We walk to Aaron's house and Aaron walks up to the front door and rattles the knob. Locked. He walks to a bench beside the door and lifts up a cushion to reveal a vault door in the bench. He types a password into the keypad and it opens. He pulls out a key and locks the vault again. He drops the cushion and walks back to the door and unlocks is. Most people just keep their key under their welcome mat. He opens the door and we all walk in. It opens into a vast living room next to a kitchen.
"Your parents home?" Peter asks Joey when everyone is inside.
"No. They usually aren't," Aaron responds fixing some books on a shelf in the living room.
"Well, you guys know I was an orphan until I was five, and my new parents are usually in Plantonia for work (city a few hours from Zerkin). They used to stay here more often, but when I hit middle school, They did this," he explains. "But it's really okay, being a robot and all." Joey's family gets a confused look on their faces. "Tics! Yeah. Robotics, yes, hard stuff, hard stuff," Aaron covers up what he said. Joey's parents probably think that he's crazy.
"Nice one," Felix elbows him in the side.
"Shut up," He replies, not looking at him. Adam walks over to the couch and lays Max down on it. I didn't even notice Adam was carrying him. Joey walks up to the second couch and lifts up the cushions.
"You got a fridge anywhere in here?" Asks Joey, setting down the cushions.
"Yeah. Yeah, it's in there," Aaron points to the kitchen. Joey walks into the kitchen and a minute later he comes out with a box of frozen corn dogs. We all are lead to the dining room and eat dinner.
Suddenly, a few minutes later, Max wakes with a start.
"Ahh!" He shouts as he sits up on the couch in the other room. We all head to the living room and Joey's family continues to eat. We get him settled and when he is, we all follow Aaron through his house and Joey family, once again, stays put. He leads us through his house and down into his basement. Adam and I carry Max down. The basement has steel walls, all shining silver. It's a big, open room with doors on the walls and a corner jutting out of the wall. There is an opening in the jutted out corner, which leads to Aaron's bedroom, which he moved into the basement. Aaron opens a door that leads to a small-ish room with cabinets all around the perimeter of the ciling. There is a medical table in the middle of the room. Aaron bekons us in and we set Max down on the bed, and Joey's parents come down the stairs.
"Mrs. Storm, you're a doctor, right?" Aaron asks her.
"Correct," She responds, coming into the room.
"Perfect. Max broke his leg on a . . . fire hydrant. In front of an explosion. In a glass store. On main street," Aaron lies to her, making up a back story.
"Yeah, we were walking down main street and we walked in front of a glass store and these shadow people came into it an blew it up. It sent Max into the fire hydrant," Adam explains, leaning on a counter.
"The whole room is yours," Aaron tells Joey's mom, steping out of the room. We all follow, and shut the door. We turn to see everyone in Aaron's room, getting juice from a coffee maker redesigned to make juice. I wish I was a super genius.
Soon, Max comes out with a black cast on his left foot and holding makeshift crutches under his arms.
"Alright. So, what now?" Max asks us, sitting down in a chair in Aaron's room.
"We find out who the Shadow Ruler is," Aaron says, dropping into a swivel chair and rolling up to his desk. He opens up his laptop and begins clicking keys.
We all sit around for a while, playing cards, watching television, and trying to keep ourselves busy. Soon, Aaron gives in, saying he can't find anything. Soon enough, morning comes, and we didn't sleep at all. That might reflect on our battle skills.
