Dawn has come and bugs and birds have come out to fill the air with their buzzes and calls. The bronze, orange and yellow hues of the sky are warped by the extensive cracks reaching over the horizon. The light shines on an abandoned factory; its brick and metal structures have crumbled and rusted with plants overtaking it, and what hasn't been reclaimed by nature has been covered with graffiti; some demonic, some vulgar, and some processing love to people doomed to heartbreak. The largest one is of a crowd of people trying to flee a city while being dissolved by a green cloud.
Next to the factory's visitor center (also caved in) is Jude and Kerry's car. The hood has blackened, engine fluids have stained the ground beneath, and rainwater has seeped into the wrecked seats. The passenger door is open, and Jude is slumped against the tire, eyes dim and mouth filled with foam.
Inside the car is Kerry, twitching and giggling. His hands quiver as he opens the tin. It is mostly empty now, but a few blue pills remain. He pops it in his mouth and swallows it dry; soon after, his eyes widen, and pupils dilate.
The world becomes brighter and warps. It glitters with colorful swirls rising around him as plants turn to pulsing colors and the old facility changes to colorful bricks with ghostly butterflies and shifting orbs floating around.
“Come home, Kerry,” says an orb, its voice a soothing whisper in his ears.
Multiple butterflies circle Kerry.
“Come see with us,” they say over each other. “Jude is here. He sees with us.”
“Where is Jude?” wonders Kerry, his eyes following the butterflies and orbs.
“Here I am!” says Jude.
Kerry looks to the side and sees a male figure made of orbs and butterflies congregate together. It doesn’t look like Jude, but it has his voice, so it must be Jude, and it holds out its hand to him.
“Come see with me,” says Jude.
Kerry smiles with tears in his eyes, and sweat rolls down his head, unaware of a feminine angelic figure approaching him from around the corner. As the figure approaches, Kerry holds out his hand to the butterflies and orbs, but a knock on his door causes his ears to perk and he turns his head to see a solid mass made of blotches of light and darkness rolling over each other, forming a female figure.
“Whoa... Are you an angel?” asks Kerry.
Then everything goes dark.
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Three suppressed gunshots and shattering glass echo in the vicinity, and three more suppressed gunshots follow soon after. The interior of the car is splashed with blood, and Kerry is slumped awkwardly in his seat with one shot in the head and two in the chest. Jude has the same pattern, despite him already being dead. But the shooter wanted to make sure they were not coming back.
As the blood soaks into the seat and ground, a slender prairie rattlesnake rummages through the vehicle. She has golden hair, red eyes, orange scales with brown spots on her body and a brown stripe leading from her forehead, covering her muzzle and going down her neck. She is dressed as a 1920s mobster with a hat and long coat and has a suppressed pistol in her holster and a rifle on her back. It doesn’t take her long to find the tin of Reel Sight, but she frowns when she finds only two pills remaining. She closes the tin tight and pulls out a radio hidden by her coat.
“Mortimer, this is Claribel, I found the thieves and the product. But the thieves helped themselves to a lot of Reel Sight,” says the snake, Claribel Belle Blair.
Her radio crackles, and lackadaisy voice breaks through.
“That's a shame. I talked to Rolland and Dacre, and they told me that they lost the stuff after they were attacked by the Hobo Warrior," says Mortimer Walters.
“Him again, huh?”
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Inside a dirty hotel room, where the nasty windows have given the light a brown tint, is Mortimer Walters. He is a male fox with his right side scarred and his right ear mangled. He is wearing a magician outfit, and is staring out the window, his eyes locked on a particular figure across the street. One hand is lightly holding the curtain while the other holds a raccoon mask.
On his bed is a large metal case with a lock and the winged DNA strand. The case is dented, and the symbol has faded from wear and tear, and it is surrounded by empty energy drink cans.
“Yeah. They also said Bazooka Bunny struck them and tried to kill the Hobo along with them,” says Mortimer.
“I see... Well, as much fun as it will be to take care of them now, I spent all night looking for this stupid car and I have other things I need to do today. We can deal with those two troublemakers tomorrow after we make a good plan,” says Claribel over the radio.
“Of course. I'll see you tomorrow. We'll take care of them then. Over and out,” says Mortimer.
He clicks off his radio and keeps his focus on Jayson, who is sitting on a bench, slouched from exhaustion, with a cup in hand and a sign that says: "DOWN ON LUCK. ANYTHING HELPS."
Nobody pays attention to him. And he doesn't notice Mortimer staring at him from a dirty window in the third story of the hotel across the street. Seeing the hobo’s filthy and starved state brings Mortimer to wonder how the twig has managed to cause so many problems, but he figures the people at the safehouse will be more specific with the troubles besides, “Douchebag with a stick keeps hitting us.”
And as Mortimer watches Jayson, a tall ram with red and white fur, bright blue eyes, wearing a tailored suit and golfer's cap stops to give Jayson a few dollars. Nothing remarkable.
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Outside, in the beautiful cool morning with sunlight shining down, Jayson is caught by surprise by the large sum of bills tossed in his cup. He looks up, curious to see the source of generosity, and sees a tall ram in a nice suit.
“There you go, ole chap. Get yourself some protein. You need it,” says the ram.
“Thank you, sir,” says Jayson.
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“No. Thank you.”
Jayson raises a brow, and the ram walks away, whistling. The ram rounds the corner, and Jayson shrugs and leaves his spot to go to a nearby food cart for a breakfast burrito. After buying the hotdog, Jayson sits down on his bench and watches the cars pass by. But as the commuters go about their business, Jayson notices Lexia sitting on a raised concrete bed, staring at him with a tight frown and eyes smoldering.
Cars pass by and the two keep eye contact. No one cares that Lexia is wearing her armor and has a bazooka on her back (or pistols or knives on her belt) or that Jayson has a cosmic wooden sword.
Jayson's heavy blue eyes drift around to look at something else, but they very quickly find their way back to Lexia.
As they stare at each other, a fox with a magician outfit and a raccoon mask with a wrapped case and a small cart. He sets up shop near Jayson and starts making animal balloons. This draws children and parents out from the ether.
After a few more cars pass, Lexia puts her hands to her mouth and screams, “I'M COMING OVER! DO NOT ASSAULT ME!”
Jayson mimics Lexia. "YOU SHOT ME WITH A ROCKET!”
“YOU STARTED IT!”
“DID NOT!”
“DID TO!”
“Just shut up and cross the damn road!” shouts a random guy down the sidewalk.
Lexia glares at him. “HEY, BUG OFF!”
“No you.” retorts the random guy.
Lexia huffs and crosses the street, ignoring the cars screeching to a stop and honking. Jayson stares at her with a twitching eye. When she reaches the other side, she stands next to him and puts her arm over his shoulder. This successfully sours his mood.
“Listen, I know we got off on the wrong foot, but I think we can use a break from hostilities for the afternoon,” says Lexia.
“We've been on the wrong foot since day one,” says Jayson.
“How's the saying go? Every day is a new day, so technically every day is day one, and the stress of this rivalry is really bad for us and-”
“You want to go to Samantha's Spa.”
“Yes, I do. I'm bored and there's no criminals for me to blow you up with.”
“I don't know. We had our agreement and it's not Sunday.”
“Jayson, please don't be a pill. I did not sleep good at all and-”
Jayson holds up his hand. “Stop! Don't…” He sighs heavily and reluctantly says, “I'll let you have the spa only on the condition that I get to go to Arty's Arcade.”
Lexia seethes and rubs her hair, and Jayson stares at her with a small smile twitching on his lips.
“Well, Lexia?” asks Jayson.
“Fine. I guess I'll let you go to Arty's Arcade,” says Lexia.
Jayson grins, slaps Lexia's shoulder, and hops away.
“Great! Enjoy getting pampered with mud,” says Jayson.
Lexia growls and yells after him. “I will! And that mud is a hundred times better than the mud you sleep in!”
“Whatever you say, mud lover!” hollers Jayson.
Lexia huffs and walks away; and Mortimer makes one more balloon in the shape of a snake. Then he bows to the impressed crowd of children and walks after Jayson with his metal case, leaving all his balloon stuff behind. Which is raided by the children.
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On the outskirts of Bliss Town is a rundown house. The colors have faded, the chimney is held in place with metal bands, and the warped glass is protected by a layer of razor wire. Even the doorframe has razor wire surrounding it; and nearby is a small playground with a warped swing set, a broken slide, and plants conquering the sandbox it stands in.
Inside, the rundown house is not much better. The lights vary from dim to bright, the wallpaper is peeling, the paint is stained, and the carpet has blotches of odd colors. The old color is unknown, but it would be a safe bet to guess it was a light gray at some point.
In the living room, Rolland, Dacre, Cyrus and Shae are playing Uno with their weapons laying nearby. They are sitting on the floor, using filthy couch cushions as seats while the TV is on mute.
The front metal door opens, spilling natural light into the room, and Claribel Belle Blair enters, pulling a large rolling suitcase that has another suitcase strapped on top of it.
Rolland's group snaps with their weapons aimed at Claribel, and her steps are slow and steady as she walks in and uses her tail to close the door.
Both sides stare at each other, but while Claribel is tired and somewhat relieved to have found the safe house, Rolland's group is shocked at what they are seeing.
"Dude... Is that a snake?" asks Dacre.
"I think that's a snake," says Cyrus.
"Where did she come from?" wonders Shae.
"Excuse me, miss, do you mind telling us who you are and why you're here?" says Rolland.
"Claribel Belle Blair. Mama Bear sent me here," says Claribel. "Where's Mortimer?"
"Mama Bear didn't say you were a snake," says Rolland.
"Is that going to be a problem?"
Rolland's group stares at Claribel, and she looks at them. Her eyes slowly narrow and her tail rattles as she puts her hand on her pistol holster. Several seconds of heavy heartbeats pass before Rolland shrugs and looks at his cards.
"Nah. We'll be fine. Do you want to play Uno?" asks Rolland.
"No. But I want to know where Mortimer is," says Claribel.
"The fox with the ugly face?"
Claribel's tail rattles again.
"Yeah, he showed up at midnight and set up his room," continues Rolland. "Then he took all of our energy drinks and left. Haven't seen him since."
Claribel takes a moment to process this, and then she thanks Rolland and walks past the group, her grip on her gear tight.
She goes down a hallway, leading to a set of stairs, and she begins her climb.
"Dude, she dresses weird like the other guy," says Dacre. He's trying to be quiet, but he is still speaking loud enough for Claribel to hear.
"Don't insult the snake. She'll bite you if you get her mad," says Cyrus.
"Just play your cards," says Rolland.
Claribel's posture droops slightly, and when she gets up the stairs, she goes down the hallway until she reaches her room, which is marked with a sign that reads, "Reserved for Claribel."
Claribel opens the door and enters a good-sized room with a simple bedroom set. She closes and locks the door, then places her suitcases on the bed. After that, she opens the top suitcase and pulls out a computer. She sets it up on the desk, then she opens the larger suitcase and removes her rifle.
"Heeeey Claaaaair~ How's it going?" asks Mortimer over the radio, his tone light and teasing.
Claribel sighs and pulls her radio off her belt.
"You were supposed to meet me at the safe house," says Claribel.
"You said you had other things to do."
"I know, but I also wanted to plan on how to find those two bunnies."
"Don’t worry about it. I've already taken care of it."
Claribel sits hard on the bed.
"They suck at hiding," continues Mortimer. "I'm trailing the Hobo now, but I overheard the Bazooka Bunny say she was going to Samantha's Spa."
"Thanks. I'll take care of her," says Claribel, her tone dejected.
"Dinner after?"
Claribel shakes her head. "No. I still got stuff to do. I'll see you when the job is done."
Claribel drops her radio on the bed, checks her equipment, then takes a deep breath and exits the room.