"You won't get away with this!"

Bainbridge rolled his eyes and continued to rummage around in Fossil's old office, "Think of something new to say or keep your mouth shut, young lady."

Lilly was furious. She was tied in a chair behind a desk in an old, run down office. She struggled against the rope, trying to loosen the knot, but she only succeeded in knocking the chair – and herself – over. She squealed on the descent and hit the floor with a dull thud.

Bainbridge turned around and laughed, "That's what you get for trying to escape. We'll see if the floor is more comfortable for you."

Lilly had never seen Dixon Bainbridge be so cruel before. It was like someone had flipped a switch. Or maybe it had all been an act before and now he was showing his true colors.

"Some colors." Lilly mumbled.

Dixon slammed some papers down on Fossil's old desk and knelt down to Lilly's level, "What did you say?" His tone was almost acidic.

Lilly tried to shrink away but couldn't shift the heavy chair she was tied to. She decided to keep her mouth shut in hopes that Howard – or anyone really – would get there before Dixon decided to get rough.

He put one hand gently on her cheek and stroked it for a moment, "Such a pity." Then, without warning he slapped her – hard.

Since her other cheek had been against the ground, her face had nowhere to go. It took the brunt of the hit. She began to cry before the angry red welt started to form.

"Yes, isn't it a pity?" He grabbed her hair and pulled, growling in her ear, "Don't make this harder for yourself."

Lilly – although still crying – ground her teeth and screamed in his face, "What are you going to do?! Kill me?!"

Bainbridge laughed, "Not yet, my dear."

He let her go and her head flopped back to the floor, hitting it with a smack. She couldn't reach up to wipe away her tears or soothe her aching cheek. Her head hurt terribly and she wanted to just let go and pass out. Howard wasn't coming. No one was coming. She was going to die.

Ten minutes had passed when Lilly was awakened by a loud crashing noise. She couldn't see around the desk but she assumed the door to the office had been thrown open.

"Where is she?!" The voice was Vince's; she'd recognized it right away.

"I don't know. Maybe she isn't in here. Maybe he took her to the secret lab."

It was Howard. He'd come! Lilly took a deep, shuddering breath and tried to smile. Her cheek hurt too much. She thought for a moment, and decided to speak for herself.

"I'm down here!"

She heard some scuffling and Howard's face came into view, "Lilly! Oh God! Thank goodness you're okay!" He gingerly pushed her hair back away from her face and gasped, "What happened?"

Lilly shook her head, causing her brain to rattle and making her grimace, "Will you help…" She tried to motion to the ropes and hoped he got the right idea.

"Oh, of course!" He turned and shouted over the desk, "Vince! Go outside and keep a lookout. Yell if you see Bainbridge."

He turned back around to help untie Lilly and she heard Vince's heels hitting the floor as he left the room, "What did he do? I'll kill him."

Lilly didn't say anything, preferring to focus all of her energy on getting out of that damned chair.

"What's going on in here?!"

Howard and Lilly froze. It was Bainbridge.

"Stupid Vince." Howard mumbled against Lilly's shoulder. Lilly nudged him roughly and he shut up.

Bainbridge's upper body came into view from over the desk. He had a maniacal look on his face and a huge needle in his hand.

"So good of you to join us, Moon. Your idiot friend is talking with some squirrels outside."

Howard rolled his eyes, "What do you want, Bainbridge?"

"It's simple, Moon." He waved the syringe in the air menacingly, "I just want to inject your friend there with this simple solution."

Howard's eyes followed the needle in Bainbridge's hand as he tried to formulate a plan. He'd untie Lilly and maybe they could outrun Bainbridge. He was rather large and not accustomed to running long distances. Howard figured he'd give it a try.

He turned and with one sharp tug to the ropes, they fell free. Lilly sat up properly and rubbed her arms, looking nervously at Bainbridge, who was seething.

"Now, Moon, that wasn't in the plan." He pulled another syringe out of his horseshoe of a mustache, "Luckily, I have an extra needle hidden in my mustache! There's more than enough to go around."

Howard stood, keeping his eyes locked on Bainbridge and his arms around Lilly, who followed him up, "This is wrong, Bainbridge. You can't experiment on humans."

They edged around the desk, towards the door, but Bainbridge cut them off, "Not so fast, you scheming bastard." He was directing his comment at Howard, "I know you tried to foil my plans before and I knew you'd try to do it again." He brandished a syringe in Howard's face, "One more step and I'll inject you both."

They froze, Howard staring down Bainbridge and Lilly eyeing the door nervously. She didn't know she was crying until she noticed her vision get blurry.

"Oh look, we've made the lady cry." Bainbridge motioned to Lilly with a syringe. Howard, feeling her shaking next to him, held her as close as physically possible. He willed all his strength to her.

"There, there, little girl. This will only hurt for a moment." Bainbridge took a step closer and Lilly screamed.

"Oi! What's going on in here?!" Vince stuck his head in the doorway and gasped at what he saw, "Hey, you! Bainbridge! What are you doing, you crazy tin?!"

Bainbridge didn't even turn around, he simply spoke over his shoulder, "I'm killing your friends and then I'll be back to kill you."

Vince took off one of his Chelsea boots and – with a quick sad look to the boot – lunged at Bainbridge, "Oh no you don't!"

He smacked Bainbridge over the head with the hell of his boot. In fact, he hit him so hard, that the three thought he was out for good. He fell to the ground with a loud thud.

Lilly laughed with relief, "Oh Vince! You saved us!"

Vince was beaming, "I did, didn't I?"

Howard pulled Lilly towards the door, not speaking. Vince, who was still overly proud of himself, put his boot back on, "Wait a minute, Howard. He's out cold now. Let's do something mean. I don't know. Draw on his face or something."

Howard turned around and shot the most brutal glare Vince had ever seen at him. Vince frowned and gave Bainbridge the finger before taking a step towards the door.

Suddenly, Bainbridge reached out and grabbed Vince's leg. Vince let out a squeal of surprise and horror, causing Howard and Lilly to turn around.

"Come on Vince, we've – Vince!" Lilly reached out and grabbed Vince's hand, which had been flailing about for something to grab on to.

Before anyone could pull Vince away from Bainbridge, the evil man had stabbed the electro prince in the leg with one of the syringes. He depressed the plunger and Lilly screamed.

"No!" She kicked Bainbridge in the arm and he let go of Vince's leg, but the damage had already been done. Lilly had seen what that serum had done to the animals Dixon had experimented on and she could only imagine what it would do to Vince.

She screamed, already crying, "Howard! Help me!"

Howard took three steps forward, still in shock, and grabbed Vince's other arm. Together, they supported him and helped him out of the abandoned office and away from a passed out Dixon Bainbridge.