Chapter Text
“Where is it?” came the question from behind a modern television set. And again, “Where is it?”
Diana Lombard leaned on the doorway, watching the scene unfold and mildly amused at her brother’s actions, which mainly consisted in looking frantically through pile after pile of dirty clothing, forming after careless throwing of the articles to the floor of the room.
“What are you missing now?” She finally asked with a sigh, not finding the events unusual at all.
“Duh!” Martin answered, as if reprimanding her for not knowing, or partaking in the search. “Number four, special edition of the comic of the mutant man of the sewer, what else would I be looking for?” He then proceeded to dig through a pile of dirty socks.
“Hey, I don’t know.” Diana said, putting a finger to her chin as if in thought. “What about your brain? Are you still sure it’s inside your head?” She ducked to avoid getting hit by a red sock, courtesy of the blonde teen, of course. He didn’t turn before replying.
“Very funny, Diana, really… I mean it, it’s very important!”
Diana returned to her former position and let him rummage through his clothes one more moment before getting to the point of her presence there.
“Right. Anyway, Martin, if you cleaned up your room you would definitely find it. Look at this place! It’s no wonder you don’t know where half of your things are.” after all, if she didn’t tell him, who would?
She saw Martin open his mouth to answer back, but he had to cut off mid-thought, for suddenly a chiming sound interrupted him.
“The Center!” He said, head poking through clothes like flowers from the ground in spring. That bit of information was utterly unnecessary, though. Diana could both hear and recognize the sound. He dove again, this time trying to find the portal amongst clothes and boxes from his closet.
“Where’s Java?” He asked from its depths.
“The cafeteria,” Diana answered, dreadfully stepping into Martin’s excuse of a dormitory. “He’s been off with us so many times, he hasn’t been working time enough. Headmaster Pebbleton threatened to stop paying him, so he started working overtime and temporarily retired from the Center.”
“Okay then, we have to leave him here. Now, let’s go.” Martin said, still looking around, but Diana knew that the possibility of him searching for the portal when a comic book was in the equation was minimal.
“Well, to do that, we need to find the portal, which would be a hundred times easier if your room were…” Diana started, but he interrupted with the phrase, “Stop whining about my room and help me look.”
After a few more minutes, they managed to find the portal under a pile of pizza boxes, some of which still had leftovers. Thankfully Martin hadn’t left them lying around long enough for the remains to rot.
The scanner cleared them for entrance, and drifted in the direction of the elevator, and the main pillar of the Center. Billy, surprisingly, wasn’t waiting for the siblings in front of it, but, as Diana reasoned, he probably had more important things to do than accompany them in the ride to M.O.M’s office.
When Martin opened the door, another unusual sight greeted him and Diana. Billy was out of his hovering chair, and walking on M.O.M’s desk, scanning through files and reports with a face so worried, that the word concern would have been an understatement.
“Billy?” Martin whispered in disbelief. The one mentioned looked up from a folder, and the siblings could see his sleep-deprived eyes, as well as skin one shade paler than usual.
“What happened?” Diana asked, the most sensible thing to do right then.
“I don’t have much time. M.O.M left me in charge, and I am on the edge of collapse. I slept two hours last night. I don’t know how she handles it… But the point is, she was going to return yesterday, she even called to say she was on her way back… And then no more trace of her.” Billy sat down as tears appeared on the corners of his eyes.
“But,” Diana stepped in. “Can’t you find her with the U-Watch?”
“That didn’t work. I’ve checked every U-Watch outside the Center, but hers is not there… It’s like she vanished into the air, one moment I was talking to her, and the next, not a clue.”
“Well, what was the last location of her U-Watch?” Diana kept interrogating Billy, trying to find a rational approach to the situation. “What did she tell you?”
“Moonsbane forest, I think it’s called. Canada. She sent me a sample for analysis.” His crying had stopped.
“Ooh!” Martin called suddenly. “I bet it was some sort of alien fluid, o-or goblin saliva, or perhaps even…” He didn’t get the chance to finish that sentence, for Diana slapped him hard, and yelled at him.
“Can’t you keep those ridiculous theories to yourself and think for a second, you idiot?”
“Hey! I was just trying to be helpful!”
“Well, no good. Try again.” Diana retorted. “On second thought, just shut up.” She turned to Billy. “And? Did you find anything on the sample?”
“No.” the alien answered. “Not a single match.”
“Well, that’s a beginning…” Martin whispered sarcastically.
“Didn’t I tell you to keep quiet?” Diana told him. “We’ll help you find her, Billy.”
“Thank you. Now, if you find M.O.M, she’ll be the one giving the orders. Not to be rude, Marty, but don’t be reckless, and please listen to her.”
“Hey!” Martin protested.
“I’m sorry, but Billy’s right. You never listen.”
Billy cut the siblings off before the argument could develop, and continued, “You have three days, but after that come back here. And last, and I can’t stress this enough, if you find what she was chasing, run. Don’t try to fight it.”
“Awww… Shouldn’t we at least try to catch it?”
“No. Run. You can’t let it get you, too. Promise me you won’t do something suicidal.” Billy said, tears returning to his eyes.
“Okay.” Martin and Diana assured him.
Billy smiled and thanked them before opening a portal to Torrington so the siblings could pack, and a few minutes later one to the forest. The teens stepped through the blue light and disappeared into the foliage.