Chapter 09: In The Darkness, I Go
Mickey wakes up naturally, his body slightly aching from the previous day's exercises. He turns on his side to check the time and to his surprise, it is not as late as he thought it would be as he sees the digital clock displaying '6:45'. Sensing that sleep is fully gone, he jumps off the bed, dresses up and silently walks downstairs to the kitchen to prepare coffee and hopefully cook up something good for himself and Minnie. He sets the coffee machine and while it is running, he looks around in the fridge, hoping to find anything good for a proper breakfast but to no avail. He rubs his chin, thinking what he could possibly do to surprise his lover. He wants to show how thankful he is to her, how thankful he is to have a roof over his head and most importantly, how she accepted him back into her life. He quickly checks up his phone for something simple to cook but everything single time he finds something interesting, he notices that one or several more ingredients are missing. About ten minutes later, the coffee is ready and he pours himself a huge cup to wake up. His mind goes over the discussion he had with Emil Eagle. He still cannot believe that one responsible for his state and more messy mess, dared to show up and reveal himself. What bothers him even more is that Emil never ever did that in the past; he was always the mysterious bad guy, acting in the shadows. 'What is he up to?' he wonders while having a sip from his cup, his feet carrying him to the nearest sofa in the living room. 'He did say a lot but there must be more to it.' The mouse rests his cup on the little table in front of him before reclining in the sofa. 'Oh man, I sure am glad to not be alone in this stinking mess.' he weakly smiles, enjoying the silence in the house. About thirteen minutes later, his phones vibrate in his pocket and he instinctively look at the number and he is pleasantly surprise to see Goofy on the screen. "Hello Goofy, how are you pal?" he speaks warmly.
"MICKEY! Turn on the television! Any channels!" the dog on the other side of the line exclaims, his voice full of panic. Mickey hurries to grab the TV's remote and turn it on, landing on the third channel. The anchorman on the screen is talking about some earthquakes that happened in another country…the usual things that would happen in general.
"Why are you panicking? Did I miss something?" Mickey's heart starts to pick up a quicker rhythm, he rarely heard Goofy like that and he never received a call from him in particular that early in the morning.
"Yes…I don't know how the word got out Mickey…but they were reporting about the case. They talked about the abandoned lab found in the forest, they also mentioned you, how you are alive. Someone managed to take screenshots of you crossing a road with Seamus or Casey." The mouse can hear his friend take a few deep breathes before continuing, his voice calmer "Oswald told me that this case was supposed to be confidential…be careful Mickey."
Mickey remains silent for a few seconds, letting his brain process the news and his ears picks up the anchorman speaking again about the case, confirming Goofy's call. "This is really not good at all. Thank you for the call, are you joining us today?"
"I'm afraid I will not be able to for today but I am keeping a very close contact with Donald and Oswald and in return, I update the others, especially your sister. She is going through the archives where she works. She did not find anything good yet but she is persistent about it."
"I'm happy to hear it. I think she can find valuable information that can bring forth a lot of answers." Mickey watches the TV screen, following the news at the same time. "Anyway, discretion is completely out of the window, this will probably set a lot of things in motions…the kind of motions we were trying to avoid as much as possible."
"Oh, I know you will take care of it in the end, you always did in the past." Goofy sounds optimistic, making the mouse smile softly. Mickey finishes his coffee and walks to the kitchen again and nearly jumps of his skin when he feels a hand on his left shoulder. He turns around and realizes that it's Minnie, wearing a confused look all over her face.
"Thanks for the call pal, we will reach the end of that case." He responds before hanging up on his friend. "Good morning…slept well?"
"I sure did and you look like you rested well too, I heard a part of the conversation earlier and I saw the news on my phone this morning. What is your next move now?" Minnie asks as she serves herself a cup of coffee.
"Discover and master my abilities, this is what I need to do and maybe it would be best for you to move and live with Daisy for your safety." Mickey rubs his chin. "One thing we discovered is that I need to remain out of the sun's reach to use most of my abilities. My enhancements are good but a few things are limited."
"Because you think I'll stay on the sideline? Think again, I have been thinking for a bit, I'll probably join your sister on her research. I've been working there for a while in the past so I'm sure I will not have any problems going back there again." Minnie smiles almost mischievously. "But I'm fine living a few weeks with Daisy for sure. I mean, knowing that Emil dropped here, this place is not that safe anymore."
"I guess." They remain silent for a few hours. Both of them are in complete reflexional mode the whole morning. At about noon, Minnie finally breaks the silence.
"Are you hungry, honey?"
"No, not at all." Mickey answers back, lost in his phone. "I have been contacting Seamus and Casey, they wrote that it is a mess. Journalist keeps calling them and asking questions and of course, where I currently am. They answered every question but the latter, it's up to me now to decide when I come out. I got a message from Static as well to meet him tonight, I guess he reconsidered his answer on testing me."
"What? You asked him to test you? Don't your body have enough…issues already?" Minnie stares at her lover almost in disbelief.
"It's…something I need to go through…Emil expects me to be an easy target." Mickey sigh, smiling lightly to raise the mood up slightly. "It's stupid and risky."
Minnie nods and visibly shivers for a split second but recovers quickly recovers from the it. She then stands up and walks over to her dear beloved and wraps her hand in front of him, holding him tightly.
"You got to do what you got to do, I guess. I believe I cannot change your mind anymore?" She demands after kissing his right cheek.
"I'm afraid not." Mickey replies back smoothly and returns the kiss. Sensing the discussion slowing down, he rises from his chair and gently tuck it back under the table. "I'm going to see Static now, I need to know what he really needs from me before tonight."
"But you don't have any vehicles to go there yourself and taking your vehicle is out of the question." Minnie notes.
"That's correct, I guess I will have to improvise a bit. Running maybe?"
"And risking to get recognized by anyone on the streets?"
"I guess I will stay put until tonight I guess." Mickey stretches his back and sits in the sofa with Minnie joining besides him.
The day goes by without a hitch. The couple manages to talk through a few things concerning his death and Minnie opens all her thoughts to him. She then later felt much livelier and it showed as Mickey smiles and embrace her gently, promising to be a lot more careful in the future. In the early evening, Static sends a phone text asking Mickey to be ready as he would come by to pick him up around eight o'clock. The mouse was ready but at the same time a little nervous, occasionally asking himself why he ever asked Static for this in the first place.
Eight o'clock strikes and Static arrives as promised. The discussion between the doctor and Minnie is brief and the duo jumps rather quickly in the car and zooms off.
"Alright, as I told you this morning, I accept to do more alterations to your body. What really changed my mind is when I received and analyzed the files on how they did it. It's something quite tricky and I'm of course not hundred percent sure that we should do it." Static says as he pulls up in his garage.
"I do know that my own life is at stake doc." Mickey responds calmly before walking out of the car. They both walk in the basement where a sleeping pod has been installed at the center.
"Alright, Mickey, you know what to do." Static walks to his screens and double taps them to wake the system up giving time to Mickey to strip himself naked and enter the sleeping pod. The doc walks to the mouse with a bundle of thirteen cables ending with needles and implants them on to Mickey: two on his right arm, two on his left arm, same for the legs, two on his torso, two on his back and one the base of his neck.
"There we go. Good night Mickey." He says nervously. "I'll keep a close eye on you." He closes the pod tightly. Upon closure, a white thick-looking gas spreads in the pod.
Mickey nervously chuckles and closes his eyes. "In the darkness I go." He whispers as the gas flows over him, making him fall into a very familiar sleeping stasis.