Borrowed Time
By Stabs
"Dammit!" he growled, kicking the cage in frustration. He turned around, meeting the disapproving gazes of his fellow inmates right away.
"Oh, don't give me that look! This isn't right!"
"We don't have time for fair. We've gotta figure out what we're gonna do, fast."
"But she ate..."
"I know-"
"Kimchi!"
The man rolled his sunken blue eyes behind the dry, cracked skin of his eyelids.
"And I don't want to be eaten either, Wheatley. So keep your wits about yourself. We're alive, and until the moment I give the order to burn in her stomach, we're going to do everything in our power to escape, survive, and return to civilization. That means you too."
"After your driver got us into this mess, Camembert!?"
"Captain Camembert to you, Wheatley. Now remember your priorities: protect Glace, stick with Celery and Stocks. Martini, how's your hand?"
"I'm fine, captain. Sorry..." he winced.
"It's okay. You're still our best driver." Captain Camembert said, giving him a slap on the back. "Focus on getting us out of
this mess."
"Which HE got us into?"
A few glares finally calmed Wheatley down. He looked away...
A cyclopean hut surrounded him, built between a few trees for support, made of panels of interwoven leaves, which rested, themselves, between the low branches and stacks of logs and rocks that lay behind the panels. He made a mental note that the place would probably burn well, at least on the inside. A massive table, and an equally oversized bed, seemed to be all the furniture he could witness from his vantage point. A few shelves carried oversized books; for some reason, looking straight at the details made his heart hurt a little. He was sure the strings holding it together should have torn the leather. Was there even leather that thick?
Turning away from the impossible books, he was right now inside a cage, hanging from a chain on the ceiling. A frame of black, dented, slightly warped steel with vertical bars. The door wasn't in the best shape either; he gave it a strong kick, testing it.
Immediately he regretted it. The door and cage clanged around him, the ground around his foot swaying slightly just as his other foot bounced from the door. He fell to his knees with a muffled expletive. But the worst was yet to come.
"Could you please not bang on the cage?"
He turned away just as she walked back in, closing the door after herself. The penumbra sinking from between the panels on the ceiling now betrayed the fact that there was some string, or maybe cable, no doubt scavenged, holding the panels together at the corners. He made a mental note of the cable.
"It really makes a lot of noise."
"Sorry." Camembert said. Wheatley turned to see the older man smiling. "We just wanted to see if we could get away."
"I don't think you can. And I caught you; you shouldn't be trying to escape anymore."
"I get what you're saying, but you can't really fault me for trying." Camembert chuckled. "So, you're Milly, right?"
"Yeah. But I haven't introduced myself yet."
"I've read up on you."
"You've read up on me? How come?" she asked. Wheatley turned his eyes to her. She was shapely, but honestly, he'd seen better, and the scale just seemed to distort things.
"There aren't that many predators. Except the fairies, there are just too many fairies... when one stays in one place for long enough, you start reading up on them. I never heard anything about a cage, though. I wonder why we didn't hear about it."
"Hmm... maybe because nobody has ever escaped. Could you not please try to escape? I'd really like it if we just talked, before I..."
Wheatley snorted. Camembert was unfazed.
"We could talk, Milly. But if it won't get us out, we'll see ourselves out in some other way. It's nothing personal, we just have to try."
For a moment, she turned away, annoyed. Then she smiled.
"Well, I can always eat you last, I guess. You're really polite."
"Oh, no. Not at all." he stood up. "I am to be eaten first."
"What?"
"Oh, you probably didn't notice... we're F.O.O.D."
Giving them a once-over with her brown eyes, her dark lips curled into a smile.
"Oh! That's great. I had one of you stay with me a while ago, but she..."
"You ate her?"
"No! She was nice." she cried, defensively. "We were out by a stream, and Anko showed up..."
"You really didn't eat her?"
"No, we were friends, really. And she was an elf, so..."
"Hlaani?"
"Oh, you know her?"
"We had been introduced, but we never had a lot of contact. It's a shame she's dead, but I guess it's good to know. Would you happen to know anything about her partner?"
"Oh, I did eat him." she ran a finger through her long, black hair.
"And what'd he taste like?"
"He was... okay, I guess."
"Just okay?"
"I mean..." she began, flustered. "It's not that he tasted bad or anything, just... I remember."
"Compliments to the chef." Camembert shrugged. "Well, now we know she's at least been eaten. You're sure she's dead, right?"
"Yes, I'm sure of it." Milly said, looking down. "It was really sudden, too. One moment we were talking, and the next..."
"I'm sorry for your loss."
"It's okay. She was your friend too, right?"
"No, I never liked her."
"Why not?"
"She became friends with you, for one." Wheatley growled.
"What!?"
"Sorry about Wheatley. He's been disappointed recently."
"Oh?"
"We tried to make a deal with a predator. It backfired... spectacularly."
Wheatley grumbled.
"But back to my point, I have to go first. It's a rule."
"Oh. Okay. I'd like to keep you for last, though..."
"That's really selfish. I want to go first, and you should respect that."
"Can't I eat him first, or the elf...?" Glace shivered.
"No, you can't eat Wheatley first, and you definitely can't eat Glace first. She's for dessert. After you've eaten me, Wheatley, Stocks, Celery and Martini, you can eat Glace. She's got the best flavor, so she has to be saved for last."
"And if I don't?"
Camembert smirked.
"Do you have any favourite flavors?"
"Hmmm... come to think of it, do you have any choclyluc?"
"Choclyluc? What's with him?"
"Huh?"
"Choclyluc is my friend, he's a schoolteacher. A bit on the short side. What about him?"
"No, I don't mean anybody named Choclyluc, I mean... it's brown, and..."
"Oh! Chocolate?"
"Yeah! That!" she smiled. "Do you have any?"
"You're in luck..." Camembert laughed. "It just so happens we've got some."
"Great! Give it to me!"
"Don't give her anything." he stood up, going towards her. "If you don't eat me first, you don't get any chocolate. And if you don't eat Glace last, you don't get chocolate-covered elves."
Milly raised an eyebrow.
"And how are you going to keep me from the chocolate?"
"We'll eat it ourselves."
"...oh. Can't you just give me the chocolate?"
"Then how do I know you won't just eat whoever you like?"
"I promise?"
"I promise too." he smiled. "If you eat me first and Glace last, we'll let you have all our chocolate."
"And do you really have any chocolate?" she crossed her arms.
"Glace."
The elf produced a generously-sized tinfoil bar from under her jacket, which she proceeded to unwrap, revealing its contents.
"That's white! Chocolate's supposed to be brown!"
"It's white chocolate, but it's still chocolate."
"Well, it's not the one I like!"
"Why don't you try some?" Glace immediately broke off a piece, and leaned forward...
"GET BACK!"
Milly seemed taken aback by the captain's new orders. Glace, however, got back, just as the captain ripped the bar off her hands.
"Sorry, that was rude. But we're not mixing elves with chocolate within arm's reach before it's time."
She frowned.
"Why do you want me to eat you first?"
"It's a rule."
"It's not a trap?"
"Was Fouli a trap? Was Hlaani a trap?"
"No... who's Fouli?"
"Hlaani's partner. We can't have predators doubting whether we're safe to eat if we want to be eaten in our own terms. I want to negotiate, so I have to be trustworthy. I can only negotiate as far as my word is trusted. And if predators were dying after eating us, we wouldn't be eaten, would we?"
"Oh, but... why do you want to get eaten? Hlaani never explained that one properly."
"We don't, but it works to our advantage. As long as predators aim to eat us, they have to get close, they limit their force, and they withdraw with less of a fight. Predators wanting to swallow us whole and alive is a valuable and continuous advantage: I want you to WANT to eat me, not to actually EAT me. If I kill you, your friends wouldn't WANT to eat us anymore, and I'm not so stupid as to think they would just let us be instead."
"I'm still not sure. People have tried that on me before."
"But they weren't F.O.O.D., were they?"
"He said he was from Negav."
Camembert raised his eyebrow.
"Kimchi shouldn't be in your belly, then. If we had poison, doesn't it make more sense to put some on everyone, rather than try to openly talk you into eating me first? I'll give you one thing you can trust. After you're done with us, we are still going to need your trust."
She tilted her head.
"I'm not sure..."
======
Even after all that talking, Milly still seemed unconvinced on whether to trust him. However, a taste of white chocolate gave her all the incentive she needed to take her time with the problem. They'd gained a few hours.
Meanwhile, Camembert was getting sore.
"This buys us some time. Is it noon already?"
"Yes." Martini said.
"Have you found a way out?"
"I'm sorry, captain, we haven't." Glace said. "The lock is too massive to pick."
"The bars, Stocks?"
"The bars are too thick."
"The bars were bent by something. It doesn't take a genius to see this cage's been through some abuse."
"Whatever did it to the cage was huge... Stocks winced. "We aren't going to be able to squash this cage ourselves."
"So we're just gonna die here!?" Wheatley croaked. "Great job there, captain. You really made a new friend."
"Wheatley, one more word..."
"Want to give her some thank you chocolate for the cage?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. This cage works to our advantage." he frowned.
"How so? We're trapped!"
"Would you sooner be trapped in her stomach!?"
"It would be over already."
"And accomplish nothing."
"Get us what we deserve. After that fiasco with the..."
SLAP!
"Don't EVER say that again, Wheatley. We'll get back to Negav, we'll show our filthy mugs, we'll TELL the spot is compromised, and we'll get that message to the Coil. Do you understand? Do you UNDERSTAND!?"
Wheatley grumbled again.
"Crystal clear."
"Good, now figure out a way."
Testing the bars revealed that there was no physical way to get them to budge. The door was still too strong, and the lock too sturdy to pick from the inside; it was impossible to get any part of it to budge. Clearly the giantess only succeeded in moving any part of the mechanism through her sheer strength; for anyone else, the device was rusted shut. They had chocolate, but unfortunately, the virtues of this bargaining chip did not include lubrication.
"So how do we get out?" Wheatley asked.
"The lock's rusted over. It will only open if either she opens it, or it falls apart on its own." Glace offered.
"Any weak points?" Camembert asked.
"The hinges, maybe. But we don't have anything to use for leverage." Stocks pointed out.
"Does anyone have any magic?" Celery asked, pushing out a lock of green hair from under her triangular ear, looking at Glace.
"No. I wish I did, though." Glace replied.
Martini just looked down, shaking his head.
"I think..." Stocks began.
"Hm?"
"It's nothing." he said.
"Stocks, we could die here."
Stocks raised his face. Compared to the rest, he seemed rather small, slight even, despite his rounded features.
"The lock is rusted. I wonder if we could force the material to act as an anode."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning that we thin it with rust so it's easier to break."
"Can we rust it quickly enough?"
"I don't know, that's the problem. We can accellerate the corrosion, but it might not be fast enough..."
"Then we're accellerating the corrosion until we come up with a better plan. How!?" Camembert demanded.
Stocks sighed.
"I need... some metal, something that won't rust as readily as iron. And... to modify the environment, I need... sweat, blood, or... a weak acid."
"Well, the thought of her coming back is giving me some acid reflux..."
"That's the spirit, Wheatley."
"Any metal?"
"Which metal would work?"
"Gold is ideal."
"...What's next?"
"Silver, copper, tin, lead, cobalt..."
"We've got lead, and copper... Could battery juice work as acid?"
"These are dry batteries, sorry."
"So we just hook up the metal to the cage, and..." Wheatley began.
"No... it'll never work that way. If you just hook it up, you'll get uniform corrosion throughout the cage, and it'll never end. We have to use it on the door, it's smaller... and we have to stick to a weak point."
"What do you mean?"
"The deformed zones would corrode faster... but we need to rust out two places, on the same bar, so we can rip one off. And this could take days... unless..."
"Unless?"
"It's a long shot..."
"Are we gonna have to beg you?"
"Heat helps: it speeds up corrosion exponentially, and cyclical stresses can cause fatigue, which is greatly aided by corrosion. Some components fail even after a few hundred cycles... but I don't know if we have that kind of strength."
"You heard him, gentlemen. Get to work. Where do we aim for?"
"...I'd go for the hinges. If we weaken them enough, she might break them by accident."
It didn't take long to set the wire and hold it in place with discarded cloth soaked in gastric electrolytes, tied around the hinges.
"And this will dissolve the material?" Wheatley asked, holding his lighter to the cloth. It was soaked- it wouldn't burn, and hopefully it'd heat up, despite the conductive material it was wrapped around.
"I-don't-know!"
"So we could still die?"
"Yes!"
"Don't you feel really silly trying this, Stocks!?"
"Do we start bouncing now?" Celery and Glace asked, clinging to the door.
"Bounce away!" Camembert said.
And so, Celery and Glace started tugging on the door they were climbing on, hurling themselves this way and that way for as long as they could.
"Well, I for one, am glad we tried this..." Wheatley joked, feasting his eyes some.
"Wheatley, Stocks, you first!"
======
Wheatley, Stocks, Celery and Glace took turns at holding the lighters and bounding on the door, until the lighters ran out of fluid. No one was surprised, though everyone was disappointed, when the door held just fine through the afternoon.
"We're... out... of lighter fluid... captain."
"Go on without it."
"The corrosion will... be slower. So will... the... fatigue."
"We're almost there. Celery, Stocks, bounce like your life's riding on it."
"I... think the acid... dried."
"Do we have more?" he asked Wheatley. The man shook his head.
"What can we do?"
"We could just... wet it... back..."
"Wet the cloth and get back to bouncing immediately."
"I-I'm sorry, sir... but I ca-can't bounce any longer."
Camembert nodded.
"Wet the cloth and rest, Stocks." he said, jumping on the door and getting to bounce. Celery and Glace bounced on either side of him.
Stocks stumbled forward and sat down next to Wheatley and Martini. He caught his breath as discreetly as he could, wiping the sweat from his face and chest.
"I'm sorry." Martini said. "If I'd just driven more carefully..."
"You did your best. I got us here. We're not going to die here."
Martini nursed his broken arm, looking at Wheatley. The man was just looking at the ground, over 100 feet below.
"We're not going to die here." he repeated, closing his eyes. "We're not going to die here."
======
"Hello!"
Milly came back late in the afternoon, finding all of them sweaty, tired, and somewhat undressed on the ground of their cage. She looked at them for a moment before she dared ask the obvious question. One look from Camembert was all it took for Martini to lean on the door and cover the hinges with his arms, lest she find what they'd done to them.
And yet, she leaned down instead, and struck up a conversation with what seemed to be a rathole. Everyone took a look at her, realizing who she was talking to- tomthumbs. Lots and lots of tomthumbs. Apparently, she lived with 'em... and as the topic drifted to them...
"What were you doing?" Milly asked. "They're telling me you were making noise all afternoon!"
"Who's they?"
"The Alsumi." she smiled. "They're tomthumbs. Like you, but tinier..."
"They aren't like me." Celery waved her tail.
"Or me." Glace crossed her arms.
Her shoulders slumped.
"Well, you kept them up all afternoon. And you can't escape. It's really sturdy: no one has ever broken out."
"First time for everything." Camembert smiled. "No one else had Stocks with them."
"Stocks?"
"This young man over here. He'll break your cage, you'll see."
"Oh! Hello, Stocks. That reminds me, can you tell me your names?"
"I'm... Private Vega Stocks."
"Private Buck Wheatley."
"Stalka Celery."
"Lemon Martini."
"First Officer Cerise Glace."
"And I'm Captain Cornish Camembert."
"Okay..." Milly raised an eyebrow. "So how were you planning to break the cage, anyway?"
"Maybe if we bounced on the door enough..." Stocks replied.
"That door is really, really sturdy." Milly answered. "You're just wasting your time. I've been a bit rough with it a few times, and it's still whole."
"What was it that crushed the cage?"
"What do you mean?"
"It's bent all over..." Stocks replied. "What happened?"
"That was Remus..." Milly looked away.
"And what was Remus?"
"A human."
Wheatley smiled.
"But he had a fairy friend..."
Wheatley's smile faded.
"I see..." Stocks felt up the kinks in the metal bars, wondering about the dimensions of the cage.
"By the way, I'm hungry..." Milly said. "Camembert, right?"
"Of course. Any favourite flavors? I'm guessing we'll leave the chocolate for last..."
"Other than chocolate, not really..."
"Come on, at least tell me if you'd prefer sweet, sour, salty or bitter..."
"I don't like bitter, actually."
"So sweet, sour, salty?"
"I'm in the mood for something sweet."
Camembert stood up.
"Funny that." he sighed. "I've been called sweet. Alright..." he dug around their pile of clothes. "I have..." he continued, disheartened. "I have..." he stopped.
He didn't look at Milly as she unlocked the door. He just stepped on the edge, and waited for her to grab him. Half-heartedly, he squeezed some jellied substance out of a large packet, and poured it on himself.
"Alright..." he sighed. "Ready when you are."
She took a whiff.
"What flavor is this?"
"Pineapple juice." he replied.
"Do you have to be so negative?" she asked.
"I'll struggle."
"Really...? Okay." she said, blankly. Then she opened her mouth, with some hesitation, and popped him in.
======
"What did you think of the flavor?"
"It was... alright?"
"I'll take note of that. Is there something you'd like better?"
"Chocolate?"
"Other than that?"
"Why can't I just have her with chocolate?"
"There are two reasons, Milly." Celery replied. "First, we try to keep our elves for occassions like this one. Second, she is our first officer."
"What's that?"
Glace glared at her.
"What does that mean?" she insisted.
"She was our leader's right hand. And she's the leader now."
"Oh... Congratulations!" she smiled. "You must be proud, huh?"
Another glare.
"Why are you staring at me like that? It's rude!"
"I have no interest in speaking with you."
"Hey!"
Glace shook her head.
"There isn't anything to say. We know already how it ends..." she laid down on the ground and turned away. "Good night."
Milly shook her head. Then she drove her hand inside, grabbing the elf.
"Wait! Chocolate, remember?!" Celery cried. "You can have her with chocolate if you leave her for last!"
"Why don't you just let me eat her? You said it was for occassions like this one!"
"Occassions where we need to encourage something, Milly! Save her for dessert!" Celery gasped. "If you're not going to eat her, put her down!"
"But I am going to eat her."
"Don't! Or we'll eat the chocolate!"
Milly raised her eyebrows.
"I don't like this. You shouldn't be telling me what to do."
"That goes both ways!" Celery hissed, revealing her fangs. "Do you think we LIKE being in your cage, do you think there's any reason for us to do what you say!? I wouldn't be talking to you if I had a choice on the matter."
"So are you going to stop trying to escape?"
"We..." Glace looked into her eyes. "Tonight... not tonight! We're staying here!"
Milly pursed her lips, considering her options.
"Okay... for the chocolate." she put her back in the cage. Glace fell to her knees, shaking in rage. "I'm still going to eat you, you know? Even if I eat you last?"
Glace turned around.
"You won't. I'm going to get out of this cage if it's the last thing I do."
Milly rolled her eyes as she closed and locked the cage.
"Well... you're taking it better than most." she lowered her eyes. "But you're still..."
Celery's face had betrayed her true feelings. Through her composure, Milly realized not a single person in that cage wanted anything to do with her.
She went to bed a little after.
======
He watched her nude body in the bed, her chest rising and falling slowly. The full moon was slowly sweeping over the spectacular sight- now that he was looking from a distance, he didn't mind the size as much. She had smooth skin, and it was not his favourite shade of dark, but when all he could see was a slowly coursing glisten...
"Wheatley."
He turned to Glace.
"Have you come up with something?" she whispered at Stocks.
He shook his head.
"The captain left us most of his clothes."
"They aren't our size, though."
"Maybe we could force the door open with a wedge..."
"Do you have a wedge?"
"I can try to improvise one."
"And then what!?" Wheatley grumbled. "There's nearly a quarter block from there to the floor. We can't just... fall. Not even Celery."
Celery shook her tail.
"If we had a knife, I could clamber over the cage, then up the chain, and try to make a hole on the ceiling... there should be a way to get to the floor from there..."
Glace produced a small knife from her shoe.
"That still leaves the bigger problem..." Stocks turned towards Milly. "Only she can open the cage."
"We could break the locking mechanism while she's opening it."
"If it breaks while open, she'll just eat us all and leave you for last." Stocks grimaced.
"Maybe not. If she doesn't notice..."
"If she doesn't notice, we'll still lose one."
"I volunteer."
Everyone took a look at Wheatley.
"No, it should be me. I broke my ribs and arm- I'd only slow you all down..."
"No. Not you. Anyone but you." Glace said.
"Then it's me, Wheatley, or Stocks."
"Stocks is too valuable."
"The corrosion isn't working. I'm not..."
"I don't mean here."
Wheatley and Celery looked at each other. The neko quickly winced, looked down, and away.
"Are we sure she can cut through the ceiling?" Wheatley frowned, looking at Glace.
"Not really..."
"Don't be ridiculous. If anyone can cut through the ceiling, it's you."
"Very good. I'll... go bounce on the door now..."
"No."
Wheatley raised his eyebrows.
"What?"
"We need to save our strength. I know what you're going to do. It's clever, but it won't work."
"Why not?"
"We need to save our strength."
"So I just bounce a little on the door, make some noise, cut short her sleep, she gets up groggy and eats me so I shut up. There's barely any light right now and she'll be dying to get back to bed. She'll be distracted. It'll be the perfect time to sabotage the mechanism..."
"Unless she's mad I broke my promise. And the cage's bent and screechy, it won't be quiet even if she lets us live..."
"We can use some cloth to dampen the noise."
"You're forgetting the most important part..." Stocks said. "We've got no way of getting down."
"Haven't you thought of something yet?"
"Well..."
"Get on with it."
"We'd need a rope."
"They were in the car."
"Yes, but... each of our shoelaces is nearly two metres long. If we make firm knots..."
"That's nearly twenty-four metres."
"No, we're AT LEAST two metres short."
"So the drop is... what, four metres? Okay, I like this plan." Wheatley grinned.
"But we don't know if our shoelaces will support our weight..." Stocks grimaced.
"What are we doing if it doesn't?"
"We could use a bag. And our shoes. As a counterweight."
"A counterweight?"
"Yes. We'll add another weight at the other end of the rope to balance us out, the tension will be only slightly higher than the lowest of both weights. But if we use too much weight, it snaps and we lose everything."
"Then we'll use all the weight we can and hope..."
"We should just test it."
Taking the aglet of the shoelace in his fingers, Wheatley looked up, at the ceiling of the cage.
"Not now." Glace replied. "Can't afford to make any noise now."
"Where are we getting 60 kilos of material?"
"How much do you think those shoes weigh?"
"We are pretty light, even with the shoes."
"Any other way we can slow the descent?"
"Friction? Trapping air with a parachute? Maybe if we had any rolled up hay at the bottom..."
"So it's up to the shoelaces, then. Couldn't we swing towards the table, maybe, or...?"
"If the shoelace can't support our weight, then no. Jumping won't work, either, it'd pull us back as much as it pulled us up at this angle."
"That's the plan, then. Did anyone take a look at the locking mechanism?"
======
As Milly got up the next morning, she seemed to be in a good mood. But she also seemed to be struggling with something.
"Good morning!" she said without smiling. "I've been thinking about yesterday, and..."
"Good morning, Milly. ...and?" Celery asked.
"And I've decided I'm just gonna eat her now. I can ask a friend for some chocolate..." she went for the lock. Wheatley got in the way, quickly putting his fingers in the hole.
"No! Don't!"
"I don't like all this talk of escaping. And you're making me suspicious... I don't know what were you whispering up there, but you were definitely whispering something last night. It was hard to sleep. You promised you'd stop trying to escape!"
"We were just talking! We didn't try to escape!" Wheatley snarled. Milly flicked his arm out of the way, raising the key... he once more jammed his hand in the middle.
"Cut it out!" she shoved him off, driving the key inside with an unusual screech. "Huh?"
"I told you not to. I warned you!"
"What'd you do?" she shook the key, unable to make it turn. "You broke the lock!"
"Yeah. That's what we'd been whispering last night. You're not getting to her until we're all gone."
"Well, I could've eaten everyone instead, you just had to ask!"
"Oh. Well, it's done." Wheatley spat.
"You're not going to get out by yourself, either." she frowned. "You locked yourself inside."
"We'll figure something out."
Milly looked away for a moment.
"If I'd known you were going to be this much trouble, I'd have just eaten you right there."
"Well, sucks to be you."
"Why are you out in the jungle if you don't want to be eaten? Why don't you just go home?"
"Why don't YOU go away!? Some people out there want to go home. And our mission is to give them a chance. If we aren't out there, they'll never find their way home... because... of you." he completed.
Milly crossed her arms.
"Well, Yemic should be able to get you out of there."
"Yemic?" Wheatley smirked.
"My boyfriend."
"A locksmith?"
"A fairy."
And Wheatley's face drained of all color. He turned around, looking at his comrades, all of which had terrified glares to offer him.
"...boyfriend?" Martini grimaced. "I'd sooner it were a w-"
"Don't finish!" Glace cried.
"Okay, hold on tight. I'm going to take you out..."
"No!" Wheatley snarled. "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!"
"Be quiet! You've been enough trouble already."
"No, no, NO, NO, NO! You can't! You can't, not after all this...!" Wheatley looked around quickly. "Celery!" he extended his arm, just as Milly put her hand above the cage. She was about to unhook it from the ceiling... he was running out of time...
Taking the knife, he braced himself, jumped, and looked at Milly's finger. It was massive, but still flesh, and even if he couldn't get out, he could still poke his arm out of the cage... and the hand that held the blade plunged it right in her fingertip, under her nail.
"DON'T TOUCH THAT! DON'T DO THAT!" Wheatley cried, wild-eyed, as she withdrew her finger.
"You prick...!" she gasped. "I'm bleeding!"
"DON'T TOUCH IT! GET AWAY! NOW!" he spat, shaking. "GET OUT! GET OUT!"
"Where'd you get that knife!? Give it to me!"
"GET OUT! GET OUT!" he drew a packet from under his clothes, and stabbed it, a green liquid bursting from the plastic. "I SAID GET OUT!"
"Why you...!" she grabbed the cage with both hands, trying to get her fingers between the bars. Unfortunately for her, her fingers were thicker than his head, almost too thick for the cage, and just fleshy enough that he would waste no time in going after her third knuckles. She thought immediately of her experiences with biting animals, but through these bars it was hard to grab him.
So she shook the cage. He quickly clung to the floor, clenching his teeth, looking at the frenzied eyes of his companions. This could be the end.
"Give it to me!" she said, suddenly finding her hands unresponsive with pain. "What... did you do?" she gasped.
"Salt jellied in green lime! Can you taste the pain!?"
She glared at him.
"Why do you...!" she winced, clenching her fist. "I should've eaten you first!"
"You're not bringing me to Limic!"
"It's Yemic, you..." she tilted the cage. Everyone held to the bars, him included- she took the chance to grab his arm and pull.
"YAAARGH!"
"Don't move! Give me the knife!"
"CELERY! GRAB THE KN-AARAARARGGH!"
"Give it to me!"
By the time they got their wits back, Milly's punch had given Wheatley a dislocated shoulder and a large flesh from his shoulder to his elbow, bleeding terribly. Worse still, they'd lost the knife, which clanked against the ground.
"NO!"
"Cut it out, you creep!" she said, as she got back to working on the mechanism that would detach the cage from the chain it hung on.
"NO! NOOOOO! NO DAMN IT! DAMN IT, NO!"
"Shut up, you did it to yourself." Milly frowned. Wheatley stood up, weakly, taking the pack of jellied salt... and squeezing it at the mechanism.
"Argh!" she said, as the object she was working with her freshly slashed fingers became coated in pain juice. Unfortunately for her, she needed both hands- and both were bleeding. She took a piece of cloth, and wiped the mechanism clean. Then she realized the cloth was getting bloody.
"Ouch! I think you cut something deep... I ought to..." she looked at him again. Then she gave the cage another slap. "Ouch!"
Wheatley looked at her with horror. Now she was pissed. But surely she'd eat him first. But the lock was broken. But... no, he couldn't foresee anything anymore. Something about shoelaces laid on the back of his mind, but it seemed so distant. All there was were the giantess' teary, angry eyes.
"Milly!? What's going on!?" a voice asked, too low for him to hear. All he saw was that she looked down... far down... an Alsumi?
"Good morning, Tina. Ow!" she licked her finger. "I think this creep cut me deep."
"Someone hurt you!?"
"I can't really pick you up right now..." she continued. "I'm going to have to wash this." she said, taking a cloth soaked in water from a (relatively) small jar. She wiped her hands.
"He slashed at your fingers!? That's horrible!" he started catching bits, while his breath returned to normal.
"I was trying to eat him... and then he broke the lock, slashed at my fingers..." he gasped, crawling to the edge. Celery helped him up. At this distance he couldn't really see it, but there seemed to be someone... or something... in the shadow. He could catch a distant murmur. How the giantess could hear it, he didn't know.
"Are you hurt?"
"It hurts, and I think he cut something deep. It won't stop bleeding."
"Put pressure on it!"
"I hope this doesn't leave a scar, you trash!" she cried.
"You... might want to raise it." Celery offered.
"And what do YOU care?"
"Some things fight back, and you get hurt instead." the neko replied. "If you raise your hand, the pressure in it will drop."
"..."
"I'm a predator too. I can sympathize."
"Well, he shouldn't have cut me!"
"Do you really believe that? If he hadn't cut you, he'd be dead soon. If it's alright to eat him, it's okay to cut you."
"I want to kill him!"
"Revenge is an ugly thing."
"He deserves it!"
"No, he doesn't. That's why you're angry. And because he just cost you five meals."
"I'll just bring you to Yemic." Milly grimaced, wrapping a strip of cloth around her injuries. Then she went back at the linking mechanism...
...to which she found another one of her prisoners soaked the cloth around her wounds with another packet of salt and green lime.
"Ah-H! Who the hell do you think you are!?"
"We aren't going anywhere." Celery said, discarding the package.
Milly stepped back.
"You..." she sobbed back her anger. "This changes nothing. I'll just bring Yemic here."
"Good." Celery said. "We'll make sure to struggle- if you eat us in the right order."
"Why do you care so much what order I eat you in?"
"It's complicated."
"You weren't getting out before, and you aren't getting out now, you know!? When Yemic gets here, it... it's gonna hurt!"
"That's just the frustration talking, Milly. I'm sure you'll change your mind after having breakfast."
Milly looked down.
"I'm going to get Yemic, Tina. Can you keep an eye on them?"
"What!?" Celery cried.
"I don't know if I can be of much help... but which one hurt you?"
"A blonde guy with a square face. I hurt his arm too. It's okay, just tell me what they've been up to when I get back."
Celery turned to look at something that right now was somewhere on the ground before Milly's kneeling face.
"Is that a tomthumb?" she asked, her pupils widening.
Milly glared at her. Celery suddenly felt self-conscious about the fact she was a neko.
"I'm getting Yemic."
======
"Okay, let me give you a warning. Get out now, or I'll consider you involved."
There was no response.
"You wouldn't happen to know how to get out, would you? Might not come after you if you tell me how."
Still no response.
"So... do you two go back a long way?"
"What did you do?" Tina replied.
"Wheatley poured some skevols into the lock." Celery smiled "She's stronger than she knows, so when she shoved in the key, it bent both the locking mechanism and the key itself."
"Wheatley?"
"The one who stabbed her."
"And why did he do that? She'll just bring Yemic here anyway."
"It buys us one return trip and a breakfast."
"It's no use. Nobody's ever escaped the cage."
"First time for everything. We've got a huge mission to carry out this time, we can't let anything stop us."
"What could be so important?"
"Well, we met a giantess called Eleonore."
"Ellie?"
"Yes. she's from another world... and she gave us a message for her family. We're going to deliver it."
"No, we're not!" Wheatley growled.
"How are you getting to her world, then?"
"Won't know 'till we try. But I'm sure I can."
"It sounds to me like you're just trying to make yourself look like the good guy. Your friend cut up Milly."
"It was just the fingers."
"Well, he hurt her."
"She hurt two of our friends."
"It's not the same thing."
"I know, it won't kill her."
"It doesn't matter! She's my friend-"
"Look, Tina. We're running out of time. Will you help us?"
"I can't, and even if I could, I wouldn't. She has every right to eat you."
"Hah! No wonder you're friends. You'd make a great giantess."
No response.
"Come on, you have to have something to say about that! It's not like they tell you that every day, right?"
Still no response.
"When I get out... you'll regret everything you said."
She turned to Stocks.
"How strong is the shoelace?"
"Strong enough to get down, but we'll have to rappel anyway. It's too thin to climb down..."
"But how are we getting... out!?"
"The cloth burned through the iron in the hinges..." Stocks said. "But we're still nowhere near close enough, I'm sorry."
"So I trapped us here." Wheatley looked down.
"Mmmaybe not..." Stocks said. "She shook the cage, and it held. She pulled on the door, and it held. But she wasn't using wedges."
"Wedges?"
Stocks walked up to the hinges, and took off his belt. Feeling for a smooth section, he wrapped the belt multiple times around that section. Then he started pushing it down, somewhere there was less slack between the bars and the door. Wrapping multiple loops into the buckle, he pushed the makeshift device down, forcing the door away from the support bar. The hinge creaked. He held his breath.
"You did it, Stocks!"
"Not yet... this might not be enough force..."
Struggling with the door, Celery granted Stocks some slack to push the belt loop farther down. The metal door got held a little farther from its frame...
...but it wouldn't break.
"Damn." Stocks crumbled to the ground. "We tried."
"Not yet, look!"
Celery managed to squeeze her arm between the door and its frame on the top side of it.
"Hold the door, please..." she added, crawling up... and up... and out!
"I'm out! Stocks, you did it! We're saved!" she grinned. "She'll never know what happened!"
"Don't celebrate just yet. Let's first get the hell outta here."
"Say we do, then what?"
"The car..." Glace whispered, leering at the spot Tina had been before. "But before that, we improvise. Celery?"
Celery looked where Glace had been looking, and then grinned, gingerly stripping down to nothing.
"Make a counterweight, Stocks." she tossed the bundle at him with a wink.
======
Stocks' device was short of a few parts, but the fall was manageable for Celery. Once on the ground, she helped catch Glace. Stocks had to come last, because Martini and Wheatley were injured. They spent little time donning all their gear back after using it as a counterweight... and then, they improvised.
"She's pissed, and so is her fairy boyfriend." Glace smirked. A good memory was the main quality of a good first officer. "Celery, do you have what I asked you for?"
Celery shrugged. Then she opened her mouth, and pulled out one of the tiny people living together with Milly. Glace narrowed her eyes.
"Are you sure that's... Tina?"
"It's not her; that one had the presence of mind to scurry back to the walls. This one gawked a little too long..." she smiled. "They really had never seen anything like that!"
"She'll have to do..." Glace hissed.
"Do you want me to smoke them all out?" Wheatley grinned. "I've got some matches. The weave of the walls is flammable."
"Time's of the essence, Wheatley."
"She'll spend some time putting off the flames."
"We don't have time to light anything. We march out, NOW. Wheatley, you hold on to the hostage."
"I'm not digesting right now..." Celery volunteered.
"I need our hostage on display, and your hands better be free." Glace smiled briefly, crouching to pick up her knife.
"WE HAVE CAUGHT ONE OF YOU. IF ANYONE COMES AFTER US, SHE'S DEAD. WE'RE GOING FOR BROKE HERE, DO YOU UNDERSTAND? NO THREAT AND NO WARNING IS MAKING US STOP."
Stocks frowned.
"Are you sure you wanna do this, Glace? I mean, attacking her is one thing, but hostages...?"
"Stocks! We have to!" she frowned. "Do you think, even for a moment, that she'd hesitate to do the same to us!? She wanted to eat Wheatley. She wanted to eat me. She wanted to eat YOU. She ate Kimchi and Camembert."
"Yes, but..."
"If you don't, we'll all die- our hostage included. If her life means anything to you, now's the time to show it."
======
After washing her hands and grabbing breakfast, Milly finally found Yemic by mid-morning. Or rather, he found her. When Yemic didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be, and Milly was hardly the only thing looking around. After explaining the situation, he was appropriately upset, as any man in love would be. The two of them went to her place, where he meant to knock a few maniacs down a peg or two...
...and they found the cage empty.
"Oh my word!" Milly frowned. "I can't believe it! They got away!" Then she looked down; Tina was there on the ground, waving her arms desperately. "Tina, what's the matter?"
"They took Apna!"
Milly's heart sunk.
"What...!?"
"They forced the door off a little and squeezed through. Then they... they got down..."
"How!? Nevermind that... they took Apna?"
"The neko came down first. Apna was in the middle of the floor. She tried to run, but the neko was faster! She took her in her mouth, and...!"
"She ate her!?"
"She's alive!" Tina explained. "But they said that if you go after them, they'll kill her."
"They took one of your tomthumbs?"
"Do you know where they went?" Milly's face steeled.
"They were careful not to say it on the ground. I don't know."
"Do you know what direction they went in?"
"They were going south..."
"Is there anything to the south, Milly?" Yemic asked.
"The wreck!" Milly's eyes widened. "They must be going towards where I caught them!"
"How'd they get the best of you like this? Hadn't they said they were food?"
"Not food, F.O.O.D! Let's hurry to the wreckage..."
"But hadn't they said they'd kill her if you showed up?"
"I can't just leave her there!"
======
Meanwhile, at the wreck, Glace was having trouble keeping her composure.
"Delightful. Just delightful." she mumbled, looking at the small broken pieces of steel that lined the ground. "How!?"
"It was just yesterday morning!"
"Well, WHERE is our stuff!?"
They were in the right place. Martini recognized the marks he'd left on the car he'd nicked while trying to get away from Milly, the rock he'd bumped on, and the scorch marks. But their arsenal was missing, and their supplies, even the CARS. And it had been barely 24 hours!
"Found anything!?"
"There's a bunch of tracks here... and that's some tire tracks... someone showed up and looted our mobile."
"How many tracks? How did they get our car out? It was destroyed!"
"That's a little more interesting..." Martini said. "Over there is a couple giant bare footprints."
"So?"
"Just a couple. I think we're talking fairies."
"So a fairy stole our cars. Both of them."
"Pretty much."
"How much worse could it get?"
"I found a note..." Wheatley said. "But I can't read it."
Glace took the note.
"'Greetings! In light of present looting incidents in the vicinity, your equipment has been placed safely into storage by your friendly neighborhood merchant; contact Gunther if you wish to reclaim it!'" she read. "Oh, fine print... 'Warning: Donated items will be auctioned off if not reclaimed within the allotted time.'" she flipped the note. "Oh, that's so kind of him. I just wish he'd left some contact information!"
"Here's something!"
Martini pulled something from the ground. The comm suite from the car, a large box reminiscent of a jukebox... he opened it, finding a few loose connectors.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it..." he quickly put everything back where it belonged, turning one dial. A whirr of life emanated from the box, rejuvenating their hopes.
"I'll see if the remote units work." he added, taking a small communicator from its center, and throwing it away, then another, and throwing it away. "All busted!" he finally went for the center speaker. "Hello!? This is FP-23. I repeat, this is FP-23. Control, do you copy?"
"Copy you, FP-23. What's your status?"
The whole group pumped their fists at the response.
"We're 3 hours north. I repeat, 3 hours north. We need immediate evac. Giantess Milly and a fairy may be in pursuit. Captain Camembert and Private Kimchi down. I repeat, Camembert is down."
"Dispatching evac now, FP-23. Estimated time of arrival, 4 hours."
"Requesting quicker dispatch." Martini replied.
"Negative, FP-23."
"Drat..."
"So what are we doing with this?" Wheatley said, raising his hand. A less than three-inch woman lay between his clenched fingers, her clothes wet with the neko's saliva... "There's no way they'll let us take her away, you know that?"
"Not in front of the hostage." Glace glared at Stocks. "As for what..." she thought fast "we'll use remote control."
"What...?"
"You remember that lead you said you had, Wheatley? Give it here."
Wheatley nodded, pulling out a shell from his pocket. She took her knife, and delicately removed the lead balls from the shell.
"Rig this to go off if remotely triggered." she handed the empty shell at Stocks, taking the tiny. He looked at the propellant, whose cap she'd handed to
"That's im-"
"Build me a remote controlled detonator, Stocks." she insisted.
"This isn't even the ex-"
She put a finger to his mouth. Then she pushed his face away. He motioned for the propellant...
"You hang on to that, Wheatley. That's an order. What's your name?" Glace turned to the woman.
"I... I'm Apna... what are you doing to me?" she gasped.
"On your knees."
"Why are you doing this?"
"On your knees, now!"
Apna quickly got on her knees. Glace put the cap of the shell on the tiny's back, and wrapped the cable around it.
"It's tight!"
"That's the idea. Lean back."
"What are you doing...!?"
"I rigged the object on your back to detonate if I give the signal."
"Detonate?"
"It'll kill you."
"W... why would you do that?"
"So Milly doesn't try anything brave, that's why! I also want you to keep quiet, so open your mouth."
"Open my mouth!? Are you going to kill me...!?"
"That's entirely up to you." she said, picking a paperclip from her pocket. "Open it."
"But..."
Sighing, Glace bunched up a wad of cloth and stuffed it in her mouth, holding it in place with a paperclip. She had to use all her dexterity not to cram it all the way to the back of Apna's throat; the elasticity of the material bothered her somewhat.
"Can you breathe?"
Apna couldn't move, but she could breathe, or else she'd have shown some signs of choking. She just looked at Glace, her eyes wide and teary.
Glace's eyes softened for a moment.
"I..." she began. "Personally guarantee your safe return to your loved ones. I have a message for Milly, and I want you to deliver it. Will you do that for me?" she didn't wait for an answer. "I'll give you the message, Apna. It's up to you whether you deliver it or not. I'd rather you did... but I understand if you don't. No harm will come to you from me either way."
Just as Glace was delivering her message, powerful stomps started echoing through the jungle. Glace nodded at Stocks and company, picking the worst broken communicator of the lot. Several cables were coming out.
"Take a communicator each..." she winced. "...and may Minalca bless us now."
======
By the time Milly arrived, she was a mess. Her face was drawn tight, her hair was all over the place, and she was bouncing with a thumping noise that made everyone nervous. But Glace just stood with her back against a tree, holding up the tomthumb in her hand.
Milly's face came close to her, then she just brought her hand...
...and Glace took her knife.
"Not another movement" Glace said "or she dies."
"... I don't believe you. You wouldn't get away!"
"Do you want to gamble with her life!?" Glace cried. "All it takes is one error in my grip, and she'll be jelly one way or another. I don't even need the knife- I'm just using it for theatrical value!" she added, throwing the knife under Milly's colossal bosom.
Milly pursed her lips.
"Let her go."
"Get away, Milly. She'll be fine."
"I don't trust you!"
"You should!" Glace grinned. "We told you we'd get away, and we did. You might even get past me, but you know what? It won't save her life. How's your fingers?"
"What are you talking about!?"
"I'm about to open my hand, Milly. No sudden movements. Even if you kill me and leave her untouched, she'll die. I put an explosive on her."
"An explosive?"
"Look closely!" Glace cried. "There's an explosive wrapped around her body. If I give the signal, she gets it. If you eat me, my comrade gives the signal. If you or anyone rips it off her, it'll detonate. She'll only be safe once we're out of range."
"No way! Where would you get an explosive?"
"We found a few bullets at the wreckage. It's not much, but it doesn't take much to kill her either."
"Why!?"
"..."
"Give her to me."
"Now we're talking. Turn around and give me your nape. I'll glue her to your nape."
"What!?"
"I don't want you taking any chances. If you think it's her life at stake, you may take your chances with me bluffing. But if it's YOUR neck that's in danger..."
"I'm not giving you my neck!"
"Why not? I'm not carrying any weapons! By the way, did you find your boyfriend?" she shuddered, as if affected by a sudden premonition. "WHEATLEY!" she cried, getting no response. "Where's everyone!?" she still got no response. "You filthy bitch- you and your disgusting boyfriend-" she cried, shaking and breaking into a cold sweat. Her eyes widened, tears starting to form. "...no." she grimaced.
"Let her go!" Glace seemed to withdraw from her livid gaze, even with her back against the tree.
"But... I have to kill her now, so you'll know not to fuck with us in the future. I p-promised you, so now I have-"
"If you don't let her go... I'm taking you to my friends. They know how to hurt you."
"I figure!" she spat. "B-but what about the next group? I have to kill her now- so you know that I will. That WE will."
"It won't help you."
"I'm not here to help myself. But maybe you'll take the next squad more seriously. It's a shame, you know... I personally promised her that she'd see her family again. I won't be keeping my promise to her, but who cares what a dead woman promised a dead tomthumb?"
She looked with dead fish eyes at Milly.
"But maybe one-upping me is more important than her. You can't lose to a bluff. You're too proud for that."
"I'm not!"
"Then give me your neck?"
"I'm not giving you my neck!"
"Oh! Silly me." Glace grinned. "Right, your fingers. I can put her on your hand, if you'd like. If... Yemic returns my comrades."
"No, Milly. She's bluffing. She doesn't have any explosives." Yemic said, appearing to Glace's left. She leered off the corner of her eye, not daring look away from Milly for long. "And all the remotes are broken."
"Actually, you do believe it." Glace said. "Otherwise, you'd have given them up and then eaten them again."
"Then you'd have just asked for something more." Yemic frowned. "You can't get away, and you know it."
Glace paled.
"Milly, it doesn't matter what we do. She won't give her up."
Glace's mouth twisted and turned. She started shivering.
"Isn't that right?"
They had looked at each other. Glace's hands were shaking beyond words. This was a bluff on their part! They couldn't be calling hers. It had... to be a bluff. They... couldn't... risk the tomthumb... Apna...
"You think... I don't have one!?" she cried. "Should've known. You bitch, you pig... I'll show you..."
"Let her go." Yemic commanded.
Glace's shallow breaths stopped, and she raised her hands slowly, tears streaming from her eyes.
"D-don't... make any sudden moves. I'm... letting her go." she said, almost sobbing. "I'm... lowering her... carefully, see? Let me... put her... on the ground." she released the tied up tomthumb on the ground. Milly's hand went towards her... and she put her shoe atop the tomthumb.
"BACK OFF OR I'LL GRIND HER INTO THE DIRT!" she cried, taking the communicator from her pocket. "You thought I really didn't have a remote!? Fine. Hey! Ears!" she turned to Yemic, whose eyes had suddenly grown really wide. "You wanna see a remote?"
Yemic didn't move. He was only looking at her.
"I know what you're thinking. You're thinking maybe you can shrink me while I'm not paying attention. You're wondering if you can shrink my hand away from this device, aren't you!?"
"It's broken. Quit doing that, this isn't the time for being annoying!"
Glace tried to smirk. He held his stare.
"You're right... it's broken." she looked down. "I just... needed... a little more time..."
"Why? Is help coming?"
"Or a-a kensha." she replied, wincing, pulling out several wires from the communicator. "M-maybe... if I wait enough, a kensha will..."
"You've got five seconds." Yemic pointed.
Glace gulped, taking the wires in her hands.
"Y-Yemic, isn't it?"
"Four."
"I guess I'm not getting out of this."
"Three."
"I-I'll give her up. Just do one thing for me."
"Two."
"Say you love me."
"One."
"..."
Glace just looked into his eyes.
"Give her up."
"Say you love me." she insisted. "Just do it. No more stalling if you don't. She'll be safe. I promise."
Milly gave her a dirty look.
"Why?"
"They'll hurt me..." she winced. "Even if it's a lie- I just want to hear it. I want to hear someone say it before I die."
"You're sick."
Glace gulped.
"Grant me this fantasy, then..." she lowered her hands. "Tell her you love her."
"What?"
"Tell her you love her. Tell her everything will be okay. Tell her nobody's going to get hurt. Tell her what I want to hear, and let me pretend it's me." she gulped.
"Hmph..." he narrowed his eyes. "Milly, everything's going to be okay-"
"Do it like she's afraid. Like you'll save her. Like she NEEDS to know you love her." she shook.
Yemic grimaced.
"Give her up."
"I'll give her up first. If you promise you'll do it. I promise I'll give her up first... if you let me hear it... before she touches me." Glace said. "Promise?"
"... I promise. Let her go, now."
Closing her eyes, Glace looked farther up into the sky. Then, shaking, she removed her foot from atop the tomthumb, counting every second she gave herself to lift her foot, and slowly place it away. Clutching the remote, she brought one hand to the wires.
"Now say it. You promised! You promised to tell her you love her!" she gulped. "You promised..." she closed her eyes.
Yemic seemed to consider it for a moment.
"Milly," he began. Glace grimaced. "Everything's gonna be alright. I'm not letting anything happen to you-"
She crossed the wires.
BANG!
Yemic jumped back at the sound, raising a hand to his belly. Milly hopped back too. Glace's leapt off the root and took some distance. Just as Milly got close, she raised the cables.
"The tomthumb's next!"
"Alright, alright. We get it." Yemic said, looking at his belly, the source of the explosion. "Just take it easy, alright?"
"Milly. Step back, at least 100 feet back, and Yemic, return my team."
"Look, don't...!"
"Do it- or we're done! Now!"
Milly scrambled to her feet, and withdrew. Then, slowly, Yemic coughed up all of her teammates. He placed them on the ground, one by one- helping each other, they stumbled towards Glace.
"Everyone alright?"
"Kind of..." Stocks coughed.
"Three hours from now, we'll be gone. You better take her the other way if you want to be sure we can't kill her!"
Furious, frightened, and wordless, Milly watched them run off into the horizon. Yemic took a last look at the elf as she left, and looked down.
Milly checked up on Apna, and then, shaking, she withdrew.
======
"You okay, Glace?"
"Do you think I'm a monster, Stocks?"
Stocks shook his head.
"I don't envy your part one bit, Glace. But you were strong. You did the right thing. I'd never have thought of making him give us the signal."
"Though I nearly lost a finger lighting the shell." Wheatley smiled.
Glace was holding her arms to her chest, still shaking.
"I took one last look back as we ran. They..." Glace sobbed "she was shaking. Angry. Scared. And he... he comforted her. He held her. She was crying on... his... shoulder. Like... PEOPLE... do."
"What is it with these freaks!?" Wheatley grumbled in sympathy.
"They aren't 'freaks'." Celery coughed.
"I looked into her eyes. Apna, that tiny woman. She looked at me... like a monster. Like I looked at... the giantess." Glace sobbed. "I... wanted to stay alive. There's still so much to be done, is that so wrong!? She lives... with someone who puts people in a cage. A CAGE! A cage, waiting to be eaten!"
"It's over now." Martini replied.
"You must think I'm... wrong in the head or something... to be crying now..."
"It's okay." Wheatley sighed. "It's all over. It's okay to cry now."
"She ate Kimchi. And Camembert!"
"And she's gonna need a new cage." Stocks frowned. "I left her a parting gift."
"What did you do?"
"I put the acid-soaked cloth on the holding hook: that piece is under extreme tension, it'll fail that much faster. If she doesn't figure it out, someday that cage's gonna come loose and smash itself against the ground."
"There could be people inside."
"Not with a jammed lock."
"And if she gets it fixed?"
"When she tries to put the cage back, the holding mechanism will fail."
"Considered the possibility that she might get it fixed, catch a human on the way back, replace it, and then the hook will break?"
"Yes. I hope they find it a mercy kill..." Stocks lookeda down.
"By the way..." Martini asked. "What was the message you asked Apna to deliver?"
"I wanted to tell Milly..." she raised her eyes. "that I'm sorry I had to do all that bad stuff and say those mean things, and I know she's mad, but I hope she won't stay mad for long, because we're not bad people. She has so many friends that I can't think she's a bad person."
"Feh. And if you had had to kill Apna? What then?" Wheatley asked, bitterly.
"Then I guess nothing I said would've really meant anything to her anymore. Would it?" she looked at Wheatley.
Quietly, he looked out the edge of the jeep on his back seat, thinking about Camembert and Kimchi. There'd be a time for mourning later- for now, he tasted freedom on the wind that blew on his face. The colors of the darkening afternoon were a treat that he ought to get his fill off.
Nobody could fault him for that.
Subject: Borrowed Time 
Sun Dec 07, 2014 5:33 am
