Past Lives Could Never Come Between Us

20

"Long time no see!" The bartender greets Clark as she sits at the bar. "Thought you'd finally wised up and left!"

"Tis a scratch." Clark jokes.

"But for real." The bartender says as she mixes a drink. "How does almost dying feel?"

"Like I almost died." Clark deadpans.

"Why were you attacked anyway?" the bartender asks, but when Clark doesn't offer anything up, nods, "Right, top secret hush hush. This wouldn't have something to do with where you were reassigned, would it?"

"Mulder here?" Clark asks as she sips her drink. "He was supposed to have been here already."

"Probably kicking ass and taking names." The bartender says. "Retirement is just a word to him."

"You can say that again." Clark agrees, pulling out her phone and dialing Mulder's number. "Hey. Where are you? I'm here, but you said it was urgent. Please tell me you're not canceling."

The light knocking on the door wakes Luigi up, as he sees Spike's silhouette form in the dark, shushing and pointing to the living room.

Understanding, Luigi gets up and follows Spike slowly, until they see the intruder, and Spike doesn't hesitate, just punches whoever it is square in the jaw, making him cry out as Luigi turns on the light.

"Foreskin! What the hell?" the stranger protests.

Spike sighs, "Max, Luigi. Luigi, Max. My brother.", then kicks Max's leg. "Start talking. What the hell are you doing here?"

"Is that any way to talk to your brother?" Max protests.

"Hey, no." Spike says. "You're not sticking around."

"See that? That's how he's always treated me." Max whines.

"That's how he's always treated everyone." Luigi adds.

"Hey, did I not make sure to be quiet, so you guys didn't wake up?" Max defends.

"From breaking into our apartment?" Spike points out.

"Be glad I'm not pressing charges on nearly busting my jaw." Max rubs it once. "You been working out or something?"

"Don't make this about me. What the hell are you doing here?" Spike demands again.

"Is it so hard to believe I just wanted to see my brother after all this time?" Max grins.

"Yes." Spike crosses his arms. "What's the price tag this time? Huh? I'll start saying numbers, you tell me when I hit it. 20? 30? 35?"

"Excuse me, I do just fine on my own." Max snaps. "I'm about to close a deal here in Brooklyn."

"A deal?" Spike huffs. "That doesn't exactly fill me with warm fuzzies, especially not in relation to you."

"We got a case." Luigi tells Spike, holding up his phone.

"A case of what?" Max asks.

"Me and Spike here are coworkers." Luigi explains.

"Oh, you're fuck buddies?" Max sneers, then at both their disgusted looks, he begs, "Foreskin, please. You can't kick your own brother to the curb."

Spike looks at Luigi, eyes begging, but Luigi only shrugs, "Your brother, not mine."

"See? He's not an asshole!" Max agrees.

"He was." Spike says bitterly. "Starting to wonder if that's a bad thing."

Then he concedes. "One night. You're here for 24 hours, no more, no less. One second over, you're gone."

"Thanks, bro!" Max cheers.

"Look, just because we have the same parents, doesn't mean he can take advantage of me!" Spike says as they enter the Dream Lab.

"He's already here. Nothing we can do about it now." Luigi says.

"Maybe not, but he doesn't get to automatically assume I'm going to help him." Spike says.

"Who's helping who?" Mario asks, stopping them.

"Spike's brother, Max." Luigi tells him.

"Your brother?" Pauline repeats. "Why have you never mentioned him before?"

"Didn't occur to me." Spike tries to shrug it off.

"Older or younger?" Pauline pushes.

"Older, but you'd never know it to look at us." Spike replies.

"He calls him Foreskin." Luigi adds.

"Did you say Foreskin?" Mario asks, clearly trying not to laugh. "Congratulations, you got a new nickname from me."

"No I do not." Spike snaps. "Foreskin is the bully from the suburbs I don't want to be anymore."

"So this visit isn't exactly a reunion?" Pauline asks.

"Right, I forgot. You're a spoiled daddy's girl." Spike rolls his eyes. "All I can tell you is there has not been one time he's visited when something sketchy wasn't going on."

" That's who we said yes to staying the night?" Luigi asks, now worried.

"Relax, he'd have to be an idiot to try and steal from me." Spike says. "You, however..."

"Hey, Weeg, can I talk to you?" Mario says suddenly, so Luigi follows him.

Once they've stepped away, Mario asks, "How goes the hunt for your uncle?"

"It would be hard enough if I was just looking for him in the United States." Luigi says. "But I also have to consider he might know about this world too."

"Yep." Mario nods.

"So I chanced asking Bleck to help me." Luigi says.

"Bleck?" Mario repeats. "The evil dark magic guy that almost killed Pauline over a broken heart?"

"He was a lot more cooperative once I told him Timpani was alive and would wait for him as long as it took for him to be released." Luigi says. "And his advice amounted to him saying I should stick to what I know."

"What you know?" Mario says. "You're thin, lanky--"

"Thermodynamics." Luigi says flatly.

"Okay, maybe he has a point." Mario says. "Everything is energy, and that energy can be converted into thermodynamics. So maybe that's the key to finding your uncle."

"Just gotta find the right one." Luigi says. "Your turn. What happened to your go-kart?"

"Oh. That. Didn't pan out." Mario admits. "Thought I should hold off on that for now."

"Smart move." Luigi says.

"But that doesn't mean I won't go back to saying no to life." Mario says quickly as they look in the glass box. "Clark's ex-captain." He points to Snoozemore's office. "She begged Snoozy to let us do this."

"How'd she do that?" Luigi asks, impressed.

"Don't ask me." Mario shakes his head.

As everyone gets in position, Mario says to the Lab, "Alright, everyone. This is for Clark. Inducing REM sleep in 3...2...1...GO!"