Chapter 13 The Broken Door

Randall: Present

Randall slammed the wrench down to knock a piece back into the broken laugh container. After a few more misadventures on the Laugh Floor, Sullivan hesitantly asked if he'd be interested in an engineering position until they found his place on the Laugh Floor. Surprisingly, Sullivan let him start out as one of the co-supervisors. What could he say? It was alright. Nothing special. He worked until someone called him back to the Laugh Floor. Apparently, some kids needed rude humor to laugh. And Sullivan was actually considering letting him handle those.

Despite the engineers under him being slightly uncooperative, he didn't mind the job much. He hated working under Sullivan, but no place in town was about to hire a criminal, either. So he survived each shift. Fungus walked home with him each day. Sometimes Emma would ask him to watch Rex. After about a week of silence, Fungus and Randall actually made small talk. Nothing more than how the day was yet. Despite his previous reservations, he usually found himself with at Callie's family's house on the weekends.

There were also rumors that Waternoose had escaped from prison, but the CDA wasn't releasing reliable information. Needless to say, Randall wouldn't be surprised if he popped up out of nowhere again. Despite his obese size, the guy was an escape artist, and he hated the idea of stooping to the level of making children laugh. And the idea of Sullivan running the place. But so did Randall. Monstropolis had plenty of power now. What could they do?

One of the employees under him interrupted his racing thoughts. His tone rang with sarcasm as he held out the top to one of the containers.

"I can't find the problem, sir."

Randall took the top and examined it. He called the employee back when he just started to walk away.

"The problem's right here. You see this piece? It needs to be replaced."

The small monster was pretty gutsy for a new employee.

"When a problem is brought to the supervisor, they are expected to take it from there, sir."

Randall tossed the top on the table and swooped across it so he was in the employee's face. He didn't care if anyone stood by and watched. He wanted them to know he was tired of this crap. Nobody…and that meant nobody….disrespected him without a fight.

"Alright, sir. But I'm reminding you that all employees learn from their mistakes by observing someone else who knows how to fix it. And since you tossed it at me, I'm the guy."

He snatched the top from the table and shook it in the guy's face so he could hear the broken piece rattle.

"Do you understand what the problem is?"

The little guy had lost his sarcasm, but he kept his answer steady. "Yes sir."

"Identify it."

"The latch is broken."

Randall nodded, put the top down, and picked up the necessary tools. "And how do you fix that?"

"I don't know, sir."

"Then I'll show you. Go get another latch."

Sullivan appeared out of nowhere when the guy left and tossed some files down on the table. Randall wrinkled his nose and turned the top upside down.

"Punishment for smarting off, Sullivan?"

The big blue monster shrugged. Randall smirked when he saw it was as much of a struggle for Sullivan to be around him as it was for Randall to even be there working under him.

"No, you handled it alright. Rough…but…alright. It's a broken door. Keyboard's out and the latch for the container won't work. The guy who has this door needs it fixed by tomorrow."

"That means there's a shortage, and it could take an hour or two. And that means….I can't fix it by closing time."

Sullivan kept his tone calm. "Then…I guess…that means….overtime pay opportunity."

Randall snarled in frustration and snatched the files. "Then what are these other files?"

"A few kids we can't get to laugh. We'd like to see if they need 'rude humor.' Looks like you might be the guy who invented a new category."

Randall waved him off. "Psht."

Sullivan folded his arms. "So will you take the overtime opportunity?"

"Fine. I'll get to it after the company closes. I'm busy."

Sullivan waved. "Thanks, Randall. You can start with those kids tomorrow morning before you come back here."

Randall tossed the files aside. "Can't wait."

…

Randall entered the Laugh Floor as everyone else was leaving. Fungus turned on his toes and caught up with him.

"Hey, Randall. Uhrm… Some of the workers are going out to eat and…some of us were wondering…if you'd….like to come?"

Randall found the broken station and started taking it apart without looking up. He was pretty sure "some of us" meant Fungus since he still got the nastiest looks and exchanged quite a few harsh words at with "some of them" at times.

"Nah, I got a station to fix."

When Fungus just left, he began messing with the wires. He was officially just another failure monster.

…

"Well, Randall Boggs, you're officially amazing."

Callie examined his makeshift telescope. "You seriously made this?"

Randall grinned. "Yeah…"

"Why?"

"I got bored."

"You just got bored, so you made a telescope?"

"Uh huh."

"Smart," she scoffed. Once again, she tried to focus on the city to get clear image. They had brought the telescope to the top of the tallest building in the city. Randall sat it up and let her experiment with it.

Callie drew back in frustration and glared at him. "I still don't see past the city limits, Randall Boggs, and I've been tinkering with the thing for thirty minutes. I think you're pulling my tail."

Randall smirked and gently tugged her tail with a sarcastic look. Callie snatched it away.

"I knew it."

Randall snickered and adjusted the telescope so that it would focus on close range.

"Look again."

Callie shook her head, but decided to bite and take another look anyway. Randall pulled out the small ring he'd been hiding in one of his hands and held it in front of the telescope. Callie gasped and whipped around to meet his gaze.

Randall got down on his knees and took her hands. "This is beyond the city limits. I love you, Callie Phillips. Will you marry me?"

Callie's beautiful eyes sparkled when she covered her mouth with a hand.

"Of course I'll marry you, Randall," she sobbed.

Randall sighed in relief and pulled her into his arms. He spun her around once and set her back down on the ground as he kissed her.

…

The sound of Callie's laughter died away when the station beeped. The red light above the door indicated it had been brought back to life.

"Hmm…." Randall glanced at the clock. He had been working on it for over two hours.

He put the station back together and turned the door's power off. He put the door back, then punched in the code to bring it back down again to make sure it was working.

When it came back down, he turned activated the door and opened it to test it out.

It swung open to reveal a neat looking room with wooden floors. Pictures and creepy stuffed animals lined the shelves and walls. Randall stepped inside and closed the door. He was just about to exit the room to make sure it worked on both sides when something bigger than a kid leapt out of the bed and lunged for him.

"Come here!"

A human adult! Randall gasped, disappeared, and dodged all at once. The man barely missed him by an inch and rammed headfirst into the wall.

Randall did some quick thinking. He opened the door and closed it again without leaving the room. Something was wrong and it looked like something they needed to know.

The man cursed as he stood up. An adult female popped up from behind the bed.

"Did you get him?"

The man sighed. "No, it's the fast one who disappears."

The female flopped down on the bed. "Hard to catch, aren't they? Think you can use that door?"

The man shook his head. "No, I bet he's already disabled the connection between our worlds. They seem to be able to do that."

"Well, for them to be so careful, they were pretty careless to run through doors during the day some time ago."

"We aren't catching that purple one. Maybe we'll have better luck next time. That green one, or even the blue one, might be our best bet. Visible and not as slippery."

"Are you sure we're doing the right thing?"

"Of course. Once we prove to everyone we're not making this up, they'll be all over it. Monsters coming into our kids' rooms. It's sick."

The female stood. "How could we not remember…being scared as kids?"

The man shrugged. "Well, everyone will remember soon enough. Keep a watch on this room. As soon as we catch a specimen, we'll turn it into the boss while the rest of us explore their world. Got it?"

"Yeah."

Randall watched the adults exit the room and closed the bedroom door. This wasn't a kid's room. It was a trap. How'd they know?

He reappeared and waited until he could hear their murmurs before he opened the door, stepped back into their world, and cut the power to the door.

Now the next thing was….what to do. The way he saw it, there were several ways to handle it. Do like he was supposed to and…call Sullivan. Or…he could handle it himself and use it to redeem his status without the help of Sullivan.

But…this could be turned into something that could ruin Sullivan forever. And it could also backfire again. And he was almost out of second chances.

Randall stared at the floor thoughtfully and ejected the door, considering each option as he watched the door disappear.

Oh, no! What's he going to do? Sorry about the cliffhanger, but seriously it's the last chapter until I get back. See you guys soon! Maybe you have guesses? ;)