Chapter 13 - Stepping out of Eden
Phillip Hotel, Melbourne, Australia
Snake flicked his tongue upon feeling the sunlight creeping through the gaps of the curtains. He wasn't an early bird but might make this an exception. If he was going to get his beauty sleep, adapting back to the time zone of this country was his main priority. Spending most of his time in America made him feel tired in Australia.
Fluttering his eyes open, he nearly forgot that this wasn't his bedroom. Slowly remembering what happened last night, especially the sensation of spinning in a badly damaged Lamborghini, he was greeted by his small yet comfortable hotel bedroom. Being back on a larger bed felt strange again, but he wasn't complaining. It was really comfy.
Wolf was still sleeping in his own separate bed. The canine had already made a mess due to his sheets nearly touching the floor, exposing his entire body. He was wearing nothing but black shorts.
Snake smirked, pleased with the sight.
Wolf was still slightly skinny, but he had some muscle gain. His breasts were a bit more thicker, counting out the fluffy fur. Interestingly, his usually skinny arms were becoming slightly buff that you could see the muscles built up. A slow path to ultimate strength.
Funnily, this would be where Wolf's dog side blended in. He had his tongue sticking out, allowing drool to spill onto his pillow. It would look disgusting to some, but Snake thought that made him look like an adorable dork. A puppy he grew to love over time.
Crawling onto the bed, the reptile used his tongue to tickle Wolf's ear. This elicited a tail wag from the latter.
"Ugh…not now…five more minutes," mumbled Wolf, lazily opening one eye.
"Wake up, idiot," teased Snake. "I'll not be late on a work day."
"...someone take over my spot as leader…" groaned Wolf, placing a pillow over his face.
"...I can order a cake for you for breakfast."
And just like that, Wolf sat up. "OK! I'm up!"
Snake chuckled with an eye roll. "It's always the mention of food that gets you awake."
"Everybody loves cake," reminded Wolf with a bright smile. "You would know that with that large appetite of yours, sweetheart."
Despite lingering fears of what they might come across in Melbourne, the two strangely felt alright. Maybe it was due to the good sleep. For Snake, it must be after seeing the few changes in this city. And it was only one enemy they came across, so it wouldn't be possible to face any petty enemies.
Wolf smirked when he noticed Snake briefly glancing at his chest. "Can you see me like this for long?"
Snake rolled his eyes. "Obviously, no."
"You know, I sometimes if this is why you hooked up with me."
"N-No, it's not!" bluffed Snake, his face heating up. "You know that my body isn't attractive."
"That's true, but I admire you. You must have admired me for my charm."
"Yeah, yeah," said Snake, trying to act grumpy. "With all your fancy suits, your sauve attitude and your imposing build, there's nothing else I should pay attention to."
"Are you saying this from the heart, sweetheart?" teased Wolf.
"Let's not get too much into these new fetishes, bud. We got some important stuff to do?"
"Oh! Of course!" The canine rolled his body over the bed, landing on two feet with a confident strut. He slid over to the closet door, opening it to reveal a range of colorful clothes he packed along. "If you mind."
Snake rolled his eyes again and turned around, respecting Wolf's privacy. However, he couldn't help but slowly try to get a good peek when the canine put some pants on.
Once Wolf whistled, he was already in his agent clothes. Snake couldn't help but smile. His spy outfit looked really good on him. Snake later followed up, arguably quicker in putting his outfit on. Something he rubbed into Wolf's face as they walked to Diane's room. The mood was set, the fellas were dressed and they were all ready to go on this quest.
This was turned off when they saw Shark leaning against the wall with an uncharacteristic somber and quiet look. He was usually chipper with his big grin and shining eyes of wonder. Even in the early morning, he would be chittering like a bird.
Instead, he was staring at the ground.
Both Wolf and Snake were surprised to see his forlorn look.
"Shark?" said Wolf. "Is anything alright?"
The giant shark didn't respond. Snake narrowed his eyes. As much as he wished it wasn't the case, it was strange that this guy wasn't in the mood to do his usual greetings.
"Shark, what's the problem?" asked Snake.
Shark finally looked up. "Oh, uh…hi, guys."
"Is there something on your mind?"
There was a rumble inside Shark. A growl towards knowing his father wouldn't leave them alone. A growl towards ignoring him in the first place. And when he spoke, he barely sounded restrained.
"Oscar attacked the Centralway Mall last night," he sighed, gritting his teeth. "Hornet was there to investigate and he could have been killed! Piranha told me and the others everything!"
Wolf's fur stood up, dumbstruck. "Wait, THAT mall?! Where the Eden Apple exploded a week ago?"
Snake's jaw dropped, breaking into a cold sweet. And with Hornet close by… "What was Hornet doing there?"
"It's a huge missing people report but he's unable to give everything," muttered Shark, rubbing his tired eyes. A scowl crossed over as his voice came to a whisper. "I…I don't know why he and my father came there. I should have known my father's previous calls had to do with this!"
Wolf immediately stepped forward when he thought Shark might start hyperventilating. "Hold on, buddy. I-It's OK. Hornet wasn't hurt, right?"
Shark paused, taking a deep breath. It was a close call. Hornet was still alive. But many good cops weren't. And he had no idea if they would place the blame on Hornet.
"My father was concentrating on killing…the cops at the scene. He didn't notice Hornet there." He laughed nervously. "Well, but if he did, my father would have done it for a purpose, right?"
"Don't say it like that!" hissed Snake. "Hornet could have been killed! And cops were killed there as well? Whatever the reason, it wouldn't be good!"
"I know, I know, I'm…sorry." The giant shark's shoulders drooped downwards, his eyes becoming watery. "I can't understand why my father's all over the place now."
Wolf and Snake glanced at each other, sharing their concern towards the despondent Shark and the surviving Hornet.
Hornet, while able to hold his own ground, was no match for the unhinged, brutal Oscar. The Great White Shark could have squished him if he wanted to. Wolf only knew Oscar for hating all of them, so imagining him squishing Hornet out of spite was horrifying enough yet expected. And this contributed to Shark's worry over his father's growing involvement in their businesses. It didn't help that Oscar was a killing machine. Something the Bad Guys swore not to become.
The ever-growing possibility of Oscar making it real with hurting his friends was harrowing to Shark. Hornet was too close when Oscar attacked. What if his father actually stepped in their way? What would he do to them? And what was Oscar exactly doing in this 'cyborg transformation' he received?
Too scared to comprehend with the news, Shark shook his head in a protest of denial. "Know what? I shouldn't be thinking like this. I shouldn't be worried. This is no way a criminal would think like this."
Wolf came in closely, keeping his voice to a soft tone. "Shark? What are you saying?"
"No, no," rambled Shark to himself, turning back to Diane's room. "My father wasn't even close. He didn't hurt Hornet. Stop thinking like this…"
"Shark, this is really worrying here," said Snake, immediately throwing himself onto the giant shark's shoulder. "If this is already known, we might need to do something, especially for Hornet."
"It's fine, Snake." It wasn't fine for Shark, but he tried masking this with a smile. "Maybe it'll…just stop right there. I mean, the Great White Shark is hard to handle. He's unpredictable. Not like we can do anything about that, right?"
"What?" said Wolf, clenching a fist. "But Diane could probably con-"
"Just please forget it, alright?" growled Shark through his strained smile. "Let's not…overreact."
Without waiting for Wolf or Snake to talk back, Shark turned his back and entered Diane's room. The two men did the same, their worry gradually building up. Shark wasn't in a listening mood with that forced smile of his, but it was clear he couldn't stop thinking about his father.
Wolf nearly reached out his hand, but Snake gently pushed it downwards. The reptile didn't know why, but he wasn't sure if it was best to talk further. He didn't know why he was hesitating. Maybe Oscar was just doing this activity randomly. The police would track him down soon, right?
With a dejected look, Wolf turned his gaze to the ground. He still reminded himself that he should ask since it would eat Shark up.
Despite the news, their demeanors weren't noticed just yet.
At the moment, Diane was shifting through different notes and files, wanting to ensure everyone had a solid plan. Since they would need to split up, it would be good for them to know how to approach certain environments. A grumpy Piranha watched nearby, the notes in front of him looking blurry. Trouble with waking up in the morning got him feeling relentless and dizzy. On the other hand, Webs was typing away for updates on their targets, resting on the bed pillow.
A few times, Piranha asked if any of them needed his help. Webs quickly assured him that she was alright. While Diane would say the same thing, she paused momentarily to observe his current mood. Curious eyes watching in boredom, his mitten-like hands clawing the bed idly.
Then, something came to mind. Something she really wants to know.
"Hey, Piranha," said Diane. "Be honest, where did your first stand-off with Hornet happen at?"
Piranha was more than happy to tell, but Hornet's voice echoed in his mind.
"If Diane asks, tell her that we only had our first stand-off in this hideout, got it?"
The little fish wisely closed his mouth. At first, he thought of pretending to walk away. However, he didn't want to leave Diane hanging. So, he decided to try the best thing he could do to convince her not to ask again.
Hopping onto the bed gingerly, he jumped high enough to land onto Diane's head. The fox nearly fell backwards before retaining her balance. Goodness, he was heavy. He even held onto her long ears, imagining them as bike handlers.
"Oh, we just had it at our hideout," said Piranha, grinning stupidly. "You know, it's all just sweets and honey with us when we started dating."
"I-I'm not sure about that," said Diane, not wanting to move too much. "You see, the rumors on Twitter said that you were found getting-"
"It was a rather rough night that time," said Piranha, leaning back against Diane's right ear. "You know, sharing feelings, drinks and some nice delicious food. We wisely chose the most comfortable spot. Trust me, I had to be careful since Hornet is smaller. Can't show his secret in an unsanitized room."
Piranha moving her head around didn't really help Diane in getting the answer she wanted. As the fox pouted, Webs looked up from her laptop to see. Piranha tended to sit on Wolf's and Shark's heads, so she wasn't surprised this would happen. It was natural. Cute, she thought with a smile.
"Well, then I'm guessing you ate at the Chrome Bar," said the fox, looking up carefully as Piranha leaned on the other ear. "'Cause it was said that you two were found heading to the motel-"
"They say that some people like it rough or harder," carried on Piranha, squeezing Diane's left ear. "But I might accidentally squish Hornet to death. We also kind of find it hard to get it right in. It's like wanting to pull it right in the spot, but it's not really there!"
Diane crossed her arms, trying to keep her head from tilting over as Piranha leaned back on her left ear. Eventually, the fox hopped off, grinning at the fox.
Defeated, Diane yielded and sighed. "OK, OK. I believe you."
"OK!" said Piranha sweetly.
"Enough casual talk now," said Webs. "I got news."
At the sound of this, everybody crowded around the bed.
When the stoic Shark came close, Piranha frowned at seeing his friend like this. Breaking the news to him was bad enough, but he didn't want to make everyone feel awful. He was supposed to help his friends! Make them feel better! But since Hornet got himself in trouble with the Great White Shark, it should be right to let everyone know, unfortunately…
Webs even noticed the crestfallen look on her friend's face. "Are you alright, Shark?"
"I'm…I'll be fine," said Shark. "I'll be fine…"
Diane raised a finger, but the giant shark glared at her. He wasn't in the right mindset to talk about it. It was still her responsibility, but she decided not to inquire further.
"I'll let the International League of Heroes know about this," she said. "The government and police are probably on high alert already, but I can contact the league to take care of the situation. And I guarantee that Hornet won't get hurt."
Shark sniffed, nodding. It didn't make him feel better. However, he was grateful, smiling in relief. "OK. OK…I think I'm good now. Webs, as you were saying?"
Webs took a minute to respond. Like the others, the mention of Oscar and the near death of Hornet got her rattled. "Well, um, I've…I've been looking back at the former Sunnyside Labs researchers. Just this morning, the number in this city suddenly dropped to four-fifths of the original number."
"What?!" said Diane, shocked.
"Yeah. I tried checking through their devices, phones and any existing records. Even when I expanded the search radar, one-fifth of them were missing. And no, they didn't go offline. It's like they were wiped from the face of the earth."
There was a long, tense silence within the squad. This wasn't really a good sign. After last night's stunt, they must have heard the news. But if these disappearances were not intentional, something worse. They exchanged worried looks, now coming to terms with their actions.
"It looks like, for now, we have to search what we can find," said Diane, holding her hands up not to accuse her teammates. "We have to find the Eden Apples in this city."
"The good thing is that today, they are clustered together in certain places," followed up Webs. "The majority probably believed in safety in numbers. It's our best shot. Strangely, at places where scientists wouldn't usually go."
"And where are those locations?" asked Wolf.
Webs narrowed her eyes at the screen before picking up a couple of red dots popping all over the map. Knowing how consistent she and Diane were, she smirked and flicked many red paper dots on a giant map Diane printed. Right on the locations they could go to for today.
"This would be more useful for deactivating lasers," grumbled Snake.
"There's one huge group at a university," explained Webs. "One group at a market…and similarly, one group on this street…" She groaned when she took a closer look. "There's one target in a police station out of ALL things. The rest are scattered across the city."
"Alright," said Diane. "Now remember, we must collect all we can get today. It's alright if we can't collect the whole city; we must not tip them off of any patterns. Use your suits to disguise yourself when most needed. Those suits should give us different abilities to match our strengths. I've adjusted the disguise features to match your casual clothes. It's necessary to keep them on in certain areas, especially around the police."
"Roger!" all the Bad Guys chirped.
Diane's finger was then raised, pointing forward as if stabbing in the air. "And most importantly, do NOT steal. I know you'll be seen when you do."
All the Bad Guys nodded, but it was a mere child nod out of obedience than acknowledgement.
Diane noticed this, narrowing her eyes. "Don't even THINK about it."
"Think about what?" teased Wolf with a grin.
"Stealing."
"Stealing what exactly?"
"Anything that catches your eye."
"What eye?" said Snake with a smirk, playing along.
"YOUR eye!"
"And why would anyone want our eye?" asked Wolf.
"Why would anyone want your eye?" Diane sighed. "I'm not letting you make a big scene."
"Well, we won't," said Shark, amused. His mind was thankfully off his father, grinning at the collective response from his friends. "I'm hoping the Crimson Paw does not get her sticky paws on anything. I mean, it's not like she can even take a baby's candy."
That cracked Diane's typically collective demeanor. Webs noticed this, exhaling sharply. The boys were trying their best not to snicker, trying to hold it in at the sight of the fox's face changing to a new red color. Her chest was puffed, heaving up and down a few times. She was trying to keep cool, but like the Bad Guys, pride wasn't easy to shake.
"Well, to be fair," she snarled. "I can steal truckloads of push pops from EVERY grocery stall I can before any of you mention needing to buy more." This didn't last when she saw the horrified looks on Snake and Shark. Snitching push pops is a crime. "Oh, um, but not this time. I'm going clean!"
Wolf gave a lame look at Diane and then at Shark.
"No, she makes a point," piped up Piranha.
"Thank you, Piranha," said Diane. "Anyway, where should we go first? Or who would like to go to where? If we split up into smaller groups, we'll steal those Eden Apples from the crowded locations faster. Even spare more time to detect any other Eden Apples around."
Shark was the first to look through the map. He wanted to try out his new suit. Their new outfits contained image inducers to create new outfits. Perhaps used them in the right starting locations to test them. Then, he remembered that one of the spots was the university. For it was a public place with students and teachers roaming around, this might be an easy grab for him.
The right disguises would be ignored by the appropriate and safest places.
"I call for the university," he said.
"Me too!" said Piranha.
It wasn't the location he wanted to go to. Piranha, still keeping a perceptive look, wanted to talk with the giant shark. He still felt awful for breaking the news to him. And secondly, he knew Wolf and Snake would be uncomfortable if they had beef with that university. Bullies could still exist.
"Then I like to go to the market," said Wolf, pulling Snake close in a side hug. "We'll pick up some nice jewelry and sandwiches there, sweetheart!"
"As long as there are cages of guinea pigs," grumbled Snake.
"Unlikely to find pets at the Queen Victoria Market there, mate."
"That can be saved by some good tights there," teased Diane.
Wolf gave her a playful look. "If we're lucky."
"Then it's a girls' trip!" said Webs, crawling to Diane.
"Oh yeah, sure is!" said the fox, reaching out her hand for the tarantula to crawl onto.
"Is motorcycle included?" asked Piranha, raising his hand.
"No."
"OK, now I'm cool with my decision."
Diane inhaled sharply. "Hear me out, you all." With a flick of her arm, she threw stapled notes towards each of the Bad Guys. "Use them wisely. These are some of the best plans we got in these locations."
Snake waved his one around, raising a curious eyebrow. "You wrote all of that in one night?"
"You're serious?" said Shark, holding onto another.
"This definitely feels different to our normal heists," said Piranha, staring at the remaining notes on the bed.
"Diane, we don't take the time to print out all of this," said Wolf, scratching the back of his ear. "Is this fully necessary."
"Well, as leader of Shadow Squad G," said Diane. "I feel like it's important to prepare. This is teamwork. We need to know that we're on the same page."
"Hmm, true. I often take notes on complex heists. But the ones we might likely do today aren't gonna be in highly secured areas."
"But we won't be together for the whole day," said Diane, worried.
"True," said Webs. "But we know unexpected challenges when they hit. And even if we don't expect, we improvise! And we're not exactly alone in this. Partner to partner, I think we're just cooking a coming storm."
"Yeah," agreed Snake, nodding. "We usually go with the flow. It's good there's a lot of planning and a strategic plan, but making things complicated might even tip off the authorities."
"You know that there will be no shortcuts in this," reminded Diane, worried. "You might end up going into a dangerous environment. Who knows if one of those scientists is holding onto a trump card?"
Snake's eyes widened in surprise. She was really taking this seriously. He huffed a little in envy of this fluent knowledge. "OK, Crimson Paw. But our targets can be both predictable and unpredictable. And you can't rely on a plan in a mistake out of the blue."
"And thus, the untidy escape routes?"
"It's more fun that way!" said Piranha, grinning. "It's all about savoring the challenge."
Diane was about to argue, but then she remembered the many times she was chased by police cops as the Crimson Paw. Most of the time, it bothered her since any clean escape routes were out of option and she wasted time trying not to get grabbed by meaty hands. Whenever her opponents weren't better, that was when she could relax.
However, the Bad Guys appeared chill enough if they took long with their heists or escapes. They were more snappy with their ideas and in the face of mistakes, they did show to come out just fine. That being said, it wasn't fun giving their enemies the illusion of control.
"You're gonna make your enemies confident," said Diane, one hand on her hip.
"We know!" cooed Shark.
"And anyone can succumb to their pride too easily," said Wolf with a cheeky grin.
Diane was a little confused by this. However, when she looked at Snake, the reptile's eyes were half-lidden as if knowing the kinds of reactions they would get out from their opponents. And he did play with Marmalade on thinking he was influential enough.
After the long stare, Snake blinked a little and shot her a look that said 'loosen up a little'. He wasn't a professional, but he didn't like the thought of everyone pressuring themselves. Diane nodded. While taking it with a grain of salt, she could see that worrying over potentially nothing might be the eventual jaw.
"Fair enough," said Diane, shrugging. "Just keep those notes in case there's a problem you don't know."
"Something we can agree," uttered Snake.
There weren't more needed instructions as all the members of Shadow Squad G filed out of the room. Snake was already wrapped around Wolf's body and Webs was on Diane's shoulder. However, Piranha quickly hopped onto Shark, grabbing his dorsal fin.
"Looks like it's gonna be me and you, buddy," said Shark casually. "Like old times."
"Yeah!" agreed Piranha, petting the back of Shark's head. "I think we might be able to pull this off! It's too easy to rob a school!"
"You don't think they'll install security systems to block out robbers, do you think so?"
Piranha shrugged. "Nope! They're democratic!"
Meanwhile, Webs checked back on her computer, looking through their targets' current locations. It was strange that a fifth of the original number went missing. She turned to Diane, poking her on the cheek fur. The slight touch prompted Diane to carefully turned her head to the tarantula.
"Do you think…the reason why a couple already left is due to us?" asked Webs.
Diane was quiet for a while. "I don't know. You do have a point; they would be paranoid. However, I don't think they become this desperate to leave when everyone's under the impression of an unrelated joyride. Their leave would be too perfect as well. Too predicted. It could have been a coincidence that a random amount of people left without letting anyone know."
"Unless they're tricking us," grumbled Webs.
"Ah, yeah. But, if it's not us, then what is causing the numbers to drop quickly?"
On the Suburbs Outside Melbourne
Shaård narrowed his eyes in disgust at how flashy this mansion was, unable to contain his frustration with his next target.
When he was a little boy, he always dreamed of being one of the richest. He had a good life, but it was often intimidating when looking at other kids with fancier clothes that told of money cementing their toughness. All of these things backed up their status, making them the superior top students.
It made him feel relatively small compared to the other forks and knives on the table. He wanted an advantage over the uncertainty in his family. Not just stuck in unsure what to make out from in his family. The rest of the world seemed to have figured out who they really were.
He imagined how having this high status would feel like. Having so much money to buy everything. From pools that could look like an ocean, soft large beds where he could bounce on for days and the gourmet food that made him drool in hunger. Having a mansion like this could mean that he and his family worked hard to make themselves well-respected and understood.
But as far as he could see now, he was slowly starting to understand that these kinds of homes came from despicable, butt-kissing arseholes who claimed some magic pulled all that off. Just because they could get away by paying the fee.
The previous Eden Apples he managed to find, and unfortunately had to put the former researchers down, were in houses that were easy to hide. This mansion was a massive offender in coverage.
Shaård scrunched his nose, remembering seeing the snobby scientist hopping out of the limousine. Several servants came to open the door, lifted him over the stairs and wiped his shoes. Some of these activities he could do himself! What ticked the human cyborg off was how he kept patting his servants on the head as if they were dogs with a condescending look.
The gigantic golden mansion in front of him was quiet so far, giving him the opportunity to invade.
Shaård smirked a little, slowly pulling out a kunai. Sharp enough to break through a window. He was nearly tempted to do a full-on invasion, but he had to use stealth for this one-
"First time seeing a mansion?" said a booming voice behind him.
The vibration of the deep voice provoked the human cyborg to twirl around and press his kunai against the neck of the stupid Oscar.
"The last time I saw one," said Oscar casually, unfazed by the blade touching his neck. "Me and my crew stripped the whole building to its wooden frames."
Shaård hung his head and groaned, reluctantly retracting his kunai. "What are you doing here?! I thought you were supposed to look for more Eden Apples in the west!"
"Oh, I did," said Oscar, opening his palm to reveal a few before stuffing them into his belt pouch. "I was about to raid this place."
"But I got here first!"
"I also got here first!"
"We cannot be doing this at the same time. We need to spread out."
"How about this?" offered the Great White Shark. "We work together, double the work and get out in half the time we might be in there for!"
Shaård crossed his arms. "Deal. 20 bucks for that."
"Wait, what?" said Oscar. "But-"
"No exception," snarked Shaård. He wasn't going to take any chances. Knowing Oscar's lonesome attitude, he didn't want to let the Great White Shark wander off. "I have a plan, but what do you think?"
"Smash in and kill?" offered Oscar flatly.
"And that's exactly why I'm charging if you even suck a bloody nose."
The Great White Shark pouted. "Aww, you're no fun."
"What did I tell you last night?" reminded Shaård. "We cannot draw in too much attention now. This place must be highly secure, so even stealth killing would be hard."
Oscar took a while to absorb this. "I forgot. It was a…long night."
Honestly, Oscar only remembered his vivid flashback, god forbid him from seeing it, and Splaarghön reminding him about his purpose here. His sleep was OK, but he didn't feel well in the morning. He let the killing this morning do the job, but it didn't feel as exciting. What used to be laughter in his slaughter became boredom in hearing his victims' weak pleas.
He considered forgetting his weakest moments, but for this, he wasn't sure.
In fact, he felt numb thinking about it. That alone translated to his face softening to a subdued and grim gaze.
Shaård rolled his eyes, unaware of the Great White Shark's internal numbness. "Sure, sure. Well, hopefully, that energy inside you keeps you alive. Just…follow my lead, OK?"
"Roger that," muttered Oscar absentmindedly.
The two cyborgs made sure to use the bushes for cover, sometimes needing to teleport from one to the other to avoid being seen by the cameras. The problem was teleporting would require them to imagine the right place they want to be in. They hadn't explored this mansion before. As they came closer to the side of the mansion, they watched carefully at the security cameras hanging from underneath the roof.
The cameras were too far above to see them, but it wasn't worth the risk in case they jerked downwards.
"How should we deal with them?" asked Oscar.
Shaård answered by pulling out small blades. Electrical sparks flew from the flat sides. He flicked them upwards, but instead of slicing through the cameras, they landed right on top. Sparks of white lightning spread through the cameras before shutting them down, the red blinking light gone.
"...I thought that you were going to cut right through them," said Oscar, surprised.
"That's too risky," muttered Shaård. "We can take all the time we need to do this job, but someone might be watching, alerted when any of them gets destroyed. It would be fine to destroy the cameras for a limited time, but turning them offline wouldn't alert the guards much."
"I like to see how that'll go."
With the cameras down, Shaård took this as an opportunity to fly to the nearest window. Strangely, there weren't any on the first floor, but if the Eden Apple was around on the second floor, this would be much quicker. Calmly landing on the balcony, he observed the window. Curtains covering it up. This would be perfect for his break-in.
He pulled out his kunai and drew a circle on the window. Oscar crept out of the bushes to try to get a better view, impressed to see a perfect circle drawn from this kid. However, it seemed to be taking too long as Shaård took his sweet time smoothly drawing in the line.
Then he remembered something. "Hey, Shaård. I was told we'll transfer the collected Eden Apples to another place. Is that actually true?"
Shaård paused, a bit lost. "...well, because of your little stunt last night, Splaarghön decided to store half of the Eden Apples in a disguised building. She bought it a month ago so that we can expand our experiments. She let me know this morning."
"Huh. Well, that was quick."
"Yeah, and I even heard you requested to create your special chemical for our cannon there."
Oscar grunted. He didn't want to think about the stupid chemical now. With a shake of his head, he informed Shaård and himself to not worry about it. The window was already cracked open, so they could get in without talking about it.
The Great White Shark used his jet feet to fly upwards, gingerly fluttering through the curtains and landing on the soft carpet. With the two inside, Shaård used the cut-out glass to cover up the window, keeping it in a still position. The little kid got skill in balancing such a fragile object.
"OK," said Shaård. "This place has a lot of inventions emitting similar high energy. I checked earlier with my tracker and it's hard to find which one is actually the Eden Apple. So we have to do this manually."
"So that's why you said this mission isn't time-limited," said Oscar.
"My money is still on the table that we can get this down quickly. Now, how good are you in this kind of robbery?"
Oscar shrugged. "Eh, I never tested that out before."
"Then you better be sneaky enough. Use your abilities when most necessary."
Oscar hummed in acknowledgement, looking around the hallway for any traps. "We should get moving now if we don't want any guards or servants to find us."
What the two cyborgs didn't expect was how huge the mansion would be. Given that Shaård preferred to take the time to check every corner of the house, it was gonna be a long, gruelling search for them. He was always one to inspect every corner. In his own words, you never know what you might find.
That came to a price, however. Every room they would check in, it felt more mundane than the previous one. And Oscar had to keep himself from moving out of the house out of boredom.
To their luck, as they walked slowly through every hallway, there were no passing guards or servants.
Looking around the corner, Shaård noticed another camera. He took out another electrified blade and tossed it right at it. Upon contact, the camera shut down. This should spare them a few hours. He was beginning to worry he might not have enough blades to deactivate the cameras.
Once the coast was clear, Oscar randomly opened a door…only to discover it was a girly bedroom.
Pastel pink glowed on his nose. A slaughter of stuffed toys and sleeping cats blocked his path for tolerance. The sight of love hearts all over were warding signs to keep him back. The smell of perfume smelled stronger than the blood of a sick pirate
Overwhelmed, the Great White Shark fainted. He would have drifted off to sleep if it weren't for Shaård catching him and slapping his face.
"Wake up, pops," snarled Shaård, pushing him back on his feet. "What's with the melodramatic?"
"It's every man's worst nightmare!" exclaimed Oscar, pointing at the room like it was a curse. "It's the girl's room!"
Shaård could only give him a blank stare. "Mate, my friend is a girl and I don't believe in cooties."
"Oh, but it's too hard to resist," said Oscar, dramatically placing a hand over his head. "You cannot shield your eyes from the brightness of pink. It's just too much! Too much cuteness to not look away from!"
Shaård snorted. "It cannot be too bad. Let me show you."
"No, no, no, no!" said Oscar, grabbing his arm. "Don't go in there! The second you do as a man, you'll be taken over by this meddling cuteness."
Shaård rolled his eyes and easily wrenched his arm out. Oscar didn't seem to be at his strongest. Maybe the room did have an effect on 'men'.
"Relax!" scoffed Shaård. "Speaking in your tongue, that's kind of 'pathetic' you're scared to face this. The opposite of girls screaming at the sight of a cuddly Pikachu."
Oscar growled, snapping his sharp teeth near Shaård's nose. "You say that again! Trust me! This isn't safe ground!"
An ordinary person would immediately cower when a shark got too dangerous close. The Great White Shark was a force to reckon with, his deep-throated growl, the shine of his sharp teeth and his ferocious eyes enough to bite the brain out.
However, Shaård was unfazed by this. Confident in his immortality.
"Watch," he simply said.
The human cyborg entered the girly bedroom, not flinching when Oscar shut the door. The Great White Shark could hear him groaning in disgust before he made his search around the bedroom. At first, Oscar heard Shaård's footsteps and whistling…and the random sound of him turning on one of his chainsaw weapons. Probably to scare off the kittens inside.
Oscar shook his head when he heard Shaård cooing over the cats. Wasting his time petting them. Oscar closed his eyes at this imagination. It was pretty ridiculous seeing a weakling in viking's clothing. Though, Shaård kept moving around the room to find the Eden Apple.
It went on like this for 10 minutes…until Oscar heard Shaård opening a closet and the clicking servos of what appeared to be a machine gun.
RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!
The Great White Shark took a cautious step away from the sounds of a shrieking Shaård and splatters of an unidentified substance. It ended with a loud slash and the machine gun weapon falling apart.
The door slammed open, revealing a sulking Shaård caked in strawberry and chocolate frosting. A good amount of the sugary goo was dripping from his helmet.
Oscar raised a finger. "Well…I tried warning you and that's why you-"
"Oscar, this is as embarrassing as tripping over your shoelaces," hissed Shaård. "So with whatever thoughts you have about girliness. Let. It. Go."
Oscar cringed. "Oooh! I knew you would be sway-"
The human cyborg responded by flicking some frosting onto Oscar's snout. Once the Great White Shark shut up, Shaård stomped away.
A couple of minutes passed and the search through this level was becoming much longer than expected. It was mostly mundane rooms they had come across so far. From bedroom to bedroom, bathroom to bathroom. The right laboratory was a mile away on the far top of a hill. Shaård was still insistent on looking through this mansion.
Oscar sighed, tossing a cardboard box to the wall. He was currently searching through what appeared to be a storage room. Or an attic. Or a basement. Depends on whoever lived in this mansion called it.
He was surprised there wasn't much scientific equipment in this room. He picked up a box, confirming that it was filled with electrical wires for basic stuff humans need.
As he tossed it away, he rubbed his chin. Those Sunnyside researchers would have brought their equipment with them. None of them could be willing to entirely abandon their experiment on the Eden Apples. They would even want to take precautions.
Of course, he knew that this researcher would have an experiment room. Since those working from Sunnyside Labs got a lot of money, they would have backups. But this mansion was huge, so they had a lot of space to put them away…
Giving up, he left the room. Just in time to hear Shaård yelping and water leaking from another door. Expectedly, a loud splash and the splashing intensified. By the time he managed to turn it off, there was a huge puddle leaking out from the door that the carpet couldn't absorb more.
The door slammed open and Shaård crawled out, wet and humiliated.
"...you're not good at making things subtle, are you?" pointed out Oscar.
"I just realized that they probably installed a couple of special features for each place," muttered Shaård. "Anyway, at least it's not like they have real weapons hiding in the walls."
"Is your tracker really working?"
"I swear! There's like too many energy radiations all over the place!"
The two cyborgs continued searching through. They were nearly ready to take the staircase they found nearby…before Oscar quickly placed his large arm around Shaård. The latter was about to ask, but he was pinned against the wall. Oscar must have heard something.
Slowly looking around the corner, the Great White Shark internally groaned in his head at the sight in front of him.
He didn't expect a large dining room with an equally large family eating brunch. It felt more like a dinner meal due to the bright campfire behind them and the table covered with roast chicken, potato salad bowls, mushroom soup bowls and strawberry cake platters. Oscar kept himself from drooling as the smell of chicken (and blood) filled his nose. His uniquely strong smell could get the best of him.
This family overdid themselves with this fancy feast. One in which Oscar and Shaård could smell it from far away.
And it really showed when the man of the house, the former Sunnyside Labs researcher, was waving his hands around exaggeratedly.
"C'mon, boys!" he exclaimed at his servants. "Chop chop on the gravy! Or there might be no chop for next week!"
"Yes, sir," said his sycophants robotically.
"And can you please add a bit more pepper to this dish? I need to be in the right condition before my next experiment!"
"Yes, sir."
"What do you need pepper for?" asked the former researcher's wife.
"It's for an X-ray surgery on how to make the organs melt!" said the researcher.
"A surgery on yourself?"
"Don't spoil the surprise!" He suddenly leapt upwards, grabbing one platter of cake. "And don't spoil the cake, my child! It's too beautiful for you!"
"Aww…" whined a baby.
A girl sitting nearby narrowed her eyes, spoiled in what she wanted. "Just share a slice already! I would like to have some now!"
"Dear," said the wife with a worried look. "Let her have some cake."
The snobby researcher appeared exasperated. "How about you have some of that soup first?"
"I already had the soup!" demanded the girl, lifting up her empty bowl. "I want the cake, please!"
"Oh great! I gave you everything! That bathtub of jelly, that mountain of falafel, the several discount cards I had to use before they expired! But all you want is cake?"
"Just give her a slice of cake, dear," snarled the wife.
"Yeah! I want one now!" said the girl, raising her voice.
"Now, don't be that bossy," said the researcher, waving a dismissive hand upwards. "If you're gonna keep acting like this, you might as well leave the house."
"Maybe I will!"
"I'd like to see you try!"
The wife rubbed her face, annoyed. "Stop making this so difficult. I thought we were supposed to keep ourselves sane in this 'hard time'."
Shaård blew a lazy raspberry. There was something so insufferable from this exaggerated dinner party. Splaarghön was right. These snobs can and have been acting THIS righteous.
"The rich are really different, huh," he grumbled. "Good thing we're taking something that is less valuable to them, right?"
On the other hand, Oscar felt something other than dismissive disgust. The rich could be different, after all.
From what looked like a ridiculous tea party turned into a dark tunnel. It wasn't from the corniness and the excessive food on top of the table. His focus was more on the researcher and his daughter, the nagging words exchanged.
And for some reason, it reminded him a lot of way before. The researcher wasn't acting at his best, but…it was similar to how the Great White Shark acted before.
It felt like the case. His hard chest was stirring in unease and now tight.
"What did you do?!" cried Lou, waving around a newspaper with an image of a badly burnt island.
Oscar rolled his eyes, kind of casually, at his son's shock. In fact, he expected that Lou would grow up for once. His son wasn't even a child anymore, now at the expected young adult age. The two would look similar, but Lou sported a slightly larger belly. A sign of his laziness. However, when Oscar looked back, he could see his son's fierce eyes.
His son didn't look soft anymore. If so, he seemed hysterical.
"It's just some business with pirates," said Oscar, waving his right hand while pressing the other against the kitchen bench. He turned away in disinterest, leaning against the bench. "This is nothing to worry about, son."
"Nothing to worry about?" snarled Lou, coming closer. "This…this is the same place my mother loved to visit! The place where she felt like a dream. I thought you shared that dream with her."
"She ain't here anymore!" exclaimed Oscar, clenching his teeth in an attempt to not raise his voice. "You think she would care now?"
Despite Oscar not being as loud as possible, the frightened Lou stepped back. He knew that his father would yell back at him. Why did it still scare him that much?
Eventually, the fear turned into anger. Talking back to his father was wrong…but the more he stepped away, the more it wouldn't feel like it would be worth standing up to what his mother wanted for him. For Oscar. The promises and hope told of a greater future. And all Oscar was doing was burying them underneath the surface, making it hard for Lou to dig back up.
"So…you just don't care about her anymore," growled Lou, his hands twitching. "Like how you don't care about your previous spouses."
Oscar was speechless. He couldn't speak ill of his dead loved ones. He couldn't spit it out without shutting down. With the Great White Oscar unable to think properly, Lou resumed talking.
"Do you really think what…Mum would really think by now, Dad? What would she think about that statue being burnt down on that island? The one you saw shot down by your men?"
Oscar rubbed his forehead, not even wanting to see the sad look in his son's eyes. And seeing his vulnerable eyes reminded him too much of his wife. "H-How did you even know about that?"
Lou dreaded being yelled at again, but he persisted through the fear. "She told me that day, when you two met. When you fell in love at first sight and it led to…" He paused, shutting his eyes. It took a lot to address the loss of the one place where it led to his life. "…me. I may not know what it was like to love someone like you, but apparently…maybe Mum failed to realize it's hard to turn a guy like you to whatever love that gave you a chance."
He paused, pondering if that was true. Here he was in front of his father, explaining what his deceased mother thought of Oscar. She saw through his eyes as more than just a monster and thought that he could change. Yet, the Great White Shark didn't reinforce this and it was written all over Oscar's body. His posture was straight and sharp, but he was shaking. Trying to mask any grief he held towards those he lost. Refusing to acknowledge those losses.
"I tried going along with everything you do," said Lou, his tearful eyes stinging. "And I…I…I'm scared of how that creates me. On one hand, it felt normal. And then…it didn't feel normal. And I tried so hard suggesting other alternatives that I thought would be OK in your empire. And yet, it was never enough because you think I'm weak."
"I never said that you were weak," growled Oscar.
"You didn't have to because I know you think I am!" shouted Lou suddenly. "Don't think I didn't know how you feel every time I fai! And the fact that you aren't aware of what I'm worried about explains everything!" He took another moment to think through what he was saying. His father's back was still facing him. A new space for him to spit it all out. "I cannot do this anymore! I don't want to be someone more than willing to destroy treasures that definitely cannot be replaced. I'm done!"
And then, Oscar whipped around, facing his son. His angry eyes meeting his. "What do you mean by 'done'?"
"I mean DONE!" yelled Lou, slamming his hands on the kitchen bench. "Done with you! Done with YOUR empire! Done with being in YOUR life!"
Oscar's eyes widened in fear. For the first time, he lost any control in his life. Then, this knowledge of losing control turned into desperation. A stern act to maintain his dominance.
"Now be careful of what you're saying here, 'son'," growled Oscar, forcefully gritting his teeth. "I built you to be the shark you are today. You think you can walk away from me?! If you're gonna keep acting in this inappropriate way, you might as well get out of the house."
"WHAT IF I WANT TO NOW?!" shouted Lou, leaning his face close to his father's. "MAYBE I WILL!"
And just like that, the younger shark quickly leaned back and covered his mouth. Seeing his father's angry eyes were enough to make him feel like he didn't mean to say it. He meant it. But in turn, his father recoiled in terror. Lou never saw his father this hurt before. This wasn't any joke. And it was true: Lou barely followed his father's twisted lessons.
Oscar was too shocked to scream back, reduced to pathetically snarling without any alternative. "As your father, I find your attitude disrespectful. But I can see why you're upset about me ruining your mother's special spot."
"No, it's…" Lou gulped, trying to hide his shaky voice. "...everything to her. It's EVERYTHING. And you didn't even care about that. It's where I was first…" He shook his head, unable to hide his tears anymore. "Oh, why would you listen for a second damn time? You wouldn't even look at me when I'm like this…"
When the muddled Oscar averted eye contact, it was enough for Lou to give up hope of remaining here.
Defeated, the younger shark tossed the newspaper in his hand away. "If you find me dead in the streets, then at least you'll die knowing that you won't have to live with this burden. You want to be feared? Then, be feared!"
Oscar couldn't reach his hand to his son as he stomped away. The image of his son slamming the front door, disappearing in plain sight, replayed in his head. He couldn't remember the argument. Just only Lou leaving him.
He didn't know if Lou was being serious about leaving home. He barely taught his son how to live independently yet! And it came from knowing that Lou wasted his time reading through magazines and theaters. This wasn't what he was supposed to be as a shark and wasn't ready yet.
But that reason fizzled out when the Great White Shark felt his stomach twisting in knots again. It felt like regret, but he wished it could have been different. His way should be the right way to live, but Lou was so…different.
With his son out of sight, Oscar found himself sliding his back against the kitchen bench. Sitting on the floor, speechless. He held a stoic look, but for the first time in his life, he felt like he wanted to cry.
It only made him more desperate and hopeless when Lou DID leave and took on the nickname 'Mr. Shark'. That was the last time Oscar ever got to see his son face-to-face.
The rest of their chats were only possible through virtual windows.
Oscar was lucky he didn't get visions. Only a flashback when he saw the family in the dining room arguing. He didn't know how long he was in the same spot. Time seemed to go slow for him.
This was proven when Shaård spoke again.
"We got to be fast now," muttered Shaård. "We only got a few more rooms to check on this floor. I say we-"
"Go ahead," whispered Oscar.
"I'm sorry?"
Oscar shifted his feet awkwardly, his deep voice cracking. "You can…check the rest of this floor. I'll go downstairs to the floor below."
"What?" said Shaård in disbelief. "I'm not going to split up."
"I'm much bigger than you and clearly, they'll spot me," pointed out Oscar, sounding tired. "You're skinny enough to slip past that family if you're checking nearby. If I start below right now, we'll have a head start before they come downstairs."
Shaård thought about arguing back. This time, he didn't. Oscar looked so serious now. However, Shaård didn't see the funk the Great White Shark was currently in. In a way, Shaård felt like he was talking to someone else out of the blue.
He could only give a weirded-out look. "OK…just DON'T kill yet."
"OK," said Oscar.
Shaård gave him one last look before running to the other side. Oscar was left alone near the staircase.
The Great White Shark wrapped his arms around him as if wanting to give himself a hug. He took a deep breath, wanting to try letting this one go. However, tears didn't fall. It never did for him. Maybe they might return if he tried calling his son again for a third time.
Looking down, Oscar silently walked down the staircase. He got a job to do anyway. Why compare himself to some wishy washy dinner party?
AN: As ridiculous the brunch dilemma between the snobby researcher and his bratty daughter, it suddenly turned into a serious moment for Oscar. I'm aware that this might be too sudden of a mood whiplash. However, it intends to be since we've all been there with the feeling that we are so much like bad people doing wrong things. In the same way of seeing things on television and connecting with the characters. This is the feeling Oscar gets: words can trigger one when not paying attention to one or two certain aspects.
The argument between Shark/Lou and Oscar took some inspiration from Wednesday and Helluva Boss in terms of what they say. A few things were changed, but I tried focusing on body language to display how bad the argument was. I thought of how Shark would walk out from his father's house and I came to him finally giving up when Oscar destroyed the one thing his wife cherished. To Shark, it was the place that led to his parents falling in love and making him. The knowledge of destroying the place that started everything make it feel like a tragedy and a waste. It's a really emotional scene for me given how both were scared of how the other felt, but couldn't see eye to eye.
And leading up to the present, it is surface-level, as you can see from Shark now worrying about what his father did. Only time will tell how they'll react when seeing each other physically again.
The first half of the chapter feels a little boring. However, alongside the jokes and chemistry, it's possibly an easy way of understanding how they strategize. It helps that the difference between the Bad Guys and Diane is made pretty clear in terms of how they do robberies.
What do you think so far and the character interactions for this chapter? Let me know in the reviews. Thank you for reading this chapter! If you enjoy this story so far, be sure to favorite or follow. Constructive criticism is appreciated, but if any flames, then it's down the drain.
Until next time, keep on rocking!