A/N: Wow, it has been more than a month since I last updated. That is sad on so many levels.
I'm really sorry you guys! This last month has been crazy, what with finals and all the papers I had to write. But I am on break now and therefore I can update more often!
On the chapter ideas you guys have so graciously given me: I will start on them soon, I promise. I just have a few ideas of my own that I want to write and then I will get on those ideas, ok?
So here is a belated and extra long Christmas gift. I hope you all like it!
~BR~
Minion's job was a simple one: take care of Syx. He was to make sure that Syx had food, water, clothing, housing, and all the other basic necessities of life. Most importantly, he was to keep Syx safe, healthy, and happy.
It was the part of keeping his charge healthy that Minion found to be the most challenging. It had been easy when Syx was younger. All Minion had to do was keep Syx away from the sick prisoners and inside when the weather was foul. For a time that was all the precautions Minion needed to take.
Then, as Syx grew, it became much more complicated. If he heard one his uncles was sick then it seemed he suddenly just had to visit that uncle. The excuses varied but the boy always had one that required him to visit the sick individual immediately.
After the child eating monster in the sky incident it seemed Syx was bound and determined to only go outside when the weather was anything but sunny. Despite various attempts to tell him otherwise, Syx still didn't believe that the sky monster wasn't real. Any new weather that Syx hadn't seen before and the child was instantly outside.
It seemed he wanted to test to what the new weather had to do with the monster. So far, rain equaled drool and snow was frozen drool. Apparently, the monster drooled so much because there were so many tasty children in the world. The guards thought this was utterly hilarious and began say it was drooling whenever it rained or snowed.
Irregardless, it was only a matter of time before Syx got sick. So, Minion took matters into his own… fins.
~BR~
"Why the hell does the brat need to be vaccinated?"
Minion winced at the Warden's sharp tone. The small mountain of paperwork on the Warden's desk suggested that Minion should have picked a better time to visit. Though the more time it took to get this mission done the more chances Syx could get sick.
So, desperate times and all that.
"Syx needs to get vaccinated before he gets sick. I don't know what would happen to him if he got sick from one of your human illnesses," Minon replied with a shudder. He did not want to see his charge die from a cold. "Besides, I could make it worth your while."
Blackwell's eyes narrowed at Minion. "Are you trying to bribe me?
"Of course not! I'm just suggesting that if you had Syx vaccinated then I could do something for you in return. Like a favor," Minion chirped happily.
Minion could almost see the wheels turning in Blackwell's head. "Exactly what kind of favor are we talking about here?" the man asked warily.
It was all Minion could do to keep from grinning outright. Finally, he had progress! Though now he needed something he could do that the Warden would be interested in.
"I could keep Syx away from you for a week."
Blackwell stopped the impression that he was actually working on paperwork and regarded the fish with something like hope in his eyes. "You can actually do that?"
Minion nodded solemnly. Syx would be disappointed that he wasn't allowed to see the Warden but he would get over it. After all, it was only for a week.
~BR~
Minion whistled happily as he rolled his glass container back to the cell he shared with Syx. He could already see the child sprawled out on the floor, scribbling away on some new idea.
Before Minion could say hello, however, Syx abruptly let out an enormous sneeze. He sniffed loudly and absentmindedly rubbed his nose with his sleeve. Then, almost an afterthought, Syx coughed and went back to doodling.
Minion must have made a sound, he didn't remember doing so, because Syx suddenly glanced up. Upon seeing him the child's eyes widened and his body tensed. He looked like an animal that had caught sight of a predator.
Minion was too shocked to do anything but stare back. The impromptu staring contest lasted for what seemed like hours. Finally it was broken by yet another enormous sneeze from Syx.
That, if nothing else, broke the spell of silence that held them both. Syx tried to run past Minion and out the cell to freedom. Minion put a stop to that by throwing his ball forward and hitting Syx in the knees. The child fell with a small cry and crashed face-first to the floor.
Minion quickly jettisoned his glass ball upwards onto the child's back so he could not suddenly escape. "I can't believe you are sick, Sir! You went and played outside in the snow didn't you? Probably without your coat, even though I told you so many times to put it on!" he scolded.
Minion took a breath to resume his rant but let it out as a sigh when he heard muffled words coming from the boy. Rolling his eyes, Minion rolled off the boy's back and gazed expectantly at Syx.
Syx lifted his face from where it was previously pressed to the ground and gazed mournfully at Minion. When Minion's stare didn't relent Syx sat up and fidgeted nervously, "I sorry Minion. I just wanted to play in the frozen drool. I saw a show on the viewing device know as the teeveee that depicted that the drool could be fashioned to make living beings! So I tried to reenact the scene. It didn't work," the child said sadly.
Despite the fact that Syx had disobeyed him and gotten himself sick, Minion just couldn't stay mad. He never could with Syx for very long. He sighed, "Well, it doesn't matter now. However, I must tell the Warden to call a doctor. Who knows what illness you caught and what it will do to your systems."
Minon tried to do just that but he found himself lifted of the ground without warning. He tried to force himself out of Syx's arms but to no avail.
"No, you can't do that! Really I'm fine! ACHOOO!"
Minion simply raised an eyeridge in reply.
With his face fast tuning purple with embarrassment Syx sighed in defeat. That didn't mean he couldn't' try one last desperate ploy. "Can we at least wait until tomorrow? Please Minion?" he asked as he hugged the fish closer.
This endeavor earned Syx a sigh as Minion relented, "Very well, Sir. But first thing in the morning I am asking the Warden to call a doctor. No if, ands, or buts about it. Understand?"
Syx nodded furiously, "Pefectly Minion!"
~BR~
Warden Blackwell sighed happily as he thought about his blue-alien-free week.
Finally, he had a week to actually do his job and nothing more. No more planning birthday parties, spending time with the blue monster, or having those godforsaken petitions to deal with.
He could actually catch up on the paperwork and….what else was he supposed to do? Blackwell frowned as he tried to remember those pre-blue-menace times. The brat had been in his prison so long that Blackwell actually had a hard time remembering the times that the pest wasn't there.
Wonderful. He actually had free time to do his job but couldn't remember what his job entailed that didn't include something to do with the brat. The little pest was like a freakin fungus, infecting everything he came into contact with.
Blackwell sighed and ran a hand through his slowly graying hair. He supposed he could do the ever present paperwork and perhaps take a patrol around the prison. Besides that, he had no clue what to do.
Any further musings were dashed from the Warden's mind when his door suddenly burst open. Something small rushed in and began to circle his desk at almost breakneck speed. Blackwell couldn't tell what exactly it was for it never stopped circling and he couldn't get a good look at it.
It was extremely noisy too. As the mysterious object continued in its never-ending circuit around Blackwell's desk he thought he could hear something akin to words coming from it. It sounded close to, "!"
Blackwell eventually recovered from his shock and desperately tried to figure out what the hell was going on. With a start he realized that the thing screaming in his office was the fish and it was more freaked out then Blackwell had ever seen it.
Watching the fish circling closely, he suddenly reached out and grabbed the fish off the floor. It didn't seem to notice, it just kept trying to run and kept screaming in panicked gibberish.
So he went against the number one rule of owning a fish: he shook the bag. Well, ball in this case but the aftereffects were the same. The fish slammed against his container and was temporarily dazed. It quickly wore off and the fish looked at Blackwell like he betrayed him or something.
This was completely unfair to start with. Something was wrong and he needed answers that weren't strung together in one long word. So he met the fish's look with a glare in return. The fish seemed to get the unspoken message because his brown eyes suddenly widened.
"Warden you need call a doctor as quick as you can! Something is wrong with Syx! I can't wake him up and he looks really bad! Help him!" the fish wailed.
Blackwell felt his stomach clench and wind abruptly rushed in his ears. He tucked the fish under one arm and all out sprinted to the boy's cell.
The fish, to his credit, didn't say anything to distract the man holding him. Soon, they reached the boy's cell and Blackwell all but slammed the cell door open.
The boy lay deathly still on the cot. For one heart stopping moment, Blackwell thought the brat was dead. Then, though he would deny it till his dying day, he saw the small chest rise and fall. It was accompanied by a shuddering cough that made Blackwell heart clench to listen to.
Before he could so something embarrassing like rush to the pest's side, God forbid the prisoners seeing that, he pulled out his phone and dialed 911.
~BR~
Twenty agonizing minutes later and the paramedics finally arrived. Normally Blackwell would have rushed the blue menace up to the prison infirmary and would be done with it.
However, that just wasn't possible at the moment. Frank, their resident doctor, had gone out of state to witness the birth of his first grandchild. His replacement was snowed in his country home and couldn't come in.
So any medical emergency in the prison would have to be taken care of by some quacks from the city. They were quacks because ever since the brat landed the local doctors and scientists of Metro City had been clamoring to run all manner of tests of the poor kid.
Blackwell might not particularly like the kid but he wasn't heartless. So he denied them access to the child and stopped answering their calls. However, the bastards just didn't take a hint. It was getting to the point where he wanted to sic the fish on them and be done with it all.
Now this had happened. Blackwell could see the sick satisfaction on the bastards' faces as they passed him by in Hazmat suits. They all crowded around the brat and carried him away to the infirmary.
They screened of the cell and barricaded themselves within the infirmary, denying Blackwell each time he tried to enter. Something on the grounds of possible contamination but that was just a load of bull. They just wanted to do whatever they could in the time they had without him interfering.
They had originally planned on taking the fish too, to test for contamination they said, but Blackwell wouldn't let them. He did not want to tell the brat that his fish had been dissected or something in the name of science when he finally woke up.
So, he and the fish kept a vigil outside the infirmary door. Guards drooped in frequently for updates and to bring supplies such as snacks and water. They all looked desperately worried and reported that the prisoners were sending their thoughts and prayers for Syx's health to improve.
Blackwell snorted as he thought of what the guards were also bringing. The supposedly badass prisoners had sent almost a hundred get well cards. Crudely drawn and in some cases poorly spelled, they were ridiculous. He would have just put them in an envelope to give the brat later but the fish seemed to get some comfort by reading them.
Blackwell was about to pick one up and read it out of mix of curiosity and boredom when, after an almost two long vigil, the door to the infirmary opened.
A nervous looking young woman in a Hazmat suit peeked out the door. Spying the Warden and Minion she quietly closed the door and rushed over.
She tried to speak but the Hazmat suit muffled her words. Rolling her eyes in annoyance she slowly freed herself from it. It revealed a freckled face and a mess of brown, curly hair.
Taking a quick look at the closed door behind her the woman leaned in and whispered, "I'm not supposed to be telling you this but I just had to give you some news. It's not right to keep you all in the dark like this. We brought his fever down and reduced the fluid buildup in his lungs," the girl shot another quick look over her shoulder at the door.
"However, the head doctor wants to run some tests that are completely unnecessary! I know the little guy isn't human but this is just wrong! He won't listen to me, so you have to stop him!" the girl finished breathlessly after her impromptu speech.
That was the last straw for the Warden. They just bought themselves an express ticket out of his prison. Giving a grateful nod at the compassionate nurse he scooped up the fish and slammed the door to the infirmary open.
A sea of Hazmat suits turned toward him in astonishment. One steeped forward and motioned for him to exit but Blackwell shoved him aside. These jerks had had their fun and they were leaving now. He could practically feel the fish's anger at these interlopers.
In the mass of orange suits the brat stood out like a beacon. Striding forward Blackwell gently placed the fish next to the boy's enormous head. The fish practically melted in relief and he moved his container as close to the boy's skin as he could.
Not that the pest noticed the attempt at comfort. He was asleep, his chest rising much easier than earlier and his skin was much less purple than it had been. An IV was connected to his arm and a thin blanket had been thrown over him. Realizing he was staring Blackwell did an abrupt about face and glared at the assembled doctors.
The huddled together nervously under his angry gaze and tried to put as much distance between themselves and the Warden.
In a soft voice that shook slightly Blackwell said, "Get the hell out of my prison. Your job is done and if you stay and longer I will not be responsible to what might befall you. Say, perhaps an unexpected riot will occur and you all might get hurt in the chaos. We don't want that now do we?"
That got a reaction. The doctors shoved each other out of the way as they tried to escape at once. The only ones that stayed was the one who tried to get him to leave earlier and the young nurse.
The man tore off his suit and glared at Blackwell, "You can't just throw us out! And you certainly can't threaten us like that!
Blackwell sighed and rubbed at his eyes. Threatening somebody was all well and good but it got annoying when lawyers were brought in. The last thing he needed was for this quack to sue him.
"Look, how about you leave before I report you for unethical treatment of one of my prisoners," Blackwell replied in what he hoped was a reasonable tone.
The man sputtered angrily, "Unethical treatment! It was just a few harmless tests! Can't you see the medical and scientific discoveries we could achieve by studying this alien?"
"If you want your stupid discoveries that why haven't you run tests on Metrason's kid?"
The doctor sighed sadly, "Well, we would but needles can't penetrate his skin. We can't do anything if we can't even get a blood sample. So you see why this alien is so important to us?"
"All I see is a bunch of eggheads with way to much time on their hands. Now get the hell out before I get some guards to throw you out," Blackwell gestured toward the infirmary door.
The doctor sighed but nevertheless moved toward the doorway. Once he reached it he turned and said, "He isn't out of the woods yet. If he dies, can I dissect his body?"
Blackwell felt his face turn red and he started toward the quack but the man, upon seeing his murderous expression, let out a little "Eep!" and fled.
Blackwell let him go because he was distracted by sudden motion out of the corner of his eye. The fish had hopped down from the brat's side and was heading after the fleeing doctor. It stopped when it realized that Blackwell was staring at him.
Blackwell sighed and motioned for the fish to continue, "Whatever you are going to do to that man, I don't want to know. Just don't get me involved."
The fish nodded and hurried out the door and past the nurse who apparently had stood there the entire time. Blackwell started in surprise at the sight of her. He ha completely forgotten about her.
"What's your name?" he asked the young woman.
"Claire, sir."
"Do you know what's wrong with the brat then?" the Warden asked gruffly.
The woman nodded sharply, tucking a piece of hair behind one ear and moving closer to the child. Blackwell could tell she was slipping into professional mode now that they were discussing a patient. "If he was human than I would say he has pneumonia. However, he obviously isn't but that is the closest we can diagnose it."
She reached up and tucked the blankets closer around Syx's small form. " He is on the mend for the most part. We gave him a fever reducer and some antibiotics just in case. It is now up to his own systoms to combat whatever he has. Amazing thing though, his systems are remarkably like ours but different in certain places. For example, his bones are much stronger than ours. His heart is also much bigger to support all the extra blood flow in his head."
Claire placed her hand to over Syx's chest and motioned the Warden to come closer. "Feel how much stronger it beats than ours. It really is fascinating," she said in wonder.
Blackwell rolled his eyes but came closer anyway. He didn't really care but he wouldn't lie and say he wasn't curious. He only had placed his hand on the brat's chest for a moment before the brat abruptly sat up and grabbed his hand.
Blackwell's eyes flew to the kid's face but Syx's normally bright green eyes were dull and unseeing. He was still asleep then. That didn't mean the brat was quiet.
"PINK ELEPHANTS!" the brat screamed before falling back down upon the bed. Problem was, he still had Blackwell's arm firmly in his grip. Blackwell tugged but the brat just wouldn't let go. He actually whimpered in distress when the Warden tried to forcefully remove his trapped appendage.
And to top it all off the nurse was giggling at his entrapment. At the Warden's sour look she kept laughing and said, "Well it seems you aren't going anywhere soon. I'll go get you a chair.
She disappeared out the infirmary door and passed the fish as she did so. The fish took one glance at the scene before turning away so he could laugh.
Blackwell huffed in annoyance and glared at the fish. He was just so glad that this brought the fish amusement.
"NOOOOOO! I DON'T WANT TO DANCE WITH THE PINK ELEPHANTS!"
Then there was that. This was going to be a fun time until the pest's medication wore off.
~BR~
Blackwell shook his head as he read the report he held in his hands. Apparently there was an extremely short and centralized escape attempt that resulted in only one injury. The man lived but now suffered from several abrasions, a broken collarbone, and a broken leg. Served the quack right anyway.
~BR~
A/N: Again you guys have my sincere apologies. I didn't mean for so much time to pass between updates. I will have the next chapter up as soon as I can.
The pink elephant thing is from a very famous scene in Dumbo.You guys may or may not remember it, but I watched it when I was a kid. You can probably find it on YouTube.
Read and Review please!
Edit: I made a medical oops and Ulyyf was nice enough to tell me about it. Thanks!
This is what happens when you do mediocre research dear readers. :) But as well and good now, I hope, and I am currently working on the next chapter. See you all again soon!
