Once in a Lifetime – Chapter 20

At the Palrick household, it was utter silence. Nothing but the soft snoozing of Mr. and Mrs. Palrick. It was 9:00 AM, and the two both had the same day off from their tiring jobs.

On their bedside table, a phone breaks the silence with an ear-piercing ring.

Mr. Palrick groaned, putting the pillow over his ears, while Mrs. Palrick’s eyes flung open. She rubbed them, yawning, and answered the phone.

“H…” She yawned again. “Hello?”
“Hi mom.” Spoke a monotone voice. It was Louise.

She rubbed her eyes again. “Louise? Why are you calling? Is everything all right?”
“I am sorry. I am not home. I stayed with Davis all night.”
Mrs Palrick quickly sat up with a distressed look on her face. “You’re not home? Honey, where are you? Are you okay?”

She heard a rumbling over the mic, then another voice.
“Hi Mrs. Palrick, it’s Davis! I’m sorry, we kinda were out pretty late at my house, and didn’t want to risk going outside. You know, with the crazy guy. So Louise just stayed with me for the night, we’re both fine!”
She rolled her eyes, but sighed in relief. “Hi Davis, and I appreciate you doing that favor for her. A curfew is still a curfew though, she should have been home before it even got dark.” 

“Yes, I’m really sorry. I promise, I’ll be more observant.”
“It should be Louise apologizing, not you. Still, in better news, I heard at work yesterday the police managed to catch the culprit! Apparently it was just some poor, crazy old man…”
“I hope that means things are safer, right?”
“Of course, but I still wanna see Louise home by dinnertime. I know you two like your alone time together, but she still has some responsibilities of her own to tend to!”

Davis gulped. “I promise!”
He hung up the phone, walking side by side with Queen.

“All right, at least she won’t be worrying, but now we have to get her back home sooner than expected, unless you want to pretend to be her? But for now, we need to plan.”

The two approached Royalty Burgers, which had just opened. 

“Oh yeah, uh I don’t think they serve burgers this early? They have a breakfast menu.”
Queen cocked her head. “Why? Are burgers bad if eaten early?”
Davis stared blankly for a few moments. “I mean no. But people… like certain foods at certain times of day.”
“Well, the food I want is a burger.”

They pushed through the double doors, and one of the cashiers waved.

“If it isn’t our burger girl!” He exclaimed. 

Queen stared at him, and shirked back slightly. 

She whispered to Davis. “I don’t like this. They are starting to notice me more…”
“We’ve got the grills ready to go for you girl! Just let us know what you want!”
Davis walked to the counter, pulling out his wallet.
“You uh, serve burgers this early?”

“Not normally, but for her? I’m sure my boss will gladly make an exception.”

Davis stared at his spooked friend. “Well, don’t worry. This just means that they like you Queen. They want to make you more burgers.”
She relaxed, loosening her body. She stared at the cashier. “You do? For me? Are you a friend?”
The cashier shrugged. “Sure, anything to keep one of our best customers happy.”
Her eyes beamed. “Five. I want five of those.” She pointed at a double bacon cheeseburger.

Davis grimaced as he looked down at his wallet. “Just… A sausage sandwich for me I guess… And a soda too.”

---

Louise didn’t know what time it was when she woke up. It was the same cramped cell with the same pitcher of water and the same bit of MRE she hadn’t eaten yet.

That and now the new itching feeling all over her body. 

She was covered in soot, grime, and dust, and her uncomfortable bed was covered in the clutter as well. She grumbled.

“So that’s how you’re gonna play, huh? Don’t think I see right through you!” She yelled. “I’m a lot tougher than you think! A bit of dirt and grime isn’t going to hold me down!”

She sat up, looking at the pitcher. A bit of water just to scrub herself slightly would be nice.

She coughed. Her throat also still felt incredibly irritated from all the soot she inhaled.

She sighed, pouring herself a glass of water, and gulping it down. Wiping the moisture off her mouth, she returned to her cot, pulling out the GPS collar. 

Click. Click. Click. Click.

She flickered it on and off, Anything to keep her mind off the itching feeling. 

Minutes later, her cell door flung open. Taser prongs flew through the opening, latching onto her, but no electricity firing off. The Collector walked in with a stern look on his face.

“Now, what do you think you’re doing?”
He moved closer to Louise, keeping a firm grip on the rifle.

She looked up. “You said to follow your orders. I don’t remember you saying I COULDN’T fidget around with this.”
“Are you even thinking through what you’re doing with that? I’m very aware that it’s some transmitter to your friends.”
“Of course I am! I told you before, when Queen and Davis get back here, we’re gonna kick your but and get out of here!”
He chuckled. “Good. You’re saving me a lot of trouble, inviting those two here. Continue your ‘fidgeting’.”

Louise paused, staring down at the collar. She smiled back at him. “Gladly.” Continuing to periodically flick the switch on and off.”
He laughed, retracting the taser prongs to the rifle. “I’m glad you’re finally starting to listen to me. With that said, I hope you’ll keep behaving. I’ll have another job for you soon.”

He left her cell, slamming the door shut.

Louise had stopped flicking the switch on and off, with a very irritated expression on her face.
She gripped the collar tight. “Well, not my fault you gave me an idiotic order!” Flickering it with renewed vigor.

---

An hour had passed. A few dozen pages of would-be plans were crumpled, torn, or scratched out. He stared at a fresh page of his lined notebook, holding his head in his hands.

Queen was working on burger number four, recently discovering if she took her time eating, she could savor all of the flavor packed between the buns.

She stared at her distressed friend. 

“Is there something wrong with your brain again?”
He looked up, looking annoyed at her comment..

“No, it’s… Not the same as this morning. Okay, maybe kinda. The planning for all of this is kinda stressful though. See, to start, we got our pathway into the facility, right. And you can guide us to wherever Louise is. But what if we run into complications? Like locked doors, or keycard doors. Then I’d have to carry you through the walls phased out. And then when I do, I’ll be out numb for a bit. I also have to keep in mind that the place could be pitch black, or VERY well lit, which will hamper my abilities even more.”
He tapped his chin. “Maybe some guards or whoever have keys we could use? But what if their keys only work in certain parts of the facility? What if they aren’t carrying keys and everything is passcode based? In fact, what do we even do if we encounter a guard? If we’re spotted at all, are we just screwed?”
He thought about the idea of having to kill some poor guard who spotted him.
Who are they, what friends do they have, what expectations do others have for them, are they supporting their poor family? All questions that wouldn’t matter anymore if he just killed anyone.

He shuddered.

No way I’m ready for that…

“Then also comes the issue of breaking Louise out. Once we get to her and set her free, we’re obviously going to be noticed. How many people do you think could just come down on top of us and capture, or kill all of us?”

Queen stared. “I could fight them off. I will not let them surprise me. They will not capture me again.”

“Yeah, but we don’t know how many of them there are. Not to mention, all of them will be armed. You aren’t bulletproof, are you?”

“I can reinforce myself with armor. That can help.”
“But for how long? They could have simple pistols, maybe high powered rifles, or grenades even? Stealth is still our best option.”

“Maybe there are other paths we can take? Like the air ducts at the school? There are also those underground tunnels around towns. The ones that have those metal caps.
“Sewers? I mean, maybe? But I don’t want to rely on some pipe system… Maybe we could find out where the electricity runs in the place, and kill the power before rescuing Louise? But if we’re not fast enough, they could fix it? Or what if they have some backup power source?”

He started scribbling on the notebook again.

“Cutting the power would be at most a distraction, but maybe we need some big distraction? Like maybe I could just build a big bomb or something, blow up something important? It’s a monster zoo too, maybe we could free one of them, somehow?”
He stopped writing, and then tore out the page, crumpling it.

“No, there’s still too many variables… There has to be, like SOMETHING!”

He took a deep breath.

“Maybe I could build a bomb, you could take it through air vents… Wait, do you know what a generator or battery or what electricity even is?”
Queen stared, shaking her head as she took another bite of her meal.

“Maybe Von Chad could help, or maybe Benefactor has blueprints, maybe…”
He set his head down on the table. 

“Maybe I just need a quick rest again. I gotta figure something out…”
Queen finished her fourth burger, and reached to unwrap number five. She froze.

Sniffing the air, she looked towards the front counter.

There stood a man, but he certainly didn’t smell human at all.

He was incredibly tall, wearing a nice coat and button-up vest, with a white dress shirt beneath, alongside nice work pants, short combed hair, and a pair of dark shades.
He stood at the counter, making his order.

Queen shook Davis.

“Davis, there’s a cryptid here.”
The boy shot up, whirling around. “Where? What do you mean?”
She stopped his panicking, and pointed towards the man at the counter.

“Him. He does not smell human.”
Davis turned away from the man, and Queen as well.

“Are you sure? Monsters don’t wander around in public, let alone buy burgers.”
“The scent is undeniable.”
Davis glared back at the man, standing patiently at the counter, then back to Queen.

“All right… Maybe Collector had some other trick up his sleeve involving a shapeshifter, but I still think we shouldn’t jump to conclusions.”
“But attacking from above would be good for us?”
He shook his head. “No no no, it’s a figure of speech. Before we do anything to him, let’s trail him. Watch him from a distance, see if he’s actually a threat, or anything else. Not like we can attack him in broad daylight anyways.”

After shoveling down her final burger, Queen sat near motionless, keeping her eyes locked on the potential cryptid. Davis acted as natural as possible, sipping on his drink and only glancing back at the man every so often.

He stood, silently tapping his foot for several minutes, not even bothering to check his surroundings. Several minutes later, the cashier hands him a large brown bag, presumably full of food. He takes it and leaves.
Queen stands up, but Davis grabs her by the sleeve.
She turns back to him, with a fierce look on her face.

“We need to watch him. Get up.”
“Look, even if he is a monster, he doesn’t seem to be bothering anyone. Besides, what’s the worst he can do with a bag of burgers?”
Queen growled. “He could still be a threat. We need to be sure. Hurry.”
She pulled Davis from his seat, and walked towards the door. Davis sighed, following along.

Louise had stopped flickering the collar on and off, and was now lying back in her cot, staring at the metallic ceiling. Running through her mind were all the scenarios where she, Davis, and Queen would take turns kicking the lights out of The Collector. Every now and then, she’d stare at the still sealed cell door, hoping that any second her friends would appear to get her out of here.

In the middle of a fantasy of locking The Collector in one of his own cryptid habitats, she heard her cell door click, and fly open. She leapt out of bed, conjuring her shield. She skidded to a halt as right outside her door stood twelve guards, each armed with taser rifles.

The intercom lit up. “If you behave, Louise, perhaps I might not need to go overboard on the amount of personnel to simply guide you through my facility.”

Her eyes darted between all the guards. She sighed, her shield vanishing into thin air, and she held up her hands.
“Fine, I get it. I won’t cause any trouble.”

She slowly walked out of her cell, and the guards surrounded her. They kept a fair amount of distance, but still guided her through the halls to the elevator.

The entire group crammed into the elevator, and still kept a close watch on the girl. 

The moment the doors shut, she conjured her shield, smacking one of the guards in the face, and ducking down to sweep the legs of several more behind her. 

Before she could get back to her feet, she felt several prongs stick to her, followed by the searing sensation of electricity flowing through her body. Her body stiffened up, and she fell onto the floor.

The still standing guards began helping up the ones who were toppled over.

“What the hell is this girl’s problem?”
“JUst let us use a reinforced stretcher, hell why not a cage at this point?”
“I think she broke my nose…”
The elevator this time went up, dinging in mere moments. The guards dragged Louise’s paralyzed body through a hallway similar to the first one she saw. This time, instead of large, armored doors, she was tossed into a small security room, sharing similarities to an airlock. Several moments passed, before she felt feeling return to her muscles. She stood up, groaning and stretching her arms and legs.

“Before we start your next task, I have a question.” Collector spoke through the intercom. “Did you genuinely think you stood a chance against that many men? Or are you getting desperate?”
She whirled around, finding a security camera. She stuck her tongue out.
“Nah, I just like causing you trouble.”

---

Queen and Davis followed the mysterious man out from the shopping plaza, a few blocks until they reached downtown. There weren’t many people walking along the sidewalks, making it difficult for the duo to properly hide themselves. They followed him as he turned left down an even more sparsely populated street, then another left between two buildings. 

As the duo rounded the corner, they found themselves at a small parking lot between the shops. The man had placed the bag of food far off to the side, and was facing the two. Davis took a step back, and Queen a step forward.

“All right.” His voice sounded fairly young, compared to how formal and adult he looked. He held out his arms. “What is it that you want? You want food, my money, where I work? What’s the deal?”
Queen and Davis starred in silence, not moving a muscle.

“Are you really sure he’s a threat?” Davis whispered.

“Well, what’s the holdup? Are you secretly filming me for some prank or something? Seriously, I have to get back to work, and I swear on god-”
Queen bolted forward, grabbing the man by his shirt.

“Stop lying. What is YOUR deal?”
She threw him at the wall, dashed over and grabbed him by the neck. She lifted him up, and pinned him against the wall.

The man stared down at his assailant, with an annoyed expression.
“Oh, I see, they’re sending kids after me now, is that it? Not to mention a freakishly strong one. I didn’t know our government had such low moral qualms!”
“WOAH, HOLD ON QUEEN! HOLD UP!” Davis ran over in a panic, staring at the man and Queen.
“Just let go, hold on, uhh…” He stared at the man. “I’m seriously sorry I’ll explain, I swear!”
“Explain what exactly?” The man grumbled, still unfazed by Queen. “I see through you too clearly. The feds clearly decided that regular agents aren’t enough, so now they’re sending mutant children to capture me! But it ain’t gonna work. In fact, how bout I’ll spare you two if you tell your bosses to stop messing with me!”
“See, I told you he was a threat.” Queen said.
“Feds? Oh uh… Queen, feds are like, the people looking for you too. Government agents. Maybe he’s also hiding from them?”

Queen paused, loosening her grip slightly.  

“Look uh… I promise you I’m not a federal agent. Neither is she. In fact, I want to be as far away from them as possible. I swear, just, give me a moment to explain, right?”

The man sighed. “Fine. Maybe the feds controlling mutants is a bit too far fetched. I’ll give you a minute before I have to go, I really need to get back to work soon.”

Davis looked at Queen, and she nodded, letting him go. Holding up her hand, she showed off that she had formed them into claws.

“Whatever he is, he is not human. I could not pierce his skin.” She glared knives at the formal looking man.

“Hey, I resent that! I work and pay my taxes like every other adult here! Not to mention, funny a mutant like you is calling me that.”
Queen stared silently. 

“Queen, I think you should say you are sorry.”
“What does saying that do?”

“Oh uh… That you didn’t mean to attack him. That it was a misunderstanding.”
“But I did intend to-”
Davis waved his arms. “Nevermind, nevermind.” He whirled around to the man.

“Sorry, she uh… Is still getting the hang of communicating properly and learning human etiquette.”

The man raised an eyebrow. “What exactly is she?”

“Long story. Look, first, you’re hiding from government agents, right? Same as her. Me too, kinda. Sometimes we get monsters, kind of like her, sent after us. She said you smelled like one, so we just… Kinda had to make sure you weren’t working for them, right?”

The man stared dumbfounded for a few moments. “You mean they do control mutants?”

“There’s so much to it, but at the very least, I promise I’m not gonna tell anyone about you. We’ve had close encounters with… feds as well.”

The man looked down, rubbing his brow. “So you REALLY aren’t feds? That’s a relief… I don’t think I have the heart in me to kill kids.”

Davis felt his heart sink. “W-what?
He walked over to the bag of burgers, picking it up. “ASSUMING you’re telling the truth, we have some common interests, and common enemies too. But, you feel like somebody I can be honest with. So, give me a few hours, and meet me at the Capital Market. It’s like, a block away from here. I’ll be off shift, and I want to hear all about what you’ve gone through, and I can talk too.” He smiled at the two, waving. “Oh, and don’t worry about that rough welcome. In retrospect, I was being too paranoid. You two are way too unprofessional to be feds!”

Davis stared in shock, Queen still glaring.

“Lastly, my name is Rex. What about you two?”
“I-I’m Davis. And this is Queen.” Davis stammered out. 

“Awesome. Nice to meet you Davis! I can’t wait to talk with you two more!”
He left the parking lot, hurrying to his place of employment.

Davis and Queen looked at each other simultaneously.

“I do not trust him. Are we going to see him again?”
Davis gulped. “Well, let’s at least visit and talk with him a little more. He said he doesn’t like federal agents, which could mean P.A.I.N.” He remembered his comment about having to kill.

“And if we’re lucky, he could be the key to rescuing Louise…”