"Uh...hello? Anyone home? Like...anyone at ALL?"
Junior, one of the regulars from the Middleton High School detention room (as well as an unintentional acquaintance of Kim's, who's smooth, blemish-free skin he greatly admired), hesitated on the threshold of the open door, clutching a bag of groceries while staring into the darkened interior.
That Summer, he had gotten a job delivering internet and phone-in grocery orders from Smarty Mart to customers' homes (as upper management thought he was dumb as rocks and better suited to working as FAR away from the sales floor as possible.) He seemed to enjoy it, blasting tunes in his barely functioning piece-of-junk car as he crisscrossed the town, making his deliveries while popping the occasional edible ("they keep me smooth, bro".)
That particular evening, in spite of the thick soup of fog that had drowned out the whole city, he was still making his circuit of deliveries (including one for Mr. Barkin, having simply left the heaping paper bag on his porch and beating a hasty retreat before the grumpy bastard could use him as a verbal scratching-post) and was now dropping off his last load of the evening at a high-end condominium complex near the Middleton Space Center.
"This is some palatial shit, man..." he had muttered to himself, as he lugged the heavy bag up the stairs to the third floor, glancing down at the large swimming pool with its swim-up bar and cabana, now completely silent and deserted in the cold, murky darkness. "Wonder what this chick does to afford living here..."
Shifting the bag to one arm, he shamelessly rummaged through the bag's contents with his other arm to see what sort of fancy things he would find, since this person was obviously loaded:
Pesto sauce. Infused olive oil. Sparkling water. Frozen chicken breasts. Salmon steaks. Air fresheners...Feminine hygiene products...
BOOOOOOOOORRRIIIIIING...
He tore the tag from the side of the paper sack and read the customer profile out loud to himself, his monotone voice ringing out slow and languid:
"Doctor...Wanda...Wong...oh, so she's, like, a DOCTOR and stuff... rad...condo number...312... cool..."
He reached the third-floor landing and then plodded on down the hall, humming Led Zeppelin's Kashmir to himself while passing door after door - number 309...number 310...number 311...and finally, number... 312?
"What the shit?" he mumbled to himself, his face both blank and baffled (and not JUST from being stoned).
Just like when Bonnie had arrived at Brick Flagg's house not long earlier, the door to condominium number 312 had been left wide open. And also, just like Bonnie, he was struck with an overwhelming feeling that something was wrong. VERY wrong.
"Hey, uh...lady...Wanda, Wendy or whatever...you in there or what?" he called through the doorway, hesitantly, the smooth buzz of the indica starting to wear off as his nervous system began to flare with an anxious pulse. "It's, uh, Junior from the Smarty Mart delivery service...I've got the stuff you ordered...oh, and, uh, don't worry...I didn't, like, rummage through it or anything..."
He stepped into the darkened entryway, suddenly feeling the urge to just drop the bag and run, though he couldn't say why. He fumbled his hand along the wall until he located the light switch, only to notice that it was already in the "on" position.
The electricity was dead.
"There is a WEIRD vibe about this place, man" he muttered to himself, as he suddenly noticed a pale, glowing blue light in the shadows ahead of him.
"Uh...is there someone over there? I'm just gonna drop your stuff off, okay? ...OKAY?!"
There was no reply.
*sigh* "Whatever. I'm comin' in."
Slowly picking his way forward through the thick shadows, Junior noticed that the blue glow was from a laptop computer screen, having been left idle and running entirely off of its internal battery while the rest of the power was out. As he moved closer, he tripped over something in his path, but managed to catch himself (AND the bag) before completely wiping out on the floor. He looked down - in the weird, undersea-light of the room, he saw that he had tripped over a broken potted plant, the jet-black, crumbly dirt spilling all over the polished wood floor, along with a chaotic mess of papers, books and a couple of overturned chairs.
Obviously, some kind of a struggle had taken place, here. But when, exactly?
An hour ago? Ten minutes ago? FIVE minutes ago? Who knew?
"I think..." he began, as his pulse started to quicken, "after tonight, I'm gonna ask for an extra dollar an hour...wait... what's that?..."
A rather unusual message on the computer screen, rendered in a strikingly large, bold font, had suddenly caught his eye.
With a grunt, he plopped the heavy bag of sundries onto the tabletop and then leaned in closer for a better look. Apparently, Doctor Wong had been reading her emails when she had come across one that was simply titled "URGENT", having been sent from an email address that consisted entirely of random letters and numbers - and it was only four scant words long:
DOCTOR WONG...DANGER...TONIGHT
"Danger tonight?" he repeated out loud as he scratched his head in wonder. "DANGER tonight? Well... that ain't good-"
*BUZZ* *CRACKLE* *BUZZ*
At that moment, the electricity was restored and the lights came back on, flickering a bit before flooding the spacious condominium with a warm, welcoming glow.
"Ah, sweetness!" he cried out, clapping his hands together with a broad grin. "Hey, Mrs. Wang?...er, I mean, WONG?" he called out, "I'm just gonna put your stuff in the fridge, since you're obviously...on the toilet or something...oh CRAP!"
He looked around, his eyes getting wider and wider as he took it all in.
Dr. Wanda Wong's condo had been utterly DESTROYED; the windows had been smashed, the framed pictures on the walls broken, the sofa and the recliner flipped over, and the widescreen television set had been broken in two, the pair of black, jagged halves occupying opposite corners of the room, as if someone had been throwing them around as makeshift weapons.
Junior gawked at the chaos before him.
"There's some BAAAAAAAD juju goin' on around here tonight, man...!" he babbled as he began to shake all over. "And I am OUTTA' here!"
With that, he snatched up the bag of groceries and dashed across the warzone of a living room to the kitchen, shoved the bag into the fridge, and slammed it shut.
"Sm-smarty Mart thanks ya' fer' yer' business! C-come back soon!"
He dashed out the door into the misty cold and yanked out his phone to call the police, hoping they wouldn't assume he was just making another prank call.
No. This time it was SERIOUS.
"Prepare yourselves, ladies and gentlemen, for the most MAGNIFICENT salads you have EVER tasted!" said the head waiter, in a rich, powerful voice.
"Oohhhh!" cried James excitedly, as he primly placed his white linen napkin in his lap. "Bring on the greens, my good sirs!"
"That we shall!" they answered.
Three Chez Couteaux waiters clad in dapper uniforms, each carrying two large platters, circulated around the table and placed a salad in front of each of the six diners, each one made up of exotic greens, roasted vegetables, seared ahi tuna, beluga caviar, and a mouthwatering assortment of other various delicacies.
"Please enjoy!" said one of the waiters with a courteous bow, "and please don't hesitate to let us know if you need anything!"
"Thank you very much!" they answered, before digging in.
As the waiters retreated back to the kitchen, a well-dressed couple - an attractive, petite blonde woman and a tall, bulky man with graying blond hair - slowly approached the table, leaning over and gazing at the Possibles with curious, quizzical expressions.
"Excuse me? Mr. and Mrs. Possible?" called the woman. "Mr. and Mrs. Possible, is that you?"
"Hmmmm?" asked Ann as she spun around, a bit of radicchio sticking out from her teeth. "Can we...help you?"
"Oh, sorry to bother you!" said the woman, with a courteous smile. "I'm Alice! Alice Flagg! And this is my husband, Ben Flagg! Do you remember us? We met at one of the Middleton High School football games a few months back! Our son Brick is on the team, and your daughter Kim is one of the cheerleaders, am I correct?"
"Oh, yeah!" said James with a huge grin as he rose clumsily from his seat (the scotch had put him in a VERY good mood) and stumbled his way over to the Flaggs, his napkin falling unnoticed from his lap to the floor.
"Wow, what a coincidence running into you two tonight!" shouted James (he was unaware he was even shouting) as he vigorously shook the surprised Ben Flagg's hand in a death grip. "How're you guy's doin' tonight? *hic* Man alive, from what I can remember, *hic* your son sure could throw a ball!"
"Ah, um, please excuse my husband!" laughed Ann, as she jumped from her seat and gently put her arm around James' shoulder. "He's...umm, visibly refreshed..."
"Oh, it's alright!" laughed Alice along with Ben. "I mean, just as long as you're the one driving home tonight, Mrs. Possible!"
"Yeah, it...sure seems that way!" laughed Ann nervously, as the sleepy-eyed James giggled and swayed within the curve of her protective arm.
"Oh-oh, Alice and Ben? These are our dear friends, the Rameshs and the Chens!" said Ann, as she motioned towards the other four diners at the table with her free hand.
"Pleased to meet you!" they garbled through full mouths.
"S-so, what brings you two *hic* to good ol' Chez Couteaux tonight?" asked James. "Lemme' tell ya'...this place is TOPS! *hic*"
"Y'know, it's kinda' funny!" said Ben Flagg, as he affectionately wrapped his arm around Alice's waist. "This...well...kind of UNUSUAL businesswoman came to our door yesterday...she actually showed up kinda' LATE, which was strange-"
At this, Ann's ears began to perk up.
"And after we had invited her in", continued Ben, "she told us that she represented that big 'McDougall Industries' outfit or whatever, and that we had been placed in a random drawing and had won a free, full-course deluxe meal at this place! And boy, were we EVER excited! We had ALWAYS wanted to try this joint out! Our son, of course, had no interest in joining us, tonight! Heh heh, kids! So, he's got the whole place to himself for the evening..."
As soon has Bonnie had secured herself back into her sister's car, she had hauled ass at the speed of sound, trying to put as much distance between her and Brick's spooky house as she possibly could.
"What...is...happening?!" she bellowed, her (fear-induced) sweat-ruined makeup beginning to drip down the sides of her face, in spite of the cold. "Brick, where the hell are you?"
As she sped crazily down the misty streets, she just couldn't stop picturing the spooky mental image of Brick's front door, gently swinging back and forth in the dark and the chill.
*CREAK* *CREAK* *CREAK*
Had Brick been abducted? Had there been some kind of violent home invasion that night, and a bunch of burglars had ransacked the place and just carried him off? She NEEDED to know! Right now!
She gripped the steering wheel as if it were a life preserver. She hadn't braked even once since she had skedaddled out of Brick's neighborhood like a bat out of hell.
"I...hate...this creepy-ass mist!" she snarled. "And I hate...nighttime! And I hate the cold! Hate, hate, hate, hate, HATE!"
And just like how Kim's imagination had gone rogue earlier that evening, Bonnie's mind was now completely out of her control, and busily generating wave after wave of spine-chilling terror; she suddenly remembered catching several episodes of that old 80's show, Unsolved Mysteries from when she was just a little girl, the eerie theme song now thundering through her mind as the low, ominous voice of the host, Robert Stack, rose over it:
"Tonight...on Unsolved Mysteries... Brick Flagg, a popular and athletic quarterback from Middleton High School, vanishes without a trace on a cold, misty night. His strikingly beautiful girlfriend, Bonnie Rockwaller - whose facial bone structure is comparable to that of Marilyn Monroe's, and whose shimmering eyes would make Elizabeth Taylor's look like a pair of cheap blue marbles - vows to find him at all costs...as long as it's not TOO hard-"
By now, the near-hysterical Bonnie had run three red lights and four stop signs, gibbering endlessly about how she was "kind of sorry" about the whole "bagel thing", completely failing to notice that there was someone crouching down in her back seat.
She blithely continued to plow through the foggy, abandoned streets in her sister's small yellow car, altogether alone and unaided as her sinister, unknown passenger prepared to launch a surprise attack.
Kim steadied herself for a desperate fight. It was now or never, and there was a good chance that she was going to die in the attempt to save the one she loved.
"Uh...uh...uh...ugggghhhhhh!" wailed Ron in terror as his brown eyes drowned in Kali's fiery red ones, his will to resist slowly being sapped away by her powerful hypnotic gaze. Still pressed flat against the wall as she battened down on him, Kim, Tim and Jim watched in horror as their strange "houseguest" prepared to scarf down some liquid refreshment, (involuntary) courtesy of Ron Stoppable.
Breathing hard and grinning like a famished hyaena that had finally cornered its prey, Kali bared her fangs and then swooped down on Ron's jugular as he winced his eyes shut.
"You're mine..." she hissed, her unbelievably sexy voice dripping through the air like thick, sugary sap sliding down a tree.
"Maybe...maybe it won't be so bad..." he thought, as he felt two sharp points press against his throat. "No, wait...wha-what am I THINKING?! It's gonna SUCK being a vampire! PUN INTENDED!" he reflected, his mind racing at a maddening pace.
At that moment, Kim launched herself at Kali and let out an earsplitting battle cry as she wound up and aimed a punch directly for the vampire's face. She knew that in the end, it probably wouldn't do much, and it was more than likely that Kali would wind up losing her temper and then just absolutely rip the four of them apart like rag dolls.
But she couldn't just stand there and do nothing.
Tim and Jim also winced their eyes shut and then turned their faces away. They never imagined things would end like this-
"Excuse me! Miss Kali?" called a strangely cheerful voice from the end of the hall.
Kim stopped just inches short from her fist connecting with Kali's pale left cheek as the vampire woman suddenly jerked her head up from Ron's neck, her expression devoid of lust and hunger and now only looking both surprised and irritated. Not by Kim's attack, apparently, but from the stranger who had just intruded upon them.
"Curse your timing..." she growled.
"O-oh, having s-second thoughts?" stammered Ron with a shy smile. "I think its o-only fair to tell you, that the b-breadsticks I had tonight had a TON of g-garlic on them...so my blood just miiiiiiiiight give you an allergic reaction! J-just trying to help, Miss!"
"Enjoying yourself just a bit too much?" rang the voice again.
"Who on Earth?" cried Kim, as she, Ron, the twins and Kali herself wheeled around.
"Miss Kali, it has been nearly three hours!" continued the strangely friendly voice. "Just how long do you intend to draw this out? After all, after we collect Miss Possible, we still have one more individual to fetch before the night's end!"