"Do you think we have the right house?" I shrugged as I took the flying helmet off my head revealing that my original helmet was underneath it.

"I have no clue." I took in the view of a normal suburban house for a moment before turning my attention toward Lili. "Does anything seem out of place to you?"

"Other than the fact that this place is sitting on a fucking sky island, no." She rolled her eyes as I couldn't help but smirk.

"Well, besides the floating house part, Captain Obvious."

"Says the one that asked if anything seemed out of place!"

"Not like I live in a house, Lils!" I couldn't help but chuckle as she gave me a wide-eyed look.

"Oh yeah. You live in the caravan that looks like a witch's house on wheels."

"A bit ironic with how it holds a family of psychics."

"I wonder how you would react to seeing my family's house then. Or our apartment at the Motherlobe." I gave a cheeky smile as I nudged her lightly.

"That an invitation, Zanotto?" I felt a flutter in my chest as I noticed the slightest tint of pink on her cheeks.

"W-well, as an honorary agent, you'll have to report to the Motherlobe one day anyway."

"As long as you'll be there." I bit my tongue after the sudden comment left my mouth.

Oh fuck, why'd I say that? Why'd I say thaaaaaat?!

"Well, I live there, dumbass." She punched my shoulder a little as a smile appeared on her face. "Where else would I be?"

"At the other house?" I tilted my head a little as she just rolled her eyes at me.

"Not what I meant, Raz."

"What else was I supposed to say?"

"Knock on the door you, dummy."

"Hey! The only dummy I know is Bobby!" I waited for a second as I thought about the idea. "Well, Dion can be a bit of a dummy too but that's not the point."

"Raz, you're my best friend, but if you don't knock on that door and get a move on, I will knock you." I swallowed hard as the shorter girl narrowed her eyes at me.

"Knocking, got it." I turned on my heels and scrambled up the stairs before knocking on the front door twice. The door only opened a little bit as a familiar figure of a Rainbow Squirt peeked through the little slit.

"Password?"

"Uh-." I hesitated for a second before shrugging with my answer. "Milkman?"

"Wrong!" Quickly, the door slammed in my face which caused me to jump a little.

"So much for a friendly neighborhood. Here I thought Girl Scouts were supposed to be friendly and all about community."

"I thought it was all about making a cookie empire off of the backs of little girls?" I turned toward Lili and shrugged as her demeanor went serious. "This is definitely the place then if they're here. But they asked for a password? Where the hell would we find that?"

"This skill will open a lot of doors for you, Razputin."

I snapped my attention toward Lili as a memory suddenly played in my head.

"It will make you disappear, only for a little, but it can change whatever situation you're in for the better. Even if you're running from something, which I have no doubt will happen again."

"Do you know invisibility?" Lili gave me a confused look.

"What gives you the idea that I would? That's high-level stuff, at least in my dad's opinion. He won't let me start my entry-level agent exams, let alone learn that."

"Good thing one of us does then." I walked over to her swiftly before wrapping an arm around her. "Luck for us, when my dad taught my sister and me how to do this, he showed us how to extend it to others too. So stay close." She stayed silent as I closed my eyes behind my goggles.

"Let yourself disappear, Razputin."

I took a deep breath in before letting it out slowly.

"Then run like hell."


"Remind me never to go invisible again," Lili whispered in a disturbed tone as she shook her head silently behind the couch at the Rainbow Squirts headquarters. "That made me feel so empty like it's weird." We both fell silent as a new voice joined the murmurs of the little girls on the other side of the couch.

"Alright, my Rainbow Squirts, let's recite our daily pledge."

"Yes, Den Mother!" A chorus of little girls spoke cheerfully as they recited what was their hidden purpose in Boyd's mind. "We pledge to promote niceness, to make the world prettier, and to share candy with everyone." I rolled my eyes as I gave Lili an annoyed look.

Maybe we were wrong, Lils, these are just-

My thoughts were interrupted as the girls continued and their tones switched to a monotoned choir.

"We pledge to obfuscate the true nature of the Milkman. We will protect the Milkman at all cost and destroy all who would harm the Milkman, or threaten to reveal his secret objective."

Nevermind! Creepy choir of brain monsters.

Can completely agree there, Raz.

"Wonderful! Now, continue on your quest little gremlins! And remember, Den Mother knows all." I swallowed hard as even the Den Mother's voice became twisted in a matter of seconds. Quickly, a lot of movement could be heard as all the girls seemed to be moving toward the exit.

Back to being invisible?

Yes, please, quickly!


I lifted my goggles up to my forehead as Lili and I ended up rushing after the Den Mother toward a small hidden door. The place was rather dark, so I closed my eyes calmly for a moment before focusing my psychic energy. After a minute, I opened my eyes and let the glow in them be a torch within the darkness.

"I never thought I would be thankful for this family trait," I reached out to guide Lili beside me which she allowed without question. "But I am now."

"At least you can see."

"Not enough light for you I guess?"

"All I can honestly see is your eyes." I shrugged as I held her wrist gently.

"Better than nothing, I guess. I can see a good bit." I looked around the little staircase we were on as we walked down slowly. "Not everything, but a decent bit."

"Why is this place so dark anyway? Not like it's a tomb of some kind."

Suddenly, a bright light came from under our feet as we made it to the main floor of the room. Under us looked like a makeshift fridge chamber of some kind and as we took a few more steps to get a better look of what was below us, we could see that a figure that looked identical to Boyd was laying under the glass soundlessly. His eyes shut while he lay there in an all white uniform. One much like milkmen wore in the 1950s.

"Point taken." Lily sighed as she gave me an annoyed look. "Always the weird shit with this guy, isn't it? First the mumbling brain monitoring spy guys, then the rollerblading cookie monsters, and now," She gestures toward the figure with her free hand as she allowed me to keep a grasp on her wrist. "Boyd fridge boy." I couldn't help but chuckle as her annoyed expression deepened.

"What did you expect?" I gave her a cheeky smile as she looked between me and Boyd's sleeping figure.

"Not fucking that!" I couldn't help but laugh wholeheartedly at her reaction. That was until a loud thud came from behind us. I pulled Lili closer to me as we snapped our attention toward the sudden noise.

"Now what do we have here? Some naughty little children trying to steal our milk?" I gave the Den Mother a blank expression as a wicked smile came over her face.

"No, I'm totally here just to take out your knees like a gremlin."

"We are short enough." I gave Lili a confused look as I had a little bit of height on the smaller teen.

"Speak for yourself, shorty." She shot me an angry look that made a chill run down my spine. "N-Never mind, say what you want. Knee gremlins we are yep."

"Silence you fools!"

"Only fool here is you, Grandma!" Lili slipped out of my hold as she took a step closer to the woman. "I'm tired of this broken place and all of its bullshit, I'm ready for the next insane bastard we have to deal with." Lili seemed to be on a roll as she took calculated steps closer to the Den Mother. "I'm tired of this place, of all the milk references, of your cult girls, and those fuckers in trench coats!" I watched in awe as each one of Lili's steps now left a small print of her shoes in a small fire path. "The last thing I want to do here is battle your cat-eye-wearing self to release the lunatic under our feet." Lili was now right in front of the Den Mother as she stared up at the woman with a fierce look to her. "Now, realize the fridge monster now and no one gets hurt."

"And what are you gonna do?" The woman leaned down so she was face to face with Lili as I watched with wide glowing eyes. "Little girl?" I knew right away that the Den Mother messed up big time as I could see a small thing of fire start to swell at Lili's feet.

"Whoever you're tied to, old bat, has a death wish."

"By your little hands?"

"Don't," Lili reached up and grabbed the woman's collar before yanking her down to the floor. "CALL ME LITTLE!" I smiled wide as Lili became what could only be compared to a goddess of wrath before my eyes.

"Wow," I whispered the word to myself as I watched the two spar rather equally hand to hand. Even with the height difference in mind. Lili moved faster than anyone I'd ever seen as a trace of a red flame followed quickly after her. That speed was her greatest advantage as she jumped up and gave the woman a grand kick right under her chin that made her fling her head back and stumble to the ground. With all the commotion, I didn't realize that the ground beneath me started to shake.

"Lili!" I yelled out excitedly as I noticed that the glass was cracking under my feet. "Keep at her! Seems her control on the fridge prison here is slipping!" I scrambled quickly to get off the main glass of the floor before looking over toward the two women.

Is this what dad meant by Aquatos having an ironic attachment to people? How fire always seems to meet water?

I smiled wide as I noticed that a smile of her own was taking over Lili's face. This wasn't about proving herself now, she was enjoying herself in getting the mission done.

She's one hell of a girl, that's for certain.

With one last good blow, Lili sent the woman to the floor with a right foot to her stomach. Just as a loud shattering noise came from the prison.

"You fools! He's woken!" I snapped my attention over toward the glass floor as a bright light now came from below. Slowly, but surely, Boyd's figure rose from his place of slumber as glass bottles of milk swirled around him.

"Hey, there big guy!" The man turned his head toward me with a smile despite his eyes being blank and rather soulless. "You wouldn't by chance be the Milkman would ya?"

"I am the Milkman." Boyd's voice came from the figure as he held his arms out wide as he now floated near the floor. "My milk is delicious."

"Right~." I drew out the word as I heard footsteps near me. "Guess that means we freed him?"

"A bit anticlimactic don't ya think?" I shrugged as I turned my attention toward Lili.

"It's a milkman, what else were we to expect?"

"Look what you've done! Do you two know what you just did?!" I glanced over toward the Den Mother as she gestured toward the man who now stood firmly on the floor. "You released him! You ruined everything! Everything!" I looked over toward Lili as I shrugged once more.

"Guess we'll know more once we're out of here on what we really did?"

"I am the Milkman, my milk is delicious. Need to make my final delivery." I turned my head toward the Milkman as I noticed him grab out a wooden crate full of milk bottles. Quickly, my brain started to connect the dots with the information we learned from Boyd's memory vault earlier in our little adventure.

"Molotovs. He needs to deliver Molotovs."

"Oh," I looked over toward Lili as I pulled my goggles down over my eyes once more. "Oh, fuck."

"Ready to go and stop an asylum burning?"

"Absolutely."