Chapter 46: Grandmother Clause

It was a nice day out for sure, but in Joe Dark's honest opinion he'd rather be lounging on the couch back at home.

So why is he out, you may ask? Well, Mew's to blame, as usual. Ever since Maria started going to school he's been getting extra fidgety and agitated in very not-so-subtle ways. As in, he's directly throwing himself in Joe Dark's line of sight.

Just to keep him from going crazy he's decided to hang out with him. He's very good at indirectly manipulating people like that.

So right now instead of being in the comfort of his home, he's being bombarded by sun beams as he walks the streets of Sancturia.

"The things I put up for him..." He sagged his shoulders with a sigh and looked to his right. At least he had Alura by his side. She's wearing a low-cut black shirt with a snake's head dripping venom from its fangs and one sleeve hung lower than the other, and cut some of her hair back. She also decided to wear jeans with holes cut in them sort of like how he does it. She's picked up some weird habits, to the say the least.

After reaffirming her presence he looked at the back of his brother's head and gruffly remarked, "Do you even know where we're going Mew...?"

Mew gave a roll of the shoulders and clamped his hands behind his head. Great. Just what they needed.

"Mew, seriously." Joe Dark groaned.

"We'll find something to do...Eventually," Mew then spun around and walked backwards, "Hey I got it! They have their own line of clothes up here, why don't we get you into something less emo?"

Joe Dark felt his brows readying to cave in his eyes with their slant, "I happen to like these clothes, thank you very much."

"Yeah but what's wrong with changing things up?"

"I am not about to hear that from you!" Joe Dark proclaimed, as his brother's eyes widened like a cornered rat's.

"I-I'm just saying even Alura's picked up some variety!"

Joe Dark turned to Alura and she stared up into his eyes, curling a very, very tiny smile of pride.

"Feh...!" He swayed his hand down at her and then tucked them both in his pockets, "She's a girl, they just...do that."

Alura fluttered her eyelashes quite a number of times as they continued walking. Then, after a few more minutes she turned her head and remarked, "Joe Dark, what is that big building over there?"

He looked her way and saw what had to be one of the city's schools. Somehow, the topic of schools had completely evaded her up until now.

"Oh right. That's a school. They-"

"Are a prison," Mew interrupted with a overtly grim tone, "They kidnap kids and young adults, forcing them into labor and torturing them with butt cramps, vomit-inducing food and peer pressure!"

Joe Dark's eyes narrowed as Alura's curiosity manifested in the expected manner, "Joe Dark is he telling the truth?"

Thank god she's learned to not play along with Mew's goofiness, "No Alura he's exaggerating."

"Did you ever spend a day in school Joe?" Mew asked with pouted lips.

"N-No! But I still know enough to say you're spewing shit from your mouth Mew!"

Mew tilted his head and remarked, "Do you WANT to go back to school though...?"

Joe bit his lower lip and struck a thinking pose. As he tapped his foot on the ground he shook his head and remarked, "I don't need to really, as long as I have books I can re-educate myself at my own pace."

He then flashed a mix of scowl and smirk as he raised his head, "Besides knowing my luck I'd wind up in the same class as your girlfriend."

"Ha ha ha," Mew dryly chuckled, but couldn't hide his blush. He then turned at the school and remarked, "Well if you change your mind this place will be your best bet. Cause, y'know..."

"Right..." Joe Dark hung his head a bit and sighed only to himself, "Its been three months since I came back to Earth, and everywhere I go I'm constantly reminded of how little I can expand my horizons..."

"A dead man can't get an ID...But you need one for jobs, checks, driver's licenses, insurance, houses," He then bobbed his head towards Alura and frowned slightly, "Alura's in the same boat. We're scraping by on food, clothes and books with Mew's assistance but...can he really afford us forever?"

A terrifying predicament with no real answer...It made him long for the days when they were stopping world ending threats.

"I just...don't want to be a bu-"

"Hey Joe!" Mew's sudden remark gave him a mini-heart attack.

Joe Dark's clasped his chest and growled, "Uuuuugh, what?"

Mew poked his finger out and seemed to be aiming over Joe Dark's shoulder, "You're losing your touch man. Look behind you."

He did so slowly and panned his gaze around the crowd. It just looked like the same old Aurians minding their own business...

"Are you pulling one over on me...?" He stared back at Mew.

"Naw I wouldn't do that...now," Mew took a few steps closer and wrapped his arm around Joe Dark's back, "Take another look. That middle-aged woman over there with the bluish hair."

Joe Dark squinted and panned his gaze once more. He immediately picked up on the woman as his brother described her as. She was just standing there beside a house, hunched over slightly with a curled smirk and a few bags under her eyes. She has a dark-blue cloth with white cotton rim hung over her shoulders, a buttoned up woolly t-shirt, and a ribbed skirt that went down to her ankles. Her hair was fading blue and all bunched up to the back of her head. She was barely taller than Alura.

"Her?" He pointed towards her.

"Yeah, she's been following us for a while now." Mew said as he pulled back.

"What? And you're just bringing this up now, why?"

Mew rolled his shoulders and he was just about ready to break them in retaliation.

Mew took a couple steps back and smirked, "I wonder what her deal is. Maybe she's a fan of mine? Gotta admit for an older gal, she's kinda cute."

Mew flashed a wink towards the woman and Joe Dark chopped him on the shoulder, "Don't invite her over! She's probably a crazy stalker...!"

"Stalk...er?" Alura murmured nearby.

"They're a type of person who has an unhealthy obsession towards one person and will follow their every movement." Explained Mew.

"So they're bad...?" Alura's lips tried to curl into a scowl.

"Weeeeeeeeell..." Mew purposefully stalled dissuading her until she turned towards the mysterious woman and said, "Don't worry Joe Dark, I'll handle this stalker."

She scurried over to her and Joe Dark ran in pursuit as Mew trailed with a snicker.

The woman just remained where she was, cracking an even wider smirk as Alura stopped a few feet away from her and said, "Stalker, stop stalking Joe Dark or I will start punching you."

Alura threw her fist into the woman's stomach and they just hung their head, watching the little girl throw punch after punch.

"Well well, who's the little spitfire gremlin?" She said in an aged, humored tone.

Joe Dark clasped little Ms. Kung-Fu by the back of her shirt and lifted her flailing body back, "The better question is, who the hell are you and why are you stalking us?"

"My, don't you know how to speak to your elders, red-eyes?" The woman said with a hefty dosage of mocking gruffness in her tone.

Joe Dark squinted and turned away, plopping Alura back onto the ground and waving his hand past Mew, "Come on, we got better things to do."

The woman's dry heaves could be heard behind him, "Your father used to give me that same stupid glare..."

"...!" Joe Dark gasped, as he felt his whole body go numb.

As he turned around to look at that woman one more time, all he could hear was the thundering beat of his heart against his chest.

"W-What...did you just...?"

Dizzy. He felt dizzy. His vision split and made him see two of her, and even as he grabbed his head and shook it around this feeling in his head would not subside.

"Father...? She knew my...father?" The last two months of peace and quiet came tumbling down like the walls of Jericho.

He had thought this to be shoved into the back of his mind. Forgotten at long last. But no, it never could be. He had wanted to. But that was impossible. The mystery of his real parents...and the painful wound from their abandonment of him, was reopened thanks to the blunt efforts of this strange woman.

He slowly felt a tug at his hip, and looked down to find Alura there. She pulled away, looking a little frightened, and it was enough to snap him back to sanity for a moment.

"...Ghh..." He raised his head and stared at the woman some more. Her impish smile was plotting something...or enjoying the hell out of his anger.

Meanwhile Mew seemed to be taking this rather calmly. He had his arms crossed and looked up with a puzzled gleam in his eyes, "You knew Joe Dark's father...? Uhhh, which one?"

"..." The woman's eyes narrowed and she snuck a peak Joe Dark's way, "Don't tell me you inherited the brains of the family..."

Joe Dark tucked his hands into his pockets with a rough sigh, "Unfortunately..."

Mew suddenly pulled his arms back and exclaimed like the air was violently escaping his lungs, "Holy shit...you're our grandmother?!"

"Holy shit, you finally figured it out." The woman proclaimed with a dash of sarcasm as she slapped off the side of her face.

Mew settled down and as he did, his eyes were still full of confusion, "But wait you're...an Aurian."

"Yes." The woman nodded her head.

"In Sancturia."

"Yes."

"...Our parents lived on Earth."

"This isn't twenty questions idiot, quit stalling and get your brain caught up to the present." The woman hastened him along.

"...Well excuuuuuuuuuuuse me granny," Mew blasted back in her face, "Forgive me for being maybe a LITTLE surprised to run into our literal grandmother!"

"How does he always take these things in stride...Ugh," With a light groan Joe Dark did have to agree with him on one thing, "He's right. Our birth parents lived on Earth, and in case it may not be obvious we don't have those dumb bracelets on our wrists."

"I wouldn't think you would given your father's blood tainting the mix."

"What...?" Joe Dark growled.

"We don't need to draw a crowd in though," The woman turned around and glared over her shoulder, "Lets go to my place to talk some more."

Beside her, Alura had snuck up and started kicking her in the ankles. The woman smiled, and toppled Alura over with a flick to the forehead.

Joe Dark ran over and caught her as the woman walked off, saying to them both, "And the little succubi can come too. I like her."

Alura rubbed her forehead and muttered, "Joe Dark, I don't like her."

"Sorry Alura, just grin and bear it for now..." After he helped her up he looked to Mew and hesitated to ask, "What do you think? Do you trust her?"

"Well..." It was a rare to see him scratch his face and think about his next move, "It probably wouldn't hurt to hear her out at least."

He then cracked a smirk and couldn't help himself from saying, "Don't worry, I'll protect you from her vile knitted sweaters Joe!"

"Ha ha," Joe Dark raised his head in a "Hmph!" and remarked, "She doesn't strike me as that kind of person anyways..."

So whether it was wise or not the three of them followed the woman back to her home, which on the outside looked like any other. Inside, however, painted a picture of what this woman's interests were.

She had two swords crossed above her fireplace, each rusted with blood. On the mantle above the crackling fire were two rows of skulls shaped unlike anything seen on Earth. Some equipped with horns. There was a silver gun hung up in a picture frame labeled "Gambit" and a gold shotgun labeled "Close Impact". There was a bear skin rug with three eyes separating her two couches, and a plethora of...romcom DVDs on her shelves? But on top those shelves were multicolored glowing flasks.

Joe Dark leaned towards Mew and whispered, "Did you see this coming...?"

"Not in a million years."

From all the way in the kitchen the woman shouted, "I got some sodas! Want one?"

"Uh sure!" Mew said, the accidental raise of his hand allowing him to catch the can of Pepsi flung across the room.

"Do you have any Coca-Cola?" Joe Dark pondered.

"You're kidding right?" The woman groaned.

"...Ugh fine, I'll take a Pepsi." Joe Dark caught the can flung at him, then Alura received one of her own. Then the woman popped a can of her own and wandered over to the northside couch, propping her legs on the table.

"Well?" She glanced at them with a couple eyebrow nudges.

Mew shrugged and went to the right side of the other couch. Alura sat beside him, then Joe Dark followed suit. They took sips of their sodas while the woman guzzled hers down in seconds, crunching the can against her forehead.

"So. I haven't introduced myself have I?" She pumped her chest proudly, "Regina Carbon, Ex-Demon Hunter at your service."

"Demon Hunter?" Joe Dark murmured.

"Oh so you're the grandma from our mother's side then..." Mew's brief remark was swept under the rug as Joe Dark leaned in and said, "No go back to that Demon Hunter thing for a moment..."

"Ever heard of the supernatural incidents that cropped up in your world?" Regina smirked.

"Besides what we've dealt with? No." Mew shook his head.

"Exactly." Her smirk widened and she leaned back into the couch, while Mew and Joe Dark exchanged a brief glance of surprise. Alura sipped her drink.

Mew looked back at Regina and put his can down for the moment, "How'd you find us anyways?"

"Well you two weren't exactly being subtle a few months ago. I could smell your energies during my daily yoga practices!" She snapped her fingers out but despite the roughness of her actions her tone after was full of pride, "By the by, good job running that bastard Gravitus out of town. Any longer and I might've booted the tin can tyrant myself!"

The woman was a sagging blimp of hot air that's for sure...

"Do you want me to prove it, sonny?" Regina suddenly flashed a glare at Joe Dark, causing him to nearly choke on his drink.

The woman then slapped her knee with a laugh and said, "Anyways after I felt your energies the first time I kept my senses open for any signs of you two coming back so I could hunt you down personally."

"H-Hunt down...?" Mew repeated with a weak chuckle.

"So you were stalking us...?" Alura murmured.

"I guess so." Regina chuckled loudly.

Alura turned to Joe Dark and said aloud, "I told you she was a bad person."

Regina leaned over the table and ruffled Alura's hair, "Aren't you just the cutest little demon I've ever seen?"

Alura swatted at the woman's arm to no avail. When she got back to her seat she huffed out a sigh, "But I've lost my touch if you caught me out. Then again, you seem to have gotten your mother's perceptive eyes Mew."

"M-My mother's eyes...?" Mew said, pointing at his face with a hard smile.

"Though I reckon it'd be more fair to say Alex made sure you kept her eyes." The moment she said that Mew froze stiff for a moment.

"W-Whoa back up a moment."

Regina intercepted his inevitable question, "Of course I know about that stupid! What. Didja think I was gonna just sit back and go 'Oh yes that's totally normal' when all of a sudden I'm feeling my grandson's energy three times over in the same day?!"

She smacked her hand towards the air and said in a huff of rage, "Why I stormed over to Auris' house that day after and made her spill the beans immediately!"

She then took a few gasps of air and leaned back into her couch, "Honestly...this family...Bad enough that man had to defile my daughter, but then one of my grandsons clones himself twice while the other becomes a Hot Topic reject!"

"Enough!" Joe Dark slammed his soda can onto the table and lifted himself towards the woman with a scowl, "If you're going to bad mouth my father fine, but I deserve to know about him first and foremost! And my mother too!"

"Joe Dark..." Whispered Alura.

"Joe, you..." Mew didn't get much out before Regina sighed heavily and shook her head.

"You must have a lot of questions burning you up from the inside Joseph..." Regina softened her tone and gave him a wink, "But answering those questions is part of the reason I was looking for you both. So sit down, and let an old lady spin a yarn for a bit..."

Joe Dark slowly slumped back into the couch and raised his heels onto the table, his arms crossed in tense anticipation.

Regina sat upright and cricked her shoulders a bit, then flashed the biggest smile they'd seen from her yet, "Oh my darling daughter Lumina was the most adorable thing you'd ever seen. She loved to roleplay as kaijus and stampede over dolls and action figures. Sometimes she took my swords out in public and flailed them around. Other times she'd wrestle her classmates to the ground or affectionately dropkick them as a greeting..."

Mew and Joe Dark bulged their eyes and Mew started pumping his fist into his coughing mouth, "I-I'm sorry are you pulling our leg here grandma?"

"No I'm not pulling your leg! Look!" She whipped out a leather wallet and when it unfurled, a trail of perfectly preserved photographs fell to the ground and then some.

Mew and Joe Dark leaned across the table and saw a very petite young woman with violently long azure hair doing exactly the things Regina described. And they both winced upon seeing the poor soul who got dropkicked in the spine.

"Jesus christ our mother was merciless..." Mew muttered.

"This is the woman who cradled us to sleep?!" Fear crept up Joe Dark's spine as he pulled back into the couch.

Mew leaned in further and squinted at the photo album, the lower half in particular, "Are these all from her younger years?"

"Oh heaven's no a lot of these are from her high school days," Regina proudly folded the pictures back into the wallet and smiled, "I know, Lumina was quite the runt. Never made it past that five foot mark in all her life."

"Gave her quite the nickname though...The Ferocious Azure Lion. Why whenever she got riled up her hair would flare up like a lion's mane and there was word that her eyes hollowed out with the glow of a nuke about to go off..."

She slapped her knee and chuckled, "But she was a smart one. Top marks in all her classes. Some say that just made her more dangerous though..."

Mew dryly scratched the side of his face and muttered, "Guess crazy just runs in the family eh...?"

"Want to repeat that?" Joe Dark and Regina said together.

"Oh no I didn't say anything." Mew whispered through puckered lips.

Joe Dark then faced Regina and said, "And what about my father?"

"Hmph," Regina scoffed and settled into a hunched over pose, "That man soiled my daughter..."

She ruffled her scowl and strained to say the name without a hint of malice, "Abraham Whiter..."

Joe Dark froze still and squeezed his hands together on his lap as the story took a harsher turn in tone.

"Tall. Lanky. Quiet, but a massive kiss-ass...Always wandered around with the scent of a demon on him," Regina smirked and raised her head in contempt, "He did a good job playing human, I suppose."

Joe Dark growled, tightening the bridge between his hands.

"But he married your daughter didn't he?" Mew remarked.

"Pfft, ever heard of eloping boy?!" Regina barked in turn, taking an invisible swing at Mew's head.

"Yeah but he couldn't have been that bad could he?"

"Let me give you a history lesson Mew," Regina folded her fingers together below her chin, "Ever heard of the Nine Elemental Tribes?"

"They had something to do with the planet Genestasia right...?"

"Each tribe represented a different element. For this story though we will focus on the Clan of Shadows, ruled by the former Dark King."

"In the absence of the Elemental Overlord and the Dark King, the tribes began to tear each other asunder."

"The planet was in a terrible state when we went there a while ago." Mew remarked.

"I can only imagine. But it did not end in the curtain call for all tribes. The Clan of Shadows survived, just barely, clinging to that desolate rock like cockroaches. Left with little power of their own and no leader to guide them, they sought to reclaim their old king..."

"But one clan, the Whiters, had different ideas. Selfishly pursuing power, they crafted the Diavolo Manifesto, a tome of considerable demonic filth, and drained the rest of the Clan of Shadows dry of darkness. Then, scavenging parts from the fallen Electric Tribe, they headed off to space to seek the return of their king."

"But their obstacles proved harsh. Ill demons and the like plagued them at every turn, seeking to claim the tome for themselves. The numbers of the Whiter clan were thin, and they could barely keep those numbers growing even with intercourse amongst themselves."

"So the leader came up with an idea. They would feed their knowledge and darkness into the tome, and fuse it into a newborn child. That child would be able to access incredible power, and whenever they would have a child, they would gain that power too. Thus, the Clan of Shadows would last forever, until the day their king would return."

"But in reality this was a selfish goal. The leader wanted all the power consolidated into her bloodline alone, so that history would remember her and her ancestors as they one that allowed the Dark King to usher in a new age of darkness."

"The rest of the Whiter clan was dissolved, bone and all, and absorbed into the tome. Then the leader fed the tome into her womb, where a fetus was slowly growing within it. Then, following a trail of breadcrumbs left behind in the stars, she found the Earth where Sancturia had landed."

"Over the next couple millenia child after child was born carrying the power of the Diavolo Manifesto within them. They were indoctrinated towards the will of their Clan. Men and women alike were forced to servitude to foster the next generation. Until one day, a man named Abraham was born. He was not as weak-willed as his predecessors. The burden of knowledge and power made him question his purpose, and in time turn against his own parents out of a declaration of independence."

"He unleashed his great power upon his home, burying his vile parents alive in dark flames. But in doing so, he had made the first of many, many mistakes. He had attracted the eye of a power-hungry man named Judas Jeremiah."

"Judas...Jeremiah?" Mew said in stunned silence, while Joe Dark's face felt cold.

"Abraham turned to the only place he knew he could hide at. A lone city in the sky that his mother once whispered about."

"There he pleaded his circumstances to Auris and was allowed sanctuary in the city. Her clairvoyance proved a necessity in keeping him hidden from Gravitus' prying eye...Though in the same accursed manner, its how that vile man ever got within ten-miles of my darling Lumina...!"

Regina took a break to scowl her gritted teeth and pretend like she was strangling Abraham right now. Then she stopped with a single huff of breath.

She scratched the back of her head and slowed down her pace, "Their fated meeting seems like it was just yesterday. Lumina was coming home from school when she happened upon a stranger in the wild. She tried to dropkick him but he turned around and dangled her in the air by the leg. As she tried to take some swings at his back they exchanged greetings, all the while he had a smile on his face."

"...They became glued to the hip there-after. It was love at first sight and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Then the next thing I knew a couple years had passed, and my daughter offered up a wedding ring to that man...And he accepted. She was no longer Lumina Carbon, but Lumina Whiter, his bride..."

"I argued with my daughter for a full day, trying to get her to see reason...And in her one act of defiance, she eloped with Abraham down to Earth, built a house of their own, where she gave birth to two kids...Alexander and Joseph Whiter."

Regina twisted her head aside and her eyelids slumped, "And I never saw her again."

Silence filled the room, broken abruptly by Joe Dark standing up and exclaiming, "That can't be the end."

Regina turned her head and remarked bluntly, "You can't always expect a happy ending Joseph. Sometimes tragedy strikes, and the survivors are left with regrets unfulfilled."

"That's not what I mean...!" Joe Dark grit his teeth and steeled his nerves for what he was unequipped to ask, "My parents died...how? Why?!"

And as quick as it was asked of her, Regina answered softly, "I was told it was a quick death. A comet struck them down."

Joe Dark found his fist pounding down upon the table, splitting cracks into the surface, "You expect me to believe that load of crap...?!"

Regina rose and grabbed Joe Dark by the shirt and pulled him in, "I outlived my daughter and didn't even get a burial for her, and you dare call me a liar?!"

"Ghhh...!" Joe Dark trembled, gritting his teeth as tears went into his eyes, "Why should I believe you? You're so blind to your daughter's actions that you didn't even know that she abandoned me, HER OWN SON!"

The sound of a whip cracking took to Joe Dark's face in an instant, and the moment after he found himself on his knees beside the couch. Regina's palm was bright red, and her face utterly livid.

She scowled her teeth and muttered, "She was a rebel and ferocious but she loved you more than anything in the whole damn world...!"

Regina reached into her shirt and tossed a stack of letters on top of Joe Dark's body, "I may not have seen her again but she still sent plenty of letters talking about you two. Every. Word. She wrote was full of love. Even if she 'abandoned' you, I'm sure she had her reasons you ungrateful brat...!"

Joe Dark's heart was racing and the letters dug into his skin like paper cuts. Heaving heavy breaths he scrambled to his feet, throwing the letters to the ground as he rushed out the door.

"Joe Dark...!" Gasped Alura behind him, who was sure to catch up.

Mew lagged behind, wanting to give chase. But maybe...he needed some space right now.

He picked up one of the random letters and opened it up.

"Hey Mom!

Ooof! These two little bags of energy are growing up fast! Can't believe its already been a year since I shoved them out. Hahaha. Abraham and I are managing just fine, don't worry. I mean yeah we're on the run from what's-his-name, but if he tries anything funny he's gonna be facing the wrath of an angry mother!

I...really wish I could bring the kids up to see you. Joseph's a bit of a crier but I'll work that outta him eventually. Alex though, I feel a spark in him. He's a fighter for sure! I'm gonna raise these kids, me and Abraham, and do a good job like you did me mom! Anyways, I'll send you another letter next month...Love ya!"

As Mew felt the weight of the writing on his soul, he heard Regina droop with a sigh behind him.

She sank into the couch and began muttering, not necessarily towards him, "Abraham would send those letters to me via a dark rift every month until they died. I hated every fiber of his being but he stayed loyal to my daughter to the end..."

She grabbed the side of her face and it began to show its age as her frown sagged, "Did I become a demon?"

Mew snuck the letter into his right pocket and faced her with his own quiet statement, "You should go apologize to Joe."

"Heh, maybe..." Regina shook her head and brushed the back of her hand out towards him, "But that's not going to help him. Go on. Be a good big brother."

"...Alright," Mew hesitated to smile and waved his hand out towards her, "Do you mind if I pop in sometime? I'd like to hear more stories...about our parents."

"..." Regina shook her head some more and muttered, "You're always welcome here."

"Sure. Later." Mew left quietly and trailed his brother's energy to just a few yards away.

He was leaned up against a building sobbing into his arm. Alura stood by, staring up with a soft disheartened moan.

"Joe..." Mew tried to reach out and his brother swung his arm at him immediately. Then he grit his teeth in a scowl, tears drenching the sides of his mouth.

"I just want to know why...?" His scowl tightened wider as a scream ripped free from his heart, "Is that too much to ask?!"

This would be his life unless he found closure. An endless cycle of misery and confusion. Mew could remain strong, or he could actually solve this problem once and for all. Personally, there was no other choice...

"We're going to find the answers Joe," Mew raised his head high and planted a hand on his brother's shoulder, "There's one figure that ties everything together. Our parents' deaths, Alex's torment, and your family's demise..."

"...Judas Jeremiah." Joe Dark growled in disgust.

"Bad news is he's dead," Mew crossed his arms but then got a mischievous grin on his face, "Buuuut the good news is I bet that leaves his former base of operations completely vulnerable. And fortunately, I know a certain someone who'd probably help us find it and expose its secrets."

"..." Joe Dark's expression relaxed with a gasp.

Mew winked at him and said confidently, "Heh, bet you weren't expecting to deal with a secret government operation today were you?"

Next Time: The Truth of Blood