Zero Falls (Season 2)-CONTINUED

Red Candidate-Part Three

Apologies for the long wait.
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Bill and Will paused behind Tad, as the older man peered from the bottom of the staircase. He was looking into the basement, where Ford was busy tinkering with something at the desk, his back turned to them.

Tad turned to his brothers. "What you need is in those shelves over there, look for a small black rectangle box. I'll distract Ford." With that, the Demon stepped away from the stairs and towards the Guardian.

Ford was so immersed in his work, he didn't notice the man behind him, until Tad snaked a gloved hand over his shoulder. The Night Guardian jumped in seat like he had been electrocuted, and whipped towards Tad.

"Tad, you scared me!"

Tad smiled sweetly. "My bad, darling." He casually wrapped an hand around Ford's forearm and drew him closer. Unknowingly to Ford, the Demon was subtly drawing his attention away from the staircase.

The Cipher twins saw their cue, and began to sneak towards the shelves their older brother mentioned.

Ford looked down at Tad's hand almost nervously, before quickly pulling his arm out of the other's grip. "If you come here as the needs to entertain yourself, I'm afraid I'm too busy to be your plaything."

"Such a shame," Tad replied, wistfully. "You're so good at it."

"Very funny," the old man deadpanned. "If you excuse me, I'm going to return to my work now." He was about to turn towards the shelves, where the twins were currently searching through.

Tad acted quickly, grabbing Ford by his shoulders and forcing him to face him. "Tell me about your trip through the portal, you must have many riveting tales."

Ford frowned. "I'd rather not relive one of the most traumatic events in my life, thank you very much."

"Haha! Of course, I was only kidding," he said, quickly. "Instead, how about you tell me the list of anomalies you researched through the years."

"Really? But I thought those stories bored you," Ford said, in confusion.

Tad forced a smile. "Nonsense, go on, and enlighten me with your knowledge."

"Well, in that case...I once saw this banana tree in Dimension 4Z, but get this; they were purple, instead of orange! Ha, can you believe that?"

Tad tilted his head. "Aren't bananas yellow?"

Ford stared. "Wait, what? Bananas are yellow here? I gotta write this down..." He pulled out a notebook and pen from his vest.

Bill now had the box in his hand, and he was sneaking back towards the staircase with Will close behind. Tad sighed in relief, when they finally ran upstairs and disappeared.

I'm probably going to regret that, he thought to himself.

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"This is it?" Bill questioned.

They were gathered around the table, looking at the opened box. Inside, revealed a pair of ties with red, blue, and white stripes.

Bill scratched the back of his head. "What we supposed to do with these?"

Will looked at the pieces of clothing curiously, before picking the darker shade of the two up and inspecting it closely. His eyes widened, when he spotted a tag peeking out from behind the tie. He held the tag closer and read the text printed on it.

"Experiment 760: Mind-control ties. Anyone who wears the one with the switch will be able to control the one wearing the replica." Will peered at the back, and saw a red switch.