You people are wonderful! I wasn't expecting to get a review, let alone three big ones! Oh, geez, I could just hug you all! Syuveil caught a "reference" to a certain game! Ha, ha, ha! You guys are getting clever! Hang in there, we're getting to the goodies!
(P.S. Does anyone know the name of the Mipedian ruler and the Danian queen? PM me if you do because for the life of me I cannot remember! Thanks!)
7: Khaos Family
"Things are never quite as scary when you've got a best friend." –Calvin from "Calvin and Hobbes" by Bill Watterson
"You made Willy mad at Tobias, Scotty." Joseph said flatly, staring his brother in the eye. Scotty squirmed beneath the gaze of his sibling and glanced at his twin who was pointedly looking in another direction.
"Did not," Scotty muttered back sullenly, "Tobias said it was okay. I called him!" The Khaos brother chewed on his lip, "But then he said he called Willy and told her not to let them in because of a "new development." In fact," Scotty frowned at Joseph, "He just called a few minutes ago and told me the Wormhole Generator exploded with excess energy from an unknown source."
"Yes, I know." Joseph replied testily, drumming his fingers on the arm rest of the chair he sat in. The three brothers were on the top floor of the Khaos Corporation building; their living quarters, "Izaak has a theory that it might be someone from the other side trying to get through to us."
"What, like a Creature!?" Conner's attention was suddenly back on his brothers, "You don't think it's…Omar…do you?"
"Might be," Joseph stood up and walked over to the window to stare out over the Hoarfrost Crests, "But where would he get the technology to do that? Not from a Code Scanner."
"Tobias keeps careful tabs on the status of every single Code Scanner out there," Scotty said, drawing his knees up to his chin like a child caught doing something naughty, "And there's not a single one missing or broken. The only oddities come when someone tries to port to Chaotic; even though we told them not to."
"Spikes in the energy coming from the Generator." Conner continued with a solemn nod, "And a nasty headache for anyone trying to port." The twin rubbed a hand through his hair, sending it into messy spikes, "Are you absolutely sure we shouldn't send the kids home?"
"Tobias is against it." Joseph rested his forehead against the cool glass and closed his eyes, "And he's giving me so much grief about the string of code that was off…"
"We're all stressed out." Scotty muttered and then grinned, "But we can't let our guests know!"
Tom and Kaz wandered out of the Clinic and down the stairs back into the Cafeteria. The Cafeteria itself was divided into four parts plus the enormous kitchen. Each of the four rooms; separated by walls and double doors; was painted to reflect one of the four tribes of Perim. Motivation for the people working at Khaos Corporation was not hard to come by.
"Say, have you noticed how empty this building suddenly seems?" Tom asked as they made their way across the Danian themed room of the Cafeteria.
"Well there are thirty floors." Kaz pointed out.
"Yeah, but this is a major company with tons of stuff to keep track of. You'd think there'd been tons of people running all over the place. Something more like, I dunno, a hospital."
Kaz frowned at the analogy; not a big fan of hospitals having spent too much time in them himself; but considered Tom's hypothesis. It made sense; Khaos Corporation was large enough to be small village in of itself but it seemed all the villagers had disappeared. Or run away. Kaz's train of thought vanished as they stepped into the Underworld themed room where they'd left the rest of the teenagers.
"Where's Scotty?" Tom wondered aloud as he looked around the room for the copper haired twin.
"In a meeting," Said a voice at their shoulder and both boys jumped and turned around to see a man with dirty-blonde hair and kind navy blue eyes hovering there, "He left me in charge. Izaak Khaos is the name, pleasure to meet the two boys who watched the Generator explode!" He sounded like he meant it as he gave both their hands a hearty shake.
"Uh, yeah, wonderful…" Tom muttered, "Exploding Generators…heh, heh…"
Kaz rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, "I'm going back there tomorrow." He huffed and Izaak raised an eyebrow at him, "There's something weird going on here and—!"
"Yeah, I gotta keep quiet, quiet! Don't let it all come undone! 'Cause if I dare open my mouth, it'll just be to bite me tongue! To bite my—!" Izaak's cell phone was out of his pocket and in his hand in a flash.
"Yeah?" He grinned, giving the two boy's a thumbs up sign. Kaz was baffled; how many times were they going to be interrupted by cell phone ringtones in one day!? The twelve teenagers all watched as Izaak's expression became deadly serious, "Really? Yeah, I know I said that it might be a Creature but that doesn't mean it is." A pause, "That's what Tobias said; there's nothing wrong with—no, they didn't." Those navy blue eyes flickered over Tom and Kaz, "But what about—? Alright…" Izaak shut his phone and stowed it back in his pocket, "Sorry guys," He announced to the on looking teens, "We're going to have to send you back to your cabins for the rest of the day."
"Why?" Asked the Gothic looking girl crossly.
"Technical problems." Izaak replied evasively, "Now, shoo!"
Kaz's chocolate eyes narrowed as he and Tom followed the rest of the group out of the Cafeteria, down the stairs, and across the Glass Bridge. There was something more than a little trouble with a Wormhole Generator going on here. Probably…someone else trying to get through. Kaz shuddered.
He hoped it wouldn't the same way as his nightmare.
Tobias took off his trench coat and threw it over the back of a chair. Then he walked through the living room of the private apartment he shared with his wife and into the kitchen. He opened the fridge door, bent over to look inside, and finally pulled out a tinted glass bottle. He popped the top off, tossed it in the trashcan, and walked back into the living room to fall into a chair. Then he took a long drink from his beer.
"You'll get a headache if you drink too fast." Said a sing-song voice and Tobias smiled to himself as he turned his head to look at Willy. She had discarded her usual eccentric clothing and was wearing a simple black T-shirt with the words "Will Work For Chocolate" printed on it in green letters and a pair of cut off shorts. Two suitcases sat on either side of her.
"Winifred…" He murmured, setting his drink down and standing up to wrap his arms around her, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm making you leave, I'm sorry I'm giving you so much grief, and I'm sorry I haven't been there for you."
"Sap." Willy muttered but kissed him deeply anyway.
"Tobias and Willy sitten' in a tree!" Two identical voice chanted from the doorway, "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
"Shut up you two!" Joseph pushed Scotty and Conner through the doorway by smacking the back of their heads, "And grow up some!"
"Awwwww," The twins said at the same time again, "If we grew up it'd be no fun being Codemasters!"
Tobias rolled his eyes, unable to hide his smile. You could never get a moment of peace and quiet around his brothers but that was why he loved them so much. Leon trailed in and Izaak followed shortly after. Leon eyed the packed suitcases at Willy's feet.
"So, you're leaving?" He asked; Leon may have seemed like an emotionless lump of a person but his sister-in-law was one of the few people who could make him smile.
"Tobias is kicking me out." Willy replied with a fake pout on her face.
"It's getting…dangerous." Tobias' smile had vanished and he sat back in his chair to take another drink.
"Then we should send the kids home!" Leon growled, clenching his fists, "You knew it would come to this! You knew things were going to get dodgy and yet you insisted they remain because of a stupid promise!"
"Enough!" Joseph barked but Tobias raised a hand to silence him. All eyes traveled over to the oldest Khaos brother.
"Yes, Leon, I knew it could get risky." Tobias' voice was soft and even but there was an excited glint in the eyes behind his glasses, "What I didn't know was that someone else was going to try and break through from the other side of the Wormhole."
"Then it's true…" Izaak whispered, eyes wide as he sat heavily upon the nearby love seat.
"And that's why I'm sending Willy and the majority of the staff to their respective homes." Tobias drained his beer, "The rest of them will remain in close proximity to the Cafeteria; it's one of the safest spots in the building."
"You don't think…Creatures are actually gonna…invade us, do you, Toby?" Scotty used the pet name for his brother; something he and his twin only did when they got extremely nervous about something.
"I can't answer that." Tobias closed his eyes and rested his head against the back of the chair.
Things were getting…chaotic.
Kaz denied Tom's request to play some video games and locked the door to his cabin. He knew he was acting like a bit of a jerk but there was a lot on his mind. And he needed to get it off.
The spiky haired teen stuck a bag of popcorn into the microwave and then strolled over to the case of movies and started looking over the titles. There were too many to go through before his popcorn was finished so he grabbed Spiderman 3 from the shelf, stuck it in the DVD player, and went to retrieve his food from the kitchen.
Lame little ending, maybe, but I needed to put in something after all that trauma. I've got Spiderman 3 on my PSP. I like the Spiderman movies though I think Ironman beat them by a long shot! Ha!
Anyway, have no fear! The good stuff is coming…in the next chapter! That's right! DEATH! BLOOD! PEOPLE DYING EVERYWHERE!! MWAHAHAHAHA! Okay, no, not really. I just wanted to do that.
I just realized I'd been forgetting to put in disclaimers for the songs! So here we are. From chapter 2, "Blow My Mind" by Big and Rich. From chapter 5, "Everything Back But You" by Avril Lavine. And from this chapter, "Bite My Tongue" by Relient K.
Thanks for reading, please leave me a review, and byes!