Another K.O. story for the weekend, this one being a request for Mister Enigma! :D
So during when I was writing "A Bash at BoxMore's", I was asked by this fellow writer to create a premise featuring the Bodega Trio discovering a sinister meet-up at BoxMore, leaving them to investigate. However, I ain't gonna spoil what happens beyond that, so here's hoping you all enjoy the story regardless!
Mister Enigma, this one's for you! ;)
OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes is owned by Ian Jones-Quartey and Cartoon Network. (I do not own any of its characters nor its properties. This is purely a non-profit fanfic made for fun.)
GAME OVER
Young K.O. was merrily strolling down the way to Mr. Gar's Bodega for work. It was an overall sunny and pleasant day and it seemed like nothing was gonna bring K.O. down today. He sauntered across the parking lot and weaved around multiple other plaza patrons walking and standing around the area, giving them all a friendly wave and greeting.
He then made his way towards his beloved workplace and was just ready to enter through the doors, until a mysterious figure suddenly exited through the bodega doors and one of his bags accidently smacked right into K.O., knocking him off his feet.
"Oof!" cried K.O., landing on his tushy. The figure looked down at the boy and grumbled.
"Hey, watch it kid!" the man snapped gruffily. K.O. rubbed his head and managed to stand back up again.
"Uh...sorry...sir?" Just then, K.O. got a good, clear look at this unknown man. He was a skinny guy, donning a full-on traditional cowboy outfit, complete with a vest, boots, and hat. He was carrying bags of items that K.O. couldn't tell what he purchased.
But weirdly enough, the thing that caught K.O. off his guard was the fact that the man was wearing a comedy-style theater mask over his face. K.O. gasped in slight fear as the man as he loomed over him, his aura being dark and mysterious, even with his face covered up.
"Next time, watch where your walking!" sneered the man in a raspy, somewhat-disguised voice as he then turned around and departed with his bags in a huff. K.O. stood there and watched in silence as the mysterious man disappeared from sight, shuddering in fright from the experience.
"Who was that guy?" he asked in surprise.
"Sooo...you're sayin' you came across some dude wearing a mask and a cowboy suit?" he asked K.O. carefully.
K.O. nodded rapidly. He had just explained his mysterious encounter with the man to Enid and Rad just as he began his shift and was thoroughly confused and worried.
"I bumped into him this morning before I went to work, he was coming out of the bodega with some bags! Of what, I don't know!" K.O. then waddled up to Enid, who was manning the cash register as usual, "You must've seen him Enid! You work the register all day, every day!"
Feeling his friend's plight, Enid simply shook her head. "Sorry to say, K.O., but I didn't see this guy. Gar was handling the register for a bit while he had me do inventory in the back room." she replied honestly.
K.O. jogged in place, his mind a-flurry, hoping to try and find out who this mysterious man was. Luckily, he thought of a plan.
"Well, if Mr. Gar saw this man, maybe we should ask him who this guy was!" he asked hopefully. Unfortunately, his hopes were soon dashed when this happened out of the blue.
*CRASH!*
A familiar bright orange muscle car reversed its way through the front door with a shattering crash as the trio ducked out of the way in time, just as the car windows rolled down to reveal a certain someone behind the wheel.
"Rad! Enid! K.O.! I'm off on my important business trip!" boomed Mr. Gar sternly, "I should be back in three days!"
K.O. yiped in surprise and walked over to Gar's car, trying to get his attention. "Uh, Mr. Gar, sir, one quick questio-"
"Enid's in charge until I return!" continued Gar, interrupting K.O.'s question, "NOW CLEAN THIS MESS UP, YOU ROWDY HOOLIGANS!"
And with all that said and done, Mr. Gar tore out of the store lobby in his car with a roar as he drove away from Lakewood Plaza in a flash, leaving behind a smashed front doors, some bits of debris, and a hopeless K.O. standing in the store, his face and heart filled with fear.
Rad and Enid stood by and noticed their little pal's nerves spike up. They walked over to K.O. to try and console him and make him get his senses back on track.
"Dude, why are ya gettin' so worked up over this dude anyhow?" asked Rad worriedly. Enid joined him as well.
"Yeah, he could probably just be some rando just buying stuff for himself…" put in Enid. K.O. wasn't convinced however.
"Th-There's just something shady about this man, guys!" he countered feebly, "I mean, who goes around dressed as a cowboy and wears a mask to boot, in daytime!?"
Rad smirked lightly. "Well, it's not like Lakewood doesn't have any strange-looking heroes, bro…" he commented coolly. Enid nodded.
"Rad's right," added Enid, "It's like, look at people like Mega Football Baby or Fish Dude or even Crinkly Wrinkly!"
"But it still doesn't feel right, guys! We know those guys, not this one!" continued K.O., not giving up with his explanation, "I mean, this one looks really sketchy! He's brooding, he's big, he smells kinda weird, and he speaks in a funny voice!"
Enid smirked as well. "So does Beardo, but he ain't exactly a bad guy either…" joked Enid light-heartedly. Rad chuckled along with her, but K.O. was too frazzled to join in on their quips.
"Guys, I'm being serious!" he whined in retaliation, "For all we know, this guy could be an international crime lord or some meanie-pants supervillain or even a disguised alien monster wanting to eat our brains!"
Then, K.O. gasped loudly in realization, knowing that the masked cowboy could also lead to another possible option for who was really is.
"...You don't suppose it could be Shadowy Figure, do ya?" asked K.O. worriedly, dreading to come across him yet again.
Rad simply shook his head. "Nah, I doubt he'd dress up in Western wear anyhow…not exactly his style, y'know..." he murmured. K.O., still not feeling any more relieved, just trembled in fright before his friends.
"W-Well, what are we g-gonna do then?" he squeaked, his knees and hands all jittery and his eyes filled with concern. Enid decided to try and console her little pal.
She knelt down and placed a sisterly hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure it's probably nothing, K.O.. Most likely, it's just some creepy dude just buyin' junk is all." she assured as best as she could.
K.O. frowned in uncertainty, before Rad decided to reassure him as well as he picked up a broom to clean away the mess Mr. Gar left behind.
"Yeah, squirt. Probably just a dude with an...eccentric fashion choice is all. Nothing to cause for alarm for now." put in the alien, ruffling K.O.'s hair affectionately.
However, despite his friends' assurance, K.O. still felt worried, knowing something sinister might be planned somewhere along the way. And as for now, all he could do was pray that his suspicions were wrong as he helped clean up the store with his friends in silence.
A little while later, Rad was on his lunch break and had took this time to head to the Beauty and Weapons shop to buy some special alien skin moisturizing cream in case he'd forgot. He had just purchased his cream and was ready to head back to the bodega again.
However, just as he walked out of the shop, he too had suddenly bumped into someone by surprise. Rad jolted at the impact, but didn't stumble over or fall down like K.O. did before.
"Whoops! Sorry, bud!" he apologized, before he actually caught sight of who he ran into.
His eyes widened in shock to see a masked man in a Western get-up standing in front of him, carrying another pair of large bags of what appeared to be boxes of something. Rad stood agape and almost couldn't say a word as the masked cowboy soon ran away with his belongings without a single word.
Rad watched the man flee the scene and continued to stand there in shock until he was gone. A thought soon struck Rad at that moment.
'Wait a dang second...was this the guy K.O. was talkin' about?' he thought curiously. However, before he could sprint back to the bodega, he noticed something small and square on the ground below him.
It was a white business card, perching under his right foot on the ground. Growing even more curious, he leaned down and picked up the card, inspecting it carefully.
"Huh. Must've fell from when I bumped into that guy…" he commented. He continued to scan the card to see what might help tip off who this stranger was.
One side had a row of ones and zeros, lined up like some sort of binary code. The other side had a mysterious, unknown name printed in bold text.
"'Mister Enigma'? Who the heck is that!?" he asked himself in confusion. He then noticed some more text below the text, printed smaller.
"Secret meeting tonight at 9:00, located in BoxMore Enterprises. Enter through side door."
Rad's eyes suddenly went wider than ever as he nearly choked from reading the card, seeing that one word that nearly sent him over the edge with shock.
"BoxMore!?" cried Rad in disbelief. This mysterious fool is hosting some secret meeting now, at BoxMore's of all places!?
Knowing that anything to do with BoxMore could only spell trouble, Radicles wasted no time, he hurriedly dashed back to Gar's Bodega to tell Enid and K.O. the news.
A few minutes later, the trio were now in the back room of the bodega sorting around boxes and items, all while listening to Rad talk about his certain run-in earlier.
"And then I noticed this card that masked man had dropped! Apparently this 'Mister Enigma' is holding a super secret meet-up at Boxman's factory tonight, but for what I don't know!"
With Rad finished with his worry-laced explanation, K.O. was left shocked and even more frightened at the prospect of this unknown figure now discussing evil plans with their main villains. His teeth chattered and his knees wiggled at the idea that his suspicions were right.
Even the normally-passive Enid seemed to gain interest from this statement as she leaned against the wall, but still tried to play as the straight thinker regardless.
She carefully grabbed the card from Rad and scanned it herself, trying to make sense of this. "Sooo, it looks like this guy is for real, eh?" she murmured.
"That's what I've been tryin' to tell ya guys!" cried K.O., waving his arms around like a maniac. Rad patted the young boy's back in hopes to calm him down.
"Well, what are we gonna do now?" asked the big, blue alien curiously. Enid exhaled and looked around the storage room, as if to find the answer.
"I'm...not really so sure, guys…" she commented, still looking around until she turned her head outside. As she gazed outside the back windows, Rad and K.O. kept chattering about the situation.
"Ohh, what are we gonna do!? What are we gonna doooo!?" wailed K.O., hobbling around in place. Rad hastily tried to cobble together his own place.
"We, uh, could, oh, do a stakeout or something!" Rad exclaimed, in hopes to come up with a decent-enough plan. Enid still kept looking at whatever she was looking at outside and tried to rally his friends' attention.
"Guys?" she asked out, to where she was ignored by her flustered friends.
"Rad, that could take too long! We need to do this fast if this thing's going on tonight!" cried K.O. in retaliation. Enid's eyebrows furrowed.
"Guys!" she tried again, with no avail. Rad crossed his arms and scowled at K.O..
"Well, I don't hear ya comin' up with anything else, squirt!" he countered in an insulted tone. Having enough of this pointless banter, Enid turned her head at her bickering co-workers and gave them both a thoroughly-annoyed face.
"GUYS!" she snapped impatiently at them.
Thankfully, that was enough to shut both K.O. and Rad up from their worrying. Enid then hastily grabbed both boys by their shirt collars and dragged them out of their spot by the shelves to face the back window facing towards the alleyway.
"Look outside!" she ordered, her voice a cocktail mixture of annoyance and shock. K.O. and Rad obeyed her and quickly gasped in horror.
There, standing outside behind the store, was the masked cowboy himself yet again. However, the man wasn't alone this time. Standing before the masked stranger, were three other figures, wearing large, brown cloaks, shielding their differently-sized bodies and covering their faces with large hoods.
The masked man then proceeded to pass each hooded person one of the little white cards Rad had obtained from earlier. Then, they all seemed to be conversing with one another for a little while, but the Bodega Trio weren't able to hear them through the glass, but they still kept snooping at this bizarre display from outside out of mesmerizing curiosity.
"...So 'Pecos Bill' over there must be the mysterious 'Mister Enigma', eh?" commented Rad. Enid kept her sight towards the man with contempt.
"Looks like it…" she replied steadily. K.O. gulped thickly in fear.
"Wh-What do you think he has planned?" he asked to the other. However, before anyone could answer, they suddenly noticed the masked cowboy from outdoors swiftly look towards their direction.
Enid and the others immediately ducked down, as not to get caught, and stayed below the window for a few tense, silent minutes. After which, Enid ever so carefully got onto her knees and slowly poking her head up to look through the window again.
This time, both the mysterious cowboy and the hooded trio were now gone, as if they vanished out of thin air. Rad and K.O. joined Enid in her surprised gaze outside before they all got up and walked away from the window, all now looking worried and confused altogether. K.O. was especially frantic.
"Oh, man! Something sketchy is being planned at BoxMore! What're we gonna do guys!?" he squeaked out to his concerned teen friends. Enid rubbed the back of her head, beside herself with surprise that this mysterious, masked guy was really up to something.
"I'm not sure, dude…" replied Enid, her brain going into overdrive to try and think up a good plan, "Does that card say anything else useful, Rad?"
Rad immediately scanned every corner and word on the card to find something to help them out what this meeting was about. However, when he flipped the card over to the sides with all the ones and zeroes, he noticed a tiny snippet of text written on the top of the card.
"'Decipher this code to bouncer for access to meeting'..." Rad read aloud. He then looked quite baffled. "Well, what the heck does that mean!? It's just a bunch of ones and zeroes and junk, how're we gonna decipher this!?" he exclaimed worriedly.
Enid groaned in annoyance and snatched the card away from his hand. "It's binary code, ya doofus!" she replied. She then reached for her smartphone and quickly went online to search for a binary-to-English translator site to decode the message.
Soon, after two minutes of copying a set of ones and zeroes onto her phone, she soon came up with the answer as she, K.O., and Rad huddled around her phone to see the unlocked code. Enid carefully looked at the encryption carefully and repeated back the translation.
"'Game over'?"
They all looked confusedly at the two-worded code, left with puzzled looks until they continue brainstorming for a battle plan.
"Okay…" began Enid, "now we know that this dude is meeting up with some other mysterious guys at BoxMore's which spells nothing but trouble now that we know Boxman is involved. Which means if we don't wanna attract attention to ourselves, our best plan may have to resort to us infiltrating this meeting…"
K.O. tilted his head in bemusement. "'In...fil...trating'? What's that?" he asked.
"It means we're gonna try and sneak into the factory and find out plans these guys are cooking up, to see if this affects the plaza in some way." explained Enid. K.O.'s eyes went wider than ever upon hearing that plan.
"We're sneaking into BoxMore's!?" he cried frightfully, "But he'll see us! Wh-What if we get caught!?"
With that said, Enid quickly dashed towards one of the shelves of boxes and crates and shuffled around to find what she was looking for. Then, she found her bounty as she presented three, different-sized hood and cloaks for them to wear.
"Simple, if those guys are gonna be cloaked when entering, then we shall too!" she exclaimed, handing a cloak to each of her friends. Rad looked at his cloak with a raised eyebrow.
"Why do we even sell these in the first place?" he asked to himself before Enid continued speaking.
"I say we meet up at 8:00 in the parking lot later to put our plan into action. We got the code on-hand, so we'll be able to gain access to this meeting without trouble, so long as we keep our heads down and our ears open…" explained Enid firmly, "Got it?"
Her response was met with a pair of meek nods. "Good." she stated at last, "Rad, bring your van in case we need to do a getaway. We're doing this thing tonight!"
She then turned her heel and went out towards the main part of the store, leaving behind two worried co-workers holding their newly-acquired hoods in their hands. Silence fell again until K.O. broke the tension.
"...R-Rad, I gotta bad feeling about this…" murmured the young hero-in-training to his Planet X-born friend. Rad sighed softly in return.
"...So do I…" admitted Rad, his bossy, brave, and chauvinistic act dropped for once in his life as the clock struck 5:00 in the evening, meaning that their plan was to soon be put into action.
The nighttime had finally showered the area of Lakewood Plaza in a blanket of darkness. The only source of light in Lakewood Plaza were only coming from the overhead street lights in the large parking lot, which helped to slightly reveal a familiar, purple van parked close by.
Soon enough, nobody had even noticed three hooded figures exiting said van, as they all made their way to the BoxMore factory without trying to look suspicious.
They scurried across the lonely street, and snuck their way across the BoxMore parking lot without detection as they successfully reached the side entrance where the mysterious meeting was being held.
The hooded trio stopped in their tracks to pull down their hoods for a second.
"Okay, so is everyone clear on the plan?" asked Enid.
"You mean we go in there and kick everyone's butt? Yep, I'm clear…" smarmed Rad. Enid groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Well, first, we sneak in there as not to bring attention to ourselves," countered Enid tiredly, "then we see what this big meet-up is all about and how we can stop it…"
K.O. was next to pull down his hood. "But, what happens when we get caught?" he asked innocently.
Enid then pulled over her hood, shielding her face from the light and leaving only her eyes to be seen instead.
"If we get caught, then we'll kick some butt…" she answered, simple as that. K.O. was next to put on his hood as he turned towards Rad.
"What do you think was in this Enigma guy's shopping bags?" he asked softly. Rad shrugged beneath his own cloak.
"I dunno, kid...bombs...uranium...weapons...student loan bills...could be anything evil he has in store for everyone…" he replied back. Enid then began to pick up the pace as they shuffled towards the side entrance of BoxMore HQ, her hood firmly covering her head.
"Only one way to find out, boys...let's do this…" she urged in a hushed voice. Rad and K.O. looked at each other and quickly followed after Enid as they approached the large side entrance door.
Standing guard at the door was a tall and round-looking hooded figure, acting as an usher to people that could be allowed to enter. The trio gulped and steadily walked up to the cloaked bouncer, their card readily presented in Rad's hands. The bouncer looked at them with unfazed and haunting eyes.
"This is a private meet-up constructed by Mister Enigma himself. What is the code to enter the facility?" he boomed mysteriously through his cloak.
Rad gulped from beneath his hood. He looked back towards Enid and K.O., as if to silently ask for assistance. Instead, all they did was gesture to him to give the bouncer the card and to go through with the plan already. Red shivered on the spot and then, slowly and carefully, he handed the bodyguard the card and recited the code printed on it.
"T-The code is…'game over'..."
The bouncer stood silent for a second, leaving the trio with fearful expectation as he inspected the card carefully. Thankfully, the bouncer seemed to be convinced as he banged on the side door once, which then slowly began to open with a low, ominous creak.
"You and your group may enter…" he finally stated, giving the three full admittance.
The trio gasped and let out relieved sighs as they carefully shuffled past the bouncer and soon, they found themselves walking down a set of stairs that almost seemed to go down for miles upon miles.
The stairway was quiet, dank, and crawling with bugs, with the only dimly-lit candles strung across the walls being the only light to provide their way. Enid, K.O., and Rad took extra precaution to try and be careful during their trek, but they still couldn't help but to be creeped out during this whole ordeal.
"Yeesh…" whispered Rad, "What's this 'Mister Enigma' guy hosting, a cult or something?"
"Either way, it must be something evil or menacing, so let's just get this over with…" put in Enid as they neared the end of the stairway.
Then, at the end of a small hallway, stood a large, metal door. The trio trembled at the sight of it as they inched up to the door, ready to enter through and see what this meeting was to be about.
They were just about to reach for the door handle when suddenly, it happened...
"AAARRRGGHH! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
Angry shouts and screams echoed from beyond the doorway, along with what almost sounded like gunfire and explosions as well. It was enough to send everyone into near shock as they immediately hugged each other for protection. Even Enid grew frightful upon what could be transpiring behind this door. The loud noises continued on with the trio still shell-shocked and frozen in place until K.O. managed to find his voice.
"...M-M-Maybe th-this wasn't such a g-g-good idea…" he whimpered, clutching to Enid's leg like a scared toddler. Rad gulped and kept gripping Enid's waist out of fear.
"Y-Y-Yeah, I suggest we make like l-leaves and g-get the heck outta here!" he murmured, getting cold feet about this situation. Enid, despite being just as scared as her friends, tried to keep the task at hand.
"...C-Come on, guys…" she urged softly, as the screaming from behind the door still kept on going, "L-Let's just get this over with…"
She ever so gently and slowly grabbed the door handle and turned it enough to allow them to carefully enter the room, fearing the worst of what could be possibly happening on the other side.
However, once the three had now fully entered the room, they were all beside themselves with shock and surprise, all dumbfounded when they saw what was actually occurring before them all.
"GAAAH! BARRY, YOU JERK! YOU COST ME MY WIN, MAN!"
"Well, my apologies, Rob, but I did retrieve the shotgun before you did…"
"YOU COST ME A VICTORY ROYALE, YA SCHLUB!"
"Technically, dude. You had the least kills out of all of us…"
"OH, WHO ASKED YOU, GASTON!?"
"...Uhh, Rob?"
"WHAT IS IT NOW, BARRY!? I OUGHTA DEFAULT DANCE ON YOUR GRAVE, YOU...oh…"
There sat three robots all around a table, game controllers in-hand and head-sets on, all now noticing their new visitors. One robot was a somewhat-round 'bot with a burgundy paint job, large eyes, silver arms, two electrical conductors poking out of his head, and had no legs or feet.
The second was a smaller robot that kinda resembled Raymond, except this one had a bright teal and dew yellow paint scheme. He had a pointy yellow nose, mean-looking eyes, a spiky "hairdo", a small body, and thin, tiny limbs.
And the final third was a cylindrical 'bot that almost resembled a swing-lid trash can of sorts. He was painted the same shade of teal as the second mentioned robot, and also had no legs, but he had thick, silver arms, two beady eyes poking on top of his "head", two screws poking out from his "neck", and had a radiator-shaped mouth.
The three unknown androids were all behind separate computer monitors that were playing a sort of multiplayer shoot-em-up video game on their screens. The table and floor was littered with soda cans, chip bags, pizza boxes, snack crumbs, and other bits of trash and discarded food, as evident as Enid noticed one of the shopping bags was from Mr. Gar's Bodega.
With their game still going on, the robotic trio still silently gaped towards the bodega trio and vice-versa for quite some time until a rather-familiar voice rang out from one side of the barely-lit room.
"Hey, guys! The Hot Pockets are all done! Get them...while...they're...hot?"
As expected, there stood the mysterious cowboy man from before, holding up a plate of piping-hot microwave snacks. He glanced at his baffled, robotic friends, then back at the hooded bodega trio. However, the man didn't have his mask on this time, giving K.O. and his teenage friends a clear view of who he really was.
"DARRELL!?" they screeched in unison.
Indeed, wearing his iconic cowboy set-up, was Darrell himself! The BoxMore 'Bot in question gulped, surprised that he was found out by these three unknown newcomers. K.O. jabbed a finger towards him.
"You're this 'Mister Enigma' guy!?" he squeaked in horror. Darrell cleared his throat and gave the trio a suspicious look.
"Maybe so…" he added, "but the question is, who are you guys? I didn't expect any more visitors…"
However, before the either one of the bodega heroes could try and muster up something to cover their tracks…
"ACH-CHOOO!"
...it wasn't until Radicles sneezed hard enough to cause his hood to fully uncover his head, giving Darrell quite the shock.
"Rad!?" he cried out. He then went over and immediately unhooded the other two, revealing their identities. "K.O.!? Enid!? What're you guys doing here!? How'd you all find out about this!?"
Enid scowled and pushed Darrell away from her. "More like we should be asking what the flip are you doing here with all these robots!?" she snapped crossly. The small, pointy-nosed robot suddenly grew indignant and decided to cut in on their conversation.
"YO, WHAT'S THE DEAL, DARRELL!? WHY THE HECK ARE A GROUP OF STINKIN' HUMANS JOININ' OUR PARTY!?" he screeched in an obnoxiously-loud Brooklyn accent. Darrell winced at his friend's brashness.
"Shh-shh, Rob! Don't scream so loud! We can't let Daddy know we're here!" he pleaded desperately.
"DO YA THINK I CAN'T HELP BEING SO DING-DANG-DONG LOUD!?" shrieked the little robot again, "THIS IS A MEDICAL CONDITION, YA PUTZ!". The cylindrical robot next to him scoffed lightly to himself.
"No, but it'd be nice if you tried to…" he snarked with a bored, stoner-like voice, much to the ire of his hot-headed friend.
"AGAIN, NOBODY ASKED YOU, GASTON!" he screeched towards his larger friend as he jabbed a finger at him, "THINKIN' YOU'RE SUCH HOT STUFF BECAUSE YOU MANAGED TO SNAG AWAY THE INFINITY GAUNT-"
"HEY!"
The robots all quieted down from their quarrelling as Enid, who she and the others had fully stripped away their cloaks by now, stood at full attention before everyone, looking positively confused and so done with everything right now.
"Could somebody please tell me what the heck is going on!?" she demanded with a fuming, tired scowl. Darrell twiddled his index fingers and blushed timidly, with the other robots in the background coughing and sitting around awkwardly. At last, Darrell spoke up.
"We're...uh...throwing a...LAN party…" he muttered quietly and shyly. Enid cocked her head.
"A what party?" she questioned. The burgundy robot was next to speak.
"A LAN party, where we spend our time playing an online videos game with others for fun…" he explained in a calm, nearly posh-sounding tone, "...Oh, dearie me, where are my manners? My name is Barry by the way, I work for the Advanced Distribution Science agency. And these are my friends, Gaston…" he stated, gesturing to the cylindrical 'bot.
"'Sup, bros?" greeted Gaston lazily with a wave.
"And this little fellow is Rob…" finished Barry regarding the small, teal 'bot. Rob didn't say a word, he just glowered and snarled at the humans with pure contempt.
"We were just finishing up a rousing MMORPG session at the moment. Care to join us, new friends?" offered Barry politely, gesturing to their game. Rob growled and felt his eye twitch like mad.
"I AIN'T PLAYIN' ALONGSIDE A BUNCH OF FILTHY FLESHBAGS!" he screeched negatively, his loud verbal tic enough to nearly blow out everyone's audio receptors..
Meanwhile, Enid was still trying to wrap her head around all this. She sharply turned towards Darrell and gave him a suspicious, annoyed look.
"So...you're this 'Mister Enigma' dude and you're telling me you've set up this mysterious meeting at your factory...just to play some dumb videos game!?" she sneered accusingly. Darrell gulped frightfully and stuttered as Enid's tired and grumpy face was now inches towards his own.
Finally, after what felt like minutes of silent staring, Darrell suddenly fell to his knees and began to cry, dropping his Hot Pockets on the ground with him. K.O., Rad, and Enid were floored from this reaction, unsure on how to respond to this. Barry and Gaston also noticed their friend's plight from afar and grew worried, aside from Rob, who just sniggered at Darrell's crybaby antics.
Darrell kept sobbing until he managed to get a word in edgewise. "I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean to cause any trouble! Honest! All I wanted to do was to throw a little get-together was all!" he wept pitifully. Rad raised an eyebrow at the crying android.
"You did all this sneaking around, dressed around like a cowboy, for a party?" he asked. Darrell sniffled and nodded.
"I was trying not to attract attention, I had to keep this party a secret…" answered Darrell sadly. Enid rolled her eyes. K.O. was next to speak.
"But...But...all this stuff you were carrying around in these bags!" he began before Darrell gave him an answer.
"It was just snacks, drinks, and computer monitors that I've used all my allowance on for the party! Nothing more!" he explained.
"Well then...why go through so much trouble sneaking around then in the first place?" asked Rad, genuinely baffled upon today's events. Darrell sniffled once again.
"Ever since Raymond tried to host a party at BoxMore HQ, it all backfired horribly and Daddy put a ban on parties until further notice. I had to plan this party in secret so Daddy doesn't know!" he explained. Then, he got down on his knees and went into begging-mode in front of the Bodega Trio.
"Please promise me ya won't tell Daddy!?" he cried out, "If he finds out I'm hosting a party here, he'll sell me for scrap!" He shuffled closer to the group, still pleading like his life was on the line. Enid gave Darrell a weird look.
"Your dad doesn't even know about this?" she asked incredulously. Darrell shook his head "no".
"So, there isn't an evil meeting going on after all?" asked K.O. in a soft, confused voice. Darrell shook his head again before he continued his grovelling spiel once again.
"Please! If it takes all of my V-Bucks to buy your silence, I'll do it. Just please keep this a secret!" he wailed, ready to cry yet again. Thankfully, although she and the others were quite creeped out, Enid decided to just try and forget all this ever happened and let bygones be bygones.
She gently pushed Darrell and cleared her throat. "Ugh...okay, Darrell, we won't say a word to Lord Boxman...promise…"
And with that said, Darrell's face broke into a thankful grin and with his joy restored, he brought the Bodega Trio into a big, grateful hug.
"OH-THANK-YOU-SO-MUCH-THANK-YOU-THANK-YOU-THANK-YOU!" he squealed, bouncing on his feet and shaking the three in his grasp. Enid groaned within his grip and tried to settle the BoxMore 'Bot down.
"Okay, okay, it's fine, whatever! Just let us go before we change our minds!" she huffed. Darrell then quickly released te trio as they then made their way to the door. Soon enough, K.O. and his friends immediately left without another word, leaving the robots in peace.
"...Well, they seemed nice!" commented Barry kindly. Gaston shrugged in agreement.
"Yeah, I don't see why your dad's always fightin' them, man…" he said to Darrell. Darrell groaned and rubbed his forehead.
"It's because of personal business, Gaston…" he said. Rob huffed and then eyed his friends nastily.
"SPEAKIN' OF 'PERSONAL BUSINESS', CAN WE GET BACK TO THE FRICKIN' GAME NOW!? I HAD A 18-PLAYER KILL STREAK BEFORE THOSE FLESHBAGS CAME AND SCREWED IT UP!" he yelled crossly. Darrell sighed softly.
"Okay, fine…" he replied, now sitting at the table and signing in on one of the other computers, ready to continue videos game night as planned. Gaston then leaned over to Darrell just as their avatars soon dropped down on the map.
"Kinda weird you were using your gamer tag as an alias to bring us all here, dude." added Gaston. Barry nodded.
"Indeed," remarkable Barry, "You could have just called us and we would have snuck here without anyone knowing…"
"It's supposed to be mysterious, y'know...like an enigma! Enigmas are mysterious! It was the perfect way to get this party set up discreetly!" exclaimed Darrell irritably, trying to focus on his game.
Barry and Gaston looked at each other and shrugged, deciding it best to proceed with their game night, until the door opened again to reveal the bouncer from outside stepping in.
"Uh...I just noticed those bodega workers exiting the factory. Is everything okay?" he asked, his voice sounding less deep and booming now with his hood off his top hot-donning head.
"It's fine, Ernesto, just leave them be for now! Right now, we got a match to finish!" stated Darrell as he and the others peacefully played their game without trouble.
As of now, Rad was busily driving Enid and K.O. home for the night, as they cruised past the dark serenity of Lakewood. The trio were eerily silent for a good amount of time until Rad curiously broke the tension.
"So...uh, we're just not gonna pretend this never happened, right?" he asked out of nowhere.
Enid breathed in and out calmly. "YYYYYep…" she hummed simply with a straight face.
Sitting in the back seat, poor K.O. couldn't help but to sigh sadly, feeling guilty that he put his friends through such a task that only ended in a farce.
"...G-Guys? I-I'm sorry I put you both through all this. I-I thought something actually bad was happening down at BoxMore's, but I guess I was wrong…" he sighed glumly, holding his head in his hands and looking down at the van's floor.
Enid and Rad looked at each other sadly, knowing how adament K.O. was about seeing if 'Mister Enigma' was truly a bad guy or not. They began to feel guilty themselves for waving off his superstitions aside from earlier. And despite how tired and annoyed she was from today's event, from hearing K.O. sound so upset, even Enid couldn't get mad at K.O. for all this.
"Hey, don't worry about it, K.O.," she said kindly, looking back at him from the passenger seat, "We all kinda assumed BoxMore was up to something again...as usual…stuff we couldn't help but to check up on, right?" Rad nodded in agreement from behind the wheel.
"Yeah, don't beat yourself up over it, kid…" he assured, "Dude had us fooled as well. Besides, we may as well let Darrell and his dorky pals have fun with their videos game for now…"
Enid sniggered to herself. "Did ya see how pathetic Darrell was when he was beggin' us not to tell anyone of his party?"
Rad chortled heartily. "Yeah! He was all like 'Waaah! Don't tell my daddy! Pleeeaaasse!'" he mimicked in a whiny, needy voice before bursting out into laughter again with Enid.
Even throughout this long and fruitless day, the two teens laughed warmly and cracked jokes at the memory of their latest escapade tonight, enough to even cause K.O. to giggle back and to feel all better again. And with the day finally done and everyone feeling tired, they all drove out into the night for home, certain that this day may prove to be quite unforgettable.
I guess it proves that no matter what they go through, our Bodega Trio will always manage to find the light side to their darkest adventures.
Quite the enigma, eh?
THE END
And that ends "Game Over", a sort-of spiritual sequel to "A Bash at BoxMore's"! Special thanks to user Mister Enigma for dropping the request!
Basically when he requested of K.O. and the others, he wanted for a premise where Darrell was actually hosting a Fortnite LAN party in place of something more sinister. Parts of the premise were slightly tricky, only cause I never played Fortnite before, so the references to that game were just purely whatever tidbits I knew of said game being default dances, Victory Royales, and Thanos being in the game).
Additionally, much like how I've added Ray in my other K.O. fic "Highway to the Danger Zone", I've added more easter eggs in the form of other robot villains from the mobile game, being Rob and Gaston from Dendy's go-kart mini-game and Barry, being a neutral side-character that exchanges coins for if you watch an advertisement in return.
And much like Ray's appearance and because I consider my work as pure headcanon, their appearance are meant to be nothing but easter eggs, seeing as how we ain't sure when or if these extra robots will appear in the show in and because I kinda wanted to come up with distinct personas for the three; Barry being a calm, gentlemanly sort, Rob being an obnoxious sore-loser with a tendency to be loud, and Gaston just being a nonchalant bum, all three just being friends to Darrell instead of being owned by BoxMore in this case.
In the end, Mister Enigma, if you're reading this, I hope you've enjoyed the story and that it's to your liking. The only tweaks I thought of doing was just giving Darrell a mask to wear when he's sneaking around, only as to not attract attention to himself (cowboy suit or not, he still is Darrell after all).
Everyone else, I also hope you've enjoyed the story and if you want, check out my other stories if you liked this one. Hope you all have a great day! :D
~Thunderbyrd