Confrontation

I watched the small ones shovel scrambled eggs into their mouths. Every newfound food made them ecstatic. They all ate like they've never had food in their life.

"What is this stuff?!" Block asked excitedly, mouth still full of food.

"It's eggs." Teressa told him.

"What's an eggs?" He asked. Teressa and I exchanged a quick glance.

"We'll tell you some other time!" Teressa laughed nervously. We've confused them enough already. Imagine explaining eggs.

"Anything important to do today Dr. Xavier?" Nail asked, mouth also filled with her food.

"Nothing new for me! You guys can hang out and do what you want though." She smiled at the notion of freedom. I stood from the couch, stretching my arms.

"Alright I should probably get dressed-" I was interrupted by a knock at the front door. My living room curtains were closed, so lucky no one could see through.

"Oh! Someone coming to the door totally slipped my mind!" Teressa stood next to me.

"So what do we do?" She asked.

"What's going on?" Bottle asked.

"Someones knocking on the door, which means they want to talk to me! But they can't see you." I explained calmly.

"So...let's all move behind the couch!" I quickly motioned all of them behind the couch with their bowls. Once they were all out of general view I peeked out the window to see who was waiting.

It was Foster.

I quickly closed the curtain and covered my mouth to stop any sudden noises.

"What's wrong?" Teressa asked quietly.

"It's Foster! They're here!" I loudly whispered through anxious breaths.

"Okay! Okay...I have a plan! You answer the door and I'll wait outside in case it gets bloody!" It feels like I'm gonna cough up my lung.

"BLOODY?!" They slammed their hands over my mouth.

"Shush! You just answer okay?" I nodded slowly and she moved her hands and ran outside through the back door in the kitchen. I breathed heavily, trying to calm myself.

"Okay, I'm gonna answer! Right now! Right now I'm sure!" Finally, I gripped the handle and twisted it, opening it.

"Hello, Xavier." Foster spoke in their usual tone. He was already dressed in his usual outfit, unlike me who wore a loose t-shirt and yellow pajama pants.

"Hi, Foster! Is there something you need?" I asked calmly. His emotionless expression soured.

"I know the defectives are here, I've come to finish the job since you clearly couldn't." My heart sank. The trackers had slipped my mind. Of course he knew.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" It was clear they knew I was lying. I was sweating buckets.

"Don't try and trick me." He shoved past me into my house.

"Where are they hiding?" He slowly pulled out a knife.

"Nowhere! Put that away!" I yelped with fake confidence.

"You know if you don't show me where they are this knife will have multiple uses." I felt like I was choking. There's no way this was real. There's no way Dr. Foster just threatened me with a knife! What do I do? I glanced towards my kitchen. I have knives. I tried to run but he yanked me by my hair. No running now.

"This isn't difficult Xavier. Just tell me." The knife was shiny, probably new. They yanked me down towards his shoulder and brought the knife near my face.

"Now go on. Tell me where they are." I could feel tears run down my face. I choked on my words.

"No! I won't tell you!" I screamed. I tried to push him away, scratching at his wrists. They smacked the end of the knife handle into the face. I screamed out for help. In a quick flash, Foster and I were shoved to the ground. It took me a second to realize that Foster had passed out. Or been knocked out.

"D-Did I get him?" Teressa asked nervously, holding a pot from the kitchen.

"...are they dead?" I asked quietly, reaching for the vital on his neck.

...a heartbeat.

I let out a big sigh, pushing him off of me to stand.

"He's alive." I reassured her. She laughed.

"Lucky them I guess."

"Teressa! I'm not letting you go to jail for murder!" I yelled angrily, anxiety taking over.

"Check their pockets!" They recommend. I gasped.

"Now you want me to rob them!" She rolled her eyes and shuffled through his pockets, pulling out a jumble of keys.

"We gotta make sure he can't escape." They said smiling. I snatched the keys out of her hand. Maybe there's info on the effectives, or maybe the effectives themselves.

"One sec! I need to go check something!" Before they could stop me I ran outside. I tried to seem casual, despite the fact I was breaking into Foster's car. I hope no neighbors could tell how erratic I felt. I searched around the car and noticed a bright white box on the floor in the back. I could easily make out moving shapes within. I grinned and quickly grabbed the box by its handle and carefully took it inside.

"What's that? I didn't think you'd actually rob them!" Teressa said, sitting next to Foster on the floor.

"I'm not, it's more of them, I hadn't gotten them all, I'm lucky they were here." Her eyes widened.

"There were more?! I thought we got them all!" I laughed nervously.

"Sorry...I should've told you..." They quickly kneeled in front of the tub.

"Okay let's see them!" I gently moved it from their grasp.

"My boss is still passed out on my floor." She glanced at their body and back at me.

"I saw your neighbors calling the cops anyway." My eyes widened in fear.

"They WHAT?!" I screeched, head whirling to look at the open door. They must've seen us fighting, and saw Teressa smack him over the head with a pan. We either look like victims or murderers.

"Okay- okay! Okay, it's fine! Okay??" I stuttered out, carrying the box to my room.

"They have no reason to search my room right?" My voice trembled, assuming my question had reached Teressa.

"Yeah, they can't don't worry." They assured me, herding the little ones from under the couch to my room.

"Good idea! Put them under the bed, I'll put the box there too!" I shoved the box under and watched all the others climb under.

"Dr. Xavier, what's going on? Why is Foster here?" Paper Bag asked nervously. I slowly pushed her under the bed with the others.

"I'll explain later, just stay out of sight and be quiet!" She nodded quietly. All being out of sight, I sat in my living room and waited.

Time went by and eventually, no one showed up, no flashy sirens and nerve-racking questions.

"I thought you said you heard them call the cops." I asked, slouched on the couch. They looked towards the open door.

"Well...I saw them on the phone. I just assumed-" I groaned loudly, sinking lower.

"Teressaaaaaa... they were probably just gossipingggg..." I stood and stared down at the still knocked out Foster. I used my foot to shove his body repeatedly.

"Get up already you lazy bastard, I want you out of my house." I said under my breath, shoving them more. Foster groaned and I jumped back. Teressa and I stared silently at him as he slowly awoke. He sat silently on my floor before turning to look up at me.

"So you got me huh?" They asked quietly.

"I-YEAH! So now you got to leave! You're not doing anything to the defectives!" I yelled confidently, towering over him.

"...Sure. Your problem if they get found out. I've got better things to do. I have all the things I need anyway. Have fun with your failures." Their calm explanation confused me but I was happy to see them weakly walk out of my house.

"How long till he finds out we took the effectives too?" I asked Teressa.

"With that head injury? Give it an hour at least, and that's if he doesn't crash from it." I instantly broke into a sweat. Not because I felt sympathy, they deserved to crash. But if that leads back to me no way it wouldn't be a bigger issue. So I can hope he doesn't come back for a while.

"Now let's go check on the new ones!" She squealed happily, dragging me to my room.

"You can come out now!" They said quietly, to keep them all calm. They all slowly moved out from under my bed, grouping back up.

"Are you okay?" Green asked from amongst the crowd. I kneeled to be closer to her level.

"Of course! Now let's help these ones." I grabbed the box from under the bed and popped off the lid. The effectives stared at me silently.

"Dr. Xavier? What are you doing here?" Fries said, I could hear suspicion in his voice.

"I'm sorry if you guys were worried. But Fosters gone now! You're all safe!" They seemed nervous.

"Then...can we get out of this box?" Pillow asked.

"Oh of course!" Me and Teressa began scooping them up, until everyone was out. The chatter among them was loud, with a lot of questions and confusion.

- - -

"FRIES!" A loud yell rang out above the cluttered voices. Fries turned towards the voice, a spark of immediate recognition of who yelled. Puffball ran into him so hard they both fell to the ground. He held her close to his chest.

"...Puffball?" He almost couldn't believe it. He immediately started sobbing, holding her tightly.

"Hey- why are you crying?" She asked quietly. He pulled her away and smiled.

"I'm just really happy you're here."

Lollipop stood silently, staring at everyone around her. There was no way. There was no way she was back with everyone else. She didn't want to be here. She didn't want to be around these people. She could see the joy around her. People hugging and cheering. She could see Book too. She was talking to her other dayroom people. She looked happy.

Lollipop wasn't expecting this. She burned all her bridges at every turn and now she had no one left. She felt out of place, she needed to get away from this. She swiftly made her way out of the room, unaware of where to go or where she was. Eventually, she was in a dark room, a cold dark room at that. Desperate to get avoid everyone she squeezed herself between a cold wall and a normal wall. She of course didn't know what a dryer was. Or how warm they could be. But that didn't matter to her now.

Everyone was joyous. Except for Snowball. He didn't like the effectives, he loathed their existence. Out of jealousy of course. He still had yet to try and talk to Ice Cube, who was talking to her effective teammates. What would he even say to her? The last time he talked to her he messed it up, and he thought that was the last time he'd talk to her! No way he can figure out what to say. She looked happy though, that made him feel a little better. Even so, he really wanted to talk to her. Maybe later? He rather not be around her friends, they probably don't like him. That made him a little angry. They probably told lies to her too. Everyone did.

Ice Cube smiled as her friends hugged her.

"I'm so glad you guys are okay! We were so worried!" Book said, backing away to talk to her.

"Yeah, we for sure thought you guys were dead!" Taco was smiling as she spoke but was clearly hiding how nervous that made her.

"Hey, where's Lollipop?" They all went quiet as Ice Cube asked.

"Who knows and who cares, she didn't care about you guys at all! Honestly would be good if she got left behind or something." Book ranted, her face twisted in an angry scowl. Ice Cube had almost forgotten how Lollipop acted, openly separating herself from them to seem better. It had made Ice Cube upset back then, seeing her friend so against them, but there was nothing she could do.

"That's...a little harsh Book." Gaty's response made Book groan.

"You saw how she ignored you guys! She was fine with you dying so why should I feel bad?!" No one responded. Nothing could convince her, because she had some merit. And Ice Cube wasn't going to argue about the person who was okay with her death.

"Well, at least we were okay in the end huh?" Ice Cube said, trying to lighten the mood. Saw wrapped an arm around Ice Cube.

"Yeah! That's all that matters now!" Everyone quickly got back to happy chatting, abandoning the dark topic. Ice Cube was still thinking about Lollipop. Where could she be?

- - -

I looked down at everyone happily as they all spoke loudly and laughed. It was nice to see everyone reunited. But of course, I couldn't help noticing Snowball, sitting quietly against the wall staring at the groups.

"Oh, that poor boy." I said under my breath.

"What about who?" Teressa asked.

"Well, Snowball over there has no friends because of a misunderstanding."

"Well, why don't you clear it up?" They asked.

"I can't, Foster doesn't let me- OH!" My whisper jumped up to a yell. I didn't have to listen to Foster! I didn't have to let them make lies about things because I could clear it up. I could explain everything!

"Oh wow! I can fix this! I can help them! This is great Teressa!" I whisper yelled, trying not to alert the others.

"Did you really just think about that Shawn?? You need to make a plan right now! Little Snowballs suffered enough!" They whisper yelled, yanking my collar.

"I will! Don't worry!" And I wasn't lying. I felt so bad for him. He deserves to at least have the rumors stopped. I needed to fix all this.

Soooooo

Maybe I took awhile

Just a lil bit

I lost motivation but it's back!!!! 😻😻😻

Look at them!! Reunited 😻

ALSO

here's the art I meant to put last chapter!!!

Im going to move this to the last chapter in a few days

Just putting it here first since more people will see it if it's here 😻

:•)