LePouvantail

Banding Together in Halloween Town

"Jack's also the Pumpkin King," Shock pointed out. "You might want to be on good terms with him around here."

Her own relationship with Jack - and by extension, her brothers' as well - was complicated. They didn't hate him, and Jack understood their need to cause trouble as trick-or-treaters. But it also caused friction when their love for trouble countered whatever plans Jack had in store. The best way to put it was they didn't always see eye-to-eyesocket, and even that was putting it nicely.

Shock grinned as Carver took a seat next to her.

"They got something really good in stock?" she asked.

Or there was blackmail available. Please let it be blackmail.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Shock just nodded and followed Carver into her room. She smirked at the thought of Sally sneaking out. Just proof the two of them were related.

"I almost forgot she did that," she said. "Seems like the good doctor can't keep anyone around if they're not sharing his brain. Could he be more self-centered?"

Shock took a seat on the bed. The old springs creaked under her weight. She knew the pumpkin creature didn't really need it, but it made for a great place to sit. She smirked when she saw what Carver pulled from behind the shelf. This was going to be good.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Shock carefully walked up the ramp with Carver to mitigate her footsteps echoing. As they got closer to the upstairs lab, a pleasant odor tickled her nose.

"What is that rotting stench?" she asked. "It's nice, but I didn't take the doc for the potpourri type."

Shock took Carver's lead when she noticed her friend slow down and move with extra care to bypass a specific door. All of her years of sneaking around wouldn't be for nothing.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Barrel stuck his tongue out right back at Carver, then started to gather the dishes. Lock helped, knowing he'd get something out of it.

"And after this," he said, "we're going to work on your drum work."

Barrel groaned as he made his way to the kitchen.

Shock returned the tongue-sticking gesture as well and followed Carver out of the lair. She made a quick stop to grab a small trick-or-treat sack from the armory first, and placed the folded sack in her pocket. She also grabbed the two large batteries for Carver to hold in her cage The Finkelstein lab was one of the few places in town she couldn't hide things for easy access later. The Doctor actually had decent security without an escort.

And she certainly had an escort today.

"We'll let the boys have some bonding time," Shock said as she walked with Carver. "And don't worry, I'll behave...enough."

By which she meant she'd stay hidden and not draw attention to herself while they got what they needed, as she was most assuredly not welcome in the Finkelstein home without explicit invitation - which never happened - or in an emergency, which happened twice in her years in Halloween Town.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Shock pondered for a moment.

"We could use another one or two of those super-charged batteries," she said. "We'll switch them with the ones we took last time so those can charge over there."

They were pretty useful for keeping a lot of their instruments running without tapping into the casino's generator.

"Oh! And one of the frogs from the paddy," Barrel said. "They have the best frog's breath!"

Shock rolled her eyes.

"Of course you'd think of food," she said. "But fine. We'll catch one on the way out."

She pushed herself from the table.

"Come on, Carver," she said. "We've got work to do."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Shock returned it, knowing well what Carver meant.

Lock rolled his eyes.

"Keyhole, coping, hand, buzz, miter, bow, or jigsaw?" he asked, sarcastically.

"We'll leave him the one little bottle," Shock said. "We're looking to do this mid-October, so leave that one alone for mishaps, and we'll take it when we're ready to get the brooms."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock, Shock, and Barrel all perked and nodded in agreement.

"That--"

"--Sounds--"

"--Perfect!"

All three of them grinned as they listened further. Barrel's began to fade.

"But that means homework," he whined.

Lock shoved another paincake in his mouth as Shock scoffed.

"You know how many forget-me-lots Carver and I gathered yesterday, and how many more we still need to pull this off? Plus all the prep work it's gonna take to dry, powder, and activate them? You can read a few books. It won't kill you."

"Wait, forget-me-lots?" Lock asked, after quickly swallowing the paincake. "Whose memory are we wiping?"

"The whole town's!" Barrel said proudly, through a mouthful of his own breakfast.

He went back to scarfing down what was on his plate. Shock looked more devious.

"We're gonna make them think Halloween came early."

"Oh, that's delicious," Lock said.

"You're on picking duty," Shock said.

"What? Why?"

"Because it's going to take a lot more to do this," Shock said, "and unless you want to tutor Barrel..."

Lock sighed.

"Fine," he said.

Shock finished her breakfast as she thought for a moment.

"...The wedding broom."

"Huh?" her brothers asked.

"In Town Hall," she said. "We'll get the wedding broom and glue it to the ceiling so they think Agnes's is accounted for."

Lock and Barrel looked at each other, then nodded in agreement.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Barrel pondered on it a moment. He was a bit eager to assist in a prank. Maybe she didn't like that?

"Hmm...maybe..." he said. "If it'll keep her focused on me..."

"Yeah, definitely," Lock said with a nod and a grin. "Maybe strike up a conversation with one of her aunts too. That way, you have two witches distracted at once."

Shock took Carver's suggestion into consideration.

"...New plan," she said. "Barrel distracts Agatha, at least. Hopefully one of the others, too. I'll knock the swamp smoke over and get you two Agnes's broom. You two slip away, Barrel is a gentleman to get Agatha out, which leaves me to glue the brooms. They're probably going to suspect I was the one who masterminded this anyway. But they won't look twice at Carver."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

"Point," Shock agreed, though she grinned further at Carver's suggestion. "That's probably going to be the hardest part, is sticking the brooms right under their noses. The shop's too protected with charms when it's closed."

She more than knew from experience. Shock was pretty sure some of them were specifically targeted at her and her brothers, if some of the past hexes were anything to go by.

"Barrel can keep Agatha's attention, at least," Lock said.

Barrel frowned.

"Yeah..." he said with a sigh. "I don't get it. Why is she always watching me when you two are worse?"

Lock and Shock both forcibly kept straight faces.

"Just one of those mysteries of life," Lock said with a shrug.

"Maybe Carver should do the actual gluing," Shock suggested quickly, to get Barrel off the subject, "while we cause a distraction."

"Especially if you 'accidentally' knock down a bottle of swamp smoke," Barrel said. "It's pretty noxious and thick, though, but it's not too bad if we get out quickly."

"And Carver can't breathe it," Lock said, "so she can get the last broomstick under the cover of the smoke."

"Pretty sure Agnes's broom will fit under your cargo pants," Shock said, as she looked Carver over. "It's the smallest, but I can probably handle it long enough for our purposes."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock stuffed an entire paincake in his mouth as he listened. He practically swallowed it whole, then smirked.

"A big one, then?" he asked.

"Possibly our biggest yet," Shock said. "Jack's gonna flip his crown."

Lock downed another paincake, then looked over to Carver's model as he listened. Whatever they were doing, it probably involved fog juice, or something similar. He then glanced at Shock.

"You can't do it?" he asked.

He wiggled his fingers in a mystical fashion to make his point. Shock glowered at him.

"If they see it moving by itself, we're blown," she said, "and so is that secret."

"Can you just knock it over, then?" Lock asked, still doing the finger motion. "Presuming it's something that we have to dump. And as an additional precaution, you can 'borrow' one of the witch's brooms for a quick getaway once the reaction starts."

Shock pondered it, then smiled.

"That might actually work," she said. "That'll cover Halloween Town."

"But we should do it in the Pumpkin Patch and the graveyard too," Barrel said. "Just to be safe?"

"Not the graveyard," Lock pointed it. "Our house practically borders it, so if it spreads too far, we're affected too."

"Better idea," Shock said. "I can probably take Halloween Town if you three take 'straggler' duty. Most of Halloween Town is gonna be affected in the main town. Anyone who wanders into the the surrounding areas, well...a water-balloon and a slingshot means they'll be affected without too much risk."