I've been trying to figure out how to get people to leave more reviews, but unfortunately, "fave, follow, and review" doesn't have the same oomph that YouTube's "Like, comment, and subscribe" has. It's a good thing we don't rely on an algorithm haha.

-X-

Inside of the Gesellschaft's vehicle bay, Tron gave the contents of a particular metal storage bin one more thorough check. Inside of it were the soon-to-be replacement parts for the Flutter's engine, and she wanted to make sure that they delivered all of the promised inventory as it needed to be. Satisfied with its status, she nodded her head as she closed the bin and called out to the Servbots inside of a Drache. "It's ready, so let's move out."

"Roger!" The door to the Drache opened for her to enter, and she did so while the three Servbots inside got the machine running. As the small ship began to float up, it hovered right over the storage bin and activated the magnet attached to it's hull. With a small hum, the bin became locked in place against the magnet. One of the Servbots pushed a button inside the Drache, causing the Gesellschaft's bay doors to open.

The Drache slowly exited the mothership, navigating the caves that surrounded it without any complications. In mere moments the Drache made it to the open air, leaving behind the island that the Gesellschaft had made its temporary home. They couldn't risk people getting suspicious of the Gesellschaft on Jekyll Island, so they'd been lucky to find a good hiding space for it on a neighboring island so close.

Within minutes they were over the mainland, and a minute after that they were hovering just over the Flutter. Ever so slowly they lowered their altitude until they heard the storage bin make contact with the top of the ship, then they deactivated the magnet. The supplies now dropped, the door to the Drache opened so that the three Servbots could disembark. Megaman had already opened the upper hatch to greet them as the Drache pulled away under Tron's control.

Setting her ship down on the ground, Tron made her way up the Flutter's ladder and let herself in. Inside, the Servbots and Megaman had already begun bringing the bags of parts down the ladder that led to the engine room, where Roll awaited them. Opting to stay out of their way, Tron grabbed a bottle of water from the micro-fridge and sat on the sofa so she could admire the living room. She hadn't lied when she called the Flutter's interior cute; it felt very homey, and Tron could easily see herself piloting a ship like it if her family wasn't so large.

Just maybe with a few more guns equipped to its hull.

A few minutes later, Megaman appeared and sat on the other available couch. "Thanks again for bringing this stuff, Tron. It means a lot to us."

She shook her head with a friendly smile. "It's not a problem, honest. I'd be a goner if you hadn't protected me, so just take this as a reward, okay?"

"Okay, if you say so." He still seemed uncomfortable with it, but dropped the topic. "Do you guys have any plans besides your ship repairs this weekend?"

"Oh, we have a project we're working on," she replied vaguely. "How about you, Megaman?"

"Taking it easy for today, at least. Ah, did your Servbots manage to find the cookbook at a store yet?"

"We haven't had time to look-" Inspiration struck her right then. "-but you and I can do that together now if you'd like to. It's not like Roll will need us with the Servbots helping her with the fixes."

"Sure," he answered with an earnest smile. Tron tried to ignore how that look of his made her feel inside. "Let's just tell them what we're doing first."

"Yep." Together they went to the entrance of the engine room, where three of her precious children were standing at attention in case Roll needed them. Roll herself was currently only visible from the legs down on account of her being under the engine itself. "Hey, Megaman and I are headed out to look for a cookbook. You three be good and listen to whatever she tells you to do, okay?"

"Yes ma'am!" The Servbots all gave her a wave goodbye, and Roll mimicked the motion with her right foot. Chuckling to themselves, they exited the Flutter and began the trip to the island's only bookstore. They were in no particular hurry, so they pace they set was fairly leisurely.

While they walked, Tron decided to ask Megaman about Suede. "So how come you knew who Suede was the moment you heard his voice yesterday?"

"Ah, that?" Megaman scratched his cheek, but it wasn't out of embarrassment. He seemed almost… frustrated? "I answered a newspaper ad, worked for him for two days. And, well…"

Megaman slid his backpack off and reached in, grabbed something, and pulled it out for her to take. "This was my pay."

Tron took it from him, the weight of it telling the story before she even opened it. "...that's it?"

"That's it, besides the lint and receipts that were there."

"Yeah, no, I think I'd kill him if I were you." Tron stopped walking and posed like she was using the bag like baseball bat. "You know what you should do? When you see him again-"

She swung the bag of pocket change with all her might. "- smack him across the face with it! The guy's a thief and a jerk, so I'd say he's asking for it!"

Megaman started to laugh, and not just a little giggle; he was covering his mouth with the back of his right hand to try and hold it back, but the laughs were coming just the same. "Wai- what, you want me to just choose violence?"

"Well why not?" She began to grin as she pulled him into her mental pace. "I don't mean be some monster out for blood, but if the chance comes, make him feel it! 'Pow! And that's for the bank! Pow, and that's for ripping me off!'"

The laughs came harder, and Tron felt pretty proud of herself for it. It was all about planting the seeds, the idea, of fighting Suede in Megaman's mind; and if she had her way, maybe even outright hunting him down. Still, Megaman and his family were "good people," so she couldn't try to appeal to his anger too hard. She wrapped up the topic with, "Just give what you can do about the guy some thought, alright? For now, though, let's go find ourselves a book."

A little while later, they found the bookstore and were browsing the Lifestyle section, but initial results were less than ideal. "Why are there more books about furniture than cooking?!"

"I guess because lawn chairs are a part of lifestyles, too?" Megaman shrugged as his fingers continued running across the books' spines. "Maybe we'll have to ask the clerk if they have any of the volumes."

"I guess, because this thing's so disorganized! It's not in order by title or authors at all." Tron shoved the book Delightfully Devilish Desserts of the Desert back where she found it, half-marching to the front desk with Megaman in tow.

The clerk was an older woman, though not a complete granny. Her eyebrow went up just a little as she took in the two young customers approaching her. "Yes, is there something I can help you with?"

Tron mumbled under her breath. "Yeah, organize your crap-"

Megaman lightly touched her shoulder, gently nudging the frustrated Bonne to stand to the side so he could talk instead. "Yes, sorry, but do you have any volumes of the Comfort Cooking books? We couldn't find any on the shelves."

"Comfort Cooking? I know we haven't ordered any new copies, but…" The woman reached low under her desk, bringing out a notebook with lots of paper tabs sticking out of it. "Let me look over our hold list."

Both teens stood still as the clerk flipped through the veritable tome, the pages flipping with heavy thuds as she went section by tabbed section. Settling on an orange page, her left pointer finger traced some words. "Ah yes, here's what I was looking for. We had one copy put on hold quite some time ago, but the customer who asked for it never came. It's long past the time limit, so I'll go fetch it if you kids will be patient for a moment."

"Please, and thank you." Megaman and Tron both stood by while the clerk disappeared into a room behind her. They could hear some thumps as boxes were pushed around, before fading into silence a moment later. Tron took a breath as she realized she was showing her impatience on her face, bringing her emotions back under control.

Gotta keep my cool about things while I get Megaman on our side, she thought. Just don't take too long, Old lady.

Then a minute more passed, and her foot began to tap. She was a moment away from calling out, but then they heard the clerk call out, "Found it!"

The woman returned fairly quickly after that, and Tron took the high road by not pointing out all the dust covering her shoulders now. "Don't know why my husband put it so high up, but anyways, here you go."

'Comfort Cooking: Volume 3'

Tron's eyebrow twitched as she looked it over. "So much for having the full set between us, Megaman."

He chuckled softly. "Oh well. There'll still be stuff to go over just with what we have."

"Well yeah, but it's gonna bug me so much missing the second volume…"

Tron pulled out her wallet and paid for the book, with the clerk putting it into a paper bag. Accepting said bag, she turned on her heel and left the bookstore, only realizing when she was outside that Megaman hadn't followed her. Spinning around, she saw the clerk had pulled Megaman aside for a moment, so she crossed her arms and waited for him to come out. When he finally did so, she noticed his cheeks were a little pink. "What happened there, Megaman?"

"Uh, nothing!" His response was a little too quick. "Although she wanted me to tell you that you should try having a bit more patience; or else, and I'm quoting her here, 'old people like me will go out of our way to do things slowly just to mess with you.'"

"That little-!" She flexed her fingers as she stopped herself. Control, Tron, keep cool.

She settled for saying, "Okay, fine, I'll try to not get agitated over stuff. Should we go back to the Flutter now?"

"Sure, let's go."

-X-

When they got to the ship, they found Roll sitting in the living room with the Servbots. All four of them had mugs with what smelled like hot cocoa, and they were watching the TV as it ran a commercial at that moment. "Hey guys," said Megaman. "We're back! How's the engine looking now?"

"It's good," answered Roll with a smile. "These three worked hard, and we got the replacements in quickly. All that's left for it is to get the new refractor."

Without a spot to sit, Megaman and Tron took to leaning against the wall as they joined the crew in watching the screen. The commercial ended, and a news anchor came into view. "This is Chuck with your 12 o' clock news broadcast, where you get all of your current news on Jekyll Island. There's been an update in a recent robbery case."

The anchors face was replaced with a video that showed the Riverside Bank's damaged state. "Yesterday afternoon, a pirate in a large machine attacked the Riverside Bank. Fortunately, nothing was successfully stolen, but the damage has left the bank closed until further notice for repairs. The police have now released a sketch of the suspects face."

Next was the very sketch that Megaman had helped them create in the interview. It had been cleaned up with the revision work, and now looked extremely close to how Suede had looked to him. Mentally he congratulated the hard work the sketch artist put in, but he couldn't help but notice that they didn't show the sketch of the driver. Maybe the police figured there wasn't enough information on him? "If any citizens have any clues or witness this man around the island, the police ask that you make a report either by calling the number below on your screen, or by going to the local station in person."

"Well that's good timing," said Tron, causing everyone gathered to turn and look at her. "I was hoping to talk to you guys about a plan, so let's go ahead and get into it if you don't mind."

"Plan?" Megaman glanced at Roll, who seemed to be just as in the dark as he was. "Are you talking about Suede?"

"Yep. So, a little information for you guys." Tron walked around the room, smoothly turning off the TV and placing herself in front of it. "The Bonne family is actually pretty well-armed, to say it plainly. Yes we do digs, but we've also done things like security work, so we understand how pirates tend to work."

She held a finger in the air and displayed a confident smile. "If you guys will work with us, I think we can bring this guy down before he hurts people or manages to steal anything. You-"

Tron then pointed that finger at Megaman. "-are pretty good, but I think we can use our tools to make you stronger. How does that sound?"

"Hmm." He gave it some honest thought. Suede was a destructive pirate, and he'd be doing everybody a favor by helping out. "How are we gonna find him before he does anything? Also, I don't feel comfortable agreeing to this without talking to Gramps first."

"Me, too," followed Roll. "Let's talk to Grandpa, and then we'll get back to you."

Tron nodded sagely. "That's fair, it's not an easy call. Tell you what: if you want to, I can take you all to our mothership tomorrow so you can see the equipment we've got to use. Bring your Gramps, and we'll have a long, sit-down talk. That'll help us all be on the same page. And if it helps…"

Her smile turned a shade darker, or at least that's how it looked to Megaman. "We found out from a friend that there's gonna be a bounty for his arrest soon. Just letting you know."

"Okay," Megaman answered. "Can you come back tomorrow at Noon, then? We'll have Gramps and Data with us, and answer your idea then."

"Sounds like a plan. Come on, you three, let's roll out." All three Servbots hopped to attention, their cups having been emptied while they were talking. "See you guys tomorrow!"

The Bonnes waved goodbye, and in a couple moments only Roll and Megaman were left in the room. The latter let out some air before asking, "So what do you think, Roll?"

"I think it's not a bad idea," she spoke slowly. "But there's a difference between coming across a pirate and going after them on purpose. At least you wouldn't be fighting Suede by yourself, I guess."

"True." He stretched a little as he thought it over. The bounty money, while it would be nice, wasn't as appealing as the peace of mind he'd get from knowing Suede was in jail. Tron had definitely given them something to ponder.

"Ee-eek!"

"Hm?" Megaman and Roll both turned to see Data bouncing into the room. "What's up, Data?"

"Ee-eek!"

Megaman had to stifle a laugh as he interpreted the monkey speech. "Oh, so they forgot about it. Well, hopefully they'll remember to bring the magnet back to pick up the storage bin on the roof tomorrow."

"Hehehe." Roll laughed quietly. "I guess we'd be seeing them tomorrow anyways, then! Did you have fun looking for the cookbook with Tron?"

"Yeah, it was nice."

Suddenly, he recalled the words the bookstore clerk said when she grabbed him before their departure. "Your girlfriend is cute and all that, but she needs to have more patience or old people like me will go out of our way to do things slowly just to mess with her."

He'd sputtered a bit, unable to respond in a smooth manner before simply answering that he'd pass on the message. Remembering the moment had him flushing again, so he opted to change the topic with Roll. "I wonder what Tron meant when she said her tools could make me stronger?"

"I dunno, but maybe I could work with her to make something for you." Roll cupped her chin with her right hand, no doubt imagining the possibilities. "We haven't had the items or money to upgrade your buster or give you another weapon, so this could be a perfect chance to up your game. I definitely won't say no to getting a chance to tinker around."

"Haha, just don't go crazy." Megaman was looking forward to what they'd come up with, especially with the twinkle in Roll's eyes showing how excited she was. Still, it all depended on if they decided to work with the Bonnes to stop Suede.