What's Out There? Part 2

Chapter 12

When they got to the window they had originally jumped out of, Midnight paused. "Just warning you, I might start to act weird and might suddenly have cat-like ears and maybe a tail, it happens sometimes."

"I don't care." Maxwell climbed back in through the window, Midnight close behind. All the portals had gone, the hall was barely lit, the backup power having finally come on. The hall was eerily quiet... everything gave off an unsettling feeling. Midnight whimpered a bit. "HEY!!! ANYBODY THERE!?!?" Maxwell shouted as loud as he could.

"What the heck?" Midnight stared in disbelief. Only their echoes responded. Maxwell and Midnight advanced. As they drew closer to the lab they left Doctor Strike in, the lights came back on in a bright flash. "Agh! The light!" Midnight hissed at the sudden burst.

"... what's wrong with it?" Maxwell looked at her suspiciously while his vision adjusted to the light. He noticed her cat-like ears that she didn't have before.

"Sorry, When a light turns on suddenly it hurts my eyes."

"So, where are they?" Maxwell inquired.

"I don't know..." Midnight listened for them, her cat-like ears twitching. "I think I hear somebody upstairs." She gestured to the ceiling. Maxwell took his small gun and blasted a hole in the ceiling. It was a surprisingly strong blast for a small gun. He and Midnight climbed up and kept searching while remaining very quiet.

"Can you hear anything important?" Maxwell asked after a moment.

Midnight narrowed her eyes "It kind of sounds like a machine is on." She winced and covered her ears, crying out.

"What?"

"That noise! It's super high pitched and it hurts!" Midnight kept her ears covered but it still stung. Maxwell used a device that caused him to hear higher-pitched noises, but since noise couldn't cause him pain, he wasn't sure why she was so distraught. But she visibly was in pain so he pulled a pair of earplugs out of his pocket and put them in Midnight's ears. She paused. "Thanks."

"Welcome."

"I can still sort of hear stuff, so that's good," she said, her ear twitching a bit.

"Where's it coming from?"

"It's coming from like two more stories up." She nodded up. Maxwell and Midnight took the staircase this time. Midnight wasn't as fast as Maxwell on the stairs, so he stopped.

"Try going two steps at a time. it's kinda tiring but it doubles your speed," Maxwell told her, but she had been. She was out of breath by the time she caught up.

"I... need to...catch my breath, give me... a moment." She inhaled deeply between words

"Okay..." Maxwell said hesitantly. They hadn't run far and he'd seen her run fast and for much longer without nearly passing out.

"Get my necklace, I'll wait right here." She leaned against the wall, her whole body twitching a bit. Maxwell didn't ask why, so he went off to find her necklace. He remained hidden but he finally heard some voices. The voices of Doctor Strike and Johnson.

"Johnson, you better calm the hell down," Doctor Strike said sternly.

"Calm down huh? Just how you were when you killed mom?" Johnson laughed. Maxwell remained hidden from the two but still listened.

"Don't bring your mother into this-" Doctor Strike growled.

"She was a better person than you. She was a good human being, unlike you. You're not even human!" Johnson barked. As they continued to argue, Maxwell slipped into the room they were in to see if Doctor Strike had the necklace. Sure enough, she had a tight grip of the charm in her good hand. Maxwell prepared to go magnet fishing for the necklace with his electro-magnet, but then something caught his attention. "Aunt Midnight, why do you have to be so..." He groaned in frustration.

"So what, Cave?" She asked. Johnson knew he had to choose his next words carefully.

"Give me the necklace," Johnson held out his hand.

"No, why would I willingly give it to you?" Doctor Strike laughed at him. Maxwell waited for the perfect moment to take them by surprise. They continued to argue and Maxwell got bored. So he dashed over, snatched the necklace out of Doctor Strike's hand, and booked it out of the room. Doctor Strike let go of the necklace, allowing Maxwell to take it.

"You idiot! You're letting him get away!" Johnson shouted and chased after Maxwell.

Maxwell ran down the stairs, right to where he'd left Midnight. He tossed her the necklace and got her up on her feet. "RUN!"

Midnight clasped the necklace around her neck, the energy flowed through her fast. "Let's go!" The two took off running down the stairs. Johnson wasn't too far behind them. Maxwell found the window and jumped out, Midnight close behind. Johnson rounded the corner just in time to see them jump out the window.

"Wait!" he cried, running to the window and sticking his head out.

"Why should we?!" Maxwell turned around to face Johnson, who was two stories up.

"Midnight!"

"What?" Midnight skidded to a stop to face Johnson too.

"Sorry," he shouted. Midnight was about to ask why, but a portal opened right under her feet and she fell in before she could grab anything. It closed before Maxwell could follow. "Not sorry!" He cackled as he ran away from the window.

Maxwell teleported himself in front of Johnson, grabbed the collar of his shirt, and slammed him against the wall. "Where did you send her?" Maxwell asked in a menacing growl.

"Why would I tell you?" Johnson smirked. Maxwell teleported the two to the roof and held Johnson over the edge, ready to drop him ten stories.

"Tell. me. NOW," Maxwell demanded. Johnson snickered a bit.

"Drop him, he's useless." Doctor Strike's voice came from behind Maxwell. He turned and there she was, goggles on her forehead and tucking in wires on her stump of an arm. Maxwell hadn't noticed where her arm had ended and the gun started. Mid-forearm would've had to be cut clear through the bone.

"How long have you been there?" Maxwell asked.

"The whole time. Just drop him already, he is useless... just like his mother."

"Gah, Aunt Midnight, I didn't think you would say that about your own sister!" Johnson said sarcastically.

"I know where he sent her," Doctor Strike informed.

"Where?" Maxwell inquired.

"No, you don't!" Johnson shouted at her.

Doctor Strike raised a thin black eyebrow at him. "I helped you find a universe to send her to." She rolled her eyes. "She's in a universe that is dying, and everything that goes there dies with it. Better hurry." She tapped her wrist. "Time goes faster in that universe." Doctor Strike walked away. Maxwell threw Johnson to the side, leaving him on the roof, and teleported to the universe he was told about.