Smoldering Embers

by Punk19

The sequel to The Misty Fire. TazirVile Surfeit and his daughter, Eshal, are stuck on Earth with their family for six months. Will they last the tenure of their stay, then get their family back on Moas, or will something happen to prevent their hope in returning to Moas from happening?

10. Chapter 10

When the information appeared on the interactive whiteboard, all of them tuned into it. The one who was presenting it to them was given an equal amount of attention. Standing to the left of the whiteboard was a tall, and modestly built woman who was both thirty-seven and had a tendency to be arrogant and bitchy. Despite her arrogant and bitchy ways, they were required to hear her out; about four years ago, they didn't have to deal with this. The one who held the position of Chief of their country's security was of the male gender and quite pleasant and level-headed—everyone agreed that the one who took over his position started her arrogant, bitchy ways right after being promoted to what she was.

According to the interactive whiteboard, the levels of concern for their country's security had dropped phenomenally in the last month. The ones who took up residence in their country were now gone, the shields that were over their part of the planet weren't penetrated in over a month, and any and all threats to civilians from folk of alien origin had plummeted to zero. Master Vile, the ruthless scoundrel who took over the American continents last year, was only seen as "minding" the shields that were on their side of the planet a handful of times—on the twentieth of April and on the first, fifteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-secondth of May—as well. With the exception of Master Vile still being an occasional visitor of their side of the planet, and his troops still being where they were outside of the shields, everything was back in order and looked to be normal again.

Or, so he and most everyone who were seated at the table thought. Bettina Gottlieb, the one who was the chief of their country's security, was sure that the cease in security breaching and alien activity was only a ruse; she still thought that they should kick a family that was residing in their country for nearly a year out and she still thought that their planet's heroine wasn't needed anymore—which was a shock! Angel Irene, as far as he was concerned, was still needed and was still powerful enough to slam any invading monster and/or alien down... and she was still helping them in staying safe from her evil fader's clutches as well.

Putting the ones that took up the Rastatter Rheinaue nature reserve on the secondth of October to the side, Miss. Irene still had their backs and was still helping to protect them. Did they not have proof of that? If he recalled correctly, Miss. Irene had personally seen to strengthening a few of the shields that were over their side of the planet soon after establishing herself in their country; putting the six hours that Berlin was open to attack by that villainous Vile to the side, she also put a new shield over Berlin after the old one was felled by the alien that he was all too glad to see gone. She aided a bunch of refugees in reaching the safety of the shield that was over the town of Steinmauern on the twenty-seventh of January, and she also saw to sending most everyone who was in the restaurant known as Sushi Circle, that was in the city of Bonn, to a safer location after that same alien, who was responsible for the old shield over Berlin being taken down, had shown up and then started reeking havoc on everyone who was inside.

Miss. Irene shouldn't be spoken of or included in the meeting yet Bettina Gottlieb had made a "special" point in doing so. To the extreme lower right of the whiteboard was a bunch of data that was on no other person than their planet's heroine. He, and the president, had both sighed after it was seen on the board.

Date of Known Residency: July 31, 4100
Location of Residency: Elchesheim-Illingen; 54253 Zweig Straße. The Grün Bach subdivision
Number of Noted Residents: 6 (1 adult woman, 5 teenage boys)
Occupation: Head of family works in the town's local food mart—U-Krop-it. Second oldest son reportably works in one of the two malls in the nearby city of Karlsruhe—the mall that's in the Ettlinger Tor Shopping Center is where he's said to be employed at.
Noted Properties: 1 house (2-level, with basement and attic) and 2 vehicles (a Porsche D2 and an i8 BMW)
Status On Properties: Paid in full; no mortgage or car payments required to be made by family
Bill Status: On time; no referrals on record
Extra Information: 4 of the 5 boys are unemployed; all have driver's licenses and clean driving records. The head of the family also has a driver's license and clean driving record. The residence is known to have a number of animals in it—a cat and several undisclosed reptiles and amphibians. The 2 employed members of the family are said to be on-time for their appointed times at work; both the head of the family and the secondborn son have good working records.
Family Status: Still active; residency of Elchesheim-Illingen (Germany) on-going
Date of Alien/Monster Occupation: October 2, 4100 (2 months and 2 days after noted residency)
Location of Alien/Monster Occupation: The Rastatter Rheinaue nature reserve
Explanation of Monster/Alien Occupation: To retrieve the members of their family that are known to be residing in the town of Elchesheim-Illingen.
Date of Monster/Alien Evacuation: April 17, 4101 5:58 PM
Reason for Evacuation of Known Occupation Zone: Unknown; it's speculated that the weather is the cause for their swift departure.

"Excuse me," Katharina Fuchs, who was seated to his immediate right, said. "Why, exactly, has information on our planet's heroine been included in what you wanted to show us?"

"She has had numerous contacts with the issue that plagued us for six months," Bettina Gottlieb, a woman who had platinum-blonde hair and chartreuse-green eyes, answered. "In accord to the breaches that our country has encountered between October of 4100 and February of this year, she could well of been working for the ones who resided in the Rast—"

"Bull!" Wilda Schmidt, one of the few younger women in the room, who had rather pretty, vibrant red hair and brown eyes, exclaimed. She was seated directly across from him. "If she was working in co-horts with them, we'd of known about it."

"The shields over our side of the planet would of been taken down a long time ago if that was true." Katharina Fuchs's graying brown hair, that was currently set in a half-up, half-down fashion, went from her left shoulder to her right as she shook her head at Bettina. The woman, who was nearing forty-three years of age, trained her brown eyes on no one other than Bettina; everyone else was seemingly "forgotten" by her. "I see no reason for you to be continually bringing her up, and slandering her name."

"She did nothing in ousting them aliens and monsters from the Rastatter Rheinaue nature reserve." Bettina tried to point out. "She, and her family, went by their lives as if they weren't here. That, in itself, is incrim—"

"So did a good many of other folk." Wilda Schmidt pointed out. "No evacuations of families, no swift exits of our country, no civil unrests, and no civil disobedience happened after the reserve was occupied by them people."

"Thanks for calling me and mine a criminal, Bettina." Sigmar Röttgen, an aging Afro-German, who was wearing a slate-gray suit, said. "You might as well of said that everyone in the country who retained a normal way of life after them monsters and aliens showed up is a criminal."

"Absolutely not, Mr. Röttgen." Bettina said in her defense. "With the exception of Master Vile and his monster-filled military, and Miss. Irene and her family, everyone on this planet is human and has no powers or responsibilities over worrying about our planet's safety. Miss. Irene has obviously dropped her interest in protecting our planet and in helping u—"

"Do I need to remind or show you the logged security footage of what happened in Sushi Circle?" the country's president, Stefan A. Leinart, asked Bettina, who suddenly got a real defeated look on her face. The president didn't wait for an answer; he stood up then started speaking of the events that took place in Bonn on the seveneenth of February. "If I bore anyone, I apologize, but I do believe that what took place on that night needs to be spoken of."

There were nine in the room, but only seven of them were seated. Bettina had busted her buns to ensure that all who were associated with the more important cabinets of his country's government were at the meeting. Everyone who received a memo from her was here. Katharina Fuchs was the current president minister of the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth; had been for nearly six years. Wilda Schmidt was the current minister of the Federal Ministry of Health; had been for a little over a year. Sigmar Röttgen, who was seated to the left of Katharina Fuchs, was the current minister of the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety; had been for nearly three years. A man by the name of Gustav Maihofer was to his right; he was the current minister of the Federal Ministry of the Interior. A man by the name of Erhard Scheel was seated between Wilda Schmidt and the president; he was the chief of the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development. The final member of their group was a woman by the name of Ursula Arendt; along with being two seats down from Wilda Schmidt, she was the chief of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

He was one of the final ones to show up. From what he was told, Mrs. Gottlieb had thought long and hard over sending a memo about the meeting to his secretary. The woman, for the last few months, had found herself as not liking him much. The feeling was honestly mutual with him. What did he do to get so under her skin? He, as a friend of his planet's heroine, had stood up for Miss. Irene on numerous occasions and had personally seen to dishing out a sort of "spanking" to the one who swore their heroine as no longer being on their side. The president was the main one in "spanking" and denying Mrs. Gottlieb of her wish in having their planet's heroine and her family removed from the country... Mr. Leinart was the third recipient of the memo; Mrs. Gottlieb had, obviously, had no issue in double-thinking her memo-sending when it came to him. The fact that Mr. Leinart was the reason behind Miss. Irene having it "so good" here in their country, and that he was very close to the ones that Mrs. Gottlieb was out to get, seemed to either be overlooked or ignored by Mrs. Gottlieb—course, no one really needed them two facts to be brought up or spoken of.

It was known to pretty much everyone who worked in the government of his country that the president was exceptionally good friends with the heroine and her family and it was also known that he was the reason behind their having no mortgage or car payments to mail or issue out. The man had personally seen to paying for the house that the family lived in; one of the two cars that were owned by the family had also been paid in full by him. All of the main furnishings that were in the Irene house had also been paid for by him; Mr. Leinart had thrown a lot of money around for the Irene's and, as far as he was able to tell, they weren't walking all over or taking advantage of his generosity.

"Sushi Circle was rented out for a party, by which we and our spouses, and a bunch of the high-ranking government officials of the North American continent, attended. By my actions, Miss. Irene was called and then asked to attend it; she arrived at six-thirty. For, say, two and a half hours, we had the restaurant, and the night, to ourselves—we danced, talked, and had a good time. Up to that one Troll that fell out of the ceiling, nothing amiss happened." the president, who, regardless of recently turning fifty-four years of age, had a headful of orange-brown hair, and hazel-colored eyes, started. "A lot of people were injured after the Trolls, and their leader, appeared. Mr. Maihofer and the American Vice President, Victor J. Turcotte, were diagnosed as receiving a concussion from the events that happened on that night; while nothing serious was noted on Mrs. Fuchs, a bruise did appear on her left cheek and her jaw became swollen; Mrs. Gottlieb, you was given a hell of a slap that knocked you out cold. Two women by the name of Mrs. Faith Adams and Mrs. Nicole Warner were thrown. Mr. Ballal's wife came out of the night with a severely broken left arm. Mr. Ballal had a concussion and severe lacerations to his right arm; he also came out of the night with two deep cuts to the back of his head and a severe eye injury. Even I, ladies and gentlemen, was injured on that night.

"Sometime after I was thrown from the building, our heroine, who, must I add, was grieved with crippling abdominal pain at the time that this occurred, got the alien's attention. While she engaged him, she used her powers to send everyone that she could see out of the building. Miss. Irene was no more at fault for what happened on that night than we were; we were doing nothing more than enjoying ourselves. That alien and them Trolls are the ones to blame for what happened."

"The reason behind what happened at Sushi Circle is really quite clear, President Leinart." Bettina said after swallowing. "Them aliens were following her. If she wasn't at the restaurant, none of what happened would of happened. The same goes with the other events that either she or one of her sons were involved in or with."

A set of data suddenly appeared on the board; as expected, it was all about their heroine and her family... and the events that they were involved in and that the aliens and monsters made an appearance to. He rolled his eyes, then leaned back in his chair; on estimate, Bettina would be allowed to show this and only this information before getting "disciplined". He was surprised that the president hadn't given her that "disciplining". No one wanted nor needed Miss. Irene, or her family, to be brought up—the true cause of the meeting was on temporary pause until Mrs. Gottlieb either had her fill of talking about the Irene's or President Leinart started in on her.

Event Name: Oktoberfest II
Date of Attendance: October 23, 4100
Time of Attendance: Unknown; more than 2 video logs show their being there at 8:17 PM
Time of Departure: Unknown; more than 2 video logs show probable departure happening at 11:30 PM
Reason Behind Departure: The thirdborn son (Hazaar) was assaulted in the gaming section of the fair by 2 folk of alien origin; the firstborn and secondborn sons (Bile and Lhaklar) were assaulted in the fair's parking lot by 1 other folk of alien origin. Video footage shows that a possible third assault on a member of the family was made in the same parking lot at nearly the same time as the other noted parking lot assaults.
Notes: Oktoberfest II was closed soon after the noted assaults were made; 3 folk of Gray-alien origin, 1 folk that looked like Master Vile, and 2 folk of Troll origin were noted as being at it. All but 2 of the non-human attendees are said to of had violent tendencies towards fair occupants. The alien that looked like Master Vile scared half a dozen still-present civilians at around 1 in the morning; all alien and Troll attendees left the fairgrounds at around 1:30 AM.

Event Name: Rescuing of Secondborn Son from the Rastatter Rheinaue Nature Reserve
Date of Attendance: November 8, 4100
Time of Attendance: Video log of Steinmauern store shows Miss. Irene appearing near the southern-lying shield of the town at 7:25 PM
Time of Departure: 7:45 PM
Reason Behind Departure: Successful retrieval of son
Notes: With the exception of one felled Troll, no human injuries or casualties occurred. The secondborn son (Lhaklar) was taken to the camp in the reserve after having a violent confrontation with Master Vile; Lhaklar was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of several injuries. His mutter, and family friends, Mr. Stefan A. Leinart and Mr. Ajeet Mahatma Ballal, went with him.

Event Name: Shield Over Berlin Being Removed
Date of Involvement: December 23, 4100
Time of Involvement: 11:45 AM
Time of Cease Involvement: 12:58 AM
Notes: The second and thirdborn sons (Lhaklar and Hazaar) were seen as entering the Chancellery at 11:30 AM; a visit to Mr. Stefan A. Leinart was made before they left the building. Video logs from the Chancellery show both boys as being cornered along the fence by a trove of Trolls and a single alien. A 45-minute chase through Berlin occurred; the alien obviously wanted the younger boy. Mr. Ajeet Mahatma Ballal was involved, as was Mr. Stefan A. Leinart and a helicopter pilot named Mr. Hans Seiderman. Video logs from several medical buildings within Berlin city show that another alien joined the chase about fifteen minutes later. While injuries to Trolls and both aliens are noted, no injuries or casualties occurred with Berlin citizens. Berlin was susceptible to attack by Master Vile for all of six hours before a new shield was put over it.

Event Name: Assisting American Refugees Into Germany
Date of Involvement: January 27, 4101
Time of Involvement: 2:45 AM; event took place at 7:57 AM
Time of Cease Involvement: 8:10 AM
Notes: American Refugees were taken to the City of Rastatt's Maquet Deutschland GmbH; Miss. Irene went with them. Thirty minutes of no activity occurred, then 4 Trolls appeared in the room that Miss. Irene was taken to. An attempted abduction occurred before 1 of the 4 Trolls and Mr. Ajeet Mahatma Ballal had a violent altercation; video logs in elevator show that another of the Trolls had a violent altercation with Mr. Ajeet Mahatma Ballal and Mr. Stefan A. Leinart. An increase in security breaching and illegal shield entrances occurred after this event happened.

Event Name: Abduction of Younger Irene Boy
Date of Involvement: February 1, 4101
Time of Involvement: 10:55 AM
Time of Cease Involvement: 11:05 AM
Notes: The secondborn (Lhaklar) and fourthborn (Lazeer) sons of Angel Irene were seen as entering the Kulisse Kino movie theater, located in Rheinland Kaserne, Ettlingen, at 8:15 AM. They saw a film by the name of Attack of the Tumbleweeds with 30 other people; no issues were encountered during their stay in the building. After exiting the theater, they went to a nearby convenience store; video logs from the store show the older of the boys purchasing 2 coffees. 8 Trolls appeared soon after the boys exited the store; the older boy is shown on security footage as collapsing, and then being sent to an undisclosed location. The younger boy is shown on the same security footage as fighting 2 of the 8 Trolls; the abduction occurred five minutes after the altercation occurred. Substantial damage occurred to the parking lot belonging to Jacques Meyer's Culinarium. The street of Steigenhohlstraße sustained minor damage as well. No injuries or casualties occurred in this event to civilians.

Event Name: Sushi Circle Dance
Date of Attendance: February 17, 4101
Time of Attendance: 6:30 PM
Time of Departure: 8:10 PM
Reason Behind Departure: 5 Trolls and 1 alien appeared; a number of assaults were made before departure was done.
Note: More than 10 were injured on the night of the dance; video logs at the restaurant show that 2 of the Trolls pursued their target of interest (Miss. Irene) after she was removed from the building. Sushi Circle wasn't fully vacated until fifteen minutes later; the leader of the Trolls ordered a complete search of the building. Martial law was initiated after more than four waves of Trolls in military attire penetrated the shields over the districts of Ortenaukreis, Freudenstadt, and Calw; the shields over Prignitz, Ostprignitz-Ruppin, Oberhavel, and Uckermark were also penetrated by Trolls wearing military attire. Martial law wasn't removed until 10 days later.

"By any chance are you going to ask for me and my family to vacate the country next?" Ajeet Mahatma Ballal, an Indian man, who had near-white hair, that was cut in a typical military undercut, and deep brown eyes, asked Bettina. "You've mentioned me on three of them six listed events; I honestly feel threatened."

"I see nothing incriminating in the data that you've shown us." Erhard Scheel, a big, mid-aged, man, who had mid-long, brown hair and green eyes, said. "I see normal activities being done by a family of six that are, sadly, cut short by the actions of folk who are obviously out to prevent them from living a normal, happy life."

"Can we please return to the real reason behind this meeting? Instead of speaking of the Irene's, and wasting time in speaking of an issue that shouldn't be spoken of in the first place, we should be speaking of our country's security and of the other issues that we've been asked to look into." Ursula Arendt, a mid-aged woman with prominent Greek features—an olive skin complexion; long and wavy, dark brunette hair; and amber-colored eyes—, said.

The real topics that the meeting was meant to revolve around were then spoken of. With the exception of the topics that revolved around the military, and with the still ongoing, unpredictable weather, he was mostly quiet and still in his chair. Since most of the topics didn't require his immediate attention, he turned his thoughts to his primary concern: his inability to reach the Irene's.

Over the last few months, he wasn't able to stay connected to the family as much as he wanted to. He and his family—his wife of twelve years, Gretel, and their two children, Haimi and Chayla—were forced to vacate the house that they lived happily in for twelve, long years. The situation with the shield-penetrating Trolls, and the odd, little feeling that he and his wife felt in their old home for all of a few weeks, was the cause behind their vacancy. He and his family had lived with his adult daughter from a previous engagement, Nisa, and her husband, Wolfgang Ketterle, and their three children for all of a few weeks before the move to their new, safe house was made.

While the acquiring of the new house was easy, the purchasing of new furnishing for it was daunting. Normal people would take their old furnishings from their old home then set it up in their new one; with knowing how he and his wife felt about the old house, and with his worry over their being followed to the new one heavy on his mind, he made the decision to just equip the new house with all new furnishing items. He'd go to work in the Bendlerblock building during the day hours then he'd go to work in finding and then purchasing the items that would fill the new house during the night hours; this was a hard schedule for him. He had spent a good many of days fighting fatigue, and the urge to just collapse over his desk then take a long nap, but it was all worth it. The only items that were retrieved from the old house were his family's clothing, the children's toys, his wife's collectibles, his and his wife's diploms—the German form of a diploma—, and any known informative items that he and his family had; the rest of what was in the house was still there.

His attempts to get in contact with the Irene's started on the twenty-sixth of May. He didn't know if his number was blocked, or if the family was just busy and couldn't reach the phone in time to answer him, but he wasn't able to reach them. With each placed call that he made to Miss. Irene's cellular phone, he'd get a message back saying that the number that he called wasn't able to be reached or that the one that he was trying to call wasn't accepting calls; any and all calls that were made to the Irenes' landline ended in equal failure. He was meaning to ask the only other man that had the Irenes' cellular and landline number if he was able to get through for a few days now but, as fate would so dish it, he was prevented from doing so.

He had plans in changing that after this meeting was done. If he could catch and then speak with President Leinart, he'd get an answer on why he wasn't able to contact the Irene's. He saw no reason behind his number being blocked; with the exception of his going exclusive to get his family's new home all set-up for them, he had done nothing wrong to the family and no rifts had happened between he and Miss. Irene. He should be able to contact them.

"Only good thing behind Bettina's "obsession" with the Irene's is the confirmation of their still being in Elchesheim-Illingen, and Germany." he thought.

The meeting had a span of nearly two hours; he was quiet and uninvolved for all of forty-five minutes before the call was made for it to end. Everyone collected the items that were on the table before them quietly; with the exception of Bettina, no one was quick in leaving the room. The slightly in-appropriate, aqua-blue, lace dress, that Bettina was wearing, cast an odd glow against the frame of the door when she left the room. Katharina Fuchs's lace V-neck, long sleeve, purple dress was also slightly in-appropriate, but none of them really took notice of it. One who worked in an office would usually wear less attractive clothing; Bettina Gottlieb, who, if he was correct, was on her second husband, and Katharina Fuchs, who was twice divorced and currently single, were a little too attractively dressed for work that day. The dress that Wilda Schmidt was wearing, which was black and nearly sleeveless, was very appropriate for her career; Ursula Arendt's dress, which wasn't only red but also sported an A-line lace design on its hemline, was also appropriate for her career. With the exception of him, the men were wearing tuxedos.

Katharina collected her things then left the room. Gustav Maihofer, who was wearing a dark red suit, tie, and shoes, followed behind her a few seconds later. Erhard Scheel, who was wearing a normal, black tuxedo, and Sigmar Röttgen left the room next. The president left the room next; he grabbed the items that he was piddle-farting with since the meeting's conclusion then ran off in pursuit of him.

The building that they were in was big. It was very easy to either lose yourself or one of your touring party in it and it was also easy to lose track of the one, or ones, that you're trying to catch up to. Except for the glass dome, that had a staircase that spiraled up to the building's roof inside it, and the transparent glass handrails, that were on the stairs and walls, that allowed for visitors to see the goings-on of certain working politicians, the building's interior had a resemblance to a historical museum. A lot of the ruins of the old building were preserved over the years; the masonry structure was still in its original shape, as were some parts where there was writing from Soviet soldiers.

The Reichstag, as it was called, was an old building—historical records said that its construction began in 1871; the completion of that construction occurred on June 9, 1884. The first renovation occurred in 1961; it lasted for all of three years before being completed in 1964. A second, and final, renovation occurred in 1992. It was very readily agreed that the second renovation was better received by both the government and the people of his country; it restored a nearly lost landmark, and its historical significance to both the country that it belonged to and the people that lived in it.

"Mr. Leinart!" Ajeet said after seeing the backside of the man that he was trying to reach. "Mr. Leinart, wait up!"

A throng of civilians, that he took as being tourists, nearly prevented him from reaching the man that he was trying to gain the attention of. He wrestled through two groups of five women, then was forced to wait for two groups of three, hallway-hogging men to allow him to pass by, then found himself as having to nearly re-route his path after a group of children started congregating around one of the many preserved stones that some of the afore mentioned Soviet writing was on, before finally finding himself with clear passage to the president—who, as miraculous as it seemed, was still on the very hallway that he was traveling down.

He went down the rest of the hallway uninterrupted then, after reaching the area where the president was, stretched his arm out. The president, who stood five foot, eight inches, turned to look at him almost at once; he repressed the relieved sigh that he wanted to emit then addressed him.

"Thought I'd lose ya," Ajeet said.

"Whoa now, Ajeet. Professional relationship only; no touchy-feely business is allowed to happen between us." the president replied.

"Feeling's mutual on that," Ajeet said. Ajeet followed the president down the hallway, then out the building, before speaking to him again. "Think you'll agree with feeling all mutual on the issue of them aliens and monsters finally being gone from our soil."

"Damn right, Mr. Ballal. The wild weather to the side, everything's settled down and we're back on schedule again." the president replied.

"We'll really be on track again when the weather returns to being normal." Ajeet said as he followed the president across the strips of grass that were between the Reichstag and the Chancellery.

"I'm putting a memo to the ones who control the weather gauges—good, pleasant weather would greatly be appreciated for the next six months to a year."

He decided to change the subject of the conversation; with business having just been concluded in the Reichstag, he hadn't had a desire to drop his concern on the president's lap or cause the man to become agitated with him. Stefan A. Leinart had won his campaign for the open presidency slot nearly a year and a half ago; while he was a good president, and business man, he did have a tendency to be a bit of a "meanie". While no red head by any means, he did have a temper and he knew well on how to release or use it.

"Don't suppose you've encountered any issues this past week with your cellular or landline phones?" he asked.

"Other than my son playing snip with that one wire in my office, no." the president replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Been trying to call Miss. Irene's cellular and landline numbers for all of a week now. I either get a message on her cellular that says she's not accepting calls, or I'm told after calling her landline number that the number that I've called cannot be reached." he decided to be as descriptive as can be; who knew, maybe an issue was happening with the family that even the president wasn't aware of. "When was the last time you spoke with Miss. Irene?"

"Thanks to you, I feel rather low right now. I've not called or spoken to her, or any of the boys, in over a month now. Work and family have kept me quite busy, you know." Stefan said after stopping to give it a wonder on how long it was since he called or spoke to his friend.

With the issue of when his last correspondence was with Miss. Irene now spoken of, Stefan switched the office file that he had in his right hand over to his left then started sifting through the pocket of his pants. A small, burgundy and silver cellular phone was removed from that pocket a few seconds later... as were a few euro coins, which splashed to the concrete noisily. As Ajeet aided in the collection of his pocket change, Stefan dialed the number to the Irenes' landline.

He was in his secondary office when he learned of the family's whereabouts. A realtor by the name of Arnold Heiberg had phoned the Chancellery with the news; his call was forwarded to his secondary office soon after the reason behind the man's call was exposed. He came very close to breaking his neck in getting down to Baden-Baden, and to the real estate office of Maxas, after telling the man to keep his client in his office; the exceptionally beautiful woman was waiting for him when he got there, as had all of the information that he asked Mr. Heiberg to acquire for him in housing that'd be appropriate for a family of five to live in. At the time of his meeting Miss. Irene, he had thought that she had four sons to take care of; he was blown away by her claim of having five instead of four, and he came very close to swallowing and then choking on his own tongue after seeing who said fifth son looked like after meeting and then persuading Miss. Irene into his Shuttle Van.

Getting a six-bedroom home for the family, and then getting it furnished and then equipped with all the utilities that a normal family uses, and then purchasing a brand spankin' new car for the head of the family to drive, and then making a personal withdrawal of €5,000 from one of his bank accounts, wasn't an issue to him at all. He was more than happy to help them out, and be on friendly terms with them. His entire family knew about his friendship with the planet's heroine; so did the government of his country, for that matter. Plenty of joke-making and elbow-throwing were thrown in his direction about his budding friendship with the "royal" family; he took it all in stride.

"Thank y... yes, hello—" Ajeet, who had just given his country's president his spilled coinage back, gave Stefan a long, hard look. Stefan's brow was all furrowed; his round and youthful face took on the very look of confusion for all of a second before clearing up. "I must have the wrong number, sorry."

Stefan, who could swear that he dialed the right number, pressed the END-button on his cellular then dialed again. He knew the Irene landline number by heart and he could practically dial Miss. Irene's cellular number in his sleep; the one who answered his call wasn't Miss. Irene, or one of her sons. A teenage girl, who had a young, feminine-sounding voice, had answered on the secondth ring; Miss. Irene had no teenage girls living under her roof, so he automatically made the assumption that he dialed the wrong number.

"Hello?" Stefan looked at Ajeet; yet again, for the second time in less than a minute, that same teenage girl had answered the number that he dialed. Stefan cleared his throat—the sticky feeling that he had in his throat, and the sour taste that suddenly crept into his mouth, wasn't what he wanted to deal with on that day—, then spoke into the phone as pleasantly as he could.

"Do I have the wrong number again? I'm sorry, Miss., but I'm trying to reach a friend of mine that I've not spoken with in over a month." his smooth voice was instantly overshadowed by confusion notes. He and the teenage girl said no more to one another; they hung up at the same time.

"When was the last time you called Miss. Irene's landline number?" Stefan asked Ajeet.

"Uh... don't hold me to it but I think my last correspondence with that mode of technology happened before the seventeenth of February." Ajeet answered.

"Do you recall what the number was?" Stefan asked.

"Yes—07245-4351-656."

"I just called that number twice," Stefan said. "Some teenage girl answered."

"Teenage girl?" Ajeet's right eye, the one that was put in temporary "darkness" twice in the recent six months by the Trolls, dropped as he gave Stefan a funny look. "You must of called the wrong number; Miss. Irene has teenage sons in her home, not daughters."

"I'll try again." Stefan said. He spoke each number that he dialed as he called the landline that he was trying to reach then waited until his call was answered. The pit of his stomach dropped a degree after the same girl answered.

"Hello?" the girl said. "Who's this?"

"Uh, well can you please tell me who you are before discovering who you're talking to?" Stefan asked the girl.

"Eshal," the girl said.

"Eshal, pretty name there." Stefan looked at Ajeet before addressing the girl. "I'm trying to reach the Irene number—Miss. Angel Irene is the one that I'm trying to reach. Am I calling the right number or—"

"Mam's not home right now." the girl said. "She'll be soon, though. Can I take a message for her?"

"Did I call the right number?" Stefan asked again. "The Irene number—"

"Uh-huh, this is that number."

Ajeet watched as the color seemingly washed from Stefan's face. The man's face went from being its mildly tan color to bleach-white in a fraction of a second; the man, who weighed close to two hundred and twenty-five pounds, suddenly looked very sick... and he also looked to be having a time in standing on his feet! Ajeet dropped the files that he had in his hand then lunged in the president's direction; his hand was no more placed on his arm before he snapped his cellular shut then bolted in the direction of the parking lot that was near the Chancellery.

It was through two bridges, that had appointed guards at one of their ends, that politicians and tourists alike were allowed passage to where the main seat of his government worked at. The Chancellery; the Paul-Löbe-Haus, one of the functional buildings that belonged to the German government; the Reichstag, which was directly beside the Paul-Löbe-Haus; and the Schweizerische Botschaft, or Swiss Embassy, were all neatly sandwiched between two nicely tended parks. The park that was to his immediate right was flat; there were a few tall trees, which had a single bench under them, in it. The park that was to his immediate left was also flat, but it had a lot more trees and shrubbery in it.

The Spree river, from which the two bridges that allowed politicians and tourists alike access to the area, was flowing by at its usual, leisurely slow pace. Unlike the Reichstag and Paul-Löbe-Haus, which had a conjoined parking lot that was to their immediate right, the Chancellery's parking lot was located across the bridge that the Willy-Brandt-Straße ran across. He charged across the bridge, then went straight to the parking lot, then practically tore the driver's side door of his gray-colored, two-door, Elantra Coupe X5 open. He dove into his car while digging the keys from the pocket that they were put in earlier that day; with the keys stuck in the ignition, and his car started, he sped off. The tires of his car left skid-marks in the place where it was formerly parked in; with his heart currently pounding away in his chest, and his brain throbbing in his terror, and his blood going a mile a minute in his veins, and his hair practically standing on end, he sped down the street towards the autobahn that would take him to the first of many underground tunnels that his planet's heroine had created to ensure safe travel between the non-connected shielded parts of his country that she made over two thousand years ago.

"Only when there's an emergency going on do you speed," he remembered telling his oldest daughter, Sophie Annelise Leinart, who he and his wife commonly called Annelise, one day after she came home with a ticket, which was only given to her because she was spotted as speeding down a stretch of road in west Berlin. "And, even if an emergency comes up, and you find yourself having to speed to your destination, you never lose track of where you are or of the people that are around you."

In his fifty-four years of living, he had only acquired a handful of tickets and, of them handful of tickets that he was given, only three were for speeding. His wife and oldest daughter would be all eyes in a few days, after more than four tickets showed up in the mailbox that sat before their house that was near the Hansaviertel locality that was in Berlin, between the Großer Tiergarten park and the Spree river. After hearing what he just heard, and realizing who it was that was talking in the background of the residence that he called, he lost track of his good senses; the only real thing that sat on his mind right now was the six-hour drive that he had before him. Elchesheim-Illingen, a place that he hadn't visited in well over a month, was his destination; God willing, was he going to make it there in less than six hours and, God willing, he'd find everyone in the house in good health and shape.

Unbeknown to Ajeet Ballal, the Indian man who was the Chief of his country's Federal Armed Forces, he and his family had also become a sort of victim to feeling their residence not being safe. For all of a month, from May to the mid-part of April, they felt a... presence looking, or watching, over them. At first, they shrugged it off, then, after the first week went past, they noticed that the feeling had gotten more noticeable. The atmosphere in his house, and in his office in the Chancellery, had inexplicably changed; he and his had gone by their usual way of life as best they could, regardless of the feeling and the change in their living space's atmosphere. More than four personal searches were done on his part of the house that he and his lived in with no logical explanation being found towards why the feeling was being felt; the same result had happened with the searches that he did in his office—with nothing being found, the feeling shouldn't of been felt.

The atmosphere in his house and office had changed suddenly on the nineteenth of April; he and his family had breathed sighs then went back to resuming a normal, non-nervous life. With the Rastatter Rheinaue residing aliens and monsters now gone, and with his country's security levels being back to where they were suppose to be, he and his were able to loosen up a bit.

The extremely sensitive, and very expensive, security system that was in his house was still there and it would remain there—he saw no reason to get it removed or in getting the old system re-installed; the new one would keep him and his family extra protected.

Beeep!

Beeeeeeeep!

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

"Where's the fuckin' fire!" a motorist that he very nearly side-swiped yelled.

"Slow it down ya wankah!" a motorist, who had a thick British accent, yelled after he flashed by his vehicle.

Normally, it'd take him an hour, maybe an hour and a half, to get to the Autobahn 9 motorway. He made it to the autobahn in less than thirty minutes and, soon after that, he started down the brightly lit tunnel that stretched between Berlin and the state that he wanted to go to—which was Brandenburg. There was a toll stretched across the start of the autobahn; he abruptly dumped enough coins into the slot to permit four vehicles to it. The man who was minding the toll's station did nothing more than blink his eyes after he dumped the coins into the machine then sped off.

A small section of his brain formed a plan in how to get to Elchesheim-Illingen quicker—he'd travel on a south-westerly course; through south-west Brandenburg, then through south-east Saxony-Anhalt, then through east, south-east Thuringia, then through north-west Bavaria, then on through to Baden-Württemberg. He'd try his best to use the A9 motorway the entire way. He might have to get off the autobahn after going through certain parts of Thuringia and Bavaria, but he'd mostly use the motorway to get to the state of Baden-Württemberg. He'd have to use the A8 motorway after reaching Bavaria; that stretch of motorway would take him to the state of Baden-Württemberg. The rest of his drive to the town of Elchesheim-Illingen would take place on normal roads. Traffic and weather permitting, he was clinging to the hope that he'd knock at least two to three hours from his trip. The pedal that his foot was on was presently pressed flat against the floorboard that was on his side of the vehicle; the dial that was on the odometer, which went from 0 to 160, was currently reading at the higher number. He, honestly, wanted his vehicle to go faster.

"Commerce, between late 1999 and midway through 2499, between the towns, cities, and states that weren't connected, was tricky; not many wanted to run the risk of traveling the roads that lie beyond the shields for fear of being captured by Master Vile, or by one of the people that appear on our planet from time to time." he remembered his old professor saying to him and the rest of his classmates. "More than five Depression and Recession eras were experienced after our heroine disappeared from our planet; the last one was experienced just fifty years before she was noted as being back on our planet. The underground networks that allow our population, along with the whole population of the European and Eurasian continents, were created soon after our heroine's return to our planet. Safe, and unnervous, travel between the towns, cities, and states that weren't connected by a shield was now made possible; our heroine even created a sort of lighting system in the networks for us, so we wouldn't have to worry about having to do it ourselves, or have to worry about causing the networks to collapse. We owe a lot of thanks towards our heroine for this, and for a many other fine things that will be discussed on the next lesson."

Even though Miss. Irene did most of the work on making commerce safer for road-traveling civilians, scientists and historians had still tried to put into better logic about how the tunnels were made. The historians were the main reason behind everyone knowing the differences between the tunnels that were made in the Americas, the European and Eurasian continents, and the island nations. Even though there were tunnels in the Americas, they still led out to the major roadways that were outside of the shields; Miss. Irene had done a spell to mask the tunnel openings that were made in the shield-walls on that part of the planet. For the island nations, she did something else. The tunnels that permitted outside-shield travel were completely under the ground for them. There were no masked openings in the shields of the island nations. The same type of tunnel networking was used for Europe and Eurasia—with a slight twist, of course. The tunnels that were under European and Eurasian soil also went under water; to make for safer vehicle travel between their island brothers—Greece, Madagascar, the Philippine islands, Malaysia, etc.

Miss. Irene did all that she could think of to ensure safe travel between the un-connected shields, and she also aided in making the mostly abandoned national forests and beaches safer for folk who wanted to go out to do some hunting or take a dip in the ocean. By way of making a series of secondary—or mini—shields, and then creating a series of tunnels that connected them to the main ones, people could now enjoy the things that their ancestors were forced to abandon. Even though Miss. Irene aided them in so many things, she made it clear that she had no intention in aiding them in any of the wars that sparked up, or over any monetary issues that were encountered, or in times of stress—like when plagues struck. She'd give them aid when natural disasters occurred, but she plain refused to aid in them areas; she had put forth the claim that they were things that she had no control over, which was understanding.

A heroine could only do but so much. Miss. Irene couldn't be used as a way to end the wars that they created; she wasn't a scientist, so she couldn't help them in getting over any of the plagues that struck; and, while incredibly smart, and powerful, she couldn't help them in stopping crises that sparked over lack of funds. She also admitted to being bound by certain laws that forbade her from entering into certain situations; with this being written and known far and wide, it surprised him that there were some out there that disregarded her value. A survey, conducted by a bunch of universities about twenty or thirty years ago, had shown that ten percent of the planet's population thought that she wasn't needed anymore; it looked like Bettina Gottlieb was one of that small percentage of folk.

Ring! Ring!

He dug in his pocket for his cellular, which was ringing and buzzing almost incessantly for the last two hours, then flipped the top up. A pair of red and silver headphones were then grabbed from his vehicle's glove compartment; the adapter was shoved into its appropriate slot right when the final ring was heard.

"Yes, who is th—" he said as he returned his hand to the wheel; with his going 160 MPH, he really needed to keep both hands on it.

"About bloody time!" Ajeet's low, husky-sounding voice resounded from the headphones loudly. "What the hell's up with you today? You gave me a damn heart attack when you ran off like you did!"

"Heart-felt apologies, Mr. Ballal, but I think you'll understand after discovering what I heard after placing my third call to the Irenes' landline." Stefan replied.

"Take it that you're a distance from the Chancellery—in order to hear most of your response, I had to move near the window that's in my office." Ajeet said.

"Just got through entering the north-western tip of Bavaria state," Stefan replied. "Lower Franconia, the Rhön-Grabfeld district. I'm not sure which town, municipality, or city I'm near—I'm in the tunnel that connects the Autobahn 9 motorway to the Autobahn 8 motorway."

"Must have a racing engine in that car of yours; a trip to your current area would last three hours, yet it's only been two hours since you "flew" off." Ajeet said.

"Pedal's to the floor; odometer needle says that I'm cruising along at a hundred and sixty."

"Hate to be the woman that you married. Rosalinde will be all over your case after them tickets are received." Ajeet said.

Technically speaking, there was no speed limit on the autobahns. One could go as fast, or slow, as they wanted. His speeding through the streets of Berlin would be the cause of his many received speeding tickets and, yes, as Ajeet just said, he would have a wife climbing all over his back over how many tickets he received in a few days to a week's time. At the moment, all he could care about was getting to Baden-Württemberg and then Elchesheim-Illingen.

He told Ajeet as much as he could remember—while he had a "crisp" memory, he was surprised by how fragmented his memory was of the final call that he placed to the Irene landline.

The teenage girl had spoken a few more times before the voice, belonging to none other than Lazeer, was noted as speaking in the background. Lazeer hadn't sounded very happy; he was cursing and yelling himself raw over having some sort of remote-controlled thing taken from him. He was just opening his mouth to speak again when another voice joined Lazeer's—he, like Ajeet, would remember the gravelly-sounding voice that belonged to that one alien for the rest of his life. That voice had spoken and he was quick in identifying it; fear over what was going on with the Irene's had closed in on him after that identification was made. Ajeet not being able to reach the Irene family could mean one of two things: the gravelly-voiced alien did something to prevent any calls from most everyone from reaching Miss. Irene or the gravelly-voiced alien did something to the head of the Irene family and then put a major scare in on her sons over their use of the phone.

The fact of his remembering Miss. Irene telling him, and his wife, about her having an adopted daughter named Eshal had hit home right after the identification on the voice occurred. Instead of wondering what was going on, or asking what was going on, he closed his phone then went to his car. If traffic stayed the way it was, and if his car held up to the strain that he was putting on it, he'd be getting the answers that he wanted to know in a few short hours.

"Mal! Nahin ki; kisee ko bhee, lekin vah!"

A long time ago, the German language was the most widely used language by the people of his country. Back then, if one knew or spoke English, they'd do so with a heavy accent included in the mix. About eight hundred or so years ago, that changed; schools started teaching basic English, which progressed to full English. Even though most of the German population spoke English more than their native tongue, there were still small pockets of folk who didn't know or speak English... and about half of the German population who knew and spoke English spoke with a heavy accent as well. While he was very fluent in ten of the planet's known languages, the language that Ajeet used had him stumped. He judged the tone of Ajeet's voice to tell what he meant when he said his bizarre sentence—Ajeet, along with sounding very alarm, sounded scared.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me! Instead of running off, you could of grabbed and then hauled my ass with you!" Ajeet nearly screamed after saying his bizarre sentence. "As it stands now, I'm very tempted to get on a plane or-or-or-or helicopter or something then fly over to Elchesheim-Illingen!"

"Time was of the ess—" Stefan started to say.

"Bullshit!" Ajeet shrieked. Stefan imagined every vein standing out on the man's neck, and he also imagined the man's brown face going red in his fury; Ajeet breathed deeply, and raspily, for all of thirty seconds before speaking again. "You cut an hour from your trip, let's see you drop two to two and a half from the rest. Destroy that fuckin' car of yours if you have to; get to the Irene residence then see what's going on then, dammit, call me afterwards. If anything happens, and you need me, don't put into hesitation about putting in a call."

With the exception of his wife, who was only calling to "pass the time away", and to see if he was going to be home for supper, no one else called his number. He and Rosalinde were married for fifteen happy years; he was saddened over crushing her hopes in having him attend the family meal that night—work was heavy over the last few weeks... instead of coming home, then interacting with the family, and enjoying a meal with them when that time came around, he just crashed on the couch or on his and his wife's bed. Even though Rosalinde voiced her displeasure over his possibly being a no-show for that night's meal, she claimed that she understood the reason behind his not being able to be there.

Ajeet would probably be jumping for joy over his making it to Baden-Württemberg in a little under fifty minutes. Even though he was required to slow down, he still sped down the local roads and bridges that he came upon. Surprisingly, he'd not find a single ticket saying that he was caught speeding in this state... he owed thanks to that over the fact of there being no cameras situated on the poles that had the traffic and pedestrian lights, road signs, and street names on them. Other than slowing down for the traffic lights and road signs, he slowed down when he came upon a stretch of road that was currently being used as a crossing area by pedestrians.

The population of his country would be agog with excitement over the newspapers that were distributed in the next few days if he was seen as speeding into civilians now wouldn't it? Politician runs pell-mell into throng of crossing Baden-Württemberg civilians; President Leinart cited for both speeding and running into and then killing the little old lady that was only crossing such-and-such street in Baden-Württemberg; major vehicle pile-up, with dozens of injuries and four deaths, being pinned on speeding president... his political career, and his life in general, not to mention his conscience, would be tarnished if he harmed anyone while en-route to Elchesheim-Illingen.

When he drove into Elchesheim-Illingen twenty-five minutes later, he noted that it looked to of rained recently. The roads were wet and slick; the sky was gray and ugly; there was a chilly breeze blowing; the hint of electricity was heavy; and there were many walking around wearing raincoats, canvas hats or hoodies, and galoshes. He noticed that half of the folk who were out and about had umbrellas in-hand too.

"Didn't take long after we woke up for Rosalinde to ask if I was feeling well; soon after getting out of bed, then taking a shower and getting dressed for work, I just stood and stared at the top drawer of our dresser." he thought as he turned into the subdivision of Grün Bach. "Even I was perplexed over why I stared at that drawer; think I know why I did it now."

While most of the drawers of his and his wife's Cedar dresser contained clothes, the top one had an item in it that he kept around for protective means. His old, but still usable, Walther PPK .380 semi-automatic was housed in that drawer; he purposely kept it under lock and key to prevent the kids from getting into it and then finding an item that might arouse their curiosities and to prevent possible thieves from gaining a "free prize". Normally, that gun would roost in that drawer; he'd only take it out to clean and, maybe, test fire after deciding to go to one of the nearby shooting ranges. On the twenty-third of October, it was used as a means to help Hazaar get away from his two harassers—two aliens, one with teal-colored skin and the other with light blue skin, were pushing, shoving, yelling, and grabbing him on the night of that day. The light blue-skinned alien had also hit him with an item that he wasn't able to see. He only shot once... that bullet had gone through the lower leg of the teal-skinned alien; the other alien wasn't harmed.

If he knew what he would be doing that day, he wouldn't of wasted a second in grabbing, loading, and then sheathing that gun. His Walther PPK .380 semi-automatic would of been put to use right after he entered then assessed the situation in the Irene house; as it stood now, if that alien was found to be in the house that his friend and her five sons lived in, he'd have to use his words and hands to dispose of him.

He had spent the better part of twenty years in the military as an Air Force Pilot. He knew well how to dispose of certain people. Why, on the day that the old Berlin shield fell, he had personally seen to knocking a certain alien from an airborne helicopter; after coming to after being stiff-jabbed by the alien, he took very precious time out to strap himself into a vest then connect a cord to its back. The alien that he saw to shoving out of the vessel had plummeted to Earth while he and Hazaar were safely secured to the vessel that was flying over Berlin. He also saw to bloodying a certain ancient-looking Troll's face on the twenty-seventh of January, after the American refugees were safely admitted to the shield that was over Steinmauern; if he had to, he'd put his life in jeopardy to ensure the planet's heroine's, and her sons', safety.

"And, if it's just some other man with a gravelly-sounding voice in her house, I'll just have a good ol' laugh." he thought as he finished his drive to the house that he purchased for a certain woman and her lot of five fine sons nearly a year ago.

At first glance, everything looked fine. Miss. Irene's Porsche was in the driveway and so was her sons' BMW. Thanks to the drapes being up in the living room, he was able to see that the house looked occupied. He yanked the key from his ignition soon after parking behind Miss. Irene's Porsche then left his car; the thought of how chilly it was in the part of the country that he was in had never occurred to him during the drive—his lips came close to curling in and he came deathly close to diving back into the warmth of his car after he left it. It had to be -3.3°C—26°F—where he was and yet here he was, with nothing but a normal tuxedo jacket on his person. He ran up the concrete strip that ran along the house's front as quickly as he could; his breath drifted over his shoulder as a blue vapor the entire time he was on his way to the house. After ascending the five steps of the porch, he practically threw himself at the door. He knocked twice in rapid succession, then rang the bell once, then stood as still as he was allowed to.

Luckily for him, the door was answered five seconds later. The sigh that left him caused his body to shudder; the one who answered the door was no other than his planet's heroine, who looked just as right as rain to him.

"Mr. Leinart?" Angel Irene said. She stared at the man that was on her porch for only a second before ushering him in; torrential snowstorms were said to be near to where she and her family were at... it was very cold and yet, here was her visitor, the president of Germany, looking to have no formal winter-wears on his person. Stefan made no objections to being hustled into the house; he shivered a few dozen times before gaining control of himself after entering the relatively warm abode that he helped her and her family in getting. She let him calm down before leading him to the living room.

With the exception of having to get on Tazir for his confiscation of the keys that went to her sons' BMW a few days ago, and then having to get on him for taking Lazeer's remote-controlled Tarantula earlier that day, everything in the house was good to go. With having to do a double shift at work yesterday, and having to deal with Tazir's first wrong-doing of the month of June today, she had yet to get in on taking care of the month's bills or do the monthly shopping. That didn't mean that she was going to have her and her family's visitor hurry his visit up, though; though suspicious of his showing up without calling to put in ample warning about his visit, she was happy to see him and she bet her sons would also agree with her.

She, who was totally unaware of the reason behind her and her family's visitor's visit, led the man to the couch. The man was told to make himself at home, which he did by promptly taking a seat. She offered him something to drink, which he politely turned down, then she offered him something to eat, which he also turned down, then she sat down to speak to him.

"Been a while," she said.

"Yes, been meaning to call you for some time now." Stefan replied.

The woman, his friend, looked in very good health... and her beauty hadn't lapsed any since he last saw her. Angel Irene, the daughter of the villainous crook who was currently still causing hell to the American population, stood a tall, five foot, seven inches; her skin, which was honey-colored, was as smooth and blemish free as could be. Her eyes, which were a rather beautiful, emerald-green color, were clear; the black pupils, that had a single golden-yellow ring around them, were healthy and appropriately sized for the eyes that they were in the center of. There was no hint of wrongly gotten marks on the woman's heart-shaped face. Miss. Irene's hair, which wasn't only long but also a very vibrant, fiery red color, seemed to be abnormally bright that evening; thanks to the glow that was coming from her hair, just about everything that was around them was a bright red color.

While on the way to the living room, he took in her figure—nice and trim and petite, that was her. Any and all muscle that she had on her was masked perfectly... but he knew that was a big ruse. Angel Irene, his planet's protector, was an exceptionally strong woman. His friend's chest, which he was always finding himself as having to force himself to not look at, was still its same size and shape—the woman had to have somewhere around the 40C-cup range breasts... while they were big, they didn't throw her appearance off any. His friend was wearing a pair of green jeans, a loose-flowing, V-neck lime-green blouse, and white tennis shoes. The fairly expensive-looking ring that, since their meeting, seemed to always be adorned on the third finger of her left hand, was still on that finger. The band of this fine ring consisted of three rows of diamonds—the top row looked to have the white or vanilla variety of that stone on it while the other two looked to possess the chocolate variety on them. The oval-shaped aquamarine, that was in the band's center, had a very nice shine to it; if he had to make any guesses, this ring had a price-tag of around €500 to €750 on it. Like with the wedding band that adorned his wife's ring finger, this ring looked very at-home on the finger that it was worn on.

Maybe the busting of his ass in rushing over here was wrongly done—the woman, the head of the family that lived in this house, looked in exceptionally fine shape; the furniture that was in the room that they were in was in good shape; and the air that was in the building was clear and clean. Maybe one of the boys, who he had yet to see or hear, had a female friend over who just took it upon herself to answer the phone. Maybe he just needed to take a chill pill and mellow out... And maybe he should grab Ajeet Ballal by the neck and strangle him for the near heart attack that he experienced earlier. He couldn't help but sigh; he just heaved himself in then released the breath that he took in.

"I apologize for showing up on such short notice," Stefan said after sighing. "I called your number at around two o'clock... called it three times and got some girl with each calling. Rushed over here thinking that—"

"Mam..." he stiffened; that same, young, feminine voice that he heard earlier cut through the quiet air like a sharp axe. He had no more heard the voice before seeing a girl that he had never seen before round the corner. "Mam, can you tell Hazaar and Lazeer to drop the noise that they're listening to a few notches please?"

The girl stood just five foot, four inches. She had light blue skin and very feminine, cat-like eyes that were a pretty, green color. Like Miss. Irene, there was a single, black pupil in the center of both of them. The girl had a heart-shaped mouth, a small nose, and high cheek bones; he was quick in noting that she also had suction cups on the ends of each of her fingers. The girl's hair was long... it ran all the way down her back. Except for the bangs, which were a purple, it was an exotic, light blue color. She was wearing a dark orange maxi skirt, a brown, elastic ribbed neckline tunic top, and light brown, braided sandals—that latter, while looking nice, didn't seem appropriate for the weather that was happening outside.

He and the girl stared at one another for a decent length of time before his friend stood from her seat on the sectional. Miss. Irene went to the girl, then placed her hand on her shoulder, then started a mild introduction... which caused his heart to skip more than two beats.

"Mr. Leinart," even after trying to get her to use his given name, his friend continued to call him by his formal name... which, now that he thought of it, he did the same in accord to her. "you okay? You look to of seen a ghost."

"More like he's about to faint," the girl, who's name was Eshal, said.

"I... think she and I spoke on the phone on three occasions today." he said.

"Yep. I remember your voice." Eshal said to him. She then wagged a finger at him. "You was quite rude on your third calling, sir. Hung up without saying goodbye."

"Indeed," he laughed shakily, then stood. He presented his hand for the girl to shake, which she did, though awkwardly.

While the resemblance to Miss. Irene was small, the girl's resemblance to some of her sons was strong. He could well see this child being related to Lhaklar, Hazaar, and Lazeer; his friend had said something about having an adopted daughter named Eshal once... it did look like this was her.

Miss. Irene was just telling her "daughter" that she'd head up in a bit to tell her sons to either down their music or apply some spell that he didn't catch the name of when a new voice shattered the quiet of the house. The muscles in his body grew taut after it was heard; the expected pretty much happened twenty seconds later, after a newcomer rounded the corner. He eyed the man for only a second before emitting a growl; Miss. Irene, and her "daughter", were promptly shoved to standing behind him a second later.

"Was zum Teufel macht er hier!" he said after placing himself between the man and his planet's protector, and her "daughter".

"Elbe Frage an Sie," the alien responded in perfect German.

"Mr. Leinart—" his friend, who sounded a bit concerned behind him, said.

"Miss. Irene—" he said. The alien before him grew... well, as he saw it, frustrated, annoyed, and violent after he said his friend's name.

"Mrs.! How many damn times do I have to say it to you humans? She's married, the usage of "Miss." need not be used with her!"

"As far as I see it, she's a single woman." Stefan said.

"Your way of seeing things with her are way wrong, Pal."

He knew exactly who he was. Like with the voice, he would remember the face and the body of the alien that he did "business" with on more than one occasion for the rest of his life. The alien was tall, about six foot, one; his skin was a light blue color. The alien's head was shaped like an upside-down teardrop; the eyes, that looked out from his face, were large, oval-shaped, and brightly silver. There was no nose at all on his face; instead, he sported a pair of holes where a nose would normally be. The mouth that was under them was shaped like an O. Like Miss. Irene's "daughter", the man had suction cups on the ends of each of his fingers—which looked extremely strong to him.

The man, to him, was quite overly formerly attired. His tuxedo was burgundy in color; its jacket had long tail on the back that went all the way to the floor. The vest, that he was wearing under his jacket, was a little darker burgundy color; it looked to of been made out of a satin-y material that was abnormally shiny. The vest's buttons were also quite shiny; if he was correct, they looked to of been made out of either a very convincing gold imitation or real gold. The man's shirt was crisp, clean, and white in color; the ends of the long sleeves sported belled cuffs on them. His shoes were, again, burgundy; they looked to of been made out of a sort of Patent-like leather... that was, again, abnormally shiny.

Really the only thing that was normal of the man's attire was his necktie. It was neither outrageously long, or abnormally shiny, or oddly colored. It looked like something that he, himself, would own and wear. He wasn't sure if what he was wearing over his eyes were glasses or not; Lazeer, he remembered, had and used a type of eye-ware that he called a Goggled Glass... maybe the man was wearing a pair of that same type of eye-ware as well.

"You mustn't of gotten the meaning of my words when I said for you, and everyone in the Rastatter Rheinaue nature reserve, to vacate my country immediately." Stefan said as he eyed the alien that stood before him.

"I heard your pretty words but none struck home with me." the alien responded. The alien looked over him at Miss. Irene and her "daughter"; with a simple gesture of his head, he told them to walk around him. He allowed for the girl to do as he told her, but he prevented his friend from following her. Miss. Irene, looking quite perturbed, but willing to do as he wished of her to, remained at his backside; his action in preventing his friend from going forward caused the man before him to just about explode. "If you value the skin that's on your body, you'll allow clear passage for my wife."

"If you value any form of testicle that you harbor on you, you'll collect the child that stands behind you then leave these premises at once." he said back.

Two more verbal exchanges occurred between them then a tightly woven fist flashed at him. He dodged it, then grabbed it, then tried to pull and then throw the man off balance. His attempt, quite surprisingly, was for nothing. The man retained his balance... and also managed to deliver two, clean blows to his chest and stomach areas. His friend, non-surprisingly, went to his aid right after he doubled over from them two given blows; he managed a quick recovery from the two blows given to him then grabbed her by the arm. He ripped her around him—and nearly in the nick of time too; the alien was reaching to grab her at the same time that he was.

"Take..." the alien got right up against him. Even though he couldn't see the rage that he had in his eyes, he knew that he was angrier than angry—he could feel the seething rage coming off his body. "your hands from my wife this second!"

"Remove yourself and that child of yours from this residence, and this country, and never come back, and I will." he said back.

"Angel—"

"Miss. Irene—"

"Mrs.!" the alien bellowed fiercely.

Eshal, who had only a few, short-second, small-talk exchanges with the man that was currently preventing her mother from leaving his backside, couldn't really make up her mind on whether the orange-brown haired man's actions were benevolent or malicious. He seemed to be trying to protect her mother, but he also seemed to want to fight her father... which made no sense at all. Her mother was safe; other than the usual verbal fights, her father would never place wrong finger on her. To her knowledge, the man and her father had never met before, so he shouldn't be wanting to fight him. The man had seemed rather nice when she came into the room; that seemingly nice side of him was exchanged for this strangely exhibited side. Soon after being allowed to walk around the man, her father grabbed and then threw her around to his backside. Her father was protecting her well; she felt no adverse feelings or confusion over that.

The orange-brown haired man, who was rather stoutly built, but who had a youthful face and a right pretty set of hazel-colored eyes, maneuvered himself and her mother to the left then slowly walked them around the room's archway. Her father followed, then lunged when he saw an opportunity arise in possibly grabbing and then pulling her mother from the man's company; the man, though stoutly built, was fast in both preventing her mother from being removed from his protective presence and in sending her father reeling. Her mother was moved to the hallway after her father was punched; the man ushered her to the end of the hallway quickly before standing his ground—her father, having recovered from being punched, lunged in his direction in a blind sort of rage.

Like any other good daughter, she admired her father for his strength, smarts, and resolve. She thought that it'd be all over and that her mother would be retrieved soon after her father lunged at the man. Quite surprisingly, no punches or kicks or uses of powers were done; her father just spoke to the man.

"Unless you want another experience of being used as a Pogo ball, you'll step away from my wife this instant." TazirVile, who knew exactly who he was up against, said angrily.

"Where're the boys?" Stefan asked Angel, who was currently very confused over what was going on.

"Up—" Angel started to answer.

"Their location isn't needed to be known to him; speak not of them, Angel." TazirVile snapped.

"Upstairs," Angel whispered into Stefan's shoulder. The sound of footsteps was then heard; Angel sighed after seeing that each of her sons were descending the stairs. "Or, at least they were."

"Mr. Leinart?" Bile said.

"What's going on?" Lhaklar asked.

"Almost looks like you and the old man are about to tear someone a new asshole." Hazaar said.

"Watch you language!" TazirVile snapped at the boy who just spoke. "And that shall happen if this oaf doesn't do as I've asked of him to do several times now."

TazirVile looked at his sons, then did the same thing that he did in telling Eshal, and his wife, to come around to where he was. Either the boys didn't know the gesture of 'come here' or they were ignoring him—they saw him gesture for them to come to him, so he knew that they saw his command. Their disregard to his order caused him to grow a little angrier.

"Boys, let's not make a bigger show happen. Come here," he said. If gesturing didn't work, then speaking his wish of having them vacate where they were would.

"Why?" Lazeer asked.

"Because I said for you to." TazirVile replied.

"Miss. Irene—"

"MRS.!"

"Can you take your sons upstairs, or to the dining room or kitchen please? This won't take long."

"She won't be taking anyone anywh—"

He and his brothers had just started in the direction of the dining room and kitchen area of the house when the door to their abode exploded inwards. Whoever it was that kicked the door in did so with enough force to cause it to crack down the middle... and to also cause two of the hinges to become dislodged from its side and for one of its corners to completely give way. Three men, people that they knew, entered the house then practically bulldozed into their father; their mother took advantage of the window of opportunity that she was given in retrieving them, and their sister. She took them to the dining room, told them to plant it in one of the chairs and to stay out of whatever was going on, then went back into the hallway. The sounds of what they believed was a furious fight were heard for all of twenty or so seconds before complete quiet settled in the house; they stayed at the dining room table for another second or two before standing then going in separate directions.

Guyunis poked his head around the corner of the room that they were in; while Bile didn't so much as hover over him, he did stand by him—his head was also poked around the corner. Hazaar, who must of been bitten by the hunger bug, made a bee-line for the fridge. He took an apple out then started munching away. Lazeer also went towards the fridge, but he didn't do as Hazaar did in getting himself something to eat. He just grabbed one of the few remaining cans of Melon soda then started chugging away. Eshal just walked around. He went by Bile's and Guyunis's example in seeing what was going on in the hallway that came off the foyer; instead of sticking his head around the corner, he looked out from the window that looked in on the living room. What he saw contradicted what he heard earlier.

His mother, who was trying her best to keep herself and them living a halfway normal life, but who, as of the last few weeks, had found her efforts nearly thwarted by their father, was standing between Mr. Leinart, their father, and the three men who entered their house. As far as he could tell, the "fight" between his father and the three men wasn't that bad; there were no injuries on either of the four men and none of the items that the men were near were broken, destroyed, or misplaced. The carpet where the men were was a little messed up, but everything else was in good order.

"Mr. Kaiser, Mr. Klied, Mr. Abbing..." his mother said to the men who entered their house.

"Miss. Irene," the towering, six foot, three Mr. Kaiser, who had glassy green eyes and moderately curly, red-brown hair, and a mixture of both German and Italian features, said.

"Mr. President," Mr. Abbing, a big man, who stood around six feet tall, and who had a near-double girth than that of what Mr. Leinart had, and blue eyes and dark blond hair, said.

"Sir," Mr. Leinart acknowledged Mr. Abbing.

"We apologize for rushing over here, and bustin' the door in, and causing anyone to jump and think that a burglar just came in, but we thought that you was being harmed." Mr. Klied said apologetically, yet sincerely, to his mother.

"No. No harm to me's being done. Just a very confusing situation is happening that I'd really like to get some answers to."

After seeing her children to a safer location, then telling them to stay in that location, she went back to the hallway to put an end to what was going on. There was a lot of noise, but no one was really, actually, fighting. Mr. Kaiser, Mr. Klied, and Mr. Abbing had just "barreled" into her husband; by the time she returned to the hallway, the three men had managed to form a sort of "pyramid" on top of the poor man. Tazir was furious, but he wasn't able to do much of anything, thanks to being pinned down. Mr. Kaiser was pulled from her husband first, then Mr. Abbing was removed from the pile, then Tazir flexed a muscle to dispel Mr. Klied from him; as a way to prevent any further pile-ups, or further violent altercations, she placed herself between the three men and her husband. Tazir was currently enthused with gaining his composure, so he wasn't really worrying about possibly being attacked from behind by Mr. Leinart.

In a way, she was reminded of the night that Tazir suddenly showed up at Sushi Circle. While things were similar to that night, the roles were switched. Instead of Tazir showing up unexpectedly with a group of Goblins, three men had shown up. Instead of the Goblins, and Tazir, reeking havoc on the ones that were in the building, the three men had ganged up to reek some havoc on him. She retained the laugh that wanted to come out then turned to address the man who was initially fussing and fighting with her husband; a few questions needed to be asked and a few answers needed to be gained. Maybe, if both was done, the situation would even itself out and everyone would calm down.

"I apologize if I sound rude, Mr. Leinart, but may I ask why you came here today?" she asked her friend.

"You may, and you're not being rude at all." Stefan replied. "A meeting that I was apart of just came to a close; Ajeet made a lot of tracks in catching up to me after everyone left the meeting hall. He asked if I was able to call or speak with you after catching up to me; after realizing how long it's been since we last spoke to one another, I made the decision to place a call to your landline number. I was expecting to hear from either you or one of your sons, I wasn't expecting for the phone to be picked up by a female teenager, nor was I expecting to hear the voice of that man there—" he gestured at TazirVile. "—in the background. After hearing his voice, and putting two-and-two together on who it belonged to, I sped over here. I came here out of worry and concern for you and yours, Miss. Irene. Nothing but."

"How touching," TazirVile sniffed. "What the hell have you got to be concerned or worried about over here?"

"The safety of my friend and her sons of course." Stefan replied.

"Whatever obligations you've felt compelled to take on have long since been paid in full," TazirVile said. "If you feel a need, or desire, to have whatever funds you've paid out to my family returned to you, speak of them. I'll return them then see you out; don't come back or concern yourself with mine again afterwards."

"Money isn't a factor in this. I can care less about what I spent on this family; it's her and her sons' happiness, health's, and safeties that I care about." Stefan said.

"None of you are required to be here. I suggest that you hot-foot it out of here and not come back." TazirVile said.

"Tazir!" Angel chided her husband.

"A question of mine I do believe needs to be answered now, Miss.—" Stefan started to say.

"Mrs.!" TazirVile shrieked.

"—Irene," Stefan finished. "Why's he, and his daughter, here? Why didn't they go off with them other aliens and monsters when they left the nearby reserve?"

"He managed to track Hazaar here on the seventeenth of April. I couldn't just kick him, or anyone that he brought into the house, out or deny them of answers to what was going on. After explaining everything that was going on with me and my family for the last six months, most of the people in the reserve left for home. Tazir and Eshal stayed here—"

"Why don't we shorten this a bit, Angel? I'm here to play the re-integration thing with my family. On the day that I found my wife and sons in the building, an agreement was made that, for the next six months, my daughter and I would reside here before the move to the planet where most of my offspring have been born on is made." TazirVile interrupted. "And, for the record, one of them agreed upon months has gone past."

If not for Stefan, Kurt Klied, Benedikt Abbing, and Azzo Kaiser would of taken a while to figure out the intention behind TazirVile's words. Stefan, who took a keen interest in the man's tone of voice, and in the way that he was presenting himself during the final part of his "speech", was able to detect a certain something that, he was quite sure, no one in the building knew or was aware of. The alien had looked damn proud of the fact that the first month of his and his daughter's stay on the planet was over; by way of judging how the man presented himself—all proud and noble like—he was able to detect that he had something cooking upstairs in regards to how Miss. Irene and her sons lived and went by life. This caused him unease; he didn't keep his unease hidden, or his discovery to himself.

"How'd the first month go?" he asked Angel.

"Fine. Encountered one or two problems but, so far, everything's gone well." Angel said. Stefan was quick to see that she was lying; he was about to voice this when one of the three men that were behind her spoke.

"Ma'am, from what I've heard and seen these past few weeks, there seems to be a lot of issues happening in this house that revolve around the man that you've allowed to reside here." Kurt Klied said. He then started listing the items that he and the neighbors were noticing and worrying over for the last month. "The general notice of your sons' routines changing, or not happening at all; the man looking to be the only one permitted to collect and, I presume, handle and look at the mail; the reluctance on the man's part to engage in conversation with the ones around him; the fights that you and he have had, and that we've been able to hear, over the last few weeks; his hurrying you into the house after you come home from work; and his seemingly overbearing dominance and possessiveness of you are all areas that a lot of us on this portion of the street have been concerning ourselves with."

"The first few weeks to a month of any re-integration isn't easy on anyone." TazirVile said. "Nothing's been happening in this house that's abnormal... and I'm not being overly dominant or possessive with anyone either."

"While that's true, I'm also under the impression that more than one of the boys are holding back extreme feelings in regards to you." Kurt Klied said. "Just this morning, during my drive home from work, I noticed that the second oldest boy was walking up Goethestraße. With it being as cold as it was, I pulled over to see if he needed any assistance in getting to where he wanted to go; he thanked me graciously then got in my car. After saying that he was heading towards Au am Rhein, to spend some time with some of his friends, he asked if it would be too much trouble for me to drive him there; it was no problem on my end to drive and then drop him off there. While on the way to the town, I asked him a few questions about how things in his life are going. He, quite noticeably, refused to speak of how things inside this house are going. He just said that everything's going well with him.

"The last I heard, all of the boys in this house drive. I've not seen a single one of them drive the BMW that they've been seen as using; all the while I was on the way back to Elchesheim-Illingen, I was wondering if the same thing that Mrs. Wulff saw a week ago didn't happen again with another of the boys."

"What happened a week ago?" Stefan asked.

"According to Mrs. Wulff, the oldest boy exited the house then went to the BMW. He had no more gotten into the vehicle before that man exited the house then went over to him. She says that she saw the man take the keys from the vehicle's ignition out; the man went into the house after taking the keys from the car. The boy followed about ten or so seconds later. He was noted as not looking very happy." Kurt replied.

"The issue between my oldest son and husband over the car was, supposedly, taken care of on the day that he just spoke of." Angel said. She turned, then looked at TazirVile; Lhaklar was the next one that she looked at. "Why didn't you drive to see your friends, Lhaklar?"

He thought real hard on telling her what happened after she left for work; to him, it seemed that the old man was just itchin' for her to leave the house each morning. Oh, he acted all depressed when she started collecting her things, and he tried the beg routine in trying to get her to not go to work, but it also looked like he was happy in seeing her leaving the house. Once she was safely down the road, he'd start in on them; the prevention of their doing the things that they were normally allowed to do was done about ten or so minutes after she was out of the house.

His activities for the day were already spoken of that morning during breakfast. He started to go out to begin them about twenty minutes after she left to go to work. His coat was just thrown over him, and his keys were just taken from his pocket; he was whistling, and twirling them, while on the way to the door. His father beat him there. The keys to the BMW were snatched from him without a word being said on why; to add insult to injury, the old man used his Acidic powers to melt them. This was the second set of keys to be destroyed in this way; Bile's own set were melted the morning following their mother's talk with the man on their being allowed to drive.

Their father came close to being told to sleep on the couch again after their mother was told about Bile's set of keys being taken from him. He had managed to "weasel" himself out of that punishment by simply smiling, apologizing, then agreeing to drop the issue on the BMW's usage.

Sometime after his exit of the house—after seeing his keys destroyed, he hadn't had a desire to stay at home or be anywhere near his father—, his father set his sights on Hazaar. Hazaar was playing a video game on the Nividia Shield at the time; some dialogue, that included cursing, was heard. From what he was told, the man took the game console right out from Hazaar's hands; the console was currently hiding somewhere in the basement... in more than three pieces. After being confronted by Bile about his wrongly taking the device over a few spoken sentences of game dialogue, the man took and then smashed it against his knee.

The event with Lazeer's remote-controlled Tarantula occurred two hours after he returned home. Lazeer took the Tarantula, which he got on his birthday, out from his closet with the sole intent of putting a little, playful scare on Sabine and Eshal. Eshal had laughed after noticing the thing as a toy while their father didn't see the joke-like nature behind the given scares. The Tarantula, and its remote, were taken soon after Eshal's second gasp-scream was emitted; the man said something about "this unnecessary scaring, and abuse of remote-controllable items, needing to stop" before going outside. Lazeer was, naturally, upset over his Tarantula being taken from him; he was voicing it all day—it was through this that their mother found out about it's confiscation. Their mother knew nothing about his keys being taken, or about the Nvidia Shield being destroyed... or, for the record, about what his father did yesterday.

Some of his friends—Astor and his sister, Abelle, and Jarvis—had come over; with it being a little too chilly to spend any length of time outside, it was decided that they'd come over to spend some time at his place. He started "tough-talking" Astor and Jarvis about fifteen minutes after their, and Abelle's, arrival; his father came in, then put an end to their fooling around, then expressed a wish for them to leave. His friends left to go home about fifteen minutes later; though apologetic, he was also mad over his father just walking in then saying for his friends to leave. The covered up bruise that was on his left cheek had come from his coming right out about how disrespectful the man was on that day—his father had just swung at him... he hadn't expected for that to happen at all.

First the re-broken arm, now the bruised cheek, what next?

"No offense, mom, but I'd rather not talk right now." Lhaklar said, making his decision on what to do. While he felt a desire to spill certain things, he also felt a desire to keep his mouth shut—a lot could happen and, of course, there were too many un-related people around to hear what all he wanted to say. As the saying went, issues within one's family were best to be remained in that family.

"You've got freedom of speech, son." Angel said. "You don't have to be afraid to speak; that goes double for telling me the things that you see that are happening, or that have happened, in this house."

"Pardon if I offend, but the manner displayed by your son is quite damning about the events that have happened in this house." Stefan said. "All of your sons are a quite confident bunch, Miss. Irene. Lhaklar's display of not wanting to tell you the things that have happened here speaks volumes."

"It ist zee man zat he ist nuhfous ov." Azzo Kaiser said. "He dost not vant to talk becahz ov him."

"Lhaklar, just because your father's in this hallway doesn't mean that you have to be so tight-lipped with me. Talk to me, son. Tell me why you didn't use the car today." Angel, who was quite alarmed over her son's refusal to speak to her, said.

In the end, it was the concerned, alarmed look that his mother had on her face that forced him to talk. He looked at his father, who looked about ready to explode, then he looked at the four men that were in the hallway, then he looked at his mother, before taking a deep breath in.

"I wasn't able to use the car because the set of keys that I have were destroyed this morning." Lhaklar said.

"Destroyed?" Angel's eyes went wide with shock. "By wh—"

"Him," Lhaklar said. He pointed at his father. "I was on my way out about twenty minutes after you left for work. Dad beat me to the door; he took my keys without saying a thing. He used his Acidic powers to melt them. W—"

"And with that having just been done, you made the decision to walk to Au am Rhein? Why didn't you ask one of your brothers for their keys and why, for the wonder, didn't you call me?" Angel asked.

"Crossed my mind once or twice; in the end, I just didn't want to bog you down or cause you to get angry while at work." Lhaklar admitted.

"Why didn't you ask one of your brothers for their set of keys?" Angel repeated the question that had yet to be answered. Her son responded by leaving the window that was between the dining room and living room; she was on her way to the dining room when he suddenly appeared around the corner. "Lhaklar—"

"Because I didn't want Guyunis's, Hazaar's, or Lazeer's keys to be destroyed too." Lhaklar said. "Bile doesn't have his set of car keys anymore. His keys were destroyed in the same manner that mine were."

"What!" Angel nearly screamed. She looked at TazirVile, then she looked at her son, who was just standing idly by the corner of the dining room doorway. "When? When were Bile's keys destroyed, Lhaklar?"

"The twenty-seventh." Bile answered.

"What!" Angel turned to look at her husband. Anger, as rich and pure as can be, was clearly worn all over her face. "I thought we had a talk on this issue! I thought you—"

"You can talk me until I'm blue in the face over their use of a car, Angel, but I won't budge a step from my views on their driving at their age. It is illegal and they are too young and inexperienced for driving." TazirVile said.

The two spoken items that she didn't know about hit a serious cord with her. She fought, literally struggled, to retain some sort of control over herself and her emotions and she also fought the urge to clobber Tazir. Had she not told him that she was the one responsible for the boys having driver's licenses? Had she not told him that she was the one behind their knowing how to drive? Had she not told him that she was the one responsible for their having a car to call their own? A fifteen minute discussion on this happened during supper on the twenty-sixth of May; not only did Tazir give Bile his keys back but he also apologized and promised to back down on the boys' use of their car. To hear that Tazir didn't only take but also destroyed two sets of car keys—one that was only just returned to its owner—was a shock.

"From what she's told me, her sons are all in their mid-teenage years. She's also told me that they're good drivers; their driving records even validate that claim." Stefan said to TazirVile. "There's nothing wrong in a mid-teenage child driving; even I, at that age, had a license and was allowed to drive a car."

"What're you, a fuddy duddy or something?" Benedikt asked TazirVile.

"I am not a "fuddy duddy". I go by the set of laws that have been set in stone in the more advanced Galaxies of this Universe. If the laws here permit young-age driving, then fine... but my sons will not be permitted to become involved in them." TazirVile said.

"Ever hear of judge not by word but by sight? Have you ever seen one of the boys drive; they look to be excellent examples of teenage drivers." Benedikt asked.

"Being that I'm the reason behind their being so well behaved behind the wheel, I take pride in your words, Mr. Abbing." Angel said, she then looked at Bile and Lhaklar. "I'll see to you two getting a new set of keys to the BMW soon."

Hazaar, who was standing in the shadows, listening to just about everything that was being said, but trying to keep himself from getting involved in it, decided to let it out about the Nvidia Shield being taken from him. He rounded the corner, told his mother what happened after Lhaklar left the house to spend some time with his friends, then went back to the dining room; Bile took over in telling the rest of what happened with the device that was taken from him. Call of Duty; Black Ops II, Zombies was one of his favorite games to play on that one particular console and he was just so playing it when the Nvidia was taken from him. Hearing about the game console's demise both infuriated and saddened him; if not for his fear over his father ripping his belt off then using it on him, he would of confronted him over the machine's destruction soon after learning about it.

Angel did the only thing that she could of after learning about one of the game consoles being destroyed; she turned, then gave Tazir a hard, shocked look. Was this not another area that they spoke about a few weeks ago? Had she not spilled her guts on what games her sons could and could not play and had she also not told him that she already had a talk with their sons on how they weren't to get any ideas in their heads about going around, using the words that they hear on the games that they play on their gaming consoles? She was about to speak this when one of the men behind her spoke.

"Zee item zat he spehk ov ist handheld right?" Azzo Kaiser asked.

"Yes, a handheld game system." Angel replied. "It's like a laptop, only its shaped like a game controller and is for game uses only."

"I zink I knov vhat he ist talking about." Azzo said. "I wecawl playing vith a device ov zat desquiption vhen I vas a tenahgur."

"Before anyone asks, let me explain the reason behind my taking that device. "TazirVile said, more to his wife than to the men that were in the hallway with them. "Hazaar seems to have an unnaturally high interest in games that utilize cursing in their narration. Just about every game that I've seen him play these past few weeks has more than fifty lines of cursing in it."

"So," Azzo said. "I played games vith cuhzing in zem as vell as a tenahgur."

"Same here," Kurt said.

"I apologize if I offend or insult anyone here, but I happen to have a special bunch of boys that, one day, are to be destined with the inheritance of whatever galaxies I've conquered—they're my heirs, Gentlemen. I can't really go by my wife's claim of her speaking to the boys on their not using the words that are used in the games that they're allowed to play when their futures are so bright and when the worth that's on their shoulders is so grand."

A chorus of laughs erupted at once; TazirVile looked at the faces of the men around him, then at his wife, who was also laughing, before looking at the ceiling then leaning up against the wall. What he said was true; he had heirs and he wanted them to be presentable. He didn't want a band of embarrassing ruffians inheriting his kingdoms after something happened to cause his already long existence to come to a close.

"Mr., you need to do some serious downgrading on your take on life." Stefan said after gaining control of himself. "Even I, as a teenager, played video games that included cursing in their dialogues; I turned out alright. Not only have I been in the military but I've been a politician for the last fifteen years. I don't go around, throwing out the curses with every step that I take."

"And yet you have an uncanny ability of throwing people from flying vessels." TazirVile said nonchalantly. "Bet you learned that from one of them trash-games that you played as a "teenager"."

"From my career as an Air Force pilot and, for the record, I "threw" you from the helicopter to get you away from Hazaar." Stefan said in his own defense. "With what was going on at the time, I saw no other option then—"

"Yawn. No offense, but I do think you four folk have taken some twenty minutes of my, and my family's, time." TazirVile said rudely.

Stefan turned the conversation back to what it was before the issue with the car keys, and game system, being destroy was brought up. He asked if Angel was serious in the agreement that was made over the six month stay of the alien man and his daughter then he asked for her honest opinion on the situation that was going on in her home since the alien man's, and his daughter's, intrusion—a word that he only used to get a mild reaction, which wasn't really mild at all, from the alien that stood between he and his friend. When his friend beat around the bush on giving her opinion of the situation, he decided to ask a question that suddenly popped into his head.

"What happens when you come home? Do you go upstairs, change out from the clothes that you're required to wear to work, then drop your purse or bag in an area in your bedroom that you and only you go near or know then come downstairs or—"

"I go into the kitchen. I have a snack, have a talk or two with my family, then go upstairs to do all of that." Angel replied.

"Ahem," Bile cleared his throat.

"You mean you use to do that." Lhaklar said.

"As of the last few weeks, she's been throwing her purse at dad." Bile said.

"Once she comes home, she throws her purse at him then goes to do that." Lhaklar said.

"And why do you do that?" Stefan asked.

"No reason. A lot of women throw their purses at their spouses." Angel said quickly.

"Uh, mine ser don't do zat." Azzo said. "Sche come in, places her puhse on zee conter, zen goes upstirs to schange."

"I think I found the reason behind Mr. Ballal not being able to reach you and I also think I don't need to ask how much trust you or he have in one another." Stefan said. TazirVile's head snapped in his direction at once.

"You watch your mouth! I love, respect, and give ample amounts of trust to my wife and she gives the same to me!"

"Where's your cellular, Miss. Irene?" Stefan asked. When Angel didn't respond, he walked up to her then grabbed her—lightly, not roughly—by the arm. One look told him that she was about to cave to both stress and to whatever she was holding within her. "I only ask because—"

"In the kitchen!" Angel nearly screamed.

There was the sound of someone running away from them, then, not one second later, there was the sound of someone running towards them. Angel, a near beaten woman, who dealt with so much over the last nine months, merely looked away after her thirdborn son gave her cellular to Stefan. Stefan, after receiving the phone, stepped away from his friend. TazirVile took the chance to approach and then stand next to Angel; he placed his arms around her then glared at the backside of the man who, he truly believed, was only out to cause trouble. Angel had just given him a gentle elbowing back when her friend turned to look at her; the look, that she saw on his face, said it all for her.

He had found something on her phone that was incriminating.

"Ajeet's number is shown to be blocked on the twenty-sixth of May." Stefan said.

"What!" Angel screamed. Stefan gave her her phone, then looked at TazirVile, who had since taken a "baby step" back from his wife. "I didn't... how... I didn't know or do th—"

She looked at the screen of her phone again and again and again; seeing the number, yet not wanting to believe that it was on the page that it was on, and not wanting to believe what she just found out, but also having to do so. In a lot of ways, it was the discovery of Mr. Ballal's number being blocked that broke the final strand that she was trying to keep around herself. She bit the tears back after realizing that her husband was just caught lying when he said that he gave her "ample amounts of love, respect, and trust"; after moving the number that was on the block page to its appropriate slot in her directory, she turned to address the man that was just caught in a lie. The first thing that she wanted to know was pretty basic: why was the number, that belonged to her friend, Mr. Ajeet Mahatma Ballal, found on the blocked page of her phone.

"Quite simple, My Love. I want you to have no contact with the one who's associated with that number. He's dangerous, Angel. I don't want you, or any of the boys, or Eshal, for that matter, anywhere near or have anything to do with him." her husband responded to her question.

"How do you know he's a danger? You don't know him! You've—"

"To the contrary, I know a great deal about him." TazirVile said. "Not only have I had certain contacts with him but I've also had him on surveillance for quite a w—"

"Surveillance?" Stefan asked. It took just two seconds for him to finally figure out the reason behind the Ballal's swift exit of the home that they were previously living in; he was automatically infuriated by this piece of information.

"Yes, I gave the order for his house, his vehicle, and his cushy office in the building that he works in to be bugged. I was serious in wanting information on my family and I was willing to do just about anything to acquire it." TazirVile replied, he then locked his eyes on his wife's. "A man, Angel, who runs around, firing weapons at members of my family who are only trying to retrieve a child of mine who's running amok in a city, with no parental figure around to supervise him, is, in my book, a highly dangerous one. That is one of the reasons behind my wanting you and the boys far from him, the other is the fact that he exposed a part of your body at that dance that I and some of my staff found you at."

"That was an accident, Tazir! He didn't mean for that to happen!" Angel nearly shrieked.

"And with his playing grab on the part of the body that he exposed? I was there, Angel. I saw his hand—"

"Hovering! He was trying to cover the part that popped out, Tazir! He wasn't trying to grab or "play" with me—he was only trying to help me during a wardrobe malfunction!"

"These humans have you brainwashed and quite badly, Angel." TazirVile said. He then turned to look at Stefan. "You, my good man, have created a lot of trouble on this day. I hope you're happy with yourself and I also hope that, when you exit this place, the door doesn't slam you on the ass on the way out. My wife and I have a lot to talk about, and there's a lot of packing to be done now that the decision over our staying for five more months has been dropped, so, please, exit yourself from this place."

"We're not leaving—" Angel started to say.

"They're not leaving—" Stefan started to say.

"You are!" TazirVile came close to shouting. "Someone, Angel, has to make a decision on what's to happen with this family and, sadly, with your emotional state and state of mind being the way they are, it can't be you."

Her hands flashed out at the man who was half responsible for four of the six children that were in the building. The lapels of her husband's tuxedo were clutched; she practically threw him to the wall after having him in her grip.

Her true feelings over the situation, the ones that half of her didn't want to expose for fear of causing her husband pain, were expelled right after she had him subdued. They just spilled out of her and she, in a lot of ways, had absolutely no control over them.

"My mind state and emotional stress is caused by one and only one being in this building," she said. "I wouldn't be as stressed out, and this wouldn't be happening, if not for you. After the six-month thing was agreed upon, I said for my sons to go by their way of life. To just continue as they were, as if nothing had happened... as if nothing different was going on. I've been trying to keep going as a mother and primary money-maker for weeks now and you've done just about all that you can think of to prevent me from doing that!"

"I have not!" TazirVile gasped. He pried his wife's fingers from his jacket then lightly pushed her back from him.

"Yes you have!" Angel exclaimed. "I come home to find that one or more of my sons has been wrongly treated by you! I come home to find that you've upset or injured one of my sons! I come home to find that you've taken things that they use to play with, or that they've displayed in their rooms! Lhaklar's arm was re-broken because of you!"

"What?" Kurt gasped.

"Say again?" Benedikt blinked his eyes.

"I am no suhpwized," Azzo Kaiser said.

"Angel, you best calm yourself down before you say something that really puts me in a frenzy." TazirVile, who was starting to feel a bit stirred, warned his wife.

"And, when I come home from work, you jump on me! You jump and get all over my case for bringing things home from the nearby convenience store or from my job for my family... My giving you my purse after coming home from work wasn't a free-card for you to go on a blocking spree on the numbers that call my phone! I threw it to you as a way to show you that you can trust me! I don't do nothing behind your back when I'm at work or when I'm buying on the splurge!"

Tears, hot and salty, started coursing down her cheeks. TazirVile, her husband of two thousand, one hundred, and two years, tried to use them to his advantage in gaining control of her; she prevented him from doing so by shoving him from her. She walked away from him. Her body was wracked in shivers; her hair seemed to of taken on an even more brighter quality that Stefan, Kurt, Benedikt, and Azzo took note of. When Angel went into the kitchen, Stefan and the other men followed her; a visibly shaken TazirVile stayed behind for only a second before following them.

"This whole "re-integration" thing is a disaster. The only one that's made any progress in integrating with my family is Eshal. I've not come home to find her as causing harm to the boys; she's been respectful to them while he hasn't. "Angel said, more to herself than to anyone else who was in the room with her. Stefan took her by the arm then escorted her to one of the chairs that were around the dining room table; he had her sit down before doing the same. Benedikt Abbing took care of taking her children upstairs—or, at least some of them. Bile and Lhaklar plain refused to leave the room that she was in; she shouted at Tazir when he tried to prevent the man from taking the rest of her young upstairs. Bile and Lhaklar said nothing after their siblings were removed from the room. They just stood and watched the proceedings of the adults quietly.

"Your intention in re-integrating your family with his was done in the right while his wasn't," Stefan said. "I only need to take one look at him to know that he wants the remaining five months of his stay to go by fast; he wants to get you and yours from this planet then he wants to do a brutal re-hashing on how everyone lives their life."

"Most of my reason in wanting to stay here was because of Guyunis—I didn't want him to get sick, or be treated badly by anyone on Moas. Instead of just playing planet hop, then growing stressed over seeing one of my children being persecuted by Tazir's Goblins, I wanted a sort of relationship to forge between Tazir, Eshal, and Guyunis before the move was made." Angel dropped her head, so that it was neatly nestled on the backs of her hands. "I knew some issues would happen with Tazir and my biological sons but I wasn't expecting for this to happen. I wasn't expecting for him to become his father, or to persecute them over how they go by their lives."

"How long have you and he been married?" Kurt asked. "A month?"

"Two thousand, one hundred, and two years." Angel replied.

"A long time... Maybe it's time that you make the right decision in letting him go." Stefan, who gave his head a brief shake over hearing how long his friend was married to the alien, said.

"Just because he's the fader of your sons doesn't mean that you have to have him in your life, or in theirs." Benedikt Abbing said.

"She is bound to me by the Gods' wills; divorce of our type of marriage can't be done." TazirVile, who was now standing over Angel's shoulder, said. "And I wouldn't let her leave me. I love this woman to pieces; I've spent over a thousand years in trying to find her and the boys... I've done plenty of worrying and weeping over their possible, forever loss. To lose her would be like me losing myself."

"How morbid a marriage when it's between two folk who don't trust one another." Stefan said.

"I trust her..." TazirVile said.

"From what I just heard, obviously not enough." Stefan said.

"I've seen you go through my purse from time to time and, honestly, didn't think anything of it. I didn't think that you'd go as far as to take my phone out then block certain numbers. I also didn't think that you'd go so far as to hurt one of our children over something that's silly." Angel said to her husband. She then turned to look at TazirVile. "What happened to you, Tazir? Before I left with the boys, you was fine. Nothing like this. Over the last few weeks, I've been wondering where the man who I use to know and love went."

"The man that you know and love is still here. I did do a small change in how I parent, yes. Having teenage boys does require some parenting changes." TazirVile said.

"No it doesn't!" Angel exclaimed.

"Bullshit!" Kurt exclaimed, then stood from the chair that he was in. "I've got two teenage daughters. I've not changed a bit over how I am with them after they reached thirteen."

"Daughters are different than sons." TazirVile said.

"No they're not." Benedikt Abbing said.

"Someone needs to put this man through parenting classes and fast. It doesn't matter what gender the child is; you never change how you are with one of your children." Kurt said.

"I have a son and you can bet that I won't be changing a single way of how I am with him when he reaches his teenage years." Stefan said.

The four men stared hotly at TazirVile for only a second before turning their gaze to Angel, who had since returned her head to the backs of her hands. Stefan placed his hand on his friend's shoulder then drew in just a bit; while keeping an eye on the alien that was still standing at his friend's shoulder, he asked her a few questions.

"Was what he said about you not being able to divorce him correct?"

"Yes," a meek nod of the head was given.

"Do you have a wish to stay with him?"

"Yes," it was barely noticeable, but he saw his friend's head nod.

"You staying here, on Earth, for the next five months, or are you planning on leaving soon after I head for home?" he asked.

"Staying here. The agreement was six months. That's not over yet." Angel replied after lifting her head from her hands. "Personally, after today, I've got a good mind to tack on an extra month."

"What!" TazirVile grabbed his wife by her shoulders then whipped her around to looking at him. "We agreed to it being six months, Angel. Not seven, eight, nine, or ten! Six months, no more than that. I want you and the boys back on Moas, where you should all be in the first place!"

"Let her go!" Stefan wrestled Angel free, then stood between her and her husband. After having the two separated, he addressed his friend again. "I can see where another month being tacked on would come in handy; while a lot of the issues that need tending are on his end, you and your sons would also require some time to learn how to trust and peacefully co-exist with him. And his daughter."

"But, you haf really gone by zis vrong." Azzo, who very nearly leaped from his chair after his neighbor was grabbed, said. "Instead ov hafing him here, haf him in a hotel. Vhen you feel zat he has schanged in how he treats you and your sons, and vhen you feel zat you can trust him, let him back in. You make zee decizions on hov zings go vith him."

"Yes! Do it that way. With your and his issues in trust having been disclosed, it's really unwise for him to be living under the same roof as you and your sons." Stefan said. He thought that Azzo's suggestion was a grand one; instead of having a family that doesn't trust one another living under the same roof, have the family live separately until either trust is achieved or it's decided that they're better off separated.

"I'm willing to do that." Angel said after giving Azzo Kaiser's suggestion a few minute think-over.

"What!" TazirVile, who was very against the notion of his staying anywhere other than the residence that his family was in, exclaimed.

"Have him here only when you're here. Think of it as a supervised visitation—" Stefan started to say.

"I will not be staying anywhere but here." TazirVile declared. He tried to grab his wife, and was found to be prevented from doing so. "Angel, this is ridiculous! How're we to become a family if I'm to be living under some other roof? I'll allow myself to resume sleeping on the couch, I'll even allow for myself to be moved down to the basement for a little while, but I will not allow myself to be moved to a building that's a distance from you and the boys. You, the boys, and Eshal are my life—to be any distance from you seven is like instant death to me!"

"Having you in this house when she's not around is like ringing the dinner bell for a shark." Kurt said. TazirVile glared at him; he ignored the glare. "Having you live in a hotel for a while would be better for Miss. Irene's, her sons', and your daughter's healths. All of this fighting and stress isn't good for them."

"Angel—"

Miss. Irene moved off; the alien man seized the moment that he was waiting for in not only getting her away from them but in also trying to "talk" some sense into her. He and the other men, all three of whom he regarded highly, despite not knowing a thing about them, watched as the two spoke in the kitchen. The alien did just about all that he could think of to change Miss. Irene's decision in having him removed from the building; he dropped to his knees on one occasion, then got super mad on another, then started acting like he was about to keel over on another. Miss. Irene, at first, was steadfast on the plan of having her "husband" live in a hotel for a little while then, after around five or so minutes of show-acting, and emotion-showing, she, quite surprisingly, relented to his suggestion of having him move down to the room that came off the basement for a few days before allowing him "limited" access of the rest of the house.

After that agreement was made, the conversation between the two got very heated very fast... and none of them really knew the reason why. With the woman having agreed to the man's own suggestion, they figured that he'd be happy—relieved over having things his way instead of theirs. Instead, he just got real blisteringly mad; before any of them knew it, the alien stormed out of the kitchen, and then dining room. He went to the living room, then plopped down on the couch.

"Uh, I know that it may be a bit late in asking but... can I get anything for any of you? It's been quite an active evening, after all." Angel Irene, who was shaking her head, asked them.

"Vhat's up vith him?" Azzo asked. He gestured towards the living room, where TazirVile was still at.

"Being a baby, that's about all there is to it." Angel replied.