"So by sending a signal to Alex... You meant..."

"Pain," Alan confirmed with a cheerful nod. "Gets the Nanotech buzzing even better than adrenaline does."

I grimaced.

And I'm sure getting some of your own nanotechnologies into Vain was just killing two birds with one stone.

Not wanting to dwell on the thought, I glanced down at where Havoc and Winkle had landed.

The taller of the two was the only one still there, climbing to his feet with his hands pressed against his back as he painfully tried to straighten.

As he did so, Winkle sent a furious scowl in Alex's direction, and I couldn't help but follow the heated gaze.

Discovering exactly where Havoc had gone off to.

I turned in time to see the blue hair supervisor mid-air. Alex stood unmoving as Havoc flipped sharply, leg outstretched to deliver a brutal downward kick to the teenager's head.

Only to have his attack deflected by the red-head grabbing his ankle and stepping back out of its path. Fluidly, Alex grip on the leg shifted as he used Havoc's own downward force to slam the small man into the ground like a sledgehammer.

Even from here, I could hear Havoc's cry of pain.

Nanotechnology Buzzing...

Alex straightened, using his grip on the supervisor's ankle to hold Havoc hanging, the smaller man suspended completely above the ground.

With systematic apathy, Alex spun, twice, throwing Havoc with such brute force the blue-haired man didn't stop flying until he hit the wall.

As in, all the way across the gap and on the other side of the room.

What a mild way of putting it.

"... Alex can be such a chatterbox sometimes." Alan had been speaking the whole time, seemingly oblivious to his twin epic battle. "I figured that the ghost sensation of Maziric chomping on his neck would be a good motivator for him to get a move on... "

There came a sharp whizzing sound, and Alan ducked, narrowly avoiding a blow to the head from whatever it was Alex had thrown.

One look at his intense eyes and uncovered expression proved it to be his mask.

For something so expensive-looking, those masks were just... useless, even as impromptu missiles...

Alex continued to stare up at Alan with the same focused expression he had worn that time he fought Apollo.

I was beginning to recognise the look as the one people got when they decided to let their nanotechnology do the talking.

"Alright, alright, I'm going." Alan laughed down at Alex, practically dancing backwards so that he was balancing on the far rim of the chandelier.

Just I was about to snap at him to be careful, Alan gave us the most enthusiastic smile I had ever seen.

"So, just out of curiosity, have you guys seen the Phantom of Opera?"

I froze.

So not the words you want to hear when standing on top of a chandelier with a masked maniac.

"The one where the chandelier crashes into the audience and sets the theatre on fire," Vain answered flatly, seeming to sense our impending doom just as well as I could.

"So you have seen it." Alan gave Vain a teasing smile. "Should I be impressed?"

"Not really. " Vain answered, voice disinterested, but his expression stony. "There was a point in time when anyone living within a twenty-mile radius of my Grandmother couldn't avoid watching it, short of clawing their eyes out."

I nodded in grim agreement.

"Phantember, I remember it well."

Hands clenching in the white material of Vain shirt, I sent Alan a nervous look. "Please tell me this is just your attempt at friendly conversation, and not you confessing your soon to be fulfilled dream of re-enacting the Chandelier meets screaming crowd scene."

Alan just smiled innocently, and all the colour drained from my face.

When normal people see big elaborate chandelier, they think; Wow, that's pretty. Must be a bitch to clean though.

But when Alan and Alexander Floid see a Chandelier...

'Are you thinking what I'm thinking A1?'

'I think I am A2.'

'It's wrecking ball time!'

"Abscond Vain!" I cried, scrambling to climb up to his shoulder, like a cat who had just spotted the bathtub and was saying hell to the no am I getting in that thing alive. "Abscond!"

"I hate to be the one to break this to you Maddison, but we're thirty feet off the ground." He muttered back tersely, hands coming up to support me as I managed to reach his shoulder and sat clinging to the high collar of his straight jacket.

"No, It's okay," I explained, staring down at the white fingers where they pressed against my side. That's not distracting at all. "Even if we fall from this height, your body will break my fall. "

Vain stiffened, grumbling out an offended noise before sighing in defeat.

Ignoring my panic, he took a moment to contemplate, probably trying to come up with a plan that didn't involve him dying heroically for my sake... Cause yeah, God forbid we do things my way for a change...

As he thought, one of his fingers brushed against my back in an unconscious movement.

Okay, maybe that's starting to get a little bit distracting...

"There are unconscious people down there." Vain pointed out, voice deceptively neutral as he turned his gaze to Alan.

Yes. GOOD. A logical reason not to burn down the building. Knew there was a reason why I kept this guy around...!

"Hmm, I imagine getting them to safety will be more than enough to keep the supervisors occupied while we make our escape." Alan smiled happily, and my rising hope plummeted to the ground in a flaming ball of doom.

Oh yea, logic doesn't work so much on crazy people...

"It's too risky. " Vain insisted stubbornly, causing Alan to tilt his head questioningly.

"Don't tell me you don't want to see this place blown to Kingdom come?"

Yea! Wait... Which side am I supposed to be arguing...

"No. I'm just saying I would prefer it if you set fire to the building when there are less people inside of it."

Including us. Don't forget to mention us.

"Ninety percent of these people probably deserve it, though."Alan mused, in the same bantering tone as before.

But this time, the words struck a darker cord.

I flinched, temper starting to spark and Vain hesitated.

"Perhaps they do... But... I don't think that... anyone has the right to decide such a thing. Especially not you Floid." He said softly. "There are few lines you have left to cross. Don't overstep your ideals for something so pointless."

There was a small silence, tense as the two stared at each other knowingly.

Since when had these guys been so close? Or was it just some kind of psychic bond created with Vain's vampire bite... God, I seriously need to stop thinking about that...

"All of the pictures of Apollo's family are here," I added quietly when no one spoke.

It was a lame reason.

But the idea of burning the Mc'Valium home, all those pictures...

Before Artemis had a chance to really come back to it...

Made my chest feel tight.

I lifted my head, that tight sensation turning to dread when I found Alan staring at me the same way I stare at Monica when the little girl shyly offers to share her sweets with me.

Beneath me, I felt Vain freeze in horror.

"What-" I began, only for Alan to start laughing.

"So cute." He gasped, burying his face in Vain's hair as he shifted the boy into a tight hug. I yelped, and Vain stiffened as we suddenly found ourselves trapped, way too close for comfort.

"I'm so lucky to have such good-hearted little minions. I was only joking about crashing the chandelier since I figured that way you'd feel so relieved you'd forget to be angry with me when you found out about the real plan, but then you were both so adorable." He babbled dotingly.

Vain seemed to have been petrified, and all I could do was sputter in indignation, unable to think of a single word to say.

Whether he was an ally or enemy, Alan was always friendly. Cheerful and playfully, it's not like he ever acted coldly to me before.

But the only person I had ever seen him touch causally, tease mercilessly, was Alex.

This, stupid and embarrassing as it was... was the most affectionate I had ever seen him act with anyone who wasn't his brother.

There is a difference between being friendly to people and being people's friends.

Maybe this was what it meant to be Alan's friend...

God. With a friend like him, who needs enemies?

"Minion?!" I finally managed to get out in a strangled voice. "How dare you call me your Minion when you haven't even earned a position as one of my Minions yet. You, sir, are so low on this hierarchy you are beneath Apollo, assistant slave."

Vain being my number one slave, of course.

Alan drew back to give a curious look. "Really, what's my rank then."

I poked a thumb in Alex's direction.

"Backup copy of my Emergency Food supply."

Alex laughed, and while he was being amused, and I was being annoyed, Vain was focusing on the real issue here.

"What do you mean real plan?" He demanded.

Alan smiled.

And looked up.

Dreading it but knowing I had to look, I followed his gaze upwards.

That's when I realised that the ceiling, above the glare of the giant chandelier, was made out of glass.

"That, children, is the quickest way out of the building. "

Sure. That makes sense.

Why go through a door, when there was a perfectly good window available?

Floid logic.

"How... " Vain managed to ask, staring up at the ceiling sceptically.

"Alexander is going to deliver a powerful downward force onto the precise parallel point of this horizontal surface, causing the load, that's us by the way, on this side to fly upwards."

"Like a Seesaw....? "

"... I prefer the word Catapult."

Even as the word took its sweet time to sink into my brain, I finally noticed Alex climbing the wall with powerful leaps, gaining height.

" No," I said flatly, shaking my head in denial.

Just.

No.

"So I'd make sure madam here is secured if I were you," Alan added helpfully.

"No." I continued to deny, even as Vain lifted me away from his neck and pressed my struggling body to his collarbone. "No. Nonononono no NO."

"... Stupid." Vain seethed, his fingers shifting to cover me more fully. He started listing all the things wrong with this plan, punctuation forgotten in his need to gets the words out. "Pointless. Overcomplicated. Highly unlikely to actually succeed. Attention drawing. RAZOR SHARP GLASS."

"...True..."Alan admitted reluctantly, frowning solemnly before flashing us with a happy go lucky smile.

"...But that's where I parked my ride, so grit your teeth and bare it. Seriously... You might want to clench your teeth for this next part. "

We're doomed.

Any chance we had at persuading Alan not to do this died when, with a final leap, Alex reached the ceiling.

With unnatural grace and coordination, the red-head flipped, landing crouched feet first on the transparent surface. For a long moment, he hung, completely upside down and staring at us with focused eyes.

Then the glass spider-web cracked beneath his feet as Alex shot downward like a bullet.

I felt Vain flinch before the slamming increase in pressure hit.

By the time I realised that this was a thing that was actually happening to me,

The sound of shattering glass filled my ears.

End of Part Four