Z made Steve cooler than I did. lol

I figure Ryan would be kind of willfully oblivious to Steve being a try hard and think he's p. cool.

Probably because Steve is the older brother, hatching like .05 seconds faster.

(i don't remember us establishing this before, ignore if we did.)

"No YOU hang up! Hehehehe. No no no YOU hang up first, I insist!!" Percival giggled. His sandaled feet were up on his cluttered desk, full of food wrappers, used soda cans, and a spattering of taxidermied animals.

"HA! Oh hehehe!! Carmen you KNOW you drive me crazy when you talk like that!! Okay doll, I'll see you later then ;)" he sighed with bliss as he finally hung up the call.

He promptly proceeded to switch on his TV and continue his Goose Ball Z binge. With a grin on his face he took a huge bite out of a bagel, his mind clearly still preoccupied with the goose on the other end of that phonecall.

Truth be told, his life didn't have a whole lot else going for it right now. Ever since he got thrown in the clink, the jobs had started to dwindle - not to mention the big scores the Squawd used to pull in. This was partly out of fear of going back there again, but also potential clients that had heard tell of that...last job...were understandably hesitant to link up with someone that let things go so awry.

So here he sat, watching anime and counting down the minutes til he could see his girl again. It was enough to make him happy, but some days he couldn't help but feel there was something missing...the excitement that only--

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

The absurdly strong knock startled Percy enough to take a tumble off his chair. He rolled around and struggled back to his feet, before quickly lunging for the big red button on the bottom side of his desk.

Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Initiating lock down...

A loud thunk could be heard from Percy's porch as a metal gate shut behind whoever this rude knocker was. As Percival adjusted his glasses to see who was on his video feed, he heard a familiar voice before he even had time to recognize the face.

"Are you fuckin' serious man?!" Ryan yelled out incredulously, looking around at the tiny box he had suddenly been caged in just outside Percy's front door.

Percy lumbered to the door as quickly as he could and slid a small window open, just big enough for the two to see each other face-to-face through the bulletproof glass. He silently nodded as if to confirm his (poor) eyes hadn't deceived him and this was indeed his former partner.

"Sorry man! Can never be too careful!" Percy snorted as he meticulously unlatched the heavily reinforced door and let him in. "What the heck brings you to this neighborhood?!"

"Well, let's just say... there's an opportunity that came up. A golden egg of an opportunity. And I know that getting roped back in is probably the last thing you want after last time, but you're just gonna have to trust me on this one bro."

Those words whizzed around Percival's head like a bunch of pop rocks. The...Squawd is getting back together? This is madness. Percival's first instinct was to show Ryan the door right then and there. But then...he glimpsed his absolute unit of a wing, and the memory of what Ryan did for him that day in prison came flooding back. If there were anyone he could trust out of that flock, wouldn't it be him?

Percival hesitantly stumbled backwards and thudded into his chair, before absentmindedly squeezing a stress ball (crafted out of a once-alive hamster).

"So...whaddya got?"

As Ryan recapped the current state of the job, Percival began to shift in his chair excitedly. He had almost forgotten what this felt like. The excitement...the danger. But yet, there did seem to be some crucial pieces missing...

"Well that's a heckuva tale you got there Ry Guy! Only I don't know how the heck you expect to steal a machine that's not even THERE!" Percival grinned smugly as he leaned back and put his wings behind his head.

"Not...there? What is that supposed ta mean?" Ryan asked as he flicked his toothpick to the other side of his bill.

"What is that-- c'mon man, you're telling me you were going to break into Dr. Doomore's estate and take the babble and you don't even know what it LOOKS like?!"

Ryan shrugged. "I mean it's a one of a kind machine, can't be that hard to miss right?"

"Oh, but it can. You see, you're not the only one who doesn't know what it looks like. NO one does--save for Doomore herself! You see, often times the best way to hide something valuable is to hide it in plain sight, and that's just what she's done. She hardly spends a minute of her day away from animals, and that's not just cuz it's her job...it's by design. The babble can take on the appearance of any animal--even you or me man! So even if you figure out which of her animals is secretly being commandeered by her sinister gizmo, it could be an entirely different species by the next time you see it!" Percy paused, out of breath. He took a long chug out of a two-liter bottle of grape soda as Ryan collected his thoughts.

"So... this job's a bust, right? If that's all true, this is sounding way too risky." Ryan said as he absentmindedly smoothed back his perfect blonde hair.

"Well...yes and no. Way too risky? Hell yes. But a bust? Not exactly. Let's just say I know someone who has exactly the tech we need. A tech so sophisticated that even I can't engineer it...as hard as that is to believe, I know! You see, there's a device out there that can suss out where this machine is, because there is one detail they couldn't completely shroud...a tiny machine about the size of a breadcrumb, hidden inside the animal. It sneaks in through the ear canal and embeds itself deep inside the animal's brain, commandeering it until it's time to take over a new host. This device, the one we need, is able to scan animals and detect where this little breadcrumb resides."

"So like...an x-ray." Ryan concluded.

"Like a really good x-ray. Yeah basically!"

"Now's the part where you tell me about the catch, eh?" Ryan sighed.

"You got it buddy! You see...the reason I know about this device...is it kinda sorta is in the hands of my former cellmate. A Tula Fighting Goose by the name of Mikhail Popov. Cool guy, actually! At least until it was time to pay the piper, but he got over it once he let his stabby frustrations out hahaha! *ahem* Anyway... the good news is, I know he keeps this thing at his home. The bad news is...well, he's sorta a high ranking member of the Russian Goose Mob, so security's probably pretty tight."

Ryan furrowed his brow at the stabbing reference, but quickly moved on. "Well, that doesn't sound great, but we've stolen from worse than the Russian Goose Mob. Seems... doable."

"Yeah, yeah. Doable. But tell me Ryan, what's in it for me? I'd be takin' on all this risk, and for what? A little cash? A little thrill? No. I'm puttin' my foot down! I need something special if we rob Dr. Doo...something priceless."

"Well...I certainly don't know all she has to her name, man. But what would you want? I'm sure she's gotten some priceless gifts over the years, artifacts from other lands, um...I dunno, she was married to a filthy rich guy once right? Probably has a bunch of nice jewelry, not to mention the wedding ring. Let's see, what else..."

Percival nearly startled the unflappable Ryan as he burst up from his seat.

"R...ring you say? Some real big diamonds on that bad boy, I bet..." Percival said, wide-eyed, as he stuffed the last of his bagel into his mouth.

"You do this job with us, this one...last...job, and it's all yours buddy."

Crumbs sprayed from Percival's mouth as he responded with a half-full mouth.

"You son of a bitch, I'm in."

Percival is a goddamned national treasure.

But First: The Squawd must infiltrate Mikhail Popov's hideout and steal the powerful X-Ray Gaggles that will allow them to locate The Babble. Only the Russian Goose Mob stands in their way. Piece of cake!

Percival's Agenda: Find a way to remove Dr. Doomore's wedding ring from her finger in the middle of the charity gala so he can take it for himself

Up Next: The lovebirds meet up and Mal walks us through what the catch is that'll complicate the mission further. There's always a catch!

(The main mission, not the Russian Goose Mob job)

Side goal for today for fun: let’s spitball your HQ. The place you meet to discuss the plan and operate out of. What kinda spot is it? Is it the same place you used to use or somewhere new? Toss out ideas

I think it needs to be somewhere new because...of how it went last time. My digs are cool and all but way too small for all of us.

You’re right that spot is too hot now. After you know……….last time..

I’ll spit ball when I’m not mobile but just want to say Curtis’s “one last one last job” is still stuck in my head and making me chuckle. Would be a great tagline.

Ryan would try to pull some strings so the gang could gather in the backroom at the Skein, has a perfect windowless wall for heist conspiracy planning, but there's always a damn high stakes poker game going on...

There is an old abandoned Toys 'R' Us round the way that would do in a pinch, but maybe they need something less grand, more intimate?

*cranes neck* (as if I need to)

Did someone say poker?

is that our new headquarters?