Roy paced back and forth through the living room, pondering what his next step should be. He hadn't exactly planned around the fact that Red would be killed, although Duck's murder had gone according to plan. While it wasn't originally part of the scheme, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing in his eyes. He just didn't expect his son to be alone for the rest of it all. It was hard to tell with that child, whether losing his brothers would make Roy's life easier or harder.
He really did regret adopting those two.
The machine wasn't quite ready to have humans go inside of it, so he couldn't put Yellow in it just yet. Still, that time would come soon. But he needed something to fill the space between. Corrupt objects were so hard to find nowadays, and ever since he made enemies of both the Love Cult AND the Food Family by causing the disappearance of their best members, he'd have an even harder time finding the next teachers.
He could always try the news.
Roy sighed as he settled onto the couch. Why must the world make it so difficult to reshape his children into exactly what he wanted? He slowly switched between channels to get to the news but he wasn't exactly in a rush. They rarely ever announced disappearances or murders anyways. They didn't care. No one cared nowadays. Hell, he'd been able "go missing" with his sons for 3 years and no one batted an eye. Honestly, he was just using this as an excuse to postpone more energy-consuming methods of research.
As he passively listened the droning voices of the announcers, something caught his attention. "Young human found dead in the s̵̖̑ḩ̷̨̳̯̤̹̩̠͉̼̝̬̟̜̔̋͜ͅe̸͔̽̿͊̓̊̿͛̊̎͗̑͑̆͛̎̈́̉͘͜ơ̷̹͓͎̞̠͐̌͆͑͗̈̿͌̇̅͌̍́̚͘͜͝ļ̵̡̩̈́͗͐͗̚͜ ̸̭͕͇̤̝̞̺̜̬͎̺͑̋̓͗̿͒͋͐͌͜͝r̴̡͕͔̱̩̺̫͔͎̗̪̹̯̠̗̲̺̥͐͆̓̇̿̒̇̊̿̈́͗͛͋̅͛͒̿͝͝ͅȉ̶̡̤̭̟͍͚͉̲̀͛̓̇̔͛̈́̉̉͆̐̐͝ͅv̷̤̖̠͉͕̥̞̠̟̯̗̺̬̺̖̼̩̭̀̏̓̾̐̕͜e̶̱̹̺̟̯̝͓̥̼̣͊̀̈́̈́̚͝r̴̨̻͇̭̺̻̀̄̈͊͋̈́."
Odd that they'd report that. Maybe there was a mystery behind it worth telling. To the common people at least. But... this could lead to his next breakthrough. That river flowed out from somewhere 2763 miles away. But it travelled very far. As he watched the story, he gleaned every scrap of information he could from the announcement, his unblinking eyes hazily glued to the screen. The suspected location of the murder wasn't all too far away. He could likely pop out of his world for a week or two of research, get a new teacher, and get back to wrap up his plan before Yellow got any ideas about running away.
Roy grabbed his things and headed out the door.
...
Well... this wasn't exactly what he was expecting.
Roy had been following a trail for days on end, sneaking around, doing research, and documenting. It hadn't taken days just to drive to the town, and he'd invested more hours of his life than he really felt like trying to just locate the damn man. Every time it seemed like Roy would find him, he'd just slip out of his grasp. Like a worm trying to live when it inconvenienced him most. But there was a pattern that he eventually learned to crack and break into hundreds of tiny pieces. And he finally found his guy... splayed out on the floor of a dusty shed with glass lodged in his hat.
Well, it was better than nothing?
"Wake up," Roy grumbled as he stepped on the object's gloved hand. He suddenly noticed how long it had been since he'd spoken, though to be fair, there was no one left to speak to. He did not regret such a fact. It was his own doing after all. The young man was not responding so he opted to grab a shard of glass. He crouched next to him and jabbed it into his inky arm. He shot up and whipped his head around, almost getting his greasy blond hair in Roy's face. The older human grimaced at the unbearable, nearly indescribable stench.
"AAAAAA- AUGH- HAHHaaa- who's there?" Roy carefully dropped the glass behind his back. Luckily the man was still a little tipsy. "Oh- uh, hi there sir! Whadyou doing here?"
Roy stifled a groan with clenched teeth and glared at him. "I'm here to talk to you about a job opportunity, Larry the Lamp." To be honest, he was a little disappointed at the name. Surely he could have picked a more interesting human L name than that.
"Heynow how'd you know my name?" the object asked quizzically.
"I know lots of things, Larry. Let's make this short. Do you want a job?" Roy was absolutely certain he didn't want to talk to this man any longer than he had to. He was also absolutely certain this man would accept immediately. He may not have much of anything in the way of charisma or appearances, but he knew how people thought more than anything else.
"Ahaha yeah shure! I'da love t'git a job! Whatkinda thing we talking about? Y'know I'm really good at sewin'! Am I gonna get dental?" Larry awkwardly lunged at Roy and hooked onto his arm. It took all he could to not punch him off, but that may actually kill him. So he simply recoiled in disgust.
"Eurgh. We can talk about this at my house. Just... *sigh* just get in the car," he pointed out the door of the shed.
"Ha, alright sir!"
Roy felt like a part of his soul deflated as he watched Larry tumble into the open window of his car and scramble into the seat. After hiring Pete the Steak and the Food Gang, this felt like a step down. They had been so professional and efficient! If only he hadn't squandered his pool when he had the chance.
Still, Larry had to be corrupted for a reason. And he wouldn't have been linked to that murder if he wasn't capable and willing. Perhaps there was something more to this strange little object. Something worth sitting through all this for.