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Valentino carried the disembodied head back home. Velvette walked behind him, eyes fixed to his screen. She was angry.
And Valentino was too. He gripped the glorified Ipad even tighter as the three—two of them entered the elevator.
“So uh…can I have my body back?”
Vox gave his best pleading expression, resembling more of an emoji than a genuine face. They answered in rapid succession.
“No.” Velvette said.
Valentino said the same, but in Spanish this time.
“No.”
Vox frowned, but accepted their answer and went back to sulking. A ding rang out as the doors opened, revealing the penthouse. It had sustained minor property damage, but they didn’t care that much. The entire building would have exploded thanks to Vox’s ego, this was the best result they could have hoped for.
Velvette came around Valentino, looking him in the eye. Her phone was out, but no particular app was open. Just a blank home screen.
“What do we ought to do with him?”
“Uh…”
Val held Vox with all four of his hands, staring him in the eyes.
“Well he has no more holes…”
“No! Not like that! Where do we put him?”
“I mean….isn't he like…a TV? Why can't we just mount him to the wall?”
Vox’s eyes widened at the prospect.
“Look! Val, Vel, darlings, I'm sorry. I got a little carried away. I'm sure we can discuss something-”
His audio cut out, with a mute icon appearing on his face. Valentino put him down on the bar, letting him stare at the ceiling in misery.
“Vee, I feel like letting him be a TV would be too respectful. I kinda like the idea of keeping him like this…he's like a little Ipad!”
The aforementioned Ipad was steaming and his face was going all sorts of different colors. He looked like was having a stroke, and not of luck this time.
Valentino's normally droopy antenna perked up.
“Oh my gawd babydoll I just had the best idea.”
“Go on…”
Val picked Vox back up. He dramatically held him in the air, rotating him 180 degrees, and gently placed him back down. Face first.
“Ta da! Who's got vision now bi-”
He was cut off by Velvette's maniacal laughter.
“Bloody hell that's hilarious! He's like, a phone in school.”
She pat Vox on what would count as his back now. She then left Valentino alone with a quick goodbye, no doubt to do some major damage control. The two of them had to publicly separate themselves from Vox, and he trusted her to manage his reputation too.
He watched her leave upstairs. Once he was sure she was gone, he flipped Vox back over, propping him up against a surprisingly stable wine glass.
His antenna flopped down as he sat in the bar stool and rested his arms and face on the counter.
“Why did you do that Voxxy? We were so close. We could have like…screwed everyone.”
His tone darkened.
“But you had to try to kamikaze everyone. Why?! What the hell?!”
Vox looked incredibly unimpressed. Glancing between Valentino and the mute icon.
“No actually, I don't want to hear what you have to say.”
He got up, following Velvette upstairs. Vox was left alone, watching. Stripped of his voice and body.
Vox sat there, dealing with the consequences of his actions. Nothing was happening. He wasn't Velvette, he was able to deal without a screen in front of him for more than 5 seconds. But it had been hours, and his future was left incredibly uncertain. The boredom let his mind run, from how close he was to fame to that stupid red stupid incredibly stupid deer.
…the others were right. He would have died without them, even if they did ruin his ultra cool epic villainous plan. And Alastor got away like the slimy worm he was.
“Vee?”
He hadn't even noticed Velvette's approach.
Great. Time to be yelled at even though they were the ones who stopped his master plan in the first place.
“You are a complete moron. You COMPLETELY ruined your reputation. You can't be facing the public anymore.”
Oh. Was she not kicking him out?
“So we have decided that you are no longer the face of Voxtek. Which is really funny because it's literally your name. But now Val is the face, and I am the vision. Equal responsibility.”
???
“You are no longer the face. You are no longer the vision. You are no longer the voice. Do you got that, Vox?”
He furrowed his eyebrows and pouted at her. Still unable to speak.
Suddenly, the blocked feeling in his head lifted.
“I’m sorry.”
This time, he was slightly more genuine.
Slightly.
“Yeah, shut up. I literally don't care. Look, Valentino is too attached to your stupid head, so we are keeping you. But you are not our equal. You do not get to make the decisions, we do that. You can like, be tech support or something. You are good at that.”
He sat there, processing. Then she smirked, teasing him with a proposition.
“And maybe if you are good, you can get your body back.”
He finally smiled back. They would have shook on it, but he was unfortunately missing both of his hands.
So instead, they took it as a verbal agreement. No strings attached. He knew he messed up, but he could climb back up. For a third time. Third time's the charm, right?
And this time, he would stick with his team of three.
Low power mode activated.
Ugh.
“You should listen to that, but also I don't really care what you do.”
His focus went back onto Velvette, who was propping up her phone to do…something.
Then she left. He looked to the screen, to see a little animation of his least favorite deer playing.
“DRIVING IN MY CARRRR RIGHT AFTER A BEEERRR HEY THAT BUMP IS SHAPED LIKE A DEER, DUIII HOW ABOUT YOU DIE!! ILL GO A HUNDRED MILESSSSS, AN HOUR.”
Awww. She set up a bedtime video for him.
Yeah. He could work with this. Screw what Alastor said. He had the people he needed. It didn't matter if it made him weak, as long as he was stronger than that dumb radio.
Maybe three was better than one.