"Is...Is he okay?" Thad whispered, the first to say anything after witnessing the extinction of the dinosaurs.
"I doubt it," Lizzy whispered back, following the little voice in the back of her head that was telling her loud noises and sudden movements were a very bad idea at the moment. "You heard Doll; he's spent the last hour just waiting for the sun to go down. What do you suppose he was thinking about that whole time?"
Thad and several others within earshot grimaced.
"If he's convinced himself of the worst," Nick glanced back out of the window and saw that N was nearly done consuming the last raptor, "he could be here for revenge rather than a rescue."
"Nah, I bet Scary Lady is wishing she kidnapped literally anyone else right now," Thad said confidently. "Uzi's pro-"
The world outside the bus exploded, rattling the vehicle so violently that every drone aboard held onto the nearest solid object, fearing the bus was about to be tossed into the air. But as the snow and the suspension settled, the suffocating quiet returned.
"Robo-Christ!" yelped a student just then recovering from the bootloop. "What the hell was thaaaaaa..." the boy's voice trailed off into a strangled squeak as the yellow lights looming through the window turned in his direction.
The other Workers didn't fare much better when the blazing ovals passed over them as well, lingering for just a second to look each of them in the eyes.
It wasn't an explosion that had rocked the bus, but rather N casually breaking the sound barrier at the mere mention of Uzi's name.
"We do not know who has taken Uzi, or where. But we have an idea as to why," Doll said, doing her best not to react when N turned his head to regard her.
Immediately noting his out-of-character behavior, the Russian hadn't taken her optics off of him for even a moment, and she still didn't see him move.
"Y-Yeah," Lizzy paused to mentally curse at the tremor in her voice, "whoever she was, she just wanted Uzi; told the rest of us to leave. It's gotta be about her mom, right?"
N said nothing, completely silent save for the sizzling of the snow hitting his casing and an odd, rumbling hum coming from somewhere inside him. Not unlike very distant thunder, but constant.
That was the most unnerving thing. Beyond the otherworldly speed and the monstrous brutality, it was the silence that made them so uneasy. N was a chatterbox, especially when he was worried about someone. Even his fights were filled with growls and hisses and roars.
But then, that hadn't really been a "fight" at all, had it? It was the elimination of a group of targets. An execution. Silent death swooping down from above, screams ringing out like thunder following a lightning bolt.
A return to form.
"She was checking the cabins again when she was taken," Erik said, the Dreadnaught suit not exactly living up to its name under N's stare. "I couldn't tell ya' which one, but you can check 'em a hell of a lot faster than we can."
"Uh," Emily started, then almost ducked down under the window when N looked at her, "th-there was one c-cabin...All the others h-had their windows b-broken, but one of them d-didn't."
N's head twitched almost imperceptibly in what might have been a nod, then he turned in the direction of the camp.
"That woman, the one who took Uzi," Lizzy said before N could take off, "she can turn into people. Mimic their appearance and voices. She already turned into Uzi to mess with us, so when you see her, make sure it IS her before going for a hug or turning your back."
