Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 176. Tomorrow

Henry’s POV

I walked outside and found the shocked nanny standing in front of an open door. I handed her the little one and looked at Henrietta inside the room; she seemed hysterical and ready to fight someone.

"Stop this." I closed the door behind me so that the nanny was locked out.

"Henry! Where is this? Have you heard about our parents?" She approached me, turning again into that crazy and desperate girl from the parallel world.

"Yeah. They are in a laboratory at the moment. I am posing as my counterpart..." I began to explain as quickly as possible.

"You have to cooperate with me. We’ll have to leave this world."

She nodded, fear for the well-being of the only people she cared for evident on her face.

"Are they being experimented on?"

"Not at the moment; I have the doctor’s word on that. We’ll go there as soon as possible; until then, we have to get our act together." I looked at her threateningly.

"Or I will lose the position of commander, do you hear me? Get it together and behave."

There was a knock on the door before it opened instantly.

Maxi stood there.

"Why are you two alone?" Her eyes went from suspicious to stunned.

"She looks... exactly like you..."

I nodded; this came at the right time. I didn’t need any drama because I was suspected of having an affair with the woman I brought in.

"I suspect her to be somehow related to me; this is also why I brought her in."

Maxi nodded.

"Oh, I understand; now I get it." She nodded and came to Henrietta.

"Nice to meet you." The little one was again in her arms, and I took him from her.

"I’m going back to the office."

I looked at Henrietta pointedly one last time and saw her nod before I went out.

Back at my desk, with the little one on my lap, I stopped looking into dungeons. That wouldn’t help me now anyway. Instead, I searched for information about the laboratory and prison. I had hoped for plans that’d show me how to infiltrate both, but it was apparently just wishful thinking that The Commander had anything like this on his work computer.

Thinking about what Kenny would do in my situation, I remembered that Commander Devin would probably return at some point. Kenny wouldn’t leave this world without making things clear to him.

I opened an empty document and started to write.

Titling it ’The Truth’, I wrote down the things we had encountered so far, about the parallel worlds, about the counterparts, and that this whole corruption thing was nonsense. As my counterpart, he should be smart enough to find a way to get this information out to the people. Naturally I left out how killing one’s counterpart would make one stronger; instead, I described going crazy as a side effect, twisting the truth a little.

I saved it and positioned it visibly but not obviously on his computer, hoping that the guy was truly smart. I also added that I had neither harmed his children, though I had the chance to, nor touched his wife—which I hadn’t intended to do anyway—so my counterpart hopefully wouldn’t dismiss the information because of some grudge he held against me.

"Meeah?" I asked the kid.

"Meeah." It answered, and we leaned back in the chair.

Now, about Kenny. I went through the phone book on the computer, seeing the name of a soldier who had visited me during my stay at the hospital: Mark.

I called him through a video call, leaving the little one on my lap so that he was visible. My recovery would be more convincing if I showed myself with ’my’ kids.

He soon answered the call, seemingly at home as well, with a cat lounging on his shoulder. It didn’t really match the soldier.

"Is that Max?" He asked, breaking into a smile when he spotted the child.

I took Max’s arm and waved it at Mark.

"I’m home again. How are the plans? When can I go back to work?"

"Don’t you want to rest? With the portal on the highway closing by itself, we only have training until the next one opens."

"I want to work," I said.

He sighed.

"Then start by writing your report. How could you, when just looking into a mostly cleared dungeon, end up as the only one coming back from your team, along with over four hundred survivors and one fleeing serial killer?"

I don’t have time for this.

"What about the portal I entered through? I assume it wasn’t the same one I exited—on the highway—right?" The portal into which Commander Hannibal Devin had disappeared.

"...No. It had closed after you entered the dungeon, and because of that, we lost contact with you and your team. You really don’t remember?"

"I need to talk to... ’Kennith Howard,’ was it? I have to speak to him. He probably remembers more from that time than I do."

"He was already questioned..." Mark responded.

They talked to Kenny? To my Kenny?

"And?" I tried to calm down.

"He demanded to get privileges out of it. Besides that, he said he didn’t know you."

"What privileges?" I played absentmindedly with the child’s fingers.

"He wants tattoos. Ha, that sick guy has too much time on his hands."

Kenny is using this time to get himself tattooed; I can’t wait to see what he will choose as a motif—again, something he drew himself? I wanted to see everything he had ever drawn, besides the pictures I had already looked at.

Very good, he hasn’t lost his spirit. I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God.

"I want to talk to him alone and without surveillance, or else he will continue to feign ignorance."

"...Are you sure that’s a good idea?" Mark also started to knead the paws of the cat on his shoulder.

"I am. Should I write that report, or should I not?"

"I will arrange it."

"As soon as possible." Now? Can we go see him right fucking now?

"You have to wait until tomorrow," Mark answered.

"Good. Then send me the details to my new phone; do you have the number?"

"Naturally."

We said our goodbyes, and I ran my free hand over my face.

"Fuck. Soon." Perfect.

I can’t take Kenny’s grandma with me, but it doesn’t matter as long as I can see him.

When I go there, I have to ask him about his orders, but I already know what he will say. When he hears about the sick delusions these people believe in, he will want to save everyone we brought here. If The Four Hundred are only distributed to the center I got Mrs. Howard from and this ominous laboratory, then we would get them away easier than if they were scattered all over the city.

******

Eating was torture. With a strange new wife, a very well-behaved Max, Sarah—also well-behaved, an angry old woman, and Henrietta looking strangely at this new nephew and niece.

I locked myself in my office in fear that that woman would try something with me and slept there on the couch, though I couldn’t really sleep well, knowing that I would finally see him again after this damn long hospital stay.

In the morning, I found out where exactly Mrs. Howard’s room was and got a moment to speak to her alone, telling her that I would see Kenny and if she had any message for him.

"Tell him that I am very concerned about his personality if his counterparts are all murderers."

Fine, then I’ll tell him that.