A/N: Yooooooo, so I came across this while going through my revisions. It's Ch6 anf it's 100% NOT FINISHED (it cuts off before the ending I'd had planned for it, if you're wondering why it ends so abruptly). I didn't even edit it for grammar mistakes or whatev's, so sorry if it's super sloppy. But yeah, completely forgot I even had this, but I figured since the rewrite's coming along MUCH slower than planned (I'm still working on it, I promise), I could at least post this in the mean time. Hope you like it, it's got new characters and is SUPER boring, but yeah ^.^


Chapter 6: A New Member

His breathing was shallow. He had to keep it that way so he wouldn't be heard. He peered out from the shadows that shrouded him, surveying the room, finding it's week points. Creeping forward, he came to the edge of his hiding place, a sharp ear out for his prey. Suddenly, the door opened. Someone walked into the room. The face was hidden, but there was no doubt in his mind that it was the one he'd been waiting for. In one swift movement, he darted out from under his hiding spot and released a battle cry as he descended on his prey.

"What the—Jack!?" Hiccup let out a confused yelp of surprise as he was tackled onto his own bed.

Another two weeks had passed since the heat wave and Jack was still keeping everyone inside the warehouse. The aftereffects of each heist the Big Four had to deal with all varied depending on the situation. Sometimes, a low profile was only necessary for a few days. Other times, a few weeks. In serious cases, the group would even pack up and move home base all together. In this particular situation, none of the members of the Big Four had been allowed to leave the warehouse since they'd arrived, given the slightest chance that they might be recognized. Jack had put everyone under house arrest, the only exception being Toothless. He was the only one the FBI was't looking for, and the only one allowed to go into the city three to four times a week for provisions. The plan was to stay in the warehouse until the next heist, leaving nothing to chance. After that, they'd play it by ear.

That being said, everyone was starting to get restless after almost a month of being confined to the limited space of home base. Even their fearless leader wasn't immune to the boredom that had begun to plague them all. The number of pranks and fights the white-haired boy instigated on a weekly basis was increasingly on the rise. The least of which included occasionally hiding under unsuspecting beds to attack their owners.

It was a fearless battle, to say the least. The two boys wrestled for the better part of fifteen minutes, tangling the bedsheets and knocking over nightstands. Finally, Jack managed to overpower and pin the other boy to the bed, succeeding by sitting on his opponent's stomach. Both sets of arms reached overhead as Jack held Hiccup's wrists down. They were face to face, noses barely touching, their panting breaths heating up each other's faces. They stayed like that, just staring at each other in silence. Their faces barely inches away from each other as they stared into one another's eyes, the heat of the fight making both hearts race.

"Ugh, Jack, get off," Hiccup complained, breaking the silence and pushing the other boy off him. Jack rolled off the brunette and onto his back, taking up the rest of the queen sized bed. He let out a whoop of elation. "Now that was fun."

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Keep that up and people will start thinking we're gay."

The older boy chuckled at the thought.

"Yeah, two grown men wrestling in bed. Wonder what would give them that idea?" He took a second's thought on what Hiccup had said before he commented, "Anyways, since when did you start caring what other people thought? Most of the time they're wrong, so what's it matter?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," the other boy began, pushing himself up into a sitting position, his back against the bed's headboard. "After all, most people just think we're hardened criminal thieves, created from the constructs of a corrupt society and molded by our own sick and twisted childhoods."

"Cut the sass," Jack teased, pushing himself up to join Hiccup. "They very rarely get it so right."

"Ah, well, who knows," the brunette said with a shrug. "I could be gay," he noted, returning to his original comment.

Jack couldn't help but laugh at that, "You are not gay, Hiccup."

"How would you know?" Hiccup countered, completely serious. "I mean, I'm not even sure, myself."

"Well, I am sure. You may be many things Hiccup, but a gay man is not one of them." "How can you be so sure?"

"Because I know you, Hic."

It was true, the only person that knew Hiccup better than Jack was Toothless. But you didn't need a college degree in Hiccup to see that Jack was right. Jack knew his friend couldn't be gay. Not that something like that even mattered anymore in the modern day's views, but the distinction was still there. Jack knew there was a very real likelihood that the brunette could be bi or pan, but straight up gay? That was out of the question. Jack saw the way Hiccup would sometimes look at Merida when they weren't fighting, and he thought no one was looking. Jack knew that look. He knew that feeling. He felt it whenever he was with Rapunzel. So gay? No possibility of any girls, no possibility of Merida? Not a chance.

"Oh, so you know me for real?" Hiccup asked jokingly.

"Well no one can fake being such an annoying dick all the time."

The comment earned Jack a pillow to the face, which lead to the revival of their previous wrestling match. It was another twenty minutes before the two calmed down again, the battle ending in a stalemate. The two lay on their backs in Hiccup's bed, yet again, their panting breaths filling the room as they let their heart-rates slow. Soon, their breathing calmed, emptying the room of the noise and leaving the boys in silence, both content to just lay there in each other's company. As they lay there, Jack and Hiccup could hear the slight creaks of the warehouse as the metal structure adjusted to the day's weather. There were minuscule ticking and whirring noises from the multiple electronic devises scattered throughout Hiccup's room. Even the sound of the wind outside filtered through the walls as it wound its way through the maze of abandoned warehouses and buildings, howling against each obstacle it came across. The two boys heard everything. It was another minute before Hiccup broke the silence.

"Hey, Jack?"

"Yeah?" "You heard from Eugene lately?"

Jack blinked. He was taken aback by the question. None of them had talked much at all about Eugene since their friend went missing, so the question seemed to come from nowhere. After a moment's pause, Jack managed to answer.

"No, Hic. No one's heard from him since he just up and left." There was a moment's silence, Jack's answer hanging in the air between them, before the brunette asked another question.

"You know where he could be?"

"Not a clue."

"You think he could be in Chicago?"

Jack let out a small, knowing laugh at the question. "That's the one place I know he's not," he answered, sitting up and turning so his legs dangled from the side of the bed and his back faced the other teen.

"Is that why we're here, then?" Hiccup asked, suddenly serious as he followed suit and sat up, refusing to take his eyes off the back of white-haired boy's head. Jack couldn't help as his fists curled into the sheets of the bed. He was getting tired of the third degree, especially since he could already sense where this conversation was going. Still, he managed to keep his tone light with his next answer.

"Hic, I already told you. We're here because it's closer to our—"

"Don't give me that bullshit!"

The outburst took Jack off guard. Hiccup was on his feet and standing in front of the older boy in an instant. Whatever peace or fun the two had had in the last hour had evaporated, leaving nothing but a strained confrontation to spark the air with electricity. Jack looked up at the green eyes boring into him, almost threatening. When Hiccup spoke again, his voice was burnt at the edges with frustration. He was tired of being lied to by his own friend.

"Don't you dare fuckin' lie to me and say we're here because it's closer to our next targets. That's shit, and you know it. Two of our hits are on the East Coast and we're half way across the country. I know you, too, Jack. I can tell when you're blowing smoke up my ass. Why are we here?" he asked again, voice as unyielding as stone.
Jack let out a sigh, deflating with it as he allowed his own irritation and defensive posturing to escape. He broke eye contact as he lowered his head and leaned forward, elbows on knees. Hiccup was right, he couldn't hide it any longer. He rubbed a hand over his face, trying to wipe away the stress that had been getting to him ever since they'd managed to steal the Hope Diamond.

"I didn't want to risk the chance of running into him—"

"You mean you didn't want to risk the chance of Rapunzel running into Eugene," the brunette corrected, still standing over the other boy. There was a pause.

"...Yeah," came the resigned response.

It was Hiccup's turn to sigh, the anger and frustration of a few moments ago draining out of him as he looked over his friend. Defeat lined the slump of the older boy's shoulders and the tilt of his head as he refused to look up from the ground. Hiccup moved to sit next to him on the bed, hunching forward to try and see the other boy's face.

"Jack, you're not her dad," he began, his tone low and understanding. "You can't protect her from everything bad that might or might not happen. But that's beside the point. Didn't you think about what coming back here would mean for Rapunzel at all? I mean, she was locked in that shitty apartment building for years here. This city was her metaphorical imprisoned tower."

"Yeah. I know," Jack began. "I just...thought being here was what would be best for everyone," he finally admitted, any trace of fight he might of had in him, now dissipated completely. "You're with Toothless again, Rapunzel won't run into Eugene, and we're far enough away that no one on the East Coast could know we're here. I know being here isn't perfect, but it's the best I could do."

Jack sat upright after he'd finished and Hiccup finally got a look at the other boy's face. The brunette couldn't help but be a little taken aback at what he saw. Jack looked different. It was almost as if he'd aged ten years. Hard lines edged his face and his eyes looked tired and worn, their normally brilliantly ice blue now faded and dull. The younger teen could finally see what the other had been going through. Jack had it hard as leader, and Rapunzel wasn't the only one to see that. Hiccup knew the stress that could come with looking out for others, for being the one responsible for lives that weren't your own. The brunette felt a sliver of regret for attacking his friend. He was doing the best he could, after all.

"Well, there's not much I can do about it now, anyways," Jack said after a moment.

Hiccup didn't get long to contemplate as the older boy suddenly stood up, the look of wariness falling from his face. The brunette couldn't see any trace of the argument or the aged Jack from before.

"Hey, where are you going?"

Jack stopped in the doorway and looked over his shoulder at the younger boy, a knowing smile on his lips, making him look like the same Jack as ever.

"To get the girls. We're having a team meeting, and that includes you. Come on."

After checking both bedrooms and the "garage" for the others, Hiccup followed Jack in the direction of the kitchen, both thinking it was the only place left for them to be. Upon arriving, they found what they were looking for. A collection of adolescents were gathered around the table, complete with a ball of frizzy red hair, a waterfall of blonde, and a shadow with wings. The conversation between the three was cut short as Merida saw the other two enter and leapt to her feet. "Aughhh, thare yeh are, Frosty," came the exasperated greeting as she stomped up to jack.

"Been looking for me?" Jack asked, surprised by the welcome.

"Ay, so Aye can tell yeh tha' we need teh get ou' of hear," she started in, obviously upset as she poked her finger into the older boy's chest. "We're goin' stark ravin' mad, bein' locked up fer so long."

"Getting antsy already, Mer?" the older boy asked with a chuckle, amused by her frustration. "I expected more from you. Even Rapunzel's held up fine—" he was cut short as an arm was suddenly slung across his neck with surprising force and blonde hair obstructed his vision.

"Air! I need air! We're trapped! Suffocation! Affixation!"

"Until now," Jack finished his sentence flatly.

"Come on, Jack," Rapunzel entreated as she dropped her dramatic act, releasing the white-haired E.T. so she could spin around to face him. "People aren't supposed to be locked up in a place for too long," she explained. "It does things to you. Trust me, I would know."

"Alright, alright. I get it," Jack conceded, raising his hands in mock surrender. "We can't risk anything right now, but I promise, we'll all get a chance to get out of here as soon we finish our next hit. But until then, you guys need to keep it together."

"Agh! Bu' tha's ages away!" came a wine from the redhead.

"Actually, it's closer than you think," Jack corrected. "Come on, we're having a team meeting. We need to get started and go over the plan for our next job."
Jack started to lead the others out of the kitchen so they could talk in private. He was the last one out, with Merida in the lead. A bounce was in the redhead's step as the new thought of an exciting heist relieved her of her boredom.

"You lot goin' to talk about the heist in SanFran, yeah?"

Toothless's question stopped the other E.T. in the doorway. He'd almost forgotten that the fifth member of their company had been in the room when he and Hiccup had come to retrieve the girls. He looked over his shoulder at the the scaly mechanic to find him standing, slightly defensive, with an uncertain look set in his face.

"Yeah," Jack confirmed, intrigued by his friend's interest as he turned around fully to face him.

Toothless swallowed nervously. He seemed to be contemplating what he'd say next. After a moment's hesitation, the uncertain look fell from the winged teen's face.

"I want in."

The demand was sudden, though not completely unexpected. Jack had had a suspicion that Toothless wouldn't be able to keep his distance once he learned where the team's next heist was going to be. The criminal leader looked the black-market dealer over as he leaned against the the crate that served as a doorway. He was trying to read the other boy. To see just how serious he was about what he was asking.

"You wanna be part of this hit, Tendermouth?"

"Yeah, I want to go to San Francisco."

Jack let out a sigh as he pushed himself out of the kitchen exit and stepped up to the larger extraterrestrial, so he was only a few inches from the other. Their eyes met as the lighter boy looked up at the figure towering over him and continued.

"You know, you can't just come in for this one job," he explained, his voice serious as he tried to communicate just what this overgrown lizard was getting himself into. "Going with us on this makes you a part of the team. And that means you're in it till the end. No backing out. No running away."

"I want to be there when you hit SanFran," Toothless repeated for the third time, voice refusing to waver as he looked down at Jack with a a resolve so thick, it was almost intimidating.

The other boy couldn't help but smirk at the black E.T.'s determination.

"Alright, then," he said, taking a step back and holding out a pale hand for the other boy to shake. "Looks like we've got ourselves a new member to the team."


"Ugh, blimey. How rotten did we get last night?" Agent Bunnymund asked through a screaming headache as he stumbled into the kitchen.

"Well look who's awake!" came an enthusiastic voice from across the kitchen table. The lights of the kitchen were just short of blinding the poor, hung-over agent, so he was only able to see a blurry image of the brunette that had given the sarcastic comment.

Aster winced at the greeting. "Yeah, I'm up. Any reason to be yelling?" he asked as he held up his hand against the kitchen entryway, using it for some support as a wave of nausea rolled through his head.

Aster heard an amused chuckle, still quite loud for the agonizing pounding in his head. Had the kitchen lights always been this blindingly bright? "Looks like you're in worse shape than I thought you'd be," came the same voice.

"And I'd say by how red your eyes are, that you got very rotten last night," another voice joined in to comment. Now that was a voice Aster would've known anywhere, even if he hadn't just spent the past drunken night crashing on her couch.

"Good mornin' to you, too, Tooth," the handicapped agent mumbled as he finally managed to stagger into a chair across form the brunette at the kitchen table. From what he could gather through the blurriness of post-alcoholic pain, Aster could tell his partner was at the kitchen stove off to his right, messing with something that gave off a sizzling sound. He set his elbows on the table and dug the heals of his hands into his eyes as he tried to erase the starbursts left over from the way too bright lights.

"Um, could you all please manage to be a bit quieter?" The mumble question came from a pile of dark red hair laid on the table, its owner taking up the seat next to the brunette.

"Not really!" the said brunette shouted, his mouth next to his tormentee's ear. His efforts earned him twin moans of pain from Aster and the head still resting on the table.

"Nod," Tooth started with a condescending tone as she came forward and gave the fellow agent a good smack to the back of the head. She set down a glass of orange juice in front of Bunny before moving away again.

"He-he-hey, ouch," the brunette responded with a laugh.

"Stop tormenting the two," the female agent chastised. "Can't you see they had a rough night?"

"Oh, I know they had a rough night. I was there, remember?"

"Yeah, well, talking at the top of your lungs isn't exactly helping," came another voice as the pile of red hair rose and fell to reveal a pretty face with green eyes that squinted into the blinding kitchen lights.

"Hey, M.K.," Nod started in defense, "I said you should stop drinking at around eleven last night. You were the one that ignored me."

"Last time I checked, there's nothing in the hand book saying you have to listen to your partner when you're trying to have a good time."

"And just how much of that 'good time' do you remember?" the brunette asked with a chuckle. The red haired agent opened her mouth, prepared with a comeback, before she was interrupted.

"Oi," the attention of the two other agents were drawn away form each other to the third agent at the table. "Did I get a blinker?" Aster asked, pointing to his left eye, surrounded by a black and blue bruise that had started to swell.

Nod let out a disbelieving laugh before answering. "You don't remember that? You must've been hammered! You got in an awesome fight with some stupid kids. You managed to knock one out before the others bolted; it was hilarious."

"Damn," Aster muttered, leaning forward again to massage his temples, trying his best to rub away the all consuming headache that filled his skull.

"Here." The pounding in the FBI agent's head was interrupted by a thud on the table in front of him. He looked up to find an ice pack, which he gratefully pressed into his eye with a sigh of relief.

"Thanks, Tooth," he said as the soothing cold seeped into his eye, relieving at least part of the pain that had made its home in his head.

"Don't thank me yet," the female agent retorted as she turned back to the kitchen counter. "You and I, we're going to swing by the bureau in a bit to pick up some files so we can do some extra research. I have a new idea of where we should look next for these kids."

"Woah, going into work on your day off, that's serious," Nod commented, sounding rather impressed.

"Is your guys' case really that tough?" M.K. asked, concern filtering through the look of pain still present on her face.

"Annoying's more like," Aster answered with a slightly tiresome tone. "It's like playing hide-and-seek with a couple of kids, only not so much fun and on a larger scale."

"Well, we're working on it," Tooth chimed in, spinning around with a few plates stacked with eggs, pancakes, bacon, and toast. They clattered to the table, sounding like church bells to the hung-over agents. "They can't hide forever," she finished optimistically as she finally sat down to join the others, now piling food onto their own plates. "How are you guys holding up with your case, by the way?"

Nod gave a grunt of annoyance at the question. "As exciting as ever," came the sarcastic answer. "It's really just a bunch of endless stake-outs outside the Boggan's main base. Meanwhile we've got Ronin breathing down our necks, bugging us to make our move."

"Thing is," M.K. added, "we can't do anything 'till we catch these guys in the act."

"Sounds like you're having just as much luck as we are, mate," Bunny noted with a chuckle as he dropped a tablet into his glass of orange juice, causing the drink to fizz and pop.

"Hey, not too much syrup, or you'll rot your teeth out," Tooth said suddenly, commenting on Nod's choice of breakfast as M.K. dropped a tablet, identical to the one Bunny had just used, into her own drink.

"Since when did you become my dentist?" came the sarcastic remark.

"Since I had a couple of irresponsible FBI agents stay the night at my apartment because they were too shit-faced to make it home."

"Touché," Nod let out with a chuckle.

Bunny smiled at the back and forth as he took a swig from his drink. He cringed at the taste that was orange juice mixed with brain-aiding chemicals.
Ineffective on an empty stomach, the medicine in Bunny's drink soon soaked into his body, making it's way up to his brain. As breakfast progressed, the blurriness infecting the agent's brain began to clear, the lights seemed to dim, and his headache faded. By the time the table had been cleared and the dishes washed, all agents were bright-eyed and hangover free. The tablets in M.K.'s and Bunny's drinks had washed away all fantoms of the pains from earlier, save a black eye.

"And a hello to you, too, Baby Tooth," M.K. cooed as a feline of brightly patch-worked greens and blues slinked its way into the kitchen. The female agent wasted no time in scooping up the genetically altered pet and assaulting it with cuddles and baby talk as she continued to sit at the kitchen table. The cat purred contently as she shifted her furry body into the welcoming embrace.

Aster let out a chuckle. "I've be wonderin' when I'd see ya again, ya little ankle bitter," he said as he reached forward to give the cat a scratch behind the ears.

"Bunny," Tooth called suddenly. The male agent looked up to find his partner missing. Leaning back in his chair, he could see out the kitchen and around to the front door of the apartment. There, he found his slightly impatient partner, waiting. "Come on."

"Right," came the lack-luster response as the agent let his chair fall back to the ground. "Workin' the case on a Saturday. Can't wait to jump on that. Mind if we stop by my place for a change of clothes first?" Aster asked as he got up and followed his partner to the door. He was still in his clothes from last night and they smelled something awful.

Nod and M.K. stood to follow him, Baby Tooth still cradled in the redhead's arms.

"You guys are welcome to stay and watch after Baby Tooth if you want," Tooth said to the other agents, "just make sure you don't burn the building down and remember to brush your teeth after that breakfast."

"You two kids have fun now," Nod said with a smirk and a half-wave as the other two left.

"And good luck on the case!" M.K. managed before the door closed.

Thanks, Bunny thought as he trudged down the apartment steps after his partner. We're gonna need it.


Hiccup was staring at him with that…Hiccup look, again. Seriously, Jack thought, it was like he at that winged lizard shared facial muscles. How was it possible that two separate people could manage the same exact sarcastic face that screamed Really? You can't be serious. Hiccup and Toothless were so in sync with each other, they could just do that. They were two sides of the same coin. The same entity, just different faces. And to be honest, it sometimes freaked Jack out how similar the two were. He swore, if the two didn't have chromosome numbers that were off from each other by a couple dozen, the pair would've been born as twins.

"What?" the white-haired boy finally asked, tired of the relentlessly accusing look.

"Letting Toothless on the team. Really?"

Jack and Hiccup were the only two left in one of the few available ex-office spaces on the second floor. The team meeting had lasted the better part of two hours, Jack explaining their next target, just what the heist entailed, what the plan was, the supplies and information they'd need, everyone's roles, and the million of other intricacies that went into such a large endeavor. The others had left the room after the meeting. Rapunzel and Toothless had raced to the kitchen to start preparing for dinner as Merida made her way to the garage to work on her beloved car, leaving Jack to pick up the few documents and drawn out diagrams he had already collected in preparation for their next hit. Hiccup had hung back after the others had left, and now Jack understood why.

The white-haired boy gave a shrug. "Dude said he wanted in. He knew what it meant, so I let him."

"Jack, I don't think it's a good idea."

Jack knew that letting Toothless on the team would stir up issues. Merida and Rapunzel had taken the addition in stride, barely mentioning the fifth member to their team meeting. Hiccup, however had visibly tensed as soon as the scaly E.T. had entered the meeting room after Jack. Throughout the entire meeting, the brunette had kept tossing accusing glances towards Jack, as if trying to silently ask him just what in the hell he thought he was doing.

"Look, Hic," Jack began, having already prepared for the expected argument. "I think Toothless'll be fine. It's really not—"

"No, Jack," Hiccup cut him off, his tone sharp. "I'm serious. Toothless isn't going to be able to handle it well."

Jack let out a sigh. This wasn't going to be as easy as he thought.

"Hic, I know you're worried about him. But, really, you just gotta give the guy a little faith. He might just surprise you," Jack finished as he gathered the rest of his files and plans and turned to the door.

"You don't know him like I do," Hiccup countered, apparently determined to not let the issue drop as he stepped in front of the older boy, baring his way. "When we make the detour to Sacramento and the shit hits the fan, Toothless won't—"

"Toothless'll do fine, Hic," Jack interrupted, his tone just as insistent as his opponent's. "Look, I get why you're upset, I really do. He's your friend and you want to protect him. I get that. You wanted to be able to do this for him, but it's just like what you told me about Rapunzel, right? Toothless is grown, he can take care of himself." With that, Jack side-stepped the younger boy and met little resistance in his second attempt to leave. "Anyways," Jack continued as he made for the door again. "We're all going to face our demons eventually. Toothless should get his chance, too. It'll be the same for Rapunzel when we make the hit here in Chicago—"

"And for you when we do the job in New York?"

Jack stopped dead in his tracks. Hiccup could only see the back of the older boy, but he could tell he had hit the mark. Hiccup wasn't sure why he'd said what he did, only that he was frustrated and upset that Jack wouldn't listen to him. The brunette knew he wasn't going to win this argument now and that he had a better chance bringing up the subject later. But he just needed at least some way to get back at the other boy for the moment. It was a few seconds before Jack answered. He refused to turn around, but Hiccup could hear the dark shadow in the older boy's voice when he spoke.

"Yeah...and the same for me when we get to New York."

And with that, Jack left without another word, slamming the door behind him on the younger boy.


"Still toiling away endlessly, I see." A teasing voice came over the murmurs of the hoard of other agents, working tirelessly away on the fifteenth floor of FBI headquarters.

Tooth looked up from her reading to see a familiar smile and shining eyes, their owner's head resting playfully atop the other end of her desk.

"Well, someone has to, your Fairness Booger Face," came a second voice as a larger figure came up behind the first to ruffle their hair.

"Yeah, whatever, M-M-Major Body Odor," Vanellope countered as she pushed her over-sized partner's hand away.

Tooth couldn't help but laugh at the encounter. The two agents' teasing had become as familiar to her as her own partner's arrogance over the course of the four of them working together on the Baskerville case.

"Hey, guys," she greeted cheerfully. "How've you been? Didn't get to see much of you after you got the start on your perp."

"Eh," Ralph started with a shrug. "Arrests, trials, closing files, all the paperwork. Takes up quite a bit of time. Been awfully boring without you guys, though," he added with a wink.

"But we're b-b-back, baby!" the younger agent announced, excitement lighting her eyes and sparking her stutter. "And we're r-r-ready to rumble! Got a new c-c-case and everything."

"Speaking of, how's your case been going?" the larger man asked, pushing aside his partner's excitement as interest tilted his voice.

The happy look fell slightly from the female agent's face and she let out a sigh. "Not too well. Bunny and I still have no clue were to look for these guys and we have no leads and nothing to go on. Bunny's not taking it too well."

"Say, where is Sargent Grumpy Face, anyways?" Vanellope asked, suddenly realizing the absence of the other FBI agent.

"He left with Nod a couple of minutes ago to get some paper work form downstairs," Tooth answered. "They should be back anytime now."

"Well speak of the devil," Ralph said suddenly, looking over the heads and desks of the agents that crowded the floor.

"Hey!" Tooth heard her partner's voice through the murmuring voices of the hoard of agents on their floor. "Ham-hands, how ya goin', mate?" As Aster and Nod approached, Tooth could see his glowing smile at seing their new friends again. Any signs of a black eye or drunken bar fights had been healed and rubbed away by a week and a half of time.

In another minute the whole group of FBI agents were gathered around Tooth's and Bunny's desks, the owners of the desks comfortably in their chairs. Nod leaned against Bunny's hover desk and Vanellope sat perched atop Tooth's. Ralph was content to stand. After a few quick introductions, the group was chattering away in no time.

"So you st-t-till have nothing?" Vanellope asked in disbelief.

"We've not even a bush telegraph on these guys," Bunny answered with a shake of his head.

"Well you guys put up a tip line, right?" Ralph asked, "You get anything from that?"

"That's the thing, though," Tooth started, "These guys are basically super-stars, but the public still doesn't have a clear idea of what they look like. The police sketches and what pictures we have of the Big Four aren't cleared to be released yet, which means every white or red haired person out there is going to be mistaken for a criminal by any idiot with a phone."

"We got about two hundred calls in the first day we set up the hot line," Bunny continued, exasperated. "This one saw the Dragon in New York. That one swore they ran into Big Red on the D.C. metro. This one said they just had a date with the Jack Frost in Paris. Some of it was just complete and utter bullocks."

"And there were just way too many serious calls and tips to investigate them all. The entire endeavor was a hassle, so we just shut the whole thing down the third day," Tooth finished.

"Why haven't the p-p-pictures been released yet?" Vanellope asked, curious.

"Mandy says it's orders from up top," Bunny answered.

"She says that they think if the pictures are released, it will only fuel the fame and celebrity status these guys already have," Tooth elaborated. "And from what we can tell, they wouldn't be wrong."

"Maybe you should hit up the agents that were working the case before you," Nod suggested off-handedly.

"You really think that would help?" Bunny asked.

"Well, yeah. Sure did us a huge help when you guys joined up with us," Ralph supported. "The agents that originally had the case will probably have a better idea of what's going on with your perps, since they worked it for nearly a year. Maybe they have something they couldn't put in the reports, or, I don't know, they got a chance to confront your perps head-on and they could give you some info on what they're like."

"Who was on the case before you guys, anyways?" Nod asked.

"Dunno," Bunny answered. "Some brother-sister duo. Never heard of them before our reassignment."

"I think their last name was Thorston?" Tooth supplied, as she began flipping through a few files, looking for names.

Vanellope let out a squeal of laughter at the name. "Those t-t-two bozos? You can't be serious!"

"Wait, Thorston, right?" Nod asked, recognizing the name. "How the hell did they manage to get a case that important?" he asked in disbelief.

"I take it you guys know them?" Bunny asked, his curiosity sparked by the unexpected response.

"More like know of them," Ralph clarified. "Most lower ranked agents have heard of the Terrible Twins one way or another. They're notorious for screwing up cases, which is why it's so surprising they were assigned to something as important as the Big Four."

"Well, whoever they are, they might have some useful information," Tooth said with a sigh and tossing her files to land on the desk with a thud. "They're the closest thing we have to a lead, so we might as well check it out."

"Trouble is," Ralph started, "I don't think they're with the bureau any more."

"Really? I never heard about that," Nod noted, slightly surprised. "What happened?"

"Those sour b-b-belied diaper babies couldn't handle the heat, so they high t-t-tailed it out of the kitchen," Vanellope supplied enthusiastically, obviously not the least bit upset about the loss of her fellow agents.

"Actually," Ralph corrected, "We're not really sure. All we heard was that they were pretty messed up when they left. Somethin' about the case screwed them up real bad. They left for some R&R and just never came back."

Bunny shot a look at his partner. This was news. "All we heard was that they were pretty messed up when they left." Just what kind of kids were they dealing with, anyways? Who could possibly have the ability to physically scare two FBI agents out of their jobs? For the first time since being assigned the case, the two agents felt the slightest tickle of fear in their stomachs. It was clear to them now that whatever they were dealing with, it wasn't just a bunch of kids and it wasn't something to be taken lightly.


It was quiet. Way quieter than it usually was. Toothless had left to go grocery shopping, so he wouldn't be back for a while. The whole day had been uncharacteristically quiet with most everyone having retreated to the solitude of their own rooms for the better part of the day. Jack had been threatened with death by Merida if he didn't stop with his mischievous ways, so the older boy was left with very little to do without his pranks and teasings. Having exhausted all other forms of distraction, the white-haired adolescent decided to wander the warehouse, bare-footed with his steel staff slung over his shoulder. He paused now and again to rummage through the kitchen fridge or twiddle with some of Toothless's more interesting merchandise. After about an hour of this, Jack decided to check up on his teammates. He made his way upstairs to try and see what the others were up to.

There, he found that even though his team of criminals protested boredom at their wrongful imprisonment, they still managed to keep themselves entertained more effectively than their leader. The bedrooms of the warehouse were large and spacious, and having been at the warehouse for over a month now, everyone had long since unpacked and arranged their rooms as they pleased. It was very entertaining to go by each of the adolescents' rooms, each bedroom reflecting the personalities and hobbies of their owner.
The first room Jack came across was Hiccup's. As expected, it was cluttered and messy. Taking this into account, it should be noted that Jack's room was also cluttered and messy, what with him being an irresponsible young male and what not. Entering Hiccup's room, however, was crossing into another kind of "messy" completely. The best description would be that it looked like the boy had been raised by vikings. Dirty clothes mixed with electrical parts mixed with holo-paper manga books mixed with a number of dirty dishes scattered over the floor. Fortunately, most of the mess had been pushed to the outer boundaries of the room, allowing safe passage through the area without running the risk of stubbing your toe or having your foot landing in something deadly. Desks and work tables were situated throughout the room around an obviously well-used bed with rumpled and wrinkled sheets and the comforter in a ball at the foot of the bed. Spread across the bed were the insides of a gutted laptop, chips and wires laying outside their body, like the blood and organs of roadkill, strewn across an empty highway. Along the foot of his bed stood his army of airo-sneakers, pristine and primed for action. Resting next to the shoes on either conner of the bed's posts were hover boards, neither of which were used quite as often as the sneakers.
Some of Hiccup's various inventions were so large and cumbersome, they were able to stand on their own and nearly touch the high ceiling. An e-board took up the entirety of one wall, it's dull, electronic face scribbled all over with equations and formulas in Hiccup's unmistakable writing. Another wall was completely taken up by a collection of computer screens, all blinking and flashing different codes and reports. A single, massive keyboard with five times as many keys as any normal keyboard was situated beneath them. Behind the keyboard, sat a currently empty swivel chair with a crumpled shirt slung over the back. The multiple hard drives that ran the screens and from which Hiccup did most of his hacking, were stacked atop each other in a corner.

Any available flat surface of desks or tables was ladened with numerous electrical devices and contraptions and tools and wires, with blinking lights and "wirr"ing sounds. A collection of thick and thin wires were strung loosely across the ceiling, creating a canopy of copper and steel as their ends came down the walls and connected to various devises and contraptions. Strung among the jungle of wires occupying to ceiling, were pairs of shoes with their laces tied together as well as a few clothes in varying stages of cleanliness. The canopy of wires blocked out a good deal of the light coming from the overhead lamps, leaving the blinking and glowing machines to illuminate the room in a slightly blue-ish glow.

Walking inside the room was like walking into a machine, itself. With wires and metal and cogs and codes every which way you turned. Like the countless machines Hiccup worked on. He cracked them open, pulling out their insides and knotting them up before shoving them back inside. Then there were the codes and viruses and software systems he could churn out in less then a few hours. Whatever it was, Hiccup could find a way to make it work better. To increase its functionality until it shot through the roof, defying assumptions and rules. Even people. Rapunzel. Toothless. Jack. Merida. Hiccup had helped all of them. Increased their functionality utill they were something new and shining, altogether. He could help people find the better parts of themselves. To show them what they were really worth and that it was more than anything you could steal from a bank account or museum.

The problem was, it's easy to open up someone else and rearrange their wires and screws so they could work better, just like every machine he'd ever cracked open. It's almost impossible to do it to yourself, though. To unscrew you're own plate to get a look inside, only to find wires that didn't make sense, a system that could never work, and a mess that could never be untangled. That's what Hiccup saw when he looked at himself, a result of everything he'd been told his whole life. It had taken the others, the people he had fixed and improved, to help him find the good parts in himself. To improve and help him see what he was really worth.

When Jack came into the room, he found his brunette friend at one of his work tables, sparks flying from a device laid out in front of him. He had on protective glasses, the lenses thick and tinted to protect against the unpredictable sparks emitted by the machine. With both hands clothed in heavy leather gloves, he poked and prodded around inside whatever lay open in front of him with a spindly thin tool in either hand. Jack stepped cautiously into the room, making his way over to where Hiccup was working. He was unseen due to the brunette's unrelenting attention to his project and unheard thanks to the headphones he was wearing, pounding some kind of music directly into his brain.

To get his friend's attention, Jack left his staff to lean against a near by table and came up behind the brunette. He reached over to unplug the headphones from the computer that sat beyond the brunette's line of sight. He immediately wished he hadn't. With no headphones to direct the music to, the computer had no choice but to redirect to the massive twin speakers standing against the nearest wall, about five feet away. Beethoven's symphony number five suddenly came blasting out of the speakers at a deafening volume, causing the room to explode with the computer generated sounds of french horns, violins, violas, flutes, and God knows what other instruments.

The white-haired boy let out a grunt of surprise as he ducked his head and covered his ears. Hiccup merely smirked as he reached over to his computer to turn his music off.

"The hell, Hic?" Jack asked, lifting his head as he was finally relieved of the cacophony.

The other boy pushed his glasses up to his forehead, letting his eyebrow stud glint in the dull lighting, and spun around in his chair, a smile plastered across his face. "Don't mess with people's jacks, Jack," he said, slightly gloating at the fact that he'd unintentionally foiled his friend, mid-prank.

"Aggghhh. Damn," Jack muttered as he shook his head slightly, trying to get rid of the ringing now present in his ears. "Why do you listen to your music so godamned loud?"

The other teen gave a small shrug, "Helps me concentrate."

"And I suppose listening to music made by a bunch of dead guys helps you concentrate, too?"

Hiccup gave a snort. "Look who's talking."

"Yeah, well at least my dead guys are more recently dead," Jack retorted.

"Whatever you say, bossman," Hiccup said with a roll of his eyes as he turned back to his work, his safety glasses dropping back into place. He leaned over to his computer, his speakers coming alive with Bach's Cello Suites, this time at a gratefully tolerable volume.

"So what are you working on, anyways?" Jack asked, coming up behind his friend to get a good look over his shoulder.

"A communication device I came up with," Hiccup informed over the low music and occasional sparks. "It should allow communication visually without using electronic signals, rendering the users invisible and the conversation untraceable."

"So, a video chat without a signal," Jack simplified. "How does that work?"

"Well, it's a bit more complicated than that. It's more like using smoke signals, only doing so over miles and miles of separation, and still being completely invisible to outsiders."

Jack still didn't have a clue as to what Hiccup was describing, but he wasn't going to go anywhere near asking for clarification. He could already tell the prospect Hiccup was dealing with was a complicated one. The devise that rested in front of the brunette looked like someone had cracked a chrome planet in two. Two separate half-spheres lay side by side, their hearts and inner workings of wires and electricity exposed to the prodding fingers of their creator. A large sphere set up on some kind of platform stood on the other side of the desk and looked to be the brother of what lay open in front of Hiccup now.

"So, what happened to that big project you're supposed to be working on?" Jack asked suddenly.

Hiccup let out a moan as the sparks under his fingertips sputtered and died.

"Come onnnn, Jack," the teen whined with a lazy roll of his head towards the older boy. His tools fell to the table and he pushed his glasses up again. "We can't be preparing for heists all the time, it's exhausting."

"Hey," Jack defended, raising his hands in mock surrender. "I'm just saying, if you're working on a techno-dohicky, it might as well be the one we'll need in a few months. Machines are machines, right?"

"Uh, no," Hiccup corrected with his usual air of sarcasm. "You try working on municipal wormhole generating magno-lybrotic transferrers for a couple of weeks and tell me that's not enough to make you want to drown yourself. Come on, Jack, I needed a break from all that. And, contrary to popular belief, not all electronics are made equal. Figuring out how to make a magnetic trans-refrencer while dealing with signal-deprivation is way more fun than—"

"Yeah yeah yeah. Alright, I get it," Jack interrupted, ears already overflowing and brain clogged with too many scientific terms he didn't understand. "Just," he let his hand fall on the younger boy's head. "Make sure you get what we need finished before that heist, alright? If we can't have that, we can't make our hit." He gave the brown hair a good ruffle, knowing how much the other boy hated it.

"Don't worry about it," Hiccup said, swatting Jack's hand away. "It's almost done, anyways. We'll have it in time."

"Yeah, alright," Jack said, "I'm counting on you, Hic." He turned away from the brunette and headed towards the door, plucking up his staff on the way to swing it over his shoulder again.

"When have I ever let you down?" Hiccup called after him. "Why do you think I count on you?" Jack tossed over his shoulder with a chuckle.

Hiccup leaned back in his chair with a smile as he watched his friend leave. He suddenly thought of their next heist. Of their last team meeting and their new "team member."

"Hey, Jack," Hiccup said suddenly, causing the other boy to stop and turn over his shoulder in the doorway.

"Yeah?"

"You know I'm not finished talking to you about Toothless, right?" Hiccup asked.

"Hiccup," Jack said, exasperated. "There's nothing to talk about. Toothless is working heists with us now, and nothing you say can change my mind. That's it. Discussion over."
Before the other boy could say anything else, the wintery E.T. made his retreat, stepping out of the doorway and turning around to leap over the opposite safety rail and landing on a parallel catwalk. Jack refused to look back as he made his way to the other side of the warehouse.

"We'll see about that," Hiccup said to the now empty doorway. "Wouldn't be the first time I proved someone wrong," he finished before dropping his glasses back into place and turning towards his table once more.

The next room Jack came across was Merida's. The door was closed, as it always was. Jack crept towards it and gingerly placed his hand on the door handle. Even through the door, Jack could already hear the pounding metal music that was mixed strangely well with the squawking of bagpipes coming from the other side of the door. With a short, braving breath, the E.T. turned the knob and cracked the door open far enough to peak inside the room.

If Hiccup's room looked as if he'd been raised by vikings, then Merida's looked like she'd held the entire Highland Games in her room and had simply forgotten to clean up afterwards. Her room was practically a second garage within the warehouse. Tables were stacked near to the ceiling with gears, spare parts, wrenches, tools, mechanics books, and a variety of other items and supplies that Jack couldn't begin to identify if he tried. Arrows could be found unexpectedly if you didn't watch your step, the weapons scattered carelessly throughout the room. Spare engines sat randomly around the room, some on work tables, others on the floor. They varied in shapes and sizes, each one surrounded by wires and pumps and gears and parts. It was as if they'd all just thrown up their insides and decided to fall asleep where they were, content to be surrounded by their own inner workings.

E-posters of bands and famous archers, accompanied by electronic pictures of family and friends, waving happily at no one, covered the walls. Old and half-finished auto-mail limbs hung from the walls in a way that was rather erie and creepy, their choppy wires hanging loosely like the veins and muscles of actual arms and legs. A mountain of clothes was piled into one corner of the room and a bed shoved into another. The center of the room was left relatively clear, allowing enough space for the large work table situated close to the ground. The table was the cleanest place in the entire room, having just a single engine resting in its middle, surrounded by a spare number of tools, wires, and containers of oil.

One half of the entire far wall was lined with guns of varying sizes, resting soundly on their perches, their slender bodies and faceless forms leaving no hint as to just how much deadly power any of them held. The guns shared the wall with a line up of bows, their sleek and much less intimidating forms hanging from their own pegs with their strings turned to face the ceiling. A collection of quivers leaned against the bed, a few stocked full with arrows while others stood empty. The speakers that were blasting the strange mix of heavy metal and bagpipes stood in the corner next to the bed. They stood nearly as tall as the bed, their mesh fronts vibrating with the power of the music.
The lights of her room seemed slightly dimmer and more orange than the rest of the warehouse due to the thin scarves and tapestries in various shades of reds and oranges strung across her ceiling and walls. They turned her room into a sunset, its brilliance and brightness trapped inside a single box. The sun sinking into the horizon on the other end of an endless ocean, casting shadows and shapes on a wasteland of a beach, filled with dead machines and abandoned engines. Only they weren't dead, not permanently.

Because they weren't abandoned. Merida would fix them. Patch them back together with screws and wires and sweat and her endless well of will-power. It didn't matter if it was impossible. If every manual and video she'd looked at said she couldn't do it. She'd find a way. Find a way to fix them and make them new, just like she'd help do with Jack and the others. Just like they had done for her, too. Just like no could do for her brother. He was broken beyond repair. Broken and buried so no one would have to see his bent and twisted body that no longer worked. That was being truly broken. A broken that no one could fix. No matter how hard they tried.

"Oi. Frost."

Jack let out a yelp as he fell back from the door, a pair of blue eyes and mane of red hair suddenly appearing right in front of his face.

"Jeez, Merida." Jack let out in a sigh, straightening up again and reaching to pick up his staff from where he'd dropped it. Just how many times was he going to be taken off guard today? Seriously.

"Ay, an' wha' do you wan', yeh snake?" the redhead asked, opening the door fully so she could lean against its empty frame, arms crossed. She wasn't exactly scowling but the look on her face wasn't the kindest either. She had circles under eyes and her hair was frizzier than usual. Out of all of them that had been cooped up in the warehouse for the past month and a half, Merida was definitely taking it the worst out of any of them. Being locked in a confined area was definitely not something she knew how to handle well. She'd begun to lash out at others, her nerves strung out from being contained for so long. Hiccup seemed to take the brunt of most of her anger, his snarky comments always managing to stir her up in the wrong way. But every now and then, some one else would get in her line of fire, completely by accident. That's not to say the redhead had turned into a caged bear during the team's house arrest. She had her good days here and there, and most of the time she was quite manageable. It was just on particular days, her anger and frustration would boil over into a raging volcano, and Lord help whoever was in her way.

"Snake?" Jack asked, swinging his staff back over his shoulder as he straightened fully to stand even with Merida. "Really? I always thought of myself more as a winter wolf on the prowl."

"Yeh sneak like a snake, yeh get called like a snake," the stir-crazy teen replied, obviously not amused by the older boy's joke as her brow furrowed and her scowl darkened.

Jack gave a shrug. Couldn't much disagree with that.

"Wha' do yeh want, Snowball?" Merida asked, turning around to stalk back into her room, not bothering to turn down the deafening music or invite the white-haired leader in, but leaving the door open just the same.

Jack gave another shrug of his shoulders as he took a few cautious steps into the demolitions expert's room. "You know, got a little bored, so I figured I'd see what you guys are up to."

"Well, unless yeh know much aboot plasma engine hydraulics an' wha' makes 'em tick, no' much fer yeh teh see hear," Merida commented blandly as she plopped down on a low bench at the work table in the center of her room. She took up a screwdriver and began messing with some part of the dead engine in front of her.

"Alright, how are you holding up, then?" Jack decided to change tactics, not quite scared away form the obvious ticking time-bomb in front of him.
Said redhead let out a frustrated grunt at the question. "Look, Frosty," she started, trying her best to rain in her anger, all the while waving her screwdriver around as she talked.

"Aye'm a wee bit crabbit todai, so yeh better shut it and beat it or Aye'll toss yer bony arse off the catwalk mai-self. Got it?"

Jack contemplated the glaring Merida that sat across the room from him. Her eyes glittered with frustration as she wielded her screwdriver threateningly in his direction. Jack had two options in front of him currently: He could save his own life and limbs and beat a hasty retreat. Or, he could go for a much more entertaining route of action.

"So does this mean you're on the rag, or what?"

A terrifying war cry thundered through the warehouse then, nearly drowning out the blasting rock music that already pounded in Merida's room. Jack had to duck quickly as a heavy wrench whizzed through the air, sailing over him and through the door to clatter on the catwalk outside. Chuckling lightly too himself, the white-haired teen darted out of the room and barely slowed as he launched himself over the safety railing of the catwalk right outside Merida's door. He landed on a catwalk a few meters below and speed across it as fast as possible. He'd already reached the other side of the warehouse before Merida ran into the safety-rail outside her room, leaning over it as she threw yet another wrench at the fleeing figure with surprising force.

"Yer dead, Overland! Aye see yer sorry face again, yeh'll no' be feelin' yer stones fer a week!" she screamed after him.

Jack was still chuckling when he came to a stop at yet another door. He took a second to catch his breath as his laughing stuttered to a stop. This was it. The last door.

Rapunzel's room. Taking a few steps forward, Jack peered around through the open doorway.

Though certainly cleaner than the rest of the rooms Jack had come across, Rapunzel's room was still rather cluttered. Bookcase among bookcase stood lining the wall, their backs straight and proud as they brandished the countless antique paper books that lined their shelves. Dress forms of every shape and size were scattered around the room. A sewing machine sat in a corner, its bent shape simply waiting to be used. Fabrics of every color and length stood strewn across the room, some of them cut, some left in tact. A massive bin sat in the corner, overfilling with yarn and knitting needles of every length and purpose. A wardrobe sat over to the left of the room, standing shoulder to shoulder with a vanity table, scattered with countless tools and paints meant for hiding someone's true face. An army of wigs sat at attention atop the wardrobe. Most of the centre of the room was clear, revealing a wood floor, perfect for dancing.

Out of all of them, Rapunzel's room was definitely the brightest. Lamps sat scattered all throughout her room, adding to the light coming from the fixtures in the ceiling and the sunlight streaming in through her enormous open windows. It wasn't just the light that made her room bright, though. It was the colors. Everywhere you looked, there was an explosion of every color of the spectrum. Every single space on the walls had been painted with murals and exploding colors, while tapestries where strung near the ceiling, lending even more excitement to the churning colors of the room.

The room was perfect. Overflowing with life and warmth and brightness, just like Rapunzel. She'd been the light for all of them. She'd reached down and lifted everyone up in their own moments of darkness and despair. Her light shone through the darkness, reminding them of hope. No matter what the others were going through, no matter what memories weighed them down or pasts they were running from, Rapunzel would always be there, her smile shining and her eyes alight. She was proof the happiness could be found even in the darkest of times, when one only remembers to turn on the light. Without her, Jack realized, they'd all probably be sunk into their own reservoirs of darkness and despair, abandoning all hope for a way out. She was their light. She had shown them the way.


A/N: Can't quite remember, but I think this was supposed to end with them having a dance party or some shit in that "living room" place from when they first got to the warehouse, in case you're wondering (idk), and of course include more Jackuzel and Merricup stuff or whatevs. The rewrite's coming along (if very slowly), just don't expect it anytime soon.