"You smell weird," Six said. "Both of you."
"Well, hello to you, too," Nine replied.
John had brought Nine out to lay in the sun after they had taken a bath and gotten clean. Six had found them there talking to each other and enjoying themselves.
Six shook her head. "Whatever, we've got bigger problems. Malcolm has been looking for you guys. He seems pretty frantic."
"Did he tell you anything?" John asked, getting to his feet.
"No," Six said, shaking her head. "He just said to find you guys."
Nine stood up next to John and they followed Six to Malcolm's home. It was a cottage type place, small and cozy.
Six opened the door and stepped inside, letting John and Nine come in behind her. They filed into the kitchen. There was a wooden table in the room, where Malcolm and Sam sat. They both turned when John and Nine walked in.
"Do they smell weird to you?" Six asked, staring at Sam.
"No?"
John ignored them, looking at Malcolm instead.
Six had said he'd been frantic, which was definitely one of the words John would use to describe him. Malcolm looked close to tears and he kept glancing around the room, like he was looking for something to do.
"What happened?" John asked, pulling one of the chairs away from the table and sitting down next to Malcolm.
Sam and Malcolm glanced at each other. "You should say it," Malcolm said in a strained voice.
"Well, uh, as you know, Dad- I mean Malcolm, has been basically sneaking into the Mogadorian prison in Alaska. I've been communicating with the technology there, gathering a small amount of information, and I don't think anybodys noticed it yet," Sam said. "Anyways, I got into the system again earlier this morning and found that something big happened. I'm not sure what, it wasn't very specific, but it sounded like some kind of attack on the prison. Some of the guards died and…one of the Mog prisoners. I'm not sure which one."
Malcolm looked even more distressed, even though he already knew this.
Nine sucked in a sharp breath to his right. "You don't know which one?" He asked in a bitter tone.
"Uh, no, it didn't say," Sam replied.
"What made the attack?" Nine asked.
"Well, it didn't say that either," Sam said, looking uncomfortable.
"Of course it didn't," Nine muttered, clenching his fists at his sides.
"We should go there," Malcolm said. "I want to see if Adam's okay." Malcolm stopped, but looked like he had more to say. John nodded at him to encourage him to keep going. "We should bring the Mogs here."
Everyone grew quiet for a moment.
"Uh…" Sam said, the only noise in the house. "Are we sure that's a good idea? I mean, if Adam is okay, then, yeah we should bring him here…but all of them?"
"Adam wouldn't stay here without the rest of the prisoners with him," John interrupted. "But do we want another reason for the world to try to come after us?"
"The world can go to hell, we should bring them here," Nine said forcefully.
"We barely have the room to hold the human garde, and more are still being found," John replied. "We don't have a place to house the Mogs that aren't on our side yet."
"Then we can build one," Nine said, Malcolm nodding his head. "I have a couple students that could make something."
"Alright…" John said skeptically. "But we would need to check out the situation at the prison first. See if we can figure out what happened and such."
"I already have a team picked out," Malcolm said quickly. "I was thinking you, Six, Leo, and maybe Miki could go. I have a couple suggestions if we attack, too."
John held his hand up to stop Malcolm from continuing. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."
"So, you'll go investigate?" Malcolm asked hopefully.
"Of course. I definitely want to bring Six with me, and I think that Leo would be an okay choice."
Leo was an older guard and had a flight legacy. They remind John a bit of him, but they were a little more reckless.
"I should go, too," Nine said.
"It'll work better with less people," Malcolm replied for John. "That being said, I think that four people would be okay. You've just gotta be careful."
"When should we go?"
"Soon," Nine said. "We have to make sure they're okay…"
John knew that Nine meant Adam, but they were both too afraid to say it. Adam had to be okay. I never should have let him stay there, John thought.
They decided on going the next day, and Nine would talk to Leo about going.
John talked more to Sam about the information he'd gotten already, but it wasn't much.
Nine left to talk to Leo while John stayed at Malcolm's with the others.
"Just…smell him again," Six insisted.
"I don't know what you want me to find. He smells like soap and his weird shampoo," Sam said back.
Six sighed and looked at Malcolm. "Do you think John smells different?"
Malcolm looked startled as his gaze focused on Six. "Uh, what did you say? I blanked out for a moment."
"Nevermind," Six replied.
"Sorry," Malcolm apologized. "I'm just…really worried."
"Yeah," John muttered before standing up. "I need to go. I'll be at my house if you need me."
"See ya," Sam said.
John left after the others said their goodbyes and headed back to his house. He debated on flying quickly to Alaska to make sure Adam was okay, but he knew Nine would be pissed if he found out.
He walked back home and went straight to his room. He opened his door to see his blanket on his floor. Oh, right, John thought and internally groaned.
He stripped his sheets off his bed first and just threw them away. He went back for his blanket and Nine's pants that he'd left here. After the bath he'd borrowed a pair from John, but they were a little small on him.
He washed those with some of his dirty clothes and went back to his room.
"Okay," he muttered, scanning his room. He walked over to his desk and sat down, looking over the papers he'd left there yesterday.
He was soon signing things off and looking over maps of new Lorien. He had a small idea of where to put the Mogs, but it would leave less room for any new garde they'd find.
"Having fun?"
John spun around in his chair to see Nine leaning against the doorway.
"I thought you had a class to teach?" John asked.
"Yep," Nine replied. "I already taught it."
"Oh." John glanced at his window to find the sun setting. "What time is it?"
"Late," Nine said, pushing himself off of the wall and walking over to John. "C'mon, that's enough paper for today."
John stood up and let Nine take him in his arms. "Did you talk to Leo?"
"Yeah, they said they'd like to go. I stopped by Malcolm's again, too. We decided to go first thing tomorrow morning. Which means we need to get some sleep."
"Mm," John hummed against Nine's chest.
Nine pulled away and walked over to John's bed. He took off his socks before doing the same with John's pants. He yanked his shirt over his head and looked back down at the mattress.
"You got any sheets? Spare blankets would work, too," Nine said.
"Yeah. I cleaned my blanket, but I think it's still drying," John replied before walking out to his door and out of his room. He went to one of the only closets in the house and brought out an extra blanket he had. It was small, but it'd do.
John walked back to his room to find Nine laying down on the bed.
"Find something?" He asked, propping himself up on his elbows.
"Yeah, you're staying the night?"
"Was planning on it." Nine sat up as John walked over and dropped the blanket on the bed.
John took his clothes off except for his boxers and changed into a tank top.
He went over and sat on his bed, starting to wiggle underneath the blanket.
"Uh, hey, can you do me a favor?" Nine asked, still sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Yeah, sure."
Nine looked down at his metal arm. "Can you take this off for me? I usually have Nigel or Malcolm help, but…yeah."
John got up and sat on Nine's right side. The arm was attached with multiple straps and fit snugly onto the stump that was left. "Why didn't you take it off last night?"
"Oh, um, there wasn't a need to?" Nine said.
"Right," John said sarcastically. He pulled some of the straps off, using his telekinesis to help.
"Sorry," Nine sighed. "I just didn't want to bother you with it yesterday."
"Hm," John hummed, pulling on the arm to take it off.
"You have to pull harder," Nine instructed.
John yanked on the metal and it came off of Nine's shoulder quickly. It was heavier than John was expecting, but not too bad. Nine took it from him with his real hand and set it gently on the ground.
"It's not a bother," John said, looking into Nine's eyes. "I don't mind."
"Thanks," Nine whispered.
They stared at each other for a second before Nine looked away and lifted up a corner of the blanket. He scooched under it and John followed. He switched the light off and closed the blinds before curling up against Nine's warm body.
Nine wrapped his arm around John's waist and yawned into his short hair. "See you in the morning," Nine muttered as John's eyes closed.