"Get in, get in, get in!" Alex yelled at them from the side of the road where he parked. After a frantic call, the gang burst out of Jemin's and scampered down the tight alley. People walking by, including one man wearing a t-shirt saying "I hate rubber boots," gave Alex weird looks, but continued on.

Alex knew the signs of a crazy ex about to do something batshit. He didn't need his gut to tell him. Instead of running or tricking his way through some thirty step plan, he knew he needed to act now.

Of course on a flipping Wednesday. And not even enough time to properly test Level 3 [Illusory Copy]. Great.

"This is Snu. Sorry I missed your call, but if you leave your name and number, I'll make sure to call you back at somepoint. Toodaloo." Snu's sultry Giantess voice was cut off with the beep of voicemail and Alex ended his fifth call. Every single time, the phone rang the whole way through to voicemail. Alex knew she was likely pissed at him, and without her answering, he knew something was very, very wrong.

Zippy, the first to get to the car, dive bombed into the back seat next to Alex's loot bag, and spun around to face his camera. Beepy was next, [Volt Whipping] like a spidery superhero behind his brother. The little mech landed onto the seat gracefully, spun, hopped forward, and pulled open the door. Mary barrelled into the back next to her bots. A heavy breathing Jemin brought up the rear, lugging a giant, overstuffed green army duffle into the passenger seat. He looked at Alex frantically and then streets of pedestrians.

"What's going on? What's going on!?" Jemin asked as he looked away from the peering eyes of onlookers. He didn't particularly like being seen in public after his lizard transformation.

"She's not answering," Alex answered with gritted teeth and peeled off down Augusta Ave towards Dundas Street. He veered around a magical firecracker thrown by some group of oily teens. "Something isn't right, I can just tell. Britanii's message was too much like a threat. Basically said it's over, I've lost." He pulled up to the stop sign on Dundas and rolled forward to try and force into the fast moving traffic.

"That bitch," Mary snarled from the back. "God I hate her. Alex gets a better goth mommy girlfriend and she just has to try and fuck it up. I haven't even met her!"

"I HATE BRITANII. YES." Beepy proclaimed from a dramatic stance from the back seat.

Somehow Alex pulled his old clunker onto Dundas. A floating coupe drifted a millimeter from his door, and Alex spotted its driver sipping coffees with two extra arms while watching a trashy love show about people that constantly pouted their lips and mewed on a tropical island on their phone. Scooter delivery drivers blasted through lanes and blared their particular music. But a friendly pink tank tooted their flower painted barrel to let him into the moving lane to tear through the tail end of a yellow light.

"We're going to her then. Make sure Britanii isn't there. And if she is…" Jemin said.

"OPERATION SAVE THE GIANTESS." Beepy said.

"Can it be me?" Mary cracked her neck with a pop, pop, pop from the back seat. "Can it please be me that finally ends her?" That made Zippy beep a scared tone. Alex said Mary's head snap towards her bots.

"Zippy, Beepy," she said gently. "You didn't sign up for this. If you want to sit this out…I can do it alone without you."

"Alone?" Jemin sniffed from the front seat while grabbing the oh-shit handle. "You have me. I've got your back," he then looked at Alex before punching him on the shoulder. "And yours too. Damn street rats stay together."

"Watch it, lizard boy," Mary said but without any anger behind it. Alex glanced at the mirror and spotted Zippy and Beepy looking up at Mary. "Seriously though. This might be dangerous. Really, really dangerous."

Beepy turned to face his brother in the backseat with his new mech head tilted slightly. The two bots locked into robot talk, which was impossible to understand for anyone but them. Alex had no idea what was being said, but he could feel the argument through their sounds. Zippy was upset and biting back against whatever Beepy was saying. Beepy, using dramatic arm gestures, kept trying to make different points. The argument ended when Beepy let out a long, painfully exaggerated sigh that hissed through his little vents. He reached out, and placed his miniature hand on Zippy's shoulder and nodded, finally acquiescing.

The two of them then faced Mary together, as brothers.

"WE"RE DOING THIS," Beepy announced. "WE WILL HELP BEAT THE MEANIEBOBEANIES."

"WHEEEEEEEEEE!" Zippy responded in a sound.

Mary's jaw worked as she chewed her cheek like it was something sour. Finally, she leaned back into her seat..

"Fine," she muttered. "But I swear to god, if you get blown up, either of you, I'm collecting your core and sticking you in a doll." Beepy raised one hand and gave his brother a thumbs up before sitting down and getting back to serious robot talk.

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Mary crossed her arms and said. "Alright. Let's get freaky. C'mon Alex, go faster. Your girlfriend sounds scary strong, but she probably needs help."

Alex just slammed his foot onto the gas as a response. The beater lurched and then accelerated as they ripped towards Dungas Square. It was packed with swarming crowds as usual. Puppet shows had gawking children wide-eyed at illusion gore, someone in gym shorts shouted betting odds on top of a milk crate, a little girl rode a beetle monster the size of a corgi. There were floating tanks of fish Familiars, and hot dog vendors selling three foot wieners with forty different toppings. Alex streamed around a stalled shopping cart car as fast as he could while everyone hung on for dear life.

After a lot of swerving and white knuckling, they entered the seedier stretch of Toronto. The air smelt like burnt leather. Kids zipped by on floating skateboards even though it was late at night, and half the storefronts were covered in metal sheeting. On the powerlines, rumpled pigeons sat and stared down, waiting to send down their white missiles to the unlucky. Alex swerved up to the side alley street and pulled into his usual spot. He cut the engine just as a pigeon with a gold crown flapped by and swore at him.

Alex looked at both Mary and Jemin, then the boys. "Alright," he said. "Weapons. Where are your weapons?"

Mary reached into her pants pocket, rummaged around, and pulled out her fist. It was now covered in a brutal looking pair of rusty knuckle dusters. Alex's eyebrows shot up.

"Right here. Oooooooh yes," she purred and flexed her fist. She smiled sweetly at Jemin. "Thank you, Jemin. You know just the right gifts for a girl."

Jemin visibility blushed red through his fine scales and Alex snorted before instinctively [Investigating] the weapon.

[Punch Blaster]

He turned to Jemin, who looked much more confident away from the crowds and not driving through the deathtrap of traffic. The lizard just shook the bag at Alex and said, "Too many to count. I got [Void Grenades], [Glitter Itcher], a [Sharp Wand], [Forked Poker], [Bashing Club], and more. Uhhh…yeah. I have a lot of weapons. They're coming with me." Alex's lizard friend finished his listing with a dangerous smile that reminded Alex of Jemin in his street rat days. Alex nodded and turned his attention to the boys.

Beepy was standing upright and made his hand glow with the charged energy of [Volt Whip]. Zippy hovered and snapped his pincers shut before letting out a mechanical growl that was supposed to be intimidating. To his credit, it did sound like a very angry toaster.

Alex glanced at Jemin. The lizard man asked Zippy. "Zippy, you need something?"

Zippy made an excited sound. "Wait, wait," Alex said, a thought striking him mid robot hype. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the little paring knife Nino offered him. It was small, and worn, and most recently used to slice pears. Alex weighed it in his hand, and flipped it open with a nice satisfying click. The blade was well taken care of and gleamed viciously. "Here."

The flying bot floated over and gently gripped it in his pincers. It fit perfectly somehow. His whole frame jittered mid air as he realized it was something he could grasp perfectly.

"A knife? Pffft," Jemin snorted. "Why not a fork? That thing's tiny. I should just give him a–wait…" he squinted at it, clearly having appraised it using his own Skill. "Wait. What the hell? Does that say Ancient?"

"Don't ask," Alex responded as he reached into the loot bag in the back and pulled out the [Screeching Banshee Horn] from Lord Loopy's tip. He also made sure to pull out the little business card with a turtle face on it. Zippy was slashing the knife in the tight space with little zings. Then Alex threw the car door open and stepped out. "Let's go." Everyone scrambled out of the car and Beepy kicked his own door closed.

Before Alex took off and lead the way, he held up his hand for them to wait. He pulled out his GoCoin and spun it into the air. It flew up no more than three feet and landed on the cracked pavement and lay perfectly flat. The scratched-in smiley face pointed straight down the alley.

"SPOOKY." Beepy intoned as Alex scooped it up.

Together, they bolted down the alley. Alex kept his speed in check as Zippy flew next to him. Mary kept a decent pace, and Jemin ran pretty quietly for someone carrying a giant bag of Relic weapons. Zippy cracked loud [Volt Whips] from streetlight poles to eavestroughs, launching himself forward. They passed the shuttered mouse market, where no trade happened. Then came the Big Sip, blaring rock music as patrons swigged ammonia-scented veer. SPANKTUARY was closed, and there was no comment from the tattoo faced bouncer. The colour puddle was muted and barely moved. Even the enchanted chain didn't flutter.

But Alex did get to test out [[Illusory Copy - Level 3]. On an empty stretch of the alley, he fired it off. A much too handsome copy of himself, sporting a fitted blue sweater, slacks, loafers, and combed hair, popped into existence beside him and took off with confident strides. It skipped ahead, landed, and skidded to a halt. The clone turned to face them and kicked a rock at Alex before winking. Alex could feel there was some weird direction he couldn't figure out, and dismissed the clone. But the illusion hesitated for just a heart beat before dissolving. He wasn't the one to end it.

That's…different. Uh oh…

But the entrance was in sigh, and there was no time to unravel whatever the hell the illusory clone who doesn't disappear meant.

The deeper they ran, the worse Alex's stomach hurt. By the time they reached the wooden doors of the Leather Spires, Alex's throat had gone dry. The door looked normal. The gargoyle guards, however, lay shattered into chunks of rock on the ground.

"Shit." Jemin said.

Alex needed to know just how bad it was. His gut had been right and something was seriously wrong. He [Investigated] the Dungeon entrance.

[Leather Spires - Bronze Rank Dungeon]

[Current Occupants: 35]

[Time Since Last Defeath: 6 Years, 5 months, 7 days]

At first glance of the thirty five occupants, he was already sprinting towards the door. Before he could knock to be let in, the doors opened themselves. Despite his panic, Alex was surprised at what rolled out of the door. Normally perfume and jazz music would welcome him.

Instead, blaring techno music and the sound of screaming battle sounded from inside. And just past the entrance in the hallway, he spotted the bodies of plastic gashapong smushed under foot.

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