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“It’s been a pleasure, gentlemen!”
Catboy’s ears twitch - follow the voice - as he spins around to watch Wise escape from the police; only to give a dramatic bow at the top of a building before disappearing. His eyes sting as he blinks away the tears that had formed from overusing his Eagle Vision.
His unit was called out to the harbour for murder but crashed into a villain meeting instead.
Captain Puffy doesn’t say a word about the whole thing - just watching Wise - until she suddenly snaps into action and gives orders to round up all the low-level villains still hiding. There’s no point in going after any high levels since they are already gone.
The only one who doesn’t seem all to worry about the situation is Lieutenant Philza Minecraft. Though to be fair, that guy never appears worried about anything even when his son was shot while on an undercover case a couple of years ago.
Suddenly, everything crashed back down around him.
Catboy left the scene - activating Eagle Vision once more - and wanders until he reaches an alleyway across the street. He just needs a moment to calm his pounding headache.
That’s the issue with overusing Eagle Vision since it always backfires on him but Catboy can’t do his job without it. No one wants a blind detective solving their cases. It’s silly and no matter how much his Captain tells people that he’s one of their best, they always find something to fault him on.
“Detective?”
He was going to activate Eagle Vision but stopped when pain seared around his eyes.
“It's fine Cat, it’s just me.”
Cornelius places a hand on his arm and Catboy can feel his grin even though he can’t see his boyfriend’s face.
Though why is Cornelius down here at the harbour?
Catboy was told that Cornelius was busy with a family emergency and wouldn’t be in town for a while.
“What are you doing here?” Catboy ask. “Is your family okay?”
“Huh?” Cornelius sounds surprised but quickly covers it up. “Oh, yeah Cita is fine. She and Co were able to sort it out without me.”
Catboy places a hand over the top of Cornelius’s hand. “Well, I’m glad since I still would like to meet them.” It’s something that he wanted to do for a while now, especially since Cornelius had met Robin already and even spent a great deal of time with his son.
Robin already introduces Cornelius as his stepfather at this point.
“Maybe we can all do dinner sometime.”
“I’ll check with Cita and Co.”
Catboy pulls the two of them out of the alleyway and back towards his unit; feeling Cornelius tighten his hold on Catboy. Catboy squeezes his boyfriend’s hand in comfort but wonders what Cornelius is hiding from him.
The two never agreed to share secrets nor to reveal anything about their past but Catboy thought they were at the point where they could trust one another if they were in any kind of problem.
“Cornelius!” Puffy shouts. “We’ve got a body.”
“A body?” Cornelius whispered, almost unbelieving that a body was found there. “Give me a second!”
“Is that why you’re down here?” Catboy question.
Cornelius let Catboy go; “no, I came to see you but I should get to work since I’m here.”
Catboy frowns, knowing his boyfriend is hiding something but he can’t even question it.
Doesn’t matter right now, he has a job to do.
…
“Come again?” Shroud had turned his attention from his homework to his grandfather standing in the doorway. “You want me to do what now?”
“I’m wondering if you want to come to work with me?”
Shroud always knew his family was strange - being a part of the Syndicate that’s run by his Uncle Technoblade. They are well-known for being benefactors but nothing more than that, mostly because the family doesn’t want to be traced back to them.
It’s the deal that Technoblade and Philza struck a long time ago, both having a similar goal but having different outcomes of how to reach that goal.
The Deal? That’s between the two of them.
Standing in his doorway isn’t his grandfather (Philza), Birdie, but his other grandfather (Sam), Warden. Shroud wasn’t told much about their agreement about Coyote’s custody between them and he heavily doubts he will.
“Why?”
Shroud wants to know more, knowing better than to just agree to stuff. It’s not fun learning how to hunt at the crack of dawn without any knowledge, especially from his Uncle Technoblade and Wilbur. Coyote threw a fit when they returned and refused to allow him to hang out with his Uncles after that; alone at least.
He spins his chair around and tries to mimic Coyote the best he can.
Warden looks amused; “we need your ability to speak to the dead.”
“So, Birdie ask for me?”
Warden nods, though not quite happy about Shroud mentioning Philza.
Shroud shut his textbooks and flicked his lamp off before standing up. Rain has been pounding against his window for the last hour or so. It’s almost peaceful if it wasn’t because of a murder that just happened.
“Lead the way, Warden.”
Sam chuckles - ruffling Shroud’s hair - and takes the lead for this new case.
…
On the TV is Jimmy, the mayor of L’Manberg, with his wife (Helga) standing off to the side. Neither one seems to be mourning the loss of one of their own; many had taken note of that.
Puffy tried to warn them that they should at least pretend to be sad but neither one has been a good actor.
She sighed and went about picking at her salad.
“Keep that up and you’ll never stop it,” Nihachu said as she placed a hand over the tops of Puffy’s. “You’ll solve this and then the Mayor will give you the key to the city or something.”
There it was, that dazzling smile that Puffy had fallen in love with. Nihachu had always known how to cheer her up even during the darkest of days when Puffy couldn’t even find the strength to leave her bed.
Being at Nihachu’s bakery has always made things better when something isn’t going the way that Puffy wants it to. That and being out on her boat…though she having a hard time adjusting since her duckling was carted off to Pandora and her daughter started college.
Maybe things would have turned out differently if Puffy had listened to Sherman over Punz that day. She should pay a visit to the Sheriff and apologize for what had happened. Even though everyone said that there was no need, especially Nihachu.
And maybe they are right.
“I’m sorry,” Puffy pulls away - noting the hurt on her girlfriend’s face. “I need to get back.”
…
“Do you have everything?” Sally questions, causing Wilbur and Fundy from escaping and earning a signed ‘busted’ from Tallulah.
Both were called out to the harbour to deal with a shipment that got trapped behind some yellow tape. Wilbur could easily get it untangled and figured it would be a good bonding experience with his son.
Sally is in the middle of her important paperwork for Mizu and has stopped them from leaving without even looking up. She smiles at her husband and son which causes them both to react as if they were burned.
It’s one of the many reasons why she’s called the Siren.
“Yes, Mom.” Fundy quickly steps in between his parents to stop the conversation dead. “Can we please go before we lose the shipment?”
Sally and Wilbur look at one another over top of Fundy; both understanding what the other is thinking. Wilbur ruffles his son’s hair and goes to his wife to kiss her on the cheek, still in disbelief at the fact that this is his wife.
“We’ll be back before supper, Tommy and Rosie have been working on it all day.”
Sally waves them away before looking over at her daughter, who’s quite busy with school work that Florence had signed his class.
“Can you believe those two?” she playfully questions while signing.
‘You married him,’ Tallulah signs back.
Sally dramatically gasps and places a hand on her chest; “and he is the reason why you even exist.”
They both fall into laughter before returning to their work.
…
Rosie doesn’t understand the words that her brother has been saying for the past hour. The two were tasked with making dinner for tonight’s dinner party but at some point, Tommy had started complaining and wasn’t actually helping anymore.
It was interesting in the beginning - since she’s been away for school and hasn’t been able to gather much information about what the family has been up to - but at some point Rosie just wants Tommy to shut up.
Don’t get her wrong, she loves her brother but most of what he’s complaining about is nonsense at this point.
“And then Church Prime was set on fire - are you even listening to me, Rosie?”
Tommy finally stops talking and looks at her.
“No,” she admits. “I stop listening after you start complaining about Tubbo for the tenth time.”
“I asked him ‘what I am without him’ and you know what he said?”
Rosie rolls her eyes and echoes Tommy: “Yourself.”
“What kind of bull-” Tommy flinches at the glare his sister sends his way and he coughs before continuing. “What kind of answer is that?”
“A decent one.” Rosie does care about her brother’s problem but Tubbo and Tommy have this fight every six months on the dot. “Anyways, can you grab the pink salt?”
Tommy hopped down from the counter and went digging for what Rosie had asked for. Which should keep him busy so she can finish the pumpkin pie that she’s been making.
“Have you heard from Grandpa Oliver or Uncle Phin?” Rosie asked after the silence got a little too much.
“Uh, no.” The sounds of Tommy roughly pushing things around fill the silence and Rosie is really glad that he didn’t pick the cabinet with the dishes. “Last I heard, they went to the mountains and haven’t been seen since.”
Oliver and Phin have been talking about something magical up in the mountains near L’Manberg but never told anyone what that could be.
“I’m sure they're fine.”
Rosie jumps when Tommy is suddenly next to her and handing over the pink salt…which they shouldn’t even have.
She takes it and thanks Tommy but sets it off to the side instead of putting it in the pie; she really needs to finish dinner because she cannot take any more of her brother’s complaining.
…
Entering the office feels like entering the Nether; harsh, suffocating, and rotting. Billiam could understand that better than anyone else since his family were once from there. A prison that never cools, that never showed mercy, and the only space that L’Manberg had complete control over.
Billiam stands a distance from the desk with his butlers standing guard at the door.
Standing before him is the one person who could set them all free from that prison.
Though Billiam knows better than anyone else to never trust a Blood God.
“You know what this city needs, Billiam?” Technoblade asks, looking over L’Manberg as if he’s passing judgment onto the space below.
This city is beautiful but it disgusts Billiam with the way it doesn’t bleed red.
“What’s that, sir?”
Technoblade smirks – amused by the question – and stands just a little more proudly.
“To be levelled to Bedrock.”