It was cold and musty down in the dungeon, and the cells had been reinforced to ensure no one else could pull any other escape schemes. It would be dead silent, if it wasn't for…
"I GOT THE JAIL HOUSE BLUES", Spiral bellowed, the sentence followed by the awful screeching of a harmonica. "I GOT THE LOW DOWN JAIL HOUSE BLUES!" Again, the harmonica. Repeat. This had been going on for over an hour, a cheap attempt at Spiral trying to annoy someone into releasing them.
Cyli was his cellmate, and she was sitting on her own cot, arms folded and eye twitching.
"I GOT THE-"
"FOR THE LOVE OF WHATEVER, JUST STOP!"
"PLEASE", Radia bellowed from her own cell down the hall.
Spiral stopped, looking a bit hurt.
"Sorry man, but I don't think it's gonna work. There's no one else down here but us anyway. Wait- where did you even get that harmonica?"
"Eh, found it under the cot. Guess it belonged to whoever else was in here last."
"Ewww, who knows where that's been!"
"Got any better ideas?"
"..."
They had been down there for at least 10 hours, none of them being able to get a single moment's worth of sleep. Cyli couldn't help but think about Pac, and wonder if he was alright. She had been genuinely moved by his act of selfless heroism- how he had not only been concerned about her, but everyone involved in the plan. Needless to say that was the last kind of thing she expected from someone like him.
It just all seemed so hopeless now! All because Skeebo had the gall to go and tattle on them. Speaking of…
"HEY!", he hollered from his cell across from her and Spiral's.
Cyli ignored him, she was still too angry with the blue orb.
"I'M TIRED! I'M HUNGRY! I'M-"
"Oh put a sock in it, dude", Spiral groaned, "this is all your fault! If it wasn't for you going and blabbing to the big cheese, we could have taken him down by now!"
"You should be thanking me! If I hadn't, we'd all be dead!"
"THANK YOU?!" Spiral lunged forward, gripping the bars firmly in his hands.
"You're welcome."
Spiral opened his mouth, likely to yell obscenities. Cyli wasted no time in grabbing him, and telling him it wasn't worth it. Spiral backed down, and sighed.
"One moment, we're all freedom fighters. We were gonna be heroes. Now look at us. Thrown in the big house. Let's just hope ol Betty doesn't change his mind about letting us live."
Sadly Spiral had a point. Betrayus was about as predictable as a cat being baptized. He never took kindly to treason, and now that his own son was against him who knew what he would do.
And then-
"Hi guys", came Pac's voice. There was… Pac? It had to be, as was the only yellow orb around. He just looked different. His makeup was gone, as was his usual gothic garments. He instead wore shades of orange, yellow and red which complimented his yellowness quite well. Without the makeup his blue eyes seemed to stand out more. Overall he looked far less menacing and more… What was the word?
Cyli and Spiral just stared, and the first word that came to Cyli's mind was… cute. Uh oh. She just stared some more, as did Spiral.
"What?"
"Wow dude", Spiral said, "you look…"
Pac was about to wince-
"Great! You look like… you! I mean you've always looked like you, but now you look even more like you! I don't know, it just suits you!"
Pac breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled sheepishly. "Thanks."
"You gonna bust us outta here, dude?"
"Not yet."
"What? Why?"
"I think a… friend of mine can help us all out. He says that old guy can probably make those fruit vehicle things with the right stuff! I don't know what he means by that yet."
"Who", Mr C snapped from down the hall.
"My dad's butler."
Mr C went quiet, then began to speak in a soft, yet firm tone. "Boy, you better hope your trust is in the right place."
"What do you mean?"
"What I said. I don't trust him one bit, shouldn't have back then, and certainly not now."
"Then?"
"Listen, I just hope ya know what you're doing."
"Oh please Diamitri, just tell the boy what happened." Radia said with an almost audible eye roll.
"He's not ready-"
"If ya can tell him about his parents, he can know this. Kid! Buttler was a double agent for yer dad and the original freedom fighters!"
"Radia!"
"What? It's the dang truth."
"Can I say something?" Skeebo began.
"NO", said everyone else in unison.
"I gotta go, hang tight guys", Pac hurriedly spat out as he raced up the stairs to meet with a certain buttheaded someone.