Chapter 20: Demote
Midday in the ship was humid-at least outside-he was keeping the inside temperature in check while everyone else got lunch ready.
...That and keeping an eye on Hammerface.
Despite his recovery, Hammerface was still having to stick to the new rules for the ship, so himself, Thresher, Plasmoid, and Angel tended to be the experiments brought in to help watch him-if nothing else, just to remind him to stop and take a break. It looked like he appreciated it, even if Heat had caught an irritated glance from him once or twice.
He'd been helping the gray experiment prep the snacks; originally, it'd been slicing a watermelon, but Hammerface had decided to move to something else after he'd gotten a little too close.
Heat's thoughts were interrupted by the aforementioned 0-series, who'd abruptly glanced up and started staring at the open doorway. He found himself doing the same upon seeing his expression change from calm to tense.
Felix and Nosy, who'd also been helping, froze as well.
"Everyone, get into our room, right now." Hammerface whispered, "Something's happening out there."
Sprinting to the room revealed everyone else had already congregated inside, Angel locking the door behind them as they entered. The others were pressed up against various corners of the room, nervously eyeing the door; some (like Plasmoid) had powered up-a missing strip of metal along the wall indicated that even Tank was apprehensive.
"Plasmoid, turn that off-people'll hear it." Fudgy said, turning an irritated eye towards the scorpion experiment.
Plasmoid shook his head, but a quick glare from Hammerface forced the issue. He indignantly closed up his tail as the voices began to make their way past the room.
"...What the hell is going on?" He hissed as the hallway quieted down, "Why're so many people heading in here?"
"It doesn't make any sense…unless…" Fibber cast a glance to Hammerface, "Do you think…?"
Hammerface's eyes widened, "He couldn't have…"
"...I think he did." Angel confirmed, her ear pricked towards the door, "I can hear Lilo and Jumba out there."
"What?"
"Yeah, hold on a sec."
Angel opened her mouth as a flood of voices began to pour out into the room. Sure enough, the aforementioned voices-and that of Nani-could be heard underneath the general cacophony, all mentioning "King Gantu" with everyone else.
Heat felt sick listening to this-these were the people who'd taken them in and treated them for their mischarged molecules and cloning injuries and now...now they were being forced to follow Gantu. A quick glance around revealed everyone else shared the sentiment, Nosy in particular holding a hand over his mouth in horror.
The room stood in silence once Angel closed her mouth, now looking just as ill as the rest of them.
It was a while before Fudgy spoke, her voice low and uneasy, "We're in trouble-if he's controlling them, then…"
"Then all the free experiments are in danger-and not just them, I mean-" Hunkahunka said, casting a wing over to the other room, "What're we gonna do? If some of them are staying here, then we won't be able to do anything about this…"
"That's even if we can..." Hammerface said, narrowing his eyes at the door, "On the other hand, he's adjacent to Fibber and I, so we know how to deal with him."
"Then can we? Because…" Heat felt a lump start to grow in his throat at the idea, but Hammerface nodded in agreement, "I feel the same Heat. It's not the first time 029's gotten into the wrong hands, so we have a chance at freeing them. Still doesn't erase how gross it is to hear "King Gantu" from them…"
"Blech. Anyways, if we're getting out of here and helping them, what's the plan?" Fudgy asked, crossing her arms, "If some humans stay behind, then we're going to need to make something up to get by them-on top of other stuff in case we run into anyone outside."
"Right…" Hammerface thought for a moment, "In that case, we're going to say we're his...ugh-his "servants". Those of us with combat abilities can also say we're soldiers, so we may be forming a new army-"
He was given a light punch by Thresher, who stuck his tongue out at the idea, "We're not being Gantu's army anymore."
The tool experiment snorted, "I thought that would get a laugh, but we will have to-at least we'll have to look like we are, alright?"
Plasmoid smiled, "Fine; let Zap, Angel, and Tank join then."
"Done."
"I'll lead us then-I can take us into the less populated areas until this is over." Nosy added, Hunkahunka and Amnesio nodding beside him, "And these two'll fly above the canopy as lookouts."
Hammerface crossed his arms, "I think we have it then. Fib, your thoughts?"
Fibber nodded, "The explanations are good, but we should still be prepared to run if we have to; they're only really going to believe Gantu, and who knows what he's told them about us."
"This also means…" He gestured towards Thresher, "I want you to let us know if we're going too fast for you, okay? We may have to run and it might be really sudden, so I want you to be prepared for that."
The purple experiment bit his lip, but nodded at Fibber's words, "I'll try…"
"Okay, good."
"Alright, as soon as they clear out, we leave."
The ship was empty when the group finally ventured out, Hammerface, Felix, and Nosy taking the lead. The former and Fibber breathed a sigh of relief at not having to use their explanations, and the trip into the undergrowth was surprisingly easy.
...Not that the humans' (and aliens') absence made things any less tense however; Nosy and Hammerface made sure to keep away from the streets, even the highways and side streets. On the surface, it made no sense-they were empty today, but then Heat realized they were probably trying to avoid any controllees who happened to be driving.
Given their typical sizes, it made sense.
That and Hammerface and Fibber knew 029.
Following the group took a while, both due to distance and the slow speed they were made to walk at. He found himself starting to let his guard down-despite the situation, the surrounding forest was quite pretty to walk through. Some of the others had started doing similar before Nosy stopped, holding out his hand for them to do the same.
"We're here. Birds of Paradise."
They were still deep in the undergrowth, but squinting revealed a large setup in the distance-and Gantu sitting in what appeared to be a makeshift throne.
Angel couldn't help but let out a snort at the sight, "He really had to set that up."
"I guess." Heat added, shaking his head, "He looks so dumb from here-I'm sure it's worse up close."
"Okay, Hunkahunka, Poxy, Amnesio? Try to see what's going on for us." Nosy whispered to the three.
They nodded and flew up, Poxy hanging onto Hunkahunka's back as he flitted into the canopy above.
The group waited in silence..for all of two minutes before a commotion could be seen breaking out in the hotel. Upon squinting, Heat could make out the small frame of a bright green experiment making their way across the covering above Gantu. It was easy to see their power, as their arm was stretching far out of sight. He breathed a sigh of relief at seeing said arm return with Lilo, holding her out of the way of the chaos below.
Everyone else watched in shock before the leaders turned around-Hammerface quickly throwing his arms out to shield them. Heat could see his face contorting into hysterics along with Nosy's-in fact both of them were turning a bright magenta from holding in laughter.
"What? What's happening over there?" He asked them, but Hammerface shook his head, "...Let's just say the ship's laundry was backed up, and I don't want Angel making...jokes."
"Don't even think about it, I've seen you reading those damn shark facts late at night." He added, narrowing his eyes at the now smirking pink experiment.
"But I wanna say my favorite word now. Twice."
"Angel, no."
"Please?"
"I said no."
"Ugh, fine!"
The argument was suddenly interrupted by a loud scream from Gantu, followed by tittering from the canopy. All three experiments tumbled down and onto the ground in hysterics. Poxy slid off Hunkahunka and started banging his fist against the ground, his tiny body shaking with high-pitched laughter.
"What-what happened now?!" Felix asked them, his own voice now trembling at the idea of the chaos evolving even further. Amnesio squeezed his eyes shut as tears started to slide down his face, "We can't tell you-it's so gross, I can't believe 625..."
He sputtered and hung his head, continuing to giggle, "I-I think we're free now, I don't think he can come at us anymore…"
"So, Gantu's without his pants and we're all out here now." Fudgy put her finger up to her lip in surprise, "Huh-he's right, I think we got out!"
"Hey, yeah! How far are we from the house? We've gotta head over there before he finds us." Angel said, turning back to Nosy and Hammerface.
Nosy thought to himself, "Well...this hotel's a little far, so we're going to have to be careful going there. Everyone, follow our-"
"Follow your what, 199."
The change in circumstances registered to no one as the group collectively looked up at Gantu, closely followed by 625; the latter was grinning and proudly holding up his pet cockroach, and although the former was glaring at them with his hands on his hips, he was greeted by a roar of laughter from the escaped experiments.
"Aw sick! Why do you even have those?!" Angel screamed, yanking her ears between hysterics, "What, did Hamsterviel make you get 'em? Or-or-"
Plasmoid snorted, "Nah-forget about where he got them, Heat, Thresher, I dunno about you, but I think I could go for a name change-this is just nasty…"
"Yeah, I'll go for one, also, 625, why'd you take Jimmy out?" Thresher asked the gold experiment, who smirked, "What, you didn't hear all the screaming?"
"I think we're done here, thank you 625." Fudgy said, wrinkling her nose at the implication. Heat looked to her in confusion, but she shook her head and gave the former captain a disgusted glare. "On that note, it doesn't matter if you want us to come back, you're not in the position to make us do anything."
Hammerface crossed his arms as Gantu balled his hands into fists, "Really?"
"Yes, really."
It happened in a split second; one moment, he was on the ground next to Angel and in between Plasmoid and 628. The next, he was being grasped tightly in Gantu's fist and held above everyone. Heat's mood whiplashed between the prior hilarity of the situation and the newfound terror of being held by someone fifty times his size in their underwear.
He could hear people screaming for him to be let go and he considered biting Gantu-Hammerface would've done so in a moment-but a wave of nausea crashed over him at the thought and he pursed his lips instead.
And then...he felt something else.
His heart. He hadn't noticed, but it was racing and his breath was quickening to match. He felt lightheaded and squeezed his eyes shut-how'd this happen exactly? Why did it have to be him? Why was it him?! Why…
He felt himself start to go limp, but before his vision could go dark, he was suddenly thrown to the ground. Heat covered his face in fear. The forest was quiet-save for his breath and pounding heart; he wondered why it was, but was too scared to open his eyes and find out.
"OH GOD-HEAT-ARE YOU OKAY?!" Someone rushed over to him and he felt a hand go to his shoulder, only to recoil with a gasp from the owner. He took his hands away from his face to see a horrified Angel standing over him, holding her wrist.
Her singed wrist.
He stared at it in shock-had he done this? He'd never done this before-never in 7 years of existence had he ever burned someone, not even unintentionally…
Heat scrambled to his feet and swayed, disoriented. Looking around revealed everyone staring at him in stunned silence. He was too afraid to turn around, but the shadow over him told him even Gantu was just as shocked as everyone else.
He felt sick; Angel was still trying to touch him and he didn't know if he was still releasing energy...and with that, there was only one thing to do…
Angel put out her hand to stop him, but a knot grew in his stomach at the idea. She was speaking to him, but nothing was registering.
Heat turned and ran into the brush, the undergrowth ripping into his ears and fur…
Unbeknownst to Angel, her shouting had alerted someone to the commotion in the forest. They soon revealed themselves as a yellow streak descending in between Gantu and the rest of the captured experiments.
Sparky wheeled around and glowered at the former captain, charging up his antenna in fury, "What the hell's going on here, you effin' whale? What have you done now?!"
"What have I done?! They're the ones who tried to get out-"
"DON'T YOU DARE GIVE ME THAT CRAP! NOW WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Sparky's scream was loud enough to send flocks of birds flying out of the canopy, "And where's Heat? I thought I saw him take off when I found you."
"He ran off after nearly burning me. And he burned Angel-"
"My fur's singed, not burned, asshole." Angel snapped, "He didn't get me at all, and the only reason he did it was because you grabbed him!"
Sparky cast a glance to Fibber, who snarled and pointed his middle finger at Gantu in confirmation.
He turned back up to Gantu in disgust, "So you, knowing that Heat's sensitive, knowing that Heat has health problems, decided you were going to grab him, as, I assume, a hostage for everyone else to get them to come back with your sorry ass. Is that right?"
"It is, and we need to find him and calm him down. He took off and with his powers...I dunno." Hammerface confirmed.
Sparky bared his teeth, "Damn-you leave that to me; I'm immune to his energy abilities-not the main one, but I can handle this."
Hammerface crossed his arms in worry, "Well, okay, just...be careful with him, alright?"
Sparky nodded and took off, leaving the rest of the group behind…
It didn't take long to find Heat-mostly because Sparky could see a faint trail of smoke forming a path through the forest. Following it led to a small clearing...and one terrified energy experiment. Sparky raised an eyebrow; from what he knew about Heat, he would've expected him to cry. The fact that he was so quiet was a bad sign in this case...
Lighting down revealed Heat was covered in twigs and stickers, most of which were shriveling up from the heat energy he was giving off. Sparky carefully made his way over to him, making sure to not touch him after what he'd heard from Angel…
"...Um, hey, Heat?"
He had no experience dealing with someone like this, but he had to try, being the only person there who could touch him without being burned…
The 6-series didn't answer, instead giving him a dull stare. Sparky could see he was shivering. He seated himself on the ground next to him and drew his knees up to his chest, "It's okay Heat, I'm gonna just wait here until you're good to talk."
It was a few minutes before Heat calmed himself. He copied Sparky and buried his head in his knees, but spoke anyways, his voice muffled against them.
"...How bad is it?"
"The…?"
"How bad did I-"
"Heat, I'm going to stop you there; you didn't burn Angel, and you didn't burn Gantu either in case you're worried about him. Both let go before it could happen."
"I...also know what happened to get you to start doing it, and…" Sparky paused a moment, "...and I want you to know, it's normal. At least for us, it's normal."
Heat's voice cracked, "Then-then I don't wanna be normal…"
"Heat, no-what I mean is that it's normal for us to give off energy when we're scared. It's sort of a defense mechanism; I'm sure you know this, right? Did Jumba tell you before you were deactivated?"
The orange experiment took his face out of his knees, nodding to Sparky.
"Okay, so you know. But...I understand that this doesn't feel good. I've shocked some people before on accident-it's not fun, even less so when we don't have control over it like we think we do. It's the reason why I'm not touching you right now-I know I felt the same when this happened to me."
Heat sniffed, "It's just, we were so close to getting out and now…"
Sparky sighed, "Aw. Yeah...it looked like it was a really sudden escape too. I'm sorry Heat."
Heat bit his lip and scuffed at the ground with his toe, "It's just…was I...are we really going back because of me?"
"What?! No-please don't tell me you think that."
Heat winced, "But…"
"Alright, think of it this way; even if they were going back because of you, do you really think any of them would blame you? Please-think about it."
"But what if it's true?"
Sparky's antenna drooped, "Heat, Gantu shouldn't have grabbed you. If anything, he's the reason, not you; you being sensitive doesn't mean you're weak. I really want you to understand that."
Heat found himself disbelieving Sparky, but he didn't let it show; why'd he just panic and then almost burn everyone? And what if he had burned them? What if he'd…
He nodded, hoping he looked like he agreed.
...It didn't get past Sparky, whose ears drooped in response. "Okay...Heat, if you're gonna do that, then I want you to talk to someone you're comfortable with. Just tell me you'll do that, at least?"
Heat hung his head, "Okay…"
"Alright…you feeling good to head back then?"
Heat nodded, standing back up and sniffling.
"Right, let's get you back to Hammerface…"
He'd lied to Sparky again. It was wrong and he felt horrible for it, but something about Sparky suggested he didn't know the full story…
It was late at night in the ship now, and he was unable to sleep despite his exhaustion at the days' events. Everyone else was asleep but him, and it was quickly becoming difficult to handle-Nosy, unsurprisingly, had a snoring problem.
Heat gulped and drew his knees to his chest; he hadn't bothered to tell them anything, and even if Sparky was right, it didn't take away that he'd still panicked instead of doing anything useful.
Now, they were all stuck back in here, with a screaming gerbil and someone who apparently wore pantyhose...he wished the latter part was still funny to him, but a close-up had forever ruined it.
Maybe…
Heat turned towards the door before giving everyone a quick glance. Maybe...he should just leave. He was the only one who cried and panicked that easily-Nosy and Fibber knew how to control themselves, so did Thresher and 628-even Angel despite appearances could keep it together...and they weren't actually dangerous to anyone if they did lose control…
Heat slowly stood up and stepped between the numerous makeshift beds, putting a hand over his mouth in case he bumped into anyone or made any noise.
Opening the door revealed the darkened hallway. He glanced around, but saw no one. His gaze traveled to the ceiling, and he slowly closed the door behind him as he stepped out into the ship…
A yell and a splash from outside woke up Angel, who rubbed her eyes and made her way to the window. She squinted, then gasped at the unmistakable outline of a soaking wet Heat scrambling towards the forest.
"HEY-HEY GUYS?! GUYS WAKE UP, HEAT'S-"
A hand quickly went over her mouth and she was dragged back from the window by Hammerface, but it was too late. A light turned on from Gantu's room as Nosy flicked the one in theirs on. "Angel, if Heat's running off, then why'd you yell like that? Especially after today?"
"But-"
"Nosy, come on, she was probably just shocked and blurted it out." Hammerface countered, "I think most of us would do the same."
Nosy sighed, "Okay, you're right, but Gantu's going to try and chase him."
"No, he won't."
"...And why would that be…"
Hammerface turned towards the door, "Because I'm going after him."