The Cumberbottom Incident: Rhett and Link

Chapter Nineteen: Case in Progress

OKAY IM FINALLY UPDATING IM SO SORRY!! You guys are amazing and I cant say enough how much it means to me that people like my story!! You guys got this trending wordwide! I love u all so much. My life has been a little chaotic, but i can guarantee i WILL finish this fic. I love the characters too much not to. (and I dont want to be a dick who doesnt update/finish a book when theres a huge cliffhanger) 

BUT ALL IN ALL- if you have any suggestions or criticisms, feel free to DM me or comment! I'll shut up now. <3

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Link's POV-

Rhett lifts his arm off my shoulder and I follow him in an attempt of a sprint to the other room. I attempt to dry my eyes with the back of my hand, but I know at this point it doesn't really matter. My legs and feet throb as I enter the room, making me wince as I walk over to Mike. Mike is sitting on the floor by Stevie. His eyes look concerned as he looks up at Rhett who stands nervously next to me. 

Stevie's face is very pale and her hands shake. She looks up at us and her eyes are clouded with an air of confusion. She coughs and sits back in her chair. Rhett leans down and Stevie jumps. 

"I'm Rhett, it's okay.." 

She looks up at Rhett and before I can process the current situation she leans over the side of the chair and vomits. Luckily Mike is able to dodge just in time. Stevie looks up and blinks a few times and wipes her forehead with the back of her hand. I take a monogrammed purple cloth from nearby table and throw it over the puke. That'll be a great thing to be around while we're in here. Not to mention the fact that what Marcus seems to make a priority are decorative cloths and not the physical and mental well-being of his "employees."

She looks back up at Rhett and I and manages to speak:

"Are we still there?"

I nod. "Yep, we are still here. Marcus has been throwing his best punches lately and if we don't figure out his strategy soon, who knows.." 

Alex stands up and walks over to me, "We can do this, Link." He offers a weak smile, I take it. I need every bit of encouragement possible at this point. Rhett helps Stevie up and we make our way back to the main room to try and figure all this out. We have no choice at this point. We have ourselves and each other and barely any adrenaline to pull this off.

Rhett's POV-

I follow Link to the main room again. The familiarity of everything makes me sick. All I want to do is get out of here. I can hear the desperation clawing at my consciousness. Link walks with his shoulders slumped and his eyes are bloodshot from the lack of rest. It hurts me. 

Mike walk over to me, "Alex and I have done this kind of stuff before," he motions his hand toward the line of computers by the wall, "We can do this, don't worry man." Overwhelming thanks wells up in my chest, "Thank you." is all I am able to say. My mind is almost numb. I hope to God that he understands. Mike smiles and turns back toward Alex. They hunch over one of the monitors, and I can hear them talking softly to each other as Mike switches on the computer. I decide to leave them alone. They need all their concentration in the world. Which right now, is not that much. 

Stevie takes a seat by one of the walls and closes her eyes. Recharging I suppose, is the best thing to do at this point, though Link and I are too stressed to think about that kind of thing. I motion for Link to stay back while I talk to Doug. I walk over and am still jostled by the size of this man. 

"Hey man." I offer, hoping he is still in a good mood. Doug is staring at a watch on his wrist. I lean closer to see what is so interesting about a watch face. I raise my eyebrows. It looked like a small screen of some sort. 

"What's that?"

"What?"

"That."

"Wh--"

"The watch." 

"Oh.." 

I don't want to be harsh, but my patience level is particularly low. 

"It's a monitor. Marcus gives them out to us so he knows where we are." his eyes have a look of defeat. 

"What's wrong?" I say as nicely as I can. He clumsily un-clips the watch-like monitor from his wrist and gives it to me, "Could this help, Boss? Maybe?" he places it in my palm and smiles. "I didn't know how I could help. So.."

"What do you mean, man? You helped us a lot. Don't worry." I stare at the strange looking watch in my hand for a moment wondering how this will 'help' us in any way. It has to. Somewhere, this is a direct connection to Marcus. We just need to figure out how to use it, and how to connect with him for our benefit. Suddenly, and idea sparks in the back of my head and I almost jump. I turn to Doug who looks at me expectantly, waiting for a command to fulfill. "Wait here.  You're doing good. Keep guarding."

He straightens his posture and shifts the weight on his feet. As I turn to walk towards Link, I can hear him sigh. I feel bad, really. But I have no time to comfort him. Not now. 

"Link!" He looks up at me from the floor where he sits by Stevie. "I have an idea!" Link's tired eyes look up at me tiredly, and I can tell he's interested. 

"I think Doug might have just saved us.."