There was only one guest room, but after several days spent huddled together in the back of a busted van, the idea of sharing a bed with Tani didn't bother Randall much. He was more concerned about making sure that none of the neighbors picked up on their presence. He lowered the window blinds and pulled the curtains tightly shut. He moved around the room with only the light pouring in from the hallway to guide him. If the authorities were already prodding his brother for his whereabouts, then Randall had to be doubly careful to avoid any curious eyes.

Roger has promised that he could spend the night: He had one night of peace before he had to figure out his next move. After hearing all that had happened in such a short time though, Randall realized just how little information he had to work with. He hadn't expected the factory to get shut down...

Now, the consequences of his and Waternoose's plans looked to be more severe than he ever could've dreamed—all because of a stupid kid and the lie that they were toxic! Randall sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing his face. He felt overwhelmed.

No one thought anything about sending monsters out into the human world for generations, but when one human was brought over to theirs... suddenly, everything had to stop?! One human child was worth shutting down the leading corporation of their world's more important—and already fragile—industry? Even if humans were toxic, this was an overreaction. It was as if the world had gone insane! Then again, maybe being a Scarer topped with already knowing the truth just made him numb to the terror the rest of the world seemed to feel.

In any case, he needed to learn more before he made any firm decisions. Normally, it was a rule not to return to the scene of a crime, but if the CDA was finished with their investigation and Monster's Inc.'s doors were closed, then there wasn't a better place for him go. True, someone might expect him to return there and would know to watch out for his camouflage abilities; however, the factory was massive. There were plenty of places for him to hide. If there was a small chance he could cover his own tracks while he was there, all the better. That just left...

Tani's shadow stretched across the floor and he looked up. She stood in the doorway, wearing one of the few shirts that Roger's wife hadn't tossed out. Her hair had been trimmed in the style she used to wear it in when they were younger: An unruly pixie cut that reminded him of blades of wild grass. He couldn't help smiling at the nostalgic look, "How are you feeling?"

"Refreshed," she said after a long, relaxed sigh. Tani entered the room and sat down next to him. "I definitely needed that. I forgot what a real shower felt like."

She'd definitely taken advantage of it. Her scales looked brighter, but also a bit roughed up from shedding away layers of grime and dead skin. There was a scent of rotten bananas from whatever soap she'd used. He didn't necessarily mind it or even the swampy musk that stuck to her before, but he embarrassed himself by catching an undertone of wilted flowers, a smell he more often associated with the Tani from his memories.

If only the same could be said for her personality. He hated seeing her so subdued, or rather, what had caused her to become that way. The Tani he knew was wild and bright, a boundless well of energy that no force could hold back. While this version of her was still just as quick-witted and true to herself as the one he remembered, there was now a layer of fear that deeply bothered him.

A part of Randall already knew that she would never be exactly the same. Even if she hadn't gone missing, the passage of time alone saw to that. However, what if she never really recovered from all of those years spent in the human world? What if she couldn't handle the change in environment? What if her bold voice never regained its volume, or her smile never again quite reached her eyes? Just the idea of it made him want to tear someone apart.

A hand reached up, poking at his head to search out any of the freshly healed wounds. It snapped him away from his train of thought. He gently captured Tani's hand in his own to get her to stop.

"Other than that, how are you feeling?" he pressed her.

Tani blinked at him, then quickly drew her hands into her into her lap at looked away. She could only keep them still for so long, hugging herself. "I'm alright, it's just... None of this feels entirely real to me just yet, you know? Not even you sometimes," she emitted an awkward chuckle as she answered, "Sometimes, I just think I'm going to fall asleep and then when I wake up..."

She didn't finish that sentence. She didn't need to. He'd experienced a similar fear from the moment he'd found her.

Randall considered pulling her closer to himself, but soon thought against it. There was only so much that sentiment could do, he wasn't very good at it, and it was clear she was trying to be strong. He settled for drumming his fingers together instead.

There was a moment's pause before he asked her another question, "What do you want to do next?"

Whatever his own plans, Randall couldn't just dump her someplace. They'd already talked about this a little: Tani wasn't ok with reaching out to her family until their safety was a little more certain. Moreover, effectively being dead, while she had a better chance of hiding her identity than he did, she wouldn't be able to readjust to society on her own. She needed information just as badly as he did in order to regain her old life and get back at the monsters who ruined it.

Being even more in the dark than he was though, it was clear that she didn't know where to go. He vaguely remembered her mentioning having some extended relatives in Monstropolis, but they just ran into the same problems. Given how small of a friend group they had at MU, it was hard to say how many people she knew in the city she could trust. Keeping her at his side looked like the only choice they had—and even then, he wasn't sure if it was the right choice to make.

"Hiding out in the sewers is still one idea," she shrugged, "If there's anyone we could reach out to, then maybe Hardscrabble, if she's still around?"

Randall gave her a look. Actually, strangely enough, Hardscrabble softened quite a bit after their first year at MU: While still a hard-case, the dean had been a lot more merciful to the freshman that came after them. It allowed everyone in the Scaring Program to breathe a lot easier, especially after that chaotic semester. As brutally honest a character as she was though—for her not to speak out on or know the truth of a human child's toxicity—Randall still had his doubts about trusting someone so high up the proverbial food chain.

"Right. Bad plan..." Tani murmured, her lips pursed in frustration. She sighed once more, "It might be better to sleep on it. I'm keeping you from your own bath though, so..."

He folded his arms across his chest with a smirk, "You're kicking me out?"

"Before it gets too late and we give your brother and sister-in-law a reason for kicking us out, yes."

She had a point there. Randall excused himself, pausing to remember where the bathroom even was before venturing down the hall. Paranoia running high, he found the quiet more eerie than calm. Being too close to the windows for too long made him nervous, as though the CDA was lying-in-wait right outside. He wasn't comfortable until he was in the closed confines of the shower, cleaning himself up as quickly as possible with the lights off.

There was one option he hadn't mentioned to Tanith: They could try to leave Monstropolis altogether—lay low for a while or even start their lives elsewhere. It was such as extreme plan though that he didn't really want to consider it himself. That, and he'd invested so much of himself to his career that he didn't want to just run away from everything if he could help it. Even if the Scream Extractor was a failure, he just had to convince the right people that the reasoning behind it was solid. Maybe more people would accept the idea once the energy crisis got bad enough.

The hall light was already off by the time he stepped out. Randall started to make his way back to the guest room, finding Tani already asleep, but too restless to lay down himself just yet. He ended up wandering into the living room instead, peering around corners to see if anyone else was still awake. There was no one.

He sat down on the couch, taking another careful look around before reaching for the remote. He turned down the volume as soon as the television was on, flipping through the channels until he landed on the news. It was the easiest way he was going to learn anything.

A familiar, nightly anchor with a long, yellow body and heavy eyebrows appeared on the screen. Almost twenty minutes passed before he got to anything worthwhile, reporting on the increased likelihood of blackouts:

"...there's been growing concerns if Monstropolis' power supply can meet demand. Since its founding, Monster Incorporated has been one of the three leading scream energy plants in the City. Now, with its recent shutdown, analysists are reporting that the scream energy supply has dropped by a dire 41%. Will their rivals be able to make up for the loss? Nothing is certain; however, Johnny Worthington III, the newly appointed CEO of Fear Co. had this to say..."

Randall could've rolled his eyes into the back of his skull. He didn't think he'd hear that name again so soon, but it seemed the former ROR president would plague him even now. The reptile fumbled with the piece of paper he'd been carrying the whole night, as if crushing it was a small way of lashing back at the one monster that threatened his and Tani's safety the most at the moment.

Johnny's horned head took up nearly the whole of the screen, "Rest assured, while this is a sad turn of events for our rival company and their faithful customers, my scarers are more than capable of rising to the challenge. We've already increased our production, and we're working closely with the City's Energy Regulatory Commission to make the changes in distribution as seamless as possible."

While he maintained a calm, professional facade in the recording, Randall imagined that Johnny had practically been jumping up and down with glee when he heard about Monster's Inc.'s shutdown. Monster's Inc. and Fear Co. were rivals, yes, but the former had almost always carried a certain lead. Among scarers, the Waternooses and the Worthingtons were notorious for having a friendly image in public, but a vicious fight behind the scenes—robbing each other's talents. That fight extended even to their sponsored universities, albeit the students who attended either were rarely fully aware of just how deep that rivalry went at the start. To them, it was just a typical clash between schools.

Randall even had a distant memory of Johnny admitting to him one day that he only attended MU as a bit of a jab against his father, a youthful rebellion. Fear Tech would've easily accepted him because of his family legacy alone, but Johnny was too proud for that. He 'didn't need the easy way.' Back then, Randall had respected him for the choice. In hindsight though, wherehe went to college probably hadn't mattered any more than it would've for Sullivan. His family legacy was enough to take him wherever he wanted.

The anchor continued, "...but the real question is, 'With its reputation this badly damaged and no true leader at the helm, at this point, can Monster's Incorporated even hope to recover?' There are still no updates regarding when the company may reopen its doors. Some rumors claim that the company may have even been falsifying data to suggest it was collecting more screams than in reality."

Of all the crimes they could've listed, that much was a bold-faced lie. As bad as things were, it would've been too easy a thing to pick up on. That, and it was one issue that Waternoose had always been open about, no matter how below quota the company was.

"Nevertheless, in a recent development, Scarer James P. Sullivan and his assistant, Mike Wazowski—the two Monster's Incorporated employees responsible for unravelling Waternoose's conspiracy—claim to have found an alternative means of energy, going so far as to state that it could be even more powerful than scream production. Is this a desperate attempt of two monsters to save their careers or could they genuinely have stumbled upon the discovery of a lifetime?"

Hearing this, Randall leaned forward in his seat.

There was no study behind it, only observations. Apparently, when the little brat Randall had been after laughed, it created massive power surges. Randall himself only had vague recollections of this while on the chase, taking a minute to think before he remembered how every door in storage had suddenly activated. At the time, he was too focused on trying to get the kid back that he didn't wonder why it had happened.

The idea of a single kid laughing in order to generate that much energy was beyond him for multiple reasons, starting with why any child would laugh in that kind of situation to begin with. Monsters had powered their world for centuries on screams: There wasn't a single record in history stating that laughter could measure up to energy, nevermind surpass it. It was more believable for the doors to have activated from a freak accident—a sudden misdirection of channeled energy or simply the force of the universe that always seemed to favor his two, long-hated enemies.

"…but Sullivan and Wazowski say that they are willing to prove their theory through practice. They have volunteered to enter a child's bedroom, just as a Scarer would, only with the intention of gathering giggles. This is an unprecedented and potentially dangerous move, especially given the rise of dead door cases. Interestingly enough, however, the CDA has already authorized this experiment. Whether or not this indirect support will convince the Board to move forward with the experiment remains to be seen, but if Monsters Incorporated truly is on the brink of closure, this may be their final gamble."

The reptile felt his blood begin to boil. He could hardly believe how hard a blow fate had dealt him this time… Mike and Sullivan now standing front and center for a so-called discovery that threatened not only the energy grid, but the entire way monsters had always lived their lives. Worse still, it was all on the back of his work! Of the risks he took and the things he uncovered about the truth of humanity's supposed toxicity.

Oh, bringing over a single human child endangered everyone, but completely changing the energy industry in a way that invited kids to chase after monsters in the name of fun or curiosity was perfectly fine?! At least when a Scarer did their job, Junior was too terrified to peek out from under the covers to even think about the monster's sudden arrival and then disappearance. If kids weren't scared, it would only encourage them to follow monsters back into their world.

That was if laughter was anything to look into to begin with—which he still doubted. It was impossible not to feel cheated, that the situation had ran in one, giant, hypocritical circle. If the world continued to believe that kids were toxic, then Sullivan's plan was much worse than his. If not, then why did he or Waternoose deserve to be labeled as criminals for taking one when the entire power supply might've depended on it?

His anger only rising by the second, Randall turned off the TV. He sat in the darkness, unable to see straight more because of the fumes rising to his head than because of the surrounding shadows alone. With events moving as fast as they were, whatever he needed to do, he needed to do it quick if he had any hope of saving himself.