Song of the Chapter: Razor Sharp - Pegboard Nerds & Tristam (Glitch Hop/110 BPM)

I can't just not drop everything and scream RAZOR SHARP every time this comes on ...

(Monstercat's POV)

I'm not doing anything important, and right now, I'm pretty bored and ready to get this show on the road. I'm not even worried. Phantom and Rogue can take care of themselves, and
Braken's a follower. They'll keep him safe.

I feel bad for Tristam, though. He's trying to stay calm on the surface, but I can see the worry on his face.

"Everything's fine," I tell him. Au5 gives me a sideways glance, but I ignore it.

And then I get a call.

"We have a ... slight problem," Rogue says from my communicator.

"What happened?" Tristam demands, nearly ripping my arm off to yell at them into my communicator.

"Um ... actually, we have lots of slight problems." Rogue laughs nervously, trying to lighten the mood. "First, Braken was right. Those guys are the enemy. Second, they know who I am - my real name. Third, the MI is also after us, though I don't know if they're working together or conflicting or whatever. Fourth, we're stuck. I almost got hit by a car - "

"You WHAT?!"

"Yeah, long story. But anyway, I think I sprained my ankle so I can't run, so we decided to use Aero's escape plan and go to the roofs, which brings up our fifth problem." He sighs before continuing. "He's going to hate me for saying this, but Phantom passed out once we got up, so we're double stuck."

Aero laughs out loud and leans back on the bed, lacing his hands behind his head. We both ignore him.

"Is Braken alright?" Tristam asks frantically.

"Yeah. He's a little shaken, but he's doing okay."

"How's he taking the height?"

"Why don't you talk to him?" Rogue grumbles.

Eventually, he does, leaving me awkwardly holding my hand out so he can use my communicator. I don't really listen to their conversation, but I keep hearing Braken repeating that he's scared but he's okay. I find myself admiring their friendship and devotion to each other. Even though I've had many friends and companions in my life, I've never had someone quite like Tristam or Braken.

Finally, Rogue comes back on. "Good news," he says. "First, Nitro knows how to hack into the security cams. He can't do it here without his laptop, but that can be a useful tool for later. Second, Phantom is awake, but not going anywhere soon. We'll be back in about an hour, I think. I'll call again if we're coming later."

"Great. Thanks." We both sign off and I breathe a sigh of relief. I'm so glad Rogue is stable right now. If he was as off as he'd been a few hours ago, we could've had a problem. One of my strange alien abilities is being able to sleep and be aware of everything around me at the same time. I heard his fight, but didn't do anything to prevent it. They need to work it out by themselves.

Speaking of which, I glance over at Noisestorm, who purposefully tried to ignore the entire conversation. Sometime earlier, he'd stolen Nitro's laptop and was playing games, but now he's just starting at the screen, which turned off a few minutes ago.

"Are you okay?" I ask him.

"Just perfect, thanks," he snaps.

I flop down next to him on the couch bed. "You need to let it go."

"Let what go? I told you, I'm fine."

"You're still mad at Rogue and you need to calm down. We can't have an internal conflict as well as an external one. We're not going to get anywhere that way."

"What, so you're going to make me apologize or something? I'm not sorry."

I pause and think. "No, I'm not going to make you, but you should be sorry."

He laughs humorlessly. "Life lessons from an alien. Thanks."

I sigh in annoyance. "You know what? Maybe I'm not the smartest, but I have learned some things in my life. If you keep on acting like this, you're going to be sorry for yourself. Holding grudges isn't going to help anyone."

"I'll have you know that I've been holding one since I was twelve. Don't pull that card on me."

I jump off the bed and let out a growl under my breath. "You're hopeless."

"So I've been told."

Au5 shakes his head and sighs.

"We need to get out for a while," Tristam mutters. "I'm just worried about the MI and these new guys."

I need music. I search the room for the cords Phantom used for his headphones but can't seem to find them. Instead, I reach out and snag the laptop away from Noisestorm, closing the game he abandoned. "Who knows any good music websites?"

"They're probably all blocked," Tristam says, "but you can try YouTube if you have a specific song in mind, or Soundcloud, or if you just want some random stuff, there's always Pandora or Spotify."

I decide to try Pandora, since I don't have any idea what I want, and to my surprise, it actually pulls up, and Nitro's already logged in ... or someone's logged in. "Who's this?"

"Oh, that's his real name. Don't say it out loud, just in case someone's listening."

The first song that comes on is "This is Forever" by Hellberg and Danyka. Noisestorm starts to hum along, sounding like he can't help it, but then he sings under his breath. I grin. I guess all he needed was music, too. Music can heal, if you let it.

Although it doesn't seem to have the expected effect on him, since a slow grin is spreading across his face.

"What are you - " I start.

He takes a huge breath as Tristam leaps across the room and then suddenly, Noisestorm screams out a horribly off-key "THIS IS FOREVER!!" Tristam just barely cuts him off with his hand, slapping it over his mouth. They stay in that awkward position until they both burst out laughing, the mood finally lightening up.

I sigh in relief. At least Noisestorm is finally happy again. I don't want him angry all the time.

(Phantom's POV)

"Deep breaths," Rogue urges, sitting next to me and letting me squeeze his shoulder.

My head is still spinning, though not quite as bad as it was when I first climbed up. I'm trying to breathe deeply, like he told me to, but my heart is racing and I can hardly breathe in the first place. My right hand is gripping Rogue like my life depends on it, the only part of me that isn't curled up. I feel horrible, like I'm going to throw up or pass out again, so I rest my head between my knees in an effort to calm the feelings down.

"Great, now we're stuck up here," Nitro mutters.

Braken sits down on the other side of me, but is careful not to touch me, isolating himself. I can tell he's scared, but honestly, I don't care. I'm being selfish but I can't help it. This stupid fear is going to be the death of me. A smuggler afraid of heights? That's unheard of.

"You're going to be fine," Rogue says. His voice is calming, but I still find it hard to focus.

"Get me down from here," I mutter.

"In a few minutes. We have to wait for the guys with the radios to give up. Then we can go back."

Braken tries to say something, but it comes out as a squeak. He tries again and makes a sound like a dying pigeon or something. I think Nitro laughs, but I'm not entirely sure.

"Someone help me," I whisper.

"Well, there's not much I can do," Rogue says regretfully. "Nitro? Can you pick up anything from here? That way we can at least bring back something important."

"Sure, just give me a sec." He paces the building until Rogue tells him to sit down before he attracts too much attention from below. I ignore him again until he says, "Hey, I got into their radio frequency. We can hear what they're doing. Everybody quiet."

It's not like we were talking in the first place, but for some reason, we get quieter. The sun finally slips below the horizon, bringing darkness and chilly night air. I shudder, both from the cold and out of fear.

"They went over this way," one man says, and true to his word, we can hear it through Nitro's phone speaker.

"They vanished into thin air. I watched them," another replies. Both of their voices are calm and toneless, like brainwashed robots. My heart rate speeds up even more as I hear them.

"Keep your eyes open for the MI. They know the rebels are here, too. If we do everything correctly, we should catch them first."

I feel Rogue tense up beside me. Still, my breaths get quicker and shorter, more panicked. This much terror is probably not healthy, but I can't get over it. Braken brushes my arm on accident and we both flinch.

"Wait, I'm getting something," one of the men says.

I find myself holding my breath in anticipation.

"We know you're there," he says, his tone never changing. "We know you're listening, and now we know where you are."

I finally allow myself to look up, just in time to see Nitro's face pale. "What ...?" I whisper.

He timidly risks a glance over the side of the building and then leaps backward. "They're talking to us!" he hisses, his voice panicked. "They're right there!"

"We're dead," Braken mutters.

"We have to leave, now." Rogue stands up and gently takes my arm. "Come on, Phantom. You can hold on to me if you want."

I let him pull me up to my feet and instantly regret it. The street is so far down. "Oh ... oh no ... I can't ... "

"You have to. We'll make it." Together, we stumble a few steps.

"Where are we going to go?" Braken whispers.

"Away from here," Rogue says simply. He stifles a cry of pain as I accidentally trip him and he slams his weight on his sprained ankle, but manages to quickly return to the calm and determined expression. He sends out Tristam a quick call and gets an immediate reply. "We're ... going to be a while," Rogue says, hesitating. "We've got the other guys after us. They know where we are."

"You can hide," one of the men says through Nitro's phone, "but you can't run. You're trapped. Surrender and no one gets hurt."

"What's going on?" Tristam demands, trying and failing to keep the terror out of his voice.

I tighten my grip on Rogue's shoulder and stagger forward. I'm going to be sick. I can't do this. A drop of nervous sweat trickles down my neck and I shiver. Why did it have to be heights, of all things? I'd rather be afraid of spiders or snakes, something I can get rid of easily.

"I'm coming for you," Tristam declares.

"No!" Braken cries. "Please, no - they'll catch you!"

It's too late. Tristam's already hung up and probably halfway here by now.

Rogue pulls me to the edge of the building, a five foot gap between this and the next. "We're going to jump," he says.

I'm shaking like a feather. "I can't ... " I choke out. I look down and almost black out again.

"Please, Phantom. We can't stay here. Just jump with me. Don't look down."

"Too late ... "

"We could climb down and fight them off again - I mean, there's only two of them," Nitro suggests. "I think ... maybe there's more. Let's go with two."

"Can you climb this ladder?" Rogue asks gently. I nod my head vigorously. What's gotten into me?

He lets me slowly lower myself down and then follows, Nitro and Braken close behind. Braken lets out an enormous sigh when his feet hit the pavement. Sure enough, there's the two men out there, waiting for us. One of them still has his eyes on the roof. The other one is staring right at me. They have a car parked behind them - an MI car, but it's empty.

"Now what?" Nitro mutters.

"You made this plan, why are you asking me?" Rogue answers back, keeping his voice just as low.

"You honestly think I thought you'd follow me? Give me credit for getting this far."

Just then, Tristam's truck speeds around the corner and skids to a stop. He jumps out and runs toward us, causing complete chaos. One of the men spins around to intercept him and the other rushes straight at us. Now that I'm safely on the ground, I let Rogue lean on me instead of the other way around, and we try to escape.

The first man flicks out his handcuffs and attacks Tristam, moving faster than I thought a man like him could. He's the one in casual clothing, which also allows more movement. Braken lets out a yell of anger and tackles him, something I'd never expect him to do. The other man manages to corner me, Nitro, and Rogue in the alleyway, a long cane stick swinging in front of him as a weapon. This was a horrible idea. Why did we listen to Nitro?

The other yelps in pain as Braken hits him over the head with something, but it's dark for me to tell what it is or where he got it. Our attacker glances back and Rogue pulls me forward, just barely slipping around him. Nitro ducks around the other way, kicking him in the back of the knee in a way that makes both of them hiss in pain. The man stumbles and Nitro scrambles away.

Braken grabs Tristam and they both run, escaping the man's grasp. I actually think we're going to make it.

And then everything goes wrong.