The Shrink Program

Chapter 128

"Um... Do you think we should maybe... run away or something?" I whispered to Apollo while the twins were distracted.

"That would be a little rude, don't you think?" Apollo muttered back, jaw clenched in frustration. "After all the effort you put into getting them here."

Oops. Almost forgot.

"You're still angry about that?" Taken aback by his hostility, I gave him a hurt look. "I was just trying to protect the virtue of a maiden!"

"You overreacted, and now we have the damn watchdogs of the underground breathing down our necks!" He hissed back venomously, crossing his arms over his chest.

So he knows about Alan and Alex working for the Underground.

The only question now is...

".... Speaking of the watchdogs of the Underground... " Apollo stiffen as I sent him a serious look. "Apollo, can you tell me..."

I held up a questioning finger.

"What barks, has four legs, and tells time?"

"....this is revenge, isn't it?"

Apollo pressed a long-suffering hand to his forehead. "All of this is just you screwing with me... Trying to drive me insane..."

"Well, not all of it..." I smiled sweetly, internally smug at having annoyed Apollo.

Horrible situation be damned, I will have my revenge.

I couldn't avoid reality forever, though, and my smile soon faded.

Quieter than before, I asked Apollo what I really needed to know.

"Did you know before you took down the hill?"

As we spoke, Alan was trying to calmly reason his way out of Alex's potentially lethal headlock.

"About them being part of the Underground?"

Apollo sighed irritably, aware that I wasn't joking anymore.

"I really did think they were just players in The King of the Hill." He admitted quietly.

"A long time ago, My mother.... worked with Dr Floid. I had heard stories from my father. Artemis refused to tell me anything about the Hill... But when I joined the school, Father told me the Doctor's estranged sons were students....and to stay away from them. "

He gritted his teeth in sudden frustration. "I should have realised sooner that they worked for the Underground."

I raised an eyebrow.

"How on earth are you supposed to figure something like that out? Sure, you're a smart cookie, but-"

"No. I should have made the connection." He seethed. "After what happened with Artemis, I knew that the Underground had a genius Nano-technician on staff again. It just didn't occur to me that it was her."

I blinked in shock.

"What do you mean? What happened to Artemis...?"

"Enough!" After being yanked around by Alex's grip on his chain for so long, Vain had finally given up on his silence.

The twins froze in their bickering, which was on the verge of escalating into something not too far off Mortal Combat, to stare at Vain as he struggled in his restraints.

Alex recovered first.

"Do you have something to say , Ice Princess?" He snapped impatiently.