As the morning came, the streaming at the sandbags had grown into a shallow river as it steadily moved down the canal and towards the Fireplace. Inside, Bernie was struggling with making kol nuts while Ember assisted with a customer with getting something on a high shelf using a ladder.

"Where's Theo?", Bernie asked as he paused from his task to take a few deep breaths.

"I don't know Dad.", Ember answered him, "Maybe he had to run an errand or something."

She then turned to the customer before they said something in Firish and finished with, "I'll take that one."

"Another one?", Ember asked.

The customer nodded and spoke another Firish word before saying, "Please."

As Ember reached for a bottle on the top shelf, a rumbling came from the walls as they shook slightly. Then leaks started forming as water began gushing through as drywall fell away to reveal more leaks and one was dangerously close to the Blue Flame. Bernie instantly hopped to his feet and started toward the Blue Flame eager to save it.

"No!", Ember cried as she climbed down from the ladder.

"The water is back!", Bernie hollered.

Luckily, Theo's system held off most of the leaks from the roof which helped a great deal as Ember and Bernie pushed the flame to safety. Bernie coughed a few times while they were which worried Ember as she turned to the door.

"Theo, where are you?", she thought.

Ember began welding the leak shut just as the door opened.

"Ember Lumen?", a voice called from the door, "Delivery for Ember Lumen?"

Ember turned to see Theo near the door with several vases of flowers and even from across the room, she noticed a couple of eyes in one of the vases' water. Cinder was nearby and had gotten to Theo first.

"Flowers for Ember?", she asked in a giddy voice.

Theo looked nervous as Ember finished welding the pipe she was working on.

"Mrs. Lumen, I really think that-"

Ember then hurried over and started pushing Theo towards the basement.

"Oh, excuse me.", she said trying to hide her nervousness, "Hee-hee, these are beautiful."

"Just let me leave these in the basement.", Theo added quickly.

Once they were both in the basement and set the vases on the floor, Ember looked toward the one with Wade's eyes.

"What are you doing here?", she whispered.

Wade popped his head out of a vase.

"I got bad news.", he said as he started pouring water from the other vases onto himself allowing him to fully form, "The sandbags didn't hold."

"Uh, obviously!", Ember stated.

Theo looked a bit nervous.

"And Ember. . .about that city crew?"

Ember looked a bit worried.

"Wade did get one right?"

"And I also got worse news.", Wade continued as he took some flowers off his head and tossed them to the ground as his yellow shirt and "Inspector" tag formed, "I'd forgotten a tiny detail about the last time I saw that city crew."

/

Theo sighed as he recalled when he had taken Wade to one of his ex-bosses in hope to get some aid, but it didn't go well as the ex-boss firmly told him about a little incident.

"You knocked over three tons of cement duct! Half the work force still hasn't recovered yet!"

Theo and Wade could both recall seeing a bunch of construction workers who were all Water elements still encased in cement excluding their faces so they could still breath but were wearing angry expressions when they looked Wade's way.

"Sir, there has to be something we can do to work this out.", Theo said trying to be diplomatic.

Unfortunately, the ex-boss wouldn't hear it and sent him and Wade off without a second thought. Theo could still see the woe on Wade's face and hoped he could still help. As they neared the shop, Theo stopped him.

"Wade, what are you thinking?"

"I need to tell Ember about the crew.", Wade told him, "She needs to know."

Theo looked understanding.

"Wade, I want to let Ember know too, but if her parents see you and Ember interacting, Mr. Lumen might not take it too well. He's kind of got a grudge against water for the way it made his life hard when he first moved here to Element City back in the day."

Wade looked a bit nervous.

"So, what do you suggest?"

Theo darted his eyes around until he saw a bunch of clear vases near a flower stand when an idea came to mind.

"Wade, can you split yourself into multiple containers?"

"Theo?"

Theo snapped out of his daze as he noticed that Ember was looking his way concerned.

"You okay?", she asked him.

Theo smiled slightly.

"Yeah, just. . .got a little lost in thought."

Wade then got himself together.

"I guess you might say they still have hard feelings.", he said chuckling slightly at his own joke before getting himself together again, "Because they won't help us."

Theo could see it wasn't the news Ember was hoping to hear.

"Wade, Gale's deadline is tomorrow. We need more sandbags."

"Ember, it didn't work before.", Wade reminded her.

"Well, I can't just do nothing.", Ember countered exasperated.

"Ember, we'll solve this.", Theo assured her still trying to keep himself from overreacting himself, "Just. . .don't panic."

Before Ember could talk again, the door to the basement opened rather fast.

"Ember, did you fix the leak?"

Theo turned fast to see Mr. Lumen come down the stairs, but pause as he noticed Wade.

"It's you again!", he said looking angry.

"Who, me?", Wade aske confused as he glanced over his shoulder as if Mr. Lumen was talking to someone else.

Mr. Lumen came down quicker while grabbing a fireplace poker and pointing it at Wade like a rapier.

"You're the guy who started all of this!"

/

Wade yelped as Theo tried to get in front of him to try and put Mr. Lumen at ease. He wanted to explain to him, but Ember's voice beat him to it.

"No Dad! Different guy. Not all Water looks alike."

Bernie noticed Wade's badge and Theo felt a bit more tense.

"You're a city inspector?"

Wade glanced down busted. But before he could admit it, Ember piped up again.

"No!", she blurted out turning to Wade, "Right?"

Theo saw she had an expression asking Wade to play along and to Theo's surprise, Wade obliged.

"Right. I'm not an inspector."

He put his hand over his badge, but all his hand did was magnified the word "Inspector". Theo flinched as Wade tried using his other arm to cover it, but it only made the word "Inspector" bigger. Theo could see that Mr. Lumen wasn't buying it by the way he kept staring at it.

"You are an inspector.", he said still holding his fireplace poker at Wade, "Why are you poking around? Is this because of the water leak?"

Theo felt like he should confess, but Ember's voice beat him before he did so.

"No! Not because of water in any way. He's a different inspector.", she told Mr. Lumen before turning to Wade again, "Right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a . . .", said Wade fumbling to find the right words, "I'm a . . . food inspector. I've come to inspect your food."

As Wade tried to look official and stand tall, but Theo could tell that Mr. Lumen wasn't buying that either by the way he looked at Wade suspiciously.

"I think he's lying through his feet."

"I think you mean his teeth.", Theo cautiously corrected.

Bernie then huffed.

"Whatever!", he fumed before turning towards the stairs without taking his eyes off Wade and ushering with the fireplace poker, "Food is upstairs. Come."

As Wade followed with Theo and Ember right behind him, they lowered their voices so they could talk.

"Food inspector?", Ember asked Wade in confusion.

"I panicked.", Wade admitted quietly.

Theo only rolled his eyes.

"This can't end well.", he thought to himself.

Once they were upstairs, Bernie had Theo go off and see if he could clean up some of the leaks going on which Theo did so, but he was able to watch as Wade stood before the counter like someone on trial with Ember and Mr. Lumen behind it.

"You really food inspector?", Bernie asked Wade still suspiciously.

Theo was so glad that Mr. Lumen had put that fireplace poker away before this or else Theo would be really on edge. Wade looked nervous, but then tried not be.

"As far as you know yeah.", he answered.

Theo frowned.

"That's the best he could come up with?", he thought to himself as he finished inspecting his work and sealing leaks, "This can't go well."

/

Bernie then smiled as he reached down and placed a plate of freshly made kol nuts in front of Wade.

"Then inspect this."

Wade gulped as Theo came over. Ember could see there would be trouble too.

"Dad . . .", she started.

Mr. Lumen then shushed her not taking his eyes off Wade and Theo could tell by his smile that he was enjoying this. Wade leaned over and gave a quick sniff before backing off.

"Yep, looks all good to me.", he confirmed.

"No, no, no.", Mr. Lumen insisted, "Inspect with your mouth."

He demonstrated by munching on a couple of the kol nuts and then blew a stream of flame. Wade nervously took a spoon and took a kol nut on it before blowing on it quickly a couple times even though Theo doubted it would do anything. As Wade opened his mouth to put the kol nut in his mouth, his nervous smile turned to a look of worry. Theo then noticed that other customers were noticing as Wade finally put the hot thing in his mouth and slipped the spoon out while swallowing it. As the kol nut descended down Wade's clear throat causing bubbles all the way.

"That can't be very comfortable.", Theo thought as he noticed Wade's expression.

Once it seemed Wade had finished swallowing, he yelped and then covered his mouth only for a large bubble formed and lifted to his head where Wade opened his mouth enough to make his whole head round before the bubble got out and burst with Wade's scream near Bernie though Bernie was still wearing his smirk of amusement.

"You see?", Ember said quickly, "He likes it!"

Theo helped keep Wade steady as he coughed a few times letting out puffs of smoke while doing so, but he managed to give a thumbs-up and smile. Bernie then laughed a couple times as he leaned down behind the counter.

"You must try these.", he said as he brought out another bucket and dumped a pile of more kol nuts on Wade's plate which were larger and brighter while giving off more intense heat, "They're straight from Fire Land."

Theo and Ember both looked alarmed.

"Dad, those are too hot.", Ember cautioned.

Theo was able to let Wade stand, but stood by in case anything else happened.

"It's okay.", Wade croaked, "I love hot food."

He took another bite and the moment he swallowed those kol nuts, the bubbling started happening much faster than before and the way Wade was doing so, Theo thought he'd explode at any moment and threw up an electromagnetic field just before Wade did so and was blasted backward while water splashed into Theo's field which saved the counter, but did splash Theo causing him to spark and fizzle enough to disperse the field and allowed the water that was held back to splash the glass barrier below the counter.

"Hey! Watch your water!", Bernie snapped before looking amused, "So, did we pass?"

/

Wade looked up and strained to smile.

"Mm-hmm", he answered, "A-plus."

Theo got himself together as Wade got himself straightened.

"Actually, after the heat dies down, that's really good.", he added as he picked up a mug nearby and scooped up a couple more kol nuts, "If you don't mind . . ."

Wade started adding water to his mug as Theo and Ember both looked alarmed as they knew it wouldn't end well. They both cleared their throats while giving gestures to Wade to stop, but unfortunately Wade didn't get the hint as he took a drink from his mug and smacked his lips.

"See, it's really tasty if you water it down-"

"Water us down?!", Bernie exploded as he flared up, "Water us down?! Where's the camera?!"

Before Theo could react, Bernie snapped a photo of Wade's shocked face before continuing his ranting.

"We will never be watered down by you! Get out!"

Theo could see that he needed to get Wade out fast before things get more heated and hurried Wade to the door with Ember behind them.

"Thanks for the inspection sir. Happy to make the grade."

Outside, Ember looked a bit bewildered, but straightened herself.

"Look, meet me and Theo at the beach and we'll make more sandbags.", she said, "We have to figure out how to fix those doors."

After Wade departed, Theo and Ember returned to the shop to find Bernie still seething.

"Water wants to water us down?!", he grumbled as he wrote on Wade's photo with a red marker, "Then water is no longer allowed in shop!"

He pinned Wade's photo under a "Banned" sign where there were four more photos of Fire people, but Wade's was the first one depicting a Water person.

"He is panned!", Bernie declared.

Ember looked nervous.

"Um . . . banned.", she gently corrected.

"Banned!", Bernie echoed before he started coughing intensely.

Theo and Ember quickly came to his side to comfort him.

"Mr. Lumen, it's okay.", Theo assured.

"It's all going to be okay.", Ember added.

While Bernie managed to get his cough lightened, Theo and Ember looked over at Wade's photo on the "Banned" part of the wall. While Theo could guess that Ember wasn't so sure things would be okay, he was feeling bad when he noticed himself in the side of Wade's photo which blossomed into concern and guilt.

"I have to make this up to Wade.", he thought to himself, "I really hope he doesn't take this to heart or there is going to be really big difficulties."

As he finished his thoughts, he recalled that disturbance back in Subspace. The mere thought sent a shiver down his spine. Whatever it was, he knew it wasn't at all good.