CHAPTER 10 - Explanations

Everyone had fallen into silence as they stared at Ludwig, standing there tall and firm. His eyes slowly scanned over everyone in front of him and took in their figures; they hadn't changed much overall, but it was the small details that spoke the most about them. At least, that was everyone except Iggy. His lips pressed against one another in confusion as he looked over at the lanky male, an eyebrow perched, at how disheveled the man looked. But Iggy stared back with nothing but a weird grin. It was as if he wasn't sure whether to hug Ludwig or punch him.

At the tone of Roy's snarl, he turned his attention to him. "Nice to see you too Royson."

"You cost me ten years of my life, you little weasel! You think you can walk in here like we're cool or somethin'?"

"If I can be honest, it wasn't in part of the plan to capture you. I was more focused on Larry and Bowser."

Roy's hand twitched towards his gun, but Wendy had noticed and stopped him.

"But that's beside the point-"

A pained whimper came from behind him - Larry had almost fallen when he tried to step forward, but he was caught by Morton quickly. "Didn't they fix you up?!" He asked incredulously and looked up to Ludwig, who simply shrugged.

"As I said before, if he went to the hospital, he would be dead."

"Yeah, whatever," He began to hoist Larry up with an arm around his waist. "I'm gonna fix him up. Someone has to, at least."

"Nah... no, no, I'm fine Morton..." Larry tried to protest, but he was already on a bed in the main part of the warehouse by the time he could get the words out.

Everyone stood by as Morton pulled out a first aid kit from under one of them. No one in the gang was a qualified doctor, so to speak; Morton probably had the most experience if his stories of college were anything to go by; his parents had wanted him to be a doctor, but he instead chose to study engineering and then drop into the gang. Out of everyone else, he might as well be the most qualified. He gingerly unwrapped the bandage and discarded it into a nearby waste-bin.

"Well it's nice to know that the police cared to put some first aid on him," He frowned at Ludwig. "I don't see why he couldn't get treatment right away though."

Lemmy rounded to the other side of the bed, away from Ludwig. "Yeah... that's what I said."

Ludwig couldn't suppress the sigh that came from his mouth. They really weren't this out of the loop, were they? Then again, judging by Larry's reaction to the whole thing it wouldn't be out of the question. He had always pegged Larry to be smart... otherwise they wouldn't be alive at all by now.

"I suppose I should ask what you all know then," He pulled up a chair. "What did Bowser tell you when he first contacted you?"

"He called me a month back and asked me to find everyone for one last job," Iggy replied. "It was a favor for him if I could be honest, because he got me out of a tight spot a few years prior."

"You never mentioned what was up with that," Roy said. "Are we finally going to know?"

For the first time in his life, Iggy looked slightly embarrassed at the reason. "Okay, you wanna know? I got into debt with the local mob because I gambled some of the money we made away. I couldn't pay them back the first time so they found me and kneecapped me."

Everyone had varying reactions to this; while Roy laughed, Lemmy had scrunched up his nose and tried not to seem disturbed by it. Morton and Wendy shook their heads. Perhaps the mystery of it finally being solved felt like, in retrospect, it was a waste of time to bother with.

"So ya had a gambling problem then?"

"No," Iggy shot back. "I was bored. That's it. I didn't spend all of my life savings right away. But I called out to Bowser and he offered to settle the debt as long as I be in the city when he calls for me. Heck, he even paid for my hospital bills as well."

"Sound like it wasn't worth it though," Roy motioned to his lower body. "Ya got a bum leg now, ain't gonna do much good."

Iggy deadpanned. "You're a ray of hope through all this, you know that?"

The antiseptic had been applied to Larry's wound and now came the hard part, stitching it up. Morton had experience with stitching wounds before, but he realised he would have to do both sides since the entry and exit wounds went straight through his foot. The only thing that had stopped Larry from dying altogether was the flimsy bandage that had clotted some of the blood. He threaded some string through a small needle retrieved from the kit and tied it quite well.

"Larry," He spoke and patted his leg. "I'm sorry I don't have anything better, but I'm gonna have to stitch up both sides of the bullet hole."

Larry sighed. "... Is it going to hurt?"

"I'm not going to lie; yeah, it will."

"Great..."

Ludwig interrupted. "Okay, so Bowser told you about this job. Did he mention anything else... like what you would be stealing? Who was involved?"

"Nothing. He said nothing except we would be breaking into the bank," Iggy said. "Didn't tell us anything about the Sutaoda-"

He was suddenly grabbed by Ludwig. "How the hell do you know about the Sutaoda?!"

"Uh... Bowser said so? Just... before he-"

"Died. I know... he's dead. Gunshots were reported about half an hour ago."

Larry was staring at the ceiling of the warehouse throughout all this, trying to ignore the stabbing pains in his foot as Morton slowly and methodically stitched him up; it was still a weird sensation to feel given how much he despised Bowser for putting him in this position. He wondered if Ludwig was feeling the same as well... but knowing him, he was probably just sad that he couldn't get to him in time and make another high-profile arrest. Exhaling and lifting himself up slowly, he looked around.

"Where's Junior? I haven't seen him around..."

He caught Morton's 'deer-in-the-headlights' expression and put it together immediately.

"N-no... don't tell me the kid-"

"He's gone. Took Iggy's car and went to try and rescue him." Roy said.

Ludwig nodded matter-of-factly. "He is dead too then. His involvement will not go unnoticed with the Sutaoda. By the way, how did you manage to get Bowser's son roped into this?"

"Bowser... Bowser gave him to us as your replacement." Larry fell back down onto the bed. The chief suppressed a snort - the thought of anyone replacing him, especially Bowser's son who was a high profile man all his own, was a better solution.

"Well, anyway, do you have the artifact with you?"

Iggy nodded and pulled it out from under his jacket. "Here." His eyes widened when Ludwig pulled the exact same one out from his pocket.

"Two of them?!" Morton gawked for a brief second as he tied up the first side of the wound.

"As I explained to Lawrence and Lemmington, there is more than one artifact in the world. There are three - one was in my possession, one had been deposited into the Bank & Trust and no one knows where the third one is," The coin-shaped object glowed brilliantly in the artificial light of the warehouse. "But it's apparently valuable enough that the Sutaoda have been hunting for these for quite a while."

Roy frowned. "How in the hell did you manage to get one of them, anyway?"

"It is a long story, and I'm pretty sure you all aren't police officers," He shrugged. "But we're on a need-to-know basis and I'm feeling generous to my old friends, so I'll make this quick..."

LOCATION: Kuppa Fungi Town, The Border of the Darklands and the Mushroom Kingdom

TIME: 11:54PM, Four Years Ago

The dry ash of the wastelands behind him quickly fell into grassy knolls as he drove along the highway, coffee steaming in the cup holder to his left and nothing but the blinding darkness surrounding him. It didn't help that the moon was being obscured by a thick layer of clouds. The overcast had rolled through the border and was making its way up to the Darklands. If Ludwig was lucky, maybe he'll make it when there's a bit more natural light.

He sighed and tapped the steering wheel subconsciously. The radio had blared out nothing but slow, country tunes throughout the drive. It was the only radio station he could get out there and he'd rather have something to listen to instead of the silence. Music always relaxed his nerves and, in times like this, he couldn't afford to slip up.

If Ludwig could be honest, he didn't want to deal with the knights. They always thought that they were better than the other kingdoms they ruled over - he was lucky to have never had any in the Darklands while he was on duty (until now), but he'd heard horror stories from his former superiors about how stuffy and pompous they could be. The relationship the Darklands Kingdom and the Mushroom Kingdom held was a strange one. It was a trust of mutual and beneficial respect, but it ended at that. There was respect but there were no niceties about it; they just wanted to get on with their own lives.

It suited him just fine, but figures that something like this had come up while he was the Chief.

Well, if it wasn't one thing, it was another.

He took a sip as he drove slowly into the border town - the cobblestone roads were lit up by the deep glow of the orange street lights above him. Patrons of the night life were staggering up and down the sidewalks, Toads, Koopas, Goomba... Sometimes he saw them mingling with one another, sometimes they remained in separate groups. He even saw one sitting on the curb drinking himself stupid. He was about to arrest him, but he reminded himself that he wasn't part of the jurisdiction here. Begrudgingly, he drove on.

The meet was at a part of land just past the immigration train station, governed by nothing. It was neutral and the perfect spot to keep each other accountable; if anything happened while they were on their respective lands, it was liable to cause more problems than solve it.

He parked at the train station and wrapped himself in his overcoat. The long drive better have been worth it for this, but he wasn't feeling optimistic. Pouring the coffee out in a nearby planter and tossing the cup into a bin, Ludwig walked up and over the platform. It was empty, no surprise there; usually, people traveling came in in the morning. There were a few people loitering around waiting for a train to Neo City as well as a few bored security guards, but it was otherwise quiet as can be.

The outskirts of the train station was nothing but open grassy fields and a simple sign marking the area where no one had any power. No one could try anything and everything was out in the open.

Up ahead, the industrial lights nearby lit up the people across the grass from him. With a small grin at the corner of his lips, the Chief steeled himself and stepped forward.

"Good evening, gentlemen," He greeted them. "I trust I'm not too late to the exchange?"

One of the knights shook his head - he was clad in a crimson suit and the armor on the right side of his arm gleamed in the light; hence the name. Ludwig wasn't sure if it was for show or because humans weren't afforded as much natural protection as they had with scales.

"Not at all," He stepped up straight to the middle and stuck his hand out. "Chief Royal Knight Mario. This is my partner and brother, Vice Chief Royal Knight Luigi."

Royal Knight Luigi waved with a smile. "Pleasure to meet you gentlemen," Ludwig shook Mario's hand. "Chief Ludwig Von Koopa of the Neo City Police Department."

"I believe I've been acquainted with your predecessor once."

"Most likely. It seems like we must correspond with the Royal Knights every few years or so."

Mario chuckled. "Believe me, if we could make it a more friendly outing I'm sure we would be all for it."

"One day, perhaps. Anyway, the Princess asked of me?"

"Yes," Mario motioned Luigi to come over. "She apologizes that she cannot visit personally, but her affairs have been keeping her back lately. This whole business with the Order is stressing us."

"The Order?"

"The Sutaoda. Aurik did not tell you?"

"No. I had to find out for myself, but I didn't think that this was what the exchange was about," Ludwig said. "I was under the impression that this was an evidence swap."

"We apologize, Mr. Ludwig; our intentions were vague for safety reasons," Luigi bowed. "It was insisted upon and we had no choice."

"As long as you give me the full explanation, bygones will be bygones." In truth, that was a bit of a lie on Ludwig's part - he was only being courteous for the sake of it.

Mario nodded as he was handed something. "We've had reports of Order activity all over the kingdom. They haven't stepped into the major cities yet, but they've been upturning smaller towns. Dragging away folks for conversion, digging up known burial sites and cemeteries, even a few reports of robberies, all during the night. They never strike during the day and like to stick to the shadows. As you can imagine, this is a big risk just us being out here... but the Princess insisted that we deliver this for you."

He held up a coin shaped object in a gloved hand. A brow raised, Ludwig held it up to the light and tried to adjust his eyes at the markings on it.

"The heck a bunch of cultists want with a coin with this?"

"That's no ordinary coin, Mr. Ludwig," Luigi said. "It's an artifact revered by the Order. They believe it will open the heavens and bring back the true ruler of all the kingdoms. There are three of them and, while we know the locations of them, we've sworn to uphold secrecy."

Ludwig made a skeptical face. "Pardon me, but that sounds a bit far-fetched. It's just a cult."

"It isn't. The Order once had all the artifacts long ago and they tried to unleash the power contained within, but it was put to rest by the Royal Family long ago. The Princess has been holding the locations of each artifact for years now. The reason why we're giving this to you now is that we believe that the location of this artifact is known to the Order."

He turned to Mario. "So you're giving it to me now? How did you know that they know?"

"One of their members fed us information after we captured them. For all we know, he could be lying... but we didn't to risk it. We sent a team to retrieve it so we could get it somewhere else."

"And you ask me to hold onto it?"

Mario shrugged and folded his arms. "To be honest, Mr. Ludwig? We were against the idea as well. But the Princess insisted that we move it, at least temporarily, to throw them off the trail. She also thinks highly of Neo City and believes that it will be in safe hands there."

"She does know I'm not Aurik, right?"

"Hah, yes, she knows. But she believes that you follow well in Aurik's footsteps and would take this seriously. So we're handing this to you now..." He clasped gloved hands over the artifact, before stowing it inside his overcoat. "And we trust that you'll keep this safe and secret from everyone?"

Ludwig sighed. "Anything to keep my Mushroom Kingdom superiors happy."

"Just this one thing, Mr. Ludwig. Oh, and, try to remain discreet. No one should know about this except us and the Princess," He stepped forward and shook Ludwig's hand warmly. "The Mushroom Kingdom owes you and Neo City a world of debt, Chief. Do not worry. We will keep our ears to the ground and let you know if there is anything. But for now, you should be fine."

Luigi spoke up. "It should give us time, at least."

"Exactly."

"You owe us big for this." Ludwig said.

"Can't promise anything Mr. Ludwig, but we can talk and negotiate once we decide that the artifact is safe enough to be returned home."

"I'll keep you to that."

He watched as they walked back to their side of the field, the Mushroom Kingdom side, before Luigi turned and waved back at him.

"Bye-bye, Mr. Ludwig!"

The Chief simply gave a meager wave in return, a half confused expression across his face as he watched the knights disappear into the dark. The artifact bounced heavily in his pocket as he made his way back to his car, thoughts running through his mind; what story had they given him? For all he knew, they could be giving him some sort of weapon.

But Ludwig could read people, and if they were lying to him, they were doing a fantastic job at it. He frowned in thought and pulled out of the parking lot. A long drive back awaited him but at least he had something to look into now...

"... and of course, I did my research. Seems like they've been mobilizing all across the kingdoms under Mushroom control over the past few years," Ludwig concluded. "They have just flown under the radar and taken us all by surprise now."

"Shit," Roy breathed. "You're actually serious about all this, aren't you?"

"Of course I am! I'm not here to tell you all fairy tales."

"Well, what do we do now?!"

The Chief stood up and began to pace. "We have two artifacts now and we need to find the third one. That means one thing."

"What, we go and ask the Princess?" Larry laughed. "Ludwig, that's impossible. It's just as you say; we'll all be dead before we could get to the Mushroom Kingdom."

"You are right. We cannot poke our heads out now that the Sutaoda are onto us... we need somewhere to play for time, at least," He looked around the room. "I don't suppose it would be too much to ask whether any of you have somewhere to stay?"

Everyone looked at each other before slowly shaking their heads. Everyone except Lemmy.

"Uh... I think I might have an idea..." He said. "It's a long shot though."

"We'll take anything we can get, Lem," Larry said. "What is it?"

"When I joined the circus there were four brothers working there. They were acrobats who had performed a lot before they were found and hired to go on the road with us. We sort of became friends really quickly and... and," Lemmy sighed and gave a sheepish look. "I'm sorry everyone, but I told them what I had done before I joined..."

"What?!" Larry and Roy exclaimed (Morton sighed at his concentration being broken from the stitching).

"... and they were cool with it. They didn't tell anyone, kept it a secret... don't worry, I trust them. They retired last year but I've kept in touch with them; they own this big sorta castle out in the countryside and I think it would be a good place to stay, at least until we can get ourselves together and fixed up."

Ludwig nodded. "If that's the only option we have, I'll take it."

They stood by as Iggy handed Lemmy the only burner phone they had now. As he dialed the number, Morton finally threaded through the last of the string and wrapped up with a bandage. "How's that feeling?"

Larry grimaced and rolled up. "Still hurts, but better than nothing. Thanks brother."

"Hey, no problems. I'm going to go clean up."

"Don't take too long." Ludwig said.

A smile appeared on Lemmy's face as the phone picked up. "Hey! Hey, it's Lemmy... y-yeah, I'm still good. Sorry, did I wake you up?" He frowned. "Oh, you're still doing that? A-anyway... I need to cash in on a favor, hear me out? ...Great. Look, I'm in a bit of trouble here... no, nothing like that. I've got a bunch of friends here and we're..." He paused and looked over to Ludwig. The older male caught the silence straight away - it was a quiet question of permission. After a quick thought, he simply nodded. "We did something and we've stumbled onto something big here and we just need a place to stay for the time being- what? Really? Just like that? O-okay... I don't know when we'll be there. We'll just turn up whenever we can. Okay... okay... thank you so much Yellow. You're amazing. Okay, bye." He tossed the phone back to Iggy and gave a fist pump. "They're good for us!"

They all breathed a sigh of relief as Morton came back, rubbing his hands with a damp cloth. "We got somewhere to hide out?"

"For the time being." Lemmy reiterated.

"Do we have transportation though? I doubt all seven of us will be able to fit into one police cruiser..."

Wendy clapped on the shoulder. "Say no more, Chief. Got a helicopter out there all waiting for us."

"Oh, that's right - the helicopter at the scene of the crime," He deadpanned. "I can't believe just a few hours ago we were wondering where that damn thing was."

"Well now you know where it is. I've still got some energy left in me. Lemmy, where's your boys' place?"

Lemmy didn't look so sure - they were all pretty tired. "It's on the border near the Grasslands Kingdom. Acorn Hills."

"Think you can do Acorn Hills, Wendy?" Larry asked. "That's a pretty long helicopter ride."

If she was deterred by it, she wasn't showing it. "Pfft, nah. It's fine. I do expect a bed though when we get there."

"Don't worry," Lemmy assured them. "These guys are great. You're my friends so we're all practically family to them now."

Ludwig interrupted. "We won't be able to take much, if not anything at all. We need to get rid of everything here."

"What?" Roy asked. "Why?"

"Because the Sutaoda will find us and they will paw through everything we have here to find us."

Iggy slowly raised his hand. "A-actually... Bowser did have a contingency plan for this... he told me just in case we mess up and the cops arrested everyone, I was given a way to dispose of everything quickly."

Leave it to Bowser to have almost everything prepared for them. It was just like he was planning this all along... everyone tried to not seem disturbed by the amount of detail that Bowser had put into this now that his intentions had been blown wide open. Ludwig was steadfast and didn't care though.

"What is it?"

"Gasoline and some fire. Just to burn everything in here."

"Do it. We can't leave anything behind. Larry?"

Larry looked back at him and couldn't help but hold back a small laugh. Of course he'd make him be the leader now that he had to do this. Sighing, he stood up and balanced on his good foot. "Wendy, go start up the chopper. Morton and I will stand guard while she warms it up. Ludwig, Roy, Iggy and Lemmy, you're in charge of getting rid of everything. We don't have to burn the whole place down, but burn anything important that can't be used by them."

Just as Ludwig was about to protest, everyone had split up - time was of the essence now. Roy nudged him a bit rougher than usual.

"Come on Chief," He said in a delightful tone. "Get your inner pyro on."

Oh, how he didn't miss the ribbing.

Iggy pulled back a piece of carpet in the office, revealing a trapdoor in the corner. Roy was still having trouble comprehending what lengths the old man had gone to to prepare them for this. A plume of dust exploded onto them as Iggy kicked the door open with his good leg.

"There should be some gasoline cans down there."

Ludwig raised a brow. "You didn't check?"

"I trusted him."

He sounded embarrassed to even be saying that now.

Lemmy scurried down into the darkness of the basement without a second thought, and gave a call of approval.

"Yeah, they're here!" He appeared at the opening seconds later holding a red can of gasoline; he was straining to hold on, which Roy took with no problem. He handed one to each of them before retrieving his own can and climbing back up. Ludwig scowled as he held his can by the handle and unscrewed the cap, unleashing the almost overwhelming and addictive smell into the office. This was turning into one of those nights, he thought to himself.

Iggy deposited his can nearby and pulled out a baseball bat from behind the desk - a self-defense weapon in case his shotgun decided to have a temper tantrum and not work.

"You guys take everything else. I'm going to clean up in here."

The rest of them nodded and got to work.

Half an hour later, the four of them quickly dashed across the helipad.

"Everything cooking nicely?" Larry asked as they clamored in, his voice barely heard above the rotors chopping above them. Lemmy would be bouncing in his seat if the whole situation hadn't been so dire. Ludwig coughed a bit of smoke out and sat down next to him.

"Everything is gone. All documents, all weapons, everything. They won't be able to use anything against us now."

He looked out over to the warehouse - he could see the glow of the fire behind the frosted glass windows.

Iggy was holding several bags and passed them over to Morton and Lemmy, but not before fishing something out of one of them.

"The hell you got there?"

"The hard drive," He replied, holding it up - Larry only saw it as a blocky silver brick with some wires poking out of it. "Don't trust it to get burned up or not fall into the authorities." He cast a glare at Ludwig before stowing it into his jacket. Ludwig harrumphed and looked away.

"Everyone strapped in?" Wendy asked when they had all put in their headsets.

Larry gave a thumbs up. The helicopter suddenly lurched into life for the second time that night. Except this time, they wouldn't be going anywhere near the city, they'd be going far away. They knew it wasn't much, but it was a small silver lining in a mostly storming rain cloud. Maybe it was the adrenaline from being shot or the obscene amount of times he's had to have his wounds addressed or just what had transpired tonight, but Larry couldn't deny the overwhelming heavy feeling in his body. As they all leveled out and everyone became quiet, the leader closed his eyes and fell asleep.

LOCATION: Ashwood Estates, Neo City, Darklands Kingdom

TIME: 11:12PM

His heart pounded heavily in his chest as Junior dodged and weaved through every street he could get through possible without being stopped. Every second lost was his father's life potentially lost. He couldn't take the chance. Not now. He would never take any more chances again after this. He gripped the steering wheel and overtook a car in front of him and roared down the normally quiet residential streets. "Please Dad... please, please, please..." He whimpered under his breath. "Please... please be alive..."

The sight that greeted him down the end of the road was not good. "No..."

Police cars had a small perimeter set up around the front gates of his house.

His house.

Those fucking monsters had invaded his house and killed his father.

A police officer stepped out in front of him as he hit the brakes. Without a second thought he threw the door open and made a run for the entrance.

"Woah woah!" The officer exclaimed, catching the young man before he could jump over the tape. "Sir, I need you to step back please-"

"My father! Where is my father?!"

"Sir, please, calm down-"

"Let me go!" Junior wriggled in the officer's grip. "Please, I want to see my father!" He tried uselessly to wrestle himself out, but it was no use - the officer was stronger than he was and had easily held him down until his body could give no more. It was only when he was reduced to sobbing that he was let go.

"Sir, I'm sorry but this is a crime scene. You need to stand back and-"

Junior shouted. "I live here! This is my home! I'm his son, Bowser II!"

That made the officer pause for a few moments before he pulled out a walkie-talkie. "Uh... Detective? Bowser's son just arrived on the scene, over."

"Send him over to me." The voice crackled back. With a nod, the officer took Junior by the arm and began to lead him under the tape and through the sea of police cars, officers and witnesses that were dotted all over. His vision dotted with a confusing array of red and blue lights and no matter how much he tried to blink, it just wouldn't go away. His breath caught in his throat as they neared to the front gate; it was opened but nothing looked different otherwise.

"Detective, here he is."

"Thank you officer," The detective said - he was a Koopa, but a different species of such, the ones that had the beaks instead of the bulbous noses. He was tall, fairly young looking and wore a leather jacket. It was as much as Junior could get before he was swamped by words and questions. "You are Bowser's son, correct?"

"I... uh, yes." Junior shook in his clothes. "B-Bowser II, Junior..."

"Detective Henry. I'm sorry to get down to this straight away, but I'll need to ask you a few questions," Henry had pulled out a notepad and a pen. "If you're able to. I can imagine how much this is overwhelming, but I can't permit you to go inside."

He looked to the mansion - nothing was able to be seen from the street, but Junior tried hard not to imagine. "Okay... I-I'll try."

Henry smiled warmly and lead him away. "That's all that matters. Now, first, how were you alerted? As far as I'm aware of, no one has attempted to contact you."

"D-Dad called me. He... we talked until I heard shooting."

The detective nodded and scribbled the answer down. "Where were you at the time of the phone call?"

Junior paused - he'd almost blurted out specifically where he had been. "Neo City. I was over there with friends," It was a sort of half-truth. "I drove over here as fast as I could..."

"To save him?"

When he said that out loud, Junior felt too embarrassed to even reply.

"How did you get here?" Henry continued, seemingly not noticing.

"I burrowed a friend's car."

"They didn't drive you?"

Junior swallowed. "I panicked. I kind of stole the keys and took off without them."

The detective raised a brow, but noted it down anyway. "Well... given the circumstances, I'll let that little act of theft slide. After all, it was an emergency. But... Mister Koopa, sir, I don't know what you expected driving over all the way here. If you had arrived any sooner, I have no doubts that you would be dead." He looked over at the young man - he was shaking and sweating and looked like he was about to pass out right there on the spot. His face was pale like a Boo. Against his usual work ethic, or maybe he just felt bad, Henry put the notepad and pen away. "Listen... I know you want to know about your father..."

"What's happened to him? That's all I care about." He looked up at him, his crimson eyes pleading for some sort of answer, any answer. He needed closure.

So when Henry sucked in his breath and his expression grew grim, his heart dropped to the pit of his stomach.

"I'm sorry, Bowser," He said quietly. "We haven't seen your father's body in there."

"... what? What do you mean he's gone?"

"The team inside haven't found him yet. We've found security and one perp, but otherwise nothing."

Junior tried hard not to cry, but his body lurched forward in a sob. "I... I know who did it!" He exclaimed as he rubbed one of his eyes with the ball of his palm, causing Henry to look on him with interest.

"You do?" He tried not to sound too skeptical, but he pulled his notepad again anyway. "May I enquire how?"

"He... he told me. Before he... it was the Sutaoda."

The detective almost dropped his pen. "What? What do you know about the Sutaoda?"

The young man sighed and ran his hand through his hair - he couldn't believe everything that had transpired thus far. Everything was going downhill and his whole life had been ruined. Everyone else was probably dead or scattered and he had just... left them there. Left Larry to die, left everyone to fend for themselves... his father's words echoed through his mind again and again. But... he never did mean that. He never was there, he was just selfish and caring about his own needs! Why did he do this?!

Everything had fallen apart. There was no choice in this. He only hoped that no one would be mad at him.

"They..." He started. "I've seen them before. They've been over before. Dad has done business with them before..."

Henry's demeanor a lot more active and alive as he scribbled down note after note. When Junior didn't continue, he simply nodded and patted him on the shoulder.

"Sir, if you'll consent, I'd like to have you down at the police station for further questioning."

"... Do I really have a choice?"

It then occurred to him... they knew who he was.

"You do. But if it is the Order, like you say, I think you'll be much safer back in the city," The detective waved over a patrol officer. "We cannot take any chances, especially with an attack like this, so it pays to be proactive. Now... Officer? Please escort young Bowser to the Neo City Police Department and give him some comforts."

"Right away, sir."

The officer began to lead Junior away.

"Don't worry," Henry assured him. "We'll take care of you. I will be at the station relatively soon."

The officer smiled as she lead him by the arm gently. "Is that your car there? I'll call in someone to take it to the station."

"Thanks..."

Henry reminded him a lot of his father, funnily enough - no-nonsense and spoke seriously; only their expressions really betrayed how they felt. But could he really trust a cop? Especially one who suddenly seemed so interested in him when he had something to offer? Junior looked up from the backseat of the patrol car and watched as the detective spoke to presumably his partner and disappeared behind the fence of the front garden - was he ready to really entrust himself with someone like him?

He could only hope he had made the right call.

LOCATION: Nutmeg Point, Acorn Hills, Darklands Kingdom

TIME: A Few Hours Later...

The helicopter rocked him gently from his sleep... wait, he was asleep? Ludwig stifled a yawn and tried to will himself awake, but his eyes were heavy and his body wasn't feeling ready to start moving yet. Blinking the sleep away, he tried to adjust to the dim light of the interior. The three shapes of Iggy, Roy and Lemmy were across from him, also deep in their own sleep; Iggy was sprawled out on the side, his face up against the window, Roy was in the middle like a status with his arms folded, and Lemmy was almost curled up in the seat way too big for him.

A small mumble from his side caught his attention, and it was Larry - he was also still asleep and still breathing, thankfully. If he could be honest, he wasn't sure that Lawrence would have survived through the night. The wound he had sustained was pretty severe... if Ludwig believed in miracles, he would say that this was one.

Sniffling from the cold, he retrieved the headphones sitting on his lap and put them on.

"Hello?"

Wendy's voice came through. "Hey there Chief," She said - her tone was neutral, if not a bit exhausted. "Not too far now. I think we should start waking everyone up."

"Get Lemmy up, at least," Morton yawned. "He knows where to go."

"It's a castle, it can't be that hard to spot," Nonetheless, Ludwig leaned over to Lemmy's seat and shook him awake. "Hey?"

The small man stirred awake. "Mmmmf..." He pawed for the headphones. "... Yeah, what's up?"

"We're in Acorn Hills. What are we looking for?"

"It's overlooking a big lake... just outside town," Lemmy leaned over the window as the Chief began to wake everyone else up. "It'll be easy to see."

The last one to wake up was Larry, who had come dangerously close to being asleep on Ludwig's shoulder. Saving him the embarrassment, Ludwig was content to push him further away, which got him awake anyway. "Damn..." He mumbled into the microphone and shook his head. "How long has it been?"

"Three hours," Wendy replied as he stretched. "And I think I see your castle. Is that it?"

Everyone looked out - down below them was a spectacularly lit castle standing out in a forest of darkness. It seemed like the four brothers that lived there was living the high life. The lights were on in the land surrounding the area, making it easy to spot. Lemmy couldn't help but give a tired grin - that just seemed like them, to be prepared for their arrival. He was ready to roll into a nice warm bed though more than anything.

"Yeah, that's it. Think you'll have to land on the lawn, but I don't think they'll mind."

The helicopter drew closer and closer to the ground - Wendy maneuvered that thing like it was nothing. The last jolt as they landed was a bit harsh, but making do with the grass was fine enough. Everyone was just thankful they were on solid land. Roy threw the doors open with a grunt as the sound of the helicopter winding down gave mercy to their ear drums.

"Hey, there he is!" An energetic voice called out - they looked up to see a Koopa with a yellow shirt streaming towards them with the biggest smile on his face. "The man with the explosive plan! Lemmington, how are you, buddy?"

Lemmy beamed back as he was swept into a hug. "Hey! Not too bad Yellow, nice to see you're chipper as always."

Yellow laughed and dabbed his forehead with a towel he had slung around his neck. "You know me, still haven't lost the spark. I hope the landing was alright - tried to light up the yard as much as possible so it was easy for you to see... but I didn't know you were coming in a helicopter!" He threw his hands out spectacularly at it as Larry limped out slowly. "Wowee, you really are living in style! And you bought some friends as well!"

"Yeah... these are all my friends. We go way back."

"Uhh... Roy, Iggy, Wendy, Morton and Larry! Lemmy's told me all about you guys!" He looked over to Ludwig. "... don't remember you though."

"Chief Ludwig Von Koopa." He said simply, causing Yellow to recoil back slightly.

"You're friends with him?"

Lemmy sighed. "Kind of... it's a bit of a weird story."

"Say no more. If he's with you, then it's fine by us," He waved everyone over. "Come on guys, we'll get you all settled inside. Don't make too much noise though, everyone else is asleep."

Roy looked skeptical - the castle reminded him a bit of prison. "How many rooms do you have?"

"Buddy, it's a castle. It's got as many as you want! We like to have the family over so we're thankful for them."

Roy and Morton shared a look as they rounded over to the entrance, which Yellow unlocked. Throwing it open, everyone was confronted with a large, lavish entrance hall that would make any millionaire blush - it was uniquely medieval with a certain Oriental charm to it. Grinning, Yellow again threw his hands up in a dramatic fashion and exclaimed.

"Welcome, Lemmy and friends, to the Koopa Bros Fortress!"

A/N: Time to give a bit of love to the Paper series and to expand characters a bit. If you've come this far I'm so thankful. Like, really thankful. The reviews have been encouraging and I want to give this fic the best treatment it can get. Of course, if anyone has any constructive criticism on style or word length or anything like that I would like to know so I can make it any better! Take care, everyone!