"Whoever employed the Three Bandits for the job knew how to cover their tracks, which mean we aren't dealing with no amateurs in this matter." Serena completes her sentence while she commits all the sites she visits to her memory.
"Do you think it has any connection with Bell?" Brick alludes when he suddenly envisions the gray steel vault door that was underneath Bell's home.
"Why do you think that? That's if you don't mind me asking?" Serena inquires before she rests her back against the plush love chair.
Her laptop created a buzzed noises from being powered on too long and drained its battery power.
"If you think about it, Bell could be an android that was built for the sole purpose of eliminating Buttercup and her sisters." Brick rationalizes but only produces more holes in his theory.
She settles her chin on top of her hand in order to position the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle.
"So what we know is that Bell is indeed an artificial life that could have been created to eliminate problems that the military deems as a threat. I don't know specifically which military branch is in charge of that but when I return back to base I will figure that out." Serena adjusted his theory with facts that she had gathered from her own account.
"But we can't just rule out the fact that there may be another possible connection with the Three Bandits and Bell." Brick insinuates while she nods her head in agreement with her little brother's point.
Butch mulls over the facts before he develops an epiphany. He reminisced that during Buttercup and Prince's conversation that Bell's name was mentioned a couple of time.
"Do you think they could have boosted her name from someone else, who could have been in their organization?" Butch hints to his siblings.
"It could be possible because Bell wasn't enrolled at Pokey Oaks High until the start of her sophomore year." He backs up his brother's theory with one of his own theory.
"So that would have set her a year after the death of Tia B. Gardenia." She utters after she mentally conjures up a timeline of events.
"Wait a minute...does anyone remember what Tia's middle name was?" Serena abruptly questions as the knowledge from both Brick and Butch's theories become lucid to her.
"The article nor the caption under her name issued her middle name." Butch replies as he shakes his head left and right.
"Do you think that she was apart of the same organization with the Three Bandits, who was under the control of whoever created Bell?" Brick adds another question in to the pot.
"Um…sis," Boomer mutters as he tries to capture his sister's attention when he notes that her cell phone rings. "Not now Boomer, we are on the verge of trying to figure out who killed Tia B. Gardenia."
"Your military cell phone is ringing…" He rewords his sentence.
Once Serena recognizes it is work, they watch her lunge for the cell phone right before the person hangs up on her.
"I will be in. Just give me a couple of minutes to get dress! Do I need to bring the boys with me?" Brick, Boomer and Butch overhear their sister speaks in the receiver of the phone.
"Understood. I will see you in 21:30 hours, sir." Serena confirms before she hangs the phone up. Her sights land on her younger brothers in the living room.
She then slides her cell phone inside her pocket, "You three don't have to come in with me...at least not this time but they claim you three are due for a physical really soon."
"Just be careful...you never know who might have heard what we just talked about." Butch warns his sister.
Serena senses her little brothers' overprotective streak emerges so she leaves it with a, "You know I will."
4444
"So what did you two do that required for you to fly home?" Buttercup poses once she enters inside of their old bedroom.
Bubbles plops down on a set of comfy pillows with her head directly at the window, so she can at least see what happens outside.
"First, we went to a play in the park and then we went to the zoo."
"The zoo is on the opposite side of where we live at! I do recall seeing a couple of signs about a Hamlet play in the park." Blossom divulges to Buttercup, which signals that her story checks out.
Bubbles jolts upward from her seat and directs her wide eyes toward Blossom, "How did you know all of that?"
"I found your laptop on. Apparently, you were signed in on the zoo's website under your username so I figured that you went there today. But I really did find a sign that had a troupe performing the play Hamlet, in the park." She reveals that she checks Bubbbles blue color laptop.
"Did you really forget that Blossom is a pro at hacking computers? Anyway, did he try to force himself on you during your so called date?" Buttercup inquires about what happens on their date. She then rolls herself across the carpet.
"Buttercup!" Bubbles and Blossom proclaim at the exact same time.
"What?! All I did was asked a legitimate question. After all, if he did then I would have to cut Boomer a new one." Buttercup threaten no one in particular, which earned the intended reaction she wanted from Bubbles.
Her facial expression was written with horror as she clasps her hand around her mouth.
"I'm just joking with you Bubbles! Blossom and I approve! Boomer's a sweet kid with a good heart so we don't see any problem with you two dating."
Bubbles glances at Blossom to confirm whether or not they both consent on the idea.
Her small gesture of approval nearly results in tears. She encloses each of her sisters in individual hugs all while she says, "Thank you!"
"I wasn't playing when I said I will cut him a new one…if he hurts you that's all." Buttercup assures her after she witnesses her happiness pause for a brief second.
"Can you stop scaring me for a moment, Buttercup?" Bubbles claims while she rests her hand on her chest after she listens to her convincing promise.
Buttercup erupts in a bout of laughter at her sister's question and nearly falls off of the black ottoman in the process.
"So what about you Blossom, what did you do today?" Bubbles wonders about what she did today. She recognizes totes shopping bags from stores in Townsville mall.
Blossom halts from typing on Bubbles laptop, rotates her head in her sisters' direction, and examines the curious expression not on just Bubbles face but Buttercup's as well.
"I went shopping for supplies for my school project then I got me a couple of miscellaneous things for myself but other than that nope." Blossom replies to Bubbles question.
She made sure to withhold unimportant details as to who she ran in to along the way.
"What about you Buttercup? What did you today?" Blossom directs the question to her raven hair sister.
"I went to the park, played a pick up game of soccer, ate lunch, cooled off by running through a broken hydrant, and went for some pizza. That was pretty much it." Buttercup outlines the events as she counts off on her fingers.
She opts to forgo some other details that she deems was not for them to hear.
Blossom peers at her sisters' while she ponders should she admit to them that she encounters Lucas and Argos at the mall. The thought of the up and coming tournament convinced her to bring it up.
"When I was at the mall, I saw Lucas and Argos from the Three Bandits, but I also ran in to Brick when I was there. It was around the same time too." Blossom includes.
"What!" Buttercup calmly shrieks when she spins around to face her while she balances herself on the ottoman.
"Yeah, I ran in to both of them when I was with Brick. It was sort of the nostalgic feeling that we had back when were in our freshman year. Lucas bullies Argos, I would break it up and take Argos side because he was ill. Lucas and I would argue until one of us ran out of breath." Blossom reminisces on how she use to always end up in an argument with Lucas.
"So how is Argos doing? Does he still look...sickly?" Bubbles inquires with concern lace in her tone. She had crashed on the pile of pillows only this time she sat straight up.
"Not at all! He told me that he had to travel in order to visit the best doctors that could help him. He appears to be doing so much better than before." She delivers the good news. When what feels like relief had washed over her blonde and raven-hair sister.
"That's really good to hear! He did have a big heart. It would have been sad if he would have passed." Bubbles offers good words about Argos.
She stretched out on her back as the pillows flatten beneath her added weight.
"I know what you mean but there's something that's really bugging me though!" Blossom comments, which causes Buttercup to slightly tense up.
She knew Blossom was the observant type so she would have noticed the obvious.
"You know those three are pratically inseparable!" Blossom mutters before she adds, "I wonder where was Prince?"
Buttercup watches as Blossom returns her focus to the laptop that now rests in her lap. She starts to type away and uses the mouse pad.
"I remember we called them the Three Amigos! You'll never see one of them alone unless they had a mission or that they were forced apart." Bubbles comments when she mentions the nickname that the girls give to them.
"That's because when I went to eat pizza, Prince popped up out of nowhere, as if someone told him where I was." Buttercup spills to her sisters while she stares up at the ceiling.
"I think I might know who their little birdie is that told them about where you were. Did Princess approach you at all today?" Blossom asks her sister, who merely shakes her head a yes.
"Then that is our little birdie, she must be working for them now." She finishes her statement after she closes the top of the laptop with her right hand.
"Maybe I should pay her a visit at school and go clip her small little wings off so she can't do her job." Buttercup asserts to her sisters, who almost agrees with her but then something change their minds.
"As much as I dislike Princess, she may help us out in the long run." Blossom opts to convince her sister to let Princess live to see another day.
"Blossom does have a point, she did come in handy when we needed information on the other teams at the martial tournament during our freshman year." Bubbles offers another defense for Princess.
Whenever Buttercup felt out numbered by the majority, she would wear a stubborn expression on her face while she conjured up a way to have others join her side.
"Princess is a money hungry brat! She would investigate any team at the right price even though her ties lead back to us. I just wanted to remind you two of that before she traps you in her web." Buttercup lists the reasons why she does not trust Princess.
She even issues them a fair warning because she knows how they are with their trust, especially who they trust.
Bubbles and Blossom nod their head in agreement and went on to talk about how exciting it would be to head back to the tournament as the reigning champions.
4444
Serena had just arrived at base within the intended time period that she was called in to by her General. She still had enough time to spare.
"Special Officer Shaw reporting to General Malone," Serena discloses her rank and her last name while she was at Present Arms until the high-ranking officer drops his salute first.
"Follow me Special Officer Shaw," The man orders before he about faces and serves as her guide through the base.
The tour to General Malone's office was a rather hectic one. Serena wonders was this just one sole branch or were there multiple branches that operates in the fort along with Gen. Malone's division.
Her answer came in the form of a sign that was written in plain day that it was a sole military branch in the building. Although, it resembled as if up to ten branches had their offices stationed in that fort.
The high-ranking officer draws near a window with a golden plate that displays the general's name, his rank and his division's name.
"Ah Special Officer Shaw, welcome…"
4444
Author's Note:
07.18.16 Major editing revision