My tablet is broken and until I work up the nerve to call customer support I can't draw so I'm writing yay
Remember how I was gonna leave the QnA open for a short amount of time? Yeah that didn't happen it's just a thing now. xD You can ask my OCs and peeps questions any time lol. Even me if you really wanted to. My cute little persona will answer. It's good fun.
WOW I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN A WHILE JESUS I'M SORRY Wow
ANYWAY thank you so much for reviews, they really make my day. (after I get over the initial anxiety of "oh no a review what if they said something bad," of course.)
"Can't you just wrap it up or something? Is that really necessary!?"
"Jeez, she's so loud we can hear her all the way out in the waiting room." Becca sighed, slouching in her seat.
"That… Probably means she needs stitches." Finn pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "Which she hates."
"Well they better hurry up, I wanna know what's on that paper." Siddeley crossed his arms. Glancing over at Finn, he asked, "Can't we look at it now?"
"Siddeley, I told you, not until Stacy gets out. It's addressed to her, after all." Finn repeated, shooting Siddeley an annoyed look.
"What if we read it first, and then pretend to be surprised when she reads it back to us again." Siddeley suggested.
Finn's annoyed look deepened.
"It was just a suggestion." He pouted, once again crossing his arms and sliding lower into his seat.
"Mr. McMissile?"
Finn redirected his gaze at the nurse who called his name. "Yes?"
"Your wife, um…" The nurse looked uncomfortable.
Finn sighed, standing up. "Is she being difficult…?"
"…yes, sir."
"Very well…" Finn ran a hand through his hair, visibly growing more annoyed.
Siddeley and Becca watched the nurse direct him through the door she had come through, and she then followed him through it.
"…what the hell does that mean, "being difficult"?" Becca narrowed her eyes in confusion.
"Arguing with the doctors, probably." Siddeley shrugged.
"Don't say it like you don't do the same thing." Becca cocked an eyebrow at her husband, silencing him.
Siddeley smiled sheepishly.
…
"Yes, I'm fine now, gimme the damn paper!" Stacy snapped.
"Don't you want to wait until we're out of the clinic?" Finn asked, not really expecting his wife to comply.
"No." Stacy frowned. "Gimme." She held out her hand.
Finn sighed and took the folder up paper out of his pocket. He barely placed it in Stacy's hand before she snatched it away.
"Dear Stacy," Stacy began. "'As you've probably heard, I've banished myself to Korea.' What the hell does…"
"Keep going," Becca urged.
"Right, sorry." Stacy skimmed over the letter, occasionally voicing a few phrases. "Banished myself to Korea… Pets didn't like… I wanted to continue my experiments where I could do some good with them… After researching…' Uh… There's not much here about any of the experiments he left, I think he just—oh, wait! 'If you ever want to use any of the devices I've left behind, I accidentally made a bad habit out of not writing instructions down."
"Great." Siddeley sighed.
"But," Stacy continued. "I always had a sneaking suspicion that you guys may need the Stalker-Detector again sometime in the future, so before I left I quickly jotted down some notes on how to use it. Fair warning though, I'm not sure how effective it'll be by then. It's still worth a try to boot it up though, just to be safe."
"Not as effective?" Becca crossed her arms. "What do you, uh… What do you suppose that means?"
"What it sounds like." Finn frowned. "But like he said, it's still worth a try to start it up. Stacy, did he say where he left the instructions?"
"Uh… Gimme a sec." Stacy said, reading through more of the letter. "Yeah, right here, he says he left them in his safe behind the… Picture of… Okay."
Siddeley tilted his head. "The picture of what?"
"…yeah it's probably best if you don't know." Stacy frowned. "Anyway, he also says that depending on when I read this, he may have sent a follow-up letter to Fillmore for me. So I guess I'm off to Fillmore's."
"Don't you think it'd be better to go turn on the Stalker-Detector first?" Siddeley asked.
"No seriously what the hell is the picture of." Becca crossed her arms.
"Sure, let's stop off and get the instructions, first." Stacy nodded. "That's... The smart thing to do, anyway."
"What is the picture of?!" Becca demanded.
Stacy sighed. "I guess you'll see."
…
"Where the hell did he… When did he… Why did he…?" Becca stood behind Andy's old desk, looking at the picture on the wall.
"…can we do that?" Siddeley turned to his wife.
"No!" Becca snapped. "…maybe?"
"Okay, goodbye, picture of Andy that makes him look like a general in the… Civil War or something. Where did he get that horse. Why is this here. Anyway," Stacy rambled as she took the large, framed picture off the wall. "Here we go," she said, getting to work on the safe.
"You know the combination?" Finn asked.
"I think so. He left a hint in the letter, I'm pretty sure I know what it is." Stacy nodded.
"What was the hint?" Becca asked.
"Something to do with an anime we watched when we were kids. I doubt you'd understand it." Stacy explained. "Four-two-four-two …" she murmured as she turned the dial. "Five… Six… Four."
Click.
"Nice! Andy, you weeb." Stacy grinned.
"Um." Sid raised an eyebrow.
"Finn, do you wanna try to start it up?" Stacy asked, handing Finn the instructions.
"Sure." Finn nodded, and left the room with the instructions.
"By the way…" Becca spoke up.
"Hm?" Siddeley turned to her.
"Is it just me, or… Should we come up with a better name for him than "Stalker Siddeley"?" Becca asked.
"…it is a name you came up with when you were a kid." Stacy nodded. "It does sound more than a little ridiculous to say the name seriously."
"Actually… That does sound like a good idea." Siddeley put his hands in his jean pockets. "Any ideas?"
"Hm… What about Omega Siddeley?" Stacy grinned.
"Omega Siddeley?" Becca repeated with a cocked eyebrow.
"Sure! It… Fits? Probably?" Stacy shrugged. "I mean, you're Alpha Sid, since Stalker Sid technically came from you. Right? From what we read all those years ago."
"Yeah… But "Omega"? That's just… It sounds really cliché."
"Uh… Okay, how about… Sigma Sid. See, it's even an alliteration." Stacy suggested. "I mean, "Omega" is usually associated with destruction, or possible outcomes of an experiment, so I mean… But okay."
"Why do you know so much about the Greek alphabet?" Becca asked.
"…uh…" Stacy hesitated.
"Best not to ask," Finn called from the other room.
"But anyway, Sigma can also be associated with uncertainty. So. Omega or Sigma. How about it." Stacy crossed her arms with a smile playing at her lips.
Siddeley and Becca exchanged a glance.
"I've always been a fan of alliteration, myself." Becca contributed.
"Sigma Siddeley it is!" Stacy grinned.
Just as Siddeley sort of nodded in agreement and Becca shrugged her indifference, they heard whirring from the next room.
"Alright, I think that did it." Finn announced as he reentered the room. The sleeves of his dress shirt were rolled up and his arms and face were dirty, causing Siddeley to very loudly question his appearance.
"Apparently, it's older than we remember. It… Coughed on me." Finn sheepishly admitted.
"It coughed on you." Stacy repeated in disbelief.
"Anyway," Finn cleared his throat. "Next stop: Fillmore's. Right?"
"Uh, yeah." Stacy nodded, going along with the subject change. "I wanna see if Andy ever got around to sending that follow-up letter."
"Finn, you, uh… Might wanna clean up a little first…?" Becca suggested.
"…do you think Andy left any towels here?" Finn quietly asked Stacy.
Stacy couldn't help but laugh a little. "Why are you so embarrassed about it?" She grinned. "Let's go see."
…
"Fillmore!" Stacy called, knocking on the side of his… Hut. "Fillmore! Geez, why doesn't this guy have a door. I don't wanna barge in there if he's like… Naked or doing drugs or something." She whispered to her friends.
"You really think Fillmore does drugs?" Becca asked in a disbelieving tone. "Don't you think Sheriff would be on his case all the time?"
"Well he definitely smokes something." Stacy frowned.
"I mean… Maybe. It's a strong possibility at this point." Siddeley shrugged, earning him a glare from Becca. "But still unlikely!" He added once seeing his wife's face.
"Fillmore!" Stacy called again, knocking on the side of Fillmore's residence once again.
"Hey!" Snapped a voice in the yard over. The four all turned their heads to see Sarge, standing outside his house, looking rather annoyed.
"Oh hey, Sarge." Sid frowned. "Uh… What's up?" he asked.
"What's up is Miss Loudmouth yelling for someone that's not even home! Can't a guy have some peace and quiet?"
Siddeley snickered. "Miss Loudmouth."
Stacy punched him in the side, causing him to make a choking noise and bend over. "Sarge, do you have any idea where Fillmore is?" she asked politely as Sid doubled over in pain.
"Hm…" Sarge frowned, bringing his hand to his chin. "You know, I think he mentioned something about going out of town for the day for something he could only buy in… Somewhere that's not here. I wasn't really paying attention."
"Well," Becca shrugged. "Like you said. There's no door. You think he'd mind if we just… Looked around a bit?"
Siddeley, finally recovered, stood up straight. "I mean. How messy can a hippie tent be?"
Stacy peeked through the bead curtains. "Holy sh—! Yeah, we're waiting until he gets back. I'm not touching that mess."
"What? It can't be that bad. Lemme s—Oh good lord yeah we're leaving." Siddeley agreed.
Sarge scoffed. "Even I could've told you that was a bad idea."
"Well thanks for warning us." Stacy monotoned at the veteran.
He gave a gravelly laugh then went back inside.
"Wait, Sarge." Finn called. "Do you have any idea when he'll be back?"
"Huh? Uh… No, he didn't say. At least, I don't remember him saying anything."
"I see. Thank you." Finn nodded, and Sarge went back inside for a second time.
"Welp. Now what do we do?" Stacy frowned, shoving her hands into her hoodie pocket.
"Well, Andy did leave you a whole box. I don't suppose you looked through the rest." Finn reminded her.
"Yeah, there wasn't much in there besides a bunch of old Twinkies and a few Japanese weapons." Siddeley shrugged.
"And I don't really have a use for a bunch of shuriken and kunai. So, I just left them."
"Wait, I just saw a bunch of ninja stars and knives." Sid frowned.
"That's… That's what they are, Sid. Shuriken are ninja stars."
"Really?" Sid asked. "How do you even remember something like that?"
"Because it's common knowle—" Finn started to say, but Stacy cut him off.
"Because of the pun! Can a ninja hit his mark with a ninja star? Sure-he-can." Stacy's face stretched into such a wide grin Becca was almost concerned.
Finn was quiet for a moment before he snickered a bit. "I've never heard that. That's actually pretty good."
"Okay! Bad puns aside…" Becca tried changing the subject.
"Um, excuse you, that was a great pun?" Stacy crossed her arms.
"What's our next plan of attack? Coming to Fillmore's was a detour, anyway. What now?" Becca continued.
"Well." Finn began. "We haven't filled Holley and Mater in on what's going on, yet."
"Oh, that's right." Sid frowned. "And I should call Cammie."
"Yeah." Becca agreed, nodding at Sid.
"That way we can check on the kids, too." Stacy brought up. "They've been over at the Shiftwell's this whole time anyway, right?"
"Wait, they have?" Siddeley turned to Becca. "Brooke, too?"
"I really hope you're kidding, so I'm just going to ignore you." Becca replied.
"…to Mater and Holley's we go, then." Sid turned and started to walk away.
Yes! We finally have a name for Stalker Sid that doesn't sound super dumb! SIGMA SIDDELEY HEUHEUHEU
"Why DO you know so much about the Greek alphabet, Stacy?"
It's a long story. Let's just say I really like Rooster Teeth.
Speaking of Rooster Teeth, I can't write about Cars Sarge anymore without thinking of RvB Sarge. It's a real problem.
Seriously though, it is a MIRACLE I haven't put any RWBY references in my fanfics (yet). There's literally a Soul Eater reference in this chapter. I'm awful about not putting references in my work. Ugh.
I feel like this chapter didn't really go anywhere, but that COULD just be because I've been working on it for the past few months, so… I dunno. Oops.
(Fillmore definitely smokes SOMETHING. I mean. Dude. Every third blink? How do you even notice that. He's on SOMETHING.)