Hat Kid's eyes sparkled. Never in her life did she think she would be so glad to see the Conductor. She stood up slowly, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"H-How did you-"

"Did you think someone like me wouldn't have the keys to his own studio?" said the Conductor. "Ha! Think again! I had a feelin' DJ Peck Neck had something to do with what was going on in the studio."

"Okay, okay!" Hat Kid was still shaking. "They took Cloak! We have to go get him."

"What?!" For a moment, the owl's mind paused. The kid had come down to the studio to see him, and he pushed him away.

"Well, I ain't gonna let him get away with fraud and kidnapping!" WIth that, he took the little girl's arm and dragged her out of the office and into the hallway. "Let's blow the cover on this, lassie!"

Hat Kid never expected to team up with this hotheaded owl with a loose tongue, but she wasn't going to say no.

The two rushed through hallways, making their way back towards the Conductor's side of the studio. There was an elevator past the many sets of desert scenes and fake horses.

"They might have taken him down a few floors to the basement," said the Conductor.

"Why did we go to your side of the studio to do this?" said Hat Kid. The girl was still shaking, and she had her umbrella in her hands.

"Because there's Moon Penguins all over the DJ Peck Neck's side of the studio! They've taken all me Express Owls!" he yelled while stamping on the ground. "This is the safest way. I told that lad that DJ Grooves was up to no good."

The girl nodded. "I'm sorry. I helped him. I didn't think-"

The Conductor shook his head. "Don't matter now! Let's save the lad, before this gets even more out of hand.

Umbrella in hand, the girl and the Conductor hopped into the elevator. Hat Kid had never been underneath Deadbird Studio, so she didn't know what awaited her down there. Why did it have to be DJ Grooves? He had been so nice to her.

Were those explosions really by accident?

She had to do this! To save her shipmate and secure the Time Piece.

Cloak Kid wasn't sure how much time had passed, but he could be certain that it had been enough that he skipped his daily dose of medicine. Already, despite sleeping most of the night, he was feeling run down and the room was a bit colder than usual. He shook his head, trying to ignore it, but the motion of doing that just made him dizzy.

They took away all of his cloaks, knowing that he could use abilities when he had them on. But without the small sense of security of being covered, Cloak Kid felt more vulnerable without one. It also didn't help that he was in a small room, with his hands tied behind a chair and his feet to the legs of it.

He sniffled. He had been told before to be careful and to expect to end up in situations like these. His grandfather had been before, because he was careless, and perhaps, so was he.

The boy shut his eyes tightly, fighting back the tears. He wouldn't let his captors have the satisfaction of seeing or hearing him cry.

For now, he focused on trying to wiggle out of the ropes. If he could get his hands loose, he could untie his legs.

Just then, the door opened and then it was Mustache Girl who came in. She was smiling with her hands behind her back. Then, she frowned a little, seeing the sweat that was on his face.

"Nervous?" she said. "You should be." Mustache Girl rolled her eyes. Then she sighed. "I'm sorry it's come to this, but I'm trying to save the world."

"Really?!" The boy wanted to just scream at her. "By messing with time?! You have no idea what consequences await if you use them like that!"

"Well, it's better than what you're doing, you greedy jerk!"

"Greed?! I'm trying to keep them away from people! People like you, who are using them to change things to benefit themselves!"

"I'm trying to save everyone! Make it so there are no more bad guys."

"You kidnapped me! You smashed a man into mush and put his remains in a jar." If Cloak Kid was any sicker, he probably would've thrown up at the memory of that. "The only bad guy I see right now is you!"

Cloak Kid cried out when Mustache Girl smacked him across the face. Her hand hit his cheek, hitting the bruise where the door had hit him earlier.

"Darling! That's enough!"

Cloak Kid shook. He raised his head slowly, and saw DJ Grooves walking into the tiny room.

"He is vital to our plan, darling. Don't damage him."

Mustache Girl shrugged. "Whatever." She stormed out of the room and the DJ shut the door.

Cloak Kid squeaked a little when DJ Grooves lifted his head a little and saw the bruise on his face. "You alright, darling?" When he let go, the boy shrugged, looking away from his captor. "Can I get you something to drink? Eat?"

Food. The very thought of it was making him nauseous. He shook his head. DJ Grooves sat in a chair across from him

"What do you want?" said Cloak Kid.

DJ Grooves adjusted his shades. "I'm sorry my Moon Penguins were a little rough with you. They're pretty dedicated."

Cloak Kid sighed, his damp hair sticking to his forehead. "Then you understand mine. Why are you doing this?"

"I don't mean to, darling." His gentle tone was now unsettling compared to his current actions. "But if I had these Time Pieces, I can finally make things right between me and the Conductor."

"By kidnapping me…?"

"I have to," the DJ said more, sternly. "The little red hooded girl said you have more on your ship and it's in a vault."

Cloak Kid was trying to hide his shaking. He already knew where this was going.

"That little hat girl is already making her way here to try and save you, isn't she? She's a good friend, but I have a terrible owl to take down. I'll let her go, but you need to tell me how to open that vault on your spaceship, darling."

Cloak Kid looked up. The motion of moving his head made him a little dizzy, but he locked eyes with sight of the DJ, which blurred for a moment.

"My grandfather and I lived by a code to protect those Time Pieces." He felt tears on the corner of his eyes, but he fought them away. "And sometimes… we die by it." His bounded hands formed fists. He threw his head forwards and shouted. "You won't break me! So PECK OFF!"

DJ Grooves back away from the boy's foul mouth. Clearly, the Conductor's sharp tongue had rubbed off on him. Cloak Kid was breathing heavily from the shout, but from the sharp look in his eyes and the sweat forming on his face, he was really determined.

It took the Moon Penguin a moment to regain his composure. He stood from the desk that he leaned into and adjusted his oversized afro.

"Whatever you say, darling. But my Moon Penguins will find the little girl, before she can get to you. So think about what your so-called vows mean or I can't guarantee her safety, mark my word. If you don't talk, we'll be getting ready for our big show tonight!"

Cloak Kid's heart started beating even more rapidly as the DJ left the room. The Time Pieces had to be secured. What good was Hat Kid's safety if the safety of time itself was in jeopardy.

Hat Kid had to be fine. She's gotta be.

Until then, now that he was alone, he continued trying to wriggle out of his binds.

Hat Kid and the Conductor charged forward as soon as they stepped off the elevator, but the door in front of them that led to the next area was locked.

"Ya gotta pecking kidding me!" the Owl almost yelled. Hat Kid immediately shushed him harshly, knowing that they had to be quiet. Before the Conductor could say anything in retaliation, Hat Kid was already climbing the shelves of supplies and jumped over the gated fence of a wall, using her umbrella to float down safely, and unlocked the door from the other side.

"There. Let's go!" she said.

The Conductor followed when he caught up with Hat Kid, she was up against a window that showed the warehouse where they kept many things. There were stacks of boxes that were as tall as buildings. Cardboard cutouts and sizzle lifts were everywhere.

Hat Kid's eyes turned to the size of golf balls upon seeing Moon Penguins shoving Cloak Kid along. He didn't seem like walking around too well.

"Cloak…"

"It's down the steps, lass!" said the Conductor. "Let's go already!"

Hat Kid huffed and followed along.

"Why do you care?" she grumbled. "You tried to blow up your train with Cloak and your Express Owls on it!"

"I already told ya! DJ Peck Neck ain't gettin' away with fraud!"

"Whatever…"

The giant storage warehouse was like a giant maze. She was lucky the Conductor knew his way around the place. Trying to calm herself down, Hat Kid read several of the labels that the boxes had. She saw a box of "red herrings," which smelled bad, Chekov's gun, ticking clocks, which made her think about one being more advanced, and other things.

"I should keep this Time Piece for myself. The little darling girl probably doesn't even know it exists. And there's so many still out there!"

"It's DJ Grooves!" said the Conductor. "He's got to be nearby."

The pair entered what appeared to be the grand viewing room of the studio. It wasn't much. There were just a bunch of chairs neatly set up in front of a giant screen. Surrounded the room were walls of glass.

On her left, Hat Kid suddenly made eye contact.

"Cloak?"

There he was, on the other side of the glass, being taken away by Moon Penguins. The second he saw her he slipped the handkerchief covering his mouth by shaking, screaming and shouting as the penguins dragged him towards the door.

"HATTIE, DON'T!" Cloak Kid yelled. "IT'S A TRAP!"

Hat Kid turned around just as other Moon Penguins ran into the room she and the Conductor were in. Umbrella in hand, she leapt into action to fight them off.

"IT'S A TRAP!" Cloak Kid repeated. The Moon Penguins picked him off his feet and carried him out the door. "HATTIE!"

Hat Kid whacked one Moon Penguin into the wall, and his fedora fell off and his shades shattered. The Conductor had grabbed one of the chairs and swung it around.

Suddenly, Hat Kid stopped her fighting upon her shipmates scream being interrupted by a series of coughs.

"No…" she whimpered. She knew this would happen, but to think it was that bad already…

"Lass!"

A Moon Penguin with a chair was right behind her. She turned around just in time to see a chair get thrown into his face by the Conductor. Hat Kid put on her brewing hat and started shaking a bottle of potion.

"JUMP!" she yelled.

The Conductor ducked for cover and Hat Kid threw at the group of the chairs. The explosion sent them everywhere and knocked out the rest of the Moon Penguins.

Hat Kid turned to the glass and tried to shatter it with another explosion, but it didn't work.

"CLOAK!" she yelled. She threw her umbrella at it, but it just bounced back and hit her in the face. "Ow…"

"Lassie, calm yerself!" the Conductor scolded. "There's another way there. This way!" He unlocked the door on the other side of the room.

Hat Kid sniffled, but she picked up her umbrella. "Okay…" She couldn't fail him.

"What's with the lad?" the Conductor then added. "Is he ill or something?"

The two went down a long hallway of doors. They checked every room for any sign of DJ Grooves or Cloak Kid.

"Yes and no…" said Hat Kid. "His immune system just isn't good for now. It's kind of a long story…"

"Eh, well… Tell me when the lad is safe…"

"Huh?"

"I mean once I do to DJ Peck Neck what I should've done in the beginning!" the Conductor then said in his usual aggressive tone.

"Whatever. Then come on! I have a promise to keep!"

They checked more rooms. There was a whiteboard outside of the meeting room written out in dry erase markers. None of it made sense to Hat Kid. In fact, it mostly just looks like ramblings of someone very close to running out of movie ideas. There were no less than seven instances of the word 'reboot'.

They made a left in a fork in the hallway. The Conductor pointed her in that direction, while taking the lead.

Hat Kid then stopped when she saw another whiteboard. It was a drawing of Mustache Girl standing on top of the planet with a bunch of Time Pieces. On the left she could read the words "Mu was here" and on the right was a small, less detailed doodle of herself with stink lines, and under it, it said, "Hat kid smells."

Hat Kid rolled her eyes. Real original… she thought.

Finally, after what felt like hours, they made it to what Hat Kid thought was the deepest part of the studio. It occurred to both Hat Kid and the Conductor that they hadn't come across a single Express Owl. Perhaps they were taken deep into the studio like Cloak Kid.

The hallway they entered was small and cold. It smelled bad and there was water on the floor. Damage had already been done to the walls that were stained black and cracked. There was an unused sign of Dead Bird Studio with the "studio" part crossed out in what Hat Kid prayed was red paint.

The elevator ahead of them was crossed out in black and yellow tape crossing it out, at least three "no humans allowed" signs, two "only birds allowed" signs, one "no cats allowed" signs, and one "no kids allowed" signs.

Despite the tape saying otherwise, the elevator was still working. It opened, allowing them to step in.

There was only one button on the panel, though. It was probably the only way in or out, but Hat Kid knew from tons of water footprints left by the entrance, that this was where they had gone.

"Let's go, lass!" the Conductor said. And without hesitation he stepped in. Hat Kid followed him, wearing her top hat once more, with her other hats at the ready and umbrella in hand. The doors closed and with a push of a button they descended downwards.

"Hang in there, Cloak…" said Hat Kid. "I'm coming."