Maze Caves (1) (Sly’s perspective)

[Sly]

Sly looked down at Blank hardly daring to believe it. He was going to live. Both of the drugs he had tested for turned out to be fading away. One was simply causing him to be unconscious and the other seemed to be some sort of drug for late night bed activities. What kind of weird things had Royal done to him anyway. Better not to think about it.

Sly shuddered at the thought of what could have happened if RoyalBlue had taken him to the Team Red base. First he used poor Blank then he was going to give him to the murderers. The weird thing was he couldn't find any of Royal's DNA inside of Blank. Well whatever as long as Blank was safe.

Just then the door to Sly's room burst open and Chase barged in.

"Hey do you ever knock? I have a patient to treat here!" growled Sly.

"He's gone, managed to escape somehow." Chase muttered lowering Nova onto another bed.

The room attached to Sly's personal room had a few beds for patients, like a mini hospital. Sly immediately got up and checked on Nova. She seemed fine thankfully.

"What happened?" Sly asked.

"Not sure, I left for a moment and this happened." Chase replied. "That stupid half assassin, I can't wait to rip him to shreds, this time I'm not doing any waiting until Blank wakes up or other nonsense."

Sly frowned.

"What?" asked Chase.

"Nova. Why didn't RoyalBlue kill her?" Sly muttered.

"I don't know just be glad he didn't."

Sly frowned again checking over Nova. "Weird, he could of easily killed her though. This looks like it took more effort not to."

"So what? Who know's what goes on in an assassin's brain."

"You're an assassin to smarty." Sly muttered. "Chase let's go look at the Team Red headquarters."

"What? What about them?" Chase motioned to Nova and Blank.

"They will be fine. I'll ask Deck to look after them. He hates chasing Royal anyway, but something just seems weird about it." Sly said.

"Whatever, if for some reason we find him though I'll killing him, no questions asked." Chase muttered.

"I'll find Deck." Sly left the room and walked down the hall.

He was pretty sure Deck would still be moping in his room. He knocked quietly then let himself in. Deck was curled up in a pile of blankets looking miserable.

"Hey, you good?" Sly asked sitting beside him and gently rubbing his back.

"No." he muttered firmly.

Sly leaned over and kissed him distracting him from his pillow. Deck was surprised for a moment then kissed him back with enthusiasm. Aww his boyfriend was really just the cutest little thing.

"Can you do me a favor?" Sly asked.

"Sure what?" Deck replied.

"Watch Blank for a bit, I need to run a quick trip." Sly replied.

"Okay, but hurry back."

"Of course." Sly spent another minute happily kissing him before he dragged himself away.

If he stayed any longer his trip would become a trip to under the covers. Deck followed him out of the room. He left him with a communicator and Blank and Nova. After checking them both over once more to make sure they'd be fine Sly gave Deck a quick goodbye kiss that promised other activities upon his return.

"You better be worth the trouble Royal, if you really did turn traitor and messed up my cutie's ability to trust I will skin you alive before killing you." Sly muttered under his breath.

Normally he wouldn't consider it but two things were making Sly second guess Royal's statements. One Blank was still alive even though he had disappeared several days ago. Two Nova was alive. Time to find some Team Red members and beat some answers out of them.

"Ready?" Sly asked.

"Who said I was coming?" Chase muttered back.

Sly rolled his eyes not bothering to reply. Chase had clearly become a lot more protective over the members of the guild since Blank's disappearance.

"Fine no way am I letting you walk into a camp of murderers alone!" Chase hurried after him and a small smile tilted the corner of Sly's lip.

The trip itself was short within an hour of speed running they were at the edge of the rock garden. To think the day they learned of its existence would be the day they found Blank. Now time to pay them a house call.

"Shouldn't one of them be on guard or something?" Chase muttered looking around.

The place was dead silent except for the occasional wind knocking down pebbles. Sly jumped up onto a rock to get a better look around. Further up the rock slide Team Red's base was built into the rocks with only a door visible.

"Get down! Are you crazy?" Chase hissed.

"I don't think anyone's around?" Sly stated it more as a question.

Chase continued to glance around on high alert as Sly jumped from rock to rock trying to see if anything moved toward him. Or away, or moved at all really. The place was still.

So Sly started hopping toward the door which Chase raising a fuss behind him.

When he reached it Sly paused again to look around, but the only movement was a small grasshopper that was clearly very lost.

Shrugging Sly pushed the door open and Chase immediately pushed him to the side. Chase stood in the doorway with two daggers at the ready. He waited several seconds but no sounds of alarm or attacks greeted him. After a few more seconds Chase took a few steps inside pausing to let his eyes adjust.

"Well?" Sly hissed behind him.

"It's well, come take a look. It's safe." Chase replied.

Sly poked his head in and gasped. Lying on the floor were several bodies. He knelt by one he recognized as WastedRuby a murdering mage.

"Well?" Chase muttered as he checked the nearby rooms.

"They are dead." Sly replied.

"No duh I can tell that." Chase muttered back.

Sly rolled his eyes. "Looks like they died not too long ago maybe less than a day even. It's a fast acting poison that can kill in seconds."

"Ha the murders die by their own poison, I like that." Chase replied.

Sly paused "What if, just hear me out okay? What if RoyalBlue killed them?"

"So what if he did? He joined the murderers then murdered them all, fits right in." Chase replied.

"No what if he murdered them to save Blank?" asked Sly.

"That sounds highly illogical." Chase replied. "He is a murderer."

"Why drag Blank out to a pile of dead murderers?"

"How should I know?" Chase muttered. "Look if it means that much to you we can trap him and toss him in a prison again until Blank wakes up. Then we will kill him."

"It's just a thought. Wouldn't you feel bad if you killed him only to learn he was innocent?"

"But he isn't. But fine, for the sake of the discussion if he was for some reason innocent, nope I probably still wouldn't feel bad." Chase replied.

"Well I'm going to look for him and try to hear his side of the story."

"You're just doing this because of your boyfriend aren't you?"

Sly "... No of course not. Deck has nothing to do with this."

"Right, I thought so." Chase replied sarcastically. "Well if you must then I'm coming with you. No way are you walking up to that lunatic alone with the make friends mentality. As soon as he fails to meet your expectations I will happily drive a dagger through his heart."

"And if he's innocent?"

"I'll knock him out until Blank wakes up because there is no way he is innocent we all saw the film of LittleGingerRy." Chase's voice turned icy.

"And if Blank confirms that he is innocent and that tape is somehow wrong?" Sly asked.

"Highly unlikely."

"Chase!"

"Okay fine then I will let him go with a solid few kicks and maybe a tracker embedded into his skull." Chase replied. "Where are you even going to find a person who doesn't want to be found? He's like the best, dare I say, at disappearing when he doesn't want to be found."

"Where would you go if the whole world hated you?" Asked Sly.

"Huh and how the heck would I know the answer to that?" Chase muttered.

Sly rolled his eyes, "It's called look around for clues idiot. He has to be somewhere, maybe Deck will know, first we check his common hangouts then anyone that might have seen him. After that we find places he might go if he wants to remain hidden."