Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.

-John Ruskin

Sweat beads at my forehead and the sun beats down on my back. I thought Canada was supposed to be a frozen wasteland, not a blistering temperate rainforest. Is this supposed to be some sort of sick joke society? Cause it's not fucking funny. I was expecting a cold and deserted area with wilderness everywhere, but all I see are trees and a lot of people.

We had just got to Victoria Island a few days prior, and Brandy had gotten us a shoddy house for a good price, although it was extremely grimy and we would probably have to do some serious renovation. Despite all of the work it involves, this will be a nice project; it's been a while since I did renovations.

The only upside is that we are right beside the ocean. Maybe I can invest in a boat, take Brandy and princess out for a ride occasionally. That would be nice, kind of like a real family. Tch, what stupid delusion.

I make my way to the garage when I hear a car starting to pull into the driveway and lick my lips, whatever Brandy and Kim brought for lunch, it smells divine.

"What did you guys bring?" Sniffing the air like a hound, I wonder what could smell so good. I could care less about anything else, I was starving. My eyebrow shoots up in suspicion when I get a sheepish laugh from Brandy.

"McDonalds..." I grimace. Oh great, plastic burgers.

"So that's why it smells so good." I scowl and turn to stalk back so I can start remodeling, but before I can take another step, a wrapped burger is shoved right in front of my face.

"If you don't eat, you're going to collapse." I stare at the burger the red head was offering me. An exhausted me versus a well-rested Kim...

I'd rather take my chances than die of heart cancer.

"No thanks." I push her hand away dismissively and proceed to the side of the house. Next time, I'll make Kim and Brandy do the heavy lifting while I shop for groceries. I face palm, seriously; these two are completely useless with chores. Neither of them can cook, nor do the laundry. I can understand cooking; I wouldn't trust either of them with a cooking pan, but washing clothes. Really?

After ignoring Kimmie's relentless prodding for several hours she gives up and decides to help me make this more of a home and less of a rat hole. We had set up all of the jobs, and for the most part I had all the hard work. Cupcake would paint and set up the furniture, and Brandy would do the finishing touches in concealing and protecting us.

I'm just surprised that the wiring and plumbing haven't been chewed out by rodents. Good news because that means cheaper for us and less time to waste.

Woop-di-fucking-doo.

I jolt awake from my shallow slumber when I hear rustling, coming from the would-be kitchen. Suddenly, I'm completely aware of my surroundings and all my senses sharpen. I have to be wary: because the only thing going through my mind right now is that both Brandy and Kim could be in danger. And I can't allow that, not while they're under my shoddy roof.

I stalk down the rickety stairs and through the hallways in absolute silence, after all I would be a failure of an assassin if I couldn't even sneak around in my own home. The door to the kitchen is but an arm's length away, and I pull out my hunting knife. This could get ugly, considering I see no signs of forced entry; this intruder knows what they're doing.

I start opening the door with extreme caution, ready to defend and to light my glow should I need to. My heartbeat starts becoming painfully loud and sweat starts to bead at the nape of my neck. I surprise myself when I see my hand shaking, reaching out for the tarnished door knob.

Why am I getting so nervous? Calm the fuck down; just think of this as one of your normal hits. Or you're just going to panic and make things worse.

I tighten my grip, on both my knife and the doorknob, willing myself to take control of myself. In a flurry of movements I open the door and proceed to rush forward to pin my target with the knife.

At least that was the plan; but I falter when I see what was making the noise.

Bright orbs, one coloured electric blue and the other a bright yellow stare back at me. I turn my glow on and sigh in relief and in exasperation. It's just a tabby, eating the hamburger I refused. I sheath my hunting knife and pet the trespassing critter.

"You scare the living hell out of me, and you turn out to be a stray cat." It meows at me and jumps off into the darkness with the hamburger in its mouth. Well, now that's taken care of, it's time for me to get my beauty sleep.

But after I take only one step, I hear a loud thunk and hissing.

I whip towards the sound, my green fire lighting the area and only to see it empty, except for the cat with its hamburger splayed across the floor. What had spooked the tabby? There was nothing there.

As I warily did a search of the small kitchen, I reluctantly sheath my knife and extinguish the flicker in my hand. Nothing seems out of the norm, well, besides this little leecher.

I go up to the alert cat, still with its back to me and I flick its ear. Goddamn thing keeps scaring me. The freeloader continues to stare at the darkness, probably still jumpy. Yawning, I decide that enough is enough. The house was safe, and there was nothing to be worried about, overthinking it would be worse.

So I trudge up the stairs, fatigue catching up with my brain. Rolling into my sleeping bag on the hard wood floor, I drift towards sleep again; without a care in the world.

"Shego!" I feel a pair of hands grab my shoulders and immediately I'm awake, but still unaware as I pull my knife out and press it against my assailant's neck. But just as quickly as I had acted, the aggressor knocks at my elbow and my wrist, making me drop my knife; thrown out of harm's way. I blink a few times and realize that I'm staring into bright olive eyes. Oops.

"Agh; sorry, but you shouldn't just do that randomly, I could've actually hu-" I'm abruptly cut off by a finger against my mouth.

"Now is really not the time Shego." After finally gathering my bearings of what was actually happening, I realize that Kimmie was dressed in her usual outfit. But there are small strange bulks here and there; she's wearing her combat suit underneath. My eyes widen, something was terribly wrong.

Kim stares into my eyes, and I'm pleading whatever deity out there that she isn't going to say what I think she's going to say.

"Brandy's gone."

Dammit.

END OF CHAPTER 4

Wow two months... I apologize to those waiting patiently! To be honest I was agonizing over how this chapter ended up. I was considering a different path very heavily but I decided to go with this one since it seemed to flow better. Unfortunately school has started up again in the meantime and I can't upload very fast anyway, considering I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I'll read things over and over til I'm satisfied. But I still miss typo's all the time...

Also it's come to my attention that Brandy has the same last name as the victim in chapter 2, but they have absolutely no relation to each other!

-Cake