Well thanks to those of you who reviewed (you know who you are). I'm glad you guys enjoyed the last chapter. I hope everybody who is reading this likes this chapter. It starts off kind of slow-sorry about that-but it picks up, I promise!

We're building up to something HUGE. I can't wait to get to that part, but I've got to lay some bricks down first before we get to that part.

So here's the first of many chapters leading up to "something HUGE!" Chapter 24! Enjoy!

Chapter 24: A Problem of the Past

December 1, 2358
EPCOT Entrance

6 A.M.

Jess stretched as their little group of seven stood in front of EPCOT. They had woken up at four in the morning. Somebody—Philby—was eager to check the park for Willa.

"Everybody know the plan?" Philby asked for at least the millionth time.

"Yeah, yeah, we know dad," Jess said, waving him off as she took off toward her designated area.

"Jess!" Philby's frustrated voice echoed through the park. She knew he didn't like her writing him off as an overprotective dad figure, but he was being a serious one. And it was annoying.

"Keep your pants on Phildweeb," Jess heard Maybeck say. "We'll meet back here at ten."

"Jess!" Amanda yelled after her. "Wait up!" Jess heard two sets of footsteps run to catch up to her.

Jess, Amanda and Mattie's job was to search Mission Space, Test Track and the pavilion in which Wayne was once held in—almost twelve years ago. As they headed over to Mission Space, Amanda and Mattie fell into step with her.

"I've never been to EPCOT before," Mattie said, breaking the silence.

"Really?" Amanda seemed shocked. "You've come to visit me and Jess dozens of times over the years. You sure we didn't take you here?"

"We've gone to Magic Kingdom," Mattie shrugged. "And the place with the giant guitar and hat."

"You mean Hollywood Studios?" Jess interjected.

"Yeah!" Mattie exclaimed. "That's it."

Amanda still looked shocked in Mattie's confession. "Seriously? I can't believe we never took you here. EPCOT's one of my favorites."

Jess gave her sister a confused look. "Really? Why?" Jess motioned to the now abandoned park. "This park is the most boring of them all!"

Amanda waved off Jess' comment. "No way. Finn and I—"

Jess put up a hand to stop her. "Say no more. I've heard enough 'Finn and I' stories."

Amanda rolled her eyes. Jess prided herself on that ability.

"I want to know what Finn did to make this place so special." Mattie whispered to Amanda.

Amanda didn't need any more prompting. She flashed a grin at Jess, excited at the opportunity to rub her and Finn's fluffiness in her face again, and launched into a long drawn out story about one of their many dates during college.

Jess rolled her eyes. This was going to be a long day.

December 1, 2358
EPCOT Entrance

6:01 AM

Charlene watched as Jess stormed off, with Amanda and Mattie jogging to catch up. Once they were out of sight, she uncrossed her arms.

Maybeck snaked his arm around her waist and kissed her on the cheek. "Ready to go exploring babe?"

Charlene rolled her eyes. "Babe?"

Maybeck shrugged. The goofy grin not leaving his face. "I thought I'd bring it back."

"Yeah," Charlene wiggled out of his embrace and turned to face him, crossing her arm in defiance. "Not in a million years."

"Stay in this weird world of Greenie's and we might just be here that long!"

"Time works the same here, Maybeck." Professor Philby corrected. "We've been here a year. It's been a year back at home."

Charlene glanced over at Philby and saw a smirk grow on his face. She turned back to Maybeck just in time to see him stick out his tongue at Philby.

Storey cleared her throat. "Come on Maybeck. Let's go check out the Land."

Charlene felt anger well up inside of her. While on the cruise back in 9th grade, Charlene had always thought they had a thing for each other. Storey was everything Charlene never could be: older, hotter and way out of his league.

The last part was true for Charlene as well, but Maybeck would never admit that.

Seeing Storey again brought up old feelings of jealously. Of course Charlene knew who Maybeck really loved, but she couldn't shake the old feelings. Old habits die hard, like Finn always used to say.

Charlene turned to Maybeck. "I thought you were going with me?"

Charlene's facial expression must have been priceless because Maybeck looked like he had been slapped. Before he could recover, Philby stepped in.

"I asked him if we could switch."

Charlene turned to Philby. "And why is that?"

"Because...uh..." Philby looked to Maybeck for help. "Dude, I got nothing."

Maybeck rolled his eyes and turned to Charlene. "Look Charlie, I want to spend more time alone with you, but Philby...uh...asked me if you could go with him before you woke up this morning."

Charlene knew her death stare was working because Maybeck started rambling even more. She looked in between both of them and rolled her eyes, trying to keep the smirk off her face.

"Whatever."

Maybeck gave Charlene a sympathetic smile and shrug before heading off with Storey, leaving Charlene standing with an anxious Philby. All morning he had been going on and on about EPCOT, listing endless—and incredibly useless—facts about the park. Charlene really wanted to punch him so he would shut up, but she figured that wouldn't go over well.

He was just nervous and ready to find his wife. You would be the same if it was Maybeck that was missing, Charlene told herself. Be sympathetic.

Once Maybeck and Storey were out of sight, Philby turned to her. "Where should we go first?"

Charlene pointed to the giant golf ball looming behind them. "I think that's a good place to start."

Philby nodded and headed off in that direction. She double checked the gun was still sticking out of her back pocket before following him. She noticed how Philby pulled his own gun out, ready to shoot any Maleficent soldier at a moment's notice.

If there was one thing Charlene had learned about Philby in the past few years, it was that he would do anything to keep Willa safe. Knowing that she had been missing for four days now is probably eating him alive.

She followed him up to the entrance to Spaceship Earth. For the first time ever, the door to the ride was closed. Never had she ever seen the door closed. Not even after hours when they had been here as DHI's.

That was the first sign Charlene immediately knew something was wrong.

Philby drew his gun and turned his back to the door, facing Charlene. He nodded his head in the direction of her gun and she pulled it out, double checking for bullets.

"On three?"

"On three."

Philby moved out of the way, giving her room to kick down the door.

"One," he whispered.

"Two." Charlene readied herself. She had to hold the gun in a certain way so that she could fire the second the door was knocked down if needed.

"Three."

Charlene kicked down the door and the two stormed inside.

November 29, 2358
Holding Cell #3
Undisclosed Location

1:30 AM

This new cell was a lot smaller. Having to share it with his best friend Dillard was making it manageable. There were no windows, leaving the small room pitch black.

At least it wasn't cold.

"How did you get out in here?" Finn asked Dillard. Together they sat in the dark, shoulder to shoulder.

"I…uh…got caught by Maleficent? L-l-l-like you?"

Finn rolled his eyes. Dillard was never good at lying.

"What's the real story?"

In the dark, Finn could see Dillard struggling over an answer. Finn nudged him. "Come on, man, you know you can tell me anything."

"It's…we…uh…"

Finn glared at his friend. "Dillard."

"I kind of…let myself get captured?"

"Why on earth would you do that?" Finn blurted out. He didn't care if anyone could hear them. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Because…" Dillard paused. "Because…" He lowered his voice to a quiet whisper. "Because we needed somebody on the inside to help you get out."

Finn leaned in closer so that he could whisper back. "Who is we?"

Dillard moved his gaze to the direction of the door and shrugged. "You'll see."

"What does that mean?"

"It means, you're not going to like the answer." Dillard paused again. "But it's the only way."

Finn closed his eyes and tried not to think of their precarious situation. Why would Dillard turn himself in? It was like the cruise all over again. Finn didn't want anybody to do anything even remotely close to that for him. He was the one who was supposed to save his friends—not the other way around.

Finn opened his eyes and took a deep breath. He lowered his voice and hung his head, not wanting to look at anything but the hands in his lap. "Why do this Dillard?"

"You've got to go home. You've got a wife to get back to. You've got to start a family and have kids. You've…you've got a life ahead of you."

"But—"

"No but's, Finn. You may be the savior, but that doesn't mean you can't have help along the way."

A harsh silence erupted between the two friends.

Finn heard Dillard take a deep, dramatic breath.

"That's what friends are for," Dillard muttered under his breath with a harsh tone of voice.

Finn tried to think of a good response, but he couldn't. There were so many things he wanted to say. He wanted to say thank you, but he felt like a that wasn't enough. Not for Dillard. Not for the friend who died for him when they were fourteen. A simple thank you was the tip of the iceberg of all the things Finn wanted to say. Nothing Finn wanted to say would make him feel better. His debt to Dillard was one he was never going to be able to repay.

So they sat in silence.

And waited.

December 1, 2358
EPCOT
United Kingdom Pavilion

6:24 AM

"So what's the deal with you and Charlene?"

Maybeck eyed Storey suspiciously. "Why do you ask?"

As they walked past the Canada pavilion and toward the United Kingdom one, Maybeck had to cross his arms to keep from shivering. The cold wind was making this morning even more unbearable. He and Storey walked side by side down the long cobblestone walkway.

They had just finished checking out Canada, the United Kingdom was next. He remembered how he proposed to Charlene in London. Man, I'm good, Maybeck couldn't help but think to himself.

"Just trying to defuse the tension," Storey said in a horrible British accent. They walked into the United Kingdom pavilion area and hurried into one of the shops, appreciating the warmth.

"We were engaged before this whole curse thing," Maybeck motioned to the world around them. "Two months before the curse, she broke it off."

"Why is that?" Storey asked as she flipped on the flashlight. Maybeck opened the door to the backroom and let her in.

He followed her through the backroom while she checked for hiding spots. They decided to take turns doing the hard-core searching with the flashlight. Maybeck took Canada, Storey got United Kingdom, and so on and so on. He followed behind her, keeping his crossed arms close to his body to conserve heat.

"She never told me why."

"Well," Storey held the flashlight with her teeth as she moved a heavy box of merchandise out of her way. Maybeck rolled his eyes as she grabbed the flashlight out of her mouth and continued. "Why don't you ask her now that you both remember?"

"I did."

"And?"

Maybeck shrugged. "She didn't tell me."

"So does that mean you're still not engaged?"

Maybeck shrugged again. "I guess so."

Storey glanced back at him, giving him a disapproving look. She looked forward again. "Do you want to be engaged?"

"Yes," Maybeck answered quickly. "Of course I do. She's the girl for me."

"Then why don't you tell her that."

"I did."

"And?" Storey turned around and looked at him again.

"Nothing." Storey turned back around and walked out of the backroom and back into the store. She flipped off the flashlight. "She's hiding something."

"What do you think it is?"

"I can't tell." Maybeck glanced up at the wall and saw two swords hanging high above the door of the shop. He sure hoped they were fake. "It could be anything, knowing her."

They walked out of the shop and moved into another. There were still a shelf of left over London 2012 Olympics merchandise.

"How did you propose to her?" Storey asked as she walked through the store.

Maybeck picked up a red London 2012 t-shirt, holding it up to his chest to see if it was his size. "She was in the Olympics last year…I mean two years ago. Since it's 2014 now and everything."

"Charlene was in the Olympics?" Storey turned around and put her hands on her hip. "For what?"

"Gymnastics." Maybeck put the t-shirt back on the shelf (too small). A smile grew on his face just thinking of the memories. "She won gold in one of the events. Don't ask me which one, 'cause I couldn't tell you."

"What does this have to do with your proposal?"

Maybeck turned to her and rolled his eyes. "I'm getting there. Chill."

He grabbed the flashlight from her and walked into the backroom of this store, talking as he went.

"I was in the army and had just spent nine months overseas in Iraq. I came back just before Finn woke up from his coma, which was three weeks before the Olympics. Finn was the only one—besides Jelly—that knew I was back."

Maybeck stepped over a box of merchandise that had fallen from a high shelf. The glass figurines of Disney characters were shattered on the floor, making an awful crunching sound when he stepped on a few scattered pieces.

"I got to London and watched her win—which was awesome, by the way. When it was over, Finn told me to meet them on the floor, which is where they were meeting Charlene."

"So what happened then?"

"I made sure I was out of sight and waited until she had said hey to everybody. Finn made sure he was the last one and kept her occupied while I walked up to her."

Maybeck tapped his best friend Finn on the shoulder. "Excuse me, Whitman, but I'd like to congratulate my girlfriend on her gold medal."

Charlene gasped, immediately covering her mouth with both of her hands in surprise. He could see tears of joy streaming down her face. He stretched out his arms and she ran into them.

"I tapped Finn on the shoulder and said 'excuse me, Whitman, but I'd like to congratulate my girlfriend on her gold medal.' Charlene flipped out and almost tackled me out of excitement. Not to mention she almost re-broke my arm."

She let go of him and took a step back, taking the sight of him in. He readjusted his sling, and before he could say anything, she put both hands on his face and kissed him, not caring that everybody was watching. He heard some cameras flashing, but he didn't care. He was kissing the best girl on the planet. He knew this was the perfect moment.

Speaking of his now-healed broken arm, Maybeck moved his free hand to where the injury was, subconsciously remembering wearing that awful sling for two months.

"When she finally stopped hugging me, I told her I had something really important to ask her. And then…you know…I…asked her to marry me."

Storey stayed quiet for a few seconds before answering. "That's cute. I wonder why she changed her mind."

Maybeck shrugged again as they walked back into the store. "Beats me."

"I'm sure she has a good reason."

"Yeah. I'm sure she did." Even Maybeck wasn't convinced by his own words.

Maybeck walked out of the store and started heading toward the next pavilion. He tossed the flashlight over his head toward Storey. When he heard it crash on the cobblestone pathway, he knew she hadn't caught it. He rolled his eyes and kept walking.

"You don't sound convinced," Storey called out as she picked up the flashlight and followed him.

Maybeck kicked a rock out of his path and watched as it skipped down the pathway.

"Something doesn't add up. One day she's helping me find a tuxedo, the next she's breaking off our engagement." He kicked the same rock again, watching it skid a few feet in front of him. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Maybe something happened to make her change her mind."

Maybeck turned around and threw up his hands in frustration. "Like what Storey? What? What could I have possibly done to change her mind?"

"What if it wasn't your fault?"

"What the heck does that mean?" Except he didn't say heck.

"What if the OT's had something to do with her breaking off the engagement?"

"Why would they? We thought they were gone! She would have told me if an OT showed up at her door step and demanded that she break off our engagement!"

"Would she have?" Storey pointed the flashlight in his direction. "Would you have the guts to face her if an OT showed up forcing you into breaking off the engagement? Would you not try to delay the inevitable?"

"You think they made her break off our engagement?" Maybeck put both hands on his hips. He could not believe what he was hearing.

"Would you rather think that she wanted to break off your engagement? That she wanted to break your heart? That she did not want to be with you for the rest of your lives?" Storey put her hands on her hips, flashlight still in hand. "Yeah, that seems more reasonable."

"I'd rather not think the OT's have had a hand in my love life, thank you very much! I'd rather think of them as a problem of the past!"

"Look around!" Storey motioned to the world around them. "This is not the past, Maybeck! This is your life RIGHT NOW! The OT's are not a problem of the past! They're the big problem now! They're never going to go away! EVER! That is a FACT!"

"Oh because you know so much about the OT's. You only helped us with a few things on the cruise. That was two weeks Storey! I've been dealing with OT's for over twelve years! You can't tell me about the OT's!"

Storey narrowed her eyes, glaring at him. "That's your defense?" She crossed her arms and started tapping her foot. "You're pathetic. And in serious denial."

They stared at each other, waiting for the other to step down.

It was Storey who broke the silence. "Meet up with me when you're ready to actually do something, like, I don't know, defeat Maleficent and go home."

Storey walked past Maybeck, making sure to bump into his shoulder as she passed him.

Maybeck watched as Storey stormed down the pathway toward the next pavilion. He crossed his arms and decided on not following her. He turned around and stormed off toward the entrance. She could handle herself. He didn't want to deal with her right now.

December 1, 2358
EPCOT
Spaceship Earth

6:16 AM

Charlene kicked in the door and Philby hurried in, gun at the ready. The whole place seemed downright creepy. The seats were beat up, worn, and most were broken in some way. Philby knew that there was no way anyone could hide in the ride's entrance, but there were a million different hiding places in the ride itself.

With no immediate dangers, Philby lowered his gun.

Charlene came in and closed the door behind her. She nodded toward the ride. "You going first or me?"

"I'll go."

Philby walked over to the track, immediately seeing the staircase in which staff use during emergencies and system check-ups…well…used. It was 300 years in the future, after all.

They made their way slowly up the stairs and into the ride. They went through all of the rooms, carefully searching each display, guns always at the ready.

They made it all the way to the Renaissance display without finding any signs of anything. Philby looked up at the animatronic Michelangelo painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel when a shot was fired at his feet.

"S-s-stop right t-t-there!" A shaky, completely unrecognizable, voice called out.

He flattened himself against the floor of the display and glanced in the direction of the shot. He couldn't see anyone because of the darkness. He pointed his gun in that direction and readied a bullet, but did not fire.

Philby slowly stood up. He glanced back at Charlene, who was slowly rising to a crouch, gun also at the ready.

He looked back in the direction of the shot. "We're not here to hurt you," Philby called out to the shooter. He realized too late how obvious his British accent was becoming. This happened to him when he was extremely nervous. Being shot at seemed like a logical time to be nervous.

"We're just looking for any sign of my wife, that's all," he continued.

He heard some rummaging, as if someone was moving things around to get closer. He raised his gun in the direction of the sounds.

"Why don't you just come on out and we can talk? No need to shoot at us."

Some more rummaging and a figure emerged, still cloaked by shadows. There was a few moments of silence before the voice spoke again, this time it was less shaky.

"P-P-Philby?"

Philby dropped the gun at the sound of her voice.

So what do y'all think? Any idea of who's helping Dillard get Finn out? Any idea of where they are and how they might possibly escape from there?

Here's a little sneak peek at the next chapter (two things): 1) Someone escapes from their captors. 2) Someone unexpected shows up at Wayne's apartment.

Any ideas as to what that means? Predictions? It'd be interesting to see if anybody gets close!

One last thing, please review! There's 90 reviews on this story so far. I think we can get to 100 after the next chapter or so. But I need y'all's help! Even if it's like one word. It'd be awesome to have the "Fighting For All That's Good" sequel to have more reviews than the original. It's a huge challenge though, since "Fighting For All That's Good" had 247 reviews. I know all of you lovely readers are up to the challenge though!

Have a wonderful week and a happy new year! I'll update as soon as I can :)