The city of Shang Tu contains miles of underground drainage pipes that transport fresh water, remove waste, and run energy from the Kingdom Stone to residents and commercial areas. In the past, a small city was built within these underground tunnels and were used to house the citizens in a safer environment during times of war. As the years went on, the underground city was left forgotten and then besieged by rebel citizens that were abandoned by society. These included criminals, the homeless, a few immigrants, and orphans. These groups would grow in size and form a coexistence for the sake of their survival. They called themselves the Red Scarves.

"Hey! Watch your step new guy" Club shouted as they held Spade back.

"Yeah. You almost tripped our alarm!" Heart explained while still trying to keep her balance with the orb in her sash.

"Well sorrrrry! I wasn't told about any alarms!" said Spade.

"Mmmm" grumbled Diamond with an annoyed expression.

"Come on now. Do you really think we'd just tell you about our security systems BEFORE we'd let you join us?" Heart says while pointing at the set of lasers aimed in their direction. They walk Spade over to a wall. "Our security is primarily traps. Lasers, spikes, and bombs. A true Red Scarf should be able to maneuver around them no problem, but they all can be skipped by entering a pipe in this fake wall."

Heart presses one of the bricks on the wall to reveal a hatch with a pipe they can roll into. Club and Diamond enter the hatch and roll into the pipe. They are soon followed by Heart, who takes extra care when entering so as not to drop or damage the orb in her sash when rolling. As Spade is about to enter, the wall closes shut before him and the alarm is triggered.

"Wha… HEY! What's the big idea!? Spade shouted.

"Sorry Spade. You're not a Red Scarf just yet. Can't just let you roll into our hideout that easy." echoed a voice from behind the fake wall. "And like I said… A TRUE Red Scarf should be able to maneuver around these traps no problem." they teased.

In an instant, every trap leading into the hideout was activated. The lasers began to shoot out a powerful beam of light that only momentarily turned off to cooldown. Spikes started to poke out from the floor, walls, and ceiling in a predictable pattern. And every bomb was now armed and ready to explode by the slightest touch.

"YOU'RE ALL JERKS! Fine. I'll just show you how lame your security system is!" Spade's eyebrows sank downward into a sharp, angry expression as he questioned if all of this was worth the effort.

Club, Diamond, and Heart share a laugh as they wait on Spade to reach the base of the hideout.

"We got him good." Club says between her laughter.

"Yeah. This is payback for all the commotion he caused back at the Dragon Market." Heart tugs at her sash, pulling it up every so often. "What's the deal with this thing? It's like its weight keeps shifting."

"Having some tummy trouble?" Club remarks with a mocking tone. "Oh! You should totally keep it in your sash when we meet up with the Queens!"

"Heh heh heh." Diamond lets out a small laugh.

Heart turns and gives Club and Diamond the most annoyed look she could make. "Never in a million years! They would laugh me out of existence!"

Club makes a sinister smile. "Let's make a bet then. If Spade makes it here unharmed, then you gotta do it!"

"Like that'll happen!" Heart says. "Those traps are expertly placed by yours truly. He'll never make it through with no damage. In fact, he'll be lucky to make it here at all with any health left."

"What's the matter, Heart? Are you scared?" Club teased once again with Diamond making a smug expression toward Heart.

"Aight! You're on!" Heart says.

As if on cue, the entrance to the scarves hideout opens and Spade walks through unharmed.

"Well that was easy. I was all worried about nothin. Y'all really need to rework those traps. Maybe add in something really dangerous, like a flamethrower." He glances over at Heart as he leans back against a wall and brushes his hair in a suave manner. "So what now?"

Club grins from ear to ear as she starts to tease Heart. "OOOOOOO. You gotta do it now."

"Do what?" Spade replied.

"Hmph… Whatever." Heart sighs. "Come on. Let's go meet up with the Queens."

Heart begrudgingly walks past everyone while adjusting her sash. The orb they're carrying is wiggling and shifting around as if trying to make an escape.

"You having trouble holding onto that thing?" Spade said. "You could hand it over to me if you want. I'd be more than happy to help you out."

"Not a chance. I'm holding onto this thing for safe keeping. Just in case you try anything." said Heart.

"Dang. You really don't trust me huh? So much for all that 'We're a team' talk."

"Look. It's not that I don't trust you, Spade. I just want to make sure that we deliver this to the Queens without any problems or accidents."

"Deliver! HAHA! Oh I can't wait to see the look on the Queen's faces when they see you!" Club squeals as she bursts out in a sudden fit of laughter.

They reach a tall tower in the center of the hideout. The main entrance was closed shut with a massive door that could only be opened with a large key. Inside are two spacious platforms that lift to the upper floors.

In the past, this building was used as a temporary home for both the wealthy elite and powerful government officials during the war times. It was in a prime location as you could look over the entire underground city from wall to wall once at the top. The tower was built in a way that segregated the highest and lowest members of society into a literal high and low level. The Red Scarves use this tower exactly as intended since only high ranking members can live there. The ranks of the Red Scarves are modeled after the ranks of playing cards. The number ranks (2 through 10), the face ranks (Jack, Queen, and King), and the leader of the Red Scarves (Ace).

The Suits reach the Queen floor of Red Scarves Tower. The door opens and leads into a wide, circular living space. The center area is a den with a large curved couch and entertainment center. One of the Queens is sitting on the couch watching tv. Behind the couch is a kitchen area where two of the Queens are having a conversation. A dual stairway at both sides leads up to a higher floor where the Queen's bedrooms are located.

"What took you so long?" asked the goat girl on the couch.

"Apologies Thievery. We took extra time to survey the Dragon Market." explained Heart.

Thievery straightens up and reaches for the remote.

"So I take it that the mission was a success then? The new guy got you in like he promised?"

"That and then some." Spade aid as he cut into the conversation. "Name's Spade, soon-to-be member of the Red Scarves. Pleased to meet ya."

Spade extends his open hand towards Thievery. Spade was eye level to her when sitting straight up. She briefly sizes up Spade with a quick glance before standing up and shaking his hand. She was about a decade older than him and naturally she would be taller as well. Without saying a word she made a point as to who ranked over whom.

"You're a bold one. I like that. I'm Thievery Contraband, and I run the Forgery Forge. You can call me Thieve." She shakes Spade's hand and intentionally increases her grip strength. She nearly crushes his hand by the time she lets go.

"So… What you end up stealing little man?" said Thievery with a touch of pure excitement in her voice.

"It'll be better if Heart showed you what we got." Spade said while holding back his laughter.

Heart lets out a sigh as they start to wobble their way towards Thievery. They are immediately met with a puzzled look and a wide eyed stare.

"Noooo… Wait a minute. Heart? Why is your belly so big? What kinda initiation did you have this boy do!?" smirked Thievery while letting out a huge laugh.

"It's not like that. We were at the Dragon Market, and everything was going good until Spade got caught stealing. He put whatever he stole in my sash and I've been carrying it around ever since." explained a very embarrassed Heart.

"When did he do that? Nine months ago!?" asked Thievery

Everyone laughs at Heart. The arctic fur on their face turns bright red.

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" Heart shouts.

Just at that moment, another Queen enters the den area from the kitchen. She spreads her wings and flies over the couch, landing before Thievery and The Suits. This bat girl was dark, intense, and had a stare as sharp as a blade. She was half a decade younger than Thievery and only a head taller than Spade. Even so, her arrival shifted the mood of the room.

"What is going on?" the bat girl said calmly.

"Oh. Hey Killstreak." Thievery said. "Heart was just about to show us what they took from the Dragon Market. I was just having a laugh at her pregnant appearance."

"Pregnant?" Killstreak said while eyeing Heart's sash and the orb carried in it.

"IT'S! NOT! LIKE! THAT!" shouted a now visibly upset Heart. "Spade put this thing in my sash!"

Killstreak's gaze shifts to Spade. In that moment he saw his life flash before his eyes. He knew immediately that she was not the one to play games with and straightened up his act quickly.

"It wasn't for laughs. We needed a way to get out of the Dragon Market undetected and putting the ball thing in Heart's sash was the best move I could think of at the time." Spade explained.

"Uh huh. Yeah. Sure." Heart said. "Well anyway, it got here in one piece…"

The orb that Heart was carrying around breaks. Liquid starts flowing from the cracks of the orb and runs onto the floor beneath Heart.

"Oh no! It was filled with some kinda water? Did I break it?" Heart panicked.

"Your water broke!" Club squealed.

Everyone begins to laugh uncontrollably. Even Killstreak tried to hide her laughter by covering her mouth with her massive wings. Another Queen enters the den with towels after hearing all the commotion. She was a dog girl with sunken eyes and a droopy face. She appeared to be slightly older than Thievery, but not by much. She stood about as tall as Thievery as well.

"Sup y'all." said the dog girl with an unusual calmness in her voice. "I, uh, couldn't help but overhear that Heart got pregnant or something. I, uh, thought I'd bring her these towels. Looks like I, uh, was a bit late tho…"

"IT'S! NOT!" … "You know what, forget it. Put the towels on the floor Dopamine. I'm gonna give birth I guess."

"Good on you Heart. Play along!" Club said excitedly.

Dopamine places the towels on the floor and Heart sits down over top of them. They lift up their sash while pretending to do excessively heavy breathing and screaming, much to everyone else's amusement. As Heart looks down at the remaining bits of the shattered orb falling onto the soft towels, they notice that something else is still lodged within the cloth folds of her sash. What's stranger is that whatever this thing was, it's moving. Everyone can clearly see that there's a living thing wrestling with the folds of silky fabric, and the laughter stops.

"Heart?" Killstreak said in an overly calming voice as if trying not to freak them out. "Slowly remove your sash please."

Heart does as ordered. They place their hands at both ends of the sash and gently pull it off. Everyone gasps at the sight of what appears to be a baby.

"Hold up? No way? It can't be? Is that…? What? How? Wait…! I don't believe it! I…" Spade looks at the baby with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. "I stole… an egg?"

Everyone turns to look at Spade. The room fills with a thick and heavy feeling of tension. Panic starts to settle in.

"SPADE! YOU STOLE A BABY!?" shouted Heart.

"No. Not just any baby. A dragon's baby." Thievery said in total shock.

"A dragon's baby?" Heart mumbled as she stared Spade down with a murderous intent.

"Spade. You were being chased all over the Dragon Market by a hooded figure. The egg you stole. Was it theirs?"

"I didn't know. Honest!" Spade pleaded. "I wouldn't steal someone's egg. I thought it was a relic! Like a small Kingdom Stone!"

A door opens from the upper level where the Queen's bedrooms are.

"What on Avalice is going on down there!" shouted a very upset mouse girl. "Some of us would like to get some sleep around here! IT'S LATE!"

"LOTTO!" Thievery shouted. "Go up to the Ace floor, get Ace Low, and then get your butt down here. We got an emergency!"

Lotto peaks her head between the railing of the stairway leading down toward the den. Her cute face and even cuter pajamas made her appear very young, but she couldn't have been any younger than Killstreak.

"Wait? Is that a baby dragon?" Lotto screams.

"Just hurry up and get him already!" Thievery ordered.

Lotto runs to the platform and lifts up to the Ace level to get Ace Low, the leader of the Red Scarves.

"Spade was it?" said Killstreak in a serious tone. "I'd say my prayers if I were you. I'm almost certain that Ace will order me to kill you because of this."

"Hold on. Let's not do anything too hasty." Spade said nervously. "We can hide the baby. Better yet, I'll return it to the Dragon Market. I'm sure that someone there will look after it right?"

"What's done is done. No going back now." Killstreak said. "I'll let you live until I get the order. In the meantime, make peace with your crew. I'll have a closer look at the baby you brought us."

Spade's expression sinks as the weight of his actions start to take effect. He tries to think of a way out of this, but he knows that he messed things up. Not just for himself, but for his crew, and even for the newly hatched dragon. Killstreaks words repeat in his mind. There is no going back. He walks over to The Suits.

"Hey uh… guys..." Spade struggling to speak.

"Hey dude. For what it's worth, you're cool in my book." Club said with a kind smile. "Maybe they'll let you go?"

"Mmm…" mumbled Diamond as he held his head down.

"Heart?" Spade said while making eye contact.

"Um." Heart struggles to find the right words to say. She stands up and holds the baby in her arms. She passes it over to Dopamine who takes immediate interest in the baby. "I'm disappointed. You screwed up and now we all gotta pay for it in some way. But, you did what you promised you'd do. You kept your word, so I'll keep mine." They place a hand on Spade's shoulder. "Spade. You are a Red Scarf. Even if just for a moment. I'm sorry."

Just then the baby starts to cry softly.

"Awww… She's a cutie." Dopamine said.

"Yeah. Look at her little hands and feet. And her little nose and… uh…" Thievery pauses at a sight that causes her great concern about the health of the baby. "Killstreak. Dopamine. Look at the side of her head. Tell me I'm mistaken but…"

Killstreak takes a close examination of the sides of the baby's head. "No. You're not mistaken, Thieve. She doesn't appear to have ears."

"If she doesn't have any ears, then does that make her deaf?" Dopamine said.

"Poor thing." Thievery cries. "Oh. My heart goes out to this little one."

"Yeah." Dopamine agreed.

Killstreak takes the baby onto her wing and starts to gently rock back and forth to calm her down.

A ping sound echoes throughout the room as the platform returns to the Queen's floor with Lotto. Behind her is a very tall wildcat girl in a yellow jersey that could be mistaken for a dress. She looked to be about the same age as Thievery or Dopamine, but it was hard to compare their ages because of how tall she was. She was very quiet and had a distant, emotionless look in her eyes. Standing to her side and holding himself up with a cane was an elderly rat man in red bed robes. He looked as if he was a hundred years old and could barely walk. The room was silent as they approached. Ace Low looked around the room and could tell that someone didn't belong. He pointed to Spade with his long fingernails.

"You there young boy. Come here." Ace Low said with a cracked voice.

"Yes sir." Spade said with a serious tone of voice.

"Did you manage to get to the Dragon Market?"

"Yes sir."

"Good lad. And what did you steal for us?"

Spade points over to Killstreak, who is still currently holding the baby within her wing.

"Ah… What's this now? A baby dragon?"

"Yes sir."

"YOU took a baby DRAGON? From the DRAGON Market? From under their very noses?"

"Yes sir"

Ace Low runs his fingers through his long white beard. "Hahaha! In all my years on this planet, that has gotten to be the most brilliant initiation into the Red Scarves I have ever seen pulled off. You know our history well, young one."

Everyone in the room looks around in shock to what they just heard.

"You don't mind that I stole a baby dragon?" Spade said surprised.

"Not at all. Those dragons caused a lot of problems for a lot of people. They had no issues breaking apart families and making orphans out of innocent children during the war times." Ace Low stares at the baby in Killstreaks' wing. "This is vengeance for all those orphaned children that would later become Red Scarves. All because of those no-good dragons."

Thievery and Dopamine walk up to Ace Low.

"So uh. Can we keep her?" asked Dopamine.

Ace Low turns head upward to look at the Queens face to face.

"No! No dragon shall ever become a Red Scarf! It goes against everything we stand for!"

"But what about the baby?" Killstreak asks.

"Get rid of it!" Ace Low harshly commands. "Killstreak. You're my top assassin. I trust you know what to do."

"But… But Ace. Sir. She's only a baby." Thievery said.

"Indeed. And it'll grow up and cause us nothing but trouble if we keep it or let it live. Best we do ourselves a favor now and have one less dragon to… cough cough…"

Ace Low started coughing hard. The tall cat girl kneels down and rubs Ace Low's back to get him to stop coughing. The look in her eyes is filled with disgust. She hated that old man with all her being for many reasons, but even so she still couldn't believe the order he gave to Killsteak. This was a new low for their leader.

"Ace?" the tall cat girl says with a sultry tone of voice. "Why don't we go back to your room. I'll help put you to sleep. All this stress isn't good for your health."

"Ah… Thank you Little Kitten." Ace Low said as the cat girl rolled her eyes. 'Little Kitten' was a name given to her when she first joined the Red Scarves. She always hated that name since it never suited her. Even less so now that she was much older and taller.

The two turned back to the platform to go up to the Ace floor. Before the platform lifts up the tall cat girl playfully covers Ace Low's ears with her massive hands, looks up to eye all the other Queens in the room, and says, "It's time Queens. We know what needs to be done. For The Red Scarves. For us." The platform raises and takes the two up to the top floor of the tower. Thievery, Dopamine, and Lotto walk over to the second platform while Killstreak hands the baby dragon over to The Suits.

"What are you all going to do?" Heart asks.

Killstreak doesn't answer Heart at first. She flaps her wings to fly over to the platform where the rest of the Queens are waiting. They all collectively take a deep breath and the platform starts to lift them up to the Ace floor.

"Don't worry, Heart" said Killstreak. "I would KILL for that baby."