Chapter 3

"Robert Rotten, you are hereby released from police custody. You will report to the LazyTown Mission for the homeless tomorrow at nine a.m. sharp. There you will stay until five p.m. and then you will report to your lawyer your day's activities. Is that understood?" Chief Dooright asked.

"Yes, sir." Robbie replied.

"Very well then. You are free to go." Dooright practically choked on the words but he knew that the homeless shelter needed all the help it could get and he also knew that if Robbie couldn't prove himself to be useful the judge would want to hear about it. The "rehabilitated" villain nodded and picked up his bag of things. He strode out of the LazyTown Police Station and bumped right into the two people he had hoped to avoid, Sportacus and Stephanie.

"Afternoon." He said, trying to be nice without gagging.

"Good afternoon, Robbie." Sportacus was the first to speak. Stephanie was still wary of him.

"If you'll let me, I'd like to apologize for my behavior three years ago. I was so caught up I my own little world that I didn't realize what I was doing. Prison has given me a new perspective and I hope that in time you can forgive me." The villain could feel the food he ate for lunch rising in his throat. However the last thing he wanted to taste again was the awful prison food so he forced it back down.

"Robbie, at your sentencing I said that I hoped we could become friends. That still holds true. Once you get settled into your routine, hopefully we can talk." The blue sports elf extended his hand and Robbie slowly took it. Sportacus gave one of his famous handshakes and the villain tried to work the feeling back into his fingers when he was released.

"Thanks." Robbie gave his best attempt to smile and gave a nod to Stephanie before turning to head back to his lair.

Sportacus turned to Stephanie as Robbie disappeared into the distance. She hadn't said a word and he wondered if she was all right. Before he could say anything she spoke.

"I guess I'm not as ready for this as I thought I could be. Something inside me still doesn't want to trust him."

"I understand. He hurt you but he apologized. Hopefully in time we can become great friends and all of this will be a distant memory." The above average hero tried to make her feel more at ease.

"I have too many bad memories already, I don't need anymore." Stephanie said. Before Sportacus could react, she turned and ran toward her Uncle's house. Her heavy book bag was slowing her down but she didn't care. Quickly, the above average hero ran after her.

Robbie opened the door to his lair and saw the horrible mess. Dust covered everything in sight and cobwebs had filled corners of the main room.

"Ugh. I'm too tired to clean this up." He muttered. Trudging into the room he suddenly found his feet up in the air and his back on the ground.

"I meant to do that." The villain said to no one in particular. He looked around and noticed that he'd slipped on a piece of the yellow crime scene tape. Sighing, Robbie got up and carefully moved around the room until he reached his disguise machine. Smirking to himself he pressed a series of keys and pulled two knobs. A robot appeared from the machine's last tube and whirred its way over to its master.

"Clean up this place." Robbie ordered it. The robot beeped in understanding and immediately set about the task at hand. Arms struck out of its sides and they wiped away the dust and cobwebs. A broom came out of the bottom most arm and swept the floor and remnants of the crime scene tape that Robbie had slipped on. Within twenty minutes the room was clean and the contraption had moved down the hall cleaning the rest of the lair. Robbie collapsed in his big fuzzy orange chair and a cloud of dust billowed into the air. The villain coughed and hacked until the dust settled. He pounded on his chest and cleared his throat.

"Now it's time for Operation Get Rid of Sportacus." The sudden thought occurred to him that he wasn't very imaginative with the names of his plans and perhaps that was why they failed so often. Shrugging it off, he got to work.

To Be Continued…