Guest Omake - Little Bags of Nothing (By JimmXinu)

"Saurial, what are you doing?" Kid Win asked.

"Handing balloons out to kids."

"You know what's the most fun about balloons?" Clockblocker asked in a nostalgic tone, "Popping them. Preferably other kids' balloons, of course."

Vista gave Clockblocker a dirty look, "You were always that kid, weren't you."

"You're creating balloons, already filled with helium..." Kid Win said.

"Not helium," Saurial said distractedly, handing over a bright blue balloon on a string to the next child in line. That earned her a quick hug and a lisped 'Thank you.'

"Hydrogen balloons?" Kid Win asked in a strangled voice.

"No, of course not."

"Well good, rubber balloons filled with hydrogen would be dangerous."

"Not rubber either."

Clockblocker rifled around in his pockets a moment before asking Kid Win, "Hey, you have a pin in there somewhere?"

Kid Win, frowning at the next balloon-red this time-absently handed Clockblocker a stick pin he had. (For reasons. Thank you, Armsmaster.)

Vista rolled her eyes and joined the end of the line.

"Mylar? And if it's not helium or hydrogen, what are they filled with?"

Saurial smirked and handed Kid Win the string to a shiny metallic balloon. "Nothing."

Kid Win's jaw worked up and down a couple times, "You're making balloons filled with vacuum? And handing them out to kids?"

Kid Win completely missed Clockblocker's eyes lighting up as he stabbed KW's balloon with the pin, pushing the balloon away a little, but causing no damage.

"Is filled really the right word for something 'full' of vacuum? Anyway, they last for a day and then slowly lose structure so they fill with air and sink before disappearing. And the string is just string. Amy had Raptaur giving them out at the hospital last week. It's a proven design."

Clockblocker, after jabbing his own finger once and yelping, had started stabbing Kid Win's silver balloon again and again to no more result than before. Kid Win continued to not notice the mild tugs on the string. Saurial smirked.

"Hang on, how are you putting a vacuum in a balloon-ohmigod, you're making Saurialsteel balloons!"

Clockblocker gave up on the pin and clapped his hands together as hard as he could with KW's balloon between them. Then he started jumping up and down waving his stinging hands about and tried desperately not to expand the vocabulary of the children around them.

Kid Win and the balloon both ignored his antics entirely.

Saurial grinned, "Yep. A little tiny thin layer of EDM with some color on the outside. It started as a thought experiment, but it turned out to be useful."

Reaching the front of the line, Vista asked, "Useful for what?"

Grinning at Vista, Saurial created a balloon in dark blue with the Family's lizard head emblem on it and handed her the string. "Making unpoppable balloons." Then she handed CB a white balloon with a clock face on it. "Otherwise that kid always pops your balloon."

Back at base after their patrol, Missy got a text from Saurial:

btw, your balloon is permanent. cb's very isn't

Missy grinned. And then frowned, trying to make sense of the second part before shrugging it away.

A moment later, there was a crack sound from the next room and Dennis' voice swearing about lizards and 'slowly my ass'.