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Sec sat slumped against the back of his cell, trying to slip into unconsciousness. It had been hours, maybe even a day, since he and Chosen had been brought to this place, and he'd been trying to pass the time by napping. However, after he had awoken from a math-themed dream(that's the last time he sits in on Alan helping his kids with homework), he had found that his entire cell had been moved to another part of the facility, and he hadn't seen anyone since.
He was shaken out of his thoughts by the sound of approaching footsteps, and he sat up to get a better look. It was... It was a dark grey hollow head, flanked by a pair of the lighter grey guards. For a moment, Sec thought they were another prisoner, before the trio stopped in front of his cell. The grey hollow head held Sec's gaze for a moment, before turning to the guards with a snap of their fingers.
"Give us some privacy, won't you?"
Sec watched as the guards walked away, though they didn't get too far before the stranger turned back to him.
"Now, are you well? I know the guards can be a little rough. Have you eaten? I've heard that you've gotten sleep."
Their words were kind, but the tone was... Calculated. As if they had practiced exactly what they would say. Sec felt as though every question hid a glistening fang, dripping venom. And their gaze pierced through him as if trying to read his mind.
"So, who are you? The boss of this whole..." Sec trailed off with a glare, his anger adding a bite to his voice as he stood up, gripping his side of the bars. "What do you want with me? What do you want with Cho?!"
"Ah, right to business, are we?" The grey hollow head chuckled, not moving from their spot, despite how Sec was glaring so hard, it felt as though he was trying to activate laser vision.
"Well, I brought you here to make an offer, but first things first." The stranger took a step back, bending at the waist in a mock bow. "My name is Victim, and yes, I am the 'boss' around here."
Sec's eyes widened, "YOU'RE Victim?!" Sec let go of the bars, taking a step back as a smug look grew on Victim's face.
But as the other hollow head went to continue, Sec cut them off. "Never thought this was how I'd meet my eldest sibling."
"Excuse me?"
"Oh what, you thought Alan wouldn't have told me about you?" Sec couldn't suppress a bitter laugh at Victim's dumbfounded expression. "Yeah, he told me, after we met Cho, I asked why we were so similar. So he told me about how he used to go by Noogai, and how he had drawn both The Chosen One and The Dark Lord, and how before them, he'd drawn you. And you wanna know what else he told me??" Victim had backed up further and further as he spoke, and Sec didn't give him the opportunity to answer. "He told me that he regretted deleting you, and that if he'd known then what he does now, he wouldn't have treated any of his sticks that way!"
His sticks, the words echoed in Victim's mind as they walked away, leaving Sec to his bitter laughter. They shook off the guards by the time they got to the elevator, and once they got to their floor they sped up, not running but still going faster than usual. They had to see something-
They bumped into Agent, who took a moment to look at them.
"Sir, is everything alright? You seem shaken."
Victim waved him off, "I'm fine, just thinking."
Agent didn't move from where he stood, prompting them to elaborate.
"Turns out, our guest has no idea how much of a powerhouse he is. I was going to tell him, but then he gave me some rather interesting information."
"What information, sir?"
"Confidential, Agent. Now, I have to check some thing."
Victim pushed past Agent, who, thankfully, didn't follow. They went into their private security room, concealed behind a door in the side of the hall, locked with a biometric scanner. It was smaller than the main security rooms, which were used by any number of guards, but this one was theirs, lined with screens on the walls, and used whenever they wanted to check the cameras themself. And, whenever they wanted to check the cameras the guards didn't know about.
They flipped through the cameras on the biggest screen in the room, until they got to the one focused on their most dangerous captives, who still lay embraced in each other's arms.
'Well, they don't seem to treat each other like siblings.' Victim thought to themself. It was one of the most observed things about them, how the pair would interact with each other, and it was widely assumed they were more than just partners in crime, but now, with that orange kid's information...
It wasn't uncommon for sticks from the same creator to not feel a familial bond, but with what was observed about the kid, it certainly seemed as though he shared that bond with Chosen. However, based on how he hadn't asked about The Dark Lord at all, and how he had blasted the red stick through a mountain, it was likely to assume Dark didn't share that connection with him either.
'In fact,' Victim mused to themself, 'he probably doesn't even know he's still alive.'
They thought back to when their company had managed to capture The Dark Lord, the day when a green explosion was seen on the horizon, and how they finally had the wielder of those powers in their grasp as well. Slowly, their thoughts turned back to what they'd been told, and they held their phone up, looking at themself in the reflection of the black screen.
Victim didn't know what they were doing, but as they looked at themself, looking closely at their details as they had many times before, they though back to exactly what the orange stick had said. It was ironic, how he had referred to them as his "eldest sibling". He probably felt more of a connection when he thought them dead than he did now.
Suddenly, they noticed movement out of the corner of their eye. It was on one of the smaller screens, one showing footage from an outside camera. They quickly pulled the footage up onto their main screen, and saw the four brightly colored sticks who lived on what they now knew to be his computer. As Victim zoomed in, the red and green ones helped the other two over the outermost fence, before climbing over themselves, and Victim watched as they snuck over to the main building.
"Well then," they said to themself, getting up and heading to their office. "Let the fun begin."
