Two years had passed since the day Maggie Watson had approved her tenant Professor Professor's request to have Doctor Doctor move into his flat as a roommate. A lot had changed during that time. Crystelle and Lucy Woo had baby girls three days apart from each other, with Crystelle's daughter Melony being older than her aunt Deirdre. Oluremi and Adrian had had an epiphany about how they really felt about each other, and they'd gotten into a romantic relationship in order to make it official. Kent and Min-jun's landladies had hired them to do grunt work for them in order to pay off their rent. Lastly, Victor's adoptive sister Zaydorii had settled down with Lucy and Maggie's younger sister Sherry and had a clutch of six Mombi/human hybrids (weirdly enough, Sherry was the one to lay that clutch of eggs).
It was Wednesday, December 17th, just a week away from Christmas. As usual, Professor Professor was sitting at his designated seat in the briefing room after Victor and Anita had already sat down at their seats.
"I hope you're all excited for Christmas because I sure am," More Bounce To The Ounce began to speak while leaning against his mantelpiece. "But before we can start celebrating already, I have to inform you that Agent Hawkes is the only U.Z.Z. agent who hasn't come back from our mission last night to infiltrate the Reptogators' home sixty miles underground."
"What could've happened to him?" Anita asked, concern permeating her voice.
"We don't know, but whatever it was might be a threat to security. As we all know, for reasons of security, my name is Changed Daily. Today, you may call me..." His cellphone beeped. "Urgh... Choo Choo Charlie."
Everyone else in the briefing room just laughed.
"Your mission today is to find Agent Hawkes and bring him back in whatever state he may be in," Choo Choo Charlie continued. "I would prefer if you could bring him back alive. After all, he's my granddaughter's father. However, there's a good chance he could be dead by now. So hurry!"
"Will do, Choo Choo Charlie!" Anita exclaimed.
"You can count on us, Choo Choo Charlie," Victor said.
"Wait!" Professor Professor suddenly shouted. "Before you go, take these ghost pepper grenades with you." He held out the weapons for Victor and Anita to take. "With how well they worked the last time you used them, I figured they could come in handy again."
Anita snatched a ghost pepper grenade out of Professor Professor's hands. "Thanks, Professor Professor."
Victor did the same thing a few moments later, and just like that, the top two agents were off to find Agent Hawkes and bring him back dead or alive.
Professor Professor was in the middle of a video conference call with Doctor Doctor where they discussed the future of the relationship and what they could expect for 2088 when he got a notification alerting to Victor and Anita being in danger.
"Hold on, Doctor Doctor," Professor Professor said. "I'll have to call you back. Victor and Anita need my help."
"Why?" Doctor Doctor asked. "What's going on?"
"I think the Reptogators might have overpowered them. We sent them down there because Agent Hawkes didn't come back from the Reptogator infiltration last night."
"Wait! Maybe I can help. Have Kent pick me up at the flat and I can send some web-shooters Victor and Anita's way... oh, and maybe some spider smoke bombs."
"Are you sure about this?"
"Absolutely. Alright, you can go now. Please, for the love of God, do not screw this up!"
"I won't. Bye." With that, Professor Professor ended the video conference call. "Alright, now to find Kent and explain what he needs to do."
After Professor Professor tracked down Kent and explained everything to him, he then had the former double agent take off to the flat he shared with Doctor Doctor and bring her over to the U.Z.Z. base to drop off the web-shooters. Ever loyal to that cyan-hued woman, Kent agreed and was on his way. Once he was certain Kent was gone, Professor Professor called up Victor on his cellphone.
"Victor, are you still alive?" Professor Professor asked urgently.
"Yes, I'm still alive!" Victor practically yelled at him. "The Reptogators just cornered us! What do we do?"
"Don't worry, Doctor Doctor should be on her way to give you and Anita some web-shooters."
"Oh, brother. This isn't going to be another double-crossing, is it?"
"Do you want to still be alive or not?"
"Uh, yeah, I really want to still be alive."
"Then you better be ready to take some web-shooters when they show up."
Victor gave a reluctant sigh. "Fine, but only because I don't know any other way out of this."
It was Christmas Day, just a week after Victor and Anita were sent down to retrieve Agent Hawkes from sixty miles underground. Normally, this would've been a joyous day for anyone to celebrate, but this was the day U.Z.Z. had decided to hold a funeral for the late Donald Hawkes, who'd been found dead after being torn apart and eaten by especially ravenous Reptogators. Understandably, this was a closed-casket funeral, as no one could bear to see the fallen U.Z.Z. agent without heaving up whatever they had for lunch that day. It was brutally cold outside, only about -2°C or so, so the attendees had no choice but to wear their winter coats over their winter clothes. The funeral, however, was being held inside the U.Z.Z. base.
Professor Professor and Doctor Doctor, of course, were among the attendees. Doctor Doctor had only interacted with Hawkes a few times in the past while she was still the leader of T.H.E.M., but nothing really stood out about him. After all, he was just another U.Z.Z. agent doing his job. She hadn't realized until today just how little she knew about this man besides him having an infant daughter at home. In a way, she was heartbroken for him.
Doctor Doctor was all dressed up in black, including her coat and leggings. She wore two pairs of black barrettes in her hair, which fell to her shoulders in loose teal-colored curls. Her funeral dress was a black long-sleeved bodycon wrap dress with the sleeves being made of black lace, and she was wearing black chunky heeled knit boots with socks underneath. Her ears were adorned with black pearl stud earrings, which matched her leather pearl choker that she ordered off of Etsy. Everybody else seemed appropriately dressed for the occasion, especially Anita, who was wearing similar clothes to hers. Ray was also attending the funeral, but he was wearing a black suit and tie and a long black trench-coat on top of his suit.
In fact, just about everyone was here. There was Zac Meadows and his wife Dr. Hypno. Doctor Doctor still couldn't believe that the two were married and happily at that. She recalled Professor Professor telling her how he'd caught the bouquet at their wedding, and she remembered finding it humorous. Victor's mother Mildred was also there. Doctor Doctor had to remind herself that Mildred had once been an U.Z.Z. agent before stepping down to raise her son. Crystelle was in attendance, too, bawling her eyes out. It made sense since that was Melony's father in the casket, and she'd probably have to raise Melony alone for quite some time. Choo Choo Charlie and Lucy were there to comfort her while she cried, as parents were wont to do. Most surprisingly enough, Zac's old partner Naomi Niles was also attending the funeral and with the late Nyx's children, no less. From what Doctor Doctor could remember about Naomi, she was the chief of U.Z.Z. back when Choo Choo Charlie and Lucy were working in the field. Nowadays, Naomi was decrepit and needed a wheelchair to move around.
By the time Professor Professor and Doctor Doctor had settled into their seats, the service had already begun, with Choo Choo Charlie taking to the stand.
"We're gathered here today to say goodbye to Agent Donald Hawkes," Choo Choo Charlie began. "In a way, he made at least some soft of impact in our lives. He's the reason almost all of you are here today. How he died was truly a horrible way to go and a terrible threat to security. And as we all know, for reasons of security, my name is Changed Daily. Today, you may call me..." His cellphone beeped and he sighed. "Hooty McOwlface."
Just about everyone attending the funeral laughed out loud.
"Anyway," Hooty McOwlface continued. "His death is one of the worst ways anyone, let alone an U.Z.Z. agent, can go. I can only hope that where he's going, he won't have to suffer anymore."
A few attendants murmured in agreement at this. Hooty McOwlface proceeded to go on about Hawkes and his life story from beginning to end, ending with the way he died. As Hooty McOwlface continued to talk a bit more, Doctor Doctor's thoughts started wandering off elsewhere. How did she ever get to a point where she and Professor Professor were dating again, especially after how poorly it ended last time? Was this really meant to last? All the other couples here seemed like they fit together like puzzle pieces. Did that mean her relationship didn't? Professor Professor could tell her intrusive thoughts were bothering her, so he squeezed her hand as a way to bring her back to reality.
The rest of the funeral just seemed to zoom by like a blur, and it was seemingly over just as quickly as it had started. Professor Professor and Doctor Doctor headed off for home by hitching a ride on a spider-bike Doctor Doctor had repurposed for herself. When they got home, they were already starting to lose sunlight. Once inside, the couple proceeded to make towards the bedroom and start undressing.
"My God, that was depressing as all get-out," Doctor Doctor murmured. "Can you imagine having Reptogators rip out your insides and eat them?"
Professor Professor shook his head. "Not really. I don't even want to see anything like that ever again. I might have to invent some brain bleach just to scrub that image out of my head."
"Sorry, dear. It's just that... I saw Crystelle crying her eyes out at the funeral. I just had this sick feeling that she'd lost one of the most important people in her life and not just because he was Melony's father. I don't know how either of us could go on if it'd been you or me instead."
"Me neither, which actually reminds me of something..."
Doctor Doctor's eyebrows perked up. "Oh? What's that?"
"After all that's happened over the last two years, this love of ours has somehow managed to make it through. We've done a whole bunch to get to this point, so if we get to do this forever, I want to make it official." He got up from the bed for a second and retrieved what looked to be a 'St. Noir' Black Diamond Gold Skull Engagement Ring from his nightstand drawer. "Would you do me the honor of marrying me?" He got down on one knee, and he held her hand in his own, with the ring in the other.
Doctor Doctor wasn't sure how to react at first. One one hand, he decided to do this the same day as a co-worker's funeral. Surely, there needed to be a little more time to grieve before he could do this. On the other hand, she desperately wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, and she saw him as a chance to start over anew. This could be the redemption arc she needed.
"Da," she replied after a while. "I would. I don't say this lightly, but you're the best thing that could've happened to me."
With that, Professor Professor slipped the skull ring onto her ring finger, and she responded by quickly kissing him on the lips.
