Chapter 2: Operation Trident
10:10 AM (Japan Time), Friday January the 24th…
"… Well. In the end the second shot which rang out after Hikari got hit met the wall… The man was supposedly a former soldier in some foreign mercenary legion but I'd say the guy's marksmanship was rusted if he failed by a distance of about one to two meters…"
"True, Enzan – sama. He did recover two days ago, right, sir?"
"Yeah. And at least now I can focus on trying to find something out of place here in the Reverse Internet… But there's nothing spectacular in here, really. Just small fry…"
"Heh, heh, heh. That used to be true but starting today you'll be met with more than you wished for. Such is our scenario!"
"Who…?"
"Wind Cutter!"
"Huh! Where'd that come from…?"
Blues had been wandering the wildness of the Reverse Internet while being in "Full Synchro" status with Enzan: both had been chatting when a voice rang out a roll of tape was shot on their direction: Blues jumped back just in time.
"Mwah, hah, hah. The magnificent director has come! Lights! Camera! Action! Video Man! I'll be back!"
"Video Man…?"
A Net Navi jumped down from a higher platform and stood up to his full height while having a smug smile on his face.
His face was colored black and his eyes were colored green.
He had a metallic structure set around and atop the head which included two dials on the sides of it and three connection ports colored yellow, white and red from left to right.
The Net Navi's body's main color was black but he had a round "play" symbol colored green set on the middle of the chest with two round buttons on both sides of it: a shape reminiscent of the Alphabet letter "V" was set above the "play" symbol plus a round circle drawn around on the base of his neck.
His shoulders were shaped like spheroids but were different: the left one was gray metallic while the right one was black with a red dome-shaped piece set atop it.
His arms' "skin" was black in color, too, but he had two parallel circular green stripes set slightly beneath the shoulder: his forearms were metallic and had some kind of tape set on them which interconnected with each other: his hands were colored black, too, and had no outstanding features on either of them.
The rest of his torso was colored black and it had another green-colored shape reminiscent of the Alphabet letter "V" set on it towards the spot where a person's stomach would be at.
His legs had four small "V" shape stripes set on a vertical row around the hips: four of them.
Another two circular stripes parallel to each other were placed around the knees and on the ankles: his feet were shaped like rectangles.
"So you're Video Man… Who else is there?" Blues questioned.
"Your imagination, Holmes!" He laughed.
"Hah, hah. Very funny." Enzan drily replied.
"Your worst nightmare: iced coffee!"
"Come on." Enzan was skeptical by now.
"Your worst accident: slipping on ice and crashing against Meijin – sama thus staining him with the coffee!" He laughed next.
"By all the… This guy's as worse as Superintendent Oda if not crazier. Let's get outta here, Blues."
"Not so fast! Wind Cutter!"
He formed a roll of video-tape which grew in thickness while being fed by the main tape and then shot it forward: its mass and speed combined when hitting Blues sent him flying and crashing hard against the ground three meters away.
"Damn. This guy's no punk." Blues cursed.
"Wasn't this place way too boring for you? We're gonna turn it into an anthill, by Moran!" He laughed.
"You've spoken in plural twice: who else is involved?"
"My staff, obviously enough! I'm the director, after all! And we're filming "A Hero's Shameful Deletion" today! Mwah, hah, hah!"
"By all the… Blues! Combat mode!"
"Roger, sir!"
"Useless!"
He suddenly warped out of his position and appeared again SE of their position while forming the roll of video-tape.
"Wind Cutter!"
"Fumikomizan!"
"Tapeline!"
"No use!"
"Fast Forward!"
"What!"
Blues drew a Long Blade Battle Chip and tried to warp so as to hit Video Man while dodging his roll of video-tape but some loose tapelines began to form across the space thus trying to impede his rush: Blues cut through them but Video Man warped at the last second and Blues had to land on the ground to then look around.
"Mwah, hah, hah! That was good enough. Filming stage is over. Didn't you spot the "REC" symbol on my body? Heh, heh, heh. And now my terrific "Special Ability" comes into play…" Video Man chuckled as he reappeared two meters in front of Blues.
"What!"
"Playback!"
He held the tape between his armlets forward and it produced streams of blue light which expanded to form a cone and a figure materialized: it was an exact copy of Blues yet his emblem had been replaced by Video Man's own one: the "copy Blues" drew a Long Sword and repeated the movements he'd executed before when the "real Blues" had tried to attack Video Man: the "real Blues" barely blocked in time but another one suddenly attacked from the rear followed by another two: he spotted how Video Man was continuously generating an army of "copy Blues" units and laughing.
"See? See? Mwah, hah, hah! You thought the "Darkloids" were hard to chew and they were but… What about yourself, fellow? Are you hard to chew? Are you a rock? Are you a steel plate? Figure it out with your teeth, by Moran!" He laughed.
"Damn. An enemy which can record your movements and then recreate them in the form of a simplistic program which can multiply infinitely! This is nothing like what we've experienced before!" Enzan cursed.
"And if you've got trouble handling ME wait until you meet the high-rank guys and wish you hadn't underestimated US!"
"Who the hell are you guys?" Enzan demanded.
"The Moriarty Gang!"
"The Moriarty Gang…? Oh come on. That's a parody." Enzan groaned while being obviously annoyed.
"Who knows, Mr. Imagination?" He taunted.
"I do. End of the tale, walking VHS."
"I feel the strong…" A voice rang out.
"Huh? Oh fuck. Not that guy!" Enzan cursed.
"Shit." Blues growled.
"Heh, heh, heh. As scheduled." Video Man formed a smirk.
"I've come to take this power…"
"That guy…!" Enzan grumbled.
"Forte…!"
Forte slowly hovered into the area while an aura of power surrounded him and he looked as dry and hostile as always: he seemed to ignore Blues and focused on Video Man.
"You. That power… I'll be taking it. With it… I'll be one step closer… to becoming the Ultimate Net Navi…" He muttered.
"Sadly enough, Forte, I won't be your opponent today. Someone of higher power is waiting to prove to you how vain your power really is. And they're coming…" Video Man smirked.
"Indeed. I am your opponent." A calm voice boomed out of nowhere at that moment.
Some kind of purple-colored vortex formed in the midst of the air and a stream of yellowish light jumped out of it to give way to a new Net Navi which hovered above the area.
This Net Navi could easily be over a meter and eighty tall.
Its helmet design didn't look like a helmet to begin with: the forehead was covered by a diamond-shaped green-colored piece of armor from which two tall and white "antennae" emerged in a 45º inclination: something which looked like a mass of hair colored green formed behind the helmet and expanded downwards in a cone-like manner.
The face's skin was normal and the shape was rather feminine yet a bit androgynous at the same time: the Navi's eye irises were red in color.
Its upper body had a white cloth similar to a sweater with three parallel stripes set on its surface running down its length until it ended half-way across the torso.
The shoulders had greenish four-speared stars built into them and two large white sleeves which extended way past the total length of the arms extended from there: they looked thick and like they had some extra mass inside: they formed shapes reminiscent of the Alphabet "L" character.
The hands emerged from two oval-shaped cavities just where the sleeves formed a 45º turn to aim SW and SE: they were covered in white "gloves" or "skin" and were currently closed.
The rest of the body was colored green and looked like a one-piece suit extending until the middle half of the upper body: two greenish/yellowish stripes ran down the sides of the torso until the hips.
Two greenish/yellowish diamonds were drawn around the knees followed by oval-shaped patterns which ended in a triangle on the ankle: the Navi didn't have the typical boots and the legs ended like they were pants which were larger than usual.
Some light radiated from the Navi's silhouette and made them stand out while emitting a powerful sensation: their gaze was calm and didn't display any emotion at all.
"My name is Slur. I am a ruler." She drily announced.
"Hah! This Navi's power is strong… Very strong… It's way better than that crappy Navi down there… I'll bring you down in one hit!" Forte exclaimed as he rushed over to the Navi named Slur.
"Foolish one. Receive your punishment." She merely muttered with a hint of annoyance.
She aimed her right hand towards Forte and spread it wide: some yellow round spots formed around Forte's body and some wires with metallic cylinders on their ends formed out of them which then spread and tied around his body thus immobilizing him: he tried to break them but they wouldn't yield.
"What the fuck! I'm the strongest Net Navi on the world and I can't break some fucking wires?" He cursed.
"Strongest? Yet you alone could not take down "Greizer", could you? And you are drowning in power." She smugly told him while forming a sinister face.
"Shaddup you fucker!" He scowled.
"Such an immature holder of power cannot be left to wander around: it is but an eyesore and laughs at those who really possess strength. I am one of those. And I am in pair with Serenade if not above him. I shall avenge his fall. Such is the reason I have come here. Yet he would not like of me to delete you: instead I shall have you drown in the endless Universe never to emerge again." She announced as she turned dry and hostile: her eyes glared with obvious repressed anger.
She signaled the sky and drew circle with her right hand's index finger which then became a black-colored vortex similar to a "black hole" sucking everything up: Forte was sucked in and the vortex vanished as quickly as it had formed: she then glanced at Blues who was still struggling with Video Man's copies.
"Video Man." She called out.
"Ma'am!" He kneeled and made a reverence.
"No deletion. Just prove to them how rusted they are. If they HP hits the 1 HP mark then pull back to the base. Understood?"
"Roger, ma'am! Please leave it on the hands of this servant."
"It shall be amusing… Operation Trident has started."
"Operation Trident?" Enzan demanded.
"It shall soon become clear. In the meanwhile do play around and test if you yourself are a worthy fighter or else you need to pass the torch into someone else." She smugly told them.
"T-this jerk…!" Blues grumbled.
"Farewell! Ijuuin Enzan! Blues!"
She formed the purple vortex again and jumped inside of it while Video Man folded his arms and let the 30 "Blues copies" fight against the "real Blues" who was getting overwhelmed.
"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! How's this one for a change? No pain no gain! Heh, heh! Sweat! Sweat! Struggle! Struggle!" He laughed.
"Shaddup! You! Walking VHS!" Enzan cursed.
"Wait, Enzan – sama… If that guy is a VHS then…" Blues whispered something he'd thought of.
"Of course…! Why didn't I think of that one before…? Battle Chip, Heavy Shake!"
Blues formed the Heavy Shake Battle Chip and set it vertically to then climb atop it: the copies didn't mind and began to jump towards him while Video Man laughed.
"Useless! Truly useless!"
"Battle Chip, Elec Sword! GO~!"
Blues jumped into the air and then hit the Heavy Shake with the Elec Sword: the result was a sudden roar as some kind of wave spread across the area and the copies were all wiped: Video Man's jaw hit the floor and he looked incredulous.
"I-impossible! Playback!"
The copy which came out was blurry and its movements were incredibly slow: Video Man looked baffled but then found Blues behind him having the Elec Sword placed right next to Video Man's neck.
"Magnetism." He merely said.
"Oh shit! My greatest weakness followed by humidity!" He cursed.
"That's the problem of using a VHS: it's too delicate. DVDs are susceptible to magnetism too but VHS is more easily damaged."
"Damn them all! I'll remember this humiliation! Eject!"
He suddenly warped outta the area while Blues sighed in relief and looked around him at the empty panorama: the only thing which could be heard was the howling of the wind.
"By Merton! There's a conspiracy here."
"Superintendent Oda. Couldn't you knock on the door before entering? I was concentrated maintaining "Full Synchro" with Blues!" Enzan protested in the real world.
"Uncle Merton says that guy's Uncle Moran is his half-brother."
"Very funny!"
"Meijin ate a spicy donut. Wanna try it out?" Oda asked.
"There aren't spicy donuts!" Enzan grumbled.
"Who says there aren't?"
"Common sense, sir."
"Common Sense Man?"
"I'm off. Plug Out, Blues!"
"Roger, sir!"
Blues returned inside of Enzan's PET and projected outside with the hologram to see Enzan leaving the office and shutting the door on the way out: he grumbled something under his breath.
"How lovely. Forte gets beaten, there's a jerk which almost beats me to a pulp and that Slur gal who seems to be the head of some gang or another different from what we've met before." He summed up.
"So it'd seem, sir."
"Ijuuin – kun! Uncle Merton wants to recruit you for his new CM!" Oda called out from the room.
"I'm off. I can't stand that silliness anymore!"
05:49 AM (Moscow Time)…
"… Patrol 11. Status?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary, sir…"
"All sectors are normal, sir."
"Good. Report back in 30 minutes."
"Too bad. It turns out that your security has holes everywhere like a two-cent boat. I've left a trail of burnt corpses behind me: I'm surprised you haven't spotted them already, Mr. Universe. Or rather… Search Man EXE of the Sharo Army…!"
"Who…?"
"Burning Jet!"
"Whack!"
"Mwah, hah, hah! No – one stops the grand and magnificent Burner Man – sama~!"
Search Man of the Sharo Army's 13th Network Unit had been speaking with another two Net Navis regarding the patrols when a voice rang out and someone suddenly rammed into him knocking him into the ground and then dashing forward while leaving a trail of heat and flames behind them on their wake.
"Mwah, hah, hah!"
The Net Navi known as Burner Man struck as being around a meter and sixty tall or above,
His head was surrounded by a blood red metallic helmet which had two of those fang-like objects set on both sides of it: his emblem was set on the forehead and its drawing was a simplistic oval-shaped flame colored sky blue.
His eyes didn't have irises on them and were colored blue while a grin covered his face.
Red metallic armor was built over his upper body and it had four metallic objects shaped like fangs set over the shoulders: each one had a yellow stripe close to the backwards edge which had a small blackish metallic cover on it.
His shoulders were oddly placed lower than they should be at, half-way down the upper body: two short black arms without elbows emerged from them and ended in long cylinders colored red with a yellow stripe and having black hands at their end: the emblem was repeated there.
The body below the armor had armor with some vertical stripes set on them: his legs were free of armor until just past the knee: two cylinders with the same coloring pattern as the ones in the arms were set there and two armored feet with black soils emerged from below them.
"Heh! I burn 'em all!"
"How did you get inside?" Search Man demanded as he stood up and aimed the Scope Gun at him.
"Something called emergency exit?" He grinned.
"Damn it. They were supposed to be alarm-rigged by now!"
"By now but I guess it'll be by the year 2020 at this rate. Or make 2033 when the world will go mad and we'll have to live in the Moscow Metro Tunnels." He laughed and formed a smug smile.
"What do you want?" Search Man demanded next.
"Try cha out." He shrugged his shoulders.
"Is that all?" He didn't seem to think that was all.
"For the time being." He shrugged again.
"You aren't alone." He guessed.
"Nope. But Boss said I'd be enough. I guess that red punk in Japan's having one hell of a time by now." He laughed.
"Red punk in Japan…? You mean Blues?"
"Yessir. My pal has a very special ability which even that punk can't possibly overcome. But enough chit-chat. I'm gonna turn you into soldier to the BBQ!"
"Damn. Scope Gun!"
"Slow! Strike Burner!"
"Damn. This guy's no joke…!"
"Who said I was a joke?"
Burner Man suddenly aimed his burners at Search Man and he barely dodged the two streams of bluish flames which claimed to be the hottest possible flames: Search Man took position again and cursed aloud while Burner Man formed a smug smile again.
"Burning… Jet!"
He expanded his arms and legs just as the burners set around his head turned on and he formed a stream of fire from his forehead: he rushed on forward while leaving a trail of heat and flames behind him and rammed into Search Man.
"Satellite Ray! Search Grenades!"
He formed a small satellite which shot a laser at Burner Man from behind but had no visible effect followed by three grenades which exploded in front of him: none had any visible effect while Burner Man dashed around the room forming orange-tinted flames to encircle Search Man: he stopped and formed another smug smile.
"Uncle Moran says you're cheap!" He laughed.
"Uncle Moran…? Your Operator…?" Search Man guessed.
"Heh! We don't need an Operator! We're just like the "Darkloid" and the "Dark Four Heavenly Kings"… Independent Model Net Navis! We've banded together and will make you guys sweat!" Burner Man told Search Man while laughing.
"Shit." He cursed.
"Starting to realize your own uselessness, Mr. Soldier?"
"Shut up. Nobody insults the Sharo Army and lives to tell it."
"Heh! We'll see 'bout that, Comrade Zakarov."
"What's going on?" Laika asked.
"Laika – sama: an enemy has intruded the system."
"Not "an" enemy: THE Burner Man – sama!" He laughed.
"What are you?" Laika demanded.
"A grunt." He shrugged his shoulders.
"So there are guys more powerful than you?"
"You'd be surprised, Comrade Ivan."
"Don't screw me." Laika grumbled.
"No. I'll send you a Sharo doll with a flask of Red Bull inside of it for your entertainment." Burner Man grinned.
"This guy…!" Laika hissed.
"Laika – sama, sir! Do not fall into the enemy's trap, sir!"
"Che!"
"Uncle Moran would rather pick a plane and get outta the country 'cause there might be a cataclysm somewhere and someday." He muttered as if thinking aloud.
"What cataclysm?"
"Use your imagination, rookie." He taunted next.
"Burner Man. Do not waste time. Proceed with Operation Trident. Show them how powerless they really are and then pull back to the base so that we can execute Phase 3." A voice commanded over his radio: the tone was dull and unemotional.
"Roger, Boss." He acknowledged.
"Who goes there?" Search Man demanded.
"… Slur." The voice replied.
"Slur?" Laika wondered.
"We are here to… judge you."
"Judge us? What have we done?" Search Man asked.
"It is not what you have done but what you can do. We are here to judge your strength and ability and see if you deserve holding the torch the mighty Serenade bestowed into you." Slur told them.
"Se-Serenade…? You knew him?" Laika gasped.
"I did. That is all you need to know for the time being. Burner Man. Do not give them any interludes. Do unleash your fires of ruin. Farewell, Laika of Sharo and Search Man."
"Alright! Boss said to give you trouble and that's what I'm gonna do! Full power! Burning Jet! Burning Strike! Burning Sword!"
"Guwra~h!"
"Search Man!"
Burner Man rammed into Search Man, bathed him on flames and then made burning cuts to his armor while stomping over his body: he laughed and then jumped into the air to form a spheroid of blue flames which he threw at the ground to set in on flames: Search Man roared in agony and was left beaten while Burner Man landed back on the ground.
"What. That's all? You've turned soft. I expected more from the so-famous Sharo Army. Guess Boss is right and you haven't been training to stand up to an opponent like me." Burner Man laughed.
"Fuck." Laika hissed.
"Well. I'm off. Guess VHS Man is done with the red punk so we'll compare notes. No pain no gain! Mwa, hah, hah! Spiked Man will soon go visit the third in the list too… Heh, heh, heh!"
20:44 PM (Washington Time), Thursday January the 23rd…
"… Man. This watching post is so boring. Why couldn't they send us to the front?"
"Wars are gonna get closer to home, rookie. The hostile governments are developing newer tools for Cyber War. It's our duty to be on watch because they can strike anytime."
"Yeah. You two. Behave."
"Che! That Tomahawk Man guy… He gotta think he's the boss."
"Chut! Watch your trap, rookie. That guy's Mr. Colonel' favorite and if you insult him you insult him you insult Mr. Colonel and you get a martial court…"
Two Navis affiliated to the Ameroupe Army had been standing watch when one began to complain and the other corrected him: Tomahawk Man walked past and the rookie began to grumble only to be corrected by his superior again.
"Fuck. Had I known this I wouldn't have enlisted."
"And I'm telling you there's no need to travel so far because war is gonna knock at our door sooner or later."
"Shah, shah, sha~h! Yessir! That's the reality! Needle Cannon!"
"Uwra~h!"
"What in the tomahawk?"
"Yo! Tonma Man! What's up? Shah, shah, shah!"
"Who the heck?"
"Heh, heh, heh, heh! Needle Man's come to bust 'em all with spiky needles! Shah, shah, shah, sha~h!"
"Needle Man? Who's that? A buddy of yours, Tomahawk Man?"
"Come on, Dingo."
Needle Man's upper body was shaped like a circle with a dome over it: the color of his choice was navy blue: the front part of the circle had a rectangular vertical cavity cut out with eight slightly curved metallic pieces set in a vertical row.
His face's skin was black, too, he had no nose, his eyes colored yellow with red irises and a smug smile was drawn on his face: a small red vertical rectangle was set on the forehead.
Four needles came out of the dome part of the body (and having an orange circular edge circling the spot from where they sprouted out from) around the head which was drawn inside of a larger needle.
His arms were human-like given how they were attached to the body: orange-colored bands split it in two halves with the upper half being colored navy blue and the lower half tinted sky blue: a needle came out of each shoulder, too: four blackish long fingers were set on the arms.
The armor ended below the torso: the rest of his body's skin was plain black in color plus a small orange spot below the upper body.
The boots began over the knees and followed the same pattern as in the arms: a needle came out from the armor over each knee: they had a small hollow cavity cut close to the heel.
"Needle Cannon! Eat this!"
"Tomahawk Swing!"
Needle Man transformed his arms into cannon barrels and shot a string of small cone-shaped needles towards Tomahawk Man who swung his tomahawk across the air and cut them all to Needle Man's surprise given how he gasped.
"Tomahawk Air Raid!"
"Whack!"
"Gotcha, ugly."
"Why, you~…!" He cursed.
"Come."
"Che! Needle Attack!"
"Totem – sama!"
The totem formed behind Tomahawk Man and he began to glow with a greenish light as Needle Man enlarged the needles of his body and tried to ram into Tomahawk Man who grinned.
"Meteors!"
"Wha~t?"
Some meteors formed on the sky and began to rain down on Needle Man as he got stuck unable to pierce the field of green energy protecting Tomahawk Man: he yelped as his needles were shattered and one hit him from behind dropping him into the floor: Tomahawk Man aimed one side of the tomahawk towards his neck.
"Speak."
"Yikes! I'm a grunt!"
"Guessed as much. Whose grunt?"
"Uncle Moran's!"
"Uncle Moran's? Gotta be a genius." Dingo muttered while looking distracted.
"Come on. I don't buy that." Tomahawk Man was skeptical.
"What's going on?"
"Ah! Colonel! See: the intruder."
"Good job."
"Yikes! Colonel too! Shah, shah, shah! Those two are gonna turn me into the laughter of the club for the whole week! Damn i~t!" He cursed with obvious frustration.
"Who do you mean?" Colonel demanded as he aimed his sword at him.
"Eh… VHS Man and Burn-Run Man!"
"They sound so idiotic that I don't believe those are their names even though I'm sure you came here by someone's command."
"And that would be me. Slur." Her voice rang out from the radio.
"Slur?"
"Colonel. Serenade has talked me about you." She announced.
"You knew Serenade? Why didn't he tell me?" He looked slightly surprised by the announcement.
"Serenade was very reserved, do not you remember?"
"True." He admitted.
"I have sent this pawn here to see if you deserve holding the torch he passed into you… Or else someone else should accept it… I have picked the strongest… Two have failed. Your subordinate passes. I see why Serenade trusted you: if you infused so much strength into this one then you are clearly very strong." Slur told him.
"Of course. Serenade trusted in me when he told me the secret of the Cybeasts." He confirmed.
"Just think of this as an examination. No personal feelings: I am just trying to see what Serenade contemplated in you before his demise. Yet that which makes your blood boil is no longer in this world and shall never return so the spirit of Serenade will be laid to rest. Return, Needle Man, and learn from your mistakes. Farewell, Colonel and Tomahawk Man of the Ameroupe Army." She added at the end of her speech.
A purple swirling vortex formed underneath Needle Man and he was sucked in before it closed.
"A friend of Serenade… We are being tested… Serenade… True… We need to prove if we deserve holding his torch… It sounds like Serenade, alright…"
"Guess that…" Barrel muttered.
18:55 PM (Japan Time), Friday January the 24th…
"… Operation Trident's outcome is 2F and 1S… I guess I win the bet, don't I, partner?"
"Jeez. The irony of my name, really. The sniper guy says I think I'm number one but that's not it. You win, yeah. How much had we staked?"
"10Z."
"Oh! 10Z? Of course. Our rules forbid bets over 100Z so as to not to trigger internal conflict…"
"You can hand them over another day. We gotta finish preparing for tomorrow's evening. Operation Legs is to happen and you're the one who is gonna be on the field."
"I knew that. The President briefed me this morning. So the whole point of it is to show them what we can really do when it comes to the real world, eh?"
"Yeah. Hey, A. What do you think about B-X? Will he succeed?"
"I'm sure of it: B-X is a strong guy."
"Thanks, A."
Two unidentified guys were riding in a discreet black Toyota car and along an expressway: they were chatting while two Navis also joined the conversation without projecting with the PET's holograms.
"Anyway. I'll be waiting on the rendezvous point. Just follow the program and all will go as smooth as silk." The passenger told the driver with a shrug of the shoulders.
"Roger. Heh, heh, heh. And I think our little present to the Net Police will surprise them. I can't wait to see their reactions…" The driver chuckled and sounded amused.
"If only they knew… That this is just the beginning…"
The four of them chuckled aloud while the car faded into the evening…
