Justice Served!

@time-hoarded​:

While a certain hat-donning alien is out and about, another now-familiar screen approaches to bump against Mu's ankle in concern.

The bot catches her mid-tear. With a gasp, she sniffles to hide the droplets that dared show themselves away.

“...!”

She’d forgotten something... Something important.

The hum of the machinery on Tsii’s ship offered no help to her as to what. Like an itch she couldn’t quite scratch, it followed her.

She had all that she could possibly have needed to survive and more, what more could she want?

Though surrounded by colorful lights and patterns, it seemed like most other denizens of the ship were absent... Ah well, breakfast time it was.

After pouring herself a bowl of sugar-infused sugar squares followed by milk didn’t prove much help either. Yesterday was busy, filled to the brim with preparing several traps throughout “Mafia Town,” so, surely she could take a break, right? 

...What’s this? A digital clock and calendar working from her planet’s time?

Ah...

She was 11 years old, as of yesterday.

    HONESTLY, YOU’D THINK they would at least notice the lack of giant red letters that would typically be on one… Parker would laugh about it if the plan wasn’t time-sensitive. So then… manhole! Normally, he wouldn’t have any hope of being able to budge one of the covers, but this time around, he’s actually got some mass. And, while he still has no hope of lifting it empty-handed, he knew more than most how to make a tool out of anything. Tipping his hat to Mu, he moves to pick up a broken piece of pipe and a sizable enough rock.

❝Never been a quitter before! Why start?❞

    He doesn’t waste any time ( mostly because they had none to spare ), and sets up a makeshift lever to pry the cover off… It takes just about all his weight to manage it, and the pipe ends up bending some, but it does eventually lift…

    … And springs up on a hinge. Huh. He’s beginning to understand why Mu pointed it out. No time to ask about it yet, though, especially seeing as the sounds from down the road imply that the mafia was catching on to their little diversion. Kicking the remains of the lever away, Parker ushers Mu over and down the ladder leading down into the hole before following after her, closing the lid behind him in ( what he presumes to be ) the nick of time…

As the sounds of suspiciously empty barrels crashing filled the air, Mu hopped into the manhole right after Parker. Only seconds later did they hear the unmistakable rumble of the grouped footsteps of several angry muscular men. Though both could hear the shouts, it didn’t seem like they were any closer to finding them.  

“Nice, Parky-Park,” she celebrated with an excited whisper! “As EXPECTED of our little squadron’s tactics master!”

She dusted off her cape with a little smirk... Though it was an underground waterway, it seemed far improved from a traditional sewage system. The sound of rushing water crashed along the inside of steel machines. Steel pipes branched out into a complex network. In spite of everything, the underground seemed no dirtier than the surface.

The newly-birbed Mu hops about, after waiting for the ruckus above to die down.

“...Well! I’d say this worked out nicely, aheh. I DO know where we’re gonna be going through here, but, uh... You should know something. We actually might pass by some of... the others. And, ah... it’s been a little while since I’ve last seen them.”

She gulped.

The young girl’s staring is quickly interrupted by Valoren’s compliment. She puffed up her chest, a clipboard in one hand and the other on her hip.

“Hmph! You’ve got a good eye, don’tcha, prettybird?”

The clipboard comes around as she flips through the many pages printed with the pictures of owls, penguins, and other birdfolk... Before finally stopping on one.

“Judgin’ by your look, you must be... Valoren, yeah?”

With a pen, she quickly makes a checkmark next to his entry, and proudly displayed her staff badge.

    PARKER’S NOT REALLY sure how to take the ‘cute’ comment, so he doesn’t think about it too hard ( though he can’t help his cheeks flushing a bit at it ). Instead, his gaze follows Mu’s hand out to the street. Empty barrels, an incline… The basic pieces are all together, but what sort of tactician was he if he can’t refine the idea some more?

    New body or not, Parker’s mind is as sharp as ever, and he carefully slides off the crates, taking a moment to balance himself before making his way to the barrels in question. A quick lift of the lids confirm them to be empty, and for the first time since this change, Parker sports a little smile.

❝… If we really want them to clear out, we’re going to have to scare them good. I have an idea!❞

    Parker moves to cup his hands and scoop a few handfuls of sand into each ( Luckily, there’s enough lying along the walls of the alley. Ah, the perks of living in a seaside town ) before patting the lids down securely and testing one by slowly rolling it without letting go. And sure enough…

    With each increment the barrel rolls, it almost seems to hiss…

A few moments later, just a block down, a pair of large men share highly intelligent tales of their past triumphs.

“And that’s when Mafia tell him, ‘but actually, Mafia DO punch!’ And so Mafia did!”

CLONK!

“Whuh...?”

Hissss...SSSS....ssss...SSSS....! 

“GAH! TNT!? RUUUUUN!”

Like clockwork, Parker’s plan worked: With how much explosives their little syndicate loved to use, it is comical just how unsurprising it would be for a stray barrel to come rolling down an incline.

“KAHAHA!! NICE one Parky-Park!!”

With a hearty pat-on-the-back, Mu took him by the hand with her wing. Quick and adaptable! They knew they could rely on each other even during wild changes!