FOP Burning Black 2: Chapter 7

7


Chester skated past the third targeted Dark Spire, counting the number of traps blinking on the detector's screen. Five days passed since the unveiling of the Ivory Tower, since Timothy was pulled from the S-List group to do high-intensity training and testing to see just how far his magic could go on purely his imagination. And with the addition of Trixie Tang to their ranks, the group began to grow restless, edgy, and a little testy.

Tootie had not been happy with Timothy's announcement of Trixie's joining. She fumed and scowled and throttled a houseplant, then disappeared into a separate training room that began to quake from having things thrown about with such ferocity that everyone assumed she'd just been using Andromeda as a magical boost to her throwing skills. No one dared to go in to check, not unless they wanted to see first-hand what skills were being taught to her by Vicky.

Caleb had glared at her, then at Timothy, then at Tootie as she left in her huff before pulling his hands over his face and making a sound that was pretty close to exasperated. Muttering something along the lines of 'I hate it when the game changes', he left the room in search of someone to train the girl in intelligence gathering. He'd been somewhat impressed by her ability to gain access to information they couldn't get themselves and promptly designated her as the espionage agent. He didn't explain what he meant by 'the game' but then who knew what that crazy angel was talking about half the time he opened his mouth?

A.J. locked himself in the lab, refusing to face the girl after she twirled in and announced that she wanted him to dedicate his hardware into the tracing of records so as to search for Timothy's true past. His main concerns were still the examination of the data on the stolen switch and his continued efforts to prove that Timmy's fall from the jungle gym had not been a true accident. Anything else was allocated to his assistants, various androids brought in from the Archives of the Twin Blades for the purpose of doing jobs that he didn't need to study intensely at that particular moment. Trixie's demand didn't even warrant a thought in his mind. Timothy was a New York immortal; what more was there to know about him?

Sanjay spent his time demanding that Elmer maintain the illusion of joy that was the primary duty of being stand-in Timmy. Having Trixie around was distracting, especially since she kept insisting that the hat should be put into a memorial museum or something. He threatened once to break one of her nails and Timothy spent the next fifteen minutes learning to manage two sets of the mana shield while they were separated to prevent an all-out war in the meeting room. Elmer just sighed and complained somewhat bitterly that he would still have preferred to just take the hat off for a minute or so, if only to relax and not worry about having someone hang him for daring to wear it.

Chester bailed; there was no way he could take being in the same room as Trixie Tang, knowing how much Timmy had fawned over her and seeing her do the same thing to Timothy. So when the brunet declared that they were to tear down the Spire that stood several blocks away from the second one they destroyed, he happily grabbed the trap detector and rushed out to do recon. He didn't even bother to wait for the burst of Revive that either Timothy or Caleb would have given him for protection. He just wanted out, and every day since Trixie joined he'd grab the device and run. There was no way in hell he'd stay around to see what the girl was going to try to do between hours of training just to jump the poor Goth kid.

"Let's see here. Current ratio is two nullifiers for every three fairy traps and two destroyers." Chester murmured to himself and looked up at the ominous Spire, "Wonder why it changes so often? Is Crocker expecting a fairy to just fly up here and let itself get captured or something?" He pulled up to a small shop and poked his head in to see if there was any chance of food being available. Being poor meant that a majority of his meals came from whatever he could salvage from people's garbage collections or was found flattened on the street; ever since he was elevated to S-List status, meals were easier to get, and far more tasty. And the feeling of having a sizable allowance sitting in his pocket, ready for him to dig through to get anything he wanted, was just plain nice.

Still, it didn't stop him from making his special chip dip.

"Hello?" he called out and entered the shop, looking around at the aisles filled with snacks and assorted items. A grocery store, small; probably a Mom and Pop Shop. But there didn't seem to be anyone around. Chester stood in the center of one aisle, tapping his fingers against his teeth in thought. Most of the buildings around a Dark Spire seemed void of life, just like Timothy had said that the air was empty of magic. Maybe it was the same with this store. He collected a bag of chips and a soda, left some money at the cash register and left, worried about the condition of the people who ran the store. Maybe the Dark Spires did more than just drain magic from the city; maybe the fact that they were there made Dimmsdale so bleak that people just didn't have the heart to do anything? But, they were already like that when Timmy died, so it was probably just making them worse.

"Timmy, if you could just see what's happened here since you left.... Dude, you'd probably be seriously pissed off." he sighed and managed a sad smile, "Knowing you, you'd probably come up with some lame, crazy scheme to fix things so that the city would liven up again. And knowing you, it'd actually work." He looked skyward as he skated along the outer edges of the Dark Spire's lot. "Hey, man. If you can see us down here, can you put in a good word with the Big Guy and see if he can look out for us? 'Specially Timothy, seeing as how run-down the poor dude's gotten from all that experimenting and junk." he remarked and laughed, "Man, you won't believe what Toots has done to herself to be sure she's able to help the kid! If you were around, I'd bet you'd have your jaw hit the floor!"

The detector beeped suddenly, a racing stream of blips that seemed too alarming to ignore. Chester halted and dug out the device, studying the screen in confusion. One by one, then more at a time, the shining markers that served to identify the different units began to wink out, numbers dwindling faster and faster as the boy watched in sudden alarm.

"Hey! What the heck's going on?!" he cried and scrambled to grab a phone from his backpack. A second, more threatening alert sounded, blaring into the air as the Spire's hatches began opening, ground units marching out to close in on him. Chester froze and glanced down at the detector. Arrowheads; crap, those were the symbols for destroyers! With a panicked yell, he turned and shot away from the lot, skating as fast as his board could go. Forget the phone, forget the numbers, just move!

He passed the abandoned shop again, turned and raced for the door. Maybe he could hide inside; surely those robots wouldn't think to look inside a building for him, right? Chester crouched down beside the doors, listening to the tromping of feet as the ground destroyers scuttled by a few minutes later. Crazy. He wasn't even of a magical nature and he had those things chasing after him. Why? What triggered the traps?

"I don't have any fairy stuff on me. And no way do I have Cosmo's DNA on my clothes; I don't hug anybody's fairies." he murmured, puzzled by the reactions, "So what gives?" He dug into his backpack, continuing the search for a phone. The blonde finally pulled it from a pocket and flipped it open, scrolling through the menu of numbers until it hit on the speaker phone for the Ivory Tower. He entered it, then waited anxiously as the sounds of mechanical footsteps went on ceaselessly outside the little shop. This was new, this was different; it could be dangerous trying to attack this tower.

"Ivory Tower. This is Caleb, scholar to the Archive of the Twin Blades. How may I help you?" the response was rattled off in a false cheerfulness that seemed to be the redhead's best defense against annoying things.

"Hey, it's me! I need some backup over here! I've got practically every ground troop the Spire's got coming after my butt!" Chester whispered into the phone, gripping it tightly as he listened and hoped the little robots couldn't hear him.

"What? Chester? Those things actually came after you?!" the angel replied in shock, "Where are you now?"

"Trapped inside some Mom and Pop Shop near the Spire's lot. I can hear them all marching around outside. I think they're still looking for me." the blonde returned and checked the detector. "They're all destroyers, no nullifiers or traps or anything."

"Timothy just got out of training. I'll send him in to help, just keep him alerted if any nullifiers get into the area. Hang tight." Caleb returned and Chester could hear him relay the message to the brunet in the background. He must have left the phone on, probably to be sure he was still on the other end. The brunet let out a yelp, then promptly made a wish to be taken to a point closest to him without getting dumped in a nullification field. "He's on the way." the angel returned to the phone line.

"I'm gonna see how the units are doing." the blonde murmured and cautiously stood to peek over the lower edge of the storefront window. The streets were covered in ground destroyers, the mechanical canine-like units swarming over everything that looked like it could hide someone his size. They marched into alleys, chomped into dumpsters, scanned bushes and trees, all in attempts to find him. "Dude! They're all over the place! Man, they seriously want me found." he remarked in surprise.

"Well, don't be found. Timothy's touched down a block or so away from you, so he should be showing up in a few minutes. How are the numbers?"

"Before they started disappearing on me? Two to three to two, usual formula. Everything looked normal, until something happened and the detector began to lose sight of the units. Then it filled up with destroyers and that's when I got the idea I was gonna get seriously screwed if I didn't bail." Chester replied and smiled, "I'm glad they don't pick up phone signals."

"Don't jinx yourself."

Or maybe he already had. One of the ground units had been marching by as the blonde looked around at the others. It turned to scan the window just as Chester thought to check closer to his hiding place for stray units. The two locked gazes for only a split second before the blonde yelped and ducked, and the destroyer uttered a shrill alarm before smashing the spikes on its head against the storefront.

"Oh, crap! They found me! Stupid mutts!" Chester yelled and shoved the phone into his backpack, slinging it on as he ran for a door in the back of the store. Maybe he could escape into the alley. He checked the door; locked, and it was one of those doors that only opened with keys. What kind of untrusting shop was this?! With an exasperated grunt, the blonde began working at the wire of his braces. Caleb, Timothy and Tootie might have magic working for them, and A.J. had his technology and brainpower, but Chester had the amazing powers of his braces. The damn things could do just about anything under the sun, provided they were tweaked first by A.J.

He slid one of the wires free and inserted it into the keyhole, jiggling it around until the mythril finally decided to listen and click into place. Good thing, too; more of the units caught onto what that first one was up to and they were making good time smashing through the shop. Another twist of the wire and the door flung open.

"Sweet!" Chester laughed and straightened the wire, sliding it back into his mouth before darting out into the dark alley behind the shop.

Units swamped the place, providing little room for sneaking around and getting past without being seen. So much for going at it without the threat of being noticed. Chester sighed harshly as he shook his head. Somehow, Crocker had caught onto what he and the Others were doing, must have connected their wandering by the Spires with the eventual destruction of it. Was Timothy onto something when he said that he saw cameras in the Spire that time? But how would cameras inside the tower let the old man know about the kids outside and far away from the thing?

Unless there were microphones in there too. Oh, man, and they'd been chattering back and forth with the Fenton Phones the whole time! They'd been calling each other by name, too! All Crocker would have to do is hear the name 'A.J.' just once and all of Timmy's friends would be bent over and screwed up the rear!

He skidded to a stop, gasping as a change in direction to throw off a set of units brought him face to face with another group. They blocked the exit of the alley, glowing visors all locked onto him. Chester stepped back warily, searching the area for another venue of escape. When was Timothy going to show up? He could really use some of that mana magic right now!

No fire escapes he could easily reach, dumpsters were death traps now, and no way could he go back the way he came, not with another pack of these little monsters planted there and waiting. Growling in frustration, Chester snatched up a rusty piece of pipe and brandished it at the units.

"Okay, you walking tin cans! I might not have magic, I might not be the smartest guy in the world, and I might be made fun of by the school system, government and every girl I freaking met since grade school!" he yelled defiantly at the approaching squad of destroyers, "But I sure as hell don't plan on making myself an easy target for your hunchbacked boss! You want a piece of me?! Come and get some!"

They sort of went for it. The first row of destroyers merely opened their jaws as wide as they could and a sort of nozzle protruded from within their little bodies. There was a hiss and suddenly the air began to smell sweet, the fragrance thick and heavy. Baffled, Chester backed away further, then yawned as he began growing sleepy. The pipe suddenly seemed too heavy, so he let it slip from his fingers. Blinking drowsily at the group of machines, he managed a scowl of indignation.

"Aw, fer the love of Pete, that's cheatin'!" he slurred and finally succumbed to the gas that flooded the tiny alley space. Mission completed, the destroyers stopped the nozzles and retracted them, waiting for new orders. A sudden gust of wind passed over the alley, dissipating what remained of the blanket of chloroform as a second blonde teen walked past the attentive ground units.

"Well, well. It seems that old windbag was right about something for once." Remy murmured to a purple peacock that stood at his side, "There really was a rat sniffing around my establishments. Looks like I'll have to take care of this little problem."

"There is no need to be violent about this. It's so very unsexy." the peacock remarked with a roll of his eyes, "Whatever happened to those good old days where we just had our adventures and competed with the boy and that idiot for supremacy and the love of the beautiful and slightly-less-sexy-than-me Wanda?"

"Forget them. Fairies who let their godchildren die in their care are severely punished." Remy answered with a cruel grin, "They're probably wasting away in Fairy World's most disgusting prison and thinking the whole tragic thing was their fault. Besides, if people would just do as I say, then we wouldn't have to bother with the mess of having my Dark Spires perfected and spread over the nation. Nay, the world!"

"Ah, my beloved Wanda, doomed to spend eternity with an ungrateful moron in a dank prison cell. What a waste of your radiance!" the peacock sighed miserably as Remy peered at the crumpled form on the ground.

"Hmm. This might actually work to my advantage. If I were to let that mongrel know I have his little ally, then maybe I could gain control of him. Lord knows he has that whole super-hero complex rattling around in his little brain." he commented and smiled brightly, "Ah, excellent! A bribe! I can always tell him that the price for the loser here will be all the data that concerns him, the real identity of Timothy Neogene!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Where is he?" Timmy growled into the Fenton Phones as he and his fairy godparents searched the alleys and buildings around the third target site. An hour of searching and still no sign of the blonde.

"I'm trying to trace the phone, but it's surrounded by something that's interfering with the satellite signals. I can't pick it out with the GPS." Caleb returned worriedly, "I lost contact with him when he mentioned that the units found him, but I don't have anything else after that. He must have accidentally hung up the phone."

The tower stood above him like some massive vulture waiting for the city to wither and die so it could feast. Timmy glared up at it, then purposely turned his back on the thing. The mood he was in now, he'd probably take Trixie's words to heart and try to bring the whole thing down on his own with magic. This wasn't good. Everything had been going smoothly so far; why did it suddenly change for the worse? What made Crocker suddenly decide to go after his non-magical, fairyless friends? It wasn't as if he knew that Chester and the Others were helping him, right? Unless, something was paying attention when he and Danny were relaying information back and forth over the Phones during the second Spire attack....

"The cameras." he groaned despairingly as the memory surfaced in his mind, that accursed lens staring at him as he made calls to his friends about the status of the mission. His fault; it was his fault that the destroyers went after Chester. If anything happened to him....

"Timmy! I found something! It's Chester's jacket!" Wanda called out from further down the street. Snapping out of his dour mood, the brunet raced to join the pink-haired fairy and check out her discovery. She pointed at the soft blue sports jacket tied around a lamppost and he reached out to take the letter pinned to its front.

"'Reveal to everyone in Dimmsdale the truth about yourself, mongrel, or Brace-Face will be joining Beaver Boy in the afterlife. After all, friends deserve to be with each other and I hate having tragedy keep these two apart, but I'd hate it worse if tragedy brought them back together.'" Timmy read aloud and the chill ran down his spine again. This was serious! But Remy wouldn't... he couldn't... this was a kid, for crying out loud!

A very rich kid. A powerful kid. A kid willing to destroy innocent fairies to get his way. Really, what was the value of one human life in his eyes?

Another chill.

"Timmy, you look paler than Death. What's wrong?" Wanda murmured as Cosmo flew in and announced he found a sale on beef jerky in the shop Chester had used for cover. The brunet shut his eyes, swallowing down a slowly rising terror as he tried to gather his wits again. Calm, calm, meditate. He took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, brought mana up to relax himself.

Remy wouldn't dare hurt Chester. No one in Dimmsdale could be that cold-blooded. Chester was of no threat to him; it was Timmy Remy wanted, the one who could tear down the Spires and humiliated him time and again by destroying the anti-magic devices in school and thwarting his plans to sabotage his own schemes. As long as he had the power to destroy the Spires, Remy would keep Chester in one piece in his efforts to contain him. But where was Chester? Where was he being held?

"Cosmo, Wanda, I wish you could show me where Chester is right now." he told the fairies. They looked suddenly uncomfortable.

"Here? So close to the Dark Spire?" Wanda asked hesitantly, "Timmy, we're pushing our luck as it is with being out here like this, and with Cosmo around, too. The fairy traps haven't caught onto the fact that he's here, and if we use fairy magic, who's to say that won't have us swamped with units like Chester?" Timmy sighed and nodded. That's right. They were too close to the tower. No way could he make a wish here. He collected the jacket, reported it to Caleb and began making his way out of the area. Once they were far enough from the Spire, he'd make the wish again.

It took a half hour of walking, but the fairies finally judged it safe and Timmy repeated his wish. The couple lifted their wands and watched in shock as the stars' glow flickered erratically, then died. Timmy blinked at them.

"Did your wands run out of magic already?" he asked in surprise, "I haven't made that many wishes yet!" Cosmo tapped his wand and shook his head with a frown.

"Nope. Nullifier. It killed the wish." he remarked as Wanda nodded.

"Wherever Chester is, he's surrounded by a nullification field. Remy must have figured that you'd try to use magic to free him." she added and took on a worried expression, "Who knows what he might try to do if he learned you had us?"

"Put two and two together and learn who I am, probably." Timmy muttered and scratched his head, "Man, how are we supposed to find him now?"

"Timmy? I just got a working signal on Chester's phone. It's on the move, but I don't want to assume it's him." Caleb suddenly remarked over the Fenton Phones. He tapped at the earpiece to activate the microphone.

"Good thing. I tried to use a wish to locate him just now. Nullifier field killed the magic. Wherever he is, he doesn't have the phone and he's immune to magical rescue." the brunet told him and sighed, "Now what? How do we find out where Chester is so we can save him?"

"We'll figure it out at the Tower. Come back before something happens to you. I hate not being able to control things that are beyond my reach." the android told him and Timmy made the wish to return to the Ivory Tower.


The wall monitor of the Ivory Tower's computer room displayed a map of Dimmsdale, a blinking red spot traveling along one of the roads as it made its way through the commercial district of the city. The S-List watched with collective irritation, basically helpless to locate Chester. Caleb scowled at the map and folded his arms over his chest.

"Great. Now we can't make a move against the Spire. Until we get Chester back in our ranks, there's no way we can attack it without getting him hurt as a repercussion." he grumbled. A.J. tapped at the keys of his laptop, a seriously focused expression on his face.

"I made some adjustments to his braces after the wires were replaced with that strange metal you gave him." he remarked, "I always modify them when he gets back from Dr. Bender. Those braces have helped him, me and Timmy out of some jams in the past." He maneuvered the mouse around, clicking on windows and tapping in commands. "One of those adjustments was a small chip that I implanted into one of the tooth supports. If I can just trigger it, we should be able to get a working signal from it." The android lifted an eyebrow at the words.

"It won't get any kind of interference?" he asked and the African-American teen shook his head.

"Nah. It reflects signals, not give them out. If there's a radio tower anywhere and I can hack it to send out a specific frequency, we'll be able to use it as radar to find him. Luckily for us, Dimmsdale's got several towers. I'll just go through their backdoors, send out the signals on all of them and see if any of them touch off the chip." the boy replied and lit up in triumph, "And they just did! Hah! I am such a genius! Now to triangulate the data, narrow down the locations and...." He tapped another set of keys and a second light appeared on the map taking up a wall of the room. "Chester's being held at Remy's mansion. We just have to break in and get him out."

"Ugh! The nullifier hall!" Timmy growled angrily, "He must have locked Chester in the same room as Apollo!"

"Who's Apollo?" Elmer asked as Trixie walked into the room. She halted, eyes wide, and looked towards the brunet with a semi-frantic stare.

"No one important right now." he returned and caught the Asian girl's look of relief, "All we need to know is that Chester is in Remy's mansion, trapped in that stupid room at the end of that stupid hall, and I can't get through it to help him!" He clenched his fist tightly, growling in frustration. "The last time I made the run through that thing, I almost passed out! If Wanda hadn't caught me, I would have smashed into the wall and woken Remy up!" Sanjay folded his arms over his chest and huffed indignantly, giving Trixie a sidelong glare.

"Our friend Chester would not have been in this awful situation if he had been able to receive full magical blessings from Caleb and Timothy before he left." he remarked icily, "And the only reason he always left the Ivory Tower on his own like that is because of Miss Popularity over here!" Trixie blinked and pointed at herself.

"Excuse me?!" she declared in outrage, "Are you blaming me for this?!" The Hindu teen turned on her in matched fury.

"Yes, I am! It is your fault that Chester was taken as a prisoner of war! Now our best comrade for rescuing him cannot even get close because our enemy has filled his halls with nullifiers!" he yelled back, "You are nothing but the Shiva of the Others! Because of you, Timmy Turner climbed the jungle gym and fell to his death! Because of you, we have a possibility of losing Chester! How many more of our group do you intend to lead to a slaughter, Miss Black Widow?!"

"Sanjay! That's enough!" Timmy snapped at him, stepping between the two teens with Cosmo and Wanda flanking him, stern expressions on their faces. Trixie was shaking from the words, eyes huge and filled with tears as her face drained of color. She actually shrank from the collection of angry faces; Elmer, A.J., even Tootie, all glared at her accusingly. "I've told you countless times before that Timmy Turner's death was an accident and nothing more! It doesn't matter why he went up the stupid bars, all that matters is that he was careless enough to not watch how he fell and avoid breaking his own neck!"

"Timmy went up there to impress her, got pushed by Francis and died!" Tootie snarled, whipping the dagger from the sheath at her side and aiming it at the Asian. Romi squealed in shock, her pigtails poofing out in alarm at her godchild's actions. "It's her fault that every kid in Dimmsdale is miserable and ready to die for him! I say we pay blood for blood and let her take a fall, too!" A circle of light bloomed at her feet as the bracelets glowed and the dagger took on a white aura. Timmy stared at her in shock, then turned and grabbed onto Trixie's shoulder.

"Mana Surrogatus!" he cried while the wind rushed around Tootie's small form. The S-List watched in confusion as what appeared to be ghostly images of Timmy and the quivering Asian girl seemed to swap places over them. The images faded away less than a heartbeat later.

"Release the light! Photon!" Tootie yelled out, releasing the spell targeting her rival. Her eyes went wide in astonishment and horror when she spotted the burst of light erupt from within Timmy's body instead of the other girl's, as she had wanted. Why?!

The brunet dropped to one knee with a gasp of pain, clutching the front of his shirt as the ghostly images rose above him and Trixie, then faded again. Caleb watched the whole scene in annoyance, shaking his head at the sheer stupidity of the collection of humans.

"Are you done trying to murder one another?" he asked irritably.

"Timothy?! What happened?! I didn't mean to hit you! I was aiming for that stupid girl!" Tootie exclaimed fearfully, "Oh! Are you okay?! Do you need healing?!" He shook his head, struggling to his feet as his fairies gathered close to support him. Shooting a glare at the young Goth, he finished catching his breath, casting First Aid on himself in the process.

"Never use those spells on someone out of anger." he lectured, "Don't waste them trying to kill somebody! I've never had to do it myself and I definitely don't want you to do it!" He straightened and shook himself off, holding one arm out as a barricade between the group and Trixie, who looked up at him in awe and gratitude. "Attack spells lock onto the mana signature of a target. All I did was mask my mana with Trixie's and the other way around for her. The spell locked onto me because it tracked Trixie's mana, and I had it copied." he added, "I may be dead tired after all my training every day, but those tests and experiments Caleb has me running through actually taught me a lot of things." Sanjay huffed irately.

"It does not change the fact that it is her fault Chester is being held hostage." he grumbled, "What are we to do about the rescue when you cannot access the room in which he is kept?" Timmy sighed and shook his head slowly.

"I don't know. Cosmo, Wanda and Romi can't go through it; they'll die from the exposure. Tootie and I can't go through it; we'll pass out halfway through from the effects of the field. Only non-magical beings can walk by a nullifier without going wonky." he remarked and cringed, "The only option we have is for you guys to go in and save him yourself. I can provide cover for you, get you past the guards and all, but once we reach the hall, I'm out."

Caleb only half-listened to the conversation and planning being done by the S-List. He watched the Asian girl pull away from them and silently hurry to the doors. She was up to something, and chances were good that he'd have to get involved. Plucking the giant fork he carried often from its resting place against the wall, he set his mind to the image of his office and focused.

No one gave the vanishing puff of white smoke a second thought, the teens were far too intent on hammering out a rescue plan.


Trixie hurried out of the Ivory Tower, trying to quiet her sobs as she rubbed at her eyes. It really was her fault, wasn't it? Timmy's death, Chester's capture, the misery of the children of Dimmsdale; all because she was forbidden fruit to the Heart of Dimmsdale. If she had just cared a little less about the social order, about being popular and pretty and having the adoration of everyone in school....

Well, it wasn't going to make things better now. All she could do was try to make up for it by helping Timothy restore magic to the city. Straightening herself up, she tossed her hair back, sniffed once and took a deep breath. She was still a Popular and, as far as Remy knew, the Queen of the A-List. She could march right over to his mansion, sweet-talk him into getting her anything she desired if it meant she'd be his girlfriend again, then ransack his mansion to get Chester out of there. Simple, easy; her perfect looks guaranteed success. Apollo poofed out of his pendant disguise and gave her a worried look.

"Trixie? Are you okay? All those things they said... you know it's not true. It's not your fault and you know Timmy would never hold his death against you." he assured her, "I bet he even forgives you for it and would say it himself! None of it is your fault! They're just mad because of everything that's happening and they decided to take it out on you." Trixie smiled up at him and shook her head.

"No, it's okay, Apollo. I know it's my fault. If it weren't for me, Timmy wouldn't have climbed that stupid jungle gym to begin with. So I'm going to prove to him that I can care about others and put someone other than myself first." she declared and looked herself over, judged her usual outfit adequate enough and lifted her voice, "I wish we were at Remy's house!" The fairy sighed and unsheathed his wand, waving it to grant the wish and making them vanish in a burst of red smoke.

When they appeared in front of Caleb instead of on Remy's front lawn, both fairy and girl panicked, Apollo shooting behind Trixie in an attempt to hide himself. The redhead rolled his eyes as he sat in his chair at his desk.

"Oh, please. Spare me the bland lie you're attempting to put together in your head." he remarked dryly, "I'm an ally of Fairy World, so you are perfectly safe in having me know of your relationship." He pointed above his head. "I suppose I should have mentioned the little device I installed in the Ivory Tower after doing some engineering with the nullifier devices. Using A.J.'s knowledge and Timothy's skills, I managed to create a prototype mana field that stimulates magical properties. Basically, an anti-nullifier field meant to overpower small nullifier devices within a short range." He shrugged. "Not very powerful, but it's a start. I currently had it set to redirect wishes to other locales back here. Mostly because I knew you'd try a little stunt like running off for a one-woman rescue of Chester." Trixie scowled and stamped her foot down angrily.

"How dare you try to stop me!" she yelled at him, "I have to go and save that guy! You don't understand!" She waved her arms excitedly. "That boy is one of Timmy's friends and...!" The redhead held up a hand to quiet her.

"I said, spare me." he repeated and pushed a briefcase on the desk towards her, "I never said I was going to stop you. Rather, you should take this with you when you visit Buxaplenty." He clicked the clasp of the briefcase and Trixie blinked at a folded piece of black fabric within its confines. "Pull it out." She obeyed, picking up the fabric and watching it fall open in her hands. She held it up, staring at the shimmering black outfit. It looked much like a skintight body-suit, sleeveless and leggings that looked like they were shorts cut a little too high. It felt smooth under her fingers, but also slightly strange, as though something sturdier than thread was woven into the fabric.

"What is this? It looks a little," she began and gave it a somewhat repulsed look, "slutty." Caleb huffed, green eyes flashing irritably.

"Excuse me, but it's only a prototype, after all. I haven't gotten around to having A.J. help me finish the accompanying armor to go with it." he grumbled and waved a hand at it, "What you hold in your hands is the result of one of many experiments and tests young Mr. Ibrahim and I have been conducting using my own magitech clothes as a basis. Essentially, this is a mythril-threaded magitech body-suit to be worn with a suit of armor, all of which is designed to protect the non-magical members of the S-List from physical harm." Trixie gave him a blank stare and he sighed. "It keeps you from getting hurt. Mythril is a very strong metal, especially when refined with dwarven arts. Light as a feather, stronger than dragon scales, nothing less than a specifically designed cutting weapon can penetrate that suit." he clarified.

"It's like a bulletproof vest, but for my whole body?" Trixie asked and the redhead lit up.

"Yes! It's just like that! Well, not for the entire body, as you can see. I'm still working on it. But for now, it will protect you from human weapons." he agreed brightly. He then switched to a more somber look. "Wear that as part of your clothes when you go to see Remial; it may be the only real protection you have if you don't want to risk your fairy godparent. I don't like the idea of you trying to rescue Chester yourself, so I want you to just act like a distraction. The Others will be making the actual rescue attempt." he told her and grinned, "I'll keep you secret, so they won't know it's you who will be helping them."

"So I'll be like a secret agent?" Trixie asked and he nodded, "Cool!" She clutched the body-suit closer to her, smiling broadly. "I've got the perfect accessories to go with this! Remy won't know what hit him when I get through with him!" Apollo flew out in concern, gripping his wand tightly.

"I don't know about this, Trixie. What if Remy tries to do something to you with a wish? That suit might save you from a bullet or a knife, but it can't help you if you're turned into a mouse or turtle!" he pointed out. The Asian looked up at him confidently.

"Go with me, then! We'll face Remy, wish for wish!" she declared, "Let's do it for Timmy! For the Heart of Dimmsdale!" Apollo blinked down at his godchild in surprise, then broke into a smile and lifted his wand in salute.

"If you're willing to face him on his turf, then I should do the same! I'll face Juandissimo for you and the Heart!" he cheered.

"Sir, how is it that you are an ally to Fairy World? I thought adults aren't supposed to know about fairies." Trixie turned her attention back to the redhead at his desk.

"Simply put, they don't allow adult humans to know about them. I'm not human." Caleb returned, "I'm an android with a soul, beyond that, I'm a magic-user, and beyond that, I'm the Guardian Angel of Heroes." Trixie jumped, startled by a sudden spread of fiery-red wings of light that erupted from the older man's back. "I built these wings of mine, oh, about sixty thousand years ago. I had some friends help me with the installation." he added absently and folded his wings away, light flickering out.

"So you're a robot angel?" the Asian remarked and laughed, "Now I've seen everything! Well, thanks a lot for the body-suit! I'll get changed and distract Remy right away!"

"Call me before you do. I'll need a few minutes to get Timothy and his friends set up to do the rescue before you start to distract him." the angel remarked, scribbling out a number on a notepad and handing it off to her. He pressed a button on his desk and waved her off. "The redirect field is off. You can wish yourself away now." Trixie bowed, paused, then giggled.

"I haven't done that for a while!" she remarked and recomposed herself, "Apollo, I wish I was home!" The two vanished in a burst of red smoke and Caleb sat back in his chair, propping his feet onto the desk with a smug smile.

"If the game wants to change, then I'll just add in another option to the menu." he murmured to himself and closed his eyes, "Martel, thank you for denying me teenage hormones."