In regard to Heronicus' speeches, Luvbi could only turn to Mario and remark, "These people are all like this because of Count Bleck. Maybe Mowz is right, maybe Bleck does deserve to die."

"Doesn't matter so long as we get her the guns and the airship," said Mario. Making it past the poor in their projects, Mario couldn't help but be appalled at the travesties around him. He had seen homeless in Brooklyn, even Manhattan. He had been to Queens... he knew the conditions some people had to live in. This, though? This was something else. This was like something out of an African warlord's back closet. So many people gathered around a vending machine and began to beat into it for the food. Descending further down into the Creepy Steeple, the conditions of the people only worsened. Children starving, men struggling to walk… it was horrifying, like something out of a UNICEF pamphlet.

"Mario, there's the impound!" Luvbi pointed to a part of the Creepy Steeple that seemed detached from the rest. There was sunlight pouring down on it, but the steam filters made it look almost violet in light. There was an effigy of Doopliss there, he must have been the lead constable of that squadron of the police. An officerstood, bullhorn in hand in front of his fellow officers, giving a speech.

"The Shy Squad are the bastard children of the Kremlings and the Toads!" roared the officer. "Like all bastards we serve them best by smothering them in the crib! We hear tell that the gunsmith was making them guns, we take his tools! Make no mistake, troopers: Shy Squad and weapons go together like fire and gunpowder! One spark and we'll have a blaze we cannot control!"

"We're going to have to get through an army to get to the weapons," commented Mario, giving Luvbi a concerned look.

"Can we sneak around?" asked Luvbi.

"It'll be hard," remarked Mario. "But we're going to have to, there's no way I can take on that many." Heading behind some crates, they noticed the troopers disperse and start making their rounds. For the moment they were safe. There were some cables above, linking to the police station. Pointing them out, Luvbi aimed her crystal and created a makeshift portal.

"It'll take us past their sight for the moment, drop us down on that ledge there," said Luvbi. Heating up his hand, Mario rode on the cables into the portal and down through the ledge. Now directly above them, there was a gap between Mario and the platforms, then a larger gap between him and the police entrance. There was no way he could jump that far without breaking something though. "There's another portal I can open, halfway through the gap between us and the entrance. Jump through and it should land us at the front."

Nodding Mario saw her open it, threw her into it, jumped in, caught her halfway through and landed nimbly on his feet in the front. Before any officer could turn around, Luvbi opened a portal and slipped them inside the impound. Walking ahead, past the statues of the saluting Koopalings, Mario opened the door to the inner sanctum. Most of the officers must have been out of the impound, given that there was a skeleton crew working which was quite easy for them to slip past. One officer noticed them but was quickly silenced by Mario.

"Who are we really helping by getting guns for the Shy Squad?" asked Luvbi.

"It's going to help us," answered Mario.

"Mowz can make a change, can't she?" asked Luvbi. "Make things better for the people here."

"Sure," agreed Mario. It was possible, he just didn't believe it. A place like this? Delfino Isle would forever be cursed.

"There, the tools!" Luvbi pointed to something glittery, barely discernible behind two windows and a chainlink fence. Nodding, they made their way to the location. Yet, when they did, Mario simply sighed - all of the tools were gigantic and heavy. "There's no way we can take these back - we didn't think this through," remarked Luvbi. "Wait... is that?" She opened up a portal in place of all the tools.

"That's a room without any of the tools in it," commented Mario. "How is that?"

"It's the future," exclaimed Luvbi. "The tools aren't there so they must've been taken back to the shop! If we go through this portal, we'll be about a day or two into the future." Mario nodded, stepped through, extended his hand and pulled her through with him. She closed the portal and with them now into the future, Mario looked around. Instead of tools, it was all weaponry - the officers must have returned the tools to the shop given that Gloomer's death ended direct connection to the Shy Squad. "Mario, if the Shy Squad get these weapons there's going to be a revolution."

"Yeah," agreed Mario. Almost as if on cue though, there came the sounds of a battle raging outside the impound. Shouts, screams, cries and gunshots. Walking through the police station Mario noticed all the officers practically frozen - wobbling, their noses bleeding. It was almost as if they had been stunned.

"Our time travel... it must have done... this... to all of the troopers around here," determined Luvbi. It almost seemed like the men were phasing between today, and the time before they jumped into the portal. It was scary, but they had to continue on, get to the airship and just leave this horrid place.

Walking out, Mario looked at the fire in the sky. From this small part of the Creepy Steeple, the fires of Mowz's revolution was reaching all of them - the only thing to get through the fog of Doopliss' fortress. "Can you feel it?" Luvbi asked Mario. "Mowz has moved these people! Things can change, Mario and we can be a part of that change!"

"I don't want to be a part of it," said Mario, bluntly. "Once we get the airship, we can leave." Walking back to the skyless area of the Creepy Steeple, they heard Mowz's voice in the PAs above them, thundering.

"Count Bleck says all this trouble, all this strife - is on our heads! He says we're to blame! Says nobody has anything to complain about! If it's not fine for you and yours, it's because you're a backslider and you've fallen into sin. Let me tell you about sin. It's sin when you turn on your tap and no hot water comes out! It's sin when you work eighteen-hour days and can't feel your loved ones! It's a sin when Bleck sleeps in a mansion and you have to make your bed in hay and straw! I'm going to tell you all something, brothers and sisters, the biggest sin of all, the mother of all sins is that we sit back and take it!"

It hardly took long for them to come across a battle. Men of the Shy Squad, Shy Guy masks adorned on their faces, were fighting the cops and the Pianta Syndicate, guns ablaze in the streets. How did the Squad get weapons? Guerilla warfare? Mario quickly brushed it off, no matter the way, they would still need Eve. One of the roads back to Twilight Town was on fire, a soldier came stumbling through. He was bloody and thrashed, he looked at Mario and his eyes widened. "You're Mario! You're the hero of the revolution!" he exclaimed in joy, as if he had renewed vigor, he ran back into the heart of the battle.

"What the hell are they talking about?" Mario questioned. Luvbi pointed above him and he nearly stumbled back, it was a painting of him. Red cap, red shirt and blue overalls. The caption red what the man had said 'Mario: Hero of the Revolution'. The days they had skipped ahead had really caused a change in Delfino Isle, Mario was now a saint for the Kremlings and Toads it seemed. That must only mean that to Count Bleck he had to be a villain of tremendous proportions - rejecting the job offer and fueling the Shy Squad? Tremendous. Ahead up on the road, two Shy Guys whipped out their pistols and executed two officers heading down the stairs. Going up the stairs, Mario noticed a crowd gathered roaring one word: 'Shy'. Mowz's voice came back on as Mario entered the crowd.

"Mario disappeared for this day! It was he whose actions spoke for the people! He whose dilution of the brains of the troopers allowed us to take hold of the Creepy Steeple! Now is the time to stay true to his cause! Now is the time for Bleck to fall! On to his factory! Let the mighty be laid low! For the people, for Mario, for the true voice! We're going to the factory and we're going to burn that motherfucker down!"

"In the days we missed you've become a hero," observed Luvbi. "It must have been more than a few days we skipped ahead for this to have happened. Mowz must have thought you disappeared, but what happened to all the troopers around the impound. She made you a martyr, gave you credit and rallied everyone to her cause." That was smart, Mario realized. Very smart. All they needed was a symbol, a symbol like the Plumber. A symbol that people thought Bowser feared.

Except there was the problem, martyrs stayed dead. Heroes could be broken, martyrs would be forever. He'd seen this movie one too many times. Heading down the next set of stairs, Mario and Luvbi walked into the bar at the end of the road. People were posing next to dead cops, their guns and fallen symbols all around.

Walking out of the bar, they went back up on the main street of the Creepy Steeple and made their way to the elevator. Pushing the button and getting in, Mario was slightly surprised when Luvbi turned to him and told him. "Mowz manipulated your image, made you a martyr."

"These people need a better class of hero," Mario gruffly told her. "When it comes down to it... the only difference between Bleck and Mowz is how you spell the name. I know you want to stop Bleck, but I maintain, this isn't our responsibility. We don't have to stop Bleck and leave, we can just leave."

"Are you sure Mario?" she asked, the disappointment in her voice was real, raw and pure. Making their way to Eve's shop, the only noise was from the outside, where the battles in the streets were raging and raging and destroying Bleck's roads. Pushing the gunsmith's door open, Mario noticed Luvbi almost fall back when she saw Eve in pool of her own blood on the floor. "She's dead, Mario! This is not what I meant to happen..."

"Come on, let's leave this place," beckoned Mario. "This isn't our responsibility - none of it." Yet deep in his heart, Mario did begin to feel a weight on his shoulders. As if he should not have stepped through the portal and instead, actually have spent those weeks becoming the man the Shy Squad made him out to be. Luvbi simply nodded her head and followed Mario out into the street. They had to take back the airship manually now, and the only way to do that would be to find Mowz. They had to fix things, he knew it in his heart. He knew it in his heart that they couldn't just escape their problems by jumping weeks or months ahead into the future. Sure, Doopliss no longer ruled over the Creepy Steeple, sure Count Bleck surely no longer ruled over Twilight Town… but Bowser still ruled Delfino Isle. Once they were in motion, Mowz's troop inspiring words were back on the PA system.

"Brothers and sisters, I wish to speak plainly to you. When you look at yourself, you see the face of a person, yes? A being."

This rebellion of hers seemed to be booming, naturally she would be at the biggest point available to her that wasn't held by Bowser. That could only be Bleck's factory. Making it out into the street, the door to Bleck's factory was being set with charges by Shy Guys. In a moment they detonated it and in a beautiful explosion of a million pieces it came apart. Walking through the front door, several Shy Guys followed Mario and Luvbi. Making it on to the bridge, Mario watched as the battle between the Shy Squad and the Pianta Syndicate came to a head. If the Shy Squad crossed the bridge and took out the second gigantic door, then the factory would be theirs to take. If the Syndicate held them back, then Bleck would squash Mowz's revolution.

"But do you know what Count Bleck sees? He sees livestock. He sees the nag that pulls his plow. The monkey that shovels his coal."

Yet the battle seemed to be overwhelmingly in the favor of the Shy Squad, they were winning simply due to sheer numbers. If every Syndicate member wanted five slaves a household, when they had lost the numbers game in the vanity of Don Pianta. Each line of them that got cut down made it an inch closer to the shorter, diminishing numbers of the Syndicate. Eventually the Shy Squad made it to the next door and began to set charges, that was until they came under fire from above. A zeppelin was firing down on them. Unless it was taken out, there was no way they could into the factory. Heating his hands, Mario mounted a cable in the sky and made for the zeppelin. Unleashing a host of fireballs, Mario broke the engine of the Zeppelin and ablaze, it descended down to the ground below, probably descending and taking its crew with it into an ocean.

"If he could feed you hay, he'd feed you hay. If he could bed you down in straw, he'd bed you down in straw. And when your arms get frail and your legs get weak, they'll bleed you dry, boil off your skin and turn you into chop."

Heading back down, Mario dropped into the middle of a crowd chanting his name. Luvbi came forth, smiling, she put her hand on his shoulder and complimented him, "That was amazing, Mario." It was a compliment of genuine joy. If they defeated Bleck, there was no way she would say no to leaving. They could go back to Dinohattan, go to his Daisy, wait for Luigi, break his curse... Mario shrugged off the thoughts, he was getting too far ahead of himself. That was still a year away.

"Now, if you want to be a mule, well – go on and be my guest. But if you want to be a person, well… then you best come talk to the Shy Squad."

"Come on Luvbi, let's find Mowz in the factory," Mario told her. The charges detonated, and the gates flew open, with their passage granted, Mario and Luvbi walked straight through into Bleck's stronghold. Several of the Pianta Syndicate came under fire form the Shy Squad, they all died. Mario did not even have to raise a fireball against them, the soldiers around him were good enough. Pointing to an elevator, Mario was quick to tell Luvbi, "We need to take that elevator. I bet that leads to Bleck's office. Mowz will be dealing with him directly." The structure around the elevator was burning, but the lift itself was perfectly fine.

As they ascended, they had a perfect view of Bleck's process. Many machines being made by more machines, no man working them. Bleck was getting rid of the men who once built him and then trying to choke them. Of course, then the men started to choke back. "They're just right for each other, aren't they?" Luvbi asked.

"Who?"

"Bleck and Mowz," she answered. "Eve... Gloomer... God, I was so set on defeating Bleck I hardly understood the consequences."

"You couldn't have known this would happen," consoled Mario.

"I had a role in this catastrophe," Luvbi shook her head. "If you want to pretend we're innocents, then that's your prerogative." Almost as if on cue, the service phone rung. Hitting the speaker button, Mario answered this time.

"Bleck?" asked Mario.

"You disappeared, Mario, entered the impound. Saw it with my own eyes," said Ms. Mowz. "Made the troopers all brain damaged. You're either an imposter or a ghost."

"I'm here for my airship," Mario flatly told her.

"Mario disappeared for the Shy Squad!" gritted Mowz, she had convinced herself of her own lie. "You're either an imposter or a ghost, I say again. I made you a hero to the cause, a story to tell children. You being here complicates the narrative." She hung up. That could not be good. Getting to Bleck's office, Mario found it in disarray but also two Shy Guys waiting for him. Perhaps Mowz' words were a prediction for the future, as they turned on him right away. Before they could get a bullet out though, Mario struck them both down with fireballs. So, the Shy Squad had turned on them.

Making their way around, Mario saw a big iron door. Using his enhanced strength, he pushed it open. Bleck had to be here. It opened to a relatively small passage compared to the door. Then a large platform with gears all around that it practically looked like clockwork. In its own strange way, it was beautiful. The sunlight and neon lighting of the gears gave everything a very peculiar sense. Walking forward, Mario made his way to a small set of stairs. Making his way up, Mario's attention was brought to a plexiglass window when Luvbi yelled out, "Mario!" There in the window was Count Bleck, backed up against it, and behind him a small boy. His son?

The window itself was connected to a tower, which had a giant clock above the window which then had sets of pressure meters by it. Evolving into twists and tubes, the tower itself became labyrinthine, a mess pretty much. Yet it was all a part of the machine that Bleck had created. A system so intense, so perverse that it had finally broken.

"No! Stop it!" cried Bleck. "No! No! No!" Mario approached the window, but just as he did, a gunshot rung out and Bleck's brains were splattered all over the window. The boy ran back behind the figure that committed the murder, Ms. Mowz. She took off her mask, put her hand in Bleck's blood and rubbed it on her face.

Into her radio she spoke, "Kill the imposter. Burn his body when you're done." There was another tower on the other end, Mowz would be heading there... for the boy! Realizing that, Mario smashed his way through the hordes of Shy Guys in his way. He could tolerate her killing Bleck, the Count was scum and a monster. He deserved to die, but not his boy. He wondered if Luvbi noticed the bloodshed right there? Mowz had to be stopped, just like Bleck had. She had to understand that. Maybe in a world where they stayed and helped, Mowz wouldn't have given in to the bloodshed.

She made it there before him. Mowz's knife was to the boy's neck and as Luvbi pounded on the window, it was like it hardly fazed the revolutionary. "No! No! No!" decried Luvbi. Then she turned to Mario. "She's going to kill that child, Mario! We have to do something! We have to act! We have to get in there! We've got to get in there! I can try and open a portal, distract Mowz!" Mario nodded his head as she went off to the side, focusing to open up a portal.

"Hey! Mowz!" Mario banged on the window, his enhanced strength enough to cause a crack in the window. That got her attention. "Is this it? Is this your revolution?"

"This is what needs to be done!" declared Mowz. "You see the Pianta Syndicate ain't nothing but weeds. Cut them down and they grow back! If you wanna get rid of the weed, you'll have to dig out the root! It's the only way to be sure!" Luvbi was behind her, she had walked through the portal. With a knife of her own, Luvbi took the opportunity and stabbed Mowz in the chest, putting an end to the revolutionary. In an instant, soaked in blood, Luvbi walked through the portal and back out to Mario. The child had already scampered away.

"Luvbi," Mario tried to console her, extending his hand forward, but she just backed away. "Woah, hey, hey. Easy." She just turned and walked back. She made her way to the Koopa Copter and in silence, Mario followed her.