Chapter Text
“Um, Petunia? Are you sure this is legal?” Jerry asked as Petunia pulled a bobby pin out of her hair and begun to pick the lock.
“The fate of Bumblyburg is at stake Jerry,” Petunia replied without turning from the door. “Desperate times call for desperate measures. We need to call Larry Boy.”
“But. Can’t the mayor do it?”
“Jerry! The mayor’s the one who is in trouble, remember?”
Jerry thought for a moment. “No.”
“But didn’t I tell you?!”
Jerry thought once more. “No.”
Petunia realized Jerry was right. She didn’t tell him what had happened. She just ran into the studio that morning screaming words like “Jerry!” “Mayor Blueberry!” “Trouble!” and “We have to help!” and then dragged Jerry to City Hall after work, where the two stayed until after it closed for the day, in a ridiculous attempt to break into the mayor’s office and turn on the Larry Signal.
“Alright, you know how last night I was at that new seafood place a couple towns over?”
Petunia had heard That New Seafood Place was pretty good, but it seemed that everyone else had as well. That New Seafood Place was so packed it was hard for Petunia to find a seat, but after a while a small table opened up.
Petunia, knowing it’d be a while before she would be waited on, pulled out her Handy Pod and continued progress on a game she’d bought a few days before. She finally had enough evidence to unlock Pear Fey’s psyche locks and was ready to find out what the young pear girl was hiding. But that was another story entirely.
Eventually patrons of the restaurant stopped walking to and fro and instead were seated comfortably. It was then that Petunia saw someone familiar out of the corner of her eye.
Was that? Petunia was almost afraid to look! But she had to! Was it? Yes! It was! That Bad Apple who’d almost ruined the Bumblyburg Tricentennial the year before! She was bound to recognize Petunia. And here she was playing with her Handy Pod in public!
Face flushing red, Petunia hid the game in her purse before realizing, oh no, she’d forgotten to save! She discreetly saved the game, shoving the Handy Pod deeper into her purse, and proceeded to hide her face in a menu. She knew what she was going to get, but at least hiding her face in a menu would make her look inconspicuous.
Or so she thought.
“Excuse me, ma’am. Are you alright?” The waiter almost made her jump out of her chair. “Oh, sorry ma’am. I didn’t mean to scare you!”
“It’s alright, um,” Petunia read the waiter’s nametag. “Phil. I guess I’m a little on edge tonight.”
“Well I’ve been told I can be kind of intimidating,” Phil said, looking a bit insecure. “I’ve done a little bit of acting, and I always get cast as monsters, because of how big and scary I am.”
“No, no Phil. It’s not your fault. It’s just. There’s somebody here I don’t want to talk to is all, and I’m hoping she doesn’t notice me.”
“Oh! That explains why you were hiding your face in your menu like that.”
Petunia sunk down in her chair. “Was it that obvious?”
“Well, I wasn’t sure if you were having trouble reading the menu or what.”
“Oh no, I know what I’m getting already.”
“Well may I take your order, then?”
“I’ll have-” Petunia was immediately distracted by the sight of Mayor Blueberry. While she thought she might greet the mayor later, and was about to continue her order, she saw Mayor Blueberry take a seat across from that Bad Apple. What was she doing? Why was she with Bad Apple? Was she in trouble? Wh-
“Are you okay?” Phil asked, distracting Petunia from her thoughts. “You just spaced out.”
“Oh yeah!” Petunia said, trying to act like everything was normal. “I’ll have this picture.”
“Which one?” Phil tilted his head. “You’re not pointing at anything.”
Petunia looked down at the table and bit her lip before speaking again. “I’ll have the jumbo shrimp.”
“Excellent choice. And to drink?”
“Water’s fine.”
As Phil left, Petunia stared at Mayor Blueberry and the Bad Apple from behind her menu. What was the mayor doing there? Was the Bad Apple trying to trap her in another web of temptation? She tried to listen in on the conversation, but the two were a few tables away, and the restaurant was already pretty loud. The mayor seemed to be laughing and enjoying herself, but what if that was part of some trick?
Petunia was sweating bullets, afraid the Bad Apple would notice her. Her throat was so dry she drank her water in one gulp. What could she do? There’s no way she could just call Bad Apple out like this! If only Larry Boy were here, he’d know what to do! But she had no way to get in touch with him.
When Petunia’s food came, she scarfed it down, left immediately to pace around her house until she collapsed on the floor, unable to sleep at all that night, and totally restless the whole day afterwards.
“So now you see why we have to get Larry Boy to help us here,” Petunia said, as she finally unlocked the door.
Jerry nodded, following Petunia inside the mayor’s office. While Petunia made her way towards the balcony, Jerry turned on a lamp and looked around the mayor’s desk, picking up a letter atop a red envelope.
“Jerry? What are you doing?!” Petunia asked.
“I thought... Maybe we’d find a clue?”
“Jerry! You can’t read someone’s mail!” Petunia scolded. “That’s a crime!”
Jerry rolled his eyes, but placed the letter down without reading it and followed Petunia out to the balcony.
“So…” Petunia said, observing the giant metal skylight. “Does this thing have a switch or…”
“Found it!” Jerry said, turning it on.
Larry yawned, stretching as he exited the movie theater. “How is that theater still in business, anyway? All the movies it plays are terrible.”
“Well, people are still going to see them after all,” Alfred answered. “You and I, and plenty of others.”
“You know what, Alfred? We should start a boycott!” Larry said. “We all stop going there til they start playing some dece-“
“Master Larry, what’s the ma-“
The Larry Signal.
“Oh.”
Alfred nudged at Larry with his hip, causing the cucumber to spin dizzily into a nearby alley, crashing into a trashcan. Alfred kept watch as Larry transformed into Bumblyburg’s greatest (and only) hero, Larry Boy!
“Alright, Alfred!” Larry said, jumping out of the alley. “You head back to the Larry Cave! I’ll check to see what’s up at City Hall.”
And with that, Larry Boy shot off one of his suction-cup ears and flew away.
“Hmm. Seems like a pretty peaceful night,” Larry Boy said to himself as he scaled the city hall building. “I wonder what the trouble IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!”
Larry Boy felt something yanking on one of his ears, pulling him upward.
“Help me out, Jerry!” Larry Boy heard Petunia grunt, just before getting pulled up with a greater force and crashing on top of the roof.
Larry stood up quickly, retracting his suction cup ears and shaking his head. “Petunia? Jerry? What are you guys doing up here? Usually Mayor Blueberry is the one to tell me what's going on.”
“That’s just it!” Petunia said. “Mayor Blueberry is in trouble!”
“Mayor Blueberry’s in trouble?” Larry repeated to himself. “Has she been kidnapped?”
“Well… No,” Petunia admitted. “But do you remember Bad Apple?”
“Uh huh.”
“I saw the mayor with her at That New Seafood Place last night.”
“Oh, you got to go there?” Larry said excitedly. “I’ve been meaning to go there sometime with Alfred, but I’ve been pretty busy with the whole superhero-ing thing, and it’s kind of a ways from Bumblyburg and-Wait! You saw Bad Apple with Mayor Blueberry?! Oh my gosh! She could be in trouble!”
“What do you think we should do?” Petunia asked.
“Hmm… Well Mayor Blueberry hasn’t seemed to be much different lately, but we ought to keep a lookout, and be there for her in case she falls into the web of temptation again!”
“Are you sure there isn’t more we can do?”
“Well Bad Apple isn’t in Bumblyburg. She’s a couple towns over. And even though the mayor is important, I still need to protect the rest of Bumblyburg too!”
“But-”
“Petunia. Bumblyburg is my home, and as this town’s superhero, it’s my job to defend it. Like Batman with Gotham City, Superman with Metropolis, The Powerpuff Girls with Townsville, or any other superhero anywhere else, I have a duty to my home, and everybody in i-” Larry’s rant was interrupted by Alfred speaking to him via communicator. “What? Right below me? Okay Alfred.” Larry Boy directed his attention to Petunia and Jerry. “Hold on a second, guys.”
Larry Boy peered off the roof and turned his head to the side, shooting off one of his suction cup ears and pulling up one of the rapscallions who was holding a stolen ice cream cone.
“Ugh, you again?” Larry Boy said with disgust. “Don’t you know it’s not nice to steal people’s sweets? Alright. Hand it over.”
“I don’t think you’re in any position to talk, Larry Boy,” the rapscallion said smugly, holding the ice cream cone out. “One false move, and I drop the ice cream cone.”
“Don’t let him drop it!” The victim cried from below.
“Actually,” Larry Boy corrected, “you’re the one in no position to talk! You drop that ice cream, I drop you right off City Hall!”
The rapscallion, realizing there was in fact nothing beneath him, went pale and began to tremble. “Okay, okay! I’ll give back the ice cream cone! Just please don’t drop me!”
“That’s what I thought,” Larry Boy said, taking the ice cream cone from the rapscallion’s hand and returning it to its owner and lowering the rapscallion to a police car.
“Woah,” Jerry said.
“See that?!” Larry Boy continued. “That kinda thing happens every day! This town needs me! I can’t leave it behind! I promise I’ll be able to save Mayor Blueberry if anything happens to her, but if Bad Apple tries to make another city fall into temptation, I don’t know if I’ll be able to help! They might have to have their own superhero save the day.”
Their own superhero. Petunia thought. “Okay! Just tell me if there’s anything you need us to do to help.”
“Thanks,” Larry Boy said. “Oh, do you guys need help down?”
“No, we’re fine,” Petunia answered. “We’ll leave the way we came in.”
Petunia and Jerry left through the mayor’s office when Larry Boy realized two things. One: City Hall was closed and two: Mayor Blueberry always locked her office door when she was away.
“Wait! Guys! Hey! Hey guys! That’s breaking and entering! That’s illegal you know!”
But Petunia and Jerry were already out of earshot.
“Jerry, do you think they have their own superhero a couple cities over?” Petunia asked as the two left City Hall.
“I don’t like where this is going.”
“Good morning Mayor Blueberry!”
“Good morning Jean Claude!”
Mayor Blueberry had been in a very good mood lately, and no one could say why. She just seemed to have a spring in her step as of lately, and she was working more efficiently than she had ever been, which was saying something for an organizational expert like Mayor Blueberry.
Mayor Blueberry entered her office and settled herself at her desk. She listened to voice mails, turned on her computer, and picked up a letter above a red envelope and read it again, giggling and turning red as she did. She’d read this letter about a couple dozen times now, but it was still just as sweet as it was the first time around.
Mayor Blueberry held the letter close to her chest. She wanted to see her again! Even though it had only been a couple days since Mayor Blueberry had last seen her, she couldn’t stop thinking about her. Even though her head was saying to keep the relationship a secret (while the citizens of Bumblyburg were generally very accepting, dating someone with such a villainous reputation could smear her own), her heart was begging to see her every night. Mayor Blueberry made up her mind. After responding to all her messages and emails, she called her.
“Hello?”
“Miss Apply? Are you free tonight?”