Yesterday, Lab Rat had declared, was the worst day ever.
But oh boy was he wrong.
Now, as the teenager sat hunched over searching for possible coordinates of his coworker, he could officially declare today as the "Worst day Ever".
Well, how exactly are you supposed to react when Ty Archer says Kid Rot destroyed his finger and kidnapped his sister? This wasn't the first time Abby had gone missing in a situation like this, but it was the first time it was emphasized to Kid Rot's extremes. Lab Rat watched out of the corner of his eye as Ty mumbled impatiently with a bandage on his hand.
"Ty, do you want some medicine to ease the nerves?" Lab Rat asked as Ty on shook his head.
"No! I have to be completely concentrated to look for Abby! It's not like she'll just walk on in here and be perfectly fine!"
As if the world decided Ty had finally suffered enough, the gag lab's doors opened up and a sluggish Abby waltzed in.
"ABBY!" Ty yelled and grinned for the first time since his finger was removed and engulfed his sister in a hug. Abby's eyes watered and she embraced her brother back. Back at his desk, Lab Rat smiled and Hermes blew his nose in a tiny tissue.
Everything that had happened recently came crashing down on Abby as she held onto Ty. Chester was alive alive. After three years of worrying and wondering if her former friend was alive, Abby finally had some answers. Giving in to her emotions, Abby sobbed into Ty's shoulder. She was the reason he lost a finger, and she still couldn't save Chester.
Lab Rat stayed silent as the two siblings reunited with one another. He hated to break the moment, but he had a few questions for Abby concerning Kid Rot.
"So Abby, what happened to Kid Rot?"
Abby looked up and sniffed before speaking.
"I-I hit him in the head.. and he rotted a portal on the floor. And Chester came back or something and I couldn't even DO ANYTHING!" Abby cried and held her face in her hands while Ty raised an eyebrow and frowned
"Abby, we already agreed that Chester was too far-" Ty stopped as Abby looked up and screamed.
"CHESTER ISN'T DEAD! HE SPOKE TO ME!" She gritted her teeth "I couldn't save him, AGAIN!"
Ty only sighed as Abby continued blaming herself for everything that had happened. This past two days had been so eventful and draining that all he wanted to do was go home and take a nap. Would the Director let him and Abby take a break? They still had to finish the school day.
"Lab Rat, do you think we could just take it easy for a few days?" Ty asked while Abby stopped talking and wiped her eyes.
"I dunno, I'll run it by the director" Lab rat said as he typed away on his computer "You two just go home and reellaax.."
"Ok.." Abby spoke up and breathed in deeply. Out of all the things she could do, going home and taking a break was pretty far from the ideal setting. Even if she wanted to rest, Chester was still on her mind and Abby couldn't stop remembering their brief encounter. Not to mention the guilt she felt concerning Ty's finger, would he be fine without it?
The boy in question grinned, and the two Archers set off towards their lockers.
When the grossologists disappeared, Lab Rat frowned and grabbed Hermes from off of his shoulder.
"I just don't know what to do with those two, little buddy" He said while eyeing Kid Rot's file, which was still on the desk from yesterday. Wheeling his chair over, Lab Rat opened the file and sifted through the papers. If Kid was planning to attack, it would be better if the agency could catch him off-guard by determining exactly where he would strike. Lab Rat eyed every past incident the villain had caused for any possible leads as to where he could possibly go next, stopping when he read a certain line of text.
"Huh, I think we may just have a lead!"
As Abby and Ty pressed the buttons to pull their lockers up, the two of them carefully exited the agency hallway before the lockers came back down. The bell rung for seventh period and Abby sighed in relief as she opened her locker and pulled out a textbook. Ty leaned towards his sister and spoke.
"Are we going to just lie and say I injured my hand at the Science Bee?"
"Yeah, we'll make a grander excuse for your missing finger later" Abby replied and closed up her locker door before waving goodbye to her brother and dashing off towards history. Ty quickly grabbed his art supplies and made a beeline for the art room. During their unshared classes, he often found it harder to communicate with Abby about their job, especially when it came to making excuses.
When the classroom door came into view, Ty stopped right in front of the door and placed his good hand on the handle. Missing a finger didn't seem so bad compared to all the other things he could've lost, but it would take some time getting used to. Twisting the handle, Ty opened the door and greeted the class.
"Sorry I'm late! I just got back from a Science Bee!"
Meanwhile, Abby had already settled into her seat in history class and was flipping through her textbook absentmindedly. Unable to focus on the lesson, she had taken to looking busier than she actually was. It had managed to work for a while, until she was called on.
"Miss Archer? I believe I asked you who conquered the Eastern Roman Empire in 1453?"
The teacher's voice snapped Abby out of her trance as Paige and her friends giggled. Scowling, she answered the question.
"Sultan Mehmed II?"
"That is correct!" Her teacher responded and called on more students to answers various questions. Abby only looked down as she tried to ignore the world around her and perhaps focus on something close to her instead. Moving her hand to her face, Abby bit her fingernail in a nervous habit and eyed the words on her textbook's page, which blurred by as she squinted her eyes.
Abby could still hear Paige's annoying whispers to her friends. She CLEARLY wanted Abby to know she was talking about her, and even looked towards her and grinned snarkily. In response, Abby imagined herself shooting Paige in the face with a goopshooter, which brought a smile to the girl's face.
If Abby was worried about the whole Kid Rot situation, at least she could think about taking her anger out on Paige.
Back inside the art classroom, Ty was working on his poor attempt of a sketch of a sunset. Not only was his lack of artistic ability making this a nightmare, but his bandaged hand failed to properly grip his paper while he drew. The other students seemed to be making progress with their art, which made Ty even more on-edge.
Andy's sketch wasn't perfect, but it captured the emotion one might feel while staring at a sunset. Naomi's drawing was beautiful, and Ty couldn't be prouder of his girlfriend. Obviously, Pat's sketch just HAD to be detailed and fancy, already receiving a compliment from their art teacher. Then there was Roger, who's drawing captured the emotions of a student who hated art class and rushed their work.
"What a mood", Ty mumbled under his breath as he tried to finish the hills on his drawing. If he couldn't outdo his fellow students, he could at least finish his assignment before he went home.
When Ty FINALLY added the last bit of shading in the sky, he quickly stood up and walked towards the teacher's desk as if he were accepting some grand reward instead of turning in his rushed art project. The teacher only frowned as he held the drawing in his hands.
"Tyler"
"Yes Mr. Roy?"
"Next time please try harder on your assignment and don't rush, alright?"
Ty nodded and walked back to his seat like he received a perfect score instead of a "try harder." Pat gave a thumbs up, trying to say "You'll do better next time!", which Ty only interpreted as "HAH! You SUCK!" Andy bowed his head at his friend, as if to mourn his grade, while Naomi smiled at her boyfriend and looked confused. Feeling nervous at her actions, Ty only returned Naomi's contact with a sheepish smile.
Well, it wasn't like he was the only person doing terribly. Roger was angrily scribbling on his paper like the world depended on it, and Ty couldn't even make out WHAT he was doing. Snapping his fingers to get Roger's attention, he whispered at his classmate.
"What is that?"
"A sunset, are you blind?" Roger raised an eyebrow and returned back to his work. Feeling a lot more confident about his own art, Ty held in a laugh.
Then the bell rung, finally dismissing the class. Now Ty could go home and relax while not worrying about a thing! Well, besides Kid Rot that is.
Abby swiftly walked down the hallway, stopping at her locker and getting her backpack ready. A minute later, Ty ran up beside her and opened his locker.
"So, how was your class?" Abby asked as she pulled her backpack over her shoulders.
"Good, how was yours?"
"Fine.." Abby replied and made her way towards the school's entrance, where she saw a caution rope outlining the rot puddle Kid had made earlier that day. Abby averted her gaze and focused on reaching the bus as to not focus on the incident. Ty eyed the puddle, but refrained from asking any questions.
The two siblings made their way to the bus, sitting beside one another as Abby held onto her backpack. For once she didn't feel like thinking about Kid Rot, and instead wanted to take a long nap in the seat instead. Ty struck up a conversation with some kids sitting across from them, and Abby slipped her earbuds in to drown out the noise. With a relaxing song playing and no tasks on her mind, she closed her eyes and drifted into a half-asleep stage.
Ty kept his mind off the recent situations by distracting himself in conversation. While it didn't effectively block out all the thoughts in his mind, it helped enough. Unlike Abby, he needed something to divert his attention to a different topic before he could forget import events.
As the bus pulled beside the Archer house, Ty shook his sister's shoulder and the pair exited out onto the street. When they reached the front door, Abby walked inside and threw her body onto the couch, sleep already taking over. Ty gave a glance at Abby, before making his way to his own room and plopping onto his bed.
When Petunia checked up on her children, she found two very exhausted teenagers who were so glad to finally be home.
A/N: I'M SORRY THIS WAS PUBLISHED A DAY LATE AHHHH! I was super busy yesterday and only had time to write part of the chapter, but its out now! Finally these kids get the break they deserve! This chapter isn't action packed, but I hope it satisfies you for what's coming next...
One thing I'm not so sure on is how Canadian school classes work (as in grade levels and schedules). I'm an American, but tried to stay with the Canadian system instead. For reference, Abby is in 10th grade and Ty is in 9th.
Again, thank you so much for reading! See you next chapter!