Wyatt, Lucy, and Boyd sat inside a breakfast diner that was posted on the side of the highway. Wyatt had driven all night with no idea where they were going, and to make matters worse, they were still in the desert which just made the situation more unnerving for Wyatt in particular. It made it seem like they were still close to Duckburg though they weren't at all.
Based on the environment, Wyatt guessed they were in Arizona and close to New Mexico. But he honestly had no idea.
Lucy was busy coloring the children's menu and across from her, Boyd was picking at his breakfast food. Though he made sure to make a smiley face with the bacon and eggs before eating. Eventually he looked up at Wyatt. "Do you know where we're going yet?"
Wyatt shook his head. "No I don't. But I think the further we are from Duckburg, the better. I-if anyone has a preference as to where we should drive to next, let me know." All that he ordered was a coffee and a few biscuits, though he hardly touched them. He wasn't in the mood to eat, he was too stressed.
Lucy quickly tracked their location and they were indeed in Arizona. She started to research local cities. "How about we stop at Albuquerque, New Mexico? It is only three hours and thirty three point four minutes away. We do not have to stay there, but I believe it would be a good place to let you and Boyd get some rest. It has a population of 560,218. A high enough number for us to stay under cover easily."
Boyd nodded. "Yeah, I am pretty tired. I have trouble sleeping in cars."
Wyatt nodded too. "Okay yeah. That sounds like a good plan." He took out his phone long enough to set directions to Albuquerque before putting it away. He had never been to New Mexico before so he was trying to look on the bright side of this awful situation and see it as a very odd road trip.
After that he stared blankly at his coffee for a little while, Lucy laid her hand on top of his to grab his attention, catching him very off guard.
"How is your face?"
He had no idea what she was talking about until he remembered he got beat the shit out of. God. He probably looked terrible. He didn't need to look in the mirror to know he was still swollen.
He touched his face and immediately winced from the pain. "O-oh right. It's fine I guess. It'll heal in a few days so it's nothing to worry about."
Lucy studied him for another moment before removing her hand to go back to coloring.
The bell above the entrance went off again like it did every other second. The place was packed to the rim like every diner at 8 am on a Saturday.
Boyd didn't know why, but he had the urge to look up and so he did. His definitely real boy heart dropped as he realized who it was.
Some of his bad memories may have been erased on the cruise ship, but he still had a few of Steelbeak. He knew enough. 1) that he was bad and 2) that he had beaten him and Lucy/Ellie all those years ago.
It suddenly clicked. Steelbeak had to have been the man looking for them. Mr. B knew Steelbeak all this time!
It was obvious Steelbeak was speaking with someone else but Boyd couldn't see who, and the panic that overtook him didn't let him care enough. He looked at both Wyatt and Lucy, dropping his fork onto the table.
They both noticed Boyd's sudden change in mood. Wyatt spoke up first "Boyd? What's wrong?"
"Um... we should leave this place."
"How come?"
Boyd discreetly gestured to Steelbeak and whispered. "That guy is bad. He's the one looking for us! I think... I think they found us."
Wyatt's face turned pale. "Wha- how?! O-okay let's figure out how to leave without drawing any attention to ourselves." Wyatt started to prop their menus up on the table, having them block their faces from anyone who might look their way.
Lucy was very confused. "Wouldn't propping menus up draw more attention to ourselves?" She realized now wasn't the time. "No matter. Boyd, how do you know it is him?"
"It was a long time ago but he was someone who hurt me and my old family. He's very dangerous and really scary." Boyd continued to whisper. There were some memories of Steelbeak Boyd had erased from his mind but there was enough there to remember just how awful Steelbeak was to him.
He was about to stand up when Lucy grabbed his hand as a warning.
"No." She scanned the area quickly. "If we attempt to leave, there is a 71.856 percent chance they will catch us in their peripheral vision. The best we can do is wait here for now and act as calm as possible."
Wyatt started to hyperventilate. "Oh god, oh god, oh god."
Ironically, Steelbeak was seated at the booth directly across from theirs. Wow. Just like the Emperor's New Groove.
He cleared his throat. "So, uh, how do you know they're going this way? You got some stalker energy or some shit. For real."
Lucy looked at Boyd again. "Who is speaking to?"
Boyd shrugged as he tried to look for himself. He had the best view compared to Lucy and Wyatt so it was up to him to find out.
When he saw who it was, he shook his head for a moment and looked again to make sure he was seeing right. It was a suit wearing cockroach with a metal antennae and a tiny menu? That wasn't what he was expecting.
He looked back at Lucy. "It's a cockroach..."
"Pardon?"
"A cockroach."
Lucy continued to give him a strange look before going back to listening in on the conversation along with Wyatt and Boyd.
Kyle already knew what he was going to order. Scrambled eggs. His favorite. "I guess you could call it that. I mean, I was able to hunt down Ellie for years and each time I've been successful. We can't be too far away from them... I can feel it."
"Whatever man, you're crazy." Steelbeak was looking through the children's menu. He was probably going to order one of everything as well as choccy milk.
"No I'm not!" Kyle huffed "Look, you don't like me and I don't like you... but we have to work together so we can find those three as soon as possible. Mr. B is starting to get pissed and I may have only known him for a short time, but I know that I don't want to get on his bad side."
"Hey, we're following your directions, remember? If Mr. B has a problem with that then it's all on you! Not me. I'm not easy to squish under his boot."
After their waitress came by and placed their order, Kyle continued the conversation. "So Mr. B mentioned to me on the phone a while ago that apparently Mark Beaks had just paid for Ellie. So when we find her, we have to bring her to him? Doesn't seem right. I mean, if Mr. B already took his money, why should we actually do what the guy wants?"
"WHAT?!"
Tables nearby turned to stare for a moment before going back to their conservative family conversations.
Steelbeak cleared his throat to get himself under control. "I don't care how scary Mr. B is, he told you it's in our hands now, didn't he? So we do what we want. I didn't wait all these years just to give her back to Mark fucking Beaks. Oh no. We're getting our revenge whether Mr. B likes it or not. I'm sure we can agree on that." He growled. "Black Heron gave me her memories so I have the flash drive in my pocket. I'm sure that'll come in handy at some point. Anyway, what do you want to do to her? Anything in mind?"
He hated to admit it, but Kyle's equal hatred for Ellie made him more respectable in Steelbeak's mind. He wasn't that bad, even if he was just some stupid cockroach.
"Okay, this is going to sound stupid. Just spitballin' ideas right now. What if we got this giant metal boot and used it to step on Ellie? It can be revenge and payback for what she did to me all those years ago. She'll get a taste of her own medicine!" Kyle did a cliche evil laugh but it could barely be heard due to how tiny he was.
Steelbeak nodded "Okay okay we can roll with that. She stabbed me multiple times so we can maybe add knives to the bottom of the boot."
"GREAT IDEA!"
Why the hell did Mr. B think it was a great idea to send these two idiots out to look for them?
Steelbeak started to play tic tac toe with himself on the coloring book. He lost. "Alright so we have a great plan for Ellie. What about Boyd and Wyatt? I don't know this Wyatt guy so I'm not sure what kind of torture would be best suited for him."
Kyle shrugged. "Who gives a shit about him? We can just tear his limbs off like you beings do to my people." People more commonly tore legs off of spiders and not roaches but whatever. "Oh. I think he has a thing for Ellie from what Mr. B told me so we can use that somehow too."
Okay. Maybe the two weren't that stupid.
"As for Boyd... that little bastard replaced me. So it's gotta be bad." Kyle said that like his other two ideas weren't terrible ways to die.
Needless to say, Steelbeak raised a brow. "He replaced you?"
Kyle shut his mouth. Shit.
He thought for a moment, wondering if he should tell Steelbeak the whole story. He gave in since they were becoming friends.
"Ellie took me in at Camp Godgold. She was like a mother to me... but as soon as Boyd came along she rid of me like I was nothing. If it wasn't for Boyd, I would still have a happy family with loving parents. Like I said, he's a little bastard that's getting the same amount of torture as Ellie."
Steelbeak started to laugh really loud. A lot of the other people in the cafe started to stare at him again. "Seriously?! Aw man... Camp GodGold... that was such a fun time. I hosted death tournaments every day until that plague ruined everything. It was fucking crazy! You should've been there!"
"I WAS THERE!"
"Oh yeahhhhhhhh!"
Their food had just arrived and neither one of them said 'thank you' to the waitress. They were truly evil.
"Ya know... I say we take the kid apart and kinda turn him into some mutant. Like the kid did in that toy movie. What's it called?"
Kyle thought for a moment. "Toy Story?"
"YEAH!"
"PERFECT!" Kyle rubbed his little cockroach hands together. "OOOOooooh, you know what'd be another good idea? You forced Ellie to love you at one point, right? You should totally do that again. That'd be hilarious! AND THEN WE SQUISH HER WITH THE SHOE RIGHT AFTER YOU MAKE OUT WITH HER! MUAHAHAHA- wait hold on. Waitress? Yes. I would like a tinier fork."
The waitress nodded.
Kyle turned back to Steelbeak. "Anyway. Thoughts?"
"That's such a great idea!" Steelbeak drank the rest of his choccy milk and wiped his metal beak off with his sleeve. "I almost drove her to the point of insanity with that so there's no harm in bringing back good plans! I'm sure Mr. B wouldn't mind." Steelbeak finished eating all of his food. "Ya know, Kyle, you're not that bad! Sorry I was acting like a jerk to you when you first showed up. I think when we find those three and torture them together, we will become great pals!"
"Aw, c'mon now! We're already great pals!" Kyle flicked his hand in a flustered manner. "Also, this time around you should totally bang Ellie. That'd be HILARIOUS and give her total PTSD! Maybe force Wyatt to watch since he's into her and all."
Steelbeak laughed again "YEAH! Okay I gotta write all this down. We are really coming up with some great ideas here!" Steelbeak took out a pen and started scribbling all of their ideas down on his napkin. When he was done he stuffed the napkin in his pocket. "Alright let's bounce. They could be anywhere at this point."
"Agreed." Kyle hopped up onto Steelbeak's shoulder and the two walked out of the cafe. They knew that they didn't pay for their meals so it was no surprise that they quickly drove away before the manager could catch them. They also didn't leave a tip. Evil.
The three sat in silence for a minute before Lucy began to cry first.
The fact they knew everything about her and her past when she had no recollection of anything was terrifying. And the things they threatened to do to all of them... especially that last comment about her.
Boyd was next to sob. "What- what are we going to do? They're going to find us if they are already so close!"
Lucy reluctantly ignored him to cling onto Wyatt. "Wyatt, please, you have to protect us!"
He was a twig, a wimp, and was also being targeted. But Lucy had no idea what else to say. She just needed some reassurance that someone would be there to protect her and Boyd from them if they ended up being found.
"I'll do my best! Y-you know I will." Wyatt was also shaken up by what he overheard as well so his reply probably wasn't the most reassuring thing he could've said. "We should probably leave too, though."
Yep. That definitely didn't make Boyd or Lucy feel any safer.
Boyd was the one to nod his head and answer Wyatt. "Okay. I saw them leave through the window and it looked like they started to head North. I think it'd be best to continue on our way to Albuquerque. But we shouldn't stay for more than a night."
"O-okay..." He wasn't sure how long to stay on the run. Soon they would be out of money and food. The idea of leaving his family behind was also haunting him but he didn't vocalize any of those problems. They were already dealing with enough stress as is.
"Wyatt, give me your phone."
"What?"
"Give me your phone."
"O-okay." He took it out, handing it to Lucy.
She immediately opened up his Instagram which was full of pictures of his family. It was very wholesome, but she didn't have time to look at it. She quickly searched up Mark Beak's account. The dude had millions of followers.
Lucy knew she was going to regret this but with the situation they were in, they needed allies. Especially an ally who knew about her past and had money. Mark Beaks was the only person she knew of. Who the rest of her past family was was a mystery.
She opened up the messages to message him privately. There was a very small chance he would see it, but it was the only way.
"Mark, we're heading to Albuquerque. Meet us there tomorrow if you can. -Ellie." She figured if she put Lucy, he would have no idea who she was.
She handed the phone back to Wyatt. "We need help and that was the only person I could think of." The app was still open so he could see what she was talking about.
Wyatt was shocked but it was a great plan to contact someone who had a chance in helping them. "I really hope he sees it." The three of them walked out of the diner, after having paid and left a tip for their food of course. Wyatt had switched from Instagram to the map on his phone before they started to drive again.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Mark Beaks was laying naked in bed, snuggling with his new client. He was going to look for Ellie, but considering he just lost five million dollars, he decided one more run for a few more thousand bucks would be helpful.
His phone went off and it was another Instagram notification. Hell yeah! He loved compliments and praises from his adoring fans. Especially those who tried to comfort him after he got beat up by children.
"Hold on, babe." He rolled across the bed to grab his phone that was on the side table and opened up the app.
He read over Ellie's message again and again. He checked to see who actually sent it to him. When he saw that it was someone named Wyatt it all seemed to check out that it wasn't just some very cruel prank. Mark leaped out of bed and started to dress himself. "Sorry! Can't talk! I gotta head to New Mexico but yo, call me, kay?"
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Heidi groaned. "God. Little bitch isn't answering my messages! Whatever. He's probably drugged up as usual which means he can't defend himself."
Yep. They were literally going to chop up his friend.
Heidi turned the corner to the alleyway she usually met him and looked around.
"Lipsync?! My main man! What's going on!"
There was no answer and she groaned again. "I swear to Duck Jesus, if he's at his apartment with his kid, it's going to make this entire situation even more fucked."
It was then Gloria saw a figure laying by the dumpster. She rolled her eyes. It looked like the dude was drugged up and passed out. She didn't want to kill a dude in his sleep but you do what you gotta do.
She didn't bother to explain to Heidi as she stormed over to Lipsync and nudged him with her shoe. "Dipshit, wake up. We gotta kill you."
His head turned from her nudge and the bullet wound through his forehead made it's statement.
The two of them gasped. It looked like he had been dead for a while and he was starting to smell more so than he already did when he was alive.
"Oh my god!" Gloria took a step back from the body. "What happened?!" It was a relief that they had gone two nights in a row without having to kill anyone. It's sad to say but Lipsync already being dead made this a lot easier to deal with.
"You think I know?! It obviously wasn't the gang if they sent us to do it." Heidi kicked him again to double check he was dead, like it wasn't already clear enough. "One of his clients probably just got mad over the quality. Doesn't matter. Sucks I gotta find a new dealer though, unless the gang is willing to hit me up but I'm kinda afraid to ask them." That was her main concern over Lipsync's death. Her drug supply. Classy.
Needless to say, she shrugged and took out her knife. "Should've bought a saw or something... but it shouldn't be that hard if he's already decaying. You mind holding his head in place?"
She tried to act badass, but Heidi's voice was shaking. She still wasn't used to doing fucked up shit and it was insane her life and went down the drain again simply after losing a job and Mia going missing. Two years wasn't enough of a break. She was sure Gloria felt the same.
"They're going to notice the bullet wound so we'll have to tell them that we did it obviously." Gloria slowly walked back to his body and gripped the hair on top of his head. It was nasty and stuck together with old blood. She held her breath while Heidi hesitantly began to decapitate him.
It was a very long and agonizing process for the both of them. Heidi had to take a break a couple of times to keep herself from throwing up. When the head was finally severed from the body, Gloria let his head go and fished out a black trash bag that was inside the garbage dump next to them.
There was a lot more blood now but they both tried their best to ignore it. Gloria scooped up the head into the trash bag and dropped it on the ground, afraid to pick it up again. "Holy shit that was so gross. At least he was already dead..." That was literally the only good thing about this certain mission.
Heidi silently agreed and picked up the trash bag. "The fact I don't have PTSD yet says a lot about me. I must be fucked up..." She trailed off for a second. "I'll deliver the head and tell them we couldn't find the kid and that you're out looking for him right now. You take him to the police station or child services or whatever, and tomorrow we come up with some sort of lie when we see the gang again... then we'll find out how fucked over we are."
It was Gloria's turn to silently agree. She was thankful Heidi was willing to be the one to deliver the head because the smell and amount of gore made her feel like she was about to pass out. She needed to get away from it. She simply gave Heidi a thumbs up before leaving, taking out her phone to see the apartment address The Mothmans had sent her.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Tyler was at the dining table that had needles littering it's service. He had to clear some out of the way just to put down his bowl of cereal. Before he could even put a spoonful into his mouth, there was a knock at the door, causing him to jump.
His dad must've forgotten the keys again.
Excitedly, and not thinking about stranger danger at all, Tyler opened the door. Maybe his dad would be willing to tuck him in that night.
When he saw who it was, his smile faded immediately.
It was a girl who didn't look dangerous in the least bit... but it wasn't his dad.
"W-who are you?"
Gloria made sure to clean off any blood that might have gotten on her hands or boots before she went to talk to him. She kept her distance from him at the door to make sure he was a little bit more comfortable when talking to a stranger. "Hi, my name is Gloria. What's your name?"
"T-tyler... what do you want?" His voice began to shake. "My dad isn't here. I dunno where he is so... if you're looking for him, I'm sorry."
Damn this was going to be harder than she thought. "I know and that's why I'm here. Tyler, There isn't any easy way to put this but your father... he got into a really bad accident. I'm really sorry you had to hear you had to hear about it from me."
His eyes widened as he started to tear up. "W-what kind of accident?"
"It was a car accident. He died before the doctors could save him. But he told me to come and find you and to let you know that he loved you very much. I'm going to help you go somewhere safe, okay? If that's alright with you. I came here to help you." She felt incredibly disgusted for lying to a child about a subject this serious and heartbreaking. There was no way in telling him the truth though. Just another instance where she had to lie to someone because the truth was too much.
At that point, tears had started to fall. 'What? No. No. You're lying!" He backed away from her again. "Don't lie to me! Just tell me where my dad is!"
Gloria took a step back as well and put her hands up to further prove to him that she wasn't going to hurt him. It was bad enough that he was getting news like this from a total stranger. "Tyler, I'm really sorry but he passed away..."
He continued to shake his head. "No no no no no no..." His voice was weak but he eventually gave in and ran into Gloria's arms. He didn't care that she was a stranger, he just needed some affectionate comfort. "No. Why? Why me? What's going to happen? No no no!" Tyler was barely audible, buried in Gloria's shirt, but she could make out what he was saying.
Gloria dropped to her knees and hugged him tightly. She was even starting to cry herself. "Shh it's okay, Tyler. I promise everything will be alright. I'm going to take you to a place where they are going to help you and look after you, alright? You're going to be safe there."
He slowly began to calm down, taking deep breaths, and he nodded without saying another word. He just couldn't speak up.
Gloria let him go. "Would it be okay if I came inside and helped you pack your clothes?"
Tyler nodded again and walked her into his bedroom. It was poor living conditions with mold and bugs everywhere. She helped Tyler put stuff into his backpack before leaving his house.
Gloria called an Uber that dropped them off nearby the Child Protection Services Building. Tyler was sniffling the entire trip but Gloria made sure to stay by his side until the employees were able to take care of the rest. She gave him one last hug goodbye before he went on his way. He looked scared but she knew he was going to finally live a safer and healthier life than he ever had.
She texted Heidi to let her know that Tyler was safe before calling another Uber to take her home. She cried the entire car trip.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Gyro paced back and forth in the living room. Because 1) He had to break into his lab again and build robots for villains just like Mark had done in Act 2! And 2) He was starting to think Ma Beagle and her mysterious allies had gotten to Gloria as a warning. She wasn't answering his texts again, and sure, she could've been hanging out with Heidi but something told him she was doing something else. Or something else against her will, worst case scenario.
The door suddenly opened causing Gyro to jump out of his skin before he spun around.
"Gloria?! God!" He ran up to hug her before letting go and studying her, holding onto her shoulders. "Where were you? You look like a mess! What happened!" He could tell she was trying to hold back tears.
She hugged him and clutched onto his shirt as she and started to cry again. "Nothing. I just had a bad day is all." Her voice cracked as she spoke.
He squeezed her back but his eyebrows knit together. "Nothing? What do you mean nothing? Obviously something happened!"
"...I don't want to talk about it. It's nothing you have to worry about so just drop it, okay?" She didn't mean for her tone to come out as rude as it did. She was still overwhelmed with everything that had just happened and it didn't help that she just got home from dropping Tyler off at Child Protection Services.
That was what got him to pull away from her hug. "What?" He didn't have an attitude, he just sounded confused. "You're hiding something aren't you? I know you were hiding something from me the other night and you're doing the same thing now. Why can't you talk to me about it? You always tell me everything."
Gloria continued to cry. "I'm not hiding anything from you! Last night I was hanging out with Mark and today I was just having a bad day! That's it!"
Gyro paused before clearing his throat. "...last night you said you were hanging out with Heidi. But now you're saying it was Mark?!"
Her face went pale and her heart sank. "I-I did? I meant Mark last night then. Not Heidi. It was late. I must've gotten their names mixed up."
Now Gyro wasn't playing around. He crossed his arms. "Soooo... you told me Ellie is gone which means you were hanging out with Mark by yourself. What were you doing exactly?"
She glared at him but now she was really starting to get nervous. "Are you implying something, Gyro?"
"If you think I'm implying something then you must've done it! Look at you!" He pointed at her. "Your hair is a mess, you're sweaty, and your clothes are disheveled! I can't believe this!" He started walking around the living room again. "Mark Beaks? Really? I thought Ellie was your 'best' friend!" He stopped and looked at her. "And you did it with Heidi last night, didn't you?!"
"WHAT?! NO! I'm not cheating on you, Gyro! I would never do that!" Gloria started to pull her hair nervously. It was probably making her look even more guilty but she couldn't help it.
"Okay. Fine." He held out his hand. The fact he had to ask this made him feel extremely guilty. "Then let me see your text messages."
She pulled out her phone and looked at the notifications that were on the front screen still unread. There were three unread texts. One from the gang, letting her know about a new location for tomorrow night and the address. The other was from Heidi giving an update about Lipsync and his head and the last one being from Mark, telling her that he just left for New Mexico and to "not wait up! #loser!". It also did help her case that she still had naked photos of Mark from the previous night when she was photoshooting the fake crime scene. She held the phone close to her chest as if to keep it away from him. "No."
Gyro didn't give her and started to walk toward her, hinting he was going to forcefully take the phone.
Gloria panicked and attempted to swipe the notifications away. She only managed to get rid of two, the last remaining one being Mark's, before Gyro snatched it.
He quickly scanned the text. The next thing he did was click on her camera roll and the first thing he saw was nude photos of Mark on a couch with ketchup on his face. It must've been some sort of weird kink!
"EXCUSE ME?!" He squawked, looking up at her and absolutely fuming. "OKAY! THAT'S ALL I NEED TO SEE!" Gyro chucked the phone back at Gloria. She caught it only by a hair. "Go meet your boyfriend in New Mexico because you sure as hell aren't staying here!"
"Gyro, please listen to me! I swear to you that I'm not cheating! I can't tell you what's really going on but you're going to have to trust me on this!" She started to cry again.
"I don't believe you." He stopped yelling at this point but he went back to crossing his arms. "Grab some clothes and get out."
Gloria couldn't think of anything else to say to him. At this point there wasn't anything more that she could say that would get him to change his mind on this. She did what he said and grabbed her clothes and stuffed them into her bag. This reminded her about the events that just happened between her and Tyler and how she had to help him pack everything up to leave his house.
He made heavy eye contact with her and she exited the bedroom.
"I guess we both are hiding things from each other." He was referring to the threat and order given to him by Ma Beagle. But Gloria didn't know that. For all she knew, he was cheating too. And it was better if she convinced herself that was the case, even if he was just a twink.
Gloria was at the front door, just about to leave. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Whatever you think it means." He didn't bother to watch her leave. He went into their bedroom, or rather, his bedroom and slammed the door shut.
She slammed the front door shut as well and started walking away from the house, still in tears. She took out her phone again and sat on the side of the road, clinging to her backpack. She went to her contacts and started to call Heidi.
"Hey, Glo! What's up?" She sounded mighty cheery for someone who just delivered a head.
"Hey... can you come and pick me up? I need a place to stay for the night." Her voice was cracking again.
Heidi paused before answering. She didn't ask any questions. "Sure. Send me your address and I'll pick you up on my 'bike."
Gloria nodded in response even though Heidi wasn't able to see. She sent Heidi her direct location via text. "Thank you."
"Of course. Be there in a minute."
Gloria ended the call and waited for Heidi.
_____________________________________________________________________________________