The Logical Exception

What was it about time that made it go so slowly when you needed it to go fast? Roman bit his lip as he watched the buildings go by. This wasn't the first time he had felt this strange sensation, where time slows down simply to spite you. He first felt it was when he and his brother were waiting to know if they had been adopted. Roman had been so hopeful, and waiting for that answer had made every second feel like an eternity. Unfortunately, that situation had not worked out in his favor and maybe it was that stress that was causing him to worry over this situation. He was worried about Patton.

With every building they passed, and every red light that stopped them, Roman's leg began to bounce faster on the floor. How had he not noticed? How did he not realize that Patton had been replaced? Patton was supposed to be his best friend, yet he was so easily convinced that Patton was the type of person who talked behind other people's backs. He should have known that wasn't true. Patton didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings but he was straightforward and honest, if he had a problem with someone he would address it. Roman had been so protective of Remus that it blinded him.

As his thoughts went deeper, and the car went slower, Roman's leg began to bounce the floor underneath him.

"Will you stop, Lord of the Flies?" Virgil asked angrily.

"Why, am I bothering you, Frankien-jerk?" If Patton had been replaced then the whole fight with Virgil had been pointless, Virgil had been telling the truth all along. Roman wasn't ready to admit he was wrong.

"That wasn't even one of your better insults,"

"Well, I'm sorry that my mind is preoccupied with the fact that my best friend has been held by villains for the past two months. You were a part of this weren't you, I knew he never should have trusted you?"

Virgil obviously flinched. "What is your problem, Princey?" He asked that with such venom that Roman's anger began to boil.

"My problem? You are my problem!"

"Now, now, I'm sensing a lot of hostility back there," Emile said. "I know it's not really my place but this anger isn't constructive."

"Whatever," Virgil muttered, crossing his arms and letting out a huff of air. "I'm not a villain Princey."

"But you were, and yet somehow you couldn't accept my brother." Maybe it had been a lie, maybe their fight had been pointless, but it had still hurt when Roman overheard Virgil and Patton speaking about Remus being 'uncontrollable'.

"What?"

"You heard me, you and fake Patton over here called Remus an 'uncontrollable psychopath.'"

Remus flinched but continued to pretend he was interested in the small creature he had created that was running around his hand as he tried to squish it.

"That might actually be my fault." Deceit chimed in. "It was my job to get you all separated, you are easier to pick off when you are alone." His voice changed, now sounding exactly like Virgil's, "And nothing seeds chaos like a few choice words."

The car fell silent once again before Deceit began trying to defend himself. "Look, it's not like it was really my choice." Sure he had enjoyed creating a little bit of mayhem, but he did it all to protect his brother. "You would have done the same if it meant protecting Remus, right?"

Roman made a sound of disapproval, but he also didn't fight it anymore. In true Roman fashion, he tried to change the subject. "Calculator watch, you separated us into three teams, why am I stuck with... this one." He pointed to Deceit and Logan fought back another sigh.

"Remus and Virgil are the two most useful in a hand to hand fight, but as Virgil's abilities are more useful to Stealth than Remus' are, I positioned Remus by the car to protect Emile as he is a civilian and I would not have involved him in this further if it hadn't been necessary." Logan held out his hands and was making motions with his fingers as if walking through an invisible strategy board. "This left four of us, the most optimal use of resources is to separate into teams of two, my talents will most likely be needed for rescuing sleep, and Remus would feel most comfortable with you rescuing Patton. The teams should be composed of one hypothetical villain and one hypothetical hero so that you all will feel more secure about the team layout. Hence my decision."

"You thought of everything didn't you?"

"Strategy is how you stay alive,"

"It sure as sugar isn't how you stay uninjured."

"We are here." Emile interrupted, thankful they had arrived. He saw that conversation going as well as the previous one.

Roman jumped out before the car was fully stopped. They had spent so long not even knowing that Patton was missing, and because of that, he went through two months of only Disney knows what. They didn't even know if Patton was alive and Roman knew he wouldn't relax until he could see and apologize to his friend.

"Alright, we have less than 30 minutes before Zero Sum and Mother Necessity show up once we trigger the alarms. Give yourself plenty of time to get in and get out. Meet back at the car. Emile, if we do not make it out within 25 minutes, leave us." Logan was very serious as he stepped out of the car, straightening his tie. He was almost certain that the guards were going to know he shouldn't be let in, but if by some statistical anomaly they didn't, he couldn't let a hair out of place, tip them off that something was wrong.

Logan turned to look at Emile. "You are a civilian, basically, I will not have you getting caught up in these affairs."

"Lo, I already am." He said with a weak smile.

"And I'll protect the string bean out here, but I'm not leaving without Roman and Patton. You, I'll leave behind"

Logan looked at Remus who only narrowed his eyes at the logical man. Logan couldn't let Remus engage. He needed things to go smoothly. "Go, you don't have much time." Remus' voice was almost teasing and a shiver ran down Logan's spine.

"No, we do not." He turned to Deceit, waiting for him to nod before they turned back to Prince and Anxiety. They were pretending to bring those two in as prisoners, hopefully, it would work, but if it didn't, Logan already had a backup plan.

AN: Next chapter we will be finally rescuing Patton, but some things are also going to go down. Prepare yourselves!