Chapter Seven: Blade's secret.

That night, as instructed, we made their way to the main hanger where, hopefully, we'd get some answers to this Blazin' Blade Mystery. Every other hanger was dark, even Blade's.

A few rattling sounds came from inside the hanger, and a metal slot opened up in the door to reveal a green eye staring out at us.

"AH!" we gasped, jumping in surprise but soon calmed when we realized it was only Maru.

"Password." Maru whispered.

"Password?" Dusty repeated. "You didn't tell us—"

"Shh!" Maru shushed.

"You didn't tell us a password." Dusty whispered.

"It's 'inferno.'" Maru whispered.

"Oh, okay." Dusty nodded. Maru frowned, before we whispered "Inferno."

The slot closed, and Maru pulled open the doors. "Glad you could make it! You like 'inferno'? It was either that or 'maelstrom' but that one's so Nordic."

"Park it over here, Dust Storm!" Dipper called. "Our first date and I saved you a spot!"

Crow giggled as Dusty moved over to Dipper. I curled up in a tight ball near Avalanche while Crow dropped down under Dusty's wing.

Maru moved over to some cans on a shelf and pulled out a video tape. The case read…. "Howard the Truck?" Dusty asked. "You invited us here to watch—"

"Dude, dude, dude, judge not a video by its cover." Drip said.

Maru popped the video out of its case, pushing it into a VCR and everyone directing their attention to the TV before them. I loosened my grip around my legs a bit but remained in a loose ball. After a brief commercial, some sort of disco-genre tune came on. Soon, we could see glimpses of two helicopters flying over an L.A. highway. The title came on: CHoPs. Then, we saw the actors: a familiar AgustaWestland and a Hughes 500D helicopter.

Blazin' Blade Ranger and Nick Loopin' Lopez.

"Hold on." Dusty finally got over his shock. "Blade was a TV star?"

"139 episodes of law-breaking love." Dipper sighed, only to be shushed by the rest of the team.

We sat down to watch the episode. Blade and Nick arrested crooks, rescued trapped vehicles and people from a fire, and ended up scoring a double date by the end of the show. When Blade used his hoist to rescue a vehicle, everyone shouted "Hoist!" and took a sip of their oil, indicating a drinking game. I studied the two actors closely. Nick, he was a bit hot-headed but seemed quite passionate about his job. Blade usually seemed to be the one to calm down the smaller helicopter and stop him from doing something stupid. Blade seemed…..happy. He even had a catchphrase—a catchphrase of all things—that he would say to Nick: "Good move, partner." For once, he wasn't using that sarcastic, sense of humour we knew. He was laughing and smiling and looking so much different than the fire chief of Piston Peak Air Attack. I let my mind wander back to what had happened when we first arrived wondering if the actor, Nick Loopin' Lopez had something to do with it.

"Dudes, let's watch episode 38, 'Super Copter'!" Drip said excitedly.

"'Super Copter'?" Cabbie scoffed. "This show stinks."

"What are you talking about?" Dynamite said incredulously. "This show is the best!"

"I'm with Cabbie." Windlifter agreed.

Dusty rolled forward a bit. "Hey guys? Guys!"

"QUIET!" Avalanche shouted, silencing the commotion.

"Thanks." Dusty nodded. "I just don't get something. If Blade was such a big TV star, what is he doing here?"

"I don't know." Drip admitted.

"WE DON'T KNOW!" Avalanche confirmed.

"It's a mysterious mystery." Drip said.

"It's like my fiancé." Pinecone sighed. "He just vanished! Poof!"

"Whoooooooo!" Drip moaned creepily.

"From my experience, this kind of stuff is classified." Cabbie said.

"BLACK OPS!" Avalanche agreed.

"I heard he went cuckoo on the set." Blackout said.

"You know, probably top secret." Cabbie noted.

"CIA!" Avalanche screamed.

"I'm sure he could tell us."

"YES!"

"But he'd have to kill us."

"I DON'T WANNA DIE!"

"Whatever the reason is, it's his business and we're not asking." Dynamite said.

My thoughts lingered on Nick Loopin' Lopez, and I realized just how close he and Blade seemed to be. Then I realised that I was feeling the tug again. But why?