Up until I wrote Survivor, this was the strangest thing I had ever written. I hope you enjoy my favorite chapter of the series!


Welcome to Slavestown

Chapter Five

The three Curious brothers – Pascal, Vidcund, and Lazlo – are running down the Road to Nowhere, heading straight towards their previous residence. "Alright," Pascal speaks suddenly, clearly out of breath, "Whose genius idea was it to put our house on a hill?' he asks.

"Vid's," Lazlo answers, trying to keep up with Vidcund, who is already halfway up it, "He thought it would discourage solicitors from visiting," he states.

Pascal groans and races forward, attempting to pass him, "You just had to go for the house with the view, didn't you?"

"Less talk, more walk," Vidcund instructs his brothers, "Come on guys, we're almost there!" Vidcund gasps, halting when he spies three tombstones jutting out of the sand in front of him. "Oh lovely," he says, getting a closer look at the engravings.

Pascal and Lazlo catch up to him, stopping to look at the stones as well. Lazlo pulls his glasses down, examining the tombstones more carefully, his eyes widening when he realizes who they are intended for. "Yeow!" he remarks, gazing down at the three tombstones that are lined up side by side, "I always thought I would never be alive to see my own tombstone," he comments. Pascal crounches down in front of the stones, reading them over a second time.

"Well, that's creepy," Pascal notes, pointing to the tombstone that is situated to the left of the others, "But look! Loki called me a scientist!" he exclaims, pointing to the engraving that is on his stone, under the name 'Pascal Curious.'

Vidcund crosses his arms, raising an eyebrow at his eldest brother. "Pascal, the engraving says, 'Worst scientist in the world,'" he informs him.

"I know! But the career implications are still there!" Pascal says with a smile. Vidcund rolls his eyes.

"Hey, at least you got more than 'guy'," Lazlo counters, pointing at his tombstone which reads: 'Lazlo Curious – Guy.'

"Well, at least he got the right gender," Vidcund flatly states, turning away from his tombstone which reads: Vidcund 'Shit-Bag' Curious – The Worst Sim to Ever Walk the Earth.

"Aww! Look at that, he likes you!" Pascal proclaims, taking out a camera and snapping a photo of Vidcund's tombstone, "And I thought this was going to be a bad trip!"

Lazlo turns to Vidcund, a strange rather perplexed look spread across his face.

"Yeah...we should probably go," Vidcund says, hoping that he is reading his younger brother's signals correctly. The three race onto their lot, finding it destroyed, smelly, and surrounded by caution tape.

"Man, I love what they've done to the place," Pascal states sarcastically, his hands on his hips. Lazlo eeps as one of the solar panels falls off of the roof, barely missing him. A bunch of rats race out from underneath the infrastructure.

Behind him, Vidcund shoves his hand into the sand and yanks out the hose, holding it by the nozzle. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out goggles, replacing his glasses with them. Vidcund walks over to the entrance, pulls the wooden plank off of their boarded up house, and holds up the hose as he swiftly walks inside; Pascal and Lazlo following close behind him. He steps into the residence, putting his foot down on the black tiled floor.

"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE!" Vidcund shouts, releasing the handle, jet-streams of water spraying out of the hose. Vidcund walks around, spraying the entire floor down, hundreds of rats racing out the door and off the premises. Vidcund paces over to the wall and opens up the glass case, punching several of the buttons. The battery-operated cleaning system turns on.

Vidcund turns off the hose and throws it down, all three of the Curious brothers racing to their separate corners to retrieve items for the mission. "We don't have much time," Vidcund warns them, setting a collection of tools down on the center of the kitchen floor, before running around and collecting all of the extension cords, "We need to get the power back on!"

Pascal and Lazlo nod, each racing over to the pile of tools and grabbing what they need. Vidcund moves over to the green house, brushing the dead Africa violets out of the way with his foot. He ducks in front of the planter, staring up at the Slacker career reward that he had invented a few short years ago. Vidcund smiles to himself as he pulls each of the shelves up, exposing the outlets underneath them. "Like this is actually useless," he states, plugging in the extension cords. The lights in the house power on.

"Sweet!" Lazlo exclaims, before racing over to the living room and pulling out the floorboard. He takes out a wrench and begins to work on fixing the mainframe; Vidcund goes over and joins him.

"Hey! Check it out!" Pascal says, holding up a picture frame and showing to his brothers, "Loki didn't throw out my picture of the Sexy Periodic Table!"

Vidcund shakes his head, continuing to fix the mainframe, "That picture is wrong on so many levels."

"Don't you mean on so many elements?" Pascal puns. Both of his brothers look up from their work and glare at him. Pascal shifts his eyes from side to side, "What?" he says.

Lazlo screws in the last piece of the device. "Yes!" he exclaims as the mainframe reactivates itself, making its signature start-up noise and lighting up the room. Pascal walks over to the window, happily watching as all of the lights power on in the city. Lazlo smiles.

"Ah, it's good to be back!" Vidcund states, standing in the center of their living room; hands on his hips. He presses the button on the side of his headset and speaks into it. "Phase five of the mission is officially complete: The power is back on," he announces carefully, "We will now begin phase six – Operation Capture," Vidcund says, turning to his brothers as he releases the button. "We're going in!" he exclaims.

Fifteen Minutes Later

Pascal, Vidcund, and Lazlo are running down the Road to Nowhere for the second time that day, this time in the opposite direction. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Pascal asks, falling behind Vidcund in an attempt to keep up with him once more, "Once we get into the Beaker estate, we may not be able to get out," he reasons.

Vidcund rolls his eyes, "Please, this is Beaker we're talking about. This is the guy who gets distracted by blue feathers," he reminds them as the trio races towards the target in question. They stop in front of the estate and look at one another, unsure of what to do next.

"Alright, so we need to create some kind of distraction that's so annoying that Loki will have no choice but to drop everything and capture us," Vidcund tells him, "So, does anyone have any ideas?" he asks. Vidcund turns to Lazlo; he shrugs. Pascal steps forward, standing triumphantly as the beams from the sun shine down on him, creating a majestic glow.

Pascal smiles, "Gentlemen...my time has come!"

Meanwhile: Inside the Beaker Estate

"Well, it's nearly noon and there's been no sign of anything even remotely suspicious," Loki states, stepping down from his gigantic indoor telescope. He turns to Ripp, who is sleeping in his chair; Loki nudges him awake.

"Wha-?" Ripp abruptly speaks. He looks up, finding Loki glaring at him. "Oh, sorry. You were saying?"

Loki walks over to him, stopping in front of Ripp and leaning down towards him. "I was saying that the city has been silent - which is a real shock, considering neighborhood wars have always been known for having surprise attacks. Knowing Vidcund he's probably planning some elaborative fifty-three step plan to try and sneak around me," Loki rambles, pacing back towards the open window, "Something he deems as 'smart' and 'sophisticated,'" he continues, stopping in front of the telescope, "Something that no one would ever see coming in a million years-"

All of a sudden, the ground starts shaking, as music blasts from outside the residence. "What the hell-?" Loki declares, scanning the room, looking for the source of the noise; Ripp appearing just as confused nearby. Loki races over to the telescope and gazes through it, seeing Pascal, Vidcund, and Lazlo dancing terribly on their front lawn. "Circe!" Loki shouts at the top of his lungs, "For the love of all things that are evil - don't look out the window!" he screams.

Next to him, Ripp is smirking. "Well, you were right about the last one," he states. Loki walks over to the window and glares outside at his greatest nemeses; his arms crossed.

Pascal steps forward, wearing a backwards cap, black sunglasses, and loads of bling. He holds a microphone up to his face, swaying his body with the beat of the music. "Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want."

Vidcund stands next to him, answering the call with another microphone. "So tell me what you want, what you really, really want," he sings.

Pascal sings back, gesturing at his sides as he hops in place, "I wanna – I wanna – I wanna – I wanna – I wanna really, really, really wanna take you down."

Isabella and Kea are standing behind the side of the house, watching this whole display unfold. Isabella looks to Kea who is busy dancing to the beat; she raises her eyebrow at Kea. "What? It's catchy!" Kea defends in a whisper.

Lazlo dances forward, moving in front as he sings towards the house. "Oh Loki Beaker, you're really bad," he continues, singing into his microphone, "You took the city and made things sad."

Vidcund moves up, "You're such a sleaze ball, you know it's true. Give it back to us before we're done with you," Vidcund leans forward, moving with attitude, "I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want," Vidcund backs up waving his hand, gesturing for Isabella and Kea to go into the residence. Isabella sees this and nods, exiting into the castle.

"So tell me what you want, what you really, really want," Lazlo answers.

"I wanna – I wanna – I wanna – I wanna – I wanna really, really, really wanna taken you down," Vidcund sings, pointing at Loki and moving his thumb towards the ground.

All three of the Curious brothers line up in a row and start dancing horribly in unison. "If you wanna win this war, you gotta be someone else," Pascal and Vidcund sing together.

"Gotta be someone else," Lazlo choruses in the background.

Vidcund steps forward, twisting his body in a sway, "Come up with better ideas, cause yours really suck."

"If you wanna win this war," Pascal sings next, "You better give up."

"-Cause you failed to kill us, and now you're out of luck," Lazlo completes, moving back to allow Pascal to solo in front.

Pascal walks forward, waving his free hand in the air as he continues to sing. "So here's what happened from A to Z – You beat us up and dug our own graves. Sentenced us to death, but then we got out. You destroyed our house and then you – Kidnapped Ripp, who didn't do anything. What a jerky move –"

"And what's next? Oh, you'll see," Vidcund transitions smoothly.

"Everybody run cause Loki's coming down," Lazlo sings.

They all move forward and gesture repeatedly towards the sand. "Everybody run cause the weirdo's coming down," they sing.

The bass line continues to pound into the ground as the brother's dance in unison. "If you wanna win this war…" they complete, their voices echoing throughout the city. The three of them stop and pose, holding their microphones out in front of them. All at once, they drop them, the impact making a terribly deafening, blaring sound. Everyone minus the Curious brothers covers their ears.

The music ends, flashing five minutes later to Pascal, Vidcund, and Lazlo, all of who are tied up in chairs on the first floor of the Beaker estate. Pascal looks to his brothers, beaming, "I'm not gonna lie guys, but that was definitely one of the top five best moments of my life."

"After seeing your life so far, I am not surprised," Loki grumbles, as he finishes tying the knot on the back of Pascal's chair.

"Zing!" Lazlo rings in point.

Loki steps back, having finished all of the rope tying, and towers over them. He stops to gaze at each of the Curious brothers individually – giving them a mere once over – before moving to the center of the room, his hands on his hips.

"Unbelievable!" he chimes, "Three self-proclaimed 'super-geniuses' and you come in pulling a silly stunt like that!"

"Well, I'd like to think there's a little Goopy Gilscarbo in all of us," Pascal comments, still smiling wide.

"Quiet you!" Loki commands, hoping to silence him. He walks to the left, pointing his finger at each of them as he passes by, chiming out his opinions. "Now let's see, I don't like you," Loki says, passing by Pascal, "I really don't like you," he continues, pointing at Vidcund. He stops in front of Lazlo, pulling his finger back to ponder this one over for a moment. "You, eh, I could go either way."

Lazlo nods, "That's fair," he states as Loki waves it off, turning his back to them.

Pascal leans towards his youngest brother, whispering enthusiastically, "He likes you!" Pascal suggestively moves his eyebrows up and down.

Loki swiftly turns around, smirking at the Curious brothers, "Now that I have you all under my control, it's time to drill your minds for every piece of useful information. And trust me, with Pascal here, it's not going to take long," Loki notes, glaring at his eldest inferior. Loki turns his body and redirects all of his attention to the man that is situated in the center of the room. "But first, tell me Vidcund," he begins, walking towards him, "Tell me how you managed to escape death after I killed you!" he snarls, slamming his hands down on the arms of Vidcund's chair.

Vidcund looks up at him, clearly unfazed. "Well obviously, you didn't do a very good job."

Loki throws his hands up, undoubtedly pissed off. He points an accusatory finger at him. "You watch your mouth boy, or this time I'll kill you for real!"

"…And the award for best acting goes to…" Vidcund firmly counters, sporting his signature smirk. Loki lets out a frustrated groan. Next to Vidcund, Pascal nods in approval.

"Nice," he mouths to him; Lazlo nods compellingly.

Loki sighs, regaining his composure a bit before turning to Vidcund, a sinister smile spread across his face. "I bet you think you're pretty smart, Vidcund," Loki cooes, leaning towards him, "But you're not smarter than me, not by a long shot! In just two minutes I could make you lose your mind," Loki claims, staring straight at him. Vidcund looks slightly to the left, unresponsive.

"Vidcund," Loki states, trying to grasp his attention. Vidcund continues to stare away. "Vidcund!" Loki says once more, a little more irritation in his voice. Vidcund doesn't budge. "VIDCUND!" Loki shouts, clearly infuriated.

"What?" Vidcund speaks up, trailing off as he continues to gaze around the room. Pascal and Lazlo are trying to hold back laughs.

"Look at me, damn it!" Loki commands, moving towards him. Vidcund continues staring into space. Loki growls and moves around, circling his torso in an attempt to make eye contact with his wandering rival. "Err…" he snarls.

"Loki?" Circe's voice sounds from the hallway, all three of the captives immediately sit up when they hear her voice. "Loki, where's the charger? I can't keep running on two percent battery," she informs him, her voice drawing nearer.

Loki scans the area in a panic, unsure of what to do. Thinking quickly, he rushes to the closet and grabs two white sheets, throwing them on top of Pascal and Lazlo. The sheets fall over their heads and onto the floor. Loki gives a weak moan, his body almost freezing as he hears Circe's footsteps get closer and closer to the room. He stands in front of Vidcund, attempting to hide him from Circe's view. Unfortunately for Vidcund, that meant that he was now mere inches away from a not-so-flattering part of his rival.

Vidcund cringes, a look of pure horror and disgust on his face as he finds himself at eye level with Loki's derriere. He holds his breath.

"I take that back," Pascal whispers to Lazlo, "Loki clearly likes Vidcund the best."

Circe steps into the room, finding it surprisingly silent. She scans the area, glancing at the two smiling Curious brothers, before looking at Loki suspiciously. She crosses her arms across her chest. "Alright, what did you do?" she asks, raising her eyebrow.

"What do you mean by that?" Loki asks, backing up some more. He opens his palm behind his back and covers Vidcund's mouth with it; trying to keep him quiet.

"Hey Circe, guess what? We're still alive!" Pascal beams, seeing the scientific mastermind turn to him.

Circe widens her eyes before giving an eye roll, "Thanks Pascal, it's not like I could have gathered as much," she snidely remarks. She steps forward, her glare not leaving her husband. Circe narrows her eyes, giving Loki a once-over, "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing," Loki states, trying his best to sound convincing, "I think the charger's in the bottom cabinet," he informs her.

Circe stares him down for a moment before giving a small nod, seemingly satisfied by his answer. "Alright," she states. Pascal and Loki watch as Circe walks over to the cabinet and opens the door; bending over to retrieve it. Loki abruptly turns to Pascal, giving him a glare as Pascal continues to stare at his wife.

Pascal leans back in his seat. "-Sorry," he apologizes, redirecting his attentions to the window.

Circe slowly gets up from off of the ground, holding the charger in her right hand. She waves it in front of her husband, clearly satisfied. "Got it," she announces, getting up from her crouched position, "It's about time, too. Three minutes longer and I would've missed the opener."

Loki forces a smile, feeling Vidcund bite down on his hand. "How about that – ahh-mazing team?" Loki quickly corrects himself, hoping to gloss over this sudden tinge of pain, "Better get going, you wouldn't want to miss any more of it," he recommends, silently pushing her out of the room with his eyes.

Circe smirks, tilting her forehead. "Well, I was about to leave anyway so, I'm out of here," she states, waving off the strange scientists behind her. She exits through the door.

Loki steps back from Vidcund, immediately releasing his hand from his mouth and shaking it off in disgust. At the same time, Vidcund exhales, spitting a few times as he attempts to get that awful taste of Beaker flesh out of his mouth. Vidcund shakes his head, trying to snap himself out of it.

"Man, I really didn't think I was going to make it through that one!" Vidcund exclaims, groaning a few more times as he attempts to once again shake the horrible memory from his mind. Nearby, Loki is washing his hand multiple times. He shuts off the sink and snatches a towel from the top shelf, using it to thoroughly dry off his hands.

"Damn it, Vidcund, you're such a prick!" Loki shouts antagonistically.

"Hey! You think I wanted to bite your hand?" Vidcund exclaims, "It was either that or breathe in your ass-air, and you don't have to be a genius to know that was never going to happen!" he defends.

"Right, of course, what was I thinking?" Loki replies, snarky. "Now, where was I? Oh yes," Loki remembers, walking over to Pascal and throwing his hands down on his armrests, getting up in face. "Tell me Pascal, tell me all your secrets!"

Pascal shrugs, not giving it a second thought. "Well, alright," he states. "Sometimes at night I like to lie on the floor and I think about what it would be like to have no arms and legs and to be drenched in butter-"

"-I meant secrets about the mission," Loki clarifies, rather irritated. "Tell me everything about the mission, not about your various problems!" he yells, gripping the arms of the wooden chair tighter, his veins popping out.

"Oh okay," Pascal responds, "The important thing to know about the mission is-"

Loki leans forward, "Yes…?" he speaks, eager to hear the rest.

"-It may or may not exist, and also – huh? How about that?" Pascal stops, his eyes wandering around the room, "I forgot the rest of what I was going to say. Funny how that works, isn't it?"

Loki growls, lunging forward and grabbing Pascal by the shoulders, shaking him back and forth. "You stupid dipwad! Give me something I can use or else!" he threatens, shaking him faster.

Pascal gazes up at him, his eyes getting bigger. "Hold me tighter," he chimes.

"Ack!" Loki cringes, quickly releasing him and dusting his hands off on his criminal mastermind outfit, "Pascal, what are you?" he asks, clearly disturbed.

"No one knows for sure," Pascal answers very ghost-like. "I just enjoy making situations uncomfortable. It's a talent really," Pascal completes normally; his two brothers nodding in agreement.

"Unbelievable!" Loki outbursts, turning away from the three of them to look at a mirror that is on the wall; his hands clasped firmly behind his back, "Three months away from you fools and you're still the biggest dinguses the world has ever seen!"

Pascal smiles, "Aww, we missed you, too!" Pascal's voice rings, he turns to Lazlo who has taken his arm out of the rope-hold to look at his watch, "Lazlo!" he whisper growls.

Lazlo gazes down, realizing his error and quickly puts his arm back in the lope, resuming his original tied-up position. "Oh, sorry," he states.

"Well, no matter," Loki continues, swirling back around to face them, "After all this nonsense, I was still successful in my genius endeavors!" he marvels, leaning down towards his main nemesis, stars in his eyes. "You want to know how I did it, Vidcund?" Loki cooes, power in his stance.

Vidcund rolls his eyes, sarcasm filling his voice. "Oh please tell me, because I am dying to know."

"Fierceness, Vidcund dear," Loki speaks up, loving the sound of his own voice. "I did something that takes a man with guts to do! I did the dirty work – and face it boy, there's not a man alive that can take me out!" he declares, looking up to the ceiling.

Vidcund nods, a smirk forming on his face as he turns and exchanges glances with his brothers. "Well, you're right about that," he states.

Meanwhile: Infiltrating the Beaker Estate

Isabella and Kea step into the entrance of the Beaker medieval-style castle, pleased after successfully making it in from the outside. Kea gazes around the first floor and whistles, gazing up at the two story ceiling and elaborative balcony that is towering above them.

"Geez Louise, look at the size of this place!" Kea awes, wandering further into the main hall.

"Yeah," Isabella nods, impressed as well, "Loki must be trying to compensate for something."

Kea leans forward, putting her hand against her mouth to catch her gasp. She immediately cracks up into a fit of laughter. "Whoa, Izzy!" she exclaims, taken off-guard, "Where did that come from?"

Isabella turns around, clearly smiling. "Oh don't act so surprised, I lived with the Curious brothers for two months," she reminds her, matter-of-factly.

The pair steps further into the hallway, carefully scanning the area as they make their way into the greater depths of the castle.

Isabella steps forward and peers into a nearby room, which is filled with numerous inventions. She looks both ways before slowly stepping into it, trying her best to keep the noise down. Isabella lowers her voice, gesturing her best friend in. "Kea, the coast is clear," she whispers, tiptoeing towards the other side of the room, which has a gigantic metallic piece of machinery jutting out of the side of the wall.

"Sweet!" Kea replies as she drops down from the ceiling, holding a flashlight in her mouth.

Isabella walks over to her, clearly confused. "How did you get up there?" she asks, "I thought you were walking behind me." She states, struggling to understand the physics behind it.

Kea shrugs her shoulders, "Hey, don't ask me how this story works," she comments, "Besides, this entry is way cooler."

Isabella smiles, gazing up at her. She gives a nod of approval. "Well, I can't argue with that," she says, walking over to Kea to help her unhook her harness.

Kea removes the flashlight from her mouth and steps around the room, scanning the area for any strange or unknown objects. Isabella goes back to the metallic machine in the corner. Kea stops halfway across the room, eyeing a filing cabinet that is covered with mountains of papers. She begins shuffling through them.

"Man, Loki sure has a lot of useless crap," Kea comments, turning over the papers and glancing at them, "I mean, why does he need twenty-seven diagrams of the same thing?" she wonders.

Isabella shrugs, continuing to gaze at the machine, trying to figure out what it does. "Who knows?" she states, "He was probably just trying to invent something," Isabella replies, stopping when she notices the words 'A.V. Security' printed on the side of the machine. "Hey, I think I found the security system," Isabella whispers to Kea, her hand brushing against the back of it. She turns to Kea, who is now going through the filing cabinet, looking through every folder in reach. "Find anything interesting?" Isabella asks.

Kea shivers, looking down at the open manila folder that is in her hands. Inside of the folder is a photo of Loki wearing a bright red speedo. "Nothing that anyone with sim eyes should ever gaze upon," she notes, sticking her tongue out and cringing in disgust. She closes the folder and throws it over her head, shivering her body a bit, trying to erase that horrible image from her mind.

All of a sudden, two shadows enter the room, the sudden shade above them causing Kea and Isabella to quickly divert their gazes to the figures, freezing in fear. "Hey! You're not supposed to be in here!" one of the alien guards speaks, storming towards Kea and Isabella. "Get out now or you'll leave in pieces!" he warns.

Isabella slowly stands up, stepping back from the machine – holding her hands up in the air. The other alien guard glares down at Kea, "You too, princess," he commands, pointing his weapon right at her. Kea slowly stands up in place, her expression surprisingly calm, though her fierce eyes suggested otherwise.

"Uh oh," Isabella says, focused on her friend.

"I'm sorry," Kea speaks up, stepping forward, "What did you call me? Cause I know you didn't just call me a princess," she concludes, rising her head up in a challenge. "Because it wouldn't be very smart of you to call me that!" she blares.

"You're dead," Isabella softly states, raising her finger up in point.

One of the alien guards steps forward, clearly unfazed by this rather odd outburst. "Listen girly, I don't care how much of a nutcase you are, the point is – you're not allowed here," he storms on, "Now why don't you just move your little townie butt out of this room and go back to the trash hole where you came from!"

"That's it!" Kea snarls, clenching her fists as she races over to them, fire in her eyes. She grabs one of the aliens by the arm, swings him forward, twirls him around by the arm, and throws him onto the other one, knocking them both out of the window in one swift motion.

Isabella walks over to the window, her eyes widened in shock as she looks out of it, gazing at the ground below. "Whoa! Thank goodness the window was open," she says, before thrusting it shut and turning to Kea; Isabella's face still filled with astonishment.

Kea smirks, sassily putting a hand on her hip. "Oh don't act so surprised," she remarks.