When You're High on Life

Zephyr Paradise

The Red guy greeted the three of them jovially as they were back topside. The Blue guy yelled at them, still very pissed off. With that out of the way, they made their way back over to the house.

But when they got there, the door was locked! Some sort of new alien lock was on it, looking like an advanced one you'd put on your gym locker.

Derek groaned, "seriously? What the Hell?"

Kenny asked, "huh, why's the door locked?"

Derek said, "Gene probably thought we were gonna die on this mission…. Or Lizzie didn't want any more random aliens to show up. Anything's possible."

Kenny said, "well, ya better knock then."

Derek nodded and knocked on the door.

They heard Gene yell, "who is it?! You got my MunchDash delivery?"

Derek groaned, "it's us, Gene!"

Gene said, "oh, shit. Really? Good job! H-hold on."

Knifey said, "is that Gene? Okay, get ready. I want you to stab me right into his fat little belly and-"

Derek loosened his grip on Knifey and held him up to give him a hard stare. All Knifey could see was Derek's face.

Derek firmly said, "no! God, you fucking psycho! We don't stab people that don't deserve it. That is not how we roll! I'm fine with going after people that deserve it like 9-Torg, members of the G3, corrupt politicians, actual criminals, etcetera, but not people that are trying to help us!"

Knifey grumbled, "well you're no fun…."

Derek growled, "no. Stabbing. Friends. Understand?!"

Knifey shivered and yelled, "OKAY! Okay, no stabbing allies. Gotcha…."

Derek groaned as the lights on the lock turned green, and he could finally get inside. He opened the door, proceeded inside and slammed the door shut.

Derek stormed over to Gene as he sat on the couch and growled, "what the Hell, Gene?"

Lizzie said from the kitchen, "he installed new locks because he assumed you'd get killed. Keeps saying it's his house now."

Gene said, "what? No, I just took the liberty of upgrading your security-"

Derek interrupted, "save it, Gene, I know when I'm being bullshitted. It doesn't matter at this point. We killed 9-Torg and got the friggin' knife back."

Gene said, "well, well, well. Didn't think ya had it in ya. I'm really blown away. I'll be honest with you, I expected you to die."

Derek gripped Knifey tightly as he desdpanned, "yeah, I figured. Almost thought I'd die too a few times. Hell, I thought I'd die as soon as I set foot in the Slums. But…. I feel like I'm doing something I'm actually good at…. Stopping people like 9-Torg and her gang…. Going after the G3…. It makes me feel like a…. A hero."

Gene seemed to give a prideful smile at Derek's words. Seeing someone with that level of conviction for doing such a job. It was actually inspiring to the older alien.