microwave popcorn

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"does anyone have any better ideas?"

miku dropped her phone onto her face and yelped, missing whatever rose said next. since avanna had gotten into the groupchat, miku had erased everything she could about the network. she contacted only luka, rose, and sock470, the other three who were involved in the previous plan. and none of them could figure out a way to get flower an escape route. they didn't even know where avanna was keeping them.

"we can't do anything until we know for sure where flower is," luka said with a sigh. "we can't risk going into some random place, we can't risk drawing a ton of attention. we just need to get flower out. this has been happening for too long. i actually-"

"luka," miku interrupted, "you think flower is still alive, right?!"

"of course they are," she replied calmly. "the disappearance of an idol for a period of time can be covered up, played off as a vacation or a break for mental health, but if they died and never came back that'd be much harder to hide. plus the body would certainly be discovered. our lovely culprit is too smart to kill them. and i might have an idea on how we can find them."

"tell us already!" rose cried. it was walking in circles around its kitchen table, wondering if it would actually wear a trench in the floor. suspense and plans like this were not one of its strong points. it swung its phone back and forth, turning up the volume so it wouldn't miss a word.

"i'm going to. just listen. alright, i've got a friend from a different company. i don't think avanna's met him, and he looks average as hell, so she probably wouldn't remember him in a passing interaction. he's also pretty good with technology. i'm thinking maybe he can track avanna's phone or something, or just follow her to find where she's keeping flower. do a bit of a stakeout. and then we'll have a better way to get to them."

"that sounds like a good idea but he might not want to get involved. it's.. really dangerous," miku said. "what if he got hurt or got discovered?"

luka laughed very, very quietly. "i already talked to him, i told him it was pretty dangerous."

here miku interrupted again, "how much did you tell him?! what if he's working with avanna? he could-"

"miku. trust me a little. please. i didn't give him any specific details. he doesn't know that flower or avanna is involved. he just knows someone is in danger and we need his help to get them out. i told him he could have more information later."

there was silence for a moment. rose and sock470 didn't think they had any right to an opinion on this guy. it was miku's plan after all.

"i do trust you, luka," miku said, sounding a little hurt. "i'm just scared.. i don't want to make anything worse for flower. or put anyone else in danger."

luka removed sock470 and rose from the call. the conversation was getting a little too personal. "i know, but he's the best chance we have. okay?"

"..okay," miku replied. "add him to the call and we'll tell him what he needs to know."

luka dialed her friend in and listened while miku filled him in on everything that was happening. he didn't mind helping at all. he put together an average-guy disguise that miku approved of and said he'd start working on it the next day.

several days later, kyo contacted the group again. he'd spent a few days following avanna and trying to figure out if she had a schedule and where she was keeping flower. there had been one or two close calls but he'd never been caught.

miku called him and luka that night as soon as she got home.

"it looks like the lady we're dealing with follows a half-decent schedule. she leaves in the morning for a few hours and then comes back, she's kind of in and out a lot. but she always leaves at the same time in the morning. probably for work," kyo explained, reading from his notes.

"did you see flower at all?" miku asked.

"i think so." he flipped through the pages of the book in his lap, closing his eyes to try and remember more clearly. "i was parked along the street and trying real hard not to look obvious, and i saw the lady- avanna, right? i saw her drag flower out into the side yard by the house. and they, um, weren't wearing anything. but she had them shoved up against the wall and she was saying something to them, and then she dragged a hose over and turned it on and spent like ten minutes spraying them with water. it was getting dark so there wasn't a lot of people that could've seen it."

"it sounds like it was probably flower," luka said. she set her phone on the counter and started brushing her hair, yawning a bit. "so she's keeping them in that house, and she goes out for a couple hours every morning. it sounds like we have a good window to send rose and sock in to get them."

"how would they get in though?" miku asked.

"oh, i could help with that!" kyo chimed in. "i'm pretty good at picking locks. i could probably sneak in when she leaves and make sure there aren't any other threats, pick the lock, and leave it open for your guys to get in. tell me what day you plan for it and i'll be there."

"are you sure? you've already done so much," luka asked, stifling another yawn.

"absolutely sure. i'll help any way i can," he said.

luka thanked him, then added rose and sock470 to the call so they could finalize the plan.

in two days' time, kyo would head out to the house first. he'd watch avanna leave, wait a little, then go pick the lock and make sure nothing could get in the way. he'd text an all clear, then sock and rose would show up a little later, get flower, and take them to miku. and it looked so easy when they wrote it out on paper.