Chapter 35- Decisions

"WAIT!" screamed Harold N. Waternoose distraughtly. "Stop!" He pushed his way through the group of henchmen that were still throwing around ideas.

"Look," he panted. "Maybe I can make a deal with you." A henchman stuck his head up.

"We're already makin' a deal, boss. It's really clever and-"

"BE QUIET!" bellowed Waternoose, just as the Principle was being brought over.

"I see you've got them, sir. Good work! It's lucky that you're here, since I was, er...just getting a drink! I never doubted you for a sec-" Waternoose ignored him and carried on addressing the four.

"Please. I'm...I'm desperate. I need you to do this." Sulley, Mike and Marie all looked at Randall, making him the negotiator. Randall sighed. Why did he have to have all the responsibility? On the other hand, he could imagine the look on his father's face if he told him that he had conned his boss, if he were still alive, that is. But he couldn't tell his father. Maybe he could tell Cyrus. In a way, that'd be even better. He could really rub it in his brother's face. He put on an expression of interest.

"I'm listening."

"OK. Good. I will give you a choice. Either you walk out of here, tell the CDA, get me and my men arrested, etcetera, etcetera-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get the idea," Randall said intolerantly. Waternoose carried on.

"And loose all your chances of becoming a Scarer, or you could-"

"Wait a second." Randall interrupted once more. "What do you mean "loose all my chances of becoming a Scarer?"

"Well, I'll tell whichever member of my family who inherits this company, once I'm in prison, not to hire you since you would've put me there." Randall folded his arms once more.

"And what made you think that I wanted to be a Scarer in the first place?" Waternoose smiled.

"I overheard you in the corridor. There's no point in hiding it; I know you want to work here." Randall was peeved. Just when the situation couldn't have got any worse, it had gotten worse.

"There is another option," Waternoose added. Randall was genuinely interested this time.

"What's that?"

"You could forget all about calling the CDA and I'll be able to guarantee you a spot as a Scarer, once you've come of age, of course."

Now was the time for some serious thinking. Catch Waternoose and free all of the hostages but loose the chance of a job that he had dreamed of having, or get the once in a lifetime opportunity of being a Scarer for certain, but let Waternoose walk without prosecution. There were a lot of downsides to the second one, but being a Scarer...Well, it was a chance that some monsters (most commonly the ones that live in asylums) would kill for. Mike, Sulley and Marie were looking at Randall, waiting for his answer.

"What is he doing?" Mike wondered. "Why doesn't he just turn down his offer so we can get out of here?" Sulley was thinking something along the same lines.

"This is an easy decision to make. Just go for it!" Marie was the only one that actually appreciated how difficult this was for Randall. To take after his father as a Scarer would be a remarkable, let alone valuable, experience. And the oodles of respect and recognition that came with it were not to be forgotten. Being a lizard-monster was very hard, especially in such an anti-reptilian place like Monstropolis. To even have the remotest chance of getting the job as a Scarer would be real luck, in itself.

As Marie thought this though, triple-checking every detail there was, no mater how miniscule, some questions came to mind. How did their father manage to get such a high-profile job here when it was usually so hard for reptile-monsters to get even the lowliest of jobs? And, was Waternoose really trustworthy? It probably wasn't exactly on the top of his list of priorities to hire a reptile-monster. There would be a lot of complications.

While Marie was pondering about what to do, Randall was digging himself deeper and deeper in a hole and the only way he could get out was if he found a twenty foot tall ladder in the ground. Or aliens could abduct him. He was scared that if he turned down this offer, he wouldn't be able to get a respectful job in the future and would live the rest if his life in the slums, begging people for pennies or a morsel of food. And he wouldn't get an once of respect, either.

"But what about the other hostages? Let alone what Marie would think of you of you accepted this deal," he thought to himself. Randall was stuck.

With every delightful option there were some not-so-delightful consequences. As a last resort, he thought of what his parents would do. Or, rather, he tried to think of what his parents would do. But, now he had come onto this particular subject, he couldn't really remember them. There were only a few files of his parents in the sorting cabinet of Randall's brain, and even those were very imprecise. Another obscure thought came into his mind.

What if he made the wrong decision? He would have to live with it for the rest of his pointless life. Randall felt a headache caused by all these incoming thoughts evolving.

"Why me? I'm not a great decision maker. Why couldn't Waternoose let us go, or something, instead of all these stinkin' choices?" He thought about the circumstances really hard. Eventually, after digging the hole for quite a while, he found a prehistoric ladder and made his way out.

He stared at Waternoose, hard, so as to make sure that he knew what an awkward situation this was. Unexpectedly, he turned around and sauntered over to the emergency phone which hung on the wall. Then Randall turned his head, smirked at Waternoose and lifted the receiver, dialling the number for the CDA.

Chapter 36- Ruined Revenge

Waternoose's eyes opened to the size and roundness of golf balls as he saw his hostage begin to dial the forsaken number. He thought that his plan was ingenious; how could have it gone wrong? In the meantime, Sulley and Mike were creeping out the door, trying not to be too conspicuous. They didn't try hard enough. Marie called out after them.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Mike replied to the confused Lizard-monster.

"Look, we've played our part in this adventure. It's been a ball, but we've really gotta go," Mike garbled. He, along with Sulley, vamoosed out the front door of Monsters, Inc. and into freedom. Marie was astounded. How could they leave the both of them, after all that they had done to help? She bared her teeth a little and clenched her fists in anger.

"They really have no sense of honour, do they?" she murmured to himself.

Randall was about to speak to someone on the phone when he felt something push him from behind. As he turned around to take a look, his mouth opened in a silent gasp. Waternoose dove on top of him, knocking the receiver out of his hand and leaving the person on the other end of the line speaking to nobody. A faint "hello?" was released from the receiver. But Randall was too busy to answer; Waternoose was immensely strong and would be a lot to handle for an adult monster, let alone a thirteen-year old.

He yelped in pain as Waternoose's sharp claws held him down.

"Did you really think I was just going to let you call them?" Randall squirmed in an attempt to get Waternoose off of him, or at least make him ease his grip, but all it did was make him even more uncomfortable. Marie had become aware of what Waternoose was doing, so she hurriedly slithered over to him and tried to pry him off her brother. But he wouldn't come off. Randall received a firm punch upside the head, making the headache that had already begun grow worse. Everything was fuzzy for a few seconds before his eyes focused.

Marie had an idea. She dashed over to the henchmen that were still discussing what to do and pierced their tight circle. She stood in the middle of them.

"OK, new plan guys. Forget about what was said before. Instead, if you get Waternoose off my brother and beat your boss up really good," she said clearly, as though she was speaking to five year-olds, "then we won't tell the CDA. Oh, and you have the next five seconds to come to a decision." The cogs inside the henchmen's minds turned for the first time in decades as they muttered an assortment of "mmms" and "umms."

"Come on, you guys! Quick!" Marie ushered them.

"OK," one said. "We'll do it."

"Great!" Marie jumped once on the spot. Just as she was about to scoot on over to Randall, another henchmen asked a question. What Marie noticed was how slowly he seemed to be asking it.

"But...won't we be in...trouble?" Marie threw her arms up at this inquiry.

"No! Now let's go!" She added some sugar to sweeten the deal. "It'll be fun..." The henchmen moved into action.

Randall was still trying to prise Waternoose off of him and Waternoose had made note of this. He pushed his claws deeper into Randall's chest, making him loose his breath. He then towered over him.

"There's no-one to save you this time," he whispered. He threw another punch at Randall, making Randall recoil and draw back. The lizard-monster had his eyes closed, not wanting to see his attacker. Waternoose held Randall even tighter, blocking his oesophagus and cutting off his oxygen flow. Waternoose was strangling him. Suddenly the massive weight of Waternoose rose off of Randall and the tight grip on his neck lessened causing him to think that something had gone terribly wrong, either for him or Waternoose. He hoped it wasn't him.

Randall opened his eyes slightly, his chest heaving and his body thanking him for the fresh air. He was afraid of what he might see. But what he saw shocked him.