Chapter 42: Seeing Right Through Me

By now, things up at the prison had become much more uncomfortable. Peach by now was worried to death for her 'Mario,' to the point where she's constantly in the bathroom. Lee had become incredibly enraged due to an e-mail Eddy sent her a few days ago. Without May there, Marie was the one that had to put up with Lee.

Marie sat down on her bed glumly.

'I wonder why Double D's so late in his e-mails al of a sudden?' Marie thought.

Now that May had successfully runaway, security had tightened. A new electronic lock was placed on their door, one only TEC could open under order of Grodus.

The timing seemed just about right. The doors opened once more.

"It's about time!" Lee shouted, storming off through the doors.

Peach proceeded out of the bathroom and through the door wordlessly. Marie sighed and followed them.

By the time she proceeded through the door, Lee and Peach where already in a big conversation with TEC.

"What do ya mean, troubled?" Lee asked.

"I mean I have heard that Grodus may be planning worse than I imagined." TEX said.

"What's worse than taking over the world?" Marie asked.

"That's what I am troubled about. I do not know the information. That is stored only in Grodus's personal database." TEC explained. "In order to confirm anything, I must be connected into his server."

"And so you want us to go up there and plug ya in, yadda, yadda, yadda." Lee sighed. "Alright, which one of us is going in disguise this time?"

"You are all going this time." TEC said.

"How can we all go at the same time without being caught?" Peach asked.

"I shall explain once I must. Please go into the hallway and board the elevator." TEC said.

"Oh…" Grodus sighed. "Why must my soldiers be so incompetent?"

"I am sorry, master. I am ashamed to call myself your servant." Crump said over a monitor.

"…order the shadow sirens to attack them again." Grodus said.

"I'm not sure if they will comply with that request." Crump said. "They said they are in the middle of training their newest apprentice."

"Tell that if they ever want to see their precious demon again, they must do as told!" Grodus demanded.

"Yes sir." Crump said.

"Over and out." Grodus said, switching off a monitor. "Let's see…" Grodus sighed. "The one they call Double D now possesses 5 of the seven stars. And we have one star firmly locked away in this fortress. That means there is still one somewhere on this world. And all of this happens and I STILL have no idea who the legendary hero is! I require his presence to open the door!"

"Though by now, I am actually starting to suspect a certain someone of being this hero. And when I finally find this person and the next star, I can unleash what came upon this world millennia ago! We shall safely watch the world be destroyed by our demon, watching while orbiting above the chaos. And upon the ruins, I shall build a new empire, and rule it all!"

Alright, where are we now?" Lee asked.

"You are in lab M-230. AKA, the chemistry room." TEC said.

"And we are here to what?" Marie asked.

"Create a potion that will allow you to sneak about undetected." TEC said.

"What are we going to do, turn into frogs or something?" Lee asked.

"No, but you will become invisible." TEC said.

"Okay, so how do we concoct this invisibility potion?" Marie asked.

"Before I go further, I should have you all concoct different potions."

"Why's that?" Lee asked.

"Because if you all use the same potion, and it's wrong, then there will be no way of returning you to normal." TEC explained.

Lee gulped.

"I'll place the room under lockdown so we have no interruptions." TEC said. "Now, we should get to work. Listen carefully…"

"Right, I got mine ready." Lee said.

"Mine too." Peach said.

Marie nodded.

Lee looked at her potion. She was a bit nervous, considering hers was blue while Marie's and Peach's were both green.

"Are you ready to drink them?" TEC asked.

"Yes." Peach said.

"Yep." Marie sighed.

Lee quickly switched her potion with Marie's before anyone noticed. "Um-Yeah!"

"Very well. Is there anyone willing to try there's first?" TEC asked.

No one moved.

"I see. I suppose we shall have to choose." TEC said.

"Straws?" Lee asked.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" Marie said. "I lost the last time we did straws!"

"Grumpy." Lee said.

They each held out their hands.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" They held out their choices.

Peach held out scissors. Lee had paper, as well as Marie.

"Whew." Peach sighed.

"Again, to determine." TEC said.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" Lee and Marie held out their hands.

Lee had paper, Marie had rock.

"Why do I always loose?" Marie asked with an annoyed face.

"It was a fair chance. Please drink your potion." TEC said.

Marie looked nervous. She lifted the potion to head level.

"C'mon, chug it!" Lee shouted.

"Dear, so unruly." Peach sighed.

Marie took her potion and swiftly took it down her throat. She gasped when she finished. As if nothing occurred, she placed the flash neatly on the table again.

There was nothing going on.

"…perhaps the potion wasn't strong enough?" Peach asked.

"But any potion should have reacted by now." TEC said.

Lee looked a little nervous, but that was nothing compared to Marie. She was quivering.

"What's going to happen to me?" Marie asked.

"We don't know." Peach said.

Marie suddenly felt something. She gasped, eyes widening.

"Is it working?" Lee asked.

Marie looked at her hands. Suddenly, she noticed them changing hues, from her usual to a green.

"Is that supposed to happen!" Peach asked.

"No, she must have messed up her potion." TEC said.

Lee took a step back as Marie started shaking. Her eyes widened. They noticed she was leaning down onto the floor.

"What's happening?" Marie groaned.

"Uhhhhh….." Peach sighed.

BAM!

There was a very quick flash. They noticed and saw she was no longer there.

"I think it worked." Peach said.

"Not quite. Look to your feet." TEC said.

Peach and Lee looked down.

"I guess I wasn't too far off from the frog thing." Lee said.

The frog that was once Marie started repetitive croaking.

"How do we turn her back?" Peach asked.

"For any transformation, there is no potion. Only time will wear it off." TEC said.

"How much?" Lee asked.

"A couple of minutes, nothing too serious." TEC said.

The frog shouted out something.

"Is there anyone else ready to try their potion?" TEC asked.

Peach and Lee gasped.

"I don't want to be hopping on lily pads!" Lee shouted.

The security camera in the room looked down. Peach could tell this was his own way of sighing.

It took another half hour for them to get the potion right. Marie changed from her frog form, furious as ever, but they made her invisible, nonetheless.

"Are you ready?" TEC asked.

They nodded.

"Proceed into his throne room. Enter his office and find a disk labeled "plans." Insert it into his server, then place it back and turn off his computer." TEC explained. "I will have to break contact until your done to avoid drawing attention."

Peach led, with Lee in tow. The hallway was crowded by troops by now. Lee had her fun on the way. Upon every trooper she saw, she pushed, punched, or tripped.

"Dude, what's going on!" One of the troops asked.

"What are you dweebs-OOF!" The trooper fell to the floor.

"Lee, cut it out." Peach whispered.

"Uh, sorry." Lee shrugged.

"Just keep your mind focused on the task at hand." Peach said.

"Can I do one more?" Lee asked.

Peach smiled. "Alright, but that's it."

Lee laughed in her usual dark tone. "Alright, get a load of this…" She took a deep breath in.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Lee opened her mouth and let out the loudest scream anyone ever heard. Every soldier jumped.

"WHAT THE-" One of the guards stopped. "AAHH! HELP!"

The guard was lifted off the ground.

"DUDE, the place is haunted!" One of the other guards shouted and tey all ran screaming, except for the one floating.

"An almighty, feared army." Lee sighed. "Pathetic."

They could hear laughter, whom they assumed belonged to Marie. "This almost makes up for becoming a frog."

Lee laughed and threw the guard down, who ran off screaming.

Even Peach was laughing. "They certainly had it coming. Come, we better get back to work."

They entered the throne room. It was weird seeing it without anyone inside. They snuck past the throne and proceeded into another door. The office was a bizarre place.

A corporate looking desk, with a flat computer on it. One entire wall was a fish tank, holding freaky looking fish monsters.

"…weird." Lee said.

"Come on, we have to look for the disk." Peach said.

"Hm… here it is." Lee said.

"Good eyes." Peach said. Lee plugged the disk into the computer.

"Thank you." TEC's voice said, coming back into contact. "You may return."

The group after a little while got back into TEC's room. They became visible again.

"I suppose we shall have to wait until I finish my research." TEC said. "The data will take some time to decode."

"May we send our mail again?" Peach asked.

"Absolutely." TEC said.

Peach walked up to the monitor and typed a message.

When she was finished, Lee took her turn. "I'm going to give Eddy a piece of my mind."

She waited a few seconds, then got off. Marie grabbed the board next and typed her message.

"I saw you changing my potion, you know." Marie said.

"Uh-She's kidding, right?" Lee asked.

"Whatever." Peach said.

Marie finished her message.

"Okay, please send." Peach said.

"Messages sent." TEC said.

"Right, that's enough for me." Lee said. "Smell ya later."

Lee walked out the door. Marie waited for her to leave before taking out another flask filled with liquid.

"We'll see how you like it when you wake up tiny and green." Marie left the room with a mischievous look on her face.

"Peach, can you wait for a moment?" TEC asked.

"Sure."

"I wanted to ask you." TEC said. "…what do you find more important? Following orders, or protecting someone dear to you?"

"I feel those dear to you matter the most." Peach answered honestly. "Is there anything more you want to ask?"

"No. …I must thank you for putting up with all of my requests." TEC said. "Being incarcerated, you are still friendly and kind to me."

Peach smiled. "Well, you've helped me out before. It's only kind to return the favor. You know, for a friend."

"I'm your… friend?"

"I suppose." Peach said. "Maybe we can be better friends after this is over? Who knows?"

"Thank you, princess." TEC said.

"Is there anything else you want me for?" Peach asked.

"No, thank you."

Peach walked towards the door laughing. "You're still a weird computer, TEC."

The door opened and closed.

"Princess Peach. I will protect you." TEC said. The monitor switched to a screen with a file on it. An window opened.

"Warning! Confidential file! Do you have permission to enter it?"

TEC axed out the window, giving no reply, then opened the file.