Never As It Seems

Guess Who's Back

Flames kept absolutely still and stared at the still partially opened door. A small ray of light shone through, beckoning him to come back inside the main room - but he could not, and would not, move forward from that spot. 

"Fuzzy Guy," he said calmly. "Yes. I have found your little hideout. Well, well done indeed. Aren't I just clever?"  

"That you are," said the Fuzzy Guy. "I can't imagine how you found it. I thought it was so well... hidden." 

"To be fair, your name and face is plastered around the entire hotel." 

"Oh, that?" The Fuzzy Guy laughed. "No, not the hotel. Of course I knew you were going to find me in my hotel, I know you're not completely stupid. Even the penthouse could barely be called a lucky guess - I mean, where else would I be, right? But I'm talking about this little room right here. Here, in the darkness and the spookiness. Kind of like Halloween, isn't it? Except worse." 

Flames said nothing. 

"I know you're planning on escaping. Don't do it! Your efforts are futile. You know, we're not even alone in this room. I've got all my guards and little minions here... some of them are even recording every word you and I say, right at this very instant." 

"How am I supposed to trust you on that?" said Flames, staring at the open crack of the door. "It's completely dark in here - you could be lying. And you would be the one to lie about that." 

He heard the Fuzzy Guy sigh. "Oh, Flames Pond. You've grown up so much. Remember when we used to yell at each other about missing chickens and the like? And now here we are. And you don't even trust me anymore." 

"I never trusted you," said Flames. The little confidence that he had was slowly growing weaker and weaker, and he could feel himself beginning to sweat. He told himself that sooner or later someone in the main room would discover that spot in the corner and the little room that it led to... maybe they would even hear his voice, echoing softly out the door... 

The Fuzzy Guy clicked his tongue. "So sad. I always liked you, Flames. You had such... spark to you, all the time. You never gave up. And where are you now?" 

"I'm here," said Flames, trying to sound at least a tiny bit brave. "In your penthouse. And you seem to think you've already won - that you've outsmarted me or whatever. Well, you're wrong about that. I've got a whole group here, filled with trained field agents, and they will make sure you pay for your actions. Mark my words, they will make you cry like the insignificant child you really are." He smirked, although no one could see it. 

There was silence for a few moments, before finally the Fuzzy Guy broke it by saying, "Very well. I guess you've won once again, Flames Pond. How foolish was I to think I had any sort of advantage! So, so silly of me. I humbly apologize." 

"I don't believe you," said Flames immediately. 

"Don't you? Boys, hit the lights." 

The room was flooded with a sudden piercing brightness. Flames squinted and hastily turned around - and despite the change in light, his eyes widened. 

There was indeed the Fuzzy Guy standing there looking very, very pleased with himself - but there was also a whole lot more than him in the room. There were about ten men standing there looking very menacing - the guards he had mentioned before. There were several of his 'minions' standing there - mostly boys about fourteen or fifteen years of age, and even a couple of girls. Behind the group of people (and Fuzzy Guy) there were several computers set up: very high tech computers by the looks of them, ones much more sophisticated than the few Flames had seen in the computer lab all that time ago, if such a thing were possible. There were people sitting in front of these computers and studying what was on the screens: footage from surveillance cameras by the looks of it, all in high quality and full color.