#eun writes

Dave tried to steady his breathing, staring down at the bodies of the men who’d imprisoned him so long ago.

They’re… They’re dead. They’re dead, I killed them…

They can’t make me go back into that stupid cell anymore…

Tenseing as he heard footsteps outside the small, dim room, he whipped around, pointing the small pistol he’d gotten as the door opened, letting in light and a few shocked Toppats. He stared them down as one approached, looking nervously at the body of his boss before back at Dave. The former security guard raised his gun at one of the others as he spoke up, but it wasn’t what he was expecting.

“There’s… there’s no way he…”

“He had to!” the one next to him interrupted, “No one else is here! Quincy, stop gawking and shoot this motherfucker!”

“I…” the closer one, Quincy, Dave guessed, seemed frozen before he turned back to his cohorts. “I can’t.”

“What are you talking about?! Yes, you can, just do it!” the third Toppat demanded, gesturing her gun towards Dave.

If she wants me shot so bad, why won’t she do it herself?

“No, Gremlin, I can’t! He… He defeated the chief and his Right Hand. By Toppat Law, he’s… he’s won control.”

“But- But he’s not a Toppat! He can’t just do that! He’s not under our laws, he’s under American laws! So- So shoot him so we can find a real leader!”

“Wait, Quince has a point…” the first Toppat finally spoke up. “Even if he’s not a Toppat, he can still follow our laws and become the leader if he joins us… Besides,” he lowered his voice, even though Dave could still clearly hear him, “Do you really wanna piss off the guy who just killed our two most dangerous members?”

“Uhm, hello?” Dave cut in, “What’s… what’s going on?”

“Right, uhm, sir…” Quincy knelt down onto one knee, something Dave wasn’t sure how he felt about. “You have defeated our leader and his Right Hand Man. By Toppat Law, you now have the option to take over the Clan and take ownership of all our assets, including the Airship. Do you, uhm…”

“Dave… My name is Dave…”

“R-right, right… Do you, Dave, accept this offer?”

Dave looked up at the other two Toppats at the door, who were now accompanied by several more that he could only assume were backup in case this went awry.

“I don’t think it would be wise to torture a princess,” Juyeon scoffs. “No matter how good your intentions are.”

Your fingers trace the grain of the wooden table in front of you. “There are other ways of obtaining information,” you muse. “The princess fancies you, though I have no idea why. You, of all people, should be able to charm her easily.”

Juyeon raises his eyebrows, glaring in your direction.

“Oh come on! You have your wiles, use them!” you shout, exasperated. “She wants you! It shouldn’t be so hard.”

“Are you serious?” he blurts out, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

“Give her what she wants,” you say, each word emphasized with a step forward, “and get the information we need to avoid a war.”

He pushes himself off the wall, striding towards you until he’s so close that you can feel his breath ghosting across your skin. “Is that an order?”

“Of course not,” you mutter, eyes averted.

“Look at me, he commands, his fingers grazing your chin. While his actions may be gentle, his voice is not, and when you meet his gaze, there’s a dark fire that simmers in his eyes. “Since you think I’d be good at this sort of ruse, tell me what I should do.” He tilts his face closer to yours, eyes briefly flickering down to your lips. “Do you think she would like it if I looked into her eyes, like this?”

Your breath catches in your throat. The fair folk cannot lie like mortals do, but that doesn’t make them incapable of deception. The way Juyeon looks at you—like he could love you—seems worse than any lie that has fallen from your lips. “I guess,” you sputter out. 

“You’re my advisor, and this is clearly a political matter. You could at least advise me,” he murmurs, his fingers tracing your throat. “How about now?” he whispers, cradling your jaw with one hand before pressing his mouth to the spot underneath your ear, his lips trailing down your neck. “Like this?”

Each of his words sear into your skin. Your nails dig half-moons into your palms, the dull ache bringing you back to reality. You fear that if you look at him, you’ll only find evidence of your own desire reflected in his eyes.

Finally, Juyeon lifts himself up to look you in the eyes, moving so close until your lips are a hair's breadth apart. “Do you think it’ll work?”

Juyeon may be the flint to your steel, but you no longer care about what will inevitably happen when the two of you collide once more. 

-

“Henry…?” RHM groaned from where he laid on the cot. Henry looked up from where he was sitting beside him, having been waiting for the cyborg to awaken.

“Hey, I’m here, Right…” he assured him, “And so’s Dr. V. She’s gotten you all patched up, okay?”

“Alright… I… I can’t remember anything before the Toppat raid… everything’s in pieces… what happened…?”

Henry knew he had to lie. It was the only way. He’d have to make up some bullshit story.

“The Toppats mangled you up pretty bad… I was able to get you working long enough to kill the leader and force them all to surrender, but you collapsed when we got into the helicopter to get back here. Apparently they fucked up your memory pretty bad… you really don’t remember anything?” he forced himself to feign some kind of disbelief, at least to make his own story believable.

“No… just you… and the General…,” the redhead admitted, “I feel like I forgot so much…”

“You did…” That wasn’t quite a lie. Henry really had forced him to forget a lot, hadn’t he? Well, none of that mattered anymore. RHM was never going to remember it anyway. 

“It’s okay, though,” Henry assured him, “I’ll help you out. Maybe we can recover… something?”

“Mr. Stickmin, can we speak for a second?” Dr. Vinschpinsilstien requested, motioning for Henry. He nodded and walked over to the other side of the medical tent with her, briefly glancing back at RHM.

“Hey, thanks for coming down here to work on him,” he began almost immediately. “I know it was probably really weird coming down here to work on… him, but I really feel like he’ll be useful.”

“Do not worry about it,” she replied, “is not my first time I’ve worked on him. Frankly, I am just glad this time it was not with gun pointed at my head. He should not remember his life before, though, just keep him away from things that he was emotionally tied to.”

“Shouldn’t be hard, considering his family is either in jail or just dead now… Planning on burning the hat, too, just in case. You made it so that he trusts me no matter what, right?”

“Yes, of course. As far as he is concerned, you are his best, closest friend.”

“Good, good… oh, and you made sure to get General Galeforce to send the notice out to everyone? We don’t want someone attacking him, y’know…”

“Of course. I cannot say they will be nice, but they will know he is on your side.”

“Good, thank you… Should we get back to him?”

“First I must give you something,” she informed him, before grabbing something from the table behind her; a manual, one that was undoubtedly for RHM.

“This describes his upgrades, as well as walks you through maintenance. You will need if he is to stay healthy,” she confirmed, handing it to him. “These augmentations keep him alive, but you must keep them running. Understand?”

Henry nodded, and with that the two walked back over to where the cyborg was still laying, looking bored now. He seemed to perk up a bit as they approached and Henry sat down next to him.

“You will not be allowed on missions for few weeks, to make sure your cybernetics are stable,” the scientist told him, “Many things can go wrong, and I will not be here to help. That is why Henry will now be in charge of keeping you running. I have given him manual with basic maintenance and repair instructions. Now, if Right was only person I needed to work on, I will be leaving.”

“Yeah, he was, thanks again for coming down. I know it’s pretty far from where you’re normally stationed…” Henry repeated.

“Yeah, thanks, doc…” RHM added, “Dunno what would’ve happened without you.”

She nodded to the two before walking out of the tent, leaving them alone.

“Ready to get up yet, big guy?” the shorter offered, standing. “I heard they’re getting something special out there, to celebrate taking down the Toppats. I mean, I’m pretty sure it’s just pizza and stuff, but still, pretty hard to get that stuff down here.”

“Yeah, yeah, just… Can you help me up?” the redhead asked, and Henry nodded, before grabbing his arm and helping him up, even as he shook. He struggled to hold RHM up, but tried to stay resilient, able to see the cyborg struggling just as much.

“Just… trying to get used to my legs again, hold on…” said cyborg tried to assure his ‘friend’, who just let out a strained chuckle.

“It’s fine, it’s just… Metal’s heavy, isn’t it?” he commented, earning another chuckle, from RHM this time. 

“Yeah, suppose it is…”

Slowly, he seemed to right himself, and Henry let go, watching as RHM took a few wobbly steps before seeming to finally steady himself.

-

“Reginalddd~”

Fuck, fuck, fuck…

“Where are you, Reggie?~”

Reginald held his breath as the metallic clanking drew closer to the bed he was hiding under.

What was I thinking?! I should never have authorized that upgrade!

All Reginald had wanted was to help RHM feel more useful. Having cleaning upgrades seemed like such a natural step, but he’d foolishly forgotten who he was giving these upgrades to, which led to his current predicament.

“I know you’re in here, Reggie, so come out, I just wanna clean up~”

“And I know what you really mean by ‘clean up!’” the brunette blurted, before covering his mouth.

Shit.

“There you are~”

SHIT.

Reginald yelped as he was suddenly dragged out from under the bed by the collar of his coat, before being held up in RHM’s bionic arm. The eyes staring back at him, one real and one cybernetic, yet both seeming evil, struck fear into his heart worse than any weapon could.

“I’ve been looking for you all over, Reg,” the redhead purred, holding his terrified husband just above the ground, his voice menacingly sweet. “So, why’d you hide, hm? You think you know what I’m going to do?~”

“I know exactly what you’re going to do, and I don’t want any part of it! I know you too well by now, Righty!” the brunette defended, only to be tossed lightly onto the bed and quickly pinned by a hand on his chest.

“Well, it’s too bad that you ‘don’t want any part of it’, but you know you’re the only one here I’d ever do it to. You know I’d much rather just hurt those idiots out there, but when it comes to you, you can say I’m much softer~”

Reg let out a quiet, whiny groan, averting his gaze from his absolutely evil husband.

“Fuck you, always knowing what to say… who even taught you that…?” he grumbled to himself.

“You did, dear,” the redhead reminded him, and Reginald couldn’t help but smile.

“I suppose I did, didn’t I? I see my own actions have returned to bite me in the ass once again…”

“Maybe they did, but for now let’s save the monologue about how easily you dug your own grave, and just skip to the fun part, shall we?~”

“NO! Nonononono, Righty, please, it doesn’t have to be this way! Have mercy on me!” he immediately began to squeal, squirming under RHM’s grasp, fighting down the wobbly smile growing on his face.

“‘Mercy’? I’m not even doing anything, Reg~”

“But you’re going to! A-and I don’t know exactly what it is, but I have a pretty basic understanding!”

“Hm, maybe I could be nice and let you know exactly what’s in store, hm? Just so you know exactly what to expect?~”

“Nono! No! That’s- That’d be worse!”

“Oh no, I think you need to know exactly what I’m going to do. So first, why don’t I get out this helpful little tool that you so graciously approved for me,” Right Hand Man decided before his hand transformed into something so innocent at any other time, yet terrifying in this single moment.

A feather duster.

“Oh shit, oh no no no,” Reginald tried to squirm his way out of his husband’s grip, failing miserably as he attempted to force down nervous giggles. “N-not the feathers!”

“Oh, it ain’t just feathers, Reggie,” RHM chuckled softly to himself, “Although I could just finish you off with this alone. See, you made the mistake of being so vague, that not only did they use real feathers, but…” suddenly the duster began spinning at his wrist, earning a startled squeal from Reginald as his begging renewed.

“NO! Nononono, please! Right Hand Man! Please, no, I-I’ll die! It’ll kill me! You- you can’t!” he rambled, unsure if he was trying to buy time or just talk his way out of it, however it seemed that neither of those plans would work very well, if the look the redhead was giving him was any indication.

“Now you and I both know damn well it’s not going to kill you, I’ll make sure of that. But I wouldn’t be surprised if you can’t even think when I’m done with you. Now, how about you stop trying to stall, and just laugh for me?~”

Reginald couldn’t even come up with a proper response before those feathers were pressed against his belly, pulling high, squealing cackles from his mouth faster than his own brain could comprehend. He tried to grab onto RHM’s arm and pull him away, but the whirring of the inner mechanics created such intense vibrations that it quickly became unbearable to hold, so he settled for merely pushing at his chest. That, too, did little to dissuade his husband from his mission; tickle Reginald until he can’t even think.

Despite the distractions of his chest being pushed at like Reginald was fighting for his life, or the sounds of his legs kicking behind him, RHM could only focus on one thing and one thing only; Reginald’s face. Eyes squeezed shut, blushing cheeks and a smile so wide it practically lit up his whole face, and the sound of laughter mixed with gibberish that the redhead knew was supposed to be some kind of ‘angry’ speech about how he was awful and evil and such a monster. And although he knew that calling himself a tickle monster would quickly shut Reginald up, he was having much more fun listening to him try to string together a single word, let alone the ramble Reginald was trying to put together.

Of course, that didn’t mean he couldn’t tease him at all.

“Awww, poor Reggie, you just can’t stand the tummy tickles, can you?” the redhead purred, chuckling softly. “You are just too cute… and too ticklish, right? Is that why you’re squealing so loud? Such an adorable sound, though, I don’t think I ever want to stop it~”

Despite this, as soon as Reginald’s voice became more hiccup than laughter, he stopped right away, sitting next to him and pulling him carefully into his arms, gently patting his back.

“There you go, breathe in, breathe out,” he encouraged as Reg struggled to stop giggling and get his breathing under control.

“Youhuhu… ehevihihil…” the brunette managed, going limp in his husband's arms, earning another soft chuckle.

-

”Eyewitness reports say that some kind of battle has broken out between privately-owned prison, The Wall, and the notorious criminal organization, The Toppat Clan. These reports claim that the prison is nearly overrun with Toppat members, many of the guards being killed or imprisoned. It’s unclear what has happened to the warden, Dmitri Petrov, or his assistant, Grigori Oylat. These reports also claim that several bodies have been dumped into the ocean, though whether they’re guards, prisoners or defeated Toppats is unclear. Reports say that the Toppats are currently being led by Sven Svensson, though that may be subject to change at any time, given the current state.”

Henry, Ellie and Charles watched the news broadcast in horror from the couch. What else were they supposed to do? How were they supposed to handle the information that the Toppat Clan was not only still intact, but also fighting off everyone in the Wall?

“Henry,” Ellie asked, leaning towards him, “is- is this our fault?”

“Uhm,” he hesitated before coming to a conclusion, “Yeah, I’d uh… I’d say that’s our fault.”

“Well, are we going to do anything about this, or…?” Charles chimed in, looking at his two roommates.

“Something tells me that when Galeforce gets wind of this, we won’t have a choice in the matter,” Henry sighed, leaning his head against his hand. Sure enough, Charles’s phone rang soon after they’d seen the news, and when the pilot went to answer, Henry and Ellie could just barely make out the general’s voice freaking out.

After a lot of muffled screamings, several ‘Yes sir’s from Charles and a couple of cut-off explanations, the call ended and their favorite pilot walked back over to the couch.

“Welp, Henry was right,” he told them, “We don’t have a choice in this. I guess we’re going back into the action.”

-

“Rupert, I have a job for you,” General Galeforce informed the ravenette as he entered the tent. Something about the wording, however, made Rupert a little nervous. If this was something professional, wouldn’t he have said ‘Lieutenant Price’?

“Yes, sir?” he responded, standing straight as his superior approached.

“You know how we had to handle that hostage situation a few days ago? 13 families, all that?”

Rupert nodded. He remembered almost every detail, including the video they’d been sent alerting them to it in the first place. Specifically, he remembered that not only had every family been taken hostage, but their homes had been burnt down just to make sure they’d never make it back to them.

“Well, during our relocation efforts, we’ve come upon a… troubling discovery,” the general began, “Only ten of the families have the parents remaining, meaning we now have 3 unaccompanied children on the base. We have reason to believe that the video we were sent was not five randomly chosen hostages, but specifically the parents of these children chosen to be executed. One child has also sustained major damage to his throat and it’s unclear if he’ll ever even talk again. As you know, a military base is no place for one child, let alone three, so, as my most trusted soldier, I need you to take care of them.”

What.

“I- sir, with all due respect, you should reconsider this. I mean, I’m no good with children! Plus, I have to be here, a-and Dave has to work most of the day,” the ravenette exclaimed, unsure he could even manage a single child.

“That’s why I’m going to put you on leave. It’ll only be temporary, son, at least until we can get them into a foster care system. I know you don’t think you can do it, but I have faith in you.”

“I can’t help but feel like that faith is very misplaced, but alright…” he gave in with a sigh. Galeforce led him to another tent, where another soldier, Anthony Lee, was knelt down in front of three kids, who were huddled in a dark green blanket. The tallest, or perhaps just the only one standing, was a very defensive-looking red-haired girl, and she looked like she was on the verge of attacking Anthony. The scene almost reminded Rupert of a little kitten trying to defend its siblings.

“Alright, Lee, I’ve found him, you’re dismissed,” the general told the other soldier, who stood, beginning to walk out before pausing to tell Rupert something.

“Good luck with the girl, she almost tried to beat my ass,” he warned before exiting. The ravenette rolled his eyes, thinking he was being dramatic.

“Rupert, these are the kids. We have yet to identify them, and they’re… They’re not making it very easy,” General Galeforce admitted, glancing at the little trio. “We keep asking for their names and the girl just keeps yelling that she doesn’t need to tell us. She’s brave for a kid that just went through hell, I’ll give her that, but… Do you think you could get her to open up?”

“No,” he sighed, “but I’ll try.”

He walked up to the three, kneeling down in front of them.

“Hey, kids…” he began, and was also promptly stopped by the girl’s enraged screaming.

“Go away! I want my dad! Where’s my dad?!” she yelled, blocking off the other two kids with her arms.

“Hey, hey, your dad’s… Resting, okay?” he lied. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that her dad was probably dead.

“Then where’s Mary?! I don’t wanna talk to you!”

“Hey, hey, Mary’s resting, too, okay? We need to know your name so we know who these people are, okay?”

“You’re lying! You don’t need to know my name! Let me see Dad and Mary!!”

“Kiddo, listen. If we don’t know your name, we won’t be able to figure out who your dad and Mary are, okay? We won’t be able to get you or these boys back to your parents, so what’s your name?” he finally told her, looking directly into her eyes. He could see her trying to think up an argument, before she sighed, looking at the ground.

“My name’s Ellie…” she conceded, before looking at the boys behind her; one wearing a black shirt, jeans, red sneakers and a pilot’s jacket someone must have given him, the other in a blue shirt, a dark blue coat, jeans and brown boots. She pointed at the one in the jacket, “That’s Charlie. He doesn’t like loud noises,” she turned and pointed at the other boy, “And that’s Henry. He can’t talk anymore…”

“Thank you, Ellie… now, we need to take you three somewhere for a while, okay? Your parents are, uh… gonna take a long time to recover, so the general has told me to look after you,” he told them, seeing Henry avert his eyes. Ellie sat down, shaking her head.

“No, I’m staying here and waiting for Dad and Mary. I wanna see them when they come back…”

Oh god, my heart, Rupert thought. This poor girl, I can’t tell her…

“This isn’t a safe place for kids to be, okay? You could get hurt here. Besides, my house is a lot warmer and has actual food and beds. We’ll bring you back when Dad and Mary are better, okay?” he lied, looking over at the boys. “And your parents, too.”

Henry crossed his arms, fixing his gaze on his crossed legs, but Charlie looked up at Rupert with a hopeful gaze.

“Food sounds good… They don’t give us good food here…” he murmured, “And I would like a real bed again… Can we, Ellie? He looks nice, and his hair is all fluffy. I like fluffy…”

“Mmm… Dad always said not to go with strangers…” she grumbled.

“Well, right now, I have just about as much of a choice as you do. It’s just until we can get everything sorted,” he assured her, “Then you’ll never have to see my ugly mug again.”

Ellie seemed to think for a moment, before reaching behind her. Charlie and Henry took her hands and stood, walking closer to her. He could see now that while Henry was, in fact, shorter, Charlie was about the same height as her.

“Okay, Mr. Fluffy Guy, we’ll go… as long as you get us something good to eat,” she conceded.

“Alright, and the name’s Rupert,” he told them, before standing up straight. “C’mon, I’ll bring you out to my car.”

The three kids followed Rupert out, waited patiently for him to unlock and open the back door of his Jeep, and helped each other up. They managed to get themselves situated in the back row, and once they had, Rupert got into the driver’s seat and set off.

They were quiet as he drove, and Rupert knew why; they were nervous. The poor kids had probably been through hell and back, then had spent a couple of uncomfy nights at a strange camp only to be told they had to go with a stranger. It was probably a lot for them to handle.

“Hey, you kids wanna grab fast food? Since it’s your first night, I figured I could at least treat you,” he offered, hearing two of them whisper among each other before Ellie spoke up.

“We want McDonalds,” she told him, earning a short chuckle.

-

Henry's eyes snapped open, blinding lights filling his vision before slowly clearing. He seemed to be in a medical facility of some kind.

Again? Was that a fail? I died, right? It had to be a fail. I must be back on the ship.

His thoughts raced with the idea, until he began to hear voices just outside his room. Familiar voices, but not the one he should've heard.

“Charlie, there's no good reason for this! He betrayed us, clean and simple. He chose to side with the Toppats and he paid the price.”

General Galeforce, if he remembered correctly.

“General, with all due respect, I don't care! I think he could deserve another chance. After all, who else but Henry could've done, well… all that! He practically did our job for us! The only other person who wasn't straight up dead was the Toppat's prisoner, and that just so happens to be your favorite lieutenant's boyfriend!”

Was that… Charles? Henry was so confused. He should be restarting. And why was he talking about the Toppats like they were already…?

“Listen, son, none of us know what happened at the airship. Yes, it's a miracle Mr. Panpa survived but don't think that was all because of Henry. You don't need to talk to him-”

“Yes, I do! Don't you understand?! I want to go try to be friends with him again. So just let me do that, at least…”

“Fine… but I'm not doing this because I think it's a good idea. I'm doing this because I know it means a lot to you. Just don't cry to me if he doesn't want to talk to you.”

“I won't…”

Finally, Charles entered into the medical tent, his gaze falling on Henry, who sat up slowly, grunting in pain as his back struggled to hold his own weight up.

“Careful, their chief got a really solid hit on you. You're lucky we got most of the damage patched up,” he warned, walking closer to the cot.

“How am I… where am… what…?” Henry managed, finding actually speaking a more laborious task than he’d thought. “I-I thought I…”

“That you died? Yeah, you did for a while there. We were able to bring you back, though. Frankly, you’re lucky I wasn’t the only one who wanted to give you a second chance. Those Bukowski twins are lifesavers…” the pilot chuckled softly, waving at one as he peeked inside the tent at the mention.

“Don’t worry, Konrad, he’ll be fine,” he assured the twin, who nodded and popped back out. Charles looked back down at Henry, explaining, “He’s probably going to tell Calvin you’re awake. You should meet them when you’re better, they’re pretty cool. In fact, there’s a lot of people I want you to meet! But first, we have to finish fixing all the damage to these augmentations of yours.”

Henry nodded, leaning back in the cot, relaxing as he let the weight off his cybernetics. It still felt crackly, glitchy and painful. He tried to move his left arm, feeling as it struggled against every move he tried to make, and finally gave up, sighing as he relaxed it again.

“Yeah, like I said, damaged. Not just from that bullet wound in your back, but probably from the crash too. There was, kind of… a concerning amount of metal scraps on the trail you left? I mean, at least they led me to you, so that’s kinda lucky, right?”

“I guess… so… how did you even…” Henry started, struggling to word his question.

“You wanna know what we were doing in the jungle, don’t you?” Charles guessed, earning a nod from Henry. “It’s kinda interesting. We’d gotten intel that the Toppats were setting up to launch an orbital base there and we went to check it out, but lo and behold, the whole rocket and their airship was completely destroyed. There were Toppat bodies everywhere, including their leader being stapled to a piece of the airship. And, well… that’s where I picked up your trail. It started with your impact spot, then your footprints and some metal scraps from your cybernetic parts. Eventually, I tracked you down, grabbed you and hauled you back to my helicopter. Heh, Rupert wasn’t exactly happy about having to share any space with you, but he sucked it up since the airship crash kinda saved his boyfriend.”

Henry just barely listened, remembering some of the places Charles mentioned. The moments before his death were still kinda blurry, but he knew he’d taken some kind of path after the crash.

“I’m glad I was able to find you, Henry… I’ve been wanting to try to reconcile with you, y’know? I know you betrayed us, but I just… couldn’t stop thinking about you. You’re that kind of person that once you know them, you just kinda can’t forget. I’d hoped I’d get a chance to see you again, though I guess this is a kinda complicated situation. At least you’re not a Toppat anymore, I guess?”

“Mhm…” Henry mumbled, his eyes drifting around the tent, focusing on anything but Charles.

“Mister Calvin?” one of the doctors suddenly addressed the pilot, who nodded at him.

“I, uh, gotta go. They’re gonna have to put you under to repair the augmentations, otherwise you’re gonna be in a world of pain. I’ll see you when you wake up, ok?” he explained, seeming a bit worried.

“Seeya…” Henry mumbled as Charles left the medical tent, staring at the ceiling as the staff surrounded him. However, he still had one more question left lingering in his mind.