Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Starr Park, founded years ago by an unknown traveller and soon after, formed into a massive attraction, before falling and rising up again. Starr Park is not your average theme park, it's city-sized, larger even! With residents and even it's own mascots. This park was knows for its elusive nature. Situated in the middle of nowhere with higherups that never even showed their faces, yes, Starrpark was truly....a one of a kind place.......

Colt, Shelly and Spike reside at their base. Colt is looking at himself in the mirror as usual, Shelly has her eye on the cameras, scouting for suspicious activity, and Spike is relaxing on the couch

"Hey Shelly" Colt calls out "what tie looks better?" he inquires while holding a black tie and wearing a white one.
Shelly rolls her eyes and turns back to the cameras.
"They're ties Colt, they are made for suits"

Colt loses focus and takes a second to process what Shelly just said and takes another to realise how little sense it made. In order to shut him up, Shelly adds on to her statement

"Ties don't fit your uniform anyway Colt" She replies in a straightforward tone before turning back to the cameras.
"Now will you please leave me alone, today is a very busy day for me and I don't want to blow it."

Colt turns to Shelly with a dull expression
"Shelly, you're staring at a screen"
"IT'S CALLED SURVEILLANCE!" she replies bluntly.

Colt sinks into his chair and sighs loudly.
'Shelly you need a break" he declares. "You've been at this all day, how about you come with me and Spike? We're signing autographs"

Shelly rolls her eyes before turning back to the cameras. "Ugh! Fine, I guess I could kill a minute"

As they go out to engage in fanservise, Dynamike, the old miner works in the mines elsewhere.

As he stands in front of a large rockslide, he slips some TNT in front of it and sets it off, causing a huge explosion.
Behind are a ton of gems, orange ones, ones he had never seen before.

"This is gonna be the biggest catch of my career" he exclaims, but as he approaches the spoils, he sees the shadow of a long, spider-like leg and screams in bewilderment before running away in terror.

Back at town square, Shelly sits on the pave waiting for Colt to finish his autographs.

"Dude, we're meant to be on surveillance", she points out sullenly. "Do you really need to sign EVERY autograph Colt?"

"I can't let down my fans down Shelly, besides, It's not like I'm the only one." He then points towards Spike, who is also happily taking autographs.

Colt, Shelly and Spike are the quintessential town sherrifs and practically icons in Starrpark. Colt loves the hype, in case you didn't notice, he's a little full of himself. Shelly has always been more focused on obeying and doing her job, she's not big on fanservice, even then the fact that Colt gets all the attention really grinds her gears. Spike is an odd case, it's not easy to get into his head.

Shelly then mutters but her sour mumbles are interrupted with screaming, loud screaming, it was Dynamike!

Shelly shoots herself up and walks over to the old miner.
"Dynamike? What happened?" She questions. "Why are you screaming?"

Dynamike takes a minute to catch his breath again
"A monster!" He replies "A monster with massive spider legs and a menacing roar, in the cave, in the wastelands!"

"Pfft! It only takes so many wolf cries for things you say to sound unconvincing." Shelly replies in an unimpressed tone as she crosses her arms.

"What! So you don't beleive me?!" Dynamike asks, slightly annoyed.

Colt then steps in to make peace.
"Of course we beleive you, Mike, and that is exactly why we are going with you to find this beast."

Shelly says nothing but just stares, unimpressed by her partner's lack of coordination.

The four then head to the silent and dark cave that Dynamike was whining about.

"Alright gang" Colt says "Stay vigilant, the monster that Mike is talking about could show up at any moment"

They all keep their guard up, except for Shelly who's still in denial, Colt moves slowly with his gun pointed infront of him, Dynamike at his left with a bar of TNT in each hand, Spike on the right, ready to shoot his quills and Shelly at the back with her hands in her pockets.

After some scouting, they reach the centre of the cave.
"OK, Mike!" Colt urges "Where was it?"

Mike takes a glance and then notices the cave with the yellow gems.
"This is the one!" He declares loudly

Colt jumps at his words. "Keep it down, we don't want to alert the beast" Shelly rolls her eyes at how serious Colt is taking this. Spike walks past him and picks up one of the yellow gems which emits a blinding ray.

Spike panics and drops it, aiming it at Colt's face by accident, causing him to scream loudly.

"How does light hurt that much?" Shelly asks in both confusion and concern.
They then hear rustling and sounds implying another precense, Shelly pulls out her shotgun and gets into a battle stance. Colt regains his sight and turns around.

"Whaaah!" He yells as he hops into Shelly's arms. "It's-It's the beast!"

Shelly, Mike and Spike turn around to see a shadow of a spider's leg, Mike panics and starts screaming but Shelly takes a closer glance. She then puts Colt down and walks to the corner.

"Shelly, what are you doing?!" Colt yells. "It will kill you!"

Shortly after, Shelly strolls out from behind the corner with a small spider.
"I have found the beast!"

Colt and Mike stare at her, dumbfounded.

She giggles "Y'all were crying waterfalls over a small spider.
"Wha- but- it can't be" Mike says in denial.

"This is why you should always check your sources" Colt adds, attempting to sound like his peer.
"I can't beleive you dragged me out of surveillance for this"

"Whatever, we should probably gather a sample of these crystals" Shelly replies as she picks one up

As she picks it up, a large, spider-like leg peirces the ground in front of her, she turns around only to find a large crabspider looking creature towering over her.

It is big with eight spider-like legs but two extra crab claws, it resembled both at the same time

"Holy crap!"
The creature grabs Shelly by her necktie, but Shelly wriggles free and shoots at it's back leg.

As she tries to take another shot, the creature grabs Shelly again with it's pincers, causing her to drop her gun.
"Shelly!" Colt whips out his dual guns but as he tries to attack, the creature holds out the claw with Shelly in it as a means of defense. Colt backs down in confusion, the creature enters the cave with the light gems, with Shelly in its grasp.

"Ha!" Dynamike yells. "I knew it was real....I mean..we should probably go find Shelly"

Colt looks down at Shelly's shotgun briefly before picking it up

Colt, Spike and Dynamike then head into the entrance to save Shelly. They see her, struggling under the grasp of the spidetcrab.

Colt turns to the others.
"Hear me out but is it just me or is that crab much smarter than it looks"

The two look at him, confused.

"What I mean", he continues "is that it's probably not a natural creature."

"Duh" Mike replies, "it's literally a hybrid"

As they speak, they are interrupted by the creature swinging its free claw at them while still holding Shelly with the other. Colt fires shots but they have no effect on its shell. The creature then grabs Colt as well, causing him to drop both of his guns.

Dynamike then pulls out a barrel full of TNT.
"Time for a big barrel-o-boom!"

"No, you idiot!" Shelly yells "You'll kill us"

Dynamike tosses the barrel below the creature and Spike throws a spine at the barrel causing it to explode. The creature loses grasp of Colt but stays firm on Shelly.

Shelly then grabs one of the fallen crystals and uses it to stab the creature but it only causes it to tighten its grip on Shelly, her shoulders begin to bleed.

A large falling shard then lands on the creature's head, causing it to drop Shelly.

Shelly grabs her shotgun and loads it with shards rather then shells. She then shoots at the creature, piercing it with shards.

"Don't kill it!" Colt yells "Let's just restrain it"

Knowing when it's beat, the creature starts to flee but Mike throws a bar of TNT which hits a large ceiling shard, the shard falls and fatally peirces the creature through the head. It then lays there, lifeless.

The group then run up to it.
"It's dead" Shelly says in a dull tone. "Nice going Mike"

"We should report this to the heads" Colt says. "Who knows how many are out there."

Dynamike then smiles mischievously.
"I wonder if it tastes like crab or spider"
Shelly audibly hurls while Colt looks at him, disgusted.

Spike then notices a chip on the leg of the creature, it had a familiar logo....the Starr park logo

The gang return to townsquare where Colt tells tales of his "epic bravery" to the kids. The heads of Starrpark promised to look into the situation and now the cave is off limits.

Chapter Text

In the junker family house, Jessie, a messy and scruffy-haired redhead sits in the corner of the living room, examining a newspaper. She lies on her belly with a smoothie, while browsing Starr news for anything interesting.

"Pfft" She scoffs. "Of course reports of the mine attack aren't in the newspaper."

She tosses the tabloid into the trash, with a sullen look on her face.

She then runs to the other side of the room and drags over a billboard.

"Behold!" She holds her stance for a few seconds before looking around in dissapointment, as she remebers she's alone.

She pulls out three stuffed animals, a rabbit, a duck and a Shelly plush along with her robo-dog, Scarppy. She sets them like an audience, stands up beside her billboard and clears her throat.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! My observations have concluded that THE PRESS IS LYING TO US"

She proceeds to inact an outburst of exclamation in her fake audience.

"Monster in the mines is a big, big story. So it's not being all over the news is quite suspicious if you ask me. Luckily, I know the four victims of the attack."

She then sticks a sticker onto her billboard

"Victim A: Shotgun Shelly. She didn't say much of the event but I noticed she went straight to the hospital, meaning that she must have been attacked."

"Victim B: Dyna Mike. The crazy miner who spotted it first. He went yapping on about the incident to others but they all thought he was crazy"

"Victim C: Spike. Honestly, I rather not talk about him, he creeps me out"

"Victim D: Colt Lastnameunknown. He told stories about the incident but he dialed it up to eleven as usual so no one beleived him. With that and Shelly keeping quiet about it, it's no wonder so little people know about the incident, but I, Junker Jessie, am going to get to the bottom of it"

As she is still speaking, her mother, Pam walks into the living room. Upon her arrival, Jessie pushes the billboard into a corner and tosses a cloth over it.

"Good morning, mother" She greets. "I was definitely not showcasing a presentation." She says as any lying kid would say.

"Good morning sweetie" Pam replies. "I just wanted to let you know that I'm off to the junkyard, but don't worry, I'll be back ASAP. Nani will watch you while I'm gone"

As she speaks, Nani, a small, cyclops-esque robot walks into the scene.

"I won't let her out of my sight"

As Pam leaves, Jessie sits on the ground and sulks, before, just then, a thought crosses her and she smirks mischievously.

"Hey, Nani?" she says, her tone shifting. "Don't you find it...weird that last week's mine attack wasn't documented anywhere."

Nani leans back on her seat and takes a second to think.
"You are correct" She replies "It is quite odd"

"Soooo, wouldn't it be fun if we go out to investigate ourselves?"

"No can do," Nani replies. "The site is off limits and far too dangerous for a little girl"

Jessie immediately sighs and reclines onto the ground.

{0 ___0____0}

Meanwhile

Piper, the local baker strolls through the town square with a smile on her face but her smile is killed untimely as she comes across Shelly.

She examines the purple headed mess carefully. Her eyes are pink and wide with dark circles beneath. Her hair is a disaster, as if she had just come out of bed. Her posture was painful, she was slouching with her knees constantly bent.

"Shelly, sweetheart. Are you OK?" Piper asks as she places her hands on Shelly's sullen cheeks.

Shelly then takes an itch at her back before answering.
"Ever since the mine incident, I have been suffering the same weird nightmares."

She arches her back, resulting in a series of cracks.

"It's been messing with my head, and so I've got very little sleep ever since"

Piper stares at her in horror.

"Wow....come to my place, I'll help you solve this mystery"

"Thanks Piper" Shelly says but as she takes a step, she falls face-flat onto the ground. "I meant to do that"

{0 ___0____0}

At the junker house, Jessie lies on the ground with coloured marbles while Nani sits on the couch, reading the newspaper quietly.

"It is odd that there are no reports on the mine incident" she suddenly says as she reads.

She puts her paper down and turns to Jessie.
"Hey, Jessie!"
Jessie immediately shifts gears and swings her head at top speed to face her.

"How about we go out to get you some ice-cream, I'll look for answers then"

Jessie shoots up from the ground in excitement.
"Yeah, I'd love to" she exclaims as her marvels scatter.

{0 ___0____0}

At town square, Colt is out signing autographs again, he scribbles each signature with the unbroken smirk of a cocky model. Once the mob subsides, he is approached by a gutair riff. Poco, a small, yellow skeleton, approaches him, strumming his gutair as he approaches Colt.

"Su'p Colt, what's kicking"

"Not much", he replies, "Shelly didn't show up today, something about being haunted by nightmares" Colt replies

"Don't you find it odd that such a big creature lived in that cave without our knowing?" Poco asks.

"Mabye" Colt replies. "But I rather not think of anything spider related right now.

Just a few blocks away, Jessie is given her mint icecream by Nani. Nani then whips out a trenchcoat and perches a stylish fedora on her head.

"Nanny, what are you doing?" Jessie asks in confusion

Nani tips her fedora in a suave manner. "You can't go undercover without the snazzy getup"
She then pulls a newspaper from her trenchcoat's pocket and unfolds it.

She digs into her second pocket and hands a small sum of money to Jessie.

"Meet me back her in 14 hundred hours. That's an hour and a half."

Jessie nods and heads off in order to begin some investigation.

Jessie searches town square, hoping to find one of the victims so she can question them. She removes her backpack and grabs her notebook and clicker pen. She and Scrappy continue to search. The girl lucks out as she notices Colt sitting by a nearby pool.

"Now's my chance" Jessie says in a determined manner.

She confidently walks up to Colt and begins to speak.
"Mr. Colt, nice to meet you, my name is Jessie"

"Oh, another fan.." Colt says nonchalantly. He then signs his name on Scrappy who subsequently gets jittery and angry.

"Wait," he adds. "I know you, you're Jessie of the Junker family"

Jessie then clicks her clicker pen. "That's correct Mr. Colt andddd I have a bunch of questions to ask about the mine attack last week."

Colt turns to her. "Oh, so you want to know about how I totally saved Shelly and destroyed that creature." He asks in a cocky tone.

Jessie frowns slightly in response. "No, I just want to know about the crystals....and every single little detail inbetween."

Colt attempts to mimic Shelly and act serious as he begins a monologue

"Well those crystals were something, they emitted a light so bright it blinded me"

Jessie begins taking notes with wide eyes

"That monster was something I had never seen before, an uncanny cross between a crab and a spider" Colt rambles. "Too bad we can't just return to the cave, you'd need to be there to understand what I'm saying."

Jessie then looks up from her notebook slowly.
"Why can't we?"

"Well" Colt replies "It's closed for renovations and...."

Jessie promptly cuts him off before he can even finish.

"Yes but did they tell you what they're doing?"
Colt then freezes, he never thought about it that way.

"Well, we were told to not take any crystals...."

"Let's just go in, get a crystal for examinations and then leave" Jessie proposes. "The proof could really improve your stories of heroism"

With his ego stroked, Colt finally caves. "You know what, you're right kid. Let's grab a gem!"

Colt and Jessie get up and head to the cave for answers, meanwhile at Piper's place, Shelly is on Piper's couch, tired but not asleep.

Piper throws a blanket over the girl and hands her a cup of coffee alongside a plate of cookies.

"Thanks for your hospitality, Piper" Shelly says in a dull manner.

"Your most welcome, sugar." She replies. "Now that you're calmer, could you possibly describe your repeated nightmare?"

Shelly then sits up straight.
"It takes place in a dark room, with my hands and feet bound to a stretcher, looking upwards at masked faces discussing my fate and brainstorming ideas" she then takes a sip from her coffee mug.

"Not sure what the masked folk were trying to do to me but the kicker that always woke me up was one of the masked peeps whacking me in the stomach with a sledgehammer and knocking me out"

Shelly then opens her eyes to see a bewildered Piper, frozen in terror, staring at her as if she had seen a ghost.

"Oh my stars" She mumbles.

{0 ___0____0}

Colt and Jessie then reach the entrance of the cave where they meet a short robot in a cart with a checklist. It was Carl.
Carl turns to the two redheads.

"What are you two doing here?"
Jessie stands there sweating while Colt attempts to conjure a lie.

"Well, you know me obviously, I was sent to collect a few gem samples for decorative reasons. I brought this along because she was interested."

Jessie says nothing and instead smiles nervously, she had never lied to this scale before, it felt weird.

Carl then writes something onto his checklist before returning his attention to Colt.

"I thought the gems were off limits for everyone, including you..." Carl retorts, suspicion in his voice.

Colt folds his arms in confidence as he replies. "Starr changed his mind, he needed someone to collect samples and he chose me!"

"Well, usually I'd double check my sources but since you're so trusted here, I'll check them later."

Carl then turns to the cave where a bunch of robots are extracting material

"These guys are free to go through, don't try to kill them"

Jessie and Colt enter into the cave
"That was a blatant lie" Jessie yells quietly. "What if Carl finds out we don't actually have permission?"

"Relax" Colt replies misceviously "We'll be out and gone by the time he finds out....if he finds out. Starr usually doesn't communicate with us directly."

The two then look around the cave and see an abundance of the yellow gems from before. Jessie, amazed by this, rushes forward. "This is incredible! There are so many of them! Just look at how many there are?" She begins to stuff a ton of them in her backpack but she then notices crab/spider creatures, a ton of them all tied up and weak by the extraction bots. Some big, some small.

She then walks up to the creatures and a small one begins to reach for the crystal in her hand in a sense of desperation. Jessie removes her hat and looks down in guilt.

"Colt..." She turns to see Colt hoarding a ton of gems.

"Yeah, what?"

"I-I think I know why those creatures tried to kill you" She then looks with a sympathetic eye to the small one.
"I understand why they are so protective with these crystals"

"These crystals....are their life force"

Meanwhile, at Piper's place, Shelly wakes up, still on her couch and with a blanket. Her vision clears and she noticed Piper who is humming while dusting the shelves.

"WHAT TIME IS IT?" Shelly yells as she jolts upward.

"Oh, you're awake honey" Piper replies as she hands a cookie to Shelly.

"How long was I out?" Shelly asks bluntly, springing for an answer

"An hour, two hours" Piper replies. "You just looked so peaceful, moreso than when you were awake"

Shelly then leaps from her resting place in shock.
"Wait, what? Me? Peaceful?"

"Yes sugar," Piper replies "You were rowdy at first to the point that I was planning on waking you up myself but then you started singing a li'l song and you went all still and calm"

Shelly then takes a second to think.
"Piper....would you mind humming the tune for me?"

Piper then repeats the tune that she heard off Shelly which manages to trigger her memory

She then speaks up
"🎵Overwhelmed with guilt and swarmed with lies, taxing thoughts won't leave your si-ide

Take my hand when you feel blue.
When you're weak, I'll be strong for you🎵"

"That....was my comfort song." She says quietly.
"I can't remember when I first heard it but it's always helped me through tough times....I can't beleive I forgot it.......and I can't beleive you heard me singing it." She adds. "On a scale of 1 to 10, how cringe was it." Piper sighs lightly, turning to look at Shelly again. "This is a safe space, sugar. No need to be embarrassed." Shelly takes a long and deep breath, regaining her composure "...thanks for having me"
She then says with a little smile.

Piper smiles "Well sugar, I'm glad I can help....somehow"

Piper offers Shelly a parting gift and she soon takes off, feeling much better and well relaxed.

{0 ___0____0}

Jessie begins to rummage through her bag and finds a small diamond blade, she cuts through the rope, only barely managing to set the small crab creature free.

"We need to do something" Jessie says.
"This extraction is wiping them out"

"What can we do?" Colt asks, dropping all the gems he hoarded.

Jessie then cuts the ropes binding the creatures and fills the net with crystals. Colt and the creatures follow suit and help her.

"There," she says "I know it isn't much but it should be enough to last you a long time. Now go find another cave to hide out and I promise, I'll get to the bottom of it"

The creatures then listen and without even trying to hurt Colt or Jessie, they leave with their spoils.
The small one returns briefly to hand one to Jessie.

"Aww, thank you, she replies".

Colt looks down at Jessie. "That...was really impressive kid."

"Thanks," Jessie replies. "Now let's get out of here before the robot guy discovers who let these things free"

"Now you're speaking my language"

The two then exit the cave and begin to head back to town.

"Sorry we only got one gem." Jessie laments softly.

"No prob." Colt grabs his phone and grabs the gem, snapping a picture. "This is proof enough anyway. Seriously though, I knew you were smart but this is next level, I'm suprised I don't see you around the square much."

Jessie hangs her head down a small bit. "Yeah, mom doesn't like me going out to the square often" she replies in a dull manner.

"Well hey, you can visit me anytime you need help with something." Colt declares. "Unless I'm busy in which case you can't but you get what I mean."

Colt heads to town square, only to see a relaxed and...smiling Shelly.

"Whoa, someone had a change in mood" Colt says lightly.

"Yeah" She replies. "This day really has turned over for me, hopefully, the nightmares are gone for good"

As Shelly says these words, a small microwave-esque robot creatures catches this on tape. It then scutters all the way to Starr Park HQ and walks into a computer room.

"Mr. Starr!" He says as he turns to a man who's back is turned and head hidden by the shadows he resides in.

"What is it, R-T?" The man replies.

"I-it's Shelly, the purple hair one....she remebers...the song"

"I see" he replies.

{0 ___0____0}

Jessie, Scrappy and Nani return to the junker house.

"Man, I can't beleive I didn't find even a smidgen of useful info" Nani says.

"Yeah, I guess it's all really hush-hush" Jessie replies "I'm kinda tired, I'll go to bed early...see you in the morrow Nanny!"

Nani then looks at the clock. "It's only 5 PM?"

Jessie heads to her room where she unpacks the crystal that was given to her by the creature.

"Time to get constructive..."

At Starr Park HQ...

In a hurry, a younger woman with silver hair rushes to the scene, in response to a call from her boss. She steps up the comically large staircase to meet him as he sits in a chair with his back facing her.

"Agent 77"
"Sir?"

"I have a new job for you....You are now on operation Shelly...."

Chapter Text

Evening, an empty, barren feild. Pam, Jessie's mother and Carl the robotic stone fanatic are out on an excavation. The feild filled with countless deep holes, yet not a single find. Carl speaks up.

"Pamela. Are you sure there's anything here. We have been digging for hours and to no avail....Well, aside from the neat rock samples I've collected"

Carl declares proudly as he picks up a sparkling rock, tossing it into his cart with the others.

"It's important we leave no area checked, Carl" Pam affirms as she digs. "If anything gamechanging is hidden here, it's important we find it before anyone else can. It could be the ticket we need to being a step ahead."

Carl turns to her. "And, are these orders?" He queries as he picks up another stone.

"No". She replies. "My own rational thinking" She discloses as she continues to dig.

Carl then shrugs her comment off but his gaze is diverted as he notices something glitzen in the hole he is digging

"Aha! Another one for the collection!"

Carl sharply jabs at the soil but ends up hitting something...hard. The recoil of the shot sends a sensational surge throughout his entire body.

He retains his stance and takes another look, before immediately identifying the object as...a diamond.

"Pamela" He calls out. "You may want to examine this."

Pam rushes to the hole and stops in awe as she sees the glittering jewel. She grabs her shovel and begins dig up the gem.

 "The diamond of truth" Carl begins. "It's meant to reflect your inner truth when held under a full moon. It used to be owned by Starr Park. But they lost it after the 'Spike incident' and it's been lost to time ever since. There's that and it's also crazy expensive"

He then tosses the gem to her nonchalantly. "Fascinating artifact, your problem now. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to examine every single one of these rocks and rank them by age." Carl begins to push his cart full of rocks as he leaves.

Pam takes a second to gaze into the diamond, it begins to pull her in a trance but just then, she notices something, a figure in the diamond's reflection, she turns around and looks up quickly, revealing a short figure, standing on the ridge above her, said figure doesn't hesitate to jump down for an ambush.

Pam drops the shovel and hops backwards. The figure lands, it's a short individual with incredible agility, wrapped in a fully fledged disguise. He tosses three poison daggers, only for her to dodge them. She tries to throw a few punches but the enigmatic acrobat dodges them all and goes in for an uppercut. She manages to land a hit on him but he quickly gets back up on his feet. He jumps up for a landing kick but just then, Carl comes in, with a kick of his own.

He then chucks rocks at the perpetrator which manage to throw him off balance. Knowing when he's beat, the avian-esque assulter backs away slowly before quickly throwing down a smoke bomb, to throw the others off.

He then quickly nabs the gem and takes off. Pam notices him through the smoke and runs after him, quickly gaining on him but just as she is about to get him, someone else comes up behind her knocks her with her bat, hard enough to knock her out.

"SMACK ATTACK!" She yells as she lands her hit.

The bat welding combatant removes her hoodie, turning to look at an unconscious Carl, who she also knocked out. She then lowers her mask and turns to the shorter mugger with a smug look. "Sorry for the late arrival" She jeers.

The individual in question is a girl with styled black hair and a big wad of bubble gum in her mouth. This is Bibi of the Retropolis biker gang.

The avian-esque attacker then turns to her "No worries, now let's get out of here before the smoke dies out"

                             {0 ___0____0}

The next morning, in the junker family house. Jessie sleeps peacefully on the couch, while Nani snoozes not too far away in the living room corner. Pam abruptly walks in, on the phone with a bandage on her head. The sudden jutter wakes Jessie up and she immediately begins to listen to her mother's conversation.

"Yes, we found none other than the diamond of truth but we were jumped."

She then pauses to hear the response.

"Not a big deal, bu-?"

Jessie continues to listen in.

Pam then quickly retains her calm demeanour and answers. "Alright, if you say so". As she ends the call, Jessie pops up to greet her.

"Good morning mother" She says with an innocent smile. "Where have you been all yesterday?"

Pam is slightly startled by Jessie but she is quick to respond. "Junkyard, but I then went on an excavation."

As Pam heads upstairs, Jessie hops up from her resting place and walks to the coffee table to pick up her tablet. She then goes on a research spree to find out what out what the diamond of truth really is.

                            {0 ___0____0}

Shelly is strolling through town square with a neutral expression on her face. She is quickly approached by Piper who is very happy to see her.

"Good morning, Shelly!" She says with a beaming smile. She examines her. "You look, calm..have you been able to catch some Zs since I last saw you."

Shelly lets out a warm smile. "Oh, good morning, Piper. And yeah, you were a big help. And ever since Eris started helping me, I have been MUCH less on edge"

Piper smiles in response. "I'm happy to hear that." She tilts her head in curiosity. "Who is this Eris?"

"Ohh", Shelly replies. "She's my therapist, Mr. Starr heard about my nightmares and sent Eris to help me. She's really nice and she's been a big help." As Shelly speaks about Mr. Starr, Piper's eyes start to narrow slowly, but as Shelly redirects her attention to her, Piper goes back to her smiling facade.

"Well, dear. I'm glad you're feeling better" She replies. "I'm heading to the bakery, I'll see you later, OK?"

As the two part, Piper begins to mutter to herself. "There must be some sort of reason, as to why Mr. Starr would assign an entire worker to just Shelly. If I manage to keep an eye on the lady, I may be able to find some useful information."

Just then, a sharp thought crosses Piper's mind and she immediately backtracks 

Piper restrains herself. "No, Piper. Do not be ridiculous, don't jump to conclusions. This isn't your fight" She then takes a small breather and walks away.

Shelly heads to Colt's place to meet up with him and Brock. And they all take a seat together. As she eats her donuts, she turns to see the two boys staring at her. She then frowns.

"What!" She snaps. "Can a girl not eat her pastries in peace?"

Colt is the first to speak up. "Sorry, it's just so uncanny to see you soo...relaxed" He replies.

Shelly then takes a bite out of her donut. "Yeah, Eris has completely changed me, I've finally been able to sleep at night. I don't think I can think of a single person who has had a larger positive impact on my life" She says, ignorantly.

Colt then takes offence to that. "I'm sure you can think of one person, right?" He says as he nudges Brock, who is drinking his coffee.

Brock then glances at Colt a few times before catching his drift.

 "Oh yeah!" He adds. "There has to be someone"

Shelly then thinks. "Ah yea, you're probably right. Maybe Piper?" She says. 

Colt responds with a dull frown.

Just then, they hear a knock on the door and Brock quickly goes to attend, as he opens it, he sees a woman, with long silver hair, her messy bangs sharply sheilding her left eye. With her is Poco.

"Hey guys!" Poco exclaims. "I met this chick at the park. She's a really big music fan so our conversation lasted hours, she said she's Shelly's therapist so I decided I'd show up here."

Shelly then smiles. "Hi Poco, hi Eris." She then turns to Colt and Brock. "Colt, Brock, Eris. Eris, Colt and Brock" She says as she gestures with her hands.

Brock then hops up to her level. "Wow, Shelly, I had no idea your therapist was so hot." He says as he gets uncomfortably close to her. Eris then pulls on his shirt, causing him to drop on the ground. 

Colt stares her in the eye, before finally speaking.

"I don't like your haircut" He says as he crosses his arms

Everyone looks at him judgingly, except Eris who flicks her hair and just replies "I don't like it either...."

The room then fades into an akward silence, everyone begging for it to be broken with eyes alone. Eris gives Colt a death stare and he only gets more uncomfortable every passing second. To his luck, Jessie barges in right in time and heads to the group, destroying the mind numbing tension.

"Erm, ever heard of knocking?" Brock says in a sassy tone as he rises up off the ground

"Colt, Colt!" Jessie yells. "Tell me what you know about this!"

The girl holds up a tablet.

The group then gathers around to see what Jessie is talking about, it's a picture of the diamond, on her tablet.

Colt then replies, "It's a diamond?"

"It must be a trick question" Poco replies. "What if it's an emerald painted to look like a diamond?"

Shelly then speaks up. "That literally makes no sense, Poco, the paint would cover everything gem-like about it."

Jessie then sighs. "Soo, none of you know what the 'diamond of truth' is?" She says, slightly dissapointed.

The words "Diamond of truth" immediately catch the attention of Eris who then hops up to answer the girl, shoving Brock out of the way with her right hand.

"The diamond of truth? You mean the lost artifact that is meant to reveal the deepest truths of anyone who looks into it on a full moon? Let me tell you, that's only one of it's many feats, this gem could be catastrophic in the wrong hands."

Brock, Poco, and Shelly all look at her with blank and slightly judgy stares, while Jessie looks at her with a wide smile and a gleam in her eyes.

"Wait a second." Colt says in a judgemental tone. "How do you know so much about this diamond anyway?"

He then gets closer to her.

Eris gets directly into his face to the point that their noses are touching and rudely replies. "Ermm...because I literally work at StarrPark, dumbass"

Jessie then gets inbetween then to split them apart.

"No time for bickering!" She declares sternly.

"We have to find this diamond, my mother found it on an excavation yesterday, but she lost it to some guys who jumped her."

Colt then speaks up.

"Yeah, but how are we meant to find it if we don't know who took it?" He asks

"Yeah, I kinda already know where it is." Jessie replies. "At the crime scene, I saw a feather, examined it and it appears to belong to Crow of Retropolis"

She then turns her head to face the others.

"So, to find the gem...."

"We need to go to Retropolis!" Shelly says, finishing Jessie's sentence.

Jessie nods, "Exactly, and that's why I need your help. Colt, you did say if I needed you ever again, I should come to you. And it helps that you have an entire group with you too."

Colt replies with a smirk. "That's right"  

Eris looks at Jessie in slight shock. "You are very clever for a child"

"Thanks" She replies with a warm smile.

Eris then removes her shoes and stands on top of the table. "Alright, everyone, if we want to retrieve the diamond, then we'll have to break into Bull's diner and steal it."

Colt then interrupts her unapologetically. "Hold it, hold it! First off, who put you in charge.?" He inquires in a tone of disbelief. "We literally just met you!"

"I don't mind her in charge" Brock replies before being subsequently pushed by Colt.

"Secondly, Shelly and I are sherrifs, we can't go around breaking and entering.

"Oh, don't listen to him, Eris." Shelly replies dismissively. "I'm totally down to commit a crime"

Colt then walks up to Eris. "And how about you, aren't you worried about all that? "

Eris then hops off the table and places her hands on Colt's cheeks in a condescending manner. "That's where the art of 'not getting caught' comes in." She replies in an intentionally patronising fashion.

Shelly then leans on Colt's shoulder. "Rules never mattered when it was about ditching surveillance to sign autographs." She says. "How's this any different."

Colt, then looks around and after some contemplation, replies with "fine"

He then points at Eris. "But she's not in charge."

Eris rolls her eyes. "Fine, if anyone here knows everything to know about the diamond, knows all the best breaking-entering strats and is a highly trained agent, then raise your hand."

Colt then turns to see Brock, Poco and Jessie and just staring blankly. He groans loudly.

                            {0 ___0____0}

It's evening and the group are on a minibus on their way to Retropolis. Colt, Brock and Jessie are all wearing large-coat outfits and headwear and Eris is wearing a lovely dress and a jacket to keep her warm.

Colt is sitting next to Shelly, with Poco and Brock sitting across them. Behind them are Jessie who is dayreaming and a sleeping Eris. Dynamike is also on the bus, but he's sleeping at the back.

Poco and Brock talk about the heist while Jessie stares into space.

Colt and Shelly glance at each other from time to time but neither are actually engaging in conversation. After a while, Colt gets the guts to speak up. "Why haven't you been talking to me lately?" He asks, firing quickly.

Shelly then stares at him for a second before answering. "It's not a big deal, Colt. I've just been using the last week to clear my head."

Colt then looks out the window before speaking up again. 

"You know, I could have helped."

"What?"

"I could have helped with your nightmare problems" He repeats

"Colt, I tried to talk to you, but you never had the time for me." She replies, escalating from soft to stern

Colt then gets defensive before taking a minute to process what she had just said. Before he can answer, Poco speaks up.

"Hold on, guys. Is that...Mortis driving the bus."

Everyone then draws their attention to Mortis, who is the busdriver.

"Mortis?" Shelly says in shock. "What are YOU doing driving a damn bus?"

He then rolls his eyes in response. "Frank says I'm a freeloader and that I have to pay up, so now I have to take this job for some extra change." He then sighs.

"Wouldn't it be easier to kill people and steal their change?" Poco asks.

"No, Poco. What if they have none?" Brock replies.

"Then steal their clothes."

As they speak, Colt continues to stare out the window.

They then reach their stop and the all get off the bus. Eris hands Mortis a small bag of gold. "I'm feeling generous" she says as she tosses it to him.

Shelly then stretches. Her little chicken, Charlene pops up from her chest pocket, she takes him up and puts him on her head.

Eris then stretches and cracks her knuckles. "Bull's Diner, here we come"

At the diner, Bull is in a storage room with Crow, looking at a box, a box filled with valuable items. Bibi then walks in.

"Bull, we've got a buyer." She says as she chews her gum.

"Great" He replies. "We need to get this diamond off our hands before Starr Park sends their cronies to get it and finds out its us." He adds. "This gem is worth a ton and I'm not missing a chance to update our diner"

Crow then speaks up. "Ya sure, ya not curious to see what powahs it actually has?"

Bull then replies. "Well, I am but it's too risky to wait for the full moon." He then hands the gem to Crow. "Put then gem on the top shelf, away from the rest of the treasure." 

Crow takes the diamond and hops to the top shelf effortlessly, placing it there and hopping back down. 

"Well sell it tomorrow" Bull says as the three leave the storage room, Bibi locking it. 

"I'll head to the basketball courts." Bibi calls out "Call me if you need me."

She then heads outside, and begins to shoot hoops..alone.

The raider gang are now right next to the building. Eris then speaks up.

 "Okay, so let's recap the plan, Colt, rocket guy, and small girl go into the diner and act as guests. The goal is to take out the lights". She then bends over to face Jessie.

"Little Einstein, this is where you come in, mess with the electrical outlets and shut the lights off."

Jessie nods in determination.

"Once that's done, me Poco and Shelly will be on the roof waiting and we'll crawl through the vents and find the gem, once we give you the signal, we'll all leave and regroup. Got it?"

She then hands earpeices to Brock, and Shelly and everybody takes their places.

Shelly then begins to climb the building, causing Eris to look at her, shocked. "Wait, you can climb buildings, just like that?"

Shelly nods. "My grip is unmatched. Toss Poco up and then climb up yourself. Kay Eri?"

Poco uses Eris's hands as a footstool and launches up to the roof where he is caught by Shelly. Eris begins to try but begina to struggle, losing her grip every time.

"I guess I'm not as physically coordinated as you, Shelly. This outfit doesn't help. I have a change of plans, go on without me."

                            {0 ___0____0}

Meanwhile at the diner, Colt walks up to the counter where Bull is. They gang generally has some beef with the sherrifs but Colt and Bull are more 'frenemies'

"Looks like I scored big time with Starr Park's golden boy" Bull lampoons, snarkly.

"Good evening to you too, Bull" He replies. He then takes his order and his seat, as he sits down, Eris runs in, panting. She then runs to the counter.

"Your stage preformance has arrived." She declares formally.

Bull then faceplants. "How many times do I have to tell Bib- look" He emits as he turns back to Eris. "I didn't sign up for a stage performance, it's not in the budget!"

Eris then shrugs. "OK then." She walks up to the stage. "Oh, the only payment I need, is that of your attention" She then unzips her jacket and lets it fall off to reveal her dress. She grabs the microphone and begins to sing.

🎶 Your gaze...beams a tick a life upon my face.🎶

🎶Your grin! makes my heart thump wildly and spin. 🎶

🎶 Your the blink of sun in skies of clouds so grey-yy🎶

Eris's song catches the attention of everyone in the room. Brock is dumbfounded by how well she sings. Colt then turns to Brock. 

"I think phase two is a go!" 

Jessie and Brock then nod and head out of their seats simultaneously, each going a different direction.

Jessie heads to the electrical box on the left and sends Scrappy to jam it. Brock pulls the wire controlling the lights, causing every light in the room to go off, save for Eris's spotlight. 

🎶You're my one...true gui-ide🎶

🎶My shi-ining starr in skies so br-ight🎶

🎶When I'm fe-🎶

Eris's entire face goes red to see that everyone's attention is on her, but she just takes a deep breath and continues to sing.

"Ugh". Bulls says. "Lousy electrical...ugh, Crow, can you fix this?" 

"On it!" Crow replies as he heads to examine the problem.

Brock then speaks into his earpiece. "Coast is clear, Shelly. You may enter the building."

Shelly then gives Poco a thumbs up and she hops in through the little skylight, landing on her feet! Poco jumps too and she catches him. She then opens the vent.

"Ugh, I hate crawling through vents." She says. "I always have the strange feeling there's some disgusting rodent crawling through my shoes and it's always so cramped so I can never turn around."

"Don't worry." Poco replies. "I was gonna go front anyway."

Shelly cups her arms and Poco uses the footstool to hop into the air duct. Shelly wriggles her hips and hops in effortlessly, she then closes the vent from the inside.

Back at the diner, Brock begins to tap his fingers rhythmically on the table, after four seconds, he's met with a response.

"Would you stop it!" Jessie etorts in a snappy tone as she turns to look at Brock.

Brock sighs loudly. "Food's taking forever, what am I mean to do, Imma head outside." He says as he gets up from his seat. "Call me if you need me"

Colt is busy signings autographs from guests who noticed him, so he barely notices Brock's leave.

Brock then heads to the basketball courts, where he sees Bibi playing, alone.

Bibi shoots but it knocks off the bar, she runs to get it and makes her next shot, backwards this time. She turns to see Brock, sitting on the hoop, holding her ball.

"Nice shot!" He says. He then throws her the ball.

"Thanks.." Bibi replies bluntly. Brock uses the pole to slide down. Bibi then takes another shot.

"So, what are you here for." Bibi inquires.

Brock then catches the ball and tosses it back to her. "Not much, just to chat. Playing basketball alone seems restricting." Brock says in an unintentionally mocking fashion.

Bibi then scoffs before taking another shot, Brock then catches the ball.

"1V1?"

Bibi looks him in the eye for the first time.

"Sure, if you lose, then you have to go away" she adds on, not a hint of amusement in her voice.

                             {0 ___0____0}

Poco and Shelly continue to traverse the vents, Poco notices a sparkle in the room he's above. Since he's small, he manages to turn around to face Shelly.

"I think I found the room" He says.

Shelly crawls forward and lands, seeing the gem immediately. 

"Poco, toss me the phony diamond."

Poco then hands it to her. "Funny how we're referring to a real diamond as 'phony'" He says.

"Yeah" Shelly replies. "But, to be fair, it's value has nothing on the diamond of truth." She then places the diamond on the top shelf as well as Charlene, who knocks the Diamond of truth off and into Shelly's arms. She passes it to Poco.

Just then, Shelly hears footsteps. She pulls out her shotgun as waits to see who's there, the door opens and it's....Dynamike?

"Mike?" Shelly lilts with confusion. "What are you doing here?"

He then replies. "Oh, I overhead y'all talking about the heist on the bus so I followed you here to steal it from you!" He then pulls up a barrel of TNT.

"Hand over the gem or the barrel goes boom!"

Back at the basketball courts, Bibi and Brock are sitting by the pole, saying nothing to each-other.

Brock then breaks the silence. "You played well." He says.

"Yeah, I know" She replies.

"You leaving yet?"  

Brock then sighs in defeat. He was somewhat frustrated, what would it take to get a conversation out of this girl. He feels on edge when he knows he shouldn't...

"I'm leaving, I need to grind" Bibi says as she begins to stand up.

Brock's eyes go wide. "Wait, you're a gamer?" Bibi's face goes red.

"It's a thing I do sometimes," she replies, as she begins to walk away.

Brock smiles, he was happy to see they have something in common.

"My name's Brock btw"

Bibi then stops walking for a few seconds..

"Bibi", she says, introducing herself as she continues to walk off.

Even though he didn't get her to stay, Brock smirks, pleased he managed to get a conversation out of someone.  

                            {0 ___0____0}

Shelly faces Dynamike, attempting to process his moronic threat.

"Mike, what's your problem? If you drop that, you'll be the first one to blow up, dumbass." Shelly bleats with a slight tick of annoyance on her face.

Mike then stops to think for a second. "Oh yeah, that's right."

Shelly rolls her eyes. "OK, listen, if you leave right now, I'll deliver a wagon's worth of gold to you tomorrow, how does that sound?"

"Fine by me!" Mike replies as he closes the door and leaves. Shelly begins to mutter and swear under her breath before turning to Poco.

"Okay, take the gem and Charlene! I'm coming up!" Shelly then hops into the vent and closes it.

Brock sits by the basketball hoop alone, tossing the ball up and down, he then notices that the ball fails to decend and looks up, a shadow towering above him.

"I forgot my ball" Bibi says as she takes a step back.

Silence fills the air for a second before Bibi attempts to speak up again "want t-"

Just then, Brock hears Shelly speak through the earpiece.

"Hey Brock, Eri, mission complete, meet me out front!"

Brock immediatly jolts up, getting on his feet. "Copy that! Sorry, I've gotta ago now." 

Brock begins to leave, leaving a dissappointed Bibi standing alone in the basketball court.

At the diner, Eris sings her finishing note before absorbing the applause. She then trips on her jacket and falls off the stage, before approaching Bull at the counter.

"I can work here, full time if you like, free of charge" She offers with a smirk.

Bull's eyes go wide and starry. Eris's preformance caught the whole diner's attention, so her prefoming for free will only attract more customers. 

"You've got a deal!" He replies.

Eris then takes her leave, blushing red from all the attention she is receiving from customers. 

The gang finally meet outside, Poco and Shelly hopping off from the roof. 

"Mission accomplished." Shelly declares with a smirk as Poco shows off the gem. But as he holds it out, a mouse bot swiftly snatches it from his hands.

"No, no, no no nooooo!" Brock yells as the six of them chase after it.

Eris trips immediately due to the inconvenience of her dress and shoes, Jessie hops onto Scrappy for extra speed and overtakes Poco.

The bot then shoots a bolt, hitting Shelly in the eye and causing her to trip, Colt then catches her.

"Thanks" She says as Cotl helps her back up.

Colt is happy to see Shelly acknowledge at him this way, but before getting too lost in simple gratitude, he tosses her back on her feet and they keep running. Brock and Jessie take the lead, with the bot tossing objects and the two dodging swiftly.

Jessie then looks down at Scrappy and nods, Scrappy slowly begins to spin and continues to spin as fast as he can, launching Jessie, landing her at point blank range from the bot, but just then, the bot drives off a cliff, using the slope to it's advantage. Jessie, tries to stop herself but it's too late, she slips and falls off too.

Jessie's mind goes numb, her heartbeat excels to the speed of sound, she was terrified beyond rational thinking. Would this be the end for her?

Just then, Brock grabs her leg and pulls her up, panting like a wimded lion.

Colt, Shelly and Poco soon catch up and Colt heads directly to Jessie.

"Jessie, are you alright?" He asks.

"I......I....I...thought I was a goner." She replies, visibly terrified.

"Don't worry." Shelly replies. "You're safe now." She then gives Jessie a warm hug, Shelly notices that her grip is tight, she then hears sniffling, only to for it to escalate to crying.

"I...I'm...so-s-so sorry" Jessie says bawls, in tears. "I dra-I dragged you all here for nothing."

Colt then wipes her tears with his finger. "Don't be. it's not your fault and this was a fun experience."

"Yeah" Shelly replies. "Save for the fact I owe Mike a lot of gold." She then lowers her head in dissapointment.

The five then go in for a group hug, only to notice Eris who is finally catching up. She removed her shoes to speed things up.

The gang stares at her akwardly, before Eris finally speaks up.

"Did you get it?" She asks.

The entire group shakes their heads simultaneously. They then stand up, Colt mounts Jessie onto her back and Charlene hops onto Scrappy.

"Let's head home!" Brock says. "Imma have to explain to Rico why I wasn't around to help him with his garden."

"I'll have a ton of explaining to do to Spike." Colt replies. "Hopefully he buys my lie." He then hands Shelly a piece of paper. "Is..this convincing?"

Shelly quickly reads it and bursts out laughing. "My god! You're dense if you think he'd fall for that bullshit!" She continues to laugh loudly.

"Lemme see! Lemme see!" Poco begs eagerly as Shelly hands him the note and soon he starts laughing too, followed by Brock. Rather than being offended, Colt smiles. Shelly then stops laughing.

"I'll help you write a better one."

As the four friends laugh it out and walk into the horizon, Eris stays back and watches them while they're detracted, she backs off and removed her shoes, putting into her rucksack and pulls out a white pair of sneakers. She puts them on and runs speedily to a steep landing. There, she meets none other than the mouse bot from before.

The bot hands her the gem and she quickly puts it in her rucksack. 

"Nice work. " She says as she hands it a bucket of bolts. "Now head back to HQ, try to not get caught.

She then makes a call.

"Hello....Colon? I got the diamond"

                            {0 ___0____0}

Chapter Text

Ten or so years in the past, a young Shelly is treading the desert, barefoot and dressed in half-strapped overalls, a white shirt and an oversized sunhat that she refuses to remove.

Shelly treads the dry sand, every step making her body feel weaker, she is unsure of her destination, and is just searching in hope of some sort of divine intervention.

After about half a minute, Shelly's body begins to fail her, she stumbles step after step and before she knows it, her scrawny and limp body succumbs to the dry atmosphere and she collapses on the stiff and unforgiving desert floor.

She nonchalantly waits for her untimely demise as a nicely dressed man steps in front of her, giving her shade. She slowly gets the strength to look up to see the man, he reaches a hand down to help her up.

"What's a young girl like yourself doing out in the desert alone?" He asks softly as he kneels to meet her level.

Shelly turns to the man and their eyes lock, he looks into her beady, sunken eyes as he asks.
"I have nowhere to go" Shelly replies in a deadpan tone.
"My parents were killed and my village is destroyed."

The man then looks at her with a hint of sympathy. "Is that so?"

Shelly continues to avoid making eye contact, as the man stands back up.

"My name is Apollo Starr, don't worry, little one, I can help you out." Starr then reaches out his hand, and although reluctant at first, Shelly places her little palm in his hand.

Starr then takes the girl in his arms and carries her safely out of the desert.

***Present day***

At the ranch, Shelly is in her backyard rummaging through her shed.

"Ugh! Pliers, pliers, pliers." She then walks towards the house and calls from inside.

"Ki-ittt! Where are my pliers?!" She calls in a passive-stern tone.

"It wasn't me" a voice calls from inside.

"That's what you always say!" Shelly replies in a slightly stronger tone, but before she can continue her confrontation, she hears clucking and turns to see her chicken, Charlene with the pliers in her beak (yes, I changed the chicken)

Oh, thanks, Charlene, you're a lifesaver. She says as she gently takes the pliers from the bird's mouth. She heads inside and places it on her workbench next to her other tools.

"Great, now you're all intact" she says as she stands back to admire her organisation, but her pride is cut short as she sees Charlene run in with an large sunhat. Shelly giggles at the sight and takes the hat off her, intending to toss it to the side. However, something stops her as she stares at the hat. A plethora of memories flash before her eyes. She pants heavily for a few seconds as she snaps out of the trance and immediately phones Colt, and her call goes straight to voicemail.

She then scoffs and heads for the door and grabs her raincoat.

"Kit, I'm going out, take care of the place"

Shelly then makes her leave before she can even receive a response.

{0 ___0____0}

Town square is about as busy as usual, as people come and go, treading the streets at a moderate pace. Eris walks by, shopping bag in her left hand, and clearly set on an unbroken path. Eris continues walking, but just then, a mysterious sound breaks her stride. Startled, she looks behind her, but sees nothing. She rolls her eyes and continues to walk.

Behind the fountain, we have none other than Colt and Poco, who are keeping tabs on Eris.

"That was close." Colt whispers. "She nearly spotted us."

Poco does not respond to Colt's statement and instead rolls his eyesockets, clearly displaying apethy towards Colt's mission.
As the two continue to follow the woman, Poco scoffs and speaks up.

"Why are we stalking Eris again?" He asks with a swing of attitude in his voice.

Nearly seconds after Poco is finished speaking, Colt gives a defensive response. "Hey, hey." He says in a hasty tone. "It isn't stalking, it's tailing"

Poco scoffs yet again, clearly unimpressed. "Potato, patáto" He replies in a dismissive tone. "You're paranoid, Colt, Eris is a cool dude, I'm sure she's not hiding anything."

Colt rolls his eyes in response. "You're just biased because she thinks mariachis are cool.

Poco then begins to get defensive. "Maybe I am" he replies as the two begin to argue.

Eris, being aware of their banter, takes the chance to sprint into the bakery, where she immediately becomes face to face with Piper, the sugar that keeps the place running.
Eris walks towards the counter, with her same icy, neutral expression. Piper looks her up and down, analysing every aspect of her.

Eris then speaks up.
"I would like to collect my 12 cupcake order, if you don't mind" She says, keeping a monotone and neutral demeanour.

As Piper gets the pastries for her cool-headed customer, she begins to speak to herself.
"She's definitely well-trained" She says to herself. "Dead straight expression with no strings attached. Quite a formal fit as well, stunningly attractive, but that haircut isn't doing her any favours."

Piper then hands Eris the box. "Here you go, and have a nice day" She replies with a peppy mask, but the moment Eris turns around, she continues to analyse her, up until her departure. She then sighs lighty and slouches onto the counter.

"What is Starr up to?" She mumbles to herself.

Once she has exited Piper's feild of vision, Eris sprints a few blocks before spotting an alleyway and rushing there, she then taps on her watch, she looks through the history, seeing multiple missed calls. She rolls her eyes and immediately calls the number.

"How's my favourite brother?" She asks in a playful tone."

The man on the other side replies seconds later. "Are you at the meeting with Mr. Starr yet?"

Eris rolls her eyes. "No, Colon. I would get flamed for answering a call at headquarters, duh!!" She then changes her tone a bit. "But get this, that little rat R-T told Mr. Starr about my having the diamond! What am I meant to do?" She asks, with less formality than normal, her voice somewhat higher.

Colon takes a moment to take in Eris's story. He then replies. "Just give him the diamond." He replies with little delay. "Giving him the diamond is all a part of the plan, you need him to trust you as much as possible."

Eris then replies quickly. "What if he sees through me?" She asks.

"No one can see through you, that's why we chose you to be our double agent. Try to get him to tell you his endgoal"

Eris then nods, and formalitizes her tone. "Understood" She replies.

"Oh, and one more thing." Colon says hastily.
"The code is lavender"

Eris takes a second to think before quickly replying
"Wish me luck, bro" she says with a strong dash of warmth in her voice as she hangs up and exits the alleyway.

{0 ___0____0}

Shelly finds herself in a void, a dark and transparent endless alleyway, she touches the ground and it ripples, like water.

"Hmm"
She begins to slowly tread forward as she looks around at the empty space she's in, but suddenly, she takes a step that causes the ground to crack.

Suddenly, a multitude of memories begin to flash before her eyes. They come and go so fast that she cannot even make out what they are, all she knows is that they're memories, and they are quickfiring at her cerebrum faster than she can process them.

She then grips her head from the sheer pain of the oversaturation of thoughts popping up at once, she begins to breathe heavily, but just as she begins to slow her breathing, she hears someone faintly calling out her name.

Shelly then shoots up and immediately looks around. She's at Barely's bar, and Brock is tapping her on the shoulder.

He then speaks up. "Wow, I thought you'd never wake up" he says.

Shelly then blinks her sore eyelids a few times before asking. "Wha...how long was I out?"

"Eh, just shy of 20 minutes, I only woke you up because you looked like you were having a panic attack and a seizure at the same time"

Shelly then turns her attention to Barley himself, who is chatting with Rico.

"The woman just grabbed an energy drink and split, she didn't even wait to collect the change- Oh, Shelly, welcome back to the real world." Barley says, diverting his attention.

Shelly then chuckles a bit. "Someday, I wish one of you would record me while I sleep" she then buries her head in her arms again and begins attempting to recollect her weird dream, but she is unable to pinpoint any details.

She shoots herself back up and immediately turns to Brock, who is patiently waiting for her to give him attention.

"So" he says. "Still having weird dreams"

Shelly then yawns groggily. "Not nearly as bad as they were before, but they pop up here and there, I'm having less, so that's a good sign. They ain't getting any less weird though, I'll tell you that" she then slouches onto the table.

Brock then leans back on his chair. "Dreams are just like that sometimes. Last night, I had a dream where Colt and Eris fought to the death."

Shelly then lets out a soft chortle before looking at Brock with a teasing undertone. "Dude, you've only known Eris for 2 days and you're already dreaming about her. Grade A obsession" she says with a chuckle.

Brock is then quick to respond. "Well, have you dreamt about her?"

Shelly then pauses for a second. "Tochè" she replies in a flat tone. She then pauses again before sitting straight and turning to Brock again.

"While we're on the topic of Colt, where is he? I haven't seen him all day..."

{0 ___0____0}

Colt and Poco are still treading thought town square, lightly arguing.

"Well then, Poco. How do you explain her dissapearing"

"She didn't dissapear, Colt." Poco replies. "She just left when we were distracted."

"Exactly" Colt replies. "Why was she in such a hurry to get away if she wasn't hiding something?"

Poco then falcepalms and replies in a slightly aggravated tone. "No one likes being spied on, Colt"

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! It was tailing, not spying" Colt replies as he puts his hands on his hips.

Poco then hangs his head back. "Look, all I'm trying to say is-"

Just as Poco begins to speak, a girl dashes past him, accidentally ramming Colt in the process. She loses balance but ultimately doesn't break her stride, spilling a few drops of her drink on her yellow hoodie

"Hey, watch it" Colt calls out in aggravation.

"Sorry, didn't see you there" the girl replies, briefly turning around to 'apologise' before picking up the pace and sprinting once again.

Colt gets off and dusts himself. "What an absolute clown" he says, but as he speaks, he hears a high-pitched uproar behind him, he and Poco turn to see just over a dozen children approaching them. Once they reach Colt, one of the boys pushes to the front.

"Are you Mister Colt?"

"For real" A girl adds

"Can we have your autograph" a younger boy asks.

They then begin to chatter amongst themselves, but Colt quickly calms them down. "One at a time, kids, there are plenty of autographs to go around" He then gets out his pen.

Poco then notices a flash behind him, and turns to see a shadow departing his feild of vision, he chases after them but as he turns a corner, he no longer sees the mysterious figure. He shrugs it off and walks away.

{0 ___0____0

Eris makes her way into the headquarters' main office where, she walks up the staircase to meet her bosses, but just as she reaches the top, she is approached by a swarm of bots, one of which points a projector at a the screen in front of her.

The screen turns on, and the voice that speaks to her is one all too familiar to her.

"Hey, if it isn't agent 77." Mr. Starr says, in an unprofessional tone. "What do you think of our new office.." He adds.

Mr. Starr is a tall and lean man with a snazzy getup, his head is interestingly shaped as a Starrdrops, though no one knows what his real face looks like.

"I see you brought cupcakes! Look delicious." A mouse bot then immediately takes the box off Eris's hands and leaves the room. She physically pouts a bit but soon returns to focus.

"So, what brings you here." Mr. Starr asks casually.

Eris subsequently raises an eyebrow, and after taking a few seconds to construct her response, she answers.

"Y-you summoned me....remember?" She replies, attempting to stay formal, but allowing confusion to slip in her voice.

Mr. Starr remains silent for a few seconds before quickly snapping back to reality. "Oh, yeah! That's right! I hear you have the diamond of truth."

Eris then takes the diamond out of her rucksack. "Yes" She replies. "I learned that the redhead junker girl was after it, so I manipulated the situation to get it for you instead."

Starr then gasps. "Jessie!" He then mumbles something to himself before clearing his throat. He then turns his attention to Eris. "Nice work, agent." A mouse bot then snatches the gemstone from her hands and exits the room.

"Ohh, the cupcakes are here." Mr. Starr says enthusiastically. "You want one, R-T?" He asks.

"I cannot consume pastries, sir" R-T replies in a neutral tone.

"Oh yeah, that's right."
After a five second pause, Mr. Starr redirects his attention to Eris.

Eris then goes back and forth from resting on her heels and her soles all the while keeping her hands behind her back, like a feisty child. She then takes a small breath and asks.

"Sir, I am curious, what do you need the diamond for."

Starr then gazes at her, firmly, before enquiring in a lower tone. "Why do you ask, 77?"

Eris then shrugs. "I admittedly do not know all that much about the diamond, the redhead girl got me invested."

Starr then glares at her for a few more seconds before replying. "Oh, we just need to use it to locate a rift, boring history stuff, you won't care 77."

Before Eris can reply, Starr interrupts her again. "Would you be interested in a gift? I got one for all subordinates and our Nelli wrapped them up in colourful paper!"

Two sniper bots then reel the neatly wrapped presents in, Eris glances at them and notices none are labelled.

"Our sweet Nelli is a real perfectionist, she spent quite a lot of time on these gifts.....Issue is that she forgot to label them, so grab whichever present you want!"

Eris then analyises them before snagging one of her choice. Lavender coloured box wrapped in velvet ribbon.

"Velvet's my favourite colour" she says, in a tone a bit more cheerfully than normal.

As she exits the room, Starr calls out to her. "Wait, 77! Aren't you gonna open it now"

"Nah" she replies. "I like to keep myself guessing as long as I can." Eris then exits the room with the doors sharply closing behind her.

{0 ___0____0

Shelly is taking a stroll around town square with her eyes on her phone. "Once again, Colt is absolutely no help" she mumbles to herself as she strolls. She then spots Eris, just a few steps ahead of her, still carrying the gift, and calls out excitedly.

"Hey! Eris!" But before her cry can get a response, Eris takes a left. Shelly then sprints, hoping to catch up to her, but suddenly, a figure grabs her arm from the opposite direction Eris turned. She turns to see a cloaked figure with their grip on her.

As Shelly moves her mouth preparing to react appropriately, she is met with a swift interruption.

"Shh, be quiet and take this." They then hand Shelly a pink pearl and back off into the alleyway from whence they came.

Shelly stares at the figure until their departure, and soon after, she redirects her attention to the pearl. She then looks around her, sighs and turns back.

Eris takes refuge a at a secluded field. She places her gift down, lies flat on her back and moans in frustration.

"Typical Starr, leaving out all the good stuff" she mumbles indistinctively.
Just then, she hears footsteps and sits up to see a short old man in warm clothes standing next to her.

"Mind if I sit here?" He asks.

"You're fine" Eris replies in a deadpan tone. The man then gets seated, rummages through his pockets and pulls out a pink gem that catches Eris's one visible eye.

"Hold this for me, will you, young lady." He says as he hands her the gem.
Eris takes the gem and looks at it intently, but her gaze is broken as the man begins to speak to her.

"So, what had you all riled up."

Eris then tries to brush it off and so she shrugs her shoulders. "It's nothing"

"About Mr. Starr?"

Those words immediately catch Eris's attention and every hair on her body stands up. Without turning to the man, she responds.

"You're the snowtel janitor, aren't you?"

The man chuckles. "Most call me Gale, but that works too."
Eris stays silent in response and begins to caress the gem.

"I assume you want to know what the higherups want with the diamond?"

Eris then nods without making eye contact. "I'm honestly lost, and I need the information." Her voice then hits a note of curiosity and she begins to caress the gem more aggressively.

"But how could you possibly know?" She asks, both perplexion and softness in her voice as she reduces her force on the gem.

Gale then chuckles again. "I've been around for quite a while, kiddo. I know a lot of things."

Eris then places the gem on her lap and turns to Gale. "Please tell me about the diamond, it's crucial." She says in a tone of semi-desperstion.

"Why don't you look into that gift of yours." Gale replies.

Despite not understanding fully, Eris unwraps the gift, finding a few cookies, a note, and a strange red mask with yellow markings inside.
Eris picks the note up and begins to read it.

"Dear Eris, the thing in your hands is none other than one of the three veils of madness, I heard that the higher-ups were after it and managed to get it myself, it's one of three and it's crucial that you take good care of it, I'll keep digging to see if I can find the other two.

Yours sincerely

Nelli :)"

Gale then giggles. "Probably wondering how I know that?" Eris stares in surprise but does not respond.

"Poor lass is wasting her time, you can't get the other two veils without the eagle's eye."

Eris then raises her eyebrow. "What may that be?" She asks politely.

Gale then replies. "It's the artifact Starr is after, the reason he needed the diamond." Gale then looks around abruptly and places the veil back in the gift box
"We've ran out of time", he says as he hands Eris another pink gem.
"Keep both of them" he says.

Eris gazes down at the gem for a few seconds, admiring it's beauty, but the moment she looks up at Gale again, he is gone.

Eris places the gems in the gift box and stands up, preparing to leave. She takes a second to think for herself before shaking her head.

"Connect the dots Eris, connect the dots" she mumbles to herself as she tries to figure out Starr's full goal.

She then begins to feel her clothes get wet, she looks up and it's raining. Instead of taking shelter, she looks up, perplexed.

"H-how did I not notice this before?" She mutters to herself in confusion.

She attempts to think on the spot but the pouring rain clouds her thinking, she then leaves the area.

{0 ___0____0}

Starr is walking the HQ halls with his hands behind his back and R-T close behind.

"So, R-T, any information to report, anything... interesting?"

R-T then takes out a list. "I have the entire log here, if you want to see."

Starr then takes the list and reads it over a bit. "Thank you, R-T, I'll look at it in detail later."

Starr then reaches the end of a hallway and makes his way over to a fancy door, he opens it and walks inside to find four people arguing.

They are gathered around a round table, as if at a meeting, with one empty seat, presumably belonging to Starr. As he walks in, they pay no attention to him, as they are deep in argument.

Starr takes the seat at one end of the table and R-T stands next to him, raising his head-half so he can see.

The man at Starr's left is tall with a generically masculine semi-muscular build. He has deep blue hair, bright blue eyes, a stache and a goatee. He's wearing snazzy suit and a tie to match. His nails are painted blue and his suit is decorated with symbols of Starrdrops.

The person beside him is a slightly less tall woman with deep purple stylized hair and a hairpin to match. She's wearing purple eyeshadow and black lipstick, a red vest and a long sleeved black shirt underneath. Her vest is decorated with mega box stickers. She also has maroon coloured eyes.

The person to Starr's right is a robot, built like a taller sniperbot, but with a black mist making up his headspace. He is wearing a black suit.

And finally, the person next to him is a short woman with a generic grey work suit and messy hazel coloured hair, as well as big, brown eyes and a stream of freckles crossing the lower half of her face , she is the only one not saying anything.

The tall man at Starr's left side is currently speaking
"If we could just get our hands on that Tara woman, the veil-"

"And how do you suppose we do that Orion?" The woman beside him replies rudely. "We all know that Tara is notoriously difficult to find."

Orion then slams his fist on the table. "I don't see YOU giving any suggestions!" He says in a snappy tone.

Starr then chuckles in a low voice. "I see you guys are in the middle of something." He says.

The three then immediately stop and turn their attention to him.

"You see, we don't need to worry, because 77 has found the diamond for us."

He then holds it up for them to see, the four look at it in awe.

The robot member of the council then turns to Orion. "And you were so bent on kicking 77 out when she first joined."

The woman next to him then chuckles. "Orion has always had a bad taste in employees." She says mockingly.

Orion flares up but Starr stops him before he can start. "Stella, Orion, calm down." he says.

"With this, we can triangulate the location of the rift and find the eagle's eye before someone else does."

Orion and Stella then begin to eye each other and after delay, Stella speaks up.

"That's great news, but there is actually something else we wanted to discuss with you."

Starr then taps his finger on the table. "What would that be?" He asks in a soft tone.

The robot then butts in. "It's about Shelly."

Starr then remains unmoved. "I'm listening"

The other three remain silent, so Orion begins to speak. "This has gone too far!" He yells. "So many of our resources have been wasted on that girl! And now you're giving her one of our top agents as a therapist? All for what?"

He then stands up and begins pointing to everyone around the table, R-T included.

"I don't give a damn what any of you think, but I vouch for us replacing her, she's a lost cause and YOU know it. We need bodies to power our latest build, and Shelly is a valid candidate. We have the resources to replace her"

He then gets up in Starr's face.
"So....why won't you?"

The younger woman tries her best to avert her eyes from the scene while Stella stares, almost in agreement with Orion. R-T looks back and forth at Orion and Starr, bewildered.

Starr then chuckles. "You wanna know why?" He says before delivering a full force punch to Orion, decking him right in the face. He gets up and hits him hard a few more times before delivering a blow that has him on the ground.

Starr subsequently picks him up and holds him by the neck against the wall.

"I think you know full well why." He says, his voice terrifyingly low as he says this.

Stella looks at the scene with bewilderment shown in her eyes alone, whereas the other girl has her hands covering her mouth in shock, R-T slowly lowers his head-half in order to avert his eyes from the scene.

"Didn't Void just mention that you were opposed to 77 at first" Orion struggles under Starr's grasp, looking aggravated.

Starr chuckles in a low tone.
"Shelly is an important player in our field, we can't just replace her. And maybe if you thought before you opened your toadhole, then you'd learn that."

He drops Orion onto the ground and Orion breathes heavily, gasping for air.

Stella audibly giggles at the sight but goes back to a neutral expression once Starr walks back over to them.

"Anyone else have any 'great ideas?'"

The room goes silent as response.

Starr then picks up the diamond and tosses it to the short woman.

"Seren, triangulate the eagle eye's whereabouts." He says as he packs his things and leaves the room, closing the door sharply"

{0 ___0____0}

At the junker family house, Pam is on the phone with someone.

"I hear Starr got the diamond of truth." The voice on the other side says.

Pam then scoffs. "I should've known that Bull wouldn't have been able to hold on to it. I should've taken it off him while I had the chance."

The voice then replies. "No worries, I have a backup plan, but we're gonna need some extra assistance"

.........

Chapter Text

The forest is large and docile, docile to an almost eerie extent. It is located a significant distance away from the Starrpark centre, and although it may not seem as dangerous as the desert, it is arguably even more dangerous, dangerous in a sense that there are significantly more ways to die...

Pam rushes through the compacted forest with much haste, she swiftly bypasses all obstacles. Next to her is a man wearing simple clothing and an eagle's cap, in his hand is a marble-looking sphere, with an eye symbol on it.

"They're gaining on us" he utters in urgency as they continue to run.

Not so far behind them are two other men sprinting alongside them. One is a tall Samurai, dressed sharply but roughly, his katana in his hand. He uses his trusty weapon to deflect the arrows being shot at them.
By his side is a dark skinned man in a red and yellow super suit, The man in the eagle cap then reaches a dead end, he looks down below.

"Alright everyone, we'll have to go down this hill, it's steep, but we can make it."

Pam nods, and immediately begins to slide down. The man in the eagle cap hops down as well, grabbing onto any available loose ends to keep his balance.

The Samurai runs straight down the hill, his formation steady so he doesn't stumble even a little bit. The superhero follows, his movement much more ridged.

Their pursuers then reveal themselves, they are a mob of many. Some men, some women, some robots, some unidentifiable. They look down at the steep down pass and after some hesitation, make their way down, some of them stumbling as they go.

The four eventually make it down, instantly heading to the woods in attempt to lose their pursuers.

Pam then turns to the man with the eagle cap. "Bo! Now's a good time, right?"

Bo nods at her and he slowly walks over to a nearby tree stump. "Everyone stay silent" he urges as he sits down and begins to meditate.

After about seven seconds, the superhero attempts to speak before nearly immediately having his mouth covered by the Samurai, Bo then gets up.

"Alright everyone, I will perform the ritual to send the eagle's eye in a rift, once it's completed, Tara will teleport us all to her tent."

Pam then raises an eyebrow. "A rift, like....forever?"

Bo then shakes his head. "A rift that will be stable for ten years, more than enough time to end this tyranny once and for all".

Bo then places the eagle's eye on the stump and raises his arms up, which causes a beam of light to shine directly at their direction.

One of the men see the beam and yells out. "There they are! After them!"

The rift then opens, taking the sphere with it, and just as they are about to get pursued, they four of them are surrounded by a purple smoke.

The agents run in, and cough, clogged by the smoke, they then look to see nobody there....

*****Present day*****

Jessie sits at her work bench, staring at the yellow gem on her desk, as if she was waiting for something to happen. She then picks it up and shakes it in frustration. She then sighs and slouches back down on her workbench.

"Ugh" She cries. "Is shooting light beams all you do?"

She then picks up the gem and stares at it a bit, before subsequently getting off her bench and sitting down at the revolving chair at her desk, she turns to her robo-dog, Scrappy.

"Scrappy, what do you think?" She inquires as she straddles the revolving chair. Turning to her audience of plushies, with Scrappy in the centre

Scrappy whirrs a bit, and Jessie nods while mumbling "mm hmm" as if she could understand him.

Jessie's stomach then growls lightly, she subsequently places her hand on her belly area and turns to her audience of plushies. "Take five, folks. Mamma needs to grab a snack."

Jessie then hops off her revolving chair and turns to Scrappy. "You're in charge while I'm gone."

Jessie makes her way down the stairs and once she meets the bottom, she sees Nani on the couch playing a videogame with Peep.

"Good morning, Jessie" she says without even turning to her. "I'm guessing you're here for snacks."

Jessie then flaps her lips a bit and rolls her eyes a bit. "H-how could you know that?" She asks, fishing an answer while also being slightly confused.

Nani then giggle before replying proudly. "Pfft, you always come for snacks when you've overworked yourself."

She then leans back and sighs before almost immediately hopping up from her seat, turning to Jessie as she heads for the fridge. "Oh" she adds. "You're mother isn't here at the moment, she said she had to leave for something important"

Jessie then nods. "Yeah, OK" she replies weakly. She then hangs her head down, letting her hat droop over her face a bit.

"Mm" she mumbles to herself, feeling disappointed.
"She always has something more important to do"

Jessie then stands up tall again, taking a deep breath and regaining her composure, she slowly opens the fridge...

{0 ___0____0}

Somewhere nearby the outskirts of the forest, Pam makes her way up a hill, she looks down, and surrounded by a large family of trees, she's spots a well constructed yard with a house in the centre. She nods and begins to decend down the hill, marking her way towards the hut.

The sun is just beginning to rise, casting a warm and inviting glow across the sky. The air is soft and peaceful, creating a serene atmosphere. Outside a cozy hut, a young girl, perhaps in her preteen years, is diligently training on the field, moving gracefully on all fours. Dressed in a black tank top and blue shorts, she has a green jumper casually tied around her waist. Perched atop her head is a unique cap that resembles a decapitated bear's head, radiating warmth and adding to her sweat. Around her neck hangs an amulet shaped like a paw, rhythmically pressing off and on the ground as she moves.

Beside her, a small stopwatch tracks her time, currently reading 29:31. A delicate butterfly flutters nearby, its wings sparkling in the gentle morning light. Without a moment's hesitation, the girl swipes her right arm forward, capturing the butterfly and crushing it with a swift motion.

"Leave me be," she mumbles, her tone laced with unnecessary aggression as she returns her right hand to position

As she continues her workout, a man, likely her guardian, emerges from the hut. He sports an eagle cap that mirrors the girl's bear cap, wearing a white robe and blue pajama bottoms. In his left hand, he holds a "#1 Dad" mug. This is Bo, her father.

He yawns lightly before addressing her. "Nita," he mumbles, "why are you training without your brother?" His voice reveals he still craves more shut-eye.

Nita, without breaking her form, replies, "He...h...he needed more time... can’t wait."

Speaking quickly, she takes brief pauses to catch her breath. Bo nods but presses on with a follow-up question. "Okay, then. Why didn’t you just wait for him?" His tone suggests he isn’t ready to let her excuse slide.

Nita groans in frustration, shifting into a sprinting position before rolling over to sit. "You ruined my streak," she says, opening her right fist to toss the lifeless orange butterfly aside.

"You know how Leon gets; no point in waiting for him," she adds, beginning her sit-ups.

Bo sighs and turns back toward the hut. "Leon! Come start your target practice!"

As his voice echoes towards the hut, a muffled response comes from inside. Moments later, Leon slides down the trunk of a nearby tree, seemingly accustomed to the unconventional descent. He appears to be around the same age as Nita, dressed in a chameleon hoodie with a taped-on tail and the hood covering his eyes. He wears blue shorts, and like his family, he is barefoot.

He runs up to Bo and excitedly pulls out his phone. "My favorite K-Pop solo artist is doing a Q&A! Me and Levi asked her questions, and I need to stay on stream to see if she answers!"

Bo chuckles, confidence radiating from him. "When has that ever stopped you?" He hands Leon a headset and sets down a chest filled with shurikens. Leon grins, feeling a surge of determination as he slips the headset on and tucks his phone into his hoodie pocket.

Nita stands up, stretching her arms. "Finally, some action," she mumbles to herself as she pulls a clicker from her pocket, activating a training course that rises from the ground on one side, while multiple slowly-moving targets appear on the other.

She confidently navigates the obstacle course, dodging every challenge with ease. Meanwhile, Leon picks up shurikens with his left hand, throwing them at the targets with perfect accuracy, never losing his balance, all while keeping an eye on his stream with his right hand. Bo watches the two, crossing his arms in pride.

Completing the course, Nita stretches her hands high above her head. "Ahhh, much better," she exclaims, rubbing her amulet. In a flash, a bear materializes behind her, and she leaps onto its head.

"Bo, can Bruce and I go for a run?" she asks eagerly.

Bo responds without hesitation. "I don’t see why not, just be back for breakfast."

Nita beams. "Kay, let’s go, Bruce!" she shouts, taking off with the bear.

Leon looks up from his phone, sighing. "Man, I can't believe I still haven't unlocked my spirit animal while Nita has. I'm older!"

Bo rolls his eyes. "Leon, you're only three months older than she is. Don’t worry; you’ll find yours eventually," he reassures him in a comforting tone.

Leon returns his focus to target practice, but Bo’s attention is drawn elsewhere as he hears rustling nearby. He instinctively positions himself, aiming an arrow in that direction. Leon glances up, puzzled.

"What are you doing?"

Just then, the figure is revealed to be Pam, and Bo’s eyes widen as he slowly lowers his weapon.

Pam dusts off leaves and twigs from her body. "Hmph, your traps are still as annoying as ever," she remarks, her tone a mix of annoyance and genuine respect.

Bo approaches her slowly. "Pam? What brings you so far from the junkyard?" he asks, surprise and a hint of concern creeping into his voice.

Pam folds her arms, her gaze shifting to Leon, who has resumed his target practice. "Wait, you have a kid?" she asks, glancing at Leon, who merely looks up for a moment before returning to his task.

Pam snaps back to reality, continuing her earlier statement. "It's important," she says, walking closer to Bo. "It's about—the eagle's eye," she whispers, her tone laced with skepticism.

Bo nods, his focus shifting completely. "Come in!" he replies, gesturing for her to enter.

Pam nods, and the two step into the hut. Leon watches them, curiosity piqued, but he doesn't let it show. As the door closes, he breaks his posture.

"Wow, Bo has a secret past?" Leon muses to himself, contemplating before continuing, "Actually, that’s not very surprising." He tosses another shuriken, hitting the target dead center.

{0 ___0____0}

Closer to the outskirts of the town square, a small stand takes refuge, not much attention is drawn to the stand as this particular path is not a popular one. The stand holds multiple pieces of Starr Park merch and minor things like that.

At the stand host two teenagers. One of the two is a boy, his attire is gloomy and his clothing matches quite well. He's wearing a black shirt with a jacket on top. He sports black nail polish on his nails. His deep black hair is styled to shield his right eye, his visible eye is a darker shade of blue. His most distinguishing feature is his scarf, that looks almost animated in a separate fashion to his actions.

The boy stands slouched against the left side of the stand, his using one edge of his scarf to hold his phone up as he looks at it.

The second teen is a girl, her outlook is much more cheerful than her colleague...almost too cheerful. She's clad a red straight jacket and the same coloured bottoms as her colleague, her jacket is heavily decorated. Her hair is creamy white, with it being styled similarly to that of the boy, except her hair is shielding the left side of her eye as opposed to her right. She's slouched against the counter, staring out into space with a wild grin on her face.

"Ugh," the boy, Edgar, blurts out in frustration. "I can't believe Griff made us set up stall here. Why do we have to be here when we could be in the gift shop?" His annoyance is evident, though his body shows little movement, relying on his scarf for expression.

The girl, Colette, still staring off into the distance, responds without breaking her gaze. "Oh, Edgar, you know Griff will be busy for the next few days, so he wants us making sales until he's back."

Edgar rolls his eyes, only one visible to Colette. "Ugh, I know that, Colette. The problem is we haven't made a single sale, and it’s been two hours."

Colette perks up, finally breaking her focus. "Has it?" she asks, disbelief washing over her. "Because I don’t think it’s been over 30 minutes."

Edgar looks down at his phone, then back at her. "Oh—ugh, it was an exaggeration, but the point is we’ve been here too long. Who's going to buy from here?"

Just as Edgar finishes, a figure sprints toward them, slamming her upper body onto the stall agrresively and locking eyes with Edgar as she raises her head

The girl sports a yellow hoodie and stylized goggles, and has hints of warm coloured hair peeking out from under the hoodie. A device is strapped to her left wrist.

"I NEED a mug!" she demands.

Edgar then scoffs slightly, turning around to check his stash. "Sooo, what kinda mug?" He asks, smooth and casually.

"Eh--Y-Yknow those ones...those...those...those ones...ah, y'know... Y-y-y'know those ones right?".

Edgar, despite not facing her, is slowly getting riled up, impatient for an answer.

The girl then snaps her fingers, as if she finally unblocked whatever was clogging her brain. "Y'know, those.. those mugs that say..y'know, err..like '#1 Boss' or somethn."

Edgar then sighs audibly. "Sooo, you're late for work and want to see if you can bribe your boss into forgetting it?" He replies in a deadpan tone.

Her cheeks then flush, feeling a bit embarrassed about being sussed out so easily. "No..."

Just as the red on her cheeks begins to creep away, a presence pounces out on her, provoking another fluster fest, Colette gets right into her face, she's leaning against the table with her belly poking right into the stand's edge. She completely ignores her potentially painful position and begins to yap her heart out.

"Hey, hot stuff, my name's Colette, what's yours?" She asks in a sultry tone.

The girl takes a few seconds to process the situation before smiling nervously. "Oh, well, my name's M-"

Just then, Edgar pulls his colleague by the legs and she sharply plummets to the ground. Edgar dusts the ends of his scarf together as if they were hands. He then uses his real right hand to hand the mug to the girl. "Here you go" he mumbles in a flat tone.
Seconds later, Colette hops back up, leaning against the counter once again, this time, resting with her left elbow.
"Sooo, what's your blood type?" She asks abruptly.

After a few seconds of silence, she then sighs. "Yeah, that was a weird question....forget I asked." Her smirk then grows wider. "Say, how much does your skull weigh?"

The girl then looks back and forth between Edgar and Colette, slightly bewildered.
"Hehe, thanks for the mug. Kay, thanks, byeee"

She swiftly dumps a bag of gold on the counter and takes off with the mug.

After 3 or 4 seconds of silence, Edgar then turns to Colette slowly. "What the hell was that?!" He blurts out, raising both his real hands and scarf ends above his head to emphasize the shock.

"What sort of pickup line is that? And more importantly, who knows how much their skull weighs?"

Colette then chuckles in a smug fashion. "Actually...I do. She says with a giggle as she knocks her own head with her knuckles for emphasis.

Edgar then rolls his eyes and begins counting the gold slowly, after about six seconds, he stops. "Whoa, that woman overpayed...like a lot"

Colette then let's out a little "hmm" sound.
"Griff will be pleased" she says as Edgar nods accordingly.

{0 ___0____0}

The girl skips through the town square, holding her mug in her right hand and listening to music. She goes in for a jump and spin simultaneously, but as she lands, her right foot fails her and she falls forward. She then slips awkwardly but manages to keep her composure. However, the mug slips from her fingers.

"Nooo" she screams dramatically.

Just as all is lost, the mug lands safely in reliable hands. The hands of Brock.

"Huh, here you go, man." Brock takes a step forwards and places the mug into her cupped hands.

She then sighs in relief, anxiously hugging the mug. "Thanks, man" she replies warmly. She skips away in a nonchalant matter.

Brock then shrugs lightly. "Man, folks round these parts are getting more absent-minded by the day" he mumbles lightly as he walks off.

Brock then reaches Piper's bakery. He swings the door open and scans the area quickly. His face beams as he sees Poco, Spike, Shelly, Jessie and Colt sitting at a table. He walks over to them in a calm and collected fasion, sitting swiftly into his seat, sitting inbetween Spike and Shelly and across Poco, Jessie and Colt.

"Hey guys, how's your morning been going?"
He asks in a non-chalant fasion.

Shelly then sighs and leans back on her chair. "everything's just OK, Brock, alllll OK"
She replies with an almost hypnotic tone of voice.

Brock then glances at Colt, giving him a look of confusion. Almost immediately after, he turns back to Shelly, and looks her in the eye.

"Shelly, are you high already, or are you just sleepy?" He asks in a straightforward but confused tone.

Shelly snaps back to reality, chortling a little. "Wha? Nah. Eris came to my place and gave me a full body massage this morning, took the tension offa me and now I feel good."
Shelly then raises her hands behind her head, leaning back once again.

"I was honestly just trolling you" Shelly immediately adds on.

Colt then leans closer to Poco for a whisper. "Did she say full body massage?"
Colt grumbles in a relatively quiet but agrresive fashion.

Shelly leans back a bit once again, turning to Jessie who is fiddling with a device in her hands.
Colt sighs as he opens the box of cookies I'm front of him. "So, any of you guys want to taste a gingerbread?" he asks confidently as he pushed the box forward.

Shelly, Jessie, Brock, and Poco and peer into the box. Jessie tilts her head, attempting to comprehend what she's laying her eyes on. The others all just look at the contents in confusion.

"Oh boy" Shelly mumbles as she pinches her forehead in disbelief. "Colt, why are these gingers shaped like your head?"

Colt then smirks. "it only adds to the charm and taste of the ginger" He replies in a severely overconfident tone. Jessie shrugs, grabbing a gingerbread.

Shelly chuckles indistinctively before turning to Piper who is half-slouched at her stand. "Piper, why do you make these for him?"

"He pays me extra"

Jessie takes a large bite of the gingerbread, she mumbles a bit before speaking up. "These aren't bad" she says in a barely distinguishable tone.

Brock then flops back onto his chair with very little delay. "Nah, I'll pass, bruv."

"Yeah, those don't look too great anyways" Poco adds as he begins to strum his gutair slightly.

Colt closes the box, rolling his eyes a bit. "Suit yourselves." he mumbles as he pulls the box closer to his person.

Poco then stands up, taking his gutair at his side. "We should head out now, Starr signed us all up for a publicity stunt for visitors in half an hour.......well, except for Jessie."

"Hey!" Brock snaps abruptly before letting his sunglasses slide on his face.
"That's my line." Brock chuckles a bit as he stands up as well, tucking his chair under the table. Jessie hops off as well, the two head out the door.

As Colt begins to stand up, Shelly grabs his arm and sits him back down. She looks around to make sure the other three have left before focusing her gaze on Colt alone.

"Colt....I wanted to talk to you about something..in private." she utters in a softer and less grounded tone.

Colt then turns his head slightly, pointing to the mute cactus sitting right beside Shelly. "Spike's right there, Shelly." Colt replies in a fully deadpan tone.

Shelly shrugs a bit. "it's Spike man, he can't speak." she notes. "Besides, it's Spike, we don't hide anything from him." She gives Spike a light puppy-stroke on the head. Hard enough for him to feel it but still too light for it to hurt her.

Shelly pulls a pearl from her pocket and places it on the table. The gleam immediately catches the eye of Piper, who immediately lays her eye in it from her desk. Spike subsequently hops off the chair, spotting something else.

Colt gasps in disbelief. "Whoa, Shelly. Where did you find that thing?" Colt turns away from the pearl at looks Shelly in the eyes. She looks back, her eyes dull. She sighs in defeat.
"You see, some stranger gave it to me, problem is that it's making my headaches worse."
Shelly's voice then gets slightly scratchier and more vulnerable.

"I haven't had the guts to tell Eris about it, something is just telling me not to"

As Shelly utters those words, Colt's face beams. He realises what this means, Shelly is prioritising his assistance over Eris'. He then reaches across the table to place his hand on her shoulder, feeling a great deal of pride ride over him.

"I'll help you through it." he assures warmly. "I won't let you go at this alone, not this time." Shelly slowly raises her head, as she sees him smiling at her, she smiles back. In spite of how she felt before, a great wave of trust washed over her. "I'm willing to give you a second chance"

Colt then lays back at his seat aggressively. "Obviously though, we can't tell anyone!"

"Too late." Piper slams her right hand onto the table, glaring at Shelly like a judgemental mother.

"I'm here to help you too, and I will not take 'no' for an answer." she snaps sternly.

Shelly smiles whereas Colt just rolls his eyes, flapping his lips a bit. Subsequently, Spike heads back to the seat next to Shelly.

Shelly then nods. "Thanks, you two are great." she mutters weakly. "I'll talk you two through it later at my place, meet me there in two hours." She slouches on the table a bit.
"We'll have to cancel on Starr though, he'll understand."

Shelly rises from the table slowly, turning to Piper as she gets on her feet . "Thanks again."

Shelly begins to walk to the door as Colt and Piper watch her leave.

"What are they doing to this girl?" Piper mutters to herself as she heads back to her counter. Colt stays seated, his gaze slowly falls on Spike.

"What are you looking at?"

{0 ___0____0}

Meanwhile, at Super City. A large building sits in the centre, incredibly tall and surrounded by traffic and commotion. Inside the building, a man sits in his office, making a phone call. He's a dark skinned man with a relatively muscular build, as well as short, black hair. He's clothed in a snazzy blue suit and has a red and yellow coloured superhero suit hung up behind him.

"Ugh, I'm sorry honey. I know you're my neice, but the Ray Force does not condone nepotism."
He then spins slightly on his revolving chair. "I'll tell you what, kiddo. I'll get you parts for your build later today, how does that sound?"

Just then, someone bursts in, she slams the door open, stumbling as she enters the room. In her left hand is the mug she got from Edgar. The speedy girl trips over a chair, her body slamming onto the ground. She keeps her left hand intact in order to avoid damaging the mug.

"Oww.." she mumbles lightly.

The man looks down at her, letting out a sigh. "Sweetie, I'll call you back." He remarks in a sullen tone as he hangs up.

"You're late."

The girl then gets up on her feet in a disorginized and flighty fasion. "it's only six minutes." she replies in a dismissive tone.

The man sighs deeply, shaking his head slightly. "Max, you're seven minutes and 50 seconds late" he responds.

"Same thing" she mutters under her breath as she sits down on the chair across him.

He then rolls his eyes. "Max, we had an emergency call, and we weren't able to send you out because you weren't here."

As he says these words, Max's curiosity piques. "Wait really?"

He then glares at her momentarily before sighing. "I sent Surge out, and he took care of it himself."

The man stands up, and begins walking slowly around the table, hands behind his back. "Max, please remind me, why did I choose you to become my successor?"

Max then chuckles slightly, leaning back in her chair with an unbroken smirk on her face. "Well, Ray. You said I'm confident, strong, and good at my job" she replies.

Ray slowly continues to circle Max, before sighing and sitting back down. "Yes Max, and also passionate, you were passionate."

His tone strongly emphasises the "were" in his statement. "But you've been slacking off lately, back when I first took you in, you promised to work as hard as possible for the job, what happened to that Max?"

Max slouches a bit. "What's the big deal, Ray? I do my job and I do it well, what more do you want?"

Ray stands back up again, his voice growing more assertive. "I want you to take this job seriously. I know you've never made a mistake on the job, which is strange, but someday, you most definitely will if you continue to clown around so much."

Max, who is still slouched on the chair slowly rears her head. "That's great." she replies. "So, you can wait till the day I mess up to lecture me."

Max then hops up, sliding her upper body over the table. "Sooo, Where's Surge, I have something cool to show him."

Ray sighs once again and places his index finger on Max's nose. "Not so fast, girl. Sit back down."
Reluctantly, Max slides back onto the chair and sighs.

"Max, you want to know why I've been coming onto you for your shortcomings so much recently?"

Max raises her head and sits up more strongly. "I'd like to know." she retorts, the usual sass absent from her voice.

Ray stands up once again, walking over to the large window behind him and looking out. "I'm retiring soon, and once I do, you'll be the main supercity hero, full time."

Max's eyes widen and she stands up abruptly. "Wai-wai-wai? You're seriously retiring, as in..permanently?"

Ray turns around, a bit of a smirk on his face. "Hmm, someone sounds worried."

"Yeah!" Max blurts out. "And for good reason! I can't be the head, you said it yourself, I'm not capable!"

Ray observes her reaction, chuckling a bit. "I never said that Max, I know what you're capable of, that's why I chose you to be my successor. I know you are capable of being the head, you're just lazy and you yourself are doubting your capabilities"

Ray sits back down at his chair with a smirk. "Besides, I won't be retiring until you know you are ready, just try to take my advice to heart, Max."

Max then sighs in relief. "That's nice to hear, I really am sorry for always being such a clown, I'll try to be more commited."

Ray smiles at her. "That's what I want to hear Max, now I also want to see you follow through on it."

For the last time, Ray stand up and Max with him, she heads to the door before having her stride interrupted by the sound of Ray's voice. "Oh! Also, just hang in the lounge, if Surge calls you, then you make a move."

Max nods and swiftly makes her way out the door, closing it behind her.

{0 ___0____0}

In Starr Park Headquarters, Starr sits comfortably at his desk, at his right is Seren, the small strung out member of the council who's at her smaller desk, analysing the diamond silently.

At his left is R-T, who is plugged into the wall, analysing data. Starr turns to Seren, who has her backed turned to him. "This is why I like you, Seren, you literally never say anything unless I ask you to speak."

Seren, who is trying to work begins to sweat, dreading the possibility of Starr actually calling her name, because then she'll have to answer. She mumbles a little mm hmm, hoping Starr won't ask her to do anything else.

Starr glances at R-T momentarily before turning back to Seren sharply.

"Hey, Seren."
These words send a shiver down Seren's spine, every hair in her body stands up in fear.
"Yes Boss" she squeaks in fear.

"Go study somewhere else, I need to talk to R-T alone."

In the space of 5 seconds, Seren picks up her desk, her chair and all of her things scurrying out of the large room, clearly terrified.

R-T stands up, unplugging himself and waking up to Starr slowly. "Sir, you've set up a publicity stunt for the following: Mortis, Brock, Dynamike, Poco, and the ranch sherrifs, is that correct?"

Starr then chuckles lightly. "Right on, R-T, what about it?"

R-T then hands him a letter. "Colt and Shelly will not be coming."

Starr takes the letter, slowly frowning as he takes in the information.

"By my observations, they and Piper will be meeting up at Shelly's place to do something else."

Starr then stands up, walking away from R-T slowly. "That Piper......" he mumbles, his voice so much deeper than before.
"And what of 77?"

"She's off the grid, I can't find her, she was with Shelly all morning but I haven't seen her since then."

Starr sighs deeply, his head hanged down and his hands behind his back. "You send out the Twins, they'll have a little chat with Colt."

R-T salutes before scuttering out subsequently.

{0 ___0____0}

In the tranquil outskirts of Bo's humble hut, Leon crouches low, peering through the window with a mix of eagerness and trepidation, straining to catch the nuances of Bo and Pam's hushed conversation.

"So, Bo has a secret past he never told us about, huh?" the inquisitive child mumbles to himself.

With a determined hop, he leaps down from the ledge and begins to pace the floor, his mind racing with thoughts of mystery and adventure. Suddenly, a large shadow looms over him, pulling him from his reverie. He glances up to see his sister, Nita, perched on her trusty bear Bruce, observing him with an arched brow.

"Eavesdropping?" she asks, sliding gracefully off her companion.

Leon, a mix of excitement and urgency, flaps his lips in response. "Yeah, but for a good reason! Our father has a secret past that we don’t know about, and it’s our duty to uncover the truth."

Nita shrugs, a nonchalant expression dancing across her face. "Meh," she replies casually. "Not surprised."

Leon quickly turns back to the window, his heart racing. "Hey, the lady is gone, and Bo is getting up from his seat! Quick, Nita, can you read lips?"

"I cannot read," she replies.

"What?"

"What? ... Oh, he's walking over here," Nita says in a flat tone.

Leon’s eyes widen as he watches Bo approach the window. "Oh no, no, no! Wait!"

In an instant, Bo closes the curtains, shrouding the conversation in secrecy. "Finally," he mutters, sinking back into his seat.

Pam reenters shortly after, balancing two cups of tea, sliding one across the table towards Bo.

So," she begins with a knowing smile, "the kid's curious?"

Bo exhales deeply, a hint of weariness in his voice. "I'll tell them everything eventually. It's just not in the cards right now."

Pam chuckles softly, a lightheartedness that doesn’t escape Bo’s notice.

He shoots her a glare. "Have you told your daughter about all this?"

Caught off guard, Pam slowly sets her cup down.

"Didn’t think so," Bo responds, taking a sip of his tea. "The way I see it, it’s for the best."

The air thickens with silence for a moment before Bo breaks it. "So, they found the diamond, huh?" He finally meets her gaze, placing his cup onto the table.

Pam nods. "Yup, and now they’re after the Eagle's Eye, which should be making its reappearance real soon."

Bo leans back in his chair, a contemplative sigh escaping his lips. "And to think, this time ten years ago, we were sure it’d be over by now."

Pam mirrors his sigh, taking another sip of her tea. "Our rebellion was the last straw, and we barely made it out alive. We gravely underestimated Starr."

Suddenly, Bo stands, a fire igniting within him. "Hold on! What makes you think we have a chance against him now? You and I are beyond washed, and we settled down to start families. Kenji put his fighting days behind him once he escaped. And if I remember correctly, Ray is retiring as super city hero, and some girl is taking his place."

Pam stands too, her demeanor calm yet assertive. "Calm down, Bo. There’s a silver lining."

Leaning across the table, she whispers conspiratorially, "The boss has stayed in contact with me for years. With all the new information they have, she believes we might stand a chance at a second rebellion."

Bo narrows his eyes, skepticism evident. "A second rebellion? That’s insane! We couldn’t take on Starr when we were in our prime! What makes her think our chances will be better now?"

Pam reaches out, placing her hand gently on his shoulder. "You didn't let me finish."

She pulls a brown paper bag from her pocket, emptying its contents onto the table. Gems and crystals spill out, along with a small blaster.

"Starr has had a good few misfires in his days, but it seems that someone has found them and refined them."

Bo’s gaze sharpens as he examines the items closely. "I don’t understand. Who is responsible for this?"

Pam shakes her head. "We don’t know. The old man is the only one who’s ever interacted with her, and he refuses to disclose her identity. She’s an explorer who somehow manages to slip in and out without Starr or his goons spotting her."

Standing tall, Pam continues, "And most importantly, she’s managed to find the first veil."

Bo’s eyes widen in disbelief. "That’s... impossible."

Pam nods earnestly. "I know; I didn’t believe it either. And while we’re on the topic, it’s crucial that we find the Eagle’s Eye before Starr does, and you’re the only person capable of finding it—save for Tara, who’s just not in the cards for us."

Bo narrows his eyes, the weight of her words settling in. "You do seem to have a good lead, and this is important..." After a moment’s hesitation, he lets out a resigned sigh. "I’m in."

Pam's face lights up with appreciation. "The boss knew we could count on you. Now, alert me if you find the location of the upcoming rift."

With that, she departs the hut, leaving Bo alone at the table, his mind swirling with thoughts of the past and the uncertain future ahead.

{0 ___0____0}

Meanwhile, Colt is at Poco's bandstand, chatting with him and Spike.

"Hmm, so you're not coming?" Poco enquires with a matching head tilt.

Colt then shakes his head. "Nah, Shelly needs my help, and I'm not letting her down again."

As he says this. "Poco strums a C# on his gutair." Good call, dude. She's really needed you lately, it's nice to see you taking her into account again, that little lady is going through some real jazz, y'know?"

Colt then nods. "Yeah, and I have a feeling that silver headed demon has something to do with it."

Poco stares at Colt for a few seconds, his eyes slowly growing more deadpan by the second. "Welp, there goes my respect for you!"

Poco then gets up on his feet. "C'mon, if we're fast, we'll be able to catch El Primo's wrestling match. He'll need the morale boost and I can sure deliver."

Poco gets on his feet and begins to head backstage alongside Spike, Colt gets up to follow but as he's getting up, he hears someone calls his name.
"Huh?"

Colt turns to see two robotic looking cops. One of them calls out to him.
"Hey, Colt. We need to talk to you."

Colt exits the stage left, heading down to meet the two.

"Oh, hey Larry, hi Lawrie. What brings you guys here."

Lawrie, who is side-eyeing Colt from a distance takes a few steps forward, subsequently letting out a minor scoff.

"Starr told us to remind you about the publicity stunt you've got in a bit." Lawrie tosses a clipboard at him. "I hope you haven't forgotten!" Lawrie scoffs, distaste in his voice.

Colt then flaps his lips sarcastically. "Ha, yeah right. I'm just not coming, something else came up. "

Larry tilts his head. "Wait, you're not? So you don't want that promotion Starr-"

Lawrie suddenly grabs his brother, covering his mouth with his left hand.

"Larry! He doesn't know that yet." he mumbles in frustration.

"Wait wait wait wait wait wai! Promotion? For real?"

Lawrie groans before face-palming in annoyance. "Well, I may as well tell you. You see, between you, Shelly, Poco, Brock and Spike, you've been selling the best with consumers. Starr wants to host a Q&A for you specifically. He told me that he'd only do it if today's visitors got to see you today."

Lawrie then walks up closer to Colt.
"Buuuuuuuut you're 'busy' so I guess I'll just have to offer the Q&A to Spike instead."

Lawrie places his hand on the clipboard and begins to tug, but his force holds no impact as Colt doesn't let go.

Lawrie frowns slightly. "Indecisive, are we?"

Colt suddenly grabs the keyboard and tugs it to his body. "Wait, wait, wait. I'll do it, I'll sign right here and I'll be there, I promise."

As Colt pulls out his pen, Lawrie smirks, feeling satisfied.

"Here!"
Colt tosses the clipboard to Lawrie, who tosses it back to his brother. Larry fumbles and drops it.

"Good choice, Colt. Enjoy your promotion."
Lawrie says in a low tone.

As Colt begins to depart, Lawrie grabs his walkie-talkie. "All set" he whispers as he and Larry turn to go.

{0 ___0____0}

Bo enters his room and quickly begins to search around his belongings. He turns to the wooden desk, analyzing all his orginized weapons. After a second of thinking, he clicks his fingers.

"Of course"

Bo looks up at a singular coathanger holding a robe. It is oddly very high, almost touching the ceiling, so even Bo cannot reach it.

He grabs a bow and arrow, aiming for the button above the hanger, he narrows his gaze and as he releases, the arrow heading straight for the button. As it is pushed, the hanger sinks into the wall, causing the robe to fall. Bo drops his bow and the robe lands directly in his arms.

"Still got it." He laments in satisfaction.

Bo begins to search the pocket but as he does, he feels nothing. He flips the coat, looking more aggressive and agitated, but suddenly, he hears a piercing voice that catches his attention.

"Looking for this?" Bo turns to see none other then Leon, leaning against the door with a singular key in his hand.

Bo's eyes narrow as he stands up, and takes a step forward.
"Leon, how many times have I told you to stay out of my room?"

Leon flaps his lips. "I dunno, six dozen? Anyways, I've had my eyes on this key for a while now, but after the unlikely visit we got this morning, I decided to finally let it come into play."

Bo rolls his eyes, exasperated. "And how did you get that, might I ask?"

Leon chuckles. "I’m a ninja."

"No, you’re not."

"LET ME DREAM, OLD MAN!"

Clearing his throat, Leon regains his composure. "Anyways, show Nita and me what you’ve been hiding from us if you want your keys back. It’s a totally foolproof, completely inescapable, fully—"

"If you don’t give it back, you’re grounded."

Leon freezes, bewildered by Bo’s swift response. "UGH, FINEEEEE."

Reluctantly, Leon tosses the key, which Bo catches deftly. "Now go to your room, Leon," Bo commands as he begins to stand up.
"You'll learn my secret in due time."

And like that, Bo closes the door. Leon, sticks his hands into his hoodie pockets and grabs his device with one of them. He slides down the pole and begins to head outside where he meets his sister climbing the monkey bars.

Leon walks over to her and sits next to the pole.

"Any luck?" Nita inquires as she swings back and forth.

"Nerp." Leon replies flatly. "I don't see why he doesn't want us to know about this secret of his?"

Nita uses her feet to hang onto the bars as she looks down at her brother. "Eh, just try to dissect yourself for the situation."

Leon chuckles. "Nita, I think you mean 'distract'." He replies, amused by his sister's silly error.

Nita raises an eyebrow. "Wait, did I not say that?"

She releases her feet and does a 180 degree turn midair, landing on her feet.

"I just don't see what could be so dangerous about all this." Leon complains in confusion.

Bo sighs lightly, tossing the robe to the side. He opens is closet, and rummages through it, pushing his clothes out of the way. He spots a keyhole and uses the key in his possession to unlock it, opening a door.

Bo takes a deep breath and walks through, revealing a dark room, at the far end is a table and seat with a singular unburnt lantern on the table. Bo walks over and takes a seat, closing his eyes. He begins to meditate...

After a few seconds, he opens his eyes back up again. "I see..." he mumbles.

No stands up and grabs the lantern, heading to the wall at his right, he shines the light to reveal a large map with an entire sort of board mapped out with multiple different notes on it.

"The boss needs this information." He mutters to himself.

{0 ___0____0}

Piper strolls around the ranch, nearing Shelly's house. In her hand is a basket, inside is a cookie tin filled with decorative cookies, a bottle of water, a heating pad and a grenade, all wrapped in a sleek pink blanket. In her second hand is her iconic gunbrella.

She walks up to the door and opens it. Her eyes narrow and she begins to look around. "Hey sugar, are you up there?"

Piper's call is responded with a light squeal which causes Piper to smile. "I'm here, come on up."

Piper takes slow but sure steps up the stairs and as she reaches Shelly's room, she's greeted by her warm smile plastered on her sullen face that reeks strongly of sleep deprivation.

Shelly's room is very tidy, but she herself is lying in bed, with Kit the cat sleeping on her lap.

Piper takes a seat on the chair next to the bed and places the basket on Shelly's bed. "Here you go, sugar." before Shelly can even touch the basket, Piper grabs it back.

"Hold on!" She mutters as she grabs the grenade and rebestows the basket.

Shelly places Kit on the edge of the bed and repositions herself, sitting. She then lies Kit back on her lap.
Shelly eagerly opens the jar, grabbing a pink coloured cookie, she pops it in her mouth and hums in a satisfactory fasion.

"Thanks, Piper. I don't know how you do it, but your cookies always make me feel so much better."

Piper chuckles with a sense of pride. "Why thank you, hun." she replies.

Shelly then takes a deep breath and opens the dresser next to her closet. She grabs a tiny blue box and opens it.

"Here's the pearl I was talking to y'all about back at the bakery."

"Hold on." Piper interrupts. "Shouldn't we wait for Colt?" She inquires.

Shelly shakes her head. "Colt is never really punctual, you have a lot to do, and I don't wanna waste your time."

Piper nods in agreement. "Very well" she replies as she picks the pearl up. She holds the thing close to her face and suddenly, a wave of flashbacks begin to overstimulate her brain. Her breathing begins to get heavier, but before she knows it, she snaps back to reality.
She glances at Shelly who has taken the pearl off her and is consuming another cookie.

"What did you see?"

Piper shakes her head. "I'm not sure, it was a whole barrage of different flashbacks all at once and-"

"Oh my gosh!" Shelly interrupts. "That's exactly what happened to me, ohhh I'm so relieved to know its not just me!"

Piper glances at the pearl once again. "Shelly, I think this thing may be pretty important, I suggest you keep it here with you, but keep it in the box, don't open it or you'll just suffer more headaches."

Without hesitation, Shelly places the pearl back into the little box.

"Oh, and Shelly. Don't tell anyone about this, I plan on doing some extra research on this thing but until then, keep it away from everyone, including Eris."

Shelly nods. "Already done." she replies. "I'll show it to Colt when he comes over but nobody else."

Piper stands up, dusting her dress. "Anyway, thanks for letting me in on this, and if you want to be up and running tomorrow, just stay home, get lots of rest tonight and finish my cookies."
Piper says as she gives Shelly's tummy an affectionate pat.

She grabs her basket and gunbrella and begins to silently leave the room.

Almost immediately after her departure, Kit wakes up and begins to stretch on Shelly's lap. His eyes then meets the cookie tin and he reaches his hand out.

"Ooh, cookies."

Before he can make a move, Shelly sternly swats his hand away.

{0 ___0____0}

At the Junker family house, Pam is sitting at the dining table, with Starrs's trinkets scattered along the table. As she analyses them, she is interrupted by ringing, it's the family phone.

Pam stands up and heads to answer the phone. She picks up and gets greeted by a familiar voice, it is Bo.

"Pam, I think I know how to triangulate where the rift will open.

Chapter Text

The town Square lies barren and unresponsive. The place a complete mess with no one out and about. All the Square's buildings are intact, but the streets themselves have seen better days.

Pam passes the fountain, she wears a trenchcoat and a fedora. She strolls the ghost town, clearly with an agenda in mind. She then reaches her destination, Piper's bakery. The exterior is less decorated than it is in the present. Pam strolls into the bakery, the bell alerting Piper herself, who is standing behind the counter, polishing a glass.

Her hair is down, no pin tying it up, she wears a white vest and has a blue jumper tied to her waist. She turns around in response to the bell sound, the presence surprising her.

"Well well, look what the cat dragged in. What brings you here?"

Pam places a pouch of gold on the counter. "Just here for some bread." she replies

Piper chuckles slightly as she heads back to grab some bread, for a few seconds, the store goes completely silent and peep-less, until Piper chooses to break it.

"No bakeries in the junkyard?" She replies in a teasing tone.

Pam crosses her arms. "You're lucky your store's still standing." She retorts defensively.

Piper grabs two loaves of bread, one in each hand. "Aha, that's where you're wrong, sweetie. My bakery is still intact because unlike you, I didn't partake in a foolish rebellion."
The mockery is strongly evident in Piper's voice.

"You pulled out in the last second to save your skin! Sounds like cowardice to me."
Pam replies in a tone of confrontation.

Piper carefully places the loaves in a paper bag before replying. "Maybe, but how did your clownfest of a rebellion go? Oh right, you failed completely and now y'all have to go into hiding."

Pam doesn't reply, so Piper chooses to go on.

"Ray pulled out because he knew Starr would come after super City and honestly, he made a good call."

Pam narrows her eyes. "That's different, Ray had at lot at stake-"

"And you think I didn't?" Piper replies, her voice louder than before. "You wouldn't understand" she growls "you don't have anything to lose."

Pam takes a deep breath as she hears that, her voice getting softer as she replies. "I've got a kid."

Piper's expression humbles as she hears this. "I-" she is unable to respond, she just continues to prepare the bread.

Pam continues, her voice less judgy as she speaks. "I don't see why you insist on staying in The Square"

Piper scoffs. "What do you want? Me to join you in the junkyard? I'm safe as long as I don't step on Starr's toes like you lot did." she sounds both angry and as if she's at the verge of tears.

With a swift fashion, she hands the bag out. "Here's your bread."

Pam takes the bread and Piper takes the pouch. "Keep telling yourself that." Pam replies as she turns to walk off. Piper turns as well, continuing to polish glasses.

As Pam opens the door, she turns back one last time. Piper feels her eyes at the back of her neck but she doesn't have the guts to respond.

"Have a nice day." she states in a monotone voice as Pam leaves the store.

*****Present day*****

Shelly's eyes gradually flutter open, she realizes she’s lying flat on her back in bed, clad in a snug pink vest and her favorite jeans.

She stretches luxuriously, turning to her right and spotting the empty cookie tin—a stark reminder of her late-night indulgence.

Just then, Kit strolls into the room, a playful shower cap perched on his head and a towel wrapped casually around his teensy frame.
“Oh, you’re up,” he scoffs.

Shelly tilts her head, a hint of confusion crossing her face. “Err, what’s your problem? Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed?”

Kit shrugs nonchalantly. “Nah, I slept on your belly last night. Really soft, especially after you ate all 30 of Piper’s cookies without sharing a single one.” His voice grows increasingly animated, each word punctuating his frustration.

“Ooh...yeahh,” Shelly replies awkwardly, realizing. “Sorry about that. I was just so bummed that Colt bailed on me again; I guess I lost track of everything.”

Kit scoffs again, clearly unimpressed by her apology. “Well! You’ll never hear the end of this. Words cannot describe how long it’ll take for you to earn back my trust—”

“Wanna play with this yarn ball?” Shelly interjects, a mischievous smirk creeping across her face as she begins to toss a blue ball of yarn up and down.

Kit’s eyes widen, instinctively fixating on the yarn ball. “Gimme!”

With a quick flick of her wrist, Shelly tosses him the yarn ball, and he begins to play with it. Shelly chuckles, feeling a surge of satisfaction.

"Works every time" she mumbles.

Shelly grabs her shirt from the side of her bed and puts it on. "C'mon, let's head to Piper's place and get cookies, and I promise I'll share this time."

Kit hops to his feet in excitement. "You, my friend are fully forgiven, let's go!" he replies, his energy fully restored.

Just then, Shelly's phone buzzes. And she quickly walks over to see who it is. Her eyes narrow as she sees that it's none other than Colt.

Without hesitation, she picks up the phone and holds it up to her ear with a strong wave of sass. "What's up?"

"H-hey, Shelly, you're up! How a-"

"Stop trying to butter me up!" She inerjects in an assertive tone.
"You weren't here yesterday, why?"

Colt begins to panic, and he turns to Poco, who's in the room with him.
"What should I say?" He whispers in indecision.

"I'm not giving you lying lessons, dude." Poco replies as he tunes his gutair.

"I was babysitting Jessie! " he roars abruptly

Shelly flinches in response to the unnecessarily loud answer.
"That's cool, but you don't need to yell." Shelly replies.

"Seriously though, I should have known better than to trust you to show up. Luckily, Piper was there...."

Shelly takes a second to glance at the empty cookie tin.

"She always is..."

Colt turns to Poco. "She's onto me, what do I do?"

"You're asking the wrong guy." He replies.

Colt snaps his fingers, a thought suddenly rushing in his head. "Oh um, by the way. What was up with that pearl you had on ya."

Shelly rolls her eyes. "It was nothing important" she replies in a deadpan tone. "Piper said I was just being deluded, anyways, I'll see you at surveillance."

Shelly hangs up and tosses the phone behind her onto the bed.

"Ermm, why didn't you tell him about the pearl?" Kit inquires.

Shelly scoffs a bit. "Why should I, he thought babysitting Jessie was more important than helping me, so I have no reason to tell him anything." She retorts in anger.

Kit tilts his head. "Wow, you need a cookie, dude."

"Yeah." Shelly replies in defeat, her voice completely flat. She packs her bag but suddenly, a thought crosses her mind.

"C'mon, Kit. Mamma needs to exploit a local baker to satisfy her sugar addiction."

Kit hops onto Shelly's shoulder as she leaves the room, and the two of them head out.

"But first, we need to stop by the gift shop, I want to get something special for her."

As Shelly hangs up, Colt sinks in to the couch.

"You think she's still mad?" He inquires, turning his head to Poco.

Poco, who is strumming his gutair turns back. "I mean, I'd imagine so. If there's one thing I know about her, it's that she's seriously doesn't let things go that easily."

Colt groans as he begins as he holds his head back.
"This is all my fault, I shouldn't have taken the stupid promotion, what was I thinking? "

Poco sighs. "Dude, you're seriously way in over your head. You let your guard down, big deal, everyone does that. Just apologise to Shelly and I'm sure she'll forgive you."

Colt sits up, feeling a little less gloomy. "Wait, does that mean I'd have to tell her what I was really doing?"

Poco shrugs his shoulders. "Well....yeah. Shelly hates it when people lie to her, and besides, she's bound to find out anyways so you may as well come clean now."

Colt then begins to brainstorm ideas. "I mean, she can find out I got a promotion but she never has to know why I got the promotion."

Poco groans in defeat. "Whatever, you do you." he mumbles as he continues to strum his gutair

{0 ___0____0}

With Kit snoozing in her backpack, Shelly strolls through the field, on her way to the gift shop, as she nears the building, she is swiftly passed by a swarm of bats which gather right in front of her.

Mortis, a tall and slender man in a top hat appears. As the bats fly off, Mortis takes a bow.

"Oh, hey Mortis" Shelly exclaims as she takes a step forward. "What brings you to these parts?"

Mortis takes off his top hat, a few bat's flying out, he stands by Shelly's side as the two begin to walk together.

"I've finally worked off my debt."

"Whoa, really?"

"Yeah, I took your friend's advice and killed a rich guy, then I just stole his wallet. Bus driving gig was such a bust."

He then puts his top hat back on as the last of the bats fly out. "Anyway, my niece is visiting this week, and I want to get her a present from the Giftshop."

Shelly tilts her head. "Ooh, what a coincidence, I'm heading to the Giftshop too" she replies.
"I'm trying to get a neat gift for my friend Piper."

Like that, they reach the front door of the gift shop

Mortis throws the door open and a dozen bats fly into the store as he does so.

"Mortis the magnificent is here!"

They are met with an almost empty store. Just Edgar, Colette and a brunette gal analysing mugs. A bat lands on her head and she begins to scream vigourosly.

Colette, who is behind the counter pounces forward.
"OHMIGOSH!" she declares in excitement.
"it's really you, it's Mortis."

"In the flesh!" Mortis replies, clearly pleased with the attention.

Colette takes a few pictures without any delay. "Oh my, this is SUCH an honour."

Colette reaches into her chest pocket and hands a needle to Mortis. "Can you sign my arm?" She asks eagerly as she pulls her sleeve up.

Mortis raises an eyebrow. "This isn't a pen."

"I KNOW," Colette replies, a smug look on her face.

The brunette woman continues to panic in fear of the bat on her face, Edgar, who is sweeping the floor chooses to ignore her.

Although initially weirded out, Mortis shrugs and begins to carve his name into Colette's skin.

Shelly shakes her head. "Nope, I'm not sticking around to see this." With her hands in her pockets, she begins to stroll around the shop, searching for a gift for Piper.

She comes across a row of mugs with names on them, she begins to analyse.

"Let's see... Pierre, Piet, Pior, Pip.....seriously these things always have every name but the one you're looking for."

Mortis finshes his signature, smiling proudly. "There you go, dear. Your very own Mortis tattoo."

Colette squeals as she gazes at her scabbed arm. "Ooh, this'll look so epic once it stops bleeding. How can I ever repay you? " Colette pleads in a hypnotic tone.

Mortis chuckles triumphantly. "Well, I need to get a gift for my niece, and I was looking for suggestions."

Edgar's curiosity piques and he drops the broom and walks over to them. "Holdup, what are your niece's interests?"

Mortis turns to him. "Well, she's into creepy things, pop music, rock music, heavy metal, she's always on her phone and her favourite colours are purple and black."

Edgar's visible eye widens. "I've got just the thing." Edgar says as he snaps his fingers. "Follow me." he gestures with a scarf end as Mortis follows him.

With no one around, Colette's gaze falls on Shelly. She slowly walks over to her as she analyses the mugs.

"What'cha looking for?"

Shelly's skin crawls as Colette speaks directly into her ear. "Oohhhh, how long have you been standing there?"

"You're Shelly right? Can I have an autograph please."

Shelly tilts her head. "On paper, right?" She then shakes her head vigorously. "Sorry kid, I'm looking for a gift for my friend and I don't have time for autographs."

She then tilts her head. "Colt by any chance, are you two an item?" she inquires in a teasing tone.

"Eww no"

She clears her throat. "Also, it's Piper, you probably know her, the gal who runs the bakery and allat, I'm looking for a gift fo-"

Colette's eyes slowly begin to dilute and her thoughts completely drown out the sound of Shelly's voice. After about 3 seconds, she snaps back to reality.

"I've got the perfect gift." she roars as she places her hands on Shelly's cheeks and pulls her down to her level.

"You seriously need a lesson or two on personal space."

Mortis watches as Edgar climbs the shelf, he uses his scarf end to grab hold of something and then jumps down swiftly. "Behold, a lava lamp."

He places it on the desk. "Purple in colour and comes with a torch for some reason....oh, it also has an MP3 player."

Edgar pushes a button which causes it to play the song "We won't co-operate" by the bad randoms before turning it off again.

Shelly watches as Colette rummaged behind the cashier counter. "Here we go!" she exclaims as she pulls out a large basket.

"A gift basket, made specifically for Piper."

Shelly examines the loot, quite impressed by the content. "Wha...an electric whisk in her favourite colours? An entire China tea set that's inexplicably completely intact? A cerulean gown with matching earrings? It's as if you know absolutely everything about Piper!"

Colette chuckles to herself as Shelly says that. "Yeah!"

Shelly pulls out her wallet. "How much would that be?" she demands.

Colette takes a second to think. "Hmm, well I put this together myself, so there's no actual price on it......160 thousand gold?"

"Sold!" Shelly yells as she slams her credit card on the ground."

Behind her, Mortis and Edgar continue to analyse the lava lamp.

"also, you can record videos on it for some reason. Anyways, that'd be 100 thousand gold." Edgar says.

Mortis's face goes completely blank as he hears the price. "Hey, Shelly?"

Shelly rolls her eyes. "Don't worry, I Gotcha, dude."

As Shelly and Mortis leave the store, Edgar and Colette wave in a friendly fashion.

"I charged Mortis double." Edgar says in a deadpan tone.

{0 ___0____0}

In the chaotic corner of Retropolis, Bull's Diner presents a surprising contrast with a sense unusual tranquility. Inside, Bull sits at the counter, counting cash, while Bibi perches on the desk, observing him. Her hair is neatly styled in a bun, she is dressed in a form-fitting cobalt tank top and blue jeans, paired with white sneakers that seem a tad out of place, she exudes a unique charm.

"This Eris girl has been sending our profits through the roof." Bull comments. "Business has been booming around here since she started singing here and it's only been 4 days. We've even been able to fix those faulty lights."

Bibi lightly taps her fingers against the counter, a faint smile playing on her lips. "Yeah, she's definitely a smokeshow." she replies softly, her voice lilting like a gentle breeze.

Bull puts the money in the cashier and turns to her. "I still find it strange that she insisted on not being paid"

Bibi raises her hand from the counter and begins to tap her finger against her chin rhythimically. "Yeah, if there is one thing I'd like to know...It'd be if she has an ulterior motive"

With a graceful hop off the counter, she leans in closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. "The girl's great but we should probably keep a watchful eye on her so she doesn't swindle you. Whaddya think?"

Bull places his fingers on his chin. "You make a great point, Bibi. To protect the diner, we'll watch this girl like a hawk."

Bibi begins to think, trying to piece together a potential ulterior motive, but suddenly, a thought crosses her mind.

"Speaking of hawks, where's Crow ? He's been gone for a hot minute "

Bull closes up the cashier swiftly. "Oh, he said he has something important to do, so hw bailed out" he replies with little delay

**Meanwhile**

Crow approaches the entrance to a gem mine, standing tall in anticipation. He then takes a minute to observe the entrance.

"Hmm, so this is the place?" he mutters, his voice firm. He places a dagger down at his feet.
"Its go time."
Crow slowly begins to enter the cave, his light footsteps slowly fading as he makes his way inside.

{0 ___0____0}

At the junker family house, Jessie sits on her workbench, she continues to aimlessly stare at the orange crystal on her desk. "Ugh" she whines. "I've tried everything, what could there possibly be left to do?"

Jessie turns her head to Shelly plush. "What do you think I should do?" Due to it being...well a stuffed toy, Jessie gets no response but against all odds, her face lights up. "Of course, maybe I should try cracking it open to see what it's made of, thank you, Shelly plush."

Jessie picks up the gem, placing in her backpack. "And I know just the place to do it." She adds, a mischievous glint in her eye.

Jessie hops down the stairs with her backpack on her back and Scrappy at her right, she heads down to see Nani at the table, playing cards with her friend Peep.

Hello Nani, hello Peep" she greets with a warm smile. "Do you know where Mama is?"

Nani puts down a card and turns to her. "Your mother is sleeping, I'm not sure what she was doing all night but it must have tired her out."

Nani quickly turns herself fully so she's facing Jessie. "Where are you off to?"

"I'm heading out to the rock farm if that's OK." Jessie replies warmly as she rocks back and forth on the spot.

Nani shrugs swiftly and turns back to the table. "That's fine, just be back soon, I'll tell your mother where you are."

Jessie beams as she hears this answer. "Thank you, Nani." she replies as she cheerfully skips out the door."

Jessie begins to stroll through the messy junkyard, Scrappy following her quickly behind. After a short amount of walking, Jessie covers enough distance to reach the rock farm in question .

Jessie reaches a tall gate with a small hole at her left. She ducks through the hole as she is small enough to fit and begins to quietly move through, looking around. Scrappy follows close behind her.

She then feels herself trip, she manages to catch her balance and avoid falling, but she looks down to see what object had attempted to trip her up. It is a small sledgehammer and she smirks at the sight of it.

Jessie removes her backpack and sits down with her legs crossed. She lets the crystal roll out of her bag and she then holds it firm with her left hand. After some windup, she hits it with the sledgehammer. The recoil sends a surge down her body.

"There's plenty more where that came from!" Jessie exclaims in a slightly frustrated manner as she stands up, slightly tossed by the recoil.

She grabs the crystal and heads to a pile of rocks, she knocks it down, revealing a red, large nutcracker sort of device hammered to the ground. She places the thing inside.

"You won't be getting back from this, will ya." Jessie says in a confident tone as she begins to turn the lever on the device, but as it tightens, it gets more difficult for her to continue. She smirks, grabbing the sledgehammer and giving the stone a whack. She gets shot back by the recoil, falling backwards.

"You're up, Scrappy." she mumbles, unmotivated to get off the ground.

The trusty turret begins to fire at the stone repeatedly, Jessie slowly gets up as Scrappy continues to fire, the crystal weakining. After 20 seconds of non-stop firing, something something drops from the device.

Jessie hops forward in anticipation, she stares at the Crystal's shell which has now finally been cracked and picks up its content......a cubicle green stone.

"Whoa" Jessie laments as she gazes upon the stellar sedimentary.

She bounces it up and down in her hands before putting it in the bag. "this doesn't help." she mumbles. "We'll have to head to the square to find someone who does."

"Ugh, but mama would never let me." she says as she hisses through her teeth.
After a few seconds of thinking, she turns to Scrappy.

"We'll have to take a big risk here, we'll have to go to the Square on our own. Though be prepared, Nani will try and follow us."

Like that, she packs her bag and begins to run, on her way to the Square.

{0 ___0____0}

Colt, Brock, Spike and Poco are sitting together by the fountain. Colt and Brock with ice creams in their hands. Colt's is vanilla while Brock has mint.

Poco begins to strum his gutair lightly. "So have any of y'all noticed any suspicious activity lately?" he asks with a light headtilt.

Brock shrugs as he continues to lick his ice cream. "Nah, the Square has been surprisingly chill recently." He replies, a hint of disbelief in his tone.

Colt shrugs. "Maybe that'll change, Starr has appointed me, Spike and Shelly to search the mines today."
He shudders a bit. "not my personal choice of patrol but what can I say?"

Colt turns his head and is shocked to see Shelly walking their way, a basket in her hands.

Colt tosses his icecream, up in the air, gravity does its thing and it lands on Spike's head.

"Look alive boys! It's Shelly!"
He exclaims in a panicked tone as he turns in the opposite direction she is facing.

"Okay, listen. If she asks any of you about yesterday, tell her I wasn't there."

Poco sighs. "You don't seriously expect us to lie to her for you...do you?"

"Wouldn't it make more sense for us to not mention you at all?" Brock inquires, a hint of confusion in his voice.
"it would be real suspicious if we brought you up for no reason."

Colt snaps his fingers spontaneously. "Yes, do what he says."

"Hey"

Colt turns to see Shelly, her expression completely deadpan. She is waving quite weakly with her left hand.

"What's up?"
Shelly adds on as stands next to the boys.

"Not much." Brock replies casually. "Just enjoying some ice cream."

"What's that basket you got on you?" Poco asks, pointing at the gift basket.

Shelly shrugs a bit. "Just a gift basket I got from the gift shop. It's for Piper, I want to thank her for always being there for me." she says warmly.

As she speaks, Colt turns away a bit, feeling a bit guilty.

She then continues to walk on. "Come on y'all, maybe we can find something fun to do on the way to the mines once we drop this off."

Poco turns to Colt as she leaves. "See? She didn't bring it up at all."
The three then get on their feet and follow Shelly; Colt does so as well, a slight sense of reluctance in his movement.

Shelly reaches the door of Piper's bakery and as she does, Kit spontaneously hops out of her bag, landing on her head. "We're here!" he exclaims as he throws the door open and rushes in.

"Kit, slow down! Shelly calls out, running into the store after him." As she goes in, she is shocked to see Rico at the till instead of Piper.

"Hello, human, how can I be of service?" he asks in his usual monotone voice.

"H-hey! Rico!" Brock blurts out in excitement as he pushes past Shelly.
He heads up to the till with a wide smile and him and Rico exchange a high-five.

"Standing in for your GF? Gotta love the dedication, respect bro."

Poco, Spike and Colt walk in right after.
"Ugh" Colt moans. "This guy is running the store now."

Rico immediately frowns. "New order of business: annoying redhead human is banned from the bakery."

"Wait what?"

Rico immediately begins shooting his gumballs across the room at Colt and they pelt him nonstop until he's out of the store.

"I hate that guy." Colt mumbles.

"We were here to drop off this gift for Piper, buuuuut she isn't here, know where we can find her?" Shelly inquires.

"She has gone out to pick berries in her secret garden, you do not know where that is but she has been absent for a while and should be making her return about now. If you depart now, you may meet her in her shortcut: the mines." Rico answers.

Shelly jumps up and claps her hands together. "That's perfect! We can meet up with her as we make our way to our patrolling zone." she exclaims.

"WHAT" Kit cries out as she pounces up on Shelly, grabbing her chest and looking her in the eyes.

"I've waited soooo long for cookies, only to wait even longer?" he whines as he falls to the ground and begins rolling back and forth.

"HOLLLLLLLUP!" says a skeptical Brock as he slides into frame.

"You've TASTED Piper's signature cookies????" he asks in disbelief as he holds his fingers in a pointing position.

Kit gets off the ground and rolls his eyes. "Pfft, yeah! Shelly gets them anytime she's feeling unwell.....which is in turn; pretty much all the time."

Brock's mouth shoots open and Poco walks right next to him, his eyes wide in surprise.

"I have longed my entire afterlife to try one of those, and you're telling me that she just gives them to you.?"

Shelly shrugs. "Only when I'm feeling unwell, it's not a big deal." she retorts, her tone incredibly flat.

Poco's eyes narrow, but before he can say anything, Brock grabs him and turns around.

"Poco, wait, wait." he whispers.
"Think about it. If we help Shelly deliver Piper's gift, she might let us have some cookies."

Poco takes a second to think before snapping his fleshless fingers. "I think you have a point." The mariachi replies with a twinge of confidence in his voice.

"But we'll have to make sure to not step on her tail." Brock adds on.

Kit, who is listening in begins to narrow his eyes. "Not on my watch." he squeaks, his tone sinister.

"Shelly! Poco and I are gonna help you find Piper." Brock declares in an overdramatic fasion.

"Hmm, nice." Shelly replies, a soft smile creeping on her face.
"We better be going then." She, Poco and Spike head out the door, but Brock is stopped by a light tugging on his jeans.

"Don't think I don't know what you're up to." Kit mumbles, his voice deep with skepticism.

Brock groans. "You're a cat, what are you gonna do about it?" he picks up a yarn ball and tosses it at him.

"See, kitty? Look at the yarn ball" he jests with a patronising tone as he tosses the ball at Kit in an aloof manner, blowing a short raspberry as he does so.

Kit gives in immediately and begins to play with the yarn ball; after a few seconds, he returns to normal, looking around to see that Brock is gone.
"Damn" he mumbles as he picks up the yarnball and heads out of the store.

{0 ___0____0}

Deep in the mines, councilman Orion stands in a a room far below the surface, a room filled with the spider-crab creatures, each one of them trapped in a highly advanced protective forcefield.

Crow drops from an open hole and takes refuge behind some large rocks where he spies on Orion.

The creatures begin to tap at the field in hopes to escape but to no avail.

"Ugh." Orion mumbles. "Would you creatures calm down, we can go once I drain your power, and if you don't survive, just know you died for a good cause."

He then plugs a chord into the massive generator and watches the creatures, but nothing happens.

"ARGH." he roars in fury. "That moron told me this generator will be enough, I'll have that girl's head. Now I'm gonna need a larger one."

The frustrated councilman leaves the scene and as he does so, Crow pulls out a dagger but just as he is about to go in, he notices the ceiling begins to shake and before he can even consider a reason why, it breaks with chunk of rock falling to the ground and what's more? Dynamike.

The old miner lands on his face with his barrel of TNT scattering, in his arms is one of the orange gems, it catches the eye of Crow.

Dynamike gets up and turns to the creatures, astonished by how many of them there are.

He chuckles mischievously. "If there are this many of you, then tons of these gems must be nearby too."

As they spot the gem, the creature begin to get rowdy. And just as he turns to run away, he is faced by a dagger, a poison tipped dagger.

"What are you up to old man?" Crow inquires in a menacing tone as he points the dagger directly at Mike's neck.

Mike, who is clearly terrified begins to back off slowly. "Hold on, birdboy. I don't want any trouble."

Crow rolls his eyes. "And I don't want want YOU to jeprodise my plan."

Crow turns to look at the creatures, and then at Mike. He smirks and without saying a word, begins to toss his daggers, three at a time. However, he aims at the creatures but to no avail due to the forcefeilds.

Once he realises his plan is not working, Crow takes a tangent and instead jabs at the wires with his daggers, damaging the system keeping the creatures occupied.

After a bit, he jumps up, tossing daggers at every one, and it all collapses, in one fell swoop.

Crow lands on top of one of the rocks and begins to watch as the creatures all stare at Dynamike.

Dynamike stares back at them, bewildered but after a few seconds, he decides to take his chances are run away screaming with the gem still in his hands, the creatures swiftly chasing after him. Crow observes the massive herd and hops onto the back of one of them, keeping tabs on the commotion.

Although most continue to chase Dynamike, a few of the spider-crabs scatter and head to other locations in the cave.

{0 ___0____0}

Jessie runs through the barren field, still attempting to reach the mines, she closes in at the cave's entrance but prematurely falters in presperation. She reaches out to Scrappy dramatically.

"Save yourself Scrappy! I can't go anymore....I'm too.....tired." The young girl falls flat on her face, but soon rises as Scrappy begins to hit her in the head.

"You were meant to go." a disappointed Jessie mumbles.

Just then, she looks up to see that she is mere feet away from her target, the cave entrance is right there in front of her.

"Ooh nice." she says as she bubbles in weak triumph. She gets onto her feet and begins to skip through the cave, but her journey is cut short as she is grabbed by her backpack.

"Jessie, what are you doing all the way out here?" Pam lashes.

"I thought you said you were only going as far as the rock farm." Nani adds, feeling slightly betrayed

Jessie loosens herself from her backpack, landing on her feet, she subsequently grabs her pack back and begins to wave her hand.

"I can explain! I can explain!" She rummage through her backpack and grabs the green stone, showing it to them.

"Pam gasps in disbelief, taking it immediately. "Girl, where did you find this? These are incredibly rare."

Jessie gulps before formulating her answer. "You see mama-" before she can finish her sentence, the ceiling begins to rumble and a large spider-crab falls from the sky and lands behind the three, blocking the exit.

The creature screeches out without hesitation, its eyes fixed on the green stone.

Pam scoops Jessie up with one arm and begins to dart off. Nani, Scrappy and Peep all follow. The large creature begins to pursue them.

At an upper surface of the mine, Shelly and her possé walk at a moderate pace, observing the area. Shelly walks at front with the basket tight in her arms. Colt, Poco and Spike walk behind and at the very back, Kit and Brock lie, still eyeing each other.

Colt keeps his eyes fixed on Shelly, wanting to say something. After a few seconds of contemplating, he takes a deep breath.

"Hey, Shelly. Abou-"

"Don't want to hear it." She replies, cutting him off.
Colt immediately looks at Poco, who is looking back at him, he shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly.

Just then, the entire cave begins to shake and Shelly loses her balance. Just as she is about to fall over, she is inexplicably stopped, she turns to see Brock helping her keep steady, her eyes narrow.

"Brock, seriously?" She mumbles, unimpressed. "But thanks I guess" she adds.

Brock turns to Kit, giving him a mocking face.

Just then, the cave rumbles again, and they all fall over. The basket lands on Shellys tummy, she grips it tightly before getting up once again.

Poco looks down at the ground below him and then at Colt. "I don't have a good feeling abo-"

Before Poco can finish his sentence, the entire floor collapses and the six of them all begin to fall.

They all land on the floor below, Shelly lands sharply on her back, the gift basket however nears the edge.

"No! The basket!" She cries out.

Just then, Kit pounces forward and lands just a foot away from the basket, he turns around and uses his tail to hook the handle, catching the basket in his hands with a heroic smirk on his face.

"Yes! I got it!" the cat exclaims triumphantly.

Shelly gets on her feet and grabs the basket off Kit in relief. "Thank you, Kit" she says as she strokes his chin affectionately.

Once Shelly leaves him, he gives Brock a smug look to which Brock replies with an eyeroll.

Colt gets up as well and just as he does, a rock comes flying down, right above him.

"Look out!" Shelly hollers she tosses the gift basket upwards and tackles him out of the way.

"I'll get it!" Poco, Kit and Brock all simultaneously yell, but only Brock and Kit go for the dive as Poco trips over his own gutair.

Brock and Kit bump their heads into each other and so Spike jumps up and makes the save, landing swiftly on top of Brock's head.

Shelly gets off Colt and helps him up.
"Be more careful" she mutters bitterly as she runs over to Spike to reclaim the basket.

Colt sighs and heads over to rejoin the group.

Brock and Kit both eye Spike judgementally as Poco speaks up.

"Okay, so this part of the cave is clearly unstable so we should probably make this a rush, who's with me?"

The others all nod and they begin to run. Shelly, despite cupping the basket in her hands still manages to dodge all the rocks.

Kit runs in a straight line, pouncing out of the way anytime a boulder comes near him and Poco runs through rather leisurely.

After a bit, they finally make it.....to a steep slope. They all fall down and land harshly on the ground again.

Poco gets on his feet and grabs his gutair. "Ugh, something's up in the mines again." he states.

"And I can only guess that clown Dynamike has something to do with it." Colt adds, rubbing his sore backside as he also rises.

Tons of feet below, the commotion continues, Dynamike continues to run for his life as the herd of spider-crabs continue to pursue him.

"Just let go of the gem you moron." Crow probes in amusement as he continues to sit comfortably on top of the creature.

"Never!" Dynamike howls, running on. Just then, the creatures halt, the sudden pause causes Crow to get launched off the creature, he lands on his feet, however.

Crow walks over to them, suprised by the sudden change of pace.

"Hey hey, what's all tha commotion about?" Crow asks, slightly annoyed. He then notices that they are looking downwards. They then begin to jab at the ground with their claws, causing the ground to shake, after a few seconds the ground below them colappses and they all fall down onto the next floor.

Crow and Dynamike look around to see an entire floor of orange gems, they both look around in astonishment.

"Well I'll be." Dynamike says in disbelief.

Crow takes out his bad and stuffs four of them into his bag. "My work here is done." he declares.

"Wait what? Just scooping a few of em?"
Dynamike replies.

"They'll get mad if they see you take any, so I'm only taking what I can carry" Crow replies with an eye roll.

He tosses his lootbag up and uses his high jump for a boost, catching the bag midair and landing on the upper floor.

Dynamike watches as the enigmatic creature makes his leave and shrugs his shoulders. "More for me then" he says. As Dynamike bends to pick up a second gem, a large shadow is cast over him. One of the creatures looking down on him.

Dynamike chuckles nervously as he looks up at the enraged beast.

Crow, who is recollecting his share is greeted by loud screaming, Dynamike comes flying over his head, smashing into the wall and peeling off slowly as he falls to the ground.

The bird just stares as he walks over to him. "Told ya- also I'm taking these." Crow nabs the two gems in his possession and runs off as the unconscious miner lies there like the fool he is.

{0 ___0____0}

Starr sits in his room, sipping tea at an entire set tea table...strange thing is that he is the only one there.

R-T makes his way in with a maid costume on, his face expression more than displeased.

"Sir, councilman Orion is here to see you."

"Ahh yes, let him in."

As he walks out, Orion walks in, out of breath and roughed up.

"Sir.........I have bad news- some clowns released those gem creatures."

Starr takes a spittake and stands up. "WHAT?"

"Wait, that's not all. The Power cubes are compromised "

"Hold on." Starr than takes another sip of tea before putting his cup down and doing a second comedic spittake. "WHATTT?" He repeats.

Starr begins to pace the floor a bit, before snapping his fingers spontaneously.

"Send out a strike team, don't go yourself but send them out. I need you to secure or kill the creatures and capture the joker."
Starr holds his finger out in halt.
"But, don't send them out with anything Starr branded, send them out in one of the decoy outfits."

"Yes, sir." Orion replies as he runs out of the room.

Once the councilman leaves, Starr smirks proudly. "Your days are numbered."

{0 ___0____0}

Jessie, Pam, and Nani reach and dead end and the creature corners them, they back off slowly as the grow closer and closer to the wall.

"Mama, what should we do?" Jessie cries in fear as she hugs her mother tightly.

"When I give the signal, you run left as fast as you can, and Nan-"

Just then, a commotion occurs, the ground from above breaks and the debris catches the creature offguard, the Junkers take the chance to run.

Shelly and her possé fall directly on top of the creature, but it quickly shakes them all off, shooting each member in a different direction, except Colt who stays on its head. 0

"It's Colt and the others!" Jessie shouts out in joy. She jumps up and squeals subsequently. "And Kit is here too!"

Kit smirks. "Nice to know I still have my fans."

As Colt hears his name being called out, his seemingly dead confidence suddenly resurfaces. He attempts to wrangle the thing from above.

"Heya, Jessie! Long time, no see! Hey Pam, fancy seeing you here?"

Jessie waves while Pam just stares confused.

Shelly and Poco get to their feet and run over to the creature, Colt's roughousing causes the creature to go wild, hitting its head against the wall.

"Colt, get off that thing." Poco yells.

"Colt looks above him and the ceiling begins to crumble, he hops off and the ceiling comes crashing down on the creature causing it to fall. The impact subsequently causes the ground below it to break and it falls down another level.

Colt, Shelly and Poco rush to look down at it.

"Wow." Poco muses as he steps back from the hole. "This is quite the cave."

Pam then steps forward. "Colt, thanks for... Whatever that just was, I appreciate it."

Colt shakes her hand, enjoying the gratitude. "It was nothing."

Shelly rolls her eyes as she watches from a distance.

Brock and Kit get off the ground and begin searching for the basket.

"Yall looking for this?" Piper enters the scene, stepping over tons of debris and making her way to the gang.

Shelly's face lights up. "Piper!" she exclaims. "We've been looking all over for you."

"You have?"

"Yeah" she replies in a bubbly tone. "This gift basket was for you, we went through a lot of trouble keeping it safe."

Piper browses the basket and her eyes widen as she sees the contents.
"Oh, sugar. How did you know exactly what I needed?"

"Actually I g-" before she can finish her sentence, Piper pulls her in for an affectionate hug, and Shelly leans in.

"I have some cookies on my if y'all want any, it's the least I can do." Piper offers warmly as she hands Shelly a tin.

Shelly sighs deeply, feeling Brock, Poco and Kit's stares.
"Go ahead" she replies with a smirk. Kit then snatches the tin and Brock chases after him.

"Hey!" Shelly yells. "Those are still mine!" she and Poco exit the scene as they chase after the mischievous feline.

Piper's eyes then lay on the Junker family and her eyes widen.

"P-Pam? " she mutters. A twinge of disbelief in her voice.

"Piper?" Pam replies, her voice a lot less grounded but with a lot less emotion.

Jessie and Nani look at each other in confusion as they stare. Colt and Spike also watch.

Piper suddenly turns and begins to walk off, without uttering another word.

Pam's eyes narrow as she grabs Jessie's hand. "Come on, let's go home."

{0 ___0____0}

Crow rushes through the desolving cave with his sack of loot in his hands. As he runs, he hears a brawl nearby and stops.

Crow slowly turns the corner to see masked people fighting off the creatures. Some being captured, some being tazed and some being stabbed.
This upsets Crow, he begins to fire up as he pulls out his daggers.

Three of the men fight off a large one, shooting at it until it is weak. One of them goes in for a stab using a bright and blazing blade and another goes for the taze. The creature falls in defeat, on the verge of death.

In the blink of an eye, one of the three men falls. The man beside him looks down to see three daggers in his back, he plucks one out, it's poison tipped...

The man in question falls too and behind him is Crow, he begins to toss his triple daggers all over, taking out every single member of the strike team. The surviving creatures use this as an opportunity to escape but Crow doesn't care as his daggers don't hurt them.

As he sees the people run away, he makes for a final swoop, he jumps up, tossing daggers in his wake and lands a few feet forward, tossing even more daggers in all directions. Every member of the strike team falls, all but one.

Crow sees one of them, limping away, attempting to escape. Crow shakes his head and jumps up once again, landing on them. He turns them around and removes the mask, it is a woman..a young woman...almost too young. She had brown hair and freckles.

"Huh, whatever gang you're from's doing child labour, huh?"

"Please." she begs in desperation. "Please don't do it."

A man, not so far from them watches as this happens, he narrows his eyes pulls out his gun weakly, aiming it at Crow.

Crow pulls out another dagger. "Huh, begging. I like that. I'll give you a deal, tell me who you work for and I'll set you free."

She continues to whimper as Crow speaks, this prompts him to roll his eyes.

"Listen, kid. I don't want to kill you but I can't let you go if I know you'll return to yer boss. They'll send people after me and my family, I don't want that."

"Okay, I'll tell you. I promise." she says as Crow gets off her. He drops the dagger.

"I'll be sure to get you out of here, a promise is a promise, now who is it?"

"It's S-" just before she can speak, a gunshot darts through the room, the girl stops in her tracks, falling to the ground.

Crow is bewildered, he turns to see the older man holding the gun.

"Stupid traitor girl" he mumbles, the man then falls flat on his face, unable to move any longer

Crow narrows his eyes. "Screw you." he growls. He grabs the girl's locket and pulls the dynamite from his pocket, tossing it up as high as he can, he begins to run away but before he makes his exit, he pierces the stick with his dagger, blowing the site up dramatically.

{0 ___0____0}

At the Junker House, Jessie sits on the couch, her hands clasped together and humbly on her lap.

"I mean, what were you thinking? You could have got yourself killed!" she laments."

"I'm sorry, mama. I was just curious about the stone." she whimpers.

Pam sits next to her, pulling her closer. "it's OK pumpkin. Just please try to stay away from the Square. If you want to chat with people, do it here."

Nani, who is playing chess with Peep begins to speak up. "You have been awful friendly with that Colt boy." she says. "I'm suprised you approve of him."

Pam shrugs. "His close links to Starr made me skeptical, but the boy's good and a good role model for Jessie. He's been teaching Jessie some great things about the Square."

Jessie dries her tears. "Mama, what is this stone all about anyways." she inquires.

Pam chuckles heartily. "I'm not sure yet, pumpkin, but I'll find out." she replies.

"OMG!" Jessie blurts out suddenly. "Colt knows Kit, he KNOWS KIT!"

As Jessie is distracted, Pam gets on her feet and heads to the family phone, picking it up and dialing a number, all while still holding the stone.

"Hello? Boss?"

"We've found one."

{0 ___0____0}

Shelly is sitting at a bench in the park, Kit asleep on her lap and her hand in the cookie tin, a singular cookie left, she doesn't eat it however.

At the bottom of the hill is Colt and Poco, looking up at her.

"Go talk to her." Poco urges as he walks away.
Colt looks back at him before taking a deep breath and walking forward, he takes a seat across her.

Shelly notices the presence but chooses to not act on it.

"Hey." she says.

"Hey."

Colt takes a deep breath. "Shelly, I'm really sorry, I've been a horrible friend, and I've failed you."

"Multiple times you have." Shelly mumbles.

"Do you know how it feels to be ghosted numerous times by the same person." Shelly laments, her tone deadpan.

"What's happened to you? What's happened to us? We used to always be there for each other, what happened to that?"

Colt looks up into the sky. "There's no excuses, I've been horrible.....I'm sorry, I don't want us to end like this. I-"

Shelly turns to him, finally making eye contact. "Oh Colt. We're still friends, I'm just mad at you, that's all."

She reaches into the tin and hands him the last cookie. "Listen, just don't be suprised when I start leaning on you less. You're great for a lot of things, but it's clear that emotional support isn't one of them."

Shelly gets up, placing Kit in the tin. She walks off into the sunset, leaving Colt alone.