Happy christmahaunakwanzadays everybody! I hope all of you are having a great time during this "winter" break. I personally haven't seen much difference, as Floridian weather seems noticeably warmer this year than last.
But anyways, here's the next chapter! I hope you all weren't too upset about the cliffhanger I left you all at last chapter. It was something I'd been planning from the start, although Glas' actual method of capture changed a little bit. Thank you to everyone who've sent me support, both before and after chapter 16.
But enough about me, I now leave you all with chapter 17!
Lunare opened the garage door and pulled Scrapmetal into its usual place, unable to keep the grin off of his face. The hardware store had exactly what he needed, and then some. An idea had been forming in his head during the drive back, and it was ready to come out.
Satisfied that Scrapmetal was situated, Lunare pulled out a portable keyboard and small LCD screen and typed a command in. The legs of Scrapmetal lifted themselves one by one off of the ground and attached to the ceiling, just as they had been the night before. He popped the trunk and turned the key, killing the engine. Scrapmetal shuddered to a halt and the deep thrum of the engine dissipated from the enclosed space. With his vehicle safely secured, Lunare leapt from the passenger seat and hurried over to his workbench, pausing only to engage a pair of hydraulic arms that would pull the Rage cooler from the back and set it down beside Scrapmetal- he'd move its contents to one of his vaults later. Right now, he had some work to do.
He pulled on a roll of drafting paper until he had a sufficient size, and sliced it off of the roll. It curled slightly at the edges, so he held them down with a tin of screws, a three week old cup of coffee, and the stabilizer for one of the joints of Scrapmetal's front right leg that he meant to put on before they went. Oops. Good thing they hadn't tried a high speed floor to ceiling transfer. It could have caused the entire leg to fall off mid-drive, creating a potentially catastrophic crash that most likely would've killed all of them, even with Auras. He looked back at Scrapmetal and debated whether or not to go attach it but decided against it. Now was the time for designing. He did make a memo though.
"Reminder: attach stabilizer to front right leg's primary joint before taking Scrapmetal out again," Lunare said to the empty garage. The computer on the other wall beeped twice, indicating that it had received the notice. With that out of the way, Lunare grabbed a drafting pencil from a drawer and wrote the name of his new creation at the top
LNI Robotic Operated Cannon Stabilizer.
(A.N. LNI stands for Lunare Nacht Industries, something that Lunare made up to sound cool)
"And thus we go down back down the rabbit hole," Lunare muttered as he sketched out the design of the rifle, "Not knowing how or when I am to get out of it."
"Sooner than you'd think boss," A voice said behind him. Lunare sighed and put the pencil down, turning around to see Schatten standing at the entrance to the doorway. "Good morning Schatten. How can I be of service?"
"It's four in the afternoon Lunare," Schatten corrected. "Where were you? Daniel and Dakota are gone, and Lewis is going off his rocker trying to find them!"
Lunare scratched his head. "Oh dear," he said. "I just realized we didn't leave a note saying where we went. Really sorry about that."
"So you were with Daniel and Dakota?" Schatten asked.
"Well yes, we went to acquire a fingerprint from Daniel's father so that Daniel could remain in school," Lunare said. He then frowned, remembering something. "Hold on, you mean that they're not back yet?"
Schatten nodded. "As I said, Lewis is going crazy trying to find them. If you could do anything to calm him down, it would be appreciated by DDLN and our team equally."
Lunare shook his head. "This doesn't make any sense. They should have returned before me. They left with Professor Glas."
"Then let's go get Lewis and go find the professor," Schatten said, turning and running off as he did. Lunare followed as well, pausing only to lower the garage door and engage the security measures. With that, he raced after Schatten, hoping to find answers from the Professor.
But the professor wasn't there, nor was he the next day. There was a note on his door saying he was out of town for the weekend and would return on Monday. Without any answers, Lewis remained in a near constant state of panic as he desperately tried to find out information about his teammates, broken only by intense sessions of meditations as he desperately tried to commune with the spirits to find out something. According to him, all he got out of them was to 'wait and all that you wish for shall come to you'. He said that was the spirits answer whenever they either didn't have the answer, or did, but wouldn't tell him and wanted him to shut up.
As the hours progressed, he became almost inconsolable; to the point where Nick had Lunare fashion a strait jacket and got LSTR to help him get Lewis into it. They tried to gag him, but Lewis ate through anything they used.
It wasn't until Monday when classes resumed that Lewis was let out of the straight jacket and out of the dorm room. He tottered carefully into the dining hall like a child just learning to walk, and sat down at his usual spot with a bowl of oatmeal. Team LSTR clambered in to seats around him, watching and ready to intervene if he made a scene.
Several minutes passed before Nick sat down next to Lewis. His normal calm demeanor had been replaced by a twitching, jumpy demeanor. His usual messy but fashionable look was taken over by a completely disheveled appearance. His hair stuck out everywhere, his uniform was wrinkled and untucked, his tie was undone, and there was a three day stubble on his chin. He poured himself a cup of black coffee and drank it all in one go, like a shot glass before pouring himself another.
"Soooo," Ryler said in an attempt to break the ice, "Can I give you back your gun yet Nick?"
Nick looked up frightened by the noise, before turning back to his mug and pouring a second cup. "Not a chance," Nick said as he drank that cup as well. "Can't trust myself not to shoot him, and then myself. Best if you hold on to it for now Ryler. And send them candles over again tonight. Seemed to keep him slightly quieter."
"Can do!" Ryler said happily. He was possibly the only one among them that seemed unaffected by Lewis' breakdown.
"I am positive that everyone on our floor was most gracious for last night," Tiberius said. "I for one actually fell asleep for a moment, before his infernal yelling woke me up again.
"That'd be my fault," Nick said. "Didn't realize the candle had gone out. 'fore I could git a 'nother one lit, he started all over again'. At this rate, I'm gonna have to buy stock in your mother's company Ryler."
"Don't worry," Ryler assured him. "My mother sends me free samples whenever I ask. She calls it good advertising."
"Daniel likes oatmeal," Lewis commented, stirring his congealing breakfast. He had acquired a far off look, and began twitching uncontrollably
"Oh dear," Lunare said, recognizing the signs. To his right, Schatten swore.
"He always had at least one bowl for breakfast," Lewis said. "Really big bowls. Sometimes he even had two. He said he never knew why he ate it. Said he couldn't stand the consistency."
To Lewis' left, Nick frantically reached into his pockets and brought out a pair of earplugs. Screwing them in, he looked at Schatten. They shared a brief nod, and tensed up waiting.
"It's pretty silly really," Lewis said. "I-I mean, why eat something if you don't like it. It's stupid m-m-man. St-t-tupid."
"Brace for impact!" Schatten yelled out to the cafeteria. Those who had dorms on the same floor as DDLN and LSTR stood up and scrambled to get as far away from Lewis as possible. The rest looked around, confused.
Nick grabbed Lewis around the arms in a full nelson and Schatten pushed back his chair and launched himself at Lewis. Just as he left the ground, Lewis came loose.
Professor Glas was bent over a microscope looking at something within a petri dish when the door to his office burst open and Lewis was carried in by Nick and Schatten. Lewis was babbling gibberish, and all of their uniforms were torn nearly beyond repair.
Professor Glas looked up from the microscope and his eyes widened. "Good Lord!" he said in shock. "You boys look like you've been through a blender!"
"More like a psychotic hippie," Schatten replied. "I'd advise not going to the cafeteria any time soon, Professor."
"See-through, transparent; no, opaque! Very opaque!" Lewis cried out.
Lunare appeared behind them, one of his lenses cracked, the other missing entirely. "We figured it would be for the best if we brought him to you sir."
Professor Glas stood up and grabbed a labcoat off of a chair. "By the looks of things, I'd say you made the right decision Mr. Nacht," he flipped a switch on a control panel, and a section of the floor parted to allow an examination table to rise from the ground. The two put him on the table as Professor Glas grabbed a tablet from the table and began tapping on it. "Let's see here," he murmured, "Lemon, Lemon, Lemon, ah! Here we go. Age seventeen, male, Human," he frowned a little at this but continued. "Records do not show any parentage, although all of his paperwork is in order. Tell me, was this the first time this has happened?"
"No sir," Lunare answered. "Lewis has been experiencing, extreme emotions for two days. We felt that he would be able to work through them on his own, but with his most violent reaction happening approximately fifteen minutes ago, it was decided that he needed help."
"Sir?" Lewis said, trying to sit up. "Important, official, leader, no! Helper, healer, medic, DOCTOR!" Lewis continued.
Professor Glas pushed Lewis back down and spoke calmly to him. "That's right Lewis. I am a doctor. You are in my office. You are safe now."
"No, Noooooooooo!" Lewis moaned. "Doctor bad. Hurt friends," his eyes seemed to focus on Professor Glas. "You. You! YOU!" he roared. He broke free of the hands Lunare, Nick, and Schatten had placed on him and lunged for Professor Glas, his eyes dark with anger. The professor backed up rapidly in surprise, opened up his coat, and reached into his suit to grab-
BANG!
Ice formed around Lewis's head and he crashed to the table, out like a light. The four of them turned around to see Ryler holding Nick's smoking gun, his pink hair smoldering and even messier than it usually was.
"Wow, you guys are really loud!" Ryler said. "I was getting worried you guys were having fun without me!"
"Ryler," Lunare said as calmly as he could manage. "You do realize that Lewis can't breathe through ice, correct?"
"Don't worry Lunare, I checked the cylinder. I've got a fire shot next."
"No you don't!" Nick said frantically, trying to stop Ryler from firing but he was too slow. Ryler pulled the trigger and with another BANG, Lewis' head was covered in even more ice.
"Huh, I could have sworn there was a fire shot next," Ryler said. "Let me try again."
Nick yanked his gun away from Ryler before he could cause even more harm. "I got reduced shot into the gun," Nick said as he opened the cylinder, checked the bullets, and fired twice into the ice block that was Lewis' head. "I git three shots per bullet."
"Really?" Lunare said as he stared at the smoking gun. "I was under the impression that reduced shot was purely theoretical and had yet to be properly implemented."
"I would prefer if you kept that impression," Nick said briefly. He brushed some of the remaining ice off of Lewis' head as Professor Glas hurriedly checked his pulse, confirming he was stable.
Lunare briefly eyed the revolver sitting comfortably but firmly within Nick's hand before turning his attention back to Lewis, who was murmuring discontentedly in his sleep.
Professor Glas grabbed a gauze pad from his table and wiped his forehead with it. His face was pale with fear and he was breathing heavily. "Has he, has he talked like that before?" he asked them.
"Never heard him or anyone else talk quite like that," Nick said. "Sounded almost like a possession."
"Well, he is really into communing with his spirits," Ryler said. "Maybe that's what he was doing."
"This is without a doubt one of the more peculiar cases I have seen," Professor Glas said. He grabbed a mask and placed it upon Lewis' mouth. He flipped a switch and a vapory gas flowed down the tube and into Lewis' system. The murmuring stopped and he became more calm and serene than he had been in the past week.
With Lewis sedated, Professor Glas took a syringe and drew a sample of blood from Lewis' arm. He then pulled a small machine from his coat and inserted the needle into a small access port on the side. The machine hummed for several seconds as lines of text scrolled onto the miniature screen on its front. Professor Glas read what it said and frowned. "Oh my," he muttered. "That is quite unexpected."
"Unexpected; is Lewis going to die?" Ryler asked in desperation.
"What? No! Of course not," Professor Glas said. "You friend is fine. Quite healthy actually. What is unexpected is that there are no symptoms of anything that would cause such delirium. Unless,,, interesting." Professor Glas looked up from the machine and at the teenagers in front of him. "It would appear that your friend is suffering from both depression, and a withdrawal."
Teams LSTR and DDLN shifted nervously. They both knew of Lewis' indulgence of certain substances.
"Unfortunately I cannot discern what substance he is experiencing withdrawals from," Professor Glas admitted. "Without the proper equipment, which I lack, I believe only Mr. Lemon can tell us that," he removed the mask from Lunare and a faint wisp of the gasses escaped into the air which Professor Glas wafted away. "Providing that the substances are non-damaging, I would suggest finding out what they are and allowing Mr. Lemon to consume them. If they are in fact harmful, I'm afraid you will have to simply wait things out until the withdrawal is over. If he takes a turn for the worse, don't hesitate to come by my office." He looked up at them. "How many of you does it take to control these outbursts?"
"They have been getting progressively worse as time passes," Lunare said. "The most recent required all five of us to subdue him."
Professor Glas sighed, then pulled from a desk a stack of small slips of paper. He filled out six of them and handed them to Lunare. "You are all excused from classes today for medical reasons. "If these symptoms persist to tomorrow, I highly suggest you bring him to me for sedation."
They thanked Professor Glas, and Lunare and Schatten grabbed Lewis by the arms and carried him from Professor Glas's office. When the door closed, Professor Glas lowered the examination table and moved back over to the table with the microscope. He let out a breath he didn't know he was still holding. He had gotten very lucky. Had any of them been less focused on Lewis and looked around his office, they could've laid their eyes on documents that would be very embarrassing for him.
Grabbing a folder, he pulled an X-ray out and placed it on a lit-up panel. It showed the chest section of a human male. There was a name in the upper left corner
SUBJECT: GRIGIO, DANIEL
"What exactly are you hiding from me, Mr. Grigio?" he pondered out loud.
"I cannot believe that you would forget such an important question!" Tiberius yelled. "You were in the room TALKING with the last person we know who saw them, and you didn't ask?"
They were in LSTR's dorm room- across the hall from DDLN's. Both doors were opens, so that they could keep an eye on the sleeping form of Lewis, all trussed up in his straight jacket.
"Leave it Ty," Schatten said. "We were more concerned about Lewis than asking questions. We can ask him after class tomorrow."
"Ask him after class tomorr- do you realize what you just said means? We have to spend another night dealing with him!" Tiberius said, pointing at a sleeping Lewis.
"Calm down Tiberius," Nick warned.
"Calm down? How do you expect me to calm down at this moment?" Tiberius demanded in an increasingly loud voice.
"You will if you want that bull over there to stay sleepin'," Nick answered.
Tiberius looked fearfully over at Lewis who had turned over in response to the outburst, but still remained asleep.
"It might not be necessary to be forced to deal with Lewis another night," Lunare said, "Now that we know exactly what Lewis is going through, we can attempt to rectify the situation. If he is going through withdrawal we can simply give him the drugs once more."
"Bit more difficult than you're makin' it out to be," Nick said. "Lewis threw his stash down the john. He's completely out."
"Then we get some more," Lunare said. "Ryler, you contact your mother and get as many scented candles as you possibly can. Tiberius and I will go replenish Lewis' stash."
"Just one moment!" Tiberius protested. "I cannot be seen acquiring drugs! My father is a board member of Schnee Dust! If I am caught, it'll be the ruin of our family!"
"Very well Tiberius," Lunare said with a slight smile, "You can either go with Ryler to get more candles, or you can stay here with either Nick or Schatten and control Lewis should he wake up."
Tiberius looked at the smiling face of Ryler, then at the sleeping form of Lewis. Then back at Ryler, then back at Lunare. He then held out his hand to Lunare. "Coat, now."
Lunare calmly surrendered his overcoat to Tiberius. Tiberius slid it over his shoulders, grimacing at the dirt, and grunting at the surprising weight of it. The coat was far denser than he would have imagined, even for one filled with metal scraps and trinkets. To finish the ensemble, he yanked Nick's hat off of his head and planted it firmly upon his head. "I cannot guarantee that I will not kill each and every single one of you if this fails," Tiberius warned irritably. "Starting with the hippie."
"Then it would be prudent to complete our tasks before Lewis wakes up," Lunare said. "I am not certain any of us can experience another outburst without going through with rash and violent actions we would all regret-"
"Oh shut up Lunare!" Tiberius demanded. "Let's just get going before I lose my nerve."
Yeahhh, sorry for not showing what happened to Daniel and Dakota. Don't worry though, you'll find out soon enough.
Don't go anywhere, because I'm thinking of a little Christmas gift I'll give you guys soon. I'll see you all then!
-Wrench
ns 15.158.61.20da2
