Without further ado, let the chapter begin!
With Debbie being the oldest out of all the kids, she felt like she needs to be the responsible one and the leader. After the kids went through the air vents, Debbie made sure no one was left behind.
She had to be the last one in the back of the line while Gracie was in the front. This was the best strategy that the girls could do since they're not sure what's behind enemy line.
Since Gracie has super senses, she can hear what's ahead and tells the others where they should go through the air vents. Debbie needs to stay in the back because she could see that Ava and Blake were trying to go back to where Rosie was.
However, there was no way that Debbie could allow them to go running to danger. Especially when Rosie told the kids not to come back for anything.
"We made it to an empty hallway. That should keep us safe for the time being." Gracie said out loud so the others could hear.
Debbie instructed, "Listen for anything that could be out in the open."
Gracie nodded and closed her eyes to listen for any signs of EVOs coming their way. Franklin became nervous and accidentally melted the metal underneath him.
"Franklin!" Inca worriedly said and tried to reach for him.
Franklin fell down to the ground and groaned in pain.
Debbie immediately crawled to the open hole and called out, "Franklin! Are you okay?"
Franklin slowly sat up and rubbed the back of his head, "I'm okay."
Suddenly Gracie started panicking and screeched, "Franklin! Get back up here now!"
"Why?"Franklin asked and they heard a low hissing noise.
Franklin slowly looked up and saw a Komodo Dragon EVO at the end of the hallway. The Komodo Dragon stared at Franklin as it had a hungry look in his eyes.
"HELP ME UP!" Franklin screamed and tried desperately to reach for the ceiling.
The EVO started charging at Franklin while Inca made herself form a long tail. She quickly grabbed Franklin and yanked him up. The EVO immediately stopped and jumped up to the hole.
The kids screamed loudly as they quickly separated. Debbie, Franklin, Inca and Gracie were at the left side of the air vent while Blake and Ava were at the right side. The EVO kept trashing its head around and the kids started screaming.
Debbie quickly went to the EVO and touched its head, "Sleep!"
The EVO stopped trashing and immediately closed its eyes as it fell to the ground. Debbie looked at the other side of the vent and said, "Are you two okay?"
"Yeah! But we need to go back to help Rosie!" Ava told her and started crawling back to where the safe room was.
Debbie frowned, "Ava! Come back here!"
Blake looked at Debbie and said, "Sorry Debbie! We need to go help her!"
When Blake crawled back to follow Ava. Debbie knew there was no point is following them since she has to worry about getting the kids to safety.
"Come on guys. We need to get to safety." Debbie told the other kids while they looked at each other.
Gracie hesitantly asked, "W-What about Ava and Blake?"
"We'll come back to get them soon." Debbie promised and they made their way out.
This felt like a major war zone for Aaron. EVOs kept coming in from left and right. This brought so much anxiety to Aaron as he kept firing his blaster.
"Agent Calan! What's your status right now?" Aaron yelled as he pressed his communicator.
He ducked his head down when some debris went passing him. Some agents behind him got knocked down. Aaron grunted and started firing his blaster at the EVOS.
"Some cadets and I are heading to the safe zone. We found the kids on the way. We're going to escort them away from here." Calan told him from the other line.
Aaron started to frown and asked, "What about Rosie?"
"She's not with the other kids and we're missing Ava and Blake." Calan admitted causing Aaron to internally panic.
'This is bad. We need to help her.' Aaron thought but was trying to figure out how to get to Rosie.
Aaron heard someone yelling, "Incoming!"
Rex flew in to where everyone was at. He used his smack hands to hit a dozen EVOs without missing a beat. All the EVOs fell down almost like a domino effect.
"Did you guys had a party with us?" Rex asked as he formed his blast caster.
Suddenly a green blur went past a few more EVOs and they were all knocked down to the ground. Aaron felt his stomach dropped when the green blur was actually Six. Six appeared right in front of Aaron and grabbed the front of his shirt.
"Where's my daughters?" Six sternly said.
Aaron silently gulped but quickly answered, "Rosie and Ava are at the safe room with the other kids. I contact Agent Calan to go with a few agents to help back Rosie up in case she needs help. But no one has heard anything from her since she went to the safe room with the kids."
"Six! We need to go now!" Rebecca told him as she ran ahead with a tranquilizer gun in her hands.
Six let go of Aaron and followed his wife with his magna blades ready in his hands.
Both parents were taking down EVOs in their path to get to their daughters as quickly as they could. They both believe that Rosie could protect the kids but they're worried about how many EVOs could Rosie be fighting.
They ran to the hallway but they heard a loud whack noise and the deer EVO was slammed against the wall. Seth hurried out of the room after he held his right face.
He noticed Rebecca and Six running his way and he grinned.
"Whoops, gotta run." Seth said as he lifted his other hand up to summon a portal. He quickly exit while Six and Rosie charged at him. They couldn't get to him in time as the crimson portal disappeared.
"Mom! Dad!" Ava said as she hurried to Rebecca's arms. Rebecca held Ava tightly and quickly examined her for any injuries.
Rebecca worriedly asked, "Are you kids okay?"
"No! Ms. Rosie got hit by quills on her arm and side!" Blake fearfully said as he noticed Rosie stumbled a little.
Six grabbed Rosie's right arm and counted the quills that are in her arms. There are seven quills deeply pierced in Rosie's arm. But on her lower abdomen, there's nine quills.
"I'm fine! I need to go out there and find out where the other kids are at right now!" Rosie worriedly said.
"Rosie, you're gravely injured! You need to go to the infirmary right now!" Rebecca frowned.
Rosie tried to go running but Six immediately pulled back and glared, "You're running on pure adrenaline Rosalind. The children are fine and they're with Agent Calan right now. We're taking to you the infirmary and you're not going anywhere else."
"But what about Aaron? And please don't tell me you're going to arrest Zane. He didn't dooooo." Rosie whispered as she felt lightheaded.
Six immediately made Rosie lay down while the whole room seems to be spinning to Rosie. Rebecca kneel down beside Rosie and examined her wounds.
"Six, I need you to use your magna blade to cut the ends of the quills." Rebecca told him while she made sure Rosie doesn't fall asleep.
Blake whispered, "Why are you just cutting them? Can't we take them off?"
"By cutting the ends of the quills, this will help to release pressure from inside the quill. If we try removing them without the right tools then the quills will burrow deeper in her skin. I know Rosie kept moving around and the quills are probably deeper than we expect it." Rebecca said and made sure the kids are keeping their distance.
Blake and Ava glanced at each other and then looked at Rosie. They really hope that she can make it through this
Zane kept fidgeting with his hands as he was locked up in the interrogation room. He was handcuffed to the table in front of him and couldn't go anywhere.
When Zane saw The Keep from his lair, he knew that he shouldn't resist. Before agents swarm inside the castle, Breach managed to wake up and tell Zane, Biowulf, and Skalamander what happened.
Knowing that there wasn't much options for his friends, Zane made sure Breach took them to safety while he turned himself in. He promised them that he would come back for them when the time is right.
Zane wasn't going to let them down like his good for nothing father did.
Once the agents made it to where Zane was at, he didn't put up a fight and allowed the agents to take him away.
This didn't bother Zane one bit to be chained up like a prisoner again. He knows for the fact that he's innocent and he'll let Providence know about it.
Rex walked in the room and crossed his arms. He narrowed his eyes at Zane and asked, "You've got a lot of explaining to do kid."
Zane sigh and said, "Look, I'll tell you what I know but please tell me that Ava and Rosalind are okay."
Rex didn't show that he was surprise because he learned how to mask his emotions from Six. But he was genuinely surprised that Zane changed a lot since he last saw him. The first time that Rex met Zane, they were fighting after they managed to rescue Rosie and Ava. He remembers the cold look that Zane had back then. Now that Rex sees Zane again, he could see that something has changed. Zane looked so lost but there was a glimpse of...hope left in him.
"Ava is fine. She's safe with the other kids and didn't get any injuries on them. Hey kid, is this the first time you called your sister by her name?" Rex asked causing Zane to stay quiet.
Zane stared at the handcuffs and muttered, "What's so great about calling Ava by her name?"
"Because I see a noticeable change in you kid. I think you're ready to redeem yourself. But you're too stubborn to admit it." Rex said.
Zane leaned back in his chair and said, "You still hadn't answer my other question. How's Rosalind?"
"She's fine. Rosie just needs to get a few stitches and be on strict bed rest. Other than that, she's perfectly fine." Rex admitted, he left out the details about Rosie getting impaled by a dozen quills.
Zane internally sigh and looked at Rex as he became serious, "What do you want to know? I can tell you about Seth but I can't guarantee what his goals are. The last time I spoke or saw him was when I got captured by you guys and was locked up for my previous crimes."
"To be fair, we were offering you some help for your mental health." Rex pointed out as he took the handcuffs off of Zane's wrists.
Zane rubbed his wrists and whispered, "There was nothing wrong with me back then. I was fully aware of what was I doing."
Rex responded, "That's not true."
That made Zane frown even more, back then when he would experiment on Ava. He showed no mercy. For the first few years of Ava's live, Zane would perform painful experiments on her that resulted in Ava getting some nanite abilities. He blamed her for the death of their mother when in reality, it was their father's fault that it happened. Zane even put him in a coma that lasted for five years. How did this not make Zane look like he didn't know what he was doing?
"Look Zane. You were a teenager at the time of your mom's death. You saw her get killed by your own father. Van Kleiss was about to kill Ava if you hadn't zapped him to a coma. Your mind was still developing and it just snapped. So many things happened and what you went through was trauma. I'm not saying it excuses you from what you did in the past but it was part of the reason to what lead you to becoming the bad guy. You had no help. No one to go to except for your friend Lucas." Rex explained.
Zane felt depressed when Rex mentioned his former friend. He hadn't spoken to Lucas for a few months after he broke out of his cell to help rescue Ava and help Providence to capture Van Kleiss.
"Zane, I want to help you. But you're gonna have to let me help you." Rex whispered and Zane crossed his arms, "I'll...think about it."
Rex nodded, "Alright, but I know you'll pick the right decision kid. You're nothing like your father now."
Zane stayed quiet and waited for Rex to leave the interrogation room. Once the doors closed, Zane had a faint smile on his face. It wasn't a sadistic smile, this smile is a genuine one that Zane hasn't had for years now.
Maybe there's still hope for him left.
Rosie tried to keep a brave face as her parents were helping her lay in bed. After Rosie got out of surgery to remove the quills from her body, the doctor allowed her to go home. Even though the quills are now removed, Rosie still felt pain and discomfort.
"How are you feeling now?" Rebecca asked Rosie once she was finally in bed.
Rosie used her left hand to help pull the blanket over her. She groaned, "I feel like I'm having some cramps at my lower abdomen."
"I'll go get you some Advil. But you need to be on strict bed rest." Rebecca sternly said.
Rosie whispered, "But what about school? I can't miss anymore days."
"We've already talked to the principal at your school. You're excused from school for two weeks." Six said.
Rosie sigh quietly but decided there was no point in arguing with her parents. The doctor told them that her wounds might take a few days to about two weeks to heal. If Rosie feels a lot better before the two weeks are up then she can return back to school. But she's not suppose to overexert herself if possible.
"Am I allowed to do any school work while I'm here for two weeks?" Rosie asked.
Her right arm is bandaged up but Rosie could still write with her hand. So if Rosie can do some homework then that would great.
"I'll let you do your homework tomorrow. Right now, I want you to rest." Rebecca gently said.
Rosie said, "Can I request one thing?"
"It better not be to watch a Disney movie." Six mumbled.
That made Rosie smile and said, "Come on dad. I promise it won't be a Disney movie."
That's it for Chapter 48. I'm so drained because I had double the homework this week for two of my classes. But I'm just so happy to finally have posted something :D
Thank you for your review in the last chapter YellowAngela! I'm glad you liked the last chapter, I finally did something actiony after not doing something like for a long time XD And Rosie and the kids will always look out for each other, no matter :D
I apologize for the constant delays for any of these stories. This Monday was my youngest brother's birthday. So my family decided to go to a bowling alley for three hours to celebrate and I couldn't do much homework once we got home. Luckily, I finished all the assignments for my classes this week. I will do my best to post something but on Monday the 8th, it's my birthday and I want to leave something for you guys to read :3 Until then, stay safe out there and have a great night :)