Chapter 246: Halloween Party (3)

[General POV]

Haley locked the door behind her as she entered the lab. Tara, however, was confused as she saw the sight in front of her.

"Hmm? Why did you bring me into an empty room?" Tara muttered in confusion as she turned to Haley. The small room only had a metallic table in it, and there were brooms, mops, and cleaning solutions on the side of the room.

"Is this the utility closet?" Tara asked Haley in surprise, but Haley ignored her and talked to Robin, "Hi. Did Edward keep any alcohol in the house?"

Robin didn't show up, but instead she just replied to the speaker, which startled Tara and made her hide behind Haley's back. "There isn't any more alcohol inside the house."

"How about Euphoria?" Haley asked again worriedly.

Robin replied, "I'm sorry. But you don't have the clearance for me to answer the question."

"Clearance?" Haley was shocked. Then, she became confused, "What's that for?"

Tara rolled her eyes and explained, "It means, you can't know the information because you aren't a high enough level!"

"Ahh. Um...What's my level?" Haley asked Robin back after understanding.

"Level 3," Robin replied.

"And what level do I need to have the answer?" Haley asked again.

"Level 2."

Haley contorted her face, "Isn't that smaller clearance?"

Tara rolled her eyes again and interjected, "Who has the level 2 clearance in the house?"

"I'm sorry. I can't answer you," Robin replied.

"Because she doesn't have clearance?" Haley asked.

"Yes," Robin replied.

"You ask it then," Tara urged Haley.

"Um... Who has the clearance then?" Haley asked.

"Inside the house, there's only one other person who has the level 2 clearance," Robin replied.

"Great. Who is it!?" Haley asked excitedly. Then, her face dropped to dissatisfaction after she heard the answer. She and Tara left the room, and Casey walked past them at the moment.

He was shocked when he heard Tara mumble, "I still thought that was a lab. Turns out it was a utility closet."

"A lot of people are around, so maybe Edward moved the lab," Haley replied.

"It seems like something he would do," she added casually. Casey hid behind a wall and talked to his intercom, "We have a problem."

Meanwhile, Agent Smith had been watching Casey's retreat, but did not intervene, letting the situation develop further. "Keep an eye on the Frozen yogurt vendor, and their vehicle too. Notify me when something is happening," he said to his team.

Justin, Jake, Skylar Samuels, Bridget Mendler, Jennifer Stone, Brenda Song, Dylan and Cole Sprouse, Hayley Kiyoko, Corbin Bleu, and a few other child stars from Disney arrived all together to the party.

"Huh, so, they made me a pawn in their political game. Do they think that I'm the type to just sit here and let other people manipulate my fate?" Edward mumbled with an annoyed tone as Robin whispered everything that was going on to him through a small communication device in his ear.

"What was that?" Maggie asked as she couldn't catch what Edward had said.

"Nothing," Edward replied with a smile, acting as if nothing was happening in the background of the party. Despite the whole situation being like the Chinese idiom; "The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind" - Edward has allies he didn't know about.

Jacob, who was dressed like Jason the killer, was scouring the party with a sharp gaze behind his mask. His girlfriend, Elsa, who was dressed like a policeman, asked, "Are you sure that Edward said he has spies trying to sabotage him?"

"Alex heard it from her parents. You know Alex, she won't joke about the matter. If there's anything strange, we will report it straight to the agent," Elsa said, her eyes narrowed in concern.

Suddenly, Jacob saw Abraham getting hit on by the frozen yogurt vendor. "Something's weird," he muttered. "There's no way someone that attractive would try to talk to Abraham."

Abraham gleefully replied to Sarah Walker, "Yeah, I can show you where the bathroom is. In fact, I know everything there is about the house. Edward and I are best friends, you see."

Jacob growled, "I'm his best friend!"

Elsa placated him and glared at Sarah Walker, "She must be a spy. She saw the weak link, and went straight to him."

"We caught one," Jacob muttered excitedly, "I'll tell Enid and Alex."

[Edward POV]

As I went to greet the Disney kids, Corbin widened his eyes for a moment as he saw the Ring ghost beside me. "Vanessa? It's been a while," he greeted her cheerfully. They knew each other from the High School Musical franchise as both were actors in them.

"Oh my god, is that actually a muscle line on your Batman suit?" Brenda Song, the eccentric Asian girl, asked excitedly as her hands were rushing to my abs. However, Jennifer stopped her, "Calm yourself down. It's the first time you're meeting him."

"Oh right. Sorry," Brenda Song retorted gleefully. I laughed and replied to her, "Yeah those are my actual muscle lines. Nice catch."

"Nice body," she joked back.

Skylar Samuels, the girl who played Gigi in Wizards of Waverly Place first season, was looking at me intensely. I turned to her and asked calmly, "What?"

"Nothing...You're just, really handsome that's all," she said bashfully. I chuckled a bit and said, "Alright, I can't really stay and talk. I have a chocolate crisis to handle right now. Enjoy the party."

"Chocolate crisis?" Maggie asked me as she followed me along. Vanessa quickly followed her too despite Corbin still wanting to catch up with her. "Wait, I'm coming along. We-We'll talk later," she waved him goodbye, which in turn made him feel helpless.

As she was walking by Maggie's side, I asked, "Why are you running away from him? He was clearly being nice."

"Um...None of you– Alright it is your business," she changed her words midway as I glared at her. She explained, "It's just...I feel uncomfortable seeing him again. And if he brings up the leaked pictures, I will just kill myself."

I nodded in understanding and said, "Alright. It's your decision. But you see how the young ones were looking at you. They were almost fanatical in their eyes. For them, you're like their mentor. The one who actually made it big. I think you can have more confidence in yourself."

Vanessa scoffed and said self-deprecatingly, "They won't look up to me anymore if they know how ruined I am right now."

"You're not ruined. You are just having a fresh start. That's all," Maggie comforted her. "Besides, Kim K and Paris Hilton leaked worse things, and their popularity is shooting up right now." I nodded in agreement with Maggie.

Vanessa dropped her shoulders in disbelief. "That doesn't make me feel better." When she was feeling down, she suddenly received a text. "Hmm?"

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Well, it's Ashley – Ashley Tisdale," she explained to me, as I didn't know the girl. "My co-star from before."

Maggie asked, "Not the one who slept with your ex-boyfriend, right?"

"No, that bitch is dead to me," Vanessa replied irritatedly. She continued, "She's a good friend of mine... was... a good friend of mine. She stopped talking to me after the whole fiasco."

"Why?" Maggie asked.

Vanessa looked into our eyes and replied agitatedly, "Oh, it was not even their own decision. Their agency told them not to because they kept being asked about my photos during their interviews."

"What does she want?" I asked.

"To... come to the party?" Vanessa asked in confusion. "Wait. A lot of people are texting me." She was surprised. She looked at me with glittering eyes and asked carefully, "Can she... come?"

I grinned and said, "It's up to you. You can decide."

...

"Alex," Haley and Tara approached Alex, who was sitting together with Finneas. "You have a level 2 clearance?" Haley asked.

Alex was confused. "On what?"

"On getting a drink. It's here somewhere, inside a hidden compartment," Tara explained.

"Huh? Can you guys start from the beginning? I don't understand what you're trying to do," Alex said, still confused.

"Don't worry. I'll take over from here," I suddenly appeared behind Alex. Tara was startled and laughed awkwardly, "I'm going to get a drink."

I looked at Haley, who was looking at me with confusion. "What?"

"You shouldn't do that," I said sternly. She was a bit taken aback and asked, "Do what? You're the one who can't go on with that much food waste. I'm trying to help you fix it."

"Well, I appreciate that, but not by going into my lab. It's lucky that I had some contingency in place, but there are some people at the party who are vying for my stuff—"

Haley widened her eyes in shock, and before I could finish what I was going to say, she leaned in closer and grabbed my sleeves, whispering with horror, "Are there criminals here? Shouldn't you tell that to the agent?" Her eyes darted among the crowd as she tried to look for suspicious individuals.

"Um..." I stammered for a while before I patted her shoulder. "You know what? Never mind. Just don't go doing stuff without telling me again, can you promise me that?"

"Sure," Haley replied excitedly.

[Haley's commentary]

"Wait. I just realized that he was trying to... scold me?" She exclaimed with disbelief. Crossing her arms with dissatisfaction, she shook her legs as she said, "How dare he!"

Suddenly, she bit her lower lip and said, "And why do I find that so hot?"

[Commentary ends]

I walked past the fro-yo vendor and glanced at the blonde managing the stand. A lot of boys were congregating around the vendor, already charmed by the woman's appearance.

"Sarah Walker and...John Casey? So, Chuck-verse people are after me?" I chuckled to myself in amusement. "Doesn't that mean, I'm the villain here?"

"Well, if I was to be a villain in their story, I better play my part perfectly. That's the only way it should be."

"What are you thinking about? Why do you have a naughty look on your face?" Haley mumbled, snapping me out of my thoughts. I shook my head and said, "Nothing."

As we reached the couch, I pressed gently on the backrest near the armrest. The whole compartment opened up, revealing a small bottle of Euphoria, with intricate carvings of the name on the glass itself.

"Ohh," Haley exclaimed in amazement. "What's this exactly?" She suddenly asked. I almost stumbled from the shock, but then I realized something. She didn't even know what the drink was.

"Hey, who did you hear about the drink from?"

"From Max. I called her."

I face-palmed in frustration before I sighed heavily. "Alright. Can you get me some melted chocolate? I'm going to my storeroom a bit to get some Stevia, and see if that can help too."

"What's a Stevia?"

"Natural, no-calorie sweetener," I replied. "Meet me back here in 5 minutes."

"Got it."

However, as soon as we split, Kyle stopped me and asked, "Hey, Ed. Would you rather eat ice cream with ketchup or banana with ketchup?"

I frowned and said, "Both of them are bad."

"You have to pick one," Kyle urged.

"Hmm...Banana?" I answered. "Hey, we have the same answer," he said before he high-fived me. "Also, do you know where my girlfriend is? I can't find her?"

"Sorry," I replied apologetically.

"Damn it. She's wandering off again," Kyle mumbled to himself.

I snuck past him and went to the second floor, and walked to the room at the end of the corridor. After inserting the password on the keypad, I entered the room after making sure that no one was around, and returned with the Stevia before the 5-minute mark passed.

However, when Haley and I gathered together again, she was pouting and didn't want to look me in the eye.

"Huh? What's wrong now?" I asked with a helpless tone.

"I just realized what you were trying to do before," Haley said. I chuckled with disbelief and took the melted chocolate from her. Alex approached us and said, "You're conducting an experiment?"

"Yeah. I'm trying to see if the taste can change," I replied.

"I'll join you," she said.

Finneas also approached us and said excitedly, "Hey, my mom and dad saw my performance video on your Instagram post, and they extended my curfew until midnight."

"Awesome!" I high-fived Finneas excitedly.

After some time passed by, we finally got the result.

"So, chocolate and Stevia, it's not great, but not bad either," Alex said.

Haley continued, "Chocolate plus Euphoria, it just tasted like alcohol."

"Yeah, that one is bad," I said with astonishment. "It lost everything special about Euphoria, making it an ordinary alcohol."

Haley looked at me with disbelief, "You kept saying it's great, but you never let me taste it."

"I'll do it in private. I don't want another 'Max Incident', especially in the middle of the party," I replied.

Alex suddenly has an idea, "Hey, how about adding the three of them at once?"

"Hmm?"

Standing in front of the chocolate fountain, I filled another cup of melted chocolate and then mixed some drops in it.

After it was mixed together with the chocolate for a bit, I tasted the melted chocolate and exclaimed in wonder, "IT'S freaking great!"

"Thank god." Haley exclaimed. Alex chimed in, "Now, we just need to figure out how much solution will we need to fix the entire chocolate fountain– Wait, what are you doing?"

"LADDDDDDDDDIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS…." I suddenly turned to the crowd and shouted ceremoniously until I lost my breath which shocked both Haley and Alex. All party go-ers were attracted by my call, and turned towards me.

"And Gentleman–" I tried to tip my hat, but forgot I was no longer wearing the previous costume. "Damn, I thought I was still Willy Wonka." 

The crowd chuckled at my joke, and I continued, "Just imagine that I'm still wearing my Wonka costume for a second. In my hand here, is a Stevia. It's made by the ancient people of Peru, who live in a Utopia. They used it in every meal, and it's by far the greatest invention of their civilization."

Barnes was astonished, "Really?"

I turned to him and said, "Of course not. I'm exaggerating."

"Oh." He exclaimed with disappointment.

"And now, with Stevia in my right hand, and a little Edward magic in my left hand, I'm going to turn this barely edible fountain of chocolate into the greatest attraction in the party tonight!" I said, which earned me some applause from the crowd. "Of course, the greatest attraction is none other than me."

They chuckled at my joke. I turned to the chocolate and started pouring the solutions into the fountain.

"Is it just me, or is that chocolate getting shinier by the second?" Finneas muttered with disbelief.

"And the smell." Billie sniffed the smell intoxicatedly. "What is that smell?"

"Any volunteers to taste the magic first!?" I shouted to the crowd. A lot of people raised their arms out, and I decided to call, "David Henrie! Come here!"

He jogged slightly towards me before saying, "I tasted it before. So if it's still weird, I'm going to criticize you no matter how popular you are."

I smirked and said, "Okay then. A deal. But if you tasted it, and it's the greatest thing you'd ever had, what shall we do then? Maybe, you can go to the stage and sing a song, with your shirt off?!"

The crowd exclaimed at my provocative bet, and Henry felt trapped. Alex whispered to Haley, "Hey, is there any side effect to this thing? Why do I feel that Edward had gone unhinged?"

"I don't know." Haley replied with frustration.

"Alright! I'll take the bet." Henrie said, which earned him some cheer from the crowd. "Pick your poison." I said as I guided him to the assortment of food he could eat the chocolate with. He picked some crackers, and I handed him a cup of chocolate from the fountain.

"Here we go." I said to the crowd as Henrie dipped the biscuit into the chocolate before tasting it. His eyes widened as he exclaimed, "OH MY GOD! It's fucking great!"

"Really?" 

"Seriously?"

Murmurs were coming from the crowd of people who were still disbelieving what just happened. "Come here and try it yourself. Oh god, I can't stop myself." Henrie said as he gorged himself into the chocolate.

One by one, people were rushing towards the chocolate fountain to taste the new concoction. I made way for the crowd and walked back to the girls with a permanent smile plastered on my face.

Right then, I still haven't realized yet the effect of the new chocolate fountain. There must be some chemical reactions between the 3 solutions that turned it into something more. It pressed down a person's insecurities, making them the bravest version of themselves.

"Where's Edward? I want to kiss him." Skylar said with some chocolate stain on her lips.

Brenda Song suddenly took off her shirt, only leaving her with her bra, "I always wanted to do this."

David Henrie went to the microphone and started singing a song by Evanescence– Call Me When You're Sober.

Haley stopped Tara from eating the chocolate, "Hey. Put that down."

Already on her third cup, Tara muttered energetically, "Why should I put it down? Maybe you should put that pouty lip down? That sexy lip down, on my lip?"

"What?" Haley exclaimed with a high pitched voice.

Alex asked nervously, "Haley…Where's Edward?"

Haley widened her eyes and looked around, but she could no longer see where I was. "Oh shit." She muttered before she started running to search for me.

…

"So, Sarah, you have such pretty eyes." I walked the pretty blonde fro-yo girl upstairs to my bedroom. Sarah giggled and touched my chest, "You have such beautiful eyes too."

I chuckled and said, "It must be fate for us to meet today. I don't know if my invention will help you so much."

"Yeah, I used the Air Fryer and Fuzz remover all the time." Sarah giggled while gently pulling my hand before placing it on her waist. She closed herself to my body and gently whispered to my ear, "I really love how smart you are."

"Really? Then, you want to see something cool?" I muttered to her as I took out my laptop. 

Sarah grimaced as she saw my back turned against her, "Sorry Edward. Although I think you don't deserve this, it's my mission."

She took out her tranquilizer dart, aiming it towards me. I suddenly spoke up, surprising her, "I know. Mission always comes first, isn't that right. CIA Agent Sarah Walker?"

Chuck, who was looking at everything through the camera on Sarah's clothes, suddenly shouted, "Abort Sarah! Abort!"

A red dart flew across the room and hit the Agent directly in her neck. "You–" Sarah limped down weakly, and then lost consciousness. I grinned devilishly before I walked towards her, and pulled out the camera in her shirt.

"You have 5 minutes to come here before I eliminate both of them from this world, Mr Chuck Bartowski. Oh, and don't think Agent John Casey can help you either." I walked to the toilet door and opened it slightly, revealing an unconscious agent John Casey being tied up on top of a chair.

"Tick Tock Chuck." I smiled before I destroyed the camera.

[General POV]

"Oh my god. We poked a hornet's nest." Chuck muttered incomprehensibly as he saw the monitor feed went out.