Eddsworld! Alter Motives

Chapter Twenty-Three, "A Big Switch"

"Congratulations Yuu! You're not a failure after all!"
Tord was struggling as the Sorilan soldiers tied him back to back with Edd, Tom, Ashley and Matt. Paul, Patryck, Mark, and Jono were being roped together.
"I knew you had some common decency in you to stay loyal!" Lochlan smiled, "And look, you were able to lead us all to them!
Paul was in a state of shock as the soldier pushed him around.
"No, Yuu didn't do this!" Paul slightly stuttered, "He said he was going to join us!"
Todd let out a hearty laugh as he patted Yuu on the back.
"Do you really think he would come back to you Red Army scum?" He cackled, "He is loyal to his Sorilan brothers, not some big-eyebrowed hothead who can't keep his emotions in check."
Paul gritted his teeth as he turned to Yuu.
"You bastard! Why did I ever trust you?!" He screamed as he struggled, "I thought you were coming back for us! I thought we could actually be together!"
Yuu stared into Paul's eyes. They seemed more... Snake-like?
"You never cared about me, did you?! This was just another winged plot to tear off our horns! All that you told me was a lie, wasn't it?! You don't care about the Red Army! You don't care about Diwi, Patryck, Kim, Katya! You don't care about me! All you wanted was to see me die! Well... Now's your bloody chance, you heartless cunt!" Paul screamed.
Paul wriggled out of the ropes and jumped onto the soldier holding the rope, biting down hard on their neck as he squeezed them. The soldier screamed out as Paul tasted blood.
He stopped biting the soldier, dropping them to the floor.
"Oh... How I've lusted for the taste of Sorilan blood," he hissed as he licked the blood off his lips.
He didn't have as much time to process the feeling or to cut the others free, because immediately after he was freed, two soldiers pulled him away as Lochlan looked at him curiously.
"Feisty ones you have there Red Leader, such a shame you can't control their fighting spirit," He responded as Paul was tied to a tree, "Maybe this can be a lesson for you and your soldiers to not run their mouths."
Suddenly, Ashley felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked to her side and up to see Corey standing next to her.
"Corey? What are you-?"
"Shhhh," He quietly hushed as he pulled out a small pocket knife and started sawing at the ropes.
"Well Yuu, now it's your turn to do something," Lochlan muttered.
He grabbed Lochlan's gun, looked at it for a moment, then pointed it at Paul's head.
"Yuu! Don't do it!" Patryck screamed.
"Kill him! Take your revenge!" Todd yelled.
"Yuu! Stop!" Tord pleaded.
Yuu looked at Paul, whose head was slumped on his shoulders. His hands shook as he held the gun, seeing the defeat and acceptance in Paul's eyes.
"I'm sorry, Paular Bear," Yuu mumbled.
Yuu quickly pointed at another soldier and shot them in the head. Corey had made it through Ashley's ropes and helped her untie herself. She quickly hugged him, surprising him and causing him to drop his knife, then started to untie the others.
"Yuu!" Lochlan yelled, "What the fuck are you doing?!"
Yuu shoved Lochlan to the ground and quickly ran to untie Paul. He looked at him surprised.
"What are you doing?!" Paul growled.
"What does it look like?" Yuu answered.
"But-!"
"I didn't turn you in, Paul. They followed me," He answered.
Yuu untied the ropes.
He ordered, "Now, come on! We have to help your friends!"
He ran to Patryck, Mark, and Jono, beginning to untie them. Tord was getting his arm placed back on while Matt, Tom, and Edd started to take some of the weapons soldiers were carrying. Jono and Mark ran to find an escape route. Before he looked at them, Yuu shot Todd in the arm.
He yelled, "This way!"
Yuu grabbed Paul's hand and ran to Jono and Mark. Edd, Matt, Tord, Tom, and Patryck followed. Ashley however, was tugging on a Sorilan soldier's arm.
"You're coming with us, Corey!" She said frantically.
Corey looked at her. He started following her, but was stopped. Something was pulling him away. He turned to see Lochlan was pulling him back. He tried to chirp for Ashley to help. She turned around to try and grab his hand, but she was pulled back by Patryck.
"C'mon Ash, we need to go!" He yelled.
"Wait! We need to help-!" Ashley protested.
Patryck continued to drag her away. Corey was dragged off and pushed up against the tree.
"What in the world are you doing you dumbass!" Lochlan growled.
Corey whimpered. Lochlan turned to the other soldiers.
"Find them! Keep searching for them! Do not return until you bring them back!" He ordered.
Soldiers started to run off. Corey let out a soft sound of a slide whistle as he tried to get out of Lochlan's grip.
"Don't you want me to go help them look?" He asked.
"Oh no, you don't. Especially with you getting happy chappy with the traitor," He spat.
"But she's a friend!"
"Not to you anymore!"
Todd rushed over to Lochlan.
"Sir! Sir! I found something!" He said as he hid something behind his back.
"What is it?" Lochlan growled.
Todd revealed a small defence knife, with Corey's engraved initials on it.
"What, that's it?" Lochlan grimaced.
"I found it near the ropes! He helped release the Red Devils!" Todd repeated.
Lochlan looked at Corey, storming towards him.
"You let those Red bastards go?! Are you out of your goddamn paperclip mind?!" He yelled as he grabbed Corey by the shoulders, "Do you understand what you just did?! We could've finally captured them and you go ahead and release them?!"
Lochlan shoved Corey to the ground.
"You're even more useless than you look!" Lochlan thundered.
He kicked Corey in the stomach, him screaming like a dog. Lochlan turned away, facing Todd and walking up to him.
"And YOU!" He roared.
"M-me?" Todd stuttered.
"Why would you let those two traitors be together, you ant?!"
Lochlan swung his fist and hit Todd as hard as he could.
Instead of being greeted with a sound of pain, however, Todd let out a...
"Ah~ Daddy~?!"
...
Silence.
Todd's face had turned red. Lochlan stared at him.
"What in the absolute fuck," He said in a disgusted tone.
Corey took his chance to try and get up, However, he was stopped by Lochlan immediately grabbing his shoulder.
"And where do you think you're going, numbskull?" He growled.
"To go look, sir..." Corey tried to protest.
"Oh no you don't," Lochlan started to pull something out of his pocket, "We are not letting you off that easily."
He pulled out a small pen-like object and pressed the end of it. It extended into a small trident-like tip, bright green and zapping with energy.
"No. No, no, no!" Corey whimpered as his eyes widened in fear.
Lochlan turned a dial on the object, the green sparks glowing brighter. Corey tried pulling away.
"No! Sir, please!" He cried.
Lochlan let Corey go. He fell to the ground and Lochlan stabbed the tip into Corey's arm. His whole body began to shake, and green sparks surrounded him. Corey screamed in agony, crying out for help that wasn't coming, pleading for him to stop. After a few moments, Lochlan stopped. Corey lay unconscious on the ground as he smiled.
"Grab him and tie him up. Sorilan Headmaster is going to want to hear about this..."
...
They continued running through the forest, each of the Red Army members staying close to each other so they wouldn't get lost. Edd, Matt, Tom, and Tord stayed close together, Jono and Mark made sure to not let go of each other, Paul stayed alongside Yuu, and Patryck was still dragging Ashley by the arm while she was trying to get him to let go.
"We need to go back! We forgot about Corey!" She said panicked.
"Corey isn't on our side though!" Patryck answered.
"He doesn't mean any harm though! He helped let us go!" Ashley insisted.
"Well, we can't go back. Lochlan has him now, and we can't risk ourselves again."
"But we risked ourselves for Yuu! Why can't we do the same for Corey?!"
"Because I know Yuu! You don't know him like I and the others do!"
"Well, neither do you!" Ashley screamed as she tugged her hand away, "You're right! I don't know Yuu! But you don't know Corey!"
"He could easily betray us!"
"So could Yuu!"
Tord looked over to Ashley, who looked red as a tomato.
"Let's just.... Drop it. We will send out a search party to rescue Corey when we get to the base," He said, trying to diffuse the situation.
Patryck and Ashley look at each other, simultaneously saying, "Fine."
Suddenly, screaming could be heard from the direction they came from. Ashley recognised it.
"Corey..." She mumbled.
She turned around and stared in the direction of the scream. Ashley's eyes began to tear up.
"They're hurting him," she whimpered, her voice shaking, "But why? He wouldn't harm a spider."
Paul went over and hugged her, along with Yuu.
"He's going to be okay, he's a strong guy," Yuu said, "We'll come back for him with more people."
She hugged him tightly and sniffled into his shoulder.
"You promise?" Ashley mumbled.
"I promise," he responded, "We're gonna get Corey back."
Ashley slowly pulled away and wiped her eyes.
"We... need to keep going," She sniffled.
Yuu took her hand alongside Paul and they continued walking on their way.