This chapter is sort of leading up to finding out what actually happened when Randall and Zephyr were in the Human World, but I thought I'd be mean and make you wait yet another chapter before anything big is revealed.

Oh, and just to say, the whole swim thing when the guys are odering in this chapter was...errm...influenced by an episode of none other than the brilliant Spongebob Squarepants.

Chapter 4- Fan Clubs

The two flute glasses chinked crisply as they were tapped together, and the little bubbles clinging onto the inside of the glasses were suddenly released at the motion.

"To our first week in the world of shop-owning!" Zephyr said proudly, taking a sip of the local beverage.

"Our first week," Randall mimicked broodingly, also taking a long and enjoyable swig.

The evening, so far that is, had been completely perfect and amazingly error-free, which, in turn, made Randall all the more apprehensive. The restaurant was perfect, the music was perfect, and even the little fish in the tank that was sunk into the side of the bar seemed to swim around in perfect circles. So, because it was currently the only thing that Randall hadn't been able to scrutinize yet on the account of the fact that it hadn't actually arrived yet, the food was meant to be terrible- sod's law had practised itself on the lizard-monster many times before.

But this evening, somehow, was destined to be different; it wasn't the food that was going to spoil it, but something much, much worse.

Randall's fingers tapped against the table-top irritably, causing Zephyr to raise her eyebrows questionably.

"What's taking them so long?" came the answer. "I mean, for Pete's sake, it's just a coupla steaks-"

"Randall." Clutching the side of the table, Zephyr narrowed her eyes warningly. "Don't spoil this evening, please. I know, and you know, that we both just want to enjoy our first night off in a whole month, so why don't we just sit back...relax..." She finally smiled. "...and enjoy it?"

"Uh, because they're taking too long with our food, maybe?" A waiter that had just happened to be passing by was immediately called down, much to Zephyr's dismay. She knew for a fact that her efforts to stop all of this would be completely wasted, so she rested her face on a hand and watched. "Waiter? We've been waiting for our food for nearly an hour, now-"

"Actually, it's been about twenty minutes," Zephyr butted in- she just couldn't resist.

"Alright, half an hour, and we've never been here before-"

"Yes, we have, Randall."

"Okay, maybe once or twice-"

"Four times, actually."

"OKAY! Alright! I get – the idea." The waiter curled a tentacle.

"Zo what exactly iz your complaint, zir?" he asked, leaning into Randall's face. The lizard-monster shook his head.

"Forget it." The waiter now having departed, Zephyr had begun to titter to herself, the look on Randall's face being particularly humorous- he was staring at her sternly.

"What?" she said, still chuckling and trying to sound as nonchalance as possible. "Oh come on, Randall, you've got to admit that was funny!"

"I have no idea what I'm going to do with you," said her partner, managing to see the humour in the situation. "And if you thought the look on my face was funny, you should've looked at his! 'Zo, what exactly iz your complaint, zir?'" Randall's imitation of the French-sounding waiter was scarily believable, but also exaggerated, and by the time their food had arrived, Zephyr was in fits of laughter, especially since the food had been served by none other than 'That Fake French Guy' himself.

Looking at the food that had just been laid before him made Randall feel even queasier, if that was what he was actually feeling. Zephyr had looked so incredibly beautiful, sitting there and laughing, that Randall had lost his appetite completely, and even a general sense of where he was and what was happening. All that mattered right then was appreciating the work of art before him...

"Randall, the steak doesn't look that bad, does it?" Randall blinked.

"Wha...?"

"The steak. The steak is good."

"Um...am...I meant to know what you're...?"

"Why were you staring at me?!" Randall's eyes widened in realisation- he had finally come back to earth and was able understand what Zephyr had been talking about.

He laid an arm on the table, pushing his plate aside. "I need a reason to stare at you?" he said sweetly. However, Zephyr was not deterred.

"Yes. You do." She too pushed her plate to one side, leaning forward so the candlelight etched each little nick and scratch in her worn skin. "That is, if you think of us as friends." Rolling his eyes, Randall suddenly buried his face in his hands, slowly rubbing the scales near his temples- he knew exactly what was coming. "But if you think of us as something more..."

"Oh, Zeph, please..."

"You're the one who always wants to talk about this, and now I am, you're complaining?"

"I can't trust you. You know that, and you know why."

"So if I said that I'm prepared for this relationship to go onto the next level-"

"What relationship?!" Randall exclaimed, his eyes alight. "We're business partners, nothing more!"

"So what are we doing here, then? Look around, Randall. Do you see anybody at any table that aren't kissing, or talking about their relationship, or even just thinking about it? If we were gonna talk business, we would've gone to that posh diner down the road." Zephyr slowly put her hand over one of Randall's, savouring the soft touch. "But the thing is, we're not at that posh diner down the road. We're here, where all the couples go out for their first date or to propose or celebrate their anniversary." The grip got slightly tighter. "And if you say that you don't think of this as your first date, I won't believe you."

Randall quickly moved his hand away, curling his fingers and eventually burying his face once more. He spoke in this position, his voice softly muffled.

"In my dreams, I see you. I always see you, because you're always on my mind." Now he had started, and had gotten a little more confident, his hands were gradually lowered to reveal a warmth in Randall's eyes that few beings would ever see. "And whenever I see you, I get this weird feeling...I don't know what it is, but it's always there, like you are." The little section in Randall's brain dedicated to controlling what comes out of his mouth realised that everything he happened to be saying was a lot more emotional than usual, and decided that it would be best to cut him off before things got out of hand. "Oh, I don't know what I'm thinking..."

"You obviously do. Everything that you just said seemed to be really thought out, as though you've wanted to say it for a long time, and you've been saying a lot of stuff, a lot of feelings, in only a few words..." There was a pause. Zephyr took a deep breath. "But there are three words...that haven't been said. I know I can say them, and mean them, but...can you?" Randall swallowed.

"You might be able to do this sort of thing with ease, but this is a lot harder for me! I can't just...I can't..."

"I know, Randall, I know."

"I'm sorry. Really, I-"

And then sod's law came unto its own.

--------------------------

The glass shattered, looking like an intricate spider's web for a second or two before it was hit once more, this time causing it to crack into hundreds of minute pieces that were sent flying. There were screams and wails, and gunshots punctuated the terrible commotion as customers ran around, trying to dodge the bullets. Tables were knocked over, sending the food and plates crashing onto the floor and making the entire surface of the restaurant floor slippery.

The first thing that Randall had noticed was the candle directly in front of him going out. He noticed this because Zephyr's face had been lovingly lit up by its flames, and now it wasn't.

The second thing that Randall had noticed was a large monster falling on top of their table, and a key thought that had ran through his mind was stupid, but understandably so- these sorts of situations didn't happen everyday.

That guy just knocked my steak on the floor! I hope he's gonna pick up the bill, the idiot.

They actually happened about once a week or so, but that isn't the point.

It took a few mind-numbing seconds for him to realise what was actually going on, and as he looked back at Zephyr in the semi-darkness, (the lights had gone out) it took him a few more seconds to realise that she was currently scared witless.

"Zephyr?" he managed to gasp out, before a monster whacked him round the head with the butt of a gun. Randall's chair toppled over with him, and if things weren't already dark enough, someone decided that the best thing to do with Randall was to step on him.

The smell was powerful and overwhelming to say the least, but he was more concerned about the whereabouts of his business partner more than anything else. Randall waited for a moment, opening his eyes and trying to focus.

Nothing happened, and the clawed foot was applying more and more pressure as the turmoil raved on above. Groaning in pain and feeling as though his head was about to burst, Randall grunted in absolute effort, nearly managing to turn invisible. This only lasted a second, though, and he quickly appeared again, absolutely exhausted.

"Bye bye...!" The monster that was holding him prisoner leaned down and leered at him, grinning with a mouthful of yellow, crooked teeth.

The pressure increased just a little more...and then was released. And the monster fell on top of him.

"Eugh!" Randall yelped as he got his breath pushed out of him.

"Oh, sorry!" came another voice, recognisable as Zephyr's. She hefted the unconscious monster over, rolling him to one side to uncover a breathless lizard-monster. "You okay?" She then offered him a hand, lifting him unsteadily to his feet. Everything was blurred and had a twin for a little while before his eyes focused, and the scene before him came into view.

It was a new form of the word 'chaos', with the lights flashing on and off, momentarily lighting up the piles of customers spread around the floor and the remainder still running around, trying to reach the exits. The monsters that had triggered this bedlam were noticeable by one feature only- the large guns that they carried- though they did not seem keen to use them for anything but presence. The screaming had not stopped.

Then, a large monster made a dramatic entrance. He stepped through a hole where a rectangular pane of glass once was, wielding a gun larger than anything either Randall or Zephyr had ever seen, and folded his upper set of arms. He stood still for a few seconds, his face hidden in a shadow, and scanned the room, though no-one knew what he was looking for.

In a second, he had seemed to have spotted it, and stormed over to Zephyr, cocking his gun threateningly.

"Randall!" Zephyr wailed, trying to get away. The monster was much too fast, and pinned her against a wall, causing a painting to crash down onto the floor, and shoved Randall over. The lizard-monster fell hard onto the floor, and as a spasm of pain spread through his left side, Zephyr's cries for help seemed to penetrate his ears. "Please, someone!"

"I wouldn't make a scene, Miss Stefani. You won't be doing yourself any favours," came a deep and rumbling voice- that of the unidentified monster. He held Zephyr's neck in one hand, lifting her off the floor, and leaned close to her face, whispering something to her in his still booming tone. Randall wasn't able to hear a word, but gathered all of his strength to get up and help his business partner. It took him a while though, and by the time he was standing up, the large monster had roughly dropped Zephyr as though she was an inanimate object, and had shouted "SoHH-ers, MOVIN' OUT!" With a turn of his tail, he was nearly out the door, but managed to remember something before he left.

"And YOU!" he called out in the direction of Randall. "YOU DIDN'T SEE ANY OF THIS, DID YOU?! RIGHT?!" Randall nodded- what else could he do?- and then, once he was certain that the monster was gone, went over to Zephyr's side, helping her to her feet as she had done only minutes before.

"When we get home," he said breathlessly, "you...are gonna tell me...everything."

-------------------

A fire had been lit, beverages had been made, and first aid had been applied. Randall sat on the sofa, reaching out to take his cup of hot slime- it was far too late for coffee, (though this hadn't stopped him from begging Zephyr for some)- and recoiled, hands shaking with pain. Zephyr took her seat next to him, noticeably further away from him than usual so she was almost off the sofa itself, and refused to speak.

"Zephyr...How did that guy know you? What happened? What were they doing? Why?" The questions came out rapidly, one after the other, and there was no stopping them. "Why won't you tell me all of this stuff? You've been saying for ages that you would one day, the perfect day- isn't today, now, the perfect day? Why do you have to keep all of these secrets from me? I don't understand!" There was no answer, just an edgy silence and a quiet slurp as Zephyr took another sip of her drink. Randall closed his eyes, sinking lower into the sofa, and sighed forcefully.

When he opened his eyes again, Zephyr was gone.

"Zephyr...?" He struggled to sit up properly- his head was thumping relentlessly, and movement only made matters worse- but not seeing any sign of Zephyr, not even her mug, was worrying him. The last time someone had just gone, they hadn't come back, and this was too much of a déjà vu to ignore. "Come on, Zephyr, this is stupid..." When he found himself saying the same words, even in the same tone of voice, as previously, his will-power increased and he got up with relative ease. He walked around the sofa, taking his time, and tried her bedroom.

It was dark and, more importantly, empty. Next, he tried his own bedroom, and then the kitchen, and finally the bathroom, which was, for some reason, locked. Randall's heart-rate had gone up dramatically, his breathing had become unsteady, and everything began to blur.

This couldn't be happening.

"ZEPHYR! ZEPHYR, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

"What's with all the shouting-"

"Oh, GOD!" The bathroom door had finally opened, and a pink-eyed Zephyr had emerged. Randall leapt forward to hug her, but then remembered that he was supposed to be angry with her. "Zephyr...I thought you'd gone...!"

"Gone?" said Zephyr incredulously. "HelLO, I own half of the shop downstairs, for Pete's sake! I'm not just going to bugger off-"

"Well, you'll wish you'd had after I'm done with you." The anxious tone of the conversation had suddenly turned very sour. Randall held Zephyr's neck as the other monster had done before, and pinned her to the wall, taking care as so not to actually hurt her. "Now, I'm going to ask a few questions, and you're gonna answer them, no questions asked- other than the ones asked by me. Understand?"

"Why are you doing this!?" Zephyr rasped, her chest heaving.

"Because it's the only way I'm ever going to get anything out of you." Randall was feeling more ill than before all of this, but continued relentlessly- he'd been waiting for this moment for a very long time, and though it wasn't panning out exactly as he had planned, it was close enough. "Okay. Firstly, how did that guy know you?"

"I can't...answer..." The grip got tighter. "...can't...when you're holding...neck..." And then loosened until Randall was just holding her in place. He gave her a few seconds to catch her breath, and shoved her back against the wall when she looked like she was still refusing to answer. "Okay, okay! He knows me from...Remember Uni? D'you remember the...thing that went on, that caused my banishment?"

"The thing that your father organised?"

"Yes! The other monster, he was involved with it all too."

"But I thought you weren't into all of that anymore?"

"I'm not, I swear!" Zephyr's brain went into overdrive to find a reasonable excuse. "There...there was probably just some misinformation, that's all."

"And the SoHH?"

"The what?"

"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. That other guy in the restaurant said it, and when he did, I was sure that I had heard of it somewhere else. And I had. I remembered." Randall let go of Zephyr, but gave her a firm look as if to say that just because he was giving her a bit more space, it didn't mean that the inquiry was over. "You know the whole...Scream Extractor thing?" Zephyr nodded slowly as Randall said these words- she knew how much it hurt him to talk about it all. "One evening, I had gone down to the hideaway to carry on building it, and I found someone else there. I can't remember his name, but when I looked through his bag, I found a letter, and it mentioned the SoHH. Actually, now I think about it...it was written by some director or something of the SoHH itself." A slight smile edged across his face. "Problem was, by the time I had read it through, the guy had gone. Disappeared. Only a kid, by the looks of him, and already involved in some illegal corporation..."

"How do you know it's illegal?"

"By the way they're going about everything- guns, shooting stuff for no reason, shouting, hiring kids- every day sort of thing for illegal corporations." Randall's eyes had softened, but he still needed answers. "So, who are they? The SoHH?" Zephyr opened and closed her mouth several times whilst thinking of what to say, and eventually came to a conclusion- to say nothing at all. "Please, Zeph," Randall began, his emotions getting the better of him. "If...if we're to have a relationship, we've got to be honest with each other." This tilted the scales.

"I used to work for them- the SoHH. And yes, it's illegal. But that's all I can say-"

"You wouldn't grace me by actually telling me what 'SoHH' stands for, would you?"

"Society of Human Haters."

"Original. What's their job- other than to hate humans, of course?"

"I can't say. I've already told you too much." Now who was Zephyr reminding Randall of?

"Marie..." he whispered under his breath.

"What?"

"You wouldn't, by any chance, have heard of a girl called Marie Boggs, would you?"

"No...I don't think so. Why? Is she a relative of yours?"

"She...She was." Randall gulped, his efforts to hold back the tears causing a bout of dizziness to overcome him- the previous knock on his head was still having after-effects- and he slowly sunk down to the floor, clutching his head.

"Ran, are you alright?" Zephyr's voice was just a collection of incomprehensible echoes by this point, and Randall's head felt like a helium balloon, rising up. This was actually just Zephyr lifting his head off the floor and dragging him round to the sofa, but Randall was in such a state that he daren't open his eyes. Tears had begun to trickle down his face, and Zephyr brought the softest blanket they owned out of the cupboard underneath her bed, laying it over Randall like the first thick layer of snow in winter.

"Shhh..." she hushed comfortingly as Randall's head lolled to one side. "Everything's gonna be alright. Everything's gonna be alright..."

-------------------

"Good morning, and welcome to Storm In A Teacup. We're doing a special today- two cups of coffee for the price of one." Zephyr got out her notebook, sniggering as Randall threw her an aggravated glare from behind the counter. He wasn't very happy about 'today's special'- coffee, to Randall, was much too precious to just be giving away like insurance leaflets. "What's your order?" She then waited, hoping that this lot wouldn't request what every other lot had.

"Hey, can we get served by that other guy over there? What's-'is-name, Randall or something?" She gritted her teeth.

"Of course." Taking off her apron and practically throwing the notebook at Randall, Zephyr stormed over to take her usual place behind the counter. Randall sighed.

"I guess they didn't order the coffee, huh?"

"Shut up Randall, and go serve your fan club." The lizard-monster rolled his eyes.

"Yeesh, it's not as if I asked 'em to join..." He strode over to the only occupied table, the one by the window, and asked in a bored sort of way, "What's your order gonna be?"

"See, I TOLD you it was him," one monster muttered to another, throwing his pal a haughty sideways glance and hoping that Randall wouldn't notice. Unfortunately, Randall had noticed.

"Yep, it's me," he began sarcastically, "today's star attraction! I do a wide range of circus tricks, including juggling, lion-taming-"

"Ohhh," a monster known as Frank exclaimed loudly, "So that explains the freak show!" The range of expressions that had been flowing across Randall's face as he said his part were wiped away like raindrops on a car, leaving a very blank, and bare, face.

"What – is – your – order?" he said slowly, as though talking to a child that had just peed on the neighbour's cat. No-one replied. Randall tried not to shout, although this same group of people that he was currently having a conversation with (if you could call treating the opposing side like children that had all peed on the neighbour's cat having a conversation) had visited the shop every day since its opening for a spot of lunch, and every time they came, they brought one or two new people that had never been to Storm In A Teacup before just to ogle at Randall.

Needless to say, he didn't enjoy this very much, but what he hated more was the fact that after all of this time, no-one had had the common sense to ask what exactly had happened to him after all of these years. Well, actually, it had only been three years, but Randall had been a very well-known figure at Monsters, Inc. (though not always for the best of reasons) and his 'sudden disappearance' should've created a few more queries than it had done...

But unbeknownst to Randall, questions HAD been asked, and not in their minority. Then the Company Play was produced and developed, and once this had been shown to this questioning audience, the enquiriessuddenly stopped and everyone decided that it wasn't worth asking any more questions about Randall. Not because they had become uninterested- on the contrary, the whole shenanigan was incredibly good gossip- but because, to them, Randall wasn't worth it. After all, he was the evil villain of the whole operation, the bad guy, Mr Mean.

To them, Waternoose didn't exist and had had nothing to do with the machine; to them, he was a villain through and through, and Mike and Sulley had the goodness to be the heroes.

Anyway, any questions they ever would've wanted to ask were answered in the Company Play, weren't they?

Maybe they were just afraid to ask Randall why he had returned to Monstropolis from wherever he had come from, maybe they didn't want his opinion on everything that had happened because, subconsciously, they all knew that they had been fed a pack of lies. Maybe, maybe, maybe. But at the end of the day, 'maybe' wasn't enough for a certain monster, and because Randall was in the exact mood he wanted him to be- not jumping around with happiness, yet not moping about in depression- today was the perfect day to start getting rid of all of those 'maybes' and get a few straight, and hopefully honest, answers.

"Okay, let's make it...two Eyeball Surprises, erm, Ranft, you like that, don't you? Oh, three Eyeball Surprises, two Finger Sandwiches, and...what do you usually have? Oh, right, a Twisted Tongue. Drinks, people?" There was a bit of subdued conferring. "Okay, six Wheelers, but with mine, double it, make it swim and add a few sprinkles of Happiness, once rolled over." Randall's eye ridges rose.

"Alright. I got that up until the Wheelers...did you say you wanted to swim?" Andy turned to Ranft before answering.

"That's the problem with having worked in the catering business, though it DOES give me an advantage of being able to tell between the pros and the amateurs." He said this as though Randall had stopped existing for a few moments, then turned back, staring evenly at the lizard-monster. "I'll repeat the order for your benefit, if I must."

"No, no, just repeat the part about you swimming." Andy coughed.

"I want a double Wheeler, swimmed, with a few sprinkles of Happiness, once rolled over." Randall, in turn, blinked a confused blink.

"I'm sorry sir, but we sell food here, not Happiness. And it's swam, not 'swimmed'."

"Are you telling me that you refuse to process my order?"

"Nope, I'm telling you that I refuse to process part of your order, Andy. It is Andy, right?" Randall added, just to be sure.

"Yes. It is. I was waiting for you to notice."

"Yeah, I could tell..."

"If you have to, just make it an original Wheeler, and get the rest of our order before Smitty eats his braces." Randall nodded the once, turning around, but froze as he felt a cold, clawed hand grasp his tail roughly. Andy smiled. "And then you can tell us all the details of your little adventure."

"Adventure?" Randall wasn't going to stand for this. "Excuse me, but since when was my life your business?"

"Since the little rumours I heard about you dealing in illegal affairs became MUCH too...succulent to ignore. Much too succulent."

"Okay..." Randall coughed, snatching his tail out of Andy's stiff hands, and stepped back in horrible realisation. "How the hell do you know about that?!" Now it was everyone else's turn to blink.

"Oooh, I thought I'd enjoy this conversation," Andy said, "but I didn't realise that you knew so little of what's happened around here."

"What are you talking about?!" Randall said, exasperated.

Ranft piped up. "You haven't heard about the Company Play?" Randall's heart stopped.

"...What...?"

"Just get us our order," Andy started, leaning back in his chair leisurely, "and we'll tell you all about it..."

-----------------------

The order was, needless to say, a very rushed order, and as Randall hurried about in the kitchen, getting everything he needed to make the Twisted Tongue, Zephyr watched, bewildered. A pan crashed to the floor.

"Randall, what's-"

"Can't talk, no time." Zephyr was getting in the way, so Randall decided to lift her small structure up and pop her to one side. This gave Zephyr the opportunity to grab onto Randall's torso (she couldn't reach his shoulders) and refuse to let go.

"What's the rush?"

"Get off me!"

"Not until you tell me what all the panic's for. Have we got some important customers or something?"

"No, it's just...Look, they know everything about the machine." Zephyr let go in surprise.

"How?"

"I don't know, Andy said he'd tell me once I'd gotten their order ready." Zephyr now understanding the situation, Randall continued preparing the food, his business partner helping out where she could. "Don't bother, Zeph- you should be out front."

"I hate to say this, but you're right. I should go..."

"Then go. I can handle this myself."

"You sure?"

"Very."

--------------------

Randall eventually came through the swinging double doors that led into the kitchen, all four of his arms occupied with carrying the food and beverages on four different trays. Each one was laid carefully onto the sunlit table, every detail perfect, the plates steaming and the smells wafting. Randall eyed Andy because Andy was eyeing him, (though this was probably because he was eyeing Andy...) but the lizard-monster thought to grab his own beverage before being engulfed in confusing conversation.

"Hope you don't mind me dragging up a chair..."

"Please do- this is going to take a while to explain, and once we're done, you can do your part." Randall sat down, choking on his coffee.

"MY part?" he hacked.

"Yes," Andy replied, tucking into his Finger Sandwich. "YOUR part."

"And that consists of...?"

"You telling us what really happened." Randall took another gulp of coffee. This seemed a trifle unfair, but he was the type of person who refused to worry about things like negotiation- he had some very useful skills concerning persuasion, and some very useful skills in understanding what useful skills he had concerning persuasion at his disposal.

"Okay, whatever. You do your part, I do mine, everyone's happy and we all find the gold at the end of the rainbow."

"Sure." Andy swallowed. "Well, where should I begin?"

"Hold on a second..." Randall was already suspicious. "No-one else here seems as eager as you to tell me whatever you're about to tell me. And because you seem to be enjoying it so much," (Randall had noted the smile on Andy's face- one that he had never seen in all the years they had spent eating, working and generally being together at the orphanage) "it doesn't make sense for them not to be enjoying it..."

Craigan put his fork down, looking up at Randall. "Who says we're not enjoying it? It's just...well...we agreed that it would be best for Andy to tell you, rather than everyone trying to talk at once." Everyone seemed to agree to this, except for Andy who gave Craigan a dark, demeaning look.

Cowards, he thought. At least I get the chance to relish Randall's reaction, and prize it as my own doings.

"So, shall I begin?" Randall finished his coffee, a sensational tingle travelling down his spine as his tongue tasted the strongest gulp of the drink.

"Please." A little fountain of excitement, joy, and all of those other good feeling accompanied by, admittedly, a little taster of looking forward to seeing Randall in pain erupted in the pit of Andy's stomach. He picked a piece of fingernail out of a tooth before beginning.

"As per usual, three years ago there was the infamous Company Play. What it was about was a secret to all those except the monsters actually involved in the production, but when the opening night came...oh, my." He pushed an empty plate aside. "Of course, everyone knew of Waternoose's arrest-"

"Arrest?"

"That must've been a dark rock, Randall, the one you have been hiding under for all of these years." Andy grinned at his own joke, then continued. "Mr Sullivan, our current CEO- you know about that, right?"

"How could I not?" Randall muttered sourly.

"Anyway, Mr Sullivan had devised a clever plan, and had managed to catch the former CEO out, ending in prison. He had managed to make Mr Waternoose admit to everything, and on camera, no less. Then, soon after Laugh Power was discovered- you know-"

"Yeah, yeah, Laugh Power's ten times more powerful than Scream, blah blah."

"Soon after that, Mr Sullivan and Mike Wazowski arranged the Company Play. Now, getting back to opening night...Everyone was excited, etcetera, but when the actual play started, we were all shocked. It was about everything that had happened with the Human Child, some kind of machine that you, supposedly, had built, and how it was all YOUR fault."

"You're kidding..."

"And then, at the end, right at the big climax when you had finally lost, you somehow managed to get out of Sullivan's grip and ran away, never to be seen again. Or so we thought."

"Andy," started Craigan, concerned. "You keep saying words like 'supposedly' and 'somehow'."

"And?" said Andy irritably.

"But isn't all of this pure, hard facts?"

"That's what we're about to find out, aren't we, Randall?"

Randall's breathing had stopped, and his hands shook. He had imagined this moment; everyone finding out, knowing the truth...And he had imagined what his feelings might be. Sadness, resentment, even a bit of anger was what he thought it would be like. But it wasn't. Not one bit.

All there was inside Randall's big, beautiful heart, was fury.

They'd lied. They'd lied.

And not just about any old little details, no. No, they'd lied about who had STARTED the whole thing, as though Randall had suggested his idea TO Waternoose!

This wouldn't do.

This just...wouldn't...do.

The part of his brain that Randall had closed off in his time in the Human World just to remain at least relatively sane started up again, like an old piece of machine with cobwebs hanging over it whirring into life. This part of his brain, though quite small, had the power to change his life, and it had taken a lot of effort to shut it down. But now it was all geared up and ready to go...eager to go...it would be near impossible to stop it...

This part of his brain was dedicated to something that, in the form of a dish, is best served cold, though Randall always liked to serve it as hot as possible so as to burn the mouth of whoever happened to be eating it.

This part of his brain was called revenge.

"You all believe the play, don't you?" Randall said this quietly, not looking at anything in particular, but rather aiming his question at the entire universe.

"Well, I thought it was stupidly-"Andy began, though he was destined to be interrupted.

"I don't give a stuff about you, Andy. You think I've forgotten about what it was like when we were kids, you think I've been ignoring the memories that came back to me the second I saw you? Well, think again." He turned back to the rest of the group. "You...you do believe it though, don't you?" No one moved or made it sound, but this was enough of an answer for Randall. "Well," he sighed, "I guess I'd better change that."

Randall's way of thinking was exceptionally clear compared to other cases of this sort of happening- usually, he would panic and his brain would writhe and squirm trying to think of a suitable way to handle the situation, (and, if he was with Zephyr, his brain would stop its exercise quite quickly, as she would make the decision for him, even if he didn't want her to) and though he was more than capable of making the most affective choice, sometimes his emotions would get the better of him.

But in this case, his emotions were what he was thinking about in making the decisions, which therefore made his overall decision considerably more reliable.

He wanted revenge against James Sullivan and Mike Wazowski.

James Sullivan and Mike Wazowski had done some very bad things, comparable against the bad things he had done himself.

Everyone hated him because of the bad things that he had done, because everyone knew that he had done them, even when he hadn't.

No one hated the other two for the bad things they had done purely because no one knew they had done them, except for him.

So, the question was, was it really his responsibility, his business, to tell everyone about the other two's bad things?

The revenge part of his brain could answer that question really well.