The sun was coming up.

The most poetic dawn I had ever seen.

It made me think about the little things in life... like how nice it would be to actually have a sense of time cause everything I thought I knew was wrong and holy crap I have no idea how much time has passed or what day it is even.

The first glimmer of light had been breaking the horizon when the five of us managed to climb up out of the Hill like skeletons out of the grave. The warmly coloured sky made the perfect background, as our Helicopter took off, flying off above the trees and soared off into the distance.

Really, a movie worthy ending.

...Too bad we weren't in the Helicopter,

But on the ground,

Watching.

We were just in time too. Close enough to the initial take-off to be blasted by the wind of the propellers... and to see, in perfect detail, Lark Linquesta waving at us from the still-open door.

That is when I knew.

Today had to be a Monday.

By the time the Helicopter became a dot in the sky, I'd managed to overcome the indignation of having any of all of what just happened to me actually happen...enough to question why?

"HOW DID THEY GET OUT HERE BEFORE US!?"

Was my first concern.

"Oh, That's just the secret entrance." Being kept on his feet by Nigel's support, Alan pointed back at the Hill. "They would have used the secret secret entrance."

"...The secret secret entrance?"

Alan nodded cheerfully.

"The one with the elevator."

...

As it turns out...The Hill, with its five-card lock system... is the easy way in.

"And we are all just cool with the fact they are escaping in your helicopter." I gritted out, turning on Vain's shoulder to glare at the boy who had ridden up the stair piggyback style.

Alex scowled under the scrutiny.

"Must have left the keys in it."

Must have left the keys in it.

I stared between the Floid Brothers, both of whom looked completely unconcerned...maybe even relieved.

The sun wasn't the only thing to dawn in that moment.

"She got away." I realised turning to watch the fading dot with fresh horror.

Systems are replaceable. Crazy geniuses who build them, not so much.

"....hmm. I think it would be safe to say she did." Alan sighed, pulling away from Nigel to collapse onto on the grass. "Poor Mc'Valium is going to have his hands full. Mother is never good company...ever really."

And that had been the plan all along.

Every time I had gotten the feeling that Alan was up to something...had been taking a very pacifist approach to the whole situation...had been outright stalling...

"YOU LEFT THEM A GETAWAY HELICOPTER?!"

"Of course not," Alan responded to my question with a quirked an eyebrow. "That would make me an accomplice."

I was speechless. Despite wanting to scream about everything I had been through and how it had all been made pointless, I couldn't utter a single word past my rage.

So while I was coming to terms with how badly I wanted to kill Alan then and there, Nigel was the one to ask the important question.

"...isn't Cassandra escaping...a really bad thing?"

I threw an exasperated gesture towards the voice of reason.

"Exactly! Thank you, Nigel. How is this something you just let happen, Alan?!"

"Maddison." Vain gave an exasperated sigh, indicating to Nigel to come to help him set Alex on the ground...before he dropped him...

His frustration probably had something to do with us having this conversation while I still had Peri in my head... but that was the extent of his trying to reason with me.

Somewhat ignoring my outrage, Alan kept his gaze on the horizon, expression pleasantly blank.

"Mother refused to leave this place. Refused to let any of her technology stray out from beneath her control... and as the greatest hypocrisy of all, she refused to let her own technology touch her mind. That is why she looks her age... why she was able to deteriorate into madness...and why you don't need to worry."

The pleasantness was long gone by the time he glanced over at me.

"The system was what was keeping her alive Maddison."

I stared back at him, finally starting to realise the significance of what they had done.

They let their mother go.

Alan awaited my next question with tired eyes, his mix match gaze sad and achingly old.

I knew there was a lot he wasn't saying. A lot he and his Brother may never share with me.

...And as much as it hurt to do so.

I shut up.

"Yea, well." I turned away from him, arms crossed my arms. "I hope they crash."

Mostly.

Cause I was the bravest damn friend on the planet, and I would face a thousand window stabbings if that was the price of giving these lunatics my trust.

So I shut up and watched the sunrise.

Thinking about the little things...like how little empathy the universe has for me and my perpetual bad day.

How, after everything I had been through, I didn't get to beat up anyone. Even Nigel got out mostly unscathed...and how can that even be called a happy ending?

If this experience being helpless has taught me anything, it's that anger management is overrated.

...Though I was content to just sit here and watch the major flip off from mother nature...Nigel had other concerns...

"Um...shouldn't we move away from here...in case the ground collapses..."

"Pfft. I'm a free man now Nigel." Alan dismissed with an eye roll. "I don't ever have to move again."

"You're not becoming a shut-in Alan." Alex was quick to shoot the idea down. "I'll destroy every gaming devise you have before I live with your decaying body on the other end of this Link."

Said the smoker.

"Careful Alexander. You know what happened to the last family member who stood between me and my dream."

Vain was the one groan out a response.

"There is such a thing as too early Floid."

Though I never looked away from the sunrise, I could hear Alan smiling.

"And here I thought I'd been waiting years ."

[*****]

The Shrink Program showed up not long after that.

A blur of blue-eyed giants quickly taking control of the situation.

Alan and Alex were super arrested right away. We all saw them get put in an ambulance...but yea, not the sort of ambulance that actually goes to a hospital.

I'd had seen enough of Alan to last me a lifetime, but I made sure to give Alex a long hard look, just in case I never saw him again. I memorised his precious baby face like the pope would the bible.

Just in case they didn't take any pictures.

Now, Nigel. He got a right proper ambulance. Poor guy was being wheeled away on a stretcher before he realised what was going on.

He waved goodbye with reassuring energy and flare. I pretended not to know him. Standard procedure.

That left me and Vain...or more accurately, me attached to Vain and refusing to really engage with what was going on around me.

I was kinda past the point of faking any control over my temper, choosing instead to snap and glare at anyone who tried to talk to me. All I wanted was my well-deserved breakfast, my family and my bed in that order. As the only one who wasn't injured, kinda a criminal or me, Vain could handle the Supervisors and their questions.

I was sitting this one out.

Vain didn't seem to mind... probably because I was actually quiet for once...

Apollo and Artemis were rescued... You know... Eventually.

They walked out of the Hill mostly unharmed but looking like they had come back from war.

Even I could tell, the Brother's were uncharacteristically frazzled by the trial they had been through. Emo hair cut standing out every which way, Apollo had fervently told the story of swords and explosions and daddy issues...

Yep. While we were psyching out Mad scientists and playing on the computer, these guys were fighting an epic battle against a freaking ninja.

It made me hate them.

Just a little bit.

The search for Robin and Experiment 318somethingsomethingsomething3 was called off when someone rang the police about a freakish bird-person at a bakery.

...Where they had gone for breakfast.

Cause why not?

Turns out, one of them had access to the secret secret entrance. I didn't ask who.

I didn't want to have to kill Robin.

And at the end of the day, with my innocence proven and the evil vanquished, totally by me...you'd think that someone would just stop and think...

Saving the world probably goes above and beyond the criteria of the Shrink Program's standard rehabilitation. Maybe, just maybe, we should unshrink this poor girl. Let her return to her family and her normal life.

...Needless to say...

The Shrink Program had a different idea.