Lost and Found: Chapter 7

A/N: Why is this getting popularized so quickly? Not like I don't like that, but I just don't understand! Anyways, thanks for 500 views! That's pretty cool, and don't forget I will take constructive criticism, so spew out your ideas and complaints! 

BTW: If ya'll are wondering and pondering about how Ivan can eat without dying of oxygen loss, he just takes off the mask for a second, scoops up the food, and then puts it back on before he starts chewing.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-

-----N's POV-----

No! Thad! He just got dragged up to the dark abyss! Damn it, I'm such a bad friend for letting this happen! I was just about to have a breakdown when Uzi says, "Being sad aint gonna do much, we need to save Thad!"

Ivan looks traumatized by the recent event. "I'm going to launch a missile and see if I can get the monster to release Thad," I told Uzi.

I switch out my hands for missile launchers and launch one. It flies through the mess of tentacles, with the exhaust of the rear end providing some light. It hits it and explodes in a small fireball.

From the light produced from the explosion, we could make out what looks like large centipede of metal and more metal, upon more layers of metal. Uzi looks stunned, while Ivan's like, "Nope, nope, nope, nope. I am not having any of this."

Uzi snaps out of it, while I drag Ivan behind me. Whoo, he's heavy. I drop Ivan on the floor once we reach a corner in the hallway leading to the cyrosleep chambers. That makes him regain his composition, and he adjusts his helmet and announces, "Give em' hell."

With the encouraging 3 words, I switch out my hands once again to chainsaws, and Uzi holds out her railgun. Ivan is checking the ammo left in his MP5, and then gives us a thumbs up to let us know that he is ready.

We turn the corner, and then run towards the room. There are several screens on the sides of the wall, and every step we take makes them shake. Ivan's footsteps are heavier, making a lot more noise. He does look so glorious in his armor running-

I accidently run into the large mechanical door, distracted by Ivan. He aims his gun, and Uzi opens up the door. We are in the back of the eldritch horror. An obvious hologram of Thad appears and starts to speak nonsense.

"Yes, and hello. It's me, Thad. Um, can I get a location? ...I heard dentist's office! I'm Thad at the dentist office. Come over here for your... teeth!" the holo-Thad said, with his voice fizzing out at the end of the sentence.

Uzi replies, "Predictably terrible work, J. Why do you look so-"

N cuts her off before she could finish, and continues, "Great! You look great, J!"

"No, no, wait, guys, it's really me! Is that a -" He gets cut off by N holding a shuriken, then glitches and continues in an oddly feminine voice, "-freaking ninja star?"

N throws the shuriken, and Uzi kicks it to give it a good boost. As if that wasn't enough, Ivan shot a single round at it, causing the bullet to ricochet, but still managing to transfer some kinetic energy to the shuriken.

The shuriken slices through the metal ropes holding the real Thad in, and he falls to the floor. Holo-Thad disappears, and Thad pulls himself together. 

He gets up, dusts himself off a bit, and then says, " Life savers again. Thanks! Super invited to my shindig next weekend. Cool kids only," he said the last sentence specifically towards the eldritch abomination. 

Uzi and I squeal with delight and excitement, while Ivan just rolls his eyes.

The absolute solver being replies by rolling their camera eyes, and then says, "We're busy then anyway, so whatever. So lame."

Uzi then asks the AS (absolute solver because im too lazy to write the whole thing), "What's with the voice, J?"

It replies, "Oh, J's not here. We are trying to repair that host as per our directive." Ivan twirled his finger next to his right ear, probably an insult.

Uzi then states, "So, you ARE a program?"

AS replies with, "More like you are our cute puppets. It hurts our feelings you don't remember us." Then the AS creates a hologram of Uzi's mother Nori.

-----Ivan's POV-----

Uzi, uncertain and obviously discomforted, asks for reassurance, "N...?" However, N is nowhere to be seen. She continues, "What's with the mom hologram...?"

AS responds with, "Easier to assimilate than explain." That's not helpful. It also doesn't seem to see me.

"Not happening," Uzi replies.

"Fair, but poor choice. Now we will have to do something shocking," AS summons a clone of Khan Doorman, Uzi's father, which I learned his name earlier.

"Woah! Hey!" Uzi is shocked and responds rapidly. She is shocked by the sudden appearance of her dad in front of her.

AS says in a monotonous tone, "Goodbye, Dad." Clone-Khan gets ripped in half at his torso and AS drinks the oil and tosses the discarded remains of Clone-Khan to the side.

Stunned, Uzi says, "What?"

AS sends in some things and tries to kill Uzi, but is suddenly stopped by N firing a missile at AS. I fire a couple of rounds into AS, and they divert the attention to me.

AS gives out a pained cry but stops themselves before they get too distracted.

To my absolute horror, AS pulls out a clawed hand, and before I can react, stabs my forearm. Out of pain, I scream. WHY OUT OF ALL PLACES, MY FOREARM? THATS LIKE THE ONLY UNARMORED PLACE ON MY BODY! Oh wait. That was the reason why. Ah well. I yank out the claw stuck in my arm, and then toss it aside. (claw not my arm) (why is this like far cry healing lol)

N takes this moment when AS is distracted, and tells Uzi, "Uzi, shoot! Or give it to me!" I groan in pain as I barely heard N's words. At least I am directing the attention of AS. The blood at this point is gushing out, and I am squeezing the hole in my forearm shut to try to prevent any more blood loss.

The AS swipes a claw at N and Uzi, and snarls after they miss.

N is surprised, and asks Uzi, "You good?"

"No..." She replies. I'm starting to feel dizzy. That surely can't be good. Oh crap. My oxygen canister is low too. I can't switch it out for the backup with one arm. I fall into a blind panic. I try to open my backpack, with no success.

Uzi, petrified by what happened to her dad, hands N the railgun. Mistake.

Apparently, that N was actually a clone, and then the AS told Uzi, "Pranked, idiot. You big stupid." AS throws Uzi to the side, making her hit the floor with heavy metal intensity. The railgun clatters to the metal floor and smashes it so that it would be inoperable.

AS grabs Uzi, and then tells her, "Lucky for you, it's snack time. Time to go into my mouth now."

I was watching this from the sidelines while my vision was starting to fade. Oh god, are those potatoes dancing across the floor. Surely that cannot be good...

-----N's POV-----

Right before Uzi gets eaten by AS, I get myself out of the tangle of metallic tentacles and appendages. I use my chainsaw hands to cut them off of me, and then focus myself on AS.

The cutting catches the attention of AS. "Ow, also I was using those," it replied.

I grab Uzi and they run to the other side of the room, bracing for the explosion. As the railgun flashed multiple colors, I suspected that wasn't good.

A large explosion rocks the room and chunks of concrete fall from the ceiling. I look back, and to my absolute disbelief Ivan is laying down next to the wall. What happened to him? There is some blood around him, and a gash in his forearm. The gauge on his oxygen canister is low too.

Uzi stirs, and then asks me, "What was...? Which parts of that were real...?"

J's core attempts to escape, with its legs scurrying away.

"Sneaky sneaky. Sneaking away. Get snuck upon," it says. I stab it with my syringe tail.

"Ow." I continue to stab it, and it simply says, "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow." Finally, after one more stab and 'ow.', it disappears in a mini black hole thingamajig.

I hear some noise coming from outside the cyrosleep room, so I try to help Uzi to her feet. She looks at me in fear, true fear. She resists and doesn't want to next to me anymore.

"What... are you things...?" was all she could mutter out.

Hurt by her reaction of me trying to help her, I grab Ivan, limp and bleeding, and try to make my escape.

"Uzi?" Khan and his search and rescue group make it into the cyrosleep chamber. "What are you doin-" he asks her as he sees her staggering towards him.

Uzi suddenly hugs her father really tight, and for a minute, Khan doesn't know how to react. He realizes approximately 13 seconds later what to do. He hugs her back, and then gestures the other WDs to search the area.

He looks at me and Ivan, in my arms, more like glaring, actually, and I take it as the message, "Get the fuck out of here"

I get up, and escape with Ivan through one of the vents. He doesn't look too good, to be honest.

-----Ivan's POV-----

God, the loneliness is starting to get to me. Not a single human to talk to and laugh with. Hang on. Where am I?

My vision is still spotted, but I can guess that someone has changed my oxygen canister, as suggested my me still breathing. I can make out what looks like a half-frozen bandage wrap is around my injury.

I try to get up, but I'm too weak to do that. Can I even feel my legs. Also, I'm not hungry anymore. Very nice observations, I said to myself. I just adjust my position on whatever I'm on to try and get more comfortable.

I have no luck, so I just give up trying to get used to this new environment. I fall asleep once again. 

>>>>>2.38 hours later>>>>>

Why am I so dizzy? I ponder as wake up once again. That's right folks, your favorite character is now awake! My vision has finally cleared up to my minimum expectations, and I can make out what seems to be an overjoyed N leaning over me.

"Hmmm?" I ask, still groggy. How long had it been since the fight with AS? Probably a few days, minimum. 

"Hey! You're awake!" N shouts with excitement to me. Which also, in turn, alerted the rest of the crew. Several heavy footsteps get louder and louder, until I realize that V is looking over me too. And so is Uzi.

"How long have I been unconscious for?" I ask them. Uzi replies by counting her fingers, then announces, "2.8 days."

That long? Damn, I was expecting less. I try to get up but fail to.

"Little help here?" I ask N, gesturing him to help me get up.

"Oh yeah, sorry," he apologizes. He puts his arm under my back, and with a single fluid motion, lifts up my entire back so that I'm now sitting.

Three seconds later, I heard a small crack and finally I feel the strength returning to my back. Ouch. I guess a disk, or something had been slipped loose or something. Eh, well, who cares? I'm good now anyways.

I had more questions to ask N right now. V had already been re-confined to her chair by Uzi, so it was me and N alone right now.

"What did you feed me?" I ask him, dead in the eye. This was genuinely serious, because if he accidentally fed me oil, I would probably be dead in a few more minutes. N looks taken aback from the eye contact, but regains his composition, and then replying, "Some random cans of food I found."

I breathed a sigh of relief, and then realized. What about the expiration date? Surely eating canned items that have gone bad couldn't be good for you. I notice Uzi slipping out into the daylight, going back home and to school later in the day.

"What about the expiration dates?" I ask N, hoping that he read them before he fed them to me.

"What expiration date?" He asks innocently. Pure shock boils through my blood. Did he just say, "WHAT EXPIRATION DATE?" JESUS I'M PROBABLY GOING TO DIE!

I faint of pure shock like five milliseconds later.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-

Words: 2162