SWD: Chapter 9
It was now nighttime here in Peach Creek. After the emergency meetup earlier, the Peters family decided it would be wise to stay in town, booking in at an AirBnB close by the hotel that Phoenix and Miles were staying at alongside Lucian, Robert, and Camilla. The Swanson family would stay here temporarily until they could contact the real estate agent about buying the house across the street from Zoey and Jennifer. Vincent and Sheryl then began to drive back to their house in Oak Valley, asking for Lucian and Robert to keep an eye on Felix and Ashely. They wanted to grab some necessities and clothes for the short stay since they did not do so when they got there earlier.
Miles decided to help pay for the AirBnB that they were staying in. Since the Martel Family will be trying to find the Swansons, they need to stay hidden for a while. If Lucian or Robert used any of their credit or debit cards to rent the place (or for any other purchases), they could be easily tracked down. Marie also decided to stay with Lucian and Robert for the night, she wanted to learn more about her father and what kind of person he was.
As for everyone else, they all returned to their homes. The Johnson's were being extra cautious from the news that was dropped on them today. Even so, Serena decided she wanted to have a sleepover at Jennifer's house tonight, saying she wanted to play a game or two to get her mind off the situation. Jennifer gladly accepted her with a big smile.
Zoey decided she wanted to stay home, trying her best to avoid Eddy at all costs. The static-filled side effects that began to develop recently because of what happened back in August were worsening. She had no idea how to solve this problem and was becoming too scared to be anywhere near Eddy for fear of hurting him again. Eddy was also in the same boat, but unlike Zoey, he was not going to give up. Eddy was determined to try and find a way to help her, one way or another!
Sadly, things were about to go very south, very fast.
"It is time, Mr. Carson. Give those two recruits the signal to capture their targets and bring them back here; quickly and quietly."
"Yes, Mr. Martel."
Currently, at the hotel that Phoenix and Miles were staying at, we could see Phoenix standing in front of the sink in the hotel bathroom, putting on a light gray shirt and a pair of navy-blue sweatpants. He then grabbed the dark gray hoodie that was hanging on the door next to him.
"Geez, it's been a while since I'd wore this old thing," Phoenix stated as he puts on the hoodie, adjusting the sleeves a little. He went over to his business suit to take off the lapel that was on his jacket collar, putting it in the pocket of his hoodie. As he reached into his pocket, he could feel the locket that he usually wore, resting inside the hoodie pocket. He smiled when he noticed it was there.
Suddenly, Phoenix heard a knock at the front door of the room. He was about to approach the door before narrowing his eyes for a moment, realizing that neither he nor Miles asked for any room service when they arrived back from town. Miles had stepped out earlier to grab some coffee and herbal tea bags from the café connected to this hotel. He looked through the peephole, only to see two suspicious men standing outside the door. They looked to be unarmed but did not know for certain if they had any sort of hidden weapon on them. Phoenix quietly backed away, making his way over to where he placed his cell phone. He pulled up Mile's number first, texting him to call the police for him before putting his phone into 'do not disturb' mode.
Phoenix heard the door being kicked down by the two grunts, "Okay, wiseguys, we know one of youse is in here!" shouted one of the men as they rushed in.
But as they rushed in, one of the men fell to the ground, knocked out like a light; Phoenix had slammed an unplugged clothes iron onto the man's head after grabbing it from the closet nearby. Before the second guy could react, Phoenix gave him a sharp karate chop to the side of his ribcage and his neck, making the man fall to the ground unconscious.
"Heh, I guess those self-defense lessons I had to take for Capcom a while back came in handy after all," Phoenix said with a satisfied smirk, "I'd always found it weird they'd put 'Fenix Trite' as the joke character in that silly fighting game with Marvel, but here we are!"
Phoenix suddenly felt himself being struck from behind; a powerful punch from another man who was with the other two men; he was hidden from view earlier!
The man who struck Phoenix began to put him into a chokehold, "I'd suggest you follow me for now, Mr. Lawyer," the man said to Phoenix as he tightened his grip, "Or else you'll be in a lot of pain if you don't cooperate!"
Strangely, the man could see that Phoenix was calm, even with those threats made to him, "Fine, fine! Just let go of me," Phoenix said as the man loosened his grip, "This isn't my first rodeo with a mafia family…"
Phoenix turned to the man, only for him to widen his eyes in surprise. The man seemed to be in his mid-twenties. His hair was navy-blue in color; short and spiky, and his eyes were dark blue. His appearance kept tugging at the back of his head, but Phoenix could not place why he thought he knew the man.
"Really now; those are some brave words," the man said before making a harsh glare, "But I'm not interested in your backstory, old timer… I got a second chance to get what I want, thanks to Mr. Martel!"
He then grabbed Phoenix by his right arm, "Now then, I got one more thing to do before I take you to him," the man started to say as he forcefully dragged Phoenix away, 'I gotta go and get Pipsqueak. I have so many things to say and share with them!' he made a sinister smile, 'Once they find him gone, I know that baby doll of his will come running to help my little brother. When she gets to me, I'll threaten to kill Pipsqueak unless she gives me what I want! The baby doll will have no choice but to stay with me to let him live! And THAT'S when Zoey will finally be mine!'
Meanwhile, at the same time elsewhere, we come upon Jennifer's house. We could see Jennifer and Serena sitting in the living room, playing a round of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate together. Jennifer's mom and dad were both upstairs, already asleep in their bed.
"Dang, you're getting a lot better at this!" Serena laughed after the last round was done, "You should really try your hands at a tournament; you'll wipe the floor with everyone else!"
Jennifer rubbed the back of her neck in nervousness, "You really think so?"
"Yeah!"
The two girls continued to sit on the couch, talking with one another before Jennifer noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She turned to the kitchen nearby, only to see that the kitchen door that leads to her backyard was partially opened.
Serena looked to see what caught Jennifer's attention, "Wait, did your parents forget to close the back door before going to bed?"
"N-No, I don't think so…" Jennifer replied as she and Serena both stood up, "Maybe the door wasn't properly shut."
The two girls walked over to the kitchen to close the open door. As they were about to approach it, the door suddenly swung open, hitting both Jennifer and Serena with a lot of force. The door slammed the two girls to the side, instantly knocking them out like a light.
The person who swung the door open then came into frame; a devious smile began to form on her face, "Wow, I didn't think I would end up catching two weaklings like this!" Viper said as she picked up the two girls by the collar of their shirts, "Now then, let's go back to Mr. Martel. We need the hostages to at least be conscious before striking a deal…"
Eight minutes later, at Eddy's house, we could see Eddy in his room, looking at his phone for some information. He googled static electricity and how to prevent making it. Unsurprisingly, the result was more so explanations on what it was and not how to prevent being zapped. Eddy made a groan as he flopped onto his bed in exhaustion, "God, why does everything need to be so hard…"
Eddy could feel his eyes become heavy as he lay down on his bed. He was lazily looking at his phone before noticing something that caught his attention; someone had just entered his room from his back door! He somehow did not even hear them outside at all!
Before he could react to whoever entered, the person jumped over to Eddy and put some sort of rag over his mouth and nose. Eddy struggled to set himself free from whoever had him in their grip but began to lose his strength due to the chloroform-filled rag. Eddy's vision started to blur, but not before catching a glimpse of who was holding the rag. He then passed out, much to Evan's delight.
"Heh, that's a good Pipsqueak," Evan taunted before dragging Eddy out of his room from the back door.
Two minutes later at the AirBnB, we could see Camilla, Felix, and Marie sitting on the couch, eating some chips and watching TV. Ashley was already fast asleep in the bed she chose as Lucian was getting ready for bed upstairs while Robert was in the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge. Robert looked over at where Camilla, Felix, and Marie were sitting, smiling at the group of kids, 'It's been so long since Camilla could hang out and talk like this with anyone. I'm so glad…'
Robert began to walk toward the staircase next to the door when he suddenly felt his hair stand up in fright. He saw a man standing in front of him, the barrel of a gun pointed towards him.
"I'm here to retrieve what you took from us, Mr. Swanson," Mr. Carson said before pulling the trigger. The shot that was fired hit Robert in his upper left arm, making him collapse to the ground, screaming in pain.
"F-Father!" Camilla screamed as she jumped up from the couch along with Felix and Marie. Camilla wanted to run over to her father but was stopped by Marie. Felix could only stand there with them in fright.
"Camilla, s-stay back!" Robert shouted, "Marie, Felix! You all gotta run! NOW!"
Marie and Felix nodded their head, dragging Camilla away by her wrist to the back door of the AirBnB.
"Robert!" shouted Lucian as he quickly dashed down the stairs, only to see Robert propping himself on the wall next to him. Lucian looked at Mr. Carson with a glare, "You…!"
"Come now, Lucian. You knew this would happen if you ever turned your back on the family," Mr. Carson said with a smirk.
That was when they heard three loud screams and shrieks outside; it was Marie, Felix, and Camilla.
"We'll be taking Camilla back now," Mr. Carson stated before turning around and leaving behind the two men.
Lucian rushed over to Robert, "Robbie!"
Robert coughed a little before looking at his partner, "Luci, you gotta h-help them!"
"I-I will! Don't worry!" Lucian said as he pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket, quickly calling an ambulance first before 9-1-1.
One minute later, at the police station, we could see Detective Wells sitting at his desk, focusing on the computer monitor in front of him. The work phone on his desk began to ring; it was a call from his secretary at the front desk, "Mr. Wells, there's a man here who wishes to speak with you about a case."
Mr. Wells internally made a sigh, "I see, please direct them to my office please."
He hung up his work phone and got up from where he sat at his desk, walking over to his office door to exit it. He decided to stand outside his office to greet whoever needed to talk to him.
Mr. Wells soon sees a very familiar man approaching him from around the corner, widening his eyes as he did, "Mr. Layton?!"
"It's nice to see you again, Mr. Wells," greeted the man named Layton, tipping his tall top hat as a greeting, "I wanted to be present here when the trial begins along with Mr. Wright and Mr. Edgeworth…" Layton noticed the strong silence from the detective, "… Has something new come up?"
Detective Wells lets out a sigh of defeat, "Yes, as a matter of fact…" he then opens the door to his office, "I can explain everything in my office. Please, come in!"
As soon as the two men entered the office, the work phone began to ring once more. Mr. Wells went over to answer the call, pulling it up on speaker this time, "What is it now?"
"M-Mr. Wells! We've just received several emergency calls from three different places! Several people have been kidnapped! The Martel family might be behind this!"
Both Mr. Wells and Layton widened their eyes, "O-Okay, I'll see what I can do! I'm on the case!"
Mr. Wells slammed his fist onto his desk after hanging up on the other line, "Dammit! This happened too fast! H-How did—?!"
"Mr. Wells, please remain calm," Layton began to say, "Please, you must tell me what's going on…"
The detective was silent before making a sigh, "I know, let's get moving! There's no time to waste!"
Author's Note (January 4th, 2025): Psst, hey. Guess what today is?
IT'S THE ANNIVERSARY OF ED, EDD, 'N' EDDY AIRING ON CARTOON NETWORK 26 YEARS AGO! HELL YEAH!
And what does the industry do to celebrate?
THEY TOOK IT OFF THE ONLY STREAMING SERVICES IT WAS ON A FEW DAYS AGO! FUCK!
Yes, I am very pissed off at HBO Max. There really is no saving that service at all, especially if they keep making these fucked up decisions like this.
Bleh, I hate corpos.