Welcome to Slavestown

Chapter Eight

Vidcund is walking down one of the various hallways in the Beaker estate, feeling rather lonely after leaving his brothers behind. He sighs and moves forward, the path fairly monotonous as the black and white tiled carpet pattern continues to stretch out in front of him. Vidcund stops at the edge of the hallway and pulls off his headset, scanning it over thoroughly in his hands. He turns it to the side, finding the control panel busted. "Perfect," he murmurs to himself, his fingers brushing up against the busted latch. He shakes his head, reaching into his pocket for anything that could fix this mess. He pulls out a stopwatch, then releases it, spying a photograph on the wall.

Vidcund steps forward and narrows his eyes, focusing on the image. The picture shows Loki post-college graduation with his arm around a blonde-haired, green-eyed girl that appears to be his sister, Erin. Both of them look surprisingly happy as Loki holds up his college degree.

Vidcund eyes move over to the next photo that is mounted on the wall, situated on the right of the graduation photo. The picture is of Loki and Circe on their wedding day. Circe is wearing a simple white dress and is enthusiastically holding a sign in front of her that says, 'Now I'm a Beaker!' with Loki standing triumphantly next to either. Vidcund had never seen either of them look so happy.

On the other side of the wedding photo is an image that was taken just a year ago. The picture shows Loki holding up who he believed to be his daughter, Vanissa; the biggest smile on his face. Vidcund stops closer, spotting a new emotion in Loki's face that he had never seen before: Loki was in love.

Vidcund steps back, having a hard time staring at the images, his eyes stinging as a pain forms in his chest. He can't stare at the photos any longer. Vidcund's eyes drift to the floor as he starts to tear up, the guilt washing over him even worse than before. "Maybe I'm the monster," he states, tightening his grip on the headset as he continues down the greyish hallway. The hallway seeming a lot darker than it did previously.

Meanwhile: Infiltrating the Beaker Estate

"Well, we got Vanissa out of here," Isabella states as she enters back into the castle after making a successful trip to Jenny's house; Kea following close behind. "Now all we have to do is find Ripp…and I guess, Circe."

Kea nods as she catches up with Isabella. "Yeah, Vidcund was pretty insistent that we save his girlfriend," Kea notes.

"She's not his girlfriend," Isabella says, walking through the corridor, "Circe broke up with him a while ago. And he wasn't insistent, it was just a suggestion," Isabella argues. "He told us to use our best judgment!"

Kea stops suddenly and crosses her arms, a smug smile forming on her face. "Wow. You were sure quick to point that out." Isabella pauses in the doorway and turns to her friend, giving a frustrated sigh.

"So, what's the story with Circe anyway?" Kea wonders, quickly changing the topic, "I mean, why are all these guys attracted to her?" she asks.

Isabella shrugs, moving further into the estate, trying to dodge all of the strange doodads that are on the floor. "I don't know," she replies, "I guess it's cause she's smart and young and not ugly."

Kea ahhs, "After seeing some of the people in this town, I am not surprised," she speaks up, "I mean, have you seen Lyndsey?! I mean, whoo! Open up a window!" Kea exclaims, holding her nose and waving a hand in front of her face.

Isabella shakes her head, "What is it with that girl that gets you so riled up?"

"It's the sweater. It's definitely the sweater," Kea answers, turning the corner of the hallway. "I mean, only evil people wear blue sweaters!"

"Keep a look out for Circe," Isabella tells her friend, trying to remain focused on the task at hand, "This estate is pretty big, so we probably won't run into her for a while. And I'm sure Loki is keeping her pretty well hidden-"

"Found her!" Kea proclaims, pointing to the short-haired scientist who is leaning up against one of the doors in the hallway, crossing her arms.

Circe raises an eyebrow, openly unimpressed. "Really? A scrawny girl and a pregnant chick?" she chuckles, "This is what the great Strangetown Army has sent to save me?" she states condescendingly.

"Aww! Who wants a hug?" Kea responds lovingly, reaching her arms out. Isabella moves forward and holds her arm out, blocking Kea.

"Uh…maybe not now," Isabella whispers to her friend.

Kea nods, "Ahh, I get it. My breath still stinks from the anchovy and bologna sandwich. Good call, Izzy."

Isabella turns to Circe, who continues to stand there staring at them. "So uh, you're Circe," Isabella begins fiddling with her hands, finding this situation incredibly awkward. "I'm Isabella, and this is Kea," Isabella greets, gesturing to her friend. "We're friends with the Curious brothers."

"Yeah!" Kea speaks up, "You know, the formerly pregnant guy known as Pascal, and the one with the sun shirt, you know-" Kea snaps her fingers as she tries to remember his name, "Lootsey or Lotzo or something like that. I'm not good with names, but he's the one that wears the shirt where the sun and the moon are making out," Kea elaborates, Isabella raising her eyebrow at this comment next to her, "Oh! And-"

"-Vidcund?" Circe interrupts, turning her head to give Isabella a snarl, but the young graduate is too busy exchanging nervous glances with Kea to notice. Isabella nods and turns her attention back to Circe, who is now sporting an innocent smile.

"So uh, we should probably be going then, right?" Isabella asks them. Kea nods, although Circe's mind appears to be elsewhere. "Right Circe?" she asks again.

Circe shakes her head, a smirk still apparent on her face. "Sorry, but I don't take orders from minors," she states, "If we're going to do this, then we're going to do it my way."

Kea leans forward, whispering in Isabella's ear, "Yeow."

"I know," Isabella whispers back, before turning to Circe once more. "Look, I know you're used to bossing people around, but that isn't how this is going to work here. So either come with us or don't. I don't care either way, you're not my girlfriend," Isabella flatly rebuttals, throwing her hands up as she continues down the hallway, Kea following close behind, seemingly surprised by her friend's commanding tone.

Circe scuffs, watching as the young girl heads down the dreary hallway not giving it a second thought. Circe sighs and pulls her foot back, using it to push herself off the wall and into a standing position. She trails after them.

Isabella leans over to Kea, lowering her voice a bit as she speaks. "Why does Vidcund like her?" she asks under her breath.

Kea shrugs, "I don't know. Probably because she's hot," she answers. Isabella pulls back, giving Kea a rather perplexed stare.

Circe stops walking, hearing every word as she shakes her head at the naïve girls. "Patience Circe," she tells herself, "It's only a matter of time…" She thinks, giving a smirk.

Isabella pokes her head around the corner, calling out to her. "Hey Circe, are you coming?"

"Yes, I'll be right there," Circe says sweetly before racing after them. She catches up to the pair as they stop to catch their breath.

Kea turns to Circe, giving a small smile. "So Circe, why did you decide to go against the evil guy anyway?" she asks, trying her best to make small talk, "Was it for love?" Kea dives further; Isabella looking particularly uncomfortable.

Circe rolls her eyes, "Please. I don't do things for love," she reacts, waving her hand in front of her face, "I do things that benefit me! Besides, men are easy," she goes on, "All you got to do is use your body to manipulate them into doing whatever you want," Circe closes in, eyeing Isabella who now has her back pressed against the wall. She scans her over, "But I'm sure you wouldn't know anything about that," she examines, before pushing herself back and heading down the hallway.

"Yeah," Isabella weakly states, clearly taken off-guard. "Wait, what?" she replies, watching confusedly as Circe exits the area. Isabella turns to Kea, looking for some sort of clarity; Kea shrugs.

Meanwhile: Wandering the City

Pascal and Lazlo are wandering across the Road to Nowhere, scanning the area at every turn – both of them dressed in full cult attire. "So, what exactly are we looking for?" Lazlo asks, dragging his feet as Pascal pulls ahead of him, "And why are we dressed like the Grim Reaper again?"

Pascal rolls his eyes, "Because we're going to join Loki's cult, then establish trust with the cult members, so they'll give us all of his secrets," Pascal explains to his youngest brother, "Come on Lazlo, don't make me repeat this a third time!"

Lazlo sighs and moves forward, "Man, I still can't believe this city has a cult. It used to be such a nice place to live. Now everyone's so scared that they're turning against each other," he analyzes, a hint of sorrow filling his voice. "I'm surprised they haven't turned against us yet," he states.

"-They have," Pascal immediately answers, Lazlo raising an eyebrow. "Well, that's what Vidcund says. Poor guy thinks he doesn't have a friend in these walls. I like to think that's not true," Pascal finishes, moving forward.

Pascal races up the slope, stopping when he notices that Lazlo is no longer behind him. He scans the area before running back down, finding Lazlo standing at a rundown building across the road. "Hey! What are you doing over there? We gotta go!" Pascal shouts to him.

Lazlo turns to Pascal in the distance. "Just come here a minute!" Lazlo yells back, "There's something you have to see!" Intrigued, Pascal bolts across the street, stopping in front of his brother, who is staring straight ahead at something.

"Alright, I'm here," Pascal announces, slightly out of breath, "So what did you want to show me?"

"This," Lazlo awes, gesturing Pascal to turn around. He does so, finding himself face-to-face with a forest green, rundown building.

Pascal shrugs his shoulders, "I don't get it, it's just a building!"

Lazlo shakes his head, moving his brother's head down a bit. "Look lower," he tells him.

Pascal looks forward only to find a gigantic mural painted on the side of the old town plaza; the pair taking off their hoods to really get a good look at it. "Oh yeah, how could I miss that?" Pascal wonders, stepping forward and crossing his arms as he gazes up at the painting with Lazlo. The mural shows what appears to be their brother, Vidcund, dressed as Superman, the signature mayoral sash draped over his neck as he steps on Loki Beaker, who is lying down in the fiery metropolis below him. Vidcund is smiling as he delicately holds a precious object in his arms.

Pascal squints his eyes, adjusting his glasses a bit, "Hey, what's that he's holding?" he asks, pointing to the object that is resting in Vidcund's palms.

Lazlo smiles, seemingly entranced by the painting. "-That's Strangetown," he answers. Pascal leans forward to take a look at image of the city in its former glory, smiling as he steps back, so that he can look at the entire image.

"-And Vidcund thought no one liked him," Pascal beams. "Does it say who painted it?" he asks; Lazlo looks down at the bottom of the mural and shakes his head, both of their gazes returning to the highly detailed painting in front of them. Pascal crosses his arms. "Huh," he ponders.

Meanwhile: On the Other Side of the City

Tank is standing in the center of the Strangetown Dojo, his team of potential fighters lined up in front of him. Tank nods and begins pacing back and forth. "So, how many of you have experience fighting in a war?" he asks. The sims all exchange glances with each other and shrug. Crystal raises her hand. "Yes?" Tank calls.

"Do you mean wars other than this one? Because this is the only war I've been alive for," she states, a few of the others oohing behind her.

Tank thinks this over for a moment. "No, this one counts," he concludes as his father steps forward, his hand raised.

"Well, I've fought in seven wars," he speaks up, not bothering to wait to be called upon, "And only five of them were started by me," General Buzz informs them, "And that's not counting all of the secret internal wars that none of you know about. Talk about scary!" he comments.

Nearby, Pollination Tech #9 is puzzled. "Do you even know what a war is?" he wonders, "Strangetown has only had three wars since its formation. You're not counting your schoolyard fights as wars, are you?"

"No!" General Buzz replies, crossing his arms in a pout, clearly offended. "Now no one ask me the context of any of the past three wars, cause the records were uh, lost in history," General Buzz tells them, shifting his eyes from side to side. "Yeah, that's good. Award-winning good. You're a true leader, Buzzie!" General Buzz praises in his head. He stops, noticing that everyone is staring at him strangely. "What?" he asks.

Tank shakes his head and turns to the others. "Alright, we don't have much time until Loki calls in his troops, so we're going to have to train hard and fast," he concludes, gazing down at his watch. "Actually, we don't have any time at all, so everyone just do whatever Gramma does," he instructs. The group looks to Gramma, who is standing at the end of the line, fast asleep. The sims look to each other and shrug before collapsing in a slumber as well.

Tank groans, slapping his face in frustration. "Someone please help me."

A Short While Later - On the Other Side of the City

Pascal and Lazlo are crouched behind a solitary wall, carefully watching a group of cult members as they interact with one another. "What do you think they're saying?" Lazlo whispers to Pascal, the pair pulling their hoods up to shield their identities from unwanted eyes. Pascal shrugs.

"Beats me," he states, "But that guy over there is the cult leader!" Pascal tells him, pointing to the sim that is standing towards the back of the group, further away from the crowd.

Lazlo squints his eyes and turns to his brother, "How do you know?" he asks.

"Because," Pascal begins, "see how all of the others are drawn to him?" he notes, "The group follows wherever he goes," he continues, "And he has that red stripe around his cloak. Plus, he's the stupidest looking one," Pascal adds with a sassy smirk. "Now come on, we've got a cult to join! Just follow my lead, and we should be fine," Pascal tells Lazlo, stepping out from behind the wall and smoothing out his cloak a little, "And remember, we have to act like we're one of them."

"Right," Lazlo nods. The pair casually strolls towards the group, picking up their feet a little as they draw closer to them. The brothers walk into the center of the crowd, a few cult members noticing their arrival.

"I don't think I've seen you guys here before, are you new?" one of the cult members speaks up, his voice surprisingly deep and masculine.

Lazlo looks to Pascal in a panic. Pascal nods. "Yes," he answers, changing his voice a little, "I'm Benji and this is uh, Jorge, my Mexican lover!" he exclaims, putting an arm around Lazlo.

"Shut-up," Lazlo mutters under his breath. Pascal laughs over-enthusiastically, patting him on the shoulder a few times.

"Lovers, am I right? Woo! I have quite a few!" Pascal says, breathing a sigh of relief, the cult members seemingly intrigued by the new members. "So, how are you guys doing, huh? Are we still cool on the mission?" he asks, "Actually, I don't think the leader gave us the cult mission, so uh, what is it exactly?" Pascal asks, sporting a fake smile under his hood, hearing someone enter into the group line on his headset.

The cult members exchange glances with each other before turning back to the new members. "Our mission is to find the Curious brothers and kill them," the first cult member declares. Lazlo moves down in his cloak and eeps.

"Wow, that's cool," Pascal squeaks, trying his best to keep his voice from cracking, "Sounds like a really important mission. I'm guessing you guys really hate the Curious brothers, don't you? I mean - Man! Talk about annoying!" He speaks, clearing his throat a bit, "When will they just go away?"

"We agree completely," the cult member with the super-masculine voice states, "It will give us great satisfaction once we finally kill them. Our master has been wanting them dead for years!" he confesses, his enthusiasm rallying some of the cult members around him. "Especially the middle one -Vidcund," he continues, the cult member's voice filled with distaste, "What a waste of sim life! He is the devil in green glasses!"

"-Not to mention he dresses like an eighty year old, am I right?" Pascal adds in point, a bunch of the cult members nod in agreement. They start to laugh. "Yeah! Death to Vidcund! That loser," Pascal declares. Across town, Vidcund looks up from his place in the Beaker estate, a weird look on his face as he hears this over his headset.

All of the sudden, the cult members step back, retreating from Pascal and Lazlo as the cult leader steps forward, eyeing the two new members. "What is all this laughter about?" he roars, "We're supposed to be tracking down the Curious brothers, not cracking jokes!" he snarls.

"Geez Mr. Stick-in-the-Mud, who put you in charge?" Pascal asks, sassily placing his hand on his hips.

"Careful," Lazlo whisper-warns him, "We don't want to cause a scene."

"I'm not causing a scene, I'm just asking this scary guy what gives him the right to be leader of this whole organization," Pascal whispers back.

"-Cult," Lazlo corrects him.

Pascal nods, "Right," he states.

The cult leader continues to stand in front of them, tapping his foot impatiently. "I'll have you know that I was chosen to be the leader of this cult because of my bravery and quick-thinking!" he tells them, "Two qualities that you lack."

"Is that so?" Pascal speaks up, stepping forward, "Well, in that case, I'll make you a little wager-"

"Oh no," Lazlo groans.

"Oh yes!" Pascal chimes, bringing his finger up in point before continuing with the bet, "And here it is: If I can jump over the Strangetown-"

"-Slavestown," Lazlo quickly corrects.

"-Right, Slavestown crater with a sports car and live, then I become the new leader! If not, the position of leader will forever be indebted to you," Pascal states.

"Benji, this is crazy!" Lazlo speaks up, cowering next to him.

The cult leader nods, "Your lover's right, Benji. I already have the leadership position. If we make this wager, then I feel I should get more than what I already possess," the cult leader replies, "I'll tell you what, you throw in your lover, and we have ourselves a deal," he negotiates, holding his hand out.

"What?! No!" Lazlo exclaims, frantically waving his hands in front of his body.

Pascal smiles, thinking this over for a bit, before grabbing the cult leader's hand with a nod. "Mister, you have yourself a deal," he agrees, shaking the cult leader's hand. "We'll jump the crater at midnight!"

"Excellent," the cult leader states, "I'll arrange the funeral plans before then, and the honeymoon plans," he adds, giving a finger snap in Lazlo's direction.

"Oh god," Lazlo moans, slapping his forehead underneath his hood, "How do I get into these messes?" he states into the silence. He turns to Pascal. Even though Pascal can't see his face, he knows Lazlo is glaring at him. "Oh right, you," he answers aloud.

"Perfect," Pascal speaks up, completely ignoring his brother, his attention still on the cult members, "So we'll meet at sundown!" he announces, "Brace yourselves, by tomorrow morning there will be a new cult leader in town!" Lazlo groans.

Meanwhile: Infiltrating the Beaker Estate

Isabella, Kea, and Circe are walking up the iron staircase that leads up to the second floor of the Beaker castle. Isabella climbs to the top of the staircase and scans the area, two large master bedrooms on either side of her. "Wow," Kea awes, walking up behind Izzy with Circe trailing close behind, "You guys have two bedroom suites? You're livin' the high life!"

"Am I?" Circe states, intrigued. She crosses her arms as she leans up against one of the doorways.

"Sure!" Kea answers, "Most people only have one – and it smells like some sort of meat," she adds, giving an eager nod, "If I had one, it would probably smell like bacon."

"Wait, you have a husband?" Circe asks, a doubtful look spread across her face as she points at the bacon-loving woman.

"Well yeah," Kea replies, "Do you honestly think someone like me would stay on the market for long?" she asks, "Come on Circe, you know this town loves the crazy type!"

Circe sighs, "-Well I can't argue with that logic," she responds, standing up straight and knocking Isabella in the shoulder. "What about you, girly? You got a husband?"

Isabella shakes her head, "No, and I'm not interested in looking," she responds, cracking open the door with a silver safety pin, causing Circe to raise an eyebrow. "Now come on, I think we can get out this way!" Isabella exclaims, pushing open the door with her body; Kea and Circe follow suit, entering the room behind her. Upon entering, Circe shakes her head.

"We can escape from this room, but we'll need a key to open the escape route later on," Circe explains, crossing her arms yet again, "There's a key in the next suite. We can reach it by going through the closet," she states, pointing to the half open closet at the back of the room next to the radiator. "I would get it, but I'm too tall to make it through the doorway. Go ahead Kea, you try," Circe says, nudging her forward.

Kea and Isabella look to each other, unsure of what to do. "Oh come on, it'll be easy," Circe reassures them, "It'll only take like five seconds."

Kea steps forward, unable to read Circe's face. "Well, alright. I'll be back in a second," Kea tells Isabella, stepping into the back of the closet and disappearing out of sight, leaving Circe and Isabella awkwardly standing next to each other alone.

"So," Circe speaks into the newfound silence, "You're really not interested in anyone?"

Isabella shakes her head, "No," she answers.

"You liar!" Circe snarls, her tone completely shifting as she pulls a knife out of her pocket. Isabella shrieks as Circe lunges towards her, a crazed look in her eyes. Isabella rolls to the left, dodging the stab – now finding herself in a crab-walk position.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Isabella exclaims, using her arms to slowly back away from her. "Why are you trying to kill me?! Are you insane?!"

"Listen girly, I've spent twenty-three years turning Vidcund into my personal puppet and no snot-nosed little newbie twerp is going to take that away from me!" She yells, heading straight towards her, "Now I suggest you let me kill you immediately, before you find out that you're easily outmatched!"

"Kea! KEA!" Isabella quickly shouts at the top of her lungs, clearly panicked.

Circe laughs. "There's three feet of sound proof material in these walls, there's no way that your friend can hear you," she replies smugly.

Isabella smiles, an idea popping into her head. "KEA! THERE'S A SALE ON BACON BURGERS AT CARL'S BACON SHACK!" she yells. Kea bursts into the room, running straight through the doorway.

"Really?!" she exclaims, "Man, we gotta go RIGHT NOW and-" Kea stops, eyeing Circe who is standing above Isabella holding a knife in her hands. "Oh no, let me guess. Crazy turned out to be crazy?" she asks; Isabella nods.

"Stay out of this, Kea!" Circe states, pointing the tip of the knife towards her, "Back off, or I'll kill you too!"

Kea stares down at Circe's knife for a moment before bursting out into a fit of laughter. She wipes away a few tears from her eyes, "That's a good one, Circe. You almost had me there! Now are you going to fight me or what?" Kea asks, opening her arms.

"Seriously Kea?" Circe states, sighing and rolling her eyes, "You became the first college townie to ever break the cycle and you're wasting your life defending a town that's never going to do squat for you? Come on, you're smarter than that!"

"Oh no I'm not!" Kea counters, stepping towards her, "What's a matter, Circe? Scared you're going to lose to a townie?" she asks, the pair mirroring each other's every move.

"No," Circe smirks, drawing nearer, "I'm scared I'm going to love the taste of killing you," she purrs. Circe snarls as she lunges forward, grabbing Kea by the shoulders. Kea jumps up, using both of her feet to kick Circe right in the stomach. Circe falls to the floor, then swings her legs forward, quickly lifting herself up from off the ground. "You're going to have to do better than that, kid," she states, seemingly unharmed.

"You know Circe, you're kind of a cool person," Kea states, stepping back a bit, "It's a shame we couldn't be friends. Cause you know what the best thing about friends are?"

Circe raises her eyebrow, slightly intrigued. "No, what?" she wonders.

Kea smirks, her eyes shining. "They always got your back!" she finishes, "Now!" Kea shouts, pushing Circe to the ground. Isabella grabs her wrist and handcuffs it to the radiator. Hearing the click, Circe looks up, evidently astonished.

"What the hell? GET ME OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!" Circe commands, struggling to release herself from the handcuff's grasp. Kea and Isabella high five and turn to her, smirking.

"Sorry Circe, but we're not friends, remember?" she answers, "- Well, not yet anyway," Kea adds, gazing down at the trapped woman, "I'll tell you what – work on not killing people and we'll talk," Kea says, looking to Isabella who is staring at her strangely. She shrugs, "I need more female friends!" She defends, reaching down and picking up the fallen knife. She turns to Isabella, holding it up delicately in her hand. "This would make a good meat cleaver, don't you think?" she asks.

Isabella shakes her head and smiles, "Oh Kea," she states, putting her arm around her best friend as they walk out the door.

"Hey where did you get the handcuffs from anyway?" Kea asks as they step into the hallway.

"I found them in the closet, along with a bunch of other things that I never want to see or talk about ever again," Isabella answers, giving a small shiver. "But enough about that, let's talk about how badass you and Tank's kid is going to be…"