Part IV - 21: Slightly

"You did what?" Tink yelled, her face turning almost as red as her hair.

"Yes, I know. It's the worst thing ever and I'm a terrible, selfish person," Slightly said with a touch of sarcasm. "I'm sorry it happened, but it's done and I'm here to fix it."

Tink huffed and turned away, pulling up the regenerator program on her computer.

Slightly had made a quick stop at a supermarket before running back to the manhole and entering Neverland. Since he didn't have his flying suit or a controller, he had planned to climb down the few ladder rungs and yell for someone to send up the Neverbird, but all of that turned out to be unnecessary. He had come down and landed on a grid of iron bars. Then Tink had sent over a large, mechanical crab to carry him down from the sky arch and bring him to central control, where he had told Tink everything that had happened, including the fact that parts of Neverland were erupting into the Grey World because of his mistake.

Tink blew her hair out of her face and turned back to Slightly. "I can fix it," she reported, "but it will take several hours. By that time all of London will have seen them."

"I've got something that I think will fix it faster," Slightly said, holding up his sack from the supermarket.

Tink quirked an eyebrow at him and pointed back at a diagram on her screen. "Either way, when the organisms retract they're going to leave tunnels leading to Neverland. We can fill up the ones left by the zebra tree and the dancing coral pretty easily, but the Silver Mountains are going to create a hole big enough for anyone to wander in."

Slightly chewed on his lip. He knew this would be a side effect of the elements disappearing, but somehow it didn't seem to bother him. Tink, on the other hand, was breathing heavily and beginning to sweat.

"I guess the best we can do is to board up the hole that opens to Neverland and fill up the rest as quickly as possible," Tink said unsteadily.

Slightly frowned. "But do you really think they'll just let it go? We can fill up the holes, but they'll probably keep digging and investigating until they figure out where those organisms came from."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Tink admitted, her hands shaking.

Just then the door opened and a young, red-haired boy came bounding in. "Hi Tink! I put chicken ticks in Bill Jukes' sandwich like you asked me. What do you want me to do now?" The boy turned and noticed Tink wasn't alone. "Oh, hi Slightly! You're back! They've been worried about you!"

"Tootles?"

"Trevor."

"What are you doing here?"

Trevor ducked his head. "I'm hiding. Like Captain Hook."

Slightly shook his head in confusion. "You robbed a bank?"

"No, I set a house on fire."

"Oh."

Slightly looked at Tink for further explanation, but she was staring at her computer.

"Peter let me come here," continued Trevor. "He said it's only temporary, but I wish I could stay forever. I don't know why you guys keep this place all to yourself. You should let everyone come here! They'd love it!"

Tink shuddered, but Slightly had an idea. Things that had been circling around in his mind suddenly fell into place.

"I've got a plan," he announced. "Tink, you're not going to like it right now, but I think it'll be the best thing for Neverland in the long run."

"Slightly, wait!" Tink exclaimed. "What are you going?"

But Slightly didn't have time to explain. He grabbed his grocery bag and ran out of central control and down the Silver Mountains, heading towards the lagoon. He needed to talk to Captain Hook. He still had to work out the details of his plan, and he didn't know what changes would need to be made, but he knew that in any case, Captain Hook would be affected.

He found the pirate sitting on a rock on the beach, staring out at the water. He turned slowly at Slightly's arrival.

"Ah, Slightly. You have returned. Was London a most marvelous adventure?"

"Yes, it was, actually."

Captain Hook nodded, wiping away a single tear that had escaped his eye.

"Listen, Captain, I don't have a lot of time, but I need to tell you something." Hook raised his eyebrows and inclined his head, so Slightly continued. "I'd like to open Neverland up to the public. I made a mistake, it's a long story, and now the discovery of Neverland is all but inevitable, so I thought we'd try to make it look intentional."

Captain Hook frowned. "Go on."

"It will be an amusement park of sorts, with an emphasis on engineering and creation. It will also be a safe haven for orphans in the city, a place where they feel like they can belong."

"That's quite ambitious," Hook said, shifting on the rock.

Slightly cleared his throat. "Well, with the public coming in, it won't be safe for you, you're far too famous. I've thought maybe we could construct a hideout for you, a spacious one, of course, but you'd only have to stay there during the daytime. At night you'd be free to roam around..."

Captain Hook waved his hand, cutting Slightly off. "No, no, that won't be necessary," he said with a sigh. "Perhaps this was the push I needed. I've decided to turn myself in."

Slightly gasped. "But you'll go back to prison!"

Hook's eyes misted over. "I've realized that my greatest prison is my own cowardice."

"Wow. You should put that on a plaque."

Hook scowled at him. "It seems we both have pressing matters to attend to."

"Right. Thanks!" Said Slightly as he waved at Hook and took off towards the tree house to find a can opener. He could reverse the regenerators in the matter of a few minutes, but then he'd have to run back to the Grey World and work things out up there after everything had already disappeared. He was worried that the timing of it all might ruin everything. People might start traveling down the hole left by the Silver Mountains before he had had time to solidify the details.

He slid into the tree house and nearly ran into Peter.

"Slightly! I tried to find you after the competition, but you had disappeared!"

"Oh, I was being pursued by a mob of teenage girls."

"Wow. Sounds fun."

"Trust me, it was horrifying," Slightly said with a shudder. "Wait, you were at the competition?"

"Yeah. Wendy saw it advertised on the news. Congratulations, by the way."

"Thanks."

"But why were you gone so long?"

Slightly exhaled. "It's a long story, and I'll tell you sometime, but right now I need your help."

Slightly quickly explained his blunder with the regenerators and his idea for the future of Neverland. Peter's eyes lit up.

"That's brilliant! What can I do?"

Slightly handed him the sack from the supermarket. "Could you wait about an hour and then inject that straight into the regenerators?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Processed cheese."

Peter looked dubiously in the bag. "Really? That'll work?"

"I'm almost positive. I saw the twins do it once."

"Hm. That's reassuring."

"Well, if it doesn't work, have Tink figure it out."

"Okay. What does she think of all this?"

Slightly grimaced. "I didn't really tell her. I think she'll warm up to the idea eventually."

Peter chuckled. "Let's hope so."

Slightly shrugged. There were so many other things that could go wrong with this plan that Tink was the least of his worries. He left Peter with the can of processed cheese, and with some trepidation and a lot of excitement he headed back up to the Grey World.