A/N: So Chris and Martin work for an agency, huh? It's a secret agency thingy that kills people. I wonder how that will go down...
Disclaimer: I do not own Wild Kratts, QQQQQQQ
"Koki, will you straighten your hair?" Aviva knocked on the door to her best friend's room.
Aviva had decided to wear a neon purple ombre maxi dress. It was white for the bodice and the start of the skirt. It gradually grew to a vibrant purple at hem. The whole dress was held up with thin spaghetti straps, a perfect dress for this scorching July. Her hair was fairly straight - Aviva decided to pull off the natural look for tonight - and it spilled down to the middle of her back. Her hair was still a bit damp, but it would dry in half an hour.
"Koki? Do you need help?" Aviva called again.
Nothing.
"Koki?" Aviva knocked again, becoming worried.
Losing all patience and replacing it with growing concerned, she opened the white door to Koki's room. To Aviva's shock, Koki had her face buried in the plush bed, crying. Her phone was glowing on the sheets in front of her. She looked like a crying Disney princess, in that floor length chiton dress. It was a dark pink, but not quite magenta. The seemingly intricate folds spilled onto the bed.
"Koki? What happened?" Aviva gently held the shaking shoulders of her dear friend.
Simply shaking her head, Koki could only reply by sobbing louder. Aviva quickly looked to the bed, seeing the phone glowing white. With a newfound desperation for answers, she picked up the glittering neon red with the equally shimmering black bow cased phone up and read the article it was on.
LOCAL MAN FOUND STABBED TO DEATH BY AAAA
Police were notified by family members when 43 year old Raymond Bambrick was not answering phone calls and not answering the door. When police attempted to see if anybody was home, the door was not opened. After successfully forcing the door open, they found Bambrick upstairs in his bedroom tied to a wooden chair with two knife marks to the chest and neck. His body was found with a card from the notorious Animal Abuse Assassination Agency and no obvious evidence. 7 dogs in kennels were downstairs in what the police assume to be the laundry room. 3 dogs were found malnourished and dehydrated, and one dog was already dead. The other four dogs had bruises and various injuries. Bambrick has served jail time for repeated accounts of animal abuse and domestic violence against his then-wife, Lindsey Thomson.
Police are asking neighbors for suspicious activity in the area, to which they reported none, minus a suspicious black van with no license plate, thinking it was a type of moving truck or other law enforcement vehicle. Bambrick has 3 children taken under his ex-wife's custody, though they visit occasionally. Bambrick's body was found around one hour ago, suspected to have been dead for around two hours.
Stunned, Aviva turned off the phone and set it on a white nightstand to the left of the white plush bed.
"W-who was he?" Aviva sat on the bed next to her grieving friend.
"My uncle!" Koki lifted her head. "The worst part is, abuse runs in the family!"
"Koki?! Were you ever - "
"No, not me, never. I was the youngest in my family, but I have seen it! We bought pets for that reason! To escape our parents fighting! But my dad, he -"
"Say no more, Koki. Are you worried the AAAA will get your father?" Aviva helped her friend up, who feebly nodded.
"I don't know what to do!" Koki wailed.
"First off, wipe those tears away! There's millions of people in the U.S. who do the same. What are the odds of it being your father?" Aviva tried to point out.
"But it's bound to happen!" Koki walked out, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand.
"Besides, you can't let the Kratt bros know about this! You know how they are about animals!" Aviva ran to the doorway and called.
"Do you think they are part of it?!" Koki shouted over the running faucet down the hall.
"Them? No! Martin couldn't hurt a fly!" Aviva giggled.
"I guess, that's true!" Aviva heard a hint of a laugh in Koki's voice.
"Anyway, will you straighten your hair?" Aviva stepped out into the compacted hallway.
Koki stomped out of the bathroom and grabbed her friend's wrist adorned with a peridot tennis bracelet, smile wide.
"C'mon, you!" Koki laughed.
"What do you think?" Martin ran into Chris' room with a ridiculous blue and black feather top hat, wearing a blue tank top, black basketball shorts, and ankle socks.
Chris was busy searching the closet for an outfit. Who knew clothes were so complicated? Girls made it look easy!
"Hmm?" Chris turned his head to face his older brother of four years.
"Oh, fine, I'll run by again," Martin walked away.
Chris rolled his eyes as he heard his brother's pounding footsteps against the hardwood floor grow loud. Martin threw his arms open with a smile on his facing, yelling,"Ta-daaa!" as he slid into the open doorway. Unluckily for Martin, he had very little friction, and as Newton's first law of motion states, an object in motion tends to stay in motion. Martin ending up sliding to the other end of the hall and nearly knocking down a porcelain vase with blue and green hydrangeas on a small table sitting at the wall.
For a 26 year old, Martin sure didn't act like him.
"You okay, bro?" Chris stuck his head out the door.
He saw Martin on his back with the vase of flowers perfectly of his stomach. Chris covered his mouth with his hand to keep from laughing too loud.
"Nice one," Chris chuckled. "Now, c'mon. We better get ready for a date before the association's going to call us about our recent attack."
"Oh, great. The police found out already, didn't they," Martin groaned, taking the vase off, setting it back in its original place, and standing up.
"It's all over the news," Chris dug his hand into his shorts' pocket and pulled out his turtle design cased phone. "Read it."
Martin quickly scanned the article glowing on the phone.
"Bambrick..." Martin muttered.
"Yeah, I noticed that, too," Chris pulled the phone away. "Do you think - "
"Probably," Martin shrugged. "How many other people do you know named Bambrick?"
Chris took one last look at his phone and shook his head.
"I wonder how she's - " Chris was cut off by a ping! from his phone.
Martin saw his younger brother's face grow solemn.
"The guy was related to Koki," Chris shoved the phone back into Martin's face again.
In the chat with Aviva Chris had, Martin automatically read the messages from their previous conversation, but then read the most recent message.
Did you hear? Koki's uncle was killed by that AAAA.
"Oo, say,'No, I didn't,' or,'Really?'" Martin suggested.
Chris began typing almost immediately. Chris showed the message he had typed to Martin.
Really? Man, I didn't know! Send her our regards. Does she need time to cool down?
The two brothers had their heads in Chris' phone, black with green lines running across it. Aviva's reply came a few seconds later.
No. Plans are the same! See you tonight!
"I guess that's enough of that," Martin sighed.
"Take that hat off! Date's in two hours!" Chris snatched the feathered hat off his brother's head.
"Well, what are we going to wear?" Martin ran into his room. "Suits? Blazers?"
"No, I'm thinking, something casual, but could pull off as formal..." Chris pondered. "Uh...yeah, blazers."
"Wanna wear our association blazers?" Martin pulled out the black wool blazer.
"Uh, no," Chris shook his head. "It's itchy, and it's July."
"Yeah, but we wear it everyday," Martin pointed out.
"This date is not part of our job," Chris rolled his eyes, deciding to organize some essays for college as a major in bio-engineer and zoologist.
"Okay, okay. I have a blue blazer somewhere..." Martin disappeared back to his room. "Look for a green one!"
"You know me, Martin!" Chris shouted. "Of course I have a green blazer!"
'I just need to find it, that's all...' Chris thought with a smile as he began to rummage through his closet. 'I want to see what Aviva's wearing tonight...'
"Chris!" Martin shouted from his closet. "What should we wear beneath our blazers?!"
"Uhh...how about just a t-shirt? White or black, your pick!" Chris replied.
"Well, which says...well, what you said? The casual but formal look?" Martin, in his closet, held up a white cotton t-shirt and black one in each of his hands.
"Eh, black. It looks more sophisticated, I guess," Chris began to dig around for a black t-shirt like an aardvark.
All the black shirts in the Association were kept in the Headquarters' Closet. Everything was kept there. A realization hit Chris. Of course, he didn't put t-shirts in the closet; he put them in the drawers! Chris ran to the glossy wooden drawers and opened the third drawer from the bottom, revealing rows of neatly folded assorted color t-shirts.
'I knew it all along,' Chris chuckled to himself. 'This date is really wearing me down.'
"Jeans or dress pants, Chris?" Martin called again.
"Jeans," Chris replied. "Who's going to take the shower first?"
"Uhh..." Martin dragged on from the other room. "Rock, Paper, Scissors?"
"Okay, one...two...three...shoot!" Chris shouted from his room, laughing.
"Rock!" Martin shouted.
"Paper!" Chris smiled, wondering how his older bro fell for that trick again.
"Oh, you got me!" Martin groaned. "How'd you - hey, wait a minute!"
"It just feels too easy, sometimes, Martin," Chris laughed as he made his way to the bathroom.