Family is Forever

Repo Mantis: Part 2

Aria's POV:

Donnie: "Oh no, a mutant!"

I turn to him in confusion.

Me: "Babe, you and Mikey are mutants too. It's ok."

I turn to face Repo as Mikey warns him.

Mikey: "Dude, you better hide. There's a human guy around here."

Repo Mantis: "Easy, easy."

Mantis tosses the car to land behind him.

Repo Mantis: "This is 'Repo Mantis Salvage'. The guy is me."

Me: "A mutant running a business in the human world? Respect."

Mikey leaps to stand in Mantis' face, his hands in a begging manner.

Mikey: "You have to sell us that Moon Buggy! Please!"

Donnie pulls Mikey over to us as we huddle up a few feet from Repo.

Donnie: "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.  Cool your scramjets, buddy.  This is a negotiation.  We gotta play it smooth."

They both turn to face Repo, donning sunglasses as they walk along the buggy. I follow from behind with an amused smirk. Mikey runs his finger along the buggy, Donnie doing the same to the other side before he leans against it.

Donnie: "So, uh, how much you gonna pay us to take this pile of parts off your hands, amigo?"

Repo turns to us with a menacing glare.

Repo: "Scram, I got a lot of fenders to count."

Me: "I see you drive a hard bargain, sir."

Donnie: "Well, perhaps I can interest you in a little coin."

Donnie pulls out his wallet and opens it to reveal a coupon for ice cream, a picture of us in lab coats giving a thumbs up to the camera, and some spare change.

Donnie: "I've got big silver and small silver and I can make it rain copper, daddy."

Note to self, add 'Copper Daddy' to my terms of endearment for Donnie. Donnie drops two handfuls of pennies as the other coins roll across the ground, landing at Repo's feet.

Repo: "Hey, you ain't got nearly enough, but say, I could use a couple of tough muties like you. And the broad seems like she can pull her own weight. Ever do any repo work?"

Mikey jumps in front of Donnie & me to emphasize his agreement.

Mikey: "Of course!"

He then lowers his sunglasses with a confused look towards me.

Mikey: "What's repo work again?"

I smile softly before answering his question.

Me: "For every person who hasn't made payments for their vehicle, we visit them and bring it back here."

Repo: "The broad's right. Do a job for me, and I'll let you have that moon buggy."

Mikey leaps toward Repo in excitement.

Mikey: "We're in."

Donnie: "And, sidebar."

Donnie grabs Mikey by the shell and pulls him over to us. I offer Mikey a sympathetic look.

Me: "Look Mikey, repo workers have to be mean. And, well-"

Donnie interjects with a more blunt version of what I would've said.

Donnie: "You're kind of a softie."

I nudge Donnie for the unnecessary bluntness as Mikey pouts at the both of us.

Mikey: "That really hurts my feelings."

He takes a brief pause in realization.

Mikey: "Oh, you have a point. But I can do this. Hard as nails. Grrrr."

I smile at him before the three of us turn to Repo with identical looks of seriousness.

Me: "We're in!"

Mikey: "What's the skinny, chico?"

Repo holds up a pamphlet with a picture of an RV, pointing to said picture with a grin.

Repo: "I need you to get an RV from a real shady mutant. Holes up in the woods, on the wrong side of the tracks, in the darkest outskirts of the bad part of town."

Well, that's not terrifying at all.

{Time skip}

Mikey, Donnie, & I hitch a ride in the back of Repo's truck. We leap out from the back as he drives off, speeding towards the location of our target. As we walk, Donnie keeps his gaze on his watch, activating one of his gadgets to light our way. Mikey & I each cling to Donnie's arm for protection, Mikey on his right & me on his left.

Donnie: "I ran a profile on this guy. Lawless loner, doesn't pay his bills, lives in this very spooky forest. He is a 98% match for the Spine-Breaking Bandit!"

Me: "There's the RV!"

We hear a rustling in the woods and leap to hide behind bushes to see the RV in front of us.

Mikey: "Pfft, I'm not scared of some no-good forest dweller! Let's see him!"

We see a figure appear in the RV's doorway. It growls as it opens its mouth to reveal gigantic teeth. It looks our way as we all jump back in fear.

Mikey: "That's the biggest forest dweller I've ever seen!"

Donnie: "He is totally gonna break our spines!"

I take my phone out of the pocket of my ninja suit and scroll through my contacts.

Me: "Maybe we should call Raph & Leo."

Before I can dial Raph's number, Mikey grabs my arm.

Mikey: "No, no, no, no, no! We got this. Think of all the boss adventures we could have in the moon buggy."

I sigh in relent and place the phone in my back left pocket.

Me: "All right. If you're both dead-set on doing this, we gotta go stealth."

Donnie nods in agreement as he crosses his arms.

Donnie: "Agreed. Sneak-jitsu 101, never let a spine-breaker get behind you."

During our conversation, the figure seems to have walked to stand behind us and flashes a light in our direction. We leap out from behind the bushes and run toward the RV. When we reach the door, a dog jumps out of the bushes to bark at us. We fall back in surprise as the figure stands before us. He pulls a cord to turn on an overhead light. Once our eyes adjust to the brightness, we look to see that the figure is a mutant capybara. He seems like he might be friendly.

Todd Capybara: "Hey, I'm Todd! Welcome to 'Cuddle Cakes Puppy Rescue', the puppy-est place on Earth!"

TO BE CONTINUED