Prologue

"How's Lui?" Hanna asked. She was on the phone with her friend DJ, who was in Iceland with his 'other' Lui.

DJ thought, Funny how that's the first thing she asked. It's no secret that she's head-over-heels for him. He smiled, then answered, "He's doing pretty good. Work's going well, you know how that is. He did fall out the window recently...several times, in fact. The last time, he landed in a bee's nest and got stung a bunch of times."

Hanna gasped. "Ouch! That sounds seriously painful!" I hope he's all right... "How did that happen?"

"You remember when I told you about my evil other, right?" he asked.

"...yeah...Iul, right?" Hanna replied. "What about him?"

"I think it was him...he pushed Lui out. How much do you remember about him?"

"Just bits and pieces, really. Something or other about a hidden castle on Mt. Everest, long grey hair, funny black cape."

"Yeah, that's him all right. It's like staring into the face of evil or something!" Just as DJ was saying that, the door to his apartment burst open and several men crashed into the room. Hanna hears a deep voice in the background.

"Hey! I heard that! You talking about me behind my back again, DJ?! You'll pay for this!"

DJ and Lui draw their swords quickly, and DJ says into the phone, "See what I mean?" He put the phone on speaker and set it down on the computer desk where he had been sitting.

Hanna shouted, "Run Lui!!! Run for your life!!!"

The attackers also drew their swords, but before they could do anything, DJ leapt toward the first one and slashed through him, leaving a pile of attacker on the floor. "Lui, run! We can't let them catch you!" Lui started to run down the hall while DJ occupied the attackers, but Iul stepped in the way quickly and grabbed him, stopping him in his tracks.

"You're not going anywhere! I haven't even started stealing your work yet!" Iul said, with an evil smirk on his face the whole time. DJ took down another attacker, and was working his way to Iul, so he snatched Lui's sword out of his hand and flung it at DJ, embedding it in his arm and pinning him to the wall.

"Ow!" DJ yelled.

Hanna, shocked by the situation developing on the other side of the phone conversation, cried, "That's cruel! Are you ok?"

DJ grimaced and replied, " Not really..."

Iul noticed that DJ was still talking on the phone, so he handed Lui over to the other attackers and walked over. He picked up the phone from the desk, and said "Hello?"

Hanna stared at the phone for a second, then replied "Umm...with whom am I actually speaking?"

Iul laughed. "BWAHAHAHAHA!!! That's for me to know and you to find out!" He motioned to one of the thugs and pointed at DJ. He nodded and pulled a roll of duct tape out of his bag, then walked over to DJ menacingly.

DJ shouted, "Hey! Get that tape away from me!" The thug pulled off a strip of tape and stuffed it over DJ's mouth, then proceeded to tie his hands and legs up. "Mmmmph!!"

Iul smirked, then asked "Any guesses, girly?"

"Ha! I'm afraid your laugh gave you away, Iul. Not to mention DJ's voice in the background..."

Iul frowned. "Hmmph. I'd prefer it if you didn't call me Iul anymore. It's just EDJ, thanks."

"Pfft, whatever! Who are your associates?" Hanna asked.

EDJ signaled over to his remaining henchmen, who took DJ and Lui out of the apartment building. He shrugged, and replied, "I'm the leader of the EWCTWBIATGRE program! Isn't that like the best name ever?"

Hanna blinked, then smirked and said, "What's that, the organization with only one member? If I were on your side, it might be appealing...a little..." She shook her head. "However, I keep that side in check." She heard a helicopter starting up in the background, and asked, "Where are you taking my friends?"

"BWAHAHAHAHA!!! That's the best part, you know! As we speak, the hostages are being flown from this pathetic apartment to the center of the Arctic Circle! Once they're dropped off, it'll only be a matter of minutes before they turn into giant popsicles! And can you, my dear, possibly do about it?"