The Secret of the Solver (Canon ending)

Chapter 21

(1031 words)

     Z and N were beside each other on beds, but not tied up. Tessa started poking at their faces. "Wakey wakeyyy!" She called as they started waking up. Z swatted her hand away. "Don't say I never did anything for- '' V flies down through the ceiling with Uzi on her back.

"V!" Z was relieved to see that she was okay.

"Is Uzi-" V cut N off.

"Hurt. We're leaving." She glared at Tessa.

"I can take a squiz at-" Tessa began.

"You said you could control the sentinels!" V said threateningly to Tessa.

"I... at least knew they couldn't boot-loop me, but we just have to-" Tessa tried to defend herself.

"Do whatever you want. N? Z?" V stood at the doorway waiting for the two of them to follow her.

"It's okay you two, I haven't been honest with V yet." Tessa looked at N and Z who were looking nervously at V. Z didn't know who to trust. She wanted to save Uzi of course be with V and be friends with E and N, but would Tessa ruin it? Or should she save all of them?

"...What did she tell you?" V asked N and Z sternly.

Before either of them could answer, Uzi started to regain consciousness and groaned. "Ow... My frickin' head..." She looks up and sees N. "N?"

N waves at her while smiling a bit. Uzi runs and hugs him tightly, he stays quiet but returns the embrace. V stares coldly at Tessa and Z. All V can see is the darkness of Tessa's helmet, hiding away her real face.

Z nervously broke the silence, "Has anyone seen E? I'm getting really worried about him..." As soon as she said this, E came running through the door, shutting it quickly behind him.

"OHHHHH FUCK-" He spots the rest of the group staring back. There are multiple loud banging noises as the raptors run into the door trying to get in. They try again but eventually give up and run in the other direction. "H-hey guys... give-... Give me a sec..." He said out of breath.

"E... What the fuck did you do?!" Z asks, staring at him.

"Got chased by 8 robot dinosaurs, you know, the usual chaos." He responded.

"You're an idiot!" Z said as she slapped him in the back of the head, then took him into a hug. "Don't do any more stupid shit."

E nodded before looking at N. "E, is there any chance those umm... raptor thingies are coming back soon?" N asked him.

"Uhhhhh... maybe. I don't know." E scratched his head.

"But we should get out of here before we find out," Z said, pushing N and E to the door. She glanced at V who looked at her and half smiled.

"BYE ASSHOLES!" E shouted as they left.

***

The group was on a walkway above the raptors and out of sight. The raptor that had bitten Tessa started to get back up. Its eyes glitched from an icy blue color, to blood red. It sees bloody footprints and follows them.

Uzi looks at N and words appear on her vizor screen. 'U GOOD?' The words read. He doesn't respond. 'TALK LATER?' N looks at her before changing his vizor screen to have words too.

'IT SUCKS PRETTY HARD' The words flash off and he looks at her with a sad face.

Uzi thinks for a second before looking back at him and flashing more text onto her screen. '>:3'

V is next to Z and sees N and Uzi talking. Z decides to steal the strategy and try talking to V. 'V, I NEED TO TALK TO YOU' Z tapped her shoulder to get her attention.

'ABOUT WHAT?' V asked silently.

'HOW I FEEL ABOUT YOU...' The words flashed off of Z's screen and she watched V for her reaction.

'DO YOU NOT WANT TO BE FRIENDS?' Z couldn't tell if V was actually confused, or just taunting her.

E noticed the two couples talking, 'I'm going to kill myself if I have to fifth wheel any longer.'  E thought to himself.

'NO IT'S THE OPPOSITE! I REALLY WANT TO-' Before V could even read Z's screen, the sentinel moved out of the room and Tessa jumped down, making everyone turn their heads.

They all look over to see Doll, paralyzed in a boot loop, holding the bug-key in her hand. The bug had words above its head.

Insect: 'PLEASE PLACE ME ON PROXIMITY READER (CABIN FEVER LABS)'

"Well, that's... convenient," Uzi said, looking at Doll.

V turned her hands into swords. "It's a trap."

"Yeah, no- Never mind." Uzi pulled out her hand to use the solver.

"Don't!" N, Z, and V all tried to stop her. N and Z look at V confused and she returns the look.

Everyone looks up to see Tessa. "Oi!" She held the insect out in front of them. "Bloody convenient, eh?" Z and V roll their eyes.

Z, V, and E walk down the hallway towards Tessa while N and Uzi walk slightly behind. They hold hands and stop for a second, before re-linking and walking beside each other blushing.

V looked up at them. "Ew."

"Don't take my robot please," Tessa said. Uzi let go of N's hand and ran up to Tessa.

"He's his own person!" She looked over at V, "And you ew. You're mean."

"Honestly, who's gonna date next? Z and V?" E asked, smirking at Z. Her eyes went wide at E as she motioned a finger across her neck to him. She was going to END him.

Before Z could answer, the key from Tessa's hand levitated and flew behind them. Doll uses her Solver to call the elevator and jumps down the shaft before it gets there. In the process, she lets the doors which lead to raptors open. The elevator was facing the other way so they didn't have any way of getting in.

Z grabbed V's hand without looking at her as they both backed up into the wall, watching the sentinels walk towards them. Z squeezed her hand tightly and shared a glance. They were both blushing before snapping back into the moment. V went in front of Z and continued to hold her hand. 'I want to be with you...'  Z would regret it for as long as she existed if she couldn't say that to V.