London Azalea landed onto a rooftop of a building. "Oh great. No wonder why the Chief said the C-5 had a few kinks--how the hell am I supposed to get down?" Azalea looked down. 'I could try scaling...' After retrieving some rope lying around, Azalea tied one end of the rope to a sturdy post, and started to climb down. Inside, Tina and Jeffrey were looking at old family photos in front of the fireplace. "What do you think happened to Mom and Dad?" Tina asked. "I don't know, Tina. Maybe Edward will tell us when he gets back from that meeting of his," Jeffrey answered. Tina looked out the window and saw a shadow climbing down. "Hey Jeff, come look at this!" She got up and saw the shadow disappear. "What?" Jeffrey walked next to Tina. "I don't see anything. You're imagining things." "Hm, must be..." Tina said. Azalea landed on a patch of grass. 'Remind me to tell Carmen and see if she can help fix the C-5,' Azalea told herself mentally. Making her way to the front lawn, Azalea was stopped by a girl. "Who are you?" the girl demanded. "What's the matter? I haven't done anything wrong!" Azalea was confused. "I saw you on top of the mansion, so you must be up to something!" The girl retorted. "How can you tell between someone who got caught in the wrong place from someone intent on committing a crime?" Azalea demanded. "You wanna fight this out?" Before Azalea could blink, she was engaged in a fight with the girl. "Why are you doing this to me? I just landed in the wrong place!" Azalea protested, her anger growing. "Yeah, and I'm the watchgirl," the girl sneered. "Admit it, you were planning on breaking in." "DAMMIT!" Azalea punched the girl so hard her glasses were knocked off. "To hell with you! Where's my glasses?" the girl's voiced changed from anger and snobbish to sheer panic. Azalea recognized the voice change immediately. "Fredrika?" Azalea asked. "How'd you figure my name?" Fredrika had found her glasses and looked straight at Azalea. "Your voice. You were the oldest in the orphanage back in Alaska, weren't you?" Azalea said. "Yeah, but I certainly don't know who you are," Fredrika answered, still wary of Azalea. "Azalea." "Yeah, right. The Azalea I knew back in the orphanage before I left had shoulder-length blonde hair, not short red hair." Azalea removed her locket from her neck. "You probably recognize this, then. I showed it to you hundreds of times before I left." Fredrika took the locket and looked at it. "No way. You're lying. You stole this locket from Azalea." "Fredrika! Is Edward home yet?" a boy and girl appeared from the mansion. "No, go back inside. I'll tell you guys when he's home!" Fredrika snapped. "Sheesh, what's wrong with you, sis?" the girl asked. "I'm dealing with a stranger who refuses to leave our home, Jeff." Fredrika pointed to Azalea. "That's no stranger. She's Azalea!" Tina piped up. "Oh come on, Albertina," Fredrika rolled her eyes. "I hate that name!" Tina growled. "Azalea, what are you doing here?" Jeff asked. "I heard that Lydexter might be after your inheritance. After all, you guys do live in a mansion..." Azalea looked at the massive building. Then she looked at the twins and Fredrika. "Tina, Jeffrey, why didn't you guys tell me you had another sister and brother?" "Azalea, this was before we got the inheritance with Edward and Fredrika. We were working at some bike messenger service until Edward posted a 'Missing' poster all over London." Tina shrugged. "How did you get here?" "Help from an old friend of Mom's." "Tina, how can you tell that's Azalea?" Fredrika asked. "Because of the locket she showed me before the Asylum in Washington was shut down." Jeffrey answered. "I mean, you and Azalea may be three years apart, but that doesn't mean you left the orphanage first." Fredrika comtempulated the thought. "Hm...maybe I shouldn't make assumptions so quickly..." A car pulled up and a man stepped out of the car. "We're having visitors already?" he asked. "Edward, it's just an old friend," Fredrika said. "Someone I met after all of us were separated and sent into different orphanages across the United States while you stayed in England." "Hm, explains why you, Tina, and Jeffrey don't have English accents." Azalea noted. "Oh-kay..." Edward looked warily at Azalea. "Well, it's almost dinnertime." "We ordered take-out." Tina replied. "Power outage in this area." Jeffrey added. "It's starting to get chilly. Let's go in and wait," Fredrika said. Once inside, Fredrika took out some candles and a book of matches. "Saves batteries," she shrugged. "You guys are weird," Azalea grinned. "So what went on at the meeting?" Jeffrey asked. "A man named Lieutenant Tony Rowe wanted to buy Grandfather's gun and ammunition factories. I told him that I'll look into it..." Edward started. "Edward, don't sell the factories to Lieutenant Rowe!" Jeffrey stared at Edward. "Why?" "Tony Rowe is the alias of Jonathon Lydexter--the man who ran the Asylum Tina, me, and Azalea were in. I did some research while you were out." "I thought Lydexter was in Antarctica," Azalea said. "He's looking for some ammo because he's run out for his G.I. entourage," Tina said. ********** San Francisco Carmen looked at Michael. He had recently been recovering and didn't need to be in ICU anymore, but he still wasn't ready to be released out of the hospital. 'You remind me so much of your father, Mike,' Carmen's voice echoed in her mind. 'You've got your dad's eyes, your dad's computer skills, and maybe a little from your aunt...' "Carmen," a voice called. Carmen looked for the direction where the voice came. "Who's there?" she asked. "Don't worry, it's only us." This time the voice was a female. "Where? Show yourself!" Carmen was starting to get annoyed. "We can't show you our true selves," the man's voice answered. "And why not?" Carmen asked. "Because if we did, you'll freak out on us," the woman's voice replied. "Really, we mean it," the man's voice continued. "Alright, prove to me." Carmen leaned against the wall. A woman and man formed in front of Carmen. "Who are you?" Carmen asked. "Don't you remember, Carmen? Don't you remember Zack and Ivy?" the woman looked at Carmen with solemn eyes. "Zack? Ivy? I thought you were dead!" Carmen rushed to the two but went through. "What?" She turned to look at the ghosts. "How could this be?" "We really are dead, Carmen. The reason why we don't look like actual ghosts is that you would probably have a heart attack," Zack explained. "But still, what are you doing here?" Carmen asked. "I just wanted to see my son," Zack shrugged. "What's happened to him?" "Lydexter's men gave Michael a good bashing on the head when he and Azalea broke into his base in Peru. Azalea thinks it's her fault." Carmen looked at Michael. "Where's Azalea?" Ivy asked. "She's in London with a few friends of hers," Carmen answered. ********** London "What are we gonna do about this?" Fredrika asked, bringing in some cartons of Chinese food. "I think the Asylum siblings should take care of Lydexter," Edward said. "It does seem like they've all harbored a grudge against the old man." "You know where everyone else might be?" Azalea asked. "We got a letter from Canada. Lydia's sighted Lydexter at a gun store a week ago, and a tape sent from Isaac in Australia with a conversation of Lydexter talking about guns just earlier this morning." Tina answered. "What's with Lydexter's interest in guns grown suddenly?" Jeffrey asked. "So many questions, so little answers, and not a lot of time. Where's your parents?" Azalea looked at Fredrika. "They're dead," Fredrika answered. "Hm, this is strange..." Azalea mused. "What's so strange?" Edward asked, his mouth half full of food. "Joseph was an orphan, Michael and I are orphans, all of you are orphans...pretty much everyone at the Asylum didn't have parents. Cynthia was the only one who had at least a father when the Asylum was shut down for the first time, before Lydexter was acquitted on charges of neglect..." Azalea frowned at the thought. ********** San Francisco "What do you think Lydexter might be up to?" Carmen asked. "He doesn't have a clue that the Asylum residents are planning on taking him down. Good sign for Azalea and Michael," Ivy said. "What do you mean, Michael? He doesn't know Lydexter's moved base," Carmen replied back. "He will, later," Zack said. "And how would you know?" Carmen asked, not believing everything Zack and Ivy were telling her. "Sometimes we can see the future," Ivy answered. "But not always." "If that's the case, then I hope Michael recovers in time." Carmen looked at Michael. ********** London May 30, 2024 Tina and Jeffrey waited in the parlor for Azalea to return with the Asylum residents. Fredrika was tinkering in her work bench near her bedroom, Edward was away to negotiate deals with Lydexter. The C-5 opened up, and Azalea and everyone else in the C-5 stepped out. "How much of us did we really need?" Azalea asked. "Let's see...there's you, me, Tina, Lydia, Isaac, Ted, and Kristy. Fredrika might provide us some of her toys from her work bench--" "THEY'RE NOT TOYS!" Fredrika shouted, peeved at what Jeffrey had just called them. "--and I know Kristy, me, and Isaac have some form of weaponry training, and Edward can easily obtain some ammo and guns." Azalea looked at Kristy worriedly. "When should we go?" Tina looked at Azalea. Azalea sighed. She would have to lead the group without Michael's help. "June 15. Lydexter's holding some kind of meeting at the base, and maybe Mom's friends can help." "Then I guess it's settled," Jeffrey said. While leaving, Kristy pulled Azalea away from everyone else. "Activate that portal. We need to talk about this alone." Azalea opened up the C-5 and the two left. ********** Kristy's apartment Chicago "I'm worried about using guns on Lydexter. Even with the gun and ammo factory neither one of us can fend off a laser attack." Kristy said. "What laser attack?" Azalea asked. "I heard that Lydexter's making a laser gun prototype. It's supposed to vaporize anyone who gets hit." Kristy answered. "So if I got hit I would simply just vanish?" Azalea was now worried. "That's it. If you got hit, your body wouldn't be found." "Hm...the advantages of a laser gun is that it's extremely deadly, and the victim of a laser gun attack would simply disappear, their body never found, making it the perfect weapon in any gang or maybe even the Mafia. But what are the disadvantages?" Azalea asked. "I don't know, Azalea. There's a rumor the ammunition for the laser prototype is extremely difficult to make, can only fire one at a time, and that the gun has a long recharge time. But the munition clip can hold up to 500 laser bullets or cells or whatever type of ammunition used for the laser gun." "That's reassuring..." Azalea muttered. "You know, if they fired a shot, it'll take a long time to reload laser ammunition. We can mow everyone down if we had a couple of machine guns." Kristy said. "What about noise? Machine guns are not silent, for one thing." "We'll have to check with Edward to see if he's got any silencers. Can I ask you a question?" "What?" "Why did you dye your hair red? And what happened to your usual outfit? I've never seen you in a tank top or a short leather jacket, and it looks like you did some damage to your usually baggy cargo jeans." Azalea looked down at her outfit and back at Kristy. "Before Michael got beaten up by Lydexter's men I was planning if me and Michael could disguise ourselves as our parents and scare Lydexter into thinking that my mother and uncle, Michael's dad, had come back from the dead. But now it looks like I'll have to carry it out by myself. And for my regular outfit...I left my T-shirt and sweatshirt jacket back at a friend's apartment. Traded in my black combat boots for a tan colored pair. And yes, I did do damage to my cargo jeans." "Hmph." Kristy gave Azalea a mock-smirk. Then the phone rang. "Hello?" "Is Azalea there?" Carmen asked. Kristy handed the phone over to Azalea. "Someone's looking for you." "Hello?" Azalea asked. "Azalea? Where are you?" Carmen asked. "Carmen? Is something wrong?" Azalea was starting to get worried. "Ryan told me a group of Lydexter's men are lurking around Chicago. You'd better get out of there if you wanna get Lydexter while you're still at it." Carmen said. "Got it. Where should we meet you?" "We? Who's there with you?" "Kristy. A friend of mine. You don't mind if she comes along, do you?" "No, friends are always welcome. I'm outside of the hospital Michael's staying at in San Francisco. Meet me there," Carmen answered. "Sure." Azalea put the phone back onto the cradle. "Come on, we're gonna have to move if we wanna stay ahead of the game." "What are you talking about?" Kristy asked. "Lydexter's men are hanging around in Chicago." Azalea opened up the C-5 and the two left the apartment.