Royal Grimaldi

Royal had crept into another room. Time had run out faster than usual. A part of the suit got caught on a rusted nail and ripped it apart – it was malfunctioning. Royal crept further into the hallways, determined to get anything for the mission to be successful. In his ear, Champion was speaking to the new manager.

He cracked up a bit when people began calling her different names.

"Yeah, Apple... Just spurt out some business nonsense," Champion said, and she nervously began to speak in another language. Was it Japanese? No. Chinese? He guessed Aro was pretending to understand, Royal dispelling the thought when he noticed there was a rubbish shoot right at the end of the hall.

One of the doors at the end of the hall had a light blue light from underneath. Royal pushed it open carefully to see that two people were fast asleep. There were a series of screens and his eyes widened, realizing that this was the jackpot.

Royal was an intellect – not as much as Aro in a sense where could remember textbook information on scientific subjects, but he was street smart. Almost as witty as Champion sometimes. Staring at the screens, he saw that he could not decipher what the information meant. It was just a bunch of planes landing.

Noticing a beeping red light coming from a USB suck to a CPU, he tried to reach for it. Royal's thigh accidentally knocked against one of the sleeping men who had his mouth wide open, his snores like a working lawn mower.

Stretching his arm out, he wished he had Jay's ability. His fingers wiggled and his bottom lip jutted out I concentration when he noticed that his suit was fully solidifying. The sleeping man flinched, Royal impulsively just pulling the USB out of the port when he noticed that his suit stopped working.

Cursing to himself, he quickly assessed the situation. He wouldn't be able to make the USB go invisible if he did not have his suit. Trying to hide in the shadows, the men steered and Royal took a deep breath.

Oh god, his dignity.

To remain invisible and inconspicuous, he stripped himself naked.

If the rest of them found out, they'd tease him for it! What a horrible, horrible way to go into a mission! Stripped off his clothes, he cursed Aro in his head a hundred times.

Fortunately, the man had fallen back to sleep and Royal wrapped the USB with the suit, the fabric on the ground when he moved towards the door. Scowling and moving out into the hallway, he had no idea how to sneak the suit out until he thought of what he saw at the end of the hallway. 

He decided to throw it down the rubbish shoot.

___________________________________________________________________________

"Tell him that the numbers are inaccurate due to the exchange rate from France," Champion coached, and I repeated whatever was said to me.

Vin wanted to know more about the whole proposal and Aro was knackered. He had done research, sure, but not enough research. So Aro sat on the couch with an elegant hand in the air while Champion continued to feed me lines.

"Okay, Grapes. Now tell him that you think that the company will be able to wipe off all the surrounding estates," Champion continued. I kept a straight face and recited it robotically. "Good job, Pear."

Champion had gone from calling me grocery list items to fruits and I sniffed, masking my amusement.

I suddenly felt something. A hand touching mine softly before Royal whispered in my ear.

"I put the USB in the suit and threw it down the rubbish shoot," his voice sounded irritated.

I cleared my throat, knowing they would hear me if I just said what Royal said so I pretended to tip the glass of apple juice given to me onto Aro's suit. He jumped up immediately and started to curse while I relayed the message to Champion, asking like I was apologizing profusely.

"Rabbit!" he yelled out, yet again changing my name before going on a rant about how he was paying me to not do what I just did. That I had to have my wits to me.

"Rabbit? Doesn't Max call you 'Bunny'? Bunny is good. Bunny is a nice name," Champion murmured when I whispered to him that Royal had thrown the USB down the rubbish shoot. "Okay... What does that mean? Oh. You want me to go and scavenge the dumpster for the suit and USB..."

I bowed lowly towards Aro, insisting. "I don't think Royal had a choice, Champion."

"Wait. If he's not wearing his suit, what is he wearing?"

A voice whispered by my ear, Royal speaking to me. "I'm naked."

"O-Okay," I said, straightening myself to see that Aro was done acting like he was mad and hoping Royal would go unnoticed. "Okay, boss."

Crunching of cans could be heard from the earpiece and I heard Champion complain about the stench before saying out loud: Fuck it, I'm diving.

Seems like Champion decided to take matters in his own hands and go for it. I fought the urge to crack up at the idea of a young and rich CEO swimming in trash at a dumpster.

"Boss... I think we should end the meeting on a good note. You have a meeting with your father and the deputy of cyber security from New York. That... That company you wanted to buy two days ago."

"You mean Facebook?" Aro asked and I nodded.

"Thank you for reminding me, Crow. We shall go." He turned to Vin and told him that he'd come back next time with a bigger man, richer than he – his father. A hand knocked against mine and I grabbed it to see that it was transparent as air.

I held Royal's hand, tightening my grip on his for safety when one man yelled from the hallway.

"The USB! It's gone!"

Aro, Royal, and I bolted out of the warehouse. My heart was pulsating rapidly on my chest and Aro hissed when a couple of bullets flew past us. We all rushed into the shadow alleyway, trying to hide from Vin's goons.

________________________________________________________________________________

Aro got his glasses back from her and when he put it on, he could hear Champion huffing and puffing.

"Where the fuck are you?" Aro demanded. They had no getaway car if Champion wasn't around.

"Where I'm supposed to be, you dipshit! Finding the USB that Royal slipped down the rubbish—Ah... Ack!" Champion spit something out. "Where the fuck are you?"

"Hiding," Aro answered, all three of them ducking behind huge trashcans. "Morons, all of them. Where'd you park the car?"

"Three streets down for good measure. Is Royal with you?" Champion asked.

Aro looked around. "Royal, are you here?"

The manager nodded, raising a hand to show that she was holding something to which Aro guessed was his hand.

"Yeah, he's here. Diamond is holding him."

"Nice, tell Bunny to keep him with her," Champion said.

"Bunny, keep him with her. I mean... Keep him with you," Aro said, shaking his head and she brought her fingers to her lips before giving him an okay sign.

"Ah! I found it! The USB! See you guys back in the car!"

They were about to stand when the sound of people running approached them, Aro grabbing the female by the waist and pushing her against the wall. She yelped by the sudden action when Aro muffled her voice with his hand.

From the side, he could hear Royal breathing heavily. The moment the running faded, Aro felt her brush her forehead against his chest.

The moment was disturbed by Royal's voice that emphasized the current situation.

"I'm naked. It's cold."

She pushed Aro away before tugging off Aro's blazer. Placing it on Royal, he buttoned up the blazer and solidified. Aro was a good height taller than Royal so the blazer looked like a dress on him.

Three of them snuck down three streets away to the car,praying that nothing else would go wrong.

________________________________________________________________________________

"That was the most spontaneous thing I've ever done!" Champion breathed, slamming his foot down on the accelerator and speeding down the road. He looked up at the rearview mirror to see that Royal had gone back to being invisible. "Royal, are you okay?"

"I was naked," Royal hissed, finding the spare clothes that I brought for him. "I walked around the warehouse naked, Champion. Can you fucking believe that?"

"I told you about the suit," Aro said and Royal scoffed.

Champion had texted Max, telling the policeman that they had the USB drive and that he'd drop it by the police station. Aro had given instructions to Beebo to save the recording and send it to Max. The car stunk of wet trash and Champion discarded his expensive blazer out the window despite it being limited edition.

Approaching the police station, a familiar face stood there waiting for us.

"Ooh, what's with the smell?" Max asked when the window rolled down.

"Don't ask," Champion snapped, Aro shoving the USB towards Max. "Did you receive an email from Beebo?"

"The robot?" Max asked back, nodding. He took out his phone and showed it to them. "Your robot is becoming quite smart, Aro. He named the subject of the email, "A video for you, my friend" and added an emoji."

"I'm trying to make him as intuitive as possible," Aro replied, a tinge of pride in his voice. "Did I tell you that Champion dove into a dumpster?"

"Apparently, I'm part of the team now," Champion grumbled.

"Bunny! You're here too? Why are you covering your eyes?"

"She was giving Royal some privacy. He's putting on clothes. He's nakey."

Max frowned. "But he's invisible."

"Just because I'm invisible does not mean I don't feel!" Royal firing up and solidifying. He buttoned up his collar. "I still feel it. The eyes on me."

I put my hands back down and greeted Max with a wave.

"Why is she here?"

"She was the distraction," Aro told him.

"You went on the field? Is this part of your job scope?" Max asked. "Also... did you just leave Nana with the others?"

I blinked, bringing my eyes to Champion who was thinking about what Max said. He nodded, shooing Max away and telling him that he had to rush home – Jay Holder was not to be trusted alone.

Aro removed his glasses and took out the microchip, inserting it into a port on the car. A video feed popped up on the screen.

"Nana, where are you?"

The video that popped up was of Aro's basement. Jay popped his head into frame and Aro frowned.

"Are you in my basement?"

"Yup. Was spending some time with the Beebo," Jay said chirpily. "Good job today, Aro. What a great actor you are!"

"Where are the young ones? Why aren't you in bed?"

"Well, one. It's not bedtime yet. Two, Beebo refused to move out of the basement now that he knows you're coming home. How are we going to sleep without the bedtime tuckin'?" Jay asked in a sing-a-song voice and I wondered what that meant. Aro sighed, rubbing his head. "I heard the whole thing, by the way. Our handsome CEO diving into the dumpster!"

"Fuck," Champion cursed. "I'm a man of money and fame, I can't believe I had to do that."

"You did for the greater good – Max wasn't around. Royal was naked. Bunny and Aro were busy. I saw everything through Beebo," Jay stated. "Are we finally calling the new manager 'Bunny'? Max calls her that, no? Kind of tired of having to say Ms. Manager all the time. Too long for my liking."

"Champion kept calling me different names throughout the mission," I tattled.

"Aro started it! First it was Tetra then Jean," Champion retaliated.

"Bunny is nice. I think we should keep 'Bunny'. At least he didn't try calling you anything weird," Jay said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"It was Apple and Pear one point in time."

"Apple. Delicious," Jay mused. "I want to say something about Royal being naked, but I'll wait for home. See you guys soon!"

"Nana!" Royal wailed just as Jay reached out to put off Beebo, his face disappearing.

Aro shook his head, Champion murmured something under his breath and Royal snapped.

"What are you complaining about? You've always been part of the team!"

Champion snorted. "I used to call you guys 'The Freaky Five'. It's now the Spontaneous Six."