"That broadcast was really somehting wasn't it?" Jimbo P asked as the Galaxy Star was setting a course for the Steam Universe.
"Which part, Milton's interview with Ella, his unveiling of Romeo as he Emblem Jewel Rep, The Team Solar taking over, or all of it?" Herbert P asked.
"Romeo is really are okay, our gone…" Soma said. "We after battle…just like me…"
What makes you say that?" Lucian asked.
"Yes. After Winter Games, Romeo are sad our time. The Emblem Jewel are power those other world." Soma said.
"So there's nothing wrong with asking for some help, right?" Raiden said.
Soma sighed. "I guess not."
"We don't know for sure if Romeo is going to accept Ella's offer yet, there's still time before the live demo. I'm sure she'll make the right decision once she's given it some time." Ricky G said.
"Somehow I doubt it." Soma said as the ship had reached its next destination: Steam City.
"Ah…Steam City…capital of the Steam Universe. Can you feel that steam and the smell of oli?" Aaron asked as the kids rode around in camper van.
"Why are we riding in this old thing?" Hayato asked.
"Low profile. Can't draw too much attention so we can't use Matthew for our escapes." Aaron said.
"Yeah…I remember coming to the Steam Universe…we stole the signs from those Combat Revue guys." Martin B said.
"Yeah…wasn't as rewarding as I thought it would be. But right now…our target is…there." Aaron said, pointing to a large factory. "Headquarters for Dark Smog."
"They live in a factory? Huh…not a whole lot of smog for something called Dark Smog." Jake N said.
"Their boss in an environment and nature lover, so it's all environmentally friendly. It's also Dark Smog and Dark Forest get along so well." Yuta said.
"I see…but what would be of worth here." Rudy asked.
"Rumor says that in a section of Dark Smog, there's this huge coffin made of gold. It's said it's supposed to be a conductor for a future project. But…that golden coffin is going to be ours." Aaron said.
"A coffin? What if there is someone in there? I mean, you'll never know." Kenny F said.
"I suppose we'll find out when we obtain it." Matthew M said.
"So…what's the plan?" Lute asked.
"From what I can tell from the blueprints, the factory is divided into five sectors. One for each leader. The coffin is supposedly under the section belonging to the 4th sub-leader, Hex Bolt, the boss's son." Aaron said. "We'll have to navigate through the factory and avoid any of the captains and other sub-leaders. We're not trying to get caught in a fight."
"You hear that Martin? No starting fights with anyone, got it?" Allan W asked.
"Quit acting like I'm the one who causes the trouble." Martin B said.
"We'll need to causes a distraction too. A little mischief in the factory floor might do it." Aaron said.
"Heh. Yeah, that I can do. No problem." Martin B said.
"Excellent. Allan, you'll be going in with him. Just be prepared to bolt for the van when get the coffin since you have a license." Aaron said.
"Of course." Allan W said.
"The rest of us will maneuver through the factory and try and find a way to the hidden basement In Hex's side. That's the plan. Any questions?" Aaron asked.
"Yeah…when do we start?" Rosie N said.
"Immediately." Aaron said.
"Alright people, we need to make this place look at least somewhat presentable!" Bolt Junior said as Dark Smog personnel were bust taking care of the auction booths exhibits. "Where are those steam suits? The presentable starts in a hour!"
"They're on their way sir!"
"Did our inventors perfrom diagnostics on them?"
"All according to Bolt Senior's instructions!"
"Good, good." Bolt nodded before he noticed something and ran over. Whoa, hey, don't touch that!" he said, yanking a curious browser's hand away from a tank. "Careful, you could've burned your hand! This is still in development, it's display only!"
Junior then felt a hand on his shoulder, as he looked up to see his father there.
Bolt Senior
Dark Smog Branch Leader
"I commend you on preventing that, but perhaps you should relax." Bolt Senior suggested. "You're avaliable to run yourself ragged if you keep it up."
"Ah…sorry dad. I just wanted to keep things running smoothly." Junior said.
"And you've done a fantastic job so far. But let your brother and I handle it from here. I think Marek just arrived." he said with a smile.
Bolt Junior looked conflicted for a moment before he sighed. "Dang it, please don't use him to get me away from work." he mumbled.
"Ah, good kids. Senior smiled before he spotted his adopted son. "Ah, Hex-Bolt, there you are! Anything to report?"
The son in question was clad in a bronze suit of armor that completely obscured his features, dark holes showing nothing beneath his armor.
Hex-Bolt
Dark Smog 4th Sub-Leader
"Huh? Oh, yeah, everything's fine." Hex-Bolt said distractedly. "Punke volunteered to get some stuff from my section of the factory, so he'll be fine in a couple of minutes."
"Punke…I still don't see why we keep that guy around. You know he's schemer. We've seen it on live TV…twice." Bolt Junior said.
"I'll admit Punke doesn't have the…friendliest, but his skills as an inventor are well received." Bolt Junior said. "Best the have his hands working on helpful projects, rather then have him off on his own. In any case, Hex, why don't we go check on the Steam Garden plant exhibition?"
"Yeah, sure." Hex said. "I still find it weird we're hosting Dark Forest's part of the auction alongside ours, but I guesss it makes sense, what with Redwood still being missing and all."
"Hmm… I hope Marek won't get down about all that today." Bolt Junior murmured.
"Don't worry. Redwood would want uf to focus on the exhibition of nature over himself." Senior said. "Go on, Junior, go have fun with your boyfriend. We'll be fine for a couple of hours."
"Well…alright." Junior nodded. "Just call me if anything comes up." he said as walked of to find Marek.
Once inside the main factory floor…
Two familiar figures walked right in without causing much issue.
"Okay…" Kenny F said.
"Let's go." Lute said before he saw someone that gave her pause. "Wait…isn't that Dark Forest's 2nd sub-leader?"
"Huh?" Kenny F said before seeing the Dryad. "Ah…guess he must be here on some good faith mission. He really came on a very bad day."
Marek was looking around, as if searching for something, before his face lit up when he saw Bolt Junior walking towards him. "Bolt Junior, good to see you!"
"Hey, Marek!" Bolt Junior returned the greeting as the two sub-leaders embraced one another. "Glad you stop by. My dad gave me the go-ahead to take a couple of hours off, so we can browse the auction if you want."
"Of course. The captains and lieutenants are handling most of the work, so I can spare some time." Marek smiled. "Where would you like to go first?"
"Well, I was thinking we could get something to eat and…" Bolt Junior started before he spotted the two disguised kids out of the corner of his eys. "…Actually, could you excuse me for a second?"
Bolt Junior walked over to the two kids. "Hi there, welcome to the Steam Universe's part of the Multiverse Auction. Can I help you two with anything?"
"Oh, un…no thank you." Lute said. "We're just…"
"We're just taking a couples tour is all!" Kenny F said.
"(Idiot! Why did you say that!?)" Lute thought.
"Are you now?" Bolt Junior remarked. "What a coincidence, my boy friend and I were about to do the same thing. I'm part of the staff, so why don't you two join us for a couple of hours?"
"Oh, that's…really not necessary-" Lute started.
"Nonsense! It'll be fun, you never know what friends you can make me. Right, Marek?" Bolt Junior turned to his boyfriend, mouthing the words 'go along with it' to him.
"Ah…right. It would be nice." Marek agreed.
Bolt Junior then grabbed Kenny F and Lute's arms. "See, he agrees! Guess you're stuck with us now! C'mon, we'll show you the latest Combat Revue models!" he said, the two Dark Garden sub-leaders dragging the disguised kids along.
"Great…" both of them said with forced smiles. "(This plan got derailed super quick!)" they both thought.
The other kids were waiting outside as Aaron checked his watch.
"Darn it…this shouldn't take this long." Aaron said. "Something must be keeping them. So much for a distraction."
"Backup plan?" Rudy asked.
"No choice. We're just gonna have to stealth it." Aaron said as the kids started making their way to a side of the building before climbing up it and dropping in through a skylight on the roof.
"So where are we right now?" Yuta asked.
"We should be in the 2nd Sub-Leader's side of the factory. The place we want is on the other side. Luckily, they should be busy monitoring the auction to monitor the halls." Aaron said.
"Let's hope our luck hold true." Matthew M said as they started to maneuver through the inner workings of the factory before coming into a vast garden. "My word…"
"Huh…guess they're also showing off Dark Forest's part of the auction as well. Gotta say, good on…crap." Aaron said as they saw Bolt Senior and Hex-Bolt cheking on the plants before they quickly hid." Darn it. He must be doing some last minute checking. We're screwed if we get caught by him."
"Well what are we supposed to do?" Allan W asked.
"I may have an idea." Rudy said. "But first, you'll need to change into your street clothes like Lute and Kenny did."
Bolt Senior and Hex-Bolt continued to look around.
"My…such exquisite beauty." A voice said as the two turned to see Martin B, Allan W, Yuta and Rudy standing there. "These plants…truly do symbolize the joint camarederie of nature and machine. A gift to the world."
"Ah, I'm so glad you all noticed!" Bolt Senior beamed, causing the group to (pretend to) jump and around. "It's such a joy to see the younger generation taking an interest in such projects."
"Yes. I'm an artist, you see. I take an interest in all thing truly beautiful." Martin B said.
"And we're…just his helpers." Allan W said.
"Yeah. His helpers." Yuta said.
"Ah, I see. I'm overseeing the auction at the moment. You can call me Mr. Bolt." Bolt Senior smiled. "You know, this is just an exhibit. If you'd like to see just how far what this represents can go, the magnum opus of this project is in the Standard Universe, in the same world as the city. Perhaps you've heard of it?"
"Uh…oh yeah, I think we heard about it from the brother of a friend? Or was it a friend of a brother…?" Allan W said.
"Well, glad you're all impressed. Most people want to see the war machines." Hex-Bolt said, before his phone's notification went off. "Oh, text from Junior…wait, what is this?"
"Hm? Something wrong, Hex?" Senior asked.
"Junior said that he and Marek may have run into a couple of potential thieves." Hex said, present thieves tensing up for only a moment. "He's managed to rope them into a double date of sorts, so they'll be there for a couple of hours."
"Thieves? Well, that's distressing." Senior remarked. "Whatever would a group of thieves want here?"
"Yeah, it's not llie anything at the auction would…" Hex-Bolt started before he stopped, as an idea came to him the stopped him cold, before he looked at the thieves. "Dad…I gotta go check on something. Right now." he said, before he took off. "(No…they can't be going for that?! Punke, you better have those security measure up!)"
"Where's he going?" Martin B asked.
"My guess…to where the treasure is. It's in the sector so he probably already knows about it." Aaron said. "We're gonna have to follow him. He'll head us right to it."
"…and thanks to the Auto-Kobus and other off-world allies, their efficiency in battle has gone up by almost 85%!" Bolt Junior rattled off as he stood in front of a Kobu unit, Marek having a look in his eyes Kenny F and Lute looking increasingly antsy. "If you're an IG-2 fan, you'll probably be seeing a race team sponsored by them when it finally rolls around."
"Yeah…great." Lute said.
"Super…so uh… how long is this tour thing?" Kenny F asked. "Not that we're getting incredibly bored or anything. I'm just asking is all."
"Huh…and here I thought that kids loved casing their targets out beforehand." Bolt Junior said, casuing the two to tense up.
"Uh…I'm not talking about-"
"Your voices gave it away. You sound exactly like Kenny and Lute." Bolt Junior said. "You should invest in some voice modulators."
"Wait…if you knew, then why did you lead us on like that?" Lute asked.
"Because we know you're not evil. You wouldn't try to hurt innocents." Marek spoke up. "But…we just wanted to avoid them being put in a situation where they could get hurt."
"You two were sent in here to be a distraction, right?" Bolt Junior asked.
"Ha…yeah. You caught us. We were supposed to cause a big ruckus while the others went after that golden coffin thing." Kenny F said.
This gave Bolt Junior and Marek pause. "Uh…what golden coffin thing?" they asked.
"The one hidden under Hex-Bolt's side of the factory." Lute said.
"That's the first I'm hearing about this…" Bolt Junior remarked. "Why would Hex need a coffin?"
Marek thought for a moment, before his eyes grew side. "BJ…you don't think…!" he started.
"…You guys better follow us." Bolt Junior said to the two kids. "We'll stop by the bathrooms so you can get changed. We're taking a look of this…"
Hex-Bolt barreled into his section of the factory. "Punke, is it still here?! Tell me he's still here!"
"Whoa, where's the fire?" Punke asked as he was watching Volcanion filling a hole with boiling water.
"We have kids in the building!" Hex-Bolt said. "Thay have to know about the coffin! They must've found our somehow!"
"What? A breach?" Punke questioned. "Any ideas on who?"
"We can hunt 'em down later! Quick, helpme turn the furnace on!" Hex-Bolt said as he ran to a nearby control panel. No time to do this discreetly…we'll habe to play dumb if they find evidence. Quick, get the coffin in the furnace!"
"Uh…we might be little crunched for time." Punke said, checking a camera. "Cause the kids are here."
"What?!" Hex-Bolt asked, checking the feed.
"They must have followed you." Punke said.
"Damn it!" Hex-Bolt cursed as he ran towards the center of the room where the coffin was. "Don't' just stand there! Order you Link to hold them off, and help me move this thing!"
"You kidding? Ain't no way Volcanion can take them on." Punke said, pulling out crystalball and retuning his partner. "Time to roll, big guy." he said as he took off.
"Punke, you cowardly bastard!" Hex-Bolt yelled at him.
"Ah, ah…I'm living cowardly bastard!" Punke yelled back as he leapt out another door.
"Great. Now I have to dispose of this thing myself." Hex-Bolt said, as he lugged the heavy coffin towards the gaping maw of the furnace. "Why did I make this thing our of gold!?"
"Perhaps…you were simply full of yourself." a voice said as sitting nearby and sipping tea was Virginia J.
"Who…who are you?" Hex-Bolt asked.
"I'm known as Vriginia…and I'm with the Team Solar Star." Virginia J said. "Now this has me curious. Why are you going out of your way to try destroy a vaulable piece of treasure? I mean, surely there is something…or someone inside, is there?"
"I…I don't know what you're talking about!" Hex-Bolt said. "This is just, uh…pyrite!"
"Little's gold? Well, that fits you perfectly, now doesn't it?" Virginia J said. "I mean, you are pretending to be someone you truly aren't. I'm I correct…Hexxus?" he asked.
Hex-Bolt was completely stunned. "How…how did you…"
"You shouldn't underestimate kids or solar guns. We have ways of obtaining information that isn't usually available to the public." Virginia J said. "Enlighten me. How did you manage to escape that tree of your?"
"…I'm sure you can figure it out…on the other side!" Hex-Bolt said as he raised his hand, the floor Virginia J shaking before a blast of boiling steam shot out from under him.
"Well now, that's just rude." he said, jumping to the ceiling as he started bouncing around the room. "At least have the manners to offer a cup of tea before trying to kill me."
"Grrr…Team Solar…Team Solar Star…I've worked…for too long to keep this hidden. I don't care if I have to destroy my entire sector. None of you…will leace here alive!" Hex-Bolt said.