Chapter Soundtrack: watch?v=fvVBtqJkksc
30.
"...and we still don't know whether if Diego was drunk or high…" said Lear from where she was laying on the floor, idling about. Marben giggled and turned to their friends, with a complicit air.
"Or maybe even both!".
"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" thundered Myery, laughing so hard that it morphed into a coughing fit.
"Easy there, take it easy. You haven't healed yet" Diana admonished her, offering a glass of water and pushing the red-haired girl towards the pillow; Myery took the glass and leaned back but her laughter and coughing didn't weaken, even if after a bit began to sound strained. Lear propped herself up, giving her friend an unimpressed look.
"You know, it would be nice of you not to spread too many bacteria around. I'm doing fine without the whole plague experience, thank you very much".
"After what you did last night, your mental stability should take priority among your worries!" Myery peevishly replied, making an effort not to surrender to the need to cough. Lear made to retort, but Marben cut her off before she could.
"She's not entirely wrong: you weren't afraid of those thugs, yesterday, but now get phobic over a little cough?".
"You three bitches are just jealous the idea of dragging the Umbrella Kids into a brawl was mine, moreover challenging them to fight without powers".
"No, dear, you're totally missing the point! And you too" accusingly blurted Myery, then, giving Lear a foul look while pointing a finger at her cousin. "You've been two fucking irresponsibles!".
Understandably, the room's vibe changed brusquely: Marben and Lear lost all their playfulness, and even Diana, who had nothing to do with the brawl from the night before, lowered her eyes and bowed her head.
"What if one of those brutes had actually managed to hurt you? Or how would you have explained to the teachers a black eye, how would you have done with the lessons if you broke an arm?" Myery stressed. "Not to mention that we had just succeeded in misleading Arsegreeves! Now he will surely get suspicious, and go back to following us everywhere!".
"You think the Kids will get into trouble, for what happened?" Diana turned to ask Marben, in a worried tone. The other girl looked at her as if she hadn't thought of it until that moment, then her gaze clouded and she nodded.
"Maybe Arsegreeves came back earlier and caught them on the way home?" Lear tried to suggest.
"It could be…but however it went it doesn't change the fact that surely the others will be covered in scratches and bruises today, and that damned geezer has the eyes of a hawk. He will put two and two together and know his Kids ended up in the fight even if nobody recognized them".
"Shit, I hadn't thought of that…" murmured Lear, genuinely looking contrite. Myery, however, was not convinced.
"If what Five tells you about how they get trained is true, why should bruising and scratching be a problem, all of a sudden?". Marben gave her cousin a bitter smile, tinged with contempt.
"Because this time they didn't get hurt while training for his holy cause. On the contrary, they were behaving like the criminals they fight to make the world a better place. Arsegreeves will be furious".
"That man really is raving mad…" murmured Myery, in dismay.
"I think he only adopted the Kids to gain parental authority and train them as he sees fit. No mentally sane parent would have ever given their son or daughter to him, had they known what he would have subjected them to".
"Alright then, let's stop crying over spilt milk, it's of no use" Diana intervened after a moment of tense silence, with an air of finality that sounded reassuring. "In all honesty I don't think this nonsense will bring back in Arsegreeves' old, despicable mind the desire to look at us as frogs to be dissected. At most he will think we're troublemakers that are deranging his children".
"In case you missed it, I just said this could be even worse! He's obsessed with the Kids' reputation!" came with an unexpected, bitter laugh from Marben.
"Excuse me? We're trying not to be defeatists, here" Diana impatiently rebuked her.
"Right, sorry" acquiesced Marben, raising her hands in a placating gesture, "But please, while you're at it keep this in mind: if he wanted to make us discard our whole lives and follow him to the Academy to get warped into whatever he deems of his liking, all he would have to do would be telling his daughter to ask us kindly. And we would, without even realizing it".
The room swooped into silence again, so quickly that the warmth of it seemed to vanish along with the sounds. On the bed, Myery remained motionless, as well as Lear on the floor; Diana, instead, crossed her arms to her chest as if she really was feeling cold. Marben didn't regret being ruthless, the Girls needed to know what they could have to face.
"You…you think Allison would…" stuttered Diana, probably voicing the other girls' doubt too.
"I know she would. She's not bad at heart, she just is her father's creation…and she cannot oppose to him" incisively replied Marben, and Diana nodded.
"We must keep making Arsegreeves believe we're four harmless screwed-ups, then".
"Indeed…let's stick to the plan like nothing happened" agreed Lear, "That's all we have. And after all, if it already worked once, maybe it will work a second time around too!".
"Wait…" tentatively came from Myery, however, forcing the other three girls to turn abruptly toward her. "And what if we were to make things worse, in order to improve them?". Silence ensued.
"Uh?" voiced Lear after a moment, her voice brimming with confusion. Diana wasn't faring better.
"What do you mean?".
"Marben, you said that if Arsegreeves thought we're having a bad influence on his children it would make him terribly angry, right?" recapped Myery, searching for her cousin's gaze. Marben nodded, so focused on what she was going to hear that she didn't seem to be even breathing.
"Yup".
"So why not convince him exactly of this? Were he to despise us, he wouldn't want to deal with us in any way, he would try to lock up the Kids in the Academy to keep 'em safe and maybe even fuck off!".
"... oh god, it's such a foolish idea that it actually seems to hold up!" Lear exclaimed, sounding surprised and somehow intrigued.
"Did I understand correctly, then? You suggest causing trouble whenever the chance arise, to convince him that we're bad seeds?" questioned Marben, sounding possibilist. Myery had to sense something in her cousin's attitude that deceived her, because she gave Marben a look and spoke with a tone of voice that seemed to want to challenge her to find a better solving.
"Exactly, and at the same time we keep copying you, to prove him that we're of no use, as well as destructive!".
"I'm in" asserted Lear without any insecurity whatsoever, and Diana copied her, going to sit next to Myery to compliment her idea.
Marben stood aside for a moment, watching them as she felt a thrilling wave of disobedience, protest and freedom pervade her like a gust of fresh and clean air. The mere thought of being able to return to mastering her own gestures and body had such a galvanizing effect on her that her face transfigured in a bright, even a bit impertinent, smile.
"I agree, it really is a brilliant idea" she finally said then, attracting the other girls' attention; Myery, Lear and Diana marveled at seeing her smile with such enthusiasm. "Let's do this!".
.oO°Oo.
"Can I be completely unreasonable for a moment?".
"Sure!".
"…I had the time of my life, fighting those assholes!".
"WHAT? You had fun risking your life in the midst of a pack of big, ugly, stinking and drunk strangers?".
"Yeah! It's...so invigorating, to do the right thing, and they undoubtedly had it coming!".
"You do realize we've been extremely lucky…".
"Nooooo, not you too…".
"…that it could have ended very badly, that those bastards could have reduced us to a pulp if only had they been a little less drunk…".
"Of course I know, but it didn't happen, did it?".
"Still not a good reason to become too self-confident!".
"I'm not being too self-confident. At any rate, let's be grateful about what a good opportunity to practice it has been".
"PRACTICE? You mean you're going to do that again?".
"Who knows? It can always come in handy to know how to fight…".
"No, Marben, just NO. That's not how problems are solved".
"And yet, it's what you Umbrella Kids always do!".
"Yes, but you're better than that. Don't get down to our level".
"…say what you want, but I'm happy about the experience. Those men were being mean to Diego! It was so wrong from so many points of view I wouldn't even know from where to start shouting abuse against them, so letting the fists talk probably has been for the best!".
"Oh, Doll…".
"Why are you laughing? Didn't it piss you off?".
"Kind of. A bit, yes. But not all that much, to be honest: Diego's not a child, he's trained enough to solve his troubles by himself".
"...so why did you accept the challenge?".
"Because I just can't stand that bitchy friend of yours! I wanted to stick to the rules and rub in her face I can fend for myself even without powers!".
"So you were settling an old issue, fighting for dominance against Lear…".
"Normally I wouldn't give a damn about proving myself to her. But since she challenged me, yesterday…".
"For heaven's sake, she challenged everyone, Five, not just you!".
"However. Someone had to show her her place".
"Sounds pretty sexist, you know…".
"It has nothing to do with her being a girl, but everything to do with her being hateful!".
"I knew, baby. Relax, I was just teasing".
"Oh, were you? You little, brawling rascal!".
"Thinking about it…does your father know about the fight?".
"He suspects, but...I think he has no evidence about our involvement. Yet. So for now he's not gonna punish us".
"Great! And how's Diego?".
"Pissed off".
"As is to be expected of someone with such a temper! Is he ok, though?".
"Yeah, Mom took care of him in secret. Apparently those fools gave him a lot to drink, before challenging him at darts".
"…I'm all the more happy to have kicked those assholes' butts!".
"C'mon, honey! Are you becoming a hooligan?".
"…if I did, would you have to get me arrested?".
"Technically, yes...but I could never bring myself to do it. We could always run away together…".
"Where?".
"Anywhere. As long as I'm with you, I don't care".
A/N: I know, I'm late again...but I'll post one more chapter, this week, to make amends :) and also to thank you, because to see that you're becoming a crowd is my personal joy. Thank you, beautifolks. I embrace you all, one by one.