Teamwork is a skill we lack. (II SUPERHERO AU FIC)

59

It was in fact, not a short rest that Testtube woke up from. Really, she wasn't even sitting at the counter anymore, waking up to find herself in bed. She groaned as she sat up, putting one hand to her head, the other feeling around her nightstand for her glasses. Once on, she took a moment to really wake herself up, and look around. She was definitely in her room... figuring Fan must've come down while she was asleep, and brought her there... Which was nice, but-- She yanked the covers off quickly, remembering why she had fallen asleep down in her lab in the first place. She was grateful for Fan caring, but if Paintbrush were to face any medical complications while nobody was around to fix it, they would die. So she rushed back down to her lab to see... Paintbrush was just fine. They were still asleep, but stillq breathing. She would have to do a check-up on them soon, but her attention was pulled away by her notebook, which seemed to have a lot more writing in it than she remembered. Peeking at it, she found out why.

'Hey Testtube, sorry for using a page of your notebook for this but I couldn't sleep well last night considering, so I came back down here to check up and you had fallen asleep, so I figured I'd bring you back up to sleep in your room. I kept an eye on Paintbrush for a while, making sure they weren't dying or anything, but me writing this means I'm obviously not there now, I went back out to look for Lightbulb again, call me when you wake up or when you read this, please.'

Her eyes scanned the message twice, before fully processing everything, as she looked over to her phone. Maybe she would give him a call... But first, she had to refill her vial. Calling could wait just a little bit. She needed to clear up her thoughts. 

--

Fan searched the woods first, checking every nook and cranny that he could find or reach, to no avail, after several hours, having left at the break of sunlight, it was now almost noon. He could only hope if she weren't in the woods, she'd... be somewhere in the city-- which... Was not great, seeing as Meeple city was massive, but... He couldn't give up now. He wasn't mad at Lightbulb, he knew nobody was, she didn't seem like she was in control anyways, so Fan figured it wasn't... entirely her fault. He just needed to find her to make sure she was okay. She left in such a hurry, and he knew she couldn't be doing well mentally after she had seen what she had done, so he didn't know if he really had much time... Though if she were to... do something dire, she would surely just be recovered back in the base, right? But Fan didn't want it to come to that. So he kept at his search, making his way out of the forest, into the city. This was when he received a phone call.

"Hello?" He kept walking as he answered.

"Hey. You told me to call when I woke up,"

Fan's slightly distraught mood seemed to improve hearing her voice, her just actually being there-- even on call seeming to make him feel just a bit better about all of this.

"Oh, yeah, I did, I just wanted to be able to check in on your end, is Paintbrush still stable?"

"Yeah-- they're fine. How's it going with your search?"

Fan sighed.

"It's um... well, She's either somewhere in the city, or worst case scenario, just completely gone, I searched the forest, and she wasn't there."

"Hm. Well... I doubt she'd be able to get past the city in her current state... I suppose here's hoping you find her..."

Silence for a bit as Fan kept walking, making sure to take note of every object he passed, and for any movement in any alleyways he passed by.

"If... Um... When you find her, please be careful. I... Don't want her hurting you too." Testtube spoke again.

"She's... not going to hurt me. I'm going to find her, and let her know we aren't angry, and everything will be fine."