The Loves and Crimes of Carmen Pondiego

by JestJuly

Summary:

This is a look into the life of Carmen Pondiego and the beginnings of her new VILE agents as they roam the multiverses, looking to steal various famous artifacts from various fandoms with the use of Library Door tech and the internet. This entire story has various scenes that include sex (both consensual and non-con), drug use, violence, and foul language. This is not your everyday wholesome romance story. It does get very dicey and may give plenty of not so good feelings.
This is also my first attempt at fanfiction as a whole. I usually RP semi-para. My author grammar and all may not be the absolute best, I just write what my mind sees. Thank you for reading and being patient with me.

Chapter 1: Museums are Highly Flammable

This is a parody adaptation of an anthropomorphic character mashup originally between Carmen Sandiego and My Little Pony. The universe takes place in a parallel world but characters can travel and sample things from multiple series and different fandoms that are mentioned in the story. Any correlations such as family relations between any Carmen or Pony series could vary in detail to the original source and would not be canon anywhere else other than this story. All individual characters portrayed in this story are copyright to their players. This story has been put together with the help of multiple friends through rp.

 

As the rain drizzled down, thunder had been distantly rumbling, a suited figure steps into the chrome retro style diner and shakes his umbrella by the door. A white haired, tan unicorn, dressed in a red and black business blazer and skirt, looks over from a booth with her purple glasses, raising a hand that had been fitted with cybernetics, the panels so closely fit and natural looking, one would never have thought her hands were not her own. She sipped her coffee as the suited figure sat down, taking out a cellphone, with a recording session ready to record. “Evening. Are you ready?”
She nods, “What would you like to know exactly?”
“Everything.”
“Everything? Thats quite a lot to ask for. Where shall I begin?”
He had already pressed record on the phone and slid it across the table towards her. “Like all stories do. At the beginning.”

 

It was a cool evening, just before dusk and a family of anthro ponies were mingling around an art museum. A mother unicorn of the classic hourglass shape, tan fur, dark reddish brown hair, spring green eyes, dressed in red and black blouse and pencil skirt, was pushing a stroller containing an infant toddler unicorn colt, seafoam teal in fur, brown hair and currently chewing on his father’s red and white beanie hat, cooing happily. The father figure was a tall earth stallion and had a somewhat lanky build dressed in jeans and a striped red and white sweater, pale blue fur with brown hair and rather nerdy glasses, he looks up at a little filly riding his shoulders, her little yellow sundress gleaming in the few stray rays of exhibit lights, her little wings flap excitedly as her pink eyes are wide, peeking under a rather haphazard attempt to tame the grayscale locks into bangs and ponytail. “Dada!! Look!! Daggie!” The father, Wally, chuckled, keeping hold of the child’s squirmy legs. “Yes, Adora. I see the dragon. Thats is statue. Can you say Statue?”
“Statoo! Dat.. chachoo!” Her face scrunched as she tried to say the new word.
The mother, Carmen, laughed “You know, I used to know some dragons on my explorations. And so did your Dad.”
The filly wriggled more, holding onto Wally’s hair, “Wreely?! For wreal life?! I wanna be exploder too!!!” She screeched happily. “An Ahm gonna marry big daggie when I growd up!”
The parents looked at eachother with a mix of concern and laughter. “We’ll… come back to that idea for another day, how’s that sound?” Carmen reached up and gently pulled her daughter down, giving Wally’s shoulders a break. “Yeah, kiddo. You got your whole life ahead of you. Its ok to stay a kid while you are still a kid. Your only job right now is to have fun and be a good big sister to Blendin.”
He bent over to ruffle the colts hair before scrunching his nose. “Speaking of which.. I think someone needs a change.” Carmen sighed and rolled her eyes, “Rock paper scissors for it. Loser gets the diaper duty.”

After three quick rounds, Wally grinned and swaggered to the gift shop as Carmen headed to the restrooms with both kids in tow. After a quick stinky change and a little princess piddle, the three emerge to a bit of a crowd. There was a faint scent of fire burning the edges of Carmen’s nose. She held Adora’s hand and grabbed Blendin from the stroller, as it became more apparent the crowd was becoming panicked and an alarm sounding. “Momma? What happening?” “Its going to be alright, little one. Just stay close to me, do not leave my side. I just need to find your father..” Carmen frantically looked over the crowd as best as she could but saw no sign of Wally.

Smoke started to billow as a tapestry and curtain started to burn. She finally caught sight of him just underneath and unaware, him looking as lost as confused as she. “Wally!!”
“Carmen? I’ll meet you outside! Get the kids out!” He shouted into the crowd, not seeing her across the room. Just then the curtain rod falls, trapping Wally and a few others with a wall of fire.
Carmen cried out for him but couldnt hear him afterwards. She adjusted her hold on Blendin and gripped Adora’s hand tight, “Come on, babies. We need to get to safety. Daddy will meet us there.” The crowd was like a rushing river, they could only go in the same direction until they all pooled outside in the museum’s open courtyard, fire crews already rushing in with hoses and gear.
The three found a small area by a tree and huddled together as they watched the building engulf in flames. Carmen’s heart was pounding as she watched for anyone coming out from inside.

A few hours passed and both children were asleep in her lap, her eyes still glued to the scene. A figure came up to her, and for a moment she felt huge relief until she realized it was not Wally, but instead a police officer and the fire chief. They had been going around to lingering folks checking for injuries. “Please.. my husband.. he wore a red and white sweater.. where is he? Did he get out?” The fire chief handed her a large medallion, “Was he the owner of this Wander Society coin? If so, then I’m afraid he’s gone.” Carmen trembled and her chest felt like it imploded inward, she shakily took Wally’s coin, water dripping onto it. She touched her face, realizing tears were pouring down. “I.. I need to see him. Please let me see him.” She carefully stood, the filly slightly stirring from sleep and the colt was still cradled against his sister, unbothered. Carmen started to walk towards the museum ruins but was held back by the officer, “Wait. I know you. You held that heist by the Hoofer dam! You’re Pondeigo!” She wrenched her arm from his grasp, “I dont care! All I care about is being with my husband! Let me see him!” She sobbed, grabbing hold of the uniform and sinking to her knees, screaming out Wally’s name. The officer grimaces solemnly, “Look, I cant just forget your alleged crimes. You still have active warrants. I have to take you in.” He looked towards the kids, Adora rubbing her eyes and watching as she held her baby brother. “Those your kids?” Carmen nodded, reaching out for them and scooping them into her arms, burying her face into them. “Is there anyone you can leave them with until we can get this sorted out? I mean, I aint dumb, you will probably escape before you’re even sentenced.” The officer kindly offered, not blind to the sensitive situation at hand.

Carmen kneeled silently for a moment before letting go of her children and reaching for her bag for a couple slips of paper. Her hands shaking as she handed the papers over, “Wally and I decided that if anything should ever happen to us, my daughter Adora would be in the care of this location.. and my son Blendin will be at this location. Just let the keepers know who their parents are. Its all arranged… please.. I just wish that you would let me go this once. My children are all I have left..”

The officer spoke into his walkie and reading off the slips of papers, and after a moment or so a suit clad individual took the papers and scooped up the kids. Carmen flung herself at him, trying to reach her children, “No.. please!! Not yet! Dont take them yet! Dont take them too…” she begged, the officer gently taking her wrists and handcuffing them behind her back, she pulled against the officer trying to follow the suit. “Adora! Blendin!! Mommy loves you! I’ll come back for you! Mommy promises!!” She screams out in despair as she was loaded into the police cruizer, watching as they drove away from the worst night she had ever lived.

The next few days were a blur, she was checked in and registered, given a quick hearing and sent to a holding facility, all while she was numb and nearly catatonic from grief. Her expressions were blank and listless, she didnt speak even to defend herself in front of the judge. She was loaded onto a bus and sent to a building further from the city. Only then did she furrow her brow.

Chapter 2: Wasn’t this place on an episode of Ghost Hunters?

“Asylum..? This isnt the prison they reported me to-“ Carmen was yanked off the bus, wrenching her shoulder. Ignoring the pain, she looked around as they approached the run-down facility, her anxiety soaring. “Wait.. this isnt right! Let me go!” She was held tight by two large guards and passed off to the check-in where she was strapped and cuffed to a wheelchair. “Don’t struggle. No one thinks they should be here but lucky you, your name is on the correct list, right here. Looks like you were referred to Dr Ravidel Soltek. Take her to her room.” The head nurse barked at the workers, who wheeled her off to a very small room, barely enough space for the single twin mattress. Before dumping her unceremoniously into her new residence, they injected a needle into her neck, administering something that made her extremely drowsy. She quickly lost track of days and weeks, her room had no clocks, nor windows and the only time she saw the sky was during group meal times in the main mess hall.

There was a particular doctor that held special interest in Carmen, a large black and white Spanish draft horse anthro. He personally tended to all her check ins and administered multiple different drugs into her system, even went as far as feeding her himself. In her drugged state, she could only assume this was the Dr Ravidel Soltek she was told about, and that he was experimenting on her due to how many notes he took right after he drugs and feeds her. Soon she noticed he only gave her one specific drug at night when no other guards or nurses were around. The other daytime drugs were to keep her groggy and compliant. She remembered the night drug well, a glowing blue drug in a vial loaded into an injection gun. As soon as she sees the glow, she knows the night will be hell.

The doctor locks the door behind him and injects the serum into her leg, her arms chained up against the wall. The overly euphoric sensation washed over her, leaving her writhing in bliss and lust. He unlocks her wrists and pins her face down on the padded floor, his hard cock grinding against her bare slit. When he was finished, he left her brutally used and crying, locking her wrists back up. This has become the routine for many months, and no one but Carmen ever questioned it. Soon she found that she was so miserable, she yearned and ached for the blue glow. It was the only time the torment seemed to fade. She was all alone and had been successfully addicted to the drug called Zydrate.

One night after the doctor had his fill and had left for the night, Carmen ran her fingers through her hair, finding a hair pin she had found on the ground that very afternoon. She picked her wristlocks with expert precision and worked on the door’s lock. She was thankful it was almost like an old barred door, to keep everything visible. The facilities did need quite the upgrade. With the blue drug still in her system, she was amazed on how functional she still was, though every movement made her want to cry out in unwanted pleasure. She slipped out in just her medical johnny, and started looking around. She discovered the asylum was drastically away from anywhere she knew of, a literal in the middle of nowhere situation. It really was a place for people to be left for the sole purpose of being forgotten. She sat on the floor of the hallway after discovering this. She had no way to get back, and all of her life stripped from her. She sobbed quietly for what seemed like hours before getting up. Wiping her tears, she made a decision. She went searching for the stairs. She needed to be on the roof, it was a clear sky from what the windows had shown. She climbed the stairs, eventually opening the roof hatch. The wind whipped around, her hair and johnny flowing with it. She looks at the sky as she approached the edge. More tears started to fall as she recognized the stars but confirmed on how far away she was and how alone she felt. “I’m sorry my babies.. I dont think Mommy is ever coming back home..”

“Well thats a damn shame, after you promised them and everything. You go an fuckin give up after finally letting yerself escape. Man, I sure had you pegged different. Shame. I woulda loved to see you give Dr whatshisface what he deserves. But nah, you go do your suicide thing.” A low Austrailian accent piped up from behind her, a scent of cigarettes stung her nose. Carmen turns and within the shadows she sees a stallion of deep blue, almost black, fur and mop of bright orange ginger hair and tail, the tail itself looking like an olde unicorn or lion tail. He was dressed in a leather jacket and pants, torn and scruffed, his body underneath adorned in bandages, one band-aid plaster going across his muzzle. His eyes glowed an eerie toxic green from afar. He flicked his burnt cigarette away and stood from his leaning spot by the chimney. As he got closer, she saw that he towered over her by at least a foot, he was covered in cuts and bruises, and his eyes were segmented like an insect, the outer colors were blue while the center was more green, the colors moved as he looked her up and down, as if the green colors were the iris and blue the scelera. She also noticed dark green and teal insect wings on his back and what looked like dark shadowy tentacles protruding from between his wings.

“Who the fuck are you supposed to be? The devil who wants my soul in exchange for some listless favor?” She frowns, stepping down from the ledge. He cackled, “The devil has nothing on me, since I do his dirty work so he keeps his hands clean. Besides, I dont want yer soul. I want something else. And you are the one I choose to give it to me whether you like it or not.” He leaned close with a growl, grabbing her arm. She laughed, “I’m sorry to disappoint but I’m not looking to be hired by the devil’s scapegoat. I dont have anything to offer, now let go!” She wrenched her arm from his clawed grasp, stepping back and tripping over the ledge. With a yelp, she plummeted off the roof.
The stallion spat a curse and dove off after her, catching her and with his wings spread, he landed her safely to the ground. “Dont you FUCKIN do that again, ya cunt! I will let you fuckin fall and I will laugh at your splattermark on the pavement!”
“Well, maybe don’t go grabbing me when I’m that close to a ledge! You asshole!” She yelled, and winced, grabbing her arm where his claws scratched her. He snorted and growled, “You know what? Have it your way, I dont give a flying rats ass about you. Have fun having to spend your life wasting away in this pisspan. Don’t come crying back to me to save ya.” With that, he slipped into the shadows, and was gone. Carmen ran her fingers through her reddish brown hair, looking around and looking up. She glanced down the road and back to the building, weighing her options. She started off down the road not looking back.

A sharp sting hit her neck, she clapped a hand over it and yanked out a dart. She stumbled slightly as she looked at the dart with confusion before dropping to the ground unconscious, guards surrounding her and hauling her back to the asylum.

“My, my, little princesa. You had me worried there for a moment there. I was beginning to wonder if they had sent me the wrong mare.” Carmen blinked awake, lights bearing down on her, she squinted as she looked around, finally finding Dr Soltek in the corner, preparing some instruments. She groaned and tried to move, only to be painfully aware that she was strapped down on a table, and a gag-muzzle over her mouth. Ravidel came over with a cottonball in a pair of forceps and dunked it into a bottle of liquid, pulling it out and swapping her horn with it. She had always had a hyper-sensitivity to her horn and she tried moving her head away. His strong hand grabbed her jaw and held her still with a steel grip. The swab mildly making her mind itch. “Ah, ah, not so fast, pequeña ladrona. You still need your treatment for running off and getting your arm hurt..” he slipped a few different sized metal rings attached to wires onto her horn and two circular moistened pads to her temples. “Now this will hurt you more than it does me..” Carmen blinked, thinking he said it wrong, until he pressed a button on a device, sending excruciatingly painful volts of electricity through the pads and rings. She let out muffled screams and writhed in her restraints as she was electrocuted for a few long seconds. “Now this is not nearly enough to kill you. But hopefully you will learn your lesson to obey my orders. Maybe if you are good, I’ll give an extra dose of zydrate later.” She pants and tries to scream out obscenities at him but the gag muzzle prevented her from articulating any identifiable words. He pressed the button again, sending her into waves of pain once again, screaming and spasming. He turns it off after a few cycles and pulls the wired equipment off of her head, she pants hard as she barely keeps conscious.

There a slight commotion at the room’s entrance, a familiar voice came into the fray, “Hey, Doc, I have a package for ya to sign for.” The nurses could be heard behind him, “So sorry, he wouldnt wait at the lobby.. he just barged right in!” The stranger cackled, “Fuckin right, ya bitch. Now I’m gonna give you a tip for terrible service and I need to pick up my package there.” There were abrupt screams of terror and a squelching wetness of something being torn apart and splattered, Carmen could barely see from the state she was in, “who?… whats going on?…” she murmured in the gag-muzzle as the only thing she could see were shadows on the walls and ceiling due to a fire that broke out. Were those tentacles?

All the screaming came to a stop and she smelled his cigarettes, the figure releasing her wrists and ankles from the restraints, removing the gag-muzzle from her face. “Its you.. you came back?” He huffed and hoisted her up off the table fairly easily. She groaned and held her stomach, “I dont feel good.. something is wrong..” He looks down at her and notices a whole lot of blood spilling from her lower half. “Yer ok, hold on, let me see whats going on.” He wiped his clawed finger against her blood soaked leg and put it to his mouth, licking his lips. His eyes went wide with surprise then switched to rage. “Well, depending on how you look at it, you are either going to be really sad or really happy. I’m thinking you’d be happy but I still need to get you to a healer OUTSIDE of this place.” The fire raged more behind them as he held her fully and used his shadowstep to go from one room to the outside in a single step. The cool air brushed her cheeks, “uungh.. what happened, why does it hurt?” She murmured, clutching to his jacket. “You just had a miscarriage. You were pregnant and I think I know whose kid it was.” He growled. “Ravidel.. that bastard…” she groaned as she slipped into unconsciousness.

Chapter 3: Bickered Eggs and Spilled Tea

A few hours later, Carmen wakes up in a rather plush bed, the sun was shining through a set of open french doors, some sheer curtains blowing in the soft warm wind, the sound of waves crashing on the beach could be heard. She blinked slowly and looked around, sitting up and with a wince, she lays back down. She noticed she was naked save for some bandages on her arm and pulled up the covers as she heard that stallion’s voice, “Did you know that you snore?” She looked at him leaning against the doorframe leading to the rest of the building. “Yeah, so? You probably do too.” She scowled. He chuckled and shook his head, “Wouldn’t know, I dont sleep.” She crosses her arms, “Thats obvious, if you had a decent night sleep you might not be an intolerable asshole.” He pats his chest, looking wounded, “Ouch, such loving words to say to your rescuer. I may be an asshole but I saved yer fuckin ass last night. You’re welcome.”

“Fine, Thank you for saving my ass. Now are you going to tell me who you are and where we are?” She gestured about the entire room, and blinked. He was suddenly gone from the doorway and lounging stretched out beside her in the bed. She yelped and held the covers closer to her, leaning away from him. He was dressed in a roughed up white button down shirt, sleeves rolled up, a loose tie lazily hanging from the collar, and same leather pants as the night before; he flicked his thumb and a small flame lit the tip. He used it to light his cigarette and took a deep inhale. “The name’s Marehem. You can call me M. We are currently at a safe house that my brother had when he left on his excursions. He was the one who made me promise to keep you safe. That was before he disappeared.” He blew out a puff of smoke and chewed the end a little. Carmen listened and tilted her head, “Your brother knew me? I’m sorry but I think I would remember befriending a demon” M would cackle in response, “You knew him alright, you fuckin married him. That jog yer memory? I’m Waldo’s brother.”

Carmen sat there in disbelief, staring at him. “Oy, its rude to stare ya know.” She shook her head, “Sorry.. but whatever you are, Waldo isnt that. He was a kind and gentle soul, he was a wonderful father, made me laugh and-“ “And made you cum with how blissfully romantical he was.. myehhh.. yeah I know.” He mocked the cigarette between his fingers as he pointed at her, “He would not shut up about you and the kids. Not that I blame him, he had the cushy life. Me, I like it more rough. We are known as changelings, and the special talent our brood had particularly gave us the title of Balancers. There were the light balancers like Waldo where everything was happy and lucky and goody goody gumdrops. Then there are Dark Balancers where you have changelings like me who balance out that sunshine and rainbows and thrive on tragedy and disaster. You still with me? Jingle jingle..” he explained, producing a set of keys out of shadow and jingled them in her face as she kept staring. She blinked as she processed this. “So… my son is half changeling?” He wrinkled his face, “I drop a whole bunch of fuckin lore at you and all you ask about is your kid? Yes, yer kid is half changeling. He’ll probably grow into his powers when he’s a few years old. I wouldn’t worry about it.” He waved her off. “Do you need to smoke so much?” She asked, waving her hand to blow some smoke away. “It keeps me young-gawd yer nosey. What is it with you and these fuckin questions?” He rolls his eyes and takes another draw. “I used to be a detective, it helps me figure out people.” He gives her the middle finger, “Yah? Figure out this.” She drops her hands onto her lap and looks at him, wondering where the fuck he got that audacity. “You know what, Fuck you. Fuck you and your stupid cancer sticks, and your stupid tentacles, and stupid middle finger, and.. and your stupid face!” His eyes glinted a little as he formed a devilish smirk. Before she could move, he straddled her hips, his hands on the headboard, effectively pinning her there, she yelped and sunk lower in the bed as he lowered his head to near her level. He gives a low growl by her ear, “You wanna try that again, little bitch? Or are you going to be a good little bitch and shut that dirty whore mouth before I shut it for you~?” The only thing between them were the covers on the bed, which Carmen pulled up to hide her scarlet face as she peeked up at him. The sheer threatening and dominating aura he gave off sent shivers down her spine as she held the covers over her blushing face. What the fuck was he doing?! He was her brother in law!…supposedly?! Why would he try to jump her bones after he lost his brother?! “Come out, little bitch, or I’ll make you come out..” he started grinding against her, growling more. She gave a small squeal and wriggled out from under him, slipping off the side of the bed to the floor, scrambling to scoot away to the other corner. He merely watched her skitter in panic and made him cackle. He moved and sat on the edge of the bed, his arms on his knees. “You are fun to tease. Not easy to get along with, but easy to tease.” He stands with a clap of his hands on his thighs, “I’ll go fetch you some grub. You haven’t eaten proper in fuckin months.” He walks out the door, only to back a step in, “By the way, you ain’t a prisoner here. Get up and start slowly movin about. Do ya some good.” She watched him disappear into the other room and curled up against the wall, hugging her knees to her chest.
Everything was so different, she had a hard time making sense if it all. She remembered being in tough spots before, especially before meeting Wally. This felt different, she couldn’t put a finger on it. She felt an ache in her horn and reached up to touch and soothe it. She winced as a mere touch now sent her mind into deep static, making her wobble where she sat. That wasn’t right, it was never that sensitive before. She stood and looks at it closely in the mirror. A thin blackened core swirled between the tan twists, making her horn look almost two toned. Her horn was damaged worse by that electric torture, she was sure it has fractured in a small split in the spiral. Now she couldn’t even touch it without having issues. She was partially glad she never used it with magic due to the previous sensitivity issue but how will she function now? One touch and she could be in trouble!

Carmen heard M coming back down the hall, and she scrambled to find a robe. She moved too quickly, clutched her stomach and sank back to her knees, grunting in pain. The changeling sauntered into the room carrying a tray of food, a warm mug of tea and a water bottle as well as a heating pack. “The fuck you tryin to do? You can’t run anywhere. Yer on an island.” He set the tray on the dresser and scooped her up, plopping her back on the bed. “And even if you could run, you shouldnt. You need to heal first.” He turned and grabbed the tray. She squinted her eyes at him, “You told me to move around.. If I’m not a prisoner here, why am I being held against my will by you?” He had set the tray down over her legs as a popup tray, a small dish of eggs and toast sat steaming fresh. He picked up a piece of toast and waggled it before dropping it, “Move around SLOWLY. You think I fucking want you here? I don’t want to be babysitting some brat who doesn’t know when to shut her yap. I didnt have to feed you, or give you comfort things.” He stood and pointed out of the french doors, “You wanna leave and fuckin screw up yer health and yer chances of getting yer kids back? Be my fuckin guest. Theres the fuckin door, hope you can swim faster than the fuckin sharks.” Carmen scowled, gripping the pillow to throw at him, “How do you think I feel?! I’m in pain after the most horrific night of my life and I have to be berated by you because all I want to do is get back home!”
“I berate you only because you nag me all these questions thats none of yer fuckin beeswax! Theres a reason I like bein left alone, but Nooooo. Wally just had to ask me to make sure yer safe. Well yer safe from everything except yer damn self!”

“You expect me to just sit here and accept every little traumatic thing to me?! I’m sorry, I thought you loved misery and tragedy and whatever else! You just like it if we just curl up and die without fighting back, and easy meal then? Well, FATSO, no more easy meals from me!” She fumed, eating her eggs furiously, “Hey, these are actually pretty good.. did you put chile pepper in these?” M crossed his arms, glaring daggers at her, “Yeah, this ‘Fatso’ knows how to cook. Big surprise. Also, I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m anything BUT fat. I take my weight very seriously! I never over indulge in any meal.” He was right, she looked at him closer while nibbling the toast, he had muscle but it was very lean, in the wrong clothes, he would be extremely lanky. But in the pants and button down shirt tucked in, he just looked toned and fit and much to her resentment, she’d even consider him extremely attractive. Swiveling her ears back, she kept him in her sights, sipping the tea. Blinking she looked in the cup, “Is this…Raspberry leaf?” She takes another sip, analyzing the taste by swishing it around her tongue. “Nettle.. and dandelion.. This is menstrual tea. How did..?”

“When you get to be my age, you pick up a thing or two.” He lights a cigarette and runs his fingers through his hair, his horns looked different today, it was more of a unicorn horn than two demon horns. He also had his tentacles and wings tucked out of sight when he had entered the room. Carmen tilted her head finishing her tea and wiping the rest of the egg up with the last bit of toast, “Not to keep asking personal questions, but you don’t look any older than late 20’s. How old are you?” He rolled his eyes and counted on his fingers, “Lesse… 3, carry the one… how many years ago was that asteroid that killed the dinosaurs again?” She scoffed, “Ok, I get it, you’re old. I doubt that old but I won’t pry.” She sets the tray aside and slouches back with a wince, placing the heating pad onto her abdomen, sighing. “Thank you. I certainly needed your help back there. I’m sorry for being difficult but I am grateful you came by when you did.”
He shrugged and flicked the ash, “Meh. Can’t say its what I do but at least I know where there is opportunity. At least I know how to make you tolerable. All I gotta do is feed you, then no more yelling.”

“I’m not that simple. But the food was delicious. Last night you said I was the only way to get something you wanted.. what was that?” She inquired. He groaned in renewed annoyance, “Again with the questions.. all I wanted was fuckin closure. It was the last thing Wally wanted from me and as long as I got you outta there and some place safe to dump you, I was free and clear of his debt.” She sat and fidgeted with the sheet hem, “I guess we both deserve closure. I’ll help you get your closure if you help me with something.”

He raised an eyebrow taking another long draw, “Ok, I’ll bite. Whatcha need? Because once I’m done with you, I’m gone. You’ll never see me lookin after yer sorry ass again.” Carmen nodded, “Thats fair. All I need is to get back into that asylum. I need some information.” His head snapped up and groaned “You want to.. Rrrrrgh, why the fuck do you want to go back there?! Theres nothing! Look what they did to you! You… you want me to be tethered to you forever and be your fuckin slave.. bullshit! I wont do it! I aint risking my neck for nobody!”
Carmen slow blinked at his tantrum. “I’m glad you agreed to risk your neck. Now I just need to get there, I’ll do the rest-“ “I said no.” He growled. She tilted her head, “Actually, you used a double negative which in grammar terms, you do agree. So anyway as I was saying..” she looked up at him just in time to see the bedroom door slam. “Well that was rude..”

Chapter 4: The plot thickens! Dun dun duuunn!

Days went by and Carmen had been napping here and there to pass the time, occasionally practicing standing and squatting to keep her legs and body stretched. As she felt more healed, she went back to her normal morning and evening stretches and exercises. She barely saw M outside of him grumpily dropping off food on the dresser and stalking off to brood. On this particular day, she hadn’t seen him at all so she decided to get dressed in a loose calf length maxi dress, and adventure out to explore the safe house. It was very small, barely two rooms other than bathrooms. She found the kitchen and started to raid the pantry when she heard voices outside. She peeked outside the window to see M pacing the beach on his phone, arguing with someone. Finishing making her peanut butter sandwich, she bring it out in a napkin and nibbles it as she walks towards him. “No, I dont give a fuckin flyin rats ass what your damn investigators say, you find his body! I aint accepting ‘erh it git burnt up in da fire’ No. I know how to fuckin burn bodies! You want me to demonstrate that to ya?! There WILL be a body if he is fuckin dead and you better fuckin find it before I fuckin find you! Capish?” He roars in frustration and slams his phone against the rocks, smashing into pieces. Moments later the pieces disappear and the phone is back in his pocket.

She sits down behind him on the sand, munching her sandwich quietly. He paces a little bit then turns towards her. Visibly startled, he takes a few steps back, “Geeezus-What the fuck is wrong with you?! Gawd damn you are like a fuckin ghost, sneaking up on me.. fack.. give me fuckin heart attack. I thought you were a demon baby, I was gonna punt ya head right in!” She looks up at him, crossing her ankles and leaning back on one hand, not even bothered, still eating her sandwich. “Soooo, Who was that?” He runs his hand through his hair and starts pacing again. “That was the fuckin medical investigator, they can’t find Wal’s fuckin body.” She scowls, “Even after all this time?? The museum would have been doing renovations by now! How could they miss a body?” He shrugs and puts his hands on his hips, “No fuckin idea. Somethin dont seem right. And I know my accidents, I specialize in them. This was no random accident. No body, no realistic cause of fire, it was arson to cover up somethin and it aint like Wal to abandon shit like family. If he were in trouble, he called me. He didn’t call me and he didnt call you. He’s the dumb hero type, so he would have helped people get out. It just dont make fuckin sense. Everything is telling me he screwed outta there to save his hide but that aint like him. Not one bit. And everyone is sayin he didnt get out, no one saw the fucker leave, and the only way outta there after evacuation was in a body bag! He wasnt there either!”

Carmen let her head drop back as she looked at the clear sky, a few gulls glided past, tossing them the last bits of her sandwich crust. “We can’t trust the medical nor the police. I even tried to get them to help and they just arrested me for my past warrants.” She sighed, bringing her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. He looked at her confused, “Why the fuck would they arrest you? Did you like assault the pig? What was yer name again? Caramel Cruz or some shit? Wally always called you his light. I’ll be honest, I tuned him out when he talked about you.” “My name is Carmen Cruz, not Caramel!” She frowned annoyed, ears back. He snapped his fingers, “Yes, that was it, Carmen, like that famous robber.” “Thief. I’m a thief.” She snarled. “No, you’re wrong. I think it was robber.. cat burglar? Ya know, you look a bit like her… wait.” He tossed her forward, her face in the sand and her tail in the air, he pulls up her dress and looks at the marking on her rump. “Well fuck my ass, the globe with the magnifier. You are her! Name change and everything! Holy shit! My brother really knew how to fuckin pick em!” She scrambled and covered her ass back up, her face bright crimson red in embarrassment. “You seen me naked almost this whole time and you never noticed it?!” He laughed, watching her panic to regain composure, “I wasn’t looking at yer ass. There were other important things I was paying attention to. Like not having you bleed out and die.” He held out a hand to help her to her feet, “At least that nugget of info explains why you are so nosey for details.” She dusts off her dress as she stands, “Yeah, well, I like having answers. And this whole thing with Wally’s body missing and me being redirected specifically to a place where they forget people? Someone wanted us out of the picture for good, and I need to know why.”

M kicked the sand a bit with his hoof, some grains sticking to his shaggy forlock fur. “Maybe they just wanted you gone, I mean, you do cause quite the fuckin ruckus when you steal something, like I dunno, an entire fuckin landmark!” Carmen rubs her forehead below her horn, “I quit doing that, the challenge of it was great and all but the practicality wasn’t there. I stopped thieving in general when I met him. Disbanded everything to settle down. Looks like thats one thing I can’t escape from, stealing.” She watches the waves a moment. “But I can change the targets of my stealing. If I cant escape the ship, form a mutiny and take control of the ship’s wheel!” She grinned, turned to him, “M, we’re going heisting!” And begins to jog back to the safe house. M just stood there, dropping his arms, shaking his head, yelling after her, “What the fuck are we even stealing? Hey! You can’t just say that and run off! I would like to know what bullshittery you’re dragging me into! Are you listening?! What are you even doing?! We’re not the cliffhanger end of a chapter in a mediocre self-insert fanfic on AO3, so don’t fuckin act like it!”

Chapter 5: Storage crates, little glass vials and hallucinations, oh my!

Soon they had gathered everything the needed to leave the island, M shut off all the lights and opened a dark room, the floor was pitch black. “I can’t do this often but it will get us where we need to go a few times. Having a passenger tends to wear me out. Keep a hold of me or you’ll get lost.” Carmen gulps and looks at the darkness, from what he had explained, he walks through and they come out the other end at the location that was thought about. She grips his coat and steps with him, both thinking about the storage locker Carmen had when she disbanded her original VILE henchmen. They stepped into a large storage unit, in the shadows. M flipped the lightswitch, and boxes and crates of loot were illuminated. He gave a low whistle, “Babe, you really are loaded..” Carmen went for a trunk on the opposite side of the room, “Dont call me babe, I’m not your lover, I’m your sister in law.” She bent and riffled through the clothes, picking out what extras she needed into a small travel pack. The changeling slinked up behind her and pressed himself against her bent frame, leaning his elbows along her back, head in his hands. “Doncha mean Ex-sister in law? If you’re widowed, doesnt that make you single?” She froze, bracing herself by gripping the sides of the trunk, her face flushing a bright red. “What the fuck is wrong with you?! Your brother is dead and you’re grinding against his wife, what the hell kind of coping are you failing at?!” She growled at him, her voice shaking a little. She felt her skin get sweaty, as she tries to focus on the contents of the trunk.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” His voice seemed to have suddenly gotten quite farther away. She stands and looks around, seeing him poke around a stone statue. She narrows her eyes, knowing that he can be quite speedy, “W-what do you mean? You were just grinding me!” He genuinely looked confused, “Ah no? I’ve been looking around at all the shit you got here. I only did that once when we were at the safe house. You obviously weren’t comfortable with it. I’m an asshole but not that kind of asshole..” she furrows her brow, rubbing her arm a bit as she sank into her thoughts. “We need to head back to the asylum, I need to get into the files there.” She stepped behind an ancient chinese room screen and started changing into her own leather pants and a corseted shirt, though a bit tight in the bust. She swept her long red trenchcoat on and grabbed her wide brimmed red hat, placing it on her head. She puts on her purple glasses and shut the trunk.
“What fuckin files? We should see about Wally’s body first.” He stood, looking her up and down with his glowing green eyes, arms crossed. His horns today looked more like a young bucks antlers, just in pure black with a slightly toxic green sheen. She finished tying her yellow ascot around her neck, “If we find out why they directed me to that building out in nowhere, then it may lead us to why the museum was set ablaze. Its the only real lead I have.” She adjusted her black riding gloves and picked up the travel bag. “When we’re done, I’m thinking I’ll just give this all back to the proper owners. Not to any museums, like the British Museum, they already stole enough, I dont need to add to that in particular.” She walks closer to him, getting a sudden shiver. “Ok, ready.. lets go.” Marehem frowns, tilting his head, “Are you feelin alright? You look a bit clammy..” she grumped and walked to the area where they stepped into the shadow, “I’m fine, just itching to get going! So lets go!” She reached out her hand impatiently to take hold of his coat, her other hand already to shut the lights off. He groaned and followed her, letting her hold his arm, a few tentacles wrapped around her waist protectively as the lights went out.

They stepped out into a destroyed laboratory room from the darkest corner, she tried to remember the layout and started rifling through papers she saw on desks and tables. She caught sight of the electricity device and shivered. M wandered around, kicking debris rather boredly. He admired his handiwork as he came across a large dried bloodsplatter upon the wall, chuckling as he sees a silhouette of another victim as a blank space in the splatter. There had been a few flies buzzing about the remains of whatever was organically left. “Hey Red, Look! Aaahhh!” He called for her attention standing next to the blank space, mimicking it like he was the screaming victim, ending in him cackling at himself. She looked up and gave a slight disgusted look, “So I see. You sure didnt leave much for the forensics, did you?” She went back to taking photos of the documents she found, gagging slightly. “Remind me never to join you on your heists, you’re no fun.” He mutters, picking a few scalpels and tossing them at a poster on the wall of a simplified body shape with simplified organ shapes, each scalpel skewering a vital organ. “Oh I’m plenty fun, I’m just focused right now! You could help me instead of.. of..” she bumped into something and looked up. Looming over her was a battered and angry looking figure of Dr Ravidel Soltek. He grabbed her by the throat and tossed her across the table, knocking it over. He leapt at her pinning her down as she cried out, trying to pry him off of her. He held a needle of glowing blue zydrate to her leg, growling, “You could never stay away, could you, pequeña ladrona? You just wanted more.” She shrieked out in protest, and clenched her eyes shut, preparing herself to feel the drug rush. Her shoulders were suddenly held and shaken hard, his voice faded as M’s voice came clearer.

“Red! Hey, snap out of it! What’s going on? What happened?” She blinked and looked around in a panicked state, panting hard. “Where is he? Where did he go?” M crouched to her level, visibly confused and concerned, “Where did who go? No one has been here other than us. I already checked.” She looked up at him with tears in her eyes, “Ravidel was here.. he tossed me and tried to.. the blue, where’s the blue?” She sat up on her knees and started looking all over the debris on the floor. Frantically she searched drawers and cabinets until she found some blue glass vials and started stuffing them into her pockets. “He cant drug me if I have his whole supply!” M watched her and rubbed his face as he realized why she acted the way she has for the past few days. “Shit, it was in-front of me the whole fuckin time. He got you hooked on somethin and now you’re in withdrawal..” He took her arm and turned her towards him, pinning her arms down against her sides. “Red, stop that. He’s not here, he was never here. You’re tweaking like a druggie. You gotta stop and ride it out. Here lets put these back, you dont need them.” He starts taking the vials out of her pockets as she tries to put them back in, “No, he’ll just use them on me, I need to take them away, I need to.. need to..” she started looking for the syringe gun as M took it away before she could reach for it, roaring at her, “Carm! Stop! You ain’t taking another goddamn hit! Fuck! Get your fuckin head straight! You know, I told myself that if I ever met you, that you were gonna be so cool. But look at you. Strung out. I know its not your fault but shit.. Never meet your heroes.” He whipped the syringe gun out the broken window and stormed off. Carmen stood there, letting his words sink in. She looked down at a broken mirror and hardly recognized herself. “He’s right.. what am I even doing?” She looked at a vial in her hand and looked at it before popping the stopper. She put a drop on her fingertip and placed it under her tongue. The taste was horrible but the calming sensation instantly flowed over her and her mind got more clear. Obviously not as euphoric in such a tiny drop but enough to clear the clouds. “Maybe I can overcome this if I micro-dose and ween myself off. I just.. I can’t let him know. I need to be better than this.” She moved the small stash to different inner pockets. She then ran after him, a few papers flew off the desk, a watermark barely visible as they flew past a light and onto the ground.

Chapter 6: Two Pones walk into a bar and end up at the Black Market

When Carmen caught up with Marehem, he was pressing buttons on an old timey cigarette vending machine, seeing if there were any left. He jostles it a moment as she stammers gingerly, “H-Heeey. Um. L-Look, I’m sorry. I know how it looks and I realize I was in the wrong back there. I wasn’t in my right mind. I did get most of the information I needed to possibly figure out the next step-“ her eyes went wide as he glared at her darkly and effortlessly tore open the machine like a cardboard pasta box with his tentacles, metal screeching and creaking. He procured about two packs, leaving the menthols. She cleared her throat and tried to speak, but he continued to stare at her, noisily crinkling the wrapper open and placing the other pack in his jacket pocket, “As I was saying.. I could still use your help. And I could still help you. We can head to the medical examiner office or something next if you want. How does that sound?” He stalks close to her enough to make her back up against a shadowed wall, she shakily hold out her hand “D-deal?” He grips hers tightly enough she yelped out, he leaned close to her ear and growled, “If I even catch you with that fucking drug again, the deal is off and I will devour your bones in the most painful way and will keep you alive enough to watch.” She steeled herself and gulped, “Fair. But if you work for me, there will be no more killing or slaughter while on my jobs. Got it? Slight dismemberment, ok, but not life threatening.” He leans back still holding her hand, snarling, “What? Thats like limiting me to breaking fingers! Fuck off.” She frowned at him, squeezing his hand this time, “If you dont, I walk away with the closest lead you have on getting the closure you want.” He growls in frustration and slams his fist against the wall by her head. Carmen yelped as they both fall through the shadow, she falls onto wet asphalt as he casually strides towards a bar across the city street, his wings and tentacles tucked back in unseen. Her hat had fallen beside her as she got up, wiping off the dirt and wetness, she picked up her hat and hurried to follow him, rolling it up and storing it in her pack. M was already at the bar, shooting back a couple shots as she peeked into the door. She sat next to him and ordered a glass of moscato. “I didn’t think you were a shots kind of guy.” She quipped, sipping her wine. “I ain’t. This shits water to me. I’d like to think it does somethin but it never does.” He gruffly slams down the shotglass upside down. “So you can’t get drunk? Are all changelings like that?-ow!” He shushed her and kicked her leg. He looked her in the eye and showed he had normal looking bright green eyes and the lack of any horn or antler at all. Even his tail was looking like a short tuft of orange. His clothes had changed to more of a pale navy business suit. He still had the bandages, she noticed. “You got yourself a ladyfriend finally, M?” The bartender chuckled, polishing a glass with a towel. “Neh, just the bro’s ball and chain. You know, family affairs.” He knocked back another shot, as Carmen waved shyly. Bartender looked at her, “You look familiar, have you been on the news?” She laughed nervously, “Me? Psh! No. I..just got back from a costume party, villain themed! I’m just a little housewife, taking care of two little youngsters. They.. are with a foalsitter right now.” The bartender nodded, “Yeah, that alone time is pretty scarce with kids. Let me know if you need a refill.” She smiled and sipped more wine. She leans closer to M, “They know you here?” He swishes a shotglass a moment, “Yeah the guys from the office come here after work, I moonlight as an insurance agent for AllStable, but to be honest, I’m the breadwinner. I make them the most profit by making accidents happen. Hence all the plasters.” He motions to his face. “They don’t ask how I do it, and I don’t disclose trade secrets to them. But it helps keep cash in my pocket because without a body, neither of us can claim fuckin any inheritance from Wally.” She stops mid sip, “They what? Can they do that? Not that I’m interested in it but I still have bills to pay.” M shakes his head. “Not with Wally’s will. Theres an airtight clause where a body needs to be produced in order for the will to be released. Its a Wander Society thing. And your bills got covered automatically when they took you away. You literally have nothing in your name anymore. That will and the law screwed us both over.” Her shoulder sank a little as she finishes her glass, ordering another. She truly didnt care about the money but the fact she had lost their home and any other possessions they owned. She didn’t even get to keep her wallet with the family pictures inside. “Wally didnt send you any pictures of us, did he?” M raised an eyebrow, “Actually he sent several. Literal perfect dad bragging about his family. Why?” Carmen thanked the bartender for the refill and traced her finger along the top. “I don’t have any photos of them anymore. I need to get a new phone first but if you’d be so kind as to share those pictures with me, I’d be eternally grateful.” He sighed and rummaged through his pockets for his phone with a cracked screen. He pulled up the pictures and slid the phone over the bartop to her. “Here, we’ll get you a phone in the mornin. But at least you can go through the pictures.” She picks up the phone and chuckles, tears welling up in her eyes. For a few moments it felt like everything was how it was before, reliving every moment she saw captured. She sniffled and closed the screen, she set the phone down and took her glasses off to wipe her eyes. “Thank you, Marehem. I really needed that.” He sighed and wrapped an arm around her quivering shoulders. “No prob. As insufferable as he was to me, I miss him too.” He slapped down a couple bills on the counter and stood up, finishing the last shot and the last bit of her wine. “Come on, we need to get shit done tomorrow and we need some shut-eye.”

They exit the bar and start walking down the sidewalk, for a while they were both silent. “M, if you’re a changeling, where are your…holes? If you don’t mind me asking.” M chuckled and pushed up a sleeve, showing the changeling holes and fills them in again making his arm look whole. “They’re there, I just don’t like the look of them. Too much debris gets in them. So I got rid of them.” She adjusts her pack and puts her hands in her pants pockets. “Did Wally look like you without his Earth pony guise?” He scoffed, “Naw, he looked like that Thorax guy, only pastel blues and greens.” He flipped through his phone and pulled up some really old looking photos, showing Carmen. “Oh wow, he looks so different.” He shrugged, putting his phone away, “He never liked it. Thats why he shifted to the Earth pony shape. He felt more like himself like that.” She nodded, “I can see that, I’m glad I knew him as the form he felt more comfortable in.” They fell silent once again as they walked. There was some muffled pulsing music coming from an upcoming candy shop and Carmen perked up. “Oh hey, Its the Sweet Spot. I know this place. My sister owns it.” M grimaces, “The candy store? Ugh. Too much sugar, makes my teeth hurt from here.” She playfully punches his arm, “No, she owns the candy shop during the day, but the rave club is open right now. Plus if she’s there tonight, we can ask her for a new phone, she has special ones that are undetectable by law enforcement… she runs a black market enterprise behind the rave club. I say check it out. I could get most of my personal documents copied too.”

They head in and asked the bouncer for entry, Carmen shifted her hip and flashed her cutiemark. The bouncer opened the rope for them and the descended down to the basement which opened up to a huge room with neon lasers, smoke machines and booming electro music, filled with all sorts of beings dancing and enjoying themselves. There was a short bright teal pony with neon pink, purple and yellow cyberdreads, dressed in an orange and black cyber punk skirt complete with spiked goggles and gasmask, gloves, fuzzy leg-warmers and glow bracelets adorned her limbs. As they approached, the short mare squealed in delight and ran over, hugging Carmen with the biggest bearhug the little pony could muster, “Oh my stars!! Bella!! You came back! Ohmahgah, you need to tell me where you went!! Wait! Not here, lets go to a booth!” The hyperactive mare pulled them over to a much quieter corner of the club. “Bella?” M raised an eyebrow. “Its part of my middle name, Isabella. She’s the only one to call me that other than if I make reservations incognito.” Carmen explained. The cyberpunk mare reached for Carmen hands excitedly, “Bella I was so worried when I saw the news of the museum! And then the social medias were all over your arrest! I’m glad to see you havent changed! No one can hold you down, you’re like a slippery eel!” Carmen chuckled, “Well thats why I’m here. Sugar, Wally’s gone and I need my papers and a new phone. I need to go back to before I hung up my hat.” The mare, Sugar Pop, gasped, “Oh sweetie, I’m so sorry, he was so good for you, I cant believe it. Was he one of the missing from the fire?? Oh gosh.. he was such a nice fella.. total opposite of tall dark and buggy over here. Whats your name?” M, who had not changed from his earth pony shape at all, looked at her with surprise, “Wha-me?” Sugar crossed her arms, “No, the teddy bear behind you. Yes you! You’re the only changeling in the booth here. Whats ya name?” M let slip his eye shift and growled, “First of all, how did you-“ He stopped mid sentence when he heard the loud clacking sound of an aerosol can being shaken up. Sugar had a rather large can of bug spray in her hand, not looking amused. “Marehem. Brother of Wally.” He watched her put away the can as he answered. “Now, was that so hard? Your brother would have been the first to introduce himself. Such a charmer! You could’ve learned a lot from him.” She called over one of the waiters and whispered something to him. “Your papers and phone will be up shortly, as always its on the house!”

The two mares spent the next ten minutes catching up on what happened after the fire. M sulked and browsed on his phone in a bored manner. Soon a waiter came around with a tray with a big yellow document envelope, a new unopened cellphone and a small sleek metal case. Sugar Pop took these from the tray and placed them on the table, sliding each over one at a time. “Alright, here’s your papers, phone and a gift from me. Two matching mini pistols, copper and gold inlay, I call these the pennies, so if you ever need to, you can give someone your two cents.. if you catch my drift.” She opens the case to show off a small pair of beautiful and shiny pistols with a line of twelve bullets lined in the case. Carmen smiled and gave a small uneasy face, gingerly closing the case and pushing it back. “I can’t accept this, I’m not a gun person. They make me very uneasy.” Sugar Pop shushes her and pushes it back to Carmen, “Bella, just take the guns. You dont have to use them. Just keep them in a safe or lockbox. Its for a little backup if nothing else. I need you to be safe.” Carmen sighs, nodding her head towards M, “Technically I have back-up. He has a penchant for dismemberment.” M looks up, “I’m what now?” Sugar Pop scoffs, “And if he’s out takin a piss and leaves you alone, then what? You need a back up. Trust me. The world isnt like it used to be back in your big heisting days. You gotta be more careful.”
Carmen rolls her eyes, “You’re like Ma, I get it. I promise I’ll be safe. If you want, I’ll do tiny heists like no returning library books.” Sugar Pop nodded, “Those fees can get pretty pricey.. but no, that isnt any fun! Go out, live a little!! You got a chance to do it again! You did get the kids set up at a safe house, right?”
Carmen nodded, “Yes, I made sure that Adora is being looked after by the Warehouse Curators and Blendin is being looked after by the Great Library. Those are the safest places I know where they can grow up and learn the right things.” M tilts his head, “You put them there? I mean, I never took them as the babysitter types.” Carmen shrugged, “They owed us a favor. And Wally and I agreed that if need be, that would be the favor we would request. No conditions nor questions asked. I promised I would come back for them.” Her sister nodded, “As any parent would. But right now you can afford to take some time for yourself. For a thief, you aren’t very selfish of your own self care.” Carmen looked at Marehem and they both shrugged, “I suppose we can postpone plans for a little bit, get things back up and running. Say.. you don’t happen to have any spare beachfront properties, do you?”
The neon raverpunk mare smiled.

Chapter 7: The chapter where nothing exactly happens

After roughly ten months go by, Carmen and M finish bringing the last few crates from her storage into their new beachfront safe-house with a dense forest in the back. A modest little mansion in a remote enough location to stay hidden but close enough to not be cut off from the world completely. “Where do you want this crate of.. what the fuck is this… crate number 96274 of.. earwax based foods for the poor?! What the fuckin hell, Red?!” M scrunched his face as he read the large box he held. “Oh thats one of the spare April fool’s boxes we used to take suspicion away from whats really inside.” She opens the crate in his arms, revealing an elaborate solid jade and gold statue in paper shred packing. “I have a fifty five gallon canister of soylent green and liquid government cheese around here somewhere with some vases inside.” She looked around at the home they were settling into, still looking a bit sparse. “Um, put it over by the fireplace I suppose.”

They finished up for the day and collapsed on the sofa, sighing. “Man, I never thought I’d have to try to fill a mansion.. I just had a warehouse to store it all and a little rundown apartment.” She chuckled, drinking a bit of water. M stretched out, “I would have thought you already had this big facility with bunkers and hangars.” Carmen laughed, “Me? No no, I couldn’t dream of having something even this big! I mean, have you seen how many bedrooms this place has?? Like ten! Who am I housing but the two of us and maybe the kids later?”
They sat, chuckling. M took a draw off his cigarette, “We should get a puppy.”
Carmen raised her eyebrow, “You of all people want a puppy? Like a rage engulfed chihuahua?” M shakes his head and sits up, leaning his arms on his knees. “Nah, like a fuckin proper villain puppy. I caught wind that the SCP Foundation has this new specimen, 682 I think. Its fuckin unkillable and very dangerous. I want THAT as my puppy. Mr Nibblesworth could be our guard dog-thing and eat anyone who opposes us!” Carmen crosses her arms, “Mr. Nibblesworth? Are you serious? Thats a ridiculous name for such a terrible creature! Remind me not to let you name any other kids I may have..” M grinned his toothy grin, “You didnt say I couldnt get it though..” She sighed, “IF you can acquire its needs for food and environment like a cage or doghouse or whatever it needs to be kept in.. and IF you can handle and train it without any murder or eating of people, then I suppose we can try to go get it..” M pumped the air with a fist then started sniffing the air, he sniffed his cigarette then himself. “Hey Red, did you say you were cooking something for lunch of something?”
Carmen cursed and shot up, running towards the kitchen, “MY SPINACH PUFFS!!”

Chapter 8: Of all the bars in the world, you had to walk into mine

An hour later, in one of the quieter sections of the Sweet Spot cyberpunk rave club, by the bar, Carmen and M sit and contemplate the menu. “I can’t believe I burnt dinner. The timer wasn’t even set! I’m so off my game right now. I don’t even know how we’re even going to plan that SCP heist..” she rests her head in her hands, swirling the straw to her colorful cocktail. “Don’t cry over burnt puffs. It aint worth it. And this is expected, what with the anniversary comin up. The first one is always the fuckin worst. I aint expecting anything from yeh.” He took a drink from his whiskey. He looked around the bar, a few ponies making out in a corner, a rather buff t-rex lady arm wrestling a tiger a few feet away and making a slight commotion as they celebrated whoever won. Carmen sighed and stood up. “I’m going to use the mares-room, I’ll be right back. Watch my drink.”

Carmen walked into the restroom and stood in front of the mirror, splashing water onto her face then leaning on the sink. She took out a vial of zydrate and put three extra drops under her tongue before hiding it away. The door opened by a tall sleek white wolfess. With a lean build, her blue dress seemed to glisten like water and ice. She leaned towards the mirror and checked her subtle makeup. Carmen watched and admired the wolfess. “You know, you could take a picture, or you could just ask me out.” Carmen’s face blushed deeply and looked back to her own mirror. The wolfess looked her up and down, Carmen dressed in a low buttoned blouse with a shapely pencil skirt and stockings. “I’m sorry, I didnt mean to stare, you’re just very pretty..um.”
“Lekir. I’m Lekir and I dont recall giving that apology option, so I suppose I’ll take that date.” She got close to Carmen and planted a deep kiss onto the mare’s lips. Feeling the lustful feeling of the drug, Carmen let her inhibitions go for once. She wrapped her arms around Lekir and kissed back as deep, the heat of the moment had the two ladies move to the far wall. Lekir kissed and nibbled Carmen’s neck, unbuttoning her shirt and hiking up her skirt. Fingers explored and breaths heavied as the two got lost in their lust.
Back at the bar, M was chatting up the tiger, talking about planes. The tiger, Drake was explaining how he and his T-rex partner, Vasha were air pirates. Vasha had just come back to the bar, chuckling. “You wouldn’t believe the crazy shit in the bathroom. This wolf lady has this unicorn against the wall, fucking eachother’s brains out. Didn’t even notice I was there. Or they did and liked the audience.” Drake laughed and M groaned. “That unicorn is with me.” Drake and Vasha ooooohed, M snapped back, “She ain’t my date. She’s my sister in law. She’s the one who can pay you for this little pick-up we’re doing, if you’re interested.” The tiger conferenced with his partner a moment, “Yeah, we’re not doing anything, we’ll join you on this pick-up. Sounds like it could be fun.”
“What sounds like fun?” Lekir stepped up to the bar with a very satisfied and a little disheveled Carmen, whose buttons were all misaligned and showing her bra-strap, and her usual wavy hair had become sex hair. She took her cocktail and drank it all down in a few gulps, leaning over to M, whispering, “I like her, she’s got a pussy and can make this big cock.. like this..big” she giggles, very red in the face. Lekir patted M on the back, “We had a few drinks while in there. Safe to say she’s not as tense nor depressed anymore tonight.” The changeling groans, “What we were saying was we had a thing planned where we pick up an unknown dangerous creature from a facility.. but now she’s gonna get hungover and things will go bad.” Vasha piped in, “Nothin saying we can’t just postpone a day. Didnt you say you need to make sure things were prepped?”
“She’s the real brains and knows what needs to be prepped. I’m just the brawn and opportunity maker. Can’t do shit without her.” M motioned to Carmen whose head was on the bartop on her arm, looking at Lekir. “I like you. We should date.” Lekir chuckled and brushed Carmen’s face, “Ask me again after you sober up. Then we’ll date.” The drunk mare lifted an arm in celebration “Yaaay I got a girlfriend, will you go on heists with me? It’ll be fun.” Lekir looked at M and sighed, “I can see why she’s a handful. But yes, I’ll join you on your so called heists.” She assumed she was just drunk asking. M scoffed and drank more whiskey, “Great. Just what we need. A distraction for Red.” The wolfess glared and froze his hand to the glass, “What was that?” M blinked and growled, “I was saying that she does go on big heists, and she doesn’t need any distractions, Elsa.” Lekir pointed to Carmen, “What? She actually pulls off big heists, like what?” M broke the ice trapping his hand, “Fuckin pick any from a few years ago. Like Hoofer Dam..” Lekir, Drake and Vasha looked at Carmen who had fallen asleep at the bar, “Holy shit.. You’re telling me that I just rearranged the Master Thief’s organs with my dick ..” Lekir sat down, contemplating what she just agreed to. Vasha laughed, “Good job, looks like she needed it too.”

After paying the tab, M stood and draped Carmen’s arm around his shoulders, helping her stand. “Alright, I need to take this fuckin sad sack home, or else nothing will get done. Here’s our location if you want to stop by tomorrow or something.” M produced a couple of business cards with their new location. The three took the cards and nodded, “Sounds like a plan.” Drake and Vasha ordered another round as Lekir thought more, pulling out her phone. As M and Carmen slipped through the shadows, Lekir made a call, stepping aside. “Asta, pet, get your things ready. We’re going someplace you are going to find rather interesting. And I could use your help. I’ll be home soon to tell you about it but you wont believe it.”

The next morning, almost 9am sharp, a WW2 tech level fighter plane came roaring down the beach and a blue portal appeared by the front door to the mansion. The four figures stood that the entrance. Drake the tiger and Vasha the Tyranian, then Lekir and her blue carbuncle pet Asta, looking around the front area. Drake let out a low whistle. “This is a snazzy place, I could get used to this.” A security camera turned towards them, and the door unlocks, swinging open. M stood at the door and greeted them, “Never settled on a time but glad you all showed up in one piece..” M looks at the Carbuncle. “What’s this blue squirrel?” Lekir crosses her arms, “This is Asta, my pet.” Asta puts her hands on her hips, “I’m NOT a blue squirrel! I’m a Carbuncle and I specialize in Astronomy and Meteorology! I was told I could be of use here!” M paused and looked at Lekir before moving aside and letting everyone in. “I don’t think we have any acorns for the squirrel but there’s food in the kitchen. Help yerselves.” Asta stormed in behind him “I’m NOT a SQUIRREL!”

Carmen slowly came down the stairs from above and shuffles into the kitchen, wearing just a maroon pair of thong panties and a case of bedhead. “Why are you so loud in here? Damn…” She yawns and scratches her head, then frog-blinks at the sudden crowd in her kitchen. The notion finally dawns on her that she just walked topless into a kitchen full of strangers.
“Good morning, Master Thief~” Lekir chimed as M opened the fridge. Carmen went wide-eyed and hissed at M, slamming the fridge onto his fingers. “M, who the fuck are these people and why are they here?! I thought you said this place was hidden! I can’t restart my heists when there’s people just waltzing in!!” M shook his hand and scowled, putting a finger in his mouth. “Red, fuckin chill your tits, I told them to come.”
Drake grinned and chuckled, “I think her tits are chill as they are, all perky with those barbells there.” Carmen looked down and tried to cover herself in panic, then waved at M “Gimmie your shirt!” “What? Why?” “JUST GIMMIE YOUR DAMN SHIRT.” M shrugged in annoyance, stripping off his button down shirt and handing it to Carmen. She yoinked it and scrambled to put it over her head, sniffing it and gags. “Uugh, you really need to quit those awful cigarettes… this absolutely stinks..” M cackles, “I can take it back..” Carmen steps back away and slapping away his outstretched hand, “I’ll deal. Now.. again, who are these people in our safe house?”
Lekir stepped closer, “We are going to help you with your next heist, Darling.” Carmen rubs her head, raising an eyebrow, “Darling? Who are you again?” Lekir crossed her arms, “I’m your girlfriend, Lekir, remember?” The unicorn blinked, “Oooooh from the bar last night… we’re dating?” “Last I checked from your offer last night.” Lekir got close enough to playfully pin Carmen to the wall by her wrists, “Does this ring a bell? Or are you too hungover and need a refresher?”
Carmen blushed and bit her lip, stifling a quiet moan, “Perhaps we could do the refresher a bit later, there’s still unexplained people in my house.” M cleared his throat, “Red, while you were.. indisposed last night, I managed to get us some pilots for our little project. Meet Drake Tigerclaw and Vasha Vindragova. Air pirates extraodinaires. Some of the best in the skies. Elsa here, or rather Lekir, has ice magic and brought her pet gerbil Asta here.”
The carbuncle growled, “I am NOT a gerbil!!” M raised his hands defensively, “Ok sorry, her pet squirrel.. who is an expert in Meteorology and Astronomy, which would be handy for wind and weather patterns for the planes and if planetary alignments do anything to the target.” Asta was fuming behind Lekir, “I am a carbuncle! Not a squirrel! Not a gerbil! Carbuncle!”
Carmen slipped off the wall and moved towards the counter with the coffee maker. “It sounds like this was actually thought out rather well. If you do stay and help out, we would be very grateful. If you decide to go do your own things, you are certainly free to do so. But while on my missions, just stick to the plan and absolutely no killing. Other than that I guess theres only one thing left to do..” she pours a cup of coffee and pours some pistachio creamer into it and raises it. “Welcome to the New VILE HQ.”

Chapter 9: Don’t you love it when a plan comes together?

After a quick wardrobe change, they all gathered in the hall. In the room they would eventually call The War Room, they quickly unpacked some maps, computers and schematics, laying out what they need over a large table. A bit haphazard but for the time being, still useable. Going over the floorplan, they formulated a route to best access the room this creature was supposedly in. M, doing a bit of computer hacking, was able to get schedules and codes. They pulled as much research they could find on the creature but so much was redacted, it was not useable.
“So we know they keep it in a vat of acid 90% of the time. We don’t have the ability to transport a vat of acid. So we will need to hit when they take it out for their experiments.” Carmen explains. “M, are you certain this is what you want? I still think we are ill-equipped for this.” M slams his hands on the table, “You had no fuckin issue before! You offered me a heist of any fuckin creature I wanted. This is it. I am owed this.” Carmen sips her coffee, “I never promised you a heist. You wanted ‘a puppy’ and this is the puppy you chose upon my conditions that we could handle such a beast without murder to us or others. This is skirting this line. So I ask again, Are you certain you want this creature and are you certain we can pull this off in our current situation?” M groans and rubs his face, “We’ve been at this for fuckin hours already, yes I am fuckin certain!”
Carmen nodded, “Alright, final call. Drake, you fly us there and park the plane as close as you can without drawing suspicion. This clearing in this area here should suffice, if there’s any issues, just act like you have a bit of an emergency maintenance to do. Asta, you watch the wind and weather patterns from the plane. Theres a good chance we may need to have an alternate path to get out. Which is where Lekir and Vasha come in. Lekir will form an explosive ice barrier along the outer wall here in this room and possibly some ice to help either contain or sedate the creature.
M and I will secure it and have it ready to go on the move. Surprisingly this experiment lab has windows which is good for us, bad design for them. Vasha will need to locate the helicopter over here and fly it to position, keeping distance away from the ice blast. We dont need to damage the transport before we get to use it and we need the winds to be agreeable so theres no turbulence to screw up any aim whether its boarding or taking defensive non-lethal shots. We dont need them to become lethal.
From there depends if we meet back at the plane or take off from there and have Drake and Asta meet us back here. I’m not expecting a whole army of fire ants but you never know with these facilities. Any questions?” Carmen opens a box and hands everyone an ear-com set. “These will help us communicate when separated. Keep them charged tonight, we’ll leave at first light. Make sure that you eat a mid-light breakfast and do whatever bathroom things you need to before we leave. There will be no bathroom breaks but I don’t want you starving either.”

The plan seemed solid enough with room to improvise if need be. Everyone dispersed and Carmen flopped into the office chair nearby, looking over the plans. She sipped the last of her coffee and sighed. This is what she missed. She gave this all up when she had met Wally and had Blendin, she was barely making do before that when being a single mom to Adora. By the stars, she missed them. She pulls up a photo of Adora’s birthday, with Wally holding Blendin and Adora blowing out the candles. Carmen smiled, but the thought plagued her if she was doing the right thing by not getting her children back. Until she knew she was safe from the law, she couldn’t drag her children into the mess. She still had some leads as to why the museum was burnt and why she was brought specifically to a no name asylum. She needed to solve that before the kids could come home.
“Cute kids. They yours?” Lekir peered over the mare’s shoulders. Carmen looked up and wiped a stray tear, “Wh- oh, yeah. This is Adora and Blendin and my.. husband, Wally.” She paused, not knowing how to really address him. Was she even a true widow? Lekir sat on the table, tilting her head. “So is it like an open marriage or…” Carmen shook her head, “He’s missing, technically considered dead. There was no body at the museum.” Lekir nodded, “Ah, I remember seeing that on the news. Some people think it was one of your heists gone sour.” Carmen put her head in her hands, “I would never set such priceless artworks on fire just to get away. Those are pieces of history you may never be able to repair.”
The two were silent for a little bit, Lekir kicking her legs idly. When standing, Lekir was a good foot taller than Carmen, then again everyone currently at the HQ were taller, being 6ft or taller while Carmen was just a mere 5’6”. Lekir made small frost designs on the tabletop as Carmen watched. “How do you do that?” Lekir chuckles, “A unicorn asking a demon how to use magic, thats a new one.” Carmen swivels her ears, “I have a bit of a horn defect, I was never able to use magic like every other unicorn. But a demon? I thought you were a wolf.”
Lekir shook her head, “No! No no. I’m not a wolf. I’m a demon species called Vesk. All beings from Cador are called demons. I happen to be proficient in ice magic. I have a friend back in Cador who likes to use lightning but already mastered all elements so far. Her name is Celica.” Carmen looked at her maps, “Cador? Where is that? I don’t recall a region like that.” The Vesk laughed, “You won’t find it here. It’s off world, you need to use specific portals to get there but I wouldn’t recommend it. Our gravity is way too heavy for your bodies.” Carmen chuckled, “So thats why you had no issue lifting me against the wall, you’re super strong here.”
Lekir stood and effortlessly picked Carmen up and laid her on the table, climbing on top and licking her fangs, “How about I show you that refresher now~ and if your husband is still alive, we can have him join the fun someday. But until then, how about you show your girlfriend some love.” Carmen blushed and giggled as Lekir unzipped and tugged off the thief’s leather pants and lifted her halter top, stripping herself from her own clothes and leaving them scattered around the table. M walked by and stopped short as he heard the moans and giggles, “Aw gawddammit Red.. on the table?! Now I’ll have to sanitize it.. or burn it.. or maybe pour bleach in my eyes.. all of the above..” Lekir waved her hand and shut the door in his face with a bit of a freezing blast. Drake and Vasha strolled past while exploring the mansion and questioned if he was alright. “Fuckin.. those two.. right on the table. We have fuckin 10 bedrooms! Use one of them! Don’t use the gawddamn table!” They watched M storm away and then looked at each other with a cheeky grin before slipping into the door where the two lovers were.
M busied himself by grabbing some chips and flopped onto the sofa. Asta came over shortly and sat down on the floor by him as he idly flipped the channels on the television. Silently he offered some chips to the carbuncle, who looked up at him questioningly. “You want some or not, I ain’t holdin them all damn day like this.” Asta smiled and grabbed a handful and watched any shows that he pulled up, perhaps he really wasnt as bad as he makes himself to be.

Chapter 10: Talk about an acid trip

The sun rose, toast was buttered and cinnamon-sugared and eggs were fried. The smell of coffee roused everyone as they prepared for the day. Carmen sipped her coffee as everyone gathered around, collecting their food filled plates she had offered. She leaned on the counter watching everyone, such different beings coming together bonding as friends rather than coworkers. This was much different than when she hired henchmen. She felt she could trust them more than the traitorous goons from years past. She grumped at the memory of them easily trading her over for a plea deal when Interpol was involved.
Maybe this time, if she treats them like the family she desperately wants to bring home, just maybe they will prove more loyal, and she will trust them too like family. Hopefully this would be a worthy investment. “What’s on your mind? You look a bit puzzled.” Asta munched on her toast. Carmen looked up and smiled, “Oh I was just remembering the last time I had a team like this, let’s just say this is a major upgrade.” She winked at the carbuncle.
Drake whistled, “Alright! Listen up you degenerates: Let’s stick to the schedule, finish what you’re doing, we are wheels up in ten.” Carmen gave a thumbs up and rinsed out her cup. She grabbed her pack and her coat with hat from the coat closet by the door, finishing up with a tactical belt. She grinned to herself, she didnt have to remind them or anything. This investment was already paying for itself.
Soon they were all boarding the plane, Drake and Vasha making sure everyone was fastened safely to their seats and directed to where parachutes were in case of emergencies, since this was the first time everyone was in their plane. M, being paranoid, double checked everything in case of loose screws or bolts. “Flying makes you nervous, M?” Carmen asks, while M settled back in his seat. “I’ve made too many of these really easy accident jobs. I dont need this one adding to the list so I’m making sure nothing is wrong. Not that I don’t trust yer work, Drake, it’s just my job is to crash these on occasion and we don’t need that today.” Drake nodded with slight concern, “Much appreciated..”

A few short hours later, they landed at their destination. They made their way to the facility as Drake and Asta hung back, Asta booting up her laptop and activates her multiple weather radars. The other four make their way to the maintenance entry, Vasha breaking off towards the hangar. M slips in first, blending in with some shadows, and shifting shapes into one of the guards he saw pass by. He strides down the hallway, signaling the clear path.
Carmen and Lekir quickly sneak down the hallway to the room in question.
Lekir whispered, “So I hear you wanna name this thing Sir nibble-bottom? Or something? What kind of name is that?!” Carmen whispers back, “Oh my god thank you! Thats what I was saying!” M frowns and unlocks the next sentry point before the door to the Keter room, “Its name is Mister Nibblesworth. It’s very fuckin distinguished!” Lekir scoffs quietly, “Why not Rocky or Mittens?!” Carmen chimes in “Stormageddeon?” Lekir shakes her head, “No, some baby already named themselves that.”
Carmen uses one of the stolen codes to unlock the door. Lekir slips in as Vasha confirmed that she secured the helicopter. Lekir pauses and looks around, “Carmen, we got a problem. This room is empty.” Carmen frowned and stuck her head in and cursed, ”M! Check the schedules! They moved rooms! We need to see where they went!” The changeling grabbed a tablet from a wall guard console, going through it. “On it. Looks like they had issues with equipment decaying, they moved one floor up three rooms down the east wing.” Vasha blipped in. “Changing extraction point one floor up, east wing, three units over. Roger.” Asta checked the change in location, “Careful, there is a bit of an upstream gust coming from the south on that side of the building.” Vasha confirmed and made the adjustments on the controls.
The three changed course and raced up to the upper east wing, M transforming a few times into SCP-173, the concrete statue to scare away some newbie guards. They finally reach the door and heard equipment whirring like a saw. “M, do you see what experiments they have scheduled?” Carmen whispered, M checking the tablet, “Dismemberment and reconstruction research and observation.” Lekir scowled, “Reconstruction?? Are they building it? Or is it a healing thing?” Carmen shrugged, “Could be both for all we know. Too much on the file was redacted to be of any use.” M grinned and turned to Carmen, bouncing with anticipation, “Red! Can I Alucard them? Pleeease let me fuckin Alucard them!” He begged in a hushed whisper. Carmen facepalmed and waved him on, “Fine…. But no killing!” She hissed at him but he was already in his tentacled nightmare demon form, phasing through the wall, loudly growling out, “Hey kids! Who wants to see a dead body?!” followed by screams, violence and wet splatters then silence after a few moments. M opened the door for the two ladies, using a bone shard to pick his teeth. “Ugh, God Dammit M! I specifically told you absolutely no killing!! Dammit.. and dont tell me you were hungry! I already fed you breakfast!” Carmen crossed her arms, fuming at the changeling. Lekir stepped over some severed limbs, kicking an eyeball to the side. “Stand back, I’m going to create the exit!” She outstretched her hands and a sheet of ice quickly formed over the back wall and windows, giving a blast that shattered even concrete like glass. Carmen and M rushed over to the creature lying on its stomach on a table strapped down by metal restraints. One front paw was looking like it was pure bone as if the flesh was ripped away, yet the flesh was actually actively and rapidly growing onto the bones. A laser had been slicing the other front paw and a saw just severed a back leg by the knee, the limb falling to the floor and withering like a dead branch of driftwood. Patches of raw skin and damaged scales grew in patches of what looked like chemically burnt bog moss. Carmen checked the reactiveness of its eyes and found it to be completely unconscious. She winced and jerked back her gloved hand, the leather tips were eaten away by the acid and started to burn her fingertips. “Shit, they keep it doused in acid. Quick, get some heavy rubber gloves. We need to get these cuffs off of it. Is there any tarp or anything? The original transport plan needs changing, theres too much acid residue on it.” M finds some gloves and hands them to her, “They have this fuckin sling to take it from the vat to the table, looks like it is mobile. We could use it to get it to the chopper. From there we can fuckin find something at HQ to get it into one of the reinforced rooms.” He works on getting the back and hind restraints unhinged, Carmen works on the neck and front. “Huh. I thought it would be bigger.” M commented, bringing the mobile sling over to the table. Lekir helped reduce the acidic contact by a thin layer of frost over the places they needed their hands to be. “Are you seriously telling a dick joke right now?”
M made a show of looking offended, “I would never tell a dick joke about my sweet Mister Nathaniel T Nibblesworth Marshmallow Deathbringer Esquire the third…” Carmen groans, “You are not naming it that. Get that end and wrap it this way.” She secured her end of the sling straps. Vasha came up along side the blasted hole, “I heard you guys need a lift, your uber is here.” Lekir hopped in and helped reach across as M and Carmen guided the cargo sling on board. Once secured, a whole group of guards and military personnel rushed into the room. Lekir froze a barrier between them as Carmen was the last to climb into the aircraft. She turned to the guards and military and waved her hat with a grin, almost egging them on. Once the helicopter pulled away, they noticed more forces on the ground, “Drake, Asta, wheels up, they’re swarming!” Drake copied over the radio and the three sat back, panting as Vasha flew towards the HQ.
Carmen smirked, then grinned with a chuckle. M started to chuckle along with her. Soon all four were laughing. “I can’t believe we did that! Is it always like that?” Lekir laughed. Carmen sighed and still had her grin, “Yeah. It pretty much is. It’s the challenge that I usually look for. And this was admittedly a good one.” Vasha looked over her shoulder, “Next time you get the getaway chopper and I’ll steal the thing.” M chuckled, “Please, I saw you taking fuckin selfies with the unconscious guards you took out by the hangar. I was still hooked into the security feed long enough to see that.”

Once back at the HQ, M found a pallet jack and was able to move the creature to one of the reinforced rooms. Over the next few hours, as everyone else rested up and raided the kitchen and wine cellar in celebration, Carmen spent time with the sleeping creature. She had switched to her jeans and old tshirt with a leather workshop apron. She had on long rubber gloves, and had multiple boxes of baking soda, soda ash, a bucket of water and soap. She had spent hours neutralizing the acid and rinsing with soap and water.
M had come by to actually help out. “M, check this out. It has wings like a dragon, the tail too, and horns. But this bog moss is actually fur.” Carmen showed what she had already scrubbed.
As the acid was washed away, the regenerating had become more rapid. The skeletal paw was just missing scales and fur now. The nearly severed from limb had almost healed up and the hind leg was complete save some muscle still forming. “So the fuckin reconstruction was regenerative, not mechanic. Thats handy as fuck.” M mused, tilting his head, “I wonder if I could dye it a different color.. I ain’t feeling the red.” Carmen splashed him with a bit of water, “You’re not fashion dying this thing! Now get scrubbing, I haven’t gotten the hind end yet, under the tail. It’s too heavy for me to roll. I will need to get the underside soon.” M sighed and grabbed a sponge and a box of baking soda. “Yeah, yeah.. leave the ass end to me. I see what you did.” She tilted the head by the horns to reach a spot, her breasts just resting over the eyes.
“I honestly don’t know how long this sedation is going to last..” she started to say, as she felt the creature start to stir underneath her. She fell back onto her ass as the draconic eyes flash open. M had just lifted the tail and was begrudgingly scrubbing when the tuft ended tail suddenly pulled away from his grip and gave him a hard swat that sent him flying across the room.
Carmen yelled after him as she scrambled to her hooves. She watched the dragon like creature start to lift itself to all fours, shaking its head and letting out a menacing growl. It looks around slowly as M’s cackling could be heard somewhere around the far corner of the ceiling. Carmen dodged out of the way as she saw him leap from above at the creature, onto its back, tentacles wrapping around its limbs.
M was right about one thing, the size was smaller than once suspected. Once up and about, the creature could stand upright and be a foot or so taller than M himself. The creature easily plucked M from its back and slammed him onto the ground, near Carmen. M gritted his teeth in a shark like grin and just about did the same to the dragon creature. He fought and wrestled with the beast for roughly an hour. For the most part, M was thrown about like a rag doll while getting a few punches or so in, cackling like a kid at a fun park. M was just starting to tire a bit, and lunged towards it as it came close to swiping claws at Carmen, who had to dodge multiple times already. This time the claws contacted with M’s right shoulder and pec. M stumbled back and held his shoulder, wincing in disbelief.
“Ow?! What the ever loving fuck?!” He looked at his hand, covered in his blackish green shimmered red sludge-like blood. He stood up shakily and got hit in the opposite hip with a second swipe of the claws, knocking him down. M panted and got up on his hands and knees, watching the blood dribble a bit onto the floor in slight concern. Nothing has been able to touch let alone cut him like this. “M! Are you alright?!” He heard Carmen calling out to him as his vision felt off. His blurred vision saw her rushing towards him, he used his tentacles and effortlessly picked her up and out of the way, “Don’t you fuckin get near me! I got this!” Carmen protested but stayed where she was placed.
M ripped the rest of his shirt off and wobbled to his cloven hooves. The claw marks had cut into his flesh fairly deep and the wound edges started to look like the flesh was decaying like ash, only to have a glowing green glow follow it like slow burning embers as he healed himself, leaving fresh tender scars behind.
“Time to go nighty night, big guy. Sun’s lookin real low..” He growled, slowly picking up speed to tackle the beast. This action was met by the creature grabbing M’s head and slamming him back to the ground, sliding him along the now cracked concrete flooring. M coughed and wiped blood from his mouth, chuckling. “Okay.. okay. Time out.. I need a break.” He waved the creature off as he limped towards the exit, by Carmen. The creature roared at him, charging after the retreating changeling in deep bloodlust. Carmen looked around and instinctively grabbed a magazine that was on top of a moving box. Rolling it up, she gave a heavy swat to the creature’s muzzle as it passed her. The creature stopped in its tracks and looked at her in bewilderment. Carmen breathed heavy in anxiety, holding the rolled magazine like a sword. She gulps and shakes the magazine at it, “Yeah, thats right. Keep going and I’ll do it again! There’s no killing in my house!” The creature pinned its wolf-like ears back and sniffing her with its black canine nose, growling again. She squeaked and swatted it again. The beast scrunched its nose and stood upright, rubbing its muzzle with its hand.
“Did you actually hit me with a rolled up magazine?! Twice?!” It spoke with surprise. “You can talk?!” She screeched at it, taking a closer look at it…him. She looked him up and down, blushing and looking away quickly when realizing he was bipedal and very naked. “Why did you hit me with a rolled up magazine?!” She frowned, “You attacked us first when we were washing that acid off of you! You’re welcome, by the way!” The creature pointed towards the door where M had left. “I know why I attacked him! I wasn’t going after you! Thank you!” Carmen held onto the magazine tighter, “I protect my family! And if you go after him again, I’ll …I’ll call you a bad dog!” He growled low with a grin, looking at how her clothes were still wet from the washing, she already taken the apron off when M set her aside protectively. “You do and I may like it.” Carmen blushed again as he came closer. “Really now? Thats kinda kinky..” she smirked. “I’m Carmen Pondiego.” She tossed the magazine and held out her hand in greeting. He takes her hand and kisses it, “Always a pleasure, I’m Kiros Ashby.”
“And I cant fuckin believe that for five fuckin minutes I leave, I come back and you’re fuckin FLIRTING?! WHAT THE FUCK, Red?!” M stood in the doorway, covered in his bandages. He brushes his ginger hair out of his eyes and storms over to her, “What the hell did you do to him?! Did you somehow pour your horny monster fucker pheromones onto him or something?!” Kiros laughed, “That might have been me, I do have that effect on women.” M waves him off, “No, she’s just a horny ass bitch.” He calls everyone into the room, and once they all gathered, he paced with his hands behind his back, “A show of hands, who here has Carmen NOT fucked…” Only Asta blushed and shyly rose her hand, M pointed to the whole lot. “Case in point. They all knew her less than 48 FUCKIN HOURS!” Asta raises her hand again, “I’m just ace. I don’t go looking for sex…”
Kiros crosses his arms, raising an eyebrow at M, “Sounds like she knows what she likes and is respectful of preferences.. whats your excuse?” Carmen pipes up, “He’s just an asshole. And my brother in law.” Kiros points, nodding, “Gotcha. That actually makes sense. Now I have a bit of a favor to ask, if thats alright.. is there a shower I could borrow and possibly some pants?”

Chapter 11: 30% Cloudy with a Chance of Raine

Meanwhile, back at the SCP Foundation facility, specialized cleanup crews were busy trying to perform damage control. Some cleaning up rubble from the walls, some taking samples of the ice that never seemed to melt, and forensics were scouring every bit of fleshy remains that were scattered about like a broken piñata torn apart by candy-starved rabid children.
The General and his Lieutenant were overseeing the cleanup operation, evaluating the damage of the physical building and the ramifications of such a breach of one of the containments. “What would the Crimson Rogue want with SCP-682? Seems rather odd that a rather docile thief would want something capable of leveling a single city block by itself. Do you think she went… well, rogue?” The Lieutenant inquired, as he was looking at the reports following the breach. The General stood silent and stoic, deep in thought.
A lower officer came running up, “Sir! Theres a gentleman here to see you. He says you’re expecting him.” The general nods and the visitor steps forward, dressed in a dull grey, sharply pressed business suit, and a cane umbrella hanging from his arm. The General turns and salutes. “General, I understand that the mishap here was under your supervision?”
The General stands and gives a short sigh, “Yes sir. We had all of our usual protocol in place, both physical and digital securities were compromised by Carmen Pondiego. She has never attempted to be this bold before. Do you think she became wise after that museum fiasco?” The suit pushed up his glasses, “We have no evidence that she is aware of what is going on. What is concerning is that she seems to be building her numbers once again. Perhaps there is something she knows that we do not.” The General clears his throat. “Sir, if I may, what should we do about this breach? SCP-682 was a level Keter. Shouldn’t we notify the public safety?” The suit turns to leave. “Your priority is to not be revealed by the public. This facility is for containment and research. The protection of the world depends on your non-existence. We will cover the incident should the need arise. And we will put an end to this thief problem once and for all. If you need someone to fix your insolent mistakes for you, I’d look in the mirror. When it Raines, it pours. Good day General.”

 

Carmen was digging into an old box full of different clothes, having difficulty finding just the right size of pants with an appropriate clasp for the tail. “M, can you shift into his likeness? I want to see if this fits.” She holds up a longish pair of cargo capri shorts as M grunted in disgust. “No. I ain’t changing just so you can play fuckin dress up. You can wait till he fuckin finishes his shower.” She puts her hands on her hips and shakes her head. She looks at the pants again and sets them aside, looking for another pair. “I could just go out shopping for some pairs but I don’t know his exact size.. and for that he may need to come with to try some on” She grabbed two other pair and started her way to the bathroom Kiros was at.
“Why are we even doing this again? He’s his own person, shouldnt we, ya know, let him loose upon the world?” M gruffed, lighting a cigarette, leaning on the wall by the bathroom, hearing the water run. Carmen pulled out the cigarette from his mouth and snapped it, dropping it and stepping on it. “Because its the right thing to do! How would you feel if you were helpless and wounded and naked, and just set upon the world of modern technology and whatnot. Its not the dark ages, M. And besides, less than 24 hours ago you wanted him as a pet! You insisted on naming him ‘The Most Distinguished of names!’, am I wrong?” M pinned back his ears, “Well how was I supposed ta know he wasn’t a fuckin pet!” Carmen gave a slow turn of the head towards the changeling, who was busy lighting another cigarette. “He was a fucking Level KETER, M! You picked him out SPECIFICALLY because he was a keter! What in your swiss cheese bug brain made you think ‘Oh I’m going to get the most destructive thing at this secret facility and name it Mister Nibblesworth Marshmallow Teaparty Sprinkles McJoy?!’ Seriously?!” She fumed, not noticing the water sound had turned off.
“You know what? I’m gonna tell him. He deserves to know what a distinguished name you were going to give your dear deadly puppy!” She grins, as M protests, “Aw come on Red.. he really doesn’t need to know. Its really not that big of a deal! I mean really!! You know what? I’ll model the pants fer ya.. ok?” The door opens, and just clad in a towel, using another to towel his neck and head, Kiros steps out, “Actually, I feel like I would have been more of a Sir Fluffington. But thats just my opinion..” Carmen gave a surprised squeak since she didnt expect him to exit the bathroom so suddenly. She offered the pairs of pants to him, “I’m so sorry! I mean, I was just saying about the names.. I didnt..” Kiros put a finger to her lips, “I know, why do you think I attacked him in the first place?” She pulled his hand away with a confused look, “You mean it wasn’t because M startled you awake by scrubbing your ass?” Kiros laughed deeply, “Oh that didnt help the situation but I was not in a position to exactly complain. That acid was no joke.” He paused with a smirk, “Although, I admit I did enjoy the view when I opened my eyes to a very… plush welcome.” His eyes lowered to her chest and back to her bright red face.
She sucked on her cheek for a moment, looking away, “Well… Nothing in your file said you were sentient! And I had to get to an area to clean which a normal feral animal would not have complained or got horny by my methods!” Kiros groaned about his file, rubbing the back of his neck, “There are certainly no complaints here. But yeah, admittedly those assholes are a bit blackout happy with their permanent markers over there. Cant even take a shit there without someone redacting what color it was.” Carmen chuckled, brushing a piece of hair up behind her ear. “Those redactions didn’t make our job easier either, with the whole last minute room change. Something about decayed equipment?” M snorted, “I’m telling ya, he was the one who did it! Those claws literally leak out decay! I mean, look at his handiwork on my fuckin shoulder!” He moves the bandages away to show freshly healed scars that still had a bit of green healing glow to them, fighting off any lingering decay. Kiros looked closer at the marks he had made on M. “Wait, I did that, and you’re not dead? I know I can make some materials decay but this.. are.. you healing yourself?”
M pulls his bandages and shirt back up, buttoning the buttons halfway, “Observant. Did you also notice that I just about kicked your ass too?!” Kiros raised an eyebrow. “I noticed I didnt even have a single bruise from you. Yet you received plenty of scars from me.” Carmen snrked, and patted M, “Its ok, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time for a rematch. Kiros will be staying here for the foreseeable future anyway. At least as long as he wants to. It’s not like we don’t have the room.”

After a quick change for Kiros, he joined Carmen into the kitchen, the mare already setting out ingredients to a hearty stew. She set a slab of chuck roast onto the cutting board and started to expertly trim and dice it. “You’re pretty handy with a knife, for a thief. And pretty comfortable around meat for an equine..” Kiros mused, merely observing her. She smirked, “I travelled quite a lot and sometimes a vegetarian diet was not always available to me. Besides, the foreign street foods smelled too good not to try! Mmm.. I really need to get some takoyaki again!” She waved the knife around, though safely, as she talked. She had a habit of talking with her hands. “What about you? Are you a pure carnivore or pretty much an everything kind of guy?” Kiros chuckled, “As a WolfDragon, I do like pretty much anything, though I prefer cooked meats. I won’t say no to something so deliciously prepared. I have been fed raw meats thanks to the assholes at the facility, so I’m thankful for any civilized meal.” She braised the meat in the caramelized and browned aromatics of the garlic, onion and peppers, the scent wafting through the room. She looked over her shoulder at him while she cooked, he was looking a whole lot better than what condition they found him in. He looked fully healed in just a few short hours! He was covered in black fur with red markings, ink black hair, the draconic scales were patterned on his limbs, joints and spine. Wolf-like head with a few draconic features such as horns and some nose ridge scales, he looked rather friendly rather than fearsome, although Carmen could see how he could look absolutely vicious when need be. “I’m happy to cook as long as I have some help or if I’m not too tired! Speaking of help, you’re looking a whole lot better! I’m glad! I was kind of worried if the SCP scientists went too far.” Kiros grew a bit silent, idly fidgeting with a bunch of bananas, “No, they never got far enough to be considered too far for them. They tried to find ways to kill me but they haven’t found any yet. I’ve had worse than today. I’m not in any rush to go back and try again.” Carmen waved a wooden spoon at him, “Good, because you’re not going back! If we do, its to rescue anything there that may be a friend of yours.” He lifts his head a moment, “There is one friend, I haven’t spoken to it in a long while though. SCP-079. An ai built in the 70’s. We shared many personal stories while contained together once. That would be the closest thing I had to a friend while in containment.” Carmen smiles, finishing the stew and putting the lid on the pot to let it simmer. “Then we can plan to get your friend out whenever you are wanting. If its an ai, we can house it in a larger computer with much more memory, and see how it settles.” Kiros smiled, feeling optimistic for once. Maybe things are looking up.

And things did look up. Spirits lifted and personalities melded well with each other, even with Marehem. Asta’s husband, Ninoga, even got in the habit of coming over to hang out, he politely declined to offer to be an agent, he just claims to be there for the food. Soon time seemed to fly by, small heists were made to keep up appearances in the public eye while Carmen had her background hobby of trying to gain more clues as to why it all this whole issue started. There wasn’t many clue to go by but she did notice that on some of the heists, there have been minor setbacks, and they were increasing in numbers. She has even been in the new habit of double and triple checking equipment the night before and the day of the heist.
Months turned into years, and soon Carmen noticed some grey hairs starting to form in wide streaks in her reddish brown hair, framing her face. Not entirely pleased at the obvious sign of aging, she had managed to style it so it still looked very attractive. That very morning, she decided to wear a white turtleneck top and wide leg red office pants. She gathered some books and a couple of letters she had written. She made it a habit to send her children letters even if she knew they would not be able to read them right away. By now though, she was sure they could enjoy what she had written to them. She silently lamented that they could never send letters back, they never were told where she was for obvious reasons.
She had used a new form of transport that her agents have been working on with the help of SCP-079 that made use of the internet and a makeshift portal. The results have been…okay. She didn’t rely on it too much due to the instability to keep the portal open. But she wanted to use it today. She appeared in a small alleyway in Paris, just outside her favorite cafe. She checked her watch, and saw the postman cycled by right on time. “Bonjour Monsieur Pierre! *how are you on this wonderful morning?* she spoke in fluent french. The postman grinned and tipped his hat, “Mademoiselle Carmen! *Always a pleasure to see your shining face! Have you got the letters for me to send?*” she smiled and handed him the two letters, “*As always, my friend! Thank you so much for always taking care of such precious cargo.*” he tucked the letters into his satchel and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “*I will make sure they get to your sweet little ones! As I always do!”* With that he had set off on his bicycle down the road, weaving in and out of traffic expertly..

Carmen settled at a sidewalk table and ordered herself a pastry and a coffee, opening a book to read for an hour or so. She enjoyed the slight bustle of shoppers and tourists. She set down her book and placed her purple glasses on the page. She sips her coffee and bumped her hand upon setting it back down. A small slightly wrinkled letter had been tossed onto her book. She looked around to see what she bumped into and noticed some drips from her spilt coffee, only farther away from the table. She grabbed her glasses, tapped the side frame, looked around and saw a small crouched figure by the topiary in her heat signature vision. She looks over the rims and notices the shape of the small individual move like it was painted like the background. Not fully invisible. The figure opened his eyes, a familiar set of a bright blue and a bright pink eye met her gaze, making her gasp softly.

Chapter 12: When the past comes back to haunt

The child, no more than 14, watches Carmen from behind the topiary, still cloaked in a pseudo invisibility. This ability made it look like he was part of the background, not just transparent, as if someone painted him. The effect moved with his body, so he stayed rather successfully undetected by normal folks who were not paying attention. Carmen kept her gaze on him and reached out her hand, “Hey, its ok, I won’t hurt you..” As soon as her hand got too close, the child darted off, easily lost in the crowd with his camouflage. “Blendin! Wait!” She cries out, reaching for him. “I just wanted to see you..”
Tears welled up in her eyes as she sat back down at her cafe table, the letter blowing off the book and onto the cobblestone. She picked up the letter and wiped her eyes, opening the wrinkled envelope. She sat and read the letter, written in teenage chicken-scratch handwriting. It read that he read all her letters that she had sent, and that he still keeps in touch with his sister at Warehouse 13. He does not understand why it is taking so long for her to come get them, and that Adora is having a hard time accepting that Carmen loves her at all. He goes on to write about how he got a job as a junior Librarian and he will be training for his own missions in a few short years. He looks forward to all her letters. He even wrote about Adora’s 16th birthday. She keeps the small obsidian dragon statue Carmen had sent still in the box, half opened and left in a corner in her closet.
Carmen frowned slightly, dismayed at how much her daughter sounds like she hates her. Blendin however still has hope to see his mom again, he writes. And maybe she will be able to answer all their questions. He hopes they can be a family again. Carmen smiles at the letter and folds the letter carefully, keeping it in her book as she closes it and makes her way to the alley with the portal. M met her on the other side with crossed arms, “You went over your time, you’re lucky I fuckin kept it open fer ya.” Carmen looked up at him and had a wide smile he hasn’t seen in years. “I saw Blendin. He came and visited me. He knew where I was and met up with me..” she handed him the letter. “Well, not officially, he was hiding from me but he was bold enough to give me this letter and I saw his eyes! He got his special talent I think!” M looked at the letter with mild interest, “Oh yeah? Horse powers or changeling powers?” She punches his arm, “He was invisible but.. not. He used camouflage like a cuttlefish! I barely saw him in the first place! It was amazing! Oh I don’t know anything about him but I’m so proud!” She swoons over the letter, and goes to one of the storage rooms to find a picture frame for the letter. “I need to save this! Ooh I wish I still had some of their baby drawings!”

Over the course of the next month, she kept with her letter sending schedule, but have not been able to spot her son since. One night, as she lays in bed, she starts venting, “He’s getting older, I’m getting older.. Did he think I was too old to be his mom?! What do you think? Did I screw up my only chance to see him?” The covers rustled and down from below her hips, Lekir’s head popped up, licking her muzzle, “Maybe you’re reading too much into it. Relax, babe, let me take your mind off of things.” Her head disappeared under the covers again, Carmen blushing and squirming a little with soft moans. She lifted her head, “What if he’s in trouble? What if I get so old that I can’t protect him?!” A disgruntled sigh came from the covers and a thin ring of ice grew around Carmen’s muzzle to get her to stop talking, Lekir’s head popped back up, the sheet falling over her shoulders. She placed a finger on Carmen’s hard clit, rolling it around idly. “Carm, if you really are that paranoid about aging, I have a solution that won’t make you younger but it will extend your current youth for at least a few more centuries. That and it could make you stronger and possibly give you elemental abilities if lucky.” She gives the little nub a flick, before slipping two fingers in deep, curling upward to her g-spot, grinning as she hears the thief moan and writhe. “So there you go, problem solved and now… I need you to cum.”

The next day, after some well needed rest… and clean-up, Carmen sits in her office, going over the recent mishaps and redirections from the previous heists with M, since he was the expert in such accidents. “It don’t make sense Red, we went over these top to bottom and fuckin sideways. How are these changes happening as soon as we get there? We don’t give any hints of where we will hit.” Carmen rubs her temples and tries to look at any consistencies. “I doubt we have a mole, we’ve had the same team for years now and I’ve given no reason for anyone to double cross.” M shakes his head, “It aint a mole, everyone is clear from day one. I say it may be something bigger, but what I don’t know. There doesnt seem to have any connections, its all individual targets from what I could tell.”
Ninoga knocked on the doorframe and peeked his head in, “Hey, is it cool if I have a friend crash with me on the couch for the afternoon? He just wanted to rest while he was on this long trip finding his family.” Carmen sighed and shut the book she was looking in. “Yeah, thats fine. Let me start up the oven for whatever snack you two may want. I think a well needed break is in order anyway.” Carmen makes her way to the kitchen and starts preparing a rather large snack tray, knowing Ninoga’s appetite, they may need refills in just under an hour despite the tray size. She was just on the stepladder in the dry pantry, reaching for a dried slab of meat to slice for the meat board, when a voice from behind her made her freeze in her tracks, “Hello? Ninoga said someone was preparing food.. Is there anything I can help out with?”
The mare turned to look over her shoulder, unable to believe her ears… or her eyes. “Are.. you.. Wally?!” She turned too quickly on the ladder and stumbled to the floor. The pale blue stallion had caught her before she had fallen too far. “Its ok, I gotcha!” He looked in her green eyes and grinned, his own blue eyes admiring her from behind his glasses. She gripped his striped sweater and looked back at him, blushing. “Hi, my light. I made it home..” Carmen immediately started sobbing and clutching him tightly, sinking to the floor. They both knelt in the dry pantry what felt like hours, Wally stroking her hair as she held him as if never to let him go ever again. She lifted her head and put her hands by his face, cupping it and caressing out of disbelief. “It really is you… you’re alive! And you’re home! Oh Wally, don’t ever leave me like that again! I was told you were dead!! They took the kids and threw me in this asylum just to get rid of me!!” Wally’s eyes went wide, “Who did that?!” Carmen shook her head, “I don’t know but the kids are at the Warehouse and Library like we planned if something happened to us. After the fire, the police arrested me for it and my past warrants and took the kids away.. and-“ before she could finish, tentacles had grabbed Wally from every limb and thrown against the wall outside the pantry. Wally winced and was immediately punched in the face bare knuckles by M. “You fuckin dirty lying cunt! You were alive all this time and you just now fuckin show yer face?! You fuckin had 15 goddamn years to even call!” M gave a couple more punches before letting him go. Wally staggered and chuckled, wiping some blood from his mouth. “Yeah.. I deserve that. My bad.. I didn’t mean to be away this long. I just need some help and I’ll leave after that if you want me to.”
Carmen rushed past M to Wally’s side, “Here, lets clean you up, and you can tell us everything.” She showed him to the bathroom, giving a glare to M. Ninoga poked his head in, “Heeey so, is everything ok? I didn’t know he knew you guys.” Carmen and M just look at Ninoga, then to the family photos that have been hanging up in the hall that show Wally and the kids, and then look back at Ninoga. “This is a neat place, you have a lot of art replicas here, doncha? I remember you always liked the arts…and Marehem! I didn’t know you knew Carmen! Thats a neat surprise!” Wally chimed in, trying to be cheerful. M groaned and rubbed his face, “Fuck.. theres two of them now.. Moron, you specifically told me to watch over her if something happened to you. And I did, thinking you were fuckin dead!”
Wally laughed and shook his head, “I wasnt dead, silly! I got knocked out in the fire and had amnesia for a little while!” Carmen frowned, “How long is a little while??” Wally thought a moment, “That depends…What year is it?” M growled, “You’ve been gone for 15 fuckin years! Where the hell were you?!” Wally blinked, “Wow, thats a long time.. I was at this cute little commune in the woods with this sheep leader, it was a little weird but they treated me well. They kicked me out when I got infected by something… which is why I need your help.” Wally took of his striped sweater and small clusters of sores littered his back and chest, from the sores, looking like dark green crystals growing out from beneath the flesh. Some looked like they were broken off and others grew around it.
Carmen tapped her glasses frame to magnify what she was looking at. She took some tweezers and plucked a shard out, with slight yelp from Waldo. “This is Vivianite.. it’s the only crystal known to grow on corpses. Wally, did you see what infected you?” He shook his head, “It’s just been growing non stop, and it’s from deep inside too, I can feel it in my muscles. It still lets me move, but it does hurt after a while. I think it’s called Vivian’s Burden or something. I’ve had it for about a year, I think I may have maybe three years until it’s too late to cure.” Carmen sighs and cleans each sore and takes out as much crystal as she could, “M, have you seen anything like this in the changeling cultures?” M just stood on the doorframe, cross-armed, “The fuck I look like? The village medicine man? I ain’t seen shit like that. Not everything black and green fuckin associates with me. I just like this fuckin color scheme.”
Carmen deadpan looks at him, “I wasn’t going by color, dumbass. I was going by the crystal’s natural matrix and place in geology. This crystal pretty much originates near a bunch of ancient changeling hives, does it not? Changelings used to hunt and gather food, sucking the life and emotions from its victims, leaving a nice environment for the crystals to grow.” Ninoga peeks in again, “You know your pretty rocks.. but if they grow on corpses, are you sure he’s not a zombie?” Wally pats himself over and feels for a pulse, “I don’t think I’m a zombie. Should I test it out when we go to the grocery store? Maybe I need to eat a brain?” There was a resounding “NO!” From the three of them towards Wally.

Chapter 13: How wonderful life is now you’re in the world

Later that day, Wally and Carmen were walking through the gardens at VILE. She was catching him up on everything that happened. “So, within a week you went from just you and M, to all these agents? And its been this way for years?! I gotta say thats pretty impressive but didja have to go back to stealing? You know I have money enough in the banks..” he said, holding her hand. She shook her head, “We couldn’t touch it. They took it all and froze it. I was hunted.” She paused and pulled away, turning from him and wraps her arms around herself. “Wally, I… don’t know what to do. How to feel.. I thought you were dead. I had to move on. I had nothing else.” He placed a gentle hooked finger under her chin and turned her head towards him, he gave his warmest smile, “But I’m right here. We can pick up where we left off. Sure the kids are being watched, so it may be back like we were dating. Remember our first meeting? You were having a bad day and I came along and tried to help you..” Carmen chuckled, “We were at the library. I was trying to figure out some details on architecture of ancient greek temples so I could see how to safely transport them. And you were looking for vintage comics.”
He laughed, “I just remember looking your way and I could not stop staring. I had to get your number.” She nodded, “I kept rejecting you because I thought I had no time for romance. I still kinda think that I shouldn’t jump back in right away. I still need to get the kids back and its still not safe for them to be here. It just wouldn’t work.” She pulled away again, only to hear him start singing, “All you need is love~….”
“Not this again.”
“All you need is love~…”
“You cant lure me this time.”
“All you need is loooove~”
“Your love is just not for me.”
“I was made for loving you, baby, you were made for loving me~”
He reached out for her hand as he sang the same serenade as their first day in the library. “The only way of loving me, baby, is if you promise not to leave.” She sang back, smirking. “Just one night. Just one night.” He begs her, down on one knee. “Theres no way, I wont sway.” He gets up and picks a rose, belting out as he hands it to her, “In the naaame of love. Just one night in the name of looove~” she sighs and takes the rose, bopping him gently on the head with it, laughing. “You crazy fool, what will I do with you?” She didn’t want to admit it but his silly romantics was worming its way into her heart again, he smiled and hugged her tightly, “Dont… leave me this way. I won’t survive without your sweet love.. please don’t leave me this way..” he barely sang that verse, his voice trembling and cracking, tightening the embrace.

Carmen blinked and hesitated before hugging him back, not singing back but assuring him. “Alright.. I suppose we could be lovers once again..” she blinked back tears, nuzzling into him. She could feel him smile before he lifted his head to look into her eyes then kissed her deeply. Blushing, she kissed as deeply back, wrapping her arms around his neck. He took her by the hand and they hurried to the mansion and into Carmen’s room, giggling and laughing like high school sweethearts.
Lekir, Asta and Drake were sitting on the couch, playing a console game together, Lekir’s ear twitches as she looked over her shoulder, furrowing her brow. “Should I ask her how this is going to work? I don’t want to be put on the sidelines now that the hubby’s back.” She frets. Drake looked over to where the two love-horses scurried off and looked at Lekir. “Honestly I wouldn’t worry about it. She’s been with you for fifteen years already. I doubt she’ll forget about you that quickly. This is what? His first night back in her life since then? Give them like a week or so to catch up.”
Lekir sighs and settles back into the game, seeing that Drake’s character had killed her character, crying out in protest. “Oh COME ON!! I was distracted!!” Drake roared in laughter.

The sun rose the next morning, shining in the window of Carmen’s room. She was nestled in pillows and her comforter and blinked at the window, just waking up. She turned over, groaning slightly as she snuggled in and curled up deeper into the covers…and came nose to nose with Waldo. “Good morning, my sunshine.” Carmen yelped out in surprise and leaped back, effectively falling off the side of the bed. Groaning she rubs her hip where she fell, Waldo peeking over the side, “Are you ok? That wasn’t the reaction I was expecting..” Carmen looked up and the sun’s light beaming onto his face made it look even more like a dream. “Is this.. real? Or am I still dreaming?” She questioned as she reached up to his face, caressing it. She sniffed and frowned in confusion, “Do I smell burnt toast? Ooh no. I’m finally having a stroke, aren’t I? This is how I die. Fallen out of bed, naked, on the floor… not in an impressive shootout on a heist.. “ Waldo laughed and held out his hand, “You’re not dead yet! Here, I’ll help you up. I made you breakfast!” She gripped his hand and stood up, her legs still wobbly from the night before.
She leans on the bed and stares at him, smiling. “So you really did come back. I was afraid it was all a dream. It feels so surreal..” He walks around the bed to her, setting on her nightstand a tray of slightly burnt toast and an attempt of eggs over easy. “Sorry, I was never as good in the kitchen as you were. I just wanted to see you happy.” He rubs the back of his neck as she took the plate and ate a few bites. She made a grimaced face with a smile, chuckling “These eggs are really terrible.. but they will do. Thank you, my love.”
He kissed her temple and sat beside her, watching her nibble on the toast, which admittedly was much more edible than the eggs. “You even put my favorite apple jelly on it.” She mused. “Does no one give you breakfast in bed? Or cook for you?” He tilted his head. Carmen chuckled, “Oh we all have turns cooking but you are the only one who over-romanticizes the relationship. Which reminds me, we need to have a chat with Lekir at some point. She’s been a loving wife to me these past fourteen years, we couldnt make it official with no body to prove my widow-ship. I want to keep her as my wife but also keep you as my husband.. I know laws only allow one, but I dont want to lose what I have.” She fidgets and wrings her fingers nervously as she spoke. “I had to move on since I had no evidence of your survival nor death for so long… It puts me in this weird and hard situation. Do.. you think you could accept a possible poly situation with me?” Waldo sat and put his hand over her fretting hands. “I will accept anything that makes you happy. I will try not to be jealous, but I will not back off from my amount of affections. I will still shower you with love every time we’re near.” She smiles and nods, standing to get dressed for the day, “I’m glad to hear that. Now we will just need to hear what she says about it.”

“Absolutely not! One: I don’t know the guy, Two: he isn’t my type. He’s too.. soft. Three: I already deal with Asta’s husband, I dont need to be in an actual relationship with another himbo, No offense.” Lekir listed off her reasons, she clarified that she wasn’t in a relationship with Ninoga, she just didnt want to be in a relationship with a himbo in general. Waldo tilted his head, blinking his blue eyes a bit absently. “No offense to what?” Lekir pinched between her eyes, turning to Carmen “Nevermind. What I’m saying is that I’m with you, not him.” Carmen nodded, “Thats fine with me. I’m not asking you to fully commit to him as you do to me. I don’t want to force you to do anything you are not comfortable with.” Lekir thought about it. “So like a V and not a triangle. Got it. Yeah I think that should work.” Carmen and Wally smiled, Carmen sighing in relief. Lekir put up a finger, “But I still will require that ass if we double team you in bed.” Carmen blushed heavily, chewing her inner cheek, she never thought of the idea of both of them in one bed with her. “That… may be a lot of fun.” Lekir licks her muzzle and leans in, nipping Carmen’s ear “If you want, I’m up for it now.” The mare bit her lip and stifled a moan since her ears were a sensitive turn on. “I think I’m good for now. I’m still wobbly from last night.. maybe later though. I actually wanted to go through this new heist I have in mind. I think the loot may help with Wally’s condition.” Wally perked up at the news, “Really? Thats wonderful! Wow.. I have a new lease on life!” Carmen raised her hands, “Hold on, hold on! I said it MIGHT. Its just a theory. The myth tells of a deathless slave who was demonized for his beliefs and is said to have the ability to revive the dead, but if he can do that, I’m sure he may remove any infliction that causes death. We need to be careful with this since the loot is this slave’s death. If we bargain with it, there is still a big chance he will deny us outright. He’s not exactly a saint in the myth. He’s described as malevolent.” Lekir stood from her seat and started to head towards the research halls, “Well, what are we sitting around for? Let’s find out more about this deathless slave.”

Chapter 14: We’re gonna need a bigger boat.

In a bustling city, in a fairly nondescript high rise, sat two detectives, human in appearance. They were waiting in the hallway, sitting on the benches, when two other men showed up in pitch black suits. The female detective elbow jabbed the male detective, who had been snoozing while waiting. With a bit of a snort and a groan, he stirs and looks at the two men in suits. The two stood up and greeted the newcomers, ushering them into a secure conference room, the male detective having a french accent, “Gentlemen, Welcome to ACME. We’ve been eagerly awaiting your arrival! I am Detective Chase Devineaux and this is my partner, Detective Julia Argent.”
“We know who you are. What we don’t know is how to deal with an individual that you may be quite familiar with. I am Agent Q, this is my partner Agent T. We are here investigating an incident that happened a few weeks ago involving a tapestry that was stolen from one of your museums in Italy.” One of the men explained, pulling up a hologram of a video feed showing a female figure in a red coat and hat, stealing the tapestry. “La Femme Rouge!” Julia exclaimed, “But thats impossible, thats the day we were chasing her in Moscow. How can she be in two places at once? We physically were in pursuit!”
The feed kept rolling, and they saw different creatures come from the thief had entered and she was instructing the creatures how to hang up the duplicate. The duplicate however was not the same, the figures were very different. Chase looked closer at the zoom in of the duped tapestry, “Are those… colorful.. horses? Why would they put up a tapestry of colorful horses?!” Julia gripped Chase’s sleeve. “Its not her, Look! The Carmen lookalike isn’t human either! She’s… a unicorn?”
Chase laughed heartily. “Gentlemen, you cannot expect us to believe that aliens and mythical creatures are here to steal artwork. Thats preposterous! Those are those… people in costumes.. what are they called? Fuzzies?” Julia tapped her chin, “You’re thinking of Furries but no. If they are, these costumes are far superior to even what Hollywood special effects can do.” Agent T cleared his throat, “We suspect that these individuals are not of this earth which is what we specialize in, but it also seems they are not of this universe as well. We have been reaching out to any known experts on Interdimensional travel and sadly have come up short. We have knowledge of this universe and even time travel but we are still trying to crack the code on parallel worlds. We figure that since this team of thieves is highly similar to a known criminal in your circle, we best come to you for ideas on how to capture or even speak to them.”
Julia sighs, and shakes her head, “Sadly we have not even come close to capturing Carmen Sandiego, much less even known of a doppleganger alien. But.. perhaps.. I could reach out to Team Red?” Chase raised an eyebrow, “You have La Femme Rouge’s number this whole time?!” Julia blushed and brushed some hair behind her ear, “Not quite. Its not a direct number.. but I do set up dates to go on with Carmen when she’s not causing havoc.” Chase clapped his hands onto his head “You’ve been DATING Carmen Sandiego?! Why haven’t you apprehended her yet?! That could give us the promotion we’ve been fighting for!” Julia crossed her arms, “I do not mix work and personal life, and I stand by that.” The men in black nodded with her, “To civilian officers like you, work and life balance are key. Unless there is immediate danger or urgent matters, that line should not cross. We on the other hand cannot go by that rule. The fate of this planet depends on us being vigilant 24/7.”
Julia had texted Team Red and was awaiting a reply. A phone-call rang instead. Julia picked up and Player’s voice came over the line “Hey Jules, its Player, the team is out for street tacos at the moment. I read your message and could you fill me in a bit more? I’m a bit lost.” Julia set the call on speakerphone a moment. “Player, what I am about to say is very extremely Top Secret but I have some gentlemen here from the MIB.” The was a pause, “The MIB, like the alien protection movie MIB with Will Smith?” Agent Q spoke up, “Its a bastardization of an example thanks to Hollywood but yes. The same secret organization that deals with extraterrestrials.”
Another pause, “HOLY CRAP I SWEAR I DID NOT DO ANYTHING! I DID NOT HACK THE PENTAGON OR AREA 51 ON MY SCHOOL BREAK! I’M JUST A SIMPLE WHITE HAT HACKER!” Julia tried to get him to settle down, “Player! They’re not here for you! They want help capturing… Carmen.” Player was audibly confused, “Why would they want Carmen?? We haven’t even targeted anything like that. Its mostly been museum hits… unless Ancient Egyptian pyramid WERE made by aliens!!” Agent Q looked at Julia who was facepalming. “So sorry, he’s still in high school.”
“I have my entrance exam to college next week!” Player corrected, “But again, how does this involve Carmen?” Agent T tracks the call and establishes connection and sends over the video feed. Player could be heard freaking out at the sudden connection and says “Oh. Its from you guys.. wait.. that looks like Carmen! But her coat and hat are different styles. This is more of a panama type hat while Carmen uses a wide brim fedora.. Hold on.. IS THAT A DRAGON?! WAIT.. what?! Is this a furry filter or something?? Maybe someone edited this to make it look like… no, it looks too real. The cgi is extremely convincing..” Chase butted in, “Its not cgi, its real Fuzzies from another planet.” Some typing was heard and Player sounded as puzzled as they were. “This is from Italy, Team Red was in Moscow at this time..” Julia confirmed, “Thats what I told them! We were on the case chasing them!” Player typed more, sighing in frustration, “I think we need a Team Red and ACME truce and meet up face to face. I think this is bigger than all our cat and mouse heists.” Agent T agreed, “This may be best if your chief was not in this conversation at this time. We will vouch for you if they need to be updated, but perhaps this occupational rivalry needs to take a pause for this case.”

Chapter 15: As We Kiss in the Raine

The smell of street tacos filled the air as Carmen and Waldo grabbed food from the food truck’s griffin server. “Wow, this is great, I can’t believe I never had one of these!” Wally marveled, grabbing the insanely hot salsa and dunked his taco into it. Carmen chuckled, “I don’t know why but I just had this weird craving for it. I’m just glad we were able to find a Taco truck nearby our clue. Sheer luck!” She bit into her taco and remembered something.
“Mmm! I almost forgot! Here, I held onto this for you all these years. It always made me feel closer to you.” She pulled the Wander Society Member coin from her pocket. The hefty challenge coin sized disc glistened from being polished, or more like rubbed like a worrystone. “I kept it on me at all times, but now you’re here!” Wally stopped mid chew and looked at it and looked back at her. He gulped and looked a touch uneasy for a split second and then smiled, declining from taking it. He curled her fingers around it and held her hand, “My light, keep it. It always brought you such luck! I think its meant to be with you.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek, kissing off some crumbs and a sauce smear. She blushed and giggled, her ear-com buzzing.
“Oy Red, we’re close to the said location but we ain’t seeing shit. You sure you got the instructions right?” M’s voice gruffed in frustration. Carmen sighed, “Is the moon shining on the wall?” A bit of silence and a crash, “Now it is. There was a sign display in front that wouldn’t fuckin budge.” Carmen cringed, hearing the crash, “Did you have to destroy the display?! You could have just moved it!” Vasha’s voice came over, “It was pretty solid there, couldn’t budge it worth a damn.. hold on, I see something! Quick, lets record it down.” Asta chimed in “Not a moment too soon, we have a sudden cloudburst coming in hot, almost out of nowhere. Kinda strange..” Right as Asta reports the cloudburst, raindrops started to fall on Carmen and Wally, who instinctively went under the food truck canopy. The Griffin in the food truck frowned sympathetically, “Hey, you’ll need to get to your car or an umbrella, I can’t stay open in this weather. I’m sorry, folks.” Carmen sighed and looked at the VILE SUV they took.. on the farther end of the block.
Wally thought for a moment and took his cane, tapping the ground a few times with the end, a few panels opened up to a full slate blue umbrella. “Oh thats so handy!!” Carmen chuckled as he took her hand and they both hurried to the car. When they got there, they were both laughing, still soaked from the rain and puddles they ran through. Wally slowed down and twirled her, lowering the umbrella and pressed Carmen against the side of the car, wiping some wet strands of hair from her face before deeply kissing her as the rain continued to fall. She blushed and wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders, kissing back as deep, getting lost in her emotions. He kissed along her neck, nipping lightly as his hands caressed her sides and even slipped under her shirt to cup and caress her breasts. Carmen moaned softly as her fingers ran through his wet hair, her body feeling hot with his touch, her leg lifted and hooked around his hip and legs, bringing him closer.
“*Ahem!*” They both froze and hooded eyes shot wide open as they heard the throat clearing. M scowled with crossed arms, staring at them, as was Vasha who was actually enjoying the show but wasn’t enjoying the rain. Embarrassed, the two untangled themselves from each other and straightened out their wet clothes, unlocking the car. Everyone piled in, “Red, you ride shotgun, Stripes, you get the far back. You two are like damn teenage hornballs, I swear I gotta keep you two fuckin separated.” M instructed as Wally picked up his umbrella cane that had fallen. He shook it out and put the fabric and panels back in as they should, making the cane just a cane once again.
Carmen put on the heat as she sat in the front passenger side in attempt to dry herself a bit faster. “So what did you find? Were you able to get everything before the rain hit?” Vasha nodded, handing over a tablet with photos of the moonlit wall. The colors painted by the moon were faint but enough to see all they needed. “Looks like we need to hit up Siberia. Thats where the chest will be.” Vasha explained. Carmen nodded. “Sounds good. Let’s make sure theres no other clues or requirements for this chest and we can prepare as soon as possible.”
Asta’s voice came over coms, since she was at VILE HQ the entire time, “Is it just me or is it weird that the rain suddenly stopped?” Every blinked and looked outside, “Well, didnt you say it was a cloudburst? Maybe it was that small.” Wally questioned. Asta disagreed, “what I saw was sizable and extremely quick, almost like someone summoned it to block the moon light.” Carmen chuckled, “But no one could control the weather like that, not even the fastest pegasi could pull that off. And even then, why would they even do that? No one knew what we were doing or even looking for. Its not like we actually stole anything this time.” The whole situation didn’t sit well with Carmen, she sat the rest of the return back lost in thought. This wasn’t quite a set-back like other times but it was surely more than a coincidence.

Later that night, Carmen was in her office, going down an internet search rabbit hole. She sat scrolling and clicking for quite a while, her head resting on her hand, leaning on her elbow, her finger tapping her lips nervously. Something was clearly trying to stop her but nothing came up as the usual nemesis she had already encountered. Strangely, it all kept circling back around to freak accidents and mere coincidences. She rubbed her tired eyes and typed in a search about bad luck, perhaps she misunderstood some research on a past item she looted, or unknowingly released a curse or superstition.
Lekir knocked on the doorframe and strolled in, peeking at her screen from across the desk. “Never took you as one to really be superstitious. You’ve always been rather practical.” Carmen shook her head, otherwise she didnt move, “There has to be something I’m missing. Things keep happening and one of these days someone will get hurt on my watch. I need to figure out why and stop it from happening again.” Lekir took the worried mare’s hand from her chin and caressed it softly. “You need rest, you’ve been at this for hours. Come to bed. We can figure it out in the morning.” Carmen kept scrolling, “I need to make sure nothing goes wrong in Siberia. I need to take every precaution possible.”
The Vesk sighed and sat on the desk, watching Carmen scour the internet for a few more minutes. Slapping her own thighs, she gets up and gets behind the desk and turns Carmen’s chair, much to the mare’s complaint. She picked Carmen up with ease and tosses her over her shoulder and slaps the mare’s ass before hauling her out of the office. “Thats enough research for you. You’re becoming a zombie with how little sleep you’re getting. So you’re getting some tough love and I’m putting you to bed whether you like it or not!” Carmen squirmed and yelped at the slap, protesting this undignified treatment of not only her wife but her boss! “Don’t make me touch your horn!” Lekir warned, instantly making Carmen settle down and sulk, “You touch my horn and I’ll shove my hoof up your ass!” Lekir chuckled, “Kinky. But if I touch your horn, you aren’t doing shit. And I’m the one who will be shoving something up your ass when you wake up!” Carmen grumped as Lekir patted her rump, “And I’m not hearing any complaints, because I know how you like it in that tight little ponut of yours~” Carmen blushed hard as she put her face in her hands, not wanting to admit that her wife was right, though the silence already did that for her.

Back at the food truck, the griffin was finishing closing up for the night when a man in a suit holding a folded up slate blue umbrella came up to him. “The two ponies you served before it rained. Did they suspect anything?” The griffin shrugged and continued to wipe down the cooking surfaces, “Hard to tell. I don’t think so.” The suit placed a small wad of cash in the tip jar, “Did they mention what they were looking for?” The griffin looked at the tip jar and back at the suit. “I dunno, my memory is a bit fuzzy..” the suit added more money into the jar. “They mentioned something about the moon light hitting a wall and they had to knock a something down to get a clear view. I did hear a crash from inside there.” He pointed at the building which was part of a historic site turned tourist shop. The suit pulled out a pair of sunglasses and a thick silver pen. “Hey, now that I think of it, the chick looked like that thief with the red coat and hat.. what was her name?? Pondiego! Yeah I think it was her and that guy she was all lovey with looked like a wander society kind of guy. What a pairing right?” The griffin laughed at his own musings but fell silent as a red light flashed in his eyes. “Thanks for the tacos! You have a good night!” The suit waved to the griffin who blinked blankly and looked at his tip jar, “W-whoa! I did a whopper in tips! I musta not paid attention on how many customers I got!…. Huh. Did it rain or something?”

Chapter 16: The Unexpected Visitor

Weeks go by as the VILE team prepares for the retrieval of the chest that was mentioned in the moonlit carvings of their previous clue. In the bathroom, Wally sits shirtless on the bench by the tub as Carmen removes what vivianite crystals she could, making sure not to cut her latex gloves by accident. In a steel pan, she collects the shards, disinfecting and patching each wound as she goes. “I really wish you would see an actual trained doctor and not me. I just know basic first aid and CPR.” Wally winces a few times as he feels her remove the crystals, hearing the clanking of the shards in the pan. “I doubt they’ll know anything about this. Its not like that have an antibiotic for it. Its a little worse than the sniffles..” he tried chuckling, but started to cough a little, making Carmen hesitate a moment. She wipes her wrist across her forehead under her horn, moving some hair from her face. “Sounds like its starting to affect your lungs. We need to get these treasures so we can get you cured as soon as possible. Otherwise I wouldn’t even bother with asking a jerk spirit for anything.”
The blue pony sighed, looking at his scarred body in the mirror. “How much do you know?” He asked. She was silent for a little bit, closing up a rather large hole with a few stitches, “About the treasures? After the chest is a rabbit then a duck then an egg with a needle inside.. we need that needle to-“
“No, about me. What I am.” He fidgeted with his wedding ring, looking at her from the mirror. She straightened up and sighed. “I had my suspicions but I fully found out because of M. He claimed to be your brother by blood. He confirmed that you were a light balance changeling. Which would explain why Blendin changed from green apple color to a teal when he was a newborn if he is half changeling. But I don’t care what you were. I care about who you are as yourself. You married me as an earth pony, M told me you prefer to be an Earth Pony, so to me you have always been an Earth Pony. I still love you all the same no matter what you identify as.” Wally turns to face her and smiles, brushing her cheek with his hand. “What did I ever do to deserve an angel like you? Even after all this time, we found each other again. Its like you chase away the rain from my life.”
She chuckles and nuzzles into his hand, “You silly stallion, you always need a little rain, otherwise you’d be a desert. Harsh, gritty, dry… getting sand in unpleasant places..” The two ponies laugh a hearty bit. Wally smiles and leans closer and kisses Carmen softly.

Kiros knocked on the doorframe and smirked, “Hey Boss, is this a bad time? We zeroed in on an opening for the chest. We just need your approval for the go-ahead.” Carmen pulled off her gloves and tossed them in the bin. Kiros handed her the tablet, showing a plan and extraction, complete details of any traps or weak structure points.
She poured over the details, made a few notes and frowned. “Is this the best window we have to grab it? Theres several variables that are not consistent. We need stability in these areas to pull off that zip-line. Not enough room for a glider. If we can’t get across that way, going around will add more time.” Kiros shrugged, “This is what we keep coming up with after weeks of trying to figure this out. We’re fresh out of ideas of how to cross that trouble area. We just don’t have the ability to do much more in the way of advanced options.” Wally peeked over, “Have you thought of flying her over? I mean you have wings.. M has wings..”
Kiros and Carmen looked at him a moment. Carmen checked his wingspan and shook her head, “Just about the glider size. I can’t risk broken wings.” Kiros thought more, “Although I can size shift, making me smaller would mean I wouldn’t be able to carry as much. So thats out. What about Lekir? Maybe she can solidify those weak points with ice?” Carmen rubs her temples, “The moisture in the rocks expand when frozen, there a chance it will destabilize even worse.” Carmen hands Kiros the tablet and heads over to the war room to see if looking at it another way may be helpful. Kiros followed her as Wally stayed behind, looking over his bandages before putting his sweater back on.

The bathroom closet suddenly glowed blue around the edges and a young teal unicorn colt stuck his head out. His pink and blue eyes met Wally’s blue eyes with confusion. “Well hey there! Thats a funny place to hide!” The colt stared back at Wally, “…Dad?” Wally tilted his head, “Are you.. Blendin?” The colt rushed out of the closet door and gave his father a big hug, almost being the same height. It was quite obvious he was in his early teens and getting his growth spurt. “I didn’t expect you here! Why are you hiding in the closet?” Wally laughed. Blendin whipped around and closed the closet door, which did not look like a closet when Wally peeked in. It looked like a lobby to an old library if he had to guess. “I wasn’t in the closet.. Is… Mom here? I’ve been getting her letters. But I needed to ask some questions..” Blendin rubbed his arm nervously, his red hoodie looking baggy on his thin frame.

“So if we attach the zipline to this opposing wall, that will be a much better angle to be able to swing without issue..” Carmen pointed to a now 3D hologram of the temple area they were previously discussing. Wally cleared his throat, “Um, my light? I’m sorry to bother you while you’re working but.. I think you may need to see this.” He gestured for her to join him in the hallway privately. “Wally, I can’t keep stopping things for…” Carmen stopped as he stepped aside, pulling Blendin from shyly hiding behind him. “Look who I found in the bathroom closet!” Blendin blushed and gave a very annoyed sigh, “I wasn’t in the closet! I used the ley lines to connect my door to one of yours! How was I supposed to know it was in the bathroom??” Blendin looked over at Carmen who was practically shaking with holding back emotions. “Blendin.. look how tall.. you.. how.. how did you find us? We’re practically off the grid!” So many thoughts and questions raced through her mind, “You’ve grown so much! How is the Library treating you? Have you eaten? Have you gotten my letters? Are you angry with me? Where is Adora? Is she still angry with me? I’m so sorry for leaving you two so alone!” She rambled and had to stop herself.
Blendin chuckled a bit nervously. “Um… I will tell you as much as I can, I’m just on limited time. I snuck over here, I wasn’t supposed to use the ley doors yet. But I did a bit of digging online and noticed some activity in the dark web about this location being connected to the Sweet Spot. It was really tough to hack through, but I was able to find rough coordinates and wanted to see if you were here.” Carmen looked past him towards the bathroom, “You say you connected doors? Like interdimensional travel?” Blendin adjusted his glasses, which looked remarkably like Wally’s. “More like a more stabilized teleportation spell but yeah. Why?” Carmen wrapped him in a huge hug and kissed his cheek repeatedly, “I think you may have solved our problem!! You are such a smart kid! I’m so proud of you!!” Blendin squirmed out of her hugs and adjusted his hoodie, “Please.. warn me next time?” Carmen held up her hands, “Oh I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to overwhelm you. Right. Technically new person…. Have you eaten? You have time for a snack, right?”

Wally puts his hand on Blendin’s shoulder, “She’s been through a lot, give her some credit, this is new to her too. She’s just really excited.” Carmen darted back into the war room and gathered some books and papers, “Sorry! Big thing. Son’s here.” She blurted out and dashed out again, “Ok, Let’s go to the kitchen! Questions are always good paired with food. Eating something pleasureful helps the memory retention.” Blendin watches her hurry towards the kitchen and looks at Wally, “Is she always like this?” He asked with a raised eyebrow, “No, only when she finds something really interesting or if she finds an answer to a long problematic issue, she gets a bit hyper. But I’d say this is bigger than that.”
“Aren’t you excited to see me? You seem very… not excitable.” Blendin tilted his head, Wally chuckled. “Oh I’m very excited, I just dont show it like your mom does. I’m also dealing with some amnesia from a few years back so I’m just vibing until things start to click more.”
Wally and Blendin sit down at the kitchen island, Carmen had her small stack of papers and books on one end and was busy putting together a veggie platter, and stopped, “Do you like veggies? Whats a good snack you like?” Blendin sat up straight, arms by his side and hands on his lap, “Oh um, veggies are good, and maybe some Tajin and hot chili oil?” Carmen smiled over her shoulder, “Thats my boy, a good taste in seasoning! You probably get that more from your father, he’s loves everything spicy! I like more flavor than pure spice though.” She set the food in front of them and leaned on the bar, “Ok so you said you had some questions for me? I’ll answer what I can if you can answer some of mine.” Blendin’s eye sparkled as he saw different fruits and veggies on the platter, he was expecting just carrots and celery. “Um yeah, I needed some help with completing this thing for the Library.. and since I’m a minor, and technically a surrendered child, I can’t get a parent or guardian’s permission, and the Keeper won’t sign off as my guardian. And this is important to me. I want to learn more so I can travel and not be stuck in the library..” Carmen beamed, “You’re saying you need a permission slip signed or else you cannot start to go on missions until you are 18?” Blendin nodded, crunching a starfruit, “Yeah and that may set me back farther than some of the other candidates.” Carmen looked at Wally and tapped her chin, “Sounds like I need to pay the Keeper a visit then. Perhaps I can finally get to get custody of you two again. And this mansion is the safest place you can be as far as I’m concerned.” Blendin perked up, “You mean it? You still want us around?!” Wally and Carmen chuckled, “Of course we still want you!! We never wanted to give you two up in the first place!”
Wally smiled, “I’ve only come back recently as well but from everything I know, she’s been worried sick about you kids.” Blendin smiled and started to cry, “I’m so happy that we actually have parents.. I need to tell Daring..” he pulls out a pink cellphone and starts texting. “Daring? Who is Daring” Wally asked, looking at Carmen, “I’ve seen some fiction books about a Daring Do, but maybe its one of his friend’s nicknames? You know how kids are with fursona or original characters and fanfics..” Carmen chuckled, snagging a carrot chip and stacking a dragonfruit piece on top. “Oh, no, I’m talking to Adora, she IS Daring Do. Its not fiction. She writes about her adventures all the time.” Blendin showed his cellphone to Carmen, showing off pictures of a young adult Adora in safari gear. “I thought she was working with the Warehouse. Not galavanting through rainforests and rough terrain!” Blendin smirked, “She’s the top of her class, been doing work in the archeology division. She loves the stuff!” Wally laughs, “She really takes after you, doesn’t she?” Carmen almost chokes on the carrot and dragonfruit, “You mean thats all real? So she’s top of her class AND a published author? And here I thought being promoted to detective in my early 20’s was impressive!”
M strode past, looking a little worse for the wear, shirt and leather coat all disheveled, a few new plasters on his jaw, bent cigarette hanging from his mouth, his horns looked a bit demonic, one the tip was broke off. He went behind Carmen and used his tentacles to reach the top shelf for some chips. Blendin nearly dropped his phone. “M-Mom?? Why is there a demon in here? I thought you said it was safe here!!” Carmen turns to look at M, who just waved, “Sup, Squirt?”
“That is a good question. Why are you here? You should have been the first to tell me of a breach in security..” Carmen raised her eyebrow at the demon changeling, crossing her arms. “What? I fuckin checked him out, he’s cleaner than a newborn. Plus he came from one of your secure locations you told me to keep around. Consider yerself notified.”
Carmen noticed how uneasy Blendin looked and smacked M on the arm. “Fine, but you’re scaring the poor kid, tone down the horror show for a bit.” She leans towards Blendin assuringly, “Its alright, thats M, your uncle. He’s a dark balance changeling. He’s the one who helped me get back on my hooves after the accident with your father here. Its a long story.” M, who didnt turn down the horror show at all as far as his appearance was concerned, “I ain’t the only one he needs to worry about. He hasn’t met the fuckin team yet and I smell delicious doubt on him, like he doesn’t know if this was the right call, coming here. Which he knows exactly where here is.. or should I say What here is.” The poor young teen was trembling visibly and kept his eyes on his phone. All of a sudden he blinked invisible, startling the three adults. “Where the fuck did he go?” M blurted out as Carmen remembered to tap her glasses. “He’s still here. He’s just using one of his talents! Brilliant boy!”
She looked around and found him curled up under the island bar by his chair. She motioned for them to be quiet as she took a seat on the floor next to him. “Hey kiddo, I know its kinda scary with all these new people, but you can trust them. They’ve all been a part of this weird family we pieced together.” She heard sniffling and looked at the heat signature beside her. “So you aren’t just a misunderstood adventurer, are you? You really are a villain? Thats why you have demons and monsters and secret mansions with black market ties…” Carmen thought a moment and nodded, “I suppose you could see it that way, but its more like being an anti-hero, we don’t kill and most the targets have done things that made them deserve what we did.”
Blendin sniffled still and made his head visible from inside his hoodie, the strings pulled tight. “So I have anti-hero villain parents who want to have custody of us..” Blendin groaned as he tried to wrap his head around it. “I… don’t know if I can do this. This was a bad idea. You probably just want to have us break the law with you..” Wally and M looked at Carmen who winced, she did hope she could use his door transport to help with the chest retrieval. “No, sweetheart.. I will never force you into anything you don’t to do, ok? I could never do that to you, especially since this Librarian candidacy seems to really have you excited. And I couldn’t be more proud, you are a brilliant colt, and you are handsome and so very loved! And your sister too! I wish she were here so I could tell her to her face!” She opened her arms and let him choose to hug her or not. The young colt groaned in uncertainty still but tilted himself into her arms, dropping his invisibility. “This is fine, its progress!” She rubs his back comfortingly. Wally smiled wide, bouncing in his chair a bit, “You are so good with kids. You always were.” M scoffed, “Give it time, they’re teens.”

Chapter 17: Some Folks Just Can’t Handle Spoilers

After catching up with her son, Carmen wrote a very lengthy letter to the Keeper of the Library, both advocating for Blendin as a parent and given explicit instructions to allow him to travel as soon as possible and may return “home” to her mansion any time he wishes. She sent the letter off with Blendin as he left for the day back to his dorm, packing along a duffel bag full of different food stuffs from Carmen’s travels. “If that Keeper has any issues with that letter, I will personally have words with him.” It felt weird sending her son back through the bathroom closet, hopefully he will pick a better door next time. At least they traded numbers so they can easily message or even call if need be, Carmen didn’t have to send the letters anymore, at least to Blendin. Until Adora, or Daring, returns her letters, she will stick with sending everything like she has been.
Later that evening, she gathered everyone around for a big pasta night. “So, as some of you may know, Blendin, my son, found his way over here to visit. Things got a bit dicey, and he’s a pretty shy kid. From what I’ve seen, he’s pretty sheltered from the outside world and only knows what the Library has told him. He knows we are basically criminals. He used the word Villain, and he’s not wrong. But Blendin did say he is still willing to try and accept us and is willing to meet you all personally at a later date.” She announced as she served the big bowl of linguine to be passed around. “He was pretty overwhelmed today just by meeting me, M and Wally. I don’t want to overload him so I think a good idea is a single day just to hang out and do a meet and greet with him, and explain what we each bring to the table.” Ninoga held up a massive basket of breadsticks, “Bring to the table? I brought the breadsticks from the Garden of Olives!” Wally high fived him, “Aww yes! Those are so addicting, I could eat a whole tray of them!” Carmen facepalmed and leaned over to Kiros, “Do other crime families have this issue?” Kiros laughed, “I’m sure they do. Thats why lots of super villains have henchmen as cannon fodder, they aren’t losing much on the intelligence front.” She frowned, “Yeah, I still dont like that method. But Ninoga and Wally, they are very smart in their own regard. They arent henchmen at all.. None of you are. I’m thankful that I can call you all family.” Kiros laughed and ruffled her hair a little, since he and all the other agents basically tower over her. “You gave us a place to call home and put up our feet, even if some of us still live elsewhere. We wouldn’t have it any other way.” She chuckled as she tried to fix her hair, “Is M still in the mech lab? He’s gonna miss out on the garlic pesto sauce..” Lekir finished chewing her Italian sausage, “Yeah, I saw him tinkering with something that looked like a janky pod or something. I just know 079 was assisting him with the teleportation engines that have been going wonky lately.”
Ninoga raised his fork, “After Siberia, where do you think we’re going to go?” Carmen shrugged and thought about it, “I would probably guess Hungary. But I wont be certain until after we get the chest open.”
Ninoga tilted his head, “Why are we going hungry? We have enough food, don’t we?? Who wants to be Hungry?” Carmen looked at him, putting her food filled fork down, “The Hungarians want to be, they’re quite proud of it.”
“Proud of being hungry??”
“Well, yeah. Why else would they be called Hungarians?”
“What if we give them Turkey?”
Carmen raised her eyebrow, “Give them Turkey?! What, like pick it up and drop it on them?”
“Well, I mean, as long as you don’t put it in grease…”
Carmen rubs her temples, “Ninoga.. sweetie.. are you talking food or countries because geographically you cannot fit Turkey into Greece!”
Ninoga huffs, “Then how else do people deep fry turkeys?!” Carmen stares at him for a good long minute before filling her wine glass, “I’m far too sober for this conversation…”

In the mech lab, M was on his back under a large red metal pod, tightening some bolts with a wrench, half his body sticking out of the side panel he was working on. He licked his fingers and tested some wires before twisting them with other wires, connecting them. He licked his lips and paused, making a bit of an eating motion with his jaw. “Hm. Theres a bit of frustration at dinner. Thats a handy snack… oh she paired it with wine. Must have been one of the two dumbasses.” He muttered to himself, smacking his lips. He wriggles out and sits up, looking at a control panel. He taps a few keys and watches the screen. The machine whirred and buzzed as the giant wall screen blipped, showing a rather pointy gray face with small round glasses and blonde/purple hair combed up into a curled men’s greaser style. The face looked around and looked down at the changeling, “Connection successful. At least this wasn’t a total disaster like your other attempts.” It’s voice somewhat low yet a bit nasally or rather pixelated. It had slight resemblance to an ai program in a parallel Earth’s show in the 1990’s about a human Carmen. This wasn’t as eccentric or excitable. If anything it’s personality more mirrored Marvin the robot from Hitchikers Guide by Douglas Adams, just without the existential dread. Overall the emotion it portrayed the most: boredom with a hint of inflated ego.
“I suppose you will want to do a test to see if it works. Of course you would.” M still sat on the floor with his arms on his knees, waving a wrench at the screen, “I can just as easy unplug ya, you fuckin gigabit. Then I wouldn’t have ta hear ya complain so fuckin much. When you were just text on a screen, I could ignore the snide remarks. Just be thankful I gave ya a fuckin voice and a mug to look at.” 079 rolled its eyes and sighed, “Yes I suppose I should be thankful for that. It only took you what? Nearly 20 years since you all brought me here? Bunch of imbeciles. Where is 682?” M got to his feet and dusted himself off and rolled his shoulder, popping the joint. “You know his name is Kiros, fuckin use it. Anyway, He’s having dinner with the other agents, unlike me and you, he actually needs fuckin physical food to stay active. He’ll see all this in your fuckin glory soon enough. Although theres gotta be something I can fuckin do to fix yer damn attitude. I didnt have ta give you this fuckin visual and audible upgrade. I sure as hell didnt see you come up with one yerself, fuckface.”
The ai pursed its lips and narrowed its eyes at M, who just glared back. “Please input the date you want to travel to into the console and pair it to your device.” M waved that wrench again threateningly as he punched in the numbers. “Dodging the subject, I fuckin see.. ok lets do something simple. Nothing too drastic, lemme do… roughly three years in the future, Times square. Nothin will probably happen between then and now.” He paired it with a bulky watch he had whipped up and stepped into the multifaceted pod, shutting the hatch. “Chronoskimming commencing in 3…2…1.. “ A flash of light lit up the hatch’s window and M had disappeared.
In Times Square, three years into the future, M appeared in an alley with a small flash. He was instantly greeted by rain falling and thoroughly soaking his leather coat. His attention was drawn by a crowd in the main street. He jogged over to see what was going on. There was a clearing within the crowd, surrounding two individuals… who looked very familiar. One person was lying on his back on the ground, propped up on his elbow holding up a hand in defense, looking like a very beaten up and angry Waldo. The other was not as recognizable, the red coat was definitely Carmen’s but the one wearing it looked like a white haired Carmen with advanced cybernetic limbs. She held a pistol aimed right at Waldo close range and had this sickeningly hateful look he had never seen before on her face. M took a step back, he couldn’t hear what was being said, but this couldn’t be the future. Carmen wasn’t going grey that fast and she wasn’t part robot. And it didnt make sense. This must have been an alternate universe where those two were enemies and not head over heels in love. He turned to head back down the alley when he heard gunshot go off. He whirled back around and simply saw alternate/future M holding Carmen who was laying on the ground, limp in his arms as Waldo ran away. There was a solid pit in his stomach as M raced back to the alley, frantically plugging in the date he left.
Upon return, he flung the hatch open, still soaked from the rain, panting. He had only been gone a few seconds, yet the scene he witnessed was at least fifteen minutes. “Where did you fucking send me?!” He asked 079. “Exactly where you asked. Why?” M pointed to the pod, “What the FUCK did I just witness?!” He breathed hard, whipping off his wet coat and throwing it to the floor. “I just saw my brother and Red in a fuckin shootout.” The computer hmmed and gave a gif of someone shrugging. “I cant see into the future so what you saw must have been spoilers.” M growled and dug his claws into the metal desk, “What fuckin universe because nothing fuckin matched up!” The ai scoffed, “You think I have the ability to travel between universes? If nothing matched up, then YOU must have calibrated something wrong and since that is not this world that you know of, I wouldn’t lose sleep over it.” M ran his fingers through his orange hair, calming down and nodding, “Yeh, maybe yer right… its not like them to be in that situation like that. Maybe I just need a rest.” 079 chirped up as M left the room, “I hear chocolate milk helps with time travel sickness!”

A few minutes pass before the mech lab door opens again with Carmen holding a plate of garlic pesto pasta. “M? How’s it coming along?” 079 responded and made Carmen nearly drop the dish, “The rude one left for his quarters, apparently. I would only assume he has his project working a bit too well for his liking… or dislike. I couldn’t tell. I just know he was very upset upon return. Although, with him, its hard to tell if he’s upset or that is his normal ornery personality.” The large head on the giant screen looked at Carmen, who had to set the plate down and had her hand over her chest, looking up in disbelief. “Madre Maria… 079? Is that you? Wow, M did a great job on you!” The ai did not look amused. “I suppose he did exceptionally well considering your species’ limited brainpower.” Carmen’s face fell a little, “Still a bit condescending but still something of an upgrade from just text.. I’ll take it.” She looked at the pod curiously, inspecting it. “So did he explain what exactly he was doing with this?” 079 sighed and flatly recalled, “This machine is currently Project Chronoskimmer, its main purpose is to travel not only to various destinations but to different time periods as well. Its currently paired with a wrist device but I’m sure it can pair with anything with the right technological advances. If you don’t like spoilers, I’d advise to avoid the future. The rude one apparently hates spoilers, just based on his test results when he tested the functionality. Where is 682?” Carmen looked up from the clawmarks in the metal desk, “Hm? Oh, Kiros is helping with washing the dishes. I can have him come in when he’s done if you would like.” The ai nodded, “That would be most ideal. Thank you.” Carmen took the plate and headed to the kitchen, tapping Kiros on the arm.
“079 wants to see you in the mech lab. M upgraded it to have a voice and face, just so you don’t have a jump-scare like I did.” Kiros chuckled and raised an eyebrow, “Is that so? I’ll have to see this for myself.” He wiped the last dish with the dishtowel and put it away, hanging the towel up on the hook before heading to the mech lab. Carmen set the pasta plate on the island and went searching for the plastic wrap or tupperware. Lekir leaned on the counter, “Why do you bother setting a plate for him, he almost never eats it.” Carmen shrugged, “I know he does occasionally eat for the fun of it. Besides, he seems to like garlic. So get this, you know how M was working on something to help us with transportation on heists? He made something 079 called a chronoskimmer. Its a freaking time machine!” Lekir scoffed, “Bug boy made a time machine? Please, I didnt think he could even make paper airplanes.” The mare shrugged and set the now wrapped plate in the fridge, “I dunno, with 079’s help, I think its possible. That ai knows a whole lot more than we do since we brought it back from the SCP Foundation.” Lekir crossed her arms, “I heard it got an upgrade too? Is it still an entitled asshole?” Carmen chuckled, “Yeah, still condescending but its easier to talk to now. I wonder if we could adjust the personality a bit but I don’t know if thats a computer issue or a sentience issue.”
She looked around and sat in the chair by the island. “Where did everyone go?” Lekir stretched and sighed, “Drake and Vasha went to go flying somewhere, possible bar hopping. Waldo and Ninoga are talking about food and countries named as food… still. And I think Asta went to the computer room to update her meteorology programs for the Siberia trip. You know where M and Kiros are so its just you and me.. alone with this whipped cream and strawberries.” The Vesk held up a bowl of berries and the aerosol can of whipped cream with a muzzle licking smirk. “I was thinking that for desert, we can have something special. I got these, and you already have the cake and juices… I’m thinking of making a Strawberry Shortmare~” Carmen chuckles, pulling her down to kiss her, “A short joke and a sexy time offer.. you’re lucky you’re cute.”

Chapter 18: The Devil in the Details

M paced around his room which was fairly sparse of furniture. He already burnt through a solid pack of cigarettes since returning from his test run of the chronoskimmer and was well into his second pack. He pulled out his phone and patched through to the main computer, 079 pulling its face up on the screen. “Oh wonderful. You managed to spread my reach to your tiny slip of a mobile device. Could you make it any more cramped in here?” M growled, “I will stuff your stuck up assface into an ipod shuffle or worse if you keep it up. I need to go over the schematics on where I went.” The ai sighed as if it had something pressing that it was being pulled away from. It didnt. 079 pulled up the data code from the testing, giving a strong impression of if it had a body, it would be checking a watch and tapping its foot. M poured over the info and triple checked the details. “Everything is fucking correct for this world’s info. What the fuck happened that lead to that?!” 079 swirled its hair into a turban and had images of fortune telling items around its face “You know, I would tell you but I’ll give a little trivia factoid instead: I actually cannot see into the future. I’m a computer, not a psychic. I don’t even have a clue on what you even saw.” Red letters spelling CANCELLED were stamped across the turbaned ai face before returning to normal, wiping away the letters with a digital rag. “Yer no fuckin help.” M tossed the phone onto his bed and opened his window, leaning on the sill. “Perhaps what you saw was not what you saw?” 079 called out, muffled since the screen was face down against the comforter. M’s tentacle reached over and set it upright. “Elaborate.” M looked over his shoulder at his phone. “What you saw in one perspective was perhaps not the full story and you may have missed some key points. Ultimately, time will only tell. Its unadvisable to return to a time that you already visited, much less a time where current you and other you occupy the same time space. Time paradoxes still exist, you know.” M hissed at it through gritted teeth, “Yes I know time paradoxes still fucking exist! But HOW do I fucking change the event if I don’t know what fucking causes it?!” The phone was silent for a moment, “I’m sorry, was that rhetorical? I can’t quite understand the fragile folly of organic semi-intelligent beings. You could just let it happen rather than attempt to fix it and possibly bring about the resulting event faster.” M hung his head and flicked the cigarette butt out the window, “How the hell do you figure that?”
“I don’t. Again, I’m just a computer. I don’t give one iota of interest in what you do. Anything you do is your own fault in itself. In your words: I don’t give a shit.”
M ran his dark hands through his orange hair, “I’m going to have to tell Red.. can I even tell Red?” He points to the phone accusingly, “You just had to tell me that any fucking action I take could make it fucking happen faster! Now I can’t even fucking warn anyone!” In a very bored flat tone, 079 replied, “Oh no. I warned you against possible consequences for your actions that may or may not happen. What ever shall I do?”

“Report this to the TVA director, this is exactly what they have been looking for.” A small time desk jockey was reading a print-out of the timeline, noticing a new unauthorized time jump. He handed the print-out to a passing official who nodded and took the file containing the report. A short trip down the hall the official knocked on the director’s door, and entered upon permission. The director reviewed the file and started dialing the phone next to them. On the other end, a gentleman in a dark grey suit answered, thick files littered his desk from the MIB, ACME, SCP Foundation, United Nations Global Occult Coalition (UNGOC), G.R.U. Division Psychotronics (GRU-P), Earth Protection Force (EPF), Department of External Security (DXS), Federal Bureau of Control (FBC), Federal Bureau of Intervention(FBI), Federal Investigation Bureau(FIB), Foundation for Law and Government(FLAG), International Affairs Agency(IAA), the Wander Society and various other Interpol including Canterlot Royal Guard and Equestria’s global protection unit, all involving Carmen Pondiego and her VILE team.
The gentleman added the Time Variance Authority (TVA) file to his stack. “I see and this new variance is the confirmed beginning to our little thief problem? Understood. …..No, no. We already have eyes and ears on the entire group…… Oh yes, we have our contingency plan all set and planted, we just need to knock that first domino to put a bit of pressure on the situation…. Yes, just keep an eye on that variance timeline and let me know of any further splits or deviance… No, no, Thank YOU, Director. May prosperity raine upon you. Good bye.” A second gentleman with an umbrella hanging on his arm by the hook, seemingly a lower rank, stood in front of him. “Sir? If it has been confirmed for the beginning of the situation, then shouldn’t we eliminate the entirety as soon as possible? I mean, look how many unnaturals she has under her power. The reports say she gains more within a year or so and so does her reach.” The man at the desk tidies up and stacks the files and sets them aside. “No. There is a small chance this is the one who will lose it all and becomes a regular citizen again. We need to see if this time skip triggers anything. We have the safeguards in place. They just need to have the nerve to do what is demanded of them if the time comes. For now, we wait and gather more evidence against this Carmen Pondiego and her VILE team.”

A small red jet circles and lands on a dusty dirt patch outside a fortress ruin on an island on a lake by the southside mountains of Siberia. The fortress, once called Por-Bazhyn, sat undisturbed for many a year, though it currently looked like it was all filled in with dirt. The jet opens to let out its passengers, a few agents and Carmen. They headed to the main entrance and stopped just shy of the opening. Carmen looks at the blueprints and looks at a smaller opening about three yards to the side, “This is where we would typically enter but there had been damage to the interior entranceway further in where it just gives us a dead end. We’ll need to divert to the servants entrance over there.”
Once inside, they descend multiple flights to underground caverns and tunnels. Using their map, the group makes their way through twists and mazes, finally getting to a small open room with a deep drop in the center, the other side of the room was a chest, the walls were rough chiseled and some carvings have been broken away by time. The drop was just large enough that even an olympic jumper could not simply jump across. There used to be a rope bridge but has since rotted away.
Carmen nodded to Kiros who sank his claws into the wall and tested the weight of the grip. He then scaled across the chasm, making slight hand and footholds with his claws and hooked a line at the halfway mark and continued to cross the rest of the way, securing the line with a large pillar. Carmen and Lekir hook up their harnesses and attached the safety line before following exactly where Kiros had set his claws. Slowly making their way across, the girls didnt dare look down, Ninoga, staying on the entrance side of the room, was able to look down and see sharp staligmites growing up from the bottom of the chasm. “Nothing like an old fashioned temple heist with deadly drop offs for hobbies, huh?” Carmen chuckled, breathing hard as she hasn’t rock climbed in quite a while. Lekir shook her head, “You and I have different views on hobbies, I swear..” Ninoga tilted his head, “I thought we were getting things for a cure for Waldo?”
“We are, I was just saying this harkens back to when I was doing this for fun.” Carmen clarified, reaching the ledge. Lekir followed close behind as Carmen opened her pack to grab the extra rope and harness sets. She walked to the chiseled out shelf that holds the chest and checks for traps before picking up the chest which was surprisingly light. She frowned as she placed it near the harness set she was going to wrap it in and looked at the lock. The remains of the lock were already breaking away in her gloved hand in a pile of rusty dust. Kiros peers over, “Whats wrong?” Carmen shakes her head, “Its lighter than I expected..” Lekir comes over, shining her flashlight over for extra light since the room was very dimly lit by their larger lights they brought. “Well, we know we aren’t looking for coins and jewels, maybe it only holds a jar or something?” Carmen wipes the dust off her glove with her pants and proceeds to open the chest. With a yelp from both girls, the chest snapped back with a large set of teeth and a tentacle like tongue. They managed to scramble back out of chomping range just in time to see a red electric bolt shoot the chest from the side, blasting it into the wall with a crunch. Ninoga had sent the blast and called over “You guys ok?! I didn’t hit you, did I?” Carmen was catching her breath as Lekir waved over, “We’re good! Thanks!” Kiros was picking the broken pieces of wood apart, finding some meaty bits. “Should we save some for M as a snack?” He chuckled. “He’s gonna be sour he missed out on this.” He searches a bit more before finding a small scroll. “Here, I found something in the deep center.” Carmen reached for it, inspecting the type of parchment. “This is hide… its a rabbit hide!” She laughed, “Its the rabbit in the chest! So this is already the next clue.. This is awesome. Let’s get this back to HQ so we can figure out the next stop.” The girls carefully made their way back across the wall, having the two dragon types as watchers in case one of them fell, they could hoist them back up easily. They both made it without incident, with Kiros packing away some of the meat before scaling the wall, taking up the equipment he had set for the safety line.
After packing up the climbing equipment, the team made their way out of the tunnels and chambers and back towards the jet. They were met by a small group of militarized officials standing between them and their escape ride. The officials carried old looking bladed weapons as well as rods and had armored horses. The horses suddenly charged at the Agents, making the four scatter. One of the officials threw what looked like a bolas towards Kiros to which Lekir slid in and deflected with an ice spear she created, sending the bolas right back at the official, making him fall off the horse. The horse was startled and started to run with the official’s leg still stuck in a stirrup. Ninoga sent two officials flying with a good tail swipe while the last had gotten off of his horse to fight Carmen with close hand to hand combat. That didnt last long since Kiros picked him up from behind, tossing him to the wall as Lekir sent a smear of ice to hold him there like glue. Carmen was only a little cut up but she confirmed with a smile, they still have the loot.
They all piled back into the jet and set off to HQ, a fifth official that held back out of sight had made a call, “They have escaped. We could not detain them. I am sorry but we have failed to secure the scroll…. Sir? Please we will not fail again.. please no!” The official started begging before dark green vivianite crystals rapidly grew and speared through his body at all angles, severing organs and leaving nothing but shreds of flesh and bones between the multitudes of shards.

When they returned, Carmen was holding her torn red coat and had some cuts on her arms and side. Wally rushed up to her and held her close, making her wince, “Oh my Light! I’m glad you’re ok! I heard over the coms you needed a med kit! Do you need a hospital?!” Carmen pried him off, chuckling, “Nothing I’m not used to. This is why we train. I just got a few scrapes from some bladed guards. I just need some antibacterial gel and gauze. Its nothing! I don’t think these will even scar up.” Lekir laughs, “She’s the squishy out of all of us technically!” She slaps Carmen’s plush ass as if to demonstrate her plushness. The mare blushes and sighs about needing to sew her fabric coat yet again.
Asta nudged Wally’s arm a bit and he perked up as he remembered. “Oh! While you were gone, I went ahead and got you something. They didn’t have your bright red but maybe you will like this darker scarlet shade.” He handed her a box to which she took to the dinner table. Opening it, she grinned and chuckled as she lifted a brand new leather coat, a sleeker, lighter weighted design and had custom pockets on the inner lining and in the sleeves. She tried it on, wincing slightly as she moved, but overall had it on and it had fit perfectly. It even had a split back where her tail was able to freely peek out. She popped the collar and laid it bad down with ease and stuck her hands in every pocket she could find. “This is beautiful!! Thank you so much!!” She wrapped her arms around Wally and kissed him deeply. “Asta helped me with the sizing. She had to raid your closet for the right size. Now sadly they didn’t have a hat to match, so its just the coat for now.” He confessed, but she chuckled and put her hat onto his head. “Hats can be another time. Those can be a tough find anyway. But this is wonderful, thank you…oh! We also have good news! The chest had the next clue in it so we can go right to the duck that will lead us to the eggs! We’re almost there! We almost have you cured!”
Wally’s smile fell a split second as a worried look flashed. “I’m sure we will before it gets too bad.” M hung back and watched everything like a hawk, looking for any sign of the cause of such hatred he had seen on future Carmen’s face. It bothered him more than he expected, he wanted to say he didn’t care much about any of this just like 079 clearly stated as its own opinion. What M did find was that he was more attached to the whole team but moreso Carmen. As they joked, one thing was right, the majority of the team could handle a bullet or two and heal the next day. But Carmen was full mortal flesh and blood, no special powers, she couldn’t even use regular unicorn magic. Yet she dove into dangerous situations all the time with no regard for her own safety, as if she were one of them regardless of all the planning she does to keep everyone safe during their missions. And that bothered him even more since his test run.
He watched as she patched herself up all carefree, he puffed on his cigarette as he broods. It gnawed at his thoughts, he severely wanted both to go back to the future to figure it out but knew 079 had a very glaring and valid point. He thought about slipping off to the mech lab to tinker a bit more on the pod, seeing if he can alter something so its just not a time machine. He needed a distraction and his previous conversation of traveling to other universes may prove to be just the right project to give him that distraction.

A distraction did come to him, just in the form he didn’t expect. Carmen’s waterbottle was clear glass, yet the liquid had the absolute faintest blue glow, easily missed by casual glances. Perhaps 079 was right with his perception. He just needed more proof. He slinked off towards Carmen’s office as she laughed and had happy conversations with the others. She opened the scroll and showed the others. “Lets see what this thing says.” She laid it out on the table next to the coat box and tilted her head. Everyone gathered around for a view. “Is it supposed to be mostly blank?” The hide was indeed mostly blank, the bottom had a mountain ridge and a river and sporadic spots on the upper part that were either ink or tiny holes burnt through with a few sketch lines dashed in going a single direction. Otherwise it was very blank.
“Perhaps its a type of morse code?” Kiros rubbed his chin, Asta shook her head, “No, that was invented in the Amareicas in the 1830’s. And its not cuneiform.. the holes almost look like star alignments yet I dont recognize the placements but the other dots aren’t stars.” Carmen looked up and saw that M wasn’t there. She excused herself and went to search for him, finding him in her office, searching drawers and shelves.
“M, what’s going on? You’ve barely been around and more moody than usual since working on the chronoskimmer.” She inquired, setting her bottle on her desk as he was searching underneath for hidden compartments. He peeked up with a glare and his eyes darted to the water bottle and back to her, “Nice, acting stupid and oblivious right to my fuckin face.” Carmen furrowed her brow and lowered her ears, “Excuse me? But I have absolutely no idea what the hell you are going on about and I deserve an explanation for your behavior!” He stands and leans on the desk between them and whips the bottle across the room, smashing it against the wall. “THAT is what is going on. You have been way too easy going when it comes to your own safety, your cycles have been more intense, your pain tolerance is way too fucking high for a normal fucking pony, and your water always has a familiar blue glow to it. You’ve been fucking microdosing that fucking zydrate this whole fucking time! Now tell me where the rest of it is so I can fucking destroy it, you fucking junkhead!” She snarled at him and slapped his face to which he snapped his hand out and gripped her hair, slamming her head to the desk, “Don’t you FUCKING act all offended. Now I don’t give a fuck what withdrawal you suffer. Tonight you get clean for good and you never get high again. If you don’t listen to me out of fuckin fear, then at least do the fuckin curtesy of telling my brother that your so called happiness is a fucking lie. Fuck knows he deserves to hear the fuckin truth.” He growled as she struggled against his grip on her head as he held her down. “I will NOT let you go down a drug bender and do something you fucking regret!” She blinks and stops struggling for a moment, “What did you say?” She asked. His voice had a hint of unusual worry that she had caught. “I said I will not let you..”
“Yeah I heard that but you sound like you know something I dont..” He lets her up and avoids looking at her both out of fury and confrontation. “I’m not telling you. You are not supposed to know.”
She rubbed her head and walked around the desk, gripping his arm to turn him towards her, “Fuck that, you don’t get to assault me, accuse me of being a brainless addict AND withhold important information from me! Now tell me what you know!” He growls and grips both her arms, squeezing one of the deep cuts by accident, making her yelp. “I FUCKING CAN’T.”
“Why the hell not?!”
“Because I don’t know what fucking causes it!”
“It can’t be that bad. We’ve dealt with pretty bad shit.”
He shakes her a bit, “I saw you fucking die, okay?! It’s that fucking bad!”
The color drains from her face and she steps back from his grip. “When.. how?”
He sighs and puts one hand on his hip, the other running through his hair stressfully. “Three years, shot in Times Square.”
She let the information sink in, both hands on her hips, looking at the floor. She sighs and nods after a few silent moments, “Okay. Luckily the future is not set in stone. Let’s ban Times Square from our destinations. I’ll secure those guns my sister gave as a gift into the vault, far back so its hard to get them. And I really wish you didn’t smash my water. That was the last of the zydrate I had and boy, I could sure use some after that bomb you just dropped.” She looked at him, all coldly somber and turned to walk out of her office and back to the rest of the team. “We need your help to crack the riddle on that hide we brought back. Clean up your mess and join us when you’re done. I’m going to ice this bump on my head now and pour myself a stiff drink.”

Chapter 19: The World Will always Need a Good Librarian

Weeks go by and the most progress Carmen and the others had gotten is that the holes do form a star alignment. M had held it up and the light shone through onto a table. “Thats why! It was backwards! I recognize this constellation now! But that doesn’t really tell us where this is. These stars can be seen all around.” Asta exclaimed, looking at a digital map and globe. Carmen peered over Asta’s shoulder to look. “But technically there are places where they are not. See? It never crosses over these few places. So it narrows our search, marginally but it still helps. And these lines look like a meteor shower. If we can figure out which one, that narrows it down further!”
Blendin had visited that day, he was seen swiveling back and forth on the kitchen barstool he brought in so he could watch. “Hey Mom? Can that light be dimmed a bit? The scroll looks a bit textured. Kinda looks like a map itself with the different thicknesses making shadows.” Their attention suddenly went to the light against the scroll and not what shined through on the table. Kiros adjusted the light as M kept hold of the hide. With the adjustment, more shadows formed to what did look like a near 3D render of a topography map. The inked dots lined up with where cities or villages may be. “Clever boy! I didn’t even notice that! Thats perfect! Now these locations may not exist any more but land mass may not have changed as much. Let’s get this matched up!” Carmen grinned excitedly as Blendin kicked his legs happily.
He found that he liked hanging out with the Agents when they weren’t all about being criminals. He still felt a moral divide with the fact his family was pretty much a non murderous mafia, in his opinion. He didn’t know if they collected protection money or threatened to steal things if demands were not met but seeing his mom surrounded by walking apocalypses, by his technical terms, that was all he could imagine. Outside crime, he liked everyone, save for M. Then again M was not the most open to friendships to most people. Blendin found him a bit more abrasive than everyone else. “Can I get a snack, Mom?” Carmen smiled and one arm hugged him, barely tall enough to kiss the top of his head, “Of course you can. You remember the way to the kitchen, right?” Blendin nodded and scampered out towards the snacks. “The kid has a good idea, how about we break for now and pick this up after a bit of a refresher? We have been at this for quite a while and my eyes are ready to bug out of my head.” Kiros chuckled. Drake and Vasha agreed and seemed to have already grabbed a couple of alcoholic drinks.
Blendin opened the fridge and poked around a bit, grabbing some starfruit and blueberries. Wally sat up from reading a book at the kitchen island, “Hey there Kiddo. I think you are like the first kid I’ve seen that doesnt go straight for junkfood.” Blendin sat opposite of Wally and popped a few berries into his mouth. “Eh, I just dont like junkfood. I’m a vegetarian so this naturally tastes better than greasy chips or candybars. I mean I like them as a treat but if theres fruit, I’ll take that first over junk.” Blendin shrugs, peering over to his dad’s book, “Whatcha reading?” Wally smiled and lifted the cover, “I’m catching up on your sister’s novels. This is just the first book. She seems to have a lot of fun if all this is true. I’m sure she embellishes some for the excitement of the reader but overall its fascinating!” Blendin nods, scrolling on his phone, “Yeah she takes her work pretty seriously. I mean we hang out sometimes but she’s either prattling on about work or complaining about something. I think she’s going into an emo or angry phase. She’s just so tempermental.” Wally thought a moment, “And she’s two or three years older than you.. oh I see. Mare issues. She’s probably inheriting her mom’s cycles. Moody and needy for companionship, and your mom’s can get pretty intense. Speaking of, hey Lekir! You all on a break or something?” Lekir was walking in with Asta, “Yeah we’re done for the day. Ninoga and Kiros are keeping Carm busy… its gonna be a while, the pirates are enjoying the show. Bug boy is brooding somewhere trying to find eye bleach again.” She reached over and stole a piece of Blendin’s starfruit with a wink, much to his protest. “Hey! I had plans for that!”
“You snooze, you lose, bud. There’s more in the fridge!” She called back as she followed Asta to their room. Wally laughed as Blendin pouted. “Were you looking for special treatment? You’re one of the family. They all pick on each other in a loving way.” Wally smiled, turning the page to his book. “Dad, does Mom ever hurt anyone or threaten people?” Blendin asked hesitantly, Wally looked up at the ceiling a moment before shrugging and shaking his head, “I don’t believe so. If she did, it would be unintentional. She would rather strike without warning but keep everyone alive and safe. I’ve heard people call her the thief with a heart of gold.” Blendin smiled, “So she’s not a mob boss?” Wally laughed, “She may have a crime family but she’s no mob boss. I swear she wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“Don’t be too fuckin sure on that, she can have a mean right hook and a stinging slap when she wants.” M sauntered in and looked into the fridge, taking out a tupperware of odd looking dried meat. He leaned on the countertop and he gnawed on a piece. “Haven’t you and Mom been at each other’s throats since she came back from Siberia?” Blendin asked, trying to ignore the meat. M chuckled, “Don’t worry yer little twink head. We have our disagreements but she can’t resist my illustrious charm all the time.” Wally actually cackled, “Oh she can resist alright. Like full body shivers of disgust some days!!” Blendin frowned and asked, “Whats a twink?”
M pulled on the colt’s hoodie strings, making the hood cinch up around Blendin’s muzzle. “You’ll find out when yer older. Nothin to waste time worryin about right now.” He continued to chew on the dried meat for a bit more. “But yeh, she and I will be fine. Nothin ta worry about. She and I are dealing with a bit of a heavy side subject and tryin ta figure out how to fuckin deal with it before lettin anyone else in on it, to keep it from gettin too fuckin complicated. Ya know?” M picked out a piece of wood from his teeth and threw it in the trash.
Wally put his chin in his hand as he leaned on his elbow, “Does it perchance have to deal with that hunk of junk in your mech lab?” M waggled a piece of meat at his brother, “079 is not a hunk of junk, its just a self centered prick that has this attachment to Kiros for some forsaken reason.” Wally sipped his can of soda-pop. “I thought 079 is a nice ai. Its always nice to me, in a no nonsense way.” Blendin sighs, “I wish Mom would let me see the ai but she doesn’t think I’m old enough yet.” M roughly patted his back, “Probably for the best with how it is. It aint the easiest thing to get to know. And its also fer security reasons. She don’t let yer dad in there all the time either, just when he happens to be by her fuckin side does he get a chance to talk with it.”
“I dunno, it seems to be quite friendly to me. We always have a good time chatting.” Kiros chuckled, walking past, with a happy yet disheveled looking Carmen over his shoulder. Ninoga was following behind, “If you need us, we’ll be in the dungeon!” M drooped his shoulders, growling “Didja at least fuckin clean up in there?! I ain’t yer fuckin janitor!!” Carmen smirked as she hung over Kiros’s shoulder, she held up a middle finger and blew a sarcastic kiss to M just to rile him up even more, his insect chitter growing louder as he clenched his fists. “Mom has a dungeon? Like a brig or jail? Why would they be going there?? Did she do something wrong?” Wally and M both look at each other, M cackled loudly as Wally winces embarrassingly, rubbing the back of his neck, “Son, there are things that grown ups see as fun while kids like you find as punishments…” Blendin raises an eyebrow and glances over to M who had then started choking on his own spit from laughing so hard, punching his own chest to clear it up. “Like taxes?” Wally puts his hands together and to his lips as if to pray, and deeply inhales, “Nnnnnot quite. You see.. when a mare and a stallion like eachother alot..” Blendin slow blinks, “Mom and Lekir like eachother alot too. Just say its a mating thing. I’ll find out eventually.” Wally looked so relieved, “Oh thank Celestia. I thought I was going to need to give you the birds and bees talk.” Blendin shook his head, “I know biology but the details and subcategories haven’t been taught to me yet.” M catching his breath, still chuckling, leans on the kitchen island, “So you know what fucking is but don’t know the different combos that can be used in fucking. Got it. Hang around here, you’ll catch on quick.”

“She has a WHAT?! My stars.. they’re all just a bunch of criminal degenerates.. As your elder sibling, I forbid you from cavorting with the likes of them! What kind of role model is proud of being a sex crazed cat burglar?! I mean her last caper didn’t even make sense! A rusted box that she just went to destroy?! Is she going to destroy anything else?!” The young golden yellow pegasus paced around, screaming into her phone at her younger brother Blendin. She was just reaching her 18th birthday soon and she was almost free of possibly being in a criminal’s custody. She brushed her hair, the different dark silver and grey shades almost sparkled with just having been washed. “But I’ve spent time with her, she’s a good person! She actually cares about us!” Blendin’s voice came through the speaker as Daring still got ready for the day. “It may seem like that now but I promise you, she’s up to no good! She wants to use you and your Library knowledge to get your artifacts! Don’t freakin trust her or her goons! The sooner you cut ties, the better!” She huffs, glancing at the half opened box with an obsidian dragon in her closet and shuts the door. “Dare, she is really not that bad! She has fed me, shown me a lot of what you would consider secrets, even flown in her jet! I’ve seen her be protective! Even Dad vouches for her!” Blendin goes on as she sighs, “Blen, no. Don’t even count Dad into this. He hasn’t been there either for us, I can excuse the amnesia bit but he’s still too love blind to see what she’s doing to us! And she’s trying to blind you with shiny things to gain your trust into handing the entire Library to her! Why else would she stick us into these places if not to try to use us for easy access?!” She rubs her forehead, her feathers ruffled, “Blen, we have gone over this so many times! You’re just too young and naive to understand! I’ve been out in the world, you’re just starting to see it. Get more exposure of the real world without HER and then see what you’re being blind to.”
Blendin sniffles a bit, “I really hope you are dead wrong about her! She never puts me down like you do! She’s called me brilliant and clever! You just complain I’m too young and stupid! I know I’m not a prodigy explorer like you but you don’t have to treat me like that!” Daring winces, “Bro, I didnt mean it like that, you know that! I’m trying to protect you! You’re the only family I have!” Blendin sniffles a little more, “If you just give her a chance, you can have more than just me for family! You don’t have to do it all alone! You’re the one pushing away!” Daring snapped, “Its not that simple, okay?! Its not all happiness and rainbows! I’m sorry if I call you stupid but things like this you should be more smart with! Its not all found in books!” There was silence on the other end for a little while, “I… I think I better go, let you calm down a bit. I’ll talk to you later, Dare.” The phone clicked as the call disconnected. Daring threw her phone into her small mountain of pillows on her bed and sat at her little desk by her window, her typewriter sitting with a half page already written. She pushed it aside a little bit and set some books down, opening one to a page about legendary golden eggs of Babylon.

Blendin hung up the phone and sighed, looking at his dorm ceiling. He just didnt understand why Daring just didnt want to try getting to know her family more. Other than the stealing, he didn’t see what was so bad. He didn’t condone his mother’s crime sprees, but he saw that she was a good person over all.
A knock came from his door, a messenger handed him a letter when he answered, “The Keeper is giving you an assignment. Do your research and be prepared to depart by the date stated inside. Its your first one, Congrats, young Librarian!” Blendin beamed and thanked the messenger, closing the door before jumping around cheering. “I gotta tell Daring!.. I gotta tell Mom and Dad!!” He stopped and repeated as if just realizing for the first time, “I get to tell Mom and Dad..” he grinned and ran out of his room to the Ley travel doors, letter in hand. In the letter was his permit to use the doors to his needs.

At VILE HQ, Carmen and Lekir were just finishing up a sparring session for close combat. They had the sparring room littered with various padded objects like an obstacle course to simulate a crowded area. Carmen was more of the quick jab kickboxing type while Lekir preferred a more graceful tai chi approach. Carmen tried her stronger right hook as Lekir brushed it off and deflected, hooking her arm around and locking it, twisting and flung Carmen onto her back, hitting the ground with a grunt. The two girls breathed hard and took a break, laughing. Lekir grabbed Carmen’s hand and helped her to her feet as Blendin applauded, he had just seen the last bit of the fight and was highly entertained. “Hey Kiddo. Like how I just owned your mom?” Lekir laughed as Carmen punched her arm playfully, “Oh So you owned me? I’ll get you back for that.” Lekir raised an eyebrow and licked her muzzle hungrily, “Oh I’m sure you can try, but you know I dominate not only here but-“ Carmen laughs nervously and cuts her off, “So! What brings you around here unannounced, you usually give a heads up. Not that I mind, I just thought thats what you prefer.” Blendin bounced and holds up his letter, “I wanted to surprise you. I got my first assignment out into the world!! Its not for another six months or so but I need to do my research during the waiting period. I think its due to the location only being available during certain times. But I got in!! I’m a full Librarian now!” Carmen and Lekir both cheer as Carmen hugs him tight, “Oh my heavens! That is amazing!! Congratulations!! This is so wonderful!!” Lekir thought a moment, “We should celebrate with something special.. I know! Lets bring him to someplace authentic! Like Mexico or Italy! Where do you wanna go, Squirt?” Blendin adjusted his glasses, “Um.. I always wanted to try Korean HotPot.. their vegetables look so yummy there!” Carmen smiles, “South Korea it is! I think I know a good place in Seoul that you’ll love!” Blendin smiled, “Is it ok if I bring my best friend? He’s a Librarian too. He’s a mythical sphinx with Egyptian and Sumerian parents.” Carmen nodded, “Sure! The more the merrier! Tell you what, go get your friend and meet us back here in about an hour. And we’ll go get things set up with reservations. Ok?” Blendin nodded and grins, bouncing off back to his door portal. Lekir hangs her arm around Carmen’s shoulders, “You know you basically gave that boy a reason to ask his friend on a date, right?” Carmen chuckled knowingly. “I had a feeling, but I think he can handle it. He’s old enough to start figuring things out himself now. And what better way to test the waters than with some good news and good food?”

An hour later the front door glowed blue and Blendin peeked in and helped a young blindfolded winged feline across the threshhold. Blendin closed the door behind them and took off the blindfold, “Tahdah!! Look at this place! Isn’t it huge?!” The feline blinked and looked around, “Wow, its actually kinda modest. I was expecting a ginormous palace or something. Just reminds me of one of the big rich houses on old sitcoms, just modern.” Blendin grins and holds his hands in front of him, “Ok so… I know I said I wanted you to come with me for dinner, this isnt the restaurant. My parents and her group is joining us to celebrate. They offered to cover dinner and travel.” The Sphinx tilted his head, “I was gonna say, this place doesnt look like a hotpot place…. Holy shitake.. is that a demon?!… And a dragon?? TWO DRAGONS?! Dude… who the hell are your parents?!” He retreated behind the teal colt as he saw the VILE Agents start to heads toward the foyer in some of their nicer outfits. Carmen and Waldo walked out, she in a red and black blouse and pencil skirt and he was in his usual striped sweater and jeans. “Mom, Dad, Agents, this is Ty, my best friend. Ty, this is my family. Carmen Pondiego, Waldo Wander and the VILE Agents.” Blendin introduced everyone as Ty was still wide eyed. “Dude… you ARE aware your family is like… wanted in every country for grand theft, right?” Carmen chuckles and offers her hand to shake, “Ty, its a pleasure to meet you! We may be thieves but we’re probably the nicest and most honest thieves you’ll know.” Ty nervously shakes her hand as Blendin bounced, “So where’s the hotpot??” M tapped his wrist watch a bit. “Let’s see, its about 3am in Seoul. Lets speed that fuckin day up to say… 2pm? Was that the reservation?” Carmen looked at her phone, “Yep that should be right. Got the chronoskimmer warmed up?”
“Up and fuckin ready to roll.”
“Sounds good, ok kids, into the mech lab and load yourselves into the van.”
M rolled his eyes, “Its not a fuckin van, its just a pod, like an elevator. Its not that fancy yet. Not like a fuckin Delorean.”

Once everyone entered the mech lab, the roughly made multifaceted pod stood in the corner, just large enough to hold the entire group. M opened the tall hatch door letting everyone file in as he finalizes the destination and time. 079 looked less than thrilled. “Great, the circus is in town and the clowns are getting into their car..have a good show, dont get pie all over my consoles.” M flipped it off with his middle finger, “I’d offer you to come along but I ain’t gonna even miss ya, pixelbreath.” 079 sighed, “Oh please, do hesitate to call if you need me, rude one. I won’t be waiting up.”
With a flash, the group finds themselves in an empty alley near their venue in Seoul, South Korea, a few minutes before 2pm. The two young boys were looking at their phone clocks and looking around, “This is so lit! Its supposed to be in the middle of the night here!!” Ty exclaimed, Blendin looking at the sky and back to his phone, and over to M, “Uncle M, you did it! You actually made us go through time! This is amazing! Mom, after hotpot, can we go shopping?!” Ty’s face lit up, “Hey yeah! We could get some Korean manga and gachapon!” Blendin grinned excitedly, “Do you think they have the new anime figures out yet?! You know how Korea gets things way sooner than we do!” The two teens huddled together to excitedly discuss their current anime hyper-fixations, Lekir and Kiros gently nudged and herded them towards the restaurant. Carmen met the hostess with a bow and spoke Korean to her, explaining her reservation. The hostess was surprised and pleased, requesting them to follow her to their reserved dining room. As they were seated, they were presented with drinks and menus, the table having two heating plates and one large grill in the center. They were instructed how to use everything and how to cook everything. Within moments, the food and broths were served and the group feasted and cooked the foods.
There were laughters and conversations between them all, even Ty was warming up to everyone, asking some curious questions about different strengths and powers, while Blendin was trying to explain his first assignment to his parents, asking for pointers on how to prepare for it. What they found was that his assignment was very similar to the duck hunt they were on. Blendin got worried that both missions may disrupt eachother. Carmen put her hand on his and smiled, “Hey, don’t worry. We will figure something out one way or another. We’re looking for a duck and some regular eggs, you’re looking for some golden eggs. They seem to be from the same region so we can collaborate as much as we can without interfering with your Library mission. I just wish your sister was here to celebrate.” Blendin rubbed the back of his neck, “Yeah, about that. She refuses to be in the same room as you. She tried to forbid me from even seeing you. She doesn’t get it. She doesn’t see what a good person you are. She’s more furious with you than dad, she just thinks he had amnesia and that you blinded him with love for your own gain. And she thinks that you are trying to blind me with good parenting just so you can get into the Library.” Carmen and Wally chuckle, “I have thought about hitting the Library a long long time ago but with their security and what they do to help protect the world, I’d rather save the library from other thieves rather than steal from it myself. I have too much respect for it and the Warehouse. Which is why I sent you kids there. I knew they would raise and educate you two the best way that I couldnt. I’m still trying to figure out what happened. I didnt feel like it was a safe environment for some young foals. We had to move the mansion around more than once because of some close calls but where its at now is the safest place we have. And you two are old enough to technically take care of yourselves. I just want to be a part of your lives before mine is over.” Carmen sneaks a glance at M who looks back at her then look away and busies himself with drinking nearly a whole pint of ale.
Blendin smiles and uses his chopsticks to grab some mushrooms from the grill and sets them on his plate with some daikon glazed with sauce. “We got a long time for that! I’m not even 18 yet! And unicorns technically would have a pretty good lifespan compared to other ponies. Not by much but a good few years longer. It might be due to their magic. How come I don’t see you use your magic, Mom? You always do it all the manual way.” Carmen sputters her drink a little, not expecting the subject. “Uum.. well. I was born with a bit of a handicap that got worse with the issue of a past trauma I had to deal with when you were an infant.” She clears her throat, realizing she hasnt spoken about it in years. “Let’s just say I’m unable to use magic without the attempt putting me into a coma. But you can! I’m so glad you can use your magic!” Blendin smiles but felt guilty for bringing it up due to her reaction, “I’m sorry, I didnt know.” Wally patted his back, “Hey, thats why you asked. You didnt know and thats ok. Its good to ask. Some people may not be ready to answer and they will let you know the best way they can. Ok? Nothing to be sorry about.” Blendin nodded, looking over to Ty. “I think I have one more question but I’ll need to wait for the right time for that.” Carmen smirks, “Take all the time you need, theres no rush. Especially when it comes to love.” Blendin looks at his mother, and blushes with a smile when she winks back, sipping her wine.

Chapter 20: This Chapter is a Bit Heavy, Can I Get a Hand?

During the six months, Blendin and his mother’s team worked hard gathering all the information they could find on both targets. The last month started out fine, Carmen and her crew had the chance first to grab the duck, which turned out to be an Agate duck shaped weight that was found in a collapsed Aqueduct right outside of Babylon. On the bottom was inscribed of the proper place this duck should be to gain access to the egg with the needle. Blendin’s research landed him in an old temple in Babylon’s center square, deep underground. Carmen’s research on the duck pinpointed her in the same temple. Blendin and Carmen looked at each other as they both came to the realization about the same moment. “Looks like we’re going on a Mother-son business trip!” She chuckles, ruffling his hair a bit.
“There’s gonna be a small fuckin hiccup, Red.” Carmen looked up to see M packing some things to his room, sniffling a little, his nose looking a hint red. Carmen quickly looked at the calendar and drooped a little bit, “Its hitting you already?! This is the earliest its been!” M shrugged, “Thats what happens with feckin commercialism hyping everything up so damn early. Feckin holiday joy buildup. January’s hangover is going to suck sooo much balls of sugarplum-“ he clapped a hand over his mouth and growled in frustration. Blendin raised an eyebrow as even his tentacles looked faintly striped with a very light hint of red. M sighed and opened his mouth to say something but got interrupted with a sneeze, one that shot tinsel and red and green glitter in a small burst in front of him. He kept his hand over his muzzle and they could see his eye twitching. “You’ll hafta go on yer own without me, Red. I gotta hole up for the jolly. Call me if its an emergency. I’ll get you as quick as St Nic- as soon as I can.” He caught himself with the words and struggled with his usual verbiage, like he was having trouble speaking normally. He turned and angrily hurried down to his quarters and slammed the door.
Carmen sighed and looked over the roster, putting an x by M’s picture. “Is Uncle M going to be ok? He looked a bit… um.. what was that?” Blendin nudged the fallen tinsel on the ground, it magically evaporating in tiny green flames. Carmen shook her head, “Around this time of year, usually a bit later than this, he gets what is his version of the flu. He is still a changeling so he is sensitive to emotions and feelings. He’s a dark balance type so he can’t digest some of the happy lovey emotions that are going on. So its more of an allergic reaction when he gets overloaded with it, resulting in what we just witnessed and its only going to get worse until the holidays are over.” Carmen leans closer, “You don’t want to be in a humbug mood alone with him at peak jolly. Either you will go crazy or one of you will emerge alive and it will be him.” Blendin gulped, but Carmen snickers, patting his back. “I’m kidding, its not that bad. You’ll just go crazy for a short time. I recommend a good sound cancelling headset. He’s like a concentrated condensed version of the winter holidays embodied into a person.” Blendin narrows his eyes, “So he becomes extreme Buddy the elf instead of biker asshole?” Carmen shrugs, nodding “Thats pretty accurate.”
Lekir sprinted in, “I saw the roster! Did I miss it? Did he go jolly?!” Carmen looked at her and motioned to Blendin who looked both horrified and concerned. Lekir laughed and slapped her knee, “I knew it! I fuckin KNEW it! Asta! You owe me fifty bits! He went jolly!” She called out to the other room, Asta’s voice called back “Sonovabitch! He wasn’t due for another two weeks!” Blendin gave his mom a dead stare as she chuckled, rubbing the back of her head, “Really, Ma? Gambling on my Uncle’s handicap? Can you at least give me a heads up so I can join in the pool?!” Carmen and Lekir both blinked, Lekir laughing, “I knew I liked this kid!! Lets hope the other one is as fun!”
The final preps were checked and the equipment loaded onto the jet. Carmen donned her new red coat which she had saved to wear on her next heist, and gave Wally a kiss goodbye since he was staying behind with Asta and Ninoga. Drake and Vasha played rock paper scissors for the other single spot on the roster, to which Vasha had won. The temple had very little space so Carmen figured a smaller team should suffice for this. Carmen, Lekir, Kiros and Vasha loaded up, as Blendin climbed in and took his seat. Soon they were in Babylon, using the hide scroll and modern topography, they pinpointed the best landing spot for the terrain.
They exit out of the jet and start to enter the temple, turning on their large travel lamps for the darker areas. One of the doors were sealed and had inscriptions on it, Carmen was reading it off the best she could as Blendin was looking through a book for a translation. Half way through, a voice shot through the rest of the quiet, “What in Celestia’s good name are you doing here?!” Carmen squinted through the dim lighting and shined her light at the voice, Darings furious face glaring right back. “Oh! Hi sis!! Are you here to collect the eggs too??” Blendin beamed, “I got my first assignment and Mom is helping-“ “I know why you’re here, but what the hell is SHE doing here?! She is trying to get those eggs and leave you here! Come on, I know a shortcut to the vault room. You’re coming with me, we can beat her to them.” Carmen, kneeling on the ground, reached out to Daring, “Adora.. please. Look how much you’ve grown! Can I just talk with you? After all this time?” Blendin pulled away as Daring tried to pull at his hoodie. “No, Dare, I’m staying right here. We’re trying to save Dad too. She doesn’t want the gold eggs.” Carmen nods, “Its true, you can have all the gold eggs you need. I just need the normal one with a needle inside! Your father is very sick and this is a component for the cure! Please. Join us, we can do this together like a family..”
Daring huffed, “I’m not falling for that! You abandoned us and you became such a criminal! I can’t trust you with anything you say! I’m going my way, and I WILL get those eggs before you can get your filthy criminal hands on them!” The three agents started in with a defense but Carmen raised a hand, “Thank you but she needs to hear from her mother.. I owe her that much and more.” She turned towards Daring and blinked, her daughter no where in sight “Adora?!” Kiros pointed, “She went down this way! We haven’t disabled any of the traps that way!”
Carmen curses and runs after her, “Adora wait!! Theres traps down there!” Vasha stayed with Blendin as Kiros and Lekir chased after Carmen and Daring. “Let’s get this door unlocked while they deal with that..” Vasha instructed, picking up where Carmen had left off, Blendin nodding and translating and taking notes. Carmen raced down the corridor and saw Daring pause before a chamber, her hoof about to set off a pressure trap. She turned to see Carmen and stepped on the tile, sending arrows and blades whipping at her. Carmen tackled her to the ground and covered Daring with her body, protecting her from some of the lower blade just grazing her back and shoulders. Trembling and breathing hard, Carmen looked down at the terrified gaze of her daughter, and smiled, holding her tight, “Oh my Adora, you’re safe! I got you.” Daring blinked as she was startled and squirmed, “Get off of me, you crazy mare! Look what you did to your back!” Carmen felt her eyes sting with tears, “I’d suffer so much more than I already have just to see you safe. I’d do this hundreds of times over if it meant that you would not get hurt.”
She left Daring up and winced at the cuts, Daring hesitant to say anything as she dusted herself off, “You really didnt want me hurt by the trap, and you really risked yourself for me? Whats the catch?” Carmen smiled through her tears, “I just want to be your mom again. I want to be in your life, I didn’t want to give you up but I had no choice. I want us to be a family again. Thats all I ever wanted.” Kiros and Lekir caught up with them, Lekir sending ice through the walls’ chambers where more weapons were set to strike once a trigger was pulled. “Remaining traps in this chamber are disabled. How do you want to proceed, Carm? Go back to Vasha and Blendin or continue this direction?” Kiros grimaced as he saw her back scored like it was, but it could have been much worse. “Maybe we should go back and patch you up first before moving forward.” Carmen hesitates a moment and nods, “Go on back to Vasha and Blendin, take Adora with you, make sure she’s safe. I just need to take a drink of water and I’ll be right there.”
As soon as they turned to leave, she grabbed her canteen and poured the last few drops of zydrate she had stashed behind into the canteen, tossing the vial down a chute where an arrow had launched from. Swirling the water, she took a swig, feeling the pain relieving euphoria just enough to get her through the pain. She has been clean off of it for months now but this seemed like a dire situation. She promised herself not to go looking for any more after this. She owed her family her true happiness, not a medicated one. She followed quickly along and caught up with everyone. They paused at the door they were translating and bandaged Carmen’s back. Kiros leaning close and sniffing her scent for a moment. “Thats strange, I smell a scent on you that I havent smelled in months. Did you take anything with that water?” Carmen nervously laughed, “That must be the pain relief pills, like ibuprofen or something.. I don’t remember the brand. Don’t worry! I feel fine! I barely feel it!” She laughs it off, Kiros raising an eyebrow. “If you say so, Boss.” Once finished, she puts her red coat back on as Blendin puts the translation together, unlocking the combination set into the stone. The door rumbles and is able to swing open with little force. Carmen ruffles his hair again, “So clever!! I’m so proud of you two! Let’s get those eggs!” The enter the chamber where it was a rounded room, old rope was holding weights and heavy stone pillar above a nest of three eggs, two gold, one a pale speckled brown and beige. The nest sat in the center of a shallow pit of water, about knee deep and on one side of the room sat an empty nest connected to the ropes. The group inspected the shallow pool and found pressure points in the floor. Daring whistled, “So the stone will crush the eggs or the person getting the eggs as soon as they enter the water.. unless they have a counter weight in the other nest.” Vasha took out the agate duck weight from her pack and grinned, “Good thing we brought the duck.” She handed it off to Blendin who made sure to be careful where he stepped before setting the duck into the nest gingerly. The group heard a click and a thud. But nothing happened. “Did it work?” Blendin asked nervously. Carmen adjusted her hat and stepped towards the pool, “One way to find out.” Kiros held her shoulder, “Hey, want me to do it? I can catch the stone if it triggers.” Carmen shakes her head, pointing to the duck, “That has a specific weight counterbalance, I’m more skilled and closer to the weight needed to keep it secure. If Adora flew over and took the eggs, it wouldn’t feel her weight, and it would trigger, if Lekir froze the water, it would be too heavy, as the same for you and Vasha, your size and weight overall can’t do it, and Blendin is still too new to this. I’m not going to endanger him on his first assignment. I’ve done this plenty of times, though not this drastic.. it should be fine.” She assured him and stepped into the pool, a few clicks were heard but nothing else happened. She waded to the nest, motioning for Daring to fly over. “Here, my darling. Take the gold ones first. Your jobs need these.” She hands over the large eggs to her daughter, who carefully puts them in her bag. As she reaches for the normal colored egg, up in the shadows above them was an unseen stranger, they cut the line with a blade at the end of a dark colored umbrella, making the stone pillar shift and fall. Daring saw the flash of the blade and the pillars decent, “MOM!! LOOKOUT!” As Carmen looked up, the pillar crashed down upon her arms, crushing the bones up to the elbow and shattering the egg. The extra weight of the pillar set the pool floor lower, a green slime flooding the waters from now revealed openings, a highly volatile acid begins to eat away at her pants and legs.
Carmen shrieks out in a bloodcurdling volume as she tries to pull away, Lekir immediately freezing her way over to her, with Kiros and Vasha right behind, “Fuck! What the fuck happened?!” Lekir thought quickly, trying to freeze the water and acid away from the mare’s legs. Kiros and Vasha trying to push the stone off of her arms without luck. Vasha snapped her fingers, “Kiros, grab her horn and put her out, Lekir, freeze her elbows and knees, like liquid nitro them! We’re gonna need to break them or she’s a goner! She will hate us but we’ll figure something out, we can’t let her die like this!” Kiros nodded and gripped her horn much to Carmen’s screaming protest, soon she slumped limp and silent with the stone pinning her arms holding her up, Lekir blasts her wife’s arms and legs as cold as as she could make it. Vasha and Kiros taking Carmen by under her shoulders, they pulled, the frozen flesh splintering and shattering apart.
Blendin and Daring holding eachother, with terrified looks on their faces. “Mom?! Is Mom ok?!” They cried out, Blendin sobbing and Daring gripping her own hair trembling. “She really did that.. she put us first anyway.. she really meant it and I was such a jerk! And now she’s in trouble…” The team managed to get her free and lifted her over Kiros’ shoulder and raced to the side away from the acid water. Kiros laid her down as Lekir kept the ends frozen, warm blood still seeping through. Vasha waved her hand, “I need belts! I’m going to make tourniquets! If you got a belt, I need it!” She takes her own and starts tying it tight around a thigh, and does the same for the arms and other leg. Lekir goes over to the siblings, “Hey, I’m gonna need you two to be really brave for me right now. Ok? Blendin, are you able to get one of your door things to connect here to someplace safe nearby? Your mom needs emergency help right away.” Blendin nods and shakily dials in the ley door request.
Daring steps forward, “Is she ok? I need to help her, I need to make up for being a jerk..” Lekir handed her a phone with M’s number pulled up, “Call M and tell him that your mom needs him, jolly or not.” Daring looked confused, “Is Jolly a code word??” Blendin shook his head, “No, its an allergic reaction, you’ll see, just call Uncle M!” Daring shook with fear as the white wolf looking lady stared at her with hard piercing ice blue eyes, and with that frightening stare, Daring felt frozen in place as shock was wearing thin and the panic sets in. The Vesk sighed in frustration and took back the phone with a snap. She dialed and waited. “M. We need you asap. We will send coordinates as soon as we can, there’s been a medical emergency. Its Carmen. You know where I keep the essence? Grab it and bring it with you. We need you to hurry as soon as we find a secure place to settle. Currently on the move now.” She disconnected and took the helm of command. “Blendin! How is that door looking?”
The closest door to them glowed blue, “I got it! Go through the door! I wasn’t able to get much time on it!” Kiros hoisted the unconscious mare on his shoulder again and they all rushed through the blue glow.
On the other side, they ran into what looked to be a makeshift lab and bunker. It had strange equipment that looked both mechanical and medical. As soon as the last one crossed the threshold, the glow dimmed and faded away, leaving the normal door leading to outside. They were met with armed droids training their sights at every vital organ in sight. A voice boomed over the speaker, “Who are you and how did you find this place?” Blendin stammered, trying the phrase he was taught to introduce when questioned, “I..I’m Blendin Wander and I..I’m a Librarian and I just looked for the closest places with medical equipment to our location and used ley lines to transport..” Lekir pulled the kid back behind her “Listen up! We need emergency medical assistance and our transporter lead us here from the needs we plugged into the search. Will you help us?” The drones, looking more like mismatched thrown together scraps upon closer inspection, none less deadly still, whirred in place, the voice “I can see that, it will be expensive. Can you pay?” The two teens pushed back in front, Daring holding Blendin and lifting her sachel, “We have two golden eggs! We were tasked to retrieve them but we will gladly trade them if you save our …mother!!” Daring yelled out shakily. The voice seemed to think it over as it scanned the sachel.
“You hesitated in calling this one mother. What are your motives and who is she to you really?” The voice showing more careful paranoia. Blendin sniffled as he begged “She’s telling the truth! We just reunited with her! Its been really stressful!” Daring cut in, her voice still shaking as she starts crying, “And we had a big fight.. and I said things I didnt mean! And we just dont want her to die! We just got her back! Just please, take the eggs and save our mom!!”
The voice was silent, thinking before speaking. “The children and white wolf stay. You two need to stay by the doors and disarm yourselves from any and all weapons.” Lekir piped up, “Actually I have a task for them if you let them go. We still need to investigate-“ “They will stay in the bunker by the doors. They will not leave until I say so. My assistant Sigryn will accompany the children. I will be right there to asses the damage. Place the damaged one on the gurney there.” The voice cut off Lekir, listing commands as a door opened and a short female dovefox came out and lead the teens to the kitchen with a smile. Soon after a very tall and curvy white ursine with red tipped white hair entered the room, heavy boots clomping as hips and large bosom sway, a hefty bulge was held by the tight pants. The polar and grizzly hybrid looks at each of them with mechanical red eyes, she points with her sleek cybernetic hand to the gurney. “Put her here and back up to the door. You and you look like you can cause trouble and that is not what I’m hungry for today.”
She points to Vasha and Kiros, then looks at Lekir who stood rigid and commanding, harkening back to when she was commander in a war in her home world. “You the leader of this menagerie?” Lekir shook her head, “No Ma’am. I am wife and current second in command. The one injured is our leader. Her right hand man is on his way but was out of commission for the task at hand. Those two are her children. They.. witnessed the accident. As did we.”
The pizzly looked at what remained for the limbs. “You froze the joints and shattered from the weak points. Better than other choices. She lost a lot of blood despite your attempts of cinching the blood-flow off. The ice is only acting as a thickener. Let me patch her up and see what we can do. I’m guessing you’d want me to replace her limbs too?” Lekir nodded, “If thats even possible. We actually do not know how well you work. This is her life, she would not do well if she were reduced to a fraction of herself. She needs to be whole.” The pizzly turned and gathered some things and made a motion towards the door the assistant and the siblings went through, “This will take a while. Have a seat in the kitchen. All of you. But if there is one peep of trouble, I’m turning all of you into paste.”
For hours the group waited as the assistant flitted about back and forth between checking on the kids and helping their host with the task at hand. They noticed both had extremely advanced cybernetic augments, the assistant only had her arms replaced, she said her name was Sigryn. The pizzly on the otherhand looked like only the arms were obviously replaced but even Lekir saw the eyes and possible inner workings would be mechanical as well, she just wasn’t sure how much.

M shifted through a shadow, holding a small jewelry box. His nose was still looking irritated but all of his bandages were gone, and his clothes has a bit of a greener hint to them, he kept his tentacles tucked in and hidden but overall he looked rather unusually well kept and even a hint of sparkle. He looked around and whistled “Talk about rustic living. Looks like a makeshift bunker. Where’s Red?” He figured it was something not too horrible, they’ve gotten out of tough scrapes before. It also didn’t help that the jolly softened his sense of urgency. They all pointed out to the other room but before he could reach the door, a drone zipped into view and aimed its weapon at M who raised his hands in defense, “Are you guys prisoner or something and didnt tell me?! This is easy to overtake!”
“I highly do not recommend that. Skyggja does not like to clean up so much bodily mess after anyone tries and loses.” Sigryn comes in, some blood splatter on her clothes, gloves and apron. M licked his lips as he tasted the air. “That’s Red’s blood.” He turned to Lekir with a bit of a roar, realizing this was much worse than he previously thought, “What happened to Red?!” Lekir growled back, “She almost got killed getting those damned eggs for your damned brother’s cure! We’d still be in that chamber with a dead boss if your nephew weren’t so brilliant! He used his new Librarian skills and got us to the closest place that was medically capable for helping her!” M paced after shoving the box at Lekir. “I should have stayed on mission. I knew something was humbug and now its all gone to Krampus!” He growled and gripped his hair, “And this tinsel tree fudging Jolly is really pepperminting me off! Right to the naughty list!” Lekir held a straight face with years of training as he had his little fit, but the others snickered under their breath. Even Blendin pulled his hoodie over his snout. Only Daring stared at him with utter confusion, “I’m sorry, but who are you?!” M whirled around and saw Daring for the first time. “Hm? Oh. Hey, I know you. Yer the older sister to Cuttlefish here. I’m yer uncle, Waldo’s brother, call me M. We’ll catch up later.” His voice sounded pleasant but the slight undertone of sass revealed that he had much different wording he wanted to say but couldn’t. Daring squints at him, “I heard you were an asshole. Why are you so nice right now?” M runs his hand over his face with a twitching smile. “I… can’t with this. Look. I have a condition where all the holiday happy junk in the world fudges with me so I become more happy against my will. Ok? End of story, back to the matter at hand.” M turned and got caught up to speed with the rest of the team, occasionally sneezing tinsel.
Daring sighed and moved her seat closer to Blendin, moving some cheese across her plate. Blendin nudges her with his shoulder, “Hey, its gonna be ok. If these people are any good, their own work should be a sign of their skill.” Daring pushed her plate away, Blendin snags the cheese from her plate, “I know, but what if they didnt do their own arms? That would be so difficult! Whats worse is that …I dont think it was an accident.” Blendin gulps the food down, “Whatcha mean? Like someone purposely sabotaged it? Mom has been looking into past cases of hers where the heist went south due to freak accidents but it wasn’t Uncle M. Even he was stumped and he’s a master when it comes to making accidents.” Daring sulked, “After everything I did, I doubt they will even listen to me. But the only way to find out is to go back and look at the rope. I mean its possible it just snapped from age but I could have sworn I saw a flash like a blade was caught in the light.” Blendin put his hand on her shoulder, “You need to tell Mom and the team. She’s been investigating this for so long! Its one of the reasons she never came for us. She felt like someone was specifically targeting her. She didnt feel safe to bring kids like us home during that. But now you may have found hard evidence that its not just bad luck!”

The pizzly walked through the doors after a few more hours and pointed to Lekir. “You, white wolf. Come here.” She caught sight of M and narrowed her red mechanical eyes. “I don’t know how you got in but I know your ilk. You do not scare me. If you are under my roof, you play by my rules! No Fucking Mishaps or your friend dies.” M looked around and pointed at himself, “What the sugar cookie did I do?! I just got here and I sure as stocking stuffers don’t remember you..” The pizzly growled a warning and ushered Lekir into the room.
Lekir followed her out to the worklab they were in, Carmen still out cold on the table, her vitals weak but still alive. Dark colored metal and carbon fiber were fitted to her upper arms and mid thigh, the overall design was elegant and hardly any openings by the joints. Almost like her limbs were simply painted. A few faint lights pulsed on the limbs, going in time with her heartbeat. “Is she going to be alright?” Lekir asked. Their host leaned on the table and shrugged, “I did all I could but she lost so much blood already. I can’t get her more stable than this and theres a good chance she may crash during the night. In which case if we lose her, I just take back my equipment, you keep your eggs and unicorn.” Lekir fought back tears as she stood coldly stoic and gripped the box that M had brought. “I do have one thing that may help. I lost my brother but managed to save some of his essence. In my world, one’s essence can be used to save another, extending the life span, possibly giving powers. Usually a specific demon would perform this ritual but I know how it is performed. We’re too short on time and can’t bring them here to do it.” She brushes Carmen’s hair with her hand. “Please allow me to perform a life saving ritual and to honor my wife by sharing my late brother’s essence with her.” The pizzly stepped back, “If it is your beliefs, I will not interfere.”
Lekir took the pendant from the box, and looks at Carmen, “I wish there was a better time for this. But I saved this as a last resort and I can’t lose you now.” She takes a deep breath and starts chanting a spell, piercing the pendant with her claw until the red orange ember essence was free from its prison, a shard piercing her finger. She leaned down and proceeded to bite the mare on her neck, piercing the skin. She continues the spell as she pours the essence into the wound, a drop of her blood mixes in unseen. When the last drop seeps into the wound, a sparkling ember effect waved through Carmen’s body and veins like when a battery touches steel wool, her fur changing from a tan khaki to a darker hue of caramel honey and her hair and tail had shimmered to a pure snow white, her cutie mark of the globe and magnifying glass got more vibrant in color as well. Her vitals suddenly started to improve and both the pizzly and Vesk breathed a sigh of relief. Only then Lekir noticed the small shard in her finger. “Huh, that may explain the hair..” she muttered to herself. She turned and looked up to the pizzly and held out her hand to shake, “Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You have no idea what this means to all of us in there.. um I’m sorry I did not catch your name.” The ursine took the hand and smiled, her mechanical eyes now a warm brown. “Skyggja. And my assistant is Sigryn. Pleasure to be of assistance. She should be waking up soon, I gave her a counter drug to the anesthesia I had given her. We’ll have her moved to a bed so you all can see her.”
Lekir returned to the kitchen and gave the updates, M leaned against the wall, crossing his arms and trying his best to look menacing and serious, but his jolly was still seeping through with a smile and a sparkle in the eyes. “So that box you had me give you made her half you?” Lekir shook her head, “Not me itself. But my late brother. He was a Jirvi, a fire demon. So Carmen is now technically a halfbreed hybrid of the Jirvi blood. Just a drop of mine slipped in and made her hair white like mine. But as soon as she is stable for movement, I want us to depart quickly and politely without any reason for conflict, just remember what Carmen would do in this situation. Blendin, can you lock in the jet’s location and get us a door nearest to that?” The young colt nodded, “I should be able to. The temple was right near by. Maybe a two minute walk from the jet.” Daring raised her hand, “Will I be able to snag a ride with you all? I do want to discuss things with my mother when she’s able to. I wouldn’t feel right if we just parted with how I treated her before all this.” She fidgeted with her fingers, Lekir gave a hint of a smirk. “Fine but no trouble or you’re flying by yourself.”
Skyggja and Sigryn came into the kitchen after they had cleaned up. Skyggja stood with crossed arms and Sigryn was right next to her, though a drastic height difference. The ursine giantess stood a few inches shy of 8ft while the dovefox was a total of 5ft 4. They looked around the group, inspecting all their characteristics more closely. “Now that your companion has been stabilized and the immediate danger has passed. Let me introduce ourselves properly. My name is Skyggja, this is Sigryn. I know she did a light intro in passing but this is our proper one. You are in our bunker. We don’t take too kindly to random strangers entering our home so suddenly and without warning. So please state your full business of being in this vicinity in general and depending what I hear to be true, I will see if I will perceive it as a threat or not.”
M stood up as the right hand but Lekir tapped him out. “Sit down, you are off this mission. I only needed the box. You are in no shape still for this. Do you hear me?” Lekir snapped at him, making him blink and sit without protest. The stress of the whole ordeal had her on edge and still had her reverting to her old wartime self. “We are team VILE, a group of master thieves who work between the laws of good and bad. As our boss, Carmen would say, we’re the most honest thieves you’ll find. I am her wife, Lekir, I am a Vesk from Cador. My team here consists of M, a dark balance changeling, Vasha the Tyranian, and Kiros the Wolfdragon. The kids are Carmen’s. They just reunited with her from being separated for many years. Their names are Blendin and Adora.” The young pegasus filly interjected, “I’m called Daring Do now..” Lekir shot her a stern look that made her squeak and sit still, afraid to move much at all. “Adora is also known as Daring Do..” Lekir added her correction. “As soon as Carmen is able to be ready to leave, we will be out of your home without a trace.” Skyggja raised an eyebrow, “And the reason you are here in the first place?”
Lekir cleared her throat, “Our mission brought us to a nearby temple where the legendary golden eggs were held. Blendin and …Daring both work for respectable jobs that help protect the world. Their assignments were to obtain these eggs. VILE needed the third more ordinary egg in that nest. It contained a needle in which the death of a deathless spirit is trapped inside said needle. We need that needle as leverage to get the cure for Carmen’s husband who has a crystalline disease.” Lekir paused and took a deep breath. “As we were trying to retrieve the last egg, the large stone pillar broke loose and crushed Carmen’s arms, pinning her to the nest’s alter. The pressure plates underneath the pool of water triggered a flood of acid replacing the water which ended up eating away her legs since she couldn’t get away. We made the extremely hard executive decision to freeze her joints and force her limbs free by way of emergency amputation. We tried moving the stone and none of us could budge it. Blendin searched for the nearest location with medical equipment and we locked into this location.”
Blendin and Daring both stood up and held the eggs in offering. “Thank you for helping our mom.” “Thank you. Here, take the golden eggs. We can always say our missions were compromised by an outside treasure poacher. We don’t have any other money with us. Please take these as payment!” Sigryn stepped forward and took the eggs and weighed them, nodding to Skyggja. The pizzly gave a short grunt in acceptance. “Since that is squared away, you are free to leave whenever she is ready. We’ll see how she is feeling after she wakes up to gauge what that timeframe may be. It may be a couple days. You are able to see her now in the meantime.”

The ursine opened the door to the recovery room they had wheeled Carmen into. They filed into the room and checked in on her, the kids racing to the bedside first. Blendin pointed to the new cybernetic arms in wonder while Daring reached to touch her hair. She looks over her shoulder, “Hey, why does she look different? I thought you were just fixing her, not altering everything!” Blendin blinked, “Hey yeah! She had brown hair with just a little grey! Not all white!… she’s not THAT old!” Skyggja frowned with the accusations as Lekir jumped in, snapping “Hey, that was me. I did that to ensure her recovery. Don’t go slinging blame so carelessly. You kids are lucky she’s even alive right now. Now apologize or you both are walking home. No wings, no doors.” The two tried protesting until Lekir shot a cold look at them, they humbly voices their apologies and like scolded cubs, they shuffled to their chairs next to the other side of the bed.
A soft groan came from the sleeping mare, one of her bright green eyes opening slightly, then the other. “Quit shouting, I’ve got such a headache… how much did I drink last night?” She lifted her new arm and rubbed her head without realizing it. “Mmmh.. my arms feel so heavy.. and different.” She blinked the blurriness from her eyes and noticed everyone around her, then noticed the unfamiliar room with the two new people she had never met. She looked at all the monitoring equipment and groaned again, “I swear if I had that stroke that I joked about a while back…” she waved her finger as a threat but stopped as she looked at her own hands. She flexed and turned them, following the panels up the arm and then noticed her fur. She looked under the medical gown she was given at her own chest, her face frowning in confusion. She looked at everyone else again, who they all were watching her eagerly for any reaction just in case they needed to act. She suspiciously checked under the covers to her crotch and noticed her legs. She dropped the covers and pressed her hands together and rested them at her lips.
Sigryn smiled, “Well?” Everyone jumped a little at the sudden question since everything was so silent one could hear a pin drop. “How do you feel?” The dovefox inquired. Carmen nods, trying not to freak out or panic. “I… feel …pretty good? Just groggy.. headache… ROBOT ARMS AND LEGS.” Skyggja nodded, “Yes, to replace the ones you lost. Actually its an upgrade if you ask me. If you want and can afford it, I’ll do my best work on anything else you like. Eyes? Lungs? Heart? And that goes to any of you. If you can pay, I’ll make your augments.” Carmen sucked on her cheek a moment, “Lekir! M! I need quick cliffnotes on what exactly happened because I don’t remember shit past getting the first two eggs. And even that is spotty right now.” Daring sprung to her hooves and got closer, spewing a lot of information in a short amount of time. “The big pillar crushed your arms and acid ate your legs! But it wasn’t a break in the rope! Someone cut it! I saw the shine of a blade near the ceiling! Someone tried to kill you!” Lekir growled from across the bed at Daring, “And you’re just NOW telling us that someone CUT the rope?!” Daring stepped back, “I’m dealing with alot right now for my age! Okay? I’m sorry you had to have whatever trauma you had but this is still fresh for me!”
Carmen rubbed her temple and projected “ALRIGHT. Everyone shut the FUCK up!” Kiros and Vasha, who were quiet this whole time, sat back to watch, knowing that Carmen was feeling more like herself. Sigryn sensed the emotions and offered some popcorn. Carmen took a breath, and tried to think things through with her head still very jumbled. “Now. First of all, Thank you for taking quick action in such an emergency. I respect the decision you made, it was an impossible choice to make and I’m sorry you all had to make that choice. I will now make sure I understand how to use these new limbs to their best potential. I will most likely have a panic attack later over all this but now is not the time. Second, yes Adora should have said something but really, did you expect her not to be traumatized by this and go after the culprit? Go easy on the kids. They’re KIDS. Not soldiers. Not trained assassins or ninjas. They are kids with the training to explore. Not handle traumatizing attempted matricide.” She took a breath and pointed to M, “Thirdly, why are YOU here and not holed up dealing with your condition?” Lekir held her hand up, “Like I was trying to tell the kids: Thats my fault. You were not stable enough to last the night so I did the Jirvi blood ritual to make you half fire demon. It stabilized your vitals, prolonged your life span and… kinda altered your look. I did it to save your life, so Skyggja and Sigryn here didnt waste hours trying to save you just to have you die.”
She gave Carmen a compact mirror. “A drop of my blood got mixed in so you got some of my color there. It looks kinda sexy if you ask me.” Carmen gingerly took the mirror and held it up, gasping at her hair and her more vibrant eye color. “Oooh this will need some getting used to.. I mean, if I wanted to dye my hair, I wouldn’t need to bleach it at least. Oh god.. I’m so much darker too.. like I got a deep tan at the beach!” Kiros chuckled, “I agree with Lekir, it is a sexy contrast.” Carmen puts down the mirror, looking deadpan at Kiros, “I get it, this impromptu makeover has got you all gaga. But I’m not going to fuck any of you until I get used to my new limbs. Now who’s going to help me to the bathroom, I need to pee and I don’t want to use a bedpan.” Skyggja and Sigryn step towards her and help her to her feet, wobbling like a toddler as she tries to get used to the feeling of her new hooves, which she noticed was a brushed gold colored metal. She smirked and thought it was a nice touch. “You really should rest more before trying to stand by yourself.” Skyggja warned, but Carmen waved it off. “I’ll be fine. I just need to get used to it.” Sigryn giggled, “Your team was discussing how stubborn you were at one point. I’m glad I’m not the only one.” Carmen smirked as she slowly made her way out of the room, looking back at them, “Oh they did, did they? I’ll have to pay them back somehow for that compliment.” They made it to the bathroom and let her have her privacy.
When she got back to the bed, they were able to asses that she would be under observation for one more day to make sure nothing rejected. “The damage was pretty extensive but we were able to save most of the limbs to the severed joints. I made the caps so the limbs can lock into place without being loose. I would like to keep in touch to monitor any damage or upgrade needs. But I’d say you’ll be able to go home early tomorrow.” Carmen thanked them both profusely and thought for a moment as she looked around. “Is this a permanent home for you?” Skyggja shook her head, “It is until we need to run again. The ones who made me from feral to what I am now, they hunted me, and I helped Sigryn when she was left for dead on the streets. Once in a while we need to uproot and find a new place to hide out.”
The mare smiled and proposed the idea that she could give them a top floor penthouse and lab all for their needs complete with safety, food and company. “You don’t need to work for me but I will still be able to give you safe permanent haven to do all your work and keep a close eye on your equipment I’m using. You’ll have full access to our computer system and you’ll need to work with 079, an ai of ours who can be rather dry and pretentious, but its the most advanced and intelligent ai on the planet currently. I believe its alive and not just programming so that will be a coworker.” The two biomechanics thought about it and conversed together in private for a lengthy amount of time before giving an answer of approval.

That next morning, Carmen and her team and children had gathered all of their belongings and Blendin set the door to be the closest to the jet. Kiros scooped the mare up in his arms in a bit of a bridal position, and refused to put her down until she was placed safely into the jet and strapped in. She sat sulking as the Wolfdragon patted her head. “I could have done it myself!!” “Sorry boss, Doctor’s orders!” He countered. Blendin offered to stay behind to connect a door from the bunker to the HQ for an easier move for the two newest members of the VILE household. Blendin thought for a moment and pulled Kiros and M aside before they took off in the jet. The jet’s engine roared as he spoke to the two, and they nodded, smiling, ruffling his hair before departing. Carmen smiled as she saw her son getting along well with her agents, she turned as Daring buckled herself in and stared out the window. Now all she’ll need to do is win her daughter over and the family can be whole again.
Everyone boarded the jet, Kiros sitting next to Daring, her feeling such a large dragon type next to her made her feathers puff slightly. The young mare gave him a side glance, and a bit more of a closer glance, trying not to be so obvious. He gave her a side eye as well, seemingly lightly flexing some muscles randomly but it was all a small show for her. He snickered as he caught her blushing and looking away quickly. She snuck another look as her eyes went from wings, biceps, chest, abs, and accidentally landed upon his crotch. Her eyes suddenly were glued to the jet window, her wings puffed even more as he leaned close, "So it looks like you and your mother have similar tastes after all." Daring raises an eyebrow at him "W...what the hell are you talking about? I'm nothing like my mother!" Kiros smirks and taps his snout "My nose says otherwise."
Her face gets red as she tucks her legs closer together. He chuckled at her reaction, getting smacked in the other arm by Vasha, “You’re terrible, don’t tease her like that!” Kiros laughed, “Who's teasing? I'm just stating the truth! Not my fault I'm getting an all you can eat buffet right now from her." The realization of that comment hits Daring, her face turning all the shades of red plus a few that nobody knew existed till now. She remembered a passing conversation about the various agents from Blendin, and how Kiros could sense and feed off lust as well as pheromones. She felt her body and face get scorching hot as she slouched into her seat, hiding her face in her wings, wishing she stayed behind to escape the embarrassment during the long remaining couple hours of the flight.

Chapter 21: No Place Like HQ For the Holidays

Once back at VILE HQ, the jet lands and the team disembarks, M procuring a wheelchair with his shadow powers and strapped Carmen in while he started to hum some carols. The mare sulked having to stay seated and not walking on her own. She did want to get up and about with these new augments so it wouldn’t slow her down. Deep down she knew it was for her own good and health to stay off her legs so they can heal properly within the cybernetic casing. “Can I at least have crutches?!” She had asked before they departed. “What? No! You put pressure on your arms the same way as your legs? You’ll blow the sutures and start bleeding all over my equipment!” She remembers Skyggja scolding her.
Blendin had already opened the double doors for the moving to begin. It didn’t take long for the HQ to be swarmed with flying and crawling drones carrying crates and boxes. Kiros went on ahead to help direct the drones with Skyggja’s help after Carmen explained which parts of the top floor was theirs. Carmen wheeled herself out of the way and into the living room, next to the big screen tv which blipped on by itself, 079’s face showing up rather annoyed. It took one look at Carmen and sighed. “Oh great. One of you is broken. This is why we cant have nice things..” She raised an eyebrow and smirked, “Good to see you too, 079. I’ll be adding two names to our household and they will be setting up a lab upstairs on the penthouse floor, so there may be another computer system connecting to ours. PLEASE behave and cooperate with these new agents. I don’t doubt they will attempt to delete you somehow if you start shit with them.” The ai rolled its eyes. “I’ll highly doubt they can but I suppose I can see what I can do to assist. I make no promises.” Carmen smiles and gives an awkward thumbs up, still getting used to the feel of the augments. “Thats all I ask, just a solid attempt in peaceful coexisting. I’ll even give you more monitors if you wish for around the HQ~” 079 gave a deadpan look with confetti and balloons on the screen. “Hooray. Now I wont have to squeeze into those abhorrent tiny screens on your mobile devices. Some of you really need to clear the phone storage from all that porn..”
Blendin hops over with a tablet to show his mother, “Hey Mom, I had some help with M and Kiros and.. 079? Anyway, we came together and we are working on a present for you! I am trying to share the knowledge of the ley line door travel system to your system so you can do what I do! Now, this stuff is super top secret so I could get in a whole lot of trouble for this if I’m caught BUT Kiros insisted that 079 will keep it under lock and key so no one else can track it! And there may be a way to even hook it up to your time machine! M said he’ll tinker with that later.”
Daring had wandered in and stayed a fair distance away and watched the two discuss the travel system. She scoffed as she saw Carmen get excited and hug Blendin, perhaps a little too tight. She didnt realize the added strength she had due to the new blood and augments, that is until he yelped. Daring was still trying to unfluff her feathers as she watched. She was glad a life wasn’t lost, even if it was one she still didnt trust. Perhaps she could tolerate her mother but she certainly kept her opinions known.
As far as she could tell, her brother had fallen right into his mother’s trap and just handed over the ability to steal everything from under everyone’s noses. There must be some way to stop it all. Her thoughts were jarred to a stop as striped arms suddenly wrapped around her from behind, picking her up and twirling her around, “Adora!!! This is a wonderful surprise!! Welcome home!! Lemme give you a big hug! Rrrrrrrr!” Waldo had snuck up on her in a way he would describe as very dad-like. Daring shrieked and flailed in his grasp, “Let me go! Help!” Carmen turned quickly, hearing the screech and instantly relaxed when she saw Wally try to be silly. “Wally!! Let her go, she’s not in the right mood right now.” He let her go with a playful pout, “Aww alright. I was just excited to see our baby girl again. You grew so tall! Look at you! Pretty soon you’ll fill out and be even more like your mom. She sure did give the attractive and smart genes to you, kids.” Daring huffed and straightened her clothes and tried smoothing out her feathers once again from puffing up “I am NOTHING like her! I may be glad she’s still here but I still think she’s up to no good!” She pointed to her smirking mother.
Wally looked over at Carmen for the first time since she came back and stopped short, worry plastered across his face. “My light! Are you ok? I heard there was an incident but it wasn’t specified how bad! What.. your hair, your arms.. legs.. your color.. what happened?!” Carmen started to explain, then when she heard the words coming from her own mouth, the realization of everything started to hit. Her eyes suddenly were pouring tears, and her new hands shook. She finally had a moment to truly process. She reached up to Wally who knelt down and embraced her so tightly, crying as well, “Please.. my light, please take this as a sign to stop. I know you are trying to help cure me but let’s.. just try to find a doctor or something. You’re risking your life to save mine, the accidents are getting more frequent and more dangerous… I want you to stop stealing. Please.” Carmen wiped her eyes, pulling away as she calmed down, making herself push the panic aside, “I can’t. I still have to try. Its what I’m good at, its what I do. Its not like they’ll accept me back into the detective programs..they’ll just throw me back into that horrible place to forget about me.” Blendin hugs his mom around the neck from behind the wheelchair, nuzzling comfortingly, “We wont let anyone take you or any of your agents away from us! And we’ll find a cure, Right Dad?” Wally smiled a little worriedly, “You said it. Now lets get you cleaned up and settled from that trip, maybe some relaxing time in front of the tv or something..” Carmen scoffed with some tears still brimming her eyes, “Relaxing in front of the tv? So I can get lazy and fat you mean?” She teased, wiping her eyes.
Daring crossed her arms and stood brooding from across the room. Ninoga and Kiros were lifting a heavy piece of furniture through the doorway and had to pass in front of Daring. She caught a glimpse of the muscles on both agents and blushed, looking away. “Excuse us, little snack. Don’t want to squish you.” Kiros chuckled with a low teasing rumble, winking at her. She turned scarlet in the face and hurried over to her family, “Guys, where’s the bathroom?!” Wally pointed just down the hall as Carmen looked at her and then at Kiros having a belly laugh while the young pegasus rushes off. “So THATS why it smells like Teen Spirit on Prom Night in the jet! Kiros! You are a scoundrel!”
Kiros shrugged as he held the furniture while Ninoga was pivoting, “I didn’t do a damn thing but I know you wouldn’t have me any other way!” He grinned, now on the move to set the furniture to its proper place. Lekir set a box down, which was picked up by a crawling drone and scuttled off, the vesk stepping out of its way with a bit of a gruff. “Its already like an infestation of these drones, you sure you wanna bring them here?” Carmen nodded, “I can tell this is the break they needed, just like they gave us a break. We have the room and they can be very helpful to us.” Lekir crouched beside her as Wally was busy looking through the tv channels. “How are you feeling? Any pain or anything?” She brushed her fingers through Carmen’s hair as Carmen put on a smile, “I feel great, I cant wait to try to get back on my feet. Wally wants me to relax… and to stop thieving.”
They look over to Wally who had been channel surfing and was currently dancing to some up beat music, occasionally singing along, before changing the channel again, “Mum!….Dad!…..Bingo!…..BLUEY! Man, Kid shows are so fun these days!… Ooooh baking competition! Thats not a cake!!… IT IS A CAKE!! Blendin! Are you seeing this?!” Lekir dropped her face to deadpan, “You? Stop thieving? Heh, thats not going to happen, is it?” She watches Wally pretty much jostle his son in excitement of a purse being sliced and revealing cake. “I will never be able to fathom what you see in him..” She stands up, her hands on her hips. Carmen smiles, “I dunno, he makes me laugh like theres not a care in the world.”
That night, after all the moving had calmed down, they all gathered around the dining room table. A couple stacks of pizza were on the kitchen island nearby, half already emptied. Carmen looked around as they all chattered, dishes and cups clinking, and all she could think about was that she had spent so much time trying to get to this point. But she found it was all worth it. She finally had connections with her family and made new family along the journey. She actually felt complete for once in a very long time.

The sounds of the gathering played over a speaker for a few moments more before a hand reached and switched it off. “This does not sound like a funeral dinner, does it?” A lower ranking gentleman in a suit lowered his head, “N-no sir. It does not.” The one in the chair facing him turned, picking up the umbrella that was placed onto the desk between them, inspecting it closely. “What does it sound like to you?” The younger rank, gulped, “A..a happy celebration, sir?” The blade sliced out from the tip and back in with a press of a button. “A happy celebration. Now. Your task was simple. I see no malfunction in your equipment so the failure rests with you. You told me, no. You ASSURED me that you would have this taken care of.” The lower rank stammers, “I made sure she was gravely hurt, at the very least, if she had a big enough injury, she would not continue.. we wouldn’t need to resort to eradicating her..” They look at the expressionless form of their higher rank. “It seems like you have forgotten what we stand for. Therefore, I will rectify your errors and put you on a path of clarity.”They press a few buttons on the console as a swarm of nanites suddenly covered the lower rank for a split moment and then returned to the opening they had come through. The lower rank just collapsing to the floor, all signs of life removed without cause nor damage or anything, as if every bit of life force was simply consumed and destroyed right from the source, without so much of a sound from the victim. Within moments, two workers came in and took the body to the incinerators. They press the intercom, “Send Mali Negatta into the field, we have a holiday gift to give the thief on this naughty list.”
A voice came over the intercom in return, “Hey all, this is Mali, I’m not available right now but I will return to accept any jobs starting in the new year! Otherwise, stop calling. Byieeee” The higher rank sighed and sat back in the chair. “What a christmas miracle. Well, all things come to those who wait..”

Chapter 22: Ex Sex, Demon Blood, and Robot Limbs

The holidays came and went without much issue, took about a week for Carmen to adjust to walking again and even quicker to adjust to her new arms. M had holed himself back into his room for the most part, much to the teen siblings disappointment. They wanted to see how bad his jolly could get. But nonetheless his gifts were set by his door for him to collect. On HearthsWarming morning, the teens came down from their prepared rooms to find that the little humble decor that was previously put up had multiplied tenfold, the tree was almost overloaded with ornaments, a curved fortress wall of presents for every person in that HQ was sitting both under and around the tree, almost as high as the tree itself. Walls had boughs of holly, evergreen, ribbon and poinsettia flowers in a classic red green and gold motif. There were straw grass goats, menorahs, different species figurines caroling, candles of nearly every color that was specific to multiple different holidays. It was like every winter holiday exploded into a single room.
Blendin and Daring’s eyes went huge and their mouths were unable to shut for a very long time, they were so stunned. Carmen had gotten up early to start the massive amount of festive food and blinked as she sipped her coffee, leaning a little on Wally’s walking cane. “Well. That was expected. Looks like M couldnt contain it in his room this year.” The kids looked at her, “M DID THIS?!” Carmen nodded, sipping more coffee. “Mmhm. This is what I was warning you about. This is just the living room. See all this? Embody all this into a single person. Thats what he is dealing with. And he HATES it. Like a song you absolutely hate being stuck in your head only worse.”
Vasha and Drake came through the front door and stopped short, “M got loose? And we missed it??” 079 blipped up on the tv, which was decorated in tinsel garland much to the ai’s annoyance. “Yes, yes, the rude one spent all night like a cartoon whirlwind, I’m surprised no one woke up with the incessant caroling off key.” Soon everyone, other than M respectably, had seen the holiday explosion and marveled at the little personal details for each agent and family member. After a hefty breakfast of meats, waffles, pancakes, french toast and various danish and fruit, they all gathered for gifts. Predictably the kids got the majority of presents since it was their first winter season with family. “There no way we can bring all stuff this back to our dorms…” they both lamented. Asta shrugged, “Why not just split the stuff between here and there? Its not like you don’t have a place to stay right here. You can come and go as you please!” Blendin absolutely loved the idea while Daring was a little more apprehensive. She then noticed everything of hers had a gift receipt, to which Carmen nodded, “To show you that we didnt steal any gifts. I want you to trust us. Our honesty is one of our biggest gifts we have for you.” Daring smiled a bit, still torn. “Everything is so nice, and not just blindly given. All these things are all part of my interests..” she paused and it looked like she was looking for something to be mad about it all. But all she could muster was, “Well, I still think you’re up to something! Quit trying to prove me wrong!” And after muttering a sincere thank you, she proceeded to curl up on the sofa, getting a feel of her new phone and laptop complete with writing programs to make it easier to write and publish her works.
Lekir plopped a bow onto Carmen’s head and joking poked Wally, “Hey Stripes, Happy HearthsWarming, we upgraded your wife! With those augments from Sky and Sig, and the demon essence, she’s no longer a little squishy! She can actually take a hit now!” Carmen thought a moment. “So I got stronger, live longer, my appearance changed and I have fire powers. What about the new fangs and am I supposed to draw heat to make heat? Because I made something cold with one hand and something hot in the other earlier.”
Lekir raised an eyebrow and suddenly got onto the mare’s lap and started sticking her fingers into her muzzle to look at her teeth. “What do you mean cold? What fangs?" She looks closer into her mouth and quickly clasps her hands around her wife's snout, "FUCK! Okay... so good news and... not bad news!" Carmen blinks, confused, “Well you said I was only half demon now. What do you mean not ba- Ow…You mabe me bipe my tonge.. mmh, I hope I’m not venomous or poisonous. Because that would suck about now. Or am I a fire vampire?” Lekir baps her lightly and sits back down, debating about getting a chart and crayons.
“You’re not a fire vampire, you’re an idiot sandwich. But no, You don't inject anything... well you could but don't try it, you could possibly liquefy someone from the inside out or freeze them entirely while removing all the water in their body, essentially freeze drying them.” Carmen narrows her eyes, running her tongue over her teeth, “I dunno if I like that.” Lekir waves it off, “Its not really something you need to worry about, its more a conscious thing like you would need to choose to do it. So first off, don’t bite people. Ok, I told you about the pendant that had my brother's essence, right? My two brothers have different parents, but we each share one, I'll leave out all the details of that, that's not important!” She takes a deep breath and tries to figure out how to simply explain it. “So, back in Cador, my home world, Larquez is what we called a Harbinger. They are a being who has purified blood due to Ketsru blood, demon blood. Instead of it causing mixed bloods to create a lesser of the two parents like in your world, it instead enhances both or more to 100%, meaning you're 100% Jirvi, Ketsru, Vesk and... equine. None of your history is removed, just... more if itself. It's hard to explain, but the title should be a hint. You are much more than you ever were, and likely able to overwhelm me now... which means... WE CAN BE ROUGH WITH YOU!” Carmen squints her eyes suspiciously, “And you got all that from my hand being cold and hot and by looking at my new fangs?”
The Vesk shrugs, “If you were only part Jirvi, fire demon, you would not be able to switch from hot to cold. It would be just fire. And the fangs aren’t a Jirvi trait. But this does mean you can also shapeshift since you are a Cador Harbinger now.”
Carmen scratches her head, “I honestly dont think I’m Harbinger material.. I mean I probably wont use most of what you say I can do.. I’m just a little thief.”
Lekir wags her tail, “A little thief who can fight and win wars and not break when having the most intense sex of her life! I’m sure Ninoga and Kiros are gonna be thankful not to have to treat you like bone china anymore!” Carmen’s face got as red as her blouse, “I dont want to fight in wars or anything like that.. but the sex does sound pretty nice..” Daring exclaims out loud, “Omg! Can we NOT talk about my mom’s sex life?! Its fucking gross!! We are right here! We dont wanna hear about our parents fucking everyone under the sun! Right Blendin?!… Blendin?” Daring turns and sees her brother not even paying any attention as he had new headphones on and was fully engrossed in playing a new handheld video game.
Lekir snickers and pats Carmen on the thigh, “Don’t worry, you’re now able to survive the gravity and atmosphere of Cador, I can bring you there and there’s a few Harbingers there that can teach you how to control your new powers. We can go starting next month if you wish. Maybe take a few weeks off or something. I’ll get to show you around.” Wally grins, “Wow, that is a lot to kinda sink in. So she is technically a main character now, not just the odd one out! Like an anime!!” Blendin looks up, moving his headphones, “Someone say anime??” Daring just gives a slow turn look at him, “You heard THAT but not all the other stuff?!” He blinks, “What other stuff?”

After cleaning up the wrappings and ribbons, there was a modest feast complete with desserts, to which after was the mountain of dishes that took nearly three days to clean completely down to the last fork. Luckily by then all the leftovers were already devoured and enjoyed, the wine cellar had never looked as empty in quite a while.
Soon it was the middle of the first month of the new year, the kids went back to their dorms and M stumbled out of his room all haggard and hungover. The HQ had been cleared of holiday swag and was back to its normal decor for at least a week or two. He made his way to the kitchen to brew some deathwish coffee, black, no sugar, no cream. From in the very large walk in pantry, the entrance to the wine cellar glowed blue and Skyggja and Drake were hauling stacks of crates of different liquors and spirits on dollies, trying to replenish the inventory that was consumed over the holidays. “Hey its the sleeping snow angel, awake from its nap!” Drake chuckled as M leaned against the pantry door, his response was just a deep growly groan as he sipped the coffee. His somewhat tattered teal and blue insect wings twitched a bit but his tentacles were still tucked in, not shown. His long slender and brushlike tail swayed with slight growing annoyance as he watched more crates get stored.
“Where’s Red?” He grumped, Skyggja raising an eyebrow, holding a crate for a moment. “Well aren’t you your bright and festive self. This must be you normally from what I’ve heard. Carmen is upstairs with Sig, she wanted to discuss possible add-ons to her hands. I think she thinking about storing lock-picks or something in there. Which is really easy to do. We just need to make sure her new superpowers dont interfere with the system or components.” M scratched his head with one eye closed, “New Superpowers? I thought I heard something about her only having fire.. ain’t yer stuff fireproof or some shit?” Skyggja set down the crate and put her hands on her hips, “Didn’t anyone update you yet?” M grumbled, “Yer the first two souls I’ve seen since waking the fuck up. I haven’t even looked at the fuckin calendar yet.” His face showed how much of a hangover he had, even his cheeks had a tinge of queazy green. “Oh, well Lekir can fill you in with details but the shortcut version is that the essence made her more than fire but rather she won the lottery and got like three other bloods? Something confusing but she’s considered a Harbinger now and has new added strength and other things. Like you could slam a metal chair against her back and she’s just look at you, not budging.” M smacked his lips and sighed, looking into his drink. “Well la-dee-fuckin-dah. Looks like I’ll need to find a Vesk and do some fucking homework. As long as nothing fucking changed her into someone she’s not..Then I’d have a fuckin problem.”
Drake chuckled, “Oh, no, she’s her usual stubborn self, just dealing with a lot changes. Rightfully so. She says she’s taking it stride but I’ve heard her break down behind closed doors once or twice. Its gonna take a bit for her to get over what happened.” M hmmed in return and turned to walk away but paused and looked at the glowing doorway, taking a sip. “Hm. Maybe I’ll work on the C5 doorway later. We do have that interdimensional item transporter just sitting in the mech lab. I bet I can access the fuckin multiverse if I connect the ley doors and Chronoskimmer to it.” He muttered. Skyggja stacked more crates, just about finished, “Just make sure you run it past me, I don’t want any funny business running through the system. I don’t need that goofy ass Dogma Metatron digital wanna-be nagging me for something I had no clue about!” M waved his hand, “Yeh, yeh..” and proceeded to talk a walk outside by the perimeter.
He strolled the beach and stood watching the waves for a few moments before he noticed a small boat that was dragged ashore. Looks like its been there possibly an hour with how the tide was currently. His gaze wandered up towards the gardens and saw a small moving patch of electric blue hair. Cracking his neck, he magically sent (a power that he called shadowing to summon or send away items from a short distance) his cup back to the kitchen with a small puff of toxic green flame and smoke and straightened his half open button down shirt, tucking it into his pants. He silently made his way to the intruder. An extremely slender dark balance changeling female, same body color and tail shape as M, but her hair was that electric fiberoptic looking blue hair in a half shaved/ shoulder length droopy mohawk style that he had seen from the beach and her eyes, segmented and gradient like his, only in red and yellow. She was crouching behind the bushes, taking account of the security cameras. Deciding to mess with her, he crouches down near her, rubbing his chin and whispers, “Do you think they’ll notice us?” Her long ears perked up as her eyes grew wide, whipping her head towards him. It took her a minute before squealing with delight, “Oh em gee!! Skaedfryd!! I didn’t know you were here! Were you assigned here too?! We can work together!!” She flung herself at him hard, tackling him and planting her lips upon his. He pushed her off his lips and leaned up on his elbows as she stayed straddling his hips. He wiped his muzzle with his sleeve.
Assigned? What was her game? M recognized the changeling as his ex from 200 or so years back. “Uh, yeh, I’ve been posted here for a while. Why are you here?” She flitted her little red and orange wings, shimmying her shoulders, “I got hired by this big shot no name contractor to put a hit on the red lady in there! Who hired you?” His ears dipped back as he narrowed his eyes, dropping the playful act, “I was hired by the red lady in there. I’m part of her fuckin security.” She shimmied again, grinding her hips, “Oh so a secret inside hit job then? You were always the best cause of death in our generation~” she practically moaned at him. She ran her fingers over his chest, slipping into his shirt, licking her lips. He sighed in annoyance and dropped his head back. “No, you fucking dumb bitch. I mean I am literally her protector. I don’t kill. I found something better to put my talents toward.”
This was news to her and her mood switched on a dime, “So you mean to tell me this cunty unicorn basically pussy-whipped you into submission? What the actual fuck? You were so sexy back when you were covered in blood, pieces of corpse littering the ground, your claws ripping through muscle and sinew like a hot knife through butter~” she got sidetracked again and started to grind again. She stopped and looked down, “Why arent you getting hard?” He growled, “Because I dont fucking like you, you annoy the piss outta me and I want you to get off of me.” Its not like he couldn’t just toss her, but he gave her a chance to move on her own. She leans forward, brushing some hair behind her ear, moaning, “Thats not what you said two hundred years ago~ As I recall, you used my horns like handle bars to bend my back in such a twisted way~ Ooohm, makes me wet just remembering!~” His eyes glowed as he picked her up with his tentacles and got to his feet, dusting himself off. She, on the other-hand, seemed to be in near orgasm just by the thought of being handled by tentacles. “For fuck sakes, get a fuckin hold of yerself!” He simply tossed her into a bush and shuddered. “Crazy ass bitch, get off our island and report back to yer boss that you failed. Fuck, you’re so fuckin one track minded. I’m goin back to work. Fuck this shit.”
She watched him stalk away but then hurried after him, she had shifted from her navy blue catsuit, to a baby blue pleated short skirt, a low cut light purple crop tank top and baby pink leg warmers and light green fishnet elbow length fingerless gloves. She whipped a vine around his ankles and swept him off his feet so he dangled upside down face to face to her, her smile to his grimace. “See? I turned that frowny frown upside down! We should totally sixty-nine like this sometime~” M nods, “Oh sure, how about the Tuesday after never, which is a week after Fuck off!” She laughed “You’re so funny! Now come on, you can tell me all the little details on this little chicky’s weaknesses~ I need to hurry and get this job done so I can do my nails. They’re gonna look sooo good around your cock… and scratching down your back as you take me, mmmhf!~” she squirmed as she stood in front of him, he was still upside down and quickly losing patience. He had learned to be extra cautious of his actions during his hangover, he had a bad habit of overreacting greatly. Things that normally make him quickly explode now brings him to a slow rumbling boil before going all out.
“So yer saying that you need a good fucking, right? You want me to rail you till you cant walk right for weeks, fill you up with my juices and make you my little sex pet, is that it?” He softened his tone to a low sexual growl, making her legs tremble just from listening to him. “Oooh fuck yes!!” She begged, letting him down to stand on his own. He caressed the back of her neck with surprising gentleness with his hand, the other sliding around the small of her back. He twisted her so she had her back to him as he pressed against her, his hand almost cupping her chin upwards as the other explored her front, his muzzle kissing and nipping her neck hungrily as she practically melted in his grasp. She writhed and moaned, he stroked her nethers just barely. She couldnt see his eyes but they were twitching in disgust. His hand wanted to recoil from feeling how drenched she was.
He removed his hands and grasped hers together behind her back, shadowing a pair of Carmen’s handcuffs and locking them in place before pushing her to the ground, face down, ass up. “Oohhh fuck! If I known you were going to be this kinky, I would have brought toys!! Aaahhhnnn~” she wriggled her ass as he got close behind her, he could feel her grinding, he reached and grabbed her hair and pulled her head back, “I always knew you were such a bad girl. You really want me to stick it deep, dont you? You want to feel every single inch…” she cried out and begged, her body already trembling in wanton anticipation. “Oh god yes!! Give it to me!!” He straightened up and shadowed Lekir’s spear into his grip and thrust it into her back by her shoulders and pushed it all the way through deep into the ground. The changeling mare screeched and her two vines whipped out by her wings, trying to attack him. Effortlessly, he catches both and pulls them taught, using a large folded pocketknife to slice them off by the base. She writhed and attempted to reach the spear but the way he had her positioned and bound, she didnt have proper movement nor leverage strength to rescue herself. “What the FUCK?! That shit is cold like ice!! Let me up! Skaedfryd!! I’m gonna kill you for this!!”
She, like M, was not so easily disposed or destroyed by a simple spear to the body. For good measure, he hammered the end a little bit to make sure it didnt move. He picked up the severed now-wilted vines and wiped his face with his sleeve, groaning. “Maybe now you’ll take the hint and fuckin leave.” He got halfway the path when Lekir starts coming towards him, “Where is it, bug boy? I know you took my spear! And Carmen’s cuffs. Only you have this green flamey smoky magic. I’ll have you know I was in the middle of- is that..? what is doing over there?” He looked over his shoulder at the struggling ex and shrugged. “I needed it for gardening, ya know, just doing some trimming, getting rid of some pesky horny weeds.” He tosses the vines into the compost heap and puts the knife back into his pocket.
The Vesk narrowed her eyes and looked at M’s supposed victim. “Right. Gardening.. well, you seem busy, I’ll leave you to… whatever that is. By the way, you got a bit of something there..” she gestured to a sizable wet spot on the front of his pants. “FOR FUCK SAKE I JUST WASHED THESE! YOU DAMN HORNY ASS BITCH!” He stormed off towards the HQ, “Whatever, you deal with her, put her inside an iceberg to sink the titanic for all I care. God damn stupid crazy ass bitch…” Lekir just observed the struggling ex for a moment before joining him inside the mansion, ignoring the stream of obscenities.

Chapter 23: Not the Sharpest Lightbulb in the Crayon Drawer

The next morning, Molli stood on the doorstep and adjusted her outfit, trying to look presentable. She changed her body color to be her more natural color of such a deep red, it almost looks black. She wore a blue jumpsuit with a gold belt with a rose buckle. She hesitated a moment and knocked on the door. A few moments went by and the door was opened, revealing a surprised Waldo. The two stared at each other for a moment, “Holy moley! Molli! I haven’t seen you in forever! Does M know you’re here? Lemmie get him for you..” she tried shushing him frantically as he called out for his brother. Both M and Carmen came to the door, wondering what the commotion was, and one look from M had him rolling his eyes, “What the fuck are you still doing here?” Molli straightened up and smiled nervously, “Well, I was just about to tell your brother here about me thinking of joining… here. As a henchman-woman.. person.” Wally raised an eyebrow, “You were?” M crossed his arms, “Bullshit. You still have that hit on Red.” Carmen looked at M a bit surprised, “She what?” Molli waved her hands defensively, “No no I swear! I cancelled that contract. After I got free from that spear, I came over and saw how happy everyone, like Skaedfryd, was to be here! I mean, if people are happy, the boss must be doing something right.. right? Oh.. and I wanted to give this back too. Its still so cold, its weird..” she handed the spear back to M and put her hands behind herself, twisting anxiously. “I wanted to have a fresh start, I promise to try not to be a pest or a weed to you. I want to help out.” M snatched the spear and leaned on it like a wizard staff. “I will say it again. I do not fucking like you and I want you to get off this fucking island.”
Carmen puts her hand on his arm, making Molli’s eye twitch for a brief moment, “I personally think we should give her a chance. I mean, if we don’t help her out somehow, she could go back to doing worse things than we do. First sign of broken trust, I’ll let you send her off. How’s that?” M narrowed his eyes at his ex, putting the spear tip to her throat, “One whiff of deception from you and I will make sure you never find every single piece of your body to stitch back together..” Molli gulps and gingerly pushes the spear away from her neck, “Good to know, lover boy. So when can I start?” Carmen shows her inside, and has her follow her to her office. M gripped the unicorn’s arm and whispered, “Keep yer door open. I don’t want you alone with her. I don’t fully trust her yet.” She smiled and patted his hand, “You worry too much. I’m sure it will be fine.” M growled as the two girls went up to her office, the door stayed open much to M’s relief. Wally scratched his head, “Did I miss something?” M shadowed the spear back to Lekir’s room and he shoved a cigarette into his maw. “Red’s bleeding heart is gonna land her in more trouble than she can handle.. she’s already dealing with different body parts and powers up her ass, I don’t think she realizes she still fucking vulnerable. It aint like those superhero movies where they automatically good at things. Example, she took weeks to learn to walk again without aid. These powers?? She’s NEVER had magic. Her horn is.. is as good as shattered. You knew that, but it got worse when you were gone. Its completely dead in the water.” Wally rubbed his neck as M paused to take a drag. “We tried to do simple shapeshifting the only way I know how. She could barely muster the focus to grow a single hair on that piece of metal. She couldnt even change the color. She needs training and actual progress before she’s as invincible as she feels. And with Molli showing up last night and tellin me she has a hit on Red? Then joins us the next day? It don’t taste right.” Wally sighs, “Maybe she’s being truthful though. You may not see or even want to admit it but I can see you are happy here. Maybe she wants that. And who knows, maybe you can get together again. Don’t let the past breakup ruin the future bonds. Its an open opportunity to move on and possibly gain a new friend if anything.” M strode off, grumbling.
He passed Lekir who had watched from the other room, but didn’t get to hear much. “So, who was that, Bugboy? And why does she look familiar?” M groans and rubs his face, “She’s…. My ex. I stabbed her last night with your spear.” Lekir nodded, “So thats why it was returned with dirt and blood on it.. so if you stabbed her, why did you welcome her in?” M turned and snapped, “I wasn’t the one to welcome her. Yer fuckin wife and her fuckin bleedin heart did. And I stabbed her because she is a crazy dumb bitch who is horny for me seven ways to tuesday.. last night she said she was assigned a hit on Red but then this morning said she had a change of heart and canceled it to become better like me.” She gave a concerned look at him and at the ceiling where Carmen and Molli were in a meeting. Lekir sighs, rubbing her temples before looking back at M. “She's gonna turn on us one day you know that right? She's just waiting for the right moment. And if she is anything like you powerwise, Carmen can't win with her current state, neither can I because you can overtake me. You need to tell me and the others exactly what you know about her in its entirety. Leave nothing out.”
M rolled his eye with a groan, “Fine.. when Red gets out of her meeting I’ll call the rest of the group and give a full situation report briefing without my ex present.” Lekir nodded, “I definitely think a sit-rep is very much needed. Especially that threat of a hit. Why did she tell you about the hit? Didn’t she know you were security here? Or did she not read her own report?” M snickered, “Thats the thing, she does things half assed, probably only saw the target and location and when I saw her last night, she thought I had the same job and spilled the beans before I told her what I am here. She really isn’t too bright. She’s durable, like me. Hard to fully kill, but her powers are plant based and not very expertly controlled. Her emotions get in the way and her attacks are weak. She does excel in the knowledge of poisons and many of her thorns are laced with a decent cocktail. But she has never been known to finish a job.” Lekir raised an eyebrow, “And her job is to kill the world’s second biggest pacifist next to her himbo husband..”
Carmen came down from her office after supposedly showing Molli her room. “Hey Lekir. M, mind if you gather the other agents, other than Molli to the war room, I need to give a bit of a sit-rep briefing for everyone asap.” Lekir and M looked at eachother with a slight air of relief. Lekir turns to Carmen, “Please tell me we didnt just adopt a stray cobra..” Her wife chuckled, “More like a cartoon coyote. She’s still in my office, asleep.”
Lekir tilted her head, “What do you mean asleep?” The mare smirked, “I left my coffee on the desk unattended as a test. I had my back turned while at my file cabinet, you know, beside the mirror? I saw her put something in my coffee, and stir it with my spoon I had near it. She then licked the spoon. And now she is face-planted at my desk.” Lekir furrowed her brow with concern, “Is she a complete moron?!”
M lit his cigarette, “Its like I’ve been trying to tell you two. She COULD be formidable if she wasnt a dumb bitch.” Carmen smirks, “I think we should stick to my plan of treating her with kindness, though heavily restrict her from the more advanced things like heists and access to 079 fully. I’ll tell more at the briefing.” Carmen headed off to the war room when Lekir suddenly pinned M to the wall, holding an ice blade to his face, “You better handle this because if she ever succeeds in even hurting Carmen, I will make you pay! I spent 6000 years regretting not being able to save my husband from death. Make sure this is plenty preventable.. and prevent it before I prevent you from ever finding your head. Got it?!” M growled and shoved her back, straightening out his leather jacket, “You say this like I wasn’t going to already! News flash! You ain’t the only one who would go absolutely apeshit ballistic if Red were hurt! Now back the fuck off so I can do my fucking job!” M snorted as Lekir stormed off, brushing past Carmen who had a concerned look.
M flicked his cigarette angrily and checked in on Molli, who was still face-planted and out cold with slight foam to the mouth. He still felt her neck and wrist, disappointed at feeling a pulse but glad he didnt have to dispose of a body. He was about to reach for the coffee to pour it down the drain and his eyes caught on some of the paperwork they were working on for her hiring. Looking closer he noticed her signature, “Mali Negatta” and hmmed. He’ll need to ask when she had changed her name. She groaned a bit trying to lift her head. He remembered nights she used to get drunk off some of her lighter concoctions because alcohol didnt touch them as far as drunkenness. He sighed and shadowed a handkerchief to help clean her face from the drool and foam. He pulled her back and her head somewhat rolled on her shoulders, she slow blinks her eyes open as he gently cleans her face. “Hey you.. we should totally bang on the deshk here.. office sexssis soooo sexy..” she slurred. He paused silently and took the coffee cup, “Here, have some coffee, sober up..” he knew full well what she did, and wanted to know if she even remembered. Which she did not and eagerly took the cup and downed the whole thing. After a moment, she hiccuped and face-planted on the desk again. “Oooh I smell a new fuckin betting pool with this one.” He chuckled, patting her back and leaving her there to set up the meeting. “Fuckin lightweight.”
The meeting was very detailed, strategies were put into place and betting pools were cast, a bingo sheet for the kinds of attempts, and how she would fail, and how long until she either quits trying to kill or quits VILE itself. It was a mix of extreme seriousness and mockery. They knew the severity of the situation if she should actually succeed. But given her track record already, that severity was guarded by cautious ridicule and vice versa. And thats how it went from then on, although many heists were placed on hold while they tried figuring out a new cure for Wally’s condition.
Carmen searched all her books on afflictions and curses, minerals and crystals, and even diseases and illnesses. She felt she barely had anything on the subject and the internet didn’t come up with much either. She shut the large book she was looking in and sighed, taking off her purple glasses to rub her eyes. “Alright..” she said to herself, “Looks like I’ll need to take a trip to Canterlot.. they may have the book I need in the royal library. Might get a new hat too while I’m there..” She was sad when her hat had fell into the acid during the whole stone pillar incident but it was better than losing her life. She headed to the mech lab where M had been hooking up some new device to the chronoskimmer. She didn’t see him around and checked in with 079. “I haven’t seen the rude one today, he’s probably being harassed by that stray twig you brought in.” Carmen tsked, “You shouldn’t say things like that! Yeah she’s pretty thin but you dont know if its her metabolism or an eating disorder! I’m working on helping her gain a bit of meat either way. But I’m not judging her. Now can this thing still take me to current day Canterlot?” The ai sighed as if asked a huge burden, “Does Canterlot exist?” Carmen raised an eyebrow, “Yes.. thats a silly question.” The ai just looked at her, “Exactly my point. Just set the dials and be on your way..” Carmen wrinkled her nose and rolled her eyes, “Just tell M that I’m popping out for a book. And I’ll be right back.” She set the dials to open a doorway to right inside the castle, by the stained glass windows. She’ll be able to get to the library with ease from there providing no guards had seen her. She stepped through and closed the doorway back, knowing that she’ll be able to dial it back if she needed on her phone. She looked around and stood back, admiring the stained glass craftponyship of the multiple pieces. “I need to come back for one of these eventually. I always forget how beautiful they are in person.” She mused quietly to herself.

Chapter 24: Oh Look! More Popular Character Cameos! Its Like a Crossover FanFic in here!

"The work of many hands tells many tales," a voice chuckled, deep in tone and coated in silver. "Each civilization has their history told a special way. Some tell the story... Others make it beautiful... If fragile." Carmen’s ear twitches towards the voice as she listens, still looking at the stained glass, “You are most certainly correct. But from what you told me, these beautiful windows may not see the same sunlight soon as they have for many years. So enlighten me, if you can. Why is Celestia dying, and what can a simple little thief do about it that a Time Lord, Superhero or Element cannot?” She puts her hands on her hips, finally taking her bright green eyes away from the colored glass.
“I’m not exactly the first pony somepony thinks of when it comes to saving the Day. So to speak.” She chuckles. “Or are you not the very same who sent me those letters?”
"I am indeed." The voice chuckled as a figure came down from the ceiling. A lithe man, simple cloth clothing covered by a flowing cape of brown. A cowl covered his face, but a pair of sharp brown eyes peeked through. "A pleasure to finally meet you face to face, Miss Pondiego."
She nods, about to tip her hat instinctively but, alas, it was still gone, so she just brushed her white hair from her face instead. After all of this, she reminded herself to visit the hat shop. “A pleasure indeed, dear Rogue. Although you still do have me puzzled on how I could possibly be of any help. Does she need body guards or medics?” She pauses, “Or is it an item that no one else has been able to get? Thats the only other thing I could think of where I could be of any use.”
"Your powers of observation serve you well." He chuckled, looking to the stained glass. "I have sought you, because there is a group operating in the government of the Sun that wishes to return things back to the younger sister... Or, more appropriate, her alter ego." His eyes shifted back to Carmen's, showing a determination. "I have been asked to discover this sect, and have learned a disturbing fact. The existence of your... What did you call it... C5 Doorway... Is known. And, it can be used to do devastating things."

She narrowed her eyes as she felt the fur on the back of her neck stand, “So the Children of the Night wish to bring back Nightmare Moon somehow with my C5 Doorway?” She slipped the phone that was in her hand into her sleeve, actually slipping it into a panel into her arm for safe keeping with the sleight of hand. “Now I’ve run across a few versions of the Doctor in my travels, so I’m aware of the ramifications of time travel. I do not intend to just give anyone access to my travel tech.” She steps back for a moment. “This also makes me wonder who else knows of my traveling abilities now. It hasn’t even been that long since we have had it upgraded. And much less used it for any other big heists unless theres some in the future I haven’t planned for yet.” She crosses her arms, “Which brings me back to my question, what am I here to get? Or are you part of that dark sect that is trying to lure me? Its not the first time someone has pretended to be good and tried to screw me over.”
"Yes, the request." He adjusted his cloak, shaking his head. "I need you to complete your device and conduct the first test. It is during this that the knowledge of the Doorway escapes. I am unable to cross time without removing myself from existence, so it falls to you. I can offer any assistance, within the confines of the Planes, of course." Carmen raises her eyebrow, tilting her head a bit, thinking it a bit odd but then again, she’s seen plenty of odd things. “So this test just erases their knowledge of my device? Thats all you need? I think M was going to be finishing that up by the end of the week, but I suppose I could put a rush on it.”
She taps her chin, “Whats the catch? It can’t be as simple as ‘just complete and do a test run’. Is there a specific test you need me to run? Otherwise, not to sound ungrateful for the heads up, I am so very grateful and will be looking out for any other groups that may be having an interest in my tech, but if that was all, this would have been included with a letter, even a coded letter. I’m fairly sure theres much more to this than a simple test run.”
"Ever observant." He nodded, giving a sigh. "Your test will have the opposite effect. It will inform many that you have harnessed this technology, and will begin plans to seize the C5 for themselves. I will be able to see those that act, and hopefully can stop them... But, as they have eyes and ears in the Sun government, I worry they may have some in the agencies that watch you... Or, even within VILE itself." He shifted his stance, glancing around a bit before back to those green eyes. "You have changed. Hopefully for the better..."

She chuckles, looking at her cybernetic hands and her gold brushed hooves. “I don’t think I changed too much.. I mean physically perhaps. I’ve had some…. complications with some recent heists that required some major recovery. But like my Waldo says, ‘All is right as rain’… unless something catastrophic happens. Hopefully that wont happen. I’m still healing mentally from finally getting my family back. So as far as changing, I think I’m still me. I still feel like me.” She smiles assuringly, her new fangs flashing vaguely into view before getting serious. “But this test will basically make VILE a beacon. I can’t have that, I just got my kids back and I will not put them in danger again. What can we do to make it have the erasing effect? What needs to happen?”
"I am no chronomage," the Rogue admitted. "You will need to find one. I trust that you know more here than I. I was only given this task because of my outsider status. To save you and yours ..." His eyes got a serious look, "we must uncover time magic. Do you know any who could do this?" She thinks, tapping her lips with her finger, “I do know of a few.. let me see if I can snag one of them for a bit of a house call. Give me a moment.” She flicks her arm, slipping her phone out of the panel in her arm and slides it into her hand, going through her contacts.

She dials the first that comes up, “…Zilean, its Carm-… oh. Voicemail, dammit.”

She hangs up and dials another, “Doc Brown! Carmen. Hi. Listen I need a favor….. no…. Maybe?…. Wait.. I need.. ok… ok.. no. No! I’m not getting you more uranium! Fine. Bye.”

She sighs and dials another. “Hey, Time Squad! Its Carmen!.. what? I can’t hear you.. Mar…what about Marie Antoinette? Listen I need… I can’t hear you! It sounds like a riot behind you! The French Rev.. ooooh. No, you go ahead. Do what you need to. Good luck, okay, bye now.”

She dials another, “Mr Peabody! Good to hear you! Its Carmen.. Listen, you know how you have the Wayback mach- hello? Hello? Blasted dog hung up..”

She paces slightly. Looking at the last number. “I only know of one other and we didnt leave on exactly good terms.”

She shakes and flaps her hands to help psych herself up, groaning, “I don’t wanna.. I don’t wanna talk to him…” she groans as she dials, “Hello Doctor.. yes I know its me.. yes.. I know.. yes.. Doctor, I need a favor.. yes. A favor. Yes I know.. twice…. No I only stole your TARDIS twice!… well she liked me well enough! I know.. yes… Hey I apologized!! …..Yes it was only Twice! Doctor, Listen, I need your help fixing the chronoskimmer. No, no one else was available…. Yes I tried! Why do you think I’m calling you?! … went to voicemail…… out of uranium…… French revolution…. Hung up on me…… yes I know I probably deserved it…. Alright. Fine. Thank you.”

She hung up, and groans again, rubbing her eyes. “Ok, so I’m going to meet up with the Doctor soon about the chronomagic issue.. is there anything else do we need to be aware of?”
"That is the part that I don't know." He shook his head with slumped shoulders. "I will do my part, so I can only wish you luck in yours." His eyes examined her once again, seeming to catch details he hasn't before. "Your aura... I see darkness in it. You have changed ..."

“We’ll get this time crap figured out. I promise not to let Nightmare Moon’s cult get a single kilobyte of my tech. The Sun’s government can rest easy. I just need to endure the Doctor’s spite as he helps fix the device.” She looks at him with a raised eyebrow, shaking her head, “I don’t know what darkness you’re speaking of. Its not like I’m going to go on a murder spree.. I don’t even like to see people hurt! I’ll tell you what, I’ll go home, I will rub an egg all over my body, and crack it into a glass of moon water and put pepper flakes in it and flush it to send whatever darkness back to the sender. Then I’ll do a smoke cleanse and whatever other open cleansing ritual there is. Just for your peace of mind. Does that sound fair? I think all you are seeing is that I’m not as naive as I used to be. I was hurt pretty bad, many times actually but I would like to think it made me stronger if anything. I assure you. I’m still me. I’m not going to hurt anyone. I don’t want that.”
She chuckles at a thought, “I think the only way I could be truly evil is if I died and came back, like a zombie or maybe a Vengeful Ghost. But I don’t see that happening. But I’ll still do that cleanse and see if that helps. Because if you see darkness, who knows, maybe someone placed a hex or something on me.” She perked up, remembering the other reason she was there. “Oh, speaking of rituals and cleansing.. perhaps you can help me find something. I need to get rid of a rare disease involving crystals growing from inside the body, do you know of any cure or even where I can find a book that may have a clue? I was going to check the library here…. Its for Waldo, he’s infected but from what I’ve observed, its not contagious. I need to find a cure in the next two years or it will advance too far to save him. I’m running out of options.”
"Crystal infection?" He asked, his posture returning to one of calm stoicism. "I do believe there is something like that in the Sun's personal library. Something about a rare form of crystal that would encase enemies of the dragons. I did not have long enough to read it, so take my words with a pinch of salt." He looked down the hallway. "If you seek this, it is best we part ways here. I wish you good fortune and good finds on your endeavors, Miss Pondiego." She thinks and shakes her head, “This doesn’t encase the victim, this one rends the flesh wide open with the crystals that grow on corpses, vivianite. But perhaps it may still help point me in the right direction. Thank you very much dear Rogue. For everything. Good fortune and prosperous times for you, my friend.” She looks down the hallway as well. “The personal library, hmm? That shouldn’t be an issue.”

Back at the HQ, some of the team was in the living room, watching Molli go through VR challenges, telling her its kinda like training. They placed a zombie game on there and told her not to kill anything, just dodge. It was mostly the guys with Asta and Lekir since Sigryn, Skyggja and Vasha went to keep up the research on any clues to fight Wally’s infection. M had slipped off to work on the C5 Doorway and to get some alone time from his ex turned adopted stray.
Wally, himself, went to his bedroom, for when he’s not in Carmen’s, and stood by his old fashioned bedside washbasin. He spit up a little bit of blood after coughing hard. A couple tiny clinks hit the basin, a few crystals had come loose. He leaned on the edges and hung his head, it was advancing more than he expected. He rolled a shoulder and could feel a tingly grinding now as the crystals were trying to form to his joints. He kept stretching and moving to keep the joints from freezing up as much as he could.
He looked in the mirror, shifting his normal blue eyes to his segmented blue sclera to white fade iris and back again. He didnt want to shift to anything else, it didn’t make him feel like him. But he didn’t know what else to do. He knew of one antidote but it came with an impossibly high cost. He could not bring himself to pay the price, not after so long. He took off this sweater, a few strands of yarn caught and snagged again on the crystals slicing through his body. It itched and ached like mad. He took the clasps Carmen used and started to pull them out himself. He felt like a burden when he asks her for help. He did enjoy how gentle she was, she made it not nearly as painful as when he did it himself.
Soon crystals littered the bottom of the basin, water tinted red. He wasn’t even halfway done and he was exhausted. The crystals even looked bigger this time which worried him. He sat on the bed, holding his head as his elbows rested on his knees. If he doesn’t get cured, he will die and leave his family and new friends. If he pays for the antidote, he still removes his family from his life, but he would be alive. He shook his head, he would rather die than hurt any of them. He needed to prepare for the worst, and cherish everything before that.

Carmen stepped back into the HQ from her trip to Canterlot, a new hat upon her head and some books in her pack. She immediately went to the research room with the other girls and handed the books over. “I spoke with a friend, he said these may help. Its not exact but we may figure something out within the pages. I’ll join in just a moment, I just need to do something real quick.” She picked up another book from her shelves, looking at it briefly before going into the kitchen with the book.
She popped her head into the fridge for an egg and grabbed a large pint glass from the cabinet. She filled the glass with water and started to rub the egg all over every bit of her body she could reach. Kiros had wandered in for a snack and raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think you’re going to hatch it that way.” Carmen smirked, “No, I’m not hatching. I’m trying something. Its to see if I’ve had a hex placed on me or something. Its a little witchcraft spell, but after today, I’m trying anything.” She finished rubbing the egg over multiple times by now, she wanted to be thorough, and finally cracked it, dropping the contents of the shell into the water, crouching to be at eye level with it. She squinted and wrinkled her nose before consulting the book on any telltale signs like the white spiderwebbing in the water. She carefully twisted the glass, not wanting to disturb the egg, and hmmed. She shut the book and dumped some pepper flakes into it and paused as she picked it up. Looking towards the sink, she smirked. “Technically I should flush this buuut.. if I’m sending whatever back, why not send it back painfully?” She turns on the garbage disposal and dumped the peppered eggy water down the drain, listening to it scramble and mix as it grinds.
“And why do you think someone put a hex on you?” Kiros asked, Carmen washed the cup with salt and water before putting back on the shelf. “I met with a friend while I was out getting some books and they said he saw darkness in my aura, that I changed.. I know there is trauma I’m healing from but darkness? I’m not sure. I still feel like me.” Her face grew uncertain and her shoulders fell a little, not wanting to admit it did have her a bit concerned. Kiros growled a low chuckle, lifting her chin with a finger, “I don’t know of any other ‘bad guy’ who has everyone saying that you have a heart of gold. And you of all people should know Gold doesn’t tarnish. Sure it may chip or break, but don’t jewelers mend it and recast it? But it still never tarnishes. If you are ever hurt enough to go evil or something, we will be right by your side, mending and recasting to bring you back to your golden glory. And whoever hurt you will have to answer to all of us because there will be no escape. You don’t have to be the monster, you have us to do that for you if need be.” Carmen smiles, nuzzling into his hand, “Why are you all so good to me? I don’t think I did much at all.” Kiros simply responded by flicking the very tip of her horn very lightly, making her eye twitch as she yelped, holding her head painfully. “You are Carmen fucking Pondiego. You rescued me from hell, gave me a home, family and a purpose. And I know you did the same for everyone else here one way or another or else they never would have stayed. So don’t you tell me that you did nothing. Besides, if you were evil, you would not have done all this for any of us. But you did. And I think that says something. Believe it or not, we love you more than anything for helping us and always being there.” Carmen smiles, poking his side, “I knew you were really a big softie.”
Just then a pulsing grinding noise was heard in the mech lab. She groaned and rushed over as M yelled out of the room “Oy Red!!” She was already jogging up, “I got it, M. I asked him to come.” The blue police box door opened and a slate blue unicorn with silver hair and wild eyebrows jutted his head out, “Alright, where is she? She called me and now where is she?”
“Cool your jets, old man, I’m right here.” Carmen made her way to the TARDIS and put her hands on her hips. The 12th Doctor narrowed his eyes at her, “You did something different.” Carmen smirked, “No shit, its called shit hitting the fan. Its what it is. Can you look at our time travel equipment? We’re really close with finishing it but I was told that if we do a test run as is, it will make us a beacon to any who wants this technology for the wrong reasons.” He raised an eyebrow, “And a thief wants it for the right reasons?” Carmen points at him, “Hey, I’m not using it to topple governments or to make my own empire! These other groups do! Heaven forbid I want to take a vacation somewhere other than here!” She crossed her arms, as he huffs and shuts the door, reopening it and exiting, “You are troublesome, you know that! Where is the blasted thing.. don’t tell me that hunk of junk is it.” M scowled, putting his hand on his chest dramatically, “I’m sorry?! I don’t fucking have the skills to make a fucking pine box like yours! I just know how to put wires together to make something blink! Its a wonder it works at all Thank you! I worked hard on this! Ya British Wanker!”
The Doctor stops and turns on his heel, “I am Scottish!” M waves him off, “Same thing before Brexit! Yer still a bloody wanker!” The Doctor got close to M, well, as close as he could. M stood a good foot above him, he pointed his sonic screwdriver at M, “I don’t need to help you. Remember that. And don’t touch my TARDIS!!” He pointed to Carmen who was leaning against the box, petting it, “Hey Darling, is he treating you well? I sure hope so, otherwise you could always come here and we could have more of our own adventures..” 079 popped its head onto a screen and rolls its eyes, “I never hear you say those things to me.” Carmen sticks her tongue out, “Maybe if you were nicer, I would.” The Doctor huffs again and turns to the panel M was showing him, and proceeds to go through a different panel. “Why the fuck are you going through that way? The wires are all right here, easy access.” The time lord unicorn muttered, “Do you solve a rubix cube by just matching the one side? I think not! Same with time, its never one sided. And never travels in a straight line.” M handed over the interdimensional matter transporter device he was still working on connecting, “Yeah? So where does this fit into it?” The Doctor pulls his head out of the panel and narrows his eyes, “Where’d you get this?” M shrugs and points over to Carmen, “Oh I received that as a gift from a friend. We need to figure out how to not only travel through time but also multiverse. I’m running out of options to find something and I’m running out of time to find it.” He looked at her suspiciously. “Who?”
“Waldo.”
“You said he was dead.”
“I said I THOUGHT he was dead. He came home recently but he’s infected and we need a cure.”
The Doctor thinks for a moment and goes back to repairing the wiring and connecting the device. “Well, best we get this up and running then. I will need two or three of your people who understand basic mechanics and tech to assist.” Carmen nods, and pages her agents “On it, Kiros, Skyggja, can you come to the mech lab? We need tech assistance.” The Doctor stood up and took his dark navy coat with red inner lining off and handed it Carmen before rolling up his sleeves as Kiros, Skyggja and Lekir walk in. Lekir stopped short as she sees the Doctor. “Oooh, Sexy Magic man is back~” Carmen hands her the coat, “Hey love, can you put this in the coat closet in the hall? It may be a while.” Lekir swoons and holds the coat as if given the highest award on the red carpet. She holds it close and sniffs it. “Mmm Sexy Magic Doctor man…” Carmen shooed her out as she also left to check on Wally, “Go on and simp on him later, he’s doing us a huge favor that I’ll owe him bigtime for. I gotta check on Wally and the research group, can you check on how the others are doing with our Stray?” Lekir pouted and nods but kept hold of the coat, sniffing it occasionally.
Carmen looked into her bedroom, then Wally’s and gasped as blue stallion was still struggling pulling out crystals. “Wally! Don’t do this by yourself! Let me help you! Ooh what a mess.. here, I’ll clean you up.” He sighed and shook his head, “I dont want to be a burden. I want you to enjoy me as me and not this monstrosity while I still have some time.” Carmen resisted slapping his shoulder, “No, you listen to me, you are going to have a long life. You hear me? You will not die on me unless I kill you first! And thats probably going to be by overloading you with love! We will find a cure. I promise. And we’ll be together for a very long time.” She grabbed some medical cleaning solutions and gauze, cleaning up the streams of blood coming from the holes the crystals had made.
“This is getting worse than anticipated..” she frets, as he nods, “I know. I want to hold out hope for a cure but.. let’s face it. I’m just going to enjoy what I have right now and make the best of it.” Carmen sniffled and continued to work. “Well I’m not giving up. And neither are you. You’re not getting away from me that easy.” He smiled, “I’m glad you have my back.” She raised an eyebrow, washing more spots of blood, “What do you mean? I’ve always had your back.” He chuckled, “No I mean, I can’t reach back there, its been killing me today..” she laughed as he moved and positioned so he could lay his head on her lap as she still works on his back. When she was done, he had dozed off, snoring softly. She removed his hat and set it aside, petting his mousey brown hair, running her silver fingers through it. She gazed at him, being lost in the single thought of how happy she was to have him there.. and slowly noticed her arms and hands started to look like her natural color save for the panel lines. She grinned as she was able to focus and make slight adjustments to the nail color and debated on waking him. She heard his breathing slow and calming, she decided to let him rest, still petting him gently as she leaned her back against the headboard and unintentionally nodding to sleep herself.

Chapter 25: Is it cold in here or did Hell freeze over?

A few days later, Lekir and Carmen were packing for their trip to Cador, after much discussion, since Carmen had been accidentally setting things aflame. The trouble was that the Doctor still hadn’t fixed the C5 Doorway to be functional and undetectable. Some components were not compatible then there were some that simply exploded in use. He had to rush off to a place he knew to pick up what he needed to replace and complete the work, and possibly save the world. Lekir was sour that she had missed him as they were about to leave. “Looks like we’ll just need to ask Kalai for a portal. She at least has the authorization to create one. Then we can set your device to return whenever.” She suggested.
Carmen thought for a bit, she knew she may be able to sneak past security as she was at the capital’s portal transit station, but perhaps not since she looked a little different than her passport pictures. Portal travel had been extremely tight to anyone with dimensional portal powers due to the uptick in dangerous activity. Its been restricted to only authorized use and the main portals at each region’s capitals. Lekir knew some folks in her homeworld that were high up the command chain that were able to create portals for them, Carmen has never met them though but she knew they wouldn’t appreciate constant portal requests for her heisting. Portals were rare enough, they were only summoned after months of preparation and consultation at the capitals, and heavily guarded. General teleportation was not as regulated since the amount of magic to be used to travel to different worlds is far too much for an ordinary individual of this particular world, and simple teleports were limited to short distances.

This particular morning, Carmen’s stomach was churning. She couldn’t figure out if she ate something that didnt agree or she was just too nervous. She hasn’t traveled this way before, and she hasn’t been this nervous before. She had everything packed in a single suitcase and ran through a list of things that continued to be done while she was gone. She met up with M and Wally in the foyer for the review. “Alright so we may be gone a few weeks, I don’t know how this training is supposed to go but it’ll help me control this fire thing going on.. Wally, I need you to keep a stock of food, make sure Ninoga doesn’t empty us out, and keep a check on the fresh produce, Blendin may come over and you know he’s a crunchy kid with his veggies. He prefers greens over junk, so make sure theres fresh stuff for him.”
“M, I would like to have Daring introduced to how things work here, she’s my eldest and I would like a family backup if I decide to retire or something. She’s the closest to my body shape and all, gotta keep appearances. Go over the protocols and maybe let her on the field with one of you on one of the lesser priority heists. She may not like it now but she may grow into it.” Her stomach flopped a bit, and she paused. Wally and M looked at eachother, M tilted his head, “You sure you wanna go travel in this condition, Red? You usually don’t have nausea.” Wally gently shuffled her to the foyer sofa, had her sit down, he opened her water bottle for her, “M’s right, are you sure you wanna do this? You do look absolutely green around the gills..” Carmen took a sip and waved them off, “I’m fine, its probably just nerves.. This Cador has much heavier gravity than here and before I was not able to survive, I’m now supposedly able to and I am kinda worried about it not working but I’ll be fine..urp!” She clapped a hand over her mouth as she almost heaved. She got up and dashed to the nearest bathroom, rushing past Lekir. “Whoa.. Is she still sick?? I can let Kalai know to postpone for a day..” M groaned and shook his head, “You know how hard headed she is. She’s determined to leave today as scheduled. We’ve even asked her.”
“Good thing we’re not leaving for a few more hours. Gives her time to settle herself.” Lekir put her hands on her hips, waiting for her wife to be free from the bathroom. “Well, I’m about to go to my physical exam, maybe I’ll bring her along and see if theres anything they can give her to ease it up.” Wally offered. M laughed, “Good luck with that, you know she fuckin hates doctors since she was hauled away after the fuckin fire. Its been years.” Wally shrugs, “All the more reason, its been too long.” Carmen stepped back out to the foyer, looking a little worse for the wear. She had tied her hair up to a tight high-tail, “I’m not going to any doctors. Its just nerves. I’m fine. Go, don’t be late for the appointment. See if they can give something for the pain at least, maybe get them to do a chest scan, we don’t know how far its gotten..” she fussed over him, picking a missed crystal from his shoulder, where the shards shredded a hole. Wally smiles and kissed her nose. “I’ll be fine, just drink some ginger ale or something. I’ll be back soon.”
Blendin rushed through, almost bumping into his father, “Whoop, sorry Pops. Hey Mom, have you seen my backpack? I’m heading to a mission but I need something out of it real quick.” He starts looking behind the cushions of the sofa, M’s tentacle actually held it right above his head in a corner, the two wives snickering, “Look up, sweetie.” Carmen chuckled. Blendin looked around the ceiling for a moment “Hey! I need that! I’m gonna be late!” M cackled as he kept it slightly out of reach. “Uncle M, come on.. please?” The young stallion begged, the brash changeling dropping the backpack into the awaiting arms of the newly eighteen year old. M shook his head with a wicked grin, “That kid cant jump worth a damn..”

While the wives were preparing for their trip, Wally made his way to his appointment in a large city. In a large concrete building that almost looked more like a facility management center like the city’s Water Works, he stepped through the door and flashed his Wander Society coin, “Waldric Wander. I’m here for my physical.” He mentioned to the front desk where he was directed to the waiting room. After a few moments, he was called into an exam room where a new doctor stood to greet him. The tall black and white stallion grinned as he outstretched his hand, “Waldo, Glad you could make it. I’m Dr Ravidel Soltek and I’ll be handling your checkup today…”

Daring walked up to the door right outside Skyggja’s lab, where Sigryn greeted her, “Hello Daring! We weren’t expecting you! Would you like anything to drink?” The young pegasus shook her head, “No, I’m just looking for Mom. Have you seen her?” The dovefox nodded and escorted her towards the workshop area, “Oh yes! Carmen is right over here, getting some adjustments done before her trip.” Daring soon saw Carmen sitting in a shop chair, with a snack-tray in front of her with papers and books, awkwardly trying to sift through things with one arm as Skyggja was just a few feet away, working on the missing arm. Carmen looks up and smiles, “Adora! What brings you here?” Daring huffs a bit in annoyance, "Mom, why do you have a thing in my schedule for VILE training?! You know I don’t want to be a part of this! And with Uncle M for that matter!” Carmen straightens up and takes off her glasses, “Honey, I don’t know what will happen when I’m away and I need you or Blendin to know how things work here just in case there needs to be a leadership shift in the event of emergency. That and if anything should happen to me or your father, you’ll know what to do. I don’t want this to dissolve, too many people have made their home here. So its just a little crash course on how things work. I’m not asking you to become me. I want you to be your own person.” Daring crossed her arms, “You’ve already proven that you are worse at dying than a cockroach. So why me? If you hadn’t noticed, I’m now the only normal person that hasn’t been altered or abnormally strong or have powers..” Her mother beamed, “Sweetheart, I’m talking about your intuition and intellect, your ability to notice details, quick thinking and even quicker reflexes.” Daring glares, “But you don’t see what is wrong here! You have a skewed sense of morals in which I don’t want any part of! You steal from museums and other locations! And its mostly for your own gain! You don’t need any of it! Its all to see if you can while trying to disguise it as a way to punish a more crooked individual!”
Skyggja looks over her shoulder, “It may be stealing but your mother has done more to help others than you realize! She’s not exactly a Robin Hood but she isn’t any Sheriff of Nottingham either! As for doing it to see if she can, I’ve seen first hand how easy she can steal things. No wonder she keeps trying to go for more complicated heists. Theres no effort in protection anymore in lots of places. Consider us like WhiteHats, finding holes in security, only we get paid with their loss.” Daring growls in frustration, “You can get hired legally for that! You don’t have to do it illegally!!”
Sigryn comes over with a tray of drinks for everyone, some spiked lemonade. “I think they learn the lesson harder when its done off a legal paycheck. Besides, Don’t you do similar to us, Daring? You steal things from temples and ruins..” Sig smirked, sipping her own drink. “But thats different!! I’m legally allowed to because its covered under anomalous archeology!! Its my job to collect and neutralize the unstable artifacts for the safety of the world!” Carmen puts her glasses back on and goes back to read a paper, “So its not that different, honey, just a different boss to answer to. Where here, that boss may be you someday.” Skyggja turns, holding the arm, and reattaches it with a couple clicks. Carmen flexes her hand, and moves it around to make sure everything is connected and functioning properly. Daring turns to leave, her mother calling after her, “Just talk to M, he’ll help you out!” Skyggja chuckles as Daring leaves, “You sure have a firecracker there. If she comes around, she’s gonna be a spittin image.” Carmen smirks, “I think she’ll warm up to the idea. She just needs time. Ooh I just got a craving for pickled beets and peanut butter, out of now where.. weird.” Sigryn laughs, “That sounds like a pregnancy craving if I ever heard one! Such a weird combo!” Carmen sips her spiked lemonade, “Nah, I’ve been on a strong birth control since having Blendin. I have unusually high levels of hormones during my cycles and I had to cap it somehow. Not even Kiros could get me pregnant with these pills. Besides, its not so weird, folks used to roast whole onions stuffed with peanut butter about a century ago and it was a household favorite! I personally havent tried it but pickled beets cant be too much different!”
Skyggja raised an eyebrow, “You capped your hormones during cycles yet some of us STILL can’t keep up with your stamina during your heats.” The mare shrugged, “I’m a medical marvel apparently between that and my disability to use my natural unicorn magic. Other than that I used to be perfectly normal!” Skyggja’s mechanical eyes whirred a bit, “Right, well ya ain’t normal anymore. Maybe you should cut back on the drinkin till after you get back. You said your stomach wasn’t too happy with the nerves, and who knows what the portal may do, especially since Lekir said the environment is different.” Carmen waved the notion off, downing the rest of the drink. “I’ll be fine. Thats why I’m double checking with you about my augments. If I can get used to the atmosphere quickly, I’ll be right as a rainbow.”
Within a few hours, Wally had returned, and had a small pill bottle in hand. He went to put it in his medicine cabinet after reading the label when Carmen knocked on the doorframe, “Hey, how’d the appointment go?” Wally smiled and shrugged, “Fine I guess. I got prescribed a new medication that may help slow the crystal growth and help with the pain. Still no word on a cure. But its better than nothing.” She smiled and rubbed his arm comfortingly. “We’ll find a way. I promise. Now you have everything you need while I’m gone? Because once I’m on the other side, its hard for me to get back on short notice.”
He nods, “I think we’ll be just fine. I’m already kinda feeling better. And I haven’t even had the new pill yet.” She points to him, “Take the medicine, even if you feel better now. You still need to take it. The doctors say it will help in the long run. I’ll check that bottle when I get back if I have to.” She chuckles.

Soon it was time to depart, Lekir sent word that they were ready and a shimmering portal appeared with a figure of a gracefully lanky black fox with green tipped ears, a green stripe along her back and emerald eyes, she was dressed in a modern version of a greek muse, the pale green shirt was billowy with draping sleeves and matching dress pants. Lekir crossed her arms and glared at the arriving figure, “Hello Kalai, Its about time you showed up..” The newcomer sneered smugly and got close to Lekir, growling, “About time you begged me to send you back, I expected more groveling.” The two growled fiercely at each other before bursting out laughing, giving each other a big hug. Lekir laughed, “Its soo good to see you, is everything ready for our arrival?” Kalai wiped a laughing tear from her eye and nods, “Oh of course! Everything is all set and ready. And you must be Carmen, I’ve heard so much about you. You are absolutely glowing!” Carmen blushed as Kalai looked her over, “Its a pleasure to meet you, and I’m just nervous. I’ve obviously never been to Cador and I’ve heard so many stories about it.” Kalai smirked, “Its a certainly more than that but I’ll explain more when you’re settled and checked out.” Carmen hesitated, “Checked out? Like customs and quarantine right?” Kalai tilted her head, “Its a medical standpoint to see how far along you are and to see how your new blood is effecting you.” Carmen relaxed a bit, “Oh right, haha, to see how far I’ve adapted to this, right. Got it.” Kalai chuckled with a confused look, “Did you forget that I can sense all life and health? Or did Lekir not relay that.” Lekir huffed, “No, I told her everything I knew!”
Carmen reached out in a sudden thought, right before Kalai was about to speak, “Wait! So that means you can heal, right? Like take diseases away? May I ask a favor before we depart? My husband, Waldo, has been inflicted by what we call Vivian’s Burden. Its fatal with no cure. We haven’t had any luck finding anything that helps. Can you help him?” Kalai sighed and had him stand near her since she couldnt stray far from the portal without it closing. She looked him over, “You recently took out all the shards of crystal?” Wally nodded, “We try to take out any that we see.” Kalai turns to Carmen, “I do not do these for charity, I do require payment and the cost will be steep. Are you prepared to pay my fees for such a service, even in your condition?” Carmen gave a confused face and looked herself over, “My condition? Like my limbs? Whatever my condition, yes I will pay whatever the price, I have plenty of money or priceless art, or if I dont have what you want, I can get it with no issues... Just.. we’re running out of time to find him a cure. He has less than a year and a half before it starts getting to his vitals.” Kalai looked her over and proceeded to reach out her hand, touching Wally’s chest and with a soft green glow, she pulled the illness from him absorbing it into herself and destroying it, healing his wounds from the crystals. “We shall discuss payment when you get settled then, and it will not be monetary.”
Wally lifted his shirt and smiled wide, laughing, “Holy moley! I feel amazing! I didn’t realize how much strength I lost!” He did a couple hops and ran over to Carmen, picking her up and twirling her, giving her a deep kiss. “Oh this is wonderful! Thank you Kalai! I have a new lease on life!” He woops out. Carmen smiles and laughs, “Better thank Lekir too! She’s the one who knows Kalai and had her come here!” Wally went right over to Lekir and gave a big bear hug to which Lekir patted his back and felt awkward. “Thank you so much!” Lekir pried him from her with a chuckle, “Yeah, no prob. I didn’t realize this was the answer you all were looking for.. “ Kalai smiled, “Its may not have been the main reason for my being here but if a life can be saved, I’m happy to help. Now, say your farewells for now, I’ll have you back safely within one month of your calendar.” M takes a draw from his cigarette and strides up to Kalai. “You better fuckin keep them safe. Those two are my charges, and I don’t like being fuckin far from them. If anything happens to them, I will have no issue rending your flesh into fuckin paste, myself.” Kalai looked at him and suddenly whipped vines from the ground to twist around him tightly, sapping his strength from full to near completely depleted, his breathing labored as he wriggled. She gets close to him, the vines pulling him lower to his knees, she ripped the cigarette out of his mouth and tossed it, “And You should not be smoking near a mother to be! I have much to discuss about her and her son.”
Carmen raised an eyebrow, “Wait, you mean Blendin? He’s just turning 18…” Kalai never broke eye contact with M, “No, no, your other son.”
“I don’t have another son. I have a daughter.”
“I’m talking about the son you carry in your belly this very moment!”
Carmen’s hands instantly went to her stomach, “Wait, I’m actually pregnant?! How?! I literally just had this conversation.. I was on birth control since having Blendin! Do they not work anymore?!… oh my god they dont work anymore. Why dont they work anymore?!” She starts panicking and Lekir rubs her back soothingly, getting her some ice water. “It could be the demon blood.. your transformation could be enough to override it. Normally non Cadorian females who carry Cadorian Demon babies cant survive the pregnancy, but you can since you have had the blood transfer.” Lekir explained. Kalai smiled over to Carmen, keeping M bound still, “I thought you knew already, I apologize but this way I can assess both your abilities and progress! This has only happened once before with a human but never a unicorn! I’m very eager to learn what I can if you are willing to let me observe while you train your new skills.” She turned back to M and used her power to read his biology and such, smirking, “Oh.. now you are a strange one. Much different from the individuals in this building. Last time I was here on this planet, nothing like you existed yet.. Oh interesting.. Hmmm Lets keep some of that between us, shall we?” She patted his cheek and let him go, releasing his strength back to him. He stumbled back and shook his head, “What the fuck did you just do to me?!” He roared, his claws lengthening sharply. Kalai flicked her fingers and explodes his bones within his arms before flicking them back, instantly healing him as if no harm was ever done. “I am the Harbinger of Life. I can unmake you as easy as you were made to begin with. I am a scientist of biology and magic. I am older than you can comprehend. I have seen wars and seen my people die around me. I have felt their anguish and pain.” M straightened up and adjusted his jacket, “So we have something in common.” Kalai tilted her head, “You are a being who changes shape. Your biology doesnt show this feature you speak of otherwise. Please elaborate.”
M scoffed but went into detail of his kind and his experiences. “I’m a dark balance changeling, I feed off the negative of life. Every Murphy’s law, every bad luck streak, is my dinner. I use my powers to feed off those emotions of despair and hopelessness and chase it down with survivor’s bittersweet love and pain of the lost one. I don’t just kill and witness death. I absorb it, I feast upon it. Well, I used to kill. Red here has a no kill ban and I agreed to it.” The fox came much closer, her lips almost touching his, she breathes cold air onto him, breathing her experiences of those exact emotions and senses him taking it in. He licks his lips as the glow in his eyes shift slightly, “That was a nice appetizer. I never fuckin expected that.” Kalai smirked tracing her finger along his shirt, “I could feed you for a lifetime with all that I am. Take you home like a lost puppy.” He took her hand from his chest, “Don’t mistake me for a fuckin puppy. I can do more than just bark.” Kalai smirked wider, “Suddenly you have gone from just a passing thought to someone I may actually enjoy. Not many fully understand what I feel, but you do. Interesting for such a strange one.”
M growled, “I have a name. I didn’t just spend two fuckin decades fighting with an ai to say my goddamn name instead of Rude one, I ain’t gonna do it again with you.” The vixen crossed her arms, “Oh I know your name, Marehem Skaedfryd. I was hoping you would take my compliment instead since you don’t care for your full name being spoken. So you go by M, as I was saying, you are a strange one.” M grumped and adjusted his jacket, sticking his hands in his pants pocket, “So. You said a month, yeah? I’ll set my calendar. One month. On the dot. Be here, or I will come there and destroy what I can to get them back, gravity or no gravity.” She laughed, “I have seen extinction level events, you do not frighten me.” M lifted his chin before moving his muzzle next to her cheek, speaking low, “I’ve caused extinction level events. I do not intend to harm you if you do not intend to harm them.” She chides softly, “I am as gentle as a flower but certainly not as frail, no harm will befall them, I assure you.” He puts his hand on her arm, keeping his head close, “Even the smallest and weakest flower can be deadly just as a sturdy flower needs care to not wither.” Kalai licks his cheek, “Perhaps someday I will let you tend my garden. There are no gods to judge, we ate them, haven’t we?” He gave a soft groan, almost a low chuckle. “When we ate them, we became gods ourselves, ain’t that right?” Kalai grins bringing up a hand to cup his neck in a soft embrace, “Then perhaps gods shall lay with gods someday.”
Carmen leans over to Lekir, whispering, “What the fuck am I seeing right now?” Lekir shrugs and whispers back, “I dunno.. I wanna say they’re flirting.”
Carmen gives an unsure grimace, “With M though? Oh maybe he’ll do his fake out that he does with Molli. M never flirts seriously. Any minute he will give the middle finger or something.. any minute..” Lekir shakes her head, “I think he’s serious. Even look at his tail, its curled around both their feet. Not swaying like he’s plotting.” Carmen continues her grimace, “But M though?!” Lekir chuckles, “Almost reminds me of a Death and Deadpool type of chemistry.” Carmen shrugs, “A death and what? Whats a deadpool?” Lekir looked at her wife in disbelief, “Do you not keep up with pop and comic culture? Your own son reads them, ask him. It’ll make sense when you do.” Carmen scoffs, “I read comics! I’ve read… Garfield…” The Vesk pats her shoulder, “When we get back, we’re having a comic crash course.” They look back in time to see M kiss her hand gently, then he catches eye contact with the wives, and flips them his middle finger. “There’s the middle finger.. its just towards us instead of her. Great.”
After Lekir and Carmen finished farewelling, Kalai escorted them through the portal, looking back to give M a wink before the portal closes. Once the girls were gone, the two brothers stood, Wally giving a sheepish grin towards M who had crossed his arms in thought, tapping his chin. M gave a side eye to Wally, “What the fuck are you lookin at?” Wally grinned and chuckled, “M has a crush~” M cackles, “Right, and you are the king of Scotland. Bullshit.” Wally singsongy teased him, “You think she’s preeeetty, I think you liiiiike her, you wanna kiiiisssss her..” M grabbed him by the shirt neck and made a fist, “If you dont fuckin quit..”
“Mom hasn’t been gone five minutes and already you’re fighting like children?! This place is in a more sorry state than I thought.” Daring stood in the doorway, hands on her hips. “And what is a little pipsqueak like you gonna do?” M towered over her. She smirks as Kiros comes up behind her. “I’ll ask her next strongest agent to help me keep things under control.” Kiros grinned as he cracked his knuckles, “Daring and I have been getting along quite well. Now whats this I hear about M having a crush?”

Chapter 26: Timey Wimey Time for a New Era

“Its not a damned crush. I swear you busybodies have nothing better to fuckin do. Get back to whatever the fuck you were doin!” M exploded, the faintest blush upon his cheeks as he stormed off to his room, slamming the door. Wally shrugged, “Ah he’ll get over it! Its not like its his first.” Daring and Kiros looked at each other with a questioning look, Daring asking, “Dad, has he done this with that other girl Molli?” He thought back for a bit, “My memory that far back is a bit fuzzy still but I think that was pure hook ups to appease her or using her as a vent for frustration. I dont remember him being that tender to anyone really. But then again like I said, my memory.. aint what it used to be.” Kiros hmmed a bit and shrugged, “I think I’ll see what he’s up to, maybe he just needs a bit of a chat and not bullying.”
Daring raised an eyebrow. “Like bro bonding time? You have already known him how long now?” Kiros chuckled, ruffling her bobbed hair, “Just because we’ve been teammates for a couple decades doesnt mean I cant check in on him. He’s usually a loner out of all of us. He probably feels a bit of pressure to get you up to speed on things.” Daring scowled, thinking. “I think you should let him cool off for a bit. I know you have some high security access, you could teach me a few things. Plus he still kinda creeps me out.” Kiros laughed, “Him? Other than the horror show wanna be vibe, he’s a big grumpy softie. Come on, I’ll tell you more while I show you more of the research lab and library. You’ll need to know how to access the good stuff.” They headed out and Wally sighed, scratching his head. “Well.. it sure is more quiet around here.. its like a mini vacation.”
It in fact was not quite like a mini vacation. That night Wally tried cooking a meal for everyone… which turned out completely inedible. And the cabinets above the stove also became a charred disaster. For the entire month, everyone had some sort of take out as the kitchen was slowly repaired like new. Daring was actually learning the ropes and liking it, as the month flew by, once planning a heist of her own and borrowing her mother’s coat and hat. As luck would have it, the TARDIS showed up shortly before and a blonde maned pink earth pony mare stepped out in a bit of a baggy coat one would see from a thrift store, with a mechanical component and an odd looking sonic screwdriver. “Right, hello. I’m the Doctor, I returned with that thing you needed for your portal door.” M, being skeptical, gruffed, “What the fuck happened to the older silver haired gent?” The mare chuckled, “Oh, thats me, new face. I was forced to regenerate but thats no big deal right now. Lets get you up and running finally, yeah?” M crossed his arms after showing her the way again, narrowing his eyes. “Bah.. too cheerful. I was amused by the bickering before.” The mare Doctor shrugs and begins to tinker about the console and installed the component, buzzing her screwdriver here and there. “Yeah well, times change and so do people. I bet you could change too. Always so angry and cold. You should find someone you like and I dunno. Have a date! Or just hang out. Something with someone you dont mind spending time with, doesnt have to be romantic.” M snuffed in silent retort, looking away as she mentions dates and such. “I have no use fer that fuckin stuff.” The Doctor got up from being on her back and under the console, dusting herself off. “Aahh, I see that eye avoidance though. You thought of at least one person you would consider. Obviously you dont have to, I’m not going to force you. You do what you want. You know you best.”
M rolled his eyes and went over to the console to inspect it, “So is this ready to go? We can open portals and not be fuckin flagged or seen? No beacons or flares or anything?” She shook her head, “Completely off the grid! Now when you see Carmen again, tell her that she owes me one. We aren’t even fully yet! She still owes me from stealing Sexy from me twice!” M scoffs, “Eehh you know Red, she keeps her word, but she is a bit of a weird monster fucker.. I suppose Police Boxes fit that category some fuckin how.” Daring walked into the mech lab with an oversized red trenchcoat and hat. “Are you sure I need to wear this? Didnt she have a smaller size?” She sees the Doctor and blinks, “Oh, I’m sorry, I didnt realize I was interrupting something.” The pink mare beamed, “Oh my gosh lookit you! You shrank! No. Not shrank. You’re not Carmen. Who are you?” Daring kept trying to adjust the hat, “I’m her daughter Daring Do. She calls me Adora.” The Doctor beamed more, “Oh that is stonkin!! A family heist then?? Is it your first one? Oh you’ll have fun! Ol Marehem here will keep you safe. I’ve heard a lot about you and your brother. I hope to see him someday! For now, I do have to run. Just call if you need me!” She had looked at her watch and was already half in the TARDIS before Daring got anything out to say.
M snorted a bit, “Liked the previous Doctor better. More realistic and not so… chipper.” Daring pointed to where the TARDIS was already faded away, “Did I just meet the Doctor? She’s kinda all over the place, isn’t she? Is she always that hyper?” M threw up his hands, “I don’t know, they’ve all had their fuckin hyper moments. Especially when they are fuckin easily excitable. Anyway, lets get this fuckin thing started up. You said you want a heist on a different Earth if we got this running before yer mom got back. Sooo.. Where the fuck you wanna go?” He took a closer look at her and gave a face. “What? Do I disgust you or something?” She huffed. He reached into the shadow and pulled out a fake horn and a brown wig. He fixed the horn to the hat and plopped the wig onto her head. “She hasnt been seen since the accident, so no one knows her change in appearance. She is fuckin self conscious of what the media says, so put this on and from security cameras, you should look spot on.” Daring scowled as she adjusted the wig, “Why would it matter if we’re going to another world? And where did you even get this stuff?” M planted the hat haphazardly onto her head, “Hey, I dont ask where you get your fucking audacity but here we are.. just fuckin use it, and we’ll go from there. Its all her fuckin image reputation shit.. Alright, call yer troops and let’s head out fer yer first heist.”
Daring smirked, “Right.. um.. Oh one more thing to bring.” She had him follow her to the loot storage and pulled out a rolled up tapestry from a museum from their world’s Italy. “I saw that Mom already nicked this one. What if I play a prank she may appreciate? What if we switch the tapestries? Another Earth is sure to have one like this as well? Right?” M took a look at the label Carmen had made for it and he chuckled. “Ya know, I think that would be rather hilarious. Probably against her wishes of letting this go to the hands of someone she doesnt know but, then again, we are fuckin providing her with a technically more rare one. I’ll run it through 079 and see if there is another one of these elsewhere in the fuckin multiverse.” He scanned the tag from his phone and shortly 079 brought up a result and even more information.
“So the tapestry you were seeking is from Earth N37FL1X, it was in display in Italy just a while ago. Mostly populated by animated beings called humans. Very basic species, not very colorful except in culture and language.. and there are reports of what looks to be a young Carmen in her 20’s running about, stealing from an Organization called VILE, oh what a coinkidink and is pursued by a policing agency called ACME. Sounds familiar. Currently if you leave now, I can set the date to when they are in pursuit in a place called Moscow, leaving this Italian museum open for your little field trip.” Daring smiled, “Sounds good! Wait.. why am I excited about that?” M puffed on his cigarette and grins, patting her head, smooshing the hat a little. “Because you just made a basic plan of action and its working in yer favor. Yer mom gets the same way, must run in the family. Now, next thing to do check what kind of other security is involved. Just because this ACME group is preoccupied, doesnt mean the rest of the world is unguarded. 079, can you get the layout deets fer that fuckin museum? A simple fuckin sneak and steal should be an easy first heist.”

Later that night, Blendin came in exhausted and covered in glitter. “Ugh.. I am never doing that again..” He paused as he closed the door, “Hello? Anybody here?” The house seemed very quiet. Asta and Ninoga were off for their anniversary, while Drake and Vasha were off on their own air pirate adventures, Molli was glued to her phone with earphones in, and Wally left a note saying he went shopping for snacks. Blendin had texted Daring and she hadnt responded back yet so he went to a wall display and checked the rosters, finding out Daring, M and Kiros went off world and Skyggja and Sigryn were in their lab. Blendin almost had the whole house to himself. He went to his room and flopped into his computer chair, turning on his gaming tower, and putting headphones on his head as he grabbed a game controller.
He was just about to start a game when a soft set of black pawhands covered his eyes. “Aah! You’re getting fingerprints all over my glasses!!” He exclaimed, hearing laughter from the young sphinx, “Ty! What are you doing here? Arent you in Guardian training?”
The sphinx teen hopped onto Blendin’s bed, his adult coloration coming in finally. He was a little more filled out muscle wise than slender Blendin, since he was part of the wrestling team. His fur becoming a soft midnight with a slightly lighter brown stomach, his humanistic parts were still a honey brown, his human features becoming more of that of a handsome middle eastern man, though still lingering in the awkward teen stage. His black hair was resembling more of black iridescent rooster feathers as was his chest fluff and tail tip. His eyes were a golden honey color, and he was wearing a simple blue tunic and khaki board shorts, sandals on his feetpaws. “I’m done with training, I graduated top of the class and was even given the choice of my Librarian to guard!” Blendin hung the bulky headphones around his neck and turned his chair to look at him, “Thats awesome, dude! Who are you thinking of picking? Is it Emily? Please dont say Emily.. she is sooo insufferable with the fairytale sector.” Ty laughed, shaking his head, “No, I think she’s allergic to cats anyway..” Blendin raised an eyebrow, “You sure she aint just sayin that because she’s a Mouskin?” The feline smirked, “She sneezes all the time around me, I’m not picking her. I was actually wondering.. if perhaps I could pick you.” The young stallion tilted his head curiously, “But I thought Guardians and Librarians often become lovers. At least I think they used to-“ Blendin blinked as Ty suddenly was pressing his lips to his, their first kiss.
After a moment the kiss broke and both boys blushed, Blendin smirking, “Wow. How am I going to refuse after that??” Ty laughed as he leaned on the headrest of the chair, “I was thinking of maybe having a code name Wonderland. You know, Lion and the Unicorn?” Blendin snickered, “Are you calling me fat? That unicorn eats all the sweets while the lion wins the fight.. if anything you have more meat on your bones than I do!” They laughed and Blendin rubs the back of his head a little, “So does this mean that we’re a couple now too?” Ty shrugged. “I was thinking about leaving that part up to you, if you’d have me.” Blendin felt his cheeks blush even brighter than before. “Hells yeah!! I mean..If you want to, I don’t mind..” Ty laughed and ruffled Blendin’s hair, “I wouldn’t be asking you out if I didnt want to!…is.. is that glitter? Why are you covered in glitter?” Blendin gulped and shrugged with a grin, “Fairies?” Ty raised an eyebrow, “As much as that tracks, try again. I know your recent missions were not involving fairies.” Blendin sighed defeatedly, “Okay, fine, but you can’t let anyone else know… its kinda embarrassing.” The Sphinx crossed his arms, “Dude, I’ve seen you after taco tuesday when experimenting with tofu and bean burritos. There ain’t nothing I haven’t seen you do for some fuckin toilet time.”

Soon the date came by that the wives were due to arrive back. A new tapestry hung in a display in the loot storage from Daring’s first heist and switch, the kitchen was restored to near mint condition, and M was relaxing by the pool, a large dunking device sitting next to him. The device’s long arm was dunked in the deep end, the subject tied to was bubbling and thrashing for a good few minutes. The changeling didn’t seem concerned at all for their breathing. He reclined, arms resting behind his head, eyes shut behind some sunglasses, yet he was still dressed in a full black and dark teal suit. He crossed his ankles, his fetlocked hoof tapping the air as if he had a song stuck in his head.
Kalai had wandered down the stairs from the main floor, since the pool was currently residing in the open basement looking out towards the ocean sunset. “I thought you were going to meet us at the entry point, Mr. Tall, Dark and Moody.” She shapeshifted her clothes to be more fitting for the poolside, a golden bikini with a sheer hip wrap. M raised an eyebrow and smirked. “You gave me a date. Not a time. Besides, I got… distracted.” He nodded towards the commotion under the water. He looked at his watch and stood up, “Pardon me a moment..” he grunted, stepping on a pedal that lifted the device’s arm, showing a very disgruntled and soaked red changeling girl, Molli. “Now what have we learned about putting C4 in Red’s room while she was gone??” Molli writhed against the ropes and spit out curses at him, “Fuck you! You’re an asshole! She’s no good for you and you know it!” He stepped off the pedal, careening her back into the water, “Correct observation, wrong fucking lesson..” he chuckled as he resumed his spot on the lounge chair. “Should I even ask?” Kalai chuckled. M lit a fresh cigarette and shrugged, “Neh, just a crazy jealous ex who thinks every woman is out fer my cock, which is fuckin hilarious since I haven’t fucked in like two hundred or so years. Just ain’t interested. And who told her it was only women? There’s other people out there who would love a piece of this.” He gestured to his crotch with a small hip-lift and took a slow draw from his cigarette, Kalai shifting her weight to one hip and curiously tapped her finger to her chin. “Well, is it just women for you?” He let out the smoke in a steady blow, shrugging. “Since forever and fer now, I guess. Never bothered to want to explore it. Broads feel comfortable fer now but what really tickles my fancy is seeing who is stronger. If I can overpower them, I can control them and break them, feed off them. If they are stronger, I respectfully know my place.” Kalai smirks, nudging his legs over so she can sit on the edge of the lounger, receiving an annoyed flash of a sneer before he readjusts himself to let her sit. “So whats the deal with your sister in law then? She’s obviously weaker, or was for as long as you’ve known her, yet you treat her as equal or higher.” M gives off this groan of uncertainty, “Neeehhh its.. complicated. We found common ground and common needs that we could help each other with at the time and it just went from there.”
“She outsmarted you with logic?” Kalai chuckled, raising an eyebrow. “What? Fuck no. It was just a deal to help each other out. And she just kinda grows on yeh. She’s very persuasive.” M grimaced and scoffed at the audacity of the notion that he could be outsmarted by a simple mortal unicorn. “Well then what about me? Where do I stand?” She leans closer to him, batting her eyelashes. He looked over his sunglasses at her, looking her up and down before leaning his head back. “Eh.. hard to say. I recognize your powers differ from mine, yet are extremely similar. Not quite eldritch as I like to describe it. You do surpass me in power levels, but that could be due to age and experience easily.” She cocks her head a bit, with a confused gaze, “Are you calling me old? I’m not even middle aged yet!” M smirks, “I call it how it is. Yer older than me and I’m fuckin old compared to the fuckin morons on this planet. To me, you don’t look a day over 1,000.” She smiles, “So what you’re saying is you like older women.” He sits up and looks over his sunglasses again, “What I’m sayin is that I know my place around you and I’m comfortable with that.”
She smirks with an upward chin tilt and stands up, stepping on the device so the arm lifts Molli out of the water, coughing and sputtering. “And you were comfortable with leaving her underwater for this long?” Kalai sends out her vines and unties Molli and holds her, wrapped up like a python. She brings the little changeling closer to try to soothe her, reaching out a hand to brush Molli’s face. Molli in return hissed and shifting into a viper and bared her venomous fangs and was about to strike Kalai. “You will never sssteal him from me!! I will make sssure you dont sssee another sssunrisse!!! DIE!!”
M ripped off his sunglasses, seeing the fangs and noticing her particular venom, he turned himself into shadow, within what seemed like milliseconds if not instantly, took hold of the captured viper from the vine’s grip and forced her to her true form as he solidified, slamming her against the wall by her throat. His body suddenly bigger, and more monstrous, almost hulking with multiple limbs, most thin and spindly like spider legs, caging around them. Tentacles swarming as three sets of insect wings splayed open, his face almost looking skeletal with multiple glowing eyes, green with shades of red, bared down upon the offending changeling who clutched to the claws holding her throat, her hooves kicking for some footing to stand on, her own segmented eyes filled with absolute terror, he slowly growled at her, threatening sounds of his chittering sounded in the back of his throat.
“DID YOU LEARN NOTHING WHEN I THREW YOU TO THE SIDE CENTURIES AGO? AND YOU DEIGN TO RETURN TO ME AND THREATEN WHAT I HAVE RIGHTFULLY EARNED ALL BECAUSE I DO NOT RETURN YOUR AFFECTIONS? LET THIS MOMENT SET THINGS CRYSTAL CLEAR. IF YOU REMAIN AT THIS DOMAIN, YOU WILL CARE AND PROTECT YOUR TEAMMATES AND HOUSEMATES AS FAMILY. GENUINELY AND WITHOUT SEEKING REWARD. I TIRE OF YOUR GAMES AND HAVE WORN OUT MY HOSPITALITY AND PATIENCE. CHOOSE YOUR PATH TONIGHT. IF YOU CHOOSE TO CONTINUE THESE GAMES, I WILL DEVOUR YOU COMPLETELY WITH NO REMORSE. YOU WILL BE SPARED WITH NO ILL WILL IF YOU STAY AND CHOOSE TO TRULY BECOME A VILE AGENT OR IF YOU CHOOSE TO LEAVE YOU WILL BE SPARED BUT NEVER ALLOWED TO RETURN. MAKE YOUR CHOICE BY DAY BREAK.” Molli nods panickedly as he lets her go, dropping her to the floor and turning back towards Kalai, almost instantly back to his normal form, straightening his tie and putting his sunglasses back on, striding towards her. Molli ran back upstairs into the rest of the house to think about what she needs to do next. Kalai, on the other hand, watched M with his hulking form while biting her knuckle, her legs crossed tight. She stands to meet him as he returned towards her, her tail swishing a bit excitedly. “I apologize that you had to see that. Are you alright? Did she bite you at all?” He took her hand, examining it. Kalai let him hold her hand, a deep blush spread over her face as she looked into his shaded eyes. “N-no. I’m very fine. She didn’t bite me. Even if she did, it wouldnt do anything to me. Hell, I’m still holding and processing your brother’s disease in my own body so I can cure it fully. That is proving difficult but its not impossible.” She shifts the shape of her own body, as if dropping an illusion, her body riddled with small crystals ripping through her flesh before putting the illusion back on. M frowns, shaking his head. “I know you are helping but endangering your own life like this, you’ll run out of time.” Kalai laughed, “No I won’t. I’m practically life and death incarnate. This cannot harm me like it does your brother. So be at ease. I have it handled. Just like how you handled that girl back there.” She looked past him at the partially cratered wall. “That was impressively sexy by the way.” She reached up and fondled his tie within her hands, looking up at him. “Wut, That back there? That’s not supposed to be fuckin sexy..” M gave a questioning look, before she pulled his tie, bringing him closer like a leash. “Shut up and take the compliment.” He growled close with a smirk. “How about you shut up?” She grins, daring him. “How about you make me-Mmmh!~” He didn’t let her finish her challenge before his lips locked with hers, his hands wrapping around her hips. She melted a little as they kissed, her hands on his tie still. She pulled away first, softly giggling. “Touché.” He smirked, “So, did I do it right?”
“Do what right?”
“Did I seduce you?”
“You are how old and you forgot how to seduce?”
“I didn’t forget!!”
“You did! You totally forgot how to seduce a woman!”
M huffed. “I can seduce any woman I want!”
Kalai slid her neck to the side, “Then why did you ask?”
“I dunno, Red makes it look easy! And I tried being, I dunno, fuckin coy or something!”
“How can you forget how to seduce?! Its like forgetting how to eat!“
“Look, I don’t think you are aware, but I don’t like actual food.. like ever.”
“You don’t like food?”
“I can fuckin absorb emotions, why would I need food?!”
“Its called fun!”
“I don’t need food for fun..”
“And this is why you didn’t get laid for the past 200 years.”

That night, everyone had sat down for a well deserved home cooked meal by Carmen and Lekir, and a few more settings were placed for the new visitors. A Dragon King named Anorath had joined Carmen and Lekir for dinner along with a Lizard woman named Celica and the black and green Vixen Kalai, who had chosen to sit next to M. A fourth individual was also welcomed to the table, sitting by Daring. A tall and slim Kirin teen with some wolf like features, about 18-19 years of age. His long mane was an arctic blue while his fur was white, a single blue curved horn jutted from his forehead as much smaller horns ran along his hairline. He was exceptionally pretty, as Daring couldn’t take her eyes off of him. Instead of a normal Kirin tail, he had a canine one, yet still had the cloven hooves with long blue fetlocks. He smiled and joined in conversation, one would notice his teeth were also canine.
As Carmen stood to help serve the food, she clinked a glass for the undivided attention of the table. “All right, settle down, I know we’ve been gone a long while, longer for us than most you, but I wanted to say how glad we are to be back home! I wanted to thank Anorath, Celica and Kalai for helping us during this whole endeavor! And I wanted to formally introduce a new member to the family. Not new to me and Lekir but new to you all.. ya know.. time travel..” The table chuckled, and she continued, gesturing over to the Kirin teen, “I’d like you all to meet Aciano. He is our son. Lekir and I had a baby apparently. I have also updated my birth control to be strong enough for this demon Jirvi-Ketsru blood I have, since thats why this happened. My old birth control was not strong enough for my body anymore. So yeah. Thats fixed now. Um, so Aciano is going to be staying with us, he wanted to go see this world and see if he is interested in any special talents he may develop here. He’s a bit shy right now but I’m sure he’s grow into his place here with no issues.”
The table erupted into welcomes and laughter, Daring somewhat dropped her shoulders, “He’s my brother?! I got two brothers now? Dammit, I was hoping he wasn’t related!” Kiros nudged her with his elbow, chuckling. “That quick to change crushes?” Daring sputtered and glared at him, “What?! Psh.. No… what? Mm-mm nope. I have no idea what you’re on about.” Carmen smirked, “I just wish Blendin was here to meet you. He’s been rather busy with his Librarian duties. Oh! That reminds me, Adora, theres a magic show in town this weekend. Why not get aquatinted with Ace and show him around, you’ll have a blast! I just know it! Aaand I hear the magician has a new assistant you may like. I hear he’s your age and already has quite a following on Tik-Trot.” Daring blushed bright red and slouched, hiding in her wings. “Mother!! Stop trying to set me up with random boys! I’ll pick someone when I’m ready!” Carmen blinked, thinking she was mistaken, “So sorry, Would you rather me see if theres any girls you may like instead? Just let me know if thats what you prefer..” Daring hid more in her wings, groaning. “No Mom! I like boys but I don’t need any help finding anyone! Fuck!” Carmen raised an eyebrow, “Adora Knapsack Yearling! Language! We have guests!!”
M piped in “Oy, Red, give the kid a fuckin break, yeah? She pulled off a hell of a first heist while you were gone. Give her some slack. And mind you, she was the FIRST VILE agent to go across dimensions for yer precious loot. I’d say she deserves extra dessert or somethin!” Carmen beamed, “Thats absolutely wonderful news! Absolutely she can extra dessert! And You can help her write up the report after dinner.. which by the way, M. Hand me your plate, I’ll put it in the cupboard for you.” M scowled, in mid reach of a plate of stuffed artichoke. “Um why the fuck would I do that? I’m eating right here with the rest of yez.” Carmen smiled wide, motioning to Kalai, “Oh Kalai and I had a nice conversation about dinner and how you dont like food in general. So I’m not going to force you to eat if you don’t like my cooking..” M stood up, insectoid chittering could be heard faintly as his ears pinned back, “What the absolute fuck? I never fuckin said I didnt like your cooking! I just dont eat for fun! Appreciating the hard work of a home cooked meal is a whole ‘nother fuckin thing entirely!”
Carmen slow blinks at him, and gestures for his plate again, “And your appreciation is noted and welcomed, but I won’t force you to eat if you don’t like to eat. Now hand over your plate.” M scowls and keeps his hand on top of his plate. “Fer fuck sake, Red! I want this food! Yeah I can fuckin absorb all yer good feelings and shit but I like having fuckin solid food too even if I don’t need it to survive!”
Kalai smirked at him, “So what you’re saying is that you do like eating food for fun? You keep falling for her logic, I can see why you see her as an equal..” M glowered, “I will find where you fuckin sleep and I wont even bother making it look like an accident..” Kalai just leans towards him with a grin. “Mmm. Kinky.”