Rudy was glad that meeting was over. It was difficult finding as many chalk peole as he could and convincing them to all meet in the same place. They moved faster when he told them how urgent it was and how ChalkZone may be at stake. Upon Penny's suggestion, he chose a large open field rather than a building to tell the zoners. Some of the zoners were so large that it would be hard to find buildings nearby that would fit them all.
Naturally, when he told them about the disappearances of some zoners, there was a panic. There was chatter amongst each other. Rudy attempted to talk over them, but they continued talking. Penny and Rapsheeba helped to calm them down, and Rudy continued, informing them of Mr. Cosmo and how he first kidnapped Snap, and how the other disappearances are likely related to him. He warned them of the invisible portal and to take precautions.
The zoners, though terrified, were grateful that Rudy told them about what was going on. Many of the zoners decided to stay near their homes until the crisis passed. The braver zoners promised that, if they find Mr. Cosmo, they would make him pay for what he did. Though Rudy was happy that some zoners will not take this laying down, he hoped that their overeagerness to fight Cosmo wouldn't come back to bite them in the behind.
The meeting was short and brief. It may not have lasted more than ten minutes. Time was of the essence, so he couldn't talk to them for too long. He kept the information short, brief, and to the point so that the zoners all understood what was going on. After it was done, Rapsheeba guided Rudy and Penny towards where she had spotted Blocky disappearing.
As Rapsheeba said they were getting closer and closer to the spot, the land around Rudy started to look familiar to him. No, it couldn't be, could it? It must be his imagination. But as time went on, the area looked more and more familiar. The details were looking the same as the time he...shaking the thoughts out of his head, he continued walking behind Rapsheeba.
"Are we almost there?" Penny asked.
Rapsheeba paused, looking left and right. "Yeah. It should be around here somewhere..." She let out a soft gasp and said, "I found it! It's over there!" She gestured with her hand. "Follow me!"
The trio ran towards where Rapsheeba was pointing at. When they reached the spot, as Rapsheeba stood there and pointed in one area, Rudy knew that his earlier imagination had been correct. He didn't want it to be true. He didn't want to believe that he had fallen for another one of Cosmo's traps.
But it looked like he had.
This was the same spot where he had escaped into ChalkZone with Skrawl. The very same. There was no doubt about it. There were no other zoners around this time, but he remembered this particular landscape as he and Skrawl fell from the portal. He was certain he had erased the portal and from the looks of it, he had. But if that was the case, how were the zoners disappearing into it?
Penny took a few steps forward. Rapsheeba immediately stopped her. "Careful! That's about where Blocky was when he disappeared!"
Penny looked around the area, her eyes frowning. "Something doesn't seem right. If the portal is invisible, how are we going to find it? We can't just throw something at it. We'd give away our position."
Rudy nodded his head. "We'll have to find some other way. I am sure this portal leads to Mr. Cosmo's lair."
"How are you certain?" Penny asked.
Rudy sighed. "I am certain because this is where Skrawl and I ended up when he escaped from him. This very spot. I had erased the portal, but...somehow Mr. Cosmo is still able to use it." He looked over at Penny. "But he has no magic chalk. How can he...?"
Penny's body gave a shudder. "You...you don't think he...created a new type of chalk, do you?"
That thought scared Rudy. It was bad enough that Cosmo may have been responsible for creating the bonding chalk used on him and Skrawl. But to think he could have created more than one chalk, it was terrifying. How could he be capable of doing such a thing? Just what kind of knowledge was required to create custom effects for new types of chalk?
It was scary to Rudy to know that, in spite of all his years in ChalkZone, he didn't know how to create new chalk, yet a man who had been in ChalkZone not only managed to do this, but may have done it more than once.
"Hey you two! Look at this!" They heard Rapsheeba say. The singer had inched closer to where Blocky vanished. Her eyes were seeing something they could not. "I...I think I see something here!"
Rudy and Penny took a look. At first, Rudy saw nothing. It looked like thin air. But then something came into focus. He narrowed his eyes, peering as closely as he dared. Something else was there. It was faint, barely noticeable. But it was there. He couldn't believe it. If he wasn't seeing it with his own eyes, he would have denied it was possible.
"The portal...it's not invisible." Penny breathed, her eyes widened. "It's..it's just at a lower opacity... It's there, but it can barely be seen..." She stared at Rudy and Rapsheeba. "No wonder zoners easily fell into this trap."
Rudy couldn't comprehend the idea of a portal that had a lower opacity. He thought it wasn't possible. Either the portal could be seen clearly, or it could not. And knowing that he was, somehow, indirectly responsible for it left a sickening feeling in his gut. The only comfort with this portal is knowing that they had a way directly to the building where he was certain Snap was being held.
Rudy looked over at Penny. They couldn't waste any more time. They were at the portal now. They should go into it before Snap... He didn't want to think about it.
"Come on, Penny. Let's go." Rudy said to her. She nodded at him. He looked over at Rapsheeba. "And you, put up warning signs around this spot. Make sure that any zoner that passes by here that this is a danger zone. I don't want any more zoners to fall into this trap."
"You can count on me, Rudy." Rapsheeba said.
Rudy and Penny stared at the barely noticeable portal. They looked at each other and gave a nod. Sucking in their breaths, they walked into the portal.
sss
Snap remained frozen in the hug. He had not expected this at all. There was no hint. The woman just latched onto him. He wondered at first if he said something else to hurt her feelings. If that was it, he would have apologized to her. And...oh man she was crying...did he really do something that bad this time?
"Hey I..." He sucked on his lips as he tried to think of what to say to cheer her up. "It's...it's okay..I'm sorry for what I said. Whatever I said to upset you, I'm sorry."
Ms. Saffron didn't reply. She hugged him a little tighter, as if she were afraid to let go. He couldn't understand at first why she was doing this. It slowly dawned on him. What if she was hugging him out of...happiness? Maybe he hadn't upset her after all.
Slowly, he convinced himself this was the case. As his mind accepted that he had made Saffron happy, not sad, a smile spread across his face. He liked making others happy. It felt good doing so. The warm feeling that made its presence known in his heart whenever he made someone happy, it was indescribable how exactly it felt.
It was awkward, given his posture, but he managed to put his arms around her the best he could, hugging her back. During the embrace, for a moment, he forgot he was in any danger. He forgot he was being held prisoner. He forgot that he hadn't seen Rudy in a couple days. He forgot about the wound on his back and on his hand. All that he knew was that he was hugging someone who apparently needed one.
The hug didn't last too long. It wasn't because Ms. Saffron awkwardly pulled away. It wasn't because he wanted to end it so soon. It was because the door's handle was being turned. It rattled loudly enough for the two of them to get a forewarning.
The door creaked open. The two of them immediately let go of each other when they saw a shadow forming on the wall. Someone was coming in. Snap wondered who it was. He looked up at Ms. Saffron. Her eyes were widened. He turned his attention back to the door. There was a red-haired man standing there. He took a wild guess. It had to be Mr. Cosmo.
Mr. Cosmo didn't seem to have taken notice to the hugging. He may not have seen it. Or maybe he just chose to ignore it. He took a few steps into the room. He frowned at Ms. Saffron, shaking his head slowly.
"What are you doing here, Ms. Saffron?" Mr. Cosmo asked coolly. "I did not give you any food to bring down for the little cobalt runt."
"Hey..." Snap said in a warning tone.
"You be silent." Mr. Cosmo told Snap before looking back at Ms. Saffron. "I am very busy right now, so I will let this slide. But in the future, do not interact with the prisoners unless I tell you to. Do you understand me?"
Ms. Saffron bit her lip. She nodded her head slowly, not bothering with a verbal response.
Mr. Cosmo smiled lightly. "Good..."
All the warmth from the room seemed to have vanished the second Mr. Cosmo looked back at Snap. His eyes pierced into his. There was something about them that made him shudder. The man hadn't said a word to Snap about what he wanted with him, yet Snap could still see the promise of terror in the man's eyes. Whatever he had planned for him, it was nothing good.
Snap found himself backing a little away from the man. It wasn't because he wanted to. He really wanted to slug the guy. This wasn't like Skrawl, who had a bunch of henchmen to help him, plus Skrawl had claws. This was a human being. Ms. Saffron didn't look keen on helping him. So he must be alone. What could one guy do?
Yet still he stood there frozen. Maybe his subconscious was trying to tell him something. Maybe he should get out of here. The door was open. The man was blocking it, but he could sneak around him and zip past him. Even with the injury on his back and hand, he may still have the upperhand and be able to outrun this guy. But still, his mind kept him frozen. There was something about that man's eyes, the way he stared at him. It filled him with so much dread that he couldn't move.
No, Snap couldn't let fear grip him. It was clear this man was the only true enemy here. The anger and defense he felt initially around Ms. Saffron resurfaced as he faced against Mr. Cosmo. He took a fighting stance, holding up his fists and hunching his back, careful not to stretch the wound.
"Why did you bring me here? What do you want with me?" Snap demanded. The laughter Cosmo emitted chilled Snap. Still he did not lose his composure. He took a step towards Cosmo, trying to be threatening. "What is so funny?! Do you have any idea who you are messing with here?!"
Mr. Cosmo said, "No...but neither do you." His hands folded behind his back and he began to circle around Snap. "You are...quite a special part of my plan, Snap... That is why I kept you alive. If I thought that I couldn't use you for this, trust me, I would have left you to die when Draow cut you open."
Snap growled, "I am not some tool to be used..."
"And yet that is exactly what will happen. And it will begin very soon..." Mr. Cosmo droned coldly. "I know Rudy will be here soon. I...must be prepared." His already creepy grin intensified as he stared into Snap's eyes. "You are the key to my...new plan with that boy."
Snap took a step back. "What...what are you talking about?" He tried to keep a brave face on, but it was getting harder by the second. "What are you going to do?"
Mr. Cosmo laughed. "Oh, so you're telling me Ms. Saffron didn't tell you?" The man looked over at Ms. Saffron. She grimaced at him. "I guess you never got around to doing that, did you? Why? Were you trying to hide the truth from the runt because you thought that it would distress him too much?"
Snap stared at Ms. Saffron in shock. "You...were hiding something from me?" Ms. Saffron looked at him sadly, then turned away. Snap whipped his head back and glared at Mr. Cosmo. "What is going on here?!"
"Oh Ms. Saffron... I understand that you thought that his time as a prisoner would be more bearable if somethings were kept from him." Mr. Cosmo said in a somewhat mocking tone. "But I assure you that doing so would only make things worse. If he had known from the start, he wouldn't be quite so surprised when I do...this!"
With that, Mr. Cosmo reached behind Snap's head and grabbed his scarf. In a swift motion, he yanked the blue boy up into the air, uncaring if he aggravated his back injury or not. Snap let out a cry of pain and thrashed in the air. He tried to hit Cosmo, but he couldn't reach him.
"Sir, what are you doing?!" Saffron cried in horror. "His back!"
"I don't care..." Cosmo gave a hard shake to show how little he cared. Snap let out another yell of anguish. "So long as he stays alive long enough for me to continue my plan."
Snap's entire back felt like it was on fire. He had almost forgotten about the injury until Cosmo grabbed him like that. It was like he had scraped himself against the spikiest ground he could find. Some of the pain was starting to go away as the man steadied him in the air. But the pain was still unbearable. He again tried to wrench himself away, but it was no use.
The pain, though not as bad as it was initially, and the fact that he was having a harder time breathing eventually caused him to become limp in the air. All he could do was glare as harshly as he could at the man. He opened his mouth and he managed to speak one line in a strangled-sounding voice.
"Rudy...will...stop...you..."
Mr. Cosmo gave Snap a sideways glance. He grinned evilly. "On the contrary...you are going to stop him..."
Snap's heart froze at that statement. He wanted to ask this guy what he was talking about. But Mr. Cosmo was no longer in the mood to talk to him. He began to walk out of the door, carrying him along. The pain was returning as the man handled him roughly, not caring if he banged him against the wall or not.
The pain became so intense that he could barely take notice of what happened next. He thought he could hear Saffron's voice calling out to them. He heard the whizzing of a door shutting. He could have sworn he heard a lock, then bounding.
That was the last thing he could register before his mind went dark, the pain finally forcing him to succumb.
sss
Just like Rudy had expected, he and Penny ended up in the same room where Skrawl dragged him into when they were being chased. The room looked pretty much the same. Even the writing on the chalkboard did not really change. The door was shut tightly and he guessed the walls were thick. It was so quiet in this room. That would explain why the zoners hadn't noticed anything unusual.
Rudy peered through the window on the door. He didn't see anyone. Being very cautious, he grabbed the door knob and turned it. He eased it open and looked in the hallways. Again, he didn't see anyone. There was no sign of Saffron, Cosmo, or that horrid beast, Draow. He gestured Penny to follow him.
Carefully, the two exited the room and moved down the hallways. Knowing that turning right would lead them to where he first entered the place, Rudy guessed they should go left instead, further down the pathway. After a little while of walking down the dank, dark hallway, a machine roared to life from below them. It was loud enough that they could feel its vibrations.
"W-What was that?" Penny cried, staring down at her feet.
"Whatever it was..." Rudy said softly. "It must be massive!"
"Do you think Snap..." Penny said, her voice trailing off.
The thought of the machine being used on Snap, not knowing what it was, filled Rudy with dread. He didn't hear a scream accompany that machine's sound. At first, he thought that would be a good reason to be relieved. It could mean Snap was fine. But then a horrible thought entered his mind. What if the reason there was no scream was because Snap was...dead...?
He shook those thoughts out of his head. No, Snap had to be alive. He could feel it in his heart. Snap was alive, and he was going to find him. He and Penny quickened their pace in the hall.
So far, they didn't see much else of interest. There were no other doors. Or rather, there were no opened doors. The couple doors they spotted walking down here were sealed off. He wasn't sure if they were just never used, or if Cosmo took precautions and sealed up important doors to keep him and Penny away from wherever he did his dirty work. He wouldn't put it past that man to have a secret tunnel leading down to his 'workshop', or whatever he called it.
They soon reached the end of the hallway. To the side, they could see a set of stairs. It looked a little rusted, but it seemed like it was still strong enough to support their weight. Slowly, they made their way down, careful to step lightly so they wouldn't alarm Mr. Cosmo to their presence. The stairs slowly spiraled once before continuing on straight. It was almost like someone took some playground slide and transformed it into a staircase.
It didn't take them long to reach the bottom of the stairs. They found themselves in an area that had a horrible smell hung thickly in the air. It was better illuminated compared to upstairs, although the green lights on the wall did not help too much with illumination. There were multiple paths they could take, more than one hallway. It was hard to tell which way to choose.
The sound of the machine could be heard again. Penny looked down one hallway. "That sound...it's coming from over there."
"I want to say we shouldn't go but..." Rudy bit his lip. "I...I have a feeling we'll find Snap down that way..."
Cautious, the two walked down the hallway the sound came from. As they continued down, the machine got louder and louder. They could have sworn they heard the cries of people intermixed with the machine. They wondered if it was the zoners that Mr. Cosmo obviously had kidnapped.
Then they saw it. There was a door with an eerie red hue glowing from the space between the door and the floor. Rudy's eyes widened. More red...His dream, his encounter with Mr. Cosmo... Unconsciously, he took a step back.
"Rudy?" Penny asked.
Rudy didn't answer her. He stared at the red light. He was frozen. He wanted to move, but for some reason, he could not. His thoughts went to his dream. Could it have been a vision this whole time? If that were the case, then that meant he was...he was going to lose Snap. No, it couldn't be true...
No it wasn't true. It was just a dream. He couldn't allow it to get to him. He tried to push it in the back of his thoughts. He moved up to catch up with Penny. She looked at him worriedly. He wanted to reassure her, but there was nothing he could think of to say. He moved closer to the door and put his hand on the handle.
"Are you ready for this?" Penny asked.
Rudy stared at the doorknob. He looked back at his friend. "Yeah, I am. Come on, we have to hurry." With that, he turned the door knob and pushed it open.
The room they stepped into was a red hue thanks not to red lights lining the walls, but the machines themselves. They were red in coloration, and they seemed to almost glow. There looked to be at least three machines, though there could possibly be more somewhere else in this cursed building. They were massive and looked very hi-tech and advanced. They chugged away, doing who knows what kind of task.
One machine looked like it was a printing machine on steroids. It had a huge conveyor belt lined with spikes. It had a red whistle that spewed crimson steam whenever it wailed. There was a panel with all sorts of buttons. The machine roared to life while they stared at it. The conveyor belt moved and something appeared on it. Penny and Rudy got a closer look. It looked like some kind of...bracelet, only it was obviously a piece of technology, not jewelry.
Another machine looked almost like a vacuum cleaner turned on its side with a large joystick pressed into it. The suction end, which looked more like a professional hairdryer they'd find at a beauty palor, hung over a round platform. A few sparks of blue electricity shot out of it, giving a very clear idea of what its function was.
Then the third machine, the one that stood between these two, was the largest and most foreboding of them all. It had a platform with shackles attached on the four corners, clearly meant to strap in any poor victim to it. There was a glowing, flashing panel with a key pad and a few joy sticks. There were numbers on the machine. They had no idea what they meant. Their eyes traveled to the top of the machine, which had what looked like a huge satellite, only the tip was a narrow point with something like...a cross between liquid and light, dripping from it. It was pointed straight at the platform, making its intentions eerily clear.
What frightened Rudy and Penny the most wasn't just the presence of these terrible machines. It was also the fact that they could see red stains on the ground. Even from where they stood, they knew it could only be one thing.
Blood...
"Rudy..." Penny breathed as she stared at the three loud machines. "These...these look like they were created in ChalkZone..."
Indeed, she was correct. Taking a second look at the time, Rudy noticed they did look like they were drawn. To further confirm it, they all had a chalky outline. But..how was it possible? Mr. Cosmo wasn't in ChalkZone. None of the zoners spotted him, and Biclops would have taken notice to Cosmo pretty quickly.
There were only two possibilities. Either Mr. Cosmo had been in ChalkZone and the zoners were lying, which he didn't think was possible, or...
...or some zoners were willingly working for Cosmo... But they wouldn't do that, would they? No zoner would be stupid enough to work for someone like Cosmo. Maybe Draow. He was loyal as a dog to that guy. But surely Cosmo couldn't fool zoners into building something like this.
Or could he...?
"Yeah..." Rudy said, trying to get that thought out of his mind. "These do look like they came from ChalkZone..."
The two of them froze at the sound of a slow clap from behind them. They turned around, and froze at what they saw. There stood Mr. Cosmo. He smiled coldly at them. His hands slammed against each other as he continued to clap.
Before Rudy could demand where Snap was, Cosmo raised a hand in the air. "Before you say a word, I will say this to save your breath. Yes, I do have your friend Snap...I take it you came here because you want him back?"
"Where is he?!" Rudy snapped at the man. He looked left and right, expecting Draow to come barging in.
"What have you done with him?" Penny demanded, taking a stand beside Rudy.
"So you want to see your friend again..." Mr. Cosmo said calmly, scraching his chin as if thinking over a tough question. "Since I know you will not leave until you see him again, okay...I will take you to where he is being held..." He turned his back to them and made a 'follow me' gesture with his hand. "I must warn you two..." He gave them a creepy sideways glance. "You will not like what you see..."
Rudy and Penny looked at each other. What did he mean by that? The way he said it, nothing good could come out of it. He had done something terrible and they had no idea what it was...for now. For whenever they saw Snap again, wherever he was, they were certain they would quickly notice what Mr. Cosmo did.
Without much of a choice, they followed Mr. Cosmo. They didn't know where Snap was being held. And even if they did escape from the room, Mr. Cosmo knew they were in the buiding. He could easily take Snap somewhere else, out of the building, before they could find him. Neither of them liked the idea of following this man. He could be leading them into a trap. But they didn't see much of a choice.
"Snap..." Rudy said in an inaudible voice as they headed down the hallway. "I hope you are safe..."