Bluebird

Land of Confusion

No one attempted to raid the Tower again.

No one else ever sailed with Metalbeard again after that, either, though Benny was of the opinion that it was more his reluctance to find a new crew, after he'd led his previous one to their doom. So he set about helping his friend any way he could, implementing automated functions that could replace the work of a full crew. It took his mind off the need to build spaceships, at least for a while. Within six months, and with continual feedback from the captain, they finally had the Sea Cow fully rigged to sail without help from a single soul. Metalbeard seemed happy enough with it, and spent more and more time away at sea. Benny and Unikitty made no mention of it, and never harassed him to visit more often. He had to deal with the consequences in his own way.

Another year and a half passed, with little to no word from the outside world. By now, all but a handful of Master Builders resided in Cloud Cuckooland. The few holdouts were Ken and Lenny, Metalbeard, Batman, Vitruvius, and his last pupil whose name Benny could never keep track of, she changed it so often. Snazzypants, maybe. Last he heard, she was hunting down the Piece of Resistance. There were so few of them left now, they couldn't afford to wait for it to surface on its own.

Benny himself had been confined to Cloud Cuckooland within the last few months; his need to Build spaceships had gotten to be too overwhelming, and he so often lost himself in that obsession. At least there, if he did manage to finish one before someone caught him, it would be where the Super Secret Police wouldn't spot it.

And then came the email. The Piece of Resistance had been found. Vitruvius had The Special with him, and they were on their way to Cloud Cuckooland to try to come up with a plan. Whatever they decided to do, it would be their final stand. Their do-or-die moment.

Benny hoped it involved spaceships.

He waited in the Dome of Gathering (which Unikitty had affectionately nicknamed the 'Dog', and explained once its appearance had been inspired by her little brother), occasionally being tugged back down by either Ken or Lenny. He draped himself over Ken. "How long do you think it'll take them to get here?" he complained. Ken reached up, raking gloved fingers through Benny's curls before nudging his broken helmet back at him. Benny pulled it on without a word.

"Not much longer, I hope," he answered.

"I got a spaceship to finish..."

"We really should have taken him with us to the moon base," Lenny whispered, leaning close to Ken. "This is getting bad."

"You know we can't, Benny's grounded," Ken whispered back. "The rules are in place for a reason. What if he got away from us, and got lost in space?" Lenny sighed.

"Yeah, but- what number did Unikitty say he's on now? One-thirty-two, or so? He's going to completely flip out if he doesn't get to finish a spaceship soon."

Finally, the last of the Master Builders trickled in, followed by Batman, Vitruvius, his student, and an unfamiliar young man Benny could only guess was The Special. Slowly, a grin stretched across his face.

Unfamiliar.

That meant not a Master Builder.

Oh, this was going to be a blast.