Jobs: Second Shift

"Hello?"

"Hi sweety~ I've just made quite a mess here Marina, and I couldn't help but think of you! Think you can send some guys to help clean it up?"

 Marina should have stifled her sigh, but professionalism had not come to her naturally, and the board room she found herself in right now was certainly not her usual haunt. The eyes of the others in the room tried to avoid looking at the blue-haired girl as she turned away from the table and tried to speak loud enough in her phone to be heard by her father but quiet enough not to be eavesdropped on in the silent room.

It was a losing battle of course.

"Look dad, this isn't the number you're supposed to call for that. This is my personal phone, and I'm not even on duty or whatever as dispatcher right now!"

Marina's words only made the stares at her more curious. She bit her tongue as she realized who she was in the room with. The RVPA had many employees, but whenever something important was happening, one could count on three certain members showing up: the two mammoths who founded it, Samurai the Cleric and Monk the Druid, stood in divots of the table carved especially to accommodate them, while the third member sat sandwiched between the two giants in a simple chair. Dr. Trapper John had signed on solely to provide medical assistance originally, but as time wore on and the inability of the Random Village Protection Agency's Leader's to speak English proved to be a constant hurdle, he got an unspoken upgrade to being the voice of the group. Trapper John seemed to understand the mammoths on some level and could often read their opinions well enough, but he hard a far sharper tongue than the two misnamed pachyderms, giving the Agency a much-needed edge when dealing with less reasonable types.

It was strange that Marina had been called in with them today, not to have an audience with them, but to serve as a representative for the newest considered recruit. Even though things had yet to start, everyone had been gathered in the room and all but prepared to begin when the phone call had been received.

"But if its something you guys need to do, it shouldn't matter what number I call, right?" Jumpropeman's voice carried too far into the room for Marina's taste, and she stood up out of her seat, covering her phone with her other hand to try and muffle her father's voice.

"Alright, alright, fine, what is it you did this time?"

"Uh, well, okay, it's pretty much just a lot of burnt stuff. I summoned a couple Thousand Dragons... well, I mean, they are called Thousand Dragons, and I summoned a bunch of them... maybe I did some thousands of them? Anyway, they burned up the place and I thought you guys should come out here and scrub it up!"

"So what is it, just a bunch of ash just out in the middle of nowhere?"

"Pretty much!"

Marina found the hand that was muffling the noise was now trying to knead her forehead to prevent a headache from swelling up, "I... don't think that's the kind of thing we deal with. We're disaster relief mostly, and I don't see why you guys can't just clean it up. Doesn't it have some time residue or something you have to scrape off anyway?"

Marina could feel the mammoths getting impatient. Humans were far better at suppressing their expressions for the sake of politeness, but when a mammoth fidgets, its hard not to notice their massive bodies moving.

"Look, if it really is serious, call the dispatch line. You really can't call me directly, I don't even answer this phone when I'm working!"

"Oooookay. Well, talk to you later then!"

"Yeah." Marina hung up her phone the moment the Time Spirit gave her an out, and as soon as the call had ended she threw herself back into her seat and thrust the phone into her pocket as if speed would make the phone call any less awkward. Attention finally turned away from Marina as all eyes fell on the new recruit...

"Quite a coincidence your old employer would call while you're up for consideration, at least it would be if we didn't know his powers let him do anything he likes anytime he likes..." Trapper John's sharp tongue was already out, but the recruit straightened his back and tried to manage a grin that seemed friendly.

"If I thought he could help my case, I would have invited him. Instead, I only invited his daughter, to ensure that he'll know what I'm up to."

"Well then, Mr. Archibald Tuttle-"

"Everyone calls me Harry,"

"Or Tripwire, from what I've heard."

The conversation was surprisingly tense, but Marina was somewhat relieved. The awkwardness of her phone call seemed completely ignored, but she resented Harry using her mostly as a means for her father to reliably spy on him trying to join the RVPA.

She couldn't help but think Harry looked strange in a suit. She had almost never seen him clean himself up for anything, the soldier always preferring to wear practical clothing with many places to hide whatever weapon or gizmo he might need. Marina almost wished she was at the dispatcher phone now, instead of having to watch two old men go back and forth.

"Yeah, but it's not like I'm hiding that none. I believe I've given you all more than enough of my past on paper that I don't need to share my life story."

Monk's trunk twitched, Trapper nodding to the founder to acknowledge his unease. The doctor leans back in his chair, his face resetting as he tries to keep himself in check, "I did not mean to suggest anything against you. We understand that people's pasts may be... colorful, but we will not hold that against you if you wish to better yourself and the world. Our only fear... is that Jumpropeman might be trying to build an empire within our organization." Trapper leaned forward now, his hands coming together below his chain. The gesture looked intimidating, but the fact that Marina had her chin resting in her hands out of boredom not ten feet away sucked some of the energy from it. "You already drew our attention to his daughter in our ranks, and he already provides us with generous donations."

"I imagine his donations come more out of guilt than any idea of controlling the RVPA," Harry began, trying to keep a confident smile going as long as he can, "guilt out of his part in spreading bedlam, and guilt out of... well, not any prettier way to say this: his desire to do something to support his daughter."

"You guys are really blunt," Marina spat out, her former guardian's smile slipping as he heard her displeasure.

"I only meant..." But Harry could not find the words for what he meant before Samurai trumpeted to steer the conversation back on course. "Sorry sirs. What I meant to say is this: I worked for Jumpropeman before, but you even brought up my problem with him. I became Tripwire to try and fix the problems he caused, and when I thought I did that, I retired... but I'm not the type for just sitting around it seems. I got antsy, and I heard of you guys and thought this does exactly that, only with the whole of the Kobbers."

Monk turns to Trapper, low rumblings like vibrating whispers emanating from him as he tries to convey his thoughts to the doctor. Trapper nods and turns back to the former soldier, "Your motivation is strong... but Monk is worried. Your skills are in battle, Mr. Tuttle, and battle is the one thing we don't do." Trapper held up a hand preemptively to try and keep Harry silent before he continued, "I understand you've tried to be as harmless as you can with that, preferring the tranquilizer dart over the bullet, but the RVPA absolutely refuses to do harm in any way, regardless of the situation. We must maintain a level of neutrality. We are committed to the cause of ending suffering, and if we incapacitate someone because they are being violent, we've suddenly drawn a line in the sand."

"You don't need to tell me all that. I know what I'm signing up for, but I know that my skills can be useful, even if they aren't in battle. You guys picked up a lot of recruits from the Red Ribbon Army a while back, and even without seeing those boys I know they are itchy to use their skills they're ignoring." Harry's words got all three of the head honchos to furrow their brows, the course of discourse heading down a road they didn't like. Marina moved her chair a bit further from the mammoths for fear that she might get caught in the crossfire if things escalated, but the shift in tone had pulled her from disinterest and now trapped her in attention at the affairs unfolding before her.

Harry wasn't blind to the mood shift either, "Don't look at me like that! I'm not saying they need to get back on the battlefield or nothing, but they were trained and trained hard. The Red Ribbon fellas were ruthless when they needed to be. What I'm suggesting is that I take charge of the rowdy boys, channel that energy into the kind of stuff that can help the RVPA. Physical work. I know I'm not the only one who's noticed that Vegas has been awfully busy while the Kobbers are out..." The two mammoths perked up at the mention of this. The strange surge of attacks during the winter and spring months was concerning for a group that structured itself to devote most its resources to the May to October "Kobber Period". "We could get those boys out there, building shelters beneath houses for when Kobber-like events are happening. Help prevent some of the collateral damage before it happens, you know? Physical labor like that is a lot like the work the Red Ribbon boys woulda done at boot camp or on base. They had 'Soldier' hammered into them too hard by that awful organization, I only hope to make sure they use that part of themselves right is all."

Harry felt out of breath after making his case, and Marina could see the nervous sweat on his forehead glistening in the halogen lights. The mammoths and Trapper conferred in a way only they can, Marina sitting up and trying to eavesdrop even though she knew she couldn't understand any of it. Before she realized what was happening, Marina felt compelled to speak, "Harry was always good when he was in charge of watching over me, and he never had to do anything rough for that. I mean, we're really small for an organization with such big goals, and its not like people like Nabisco Thing ever really signed on permanently to help us. We shouldn't just turn people away or... something..."

Marina shrunk away from her words as everyone looked at her, but when she saw she got Harry grinning, she at least felt her words had meant something. She didn't allow herself to look at the others until they finished their discussion though.

When Trapper spoke again, Marina spun around to hear the verdict, "You certainly aim for our vulnerabilities, don't you? I feel you invited Marina for more than just an assurance Snappers would be watching this... There is of course paperwork that must be done, but for now... We would be honored to have you with us, Harry."

Harry clapped his hands together happily and began to step forward, but the doctor's hand was up again to try and hold things until he finished, "But you must remember: If you so much as scratch someone with your fingernail, you will be immediately discharged from our organization in the way all people who break the rules are: with a blessing cast on you from our co-founder Samurai the Cleric."

Samurai looked away when he was mentioned. Marina did not know the mammoth well, but there was enough chatter and rumors to go around about why one should fear anything cast by the animal. Samurai still felt the pain of failing to properly dispose of the nuclear missile that almost hit one of Disney's theme parks. Disney had shown their gratitude with generous donations to their cause, but Monk had politely requested no one to drink orange juice on site until the memories of the irradiated orange groves faded from his brother's memory. No one was sure what to do about Samurai's misfiring magic, but it was said Samurai hadn't cast a single spell since the incident in Florida... which only made the idea of that blessing even scarier.

Harry nodded, "No need to scare me, like I said, I know what I'm getting into here. Hopefully things can go a little more smoothly with me on board."

Monk extended his trunk to escort Harry out to fill out some of the necessary paperwork, but when the two left, Trapper allowed himself to scowl.

"What's wrong?" Marina found herself asking.

"I know you're friend there is supposed to be pretty good at digging things up, but I get the feeling many people know we aren't doing as well as we should be. We're much too small for all this, and now stuff's happening even when Kobbers aren't around..." Trapper trailed off, not even looking at Marina as he spoke to her.

"Well... We only feel this way because we try to help so much. If Monk were here... well, he can't really say anything, but his hope was to help as much as we can or something like that. We can't do everything we want to... but we can do everything we can."

Samurai's trunk draped itself over Trapper's shoulders, and the doctor patted the end of it before he stood up, but his mood stayed the same. "I was there in the Manhattan days. I was just on the sidelines then, a face the Kobbers didn't even notice... back then they weren't even called that. Back during Zoofights... I guess I'm just worried that one day, they might revert back to what they were there, and we really can't clean up the kind of messes they'd leave if they did."

Trapper exited on that dour note, Marina falling back into her chair and crossing her arms as she felt her words did nothing to help. Samurai walked towards his young employee, trying his best to smile for her to cheer her up. Marina seemed unaffected, so Samurai began poking her with the end of his nose, Marina turning away from it until finally she playfully smacked it away, getting up and giving the mammoth a reluctant grin.

"I don't know what you're trying to say... but I bet its something optimistic and cheesy. I like working here... I felt I was kind of outta my depth being called in for this, but I guess I'm glad I can be part of this..." Marina felt her words were running out. It was almost like she felt pressured to say something cheerful to clear the air after Trapper's negativity, but she just can't express it properly. Samurai seemed pleased with what she had managed though, and he made his way out of the boardroom, leaving Marina standing their alone.

"And I thought talking on the phone was rough... I'll take that over this stuff any day," she thought to herself as she prepared to head off and occupy herself until her shift started.

--------------------------------------------------

Jumpropeman had not bothered to call the RVPA dispatch number. He wasn't even sure why he called Marina in the first place. "Kinda weird that I'm always gonna associate her with disasters now," he said aloud, "...or maybe its appropriate."

Tut-Tut was already busy with a group of Tester robots themed around cleaning. For now they were just scooping up any ash that had the scar of time manipulation on them that needed scrubbing, but as Jumpropeman's thoughts turned away from his daughter, they returned to that strange shed.

"Hmm... I think I need to see a certain android about some Todash..."

"....Toad Ash, sir? This is mostly just dragon ash..." Tut-Tut said as he motioned out to the robots at work.

Jumpropeman grinned and rubbed the head of his mummy assistant, "You knew exactly what I said, but thank you for pretending to comically misunderstand it."

"I try my best sir."

Jobs: First Shift

There aren't many places on Earth where the sound of minigun fire is considered blasé, but the people of Domino City had heard stranger sounds before. In fact, the battle in the streets at first seemed like one of the many that had occurred there in the past few years, leading to an unfortunate situation where a crowd had gathered before the bullets began to fly.

The strangest thing about the duel in the streets wasn't that a ghost was up against an anthropomorphic clock, it was that he seemed to be trying to talk with it at first. The ghost spoke Japanese with a clear American bent, and he seemed to occasionally emphasize pronouncing a word incorrectly as some sort of joke, and the crowd were quick to favor the clock in a cape and his little dragon friend. A few kids in the crowd were busy on their smartphones trying to identify the ghost, as they had never seen it in one of Domino City's street duels before, but before any answers could be found, the ghost pulled out his minigun and began to let the barrels spin.

"This is your last warning Time Wizard", Jumpropeman yelled out, tired of trying to speak the native language to a clock that he wasn't even sure was capable of speech. The Time Spirit didn't need to hear a single word from it to know that, with a name like Time Wizard, it was something that was bound to screw with the stability of time at some point.

The back of Jumpropeman's mind seemed elsewhere as he waited for a response, his eyes traveling to the small dragon that Wizard hovered protectively over. "Huh, that little dragon looks like one of Draco's kids." If anything, that similarity was what was staying him from just mowing down both Wizard and Baby Dragon and heading off with a job easily completed. The clock just keep bobbing through the air though, so with a sigh, Jumpropeman points his gun towards the wizard's face and opens fire.

In a battle between wielders of time, the speed of a bullet is nearly irrelevant. Right before the minigun begins to chew on its ammo, the Wizard's wand was hefted high, and when the gunshots began to ring out, they came with a quick curse from Jumpropeman.

 Time did not slow down or speed up. The common tricks of those who wield time were all to expected, but even Jumpropeman was surprised as a bubble of space around the wizard wide enough to envelope a house suddenly jumped forward in time one thousand years. The road below was now fractured and dusty, streetlights wilted like iron flowers. A few citizens who were too close were suddenly turned to dust, their bodies skipping past death and decay. They would not stay dead, Jumpropeman thought, but it would require some annoying after battle cleanup that he might just relegate to Tut-Tut. The citizens of Domino City were now fleeing in a panic from the fight, recognizing that it was far more real than the holographic battles of their favorite card-based sport. Their screams were hidden from the air only by the minigun's futile efforts to puncture this time bubble the wizard had created, but as bullet quickly became fine powder in the air at the edge of the magical sphere, Jumpropeman wound down his weapon and flew forward to try and enter the localized version of Domino City, 3016.

As soon as Jumpropeman entered the time displacement though, a great grunt of fire came up from below and scorched his entire frontside. Jumpropeman began to spiral down through the flames, unable to right himself as the heat began to singe his ectoplasm. With a small slap, Jumpropeman's body plopped down right on the source of the fire: the nose of an elderly dragon.

What was once a Baby Dragon was now the Thousand Dragon, an old but formidable creature. The fire from its nostrils died down as the ghost slapped into its snout, but an exhale of smoke quickly blew the ghost up and away before the now-ancient creature began to inhale again for another incendiary grunt. The Time Wizard spun and bounced around in the air above its enhanced ally, but the Time Spirit could not focus on his original quarry as the flames once more wrapped around the tiny little ghost.

Jumpropeman's gun was glowing red now, the metal softening in his grip as he's barely able to keep himself from turning to ash. The ghost decides to ditch his weapon for now, twirling around before he hurls the Iron Curtain up towards the Time Wizard. The Wizard was not expecting to be hit, it had fared well so far after all, so when the heated metal smashed into its clock face, it was no longer able to sustain its flight or the time sphere. However, 3016's section of Domino City was now firmly cemented in the present, leaving Jumpropeman still in the fiery breath of the aged dragon.

The Time Wizard hit the ground with a metallic crunch, the Thousand Dragon turning its attention away to make sure no trick was being pulled on it. The creature's mind was a strange mix between a child's and a geezer's, with no life between to hone it well. You could probably pull the "look over there!" trick on it a thousand times without it learning, and right now, its attention was over there, if "there" was where a Time Wizard had landed. With the dragon distracted, Jumpropeman expands slightly outward to get the ash off his body, but he could not grow to be giant after being burned so badly. Looking around for his tossed minigun, the small blue ghost instead takes note of the cracked tarmac beneath him and dives down, grabbing two chunks of broken asphalt and flying towards his opponent.

The Thousand Dragon exhales smoke as it turns back to Jumpropeman, but before it can breath in to ready another blast of fire, Jumpropeman lunges forward with the two black rocks and shoves them down the dragon' nostrils. The beast moans in a mix between a baby's whine and an elder's groan, falling back onto its hind feet as its front claws set to the task of dislodging the obstructions. Jumpropeman allows himself a grin, but as he turns his attention back to the Time Wizard, he hears the sound of the Iron Curtain revving up. The Wizard opens fire with the minigun briefly, the kick of the gun surprising it and causing it to fall back and drop the weapon, but not before a few holes are made in one of the ghost's arms.

"Damn! I really should just use the bells for this kind of shit..." The Time Spirit grabs his wounded arm and lifts it, only to let it flop. He knew editing time with his bells would not work on a fellow wielder of time, but at this point, yearning for his bells was just as common as any curse word for the ghost while on a job that was going poorly. Seeing that the limb is useless for now. Jumpropeman turns immaterial and dives into the ground, the dragon and wizard both losing track of their opponent as they collect themselves.

The clock's fingers drum nervously one his wand. Jumpropeman swims through the ground beneath them unseen, preparing to rise up and pull out some of the clock's gears from the inside, but the Wizard raises his staff again, and the hands on it begin to spin. The Time Spirit is unsure of what will happen next, so he flies up as quickly as he can, but the Time Wizard flies up into the air as it lets the roulette on its wand spin, four skulls and two engines serving as the potential landing spots. The Dragon sees Jumpropeman emerge from the ground and tries to smack him down, its hand passing through the immaterial ghost, but passing through the beast is distracting enough to throw JRM off course.

He's unable to reach the Time Wizard before the roulette stops. The hour and minute hands both land on... an engine. The Time Wizard cheers silently as it looks down at Jumpropeman, waiting for its magic to take effect. The ghost is briefly surrounded by magical energy, and Jumpropeman can feel the air around him turn a thousand years older. But 4016's air dissipated quickly, and Jumpropeman crossed his arms as he looked up at the Time Wizard.

"I'm completely exempt from time man. Your powers can't do jack to me!"

The Time Wizard's facial hands spin wildly and angrily, the Thousand Dragon recognizing that something went wrong and trying to take another swing at JRM. The Time Spirit quickly dives down and pulls up the Iron Curtain, the barrels spinning again as he prepares for a final stand...

RRRRRRRRRIP

Well, it wasn't that loud of a rip, but it certainly felt loud to the Time Wizard and Thousand Dragon. It was actually a quiet rip, one too small compared to the sounds of the gun, wizard, and dragon for Jumpropeman to even notice. It wasn't until the Time Wizard and Thousand Dragon abruptly dissolved in front of him that he realized anything had happened.

The scorched little ghost let himself fall to the ground in relief at first, but when he looked around for the reason the battle ended, he saw his little mummy assistant Tut-Tut approaching with something in his hand.

The second Time Spirit tossed two cards in front of Jumpropeman, both ripped down the center. "I didn't mean to interrupt the fun you were having sir, but I didn't want you wasting anymore of your energy on them. These are singular manifestations of ancient creatures, so we can't really take care of them or their time shenanigans without finding every card like these two and disposing of them."

Jumpropeman sits up and sighs, running his good arm across the two torn cards. "Thanks for the save I guess. Just wish I knew that before I went in."

"You can do the research beforehand you know..."

"That's the boring part though! ...Ugh, you're right, I know. Was just getting lazy on it again. Procedures, procedures... So, did you show up here just to save my bacon?"

"Unfortunately no. I found a special anomaly that I thought you should see before I purge it."

The ghost shoots up into the air quickly, enough to startle the mummified dodo. The shock was born more of his concern for Jumpropeman moving so quickly in his injured state than the suddenness though.

"Nice!" Jumpropeman exclaimed. "Well, guess I shouldn't say that before I see it, but hey, it's gotta be something good if you're calling me in, right?"

Tut-Tut averted his eyes from his superior, "I'm... not quite sure I would say that, Mr. Jumpropeman..."

----------------------------------------------------

The two Time Spirits reappeared far away from Domino City, Jumpropeman in far better condition than what the universe considered a mere second ago in the timeline. Jumpropeman didn't look good though, if only because he was wearing his disappointment quite clearly when he saw what Tut-Tut wanted to show him.

"A shed?" were the only two words the ghost had for it. A small shed sat in front of them... although it was certainly not meant to be small. The tiny shack was barely held together, its metals rusty and withered while its wood had long since become dust on its floor. It was unclear what it once housed, as the floor was now only home to the remains of the roof. It was clearly some other color once upon a time, but right now it wore a sickening white and lifeless brown on what pieces remained. It was almost a miracle JRM could identify it so easily.

The ghost prepares to hover over and get a closer look, perhaps hoping for something more interesting in what remained of its mess, but Tut-Tut delicately puts an arm in front of his employer. "Sorry sir... you don't want to get too close."

"Why?"

The question did not wait for words to be answered. The shed's pieces begin to knit themselves back together in a flash, color fading back into the structure as dust becomes wood and suddenly, a very plain and uninteresting shed was now sitting in front of the two.

Jumpropeman let out a long whistle, "Well, that is interesting... in a way."

"From what I can tell," Tut-Tut started, "the shed was abruptly pushed forward a thousand years in time and was now pulled back-"

"Oh great, is the Time Wizard here too?"

"No! I mean, no, not at all."

"Huh, so it's just a coincidence that time stuff favors the thousand year jump today."

"I-I guess... But, it's not like the Wizard's power at all! It seems this abnormality is caused by something called entropy."

"Oh great," Jumpropeman wished he could roll his eyes, "I thought we took care of Air. Is she really mucking about with sheds?"

"I'm pretty sure it wasn't her..."

"Well, she's the only one who calls this thing 'entropy' as far as I know. I sometimes wonder if kids with powers these days even bother to look up the fancy words they place on their powers..."

"...to be fair sir, entropy is probably just a word to encapsulate a difficult to describe ability. We can't really judge them for trying to qualify it when we use names like 'the Fabrics of Time'."

"Good point." Jumpropeman's eyes remained on the shed, but once again he let his mind wander, this time off into a place where he might just know what caused this abnormality... but soon he found a much more interesting thought. "SO! Can we get rid of it now?"

"I suppose... I take it you don't want to just excise it from time?" Tut-Tut asked hopefully.

"Of course not! Let's kill multiple thousand year old birds with one stone!"

Time did not stop, but a second later, Jumpropeman and Tut-Tut were standing far away from the shed, an enormous pile of cards spilling out the side of the entropy-afflicted structure. All around it where Time Wizards and Thousand Dragons, the Wizards waving their wands at the shed in what looked like a weird dance.

"DRAGONS AT THE READY!" Jumpropeman yelled, the dragons all grunting or puffing smoke in response.

"LET'S BURN THIS PLACE TO THE GROUND!" And with that, fire roared out from the dragons, enveloping the shed, the cards, and many Time Wizards with it. Some of the clocks were quick enough to fly out of the way of the incoming fire, and some of the Thousand Dragons felt slow in their old age and hadn't even mustered the strength to lend their breath to the inferno, but soon the cards and shed were overwhelmed by the intensity of the attack, and as the cards burnt in the slowly dying shack, Time Wizards and Thousand Dragons began to pop and dissolve all throughout the small area. Tut-Tut watched calmly, but Jumpropeman laughed as the creature who gave him so much trouble earlier that day were now killing themselves by his command. The rogue versions of these monsters he fought earlier were a major pain in his ghostly ass, but now that he had summoned them from their cards, he could make them do whatever he liked...

When the fires died down, there was nothing left of the shed or the army called to destroy it but the scorch marks on the dirt.

"I'll get to cleaning up the temporal mess soon-" Tut-Tut said once Jumpropeman had calmed down, but as he looked at his fellow Time Spirit, he found his ear listening to a phone's speaker instead of him. The dodo felt cowed and stepped back, letting the ghost make his phone call.

"Hello?"

"Hi sweety~ I've just made quite a mess here Marina, and I couldn't help but think of you! Think you can send some guys to help clean it up?"

Tut-Tut had no trouble hearing his boss's daughter let out a long, exasperated sigh.