Traitor on board - Act one

The 5-Followers special

I had very low expectations when I started this blog, okay?

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This blog has more than five followers.... I didn't expect that to happen.

Here's a little story as a Thank you.

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"So...", Sven sighed and looked from the smashed coffee machine to the three people on the other side of the table "Who broke it? I'm not mad... I'm just fucking tired"

Hattie, Burt and Carol looked at each other before the brunet teen crossed her arms "I punched it"

Sven rubbed his eyes "There's no way you broke the machine by punching it"

"True", Carol inspected the knuckles on her right hand "That's why I punched it afterwards"

"What?"

"I made it fall off the table when Burt walked in"

The Toppat-Leader blinked a few times, overworked brain struggling to process that Carol Cross had smashed the coffee machine for no reason.

Burt cleared his throat and waited for Sven to look at him. "I stomped on it to make it sure it was done"

"... Who do you even think you are? I need that thing!"

"Your family!" "Your third in command" "Your Right hand", Burt was the least fazed by Svens' outburst "In short, the people who are supposed to keep you from overdosing on caffeine"

"I won't overdose on caffeine!"

"Yeah. Would be hard to do without the coffee machine"

"Well, I'm just gonna buy a new one then"

"It's midnight" Carol said, her eyebrows slowly rising at her bosses' behavior.

"Then I'm gonna steal one from... somewhere... Or I order coffee from McDonalds"

"To get delivered to a secret jungle base?" "I'd be surprised if you'd make it out the door in your state"

He glared at them tiredly, azure eyes only half open "I hate all of you... I wasn't done for today!"

"Today is done with you. It's after midnight now", Burt walked around the table and put one arm around his friends' shoulder to keep him upright "You've been awake for far too long now"

"... after midnight...?", he looked over at Hattie "... why aren't you in bed?"

"First, I'm fifteen", the girl didn't look tired at all, which was a rarity in this room right now "Second, you lost the right to tell me when to go to bed two days ago. After being awake for two days!"

"I'm legally your pappa and your leader"

"Try and make me then"

It wasn't entirely clear if Sven intended to try and do that, whatever he tried to do it ended in him almost falling and face-planting on the table.

"Alright. That's more than enough", Carol rounded the table and took Sven's hat while Burt picked him up bridal style "You're demoted for the night"

"... You can't... do that..." the blond started to sound like he was drunk.

"Try and stop us, Sven"

He tried. But more than weakly and completely aimlessly swatting at Burt wasn't possible in his position. Carol lead the way to the young chiefs' room while Hattie tailed her and Burt with the broken coffee machine to throw it away on the way. Luckily there weren't any other Toppats wandering around, being seen like this could leave a significant dent in the swedes' reputation. Especially after only being chief for about a month.

On the way Sven finally passed out completely, head leaning against Burts' shoulder and fingers hooked onto the collar of the other mans' sweater. After opening the door to the room and letting Burt through, Carol turned to Hattie "Throw that away and then go to bed"

The girl grinned and saluted "Yes, mormor" "... What did you just call me? " "Good night!" Hattie hurried down the corridor, giggling silently.

"You could be one at your age"

"What did she call me?", Carol turned around to Burt and closed the door behind her "Do I need to feel insulted?"

"Not necessarily", the raven-haired Toppat placed Svens' shoes next to the bed before pulling the blanket over the sleeping man "She called you her granny, don't know if you're offended by that"

"... I don't know either" Well, it was definitely less weird than her calling Carol her mother since that would suggest a relationship between her and Sven. And Sven was a little bit too young for her taste. She shook her head and walked over to the desk. There was a lot of paperwork to be taken care of...

"Did Reginald act the same way when he became chief?" After taking care of Sven, Burt started to look through the papers as well.

Carol shrugged "I don't think he had such a big desire or need to prove himself. He was already the Right hand man and he dethroned Terrence Suave. You and Sven both have pretty big shoes to fill"

"Gee, thanks. Don't say that while he's awake"

"Last thing I'm going to say to him"

The two spent about an hour silently sorting through the papers with only a small desk lamp as a light source, so they wouldn't wake Sven up again. A lot of the work could be handled by either them or the heads of different departments and divisions. Carol had a sneaking suspicion that a few older Toppats had taken advantage of the situation to get rid of some of their workload. She would have a word with those...

"I think we're done for the night. I'll get these files where they belong later"

Burt nodded before looking over to the bed "... Maybe someone should stay with him?"

"You do that", Carol picked up the paper stacks, the tiniest of smiles on her face "I know you won't take advantage of this situation"

"... Shut up" he pulled at the collar of his jacket to try and cover the slight blush on his face. Why did she have to bring that up? He was just worried about him. This had nothing to do with it...

"Goodnight then" she patted his shoulder and left for her own room.