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Chapter Text

SCENES FROM:

EPISODE 1

SEASON ONE 1

These will not be in order. Just coincidentally wanted to write this one first.

The metal doors slid open to reveal the dark control room, lit in neon blue. Scientists and operators everywhere, sat in chairs, walking around. The three came through in their casual clothes. 

Grayson Gunn stood at the front by a large screen. Connor spoke up.

“We’re sorry we’re late, Sir, we—“

”This is more important.” Gunn turned toward the screen and pressed a remote. An image— a diagram of Nori Nakamura flashed into view. Their chest implant highlighted. 

“Nori Nakamura was just sighted by the museum, still using their GunnTech-issued suit,”

The teens’ eyes widened, they exchanged glances. “Not only that,” he clicked the remote, “They’ve kidnapped GunnTech Trainees.”

An image of Nori on the steps of the museum, young children in less advanced, purple suits following him came onscreen.

Amaya frowned.

”I can’t believe he’d drag them into this—“

”I can.” Connor said, dead serious, bothered.

“I need you three to bring him back here, him and however many children he’s taken.”

”Will the children face.. any punishment?” Amaya asked. 

“He’s brainwashing them, Amaya,” Gunn said dryly, “It’s not their fault, but they’ll have to go through a re-learning program to ensure they’re not dangers to the public, which will set them back.

“Right.” she said. 

“Get suited up and go after him. I don’t usually pressure you, but I expect results this time. You’re becoming adults now, and I want higher quality work from you. You either come back with Nori or one of the kids.”

”Yes, Sir.” 

—

They stepped into their giant, individual rooms, equally high-tech and neon. Blue, red and green, they pressed their bracelets. The implants under the skin of their chests lit up. They twitched, used to it. Connor’s hair grew, cat ears emerging from them. Amaya’s pupils shrunk to sharp lines. Greg’s skin began to shimmer as invisible scales hardened on, from the neck down, eventually forming a gecko’s tail. 

In each room, metal claws holding different parts of their suits came down from the ceilings. The chest piece came in halves and clasped around them, elbow and knee protectors strapped themselves automatically. Amaya lifted her arms up for the wings to be attached to the panel on her back. She thanked the machinery, she always did. An artificial voice spoke in Greg’s room. 

“Please check suit functionality.” 

Greg blinked, and turned invisible instantly. Second nature. He used to need to concentrate. 

“Suit functionality confirmed.”

The same happened for Connor.

”Please check suit functionality.” spoke the voice.

”Suit’s good.” Connor rolled his now cat-like eyes. 

“Suit functionality unknown.” The voice said, you could almost hear the dejection. 

He left the room. 

—

They all rejoined each other in the vehicle hangar, suited up in the most advanced armour money could buy. Connor’s resembling a racer’s, Amaya’s resembling an airforce pilot’s and Greg’s resembling a martial artist’s gear. 

“What are we taking today?”

”If we’re looking for a ninja, we’re going to need the glider.” Amaya stated. 

“We’re taking the car.” Connor lifted his claw. 

“Wouldn’t be so sure about that, pal.”

From behind one of the standard GunnTech cars to each side emerged a blue-skinned teen with pointed ears and short black and pink hair, covered in oil and dirt, “Someone totalled it on their last mission.” He smiled slyly, his pearly-white teeth poking out, charming. Cartoka. Augmented technician, no chest implant.

“You haven’t fixed it yet?” Connor’s nose wrinkled in frustration. 

“Carly?” Cartoka spoke, looking behind him. 

“Yeah?” a blue girl said, sat in one of the cars. 

“Connor here doesn’t remember who it is at GunnTech that we work for, bless his heart.”

“Shame he doesn’t have a friend who’s related to the man.”

”The world’s unfair,” Cartoka sighed with a smile. 

“Alright, you two,” Greg chuckled nervously, “Let’s not antagonise him. You work at your own speed..”

”Always do.”

“Sorry, fine, just give us the glider.” Connor grumbled, Amaya smiling behind him and casting a look at Greg. 

“Just give us the glider…?” Cartoka trailed off, grinning.

“Please.”

”Now there’s a good man.”

Cartoka took off at practically light-speed. Connor scoffed. 

“You don’t have to be that fast, your speed is perfect.” Greg smiled. 

“I’m not jealous,” 

“We never said you were,”

Cartoka pulled a lever and a panel in the ceiling began to lower. On it was a sleek and gorgeous, metallic red glider. Rather than wheels, it had talons. Amaya walked towards it and put her hand on the windshield affectionately. 

“You cleaned her?” Amaya beamed at Cartoka.

”She was looking a little unhappy, so..”

”You’re a star, Cartoka,”

”I’m no Newton, Miss. Kobayashi,” he said humbly.

.

Once all in, the platform began to lift again. 

“Seatbelts,” Amaya said, flipping switches above her and on her control panel. The aircraft began to rumble. The mechanical, bird feet of it stood up, rocking everyone. A small microphone built into her suit extended just by her mouth. 

“GunnTech Ground, GunnTech 0W15, GunnTech Air Hangar Runway, requesting clearance for takeoff.”

Air Traffic Control came through.

“GunnTech Ground, GunnTech OW15, 3-5 wind, bearing 3-2-0  degrees, 9 knots, QNH 1012, cleared from GunnTech Airbase Tarabiscoville to Tarabiscoville Museum, after departure left turn inbound Park Avenue Tarabiscoville, climb 1000 feet, squawk 1-3-6-0.”

On a notepad, Amaya wrote as the responder spoke, and then repeated every word said back to him, on the end adding “GunnTech 0W15.”

” GunnTech 0W15 cleared for takeoff, Runway 1,”

”GunnTech Ground, GunnTech 0W15, cleared for takeoff, Runway 1 Will-Co.”

She flipped several more switches, and then pressed on the steering wheel. The glider slowly lurched forward and began to rush down the runway. With no wheels, the bird feet started at a walk and progressed into a mad dash the same speed of any plane. The wings of the glider’s metal plates opened up. Greg leaned back in his seat.

”Thrust set,” Amaya communicated.

It went faster, and faster, and faster, wings picking up air until the legs slowly pulled from underneath it, swept back like a bird’s. 

Connor looked out the window. Their surroundings turned from a city to a pitch black void peppered with lights, moving and static. The pressure dropped, the group’s ears blocking. He winced, cat ears pulling back. Soon, only clouds and silence. 

Amaya hummed, glanced back at the boys. 

Blinking, occasional shifting in seats.

“So, Nori…”

”I just don’t understand why he would do this,” Connor said, arms crossed.

”The kids?”

”Hm,”

”He doesn’t understand that GunnTech is on his side,” Greg spoke. “We’ll convince him to come back and Uncle Gray will speak to him,”

”Nori isn’t that easy to persuade.” Connor said. 

“I think they are,” Amaya said, “It’s just that you’re bad at persuasion,”

”I am?” Connor snickered.

”You speak and yet you say nothing, what of that?”

”Did you just quote Romeo and Juliet?” Greg said, surprised. 

“Yes!” Amaya laughed. 

“They must’ve made a cameo in Flossy Flash, because..”

”I can enjoy the non-comic-related arts occasionally,” she brought her microphone down, “Gunntech Ground, GunnTech 0W15, maintaining flight level 0-8-0,”

”GunnTech 0W15.” responded Air Traffic Control. Amaya put her mic away.

“We’ll get him back. We’ll get Luna back.”

”Have you seen Luna?” Greg asked. 

“No,” Amaya responded, “But I trust her. She wouldn’t disappear on me. She’ll come to one of us when she’s ready.”

“Nori on the other hand,” Connor started, “Disappears first, disappears for even longer, kidnaps kids, never comes to anyone and then reappears at the museum.”

”Sounds like Nori to me.” Greg chuckled, pained with the awkwardness.

”How can you laugh at it, though? Three.. Two of our friends are just… Gone.” Connor hissed. 

“Connor.” Greg put a hand on the cat’s shoulder, “When this is over, we, Luna and Nori are going to look back at it and laugh. So, I figure.. why not laugh now? It does a body good.”

“You sound like an old man.” Connor smiled, placing his claw on Greg’s hand softly. 

“Oh, you spend enough time with Uncle Gray.”

Bang. The aircraft continued to fly relatively normally, albeit making further grinding noises.

Amaya’s eyes shot toward the side of the glider. She still spoke calmly.

”Pan-Pan, Pan-Pan. GunnTech Ground, GunnTech 0W15, uhh, 0.5 miles southwest at 0-6-0. We are approaching Bowman lake. Something seems to be, uhh, jamming left engine. Altitude is.. 1-1-0-7 metres. Right now, we’re just cruising. I intend to ditch on the bridge, there’s almost enough space. 387 minutes of fuel remaining. 2 passengers on board, one captain,”

“GunnTech 0W15, roger, uhh, what can I do for you?”

”We’re experiencing symptoms of partial failure, but I’m able to maintain a slow descent. We’re close enough to the ground for us not to have too rough a landing.”

A second of silence.

”Pan to your rough-running engine is acknowledged,”

The boys were frozen as the glider descended. 

“What’s going on?” Greg asked, heart racing.

”Uhh, just what it sounds like. Possible bird strike.”

“Will we be okay?”

“Most likely.”

Connor extended his hand to Greg, who took it. Connor nodded to him and he gave a strained smile.  

Bang. Something hit the windshield, splatted all over it. Gold, glowing. Amaya gasped. More like a modern plane, rather than windshield wipers, the glider blew hot air onto the windshield.

”Not a bird strike,” Connor growled. 

Amaya brought the aircraft down. She flipped a switch and the legs extended forward again, approaching the bridge. It wasn’t quite as long as a runway needed to be but it served its purpose. 

With a lurch, the glider touched down, running forward to brake. Fast, then slow, talons digging into the tarmac. 

Amaya said nothing for a few seconds, getting her bearings.  

“GunnTech Ground, GunnTech 0W15. Touched down safely.”

”GunnTech 0W15, do you need local emergency services notified?”

”No, we’ll be compromised. Do not notify local emergency services. Uh, we’ll be continuing mission as normal. Thank you.”

”Copy. Glad you’re okay.”

Amaya began to shut down the glider.

”Why didn’t you tell them that it was Nori?” Connor asked, incredulous.

”Nori’s close, we don’t tell on them.”

Connor ripped off his seatbelt. Amaya flipped off the seatbelts sign. Greg then unclipped his. The three emerged from the glider. 

“No point hiding Nori, we know you’re here!” Connor yelled, standing on top of the glider, pupils thin as needles. 

The night air droned. Pitch black and eerie. The three were encircled by an omnipresent shadow. 

“Well done…” a silvery voice echoed. 

The group began to look around. 

“Weren’t always the smartest, were you, Connor?” the voice came from somewhere else. “I guess all that time you spent with Romeo went to waste. Everything went through one ear and right out the other?..”

Connor’s eyes narrowed.

A soft finger ran across his ear. 

“Shame these huge, ridiculous ears went to waste,”

Connor yelled and swiped behind him. Nori was stood on the glider, leaning down. The ninja stood straight up again. He chuckled low. Connor pulled his ears back in embarrassment with his hands, brushing off the touch. 

“Nice to see you three again.” Nori said genuinely, warmly. 

”Nori, that wasn’t funny, we could’ve gotten hurt,” Amaya said. 

“Which is why I only did it when you were so low down. Besides, you’re a good pilot, Amaya.”

”Aw, thanks—wait, don’t try to ingratiate yourself with us. We have a warrant out for your arrest… And… It’s nice to see you too.”

Nori jumped down and hugged Amaya tightly. 

“How you been, Amaya?” they asked, then moving straight onto the much taller Greg. 

“We’ve missed you.” Greg said.

”Connor, hug?” Nori asked.

”No.”

”Suit yourself,” Nori whistled a high note out into the night. “You can come out!”

Behind them, three pairs of little feet landed on the glider. Children in their trainee uniforms.

“Hi!” they cried in unison. Amaya and Greg waved to them, one more confused than the other.

”I love your wings,” one said to Amaya. 

“I like your tail,” another said to Greg.

Nori, arms crossed beside Connor, glanced at him awkwardly. 

“Can’t all win with the kids, Connor.”

Connor groaned.  

Chapter Text

SCENE FROM:

END OF SEASON 2

“What do you think it is?” Gregory asked.

“Octobella.” Connor responded, gritting his teeth and trying to stay calm.

The submarine made its way through the deep, pitch black aside from the headlights piercing through the black canvas of the lake.

“Connor, that’s not her name,” Amaya said gently.

“Sorry, Isabella. Who else could it be underwater?”

“This isn’t her M-O. When she attacks the crystal mines she’s.. well, obvious. She’s lashing out at GunnTech for accidentally changing her,” Greg said.

“To be fair, wouldn’t you?” Amaya said, “If they turned you into a half-gecko?”

“It was an accident, Amaya, and Uncle Gray paid her family half a million dollars and tried to reverse it. Isabella just walked out on us and started retaliating.”

“The point is, it’s not her.”

Vessel Traffic Service sounded over Greg’s speakers.

“Vessel Call Sign G3K0– Vessel Call Sign G3K0, Vessel Call Sign G3K0– this is Tarabiscoville Traffic. Question: What is your position, please? Over.”

“Tarabiscoville Traffic, this is the U.S.S Gekkonomorpha G3K0. Answer: My position is 0.2 nautical miles south of buoy Delta, over.”

“U.S.S Gekkonomorpha G3K0, this is Tarabiscoville Traffic. There are two vessels from South to West, Captain. Question: which of the two are you? Over.”

Greg paused. The others looked at each other and listened.

“Tarabiscoville Traffic, this is the U.S.S Gekkonomorpha G3K0. I wasn’t aware there was another vessel. Answer: I am the southern-most vessel. Over.”

Another pause.

“U.S.S Gekkonomorpha G3K0, this is Tarabiscoville Traffic. Unknown vessel is stationary, 0.3 nautical miles from you. Question: Is the vessel not visible on your radar? Over.”

“Tarabiscoville Traffic, this is the U.S.S Gekkonomorpha G3K0. Answer: No, the vessel is not visible to me. Over.”

“U.S.S Gekkonomorpha G3K0, this is Tarabiscoville Traffic. You are approaching a possible threat. Your orders have changed. Advice:  Change from patrol routine to silent routine.”

“Tarabiscoville Traffic, this is the U.S.S Gekkonomorpha G3K0. My orders have changed. Changing to silent routine. Thank you. Over.”

True to his word, they all fell deathly silent. Something was out here with them. Not just a person. A vessel. Connor’s chest began to rise and fall quicker, breathing silently. His eyes swam. Amaya placed her hand on his shoulder. He spun to her in his chair. She took both of his hands and squeezed them, shutting her eyes.

Gregory watched his radar. Nothing else was on it. He kept count of the distance they travelled until they’d reach it. He was always precise about it, accurate in his judgement.

He slowed the submarine. Its reptilian body slithered through the water. They came to a cave, an air pocket. Greg turned to look back at Amaya. She understood. The transparent eye protectors of her mask glowed as she concentrated on the cave from afar.

Her eyes widened.

She glanced at Connor, who was focussed on controlling his breathing. Greg’s eyes also flitted to Connor for a moment. He looked back at Amaya and tilted his head, before taking the wheel once more and moving into the cave.

The submarine’s caterpillar tracks crawled onto the rocks of the air pocket.

The three silently emerged from it, Connor’s heart thumping in his ears.

They all made their way through the rough terrain.

Water dripped slowly from the ceilings covered in sharp stalagmites. Each drop echoed. They watched their feet. Little sea creatures and moss littered the ground. Connor looked up.

He skidded. He caught himself. The other two looked at him. He was fine.

They descended further. Every so often, they’d hear something… Mechanical. Electric. But quiet. A zap of electricity, whirring of gears. Only for a second.

The closer they got, the more sounds they could hear. Clanging of tools, drilling for a moment.

Finally, they came to something. A larger chamber at the bottom. Dark except for a tiny light, far at the back. The chamber was filled with water up until the back, with stones large enough to step on just bridging them and it.

Connor strained his eyes.

Someone was hammering away at something at the back of the cave.

The three looked at each other.

And stepped forward.

.

The person at the back of the cave turned around.

“I suppose you’d have to show up eventually.”

“Romeo?” Connor growled.

“Connor.” Romeo smiled serenely, “Amaya. Gregory. So I’ve ended up on Gunn’s radar, I see. He doesn’t like his bottom line being affected, does he?”

Connor turned to Amaya.

“Did you know about this?” he said. Amaya was wordless.

“Oh, I wouldn’t blame the bird,” Romeo grinned, “It won’t change today’s outcome. I have what I came for.”

“What are you doing here?” Greg called across the distance.

“We’re interested, are we, lizard?”

Romeo turned from his work station again and held something up. A small glowing crystal.

“My own crystal refinery.”

The three were speechless. “You didn’t think GunnTech was going to hoard crystal power to itself forever, did you?” he laughed, “Thought I’d figure it out?”

His words echoed. The others didn’t respond. “Should I feel insulted? Or are you too impressed to speak.”

This was bad.

Very bad.

Romeo.

With his own source of crystal power now.

He would no longer have to steal it from GunnTech, who had their own, secret crystal refinement process.

He figured it out.

He did it.

He loaded the crystal into a panel on his robot, a giant, sharp, six-tonne mech, and shut it.

Connor dashed at him, yelling. Greg was too slow to stop him.

Romeo smiled, shaking his head, tutting and simply lifted his hand. A robotic tentacle and claw grabbed him mid-air and smashed him into the wall behind Romeo.

“Connor!”

Amaya flew towards Romeo from one angle, Greg dove into the water and cut through it like nothing from another.

Romeo moved his hand and launched a claw toward Amaya. She sliced through it with her wing but was promptly caught by another. Romeo casually stepped away, protected by the robot.

Greg jumped out from the water to attack Romeo’s mech. A claw came at him. He grabbed it and crushed it in his hand. Behind them, Connor struggled against the wall. He tried to pull himself up and out from the claw. Amaya detached her wings and dropped from the claw’s grasp. She ran toward the robot. It threw an arm at her but she simply ran up it instead, reaching the head and disorienting it. Greg pushed past and grabbed Romeo, who smiled.

“Romeo, call it off.”

“No.”

He lifted a hand. From the mech’s back, a laser gun powered by the crystal unfolded and pointed at Romeo and Greg. It warmed up.

“What are you doing?!” Greg screamed and jumped away from the beam with Romeo, moving them out of harm’s way. They were on the ground.

The gun then pointed at Amaya, who was trying to pry off the head of the machine.

“Amaya!”

Greg ran at her and jumped.

A claw grabbed his face.

And began to clamp down.

“Greg?” she turned her head. The mech took advantage, launched her off it. She yelled in the air. A claw grabbed her by the face as well. The two struggled, heads being crushed slowly. Greg tried to crush the claw again but pink light surged up through the tentacle. Crystal power.

Romeo steadied himself and walked into the light again.

Connor dropped behind him, having gotten free earlier.

“Romeo.”

He walked toward him.

“I wouldn’t do whatever you’re about to.”

Romeo gestured tentatively to Amaya and Greg, held up in the air by their heads. Connor’s ears folded back. “Unless of course, you’re more or less alright with your petting zoo being permanently put out of business?”

“Let them go.”

“No.”

Romeo lifted his free hand and began to squeeze it into a fist. The claws mimicked him and began to squeeze the other teammates’ heads.

“Romeo, stop it, you’re going to kill them!”

“And?”

“They’re your friends!”

Connor grabbed Romeo’s hand and tugged, trying to unclasp his fist. Romeo just smirked at the shorter boy.

“Are they?” he asked amusedly, like he’d just discovered the fact.

“Romeo!”

“Whatever happened to how well-mannered you used to be? I want to hear you say it nicely , Connor.”

Connor looked up. His friends. Looked down again. His hand was clawing at Romeo’s fist.

“Romeo, please..”

Romeo lifted an eyebrow.

“Don’t kill them. They’re the only thing I have.”

Romeo snickered.

He dropped them. He brought his hand to Connor’s face. Connor’s upper lip quivered in anger. Animalistic.

“See how much easier things are when you’re not so difficult… kitten?”

Connor shoved Romeo and ran to his friends.

“Are you okay?”

The two lay on the floor, breathing heavy, holding their heads, regaining their bearings.

“Put in your places with a crystal only the size of my index finger.”

Romeo popped the crystal out of the robot’s hatch. “Imagine what I could do with the amount of crystal power used to fuel you .”

The robot began to fold into itself, becoming slightly smaller. The two entered Romeo’s ship, which was parked in the darkness.

“But that’s for next time, right? A smart performer drip-feeds the audience. Goodbye for now, you two. Goodbye, Connor.”

The doors shut. The ship began to whirr. Its lights activated, engines began to run. Connor grabbed the other two’s arms and ran to the other side of the cave to be out of the way as the ship took off, destroying stalagmites in its path.

It also destroyed the barrier that kept this cave full of air.

Water began to rush in.

Connor gasped. He picked up Amaya’s wings, Amaya, and dragged Greg the best he could. His suit lit up with power as he sped toward the submarine, jumping through the same rocky terrain they came which was now filling up. Water reached his knees, then thighs. He opened the submarine, tossed everyone in and rolled in himself, smacking against the wall. Water consumed them, rushing over the glass of the submarine.

Connor lay on its floor, and put his face in his hands.

Chapter Text

SCENE FROM

MIDDLE TO END OF

SEASON 3 

“Thank you for hearing me out.” Greg said, suited up. He and Luna walked along the giant rooftops.

“You’re the most reasonable of GunnTech’s little chess pieces,”Luna said, on a ledge, turned away from him. He opened his mouth. She twisted her back to look. “I’m kidding , Greg!”

She continued to balance along the ledge, flipping her hair, catching the moonlight

“Look, Connor and Amaya are… having their doubts about GunnTech, like you did.”

“About time..”

“No, Luna, you— you don’t understand. Right now, we can’t be divided. Romeo has his hands on the crystals.”

“So?”

“He knows how to refine them.”

Luna stopped.

“Seriously?”

Greg nodded. She groaned, eyebrows furrowed in worry. “I guess it was only a matter of time.”

She hopped onto her board and floated to Greg’s side, holding onto it with a hand. “So what are you going to do? What’s Gunn gonna do? Does Gunn even know?”

“Uncle Gray knows. Which is why I came to talk to you. You, Newton and, eventually Lily, are the strongest GunnTech Representatives we have.”

“Representatives. Spare me, Gregory, we’re lab rats. You’re a lab rat. You, Connor and Amaya.”

“We’re not getting into that circular argument again. The point is we need you. Newton’s not fully confident with his powers, he’s coming along quickly but—“

“Nope.”

“Luna.”

She floated off to the edge of the building on her board. “I can’t force you, I’m asking you as a friend. We need your help. You don’t need to put on the suit or— or anything like that, we just need your power to arrest Romeo, put him away so everyone’s safe.”

She floated about him, getting closer and farther occasionally.

“I escaped so I could leave that lifestyle! I never wanted to become a Super-Cop, I never wanted to be involved in the whole saving-the-world thing, that’s all you! Greg, I’m saving up for college, I have a job ! I don’t want people to get hurt, but y’know what?” she took a lock of her own hair in her hands, “I didn’t want this either.”

“Luna…”

Greg extended his hand. She sighed and took it, softly. Still hovering on her board and yet short enough to be at his height. “Just this once? One mission. If it doesn’t work out, I won’t talk to you about it again, I’ll leave you alone and you’ll… you’ll never have to see us. Me, Connor or Amaya. You’ll get the quiet life you always wanted— that you deserved.”

Luna blinked, looking down at their hands. She opened her mouth to speak.

“Greg, I’m—“

A shot behind them.

She looked.

Snipers.

Missed her. Greg looked up. GunnTech snipers—

Agents emerged from around the sides of the buildings. Greg’s heart dropped into his stomach.

“Oh my God-“

“Stop!” Greg called out, the agents ignoring him and continuing to approach. Luna began sprinting to the other side of the roof, dragging her board and then hopping onto it.

Greg put himself between her and the agents.

“Wait! She was about to—“

“Out of the way, Mr. Gunn.”

He obeyed immediately.

His knees, his spine— jelly.

Luna was shot, back of the neck. She gasped. She ripped out the dart and flew through the air on her board.

“Luna! Land!”

She surged forward, now chased by helicopters. Body on fire, heart beating against her chest, panting like a dog.

“No! No, I can’t do this again!”

Feeling herself slip away, she landed. Her legs gave out, she rolled onto the streets, got up and started running, abandoning her board.

Gregory, now on the ground, searched for her.

“Luna, we’re not going to hurt you!”

Agents found her first. Surrounded. She took out her magnet, pointed it at agents, threw them far. Others came from behind and grabbed her. Her feet were turning numb, arms too weak. Her eyes glowed, hair began to rise.

“Get off!” she yelled, losing power. She screamed. She shrieked.

She was an animal, guttural and feral noises coming from her. “I can’t go back! Please-please, please!”

A hulking figure came to her through the fog on the roads.

“Please!” she screamed, turning to a tired whimper midway. Recognising a figure, she glared at him, pink eyes turning to slits and heating up.

“Dylan?” she panted, mostly unsurprised, letting her head hang down before meeting his eyes again.

Dylan had… his own power suit.

GunnTech didn’t trust him enough for one of those, before— at least—they got desperate.

Luna’s power charged up, she took laboured breaths.

“Go on,” the older boy said, “Blast me into smithereens, Molly Moon.”

He’d be at point-blank range if she did. She gritted her teeth and readied herself—

and then collapsed into the agents’ arms behind her.

“Hah!”

Dylan turned around as Greg finally ran onto their street. “Gregsie!” he smiled, arms open. Greg paused.

“Dylan?”

He looked him up and down. Dylan’s own power suit. A GunnTech van pulled up to the scene, slowing.

“That’s right! I’m officially a GunnTech Representative! Ol’ Big-Gunns gave me my first mission and it looks like part one was a success.” he gestured to the limp Luna.

“You did this?” Greg said, eyes flitting from him, and back to her.

“Right? Followed you all this way!” Dylan said, proudly, “Alright, let’s get her back to the facility, boys!”

The agents shook their heads as they placed Luna on a stretched and strapped her in. They were sick of Dylan being in control, too. Greg rushed ahead.

“Wait, I’ll go with her.”

“Now hold your horses for just one little moment, Little-Gunn,” Dylan said, a hand on Greg’s chest. “I said part one of my mission was a success.”

Greg took a step back. His ear-fins lowered as he pitifully looked up at Dylan, the only person at GunnTech taller than him.

“What are you going to do?” his voice cracked.

“Gunn-Senior wants me to escort you to him personally .”

He cracked his knuckles.

“Wait, wait-wait, Dylan, I don’t think he meant—“

Smack.

.

(Note,

in the scene we next see Mr. Gunn, he opens with something like “Did Mr. Desjardins *seriously* interpret that as ‘knock out my nephew and carry him to me’” whilst pinching the bridge of his nose. At this point in the story, Season 3, Mr. Gunn would still NEVER hurt Greg like that 😭 Dylan just interpreted it wrong.)

Chapter Text

SCENE FROM

SEASON 4 

Connor, Amaya and Nori ran through the corridors of the facility, wearing only their GunnTech-issued, grey tank-top and shorts, bare feet pattering along the cold, white, metal ground.

They ran past the glass cells, all empty.

“Where are they?” Connor whispered, swallowing.

They froze. Footsteps.

Nori yanked the two behind a wall and practically flattened themself against it. Every bit a ninja.

Guards passed by them.

Once they were gone, the three emerged again.

“I don’t think they’re in any of these cells.”

“No,” Nori agreed, “But we’re not leaving until we find them.”

Amaya gave a strained smile.

“Guys?” a voice echoed. Greg. The group looked around. “Guys!”

Connor listened.

“That way.”

They ran down a different hall.

“Help..” Greg said weakly.

“We’re coming, Greg!” yelled Connor, Nori wincing.

They ran, turning several corners.

Guards.

Connor rushed them. Of course he did. The others followed. The guards fell quickly. Nori paused and squinted his eyes.

They came to a closed sliding door. Amaya threw herself at it, tried to pry it open, but without their powers and suits, they were just… kids.

“Guys, I can’t!..” she gasped.

“Wait, Romeo taught me how to override these,”

Connor, using his nails which were always grown out even in human form, ripped off the door’s panel. He worked at the wires and buttons.

“Connor, stop.” Nori said. Connor looked back.

“What?”

“This is so clearly a set-up.” Nori grabbed the two’s hands and began to walk away. Connor resisted.

“I know, but Greg is back here somewhere and he’s hurt. Set-up or not, we go to him. He’s hurting, we hurt together.”

Nori stopped.

“What?” they said in disbelief, “Connor, no, there has to be someone on the outside to save us from this! We can’t just throw ourselves in for the sake of togetherness !”

“Is that why you left?!”

Nori froze.

“No, Connor—“ Amaya tried to mediate.

“If you so truly believe that there should be someone on the outside, then you do that. One of us has to be on No Man’s Land. We’re child soldiers, right guys?” Connor’s voice broke, he turned away from them, “Its probably time we acted like it.”

He pushed the two, opened the door and pulled it shut behind him.

They yelled his name.

He turned to the room ahead. The front-room, lit in harsh, sterile white light, clean.

Grayson Gunn stood turned away from him at the head of the large hall. Connor’s footsteps echoed.

“Gunn, I know you’ve noticed me.”

“Of course. I knew you’d rush in first, and without back-up.” Gunn responded, not a hint of emotion, “Never change, Mr. Martinez.”

“Where’s Greg? What have you done to your own nephew, you monster?”

“I won’t deny being a monster. What did you call yourself? A child soldier? Perhaps you’re right.”

His voice spread around the room. Connor felt… almost vindicated. Gunn continued.

“But I would never hurt Gregory. I haven’t always done right by him, but I am above harming him.”

“Physically?” Connor asked.

Silence in the room, save for the echoes.

Gunn turned around. Was there a glint of shame in his eyes?

“Physically.”

Gunn waved a finger to the side of the room.

And in came Greg.

In a grey outfit.

Eyes glowing gold.

“Greg.” Connor whimpered, voice high. Connor ran to him— then stopped halfway. “Greg?”

Greg stood still.

A statue.

He didn’t blink.

Connor looked at Greg’s chest. A faint yellow glow shined through his suit.

“What did you do?” Connor whimpered, eyes darting to Gunn and back, frantically. Gunn’s face was still completely serious.

“ Mr. Gunn did nothing!”

Connor looked behind him.

Through another door came Romeo… In a GunnTech Scientist’s suit.

Connor’s knees buckled. “A CEO never gets his hands dirty, isn’t that right, Grayson ?” Romeo sang. Gunn showed a hint of annoyance.

“Mr. Mécano has helpfully rejoined the team to apply modifications to the GunnTech Representatives’ chest implants,” Gunn said, almost begrudgingly, “With any luck, it’ll put an end to the disobedience the company has been experiencing as of late. Don’t worry, it’s not forever. Off of your work hours, your implants will be deactivated and you’ll be able to rest and recover in your cells and interact with each other within allotted time. This is for the benefit of GunnTech’s public image, which cannot afford to be further damaged.”

Connor’s pupils shrunk, and shrunk as Gunn went on. Implants off during work hours? Cells? Allotted time?

“I don’t…” Connor stammered. All he could muster was, “This is illegal.”

“Actually, it isn’t.” Gunn said, eyebrows raised, “But you can check with our legal team later. Gregory.”

Greg’s fins perked up. “Please restrain Mr. Martinez. Keep him awake. Then I want you to get to work on his implant.” he said to Romeo.

“Greg.” Connor swallowed, stepping back, taking note that Romeo was behind him. Greg walked toward him. Connor looked back to Gunn. “Why are you using Greg?! Did you run out of tranq-darts?”

“No.”

Connor scampered around the room like a cornered animal. No. Connor scampered around the room because he was a cornered animal. Greg was always strong, but always gentle so it never quite showed. It was on full display now. Every step sounded exactly like the hulking giant he was.

“You’ve always been disobedient, Martinez,”

Greg finally managed to get ahold of Connor, grabbing his ankle as he attempted to jump away. He slammed him onto the ground. “And you’ve been playing with and testing my limits from day one,” Greg then grabbed Connor’s face and held him up, cheeks squished. “But now you’ve come so close to ruining everything I’ve worked for. My life’s work. What I’ve dedicated myself to for the past twenty years. No one gets between my work and I.”

Gunn made his way down to where Greg and Connor stood. Romeo watched with an unsure smile.

As if obeying Gunn’s very thoughts, Greg turned Connor by the shoulders to look at his uncle.

“So no, we didn’t run out of tranquilliser darts. I’m using my nephew to hit you where it hurts.”

Gunn took Connor’s face and inspected it.

“I should’ve picked another trainee for the experiment and culled you like all the others that didn’t make the cut.”

—

Trying to sneak through the halls were Amaya and Nori, making their way through. Nori was blinking back angry tears.

“Of course he ran, that’s just what he does .”

“Nori, please.” Amaya said.

“What if Gunn gets him?”

“Then we come back for him.”

Guards with batons caught sight of them. Nori pulled Amaya out the way and kicked one. She punched the other with all her might. Nori made sure they were out. Younger guards.

“You up to the whole.. ‘stealing the guards’ outfits’?”

“That trope actually appears in Flossy Flash once!”

Nori snickered, wiping a tear.

.

The two reappeared in guard’s costumes, faces hidden behind visors.

They marched through the facility, hoping to God that they blended in. 

“Simmons.” A lone guard, seemingly higher ranking, said to Amaya.

“Sir.” she spoke back. Nori bit their lip.

“I heard about… your situation. I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you, Sir, I’m managing.”

“Keep your head up soldier. Don’t tell anyone I said this, but Gunn’s thinking of promoting you. Those kids are being put under twice the security and we need all the man-power we can get.”

“Absolutely. Guess I’ll have to make camp outside their dorm rooms, huh?”

“They’re not even going back to their dorms, I hear. It’s the cells for them from here on out.”

“Understandable.” Amaya swallowed.

“Eyes wide, ears open.”

The guard walked away.

Nori looked at Amaya, who shook her head in confusion. The two kept walking and whispering.

“Thank you for handling that.”

“I had to, I’m Simmons.”

“…Did we beat up a guard who has an unfortunate situation going on right now?”

“Usually, I would feel bad, but we kind of have an unfortunate situation going on ourselves. We’ll say sorry later.”

They sped up.

They entered a pitch-black room.

“Damn.”

“Is there a light switch?”

They flipped up their visors. Amaya resented her chest implant being locked. She couldn’t see a thing.

The room slowly began to light up. Pink.

“Motion sensor lights?” Nori said.

Amaya looked at them. Horror. They caught on.

A pink beam shot into Nori. As if in slow motion, they flew backward. Sparks. The ground cracked. 

They hit a wall, debris falling behind them.  Amaya watched, horrified. Her mouth agape, she took in a breath, hand tentatively outstretched.

She slowly turned around.

Above her, on a board hovered Luna.

In a grey, GunnTech suit. Eyes gold.

“Nori. Amaya. We at GunnTech are pleased to see you again.”

Chapter Text

SCENE FROM:

 SEASON 5. End? Middle?

They woke, dizzy, breathing heavily, eyesight blurry, double-vision.

Amaya tried to blink away the tears and drowsiness. She tried to get up, pushing herself off the ground, crying out and crashing down again. 

“Greg? Connor?” she whimpered, looking over. Her friends lay by her sides.

On all of their chests were gaping wounds. Their implants had been forcibly ripped out by GunnTech, though shards still remained, still clinging via wires to them. They had their suits on, though extremely damaged from their fights and the fall.

Connor lay on his side, panting, eyes closed. He looked up at Amaya for a moment before shutting them again. Greg lay on his back, unmoving.

Everything surrounding the platform they were on was pitch black, they could only see each other. Maybe that was all they needed.

“Guys?” Amaya said, beginning to cry. 
“We’re here,” Connor said upon that, inching toward her and wincing, “we’re here.”

”I don’t want to die!” she sobbed. Connor wrapped a tired arm around her, then extended his free hand to Greg, trying to pull his unconscious and broken body toward them.

”I’ve got you, okay, we’re here.” he couldn’t do much to hold her as she sobbed, inhaled and continued in pain. Her robotic wings, damaged, could still work, but were of no use to her with her inability to activate her avian abilities, and therefore hollowing her bones to light weights.

They were in GunnTech’s morgue, a grave for the applicants— the children— who didn’t make the cut. Once your parents have joined you to GunnTech, committed and gotten you an implant, there was no way out but right here. This waste-yard. They lay atop a hill of the bones of the children, old and new. Any of them could’ve been those three. And now, Grayson Gunn had brought them to the brink of death and left them here, planning to fake an accident for the public to soak in as their cause of death. 

“Greg?” Connor called. 
He became more panicked. “Greg? Wake up.” He grit his teeth. “You’re not done yet!” he growled. Amaya pushed up with Connor’s help. They both made their way toward Greg. 
“His implant.” Amaya whined, trailing off.

A little beneath Greg’s cut open and bloody skin, shards of where his implant used to be flickered with bright yellow and green energy.

”What do we do, do we take it out?” the leader asked Amaya, eyes flitting between the two, “Amaya, what do we do?”

He breathed, about to attempt something, hands over Greg’s collarbones for a moment. He hesitated. Looked at Amaya. He took hold of the shards. Pressed them together as hard as he could. Energy burst around them. Connor screamed and threw himself back. 
“Connor!” Amaya said, going toward him. He recovered, heaving.

”I’m okay,”

“Connor…”

Amaya looked at Greg. As did Connor.

Near-invisible scales gently grew out from Greg’s skin… and then faded again. “Connor?” Amaya repeated to him.

“I see it.” he breathed, looking

at Amaya.

“It— That doesn’t make any sense. You need the whole implant to..” 

“No, Romeo’s explained it before. All of the implant does the same thing. It activates all the genes from the retrovirus that we already have inside us, it just needs enough power. And— and usually us just being alive and strong generates enough power. That’s all it depends on. Activation.”

”What are you saying?”

”I don’t know,” Connor giggled pitifully, on the verge of tears, “I don’t know! I don’t know why he’s not getting up.”

”Wait, wait, breathe,” Amaya said, coming to him on her knees as they both were, and holding his hands. “What did Romeo say about the implants?”

“He said… Our bodies, with enough adrenaline or motivation, power the implants enough to activate the genes.. kinda like how an electromagnet needs electricity to.. magnify?” 
“Mhm?” Amaya encouraged.

”It’s why we have trouble activating our animal abilities when we’re weak.. or feel weak,”
Amaya blinked at this, then strained, focussing. Still, she was unable to muster the energy to activate even a shard of her implant. She shrunk, chest rising and sinking in exhaustion.

“If I could just…” she heaved, “Get us out of this pit!”

Their voices echoed in the large, chamber of a grave.

Connor looked at her, eyes soft and full of sympathy and admiration. He placed his shaky hand on her shoulder. She looked at him, eyes welling. Her lip quivered. 

“It’s okay,” he said. “It’s okay.”

Silence fell on them.

”But we have no idea what happened to Luna, Nori… the kids,” she said, looking about the bones and bodies. She began to breathe quicker, fearful, eyes shrinking.

”Amaya.” he said. He knew her, what to do with her panic. “Let’s break it down. Focus on Greg? One step at a time.”

She turned to Greg, nodding.

“One step at a time.” she sniffled. “What do we do?”

”I think it’s his implant,” Connor said, brushing some dirt and blood off of his cheek, “The overriding. It’s making the fall affect him unlike it does us. But it’s a hivemind. Greg said all of the mind controlled people see the same thing.”

Amaya glanced at them both. Connor took one of Amaya’s hands.

”I think we have to process it together, all three of us.” 

“Wait!” she yelled, “Wait! What if we can’t get out of it?”

”It’s that… or dying here of starvation either way, Amaya. We have to.”

”But what if it’s just like… I don’t know… Dark? Like sleeping forever? And if we can’t get out we won’t even be able to save ourselves in real life…”

Connor paused.

”Amaya. Do you remember when we were kids?”

”Hm?”

”What was, uh, what was that name we gave our team, the three of us?”

”Uh,” her eyelids flittered, she began to smile, before snickering. “The PJ masks.”

”We go into the night—…”

”To save the day,” she laughed. “It’s like that.”

Amaya quivered, but nodded, swallowing. 

Connor held a hand over Greg’s chest implant shard, nudged Amaya to do so to. 

“On three?”

One 

Two

They pressed their hands to Greg’s exposed implant shard. They screamed. Their implant shards, in turn, lit up, blue and red. The GunnTech overwrite added sparks of gold. Their eyes flickered in and out of normalcy and an opaque yellow film. 

.

.

.

The two opened their eyes. 

In the green fields of the GunnTech gardens. 

“What…” 

They looked at each other. 

“That’s where you’ve been!” 
“Luna?” Amaya called. Luna, in her GunnTech issued suit, neater hair, chuckled and ran out of the brush.

“Mr. Gunn’s been trying to find you for an hour and he sent basically all of us after you.”

”Luna—“

Amaya reached forward to touch her. Her hand phased straight through, glitching. She didn’t show it besides eyes widening. 
“So? You gonna come or am I gonna have to drag you?” she hopped on her board and flew above the two. Connor stared at Amaya. 

“We’ll go,” he said. 

Content, Luna snickered and hovered off, moths in tow.

”What is this?” Connor said.

”I don’t know,” Amaya said, dread beginning to set in again, “I don’t know!”

”Calm down, okay?” he said, gently, “We.. Let’s just play along. Find Greg… if that’s even how this works.”

They ran through the gardens, which for some reason turned into the bedrooms, which for some reason led into the kitchens— The layout was nothing like the real world. They called for Greg. 

They opened a door. A lab. Wrong place. So they kept running.

“Connor?”

Connor paused and turned.

”Romeo?”

”What did I say about running in a lab?” Romeo sang. He reached for Connor’s face with a hand. Amaya tensed behind Connor.

”I— I’m sorry, Romeo, I forgot, I’m sorry—“ 

he took Connor’s cheek.. gently.

”It’s fine. Now, where are you headed to so quick?”

“I— What?”

The hand didn’t glitch out. Connor… leaned into the gentle touch. Amaya’s eyes widened, she blinked at this.

“I know Mr. Gunn’s been looking for you. He’s got a mission. I know it stings that he put your team on the back-burner since the weird little rogue-episode you had a couple months back, but if you stay on that good behaviour, I’m sure you’ll be back on A-Team in no time,” 

“Where’s Nori?” Amaya snarled, Connor slightly startled.

”God only knows,” Romeo shrugged, “Stealing, setting buildings on fire? I’m just glad you realised they’re a bad influence.”

He stroked Connor’s hair. Connor’s lips curled into a small smile.

 “Well, nice seeing you, Romeo, we have to find Gunn— Mr. Gunn for that mission, right Connor?” Amaya yelled, grabbing Connor and dragging him out of the room.

”Later, Kitty,” Romeo chuckled, warmly.

The lab doors shut behind them. Amaya dragged Connor into a run.

”I’m not going to ask what that was, Connor!”

”I’m sorry, I’m sorry! It was just, it’s weird seeing Romeo be nice!”

”Why was he solid, though!”

They found themselves in the hangar, surrounded by cars and planes. And… there was a car there for Bastet. Connor stopped.

”Badriya got her own Cat Car?” he sounded deflated.

”Course she did, boy, she doesn’t wreck all her cars like you do.” A Southern accent came.

”Cartoka?”

”Mr. Gunn’s  ą̴̻͉̰̞̩̂͑͗̔͐̉͌͘͜l̷̗̲̰͇͐̽̀̍̐̌̀͐̐̚̕̚͝͝w̸̨̛̛̟͖͍̮͓̮̠̟͔̰͔̑̅̃̋̄́͊̇͆̃̑̒̚á̷̡̛͈̱͔͚̰̀͋-always right,” he glitched, “But he was especially right about replacing you with Badriya.”

”No— what,” 

“A good driver can appreciate speed and safety,” giggled Carly. “You R̴̲̅e̷̮͝ạ̷̃l̷̻͛l̷̤̆y̴̜͋ ̷̣̔ḑ̷̛i̴̋͜d̵͖̎ ̸̜̓ḑ̸̉i̷̗̍s̴̖̐a̶͔͝p̶̧̆p̶̮̿o̸̫͛i̸͜͠n̶͙̊t̸͔̿ ̷̖͐— really did disappoint Mr. Gunn, Connor. He thought you were going to be one of his best agents. Real shame. Maybe impress Mr. Gunn and you might just be able to get yourself near his good graces again, hah!”

”Have either of you seen Greg?” Amaya interrupted, forcing herself in front of Connor.

”Goody-two-shoes? Probably getting ready for that mission. You know he’s never late unlike two people somewhere!” Cartoka said, giving his charming toothy smile at then.

”Thanks!”

She ran out.

”Connor, you have to stop letting yourself talk to them! They’re not real! No one here is real but us and Greg!”

”They’re right though, we have to be better,” Catboy sighed, slowing.

”What?”

”We let down Mr. Gunn with what we did,”

”Are you hearing yourself? Gunn lied to us, used us as kids—“

”We’ve gotta make it up to him. Come on, we’re late enough for the mission,”

”The mission? Connor, are you okay?”

“I will be when you stop holding us back from the mission. Sure, it’s not as glamorous as before but we’ve gotta earn his trust again.”

”No. Connor. No, you’re slipping. We have to find Greg!”

”Why?”

”Because—“

Amaya stopped. She grabbed her head.

”No, no, no.” she strained. Shut her eyes. “No! No! We need to find Greg, because— it was… important. Something very important that we have to do. Quick. We have to find Greg!” 

“Amaya, it’s okay.” Catboy said, concerned for her. He put his hands on her shoulders, she taller than him.

”No! No! It’s not! You’re forgetting! I don’t know why we’re here!”

”Do you need a doctor? Come on, let’s get you to the doctor. I know, we have to get suited up for the mission but team members are more important. Come on—“

”No, Connor! There’s something we’re here for, something is wrong and I can’t remember what it is!”

She shut her eyes and reopened them. They were suited up, in the tower, in front of the control panel.

Gekko, suited up, came up his elevator.

”Greg!” 
“Amaya?” he smiled, politely confused. She threw herself at him.

”Something’s wrong!”

”What is?” he smiled, ready to comfort her. 

“I don’t know!”

”Not to downplay what you’re going through… but, can it wait till after the mission? I promise this is a quick one. Uncle Gray’s put us o༙྇n༙྇ t༙྇h༙྇e༙྇ b༙྇a༙྇c༙྇k༙྇-༙྇b༙྇u༙྇r༙྇n༙྇e༙྇r༙྇ s༙྇i༙྇n༙྇c༙྇e༙྇ t༙྇h༙྇e༙྇ w༙྇e༙྇i༙྇r༙྇d༙྇ l༙྇i༙྇t༙྇t༙྇l༙྇e༙྇ r༙྇o༙྇g༙྇u༙྇e༙྇-༙྇e༙྇p༙྇i༙྇s༙྇o༙྇d༙྇e༙྇ w༙྇e༙྇ h༙྇a༙྇d༙྇ a༙྇ c༙྇o༙྇u༙྇p༙྇l༙྇e༙྇ m༙྇o༙྇n༙྇t༙྇h༙྇s༙྇ b༙྇a༙྇c༙྇k༙྇,༙྇ b༙྇u༙྇t༙྇ i༙྇f༙྇ w༙྇e༙྇ s༙྇t༙྇a༙྇y༙྇ o༙྇n༙྇ t༙྇h༙྇a༙྇t༙྇ g༙྇o༙྇o༙྇d༙྇ b༙྇e༙྇h༙྇a༙྇v༙྇i༙྇o༙྇u༙྇r༙྇,༙྇ I༙྇’༙྇m༙྇ s༙྇u༙྇r༙྇e༙྇ w༙྇e༙྇’༙྇l༙྇l༙྇ b༙྇e༙྇ b༙྇a༙྇c༙྇k༙྇ o༙྇n༙྇ A༙྇-༙྇T༙྇e༙྇a༙྇m༙྇ i༙྇n༙྇ n༙྇o༙྇ t༙྇i༙྇m༙྇e༙྇,༙྇ “

”Huh, Romeo said the same thing,” Catboy said, turned toward the screen and away from them.

”You’re right,” Owlette breathed, “It can probably wait. What’s the mission, anyway?”

”Nori Nakamura. They’ve been out on a robbing spree. Sparing no one, charity shops…” Catboy blinked, a wrinkle on the bridge of his nose, “Charity shops? Nori’s stealing from… weird. Well, they’ve been spotted tonight with stolen GunnTech children.” 
He brought up CCTV footage. The children looked starved, unhappy, bruised. Catboy blinked.

”That… Nori would never—“

”This is a much more serious task than I thought,” Gekko said, “I thought Uncle Gray was sending us on the simple stuff…”

”Yeah, but Nori cares about those kids, he wouldn’t… do that,”

”Which vehicle should we take?”

”It’s by the museum and Nori moves fast, we should use the Owl Glider,”

”What?” Catboy said, “But this has already… I swear we’ve already done this before,”

”Nori’s always getting up to the same tricks, to be fair.”

”We’ve gotta save those kids, Catboy,” Owlette said putting her hand forward, “Even if it means confronting a friend. We know you and Nori were close,”

”But you were close too…” Catboy whispered.

“Owlette’s right, We were born to do the hard stuff, right, guys?” said Gekko, ignoring Catboy and putting his hand forward too.

“PJ-Masks, we’re on our way,”

”Into the night, to save the day!”

They stopped.

The world around them stopped.

Their voices suddenly began to echo upon speaking, as if they were in some kind of large chamber.

”What did we all say?”

“What’re the PJ masks?”

Another pause. Images and sounds flashed in their minds. Of lying on sleeping mats on the floor of a comfy bedroom— a comfy cell. 

~

‘We’ll be the PJ masks, ‘cause were animals that come only out at night.’

’That’s called Nocturnal.’

’Nerd.’

‘I’ll be Owlette.’

’I’ll be Catboy!’

’But, I thought you were a girl, Catalina!”

‘Um, actually, that was a trick, I’m really a boy. My name’s gonna be Connor during the day, and Catboy during the night.’

’Ooh, I’ll be Greg!’

’Your hero name can’t be Greg!’

’Fine, how about Gecko-Boy?’

‘Copycat!’

’Okay, okay, Gecko but with two k’s!’

’Yeah! And the PJ Masks will be the team that does all the hard missions that the big kids can’t.’

‘Ooh, ooh- what if our catchphrase is… Into the Night to save the Day!’

‘Cause we’re nocturnal… but normal people are diurnal! And they only wake up in the day?’

’Nerd!’ 

‘What? You said we do all the hard missions, I figure we use all the hard words as well!’

The children began to laugh at Greg’s knowledge, and he laughed with them.

They blinked back.

They shifted uncomfortably. Each time, the sound of bones rattling came from beneath their feet. They looked down at solid ground.

”What’s going on? I don’t remember that ever happening!”

“Nori would never hurt the kids.” Connor said.

”And Romeo would never… be nice to you,” Amaya said.

”What are you guys talking about?” asked Gekko.

”Greg,” Amaya said, shaking her head in her own disbelief, “None of this is… None of this is real.”

her voice began to glitch and distort as she spoke. Their surroundings, too. Patches of the world began to disappear slowly.

”What do you mean?” he stepped back. Bones rattling. A foul odour, that of bodies, washed over them.

”We’re not at HQ right now, Greg, we’re in… we’re in the waste-yard,”

“GunnTech doesn’t have a waste-yard,”

”Only because you’ve never seen it.”

“No,” Gekko said, “GunnTech is good. GunnTech has done everything for us, my Uncle is good!”

”No, he’s not!” Connor and Amaya yelled. They grabbed hold of him, locking him into a confused embrace.

”We’re so sorry, Greg, it’s all a lie! He lied to us, he lied to you!” The world disintegrated further.

Gekko, eyes wide, didn’t reciprocate the embrace but moved none. “We are so sorry.”

”I don’t get it.” he said, straining, then gripping his head and sinking to the ground with the others, them still clinging to him.

”Luna escaping— Romeo using the crystals against us? Me being…” he paused to cry out, he gripped his head ever tighter. “Did my uncle really… overwrite me?!” he screamed, “I wasn’t sedated, I… I was awake! I… The doctors— I was strapped to a chair. That’s not real! Tell me that’s not real!”

They just hugged him tighter.

”You had months to process it,” Amaya whispered, “I know it’s hard to realise this in one moment—“

“GunnTech doesn’t… have a waste-yard.” Gekko reaffirmed.

”GunnTech culls children that don’t make the cut!” Connor screamed. Gekko shook his head. “No!”

”You can’t understand it because it’s the one room in the facility you’ve never seen, Greg! Open your eyes! Your real eyes. This is not real! This isn’t your real body. Use your real body. Open your eyes! We’re all in the waste-yard right now because Grayson threw us in here to die!”

”Stop!”

“We’re sitting on bodies, Greg!” The world flickered on and off now.

”Stop it!”

”Greg,” Amaya said, wrenching his head up to look at her. His eyes were red and teary. “Search for your real body and open your eyes.”

He shivered.

”I don’t want to.”

”We’re the PJ Masks, Greg.” Amaya smiled, determined, “We do the hard things no one else can.”

”Into the night to save the day no matter how dark, no matter how many stars are hidden behind the clouds,”

“No matter how poetic Connor gets,”

Greg chuckled through the tears.

And then nodded. By now, the simulation had fallen apart. They were in a white void.

”I’ll open my eyes.”

.

.

.

They were back.

Greg inhaled deeply.

They all opened their eyes.

He looked around at them, the bodies. The other two laughed and jumped into Greg’s real embrace.

”Greg!”

”Oh my God, were we all there? Was that—“

”It was.”

”The waste-yard is real…” Greg quivered.

”But we can’t dwell on it now, okay? If we don’t get out of here, more children end up here.” Amaya said.

The three gained determination. No more did they feel broken despite the physical, real state of them, bloody and battered.

”Greg, do you know about how the implants work?” Connor began, “Romeo said,”

”Oh, don’t worry, I’ve studied them,” Greg said with a smidge of pride. “Between the two of us, Romeo got that info from me.”

”Oh. Then you know what we’ve gotta do? Use our energy to activate the—“

”I know, Connor.” Greg laughed. He extended his hands to the both of them, a triangle forming.

They focussed.

At first, nothing but sparks from their chests. Memories flashed between them. Of Luna, of Nori, even of Romeo. Their first dances, kisses. Quiet, private and warm moments. Energy flowed fast between them, red, blue and green. Everything that made everyone matter so much to them. Yes, they were forced into this at young ages but none of them could deny they loved the city. They fought for a reason. They worked so well together for a reason. They had people out there they wanted to keep safe— and if they were the only people out there capable of protecting them, then so be it. GunnTech may not have been good, nor genuine in its intentions, but these kids always were.

Greg grew his scales and his eyes returned to a reptilian’s. Connor’s cat ears sprouted from him. Amaya’s bones swiftly turned light as the feathers that grew along her skin.

They opened their eyes to look at each other, giggling in delight.

”Guys…” Amaya said, wings flapping, feet floating a little off the ground.

Greg tested his wall-climbing by walking over and pressing his hand to one of the metal walls of the pit before laughing.

”It worked!”

At the same time, Connor ran in circles at super speed before smiling like a child at both of them.

”Now for the easy part,” Greg said, looking at the top of the pit. They all looked too in suit. “Getting outta here.”

”What time is it, even?” Amaya questioned, “My built in watch isn’t working.”

”Um… nearly three AM, now.” said Greg, “Everyone’ll be asleep.”

“Well, it’s a good thing night time…” Connor said.

“Is the right time…” Amaya said.

They spoke together.

”To fight crime..?”

Greg opened his mouth before glancing down.

”I still can’t think of a rhyme.”

Chapter Text

SCENE FROM:

END OF SEASON 4

Grayson Gunn entered the laboratory. Scientists swept to the sides of the room in anticipation of the straight path he never diverted from. 

“How is he?” he asked, not stopping, not turning his head. The head scientist followed. 

“Stable. Just anxious,”

“You didn’t sedate him?” Gunn stated, eyes darkly flitting over to the scientist with a consideration you never want a Gunn to give you. 

“Local, sir,” the scientist stumbled, “General anaesthetic isn’t an option, we need to measure Gregory’s neural responses to ensure his functioning is intact throughout the surgery. He’s not in any pain,”

A satisfactory answer. 

The two arrived at the main attraction. Gregory lay strapped to a dentist chair, lowered and slightly tilted backward. His chest heaved with terror, wheezing and gasping for air every so often in an attempt to maintain the composure every Gunn was taught to. 

“Gregory,”

Strapped down, he couldn’t move his head. Paralysed with fear, he couldn’t move it regardless. Gregory’s eyes darted toward his uncle, pin-pricks, semi-delirious. 

“Help,” he choked. He began to cry, eyes still wide. 

“I don’t want this either,” Gunn ran his hands through his boy’s golden hair, “You’re my nephew, this is hard for me. I love you, you know that,”

“Let me go,” Greg growled superficially, throat scratchy.

“Why? So you can go back to those friends?” 

Greg thrashed. The binds held strong. They were built for him. Gunn continued. 

“No, I can’t do that. I won’t. They’re bad influences. I should’ve known when you met them, I’m sorry, I should’ve know,”

“What’s happening to me, what are you doing?”

Mr. Gunn paused and sucked air in through his teeth.

“Gregory, I won’t lie to you and tell you this is for your own good,” it was as if his eyes lit up, he gave an exhausted laugh “I have worked— my entire life to make GunnTech successful. And what you and your friends are doing right now? It’s jeopardising everything. You’re a Gunn. Honestly, I… I hoped you’d have the same drive as me. The same priorities. But I’ve realised that it’s mine to pass down. It didn’t come from my parents, it came from me. I’m sorry, but… no amount of good upbringing or love will ever make you my son,” he bent down to kiss his nephew on the forehead, though his lips landed mostly on the titanium strap that held it in place, “And we both know the importance of genetics,”

Mr. Gunn looked back at the scientists, all looking on anxiously, feeling as though they were seeing a family moment they weren’t meant to. 

“How much longer will the procedure be?”

“An hour.. or so?” one spoke, looking to the others for protection. 

“Hm,” he ruffled his nephew’s hair, just like he did when he loved him. 

“Not long now, Gregory, I promise. I’ll make it up to you when all of this is done,”

The CEO turned to leave the room. Gregory struggled. 

“No. No!” he growled, beginning to cry again. Screaming. “Uncle! I’ll do everything you want! I’ll never run away again, I won’t question you anymore, I won’t cause trouble!”

The man didn’t look back, didn’t look at the scientists. He had work to do and all his nephew did was weaken him. He couldn’t stand to look at Gregory’s hopeful face, let alone now.

“Mom!” he sobbed.

Mr. Gunn squeezed his eyes shut as he left the room. He had another patient to tend to. 

In the meantime, Luna was in a tiny cell with only a metal bed in the centre, barely any room to walk except around the sides of the bed. It was pitch dark save for her glowing hair and eyes. She lay on the cold metal, hyperventilating. She was forced to wear a sleeveless GunnTech vest and grey shorts, skin exposed to the purposefully chilly room. The cold sank its teeth into her. She was no stranger to the solitary confinement room. It was where you ended up for misbehaviour at GunnTech. Everyone had at least one brush with it as a child. She had many due to her undying rebellious spirit. Sometimes she’d be left in here for days. It coloured her claustrophobia going forward.

The solitary confinement room certainly wasn’t something GunnTech spoke of on its public accounts. Luna thought she’d never have to go back when she escaped. She wanted to leave GunnTech behind as a whole but of course she’d get dragged back in. Was she ever just allowed a normal life? Maybe it was something she would never get with that core in her chest. 

“Amaya!” she shrieked. Every bit of her brain was in flight mode but there was literally nowhere to go. Nowhere to even walk.

In this soundproof room, Luna’s heart was about to explode for all she knew, a rapid-fire canon. She extended her arm out and felt the wall. She shrank back into herself, letting out a choked sob. I’m going to die. 

The door burst open. Luna screamed, pulling her legs back and sitting up. Two armoured and masked guards pulled her out into the searing light. She couldn’t afford to show fear right now. 

—

Grayson Gunn had something against Nori. Escaping GunnTech was one thing. Stealing children from GunnTech was one fatal other thing. 

“Make it painful.” he said to the boy across from him in his office.

“I want nothing more, Sir.” said Romeo.

“But keep them alive, Romeo.”

Romeo’s eyes widened.

“Romeo. Alive.”

“Why?” he scoffed, “Wh— I can’t see why you’d need-“

“For Connor.”

Romeo’s shoulders dropped. Gunn continued. 

“I don’t care that you and Connor have a past. You are a GunnTech scientist. What do I do to scientists that bring their personal opinions to my business?”

“Sir.”

“Where do scientists like that go, Romeo?”

“Y— They end up with the children that don’t make the cut.”

“Good.”

Gunn picked up his pen and began to write something down as he spoke.

“Your mother was talented, Romeo. I was… sad, to have to let her go but once you join GunnTech you don’t leave in anything other than a box.”

Romeo clenched his gloved fists. 

“Do not end up like your mother. Not for a boy like Connor.”

“Why are you making me torture Nori anyways?”

Gunn looked up from his writing for just a moment. 

“Romeo, don’t pretend you don’t want to. I’m letting you have this. I also have my reasons and it’s not like they’re secret. Nobody comes between my company and I. I don’t care who you are.”

“Like you don’t care if it’s your own nephew?”

The clock ticked.

Gunn didn’t look up from his work at first. 

Then, he brought his hand to Romeo’s face slowly. He took his chin, gentle as ever, and inspected his face. Romeo shivered, fear in his eyes for the first time ever.

“You have her eyes, you know, Romeo? Or, at least, one of her eyes.”

He brought his hand up to Romeo’s good eye. Then slowly placed his thumb onto it and dug in. Romeo winced.

“Sir!” he whimpered.

“I hear that when people lose their sight, their hearing can be strengthened… It’s interesting. Maybe one day we’ll conduct that experiment.”

He let go. Romeo turned away in his chair, panting and grabbing his eye, tearing up.

“Well, I’ve got work to do and you’ve got a thief to pull the nails off of— Not literally, I’m just kidding. Unless that’s what you want to do, of course. Leave.”

“Yes, Sir.”

He picked up his cane and scurried out as soon as possible.

.

Growling, Romeo walked through the halls down to the lab he’d been given. He gripped his cane like it had done something to him. Grayson Gunn was never like this before, never this quick to silent anger. But ever since everything had started going wrong, he was holding onto his successful life with a white-knuckled grip.

Romeo came to the door, faced the retina scanner, eye wide despite the pain. The metal door slid open and the lights flickered to life. 

In the centre of his lab, Nori lay on a metal table. 

“Romeo—“

“Can it.”

Nori blinked.

“Wha-“

“I’m not in the mood.”

“Hah. To talk? You’re—“

“To listen!” He held up his cane, Nori flinched. Romeo slowly put it back down. “Especially not to someone like you.”

He turned away, lifting wires and attaching them to the table and Nori’s chest. 

“Gunn thinks he’s the only person with anything to lose. Maybe he’s right. Because I have lost everything. I hope all of it was worth it Nori, because let it be known that Gunn wants me to make it hurt.”

Nori was scared.

“You don’t have to do it. Any of it. We’re all going against it now. Just come with us. We could use you on the team. You’re smart, Romeo, nobody’s denying that! Help us get our lives back!”

“And then do what?!”

His words echoed through the hall. 

Romeo ran his hands through his hair as he paced. “I’ve burned every bridge, every lifeline. The only person I had was Connor and you took him from me.”

He turned back around to glare at Nori.

“I don’t think I own Connor. Nobody does, Romeo. Let it go. Connor may never forgive you or want you back in his life when all of this is done—“

Those words sent a chill down Romeo’s spine. 

GunnTech, done? What would Romeo have in a world without GunnTech? (A mother.)

“But the whole world is your oyster. There are so many options. GunnTech is not where we belong. You can always come back.”

Romeo’s shoulders sank. He spoke somberly. He didn’t believe Nori. Defeated.

“You think so.” he said more than asked, flat.

“Of course. I’ve seen it. Just let me go. I know the vents well, I can get us out of here.”

Romeo’s eyes swam in thought.

“…Okay—“

The door slid open again. Gunn walked in, coat off, showing his waistcoat. Romeo gasped silently and jammed the nearest random tool into Nori’s mouth. They looked at him, eyes widening, betrayed.

“Sir, I thought—“

“Thinking isn’t your strong suit, Romeo. I came to watch.”

Romeo swallowed. 

“Right.”

They just stood looking at each other for a while before the tension became too much and Romeo buckled, walking toward a panel. He cleared his throat. 

“This… is going to send 75,000 Volts of electricity through their core. It takes a while to power up though.”

“75,000?”

“Can be lethal but not for someone genetically altered like GunnTech representatives, Sir.”

“Hm.”

Gunn walked over to Nori’s side and then looked back at Romeo.

“Is that the limit?”

Romeo glanced at Nori.

“Yes.” he lied.

Gunn was satisfied.

“Nakamura.”

Nori looked up at Gunn with wide but angry eyes.

“You corrupted one of my best agents, poisoned new trainees against me and tried to bury my company. I won’t mince my words. I am going to make you wish I’d killed you earlier.” he said it so casually. 

He stepped away from the table.

Romeo flicked the switch and a humming began, ascending in pitch as it powered up. Nori thrashed in his bindings, trying to yell at Romeo, who just stared, half-coldly, half-terrified.

While the machine turned on, Gunn walked toward Romeo, who shrank back a little.

“Sorry about earlier, by the way. I hope you know GunnTech appreciates your work, Romeo.”

He stared at Gunn before a smile crept up his lips.

“Thank you, Sir.”

The machine finished powered up—

The two watched Nori scream. 

Chapter Text

Scene from Season 5

——

Nori lay completely still in bed. Connor stared at them, eyes occasionally wandering.  Is this weird? he’d think. He was sitting beside them, guarding Nori in the dim morning light. 

Electrical burns littered their body after the torture Romeo reluctantly put them through. Connor didn’t know if he could even touch them. How could Romeo? He couldn’t do this, not to Nori. He couldn’t reduce them to this. 

Then again, to defend himself, Connor sliced Nori’s cheek open, a bloody line continuing one side of his mouth, trying to heal itself with the stitches Amaya’s aunt had put in. 

Connor had never seen Nori so… weak. So unable to joke around, quip at someone, unable to run and hide away in the shadows. Here they were, so vulnerable. Connor intended to be their defence. A cat and its love for the night.

.

“Aren’t you gonna ask what my name is?”

“I don’t care,” a little Nori Nakamura said to an even littler Connor Martinez. He was stumped. The two were sparring. 

“You’re Mr. Gunn’s favourite, right? The cat?”

“I’m not his favourite.”

“Sure, teacher’s pet!” Nori swept Connor’s feet out from under him. 
“Ow!” he said, sitting up. 

“And you’re not even that good,” Nori smiled, walking away. Connor saw the opportunity. He pulled Nori’s ankles and sank them to his level.

“Always secure the victory before you walk away.” 

“Always knock your opponent out before you start saying dumb things!” 

The two incoherently yelled at and slapped each other around on the ground.

Seconds later, they came to a natural stop.

“What’s your name?”

Connor scoffed.

“I’m not gonna give you my name. Guess.”

Nori’s eyes narrowed in annoyance. 

“Rumplestiltskin?”

“Very funny.”

Nori stood up again and began to walk off. Connor watched in disbelief. “Where are you going?”

”Skipping class,”

”You can’t skip class!”

”You’re right.  We  should skip class.” They grabbed Connor’s hand. 

Connor found himself terribly intrigued with this truant. 

“Just this once. My name’s Connor, by the way,”

“And water’s wet, why are we saying useless facts when there’s so much class to be skipped?”

.

Connor shifted. Nori inhaled sharply, their sleep coming undone. He didn’t know what to do, should he comfort them? He opened his mouth, hesitant.

”It’s okay… I’m here.” 

Nori only grew more stressed, breathing pace increasing, nails digging into the mattress. Connor put his hand on their shoulder, shaking them gently. “Hey, wake up. Everything’s fine,”

Their eyes opened. For a moment, their eyes drifted around, processing, before they came back to centre.

“Connor,” they stared, warily, almost angrily.

“Hi,”

“Where are we?”

“Uh, we’re at Amaya’s aunt’s.” 

Nori froze. He started laughing bitterly.

“You’re not real.” He began to tear up furiously. He shoved Connor off the bed and onto the ground before dashing off. Connor, already hurt himself, couldn’t find the strength to move, nor even make a sound. This was it, Nori would find a way to escape and it would be months before he’d ever see them again. He shut his eyes tight, agonised.

Nori made it to the door and yanked at the handle.

“No!” he whispered breathily, lungs giving out already, “No,”

Locked. He looked around the room for a vent but came up empty. Back smashed to the wall, he sank down, gripping his shoulders, wincing.

Connor lifted his head, still laying down on the carpet. Nori wasn’t gone. They were still there. Connor’s heart rose again. He let his head fall back down again. He couldn’t bear to lose them, but had always accepted he would. Nori slipped through everyone’s fingers like sand, no one could keep them. They belonged to nobody. But Connor didn’t want to own Nori, not like Romeo wanted to own him. He just wanted them in his life, somewhere he could always feel them— Like he felt their presence in the wind on missions he was sent off on to arrest them.

They stayed that way for a while, both on the ground. Every so often, birds chirped as they woke up. Light shifted through the drawn curtains.

“Uh..” Connor began, “The door’s locked for that exact reason. None of us have the energy to escape but you’ll find the energy anywhere, right, Nori?” He was bitter. “You’re always trying to get away from us, always were.”

“This simulation is awful.” Nori spoke, eyes shut, monotone, “As far away as possible is where Connor wants me.”

Connor’s eyes opened. Nothing could be further from the truth— Well, maybe at some point he wanted nothing to do with Nori, but that hadn’t been true for two years now.

“Stop being so stubborn!” he sat up, Nori flinched, “Stop lying to yourself. You’re the one who left us for your noble mission to save the kids,”

“Maybe you should’ve come with me, if you care so much.”

Nori stood up, painfully slow. “Y’know what, Connor, you are  real. Only the real Connor would be selfish enough to suggest I stay with him instead of rescuing kids from this fate.”

Relief surged through Nori. It was real. They had to convince themselves it was real. It’s real. Connor was real. Yes, he was selfish, and dumb, but it was their real Connor. 

Connor rose to meet Nori, watching in case they fell over. Their body shivered weakly, weight on one leg, unable to stand straight. Shame radiated through Connor’s body. Nori was right. Connor did stay at GunnTech, hunting down kids Nori had saved, threatening to arrest them.

“You’re right, I’m.. I should’ve come with you. But I was scared. Not everyone’s brave enough to rebel like you Nori.”

“I was scared too!” Nori cried, “I was scared the whole time, I was scared every time I snuck back in, every time you were sent after me. It’s not about fear. You had Amaya and Greg, you had Romeo. You didn’t have to leave because I wasn’t your everything the way you were mine!”

Connor’s eyes widened. He exhaled incredulously. He took a step toward Nori and reached out to hold them. Nori didn’t resist. He took hold of their arms, stone cold.

Once he felt he was cleared for it, he came in closer and hugged the taller person.

“I swear I didn’t know,” Connor breathed.

“I know you didn’t know,” Nori spat bitterly, continuing, “You’re stupid and you’re unaware. For all those years you’ve had those big, ridiculous ears and you’ve never once used them for anything of substance”

“Ouch,”

Nori paused.

“…I’m not sorry. It’s hard loving someone like you,”

Connor buried his head in Nori’s chest. He actually smiled, tearing up, chuckling.

I’m their everything, he thought.

“You should lie back down.” Connor led their arms to the bed, Nori lingered.

Being tortured, being mind controlled, having their face slit open. All they saw in their dreams was Mr. Gunn.

    ‘I won’t mince my words. I am going to make you wish I’d killed you earlier.’

Nori winced and clung onto Connor.

“Are you staying?”

Connor stared.

“Yeah. Yes!”

Once touching the bed, they basically crashed onto it, bodies giving out. Nori immediately shut his eyes. Connor kept on staring at them. This was real. Nori liked him! In all of this chaos, with all of the chance that they weren’t going to make it out alive from taking down Gunn, Nori liked him! How could he shut his eyes? He was so used to Nori disappearing, he couldn’t let it happen again.

“So… You like me?”

Nori glared at Connor and turned away in bed.

“Sorry.”

Maybe he was laying it on too thick. After all, they were still teens who’d been imprisoned all their life, and they still had to be the ones to save everyone. It wasn’t the time for crushes.

“Romeo’s still… at GunnTech, isn’t he?” Nori whispered. Connor shrunk. Nori was definitely aware of whatever Romeo and Connor had going on. Did it even matter? Connor couldn’t have feelings for Romeo after what he put Nori and his friends through, but he couldn’t leave him to die at GunnTech. 

“Yeah. We’ll get him out though, him and all the others Gunn still has.”

Nori turned their head.

“How many does he still have?” he worried. He blinked himself awake.

“Don’t think about it right now, Nori. You can’t save them right now, you can barely walk. And if Grayson ever gets his hands on you again, he’ll…”

Connor trailed off. He put his head against Nori’s cold back. They let out a little gasp. Connor never wanted Nori to feel so mortal again. Not at this age. They were all still teenagers, yet how often had they been on the brink of death? Nori was too human, too good, too selfless for it all. Of course they’d be in the most danger. They never let self-preservation get in the way of helping a stranger. Nori was everything Grayson Gunn wasn’t, no wonder he loathed them.

“I won’t let Gunn get you. Be selfish, just this once, and stay behind.”

Nori was silent. They never quite had the fear of death forced into them like it was during the torture.

But they’d done everything afraid before. They turned to face Connor and pulled him close. They found comfort in each other’s skin warming up.

“I want to see Gunn hurt. This is entirely selfish.”

Chapter Text

Scene from Season  5

.

“They escaped,”

“I can see that.”

Romeo quivered in Mr. Gunn’s office, lights dimmed, all focussed on him. He wished the floor would swallow him up.

“I thought I told you to re-wire Martinez’s implant.”

“I was,” Romeo snarled, “Until-“

“Let me guess. You were interrupted by one of his friends, one of the guards, one of the technicians?” Gunn stood up. Romeo backed away. Gunn kept walking toward him. “Or maybe the re-wiring didn’t go well, maybe the implant short-circuited, maybe you tripped over, maybe Greg’s implant gave out and we lost control of him and they escaped together.”

Despite his words, Gunn showed no irritation. The same disconnected face he always had.

He came closer to Romeo and then bent down a little to level with him.

“Or maybe Connor looked into your one good eye and you couldn’t resist one final act of manipulation.”

Gunn smiled softly at Romeo.

“You failed on purpose, didn’t you?”

“No, sir! No, I—“

He put his hand on Romeo’s shoulder. Romeo couldn’t run if he wanted to.

“Maybe it wasn’t even manipulation. Maybe you wanted a final act of redemption. The one good thing you’ve ever done.”

Gunn abruptly let go of Romeo.

“Let’s not let it go to waste then.”

He snatched Romeo’s crutch out from under him. Romeo gasped, wobbled and then crashed to the ground.

“Wait, Sir, I promise, I never meant to help him,I made a mistake. Greg’s implant—“

“Guards,” Gunn called, opening his office door. He gestured and began walking. The armoured guards hauled Romeo up by the arms and dragged him, his weak legs trying to keep up.

“You’ve failed in every conceivable way as a scientist, so shall we see how you do as bait?”

The guards sat Romeo down in a chair. Metal cuffs clasped around his hands.

“Give me a chance!”

“It would be unfair. If I did it for you, I’d have to give everyone a chance.”

Romeo sweated, his chest rising and falling. He writhed against the binds.

“It won’t even work, you fool!” he screamed, not finding that fawning worked, “They don’t even want me back. I’m not one of them! All I’ve done is antagonise them just like you. They want us both gone. You’ve failed, Gunn.”

Gunn grabbed Romeo’s face, walking beside the chair.

“You have little faith. Smile for the camera.”

“What?”

…

Amaya called out to the others.

“Guys! It’s Gunn! He’s using our communicator! Guys!”

Everyone rallied around her, stomachs sinking. They were still at her aunt’s home recuperating. She, Connor, Greg, Nori and Luna watched in disbelief.

Grayson Gunn himself was sat at a table. The videography looked professional, somehow, just like the GunnTech promotional videos.

“Hello, everyone. I know you’re going to be coming back. So many children to free, isn’t that right? You know I won’t damage my own future soldiers, so you’re taking your time. Well, this one, has exhausted his usefulness to me.”

The camera cut to Romeo, half-awake. He tried to speak but all that came out was muffled insults and cries.

“Romeo!” Connor said, hand over his mouth. Nori touched Connor’s shoulder, gently.

“I’d say speed up. You have twenty-four hours.”

The video cut off.

“We can’t!” Amaya yelled, “None of us are strong enough, not now.”

“Uncle Gray— Gunn’s not bluffing.” Greg said, tearing up from the stress.

“You guys just want to let him die?” Connor cried.

“I’m not going.” Luna growled, backing up.

Connor looked to Nori hopefully. They shrunk away, hugging themself.

“I’m sorry, Connor. Romeo tortured me. It’s not that I hold a grudge. If we had longer, I’d go but we’re going to die if we go within a day. Romeo just isn’t worth that, not to me.”

“Uncle Gray wouldn’t kill me,” Greg spoke up.

“Oh yes he would!” said Amaya.

“Gunn’s clearly losing it,” Luna scoffed, “He can’t stand that we’re winning and he’s losing his composure. No telling what his boundaries are now.”

“This is winning to you?” Nori asked, “he has over a hundred kids, and all the implanted representatives are currently being possessed! That’s winning?”

“We’ve gotten THIS far, Nori! All by ourselves. Seriously guys, when did I become the positive one?” Luna rolled her eyes.

“What’s going on?” Amaya’s aunt came into the room, seeing the kids practically sitting on each other like a bonded litter of kittens.

“Gunn’s giving us twenty-four hours to give ourselves up or he’s killing Romeo.”

The state of them all. Unable to run, unable to fight, scars not healed even a bit, broken bones.

“Absolutely not!” Kimiko snapped, “I’m not letting you all get killed for that troublemaker.”

“He’s a kid too!” Connor whined, “Why is no one there for him!” Only Greg looked ashamed.

“I failed as an aunt once,” Kimiko said, looking at Amaya, “I’m protecting you this time.”

Chapter Text

Scene from Season 1

.

“Luna!”

The three were chasing Luna through the streets, Amaya in the air, Connor on the roofs, Greg on the ground. Luna soared through the chilly night sky with her board.

“Yeah?” she smirked, turning around midair, still going, “Ooh! Don’t tell me! ‘Stop in the name of the law!’ ‘Give back those toys!’”

“Yes, actually,” Connor yelled.

“You really haven’t missed playing house ever since Gunn banned dolls?”

“Mr. Gunn banned you from dolls, Luna!” he said.

Luna dropped onto one of the roofs.

“Maybe it was for the best,” she joked, “Got me to start my little rebellion early. Who knows! If Gunn had been nicer to me, maybe I’d have stayed.”

“Uncle Gray was only doing what was best for us,” Greg said, climbing up the roof, “You were causing havoc.”

“Just come home, Luna,” Amaya said, walking up to the moon girl and reaching for her hand.

“Or,” Luna said, holding Amaya’s hand, “You guys could come with me.”

The other two closed in, Luna backed away a bit, still holding Amaya. “Come on! You can’t seriously believe that this is what you want to do for the rest of your lives. Child soldiers to brainwashed adults? What a bargain!”

“We protect the city, unlike the police,” Connor bragged, “So yeah, this is what I to dedicate my life to. Is what you wanna do be a public nuisance because you’re succeeding.”

“Besides,” Amaya said, Luna turned toward her, “You’re way too old to be stealing toys from kids.”

“We don’t want to hurt you,” Greg said, closer.

Luna sighed with a smile.

“I know, but you’re going to bring me to Gunn and he definitely wants to hurt me.”

She fired a purple blast at Greg. He yelped and dodged, it seared the building behind him.

Connor dashed at Luna with super speed and tackled her. She struggled, then giggled through the strain. She opened her mouth, inside of it a blast warmed up. Connor jumped off of her. She hopped on her board and took off, not before Greg tackled her from behind.

She screamed as they both crashed onto the ground below, Greg cushioning her fall.

“Got her!”

She tried to warm up her hands and burn his arms as he held onto her to no avail, his gecko suit and skin protected him.

The others came toward Greg as he stood up with Luna writhing in his arms. She growled.

“Fine, it’s my fault, I shouldn’t’ve started it!”

She calmed down, groaning.

“Now show us where you stashed the toys.”

“Alright,” Luna sighed, looking down. They couldn’t see her lips curl into a smile.

.

They entered the Cat-Car with Luna, sitting her in Amaya’s seat.

“Thanks guys,” Amaya said sarcastically.

“You’re welcome!” Greg smiled truthfully.

“I stashed the toys down by Lake Road, behind the laundromat,”

“Lake road.. Lake road?!” Connor exclaimed, having put the location into the GPS, “That’s miles away!”

“Mhmmm..” Luna winked.

“You did not,”

“I did. Road trip, guys? I can steal some snacks from the Co-Op,”

The three groaned.

.

“I spy with my little eye..” Greg began.

Connor smacked his head against the steering wheel. “Somethiiiing blue.”

“Is it Connor again?” Luna smirked.

“It is!”

“Stop picking me, Greg! You’re supposed to pick anything else, literally anything else.”

“My turn, I spy with my little eye.. Something indigo.”

“Connor?”

“I am not indigo.”

“You’re more of an imperial blue,” Amaya mused.

“How long is this gonna take, Kitty?” Luna laughed.

“You asked that fifteen minutes ago. Subtract fifteen minutes from the—“

“What’s this button do?”

Luna pressed something, causing the car to drive erratically.

“Don’t do that!” Connor tried to restabilise.

“My bad, let me fix it—“

“No!”

The car sped forward, thrusting everyone back. Luna was in a fit of laughter, the rest were screaming.

Greg activated his strength to resist the extreme force and stopped the car. It rocketed the gang onto the windshield. Like insects.

“We’re here!” Luna sang, sighing from laughter, “Well, we would be, if I wasn’t lying, we passed the toy stash about ten minutes ago.”

Amaya winced. Connor turned around.

“Nope. We’re not dealing with that right now. We’re just going back to base.”

“Oooh, road trip?” Luna said.

Connor paused.

“Okay who wants to walk Luna home? I can’t, gotta drive the car,”

“Not it,” Amaya said.

“Greg, thanks for volunteering!”

.

They left Greg and Luna on the street. The two looked at each other and giggled.