Keiko found herself engrossed in another conversation with Daiana while holed up in her hotel room. She liked talking with Daiana. It was a great way to pass time around here. She could tell that Daiana enjoyed talking to her as well. It was hard not to. Keiko was grateful for the distraction. She was bored and lonely and stressed from being trapped in an arranged loveless marriage to a supervillain's son, and Daiana's company was a welcome change. In fact, Keiko was thankful to have found someone like Daiana in her life. Keiko was thankful for Daiana's understanding and support. She felt safe talking to her, and Daiana was always willing to listen to her and give her advice. Keiko hoped to someday spend the rest of her life with her.

For now, Keiko cherished these conversations as a rare bright spot, an oasis of human connection in an otherwise bleak situation. She was definitely going to need it when she wasn't going to be saved any time soon.

"What's life like in Sao Paulo?" Keiko asked Daiana at one point.

Daiana laughed and replied, "It's amazing! We have beautiful beaches, great shopping, and an amazing nightlife."

Keiko smiled, knowing that she had something to look forward to when she got out of here.

"Are there a lot of pretty girls like you down in Sao Paulo?" Keiko ventured further.

Daiana blushed and replied, "Yes, there are definitely a lot of beautiful girls in Sao Paulo. It's a great place to live if you want to meet people."

Keiko instantly blushed back. "Oh my God, I can't believe I just asked that!"

"What? What do you mean? What was wrong with it?"

"...never mind."

Daiana was still confused by Keiko's outburst, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to ask any further questions about it, so she kept quiet instead. Keiko then quickly changed the subject, and the conversation moved on to something else. Daiana was relieved, but she also felt a bit disappointed by the move. She hoped that Keiko would open up more soon. For now, she just wanted to make sure Keiko was feeling as comfortable as possible.

Suddenly, they heard loud knocking at the door.

Daiana was caught off-guard by the sound. "Who is it?"

"It's me, Iggy!" replied a disembodied feminine voice. "I'm here to save you!"

Daiana was momentarily confused by what Iggy could've meant until she realized that she must've been referring to Keiko.

"Uh..." Daiana hesitated for a moment. "Come on in... Iggy."

Iggy barged in, startling both Daiana and Keiko. Keiko's face lit up upon seeing the tan golden-blonde woman and rushed over to her. Iggy proceeded to embrace Keiko in her arms and comfort her.

"Iggy, I can't believe you came!" Keiko exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Your dad and grandma recruited me, Aurelia, Flavia, Genie, and Delilah to come with and save you," Iggy explained.

"Cool." Keiko paused. "So where's the rest of you?"

Iggy thought for a moment before explaining everything that had happened up to this point; including how she had to separate from Aurelia, Flavia, Genie, and Delilah in order to cast less suspicion on herself.

"Oh meu Deus!" Daiana exclaimed. "Did you actually kill those guys?"

"I'm pretty sure we did with the first one," Iggy replied. "The second guy, I think, will be fine. He's just knocked out, that's all."

"I see. I want to come with you."

Iggy's face lit up. "Wait, really?"

"Yeah, I wanna help you guys out. My family and I are only working for Lord Stingray because he threatened us."

"Alright. Well, the more, the merrier. Let's go!"

The first thing Keiko, Daiana, and Iggy did as soon as they escaped was try to find Aurelia, Flavia, Genie, and Delilah again. They knew they had to act quickly and cautiously if they wanted to find their friends and get out of here in one piece.

"Alright, guys, now what?" Daiana asked. "Where do we go from here?"

"We're going to have to stick together and head downstairs," Iggy replied. "We'll have a better chance of finding them that way."

Daiana nodded in agreement, understanding the urgency of the situation they were in. And so, without further hesitation, the trio headed off towards an elevator shaft. Once they'd made it to their destination, Iggy pushed a button to go down and waited for the doors to slide open before stepping inside. Keiko and Daiana proceeded to follow close behind, not wanting to waste any more time. As the trio stepped into the elevator, a sense of anticipation filled the air. Daiana glanced around, taking note of their surroundings. The space was dimly lit, but she could make out the control panel on the side of the wall. Iggy reached out and pressed the button, setting the elevator in motion.

Keiko shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her eyes darting around nervously. "Do you think we'll make it in time?"

Iggy gave a curt nod. "We have to. There's too much at stake to fail now." Her expression was resolute, her determination palpable.

Daiana placed a reassuring hand on Keiko's arm. "We've come this far. We can't turn back now." Her tone was calm and steady, an anchor in the midst of the uncertainty they faced.

Eventually, the elevator stopped, and the trio proceeded to file out.

"Alright, now what?" Keiko asked. "Where do you think they could be around here?"

"No idea," Iggy replied. "But let's keep looking."

Determined to find their friends again, the trio pressed on with the search. Nothing was more important now than finding them. That's what they told themselves anyway. Even so, it was hard to stay focused. As they navigated through the ground floor of the hotel, Keiko caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of her eye. She signaled Daiana and Iggy, and they cautiously approached the source of the movement. To their relief, it was Aurelia, Flavia, Genie, and Delilah sitting together at a table at the MGM Grand Buffet.

"Holy shit, finally!" Keiko exclaimed upon seeing them. "I didn't think we'd ever find you."

The group rushed over to their friends, relieved to have finally located them. Aurelia, Flavia, Genie, and Delilah looked up in surprise as the trio approached them.

"Neither did we," Delilah replied. She then pointed at Daiana. "By the way, who's that?"

"Huh?" Keiko's face suddenly lit up. "Oh, this is Daiana! Arkady assigned her to me so I couldn't just escape, but she and I get along great. She even offered to join us."

Delilah squinted her eyes at the newcomer. "How do I know she's not planning to betray us later?"

Daiana met Delilah's skeptical gaze with a steady look. "I understand your concern, but I assure you that my loyalty lies with you guys now. I'm here to help, not to cause harm."

As the group settled down at the table, they quickly caught up on what had transpired since their separation. Aurelia shared details of their encounter with security guards and how they narrowly escaped being caught. Flavia, on the other hand, discussed how she and the others had managed to come up with a plan to deal a severe blow to Lord Stingray and his cult.

"And what is this plan, pray tell?" Keiko asked curiously.

"Well, I don't wanna tell you just yet," Flavia replied.

"What? Why not?"

"Well, it's a secret. Plus, I'd rather we implement it once we reunite with Mistress and your dad."

Keiko's confidence deflated a little. "Uh, okay?"

"Look, it's gonna work. You gotta trust me on this. We've come too far to risk losing everything now."

"Alright, I trust you. I just wish you didn't have to be so cagey about the plan."

Flavia gave a confident smirk. "Don't worry. You'll see soon why we wanted to keep it a secret."

Ethan called Europa, Ephraim, Jonah, Kendra, Clint, and Xenobia into his office to discuss something important between them. He'd just gotten off the phone with Flavia regarding a plan she wanted him and the rest of Superjail to be involved in.

"Okay, so what is this plan anyway?" Jonah asked. "What's so important about it that you felt the need to share it with us?"

"I'm glad you asked, Jonah," Ethan replied. "You remember those kamikaze Jailbots Dad rushed out to help win the Superjail War all those years ago?"

"No."

"Oh. Well, anyway, I was hoping that we could bring them back this one time and weaponize them against Lord Stingray and his cult."

"I still can't believe your father would think to build suicide-bombing robots in the first place."

Ethan shrugged. "Well, that was Dad for you."

"Are you sure this plan will work?" Kendra chimed in. "I mean, this is Lord Stingray we're talking about here. This guy has operated a terrorist organization for years. He could easily overpower us if need be."

Ethan shook his head. "Nope, no idea. I'd do anything to save my family, though."

"Okay, but let's keep in mind that a lot could go wrong."

"Of course a lot could go wrong! You don't think I know that?" Ethan sighed. "Even so, I really want us to help fight these people. We can't let them get away with what they did to Keiko. What they did to her was absolutely deplorable and unforgivable. They need to be punished, Arkady especially. I want that son of a bitch to pay for what he's done."

Xenobia nodded. "Well said, Ethan. These people should never see the light of day again."

"Alright, it's settled, then." Ethan quickly got up out of his chair and climbed up onto his desk. "Now let's take down Lord Stingray, hopefully once and for all!"

Everyone else started cheering despite their uncertainty that the plan would even work.

In the casino section of the MGM Grand, Arkady was currently deep into a conversation he was having with his father and his younger brother Yevgeny. Arkady was concerned that Keiko still wasn't accepting their marriage, even after he'd tried everything to convince her how much of a good thing this was for them. Yevgeny could understand where he was coming from. He reminded Arkady that Keiko was stubborn and bull-headed and that he needed to give her time and space to come to her own decision.

Arkady rolled his eyes. "That's just it, Yevgeny. She's too stubborn to accept all this. We could give her all the time and space she needs, but she's never going to come around to it."

"Well, have you thought about why that might be?" Yevgeny asked. "There might be something about her that you've been missing."

Arkady paused, considering Yevgeny's words. He furrowed his brow, then shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I'm not her type."

Yevgeny smirked. "Well, just because you're not her type doesn't mean-"

Before Yevgeny could finish his sentence, an explosion could be heard from above them.

"W-What was that?" Yevgeny asked, startled by the noise.

Lord Stingray shrugged. "I don't know. Must be someone hitting the jackpot or something."

Arkady's face grew pale. "Uh, Dad, I don't think that was a jackpot..."

As if on cue, they heard another explosion going off above them. It couldn't be, could it? Could it? Soon after, yet another explosion went off. This time, it blew off a chunk of the ceiling, which landed on several people and reduced them to nothing but blood splatters across the ground.

"Oh my God!" Yevgeny yelled out. "We're being attacked!"

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock," Arkady replied. "We gotta get out of here or we'll die."

Yet another explosion went off and blew off more chunks from the ceiling. Not wanting to become a new pair of corpses, Arkady and Yevgeny started to bolt out of the building before realizing that their father wasn't following them. In fact, he seemed to be running in the opposite direction.

"Dad!" Arkady gasped. "Where are you going?!"

"Anywhere that's not here!" Lord Stingray replied. "Go find your mother and get out of here!"

As tempted as he was to stop where he was and just watch his father run away, Arkady forced himself to keep going instead and trail behind Yevgeny, who by now was leaps and bounds ahead of him. For seemingly miles and miles, they ran and ran as the ceiling collapsed and crushed people around them. Neither of them had any idea who was attacking them or why. That wasn't important right now, however. All they needed to focus on right now was escaping. Arkady and Yevgeny eventually made it to the exit and out into the fresh air. Arkady stopped and looked back, knowing that it was only a matter of time before the building crumbled behind them.

"Alright, we're outside," Yevgeny said. "Now what? Where could Mama have gone?"

Arkady shook his head. "I don't know, but we need to find her soon. I hope we're not too late."

"Why don't we check Elite Medical Center? It's possible someone took her there."

"Okay, sounds good to me. Let's go."

They began to sprint off towards Elite Medical Center as a first resort. They didn't know for sure if that was where she was, but they weren't sure where else they could go to find her. Upon walking into the building, they were shocked to find Daiana, Iggy, Aurelia, Flavia, Genie, Delilah, Eddie, and Mistress standing there and horizontally lined up in defensive poses.

"Daiana?" Yevgeny asked, confused by her presence. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be guarding Keiko."

Daiana crossed her arms, her face unwavering. "I am. Keiko's safer with me than she is with you."

Arkady cocked his head to the side. "Oh yeah, why's that?"

"I know what you're gonna do to her if I leave you alone with her," Daiana replied. "In fact, if I were you, I'd leave right now before somebody got hurt."

Arkady gave Daiana a sinister smirk. "Oh yeah, and how would you know, Daiana? Can you see into the future or something? I can do it, too. In fact, I predict that something bad will happen if you don't let us see Keiko right now."

Daiana still didn't budge. "I'd like to see you try."

Instantly, Arkady threw the first punch, but Daiana quickly caught it and pushed him onto the floor. Arkady just as quickly got up and prepared to throw another punch, only to get blocked again. As he got up again, however, he headbutted her in the pelvis and she reeled back in pain.

"That's a real underhanded move, Arkady," Daiana growled under her breath. "Real underhanded."

"Yeah, but you knew that when we hired you and your family," Arkady replied.

As if in the blink of an eye, the rest of the eight-person group rushed forward and started pouncing on the two brothers, barely letting them get a punch or kick in. However, for every punch or kick they could land, Arkady and Yevgeny were able to connect them to their opponents and send waves of pain rippling through them. However, the eight-person group was undeterred and kept fighting regardless. Indeed, nothing seemed to slow the eight down even as they kept fighting and fighting. It wasn't until several minutes had passed that Keiko had emerged from wherever she'd gone and noticed the fight in progress. Upon catching a glimpse of her, Arkady and Yevgeny stopped fighting.

"Keiko..." Arkady practically breathed out. "I was wondering what had happened to you."

He started inching towards her. With every step forward he took, she took a step back.

"No," Keiko could only say. "Please, get away from me. Get away from me!"

"Keiko, please," Arkady begged. "Come back to me. We can work this out."

"No, don't touch me!"

"Keiko, I only want to do what's right by you."

"No, you want to do what's right by you."

Arkady stopped in his tracks, tears welling up in his eyes. "I only want what's best for you, Keiko. Please, don't leave me."

Keiko scoffed. "Nice try. Those crocodile tears aren't going to move me."

Mistress took this as an opportunity to step forward and intervene. "Arkady, you better leave her alone. She's made it clear that she wants nothing to do with you."

Suddenly, Arkady pulled out a gun and pointed right in Mistress's direction. "I'm sure this will convince her otherwise."

Keiko widened her eyes. "Arkady, no. Don't do this."

"Oh yeah, and why not?" Arkady asked tauntingly.

"You know damn well why not."

"Show me then, bitch."

Keiko lunged forward and tackled him to the ground. Unfortunately, while she did so, the gun went off and shot Mistress in the throat. Almost immediately, Mistress doubled over and started coughing up blood and gasping for air. She then collapsed to the floor, still gasping for air and bleeding out. Keiko looked over her shoulder and, to her horror, saw that her grandmother spewing blood from the bullet wound in the throat and from her mouth.

"Oh no, Grandma," Keiko muttered, her voice having grown hoarse. "Grandma, no. No, you can't do this to me right now. Not now, not now!"

Keiko quickly crawled over to where Mistress was and cradled her in her arms.

"Grandma, please, you can't die on me now," Keiko begged her. "You can't die on me, not after everything you've been through..."

Mistress wanted to say something, but couldn't. The bullet wound had not only left her slowly suffocating to death, but unable to speak or even articulate herself.

"Grandma, please, you can't die," Keiko repeated. "I won't allow it! We can still make it! We can fix this!"

Aurelia, Flavia, Iggy, Eddie, Genie, and Delilah couldn't do anything but watch in horror and shock as Keiko kept pleading with her grandmother not to die on her. After what felt like hours on end, Mistress's body eventually gave out and she died.

"Grandma, please!" Keiko was now yelling out to her. "You can't die right now! We still need you! We still need you to lead us!"

Delilah gingerly placed a hand on Keiko's shoulder. "Keiko, please, stop. It's over. She's gone."

No one had been prepared to bring Mistress back home in a body bag, nor were they prepared to face the reality of Eddie being the new world dictator. Eddie, for his part, was still in shock over this whole thing. He was so sure that his mother would still be here to guide him and help Keiko towards their futures in leadership, but with her gone, he now had to face that task by himself. Of course, he wasn't entirely alone on that front. He still had Jared, Charise, Alice, Bruce, Daiana, and just about everyone else to help him; but it just didn't feel the same without his parents there. This wasn't fair! He shouldn't have to groom Keiko for world dictatorship without them! Why couldn't they still be here to help him? It didn't seem right.

Despite being taught from a young age that death came for everyone and that no one could fight it, it still threw him for a loop from time to time. This, of course, was one of those times. He felt lost, confused, and angry. He wanted to lash out and do something, but he knew that it was futile. All he could do was accept that he was an orphan now and move on with his life. He knew that his parents would be proud of him no matter what, and that he'd be able to handle his new role as world dictator. He only wished that they could have been here to see him take on his responsibility.

As for Keiko herself, she was still in shock that her grandmother was gone. She couldn't help but blame herself for how it all went down. Perhaps the only silver lining to come out of it was that Arkady and Yevgeny had been apprehended and were being transferred to Superjail, where Ethan would surely make an example out of them. Keiko knew that she had to be strong for her father and the rest of her family, and that she'd somehow find a way to cope with her grief. She was determined to make sure that her family's legacy would continue through her and her father and that her grandparents could rest in peace. She was determined to make sure that Mistress's death was not in vain and she could be proud of her from the afterlife. However, only time could tell how she could do this without sacrificing her dignity or her childlike innocence. It wouldn't be easy, though.