Pete waited outside the elder's meeting room patiently. He knew better then to storm in there when they'd asked for him. Honestly, what kind of idiot would? He'd left his little gaggle of friends after some random subordinate came bursting into his room, out of breath and with a crazed, excited look on their face, asking for him to see the elders. And of course he obliged. He couldn't help but worry, wondering what horrid things could be in store for him. His personal theory was that they'd seen him take a liking to his friends. Perhaps they felt the need to remind him of his priorities, but they had no need to. He wasn't stupid. He knew how to balance his work and family, and he'd never allow the two to intersect in a harmful way. Although... if that meant he would be harmed in the process... he would still persevere, he decided. He'd gone through far worse things than whatever the elders could throw at him. It would be worth it to ensure the gang's happiness.

He continued this stream of thought, tumbling potential scenarios around in his head. It was as if he was testing himself to see if there were any instances where he might give up. But he found that there was not. It made for a comforting fantasy, one that could ease him into the meeting with the elders. After about 10 more minutes, he heard the distinct rapping on the door as the signal for him to come in. He ducked under the low door, into the tall, dark, musty cavern of a room. Part of him always wondered how this building could possibly run so deep under ground. Another, less childish part of him, said it didn't really matter after a certain point. He hazarded a glance at the table and noted that some of the elders weren't there, as it was a rarity for them to be all in one place. Still, there were a lot more gathered than he expected, and he scratched at his throat anxiously again. It was a less noticeable tic than his cleaver twirling, so he always made an effort to "use" that one when around them. One of the elders cleared their throat and began the monologue.

"We've just received a very, VERY special commission from a nice young man. He's asked us to send our best of the best, and most despicably brutal members!" Truthfully, the client had NOT used that wording but they knew it would get under Pete's skin. "We honestly had no other options than you!"

Pete lowered his eyes to the ground. Ha... ha... It wasn't a direct punishment at least. Sounded like another lunatic using their Family as a hitman service. That wasn't exactly standard, or even fully permitted use of his... services. What was so special this time as to warrant calling him down?

Speaking came easier to him ever since he became friends with Frankie, but it was still a difficult task around these freaks. "Why do you need me for this?"

"Well," one of the elders spoke up, "this isn't any regular old murder we are speaking of. This man is certainly not a delusional lunatic thinking he could just make use of us like toys. He showed us his plans ahead of time, and this isn't an attack. It's a more like a torment. Almost akin to a re-education, but most interestingly, it's something that will make us very VERY powerful, from what we've seen. He seems to hold our views, and he doesn't want anyone dead. He just wants to teach some people." A few of the others had risen from their seats, caught up in the intrigue of it all.

"...oh..." Wait a minute... "Oh!" Pete almost felt his heart explode out of his chest from the sudden shot of excitement. He'd get to go outside! AND HE DIDN'T HAVE TO KILL ANYONE TO DO IT! He struggled to keep his joy hidden as he continued, "Of course. I'd... I'd be glad to take this job. For the good of the Family..." Ahaha, what a joke! This would be wonderful!

The elders smiled and glanced back and forth between themselves. "This will have to be a bit of a team effort however. It requires some deeply intricate cooperation. So we've assigned your little group of friends to go along with you. You'll be joined by Sally the Spinach Can, Frankie the Fridge, Bread Boi, and Sam and Tam the Monster Cans. We know you work together so terribly well, and I'm sure you'll all create the expected results."

"Mhm, yes of course," Pete absentmindedly responded as he thought about how nice it would be to go out like this. And with his real family too! This had to be some sort of elaborate joke, it was too good to be true. He was going outside with ALL of them and he wasn't murdering anyone. There was an ecstasy flowing in his veins and he found himself stumbling around for a moment. Ahaha, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! What was this?! This wasn't real this wasn't real. One of the elders frowned at his gleeful body language and snapped their fingers, causing Pete to flinch back and cover his head before standing at attention. They laughed. What a moron. It was so nice to have this monster under complete control.

"Well, you'll meet your client outside the front exit tomorrow morning. You're dismissed."

Pete found it hard to get downtrodden by the snap with such exciting news on the horizon. It didn't take long for the instinctual panic to wear off and be washed away by the flood of joy in his soul. He quickly exited the room and almost tripped over Sally in his haste down the hall, who'd evidently come to see what was taking him so long.

"Oh there you are! So what's the deal with-" He immediately scooped her up and placed her on his shoulders, dashing down the hall. "Hehe! We got a new job! We get to go outside! We don't have to kill anyone to do it! We'll be seeing new things, oh this is WONDERFUL!" Sally squeaked, trying to hold on as he soared through the building. Noticing this, he ground to a halt and let her readjust.

"N- new job you say? No killing? That doesn't sound any fun..." She ruffled her mussed up hair until it fell back into place.

"Oh but it will be!" he said, barely able to contain his excitement, "You'll see, oh you'll finally see! You'll finally understand. We're going tomorrow morning! We've got to tell the others!"

"The others?"

"Oh yes yes, the others are coming with us! It's a group effort." He fidgeted excitedly. Sally was slightly taken aback by his uncharacteristic energy. Even at the best of times, she'd never heard this much emotion in his voice or this much active movement. But she was still glad to see him... not completely depressed. With any luck, she'd get a full laugh out of him during this job, and her quest to make him happy would be complete! And so she joined in on the excitement, bouncing up and down in anticipation as they strode down the halls.

...

The next morning, the gang was gathered in front of the client outside the building. This... wasn't exactly what they expected.

He was an... extremely tall man, for a human at least, and he had extremely stringy blue hair. His face was distorted and malformed, and all he seemed to wear was brown overalls. Either the elders had lied about him being a nice "young" man, or they were just so old that something like him qualified as young. The way they'd described him gave Pete the idea that he was at least well kept together, but in hindsight, he'd only been stated as not delusional. Hmm. The man waited outside of an old dinky blue car and stared at them while breathing heavily. The Monster Can twins hid behind Pete, and he could feel Sally tightening her grip around his head. Frankie also took a step back at the sight of him, tightening his grip on BB. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air.

"Well..." the man began, "I am Roy. Get in the car. We'll discuss matters on the way to my house."

Pete mentally scolded himself for having such childish fantasies of meeting some well kempt, if not a little bloodthirsty man and just getting to do a little torture while getting a close look at the outside world. Regardless, he still had some hope. Things could still be interesting, happy even, and with any luck, the torture would take up the smallest percentage of their visit.

The car ride was cramped and tense.