A/N: This chapter was partially inspired by my at-time obsession with playing Phoenix Wright games. Objection! God I love that. Yeah, a majority of this chapter is filler, but I tried to make it fun filler, and explain what happened at the Spire, since so many things went on at the same time just before, during and after the Spire explosion.
10
Ivory Tower~
Danielle looked over the battered group that slumped in their respective seats around the conference table, placed her hands on her hips and gave them a faintly disgusted glare.
"When Danny said long ago that the situation in Dimmsdale was weird, I was hoping that he was kidding." she remarked and turned her glowing green gaze on Timmy Turner as he nursed a cup of hot cocoa, a black eye that he refused to heal 'because he deserved it' marring his face. "You should have called for more help, Lover, and not let things get this bad!" she lectured him.
"Don't call me that." the brunet growled. The outsider sighed and floated up into the air, folding her arms over her chest as she shook her head.
"It's because of the current situation that I was even called in by Caleb to get the low-down on what the heck happened last night." Danielle pointed out dryly.
"Yeah? And just who the hell are you?" Vicky growled, arms folded under her bust as she slouched back in her chair. The floating girl flicked her hand through her hair, showing off her shimmering white ponytail as she brought herself up confidently.
"My name is Danielle Phantom, but you can call me Danni, with an 'i'. You could say I'm a cousin of Danny Phantom, the guy who's currently still in ICU recovering from whatever it is Lover did to him." she replied smartly and smirked, "I actually have another title I would like to have added, but I see you have Fenton Phones, which means you have Fenton equipment, and it would be a crime to stuff a figure like mine into a Thermos."
"And why does Caleb want to know about what happened? He wasn't even there; it shouldn't matter to him." A.J. grumbled. Danni's expression slipped into neutral and she held up a remote control, clicking on one of its buttons. The monitor behind her came to life as Chet Ubetcha took the screen.
"What a startling turn of events, folks! Who knew that our poor little city of Dimmsdale could be besieged by terrorists out to destroy our buildings and sense of security?" the dwarfed reporter exclaimed in exaggerated shock and horror, "Behind me are the remains of what used to be a Buxaplenty Corporation Tower. Just last night, an unknown group of assailants completely demolished this building! Several anonymous tips were sent in to let us and police officials get to the scene of the destruction just as the Tower fell to become the pile of rubble it is this morning!" An image bloomed beside him and few members of Team Turner recognized what was shown in the image. "Police are now trying to identify this strange device that was found in pieces at the scene..." Danielle 'Danni' Phantom switched off the monitor as the group glared at it, then returned to being morose.
"That stuff with the broken crystal is what's left of the aionis shipment that was stolen from the Hounder Organization's vaults. They're going to trace the metals back to Caleb and he wants to be prepared to disavow any knowledge of what happened. For that, he needs to know what took place. So..." the female halfa remarked flatly, "Care to take it from the top? What happened during the Battle of Spire Three?" The team scowled in unified bitterness over the ordeal. Danni looked around at them all with a frown on her face. "Well, don't you all start talking at once." she muttered sarcastically and pointed at one of them, "We'll start with you. Chester McBadbat, right? What can you remember?"
Chester alternated between looking embarrassed and looking furious, but he squared his shoulders and took a deep breath. A bruise had been on his face similar to Timmy's, but the brunet had given both Chester and Trixie a full heal once he saw them after the battle, then went on to do the same for the rest of the team, skipping himself for reasons that had yet to be explained. He began his account slowly.
"I was really out of it for a while 'cause of Francis choking me, but Timmy's Revive spell kicked in and when I looked around, Francis was long gone and Veronica was still out cold on the ground. I got Tricks, who had fainted I guess, and we headed back to the Spire.
"The control units were all buzzing around everywhere, so I had to shoot them away from me and Tricks with one hand. I thought I saw Elmer shooting down controllers, too, but I'm not sure. There was a lot of stuff going on, and I thought I saw a big flash of red light earlier, but that might have been from something blowing up. I know I heard an explosion, but I don't remember exactly when that happened.
"Just then, A.J. came on the line and told everyone to run and get the heck away from the Spire 'cuz it was gonna self-destruct. So I hefted Tricks up and boosted. A little bit later, I heard some cop cars and then the top of the Spire just went ka-boom! It was pretty wild. I didn't stick around to find out more; I just ran until I got into the alleys and waited there until Timmy gave the all-clear to come back here to the Ivory Tower."
"That doesn't tell me much, but it's a start." Danni muttered and blew a puff of air through her bangs. She scanned the group, then motioned towards Sanjay. "How about you? You were mostly conscious through this whole thing. Any ideas on what happened?"
Sanjay looked up at her tiredly, then gave a weak shrug, twisting the frames of his glasses as he stared at the table. His mouth moved but no words came. After a moment, he sighed and started again, this time speaking to be heard.
"I, too, had heard the signal to run, but oddly enough, Timmy had made no reaction to the announcement. He told me to run when he signaled the anti-fairies, so I did. I went to go find A.J. and see what he meant by the Spire self-destructing, as we had not completely destroyed all the controllers and no one was enacting the 'multiple targets' plan.
"When I was only a dozen or so yards from Timmy, the Spire's upper levels exploded. The debris was raining down towards the lot, so I grew worried for Timmy and went back to check on him. That was when I found him lying unconscious on the ground only a little bit away from that child-of-she-dog's crystal trap. Wanda had not appeared, so I felt it safe to assume he was not in true danger. However, I did not want him hurt by the falling debris, so I picked him up and carried him to a nearby alley.
"I heard some sirens nearby around the time the Spire's control center exploded, but my focus was entirely on getting Timmy to safety! I woke him as gently as I could, and he asked to borrow my Fenton Phones. He gave an all-clear over them and asked that we reunite at the Ivory Tower.
"He told me to go on without him, as he was going to look for Chip, Tootie and Andromeda. He ran off and I didn't see him again until I got here."
"I'm guessing he didn't give you that shiner, huh, Lover?" Danni asked dryly, giving Timmy a faint glare.
"No, he just gave me a couple of slaps to wake me up." Timmy muttered, "And stop calling me that. I told you that already, didn't I?" The phantom sighed and rubbed her head.
"Boy, this is really getting complicated! So far, we know that the Spire was about to self-destruct and A.J. told everyone to get away from it before it blew. Cops started showing up at around the time it went pop, so let's hear from A.J. Ibrahim." she remarked and motioned towards him, "How did you know the Spire was going to blow?" A.J. sat stiffly in his chair, hands clutching his laptop tightly enough to turn his knuckles white.
"I wrote a computer virus that overrode its safety protocols and created a loopback error that overheated the systems and caused the meltdown. It was also designed to permeate the other systems controlled by the Spire Server Control System and backfire, creating the chain reaction of explosions that brought the tower down." he told the halfa, "That's why I told everyone to run."
"I had had enough of Remy's stunts, and I knew that his team was the reason I couldn't get a response out of most of Team Turner. So, I put together a virus that would be sent to the Spire Control Center under the guise of a controller unit's signal. The real controllers were all suffering from loopback errors and so weren't sending any signals out to either the units in their squadrons or the Dark Spire itself. The virus must have also mutated along the way, affecting the signals for other types of units instead of just nullifiers. For that reason, the nullifiers, capture units and destroyers all halted their attacks; since they couldn't synchronize with the control units, they couldn't get orders on what to do.
"When my laptop reported that several of my Trojans had made it into the Spire, I called everyone to get out of the area. I don't know how many of them heard me or not, considering many of our members weren't responding to me, so I broadcasted my call on all frequencies. After that, I collected my equipment and ran.
"I didn't hear any sirens until after I got into the alleys, and they were pretty loud. I was able to see a few cars show up, and then I heard Timmy give an all-clear. So I headed back to the Ivory Tower. I'm not gonna let Remy have his way if I have the ability to use my skills and talents to mess him up!"
"Hey, wait a second. Something's not adding up." Danni muttered as she floated before the group, holding her chin in one hand as she took on a seriously thoughtful look. The team looked at each other, shrugged in confusion and watched the halfa hover back and forth in ghostly pacing.
"Is there something wrong with my account?" A.J. challenged. Danni shook her head and finally narrowed her eyes at Chester.
"No, not yours. It's Chester's testimony. I object to his version of the events." she finally declared. The blonde looked startled, then stood up in defiance.
"What the hell? I told the truth! I ain't no lying scumbag like Mr. Moneybags back there!" he snapped. Danni put her arms akimbo and frowned.
"You said that you heard A.J. make the call to abandon the lot while you were taking Trixie back to the Spire. That means you were awake before he made the call and was at the time trying to raise the missing members of Team Turner!" she pointed out, jabbing her finger in Chester's direction, "So why didn't you respond to him then or at least report in on your condition? Why didn't you tell the group that you were okay?"
Chester blinked at her, rolled his eyes in thought, then rubbed his head bashfully, a wide smile on his face.
"Oh, yeah! About that... I actually forgot there was some other stuff that happened." he chuckled and the team groaned in unison. Danni lifted an eyebrow at him, mouth twisting to one side as she waited for him to continue.
"I was going to the Spire with Tricks, right? Actually, I stopped a little bit after I started heading there when I saw Apollo lying on the ground. I totally forgot I had the Fenton Phones because I was worried about the little guy. If I had remembered, I would have called for help, because I couldn't wake him up.
"Now that I think about it, Apollo's color of magic is red, right? Then the flash of red light might have been from him. I picked him up along with Tricks and went on to the Spire again. When I heard the call to abandon the lot, I ran away with both Tricks and Apollo."
Danni leaned back in the air, puzzling over that as the fairies on the table looked at each other. Wanda tilted her head in confusion; Cosmo only shrugged, then winced as the motion aggravated the assorted bandages wrapping his body. Apollo was giving Cosmo strange looks, but said nothing about the account himself.
"There, you see? He forgot he had the Phones on. It's an honest mistake." Timmy put in for his friend. "Not like what happened was his fault. That blame lies entirely on me." he added beratingly.
"Stop being so hard on yourself." the halfa murmured, reaching out to him and freezing at the cold glare shot back at her.
"Touch me and I will not be responsible for I may, can, and will do to you." he snarled. He turned the glare on his cup of cocoa, "I deserve it; I failed to keep my promises. Do your job and leave me alone." he added dully. Danni pulled back and blinked, a worried expression on her face.
"This is bad." she whispered and turned back to the group, "O-okay then. Chester saw a red light at some point and heard an explosion. Apollo uses red-colored magic; was he responsible for that explosion?" She waved a hand towards the fairy and the little swordsman blinked a few times owlishly before getting the idea that he was supposed to speak. He sighed weakly.
"Yeah, that explosion was from me. I was trying to get rid of all the units that were tailing me, and Wanda was helping. But she had orders from Timmy to go back to her at the first possible chance so that she could help distract Remy and Juandissimo. As long as I had the units, she wouldn't be able to do that. So I told her to go ahead and leave, that I would take the group of them down to the snipers.
"When she left, I flew higher, taking the units as far from battle as I could. I knew there were too many for the snipers to fire down effectively, since all the chaos with Remy's team had split up Team Turner too badly. The only thing I could think of was to try one of those magic attacks that Cosmo had used. That Doom Ribbon thing he did back at Spire Five looked like it could do the trick, so I tried it.
"I got the ribbon of magic free and it worked fantastically; every trap and unit that was tailing me was utterly destroyed! But I didn't realize just how much magic that attack used up. I thought it wouldn't be too bad, considering how Cosmo used it and was just fine after it. Only, when I used it, it felt like all the magic had been sucked out of me. I tried to get to Trixie, but I was on my last legs. I passed out on the way, and that's all I remember. I didn't wake up until I was here and Cosmo was recharging me with his wand."
"You used the Doom Ribbon? That's why you were on the verge of turning into dust?" Wanda screamed at the red-haired fairy in a mix of shock and fury, "You idiot! You can't use that! Only Cosmo has the power to use the Doom Ribbon and survive the drain!" Apollo glared back at her coldly.
"I know that now. What interests me is why it is that he has the ability to use such high-level magic attacks and not feel the least bit weakened by it." he pointed out, "What's so special about Cosmo, hmm?" Wanda sat back, paling as she glanced at her husband, who stared vacantly into the distance.
"Nothing! There's nothing special about him, beyond the fact that he makes me laugh and that's why I married him." she replied hurriedly. Apollo frowned and shook his head slightly.
"I don't think so, Mrs. Cosma." he whispered just loud enough for only her to hear, "If the rumor is true about Cosmo Cosma, then how many other rumors concerning him are also true? I'm very interested in validating the truth of the scandal that shook up Fairy World fourteen years ago." Wanda huffed in false bravado.
"There's no truth to it. Cosmo is an idiot, the dumbest fairy in Fairy World, but he's my idiot and I love him with all my heart." she returned, "We're a happily married couple and there's nothing more to it."
"Hey! No whispering here! I need to have all this information straight to send to Caleb!" Danni declared in frustration, "So now we know how Apollo was found and brought back, but A.J. reported losing contact with two fairies!" She glared pointedly at Cosmo and Wanda. "Would someone care to report on how Cosmo was found and brought here?" she growled. Wanda glared back and stood up, arms folded up as she assumed a firm, almost defiant stance.
"After Timmy told me to leave him and check on the Spire attack while he dealt with Remy with the anti-fairies, I headed off to find Cosmo. A.J. had told me on a private channel that he wasn't getting a response from him, and as his wife I was worried about him. I didn't know I was being followed until Juandissimo Magnifico suddenly showed up in front of me. He demanded to know how Remy got that orb from Timmy.
"I didn't tell him anything; he's the enemy after all. So I ignored him and pushed on, but then he flew by me and said that he had defeated Cosmo in a duel and that I should go with him as his reward. That ticked me off, so I attacked with the Heartache Hammer! Nobody hurts my sweet Cosmo and gets away with it!
"The fight lasted only until the Spire's upper levels exploded. Juandissimo suddenly panicked and escaped, probably to find Remy and see if he was all right. I continued searching for Cosmo and found something burning on the ground not too far away. When I landed to check, I discovered that it was the remains of the Windcutter Scythe that was burning. I did some more snooping around and I found Cosmo unconscious nearby, tied up to a light post.
"One swing of the axe side of the Heartache Hammer and I was able to get Cosmo out of those ropes. I took him to a nearby alley to hide out and help him wake up. When Timmy called for an all-clear to go to the Ivory Tower, I knew he'd be all right, so I left with Cosmo to come here."
"Orb? What orb?" Danni asked suddenly, a perplexed look on her face. Wanda and Cosmo looked sidelong at each other, then stared up at her. The halfa frowned as the rest of Team Turner blinked in collective confusion. "Well? What's up with the orb?"
"The orb?" Wanda laughed nervously, "Is that what I said? You know, it's an orb! Kinda round, like a ball. An orb!" Timmy tilted his head, eyebrow lifted as he watched his godmother flounder for an escape.
"Wanda, most of the team already knows about the orb." he pointed out, "You may as well just give them all a briefer on it." Wanda gulped and glanced back at her husband again, before sighing in defeat.
"All right. I'll tell you all about the orb." she groaned softly.
"Good. If Remy has control of the orb, what would it mean for Team Turner?" Danni asked seriously.
"The orb that Juandissimo was talking about is a super-condensed form of Timmy's personal mana, complete with his blank mana signature. It was pulled from him using that device in the news. You know? The one with the stolen aionis? With that orb, Remy can use the aionis that was formed into a scepter to channel it and force his own will on it, allowing him to use magic until the orb expires.
"Timmy's ability to use magic was completely void as long as Remy had that orb, so he couldn't use any spells to fight or anything. Not while Remy had control of Timmy's mana and he hadn't recharged himself with fresh mana. We were in an area full of nullifiers and the Dark Spire was still trying to block all frequencies of magic and mana, so there wasn't enough in the surroundings to help Timmy recover. That's why we hadn't been using magic as much as we normally would have; the Spire's effects were very strong, and whatever spells and magic got used only lasted for a short while.
"Now that Remy has the orb in his clutches, his threat level is much higher than we originally credited him. He can use magic just like Timmy can! Think of it! A mana manipulator on the side of the enemy! Only Timmy can fight against that, and only if he's fully charged with fresh mana for himself! Otherwise, Remy could beat him with his own magic!"
"I object to that testimony!" Sanjay suddenly blurted out and the whole group turned to stare at him in disbelief. The Hindu laughed nervously. "It sounded like fun to say." he explained sheepishly, then took on a stern face, "But I still object! I clearly remember hearing Timmy say that he had recharged some mana almost immediately after Remy stole the orb and I freed him from the draining device. So there had to be enough mana in the area to do that."
"There wasn't enough magic to support low-level spells for very long!" Apollo pointed out loudly, "How could there be enough to recharge a high-level user so fast?" Wanda winced visibly at the argument and A.J. stood up to calm them down.
"Hey, hey! There's a way to decide all this for sure!" he told them and the group settled down to listen, "We do have a way to detect the amount of magic and mana in any given area. Once we know the level that was present, we'll know if it was enough to recharge Timmy so quickly." Danni blinked in surprise.
"Really? You guys have the technology to do that? I thought Caleb hadn't given you anything of that sort." the halfa remarked in astonishment, "So how can we run the test? Now that the Spire has been destroyed, the level of mana and magic in that area will have already risen since last night." A.J. grinned and shook his head.
"It's not a technology." he corrected, "It's Timmy." All eyes turned to the brunet, who straightened up almost self-consciously, a faint blush on his face. "Timmy has the ability to sense the levels of magic and mana in any area as a scent. We can just ask him what the level was that night and we'll know if there was enough to recharge him." the teen genius remarked confidently.
"So? Was there enough?" Danni asked him and Timmy sighed, shaking his head.
"I sensed the overall health of the mana in the Spire lot, and it was really weak. Like Apollo said, there was barely enough for low-level magic. I was using my personal mana to fuel my own spells because there wasn't enough for all the magic-users to work with." he replied and looked confused, "But I was still able to gather enough mana to call up my Level Two Bulla Scintillare, and that requires more than what was already around me and a lot more than what I had in me after Remy drained me with that crystal trap."
"Okay, so there wasn't enough mana and magic in the lot to recharge Timmy fast enough to call up that strong of a spell so soon after his mana was stolen. What could have recharged him in its place?" Danni asked and focused on the pink-haired fairy fidgeting on the table, "I have a feeling Wanda can answer that for us."
Wanda winced again, then sighed and began again.
"Okay, you're right. The level of magic in the lot that night was very, very weak, and there wasn't enough mana to recharge Timmy in time to defend against Remy if he tried to use the orb right away. So, I stuck my wand into his belt and forced it to release its supply of magic.
"Timmy's use of mana is very similar to basic fairy magic, so I knew that his body would begin absorbing the magic from my wand and convert it into blank signature mana, the kind that he needed to survive and used for his own magic. That's why he was able to recover so fast that night. I got the wand back when we reunited here, but I didn't expect to see him with a black eye. He was perfectly fine when I left him, and my Timmy Sense never went off after that."
Team Turner buzzed with surprise at the new information and Timmy stared at Wanda in shock. Apollo's face had paled and he held his head in his hands.
"This can't be happening! No way, no way!" he whimpered to himself.
"Timmy can recharge off of fairy magic? But according to the records in the Archive, fairy magic uses ultra-mana frequencies! Timmy is a human magic-user; he's only able to access normal frequencies of mana!" A.J. exclaimed in disbelief, hands flying up to his cheeks as his eyes went wide.
"But conjuring is a magic that uses ultra-mana, too, right?" Chester protested and held his hands out towards Timmy, "And he's able to make stuff appear out of thin air like it's nobody's business! That's gotta be proof that even humans can use ultra-mana, too!"
"Hey! Everybody, shut up! I can't concentrate!" Danni yelled out and the group settled again, still mumbling to themselves as the halfa rubbed her head in mock pain, "Argh! Okay, let me get this straight. So far, this is what happened; A.J. destroys the Dark Spire with a virus and tells everyone to run away. Chester recovers Apollo and Trixie before the call and runs away with them when he hears it. Sanjay ran off with Timmy, who was recharging his mana with Wanda's wand, and Wanda herself took off with Cosmo after rescuing him without the use of magic." She looked around quickly. "Is that it? That's... three... four, five... six... That accounts for seven members of Team Turner retreating from the battlefield." Danni counted and frowned, "What about the fat kid? Elmer, right?" The russet-haired boy held up his hands and shook his head frantically.
"Oh, no, no, no! Don't look at me! I heard the call to run, so I ran! I didn't stick around to get involved in these messes!" he exclaimed, "If I had other orders from Timmy or Chester, then maybe I'd have more information, but I didn't hear anything from them!"
"Okay, so that's eight members off the field. All that's left is to hear from the group that's caused us the most controversy. Chip Skylark, right?" Danni finally announced, looking straight at the weary singer slumped back in his seat, "Can you tell us what happened during the incident we're calling the Dental Ambush?"
"Do I have to?" Chip returned tiredly. The most recent member of the team had returned to the Ivory Tower covered in toothpaste and bruises. The androids manning the Tower had helped him get cleaned up and Timmy provided the healing magic to get rid of the bruising, but nothing seemed to break him out of his exhausted funk.
"You were there the longest since you were the reason for the ambush. You're our only lead right now." A.J. pointed out to him. Chip folded his arms over his chest and sighed.
"Fine." he relented.
"I was doing fine in leading the units around the Spire, like we planned. Then, all of a sudden, those crazy dentists jumped in out of nowhere with a whole mob of toothpaste monsters! They sicced their goons on me, so I had no choice but to start fighting them off with the Dental Laser and the flash grenades that were in the utility belt. I thought I'd be done for, there were so many, but then Tootie showed up and dug into 'em with her spells. She used one that she called Aqua Edge that dissolved lots of monsters. A little bit after that, her little flying friend showed up and helped out by popping lids off of fire hydrants to wash away more toothpaste monsters.
"The whole fight was going pretty dang good for us, but then I noticed that Tootie wasn't using her magic as often as she used to. Like she was running out of the stuff that makes her magic work. You guys call it mana, right? And you said that it was really weak in the area that night, right? Maybe that's why she wasn't casting it so much anymore. Dr. Bender and Wendell caught onto that and rushed right past her, straight at me! God, I can still see their grins and those pliers in their hands... ugh!
"But then, I heard Tootie yell out a wish and her floating friend waved her little wand. Next thing I know, I'm wearing this weird metal gag that completely blocked off my mouth so I couldn't fire the Dental Laser anymore. I still don't know why the heck she did that. Then Icky Vicky here showed up and started yelling her head off about the monsters being in her way.
"I tried to pull the mask off so I could help Tootie clear away the monsters, but I couldn't get the damn thing loose. One of the monsters managed to grab on to me and held me down so Bender could have a crack at it. No go for him either. He said that he'd get my teeth one way or another, then I felt something hit me in the head and that's all I remember. It all went black after that."
"What the heck? Is that what happened?" Timmy exclaimed, shooting up out of his seat, "I gave her the mana crystals to keep recharging her supply of mana for use in spell-casting! Why didn't she use them to cast more spells?" Chip held up his hands in a helpless shrug.
"I... I don't know! I didn't even know she had something like that!" he cried, "Maybe she forgot? If she remembered that she had them, none of this would have happened!" Danni rapped her fist against the table for attention.
"Hey! Quiet down!" she declared and pointed at the singer, "You just said that you had on a mask that refused to come off. Yet, everyone can see you now and what we see is a distinct lack of mask!" The group looked over at Chip, who put his hand up to his mouth in confusion. "How did the mask come off if you couldn't do it and neither could those dentists? Did Tootie's wish say how the mask could come off? Do you remember what she specified in that wish?" the halfa questioned, "Maybe you should revise your testimony, Mr. Skylark." Chip puzzled it over for a moment, then nodded slowly.
"Now that I think about it, I do remember some other things. It's all a little fuzzy, but there was definitely more that happened." he agreed.
"The wish that Tootie made when she was yelling was really fast, but really specific, in kind of a vague way. But I guess her floating friend understood the gist of it, 'cause it all worked out. I think her exact words were 'I wish there was a seal over Chip's mouth that unlocks only when the one I love most touches it'. I guess she did it to protect my teeth from being stolen, because with the way things were going I would have lost them to those crazy dentists in no time.
"I tried to pull off the gag only because it was the first thing that came to me in the battle. The Dental Laser was my best weapon and now it was gone. Then Bender tried it and he couldn't get it off. Wendell said not to worry because he heard the wish and added that Tootie was talking about himself. So he tried to open the seal, too. But that didn't work either. That's when Bender said he'd get my teeth one way or another.
"Now that I think about it some more, he might have also said that the way he'd get it was to make Wendell the one Tootie loved most. Then the seal would have to break under Wendell's touch and they'd be able to get my teeth! Then I got that hit to the head and everything went dark."
"So the seal would only break under the touch of the one Tootie loved most." Danni grumbled jealously, "How helpful." She shot Timmy a glare as she folded her arms over her chest. The brunet burned a bright red and slouched in his seat as the rest of the group grinned knowingly at him.
"I didn't know a wish was involved in that. I just thought it was something Remy did, so I put my hand on it to try dissolving the lock and it just popped open right there." Timmy mumbled bashfully and shook his head. "I... I don't deserve it. Not after what I've done."
"Darn straight, you don't!" Danni declared, "And she doesn't deserve you either! You're not even alike!"
"Will you stop that already?" Timmy sighed in exasperation, glaring up at her from his slouched position.
"Hey, Vicky, you said you were going to check on Chip and Tootie, right? And Chip said you showed up at about the time Tootie made her wish." A.J. pointed out, "Can you fill in what happened after he passed out?" All eyes turned toward the former babysitter as she sat rigidly in her chair. She'd been the most quiet the entire meeting and fairly simmered with barely contained fury. Her own eyes had been focused on Timmy the whole time, as if all the rage she had inside was trying to force its way out through the pink irises and fire on him in some form of laser.
"You want my input on this pile of crap that was our mission? Fine, I'll give it to you." Vicky growled, "Then you'll see why the twerp had it coming!"
"Yeah, I showed up when Tootie was making her wish, but I didn't hear what it was she said. Well, I did, but I didn't care. I just needed to hear her voice so that I could figure out where the hell she was in all that mess. I cut through as many of those goopy goons with my katanas as I could to reach her and that's when I saw that chubby little dweeb trying to pull some mask off of the fallen idol here. You know the one, that freak that keeps trying to hit on my little sister. Chip here was flailing around like crazy, trying to get away from them and the slimeball holding him down.
"I didn't hear what Bender was saying, just saw him make some motion with his hand and then the goon whapped Chip on the head and knocked him out. After that, it picked him up and followed Bender and Wendell. The two of them were rushing right after Tootie!
"I followed after them as fast as I could, dodging toothpaste goons until I got to the one holding Chip. I lay into that thing until it dropped him and then I made my way back to find Tootie. I heard her cry out just as I reached where she was fighting and that's when I saw one of those creeps grab her at Wendell's orders! Her flying toy flew in to help out. She gets in a couple of decent hits, trying to save her, but then she gets nabbed by the same goon.
"I jumped in, pissed as all hell and ready to kick some ass. But before I could make a move to save her, something blasted me in the gut. I saw a flash of pink and gold and there was all this light that was blinding. I faintly heard a kid's voice yell for a retreat, and then nothing."
"You saw a pink and gold flash of light when something hit you?" Danni questioned in confusion. Vicky nodded curtly as Sanjay twisted the frames of his glasses thoughtfully.
"The blow she felt may have been from the stolen mana orb that Remy now wields. It is possible that he learned how to do simple manipulations with it in the time it took him to reach Miss Vicky and Chip Skylark." he remarked slowly, "It would also explain the voice she heard." The girl halfa lifted her fingers to her chin in consideration, then shook her head.
"I don't think so. I've seen the projected course of Lover-Boy's magical power. He's barely capable of pulling off Level Four Hero-Class damage." she declared bluntly, "That means power capable of harming people within close proximity of himself. Vicky and Chip were both too far away from Timmy for his magic to do anything to Vicky." The carrot-top glared at her as Chester scowled in irritation.
"You callin' my team liars?" he argued. Danni waved him off.
"'Your' team? I was under the impression that this was Team Turner, not Team McBadbat." she retorted, then managed a small, smug grin, "Although you might have a point in renaming the team once all this Dark Spire stuff is done." The group looked baffled and she blinked in confusion. "You mean... he didn't tell you?"' she asked in a puzzled tone and folded her arms over her chest as she muttered faintly to herself, "And here I was thinking I could invite you to the ceremony..."
"The point isn't that Remy couldn't hit Vicky with magic because Timmy was out of range!" A.J. declared savagely, "The point is that Remy could hit her because Remy was in range!" He pointed at the young immortal to emphasize his words. "Remy stole Timmy's mana and is using it himself, with all the capabilities Timmy possesses under his control!" Danni rolled her eyes and shook her head in exasperation.
"And I still think there's no big deal in it. Timmy is a Level Four Hero, barely. Physically, he can cause good damage to small-scale properties and appliances, and his magic can harm people at a range of fifty to a hundred feet away, 'cuz his power weakens as it gets farther away." she corrected them sternly, one fist on her hip as she wagged her finger at the group of young people. "By comparison, I'm a Level Three Hero; physically, I can cause great amounts of damage to large properties and my ecto powers can harm people within a range of five hundred feet (not that I would want to hurt people). If I had Ghostly Wail, like Cousin Danny, I'd move up a rank."
"Your information is wrong, then." Sanjay retorted haughtily, "Timmy is capable of much more damage." Danni slammed her hand down on the table, startling the group as her eyes blazed yellow-green.
"Caleb's data is accurate within a two percent margin of error!" she yelled, "You can't argue against that kind of data!"
"You can if the projection is more than three months old and doesn't include his recent change in spell-casting!" A.J. argued back. Danni jerked back in shock, floating out of reach in reaction.
"A change in his casting?" she echoed and looked at the brunet, "Lover? What's going on?"
"Stop calling me that." Timmy grumbled and shrugged, "Those projections were based on me using elven spells, but it turns out that I'm a mana manipulator, so my power is based on my imagination."
"Then..."
"Yeah; Caleb's original projections no longer apply to me. I might even need to be reclassified." Timmy affirmed.
"But... " Danni stammered, then glared at Vicky, "If that's the case, then how is she still alive? If your magical strength is beyond Level Four, and she got blasted in the gut at close range, she should be dead right now!" Vicky snorted and lifted her arm, showing the black wristband that decorated it, the same as the rest of the team sported once Timmy explained how the runes worked in putting the armor away.
"Magitech armor. This thing saved me from turning into Swiss cheese." the evil babysitter remarked with a twisted grin, "Bet it stops ecto junk too."
"You wanna test that little bet?" the ghost girl snarled, a ball of ectoplasm blooming into fiery existence in her hand. In a flash, a bubble of crystalline water spread over her, sealing Danni Phantom within the shield. "What the-?" she cried in alarm and the budding Ghost Ray faded in her confusion as she reached out to touch the shield. She pressed against it, then again as her hand turned somewhat translucent. She looked shocked again. "What? But Caleb programmed the Ghost Shield to ignore me!" Danni cried, "Why can't I phase through?"
"That's not a Ghost Shield. That's Boltzman's Shield." A.J. corrected, "Thanks, Timmy." All eyes turned to the brunet as he gazed into the prism hovering over the tip of his index finger.
"That shield is made of pure mana. Ectoplasm can't affect it, so ghost powers are useless against it." Timmy murmured calmly, still watching the crystal spinning slowly over his finger. "Don't pick fights with my friends, okay?" Danni nodded, eyes wide, and Timmy breathed out over the prism, letting both it and the bubble vanish. The room fell into silence as he sat back and folded his arms over his chest. "I think it's time for my view of what happened." he added quietly.
"Sanjay woke me up and I found myself in an alley. I had no idea what had happened since my Fenton Phones were damaged during my run-in with Remy. That's why I had no clue that A.J. was about to blow the Spire; in fact, I was beginning to think we had failed the mission. I asked Sanjay for his Phones, gave an all-clear to get everyone out of the area since I had summoned the cops with the anti-fairies, and headed out to check on Tootie's group.
"I wanted to be sure that they had gotten the call and I was kind of worried about them, so I ran for the last place I remembered Tootie heading towards. When I got there, Chip was lying unconscious in a melted pile of toothpaste with something metal on his face. Vicky was in the same shape, with a weird burn on her stomach. I would have healed both of them there, but I hadn't recovered enough mana yet for two doses of Cure, so I went to see if I could get that thing off of Chip.
"Vicky woke up about the time I touched the mask and started looking around the area. She was calling Tootie's name and sounding panicky, so I went to see what she was doing. I told her to keep it down since there were other people around and that's when she spun around and slugged me.
"I fell back, shocked that she hit me, and she started screaming at me that this was my fault and that I broke my promise, that this would have never happened if I had just stayed dead.
"I don't remember what I said, but Vicky's answer made me feel faint again. Like I lost touch with reality. And she's right. This is all my fault; I should never have gotten her or any of you involved."
"I've decided I don't like you very much." Danni growled at Vicky, who only smirked back at her cruelly.
"Well, we're not exactly throwing a party at your presence, either." A.J. grumbled, slouching back in his chair as he looked over at Timmy. "So that's what happened, huh? I get it now."
"Well, I still don't, and I have to make a full report of all this to Caleb." the girl halfa sighed and turned back to the brunet with a soft look, "What did she say after she hit you? Do you remember?" Timmy blinked, then looked away almost tearfully.
"How could I forget? She... she told me... that Tootie was gone, and it's all my fault." he replied haltingly, "I sent her out there alone and she was captured along with Romi as a result." Danni stared at him, stunned, one hand flying up to her mouth to hold back a gasp.
"I wondered why she and her fairy were missing from the room, but I thought they were in the infirmary with that Trixie girl." she murmured.
"Trixie is recovering from the shock of whatever it was Francis told her." Chester reported softly, "We can ask what happened when she wakes up. Tootie and Romi are being held prisoner but we don't know where."
"And that's why you refused to heal yourself?" the half-ghost asked somberly, "Because you feel like it's your responsibility?"
"I know I'm responsible for everyone here, for anyone who comes into Dimmsdale to help me and for the people who live here." Timmy returned, "It wouldn't be fair if I came out of this mission unhurt while Tootie and Romi could be hurt out there, somewhere."
The gloomy mood that Danielle had felt when she first floated into the room returned almost full force and with it came the sinking realization that Dimmsdale's situation was far more dire than originally thought. Something was very wrong if the darkness in the city was of such magnitude that even Caleb was unable to do much in the area to help. She watched with a heavy heart as the team began leaving the room, murmuring soft promises to one another and especially to Vicky that they will rescue Tootie and her fairy somehow, the young immortal trailing behind in silence. Danni chewed on the thumb-tip of her glove for a moment as her thoughts raced, then quickly flew out to find the brunet.
"Timmy! Wait!" she cried and spun around him to force him to stop. He gave her an irritated look, placing one hand on his hip impatiently.
"What now? We told you everything that happened last night!" he exclaimed.
"I have another thing I have to do while I'm here. Caleb asked me to reclaim the missing aionis the police collected, just in case they haven't run a check on it yet." Danni told him, then shook her head, "But that's my errand. Anyway, I wanted to say... well, why not ask the other Heroes to deal with this?" At Timmy's baffled expression, she pressed on, "Look, you went through the training and everything, but your team is obviously not up to snuff and there's like some mondo huge conspiracy or something going on here, 'cuz you're screwing up royally before you gain any kind of ground."
"What?" Timmy snapped angrily as his godparents glared at her. She went on, flinching at his scowl.
"I'm just saying that maybe you should let go of this place now; let one of the Level Two Heroes handle it for you." she urged, "Heck, I've got Buttercup's cell number on speed dial! I can call in a favor, she'll pull strings with her sisters, and Dimmsdale's Spire-free before bedtime!" Timmy's mood wasn't improving.
"I am not letting a bunch of third-graders tear my city apart just to 'save the day' by some stupid curfew!" he growled.
"Well, what about one of the League members? There's lots there that are at least Level One; they can fix things, no problem! Pleeease!" Danni wheedled, putting on her cutest puppy-eyed look, "Then you can come to Amity Park, like you promised!"
"Amity Park? Why the heck would I...?" Timmy grumbled absently before catching himself, eyes blinking owlishly until things fell into place. "Danni! Is that why you've been calling me that stupid name all this time?" he snapped, thankful that he'd gone the opposite way from the Others, up the Tower towards the infirmary. The halfa huffed and floated before him with arms folded over her chest.
"You promised, Lover, and I'm holding you to it, come Hell or Oblivion." she pointed out stubbornly, "But... fine. What-ever! Go ahead and play Hero to this stupid town. When you finally see that I was right, I'll be waiting to say I told you so!" With that, she did a quick pirouette, vanishing from sight with her own ghostly teleportation. Timmy stared at the empty space, then sighed tiredly, placing a hand over his injured eye to try to quell the pain.
"It just doesn't get any easier, does it, Wanda?" he asked.
"You probably shouldn't have made that promise to her that day." the pink-haired fairy murmured. The brunet glared up at her as he continued towards the elevator.
"Wanda, you were the one who told me to go ahead and do it! Don't try to pin all this on me!" he argued hotly, only to be met by a shameless attempt at an innocent smile by his fairy godmother.
Buxaplenty Manor~
"Things did not go according to plan, Crocker." Remy growled over the web conference link, "I was under the impression that your updated Squadron Control Unit programming would make short work of that miserable group!"
"I didn't take into account that they had additional resources at their disposal." Crocker answered dryly, drafting pencil skritching away at a pad of paper, "Never mind. That Spire was already a loss since they cut the network access, and I'm designing a new form of control unit." He turned the pad so as to show to the boy millionaire. "I call it the Advance Class Squadron Control Unit."
It looked dangerous. That was Remy's first thought upon seeing the rough sketch. It looked lethal and expensive and beautifully dangerous. Like a pudgy stealth bomber, it was solid black with sweeping wings and an antenna that nearly lay flush to its body. A pair of small laser cannons were mounted to its undercarriage, flanking the round core that was obviously the Control Unit from the previous generation, only repainted a jet black color.
The lasers were new. Remy couldn't recall Crocker ever designing anything that would be lethal at a distance, or even lethal at all. The recent upgrades of the Destroyer-class units, the ground-bound Smashers and the aerial Mayhems, had been deemed 'not cuddle-worthy' due to the ungodly number of sharp objects attached to them, but this was a huge step up. These were the closest he had gotten to creating robotic snipers.
"Sniper-class. I like the sound of it." Remy mused with a faintly vicious grin as his fingers ran delicately over the glowing orb just out of Crocker's view, "Build them, and make sure they converge on their targets this time. I don't want them scattering themselves about chasing after a myriad of urchins in jumpsuits!" The retired teacher lifted an eyebrow at him, turning the pad back to resume sketching.
"So that's what's been going on, hmm. The lasers will be tuned to fire on anything that doesn't bear the DNA trace I have on file, and each Sniper unit will carry its own nullifier." he mused aloud, "This way, each unit will have the best qualities of the previous three units, Satellite, Mayhem, and Squadron Control. The Sweeper units will be upgraded for a more stream-lined design, like the Sniper class and will be flanked by these new units."
"And what will happen to the obsolete units?" Remy asked, eyebrow lifted. Crocker shrugged.
"I'll recall them to Master Control. I can use them in some... experiments..." he replied and smiled so widely and gleefully that the blonde found himself shuddering in subconscious revulsion. "Now, if you don't mind, I have work to do. There's someone out there that I very much want to get my hands on, so there's much to be done before everything falls into place." With that, Crocker reached out and clicked on something, killing the connection between him and Remy.
For a few minutes, there was nothing. Then a blast of pink and gold light erupted and reduced the flat-screen monitor to molten plastic and silicon. Remy glared at the mess on his desk, free hand still smoking faintly with pink mana rising from his fingertips, the aionis scepter gripped tightly in the other hand. Juandissimo jumped at the noise and glanced over at him warily.
"You are getting more adept at using that thing, mi amigo. However, I still think using wishes is much easier on both of us." he pointed out carefully. Remy snorted disdainfully as he returned to drumming his fingers against the orb.
"The only reason you say that is because you're afraid of the heights I'll achieve now that I have Timothy's power in my hands." the blonde remarked haughtily, "However, I don't want to waste it on petty things, like rebuilding that monitor. So, I wish I had a new, top-of-the-line flat-screen monitor."
"You wish it because you can't conjure one yourself, amigo." Juandissimo muttered under his breath as he waved his wand to grant the wish.
Satisfied with his new monitor, Remy then went on to examine the morning's news, curling a lip in annoyance as he watched Chet Ubetcha spill to the city the fact that his Spires were indeed being destroyed. He chuckled briefly at the mention of the 'terrorists' and resolved to make some kind of televised appearance to assure the city of its safety and perhaps earn a few points towards his own goal if he can sway their loyalties to him in exchange for security. For now, there was the matter of dealing with Dr. Bender and Wendell.
The battle over Spire Three had ended with the destruction of the tower, yet there was still some victories to be had. First, the possession of Timothy's magic, sealed in the form of an orb that now decorated his silvery scepter. With this much power, Remy could rule the city with an iron fist and be unafraid of his bothersome benefactors when next they came for their little updates. He'd had some trouble at first with using it but by the time he reached the battlefield with Bender and Wendell, he'd discovered that simply thinking of the effect he wanted while his hand was in contact with the orb allowed him to pull it off once he swept his hand from the scepter. Thus his first haphazard shot at the carrot-top babysitter that sent her flying some twenty feet or so away was considered a huge success.
Never mind that his own fairy godfather kept staring at the orb like it defied all logic.
Next was the happy capture of that Goth girl and her fairy godmother. True, the main target had been Chip Skylark, but with the time constraints placed on them by incoming constables (no thanks to that blasted mongrel) they would have to make do with the girls. And then the two dentists had to raise a ruckus over the fact that he took both girls as his own hostages. Really, if they had just done their jobs properly the first time around, they would have had Chip's teeth and not be so bloody annoying to him later in life. Ah well.
And just to be sure there would be no heroic rescues or some other nonsense, Remy would soon be locking both the Goth and her fairy godmother away in a nice location, fully protected from that blasted not-so-immortal urchin and his band of reject friends. Granted, Remy would have taken the fairy for himself, but really now. He had Timothy's magic in his hands; what use was another rebellious fairy to him?
Remy huffed as he adjusted his tie with one hand, refusing to let go of his new toy for even one moment, then made his way down to the foyer to meet with the two dentists and give them a few good reasons as to why they couldn't lay hands on that Tootie girl. Hopefully, the destruction would be kept to a minimum.
In the foyer, Dr. Bender waited impatiently for their millionaire backer to finally arrive and answer to him about last night's fiasco. Things didn't go according to plan at all! They were supposed to have laid claim to Chip Skylark's perfect teeth and they didn't. They were supposed to be able to get to him unhindered and they didn't. They were supposed to kidnap Tootie to get her to fall in love with Wendell so the wish could be broken by his touch and they didn't. Just one huge disappointment over all and they were now going to demand that the girl be returned to them or hell was gonna break loose.
"But Father With the Most Perfect Teeth Ever, how are we going to make Remy give us back my future girlfriend?" Wendell questioned with the faintest trace of doubt and panic, eyes darting back and forth from the door to the stairs. Dr. Bender huffed and continued tapping his foot against the floor.
"By telling him that if he doesn't cough her up, we'll be ripping his teeth out just like everyone else!" the dentist declared.
"You'll be doing no such thing, good doctor." Remy's voice called out in sneering confidence as the blonde descended from the upper floors, stopping at the top of the stairs that led down into the foyer. Wendell swallowed hard, tightening hands into fists as he watched the other boy run his fingers over the glowing orb on his scepter. He'd seen him use it the night before, sending out a wicked-looking blast that threw Vicky for a loop. Whatever it was, it was scary and he didn't want it anywhere near him.
"Your 'Big, Perfect Plan' was a a total wash, brat!" Bender accused, wagging his finger at the boy in every parent's default manner of dealing with the younger generation. Remy's eyes narrowed at the gesture as the dentist went on. "Your tower got blown away, we didn't get Chip Skylark's teeth, and you went and took our hostage! Give us back the girl or you'll be having an early appointment!"
It was probably the way Remy's fingers flicked against the glass sphere that gave Wendell the warning, but it was enough to make him dive for cover when the boy millionaire suddenly swept his hand forward from the scepter, firing a blast of gold that sent him and his father skittering across the marble floor. Dust and debris kicked up from the blast rained down on them and Bender scrambled to get to his feet and find an escape. Wendell tried his best to make himself small and unassuming, and possibly a harder target to hit.
"The little Goth twit is my ticket to ensuring that blasted mongrel stays his hand at last!" Remy raged at them, hand smoking from wielding his new power, "You two utter failures will go right back to your bloody office and continue guarding the sewer system to defend what remains of the Spire Network!" Another swipe and he grinned at the two cowering before him as they watched the floor actually catch fire and dance with golden flames. "And if I catch wind that you've spoken a breath of this to the media, you won't like what will happen to you. And I can assure you... it will be a far worse fate than being turned into mimes!" the blonde declared and threw another blast down at them, "Now get out!"
The dentists did not need to be told twice about that.
Francis blinked up at his psychiatrist again, dully watching as the man rolled his eyes as he always did whenever he came to do his court-appointed sessions. It was routine and, though it had been an annoyance when they first started, the sessions just wouldn't seem right anymore if the man didn't do that eye-roll. Thus, Francis would always stay unresponsive to the psychiatrist's first questions to ensure he got that eye-roll, then proceed to report his findings.
"And what did you discover today, Francis?" the man asked flatly, sitting back on the couch as he tapped his pen against his clipboard.
"I've gained new information on the cause of Timmy Turner's death." Francis began simply, picking up the cup of coffee his father made for him before the brute of a man returned to punching something in some unseen room of the house, "The jungle gym had been attached to some sort of mechanical device that was designed for the specific purpose of turning the construct in synchronization with Turner's fall. Thus, aligning the bar with his neck that would cause the fatal accident."
"Uh huh." the psychiatrist murmured, having long ago decided to just tune out whatever was being told to him. After all, he was in the presence of the one who stole away the Heart; who wouldn't want to just ignore him in favor of wallowing in personal misery?
Francis sipped at the coffee before setting it down and pressing his fingertips together thoughtfully. He'd gathered a lot of information, but he was having just a little trouble processing it all.
"The device that was created to turn the jungle gym seems to have been designed by a child, like the Tang girl said last night at the base of the Spire that was destroyed. The Black Hound files must hold the secret to the identity of the designer of that device." he mused aloud, "I don't have access to those files, but it seems like Trixie Tang does. And she has been in the company of the Others lately, so suffice to say you can trace a connection between her and that other boy that's joined their ranks recently."
"Yeah." the psychiatrist parroted, scoring a third win in solo Tic-Tac-Toe. The former bully sat before him, now musing silently to himself, then speaking again. This time, it was slow and careful, as though he were picking his way carefully through some subject matter.
"Two people saw my recreation of the jungle gym and reacted with something other than anger or sorrow. That first boy saw it and panicked, freezing in place as if facing some horrific monstrosity. Remy saw it and tried to ignore it, tried to distance himself from it. Why would those two react so differently?" he wondered aloud, then shot a look at his psychiatrist, "You haven't listened at all to anything I've said, have you?"
"Sure, just take it day by day. Same as the rest of us. You are not alone in this." the man recited, filling in the blanks of a crossword puzzle. Francis frowned and shook his head.
This man was utterly useless and clearly in need of psychiatric help.
Ivory Tower, Infirmary~
The soft beeping of machines was both comforting and distressing. Mint Adnade continued her care of Anti-Cosmo, smiling gently at each group of anti-fairies that flew in and deposited life-giving energy to their fallen leader. In another bed, Trixie Tang lay in quiet slumber, resting and recovering from what had happened at the Spire battle while being tended to by Raine Sage. Chester sat by her, looking as if the weight of the whole thing had dropped onto him and was refusing to slide off.
Timmy stood in the doorway, surprised to see him there, before making his way over to join him. The fairies fluttered from him to see to their respective opposites; Wanda winging over to see how Anti-Wanda was holding up, and Cosmo sitting, Indian-fashion, at the foot of Anti-Cosmo's bed, watching him with a strange expression that wasn't quite anger and wasn't quite interest. Progress on the anti-fairy was going well. He seemed to be getting stronger, but it would take some time before he woke up.
"Hey, you okay?" the brunet murmured in concern as he sat by his second-in-command. Chester blinked, as though caught unawares that someone else had entered and spoken to him.
"Huh? Uh, yeah." he muttered offhandedly once he registered Timmy sitting by him, "I'm fine. More worried about Tricks and Toots really." Timmy winced slightly at their names and sighed, looking over at the sleeping Asian. "She was really out of it when Francis talked to us." the blonde went on, "I just know he did something to her!"
"Why would Francis even be at the Spire last night?" Timmy wondered aloud, "He's under house arrest; if he left at any time, the police would know about it for sure."
"Probably because of Remy's wishin' stuff again. He met with Francis at one point. Said so himself." Chester replied absently, watching Raine study the machines with her usual fascinated expression. He glanced over at brunet and frowned. "You oughtta heal that bruise on your face, Timmy. Doesn't look good on you at all and hell if it doesn't look suspicious to the cops." he added. When the brunet made no motion to do so, the blonde sighed and shrugged. "Fine." he remarked, "Hey, Ms. Sage! Heal my buddy here, will ya?"
"What the-?" Timmy blurted in alarm as Raine turned with a grin and held out her staff.
"Mana around us, mend this broken form! Cure!" the robotic half-elf exclaimed and the light of the spell melted into the brunet's body, erasing the blackened bruise from his face. Timmy scowled and slouched back in his seat, arms folded over his chest in a huff.
"Thanks." he growled sarcastically, "Ruin it for me, why don't'cha?"
"Stop acting like some angsty hero and get it together, man." Chester pointed out, "We gotta figure out where Toots is so we can stage a rescue!" He scratched his head, then blinked as his eyes fell on the dulling white band of the Adventurer's Map Timmy wore. "Hey, that thing can find fairies, right? And Romi got kidnapped along with Toots, right?" he remarked, pointing at the computer. Timmy looked at it, lifting his arm, then nodded. "Well, why not try looking for Romi using that thing? Then maybe we can find Toots with it, too!"
"I tried that already. Last night." Timmy sighed, "Look." He held his arm before him and cleared his throat. "Fairy wand locator. Locate subject, Andromeda. Active Mode scan." he ordered and both boys watched as the holographic map bloomed into the air and the words 'Subject not found' scrolled across the screen after a few minutes. "Switch to Passive Mode. Locate subject, Andromeda." Timmy gave another command and the computer tried again. This time, it reported that there was too much interference by nullifiers to pinpoint the wand's location. "See? Dead ends." the brunet sighed, then flinched, "Bad choice of words."
"Duh." Chester agreed and sat back in thought, "Okay, so we know that she was with Chip, Dr. Bender and Wendell when she disappeared. And Vicky too. Chip and Vicky got knocked out, so that leaves the crazy dentists and Remy." He scratched his head again. "One of them had to have kidnapped Toots, but which one?"
"We could check them both out, but first we have to hide the fact that Trixie's here and Tootie's missing from both their parents." Timmy sighed, "The Tangs won't be happy to know their daughter is suffering from shock and the Bradleys could be held off from being too curious if Vicky just tells them Tootie is having a sleep-over or something." Chester shrugged as he picked up the remote control on Trixie's bedside table and flicked on the television screen mounted on the wall.
"Let's rest a bit more before we start giving them both hard times. Won't be doing Toots and Romi any good if we're so weak from last night that we get taken out today." he remarked, "Halloween's coming up in a few days, right? We can use that to scare the crap outta them and tell us where they are." Timmy gave him a disapproving glare, shaking his head.
"I don't want to have them be prisoners at all, way less for a few days. Do they even have food and water?" he questioned and glanced up at the clock, "It's almost time for the news at noon. Think they're gonna put more heat on Remy 'cuz of the Spires?" Chester sighed and continued flicking through channels.
"I'm worried about them too, but I'm trying to keep myself together so I can figure out what to do. I want to go racing out there and start busting heads until I get them back, but that's not gonna help us or them." he pointed out, "And she's got some rations in her utility belt. A.J. has us covered when it comes to that. She's a survivor, Timmy; we all are. We're not gonna die so easy when we're trying to save Dimmsdale and the world."
The brunet fell silent at that and slumped back against his chair again. He brought up the map of Dimmsdale on his computer, gazing at the zones of gold that were overtaking the zones of gray and black. He studied the spot where the last Spire had once stood, then winced as he realized that, in the chaos of the previous night, it had completely slipped his mind to attempt to contact Crocker and alert him to what had happened that day, four years ago. This time, Timmy wasn't going to be attacking the network system in the sewers; not if he was going to use that same system to deliver that message to the retired teacher.
There was something else that needed to be done, now that the area was free for magic again. Something very important...
And it hit him as he spotted the Dimma-Dump location on the map. Mark! Mark Chang was supposed to be living there, last he checked at least!
"I gotta go!" Timmy blurted out, jumping up from his seat and making his way to the door. Chester blinked in alarm, startled by his sudden motion.
"What? Where? Why?" he asked one after another in confusion. The two fairies looked up and flew over to join their godchild, poofing into their respective disguises on his body.
"To the Dimma-Dump! I have to see if a friend of mine is still here!" the brunet called back and hit the pad on the wall to open the door, "Call me when Trixie wakes up so we can figure out what she learned from Francis! I'll be back in a couple of hours!" With that, he raced off, leaving Chester behind with a baffled look on his face.