Flint, Eda, and Luz could be seen on a bench as they watched King playing with a bunch of toddlers on a Slayground in the middle of Bonesborough. Some of them Flint recognized from Amity reading to them back at the library. Honestly, the name of the place didn't surprise Flint at this point, though the sign sitting right behind them certainly did. It said 'ALL BLOODTHIRSTY MONSTERS MUST BE LEASHED'.
Luz was sitting to his left and looking on with worry while Eda was completely calm.
"What if he gets hurt? What if the kids are mean to him?" Luz gasped. "My parental instincts are freaking out, man," Luz said nervously.
Flint leveled a deadpan look at her before reaching up and flicking her forehead.
"OW! What was that for?" Luz yelped, rubbing the spot.
"Firstly, you're more like the older sister. Second, he's fine…" Flint said nonchalantly. Then his expression turned dark. "But if anything happens to him, the perpetrator's free trial of life is going to expire," Flint said menacingly.
"I'm with Flint, on both accounts. He's fine. Look at him." Eda agreed before gesturing to him as he tried to climb the slide from the opposite side.
"It does look like he's having fun," Luz admitted. "I wonder what cute little game he's playing." Luz pondered.
King reaches the top of the slide and pumps his arms in the air triumphantly. "Yes! Yes! This is a throne worthy of a tyrant. Bow to me, you snotty underlings. Bow!" King demanded, causing Flint to snort. Of course he'd be trying to make himself out as their superior and try to order him around as the power-hungry little guy he was.
Flint watched as one of the other kids did a handstand while the other did a backbend. Then he looked back at King only to do a double take as a snot-nosed kid (literally. There was a giant glob that seemed to be perpetually hanging from his nose) suddenly appeared behind him.
"Yes, appease your master," King said evilly as he rubbed his paws together, still unaware of the presence behind him.
"This isn't for standing, it's for sliding. You try." Snot-nose said as he shoved King down the slide, causing him to tumble down and land with a THUMP.
King then came running over to the bench and clings to Flint's leg. "Eda! That monster took my throne."
Eda just raised a brow at him. "You mean the baby?" Eda said, not concerned.
"No, the usurper. I want you to go over there and blow him up. Kaboom!" King pointed at Snot-nose, who was riding a spring rider without a care in the world.
"Kaboom!" The kid said, not appearing to care.
Eda just shook her head as she unscrewed Owlbert from her staff. "Yeah, I'm not using Owlbert to blow up a five-year-old. He's got better things to do. Like this…" Eda said, petting his stomach and eliciting the owl to warble.
"Aw, what a sweetie. How did you get him?" Luz asked.
"Get? I made Owlbert from the branch of an ancient tree." Eda revealed as Owlbert hopped onto Eda's hand as she let him up and onto her shoulder. "Oh, he's my palisman and we're bonded for life. I'd annihilate anyone who'd hurt him." Eda said darkly as Owlbert nuzzled against Eda's neck.
Luz and Flint looked on in surprise. She made Owlbert?
King became grumpy though, not noticing Snot-nose coming up behind him. "Fine. Don't help. Revenge will taste all the sweeter if they fall by my hand alone." King cackled.
Then Snot-nose shoves King over. "Tag, you're it!" The brat laughed before running off.
Eda gained an eager look on her face. "Oh, man. Here we go. King's squeak of rage."
King got back to his feet before letting out a high-pitched squeal while wriggling and punching the air in his tantrum, falling on his rear. He pauses long enough to get back up before continuing the squeal as he charges after the brat.
It was suddenly very hard for Flint to keep himself from laughing hysterically. Eda however, was quick to let herself laugh in pure amusement.
"He's like a little teakettle," Eda said with a snort.
Then, Owlbert began to scratch his face as Flint and Luz noticed something on the bottom of Owlbert's foot.
"Hey, what's that?" Luz asked, pointing to Owlbert's foot.
"That's his interlock. So he only fits on to my staff. Every palisman has one." Eda explained, only for Flint to suddenly notice Eda look…out of it.
"Eda, is everything okay?" Flint asked in concern.
Suddenly, Eda fell off the bench and dropped to the ground, unconscious, as Owlbert quickly hopped onto the backrest of the bench, looking at his owner in concern. Flint and Luz quickly went to her aid and lay her on the bench as they attempted to wake her. After about a minute of trying, Eda's eyes fluttered open slowly as she looked disoriented.
"Are you all right?" Luz asked as she and Flint helped Eda sit back up.
"What? Oh, no. The curse. Hey, we have to get home. Now!" Eda said with a shudder, picking her staff up from the ground before heading in the direction of home.
"King we have to go!" Luz called out as she began to follow Eda.
King was currently atop the jungle gym, facing Snot-nose. "Five more minutes, please!"
"I'll give you to the count of five before I drag you home little mister!" Flint threatened. "One. Two. Thr-"
"Ah! Alright alright! I'm coming!" King interrupted before shooting a glare back at Snot-nose. "This isn't over," King threatened.
"Okay, let's play again real soon," Snot-nose said, going over and hugging King.
"No, no. Keep those sticky hands away! Oh, no! He's touching me!" King screamed with disgust.
Flint would've thought the scene was cute…if he didn't see malice within the brat's eyes.
Flint elected to simply cast a spell, summoning a vine that reached over and pulled King from the brat's grip before taking off after Luz and Eda. He was also going to wash King to get rid of whatever filth the snot-nosed brat might've gotten onto King.
When the group got back to the house, King was still being held up by a vine wrapped around King's waist. After Hooty opened the door for them, Flint immediately took King over to the kitchen, placing him down in the sink, the demon crossing his arms.
"I can clean myself," King said indignantly.
"You realize this gives you an excuse to get scratches, right?" Flint said to him with a raised brow, pouring some soap in his open hand.
King was silent for a moment. "My neck feels really sticky," King responded, pointing to the area.
Flint turned on the water and began to help King get clean. As he did this, he tuned into the conversation going on in the living room.
"Do you need one of us to stay home and take care of you?" He heard Luz ask before letting out a gasp. "I could put King in a little doctor's outfit."
Hearing this, King's eyes widened. "Meh?" King questioned as Flint reached over and grabbed a towel to dry King off.
"No one wants to see that," Eda said.
Flint could already see the desperate expression on Luz's face. "I do."
"I second that," Flint called out in an equally desperate tone, with King wrapped in a towel in his arms.
Suddenly King didn't feel all that safe.
"Look, I know how to take care of myself. I've had this curse longer than you've been alive." Eda grunted.
"So, how'd you get it?" Luz asked.
Eda just groaned. "I don't know."
"You don't know?" Both humans asked incredulously. How the hell could she not know how?
"Somebody gave it to me. I don't know who and I don't care because I'm fine, all right? Anyway, don't you have plans with Tweedledum and Twerpledee?" Eda changed the topic.
"Something tells me Gus would take that as a compliment," Flint noted absentmindedly as he let King back to the ground to scheme his vengeance on the evil child.
"Well, we're going with Willow and Gus to the grudgby game between Hexside and Glandus High."
Eda screwed Owlbert back onto the staff, not paying that much attention. "Since when are you into sports?" Eda questioned.
Luz immediately got up in Eda's face, startling her. "Since I found a little something called 'Hexside Pride.' To think that Glandus, whoever they are, would dare face us." Luz got into the rivalry mindset. Wow. Not even attending yet and she's already getting like this.
"…Have you been secretly watching too many high school movies when I'm not looking?" Flint asked.
"Maybe," Luz admitted, before turning to Eda. "But if you need one of us to stay…" Luz trailed off.
"Gross. Sympathy. Go! Go have fun at sport." Eda shooed her away.
"Hooray! Hooray for sport! Hugs and kisses, King." Luz threw her arms up in excitement before clotheslining Flint and dragging him toward the door. She released him momentarily to lean down and kiss King's skull. "Don't spend all night plotting revenge," Luz said in a sing-songy voice, not looking away from his plotting.
Luz then grabbed the disoriented Flint again, just as he finished recovering from the first one. "What the-?! How are you so strong when you do this?!" Flint called out in confusion as he continued to be dragged out the door.
"Because you don't wanna hurt me," Luz said without a beat.
"…The worst part is, you're not wrong," Flint grumbled half-heartedly.
The two arrived at Hexside where students are lined up to get on a dragon bus. Flint and Luz were running toward it, Luz wasn't paying as much attention.
"Hexside's gonna wreck your side," Luz said out loud, trying to come up with a chant.
"Eh, feels a tad forced," Flint commented.
Luz paused in her steps for a moment in thought. "Yeah. Hm. How about, Hexside is the best side in the west side?" Luz asked.
Flint scratched his head. "Hang on, which way even is west here?" Flint questioned.
The dragon bus roars and bites at Luz, causing her to yelp at the sudden action. She looked forward and saw Willow and Gus nearby.
"Ah! Friends." Luz said excitedly as she went over to them.
Flint meanwhile looked at the nearby banner, noticing an interesting detail about the Glandus uniform.
Flint facepalmed. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me?" Flint groaned.
Flint turned back to his friends and tuned in to the conversation as he caught up to Luz.
"Grudgby games are the best. The players go through these action-packed trials. And the audience gets to wave flags. Look, I practiced." Gus said, pulling out two flags and doing an underwhelming little jig.
Luz looked down at her hoodie. "Is it weird that I'm not wearing anything Hexside?"
Flint gave her a flat stare. "Luz."
Luz turned to him. "Yeah?"
Flint pointed at the banner literally right beside them and Luz's eyes widened. "Ohhhhhh…crap baskets."
Why, you ask? Because Luz's hoodie happened to match Glandus High's colors. Because of course it does.
Willow chuckled nervously. "Yeah, it's weirder that you're wearing Glandus colors.
A giant boy walked by them. "Get ready to be creamed, Glandus nerd." He said, pushing Luz down on her head.
"Hey! I'm a Hexside nerd." Luz corrected. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't figure out why Flint facepalmed after she said that.
"Gotta change out of this shirt. Where can I get a Hexside one?" Luz asked.
"I know. There's a lost and found box in the cafeteria." Gus suggested.
"Ah! The lost and found. Where mouthguards go to retire." Luz said before running off into the building.
The three watched her go in in silence. After a bit, Flint turned to the two.
"I would wager whether or not she causes us to miss the bus…but I think we all know how that'll play out." Flint remarked.
Gus and Willow gave their own nods of agreement. Even though they hadn't known her for very long, Luz's tendencies were a bit…easy to predict.
A little bit later, Luz exits in full Hexside apparel waving pom-poms.
"Goooo, Hexside!" Luz said, doing a jump before landing in a full split, and audible CRACK sounding as she winced. "Well, I never did that before," Luz said with a far-off look as she pushed through the pain.
"Uh, where is everyone?" Luz questioned, seeing the dragon bus begin to fly away.
"Hexside rules!" The giant boy from earlier called, hanging from the banner at the end of the bus.
"Oh, no! Come back!" Luz yelled frantically before turning Why didn't you guys board the bus?
"We weren't going to leave you behind," Willow said.
"I was," Gus admitted, getting a jab in the side courtesy of Willow's elbow.
Flint hummed in acknowledgment. "And I still respect it." Flint then turned to Luz. "Also, because I can barely trust you to go anywhere without Murphy's Law deciding to rear its ugly head."
Gus turned to Flint. "What's 'Murphy's Law'?"
"Can we walk to Glandus?" Luz asked, getting the conversation back on track.
"We'd never make it in time. Glandus is-" Gus rolls his flags, points with them. "-all the way out in the middle of the island." Gus informed her.
Luz scoffed. "Typical Glandus."
"And my parents are working, otherwise I'd see if they could give us a ride on their staff," Willow said.
Flint could practically hear the gears turning in Luz's head before grinding to a halt. "Well…I suppose there is someone we know that might let us borrow her staff…" Flint trailed off.
"Yeah! Eda! Come on!" Luz said, walking back towards home.
The group arrived as Willow and Gus waited at the door.
"King, are you home?" Luz called up the stairs.
The two headed up the stairs and headed to Eda's room, seeing King exit, and closing the doors behind him.
"Is Eda up?" Luz asked.
"Who? Oh. That Eda. No, no. She is out like a light." King said very suspiciously.
They hear a growl coming from the other side of the door suddenly as King nervously chuckles. "Oh, man. Can she snore."
"Oh, no. We wanted to ask if we could borrow her staff, but I know she needs her rest." Luz said sadly.
King ran over to Eda's staff as it rested outside the door, handing it to Luz. "Oh, I'm sure it's fine. It's fine. Just take it." King said quickly.
"I can't. Not without Eda's permission." Luz said.
"Didn't she literally threaten anyone who would hurt Owlbert earlier?" Flint pointed out.
They suddenly heard a very not normal screeching sound from Eda's room before King turned back to them.
"Well, there's your permission. Off you go." King shooed them off.
Luz looked down at the inactive Owlbert for a bit as she considered things. "I really owe Gus and Willow one. And it's just for the afternoon. I'm sure Eda wouldn't mind." Luz said, trying to convince herself it would be okay.
"Not our generous, kindhearted Eda. Big heart on her." King said.
…
…
…
"I'll be back soon," Luz said, breaking the silence as the two humans stared at King like he was crazy, before beginning to head out.
Flint heard King sigh. "Close call."
"Pardon?" Flint questioned, as the two stopped in their tracks to look back at him.
"Nothing," King denied. Oh yes, because Flint totally didn't hear that. Of all days for him to have Trixx doing that errand for him.
"Oh, okay." Luz accepts, as the two head down the hall.
The two start heading down the staircase, discussing.
"So, we both know he's up to something, right?" Luz asked.
"Yep," Flint confirmed.
"So, what do we do?" Luz asked.
"I'm sure it'll be fine," Flint said, as they reached the door.
They open the door as Luz excitedly throws her arms up. "To Glandus High!" Luz exclaimed.
Luz would've hit Owlbert against the wall if Flint hadn't quickly thrown his arm out to catch him before contact.
"Luz! Be careful with him!" Flint chastised as Owlbert awakened, giving out a confused hoot.
"Oh! Sorry, Owlbert. It's okay. We're just on our way to help some friends." Luz said, gesturing forward to Willow and Gus, who both leaned closer to give Owlbert a closer look.
"Who's ready to board Air Flint?" Luz asked.
Flint turned to Luz with confusion. "Wait, you were actually gonna have me do the flying?"
"Well yeah. I know you were pretty good at those arcade simulators after all." Luz responded.
"While I appreciate the vote of confidence, I'm going to have to pass. Actually, I think I'm going to stay behind and not go to the game anymore." Flint revealed.
The others looked at him in shock. "What? Why?" They all asked.
"Someone needs to stay here to keep an eye on things, and King is clearly hiding something," Flint stated.
"But- I thought you said it'll be fine?!" Luz asked.
"I did. I said it'll be fine…because I'm gonna stay behind." Flint said, amending his earlier words before turning back to the door. "I'll see you all later. Have fun at the game." Flint said with a two-finger wave behind his back, closing the door behind him.
Flint looked toward the stairs with a frown, trying to decipher what was happening before he went up to question-
"Whoa! Whoa!"
Flint turned back to the door, having heard the three crying out as he heard their yells trail into the distance.
"…Something tells me they're never gonna reach the game," Flint remarked to himself.
Hooty did the weird morphing thing with his face and made his face appear on the inside of the house again. "Probably." The house demon agreed before reverting back to normal.
Flint shuddered from the sight. Nothing would ever make that not freaky.
Flint silently went back upstairs. When he reached the doors to Eda's room, he could hear very animalistic kinds of sounds. Ones that he recognized, and not in a good way. He opened the doors to find King standing before-
Flint's pupils shrank in panic as he quickly dove forward, grabbing King and pulling him away. "King! Get back! She's turned into the Owl Beast again!" Flint said in a panic, holding King in one arm as he started making a spell circle in the other.
"Wait! Wait! Wait! It's okay!" King screamed out.
The Owl Beast growled at Flint a bit, but Flint noticed something…odd about the transformation.
Flint blinked in confusion as the Owl Beast…didn't try to attack him. The transformation seemed only partial, with one of Eda's eyes looking like normal, while the other was like the Owl Beast.
"What the…" Flint trailed off, gently setting King down as he walked closer to Owl Eda, to get a closer look.
"I thought you were going to that grudgby game," King said confused with a hint of nervousness.
"I was, but you were acting way too suspicious for me to leave you on your own. So, what is-" Flint vaguely gestured to the partially transformed Eda. "-this all about?"
"Ooh! Ooh! Check this out! Eda, sit," King ordered the beast, who…obeyed?
Sure enough, Owl Eda sat at his command.
"Wha?" Flint blinked in confusion.
"Roll over," King said, to which the order was obeyed once more. "Look at her. She's listening to everything I say," King said.
Flint took this information in. This was not normal. Sure, the curse itself wasn't exactly normal from what he could gather, but this took the cake for sure.
Flint turned to King. "And what exactly were you planning to do with her like this?"
King seemed to look nervous. "What? Me? Nothing! Just get her some more elixir, that's all," King lied.
Flint stared at King, not changing his expression and causing King to squirm under his gaze. After a few moments, King seemed to give in.
"Alright! I was gonna have her help me retake my throne from the usurper!" King gave in.
Flint just sighed, shaking his head disappointingly at King. "King, this is not something to take lightly. If Eda isn't fully transformed, then that means that either something's wrong with the elixir…" Flint trailed off, noticing the multiple empty elixir jars near Eda's nest, donning a look of horror at the sight as he went over and grabbed one. "…or it's just not working anymore." Flint finished.
King looked between the elixirs and Eda in alarm. "What?! But they always work!"
"King, nothing works forever. Our bodies tend to react to consistency. You live somewhere really cold for a while, you get used to it. But if you're on a certain kind of medicine for a while…it'll sometimes start to lose its potency." Flint informed him. He would know, given he'd had trouble with some of those medications he used to take to get energy not working so well after a while.
King pulled out a filled elixir from a bag nearby, holding it in his hands and staring at it for a bit in thought.
"This…isn't good," King said, a bit haunted at the revelation as he handed the elixir to Flint.
Flint walked over to Owl Eda and popped the cork to the elixir with his thumb. "Eda, drink up," Flint said, drawing a spell circle in the air with the light glyph in it before passing the elixir through it, causing it to glow brighter than before. Flint held the bottle up to Owl Eda's awaiting maw and poured it in. Owl Eda wavered a bit before clutching herself, shrinking back down to normal rapidly and bringing the normal Eda back.
"Ugh…what happened?" Eda questioned, holding her head.
Flint helped her get back to her feet. "The curse took hold, but in a weird suggestive state. Like a domesticated animal that listens to you." Flint told her.
Eda looked back at all the empty elixirs nearby, donning a look of horror. "The elixir…it's not working on the curse anymore," Eda said absentmindedly.
"Clearly. This isn't good. I had to amplify this one with a spell in order to ensure you'd get back to normal." Flint revealed before looking at her with worry. "This elixir was never a cure, it was a remedy. It was never going to last, and apparently that day is here."
"I'll figure something out. But thanks for looking out for me kid." Eda thanked him, putting her hand on his shoulder affectionately.
"Um…did I come at a bad time?"
The three blinked as they looked to the entrance to see Trixx in her Luz-a-like disguise. She was holding a bag in her hand that had a branding glove poking out of it, and she was looking at the group confused.
"Ooh, you got them?" Flint asked excitedly, his attention being diverted.
"Yep. Having illusions makes it really easy to steal things," Trixx responded walking over and handing the bag to Flint.
"Sweet! Now we can make more after we test the first one, and Luz tests hers to make sure it'll work for her," Flint said excitedly.
Eda raised a brow. "Why can't you just test it for her again?"
"We have to bind it to her DNA, remember? Luckily getting some was easy, hairbrushes are pretty good for it. It means that just like how the other prototype only works with me, hers will only work for her. Not to mention I've already tried and it didn't work," Flint said.
"Oh yeah. So, you plannin' to make more of them? What are you up to, trying to make a business out of it?" Eda asked.
Flint laughed. "Hell no! As if we need the Emperor's Coven to get their hands on these! At most I'll experiment with it by maybe making some other items, to have a little variety just in case. That, or just making some spares in case."
Eda shook her head fondly. "Honestly kid, you've got a crazy head on your shoulders." Eda donned a wide grin. "Good thing being normal is overrated, right?"
"Amen to that. Plus, we get to rid the world of these horrendous contraptions." Flint said, gesturing to the bag of branding gloves in his hand. He gave it a little jostle. "Damn Trixx, you really didn't skip out on getting these," Flint remarked.
Trixx simply responded by giving off her species' signature snicker.
"So let me get this straight. You crashed Owlbert, he ran away, you three ran into the Bat Queen and she made you in particular do a bunch of trials to try and earn back Owlbert's trust. Then when you did complete them, with help from some glyphs, she basically did the dick move of 'Actually, I was never going to forgive you' and attacked. You found out that she's actually a giant palisman, Owlbert finally got her to see reason, and then you came back home. Am I missing anything?" Flint asked.
"No. You pretty much summed it up." Luz remarked.
"Now this makes me question just how she even has children in the first place," Flint said after a moment.
Luz looked at him with a raised brow. "Seriously? That's the first thing you say after finding out about all of that?"
"I mean…aren't you wondering too?" Flint countered.
"…That's not that point, but it does make me curious," Luz admitted.
"I'm still wondering why she looked at me so weirdly last time we met," Flint said.
Back when they'd gotten home from their adventure at the library, Bat Queen had arrived to pick up her babies. While it was weird seeing her throw up a giant mass of coins, the Bat Queen had oddly just…stared at him for a bit. She didn't even say anything to him. She just looked at him like he was some kind of puzzle or something. It was really weird and creeped him out a bit.
"And here I thought it was stressful the fact that Eda's elixirs aren't working as well anymore," Flint said.
Luz's eyes widened in alarm. "Wait, what?!"
"Yeah, she even partially transformed earlier. I ended up amplifying an elixir she had and it worked, but it's definitely not a good sign. After that we worked on that project I've been working on with her help," Flint said.
"Okay, seriously, what even are you making? You haven't told me anything!" Luz questioned. She wanted answers damn it!
Flint gave a placating gesture. "Alright, alright! I'll tell you-what the heck is that?!" Flint suddenly screamed, his face lit with alarm as he pointed toward the window. Luz turned quickly to see what it was…
Only to remember the blinds were shut.
Luz turned back to Flint, only to see he'd vanished.
'Dang it! How does he always get me with that?!' Luz yelled internally.
"Hey! This isn't funny Flint! You know I can't handle cliffhangers! Flint! Flint!" Luz yelled angrily as she chased the boy down the hall.
Needless to say, she still wouldn't be getting an answer yet.
Canon Omake:
It was a pretty slow day for Steve the Coven Scout. He was currently standing guard at one of the police stations, keeping an eye on things around the place.
Suddenly coming up to him, he saw his friend Lilith (she may have adamantly declared they weren't friends multiple times to him, but he still thought of her as one) coming over, oddly absent of her palisman. Admittedly, he and most of the others were a bit jealous of her for having one. Emperor Belos had confiscated most of them for safekeeping, but Steve admittedly missed his little palistrom friend.
"Hey Lilith, what brings you here?" Steve asked her.
"Oh, I just need to get a branding glove. I have word of somewhere my sister will be and wanted to have one, for lack of a better term, on hand so I could brand her." Lilith explained.
Steve snorted. "Heh, 'on hand', I get it! Well, come on in then," Steve responded. Lilith must've been in a good mood today, she doesn't often use puns from what he remembered.
Lilith scratched the back of her head. "I might need guidance over though. My mind is drawing a blank for how to get to them from here."
Steve pointed a thumb at himself. "Well then, you can count on your old pal Steve to take you over there," Steve offered.
Lilith smiled. "Thank you, Steve. I appreciate it."
Steve then turned and guided her through the building. Man, Lilith must be in a really good mood today. She didn't even groan at him calling himself her pal! Score!
The two got to the storage room and came to the box of branding gloves. It was always best to have extras.
Steve glanced away for a moment, heading back toward the door to the room as Lilith grabbed one of the gloves. "Just be sure to be careful and not lose it. I heard about how the one kid with the Owl Lady stole the Golden Guard's staff and a branding glove a little while ago. I can understand the staff, but I can't really understand why he'd steal a branding glove." Steve remarked. It was certainly a weird case.
"Steve, who are you talking to?"
Steve froze in confusion as he turned into the hallway to see…Lilith? With her staff in hand, and her typical unamused expression plastered on her face.
"Oh, hey Lilith. I'm just helping Lilith here get a-"
Steve stopped midway through his statement as things clicked into place. Wasn't he just helping Lilith? How was she in the hallway when he just helped her into the storage room?
"Wait. If you're here-" Steve pointed at Lilith in the hallway. "-then who is..."
The Hallway Lilith poked her head into the room to see who Steve was talking about, only to see…herself, frozen midway through shoveling branding gloves into a bag.
Lilith and Steve looked on at 'Lilith' and her at them in a standoff. After a moment of no one moving, the doppelganger donned a mischievous grin that looked more like it belonged to Eda than Lilith, and let out a high-pitched snicker.
"What is going-" Lilith was unable to finish her sentence as the faker opened her mouth, firing a beam of dark energy into her and sending her crashing into the wall behind.
"Lilith!" Steve called out in worry, before getting hit by one himself.
The fake Lilith quickly grabbed the box and dumped most of the gloves into the bag, before taking off with the bag over her shoulder, her snickers echoing through the building as they faded into the distance.
The two groaned from their spots on the ground, Lilith being face down and Steve looking like he was impersonating a certain desert bandit that got beat up by a plant.
"I hope you know this is all your fault, Steve," Lilith remarked in annoyance
"Yeah…I know," Steve managed to say through the pain.