A Monstrous Mistake

Chapter 8: Escapes and Escapades

The room was probably an unused board room. Or maybe it was just a spare room. Either way, Luca and Alberto were locked inside. 

After being caught in the door warehouse, the boys had been unceremoniously shoved and locked in the empty, windowless room. The CDA agents hadn't said what they were going to do with them, but it couldn't be anything good. Alberto was sitting on the floor, thinking, while Luca anxiously paced. 

"This is bad, this is bad, this is REALLY bad. What are they going to do with us? Throw us in monster jail? We'll never get back to Portorosso! What are we going to--"

"Luca!" Alberto interrupted. "Breathe." Luca paused and took a breath. Alberto stood up, went over to his friend, and put his hands on Luca's shoulders. "We're going to be fine. I have a plan."

"Wait, really?" 

"Yep. I saw this in a movie Massimo and I watched on TV once." He turned Luca to face one of the walls. It took him a minute before he noticed the vent cover near the bottom corner. Alberto continued talking as he walked over.

"These are called air vents. They're like tunnels that go all over the factory. I'll get the cover off, and we'll crawl through and find a way out." He bent down to get a closer look at the vent cover.

"Do you really think that will work?"

"Definitely. Movies are never wrong!" He began pulling at the vent cover. And continued to do so for the next five minutes. Eventually he had to accept that the grate wasn't going to budge, and gave up with an angered grunt. 

"It was worth a try," Luca offered, walking over and sitting next to Alberto.

"Thanks, but it's going to take a miracle to break us out of here."

"Maybe Mike and Sulley will try and help us."

"I doubt it. Every monster in the factory probably knows about us by now. Plus, we lied to them. A lot. They're probably mad at us."

"Maybe they'll understand why. I mean, Giulia understood why we lied to her about being sea monsters."

"That was different. Let's face it: we're stuck here. No one is coming to help us."

Just then, the doorknob began to jiggle, as if someone was messing with the lock. Alberto held Luca in his arms as they both stared apprehensively at the door. Was this it? Would they be separated? Or worse?

The door opened. The boys expected to see another CDA agent, or maybe the big green monster from before. But it wasn't either of them.

Instead, a tall pink monster with one eye, a green dress, tentacles for legs, and snakes for hair came in. She looked very uncomfortable, but smiled at the boys. 

"You must be Luca and Alberto."

"Yes," Alberto answered as he stood up, clearly nervous (how often did you see people with snakes for hair?) but trying to sound tough. "Who are you?"

"My name is Celia Mae. I'm Mike's girlfriend. He and Sulley want to help you get home. But we have to hurry. Quick, put these on." She held out two water packs. 

Luca, feeling utterly relieved, took them from her and handed one to Alberto as he put his on. In less than a minute, they'd both turned back into sea monsters. 

"Wow," Celia said under her breath. The five snakes that made up her hair looked equally amazed. Luca didn't blame her. Humans usually had the same reaction when they watched him turn. She shook her head as if reminding herself to focus. "Come on, let's go." She led the boys out into the halls.

---

"I am so glad that I could have helped you to complete your mission." Grimelson had spent the last fifteen minutes being debriefed by a CDA agent. He'd been happy to do it. The more monsters who knew about his role in capturing the human/monster invaders, the more he'd be seen as a hero. The debriefing had ended, and the agent was packing up his recording equipment.

"While your involvement was unnecessary," the agent replied, stressing the last word and making Grimelson laugh uncomfortably, "it was appreciated. The important thing is that the boys are now in our custody."

"So," Grimelson continued, trying not to sound eager but failing, "what's going to happen to them? Experiments? Life in prison? Torture?"

"What?!?" The agent, for a moment, dropped his professional demeanor to react in utter surprise and disgust. He quickly regained his composure, but the disgust was still evident in his voice. 

"Our mission was to locate and capture the boys before they hurt themselves. This is a factory. Even with the CEO's insistence that it's safe, there are still a lot of ways for two children to get hurt. Especially children who occasionally look like humans. Once we've located the door they came through and settled the non-disclosure agreement with the company, they will be sent home."

"Oh," Grimelson responded. He was disappointed (this wasn't playing out like his favorite science fiction movies) but shook it off in favor of the other question he wanted to ask the agent.

"Still, since I did help you, I assume that there's some kind of reward? Recognition?" 

The monster could've sworn that a disgusted groan came from the agent. Still, he answered the Scarer's question.

"I repeat, your involvement was appreciated, though unnecessary. While you did help, you broke several rules along the way, such as interfering with a CDA mission. Not only that, but you seemed perfectly willing, even eager to harm two children. If you hadn't been there, my fellow agents would have easily captured the child you caught. We aren't placing you under arrest, though we really should. Consider that your reward."

Grimelson was floored, and shrank a little. This was all wrong. He'd helped catch the invaders. He'd saved the factory. Surely he was a hero. His anger boiled. They should be thanking him. Why didn't they see that? 

He was about to indignantly respond when the agent's communicator began barking orders from his superior. 

"All agents be advised. The prisoners have escaped. Repeat, the prisoners have escaped. Be on the lookout for the two children and anyone who might be helping them. Number One wants them detained on sight. Repeat, detained on sight." 

The agent ran from the room, leaving Grimelson alone. A sickening grin had appeared on his face. Maybe there was another way to be seen as a hero. After all, while he wasn't too sure what "detained" meant, it was probably just another word for "kill", right?