Silver Umbrellas

Twenty-Seven-- Threats

Flanked by human women, Lili continued to walk through the white hallway that had to be the cleanest thing she had seen in literally years. Mr. Tyson must really take pride in the cleanliness of his workspace, or else none of it made much sense at all. She looked over at Tino, who was powering through the pain in his side like it was just a beesting.

Or maybe a thousand beestings. Lili wasn't fooled at all.

But maybe there was a way to talk their way out of this situation! 'The vorst thing I can do is not try' she thought, clenching her fists at her sides before she opened her mouth to speak. "You all seem like nice people. Vhy are you listening to vhat Mr. Tyson is telling you to do?"

"It's not like we have much of a choice," the lady on her left answered bitterly. "He's got all that weird stuff, and he threatens to use it on us if we don't do what he wants right when he wants it."

"The potions?" Lili asked, and received a grim nod.

"If that's what you wanna call 'em."

"Look, we'd love to help you guys leave, but I'm pretty sure he'd have our heads if we did that," the man who had spoken when they opened the storage room door to escort Tino and Lili away. "Besides, I don't think he's gonna kill you guys 'r anything."

"What makes you say that?" Tino asked tightly, keeping his left hand pressed firmly against his right side as they strolled.

"'Cause you're not dead yet, for starters," the second guy, who had yet to make a sound before right then, said. "And you had the umbrella with you."

"How you got it, I can only guess," the woman on Lili's left added. "He might even reward you for having it, though I kinda doubt that..."

"Come on, we're almost there," the other human lady said, motioning to a turn in the corridor. The six of them followed it and found themselves in front of a door with yellow cautionary tape strung across it. Hesitantly, one of the guys stepped forward and tapped his knuckles on the smooth white surface of the door. An irritated "Come in!" sounded from the other side.

'I recognize that voice' Tino thought, his eyes narrowing angrily. 'Alice mimicked his voice when she told us what happened to Owen.'

The door swung open and the tape went with it; the two nations were guided in by one person each, but it was clear that none of them wanted to be inside that room for any longer than they had to be.

"Finally," a man wearing a white labcoat and sitting with their back to them all said testily. A goggles band wrapped around the back of his head, interrupting the flow of his short dark brown hair, and he held something large and silver in his hands.

'The umbrella' Lili thought, her inner anger beginning to rise in response to the cruelty sitting in front of her.

"Anything else?" the man standing behind Tino asked. The Finnish nation couldn't help but notice the strained hope in his voice; he clearly didn't want there to be another request.

"I think that's enough for now," Mr. Tyson said, still not turned around yet. "You may leave."

The door couldn't have closed behind the two humans any quicker.

"Welcome, welcome," he greeted, spinning on his seat and holding the umbrella over his head even though they were all indoors-- underground, no less. "Please dispel any previous conceptions you may have of me. I'm only a man after the art of science and discovery. Speaking of which, I would like to thank you both for bringing this umbrella to me, and I apologize deeply for your injury, young sir."

It took a lot of effort for Tino to resist rolling his eyes at being called a "young" sir. Tyson continued, regardless of the angry looks he was receiving. "Now, about your injury. I was told the quarrel that struck you was dipped in some of this yellow potion." To make his point clear, he held up a clear glass bottle half-filled with a viscous yellow liquid. "As I've discovered not long ago, this substance poisons the user, and it is extremely potent. It was introduced into your body a number of hours ago, and yet here you are. How is that?"