Edit: still listening to Everything's Alright
Still dying
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BETTER YET, listen to it yourself while reading. You might just cry.
I'm sorry I've taken so long… But I'm on Thanksgiving Break now so this story should finish this week. :D Aaaand…
SUPER MEGA DRUM ROLL! DADADMAMDAMDMADMADMAMDMAMDAMDMADMAD
SECOND TO FINAL CHAPTER! WHOO HOO!
ENJOY
Eventually Finn found Cammie and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Cameron, we need to talk."
Cammie shook her head like a child who refused to accept an opinion besides their own.
"Please, it's about Siddeley."
"How can it be about Siddeley…?! Siddeley's gone! You said yourself!" She yelled.
"Cammie, it was…" Finn sighed. "It was Stalker Siddeley. He… There might be a way to…"
Cammie looked up to look at Finn. She couldn't remember the last time he had called her "Cammie" like she wanted him to before today.
"Alright." She whispered. Finn took her hand and led her outside the cockpit. She went to stand next to Patrick while Finn stood next to the woman Cammie hoped she'd be introduced to.
"Is that why you haven't buried him, yet?" Cammie asked wiping her eyes on her sleeve.
"Even if there wasn't a possibility we could… Help him, we would obviously want you to be there." Finn told her. The woman next to him waited, glancing from Finn, to Cammie, then back to Finn. When he wasn't doing anything, she elbowed him.
"What was that for?" He whispered. They stared at each other for a second. The woman had her arms crossed. "Oh." He realized. "Cameron, this is Stacy. Stacy, Cameron, uh, Siddeley's sister."
"Cammie." Cammie corrected in a mumble.
"Definitely his girlfriend." Patrick whispered to his cousin. Holley let out a high-pitched chuckle and covered her mouth.
Despite the circumstances, Cammie smiled. Patrick always knew the right time to make a joke.
Finn just sighed like this had happened before. "This is their cousin, uh…" Finn frowned. "I'm sorry, what was your name again? There's so many of you and we haven't met often."
"Patrick." Patrick introduced himself, holding up his hand in sort of an awkward wave.
"Anyway, Stacy? Will you do the, uh, honors?"
"Right." Stacy nodded, then looked back at Cammie. She cleared her throat and began explaining. "We decided that we'd have a chance for Siddeley to come back if we found out how Stalker Siddeley was created. Then we'd have a chance to destroy him. If we're lucky, once he's destroyed, Siddeley will come back. It's a long shot, but Siddeley was just suddenly... Gone. He has to be keeping him... You know."
Cammie thought about this for a moment. "So, why did you need me here?" She asked.
"You're his sister. I didn't believe half the things he said when we were younger, I'd assume he confided in you." Finn explained.
Cammie looked at the floor. "At the old house..." She began. "When Sid was a kid, before our parents had to go into hiding, the house they lived in... Siddeley told me once the basement contains all this information and stuff about Stalker Siddeley."
"Worth a shot?" Holley suggested.
"Except I don't know where it is." Cammie added. "I never lived there."
"I know where it is." Finn told her.
"You do?" She asked.
"Sure. It should be right where my old house is." The corners of his lipped began curling into a smile.
"Cammie, do you know how to fly Sid's jet?" Holley asked out of curiosity.
"Well, he showed me a few things..." Cammie fiddled with her thumbs.
"I'd say "good enough" but I've got a feeling we need to hurry." Holley frowned.
"Right. To the airport!" Mater announced pointing upwards dramatically. "Well, you guys to the airport, anyway. I'll done stay here."
"Are you sure?" Holley asked.
"Yeah. Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on old Sid." He smiled. Holley smiled back and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
Cammie wandered over to the cockpit. "You know," she called. "I bet I could get us at least to England... And land… Sort of."
"Good enough, then." Stacy decided. "Buckle up! Bad enough with Sid, wonder how it is with his sister."
"Hey!" Cammie exclaimed.
"Just kidding." Stacy answered with a smile.
"Flying to England with an unlicensed pilot. How desperate are we?" Finn muttered.
"Well, we're flying there to find out how to destroy a powerful, shape-shifting, shadow creature thing, so… I'd say pretty freaking desperate." Stacy answered.
…
"Okay, no offense, Cammie. But this is worse than Sid." Holley announced.
"Sorry." Cammie groaned with sincerity. "Siddeley's only let me fly once, before."
The group had decided to keep the intercom on so Cammie could talk with them and they could do likewise.
"So," Stacy broke the silence that no one could tell if it was awkward or sad. "Your old house, huh?" Stacy began. "Like, when you were a kid?" She asked. "…please tell me the treehouse is still there." She broke into a huge grin.
"We're not going to my old house, Stacy, we're going to Siddeley's." Finn rolled his eyes.
"But you used to live there. It's just… Weird for me, is all. You had a house. That you remember."
"Mhm." He hummed. "Leland's, too." He added quietly.
It occurred for all of them really how hard this was for Finn. His family was gone, Leland, whom from Siddeley, they heard was more than a brother than friend, was gone, as well. And Siddeley… Even though they had a plan, there was still a chance that they'd lose him forever.
Stacy took his hand. Finn smiled a gentle, grateful smile, which Stacy returned.
"We're almost there. Well, we should be almost there, anyway." Cammie announced. "Stacy, what you said about Stalker Siddeley was right. Siddeley once told me… I don't really remember the details of it, but the way he can kill you… He gets inside your head."
"He gets inside your head?" Holley repeated.
"Yeah. Like I said—I don't know how, really, but… He gets inside your head and does something. If your theory is correct, by destroying Stalker Sid, we can save Siddeley. But first we need all the information about how he was created."
"And that's in the basement? What if someone lives there, now?" Patrick asked.
"CHROME made sure the house would just be abandoned. Suppose there was too much evidence about your family, so they just locked it up." Finn explained.
"Um, Finn?"
"Yes?"
"Where should I land?"
…
The three cars in the jet compartment were more than enough to drive everyone. Finn had his Aston Martin, Holley had her Jaguar, and Stacy had her Impala that, conveniently, Ramone hadn't gotten around to painting, yet.
They decided it was best that they all cram into Stacy's car, since it fit five people instead of just two.
"So, did you… Did you miss the "all spies have really nice sports cars" memo, or something?" Patrick asked as Stacy drove according to Finn's directions.
"Apparently." Stacy frowned.
"I'd say it's a desk agent thing, but…" Holley trailed off, a bit embarrassed. "We're all field agents, now, you should get yourself a new car."
"Y'know, I've always wanted a nice, purple Corvette… But this reminds me so much of the car my dad had when…" She trailed off. "Anyway."
"Well, I mean, Sid's got a Mustang at his apartment over in London…" Cammie mumbled.
"Alright, I'm pretty sure I know a way in." Finn announced once they were out of the car, walking to the back fence. There was a lock on it. "Holley?"
"What, you expected me to bring my laser pen?" She asked.
"Yes."
Holley stared at Finn uncomfortably.
Holley sighed. "Why can't I hide anything from you?" She complained, handing over a pen that actually wasn't a pen.
"Not everything…" Finn argued as he worked on the lock.
"Good…" Holley sighed.
"Why?" Finn asked—more like demanded—spinning around to look at her.
"No reason!" She quickly defended.
Finn stared at her suspiciously for a minute.
Stacy stood right behind Holley. "…did you and Mater do the do?" she whispered.
"No!" Holley told her spinning around to look at her. "Goodness, Stacy, I thought you'd be the last person to—"
"Can we please get back to the matter at hand?" Cammie asked.
Finn turned back towards the fence and broke the lock off. He handed the pen behind him and opened the gate.
"Alright," he sighed.. "There should be…" he smiled. "Not as good as the one I had, but still holds a lot of memories."
"That old thing?" Holley asked looking up at a small, old, treehouse.
"Yep." Finn smiled. "And it's our way into the house."
"Wait, you both had a treehouse?" Stacy asked.
Finn climbed up into it. "You see, Siddeley specifically built this as a fire escape or something from his room. You can climb right into it." He explained, then chuckled, "Paranoid little…" Finn opened the window. "Voila." He declared, then climbed in closely followed by everyone else.
It was dusty in Siddeley's old room. There were a few diagrams of planes on the wall, but other than that it was empty, except for an empty bed and desk with nothing on it.
"Come on," Cammie urged. "I… Have a feeling that we should hurry."
The five of them made their way down to the basement.
"This place is giving me serious 'The Last of Us' vibes. And not the good kind." Stacy frowned.
"Y'know, now that you mention it…" Cammie quietly agreed.
"Is it that big box over there?" Patrick pointed. Cammie walked over to it and blew the dust off. However, she realized it was a mistake when a cloud of dust erupted and caused her into a fit of coughing. After fanning away the dust, she opened the box. "This is definitely it." She declared. Finn walked over and seconded her announcement.
"Wow, Stalker Sid actually goes… Way back." Holley said uneasily, picking up a toddler's drawing of a shadow with red eyes.
"Here." Cammie called. "Look, a journal."
She flipped it open, instigating another cloud of dust into the air. "Day one," she read aloud after coughing and waving away the dust. "I think something is...watching—Sorry, there are a lot of misspelled words, hard to, uh, read... anyway, watching me. I told Mum and Dad. They didn't believe me. I'm going to look for it. Day two—wow, his handwriting has really improved, this is obviously when he was older. Day two: Something is watching me I know for sure. I've seen it twice so far. It's a shadow man with red eyes but he's also a scary man." Cammie looked up. "This is creepy..." She frowned.
"Try to find something about how he was created." Finn instructed.
"Uh, 'kay…" Cammie breathed, flipping forward a bunch of pages. "Day fifteen: I came up with a name for him: "Stalker Siddeley." Since he's a scary stalker and I know how he was made, now." Cammie stopped reading and stared at the page. "Finn..." Cammie was unable to continue. Finn leaned over to look at what Cammie was reading.
Finn had the same expression as Cammie did: one of shock.
"What is it? What happened—h-how was he created?" Holley asked.
Finn looked up at her. "It… It was CHROME." Finn didn't sound like he believed himself.
"What?!" Stacy exclaimed, rapidly blinking, trying to process this.
"It was CHROME." Cammie echoed in disbelief.
"How?! Why?!" Holley asked.
"They..." Cammie continued reading. "I think I know what happened when dad took me to CHROME that one day. Dad didn't want them to do whatever they did. But they said I was already a member of CHROME because I was going to be someday, anyway. They put me in this machine and I fell asleep. It was weird, because I wasn't tired. I think something hit me on the head. Before I fell asleep, I think I saw Stalker Siddeley. Later my dad told me that..." Cammie paused. She swallowed and slowly continued.
"Day 16: Since I'm older, now, Dad told me exactly what happened after I blacked out. CHROME wanted to test a cloning machine. Everyone who was in the room was killed except for me. If they weren't, they would have been fired, anyway, Dad said. They didn't even have the boss of CHROME's permission. But Stalker Siddeley is still out there. Dad doesn't believe me, and neither does Finn. I didn't tell Finn and Leland about what happened. I just told them about Stalker Siddeley. He's still out there, and I have a feeling he's after me..." Cammie didn't read more after that. She didn't look up at everyone else, either. Cammie quietly turned the page.
"So, we need to go to CHROME, I guess." Holley broke the silence except for the flipping of pages.
"What are you looking for, now?" Finn asked.
"How Stalker Siddeley kills you." She replied. "Here." She breathed. "I was right: he gets inside your head. It's like... Like he switches something off. Or he's holding down a button. So... He's not really dead. More like a coma he can't wake up from...?"
"Does it say that in the book?" Stacy asked, taking it and looking over the page.
"No, in the book Sid uses some metaphor about cheese." Cammie answered.
"Of course he did..." Stacy sighed. She closed the book with a satisfying thud. "We'll, allons-y." She smiled. "To CHROME we go."
"I feel like we're in the Percy Jackson books." Patrick whispered to Cammie on their way out. Cammie tried not to laugh, but failed ever so slightly.
...
When they got to CHROME, being with Finn McMissile and all, they got to see Mr. Methargic right away.
It was easy getting the records, Mr. Methargic knew it was for a good reason. He practically pushed them out of his office to go look when they mentioned it was about Siddeley's safety.
"Okay, so, what year was that, then?" Stacy asked, booting up the big file computer.
"It would be in a hidden file." Holley answered. "Here," she shooed Stacy up, sat down at the computer, and started typing in various codes that made absolutely no sense to Cammie and Patrick. Heck, Stacy had no idea what they meant.
"CHROME would want to try and pretend it didn't happen, wouldn't they?" Holley stopped typing and pressed enter. There were a few files that showed up, but one of the first few read, "1978 Accident."
"Okay, so, CHROME was big on mysterious file names, back then." Stacy joked with a frown, crossing her arms over her chest.
Holley clicked on it, and quickly downloaded the file onto her phone. "Alright, let's go."
"Go where?" Cammie asked following Holley.
"To the scene of the accident. If I'm right, it hasn't been touched since."
"Hang on, seventy-eight—Finn, are you and Siddeley the same age?"
Finn didn't answer.
"…if Sid was around a toddler in seventy-eight, then… How old are you?" Stacy went on.
"Is this really the time to be concerned wi—"
"Yes?" Stacy cut him off. "Yes it is?"
The "scene of the accident" was a locked, unlabeled door.
"So, it's true." Said a voice behind them. They all jumped and spun around to see Mr. Methargic.
"I'm not supposed to open this." He frowned. "But I believe you that it's about Siddeley. I was fresh out of the academy, myself, when it happened. That's why I never knew they were trying..." Mr. Methargic sighed and swiped a key-card on the door.
"Go on." He ordered. "Get rid of that thing, why don't you. It haunts this agency." He sighed before walking away.
"Suddenly even less enthusiastic to go in." Cammie grimaced, speaking for most of the group.
It was dark and dusty inside. I'm the center of the room there was a big, dangerous-looking machine.
"Is that...?" Cammie whispered.
"It is." Finn agreed. "The failed cloning experiment."
"So, how did it happen, again?" Patrick asked.
Holley turned on her phone. "It says they were just going to dispose of the clone somehow... But it disposed of them, first, I suppose." Holley shuddered.
"Careful, probably a lot of ghosts in here." Stacy murmured.
"That's a new one." Finn noted in a humorous voice.
"It's really not..." Stacy shook her head. "Seriously though, vengeful spirits. Bad news."
"Why, with you, it's always..." Finn sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"Alright, so Stalker Siddeley would've come out of right here, right?"
"Yeah." Holley nodded. "Uh... Finn?"
"One moment, Holley." Finn replied, inspecting the machine.
"Finn?" Cammie stressed in the same nervous tone of voice Holley had spoken with.
"One moment." Finn repeated.
"Finn, for God's sake, turn around!" Stacy yelled.
"What—? Oh you've got to be—how did he get in here?!"
DUN DUN DUN
It's Pablo. LOL JK
The last chapter is being written. Don't worry, I'm like halfway done. Ciao! Allons-y! :D