Thief and the Hero

Chapter Three

Back to night patrol...

While Splendont didn't exactly care about working in the evening, late into the night, he still hated it. He preferred to be at home unless there was an issue he needed to address. However, he couldn't stand being at home where Splendid came to coddle Flippy or Fliqpy, depending on who was in control. They were so... in love that it had him feeling repulsed at the idea of catching them together. He shuddered momentarily remembering a particular incident where he had come home earlier than expected and walked in on his brother screwing Fliqpy against the counter in the kitchen.

He stayed out of the kitchen for two weeks and refused to eat any of the food Splendid made until he forced himself to get over it because take-out food was only good for so long. He flew along the town, staying out of the light as he watched the townspeople walk around. From where he floated, he say Cuddles and Giggles playing at the park with Petunia and Toothy. Across the street, he saw Pops and Cubs going into the Bear Cubs Gap store, probably to get more clothes and baby food. Further down the street, he watched in fascination as Handy worked on fixing the front porch for Lamby's house. It seemed peaceful, aside from the accident that happened earlier that day. Only Mole and Lumpy died today, Petunia was left unscathed thanks to his brother.

He sighed, stretching before pausing when he heard a scream a few streets down. He flew over, at a leisurely pace to find Sniffles hanging from the comic building. It had broken in half, from what he wasn't sure, but it looked like Sniffles had been on the fourth floor when it happened. He rolled his eyes when he saw the statue of the golden monkey that the idiot had brought back from an expedition he had been on a while back. He did some research on it, and, of course, it was cursed. He floated down just barely out of arms reach from Sniffles as the other screamed for help once more.

"Ah! Splendont! Help, please!" Sniffled cried, clearly terrified out of his mind.

Splendont stared at him lazily, scratching his ear before speaking, "Sure, I can help."

Sniffles reached out, but Splendont didn't take his hand.

"I never said I'd help for free."

Too distressed to argue, as he was slipping, Sniffles choked on a cry and pulled out his wallet. Just as he lost his grip, Splendont grabbed his arm and held him in the air as the building fell over and crashed onto the ground. Luckily, no one was around for them to be crushed. As Splendont descended to the ground, he took Sniffles' wallet.

"So what happened?" Splendont asked as he emptied Sniffles' wallet and pocketed the cash.

"I-I-I don't know! I was on the fourth floor looking for comics and all of a sudden the ground cracked and fell apart!" Sniffles said, wiping his face.

Splendont dropped the wallet on the ground and floated back up towards the building, "I'll look for clues. Since you paid a nice fee."

Sniffles gasped, picking up his wallet and looking inside. He had been carrying roughly two-hundred for comic money, but Splendont took it all. He wanted to protest, but considering who Splendont was he held his tongue. See, unlike Splendid, who helped from the good of his heart, Splendont helped and extorted people for money. Splendid had no idea because Splendont... well, he wasn't called the "Crimson Menace" for nothing. Being a nerd for Splendid, he knew Splendid had a hearing range of about twenty yards. So no one could talk about Splendont secretly to maybe alert Splendid that Splendont had, indeed, not changed from his past. Of course, it didn't help that Splendont was prone to violence if anyone attempted to snitch on him, his hearing was three times as much as Splendid's as he learned.