✔| [1] Into The Nerd Lab

Chapter 8 - Curiouser And Curiouser

Once I stop running, an abandoned warehouse is in front of me. I tilt my head in confusion as I walk right up to it, hearing rumbling from inside. I'm about to get a closer look when I hear footsteps behind me. I turn to see the brothers, tired from running so fast (I assume.) 

"Valerie?! Are you out of your mind?!" Hiro says, taking a few steps towards me. 

I ignore him and direct my attention to the warehouse. I step back and then run forward, making it easier for me to jump. Once I jumped, I started to climb up towards a window. I poke my head in, checking to see if anyone's inside. I push my glasses back up (due to the fact they were falling a bit) and hop inside. 

The warehouse is eerie quiet. The only sound that can be heard is my soft breathing. I start to walk around, carefully, so I'm not heard. As I'm walking, I notice that the warehouse is mostly empty. Nothing in plain sight. Strange. 

All of a sudden, I feel the presence of someone. I stop walking and look around. The darkness has taken a toll on my eyesight, making it difficult for me to see. I shrug it off and continue walking, only to be stopped by a tall figure. I kick the figure in the stomach out of pure instinct. The figure groans and clutches his stomach in pain. I'm about to make a run for it when a pair of arms stopped me. 

The person behind me chuckles before speaking, "Geez Valerie. Calm down." 

I pull out of his grasp, "Hiro? Tadashi? What on earth?!" 

Tadashi stands up, still clutching his stomach, "We weren't gonna just leave you here by yourself." 

"Yeah and what is this place?" Hiro adds, scanning the area quickly before looking back at me. 

"I don't know." I tell him, "But I'm gonna find out." 

I look back at the brothers, "You two coming or what?" 

The both look at each other before following me. As we walk closer to the end of the warehouse, I notice a small, brightly lit workshop. I stop right in my tracks, causing Tadashi to bump right into me. 

"Valerie? What's goi-" 

I shush him and point to the workshop. I carefully walk towards it, the brothers in tow. Hiro holds up his broom in self-defense as we get closer. I try to peek through the glass but it's translucent, making it difficult to see anything. 

"Valerie! Over here!" 

Hiro gestures me over to a bunch of containers, filled with small pieces of black metal. 

"Hiro? What is that?" 

Hiro scoops a bunch of the metal in his hands before turning back to Tadashi. 

"Tadashi! These are my microbots! Look!" He shows Tadashi the microbots.

I'm about to repeat my question until I see the microbots form and connect. Both brothers are arguing, oblivious to the microbots creeping in on us. I tug on Tadashi's sleeve urgently. He looks at me and follows my now-frozen gaze. 

"Guys. We have to go. Now!" He says, pulling Hiro away from the microbots and pushes me forward. 

The microbots decide at that moment to attack. Tadashi drags both me and Hiro behind him and starts to run as fast as he can. 

"Could you slow down a bit?" I yell as my breath quickens, "I have terrible stamina." 

Hiro rolls his eyes, "Do you want to be captured?" 

His question wasn't answered as the microbots attacked me from under me. I yelled at the top of my lungs as I landed on a platform high above the ground. I groan and look down. Fear takes over me.

I hear Tadashi's voice call me, "Valerie? Stay there. We're coming!"
 
"No. Don't." I yell back as I struggle to get up, "That's what it'll want you to do. Keep running. I'll catch up." 

Tadashi doesn't respond. 

I sigh, "Just go!" 

I look down to see the microbots distracted with the brothers. I sigh in relief and start to lightly jog towards an open window. I watch the brothers from the corner of my eye as they climb up and towards their escape route. 

Good. They made it. 

Just as I'm about to reach the window when all of a sudden, the platform started to shake below me and I fall on my knees. I turned to see a man dressed in all black and wearing a white mask. 

He's controlling the microbots?

As he got closer, I started to panic. Without any doubt, I got up and jumped out the window, not caring if my landing would be horrible. I closed my eyes, waiting for the impact of the floor, crushing me to my demise. Surprisingly, nothing happened. I slowly open my eyes to reveal a soft white thing that broke my fall. I laugh to myself, out of pure joy. I then feel something in my chest and everything turns black. 

How fun. 
____________________

A/N: Isn't passing out fun?

Valerie doesn't seem to think so. (And I agree with her!)

Soooo, I'm sorry for the super long chapter. I wanted to get all of this down into one chapter because not much happened before.

What do y'all think? You like it?

Leave a comment! Or maybe a vote or a follow! Don't be shy! 😄

See you in the next chapter!

- DisnerdFangirl

P.S: If any of you are curious as to why Valerie went to the warehouse, it's unclear. To Valerie, it feels like something made her go there. As if something was telling her to fix the plot.... And besides, wasn't the warehouse where everything happened? Where the plot truly started to come together? ☺