Operation: Moonfall | Jimmy Crystal Revenge & Redemption

The Contract

Twinkling starlight invited Buster into the cosmos, and he obliged.

On some level he knew he was dreaming. He should stop that. Wake up. Wake up! But this was the most serene dream he'd had in months. He was lighter than air, soaring through deep space to witness the birth of star systems, the chromatic explosion of nebulae, the whirling galaxies cast against the obsidian beauty of the vacuum. There he was, the first koala in space!

There was his family, too, flying alongside him, discovering timeless secrets far beyond the confines of Earth. The incomprehensible vastness of space had a way of making problems seem distant and insignificant. Buster could stay here forever. But a curious thing happened. The nearest nebula came to life; the interstellar clouds merged and shaped themselves into the image of Buster's father. Buster gazed into the massive eyes of his cosmic father's image and felt a strange hollowness inside. Before he could even contemplate what that meant, the clouds were burnt away, violently incinerated by the sudden birth and eruption of a supergiant star.

Buster knew what he was looking at before the star fully took shape. A symbol of rage. A celestial version of Jimmy Crystal's head made of roiling helium and hydrogen. The wolf was invading his dreams again and held nothing but contempt for Buster's existence. Supergiant Jimmy bore the same look the real Jimmy had right before he dropped Buster to his presumed death.

Even now the koala struggled to wrap his head around how things went south so fast. People had been angry with him before. He'd seen Jimmy angry before! But something about that encounter at the Crystal Tower Theater was different. Jimmy was so twisted with rage that he appeared deranged. How could someone become so enveloped in wrath? How could someone harbor so much animosity... for him?

Supergiant Jimmy opened his maw and Buster found himself pulled toward the depths of the star with a startlingly swift and supernaturally strong force. If he didn't do something soon, he'd be devoured whole. Hurtling toward burning depths, Buster opened his mouth to scream and—

---

Relief washed over Buster as his ringing phone jostled him out of that dream. The nightmares had become so predictable that various members of his troupe had to wake him up over the months when he thrashed about and cried out in his sleep. He appreciated their concern, but it was humiliating to be treated with kid gloves. He was the caretaker, the nurturer that helped elevate them into becoming the best versions of themselves. If Buster was the one that needed uplifting and coddling, something had gone very wrong somewhere.

Buster fumbled for the phone on the desk next to his bed. The bedroom was pitch black save for the harsh light emanating from the phone's screen and a sliver of moonlight flowing through the window. He blinked as his eyesight adjusted to the screen. 4:28 AM. Who'd be calling at this hour? Then he read the name: Lester McCray.

...McCray!?

A small curse left Buster's mouth as he thumbed the green answer button multiple times before it finally responded to his touch.

"Uhhh... hello, Mr. McCray?" Buster hated how groggy he sounded. Granted, the sun hadn't even come up yet, so he had an excuse...

"Moon, hello? I know it's a crazy hour, but I just got a moment to myself..." the walrus said on the other line. Lester McCray was a bigshot like Jimmy Crystal, and the owner of the Majestic Palace. Whereas Jimmy enveloped himself in luxury, McCray wore it directly—his gold-encrusted tusks were a sight to behold. From what Buster could tell of the walrus the few times they'd met directly, he wasn't quite as volatile as the wolf, but after how things went down with Jimmy... well, he was much more aware of his employer's temperament, and handled their interactions with extra delicacy. Buster had no desire to discover how McCray dispatched his enemies. One belly flop and the koala would be a pancake on the pavement.