Chapter Text
Mr. Krupp hated surprises.
Well, not surprises like pop quizzes. Or thunderstorms that got recess canceled.
But Mr. Krupp definitely hated surprises like suddenly facing down a trio of bank robbers in his underwear.
"What is going on?!" he screamed, pulling the curtain inexplicably attached to his neck around his body in an effort to maintain some modesty. "Who are you people? Why am I wet? I demand answers!"
The bank robbers in front of him cowered in fear, trembling - all except one, who was too unconscious to do much cowering.
"I'm so confused right now," whispered one of them with a bruise on his face.
"Is he still going to kick our butts?" asked the other, eyes wide with terror.
A few short days ago, this would have Mr. Krupp babbling like a baby in confusion. He would've made sounds probably similar to "Aguhh," or maybe "Wahwhuhwah who?"
But not today. See, this wasn't the first time Mr. Krupp had suddenly been thrust into a situation like this, clad in only his underwear and his office curtain. It wasn't even the second time.
And by this point, he was just mad.
Mr. Krupp seethed in silence for about three seconds, trying to find words to express the sheer amount of frustration he was experiencing. He would've seethed a bit longer, but he was interrupted by approaching police sirens.
A policewoman burst into the room, donut dust covering her mouth. "Everybody, freeze!" She brandished a pen aggressively, seeming to realize it wasn't a weapon, but too embarrassed to acknowledge it.
She lowered her hand and coughed nervously as more police entered and began handcuffing the criminals. "Uh. You, did this?" she asked Mr. Krupp.
"I have no idea what's happening!" he yelled.
"It was definitely him," one of the criminals moaned. "Crazy. You're about to rob a bank, and BAM! POW! Some guy in his underwear busts through the wall.
The policewoman blinked in confusion at the would-be thief. "... You're still going to jail."
She turned to Mr. Krupp. "Thanks for helping us catch these guys, mister..."
Mr. Krupp, with his teeth gritted, didn't volunteer his name.
She coughed again as he twitched slightly, avoiding eye contact and glancing around the room, which was in chaos. The front desk was snapped in half, a vase of wilting flowers on a shelf had fallen over, there was a person-shaped hole in the wall, and there was a nearly naked, crime-fighting bald man in front of her.
"Well. Uh. Thanks," she repeated. "I'm just gonna...I'll just pretend I didn't see any of this." She gestured to his whole body, awkwardly finger gunned him, and walked away.
Mr. Krupp, after some relatively vicious insults towards the shaken bank teller, stalked off in what he assumed to be the direction of his elementary school.
His sense of direction proved to be correct, as a duo of small and very frantic boys nearly barreled into him.
"Oh, there you are!" said the curly-haired one on the left.
"Finally," said the one on the right, panting heavily. "It took us so long to run here. No one left any heavy machinery unlocked and running! Can you believe it?"
"It's ridiculous," Harold agreed. "There ought to be a law."
Mr. Krupp ignored this exchange as he towered over the boys, as best he could while wearing just a curtain and his underwear, at least.
"Harold, George, if you don't tell me--"
George raised his hand before he could finish his sentence, and
-and Mr. Krupp was sitting, fully clothed and still wet for some reason, in front of the desk in his office.
Bewildered for a second, he noticed a George-sized blur dash around the door. Mr. Krupp stood up, pounding his hands on the desk and leaning forward.
"If you two don't get back here right this second, you're in BIG trouble, bubs!" Mr. Krupp shouted, knowing full well that would never convince them.
He slouched dejectedly into his chair and groaned loudly, running his hands down his face and staring at a stain on his desk.
Even if he got them back in, the two boys would just dodge the question, and no amount of threats of detention or extra homework would sway them. He didn't know what it was, but the boys seemed to have lost a lot of their fear towards him lately. It was really annoying.
He'd already tried moving them to separate classes, to no avail. The paperwork kept mysteriously vanishing - and if anything, their pranks had only somehow gotten worse. They were being sneakier about it, too, despite his best efforts to catch them in the act. He didn't think even a hidden video camera would work this time.
Wait. That was it.
A video camera - he could just record himself and see what happened when he blanked out!
It was the perfect plan. It couldn't quite solve his problem with George and Harold, but it would definitely work this time. He would just put one up in his office, see what was happening, and...
And he'd figure it out from there.