Ok so in this one, will be where not only will we talk about our own headquarters, but also where we will be discussing anything else about current projects and soon some childhood memories in one of our secret reading cabinets. This is where things will get somewhat personal and really fascinating with our members. We also learn that not only do they linger on to childhood books, but also find them fascinating especially one group of friends involved in them. Meanwhile, some of the other members will be locating any new threats while analyzing the ink they found from Rockall.
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As we returned to our base which was located near our college dorm, we then got to our secret H.Q. entrance which was hidden at an abandoned classroom, known as the department of Subnuclear Sciences and History. We rolled towards the back of the building as we spotted our own hidden security checkpoint; a speaker hidden within a statue of Nemesis, the Greek Goddess of Justice and Retribution. It required a special passcode that can only be spoken by any one of us.
"Password." The statue spoke in a robotic tone as it's stone scroll showed us a question mark.
"Detectives forever, and always family." I spoke.
"Password accepted." The statue said as the scroll lit green with a checkmark as the car was being lowed underground with a secret elevator. We dropped down about 10 floors under the first floor of the building as we rolled into the mechanic garage.
Phil stopped the car as we got out, with a sigh of relief.
"Wow, that case we went through is completely out of our reach, I was not expecting this at all." Sophia said taking a stretch with her back.
"I agree with you. The further we go in our investigations, the more demanding the situation gets, and how much more responsibility we must endure. At least we get to spend some quiet time and rest for now." Don said getting out on his side with a smile on his face as he headed for the human sized elevator on the other side of the room.
"Don, where do you think you're going?" Phil asked seriously as he stopped Don. Don groaned as he felt like he was being a little boy being told by his parent.
"What is it, Phil? I thought we're done with our job for today." He groaned as he turned around to face Phil as he got out of the car. He raised his eyebrows and held the keys to the trunk of the car being unlocked.
"We are not quite done yet. We might have finished our tasks with Rockall, but we still need to deal with the paperwork for our assignments and put the container and artifacts in a safe place in our base." He replied refreshing Don's memory. "Oh of course, right the ink containers and other evidence we collected." Don said annoyed.
"Hey Don try not to get grouchy because of a phrase like that, alright?" Phil spoke.
Don got a bit carried away as he got annoyed a bit more. "Do you mind?" He asked, causing Phil to raise his temper at him.
"Yes I do mind, we have important work ahead of ourselves and we need to be sure this is properly secured." Phil argued
The fight was starting to get a little out of control as I stepped in to ease the tension. "Hey hey, guys, calm down, listen. How about I go get the supplies from the trunk and you guys just take a bit of rest for the afternoon, ok? Don has had a rough time figuring out his new powers and we need to give him some rest after all of this. For right now, let me handle the tanks and evidence in the back." I spoke. Phil then took a breath and then sighed with a bit of disgust.
"Fine, alright Don, go ahead and take a breather, as for you Code, be sure you know what you're doing with this material." Phil spoke as he turned to me with a bit of anger in his voice.
"No problem, I'll be sure that task is finished and nothing goes nuts. What could go wrong anyway?" I said as I headed to the trunk of the car and got the tanks. Sophia helped me with them as she took a few to the analysis room that had all of our tools needed to examine what we found from each case. I took both the briefcase holding my notes and the typewriter we collected as I followed Sophia to the human sized elevator on the headlights side of the room.
We joined Don as Phil turned the car off and turned the platform button on to change the direction of the car. As we started the elevator, the strange ink blob from in our trunk started to crawl out as none of us were paying attention. The doors to the elevator were starting to close as the ink blob was nearing us. Unfortunately, it made it through the thick cracks as it got inside the elevator waiting for us to move. Soon the elevator shifted upwards towards the next 10 floors as we got to the main lobby of our base.
Phil got out as he was more of a physical man and decided to head up to his office using the stairs since it was more healthier for him. But as he stepped out, he felt something icky on his shoe making him to lift his foot harder off the floor than usual.
"Woah, since when was this elevator floor been clean?" Phil asked.
"Um, I believe it was clean a few days ago? We needed to handle all of our lunch from the Chinese restaurant which was so good. Sophia spoke.
Phil groaned again. "Seriously, we need to clean this up after analysis. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be heading up to my office where it's nice and cozy so I can look for any updates for new cases to work on." He said as he left the room with a small inky substance coming off of his shoe.
The elevator then closed the doors as we continued going up, leading into the training room, where we practice our thinking skills with puzzles, deduction boards, and even physical combat with martial arts, ju-jitzu, and even kung fu. Don then proceeded into the dojo as he decided to clear his mind with fighting without his powers.
"Hey Don, are you sure you want to train? I thought you needed to take a break from all of this." I wisely spoke to Don.
"I'm fine Cody, I just need to take a breather and practice a bit to clear my mind, you know it's not just art and building I do for break time." He said as he took a deep breath and let it out.
"I would listen to Cody's advice. You have been drained a bit ever since Rockall's ink disaster." Sophia mentioned to Don.
"Guys, relax, I'll be fine. Like I said, just got to chill my mind with training for about an hour and I'll be painting or building." He spoke back as he got ready for hand to hand combat with a training dummy.
The two of us remaining in the elevator took a deep breath as we continued our ascend in the elevator until we got to the lab a few floors higher. The lab was filled with many microscopes, test tubes, machine items, and countless books of interesting research that relate to the materials. Sophia brought the tanks of ink to the analysis table as I placed the typewriter on a separate table.
The ink blob was still underneath my shoe as I didn't realize it was following us.
Both Sophia and I worked on the examining of both objects and found a strange residue of an ancient dark force at work. Crazy how this ink was infecting people, turning their corpses into ink monsters and bringing things to life with the same ink. Even corrupting normal drawings. All because of fame and attention.
After a couple of hours of work, the two of us got really tired as we decided we put both objects into a containment unit for safe keeping.
We went down to the collection chamber, a room dedicated to each case we ever solved that held an object of significance that helped us crack the mysteries which puzzled our curiosities.
Each hall had a different theme based on the type of phenomenon we faced, like science related, music related, element related, and even places that are kind of familiar. We then created a wing called the Dark Dimensions because this was where the wicked artifacts like the typewriter and ink cartilages can be stored.
While we were putting the items on a shelf, the same ink blob from my shoe slowly climbed up the dark edge of the shelf as it touched the typewriter with a strange purpleish pink glow as it bolted back down.
"What the?" Sophia stuttered.
"Excuse me?" I asked Sophia.
"Nothing, I uh thought I was seeing things." She replied back as she took a breath.
I shrugged as I turned the lock on the shelf with a special key. Electromagnetic field generator, a container like unit that prevents the artifacts from being hazardous. Their abilities are nullified within the container until the fields are deactivated.
The ink slowly came back to my shoe as we were about to leave. As I tried to walk, that strange sticky mess happened like Phil did.
"Aww man, are you serious? In here too?" I asked frantically.
"Cody just relax it's just a small sticky spot." Sophia assured me.
"I know, I just don't want Phil to notice this." I spoke to Sophia strengthening my point.
"Look, let's get some rest for tonight, we'll deal with the mess tomorrow. It's about 7:00 right now, let's just chill." She replied back as she started to leave the chamber. I took a deep breath as I followed her back to the elevator to our rooms.
The gooey ink blob under my shoe was still underneath as it started to glow like the typewriter.
Once we were done with the artifacts, we went to our college rooms in our base as we read certain books before bedtime. I actually was looking forward to an old favorite of mine. I didn't know why I was thinking of it, but I somehow needed to get some childhood memories in my head flowing to have the nostalgia feeling back. So I got up from my reading desk as I headed over to my bed and opened one of my secret compartments on the side that had my old childhood book series. Most of them were really cool but some were oldies I didn't want to read again because I felt like I was too old for them.
I then looked through my books until I came upon a very unique series. "The Thea Stilton Thea Sister books, based off the spinoff series by Geronimo Stilton himself, who's actual mother (author of the books) wrote to inspire kids of all young ages, to make friends and solve mysteries. Boy did I adore this series but did I regret not reading all of them. I then pulled out one of them, known as the Secret of the old Scottish Castle, the first one I ever read ever since I got it at a book fair when I was a kid.
I smiled at the book and decided to give it a read just for funsies as Don notice me reading it.
"Hey whatcha reading there?" He asked me.
"Oh I uh, was just checking out an old book I haven't read in a while known as the Thea Sisters." I perked up showing him the cover. Don was surprised that he was seeing me reading an old book written many years ago.
"Why did you chose this one to read?" He asked me.
"Umm because it's fun and I thought why not?" I spoke.
"Hmmm, perhaps, but what is the real reason why you got this book out?" The artist asked again.
"The thing is, this is about a group of young adults like us, but as mice who solve crazy adventures around the world and report it to their teacher, who works at a newspaper company with her older brother. These girls have a sisterly bond and know how to make things possible everywhere. Make new friends, saving the day, and most importantly, working together as a team family." I explained.
Don was surprised by what I told him, even though all the characters in the series were anthro mice. Despite the mice idea, it was a really cool story to look at.
"I think it's best if I told you the rest about it tomorrow morning when we have breakfast, just so we can feel more energized and prepared. Also, I just don't know how to explain it to you of course first, just need other opinions first from other people to get a better picture." I answered.
Don thought for a moment, but then nodded at my answer as he headed over to his room.
"Have a good night." He told me as he closed the door.
"See you tomorrow." I spoke back to him, as I put the book and some of the other books from the same series on the table as I felt intrigued to keep reading them so I can look at a reminder of who we really are as the Mad Hatters.
I then changed into pajamas as I got into bed with the light still on. I looked over to see the Thea Stilton Sisters books as I felt as if we needed to work together, us the Mad Hatters instead of the negative influence we felt from earlier. "Perhaps you'll remind us what makes us a team." I said to the books.
It was weird, but totally worth it as a book can be any person's friend. I then turned off the light as I closed my eyes, waiting for the next case to take me and my team of friends on a more brightful adventure the next morning.
Unknowingly, as I slept in bed, the same black oozy ink from my shoe, slowly crawled up to my desk as it went into the books, feeding off of its influence and creativity as the purple glow inside the ink transferred to the books themselves. No one knows what happens next, but soon, it will all be a turn of a page. Literally.
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Well, that's it for chapter 2! I hope you guys enjoyed this one. Right now as you can see, a tiny blob of ink has made it to our H.Q. without us knowing about it. But things are about to heat up real soon. Will we meet the Thea Sisters at all? Would the dark dimension come back as horrible monstrous ideas from the books themselves? Or did the ink do something to our team's relationship with the rest of the group? Tune in next time in about a couple of days to find out what happens next on this amazing Crossover of us the Mad Hatters and the Thea Sisters!