To Rescue a Villain

Chapter 36

"Maddox!"

I frowned, pulling myself out of my daydream. Jala was calling me. What did she want?

Allowing my eyes to adjust to the darkness of the basement we'd spent the last three days in, I turned toward the woman. Ace was seated beside her, his head tipped sideways in sleep and his hand encircling hers.

Jala studied me for a moment, her eyes likely trying to see through my helmet, before she sighed and gestured toward the backpack at her feet. "You can eat now," she told me, knowing I never ate in front of others. "Do it before he wakes up."

I nodded, grabbed the bag, and stalked into the farthest corner where I could be alone. After glancing back at the pair one last time to make sure they weren't watching, which was unlikely since they were now sleeping on each other's shoulders, I hesitantly pulled off my helmet and began tearing into the loafs of bread Jala had provided.

I was nearly finished when I heard a voice coming from within my helmet. Thinking it was malfunctioning, I slipped it back on and started fiddling with the buttons on the outside, unsure what was wrong.

"H...hello?"

I frowned again. A voice? There was a female's voice echoing over the radio on what was supposed to be a secure channel. Unless Jala was messing with me, there was cause for alarm.

Moments before I disabled the connection, the woman spoke again.

"Hello? Maddox? Anyone?"

I shouldn't have answered. I should have disabled my radio until I knew it was secure. I considered doing so but finally decided that there was nothing to lose by answering. After all, what else could this world possibly take from me?

"Yes. Who is this?" I asked.

The voice flooded with relief. "Thank goodness. I thought I'd never find you."

"Who is this?"

Hesitation. "...It's Polly."

Derek and Mary's daughter?

"I've been really lonely lately so Di gave me your number."

This wasn't exactly a number but that didn't matter. How had Di known where to contact me? "What do you want?"

Another long pause filled with shallow breaths. "I was hoping we could be friends."

"I don't have friends."

"That's fine." She countered quickly. "We can become friends."

"How would your friendship benefit me?"

She took a moment to come up with an answer. "I could keep you updated on my father's doings. That way he'd never be able to catch you."

That sounded useful. "And all I need to do is talk to you?"

"Yup."

Her childish voice didn't match the gift she was offering. I hesitated, weighing the pros and cons of forming such a bond, then shrugged. "Very well."

Another sigh of relief. How hard up was she for friends? It's not like she was locked away from the world or anything. "I have one final question."

"Yeah?"

"Why me?"

"...No real reason."

Good enough for me.

◑○★☆●◐

"I've told you a thousand times, Mary." Alphenstine groaned dramatically and went back to fiddling with Joe's circuits. The sweet little robot had been acting up lately and it had all the other bots nervous. "I don't like contacting the outside world. When you're well enough you can walk down to the town and ask them to contact your family but until then you will stay here. I am not escorting you down there."