"Are you the chef or the waiter?" Archibell asked with his hand to his bushy chin.

"Why yes," Dupree said, "What an essential question! Allow me to answer it with zis. Normally, I am zee head chef, but as of today, I am simply zee waiter. Why, you ask? Because arte eez cruel."

"Art is cruel?" Elise asked, feeling more curious than ever.

Bunting Dupree threw his hands forward. "Zee management is afraid that in a fit of rage, I would poison zee dishes!"

Everyone took a step back. Even Sincirce, who normally delighted in such evil affairs.

"Whoa," Tony cried. "Take it easy, pally! You're sounding as mad as this witch here, but without the er...assets."

Sincirce turned her rear to Tony and waggled it. "With a comment like that, fishhead. You can kiss my assets."

"Ignore their banter," Archibell said, "What would drive a relatively sane man to such a career of evil?!"

The chef took both his hands and curved them in an arc, making a heart shape. He turned bright red, removed his lollypop from his mouth and exclaimed, "LOVE!"

"Love for who?!" Sincirce asked with her eyebrows raised.

"Such a petite monsieur as Raz M. Taz," Bunting Dupree gushed. "Zee most eligible bachelor in the four great seas! He is even featured in his own apply titled stage show, Zee Razelor!"

"Isn't that the traveling show that visits islands and attempts to pair women and men up with Raz?" Tito asked with a smirk. "My mom got on there once."

"She did?!" Everyone and especially Elise asked

"Yep," Tito said with his hands on his hips. "The Hellohain edition. But she got kicked off. She was too reasonable and intelligent to cause drama."

"None of that matters, now kiddie," Bunting shouted. "Because of zee show, Raz and I had built up such a private relationship over wining and dining that I thought this would be eet. But instead, we were caught by the pictobox paparazzi and he quickly established a relationship with zat hussy, Sophia instead."

Sincirce narrowed her eyes. "I wouldn't waste your time, fryboy. Men like that ain't worth your time. And in my sweet short life, I've been married to 24 of em! They tell you what you wanna hear til they expect way more in return."

Sincirce strutted forward to the chef-turned-waiter. "And trust me, I'm a taker, not a giver."

"But...but…" Dupree said, vigorously sucking on his lollypop. "I truly thought what we had was special."

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Dupree shook his head. "No, I will not believe eet. I shall break up Sophia and Raz if eets the last thing I do!"

"That's fine by me," Sincirce said in her sultry voice. "I want that piece of my Diamond of Life back so whatever it takes, I'll do! Are you guys with me?"

"You really want us to help you break up a relationship?" Elise asked, her eyes wide.

"Speckles is right!" Tito said. "As icky as it is, who are we to come before true love?"

"I think I'm gonna watch from da sidelines for this all to go wrong," Tony said, shaking his fishy head. "And knowing Miss Sparkles here, dats a guarentee.

Sincirce growled and hissed. "I'm not gonna help you find anymore pieces of the Trident unless you help me and fryboy here!"

Archibell sighed. "Welp, looks like we have no choice. Operation: Heartbreak it is! So what's the plan?"

Dupree smirked evilly and huddled in close to them. "Fortunately, I've got just zee plan!"

***

Two bouncers dressed in pink and purple jumpsuits stood outside the Love Lounge. Most of the couples had headed inside, leaving only a few stragglers standing on the edge of the ferry. They kissed in the shadows as the Lyre's crew crept around. The stage was set for an assault of confusion, as Bunting had stated.

With Dupree and Sincirce climbing in stealthily through the second level of the boat, (they were both barred from the lounge) this left Archibell, Tito and Elise to enter through the normal way. And they did so clad as waiters.

Elise and Tito both walked with their tuxedos draping over their bodies. The only waiter clothes available to them were adult outfits and it made moving extremely cumbersome and awkward. Archibell's outfit afforded him much more dapper class than his children cohorts. He carried a platter concealing the most important member of Operation: Heartbreak, Tony the ring snatcher.

"Hold it!" one of the bouncers said as Archibell waltzed up to them with his usual lack of grace. "Who are you?"

"We're waiters!" Archibell said with his dish extended. "Yum yum! Bon appetit!"

The guard removed his sunglasses to showcase his very beady eyes. "Even these kids?"

“Kids?!” Archibell squawked. “Where I come from, we understand and appreciate that people come in all shapes and sizes. I guess that level of manners doesn’t exist here.”

“Look, take it easy, pal—“

Archibell raised his voice higher, drawing the attention of anyone within earshot. “How can I take it easy when such DISCRIMINATORY BEHAVIOR is tolerated in this establishment?!”

As more people began to ease drop on the outburst, the bouncer began to cave under the pressure. “Alright, alright! They can come in.”

“Now that’s more like it!” Before following his gang of disguised misfits back to the lounge, Archibell offered a few last words to the bouncer. “Look on the bright side. You said you were short-staffed. Well, now consider your staff to be, well…just short.”

In the dimly lit Love Lounge, Archibell sighed in relief. "Phew that was easier than I thought and…" without warning, he bumped into Cutepid.

"Wait a minute," the overgrown angel impersonator said, "You guys are waiters now?!"

Elise smiled and bounced up and down. "Yep! We serve everyone with lots of love!"

"Aww," Cutepid lisped. "Shoot me with my own arrow, that's so cute!"

The hulking man in a diaper bent over and leaned into Archibell's face. He traced his finger along the platter. "What exactly did you cook up in the kitchen of love, hot stuff?!

Archibell nervously tugged at his collar and took a step back, but that did not stop the Cutepid, the bringer-of-love lunged and grabbed the platter. He revealed Tony above a leafy turf and a grape stuffed in his mouth.

"Fresh fish?!" the Cutepid said with a hungry look in his black eyes.

"A la carte!" Archibell said, "Feel free to take a bite and…"

The Cutepid hungrily reached for Tony but right when he did, Tony spit out the grape. "A la carte?! I'll a la carte you off to jail, Archibell, for trying to feed me to this diaper man!"