ALL NOVEL Loop 255 - Part 8: Twonger
“How did you escape?” Trashcat blurted out the moment the door had been sealed behind them.
“Escape what?” Twonger asked. He guessed he had escaped a few things so far in this loop, but they were nothing these idiots would know about. Well, maybe Bart, but much more importantly, where the hell were the others?
“We were working under the theory you had been captured with Cal and others at the start of the loop. Based on your face, I’m guessing that ain’t what happened?” Bart asked.
“Oh, no, wasn’t with him. The kid got himself captured, huh? That seems like a problem. Guess I can save his ass next loop,” Twonger answered.
“So where were you?!” Trashcat growled, her temper flaring.
“Fine, ya all need to know so bad I’ll tell you, so shit down and shut up, cuz I’m only telling it once,” Twonger looked stared at each of them til they complied. “Good. So, the loop started, and I found myself back on my ship. Honestly, I was still surprised it actually worked; figured it was all still a bit of bullshit, you know? But then it hit me again that Onelder wasn’t there, and my rage kicked in. Decided Andy and Cal could handle this without for me a bit and set a course for some weapons I’ve always wanted but didn’t think I could get without dying, but now, who cares? I could die thirty times as long as I got ‘em in the end. I figured it also had the side benefit of working me through some of my anger issues.”
“You’ve just been out there hunting down weapons?!” Trashcat’s growl had deepened.
“Nah, that was the plan, but ya know how plans work in this group. The first place I hit went off like a charm, though, got some real nice shit back in ship, and even picked up some stuff for a few of yous. I expected it to be a real fight, but the idiots never knew what hit them. Some of that energy I picked up for my sword in the Under Library really does some damage out here. Wish everything had gone that well. The next couple of places were just totally destroyed already, no trace of anything good. Then to really make me angry, the next one was working with the Gryalth. I learned the bastards have themselves a weapons ring all throughout this galaxy,” Twonger continued.
“It makes sense if there are as many intelligent species in the universe as I’ve now come to believe they can’t just focus on Earth. This may be their initial incursion point, but they will need to be ready to wage war on everything the moment it becomes clear their intentions,” Harold interrupted.
“Yeah, figured that too. Once that clicked into place I decided to make a go at a mana refinery. Ship was running low, plus I wanted to see how hard it would be for future loops. The kids are gonna want a ton of that if we can get it. Once my rage settled, I started to really think about this was ya got me in. There is a lot shit out there in the universe, and we need to be getting ahold of as much of it as possible, but yeah, I grabbed my fill of condensed mana and decided to try out some of the new weapons that I did manage to grab on a few of those Gryalth, and since I wanted to head back here anyway, figured why not that tiny chunk of ice they went to last loop. Pluto was crawling with Gryalth, and we could always use more information on their operation there,” Twonger was interrupted again.
“Did you forget what happened when Cal screwed around on Pluto in the last loop? We were supposed to avoid it again this loop!” Trashcat’s tail had fluffed as she growled out her interruption.
“Sure, but I ain’t Cal. So, long story short, I did some real damage in some quick hit-and-runs. Pretty sure they think it was an Earth attack, though cuz. They launched their battleships on a course here. That’s what made me finally decide to head back. I had killed a few dozen Gryalth for Onelder and took a piss on the highest-ranking one I could find. That one was for me, and then went to find yos,” Twonger finished. He noticed his audience did not look very impressed with his story.
“Great, so we are likely dealing with an early loop termination on top of everything,” Trashcat said, this time sounding more defeated than angry.
“Eh, who cares? We start the next loop, and I’ll just teleport directly to Cal and get him, Bug, and Stan into the void house before anyone else can grab them. Seems like I solved a lot of problems here,” Twonger said, nodding along at what he thought was a brilliant solution.
“What about Andy? Or anyone else, can you get to them just as quickly?” Bart askled.
“Just as quickly? Nah, how fast are we talking for their capture anyway?” Twonger asked. It took time for his ship to cool down after a teleportation, he could likely do one trip every thirty minutes or so. Sure he had accidentally killed Cal a few times at the start of loops, but he couldn’t imagine anyone was able to get so many of them that fast in a new loop.
“Considering Ralth and the capybaras, I don’t that will cut it,” Bart said.
“It will for the next loop. If I understand everything you’ve told me correctly, whoever controls Cal controls the loop, and as much as I want my granddaughter out of their hands, Cal is the first priority. If Twonger can guarantee his safety at the start of every loop, that means we have more chess pieces on the board, and we can further refine the game plan once that happens,” Harold explained.
“You want what? Hold on, this room makes it hard to hear you guys,” Bart said, disappearing a second later.
“Where’d he go?” Twonger asked. Things had just started getting good. Harold was on board with the plan, and Bart had to go and run off like that. Some people just had no manners.
Bart popped back into view before anyone could answer Twonger’s question and yelled, “Good news, everyone, Andrew has a way to get the drugs into Harold!”