The Incarnation, chapter 4
DISCLAIMER- I DON'T OWN HETALIA! Now on with the story!
Kate and Walt walked in silence with the Englishman behind them, in case they tried to run. Kate, despite her attempts to handle this situation maturely, kept a firm grip on her brother's arm. Thankfully, Walt didn't say anything teasing, and he stayed silent. Arthur knocked on the door.
"Alfred? Are you ready for the last two? It's the Whitmans," he called.
"You have to call me by my title, Artie," Alfred's voice sang from behind the wooden door. Arthur turned red and glared at the door. Kate and Walt looked at Arthur and the door wearily, unsure of what was going to happen next.
"Git, you don't have a bloody title! Open the damn door," Arthur snapped.
"Come on, Iggy! I totally do! I have a PhD , so I do have a title," Alfred retorted through the door with a laugh. Kate paled at the word that came into her mind. Arthur grit his teeth.
"Doctor Jones, are you ready for the next two?" he hissed, not enjoying the game. Alfred laughed loudly.
"Sure am, dude! Bring in the next two patients," Alfred hollered. Kate scooched away from the door, still holding onto Walt. Arthur saw her inching away and gave her a steady stare.
"You're not going anywhere. Ludwig would pick you up and carry you back here," he pointed out. Walt scowled at him.
"She hates doctors, you creep," he snarled. Arthur stared at the girl in pity. She responded with a weak glare.
"I assure you, Kathryn, nothing is going to happen to you. It's just a check up, basically. Height, weight, all the normal stuff. It will be quicker if you cooperate," he tried to convince. Kate finally found the right muscles to open her mouth.
"Whatever," she mumbled, looking down at the floor. She was almost positive she was in hell, and this was her eternal punishment- idiots talking down to her and doctors. Her thoughts of inferno and punishment faded when Alfred opened the door, who was dressed up for the part of a doctor- dark blue scrubs (which were dotted with Captain America shields), neon blue latex gloves on his hands, and a stethoscope around his neck like a medal.
"You look stupid. Here, start with Walter," Arthur commanded, guiding Walt towards the giant medical bed. Everything in the room was that of a real doctor's office- a clean white room, jars of cotton balls, needle caps, and tongue depressors, a scale, and a tape measure for height. Walt glared at Arthur.
"It's Walt," he snapped before flopping himself on the bed. Kate sat down on the floor and held her knees to her chest. Arthur tapped her shoulder, so she looked up. Arthur offered her a red book with black letters spelling out, "The Beekeeper's Apprentice", the book she had been reading when she was kidnapped. She nodded her head in thanks and began to read, starting on page 172.
Kate read until page 210 because she was informed that it was her turn. "Dudette, you're up! Take off your shoes and get onto to the scale," Alfred commanded. Kate dog-eared the page and went up to the scale. She winced at the digital numbers on the scale. "Huh. You seem kinda underweight. Kay. Height?" Kate shuffled off the scale and stood next to Alfred. He dropped a tape measure and made note of her 5' 4" height in his notebook. "Cool! Move to the table, dudette! We'll get some more basic stuff, kay?" Kate moved to the table, still silent. Honestly, at least Walt had griped! The silence was just plain eerie to America, since he was used to all noise all the time. The silence continued until the end of the near end of the check up. "Alright, dudette. Just one little booster shot and-" Kate shot up like a bullet and sprinted out the door. Walt smirked while the Alfred and Arthur cursed under their breaths and sprinted out after her. Walt went to the doorway and called out, "Run, Forrest, run!" before walking back to the "doctor's office".
Kate skidded to a halt and looked around frantically. They were on a blimp! How hard was it to get lost on a blimp!? Apparently, not very hard at all. Hearing the yelling of Arthur and Alfred, she quickly chose a hallway and ran with it. She heard male voices communicating, so she listened for Liam's voice. She ran to the very end of the hallway, for she hadn't heard Liam's voice. She heard a thudding on the last door and decided to take a chance. She barged in and stared helplessly at two boys, one of which was Liam and the other was that pale, dark haired boy from before.
Liam stood up. "Kate? What are those jerks trying to pull?" he asked protectively. Kate gulped in a deep breath and answered him.
"They're doing a doctor check up, and one of them wants to insert a death stick into my skin! Please, let me hide in here, I'll be quiet," Kate begged. Liam nodded with no hesitation.
"Sure. Under my bed." Kate sighed with relief and got down on all fours.
"Uh, Kate? That's your name, right? Shots really aren't that bad. It's like getting pinched very fast. Nothing bad happens," the boy tried to coerce. Liam laughed slightly with a smile.
"Try all you want, Alvaro. Kate's been afraid of needles and doctors since I met her. A leopard can't change its spots," Liam laughed.
"If they come by, tell them to check the girl's wing. I'm not coming out," she mumbled from underneath Liam's bed. As if on cue, there was a quick set of knocks and Liam shushed her.
"Si, slave drivers?" Alvaro asked moodily through the door. Alfred opened the door.
"Hey, the US stopped slavery a while ago. We're not slave drivers, so shut it, Alvie," Alfred pouted. Alvaro grit his teeth at the irritating nickname.
"Don't call me that, slave driver!" Alfred totally ignored the Spanish boy.
"Anyways, me and Arthur are looking for Kathryn Whitman. You know, kinda short, bad temper, brown bob with curls at the end? Blue eyes? Know where she is?" he asked, looking straight at Liam. Liam kept up his poker face.
"Have you tried, oh I don't know, her room first?" Liam asked in feigned annoyance. Alfred shook his head.
"Nah, dudette is too smart for that. Unless…" A look of understanding dawned on Alfred's face. "Unless she knows that we know she's smart, so she acted dumb by going to her room! Thanks, dudes!" And with that, Alfred shut the door. Kate sighed in relief and crawled out from under the bed.
"Oh my God, they overestimate me. I don't know if I should be worried or grateful," she chuckled. The door slammed open again and Alfred and Arthur smirked triumphantly. Kate's smile dropped and terror was back in her eyes.
"HAHAHA! Told you that would work, Iggy!" Arthur shrugged good-naturedly.
"Yes, you did. Now Kathryn, don't make this any harder than it has to be. It's just a quick little prick," Arthur swore. Kate shook her head rapidly and backed herself up against the wall.
"Uh uh. No. Nyet. Nein. Ie. Di. Non. Nei," Kate denied, looking around for an escape route and breathing hard. Arthur sighed and speed walked over to the girl and hoisted her over his shoulder.
"No matter how many languages you say "no" in, you're still getting the bloody shot, so calm down," Arthur commanded, growing impatient. Kate kicked and punched at the Brit's back, but it made no difference. Alfred caught a flailing arm and swiftly pushed the needle into her bicep and pulled the needle out. Kate bit her lip to contain a scream, and she glared at the two evil doctors. The two sighed as Alfred put on an Iron Man band-aid.
"Finally," Alfred grumbled. "I'm starving." The two walked away, Kate glaring a hole into their torsos.
"We've got to get out of here. There's no other option. I don't care what they want us for anymore, but I don't want to be with them," she thought, gazing at her companions. Her gaze turned to the sketch-book and pencil in Alvaro's hand. "You guys want to play hangman? I'm bored, and we might as well if we're stuck here, right?" she asked. Alvaro gave her an odd look, but Liam had caught on to her tone. That tone had delayed their capture for forty-five minutes, so he figured it was best to trust the tone.
"Sure. You want to start, Kate?" Liam asked. Kate glanced at him gratefully.
"Yeah." Alvaro handed over his sketch-book and pencil. Kate drew six horizontal lines for the sixth word, two lines for the fifth, five lines for the fourth, two lines for the third, three lines for the second, and three lines for the first. She drew the little hanger, and turned to Liam. "Guess a letter."
Liam knew Kate well. Kate thrived on mind games like word puzzles and logic puzzles. This was another puzzle to her, meaning it had to be semi-important. He'd reckon it was about outsmarting their kidnappers, so he guessed an "I" for idea. Kate nodded, and wrote down an "I" in the 11th slot of 21 slots.
"Your turn, Alvaro," she offered, keeping her poker face strong. He gave her a weird look, still not understanding why she and Liam were acting strange, but guessed an "O". She actually smiled and wrote down an O in the second, ninth, and fourteenth slots.
"Go Liam." And so the secret message game continued until there were four slots left, and Alvaro finally understood where this was going. Was she insane for trying to insinuate that they could? Yes. Did Alvaro trust her enough to go with her on this? Absolutely. Alvaro had heard the angry Italian Lovino/Romano rant at the two German dudes for letting a teenage girl evade capture for so long. Alvaro guessed the final letter, an "E". Kate full on grinned and handed him the sketch book.
"Pick a word," she invited. By word, Alvaro was pretty sure she meant idea, but she was expecting him to think of a plan? Instead Alvaro wrote down two words, the first having three letters, and the second having five.
"Liam, guess a letter," Alvaro said. Seeing Alvaro's confused expression, Liam already had an idea of what the puzzle solution was, so he guessed an "A" . Alvaro wrote down the A in the first slot and the seventh slot.
Kate guessed a "Y", so Alvaro filled in the third slot. Kate frowned. She already knew what the solution was. "Can I solve it real fast?" Alvaro nodded and handed her the sketchbook and pencil. She scribbled in the rest of the message. She bit her lip in thought. Wasn't much of a brainstorm if there were only three of them there, out of the 12 people kidnapped. "Why don't we get the others to play? It makes it more interesting, since I can practically read Liam's mind," she scoffed. Liam spread his arms out in an offended gesture.
"Hey!" Kate shrugged with a smirk.
"Not my fault you're easier to read than a picture book. Is that ok?" she asked, referring to her first question. Alvaro nodded.
"Si, that's probably best." Kate nodded and twirled on her foot to go recruit more people for their mission. Once Kate left down the hall, Alvaro smirked at Liam.
"So you two must be pretty close for her to read your mind, eh?" he asked saucily, grinning lecherously at Liam. Liam huffed and swatted him with the pillow that was on his bed.
"Shut it, bull fighter."
"Seriously! You two must be really good friends for her to know your cues that well," he elaborated, still with that stupid grin on his face.
"We met through English class. She was my tutor because English class is stupid and I didn't pay any attention. I found out she liked Marvel over DC. Bugged her ever since, and we became friends," he summarized, keeping it short and sweet.
Honestly, Kate and Liam hated each other when they first met. Kate, as the too-damn-smart, supposed-to-be-freshman tutor, thought he was a slacker. Liam assumed she had a stick permanently up her ass because she was the only freshman in the sophomore English class. One day, Kate's ringtone played, and Walt was pleasantly surprised that it was the main chorus from "The Avengers". The two had bonded since then.
"Guys, I think we have some more interesting puzzles to solve now," Kate reported, snapping Liam out of his reverie. Every kidnapped kid stood behind her, ready for something good. Liam stood up and spread his arms out wide in "welcome gesture".
"Sit in a circle, peeps. We'll be following a theme. The theme's already been set on a few previous rounds. We'll have Viola and company go first, since they're the oldest," Liam suggested. Everyone nodded and sat down in a circle. Viola grabbed the sketchbook and pencil while her other two triplets looked over her shoulder.
"Food's the category then? Let's play," Marc said, grinning wickedly.
The English Johnson triplets' Hangman idea was actually decent, however, a variable seemed to be missing. Luca, the fourteen-year-old Italian boy, pointed these out in his Hangman puzzle. Penelope Durand, the 17-year-old that Gilbert (also known as Evil Albino to the Americans) had been teasing in French, solved his puzzle, and she created a few solutions, though some of them created more problems. Jordan Marks, the 18-year-old Californian, brought up points that didn't solve the problems, but brought everyone to a sound conclusion. Val, who had solved Jordan's, nodded and was passed the sketchbook.
Val's last puzzle was the finalizing note. Even though it was one of the longest puzzles, no one had trouble solving it. Gilbert barged in the room and glared at all of them. Walt, who still hadn't forgiven him for being so rude to Kate, stood up, and the two big egos had a glare-off. Finally, Evil Albino caved.
"You unawesome people need to eat. There's dinner in the kitchen. Try not to stain the carpet. This is my best Zeppelin," he growled before stalking out of the room. Before the detainees followed him, they all read the Hangman messages one more time.
Puzzle 1- How are we going to escape?-Kate Whitman
Puzzle 2- Any Ideas?- Alvaro Fernández
Puzzle 3- There's a lower level. We can hide until we hit the ground. We run while the kidnappers are distracted when they unboard- Jack, Marc, and Viola Johnson
Puzzle 4- Good idea, but how do we get to the lower level?- Luca Costa
Puzzle 5- There's a door in the main hallway that leads to maintenance in lower level, I saw blonde German go down with wrench, but it may be locked. What then?- Penelope Durand
Puzzle 6- The locks are just a slot. Anyone with long nails can unlock it. The real problem is security- Jordan Marks
Puzzle 7- Meet in the main hallway at midnight. There may be security detail but we have to risk it. It's the best plan we have. Those guys won't know what hit them.- Val Jerome