Okay, so to kick off Chapter Seven – wait, Krane?! What the fuck!? Why are you here?

"Have you seen that mob outside?"

...Get the fuck out of here!

"Fine, I'm leaving."

Oh, and take Chase to those fangirls, too. That way, you can escape and we'll still have a story.

"What?! You're going to hand me over to those touchy-feely child molesters?!"

Yes. If they're distracted by you, the rest of us can escape. Take one for the team, man.

"I hate my job. :("

"Don't be sacrificing Chase to those lunatics!"

Douglas, don't –

….Did you just push Krane outside?

"Oops?"

"Yay! I get to stay un-touched!"

Son of a bitch.

Anyways, thank you to my reviewers and readers. :3 Although you may want to start clearing out of Chaseville down there. I'm planning to nuke it.

Moonlit: Yay, an extra guard!

Gg180000: "My bad."

Mia-Teresa-Davenport: "Ooh, can you rip this Leo to shreds, too? And let go of me? I like my ribs unbroken."

"Douglas, what happened to girls are always right?"

"Shut the hell up, Chase. Smartassed little punk."

DisneyXDGirl: "I am a fan of strong-willed individuals sometimes. Bite me."

RissA15: "Zara, shoot her already!"

Chase, it's hard to hit a moving target! I've got this. It's just gonna take a minute.

UnknownForNow: I know; Chase changed quite a bit. But the way I imagine it, he spent three months being homeless. He either had to get loud, impulsive and vicious, or suffer. As for what he did to Yahn, he was just frustrated and showing superiority. He's more powerful than Yahn, and both of them know it. He just wanted to remind Yahn in a way that he wouldn't forget soon. :3 He probably didn't handle it as well as he could have, but he was having a bad day. Much like Douglas was when he decided to blow up the first Lab.

Anyways, who wants to solve some mysteries today? Adam?

"Zara doesn't own Lab Rats or anything you recognize. If you don't recognize it, it's probably hers."

"Never make a companion equal to a brother."

Hesiod

"Some other faculty than the intellect is necessary for the apprehension of reality."

Henri Bergson

Chapter Seven – Fight, Fight, Fight!

Chase

Grounded.

I protected the family, and I got grounded for it.

How endlessly upsetting.

I supposed the five-foot- deep crater in the yard that radiated magical energy like crazy since I used magic to create it might have been avoidable, but still!

It might have had something to do with Adam falling into it the next morning, though. He was not happy about it.

However, being grounded wasn't the most important thing at the moment. There was a glowing shadow in the yard last night, and no one knew who – or what – it was. Even Oly and Yahn were baffled. They had never heard of something so obviously human that so obviously wasn't. It was the strangest thing any of us had ever heard of, and it had no explanation.

I liked explanations. A lot.

So I had to find one.

By pacing back and forth across the Lab, my ears pinned and tail lashing while Adam – for some reason – decided to watch.

What human could survive being incinerated? Just how? Was the glowing a form of magic shield someone discovered? Probably not; shields weren't mobile. Unless someone found a way to mobilize it, that was. However, humans had thousands of years to discover that. Why was it just found now?

It made no sense.

And the glowing: It only showed on the planes. It was a solid indication of demonic influence. And only demons could survive my energy bolts. So was the guy really a demon, and I just couldn't see enough planes to crack his disguise? Or was he some kind of demonic hybrid?

More importantly, someone was out there that – for some reason – tried to break into our home last night.

Would he come back? Was he working for Krane? If this was going to be a common occurrence – if Krane had somehow created a human-demon hybrid – then when would someone come back?

Wait; I was half-demon. Was I the only one anymore?

This made me freeze midstride. "No way…."

Adam frowned and sat up in his chair. " What?"

I turned to him, my ears perked. "You remember how I told you that the guy last night glowed? What if he was half-demonic, too?"

Adam furrowed his eyebrows. "So? You're half-demon. What's the big deal?"

He was right; what was the big deal?

Wait…stupid Charmers and their stupid voices.

I sighed and sat down in the chair beside his. "The big deal is that a possible half-demon was trying to break in last night."

"But Yahn doesn't say anything about you glowing," Adam mused thoughtfully. "Maybe it was just a regular demon?"

I shook my head. "No." After a second, I sighed again. "Yes. Maybe? I don't know." I rubbed my eyes, frustrated. "I don't know what happened last night."

Adam nodded slowly, just watching me.

I lowered my ears again in shame. "I'm sorry. I usually know what's going on, but this time…." I clapped my hand down on my knee loudly. "I got nothin'."

"You can't know everything all the time, you know."

I glance sideways at Adam. "But I'm supposed to be a super-genius –"

"So is Krane," Adam interrupted. "He's tried to kill us about three times now, and he's failed each time. What does that say?"

That made a lot of sense.

Wait, did it?

Actually, yes. Yes, it did. If Krane couldn't succeed in what should have been an easy task for him, then maybe being a super-genius didn't make him all-knowing?

Which meant that I wasn't expected to be, either.

Maybe Adam's simplistic view of the world was more beneficial than it seemed at first glance? He had something figured out that we didn't; he was happy all the damned time.

I smiled at him and nodded. "You might be on to something."

Adam grinned at me proudly.

Speaking of being on to something – wait, that segue made no sense, so ignore it - I suddenly noticed that I hadn't been growled at the whole time I had been next to Adam. I looked around. "Where's Yahn?"

Adam shrugged with his good shoulder. "I think he and Oly are helping Douglas with something."

"Oh," I responded. After several moments of silence, I looked across the room and asked what had been in the back of my mind since yesterday. "Adam…are you mad at me?"

Adam stared at me for a second. Then, without warning, he burst out laughing. "Hell no! Why would you think that?"

I was taken aback by his reaction. "Because I broke your arm –"

"Spike did," he cut me off.

"And because Yahn keeps trying to protect you," I went on. I sank down in the chair. "I didn't exactly see you stopping him."

"Because it's funny to watch you two glare at each other," he answered, laughing some more. "You're like two kittens when they play-fight."

"Wait," I growled, sitting up. "You just like to watch us fight?" When Adam nodded, grinning, I didn't know whether to smack him for putting me through all that self-doubt or hug him because I was so relieved. "So….You're not scared of me?"

"You?" He snorted. "You're too small to be scary."

Normally, I would be offended. However, I just started laughing. "You're an ass. You know that?"

He reached across himself with his good arm and rubbed at my ears. "I know."

For once, I had no problem with someone touching my ears.

"Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back."

Eugene O'Neill

"When honor and the Law no longer stand on the same side of the line, how do we choose[?]"

Anne Bishop, Heir to the Shadows

Bree

"Chase tore this place up!"

Bree rolled her eyes at Leo's declaration. However, as she stood at the rim of the crater Chase had created the night before, she had to agree. It appeared larger in the daylight than it had last night.

Mr. Davenport sighed heavily. "Leo, stop admiring this thing." He shook his head, looking at the hole. "I'll have to get someone to fix it tomorrow."

"Why tomorrow?" Bree asked, frowning.

"Because I already have someone coming to fix the carpet and replace the couch today," Mr. Davenport explained. "What's next? Is Douglas going to blow up the Lab again?"

"He probably won't blow up the Lab again," Leo reassured. After a second, he frowned thoughtfully. "Well…."

Bree elbowed Leo when Mr. Davenport's eyes widened. "He won't blow up the Lab," she said, grinning nervously.

Mr. Davenport still glanced back at the mansion nervously.

"So..." Bree began after a moment. "Any idea on who this 'glowing guy' might be?" She used her fingers to draw quotations in the air.

"Random thief," Leo started. "Maybe an alien? Or a new serial killer hired by Krane?" He clapped his hands together once. "Maybe Chase is just crazy!"

"Chase isn't crazy," Mr. Davenport defended.

Bree rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the hole. Nothing showed up on the planes. It was just a stupid hole Chase accidently dug. So why did it catch her attention? It felt like she was missing something huge, but she had no idea what. It was probably nothing, but she wanted to get a closer look, anyways. Without a word, she stepped over the side of the crater and slid gracefully down to the bottom.

"Bree, what are you doing?" Mr. Davenport huffed. "Get out of there! You'll get dirt everywhere."

"And it might be full of nuclear-magic radiation," Leo added.

"Nuclear-magic radiation?" Mr. Davenport parroted. "Seriously, Leo?"

"It could happen," Leo defended, crossing his arms.

"I'll be fine, Leo," Bree assured, rolling her eyes. "I'm just looking." She crouched down, narrowing her eyes at the dirt. Nothing was amiss. So why did it bother her?

A loud yelp sounded and a lot of dirt was suddenly sliding down the side of the crater, covering her shoes completely. She sighed as Leo popped up beside her.

"Guys, get out of there!" Mr. Davenport huffed.

"It's fine, Big D'," Leo said, crouching beside Bree.

"It's not fine. We don't need any more broken bones!"

While Mr. Davenport had a point, Bree just had to make sure that nothing was going on.

Leo started to move soil around with his hands. "I wonder if anything will grow here again?"

At the scientific question, Mr. Davenport was suddenly less concerned with safety. "Oh, maybe it will all grow back as super plants!"

Bree sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She sometimes wondered if Tasha was the only real parent in the house. Mr. Davenport was more of a teenager trapped in a grown man's body sometimes, and it wasn't like Douglas was any better.

They were brothers, after all.

Maybe that was where Chase and Adam got it?

"Hey, Bree?"

Bree was snapped from her thoughts by Leo, who was carefully picking up something he had uncovered in the moist soil. "Is this yours?"

Leo held up what looked like a necklace with a broken chain, but it was hard to tell with all the dirt on it. The only thing she was sure of was that it wasn't hers. She shook her head, taking it in her hands. Whatever it was, it was evidence. She climbed out of the crater – Mr. Davenport took her hand and helped pull her up before he helped Leo – and started for the house, Mr. Davenport and Leo falling in step with her. Surprisingly, both were quiet the entire way. Maybe they were too busy speculating on what the thing was?

Whatever the reason for their silence, it was nice.

In the house, however, was a different story.

Upon opening the door, Bree was greeted by the sound of Tasha's angry voice. "Why would you even encourage her to do something like that?!"

Said out-of-context sentence was followed by the sight of Douglas rolling his eyes while Yahn snickered. Meanwhile, Oly was trying to get her head out of the wall by scratching at it, beating her wings angrily.

"What happened?" Mr. Davenport asked, his eyes widening with incredulous anger.

"Your wife has no sense of humor," Douglas declared. "How are you even married to her?"

Tasha glared at him, her hands on her hips. "Oly thought it would be a good idea to jump from the rafters to the counter. She didn't make it, and now there's a hole in the wall."

"Yeah, but we can't hear Oly talking until she gets out of there," Douglas pointed out, gesturing at the struggling imp.

Mr. Davenport sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Just…show them the thing before my head explodes," he hissed out between his teeth.

"What thing?" Yahn asked, tilting his head.

Eyeing Oly with some amusement, Bree walked to the kitchen and handed the necklace-thingy to Douglas. He took it with a frown and walked over to the kitchen sink. As he started to wash the dirt off, he asked, "Where did you find this?"

"In that crater Chase made," Leo answered.

He nodded before suddenly dropping the newly-cleaned object into the sink, obviously surprised by something. Almost immediately, he turned off the water and scooped it up again before it could go down the sink. "Anyone recognize this?" he asked, holding it up for the room to see.

Bree's eyes widened. Even with the chain that held it broken, she easily recognized Azazel's Bane. The red gemstone in the center of the gold, rune-covered amulet glimmered in the light as Douglas lowered it.

Yahn gently took it from Douglas, turning it over in his hands. "No wonder Chase couldn't hurt that man last night."

"Where did the guy get Azazel's Bane?" Leo asked. "Did he steal it from you?"

Douglas shook his head. "I gave it to the Council before leaving the United States." He crossed his arms and frowned.

"So how did that guy have it last night?" Tasha asked.

"The only people that could possibly access it were Council members," Yahn said. "The important thing isn't that he managed to get it. The important thing is that he is either in the Council or working for someone who is."

Wait…so that meant that….

Solemnly, Douglas voiced what everyone seemed to realize at the same time. "Krane may have infiltrated the Summoner's Council."

Dun dun duuuuuuuuuun!

Krane with a hand in the Council. How screwed is everyone?

At least Azazel's Bane is with the Davenport's again, right?

I had a feeling that most of you knew exactly what was dug out of that crater. xD

Anyways, feel free to review. Or don't. You know the drill.

And enjoy.

*Bows and exits*