N All Were Silent
Author's Note: I'm watching Dungeons And Dragons movies as I type up this chapter. I really like the smells of potted plants- the soil, that is. I fixed this chapter up some since last updated.
Disclaimer: Once again, I own nothing from the Crash Bandicoot universe.
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Castle Capers
If this were a comic, her screams of sheer terror would have been drawn as a great big "AAarg," that went flying down with her as a continuous scream, only breaking when she tore through the roof, and then the attic floor, and then the sixth floor, and the fifth, and then the fourth, and then the third-
Third floor. A calm room with two simple book cases, and many many clocks. N. Tropy's room, which had the air that suggested that he wasn't in there long or often. It was tastefully decorated.
Nefarious Tropy, a tall, blue, lanky man, with a thin mustache that hung down from his long cynical face, was sitting at a small table with a board game on it; Battle Ship to be precise. His opponent, a Ratician, a mutated rat being, nerdy in nature, this one was a buck yellow and mercifully (on its part) glasses-less. It was a friendly game, with an unfriendly wager.
Tropy was just about to make his move, his bulky golden battle-suit's pistons pumping, his many clocks tick-tock-ticking, when something broke through the ceiling, flew passed them, and broke through the floor, screams following it like a faithful puppy.
The blue scientist slyly leaned over the table, taking a glanced at his opponent's board as his opponent stared down into the multiple holes being created by whatever was falling…
"G-4," N. Tropy announced confidently, leaning back in his chair.
The Raticain groaned. Another game lost! This guy was so completely astronomically psychic, "You sunk my battleship!"
He slammed his rat fists on the table, grumbling as he dug out a bag from his pocket. He produced a bag that rattled with coins. He passed it with a sigh to Nefarious, who snatched it up.
"Pleasure doing business with you, it was a good game," He reassured the rat, weighing the bag with a jerk of the hand, "But did you really think you had any hope at beating me? Evolution is not on your side, my friend."
The child fell and fell and fell until it could fall no more. The cement and gravity met in a painful thud, debris falling in after it.
She let out a noise from deep with in her lungs, which stung in pain. Every part of her did. She made an attempt to get up, the child did, but that attempt was froted by a sharp jab of pain. The child winched. She was sure everything was damaged.
Mother wouldn't want damaged goods.
She looked around the room, feeling the pounding of blood in her head. There were massive crates in this dimly lit room, and strange vats of rejected ooze, and metal shelves of things, but nothing looked violent or immediately dangerous, so she turned her attention back to her self.
The Spare labcoat she was wearing (and makeshift underwear in case you were wonder, but that has nothing to do with this sentence) was splotting with blood on the side. It wasn't anything too serious but seeing your own blood for the first time was slightly distressing, it was-
"Did you hear that?" A nerdy voice pieced the air of the musty basement from somewhere amongst the massive crates, which were creating bizarre un-box like shadows.
"Yeah, I wonder what it was," An equally nerdy voice replied, farther away then the other one, but they were both getting close, "Should we go check it out, or get the boss first?"
One of the owners of the voice poked its little ratty head around the corner of a crate, behind which the child had landed. The mutant rat, in his lab coat and goggles, holding a broom, let out a cry- a cry that was quickly stifled.
The rat gave its final gasps of breath, as the bleeding child made its way jerkily from its crash sight. Even though it hurt, even though it caused him pain, crushing the rat gave her some kind of relief, like ending its life was taking the pressure off the wounds.
"Hey, did you find what is was…!" The second rat came to a stop, seeing with horror his friend in the grasp of this bleeding girl, covered in little bits of wood, a wild look in her eyes.
He wasn't the smartest Ratician, but he was pretty sure human eyes should look like that in the dark. The girl dropped the Ratician in her hand, "Danger! Danger Will Robinson Doctor Cortex! Doctor Cor-!"
The Ratician yelled as loud as it could, ratting away as fast as he could- but not fast enough. Its head was in the creature's mouth before it could get out another panicked word, the rest of its body followed.
And soon the Ratician was gone. The child gave thoughts of eating the other one when it vanished in a great bright light, leaving only orbs in its wake. Uneatable sparkly orbs.
What…was that?
Footsteps.
Footsteps that came down rickety stairs made her jump. She quickly scrambled away, hiding as best as it could in the shadows of the great boxes. The footsteps stopped squeaking, and where pattering down here with here…somewhere.
The creature held its breath as best it could, hiding, like a spring trapped between two heavy books- ready to uncoil ever the heavy tome was removed. The walker was getting closer.
"Victor, Lemont? What is it?" A voice called out. It was unlike any voice she had ever heard. The voice made her spin stand up with attention in her. It was male. Yes, but it lacked that fear she was use to hearing in a male's voice.
This made the creature reason this male was something like her Mother, something like Ticks, "You're not finished cleaning, Spring won't come if you don't finish for me. Mother would never approve!"
Mother? The creature let out a joyous sound at the thought of its own Mother, and the fact that she might see her soon if she only killed everyone in this place filled her with a rush.
The sound gave the creature away.
The footsteps got closer. And then stopped. Maybe he had decided to go away? She hoped, although she knew full well that the speaker was near, she could feel him. Feel him like that itchy sweater they tried to make her wear. Those people with fear in their voices and their faces.
The pain was spreading from her side now. She wanted to look at it, see if she could fix it, but not yet- danger was imminent. The child could see his shadow stretched out by the strangle light that leapt between the boxes. Maybe she should move…
Too late. The owner of those moving feet and stretchy shadow poked his head around the coner- a large balding yellow head, which was branded by a glorious En. His hair was black, what he had of it, that is- most of his was on his chin in a goatee kind of way. The rest of his body followed, short and dressed in something she was accustomed to seeing; laboratory clothes.
"Why hello," He said, as oily as a politician of the opposing team on election day. A look of surprise was on goateed face. "How on earth did you get passed security?"
Of course, if he had just looked up, he would have seen the great hole in his floors and ceilings, but he didn't. His raccoon eyes were on this strange little house guest. They didn't often get girl visitors- maybe it was a friend of Nina's, his niece, in which case, they were welcomed in his home…as long as they had a good reason for being there.
But Nina was such an anti-social little girl, she wouldn't have bonded with something so blond and busty (Hey, give him a break, those were the only ways he could tell it was a girl.). Nina hated those cheerleader types, but Cortex didn't- aaah, let's not get into what Cortex likes, shall we?
When the kid didn't reply, Cortex moved closer.
She had a stupid look on her face, like the kind of look that Koo-ala wear on their when stuffing their faces with fried chicken. The N braded man got a little closer to this girl who was now moved back and forth, like a snake ready to attack.
"Easy there," He said soothingly enough, holding up a leather glove covered hand. He causally slipped his other hand into his pocket, where his gun was set to disintegrate- just in case. Spring cleaning was always a dangerous task, "I'm not going to hurt you…"
Neo Cortex moved hesitantly, now close enough to just reach out and touch the child. He noted the double-U on her forehead, which usually meant trouble, but that all depended on what side of the family tree it was- he really hoped it was his side.
The child looked over this man, in his lab coat and leather; with his balding self and his N. Was this the ruler of this island she was set to destroy? If so, he was much shorter than she thought he was going to be. She made a motion to strike-
"…Much," Cortex pulled out his gun just in time, sticking the end where the shooting comes out of (whatever that's called) on the center of her lettered forehead, gripping the front of her bloody lab coat with the other so she didn't squirm away.
The child let out a startled sound.
"Now tell me why you're here. If you're that maid we hired, you're seven hours late. You should really come through the front door next time. How'd you even get in here-"
Timber fell down with a great falling 'ker-thunk-thunk out of the girl sized hole, that caused Cortex to look up.
"Really," He continued, ignoring the child's gibbering noises, "It's really flipping inconvenient to have to do all the cleaning yourself-"
"Doctor Cortex!" A ratty voice from somewhere up stairs called, interrupting the good Doctor, "There's some dope at the door for you!"
"A dope? At this time of night?" Cortex looked up from his little intruder, still holding her firm by the front of her jacket. He continued to talk, to himself, seemingly, as he couldn't of expected this girl to know what he was talking about, "Maybe it's N. Gin, about time he came home…He can help with the cleaning!"
Neo Cortex dropped the girl-child like a sack of his colleagues laundry, which he had done earlier today- right in the Incinerator. That'll teach N. Tropy to shoot down all his evil planning and refuse to clean. Hah!
"Don't just stand there," He said to the child, who wasn't standing around at all. Cortex disappeared behind a box, "Clean something-" The man walked back up those squeaky stairs. He should really have those fixed…
The child let out a rapturous sigh once the squeaks of the stairs had died. That-was-beautiful. That moment when she was looking certain death in the face- she had never felt better. She only wished that moment had lasted long, that he had done more then just threatened her. More!
The creature made up its mind. Wracked with pain still, she lifted herself back up off the floor, leaving blood in her wake. She darted from box to box, to and fro, slowly, like a stealth snail, making her way to the squeaky stairs.
The man she had been sent here to kill had left the door open, thankfully. She wasn't sure if she could handle opening a door- it looked complicated.
She darted up these steps with equally sqeakyness, goofily, unsure yet on how to climb these things. The child poked its head out into the room which Cortex had vanished to, to see what was going on.
He wasn't in this room, which was shiny and polished and smelled like…like, urgh. Fresh and clean, not like the smell she had smelled earlier. This smell was just revolting. Making a face that would make a monster proud; she scrambled down the gaudy coloured hall, looking for her quarries. Whether she would kill them or not, she just wasn't sure…
