TWs: Fear/reminiscing/worrying, snooping around, and knocking someone out. Stay safe :)
Everyone shuffled in their seats, Yan and Pau being the ones standing. Katya was the only person who wasn't accounted for, but it wasn't like Tord wanted her to be there regarding her current state.
"What are we here for again?" Mark spoke up.
Tord was marking something on the board, the marker squeaking slightly, "You'll see..."
Multiple pictures scattered the board, pinned under magnets to keep them in place, all labeled and having a purpose. Reaching up, Tord wrote in big letters.
"DRONE-VASION...?" Eduardo raised an eyebrow, "What the f- heck does that mean?"
"It means," Tord whipped around to face them all, "The drones are the cause of all of this."
With his left hand, the Norsk picked up an object off the table, the antennae. He held it up for everyone to see.
"It's not impossible to do. All it takes is an army of drones and someone to program them to do the King's bidding." Tord shrugged, "Now, that may sound hard, but it's easy if the person is, let's say, a scientist. Jon, help me for a second."
The ghost perked up, flying over to greet him, "With what?"
"This was also on the drone." Tord handed him a piece of metal, "I had to unscrew that piece to get to the wires."
Jon inspected it, turning it over in his grasp, his mouth nearly dropping when he noticed an inscription.
"So," Tord looked at him, his gaze steady, "It look familiar?"
"Very." Jon nodded.
Bing was trapped with no place to go. He crouched in an alleyway behind a dumpster, his blindfold slipping off, slowly coming undone as he heard a few drones zip past the backstreet. His breathing was heavy, and his heart rattled in his chest as he tried to catch his breath. He needed to get out, anywhere but there.
This isn't how he thought this week or these five agonizing years would go, yet here he was.
He had finally taken a break from movie directing and scheming and wanted to hang out with his assistant and totally not romantic partner, Larry. Bing, being... well, Bing, did plan something special, but it was all thrown out of the window when they heard a commotion coming from a nearby stoplight, one of the first drone attacks. They were called by Arthur soon after, and everything went downhill from there.
Bing sighed. He just wanted a break, but no. He was caught in the crossfire of it all.
Peering out from the dumpsters, he saw a silver can a few feet away. He inched towards it, picking the can up.
'A spray can...?' He hummed, turning the can in his hand, 'Now this gives me an idea...'
"Hey, commie," Tom spoke, walking up to the Norsk, "I need to talk to you."
Tord raised his eyebrows, glancing around, "Uh- me?"
"Obviously. Who else would I call communist?" Virtual eyes circled the screen.
"Right, I'm just not used to you walking up to me." Tord crossed his arms.
"Don't get used to it." The shorter uttered, "Anyway, Matt told me that Katya was hypnotized."
"Ah, yeah, and...?"
"Edd; he's gotta be hypnotized too."
"What?" Tord scoffed, frowning.
"Just think about it; Edd hates the Black Army just as much as we do, and he stood there and did nothing as he watched me, his best friend, get shot in the back." Tom explained, waving his hands exasperated, "And we both know that Edd wouldn't say those things unless-"
"He was hypnotized." His silver eye grew wide in realization.
"Exactly."
"This- This is big!" Tord grinned, grabbing Tom's shoulders, "All I have to figure out is how to break the connection."
Tom wiggled out of the Norsk's grasp, stepping back, "And how are you going to do that?"
"I..." Tord thought momentarily. He snapped his fingers, "I may have an idea, but it's risky..."
Before Tom could question about it, the leader walked away.
"You want us to do what?" Jon questioned.
"Hack the drones." Tord repeated, "Surely they're taking commands from somewhere, right?"
"If we do that, then that somewhere might find out where our hideout is," Pat spoke, "It's too dangerous."
"I'm in." Clay shrugged, earning a glare from his caretaker, "What? I like the sound of danger."
Pat huffed, then picked up a circular disk, "If you can manage to get this HK-ER on a drone without them suspecting anything, then we'll do it."
Tord took the object, smiling, "Thanks, Dad."
"Be careful."
"Always." The leader left the room, heading for the equipment room near the base of the stairs. He stopped, however, upon seeing a particular ginger, "Matt? What are you doing here?"
"Ah, nothing." He stood up, his footing off-putting. Now that Tord saw him under the lighting of the bunker stairs, Matt seemed exhausted, "I was just wondering if I should get some fresh air, but... the air up there isn't so fresh right now."
Matt chuckled, even if it was a bit monotonous. Tord quirked an eyebrow, "Are you okay? Are you low on blood supply again?"
"No, no, it's just-" The taller glanced towards the stairs before looking back at Tord, "I'm worried, I guess."
"About your uncle?"
Matt nodded, "He's not the best survivalist..."
"Eh, he'll be fine." Tord dismissed, 'Hopefully...'
"Right..." The ginger looked down, closing his eyes, the exhaustion creeping up on him.
"You should go to bed." Tord stated, "It's clear you've been up for days."
Matt nodded, "Thank you, Tord."
The Norsk didn't ask what he was being thanked for; instead, he watched Matt leave the room.
"Ah, careful with that, Diwi!" Hellucard yelled, "Hey, Chester, this isn't a zoo; keep your animals under control!"
Edd saw the blonde carefully pry his snake from Joe, which the reptile was trying to constrict him from breathing. The tall brunette huffed, needing to move around. He was tired of standing still. He heard Hellucard snap at Chester again. Plus, he needed to figure out what was up with the King.
Even if Edd felt like he had known Hellucard all his life, it also felt like he knew nothing about him, and to Edd, that was suspicious.
The brunette walked off, deciding to go to the palace since Hellucard took it over and was bound to hide things there.
He used his superspeed for most of the trip, which was nearly ten seconds. Stepping up the stairs of the palace, Edd walked inside. He expected the King to have some traps set up for their enemies, but when Edd crossed the entrance, he hummed.
Guess not.
Edd continued walking around the giant echoey halls of the building. There were over 700 rooms. He had no sense of direction as he had only been here once before. He knew he was looking for a particular room but didn't know which one.
He decided to check the obvious ones first, the throne room and the rooms the Queen frequented.
He didn't find anything of importance in the throne room other than Hellucard's portrait being framed instead of the former Queen's. Edd also noticed it was slightly tilted, so he fixed it.
Moving along, he checked the other rooms, also finding nothing of interest.
That was until he got to one of the bedrooms. He expected it to be how the rest of the palace looked, ethereal.
His eyes widened slightly. In place of a bed was a silver table long and wide enough for a human to lie on. A headset was discarded beside it, hooked up to a weird machine with dials, numbers, and symbols similar to a heart monitor. On the desk across from it were tools, scrap metal, and wires.
The brunette blinked. The King wasn't a human, he was-
Edd jolted, feeling something hit him from behind as he collapsed to the ground, clutching his head.
"You really do piss me off sometimes, sweetheart." He heard Hellucard's voice above him as he drifted off.
✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧NOTE✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧
Spent $77 on the EW Makeship plushies (already bought the Edd one)
It was worth it...
*cries in the corner*
Comments are appreciated 3