A/N: This took faaaar too long to get back to, but here it is at last. As up to date as the dA version, I hope.
When we last left the gang, the boys on Timantha's rescue team were sent away from the manor as part of a deal with Juandissimo to find the location of Tootie and Romi. But what exactly is it Remy's fairy godfather wants Timantha to do for him? And why?
18
"So I read in the flier that Remy had some big surprise for the people of Dimmsdale." Timantha remarked in an all too casual tone, her expression flat as she walked beside Juandissimo. Her gaze slid aside to the fairy. "You wouldn't happen to catch a glimpse of it, would you?"
"It's nothing." Juandissimo muttered defensively, leading the brunette onwards up another flight of stairs, "You focus on the Spires; everything else is..." He gestured aimlessly with his wand. "Nada por nada."
Timantha raised an eyebrow after picking out the translation. 'Nothing for nothing?' So whatever Remy was planning didn't matter at all, or Juandissimo was covering up for the guy and it was actually something game-changing. She shook her head clear of the thoughts. No, right now, it was nothing; she had to concentrate on learning where Tootie and Romi were so they could be rescued.
They soon came to a set of thick doors, made with a darkly stained wood that would be quite beautiful if the young immortal was of the mind to admire them. Glancing around, Juandissimo checked the area before waving his wand and opening the doors. He floated in first, with Timantha warily scanning the dim room as she stepped inside. For the briefest of moments, she wished she had the Blue Crystal Rod with her, but there was just no way to bring something like that to this kind of party without giving herself away.
A large fireplace set against the western wall and crackling with a warm and sizable flame illuminated the room partially. She could see shelves of books and elegant carpeting and furniture, a large and impressive wooden desk on the other side of the room, and animal trophies decorating the walls alongside antiques and anything made with gold or marble. Juandissimo floated in the center of the room, waiting impatiently for her to draw close.
"This is... the study." Timantha murmured, her eyes resting uneasily on the large number of shadows cast by the firelight, "Why did you want me to come here?" She spared the fairy a faintly distrustful glance. "And why are you asking for my help? You don't even know who I am."
"Anyone with two brain cells to rub together can see through that disguise." Juandissimo dismissed, "It is for my Wanda that I ask." He pointed at the desk. "There is a locked drawer there with a nullifier protecting it. If you are truly immune to its power, open it and bring me the paper that is within it." Timantha frowned, folding her arms over her chest without thinking.
"That's it? You want me to fetch you some paper?" she demanded in frustration and growing anger, "You're risking Tootie's life over paper?"
"The sooner it is in my hands, the sooner you can rescue your little Goth girl." Juandissimo returned dryly, poofing up a mirror and busying himself with smoothing back hair that wasn't even out of place. Growling under her breath, Timantha stalked towards the desk and moved around it to reach the drawers. She ran her hands over them, tugging to see which one was locked, the silk of her opera gloves gliding over the surfaces.
Finally she pulled on one that wouldn't open and closed her eyes, pressing her fingertips against the front of the locked drawer. "What are you trying to do?" Anti-Cosmo whispered warily.
"I don't know yet. Let me think." Timantha mumbled back. She needed to get paper out, so she couldn't use water or fire. Oh, she could use earth! A little dirt never hurt anyone!
She chose to ignore the memory of a disk of Earth mana smashing Chester's nose in.
The wood under her fingers began lightening, spreading outward from where her fingertips rested. The smooth texture roughened, rippling out and following the lightening color, until the entire front panel of the drawer looked like it had been made of tightly compacted sand. With a grin, Timantha gave the sandy panel a little punch, watching it crumble to pieces and expose the interior of the drawer. A single sheet of paper lay within, a faint glow surrounding it. She blinked in surprise, then narrowed her eyes. Magic. That paper was magic, but it wasn't being affected by the nullifier.
She reached in and pulled it out, walking over to Juandissimo and holding it out. "Okay, here you..." she began, only to trail off as the fairy snatched the sheet from her fingers and poured over the words intently, eyes sweeping back and forth and teeth clenching. "Your welcome." Timantha muttered, hands on her hips as she waited for him to hurry up and tell her where Tootie and Romi were hidden.
After a moment, Juandissimo's face paled and he recoiled from the floating paper in horror. "N-No! This cannot be! My own fairy godson, conspiring with those most unsexy of creatures!" he exclaimed, throwing an arm over his eyes dramatically as he turned away, throwing out a hand as if to hold the thing at bay. "Oh most horrible of revelations! Everything! Everything, because of this... this... pedazo de pergamino infernal!"
"Oka~y. I only understood half of that." Timantha returned in genuine confusion, one eyebrow raised as Anti-Cosmo poofed out of his guise and grabbed the paper himself, "And I'm not just talking about the Spanish part."
"Unholy mother of Anti-Titania..." Anti-Cosmo breathed in shock, reading over the words himself, "That incident... all the motions made... I was right all along, but I never believed... no, I didn't want to believe... that this was the intention." Timantha remained even more confused and growing a bit annoyed by it.
"What? What's going on?" she demanded, "Anti-Cosmo, what are you talking about?" Her glare wavered, growing a bit uncertain when the anti-fairy turned his gaze to her, a deep sadness warring with intense fury in his bright green eyes. It wasn't normal to see that sort of thing in him.
"I wish I'd been there... to stop all this from ever happening." Anti-Cosmo whispered softly.
"That wish can't be granted." Timantha returned automatically, watching him with that same uncertain look as she reached out gingerly and took the paper from his hands. Whatever was on this thing, it made both fairy and anti-fairy act weird. So what was it? She turned it to herself, reading to find out.
It was a contract, like various others she'd seen during her life and after. Her brow furrowed lightly, noting the emblem in the corner of the letterhead looked vaguely familiar. On this date, blah blah blah, formalities, formalities... where was the good stuff... oh.
'In the mutual interest of revenge against Timmy Tiberius Turner of Dimmsdale, California, the pixies of Pixies, Inc. pledge a joining of efforts with Remial Buxaplenty of Dimmsdale, California. The pixes shall provide the following; technology with which to enact the revenge plot, constructed with the schematic provided by Buxaplenty and placed in the location of his choosing; technology with which to ensure no other fairies will survive in Dimmsdale save for his own. In payment, Buxaplenty shall provide the following on completion of the aforementioned revenge...'
'The death of Timmy Tiberius Turner, with his body to be given up as the property of Pixies, Inc.'
Timantha staggered backwards, heaving as one of her hands grasped the edge of the table, desperate for support while the world skewed sharply. She felt cold and numb, free hand lifting to cover her face, gripping her head as blood rushed through her veins, draining down and making her dizzy. She was dimly aware of tears running down her face, a low, keening cry of pain and anguish that was coming from her mouth.
Whatever else the contract talked about meant nothing to her now. She was murdered; as Timmy, she was murdered, and for what? As payment to the pixies for them helping Remy get revenge. For something as meaningless as that, her whole life, her future, her innocence, was completely destroyed. Not just her, but her existence. She was a violation of Nature because Remy wanted revenge. Cousin Danny broke the rules of Death to save her because Remy wanted revenge. Caleb was constantly being battered by nullifier fields because Remy wanted revenge. Cosmo and Wanda were banished from their friends and family forever because Remy wanted revenge.
Revenge for what? For having godparents and idiotically oblivious parents who loved him despite being negligent?
"Wh-why?" she whispered, the shaky and hollow voice foreign to her own ears, "Why did I have to die for this?" She felt like throwing up, like the world was playing some cruel joke and spun gleefully around her to jerk her off her feet. "I... I thought I meant more than just being some average boy no one understood." the brunette mumbled, trembling as tears ran down her face, "But I'm nothing... nothing at all... Just a thing to be traded off so some brat can get whatever he wants..."
"No!" Anti-Cosmo exclaimed, flying down to the girl and cupping her face in his hands, "Not nothing!" Anti-Wanda poofed from the other earring, joining her husband in giving Timantha desperate expressions. "You are very, very important to us all, dear Timothy." the leader of the anti-fairies whispered fiercely, "So important and so precious. Don't delude yourself with anything different!"
There was a click and Timantha jerked herself up and away from the antis, eyes wide and still glistening with tears, stunned as Remy casually locked the door behind himself, a grim smile on his face. The scepter with the stolen mana was still clutched in one hand. Juandissimo froze in place, eyes huge and round in his face as he glanced back and forth between his godchild and the brunette.
"Well, well, well. Never thought I'd see the day when my own fairy would dare turn against me." Remy purred darkly.
"Remy! Mi amigo! Why can you not see what you've done?" the Latino fairy exclaimed, flitting towards him and clasping his hands together, shirt ripping to shreds in the process and a new one poofing into place. "You've doomed us all the moment you signed your name to that paper! There's no time left; por favor, bring down the Spires while you still can!"
Both Timantha and Anti-Cosmo cried out in alarm when Remy swept his hand over the glass orb and out towards the fairy godfather, a brilliant flare of glittering golden fire slamming into Juandissimo head on and throwing him into a shelf full of books. They came down in a cascade, burying the fairy in a pile of them.
"You wretched child! Have you lost all sense of morals?" Anti-Cosmo yelled furiously, "Meddling in the affairs of fairies and pixies and sacrificing the life of Timmy Turner; do you know what you've done?"
"I. Don't. Care!" Remy shrieked, lashing the scepter towards him and the girl, "Now that you've seen that contract, I can't let you get away! Why must you little bastards always get in the way of what I want? Now, take this! Luster Light!"
A flash of light erupted from the glass orb, blinding Anti-Cosmo and Timantha. The anti-fairy called her name, eyes shut as he waved his hands around in a panic. Anti-Wanda escaped the flash by conveniently wearing a soup can for a mask during the confrontation. She pulled it off in time to see Anti-Cosmo flail helplessly and dove for her husband, wailing in terror while Remy swept his hand over the scepter again, directing another burst of magic towards the helpless brunette.
"Fancy Fire!" A slew of small fireballs strikingly similar to Bulla Scintillare flew towards her. Eyes screwed shut, Timantha threw out a hand to put up Boltzman's Shield, deflecting the attack as she shook her head. "That shield...! That's the same as what that Timothy mongrel uses! You're connected to that bunch of brats that's been giving me nothing but trouble for months!" Remy yelled in outrage.
"How dare you?" Timantha shot back, blinking away spots from her eyes, "You sold out Timmy Turner's life for some stupid revenge scheme! This isn't a game, Remy; don't you realize all the lives you've damaged with that choice?" When her vision returned, she dropped the shield and threw out her hand, tossing several spheres of her own Bulla Scintillare out to try hitting the glass orb. "How could you be so cold-hearted? I knew you were a selfish, spoiled, self-serving rat, but to go so far as to help kill another kid just to get your way...?"
"Shut up! Don't say that! And don't talk like you know me!" the blonde yelled as he dodged, sweeping a wide arc of green flames across the room that caught her up and slammed her against another of the bookshelves. Timantha slid down in a daze, one hand pressed to her head as Anti-Wanda and Anti-Cosmo dove into the fray, whirling in an angry frenzy around the boy millionaire. They succeeded in holding him at bay for a few moments, until Remy swung the scepter again and set off a small explosion around himself. Timantha cried out in alarm as two little bodies went flying in opposite directions, wings flapping and flailing in a panic before hitting walls and shelves, falling to the floor in a pained stupor.
Before she could move to help them, Remy was right in front of her, the orb of stolen mana pressing against her neck and pinning her to the bookshelf. Her hands instinctively rose to cast another spell but froze when the blonde applied more pressure.
"I wouldn't try anything, if I were you." the blonde growled, and from this close Timantha could see a strangely desperate look in the boy's eyes. "I'm almost out of Spires, but I still have three in place. The nullifier program will be completed and I will rule this miserable little world and be the Heart of everything!" Remy hissed, then chuckled darkly. "Did that mongrel send his twin sister to 'distract' me from some plot?"
"Nngh! Where... are Tootie... and Romi?" Timantha demanded brokenly, words difficult to speak as the glass ball continued pressing onto her throat and against her jaw. Freak out over the contract thing later; if she didn't get that information somehow, they'd never be able to rescue them and Remy would be free to rebuild the other five Dark Spires, setting them all back to square one.
So many sacrifices in vain.
"If that was some attempt at seducing an answer out of me, I'm afraid you'll have to do better than that." Remy purred, smile growing wider, "Admittedly, you're quite lovely; perhaps even more so than that Trixie wench. This should be fun. You possess magical abilities just like Neogene, so what are the odds that you'd also be immune to fairy wishes?" His eyes fell on the choker around her neck, the tiny Heart of Dimmsdale insignia made of ruby embedded into the black material. "Ah, there's my answer."
"What are you... planning now?" Timantha growled, focusing on the glass still jammed against her skin. If she couldn't touch it with her hands, could she use that bit of contact to convert the glass to something else? She uttered a startled yelp when the choker was ripped from her neck, eyes wide and face turning red. She shot a glare at Remy's smug face. "If you try ripping anything else off of me, I'm going to make you regret ever taking your first breath of air!" she snarled and winced as the orb jammed harder against her jaw.
"My benefactors..." the boy began.
"Pixies." Timantha interrupted with a growl, "I know about them now, and so does Caleb, so you can't steal anymore Archives material." Remy huffed, momentarily affronted before returning to his earlier smirk of anticipated victory.
"Fine, then. The pixies are going to that silly little party in the park to collect their payment. Once that's done, I'm going to have them do a little bit of magic on you." he purred, smiling wider at Timantha's alarmed expression, "After all, I'm going to rule the world as its Heart and King, so it's only right that I should have a queen, yes?"
"No!" Timantha fumed, unleashing her focus on the orb. The glass rippled against her skin, turning even more iridescent and wobbling as the effect spread down over it. Remy pulled it back in shock, trying to halt the change, but enough was converted over to a soap bubble. Timantha lashed her hand against it just before it was fully out of reach.
The stolen mana was exposed to the air, rushing out in a fountain that had even the shadows swirling around them, flooding the room with shimmering light and darkness.
And then it exploded.
~Halloween Blast Party at the Park
Michael sat on a barrel of punch backstage, looking fairly unimpressed by everything going on, a lollipop stuck in his mouth for the sake of appearances. Wanda and Cosmo floated near him, looking a little worried as time continued passing and the wish still hadn't expired.
Outside, the crowd of party-goers were still screaming and cheering wildly, even as Chip Skylark bounced backstage with the largest smile on his face that the android had ever seen. "That was the best concert I've had in years!" he exclaimed happily, "It's so great; not a single fan was disappointed!"
"That's awesome, Chip." Michael returned cheerfully, taking the candy out to speak, "And that song you performed was beautiful; sad, but touching and hopeful." Chip grinned, the expression fond as he gave the android a little punch in the shoulder.
"I wrote it thinking of you, little man." he remarked softly, "Of how we should be living after you died, in honor of you and not enslaved by the memory of you." Michael blinked, then pulled on the best sheepish expression he had, hoping he looked appropriately bashful.
"Thank you." the brunet returned and hopped off the barrel, the two fairies poofing themselves into a pair of glowing party rings that dangled around his neck, "Well, I guess it's time for me to address the crowd, huh?"
"You used to hate being on stage, talking to a crowd of people who were going to be silently judging you." Chip remarked absently, still grinning. Then he shrugged, "Guess four years of after-life training can change a lot of stuff!" With that, he danced away, searching out the nearest buffet for some snacks and punch. Michael rolled his eyes and headed out to the stage to make his speech.
The party-goers were still cheering as the brunet ran across the stage, waving a hand at them and making for the microphone stand. Once there, Michael flicked the device off and wirelessly connected directly to the speaker system; just a precaution against any accidental feedback that might pop up if the microphone was too close to his electronics. He smiled out at the crowds, waving again.
"Thank you, everyone, for coming to the Halloween Blast Party in the Park! Are we all having fun?" he exclaimed, smiling wider at the yells and whoops erupting before him, "Awesome! Isn't it amazing what can happen if you just keep on believing in the one true Heart of Dimmsdale? Chip Skylark returned from hiding, just for you guys! To remind you all, believe in Timmy's hopes for this city!"
Listening to the people erupting in wild applause and cheering reminded Michael of an obsessed cult in a frenzy of crazed euphoria centering around their 'deity'. Behind the mask of smiling, he worried if playing up the city's worship of the young immortal just to maintain control over the insignia was really going to be worth it in the end. He disconnected himself from the speaker system and stepped aside, watching as Vicky, Trixie, Elmer and Sanjay came out to join him, carrying boxes of treats and party favors. The five of them then began tossing them to the crowd, baggies of candy, glowing party rings and sticks, party poppers and noisemakers, everything one could ask for in a huge outdoor party.
"Why is it taking so long for the other team to rescue Tootie and Romi?" Trixie asked him under her breath as she tossed a monster mask towards an eager little boy.
"I'm sure things will be fine." Michael replied confidently as several more teens ran onto the stage to join them. The group straightened, shock registering on their faces while A.J., Chester and Mark all panted from the exertion of running. Doubled over and gasping for air, the boys all looked like they'd just run a marathon.
"What are you doing here?" Vicky demanded furiously, "You twerps were supposed to be rescuing my sister! Where the hell is she?"
"Was a set-up!" Chester gasped out, lifting his head to look over the group tiredly, "Ran for the limos, made them drive here, fast as they could."
"She wasn't in the room!" A.J. added helplessly, "Romi's wand was being stored there, but neither of them were there!"
Michael hurried towards them, gripping each boy by the shoulders and running a quick scan of their vitals for a health check. Other than stress and exhaustion, they seemed all right. However, he noticed that the fourth member of the rescue team wasn't with them. "Chester, where's Timantha?" he asked in concern, "Why isn't she with you? Why didn't she come back too?"
"Remy's fairy said he would tell her where they were hidden, but one of the conditions for telling was the three of us leaving her behind!" A.J. cried, clutching at his head as his eyes went wide with renewed panic, "She's all alone in Remy's mansion and there's no telling what's gonna happen now!"
"Okay, first, we need to get off the stage before we panic these people." Michael ordered quickly and turned to the crowd now looking less festive and more concerned, "Ladies and gentlemen! We have some minor party difficulties we need to tend to, so for your continued enjoyment...!"
The sounds of technical noise, pings of some sort, suddenly cut him off, little bursts of pixelated data erupting in the air over the crowd revealing several fairy-like creatures in drab gray business suits and sunglasses. As one, they lifted their cell phones and a strange machine pinged into existence among them.
"What the-?" Michael muttered in confusion as the crowd began oohing and ahhing at the arrivals. He hadn't been given any information on those things!
"Pixies! What are they doing here?" Apollo exclaimed, poofing free of Trixie and looking up at the creatures furiously.
"Target sighted. Collecting payment now." one of the pixies droned, reaching out to press a button on the machine. A slew of cables shot out and headed straight for the stage, wrapping themselves around Michael and pinning his arms and legs together.
"Hey!" the android cried in alarm, yanked off the stage and into the air as the crowd erupted into yells and cheers. Wanda and Cosmo poofed free of him, weapon wands in hand as they rushed forward to sever the cables and attack the pixies, who merely scattered to avoid confrontation.
"They've captured Timothy!" Sanjay exclaimed, hands flying up to his cheeks.
"Quick! Everyone, armor up!" Chester declared, brushing fingers over the band on his wrist. The rest of the group followed suit, flashes of light passing over them as the magi-tech armor wrapped over their clothes and displayed the brilliant red design of the Heart of Dimmsdale insignia to the crowd, encouraging another eruption of cheers from the party-goers. "They think this is some kinda show?" the blonde questioned his friends in confusion.
"Let them think that!" Vicky growled, pulling out a laser pistol from her side and aiming for cables drawing the brunet closer to the machine, "Just get the twerp freed!"
"Apollo! Go help Cosmo and Wanda fight the pixies!" Trixie called out as she and the rest of the Others grabbed their own lasers and started firing away.
Michael winced as blaster fire streaked all around him, slicing away at the reinforced cables holding him captive and pulling him in. This wasn't part of the plan! The party in the park was supposed to be morale-boosting, a way of keeping attention on himself and the team here, so Timantha and her team could rescue the missing members of Team Turner. What were these creatures doing here, attacking the party?
No, they weren't attacking. Michael glanced around at the fairies firing off magic and swinging blades around while the pixies just dodged and avoided, acting on the defensive. Meanwhile he was pulled ever closer to the machine floating in the air.
"Retrieval. This is a retrieval mission." he realized, "They came here to kidnap Timothy Neogene." And instead, they were going to run off with an android, one of Caleb's creations. Magitechnology in the hands of the enemy...
Michael's head snapped around to face the machine, blue eyes glowing brilliantly. "Preservation of magitechnology protocols, activated. Initiate phase one." he recited flatly and flexed his limbs, pouring every ounce of strength into them. The cables stretched around him and the pixies guarding the machine looked to him with eyebrows raised, the closest they could get to looking shocked or startled. One by one, the cables began snapping apart and the pixies went to poking at buttons on the machine, trying to regain control.
More and more cables snapped free, thanks to the aid of the laser fire cutting away at them. Finally, the last of them broke away and Michael dropped from the air for only a split-second, jets of frost-blue mana shooting from metal attachments that unfolded from his back. Suspended on the makeshift wings, the android ignored the cries of delight from the crowd and shock from Team Turner, turned and flew to the top of the stage, touching down on the sturdy metal structure. He folded his wings away as he raised a hand towards the machine now firing another set of cables towards him.
"Initiating phase two." Michael intoned, a circle of light tracing out runes at his feet, "O sacred will, strike down those who would be mine enemy!" A large blade of Light mana formed over the pixies and their machine, glittering and shining in the night. The brunet swept his arm out to the device, palm open and facing them. "Divine Saber!"
The pixies scattered as the blade slammed down into the machine, the cables that had been fired hitting Michael dead on at the same moment. It exploded in midair, debris raining down and pinging away as the crowd roared with approval at the 'show' they witnessed. The android fell off the stage, grabbing onto the structure at the last minute and hanging on.
"Initiating phase three." he recited and lifted his arm, flipping open the flesh-toned panel that covered his forearm. A second, glowing blue panel was revealed that erupted into a blinding flash of light. By the time the people had recovered from it, the pixies, the fairies and Michael were gone.
"Uh... what the hell just happened?" Chester asked dumbly, blinking away the last of the spots before his eyes.
"I dunno, but one thing's for sure." A.J. muttered, rubbing at one eye before looking up at the rest of the still armored Team Turner, grim expression on his face, "That wasn't Timmy."
~Archives of the Twin Blades, New York City
Caleb looked up from his phone call as a group of Hero duplicates rushed down the hall with a stretcher. He only had a glimpse of it as they dashed past him to the repair bay, but that was all he needed to identify the offlined Michael model laying there. The redhead clicked his tongue in irritation, going back to his call as he continued towards the infirmary.
"Sorry, Lloyd, just spotted one of my copies get rushed to repairs. Bad timing, too; that one was taking Timothy's place in a rescue plan of his." Caleb sighed and gave a half-shrug, "Well, I suppose it'll be all right. He's just going to have to talk really fast to get out of this one. ...So, how much longer before you arrive?" He listened to the response and smiled brightly, pleased with what he heard. "And you've got the Eternal Sword with you? Wonderful! I'll have the Pin ready to be repaired when you get here..."
He paused just outside the infirmary doors, eyebrow raised at the words spoken from the other end of the call. "I'm sorry, what?" Caleb questioned a little sharply, "No, I am not forgiving anyone anytime soon. Oh, he'll live with it; my job's just to take care of him, I didn't see anything about caring about him." He glared at the wall as the call went on, teeth grinding together lightly. Finally he shut his eyes in annoyance and shook his head. "Gah! Do. Not. Care! Lloyd, butt out of it already! It's my business and I'll do as I damn well please to protect myself first." he shot into the phone, "Fat load of good I'll do this planet if I'm constantly in a corner, bawling my eyes out over some kid."
Caleb hung up before Lloyd could say anything more and shoved the phone into his pocket. He took a deep breath, flinching after a moment, then pushed the door open to step inside, greeting Sam and Jazz Fenton softly before walking over to look through the glass wall separating the waiting room from the room where Danny Phantom remained in a healing coma. The two girls glanced at one another before standing up and joining him.
"He's been doing okay, so far." Sam began quietly, uncertainly, "Mint and Raine take shifts in changing out the ecto crystals and IV drips."
"I know." Caleb murmured tonelessly. The girls glanced at one another helplessly.
"You know, studies say that people in comas are still somewhat aware of the world around them," Jazz added in a too bright voice, trying to make it sound like an offhand subject, "and can even be encouraged to heal at an accelerated rate if they hear the voices of close family and..."
"Don't start." Caleb growled softly, "My interests in the Hero of Amity Park rests solely in ensuring he lives, is able to fulfill his duties, and leaves a solid legacy behind for future generations." He reached out to touch the glass, fingertips lightly pressing against it as he gazed beyond it at the sleeping half-ghost. "Anything else... is meaningless." he finished in a whisper. Sam sighed harshly, opening her mouth to speak again, but the angelic android had already spun on his heel, pulling away from the glass.
"I'll have Jade bring you some fresh meals while you're here. Since Michael's here, I'll need to analyze his data and find out what exactly happened to him." Caleb remarked flippantly, striding for the door as though he hadn't a care in the world, "There's still a lot of work for me to do, and that's not even taking into account the work I have to do as CEO of the Hounder Organization! So, I might be a bit too busy to visit again, sorry!"
"Sure doesn't sound that sorry." Sam growled once he left the infirmary, arms held stiff at her sides and hands clenched into fists. Jazz just sighed and pat her shoulder before going back to sit at the waiting room table and resume reading her books. "He acts like he cares about Danny, but that's all it is; an act!"
"It's still a good act, and we should be thankful we're getting that far with him." Jazz remarked, flipping through the pages of her book, "We both know that we can't change his mind; only Danny has that ability and only once he figures out how to get past perfect neutrality again."
"You think Timmy and his friends can keep it together in Dimmsdale until we can go in and help again?" the Goth asked, joining her at the table and picking up her own poetry book.
"Let's hope so. Or Caleb being stubborn as a mule is going to be the least of our concerns." the older Fenton returned.