Better Undercover

Chapter 12: Poison and Lies

Chapter 12

I had no idea what to do. The stories I had been told did not line up, and I didn't know who to believe. Foley had gone to what seemed like a whole ton of effort to get her plan moving, but that was nothing compared to what Brittney had done. Or at least what she claimed to have done. I wasn't quite sure if I believed her.

"So will you help me?" Brittney asked. "I just need to get into the box."

The box. That box could apparently change the world, save the world, but I still wasn't sure.

I shook my head. "I still don't think I can trust you."

She sat down on one of the black rolling chairs which caused it to slide across the clean, metal floor. It stopped when it hit a white desk and one of the pencils on it rolled off.

"Look, Courtney, I know there's a lot going on, but if we don't get into this box soon, there is a very good chance the world might end. I need your help, and I don't say that unless I really truly mean it."

I wasn't sure which part she really truly meant, the part about the world ending, or how she couldn't get into the box without me.

"I can't. Not since I know what you've done to Foley and everyone else to get here. And you killed someone. That can't be justified, no matter what you say."

She leaned back in her chair. "I get it. You can't trust me. Then don't do it for me. You can keep the box if you want, you can keep whatever's in it. I just need it opened. Opening it is all you need to do."

"What will happen if I open it?" I asked. "That's a detail you've been so nicely avoiding."

"Honestly? I'm not sure. I was trying to find something that can contain powers safely, and Joshua perfected it. But it's in that stupid box."

Again, none of this was adding up.

"I won't help you," I said.

Brittney closed her eyes. "Courtney, you just destroyed the world."

I shook my head. "No, I don't think I did. I think I just saved it from you."

I heard someone coming down the stairs. I smiled. "And I think everyone will back me up on this."

Brittney rolled her eyes. "Great. Now they can convince you that I'm evil and shouldn't be trusted. But look around. How can I be evil? I'm just taking things from a different point of action, and yes accidents did happen, but some of them were fixed. Does this house look like it had been burned down and destroyed only a few weeks ago?"

I looked around. The room looked flawless, but there was too much flammable stuff for there to have been a fire. There were papers, robotic arms, chemistry equipment, and more paper and books, just to name a few things.

"I help people, Courtney. Please believe me."

For about the hundredth time today, I had no idea what to do. "I don't know!" I replied. "I don't know if any of this stuff is real, or if you're telling the truth, and I have no way to know."

She stood up, suddenly, and my head collided with the ground as I was knocked forward. I felt something heavy on my back that was keeping me from getting up.

I couldn't do anything. I was drawing a complete blank and nothing was happening. It wasn't the first time I had hated my powers for being so stupid and going slack whenever it was a plot convenience.

Something dug into my neck and I screamed. Then the force released and I was able to roll over as Brittney destroyed the thing.

It was completely black. There wasn't even whites in its eyes. I wasn't sure what it was, but it looked like a cross between a spider and a snake, but it was the size of a bike. Its fangs were the size of kitchen knives, and I knew I was lucky that those fangs didn't cut my neck off.

Brittney kept stabbing it until it completely stopped moving. I tried to stand up, but my legs gave out beneath me as the room started spinning and the edges of my vision became white.

"Courtney, come on Courtney, stay awake," she said as she propped me up against one of the cabinets.

"Can't you do something?" I asked. She stood up and looked around the cabinets and inside all the drawers.

She grabbed a bottle and hurried back over to me. "This is the only thing I have," she said. "Drink it. It might work"

I swallowed the contents, but nothing happened right away. I started coughing and blood appeared on my sleeve from where I wiped my mouth.

"No, no this is bad," she said. "How did they find us? There's probably more."

I continued to cough, and I said, "Isn't there anything we can do?"

"Find the key, Courtney. We need to find the key."

I couldn't stop my mind. My body was going completely numb and my mind acted on its own. I could practically feel my mind reaching through space, going somewhere miles and miles away to find a key that I didn't even know what I looked like. I didn't know where it was, and I couldn't tell anyone where it was because I didn't know, but before I knew it, I gasped.

There was a small silver key in my hand.

Brittney smiled. "Yes. You did it." She came towards me and held her hand out. I reached for it with my other hand, and once again my mind acted on its own.

There were enough robotic arms and body parts around the lab to only mean one thing, they were once all put together. There were enough parts to build an army. Those kids weren't possessed or insane, they were metal.

She claimed that she didn't know about Foley's powers, but she said the entire time she was trying to help her control them and stop them from killing her.

She didn't really seemed concern that I was POISONED and DYING now that I had the key in my hand.

She killed her brother. And my parents.

As Brittney reached out her hand to take the key from me, I grabbed her wrist, and she disappeared.

I held the key tighter in my hand as I leaned back against the cabinet I was propped up against. Brittney wasn't trying to save the world. I didn't know what she was trying to do, but that wasn't it.

I coughed again, and my vision kept decreasing. I was pretty sure I was hallucinating when four shadows appeared in front of me.

"Courtney," Lillianne said as she grabbed my arm.

"Is she ok?" Kade asked.

"Some sort of poison. I can't get it out. It's spread to far."

"I lied," I said.

"No, we did. I did," Foley said. "I should've told you what was going on."

"I lied to them," I coughed and started crying. "I told them I was going to survive. I promised them and sent them away. I'm never going to see them again."

Foley grabbed the arm that Lillianne wasn't holding. Kade and Cameron were doing something in the lab that I couldn't see.

"You're going to be ok," Foley said.

It was the last thing I heard.

~~~

I was going to make this update longer, like the last one, but that didn't really happen.  Sorry.  Do you agree with Courtney's logic on why Brittney was evil?  There's more details why, but since Court wasn't there for the Staying Undercover events, she didn't know the entire story.  Comment any other reasons why the stories didn't match below!

Last few chapters will be coming up soon.  Hope you enjoy!