"Makes yourselves at home."
Jeff and Annie looked around the underground apartment/lair. They hadn't had a chance to visit his new place since his apartment had been bombed two months ago. Despite the labyrinth feel it was surprising spacious and homey.
"Thanks Meta. I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't-"
"It's ok Annie; you can call me Abed here. This place has been outfitted with all kinds of surveillance equipment, anti bugging devises, radar and sonar jammers. It's a complete safe haven.
As he pulled off his mask Annie rushed forward and hugged Abed tightly. After a few moments he hugged her back. As she pulled away Jeff approached him. He held out his arm as if to shake Abed's hand before he changed his mind and hugged him, grateful to see his friend.
"Abed, Aaron wants you to tell him a bedtime story-"
The three of them looked around as Shirley walked into the living room. As soon as she saw them her face lit up with happiness. "JeffAnnie." She ran over to them and embraced them both in a giant two person hug. "Oh, it's been too long. How are you both?"
"We're good Shirley."
"That's nice. Although I hope Jeff you've come to your senses and decided to grovel-"
Abed loudly cleared his throat and Shirley reluctantly let the issue go. They all glanced at each other awkwardly before they all heard a small voice say "Daddy." They turned as Shirley and Abed's three year old son Aaron walked into the room. He was holding a teddy bear and seemed to be willing himself to stay awake.
"Hey there champ." Abed went over and scooped Aaron up. "Look who came to visit. Uncle Jeff and Aunt Annie."
Aaron waved to them before looking at his father. "Can you tell me a bedtime story? The one about the bug spaceship and the girl named River."
Smiling at his son's request Abed told them he would be back in a little bit before walking out of the room. Shirley gestured to one of the couches as she sat on the one opposite them. Jeff and Annie sat down on the loveseat, glancing at the closeness of their positions as they took their masks off.
"I'm sorry I haven't been around Shirley."
"Oh, it's ok Annie. I know you've been busy with patrolling. Truth be told I'm glad there are people out there trying to stop this madness. I make sure Aaron is always in my arms if we have to go out. Those zombie/dog people seem to increase every day."
Jeff looked around the room, noticing her outfit in a glass case against the wall. "Do you ever miss it? Being out there?"
"Not often. It was an easy decision to make once I became pregnant. I didn't want something happening to either of us and have our son grow up without one or both of his parents. But, every once in a while…" She glanced at her costume with a mournful look on her face.
"You were one of the best marksmen I ever saw. And you definitely had guys turning heads in that outfit of yours."
"Jeffrey!" She glared at him before letting out a laugh. "I guess it's nice to be paid a complement." She sighed deeply. "It's been harder for Abed. I know he wishes he was still out there patrolling with you guys. Especially after what happened to Troy."
The mood in the room changed as they thought about their friend lying in the hospital. Annie couldn't stop from trembling and didn't pull away when Jeff wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Has there been any change since the last time we saw him?"
"Sadly no. Abed and I visit every other day and he's still the same. The doctors said the longer someone is in a coma the less likely they'll come out of it. I told them Jesus was dead and he turned out all right, so don't tell me to give up hope!" She closed her eyes for a moment as she calmed down. "I just hate Pusher and what he's doing to everyone. If it wasn't for him Troy would never have been attacked by those addicts."
Jeff shifted uncomfortably as Abed walked back into the room. "Aaron's tucked in and sound asleep." He sat down next to Shirley and kissed her before turning towards Jeff and Annie. "Like I said before, there's a lot I have to tell you. But before I tell you two anything there's something you need to know. And this is going to be a shock to you. But-"
"Where'd you guys put the shampoo I asked you to pick up for me?" They all fell silent as Ben Chang walked into the room. "Oh, hey everyone. I didn't know you had company."
While Jeff was shocked it was nothing to how Annie felt. As soon as she saw him she went to seething instantly. "YOU!" Before Jeff could stop her she leapt up and tackled him, tightly wrapping her hands around his throat.
"Annie, stop!" Shirley cried as she tried to pull Annie off Ben. But Annie had a death grip and refused to let go. "Stop, you don't understand."
"He killed Pierce! He stabbed him to death and laughed as he died. I'll kill him. I should have killed him before."
"Annie, he didn't kill Pierce. He isn't El Tigre."
"Yes he is Abed! I unmasked him myself! It's him!"
"Annie, stop!" Jeff grabbed her shoulders and with the combined effort of himself, Shirley and Abed they pried Annie off of Chang. Jeff held onto Annie as Ben gasped for air. "Abed and Shirley wouldn't have Chang here unless they had a good reason. Let's listen to what they have to say."
"It's my fault. I wanted to tell you and show you proof before you saw Chang. I didn't think he'd come barging in here. Just hold on a minute." Abed left the room and returned a minute later with a photograph, which he gave to Annie. "This should explain things."
Annie took the photo as she and Jeff looked at it, trying to make sense of what they were seeing. The picture was of two young men both around end of high school age. One of them was Chang. But the man next to him was also Chang.
"I don't understand."
"That's my brother." Chang said hoarsely as he massaged his neck. "My twin brother Bernard."
Jeff looked at the photograph in astonishment. "You have a twin brother?"
"Remember how I said I absorbed my twin in utero. I lied. The truth is he was born and I had a twin brother growing up. I never told anyone because; he's not a good person. He came back to Greendale and kidnapped me, keeping me locked in a basement while he assumed my identity."
"Wait a minute. So that psycho who taught us at Greendale was your brother?"
"No Winger, that was me. He took my identity just after you all graduated, when everyone started becoming costumed crime fighters. I really missed out."
"So, your brother is actually El Tigre? He committed all those crimes and was in jail this whole time?"
"I thought you were smart Annie. Do you really think he would go to jail? The second he was put in prison he has someone sneak me in to take in place. No one knew he existed so they just thought I was going crazy when I tried to tell everyone the truth.
"Look, I know I'm not perfect and can be a bit Changy. But I would never kill Pierce or do any of the terrible things Bernard's done in my name. I want to see him pay for all of this."
"I've been trying to keep tabs on The Pusher's whereabouts for a while now. Three months ago I saw on a video feed that he was talking to someone in a trench coat and fedora just outside a lab. After enhancing the image I could just make out that the person was Chang. Since there were no reports of Chang escaping from prison I paid him a visit and he told me the truth. It took some time, but I finally did enough digging to where I believed him. Two nights ago I 'resurrected' Meta and broke Chang out of prison."
Jeff stared at Abed as he tried to make sense of all of this. "You broke Chang out of prison? How come we haven't heard any of this?"
"The police are trying to keep it under wraps for now. There's enough going on without adding hysteria by declaring that another supervillian is out on the streets. Though truth be told he never left them. Well, now that you know this, there are some things I have to show you."
They all followed Abed into his office, which more resembled mission control with all the computers and other equipment. Jeff, Annie and Ben stood back as Shirley and Abed took seats at their work stations. "Shirley, can you bring up the El Tigre/sunshine file." As Shirley typed away Abed brought up a file on his own screen. "Ever since The Pusher arrived I've been finding out as much as I could about him and sunshine. It seems the euphoric effects one feels on the drug are simply meant to distract people from the change. The true purpose of the pill is to gradually turn people into the zombielike animals they become. The drug binds to their DNA with each dosage, and when they consume enough they become mindless fiends. Once they become zombielike they're always like that. Taking the drug after they change simply acts like a tranquilizer. That's why the cure I've developed is only effective if it's used when someone has first reached their 'dog' state. After enough usage the drug is too much a part of someone and removing it causes death."
"Here it is Abed."
Abed smiled at Shirley as he gestured to her screen. "It seems The Pusher wasn't the only one who developed sunshine. He came up with the euphoric effects, but the transformation aspect was developed by El Tigre. They've been working together this whole time."
"He was always messing around with chemicals and science stuff in our basement. As if women ever went for nerds. No offence man." Chang's face grew uncomfortable as everyone looked at him. "Sorry."
"As I was saying. El Tigre came up with the metamorphosis element of the drug. Which explains what he has done to himself since going into hiding. This is him before he put Chang in jail." Abed pointed as Shirley brought up an image of El Tigre, who looked like Chang in an orange and black striped leather outfit with medal claws attached to his gloves. "And, this is what he looks like now. This picture was taken of him just last night."
As they looked at the image Jeff thought Abed had to be playing a joke on them. They had to be looking at a picture from a movie set or something. The thing on the screen wasn't a man. It looked like some kind of man/cat hybrid that was standing upright.
"Wait, you're not telling us that that is…"
"It's him. It seems El Tigre spliced his DNA with that of a actual tiger's. He's now a cross between a man and a tiger. He has the strength and speed of three men and real tiger claws and teeth. Remember that particularly horrible attack on that couple last week. It wasn't addicts. It was El Tigre. He's been hunting people and eating them."
Annie covered her mouth as her stomach turned and she forced herself not to vomit. She had experienced a lot of sick things since she started her crime fighting crusade. But this was beyond anything she could imagine. Abed looked at her as if to stop but she shook her head and gestured for him to keep going.
"There's more players in this whole thing. It turns out Pop Pop isn't just committing random acts of terrorism. He's working for The Pusher. He was hired to create chaos as a way to distract people so The Pusher could continually change his base of operations and not be noticed when he moves. And we found out who's been funding this whole thing."
"I bet its Spreck." Jeff said. "He has the money and he was bankrolling that crime ring Duncan and Whitman were running."
"No, it's not Spreck." Abed pulled up an image on his screen of an attractive thirty something woman in a black body suit lined with percentages holding a bullwhip. "Meet the one who's been bankrolling everything: Miss Statistics."
"Slater!" Annie cried out. "She's involved in this?"
"She's been funding the whole operation. She's been mostly working behind the scenes since she went off the radar, but she's definitely involved. "
"Um, Abed." Chang said. "Do you think you can send me a copy of that photo? You know, to help me sleep at night." He ignored Annie and Shirley's groans of disgust as he looked hopefully at Abed.
"Chang, keep things in perspective. They'll be plenty of time to enjoy Michelle's obvious hotness later." Jeff said. "Abed, what else do you know?"
"Like any good story teller I've saved the best for last. I've managed to find out who The Pusher really is." With a simple click Abed brought up the image of a man who had died almost six months ago.
"RICH!" Annie yelled. "It can't be."
"Yes it can Annie. I always knew that being perfect thing was all an act. I was right and no one believed me."
"I'm not saying it can't be him because of how he acted Jeff. I'm saying it can't be him because he's dead."
Abed held up a hand to silence Jeff and Annie's bickering. "It seems Rich faked his death and went underground, teaming up with Slater and Bernard Chang to create the sunshine pill. He then reemerged as the supervillian The Pusher to flood the market with his drug. I should have seen it coming. I might be losing my touch."
"Losing your touch? Abed, you figured out this whole scheme and who all the players are. You're a genius. Oh, and you too Shirley." Annie said as Shirley loudly cleared her throat.
"So now Rich is behind it all. We have to find him. Him and all of them. They all have to pay. For what happened to Pierce and Troy and all the other victims. They have to pay and we have to stop this whole thing."
Annie didn't seem to notice that everyone was looking at her. She had a mad glint in her eyes that unnerved everyone. Jeff looked at her as her face grew more desperate. "Annie, we all want to stop them. But you're getting carried away."
"I can't let this keep going on. If it wasn't for Rich and his drugs Troy would never have been attacked. I won't let another person go unpunished for my friends being attacked. I'm personally going to make Rich pay, along with El Tigre."
"You guys!" Jeff and Annie quieted down as Shirley yelled at them. "If you calm down for a moment we'll tell you what we're working on. We've already called Britta and she's coming back to help."
"Britta's coming back." Jeff said. "I thought the mayor said if Anarchy was spotted in Greendale she would be shot on sight."
"She said it's a risk she'll take. If we're going to war she wants in. Ok, that's all we know for now. If you'll all go to the kitchen I'll make some tea and heat up some brownies I made this afternoon."
"Jeff, may I have a word." Jeff hung back with Abed as Annie, Shirley and Chang walked out of the room. Once the three of them were gone Abed lowered his voice. "I think it's time to tell Annie the truth."
"No way." Jeff whispered. "We swore that we wouldn't tell anyone what actually happened. That we were the only ones who knew The Pusher wasn't responsible for what happened to Troy."
"I know, and I kept our secret, even though I hate lying to my wife. But you saw Annie. She's consumed by vengeance. She has to know at least one thing wasn't responsible because of them. It might ease her thirst."
"It doesn't matter. The one responsible for what happened is dead. I saw to that."
"I know. We both have a hand in her death. After what happened to Troy I wanted vengeance as much, if not more, than you did. And it was safer to lie to Annie then for her to know the truth. But I'm afraid if she associates everything with The Pusher and El Tigre she's going to do something drastic. She's not like us. Unlike you me and Britta she's vowed not to kill unless there's no other choice. But, we both know it's going to be hard enough for her to control herself when confronting El Tigre. Maybe the truth will stop her from wanting to deliver the final blow to Rich also."
Jeff looked down as he swallowed back a lump in his throat. "She's going to hate me when she finds out what I did."
Abed tilted his head to the side. "I thought you said it was safer if she hated you. Isn't that why you broke up with her?"
"Yes, but I never stopped loving her. I always thought that someday, when all this was over, I could win her back. But if I tell her what I did she'll never want to be with me."
"That might happen. But you have to tell her the truth about what happened with Troy. You might lose her, but she won't lose herself."
With that Abed walked out of his office. Jeff stayed there for a few moments before joining everyone in the kitchen.
This chapter was longer then I intended it to be, and was mostly filled with dialogue and exposition. I promise the next one will have much more action.