"My Own Worst Enemy"

An Espionage Adventure starring W.i.t.c.h.

By: A J

Standard Disclaimer applies, please don't sue.

Chapter 9

Will shoved the armful of Dean's papers unceremoniously down the side of the Vandom's couch. With any luck, (or a 'push' from Irma,) he'd buy the tale that he'd brought it all in to sort through one night, and her mom had distracted him. Candracar knew Will had inadvertently walked in on the pair making out in the living room often enough for it to be believable.

Snatching three colas from the fridge, she teletransported back to the roof of the hospital first, made herself invisible with the Heart, and searched for her pair of teammates down below. 'Ah, there they are …' She flitted down to where Hay and Matt were following his duplicate into the utility bay of St. Nicholas hospital. By the time she caught up, Matt Two was leaning casually on the backside of one of the transformer/generators that sat ready to supply the building with emergency power in the event of a blackout.

"… honestly don't know what happened after that," Two was telling his originator. "I kissed her goodbye, and walked home. Next thing I know, Grandpa's getting a call saying Will's collapsed, and Mizz Vandom wanted to make sure I wasn't soon to follow."

"So why are you here, instead of home, with the curfew tonight?" Will asked, as she landed and became visible again.

"What, and ruin our rep as the perfect boyfriend?" Matt Two smirked. Hay tittered nervously at that, despite their latest predicament.

"So you came down here, saw 'Mina was okay, and almost blew our cover back there in the parking lot, instead," Matt One groused.

"Hey, how was I to know she was gonna go all Grand Theft Auto on Teach's car?" Two countered, motioning at Hay.

"Teach?" Will asked Matt telepathically. He could only send back a mental shrug. They never knew what the 'Drops would save as 'important facts' from one use to the next. Since this was Matt's first Astral Drop, he was due to have all kinds of quirks.

"Hey, I'm justified, here!" Hay was firing back in the meanwhile. "He's working undercover with my MOM!" She fumed afterward.

"Chill, Hay-hay!" Will said, worried more for her friend at that moment than about their problem. What good would it do to save themselves from some shadowy government watch-group, if it cost them Hay Lin in the process? "Here … I got us some drinks," Will added, tossing a cola to Matt One, then turning to lob the second one to Hay. Matt Two intercepted it on the fly instead.

"Thanks, Angel! I was dying out here!" he said, opening the can and downing most of it in one go. Matt One gave his double a disturbed glance, then handed his soda can to Hay.

"Here, Hay-hay. I don't need two of those in my system this late at night," Matt said quietly. Then he turned back to his 'Drop. "Alright, mischief managed, mystical mini-me. Let's recompile, and get me back home."

"Party pooper," Two said, finishing the cola and crushing the can on his forehead. "Ow. They never say how much that'll hurt in the movies …" He held a hand out to Matt One, and gave Will a wink and a tongue-click. "'til next time, Angel."

Matt One took his Astral duplicate's hand, in order to reabsorb him and his memories. The girls had taught him the hard way that fresh 'Drops each time was a bad idea. In a flash of green light, Matt Two went away, and Matt swayed on his feet for a second.

"Whoa. Is it supposed to give you a headache?" he asked, sitting down hard.

"Not usually …" Will replied, crouching next to him and laying her hands at his temples. "Quintessence," she murmured, willing his pain away. He gave her a lopsided grin afterwards.

"Thanks, Angel," he sighed. He leaned up to give her a quick kiss.

"Soooo … was there anything else with the A Ds?" Hay asked before they could get carried away with their mushiness.

"I don't think so …" Matt said, looking back through his new second set of the afternoon's memories. "There's nothing more than … no, wait … they told Cass, after all," he added after a pause.

"I thought she was still at work?" Will quizzed, as she helped him to his feet.

"She got out early; she's already home, along with the rest of the 'Drops. Whatever happened, happened later, after he left 'Mina at your apartment." He blushed suddenly. "Your mom caught them kissing out in the hall, apparently." Hay and Will both giggled, and Will rolled her eyes.

"News to me, that's for sure," she snickered.

"Oh?"

"Yeah …" It was Will's turn to blush. "'Mina … she's not as attached to you as I am, Frontman. 'parently Matt Two, being newer, hasn't started to think differently, yet."

"Wish I had that problem," Hay added to their conversation, and the young lovers grinned her way sympathetically.

"Don't worry about Eric, Hay-hay," Matt told her. "He's as embarrassed by Mei's attentions as you are jealous. I gather he thinks of her as your envious younger sister, like the rest of us do."

"She is, when you think about it," Will told Hay with a friendly nudge of her elbow. "Just ask Corny how often Lillian acts up when Caleb's around …"

"Or Pete," Matt couldn't help adding with a grin.

"Or Pete," Will and Hay grinned back, chuckling.

"Yeah, I've seen that too … but let's face it; neither of them is in the same boat as Mei and I. I mean, I'm basically competing with another me … a me who isn't too busy saving the Multiverse from itself to make time for her boyfriend …"

"Just remember, she's only out when you need her out, Hay-hay," Will told her with another nudge. "And with a little concentration, she won't fixate on him ..."

"Oh? How do you explain tonight?" Hay asked as the three teens walked back out of the utility bay. "My brain's busy enough for three of me, and you saw how quickly she glommed onto Eric …"

"We shouldn't be here," Matt interrupted. He pointed out the security car, patrolling the lot once more now that Dean had come down and shut off his alarm. (He hadn't noticed his raided glove box, for which the three teens were infinitely thankful.) The car had just swung back their way.

"Yipes!" Will uttered, and used the Heart to make them all invisible again. "Okay … we got what update we could from Two … I've got to get up to 'Mina, but I need to see what her room's like, first. This'll be impossible if she's surrounded by doctors or has an insomniac roommate ..."

"Not to mention your mom," Hay groaned, mulling her own problem over still.

"And Mister Collins is probably up there with her again," Matt added in a cautionary voice.

"Ohmigosh, Will … we can fly …" Hay practically giggled. "Let's just check out her room from out here!"

"Duh moment," Will chortled. "C'mon." The three teens took off, Matt a second behind since he'd transformed to his normal self when they'd arrived behind the ambulance bay. They circled around, tuning their magical senses to zero in on 'Mina's familiar presence. Hay found her first, being the fastest flyer.

"Hey, she's over here, you guys!" she called to the other two telepathically. Matt and Will homed in on her location instead, and swooped to the correct window. The trio looked in on the third-floor room, and traded gasps. "Zoinks," Hay muttered, while Matt swore under his breath.

'Mina was strapped to a hospital bed, with multiple transparent bags of medicine feeding an IV in each arm, and a dozen different monitors connected to her at every possible point. Susan, an Indian doctor none of the kids recognised, and a note-taking nurse were all clustered nearby, conversing. Hay lay her hand against the glass, so she could 'hear' what was being said, and relayed it to the other two telepathically.

"… your daughter's evincing the strangest symptoms, Missus Vandom. We at first thought she was just electrolyte-deprived, as her blood-work initially showed, and standard saline-suspension replacement therapy seemed to be helping, but now she appears to have slipped into a diabetic coma. We haven't even been able to measure her current blood-glucose level, it's so low …"

"Can you help her?" Susan interrupted.

"We're doing everything we can, Missus Vandom. Each IV you see there is replenishing a different system in your daughter's body. But if she doesn't wake on her own soon, I don't know if it will have helped in time … Ah. Here's the glucose packs now," the doctor stated, as another nurse came in with two more liquid-filled plastic bags, and added them to the bevy already attached to the unconscious Altermere.

"She doesn't need sugar, or any other electrolytes," Will growled, her hand over the Heart. "She needs quintessence."

"Will, give me your phone," Matt said, pulling on one of her invisible sleeves. "Let's go to the roof."

"Go on, Will," Hay sympathized, at her leader's groan. "I'll keep an ear on things here."

"Thanks, Hay-hay." Will and Matt flew up to the roof. "What're you thinking, Matt?" she asked as they landed and, after a quick electrokinetic diversion of any cameras, made them visible again. She got her phone out of the pocket of her uniform's shorts.

"First, let's check on the other A Ds, and then … I might have a way to get you in there without everybody seeing two of you."

"Oh, this oughtta be good," she said, lending him her cell.

Enemy

"Hay-hay! Phone!" Her father called out through the kitchen door.

"Coming, fuqin!" Mei caroled back, wiping her current table down with first dishcloth, then towel. The Silver Dragon's evening rush was dying down, and she was looking forward to spending some quiet time with her unwell grandma after they closed. But first … "Who is it?" she asked 'her' father as she ducked into the kitchen.

"It's a boy," her father started, "but not Eric. Is there something going on we should be aware of, young lady?"

"No-nothing you don't already know," Mei stammered, blushing under Hay's father's scrutiny. She took the phone from him. "Hello?"

"Hey, Hay-hay. It's Matt. Just tell him it's about social studies, so you can talk somewhere quiet."

"Matt? Hi … Social studies?" Mei gave Chen her 'sister's usual megawatt smile. "It's just about homework, fuqin. Matt? Yeah, the chapter's …" she blathered absently as she walked to the basement entrance and stepped through. She was down the stairs and sitting on a crate of something pickled before she worriedly asked, "Okay, what's really up?"

"You're okay?" Will asked from the other end. "No weakness or dizziness?"

"Noooo …" Mei replied. "Other than sore feet from walking from school until now. Dinner rush," she explained.

"Okay. That's everyone. It's just 'Mina, then. Thanks, Mei-mei …"

"Huh? Wait! What's just 'Mina?" she cried.

"'Mina collapsed, and Mom brought her to the hospital," Will said. "Now we're trying to get her out, but we wanted to make sure it was only her that was affected."

"Affected? Affected by what?" Now Mei was really anxious.

"We're not sure of that, either, Mei. Just try to keep acting normally there, for now, and we'll get back to you when we can, okay?" Matt told her.

"Okay … but don't forget about us 'Drops in the rush. We wanna help too, alright?"

"Gotcha, Mei-mei," Will said, and Mei could hear the thanks in her voice. She hung up the extension, and walked back up to the kitchen with a distracted air.

"So, should Mira warn Eric he's got competition?" her father teased.

"Fu-cheeeennnn …" Mei rolled her eyes, hanging up the handset in the kitchen charging cradle on the wall. Grabbing her two cleaning cloths back up, she noted with a sigh that the washcloth was cold again. She headed back to the sink full of hot, soapy water in the corner past Fang to refresh it. Dirty tables were waiting.

Enemy

Author's Note: My hearty apologies for the long wait for this chapter, dear readers. Fear not, this isn't retired OR discontinued. I've just had a bit of trouble getting the stream of this flowing again between real life and other plot bunnies. But it's back, so enjoy, don't forget to review, and thanks for reading.

Catch ya on the flipside, A J.