Steelbeak finally pulled the van into the tire-drawn driveway to the old rickety shack which was supposed to be a house.
Ellie had managed to keep Steelbeak on a 'date' with her for twenty-four hours. Yep. That long. And Kyle had to tag along for the entire thing. They ended up getting a hotel room much to Ellie's horror but Steelbeak wanted to watch Disney princess movies the entire time which was just as terrible as what Ellie thought was going to go down. She tried to convince him to watch Autumn de Wilde's take on Emma but noooooo, he wanted to watch Tangled like a fucking idiot.
Kyle was just as upset and threw a cockroach tantrum in the corner before eventually falling asleep in the air vent. A maid thought he was some- some BUG and he almost got killed!
"Okay, Steelbeak, can we please go back to being villains now?!"
"...I told you to call me dad."
Kyle unbuckled his seatbelt and hopped out of his toddler car seat. "Shut the fuck up! She's not dating you! It was some stupid trick to keep her away from her family! I'm done repeating myself!"
Steelbeak gasped and turned around to look at Ellie. "NANI?! Is that true, babes?"
She didn't say anything.
"Awww man! That's, like, so low! I hate you! GOD!" He quickly did the sign of the cross so the lord could forgive him for using his name in vain. "Anyway, yeah, let's go Kyle. We should go back to killing and torture."
Kyle sighed in relief before hopping out the window that was left slightly ajar, due to the broken air conditioning.
Ellie remained silent, knowing protesting wouldn't do any good. It only took getting kidnapped four times, or somewhere around there, for her to figure that out. Hopefully twenty-four hours gave Mark, Wyatt, and Boyd enough time to figure something out.
While the van door was still open, Steelbeak peaked his head back in to say one last thing to Ellie. "Ya know, you're a real bitch. I thought we actually had something." He slammed the door before heading into the old home with Kyle who had crawled onto his shoulder. He wasted no time in busting open the door. "Alright, the bad guys are back so let's get crazy!"
Mark and Wyatt were playing tic tac toe and jumped out of their skin from the sudden intrusion. You think they would have heard the car pull up but they were just that into the game, despite not being a fan of one another.
Kyle scanned the room and gasped. "Where the FUCK is the kid?!"
Mark thought it would be best to play dumb. "... what kid?"
For a split second, Steelbeak was actually convinced that there was never a kid to begin with. He caught on and punched the wall. That wasn't a smart move because a piece of the roof immediately fell down, almost hitting them. Everyone started to cough from all of the dust and sand that was picked up in the room before Steelbeak quickly recovered from his idiocy. "THE KID THAT'S BEEN WITH YOU THIS WHOLE TIME! WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM?!"
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh that kid!... no idea."
Steelbeak stepped over the fallen piece of wood and grabbed Mark by his collar. He messed up the game of tic tac toe in doing so. That bastard. "TELL ME WHERE HE IS!"
Mark simply shrugged.
Steelbeak threw his skinny body across the room.
Mark screamed "DUDE NOT COOL! NOW I'M ALL SANDY #EWWWWW!"
Steelbeak ignored Mark and turned his attention towards Wyatt, cracking his knuckles. "Are you gonna be smarter than your friend over there and actually tell me where the little brat is?"
"Uhhh I-I... I don't-..."
"QUIT STUTTERING!"
That only made Wyatt stutter more. He put his hands up in defense. "Please! I-I don't know... I-I promise! He- he l-left... when w-we were sleeping!"
"HOW DO YOU KNOW HE LEFT AND WASN'T KIDNAPPED BY COWBOYS IF YOU WERE SLEEPING?!"
Kyle slapped Steelbeak's manly cheek. "DO YOU THINK THIS IS THE 1800s OR SOMETHING?!"
"I'M TELLING YOU! I'VE SEEN OLD TIME COWBOYS OUT HERE! THERE'S EVEN A TOWN AND A GIFT SHOP!"
"OKAY, BUT WHY WOULD THEY KIDNAP KIDS THOUGH?" Kyle massaged his temples, deciding to stop the argument there. This was getting ridiculous. "Okay. Fine. You know what? We both know Mark is a fucking idiot so we'll torture the answer out of Wyatt outside. I already know he's gonna be much easier to break."
Cracking his knuckles, Steelbeak nodded. "Sounds like a jam- wait- I mean plan!" He grabbed Wyatt by his arm and hoisted him up, dragging him outside.
"W-w-w-wait!" Wyatt stuttered, looking back at Mark.
"Buh-bye! See you later! #staystrong!" Mark gave him a peace sign. Yeah. He was a dick. He was never going to get over the fact Wyatt liked Ellie because that was #notcool.
Once they were a good ways away from the shack, Steelbeak shoved Wyatt face first into the sand by a cactus, injuring his beak even further than when he was beaten yesterday.
"Alright, bitch! Spill!" Kyle demanded.
"Ow..." Wyatt sat up and rubbed his face. He noticed that he was already bleeding. "I-I swear... I- don't know... w-where Boyd went. P-please just let us go!"
Steelbeak kicked sand into his eyes. "Yes you do, now tell us where he is before things get really bad!"
Wyatt began to cry. He was scared and also because there was a lot of sand in his eyes. Not fun.
Steelbeak picked him up long enough to slam him back down into the cactus. "DO NOT MAKE ME REPEAT MYSELF!"
"Okay okay!" He covered his face that was now just a bloody mess. He was barely understandable through all the sobs. "H-he got scared and blasted off with h-his r-r-rocket feet but I dunno- I dunno where he went!" The only thing Wyatt could think of to spare himself was deliver half of the truth.
Kyle scoffed. "I ain't buying that. I think you know exactly where he went."
Wyatt attempted to push himself off the ground but the sudden headache that he was met with caused him to fall face first again. He rolled onto his side to look up at Kyle and Steelbeak. "Maybe I do know where he went but why does it- it m-matter? You- you w-won't be able to get- get to him b-because he can just fly away a-again!" Shit. He immediately regretted mouthing them off. "I-I'm sorry! I- I didn't m-mean to! I-"
Steelbeak didn't need to be told by Kyle what to do. He picked Wyatt up by the neck. "Okay. No more fucking games, you mouthy bitch."
On the other side of the shack, away from the whole scene going down, sat Ellie in the van. She peaked out to see if she could make out anything going on inside the home from the one window the home had. Nothing. Her hands clenched the laminated plastic layer beneath the glass. If they were hurting Boyd...
Without another thought, Ellie kicked the window that she had previously beaten earlier. It started to give. The second kick allowed most of the glass to fall so she could squeeze the front half of her body through, though scratching some of her metal, before falling face first onto the ground.
She stopped for a moment, listening for shouting, yelling, footsteps, anything.
There was something in the distance, but nothing that she could make out. That meant that they hadn't heard her escape the car and she had time to figure something out.
Jogging over to the shack, she peaked into the window just in case Steelbeak or Kyle were inside, though she doubted it. The only person inside that she could see was Mark, who was on his phone trying to get a connection that wouldn't come.
Ellie was relieved until panic overtook her again. She practically tripped over the split wood as she ran inside. "Where is Boyd?!"
"Who?" Mark had his face in his phone so he didn't see who was talking to him. He just assumed it was another weak attempt at getting him to talk by Steelbeak and Kyle. He looked up from his phone. "Oh! Ellie! It's you! Boyd flew back to Duckburg. I told him to find Glo so someone can come and rescue us! He left yesterday!"
Oh thank fuck. They did figure something out within twenty-four hours.
Ellie smiled before sitting down next to him to give him a weak hug. After retrieving her memories again, she was only able to see him for about a minute before being dragged away. Being around Mark still felt new.
"I am so sorry." She didn't know for what exactly considering it wasn't her fault she had her memories taken away. But she also felt the need to apologize for lowkey being thirsty for Wyatt. Though, Mark did become a prostitute which would be a later conversation. She let go of him and grabbed him by the arms. "I scanned the area. There is a town approximately five hours away by foot. I can lead us there."
Taking the car would have been a better idea, but she didn't want to attempt to get the keys from Steelbeak. Mark could suck it up and survive a five hour walk.
"We need to leave now when Steelbeak and Kyle are distracted. We can attempt to contact Boyd again once we are there." Ellie looked around the room and it suddenly dawned on her why Steelbeak and Kyle weren't there. "Where is Wyatt?" The answer was obvious but she needed to ask for clarification.
Mark gestured behind him with his head. "Out there. The dude is getting the beating of a lifetime. Sucks to be him I guess." He laughed. "Yo, we should totally ditch him!"
Ellie scoffed and shot him a look. "Why on earth would you say that?! We cannot just leave him! We need to kill-" Oh shit, they couldn't kill people. Man. She was going to miss doing that. "Okay, well, we could maybe..." She stopped. Analyzing the situation, Ellie realized Wyatt only had a 17% chance of survival if they didn't step in. 26% chance of survival if they did step in using violence, while avoiding murder, though her or Mark both had a 78% chance of getting hurt if that were to occur. The only way to save Wyatt was to kill Steelbeak and Kyle. And even then, Steelbeak was not one to be reckoned with. And Kyle was basically unkillable being a cockroach and all.
That left the question. Would leaving Wyatt and hoping for the best be considered murder as well?
That may have been a physiological question, but the logical answer was no.
"Alright." She said. "We leave him, but as soon as we reach the town we call authorities to rescue him. That way, Steelbeak and Kyle will be arrested." And they could avoid killing, just as Boyd wished. Problem solved.
That really caught Mark off guard. He didn't actually think Ellie would agree to it. "Woah, really?!" He stood up "Okay! Let's book it then! #byeWyatt!" He laughed again and tweeted about how cool his wife was. The Tweet didn't go through considering the connection, but it would as soon as they reached whatever fucking town they were going to. That was the only thing keeping Mark sane.
Ellie ignored that and gestured for Mark to follow her out the front door where she came.
As soon as she turned the corner to head east, she bumped into Steelbeak, who was pulling a bloodied and beaten Wyatt from behind. She stumbled back, bumping into Mark.
Kyle nearly fell off Steelbeak's shoulder. "WHAT THE FUCK, BITCH?!" He paused when he noticed it was Ellie. "HOLD UP! AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE VAN?!"
Mark grabbed Ellie's arm and took a step back, trying to play it cool. "Yo yo yoooooooo! How are my favorite kidnappers feelin' tonight! Good? So listen, Ellie and I were just... taking a walk. Yeah. Just vibin' ya know?"
Kyle looked up at Steelbeak. He could tell that Steelbeak was actually believing this bullshit. He snapped his cockroach fingers up at him. "Ummmm NO! You can't just walk around! You were clearly trying to escape!"
Steelbeak gasped. "Without your little friend, too?!" He picked up Wyatt and held him up for Ellie and Mark to see. His eyes were closed and he had blood all over him but he was awake. "Ouch... that's harsh."
Ellie waved her hands in denial. "No no! Just a walk! We were coming back... because we would never leave Wyatt..." That sounded really bad.
Kyle gasped overdramatically. If he was in high school, he would definitely be a theatre kid. "Soooo you mean to tell me that you were going to ditch the nice guy who likes you and is 10x better than Mark? That's pretty low, mother. Not to mention you played Steelbeak last night too." He crawled down Steelbeak's arm so he could prop himself up on Wyatt's bloodied shoulder instead. "Man..." Kyle gave Wyatt a light slap on the cheek to get his attention. "Looks like my mom was playin' you too, huh? What a slut." Damn. Kyle really just called his mom a slut.
We all know the true slut was Mark but whatever.
"E-Ellie?... Is this true?"
Kyle answered for her. "Of course it is! Why else do you think I have such a grudge against her and that kid! She replaced and attempted to murder me as soon as Boyd came into her life! She's a monster and she doesn't have any sympathy for guys like us." He gestured to him, Wyatt, and Steelbeak.
Wyatt felt his heart sink but didn't say anything more.
Ellie looked at Mark because she was at a loss for words.
She hoped he would be able to understand the look she was giving him. Her worried expression darted toward the desert which meant she was about to run.
Mark shrugged.
Ellie took that as a sign he understood but really he was shrugging because he didn't know what to say.
She bolted only to immediately be tripped, not my Steelbeak, but by a cactus she didn't even see. She was too panicked to scan the area, only making her look like an idiot. And also making her look cliche.
Kyle barked out a little cockroach laugh. "Damnnnnnnn! Still trying to ditch? Man!" He crossed his arms. "You two aren't going anywhere. I'm making that clear right now." He turned his attention back to Wyatt. "You remind me of myself, Wyatt. An innocent person who was blinded by her kindness, only to immediately be betrayed. She keeps her dark side hidden well." He smirked. "Why do you think Boyd ended up leaving her and Mark? They both suck! No wonder why they're married!"
Now Mark was offended. He totally did not suck! ... except that one time last week but he got paid pretty well.
Steelbeak had enough of this. He dropped Wyatt and picked up Ellie who was still lying in the sand. He then picked up Mark with his other arm and brought them back inside. "You two are the worst. I thought I could be lenient with you guys. Not have to tie you up. Looks like I was wrong." He sat them down and looked over at Kyle. "Kyle go get the-"
He changed his mind. "Actually, I want Wyatt to go into the van and get me some rope to tie these idiots up!"
Wyatt stood there dumbfounded, not sure what to do.
Steelbeak glared at him "Don't make me repeat myself."
Kyle added to what he was saying. "Listen to him, Wyatt. You know it's the right thing to do."
Wyatt sniffed and wiped some of the blood and tears from his face before walking outside to the van.
Kyle did an iconic evil laugh and looked over at Mark and Ellie. "Looks like he's on our side now!"
"#Whattttt? But he's a total twink. There is no way he's going to be teaming up with you guys!" Mark was totally going to be Tweeting about that too. Especially about Wyatt being a twink. Keep in mind Mark had no idea he was a twink too. Poor guy. He was just that unaware.
Kyle shrugged. "Hey. Maybe we aren't the villains here. Ever think about that?" He continued before either of them could respond. "All I ever wanted was a loving family only to end up being stomped on! And then you kill behind your son's back? Both seem like very villainous things to do if you ask me. Not to mention there are loads of other things you two have done that I'm too lazy to get into. You may be trying to be better now, but trying to ditch Wyatt didn't exactly help your case." Kyle scuttled down and nonchalantly walked up to Ellie, looking up at her. "I don't think Boyd would be too happy to hear about that."
He continued on after Ellie looked away from him, clearly hurt by his words. "So maybe Steelbeak and I are villains too, sure, but that doesn't make you the good guys either. Both sides are bad. The real question is which side is worse and it looks like Wyatt just answered that for us."
Steelbeak decided to add to that. "And you know what, Ellie? I know you won't know what I'm talking about, but you could have avoided this mess if you just stayed with me when I became dictator. Going back to Mark always gets you in trouble."
Mark scoffed. "#Ow? I'm, like, really cool so..."
He was ignored as a shaky Wyatt reentered the room, handing the rope to Steelbeak.
"Thanks, Wyatt!" Steelbeak walked behind Mark and began to tie his hands together by the wrists. Followed by Ellie. With the extra rope, he tied their ankles together. Just in case they had any ideas about sneaking out again. Neither of them struggled which made Steelbeak's job that much easier.
Kyle yawned. "Man, all of this kidnapping makes me tired."
Steelbeak gasped and his eyes beamed like a child on Christmas "You know what we should do?!"
"What?"
"MILF DENNY'S!"
Kyle gasped too! "And we can bring Wyatt along! Wyatt would love MILF Denny's! All of the hot moms there would help him get his mind off of Ellie!"
Wyatt stayed quiet.
Steelbeak put his arm around Wyatt and shook him. "Then it's settled! We're going to MILF Denny's! Ooooooh this is so exciting, I feel like we should have a cool bad guy group name to call ourselves!"
Kyle crawled up on his shoulder. "We'll come up with some ideas when we get there." He looked over at Mark and Ellie and smirked "I don't think they'll be going anywhere anytime soon."
As soon as they left, Ellie turned to look at Mark.
He thought she was going to be crying, but she wasn't, she was just plain confused.
"I do not understand," She said. "Why does everyone call me a MILF? I do not even know what that is."
"You don't know what a MILF is!?" Mark started laughing. "Dude, I should not be the one to tell you! You gotta look that shit up yourself." That reminded Mark to erase his internet history as soon as he got a wifi connection again. Oops.
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Boyd politely knocked on Miss Glamour's front door. He was able to track Gloria's phone to that precise location.
To say he was nervous to be in Duckburg was a major understatement. Mr. B could be anywhere and it made his metal skin crawl. He already wanted to cry.
Eventually the door opened and Falcon glared down at him.
"H-hi!" Boyd recognized Falcon but had forgotten his name. "Is Dr. Gearloose and Ms. Gloria here?"
He sighed. He wasn't paid enough to deal with all of these wacky characters coming to the door. He opened it wide enough for Boyd to step in. "They're somewhere around here."
"O-okay. T-thank you." Boyd stood there for a second and fiddled with his hands before Falcon walked away, literally just leaving him there. Boyd remained put for a while. He had to find Dr. Gearloose and Gloria for Ellie and Mark's sake, but he wondered if they had changed like Ellie had.
Mark arguably didn't change. He was just a dick but whatever.
"Hello?!" Boyd shouted out, but it was more like a squeak. No one answered him so he sighed before beginning to explore the mansion. He really wished someone was there to hold his hand. "...H-hello?" The sharp turn he took led him to bump into someone. He stumbled back, almost falling over. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!" Boyd looked up and froze.
Gyro was just as shocked as Boyd was. His mouth went dry as he looked down at the kid before him. This couldn't be real. There was no way. Gyro rubbed his eyes to make sure it wasn't an illusion and sure enough it wasn't. Boyd remained there.
He tried to croak something out but nothing happened. All he could do was take a step in disbelief and wait for Boyd to say something, to confirm he was actually there.
Boyd started crying immediately and ran into him to give Gyro the tightest hug he could. Because of the height difference, Boyd was only hugging his legs but whatever. "H-hi, Dr. Gearloose... I missed you."
Gyro knelt down and hugged Boyd back, immediately breaking into a sob. It was pathetic and weak. He had needed a hug for days, but that hug being from Boyd is the last thing he expected. "Oh my goodness...Boyd..." Gyro didn't dare let go. "I have missed you more than anything."
"I missed you, too." He repeated while he continued to cry. He buried his face into Gyro's chest. "I-I'm so sorry that I've been away for so long." He meant that after realizing just how terrible Mr. B had been to him all of these years.
Gyro shook his head. "No no no. You were right about everything you said all those years ago. I'm trying so hard to become a better person, just for you. I-" He had to cut himself up as another intense sob left him. The fact he literally helped a villain the other day by building a robot army like Mark had in Act 2 didn't help his guilt diminish at all. And he had yet to tell anyone about that.
Despite those thoughts, Gyro let go of Boyd to get a good look at him, though he kept his hands on his arms. "Where have you been all these years? Why did you come back?"
"I've been here... In Duckburg, I mean... There was this man named Mr. B and he took me in... I only just realized a few days ago that he is a very bad person so I left. He plans on hurting you and everyone else. There are some people who work for Mr. B and have Ellie and Mark now. I was with them until I escaped to find you and Ms. Gloria. Someone needs to help them!" He started to panic, remembering why he was there in the first place.
Almost everything Boyd had said glazed over Gyro's mind except one thing. "Mr. B? As in Scrooge's financial advisor Mr. B?"
Boyd nodded. "Yes. He's really scary."
Oh shit. Gyro didn't know what to expect but it wasn't that.
"Okay okay okay." Gyro took a moment to think to himself. "So people have Ellie and Mark held hostage? Did they send you to get help? Who has them?" It was a lot of questions to throw at a kid, but Gyro didn't know what else to do. A dire situation wasn't exactly the reunion Gyro wanted.
"Two people named Steelbeak and Kyle. I think Steelbeak worked with Mr. B before because I overheard Mr. B talking to him about killing me and Ellie a few days ago. Kyle is... a talking cockroach." It sounded really silly for Boyd to say that but he didn't know how else to describe him.
Confirmation that Steelbeak was alive didn't surprise Gyro. Seeing Ma Beagle was enough confirmation.
"Kyle? The roach from Camp Godgold?" That question didn't need to be answered. He remembered Gloria mentioned Kyle's prostitute company back in Vegas all those years ago. "Okay. I'll help you. Where are they?" There were so many more questions to be asked, like why Boyd was with Mr. B or why Mr. B wanted Boyd and Ellie dead. But now wasn't the time.
"They were in New Mexico but then were taken to Texas. They're being held hostage in this small old house in the middle of nowhere." He started to shake. "I'm really scared for them. Please, we have to tell everyone so we can save them!"
Gyro hugged Boyd again. "Okay. You're safe now and that's all that matters. I promise we'll figure something out."
Weird things were going on but now it was impossible to deny. Gyro wondered if Mr. B, Steelbeak, Kyle, Ma Beagle, and that one weird lady in the red dress were all connected somehow? If so, this whole thing was a lot bigger than any of them would have ever guessed.
Another thought struck Gyro. "This is a bit hard to explain... but bad guys are coming after us too." Thanks to Gloria and Heidi. That's what Gyro thought anyway. "So, we're going to D.C. for safety... but you should talk about this with Gloria and figure something out with her. I'm sure she can come up with something."
The main reason Gyro was sending Boyd to see Gloria was, despite how angry he was, she deserved to see Boyd just as much as he did. That and she knew more about this DC trip than he did so if plans were going to be changed around to rescue Ellie and Mark, it was up to her.
"I think she's in the library. Do you know where that is?" It was so sad that Gyro had to let Boyd go so soon, but he'd be able to see him again in a few minutes.
Gyro coming along to see Gloria with Boyd didn't seem like the best idea. Neither him or Gloria wanted that.
Boyd nodded and gave Gyro a quick hug before running off. He didn't have time to question why Gyro wasn't coming with him to see Gloria; there were too many panicked thoughts running through his head.
The library was across the mansion so it took awhile, even for a speedy definitely real boy like Boyd, but he got there and immediately saw Gloria sleeping on the couch. Why she chose the library for a snooze was beyond anyone.
Too many emotions were hitting Boyd at once. He was scared on behalf of Ellie, Mark, and Wyatt. But seeing Gyro and Gloria again after all this time. After everything Mr. B had done to him.
Boyd didn't waste anytime jumping on Gloria to give her a hug.
"Hey!" Gloria jolted awake. She looked down to see Boyd hugging her and it took her a minute to register what was happening. "...Boyd? Is that you?"
For a moment he could only continue to cry as he buried his face into her shoulder. Eventually he nodded. "Y-yeah."
Gloria sat up on the couch and gently pulled Boyd away from her long enough to see his face. She started crying herself as she pulled Boyd back into a hug. "Oh my god... You're okay! We've been so worried about you! I missed you so much, Boyd!"
He nodded again. "Mr. B- Mr. B lied to me all this time. He said you all were bad people that wanted to hurt me." Boyd knew Gloria had no idea who Mr. B was but it didn't matter. "I'm sorry I ever left. I know you're trying to be better." To be honest, he didn't. But he knew she would try for him no matter what because she wasn't Mr. B. He let go of her, knowing he sadly had to cut to the chase already. "You have to help me. Ellie, Mark, and Mr. Wyatt are in trouble!" He knew Gloria didn't know who Wyatt was either but whatever.
"Woah woah okay." That was a lot of information just thrown at her. She had stopped crying at this point so she wiped away any remaining tears she had on her face. "Of course I'll help you, and them." Yeah she had no clue who Wyatt was but she was still willing to help him. "We can talk about all the details later just tell me everything you need from me now, okay?"
"Okay, ummm..." Boyd had already told Gyro everything and his mind went blank. He decided to just start from the beginning. Literally the beginning because Gloria did say she wanted to know everything. It made sense to go into more detail too since Gloria was in charge of travel plans or something. "So Mr. B, who was very mean, dropped me off at Waddle to be babysat by Lucy. But Lucy was actually Ellie who lost her memories. And then Ellie, Mr. Wyatt, and I snuck out of Waddle to go to Funzo's Funzone. There, I saw Mr. B talking to Steelbeak and he said he wanted Ellie and I dead, so we ran away to New Mexico. And then Ellie contacted Mark because I told her that she knew him. So then he showed up and we went to a fancy hotel. But then Steelbeak and Kyle, who is a cockroach, showed up too and kidnapped us! And then we were taken to a small shack in Texas in the desert and they told me to fly away and find you!"
Wow. That was a lot of information just thrown at a person who just woke up from a nap. Her head actually started to hurt from just trying to keep up with his story. It took her a moment to respond so she could have a minute to process everything. "So Ellie, Mark and this other guy are in trouble in Texas?...I don't think we can fight these guys off on our own, Boyd." She continued "So our plan is to travel to Washington D.C. and stay there for a little while. We're going to be meeting up with Mark's sister, Mara, who's a senator. She's going to be helping us already so I'm sure she'll help us save everyone in Texas, alright?" It probably wasn't the most ideal plan and certainly not the plan Boyd had in mind but it's what they had to work with.
"But... but..." Boyd held onto her tighter. This wasn't the reunion he wanted. "Do you think they'll be okay waiting that long?"
"Hey, look at me." She put her hand on his cheek when he finally looked up at her. "Everything is going to be alright. Ellie and Mark are very strong and they'll be okay until we rescue them. We'll be leaving soon to see Mara and she'll help with everything." She sort of changed the subject. "Ummm...do you want to come with us to D.C.? It'll be safe there but of course I understand if you don't want to go. I don't want to pressure you into anything. I know there's a lot going on right now and you're probably exhausted so you can think about it later."
He shook his head. "No. I want to go. I need to convince Mara to help." He said. "And... I don't want to be alone again."
"Of course. I'm glad that you'll be coming with us. There's nothing for you to worry about anymore, okay? I'll take care of everything." She gave him another quick hug. "Have you seen Gyro? He's here as well and I'm sure he would love to see you."
He nodded. "Yeah, I did. He was the one that told me you were here!" The joy was short lived and Boyd began to cry again, bringing Gloria into another hug. "I love you, Aunt Gloria. I'm sorry I said you were a villain."
Gloria hugged him back and rubbed circles into his back. "I love you, too, Boyd. And you don't have to apologize for anything. You're such a sweet kid and I'm very proud of you."
She wanted to tell him that she's been working on her drinking and drug problems all these years but that wouldn't be the best conversation to have with a child. Plus, with her recently getting back into the gang, she felt guilty. Of course she hated every minute of it and she was no longer a part of the Mothmans but the guilt was still there. She also was worried about Boyd learning about what happened between her and Gyro. She had no idea how he would take it. She decided to not talk to him about that as well. Boyd was a smart kid though. Gloria figured that he would find out on his own eventually now that he was staying with them.
When Boyd didn't respond, Gloria looked down at him to see if he was alright. Much to her surprise, he was asleep.
Flying from Texas to California in one go while having a mental breakdown kinda got to him and he was beat.
She gave a weak smile and got up from the couch while picking up Boyd. She gave him one last hug before gently putting him back on the couch for him to sleep. She found a nearby blanket and covered him with it before turning off the lights and heading back to her own room.
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