by I'm Not Mister Mxypltk, T5 and GoozX
MBL Consulting headquarters, La Perdita:
A car parked in front of the building. The doors opened, and a group of incredibly tired men came out of it and headed for the entrance.
"Anybody have the keys?" Lance Lorenzo asked before they reached the door.
"You didn't bring them?" Sam Dawson asked and then looked at his other teammates. "Pete? Velo?"
"We were in a rush when we left," Marv Velo explained.
"Maybe I have them," M'xy said. "Lemme call Mick -- Huh? Is it over yet?" said Mick Harrison.
"Yup," answered Lance. "Did you, by any chance, take the keys when we left?"
"No... maybe M'xy -- What did he say?" M'xy asked.
Lance had been knocking on the door since the beginning of the conversation, but nobody answered.
Velo sighed and asked, "Where is everybody?"
Naecken headed for the door. "Do you have the keys?" Sam asked him just before Naecken smashed the door to pieces with his fist. "Oh, never mind..."
"Sorry about that," Naecken said, walking into the building, "but I have to get one of those Aspirins."
As Naecken walked to the stairs, the rest split off to try to find out where Tobias Christopher, Kit Piper, and Shirley Francis were. Pete Glover went to check Tobias' room and found the three staring at the television, along with Mr. Biggins.
"Guys!" Pete yelled. "I found 'em! Up 'ere!"
Kit noticed Pete, but Shirley and Tobias seemed hypnotized by the TV.
"Hey, din't you guys hear us knockin'? We were out there for like an hour! Or three minutes, whateva'," Pete said, noticing they were still not paying any attention to him. "Hey! What's that yer watchin'? What movie is that?"
"That's no movie," Kit said. "That's Chicago."
Biggins caught sight of his sister and coughed. He was sitting on the sofa watching TV with the others.
"So it was you who made these weirdos 'rescue' me?" Rose Biggins said angrily. "I should have known."
"Well, I..."
"I never asked you for your help, and I don't need it now!" she said with stormy eyes and turned on her heels toward the kitchen.
Sam raised an eyebrow. "Weirdos?"
"You must forgive her," Biggins apologized. "She's confused, and I have to take her home now. How much do I owe you for this?"
"Well..." said Sam carefully, "...we haven't really set up any rates yet, so..."
"You still have the heart?"
"Huh? Oh... yes."
"Keep that, then," he said, opening the door. "It's a nifty weapon when used right." And with that, he slipped out behind his sister and went downstairs and exited into the street.
Velo reacted first. "Hey, wait a minute," he said and opened the door again, but the street was empty, with not a soul in sight. "How did he do that? He managed to confuse us and slip away without paying. And another point -- how did he know we had the heart? We never mentioned it to him!"
"I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of him," said Sam ominously.