21
~Dimmsdale Park
.
"We have people leaving the party." Trixie reported fairly breathlessly as she jogged up the steps to the stage. Apparently, the clash between the pixies, Team Turner, and the android copy of Timmy became considered some kind of party-ending climax, and now the party-goers themselves were beginning to drift towards the park exits. The group of teens and adults still on stage grew alarmed.
"They can't go yet! Timmy hasn't gotten to the mansion to help Timantha, and we still don't know where Tootie and Romi are!" A.J. protested, hands flying up to his head, "If all these people go out, and some epic magic battle breaks out, there could be some serious injuries!" Chester turned to the pop singer beside him worriedly.
"Any chance you can whip up another song or something?" he asked, gesturing towards the dispersing crowd, "Anything to keep them all staying here?" Chip bit his lip, following the gesture out to watch the people, and Chester suddenly felt like twenty kinds of guilt just landed on his head. The man looked exhausted. What had started as an encore of all his songs turned into an impromptu costume dance contest, and then into an impromptu endurance costume dance party.
Chip couldn't last much longer after that. It was Vicky that had noticed his slip on his sixth run through My Shiny Teeth And Me -he replaced 'smile' with 'vile' and didn't look like he cared to correct it- and kicked out a boombox with his CD on repeat so she could drag him back behind the stage to rest. And now, only twenty minutes after that, the Leader of the Others was asking him to go out and sing again? Chester cringed and shook his head.
"Ah, man, no, I shouldn't have-." he began and trailed off as he gaped at the singer squaring his shoulders and heading over to the microphone stand.
"Dammit, you idiot!" Vicky snarled at him as she passed him by to reach the pop idol, "His voice is about to give out and you're throwing him to the wolves? What kind of replacement leader are you?" She slapped a hand over the microphone just as Chip opened his mouth and a wheeze came out instead of his famous voice. "You! Back in the emergency bunk and back to sleep!" she snapped, "Before I break your legs to make sure you don't moonwalk back out here like some suicidal twerps I know!" The babysitter directed him backstage again, gripping his shoulders from behind to be sure he went while Chip gave Chester a helpless look on the way past him.
"We've got nothing else to keep them here." Trixie sighed hopelessly, "They'll be out of the park any minute now and whatever happens will come down on all of us. Hard." Chester watched his friends look despondent, certain of failure to protect even this small horde of Dimmsdale citizens. Sanjay looked out at the masses, mouth moving in silent prayer, and the blonde scowled, a renewed sense of determination firing up in his gut.
No way. Timmy wasn't here to keep things together, but he trusted him to handle the party in the park. Chester wasn't about to let the Heart down on this most important of missions. He turned and marched for the microphone himself, snatching it off the stand and tapping it to be sure it was on. The crackle told him all he needed to know. He took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, then straightened himself up to his full height as he turned to face the dispersing crowd, lifting the microphone to his mouth.
"People of Dimmsdale, stop where you are now." Chester ordered clearly, brows snapping downward in a fierce glare. All over the park, in the midst of gathering items and taking out keys, the party-goers froze in place. A.J., Elmer, Trixie, Sanjay, and even Vicky and Chip turned their heads to stare at him in shock, eyes wide.
"He's doing it again." Trixie whispered with a slight shake of his head, "How... how is he able to do that?"
"My name is Chester McBadbat. I am the Leader of the Others, second in command of Team Turner, and second most powerful influence in this city." the blonde redneck went on in that same firm tone, "Everyone and anyone hearing my voice, listen to me carefully and listen well." The people stayed still, tilting their heads to listen to the many speakers all over the park that broadcast the boy's voice. "You will all come back to the stage and spend the night telling stories about Timmy Turner and how his life should be remembered with happiness." Chester told the crowds, "You will not leave this park until I say you can leave. You will not fight, or cause a riot, or do anything to endanger yourselves or others. Food and drinks will be passed out, chairs and blankets too. Everything will be fine as long as you do as I say."
"That is an order."
As one, the party-goers turned away from the exits and walked back towards the stage, adults and children all looking up at Chester in confusion even as they did exactly as he told them to do. After a moment, people who weren't even at the party came in through the park entrances and joined the partiers, all simply because they happened to be in range of the broadcast.
"Good. Story-time. Now." Chester ordered and walked back to his friends as the crowds began happily chatting away with one another, swapping stories and laughing. The blonde tossed the microphone to a still stunned Elmer standing next to Sanjay without looking, uncaring at the moment whether the boy caught it or not. "Tricks, you still have Apollo; you're on wish detail. Keep the people fed and stocked with blankets and chairs. Vicky, you're on Chip watch. Mark's gone dumpster-diving, so the rest of you guys come with me." he snapped out new orders, "We still have those limos on rent; we're going back to Remy's place and helping Timmy get his cousin and our friends back."
"How does he do that?" Trixie yelled, still hung up on the image of one scruffy redneck commanding an entire parkful of people to do exactly as he wanted without magical help.
"To be honest, I've never figured that out." A.J. told her as he started to leave, "And I'm kind of afraid to try."
She watched the boys leave and sighed, touching fingertips to her pendant. "Apollo!" she called and the fairy poofed into a human-sized form, wings, wand and crown in plain view. He held up a hand as she began to protest.
"Halloween, remember? I can walk in full view safely on this night." he told her and frowned, "You didn't tell Chester about that other incident you had while patrolling the park." Trixie wrung her hands, whining softly at the memory of it.
"There's no helping it. I had to tell Mr. and Mrs. Turner that Timothy Neogene was just too busy with work for them to be able to meet him and thank him for the party!" she returned helplessly and looked out at the crowd with a sigh, "I wish the buffet tables and drinks were all refilled." Apollo lifted his wand and with a poof of red smoke, the food and refreshments were once again stacked high and ready to feed the crowds several times over.
"Chester could have told them to forget talking to Timothy." he remarked with a wry grin, "Boy's got a heck of a voice."
"I didn't think he could order around grown-ups!" the Asian girl hissed and stomped around in a circle. Surprisingly, the combat boots she picked out to emulate Sam Manson's Goth style made the tromping much more satisfying. She considered keeping them in the closet when the night was over, then refocused on the subject of her ire. "If I had known that, I would have told him! The best I could do was make sure they never laid eyes on Timothy Neogene and distract them with some Timmy Turner memorial merchandise." Apollo shrugged, watching his godchild stomp around some more. The stage was a rental; who cared about the deposit anyway?
"No one outside of the team has any clue that Timothy Neogene is really You-Know-Who." he remarked, glancing towards the crowds. Even whispering his identity in public could blow everyone's cover. "All the adults are idiots, dumber than rocks and then some. What's the harm in the Turners saying thanks to a kid who's four years older than their dead son?"
Trixie stopped tromping around in circles and looked towards her fairy godfather with a sad little smile, shaking her head as if in pity of him. "Oh, Apollo. You really don't get it, do you?" she whispered, "It doesn't matter how much he's grown; a mother will always recognize her child. It's like a sixth sense for them."
And Apollo slapped his hand over his face, thanking his lucky stars that Timantha hadn't come back with the rescue team and the copy of Timothy had vanished.
~Dark Spire Two, Interior
.
Timmy sighed in a mix of boredom and annoyance as Wanda carefully parted his hair in search of nonexistent wounds. "I already told you, I healed them up after Remy whacked me with the poker." he explained again and rubbed at his forehead, trying to clean off the dried blood and getting nowhere with it.
"This is even better than Escalator Land!" Cosmo cheered, waving his arms around as he bounced from wall to wall in the elevator. Caleb clutched his head, trying hard to not look like he was on the verge of snapping.
"Someone please make him stop that!" he growled before Anti-Cosmo pulled out a bag of cookies that the dapper fairy and his own wife both shot towards to open and munch away on. "Thank you."
"I just want to be sure you completely healed while under the effects of black magic." Wanda remarked and floated back from the brunet with a concerned look, "Anti-fairies aren't exactly known for their 'great healing' magic." Timmy folded his arms over his chest, leaning back against the elevator wall.
"Trust me. They're healed. Otherwise I'd have a heck of a headache right now." he muttered and rubbed at one temple, grimacing a little, "Actually, I'm getting one right now." Caleb hummed uncomfortably, one hand rising up to lay flat over his 'heart'. "Right, right, we're getting near the top floor. Nullifier field." the young immortal sighed and held out a hand, "Mana Scield!"
"No, not yet." Caleb suddenly told him as the pink barrier began forming over him. It retreated back to nothing and Timmy gave him a puzzled look. "When you use that shield, it blocks everything. I need access to my surroundings for a bit." The brunet still looked puzzled and Caleb shook his head with a small exasperated grin. "We're on the top floor, yes? And this is where the computers control the generators of the nullification field." He lifted a hand, wiggling his fingers at the boy. "I find the computers, I can shut off the nullifiers while you look for Tootie and Andromeda."
Timmy smiled broadly at him. "Hey! That's not a bad plan! I hadn't thought of doing that!" he exclaimed and jumped when the android bent to poke a finger at his nose, frowning at him.
"You have to remember what abilities each of your friends and allies has that can be used in any given situation. That's what makes a good leader; knowing where someone's skills and strengths can be of the most help to everyone in attacks like this one." Caleb told him and waited until the brunet nodded in understanding before standing back up to look towards the doors, "I know you said this was supposed to be strictly rescue, but I can't leave a Dark Spire in working condition if I have the chance to disable it."
"Nah, it's fine. You do what you need to; me, Cosmo, Wanda and the antis will get Tootie and Romi." Timmy replied with a shake of his head and gazed at his own hands before lifting them to press against the redhead's chest again, "But at least let me put a modified version of the shield on you."
"Modified?" he heard Caleb mutter in confusion before focusing on wrapping each of the mana crystals within him with layers of the Mana Scield, leaving just enough facets exposed for the System to actually work. He pulled away just as the elevator doors opened and the group hurried out to stand in the junction of several hallways.
"Yeah. I covered up a lot of your crystals with the shield, but there's gaps so you're not cut off from power. The nullifier will still drain them, but it'll be much slower since they have to eat at the shield too." Timmy explained quickly, looking around in indecision before looking up at him, "Can you tell which hall leads to those computers?" Caleb smirked before moving to standing before the entrance to each hall, listening carefully before finally selecting one.
"I hear faint humming coming from two of these halls; one could be from the computers, the other possibly the generators. I've isolated out the other sounds to pinpoint those." the android finally reported, a concerned expression replacing the earlier smug look he had, "It's a bit difficult to tell them apart at this distance."
"Then mark the location of one hall that hums and we shall all go together down the other hall, leaving a trail behind us." Anti-Cosmo suggested to the brunet, "Process of elimination, Timothy; we'll just explore each hall until we find your friends."
"We can't take our sweet time about it, like you!" Wanda protested in irritation, flying up to the anti to glare right at him, "You can survive in the nullifier field, but the rest of us can't!"
"Then we split up." Timmy decided firmly, pulling Wanda back by gently grasping her pant leg and tugging her towards himself, "Everyone take a hall and mark it with their name, Caleb takes one of the humming halls, I'll take the other, and we all search separately."
"Anti-Wanda, my dear, go and keep an eye on the dear boy." Anti-Cosmo told his wife with a smile and a pat on her hand.
"Shore thing!" Anti-Wanda exclaimed and poofed herself back into the dangling earring Timantha had worn, clipped onto Timmy's ear. The brunet looked startled at first, then a bit dubious as he blushed and looked up at the anti-fairy questioningly.
"You don't honestly expect her to search that hall on her own, do you?" Anti-Cosmo asked him.
"Point. Okay, everyone! Let's go!" the brunet declared and the small team broke apart, racing down individual halls after writing out their names at the entrances, Caleb being the only one with a blank hallway.
A few minutes after Timmy's group split up, the second elevator arrived and opened to let Tootie and Romi off. The two girls looked around at the marked and unmarked halls, reading the names and looking surprised.
"He came by himself?" Tootie breathed in awe before shaking her head and growing confused, "With his fairies and their antis? Why didn't he bring the rest of the team?"
"Perhaps they're outside, distracting the units?" Romi wondered aloud. Tootie nodded slowly, a bit uncertain but it was as good an explanation as any. Timmy wasn't so dumb as to try taking on an entire Spire all on his own, after all. Right?
She picked out the hall Timmy had marked for himself and ran down it, her fairy flying along after her.
~Dark Spire, Exterior
.
Remy gazed up at the obsidian tower with a flat glare, Juandissimo floating at his side and watching him with concern. The lot was full of deactivated units, destroyers, nullifiers, captures and controllers littering the pavement like silver hail. One phone call to Crocker had them all shut off on the spot. The boy was still on the phone with the sullen old man, listening to him grumble about having to deactivate the machines when they could have just been moved back into the Spire to trap the intruders.
"There's someone inside that Spire I want very much to have in my grasp." the boy billionaire murmured in interruption, "No units are to be activated until I say so." Crocker grumbled under his breath again, but vaguely agreed, which was good enough for Remy. He hung up and slid the phone back into its protective case within the belt that was part of the Aces High armor.
"Remy, amigo, I do not think this is a good idea." Juandissimo said in a cautious tone.
"I'm still mad at you." the blonde growled, darting angry eyes towards his fairy godfather before refocusing on the Spire rising high above him, "The girl from my study is supposed to be here, inside there somewhere." Juandissimo's face blanched.
"You shut off the units from this Spire in order to chase that girl?" he asked in a strange tone, one eye starting to twitch, "Mi amigo, I doubt you made a good first impression by hitting her over the head with the fireplace poker. Why not call it a loss and find some other distraction?"
"She'll get over it." Remy murmured, rocking back and forth on his feet as he waited patiently, "And I doubt there's another girl in the world quite like her. Beauty, grace, power, strength, and all that fire. I think I'm infatuated with her." He grinned suddenly. "I like it."
Behind him, Juandissimo gagged, finger pointing into his open mouth as if to induce retching, eye twitching rapidly.
~Dark Spire, Interior
.
Looking into rooms he came across, Caleb continued his search for the Server Control Center that kept each Spire running and processed the data for creating the perfect nullification field. Granted, coming after the Spire without the rest of the team was probably the worst idea he'd gone along with in the last few million years, but things were turning out to go along with his plans after all. Perfect neutrality seemed to win yet again.
He peeked into another room and began to move on before pausing to review what he just saw, smiled, then stepped back to gaze into the control center, the brain of the Dark Spire.
"Winning~." the android sang to himself smugly as he walked forward, looking over the numerous server racks and main control console. He paused at the sight of a large screen taking up the wall right above it, reading the data that scrolled along its black background. "Oh, you're getting close to completion, aren't you?" he murmured and looked down at the console again, "Let's change that."
A pair of palm scanners were built into the machine for some reason, possibly as security for accessing the control system and the data on the servers. Caleb set to work on pulling them apart and refitting them to act as a conduit for himself, ignoring the blare of alarms and flashing red lights that went off around him.
'Don't care, don't care. Typing and reading by hand and eye will take too long to download this data. Timmy can find his friends; I'm interested in taking the nullifier program for myself.'
The pads were rewired and flickered back to life, coming on with a soft green color rather than the vivid blue they had earlier. Caleb placed his palms on them and began a systematic takeover of the servers, forcing his way through the security measures to find the files needed for creating the nullification field. After a moment he smiled, green eyes glowing as they processed the streams of data and hit on the firewall protecting the servers. Another barrage of mental attacks on it brought the wall down and Caleb began collecting the files, downloading them into himself.
"That was easier than I thought it would be." he mused cheerfully, chuckling to himself, "These silly humans and their notions of advanced security; nothing can stand against the might of my superior magitechnology-based neuro-cortex."
Before him, the screen suddenly flickered and flashed, replacing the scrolling data with a video feed of Denzel Crocker, the man hunched over his own keyboard and scowling at the redhead. Caleb lifted an eyebrow, gazing up at the screen calmly.
"I wondered why my systems were reporting a hack in process." Crocker remarked blandly, "Hello, little angel. I thought you were defeated several times over by my nullifier program."
"Adaption's a bitch, isn't it?" Caleb returned with a grin, keeping a bit of his attention on the incoming files, 'Thirty percent. Not good. There's more data than I originally factored time for.'
"Hm. You're hacking my Spires, but I don't see any kind of computer device connected to that console." the other man went on, fingers moving rapidly over his keyboard as his eyes scanned over the image before him, finally settling on Caleb's hands resting on the two palm readers. "Oh... Interesting. You're the computer device. An artificial intelligence... an android!" Crocker's eyes gleamed with interest, "I wonder... are you a product of the Hounder Organization?"
"Sorry, that information's classified." Caleb returned with a smile, "In fact, if I recall correctly, you are currently in possession of a piece of technology that is the property of that organization. A small detector. I'd like that back, if you don't mind."
"Mm." Crocker hummed, eyes focused now on his own computer as he typed, "Oh, that thing. I suppose I can mail it back to your maker's main offices. There's nothing more I can learn from it after I dismantled it."
Caleb stiffened, a flicker of alarm running through him as his brow furrowed at the implication behind those words. 'He can't mean...' "I'm sorry? Did I hear that correctly? You... dismantled that device?" he asked, hoping his intuition was wrong.
"Yes. Took it apart, analyzed its inner workings and figured out most of its functions. The programming was much harder, but once I looked at it in the most basic of all computer languages it was simply a process of trial and error to reverse engineer it." the former elementary school teacher replied, smiling now as Caleb's eyes widened in horrified understanding.
'He... reverse engineered magitechnology... MY programming of that device! No one is supposed to be able to do that without me to translate angelic language! How did he do it? The most basic of all computer languages; what does that...?'
A sudden assault on his own defenses ripped a startled cry from his mouth and he staggered in place, teeth clenching together as he bent over the two pads before him. 'Wh-what was-?'
"Oh, you've got a very sophisticated firewall and anti-intruder defense in place, too." Crocker remarked in dark amusement, typing away at his computer, "All computer languages, no matter what written language you use, boils down to two things; switch on, switch off. Using that, I can create my own programs to attack that most basic of functions in anything electronic, even something as advanced as you."
Caleb struggled to straighten back up, fighting the multiple waves of hostile programming pouring into his mind even as he tried to maintain his connection to the server files. "Nngh! Wh-what are you-? What are you doing to me?" he finally managed to yell out.
"Sending several viruses and worms after your firewall to keep it busy while I shut down your anti-intruder defense." Crocker returned casually, "In basic terms, I'm hacking you."
"No! Stop it!" Caleb cried, shaking his head furiously in a futile effort to get the attacking programs out. He staggered again, leaning on the console for support as more processing power went to his defense. He should pull his hands free, he knew he should, but if he broke the connection, he'd lose the files he was downloading.
But maintaining that connection would give Crocker time to break through his personal firewalls and shields.
'It's all... for the sake... of information!'
"First wall down in three... two..." Crocker crooned with a sadistic grin, teeth bared and almost glowing in the light of his computer screen, "You'll soon be mine, Angel..."
"...one."
Caleb screamed as the first firewall shattered under the onslaught of hostile programming.
.
Timmy froze in place, eyes wide as a distant scream echoed faintly off the walls. He looked back over his shoulder, swallowing hard. The Spire just got a heck of a lot creepier all of a sudden. That scream; who was it?
"Don't be Tootie. Don't be Tootie." he mumbled, heading further down the hall. There were rooms of inactive units all along the way, but none of them activated, even when Timmy flooded one such room with Lustrare Spiralis, letting the spiral of light and lightning shred the machines. At one point, he even walked up to one and put his bare hand onto the black sensor bars that A.J. once told him were responsible for scanning for Cosmo's DNA.
Maybe they also scanned for heavy users of magic? It would explain why units would lock onto him at the weirdest times. Funny how they didn't for Tootie, but then she hadn't learned as many spells as he had. Not yet anyway.
He ran on, calling Tootie's name until a wave of the nullifier field pulsed out and he staggered, dropping to his knees as he hugged himself, retching. Anti-Wanda poofed free, hands pressed to her cheeks as she looked panicky.
"Oh no! Sugarsnack, you okay? Them goody-goody fairies ain't 'round here; use some nice black magic to git back on your feet!" she exclaimed, waving her arms around wildly. Timmy nodded, feeling faint as he tried feeling around for the dark magic the anti-fairies used, tried tuning himself to it.
He couldn't.
He couldn't feel the black magic; he could sense it, and it made him feel sicker than the nullifier, but he couldn't grab hold of it and use it himself. Why? It had never done that before! What changed to cause that? Timmy didn't feel that sense of loss of control over black magic until they first came onto the lot, so did the nullifier have something to do with it?
"I can't." he managed to gasp out, focusing inward on the boost of mana that Caleb gave him and pushing it outward in his own Mana Scield, wrapping ribbons of pink light over his body. With a sigh of relief, Timmy stood back up and held up a hand to look over the protective barrier. "Whatever happened to block me from using an anti-fairy's power, it's pretty strong." he muttered and looked up at Anti-Wanda, smiling for her sake, "But I'm okay now, see? Don't worry, Anti-Wanda. Let's keep looking for Tootie and Romi."
The anti-fairy nodded and poofed back into the clip-on earring, gripping onto the barrier that covered every bit of the boy. Timmy ran on ahead, grim determination on his face. That wave had been pretty strong, so the chances were good that the generators for the nullification field were right up ahead. Take those out and it will be much safer to find Tootie and Romi, reducing everyone's exposure to the field.
For a second, he thought he heard Tootie's voice calling his name in the distance. 'Don't worry, Tootie! I'm coming to help you! Just hang on a little longer!' Timmy thought, a small smile forming on his face as he dashed down the hall.
At the far end, he hit the motherload. The hall expanded outward into a massive room filled with huge black and bronze colored machines, whirring and humming loudly. Timmy gazed around at it all in awe, then lifted a hand, eyes wide at the thin layers of mana being lifted and shredded from his barrier. Mana Scield was not going to last more than a couple of minutes here.
"I don't have any spells that can take out all of these generators in one go." Timmy moaned softly, looking around again in despair this time, "My best is Lustrare Spiralis and that could barely take out one of those little rooms back there!" He looked down at his hands, spreading his fingers as he watched more pink disappear from his palms and arms. He frowned thoughtfully, recalling what Caleb once told him about his magic.
"I can cast any spell I want, as long as I can imagine it. My magic is based on my imagination." Timmy murmured and looked up at the dozens of generators, "If I can see it in my mind, I can make it happen here in life." He nodded firmly; okay, he could do this. He just had to focus on the image in his mind and pour the mana in to make it happen!
He closed his eyes, picturing Lustrare Spiralis in his mind. That would be the base for this spell. The spiral of light and lightning would spin in the center of the room. Timmy could easily see that. Now the hard part; adding and modifying. Or maybe not so hard? He remembered Danny showing him a bunch of NASA documentaries about galaxies and clusters and all that space stuff. How those spirals of stars could spin so fast, they threw off whole limbs and those turned into a dozen little galaxies, all whirling around the universe. He pictured that happening in his mind, dozens of little twirling limbs of light and lightning flying away from the center spiral, rending into anything in the way.
"Got it!" Timmy declared in triumph, opening his eyes and lifting his hands, "Lustrare Galaxis!" The spiral of light and lightning bloomed in the center of the massive room, spinning like a circular blade. Limbs were thrown off as it crackled and hurled little explosions of light all over the place. The generators began exploding, one after another, bombarded by multiple little spirals being generated and flung about. Timmy stepped back from his handiwork, alarmed at how quickly it was destroying everything in the room.
"Purty fireworks!" Anti-Wanda exclaimed happily.
"I think I overdid it! We gotta move; this place could blow any time now!" the brunet cried and bolted back to the hallway, leaving the spirals of magic behind to rip into the generators even as they shrank and expanded, alternating between being nullified by the weakening field and refueling from Timmy's mana feeding into the spell.
The room exploded in a flash of light, fire, lightning and metal, raging down the tunnel and held at bay only by the Boltzman's Shield Timmy hastily put into place behind him, the immortal holding his ground to contain the damage and keep it from searing through the hall and possibly spill over into any place that might be holding Tootie and Romi.
"Gnngh! Anti-Wanda!" Timmy yelled, bracing his back against the wall blocking the inferno from the rest of the hallway. The anti-fairy poofed free of him, a pair of sunglasses on her face and a bucket of popcorn clutched in her feet. "Go find Anti-Cosmo!" he shouted, holding up a hand and forming a note out of what little mana he could spare, "Give that to him! Hurry!"
"Shore thing, Sugarsnack!" the anti exclaimed happily and snatched up the note, poofing away in a puff of pale blue smoke. Timmy cringed, digging in his heels as the wall was pushed forward by the force of the blasts still raging behind him. Well, this rescue mission wasn't going as he thought it would after all.