Urbana was in her room trying to do her homework, but instead she was obsessing over her regrets. As she was twiddling away on her pencil, she heard someone knocking on her window. She checked to make sure that it wasn't Gizmo, but since he was currently looking through one of her manga books, Urbana got up from her bed then pulled back the curtain of her bedroom window. Shadowed by the setting sun, Jack Frost waved at Urbana through the window, snow falling all round him. Urbana opened her window.
"Snow? In September?" Urbana asked him playfully.
"What? Are you really going to complain about snow?" Jack asked.
Urbana motioned him inside and said, "No. Of course not. Just it seems a little early?"
Jack flew in and Urbana closed the window behind him. Jack then sat his staff next to the window.
"Yah, but that's the fun of it. It won't stick around long, but the kids will love it," Jack said.
"So, it's like a test run of what winter will be for us then, huh?" Urbana asked.
"Pretty much, yah," Jack said as he flew over to Gizmo then patted him on his furry little head. Then he went over to Urbana's bed to see what she was working on, "Did you just start your schoolwork?"
Urbana sighed then said, "No. I've been working on it for two hours now…"
Jack looked at her then back down at her work then back up at her, then said, "I don't know much about schoolwork, but it kind of looks like you haven't done anything. Should I ask if something's bothering you?"
She sighed again then said, "I don't know if you really want to have that kind of conversation."
"Try me. I can be "mature" when I have to be," Jack said as he floated backwards like he was laying in a hammock.
Urbana hesitated for a moment, then said, "I feel bad about what I said to Pitch before I stopped talking to him. And also I feel bad for not saying the L-word to Scarlet when they told me it and I haven't been able to properly talk to them in weeks but I think that one's a little out of your depth."
"You're right. It is, but first, will you stop hanging out with Pitch. Second, what did you say to him before you stopped hanging out with him?" Jack asked.
"Um. Something about wishing him luck since he has no one to care about him or something along those lines. I don't exactly remember, okay? Verbal confrontations make my adrenaline go up and I spoke before I could think," Urbana said.
"Eh. Don't worry too much about it then. What you said is true," Jack said with an indifferent shrug, "No one does care about him."
Hearing that broke Urbana's heart.
"That's awful," Urbana said as she choked back tears.
Panicked, Jack said, "He's a horrible person! Why are you getting so upset about this? Why do you care? He. Put. You. In a. Coma!"
"Look. I know. Okay," Urbana said as she wiped away a few unrestrained tears from her face, "But I can't help but relate to him, you know?"
"You relate to Pitch," Jack asked, unbelieving, "Why?"
"Being able to speak with the dead is a terrifying concept," Urbana said, "If I was in a Steven King book, I'd be the cursed child standing in the middle of a foggy wood telling people of their omens. I don't want to be scary, but I know that what I am can be."
"Huh…" Was all Jack could say.
"Then there's the fact that when I finally, officially, die, I'll become a Grim Reaper. An embodiment of death and of the unknown… whether I want to be or not. And so many people are afraid of dying because they don't know what the end of their life will bring them," Urbana said.
"Oh," He said sympathetically.
"Yah," Urbana said, "But don't worry. I'm determined not to speak with him again, but I do want to apologize for saying no one cares about him."
The two of them were silent for a minute. Jack rubbed the back of his neck then scratched his head furiously as he groaned. Urbana gave him a concerned look.
Reluctantly, he said, "If you write a letter to him… I'll make sure it's given to him. Okay?"
"Wait. Really?" Urbana questioned hopefully.
"Yah," he groaned.
Urbana hugged Jack Frost, chilling herself to the bone but not caring.
"Jack. You're too good to me," Urbana said, then she stopped hugging him and said, "Thank you. Now! I write!"
Urbana wrote her apology letter and also set down some ground rules for if he wants to speak with her again. The rules being he can't come see her until he's apologized to everyone he can remember ever wronging. Telling him that it's important to apologize and not expect to have that apology accepted. She also made sure to point out that she's not talking about him giving kids nightmares or anything like that, since she understands that, that's just a part of his job. Urbana doesn't really expect Pitch to go around asking for forgiveness for his actions, but she has a little hope that he might, even if she's dead by the time he decides to take action on that quest.
Urbana handed the letter to Jack Frost and said, "Here. Let me call Licorice for you so she can guide you to Pitch."
Urbana opened her window, letting in the cold early night, and whistled for the Nightmare.
As the two of them waited for her to show up Urbana said, "You know, if Pitch wasn't such a jerk, I'm sure you two would have gotten along just fine."
Jack groaned as he sat on top of his staff, "Nooooooo. You sound just like him when he was trying to recruit me before I became a Guardian."
"He tried to get you to join him?" Urbana questioned as she picked up Gizmo who was pulling at her pants leg.
"Yah. Some spiel about making the world suffer like it's made us suffer," Jack said, "I wasn't buying it though."
Licorice galloped up to her window and as Urbana greeted her with pets and kisses, Urbana said, "Sounds to me like he's lonely."
"No. He was just trying to manipulate me," Jack said as he hopped down from his staff and then patted Licorice's neck.
"Well, I mean, you are right, but it still sounds like he was lonely too," Urbana said.
He scoffed unconvinced.
Urbana gave him a sympathetic smile. Then she said, "Stay safe on your ride there. Just ask her to take you where you want to go and be sure to be polite."
Jack Frost flew out the window then sat on Licorice's back then said, "Uh, will you take me to Pitch, please?"
Licorice neighed then galloped off into the night towards Pitch's hideout.
Urbana closed her window with a sigh. Then snuggled against Gizmo's soft fur, comforted by the idea that her words might be mitigated. Though she wouldn't be surprised if Pitch decided not to take her letter at all. Urbana looked over her homework with a little bit more focus and noticed that she had to write a short story for her Advanced Fiction Writing class. Urbana decided to write a short story about Jack Frost as thanks to him.
# # #
Urben, the fusion of Steven and Urbana, was helping Lurch set up the perfect place for him to propose to Jane. They had their giant rose gold paint brush out and they were painting items into the empty space of reality like they were photo shopping the real world. Helping Lurch with his planning was Garnet who was helping him figure out the best placement for decorations, items, and where the proposal should happen. The three of them were by the black lake, as Lurch had decided that it was the best place to propose to Jane.
"What do you think of this small dining table, Lurch," Urben asked, "Is it romantic enough?"
The rose gold table had rose gold candelabras lit over rose gold silverware and plates and rose gold soup and wine.
"Are you doing the engagement ring in the wine glass trick," Garnet asked him.
Lurch nodded. Telling them he thought Jane would love the surprise gesture.
"We can commission Bismuth to make these items for you and we know Grandmama will be happy to make your engagement dinner," Urben said, all six of their eyes shining as they asked, "What kind of flowers should I make? What are Jane's favorite flowers?"
Lurch told them that he didn't know what her favorite flowers were but he knew that she loved the colors blue and orange so he thought any flowers with those colors would do fine.
"Okay. Then I'm thinking I'll grow marigolds, blue morning glories, and moon flowers to accent the other two," Urben said as they started planning out where around the dining area, they will put the plants.
As Garnet was asking some more follow-up questions about the event, one of the phones in Urben's pockets started ringing. Urben took out Steven's phone from their left pocket and answered it with a little bit of difficulty since the phone was so small in their hands.
"Hello?"
"Steven?" Connie asked.
"Oh! No. This is Urben. Hey Connie. It's good to hear from you. Do you need to speak with Steven alone?" They asked.
"Yes please," Connie said.
"Okay. Give me a second. I'm setting the phone down," Urben said before doing just that.
Once Urben unfused, the rose gold paintings vanished, and Steven picked up his phone and walked away from the group while Urbana walked towards Garnet and Lurch, zipping up her jacket to help keep out the cold. Urbana decided to take this time to asked Garnet for some advice/support.
While staring at the melting snow around them, Urbana asked Garnet, "Hey. Can I have some of your advice?"
"I don't see why not. What advice to you need?" Garnet asked.
"Relationship advice," Urbana mumbled out.
"You're dating someone?" Garnet questioned while Lurch looked at Urbana in surprise.
"Yah."
Garnet slapped Urbana hard on her back, then said with pride, "Look at you, trying new things! I'm happy for you. Of course, I'll give you my advice. What's your question?"
"Will you help me text Scarlet? I think I know what I should do but I need a little moral support," Urbana finally said after regaining her footing from that back slap.
Lurch grabbed her by the shoulders then shook her thoroughly, helping her get rid of her nerves. Making Urbana laugh.
"Thanks Lurch," Urbana said with a smile. Then she got out her phone and proceeded to text Scarlet.
Garnet and Lurch watched over Urbana as she texted Scarlet and brought up the time that they told her that they loved her. With Urbana having Garnet look over her texts to make sure she wasn't sounding mean or anything, Urbana explained to Scarlet that she really does appreciate their I-love-you's, but that she honestly wasn't ever expecting them to say it to her. When Scarlet asked why, Lurch and Garnet were curious too. Urbana explained that since she kind of views this relationship more as a friends with benefits thing than a full on out romantic relationship, she was both surprised and sad that they told her that they loved them. Urbana explained that it makes her sad because the best I-love-you that she can give back is a friendly version not a romantic one.
While they were waiting for Scarlet's answer Garnet said, "You know. There's nothing wrong with saying friendly I-love-yous. They're just as important as the family and romantic versions."
"I know, but is that what they need? This whole dating thing is very experimental," Urbana said.
Lurch patted her head as Garnet said with a small smile, "As most relationships are."
"Honestly I feel bad for taking so long to talk to them about it," Urbana said.
Urbana's phone buzzed as she received a text.
Scarlet: Do you want me to not tell you that I love you anymore?
Urbana: I'm bringing this up because I worry about you. If I tell you that I love you, it won't mean the same as your I love you. I don't want to be a liar to you about this.
Urbana: You can tell me that you love me all you want, if you want.
Scarlet: It'll make you sad though.
Urbana: Only a little. Sadness is happiness's next-door neighbor.
Urbana: I'll be sad that I can't meet your expectations but I'm happy that we're at that level of familiarity.
Scarlet: I'll be fine if you tell me that you only love me as a friend.
Urbana: Really?
Scarlet: I promise.
Urbana: Then I love you too.
Scarlet: I appreciate your love ;)
Urbana smiled at her phone as she said goodbye to Scarlet and wished her luck at work with Scarlet saying the same to her.
Urbana then turned to Garnet and Lurch and said, "Thanks for being my moral support guys. I felt really embarrassed asking for your guy's help."
"We were happy to help," Garnet said with Lurch nodding in agreement.
"Man. Steven and Connie sure are taking a long time to talk, huh," Urbana said.
Five more minutes pass while the three of them were talking about the weather and school when Steven walked towards them.
"Garnet. I'm sorry. I know you rode here with me, but I need to go, somewhere, by myself," Steven said, sounding exhausted.
The three of them looked between each other sensing something was wrong.
"That's fine. I want to talk longer with Lurch about his wedding plans if Jane accepts his proposal," she said.
"I'll walk you to your car," Urbana said as she ran up to him.
As they were heading for Steven's car, Urbana had to jog to keep up to Steven's brisk walk.
"Soooo," Urbana said, "Do you want me to ask what happened or are you saving this for your therapist?"
"I mean. A little bit of both," Steven said, looking a little pink around the gills, "I want to talk to you about it, but I also don't want to talk to you about it and maybe I should save it for my next visit to my therapist. I just don't know."
"Okay…." Then Urbana shoved him and said, "Race you to your car!" Then she bolted for his car as fast as she could.
Urbana didn't dare look back to see if he was chasing after her. She's never won a race against him and she'll be damned if she let him obsess over what the phone call was about before driving "somewhere". Driving upset is bad luck in her opinion.
Steven tapped Urbana on her shoulder as he effortlessly was keeping up with her. A smug smile on his face. Then he ran past her, looking like he wasn't even breaking a sweat. Beating Urbana to his car by a mile. When Urbana finally reached his car, she slammed her hand on the hood while breathing heavily.
"Show off," Urbana said with a smile.
Steven smiled back at her but then it was gone.
"I'll talk to you about it later," Steven said as he got into his car.
"Okay. Drive safe." Then Urbana watch him drive off.
# # #
Urbana was in New York's China Town, waiting for Jake Long to meet up with her. Jake called her not too long ago saying that a magical buddy of his was having ghost problems. Urbana just hoped that she was in the right place, cause even with a GPS it's still a dizzying place to be in, especially when most of the signs aren't in English.
Half an hour after Urbana got to the place, she thought she was supposed to be at, Jake showed up.
"Hey, Girl! What's happenin'," Jake greeted, extended a hand to do a fancy handshake with Urbana.
Urbana floundered with the fancy handshake, but greeted him happily, saying, "Oh, you know. Helping Jim with his night patrol when it's my turn to patrol with the townsfolk and so on. How about you?"
Jake motioned for her to follow him as he said, "That giant ass robot that's roaming our streets has been a pain. He knows our kind too well and it's giving the magical community a constant panic attack. I thought life would be easier when the Huntsmen Clan collapsed, but noooo!"
"I'm sorry to hear that," Urbana said, "We're trying to figure out a good plan to get rid of him. It's just been hard, considering everything."
Jake sigh, then said, "Yah."
As they were walking down a back alley, Urbana asked, "So what exactly is the ghost problem that required my help and not the Ghostbusters?"
"You can actually talk to ghosts, they can't. They're all guns blazing and tearing shit up, which can be cool, but I don't want this guy's home getting any more torn up than it already is by this ghost or ghosts… Besides, you're free."
"Hold it," Urbana said as she put a hand on his shoulder, "Who said I was going to do this for free."
Jake sucked air through his teeth, then said, "Um… How much do you want?"
"I'll think of something else if it makes you too uncomfortable," Urbana started to say, prompting Jake to look at her questioningly, "but can I take pictures of you in your dragon form?"
"That's it?"
"Yes. I didn't have the heart to ask you when you were living with us," Urbana said.
"Okay. I can do that," Jake said, then added with a smug smile, "I have multiple good sides. Just so you know."
Urbana let go of him and did a fist pump is celebration, excited to have some reference photos for her fantasy art kick.
Urbana followed Jake through a series of back alleyways that was the walking distance of ten blocks. Eventually they came to a perceived dead end.
"Hold on. I always have a hard time figuring out which thing to knock on," Jake said after staring at the dead-end wall for thirty seconds.
Jake walked up to a particular part of the concrete wall then knocked on it. It sounded like he was knocking on a wooden door. They waited for a minute then a small, rounded door opened that was at the height of Urbana's waist. A little head poked out from behind the door. He was half the size of the doorway with curly platinum blond hair, chubby little cheeks and ears that were pointed but not as drastically pointy as the illustrations of elves that she's seen in Grandmama's books that she's read. With the door open they could hear the sounds of Spud, Trixie, and Melody shouting and things breaking or banging noisily against hard surfaces.
"You're a hobbit!" Urbana said with glee and excitement.
"Yes, and you're a human," He replied with annoyance.
Urbana looked down at her hands as she played with her fingers as the hobbit spoke with Jake.
"Are you sure she's the best candidate for my problem? Couldn't you just get a Witch to come here to banish the ghost or something," the hobbit said.
"I promise, Mr. Nikau, Urbana is completely competent in her handling with ghosts," Jake said, "Dragon's honor."
Urbana wasn't so sure about that, but she stayed quiet as Mr. Nikau scrutinized her.
There was the sound of a large glass item crashing to the ground and Spud loudly said he was sorry that he didn't catch it in time.
Mr. Nikau sighed then said, "Alright. Get in here."
The two of them had to bend down low to walk through the front door. Jake could stand tall inside the hobbit's house with only his hair grazing the ceiling while Urbana had to bend her neck awkwardly to keep herself from touching the ceiling at all. The hobbit's home was a mess, looking like he was in the middle of moving into this house, with several cardboard boxes stacked against walls and furniture arranged for better mobility and not for any aesthetic reason. Melody was sweeping up glass while Spud and Trixie were catching anything that was being thrown into the air. Urbana could see that the ghost was also a hobbit. She was wearing old warn out clothes and with each item that she threw she would call out for someone named, Tama, and when she wasn't throwing things she would scream into the void, calling for anyone to help her find her baby.
"Oh, boy," Urbana said.
"What," Jake asked.
"This is one of those tragedy ghosts," Urbana sighed sadly, "Give me a minute."
Urbana walked up to the poor woman as she was in the middle of throwing things around again.
"Ma'am. Ma'am," Urbana said, trying to sound like a calm and reassuring person, "Ma'am. Can you hear me?" Urbana then placed a hand on her shoulder.
The hobbit woman gasped in surprise and turned on Urbana.
"You're a human," she said, her back against the wall in fright.
"That I am," Urbana said as she knelt on her knees, "I heard your cries for help, and I'd like to help. Will you accept my help?"
The hobbit woman looked around at a scene that only she could see, tears of ectoplasm streaming down her face.
"I'm Urbana. What's your name?" she asked.
"Maia," she said.
"I'm sorry we're meeting at such hard times. Who are you looking for?" Urbana asked her.
"I'm searching for my son, Tama. Everything went bad so quickly. I tried to keep him from being buried in the rubble but then I lost him. He has to be around here somewhere," Maia said.
"Okay. You look really worn down, Ma'am. I know you probably don't want to, but I'm going to ask you to sit here for a while and rest. You can't keep searching for your son if you don't take care of yourself too. Okay?"
"No! No. I can keep going. I need to find him," Maia said.
Urbana put her hands on her shoulders then forced her to sit down, then said, "Breath with me. Okay?"
Urbana started doing a breathing exercise that she learned from Master Splinter and soon Maia was mimicking her.
"Now sit here and keep breathing Ma'am. You've already searched this entire area, yes?"
Maia nodded.
"Then I'm going to go over here and look around," Urbana said.
Urbana then gathered everyone else around her to huddle and she whisper-ly asked, "Okay. Mr. Nikau. Is there a chance that your first name is Tama?"
"It is not," he said.
"Of course, it's not going to be that easy," Urbana moaned. Then she asked under her breath, "How close to the twin tower memorial are we?"
"We're not that far away actually. Maybe like five or three blocks away," Spud answered in a whisper.
"Oh, it's one of those kinds of ghosts," Trixie mumbled.
"I think so, but I can't be sure," Urbana breathed.
"That's too bad," Melody said sadly.
"So what are we going to do now," Jake asked under his breath.
"I need you to play historian," Urbana muttered, "Find any records of a hobbit woman named Maia."
"Do you have a last name," Jake asked.
"In a second," Urbana said, "Mr. Nikau. Whatever items you have we need to look through them. This poor ghost woman is being held here by an item, I think, at least it reminds me of a story I read in Bubble's Diary. It could be a necklace or a piece of clothing or something that she's just emotionally attached to that reminds her of her son."
"She won't break anything I take out, will she," Mr. Nikau asked, "I collect many valuable things."
"I'll try my best to prevent that from happening," Urbana said.
He sighed, exasperated and tired.
"I'm going to get her full name and then we'll split up into groups," Urbana said, "Spud and Jake will go record searching and Trixie, Melody and I will help Mr. Nikau look through his stuff."
"Sounds good," Jake said.
They un-huddled, then Urbana made up an excuse to get Maia's full name and the full name of her son. Once she gave that information to Jake and Spud, the two of them ran off to do their thing. While the boys were out, Urbana spent three hours with Mr. Nikau, Melody, and Trixie, trying to keep Maia calm and also trying to find what's keeping her to the mortal realm. Eventually, Melody found an antique stuffed dog toy that Urbana resonated with. When Urbana touched it, a shiver ran up Maia's back.
"Why can't you just tell her she's dead and tell her to leave," Mr. Nikau asked after Urbana confirmed that the stuffed toy was the item, "This seems to me a lot like a waste of time."
Urbana looked at Maia to make sure that she wasn't paying attention to her then she turned back to Mr. Nikau and said, "It's not that simple, Sir. If I did that, I'm sure the situation would get worst, and it would emotionally destress her more."
"Yah, so show a little respect for the poor woman," Trixie scolded the hobbit.
"Besides it's not a waste of time to help her out," Melody said, "As my Mom always says, sometimes to help yourself you've got to help others."
"Hm," Mr. Nikau huffed, then he said, "That doesn't make any sense."
While Trixie and Melody started arguing with the hobbit, Urbana went over to show Maia the stuffed toy.
"Oh." She sobbed. Then she took it out of Urbana's grasp and hugged it, "I don't want him to be dead. He's so young."
"I know. We'll keep searching for him, but you should still hold some room for the possibility that he's not," Urbana said.
As Urbana was comforting the dead hobbit woman, Spud and Jake showed up.
"We found her son," Jake informed them.
Urbana nodded her head. Then she grabbed the hobbit woman's hand and said, "Come on. Let's look somewhere else for your boy."
Jake and Spud led the way as Urbana, an unknowing Maia, Melody, and Trixie followed, leaving behind Mr. Nikau behind who was happy to be rid of all the strangers in his house. They followed Jake and Spud through back alleyways and through subway tunnels and back streets until they came upon a private graveyard that looked like it wasn't used for humans.
"Where are we," Maia asked.
"Somewhere that'll help us find your son," Urbana answered.
Before they entered the graveyard, Jake asked for Spud, Trixie, and Melody to hang back and not to enter. Melody was a little upset about the idea, but the three of them agreed to say behind.
Urbana walked in with Maia in hand, with Jake leading the way. In a back corner of the graveyard, they found Tama's grave. It looked like he hadn't died too long ago.
Urbana let go of Maia and said, "Alright. I hope he's home. I don't really have a good idea of how I can summon him considering I'm not related to him."
Jake watched as Urbana went up to the grave and knocked on the gravestone, "Is Tama home?"
An old wizen face poked out of the ground and in an elderly voice he said, "You're not my grandbabies."
Urbana backed up and said, "No. But I brought someone to meet you."
Tama sat up more in his grave and saw Maia.
"Mom?"
"Tama?"
Tama hopped out of his grave and immediately embraced his mother.
"I can't believe it. You're here!" Tama cried.
"Why are you so old? What happened," Maia asked, confused.
"I survived the earthquake Mom, but you didn't," Tama said, "Come on. I'll explain everything."
Then the two of them disappeared and the stuffed animal fell to the ground, no longer being held by anyone.
"Why did the stuffed animal drop?" Jake asked.
Urbana told him what happened.
"So we exorcise the ghost from Mr. Nikau's home?" Jake asked to confirm.
Urbana picked up the stuffed toy and couldn't feel any ghostly presence on it, then she said, "Yep."
As they walked out of the graveyard, Jake asked, "So, when should I pay you?"
"Come over to my house tomorrow morning at nine," Urbana said as she handed him the stuffed toy animal.
"Okay. I can do that," Jake said.
Jake then told his friends that they successfully got rid of the ghost. They first went back to Mr. Nikau's home to return his belonging, then the five of them went to celebrate a good job by eating out at a dumpling restaurant.
# # #
Urbana was meeting up with Steven at a little café next to her college. As she waited, she ordered them some green tea. When he showed up, she pushed his drink over the table towards him.
"How are you feeling," Urbana asked.
"Not great, but it's nice to be out," Steven said.
"So…" Urbana said.
Steven sighed, then said, "Connie called me to tell me that she was pregnant."
"Oh?"
"And that she was going to get an abortion," Steven said, finishing his thought.
"Oh…"
The two of them were silent for a while as they sipped on their tea.
"She's already had the abortion, two days ago, I think," Steven said.
"Mmm."
They sipped more of their tea.
"How are you feeling about all that," Urbana asked.
"I just feel really sad," Steven said, "and it's weird because the fetus wasn't even old enough to have a heartbeat yet, but I feel like we're losing an opportunity or something… I don't know."
"So you didn't agree with Connie about getting the abortion," Urbana asked.
"No. I did. And even if I didn't it's not like I could stop her," Steven said, "She's still going to school and we're apart when she's in school. She wants to be in our child's life. She doesn't want of just give birth and then pass them on to me so she could focus more on her school stuff. I technically wouldn't mind raising our child on my own when she's in school, but I can see where she's coming from on all this."
"How did you feel when she told you she was pregnant," Urbana asked, handing him the sugar he wanted to add to his drink.
"Fluttery. Excited. A little sick. I may of had a happy little stroke," Steven said as he put his sugar into his tea.
"Then how did you feel when she told you she was getting an abortion," Urbana asked.
Steven sighed then said, "Like I was a stone dropping to the bottom of the ocean."
"Do you miss Connie a lot when she's away for school," Urbana asked.
Steven leaned back into his chair as he said, "I miss her sooooo much. I was hoping that when I finished traveling the states that she'd be done with college so that we could live together at Beach City."
"So basically, you just really miss your girlfriend so much that you thought you'd be able to have a piece of her at all times if she decided to go through with giving birth to that baby," Urbana said.
"Man. When you put it like that, it makes me feel bad about feeling bad about not getting to have that baby," Steven said.
"Well, I'm not trying to make you feel bad about your feelings, Steven. Have you talked about your needs to Connie? I know she loves you to death so she'll do what she can to make you miss her a little less than what you do now," Urbana asked.
"Yah. We've had this conversation a lot whenever she goes away," Steven said, "We talk every night. We text each other every morning. We watch movies together over face time. Whenever she comes back on break or to visit, we're fused half the time. I don't know. She does a lot for me already. I don't want to ask for anything more."
"Then have you thought about getting a pet or just hanging out more with your friends," Urbana asked, "It's probably cold comfort, but I suppose it's better than nothing."
"I'm all good on the pet thing, but I guess I could do with more Lars hang out time. He's always out in space doing who knows what. Maybe I could help him with whatever or just hang out," Steven said.
Urbana just shrugged, then said, "I wish I had better advice for you Steven. I'm long-distance dating someone like—"
Steven then slammed his hands on the table, making their cups of tea rattle as he said, "You're dating someone! And you didn't tell me!?"
Urbana leaned back into her chair as she laughed, then said, "It's always funny whenever someone's surprised to hear me say I'm dating."
Steven sat back down then said, "Sorry. Sorry. I want to hear about your significant other, but you don't have to if you don't want to."
"I'd love to," Urbana said as she got out her phone to show pictures of Scarlet to him.
For the rest of the day the two of them hung out and thought about future double dates that they could go on and what they liked best about their significant others and what they do together when they're not long-distancing and generally just talked about life. It made Steven feel better and Urbana was happy that she could help.
# # #
It was nighttime in the city of New York. The streets were unusually quiet, mainly because of the people's untrusting fear of the giant robot that is patrolling the streets.
Ghost Team: Urbana, Beetlejuice, Draal, Angor Rot, and Cliffjumper were floating high in the air above the Shredder bot as he's patrolling the streets. Ground Team: Leo, Don, Mikey, Raph, Casey, and Master Splinter, was getting ready to reveal themselves to the Shredder bot as they waited on their motorcycles. Extraction Team: Bumblebee in car form and Sari, they'll be giving Ratchet and First Aid the exact coordinates that they need for making the Ground Bridge appear as they wait in an excluded part of Central Park.
Urbana was looking through Beetlejuice's eyes like they were binoculars and was watching closely as the Shredder bot got closer to the Ground Team. She was playing with the shoulder strap of her shoulder bag.
"How do you do that with your optics," Cliffjumper asked Beetlejuice.
"When you get past the mental barrier that your body isn't physical anymore, you can basically do anything to your body that you want to do," Beetlejuice said as he looked up to Cliffjumper with empty eye sockets.
"You okay kid," Draal asked Urbana, seeing the light that surrounds her has been tendril-ize-ing around her in obnoxious and anxious ways for a while now.
"You guys only have a small window of energy that will allow you all to hold that guy down long enough for me to physically immobilize him like Ratchet and First Aid had showed me. I don't want to mess up," Urbana said.
"Well at least you don't have to do it perfectly," Beetlejuice said.
"If I don't, he'll suffer immense pain," Urbana said.
"Hasn't he been making that rat and his family suffer years of immense pain," Angor Rot asked.
Sam sighed as she continued to watch the giant robot walk right into Ground Team's position. There was a pause as Master Splinter came out of hiding to stand in front of robo-Shredder. The two of them appeared to speak with one another, then robo-Shredder made a move to grab Master Splinter, prompting Casey, Raph, Mikey, Leo, and Don to come out of hiding, on their motorbikes, and the chase began.
Urbana tossed Beetlejuice's eyes back to him, then holding on tight to Cliffjumper's middle digit, she said, "Go!
Everyone else held onto Cliffjumper and he flew down after them, following behind and above them. The Shredder bot followed the gang out of the crowded city and into the more open spaced out and darker Central Park. The Ground Team then motored by Bumblebee and Sari. Bumblebee transformed into his robot form and had his arm guns out, making the Shredder bot stop in his tracks. Urbana pulled out her tools from her shoulder bag then instructed Beetlejuice to throw her at the nape of Shredder bot's neck. He did. As Urbana landed on the Shredder bot, Beetlejuice possessed robo-Shredder's legs, Draal and Angor Rot possessed an arm each, and Cliffjumper possessed the rest of his body. The four ghosts kept him still as Urbana cut open the back of his neck then pulled and cut a few wires that paralyzed him and knocked out his sensors. Whatever organic part of the Shredder that was left inside this dead Cybertronian, now couldn't see or hear anything outside the metal body.
Once Urbana's ghost friends stopped possessing robo-Shredder, the giant robot started falling forward to the ground, but Cliffjumper caught Urbana before she could fall with him. He then sat her down next to everyone else and the giant robot fell to the ground with a clang.
"Is everyone alright," Urbana asked.
"I'll be much better once I have a cup of tea to sooth my nerves," Master Splinter said.
"I told Base our coordinates," Bumblebee boop-beeped.
"I don't like this," Casey said, "These things don't usually go this well."
"Sshh," Sari harshly shushed him, then said, "Don't jinx us."
"Okay. So I just got told that the Ground Bridge is down again," boop-beeped Bumblebee.
"What did I just tell you," Sari said.
"What," Raph asked, "We don't understand binary."
Sari repeated what Bumblebee said.
"Great. So now what," Leo asked.
Urbana went up to her ghost friends and asked, "How are you all feeling?"
"Exhausted," Angor Rot said and Draal and Cliffjumper nodded their heads in agreement, while Beetlejuice was like, "Meh."
As everyone was talking and trying to figure out where to hide, the sound of a racing car heading their way became more prominent with each passing second. A red fancy sport's car showed up. Bumblebee without hesitation started shooting at the car. The car swerved left and right, then it transformed into a giant sexy red robot. He had, strapped to his arm, a weird looking weapon.
"Thanks for doing the hard work for us, Autobots," he shouted.
Then he used the weapon on his arm and a massive pulse of energy like the sonic boom of a sound wave came out of it. He used the weapon to sweep everyone with it. If Beetlejuice hadn't of grabbed Urbana to turn her intangible, then it would have knocked her out too.
"Man, I love this thing," the red bot said as he admired the weapon on his arm.
"Hey! You missed a spot," Urbana shouted at him.
"Oooh. Are we going to fuck him up?" Beetlejuice asked.
"Hm," He huffed, then said, "You're a tiny little flesh bag. I can squish you under my fist. Actually. You know what. Why not. It'll make Bumblebee mad to see one of his human pet's dead."
As the giant red robot started to walk over to Urbana, Draal asked, "What are we going to do?"
Urbana grabbed him by his spikey shoulder, imbuing him with her energy, then said, "Spin dash into his shins and ankles."
Draal felt energized and determined as he said, "With pleasure."
Off he went. Soon the red bot was feeling pain and tripping over his feet, not understanding why. While he was distracted, Urbana then placed a hand on Angor Rot's forearm and imbued him with her energy.
"Make it where he can't use that weapon on his arm," Urbana instructed.
"Easy," Angor Rot said, feeling her energy and the determination flow through him.
The giant robot was too distracted by what was happening with his feet to notice how his wrist weapon was slowly coming apart.
"Beetlejuice." Urbana said.
Laughing maniacally, Beetlejuice manifested a giant cartoon like hammer into his hands and he said, "I'm going to beat his pretty little face in."
Beetlejuice flew in and smashed the giant robot in his left cheek. Blue blood came out of his mouth. The red bot fell to his hands and knees.
"What is going on!?" He shouted as he was swinging his arms wildly around, trying to hit what he couldn't see.
Urbana went up to Cliffjumper and motioned for him to pick her up. He lowered his hand and she climbed on, then she grabbed his middle digit, and she imbued him with the most energy that she could without passing out.
"Come on. Let's stomp on him while he's down. We just got to last until everyone else wakes up or until the Autobots get their Ground Bridge running again," Urbana told him.
He nodded in agreement. Cliffjumper ran over to the Decepticon then jumped on his back and continued to do that.
The red Decepticon looked over his shoulder at the weird flying human as he was being stomped on. He tried to get her with his wrist weapon, but it wasn't working for him and it looked like it was actively falling apart. So, he did the only thing he really could do, call for help.
"Starscream, I need immediate back up," He got out before Beetlejuice hit him in the face again with his hammer.
A few minutes later a Ground Bridge opened, and Urbana hoped with all her heart that it was the Autobots. It wasn't. A grey Decepticon with skinny legs and looking like he was wearing stiletto heels walked out of the Ground Bridge.
"Alright, Knock Out what's the… What's going on here?" The grey Decepticon asked as he saw what looked like his ally was being beaten up by multiple people at once but only seeing one floating human going up and down.
"Just," Beetlejuice hit him in the face, "help me!"
"Alright, cover your head," Starscream said as he aimed a red rocket, that was strapped to his wrist, at Urbana.
Before he fired, Urbana yelled, "Someone be ready to catch me!"
He fired at her and Urbana jumped out of Cliffjumper's hand. Draal caught her. In the distance, the red rocket exploded a tree a block from where they were hiding. The sound of distant alarms was going off.
The energy that was sustaining Cliffjumper subsided quickly, and he wasn't able to jump on Knock Out, only fazing through him, and with Draal carrying Urbana, nothing was impeding Knock Out's legs, so he was able to get up, but he was still getting hit in the face by Beetlejuice and Angor Rot had mangled Knock Out's weapon so thoroughly that it looked unrecognizable.
"Come on. Help me get Breakdown's corpse," Knock Out said.
Beetlejuice then hit him in the face again with his hammer.
Starscream laughed, then said, "How are you doing that."
Knock Out put one of robo-Shredder's arm over his shoulder as he said, "I'm still being attacked by her."
Starscream put the other arm over his shoulder and the two of them started walking towards the still open Ground Bridge.
"Hey!" Urbana yelled, "You're not going anywhere with him!"
Without giving Urbana a second glance, Starscream aimed his second red rocket at her knocked out friends and said, "You do any more, funny business, and I fry half your companions."
"Ah!" Urbana scream panicked, "Okay. Okay. We'll leave you alone!"
"Awe," Beetlejuice complained as he made his hammer disappear.
They all watched them drag robo-Shredder away and as soon as the Decepticon Ground Bridge disappeared, a new Ground Bridge appeared and Arcee, Jazz, and Rodimus charged out with guns out. When they saw the scene, they put away their guns.
Draal put Urbana on the ground, and she immediately laid down, so tired that she could barely move. The sirens in the distance were getting closer but they were a distant headache to Urbana. All her ghost friends came over to her and watched over her as they talked amongst each other, wondering what they were going to do now.
Rodimus eventually came over to Urbana and he said, "Oh! You're awake. Can you get up?"
Urbana shook her head, and said, "No."
"I'm going to pick you up then. Is that alright," Rodimus asked.
She nodded her head, and said, "Yah."
He delicately picked her up like you would pick up a fat caterpillar, then he gently placed her on top of the unconscious pile of people in the truck bed of Jazz's vehicle form. Arcee and Rodimus put an arm each of Bumblebee's over their shoulders, then they all went through the Ground Bridge together.
When they all entered the base, it was a worrying welcome. Ratchet and First Aid immediately took the unconscious Bumblebee to an examination slab to give him a checkup and every human in the base, Miko, Jack, Rafael, June, Professor Isaac, and Special Agent Fowler helped unload all the unconscious people in Jazz's truck form.
"Ah, good. One of you is awake. Maybe you can tell us what the heck went wrong over there," Agent Fowler asked.
Urbana told them what happened and what she tried to do.
"You took on Knock Out. By yourself," Agent Fowler asked.
"No she had her ghost friends with her," Miko reminded him.
"You're very quick to forget about us aren't yah," Beetlejuice said.
Agent Fowler didn't acknowledge him.
"Beetlejuice. You're forgetting to make yourself visible again," Urbana reminded him.
"Oh. Right," He said. Then he made himself visible and repeated himself.
Agent Fowler went, "Bah!" at him.
"What are we going to do, now that the Decepticons have Breakdown's corpse?" Raf asked.
"Most likely nothing," June, Jack's mother, said, "We only wanted him to get Cybertronian technology out of the Foot Clan's hands."
June then moved on from an unconscious Mikey and started examining an unconscious Don.
"They have other alien tech, right," Jack asked, "What are we going to do about that?"
"Right now, we'll focus on getting those Foot Clan hooligans under control," Agent Fowler said as he started to walk towards the elevator, "I'll be giving Fanzone a few calls."
He then entered the elevator, and he was gone.
"Someone wake me up when there's food," Urbana notified whoever was close enough to hear her, then she fell asleep.