Chapter 4:

The sky transitioned to a shade of pink as John knelt down to get the grill ready.

There were faster, easier ways to prepare grills these days, but John preferred it like this. It was the way his father had taught him back in Australia, back before his life was flipped on its head...

He shuddered. It was best not to think about that.

As a fire finally got going, the back porch's door slammed behind him, and he knew who it was without even turning around.

"I'm makin' dinner, Rene," he explained before his roommate could say anything. "It's grilled salmon. For us, anyway- Fergus wants chicken,"

Rene inhaled from his vape pen and exhaled a cloud of vapor. "Sounds wonderful, but I'm afraid you'll have to save it for another night. We are going out,"

That was new. John turned his head, surprised. "Since when do you want to eat out?"

"Since Dylan thought it was cute to mess with me," Rene answered, his voice thick. "My son skipped his job interview and is generally being a nuisance, so naturally, I have to kill him. Not in the literal sense, of course, but-"

"For God's sake, Rene!" John groaned, standing up. "The kid's 24! When will you let him be a man?"

"When he starts acting like one," Rene puffed on his vapor pen again. "The boy can barely tie a tie, John. I'm going to get him, and you're coming with me. I've already talked Ferguson into going,"

John stood there with the lighter in his hand, trying to make sense of all this. "But...how do you even know where he is?"

"I still have that Phone-Finder app," Rene explained. "That's how we're going to find him,"

"We?" John repeated, baffled. "Christ, Rene, you can't keep doin' this-"

Rene ignored him and headed for the door. "He couldn't have gotten too far. Come along, John,"

The door slammed shut, and John let out a heavy sigh. "Ugh, why?" he shut the grill off and began putting the materials away.

It was 6:30 PM, although Scout barely seemed to notice that any time had passed.

He honestly thought he'd never been happier, hanging out with these new friends of his. He had other friends back home, of course, but they weren't anything like this. His other friends seemed to like him, yet they constantly made plans without him or they just simply never included him in things. These people were different so far- he'd played a few rounds of different computer games with them, but now they were just chatting, and nobody was talking over him or ignoring what he had to say. It was a type of euphoria he'd never felt until this moment.

"And then," Scout went on with his story, his hands jerking with emphasis. "She pointed her long, bony finger in my face and told me I had no future in graphic design-"

"No!" gasped Lucio, horrified.

"Yeah, yeah!" Scout clapped his hands together as he continued. "And then she took the vegan tacos and threw them everywhere!"

"Oh, my God!" Junkrat exclaimed. "You should'a shot her!"

Scout snorted. "I wish! My dad would'a flipped if I shot my piano teacher-"

"Did you ever go back there?" Tracer inquired. "She sounds dreadful!"

"Yeah, I had to get my shoes back later," Scout answered. "That's another story. Anyway, my foot's totally stuck in there, right? She's screamin' at me and the dog's havin' a seizure and I've still got half a tin of beans left-" his phone started vibrating, and he paused. "Hello, what's this?" he dug around in his pocket and retrieved it, only to stop and squint at the screen. "What the-? Agh, of course,"

"What's wrong?" Mei asked.

Scout turned his phone's screen to the others. "Ya see that?"

Lucio leaned forward and squinted. "'Find-a-Phone is tracking your location'," he read off the screen. "Isn't that the app people use to find lost phones?"

"Sure is!" Scout did a sarcastic laugh. "Means my dad is lookin' for me,"

"Aren't you an adult?" Tracer sounded concerned. "My father had an app like that for me when I was ten,"

Scout shrugged. "Yeah, well, my dad is convinced I'll end up dead in a ditch somewhere that he just had to get this app,"

"Well, at least he cares, I guess," Hana looked at her phone, and an expression of surprise crossed her face. "Oh! Wow, it's late. I had no clue,"

"Yeah, and our team dinner's not 'till tomorrow night," Lucio's eyes wandered to the ceiling in thought. "You guys wanna go out?"

"Better not be that fancy place again!" Junkrat piped up, making a face. "I hated it there,"

"I know, everyone did," Lucio assured. "We wouldn't go there,"

Junkrat scratched some dandruff out of his hair. "Good! All that money, an' those people eat snails..."

It was settled within a few minutes: after a bit of preparation, they would all meet up in the lobby and then head downtown to the sports bar they usually went to. Scout was surprised when they invited him along, and he gladly accepted the offer. In the meantime, though, he had to use the bathroom, so Junkrat offered to let him hang out in his room for a while to do so.

The minute Scout entered the room, he first noticed the cloud of intense heat he'd walked into, and then took a look at the room itself.

"Oh, my..." Scout was truly at a loss for words. This place was only a few items of stray clothing away from looking like a room on that show about hoarders...

Junkrat made a face as he walked in. "Why's it so stiflin' in here!?" he noticed the thermostat and leaned in to look at it, squinting. "Why's this all the way up!? So sorry,"

Scout's mouth was still agape as he examined the room, noticing a pile of boxes resting on the table along with a bowl of cereal from who knows when. "Shit...Jesus, dude, you live like this?"

"Hmm?" Junkrat glanced away from the thermostat. "Yeah, my best mate and I moved here not too long ago. Haven't had time to clean up, yeh?" he gestured to the door next to him. "Bathroom's right here,"

"Thanks," Scout hesitated before entering the bathroom, praying silently that it wasn't as bad as the rest of the place.

On the other side of the wall, Junkrat made his way to his own bed, where he retrieved a denim vest hanging from the wall.

"You going out?" Roadhog asked from the bed next to him.

"Yeh," Junkrat buttoned up the vest, looking up at the TV on the wall. "Watcha' watching? Opera again?"

Roadhog didn't look up from what he was doing on his lap desk. "Not really watching it. You know, it's background noise,"

"Oh," Junkrat fished out a bejeweled shoelace, which he tied around his neck like a choker. "Well, I'm goin' to dinner with our friends and a new guy. Should be fun, you comin'?"

"No, I don't think so," Roadhog replied, stopping to sharpen his pencil with a hand-held sharpener. "They're your friends, not mine. Besides, there are still leftovers in the fridge. I thought I'd eat those,"

Junkrat picked up a cracked mirror and checked himself out in it, adjusting the choker. "You could join us next time-"

He was cut off when a horrible, wheezing cough erupted from Roadhog. Junkrat turned around, concerned. "Oi! Ya good, Roadie?"

Roadhog's only response was more coughing, and he soon started pointing to something at the foot of his bed. He was asking for his mask, so Junkrat fetched it for him and began fastening it to the older man's face.

"There we go," Junkrat tried to sound soothing, though he couldn't change his tone that well. He clicked the mask into place, and Roadhog took several deep breaths. "That's better, ain't it? There, you can go back to drawin',"

The coughing had halted for the moment, and Roadhog gave a shaky, relieved sigh. "Thank you, Jamison,"

"Don't mention it," Junkrat kept his hand on Roadhog's shoulder, gently tracing the little black markings on his skin. "Stupid Black Flu. We're gonna fix you up soon enough, I promise,"

"Let's not promise things we might not be able to keep," Roadhog mumbled back.

Scout had wandered into the doorway, where he'd stopped and was watching with concern. "Everything okay in here?"

Junkrat cleared his throat, fetching the mirror. "Yeah! Yeah, it's all good. Have you met Roadhog yet?"

"Oh, no, I haven't," Scout tried to smile and waved a little. "Hiya!"

Roadhog made eye-contact with him for a few seconds before going back to his lap desk. "Hi,"

"Agh!" Junkrat made an annoyed sound as he looked at his eyebrows. "I gotta comb 'em! Wait here, I'll only be a tick,"

He disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Scout with Roadhog. Roadhog didn't acknowledge his presence, which Scout would have been fine with if it wasn't for the fact that this type of silence made him anxious. He tried to start a conversation.

"Hey, uh, what are ya workin' on, buddy?" Scout took a few tentative steps forward, trying to look at the lap desk.

Roadhog paused, and then he silently pushed part of the paper over so Scout could see. It was a drawing of a raven eating a severed hand, and it was quite detailed, too. Scout studied it for a moment. "Wow. That's tight, dude,"

"Thanks," Roadhog went back to adding details to the tendons.

Scout then noticed a small bulletin board hanging above the bed, with had several more drawings pinned to it. Many of them were violent or creepy, containing severed body parts and almost always a type of animal eating them. Yet, there were a few drawings that stood out from all of them, and they were a stark contrast to the creepiness: these drawings were of young children doing various activities. In fact, the more Scout looked at them, the more he realized that it was the same child, a young girl with dark hair. One drawing showed her washing some dolls in a washtub, while another showed her offering an ice cream cone to a dog. A very detailed one depicted her dancing in a flowerbed, and the words, "Lottie dancing in the yard," were written across the top.

The bathroom door flung open, and Junkrat came waltzing in. "All right, bucko! Ready to go?"

"Uh, yeah," Scout took a moment to smooth his hair back while getting a look at himself in the cracked mirror. "Sure, let's go,"

"See ya, Roadie!" Junkrat called out as they left. "I'll bring ya back somethin'!"

The door slammed, and Roadhog was alone. He turned to the bulletin board, fishing around for a pin and pinning his latest drawing to the board. He noticed the picture of Lottie dancing in the flowers, and he gently brushed his thumb against the pencil lines.

7:15 PM.

A car pulled up to the bar and restaurant known as Olive Angel, and after parking, Rene stepped out of the driver's side and inhaled from his vape pen.

"You don't think this might be goin' a bit too far?" Ferguson inquired warily as he stepped out. "How d'ya know the lad even wants to see ya?"

"We talked on the phone, he's expecting me," Rene sighed, exhaling some vapor. "Supposedly, he's in here, so I can talk to him while you get something,"

John cringed a little as he followed the other two men inside the building. "I still don't like this idea, Rene,"

"Then stay quiet," Rene told him.

Upon entering Olive Angel, Rene noticed his son almost right away, sitting towards the back. He watched from afar and scanned the situation silently.

"All right, he's made friends, Rene," John tried to reassure. "He's fine, he's- Rene!"

Scout was in the middle of trying to make Tracer laugh by placing an onion ring on his finger when he happened to make eye contact with a familiar face. He took a breath. "Here he comes," Scout took the onion ring off his finger and stood up. "Be right back,"

As Scout walked away, Mei sat up taller and watched him go. "Is that his dad over there?"

"Think so," Tracer remarked, watching with some concern. "Scary-looking fellow..."

Scout had his hands shoved in his pockets as he stepped forward and confronted his father. "Hey, Spy,"

Rene's eye twitched. "Why do you keep calling me that? Is that some kind of a veiled insult?"

"Nah, it's the truth,"

"All right, then," Rene kept his arms folded across his chest. "Care to explain to me why you missed the job interview?"

Scout snorted. "Oh, I dunno...maybe it had somethin' to do with you givin' me the wrong bus pass!" he shoved the pass in his father's face. "The rejected me 'cause the date was wrong!"

"Oh, don't be-" Rene paused when he noticed the date. "Wait, really?"

"Yeah!" Scout didn't break his angry glare. "And you wanna know what happened after that!? I passed out, Dad!" Scout flailed his arms for emphasis. "I passed out in the desert! I coulda died!"

Rene only shook his head, trying to compose himself. "Dylan, Dylan- calm down!" he sighed. "Dylan, I apologize for giving you the wrong pass. You should have called me and told me,"

"How do I know ya wouldn't tear my head off if I did!?"

"Hey, Dylan," John stepped in, putting a hand on Dylan's shoulder. "Settle down, boy. Your father came all the way out here to find you,"

Scout just pursed his lips together. "Yeah, 'cause he's crazy,"

"Oh, hush," Rene hissed. "You asked me to come here,"

"I sure did! You wanna know why? You ain't gonna believe me, but it's true,"

Rene squinted at something over his son's shoulder. "Does it have anything to do with those friends of yours?"

Scout turned around. His new friends were all watching the scene silently, except for Hana, who was playing a game on her phone, and Junkrat, who was sticking his fingers in nacho cheese sauce.

"Kinda!" Scout puffed out his chest. "I'm helpin' them solve a mystery!"

Rene could only watch as Junkrat stuck each finger in the cheese. "...I'm sure you are, son,"

"So screw the job interview!" Scout exclaimed. "This is gonna be my job, now!"

Lucio overheard that bit from the table. "Aw, no," he winced. "Don't say that!"

Rene suddenly reached out and grabbed the collar of Scout's shirt, dragging him out the door. "Home! Now! I have had enough of your nonsense!"

"Rene, stop that!" John pursued them, picking up the pace. "Rene- Rene!"

"Let go!" Scout pushed his father off of him, glaring. "You ain't even listenin' to me!"

"I've heard all I want to hear!" Rene snapped. "You've lost it, boy. I'll tell you what we're going to do- we're going home, we're going to forget this ever happened, and you're going to get a damn job! Do you hear me?"

They were outside, now, staring each other down in the cool, evening air. Scout's fists were clenched so tight he was sure his nails would break the skin. "Dad, it's my turn to talk and your turn to listen. Can ya do that for one freaking second?"

Rene turned away and put his hands up. "You know what? Fine! Pal around with strangers and solve mysteries, see if I care! It worked for Scooby Doo, didn't it? Garçon stupide,"

"Dad, wait-" Scout grabbed his father's arm. "No, don't leave. Please, I need you for something important,"

"And what would that be?"

Scout took a deep breath. "It's about Black Flu-"

The door opened, and John was there in an instant. He placed an arm around Scout and turned to stare defiantly at Rene. "You know what, Rene? I'm tired of this. I'm tired of you talking to your son this way,"

Rene tried to interject, but John talked over him. "You're an adult, Rene, and so is Dylan,"

There was a long pause, and Rene fished around in his pockets. "Here, John," he placed his car keys in John's hand. "I need you to drive home,"

John looked puzzled. "What? Why?"

"I need you to get our toothbrushes, some clothes, extra cash, and anything else we may need," Rene answered. "We're going to be staying here a while,"

Scout's mouth fell open. "What?"

Rene went on. "We'll stay at a hotel here for as long as we need until I can help you reschedule another interview. You may visit with your friends, solve mysteries, or do whatever you need to while we stay, just as long as you keep out of trouble. Understood?"

Scout looked at John. John appeared rather surprised. "Well, that's a start," he took his arm off of Scout and patted his shoulder. "I'll be right back,"

As John left, Scout met his father's eyes. "You actually listened to me...wow,"

"Yes, but you're still going to that interview," Rene told him firmly. "And we won't be staying here forever. Who knows? Perhaps you can move in with one of your friends,"

Scout looked through the window of the restaurant. He could see Tracer and Mei standing there, watching him, and he gave them a thumbs up.

"Thanks, Spy," he smirked back at his father. When Rene made a face, Scout chuckled, "I'll explain later,"