There was a pregnant pause as K.O. took this in - he hoped he used that word right, cause the last time he said it, it caused 11 minutes worth of cheap entertainment from the misunderstanding - but before he could make a response, a dark shadow loomed in front of him.

Venomous noticed the light change too and frowned. "Hey, did it just become darker in here all of a sudden?"

But then, he noticed a shadow looming over him and looked behind him. Miss Quantum was scowling at Venomous the same way she scowled at her students. Technically, that was her default setting, but it still counted as scowling.

"If you're quite done distracting my students…" she said, scowling.

The teacher looked familiar to Venomous, but he couldn't figure out what it was. The other students sans K.O., Dendy and Fink scampered into their seats. Venomous didn't miss the looks of sheer terror marring all their faces. K.O. didn't seem that phased by the teacher's sudden appearance. Dendy was glowering back at her in sheer determination. Fink was thoughtfully scratching her chin, certainly thinking the same thing Venomous was. Why did the teacher look so familiar…?

"You must be the teacher, then." Venomous held out his hand.

Miss Quantum smirked. "Oh dear, looks like we have another smart one in the class, don't we?"

"Hey, lady!" Fink glowered at the teacher. Which was either very brave or very stupid when dealing with an adult that had no problem dropping heavy objects onto children without warning. "Don't talk to my boss like that!"

"And what are you going to do if I keep doing it? Squeak at me?"

Fink's face turned red and steam came out of her ears. She growled threateningly. "You don't wanna know what I'll do…"

"Fink, cool it!" Venomous said sharply. He turned back to the teacher. "Please forgive my minion. She's…not great at handling conflict."

"I won't." Miss Quantum said dryly.

Venomous pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He could get through this. He could do this, and when he got back to Boxy, they could get bacon. "Look, I'm just dropping Fink off. She's your new student, I'm sure the principal filled you in on it -"

"He didn't," Miss Quantum didn't look like she cared one iota if it were the case, "he's only in the office once a year."

"Anywho!" Venomous' eye started to twitch. "It's her first day and I was just on my way out, Miss…ummm…"

"Quantum."

"Miss Quantum?! As in Quantum Control?!" Fink's glare was gone and she looked almost pleased with the news. She pushed Venomous aside hard enough for him to crash into a row of desks and held out her hand. "My name's Fink and I'm a big fan of your work! When I grow up, I wanna be just like you."

Miss Quantum's scowl only deepened and Fink continued to smile at her gleefully as if she had been told that she had been a very good hench-rat thingy and that Christmas was coming early for her, this year.

K.O. suddenly gasped. "Oh, wipple dimp-dimple! I left my lunch at home!"

"I'll grab it," Venomous offered. Secretly, he just needed an excuse to make like a banana and split, but he was afraid of what Fink would do the moment he left the room...

Fink was too enamored with Miss Quantum's status as a former villain to throw out a nasty retort. Her eyes were starry and she was talking so fast, Venomous could hardly make out what she was saying. "- and when you stole candy from all of those babies, I knew you were pure evil."

"I'm…certain…of…that…" Miss Quantum's face turned a light shade of red. Each new event that Fink mentioned from her past seemed to turn her face redder, and make her class more disturbed at Fink's lack of room reading.

"Oh! Oh! And that time you took the wheels off Ironic Bunny's car! I still can't get over how you got away with it!"

"Wait a minute, that was you?!" Potato glowered at her teacher. "My dad had to retire afterwards!"

Venomous, seeing that this probably wasn't going to go over so well later, decided to make like a snake and slither out of danger. Miss Quantum was too stunned by Fink's ranting to notice.

"- and then you used your ray to spray catnip all over that city and unleashed all of those kitties to destroy it -"

"THANK. YOU. STINK!"

Fink blushed and kicked at the floor playfully. "Actually, Miss Quantum, it's Fink -"

"Seat! Now!"

Miss Quantum didn't spare her newest student another glance and began glowering at K.O. and Dendy.

"And just what are you two doing not in your seats?!"

"The bell didn't ring." K.O. pointlessly raised his hand.

"We were just on our way to them, now," Dendy glared back, sparks flying from her eyes at her most hated enemy. And with that, she walked over to her desk like there was nothing amiss, with K.O. right at her tail.

Fink cackled with delight until she realized that the glare was now directed at her. Seeing an empty seat on the Brat's right, she took it, still grinning. This was gonna be the bestest day ever!

O.K. K.O. (Let's Be Heroes!)

Carol settled the box down on the coffee table. A time capsule was the last thing she expected to see inside of the sandbox K.O. used to play in, but her son had done odder things after all. Like that incident with the printer…poor Eugene…Carol sure hoped that it wouldn't be mentioned in K.O.'s next performance review. He always did so well in them.

Eugene always commented positively about K.O.'s cleaning capabilities during his performance reviews. It was always scored the highest in his reports, next to K.O.'s positive attitude, which certainly made him a delight around customers that weren't going out of their way by being as obnoxious or aggressive as they can. There was a passing comment from K.O. one time that suggested Eugene graded all of his employees differently. Enid's performance reviews always seemed to mention her attitude towards customers as aggressive…and how she needed to keep up the good work. Apparently there was an incident with a customer bullying her over something that wasn't her fault when she first started out. Carol was of the opinion of only saving the aggressive behavior for the bullies instead of everyone that came in who wasn't her friend or someone she respected.

Rad was reviewed based on how he applied his abilities, and more importantly, his loyalty to his coworkers. Sometimes, Carol forgot that those three weren't related, with how close they had become since Season One. Well, not just them…

One time, just after Boxman Jr.'s attack on the Plaza, Eugene found an excuse to visit Carol and K.O.'s reviews had come up in the conversation. One thing that kept changing was K.O.'s scoring in defending the Plaza. From Good Hustle to Mediocre to Getting Better to Great Hustle. Even if it had only been a few months at best, Carol felt as if years had passed since K.O. started working at the Bodega. He'd come such a long way since then.

"He's so thorough with his cleaning," Eugene had said gruffly, but Carol could sense the pride in his voice. "Rad and Enid could learn a thing or two from him. Give it a few years and he'll get the store shining and chrome like me. I never expected a 6-11 year old to be that good at cleaning, to be honest."

Carol smiled. "Aw, shucks, Gene. He learned all that from a pro."

Eugene's face flushed. "Uh…I mean…he-he's g-g-good and all..b-but no one could clean better than you could…"

"Uh…thanks…?"

Alarm bells were ringing in in Eugene's head when he realized what he was implying to his friend. "What I…what I meant was that…you…uh…are a good…teacher! Yes! A good teacher! And no one gets good at something on their own without a firm hand and…and…and…"

Carol laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "At ease, you steamed broccoli, you. I get it."

Her hand lingered on his shoulder a tad longer than needed. Carol began to sweat, the summer heat was starting to get to her. She moved her hand to caress Eugene's cheek. He didn't make a sound of protest.

"You know…I never had a chance to thank you for hiring K.O. in the first place. It really meant a lot to me. He's really come out of his shell."

Eugene looked into her eyes intently. "He's a good kid. A great kid."

"I thank Cob every day that he has Rad and Enid and Dendy in his life. And that he has you in it, too."

Eugene's face darkened. His next words were choked. "I'm not Laser…"

"I don't need you to be," Carol whispered.

She stood on her toes and pressed her lips lightly against his. Eugene froze for a moment, before he had a hand lightly brushing through her hair. Then, they took a few steps back, and looked away from one another.

"K.O. and I were gonna watch a movie tonight…" Carol whispered. "I'd be happy if you joined us."

Steam was coming out of Eugene's ears and he could barely speak. "…yeahsureillseeyouthereitsadatebye!"

And then, he was out the door in an instant.

Maybe she ought to share her discovery with Eugene when she went to the Plaza, later. K.O. ought to be there, too. The three of them could check out what he put in the box together as a family.

Just then, there was knocking on her door. Carol checked her phone and sighed.

We need to talk. I have a mission for you. It's an emergency. Foxy.

The third one this week. Foxtail wasn't going to let up, wasn't she? Even after quitting P.O.I.N.T., she seemed to think that Carol was still going to help nowadays. Sure, she stood up to that mob when they were throwing things at Elodie, Greyman and Stormy, but this was a mess that Foxtail made herself. This was something she had to handle herself. Why wasn't she getting the message?

Carol still cared for her old teammate, but there were things she needed to process first. How Foxtail treated Gene all of those years, taking over the Plaza, the stories K.O. told her about what was happening to the students. She willed herself into a level of reasonable calm. She would be firm, but patient. Carol wouldn't let Foxtail pressure her, but she was going to lay down the law if she didn't get the message.

When she answered the door, Venomous was there instead, trying to appear inconspicuous. His posture became tight when he saw her, but thankfully not as aggressive as last time they talked.

"Venomous." Carol stood in the doorway with her arms crossed. "Do you need something?"

"K.O. left his lunch here?"

"WHAT?!" Carol scrambled to check the fridge. Her son's lunch box was sitting right there with a sticky note saying K.O.: Don't forget this. Love, Mommy. "I knew we forgot something!"

Venomous stuck his head through the doorway. "Carol?"

Carol ignored him and grabbed the lunch box. "I better get this to him before anyone notices."

"Carol?"

"Thanks for letting me know, Venomous, we'll finish this chat later!"

"What's with the box?"

Carol stopped. "Huh?"

"The box," Venomous repeated, pointing to the table.

Carol's cheeks turned red. "That's none of your beeswax."

"Is it like what Boxy has in his drawers…?"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Carol's voice went up an octave as her face turned a darker shade of red. "WHAT KIND OF MOTHER WOULD LEAVE SOMETHING THAT INAPPROPRIATE NEAR SMALL CHILDREN AND - "

"…always has spare parts lying around in his room for some reason. Just loves to tinker with his hands, I guess. What were you saying, Carol?"

"What." Carol paled. "Uh…it's…it's not important."

Venomous was stepping into the house and already digging into the box.

"Hey! I was gonna open that later!"

"What's this thing?" Venomous pulled out an old toy tape recorder. He settled it down, while Carol was still reeling in shock, and pressed the play button.

"Hi everybody, it's me, K.O. And today, I'm gonna show you what my mommy's been up to! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy, say something!"

"Something."

"I…remember that…" Carol stepped closer. Venomous was transfixed, listening to his son's toddler voice from long ago. They both listened to Carol's joke, K.O.'s tantrum, and both got lost in their thoughts. Of what had happened and what might have been.

Author's Note: Soooo...this chapter was gonna be a bit longer, but it's already been long enough since the last update. I'll get the next part worked on ASAP. So in the meantime, thanks for reading and don't forget to review! Also, I hope you enjoyed the Muppets shout out last chapter too.