"Um... Do you think we should maybe... run away or something?" I whispered to Apollo while the twins were distracted.

"That would be a little rude, don't you think?" Apollo muttered back, jaw clenched in frustration. "After all the effort you put into getting them here."

Oops. Almost forgot.

"You're still angry about that?" Taken aback by his hostility, I gave him a hurt look. "I was just trying to protect the virtue of a maiden!"

"You overreacted, and now we have the damn watchdogs of the underground breathing down our necks!" He hissed back venomously, crossing his arms over his chest.

So he knows about Alan and Alex working for the Underground.

The only question now is...

".... Speaking of the watchdogs of the Underground... " Apollo stiffen as I sent him a serious look. "Apollo, can you tell me..."

I held up a questioning finger.

"What barks, has four legs, and tells time?"

"....this is revenge, isn't it?"

Apollo pressed a long-suffering hand to his forehead. "All of this is just you screwing with me... Trying to drive me insane..."

"Well, not all of it..." I smiled sweetly, internally smug at having annoyed Apollo.

Horrible situation be damned, I will have my revenge.

I couldn't avoid reality forever, though, and my smile soon faded.

Quieter than before, I asked Apollo what I really needed to know.

"Did you know before you took down the hill?"

As we spoke, Alan was trying to calmly reason his way out of Alex's potentially lethal headlock.

"About them being part of the Underground?"

Apollo sighed irritably, aware that I wasn't joking anymore.

"I really did think they were just players in The King of the Hill." He admitted quietly.

"A long time ago, My mother.... worked with Dr Floid. I had heard stories from my father. Artemis refused to tell me anything about the Hill... But when I joined the school, Father told me the Doctor's estranged sons were students....and to stay away from them. "

He gritted his teeth in sudden frustration. "I should have realised sooner that they worked for the Underground."

I raised an eyebrow.

"How on earth are you supposed to figure something like that out? Sure, you're a smart cookie, but-"

"No. I should have made the connection." He seethed. "After what happened with Artemis, I knew that the Underground had a genius Nano-technician on staff again. It just didn't occur to me that it was her."

I blinked in shock.

"What do you mean? What happened to Artemis...?"

"Enough!" After being yanked around by Alex's grip on his chain for so long, Vain had finally given up on his silence.

The twins froze in their bickering, which was on the verge of escalating into something not too far off Mortal Combat, to stare at Vain as he struggled in his restraints.

Alex recovered first.

"Do you have something to say , Ice Princess?" He snapped impatiently.

"I don't know." Vain snared back sarcastically. "Did you volunteer to take the chain off her just so you could have a turn at yanking me around like a dog? Maybe when you're done playing dominatrix, you might want to take this crap off me."

My heart stopped.

I couldn't believe it.

The kiss.

It literally stole his innocence...

"T-that's-" Alex sputtered indignantly as Alan cracked up laughing behind him. The snarky twin glanced down at the chain still in his hand, only to drop it like it had stung him.

"Crap." Was all Alex could say as he took a step forward and started undoing Vain's straightjacket.

Alan turned his back on them, continuing to shake with laughter as he lifted his mask up to rub tears out of his eyes.

As he set the mask back in place our eyes met, and with an unreadable smile on his face, Alan studied my guarded expression.

There was no doubt in my mind that he could read my distrust and irritation, where to me he seemed nothing more than pleasantly amused.

For all his easy nature, the cheerful King is the most composed person here.

With a grumbled, "There, happy?"Alex finally managed to undo Vain's arms completely, and the pale boy immediately reached up to the bandages covering his eyes.

Even before the white material was completely pulled away, his crimson gaze was turned towards me, the intense stare capturing my own.

By the time I realised how terrified I was of being seen by him, Vain was already looking at me.

Even as his face remained a mask of restraint, his eyes were desperate, looking at me like I was the only thing in existence.

I froze, feeling trapped under the overwhelming attention.

He took a step towards me, perhaps involuntarily, startling slightly when Alex grabbed his arm to prevent him moving further.

"Don't." Alex hissed, keeping a tight grip on the shorter boy as he glared down into his eyes. Vain glared back dispassionately, before shaking his head slightly.

"I am aware of the rules." Vain murmured, yanking his arm out of Alex grasp. "Don't touch me."

Alex frowned, opening his mouth to speak when Rachel stepped forward.

"As lovely as it is to see all of you getting along so well..." She smiled happily, causing Vain to flinch and Alex to stiffen

"I can't help but feel a little hurt." Rachel sighed, pulling a pout. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you are ignoring me."

Alan instantly gave the girl a bright smile, taking her hand dotingly into his own and bending over it to bring their faces closer. "Of course, we weren't! Just a little preoccupied is all."

She tilted her head, questioningly. "Uh, but Alan, you haven't even said hello to me yet." She blinked up at him pleadingly."Don't tell me your angry with me too?"

Alan placed one of his hands over his heart. "Could I ever be angry with you? Certainly not! I was just being careful not to spoil your fun Rachel."

I had never heard Alan's voice quite so sweet, so warm.

So obviously fake, to the point of it being an honest representation of his emotions.

Hatred.

"Why would I be angry with you for smooching Vain here? After all, seventeen, eighteen, they're practically the same thing! Just days and numbers on a calendar. It's ridiculous really, why wait for the official day for him to turn eighteen to stop treating him like a minor...."

Rachel's hand slapped across Alan's face so fast I jolted in shock. His mask hit the ground with a violent clutter, in contrast to the tense stillness between them.

Holy crap.

She just moved as fast as Apollo does when he's serious.

"You make a valid point Dear, but allow me to draw your attention to the fact that Vain and I are the same age," Rachel growled angrily, the hand clenched at her side white-knuckled and crushing.

Despite this, Alan acted like the slap had never happened, giving only a rueful smile in return to her anger.

"Not in the way it counts, Rachel."

She smiled back.

"You're one to talk, Alan."

With that, she stood back from him with a sniff.

"How could you be so mean? You're almost as bad as Alexander!"

Alan chuckled sheepishly, reaching down to retrieve his mask.

"One of the many sacrifices one makes when keeping up the Identical twin image."

At this, Rachel shook her head sadly.

"It really does seem like you boys have picked up some bad habits recently. Perhaps if I remove the source of the bad influence-"

She glanced towards me, the movement brief but unmistakable.

"You will remember how to behave."

Alan tilted his head, staring down at the girl silently for a long, tense moment. Calculative.

Before breaking out into a smile.

"Oh! I forgot to say! Alex and I were sent here to tell you that they're ready for tonight's entertainment." He announced cheerfully, abruptly changing the subject. "They're just waiting on you of course. If you're done playing, that is?"

Rachel pouted, and for a second I was sure that she was going to blow off whatever they meant by tonight's entertainment.

Then she smirked.

"Finally." She glanced at me, her smirk taking on a cruel edge.

"If it wasn't for you, he could have been so much more. They all could have been more. For too long, I have had to stand back and watch you taint them with your weakness. One day... Soon, I am going to kill you for that."

Her lips curled into a snarl. "But not before I make you pay for what you have done, you cancerous little bitch."

Confused, I glanced over my shoulder to see if there was anyone behind me, back at her to see that she was, in fact, looking at me, then pointed a finger at myself questioningly.

" .. Me? But... All I did was punch you in the face and break your nose like one time... How the hell does that give me cancer...?"

"You've completely missed the point idiot," Apollo whispered to me.

Even so, Rachel didn't seem too bothered by my lack of comprehension.

Instead, she blew a kiss towards Vain.

"I'll see you later, Sweetest. Everyone make sure to behave while I'm gone." She called before turning and walking towards the railing.

I shivered, utterly creeped out, and Apollo shifted warily as the girl jump lithely to stand up on the railing.

Balancing haphazardly, Rachel flung her arms out with a dramatic bow towards us.

"I suggest that you all watch carefully, children," She straightened and begun to lean back, making no effort to stop her slow tilt over the edge.

"Hey, Mental Case! You're bout to-" I tried to warn.

Our eyes met, and I saw the moment her plain brown eyes...

Shifted to blue.

"Sit back, and enjoy the show." She smiled.

Apollo ran forward as she fell off the edge, and we arrived at the railing in time to watch Rachel Fredem plummet headfirst into the empty dance floor.

Oh well. She's dead.

Rachel hit the floor, but not in a crumple of bones and flesh.

The moment her body made contact with the floor, it shifted into a transparent fluid and splashed.

Slithering with liquid grace, the fluid travelled across the floor like it had a mind of its own, collecting in the centre.

The water of the forming puddle writhed like a million tiny insects moved under its surface.

From the ground up, the water rebuilt itself into a human form.

Until a tall, red-headed woman dressed in nothing more than a lab coat and high heels stood in the middle of the floor with her hands on her hips.

The stunning beauty looked up towards us, blue eyes smug behind wire-rimmed glasses.

"That's..." Apollo began breathlessly, only to trail off, unable to state the impossible.

"Yea," Alan answered cheerfully, coming forward to lean on the railing. He stared down at the woman, a wry smile on his face.

"The one and only Doctor Cassandra Floid."

He met our stunning gaze, shrugging a little.

"Though Alex and I tend to just call her Mother."