(I swear I didn't forget about this, my brain just hates me. There's just 1 or 2 more parts after this one, depending on how long it'll get <3)

Chaderick paced back and forth in Austin's living room, treading creases into the floorboards. Bri sat on the couch, leaning over the back and watching him internalize his panic. Poorly.

"Okay okay okay," he sucked all in one breath. "This is okay. This will allll be okay. Like Austin said, they didn't see you with him so they'll just let him go right? Just a few quick questions and that's it?"

Bri gave him a wry smile with her tails waving behind her. "You want the truth orrrr?"

He groaned and dropped unceremoniously to the floor. "What are we going to do?"

"I mean, I was just going to go to my realm under the floor but you can join me if you want."

"Wha- we can't leave Austin to the FBI! Have you seen those movies where they take people and make them go missing? They'll use him for experiments and we'll never see him again and- oh my gosh his mom is going to be so upset. Unless they erase her memory!" He gasped and let his head hit the floor. Thunk. "What if they come to erase our memories too? We have to- what are you doing?!"

Bri looked up from her place on the floor: on her stomach inching towards her realm. "Ummm...nothing."

"Bri! We can't just-"

Knock-knock. Knock.

He groaned, slowly climbing to his feet. The day's events weighed on his shoulders and tried to drag him back down to the serenity of the cold floor. "What now?" he lamented, moving to open the door tiredly.

Bri quickly flipped onto her back. "Wait!"

Chad froze, hand outstretched for the doorknob. "What is it?"

Bri shook her head furiously, her hair bow scratching against the floor. "That's not Austin's knock. We can't open it."

"Austin's what?"

Bri hit her hand on the floor. Knock-knock-knock. The same pattern Austin had shown her. "Not Austin's, so we can't open it," she explained seriously.

Wordlessly and wide-eyed, Chad slowly pulled his hand away. Knock. Knock. He held a finger to his lips and Bri mimicked him. There was brief silence and he breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close. Now back to the realm thing-"

BANG BANG! Chad jumped and his back slammed into the wall, shaking the nailed up pictures. A low but shrill voice yelled from the other side of the door. "Open this door right now, Mr. Moon or I'm getting the landlord!"

"Karen," Chad hissed. He glanced around the apartment and waved Bri towards her room. "You need to get out of her sight somewhere."

"Uhhh, Austin said to hide whenever I heard her."

Chaderick snapped his fingers. "Good idea! Hide in the pillow fort!"

Bri hesitated a moment but scurried up and rushed into her room. He watched her duck

into her hanging pillow fort and disappearing feet as she curled up into a ball. He closed the bedroom door and dashed back, taking a deep breath beforehand.

Mentally unprepared, he threw the front door open and grinned a shaking wide smile. "Hi Karen! What can I-"

She pushed right past him and stormed into the apartment. "Where is Mr. Moon? I need to speak to him."

"-do for you." Chadriick left the door slightly ajar and quickly moved in between her and the bedroom door. "He's not home right now, maybe you can come back tomorrow? Or next week? Or never.."

"What was that?!"

"Nothing! Nothing at all! I'll walk you out." He moved to steer her towards the door but she held up a hand.

"Not until I speak to Ausmen."

Chaderick blinked. "Do you mean Austin?"

"Whatever, yes him. I've caught wind that he has someone else staying here full time and as another person living in this apartment means more noise beneath my floorboards, I feel that I have the right to know about it."

"I don't think you do."

Karen glared. "Don't sass me, young man. I won't hesitate to contact the building manager and get you removed from the premises."

He blinked. "What?!"

"Knock knock knock!" A hyper voice boistered from out in the hall. The door squeaked open more and blonde hair poked out. "Girl Scouts here for our weekly visit!"

Chad gritted his teeth together and prayed to and thanked every deity he could think of. "Come on in, girls!"

Karen narrowed her eyes. "Excuse me? Don't you think that's a bit rude when you have a guest?"

"What guest?" Chad asked as the front door swung fully open and three little girls in girl scout uniforms trampled inside. He pointedly ignored her twitching eye and ushered the girls into the living room. "Hello again! And what can I do for you?"

Beth smiled and held up a clipboard with papers and a pen attached. The papers were stapled together and covered in multicolored sticky notes. "We brought some things for Bri to read. Since she didn't do so well at the trials, so we thought a script might help!"

"Who's this 'Bri'?" Karen asked, crossing her arms.

Before he could sputter out a poorly-thought out lie, Kaylee stepped forward and held up a box of cookies to Karen. "Would you like to buy some Girl Scout cookies?" She smiled sweetly with all the intensity of a twelve year old on a mission.

Karen gave her a thin-lipped smile that sent shivers down Chad's spine. "No thank you, girls. Now, young man, I demand you op-

"But we have all kinds!" Lilly interjected. "We have cocoa, thin mints, s'mores, orange cinnamon, even pink marshmallow!"

"Not today. If you don't mind, me and this man right here are having a very serious conversation."

"Oh I'm sorry!"

"Thank you. As I was saying-"

Lilly stepped in front of Karen, grinning up at Chaderick who was starting to draw blood from digging his nails into his palms. "Sir! Would you like some more Girl Scout cookies? I know Austin's already bought some but, as you know, you can never have too many Girl Scout cookies!"

Karen's face fumed. He could see her hands mimicking wringing the girl's neck and quickly laid his hands on her shoulders and moved her out of Karen's reach. "Actually you know what? I would love some!"

He looked at Karen, shrugging helplessly and heart beating faster than his mind was racing. "What can you do? Just...can't say no to them!"

She bared her teeth into a grin, glaring hard enough to bring the world crashing down. "Of course. Well when Mr. Moon returns, tell him I need to speak to him immediately."

With a huff, Karen strided out the door and up the stairs. Chad quickly closed the door behind her, collapsed against it, and slid down to the floor. "You have no idea how much you just saved us."

"Us?" Beth asked.

The bedroom door opened and Bri stuck her head out. Her hair bow was knocked askew and her tails were ruffled. "Can I come out now? I heard a lot of yelling and arguing again."

"Karen likes to do that," Chaderick said breathlessly.

Kaylee squealed happily and clapped her hands. "Bri! There you are. Why were you hiding?"

Bri and Chaderick shared a look. "Iiiit's-

"-a long story." She suddenly gasped and his heart stopped. "We can get them to help!"

All the Girl Scouts' eyes lit up. "Help? Help with what?"

Chad scampered to his feet. "No no no! No they can't! We can't get little girls involved in this, Bri."

"Involved in what?" Beth asked, interest clearly piqued. All three of them leaned in close, grinning mischievously.

He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. They didn't have a set plan and bringing in small children who could very easily get them caught or get hurt themselves sounded like the worst plan possible. He just needed to lie more convincingly than Austin. "Oh, see, umm-"

"We need to break into the CIA building."

"Oh we can do that!"

Chad gapped at them. "You can?!"

"Yeah!" Kaylee shrugged, as if it was obvious that the three preteens in front of them were capable of breaking into a top government building. "We're girl scouts, we can get in anywhere! We'll just go up to the door, offer cookies, and get inside. Once we're in, you two can sneak by."

"...Would that actually work?"

"Oh yeah totally."

"We saw it in a movie once!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Austin swallowed his nerves down as the same agent who took him in paced back and forth unnervingly slow in front of him. The room was similar to the halls of the building they walked him through: blank and cold. Concrete was underneath his tied up shoes, bound to the metal chair they forced him into. Rope strained against his chest to keep him against the chair while handcuffs kept his hands pulled back behind him. Loose enough to let him know he was what was keeping himself there but tight enough to remind him he had nowhere else to go.

"We've been over this enough times. I'm a patient man, kid, but this is pushing it." The agent placed his hands on the chair arms and Austin fought the unnatural urge to kick him. "Where is it?"

'Bri isn't an it.' Austin took a deep breath, trying to keep his anxious voice even and frightened face neutral. "I don't know who you're talking about, sir. Only 'it' I have is my dog and he prefers 'him' not 'it'."

The agent sneered and pushed back, rocking the chair. The metal legs squeaked against the concrete floor and grated Austin's ears. The front legs banged against the floor, knocking into his legs and he winced at the dull pain.

"Listen kid, you're too young to become an enemy of the FBI just for this."

"Just for what?" Austin asked, staring him down while his leg shook like a chihuahua.

The agent's face didn't change but he could feel the agitation radiating off of him. They leaned down to glare Austin directly in the eye and it took all her could to not look away. He stared back, completely stone-faced.

He hummed, miffed, and stood back up. He did a 180, headed for the door, and Austin took the quick chance to shift in his chair. The inside of his elbows scratched at the metal framing and he sucked in a wince.

The agent stopped at the door and Austin stopped, jolting back to attention. "Don't get any bright ideas, kid. Even if you got out of those binds, even if you got out of this room, there's no way you're leaving this building. Make yourself at home." He looked over his shoulder and tipped down his sunglasses. Frozen cold eyes, void of feeling, bore into Austin's soul. "Because you're never getting out of here unless you tell us where it is."

The metal door slammed shut and Austin was left alone with his burning, anxiety-induced thoughts. Fear was racing through his veins where he wished there was adrenaline. Fear for his own life and his friends.

He flexed his wrists best he could, loosening the joints of his sore bones. Even one more minute of this and it would be torture. He didn't even want to imagine what would happen to them if they were found and caught.

He could only hope that Chad took Bri out of the city and somewhere far away and safe.