"Constance!" David and Ashley repeated, relieved to see her. Hoagie, Kuki and Wally lowered their weapons as the members of Sector Z reunited.
"You have no idea how glad I am to see that you guys are already here!" Constance smiled, hugging her friends tightly. They returned the hug eagerly.
"We're so glad you're okay! We couldn't find you or Lenny or Bruce when we woke up, we were so worried!" Ashley told her. "Are they with you? Where are they?"
Constance frowned a little in concern. "I don't know. I woke up on my own, in some abandoned park building," she informed them. "The last thing I remember before that is just…Us falling into that gigantic toilet," she shuddered. "But how are we not Delightful?"
"We're not sure either. The toilet is the last thing we remember too," David said, frowning too.
"I'm sure we'll figure it out in time," Ashley said. "Let's just be glad the three of us are back together," she smiled, the other two nodding and smiling in agreement. Hoagie, Kuki and Wally just watched them, finally walking off to let them have some privacy, though the three members of Sector Z caught up to them a little later.
Suddenly, the treehouse was plunged into darkness. David looked around, startled, realizing it was dead silent just as quickly. He opened his mouth to speak, to ask what was going on, but the words stuck in his throat. The brunette boy slowly started moving carefully, trying to find any of the others to find out just what could possibly be going on.
His fingers brushed the soft fabric of clothing, and he silently sighed in relief. He extended his hand out farther, making contact with more of the fabric, as well as smooth skin. The figure in front of him turned due to the contact, immediately illuminating them, and David quickly retracted his arm from them like he'd been burned.
Delightful Ashley grinned evilly at him, her pale blue eyes giving off a strange glow in the dark. "What's the matter, David? Don't you recognize me?" she taunted, chuckling lowly. David took a step back, still unable to say a word. She took a step forward, keeping the same distance between them. "We've spent so much time together. Wasn't it lovely? Forced together, we couldn't part even if we had wanted to," she laughed sharply. "We know how much you wanted to, David. We all know how much you wanted to kick and scream and cry, but you couldn't. You couldn't do a thing," she continued.
David continued backing away from her, until he felt something grab his arm. Delightful Lenny was suddenly beside him, gripping his arm firmly. "We kept you trapped. We let you watch everything, but gave you no control," Lenny said, though whether he was smirking or not couldn't be determined. "Hurting and tormenting kids, when you swore to help and protect them," he chuckled darkly. "Do you think you could ever go back to that? Can you just forget what you've done? Can you forget what we've done?"
David just tried to get away from him, pulling in the opposite direction. He struggled hard when his other arm was grabbed, Delightful Bruce and Constance both holding onto him together. "Now, now, David, there's no need to struggle," they said together, both smirking up at him. "It's not like you can get away from us. You can never get away from us. You know that, don't you? Deep down, even though you're free right now, you know we're still there. We're still there, and ready to drag you down and hold you captive once again, inside the prison that is your own body."
David froze up as his own Delightful counterpart appeared before him, beside Ashley. "I will have control once again. We both know it. When I take over again, you will never come back. When I take control again, I will crush you into nothing," he laughed, loud and cruel.
The room suddenly lit up, as suddenly as it had fallen dark, but they were no longer in the Sector V treehouse. David felt a wave of fear wash over him, more than the Delightfuls had already instilled in him, as he recognized the interior of the Delight Mansion From Down the Lane. The Delightfuls suddenly started dragging him along forcefully, the brunette operative's struggles and resistance doing nothing to stop or slow them. All too quickly, they dragged him to their destination: the Delightfulization Chamber. They pulled him towards it much more slowly than they had through the rest of the mansion, as if savouring the growing panic within their prisoner.
He kept trying to fight them despite the inevitability of the situation, until at last they had the chamber door open. They paused for a moment, with him in front of the open door, before shoving him into it as hard as they could. David could do nothing to stop them, the door slamming shut immediately after, and he squeezed his eyes shut as they turned the power on…
David sprang up into a sitting position, drenched in a cold sweat and involuntarily screaming from his nightmare. It took him a few minutes to realize he was awake, and that he had been dreaming, and that none of that had actually happened. He stopped his screaming, but looked up to see Hoagie looking at him in concern.
"Holy moley, are you alright? I've never heard anyone scream like that before," he said, his eyes wide.
"I-I-I'm f-fine," David stammered, suddenly realizing he was shaking terribly. "I-It was j-just…A nightmare," he added, looking at his hands and trying to will himself to stop shaking, though it didn't work.
Numbuh 3 came running into the room momentarily with Ashley and Constance, Wally running in just behind them. "David, are you okay?" Ashley asked, hurrying over with Constance right behind her.
"I'm fine. I just had a nightmare, that's all," he said, sounding calmer already. The two girls just looked at each other, having an idea of what he might have dreamed about, before just looking back at him. "Seriously, I'm okay. I'm sorry for waking everyone, you should all go back to bed," he told them all.
Wally just grumbled about being woken up and went back to his room, Kuki hesitating a little before going off to her room too. "If you think we're just going to go back to bed after that…" Constance frowned determinedly.
"It was one nightmare, okay?" The brunette boy answered. "I'm okay; you don't need to worry about me. I can handle it, you know that."
"Even after everything…" Ashley trailed off, before shaking her head. "Alright, if you say so, I guess. Good night then," she said, starting to leave the room with Constance. Hoagie had already crept out of the room, and Ashley paused at the doorway after the light went out again. She looked back towards David briefly, sighing softly and following Constance off down the hall and back to bed.
David laid awake for a while, reluctant to sleep again. He got up and headed to the nearest washroom, just staring into the mirror at himself. "Come on, get a grip," he muttered to himself. "It was just a dream. You can handle it, you're tougher than that." He stared into the mirror for a few minutes more, before sighing and leaving the bathroom. "At least I was…"
Chapter 4! Where something interesting kind of finally happens! (even if it didn't actually happen? It still counts, right?)