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Chapter 12: NUT Case

"Where do you think we are?" I asked. "In a dungeon." Iggy answered. "No, I mean how far away from the mountain are we." Eugene took out the map Parfait had made. "Hmm…This map is not a hundred percent accurate but I do believe that we're right here, in the dark region, this dark region is a thick patch of forest. It is why we passed my so many tree braches and such." So we were still deep inside the forest.

"Angel, would you like me to take care of your cuts?" Nudge asked. "I have a first aid kit. You have a rather large one on your forehead-" Angel stood up. "I'm not a baby. I can take care of my cuts myself. I think I know how to use a Band-Aid!"

"Um, Angel, you're being so brave about your cuts. They look painful, maybe it would be best if Nudge helped you." I started. "Ha! You think that could convince me? Nudge, give me the first aid kit." Nudge reached into her bag and cautiously handed it to her. Angel opened it up and took out a Band-Aid and some Neosporin.

"There. All done." Nudge walked over to me and whispered, "Has Angel gone completely crazy or something?"

"I heard that!" Angel came over to me. "You think that I'm deaf?" Iggy sat up. "Give us a break Angel! We're just trying to help." Angel then walked over to Iggy. "Ha! Help, my foot! You're just trying to boss me around, I know that." All of the sudden we heard footsteps. It was just the man that we wanted to see. The king.

"Enough with all of the yelling and shouting! You guys are the Flock you're supposed to get along, no, you need to get along with each other." Eugene interrupted, "I'm not part of the Flock." The king rolled his eyes, "Besides you Eugene. Well, actually you too. You all need to work together instead of fighting. You guys should know that after all of the experiences you had over the years." Iggy stood up and looked the king in the eye.

"Why do you care, you're just a cruel person who took advantage of a tragedy that happened to us just so you can play some stupid mind games with us or keep us in a dungeon. You, you just leave us alone." The king reached into his pocket. "Iggy!" The king took out a yellow, wrinkly, crumbled piece of paper.

"You know what this is?" He asked. "An old piece of paper that you should really throw away?" Nudge guessed. "No, this is a letter. It's a letter written by that Spaniard who filled the silver fountain with the chocolate drink."

"Would you like to read it?" What was going on here? "Yeah, but I can't read Spanish." Nudge retorted so ugene took the paper. "Let's see…" As Eugene translated it I questioned the importance of this.

"A little hard to say… but basically he's talking about a magic spell to activate this fountain. It says its powers are much more than revealed in legend. Here he writes the spell. In case you were wondering, he wrote this letter to his brother."

"I'm impressed…anyway do you understand what this means?" The king looked at us in anticipation. "No." Iggy said.

"This fountain is very powerful. No wonder so many sought it out…" I stood up. "Wait a minute, how do you know that we were looking for this fountain?"

"Ah…I know all, well okay we know about Bob." Nudge looked at him quizzically. "We, being you and the kidnappers, right?" The king smiled. "Ah, but this is actually a lab. Those kidnappers as you call them work for me. They're actually medical researchers." I rolled my eyes. We'd seen enough labs in our lifetime.

"This is not a conventional lab like you are used to." Nudge scoffed. "Good because if it was I swear…"

"What kind of tests will you do on us?" Angel asked. "You've already been through most of them." Okay? "Yes," he continued, "You see I was testing to see how you relate to each other, you guys think. It will really come in handy for the generals."

"Wait, wait, wait. You said this was a lab. We're in a dungeon. You talk about a general. What the hell is going on?" I gave him a dirty look. "We're in mixed company. You know, ex-nay on the shut it-ay." Angel stared at me. "Max, I believe we have gone through this so I am not going to even say anything."

"Anyway, what the heck is going on? Just tell us, 'king'." The king motioned for us to follow. "Come on Iggy." I called.

"Let me show you our lab, or corrective lab to be exact." We entered the room he called the lab. It was a rather large room that looked like your average science lab. I mean, it had the test tubes, the chemicals, the typical scientific gizmos, machines that type of stuff. The 'King' patted a large table, looking as though it had just come out of a Frankenstein movie.

"Here at the Lab Amending Malicious Experiments, or L.A.M.E, or skilled employees reverse what ITEX has done." He sounded like a tour guide. "If you help us, you can be normal. All that I ask is that you promise to do exactly what we say. If you do that, I promise that we will remove your wings on the house. You Eugene, well I don't think we need to change anything about you. Now do you promise to do so?"

I had always liked my wings to be honest. Sure, over the years being part of an experiment had caused our lives to go down a completely different path, but still having wings weren't that bad.

"I think I like how I am." I said. "Me too." Nudge agreed. We all nodded in agreement. "Either way, we need your help. We need you. Besides, I like you guys. I've read all about you. You guys intrigue me and I'm thrilled to have you here."

"Thanks for locking us in the dungeon that truly convinced us." Nudge gave her best sarcastic look. "I told you, I wanted to see you strategize. I need to see your strengths." I rolled my eyes.

"Gee, you could've asked us what our strengths and weaknesses are." I said. "Look, I needed to see them, but it isn't important. The only important thing is that we truly need your help. So please help us."

"What is your name, king?" Eugene asked. "My name is K." Riiiight. "Wow, what happened was that all that your mother could spell?" Angel retorted. "Angel!" This menace had to learn when to stop.

"Actually, my mother died in labor. My father gave me that name. Look, this is of no importance." Eugene stared him in the eye. "I need to know. I can't trust you if you won't trust us with that simple piece of information. Besides, you know our names so it is only fair that we know yours."

That was the reason I liked Eugene and Parfait. They always made good points, of course that was quite annoying in arguments.

"K, are they ready?" I recognized this man as one of the kidnappers. "Ready for what?" Nudge asked suspiciously. "You haven't told them about the NUT Case?" Nut case? "Oh, right the NUT case…"

"Necessary. Unavoidable. Task." K noticed our confused looks. "I think I'd better explain it all. Let's go back to room F56 A.K.A. the dungeon." There was a trace of remorse when he said the word 'dungeon.'