The moment the critters realized the can was now in the backyard, they all paused and just…looked at it, as if it was expecting it to grow legs or something and hobble its way back over to them. But alas, despite how useful and honestly, terrifying that would be, the can stayed put, resting in the much greener grass.

"Well, there's only one way to grab it." Stella spoke, before immediately starting to step onto the grass. That was however interrupted by a brownish blur that could only belong to RJ.

"Wait, wait, wait!" RJ stammered out. As soon as he caught up to them, he would pant loudly for a moment, before sticking his head through the hedge before immediately coming back out.

"It's trapped." He spoke. "Wow, how could you tell?" Stella asked, clearly sarcastic, noting the lasers around still. RJ didn't seem to pick up on this, and he would immediately put on his trademark cocky smile. "Observations Stella, and also stealing the neighbor's mail." He replied, which led to a few quizzical glances, with the most notable being from Verne, who had recently just joined the group.

"I really hope the humans aren't missing anything." Verne spoke. "Don't worry, if you consider birthday cards and bills not important, which I don't, then I don't see the problem." RJ replied. "If anything, we're doing them a favor. Now then."

RJ would lead the others to his "planning area", which in reality was the tree where he would scout future targets for them. "That is the Henson house, they have a laser system that spans the entire backyard with a six-by-six opening per square."

"That doesn't sound bad, we can just easily crawl under and grab it." Ozzie spoke. "Hold on there Oz, it's also a new system." RJ said. "The emitters also move up and down, to try and detect any smaller animals…or anything crawling underneath."

Ozzie shook his head in response to this. "Don't worry, I'll get it back for you, and then we can continue the heist." RJ spoke. "I'm sure everyone would love that, including the kids…speaking of which where are they?"

The porcupine parents would suddenly look behind them, only to realize their offspring had suddenly vanished. "Kids?!" Lou shouted out, and almost immediately after, a familiar voice sounded out from behind the hedge. "We're here!"

The rest of the critters looked out, and immediately realized where they were.

The kids were now out in the backyard with the can, having somehow dodged the lasers.

"Kids, come back!" Penny shouted out. "Don't forget the can!" Hammy added in. As one of the triplets was about to step out, one of the others stopped them. "Kids, come on." Lou sternly spoke, only to be ignored and the kids to huddle together for a brief moment, before facing the group.

"We're going to win this! We don't even have to move!" Quillo shouted out…or was it Bucky? Again, not a lot of them could tell the difference between them, and it was a miracle that Lou could tell who was who.

"Kids!" Lou shouted out. "Great, this heist has officially gone too far." Verne spoke, to which RJ shook his head. "No, no, it hasn't yet, we're just dealing with a minor setback." He replied. "Look, what if one of us hangs from that tree and just lowers down to grab them?"

"I can do that." Ozzie replied. "If there's one thing I know how to do as good as playing dead, it's hanging by my tail." Heather would simply roll her eyes at this, while Ozzie would get to climbing the nearby tree, with RJ and Heather joining him.

"Alright Ozzie, do your thing." RJ spoke. Ozzie would nod, then wrap his tail around one of the nearby branches and swing down with his hands out.

Yeah, he wasn't even close.

"I think I can…reach them." Ozzie spoke, pretty much ignoring the fact he was a good ten feet off the ground. RJ and Heather would just give each other a bemused look in response. "Heather, in my pack, there's a fishing pole, can you grab it quickly?" RJ asked, and Heather a bit too quickly went to go and grab it.

Moments later, Heather returned with the little fishing pole, and gave it to RJ. "Ozzie, new plan, I'm going to dangle you from this." RJ spoke, with Ozzie giving him a confused look. "Is that even going to hold me?" He asked. "Yeah, it will, don't worry." RJ spoke. "It can hold both Lou and Penny, I'm sure it'll hold you!"

"Alright, I'm trusting you." Ozzie replied. "Based on our previous experiences, horrible decision, but it'll get the kids out hopefully." RJ replied, and Ozzie would wrap his tail around the plastic hook. RJ would start to lower him down, getting closer and closer, racing against the other hook dangling down-

Wait, other hook?

Both Heather and RJ would look to their left to see a very determined Hammy with another hook, lowering it down just as fast. "Hammy, what are you doing?!" Heather shouted. "Can!" Hammy replied, and almost as quick as lighting, the hook passed Ozzie and would hook the can, before immediately going back up.

Unfortunately for Hammy, Heather wanted that can still, and she would try to grab the pole away from him. "Give me the pole, Hammy!" Heather shouted. "Never!" Hammy shouted back. "Heather! Hamster! Be careful-"

It was too late however, as the two would lift together, and sent the can flying all the way onto the roof of the house. The two were just dumbstruck there, and just stood there both holding the pole while just staring at the can wide eyed. That was only until RJ broke them out of their stupor.

"Well, good news, the can is out of the yard, and the bad news…"

RJ would hold up both his paws, revealing the lack of a certain pole that had been attached to a certain marsupial father. The two would look down to see Ozzie laying flat on his face, with the triplets surrounding him.

"So…we need to get the can, and Ozzie and the…" RJ said, and noticed that now the triplets were slipping under the lasers, leaving Ozzie all alone, still face down. Poor Ozzie.

"Well, we just need to get Ozzie and the can." RJ replied. "We got it!" Lou called out. "We've always wanted to try this catapult out that we got from that medieval fair!"

"Why did we even go there in the first place?" Verne asked. "Hammy's birthday, remember?" RJ replied. "Oh yeah." Verne spoke, and shivered, clearly having flashbacks when a particularly sick guest decided to use his shell as a trashcan.

"Alright, here we go!" Lou shouted out. "Stella, can you fire it?" Penny asked. Stella would just roll her eyes. "Porcupine in the hole!" She shouted, before triggering it.

…and the porcupines didn't even make it that far. In fact, they landed right next to Ozzie.

"I'm goin' guess that they didn't make it." Stella said, and she would then peek through the hedge to see.

"Yep, I was right." Well, they were back to the original problem, sort of, except now the triplets have been replaced by their parents, who were unfortunate enough to land on their backs, leaving them stuck. RJ looked around for a bit

"Hey, Heather, think you can hook it?" RJ asked Heather. Heather's eyes went wide, and she immediately started to cast the line, only to immediately bonk RJ on the head. "Ah, Heather!" RJ exclaimed. "Sorry!" Heather replied, placing her hands over her face, while clearly forgetting she was still holding the pole, causing it to hit her too. Heather would barely hold onto the pole, while grumbling in pain.

Meanwhile, RJ couldn't help but laugh at the sheer hilarity. Just how fast everything occurred, from Heather and Hammy fighting over the pole, to Ozzie falling, to the porcupines getting stuck as well, to Heather and him getting hit with the pole. It was just perfect.

That only caused Heather to laugh as well…and mentally tell herself she was so happy that Ozzie wasn't seeing this.

"Alright Heather, cast again." RJ spoke. Heather would nod her head, and started to cast once more, this time with RJ out of the way.

The first thing she managed to hook was the gutter of the roof, and before RJ told her to hold on, as maybe it could be crossed, she pulled back, resulting in nearly the entire gutter being ripped off.

The only thought RJ had was just…don't make her mad.

"Oh." Was Heather's only response. The rest of the critters just stared in complete awe, except for Ozzie, who managed to get up in time to see the gutter fall and spook himself into playing dead. This day just got better and better. Honestly, he did not expect this simple game to get out of hand. He just wanted to have some fun with his family, and now it devolved into a series of bad events.

RJ was so deep in thought that he failed to realize that Heather had started swinging the rod more and more, and had now landed a plastic flamingo, a bird house, a grill, and some of the fake grass on the roof.

Yup, don't make her mad.

He was eventually brought out of his thoughts when a shout from the reptile in Verne let out a shock of surprise, and his shell landed on the roof.

"Heather, you hooked my shell!" Verne shouted. "I kind of need that!" Heather would just look away sheepishly. "Sorry Verne!" She replied, her voice clearly showing regret. RJ would just pat her on the back. "Don't worry Heather, I'll grab it, then we'll grab Lou, Penny, and Ozzie." RJ spoke. "Alright RJ." She replied, having a small twinkle in her eye as he spoke to her.

RJ would then take the rod and cast it, managing to catch it on the gutter where it wasn't torn off.

"Alright, now watch a master at work." RJ spoke, with his trademark grin, before stretching a bit, and taking his first step on the make ship tightrope.

Honestly, while he did tend to talk himself up (annoyingly to some), he did have his limits. For example, he could get frustrated when things don't work, like that one vending machine. He also had his fears. Of course, he was terrified of the Sniffer and Vincent, for pretty obvious reasons.

He also didn't like heights.

The moment RJ stepped onto the small string, he instinctively looked down, and his head began to spin. Falling into those lasers could be the death of him, and if the lasers didn't kill him, the fall would. It was at least instant, he thought.

"RJ, are you going or not?" Stella asked, and RJ could already imagine her impatiently tapping her paw and her hands on her sides. RJ took a deep breath and started to cautiously inch his way towards the rooftop.

It was absolutely nerve-wracking, and the fact that the only thing separating him from the air and the ground was a piece of string that had already managed to pull nearly the entire gutter off the roof. He had to think of something to avoid panicking, otherwise he would not only die, but now everyone would know he hated heights. He could think of something, he was RJ for crying out loud.

And then he started thinking about that one night. Everyone was around the TV, Verne was next to him watching the show, Hammy was barely able to sit still through the commercials, Stella and Tiger were barely paying attention, Ozzie was calmly watching, Heather was stealing a few glances at him that oddly showed a twinkle of sorts in her eye, and the porcupine family were barely able to keep the kids from changing the channel.

That was his family, and he was so happy to have them.

"RJ, the can!"

"Not the can, the shell!"

Like a rude awakening, RJ snapped out of his stupor only to realize he had managed to cross the tightrope, and now was on the roof. Looks like his thoughts worked. He was already thanking whatever he believed in for family, and if they existed, he asked them to please strike him down gently for thinking of something so corny.

Taking a moment, RJ would grab first the shell, then the can, and like the absolute genius he was, he put the can inside the shell. Despite the fact he was a whole yard away from the others, he could hear Verne groan in annoyance at his genius, there was a reason why he was good at heists, and it was also the reason why he didn't participate.

That was until he started making his way back and tripped over a roof tile.

He barely managed to grab the shell at the last moment, much to Verne's relief, but unfortunately for the can, it slipped out of the shell and tumbled off the roof. RJ, in a sheer panic, scrambled over to the edge where it fell, and immediately his heart sank.

The can had fallen into a nearby trash can, and the garbage man had just arrived.

He could only watch as the garbage man picked up the bag with the can in it, put it in the back of the truck, and drive off.

This heist had just gotten far more complicated.

Welp, things have gone from bad to worse, as now Lou, Penny, and Ozzie are out of commission for the time being, Heather committed property damage, and RJ has lost the can.

Can things get any more chaotic?

Yes. Yes they can.