The colony's camp was often empty during the day. Which also made it the perfect time of day for mischief, as Storm knew quite well by now. Snap wasn't quite as sure- but somehow had gotten roped in whatever Storm was doing anyways, following her around while wringing his hands. "Are you ah- sure we should be here, Storm?" he asked, hesitantly- he probably already knew the answer, after all. The workspace that had been repurposed into bunker investigation was- messy. The colony clearly didn't quite know what was going on, and the scientists were working on the bunker in-between their other projects, scribbling down notes for themselves and others as they worked. Nobody was in today, though, which according to Storm meant a perfect opportunity to go check it out. "It's fiiiiine!" The darker Tsabhua exclaimed, waving off Snap's concern. "It's just some paper. If they didn't want us in, I'm sure they would've locked the door better, so don't worry about it!" That didn’t comfort Snap at all. "People lock doors for a reason, Storm," he muttered under his breath, his eyes darting around as if expecting one of the scientists to barge in any second. Storm ignored

him, already snooping through the stacks of notes on one of the tables. Snap shifted uneasily, his heart racing. He wasn’t built for this sort of thing- sneaking around and invading spaces. But Storm had a knack for dragging him into her schemes, and despite his better judgment, here he was. "Look at this," Storm said, her voice lower now, though still filled with excitement. She held up a sheet of paper with hastily scribbled diagrams of the bunker door, notes in the about possible codes and weak points in the structure. "They’re trying to figure out how to open it. Looks like they haven’t had much luck." "Storm, we really shouldn’t be touching that," Snap whispered, his voice filled to the brim with anxiety now. Storm shot him a grin, unfazed. "Relax, Snap. It’s not like we’re breaking anything. Besides, maybe we can help them figure something out." She started flipping through more notes, her eyes scanning the pages quickly. "Ooooh, check this out-" At that moment, the door slammed open. Depart, now standing in the doorway, did not seem too amused by the two whelp's antics. "What are you two doing here?!" Depart’s voice was sharp, his eyes

narrowing as he scanned the room for any potential damage. Snap froze, his heart dropping to his feet. "W-we weren’t uh " Storm on the other hand flashed a wide smile. "Just taking a look at the notes! You know, trying to help! Figured we could speed things up for you all." Depart crossed his arms, not impressed. "You know you're not supposed to be in here without permission. These notes are sensitive information, and you can't just toss around those notes like that." Snap shrunk under Depart's gaze, but Storm kept her cool. "Look, we weren’t messing with anything important. Just curious. And besides," she tapped the diagram with her claw, "you guys haven’t cracked the bunker yet, right? We might’ve found a lead!" Depart frowned, walking over to the table. He looked at the diagram she pointed to and sighed. "Who even told you about that- you know what, I don't want to know. You two are lucky you didn’t damage anything. But this is serious work, not some game." Snap opened his mouth to apologize, but Storm beat him to it. "We know, we know. We just wanted to help." Depart gave her a long look, then

glanced at Snap, who was still wringing his hands nervously. "Out you guys go. Go run around outside or something- the weather is nice enough, just stay out of trouble." Storm shot Snap a wink as she moved toward the door, unbothered. Snap, on the other hand, hurried after her, his heart still racing from the near-miss. As they left, Storm whispered to Snap, "See? Told you it’d be fine." Snap sighed, shaking his head. "I really hope this is the last time you get us caught "