Billy looked over the hacked camera systems. His current hired hunters were losing. Mick wasn't fast enough to dodge Simon's quick strikes, Arris couldn't keep up with a constantly moving L, the leader was doing well, almost a fair fight, and Marco and 3 were going at it still, neither actually showing signs of being tired. "Failures? Ok…"

Billy took a sip of his pitch black coffee and started taking notes as Mick dropped to the floor, after a devastating kick from Simon.

Note: Mick isn't fast enough to dodge, not even his disappearing act can stop S. It's very predictable.

Another thud. Arris dropped, after a sneaky tranquilizer dart to the neck.

ALSO note, Arris is fast enough, but isn't as resilient, should test pairing with Marco soon.

The leader hit the wall, before raising his arms.

The leader is a great fighter, just too much of a rely-on-the-team kinda guy…

3 had Marco in a chokehold. Marco surrendered shortly after the leader did.

Marco… seems to have barely a flaw in her resilience or durability, but just isn't as knowledgeable as 3 is and knows nothing of actually fighting besides jab jab punch and eat several fists.

In conclusion, Mick is too predictable, Arris isn't strong enough, the leader relies too much on his mates and Marco is just an idiot. Neither Driver nor Blade have unity.

Billy sighed. "Ah, can't please everyone…"

He fiddled with a portal bomb, before tossing it into the floor behind him, opening a portal. The portal led right under the adversaries in the bay. They all dropped in.

"Oh, my f-…. Face…"

Billy turned to the people on the floor.

"You lost."

The leader stood up first. "Well, we would know, we were the ones who lost,"

"But I found something more valuable. The power of teamwork!"

Mick growled. "And I found a valid reason to squeeze the air out of you, you little sh-"

"It's no biggie, I learned how to beat them, those numbskulls that are always in my way…"

"Yeah, and I learned that I'm about to murder you." Mick hissed, drawing his sword.

"WHOA, hold on! That was just a test run! Look here, I know what to do! You guys, you silly friends, birds(or other) of a feather(or other), you need closure! Except for Marco, she needs a shower and a makeover."

Marco sighed. "I heard that. You DO know that if you insult one of us, you insult all of us?"

"No, no, we do have individual lives… except for YOU."

Billy turned to the door. "Be here next week. I think I might have a little… remedy for our… dilemma."

Meanwhile…

"Hoo! Glad I helped get rid of those assassins, right?"

Everyone gave Alpha a look.

"What? I helped! I cheered from the sidelines! Now, then. That should have fended them off. I'd keep a sharp eye out for the… the mushroom. AAAAANYWAY, I had something for you kids… right… not right now. Next time you come and see me I'll have it… I swear I knew what I wanted to give you guys…"

At base…

The captain was asleep. Luigi was cleaning up the last of the dishes. "So… what do you guys think, are these guys actually a valid threat?"

"It depends," Said 3, who was holding down Simon, who was doing sit ups. "They don't seem very… threatening… Mostly dumb."

"True. As if they actually have a reason to do this… one that's not just wanting to rule. Maybe they have families..?"

Simon screeched. "AH! OW! Do you not feel how tight you are holding me here? THAT HURTS!"

"...sorry…"

Luigi turned. Simon was standing, watching the door.

"...'d you head that?"

Tiny footsteps resonated from the hall.

"...shh…"

Simon creeped to the hall. A small, green mushroom with legs was standing in the hall.

"Oh GOD, what is that…?"

It turned. Simon lunged and barely missed the mushroom, hitting the floor, inches away from the mushroom.

The mushroom dashed down the hall.

"Get it!"

Simon chased it, looking like possibly the largest idiot in the confinements of seasons one and two.

Simon grabbed the thing by the legs. "HaHA! Got it!"

Simon paraded the mushroom around. "And this, my friends, is… is… h-how…"

Simon collapsed. 3 bent over. "Wait, what? What...wh…" After an attempt to form that sentence, 3 fell, facefirst, into the floor. Luigi turned. The mushroom. "H-" Luigi collapsed as well.

Simon awoke to water being poured on his face.

"Hey, pal, wake up."

"Urgh… What happened?"

Alph was standing over him. "You were knocked out, and there was some weird mushroom running around the halls. Say… what did I miss?"

"A lot."

A week of working later…

A call. Another call. Another fight over who answers the call.

Alpha sighed as Simon answered this time.
"Hey, Alpha, Sir, to what do we owe the call?"

"Say, remember how I told you I had something, last week?"

"Uhh, no, sir."

An angry grunt occurred, over the phone. "Ok. Well, I told you that I would give you something next time I visited. Would you please visit? The thing I want to give you can't wait. She can't, and neither can I, HURRY UP."

Simon said his goodbyes and turned to 3, who was choking out the captain again.

"HEY! Stop choking him, we're requested to be there, Alpha's got something for us!"

"Ooh! A gift?"

They hurriedly got into uniform and darted off, to the ship.

Alpha was very surprised to see the rate of which they arrived after his call.

"Record time! Now THAT'S dedication!"

"Sir, Alpha, sir, we're here! What is you-"

Alpha sighed. "It's hard to explain, please follow me."

They followed Alpha down the hall.

"So, last year, you won a war, correct?"

"Yes we did!"

"I think we did..."

"I'm hungry."

"You won a war with my assistance. Anyway, we earned some new members. One of them, in theory, has some ties with me. She can't stay out of trouble. It sucks, getting called every two weeks, having to endure this girl who has ties with me getting herself nearly killed every time I draft her on a mission. So, per se, you seem like nice people. You're definitely strong enough, so, I trust that you're fine with it, you get to watch said girl who has ties with me-were any of you actually listening?"

"Yes."

"Repeat that last part, please…"

"I'm starving."

"You guys are watching my si- I mean, a girl who has ties with me. She's strong enough to serve as an extra member, okay? If she likes it enough, you CAN keep her. Did you get that?"

"Yes."

"Uhh… yep.."

"I'm STILL hungry."

Alpha told his assistant to toss a granola bar at 3 and kept walking.

"Ok. Mr. Greenes, prepare to meet your new member. Let's hope she behaves herself…"

Alpha pushed open the door he stood in front of.

"Amber, the people are here."

"Yeah, yeah, I know! I'm coming-"

Amber, the girl from last season, the one who showed-down with Simon, walked out.

"...uhh...say….can we talk about this for a second?"

Alpha stepped into the bathroom and they shut the door.

"Hey, pal, you know who those people are?"

"The people who are hopefully preventing me from having to answer a call about you getting your butt kicked every five seconds."

"That's the dingbat who beat me up last year, do you not remember? Also, take that idiotic mask off, I can't focus while you're wearing that!"

"Oh, I KNOW what he did. If they beat...omega, they can surely protect little ol' YOU."

"You are really pushing this. But, since there's no escaping, guess I'm leaving."

"Yeah, and maybe you could, you know, make friends? You, currently, are always gone. These kids, currently, are stuck inside, trying to crack a case and stop some bad guys. Maybe, hypothetically, you could work together and get this mess over with, so an older brother can get a vacation."

"Fine. Just… don't let Barry die and-"

"Do the thing with the memorial, I know. Have fun, rebel girl."

Amber sighed and opened the bathroom. She wasn't fast enough to catch it when the whole team darted away from the door and back to the entrance of the room.

"Now, then, friends," Alpha said, with pride, "take this scamp with you. She's good. Isn't that right?"

"Yes, but if you actually treat me like he does, I will not hesitate to leave and probably get myself injured again."

Alpha laughed off his annoyance.

"In…" he checked his watch "not long from now, I have to gather the captains for a meeting, so your captain will have to drop you guys off… but you guys can mingle and whatnot… while we talk."

At base…

Amber claimed the extra room. It was empty, except for a bed, a nightstand, and a light.

"You guys's place smells."

"Blame Luigi, we knew that the scented candles were a stretch."

Luigi angrily sighed. "I heard that."

"Anyway, we have to cook dinner, and we normally vote or someone just cooks… so, what would YOU want for dinner?"

"The souls of the innocent."

Simon laughed, before walking into the kitchen.

"Hey, L, would you mind making some... "souls of the innocent?" Thanks."

Luigi nodded, before whirling from the pot of food back to face the hall. "Yeah, I'll make so- wait WHAT?!"

Simon came back to Amber's room. "Yeah, we're fresh out of souls, how about something humans can actually digest?"

"...I like you. You're funny. What's that green idiot making…?"

"I dunno, smells like chicken."

"Oh… I might eat it… say… are YOU cooking anything?"

"No. Not anytime soon… why are you staring at me?"

Amber turned back to the window. "Ok. Just tell me when the food is ready."

"...ok."

Simon walked out, but felt a weird unease when he left.

Meanwhile…

The Rejected fell right back through the portal again. "I hate that thing." Mumbled the leader.

Billy was in a back room, working on something.

"Hey, fellas! You're here right on time! Follow me, come on!"

Billy led them to a room with a sandbag, standing upright and with eyes.

"This is Sandbag. He's fine, trust me. You can hit him all you want, it's indestructible. I would know, I tried."

"What does this have to-"

Billy shushed them. He walked over and grabbed Marco and Arris. "You two. Stand right there."

They walked over and stood right beside the scary sandbag.

"Now, then. You guys are linked, correct? I don't know the full blade thing, but you and her are, like, related… right?"

"No, we're just linked-"

"Ok, great! Now, then, use that weird special ability you guys can use."

"...what?"

"You know, those two dorks from your world, they have that burning sword thing… so, what do YOU have?"

"...I don't exactly know…" Replied Arris.

Billy sighed. "Ok, then you're gonna have tooooo, what are you doing."

Marco was hugging Arris.

"Th...they do that sometimes, I have actually NO idea why…" Mick whispered.

Billy whipped out a tool and slowly got closer. "...huh…" He looked at the tool. It was showing great amounts of….something.

"...we have some… energy… coming from you two…"

Arris's stagnant gaze snapped to her side, where Marco was holding her.

"AH! Marco, let go, that's enough!"

"Uhh…" Billy stepped back. "Should I leave you two alone?"

Marco snapped back into it as well. "...Oops… umm… I must have gotten carried away. I… I do that sometimes, get carried away and… uhh.."

"Start hugging?" Billy started writing on the notepad. "Is… is there an actual reason why you do that?"

Arris shrugged, but Marco nodded. "It's… well… sort of… well… I'm kind of barely linked to Arris, so… well.. I have to stay near her to stay alive."

"Uh huh… You know, you could try linking AGAIN… Is that possible?"

Mick raised his hand. "Hey, I know how. One or the other has to die... and come back."

Billy smirked. "Well, I can make that possible. If that's what you guys want, of course. But, you'd have to get something for me, in that case."

They all looked around.

The leader stepped forward. "And… how?"

"I need just one thing, to fuel the respawn machine. That would be a universally-famous 1-up. The mushroom, you've heard of it. I need one of those. And, if you actually could, I need something else…"

"Are we just your mailmen now?"

"Yes, until we win and get our payments. There's a chrome backpack on my desk at the house I'm dropping you in. Grab that and bring it here, as well as the 1-up. Okay, fellas?"

They nodded.

Billy had shown them the sleeping area for his base, in the case that they would need to stay there.

Arris had sat down when Marco sat beside her and turned to face her.

"I'm sorry, I really did get carried away earlier."

"It's fine. You really have to control that. I know it's not just a "I need life" thing. We can't exactly PDA the whole time we're talking, you know..."

"I… I know."

"Listen." Arris picked up Marco's hands. "Once we get that payment, we can disband, Mick said he would leave, we can too! We just have to hold out until we get the payment and then it's just us… okay?"

"I'll sure try, but I feel like we're getting distant. Just this once, maybe?"

Arris sighed. "You'd better be glad we're alone… and better be more glad that Mick promised to not rat us out…"

20 minutes later…

Mick walked in, extra tired. "Hey, guys, I-"

Marco quickly leaned up from the couch and put as much distance between her and Arris as possible.

Mick sighed. "Marc, you two DO know that we can't have any more of that, right? You two are going to have to clean up your acts if you don't want this romance to be a future problem…"

Arris leaned up as well. "I just told her that, look what she proceeded to do."

"You didn't stop me."

Mick turned. "As of right now, that stays like my face, concealed, to prevent it from being used against us."

"I'm sorry we can't exactly control-"

"Now, don't use that as an excuse, you guys could probably control it. Anyway, away from the kissing and amorously hugging, we have a task tomorrow. You fellas get some sleep in separate beds."

Marco backed away from the bed Arris was in.

1 day later…

Amber was up early. Not as early as Alph, who was probably the earliest waker.

The captain and Amber were talking about the four adversaries and the escaped convict.

A call arrived. They fought, but 3 had it this time, by not choking out the captain.

"Yes, MVPs hotline-"

"This is Lucifer's team, correct?"

"...yes?"

"Ok. Good. Alright. Perfect!" The person calling laughed. "So, this is whom you'd call the escaped convict, I hacked your comms system, hi,"

3 leaned in.

"Hey, you're that blasted little green-"

"Yes, that's me! So… I suppose you're the orange idiotto who knew my friendo, a while ago?"

"You're talking about T-"

"Ah, Ah, ah! Don't say THAT name aloud, mi amigo! Anyway, you CAN hear me, right? Good! Your friends are probably listening, right?"

3 turned. The four people right beside her, listening in, shook their heads.

"No."

"Well, if that statement is true, I have something for you, pretty girl… where can we meet?"

"..." 3 turned to the captain, and back. "You know where Travis's old house was?"

"Sure do, missy."

"Meet me there in 2 hours."

"One more thing. Come alone. I can't have your cronies ruining everything for me. Think you can do that?"

3 turned to the cronies. They were nodding with extreme enthusiasm.

"I'll be there."

Just... a thing... would you prefer, in color, (you don't have to answer this LOL) blue or green?

"Cronies"... I love that word.

Perhaps, if I can agree with myself... HE might return... but that's for later, right now, enjoy shipping these two idiots (Marco and Arris) until I can 1, violently break them up, or 2, actually keep their relationship alive and not kill one. Seeya around!