Flames and flowers: tales of Chaos

by Nival Vixen

Unrelated and unconnected drabbles featuring Layla and Warren as Poison and Fire, the evil duo Chaos. May include other relationships that are in the Chaos-verse, i.e. Zach/Ethan, Honey/Speed. Companion to the stories within Tales of Chaos. Rated M for a reason.

22. Heist Week

Title: Heist Week

Prompt: Can I request a one shot of sky high of Connor and Victor getting married and all the shenanigans the kids get into to man it perfect for them :D, or if that's too vanilla, a one shot about your take on Steve and Josie when they were young and became the characters they are in your canon

...

Additional note: this fic includes a lot of characters that haven't yet been mentioned in Mother Nature, but they're coming.

...

"Hey, Terrence. Whoa, what's the countdown for?" Zach asked Terrence curiously, seeing the large numbers above the training arena's doorway.

1 week, 4 days, 16 hours, 20 minutes, 10 - 9 - 8 seconds ...

"It was originally for Heist Week."

"I thought Heist Week started in exactly one week? This... oh, wait. Is the countdown for Connor and Victor's wedding?"

Terrence sighed and nodded. "Connor beat my robot at armwrestling, so I had to change it."

"Oh, I missed that one. When did you do it? And please tell me you recorded it?"

"Last night, you and Ethan were out on a date. Of course I recorded it; I need to see what the damage is on the joints and the electronics are fragile where the limbs bend. Any ideas for strengthening joints without making them look bulky?"

"How about increasing the copper around the wires? Sylvia and Shirley could create a fibre that - "

"Are you kidding me? That countdown sent them both into a frenzy and they put 'do not disturb' signs two hallways away from their workrooms. They're not coming out for another week, four days, and fifteen hours. That's if we're lucky," Terrence added, shaking his head.

Zach winced. "Right. Maybe ask after the wedding, then. Hey, can I get a countdown for Maxville Fashion Week? But, y'know, on a smaller scale?"

"No! You're already bad enough around that time, I'm not doing a countdown for something that's five months away! Ace, where's Eth? He needs to take Zach away before I throw him into the vine pit."

"Ethan's at work, dude, just like everyone else. It's your own fault for making money off building hospital equipment instead of leaving the Hive," Adam replied, rolling his eyes.

"I leave the Hive!"

"Liar," Zach snorted. He stepped back when Terrence glared at him. "I'm going into the training arena, okay? Don't squish me with the countdown," he called over his shoulder.

"Do you know how much shit I'd get in if I did that? Ethan would kill me, and then Heidi would find someone to reanimate me just so she could kill me too, and then I'd probably have Anita gunning for me all over again. You're not worth the trouble of being killed three times."

Zach's laughter came from the training arena and Terrence realised that Adam had turned the speaker off, so he was talking to himself.

God damn it, he needed to get out more.

...

"Heist Week is the busiest week of the year, hippie! I still don't get why they couldn't get married a week later," Warren muttered.

"You're not allowed to say that aloud, hottie; we'll both be in trouble, then. The date has a special meaning to them, it's the date they want, so Heist Week is a far second in comparison, okay?" Layla said, kissing him gently.

Warren sighed. "We're going to need additional security outside the wedding venue and the reception, and as much as I like the Spec Forces guys, even they can't be in two places at once."

"That's why the Admiral's sending his people. We'll be fine, and so will Connor and Victor, as well as everyone else in attendance."

"We don't know the Admiral, not really. Or his people," Warren pointed out, still not happy about the whole thing. "A few days later and Heist Week would've been over. Plus, it's a goddamn weekday; it's a logistical nightmare! You had to take time off work, so the city's basically going to shut down if you're not there to run things, and - "

"Warren. Stop," Layla said firmly, holding her hands to each side of his face. "Security has been worked out, we'll be safe, Heist Week is still going ahead, and the only reason the city will shut down over that week is if we want it to. Now, breathe with me. Inhale, good, that's it. Exhale... and inhale... exhale... inhale... there you go. Better?"

Warren blushed red in embarrassment and nodded as best he could while his head was still in her grip. "Sorry, hippie. I just don't like so many strangers being in the same place as us, especially during Heist Week. You know it's going to be complete and utter chaos."

Layla grinned. "That's just the way I like it. Now, we're going to be late for dinner. Craig's been antsy about the flowers drooping before the ceremony, so I want to get there early to reassure him."

"See, this is why I'm frustrated! He should be focusing on the Global World Bank! It's not going to rob itself," Warren said.

"We've had that worked out for months already. Craig will be fine, okay? The others won't let him fail."

Warren pinched the bridge of his nose and concentrated on his breathing again. "Are you sure we have to go to dinner?"

"It's the rehearsal dinner, Warren, so yes. Besides, if we don't go, Enzo will be upset. He's been planning this menu for longer than we've planned Heist Week. I'm pretty sure he started planning the minute Hyacinth updated the betting pool," Layla mused, grinning.

"Fuck. Fine," he breathed out with a frustrated sigh. Warren stood and curled his arms around Layla in a warm hug. "Thank you for keeping me from being a sullen bastard, hippie."

She smiled and hugged him back. "Anytime, hottie."

...

"It's a rehearsal dinner, why does it matter what I wear? And what's the point of rehearsing eating, anyway? I can eat perfectly fine," Craig muttered.

"I beg to differ," Jewel said, indicating a sauce stain on his shirt. "Besides, it's mostly a way to thank everyone for organising everything. I don't know about you, but I put a shitton of work into planning and decorating this wedding, and I'd appreciate the individual thanks."

"We all did and we're just as eager to have the wedding over as we are to have Heist Week finished. The jewelled bouquets are perfect, babe," Grant said, kissing her cheek.

"I thought rehearsal dinners were meant to be the night before a wedding?" Beau asked as he came downstairs with Craig's shirt and dress jacket over his arm. "Here you are, babe. Get changed quickly; the others will be here soon."

"Thanks," Craig said, kissing Beau briefly as he took the change of clothes, ducking behind a doorway to change super fast.

"Enzo wants more time to prepare and make changes to the menu based on everyone's feedback. He can't do that overnight. Well, he would probably try, but Angelina wouldn't let him, and Milo would be annoyed if his father fell asleep during the wedding and snored," Grant said, grinning.

"Speaking of snoring, did any of you hear from Remi? Is he coming out of hibernation for the wedding?" Craig asked, stepping out from the doorway as he did up his cufflinks.

"I think Justina or Robin heard from him; he said he'd be there," Jewel replied.

"This is why spring weddings are better than winter ones," Beau said, shaking his head.

"Nah, then you've gotta deal with people's hayfever and allergies."

"It just looks like they're emotional about the wedding, then," Beau said with a grin.

Craig considered his response and then nodded. "Good point. When do you guys want to get married?"

Grant looked between Beau and Jewel, then over at Craig. "Are you proposing to us, babe?"

"Of course not. My proposal will be epic and romantic and involve fireworks. People will cry, and you three are expected to get teary at the very least. I'll be bringing monogrammed handkerchiefs for the celebration."

"Of course you are," Grant said with a snicker, kissing his cheek.

"I like the idea of a summer wedding on the beach, but mostly because I can go swimming once the ceremony is over," Beau said, grinning.

"Logically, it's best to get married in Autumn because you've got winter which is the best time to curl up and snuggle," Grant said.

"And have sex," Jewel added, Beau nodding seriously beside her.

"That's what I just said."

"There's a difference between sex and snuggling, babe," Beau said.

"Not with the way we do it," Grant said, grinning.

"We can't have a three month honeymoon, can we? Ooh, can we have a honeymoon for three months?" Craig asked eagerly.

"No," Grant said.

"Yes," Jewel and Beau replied at the same time.

"We have responsibilities; we can't just abandon them for three whole months!"

"I never said we wouldn't have responsibilities. Besides, we can have a staycation; y'know, turn the apartment into a sex dungeon by day, pay the bills by night."

"And where are we getting the money... wait, is that what you plan on doing with your share from Heist Week?"

Craig grinned. "I would if you all agreed to it."

"I have to sit through the rehearsal dinner thinking of a sex dungeon now, don't I?" Beau groaned, his cheeks red.

"Yes," all three replied with wicked grins.

...

"Mama, Heidi looks angry," Rain called, tugging at Decima's dress.

"Rain, that's not polite. Heidi's allowed to look however she likes, and you're not to comment on it, understand?" Dess said firmly. "Sometimes people have faces that look angry but it doesn't mean they are angry, okay? Don't assume."

Rain frowned, looking between Dess and Heidi. "But I know Heidi's angry; that's her angry face."

Decima bit her lip so she wouldn't laugh or sigh in resignation. Heidi did look pissed off.

Rain looked up at her, a frown forming on his face. "But if someone looks angry, how do you make them stop being angry without commenting that they look angry?"

"You ask them if you can help them in any way."

"All right. Hey, Heidi! Wait up!" Rain called, running after her.

Dess wondered if she'd given him good advice or had just unwittingly caused the end of someone's life. They all knew that Damien and Diablo would do anything that Rain and Storm asked of them. As they were now ten year olds with vicious behaviours and no real sense of remorse or understanding of why killing bad people immediately was a bad thing, this could end badly.

"Dess? Are you all right, dear?" Barney asked, seeing the worried expression on her face.

"I might've just signed someone's death warrant," Decima admitted.

"Oh? Do you need me for an alibi or to help you bury the body?"

Decima laughed, shaking her head. "Neither, though I appreciate your offer. Where's Storm?"

"Last I saw, she was with Pan and Obe, cheering on the new quad in their play fighting."

"Who's winning?"

"Willow. She might be small, but she's definitely a fighter." Barnabas looked around the room. "Now, whose death warrant did you sign?"

"I'm not sure. Heidi's angry, Rain was going to comment, so I told him to offer her help instead, and now I'm worried that whoever she's angry at will end up in a shallow grave somewhere."

"Shallow graves are a common trait between citizen serial killers who are often desperate for acknowledgement and possibly fame for what they've done. They want to be caught," Diablo said seriously behind them. "We won't be caught for something as simple as a shallow grave."

"Ooh, are we killing someone?" Damien asked eagerly.

Dess groaned against her husband's shoulder. Barney bit back his smile and curled an arm around her shoulders. "It's all right, dearest Dess. They're just kidding, aren't you, boys?"

"Yes, sir," Damien and Diablo chorused sweetly.

"Where's Thana? Or Aleph?"

"Mama's getting the parking validated and Al's getting drinks. We promised to come find you so we could see Rain and Storm. Are they here?" Damien asked, Diablo looking around the room, trying to find their friends.

"Storm will be through soon; she's looking after her baby brothers and sisters. Rain went to find Heidi."

Lights flickered on the far end of the room, as if on cue.

"Oh, that's where they are. Thank you, Pepe!"

"You can't call me that! That's reserved for my kids! And their partners... and they're gone."

Decima snorted at her husband's expression. "They've been married since they were six, Barney. You'd think you'd be used to it by now."

"Not until it's official."

"They have rings and everything."

Barney looked at Dess, his eyes narrowing. "Whose side are you on?"

Decima grinned. "Theirs, of course."

"You're so cruel to me. I love it."

Decima's laughter was cut off by his kiss and she wound her arms around Barnabas' neck to hold him close.

"Oh, dear all the deities, stop already. You're going to traumatise the whole wedding party," Aleph groaned, covering his eyes at the sight of his parents making out like they were teenagers.

"Sounds like an achievable goal to me. What do you think, dearest Dess?" Barney asked with a broad grin.

"I think we should stop. You know Aleph gets embarrassed by our passion."

Barney sighed dramatically and straightened up, kissing Decima's hand before turning his attention to their eldest son. "Were you looking for us?"

"I was looking for Die and Dame; they were meant to stay with you."

"They went to find Rain; he's with Heidi at the moment. Possibly planning a murder, though they've promised not to get caught."

"Mami, really? Which way did they go?" Aleph asked, looking around and unable to find either of his stepsons.

"Towards the flickering lights with Heidi. Uh... hmm, do you remember which way it was, dearest?"

"Aleph, what's wrong?" Thana asked, seeing the worried expression on her husband's face.

"Dame and Die aren't here; they went after Rain, who went after Heidi. There was something about planning a murder, but I'm pretending Mami didn't mean it," Aleph said absentmindedly, standing tall on his toes to try to see over people in the ever-growing crowd. "I'll shift and find them, I just - oh, there you are."

"Pepe, Mami, they were planning without me! Even though I said Heidi's upset and not angry. Robin broke up with her," Storm said, nudging Rain.

"The plan of making Robin make the grave still stands," he muttered.

"I said I'm fine! And I don't want to kill Robin, either, so everyone calm down," Heidi said, her cheeks red. "It's just a fight. We'll be fine. Or we won't. It's fine," she said, a determined look on her face, despite her trembling lip.

"Oh, sweetheart. Come with me, we'll talk, hey?" Dess offered, holding out a hand for her.

Heidi's determined expression crumbled and she nodded, tears filling her eyes. "Shit. Is Craig here yet? Zach can't see me like this, he'll start crying if he sees me cry," she sniffled.

"We'll go to the bathroom. Tell Craig to find us when you see him?" Dess asked them, kissing Barney's cheek before leading Heidi away.

"Robin broke up with her? What did they even argue about?" Aleph asked in surprise.

"Heist Week," Rain, Damien, Diablo, and Storm chorused.

"What was that about Heist Week?" Sport asked, looking around the group curiously.

"Heidi and Robin are having a small lover's spat over it. Nothing we want to make worse by assuming things incorrectly," Thana added firmly.

"Right. Uh, Heidi isn't on the roster until after the wedding, you don't think that's an issue, do you? I could talk to Layla and Warren - "

"I thought Heidi wasn't on the roster at all?" Thana asked, interrupting him in her surprise. "Oh, damn it. No, we are not speculating this."

There was a beat of silence.

"I've got the roster open," Aleph said, holding his phone out to Thana, who took it quickly.

"Where's Ethan?" Sport asked, looking around the room for him.

"I thought you were meant to be in Paris?" Aleph asked Sport curiously.

"Catching a red eye after the rehearsal dinner. I'm going to be jet lagged and grumpy by the time I get back. Thankfully, Ethan scheduled a whole day so I can sleep and recover before the wedding."

"Since when is Heidi doing Heist Week? Did he approve the change or did Heidi put herself on it?" Thana muttered.

"Hello. Did I hear my name?" Ethan asked, looking at the group. "Hi Rain, Storm. Damien and Diablo, how are you?"

Damien and Diablo looked at their mother, then to each other, and then to Ethan.

"Is Heidi doing Heist Week?"

"Did she put herself on the roster?"

"Or did you approve the change?"

Ethan blinked slowly and adjusted his glasses. "How do you two know about Heist Week?"

"They don't, they're parroting me," Thana admitted, handing Aleph's phone back to him.

"We'd appreciate it if Heist Week wasn't discussed in front of minors; they have a tendency to talk - or parrot - at the most inopportune moments." Ethan sighed and looked at the two sets of twins. "Heist Week is a very big game the adults are playing next week. It's to... help Connor and Victor with their wedding, but it's a surprise, so you can't tell them or anyone else, okay?"

All four looked at Ethan suspiciously.

"Hey! This is a big group; what're you doing standing around? The food's being served. You guys have got pigs in a blanket, and there's dinosaur shaped nuggets with ketchup, of course, oh, and... tater tots that definitely don't have vegetables in them," Zach added quickly.

"I think you lost them at 'food's being served,'" Barney admitted, watching the four children running over to the table that had been set up for them earlier. "Did Enzo get to talk to you about the menu yet?"

"There was a thing with the crickets escaping, so he didn't have time. Justina helped over the phone, thankfully. I was focused on the kids' food anyway. We've planned time to talk later tonight after he's received the scorecards from everyone. I suggest you all take a seat quickly; it's a tight schedule," Zach said.

Ushered to their seats, they all sat at their assigned tables, talking to the others at the dinner.

Zach looked around and saw Heidi's seat was empty. "Eth? You seen Heids? She was meant to be here already, yeah?"

"There she is," Ethan said, nodding to the doorway where Heidi was returning with Decima, Wendy, and Craig a step behind her.

Zach frowned on seeing his sister's face. "Heids didn't look that shiny before, did she?"

"I don't believe so. Perhaps she had an acne breakout and didn't want anyone else to see?" Ethan suggested. From the questions Thana had asked, he doubted that was the reason, but he knew Zach would be upset without some sort of reasoning behind her illusioned face.

"Oh. Damn, that's a good idea. I've got a stress breakout that's going to happen soon, I can feel it."

"Gwendolyn's meeting you on the weekend about Bright Designs, isn't she?"

"Yeah. I think she's finally got an acting role. I mean, I hope she does 'cause Gwendolyn's a kickass actress and I think it's amazing, but it's going to suck big time if she has to leave. She's been so good and brought so many ideas to the designs. Not to mention the food naming theme. I would've been stuck so many times, if not for her."

"I know, Zach. I was either there or I heard all about it. Or you showed me the video recording. I think she might've used one as part of her acting portfolio."

"Huh, cool. Ooh, there's the first entrée."

"First? You realise that by its definition, entrée means first, and there shouldn't be multiple?"

"I just meant the first variation of the entrée. There's three different kinds to cater to different eating requirements. Aww, that's the bug one. Damn. It still looks good, though."

"Hey, guys. You got the scorecards already, right?" Milo asked, setting the entrée on the lazy susan in the middle of the table.

"Yes, they're on all of the tables," Ethan confirmed.

"Great, Dad's been freaking out about them."

"Please reassure him I've provided them to all of the table settings personally. Even the children's table has them, along with crayons. I requested dinosaurs if they liked the food and spaceships if they didn't."

Milo paused, then nodded. "All right. Here's hoping for dinosaurs, just so my father doesn't spend the rest of the night crying over nuggets and pigs in a blanket."

"I'll show them how to draw really cool dinosaurs later, okay?" Zach offered.

Grinning, Milo nodded again. "Thanks, Zed. Oh, and next week, I actually get to sit at the table instead of serving it. I'm more excited about that than the wedding, to be honest."

"Look forward to it. Eth helped with the seating arrangements and we're seated with the lawyers from Victor's work. Eliza and Beth are coming with Mr. Medulla, so that'll be fun. I asked him to bring a freeze ray," Zach said with a grin.

Milo winced, shook his head, and headed back to the kitchen so he could assist bringing out the next entrée round.

"No, Zach. If you destroy anything, it's coming out of your Heist Week share."

"You offend me, sir."

Ethan just looked at him, unimpressed by his rebuttal. "I'm texting Mr. Medulla right now."

"Aw, but there's a whole gag I'm going to do about cold-hearted lawyers."

"Zach, no."

"Zach, ye- all right, Zach, no," he said with a put upon sigh. "What about warming up cold hearts? The heat ray is - "

"No."

"Damn."

...

Angelina finally finished cleaning the last dish and put away the last piece of cutlery. They would need to be polished before the actual wedding next week, but that was a job for tomorrow's staff, not now and certainly not her. "Enzo, please tell me you're ready to leave? I need to sleep for twelve hours straight," she called out across the empty kitchen, certain he'd hear her from the dining area where he was collecting the tablecloths.

When her husband didn't answer, Angelina headed out of the kitchen and saw Enzo at a table, crying. Milo was patting his back, looking as exhausted as she felt, and Angelina hurried over, wondering what on earth was wrong. The scorecards had all been positive - just one comment about the "well done steak being too tough" and another stating the chicken was dry, but she wasn't even going to go there considering they had specifically asked not to include sauces or dressings and her Enzo had made the meal separately for them - and there was no reason to cry.

"Enzo? What's wrong? Milo, sweetheart, go to bed. I'll look after your father, and... oh," Angelina said, stopping short when she saw the tablecloth covered in various coloured dinosaurs.

"It's good, Ma. Dinosaurs were good, spaceships were bad," Milo said, his words ending with a large yawn.

"Thank you, Milo. We'll see you upstairs. And thank you again for your help. I know you would rather have spent the time with your friends."

Milo shrugged. "S'okay; we'll see each other next week."

Not entirely pleased about the reminder of Heist Week and her own secret fears about what could go wrong, Angelina just nodded. "Go to bed, sweetheart."

"G'night, Ma."

Angelina pressed a soft kiss to his temple and gently pushed Milo toward the exit. She wasn't sure if he'd make it upstairs on his own or if they'd go out to find him sleeping in the elevator, but she knew the building was safe until then. Milo would be fine for now.

"They liked it all, Angel. Look, there's dinosaurs for each of the courses," Enzo said, wiping his tears and smiling up at her. "This one is my favourite; it's eating the other dinosaurs."

"So I can see. It seems that they were very creative with their use of ketchup. I'll take a photo and then we can go upstairs to sleep, all right?"

"All right, Angel. Thank you for everything, especially that incident with the crickets."

"You're lucky Justina answered her phone. It was far too early in the morning over in Paris," she murmured, navigating through her phone to get to the camera and take a photo.

"I know. I'll make her favourite meal when she's back."

"All right, I'll order extra eggplants after next week is over and they're all safe and heading back."

Enzo stood at her words, looking at Angelina closely. "They'll be all right, Angel. They've gone over every possibility with all of us. That's... a lot of eyes looking at one week of activities."

Angelina sighed and nodded. "I know. They even let me look, which is not what I wanted at all. But I'll feel better when they're all back and the whole thing is done until next year. Maybe it'll be third time lucky and I won't worry so much then."

"The wedding will keep us occupied for the first half. That will help, won't it, Angel?" Enzo asked, tugging her into his arms.

"Someone else should get married at the other end of the week, then I won't have time to worry."

Enzo raised on his toes to kiss her cheek. "You always have time to worry, Angel. But they'll be fine. Milo's not even going until the day after the wedding, so we'll be able to concentrate on him."

"You mean worry intensely for the entire day?"

"Of course, what other kind is there?"

Angelina sighed against Enzo's chest. "Let's go home. I'm tired enough that I might actually sleep tonight."

"Want me to carry you upstairs, Angel?"

"No, it's all right. You might have to carry Milo; I'm not sure he made it upstairs."

Enzo gathered the last of the tablecloths, folding the dinosaur-covered one carefully over his arm, and followed Angelina out of the restaurant. As she had suspected, Milo hadn't made it upstairs, and he was dozing lightly on the bench next to the elevator.

"Come on, Milo. Time to get to bed," Enzo murmured gently, lifting him up with a small grunt of exertion.

Angelina leaned down to kiss Enzo's cheek, holding the elevator door open as he carried their son inside. "We've got you, Milo. We're almost home," she said, brushing his hand back from Milo's face and trying not to be too emotional at the sight of how young and innocent he looked.

He was almost twenty and she needed to treat him like an adult, Angelina knew this, but at the same time, Milo was still her baby boy.

"Tuck me in tonight, Angel?" Enzo asked with a big yawn, trying to turn his head into his shoulder since his hands were full.

"Of course, sweetheart."

...

"Victor? Can I come in, darling?" Connor asked, knocking at the door gently.

"Of course. It's been our bedroom for years and you've seen me naked plenty of times; why are you knocking now?" Victor asked in surprise, looking at Connor over the rim of his glasses and raising an eyebrow.

"You said you didn't want me to see you in your wedding outfit; I don't want to walk in while you're trying it on or something," Connor admitted, walking into the bedroom and closing the door behind him with a soft click, leaning against it to take in the sight of Victor wearing nothing but a blue shirt and his reading glasses.

"Connor, sweetheart, I promise I'll never try on the wedding outfit at... nine o'clock at night, okay? You don't have to knock. I'll scream if you have to stay out for whatever reason, all right?"

"I don't know that I like you screaming, darling. At least, not in a way that doesn't involve pleasure."

Victor grinned and turned his attention back to his work. "Mmhmm."

Connor had plans for the night that didn't involve Victor working, even if he looked delectable with his glasses and gorgeous face of concentration. Elijah and Elliot were staying at Edith's, Craig was at Beau's, and Ry was training at the Hive. He'd given his son express instructions not to train too hard, but ever since Ry had his heart broken, he'd been focused on Heist Week with an intensity that even rattled Connor's calm. He sighed at the thought, running a hand through his hair.

"Connor, are you all right? Your colours are... oh, it's about Ry, isn't it?" Victor asked, looking at him curiously.

"He's been so quiet lately. I mean, he's always been a quiet kid, but even Layla and Warren look worried. If he does something stupid during Heist Week trying to prove himself - "

"He won't, Connor. Ry promised both of us last year that he wouldn't do anything rash like that."

"That was last year, darling. That was before that bitch tore his heart out and stomped on it for good measure."

Victor sighed softly, clenching his cane as he stood up and made his way over to Connor. "Eliza and I dealt with her, Connor, just like you agreed to, remember? Ethan's given us permission to kill her after a year, so in one-hundred and ten days, we will have an airtight alibi and a deep grave ready. For now, think about that cow rotting away in prison for the next eighty days and under surveillance for the thirty days after that. Eliza and I made sure she wouldn't get a damn thing given to her, and Hyacinth herself has checked the prison records. She's ostracised, alone, and will stay that way."

Connor focused on Victor's words, on the revenge they'd achieved so far - so much and yet, still so little, especially where his son was concerned - and inhaled slowly, exhaling a moment later. "All right, darling. I'm calmer now."

"I'm glad to hear that, but you still need a few colours adjusted until I'll believe it. Do you trust me?"

"With more than my life, darling."

Victor leaned his cane against the door beside them, then rested his hands on Connor's shoulders, his grip firm and confident. "Breathe with me."

Following Victor's instruction, Connor breathed in time with his soon-to-be husband, and felt the tension and shards of anger easing from his muscles. His jaw stopped clenching, his fists unfurled into loose palms, and his lower back stopped aching. "Thank you, darling."

"Anytime, Connor. I don't like seeing you in pain like that, especially when you'll need all of your wits about you for next week."

"Marrying you is the most natural thing I could do in my life, darling," Connor said, leaning forward to kiss Victor.

They pulled away from the kiss breathless, chests heaving, and Victor grinned at him. "You're sweet, Connor, but I was talking about Heist Week. Remember, no hits to the face if you can help it. We will be in so much trouble if your gorgeous face has to be Photoshopped because of a giant bruise."

Connor laughed brightly. "I'll keep it in mind, darling, but I make no promises. Besides, that's why we hired Darla for makeup."

Victor snorted. "We hired Darla for makeup because if we didn't, we would have mutinous children on our hands as well as a small army of drag queens out for our throats. That, and Darla's amazing with makeup."

"Of course. Oh, and speaking of being out for your throat... I noticed the colour of your shirt tonight, darling. You tease," Connor murmured, tugging at the collar of Victor's blue shirt.

Victor grinned. "I hoped you'd notice."

"I notice everything about you, darling, especially when you wear blue for me," he said, kissing Victor again. Connor pulled away and glanced over at the bed, still littered with manilla folders and Victor's work. "You're not meant to be working in bed, darling. The bed is for sex and sleeping."

"And eating," Victor added, grinning.

"This is why I don't like bringing you breakfast in bed. You get cheeky for days afterward," he murmured, cupping Victor's chin and turning his head slightly. "Are you looking to be punished, darling?"

"Maybe."

Connor grinned at him and leaned down to kiss him firmly with enough pressure to make Victor cling to him eagerly. "Put your work away now, darling. Tonight, you're mine."

Victor melted at the words, and hurried over to the bed. He stacked his work in his briefcase quickly and methodically. It was important but it could wait one more night. Tonight, he was Connor's, and in one week, four days, seven hours, and ten minutes, he'd be his in the legal sense, too. Victor could hardly wait and even after being engaged for nearly a year now, the growing anticipation and idea of being married to Connor still gave him goosebumps in the best way.

Putting his briefcase in its spot by their bed, Victor straightened up and watched as Connor closed his eyes to prepare, taking in all of the different colours that swirled around his body. Tan teasing, pink love, red lust, each one lined with silver seriousness, and - the part Victor loved most - he could see when Connor was ready to start because copper descended, muting the other colours and the swirling stopping as the wave of metallic copper washed over each one. He still hadn't worked out exactly what copper signified, but Victor knew exactly what it meant when the colour appeared. When his colours were still from his head to his toes, Connor opened his eyes once more, and smiled at Victor, a mix of predator and love in his gaze and colours. The combination made him shiver in anticipation, every time without fail.

"Hello, darling. Let's get you ready for me, shall we?"

"Yes, please."

...

"Do you want the good news or the better news first?" Ex called to Baby as he ended the phone call.

Baby winced, knowing that 'better' was really 'worse'. "Good news first, Exxie."

"Gemma's dad agreed to a smaller security escort to Gramps' wedding."

Baby made the mistake of relaxing. "Well, that's not bad. He was pushing for six Navy SEALs last time we talked to him, and that was just for his wife."

Ex laughed, the sound harsh and bitter. "Oh, don't worry, they both still have their security detail of SEALs, but it's down to two each."

"All right, drop the grenade, Ex. What's the better news?"

"They're coming today instead of Wednesday."

Baby swore. "We don't have anything ready for them. And we promised Gemma we'd screw her brains out tonight so she'd be relaxed on Wednesday, and... Ah, fuck. Gramps is on Heist Week today and we're gone tomorrow."

"Yep."

"That's one helluva grenade, Exxie. Super Jesus, Gemma is going to be pissed."

"Yep."

Baby sighed and rubbed his fingertips against his temples. "I'm going to Ammie's; I'll bring back coffee and cake. We need sugar and caffeine if we're going to plan."

"Yep."

Their future father-in-law arriving two days early wouldn't have been a problem had it been any other goddamn week in the rest of the year. Baby sighed under his breath and left the Sanctuary's security room to go to Ammie's bakery. He needed something chocolate-y, filled with chocolate, and covered in more chocolate.

...

"Heist Week starts in fifteen minutes, people! Attendees, line your asses up, grab your gear, and check your plan and positions. Has anyone seen Ex yet? We can't have Plan One starting without the explosives!" Craig called.

"I'm here, don't yell, fucking hell," Ex groaned, running a hand over the buzzed side of his head. "Baby couldn't sleep last night and kept me up."

"As always, no one needs nor wants to know about your sex life, Uncle Ex," Ryuu said, wrinkling his nose.

"You wound me," Ex said. He opened his duffle bag and started to pull out the various components, placing them on the table carefully before checking each one to ensure everything would run smoothly.

"All right. First team, leave at the five minute mark. Second, leave at the ten minute mark. Where's the third group? Do we have everyone else in attendance?" Connor asked, looking around the room.

"First team's all here," Ethan confirmed with a nod for himself and his group.

"Second's here," Ryuu confirmed.

"Third's already en route in the van," Honey said from the phone speaker.

"All right. First team, return within the hour. Second team, you've got two hours. No one is allowed to get arrested, understood?" Connor called out.

"Yes, sir," Ethan called. "Team One, line up to be melted."

"All right, I'm mentally prepared for this," Baby muttered, stepping forward into the line.

Craig grinned and kissed Jewel's cheek. "See you soon, babe."

"I don't know why he says that when I'm still here," Craig 2.0 said, rolling his eyes.

"He thinks he's funny, don't be mean," Jewel chided gently, kissing Craig 2.0's cheek.

"Me, mean? Never! All right, Team Two, line up for teleportation," he called.

Ethan melted the last person down from Team One, added them to the container, then melted that down and added it to his arm. "Ready, Craig."

"All right. Team One's good to go for teleportation." Craig called, Ethan melting down and sliding over to the Slurpee cup. Craig gave them a mocking salute and teleported.

Craig 2.0 rolled his eyes, then took the hands of Jewel, each of the others in Team Two grabbing onto the next person's hand until they were looped back to Craig's copy. "Team Two is a-go for teleportation."

They disappeared right as Gemma rushed into the room, huffing for breath. "Did I miss them?"

"Yes, they just left. What's wrong?" Nina asked, grabbing a chair for her friend to sit down.

"The... rings... fell down... a fucking... drain."

Nina blinked. "The rings? The rings Jewel has spent two months gathering minute particles of various precious stones from across the world to create for Connor and Victor? Those rings?"

Gemma nodded, drinking the water Anita offered to her and sitting back to fan her face.

"First question: how the fuck did they fall down a drain?" Nina groaned.

Gemma stopped fanning her face long enough to glower at the memory. "I was transferring them into the ring cases and Jetstream flew past. She was going so fucking fast I lost my grip on the rings. They rolled straight out the damn door and into the drain. I've been trying to call Jewel for the last ten minutes on my way over."

"Jetstream doesn't know about Heist Week, does she?"

"I'm pretty sure it's the worst kept secret in Maxville, Nina. The only thing she doesn't know is where and when. She and Airborne have been patrolling Maxville since midnight last night," Anita said. "I'll message the group chat; someone will see it and let Jewel know."

"All right, second question: where are the drain blueprints that Ethan has in here? We might be able to fish the rings out before they get back. They can be sterilised, right?" Nina asked, Gemma nodding emphatically.

"Oh, I saw those in the training arena. The filing cabinet and map drawers are in there. I know my son's filing system better than Zach; I'll be right back," Anita said, hurrying out.

"Aren't the maps linked to the projector system?" Gemma asked, frowning.

"We'd better go after her before she tries to tear it out. Terrence might cry; he spent weeks working on the 3D projector," Nina muttered, Gemma following her through the lower Hive to get to the training arena.

They'd find the rings and the others wouldn't be distracted during Heist Week and everything would be fine .

...

"If you say we've run out of gas, I'm blowing the van up, Hourglass," Warren snarled from the back seat.

Honey snorted at his threat and use of her super alter ego's name. "Yeah, I know, Ignite . I was just going to say that we're here. Two minutes early, but it's better than late. I'll see you inside," she said over her shoulder, already slipping out of the van's driver seat and heading to the shopping mall.

"It's Fire, and you know it," Warren snapped.

Layla shook her head and waited as the others left the van. Simon glanced back at them before he continued out of the van and into the mall after Honey.

"Warren, what's wrong?"

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Here, see for yourself," he said, holding his phone out for her.

"I thought we put all the phones on silent before we left?" Layla asked, looking at the messages. "They lost the rings? Oh, for fuck's sakes... Is this really what you're worrying about when we're about to rob this place blind? We can steal a hundred rings to replace them."

Warren huffed, taking his phone back, turning it on silent and shoving it in his pocket. "I didn't think of it that way. You know how much work Jewel put into those rings."

Layla kissed his cheek. "Jewel only took this long to make the rings because she had to get the precious stones imported and red tape is a bitch, no matter who you are. She still has the stones in the Hive and can remake them. Now, are you going to focus on our day?"

Warren nodded. "Yes, hippie."

"Good. Come on, Fire. Let's go steal a hundred rings anyway."

"All right, if we must," he deadpanned, then grinned broadly and followed Layla out of the van and towards the high-end shopping mall.

In shops ahead of them, some people screamed, while others tried to run away from the masked villains. Warren slipped his own mask on and beside him, Layla powered up, vines stretching ahead to clear the path before them.

The last year of planning was finally coming to a reality, and he couldn't wait.

...

"Ooh, we definitely have to see this one. The artist is new but they're going to be huge and it'll be worth millions in a month's time, especially if it's stolen."

"So, would you like to break in with glowing neon lights, or is telling the whole goddamn city what we're planning on doing enough for you?" Pat asked, rolling his eyes at Terrence.

Terrence grinned. "No one is gonna do a damn thing, Pat."

"Come on, guys. We're on a strict timeline, remember?" Wendy called, wind whipping at them to move faster.

"Careful, Wendy!" Pat said, adjusting his coat collar to keep the four tiny frogs in place.

"I'm always careful. Najair would kill me if I ruined his outfit."

"Security's near the bathroom," Craig 2.0 informed them quietly as he held the door open.

Jewel was on his arm and chatting away about the Modern Art Museum's jewellery display. Wendy, Terrence, and Pat hurried into the museum without a word.

"You're welcome!" Craig called after them. "Rude."

"This is why I wanted to go to the restaurant early. You know people at these places are assholes, babe," Jewel said loudly, wrinkling her nose and brushing her hair back from her face with a pale hand.

"Oh, you know what? I'm not letting that one slide," Wendy muttered, turning around. "Who're you calling an asshole, you bitch?"

"You, clearly! Manners are a thing, y'know!" Jewel snapped.

"Falsetto much, babe?" Craig 2.0 muttered quietly.

"You're right. Let's just go. We can go to a coffee shop or something."

"Like I'm letting you leave after calling me an asshole!" Wendy called, grabbing Jewel's hair and dragging her back into the foyer.

"Hey! Let go of her!" Craig 2.0 snapped, trying to pull the two women apart.

Wendy growled, moving an arm and elbowing Craig in the face.

"My nose! You fucking bitch!"

"Ah, shit. I'll get her," Terrence said, turning around at the curse, running back to the foyer as Wendy and Jewel's fight deteriorated into an actual fistfight, complete with more hair pulling.

Pat hurried into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He waited until he heard the Security door open, slipping out of the bathroom and trying to get into the room before the door closed. It swung closed too fast, his gloved hand outstretched, and the door slammed.

"Fuck. Fuck, fuckity, fuck. What the fuck do I do now? Fucking hell."

He'd have to switch with Terrence somehow, even though Terrence wasn't meant to use his power on the door. Pat looked over to the foyer when an unfamiliar harsh cry sounded, probably from the security guard. He winced on seeing that Jewel had managed to kick him right in between the legs with her heels.

The security door opened and Pat readied a hundred excuses for why he was standing there, only to be faced with a lot of pink and a smug grin.

"What's all the noise out there? I can't hear myself think," Najair said, grinning broadly. "C'mon, before the guard wakes up. Ry would be so proud, I knocked him out and didn't hurt myself."

"I'm proud, love. Let me in, quick," Pat said, slipping into the room beside Najair so he could get to work.

"Right, all of you get out of here right now!" the security guard snarled at the four arguing adults, clutching himself and trying to sound threatening when tears were in his eyes.

"Make me, you - "

Craig was physically lifted off the floor and marched over to the door.

"Okay, you can make me. But I'll be back! With lawyers! And I'll bring my own security guards! And - ah!"

Jewel ran out of the foyer as Craig was thrown out onto the pavement. Wendy and Terrence both left after them, going the opposite way and Wendy still cursing under her breath.

The security guard hobbled back to the security room, determined to get an ice pack and pain medication. He swiped his access pass to unlock the door, and behind him, the bathroom door opened. The man who'd rushed in there just before the fight had happened stepped out and glanced at him with a slight frown when he saw the man limping.

"You 'right, mate?" Pat asked.

"Fine," the guard muttered, closing the door behind him firmly.

Moving slowly through the room, he continued through to the tiny adjacent staff kitchen to get an ice pack. In the kitchen, he froze more than his balls as he realised that something was wrong. Some of the screens were turned off . Running back to the screens as fast as he could, he slammed the button to turn the screens on, and saw that several artworks were missing.

Craig 3.0 melted down the final piece of art and added it to the water bottle sitting on the cleaning cart he was pushing. Whistling to himself, he continued through the Modern Art Museum. Ducking behind a pillar, he changed his form and put the water bottle in his handbag. Adjusting his beret over his brand new golden curls, Craig 3.0 shouldered the handbag, left the cleaning cart behind, and walked straight out of the museum.

"Next time, a longer dress and stockings are needed. Fuck, it's cold," Craig 3.0 hissed as a frigid blast hit him straight away.

He hurried down the path to meet the others at the coffee shop they'd agreed on earlier.

...

"Are you kidding me? This thing is even bigger than I thought!"

"That's what she said," Craig snickered.

"I can create an earthquake and leave you both stuck in the ground, just remember that," Robin snapped.

"Aww, Robin. Are you still upset 'cause you and Heids fought? You'll make up after Heist Week is over," Craig said.

Robin's cheeks reddened. "Shut the fuck up, Cee," they snapped, glaring.

"Shutting up," Craig said, eyes wide.

Robin turned on their heel and went around to the other side of the giant statue of Captain Stronghold, the Commander, Jetstream, and Airborne. Three Generations , as the statue was known, had been built after Captain Stronghold's death, its own island mirroring the Statue of Liberty but on the West coast instead. The small island was a popular draw for tourists, and there were several locally owned boat businesses that took fans out to the island each day.

"How about you stop antagonising Robin when they're crucial to this plan working?" Ethan muttered, pushing his glasses up his nose and poking Craig between the shoulder blades.

"Sorry! I didn't think it was that serious. Zed, do you know what happened?"

"It's a fight, Cee, and it's none of our business," Zach replied firmly.

"Heids didn't tell you, either?"

Zach sighed. "No. She told me to stay out of it and if I said anything, she'd be even more upset."

Craig winced. "Geez, all right. They do realise Edith and Hyacinth are probably gonna lock them in a room at the end of the week?"

"Yeah, pretty sure everyone knows that after the rehearsal dinner."

"Shut up and get over here already!" Robin called.

"Hurry up, before we get flattened," Ethan said, guiding Craig and Zach towards Robin.

"Fine, but I want a photo in front of the Commander's ass first," Craig said, Zach snickering beside him.

Robin glared and the island beneath their feet started to shake as Ex's explosions set off, screaming echoing.

...

Ethan unmelted everyone before he started to head downstairs to unmelt the goods and money they'd stolen. He needed to add them to the inventory list, work out what was going to be fenced, and determine how much money needed to be split between everyone.

"Did you see the news? They're calling it the theft of the century," Adam called with a laugh. "It's only the first day!"

"I told you we should have left Three Generations until the end of the week. Everything else is going to be small change in comparison," Ethan replied. "Where are we putting Three Generations until it's fenced? I don't think it will fit in the training arena without - "

Both his words and feet stopped short, and Ethan stared at the mess the map drawer and 3D projector had become, blueprints projected onto the wall and the wall itself ruined with what looked to be permanent marker.

"Oh, Ethan, you're back! How did everything go? Are you all right? Were you hurt anywhere?" Anita asked, peeling gloves off her hands before checking him over.

"What... what happened to my maps?"

"Ah. Well, I had some trouble with the display, and I couldn't get the 3D holographic markers to stay in the right spot."

"Ma, you did this?"

Anita winced. "I didn't mean to ruin it."

Ethan sighed and rubbed his temples. "It's fine, Ma. I'll get Terrence to fix it and I'll show you how to use it later. Why were you looking at... the underground pipes, anyway?" he asked, tilting his head as he determined what the blueprint was for.

"The rings got lost in the drain outside of Gemstone's . We're tracking them down."

"The rings Jewel's spent two months creating?"

"Yes."

"Does Jewel know?"

"I do now. Terrence got one of these weird artworks from the museum and says it's going to make us rich, but I don't see it," Jewel said, frowning as she turned the piece left and right, trying to work out what was so good about it.

"It's an abstract piece designed to make you reflect on the good in the world and whether it can be mistaken for evil, or the other way around. There have been countless discussions about it, and... Just give the damn thing to me," Terrence muttered, holding his hand out for it.

"It still looks like a cheap and shitty Magic-8 ball to me."

"Uh, Jewel? Didn't you just hear that about the rings?" Anita asked incredulously.

"Oh, yeah. I can remake them. The shop still has huge blocks left of the original jewels and precious stones I used, so it's no biggie. I'll have both done by the time Eth finishes cataloguing today's stuff," Jewel added, a challenge in her voice and expression.

"I refuse to rush the process and make a mistake. But you're on," Ethan said with a grin.

"All right, we'll leave you... What happened to my 3D projector?"

"Uh... Let's go get some food; I'm sure you're hungry after the first heist of the week," Anita said, wincing and leading Terrence out of the training arena.

...

"Hippie? Did you see that giant damn statue in the training arena?" Warren asked as he joined her in their oasis.

"Of course I did. Robin had to push the training arena down just so it would fit."

"Did you see Craig's photo in the group chat?"

"No?"

Warren grinned and held out his phone for Layla. She took it, a curious frown on her face, and then her eyes widened and she burst out laughing.

Craig was posing as the Commander and kissing the ass of the Commander's statue, hundreds of hearts flashing around his head.

"Think we should post it online?" Warren asked, grinning.

"Tempting, but if we do that, the Super Bureau might go after body form shifters. If he does it masked, and Adam makes the post secure, then hell yes," Layla said with another laugh.

" Aw, shit yes! "

"Craig, why are you listening to our conversation?"

"Uh... Adam wanted to say something, I heard my name as I was passing his room, and I wanted to post the Commander photo, but this is so much better. What do you reckon: a shitty Halloween costume of the Commander or just one of those fake rubber masks?"

"Both!" Ry called in the background.

Layla sighed. "Fine, both. But make sure it's obvious that it's not a shifter or the Commander, please? We don't want innocent villains or heroes taking the blame for this."

"Nah, I've got it. Hey, Terrence! Where's your camera? Eth, bring yours, too!" Craig called, his voice getting more distant with each passing word.

"Ace, you wanted to talk to us?" Warren asked.

"Yeah. Where are you? I can't get a proper signal."

"In the forest; the trees are dense out here," Layla said.

There was a moment of silence. "Why do I feel like you're lying to me?" Adam muttered. "Anyway, that's not what I wanted to talk about. The airport called about the flights booked for this weekend; they had troubles with their servers and lost everyone's meal requirements, so they want them again."

"What did you do to the servers?"

"It wasn't intentional. I was just trying to bump the seats up to first class."

"Appreciated, Adam, but economy seats are fine."

"Fine. Don't blame me if there's no leg room."

Layla sighed and shook her head. "The meals were one carnivore, two vegan, one vegetarian, and one lactose intolerant."

"Awesome, thanks."

"Is that all, Ace?" Warren asked, tugging Layla onto the bed with him.

"Yeah. I'm going to go train for tomorrow."

"Don't overdo it," Layla said.

"And don't destroy the Three Generations ; our fence will be pissed if it gets acid holes throughout it."

"Nah, I'm good. That's what the Stronghold Three official dart boards are for," Adam replied with a grin, Warren snickering.

"Good point; remind the others."

...

"All right, bank day is my favourite heist day!" Zach said eagerly, bouncing on the seat beside Ethan.

"You said that yesterday about statue day," Ethan pointed out.

Zach grinned. "They're all my favourite heist days."

"I know."

"I just wish we didn't have to travel by teleportation," Zach said, wrinkling his nose.

"You chose this over Paris, Zach. No complaining now."

"The others actually speak French, there's no point my single-lingual ass going."

"Shouldn't that be si-lingual?" Craig asked curiously from the front seat.

"Single-lingual sort of rhymes. It has the same number of syllables, at least."

"Can we focus on the job, please? If you two keep on it, you'll be arguing about it in the bank and get distracted. This heist has the most opportunities to go wrong, and we don't want it to go wrong," Champ said firmly.

They were serious and silent for another thirty seconds.

"Can you imagine the paperwork involved in a bank robbery gone wrong?" Craig asked, snickering.

"Insurance claim or workplace incident report?" Ethan asked.

Craig turned in his seat to glare at him.

"Doesn't ASL count as another language?" Robin asked curiously.

"Depends if you make up with Heidi or not."

"Zach," several people said at once, all with warning in their tones.

"What? I'm not prying or meddling!"

"You are. Shut up or I'll trap you under the bank," Robin snapped, glaring at him.

Zach winced at the thought. "Fine, I'm shutting up."

"I'm telling Heids you meddled," Craig called.

"No! Put the phone down! Right now, Cee!" Zach said.

"See, that is the tone you should be using with the people in the bank! Not last year's Customer Service Voice, whatever the hell that shit was."

"All right, all of you shut up now. I will turn this van around and you can be the ones to explain what went wrong and why," Champ said.

Finally, silence descended. Champ concentrated on driving until they reached the underground parking lot, then parked the van in the predetermined spot that had been hidden by an illusion.

"Melt 'em, Eth. We've got a bank to rob," Craig said cheerfully.

"You mean six?" Ethan corrected, grinning.

He concentrated for a moment, melting down Champ, Robin, and Zach in quick succession and adding them to an air sealed jar that he melted and added to his arm.

"Yeah, that too. We're just doing the cash run; Jewel and Grant get the security deposit boxes. Lay said if I do well this year and get higher denominations, I can join the Canadian heist next year."

"Oh, that's nice. I'm good with local; at least I know which laws I'm breaking," Ethan said with a laugh before he melted and slid over to Craig.

"Good point, but I reckon if there's a law anywhere, I can break it."

Since he wasn't going to get a response, Craig teleported from the parking garage to the World Global Bank two streets over to get the bank day heists started.

...

Malik was going to kill his cousin and he was going to enjoy it . "I signed up for the Paris heist to actually get shit done, Geir, and that shit did not involve watching you and Justina make lovey faces at each other!"

Geir raised an eyebrow at Malik's outburst and looked over to his girlfriend. "Justina, sweetheart, are we making lovey faces at each other?"

She poked her tongue out at him without taking her eyes off the book she was reading. "We are now. Is that better, Malik, or should I do something else?"

"You know what I mean! You're acting like this is your honeymoon and it's not and it's goddamn awkward."

"Agreed," Sport called.

"I'm on a different bed to him, we walk together when we're outside, and that's it? How is it like a honeymoon?" Justina asked incredulously.

"You've sexted him three times through the Paris group chat. Stop it," Malik said, glaring.

"Ah, shit."

"Also, neither of you are being subtle about getting the pigeons to distract us while you go and make out in a side alley," Sport said.

Geir sighed heavily. "Fine. You're right. We'll get our own room."

"You're paying for it out of your own money, and you have to ask Mr. Phillips for the loan. We're in the suite so we can have our own beds; you can't go to a different hotel just because you want to fuck," Malik said.

"You both suck," Justina groaned, throwing a pillow at Malik's head.

"Not as much as you two do," he sneered.

Geir's cheeks burned as he argued with Malik, Justina joining in the argument easily, all three slipping into rapid and increasingly more annoyed French.

A loud blaring alarm interrupted the argument, all three looking over to Sport. He looked ready to kill them himself and barely resisted the urge, wishing he'd had more than half a day to acclimatise. "Stop trying to kill each other and save that shit for the citizens, would you? We're due to leave in five minutes. Get ready."

Justina dropped the pillow and ran for the bathroom to get into her outfit; Malik dropped by his bed to change; and Geir stepped into the closet, stepping back out by the time Justina returned.

"Right, that means we've still got four minutes to kill each other," Justina said with an evil smirk behind her mask, grabbing the discarded pillow.

"Next time, I'm bringing the actual children; they'll be more mature than you three," Sport muttered, physically grabbing the two cousins by the back of their super suits and carrying them to the door.

"Aww, spoiled my fun," Justina said with a pout, throwing her pillow back onto the bed and following the three men out of the suite.

...

"We're taking two of those unlocking devices next time! Numb-nuts here broke the one we did have, and I had to create diamond-tipped drill bits just to get into the boxes. It took more time than the unlocking device," Jewel muttered, dropping a duffel bag by the stacks of cash that Ethan was counting.

"Add it to the board; we can't fix it if we don't know what's wrong," he said, setting aside another stack of hundreds.

"I know, I just wanted to bitch about it first."

"Also, which numb-nuts broke the unlocking device?" Ethan asked curiously.

"Pat. He's lucky we had Terrence with us, or we would've been stuck with a regular drill. Craig had to get us out of the vault, since the Canuck came out sooner than we expected. Hell, we'd probably be in prison if not for Craig."

"Add that to the list, too. We'll have to update his response time from last year. And you wouldn't be in prison for long; that's why the last day of Heist Week is reserved for prison breaks."

"Yeah, I know. Oh, what happened on your heist?" Jewel asked.

"It went smoothly, why?" Ethan asked, hand hovering over another stack of Global World Bank banded bundles of cash.

"'Cause someone wrote ' don't argue with Heidi the day before Heist Week ' on the board."

Ethan sighed and took his glasses off to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Can you erase that before Robin sees? Zach hasn't been taking their argument well. Heidi will be annoyed if she sees it, too."

"Uh, yeah, good point."

Pat looked into the training arena. "Jewel? I brought an apology gift."

"What kind?" Jewel asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "If it's the security box with those expensive damn earrings I had to leave behind, I might accept it."

Pat sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "It's not those earrings, no. But I did get permission to rob the owner when they inevitably take their earrings back home from the bank. They're not likely to think the bank is secure anymore and we know where they live."

"Ooh! Excellent apology gift. You're forgiven. Any safes on the premises?"

Relieved that he'd been forgiven, Pat led Jewel to another room in the lower Hive to keep discussing their future robbery.

"Shit, I have to pick up Justina and the others from the airport! I'm late, move!" Honey cried out, running past Pat and Jewel.

"You're a seer, how do you keep forgetting these things?!" Jewel called after her, even as Simon ran after Honey with her bag and car keys.

"Shut up!"

...

Wendy looked out at the perfect blue sky and grinned at the sight. It wouldn't stay that way for long. Today was her day, and she had been looking forward to it for months. She had an epic lineup of weather organised and scheduled. First, the storm clouds and torrential rain, then the thunder and lightning, building up to hail in some areas of the state with a hurricane in others, and ending in a perfect blanket of snow across Maxville itself.

"Ready to go, Wendy?" Heidi asked, looking into the kitchen and seeing Wendy at the window.

"Yes! How are you feeling for the lightning storm? Think you can control it?" Wendy asked as she headed out with Heidi.

"Yeah... I think? I'll be fine," Heidi said, electricity sparking across her gloved hands.

"Heids?" Wendy said, stopping and looking at her friend.

Heidi looked at her and sighed. "I'm fine, Wendy. Robin and I have promised to talk after today's heist; I'll be fine 'til then."

"You're sparking, Bolt, so you'll have to forgive me not believing that fine is good enough. I'll call off the weather; you can just fuck with their lights, okay?"

"No! No, Wendy, you've been looking forward to this since last year. I'm not going to be the one to ruin it, okay? I promise, I can control it."

Wendy sighed. "If you're lying to me, I will be so fucking pissed. "

"Yeah, I know. You and, like, everyone we know is seriously invested in our relationship, okay? I get it already. Edith has a betting pool going, Zach's ready to rip Robin apart when he doesn't even know what's going on, and if I get one more pitying look, I'm going to snap."

"Fucking... no, not that! I'm talking about you getting hurt. I'm not going to hurl goddamn lightning bolts at you if it'll fry you. We've already seen what happens when we brain fry people, all right? I don't want you hurt, Heids."

Heidi sighed and stopped looking so defensive, her hands dropping to her sides. "I'm already hurt, Wendy. But I'll be able to handle the lightning, okay? Don't cancel your day. Please."

"Don't make me regret it, Heids."

Heidi nodded firmly, the electricity on her hands slowly dissipating. "I won't. C'mon, Tempest, we've got a city to storm."

Wendy snorted. "Nice pun, first to ten?"

"You're on."

...

"Hello?" Layla asked, almost yelling to be heard over the fierce wind.

She was lucky she'd even seen her phone ringing and since it was the number for the florist they'd hired, Layla figured she probably had to answer it.

"Hello ... wind ... all ... flowers ... ruined ... "

Layla could only hear every other word. "I can't hear you! Just a minute!" Covering the phone, she stepped out of the hurricane's path and into the eye of the storm, a cocoon of plants shielding her from the noise and wind. "Okay, I'm inside now. Is everything all right?"

"The storm destroyed my store! All of the flowers are ruined! Everything I own is ruined!" the florist said, somewhat hysterical and devastated.

Layla frowned. She thought they'd kept the storms away from the florist and caterer?

"Uh, I'm getting another call. I'll have to call you back," Layla said, ending the call and pressing the emergency button on the side of her phone that connected straight to Adam. "Ace, can you check the storm damage? The florist's just called to say their flowers and store is ruined."

"Huh, that's weird, we're at least three blocks... oh."

"Oh, what oh?" Layla asked. "I'm literally in the middle of a hurricane right now and - "

"I'll call you back."

"Who or what the hell has happened?" Layla asked the world or possibly the hurricane.

...

"Bolt, you're meant to be three streets over, what the hell are you doing here?" Robin snapped.

"I wanted to see you," Heidi said, her cheeks red.

" I am kind of busy right now ," Robin snarled, creating a sinkhole in front of Earthstone to give them some time.

"I know! I know. Shit, I should have just waited. It's fine, I'll go."

Earthstone roared in the sinkhole, desperately trying to scoop sand out from the hole and get out.

"You really wanted to talk now? You couldn't have waited another... five hours?" Robin asked, looking at their watch.

Heidi grinned sheepishly. "We both know that patience isn't my strong suit."

Robin snorted. "Yeah, that's an understatement. Fine. Let me finish dealing with Earthstone. He's giving me a headache anyway."

Heidi nodded and stepped back so Quake could move forward to bury Earthstone in the sinkhole further, sand rising up his torso completely. Larry started to panic as sand covered his shoulders, the dense sand too difficult to move despite his strength.

Quake watched for a moment, a cold cruelty to their eyes, then brought the road in on itself, burying Earthstone beneath the rubble. He would survive and escape eventually, but their power was holding him down there in the meantime, and that was all that was needed for Bolt and Tempest's heist to succeed.

"Let's go back to your area, all right? Tempest might let off a few bolts early and you don't want to miss them."

Bolt nodded, glancing up at the black and purple clouds, lightning striking within them but not toward the ground yet.

They were both silent as they headed towards the Council building. The power outage that they were going to cause there would turn off the electricity for most of Maxville and cause a metropolis-wide blackout. More importantly, they had discovered that the Mayor's filing cabinet had a direct power source to the Super Bureau when the system was used to create a new USB of their records and the villain watchlist. Striking the building at the same time would make the electricity travel back along the power source and short out the Super Bureau's main headquarters as well.

"Are you sure you can't wait for this, Bolt?" Quake asked with a sigh, electricity starting to build around Bolt in response to the gathering storm overhead.

"I'm sure. I've been doing a lot of thinking this week. I think you're right and I wasn't taking you or our relationship seriously. I want to change that," Heidi said firmly, trying not to feel too hopeful as she looked over at Robin.

Robin cursed softly and glanced away, the hope in Heidi's eyes too much to bear. "I think we should break up."

"Oh."

...

"Okay, good news? We found the Super Bureau, and you're not going to believe where they are," Adam said, his voice finally returning to Layla's phone call.

"And the bad news?"

Adam winced. "Robin and Heids just broke up, and Heids fried everything in Maxville and then some."

Layla sighed. "So the florist?"

"Totalled. They were both standing in that street and... there's not much of that street left," Adam admitted, looking at ElectroTech's drone feed and the utter destruction that had come from a forced lightning bolt and electricity simply stopping.

Cars had ploughed into one another, whole lamp posts had fallen and bent, and there was glass everywhere from every single light source in the surrounding buildings bursting at the same time. The florist had fluorescent lights that had blown along with the others, but this one had the unfortunate side effect of destroying the flowers that had been in the shop as well.

"The bouquets did look nice before they were pulverised."

"Okay, thank you, Adam. Clear whatever's in my calendar after this. I'll spend the night preparing all of the flowers myself."

"All right. I'll let Fire know."

"Thank you." Layla ended the call with him, then called the florist back. "Thank you for waiting, I appreciate it. Please, don't worry about the flowers, it's not your fault at all. In fact, we'll still pay for the time you put into them."

"Are you sure? It wasn't your fault, either. I'll have to put in an insurance claim, but that's not your problem, and the flowers... well, I can't deliver what you've paid for."

"I know, and I'd like you to keep the money. Use it to rebuild your business. I have a feeling there'll be others willing to help and clean up as well," Layla said with a smile.

All of the Chaos group would be cleaning up that goddamned mess, in fact .

"Thank you. Thank you so much," the florist replied, starting to sob.

Layla wrinkled her nose at the sound of their blubbering and ended the call. Steeling herself and growing a plant around her body to shield herself, Layla walked out of the hurricane and over to the nearest bank.

She had a heist to finish.

...

"The snow looks awesome! " Rain called to Storm, his face pressed against the skyscraper's window, his sister joining him eagerly a moment later.

Dess ensured her children would be all right, then let herself be drawn back into the conversation with her husband, Aleph, Thana, Frieda, Babs, and Hyacinth. As Victor's mother, Edith was helping with the wedding party's preparations, and while they'd all offered to assist, it had soon become a case of too many cooks in the kitchen, and they'd decided to mingle before the wedding started instead.

"Did you see it snowing yesterday after that storm?" Thana asked.

"Of course, I think the whole metropolis did," Hyacinth said.

"It's probably going to be the talk of the town for years," Frieda said with a grin.

"Yeah, it might've been, if not for this string of robberies. Paris and Toronto got hit yesterday," Hyacinth said, shaking her head.

"Oh, did you see that article about Earthstone? They only dug him out of the road this morning," Babs said.

"Shit, really?" Aleph said, eyes wide as he immediately started to navigate on his phone to read the news article for himself.

"Yes, they said he had to stay powered up that whole time or else he would've been crushed to death," Babs said.

"Where's the priest?" Thana asked curiously. "Shouldn't he be here by now?"

"Ex and Baby were going to pick him up and escort the Admiral and his security guards here on the way," Babs said. "I'm looking forward to meeting the Admiral, Gemma speaks highly of him even when she doesn't mean to."

"Never mind him, where are all of the kids?" Hyacinth asked, frowning. "I thought they weren't doing anything today?"

"They're not. They're all helping Enzo prepare for the reception," Frieda replied.

"Doesn't he have staff for that? I thought you all got kicked out for trying to help earlier?" Aleph asked, slipping his phone away in his pocket.

"You didn't hear? That power outage yesterday screwed with the restaurant's fridges and freezers. They've had to replace all of the food," Frieda said.

"Oh. Oh, shit . I didn't even think of that. I thought the building was on a separate generator?" Thana asked.

"That got fried, too. Bolt had to power up every hospital in the state until Electro could create new generators for them all," she replied. "The poor dears must be exhausted."

"I highly doubt they'll be at the wedding," Babs said.

"Where are they getting the food from?" Hyacinth asked curiously.

"Honestly, I've got no idea," Frieda said, shaking her head.

In the Sanctuary's restaurant, Craig teleported back for the eighth time that morning, starting to look pale and clammy.

"Babe, you need to stop. You've teleported sixteen times back and forth, and even I'm getting dizzy now. If we can't get black truffles, we can't get black truffles," Grant said firmly.

"No. It's Victor's wedding and he wanted the truffle and cheese pasta, so he's getting it. I'm fine."

"Enzo said he has truffle oil, and that will work fine," Grant said.

"You're not going to have enough energy to be Victor's best man, babe. I'm sitting on you for your own good," Beau said, gently guiding Craig over to a chair and sitting on his lap.

Craig groaned and rested his head on Beau's shoulder. "I could teleport with you."

"Do you remember what happened last time you did that when I wasn't melted?"

Craig wrinkled his nose. "Never mind, we're staying here."

"That's what I thought," Beau said, curling an arm around Craig and stroking his arm to help calm him down.

"Have any of you seen Ry? He was going to do a meditation thing with everyone before we started," Gemma said at the doorway, looking into the room with a frown.

"No. Is he in the gym?"

"No, I've checked there. No one's seen him since last night."

Craig frowned at Gemma's response. "He was going to see Alex after his hospital shift last night; anyone checked with him?"

"Not yet. I'll call him now. Thanks, Craig," Gemma said. "Jewel's almost finished the rings, so you can visit her soon," she added over her shoulder, her phone already pressed to her ear.

"Oh, nice. We should probably get out of the restaurant before Angelina makes us help cook," Beau added, glancing over to where the kitchen was brilliantly lit and full of not only the restaurant staff, but several of their friends, too.

"I think Zach and Warren have got that taken care of. Ethan's baking too, since it's more precise measurements and has instructions to follow. His words, not mine," Craig added.

"We'll head downstairs by elevator, okay? Slowly and no need for teleporting," Grant added, kissing Beau's cheek and then Craig's.

"Fine, we'll travel like citizens do. Ugh ."

"You love me."

"Yeah, I do. Now, c'mon. We might have to find Ry if Gemma can't get hold of him."

...

Ryuu was late, in deep shit, and covered in hickeys.

"Just be grateful it's not your own wedding?" Alex suggested as he drove through traffic, Ryuu's leg bouncing in the passenger seat beside him. They'd been getting green lights the whole way and Alex didn't know how, but he was glad for them. They'd be unfashionably late, rather than disastrously late.

"You won't propose to me and we both know it. Hell, you won't even date me," Ry scoffed.

"We're going through this now, Ry, really?"

"Why not?"

"I admitted that I liked you - "

"And then said you didn't have time to date me and your patients were your first priority!"

" - and you went off and dated that bitch in response."

Ryuu groaned and covered his face with his hands. "Don't remind me. Fuck, I made several bad decisions, okay? But you have to admit that you did, too."

"I know. I worded it wrong and believe me, I regret it more than you'll ever know," Alex said, glancing over to Ryuu and wishing he could touch him to offer some sort of comfort or reassurance, his hands tightening on the steering wheel. "But we both know I can't string a sentence together if it's not medical related."

Ry lowered his hands and glared over at him. "This is a shitty apology, Alex."

"I'm not apologising if you're not, Ry. We both made bad decisions, all right?"

"All right. Fine, I won't apologise, but I will admit it was an awful decision and I regret not staying to talk it through with you more."

As they waited to turn left, Alex reached over to squeeze Ry's hand briefly. "I regret not saying what I meant to say properly in the first place."

"We've still got five minutes before Darla kills me and then puts makeup on my body to get me through the wedding ceremony."

Alex snorted. "I think we're down to four with that lengthy description."

"Is it enough time for you to say what you meant to say?"

Alex continued through the next green light and considered it for a moment. "Yeah, it's probably enough time. If you still want to date me?"

"I showed up at your house the night before my father's wedding, Alex; what do you think?"

"I think we both really need to work on our communication skills."

Ryuu laughed. "All right, fine. Yes, I want to date you. Happy now?"

"Yes, but that's not how I wanted to ask you. Actually, we're probably out of time. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's Darla waiting in the parking garage for you, isn't it?" he asked, parking by the elevators.

Ry hissed and cursed. "She's gonna kill me," he said, undoing his belt as the door opened abruptly.

"Maybe after the wedding. Oh, look at your neck! You couldn't have waited one more night? Honestly, boys. Upstairs, both of you!"

"Yes, Darla," they chorused, Alex barely remembering to lock the car behind him.

Alex reached out and grabbed Ry's hand in his own, squeezing gently and both of them smiling as they were escorted to the elevators.

...

"If anyone has a reason for this wedding to not go ahead, speak now or forever hold your peace."

The doors crashed open and the Stronghold Three stood there, hands on their hips.

"We've caught you red handed, villains!" the Commander called.

"Uh... Are you sure this is the right place?" Will asked his parents under his breath, seeing the blue and silver decorations, the ornate flowers, and the people standing in front of a priest.

Jetstream took in everything at a glance, swallowing hard as she tried to compose herself. She'd expended a lot of energy fighting off the obvious henchmen that had been posted outside of the building, as well as the extra ones on this floor. "We may have the wrong room," she murmured to her husband and son. "Have you heard anyone screaming recently?" she asked the crowd at a louder tone, smiling.

"Oh, there's going to be someone screaming soon, and it'll be one of you," one person snarled from one of the decorative wooden benches.

"Eliza, Beth, calm down," Mr. Medulla murmured, taking his girlfriends' hands and tugging them down onto the bench beside him.

"Who won the betting pool for this one, Edith?" Yuki whispered from where she was seated with Rose and Sen.

"I don't think anyone actually had the Stronghold Three turning up during the ceremony. It was mostly around the reception," Edith replied quietly, frowning. "Ah, I promised Victor I wouldn't check the betting pools today. We'll talk tomorrow."

Andy glanced at Connor. "Want me to get rid of them?" he asked. "I'm pretty sure I can be diplomatic about it."

Connor's mouth quirked into a grin. "I kind of want to see what happens with the Admiral in attendance. They just broke in past his security and Gemma's in the room."

Andy glanced over to the Admiral, seated with his wife, daughter, and several more security guards in addition to the ones that had been posted outside the room and the building. "Oh, shit."

"I don't think it's the Admiral you have to worry about, Papa," Ry said with a snicker, nodding to where Darla and several of her drag queen friends were sitting and glaring daggers at the Stronghold Three.

"This must be killing Mother," Victor murmured to Connor, sounding viciously gleeful and so damn gorgeous that Connor had to force himself to breathe and control the urge to whisk Victor away to debauch him thoroughly.

Glancing over to his very soon-to-be mother-in-law, he could see that Edith was looking between various people like she was mentally taking their bets.

"Who do you think, darling?" Connor asked, grinning.

"Honestly, I'm surprised one of the mothers hasn't attacked already," Victor admitted, glancing between Edith, Hyacinth, Frieda, and Babel.

The priest was still silent, watching the approaching superheroes in a dazed level of shock, even as there were low murmurings gathering in intensity and sound throughout the crowd.

"We had a report that villains were in this building, and we have to investigate," Jetstream said firmly.

Airborne looked at the crowd, trying to determine if there were any villains that stood out. "Layla? Warren?" he said, double-taking on seeing them in the seats near the front of the wedding. His voice was loud enough that it carried and they both looked back at him. "What are you doing here?"

"We're attending a wedding, Airborne, what does it look like?" Warren snarled.

Airborne looked at the altar, realising far too late that he recognised who was getting married, and looked from the two men straight at Ryuu. Ryuu, who was wearing a suit, his long black hair up in a tight knot on top of his head, and looking every bit as handsome as he had when they were younger.

"Uh, Ry? Did you renew the super restraining order?" Craig asked from Victor's side.

"Oh, for fuck's sake. I forgot," Ry hissed.

"All right, you've disrupted this wedding enough. We have spent years planning this and there is no way you're ruining it any further! All three of you get out of this room this instant, or so help me, I'll make you regret it!" Anita snapped, getting off the bench and stalking towards the Stronghold Three.

"Damn, how'd we forget Anita?"

"How come she gets to threaten them?" Eliza asked, pouting at Maxwell.

"Do you want Anita angry at you?" Medulla asked pointedly, Eliza paling and shaking her head at the thought.

"If anyone gets blood on those suits, it won't be Anita they have to worry about," Sylvia hissed lowly, Shirley nodding adamantly beside her and glaring at the Stronghold Three.

Remembering that Jetstream and the Commander had been the reason the two women had been imprisoned in Maxville's Super Penitentiary, Beth winced and hoped that nothing would happen to ruin the suits they'd so painstakingly created.

" Please tell me the wedding photographer's getting this," Zach said with a low chuckle.

Ethan shushed him, his own phone pointed towards his mother and the Stronghold Three. If the wedding videographer didn't get this epic showdown, then it would be a crime.

"Several facilities were robbed overseas," the Commander said, eyes wide at the ferocious woman that was far too close to him for his liking.

"Then why aren't you there?" Anita snapped.

"Uhh... "

"We received an anonymous tip that the food is here."

Angelina raised an eyebrow at Jetstream's response; if that was true, she would need to verify all of her staff again .

"Do you see any food here?" Anita asked incredulously.

"What was stolen?"

"Well, the most expensive items included black truffles."

Victor and Connor glanced at each other.

"Uh huh. And they send three superheroes to find black truffles now, do they?"

"Pigs find truffles!" Diablo announced with all the seriousness of a ten-year-old.

Thana burst out laughing, Aleph chuckling next to her, and soon it seemed like the whole room was laughing at the Stronghold Three.

Airborne glared and stepped forward. "They're very expensive. We need everyone here to empty their pockets and bags."

"Now, that sounds like you're robbing us," Anita said, the three heroes spluttering in response. "You can wait until the wedding's finished," she said, ushering them out of the doors and closing them firmly behind her.

"We need to investigate! What if someone eats the truffles whole right now?" Magenta squeaked from Will's super suit.

"That would be disgusting," Airborne said, wrinkling his nose.

"Do you think that Admiral knew Captain Stronghold?" the Commander asked Jetstream eagerly.

"Not everyone in the Navy automatically knows your father, Commander," she replied, as though the argument was well worn. "We have to focus on our investigation here."

"Let me out. I can sneak in and sniff the whole room by the time the wedding's done," Shifter said certainly.

Airborne glanced toward his parents and Jetstream nodded. "All right. Be careful, Shifter."

She smiled broadly, even as a guinea pig, pleased that Airborne was worried for her safety. "I will!"

Shifter wiggled beneath the gap in the door and slipped into the room, determined to find the villain in the crowd and rescue the truffles.

...

Layla took Warren's hand, squeezing firmly as she felt a familiar vine joining the crowd in the room. The windows behind Connor and Victor provided a view right out over Maxville and Layla wondered what it would look like if she threw Shifter's guinea pig form out of the window. A thirty-storey drop wouldn't be too drastic a response for disrupting Connor and Victor's wedding for a second time, surely?

"Hippie? Why do you feel so amused?" Warren asked, his voice hardly a whisper as he watched Connor slip a blue and silver sheened ring on Victor's finger.

"Flying guinea pig," she replied, grinning.

His shoulders trembled with the effort not to release his laughter, and behind them, Frieda reached over and offered a tissue. Layla smiled at her, took the tissue with a mouthed 'thank you', and tucked it into Warren's sleeve cuff, patting his hand.

Warren nudged her gently and took Layla's hand in his, both of them watching the wedding while focusing on the slowly approaching guinea pig. After far too long, Shifter made her way down their row of benches. Layla waited until she was right beneath them, the bench legs expanding. In the darkness beneath the bench, and with Shifter's fast waddling speed, she didn't realise that the bench had changed until she crashed into the wooden plank itself. Dazed by the unexpected collision, Shifter didn't have a chance to move or cry out as a hand reached down and grabbed her, a thick and cold cuff clamping around her body. It snapped closed with a sound of finality. Her world went dark as she fainted from fear.

"Everything all right, dears?" Frieda asked softly, leaning forward.

"Oh, yes. Just getting rid of a pest," Layla said with a smile.

"You may kiss."

They all turned their attention to the front of the room where Connor tugged Victor in close by the lapels of his blue shirt and kissed him like he'd been waiting his whole life to do exactly that.

"That was not the kiss we rehearsed, Connor," Victor murmured as they pulled away what could have been hours later.

"Any complaints, darling?" he asked with a grin.

"None at all."

"Good."

"Congratulations, Papa!" Ry said, hugging Connor from behind.

"Thank you, son. You, too," he said, glancing at one of the bruises peeking out from the collar of Ry's shirt.

Ry blushed. "Papa, shh! Darla will be upset if anyone notices."

"Ah, she will, will she? All right, I'll be good for Darla's sake."

"Thank you, Papa."

"So... Was it Alex?"

Ry nudged Connor, his cheeks bright red. "Shut up, Papa, and go down the aisle with your husband."

"If I must," he said with a grin, turning to kiss Victor once more before they walked down the aisle together.

"So who's throwing the bouquet later?" Craig asked as he and Ry walked after Connor and Victor.

"Don't think they've thought about that," he admitted, still blushing.

Ry caught Alex's eye as he passed by and felt a little breathless at the expression on his face. He'd known Alex for years and he recognised lust and desire when he saw it. He'd seen that exact expression just that morning, after all.

"So, you and Alex, hey?" Craig asked, waggling his eyebrows.

"Shut up."

"Are you kidding me? Hell fucking no . I've been waiting for you two to pull your heads out of your asses for years . And, y'know, put your heads in each other's asses. Whatever you're into."

Ry groaned and pushed his brother's face away. "Go put your head somewhere else."

"Already did that this morning. Not as visibly as you, though, dude," Craig snickered.

"Oh, my god. Shut up already."

Craig burst into peals of laughter as Ry blushed again. "Oh, fuck. Pigs find truffles . That's going on the highlight reel for the wedding video, right?"

Ry laughed. "Shit, I almost forgot about that. What made you remember?"

Craig snorted and nodded over to Layla and Warren. "Her clutch is guinea pig sized, don'tcha think?"

Ry almost walked into one of the servers holding a tray of hors d'oeuvres. He apologised quickly, then looked at Craig, who looked utterly serious. "Fuck. You mean it?"

"Wanna go check with me?"

"Hell fucking yes."

...

Airborne flew up as the doors opened. His parents had gone to continue investigating - the Commander talking about starting in the kitchen and returning to talk with the guests (and the Admiral) as Jetstream flew them away - and he'd stayed behind to pick up Shifter when she returned. If she returned with the truffles, he might be able to stay longer and talk to Ry, maybe ask him who he thought might have stolen the truffles and why.

He was totally over his childhood crush, of course. That was in the past and had nothing to do with it. Will just knew that Ry would have some fascinating insights. His beautiful eyes would pick up things that others missed. That's all it was, honestly .

He was so caught up in his thoughts and planning the way his reunion with Ry would go that it took Airborne a moment to realise that the last of the guests had left the room. Seeing that they were all heading towards the restaurant for the reception, Airborne floated back down to the floor. He could find Ry later. First, he had to find where Shifter was hiding and take her home .

"Shifter? It's okay, everyone's gone now. You can come out now. Where are you hiding?" Airborne whispered.

He looked around the room, trying to see where a guinea pig might realistically hide.

Realising he was alone and didn't actually have to whisper, he shook his head, and tried again in a normal tone. "Shifter, come out already. We have to leave before Jetstream and the Commander come back from the kitchen. They're sure to bring citizens with them, and we're not meant to be here."

Silence met his words and he frowned. Glancing under the wooden ornate benches, Airborne tried not to get worried.

Maybe Shifter had found the truffles and eaten one to see what all the fuss was about? She couldn't talk with her mouthful, right? It was rude.

"Did you find the truffles? Did you eat a truffle and can't respond? Shifter?" Airborne called, his voice getting more frantic than he'd like.

He was a professional Hero and had been for years now. He didn't get frantic like this, this was the sort of response that citizens had when they were a villain's kidnap victim for the first time. Heroes weren't worried; Heroes found solutions; and Heroes always won.

Hearing footsteps behind him, Airborne turned around quickly. "Shifter? Is that you?"

Ryuu pulled away from Alex and sighed reluctantly on realising that the room wasn't empty as they'd expected. "What the fuck are you still doing here, Airborne?"

"Uh... investigating. For the black truffles. Who's he?" Airborne asked, hands on his hips.

Alex snorted and rolled his eyes. "You're just as obnoxious as I remember, Airhorn . But you don't remember me, of course. Why would you give a shit about a citizen? C'mon, love, let's go find somewhere private."

Ry grinned at the pet name. "Sure. We're coming back for the cake, right? Zach helped to make it. It's rainbow-coloured on the inside, but Papa and Victor don't know that yet."

"Sounds delicious," Alex said with a grin, taking Ry's hand and going to leave.

Airborne flew as fast as he could, stopping right in front of them. He had turned an ugly shade of red and looked like he was going to burst a blood vessel.

"If he asphyxiates, I might have to save him," Alex said reluctantly.

Ry snorted. "And if I beat the shit out of him?"

"Self defence, for starters," Eliza called out from the room behind them.

Beth and Maxwell were with her, the former buttoning up the latter's shirt for him, the fabric covering several lipstick marks in two different colours.

"Where were you three hiding?" Ry asked in surprise.

"There's a room off to the side... Ahem . That doesn't matter," Maxwell said quickly, a bright blush on his cheeks.

"Someone admitting to being somewhere they're not meant to be while calling out for their accomplice in a really far too high a pitch really ruined the mood," Beth muttered.

"Are you going to move now, Airborne? Or do I have to make you?" Ryuu asked, grinning broadly.

Airborne saw red and flew forward, arm pulled back and ready to punch.

...

Shifter woke up in darkness. There was noise around her - people talking and laughing, music playing, and footsteps walking by - but she couldn't see anything. Her heart raced and she tried to calm herself by breathing.

She remembered what she had been doing - searching for truffles in the wedding room - but then there was darkness. Whatever had happened and wherever she was, Shifter knew she needed to shift and escape. First, she had to work out where she was.

She could feel fabric around her, pressing against her fur, and there was something tight around her stomach. Shifter's nose twitched and she smelled things around her. Honey-scented chapstick, seeds, and a small metal clip of cash. None of it helped her, though she could probably eat the seeds if she got hungry.

Tentatively walking forward, Shifter stopped when her face hit more fabric in the darkness. If she was surrounded by fabric, that meant she was in a cloth or bag of some sort. She could chew her way through it, escape through the hole, and get away. Airborne was probably worried about her and looking for her.

Starting to chew as fast as she could, it took Shifter a moment to realise she was being lifted into the air. Maybe Airborne had found her?!

Light spilled into the bag from overhead and Shifter shoved the fabric to the side of her mouth so she could talk.

"Let me go, or else!"

At least, that's what she tried to say. All that came out was a series of squeaks, just like a real guinea pig.

"What the fuck?" was her next attempt.

"It's all right. You're safe now. I couldn't let you be captured by villains," Layla whispered. "Be quiet and I can sneak you out of the party later, okay?"

Oh, it was just Layla . Magenta breathed a sigh of relief and settled down.

"Thank you. Oh, and Maj? Stop eating my bag, please."

Oops .

" - father was in the Navy, too! Perhaps you heard of him? Captain Stronghold?"

That was the Commander's voice! If he was here, then surely the villains would be caught soon! She could get out of this bag, go home, and sleep for the next twelve hours . Magenta had done the night patrol of Maxville with Airborne at Jetstream's insistence, who was positive that something was going to happen, even though the storm and snow that had come out of nowhere the day before were obviously power related. It didn't count, according to Jetstream, which was kind of weird in Magenta's opinion; schools had been closed for the whole day, and even Sky High had been grounded due to the weather.

"I remember. He was dishonourably discharged, correct?" the Admiral replied, his eyebrow raised.

The Commander made a spluttering noise in response, his voice rising as it always did when he was embarrassed. "Now, that wasn't his fault! There were extenuating circumstances and it's not like you even know what he went through in the Navy! That superior he hit and men higher up like you have been sitting behind a desk for years while good men like my father were out there on the front lines! He was verbally abused and had every reason to hit him, whether or not he knew about his power! You don't know the things he said to Captain Stronghold!"

"Your father served with me, Commander, and believe me, the supposed work he did during the time he served was not worthy of mentioning and certainly not on any front lines . I can even tell you what he said to our superior before he killed the man with one punch. Our superior was telling us about his newborn, a baby girl, born just around the same time as you were born. She was his pride and joy, and I'd prefer to be compared to him than an utter asshole like your father."

Magenta wondered if he'd even been looking for her in the first place or if he just wanted to talk to the Admiral. It certainly didn't sound like the bonding time he'd anticipated. There was a loud crashing sound from outside of the room and she heard Airborne crying out in pain. The Commander turned abruptly and rushed from the room to assist his son, his face still burning red.

"Is Will okay?" she tried to ask again, squeaks emitting.

"Shh, it's okay. Just stay quiet; there are villains in this very room and you could be found out. The Commander was lucky to escape alive," Layla murmured.

Magenta swallowed hard and tried to control her breathing so her heart would stop racing quite so fast.

"You look tired, Maj. Why don't you sleep while you can? I'll take you home when I can leave here safely," Layla promised.

That was a good idea. She hadn't been sleeping well lately and really needed the rest . Darkness enveloped her once more as the bag closed and Magenta settled down to sleep, even as the Admiral started talking about striking all of the former Captain's actions from Navy records.

"I'll make it so that man was never in the military in the first place! Damn, I should have done this years ago."

"Have I ever said how much I like your father, sunshine?" Ex asked Gemma with a grin.

She snorted and rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop her smile as Baby and Ex led her out to the dance floor.

...

Victor's feet were aching. He felt like he had been standing for the whole day straight even though he knew he hadn't. He leaned between Connor's shoulder blades as his husband opened the door to their honeymoon suite.

"Almost there, darling."

Victor hummed in agreement, wrapping his arms around Connor's waist in a loose hug. He had a wicked thought and grinned at the idea, his hand reaching down to cup and squeeze Connor's cock over his trousers. "Hurry, husband."

Connor stilled, a shuddering breath escaping. "I am going to ravish you, darling, just as much as a cheeky brat like you deserves. But tonight, I want you to call me that and nothing else."

He could feel Connor's cock starting to chub beneath his hand and Victor bit his lip at the sensation. "Yes, husband."

"You're so good for me," Connor murmured, copper descending as he opened the door and he guided Victor into the room.

Victor felt his cheeks turn red, the combination of Connor's words and his hand on the small of his back making heat start to pool in his stomach.

Lights turned on as Connor inserted the hotel card into its slot and they were greeted with another expansive view across Maxville from the floor to ceiling windows. It wasn't as impressive as the view they'd had from the Sanctuary during their actual wedding, considering the hotel didn't reach the same heights as the skyscraper, but it was a pleasant view nonetheless. Their bags had been brought to the room by the hotel staff and were sitting across from the excessively large bed.

Connor walked over to the windows, ensured the balcony doors were locked, and then closed the blinds without more than a brief glance outside. He had all he wanted to see tonight standing behind him in a blue shirt and black suit.

"Do you want a shower or bath first, darling?"

"Later. I just want you right now, husband," Victor admitted.

Connor thanked whatever deity existed for his husband's answer, then crossed the room to kiss Victor like their lives depended on it. He manoeuvred Victor until he was pressed up against a wall and then plastered his body right up against him, just like they both liked. Sure enough, Victor moaned and melted against him, the manhandling and press of Connor's muscled body against his making something inside him instinctively know that he was safe and protected.

"Con- husband. I have a surprise for you."

Connor pulled away from Victor and raised an eyebrow. "A surprise for me?"

Victor grinned and nodded. "Can I undress myself tonight?"

Connor stepped back, a soft whine escaping Victor at the loss of contact. "You can, darling. Do I need to sit for your present?"

"Uh... hmm... yes, please, husband."

Connor pressed one more kiss to Victor's mouth, then moved to sit on the bed. "All right, darling."

Victor's heart pounded in his chest and he started unbuttoning his suit jacket, putting it over the chair. He undid his trousers, untucking his deep blue shirt - a shade or two off his sex shirt but enough to make Connor's eyes darken with desire when he saw Victor walking down the aisle - and started to undo the buttons.

"Can I help with your shoes, darling?" Connor asked suddenly.

Victor looked down. His legs weren't strong enough to kick them off and keep him balanced at the same time, and he knew how unromantic it was to stop halfway through stripping or a blowjob because he couldn't get his damn shoes off. He sighed and then smiled over at Connor. "Yes, please. Thank you, husband."

Connor slid off the bed in a smooth movement and untied Victor's laces. Victor held onto his shoulder as he lifted one foot and then the next, his shoes removed and socks pulled off gently. Connor rubbed his feet gently, murmuring about the red marks the shoes had left on his skin.

"Do I need to be on the bed for your present, darling? Or can I watch and take care of you here?"

Victor liked the sound of the foot massage and Connor sitting so close while touching him, but he knew he'd get distracted from stripping if he stayed. "Bed, please. I won't take long."

Connor stood and cupped Victor's cheek. "Take as long as you like, darling. Ignore me and my impatience, all right?"

Victor turned his face to kiss Connor's hand. "I love you and your impatience, husband. On the bed now, please."

Connor stroked his lips with his thumb, but pulled away before they could do anything else. He smiled wickedly at Victor's expression and moved back to the bed. "Ready, darling."

Tan teasing covered him so thoroughly that it even muted the copper, and how was that so goddamn sexy?! Victor licked his lips and continued to undo his buttons, watching Connor in the silence. He let the shirt hang off his shoulders, his trousers undone to show he was going commando, and looked over at Connor.

"Oh, darling, look at you," Connor breathed, seeing the blue nipple rings he was sporting.

"They're fake clip ons," Victor blurted out.

"They are still doing a wonderful job. Can I ravish you now, darling?" Connor asked, as close to begging as he could.

Victor shook his head. "Not yet, husband. I haven't finished unwrapping your present."

Connor grinned, predatory and hungry. "Then, by all means, darling, please continue."

Unzipping and unbuttoning his trousers was short work and Victor soon stood before Connor naked. He moved over to him, slow and careful, and held his hands out to take Connor's hands.

"You're a gorgeous present, darling," Connor admitted, placing his hands in Victor's.

"That's not the present," Victor admitted, placing Connor's hands on each cheek of his ass.

"Oh?"

Victor grinned and leaned forward, Connor's hands sliding around the curve of his ass until he could feel the hard silicone between them.

"Oh. How long have you been wearing this, darling? During dinner? While we were getting married? Right there in front of a priest and all of our family and friends?"

Blushing, Victor nodded.

Connor felt his breath catch in his throat and he grinned, slow and wicked. "Is that why you were so stiff during our dance? I thought it was your legs."

"It was both. And these nipple rings were brushing against my shirt."

Connor's eyes darkened and red lust slammed into place. "On the bed, darling. Let me appreciate every inch of my present."

Victor grinned broadly at the sight and gratefully sank onto the bed, his cheek lying against the mattress. "Yes, husband."

...

"Are you sure this is the right one?" Pat asked as he followed after Terrence.

"CH0191, like it says on the side. Tempest, you ready?"

Wendy grinned. "Hell, yes. Buckle up, people, and get your own snacks after I turn the seatbelt sign off."

Terrence unlocked the door carefully, air hissing and the private jet door lowering, stairs protruding.

Tempest was the first up the stairs, going left for the cockpit, while Terrence and Pat followed up the stairs and went to their own seats on the right. Several brightly coloured frogs jumped off Pat's shoulder and shifted.

"Ooh, this is nice," Maleah said eagerly, looking at the plush carpet and reclining seats.

"Want to join the mile high club later, Pat?" Najair crooned.

"All of you shut up and get in your seats. Someone lock the door first," Wendy called over her shoulder, the plane's controls lit up in front of her.

"I'll get it," Lorcan offered, lifting the door with one arm and closing the lever firmly.

Kiara joined Wendy, plopping in the co-pilot's seat and strapping in. "I can't believe you get your own plane."

"It's for all of Chaos, not just me," Wendy replied.

She snorted in response and helped turn on and check the instruments. "There are only three people in Chaos who can fly, and the other two do it with their powers. You get your own plane."

"Ask for something for yourself for next Heist Week," she said, flicking on the seatbelt sign. "This is your captain speaking; get in your goddamn seats and put your belts on. Loss of limb or life isn't my fault if you're back there being dicks."

Kiara laughed beside her as she watched her brothers and sister stop flirting with Pat to take their own seats in the plane.

"All right. Terrence, check runway three is clear for takeoff."

Terrence accessed the Control Tower's screens on his laptop through Adam's app, and determined the flight path for various planes and seeing who was coming in to land. "Runway three is clear for the next fifteen minutes."

Tempest grinned and as she started to drive the plane out of the hangar and onto the tarmac, the overcast day started to clear overhead. By the time they made it to runway three, the sun was shining brightly in a clear blue sky.

"Five minutes left, Tempest!"

"Oh, shit."

"CH0191, runway three is being used for an incoming commercial plane. Clear the runway. You are not cleared for takeoff."

"Shit, shit, shit, shit," Tempest chanted as she manoeuvred the plane into position and started hurtling down the runway.

"CH0191, you are not cleared for takeoff! This is the Control Tower. CH0191, respond!"

"Hurry the fuck up!" Terrence called as the commercial flight started to descend.

Tempest ignored everyone screaming at her and completed the fastest takeoff of her life, the plane gliding into the air and veering sharply to avoid the commercial jet.

"Fucking hell, Tempest. You're lucky this is a plane with multiple toilets."

"Shut up and turn off the tracking. Control Tower will report this to the owner as soon as they realise what's happened."

Terrence pulled a face but did as she said, the CH0191 dot on Control Tower's screen disappearing abruptly.

Najair leaned forward in his seat, panting. Beside him, Lorcan was patting his back gently, and Maleah was fanning herself with one of the airport magazines.

"Pat, sweetheart, are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Nigel does that shit for fun," he said.

Maleah laughed. "Of course he does."

"Aww, damn."

"What? Damn what? You can't say shit like that without explanation, Terrence," Lorcan said, looking around in case they were being followed by another plane or a flying super or something.

"We missed the catering delivery by ten minutes. There's no snacks on board."

"Aww, damn."

...

"Today's the last day of Heist Week, can you believe we've gotten away with all of this so far?"

"Dude, don't jinx it!" Ry said, glaring at Craig half-heartedly.

"Ehh, if something happens in the next twelve hours, I'll break you out of prison tomorrow."

Ry scoffed and turned his attention back to the wooden dummy he was attacking. "Wow, thanks."

Craig laughed and moved to the other side of the dummy, vines shooting up out of the ground to capture and still it. Ry grinned and attacked the dummy until the vines were smashed and broken in as many pieces as the dummy itself.

"Ouch. That's gonna hurt in the morning," Craig said, wincing at the mess on the ground.

"Sylvia and Shirley made new shoes for me. They help protect my feet."

"Awesome. Reckon they can make me a pair of undies that don't ride up when I shift? Earthstone always gets a major wedgie."

Ry blinked rapidly. "I wish I didn't know that."

Craig laughed. "I'm kidding, stop looking at me like that. He shifts and the rock form covers his actual body. The rock is more like a protective outer layer. That's why he always takes his glasses off; they'd break otherwise."

"Y'know, Craig, we could've used this information a long time ago. Who else aren't you telling us about?" Warren asked from the doorway, his eyebrow raised.

"Uhh... Lay was at Power Placement, just like me, dude. We've all seen him shift, like, a billion times. Why am I the one in trouble for this?"

"Because you can turn into him, Craig."

"Warren, Cee's right. Breathe with Ry, please, hottie," she said, kissing his cheek. "Craig, shift into Earthstone for me, please?"

"Mmkay," Craig said with a shrug, shifting into Earthstone.

"No, no. Not that fast. I want to see it in slow motion, if you can?"

Craig nodded and shifted as slow and carefully as he could.

"There. Wait. Can you hold that for a moment?"

Glancing down at his body, half encased in protective rock, Craig nodded. "Yeah, I think so. Rock pants," he said with a laugh.

From where Ry and Warren were meditating, there was a snort of laughter. Layla smiled distractedly, amused, but not enough to laugh, and circled around Craig.

"This is exactly the way he shifts, correct?"

"Yeah. I mimic his transformation," Craig confirmed.

"He usually shows up to the fights already transformed, though; no one would pay to see a skinny kid change into Earthstone, right? They all expect him to be super buff. Or a rock 24/7," Layla mused.

"We can make him shift back. Remember Save the Citizen at Sky High? Hit him hard enough and he shifts back," Warren suggested.

"That was then. He's taken a lot more hits since then, even from Airborne."

"Like those aren't staged," Ry scoffed. "Those hits are about as real as citizen's wrestling matches. Craig, do both and smack Earthstone with a proper Stronghold Three punch."

"Jetstream would smash her fist, but sure," Craig said, changing back to himself and then duplicating into two versions.

He changed to Earthstone as his duplicate shifted into Airborne's form.

"Ah, shit. I should've done it the other way around. I'm gonna have a headache all day now," Craig!Earthstone groaned, even as Craig!Airborne lifted into the air and flew back for a super fast punch.

"Too late, Cee," his duplicate said with a laugh that was far too reminiscent of Airborne for anyone's liking.

The punch hit solidly, Earthstone's protective stone shuddering at the impact, and Craig struggled to keep it intact. He did with a great amount of effort, but soon reverted back to his own body instead. "Shit, that hurt."

"That's the point, isn't it?"

"Can you shift back at a slower pace, too, please?"

"All right, just let me get my breath back. Sucker punches hurt, you dick."

Craig!Airborne grinned. "I know."

"Can you power down already? I'm gonna have nightmares about him again," Ry said with a shudder.

Craig!Airborne glanced over at Ry with a worried expression. "Want to kill him?"

"Uh, what? Wouldn't that kill you?"

"I'm a bunch of cells made from Cee's power. I'm not real. It'll hurt me for a minute, but then the power's gone, and you get cathartic stuff... plus, there's a bunch of ways you can kill him. Immobilise can fuck his power up so he's a citizen; you can do the whole solid wall and flying super thing; beat him to death with power tools and heavy machinery. What're you thinking?"

"I'm thinking you need therapy."

Craig!Airborne snorted. "No shit. Ooh, you could also just kick the everloving shit out of him. Throat punch, sucker punch, a few kicks to the groin, y'know, usual shit."

"So much therapy."

Craig!Airborne just shrugged. "Hey, if you don't want to - "

"I didn't say that."

"Doc's going to be so proud of you. She's been wanting you to beat the shit out of Airborne for years," Craig said with a grin. "Do you need any tools?"

Ry glanced from Airborne to the other three, a dark expression on his face. "No. I'm good."

"Can we watch or do you need privacy?"

Ry shrugged. "Up to you guys. It's going to get bloody," he said, a paperclip reforming into a metal baseball bat.

"Ha, fuck yes! Give me like two minutes to make popcorn?" Craig asked eagerly.

"Fuck, wait for me too. I'm not missing this," Adam said from their phones.

"Should we sell tickets?" Layla asked with a laugh, settling into a wooden and fern chair she created, tugging Warren down beside her.

"We could, but it'd just be the money we already stole at this stage," he muttered, putting an arm around her shoulders and glancing over to the shrink wrapped stacks of money that Ethan had spent the night counting for Honey to launder through her various front companies.

"True. Want some popcorn?" Layla asked as Craig returned with a giant bag of popcorn, most of their friends on his heels.

"Hell, yes. Doc's not the only one who's been waiting for this."

Ryuu inhaled and exhaled slowly, and Craig!Airborne grinned back at him. Despite the years that had passed since they graduated Sky High, Ry still recognised that cocky and smug smile like he'd just seen it the day before. In fact, he had, because that absolute asshole had interrupted his father's wedding.

"Ah, there's the death glare. All right, bring it."

Ryuu sure as fuck didn't need Airborne's permission to fight, but since it was technically Craig's duplicate, he figured he'd be polite this time around. Swinging the metal baseball bat lazily, he stepped forward and swung it firmly, gripping with both hands. The bat connected with a solid thump, Airborne's head twisting to the side.

"Ooh. Fuck."

Craig!Airborne cracked his neck back, grinning at the small dent in the bat. "Huh. I thought it'd be bigger than that."

"That's what she said!" Craig called, laughing and almost choking on his mouthful of popcorn.

Zach snorted and smacked his friend on the back, Ethan reforming a bottle of water from his arm and holding it out to Craig.

"I'm good. C'mon, kick his ass!"

Ryuu ignored the noise and people calling out, stepping forward and kicking Airborne in the solar plexus, making him fly back with the impact.

Craig!Airborne stopped in midair and laughed. "Nice! Kick a little higher to break the sternum next time, yeah?"

"I know where to kick. Are you mansplaining to piss me off?" Ry muttered, stalking forward with the bat.

He snorted. "Yeah, sure, why not?"

Ry clenched his jaw and swung the bat again, Craig!Airborne blocking it instinctively with his forearm. Ry followed up with a swift and forceful kick to the ribs, Craig!Airborne gasping as his breath left his lungs in a whoosh of air. From there, Ry continued to kick and punch, the bat dropped and forgotten as he got revenge and justice in the form of his fists and feet. Eventually, Craig!Airborne was lying on the ground, his face bloodied from Ry's broken knuckles and his suit tattered from his head to his feet.

"Finish him off now, it's getting boring!"

"Shut up, this is my therapy, not yours! Make your own Hero to beat up," Ry muttered, a sword forming as he stalked forward. "Grant, can you power up for a few seconds?"

Grant snickered and powered up. "You got it, Ry."

Craig winced as his duplicate's head rolled. The body disappeared before the blood even hit the floor, and he rubbed his neck. "Damn, dude. Talk about slaying your demons."

"Feeling better now, Ry?" Warren asked.

He grinned over at his friends. "Yeah, I'm good."

...

Once Connor and Victor had been seen off at the airport for their epic honeymoon, the others met in the hangar they'd commandeered to hold the stolen plane.

"All right, Heist Week day six. Where are we going with that plane?" Craig asked, grinning and clapping his hands together.

Wendy looked over at him and grinned broadly. "Everywhere."

"Don't exaggerate, Wendy," Ethan said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, you want me to be specific? Really? 'Cause have you seen the list of places we're taking this goddamn plane? It's a lot of places, Ethan."

He sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose. "I know that, Wendy. I helped write the list."

Wendy pulled a face and poked her tongue out at him.

"Is everyone ready?" Layla asked as she joined them in the hangar, Warren driving his Turbine in behind her slowly to ensure Adam could erase the footage easily.

"We're just waiting on Clone to replicate the black box and tracking device."

"I'm done!" Clone called from the plane. She stepped down the door's stairs and started to replicate the plane's black box and tracking devices on the table that had been set up. "There. Just press the red button when you're where you want to be, and the nearest Control Tower will pick it up."

"Wait! Don't take them yet! Let me set them to different heights so some look like they're still in the air," Terrence said, rushing over and using a spark of electricity to change the devices carefully.

"Okay, before any of you get excited, let me make sure where you're going. You don't want to be seen flying into a mountain range with the new heights," Ethan said, checking each one and its proposed destination. "Can you change this one, Electro? I think it would hit into the Himalayas at that height."

"Sure. Higher to go over it, or closer to look like it's landing?" Terrence asked.

"Landing would be best, that one's going closer to the airport than some of the others."

"Thank you for your assistance, Clone. You have to return to the terminal now, or you'll miss your flight," Honey said gently. "Speed, if you'll be so kind as to escort Clone back to her husband?"

"Of course, Hourglass," Speed said with a nod.

"Oh. Right, thanks. Good luck with the thing!" Clone said over her shoulder, even as Speed picked her up and started running, far too fast for the airport cameras to pick up.

He returned a few seconds later as everyone was getting geared up with their black boxes and tracking devices. "Did I miss anything?"

"Not at all. Your tracking device and black box. Be careful, there's an oil spill on the highway," Honey said, kissing his cheek.

"Thank you," Simon replied with a warm smile.

"All right, we've got the plane ready and prepped to go; teleporters, runners, and flying devices are a-go, as well," Wendy reported.

"There's one more left over; is anyone missing theirs?" Ethan asked, looking at his checklist again.

"That's for Warren and me," Layla said.

"You're not meant to be on this heist, Layla. The whole point of keeping you away from this heist is to make sure you can rescue any of us who get imprisoned today," Ethan said, glaring.

"I know, but it's the last heist of the week, we wanted to be part of it. Besides, no one's been imprisoned so far. We're not going far, either. I added it to the back of your list, see?"

"Writing it in a marker doesn't mean it's part of the official - wait."

She grinned as understanding filled Ethan's expression. "So, can we?"

There was a moment of silence as everyone watched Ethan thinking about the potential outcomes, risks, and whatever else he thought of as their main strategist. "Yes, but don't do this to me again. If either of you get caught, you're waiting in there for three whole days before we break you out. Consider it a punishment."

"Understood. Thank you, Ethan."

"Anyone on Flight Getting the Fuck Out of Here, board your flight now. And no, there's no snacks," Wendy called, climbing up into the plane.

"We brought our own this time," Najair called, grinning and following after her with his brother, sisters, and Pat following.

"If those bugs are alive, I'm hitting the plane with lightning. Twice," Wendy warned.

"Nope, all dead. Pepe made them for us," Maleah said with a smile.

"Aw, man, you get snacks?" Craig whined.

"Focus, Craig. I'll ask Zach to bake you a whole cake later," Ethan said.

"Yes! Love you, dude."

"I know. All right, is everyone, ready? Good. On your marks, get set... go!"

Within a minute, Ethan was the only one still standing in the hangar, and he watched as everyone flew, ran, or disappeared entirely. Slipping on his high-visibility overalls, Ethan put a pair of earmuffs over his ears, climbed into the luggage trolley he'd acquired earlier, and started to drive it calmly out into the airport tarmac.

Whoever was going to Ibiza was going to get their luggage very, very late , he mused with a slight smile.

...

"Maj, I don't know what's going on, but call me back would you? If I did something or if someone said I did something, I'm sorry, okay?"

"Will! We're going to be late!" Josie called from the Secret Sanctum's entrance.

"Coming! Uh, I gotta go, Maj. Just... call me back, okay?" Will said, ending his message and flying downstairs.

"Nice of you to join us, son," Steve said with a pointed expression; he was still grumpy after having an interrupted sleep thanks to a scratching and squeaking noise in the wall.

"Thank you for confirming. We'll leave the key in the mailbox, as discussed," Josie said, ending the call on her phone and looking at her boys. "The exterminator will come by while we're out and you'll sleep better tonight, dear."

"Thank you, dear," Steve said with a grateful sigh, kissing her cheek briefly.

She smiled at him, just as annoyed by her interrupted sleep, but thankfully more emotionally equipped to hide her annoyance; those emotions were for villains, after all. "Still no answer from Shifter?" Jetstream asked.

Will shook his head. "I think she's pissed that I left her behind at the wedding ceremony. She's not even answering my text messages."

"Well, if she doesn't answer her phone, she doesn't fight, and therefore, she doesn't get paid. Change so we can go. Mr. A is breathing down my neck on this one," Jetstream muttered as she received yet another text from the Director of the Super Bureau.

"All right. I'm ready," Will said, ducking down behind the dining table and Airborne standing up. "Where are we fighting?"

Jetstream frowned as she received another text message from Mr. A. "That's Shifter's address. She hasn't moved recently, has she, Will?"

"No. I was there just the other day. Maj did say it was getting small with all of our things, but... well, I thought she was just trying to get me to propose."

Jetstream frowned again. "Well. She should consider herself lucky if and when you do propose. For now, let's go see what this is about. Mr. A doesn't message personally unless it's urgent."

"I'll lead the way," Airborne said and flew out of the house without waiting for a response.

Behind him, Jetstream picked up the Commander and followed after their son, a pest and vermin exterminator van arriving a few minutes later.

"Airborne's becoming a great leader, don't you think, Jetstream? Just like his father," the Commander added, sounding pleased.

"Or his mother," Jetstream said pointedly.

"Or his father."

"The wind's with us, we can take a shortcut and get to Shifter's apartment in three minutes," Airborne called over his shoulder.

Jetstream decided not to argue with the Commander right then; they had an investigation to investigate.

...

"The last week has been a bizarre turn of events for countries all over the world. Across the US in particular, there have been bank robberies, the Three Generations statue stolen, and dozens of shops and banks held up earlier in the week alone. Just yesterday, the Super Bureau were sent running around the globe itself as they attempted to track one of their very own private planes that had been stolen from a hangar in Maxville's International Airport," Brain Anderson reported, trying not to look too amused at the thought of the super secret intelligence agency being given the runaround by its own plane. "There have been reports of multiple tracking devices found for the CH0190 designated plane, with one even discovered in Maxville itself in the apartment of none other than Shifter herself. Shifter has not released a statement at this time.

"The Super Bureau were also contacted for comment but have refused to shed any light on this robbery, nor any of the others that have occured in the last six days. The world is on edge and some people are even refusing to leave their homes, as there still hasn't been any group claiming responsibility for the utter chaos that this has caused throughout the globe - "

Layla muted the news, frowning deeply. "Honey?"

"Yeah?"

"Did we claim any of Heist Week?"

There was a beat of silence. "Oh, fuck."

"Dibs on using the Super Bureau's plane as a skywriter!" Wendy called, cackling.

"Aww, no. I can do it as Airborne!" Craig called out, running to the room where Layla was sitting.

"I can light up the metropolis of Maxville with our calling card," Zach offered.

"We have to decide on a calling card first. Have you looked at any of the suggestions I provided?" Ethan asked.

Warren sighed from where he was lying in Layla's lap. "You mean that 100-page booklet you gave to us?"

"Yes. I was being thorough."

"You were being over the top, Popsicle. Hippie, thoughts?" Warren asked, looking up at her.

"It needs to be simple and still encompass everything we've done this week and in the years previously," Layla mused, stroking Warren's hair as she thought. Remembering Brian Anderson's description, she stilled, grinning broadly. "Chaos."

Warren considered it for a moment, then grinned, slow and broad. "Chaos sounds good to me."

"So can we go claim Heist Week now, oh, illustrious leaders?" Craig asked, snickering.

"Don't get arrested. And work out to do it in each place we've been to this week. Don't double-book yourselves!"

"Thanks, Lay! Eth, can you create a map?" Craig asked.

"I need to check the weather reports. It feels like it's overcast in the whole of the Southern Hemisphere today," Wendy muttered.

"I call dibs on the places that have really prominent skylines and skyscrapers! I can do the best work with those," Zach said eagerly, all of them piling out of the room to organise themselves.

"Don't get arrested!" Warren called out, almost as an afterthought.

"No promises!" Craig called back.

Layla laughed. It was going to be absolute chaos; just how she liked it .

...

The end.

Thanks for reading; I hope you liked it!