The Pranksters' next brilliant brainstorming session... is interrupted once again. Danny is so spineless that he can't stick up for himself. Even when it's just against his mother, and she's telling him he has to join her at another family event. (All of the others in their group elect to ignore any time where they were also intimidated by Ms. Rubus.)
They try thinking of something to do, but inevitably return to the failure of their last plan. But something else is eating at Francine, "Do you think Danny would ever, really, leave us for the Electric Company?"
Annie breaks out every question she can think of, "What do you mean? What are you talking about? Did he say something?"
Francine shows off one of the skills that she learned from being a Currathers. By swiveling her head like she would towards a waiter who gave her the wrong dish at a restaurant. "I sent you a clip of him and Hector together in the sound booth."
Annie backs down a bit, "I thought it was something about me."
Which just serves to make Manny angry, "We weren't gonna send you something and then try to talk to you. We would've shown it to you while we were there, and we could see your reaction. That way we would be able to catch you in a lie, not wait for you to come up with a story."
"You would really do that?" She says it like it's an honor. Maybe it is, to have her intelligence be so respected by Manny of all people.
"Yes," Francine cuts in. "Now what do we do about Danny?" She adds derisively, "You can look at the video if you like." But she does seem willing to wait.
They are no closer to a consensus about what to do, than when they started the discussion. They all agree that Danny wants to stay with them and that Hector wouldn't try anything, but there was something else going on in their little chat. A lot of issues are being brought up that none of the other Pranksters has ever heard about.
If only they had a window to the inside of Danny and Hector's heads, when they're talking. Or so Annie bemoans.
Which just serves to set Manny off, "I can do that."
For a moment, Francine could swear her ears perked up like a cat. "Can you really?"
"I totally can." Manny puffs up his chest a bit.
Francine wears her most self satisfied smirk, and waves her hand like she's controlling an invisible orchestra. "Then get to work."
After a successful day of helping Skeleckians (for once the problems weren't from the Pranksters), they are invited to a traditional celebration of some sort or another. They might be the tiniest bit afraid to ask. The last time Lisa did, she got a five hour lecture.
On the way from the get-together to the diner, they pass by Danny Rebus. Who just so happened - was intentionally trying - to overhear what was going on. While they try to calm him down and explain how it went down, Keith notices some type of movement in the park. Since Lisa and Jessica are not trapped in the conversation, yet, he subtly gestures at them to check it out.
Of course they, immediately, find the Pranksters monitoring the scene. But instead of stopping like they've been caught doing something wrong, they gesture at them to join. When that doesn't work right away, (or at all. Why would it?) They pull the two young women behind the bush and keep fiddling around with the controls on a contraption. Until they seem to strike pay dirt, cheering silently, ready to listen in.
The first and last thing they hear from Keith is, "Why do I have to be here? Why do I have to be the one to deal with this argument?" They flip a switch and confirm that that was not what he said aloud, ending the testing phase of the device.
Time to put it in action.
It takes some fiddling to get both Hector and Danny's voices, without them overlapping, but they manage. The first words they can actually understand are from Hector.
His facial expressions don't go with the sadness in his tone, at all, when he says, "I wish you had been there. I always want you there."
Danny's anger actually matches very well. "Why do you always leave me out of things, and then try to act like you don't mean it? Just stick with it. I'm not some numbskull, for you to trick."
Hector acts like he also has access, to the very same window, into Danny's head. "I'm not trying to trick you. I hate this."
By contrast Danny seems off in his own world, with an answer that is completely out of the blue. (Because he doesn't know what he's answering.) "You're not the same, since you joined the Electric Company. Acting like you would never do anything wrong. But we both know better."
"You aren't the same since you joined the Pranksters." And man, is that eerie. "When you're not around them for a while you act so much better than this. Less touchy, more helpful. I miss when you were just mischievous, not evil. You were fun to be around."
Danny certainly doesn't screech out the next bit, even though that's what it looks like he should be doing. Instead, he lets out a wailing sob. "I miss when you weren't all goodie two shoes. You could take a joke, back then. You understood me like nobody else."
"I loved hanging out with you." Every word serves to make Hector seem further down inside a pit of sadness.
"I miss when you still considered us friends."
The device starts beeping, almost like it can't handle translating all the thoughts into a coherent message. "I loved you." After that sentence, the transmitter abruptly cuts out. Manny tries to slam some controls and fix it, but he can't do that without his tools. Which are at home.
The Pranksters, plus their... prisoners, are forced to look back up, so they can see what's going on. Only to watch as Danny storms off.
Lisa and Jessica were already suffering from the shock of being pulled into the bushes. Then it was from hearing the voices of people they know, superimposed over top an image that didn't match. But apparently this time was the final jolt needed.
Lisa starts with, "What just happened?"
"We wanted to see what they don't say when they argue," Annie shakily explains.
Jessica is the one to start asking the question on everybody's mind. "Do you think he meant-"
"No," is the very loud reply. Then everybody quiets down to put in a tiny, "Maybe."
Francine has to be in control of the situation. "It wouldn't be such a bad thing if we lost Danny. I mean his schemes were always very small fry."
"Woah, woah, woah. Just hold on second." Manny is so not ready to have that talk. "Who said anything about Danny having to leave?"
"You can't have my brother!"
Spamboni just sighs, "Who said anything, about anyone, leaving anybody?" He gets several furrowed brows, before everyone processes the information and their faces return to smoothness.
"What are you suggesting?" Lisa seems willing to hear out his ideas.
If only he knew what to do, but even a genius level intellect has its limits. "Everything can just stay, mostly, the same." He tries not to yell, but the next time becomes a bit too tentative. "They just... hang out on their own, and get to say no to a few group activities."
"We need to ask them what they want."
"Scrambler, this whole thing was an invasion of privacy," Lisa is sure to remind them. "We can't just ask. Not without them getting mad. It could also serve to make them much less willing to talk it out."
"You got a better idea?"
They decide it's probably best not to tell Keith about their potential (temporary) allyship with the Pranksters. He doesn't remember what Danny was like as a kid, or have a vested interest in Hector's happiness. Or the reverse, if he's compared with the rest of the Pranksters.
All they really need to do is tell Mr. Watson that Kieth wants to help out more at the dinner, and he's out of the way.
They know exactly what they're gonna do. If they can just leave them both out of two 'parties', then they would have something to bond over. This time, nothing can go wrong.
Everything didn't go exactly the way they anticipated. But on the bright side, Shock and Paul are now in on it with them. On the downside, Paul had to stay away from Hector for fear that he would blurt something out.
The new plan was much better, anyway. It relied entirely upon previous plans which had worked. (They would never admit how exactly those plans had worked, or who against. But still.)
Jessica was going to share a recording of what Hector thought, with Danny.
He might be a bit angry, but at least he wasn't going to storm off in the wrong direction. Again. Probably.
Lisa was in charge of asking Hector about what he remembered about Danny during their childhoods. Annie and Francine were tasked with distracting Keith (Who was growing suspicious, and knew how to do all the work that his dad asked him to.) Manny had gone back home to sulk, because he didn't like exactly what group the person who had the plan was a part of. Or maybe he was tired of being forced to work with his sworn enemies. He would continue to maintain it was the second option.
Danny wasn't very happy about the explanation Jessica had provided him. "How dare you? You had no right! I can't even begin to express how angry I am right now." His eyes lit up in the midst of rage. "I'm disappointed in you Jess. I thought you were supposed to be one of the good guys."
That hurt. "Hey, they dragged me into this... literally. I'm just the messenger."
"Well, the message has been given. None of you can leave well enough alone." Danny stood there a moment, waiting for something. "You can go now."
Jessica only shook her head. "But the message hasn't been received." Before he could protest she began playing back their internal conversation.
In the wake of the reveal, Danny had to sit down, so he could process the information. "Hector can't... He doesn't-"
"He does. Those were literally the thoughts inside his head."
Danny puts his head in his hands. "That's not what I meant. He doesn't, not now."
"How could you possibly-" That time he's the one to cut Jessica off.
"He used the past tense. You only used the past tense when talking about people with things that are done, finished." He took a deep breath, "It's not true anymore." Danny would not cry. If he had to, he would leave Jessica abruptly but he wouldn't let himself cry.
"Why don't you ask Hector about that himself?" She still sounded hopeful.
"Because if he doesn't, then I have to hear him say it." Danny's voice wasn't shaking, why would it be shaky? "If he does, then he'll be angry at me for the stuff that you did behind my back."
"If he does, then he'll forgive you." She was only being pragmatic. "If he doesn't, then you could reawaken those feelings."
"What if he doesn't want to?" Danny manages to look her in the eye, for that.
"I want my brother to be happy. If that's with you, then great. But I think as you are, right now, you hurt him just as much as he hurts you." She says the next bit with as much command in her voice as possible, "This can't continue. You can't go on like this."
Jessica was only slightly worried about Danny staring off into space. She knew he had a lot to think on and left him with nothing else, but a pat on his shoulder.