It wasn't long after Caboose got the little girl out of the tree that a police officer arrived on a bicycle to investigate the disturbance. "I heard report of a girl stuck up in a tree?" he asked, his voice calm and controlled.
"I took care of that!" Caboose declared proudly. "I got her down safe and sound, balloon and all!"
"Well, thanks for that!" the cop praised happily. He then noticed the cracks around the base of the tree. "How'd that happen?"
"How'd what happen?" Caboose asked in confusion.
"The cracks in the concrete," the cop explained coldly.
"Total coincidence!" Caboose declared nervously.
"Mister Caboose pulled the tree out of the ground!" Papi piped up happily. "Then he tipped it over and the girl got out! And then he put it back!" She looked up at Caboose with starry eyes. "So cool!"
"Coincidence, huh?" the cop asked Caboose coldly, his eyes going flat as he stared at him.
Caboose stared back, then held up his gauntlet. An image of his identification – given to him for use here when he landed – appeared. "I have deinonychus impunity."
"…you're free to be a dinosaur?" the cop asked in confusion.
"He means diplomatic immunity," Miia translated, her palm against her face. Sometimes her Darling was just beyond belief.
"Oh!" the cop responded more normally, glancing over the identification. "You're Caboose, the Chorus ambassador. That's alright then." As Caboose breathed a sigh of relief, the cop turned to Miia and Papi. "And you two are Interspecies Exchange homestay students? Who's your homestay family?"
"They stay with me!" Caboose declared eagerly. "We are very happy, and not at all suspicious! No bum chicken bum bum here!" He nodded up and down. "Nothing suspicious whatsoever…"
The cop turned to stare flat-eyed at Caboose again.
Caboose slowly leaned towards Miia. "Why is he still staring?" he stage-whispered, still speaking loud enough for the cop to here. "I told him there was nothing suspicious about us!"
"Then let me see your papers, please," the cop asked calmly.
"…papers?" Caboose asked, confused.
"Their identification and proof of homestay residency," the cop explained.
"Oh…those…right…" Caboose furrowed his brow under his helmet as he tried to think and put together what he was talking about. "Umm…"
Both Miia and Papi looked abjectly terrified. The cop continued to stare flatly.
"Paper…work? Yes!" Caboose continued eagerly. "The scary Smith lady hasn't given it to us yet, because my diminutive insurgency means lots and lots of extra paperwork!"
"Oh, yes!" Miia added quickly, managing to catch where Caboose was going with this. "Agent Smith is always complaining about how overworked she is."
"You don't say?" the cop asked carefully. "And where can I reach this…'scary Smith lady'?"
"By turning left," Agent Smith stated calmly from the side.
"WAAUGH!" Caboose yelped, leaping back and lifting a park bench like a club. "…oh, it's scary Smith lady." He carefully put the bench back down.
"…I'm glad Freckles wasn't here," Agent Smith murmured under her breath before showing the new IDs she'd made up for Miia and Papi to the cop.
The cop managed to calm down after seeing someone heft a park bench as easily as a baseball bat and carefully examined the IDs. "…yes, everything's in order," he confirmed. "Have a nice day!" With that, he pedaled away as fast as he could.
Agent Smith then turned to Caboose. "Now, let's discuss this back at your place, alright?"
"Okay!" Caboose agreed readily. "Uh…where is that? I couldn't really tell streets from the sky where Papi was carrying me."
Papi giggled happily, putting one clenched wing-hand to her forehead and sticking out her tongue.
Agent Smith groaned softly. "I know the way…"
"How did you get the papers for Papi staying here so fast?" Miia asked Agent Smith as they were all sitting around in the house with coffee.
"Fast?" Caboose asked in confusion. "But Papi said I was her homestay house. Wasn't scary Smith lady already getting them?"
"That's actually correct," Agent Smith confirmed. "I couldn't get anyone else to host a repeat run away, and I know how much you like 'making new friends'. But on my way to explain all this, Papi ran away again." She then turned to Papi. "On that note, Papi, this is your new home."
"Really?" Papi asked eagerly, her eyes lighting up.
"What?" Miia gasped in shock, having not realized this was serious.
Smith smiled softly. "Indeed. Caboose there is master of the house, so make sure to listen to him…as well as stay with him at all times." Papi immediately started cheering.
"But I can't fly," Caboose pointed out logically.
"…and?" Smith asked curiously.
"How can Papi stay with me at all times if I can't fly like she can?" Caboose explained.
"She'll just have to limit her flying to within reach of you," Smith explained simply.
"…but I don't want to cage my friend…" Caboose offered sadly.
[Suggestion, Captain,] Freckles intoned from outside. [This unit could accompany Lieutenant Papi with proper flight modification.]
"Oh! Would that work?" Caboose asked Smith eagerly. "If I can make Freckles fly like Papi, could he go with her and that count as proper accompanying and assisting?"
Smith thought about that for a time. "…well, that would probably teach her proper social interactions better than you can…" she murmured softly before coughing to clear her throat. "Tell you what, if you can make Freckles fly like Papi without terrifying everyone he comes across – preferably by being smaller and less visibly armed – and capable of assisting Papi however she needs, then I'll fill out the paperwork to have that count as proper accompaniment when she's flying…as long as she comes back to your side at regularly scheduled intervals to check in."
Caboose lowered his head as he thought about this. He thought, and thought, and thought.
Smith smiled. "I didn't think-"
"I got it!" Caboose declared eagerly. Rushing into the kitchen, he ripped the microwave and toaster from the wall. Running back to the living room, he grabbed the TV as well. He then ran downstairs. A loud sound of something being ripped from the wall followed by water leaking preceded his return, carrying the water heater.
Seeing this, Miia turned a horrified expression Smith's way as Caboose rushed out to Freckles repair bay. Smith groaned, rubbing her forehead. "I'll have them all replaced by morning…"
The sound of metalwork, lasers, flamethrowers, and incoherent shouting echoed from the repair bay for a time. Caboose then walked back in, looking inordinately pleased with himself. "Freckles had a baby!" he proclaimed eagerly.
Smith promptly spat her coffee all over the opposite wall. "W-what?" she gasped out in shock.
A small metal sphere – about the size of a basketball – floated into the room, a large optic swiveling on the front face. [Greetings,] the sphere spoke in Freckles' voice. [This unit is designated Freckle. This unit's primary function is to accompany, assist, and protect Lieutenant Papi on her flights.]
"See, my friend Church was a piece of an AI!" Caboose explained eagerly. "And I once stuck him in an alien ball thing, like this one! I remembered what it looked like inside when I did that, and I took the nuker, the bread burner, the idiot box, and the whum-whum-whum thingy and put them together so they looked like that! Then Freckles put a copy of himself inside it, since he doesn't fragment like Church did! And look what he can do!"
[Demonstrating telekinetic function,] Freckle declared as Papi floated into the air and began to spin around.
"Whee!" Papi declared happily. "Fun! Fun! Again!"
"And then there's the angry eye laser to protect her!" Caboose agreed. "Show the scary Smith lady, Freckle!"
The optic began to glow red. [Demonstrating optic blast.] A ray of red light shot out, punching through the opposite wall and leaving a hole to the outside of the house.
Caboose watched silently as everyone stared. "…I can fix that-"
[Demonstrating optic repair tool.] A metal plate floated in from outside and fitted over the hole in the wall. A lens narrowed over the optic until only a tiny dot glowed red. A focused beam moved around the outside of the metal plate until it was fused to the wall.
As everyone turned back to stare at Freckle, Caboose spoke up. "…I knew he could do that!" he offered unconvincingly.