>
>
> "Do you feel anything?" Hallie asked with a mixture of hope and a twinge of anxiety. After all, if the answer was "yes", then they'd have a lead, but also confirmation of a much, much bigger problem.
>
> "I confess... I don't know what I'm supposed to be able to feel" Marie answered, looking about the empty holding cell where the sedated Daniel Lyle was last seen.
>
> Hallie sighed. "You and I were both part of the Island's mystical defences, once upon a time..." she answered, although slightly embarrassed to have been caught grasping at such straws. "I thought maybe, if there was a suitable cosmic threat involved, one of us might feel some sign of it."
>
> "I feel a bit chilled..." Marie allowed, rubbing her hands along the outside of the long sleeves of her dress. "But I'm afraid I don't feel very special at the moment. I am sorry... I do so want to help you all, as you've been so gracious to me. I just... don't know how."
>
> Hallie smiled warmly at the former banshee. "Marie, you've helped us out so many times in the past, I doubt we'll ever be able to even the score." The hologram's mind flashed back to her bloody time as the mansion's protection against he dark forces of the Necronastycon, and she repressed a shudder. "Truthfully, I'm glad neither of us are being called to..."
>
> Marie gasped out loud, jumping back in alarm as she pointed to the corner of the room.
>
> Hallie spun, crackling with energy, her simulated heart doubling in speed as she scanned the cell for horrors from beyond. Finally, she found the source of her friend's reaction. "Ah" she noted with an apologetic look to Marie. She walked over and made a soft "tshk-tshk-tshk" noise with her tongue as she lowered her hand to the drainage pipe set into the tile floor.
>
> With a hesitant glance, a tiny, white, furry head popped out of the drain and then, responding to the artificial woman's coaxing, hopped into her palm.
>
> "Marie, I'd like you to meet Bunsen" Hallie said, holding the bright white lab mouse up in front of her. "Or maybe this one is Archimedes..." she debated, tilting her head to the side. The mouse did likewise at it peered back at her. "Either way... I suppose we should find out what my daughter is up to."
>
>
>
> "Hatman did this!" Kerry fumed. "He did this because he hates me! He always has!"
>
> "Jay doesn't hate you" Visionary answered calmly, sitting at the kitchen table in his condo and writing a letter.
>
> "Well, he doesn't like me..." the hotheaded teen groused. "He's probably been waiting for a chance for payback ever since I..." She suddenly paused.
>
> "Yes?" Visionary asked intently, looking up. "Ever since you... what?"
>
> "Nothing. I don't know why he would have anything to hold against me. Likely just irrational from wearing his hats too tight or something..." she answered evasively. "Besides, it was likely the Librarian!"
>
> "It wasn't the Librarian..." the Regular noted with a sigh, going back to his writing. This was at least the second time through the entire list of suspects for an inside job, if that indeed was what it was.
>
> "Oh, sure... he seems normal. Quiet... Keeps to himself... What does that tell you?"
>
> "That he likes to read?"
>
> "That he's a serial killer waiting to happen, that's what!" she continued, ignoring the interruption. "I mean, having all of those books bouncing around in his head is bound to make a guy unhinged... Have you ever seen his little pet project? The bulletin board with all the interconnected push pins linking articles that reference some bushy haired guy and a guy with an accordion?" She shuddered. "I tell you, right now he's lowering a basket down to Danny and saying "It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again"..."
>
> Visionary signed his name and folded up the letter he was working on. "Danny's fine."
>
> "You don't know that!" Kerry yelled at him, tears in her eyes. "The whole universe wants him dead, and now he's gone missing! And what are you doing about it?!"
>
> The Regular gave her a hug, letting her sniffle into the lapels of his coat. "I'm doing what I can" he promised. "When you were missing in the Parody War, taken captive on a Dimensional Dreadnought, Danny didn't let anything stop him from getting you back." He hugged her tight. "First we find out where he is... and then we return the favor."
>
> "How do we do that?" Kerry asked, not letting go.
>
> "We ask around" Visionary replied, shuffling across the kitchen with his little sister in tow. He reached a gilded birdcage and opened the door. "I have a letter for Donar in Ausgard..." he said, holding it up in the air. "I need it there as quickly as possible."
>
> There was a humming sound with the underlying ring of steel behind it. Then, with a flash, a shining silver object shot out of the birdcage, punctured the folded parchment and carried it aloft and out the window in the blink of an eye.
>
> Visionary watched his enchanted Ausgardian letter opener disappear with his mail. "Sjelknuser's very reliable" he said. "He'll bring back word of whatever they've heard in Ausgard. The Chronicler has apparently been going around delivering a warning to half the universe... I'm curious to find out if it's the same warning."
>
> "You were the Chronicler once..." Kerry noted, her eyes narrowing as she pulled away from him.
>
> "You've already accused me..." he added it up on his fingers... "Seven times in the last hour. I would have probably confessed by now, if just so I could relax and watch some TV instead."
>
> "Well, you heard Drury! It had to be an inside job! Someone who knows our holding cells and how to circumvent them and all of the safeguards! Someone who knows how to slip by all of us in the mansion without us ever being the wiser! Someone who has it in for Danny and... me..." She paused, her face frozen in thought. "That total bitch!" she finally snarled, heading for the door. "She is so completely toast!"
>
> "Wait!" Visionary called out after her. "You can't go flambaying people without cause! Er... which bitch are we discussing, anyway?"
>
> Kerry whirled around, her eyes cold. "Zemo" she hissed.
>
> "Oh" The Regular considered this. "Well, take a coat..." he finally advised. "It looks like rain."
>
>
>
> "Mom's onto us" Griffin reported, fading into sight next to his sister. "She found Newton checking out the drain pipes."
>
> Magweed nodded, greeting her brother in the hidden room within the mansion that they often used as a secret getaway. "It's spring, and the mouse guard gets a little excited at all the new smells" she explained. "Newton's usually quite careful not to get caught."
>
> "None of them have reported back yet?" her brother asked. "Glory's going to check out the cell itself, but the plumbing, wiring and crawlspaces around the cell could have been used to sneak Danny away somehow..."
>
> "They'll be here soon" Magweed assured him. While not as reliable (or as understandable) as the Mythlands mice she had befriended growing up, the former lab mice here in Parodiopolis had never hesitated to help out in any way they could.
>
> "How about the call?" he asked.
>
> Maggie offered him the heavy candlestick telephone base and the receiver that she had been holding up to her ear. "I'm on hold... they're looking for her."
>
> Griffin took the old rotary telephone and listened with his head next to his sister's. They had found the large antique tucked away up here and were surprised to find it in working order. What's more, they were doubly surprised to find that it did not seem to go through their mom's switchboard. Griffin had wondered briefly who received the bills for their international long-distance calls on it, but had decided that since this was an emergency, it would be all right to use it and make it up to the owner later...
>
> "Hello?" a familiar voice answered from the other side of the line.
>
> "Sam!" Griffin exclaimed. "We need your help... something's gone really wrong with Danny..."
>
> Samantha Featherstone listened carefully as the younger boy spelled out the situation in the mansion, asking few but direct questions where necessary to get the information in the most concise manner.
>
> "So he disappeared from a locked room, with no evidence so far of anyone coming in or out..." she summed up. Griffin could practically hear the wheels turning in his young friend's head. "Well, I might have some ideas..." she answered finally. "But I also have the number of somebody we should probably consult."
>
> "Consult?" Maggie asked.
>
> "Yes..." Sam confirmed. "She's just the one to ask. I gather she's something of an expert in cases like this, and we've worked with her before..."
>
>
>
> Visionary sat down and opened the roll-top desk, breaking the silence of the lighthouse's great room. Inside were multiple drawers, and it took him a few tries to find the one that would produce the black inkpot. Taking the sheets of paper that he had plucked from the back of the printer in the other room, he spread them out before him. Finally, he withdrew a long polished cedar box. Inside he found a single black raven quill, cut and split on the end to make a pen.
>
> "Right" he said to himself, dipping the quill into the ink. "Now, let's get some answers..." With sweeping strokes he formed his message, although the penmanship made him wince. However, it was simple and to the point:
>
> Quoth,
>
> What the hell is going on?
>
> Your Friend,
> Visionary
>
> Satisfied, he sat back and waited for her reply.
>
>
>
>
> to be continued
>
>
>
>
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