Two vehicles parked by a sparsely populated street, and the doors to the one in the lead opened quickly, expelling a short, young boy wearing baggy jeans, a sombrero, and a fake mustache, and a beautiful, pale girl in a long, beige dress and soft jacket. The two rushed to the second vehicle and opened the door to the backseat urgently.
Twist, before even fully scrutinizing Ess' condition had already barked, "How is he?!" in concern.
To his surprise, Ess' guts had already been stowed back into his belly where they belonged, and T-96, his mask back on, was stitching the ghastly wound on his chest carefully.
"He's alright," the guardian said calmly.
Ess turned to Twist and Bee – the latter of which sighed in relief from the corner of her mouth – and raised his brow.
"What are you two fussing about? You know I can handle this much easily. My control of Fint is enough to keep me alive and to safeguard my innards from contamination," he said matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, but…" Twist attempted to express before hanging his head and swiping a few drops of sweat off his face. "Alright."
Bee simply gave a nod but swallowed a lump of saliva that had expressed the tension she had been keeping within since Ess allowed T-96 to expertly rip open his belly and chest minutes ago. The scene had been particularly unsavory for Bee, and if Ess actually listened to her input, she might have spoken against it. Poor 'Elliot', on the other hand, had gagged and nearly puked his tongue out the entire time.
The plan for getting into Green Lolli city, beyond mutilating Ess, had been to give up on using the V-Amp and to find another vehicle. Once that was achieved, as T-96 had proposed, he made use of Dein to infiltrate the city while pretending as though the mutilated Ess was someone who could give them information about the current crisis.
Of course, Dein was only cooperative because T-96 used his Utility, Bewitchment, to manipulate him. The guardian indeed had a Violet Spark.
The Utility, Bewitchment, had several levels. At the very least, it allowed T-96 to make targets he touched or was close to, see him and everyone he desired favorably. At its very best, it allowed him to fully compel any reasonably powered individual to do his bidding down to extremely fine details; and when the effect eventually wore off (if T-96 didn't maintain it), the subjects would forget everything that happened within the span of their enthrallment up to events an hour before they were enthralled.
While Dein and crew were attracting the attention of the Agents, Bee, Twist, and the others were to find a spot that gave Twist's Utility a better chance to warp into the city. The two and their luggage had to either warp into the vehicle Dein and company were riding, or another secure one, avoiding aerial surveillance. (Twist's Utility range was a full kilometer, after all.)
Of course, this had worked out very well.
Twist's Twist, as he himself had pointed out to Jayne, didn't necessarily require him to have a live view of the target of the switch. It was enough for him to know the details of it, and this worked even with a text or a vague image.
Since such a thing had been presented to him by T-96 through the earlier text, and captured image, he had managed to switch himself, Bee, 'Elliot', and Jayne into the bulky vehicle the four Agents helping Dein into the city had been riding.
To ensure that the four Agents wouldn't squeal unnecessarily to their peers after the plan was complete, Twist first switched them out with four regular civilians who had been riding their van while in the traffic line, had had Bee kill them swiftly, bury them deep into the ground with his Utility, and then swapped with the civilians who had unceremoniously appeared in the bulky Bureau vehicle.
It was tricky work, but the boy managed.
"What will we do about the V-Amp?" Bee asked as Ess cleaned himself and donned a new shirt. "It's probably safe where Twist buried it, but…"
"We'll get it when it's time to leave. For now, let's focus on the task at hand," Ess said before turning to T-96 after he exited the twin cab. "Contact Rachet. Tell him we're here."
"There's no need, Master Ess," T-96 said, much to everyone's surprise. "He has already sent us a meeting place. A text message was sent to me while we were in the thick with the Agents."
"Oh? How did he know we were here already?" Twist said thoughtfully. "Where are we supposed to meet?"
"Camry Square."
Without wasting much time, the group hurried to cut off all their loose ends so as to ensure that they had more time in the city before too many suspicions brewed. The Agent who had been cast under T-96's Bewitchment was told to strip off his gear, find new clothing, and search for a hotel to hole up in for the next few days.
Dein, who proved to be rather useful, was to remain with the group, but he too had to be fitted into casual clothing.
The only problem to remain was the speedster, Jayne. T-96 used his Bewitchment on her, but it was difficult for her to move since she had no legs. Ess insisted on getting rid of her, but Twist vehemently refused.
"No way! I buried my other specimen with the V-Amp! I'm not losing her too!" the boy had cried with a deep frown, refusing to budge. He had indeed left the other random Agent whose arms he had sliced off inside the V-Amp begrudgingly. There was little point in keeping him, especially with how volatile the situation had been.
Ess eventually surrendered and thus it was decided that T-96 would find them all a hotel to stay in, and he would be taking both Jayne and Dein with him. The guardian left his phone with the rest so that they could contact Ratchet.
Soon the two groups split and moved along.
It turned out that Camry Square wasn't hard to find at all.
While Green Lolli City, like Red Biscuit, was quite advanced, featuring an abundance of skyscrapers with attractive designs, expensive displays of the newest technology in phones, pretty brands of clothes, and the sexiest brands of cars, there was a rogue side to it all. The population in the city was quite high, and that, in a way, diminished its splendor.
Camry Square was a great example of this. The intersection in its midst was packed with so many people in the pedestrian crossing that it was easy to get derailed and lose your way. The flashing of electronic billboards, the smell of flash-fried foods with tantalizing sauces, and the blaring of traffic were agitating, not to mention the odour manufactured because of the abundance of people.
"Why did that bastard want to meet in a place like this?!" Twist yelled so that his siblings could hear him over the noise.
"Beats me," Ess said as he shouldered a particularly thick man who had been about to bash into him, completely unfocused on where he was going because of his tablet.
Ess then checked the phone in his hand. There were no new messages.
"Do you think Ratchet might be worried we want to hurt him?" Bee asked as she forced 'Elliot' to sling his arm around her shoulder. The poor young man shivered.
"Nah. What would we want to harm him for? Plus, he should know having a crowd around wouldn't stop us if we really wanted him dead," Twist said with a shrug.
At that moment, a shiny light poked at Twist's eye, and he squinted. He was irritated at first, thinking that perhaps it was reflected from a window or something, but when he traced its source, he came to an abrupt halt.
"Guys," he said drawing the others' attention, and pointed towards a shabby outdoor eatery cordoned off by a long guardrail leading down into the subway.
On one of the tables sat a particularly hulking man who flashed them a smile.
At once, the three Ryduun siblings and 'Elliot' marched over.
Grabbing empty chairs, they sat opposite the beefy man and fixed him with gazes that told of different emotions, yet he retained his relaxed visage.
"Ratchet," Ess said with a neutral tone.
"You guys are really bold," the man, Ratchet, said with a surprisingly high voice. "Walking around freely, together, and with your chins raised… I thought you'd know better."
Ratchet was a large man who was well-known for his timeless handlebar mustache of blonde hair, thick black sunglasses, and various assortments of bandanas he wore over his head, covering most of his thick mane of flying blonde hair.
He was often mistaken for a famous, retired boxer by the name of Bulke Boggan due to their frighteningly similar appearances.
As for why Ratchet was called, well, Ratchet, it might have had something to do with the large, one and a half meter long ratchet he lugged everywhere he went. The same ratchet was lying on the table before him, its stainless steel gleaming as though proudly announcing to whom it belonged.
"What's wrong with walking together and being proud of it?" Twist said suspiciously. "Are you wary because of the Forecast?"
Ratchet emitted one funny chuckle and smirked.
"No. It seems you guys don't know. Rather, you never knew," he said.
Ess frowned. He didn't like the sound of this.
"What are you talking about?" he asked.
Ratchet leaned into his seat and stared them all in the eye before finally speaking:
"Everyone, and I mean everyone knows about your Unlimited Forecast. Wasn't me who spilled the beans, of course. In any case, your little excursion – dropping moons, flattening cities – has alerted the other Heathens that you are, in fact, gathering the family again. All this is to say, you lot might be in deep shit."