Although Perkins tries to sound soothing and persuasive, he can barely hide his excitement, continuously rubbing his hands together.
“Don’t resist, my young friend. We both know this doesn’t have to happen. All you have to do is tell me what you know, and you’re free to go.”
Slug sits across from him, unable to speak even if he wanted to. The potion has finally worn off and now he’s completely paralyzed by all-consuming fear.
“Oh well, just a little prick, then. Don’t blame me if it hurts—you’re doing this to yourself.” Immediately, two long needles move forward. Slug tries to slow time, just a little, but nothing happens. He’s too tired, too untrained. He can only watch as the needles approach the index fingers of both hands. His body begins to shake violently, yet his hands remain completely fixed by an unseen force. The needles are just millimeters from his nails. Perkins’ breathing grows deeper. Slug almost stops breathing at all, his eyes rolling back in their sockets, and then… there’s a knock on the door.
With a high, tingling sound, ten silver needles hit the tiles. Perkins curses under his breath. Slug finally exhales, his eyes shifting back just in time to see the needles rise from the floor and fly back to the desk. The wooden box closes with a sharp snap.
“You… you don’t move an inch,” he snarls as he opens the door, revealing the tiny, disheveled figure of Miss Bleach.
“No, not her too,” Gnat thinks. “If she’s also part of this, they are safe from no one.” Perkins, however, seems as shocked as Gnat.
“Miranda, what are you doing here?” he exclaims. “This one is supposed to be my responsibility. I was just about to—” Miss Bleach sounds as vague and confused as ever when she answers.
“Eh... Cecile... I... eh... change of plans... orders... straight from the top... Don’t damage the goods.”
“What? Why?” His voice is like that of a child whose big chunk of chocolate has been taken away before he could even have a bite. “The fat one was mine. Mastro promised.”
“Yes, yes... no, no, I... eh...” But then Slug hears Miss Bleach’s voice in his head—crystal clear, without hesitation, as she continues talking to Perkins. “Don’t be afraid, Robert.”
Then everything changes. Perkins stumbles back into the room, his expression shifting from anger to fear, to outright terror. It’s strange to see his English teacher backing away from the much smaller woman stepping over the threshold.
“This isn’t right. You’re one of us!” he shouts.
Out of the corner of his eye, Slug notices the enormous desk rising and hurtling toward the door. Miss Bleach doesn’t stand a chance, but just as it’s about to crush her, it changes course mid-air, crashing into the wall with a deafening bang.
This is the start of a surreal fight. Perkins' loud protest is countered by Miss Bleach’s voice inside his head, unrecognizably calm, clear, and strong. “You know you can’t surprise me like that, Cecile. I’m not one of your hapless students.”
Perkins frantically scurries further away from her, almost shouting now. “We’re a team; we always have been. If the boss finds out…” Miss Bleach shrugs. “You’ve always been a bit too much ‘befehl ist befehl’ for my taste, Cecile—just like your buddy Scroptz, who’s outside acting like the Führer himself. Maybe you should have been a bit more critical over these last fifteen years. Maybe you should have made up your own mind a bit more. Maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation if you had. You know full well the boss hasn’t been himself since the moment that girl was born, and it only got worse after she joined school.”
Perkins sinks to his knees, sweat beading on his forehead. “If I’d allowed you to go on with what you were about to do just now, I’d be as evil as what we fight against.” By now, Perkins lies sprawled on the floor like a discarded towel. He curses through gritted teeth. “Filthy traitor. He’ll devour you whole and spit you out like a furball. He’ll…” But then his voice is cut off abruptly.
After Miss Bleach has untied Slug, he stumbles after her into the dark corridor.“To the science classroom,” she urges. Slowly Slug regains some control over his legs, but after only a few wobbly steps, an ear-shattering crack of splintering wood echoes from just around the corner, followed by a heavy, dull thud as something hits the ground.