Beast Boy's Past and Future
Chapter 5
Garfield hit the floor with a grunt. The group of people in the bubble looked over at him.
"Ouch," Garfield whispered, rubbing his head and sitting up.
"Don't, Steve," the woman whispered. "He's just a kid." Garfield looked at them, then at the stairs. He watched them for a while, tensely waiting for Nicholas to come back and discover him.
"If you're looking for Ugly, he's not gonna be back for a while," said a monotonous voice. Garfield looked back at the group.
"Nice eyes, kid," said the bulking figure. "Glowy-ish."
"Wh-- Where did he go?" Garfield asked them. They looked at one another.
"He went to go get some friends or something," said the monotonous voice again. Garfield looked back at the stairs.
"Say, girl," said the bulking man. Garfield had decided it was a man, because his voice was deep. "Why don't you let us out of here?"
Garfield didn't say anything, but cocked his head to one side. "I'm a boy," he said.
"Oh," said the man. "My bad."
Suddenly, the basement door slammed open again and footsteps began to descend the stairs. Garfield gasped and looked toward his guardian in fright. He imagined that if he were a rat, he would be able to get away and hide. Amazingly, he morphed into the rat, and without thinking about it, he scurried away.
The captured group was puzzled at this. "Where'd he go?" asked the woman.
"Who, me?" asked Nicholas, sneering.
"No, the boy," the muscular man said.
"Boy?" growled Nicholas. He looked around the room and saw the opened vent grate. "No!" Nicholas whipped around and ran back up the stairs.
Garfield crawled out from under the pipe he was hiding under. He looked at the stairs, then back at the people. "I'll let you out," he whispered. "But you have to promise to take me with you."
Nicholas could be heard upstairs banging around. "Where is he?!"
The woman quickly agreed, then looked at the muscular man. "Steve?" she asked.
"All right," he nodded. Garfield ran over to them and looked at the complex control pad.
"Uh..." He looked up at the adults for guidance, and saw that the huge man was a robot, the monotonous man was wrapped tightly in guaze, like a mummy, and that 'Steve' had a bulging helmet. The woman looked like an ordinary woman.
"Push the button that looks like a star," said Steve. Garfield scanned the board quickly until he saw what he was looking for. He punched it with his thumb, expecting the bubble to burst and free the strange people. To his surprise, the control board merely lit up and flashed in a variety of colors.
"Now the flashing orange one," instructed Steve. Garfield pushed it, and the controls beeped rythematically.
"Um... Is this supposed to happen?" he asked.
"Yes. Now push the green one. We're almost there." Garfield pressed the green button and was suddenly knocked over.
"You little brat!" yelled Nicholas. Garfield felt a searing pain run up the side of his head, which brought tears to his eyes.
Nicholas grabbed Garfield by the collar and jerked him up harshly. "You little brat!" he yelled again, shaking Garfield violently. Garfield didn't seem to hear him. He stared at Nicholas uncomprehensively.
"Stop it!" Nicholas yelled. His face was turning purple and the vein in his neck was beginning to stick out. He dropped Garfield and turned to Steve. "You!"
"Me," said Steve cooly.
"You tricked him into trying to release you and pathetic comrades!" Nicholas continued screaming in rage while Garfield touched the side of his head. It was warm and sticky.
"Ow," he whispered, knitting his brows together in confusion. He looked back at Nicholas, but he couldn't hear him very well. Everything was muffled.
Garfield opened his mouth to say something, but only a soft growl came out. Nicholas didn't seem to hear him, but Steve and his friends looked at him.
"What are you looking at?" Nicholas ranted, turning. He saw Garfield staring at him angrily. "Don't look at me like that, you little coniving piece of trash!" he screamed.
Garfield changed into tiger in a split second, roaring. Nicholas whipped out a gun and began to shoot at him. Bullets ricocheted off the walls and floor as Garfield gracefully dodged them. He leaped onto Nicholas and swiped him with his clawed paw. Nicholas managed to pull up his gun and shoot Garfield, but still took the damage.
They both grunted and fell back, Garfield onto the floor and Nicholas onto the control board. The bubble dispersed, freeing the small group of four. The robot man grabbed Nicholas and held him down while the woman ran over to Garfield.
"The damage isn't too bad," she reported. "Just a graze."