Chapter 10- Regret
A day had passed now since Pepper and I parted ways. It was Friday morning, the day of Ralph's visit. This was the first time I was going to see him in person in two months, but I wasn't as excited as I was at first…
I was sitting in my car at the drive's seat that morning with my head lowered. I hated the way Pepper and I left of yesterday, and I just couldn't stop thinking about.
I had my metal in my left hand as I caressed it slightly with my thumb. I looked at it with my eyes filled with tears. I felt terrible…
"V!" I glitched slightly when I heard Shank call my name from afar. I quickly wiped my face, put away my metal, lifted up my head and forced a smile.
"Oh hey Shank!" I said trying to to sound cheerful as she approached.
"Hey V! I was looking for you." She replied. "…Everything ok?" She asked gently.
"Pfft of course! Why wouldn't it." I lied, but Shank didn't seem to buy it.
"You sure, you looked pretty upset when you came back yesterday." Suddenly her tone became more serious. "Did she do something to you-"
"No! No…" I interrupted, my voice becoming lower. "If anything I'm the one that did something…" I lowered my head slightly as I looked back at what happened.
"What's going on V?"
I sighed and showed Shank the box. "I took this from her ok! And when she found out she totally overreacted and wouldn't even let me explain…"
"Well, why did you take it?" Shank ask curiously.
"I don't know…. She was just annoying me, showing off how 'amazing' she is to everyone!"
Shank gave me a look. "Ya know V, sounds to me like you're a bit jealous."
"What…. Pfft, no way!" I lied again but Shank only raised a brow. I sighed. "Ok….maybe I am a bit jealous… She might be a pain in the butt, but she's so much better than me at pretty much everything…"
"So what if she's better. That doesn't make you any less talented!"
"She's not that bad Shank, she's actually a really great person…and I let her go…"
"Well, how are you gonna fix this?"
I looked at her confused. "W-What do you mean?"
"V, it's never too late to make things right. I'm not gonna tell you what to do, but if you want my advice I say you should go find her and talk things out!"
A small smile creeped up on my face. "Maybe you're right Shank! I'll go and find her and make things right!"
"That's the spirit!" Shank smiled.
I hopped out of my car and gave her one final look. "Thanks for the advice Shank!"
"Anytime V!"
With that, I ran straight for the exit and headed off to Google.
Meanwhile at Google…
Pepper sat sadly at her desk, wearing her wig once again, as Monica and her gang were roaming in and out of the small room, bringing in boxes full of papers.
"Welp, that's the last of them!" Monica laughed placing a box down onto the desk. "Hope sneaking off the other day was worth it hahaha!"
Pepper only remained silent as they began to leave. She let out a heavy sigh as she heard the door shut behind her.
On the other side of the door, Monica walked away slowly, feeling rather tense. "That was too close…" She sighed as she began to reflect…
1 Day Earlier…
"You did WHAT?!" Boss shouted vividly.
Monica had just returned back from her mission to retrieve Pepper and was now alone with Boss in her office, who was anything but pleased.
"Listen, it was a manipulation tactic!" Monica protested calmly. "Minty is super gullible so I'm sure she'll be back with her tail between her legs soon!"
'And what if she DOESN'T" Boss shot back.
Monica looked at her frightened. "W-What…" She stammered.
"WHAT IF SHE DOESN'T!" Boss yelled. "You let her go off that easily and you expect her to just show back up here! It's already the next day!"
"W-Well then you can come with me t-to find her then-"
"Excuse me!" Boss cut in. "Are you suggesting I LEAVE THE WORKPLACE!" She yelled slamming her hands on the desk.
"N-No!" Monica stamped stepping back out of fear.
"You know good and well I can't leave unless it's necessary!"
"I-I know but-"
"But nothing!"
Suddenly they both heard a knock at the door. They looked over to see George enter the room. "Uh, sorry to interrupt…" He began sheepishly. "But Peppermint Swirl has just arrived."
They both looked at him surprised by the news. Boss cleared her throat and replied, "Thank you for informing me George. Take her to her office and inform her that I will speak with her shortly."
George nodded and exited the room accordingly.
Boss then turned her attention back to Monica."You got lucky this time, but don't let this happen again!" She instructed strictly.
Monica then opened her eyes bringing herself back to the present. "Way too close…" She whispered to herself as she continued to walk further down the hall.
Meanwhile, Pepper was in her office sorting through all the boxes of papers. She began to think about what happened between us yesterday and it seemed to make her feel frustrated.
She suddenly dropped the papers she was holding and went back to sit at her desk.
"Ugh! Forget about her Pepper!" She grumbled to herself but her expression became more dejected. "This is….for the best…..Right…?"
She began to remember all the fun she and I had, from the race, that good moment we shared at EBay, the trip to the saloon. Then she remembered about the most important one, me standing up for her.
Pepper balled up her fist tightly. "What am I doing…" She said painfully. "Why did I push her away….when I want her in my life…"
Suddenly her face expression and tone became more serious. "I can't do this to myself anymore! I deserve to be happy and I'm not gonna be afraid to stand up for myself!"
She suddenly stood up tall, took off her wig and stormed out of her office. She stepped boldly down the hall as she headed for Boss' office across from her's.
She opened the door forcefully as she approached and stormed in. "Boss, we gotta talk!" She shouted.
Boss looked shocked to see her at the door. "Peppermint Swirl, what are you-"
"I'm here to tell you that I'm done with this!" Pepper interrupted. "For years now I've been putting up with this terrible job just because I was afraid. Well, not anymore… I quit!"
As Pepper turned around to leave, the door suddenly shut in her face on its own. She stepped back slightly terrified. "What! Ah-" She suddenly screamed when she felt something grab her entire body.
She fell to the ground and noticed that she was being restrained by multiple, long, red glowing ropes that seemed to have a similar appearance to tape.
"You're not going anywhere…" Pepper looked behind horrified to see that Boss was the source of her sudden capture.
On my way to Google, I ended up getting lost again! The area I was in seemed pretty scanty and creepy. At first, I thought this was just deja vu but the further I walked the more familiar the area got.
That's when I realized this was no coincidence. "Oh no…"
"Miss me!" I screamed and turned around to see Hailey right behind me. "It's been two days, do you have what I asked for?"
I began to sweat. "N-No!" I replied with a nervous smile. "I couldn't find it anywhere so…"
She only raised a brow. "Oh really? Then what's this!" She suddenly snatched the box from out of my hoodie pocket.
I glitched closer to her and grabbed it back from her. "Sorry lady, I can't let you have this!" I yelled.
The green woman only chuckled. "And why not! We had a deal!"
"Oh forget the stupid deal!" I snapped. "This box belongs to Pepper, not you!"
"Pepper?" She asked with an uproar of laughter. "Oh you naive child, I can assure you that this box belongs to me and me only!"
Suddenly the box began to glow green as it was forcefully released from my hold. It floated away, right back into Hailey's hold.
I looked at her petrified. "D-Did you just…"
"Why yes I did!" She cooed evilly. "And now that I have this back…" She removed the box's lid to reveal what was inside. A green ring. She took it out and put it on as she raised her arm in the air, "The Hacker and I can finally rise again! Muhahahaha!"
Suddenly a wave of power began to release from the ring. The sky began to turn dark and gloomy.
I couldn't believe what was happening, it was all my fault! Suddenly I felt something rap around my body. A glowing green substance made by the one and only, Hailey.
She lifted me off the ground and turned me towards the direction of Google. My eyes widened as I saw a huge, red glowing beast emerge from the top of the building.
But that wasn't any ordinary beast, that was the Hacker…
A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed chp 10! We're getting pretty close to end of the story, so stay tuned for the last for the last few chapters to come. Bet you didn't expect that surpise twist at the end ;)
Anyways, I'll see you when the next chapter! :)