Meanwhile...
Gerald ran as fast he could towards the rally. It was smoldering hot and Gerald was already sweating, but he did not relent. He continued to run, hoping that he could stop Rodrigo in time.
I can't believe Rodrigo would actually pull this! He thought, still in shock as he continued to run. I thought this kid was already crazy, but he is taking it to a whole new level!
He soon arrived back and started to make his way through the crowd who were still vigorously chanting.
"Sorry, excuse me ma'am. Sorry sir. Pardon me." He said as he continued to make this way, politely pushing people out of his way.
Soon, he made it to the front of the crowd.
"Hell no, we won't go!" Arnold chanted. "We've got you by the ropes!"
"HELL NO WE WON'T GO! WE'VE GOT YOU BY THE ROPES!" The crowd chanted back.
"Hey, Arnold!" Gerald said as he made his way towards him and pulled on his T-shirt.
"What is it, Gerald?" Arnold asked, but because crowd was being very loud, it forced him to step down from his stool that elevated him.
"Arnold," Gerald started to talk while panting, "we've...got a big problem."
"What is it?" Arnold asked.
Gerald looked around to make sure the crowd was still chanting and not focused on them. He then pulled Arnold closer to him so he can talk.
"It's Rodrigo," Gerald said into Arnold's ear, "he's here."
"What? Really?" Arnold asked in surprised. "Where is he? Did he change his mind and decided to join us?"
"Join us?!" Gerald exclaimed, but then quickly lowered his voice. "Pfft, ya right! More like sabotage us."
"Huh?" Arnold asked in confusion.
"I just saw him with Stinky just now, at the back of the building." Gerald began to frantically tell him, "I couldn't tell what they were doing there, but with the way they were talking to each other and the fact that they haven't told us that they were coming, I'm pretty convinced that he's going to break into this building and do what he said he as going to do."
"What?!" Arnold exclaimed in complete shock. "He's actually going through with his plan, today?!"
Gerald said nothing and just nodded.
"I just can't believe this!" Arnold angrily yelled. "Why would he do it today?!"
"Maybe it's only a coincidence." Gerald casually suggested.
"No!" Arnold said firmly. "He did this on purpose. He must have known about our protest. It was all over the neighbourhood and online. And even if he didn't know, he must have seen the crowd gathering here and instead of pulling the plug, he would actually go through with it."
"He doesn't care about what we are doing here." Arnold continued to rant. "He just wants to prove me wrong."
"Say what?" Gerald asked with a perplexed look on his face.
"Think about it, Gerald." Arnold said to him. "Why else do something so despicable on this day, right under our noses. Everyone here knows that we are friends with them. If he gets caught and arrest him and everyone else, even if we had nothing to do with it, just the fact that we are friends with them could discredit us! And I know that he knows that, but he doesn't care if him breaking into City Hall will jeopardize what we are doing here. He doesn't care about his neighbourhood. He just wants to win; to prove me wrong."
"Well, what do you suggest we do?" Gerald asked.
Despite making a few good points, Gerald couldn't help but feel that was taking this a bit out of proportion. The way Arnold just spoke made it look like it was some sort of a conspiracy theory and Rodrigo was out to personally get him. Frankly, Gerald had his doubts about that, but he was not going to argue with him at that moment.
"We need to stop him." Arnold declared. "Gerald, you need to get inside the building, find our friends, and get them to stop what they are doing."
"What?!" Gerald exclaimed in surprise. "You want me to barge in there and just expect me to find them, without getting kicked out, and convince them to just leave?"
"Yes." Arnold said.
"Arnold, that's a dumb idea!" Gerald exclaimed. "We're not allowed to go inside the building. So, how do you expect me to get inside the building without alerting the guards? Oh man!" Gerald groaned. "If I had known this was your plan, I would have just talked to Rodrigo and get him to stop what he was doing."
"So, why didn't you talk to Rodrigo first?" Arnold asked. "You two still seem to have a good relationship."
"Honestly, I didn't think about it until I got here." Gerald sheepishly responded. "I got too preoccupied with trying to warn you about him. That was my bad. Plus, I figured you would have a better plan on how to stop him"
"It's OK, Gerald. But, I don't have a better plan" Arnold said.
"Maybe we should go to the back and try to talk him out of it." Gerald suggested.
"No." Arnold firmly responded. "I don't think he will listen. And if we do that, it will let him know that we are already on to him and it will make it that much harder to get anyone inside to get out, which will increase the chances of them triggering the alarm."
"We can't afford for Rodrigo to get caught." Arnold continued. "Everyone knows that we are friends with Stinky, Patty, Sid, Lorenzo, Peapod Kid, Park, Curly and Rhonda. Apart from the fact that I don't want them to get arrested, how will it look for us if our friends were trying to break into a government building? The media will be all over it and no doubt Von Scheck will use it to his advantage."
While Arnold spoke, Gerald kept giving him a raised eyebrow, aware at how he explicitly did not mention Rodrigo as one of his friends. He wasn't liking how fast Arnold was resenting the Latino Kid and he wasn't sure just what was it about him that he didn't like, apart from doing something as crazy as breaking into a government building on the day they were protesting!
It can't be just about the 'soul of the group'. Gerald thought. There has to be more to it than that. With the way Arnold has been acting lately, he is taking all of this rather personally. I just hope it's not what I think it really is about...
"I guess..." Gerald sighed, "Alright, I'll see what I can do, but I'm going to need some help."
"Who?" Arnold asked.
"Phoebe." He said with a smirk. "If Rodrigo is here, then you can bet that Curly is around as well, most likely inside the building and already hacking into their system. That kid maybe brilliant, but he is also just plain crazy. If there is any person who is smart enough to challenge him, it would be her."
"Her, and Harold." Gerald continued.
"Harold?" Arnold asked.
"Yeah. If Patty and Sid are in there, Harold can try and talk some sense into them. That will at least distract them so I can get inside and stop them from hacking into the system."
"OK, sure. That could work." Arnold said. "Just be careful."
"No worries, man. We'll be fine." Gerald said confidently.
And with that, Gerald ran off to find and inform both Phoebe and Harold of the situation. It didn't take him long to find them amongst the crowd. After getting their attention and informing them of what he had just discovered, he formulated a plan with them.
"What?!" Harold exclaimed in shock. "You want me to confront Patty?" He continued with a worrying tone.
"Ya, why not?" Gerald said, confused by Harold's shock and concern. "She's your girlfriend. If there is anyone that can talk to her, it's you, man. Besides, I'm not asking you to tackle her to the ground. I'm just asking you to talk to her and get her to stop supporting Rodrigo, at least so you can get her attention and I can worry about Curly."
"Well, OK..." Harold said hesitatingly.
"Babe, do you think you can use your laptop to try and stop Curly from hacking into City Hall's system?"
"I sure can." Phoebe said confidently. "Curly is not the only knows how to hack his way through a high security system."
"Just make sure you don't trip and trigger any of City Hall's security alarm." Gerald said. "We don't want to get anyone arrested, especially me. We just want to stop them. I really don't want to go to prison for this."
"Don't worry, Gerald." Phoebe assured him. "I'll be careful."
Gerald just smiled and kissed Phoebe before then heading off with Harold towards the building.
Phoebe meanwhile, looked at her cellphone to find the nearest cafe or restaurant that had WiFi. When she found one, she grabbed her bag and ran off to go there. It was about a block away from City Hall, but it wasn't far. Phoebe quickly went inside, ordered a beverage to ensure she would be left alone, sat down, then opened her laptop and began to log in, preparing herself to hack into the City Hall's security system and find Curly's drone program.
Meanwhile, Gerald and Harold made their way towards the entrance of the building, where a security guard was present.
"Um, excuse me, sir," Gerald said with an almost squeaking tone, "but could we please use the bathroom? We really need to go." He continued while pretending to hold it by holding onto his crotch.
"Ya, very badly." Harold said, also pretending that he needed to go.
"Sorry kids, but no one is allowed while the protest is still on." The guard said. "Security reasons."
"But this is an emergency!" Gerald cried out. "We really can't hold it. There is a bathroom in the lobby. I can see it from here. Can we just please go there?"
"Please, sir." Harold also pleaded. "It's been hot all day and we drank way too much water."
"Look sir, we don't want to cause any trouble." Gerald said as he bounced up and down. "We just need to use the bathroom, that's it. We'll be in and out before you know it."
The guard initially looked at both teens with unsympathetic eyes. However, the teens' plea to use a simple bathroom was having its effect on him. In retrospect, he really wasn't sure why City Hall had to shut its doors for this protest. There had been other protests previously, some of them in the thousands, and the doors remained opened. This protest was only in the few hundreds, with many of them older people who could hardly cause any trouble. The way he was informed, they made it sound that the protest was organized by a group of radicals, yet all he saw were a bunch of people who just wanted to protect their homes.
"Oh, alright." The guard said. "But, make it quick!" As he then opened the door, much to the teen's delight.
"Oh, thank you sir!" Gerald said happily as he 'tried' to make his way towards the men's bathroom.
"Thank you kind sir!" Harold said dramatically as he followed Gerald.
The guard then closed the door behind him and locked it again.
Gerald and Harold continued their acting until they made it inside the men's bathroom. Once inside, they dropped their act and quickly got to work.
"What do we do now?" Harold softly, but worryingly asked. "We don't have enough time to get to them and stop them before the guard realizes we haven't returned."
"I know." Gerald said. "Let me text message Arnold and see if he can cause a distraction."
Gerald quickly got his cell and sent his best friend a text message, asking him if he can cause a bit of a raucous outside in order to get the guard's attention. Arnold responded back with an 'OK'.
Arnold quickly got back on his stool and began to make an impassionate speech, trying to see if he can arouse the crowd a bit. It worked...almost too much.
Having endured the heat for almost two hours, and feeling threatened once again by the same menace, the crowd began to get a bit rowdy, even going so far as to go over the line that separated them from the building. The guard that was guarding the entrance became a bit unnerved and completely forgetting the two teens he let in, grabbed his radio and called for some back up.
Meanwhile, Gerald and Harold were looking around the bathroom, trying to see if they can sneak their way through the building without being detected.
"Ah ha!" Gerald exclaimed when he saw the metal bars that sealed the ventilating system. "We can climb up there and make our way to where Rodrigo and our friends are.
"Do you know where they are?" Harold asked.
"I'm assuming they are trying to make their way to the computer storage room, where all the data and communication histories are kept. But where that room is, no clue." Gerald said. "But we got to try."
Both teens then climbed up the toilet and attempted to open the metal bars. There was just enough space in between for them to put their fingers in.
"Pull!" Gerald shouted as they both then pulled with all of their might. After a short of a struggle, to their luck, the metal case burst out, nearly forcing the teens to tumble down the toilet.
"Huh, guess they never bothered to seal it tight with screws." Gerald shrugged. "Let's go."
Gerald then his way inside the ventilating maze, with Harold nervously following him. They initially had to climb up, but then the causeway became horizontal, allow them to just crawl.
As soon as both teens reached that point, Gerald's cell phone began to vibrate. He grabbed it and saw that Phoebe was calling him.
"Hello?" Gerald whispered into his phone.
"Gerald, where are you?" Phoebe asked.
"Harold and I are inside the building's ventilating system." Gerald explained. "We got inside from the men's bathroom lobby. Wait, why are you calling me? The building's security system can trace this call and lead to us."
"No, they won't." Phoebe assured him. "I was able to reconfigure the call connection from my phone to yours but redirecting it from far away. As far as security is concerned, if they trace it, they can only see that the call is coming from India."
"Whoa, you can do that?" Gerald asked in amazement.
"Oh, yes." Phoebe said. "It's actually quite easy."
"Babe, despite the years, you still amaze me," Gerald said with a smile, "and also scare me. Have you been stalking me?" He nervously asked.
"Hmm, well the thought did cross my mind." Phoebe joked as she giggled. "But no, I haven't. I only do this under extreme circumstances and I do believe that today is one of those extremities."
"Phew! OK, babe." Gerald said, feeling relieved. "So, can you help us get to the computer data storage room?"
"Why, yes I can. That's why I called you." Phoebe said. "Just follow my instructions."
Phoebe than carefully led Gerald and Harold straight towards the computer data storage room. Although it wasn't particularity easy for them to squeeze themselves through many feet of the ventilating causeway, they managed to crawl their way to their destination without causing noise that would have alerted any person working there.
"How much further?" Harold whispered to Gerald.
"How much further, babe?" Gerald asked Phoebe through his cell.
"You're almost there." Phoebe responded. "Just make another right turn and you should be on top of the computer data storage room."
Gerald and Harold groaned as they continued to crawl through the ventilating system, making a right turn. Almost as soon as he made that turn, Gerald could see something.
"Hey, I see light up ahead." Gerald whispered. "And, I can see something…Thanks, babe. I'll talk to you later."
"Good luck, guys." Phoebe said as she then made a kissing sound through her phone and then hanged up.
"Harold," Gerald very quietly said to him, "our friends must already be there. We need to enter the room very quietly."
Harold just nodded and nervously prepared himself for his inevitable confrontation with Patty, if she was there.
Gerald and Harold then very quietly and very slowly crawled towards the opening from where the light was coming, not wanting the metal causeway to bend and make any noises. Despite his confidence, Gerald couldn't help but also feel nervous about confronting his friends. He frankly did not know how things were going to turn out, nor did he know if they were going to listen to him. The last thing he wanted to do was use physical force, which could very easily not only spiral out of control, but could also lead to long-term consequences. He still had high hopes that after all of this is over, the group can easily reconcile and move on.
Finally, Gerald reached the opening and peaked in, but could only see the top of the enormous computer storage data that was right on top of the opening. Gerald then carefully, took his head out and very covertly, looked around to see if he or they could see him. Once cleared, he very slowly and quietly began to descend and stepped onto the data storage computer. As he began to get out from the ventilating system, he could hear to two distinct voice.
"Doo doo doo doo, la la la la la." Curly continued to joyfully sing and hum to the voice he was hearing. "How much longer before the system finishes analyzing all that data on computer number 2?" He then asked Lorenzo.
"Hmm, there's still a lot." Lorenzo said with a somewhat concerned tone. "It only analyzed 32% percent. This is taking way too long. There are eight more computers to scan and we only managed to complete scanning one."
"Relax would ya, we'll get there." Curly said confidently, although, he too was beginning to think that this was taking way too long.
He had not anticipated the amount of data that was in storage in each computer. To make matters worse, each computer stored a specific set of data, which meant that in order to get all the data from that year, they would have to scan every single computer hardware.
Gerald heard all of this while still quietly making his descend. Despite on their voice, he recognized that they were Lorenzo's and Curly's, but he wasn't really sure where they were. All he knew was not to make any noises...yet. Once he was completely on top of the computer, he then peaked his head back up to gesture to Harold for him to come down. Harold then quietly crawled towards the opening and just as quietly, made his way out of the ventilating system and got on top of the computer. Once he was out, Gerald then carefully peaked downwards to see where Curly and Lorenzo were. After looking around for a little while, he saw some wires that lead to a corner of the room, but another large computer system was blocking his view. Getting a hunch that they were there, Gerald then gestured to Harold where their friends were and gestured to him to follow him. Harold said nothing and just nodded.
Gerald then carefully climbed down from the computer. Because it was so big, Gerald had to make a little jump, which he managed to do without alerting anyone. He then gestured to Harold to do the same. Harold very nervously tried to climb down, but then due to his sweaty hands, almost lost his grip and made a small grunt when his jaw hit the computer. Gerald then nervously look back towards where the wires were and nervously waited to see if their friends heard them. Luckily for them, they did not. Gerald could faintly hear someone typing, with no sounds of them getting up and walking towards them.
Harold sighed in relief and then successfully climbed down. Then, both teens tippy-toed towards the opposite side of the room, got around the large computer system and through the corner of it, Gerald peaked in and saw Curly and Lorenzo, but no one else. Gerald then turned back to face Harold and whispered very faintly to his ear,
"I only see Curly and Lorenzo, but no one else." Gerald said to him. "Patty and the others are not with them.
Harold thought about it for a second before then tippy-toeing his way across the rest of the room, peaking in through each corridor to see if anyone else was in the room. After reaching the last corridor, Harold then turned to face Gerald, shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. Gerald then rubbed his chin and thought about where could the others be. Frankly, he had no idea and he was not willing to waste anymore time. He gestured Harold to come back to him, which the big football player did. Gerald then gestured to Harold to indicate to him that they were now going to reveal themselves to them and hope they can convince them to stop what they were doing. Harold nervously nodded his head. Gerald then prepared himself to take that revealing step when suddenly,
"Ugh, darn you!" Curly then shouted in frustration as he hit his laptop. "Work faster! This program is more slower than a cheap rowder."
"Ever heard of 'patience is a virtue', Curly?" Gerald than suddenly said as he quickly stepped forward, revealing himself to them while giving them a stern frown.
"What the..?!" Curly exclaimed in utter shock.
"Gerald?!" Lorenzo exclaimed his name in shock as well.
"Ya!" Harold then also suddenly stepped out, revealing himself, although he was still nervous about having just broken into a government building. "Be patient!" He then exclaimed.
"Harold?" Lorenzo then said, now even more in shock.
"How did you get inside, tall-hair boy?!" Curly angrily demanded. "Wait a minute, how did you even know we were here?!"
"Well, your 'scout', Rodrigo, wasn't very good in hiding himself." Gerald casually said. "Nor was Stinky."
"Code red! Code red!" Curly then began to frantically shout through his ear piece. "We've been compromised. I repeat, we have been compromised. Tall-hair boy and Harold are inside the computer data storage room. We have been caught!"
Curly's sudden warning alerted Patty and Park who were still inside the security office, as well as Rodrigo, Sid, Stinky and Rhonda, who all gasped in horror.
"Gerald?" Rhonda asked in utter shock.
"What?! How?!" Rodrigo asked in utter shock.
"Your 'camouflage' sucked, Rodrigo." Curly angrily said to him. "Gerald saw you and Stinky outside and put two and two together."
"Uugghh!" Rodrigo grunted in utter frustration. "Tell them to leave the room right now! They have no idea the seriousness of this situation. If we make one wrong move, it will alert the whole building of our presence and could initiate a lock down!"
"You don't have to tell me twice." Curly said.
"Keep them occupied." Patty then said. "I'm on my way."
"Park," she then turned to face him, "can you do the rest on your own?"
"Ugh, I think so..." Park nervously said, which for most other calm person, didn't sound very convincing, but for Patty, it was enough.
"OK, good." She said before then quickly and quietly opened the door and made her way out of the room, leaving Park on his own.
"Oh boy." He said as he gulped.
"Gerald, Harold," Lorenzo said to them as he got up and with a serious and worrisome tone, "you two cannot be here."
"Neither should you." Gerald said. "I came to stop you from what you are doing and get you both out of here."
"No, I mean, you guys really shouldn't be here." Lorenzo then clarified his statement. "This is a very delicate room. If we make one false move, we could trigger the alarm. Even if we just touch one of these computers the wrong way, that would be enough for the alarm to go off."
"All the more reason why we all need to leave." Gerald said. "I mean seriously, what were you guys thinking?! This is crazy what you are doing. And not to mention that you guys just had to do something like this right on the day when we are holding our protest! Do you realize how bad it would look for us if you guys get caught? It could completely discredit us, not to mention get us all arrested."
"We didn't know you guys were holding your protest today." Lorenzo then explained. "We were just as surprised as you were when we saw everyone marching in front of this building."
"But you still saw us protesting before you broke in here." Gerald then said. "So why would you take such a risk to discredit us by breaking in here?"
"Ah who cares about your stupid protest!" Curly then shouted as he got up. "We're not only doing something radical, but also completely revolutionary! Don't you see? By breaking into a government building, we are exposing its weakness onto the world, as well as sending a clear message; that no government, no matter how big or powerful, can ever get in the way of the people's call for radical change and freedom!"
"Uh Curly," Gerald began to say to him, "you broke into a government building in order to just save a small neighbourhood from getting destroyed. In the grand scheme of things, it won't even make a dent."
"That's what a myopic little pauper like you would say." Curly continued with his sudden political rant. "But after today, we will make use of whatever material we hacked so as to hold hostage the very fabric of this government institution's existence. We will reek havoc throughout the political spectrum and inspire the downtrodden like yourself to rise up and take back what was taken from..."
"Curly!" Rodrigo then interjected through the ear piece. "Just tell them to get out of there!"
"I was getting to that!" Curly shouted back. "So anyways, we're busy so just make sure you go back towards the sewer from whence you cometh." He continued calmly as he sat back down and moved his attention back to his laptop.
"Oh, we will," Gerald said, "with all of you. Come on, guys. This is just crazy. You are putting yourself at great risk. There's no need to get this crazy right now. We have other options still. Come outside and join our protest. We still have a lot of support, both inside the neighbourhood and online, but we need you guys out there. We can beat Von Scheck, but only if we work together. A split group is a weak group. So come on, what do you guys say?"
Support online? Rhonda thought to herself when she heard that. But how? How were they able to gather any kind of support so fast...?
Curly said nothing and just slowly turned his head to face Gerald, all awhile giving a rather neutral, but explicit nefarious facial expression.
"Lorenzo, get him." He then said.
"Huh?" Lorenzo said confusingly, catching the other Latino kid by surprise.
Gerald just as equally looked at Lorenzo with a surprising look. Curly's instruction was clear; Lorenzo was to physically stop Gerald and Harold from approaching them and their equipment, a task that neither was expecting to do, nor had they any desire to get confrontational with one another. Despite their rivalry, they were still friends…weren't they?
"Umm..." Lorenzo groaned in hesitation with a worrying look.
"Uhh..." while Gerald also groaned in hesitation with a worrying look.
Lorenzo then nervously got into position, preparing himself from ensuring neither Gerald or Harold would get past him, but one could easily tell from his facial expression that he was really not liking the position that was forced upon him.
Lorenzo and Gerald then squared off, which each of them taking a step or two by their sides, testing each other out. However, it was obviously clear that neither was willing to take the crucial step. Both knew that if any of them did, it would be that step of 'no return' and neither of them wanted to initiate that. Gerald however, was at a disadvantage. He could not afford to wait. He had to intervene as soon as possible before they succeeded in their mission or a guard comes in. Lorenzo fully knew this but wasn't making things any better for him. Actually, it was causing him to be more anxious and nervous. Knowing that time was not on Gerald's side, he knew that if he prolonged his, Gerald might be forced to act, which he didn't want him to.
Harold said nothing and just watched by the sidelines, equally unwilling to get confrontational with his friends. He had been dreading this ever since he was asked by Gerald to stop Rodrigo and his group. As much as he was willing to do that, he got increasingly worried about facing Patty. He didn't fear her, but knew that Patty tended to be stubborn sometimes and felt that this might be one of those times where Patty would not flinch. In all honesty, he had no idea how he was suppose to convince her to stop what she was doing. He could try reasoning with her, but then again, making constructive, logical arguments was never his forte. The last thing he wanted was to get physically confrontational with her, a tactic that he knew Patty might take advantage of.
Please don't let me face Patty, please don't let me face Patty, please don't let me face Patty...Harold prayed in thought.
Just then, the door swung open, letting out a brush of bright light into the room, startling everyone who was inside. The door then closed, cutting off the light and making the room a bit dark again. Everyone, including Curly, stood still and nervously waited to see who just entered the room.
"Curly? Lorenzo?" Patty softly called out.
"Ah crud." Harold softly lamented.
"Right here, love." Curly said as he then got back to work.
"Don't call me that." Patty sharply said to him as she approached him, but then fell silent when she turned around and saw Gerald and...Harold.
For a short while, the couple said nothing and just stared at each other, not really knowing what to say or do. Then, Patty snapped out of it and with a frown, addressed her boyfriend.
"Harold, what are you doing here?" She asked him. Her question finally made Harold snap out of it as well.
"What does it look like?" Harold said to her, while also giving her a frown. "We're here to get you out of here before you cause any more trouble."
"The only people who are causing any trouble are you and Gerald." She said back to him. "By coming here, you are putting everyone else, including your protest, at risk. This is not a joke, Harold. We're doing something seriously dangerous, yet also heroic. So, we don't need you to come here and ruin things."
"Heroic?!" Harold exclaimed in shock "What is so heroic about you risking yourself by breaking into a government building and stealing?!"
"We're not stealing anything." Patty softly snapped back at him. "We're just looking and copying for any evidence that this government was engaged in corruption."
"Pfft! If you wanna call it that." Curly remarked, but the couple ignored him.
"It's still a crime!" Harold softly, but frustratingly shouted at her. "Don't you see, Patty? Rodrigo is a bad influence on you! He's got you hooked up on some weird and dangerous ideas that I don't even know what it is!"
"Harold," Patty just groaned in frustration, "I wouldn't expect you to understand what I'm doing. And as I told you before, Rodrigo is not influencing me. I have a mind of my own and I am choosing to be here. Just go back to the protest and then go home. I'll find you when this is all over."
"No!" Harold then firmly exclaimed while giving his girlfriend a stern, but determined look.
"What?" Patty asked in surprised.
"I said, no." He said again. "I don't care what your reasons are for being here. I'm not leaving without you. I am the man and you are the woman, so you do what I say and leave this building with me!"
That statement shocked everyone, including Curly, who looked up to face Harold. Patty was even more shocked, not just by her boyfriend's misogynist statement, but at just how defiant and determined he was. The only time she ever saw him like this was back in the sixth grade, when he stood up to Ludwig and stated that he was leaving his army, not wanting to be part of reinstating Trash Can day. On that day, she could not have been any more prouder of him and it gave her the confidence to also leave Ludwig's sickening cause. However, this day was not like that day. This day, Harold struck a nerve and Patty was having none of it.
"What did you say?" Patty asked, while now glaring at her boyfriend.
"I said, you are coming with me..." Harold firmly said again, "please?" before he then cowered and pleaded with her.
Unfazed by his puppy-like pleading, Patty, now just glared at him with piercing eyes. Everyone else stood silent and anxiously watched at what Patty was going to say...or do to him.
"Hmph." She humphed with a smirk on her face. "You want me to leave with you? Go ahead; make me leave with you." She dared him before she then went to the other corridor in order to face him.
"Uh oh." Harold whimpered as he now realized his poor choice of words that allowed Patty to get the best of him.
"Whoa, whoa, guys, wait!" Gerald then exclaimed, trying one last chance to reason with them. "This is getting out of hand. We don't have to do this. Come on, let's get out of here and talk about this. Lorenzo, tell Rodrigo to call off this mission and get everyone to come out. We're all friends here. There's no need to fight each other."
"It's too late for that." Curly then interjected. "The lines have been drawn, the die has been cast. No amount of reason or logic can stop this. At the end of the day, it comes down to us versus you and WE choose to remain here. You're more than welcome to either join us or leave."
Curly's message was loud and clear, but it didn't sit well with anybody who heard it. With each passing moment, everyone had been feeling a growing barrier rising up between them, as each group refused to compromise or back down. When it was 'decided' for each group to follow their own plan, everyone initially just figured each group would do so without affecting or disrupting the other's plan. Up until that time, everyone thought each group just had a 'different' opinion. None had ever thought it would ever get this far, so fast. Everyone who heard Curly realized that this was their last chance to resolve this growing division. With every defiance only allowed that gap to grow more and more, making any attempt for reconciliation that much more difficult. It was no longer the neighbourhood that was now at stake, but their entire group, their friendship! Curly was right; it was now or never. Either everyone, not just one person, stepped in and say 'enough is enough', or be prepared to square off against former friends and brothers-in-arms.
"I'm not leaving without everyone else here." Gerald declared defiantly.
"So be it." Curly said softly. "The decision has been made. If you are not with us, then you are against us."
"Oh come on, Curly!" Gerald angrily tried to protest. "Rodrigo!" Gerald then yelled. "If you can hear me, please stop this! We're friends. You're my friend!"
"You heard that, Rodrigo?" Curly asked.
"Yeah..." Rodrigo softly responded.
Curly then went quiet and listened through his ear piece, waiting to see what Rodrigo would say. Everything went quiet as everyone anxiously awaited what he would say. It got so quiet and with the growing anxiety everyone was feeling, you could hear a pin drop. This was it, the very last chance.
"Continue with the plan." Rodrigo finally said. "And tell them to leave."
Neither Rhonda, Stinky, or Sid said anything to oppose him. They all remained quiet with a weary look on their face.
Curly then made a grin, turned to face Gerald and said, "The plan is still a go."
Gerald said nothing and just sighed in bitter disappointment. With no other option left, his hand had been forced. With a frowning face, he began to walk towards to Curly in order to stop him. Lorenzo saw him and immediately stood in his way.
To be continued...
Yup, leave it up to Curly to make things worse, lol.