Well.
If Robin and her super memory could have come in handy for one thing...
Navigating the long and treacherous
Halls of the Death Lab would have been it.
"How can you be lost." Vain glared down at Alex impatiently. "You used to live down here."
Too bad we didn't think of that before we sacrificed her to the creepy Bird monster...
"Shut it Snowflake. I'm not lost." Alex shot Vain a dirty look over his shoulder. "I'm thinking."
Right. Cause that is so much better.
Since he was supposed to actually know his way around here, Alex had been assigned the task of leading the way.... but had been slowing down progressively the further along we went.
I noticed this, as I had been sulking the entire way, and it had taken a lot of will power not to complain at the ever lessening pace.
Apparently, Vain had been feeling the same way and had finally lost his patience when Alex came to a dead stop in front of a staircase.
The small boy was still staring up into the darkness... as if trying to talk himself into moving forward.
"Then... Um...Why are we stopping?" Nigel put delicately, bending forward to try and peek at the boy's expression.
"Because there are worse things down here than Jack...and I'm seriously having second thoughts..." Alex muttered more to himself than to any of us, before pushing himself into motion.
I glared at Alex's back as Vain and Nigel followed, not impressed.
Set an ominous mood, why dont'cha? That's what's really missing from this awesome experience...
"Are you sure this is the right way...?" I asked, honestly not wanting to travel up another set of stairs for the rest of my life if I didn't have to.
He shot me an irritated look at the scepticism.
"Even if I didn't know my way around... I know this is the right direction because Alex signal is getting stronger."
I was pulling a face before he could even finish.
Once upon a time, working a mobile phone was the most complicated thing I had to contend with.
I miss those days.
"You can feel Alan's... signal?" I grimaced, not really liking the idea... At all. "...like Wi-Fi or something?"
"... More like I can feel my own Nanotech reacting to his." Alex turned away with a grimace. "We're almost entering the range where the Link signal is no longer trumped by the radio waves."
Right. Cassandras broadcast of doom. How could I forget?
"Does that mean you'll turn back to normal?" I asked tentatively. Peri had said something about the Link system trying to maintain the same image across two bodies...
Alex tsked softly at the notion.
"Hardly. Our Nanotech will work again once I get out of range, but if we rely on the Link system to turn me back, it could take months." He rubbed a tired hand against his face. "Which mean I'm going to be stuck baby faced until we get access to an actual system."
...meaning he's stuck like this...unless he begs the Shrink Program to change him back...
"Oh." I nodded straight-faced. "That's too bad."
A real pity.
"Wow." Alex drawled sarcastically. "Almost sounded sincere there Maddison."
Pressing a hand to my chin, I contemplated what I was going to do with my poor friend stuck like this for such a long time...
"I'm going to make you pose for photos with Monica, dressed in cute outfits... " Alex stopped in his tracks to give me a wary look.
I smiled.
"... and hang them on my wall."
Blue-green eyes glowered down at me from a few steps above.
"I'd like to see you try it."
I cocked my head.
"Is that a challenge?"
Alex frowned.
"I'm still bigger than you."
Had he always been that pale?
"I have my ways-"
"Enough." Vain sighed, shifting my cage higher up into his arms. "You two can be stupid together later."
"But I want to be stupid now," I whined.
"Quiet Maddison." He breathed to me. "Bringing up photography is only going to backfire on you."
Despite Vain speaking quietly, Alex heard every word, causing a sinister grin to cross his face.
I froze at the horrifying realisation.
I had provoked the son of Cassandra Floid.
The woman's who's a creepy hobby it is to dress people up in weird outfits and humiliate them.
It was in his blood.
I was doomed.
" I am my own downfall." I grieved, curling up on the floor of my cage.
Alex scoffed, and Vain sighed in agreement, but Nigel gave me an earnest smile.
"Don't give up Maddison."
Surprised by the encouragement, I gave him a hopeful look.
"You won't let Alex take embarrassing pictures of me... right?"
I could always depend on Nigel to defend my honour...
".... "
" Nigel. "
".... Ri-"
"I'll share it." Alex's sweet promise fluttered down the stairs, seductive as chocolate.
Nigel blanched, fighting an inner battle... And loosing horribly.
Until he glanced guiltily away from me and caught a glimpse of Vain's expression.
Is it just me... Or did the room just get a little darker...
Nigel immediately backed away, hands raised in self-defence.
"I won't! I promise!"
Vain hummed neutrally.
"Glad to hear it."
I glanced up to try and see what had Nigel so spooked, but by the time I looked Vain had schooled his expression into calm disinterest.
With Nigel cowed, the pale boy turned to regard Alex, who was leaning against the wall in a way that was almost too casual.
"We should continue," Vain said.
Alex crossed his arms defiantly.
"It won't be so easy to scare me into submission ya' Creepy Brat."
Vain only raised an eyebrow at the challenge.
"Don't tempt me. It would be counterproductive to make you cry."
Alex glared with indignation.
"Bold words coming from the kid who was crying at the party."
Oh no.
I slapped a hand to my mouth in horror.
Alex had seen that...?
Vain's eye twitched.
"I'm afraid you are mistaken Floid. I did not cry." He suddenly shoved my cage into Nigel's clumsy hands, taking a step towards the small child. "Regardless, you should know better than to spy on other people's private conversations."
Alex pushed himself away from the wall at the dangerous tone, keeping one small hand on the wall for balance.
Vain took a menacing step forward.
"... But that is beside the point."
Alex retreated, face pinched with regret.
"The point is, you are wasting our time, and making your brother wait. So if you refuse to walk..." Vain continued to stalk forward as Alex continued to back away. "... you must be carried."
I cringed in second-hand embarrassment.
Having Vain act as your nanny...
Surely a fate worse than death.
"Get away from me, Maziric!" Alex warned... As he fled backwards up the stairs.
But Vain's legs were longer.
And he was peeved.
"Your brother carried me across a ballroom full of people in his arms, Floid."
Alex lost his footing, tripping backwards in the same moment Vain bent down and scooped him up.
"This is hardly anything worth complaining about. "
And that's all she wrote.
After a stunned moment of surprise, Alex located his bearings... In Vain's Arms.
His face was almost as red as his hair, but his words were measured.
"Put. Me. Down. "
Vain looked him in the eye, impassive.
"Ask nicely."
With a savage growl, Alex started struggling aggressively in the bigger boys arms.
"I'll kill you!"
"Petty."
"It's not. "
There goes all sense of maturity... For both of them...
Vain sighed, resigned to endure Alex's squirming.
"I only intended it as a threat at first, but since we find ourselves in this situation, I might as well use it as motivation. "
"How is this Motivating?"
"Once we are close enough to Alan, you will start regaining your usual strength, then you can force your way free. The sooner that happens, the better. "
"Lies. Lies, and excuses." Alex hissed, but his struggles had died down as he excepted his fate. He hung panting, visibly exhausted.
"You could always ask nicely and promise to behave."
"I'll wait, and make sure I break something when I get myself down from here."
"That's the Spirit."
Wow. Alex must have seriously hit the wrong button if Vain was willing to put any actual effort into tormenting him...
Or...
With Alex secure on his hip, Vain turned to face us.
Nigel and I stood in silent horror, coming to terms with the aftermath.
Vain raised an eyebrow at our shared looks of shock.
"Stop gawking. If you hadn't noticed, I abandoned all self-respect long ago."
With that, he turned his back to us, resuming his ascent of the stairs.
Alex continued to snarl abuse at him, but Vain tolerated each jibe with calm ease.
I just shook my head in disbelief.
"I would be laughing my ass off right now if I wasn't so terrified," I said to Nigel as he moved to follow the bickering pair... At a distance.
Even so, we reached the top of the stairs quickly, and Alex only grumbled once before pointing us in the right direction.
Vain walked on ahead, making no acknowledgement as Alex slumped to rest against his shoulder.
"Vain's is...a lot kinder... Then I thought..." Nigel mumbled very quietly, and I tilted my head back to see a sort of... sad smile on the tall blonde's face.
I sent a guilty look at my hands.
"Even you noticed, huh?"
"I practised reading signs of pain... So I wouldn't make mistakes... " Nigel admitted softly.
Cassandra was spiteful.
Of course, she wouldn't just let him leave her influence without making a fuss.
"Damn idiot," I growled, hands clenching in my lap. "He doesn't want us to know."
So Vain had made an excuse to carry him.
"You're the same, though," Nigel said, earning himself a sour glare from me.
"Nonsense. I have evolved beyond pain." I sniffed haughtily. "All I feel is hunger."
Nigel smiled, glancing up at where Vain and Alex were taking a turn ahead of us.
"We'll have to go for ice-cream after this."
"That... Was the smartest thing you've ever said to me, Nigel." I gave him a nod of approval. "Keep up the good work, and I might even promote you to one of my food sources."
"...please don't. Alex says you're very expensive..."
Heh, yea, Alex has been packing enough to accommodate my mooching ways for years... And I demand the best quality... to make up for the lack of junk food.
"Fine." I conceded, lying down on my back to stare up at the dark ceiling. "The only thing you eat is peanut butter anyway."
I was too 'hungry' to sit up anyway.
"... I like peanut butter. "
"You eat it out of the Jar Nigel." I couldn't stop my face from twisting with disgust. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say your taste buds were insensitive too. "
Nigel mumbled something about "biting my tongue by accident" but didn't argue his weird tastes.
Or lack there off.
We fell silent, leaving only the sound of Vain and Alex talking softly to each other about directions.
Honestly, I was starting to understand why it had taken so long for them to find us.
The Underground... Kinda went overboard with their namesake...
This place had to be multiple stories deep, and almost as big as the entire school... Including all the destroyed areas we came across.
I was sure that we were taking the long way, simply to avoid the more damaged paths.
Which suited me fine. As super tough and ninja as we might be, climbing through unstable architecture and avoiding death traps in the dark was just begging the universe to screw you over...
Not that the universe ever really needed to be asked.