Hey! I finally finished chapter fifteen! And let me tell you, this is a cool one! ^_^ Oh my God, you guys aren't going to believe what happens in this chapter.
I'm just so excited I think I'm going to explode! So guess who returns in this chapter? Yeah, I know. I had a hard time making him in character. But god, I just hate him! It's in character for Mansley to act all cynical, right? Well, it was just the chapter he returns in. The next chapter will be better.
Sorry that my updates have been slower.
Pain clawed at Hogarth's brain as he slowly batted his eyes open. Even through the veil of his vision, he could discern a blurry image of a table set in front of him. He could see the dim light of a lamp in the middle of the room chasing away the dark. The pounding in his head was just as unbearable, and he couldn't find any way to make it stop. In a matter of seconds, several memories crept through him. He remembered the forest, the trees, he remembered running, he remembered falling, and he remembered 9 and 5.
That's when he stood up, or at least he tried to. That's when Hogarth realized he was tied down to a chair. Where was he? What was this place? And then he looked down at his clothes. His winter coat was gone along with his scarf. He was still wearing his sweater along with the rest. That explained why he felt cold in this room.
Where were 9 and 5? Were they okay? Did they manage to get away? Did they get captured? Were they locked up? Hogarth looked down at the ropes tied around his wrists. He wondered if he could get out of these bonds. If he could do it just like they did in the movies, he could get out of this room and search for 9 and 5.
"Hello, Hogarth," spoke a voice. It sounded like it came from behind. He turned around. He was a black silhouette—no, upon further observation, he saw that it was a man dressed in some kind of black bodysuit. Although it looked like some kind of clingy yet stretchable fabric. Even without the mask, Hogarth knew who that was.
"Kent Mansley," croaked Hogarth hoarsely.
He watched the man walk over to the center of the room, hands behind his back. Mansley stood before him, masked face staring straight into his eyes. Hogarth watched him remove his mask. The same face he remembered as before: angular face with a pointed chin, blue eyes. Even with his mask on or off, his red hair managed to stay quaffed. Must use a lot of hairspray.
"So, champ," said Mansley, pacing the room, "thought you'd never see me again?"
It was true Hogarth thought he was dead, but to see him in the flesh was surreal. That nightmare made him look like an illusion made of air than flesh and blood.
"I thought you were already dead," muttered Hogarth.
"Oh," said Mansely, holding up a finger, "how wrong you really were. But that's not the point, cowboy." He shoved his mask in one of his pockets. "The point is," he quipped, "that I got your attention."
"Yeah," said Hogarth, glaring daggers at him, "you got me, now what do you want?"
"I think you know what I want," retorted Mansely. "Seen a little trinket?" He made a circle with his thumb and index finger. "About this big? Metallic? Has three little symbols on it?"
Hogarth scrunched his eyebrows together.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he responded, trying to look equally as menacing as Elias.
Mansley's smile remained on his face.
"Oh, we can spend the whole day playing twenty questions, Hogarth," quoth Mansely, "but you and I both know we don't have time for each other's bullshit, and that's the truth."
Hogarth shook his head, rolling his eyes.
Mansley continued his pacing, around the table Hogarth was sat at, keeping his eyes on him. The way he looked at him, it was like he expected to see him free himself from the restraints. Hogarth wanted to, but with him watching him, he found that objective to be impossible.
If he could distract Mansley instead, he could find a way to get out of these ropes.
"So," he spoke, "tell me, how did you escape prison? I hear it's suppose to have maximum security, but how did you get out? Enlighten me."
Mansley stopped pacing, looking Hogarth in the eye. Whether he was in for a talk or not was up for the man to decide. Hogarth surveyed his surroundings. Grey walls, grey floors, a single light, the table the was at and the chair, and Mansley. If only he had laser vision like the Giant and he could melt Mansley's head like it were a wax candle. No, he had to stall him. Make time pass, so he could find an escape.
"Well," uttered Mansley, "since we're going to be here for a while until the machine's charged up, I suppose I could share a few...anecdotes."
Perfect. Hogarth raised a brow.
"Well, you see," said Mansley, "I was in my cell, awaiting my sentence; the hours were long, the decor was dull. In short, horrible. The food they gave me was stale and tasteless. Most of the time I wouldn't eat it. And that's when I thought up my plan.
"I lied in my cot and heard the guard coming, I could hear the keys ringing. When he pushed the food through the cat flap and he saw that I wasn't taking it. He opened the door, he came in and he came over to the bed and when he was close I lunged at him. I knocked him out, took his keys, and locked him in.
"The alarms started going off. I was running through the halls. I knew the guards weren't far behind. I had to outrun them, get them lost long enough." He chuckled. Hogarth rolled his eyes. "Anyhow," quipped Mansley, "I'd gotten ahead of the gang. I knew that the general was overseeing my execution, so I thought I'd get his attention somehow. I knew where the general would store his top secret info, so naturally, I broke in, looked through every file. A lot of it was blueprints for inventions no one has ever seen.
"But I was on the clock and I needed to get going. I stole the blueprints for the portal and escaped through a window. Eh, falling from a three story window is not something I enjoyed. Covered in glass and blood. Eesh. I had the blue prints and I was on my way. I had to keep a low profile. I couldn't give myself away, but little did I know, I was being followed.
"That agent. So pathetic, he could've dropped a few years if he had been able to escape on time." He cast a maniacal look at Hogarth. Though he flinched, he couldn't let Mansley know he was scared.
"You should've been there when I dropped the match," uttered Mansley coolly, "watching that place catch on fire." He let out a hearty laugh. Hogarth winced, but kept his composure.
"So, you killed that agent?," said Hogarth. His face was horrible to look.
"That's right," replied Mansley, giving him the finger gun. "Glad to have one less nuisance to slow me down."
Hogarth raised an eyebrow.
Mansley turned around and began pacing further away.
"But it didn't end there," he spoke, "after that agent died, another came along. He was a lot more relentless."
This was his chance, while Mansley had his back turned, Hogarth was going to try loosening the restraints.
"He wasn't quite as fast as the other one," said Mansley, pacing, holding up a finger. "Which to me was a relief, cause he was about, say, pushing fifty?"
Hogarth watched him. His back was still to him. He tried moving his wrist in quick motions, just until they loosened up.
"I mean," hooted Mansley, throwing his arms in the air, "he chased me into an alley a couple of times. I remember one night it was past midnight..."
Hogarth did the same with his left wrist. Then he thought of something else. He leaned down on his right wrist, and tugged at the rope with his mouth. A mouth had another use besides eating. It left a sour taste in his mouth, but he was willing to try anything. Hogarth saw him turning around, so he sat back up.
"...and that's how I escaped yet again."
"Sounds like you've had quite the adventure," said Hogarth, eyes locked on Mansley. He was immediately reminded of the time he interrogated him in the barn. He hoped with all his damnedest not to get chloroformed again.
"Ah, well," he retorted, walking up to him, "I needed to find my resources. Find bright minds to help me build this portal and I have." He sounded proud in his proclamation.
"Oh really?," said Hogarth, "tell me, how did I guy like you get a couple of scientists to work for you? What, did you bribe them?"
"Funny thing about that," retorted Mansley. "It's surprising how a few threats can compel someone to do anything you want for you."
Hogarth rolled his eyes. He had just about enough of this. He was ready to get out of here and maybe give him a few punches before escaping.
"This shelter," he said, as though referring to an invisible, omnipotent being, "has done well to hide the fact that we're here, doing what no other has ever dared to do."
"Yeah?," quipped Hogarth.
"Yeah," Mansley sneered, "that portal, I never imagined what it opened to. An alternate world very similar to our own. Or, to put it more specifically, another timeline."
This got Hogarth piqued to listen.
"Yeah, the first time tested it out, we didn't who should volunteer to go in first," explained Mansley, "so I stepped up, and took a rope, tied it around myself and went in. Everything was white at first. Then, all color dotted the void and I felt a cold wind and I found myself in the ruins of a city.
"There were machines everywhere. Machines that were like those robots in War of the Worlds. There was also this building, a factory. I didn't know how much time I had, so picked up the nearest thing and went back to the portal. To give you an idea of what it looks like—" he motioned to his right, "—picture a whirlpool of light spinning in the middle of nowhere."
"Hmmm." Hogarth shrugged.
"Anyways," said Mansley, "what I brought back with me...it had a cat's skull, but the rest of its body was metal. I had my scientists examine it. They concluded it was made of both organic and technological traits. The organic being its skull and the thing that kept it alive was the battery within its socket. Although we didn't have the blueprints for this machine, we deduced from its structure on how to create another like it.
"We decided to take things further and created a bigger machine than the one I found," continued Mansley. "Being surrounded by forest, it wasn't hard to find animals to experiment on. After successfully creating the machine beasts, we let them out into the wild, hoping someone would catch sight of them, more specifically, you."
"And it worked," groused Hogarth, "just like you wanted."
"Exactly," said Mansley.
Hogarth shook his head.
"But after we first tested the portal," said Mansley, "I wanted to see what else was in that other world. So after it recharged, we activated it again. I tied the rope around me again and went in. I ended up in that ruined city again, only I was in front of the remains of a rundown house, and outside the house, there was this memorial, looked like a memorial. It had crosses with pieces of fabric with numbers written on them."
Hogarth's eyes widened slightly.
"1, 2, 5, 6 and 8," said Mansley, eyes squinting, "I didn't know what that was about, but I went inside the old house and took a look around. I went upstairs, I found some dead guy, and I found a device on the guy's desk. I looked at some blueprints and found the one for that machine.
"I also found blueprints for these doll-looking things, and that's when I saw the box. It had a tag that had the number nine written on it. I played it and watched the message the old man left. According to him, the war that was caused after he built this machine called the B.R.A.I.N. It's short for Binary Reactive Artificially Intelligent Neurocircuit. Mouthful, I know. Anyways, I read through his journal, and I found out about his creations, the doll-things, what's the word? It's on the tip of my tongue. Ah... Oh yeah, stitchpunks."
Hogarth shrank back, eyes looking away. He couldn't show Mansley that he knew. Just keep listening and maybe he'll get bored and wrap it up.
"See," proclaimed Mansley, sitting in the edge of the table, "the old man created nine of these. I kinda put the pieces together when I watched the message he made for the ninth stitchpunk. After I went back to the portal, I opted to find these stitchpunks. See what makes them tick. So, when the machine charged again, I made my mission.
"I went through the portal again, only I wound up on the outskirts of the city, but I knew where I had to look. I went through the city again to search for them, see if they were around. I searched for about an hour, maybe two, I had no luck, until I saw something. I saw them walking through the streets. I saw my opportunity. I followed them at a distance hiding whenever they'd turn around.
"And when I was close enough, I made my move. I grabbed them all, counted them, but realized that some were missing. I asked them where the other four are, and one of them said that they got lost. Separated. I didn't believe them, but I couldn't let them go. So I brought them back."
Hogarth's eyes protruded. He brought them here? They were here? They were here all this time and Hogarth didn't think checking here? But with the shelter's location unspecified, and the beasts trying to kill him and the stitchpunks.
"I'd take it by the look on your face that you know what I'm talking about," retorted Mansley, standing up.
"I don't know anything," said Hogarth, not meeting his gaze.
"Oh, you do," said Mansley, "and I'll find out, no matter how long I have you here."
The boy didn't respond.
"Well, until I find them," drawled Mansley, "I'll have you know I found more than just a couple of walking, talking dolls."
This brought Hogarth to jump into conversation.
"Like what?"
Mansley chuckled darkly.
"I have to find my son!," hollered Annie, trying to break between two soldiers.
"I'm sorry, but no one can get passed this point," said the soldier.
"Please!," shouted Annie.
"Annie," said Dean, wrapping his arms around her. Annie turned to look at him. With no other choice, she fell into his arms and she walked with him to one of the trucks.
"We can't just sit around doing nothing," said Annie.
"I know, I know," said Dean.
Terrence, Michael and Duncan gathered around him and Annie. Michael had 3 and 4 perched on his shoulders.
"What did they say?," asked Michael.
"They aren't letting anyone go anywhere," said Annie.
"And one of them already contacted the mayor and the sheriff," added Dean, "in a little of an hour, they'll be here, and we'll probably get escorted back to town."
Duncan's face fell.
"What about Hogarth?," asked Michael.
Dean shrugged. " I don't know," he answered, "if he finds Elias in the forest, I know he'll be alright."
"I thought you didn't trust him," remarked Terrence.
"I don't," reiterated Dean, "but I trust Hogarth's judgment and hope he comes back unscathed."
Terrence looked like he wanted to say something, but he slumped his shoulders. He glanced at the treeline. Wherever he was, he hoped he was alright.
3 and 4 flickered, gartering attention from Dean and Annie.
"What?," said Dean, brow furrowing. He glanced at Michael. "What are they saying?"
"I don't know," said Michael, "I don't understand her as well as Hogarth does."
"Could you at least try?"
"I...I..."
Annie squinted her eyes. "Wait," she said, "I think I know what they're trying to say."
All eyes were on her as she gathered her wits.
"They're saying that they'll need to wait for things to unravel," said Annie, keeping her eyes on the twin stitchpunks.
"That's basically all we have to do," said Michael.
Terrence sighed.
"Help!," shouted someone.
Terrence and the others turned around. They saw someone running toward the camp. It seems that they came from the same direction the general and his troops went. Whoever he was, he looked like he had something to say.
The other soldiers gathered around him. The newcomer took breath after breath, trying to calm down in order to speak.
"There was—" he managed to croak out, "there was... They came out of nowhere. These soldiers in black. They took down most of the troops, and the general was taken. I managed to escape along with another. But they got him, too. I...I tried to go back for him, they outnumbered me." He coughed. "I managed to take down five of them. They wanted to take me down, but I escaped."
There was a deep silence. Dean watched the soldiers talk amongst themselves. The took this soldier's word for it, but they had their doubts. But to hear that the general was in trouble raised cause for action.
"Spread out," said the sergeant to the rest of the soldiers. "We will go to the direction the general went and find the location of the shelter."
"Let us go with you!," shouted Annie, breaking away from Dean.
"Annie!," called Dean.
"Please," said Annie, standing before the sergeant, "let us come. My son—he's out there! He could be in trouble. What if he got captured, too?"
"Ma'am," said the sergeant, "I cannot allow that to happen. The best is for you to wait for the sheriff and the mayor to arrive and he'll escort you and the rest out of here."
"But—" Annie was cut off by the sergeant.
"Look, I'm sorry about your son, but we promise you we will find him," said the sergeant, "and when we do, we will bring him back to you."
Dean came barging in. "Look, can't we make an exception for today?," he questioned. "I mean, you've got to know what's out there."
"Sir, we are doing everything we can—"
"Well I don't see you doing anything!," shouted Dean.
"If you please just—" Annie was once again interrupted before she could finish.
"We've got a missing general and an agent and several more soldiers out there!," barked the sergeant. "Now we need to find them before any more go missing. And as soon as the mayor and the sheriff arrive I will see to it that you are escorted back to town in—"
"Sergeant!," shouted a soldier. "Look!"
The ground all of a sudden shook. The sound came from somewhere in the forest, but they didn't know where. Everyone looked around for an answer, see where it was coming from. This was no earthquake, this was like a pair of colossal feet traipsing through.
"Look!," shouted Terrence, pointing. "Over there!"
Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing. It was the path Elias ran toward. Above the treetops, everyone could discern the grey of his head and the glow of his eyes, but they never imagined they would see him again.
"Look at that," uttered Duncan, eyes wide.
"The Giant," said Michael.
"Whoa," quoth Terrence.
Everyone stepped back. Those who were close to the trucks got in and drove out a bit further to give room for the Giant. The Giant stepped out of the forest. When he stood before the campsite, everyone was in awe. They all took in his appearance. He was the same as the last time he was seen. Grey metal, enormous arms and legs. Eyes glowing white. Nothing about him changed.
Dean squinted his eyes. He looked at the Giant's right hand. He looked at the way he had it, like he was holding something. Or someone.
The Giant knelt down, taking the soldiers by surprise, and held out his colossal hand. It was not Hogarth, but Elias.
"Agent," said the sergeant, running toward him.
Elias stepped off the Giant's hand. On his shoulders were 9 and 5. Elias looked at the sergeant. He gave him a smile.
"Turns out he's real," said Elias, looking over his shoulder.
"Agent," repeated the sergeant, "how did you—"
"I'll explain later," replied Elias. He looked last the sergeant, and saw Annie, Dean, and Hogarth's friends running toward him.
"Elias," said Dean.
"Have you seen Hogarth?," asked Annie. "Did you see—"
"I didn't see him," answered Elias. "I was busy following that other soldier that I didn't realize he had been following me. Luckily, I found these two." He motioned toward the two stitchpunks in his shoulders.
Dean, Annie, and Hogarth's friends gathered around to get a closer look at the Giant. The Giant in turn gazed at them, laying eyes on a familiar someone.
"DEAN," said the Giant.
Dean's eyes protruded in surprise.
"He remembers," he uttered, taken aback.
"Of course he remembers," said Annie, beaming.
Duncan's jaw dropped. "Wow," he quoth.
"Heh," said Terrence, raising a brow.
Dean looked at Elias.
"Where did he—" he struggled. "When did he—"
"I got lost trying to find the soldier who shot at us," explained Elias. "I decided to turn back when I found these two running towards me." He glimpsed at the stitchpunks briefly. "And then the ground shook, I look up and we see him."
Dean and Annie look up at the Giant. The Giant moved his mouth to give what he could pass off as a smile.
"But," started Annie, "did you see my son at all?"
"We saw what happened," said 9.
"What did you see?," asked Dean.
"We saw," answered 5, "a soldier approach when Hogarth lost consciousness. 9 and I hid in the trees, and we watched the soldier get closer. He was all dressed in black."
"We watched him take off his mask," said 9, "he...I don't know if you know this man, but he had red hair, blue eyes."
"Mansley," said Dean, brow knitting together.
5 winced. "We watched him take Hogarth," he continued. "We tried following him, but he was faster than us and we were afraid of giving ourselves away."
"I understand," said Dean, he tapped 5's shoulder with his finger. "You're smaller than he is, you would've been overpowered easily."
5 wrung his hands nervously.
"We couldn't catch up with him," said 9, "so we went in the other direction. We had a hard time trying to find our way back, and not to mention the ground was shaking. Then Elias showed up and here we are."
Dean turned from 9 to look at the Giant.
"Do you know where Mansley took Hogarth?," he asked.
The Giant nodded.
"Do you know which direction he went?," queried Annie.
"Can you take us there?," asked Elias.
"YES," replied the Giant.
Sirens could be heard overhead. Everyone turned and saw the sheriff's truck pull in. The mayor's car also drove in after the sheriff parked. As soon as the two men came out of their vehicles, the sergeant went up to inform them on what's happened. The looks the mayor and the sheriff gave the Giant let them know that they'd like to now the whole story.
"Think they'll let us stay?," asked Michael.
"I don't know," said Dean, keeping his eyes on the mayor and sheriff.
They watched the three converse amongst each other. Whatever they were saying, Dean wondered if they could still go through the plan with the Giant present.
"I think they're wrapping it up," said Dean, watching the sergeant break away from the sheriff and the mayor. He marched up back to the soldiers.
"The mayor has agreed to let us go through with the backup plan," said the sergeant, "with the Giant's help."
"Will you let us come along?," asked Annie. "I need to get to my son."
"Now, ma'am, I told you, we can't—"
"I think," interjected Elias, "I can take responsibility on taking Hogarth's parents and his friends to the shelter."
The sergeant stared. Elias' gray glance stripped him of his willpower. He stared back, looking confused while also not knowing what to do. In the end he gave the rest of the soldiers the order to go with the plan.
"You scare me, Wolfe," said the sergeant. "I hope you know what you're doing."
"I'm always right," quipped Elias. He stepped back on the Giant's hand. Dean and Annie stepped on his hand after Elias did. Duncan, Michael and Terrence got on the Giant's left hand. When the Giant stood up, it was a whole new experience for the three boys.
"Whoa," spoke Duncan, "head rush."
"I think I can see town from here," exclaimed Michael, eyes widening.
"Giant," said Dean, "lead the way."
The Giant marched on, enormous footprints marked in the crisp white snow. The soldiers near him backed away, watching in awe as he traipsed through the trees, which were practically being pushed aside.
The sheriff watched on, giving the mayor a brief glance. The sergeant, meanwhile, had a feeling that told him they would all find the general, and Hogarth along with Mansley. After this, no one knew, but one they were sure of was Mansley was never going to show his face again.
"You see," said Mansley, "on one of my little walks through the ruined town, I found survivors. Human survivors from that world. I promised to bring them here, which I did, but with the promise that they would have better lives. Of course, that was for convincing them to come. They never would come if I told them the truth."
Hogarth scowled. Lying to people with the promise of shelter was a definite no on his part.
"I had them work for me as my soldiers," said Mansley. "It's interesting how a few words of encouragement can make someone do anything for you.
"I wouldn't know," retorted Hogarth. He didn't necessarily mean to say out loud as he meant to think it.
"Well, you're missing out," said Mansley, "you don't know what it feels like, having others look up to you. They'll do anything for a simple token of gratitude."
"Let them go, Mansley!," hollered Hogarth. "Those people have done nothing to you and here you have them doing your dirty work. They don't even belong to this timeline."
"They're better off here than in that cesspool of a town," snapped Mansley.
"Be that as it may," retorted Hogarth, "their world is needs them, and not just those people, but those stitchpunks you kidnapped. Their world needs them."
"Aw, come on," said Mansley, "what's so bad about taking a few people from of their world? Besides, I'm sure someone else will find that device and create more of these stitchpunk things."
Hogarth sighed, not wanting any part of this conversation anymore. He hoped this talk would be wrapped up.
A knock from somewhere resonated, prompting Hogarth to look around the room for its source. It sounded like it came from behind him. Well, judging by the way Mansley walked passed him.
Mansley opened a door. The light shined in from behind; Hogarth could see Mansley's shadow along with another shadow. The other person's shadow was of a tall man with a shorter chin than Mansley's.
"The portal is ready, sir," said the other man.
"Good," replied Mansley. "I'll be there in a moment. You let the others know."
"Right away, sir," answered the man. Hogarth watched his shadow disappear and he could hear his footsteps echo.
Mansley closed the door, and walked up to Hogarth.
"Looks like my portal is ready for another test drive," he said, standing beside Hogarth.
"Aw yeah?," answered Hogarth, lifting an eyebrow.
"Yeah," repeated Mansley. "How's about I take you over and give you a sneak peek of how it works."
"How are you gonna take me there?," chimed Hogarth. "Are you gonna drag me there in this chair?"
"No," snapped Mansley, "I'm going to untie you, but I me a it when I saw no tricks."
"What am I going do? I don't even have a weapon."
Mansley took out a knife from his pocket and cut the ropes around Hogarth's wrists. The boy stood up, rubbing his wrists. His flexed his fingers to get the feeling back in his hands. Mansley walked over to the door and opened it again. Hogarth followed him, and used this time to come up with a plan. If only he still had his switchblade. What did Mansley do with his coat? He hoped he didn't throw it away.
Until he found the exit, he would have to do what Mansley said. And when the time was he was going catch him off guard, and rescue the stitchpunks the kidnapped.
So the Giant did return after all. I know you've all been waiting for his return. This was the part I had a hard rime with. Writing the Giant's speaking parts. I wasn't sure how to write them. I didn't know if I should have him speak in all caps or not.
I bolded his quotes to show that his voice is not human. That's how I saw someone else do it. Sorry if I messed up.
The Giant will have more dialogue in chapter sixteen. I promise.