Part 2

The salesman at Intergalactic Jewelers stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the contents of Emmy's briefcase.

"Well," she said, "how much?"

"Uh...I......"

"Look, I haven't got all day."

"Ma'am, I'm afraid that these are a bit out of our league," the salesman stammered.

Emmy sighed and placed her hands on her hips. "Are you or are you not *Intergalactic* Jewelers?"

"Well....of...of course. But these are very valuable."

"Duh."

"We simply don't carry this kind of thing in stock." The salesman composed himself slightly. "I could have our appraiser give you an estimate. Perhaps we could then assist you in searching for a buyer."

"I need the money today," Emmy insisted.

The salesman raised his eyebrow suspiciously. "And how did you come to acquire these tiaras?"

Emmy glowered and slammed her Chanel briefcase shut. "They are *mine*. But if you're going to stand here and insult me, I will take my business elsewhere," she huffed, swinging her briefcase dramatically off the glass counter and narrowly missing the blue-haired head of another customer.

~*~

"But why can't I ride on it?"

"Why would you want to?"

The RB stared longingly out the window at the shiny green John Deere mower as Cal drove it straight across the lawn. "I wish to have a chariot."

Laure arched her eyebrow. Apparently the drugged merlot had effectively erased the post-traumatic stress. So she smiled and yanked him down to the bed.

~*~

The General stood, hands on his hips and head cocked to the right, before the pile of scorched, welded metal that used to be his Triumph. Then he folded his arms and cocked his head to the left.

Then he thoughtfully stroked his chin.

"Ah well, fuck it," he said, turning around and walking back into the admin building.

~*~

"Shoo, shoo," Kymira said as two of the tiger cubs interpreted knitting as playtime. "Go on," she said, gently kicking her foot out to keep them off the bantha-sized scarf. Then the cubs latched their impressive claws into the scarf and began to nip at the needles as they clicked together. "ALRIGHT, LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE BEFORE I MAKE RUGS OUT OF YOU!" Kymira shot up out of her chair and threw the scarf on top of the wrestling cubs as she stormed out of the room.

"*Somebody* needs a General appointment," Ellie muttered as she flipped through Darry's Cosmo.

"I heard that!"

~*~

Emmy slammed the gas nozzle back onto the pump and waited her for receipt to print out. She certainly hadn't planned on having to drive all the way downtown, but since that rinky dink Intergalactic Jewelers in the equally rinky dink town near campus was of no use to her, she had no other choice. The tiaras were hers, so selling them was the only way to have her own money so that Xani couldn't hold anything over her head.

She tore off the receipt and then decided she needed some chocolate to get her through the rest of the ordeal. Since the top of her car was down, she grabbed her briefcase and headed into the minimart.

Quickly honing in on the Twix bars and M & M's, Emmy tossed them on the counter, setting her briefcase down to get her wallet out of her purse.

"That it?" the squeaky voiced, cashier asked.

"No," Emmy said as he was halfway through ringing her up, just to make his life difficult. She stepped away from the counter and walked over to the refrigerator section to grab a Snapple as the checkout line grew longer. She sauntered back, giving The Face to the scowling, overly perfumed woman who was next in line. "Now I'm ready," Emmy said, placing the diet lemon iced tea on the counter. She paid the cashier and picked up her briefcase, eyeing the woman behind her who eyed her back.

Emmy smirked. She obviously had more style than this rude bitch. Then the rude bitch picked up her own Chanel briefcase and stepped forward.

"Oh fine," Emmy said with a flip of her stray curls, turning around and strutting out the door.

~*~

"Protoblood."

"Hmmm?"

"I need protoblood," Kai said in his usual steady, metered tone.

Dorotea shrugged. "I have Skittles."

Kai blinked at her.

"And there's some motor oil out in the garage. That looks like protoblood."

Kai remained expressionless as he turned and walked away.

"But I cleaned out the fridge if you wanna take a nap or something!" Dorotea called out after him.

~*~

"Okay, let's run through this again. How *exactly* did she pull your sunglasses off?"

Scott furrowed his brow a bit. "She just reached up and took them off."

"And you let her?" Shana asked with much indignation.

"Well, she just--"

"Listen," Shana interrupted, grabbing his shirt, "I co-participated in drowning his bike before. I don't want to get blamed for this one, too."

Scott shrugged. "Blame him," he said, thumbing towards Crow.

"Mmph rmph mmmph mmm rmmm."

Shana glared at the bot, his beak wrapped with duct tape. "You are two seconds away from becoming the rebuilt axle of the Wanker College bus."

Crow shuffled over to his desk and sulked.

~*~

"Good afternoon. How may we help you?"

Emmy flashed a smile at the salesperson. The only other place left in the damn city was the Yuppie Pawn Shop, so if this place didn't pan out, she was out of luck. "I need to sell some jewelry."

The man behind the counter smiled back. "Well, you've come to the right place."

"I tried your store in Testosterone County, but they said they couldn't help me," Emmy said, a slight challenge to her voice.

"Well, I'm sure we'll have no trouble here," the man said with the proper snobbery against Testosterone County. "What have you brought us?"

"Tiaras," Emmy said. "Five of them."

"Splendid," the man said. "There's a real demand these days."

Emmy smiled. "Finally someone who appreciates good taste."

"Of course," he replied as Emmy lifted her briefcase and placed it on the counter. Then his mouth dropped open as she opened it for him.

Emmy smiled proudly. "Yes, I'm quite fond of--" She gasped loudly as she looked down and saw not her tiaras but a briefcase full of cash in very large denominations. She blinked several times. A slight terror rushed through her at the thought of her missing tiaras. And then she realized how convenient this was. "Oh," she said, looking up at the man. "Well. Never mind," she said with a wide grin. "Here, for your trouble," she said, picking up one thick wad of cash and pulling out a hundred-dollar bill....which was followed by a tiny plastic pouch full of white powder that dropped onto the glass counter.

The man's face pinched up as Emmy cursed and shoved everything back into the briefcase and ran out of the store.

And as she threw the briefcase into her car and jumped in, the salesman picked up the phone and dialed 911.

~*~

"Have you seen Emmy?" the General asked Judy as she supervised the replacement of her bar.

"Nope," Judy replied. "Hey, be careful, you big lug!" she yelled at the burly mover.

"Hmmm," the General said. "It's not like her to miss an appointment."

Judy's attention was suddenly jolted from her bar. "So you mean that you're free?"

"Well, I--"

"C'mon," Judy said, grabbing the General's hand and pulling him into the storage closet.

~*~

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!" Emmy yelled as she sped down the road. "Okay," she said. "Calm down. Just....just....just get rid of the drugs and...and....and keep the money!" she said with half-crazed enthusiasm. She breathed a little easier. That was certainly doable.

And then she heard the sirens and saw multiple flashing lights in her rearview mirror.

TBC