Colors Bite Sized Adventures EP2 - What An Enigma

As I slam the front door, I think we have another contender for the worst day ever, same as yesterday, and the day before that. When the hell is that mayor jerk coming back to us with another excuse to kick ass? I need some relief somehow. As I walk through the surprisingly clean living room, I sit in my comfy green chair and let out of some steam. As soon as I start to chill, I hear a door open and close from upstairs, as I hear footsteps coming down with loud thuds. I look by the stairs and see Roxy, in her casual blue jumper and her comfortable blue elastic leggings, as she walks towards me and sits on the sofa, sprawling out like some dehydrated camel, which would explain the odd sigh she lets out.

“You’re welcome, by the way.” Roxy says, randomly as she looks at me with a small confident smile on her face.

“What?” I ask her, not knowing if she is delirious or actually has a point.

“This place. It wasn’t this clean until someone busted their hump to scrub it. So you’re welcome.” Roxy says, reaching over to me as I sit on the chair next to the sofa, ruffling my hair.

“Hey. Lay off me, okay? It’s been one of those days again.” I say, reliving it all in my head, which only makes me more angry.

“Another one?” Roxy asks me, as if she’s starting to grow weary with me as I discuss my day.

“Yeah. First, this bozo cuts in line at the canteen on lunch break, taking the last curry pot, then someone makes a comment on my spiky hair. Then just to top it all off, I stepped on a pin that pierced my shoe and poked my foot. I know, it sounds rough saying it out loud, but I kept my cool.” I say, taking some deep cleansing breaths, ready to forget my day working the tills at the record store.

“Yeah, about that. I know I keep saying this, but this time, I really think it’s about time we work on your temper and keeping your patience.” Roxy says, like she’s my mother or something... though she is the closest one to it, despite being only 2 years older than me.

“I know, I know. But please cut me some slack here. This place is filled with self-righteous and uppity tools, and I’m required by law and obligation to shake their hands and bow to their whims.” I say, clenching my fists as I picture them in my mind.

“That’s called retail. You just gotta roll with it.” Roxy says, even though she has no store experience herself, and yet feels like she’s mastered it after watching so many instructional videos on human interaction in retail... for some unexplained reason.

I fall silent, knowing that she’s heard this shtick a thousand times before. As if she can sense my mind is still not settling, she turns to me and smiles. “Oh yeah. I’m going over to Andy and Blanche’s place soon. Wanna come? They’re bringing beer.”

I subconsciously turn my head to her, as fast as my neck can take. Though I’m still wondering if I like that beefhead, his sister is easy on the eyes, and beer is easy on the throat, which by the way, is dry as a bone.

“Beer? Sure.” I respond to her, not sure on what else to say to that without sounding too eager.

“Hehehe. That perked you up. Come on, if you’re done here, let’s transition out of here.” Roxy says, as we start to get up from the chairs.

As soon as I know it, we are just outside the siblings’ house, as the sun is still up high up in the sky, just scolding everything in its path, especially me and definitely Roxy in that jumper. We continue walking through the garden before the front door, but I hear some rustling from behind one of the topiary sculptures furthest from us. I look around and see no one there.

“Nuko? You okay there?” Roxy asks, stopping in her tracks for me.

“Yeah, just thought I heard something.” I say, probably just jumping at shadows again... becoming something of a hero doesn’t do well for the heart, knowing that an enemy can be hiding around any corner.

“You need to chill out. I can see that brain of yours moving at lightning speeds... first time for everything, huh? Come on.” Roxy says, walking on, as I follow just beside her.

Thinking about what she just said, the remark about my brain finally sinks in. “Hey. What was that last part?”

Roxy giggles to herself as she rings the doorbell, which never fails to give me the creeps no matter how many times I’ve heard it. Reeve comes to the door, looking as tidy and... British as ever, as he polishes a teacup with a small washcloth as he looks at us.

“Ahh, come in. The masters are just inside. Just wipe your feet, please.” Reeve says, as we both just decide to slip off our shoes, not trying to bring too much attention to my slightly stinky feet.

We walk into the living room and see Blanche, Andy and Poppy all sitting down on the sofas with freshly steaming cups of some funky smelling tea. For some reason, Lizzie and her little pet bird haven’t arrived yet, just like her to be late. As the two of us walk in, the three all turn to look at us, as Reeve runs upstairs.

“Hey, hey guys. Do either of you know what today is?” Poppy asks, excitedly.

“Go on, guess while you can. She’s mentioned it like 15 times already.” Blanche says, sounding a little annoyed, but not wanting to hurt her feelings, like when a baby acts up but you can’t help but be endeared.

“Oooh, is it the day we all go to the beach like we promised?” I ask, remembering a couple of mentions about the beach before.

“No. But I do want that now. It’s a month from today that we all fell into that hole and met Arc, the day we all met.” Poppy says, excitedly as she bounces up and down.

“Shhh. Reeve still doesn’t know about our involvement with the Colors yet. He still thinks we were having a role-playing session.” Andy says, shushing everyone.

“But... didn’t most of us already know each other before then?” I ask myself out loud, before receiving yet another Roxy’s trademark whacks around the back of the head.

“You numbskull. Poppy didn’t know any of us before then.” Roxy says, as everything becomes clearer and I start to feel a little embarrassed.

“That reminds me, where is Lizzie at the moment?” Poppy asks Blanche, who possibly sent out the texts on the chat room.

“She said she’d be here soon. She was taking care of something first.” Blanche says, taking her first sip of tea.

As if by movie magic, the door starts to open from behind us.

“Thank you. I’m here guys. Sorry I’m late.” Lizzie says, as her shadow grows as she gets closer.

She turns the corner to see us, and we all turn towards her to see something we didn’t honestly expect to see. She has a new dark floral dress with a broken heart choker on her neck, plus her fringe is now mostly red. Lyle sits on her shoulder, looking bored as let’s face it, I probably would be.

“My only excuse was that I was making this happen.” Lizzie says, smiling as she looks around the room to gauge our reactions, seemingly happy with the results as we all stare in awe.

“She told me we were going underwear shopping, and in the end, I was dragged around for four hours picking out your new look.” Lyle says, talking as if his soul was stolen from his body.

“Come on. It was a funeral for my past. You’re looking at a brand new Lizzie now, one that doesn’t seek the approval of certain pervert birds.” Lizzie says to Lyle, poking his beak.

“Fine. But next time, right?” Lyle asks, as he starts to fly onto the table.

“So anyway, what brought us all here, Blanche? Any news?” Lizzie asks, standing next to Poppy, who is looking at her.

“Oh yeah. I got something for you guys. I’ve been nonstop searching through social media and news outlets, looking for any mentions of The Colors, and so far nothing. But then I turned one on to a small segment about us, but... just watch.” Blanche says, walking over to the television and turning it on, having it already paused before that moment.

She presses the play button on the remote as we go silent, keeping our eyes and ears on the screen. The screen shows three old men around a small table in some station.

“Hard to believe it’s been a month since that big scare around town. Other than a couple of unfortunate fatalities, it could have ended a lot worse than it did.” The old man on the left hand of the table says, his jowly cheeks drooping down to his neck.

“What I don’t get is why the doctors would make up these silly fictional characters to point the praise at. What were they? The Colors or something, was it?” The middle man asks, looking across at the other two.

“I concur. These doctors were either doing this out of modesty, or simply to create a folklore with no base for truth. Before then, we haven’t seen any sign of these Colors, and it’s unlikely we ever will.” The right old man says, rocking back and forth on his chair slightly.

“And that brings us to the crux of the problem. No one can say for certain if they were telling the truth or playing some confusing joke on us. If The Colors are real, then it would benefit everyone if they showed themselves and save us all the what-ifs and rumour mills. I think that’s all we have for that topic. Next up, we have-“ The middle old man says towards the camera, as if he was talking directly towards us, before the television is turned off as Blanche looks mortified, even now.

“Can you believe it? We bust our humps to save all those people, and we don’t get even a small pat on the back for our troubles.” Blanche says, shuffling through her phone to pull up some other news sites, in case they talk about something that may or may not exist, as far as they are concerned.

“Honestly, that’s better than being hounded and hunted by the people that do know our secrets. Remember why we started doing this in the first place.” Roxy says, once again being the voice of reason, as she is in most discussions.

“...To help stop something from destroying this world. But still, a little more of a thank you would have been nice, is all I’m saying.” Blanche says, crossing her arms with a tense and peeved look on her face, looking intently into the black screen.

“As long as we’re helping people, that’s all that matters to me.” Poppy says, with her usual sunny smile on her face.

A couple of hours of unimportant small-talk later, we all separate for another day to do our own things, as Roxy and I start walking home together. However, when we pass through the main business district, in the corner of my eye, I see Poppy trying to cross the road at a pedestrian crossing, but can’t because no car would let her pass. Looking ahead, I see that there are way too many cars and bikes waiting to pass by, that if none of them let her pass, she’ll be here for a while.

“Nuko? You alright?” Roxy asks, shaking my arm, noticing that my mind has been pre-occupied.

“Yeah, of course. Listen, why don’t I meet you back at home? There’s something I have to do first.” I say, actually feeling sorry for the girl.

Roxy walks on, as I walk towards Poppy. Why do I care about this, you ask? I know she is not weak, and with her power, she is already leaps and bounds above me, but I feel it is my duty as a teammate to help friends in need.

“Hey, you know you have right of way, right?” I ask, walking up to her, as she sharply looks towards me... I must have startled her.

“Oh hi. I’m just waiting here until the cars are all gone. None have stopped so far, but I’m sure someone will.” Poppy says, not a hint of irritation in her voice, and her smile still on her face.

“Or we can just do this.” I say to her, as I pull her arm and run with her across the street.

The cars honk at us, and Poppy screams, breathing heavily, but we are both unscathed and on the other side of the road, so no harm done.

“What was that? That scared me. I thought we were going to die.” Poppy says, trying not to cry in fear as she softly hits me in the arm.

“But we’re across the street. Listen Popstar, I respect your kindness and positive outlook on life, but trust me, if you want something in life, you more often than not, need to take it yourself before someone else does. See you soon.” I say, patting her on the shoulder before walking away.

“...Teach me.” Poppy says softly, still in the same spot I left her in.

“Teach you?” I ask, not sure on what she means by that.

“To become stronger, so I can defend myself and get ahead like you do. I want to be braver with this sort of thing, outside of my profession.” Poppy says, walking over to me, surprising me a little as it puts a little smile on my face.

“If you really want to learn, then sure. Come with me.” I say to her, taking her back to the business district, going into a small old English looking tavern, the kind of look and feel that every tavern in 21st century England had, when they all looked exactly the same.

The place is quite run-down, with spiderwebs resting easy on every corner of the room, and a beaten up radio as the only source of sound, and even so, it is just a sports station. There aren’t many people here, so we decide to take a seat that is furthest from the entrance. There is a fire exit next to us, but it has a wire connecting to it, so that’s one exit we won’t be using until an emergency calls, or Lizzie comes in with her ring. Poppy is looking around the bar sheepishly, truly a fish out of water.

“Alright. There is only so much you can teach someone about this, but here goes. Let’s say someone strange comes up and asks you for a drink, instead of caving and saying yes, you tell them no and walk away. If by chance they attack you-“ I say, trying to explain everything to her, making sure she understands it all.

“I know this one. One jab to the solar plexus, following up with a swipe at the nose. Am I right?” Poppy asks, way too excitedly about it.

“Ummm, I was going to suggest you get the hell out of there, but if you can pull that manoeuvre off, then that could work, I guess.” I say, surprised and a little scared to hear this from such a sweet face and voice. “Alright, I’m just going to the bathroom. When I get back, I’ll order us some drinks and we’ll begin lesson 2.”

I walk quickly to the bathroom, only just made aware that I’ve never had to pee so bad in my entire life. After I finish up and return to the bar, I see that there are people crowding around Poppy, some of them pointing guns at her as she sobs to herself, looking quite hurt with one black eye. For lack of better words to say in this situation; oh hell no. I walk over to them, feeling obviously nervous, but finding no way around this. I see that they look quite tough, as they are all wearing business suits and red gloves, likely to cover their tracks.

“Hey. What the hell you guys doing?” I ask, standing in front of Poppy, more scared than a little, but I should be used to guns being pointed at my face by now.

“This little nuisance was in our usual seats, and refused to give it up. She tried to attack us, but we got to her first.” The main guy with blonde swept-back hair and sunglasses to cover his eyes, like a true creepo.

“So bullying and attacking little ladies is how you assert dominance? Some men you are.” I say, pushing his gun away from me before he pushes it straight back.

“You got a problem with the way we do things around here? People like you need to learn how to respect your superiors.” The main guys says, sticking his gun close to my neck, though if he was a proper hard nut, he would have done it by now, so I’m not all that worried.

“I really hope you don’t mean you, you little-“ I say, about to grab the gun and clock the asshole around the head.

“Wait. I recognise your face. You’re Nuko, aren’t you?” One of the guys behind him asks me, his small voice stopping us both in our tracks.

“Poppy, run.” I say, pushing her away to safety, as the leader moves to look at the other guy.

“What’s the matter, newbie? An old friend?” The leader asks, turning around to face him, before looking back towards me.

“You don’t know Nuko? I’ve heard his name come up a couple of times before. He’s pretty much Watcher Central’s number 1 troublemaker, and apparently has accomplices in quite high places, like in the guard council.” The man says, leaving me to wonder how people just seemed to know this information from out of nowhere.

Hearing this, the leader smiles and puts the gun down, storing it back in his pocket.

“Is that so? Well... Nuko, was it? You probably know more about this place than we do. Come, walk with me, talk with me.” The leader says, disbanding the group, who go around the bar, doing their own things.

The leader and I walk out of the bar and walk down the street, the air feels breezy, and yet there seems to be a lot of sweat building up on my forehead. Each step feels like an eternity, and I don’t want to be the one who breaks this uncomfortable silence between us. I just hope Poppy got back safe.

“Listen, you’re lucky to be alive right now. You must be pretty nasty to be infamous here. Let me cut right to the chase here, you can call me Enigma, and I require your help.” Enigma says, as if I was interested in helping his plan that will no doubt be something stupid.

“Well, too bad I’m not into causing stirs anymore.” I say, honestly feeling grown up for saying this, even though my hatred for those goddamn officials still burns as strong.

“In exchange for an in-and-out job, I can guarantee the safety of you and that little friend of yours for life.” Enigma says, as we stop walking next to a bridge surrounded by clouds and a lovely view for the world below... I have no idea how far we’ve walked since I stopped taking notice.

“And if I refuse?” I ask, looking out into the horizon, wishing so much that I was in there right now, not having to take this conversation.

“Then I can guarantee you and your friend a sudden death.” Enigma says, with a big smile on his face, almost as if he looks forward to hearing me decline the offer.

“Seems I have no choice then. Alright then, what the hell do you want me to do?” I say, eager to get this over and done with.

“Tonight, we will meet up and discuss ways to get some money so we can move on out of this town and onto the next one.” Enigma says, saying it out in the open, as if he knows no one is going to rat him out or something.

“And best of luck to you. I’d best be on my way.” I say, hoping that I can just slip away, but he just follows me and brings me back.

“Where do you think you’re going? We had a deal, didn’t we? You know this place more than any of us. How about taking us to a loaded place, and we’ll be out of your hair.” Enigma says, though I really don’t think he’s going to keep his side of the bargain in the end. I’ve seen and beaten his kind before, after all, but something about this guy rubs me the wrong way, a strange aura circling him like an invisible cloud. “Come on, don’t you trust me? We can work pretty good together, if you behave yourself. We can take back what they owe us, piece by piece.”

Weirdly, I can kind of see my old self in him, if I’d only continued down the path I was heading back then. Though it pains me to have to go back there, one place does spring to mind. One that they will never forget, and then they will regret their choices, just as I did.

“If money is what you want, I have the perfect place.” I say with a confident smile on my face, though I really hope that this plan works.

Later that day, as the night starts to creep in, Enigma takes me back to their little hideout in a small rundown house in the outskirts of Watcher Central. The place looks beaten up, with only one unsupported lightbulb still intact in the 3 rooms I can see, and bullet holes in the walls, like a true piece of mobster art. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of furniture on here, other than sleeping bags and a small table. Whichever way I look at this place, it screams that these people aren’t as powerful as I originally thought. We all walk to the table, but Enigma stops me and takes the phone from my pocket, crushing it in his hand effortlessly as he lets the pieces rain to the floor.

“Just in case you get any smart ideas.” Enigma says, as he walks away from me, leaving me just standing there, trying to piece together in my mind how I’m going to get out of here. I guess I have no choice but to do what they say for now.

As we all crowd around the little table, everyone waits for me to talk, as if Enigma already told them that I already had a place in mind.

“Alright, so here’s the plan. In the Premium Estates, that is where the rich people live around here. There is one in particular that is filled to the brim with riches, though the security is almost always present. If we can take out the security systems and the guard, we should be able to make it without a hitch.” I pitch to them, knowing that one way, they will be out of my hair, or the other, they die here.

We all drive towards the place in a pretty beaten up white van with the words “Money wagon” crudely written on the side in black marker. As we all climb into the crappy overgrown wheelie bin, with just as much litter, Enigma starts to drive out of the dark garage and into the streets. As I am positioned in the front seat, to give directions, I notice that a lot of them in the back are holding firearms, which just puts a lump in my throat, knowing that this place won’t be so welcoming.

As we drive through to the posher side of town, we drive through the path between the fenced-off gardens, as the others are sitting in silence, just waiting for their moment.

“So remind me why we’re doing this again.” I ask, not entirely certain on why we’re here in the first place.

“I told you I was only going to tell you once. You may be this infamous piece of crap from the suburbs, but in this group, you’re nothing, so just keep your mouth shut.” Enigma shouts, although I was supposed to be giving him the directions to this place.

“Hey chief. That place looks amazing over there. What do you think?” One of the guys at the back asks, pointing out of the window as everyone else looks with him, even the ones who are facing away from the window.

We all look to see the place, and it is just what I pictured in my worst nightmares. They are all looking at the Locksley House. Enigma takes just one look at the place before he falls in love with it. His devilish smile tells me that I might have screwed up.

“Boys, I think we found our target, forget that other place.” Enigma says, turning the car towards the house.

“Really? The other place has so much more than this run-down old shack.” I say, trying with all my might to deter them.

“Shut your mouth. Once we get everything we need, we have no further use for you, so you know what that means.” Enigma says, giving me the cutthroat gesture, making me very aware of my neck, having it brought up.

For once in my life, I’m speechless... I’m scared. What the hell have I done? And what the hell do I do? The guys are never gonna forgive me, or worse, die. No, they can’t. I have to signal them somehow. I miss my remote explosives. With nothing else to do for now, I take my time and wait until the car comes to a complete stop, and then, I try to pull off one of the bravest techniques I have ever done in my life... I push Enigma back into the van and close the door on him. This gives me enough time to run as fast as I can towards the door. I can see them all poke their heads through the curtains of the window.

When I reach the door, trying my best not to cry out of blind panic, Roxy comes to the door and pulls me in, as everyone else, including Lyle and Reeve, surround me.

“Nuko! You’re alright. I’m assuming those are the men who kidnapped you?” Roxy asks, looking relieved as she wraps her arms around me, looking out of the window.

“Yeah. He’s the one who hit me.” Poppy says, pointing towards Enigma, who is preparing his assortment of weapons.

“Can someone please tell me what’s going on here? And my old mind just clicked, why is there a talking stuffed parrot in this house?” Reeve asks us, poking Lyle in the stomach.

“Parrot?” Lyle asks, deeply offended by the insinuation, as he flaps his wings rapidly in front of Reeve.

“I’ll explain everything later, Reeve. Just please wait upstairs. We’ll deal with this.” Andy says, preparing his training sword.

“Alright, but please do be careful, children.” Reeve says, before running up the stairs.

“Wait, I think I might have seen these guys before.” Lyle says, looking at them in shock.

“Really? Please tell me you’re not making this stuff up to look cool again.” Lizzie says, just coming out and saying it, as always, though to be fair, I’d probably do the same.

“No. I’ve dealt with these fellas before. They call themselves Royale Corps. The leader only goes by the name, Enigma. Was a weedy so-and-so and played host to a bunch of nerds who played tough. But now, it seems that he’s gone and upped his ante a tad. Lizzie, make sure to keep your guns handy.” Lyle says, looking closer at them all as they march towards the door.

“Got them right here, but isn’t killing them just stooping to their-“ Lizzie asks, as she loads her guns.

“This is no time for morality meter with a cape bullcrap. There’s no point in dying when we can easily win this.” Lyle says, putting faith in us.

As soon as he stops talking, a huge bang is heard at the door, like a battering ram storming through our defences. I can see Poppy wincing with each crash.

“Nuko, I’m so sorry about what happened. This is all my fault.” Poppy says, starting to panic, as her hands start to shake.

“It’s not your fault. Just please, next time, get to know the deal with someone before smacking them.” I say, making sure to give her my final lesson on the subject.

With one last kick, the door flies off the lock and opens up to show the men all crowding around the door, before they all come in, leaving muddy tracks on the shiny clean floor.

“Ohh, so this house is yours, huh? No wonder you were such a wuss about it. Now you can die alongside it.” Enigma says, pointing his gun in my direction, and firing it as I only narrowly dodge the bullet.

“Enigma. Enough with picking on the small fries. You have me to deal with first.” Lyle says, flying to the front of the group.

“Huh? A talking cockatoo?” Enigma asks, looking quite shocked.

“For the love of- I’m a lyrebird. Get it right. Anyway, you and I have a score to settle for old times.” Lyle says, eyeing up Lizzie’s set of guns... I really love double meanings.

“Sorry Polly, but I don’t know who the hell you are, so move if you don’t want to be tomorrow’s lunch.” Enigma says, pointing the gun at him, as the others all do the same behind him.

“Lyle Bird, from Black Rose Corporate. One package to a Mr. Enigma was delivered but never paid for. Just because I’m in this body now, doesn’t mean I’m letting you walk away from here without paying.” Lyle says, in a serious tone, to the extent where it actually sounds intimidating, weird considering the source of the voice.

“Damn it. Miss one payment, and they sent people after your ass. I’m assuming you’re all part of the company now. Just kill them all, okay?” Enigma asks the others as he walks to the back of the group.

Knowing that they’re about to open fire, everyone steps back and hides behind a sofa. In the nick of time, we hear a hailstorm of bullets hiding the sofa.

We all take cover, taking shots at the men, though without my explosive traps, I am basically powerless at this point. From the corner of my eye, I see Lizzie gives Lyle her gun, holding it in his beak as he flies around the room, taking shots at the men, as she uses her ring magic to shock them all. Not knowing what else to do, I just run out of the cover, and start punching them left and right when they are distracted. However, on the last man standing, he sees me coming and manages to get a lucky shot on me, hitting me in the right arm, as blood pours down it, and did I mention that it hurts like hell? Because it does.

“Nuko!” Roxy shouts, wrapping her whip around the man’s neck and bringing him to the floor, knocking him unconscious.

With no one left, Enigma walks back in as he slowly claps for us, looking shocked, yet still suspiciously confident.

“Good going. No really, you and your pathetic group win again. I’ve changed a lot since the last time, and I’ll likely change again before long. Until then, you all better sleep with one eye open from now on.” Enigma says, as he walks casually out of the house.

We all follow, as Lyle and Lizzie decide to strike him with everything we have from behind, but to our surprise, everything just bounces off, not even phasing him. To add to our surprise, he suddenly vanished into a cloud of smoke. As the cloud fades away, another bird flies out and soars into the horizon. Was that bird... Enigma? I don’t know what just happened, and by the looks of it, no one does, but either way, he’s gone now.

“We did it. Glad that you’re back safe with us, Nuko.” Roxy says, jumping for joy as she takes my hand.

“We all are. So, will it be cash or card?” Blanche asks me, completely out of nowhere.

“Excuse me?” I ask her, genuinely confused.

“You know, for bringing them here, so they can destroy quite a lot of our lovely furniture. We can sort out a little down payment if you wish too.” Blanche says, pointing around the room, as bullet holes cover the walls, plus the furniture and the decorations are almost destroyed, though she seems so confident in the notion that I’m going to have enough to pay all of it back.

“Ahh, that. That’s right. I’ve given it some thought, and I was thinking-“ I say to her before dashing off as fast as I can.

I’m really not sure if she is chasing me or not, but I’m so happy to be alive, that I don’t even care, she has enough money to pay for this and then some anyway. For now, I’m just going to run home for the night. Later, fools!