–In the 21st Century–

Bradley set the empty water bottle down next to the other two empty bottles. His mother, while not being able to cook anything like other parents due to her busy schedule, had sent him to backstage prep with enough store bought cupcakes to give everyone diabetes.

Not one to turn down a cupcake, or two, Bradley had eaten a couple chocolate ones. Of course, Lydia had freaked out, scolding him for eating chocolate an hour before curtain, saying it was bad for the vocal chords. The girl then all but forced an armful of bottled waters onto him and advised him to drink it all up before the play started.

Normally, Bradley would just shrug it off. But, considering he was playing the SQUIP and had quite a few musical numbers to get through, he reasoned Lydia was right. So, there he was. Sitting in the high school art room an hour before curtain, trying not to get any stains on his SQUIP costume. Mort's parents sent over some Vegan-Lasagna, Amanda had brought over a few bowls of fruit salad, Mr. Draco ordered pizza for everybody, and then someone had brought an assortment of chips, pretzels and drinks.

Bradley was eyeballing a few chips when he felt something soft land at the back of his head.

"Psst! Bradley, over here!" The boy turned to see Melissa crouching under the nearby table, holding a tiny bag of pretzels in her hand like a weapon. "Did you drink any Green Gush recently?"

"What? Ew, no! That stuff is disgusting!"

Melissa sighed in relief. "Thank God." The girl then set to work. Gathering up four plates of pizza, a few bottles of water, and commandeered one of the bowls of fruit salad.

"Hey, save some for the rest of us!"

"Sorry, Bradley, no can do." Melissa said, trying (and failing) to balance everything in her arms, "The play's been compromised."

"What do you mean 'compromised'?"

"I mean that…" Melissa glanced around. Unsure if she was being watched. She motioned for Bradley to lean, and when he leaned over, she whispered in his ears, "There are TICC's in the school."

"Then shouldn't an exterminator be—oh, wait, no. The other kind. The evil computer TICC's. right?"

"Exactly!" Melissa said, barely catching one of the plates as it swayed precariously in her arms. "Milo and Zack are with someone who knows a lot about the TICC and how it works."

"Who?"

"Can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because something bad could happen and we want to try and eliminate the possibility of friends and family getting hurt as much as we can."

"What could possibly happen?"

"An army of zombified time-travelers, led by an power hungry computer program, could descend upon the auditorium and try to take over the world!"

Bradley blinked slowly, waiting for Melissa to tell him that she was just joking. But, no, she just kept looking at him with utter seriousness. Bradley shook his head. "Melissa, apart from that weird time-traveler bit, you just described the climax of the play."

"No I did… Huh," Melissa paused, stroking her chin in contemplation, "I guess this is kinda like Be More Chill, in a weird, kinda freaky, meta sort of way…"

"So, are we not going to acknowledge the time traveler part, or?"

"C'mon, Bradley, I know Milo and Zack went over what a TICC is with you!"

"Yeah, but I don't see how that involves time-travelers."

"We have a couple time-traveling friends."

"How do you… You know what, never mind, it's a Milo thing, I'm sure."

Melissa glared lightly at Bradley, setting some of the plates of food down on a table nearby. "Cut the attitude, Bradley, this is serious. Hey, do you think anyone would notice that Art Cart in the back is missing?"

Bradley glanced over at the unused Art Cart in the back of the art room. "Doubt it. Are you sure you don't need any help?"

"Zack's calling our friends right now, Milo's doing some First Aid on an unexpected visitor—"

"Sounds kind of sketchy but, ok."

"—and I'm grabbing food for all of us." Melissa walked over to the cart, deposited some of the old brushes on a nearby countertop, and placed the plates of food on top. "Anything else we need can be taken care of later."

"Well is there anything the rest of us can do? To, y'know, prepare ourselves for whatever is coming?"

"Yes! Don't drink any Green Gush—"

"Obviously."

"—stay away from any scary, crazy-looking biker chicks with neon green hair—"

"What kind of company do you three keep when you're not in school?"

"—and try not to let anyone else drink Green Gush. Got it?"

Bradley, who's only goal for this night one hour ago was to go out and give the best performance he could, did not get it. Time travelers? Tiny Computers that turned people into zombies? Unsettling connections to real life events and the play they were putting on? Honestly, this was all too much. But, if Melissa was asking him to try, he might as well try.

"Sure, why not?"

"Ok, I'm going to take this food to our hideout."

"Where's your hideout?" Bradley asked, concerned. "You might need help if everything goes pear-shaped."

"It's not safe. Trust me, Bradley. Just try not to let anyone else drink Green Gush, and everything we'll be ok."

"Did one of your time traveling friends tell you this?" Bradley asked. Melissa paused and got a weird look on her face. It was almost… nervous? Pensive, maybe? She seemed pretty tense and scared and unsure of herself in that moment. But, she exhaled and pushed the cart out the door.

"Trust me, ok?"

"I don't have that much of a choice." Bradley frowned, nervously, a tiny ball of fear settling in his stomach. He looked at the table behind him, the one stacked to the brim with food and drinks, and his eyes narrowed at the bottles of Green Gush at the table.

"Donations from Gush Corporation, children!" Mr. Draco announced cheerfully. "Go on, drink up!"

"Eh, might as well get started with that." Bradley said, scooping up as many bottles as he could, walking over to the art room's sinks and opening up every single bottle of Green Gush and dumping it into the sink.

–Meanwhile, in the Time Stream–

Brick was barely conscious in the back seat. Cavendish, Dakota, and Mr. Block would've thought he was unconscious if not for the odd moan of pain or groan of annoyance he made every so often. Mr. Block shook his head. "After all we went through, I can't believe Lotte would do this…"

Dakota raised a brow. "Really? Cause, let's be honest here, you weren't exactly her favorite person in the world."

"Ok, so I know we haven't been the best of friends in a long time,"

"That's putting it mildly." Cavendish mumbled under his breath.

"But I honestly never thought that… that it would come to this."

Cavendish and Dakota exchanged pitying glances. True, they weren't particularly fond of their boss, but they still couldn't help but feel bad for the guy. They knew Lotte had some sort of beef with Mr. Block, but even they had to admit that they never thought she would do this.

"You… You stole her… You stole the promotion… out from underneath her…" Brick mumbled in pain from his spot in the back seat. He looked to be dealing with a particularly bad headache and, considering the circumstances, he probably was.

Cavendish and Dakota raised a brow at Mr. Block. "Is this true?"

"No!" Mr. Block told them sternly. Then glanced out the window. "Well, I mean…" The man suddenly looked very sheepish. "I suppose, if you were to look at it one way…"

Dakota glared at his boss. "Hang on a second, did you really do that?"

"Mr. Block, how could you?" Cavendish asked, appalled.

"Alright, fine!" Mr. Block glared out the window. "Maybe I talked to few higher-ups behind her back, maybe I did somethings I'm not proud of to get my job, maybe I gave Lotte the ultimate screw over… but I was young and dumb. I didn't know any better."

"That doesn't excuse… anything…" Brick mumbled. Cavendish and Dakota found themselves agreeing with the man.

"He has a point, Mr. Block. I know for a fact Lotte used to consider you one of her closest confidants." Cavendish shook his head, frowning pitifully. "And what you did to her, it is unforgivable."

"Don't you think I know that, Cooperdink?" Mr. Block scowled, then his expression fell in a quite guilty expression of sorrow. "When I saw her trying to hop in the timeline, I was just trying to stop her from risking her life. Then I saw that I damaged her time vehicle, and she got stranded because of me." Mr. Block shook his head. "I thought she died…"

"She wishes she did…" Brick told everyone in a voice so quite they almost didn't hear him. Cavendish blinked in surprise; he didn't know that. Lotte never once let on about her struggles and inner thoughts.

Cavendish knew Lotte before a lot of this happened. Not everything, of course, but a good portion of it. He couldn't help but feel a bit responsible. Could he have done anything to stop this? Could he have helped Lotte in anyway?

Probably not, but the questions still plagued his mind.

As if sensing his distress, Dakota reached over and squeezed his hand. Cavendish smiled at the tracksuit wearing man, thankful. Dakota looked back at Block. "I know you probably feel guilty about this, and frankly you should," Mr. Block snapped his head forward at that, looking appalled, "but right now, Lotte is our biggest problem."

Mr. Block stared at the two men in the front seat before nodding solemnly. Glancing out the window he asked, "What's the plan?"

"Stop Lotte." Dakota said.

"How?" Mr. Block asked. "What's her plan anyway?"

"Based on what we just saw, world domination." Cavendish rolled his eyes. "She wasn't exactly subtle about it."

"True. She looked like an angry slice of Key Lime Pie joined a biker gang." Dakota chuckled slightly at his own joke.

"Ok, but what about that comment about going back in time and stopping some play?" Mr. Block asked, remembering how defensive Cavendish and Dakota got when children were mentioned. The head of B.O.T.T. had a feeling the two time travelers knew these children personally. Technically, that went against quite a few rules, but considering the future now closely resembled a YA Post-Apocalyptic War novel, he couldn't really find it in him to care.

Brick groaned beside Mr. Block, trying to push himself up, only to sink back into the seat. While Mr. Block tried to calm him down, hold him down, tell him to take it easy, Brick opened his eyes. He needed to let them know where to go. He could hear some of Lotte's thoughts, so he knew where (and when) she was going to go. It was like an open window to her head, and he could peak through and see what was going on.

The downside was, that meant Lotte knew where he was heading as well. A window works two ways after all. If Brick wasn't careful, Lotte could spot him peaking and pull him back under, like she had almost done. The struggle was constant and exhausting, and he felt like he was close to falling back under. But he needed to give them a clue on where to go. Luckily for Brick, he had a clue that he knew Cavendish and Dakota could follow easily.

"Milo's… Play…" Those two words seemed to exhaust Brick as he exhaled and slumped back into the car seat. Mr. Block, worried, made sure to keep an eye on his pulse. He had a feeling Lotte would want to keep as many people under her control as necessary, but Mr. Block also knew how ruthless and systematic she was.

Lotte would do anything to succeed.

Cavendish and Dakota exchanged a look. A look of surprise, fear, sudden hope, and something that Mr. Block could only describe as "Why am I not surprised?"

As Dakota punched in the date, Cavendish turned back to look at the two men in the backseat. "Can you handle the last jump, Brick?" The man nodded, though he looked pretty weak. "Alright, chaps, be prepared, I'm not sure how we'll land."

"When are we even going?" Mr. Block asked.

"Isn't it obvious, Mr. Block?" Dakota grasped Cavendish's hand as the time vehicle sped to their destination in time. "We're going to see a play."

–Meanwhile, in the wings of the Theatre–

Chad panted as he ran to catch up with Lydia, his hands were still sticky from the soda splashing onto him as he dumped the Green Gush down the drain in the bathroom. He still wasn't entirely sure why he needed to dump all the Green Gush down the drain, but Bradley made it sound important, and Bradley was usually a pretty rational guy.

Lydia paused and held the door open for Chad as he caught up. Behind the backdrop curtain of the high school theatre, near the stage left exit, was a large door that held a small, cramped, practically ladder sized staircase to the rafters above the stage where all the lights and hanging mics were. When Bradley said that they might need a secluded place to talk, Lydia immediately suggested this location.

"Lydia? Chad?" Mort called down. "Is that you?"

"It's us!"

"What's the password?" Amanda asked them as they started to climb the stairway.

"We never decided on a password, remember?" Chad called up.

"Oh, right. My bad!"

Climbing the stairwell was one big test of luck. They were rickety, rusted, and the metal plates that functioned as steps groaned lightly with each step, everyone could hear you coming from a mile away. Murphy's Law notwithstanding, they were probably the most dangerous thing in the theatre on any given day.

Ironically, the rafters themselves and the other stairwell up to them at stage right were probably the most up-to-date thing in the entire school district. The fact that this school district wasted money on a yacht and had to take sponsorships from corrupted soda companies to fund a middle school play says more for the school district than anyone was willing to admit aloud to.

"Did you guys get the rest of the Green Gush from backstage?" Bradley asked when Lydia and Mort joined him, Chad, and Amanda on stage.

"Yup!" Mort told him. "We grabbed the ones from the back of Art Room—"

"—and the ones being used backstage for props!" Lydia told him.

"That's great!" Amanda smiled. "Bradley and I grabbed the ones the rest of the tech crew started to drink."

"And I made sure to get the bottles out of the stage crews hands." Mort added.

"That just leaves whatever was out in the audience and the vending machines in the cafeteria." Bradley reasoned.

"Do they even leave those on at all during the weekends?" Chad asked.

"They do if there is a big public event." Lydia smiled. "Besides, I'm half convinced those vending machines make more money than the school fundraisers…"

"At least the one with the popcorn buckets." Mort nodded.

Amanda leaned over the rails slightly, eyes narrowing. "Is it my imagination, or are the audience members drinking something out there?" The other kids leaned over the rails to get a better look. Sure enough, each and every one of the audience member had a red solo cup filled with Green Gush. Some were half full, some were empty, and some were hardly touched, but there they were.

"Dang it!" Bradley muttered. "Ok, new plan! Amanda, Mort, and I will go into the audience to grab those cups. You two," he pointed at Lydia and Chad, "find and get rid of whatever container is in the Green Gush."

"On it!"

The two teams split up. With Bradley, Amanda, and Mort climbing down the quieter, safer staircase at stage right and Lydia and Chad climbing down the nosier, ricketier staircase at stage left. With the metal plates creaking every time either of their foots moved a fraction of an inch, it was quite easy for a shadowy figure to slink up behind the door and tell when the perfect moment was to grab these two defenseless children and drag them into a nearby room.

Lydia and Chad tried to kick and scream, to get away or at least let someone else know that they were in danger. But the superhumanly strong arm that wrapped around them was also covering their mouths. So it was sort of a moot point.

With an exhale of effort, more of a slightly bothersome sigh really, Lydia and Chad were tossed roughly onto the floor of a small, backstage bathroom. Groaning quietly, the two tried to get their bearings, but found the lights were still off.

"There you are, children!" An accented voice said gleefully. "I've been looking everywhere for you?"

"Mr. Draco?" Chad asked, squinting at the darkness, trying to make out the shape of their teacher. "What's going on?"

"I've heard that you and some friends have been getting rid of all the Green Gush in the school." Mr. Draco tsked. Lydia and Chad could all but see him shaking his head in disappointment. "That's very wasteful children."

"Mr. Draco, why are the lights off?" Lydia asked.

"My, my, you children look thirsty." There was a soft rustle of fabric, and then a large bottle of Green Gush, spiked with something that made little electric shocks shoot back and forth in the bottle, was pulled from Mr. Draco's coat.

Perhaps it was the way the odd light source looked in the dark room, maybe it was Lydia and Chad's eyes playing tricks on them, but Mr. Draco's eyes were glowing a bright, inhuman, neon green color.

"Here," Mr. Draco smiled, no emotion whatsoever in his face or voice, "let me offer you some refreshing Green Gush."

–Meanwhile, in the Nurse's Office–

Savannah hissed softly in pain as Milo set the bone in place. "Sorry," he said, "that bone is pretty painful to set."

As he pulled out a few other first aid supplies that the Nurse's Office didn't have from his backpack, Savannah raised a brow. "You sound like you're speaking from experience."

"He probably is." Zack said. The other boy was guarding the door, waiting for Melissa to come back with food and possibly some news of the outside world. Zack was mostly doing this because the sight of Savannah's legs, which were originally bent at a very odd angle, made him kind of queasy. Savannah didn't blame him for not looking.

"It has been a while since I broke a leg, though." Milo pointed out casually, pulling out a few pair of splints from his backpack. Savannah considered asking about how that was possible, but decided against it.

"You sound pretty casual about that."

"Well, Murphy's Law." Milo shrugged, wrapping the splints in Band-Aids to form a temporary, sort of makeshift cast. "What're ya gonna do?"

"Murphy's Law?" Savannah raised a brow. "Isn't that the thing that says whatever can go wrong, usually does?"

"Yup!" Zack smiled fondly. "And Milo's a homing-beacon for it. Don't worry about it, man," Zack assured Milo, noticing the boy's sheepish grin, "makes life more fun." Milo turned away, still smiling, but with more of a bashful air.

"So, whenever you're around, anything that can go wrong usually does?" Milo nodded and a few minor puzzle pieces clicked together in Savannah's mind. "So that's why all the pistachios ae destroyed whenever you're around."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I never mean to do it." Milo said earnestly.

Savannah looked down at the young boy and sighed, realizing that now wasn't the time for this conversation. "Don't worry about it, kid."

Milo smiled and started putting some of the medical supplies back into his backpack. "Alrighty then, that should keep the bones in place until you can get a real cast."

Savannah sat up an inspected Milo's handiwork. "You sure do now your way around a band-aid kid."

There were then six rapid knocks at the door, then seven slower ones, and then finally a there was a loud slap to the center of the door. Zack let out of sigh of relief as he opened the door to let Melissa squeeze through. "Sorry," she said, "the most nutritional things they had were pizza and some fruit salad." She reached back through the door, one by one handing off a plate of pizza and fruit salad to Zack and Milo, before pulling in with one for her and Savannah. Afterwards, she pulled some bottles of water from insider her jacket and tossed those around to.

"Were you spotted?" Zack asked.

"Only by Bradley, and he wasn't TICC-ed, I checked." Melissa explained. "And I contracted him to dispose of as much Green Gush as he can."

"Will that be enough?" Milo asked, picking the seeds out of the watermelon in his fruit salad.

"I doubt it." Savannah told them bluntly, setting her plate aside. "I can still feel her buzzing in my head. She's not actively seeking me out, but I can still kind of see into her head." Savannah brought a hand up to the side of her face. The side that hosted not only the one neon green eye, but now large amount of neon green lines. In fact, the only portion of her skin that wasn't covered in neon green was the other side of her face, the one that went along with her still normal brown eye.

Melissa, after Savannah had been dragged from the car wreck, commented that she looked like some bizarre, slightly alien, Phantom-of-the-Opera type of character. Savannah was in too much pain to find the humor in that remark.

"Lotte's willing to do anything to make sure everything goes off without a hitch. I think it's safe to say she's packing some more Green Gush on her person somewhere."

The kids frowned but said nothing. While still sad, and frankly, very scared, they weren't too surprised by this turn of events. After pulling Savannah from her burning wreck of a time vehicle, and securing her in the Nurse's Office, Savannah had told them all that she knew about.

She told them about the TICC's true purpose and creation, she told them that Lotte was using them to usurp power from her boss in the future, she told them that she was planning on coming back in time to guarantee complete control of the future, and (in no uncertain terms) she told the three children that Lotte had "special" plans for them after everything was secure.

Sure; Milo, Melissa, and Zack were used to being in danger before. It came with dealing from Murphy's Law every day. But, this was the first time where there was a big risk. The future, their friends and family, and more than likely, their lives were on the line.

"Were any of you able to get ahold of Cavendish and Dakota?" Savannah asked.

"I texted them both." Milo said, before his phone fell screen-down into his pizza slice. "But neither responded, yet."

"You don't think that they're…" Zack trailed off, eyeing Savannah.

"No, no, they're ok!" The time-agent was quick to reassure the children. "A small bonus about being a part of this weird, hive mind is that I can feel whoever is connected to Lotte. And I can't feel Cavendish and Dakota."

"What about your boss?" Melissa asked. "Mr. Clock?"

"Mr. Block."

"That's what I said."

"No, he's not in here either."

"Do you recognize anyone in that hive mind thing?" Zack asked.

"Um…" Savannah closed her eyes, her face scrunching up in concentration. "I can see Lotte, obviously. I can see a couple of second-class agents—Jonah and Aiden, I think—and I can see… I can kinda see Brick…"

"Brick?" Milo took a bite out of his slice of pizza, not caring that most of the topics slid off onto his plate in the process. "That your old partner?"

"Uh-huh."

There was a weighted silence hanging in the air, one that the children were unsure of how to break. Finally, Melissa decided to break it by asking, "Is he with Lotte?"

"No." Savannah shook her head, voice quiet. "No, he's, uh, he's with someone else. I think Mr. Block but I can't tell."

"I hope for his sake that he got out." Zack said. "Who knows what Lotte would've done to him."

Savannah knew. Savannah knew what Lotte would've done. She could sense the TICC-Controller's thoughts and ideas, after all. First, she would make sure Brick helped her complete her plan of world domination, and subsequent kidnapping of children. Then, Lotte would wake Brick up long enough to see her success and watch her… well, Savannah really didn't like thinking about that part.

Maybe it was her frustration at the current situation of the world, present and future. Or maybe it was because she was just so damn tired after her rushed jump back in time and subsequent car crash. Or, maybe the extremely petty and angry part of Savannah was feeling a bit bolder today than it had yesterday. Because Savannah then said, "I kind of wish he stayed in the future…" and was greeted by the shocked gasp of the children.

"Miss Savannah!" Melissa looked affronted, holding a hand to her chest. "I'm ashamed of you."

"Why would you want him back in the future? Stuck with Lotte of all people!" Zack exclaimed.

"Look, I don't expect you kids to understand, it's a complicated situation." Savannah tried.

"Well, maybe try explaining it to us." Milo set his plate on the floor, giving the time traveler his full attention. "We've been through some pretty complicated stuff before."

Not seeing much of a choice, Savannah went ahead and told the children everything. She told them about how she and Brick used to be the best agent in the Bureau of Time Travel. About how there wasn't a mission she and Brick couldn't handle. About how, around the same time Milo, Cavendish, and Dakota stole her and Brick's time vehicle—Melissa helpfully chimed in with "Oh, the Pistachion Incident!", though Savannah wasn't sure what that meant—was when the two started to have problems. They only got worse after she and Brick were demoted to Pistachio Duty after getting Cavendish and Dakota demoted to Renaissance Potty Duty—that earned Savannah a glare from the kids, not that she could blame them really.

Then Savannah told them about all the fights, all the petty squabbles, all the ridiculous little arguments that they would always get into. They were all dumb and pointless, but neither of them really seemed to know how to stop them. Then, one day, according to Savannah, Brick just started ghosting her. Savannah tried to approach him, but he acted as if she wasn't there. Later, Savannah found out, it was because he had gotten a TICC and had set it to block her out, in an attempt to get his old job back, get the respect of the Bureau back, etc. It left her in the dust and, well… Savannah got desperate. So she agreed to Lotte's idea and took a TICC herself.

Only soon after, she found out, was that a bad idea. It took her forcibly shutting Lotte and her technology out of her mind to get Savannah some time to think for herself. Which brings us to now.

And now the kids are giving her a strange look. Something between quiet understanding and silent judgement. The three kids exchanged a look, gesturing quietly to Savannah without a single word being spoken between them. It was kind of fascinating to watch if Savannah was being completely honest with herself.

Then they turned to her. "No wonder Brick ghosted you; you were just as much of a jerk as he was."

Well. Put that on the list of 'Things Savannah wasn't expecting to hear'.

"I… excuse me?!"

"I mean, yeah," Zack shrugged, "what Brick did to you was terrible, but you weren't completely innocent either."

"What're you talking about?"

"Whenever he insulted you, you insulted him right back." Melissa pointed out.

"Friends can tease each other all the time."

"Were you teasing him?" Milo asked.

Savannah's mouth closed with an indignant click. Ok, so maybe her jabs at Brick weren't entirely in the jovial manner. At all. In the slightest. But, she was just giving back what he put out. So it wasn't like she was entirely to blame.

"Oh, come on, like you guys don't go at it from time to time!" Savannah told them harshly, eager to shift some blame off of her.

"Of course we do," Melissa shrugged, "we're human. We don't get along all the time."

"But when we do fight—at least, when it's a fight that bothers us—we sit down and talk about it. Peacefully. Until the matter is resolved in a way that we all benefit."

Put this on the list of 'Moments Savannah was caught off-guard by how emotionally mature a bunch of Technical-Teenagers were compared to herself'.

"You don't say?"

"Yeah, like last week, we all got in a fight over who could play the new video game we all bought first." Zack explained.

"We bought a copy with our collective allowances." Milo added.

"Usually we go in a system. Like if it's a tougher game, Melissa gets first crack because then she can walk us through the trickier parts. If it's a horror game, Milo gets first crack because he can handle the jump scares better and can give us a warning about them ahead of time. But if it's a more systematically advanced game, then I get first crack because I got the better gaming systems."

"What was the compromise?"

"We all kinda shared it for the first go around." Milo told her. "We used Zack's gaming system, Melissa looked up 'Let's Plays' online, and I was the one working the controller."

"In the end we got a really fun day out of it together." Melissa ended the tale. "And we were able to move past that fight because we have a really strong friendship."

"It's like my dad always says, 'Nothing strengthens the bond between friends like good laughs, shared traumas, and half a gallon of ostrich milk'."

"Your dad actually says that?" Savannah asked.

"I mean, one time we did fall into a tub of ostrich milk on the way to gym class." Zack said.

"How does that even happen?"

"I don't know. But what I do know is that once all of this is over, Brick's going to need a friend."

Savannah looked at the kids and felt her heart sink. Like Brick would listen to her after all the terrible things she said to him, and he said to her, and so on. She shook her head. "Kids, I don't think I'm what Brick needs."

The kids exchanged a look, a silent conversation between the three of them before Milo smiled and walked over, sliding onto the nurse's examination table besides the time agent. "Look, Savannah, ~Brick is in big bad trouble right now~"

"Why are you singing?"

"~It's a trouble that he can't see, and we gotta help him somehow~"

"Where's that music coming from?"

"~I don't know what he wants, but I think I know what he needs~"

"What is happening here?!"

"~He needs a friend so strong, to help him not slip away!~"

Savannah chuckled dryly, momentarily forgetting the spontaneous musical number that was about to erupt in the nurse's office. "I haven't been his friend in so long…"

Melissa slid onto the examination table next to Savannah. "~But we know you're ready today!~"

Zack climbed around the back and laid a hand on Savannah's shoulder, singing as seriously as he could. "~The situation is grave, so now's the time to be brave~"

"~But we'll help you make that climb~" The kids all climbed down from the examination table, striking an encouraging pose in front of Savannah. "~One leg at a time!~" The time agent narrowed her eyes at the children, who winced once they remembered her current situation. "Sorry…"

"~But when you care about somebody you take a chance on them. When you care about somebody you take a chance just for them, a chance just for them!~" The children dance and sang along to their hearts' content. And when one of them (usually Milo) slipped or tripped on something, the other two helped them to their feet. It was touching, really. "~If the road gets muddy, focus on the goal 'til the rough stuff's gone. When you care about somebody you take a chance on them!~"

Zack approached Savannah, placing a hand on her shoulder. "~We need you, 'cause we do not have the tools, to help with what he's going through~" Zack smirked knowing at Savannah. "~And we know you know all the rules~"

"But I'm not what he wants!"

"~But you're just what he needs!~" Milo and Melissa insisted. "~And this might be hard, I know, but just suck it up and go!"~

"~When you care about somebody you take a chance on them! When you love somebody you take a stance just for them, stance just for them! If the fight gets bloody, just keep pushing through until the pain is gone. When you care about somebody you take a chance on them!~"

Milo approached Savannah, face earnest. "When this done, we need you to reach out to Brick and—"

"I tried that once, it didn't work!"

"Try again." Melissa insisted.

"But what if—"

"Look, Miss Savannah," Zack started, "if you don't do it, then Brick could relapse into bad behaviors and do something worse. We could lose him and maybe a lot more if you don't."

Savannah looked down at her feet and then back up at the kids. They had each other's back, they were their support systems during trying times, they were true friends. It would take time and a lot of trust-building, but maybe Brick and Savannah could have what these kids have. Real friendship. "Never hurt to try, right?"

The kids smiled at her. "Right."

"~When you care about somebody, you take a chance on them…~" Savannah sang softly.

"~Take that chance!~"Zack and Milo sang, encouraging her.

"~Even if it's reluctantly~" Melissa gently teased.

"~Still you gotta go-oh-oh-oh!~" The four all sang together. "~When you care about somebody you take a chance on for them~"

"~It might be seen as a rarity~" Savannah shrugged.

"~You take a chance on them, even a really small chance~" Melissa belted out as a sort of improvised solo.

"~It's a classic study, of things we do for our dear friends!~" The four of them harmonized. "~When you care about somebody~"

"~You see it to the end~" The kids sang.

"~When you care about somebody~"

"~The conclusions forgone~" Savannah smiled.

"~When you care about somebody you take a big, fat chance on them. You take a chance on them!~" The four laughed as Savannah brought the four of them closer for a hug.

"Thanks guys," she told the kids, "I need that little pep talk. But seriously, where did all that music come from?"

"This is Danville. Spontaneous Musical Number capital of the world." Melissa explained.

"It says so right here on their brochure!" Milo said proudly, producing a brochure form his backpack for Savannah to read. Sure enough, in bold white writing was the phrase 'Spontaneous Musical Number Capital of the World!'.

Put that on a list of 'Things Savannah was pleasantly surprised to find out that made her day just a little bit better'.

There was a light scratching sound at the door, followed by the yapping sound of a dog. The kids exchanged looks before Milo dashed to the door. "Diogee, is that you, boy?" Milo murmured quietly to the door.

There was a happy, affirmative bark from the other side of the door as the boy quietly opened the door just enough for a small, yellow dog with brown patches of fur to be let in. "Diogee, what're you doing here?"

"He led us here." Cavendish explained, coming into view. He and Dakota were supporting Brick (who was in the current position of sprawled across their shoulders like a limp noodle) in the act of remaining up right while Mr. Block, meanwhile, had gone ahead and acted as lookout, should any of Lotte's agents tried to follow them.

It was actually Mr. Block who spotted Diogee first. He tried to shoo the dog away, but Diogee immediately recognized Cavendish and Dakota and, realizing that things had gone pear-shaped in only the way a Murphy can handle, had resolved to take the group of men to where his young master was hiding out. Though, granted it took Cavendish and Dakota a moment more than they would like to admit to get Mr. Block to just go with the flow in this situation.

"Good boy, Diogee." Milo told his dog, scratching him on the chin and pulling a dog treat out from his backpack.

"What's wrong with him?" Zack asked, gesturing to Brick.

"Not entirely sure honestly." Cavendish answered. "He seems to be going through a lot of pain at the moment."

As Brick groaned, Dakota raised a skeptical brow, "I dunno, I feel like he's being kinda dramatic."

"You try keeping a psychotic computer lady out of your head." Brick told him.

"Wait, you're Brick?" Melissa asked him.

"Uh-huh…"

"He's Brick?" Melissa asked Savannah, the woman nodded. Melissa reached over and patted her hands comfortingly. "Don't worry, I got this." The redhead walked over, smiled sweetly at Brick, and then punched him as hard as she could in the stomach.

Unprepared for the punch (which was a rather good one, considering Melissa's age), Brick moaned in a new kind of pain and double over, curling into a ball of pain on the floor. Melissa turned around, gave Savannah a few finger guns, and smirked. "Girl power."

"Melissa!" Cavendish admonished.

"Ok that was uncalled for, kid." Dakota crossed his arms.

"Block, hire her." Savannah told her boss.

"Ok, yep. That's fine. I had that coming, I deserve this." Brick said, pushing himself up onto his elbows. He nodded at Melissa with a begrudging air of approval. "Good arm, kid."

"I try." Melisa shrugged.

"Are we done with the schoolyard rough-housing?" Block asked. "In case you forgot, we have a crisis on our hands." Everyone grew quite, suddenly remembering the situation they were in.

That's when Zack looked out the window and saw all the families and friends steadily streaming into the high school. A quick glance at his phone confirmed his fears. 7 PM, seating for the show was starting. "Guys, we have a problem."

Milo and Dakota joined Zack at the window. "Oh boy, not good…" Dakota mumbled.

"What're we going to do?" Milo asked frantically, as a cabinet door fell off behind him.

"Brick, Savannah, you two have access to Lotte's head. Do either of you know what she's planning?" Cavendish asked.

"Kind of." Savannah winced in pain. "I can hear voices talking about something, but I can't make out much."

"What do you hear?"

Savannah closed her eyes, concentrating on what voices she could hear in her head. "Green Gush… there's something wrong with the Green Gush."

Zack glanced back out the window, watching as the last of the parents trickle in. "She's… Lotte's going to TICC all of our friends and family, isn't she?"

Brick pushed himself up onto his knees. "She is. I can hear her plans." The kids' faces fell, thinking of all their family members being subjected to Lotte's plans.

"Isn't there anything we can do for them now?" Milo asked.

Brick and Savannah shook their heads sadly. "I'm sorry, there is nothing we can do for them right now."

Cavendish Dakota, and Diogee were quick to comfort the kids. Melissa wiped a stray tear away before steeling herself. "Ok, ok. Our parents, our friends, and everyone else we love is going to be TICC-ed. Fine, great." Dakota wrapped his arm around Melissa, trying to comfort her. "But what can we do now?"

"Stop Lotte." Mr. Block said.

"How? She's quite literally a supercomputer." Cavendish pointed out. "She's calculated for every eventually. Murphy's Law or otherwise."

"She is a supercomputer. And like all computers, there has to be a way to shut her off."

"Savannah, didn't you say you were able to shut her out of your head?" Zack asked.

"I did, but it damn near knocked me out cold." Savannah told him. "And I can still feel her inside of my head. It's kind of like I put her in sleep mode inside my head. She's not actively doing anything to me, but she's still on."

"If we knew how to shut her off, we could stop her." Milo stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"But we don't know how to stop her. So, for now, our plan of action should be minimizing her chances of succeeding as much as possible." Mr. Block turned to the kids. "You three, how much Green Gush is there in this school right now? That seems to be her main weapon of conversion."

"Gush Co. did sponsor the school play, so they gave us a lot of Green Gush for the show." Milo said.

"Your school is so broke they had to take a sponsorship[ from a soda company to put on the play?" Dakota asked, incredulous.

"Says a lot, doesn't it?" Milo quipped.

"I got our friend Bradley to get rid of as much Green Gush as possible." Melissa spoke up. "But who knows how much he was able to get rid of… or if he's still himself right now.

"And then there are still the vending machines around campus." Zack pointed out. "Who knows how much Green Gush is in them?"

"Alright, so here's what we're going to do," Mr. Block began, "Cooperdink, you and the unlucky kid will go to all the vending machines and get rid of the Green Gush bottles in them. Hampshire, you and the other boy and the little red-haired girl go backstage and see how many Green Gush containers are left. Brick, you and I are going to stay here and try to contact anyone left in the future."

"What about me, boss?" Savannah asked.

"You get some rest. Those broken legs aren't doing you any favors." Mr. Block said. "If anything happens, or any missions are compromised, run. Don't let Lotte catch you. Understand?" Everyone nodded. "Alright, let's go save the world, people!"

–Meanwhile, in the parking lot–

The time vehicle skidded to a stop in the parking lot outside the high school, just barely missing a nearby lamp post. Lotte smiled at the memory of her, Cavendish and Dakota skidding to a stop in this parking lot only a few months ago. My, how time changes us all, Lotte chuckled to herself.

Stepping out of the vehicle, Lotte glanced over and saw the busted up old lemon Cavendish and Dakota were forced to use. "There here."

"What should we do?" Jonah asked.

"Wreck there engine, then do ours." Lotte said simply. "No one can get back to the future."

As Jonah set about doing what Lotte commanded of him, the TICC Controller wander off, noticing a wrecked limo near the far end of the parking lot. She chuckled darkly. "I know you're here, Savannah…"

A loud crunch of metal caught Lotte's attention. She turned to see Jonah had crushed the front of Cavendish and Dakota's vehicle until it resembled a crumpled piece of paper then the front of a car. He had just turned to Lotte's time vehicle. "Don't make it to terrible, I want to be able to go back to the future when this is all finished."

Jonah nodded and merely unplugged the vehicle's battery, before lifting it out and setting it down in the backseat. Lotte smiled, "I bet you're excited to see Aiden again."

Jonah turned to look at Lotte, hopeful. "Do you think he'll talk to me? He seemed pretty mad last time I talked to him."

Lotte placed a patronizing hand on Jonah's shoulder. "No need to worry, he'll talk to you. And he'll be happy to speak to you as well."

"Really?"

"Of course! I programmed him too feel that way." Lotte told him.

Rather than be put off or even slightly worried at the implications of Lotte programming Aiden, Jonah simply smiled and finished his job. After all, he was just as much under Lotte's influence as Aiden was. "What now?"

"Let's go find us some loose ends to tie up. I know just the place to start."

"And then I'll see Aiden, again?"

"Of course! That's what I promised you, isn't it?"

Jonah smiled happily and followed Lotte inside. These people are way too easy, she thought condescendingly.

–Meanwhile, inside the school–

Cavendish, Milo, and Diogee peered around the corner of the commons area. No one to the left, no one to the right. Coast was clear, for now anyway. "I think this is the last vending machine." Milo told Cavendish.

Cavendish peered inside. "Let's see… One, two, three, four… It looks like ten Green Gush bottles in this one."

Milo set down his backpack and began digging around in it. "I know I have a spare crowbar in here somewhere."

"I still don't know what that racoon wanted with the crowbar." Cavendish thought aloud.

"Who knows? Found it!" Milo stood up and handed the crowbar to Cavendish. "You pry it open; I'll grab the bottles and go dump them out in the bathroom." That's when Diogee started barking, loudly.

Cavendish paused and put a hand over Diogee's mouth. "Please keep quite!" But Diogee wouldn't stop barking. "Milo, get your dog to keep quite!"

Milo reached over and pulled Diogee onto his lap. "Diogee, be quite, bad dog." But Diogee still wouldn't stop barking. Then, Milo noticed he seemed to be pointing at something. The brown-haired boy eyes widened. "Cavendish look, at the top of the vending machine." The older man glanced up and then spotted it.

At the very top of the vending machine was a single bottle of Red Gush. "I thought they were discontinued a couple months ago." Milo said.

"This might be the very last of Red Gush in existence." Cavendish told him. "But why would Diogee want you to know about the Red Gush?" Diogee wriggled out of Milo's grip, and pointed directly at a poster advertising Be More Chill. Milo's eyes widened in realization, but then he immediately shook his head in disbelief.

"No, Diogee. This can't be the answer, because… Well, it just can't be!"

"What do you mean, my boy?" Cavendish asked.

"In our play, the way you turn on a TICC is Green Mountain Dew and the way to shut it off is Red Mountain Dew." Milo explained.

Cavendish glanced at Diogee, then to the Red Gush, then back to Milo. "I mean, we don't know that it won't work."

Milo glanced up at the Red Gush bottle. "Doesn't that seem a little serendipitous and kind of meta?"

"Who are we to look a gift horse in the mouth?" Cavendish asked as he pried open the vending machine door. Of course, since Murphy's Law I still in effect, the door fell off its hinges just as Milo reached over and pulled the Red Gush out of the machine. The loud bang that resulted was enough to alert a certain somebody to Milo and Cavendish's presence.

"Milo! There you are…" Cavendish and Milo jumped and turned to see Joni standing at the far end of the common area, face covered in shadows.

"Oh, hey Joni. Don't sneak up on me like that." Milo smiled in relief to find that it was just one of his classmates. His relief didn't last for long, as Diogee started to growl at Joni, going to stand in front of Milo protectively. Milo and Cavendish saw this and exchanged nervous glances.

"The play's about to start. Come on, you don't want to miss your opening number, do you?" Joni asked. There were the sounds of footsteps and soon Milo recognized the silhouette of his sister standing beside Joni.

"Yeah, come on, Milo. Mom and Dad are waiting for you." Sara told him.

There was something off about Joni and Sara, but Cavendish and Milo couldn't really tell what it was. "Um, actually, I think it's better if I sit this one out right now. Something bad is happening and I don't want Murphy's Law making it worse."

"Don't worry about that, Milo." Joni and Sara said brightly, in unison. Cavendish moved to place himself in front of Milo, alarms going off in his head.

"I think it would be best if you two ladies leave the premise as soon as possible, before anything bad happens to you."

"Oh no, we're perfectly safe, right where we are." Joni and Sara stepped out of the shadows, and that's when Milo noticed that their eyes had changed from their usual blue to a bright, inhuman, neon green color.

Joni and Sara had been TICC-ed!

"Milo, run!" Cavendish told the boy, noticing Joni and Sara's eye color as well. "I'll hold them off as best I can."

"But Cavendish—" Milo started.

"Run, now!" Milo shoved the Red Gush into his backpack and took off down the hallway, Diogee following close behind. Joni and Sara started to give chase, but Cavendish reached out and grabbed both girls by the collars of their shirts, causing them to trip and slam into the ground. Cavendish winced, "So sorry."

Sara was the first to recover, snarling at Cavendish before lunging at him, knocking the older man off his feet. As Cavendish was falling down, he noticed Joni starting to follow after Milo. He couldn't do anything about it, however, because as soon as Cavendish was on the ground, Sara placed a heavy foot on his chest to pin him to the ground.

"Hope you like Green Gush." She smiled, just like Lotte.

Run, Milo. Run! Cavendish silently prayed.

–Meanwhile, with Milo and Diogee–

Milo ran as fast as he could, Diogee staying close to his master as best he could. Milo glanced behind him and saw Joni giving chase, and catching up quickly. Letting out a loud yelp in fear, Milo unthinkingly turned a corner hard and ran faster.

Milo then spotted an open classroom and dived in, shutting the door behind him. "Diogee, quick, bring me a chair!" The dog was quick to respond and pushed over a loose chair that Milo was quick to prop under the door handle. Diogee barked and pointed toward a desk at the back of the room. "Good thinking, Diogee." Milo told his dog as the two of them quietly hid behind the desk.

No sooner did they crouch down that Joni started banging her fist on the door. "Milo!" She called through the door. "I know you're in there! Let me in so we can talk."

Milo glanced around, seeing if there was anything he could use to either escape or defend himself. But there was nothing. "Ugh, what do we do? What do we do?" Diogee whined sympathetically, laying his head on Milos lap.

Joni slammed hard against the door, like she was trying to break it down, causing Milo to jump. This caused Milo's foot to nudge a chair over, allowing him perfect view of a large air vent behind the chair.

A figurative lightbulb went off inside Milo's head. He quickly reached into his backpack and pulled out a screwdriver, making short work of the screws at the bottom corners of the air vent lid.

"Milo! Let me in, now!" Joni shouted from the other side of the door. "Everything will go so much easier if you just let me in now!"

Milo was able to pry the lid off the vent just enough to squeeze in, before he entered, her turned to Diogee. "Diogee, go find Melissa and Zack. Tell them I'm coming to help them." Diogee barked in confirmation and Milo slid into the vent, the lid slamming shut behind him.

No sooner had Milo escaped was Joni finally able to bust down the door. Diogee, not wanting Milo's escape route to be discovered, ran out from behind the desk and growled at Joni. The TICC-ed girl smiled darkly. "Where's Milo?"

Diogee barked and then charged at Joni, slamming straight into her stomach, knocking her over. Before Joni could react and grab him, the dog was already running out the door, yipping and yapping as he went. An obvious distraction.

Joni snarled and pushed herself to her feet, glancing around the room. "He got away."

"Don't worry," The TICC told her, "we'll find him soon enough."

–Meanwhile, with Melissa, Zack, and Dakota–

Dakota crept along quietly against the wall, with Melissa and Zack following close behind. "The stage doors should be coming up on the left." Zack told Dakota. "Then the main backstage area should be around that corner."

"Ok," Dakota paused, turning to whisper to the two kids, "I feel like you two should mentally and emotionally prepare yourselves for whatever we might be seeing within the next," Dakota paused again, checking his watch, "Twelve minutes and twenty four seconds."

"That's oddly specific." Zack told him.

"And besides, our friends kinda know about the dangers Lotte and the TICC's present." Melissa shrugged. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"I want you to remember saying that in like, five minutes, after we've both seen something that will scar us for life." Zack told Melissa, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Ok, I'm not gonna lie to you kids, shit's gonna hit the fan pretty quickly. Especially since there are at least two Murphy Law Magnets in this building right now." Dakota told them flatly. "But, remember what Mr. Block said. If anything happens to me, I want you kids to run. Get out of here as fast as you can and don't look back. Do you understand?" Melissa and Zack nodded solemnly. "Alright, let's move."

The three crept quietly along the wall, passing by the stage doors without incident. To make sure everything was safe, however, Dakota motioned for Melissa and Zack to wait while he scanned the area for possible threats. When he peeked around the corner, he saw a woman with a pointy nose and a guy dressed like a vampire standing by the art room doors.

"That's Mr. Drako and Ms. Murawski. There teachers at our school." Melissa explained.

"Mr. Drako directed and has a couple minor roles in the play, and Ms. Murawski helped us gather up supplies and props." Zack elaborated.

Dakota leaned back around to peer around the corner. His brow furrowed when he noted the stiff stance and forced smiles on the teachers faces. "Do they always look like that?" Melissa and Zack crouched down and peered around the corner. Zack raised a brow.

"I've never seen anybody look like that."

"I don't know, they kind of remind me of that Aiden guy from earlier."

Zack narrowed his eyes, leaned closer to get a better look, and then pushed Dakota and Melissa back against the wall. "Melissa, you're right! Look at there eyes." Melissa peeked around the corner and her own eyes widened in horrible realization.

"Oh no, they've been TICC-ed!"

"If Lotte got to them, who knows how many others have already been TICC-ed." Zack ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

"Ok, kids, calm down. This isn't the time to freak out."

"Oh, but you should be freaking out…" Dakota, Melissa, and Zack were kicked roughly in the backs, causing them to go sailing out from behind there hiding spots. Turning around, they found themselves face to face with Bradley, Mort, Chad, Lydia, and Amanda.

All of them had neon green eyes.

"No, but, how?!" Melissa asked

"Who did this to you guys?"

"It was a team effort." Mr. Drako and Ms. Murawski chorused, joining the kids in surrounding the fallen trio.

"Ok, but, who corrupted you? And how? And why is there only Green Gush in this timeline anymore?!" Dakota questioned, less talking to anyone in particular, more silently questioning certain key elements that had yet to be made clear to him or anyone else who was paying attention.

"Don't worry, Vinnie," The tracksuit wearing man glanced behind the TICC-ed kids to see Jonah approaching him, "everything will be made clear very soon."

"Where's Lotte?" Melissa asked.

"What're you doing at this middle school play?" Dakota pressed further

"And how long have you been lurking in the shadows?" Zack questioned. "Seriously, you could have just grabbed us when we were looking at the teachers. Why did you wait so long?"

"Well you see… The thing is I…" Jonah paused, glanced back at the trio's former hiding spot and then back at the trio. "Ok, I'm not gonna lie, I have no idea why I just didn't just do that."

"Is this Lotte's theatrics showing through or is she just screwing with us right now?" Melissa leaned over towards Dakota.

"I'm thinking it's both…" He answered.

Suddenly, Jonah growled in rage. "Enough stalling! You two," he pointed towards the TICC-ed teachers, "grab the kids and take them to the designated area. The rest of you kids help me hold down this man here. He's got a large order of Green Gush coming his way…" The group smiled menacingly and slowly closed in on the groups.

"What do we do? What do we do?!" Zack asked frantically.

"Remember what Mr. Block said?"

"Kinda hard to run when we're corned." Melissa pointed out.

Dakota hopped to his feet and took a swing at Mr. Drako, knocking him to the ground, before lunging at Ms. Murawski, pining her to the ground. "Go, now! Run!" Melissa and Zack took off down the hall. "Don't worry about me! Just keep running!" Dakota called out to them. Even as they ran, Melissa and Zack could still hear the sounds of struggle Dakota gave as he put up a fight against the small group of TICCs back there.

"Where are we going?" Zack asked as he and Melissa sharply turned a corner.

"I don't know!" Melissa admitted, sliding a little as she and Zack turned to head down a dark stairwell. "Maybe if we can get outside and find a sewer grate, we could find Scott the Undergrounder and he could help us?"

"Yeah, that's actually a good idea!" Zack said, taking the stairs two at a time. "Scoot hates surface people food, so he would never drink Green Gush."

"Let's just hope Lotte and her TICC army hasn't found him yet." Melisa said, as she and Zack stalled momentarily to open the doors at the bottom of the stairwell. Before they could take of running, however, someone reached past the open doors and gave the kids a hard shove backwards.

"Well, well, well, what have we hear?" Melissa and Zack stared up in fear as Aiden stepped into view, his neon green eyes glowing in the dark stairwell. "You two aren't leaving so soon are you? Lotte has a special surprised plan just for you and your other friend." Melissa and Zack screamed as Aiden reached over and hauled them up by the collar of their shirts. "C'mon! Let's go meet her halfway…"

Melissa and Zack's cries for help, there demands to be let go, and there kicks and punches were all ignored as Aiden slowly and mechanically ascended the stairs.

–Meanwhile, with Savannah, Brick, and Mr. Block–

Mr. Block stood at the door, glaring at nothing. But Savannah and Brick knew he was just thinking. Thinking about the events that led up to this moment, thinking about how to get out of this situation.

Brick, when he wasn't fighting off the migraine of the century (or was it the next century?), felt such incredible guilt, it made him sick to his stomach. He was currently shuffling through the cabinets and drawers trying to find an antacid. Savannah glanced over and frowned.

"No offense, but, wasn't taking a drug from an unknown source kind of what started this whole problem in the first place?"

Brick sighed. "C'mon, Savannah. It's a high school nurse's office. It's not like there's gonna be a bag of coke in the cabinet."

"That's not my point."

"Then what is your point?"

"My point is that if you had actually listened to your head then maybe none of this would have happened."

"I was listening to my head! My head said this was a good idea!"

"Well maybe your head…" Savannah sighed, heavily. "Brick, what're we doing?"

Brick turned to look at Savannah. "What do you mean?"

"Brick, this is the first real conversation we had in months and it started out with us arguing."

"Savannah, I've had Lotte's weird computer in my head for the past couple months. Look, I'm sorry I blanked you, but most of that was the TICC's doing."

"… I meant before you got a TICC, Brick."

Brick paused and turned to Savannah. "Savannah?"

Savannah glanced down at her makeshift casts. "Whenever we talk, it ends in an argument. The last time that happened, you ditched me and were manipulated into doing… well, this!" Savannah gestured around them. "Brick, I care about you, and I think of you as one of my friends, but we haven't really been that friendly lately… we haven't been friends lately."

Brick ran a hand through his hair and frowned. "It's not that I wanted to fight with you, I really didn't. It's just…"

"Just what?"

Brick was silent for a moment. "I guess, I guess I wasn't really sure how to… I don't know, communicate? Does that make sense?"

Savannah chuckled. "Yeah, it kinda does."

"Are you two done with the last minute character development?" Mr. Block asked, glaring harshly at the two agents. "Because we're in the middle of an pre-apocalypse type situation here!"

"Excuse us for trying to grow as people." Savannah quipped, dryly.

"I see no problem with growing as people and all the self-esteem, majority bullshit that comes with it; in fact I encourage it. But you two couldn't have picked a worse time to do it!"

"I don't know I think there are—" Brick started but stopped suddenly, face twisted in agony. He slumped to the floor, clutching his head. Savannah, too, clutched her head in pain. "No… not now."

"What's happening?" Block asked frequently.

"She's… She's close…" Savannah gasped in pain.

"Shit!" Block went over and pressed his full weight against the door, hoping that would stop Lotte. "How close is she?" Block's question was quickly answered when a fist, covered in neon green lines, punched a hole in the door, barely and inch from his face. "Never mind, I figured it out."

Said hand reached over and slapped Mr. Block in the face, while the door handle jiggled furiously. "Open the door, Blockhead!"

"Never!"

"You're only delaying the inevitable." Lotte laughed madly form the other side of the door. "I can feel them on the other side of the door…"

Brick groaned and pain, feeling Lotte's unwanted thoughts invading his head, like a cocky army during the Russian Winter. Brick glanced up and saw a back door, another exit! He pushed himself to his feet and, with great, wobbling step, made his way over to the door. By sheer coincidence, or maybe just dumb luck, the door wasn't locked.

"Let me in Block, and I promise to go easy on you!"

"That's a lie and we both know it!"

"You got me there."

"Savannah…" Brick called weakly, once he was able to nudge the door open. "We can get out."

"I can't walk!" Savannah sounded frantic. She looked to where Block was arguing with Lotte (or, more accurately, Lotte's hand) and then back to Brick. "Go."

"What?"

"Find the kids, find Cavendish and Dakota, find that dog, and just go!"

"What about you?"

"Brick, go, now! Before she gets you too!"

"Last chance, Block. Open. The. Door!"

"Go. To. Hell!"

Brick cast one last look at Savannah. Despite her pain, she was able to send him a reassuring smile, and nodded. Brick swallowed. "I'm sorry," he whispered. He hobbled his way through the door and closed it as quietly as he could. Making his way out of the adjoining office and into the hallways, into a state of temporary freedom.

Just as Brick closed the office door, Lotte smirked from the other side of the Nurse's office door. "You always insist on making thing more difficult, Percy." Lotte reached over and grabbed Mr. Block's face. What sounded like lightning striking a metal rod could be heard from the other side of the door. "Sorry it has to come to this. Not really, though."

Green lightning shot up Lotte's arm, through her hand, and into Mr. Block's face. He screamed for a moment, twitched a little, and then was down.

"Mr. Block!" Savannah cried out as Lotte punched another hole through the door. Using this one to reach through and unlock the door.

"Miss me, partner?" Lotte smiled gleefully.

"Why not just kick down the door?" Savannah asked, hoping to distract Lotte long enough to let Brick escape.

"And rick scuffing my new boots? Are you insane?" Lotte glanced around the room. "Where's Brick?"

"I'll never tell you."

"Not in this state, you won't." Lotte conceded. Her smile turned wicked as she approached Savannah.

Savannah, not being able to run, swung at Lotte with her fists. One connected with Lotte's jaw, but that did little to slow her down. The TICC Mastermind simply ducked under Savannah's arms, smile widening as she reeled back and punched one of Savannah's legs as hard as she could. The time-agent cried out in pain and Lotte seized her opportunity, lunging forward and grabbing a hold of Savannah's face with both hands.

"Let go of me!"

"Savannah, you were so sad when I talked to you backstage not too long ago, don't you remember?" Savannah wanted nothing more than to go back in time and tell herself to not take Lotte's advice. Or her TICC pill. "I promised I could make you happy. But you were so resilient, so resistant. But don't worry…"

Lotte rearranged her hands. One gripping Savannah's neck like a vice, the other like a claw clutching the top of her forehead. "You'll be so much happier soon enough."

Savannah reached up with her hands and tried to pry Lotte off of her. "What're you doing?"

"Up, up, down, down, left-right, A!"

Savannah screamed in agony, and then everything went black.

Woo! That was a long one, 11191 words and just about 27 pages. Sorry for the long wait, I've been working through some personal issues (I'm getting help) and school just started back up for me again.

I was originally not looking forward to this chapter because I saw it as a sort of calm before the storm, filler episode type deal. But then, I watched Overly Sarcastic Productions video on Darkest Hours and I was inspired. This is very much our hero's darkest hour. But fear now, the climatic final showdown is near! … Schedule pending of course.

I would like to thank Wiz-Witch over on Tumblr for helping me write not only the song but also that final end scene here. Couldn't have done it without you, my friend!

Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter, and don't forget to leave a little review at the end. Who knows, I might get the final battle chapter out sooner rather than later if you do! Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and wise! Oh, and Happy Halloween to those who celebrate it!

(Psst, only 2 chapters left!)