Maylea stared at Juno, soft, caring Juno, and Veronica, her normal mask of a face broken into one of surprise. And there, by the door. That boy... with the streaks across his cheeks and his puffy eyes.

She didn't know that boy. She didn't know that tear stained face, crumpled into fear and dejection. That couldn't be right.

"You never cry."

Her voice broke, quavering on the words. Corben had never cried, not even when his sister had died, at the funeral, he was the perfection of a statue, carved and cold as marble, staring at the small black coffin.

"You never cry."

Her own tears started to rush, and the statue she had once known was so broken, so shattered, but was it possible for him to break more?

He stared at her, and she could see it all in his eyes. Yes. He could break more.

And then he was leaving, slamming the door open and disappearing and leaving her with her tears, and hadn't he done this once before? Why was this so familiar, why did he look at her in such a wa-

Maylea sat in the middle of the play room, holding Eliza's favorite plush. A worn old rabbit with pink patches on its body, evidence of the love it had endured. Why couldn't she stop crying?

Corben was sitting stiffly in the window seat, staring into space. For the first time since she had met him, Corben did not look like the definition of perfection.

His hair was a mess, the gell chased and tangled to dry in weird ways, and his tie that had been neatly pressed to match his suit was ripped off and tossed on top of the dollhouse, where it stayed, the actions taken to remove it in such a way leaving his suit jacket crumpled and eventually tossed away.

And yet, for all of these outward appearances, his face remained much the same as it had been the entire day. Dark eyes, yet blank, as if they weren't quite focused, and his smile gone, just a line carved across the stone of his face, a boy of marble and such.

Maylea quite liked that idea, little statues that went through life, some carved to do as they must, and others carved through the pain that they felt.

How could he not cry? Did he not realize that Eliza was gone, with her infectious laugh and gentle smile, her obsessions with flowers and all things green?

The thought brought fresh tears to Maylea, and she started to sob, unable to stifle back the sorrow breaking inside of her. She could feel her little statue heart being tap-tapped on, chiseled away.

"Why can't you just shut up!"

Corben exploded into something terrible, tears streaming down his face, twisted into something so filled with anger, it was as if he wished to hurt something.

Maylea pulled the rabbit closer, holding back a whimper. She had never seen him so mad.

And she had never seen him cry.

The memory struck fresh tears in Maylea's eyes, and Veronica made a strangled little sound, while Juno was wrapping a blanket around her shoulders, but everything felt strangely detached.

He was crying for her.

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Veronica stormed out of that room a lot sooner than Corben expected. He had hoped to make a bit more headway before the inevitable happened, but it appeared in was all in vain.

He leaned his head back against the wall and took deep breaths, waiting, for the yelling, the accusations, the disappointment that had always felt so familiar. He touched a hand to the inside of his wrist, just as Veronica stopped in front of him.

It was silent for a moment. Corben could feel her glare on him, but he refused to look up, to match the fury in her gaze.

Then she exploded. "What the kriff were you thinking?" She yelled, kicking his foot with her own.

Corben shivered, but he stayed hunched over, tracing circles on the inside of his wrist.

"Hey!" She snatched his arm and yanked, glaring, forcing him to look at her, to see her anger, memories flaring in his mind. "You need to get your sorry hide back in there and take care of that poor girl. You two were lucky enough to actually have a familiar face here that you could stand, and you're really going to act like this?"

"She looked like my sister."

Veronica dropped his wrist, stepping away, eyes cast down. It was silent between the two of them, and Corben slowed his breathing down, still tracking circles on the insides of his wrists.

"I'm sorry."

She knew. Of course she knew. Maylea had probably told her. Juno knew. Would Juno understand? No, probably not. He would be more upset than Veronica was.

Veronica shifted awkwardly, still staring at him. "What now?"

"Now," Corben started to get up molding up his rigidity bit by bit. "I'm going to head to my room. You're going to go back to the other two, and we're both going to act like this interaction never happened."

Veronica tilted her head to the side. "And what makes you think you can actually trust me to keep my mouth shut?"

"Because," Corben said slowly and deliberately. "I think you already know what happens to people with loose lips."

Her eyes widened, and Veronica stiffened, as if remembering something.

Corben sighed. He had hoped that that would work, but at least he knew it was true now.

He had to get them out of here.

He had to Maylea away from her.

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Kai was slumped in front of the door, and she could feel the heat from Avery as he was leaning against her, the two of them deciding to wait out the power outage with a nap.

She let out a lazy hum and stretched, her eyes opening slowly. Wait... hey! "Avery!" She nudged at him excitedly. "Hey Avery, the power's back up!"

"Hurmp?" He jolted up to his feet, swatting the air with his hands. "Get back, ninjas."

Kai choked back a laugh. "No ninjas here, tough guy." She chuckled as she watched Avery regain some semblance of consciousness, eyes squinted and stumbling slightly. "With me now?"

Avery nodded slowly, taking a small step forward. "Yes," he said cautiously. "The ninjas have left, so I'm pretty sure I'm awake now."

Kai smiled. "Well, that's good." She started to push herself up, and Avery helped her to her feet. "Should we head into the room, or try and find the others? The dining room seems like a good place to start, right?"

Avery shrugged. "Don't ask me, I'm just the funny guy."

Kai shoved his shoulder gently. "Aw, don't say that about yourself. Who had the awesome idea of looking for a flashlight feature? Huh?"

Aver turned pink and tried to swat Kai away. "C'mon, it want that big of a deal. I just thought, if phones have flashlights, maybe these would too."

He stopped and stared into space, and Kai could practically see the wheels turning in his head as he thought. "Wait. These things act like phones. But why haven't any of us tried to use them like a phone? Is there like a wifi or something that we can connect to?"

Kai tugged on a strand of her hair. "Better question. Where are our phones? Did they just get taken, or something? Was it that one butler guy? What was his name..."

"Alfred?" Avery smirked at Kai. "Are we all BatKids now? Is that what this is? We've been brought here to become the next generation of superheroes."

Kai snorted. "Yeah, right. Totally. I'm superhero material?"

Avery nodded sagely. "Absolutely. You know what other kind of material I am?"

Kai shook her head. "I almost don't want to ask."

"Boyfriend material."

Kai doubled over laughing, desperately trying to cling to any shreds of composure she had left, but the goofy look still plastered on Avery's face made her lose it all over again.

Avery chuckled and patted Kai's back. "Well, at least you think I'm funny," he said, a soft smile on his face.

Kai wiped away a tear. "Trust me, Avery, you're the funniest person I've ever met."

Avery pressed a hand to his chest. "I am so sorry for you," he said solemnly. "If I'm the funniest person you know, you need to grow some class."

Kai waved it off. "Nah. Anyhow, are we going to go yet?" We've been joking about heroes, but for all we know, someone broke in and rescued the others."

"Or killed them," Avery shot back.

Kai pressed her lips together. "Or we just don't think like that."

Avery shrugged. "Or that."

Kai looped her arm through Avery's. "We've been stalling long enough, Let's go."

Avery nodded absentmindedly, but his head was tilted to the side, eyes slightly narrowed. "Do you hear that?" He asked, a slight frown on his face.

Kai lifted herself on her tiptoes and listened really hard. "Not really. Why? What do you hear?"

Avery grabbed Kai's wrist and tugged gently. "C'mon! I think someone is crying!"

Who is crying? Who will they find?
Answer here 》》

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James lifted his wrist, staring at the numbers flicking by on his band's screen. Two more minutes, and Master Sabers would be giving him updated instructions.

The door swung open, and Missus slipped into the room with him, swiping her hands on her little apron. "How much longer, Dear?" She asked, passing a little brown paper bag to him.

He opened it and took a deep breath, savoring the sweet aroma of baked goods. "A minute, maybe two. You're just in time."

She patted his shoulder lovingly. "I always am, Dear."

The numbers on his band flicked down to zero, a text started to fill the small screen, scrolling faster than James could read it. "Oh boy," he murmured. "He's gotten quite ambitious this time, hasn't he?"

Missus fanned herself with her hand. "Do we even know if those work? He hasn't touched them in ages. Honestly, I thought he had given up that silly idea."

James shook his head, tapping his band to the screen that took up most of the wall to his left, and it flickered on, displaying the text that had been scrolling across the screen on his wrist. "I suppose all we can do is make certain that it is safe for the kids."

Missus swiped her hands across her apron. "I suppose. They've just now been here for a full day, but I suppose he's mighty eager to get moving with this batch, isn't he?"

James scanned the text on the large screen, only half paying attention. "Mhm."

Missus tsked her tongue. "It would do you good to actually pay attention to me." She sighed, running her hands across her apron again. "I hope they weren't too distressed with the power outage and all."

James shrugged, still reading. "She knew the instructions, and she performed brilliantly. We don't understand everything Master Sabers asks of us, but it seems he's getting closer to his end goal, whatever that may be."

Missus hummed in agreement. "I reckon these kids will be the last ones he needs. They seem quite promising."

James finished fiddling with his band with a satisfied sigh. "There, now. All the information is up here for you to read. You really should keep those glasses on you if you insist using your band."

Missus waved him off, and handed him the brown paper bag again. "Oh, there's no need to worry about a tired old biddy like me. You just keep your eyes fresh and all."

James chuckled and pressed a light kiss to her forehead. "Thanks for the treats, Missus. I'll go ahead and take a look at that kitchen sink once I've cleaned up the mess that one Corben kid made. Honestly, I'm still not even sure how he got her out, but he did it, and i suppose that's good."

Missus shooed him over to the door. "Go on then, dear, and let me do my reading in peace."

He chuckled and slipped out of them room, leaving it with just the Missus, and a blinking screen.

She hummed a little tune as she started to scroll along, nodding every so often.

And then she turned and left, four little words frozen on the screen, casting hues of red and blue over the room as she left it, the click of the light sending it all dark, all but the light of four little words.

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Another chapter for you guys!! I hope you guys like this one! I had a lot of fun writing with James and the Missus, so that was cool :)

What was your favorite thing that happened this chapter? What about your least favorite part?

I gotta head to bed cause it's almost midnight here.

Bye!