Stitches ambled through the hallways with a slight spring in his step. He was genuinely excited to give Bain the good news, after all. It'd been a very long time since he'd been the caretaker of territory, but he was willing to bet that it was going to be a lot easier with a sidekick. He couldn't remember the last time he'd a sidekick.

Well, that wasn't true, but he didn't like to think about it...

Pausing in front of the door, he breathed out carefully. Blinking and stretching his face with his hands, he shook out the nervousness and put a smile on his face. The conversation he'd just finished involving Firepower and Amber was an uncomfortable one, and he was trying to avoid thinking about that too.

Throwing the door open, he barged in with a ready grin. "Hey, Bain! You'll never guess what I..." He trailed off as he realized that no one was in the room. He knew Bain was a bit of an early riser - he'd been planning to surprise him, actually.

He wandered in much more slowly, raising an eyebrow at the mild carnage. It must have happened recently. Tinker's bots were incredibly quick when it came to repairs, although they seemed... shy, somehow. His forehead furrowed as his brain rabbit-trailed off onto whether or not Tinker's bots had emotions, and if he should possibly apologize for the sheer number of wrecked training rooms he'd left behind in the past.

Really, he never would have ended up on that train of thought if he hadn't met Bain. The monster seemed so curious about everything - it was hard for the enthusiasm not to rub off.

He glanced down and saw an empty metal cage. Of course he recognized it as the camoqotz's cage, although he wasn't sure either why Bain had let him out or how Bain expected to find him again.

There was a mounting sense of alarm rising in Stitches' gut, which wasn't a great feeling. He trusted his instincts a lot more than he trusted hard evidence, more often than not. Although he wasn't sure if that was because of some power he hadn't figured out or if it was just hard experience.

Slowly turning, he started to head for the door. He needed to see if Tinker had seen him and there was only so much time in a-

The door slammed shut. No one was outside, he was sure of it. He raised his hands, tensing his hands into wedges. "All right, show yourself, whoever you are. What'd you do with Bain?"

The ceiling and walls suddenly erupted inwards as thousands of centipedes mobbed him. He managed to hit a single one with a shatteringly powerful poke before he was utterly overwhelmed by the sheer number of them as they pinned him to the ground.

He opened his mouth to yell and a gigantic centipede immediately curled around the lower half of his head. Every single one of them had milky-white eyes, and every single one of them was glaring at him.

An enormous centipede probably ten feet long (how had that thing fit in the walls!?) skittered in front of him, mandibles chittering in obvious rage. "What did you do?"

Stitches stared at him irritably, before rolling his eyes and looking pointedly at the centipede across his mouth. There was no visible gestures or movements made, but the centipede allowed him to talk. The moment he did, he loaded every possible ounce of sarcasm he could manage into his words. "You're going to have to clarify that. I do a lot of stuff, most of which would annoy you. In fact, if I didn't annoy you I'd take it as a-"

Nahma interrupted him with a chorus of hisses. "Answer carefully, or I will eat you. What did you do to upset Bain?"

The blood drained out of Stitches' face, despite the fact he didn't exactly have very much blood circulation. "Wha-you don't mean..."

The sheddings gradually began tightening around Stitches' body, and he felt his ribs crack. Nahma continued, "Bain arrived in the tunnels not thirty seconds ago. He is refusing to speak to me and asked me to send all sheddings away from him. So it's your fault."

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There was a quickly-building terror in Stitches' heart, and he could have sworn it was beating again, if only so it could hammer against his ribcage. "The... the plan."

Every single eye in view narrowed sharply. "I knew I should have looked closer when you reinforced the walls of your room."

Stitches swallowed, forcing the ball in his throat down. "I don't think anyone should talk to Bain anytime soon, if he heard what I think he heard."

A low hiss filled the room as the sheddings undulated furiously. "Explain now, or the Tower will not be left standing."

Literally everything in Stitches' body told him that telling Nahma was a bad idea. He was equally certain that lying would likely result in Centropolis getting flattened. With a fatalistic sigh, he began reluctantly explaining the whole thing, right from the start.

Several minutes later, Nahma was disturbingly quiet. The sheddings weren't moving an inch, and Stitches was on the verge of throwing up. "Uh, Nahma? Can you say something? You're kind of freaking me out."

When Nahma eventually responded, it was with the most hatred-loaded tone Stitches had ever heard. If his heart had been going, it would have stopped dead. "I would not eat you were you the last creature on this planet. I am sure it would poison me."

Stitches flinched. Coming from a giant murderous centipede, the words still somehow managed to hurt. Nahma continued with an exponentially increasingly furious tone. "Bain wishes to become a hero. I will make that happen no matter what. So you will descend into my tunnels and speak with Bain, and apologize. Immediately."

The mass of centipedes roiled abruptly, clearing a path for Stitches to get to the door. Stitches' eyes widened in panic. "What? No, I'm not doing that! How am I supposed to explain any of it to him?"

Nahma growled. "You figure it out. You're the hero that he looks up to. How would I tell you what to say in your words? Either way, you will speak to him. Now."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Stitches stood outside the cave, wringing his hands. Nowhere in any of his worst nightmares had anything as agonizing as this.

How?

Just... how? How in the world was he supposed to explain to the sensitive, optimistic monster that he'd been lying and manipulating to him since the very beginning? That all of it was a ruse to make Stitches retire with a clear conscience? So much for the clear conscience.

He sucked in a deep breath and released it, trying to gain some confidence from the motion. He repeated it again.

Next to his feet, a portion of the floor lifted, a hefty green-blue shedding rising underneath it and wearing the area like a hat. It would have been funny under different circumstances. "Move. Now. Nahma may desire that you mend your relationship with Bain, but we believe you to be unworthy of his company." As it retreated back under the floor, Stitches dove for it, holding the plate open. The shedding rose back up, clearly annoyed.

Stitches looked at it curiously. "I thought you all were Nahma's eyes and ears, or something."

The shedding's eyes slitted. "Stop stalling. Bain is worth many of you and he is presently miserable. And it's your fault." It bit down on his hand and he yanked it back reflexively. The shedding ducked down, and the piece of the floor fell into place, no seams visible. Stitches had to hand it to the centipede, he could build secret walls pretty darn well.

He stared at the small cave entrance. Nahma had assured him in no uncertain terms that Bain was inside. The whole area had been built for Bain, apparently, and Stitches could only imagine what it looked like when Nahma built an actual room.

Inhaling deeply one final time, he walked through, resolutely attempting a facade of confidence to cover up the terror he was experiencing.

He couldn't help it. His jaw dropped.

The room, if it could be called that, was massive. A gentle yellow glow came from a mass of bioluminescent mushrooms growing on the ceiling, illuminating the spacious area before him. The dirt was fresh and crumbly, a well-maintained layer of grass growing on top. Stitches didn't know how in the world anything could grow down here but correctly assumed the mushrooms had something to do with it. It wasn't entirely unheard of for plants to get powers, although this seemed a bit... specific.

Several carefully placed rocks were located around the edge of the room, a massive one in the center. There was a confusing mess of scars and scratches ripped through the giant stone, and he couldn't figure out what it was for. A gentle waterfall streamed out of the side of one wall, beginning about two-thirds of the way up and ending in a small pool lined with rocks.

There was a simple stone bench at the far side of the room. Bain was sitting on it, visibly slumped.

With a hard swallow, Stitches approached him.