Operation: Extermination

Chapter 12

    Val leaned back into the couch. Scott didn't like the idea of having something he couldn't sell, but Jaden had bought a couch so they could sit somewhere that wasn't hard, uncomfortable, and covered in dust. And Jaden had threatened Scott with his life if he tried to sell it.

        Val, Krell, and Krone were all sitting on the couch, placing bets on how long the water would take to boil for Scott's coffee. There was nothing better to do while Scott and Flare hovered over them, trying to fix them up.

        Jaden was watching with amusement, chilling on a stool he had recently purchased for himself. He had grown sick of sitting on spiderwebs and dust bunnies.

        "Thirty more seconds," Krone guessed, staring intently at the coffee machine sitting on the counter.

         "A minute and a half," Krell guessed.

          "Forty six seconds," Val stated. Forty six seconds later, the blue light flicked on, and Krell and Krone moaned.

       "How are you doing that?" Krell complained, "Can you see the water or something? It's so unfair!"

        Scott, who had been working on Krell's leg, popped up, "There's a timer on the side that says," he flicked his hand towards the coffee machine, "Val's the only one who can see it from her position."

         "CHEATER!" Krell gasped, and Val smirked smugly.

         "I knew it," Krone declared triumphantly, "No one is lucky enough to guess it nine times in a row!"

         Val only smiled at them, then leaned back in the chair. Now their only game was gone, so she looked over at Flare, who was fiddling with her missing arm as it laid on the table in front of them.

       "How's it going?"

        "Slow, but not too much needs to be replaced," Flare said, slipping a pair of visors over her eyes to examine it closer, "It'll be done tomorrow for reattachment if I stay up all night."

        "Would you?"

       Flare looked up at her, lifting her visors again, "Hell yeah. Who do you think you're talking to, some amateur?"

        Val smiled, "Thank you."

        "Can I have the computer?" Krone complained, letting his head drop back onto the sofa, "I'm bored."

        "This is what you get for letting yourself get hurt," Jaden smirked, but Fleck dropped the computer into Krone's lap, "There you go!"

         "Fleck, this is supposed to be a punishment," Jaden frowned at the bot, who beamed.

          "Why? The only reason you're not hurt is 'cuz you were to slow to keep up with the fight."

           Jaden grated his teeth together.

        "He saved my butt in the end though," Val commented, and he looked satisfied. She rolled her eyes at his pettiness, but she rested her chin on the pillow in her lap, "So what's the plan now?"

          "Well, Scott picked up a bit of info while you were gone," Flare spoke up, giving Scott an uncertain look, "Something that might change the plan."

        "What?" Jaden demanded, and Val saw Krell pale slightly as he looked to Scott. He knew what they were talking about.

        "Well, while I was working on Fleck's hand when I spilled coffee on my hand. It kinda really scorched the flesh, so I bandaged it until the stinging stopped. But while it was bandaged, I couldn't work on the hand, so I decided to look further into the whole 'decapitation killer' ordeal."