Gyro had been out for a few hours and Gloria's hands were aching from covering his wound and feeling his pulse at the same time. He was beginning to feel cold.
God... he was getting worse by the second. This was bad. Very bad.
Although his pulse hadn't slowed down, enough was enough for Gloria. She began shaking him awake.
"Gyro... Gyro..."
He was still breathing but she was almost sure he wasn't going to wake up. Yet, she refused to admit that to herself.
"Gyro..." Gloria's voice cracked.
The third time was the charm.
Gyro immediately tensed up from the pain when he came to once again. Sadly his body hadn't gone numb yet. And to make matters worse, he was freezing. A dead give away he didn't have much time yet.
He made eye contact with Gloria almost immediately. "Hm? D-did my p-pulse slow down?" Fuck. It was difficult to get words out. He knew he was a goner.
"No, you were fine... I just think you should try to stay awake for a while. Can you talk to me?"
"Y-yes..." A part of him wanted to curl up because of how cold he was. Even if he attempted, he would be too weak. "Gloria, I'm not going to make it much longer. N-not even an hour."
Gloria started tearing up again. "Is there anything I can do?!" Her voice cracked again as she frantically looked around the room again. There wasn't anything new. She was specifically looking for a phone so she could call an ambulance. "Goddamnit goddamnit goddamnit..." She muttered under her breath. "I-I don't know what to do!"
"You don't know what to do because t-there is nothing you can do."
Gloria had never heard him speak so softly before. But he wasn't doing it on purpose; Gyro couldn't raise his voice at all.
"I deserve this after everything I've done to you." He said. "Just p-promise me you'll escape. With B-Boyd."
"You don't deserve to die, Gyro! Don't say things like that!" She couldn't help but raise her voice at him. That wasn't going to help anything though so she took a deep breath as a means of starting her sentence over "... I'm going to do everything I can to get Boyd out of here, Gyro. I promise you." Tears started streaming down Gloria's face again. "I'll make sure he's happy a-and he goes to school, and everything!"
Gyro smiled. It was horrible, but he was glad Gloria had accepted what was going to happen.
"And m-make sure Mark doesn't steal information from the l-lab. I still hate that g-guy." After all this time. But Gyro was the only sane one when it came to that. The fact the rest of the Glomsquad could hold a conversation with Mark was immaculate. "I'm sorry we're here and I'm sorry this happened. I should h-have known F.O.W.L would get us t-this easily. I should have made us stay in D.C."
She shook her head. "No, don't apologize. You didn't know... None of this is your fault, Gyro." She gently repositioned the arm that was being used to support Gyro's head so he was leaning on her more and she wasn't keeping her hand on his pulse anymore. "... are you still in pain?" Fuck, the fact that she felt so hopeless in all of this was eating her alive.
"Y-yes, but not for much longer." Well that was dark. "You w-won't agree with me now, but I k-know you'll be able to move on." His voice was even more shaky. "You need to l-leave Duckburg. I don't want bad things to continue to happen to you when I'm gone."
That contradicted his request about keeping Mark away from his lab, but Fenton would be able to do that just fine.
"Bring Boyd w-with you and hopefully Ellie will join. Leave Mark to die."
Bad things happen to her anywhere she went but she wasn't going to argue. "O-Okay. When I find them, that'll be the first thing we do. We'll leave Mark and everything." Again, Gloria couldn't promise any of that, or if she would even make it out of there alive herself, but that wasn't going to be something she told him. 'This isn't fair!' was playing in her mind over and over again as she continued to cry. "Gyro, I love you. I am so sorry I couldn't do more for you."
"Don't apologize..." Gyro laid a shaky, blood covered hand on her cheek. "I'm g-going to go to sleep now, okay?" For good.
She squeezed him tighter. "No- no you're not! Stay awake just a bit longer for me! Please!"
Gyro Gearloose, the snarky, twig-ass man, began to tear up. "I- I can't."
"Yes you can! Yes you can! Just keep talking to me, okay? Please... I- I can't lose you, too!"
"I'm glad I met you, Gloria. You changed m-my life completely, though I didn't a-act like it when I should have." He gulped. "I love you."
She kissed him again. "I love you, too, Gyro. Thank you for everything. You are my best friend. My number one. And I am so proud to call myself your fiancée." She gave him a weak smile.
When he didn't respond she froze.
The rising and falling of his chest had ceased. But the most terrifying thing was his eyes. They were blank and glassed over, as if it had happened by a simple snap of a finger.
"Gyro?! GYRO?! No no no no!! PLEASE DON'T GO!" Gloria began to sob as she started to shake his body. "PLEASE GYRO! WAKE UP!" Nothing was working.
She desperately felt around for his pulse and it had stopped, except for blood still leaking from his wound. She moved on to laying a hand over his heart as if the pulse hadn't said enough. It wasn't pumping either. She finally moved Gyro off of her lap, laying him flat on the ground. There was a lot more blood on her than she originally thought. She closed his eyes with her fingers and crouched over his body, desperately holding onto his hands. All that Gloria could do now was sob.
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"Do you think they have a vending machine? I used to have vending machines around here but they aren't in their places so like... what's up with that?"
"They most likely got rid of the vending machines, Mark." Ellie was only half paying attention to him. She was the one putting all the effort into looking for Boyd if that wasn't apparent enough already.
"Ummm... what kind of evil layer doesn't have vending machines? Fucking idiots."
Ellie decided to not respond to that as they came across another cell, but this time there was someone in it. Two people, actually. Abigail and Launchpad. Ellie took out one of the extra keycards Wyatt gave her, because plot, and disabled the hologram.
"Have either of you seen Boyd?" That was the first thing she asked rather than if they were okay. Abigail may have been crying but that wasn't Ellie's main concern at the moment.
Launchpad spoke first, much to everyone's dismay. "Uhhh no we haven't Mrs. E! Boy, this must be an intense game of hide and seek, huh?"
Abigail wiped her eyes and stood up, immediately running to hug Ellie. "I want to go! A-are we escaping?!" She assumed that they were, given that Ellie and Mark easily opened their cell door without getting caught.
Launchpad stood up too and gave Mark a big bear hug, lifting him off of the ground. "Are we having a hug party!"
Mark started to squirm. "Wh- Hey! Hands off the merchandise, himbo!"
He set him down and continued to smile. "Ha ha! Okay! Maybe next time, Mr. M!"
Mark huffed and dramatically brushed himself off as if he was dirty. "Whatever. Let's just get the hell out of here. I'm starving!"
Ellie wanted to push Abigail off of her, but gave her a hug back out of motherly instinct. "No, Abigail. You are escaping. I still need to look for my son." She looked over at Mark who had just mentioned leaving to get food. "Our son."
"Right right right! That too, obviously!" Nice save, Mark. He stepped out of the way so they could leave the cell. He also dramatically gestured to the door to make it an ever bigger hint. "Okayyyyyyy sooooo byeeee! Oh, and someone buy me fries when they get out. Marky is craving that shit."
"B-but-" Abigail kept clinging onto Ellie.
"I promise you will be fine. Launchpad will protect you. He is strong and...." That was about it but it was the only thing Ellie could say to comfort Abigail. Though she was still being clutched onto, Ellie held out the hammer that she still had on her after the whole Wyatt incident. "You can use this to protect yourself, alright? You are very smart and I know you will figure out what to do."
Abigail finally let go and, with a shaky hand, took the hammer from Ellie. "I-I don't want to hurt anyone! I just want to leave!"
"I am sure you will not have to hurt anyone. You just need it for safety precautions." She backed up, hinting that she was about to leave with Mark again. Ellie didn't want to waste any time. "Stay with Launchpad no matter what. Unless he ends up deceased again."
Ellie bounced the hell out with Mark before Abigail could respond to that one. The explanation would take way too long.
"Alright..." The two of them had checked so many cells they lost count. "Boyd is either with Mr. B or he did indeed escape." Ellie hoped to the God she didn't believe in it was the prior.
"My guess is that he escaped. And if he's with that old dude we can easily just beat his wrinkly-ass face in and dip!" He continued because a thought just dawned on him. "Plus, didn't Kyle mention something about finding Boyd? Well... we haven't seen him since soooooooo..."
Mark had a point but it was better to check just in case.
They continued walking in silence for a while until Mark caught notice of someone moving in another cell.
It was Steelbeak waving at him with a dopey smile. Mark had absolutely no idea what he was saying since the hologram was soundproof but it was either "Hey, guys!" Or "I'm Catholic!"
Mark groaned and did a half-ass wave back like the fake bitch he was. "Fuck, this guy again...Alright, I guess let him out, Ellie."
Ellie walked over to see who he was talking about. She laid eyes on Steelbeak who was still waving.
"No."
He shrugged. "Cool. I didn't care about him either."
Ellie waved (with no smile) at Steelbeak and then turned and left with Mark following once again. Yep, they left Steelbeak behind to die just like that. What great people.
It wasn't long after that Ellie heard voices. But it couldn't have been the robot guards; those guys didn't talk. It was other F.O.W.L members. Two to be exact if Ellie's hearing was back to normal after the whole water incident.
With quick thinking, Ellie grabbed Mark's hand while planning to unlock a nearby cell. They could just hide in there and pretend to be captives until the coast was clear. She had just disabled the hologram when two men turned the corner, catching them red handed.
They were two vultures, like Mr. B. Ellie had never seen them before.
The first vulture spoke up. "Hey! What are you two doing out of your cell!?"
The second brother was already grabbing his phone to make a call to his brother, Mr. B, to inform him that Ellie and Mark were escaping.
Ellie looked at Mark in a state of panic. She had given her hammer to Abigail and the only 'weapons' Mark had was a pillar and nails in his pocket. That wouldn't work.
"Ummm...." Mark's eyes suddenly lit up. "GOLDFISH!"
The vulture who was dialing a number, looked up at Mark. "What? Are you looking for a snack or something?"
"Mark." Ellie spat. "What are you doing?"
"GOLDFISH! GOLDFISH! GOLDFISH!"
It didn't take Ellie long to catch on to what he was doing. He was summoning Glomgold.
She joined in. "GOLDFISH! GOLDFISH!"
The other vulture looked at the one with the phone. "God. We really capture the crazies, don't we?"
A faint scuttling sound could be heard getting louder down the hall. A familiar round duck started charging their way wearing a very corny cowboy outfit. The same outfit he was wearing back in the Old West Town. "OI! WHO SUMMONED MEH?!"
Glomgold was sweaty, and his eyes were absolutely crazy. He charged right into the two vultures, knocking them onto the ground.
"GIMMAH THE GOLDFISH, ROBO BABEH!" Glomgold had his little hands out in front of him.
"Not until you kill them."
He blinked slowly, one eye at a time, before groaning in Scottish. "UGH! FINEEEE!" He took out his pistol, from the old west, and shot each vulture in the head once. "OKEH! NOW GIMMAH!"
Mark laughed. "Yeah, about that, we don't have goldfish G-Gold. But #thanks for the help!"
"Yes, it is much appreciated." Ellie said. "I will buy you as much goldfish as you want once all of this is over." No she wouldn't.
"OI!" Glomgold got right in her face. "YOOH TRICKED ME, YOOH WICKED ROBO GORL!" Man, all he wanted was some goldfish!
Well... she didn't know what to say to that insult.
"Oh, well, it would be lovely if you continued to assist us for just a little while longer." Ellie said.
"NOOOOO! NOT AFTER YOOH LIED TO MEH! I'M NOT LISTENIN' TO YOOH ANYMORE!" He got on all fours, spat on Mark's feet just because he could, and scuttled off.
"Ewwwwww! Gross dude! Not cool!"
Ellie ignored him as they both continued to wander around the hallways to look for Boyd.
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Gloria was still holding Gyro's body tightly when the hologram disabled. She didn't bother turning around.
"Oh. That was a lot quicker than I expected. What a shame." It was Heidi.
Gloria didn't respond to her. It wasn't the real Heidi anyways so she had no reason to speak to her.
"The silent treatment? Fine." Heidi approached, kicking Gloria away from Gyro with ease. "Mr. B wants me to get rid of Gyro's body as soon as possible. A base that smells isn't his style. You already said your goodbyes, I assume, so it shouldn't be an issue."
Gloria was still going through the shock of watching Gyro die. Her brain felt fuzzy and her whole body felt numb. She honestly felt like she couldn't stand. In an attempt to stop her, Gloria grabbed onto Heidi's ankle. "Please... just leave him alone..."
Heidi looked down at Gloria and laughed. "Leave him alone? He's dead. Do you want to watch his body rot or something?"
She started crying again. "Why are you doing this?! I just watched Gyro die! Can't- Can't you just leave me alone?! You got what you wanted already!"
"Pft! I didn't get what I wanted. That was just to mess with you. I want you dead. But Toodles doesn't want that just yet." She sounded bitter before an idea came to mind. "But Toodles isn't here to stop me now is he?" She looked around mockingly. "Oh well. How about I stab you with the same knife I used to stab Gyro? Is that good enough?" Heidi took it out to show Gloria. It still had dried blood on it. Gyro's dried blood.
Gloria didn't look fazed by her threats, which pissed Heidi off even more. Given her state there was no way she could fight Heidi off, let alone escape! She just sat there on the ground and stared at her.
Heidi shrugged. "I guess your screams will be your response." She swung the knife back before suddenly letting out an ungodly scream.
Gloria had no idea what was going on. All she saw was Heidi fall to the ground a few feet away, blood dripping down the side of her face. But then her eyes lied on Abigail holding a hammer. She wasn't looking at Gloria, she was still focused on Heidi.
Heidi sat up and tried to back into a corner. "Wait! No! I-"
Abigail didn't waste any time bringing the hammer down again which shut Heidi up immediately. And then again. And again. And again. And again. And again. You get the idea.
Gloria couldn't see Heidi's face when Abigail's body was blocking it and she sure as hell didn't want to see it. There was blood around Abigail's feet, on the wall behind Heidi, and Abigail was most definitely partially soaked.
There was a horrid crack as Abigail ripped the hammer out of Heidi's skull. She stood there for a few moments, taking ragged breaths, before turning around to make eye contact with Gloria. There were tears streaming down her face, leaving trails that had washed away the blood.
She dropped the hammer and took a step toward Gloria before falling to her knees.
Abigail crouched down, staring at the floor as she started to scream, pulling at her hair in the meantime.
Gloria couldn't do anything other than stare at Abigail. Everything was happening too fast and her brain couldn't keep up. First Gyro died in her arms and now she had just witnessed Abigail beat her friend's head in. It was too much.
A few minutes passed by before Abigail's screaming finally ceased. She needed to stop a little while for air.
She crawled her way, slowly, over to Gloria before resting her head on her lap. More blood spread onto Gloria's clothes.
"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry." Abigail whispered through sobs.
Gloria tried her best to comfort her by rubbing her back with the hand that had the least amount of blood on it. She didn't dare to look over at Heidi. She didn't want the gory confirmation that Heidi was dead too. "It's okay, Abigail. It's okay. You saved me." Her voice was cracked.
"I- I panicked! I didn't know what to do! Heidi seemed so nice when I met her and- and-" She paused to cough. Her throat was sore from screaming and crying. "And I killed her! But she was going to kill you and I didn't want to see you die when I was standing right there!" She clutched onto Gloria tighter. "And now... now I'm going to show up in my hometown as a murderer! All I wanted was to explore the real world and this is what I get! I'm an idiot! And I- I killed your friend! Oh my god!" Abigail couldn't even comprehend everything that happened herself. Not to mention she hadn't even noticed Gyro's body.
The reality of what just happened started to catch up with Gloria. She started sobbing again. "Heidi's dead, too...this- this can't be happening..." Her head started to feel fuzzy again and her vision started to blur and the tears weren't helping. "Why?! Why- why is this happening?!"
"I DON'T KNOW!" Abigail shot up and shoved Gloria away. She suddenly didn't want to be physically close to anyone anymore. "Let's go! We have to go or we're going to end up just like them!" She was barely audible through her tears.
Gloria continued staring at the ground, her body starting to shake. "I can't! I don't think I can get up... Everything hurts..."
"WHAT?!" Abigail tugged on Gloria's arm. "COME ON! PLEASE! COME ON! WE CAN'T STAY HERE!"
The two of them were both mentally unstable in their own right at the moment, making the entire situation even worse than it already was.
"THERE'S NOWHERE TO GO, ABIGAIL! WE CAN'T JUST WALK OUT THE FRONT DOOR AND LEAVE!" She covered her face with her hands, despite the fact that her hands were covered in blood. "They're going to find us and kill us..."
"DON'T SAY THAT!" Abigail went from hysterical to angry within seconds. "I'M LEAVING! SO- SO YOU CAN EITHER COME WITH ME OR I LEAVE YOU BEHIND! IF YOU'RE SO CONFIDENT YOU'RE GOING TO DIE, THEN IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU DO!"
Gloria laid down on the floor and continued to cry. "Then leave... I don't care what happens to me anymore. Just get out of here, Abigail."
Abigail balled her fists. "F-FINE!" She fled, leaving the hammer behind along with Gloria. Abigail caught a horrifying glimpse of Gyro just as she turned the corner of the cell. Gloria could hear her frantic footsteps disappear down the hallway.
She covered her face with her arms to block out the light and tried her best to fall asleep.
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