realm of horrors.", Theo thought to himself.

Soon, Theo had finished making breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast while pouring himself a glass of orange juice.

"I wonder what kind of horror I have to deal with in these parts.", he pondered.

Just as Theo had sat down to eat, a knock came on his door again. Theo sighed and got up to walk over to the door. He opened it expecting another note but found a newspaper. He brought it in and thought he'd look over the local news while he ate. As he did, he noticed the front page had a headline that caught his eye: MIDTOWN MURDERER CLAIMS YET ANOTHER VICTIM.

"So, there's a murderer around these parts.", Theo thought rolling his eyes, "Touching."

As he flipped the page, something else caught his attention. It looked like an ad, but it only had a poem.

"Innocent blood will make one creature rise, the monster falls by the dice.", Theo read before looking concerned, "Guess here's my next creature test with another die around somewhere."

He finished eating and got dressed for the day before heading out and stepping out to see Quinten and Stephanie by the stairs.

"All these cops and they can't catch this one guy?", Quinten was saying, "If I were on the force I wouldn't stop til I-"

"Caught him?", Theo guessed as he came over and noticed Quinten's security guard uniform, "All set for the day?"

Quinten almost blushed, but covered it. Stephanie however noticed Theo immediately.

"Theo, I never got to ask you why you're here in these parts."

Theo looked thoughtful.

"I'm kind of looking for something."

"What kind of something?", Quinten asked as they all started downstairs, "I think you mentioned it last night, but I must have forgotten."

Stephanie looked just as thoughtful.

"Well, whatever it is, it must be important."

"How's the hospital?", Theo asked changing the subject.

"The usual.", Stephanie answered as the three had by now gotten outside, "Looking after those that are hurt and making the world a safer place."

/

As soon as they were outside, Theo noticed out of the corner of his eye that the two jokers from yesterday had shown up again, but they seemed more interested in Stephanie than him.

"Nurse, I feel faint.", one joked.

Stephanie frowned.

"Get a life.", she answered coldly.

Theo took out Princess' card and smiled.

"Guess you gentlemen didn't learn your lesson last night did you?"

The moment he pulled it out, the two jokers stopped trying to be funny and hurried off. Only then did Theo put the card away. Quinten however had seen it before he did.

"What was that?", he asked.

"Just Princess.", Theo answered.

"Princess?", Stephanie asked.

"Someone I met up with when I came here.", Theo explained, "After a brief struggle, she now is someone I call upon in times of need."

"Like a summoning?", Quinten guessed growing interested, "Mind showing me sometime?"

Theo chuckled.

"Maybe. But for now let's get you to work Quinten."

Stephanie went off towards the direction of the hospital a short while later after saying good-bye and after a bit, Theo and Quinten arrived at what looked like a comic store.

"What's here?", Theo asked.

"Just saying hi to a friend.", Quinten answered.

They entered making the bell above the door jingle. Theo was in awe at the comics, figurines, and stuff. Then a young Asian man Quinten's age showed up wearing a plaid button up shirt over a white tank top, beige pants, and sneakers.

"Hey Quinten, who's this?"

Quinten brought Theo up to him at the register.

"I'm Theo, I'm new in town."

"Han", the man said before pointing to a stand near the front of the store, "That came in last night."

Quinten and Theo turned to see a figurine of what looked like a six-armed person in a skintight red outfit with a mask that looked like spider eyes. Quinten's eyes lit up while Theo looked confused.

"What's that?"

Quinten looked Theo's way confused.

"Seriously? You've never heard of the Arachnid Avenger?"

"Who?", Theo asked, "A comic book character?"

"Only one of the most famous since Spawn.", Han answered before looking a bit sneaky, "But it's three hundred dead presidents."

"As in three hundred dollars?", Theo guessed.

Han nodded.

"But I'm thinking of putting it on a layaway deal for Quinten."

Quinten looked surprised.

"Really?"

Han smiled again.

"Just pay me in installments and the new graphic novel series' first book came in also.", he said before placing a comic on the counter for Quinten and Theo, "It tells how Rachi got caught up in that desert radiation and got his powers."

Theo looked thoughtful.

"I can pay for it if that's not too much."

Han looked sneaky again before Theo reached into his back pocket and got out a wallet and opened it to reveal several hundred-dollar bills. Quinten and Han were stunned.

/

A few hours later, Quinten had arrived with Theo at the biochemical company where Quinten was employed.

"You didn't have to buy anything for me you know.", Quinten said a bit firmly.

Theo however wasn't phased and shrugged.

"Well, since you were such a fan, and we're now friends, I thought it would be nice."

Quinten's face softened and looked apologetic.

"Theo, I'm sorry. I just…well, let me introduce you to Papa Nick."

Theo then paused, snapped his fingers and he was now wearing a lab coat and name tag for the company. Quinten had his back turned to him at the time so he didn't see Theo change clothes and when he saw Theo as they went to the security room, he looked a bit confused.

"How'd you get that uniform?", he asked, "You a scientist or something?"

Theo thought fast.

"Oh, I ment to tell you I'm filling in for a couple of the chemists here. One was under the weather and the other had an accident so I called and said I'd fill in for the day."

Quinten seemed to accept that and once they arrived they found an elderly man with a kind face and wearing a uniform like Quinten was.

"Hey Quinten, who's the new guy?"

"Papa Nick, this is Theo.", Quinten answered, "He's filling in for a couple chemists for the day."

Nick and Theo exchanged a handshake as Theo took a breath.

"Yeah, not sure what I'm assigned, but I'm sure it's important."

Papa Nick looked thoughtful.

"I'd be sorry if you had to work with Hairy Larry."

Theo looked confused.

"Who?"

"He's a laboratory spider some chemists are working with.", Quinten explained as he got a clipboard and pen, "They say he's got something that makes him a better spider."

"Like what?", Theo asked before shrugging, "Hey, I guess I'll find out. Nice meet you gentlemen. Good luck on security."

"Nice to meet you too.", Papa Nick called after Theo as Theo left.

Once in the hall, Theo sighed.

"Okay, if I know the story this part of the realm is based on, the place will soon get robbed and Papa Nick will die.", he pondered, "That explains the "innocent blood" part, but the part on dice being the answer puzzles me."

As he passed one lab, he noticed the door was open a bit so he took a moment to look in to see a trio of scientists with a lot of glass containers of colorful liquids bubbling, steaming and swishing while one placed a tarantula on to a metal dish, another placed another in an opposite dish and the third pressed a button on a panel that Theo noticed was for a mechanical arm with a large injector needle on the end. Quinten's words repeated as Theo observed, but then one of the scientists noticed.

"Can we help you?", she asked pausing from the work.

Theo slapped on a smile.

"Sorry, I'm kind of new here. Could you direct me to the-"

Then the sound of gunfire made Theo jump.

/

A while later, the whole place had detectives, reporters and photographers investigating. Theo had tried to help out, but Papa Nick was unfortunately killed as Theo had guessed. He had noticed Quinten and tried being supportive, but that was interrupted by one officer who looked more arrogant than he should be.

"Hey look, the guard who killed his partner.", he said before chuckling meanly.

Theo looked his way coldly.

"Maybe if you hadn't been so reckless and an attention hog, it would've been different."

The officer grabbed Theo by his coat and brought his face close to his own.

"Say it again.", he dared.

"Officer Williams!"

Theo and the officer turned to see someone middle-aged wearing a brown overcoat, a plaid shirt, pants, and polished leather shoes while having a firm expression on his face and short brown hair.

"That's enough!", the person said again and after Williams let go and walked off came over, "Mr. Theo and Mr. Kremmer, I'm Detective Grillo and I'm going to have to ask you a couple questions okay?"

Theo sighed.

"If you must Detective."

After a bit, Grillo was done and had gone off while Theo turned to see Quinten standing in the doorway of the lab he had once spied on. Theo rushed forward and noticed the injector needle on the mechanical arm was still full of glowing red fluid. Quinten rushed forward and was now in front of the needle and Theo could tell what was going on.

"That stuff hasn't been purified yet.", he thought in a panic when he remembered something.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the dice box and got out the four-sided dice as Quinten placed his wrist in the needle's way. Quick as a wink, Theo rolled the dice and it landed on a 4. Quinten's eyes were closed so he didn't see the fluid in the needle turn from red to light blue rapidly before it pierced his wrist and injected the fluid into him entirely before lifting off. Theo picked up the dice and had put it back in the box before Quinten started to sway like he had a hangover. Theo put the box away and caught Quinten just before he fell on the floor.

"Sorry Quinten.", he said as he started heading out and carrying Quinten, "I just hope I did the right thing here."

By the time Theo had gotten Quinten home, Stephanie had arrived and she noticed them as she got out of a car someone was driving.

"Theo, what happened?"

Theo thought fast again.

"We had a bit of a breech in the plant and we got fired.", he answered trying to sound a bit sad.

Stephanie looked a bit scared as they all entered the building. She didn't say anything as the trio got upstairs, but she mentioned she could help if needed. Theo was grateful for that.