Phoenix groaned as she woke up in a room of darkness. The place was partially lit up with red light as she slowly got up and looked around.

"Where… am I?"

She drove forward but froze when she saw the organs floating in the jars hung on the shelves nearby. She shakily backed up, eyes wide and fearful. She hit another shelf behind her, and she swiveled around in horror to see the bloody engines and tires sitting on the shelves.

"GASKETS!" she began to hyperventilate as she looked around to find more bloody truck parts on the ground. "OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH!"

She backed up more and hit another nearby shelf. She turned around, and her eyes widened and twitched the moment she saw the lifeless truck heads sitting on the shelf. Her panic rose to her throat, and she choked at it as she shakily backed up before releasing a scream.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Her scream reached all the way up to the house, where Crusher watched over Gherkin and Sparkle play tea party in the living room while Lily, who had offered to stay earlier, was making dinner, and Pickle was looking through his laptop.

"Oh boy, like mother, like daughter," the green truck sighed and closed his laptop.

"Pickle, what would you do if you woke up in a place full of blood?" Crusher raised an eyebrow.

"I'd wonder if A) I killed someone, or B) who will I kill to get out?" Pickle smoothly answered, ignoring the snort coming from the kitchen that most likely belonged to her older sister.

"…well, not everyone can stay as calm as you if kidnapped," Crusher shrugged with a sigh. "Or as calm as your sisters, your cousins and/or your grandpa,"

"Alright, alright," Pickle giggled and turned to drive off. "I'll be back. You watch over the kiddos,"

"Will do,"

The green truck went through the secret door and down the ramp leading to the basement. The screaming increased in volume as he went closer, and soon, he found himself face to face with Phoenix.

"Ms. Phoenix…?"

"GAH!" Phoenix jumped and turned to him. "Oh, Pickle, honey, it's just you," She sighed in relief. "For a second, I thought that you were the murderer,"

"Murderer? Ms. Phoenix that's insulting," Pickle pouted. "Murderers kill randomly. Assassins such as myself kill with specific targets from specific clients that give us money,"

"Oh, I suppose that sounds more… w-wait," Phoenix's eyes widened realization. "did you just… you're AN ASSASSIN?!"

"Yes, but—"

Before Pickle could go on, there was a thud, and the green truck found the woman the ground, unconscious. He sighed and face-palmed.

"Great, she fainted…"

"Hey, Pickle!" Lily came out from behind him. "Did the screaming stop—" She soon glanced down at the unconscious truck in front of them. "Oh… what happened?"

"She fainted when I thoroughly explained to her that murderers and assassins were different," Pickle sighed.

"Oh, Pickle…" Lily face-palmed. "Did you tell her that you were an assassin THROUGH your explanation or before it?"

"Through, but if I told her before it, she could've fainted before I even finished my explanation!" Pickle reasoned out.

"Fair enough…" Lily let out a sigh. "Come on, let's bring her up to one of your guest rooms,"

X

"Ms. Phoenix was also kidnapped?" Officer Anna gasped. "Do you know where she was last seen?"

"She said that she was having tea with a friend," Flame answered.

"The tea shop, understood," Anna nodded.

"We'll go with you, Officer Anna," Blaze offered as he drove forward with AJ. "The three of us can go investigate,"

"Good idea, come on!" Anna have a nod and led the duo to the tea shop.

There they found the owner of the tea shop about to lock the door and close the shop for the day.

"Excuse me, Sir,"

"Hmm?" The owner turned to them and gasped. "Officer Anna, Officer Blaze, Officer AJ! What brings you to my tea shop?"

"We'd like to ask you some questions," Anna spoke, holding out a picture of Phoenix. "Have you seen this woman? She was last seen at your tea shop,"

"Oh, yes, I have," the owner nodded. "She has been here earlier with a friend. They had been drinking tea when she suddenly felt dizzy, and her friend had to hold her and help her drive home,"

"A friend, huh?" Anna frowned and turned to her colleagues. "Blaze, AJ, do you know any of your Mom's friends that could have come here today?"

"Not that we know of, no," Blaze shook his head.

"Sir, can you tell us the description of the truck she was with?" AJ asked.

"Oh, of course," the owner gave a nod. "It was a green female truck. She had blonde hair, tied up in a ponytail and bright pink tires. Oh! She also had little bumps at the sides, like pickle bumps,"

"Hmm… that doesn't sound familiar to me," Anna sighed.

"Wait, it does for us!" Blaze gasped.

"It does?"

"Yeah!" AJ agreed and held out a picture from his digital watch. "Sir, does the girl with her look exactly like this?"

"Why, yes, yes she does," the owner nodded.

"Thank you for your time, Sir," Blaze gave a firm nod then he and AJ led Anna back to the station.

"What's going on, Blaze? AJ?" Anna asked. "Who is that?"

"This is Pickle's sister, Lily," Blaze replied with a hiss. "And it looks like she's a possible suspect,"

X

"Ms. Phoenix? Are you okay?"

"Mm…" Phoenix groaned as she woke up in a bed, rubbing her head. "Lily…?"

"Yeah, it's me," Lily nodded. "Are you—"

"Oh my, Lily!" Phoenix turned to her. "Your brother! H-He's—"

"An assassin, yes, I know," Lily sighed. "In fact, I am too,"

"Our whole family is, actually," Pickle clarified, entering the room.

"Y-Your whole family are assassins?!" Phoenix gasped.

"Calm down, Ms. Phoenix, we won't hurt you," Lily assured her. "We kidnapped you too for your own safety,"

"TOO?!" Phoenix allowed realization to dawn upon her as she released another gasp. "You… You also kidnapped Sparkle?! Where is she?! What have you done to her?!"

"YA-HOO!"

"YAY!"

A cheer from outside the room echoed through before the siblings could reply to her question. Suddenly, the door burst open, and in came an exhausted-looking Crusher, with Sparkle and Gherkin on his head and giggling.

"Airplane's crashing…" the dark blue truck groaned as he slumped down. "Ugh…"

"Oh, you two," Lily chuckled as Pickle giggled. "Did you two tire out Crusher with an airplane ride?"

"Oops, looks like we did," the orange truck jumped down and glanced at the dark blue truck guiltily. "Sorry!"

"Sowwy, Cwusha," the green baby truck jumped down too and gave a kiss on the larger truck's cheek.

"I just… need a rest…" Crusher assured them, eyes swirling dizzily. "Or… a lot of rest…"

"SPARKLE!" Phoenix cried out.

"MOM!" Sparkle turned and hopped onto the bed, embracing her mother. "YOU'RE HERE!"

"AND YOU'RE SAFE!" Phoenix sighed in relief. "I'M SO GLAD THAT YOU'RE SAFE!"

"Um-ahem," Pickle cleared his throat to catch their attention. "Sorry for the kidnapping, Ms. Phoenix, but this is a necessity,"

"A necessity?" Phoenix raised an eyebrow. "Why? What's going on?"

"One of my clients wants your son dead, along with the rest of your family," Pickle explained as Lily and Gherkin helped Crusher up. "I only kill evil people, so my client tried to fib and make your family look bad. I'm planning to expose him, but I need to kidnap to make sure he doesn't send another assassin who'd actually do the job,"

"Any clue to who might be after our family?" Phoenix asked.

"Only a code name and that he's rich af, but apart from that? Nothing," Pickle sighed.

"Well, there was a ping from your laptop that might help," Crusher said.

"Ah, he responded. Good," Pickle nodded and drove out. "Lily, help me out here, please,"

"Okay, little brother," Lily followed after her brother.

As soon as they were gone, Gherkin leapt onto the bed.

"HEWWO!" she greeted. "My name GHERKIN!"

"Aww, hello, Baby Gherkin," Phoenix smiled before pausing. "Wait, you're Pickle and Lily's sister too, right?"

"Mm-hmm!" Gherkin nodded.

"Does that mean you're an assassin too…?"

"In-twaining," Gherkin corrected with a giggle. "Me not assassin just yet! Gwandpa, sistas, cousins, and big bwotha still teaching me!"

"She's my new best friend!" Sparkle hugged the little green truck.

"Best friends… with an assassin-in-training…" Phoenix nervously chuckled with a light hiss. "Oh my… that's not dangerous at all…"

"She'll be fine," Crusher waved off the concern as the girls jumped from the bed and rushed off to play. "Having an assassin for a best friend isn't that bad. Just… need to watch out for the warning looks, that's all,"

"Mm-hmm…" Phoenix slowly nodded as she turned to watch the girls run off. "So, about Pickle's plan… do you know anything about it?"

"Nope," Crusher shook his head. "Only think I know is the kidnapping. He says that the rest is improvise,"

"And you… trust him that simple?"

"I've seen him do his work, so yeah, I trust him that simple," Crusher shrugged. "You get used to it,"

"How… long have you known him as an assassin?"

Crusher paused a while, debating whether he should answer. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"A long time,"

With that, he turned and left to follow after the girls.