"...Ruby? Are you...ok?" Duncan asked tentatively. The NERDS itchy leader currently sat at her place at the mission table, face planted firmly into it. She gave a loud, frustrated sound that was almost somewhere in between a groan and a roar. The rest of the NERDS exchanged similar worried glances for a moment before looking back at the girl. After a couple moments she finally sat up, the expression on her face clearly vexed beyond belief.

"This is the fourth time we've had a chance to catch her. The fourth. I can't believe Brand just let her off like that!" She cried, throwing her hands up.

"Well, I mean, he did say it was too crowded to make a fuss. We would have drawn attention to ourselves." Matilda stated, slightly nervous at the tense atmosphere around Ruby.

"We could have figured something out!" Ruby shot back in frustration.

"Look. We know you're mad, but you have to calm down. We'll have all the chances we need, alright? It's not over yet." Heathcliff said carefully, putting his hands up in a soothing gesture. Ruby's eyes shot to glare at him harshly, almost seeming to twitch.

"It doesn't matter that it's not over. What matters is exactly how many times she's been able to get away, and the fact that we have failed so many times. We've never gone past two!!! We're supposed to be the best team in this entire organization!!!" Ruby shouted, her hands waving about almost frantically.

The NERDS once again exchanged a look before once again, Heathcliff spoke up.

"Well...I mean, yeah, but it isn't our fault. She has hundreds of robots protecting her, if not more. All those bots give her time to run, so again, it's not our fault that it happens." He said gently. Ruby let out another groan, planting her face in her hands.

"That still doesn't take away from the fact that this has been the forty-sixth time that she has escaped! I'm not even kidding! She has been blasting through our teams for the past couple months, and the closest they've gotten so far was when one of us was able to use their upgrades to tase her and drag her out the front door before promptly being tossed away by one of the bots. Even the Troublemakers weren't able to catch her!" She grumbled, letting her head drop onto the table with yet another dejected groan. Jackson rounded the table to pat her on the back slightly, a very slight look of sympathy on his face.

"Aw, don't get your pants in a bunch about it. It'll be fine. I'm sure we at least have a good few tries left." He said. Once again, they were met with a groan. Matilda sighed and crossed her arms.

"Just try to forget about it for now. Next time we meet her, for all we know we can just ask her nicely to let us arrest her and that will be that. We'll have better luck next time." She said. Duncan nodded and gave Ruby a comforting smile despite the fact that she couldn't see it.

"Yeah. I'm sure you're just tired, Ruby. It's been a long day, and I'm sure getting some sleep would be helpful." He said gently. Ruby finally tilted her head up to look at the group, still looking stressed as ever, but with a more defeated look than before. She ran a hand back through her hair and let out a sigh.

"Fine. Let's all just go home and forget this happened. We can regroup in the morning and figure out a game plan for next time we see her once we get to the playground after school." She said. The group quickly agreed, almost immediately dispersing from their stressed leader to the exits, eager to remove themselves from the tense atmosphere.

Ruby simply sat there for another few minutes, grumbling under her breath and glaring at the table. She had never failed to capture a villain this many times. Never. The fact that said villain had also escaped every single team they had multiple times stressed her out possibly more than she had ever been before, which was saying something. It didn't help that she knew Lily should already be under wraps, considering how extremely soft hearted and weak bodied she seemed. She could barely even be considered a villain, yet she was still slippery enough to fall from their grasp every time she popped up.

Ruby slammed a fist into the table with a growl before taking a deep breath and scratching at her stomach. She was allergic to irrational anger. She shook her head, finally standing up to walk to the exits. She truly hoped that it was the final time she slipped through their fingers.