After dealing with The Janitor, escaping the lower levels of The Maw proved to be incredibly easy.
The children had all flocked to him for safety as soon as they saw what he was capable of, with all of them clinging onto him in some way as he jogged through the lower levels, guided forwards by Six herself. The aforementioned raincoat girl, alongside Mono, were atop Graham's head, with them clinging onto clumps of his hair for dear life as he jogged onwards.
Meanwhile, Seven, Fifteen and the other seven children were sitting atop the pilot's arms, with the former two sitting on his shoulders whilst the rest sat atop his palms or clung onto his triceps or forceps for dear life. One kid clung onto his back like a koala, something that he's gotten used to by now as he jogged onwards.
The crew were currently in an elevator, one that was found in an area that Six had not been to during her long journey through The Maw. she was a little upset over having missed out on an apparently easier way to get to The Kitchen, but even so, she said nothing about it as she remained seated on the pilot's head as they ascended.
"Shoujo, tell me, what manner of hostilities can we come to find in the kitchen?" inquired Graham… only to be met with silence as he cleared his throat sheepishly. "What enemies will we find in the kitchen, I mean."
"Oh. uh… well, there are the chefs. They're short, kinda fast even if they're pretty fat, and they cook a lot," said Six as Graham nodded in acknowledgement, with him watching as two kids dangled happily from his hand via his index and middle fingers. "I don't think you'll be able to sneak past them."
"I wasn't planning to, Shoujo!" rebutted Graham with a smile as the elevator stopped at the kitchen floor, allowing Aker to exit it without delay all the while. Six snickered a little at his words, with him very much liking his straightforward nature, though she left that thought up in the air for now as he began walking towards the kitchen.
And as soon as they did so, the pilot walked straight into a midget of a man, with him knocking him over all the while. Blinking a little at that, Graham Aker raised a brow as he watched the… person get back up to his feet whilst squealing and snarling in dismay before it brushed its apron off. Thereafter, it picked up its chef hat and placed it atop its head before focusing on Graham once more, only to tilt its head in confusion when it saw him.
"...?" a confused squeal could be heard as the Chef eyed Graham with two tired, confused eyes. Its drooping, lipless mouth flapped a little as it observed the pilot for a time… and vice versa, the soldier could only watch in confusion as the… thing standing before him grunted and snorted disgustingly as it tried to make sense of what it was seeing.
Moments later, however, the Chef's eyes darted down to the kids that Graham had with him, and at that, it squealed in shock as it held both of its pudgy hands up to its head. Graham raised a brow at this as the children flinched at the sight, though as for Six, she simply nudged their guardian's head.
"I think it's attacking, Graham," said Six as the Chef, predictably, charged at Aker. Graham blinked a little as he watched this happen, though not long after, he reacted accordingly when he saw that he was going for his kids. Without thinking, he relocated all the children sitting on his right arm onto his left, and with his now free hand, he held it out and allowed the Chef to run into it. Comically, this allowed him to hold the Chef in place as Graham kept the kids out of its reach, with the pudgy slave of The Maw grunting and squealing as it attempted to grab at those children that were far out of its reach.
"... uh…" muttered Seven as the kids watched all this happen in bemusement, eliciting a snicker from Six while Mono kept himself on guard, just in case. Fifteen rolled his eyes at their immaturity, though he didn't say much else as he watched Graham abruptly jump to one side, causing the Chef to run towards the closest wall and slam into it at full force due to its built up momentum, seemingly knocking it out all the while. "Oof, that's gotta hurt."
"Ditto," commented one of the other kids atop Graham as the pilot chuckled and moved towards the other end of the kitchen. The kitchen itself wasn't anything spectacular, though the kids did seem a little starved, so Graham allowed them to go about and have a quick look around to see if they could find anything edible to satiate their hunger, for now. It wasn't an elegant solution, but it was probably the best one at the moment for keeping them fed.
Only Six seemed to be unwilling to go, though, as she remained behind with Mono atop Graham's head.
"Are you not hungry, Shonen, Shoujo?" inquired Graham curiously, to which Six shook her head.
"I… I'm not. My hunger is… different from anything either of you can even think of. The more I eat, the hungrier I become, and the hungrier I become, well… let's just say that I begin to want to eat things of… higher quality more frequently," hummed Six, sounding almost… hollow as she spoke. To this, Graham nodded in understanding as he turned towards a fridge and opened it. The ingredients inside were certainly still fresh, though he ignored most of them and instead moved to pick up a slab of cheese from within it. Breaking off a small chunk, he smiled and handed it up to Six, who denied it vehemently.
"This hunger of yours… is it your power?" inquired Graham gently as he lowered his cheese holding hand. Six… didn't respond at first, more or less answering Aker's question as he smiled and handed the cheese to Mono, who took it and sniffed it thoroughly, very much like a mouse, before nibbling on it adorably. "Hm… it is dangerous, is it not? Your power."
"... it is…" confirmed Six. She wasn't fully aware of what she could do… but even so, she knew enough that she didn't wish to use it, not willingly, anyways. "It controls me, forces me to do what it wants when I'm at my weakest, and the more I eat, the more I feel myself… being put under its control."
"Hm… fascinating. A parasitic power. One that leeches off you in order to provide for itself. Truly despicable… but alas, it is possible to turn the tables on your power and force it to obey you instead," stated Graham, with him smiling devilishly as he spoke. Six was confused by this, and her silence made Aker continue to speak. "Let me tell you this, Shoujo, there are times where we are faced with powers beyond our control, when we feel as though it is impossible for us to free ourselves from a vicious cycle of torment.
"However, during this time, we tend to forget that we are the masters of our own fate! We have the power to twist our future into what we want it to become, and in order to do so, we must be brave and stand tall, even in the face of overwhelming adversity! Your power threatens to overwhelm you, to control you! Well, to that I say… no! Show it that you are not to be trifled with! Seize control of your hunger, because it is but a part of you! It will never grow beyond what you are capable of, whenever it even tries to take command of you, wretch command back from it and tell it; no, I am my own master!"
"... so basically… I just need to tell it to fuck off whenever it tries to take control of me?" asked Six, confused, and at that, Graham grinned and nodded, almost knocking both kids off his head in the process.
"Indeed! Even if that language is rather unbecoming of you, that is indeed what I mean to say. This power is yours, Six, so do not let it think that it can take control!" confirmed Graham, with him grinning a little as he spoke. And despite herself, Six couldn't help but grin as well, with her nodding a little all the while, and not long after, she pulled back her raincoat hood and swung her hair from side to side, getting it a little messy in the process. Beside her, Mono felt his breath getting stuck in his throat when he saw Six looking towards him with a smile, one that became a little playful as she yanked the hunk of cheese away from him and bit into it herself.
"Don't be greedy, Mono. Graham got this for both of us," complained Six as she nibbled on the cheese, and despite his initial annoyance, Mono ended up pouting and pulling a chunk off for himself.
"You're the one being greedy, Six!" chastised Mono, to which the raincoat girl stuck her tongue out at him, eliciting a snicker from Mono as Graham simply sighed at their back and forth. Ah… to be young.
But of course, good things never really lasted, and rather abruptly, Graham's attention was snapped away from the kids as he felt something bounce off the side of his head. Blinking at that, he turned towards the source and saw that it was the Chef, having recovered from his face-first collision with the wall, throwing random things at him. Food, bricks… a rat and even a frying pan at one point. Whatever was within reach, you name it, and it threw it. All while squealing like a pig, too.
A cabbage flew past Graham's head before a tomato splattered against his cheek, prompting him to wipe it off, only for Six to request to try some tomato. Graham denied this as he caught a brick and threw it over his shoulder, saying that it was unhealthy to eat tomato splattered over one's cheek, though almost immediately after, a frying pan flew into his face with such force that it left a perfect imprint of it on its surface. That kind of stung, really, even as Graham peeled it off his face, though he didn't admit it as he sighed and threw it to the ground, ignoring how Six had begun cackling like the gremlin she was while Mono held back his laughter.
Finally, after several more items of varying quality were thrown at him, Graham grew sick of this and moved towards a chopping board, where a fish head sat at. Grabbing onto the fish head, he wasted no time in lobbing it at the Chef, and on impact, the thing exploded into a mess of blood and gore, slamming into the Chef's skull with enough force to knock him the fuck out a second time, and when it did, Six burst out laughing like a lunatic.
"PFFFFFT! NICE ONE, GRAHAM!" bellowed Six manically as she watched stars form around the Chef's head. As that happened, the other kids, with various food items in their hands, peeked in to check on the commotion, though Graham was quick to assure them that everything was alright as he shooed them away. Thereafter, he sighed and glanced up at Six once more.
"Heh, thank you, Shoujo. But just remember what I said, alright? You control your own fate, not whatever your power is. Show it that you are your own boss!"
"I will, Graham. I will."
Some time later
Somehow, the kids managed to find a massive stash of meat stuck in the backroom of The Kitchen, and after some help from Graham, they managed to cook it. The meal was filling, to say the least, and after consuming it, the group continued on their way out of the place, though Fifteen was still a little hung up on something that Six had thought of.
"I can't believe I didn't think to melt cheese onto the food…" whined Fifteen as he sat atop Graham's shoulder, eliciting a snicker from Six as Graham chuckled and entered an elevator leading down. The raincoat girl blew a raspberry at her fellow kid, seeming oblivious to his sadness, before Mono poked her on the cheek, eliciting a whine from her all the while.
"Perhaps I should cook something for you children once we escape! Where I'm from, fried food is very popular, and though I am a novice cook myself, I'm confident that I can make a thing or two for you to eat!" stated Graham, eliciting a few excited mutters from the kids as they thought of their adoptive dad making them some food. It was such a normal thing to do, but in a world of abnormal shit, it was certainly a strange thing to even consider…
"I… we would love it if you did that, Graham!" stated a girl sitting on his shoulder as she smiled from ear to ear, eliciting a grin from the soldier as he nodded.
"Then it's a promise! French Fries for everyone! As soon as we escape, anyways!" stated Graham enthusiastically… confusing the kids on what French Fries even were, though Aker had said it with such enthusiasm that they more or less thought that it was yummy, so it didn't really matter in the long run. "But first, let's just get out of here!"
Upon saying that, the former soldier kicked another door down, and upon doing so, a shocked squeal was heard, alongside the sound of plates breaking against the ground. Peeking into the room, Graham saw that he had broken into the place where plates were being cleaned up in, and inside were several massive towers of plates, a shitton of soap and another chef scrubbing away at the aforementioned plates. Said chef looked similar to the first, just with a wider mouth and less tired eyes… not that it was saying much, really.
"Shit, I forgot there were two of them," groaned Six, only for Mono to playfully slap at her.
"Language!" scolded Mono with a pout as the other Chef stared up at Graham in confusion, and as with its counterpart, upon noticing the kids on his person, it squealed like a pig and began to run towards the guy… only to stop when Aker, in his infinite wisdom, picked up a plate and twirled it atop his hand.
"Halt, foul beast of The Maw… or… I shall drop this plate!" warned Graham as he stopped twirling the aforementioned plate and held it in his hand. At that warning, the Chef squealed indignantly and took a sheepish step back, seemingly realizing that if it allowed Graham to drop that fine china of The Maw, the consequences would be rather harsh… kind of. It wasn't like he was getting paid, but considering the scale of the operation they were running… losing even a single plate could be catastrophic!
Waving its arms in a placating manner, the Chef backed away as Graham circled around him, with several pairs of eyes staring the Chef down all the while. He held the plate like some sort of shield as he inched out of the place and entered a door, with the Chef awkwardly following him all the while. The whole altercation only came to a halt after they got to an elevator, and upon doing so, Aker reached a hand back and allowed Fifteen to help him pull the lever, with him focusing all his attention on the Chef whilst holding the plate between two of his fingers.
"... thank you for your cooperation," was all Graham bothered to say when the elevator reached their floor, and after scampering in with all of his adopted kids, he tossed the plate at the Chef, who caught it with minimal difficulty, and by the time he had turned back to the Ace Pilot, he saw that the elevator had left, leaving behind a horrendously confused Chef all the while.
"Bleh! Brother! I think we have an intruder in the kitchen!" proclaimed a voice/squeal from behind, prompting the Chef that had been essentially held at gunpoint to turn and see its sibling, who appeared somewhat dizzy as it walked up to the other Chef in a daze.
"Would said intruder happen to be a tall, normal looking human with blonde hair and a scar?" asked the second Chef, to which its bro shrieked.
"Please don't tell me he broke the plates."
"No, but he threatened to do so if I did not comply!"
"Where is he now?!"
"He has taken the elevator up to the main level!"
"Drat! We must pursue him!"
"And what?! Risk him damaging more of our stuff?! We might get a pay cut because of this!"
"Brother, we are not paid."
"Oh yeah, right…"
And with that needless conversation over and done with, the Twin Chefs turned towards the elevator and pulled its lever, calling it down in an instant.
Memewhile
"There, that should do it."
"Mono, you suck at architecture."
"Well excuse me Miss High And Mighty, but I spent decades trapped in a flesh corridor disguised as a concrete building! It ain't my fault that I'm no master architect!"
As he said this, The Lady simply stared down at the mess that was her bedroom floor, where the hole that was created when Roger the Janitor was flung skywards once was. Though reluctant, Thin Man Mono had begrudgingly gotten that hole sealed up (to the best of his abilities, at least), and his efforts amounted to him using a couple of planks and nails to cover up the hole. It wasn't particularly elegant, but as he had said initially, he never did have time to figure out architecture.
"Well at least you tried, I guess. Not that it really matters," scoffed The Lady as she rolled her eyes and turned to glare at the Thin Man, who spat out the nails he had been holding between his lips into the trash can before tossing the hammer he once held carelessly over his shoulder. The Older Six tried to not care about either as she watched him stretch a little in annoyance, though not long after, he blinked a little and turned towards a seemingly random spot on her ceiling. "The fuck's got you riled up this time?"
"Oh, nothing. It's just that Graham's finished his goal of loading all the kids into his Brave. He should be leaving with them soon, though he just might come after me before departing," stated the Thin Man, who smiled as he turned to give The Lady a smug grin. "I guess The Maw isn't as impenetrable as one might expect, huh?"
"Oh shush. It's not like it's supposed to be impenetrable in the first place!" scoffed the older Six as she glared at the equally older Mono, who rolled his eyes as the hat wearing dude snorted in amusement.
"So, what happens now?" asked the Thin Man, seeming genuinely curious as he tilted his head at The Lady, who shrugged.
"Well, I guess you oughta leave? I don't know, and frankly I don't care what you do, really, but I can't leave this place," hummed The Lady, to which the Thin Man huffed.
"Why not? I could leave The Signal Tower just fine, so why can't you leave The Maw?" asked the Thin Man, eliciting a snort from The Ldy.
"You forgot what you told me, didn't you? When The Signal Tower lost your younger self, it showed its true form… and attacked. The Maw is no different. The moment I leave…"
"It'll show its true form… and attack as well," concluded the older Mono, eliciting a nod from the equally as old Six as she frowned, and moments later, he grinned. "Then let it. The Signal Tower fell to the power of Graham Aker and his Brave. The Maw will not fare much better."
"That's what they all say, but while many have tried to brave the power of The Maw, none have succeeded. The Signal Tower may have fallen easily, but that is only because of its limited reach. The Maw has been around for just as long as it has, but in its long existence, it has traveled the globe and accumulated power from all around it, making it just as, if not even stronger than The Tower," stated The Lady, with her frowning darkly as she spoke. The Thin Man shuddered at this, with him not liking the thought of anything being more powerful than that blasted tower, but even so…
"Still, it's worth a shot, yes? We never did have a thing for giving up, so why start now? I personally have quite a bit of faith in Graham Aker," stated Thin Man, to which The Lady rolled her eyes.
"Really now. Tell me then, why the Hell are you trying so hard to convince me to go along with this ridiculous idea?" asked The Lady, to which the Thin Man held his hands up defensively.
"Hey now, I just want to get you outta here. Consider this me repaying you for all the fuck-ups we've gone through as kids. I still feel guilty over that, believe it or not… so this is just me trying to make amends. You don't have to listen to me, but trust me, when Graham finds out that you're not gonna leave, he'll make you leave, one way or another," stated the Thin Man, sounding almost conspiratorial as he spoke to her, and for all it was worth, The Lady did feel somewhat touched by his words, though at the same time…
"So… he's gonna kidnap me, is what you're implying," muttered The Lady indignantly, to which Thin Man scoffed.
"Bah! Not kidnap! He's gonna… rescue you against your will! That's more like it!" hummed the Thin Man with a smile, and to that, The Lady simply scoffed.
"Oh please, he doesn't even know where my personal quarters are!"
And right as she said that… a minor explosion could be heard, and moments later, a fist came blasting out from the ground beneath the two adults, who stared at it incredulously, with The Lady blinking a little when she saw a pair of hands grabbing either side of the new hole in the ground and pulling said hole apart, with them only stopping when the hole was large enough to let a man peek in.
A blonde, scarred man… Graham Aker.
"Oh! Thin Man, I was wondering where you were! It is fortunate that I could remember what your aura was like! And you! You must be Six! Or The Lady, as I hear you are called now!" hummed Graham as he widened the hole in the ground and hoisted himself up into The Lady's personal quarters, and as he did so, said Man of Thinness simply gave his pal a sly grin as he turned towards the Lady of The Maw, who had buried her face in her hands in dismay.
"Not. Another. Fucking. Word."
And for once, he obeyed her commands, if only because he was too amused to even say anything at that point.
Guess what story is back? And also guess which story is now cross posted onto AO3?
This one!
