SWD: Chapter 13

Author's Note: All four scenes happen at the exact same time. And there is so much happening in this part! That being said…

Content Warning: A lot of disturbing topics will come up throughout this chapter. If you have any sort of trouble with the following subjects, PLEASE be cautious and keep yourself safe from intrusive thoughts.

[Violence in general, suicidal acts and thoughts, disturbing imagery and violent actions on someone's body, and sexual acts toward someone that's underage (that never really happens in this chapter, it's only brought up and doesn't go any further than that)]

Please remember that this is a fanfic. They can be about anything, messed up or not. That's why warnings and disclaimers like these are important.

Felix was scared out of his mind. He had successfully got away from the person holding him hostage thanks to Jennifer tripping Viper before she could reach him. Felix stopped running for a moment, trying to catch his breath from running so fast; he was not an unhealthy kid, but he sure did not have the stamina for this.

After he regained his composure and adjusted his glasses, Felix looked around where he had run to. He was on the ground floor of this abandoned building near the main lobby. He could see the entrance on the other side of the room, where there were several red and blue lights flashing outside. It was the police who were already there to help them!

Felix made a sigh of relief at the sight. He was about to walk across the room when he suddenly stopped. He could hear a strange sound; someone was violently throwing up. Felix turned to see the restroom stalls near where he was, noticing that there was someone in one of them.

Felix made a worried expression as he looked back and forth between the restroom and the entrance across the lobby. He knew that he needed to go to the police as soon as possible to help Jennifer and everyone else… But he realized that it would be cruel to not check on the wellbeing of someone who was sick. Felix walked over to the restrooms, going into the boys' stalls first to see if anyone was there. There was no one, meaning the sick person was in the girls' restroom.

'Oh… Wow, good thing there's no one here to see me go in there,' Felix thought as he exited the boy's restroom, 'This feels super weird.'

Felix slowly walked inside the girls' restroom, seeing that the only difference between the two restrooms was that there were no urinals (AN: Trust me, it's not that particularly impressive or different). Besides that, Felix could see that one of the restroom stalls was open from where he was standing. He slowly began to approach the stall until he heard the person violently throw up again; that was when he saw who it was. It was Camilla, she was sitting on the ground with her head hovering over the toilet. Her whole body was shaking.

"Camilla?!" Felix gasped as he ran over to her in the tiny stall. Camilla jolted up when she heard Felix's voice, yelping in fright before realizing who it was, "S-Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you."

Felix tried his best not to look inside the toilet but did catch a glimpse that she was throwing up clear foam and other bodily junk that was a part of the lining of her stomach; it meant she was only nauseous and not throwing up anything she had eaten. Camilla groaned as she looked up at Felix, "I'm – o-okay…"

Camilla felt Felix's hand land on her shoulder, "Here, let me help you," he said as he helped her stand back up, her body still trembling.

The two preteens slowly walked out of the restroom; they were both silent to one another until Camilla's body began to tremble again, "Ugh…!"

"H-Hey, don't push yourself!" Felix gasped before gesturing to the entrance across the lobby, "The police are outside right now. They might have an ambulance with them, so we should…"

Suddenly, Camilla was breathing heavily, as if she were struggling to breathe. Felix widened his eyes before deciding to act; he caught Camilla before she could collapse to the ground. He then lifted her onto his back in a piggyback position so she could rest. Felix was not strong, but he had to help Camilla get out of this place. He slowly began to make his way to the entrance of the lobby with her.

"… Why are you h-helping me?" Felix heard Camilla weakly ask him, "You c-could've gotten out of here f-faster without me."

"I wasn't going to leave you there, Cammy. You needed help," Felix replied, "How did you get sick like that anyway? You seemed to be okay a few hours ago…"

Camilla was silent to Felix, which he did notice, "… Uh, d-did I say something wrong?"

"N-No, not really! My dads are usually the ones that call me Cammy," Camilla said, "I didn't think anyone else would do that."

Felix felt his face grow red in embarrassment, "Oh, sorry! I didn't—"

His apology was cut off by Camilla's laughter, "It's okay! That just means we're friends now, right?"

Felix felt Camilla hug him tightly, much to his shock. His insides were a nervous wreck, and not just because of the awful situation they were in.

"And, uh… I started to feel sick after I ran really fast," Camilla continued to say, "It only happens when I run like that sometimes. I-It's really gross and freaks me out a lot…"

"Oh… well, maybe the paramedics can help with that?" Felix said.

Camilla nods, "I h-hope so…"

The two preteens finally made it to the entrance; Felix sat Camilla on the ground, propping her on her back so she could rest before opening the door, only for him to be blinded by the spotlight the police were using.

"Freeze!" shouted a police officer with a megaphone as officers began to approach the scene.

Felix nervously began to wave to them, "Uh… h-hi?"

The officers there realized the person leaving the building was two of the kids they were looking for. A few of them went over to Felix and Camilla's side, "Are you two hurt anywhere?" asked one of the officers.

Felix shook his head, "No, but Camilla is sick. She was throwing up earlier, but it was all clear stuff and not any sort of food…"

The other officer walked over to help Camilla, picking her up to get her to the ambulance. Felix followed close behind her. Once they got to the ambulance the officer that helped them placed her down on the stretcher to rest.

"Umm, is there a way I can call my mom and dad?" Felix asked the officer, "I don't have my phone right now to call them…"

"Don't worry, kid. We'll get everything sorted out. We need to get this girl to the hospital first to make sure she's okay," the officer replied as they both hopped into the ambulance, "You can tell us what happened on the way there, okay?"

Felix nervously nodded his head, "O-Okay, but a few of my friends are still back there! Can you save them?"

"Of course we will! That's what the good guys do!" the officer smiled, trying to help Felix feel better, "Now then, tell me what happened tonight…"

Double D and Wendy had separated from Matthew and Aiden moments ago to travel to the balcony that the blue arrow directed them to. Ed decided to follow them to the balcony but separated from them to go to the catwalks of the stage in the auditorium (which is something that will pay off a little later).

Once they arrived, Double D widened his eyes at the scene in front of him. Near the edge of the balcony was Jennifer, whose hands and wrists were in binds. Standing behind her was Viper, who was holding a large knife close to Jennifer's neck. Jennifer was shocked when she saw them approaching, a few tears formed on the brim of her eyes.

"About time you got here, puddin' hat," Viper said to Double D, "What took you so long?"

Double D swallowed his nerves before narrowing his eyes, deciding not to say anything to the girl yet in fear of making things worse.

"Eddward, Felix is okay!" Jennifer said to him, "He ran off to try and find help for me and the others, s-so he's probably outside the building now!"

Jennifer felt Viper grip her wrist even tighter, "Yeah, no freaking thanks to you, tripping me when he ran off!"

Wendy held her pistol to Viper, "Ms. Riviera, let Jennifer go…"

"NO! I'm not missing this chance at getting revenge on this stupid girl!" Viper snapped to the agent, "She took my only friends away from me! I loved them like they were my own family! They WERE the only family I had!"

Double D and Jennifer widened their eyes at Viper's statement, with Jennifer making a sad expression and Double D making a worried frown. They both knew that the source of her grudge was because her fellow gang members were arrested for attacking Jennifer, but they never looked deeper into why she became so desperate to get revenge.

"… I already know this, Ellis. I read some details about your background months ago. I wanted to know more about this horrible girl who would do all this to my son and his girlfriend," Wendy started to say, "Funny enough, I also knew someone else who went through something similar. She grew up as an orphan on the wrong side of town, living with people who she considered her only family; she even did things with them that she never felt good about…"

Double D could see his mom start to tremble, much to his worry, "The truth is that the family she cared for never existed in the first place. Several days after a string of robberies in their neighborhood, the girl's family used her as a scapegoat to run away, even though she was never involved in any of those crimes."

Wendy puts down her pistol for a moment to place her hand toward her lower stomach, "Her family attacked her, cutting and stabbing her around here. The wounds they made were only deep enough to do some damage to her insides, but not outright kill her… They laughed and taunted her, saying trash like her should never have kids, so they 'helped out' by fixing her. She attempted to go to the hospital for help, but there was not much they could do; she didn't have the money to help pay for most of her recovery…"

She then raised her pistol again, "Afterward, even knowing she could never have a child of her own, she never gave up on trying to live a normal life. But that was also short-lived, the woman slowly went back to a life of petty crimes…" She took a deep breath, "One day, she was caught trying to steal a motorcycle by a young police officer, who was only a trainee at the time. He arrested her on the spot; but instead of leaving her at the station and letting that be the end of it, the man tried his best to help rehabilitate her. He could see that she was struggling, knowing that she was a good person at heart. Even when he learned about her harsh past and debilitated injuries, he never judged her…"

There was a strong pause as Viper continued to glare at the agent, "What's your point with this dumb story?" she growled.

"That young officer was my husband," Wendy replied, "And the woman in this story was me."

The three teens there all widened their eyes in complete shock, "M-Mother!" Double D gasped, "Y-You never told me this…!"

"I know, Eddward. We were both going to tell you this when you and your friends graduated high school, even before telling you about the past you'd forgotten," Wendy sighed, "But I cannot stand by and watch someone else make the same mistakes again!" she glared at Viper, "If you keep going down this path, there will be nothing for you at the end. The 'family' you cared about is behind bars; how would you know if they still care about you after all this time?!"

"S-SHUT UP!" Viper screamed at Wendy, making Jennifer flinch a little in pain for how sudden the yell was, "You think I don't know that?! I AM a worthless person without them! But even so, I-I—?!"

Viper suddenly threw the large knife that she had toward Jennifer's neck to the ground, shoving her aside towards the seats in front of them. Double D gasped, "J-Jennifer!" he yelped as he ran over to her side. Jennifer fell onto the floor near the balcony chairs.

Jennifer was gasping for air as she saw Double D next to her. She quickly hugged him, scared out of her mind because of what happened. Double D hugged her back for a second before the two teens turned back to Viper, both widening their eyes in horror.

They could see Viper start to climb over the railing of the balcony, sitting on it and looking at the ground below her feet. Wendy made a frown at Viper, "Ms. Riviera…!"

Double D and Jennifer realized she was going to jump, "S-Stop it!"

Viper stood up on the railing and began to jump off, but not before feeling someone grab onto her right wrist. Viper looked up to see Jennifer was the one who stopped her, "W-What the hell are you doing?! Are you really that stupid?! Let me go!"

"N-NO! I-I don't want anyone to die!" Jennifer cried as a few tears started to fall from her eyes, "NOTHING about this is okay!"

Double D stood next to Jennifer, reaching out his hand to Viper, "Here, give me your other hand!"

Viper stared at the two teens trying to help her as Wendy came over to help support Jennifer by pulling her up, "I don't understand you! Just drop me and be done with it!"

Double D made a glare, "The feeling is mutual; I don't understand why you think this can help you or anyone else!" he started to say as he reached further down to grab Viper's left hand. He started to use his ice powers as soon as he grabbed her hand, placing a thin layer of ice over both their hands. This made it so she would not purposely let go of his hand so easily, Double D was using his ice powers to help her, "Even so, there's no reason for you to give up on yourself! You are only sixteen, for crying out loud! There's still time for things to change around!"

Viper was silent to them as the group slowly pulled her back up to the floor of the balcony. They were all out of breath from what happened, but Wendy recovered fast enough to take out a pair of handcuffs, putting them on Viper's right wrist first to detain her. Double D separated the thin layer of ice from him and Viper with it crumbling apart.

"Listen, I don't expect any of us here can easily forgive the things you've already done," Wendy started to say as she completed putting Viper's wrists into the pair of handcuffs, "All I ask of you now is to think about the story I told you. Things can change for the better… Just remember that, please."

Before Viper could respond back, she felt herself being hugged by Jennifer for a short moment, who was crying, "WH—"

"I'm sorry! I-I'm so sorry!" Jennifer repeatedly sobbed to the bully, "I know you don't care, b-but I couldn't let you fall like that!"

Double D went over to Jennifer, placing his hand on her shoulder, "It's alright now. It's finally over…" he glanced over to Viper, "I know this kind of compassion might seem foreign to you, but I hope you can understand one day. Having real support in times like these can make a difference…"

Viper stayed silent at them before the scowl that was on her face began to soften, "You really think it's that easy, do you?" she sarcastically asked.

"Of course not. Trying to make amends will be difficult if that's something you decide on during your times in juvie," Double D replied as Jennifer let Viper out of her hug, making a small smile, "But, when you finally leave that place, perhaps you can visit us for real; on better terms as acquaintances, please."

Wendy smiled at her son and his girlfriend, "You two are far too kind," she chuckled as she helped Viper stand up, "Here, maybe we can help you out once everything settles down. Just like my husband did for me all those years ago."

Viper said nothing as she was escorted out of the building in handcuffs, thinking about Wendy's story. She glanced over to Double D and Jennifer a few times; they were both walking a bit ahead of her. Jennifer was still holding onto Double D's right arm in support.

'… I… Maybe they're right, I should try to be better… Well, maybe later.'

Zoey's group was approaching the entrance of the gymnasium, knowing that Evan and the others were waiting for them behind those double doors.

"So, how do we plan on tackling this?" Detective Wells asked.

"I'm not sure yet," Miles hummed as he began to think about their options.

Zoey remained silent before shaking her head, "It doesn't matter! We'll just improvise until we see our chance to help them!"

Miles chuckled at Zoey, "That's the kind of reckless response I would hear from Phoenix."

The group looked at each other before opening the double doors to the gym. Zoey felt her body freeze in terror when she saw Evan, who was standing in the middle of the basketball court. He had Eddy with him (who was still knocked out), holding the teen boy up by his wrist. Phoenix was also there, awkwardly standing by them so as not to make the situation worse. Zoey could also see that most of Eddy's left arm was bandaged.

"Well, well, well! If it isn't my lovely baby doll!" Evan said when he noticed who was approaching him, "I've been waiting for you all night to get here."

Zoey stayed silent to the man, glaring at him in anger.

Detective Wells points his pistol at Evan, "Evan McGee, I suggest you put the boy down and free Mr. Wright…"

"What, you mean these meat shields?" Evan asked, gesturing to Eddy and Phoenix.

"Yes, those 'meat shields' are people we care about," Miles said with a furrowed brow, "I can't speak for the boy, but anything you throw at Phoenix will just bounce off him. Being hit by a car and falling into an ice-cold ravine has made him hardheaded."

"Wh — HEY! This isn't the time for witty comments, Miles! Try and help us out here!" Phoenix shouted to Miles in disbelief, "I also resent that!"

Evan laughed at the two men's banter, "Anyway, I guess I can put him down for now!"

Evan slammed Eddy straight to the ground, making a nasty crack in the wooden floor boarding, much to everyone's horror. That was when Eddy finally woke up, yelling when he felt pain from the throw. A literal rude awakening.

"E-Eddy!" Zoey shouted to him as she covered her mouth in disbelief, still holding her ground. She desperately wanted to get to him but was scared too for two very different reasons.

Eddy groaned as he looked over to see Zoey standing further away from him. He made a small smile of relief at her before he felt his brother's hands grab his shirt collar, lifting him high above Evan's head.

"About damn time you woke up from your beauty sleep, Pipsqueak! I can see you went through a major growth spurt while I was gone!" Evan taunted as he made Eddy turn to look at Zoey, "Anyway, look who's here to see us! Aren't you happy to see your baby doll?"

"S-Stop calling her that…" Eddy weakly began to say in anger, "Zoey's not an object, you asshole."

"Is that so?" Evan asked before he smirked with delight, "Whatever. Your opinions are garbage anyway."

Eddy could slowly feel Evan gripping him tighter around his shirt collar, leaning over to whisper into Eddy's ear, "I still have things to do to your baby doll when I take her back home in Sunflower Shoal. That dumb amusement park is close to the red-light district, you know…"

Eddy widened his eyes in pure shock before growling in anger. One of the reasons Evan was doing all this was to hurt him and his friends out of spite and for his own pleasure as a sadist; he already knew this. But a few months ago, he learned there was another reason for these horrible acts. Zoey confessed to Eddy what Evan did to her the second time he was arrested. Evan had been obsessed with Zoey ever since he laid eyes on her. He had groped and assaulted her, along with saying so many degrading things to her that made her have various doubts about herself as a person. Zoey expressed how awful she felt because the figure of her body was something she could not control; having her first period at such an early age, right before she turned eleven. Now that she was fifteen, her figure was pretty much on par with some young adult idols you would always see on TV. Because of these doubts and actions against her, it made Zoey suicidal. She even told Eddy that he saved her life twice; from Evan's actions AND herself.

And now, Evan was boldly confessing to Eddy what he was going to do with Zoey once she was back in his clutches, right in front of her boyfriend's face.

He could feel his blood beginning to boil; Eddy was beyond livid at this point, "D-Don't you DARE…!"

That was when Eddy finally decided to act. He grabbed Evan's wrist with his left hand before letting out a small spark; it could barely be seen, but his brother sure felt it. Evan yelped as he threw Eddy to the ground, rubbing his wrist, "W-What the hell was that!"

Eddy landed flat on his face from the sudden throw but quickly got back up to run over to Phoenix (despite wanting to run over to Zoey first, he didn't want to abandon the defense lawyer). Eddy took the binds off Phoenix's wrists.

Zoey and the others widened their eyes in surprise when Evan dropped Eddy to grab onto his wrist like he was in sudden pain. Eddy and Phoenix started to run over to their rescuers, much to Evan's anger.

"Oh, no you don't!" Evan shouted as he started to run after them, only to see his younger brother come to a halt.

Eddy held out his left arm to Evan before firing several electric sparks in his direction as a warning, to prevent his older brother from coming any further; the electricity was still a purple color like before. The sudden warning shots did make Evan stop.

"LEAVE. US. ALONE!" Eddy screamed at his brother in anger, glaring daggers at Evan.

"H-How the fu—?!" Evan started to ask before widening his eyes, "Wait, Mr. Martel told me that there's a drug they made here that could give folks powers…" he narrowed his eyes once in anger once he realized, "Don't tell me, you—"

"Yeah, I found that serum in the room YOU took us to, I took that awful shot!" Eddy shouted as he glared at Evan, "That serum was the last one they made, and I wasn't gonna let you or any of those guys use it on Zoey!"

Zoey could only stand there, watching what was happening in front of her. Her eyes grew glossy as she began to tear up.

Phoenix made it to the rescuer's side, a bit out of breath from the sudden jog. Miles smiled at his partner, "Wow, I didn't realize how out of shape you were."

"L-Look who's talking!" Phoenix gasped before regaining his composure.

Detective Wells slowly began to approach Evan to arrest him, his pistol still pointing at the man, "Now then, I suggest you surrender quietly, Evan McGee…"

Before Detective Wells could finish, Eddy finally rushed to Zoey's side. Once he got there, Zoey was hesitant to hug him, in fear of hurting him again. Eddy could see she was still nervous, but pulled her into a hug anyway, making her yelp in surprise at his move. Zoey slowly began to realize that she was not hurting him anymore. As it turns out, the lightning serum he took as a gamble to help save her was helping him attract the static she was producing as a side effect, basically becoming a lightning rod that was not affected by her powers.

Zoey could feel the tears she was holding back beginning to stream down her face, hugging Eddy in return as she rested her head on the right crook of his neck, sobbing in happiness.

Evan growled at their reunion in anger, "I-I… refuse to let ANY of you be happy! EVER!"

Eddy turned to look at his older brother, "Well, too bad, so sad!" he said before sticking his tongue out to Evan as a taunt. Evan's face started to become redder with each passing second.

After putting his gun back in his holster, Detective Wells went over to Evan, preparing to put the man in handcuffs. Before he could do anything, Evan let out an angry yell, dashing past the detective and toward his brother and Zoey in pure rage like an angry bull, "I'LL KILL YOU BOTH!"

Detective Wells was about to pull out his gun to stop him until he noticed that both Eddy and Zoey were beginning to use their electric powers. They were charging up with Eddy's purple static and Zoey's yellow sparks.

"Mr. Wright! Mr. Edgeworth! Stand back for a second!" Mr. Wells shouted to the two men standing close by. Phoenix and Miles could hear the urgency in the detective's voice, quickly retreating with him toward the bleachers further away.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Zoey?" Eddy asked.

"Yep, let's give it everything we got!" Zoey replied with a big smirk.

The two teens began to rush over to Evan, who was so blinded by rage that he did not even realize they had electricity around them. Once they were near him, Eddy punched Evan's face as Zoey punched Evan in the gut; both of their punches had sparks flying out of them from the impact on Evan's body.

"GAH!" The impact of the attacks pushed him, flying a few feet away until he fell to the floor, landing on his back. Evan looked up to see Eddy and Zoey now standing over him, both still covered in electricity. Before he could react or say anything, the two teens made one final hit to him; they both kicked him in the dick at the same time. Evan yelled as he crumpled up into a fetal position from the hit he took before finally passing out from the pain. The three men hiding near the bleachers winced at the act, though the kick he suffered was well deserved.

"Go back to jail, Evan! And STAY there this time!" Eddy shouted at his older brother in anger with all the strength he had left. Once he noticed Evan was finally out for the count, Eddy could feel his body begin to tremble as he collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily in exhaustion. The adrenaline he felt this whole time was now fading away.

Eddy felt Zoey hug him tightly, kneeling next to him, "Eddy, I-I'm so happy you're safe!" she began to say as tears streamed down her face once more.

Zoey could hear Eddy make a hoarse laugh, "Well, it's like what I said earlier, remember?" They separated from their hug to look at each other, "I promised I'd keep you safe, no matter what."

Zoey smiled to Eddy, "And you did just that, you freakin' Dork."

The two teens leaned in to give each other a short, passionate kiss, they felt relieved that this nightmare with Evan was finally over. The couple began to stand back up, with Zoey helping Eddy get back to his feet. As they began to leave the gym, Phoenix and Miles came over to the man on the ground along with Detective Wells, who began to put handcuffs on Evan despite being unconscious.

"Geez, this whole situation was just one big mess," Phoenix sighed, scratching the back of his neck, "Glad it's finally done with."

"You say that now, but there are a few other people that were taken along with you and the boy," Miles said, glancing toward the double doors of the gymnasium, "We should go and report to the officers outside that we found you two and arrested one of the culprits."

Phoenix nodded in agreement, "Right."

Matthew and Aiden were making their way to the auditorium, kicking down the double doors with the agent charging first before Matthew. Up ahead on the stage, they could see Serena, who was still tied up. She also seemed to be tired, going through one of her narcoleptic phases. Standing next to her was Trevor Carson.

Aiden had his gun aimed at the man on stage, "I assume you are Mr. Martel's right-hand man?"

"You're correct," Mr. Carson replied before looking at Matthew, "It seems you brought her brother here to me. Such a lovely reunion."

Matthew glared at the man, "Let my sister go!"

Mr. Carson cackled at the boy's request, "Not a chance! The power your sister has is healing injuries; she will be a valuable tool in our mercenary group!"

"A-A tool?!" Matthew yelled in disbelief.

"Yes. Speaking of tools, Mr. Martel is currently heading to the nurse's office of this place with his granddaughter," Mr. Carson said, gesturing to a door off to the side of the stage, "He decided that she will also join our group; out of spite to his son."

Matthew widened his eyes, realizing Mr. Carson was talking about Marie.

"That girl will be injected with the serum that we have left," Mr. Carson continued to say, "She is quite a catch; the girl got out of her binds earlier to let Camilla get away, even knocking down Mr. Martel for a moment. He said he was very impressed at her strength."

Aiden looked at Matthew, seeing how stressed he was becoming at the man's words about Marie. Aiden knew his son had feelings for her; there was no way for him to convince Matthew to stay out of harm's way.

"Matthew, I need you to listen to me."

Matthew turned to Aiden, "I need you to find the nurse's office Mr. Martel took Marie to! Once you do, I want you to stick around until I can meet up with you! Do not go into the office alone, understand?"

Matthew widened his eyes before nodding his head, "O-Okay!"

Matthew began to rush off in the direction that Mr. Carson pointed out, much to his annoyance, "Such foolishness."

Aiden raised his pistol to Mr. Carson again, "There's nowhere for you to run!"

"Who said anything about running?" Mr. Carson laughed as he took out a gun that he had in a holster on his belt, "I think it's time to let some bullets fly…!"

Mr. Carson began to trail off from what he was saying; everyone there could hear a strange shout coming from above them on the catwalks, the shouts even got Serena's attention. Before they could process what was going on, they could see a boy jump down from the catwalks, shouting loudly and swinging on a rope like a vine towards Mr. Carson. The boy kicked the man down with such force that it sent Mr. Carson flying across the stage. Serena yelped in shock at the sudden attack, backing away a little so she would not get hit. Aiden widened his eyes at the reckless act, quickly seeing who the boy was that took the man down.

It was Ed, he had gone to the catwalks above the stage to do a surprise attack from above! As Aiden ran over to Mr. Carson to arrest him before he could recover, Ed continued to swing on the rope until the momentum began to slow down, coming to a complete halt a minute later.

"Wow, I didn't think acting like a monkey would work!" Ed said with a big smile, satisfied with his acts of heroism.

Ed turned to Serena, who was still tied up. He ran over to help take the binds off her wrists.

Serena widened her eyes in shock, "Ed?! D-Did you just…?"

"Yeah, I turned into Tazan to help you!" Ed replied with a dopey smile. The ropes around Serena's wrists fell to the ground.

Serena began to tear up as she hugged Ed tightly, which Ed accepted with a hug in return. They turned to Aiden, who had finished handcuffing Mr. Carson, "Dad!" Serena said as she and Ed ran over to him, "I-I need to find Matthew and Marie! I'm worried about them, b-but I know it's—"

"Don't worry, I give you two permission to find them!" Aiden replied as he lifted Mr. Carson to his feet, "As soon as I take him out to the police outside, I'll be right behind you to help! Just please be careful!"

Ed and Serena nodded their heads, "Right!"

Author's Notes (February 2nd, 2025): MY GOD, THIS CHAPTER TOOK FOREVER TO GET DONE, HOLY SHIT!

15 and a half pages! Jesus Christ.

Anyway, now that I tackled this long chapter, I need to work on the next one! I have a feeling it won't be as long as this chapter. Thank god.