Cleats and Merryl had kept up the begrudging look between them for what felt like hours. On one side, Cleats' piercing stare into Merryl's soul. On the other, Merryl's lifeless gaze into Cleats' eyes.

"Did it hurt?"

Cleats raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Did it hurt when he threw you into the drive?" Merryl asked.

"No, it didn't… Why would you ask something like that? Also, you left the room… how'd you know that he threw you in?"

Merryl smirked.

"Because I couldn't use the drive from that moment on. Either it was crushing guilt or… you."

"That doesn't sound very far-fetched. Only thing I'd be surprised about right now would be your son. I think he died in some big blast. Like I did."

Merryl glanced upward and squinted.

"There's a ship right there." He stated, bluntly, "An MVP ship, to be precise."

"Oh. At least it isn't your son."

The ship landed in front of them and the back opened. Both of them made their own disappointed reactions as Michael stepped out.

"There you are." He crooned, "As soon as I woke up, I knew you two were gonna be here."

Merryl hid behind Cleats.

"If you're here to kill me, please don't. I'm not trying to cause any more harm."

Cleats sighed.

"He's right, in a sense."

"Aren't you a criminal, sir?" Michael recalled, "Evil teams up with evil, right?"

"In that case, you shouldn't be with the MVPs. I do know what you've done and won't hesitate to expose it in a moment's notice." Cleats threatened, "So don't play that game with me, pal."

"Just got off of a call with my favorite team, what did you find?" A second Michael ran in, causing both of the brothers great surprise.

Beta Michael's eyes went wide as he saw the brothers.

"H-holy…" He gasped as he saw Merryl.

"Told you I'd hit a gold mine." Michael bragged.

Beta Michael shoved Cleats out of the way and gave Merryl a depressed stare.

"This isn't real. I… you died. How are you here?"

Merryl opened his mouth to speak, but stopped to think.

"I have no idea. Last thing I remember was him killing me." Merryl pointed to Michael, which made Cleats and Beta Michael shoot him a glare.

"He was gonna kill me first." Michael shot back.

"Now's not the time to argue. This is just what the MVPs needed. Come on, let's go!" Beta Michael turned and boarded the ship once again.

As Cleats and Merryl boarded, Michael eyed them, quizzically.

"Guess my counterpart's not the brightest, huh?" He mumbled, barely audible.

Meanwhile…

"Hey, loser! Eyes over here!" The nagging voice of Amber's worst enemy called.

Billy stood in front of their cell, that devious smile on his face.

"You would like to see you for a sec, so I thought I'd just fetch you myself!"

"I'm not going anywhere." Amber replied, before turning back to the wall.

"Well, that just sucks, doesn't it?" Billy began to laugh, "Just because your life sucks and you're too pathetic to move doesn't mean I'm not going to drag you from this cell myself. That means get up and walk."

Luigi got up on the spot. He turned to Amber and sighed.

"Come on, get up!" He whispered, "Or he's gonna drag you out!"

"Let him try," Amber spat.

Before she could blink, a chrome hand latched itself to Amber's leg and yanked her forward.

"Suit yourself." Billy said, before dragging her down the hall in that same position.

They reached some room with a huge machine in the middle.

"Omega, your smarter counterpart is here!" Billy called.

"Smarter?" Amber mumbled.

It surprised her for Billy to reply almost immediately.

"Yeah, your doppelganger's not as smart as I anticipated." He leaned closer and lowered his voice to a whisper. "She's dumb as a cow! Blunt as a rock! I've seen water molecules smarter than she is! And all they do is move to fit inside of an object!"

"Omega's out on some special business," Sigma called, as she entered the room, "but she left me in charge!"

"Leave the dumber one in charge…" Billy grumbled. "More reasons why I work alone-slash-with slaves."

"What was that?" Sigma asked, only for Billy to give her his best "Nothing."

"You." Sigma pointed to Luigi. "You've seen the drive in your dimension, right?"

"What drive?" Luigi lied.

"He's seen it." Billy answered for him.

"Right. Hook him up. We're going to see what he's seen, then we can begin building our own drive."

As Billy hooked Luigi to the machine, he stopped to stare L dead in the eyes.

"For your own good," Billy whispered, "you'd be best off just thinking about the drive."

"What happens if I don't?" Luigi asked, defiantly.

Billy smiled. "If I told you what was gonna happen, you'd be thinking about it. Then we'd have to do it. And it hurts."

Luigi blanched as Billy walked to the control panel and flipped a switch.

"What's it showing?" Sigma asked.

"Exactly what we wanted." Billy chuckled.

After a moment, Billy looked up at Luigi with that same dead stare. The four chrome arms behind him began to move into a set position. As they did, L could almost make out… words?

"Don't"

Then they moved.

"Move"

A loud BANG nearby made L recoil.

"What was that?!" Sigma yelled.

"Machine shorted out." Billy replied. When Sigma wasn't looking, he gave L eye contact and winked.

"Darn." Sigma turned to L. "Must have had something in that brain of yours that the machine… couldn't handle? Whatever. Mr. Greenes can fix it later. Go to the cafeteria and do something stupid with the other prisoners while we diagnose the machine."

Back with Cleats…

"I can't see how us guarding probably the most highly-targeted item by Gamma makes the MVPs have more hope for surviving the imminent final battle." Merryl complained. "Because, as you've probably noticed, I don't have anything to fight with, if violence is required."

"We're sending you two off to an MVP bunker near the destination." Beta Michael began, ignoring Merryl's complaint.

"You use bunkers?" Michael asked, "That sounds like a waste of money."

"If I have seven billion of every known currency, nothing is a waste of money." Beta Michael replied, before turning back to the brothers. "You two message me if there are ANY disturbances. And good luck."

A portal opened behind them, leading into an MVP bunker.

"My counterpart and I will stay here and hunt for more from your dimension."

The duo stepped through the portal and it shut behind them. Minutes later, Merryl found himself rummaging through the fridge.

"Coulda left us some snacks…" He grumbled.

"I think we're actually getting paid to do this." Cleats thought aloud, "So we probably have to buy snacks ourselves."

"Do you have any money? I took mine out of my pockets before I fought the MVPs."

"I don't carry free change on me while I'm wearing my gear."

Both of them sat in silence as they went over the process in their heads.

"Looks like we're gonna be hungry for a while…" Cleats sighed.

A bag of pizza rolls slammed onto the counter.

"It also looks like you've been assigned a third wheel." Michael disclosed, "I assigned myself to follow you."

"You defied your own orders?" Merryl asked, before shrugging. "I'm not going to question it. Suit yourself."

"Where do I sleep?" Michael called, as the brothers retreated to their rooms.

"That's your problem," Cleats called back as he shut the door to his room.

Michael gave the couch a stern look, before releasing a small sigh.

"Why was this a good idea again?" He asked himself, before sprawling across the couch and staying there until sleep took him away.

Alpha seems a bit sour toward Cleats and Merryl. Let's hope that doesn't spiral into chaos.

Why didn't Billy want Sigma to have the drive design? Whatever you may assume... is probably wrong. He knows what he's doing.

Next chapter isn't going to be very long, so see you shortly.