Edit: Holy crap I finished this one a lot faster than CHROME Academy.
…well. This took longer than I initially anticipated.
Sorry.
Holy CRAP my writing style still sucked last time I updated this.
Well, I mean, it still sucks, now. But… You know what I mean. Holy crap.
"We-e-ell, wasn't this a fantastic idea?" Siddeley sarcastically commented once inside the dark, ominous building. Every step creaked and eerie clouds of dust were slowly filling the air.
"Wasn't it your 'fantastic idea'?" Cammie shot at him.
"No…!" Siddeley grumbled. "Probably not…" He murmured.
"It was yours, Cammie." Holley said, dryly, trying to settle the argument before it got worse.
"Harry's the one who thought it would be a magical doughnut stand…" Cammie pointed out.
"Uh, actually, it wasn't…?" Harry spoke up.
"Alright! Shush!" Holley snapped. "Finn? Any deductions?"
Finn had been ignoring the rest of the group while lightly scoping the area. "No, nothing yet…" His voice came out in a skeptical hum.
"Well, can we at least get some light in here?" Siddeley complained, his eyes darting around uneasily.
"Never was very fond of darkness, were you, Sid?" Finn remarked.
"Meh." Siddeley sneered.
Finn rummaged around in his pocket and revealed a pocket-sized flashlight.
"You… Carry a torch with you?" Harry asked.
"You don't?" Finn asked to shut him up. With an echoing click, a long beam of light illuminated the dust in its path, the glow washing along the wall at the end of their path.
"Holy—what?!" Harry practically jumped into Holley's arms. "The bloody hell are we?!"
"Someone hold me." Siddeley whimpered.
"Alright, that's… Interesting." Holley tilted her head in confusion.
Arranged in front of them were dozens upon dozens of mannequins—old and abandoned.
Finn shone the flashlight over several individual ones. "What in the world?" He wondered aloud.
"…welp! I'm ready to leave!" Cammie's mouth was in a straight line. "Who's with me-e-e…?"
"Me." Siddeley shakily agreed.
"Me." Harry squeaked.
"Never was fond of mannequins, myself…" Holly announced.
"Sounds like a good plan…" Finn slowly nodded. They all backed out of the abandoned factory—at least, that's what they assumed it was in the end—and a few members in particular ran back to the car.
Gasping for breath, Siddeley looked over at Finn. "Keys?"
"Right, yes…" Finn replied, diving back into his pockets.
While distracted, Cammie heard a click directly behind her head—the distinct noise of a hammer on a gun being pulled back. "Ah, fudge." She groaned. "Holley?"
Holley glanced over. "Finn…!" Holley swatted at Finn's arm who also glanced up.
"What happened to 'always be prepared'?" The woman holding Cammie at gunpoint asked with a playful look in her eyes. She had dark red hair and olive skin, most of which was covered in—for the most part—black clothes. Holley noticed the woman's eyes were such a light blue, they appeared gray. In fact, she decided that they were.
"I thought Candy and Mandy were just kidding. Huh." The woman grinned. "Well, kudos to them."
"Those twins? They're… Working for—wait, who are you working for?" Harry asked.
"Axelrod, of course." She shrugged.
"Of course you are…" Cammie frowned. The woman tugged on her with a tighter grip than before.
Holley glanced at Finn, expecting to see his gun was out, as well, finger ready to take the safety off at a moment's notice. Her hopes sunk when she remembered Siddeley convinced him to leave it in the van.
"He-ey, random lady with a gun…" Siddeley tilted his head to the side. "Can you… You know… Not, maybe…?" He tried asking.
The redhead shoved Cammie forward and settled on pointing the gun at the group.
"Thanks… Cammie mumbled.
The redhead motioned towards the car with the gun. "Get in."
…
"Well, this was part of the day I didn't anticipate." Harry announced while they were being driven down the interstate by the redhead.
"Neither were the mannequins." Cammie pointed out.
"Yeah." Siddeley agreed.
"Hey." The redhead quietly barked, indicating she wanted them to be quiet.
A few more minutes of silent travel later, they arrived at an underground parking garage. An abandoned underground parking garage, to be exact.
"At least there's no mannequins inside." Holley tried keeping them positive, but figured it was useless.
"At least." Harry frowned.
The redhead's high heel boots clicked against the stone floor as she walked over to a wall and pressed a button. There was a low rumbling as a large portion of the wall retreated, revealing a passage.
Siddeley nodded, his mouth in a straight line. "Subtle." He complimented.
She aimed the gun once more. "In you go." She instructed.
They hesitated, but obeyed. Finn was kicking himself over leaving the gun in the car the whole way.
"Ah, there are the spies!" someone announced gleefully. Finn narrowed his eyes. The Lemons. Of course. Who else, nowadays…?
Finn sighed and rolled his eyes. "Honestly, doesn't it ever get tiring?" He asked. "I'm sure tired of seeing you." He frowned.
"Oh, ha, ha." The random Lemon driver rolled his eyes. "So funny."
"Wasn't trying to be." Finn replied.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever—shut up." He turned his back on him to discuss something quietly with another driver.
"Aye!" Cammie suddenly yelled.
"What?" Yet another driver asked while all the Lemons turned towards her.
"…hi." She grinned.
"…okay…" The first driver replied.
"Wait!" Cammie exclaimed again.
"What?"
"I have a question." Cammie spoke very loud and was annunciating very carefully.
"What?!"
Cammie opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated, and instead, turned and kicked the redhead in the face. She cursed while her hands flew up to her nose.
The Lemon drivers cursed as well and Siddeley and Harry automatically dove for cover behind some scattered boxes. Finn grabbed the redhead's gun while Holley decided to make herself useful by temporarily apprehending her. Cammie threw a panicked look around and followed Siddeley and Harry's leads.
"Uh-h-h-h, so what's going on out there?" Harry asked Cammie once she took cover, as well.
"I don't know!" She replied in a high-pitched voice, emphasizing a 'how am I supposed to know?' attitude.
All the three could hear were various gunshots, until Holley took cover, as well, holding the redhead's hands behind her back.
"Holla-a-ay!" Harry grinned.
"Hi." She huffed a strand of hair out of her face.
"Finn doing okay?" Sid asked.
"He's fine. I should probably be helping him…" Holley frowned.
"Nah, like you said, he's doing fine, right?" Cammie asked.
"Pretty fine." Holley nodded as the gunfire stopped. "Hm?" Holley hummed.
Cammie peeked over the edge of her box. "Good job, Finn!"
"Didn't kill anyone, did ya?" Siddeley bugged—as he usually did.
Finn rolled his eyes. "No." The worst injuries some drivers had were a shot or two to the leg.
"I'll call CHROME. Finn," Holley announced, then passed the redhead onto him. She struggled, but didn't get away.
"Thank you for the distraction, Cammie." Finn smiled.
Cammie curtsied. "Yep." She grinned.
…
After CHROME came by and got to work apprehending the Lemons and cleaning up most of the mess—the group was extremely grateful they didn't have to stay and help—most of the rest of the ride was silent in either confusion or shock. Or both.
Mostly confusion.
"You know what I don't understand, though…" Holley spoke up.
"What?" Finn replied.
"Where was the Professor…? And… Grem and Acer? Wait, no—"
"Grem and Acer are still in prison." Finn said before she could.
"Right. So, the Professor?"
"Hm…" Finn mused. "As much as I hate to say it, he's bound to turn up."
"Alright, then." Siddeley reclined in his seat. "Hey, state update?"
"New Mexico." Finn replied.
"Seriously?" Cammie sat up and took an earbud out.
"Seriously. Shouldn't be more than an hour or two." Holley confirmed.
"Oh, finally!" Cammie groaned. "Gonna sleep in an actual bed!"
"Oh-h, man. An actual bed." Harry grinned.
"And actual food." Siddeley added. "We're going where Flo's at, remember?"
"Yeah…" Holley smiled.
"I need her chocolate cake." Cammie growled.
Siddeley looked at his sister. "Jesus, Cam, calm down."
…
"Woo-o-o-o-o hoo-o-o-o!" Siddeley cheered as the car drove into the dusty town.
"Finally!" Cammie laughed along with her brother.
"Yay!" Harry said in a high-pitched voice.
"Whoa. Ow." Holley brought her hand up to her ear. "Please keep it down for five more minutes?"
"Eh… I mean… Maybe, maybe not." Harry grinned.
Holley sighed.
In the next few minutes, they parked and filed out of the car.
"Ground! Heat! Woo!" Cammie cheered.
"Hold up…" Siddeley paused. "Did you hear that?"
Someone behind them gurgled something inaudibly but angrily, and they all turned to see Professor Z barely standing, and so dirty he could have convincingly been wandering out in the desert for quite a while, now.
Everyone sort of just stared at him. "…wait, what?" Harry asked.
"Well… He turned up, at least…?" Holley suggested.
A sudden honk, and Z was knocked over my Mater's rusty truck. "Holy freakin' McNuggets!" Mater stepped out of his truck with wide eyes.
More silence.
"…I'm… Gonna call CHROME… Get him sent to the hospital… Then prison…" Holley suggested.
"Yeah, good idea…" Finn agreed. "Good… Job, Mater…?"
"…it was an accident…" Mater mumbled, looking over at Z.
"…so, uh… T-to Flo's…?" Cammie asked.
"Yeah." Siddeley nodded. "Hey, I've got a great idea."
"What?" Harry asked.
"How about we never speak about this again?" Sid suggested. "Like… Ever."
"Best idea you've had this whole trip." Finn congratulated.
"The whole trip that we're never going to speak of again." Cammie emphasized.
"Wait." Harry interrupted. "Last time I'm gonna speak of it, but, uh… What happened to those twins?"
"And who was the woman who kidnapped us…?" Holley added.
"…right. Never speaking of it again. Let's enjoy just a bit of a vacation?" Sid asked.
"Agreed." Almost everyone replied.
HEY SEE I'M NOT DEAD
STILL NOT DEAD
HEY STILL BREATHING OVER HERE
Right okay sorry
Anyway hey. Still working on my fics over here. Expect more BEFORE the end of the year, this time.
…*sings TryHardNinja songs while I write* DON'T KNOW IF I HAVE EVA HEARD YOU SING BUT I HEAR IIIIIT
WE CAN PICK A UNIVERSE LET'S GO-O-OO-O-OO-OOO-O-O
WHERE I SAT AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD THE KING OF BOXES AND STONE
TELL ME HOW DO WE LIIIIVE AFTER THE END OF THE WOOOOORLD?
YEAH THAT WAS THE DAAAY I STAYED UP ALL NIGHT PLAYIN' GA-A-A-AMES
FEED THE NEEED THE ENERGYYYY DRAAAAIIIN IT 'TILL IT'S GO-ONE
TAKE BAAACK THE NIIIIGHT
SAY WHAT YOU WANT CREEPIIIN' AIN'T EASYYY
OHHH WOULDN'T IT BE GREAT IF LIFE WAS LIKE VIDEO GAAAMES
TONIGHT WE GO TO WAAAR
Why are you still reading this? Just a crazy fangirl passionately typing lyrics to her YouTube crush's songs in caps lock because she can. Not very entertaining. But I've got like 20 more I could type.
Hey think you could leave this peasant a review? Hehe.