Noise sighed, stretching her arms like someone settling in for a long-winded explanation.

"The arrival of this gentleman here," she said, tilting her head toward B.O.R.I.S, "caused an unexpected equilibrium shift. Mathematics tends to respect nature, and I—well, I represent a bit of that balance. I've been in this instance for a good few centuries, just to ensure my... harvest."

Lupa narrowed her eyes.

"Harvest?"

Noise smiled.

"Oh, yes. This planet is one of the cradles of galactic farms."

Romulus stiffened.

"You're saying Earth is... a farm?"

"Not all of it," Noise corrected. "But yes, this little blue rock is quite young, and someone has to make sure it stays put. Otherwise, things get messy. So, I manage the herd."

A tense silence.

"And what exactly are you harvesting?" Remo asked.

Noise's grin widened.

"Baleias."

Everyone blinked.

"Whales?" Hermes repeated.

"Oh, don't look at me like that. They're magnificent, aren't they? And I'm having a hell of a time making sure these beauties store my treasures properly."

Lupa was the first to recover.

"You mean to tell me," she said, voice slow and deliberate, "that you've been on this planet for centuries just to... collect whales?"

Noise's expression didn't change.

"Correct."

Zerox scoffed. "And here I thought No Nation was the biggest problem on Earth."

Noise waved a hand dismissively.

"Oh, the humans? You lot barely register on the cosmic scale. It's the unexpected variables that make things complicated."

She turned, finally acknowledging Boris directly.

"Like him."

B.O.R.I.S had been silent, shifting slightly as if he were deciding whether to remain or flicker back into his painting.

Noise smirked.

"You cause a lot of problems, you know that?"

B.O.R.I.S didn't respond.

"Your arrival forced an old agreement back into effect," Noise continued, "which technically isn't even valid anymore, but nobody ever reads the fine print on ancient interplanetary contracts."

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Lupa crossed her arms. "What agreement?"

"The one that says children can't be used as working variables in interdimensional treaties," Noise said matter-of-factly. "And you all were shoved into the equation way too fast. You aged unnaturally, and now you're trying to solve a problem that wasn't meant for you."

She glanced back at Boris.

"Your parents should've known better."

B.O.R.I.S shifted again.

*"Ah, speaking of that—" Noise snapped her fingers. "Aren't you going to tell them your real name?"

B.O.R.I.S didn't move.

"No?" Noise shrugged. "Fine, keep being a walking copyright violation."

Hermes snorted.

"Anyway," Noise continued, "B.O.R.I.S here was born on a little place called Antena. It's part of a monitoring system that keeps track of transmissions from The Accord—you know, the thing that stops planets from getting wiped out when they start acting up."

She paced a little.

"But B.O.R.I.S's parents weren't exactly rule followers. His mother took one look at what he could do—solving a basic foundational equation inside her womb, mind you—and realized that he wasn't safe there."

She gestured vaguely at the air.

"So, she ran. And she picked a destination based on the only thing that made sense to her—a frequency."

Lupa's breath caught.

"Nina Simone."

Noise nodded.

"Her voice reached him first. A resonance. A signal. A proof of existence. That was enough."

She turned back to B.O.R.I.S.

"Too bad she didn't account for how much of a mess you'd make once you got here."

Hermes, arms crossed, smirked at Boris.

"I mean, what else do you expect from a guy who hides in paintings?"

Noise grinned. "Exactly. He jumped into this reality, broke the natural order, and now we've got a batch of half-processed variables—" she gestured to the triplets "—trying to hold the seams of this place together."

Lupa exhaled.

"And you?"

Noise tilted her head.

"Me? Oh, I'm just making sure the planet doesn't implode. I built thUNDERnet as a failsafe. But as for why I'm here now?"

She smirked.

"Someone's got to make sure you lot don't break the damn place before I finish my harvest."

The triplets exchanged a glance.

Zerox shook his head.

"This is the most insane day of my life."

Hermes chuckled.

"Oh, sweet summer child, it only gets worse."

Noise clapped her hands together.

"Speaking of that—what the hell do you people call this bunker-city thing, anyway?"

Before anyone could answer, Hermes lazily threw out—

"It's Toc. You know, like the banned app?"

Noise barked out a laugh.

"Fitting."

She exhaled sharply, then brought two fingers to her lips and whistled.

It wasn't a normal whistle.

The sound reverberated through the air, warping the atmosphere, carrying an undertone so deep it felt like a tremor.

Outside, the ground shook.

Lupa took an instinctive step back. A deep rumbling echoed through the ice, growing louder, until—

A crater opened.

From its depths, something massive emerged.

Ticktock.

Noise grinned.

"And here she is."

The whale was colossal, a gleaming, biomechanical being, its skin marked by ancient patterns like circuitry carved into its flesh.

Zerox barely found his voice.

"What the actual—"

"Meet Ticktock," Noise interrupted. "Or, as she prefers to be called, Titi. She's the first of her kind. And when she gives her last bloom... well, you don't want to be here for that."

She patted the air, as if comforting something that was too large to be understood.

"You'll need her," Noise said. "She has the best signal of all of us. And she'll make sure your planet doesn't get banned."

A silence stretched over the group.

Noise dusted off her hands.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a global warming crisis to deal with."

She paused, then turned back, her gaze locking onto Zerox.

"But before I go, you should know something."

She gestured vaguely to Titi.

"I didn't just bring her here to show off. I need you—all of you. The minds of the Federation. This thing you call a mutation? It wasn't supposed to happen to you. That power belonged to them first. To the whales."

She tapped her temple.

"And now that it's in human hands, I need to make sure it doesn't get wasted. Especially not with Y sitting on the other side of the world, playing god while his son is right here in my city."

She turned to Romulus.

"And you? You'd better start fixing the mess she made when she got here. Your little bunker just took a hit."

Then, with a final wave, Noise was gone.