3Below: The World to Come

Beetle Mania

When the darkness cleared, the image of the exposed alien had been unconscious and tied in a mysterious room. He woke with a gasp, panting as he studied his pinned arms.

"Come on!" He grunted, scooting around the small kitchen, trying to find himself. "Wait, hey, hey!" A blur passed beside him, "hello? Is anyone there? This isn't the least bit funny." In front of him, the blur stopped, back turned toward him before their head turned, the rest of the body following.

Aja groaned in annoyance, remembering this day very clearly. While they had captured a future ally, they also had to deal with an annoying situation. She knew how stressful it was and already despised the fact she had to relieve it again.

"Wow, you kidnapped your biggest fan."

The robot father stared down their target, wearing a pair of sunglasses as he slurped from a mug. "Okay, mug. We're only gonna do this once, are you ready to talk?" He cut the distance between the tied alien, turning on a burner as his robotic hand cracked with blue. "Quit your jitterbuggin', you gashouse palooka. We can either do this the hard way–"

"Or the very hard way," the robotic mother interrupted, pushing her fake husband away and trying to crack her neck.

"What?"

"No one messes with our children without messing with us first," the alien gulped as she slammed her fist on the burner, lighting a flashlight and shining it in his eyes. "So, what'll it be?"

The crowd glanced at one another before Toby shivered. "Remind me to never be interrogated by any of you guys, and I mean all."

"Sorry, we try not to be so frightening..." Aja stated.

"Varvatos disagrees."

"Before I answer that, um–"

"Stand aside, you glorified washing machines," Vex hissed, moving toward their hostage. "And leaving the torture to a professional." The parents straightened and turned off the burners before exiting the room, ignoring the growling Luug.

"That was fun."

"Gotta jet!"

"Taco merchant," Varvatos started as Aja and Krel stepped beside him. "You will tell us why you were spying on Varvatos' charges, or Varvatos will feed you your eyes!"

"I—I told you–!" The alien cried, shaking as Varvatos charged, slamming his fist down on a nearby surface as their target was shaking in his chair.

"And hang you from a noose made of your own intestines!" Luug barked, leaping in the background.

"Uh, is he allowed to say that?"

"That was a very descriptive threat, I think I might need to scootch my chair over just a bit, yep...just a bit." The student besides Varvatos said, trying not to show fear but failing miserably.

"That's a colorful threat, isn't it?"

"We should never have taken him back home with us," Aja said before sniffing, her and Krel plugging their noses. "Ugh, what is that horrendous stench?"

"Must be the smell of fear, as Varvatos was about to introduce this menace to the art of torture!"

"You don't have to torture me at all, I come in peace and all that jazz," Varvatos growled as he stepped out of view, leaving the siblings in front of the newcomer.

"Jazz? Now you have my interest," Krel answered.

"The name is Stuart, I'm a huge fan! I'm a– I'm a huge fan."