Archive of Our Own ^beta

‘The future is bulletproof.
The aftermath is secondary.
It's time to do it now and do it loud.
Killjoys, make some noise.’

Edgar knew something. He had to quit this job.

That day, he was in the stock room of the store he worked at, stacking some boxes in the right place. To him, doing stuff in the stock room wasn't the worst task, at least he could be alone with his headphones playing some My Chemical Romance without anyone bothering him. While Colette, his co-worker and best friend, did all the social tasks behind the counter at the front of the store.

Anyone would think that he's complaining for the sake of complaining, but what they don't know is that this day was a Tuesday morning and Tuesdays were the day where most stores received their products, so he ended up getting a lot to unbox and sort.

After being done placing each box at its right place, he sat on the ground as he took his phone out. Even though he was done doing his job here, he didn't want to join Colette yet, not feeling like being social around all the clients.

He watched a few video clips of his favorite bands to pass time. Not without watching Helena at least two times since it was his favorite and from his words; ‘the best video ever on the entire internet’.

Eventually after a moment, he heard the stock room doors open absurdly. Thinking it was his boss, he immediately hid his phone and looked up at whoever just barged in.

He exhaled in frustration when he saw it was just his co-worker who seemed overwhelmed.

“Edgaaaar, I need your help!! There's so many clients today, I can't take care of all of them!!!” She whined and complained, making him roll his eyes.

First off, he wanted to stay here and keep watching videos instead of doing his job. Second, she just told him that the store was full and he hated having to talk to clients. Or people in general.
He knew it was gonna be a pain but he also knew he had to come and help her if he wanted to get paid at the end of the month, his boss had a good eye on them after all.

“Yeah, yeah coming.”

She left as quick as came, while he took his sweet time joining her. When he made it behind the counter, he took her role and started cashing the clients so she could walk around the store and help.

“So this product is half the price, right?” Some middle aged woman was asking him while pointing at the very obvious and bright tag on the product she was holding saying ‘50% OFF’.

He just stared at her for a solid few seconds, his head resting against his fist. He had to stop himself from sighing heavily at her face.

“Yeah. This thingy is half the price.” He explained in a clearly deadpanned voice, not believing that he had to explain something as obvious. At that moment right here, he wished he was still in the stock room, slacking.

Four hours of nonstop cashing people and helping them passed and lunch time finally came. Colette immediately ran to lock the front doors of the store and put up a sign that said ‘At lunch break WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK AT 1PM :)’.

“It's finally lunch time, I was soooo hungry!!!” She loudly complained as she strolled behind him, who was currently heading to the lockers where they usually ate lunch together.

“We're switching tasks. I can't keep going like that any longer.” The teen rolled his eyes, then took his lunchbox out of his locker before sitting on one of the benches. Colette didn't waste a second sitting next to him, making him shift on the bench so there was some space between them. He hated when people invaded his personal space.

“Think you can handle all the questions clients are gonna ask you about every single product the store has, mh?”

Opening the lunchbox and forking at his food before stuffing it in his mouth, he answered. “At least that's the only thing I'll have to do, I won't have to do that and cash in the client after.”

She just laughed in response. They spent the whole lunch break talking while eating, or more like Colette did all the talking while Edgar was just nodding along or sometimes giving some comments. If it was anyone else he would have not answered at any point of the conversation, but since he was familiar with her, he didn't mind as much as he used to.

After lunch break they did as agreed, it was now Edgar's turn to help the clients around the store while she cashed them in.

And like that, the week passed. It was always the same routine, again and again. He wanted to change this so badly but there was nothing he could do about it, after all he had to get money. So he just bottled it all up.

It was finally Friday but this day Colette was sick. So sick to the point of not being able to come to work, to Edgar's biggest annoyance. Yet he still sent her a short ‘get better’ text.

And since it was Friday, the store was full and he was the only one working there. All he wanted was to go home already.

Fortunately for him the day was finally over, now his last task of the day was to count the money and take notes. So here he was with his boss that he despised a lot, counting money and making maths.

“Aaand, that makes a total of 1500 coins. That's good.” The greedy money machine grinned at the view of all the money that got spent that day in his store.

Edgar silently rolled his eyes, knowing that no matter how hard he worked he would still get underpaid. But at the same time he couldn't complain that much because on the other side, Colette wasn't even paid at all. All because she never asked about her salary so Griff took advantage of that to make some savings and not pay her. However Edgar wasn't as careless as her and had to fight hard to finally get a salary, not a high one though.

After packing his stuff, he left the place to go home, not bothering to even say goodbye to his boss. On his way back home, while he was lost in his thoughts, he suddenly noticed two people destroying the security cameras of the park. He curiously stopped in his way and watched them from afar. His eyes were stuck at them as they left the place. Subconsciously, he started to follow them, wanting to understand what was their deal.

But as he discreetly followed them through the area of the park called Retropolis, he watched them go inside some old warehouse. His curiosity ended up getting the best of him, making him follow them inside the base.

Unfortunately, curiosity killed the cat.

Because as he was wandering around, curious, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and then, black out…

When he eventually started to gain consciousness back, hearing voices talking around him, he still felt light-headed and confused. Blinking, he tried to get his eyes used to the harsh light above his head. Then finally, he saw three individuals standing in front of him, all hidden in the shadows.

One was leaning against some boxes stacked, arms crossed and a food resting against it, the one on the far left was holding what looked like a big gun with both hands and the third person was standing in the middle, a hand over their hip as the other hand seemed to be holding what looked like a baseball bat which was resting against their shoulder.

As Edgar was about to stand up and back away from them, he noticed that his wrist was cuffed down to a pipe that went all the way on the wall where his back was leaning against. He immediately got on his guard.

“He’s waking up.” One cold voice stated.

Before Edgar could ask who they were, the one in the middle spoke up.

“Why did you follow us?” The dark-haired boy glanced up at the person who seemed to be a young girl, who finally stepped under the light, showing her short yet imposing figure.

“I wasn’t-” He started before the girl pointed at him with the end of her metallic baseball bat. “You’re a spy from the Starr park direction!” Her voice was firm and angry.

He was confused. “What?”

The two others behind her also stepped in. He could finally see them clearly. From the buff black-haired man, to the guy with a crow head.

“Don’t play dumb. You know exactly what she’s talking about.” The heavy voice of the older guy accused him as the Crow added. “I’ve seen this guy before. He works at Starr park’s gift shop, he’s definitely a spy.” He crossed his arms as he eyed down the teen.

“I genuinely don’t know what the hell you guys are talking about!” He finally defended himself. “Who even are you?!”

“Who we are is none of your business, punk. You should tell us who you are if you don’t want that face of yours beaten up.” The girl added as she tapped her bat against the palm of her left hand, still waiting for an explanation from the boy, who insisted that he didn’t know what they were talking about.

“Listen, I don’t get what’s the deal with you guys, but I was just curious. I saw you two break the cameras and that’s all. I’m not a spy or whatever, seriously!” His wrist tugged against the handcuff once more.

She laughed before walking closer to him and then kneeling at his level. “You think it’s the first time we catch a spy? Well, you’re not the first and definitely not the last one.” But as she was speaking, his scarf suddenly tried to throw a punch at her. Luckily for her, she had really good reflexes. So, she caught the moving fabric in time, making Edgar get even more pissed than he already was. “Don’t touch the scarf!” He warned her, making her scoff.

“That was pathetic. Your whole spying plan was pathetic. I almost feel sorry for you. Bull, you know what to do.” She finally stood up again and started to walk off to somewhere else in the base. Edgar saw the buff man raise his gun and point it at Edgar, who immediately tried to protect himself, but for some reason shielding did not work at the moment he needed it the most.

But as the man was about to shoot, they all heard the sound of doors and windows breaking. Their attention immediately shifted to the source of the sound.

‘They found us again.’ She thought as she held her bat tighter in her hand before turning her head to talk to the guys behind her. “It’s them!”

Edgar watched as suddenly bots invaded the place. He recognized those bots, they were the park's training robots. However it was unusual for them to attack brawlers out of the training ground or brawling area.

The three of them didn’t waste a second before destroying them. The girl smashes them into pieces with her bat, the man shoots them with his gun and the crow throws poisoned daggers at them.

“There’s too many of them!” The crow exclaimed as he took another one down.

Suddenly, one tried to approach Edgar while he was still cuffed down to the pipe. So he ended up finding a way to get up and his scarf immediately punched it away from him. Even though he couldn’t fight because of the cuff, at least the scarf could still protect him.

They finally took all the bots down. The girl exhaled and blew a bubble with her gum before muttering. “How did they find us this time…”

The man next to her immediately answered the question. “It’s the boy here. I’m sure he has a tracker on him or something.”

Edgar, who was trying to catch his breath, looked up at them. “What?! Did you not notice me trying to defend myself here!”

“It could be a trick to make himself look innocent…” The Crow remarked as he pocketed his daggers back in.

“Do I get rid of him now?” The older guy questioned as he lifted his gun again and pointed it at him. She hummed and thought for a short instant. “Nah. I have a better idea. Bull, uncuff him. And you,” The end of her bat was pointing at Edgar’s face. “Don’t try anything funny with that scarf if you wanna stay alive long enough to understand what’s happening to you.”

He didn’t understand what she meant by that, but decided to listen and stop his scarf from punching the guy, apparently named ‘Bull’, who was uncuffing him before grabbing him by his red work vest, then dragging him in front of the girl.

She glanced up at him. “We’re not gonna kill you. At least not now. If you truly are a spy, then I think we could find you a better purpose.”

“But I told you, I’m not a spy!” He argued again, to which she laughed.

“You think I’ll believe that? No way. Now you can’t leave until we decide what to do with you. Crow.” She tilted her head toward the Crow, indicating for him to do something. He walked to one of the boxes, then came back with something that looked like an electronic cuff. She then placed it around his left wrist.

“This little thing will make sure you stay inside the area of Retropolis. You already know too much. Can’t let you inform the Starr corporation that we're here.”

Bull finally released the boy, who was fuming at the ongoing situation. “What are you talking about… I have a life going on outside of Retropolis for your information!”

“That’s what spies deserve when they get caught.” She responded sharply as she finally started to walk away and so did the two others, whom she stopped and informed them, “Reunion at the base tomorrow night. We have serious things to talk about. And keep a close eye on the emo dude.” The two others nodded and left with her.

Edgar was lost, furious and confused. He has been wandering around Retropolis for the past few hours. He occasionally tried to walk out of there, but every time he stepped out of the restrained area, the cuff would send him electroshocks through his arm, making him curse and stop trying.

He tried texting Colette a few times, but it was in vain. His messages just wouldn't get sent for some reason.

It was getting late and he was tired, so he tried to find a secure spot to sleep or at least rest. He heard about just how dangerous Retropolis was, with fights everywhere, gun violence and such. He ended up sitting behind a bakery that was situated right between old town and retropolis, where the cuff wasn’t reacting, his back resting against the wall as he closed his eyes, hoping to get at least an hour of sleep. He hoped that if anyone tried to approach him his scarf would sense it and protect him.

At the end he couldn’t even fall asleep at all, there was too much noise around him and he was in an uncomfortable position. His face buried on his knees and his arms wrapped around them against his chest.

After hours of trying to rest and think of a way to get out of this situation, he heard footsteps. Suddenly a female voice talked to him. “Aww my, my, what are you doing here young boy?”

His head snapped up, looking at the source of the voice and mentally cursing at the fact that his scarf would have not done anything if it was someone to hurt him. Probably because the person in front of him didn’t seem like a threat. It was just a woman with blonde hair tied in a bun and had an umbrella in hand. He recognized her, she was Piper. He knew her since Colette had a special place for her in her heart and would always talk about her to Edgar.

However she looked so out of place in an area like this one.

“Nothing… What do you want?”

She helped him get up, grabbing his arm. “I was just worried to see someone there, so early in the morning. Especially someone as young as you. Do you not have a place to be at, dear?”

He shook his head. “No. I mean not right now…” This made him realize that he had to find the people from yesterday and try to convince them that he wasn't a spy and that he wasn't gonna tell anyone what he saw there. There was no way he was gonna stay there another night.

“Uh… By any chance Miss, have you seen a girl, kinda short with black hair and she was with a rather strong guy and another guy with a crow head.”

The lady hummed and clicked her fingers when she recognized who he was talking about. “Oh, you are probably asking about Bibi and her crew.”

He couldn’t confirm or deny, since he hadn't caught on to the girl’s name even though he knew the two other guys’ names.

“I can just guide you to them.” The woman added sweetly and twirled her umbrella behind her in an animated movement. The boy in return nodded, hoping they were talking about the same person.

She guided him through Retropolis for quite a while before finally stopping in front of a rough looking bar, with a big neon sign saying ‘Bull’s’.

“This is the place where she spends most of her time with her crew.”

Quickly grumbling a ‘thank you’, he walked into the diner. Once inside, he looked around carefully scanning the area. He saw people arm wrestle while others cheered at it. At the same time, some other people were shouting at some brawl ball match on the cracked TV screen, all while classic rock was playing from the beaten up jukebox.

He knew that Retropolis’ whole theme was supposed to be 80’s based and even though he preferred the 2000’s theme of Starr park, he couldn’t lie that this was just as nice.

As he scanned the area, he finally saw them. Or at least only the girl and the crow. With an emo hair flip, he marched straight toward the duo.

“Hey.” His voice was firm as he caught their attention. Turning her head toward the voice speaking, her brows frowned, her smile was gone and turned a displeased expression..

“What do you want, spy?”

“I came all the way to you guys to tell you that I'm not a spy again. Like seriously how can I prove to you that I'm not one?!”

Letting out a mocking scoff she then glanced at Crow before looking at him again, eyeing him up and down.

“Well, I think I know what to do with you in that case…”

Crossing his arms, he waited impatiently for her to explain. Meanwhile she just sipped her strawberry milkshake, taking her sweet time and then finally spoke.

“Okay… First, I want you to go to your workplace,” She started and held eye-contact with him. “And there, you're gonna go to your boss’ office and steal something for me.”

He blinked. “What?”

She pushed her empty glass aside and stood up from the stool. “Let's go take a walk.” Her voice held a fake amicable tone.

He had no other choice but to follow her outside. Once out, the girl grabbed a pack of gum from her pocket as she started to walk, with him following her.

“So, I want you to steal documents from your own boss, that's right. He’s technically a worker of the park, which means he definitely has what we're searching for.”

He realized that even though he originally wasn't a spy, he unexpectedly got turned into one. He tensed at the thought. He didn't want to get involved with gangs or delinquents or whatever they were.

“What documents? What are they even about?”

She blew a bubble. “It's none of your business, just bring the docs.”

They made it to the warehouse where Edgar was held captive a day before. She took a seat in front of the old computer. Then, she showed him the cover of a file which wouldn't open without a password, to which Edgar assumed she didn’t have.

“You see this file? Well basically we stole it months ago from the direction’s database, buuuut.. It needs a password to access its content. And we caught on to the fact that your boss might be affiliated with the direction, so he must have the password too.”

Slowly, he approached the computer and looked at the file’s name. He was about to tell her to go to hell and then leave the base, but instead he realized that maybe if he got the password she'll finally let him go and he'll finally move on from this awful experience. Plus, he thought it would be a nice revenge against his boss who treated him poorly.

He hummed in agreement and was about to leave until he heard her call out for him. “Wait a sec.”

Suddenly, she grabbed his arm and reached for the cuff before starting to mess with it until they both heard a beeping sound. “Alright. Now your moving area has been expanded enough to go to your workplace. Don't disappoint or else.”

Not bothering to answer the menace, he decided to just go. He didn't know why he was compelling to her plan though. After all she was shorter than him and her only weapon was a baseball bat, if he wanted he could just unarm her and take her down.

But then again he realized that maybe he was underestimating her. Plus, fighting wouldn't be the answer since there was an easier way out right in front of him; getting the document that held the password in exchange for his freedom.

He didn’t immediately go back to the gift shop, because at this hour Griff was certainly in his office. He had to wait until nighttime. So, in the meanwhile he decided to spend the rest of the day around the bakery where he spent the previous night at.

As he was about to go back to sit behind it, the same woman from the morning stepped out of the bakery when she noticed him.

“Sweetie, have you found her?”

He stopped in his tracks. “Ah, yeah, yeah, don't worry. Thanks again by the way.” Before he could walk behind the bakery, she stopped him again.

“Why are you going near the trash containers like that? Come on in, dear.”

At first he was about to refuse but also, he didn't exactly want to sit on the ground for the rest of the day. So he just accepted and followed her inside.

Once inside, he took a seat at one of the few tables. There were already some people eating pastries and drinking tea. He was quite surprised at how warm and welcoming the bakery was compared to everything else here in Retropolis. He assumed it’s because the bakery was situated right between Retropolis and Old Town.

When she asked him what he wanted he said that just a simple energy drink was fine. And like that, he spent the rest of the day here, passing time on his phone while waiting for mission hour.

On his phone he saw that he got hundreds of missed calls and texts from his white-haired friend. Realizing that he could finally text her, he replied to her.

‘I’m okay, Colette. I just have to deal with something important rn. Dw about me.”

He didn’t even have to wait until he immediately got an answer, which was just the girl asking him if he needed any help or if she could do anything while he kept telling her that he was fine and didn't need anything from her at the moment.

When the woman, who he has finally learned the name of, which was Piper, was starting to close, he muttered a one last ‘thanks’ before finally starting to walk towards the park’s main area.

By the time it took him to get there, it was already late enough, so at least he was sure that his boss was gone. Unless he was in his office, re-counting money or organising his stuff, but he knew it was less likely.

Once he made it in front of his workplace, he took the keys out and entered through the backdoors; the only place that didn't have as much security as the entrance of the store.

After carefully entering the place, he made it to his boss' office and tried to open the door, even though he knew it was gonna be locked.

And like expected, it was locked. “Ugh…” He muttered and decided to just break the door down. Discretion could go to hell. He just wanted to get these documents and move on. So, with a powerful punch of his scarf, the door was down.

He then entered the office and started rummaging through the cabinets and drawers. He quickly paused to remember the file’s name. When he remembered and searched further for it, he finally found it.

Out of curiosity, he opened it. However he just couldn't understand a single thing that was written down on it, he couldn’t understand how anyone could find a password through all that. It talked about stuff he just didn't get. Not that it mattered to him, at least he had the file.

He then left the place and didn't bother locking the backdoors, he had to make it look like someone entered with no permission and broke the door down. He felt kinda bad on his way back, because now Griff would immediately assume it was Colette who fucked up by not closing the door after leaving work last night.

After walking for a while, he made it back to the place from earlier in the day, where Bibi, Bull and Crow were waiting for him.“Took you long enough, punk.” She said harshly as she grabbed the documents from his hands.

After looking through its content for a few seconds, she hummed.

“Hm. Perfect.”

“Can I go now? I proved myself enough.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

She looked up at him with a thoughtful expression before that expression turned into a mocking grin on her face.

“We’ll talk about it later. We were talking about something important right now.” She waved him off with a hand.

He wanted to pull his hair and scream, he was fed up with this place. He did what she asked from him, yet she kept him waiting.

And so, he ended up spending the last hour with them. At first he didn't pay any attention to what they were talking about until at some point he got interested to know what that was all about. From what he understood, the three of them were against something, he didn't know what exactly tho.

At the end of the meeting Bull and Crow left the place, leaving Edgar and Bibi alone.

“So?”

“I think I'm gonna keep you around a bit longer.” She announced to him like it was nothing, which drove him mad.

“Are you serious, right now?! I did my part of the deal, now you do yours!”

“First off, there was no deal. You said you wanted to prove that you're not a spy, I said get me the file and you did. We never talked about letting you go.” She leaned further against the wall behind her, arms crossed. “Plus, I don't exactly care about respecting deals.”

“What does this mean?! Does this mean I just gotta stay here? I have a life outside of Retropolis for your info!”

She shrugged. “I know. But I don't care. You're staying here until I decide that you're useless.” Suddenly, she moved away from the wall and walked to him before grabbing his wrist. Messing around with the cuff, she ended up setting it back to its original area range.

“You can go now, reunion's over.” She jerked her head towards the door.

“And where exactly am I supposed to stay?! I'm not gonna sleep in the streets until you randomly decide that I can leave!”

That made her roll her eyes. “You're such a crybaby, seriously. So pathetic.” The last part was more of a mutter than anything. “Stay at the infirmary or something, I don't know. We've got beds there.” She shrugged as if it wasn’t important.

He stared at her in disbelief for a few seconds, before finally stomping out of the place, fuming, not even bothering to ask where that infirmary was.

The rest of the night he walked around Retropolis without any goal. He was exhausted, after all it’s been two days since he had a full night of sleep. He decided that sleeping on a real bed was still better than the dirty ground behind a bakery.

So he went back to the warehouse they consider a base and opened every room in there hoping to find the infirmary. Luckily for him, he ended up finding the infirmary. It looked more like an old room turned into an infirmary. He tugged the curtains around the bed, not exactly wanting to be the first thing we see when entering the room.

That night it took him a moment before falling asleep. His mind was too preoccupied by thinking of a way out of this mess. He adjusted his scarf further up on his face, snuggling against it and finally fell asleep. Tiredness hitting him hard.

After that, days passed and it kept going like that, Bibi sending him on missions all around Starr park and making him do things for the gang. To which, he had no other choice but to do as asked, hoping that after a while of doing whatever she needed, she would tell him that he could leave.

But that day never came. A month has passed and he is still there. Every night he slept on the uncomfortable infirmary beds. Still hoping he’ll find a way out.

One morning he got woken up by the harsh and loud sound of alarms. That meant that they were under attack, again.

So here he was trying to shake the sleepiness out of his brain even though he just got abruptly woken up.

He left the infirmary in a rush and heard sounds of metal clanking and destroying, meaning they were already on it to fight the robots off. He quickly climbed the stairs up and the only thing he saw was Bibi smashing the bots into pieces with her bat. As much as he didn't like her, he had to keep that fake bootlicker attitude just so she’d change her mind and tell him that he could leave once and for all.

Bibi has barely noticed his presence. She noticed him only when she was about to swing straight at his head, thinking he was a bot. Luckily for him, she stopped right in time.

“Gosh, Edgar! I could have killed you right here!”

“Yeah, but sadly you didn't.”

She sighed, not bothering with him as she turned her attention back to the army of bots attacking the base now with the help of Edgar too.

“They've been attacking us way more often than usual. I think they know you left them to join us. Now they most likely are attacking us more to compensate for our newest member.”

“Newst member?!” He pointed at himself with his hand as his scarf was taking the bots around them down. “You guys didn't let me have a say about it! I never agreed to join you! I don't even know what your deal is yet. All I know is that you guys are obsessed with Starr park’s hub for some reason.”

“Yeah well,” Another swing of her bat on the bots. “Life's unfair.” When all the bots were turned into piles of metal scraps she was about to walk away. This time he wasn't gonna let her leave like this.

“You can't just say that ‘life’s unfair’ and still not give me any explanations.” Not answering, she left him there, alone and confused.

He decided to follow her outside of the base where he stopped her by grabbing her shoulder.

“Can I at least know why I'm stuck here? You have your proof that I'm not a spy from everything I did the past month for you three.”

Glancing up at him with that same expression she always had, her hand pushed away his own from her shoulder.

“Maybe you truly weren't a spy from the Starr park direction at first, but now you're our spy. And only time will decide what will happen to you. So you better get used to everything.”

He couldn’t just accept that. “No way.”

“You don’t have a choice.” She stood her grounds.

So here he was, back at the infirmary, staring at this damn cuff that kept him around. He sighed and laid on his back. But as he was thinking of what he could possibly do, he suddenly heard the sound of the infirmary's door open. He immediately got on his guard.

He heard shuffling around and the sound of cabinets opening and closing, he was ready to fight if needed.

In a swift movement he suddenly tugged the curtain off, the other person barely flinched at this, too busy healing themselves with bandages and rubbing alcohol.

It was just Bull who barely looked at Edgar, totally unimpressed.

“Calm down kid, I’m just using this room’s actual purpose.”

Edgar relaxed, but was still a bit tense. He always felt small next to Bull who was very imposing.

“Pssh, acting as if I had any choice about having to stay there for the past weeks…” The younger one mumbled.

“You shouldn't have put your nose into stuff that doesn’t involve you to begin with.”

He didn't even bother answering that, he already heard it too many times. He awkwardly sat there on his bed waiting for Bull to leave. However the man took his sweet time, not caring that Edgar wanted to be alone. He was the first to break the silence between them.

“You know there's a way for you to have access to actual comfort.” He started and immediately caught Edgar's attention. “The way is to just accept the situation. We won't let you go that soon, you know that right? You've been here for way too long, now you know too much.”

The teen was about to answer but got immediately interrupted by the older one.

“Listen kid, since you're gonna stay with us for a while, I think there's something important you should know. They're always watching.”

“Who? What are you even talking about?” He questioned, totally lost.

“I can't say much. That's Bibi’s job. You should try and ask her.”

“She won't tell me a thing! All she does is command me around and not even tell me what I'm doing all this for.”

“I thought teens your age were more rebellious than this.”

Edgar didn't understand what he meant by that. The other just left when he was done healing himself.

He was sitting on the bed, confused. As much as he hated the big guy, he was right on the fact that he was being too passive around them and needed to start imposing himself a bit more.

After the man left, he sat there on the bed for a while, lost in thoughts.

He decided that he was gonna figure everything out. He stood up and left the base to find Bibi. He ended up finding her in the training grounds where she was fighting bots, swinging at them, trying to reach her ult.

It was Bull who told him about the few bots they kept and got a certain brawler called Jessie to fix them so the people of Retropolis could use them as training robots just like all the other locations had.

“Hey!”

He made his presence known, stopping her during her training.

“What do you want, nerd?” She crossed her arms, her grip on her bat tight.

“I want to know what's going on there. What are you guys fighting for and why can't I just leave?”

Frustration was at its fullest, he had enough of this place, of these people, he just wanted to go home. He never thought he'd feel that way, but he even started to miss work.

Not giving him any importance, she turned around and kept beating down an already broken robot.

This time he wasn’t gonna let her avoid him just like that. He darted to her and gripped her arm, making her tense up before grabbing his hand off her in a crushing grip making him wince.

“Don't you dare try to touch me again!”

He held his hand with his other one in pain when she freed him.

“Seriously, what's your problem…” He muttered.

“Now, get out of my way. I'm not done training there.”

“Not before you answer my question first.”

Suddenly, she got an idea. “Fine I'll tell you.”

He exhaled in relief but out of a sudden, the end of her bat was right in front of his face.

“But first, I want you to fight me.”

He blinked.

“What?”

“You heard me. If you somehow manage to beat me down, I'll tell you everything you wanna know. If I beat you down, you stop asking questions and you stop asking for us to let you go. Whaddya think?” She had that confident smile on her face.

Edgar had no reason to refuse. He was sure he could beat her. And it was a possible chance to finally get answers to his questions.

“Fine.”

She scoffed, sure of herself and took a few steps back so they'd start fairly. She got in position. We could tell she was good at both baseball and breaking bones.

He also got in position, his scarf ready to strike.

They didn't need a signal to start, she was the first to swing at him and his scarf quickly blocked the attack by holding the bat, giving some time for it to slam at her with its other ‘arm’.

Pulling her bat out of the scarf grip, she got back into position. She was swinging left and right at him, not leaving him a moment of rest. At least not much, because sometimes she'd have to readjust her grip before swinging back.

Noticing how all he did was dodging, she started to get pissed. “Come on, fight back! Are you scared?” She taunted.

He didn’t want to look like a coward, so he attacked more and defended less.

Now the roles were switched, she found herself dodging the punches more than attacking with her bat. Surprisingly she was having fun. Since she was already good at swinging while dodging was one of her weak points, this was basically a training for her.

That was until she suddenly grabbed the scarf and tugged at it.

“Hey, don't touch the scarf!”

“There's no rule!”

To make her release her grip on the scarf, he grabbed her wrist and yanked her away. Her other hand which was holding the bat aimed for his head. Luckily, his scarf stopped the swing right in time.

The both of them haven’t realized but the fight that started off with pure hatreds, turned into something more spirited. Noticing how good at brawling he was and wasn't the coward she thought he was, she got more into it. Even Edgar at some point was also having fun fighting her.

After a while, they were both tired of it. He was resting against a wall, while she was holding onto her thighs, slightly bent down trying to catch her breath as she suddenly exhaled a laugh. “Not bad for a loser.”

“Yeah?” He huffed automatically, not thinking.

“Yeah. I expected you to let your scarf do all the job while you hid behind it like a coward.”

“Well, now you see what I'm capable of. Are you finally gonna tell me everything I need to know?”

“No.” She simply responded, which made him freeze.

“Wha… You said if I beat you, you'd tell me everything!”

She hummed before standing up straight again.

“Mhm, that's what I said. But did you win? Nope.”

“You didn't win either!” He responded back.

“That's called a tie then.” She rolled her eyes like it was the most obvious thing ever.

He was about to add more but she interrupted him before he could.

“But since a tie technically means that you half win, I'll tell you just a few things.”

“It's about time.” He muttered.

She started to walk toward the exit of the training grounds and gestured with her hand. “Come with me.” He followed her.

They walked in silence for a while until Bibi brought him back to the warehouse where she unlocked one of the few small rooms. Edgar never went there before because he didn't have access to it.

She let him enter the place filled with documents, pictures with red markers circling some details on the pictures in question. He looked around curiously as she approached a computer, a smaller one than the other in the main room of the warehouse, typed a password and logged in.

She stood from the desk and looked at him across the room, before crossing her arms.

“We are the resistance. And we fight to take down the park.”

He blinked. “You guys are the what?”

She sighed and turned around to face the various pictures over the walls.

“You see, we're observed.”

Desiorented, he looked around expecting to find a camera or someone watching them, anything.

“Not just right now. We're always watched. No matter where you are or what you do. They're always watching.”

No matter what she said to him, he just couldn't understand which made her roll her eyes.

“You're just so ignorant aren't you? They have eyes everywhere. Have you ever asked yourself why the gems are so precious? Why do they make you feel different? Stronger?”

“Well of course not. It's been like that for years. Why should I question it now?”

This whole conversation was ridiculous to Edgar. He couldn't understand what she meant by that and she kept it vague so it definitely wasn't helping at all.

“Have you ever tried leaving Starr park?”

“Duh. How else would I find myself in Retropolis now?”

“No, I meant, have you ever tried to leave the park itself?”

He shook his head. “Why should I? It literally doesn't matter.”

“Oh my gosh, use your brain for once, don't you see how everything around us isn't normal? Have you met Larry and Lawrie?”

He nodded.

“They are the ones who placarded my, Bull and Crow's face all over Starr park’s walls saying ‘wanted’. Why do you think we get attacked so often?”

Noticing how silent he went, she sighed.

“You'll eventually understand.” She muttered as she approached him and held his arm, making him get on his guard.

She looked up at him. “And when you do, you'll come back to us.”

He looked down right back at her. Their eyes met and locked together for a few seconds. Her grip loosened and instead of holding his arm, she let it slide down, accidentally brushing against his own hand.

But before she could add something else, they got another attack alert. So they rushed to the place where the bots were invading Retropolis. They were on it to fight, but Bibi noticed something… They were stronger than usual.

But before Edgar could take any bot down, she suddenly grabbed his arm again before messing with the cuff again until they both heard a click and then she took it off from his wrist.

“What are you doing-”

“Leave. Now.”

He thought it was a joke or a trap. But the expression on her face was dead serious, she wanted him gone. She didn’t wait and watch him go because she was already fighting off the bots.

It took him a few seconds before his legs dashed out of here, beating down any bot that got on his way. He ran confused, why did she do that out of nowhere. What was gonna happen to her? What the hell was going on?

But at least the nightmare was finally over.

At least he thought.

When he made it back to Starr park’s hub the usual nice and friendly atmosphere, that he normally hated, was gone. He couldn't explain why but the air, the ambient, everything was heavy and gloomy. As much as he loved darkness and gloominess, that was not normal for the park to look that way. He couldn't explain why. After spending so much time in Retropolis, he expected the main area of the park to look even more colorful than usual.

He walked straight to the Starrpark gift shop to find Colette. But on his way, he started to feel something he never felt before.

He felt observed.

Stopping in his tracks, he held his breath without even realizing as he looked around and saw nothing. No one around, not one visitor, not one brawler.

Deciding that it was just Bibi’s words that made him paranoid, he shook his head and kept going, ignoring this weird feeling.

When he made it there he had to spend half an hour trying to get Colette to calm down, she kept walking all over the store, talking her head out about how worried she was for him.

But the whole time he had an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. Like the place he normally worked at didn’t want him anymore.

As she finally started to chill out, out of nowhere, he stared at the security camera of the store. He then asked something.

“Hey… Do you know who is watching these...” He pointed at the camera, pausing her worried rambling as she looked up at it too.

“Ehh, I have no idea. Griff probably? Why does it matter?! All it matters is that they let you go! What did you even have to do to make them let you go after so long?!” She questioned totally hysterically.

He ignored her as he kept looking at the camera, suddenly he strolled to the backrooms to get a ladder and a screwdriver, which he brought to the said camera as Colette looked at him with curious eyes and asked him what he was doing. He didn't answer and just climbed up to the camera.

With the screwdriver he was about to unscrew the camera from the wall and suddenly he heard a voice speak out from the speakers they had in the store that the both of them sometimes used to play their own music rather than the store’s preselected ones, when Griff wasn't around.

The robotic voice asked, “Please do not touch the cameras around the park. Thank you.”

That same voice he heard multiple times over Starr park’s speakers, he never asked himself where it came from and who even was speaking.

“That was weird.” Colette said as she crossed her arms, not reading too much about it.

In total opposite of Edgar.

He climbed the ladder down and walked out of the shop. Until he heard Colette shouting behind him.

“Heyy! Where are you going, I still need your help here!!”

He didn't pay her attention and ran straight to the center of the park. And there he noticed how weird everything looked. It looked so…

Fake.

So unreal.

Like what he’s known for years suddenly turned into something unknown and different.

He then reached the fountain and looked at his reflection in the water, and then looked at the sky’s reflection. It was just as weird as the whole place.

Suddenly he got interpellated by a brawler he saw very rarely, called R-T. The robot asked the boy if everything was okay, to which Edgar was about to say that he felt off but then realized that the enemy might be closer than he thought. So he didn’t say anything.

“Ah… No, no… I'm fine.” He waved his hand dismissively as he started to leave, feeling unsafe there as the robot looked at him suspiciously.

When he left, R-T used his radio communication to say “I think another one is starting to get conscious…”

As Edgar was about to go back to the shop, stressfully, he heard two voices calling for him, Larry and Lawrie. He ignored them and kept walking, knowing it wasn't something good.

But as he heard them run after him he started running too, basically escaping them. He ran each corner and building to make them lose his track.

His first thought was to get back to Retropolis. For some reason he just knew he’d be more at security at Retropolis than at Town Square.

Fortunately he safely made it there, Larry and Lawrie long lost behind. He looked around, the robots who attacked them earlier were still there. However most were already turned into pieces of scraps. He then headed for the warehouse where he found Bull and Crow taking down the few last robots.

“Edgar? I thought Bibi sent you back to Starrpark.” Bull gruffed as he shot a robot down.

“Not a lot of people come back to places they hate.” Crow added before throwing a poisoned dagger at some robot.

“Where is she?” He asked as he dodged a robot’s shot.

“She's inside. Trying to fix the security system on the computer.”

He just gave one nod of the head and went inside as fast as he could. On his way he had to take down some robots to make his way to the computer room where Bibi was trying her best to keep the defense system up.

“Bibi!”

“Edgar?! What are you doing here, I told you to leave!” She couldn’t focus too much on him since she had all her attention on the machine in front of her.

He rushed to her and helped her keep the door shut.

“I think they found out I know about the truth! R-T was acting strange.” He said as he let out a grunt, using all his force to keep the door shut long enough for her to finish what she was doing on the security system.

“And you thought it was a good idea coming here with the direction following you!”

“Where else was I supposed to go?!”

Not bothering to answer she tried her best to activate the anti gems shield all over Retropolis.

“UGH. I hate these stupid security systems. I never understand how they work, that’s not my job normally!” She slammed her fist against the table.

“Where’s the one in charge of that?” He kept struggling against the door as he heard shooting and banging on it from behind the metal.

“She has a life too, dumbasss!”

‘Oh so now, she has a life outside too huh…’ He mentally cursed at her for her hypocrisies.

He just rolled his eyes at the insult and ignored it as he thought of something. “Come hold the door down and let me try.”

“In your dreams. You’re gonna blow Retropolis into ashes.”

“Just let me try!”

She ignored him and kept trying to do it herself, but after a long time of no positive results, she abandoned and rushed next to him and helped him hold the door down. “Okay you try. But if you mess anything up, I’ll make sure you regret ever coming back here.”

Ignoring her menaces, he ran to the computer and read thoroughly through the files and tried to find what could possibly be the system enforcement.

He ended up finding something called the ‘repelling system’, which was disabled, so he tried to turn it on and suddenly he felt a magnetic wave surround them before the sound of short-circuiting, the sound of metal falling heavily on the ground and then silence.

Bibi slowly moved away from the door before carefully opening it to see all the bots on the ground unmoving. She then turned her head to look at Edgar instead.

“How?”

“I don’t know. It definitely wasn’t the only program that had the word ‘repelling' on it. Like seriously who’s the idiot who named a security system like that?”

Exhaling a laugh, she dusted her jacket off. “Doesn’t matter how they’re called as long as our system operator knows how to use them.”

Edgar approached her and stood next to her as he looked at the bots on the ground, crossing his arms.

“Why don’t you guys turn this shield on 24/7?”

She slightly shook her head. “Because the magnetic waves used for the shield aren’t safe for long term use. We use them only in extreme situations like this one. Sigh However I should find a way for anyone who’s trustworthy to know how to use the system for cases where the operator can’t be there and do it herself.”

“Uh huh. So guess that makes me a trustworthy person now? Since I’m the one who fixed this.” He said proudly as he checked out his black painted nails.

“Ha ha.” She deadpanned but not being totally serious about it. “You wish.” She gave a playful push to his scarf as she walked past him.

“I mean, seriously. I didn’t even get a ‘thank you’ or something.”

“You want thanksies now? What after? A kiss? A hug?”

Obviously, she was joking. But he could joke back.

“Well since you’re offering…”

She tsked while rolling her eyes and walked away to check on the others and made sure they were all okay. Hiding the smile that formed on her face.

That night, Edgar just wandered around Retropolis, hands in his pockets, looking at all the retro buildings, neon signs, posters and such. He was pleased at the sight of posters of some old metal and rock groups he liked. Retropolis definitely wasn’t the type of area Edgar would like to live in. But he couldn’t lie that it had one hell of a charm.

“Yo! Catch!”

At the sudden voice, he turned his head and his scarf was quick to catch the baseball bat that came fast and aimed straight at his head.

“Not bad, punk.”

Bibi blew a bubble, confident. She then approached him and he handed her the ball.

“Not bad yourself. Got a good aim for someone who doesn’t own a weapon.”

“Excuse me? If Mr. Bat’s not a weapon then what is he, hm?”

She poked at his shoulder with the end of the bat..

“I meant, like, a bullet type of weapon? Even a bow would have worked.”

“You have too much free time dude, it’s getting to your head. You start saying random things.”

He shrugged as he kept watching the cool posters on the tagged walls.

“It’s not like I have much to do anyways. I can’t go back to town square yet, so I’m jobless. Ugh such a pain…”

“How is that a pain? At least no more annoying boss to nag at your every movement.”

He slightly shook his head. “Having a job truly is hell. But not having one is just as bad. No money, so much free time that you don’t even know what to do with it.”

Humming, she stared at his face while he avoided looking back at her.

“Sounds dramatic. You’re dramatic. I think you should be glad.”

This only made him shrug as he kept walking just wandering around, this time with Bibi following him. Neither of them spoke, she just wanted to take a walk too after practicing with Mr. Bat so much for the whole evening.

Suddenly she thought of something.

“So you’re bored here in Retropolis, huh?”

“Yeah, kinda. Even if I’m not forced to stay here anymore, nowhere is safer than here. Surprisingly. But oh my god, it’s so boring.”

She hummed.

“Okay, first off, this area isn’t boring, you just haven’t seen the coolest things yet. Second, I know how you could be useful."

He looked at her curiously while she blew another bubble.

She slammed the doors open of the place they just arrived; Bull’s Diner.

“You said you missed your job?”

“I didn’t exactly say that…”

“Well, there’s something you could do. And that thing is simple.”

He watched her as she didn’t even finish her sentence to walk to the counter instead.

“Hey old man! You still need someone to serve the clients?”

“Need money again?” The blacked haired man slightly shook his head as he flipped the steaks over the grilling plate.

“Not me this time.” She grabbed Edgar by his red vest and brought him next to her. “Him. He’s complaining like a baby about not getting money and how bored he is here.”

“Bibi, that’s not what I meant.” He facepalmed. “I could pass time by being more useful like… I don’t know… Do something with the security system, check if the area is safe from the bots or something?”

“Pfft. You think we trust you enough for that yet?” She eyed him up and down. “I think you should start by helping the old sack over there.”

“Call me old again and I won’t give you anything free ever again.”

She quickly apologized with a laugh which he sighed and finished preparing the burger he was making.

“Fine. I do need some help with serving the clients. You start now.”

This made Bibi grin as she turned her face to face Edgar. “You’re welcome.”

He barely got to say a word that she tugged at his vest again, the one she kept holding into the whole time.

“Just take that thing off first. Unless you want clients to think that you’re an angry ex-worker of the gift shop who poisoned their food as vengeance.”

“What? Literally no one will think that.”

That made her roll her eyes.

“Just take it off, seriously, you miss your actual job that much?”

He glared down at her, before hesitantly taking it off and watched as she brought it in the backroom where they could leave personal stuff.

“At least now the Bad Randoms shirt is more seeable.” She tilted her head toward it.

“Huh. Guess you’re right.”

“C’mon. Your job starts now.”

After this long night, Bull was finally starting to clean around and told Edgar he could leave. Bibi was still there, she wanted to see how he's doing while drinking her soda.

Once they both stepped out of the diner all he wanted was to have a good night of sleep. But then he remembered.

“Am I supposed to keep on living in that infirmary? It's not exactly top comfort…”

She hummed and remembered his current situation.

“Well you should rent a house or something in there at Retropolis.” She shrugged as if it was the easiest thing to do.

That made him roll his eyes.

“Ah yeah sure. I'll do that right away. I'll rent a house that surely already has all the furniture and all I need.”

“Oh my gosh, you're so whiny. Just figure it out I don't know?”

Then she thought of something.

“Yknow what? You should come at my place instead.”

“You’re… You're serious?” He asked doubtfully.

“Yeah. I have a basement you could-”

“Yeah, no. I'll pass. I'd rather sleep in the street.”

She shrugged. “Then do it. It's your loss.”

“Seriously I'm not gonna live in a basement like a damn loser!”

“Okay then. Live with me instead.”

“I don't think you get it. I don't wanna spend my days and nights in your basement.”

“No, I meant that you should live with me upstairs. On the normal floor, y'know?”

“What?” He blinked “You're just offering? Just like that?”

“Well it's obviously not gonna be free. And not permanent either. You can stay until you find a place to avoid suffocating from the pollution of this area.” She didn’t even wait for his answer and started to walk towards her place.

“Yeah okay, but what's the point of staying at your place if I'll have to pay for it instead of keeping my money to find myself my own place?”

“Who talked about money?” She reached for her pack of bubble gum from the pocket of her jacket.

“You can pay me in other ways. Like keeping the place clean, cooking, doing dishes and stuff.” She blew a bubble when done talking and glanced at him.

“What? So I'll have to do all that mixed with the fact that I already have to work for Bull? You guys love exploiting me.” He crossed his arms.

“Guess you're getting the rookie treatment.” She stopped in her tracks to look at him. “So, what's your answer?”

He hesitated. He already cooked and cleaned his place, at least whenever he had the energy, back in Town Square, so it wouldn't be any different to do it at her place. That's what he ended up coming with at the end.

“Fine, I accept.”

With a nod of the head the both of them kept walking. Once they got there, he was rather surprised to see that her place wasn't as messy as expected. He couldn't exactly complain especially now that he could finally be in an actual place rather than the street or the infirmary again.

Edgar thought it was gonna be a pain, even more annoying and worse than his usual job.

But to his biggest surprise, it wasn't as bad as expected.

Living with her wasn't that bad especially since she was pretty fun to be around. She wasn't too unenergetic but wasn't too over energetic. It's true that they didn't spend much time together, since on her side she was too busy making plans to destroy the park while he was already busy enough with the job at the diner.

Talking about the said job, he ended up liking it. It was less strict than the gift shop and people who came to the diner weren’t as annoying as the clients who came in the shop. He even got a few compliments on his bad random shirt and Bull was a rather chill boss to him.

But also, as days passed, he learned more and more truths about their world. That everything around them was fake and controlled.

He had to admit that since he joined the gang he felt different, more free. He never realized before just how little freedom he used to have over his own mind.

One day after his shift, Bull told Edgar about how aggressive the gems have turned him the day the accident happened.. He showed him the security camera footage of the day of the accident and showed how he suddenly snapped and turned into the Bulldozer he was. He told him about how his ex wife, Pam, left him and took their daughter with her, worried for her security. To which at first angered Bull when he was still unaware of the truth at that time, but after finding out what truly happened to him he understood why she did this.

That day Edgar found out what Bull's reasoning was for wanting the park down. For taking away his life from him. He wanted revenge. And Edgar understood his reasoning.

One day as Edgar was done with serving people at the diner and was already on his way home, or Bibi’s house to be more precise.

Until out of nowhere, someone he wouldn't have expected at all called out his name. He turned to face whoever it was and his blood turned cold when he saw the familiar white haired figure who immediately ran to him and hugged him tight.

“Edgar!! You're safe!! I was so worried!” She kept on blabbing about how worried she was and how happy she currently was since he was safe.

“Colette?! What are you doing here?!”

“I'm here to bring you back to Town Square!” She said excitedly. “I've heard the wanted guys from Retropolis kidnapped you! Sooooo, your best friend ever, decided to come and save you!”

“Save me? But I wasn't even in danger.” He pushed her away from him, not aggressively though.

“Of course you'd prefer to say anything but thank you.” She rolled her eyes playfully as she grabbed his arm. “C'mon let's go, they won't keep you here now that I'm here.”

The boy kept repeating her name as she dragged him through the streets while lamenting about how sad she was without him around in the store. He snapped.

“Colette!! Stop that!”

That made her stop in her tracks as she looked at him curiously.

“No one's forcing me to stay here y'know. I am the one who decided to stay.” He crossed his arms as he looked at her shocked face.

“What?!”

“Yeah. I wanted to stay.”

Before she could ask any questions about why he would do that and what he was thinking he added more.

“You have to listen to me carefully. Everything in this stupid park isn't real.”

He had to tell her the truth. Even though he kept saying how he didn't care about her, deep down she actually was important to him. So important that she needed to know the truth about their world.

“Huh?!”

He nodded. “Starr park is fake. Everything around us is fake.”

She blinked and started laughing in that same hysterical laugh she always had.

“He he he, you're so funny!! Guess they taught you how to joke during your captivity HAHAH!!!”

He had to stop himself from strangling her.

“I'm not joking, this is serious! I can show you proof that everything around us isn't real and that we're being controlled.”

He grabbed her arm and started to drag her toward the warehouse where he could show her all the proof. But she didn't walk along with him, making him stop.

“What now?”

“No, no you have to listen to me! Whatever they told you isn't true, they're lying to you so you'll stay with them and help them destroy Starr park!!”

“No they didn't lie, they-”

He stopped talking when he realized something.

“How do you already know about them wanting to destroy the park?...”

She stared at him for a solid few seconds before laughing again.

“Because you told me just a few minutes ago, silly!” She tried to shrug it off but he didn't let that slide.

“No? I didn't tell you about our plans for the park. All I told you is that nothing around us is real…”

“It doesn't matter!! All that matters is that you're safe!”

“I’m already safe. I'm safer here than I'd be in Town Square. Trust me Colette, I'll do everything to help them take the direction down.”

“You can't be safe in a place like this.”

“Okay, okay it does look like it's gonna be the opposite but trust me, at the moment I'm safer here than anywhere else.”

She loudly sighed, a disappointed expression on her face.

“Fine… Just be careful okay? And don't you dare start ghosting me again.” She pointed her finger at him and started skipping her way to go back to Starrpark.

His hand dug into his pocket and took his phone out, quickly texting Bibi.

‘Need an emergency meeting rn.’

Not waiting for an answer, he immediately rushed to the meeting room at the warehouse.

He didn't have to wait long before she finally made it there.

“What's the emergency? You lost your headphones and gonna make a scene again?”

Ignoring her sarcasm, he immediately told her what happened.

“I think Colette is in danger!”

“Huh?”

“Earlier, she came here to Retropolis and talked to me. She said that I wasn't safe here and that everything you told me wasn't true.”

“And you believe her?”

“No. I've seen everything myself. I mean seriously the direction has been following me like my shadow the whole time back when I was in the park’s hub.”

She crossed her arms.

“Soooo? How is she in danger?”

“She's in danger because there was no way for her to know about all this before I told her. Which means that the direction most likely has told her that I knew something that wasn't true.”

He paced around the room and stopped at some board to look at their old scrapped plans.

“They're using her to get me.”

This got her attention.

“You think so?”

He nodded.

“Even though she's the most annoying person ever, I have to save her from the direction.”

“And what are you gonna do?”

“I'm gonna go and show her the truth, convince her to join us.”

He knew it was a ridiculous idea. Especially since Colette would never do anything that'd make the other brawlers upset on purpose.

Bibi didn't think it was a good idea. So she let him know.

“It’s not gonna work. If they truly are using her to get you then they most likely have brainwashed her.”

“I have to try.” ‘She’s my best friend after all,’ he added mentally.

But as he was about to leave the room, a hand was placed on his chest keeping him there.

“It won't work, I'm telling you. You should forget about this and prioritize your own security. The direction is after you now, remember.”

“Yeah and I don't know what they could do to Colette just to get me, so I have to.”

He pushed her hand away ready to leave but she again stopped him by grabbing his arm this time.

“You're gonna make all of us fail if you do that. She could be their newest spy for all we'd know.”

“And? I could have also been a spy the whole time yet you guys decided to trust me.”

She started to get pissed.

“Because you proved yourself to be trustworthy.”

“It literally means nothing.” He faced her as he started to get just as pissed as her. He started to step closer to her, where she was leaning against the wall.

“I could literally be a spy, for nothing you'd know.”

“Nice try. But you're not scaring me. I know you're not serious.”

He crossed his arms as he found himself really close to her.

“Haha, yeah? Am I?”

She held his gaze. His dark eyes, that she watched for the past few weeks, not even minding how one of them was hidden under his fringe.

“...”

She grabbed his scarf in a tight grip.

“Stop joking around. And move on from your best friend, she isn't in danger and she isn't gonna start believing what you're gonna say to her. You should focus more on our upcoming plan to take them down.”

No matter how menacing she tried to be, he had to keep his point.

“Instead of just destroying everything around us like we're the crazy one under the gems' control, why don't we try to tell everyone about what's going on and get them on our side?”

“You really think anyone would take you seriously if you tell them that everything is fake? If anything they'd think you're just rambling about some emo philosophy.” She rolled her eyes at the absurdity.

“But it could work.”

“It won't.”

“Since when are you the pessimistic one between us?”

“Since you started saying idiotic things.”

“I don't even know why I asked for your opinion. I'm gonna do it anyway.”

But she didn't soften her grip on his scarf.

“You're gonna ruin our plan if you do that!”

“You're telling me you wouldn't have done the same thing if you were at my place? What if you were in my situation? Bull and Crow were in danger because they didn't know about the park’s true nature?”

Silence between them as she seemed to actually think about this possible situation.

“I don't know what I'd do in this situation. But in the current one, trying to convince everyone definitely isn't the solution.”

As she released her grip on his scarf he finally started to leave.

“It won't work, you have to listen to me!”

“I have to try.”

“You're gonna make all of us fail!”

“I won't.”

No matter what she said to stop him he still ended up going.
He had to make it back to Town Square and do it discreetly to not alert the direction who were searching for him.

There, he paced all the way to the shop, where he hoped to find Colette. Unfortunately the place was closed. So instead he made it all the way to her house, all while staying silent and discreet. Again, no one here, he sighed and decided to text her, telling her that they have to meet as fast as possible. So, sitting on the stairs at her front porch while waiting for a response, he was hoping she'll answer quickly.

It didn't take long before something happened. It wasn't Colette coming back unfortunately. It was one of these bots that attacked him the other day.

“You have to be joking…” The boy muttered and got ready to fight whatever the bot had reserved for him. Yet to his biggest surprise, he didn't get attacked.

Instead the bot made its way in front of him and handed him a letter. Edgar didn't immediately grab the letter, he was sure it was a trap or something.

So instead his scarf reached for it instead.

When the letter was out of the bot’s hand, it left him alone. Not bothering to fight or try anything.

As much as he was stunned from what just happened now his shocked expression turned into curiosity. He let his scarf do the job of opening the letter.

The content of the letter had what looked like a map. He couldn't even tell what he was looking at, nor where to start or end.

Knowing he couldn't figure it out himself, he decided to go back to Retropolis. He headed straight to Bull’s, he knew that at this hour the trio should already be here and that the diner should be empty. Barging in, he immediately caught Bull and Crow's attention.

“Guys, look what I just got.” He announced and sat next to Crow on the bar stools. Noticing that one of them was missing, he asked. “Where's Bibi?”

Bull was the one to answer the question. “She didn't come today. Didn't give any reason.”

“Ah. I see.” ‘Well, whatever. I'll tell her later’, he made a quick mental note and started discussing the map with the two other guys.

They all give their opinion on what it could possibly mean, Crow said it could be fake, while Bull, who knew a bit more of the park's geography tried to tell approximately what they were looking at.

After getting their opinions he asked where Bibi was, to which Bull answered that she must be at the baseball field. The boy quickly nodded and left to find her.

It didn't take long before he made his way to what they all called a baseball field even though it looked more like an old abandoned area of Retropolis. And luckily for him, she was actually there, training her aim with Mr. Bat.

“Bibi, look what I found.” He announced. But to his surprise she actually ignored him and kept throwing swings, like he wasn’t here.

“Erm, I said-” But just as he grabbed her arm to get her attention she pushed him away with her bat.

“I don’t talk to people who don’t listen to me.”

“Huh?! You’re still mad about me telling Colette?”

She blew a bubble. “I’m not mad that you told Colette. I’m mad you didn’t listen to me when I told you not to.” Her finger was pointed at him accusatory. Before he could answer, she added something else. “And yeah it’s also because you told Colette when you shouldn’t have.”

“Oh, so that’s the problem? That I can make my own decisions, like any other brawler?”
…
“Well okay, not like all other brawlers but yeah you get it.”

Her attention was finally on him. “Yeah, but because of your stupid decisions you could have made all of us fail.” She crossed her arms. “Also, I’m not seeing Colette anywhere around. Which means it didn’t work. She didn’t believe you. Just like I said it would happen.”

However Edgar was shaking his head. “Nope, nope. I didn’t even get the occasion to tell her. I couldn’t find her.”

She hummed. “I think she’s avoiding your annoying face. I don’t blame her.”

That made him roll his eyes painfully. “Ha. ha. Got the whole crowd laughing.” He decided to bite back any other remark and just get back to the reason why he searched for her in the first place. “Just take a look at this.” He handed her the paper, which she just grabbed and barely even looked at before crumbling it into a ball and pretending to use it as a baseball ball.

“What are you doing?!” He grabbed the paper from her hand before she could swing at it. “Seriously, what’s wrong with you, this is important!”

“Some random doodles don't look very important to me.” She shrugged and was about to go back to whatever she was doing.

“Oh my god, just listen to me. This isn’t just some random doodles. It’s something from one of the bots. It came up to me and handed this to me.”

Now her attention truly was caught and her expression turned serious as she grabbed the grumbled paper again before uncrumbling it and taking a look at it.

“And what exactly is this?”

“I’m not sure. That’s why I asked you. I also asked Bull and Crow and they didn’t know any better.”

“Mm, this point over there looks like the fountain from Starrpark.”

She had a point. The map had some weirdly drawn crying fountain that looked just like the one in the center of Starrpark. He could tell she had other ideas on how to see the rest of this map but kept it to herself.

“If you have any other ideas, I think it'd be a good idea sharing them…”

Yet she shook her head. He knew she was still mad at him and honestly? He wasn't one to apologize. That was just not his thing. Not part of his vocabulary.

“Listen Bibi, I didn't mean to ruin your plans okay? I just can't let my best friend stay on the enemy side y'know? You understand me, right?”

Surprisingly, it seemed to work. She blew a final bubble and then threw her flavorless chewing gum on the ground without a care.

She approached him, took one side of the map while he took the other and looked up at him. “‘Kay. For once, I understand you.” She then looked down at the map again and this time started telling him in full details on how she saw the map.

They didn’t waste a second and headed straight to the park’s hub, following the poorly drawn path. Of course, before leaving they warned Bull and Crow that they were gone and gave them a copy of the map in case it was a trap and told them that if they’re not back by the end of the day, they’ll have to come search for them.

The duo made it safely and securely. Edgar suggested that they use skins to not get recognized, but she refused and said that the direction will recognize them even with skins. He hoped that whatever they were doing wasn’t useless, he was fed up with switching from Starrpark to Retroplos again and again.

Except that this time it wasn’t just Starr park hub, this time they were in the Starr park HQ, or the mind control center.

The final point was reached. They made it in front of a locked door, Edgar was already trying to think of a way to picklock it, not wanting to do the same thing he did to Griff’s office door. But before he could think of a way, Mr. Bat was out and a swing was thrown at the door, breaking it open. He couldn’t lie, that was so cool of her.

The room was in fact a security room, it had multiple security camera footage that showed all corners from the park, all the regions were being filmed. All, except Retropolis. After all it was the retropolis trio who destroyed all the cameras around the area.

“What the…” He muttered and he looked around the room.

That room was nothing like the rest of the island, the technology wasn’t the same. It was more futuristic than the rest. Unfamiliar.

She couldn’t believe it. She was finally inside the HQ where the direction was operating from the whole time.

It was way too good to be true.

It had to be a trap.

“I think we should go.” She suddenly announced.

“What? Why?”

“This whole plan looks suspicious to me. We should leave and fast.” When she turned around to grab his arm and pull him out of the room, she realized they weren’t alone.

“Found something interesting?”

Knew it.

“R-T…” She muttered and got ready to defend the both of them. “Quick! Go!” She ordered him while she would cover him with her Mr. Bat.

He didn’t exactly like getting defended like that, like he was weak or something but didn’t argue back. He made it past the small robot but froze when he saw the bots that were guarding the area.

Bibi meanwhile, was already fighting R-T to make it past him. When she made it out of the room, the robot went to the desk and activated some alarm. Suddenly all around the park, sirens alarm were ringing and a female voice kept repeating ‘We already told you; this time is normal.’ It wasn’t the first time this happened. This always happened when the directions felt like some brawlers were starting to get a bit too conscious or whenever the park’s visitor started to panic.

Edgar made his way through the army of bots who came to reinforce R-T by destroying each of them with his scarf. He managed to make it all the way outside of the HQ. Soon followed by Bibi. Both made it to safety. However they had to avoid any brawlers on their way, because since they were all under the control of the direction they would all probably be searching for the wanted brawlers at that moment.

He then suddenly stopped in his tracks, making her stop too, confused. “What are you doing?! We have to go!”

He glanced back at the agitated park. “No. I have to do something here. You go though, I’ll join you later.”

“What are you gonna do?!”

Time was short, the bots were after them and their position was known because of the cameras all over the park.

“Something. Just trust me.”

She stopped him from going. “You’re searching for Colette aren’t you? We don’t have time for this!”

“Bibi, that’s the last thing I need to do here. I’ll be safe I swear.”

“They could mind-control you again.” She refused to let go, her grip was strong.

He shook his head. “I won’t. I’ve proven to you multiple times before just how much you can actually trust me.”

None of them moved. He held his breath and waited for her to let him go.

She finally let go of him and instead gripped at his scarf and pulled him down to her level.

His eyes widened as she unexpectedly pressed a kiss against his cheek, which started heating up.

She was just as embarrassed as he was. “If you’re not back by tomorrow, I’ll come back to find you…” Muttering a small ‘good luck’, she left and made her way back to Retropolis, cringing at what she just did.

Meanwhile Edgar stood there frozen for a few seconds but then remembered it was a race against the watch. So he quickly ran back all the way back.

What both he and Bibi didn’t know though, was the fact that R-T's always watching. It means always. Because little did they know, the trash can near them in fact had one of R-T’s spy cameras…

Anytime he’d find an obvious security camera around the park, he’d punch it broken. A step closer to taking the Star Corporation down.

“Edgaaaaaar!!!!!”

He immediately recognized the voice. Exactly the person he currently was searching for.

“Col-” He barely got to say anything when he found himself in a bone-crushing hug.

“Ugh! Colette, let go of me!”

“WAAAAH I missed you so much! It felt like years since I’ve seen you, my favorite brawler!” She released him and whispered like she was telling a world breaker story. “Right after Spike and Piper, of course, hehe.”

Normally he'd just roll his eyes and ignore her, but now he couldn't waste time; he had to quickly tell her the truth about their world.

“Listen, I don’t have much time but you have to pay attention to what I say.” He couldn’t let her get away this time. “Last time you didn’t believe me, but I can show you proof that our world isn’t real, that the Star corporation is controlling us.” She blinked before laughing hysterically.

“Not again…” He muttered before grabbing her long sleeve. “I’ll prove it to you, come with me.”

She barely got time to react that he dragged her all the way back to the gift shop they both worked at. Once there, he walked straight to one of the few posters on the wall. It was a paper that had a few rules on them.

“What about it? We’ve seen this one hundred times before!” She started to think he was getting as crazy as her.

“Look, this at this one; ‘don’t ask for a way out’. Do you not think this is weird? What kind of shop has a rule that tells people to not find their way out?”

She hummed and had a serious expression on her face, but obviously didn’t actually take the situation seriously. “All I am seeing is the cute little Spike right here!” Her finger pointed at some chibi sticker of spike added on the top corner of the poster.

“You really need to snap out of it.”

This time, she was the one to roll her eyes at him. “Okay fiiine, if we are being ‘mind controlled’ then tell me, how exactly are we being mind controlled hmmm?” She crossed her arms.

“It’s because of the gems. A long time ago an accident happened in Starr park, anyone who touched those gems or just be near them would make them go crazy. These gems are the reason why the brawlers are controlled. You just don’t get it!”

“Oooooh you mean like the gems are ruining the simulation?”

“Yeah, something like th-” His words got lost when he realized. “How’d you know about the simulation?”

“He he, I still remember the day I turned the way I did, c’monnn.” She said proudly.

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What?! So you know about our world?! Why didn’t you say it before!?”

Her response was just a shrug as if they were just talking about the weather. “Yep! I remembered being so happy when I got a job offer to work here at Starr park, I always was Spike’s biggest fan and they gave me the opportunity to finally meet him!”

“And what else do you remember?"

Humming, she tried really hard to recall everything. “When I wanted to leave, it didn’t let me. Not that I complained though! I got to stay with my favorite brawlers forever!!!! Aaaaaaand the more I spend time here the more insane people start to call me! Do you realize that? They call me insane when all I want is to be friends with theeeem.”

The dots started to connect. He started to understand what truly happened to her. She was a person who got a job opportunity at the park’s gift shop and they knew she’d accept since she was a hardcore fan who was given an opportunity to meet the brawlers she had a hyperfixation on.

However when it was time for her to leave the direction must have made it impossible for her to. And the star corporation must have realized that she knew a bit too much about the park’s secrets, so they found a way to affect her way more than any other brawler. A way to make her look crazy so whenever she’d tell anyone a secret of the park, no one would believe her and would just assume she’s just being crazy.

“Don’t worry, Colette. Me and the resistance will save everyone!” He realized that he wasted way too much time, he had to leave now.

“Noooooo, don’t save me! I’ve never felt this happy in my whole life! I get to hang with you. I get to chase after Spike. I get to…”

Muttering a quick ‘stay safe’ he left to get back to Retropolis.

“You’re back.” The black haired girl stated as he walked to her.

“Yeah and I’ve got some interesting news.”

He then started telling her the whole conversation he just had with Colette, and also told her about what he thinks happened to her.

“I see… Well, that’s some good info you brought me here.”

“See? Not so bad I told Colette at the end, huh?”

In response, she exhaled and shook her head. “Yeah, yeah. On our side we also figured new things out.”

“Is that so?”

She nodded and jerked her head sideways, indicating for him to follow her. “Come with me.”

It was again that same warehouse. When they got inside she guided him in one of the meeting rooms. She started looking through documents to find the most recent one they added.

“With the Bull and Crow, we figured out that maybe we could find a flaw in the system. If we escape this place we could free everyone from the mind-control. The island could keep existing but no one will be forced to fight anymore, everyone will get their free will back.”

“And what exactly did you guys think of?”

“It’s still kinda sketchy but we were thinking of getting back to the security room. This time with reinforcements so they won’t take us down this time.”

He hummed and looked through the documents she handed to him. “Is there a planned date?” He looked at her, making her look away when their eyes met.

“No. It’s gonna happen when it’s gonna happen.”

“Whoa, so detailed.”

“Just trust me.”

Knowing he didn’t have any choice, he sighed and hoped for the best.

When they walked out of the warehouse, she double checked the door and then spoke in a voice way softer than she usually ever had. “About what I did earlier, um…” She started.

At first he couldn’t remember what she was talking about until it hit him again. “Ah yeah, right…”

“I did it for a reason, just so y’know.”

“A reason?”

Silence.

“Yeaaah. I think you’re actually kinda cool.” She tried so hard to act nonchalant when in reality her heart was beating so fast.

“Wow. Coming from the coolest person I know is kinda crazy to me.” His fingers subconsciously played with his fingerless gloves.

She kept pretending his words didn’t affect her when they actually really did.

And like, without realizing, they spent way more time together than they used to. Almost not going a day without seeing each other. He’d come watch her train, they’d go together at Bull’s diner and whenever Edgar had to help there, she’d joke around making him lose all his ways at work, and even though it kinda annoyed him, at least he got to hear her laugh. He couldn’t explain why, but when she laughed it scratched a good part of his brain, her voice was just so nice to hear.

However, as much as their relationship got better with each passing day, the situation around them didn’t move. The resistance spent most of their days building up a good and safe plan so nothing would fail when it’s gonna be time to take down the park.

Now the plan still needed a few details ready. As much as they were getting closer and closer to making their plan on the road, they were all a bit tense. After all that was gonna be the biggest plan they’d ever try.

One boring day, Edgar was helping over at Bull’s, however this day Bibi wasn’t around to keep them company. When he asked Bull where she was he shrugged and went back to flipping burgers. He never realized before just how boring work was without her around.

When it was closing time Bull invited him to come hang out with him and Crow at the gym, to which he agreed since he didn’t have anything else to do. Crow hadn't arrived yet, so it was just Bull and him. Edgar was just chilling on some armchair and scrolling on his phone while Bull was boxing a punching bag.

“Hey kid, where’dya get that Bad random shirt from?” The big guy asked, taking a short break.

“Eh, got it from my old workplace. The gift shop has some cool merch sometimes. If Colette wasn’t a worker there, she'd probably steal the whole store down. Not that she never actually did.” He paused and asked “Wait, you know the bad randoms?”

“‘Course. This is one of the few good things this park ever thought of making.”

The both of them talked about the band for a while before the conversation turned into the musical side. Turns out they had pretty similar band tastes.

Soon, Crow finally joined them. Telling both Edgar and Bull about a new idea to add to the plan. After a while, Bull was totally focused on his training while Crow turned his attention to the teen sitting in the corner of the room.

“So, where’s Bibi?”

He shrugged. “Don’t know. Why?”

“Nevermind. I thought you’d know since you guys are always together.”

“Oh. Yeah um, nah.”

Crow and Bull then got into a conversation about another topic about working out or something like that, Edgar meanwhile was more busy hoping she’d walk these doors at any time. He liked spending time with Bull and Crow, Crow was calm and really really smart, so it never felt infuriating to talk to him. Meanwhile Bull, who intimidated him a bit more than the others, was just as cool. Even though he was the most hostile, he was still a nice guy to have conversation with.

But when it came to Bibi, it was just… Better. After all, Bull and Crow were older than Edgar while Bibi was the same age, so talking with her was more familiar than with the others. Plus they had way more in common than they both thought.

As if the world read his thoughts, suddenly the door opened to Bibi who seemed in a bad mood.

They all greeted her and Bull noticed how mad she seemed.

“Doing good over there, Bibi?”

All she muttered was some ‘yeah, yeah’.

Edgar noticed how she also had some sports wear, just like Bull and Crow did. He found it kinda cute that even when she was wearing something else than her usual outfit, it was always gonna have some purple jacket.

She then started to help Bull with his training, giving advice and such. She also wanted to train but since everyone was here she decided to wait for them to leave so she could train alone.

Bull and Crow then decided to finally leave, Edgar whoever stayed.

“You going or what?” Her voice was harsh.

“What’s wrong? I know you said you’re fine but you look… Not fine.”

Realizing that she wouldn’t tell him anything, he decided to drop it and instead asked if he could train with her. She wanted to say no but also kinda wanted his company, so she kept silent but a silence that meant she didn’t care if he stayed or not.

So he found himself training himself physically. Even though it was unnecessary for him since his scarf was the one doing the job of throwing punches, at least he got to spend time with her, which got her in a better mood. He even got her smiling once or twice that evening.

In the end he didn’t get to know why she was in a bad mood in the first place, but at least she seemed to feel better which was important to him.

The next day, she was herself again. Her confident smile was back and her energy too. “Sooo, nerd… Not too strained from yesterday’s training, hm?”

“You can’t be talking when you’re dragging a heavy bat everyday while I usually don’t even fight and have my scarf do it for me.”

She laughed in response.

His gaze then fell on the bat she held. “Ohh wait.” He pointed at the face of the bat. “Why is his face like that? He seems happier than usual. Did you draw it that way?”

She then brought Mr. Bat up and smiled cockily. “As you already know, all the brawlers here got affected by the power of the gems right? Well some of us got our stuff more affected than us. Soooo, Mr. Bat over here is a sentimental object, he’s gonna feel the same way I do.”

“Ohh, just like with my scarf then. It obviously doesn’t have a face, but like… It’s kinda acting like its own person, y’know?”

“I think so too. But it’s nice. I think you’ve got one hell of a cool-ass scarf.

He scoffed proudly. “I know, I know.”

She leaned a hand on her hip. “Hey. Wanna have fun?”

He didn't hesitate and immediately went along with whatever she had in mind. They spent the day causing trouble everywhere, vandalizing some places around the park and making sure to destroy any camera that they found in their way. Bibi was known for her love of vandalism, and Edgar also found some fun doing that.

They ended the day with getting energy drinks and hanging out at the bottom of some stairs. The same stairs that Bibi never used because of how many there were, usually it was Bull who would run them up to build up stamina.

“Say, Bibi. When we put the plan to execution, what after?”

“Hm?”

“Like… What’s next? We free everyone from mind control but… Do we also try to make everything back to normal again?”

She hummed unsure. “What exactly is ‘normal’ to you?”

“Everything and everyone goes back to normal, anyone affected by the gems turns back to their usual self. Including creatures, objects and all. You get it.”

A silence, before she spoke up again. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to bring everyone back to normal. Some people out there are just gonna disappear. Like Crow, he’s gonna turn into a literal crow again and I don’t think that’s what he wants.”

As much as she was way closer to the bird than he was, he knew one thing; that guy wasn’t selfish and wouldn’t want his existence to stop everyone else from making everything normal again.

“The thing is… What’s gonna be the point of having a moving and reacting scarf that has fighting spirit if there’s no fighting to do?” He looked down at his scarf as he quietly said this.

“Yeaaah, I see what you mean. I don’t think you see further than just bringing everyone back to their past self. Who knows what’s gonna happen? Maybe all of us are gonna get reincarnated in the outside world, y’know, the world where kids are controlling us. And chances are high that we’ll have all of our memories erased.”

He didn’t think of that. “I guess you’re right.”

“I don’t exactly wanna forget all of my moments here.”

“Okay, you get a point.”

“Plus…” She started before scooting closer to him, pressing her side against his. “I don’t wanna lose you when I just started to get used to your annoying presence…” The last part was more muttered than anything, like her confident side and embarrassed side were fighting.

Not caring which side was talking, it meant a lot to Edgar. Who responded by leaning his head against hers, hoping it was okay.

When he realized that she didn’t seem to mind, he relaxed a bit. And since the ambience was already settled, she felt confident enough to ask stuff that she normally couldn’t care less about.

“Totally random but… You think you’d be able to like someone in there? In this fake world? Knowing that it’s probably gonna be meaningless?” She softly asked.

He never expected to hear her talk about this. It’s been months now since he knew her and she never, ever mentioned romance once. Sometimes he thought that she didn’t even know that was a concept. Either that, or she is just the less love centered person ever.

“I mean, I used to have a crush on a girl a year or something ago.”

That caught her attention. “Oh? And so what? She didn’t want your dark heart?” Her remark had a bit of hidden jealousy that even herself didn’t notice.

He rolled his eyes in return and said something sarcastic in return. “You’re so funny aren’t you? No. She was totally into someone else, so I lowkey just didn’t try at all. I didn’t want to get ridiculed, y'know?”

“Hm? And how are you so sure she already liked someone else?”

“Pshh, it was obvious. Like, anyone would have to be blind to not see, she was a total fangirl of that guy and the worst is the fact that he knows about it and he likes her back. Sooooo, yeah I decided to get more focused on other stuff than her, like music, writing-”

“Writing? You write and you didn’t tell me?!”

“Eh, I don’t write really impressive stuff. It’s just some poems.” He cringed at how embarrassing that sounded. “Well, at least I used to. Now I don’t do it as much, because I barely have time to.” He tried to save himself at the last minute.

“Wow, you’re so sentimentalist, it makes me wanna throw up. But yeah, you still haven’t answered my question.”

“Riiiight. What was the question again.”

“Oh my gosh, fix your attention span.” She nudged her shoulder against his.”I asked if you think you’d ever be able to be into someone knowing that almost everyone you know is ignorant of the truth and that they’re being mind-controlled.”

“Ah. Yeah, saying it like that, does make it sad. Guess I’m lucky because the only person I’d possibly have interest in, knows about the truth of our world, so…”

She froze. She didn’t want to assume the best yet, after all Edgar knew many brawlers, it didn’t have to be specifically her…

“I think I’ve got a new idea.”

“What idea?” She asked as she kept smashing down some broken window into pieces. With time he noticed her love for demolishing stuff and how apparently it helped her stay cool or something.

“I think we should include Colette in the plan.”

She paused. “Huh? And why should we?”

“You know just how much she knows about the park. Even though the star corporation is trying to make her forget everything or just not tell anyone about what she knows, I think we should try and hear her out. Who knows? Maybe it’s gonna give us opportunities we didn’t think of before.”

Sighing heavily, she hummed. “I guess we could try.”

With a firm nod, he didn’t waste time and immediately texted the white haired girl, telling her he needs her to come meet him at Retropolis as fast as possible.

Edgar and Bibi were waiting for Colette to arrive near the gas station right by Bull’s diner. He was listening to his music with his headphones on, while re-applying a layer of nail polish on his already chipped nails, while she was playing some adventure game in her retro gameboy console.

It took about an hour before the girl arrived. She skipped straight to them. “Hellooooo!!!” She waved her long sleeve right and left with that same creepy smile on her face. She came to a stop with a curious expression when she saw the black haired girl next to her best friend, then gasped. “OH MY GOD IT’S BIBI!” She immediately rushed to her to take a closer look at her.

Edgar wasn’t exactly surprised that she knew who Bibi was, after all she knows every single brawler of the park.

The baseball player had to push the crazy one away from her. “Hey, show some respect. Don't get in my personal space.”

“AAAAH! I can’t believe I get to see you again! Last time I just wanted your autograph and then you looked at me strangely and left!” She complained and suddenly pulled out her scrapbook. “Nooooowwwww… You can finally sign it! No excuses!” The book was shoved open at the girl’s face.

“Colette, leave her alone. I didn’t call you over for that. We need your help for something.”

She slightly lowered the book as it was already being pushed away from Bibi’s face. “Whaaaat? You guys need MY help?! HAHAHA, I feel so honored!”

“Okay, you remember what I told you last time?”

“About what? About how life sucks, about how you needed a new hairbrush, about-”

“Oh my god, shut up. I didn’t mean any of that…” He looked sideways, he felt so awkward from being called out like that in front of Bibi, who already had a mocking expression on her face. “I was talking about that time I told you about the truth of our world.”

“Oooohhhhh!!! Thaaaat!!! What? You’re still convinced this fake scenario thingy is true?” She sighed with a smile and shook her head. “Silly, silly, Edgar. You have to stop with-”

“I’m telling the truth! She’s the one who showed me the truth and-”

It was her turn interrupting him.

“It was her?! So she was part of the people who kidnapped you! How could you!” She pointed an accusing finger at the black haired girl, who seemed really tense from all the excess energy coming from this girl. “I hate you, how could you do that to him!” And like the maniac she was, she started laughing. “Awww, I totally understand you. I tried kidnapping Spike, a few times before myself. So it’s okay, I still love you!”

He didn’t have time for all this, he just wanted her help as fast as possible and move on, his arms were crossed and his head shook. “I’ll make it simple since you can’t follow what I say… We need you to tell us all you know about every brawler, about this world, about the corporation, about everything.”

She was about to immediately accept, ready to help her best friend but then realized it could be more beneficial to her than she thought. “I accept… Under one condition!”

Sighing and rolling his eyes, he asked. “What now?”

Colette turned to Bibi and held her scrapbook open to her face again. “I want your autograph! And no running this time! OH! And if I could get the autograph of other brawlers from Retropolis I wouldn't mind!”

In response Bibi just rolled her eyes and grabbed the pen from the other’s hand and then finally signed it, which made the girl really happy. “AAAH IT'S A DREAM COME TRUE! Can I keep your gum too?”

“Don’t push your luck.” She menacingly pointed her bat at the other in warning.

“Fiiiine. I'm already happy with what I got and what I'm about to get!” She was already excited for the upcoming autographs she was about to get.

Now that she agreed to help them, they firstly had to make it to the database room. Once there, the white haired girl was in total awe. “So I'm not the only crazy one that stalks people?” She laughed.

“It's not stalking photos, it's proofs and clues.” Bibi corrected her.

“So, Colette. Do you think you could tell us a few things about… hm…” He started thinking of who could be the right person to have information about.

The baseball player got an idea. “Spike? Since he's the mascot of the star corporation."

“Oh, don't get her started…” The boy muttered while Colette already had her eyes wide open and filled with stars. “OH MY GOD, I'D LOVE TO TALK ABOUT SPIKE! What exactly do you guys wanna know?! I know absolutely everything about him HAHAH!!!”

Before she could start rambling about everything she loved about him, Edgar stopped her and asked something more important. “Did you ever see him do something suspicious? Like he was hiding something.”

Humming for a long time, she finally snapped her fingers. “Ah! There’s that one time he was standing there just staring at newcomers at the entrance of the park. With that same total face of pure void!” She screeched excitedly, really happy the subject of the conversation was about the brawler she loved the most.

“He was just… Standing there?” Bibi asked, unsure of what the other was telling her, to which she just quickly nodded.

And like that, the girl started telling them everything she knew about the park and its secrets, all thanks to her obsession with it. Now they were more ready than ever to execute their plan. And like agreed, Colette ended up getting the signature of the Retropolis brawlers. She almost passed out from happiness when she got Piper’s autograph.

When she returned to Town Square, she had the guarantee of being able to come back to Retropolis without anyone being suspicious of her, to her greatest contentment.

One late night Bibi joined Edgar in the meeting room where he was alone, listening to his music while rewatching old security cameras footage to see if they missed anything important on them. She silently sat next to him, really close, and took a look at the screen.

“Found anything new?” Her head was resting against her fist, looking at him instead of the screen.

The boy sighed and shook his head slightly while taking his headphones off. “Nope. It’s the same thing over and over again. Nothing we could have possibly missed.”

“Of course. There isn’t gonna be anything new. We’ve had Crow rewatching these footage over and over. And you know how crows have good eyesight. You’re just wasting your precious time.” Her fingers fidgeted with the cuff of her purple jacket.

“I don’t feel like I’m wasting time, don’t worry.” He waved her off.

She let out a huff of a laugh. “To think that you joined us a few weeks ago and now you’re more invested in this situation than I am.” Her gaze didn’t move from his face. “What are you doing later?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably pass by Bull’s, I haven’t eaten in a while.” And his attention was back on the screen. Bibi was disappointed that he didn’t ask her what she had planned on doing later too, so she brought it up herself.

“I wanted to go skateboarding later.” She simply stated. “But I don’t know yet if I’m actually going or not.”

No response from him before he muttered. “You should go.”

And for the first time in her life, she felt a pain in her chest. She was used to physical pain from fights and such but when it came to internal pain, it was another kind of hurt. One she wasn’t used to. She didn’t want to push anything, so instead she just left him alone in the room.

And decided to go skateboarding, alone.

It took him a good hour to finally find something new. He saw something suspicious on the cameras and immediately checked the report to see if it had been reported yet or not. And to his surprise, it wasn’t. The footage was showing Spike doing exactly what Colette told him and Bibi earlier.

He immediately clipped that and saved it under the folder where they kept all the suspicious clips. He then added what he saw to the report. After that, he headed toward Bull’s diner, where he ordered two burgers to take and two sodas.

He made it all the way to the skatepark where he found Bibi skating alone. When she noticed him, she instantly got surprised, not expecting him to come after all. “Oh. Hi again.”

“Hi again. Brought us some good stuff.” He shook the bags filled with burgers that his scarf was holding.

She got off her skate and strolled to him, thanking him’ before grabbing a random bag out of the two he had, which he took back. “Wait a sec. Let me check if it’s the right one.” Quickly checking its content he handed her the other bag. “There.”

When she looked inside the bag, she felt touched by the attention. She always had a sweet tooth and he seemed to have noticed. Along with the burger he also got her her favorite dessert and a soda with sugar while his own soda had zero in it.

“So you were being slow on purpose earlier?” She asked with a slight shake of her head and a smile.

“Nah. However, I ended up finding something that wasn’t on the report.” He said proudly.

“Hm? Is that so?”

As they both sat on the deck of the skatepark while eating, he started telling her what he saw that wasn’t reported yet.

“Guess Crow finally shows some flaws… Haha, can’t wait to annoy him about it."

Edgar shook his head in amusement and after eating their food, they both decided to go skate for a while.

That day was the day. Crow found a way in the underground rooms that held all the electrical power of the park and with his dagger he destroyed all the power centers around him. He kept destroying everything until he finally got the signal from Bibi indicating that the park was now powerless.

Bibi made sure the area around the office was safe, that no bots would come and stop her and Edgar who were back in the security room from the park’s HQ. Bibi was currently changing the voice’s text. Instead of its usual ‘We already told you; this time is normal’ the voice was repeating ‘Attention, to all brawlers.’ over and over again.

They hacked into the system far enough to break everyone free from mind control.

“It worked!” Bibi exclaimed. Proud of the result of their work. Everything was going according to the plan, Bull shot every bot that tried to come inside and stop them. Crow was still making sure he hadn't forgotten any power generator to destroy. She changed the robotic voice’s script to make everyone understand that their only way out of the game would be to destroy everything and that they had to do it quickly before it was too late.

As much as the voice tried to warn everyone, no one moved. No one reacted.

“Why are they not doing anything…” Edgar asked, his eyes not leaving the cameras in front of him.

“I don’t know… I think they don’t understand what we want them to do.”

Bibi reached for her walkie-talkie and asked Bull to hold on against the bots a bit longer. To which the man answered that he’s trying his best.

“It won’t work.”

A sudden voice spoke, catching their attention. Making them look behind to see who spoke, yet no one was there. The voice in fact came from the small interphone on the desk.

“They’re all way too far gone to be saved. You should have just given up when we gave you the occasion to. Now…” Suddenly the whole room trembled. “You two are next.”

A new security system that the direction installed suddenly activated. The security in question was shooting lasers filled with the power of the gems. So if it touched them, it was gonna make them get under the control of the star corporation. And all their hard work would have been useless.

Edgar immediately used his shield gadget on both himself and Bibi to avoid getting touched with the gems laser. “I’ve got you. Keep trying.”

Thanking him quickly, she went back to giving a new script to the scenario.

She barely got to finish her line when suddenly the system shut down. The cameras, the light, everything in the park was off. “What?! What happened?!” She blurted out.

“I hope that wasn’t Crow’s mistake.” He muttered and looked around, still on his guard, in case there was another ambush. In response she shook her head. “It can’t be him. He knows what to destroy and what to not destroy.”

She tried to contact him and ask what’s going on in the electrical underground. But the communicating machine didn’t work. “Huh, that’s weird… C’mon let’s go. We have to see what’s going on out there.” With a nod of his head he followed her out.

Suddenly they heard steps behind them and then a robotic voice. And through the dark they finally saw something. A small glowing screen with green glowing eyes on it. “I warned you. It’s been too long since you troublemakers have been messing with the park’s peaceful atmosphere."

“There isn't any peace at all in this world. It’s all fake and full of lies. We know about the gem's accident and everything else.” She stood her grounds, showing that their resistance was strong.

“You criminal knows too much about this world. You should just give in and accept the power of the gems before it’s too late for you. Plus…If I were you, I would think wisely.” His screen turned into camera footage of Bull and Crow, both being eliminated on spot. To that scene, the duo froze and their eyes widened.

“No!” She shouted and took out Mr. Bat, already swinging at the small robot. Edgar, who watched the scene for a few seconds, finally helped her and brawled with her against the robot.

Since they were two against one, they both managed to eliminate R-T, knowing that he was gonna respawn somewhere else, giving them some time to escape the HQ.

The aftermath of the failed plan was something. The star corporation reinstalled all the power, all the brawlers were back under the direction’s mind-control. And the park had posters everywhere, explaining that what happened that day was normal and that everything was okay.

Meanwhile, since they got back to Retropolis Edgar hadn't seen Bibi for a while. He checked on Bull and Crow who were feeling down about having the plan messed up and for how they didn’t have their guard up the whole time, making it easier for the park’s security to kill them. After getting news from Bull and Crow, he needed news from Bibi as well, so he paced around Retropolis, in search of her.

The girl was sitting on an old car’s hood, staring at nothing, Mr. Bat next to her, untouched. She didn’t even budge or care about who just sat next to her.

“Hey… You alright?” The boy with the scarf asked lowly, nudging his arm against hers.

Noticing that she didn’t want to talk at all, he sighed, but this time not out of frustration, more out of distraught. He didn’t like seeing her down like that. “We’ll try again, don’t worry. It’s not the end. Not yet at least.”

“You are just so good with words.” She finally muttered back, although sarcastically.

“Well at least I’m trying.”

Another silence. That soon got broken by Bibi.

“It’s my fault. I’m the one who thought that this plan was good. Result? Bull and Crow got shot right in front of my eyes.”

“Well, they didn’t exactly die since everyone in here can just revive.”

“Still. If we didn’t have the possibility to revive they would have both died.”

He didn’t know how to respond to that. After all she had a point, but of course he couldn’t tell her that since she was already feeling guilty enough.

“I get your point, but here we do have the possibility to revive. So there’s no point imagining a case where we don’t. You get me?”

It was her turn to sigh this time.

He hated having to comfort people. He always struggled with emotional comfort. Whenever Colette was genuinely upset, he’d go straight to whatever’s or whoever’s was her issue. However this time with Bibi, there was no way for him to go to this source of her problem.

So he decided, in an unsure gesture, to wrap an arm around her shoulders. Just lightly though, not daring to push in case she wasn’t fond of physical contact.

To his surprise she barely reacted. Well not completely. She in fact let herself relax a bit, it was like his gesture reminded her that she wasn’t alone in this world where no one was conscious.

It felt so comforting to her. Knowing that she wasn’t completely alone. Yes, she always had Crow and Bull by her side, but with them she always showed her tough and untouchable side. She didn’t know why she was doing that. Sometimes she was scared that she was being mind controlled too without even knowing.

This was something she’d never tell anyone. Yet at this moment, she felt like she could finally talk about it.

“Can I tell you a secret?”

He was surprised by her question but nodded anyway, letting his arm fall from her shoulder.

“If you tell Crow or Bull about it, trust me you won’t get to go through respawning this time.”

“Yeah, ‘kay I won’t. Just trust me.”

She paused, still thinking if she should tell him or not. After all, once she’s gonna say it there was no return.

At the end, she chose to do it.

“I think I might be under the direction’s mind-controll, without even knowing. And if it’s true, then that means I’m technically a spy.”

He carefully listened to her worries. Not daring to judge or anything.

“Why do you think that?”

“Cause for some reason I just can’t show any softer side of me. I’ve known Bull and Crow for years now, but I still can’t totally be myself around them. Even though I could literally trust them with my life…” She sighed. “To think that I could trust them with my life yet they can’t do the same with me is just…” It hurt her to even think about it.

“I see. But it’s not exactly true.” He started. “After all, right now you’re not showing any ‘facade’ or whatever. You’re just being honest with me about how you feel. This proves just how much control you have over your own mind.”

He took a pause to think well of his words. “As for the life part, I know that even after what happened they’ll still trust you with their life the same way you do. Especially Bull, it’s like he sees you like his family or something.” He thought for a bit. “Crow too. Even if he doesn’t show it much.”

She finally turned her head to face him. “And you? What do you see me as?”

He paused and hesitated. “Uh, my girlfriend… Right?” Suddenly he was scared, scared that he misinterpreted everything from the start. But after the conversation he had with her last time he thought their relationship was non-verbally settled.

And her reaction stressed him out even further since he just couldn’t tell if she took this in a good way or not.

“I guess this works.” She shrugged.

“But- I mean, I thought last time our feelings were mutual. So it just is the most natural thing to do. No?...”

“I don’t think there’s even a point in dating anyone when nothing is real here.”

“Hey, it’s my role to be the pessimist here.” He joked.

Another silence, both of them thinking what they could possibly tell the other.

“Also, I don’t think you’re right. Because if we follow your logic, then you shouldn’t be enjoying skateboarding, eating at Bull’s diner, listening to music and playing baseball. Since everything’s so useless and inexistant. If you want my opinion, you’re just not into romance or scared of it.”

His words started to annoy her. “I didn’t ask for your opinion and I’m not scared. You seriously think I’d get scared of romantic relationships? Pfff.” She rolled her eyes and buried her hands deep in her jacket’s pocket.

“Yeah? You’re not scared? Then why did you never ask to kiss since last time? Was it our first and last kiss?” He crossed his arms.

“In your dream. It’s just… We never got the occasion to.”

“Mhm. Now’s the occasion. We’re not busy preparing any plan or anything soooo....” He tried to show nonchalance by checking out his painted nails, but in reality, he was nervous as hell for acting bold like that out of nowhere.

“Wha- Now?!”

“M’yeah. Unless you don’t want to, then it’s fine. But if it’s because you’re a scared cat, then it’s a shame.”

She was offended to the bone. “A scared cat?! I’ll show you a scared cat!” She grabbed his scarf in a tight grip and pulled him in for a kiss.

He froze at first, not thinking she’d actually do it. Eventually he kissed back and enjoyed the moment.

On her side, the want to shut his mouth turned into something more genuine. She released her grip on his scarf and didn’t protest when his hand grabbed her wrist to guide it around his neck, her other arm soon joined.

It wasn’t a long beautiful kiss like those they’d see in movies. It felt real, it wasn’t acting. Like at that moment here, she escaped from this world with him.

When they broke apart she looked at him, unsure. Before she could say anything, he spoke first. “‘Kay… You’re not a scared cat. You’re a cool cat.”

This made her shake her head. “That's my catchphrase, you can’t just say it like that.” Sighing, she then stood from the car’s hood, grabbing Mr. Bat on her way too.

“It doesn’t matter if I’m scared or not. There isn’t anything to do about us living as wanted criminals.”

Standing as well, he approached her. “I don’t agree. I think that everything can still be good even when dating in a world like this. I mean, you really want us to act like we’re not into each other for who knows how much time until we make it free from here?”

He approached her. “I don’t know about you, but personally I don’t really wanna wait any longer before finally being able to totally treat you like my girlfriend.”

Sighing softly, she wrapped her arms around him and held him in a tight embrace. He didn’t wait and hugged her back, passing a hand through her hair, before she murmured.

“Don’t make me regret this…”

“I won’t.”