Kenny's phone rang. "Sup buddy?" she asked, waving at the others to be silent.

Maria was at work. Ernie and Hannah were otherwise occupied in one of the rooms. Kenny, Garfield, Vince, and David sat around a table. They were playing Cards against Humanity. Seriously: after they'd all almost died, been shot at and had a generally horrible time, life just kept on ticking like normal.

"WHAT?" Kenny screeched, jumping to her feet in a frenzy. "Yo, that's crazy. Wish I was best buddies with a celebrity like Dragon Heart." She covered the microphone as if to block out her words, and mouthed [i]Maria[/i] at the rest of them. "Giant...giant turtle?" You kidding?" As if on cue, the voice hit his mind like a truck. Snapper...

"Did you guys hear that?" he asked.

"Hear what?" asked Garfield, sliding a card to Vince; Vince was judge this round. "Hear how I'm about to win that card? How I'm about to crush y'all like little...bitches?"

"No, like--" David stopped. "Nevermind. What Kenny said."

"Guys there's a fucking giant turtle hanging out downtown right now and if we hurry we can catch it--" Kenny said, all in one breath. "--so get your shoes on and David go to sleep so you can do your phantom thing okay cool." She threw a bottle of something over her shoulder while she rushed to the doormat.

A bottle of sleeping pills fell into his lap. "Oh. This can't be healthy," he murmured. He took the pills anyway, downing one with a gulp. It got caught in his throat, so he staggered over to the sink and swallowed again with water.

"I hate pills," he mumbled. Kenny was already gone, with Garfield halfway out the door. Vince was going a little bit slower, which was ironic for being a speedy Epic.

Vince laughed. "That was actually pretty funny. The mighty Phantom, brought down by a pill. There's some irony there for sure. "He was gone before David could bite out a retort.

---

To say that the...snapper was weird was an understatement. It had a glassy shell with many reflecting surfaces, It was the size of a tank, and it seemed utterly unconcerned with the world around it. David almost felt sorry for the thing.

He felt less sorry about the two brothers duking it out in the street nearby. Jesus, did these guys ever stop arguing? They literally tore down two city blocks a few days back. He'd been there, watching. This was why he didn't like Dragon Heart. Or the other guy.

Kenny, Vince, Garfield and Maria had met him at the place. David had decided to take the form of his dad. He didn't like looking like himself, but he didn't want to draw attention to himself yet. Kenny had looked at him weird when he showed up, but said nothing. "These guys are just two arrogant bitches, aren't they?" David said.

"Dragon Heart isn't a bad guy," Maria said, watching with the rest of them from an open window across the street,a few stories up. David had flown in and unlocked the door from the inside. "We're old friends. Try having that for a brother and see how you handle it."

"Betcha fifty bucks I can hit that energy whip dude with a stapler," Kenny said.

"Dragon's a good guy," Maria continued. "Bit lovey-dovey right now, but he'd never actively hurt an innocent."

"Betcha you can't," Garfield said in return. "But I bet Vince can hit him with this shakeweight." He tossed Vince the sexualized exercise tool.

"Bet. Get ready to lose that money, dude." Maria tried to continue, but the others had taken control of the situation. With a grunt, Kenny hurled a stapler out the window. Given her particular abilities, it was almost assured to hit her mark. The shakeweight followed close behind, wobbling back and forth through the air.

They all hid except for David, who faded to invisibility to watch the results of their madness.