"O-of course I--!"

But Shock didn't get to finish as Carver piped in. From the alcove's roof, Lock glared down at the pumpkin creature. His tail flicked in annoyance as he slid down the edge to land on the bridge behind Shock.

"I did not get distracted!" he exclaimed as he stomped his way towards Carver. "She was fast!"

"Hey!" Barrel cried as he reached behind him to shake Carver's cage. "That had nothing to do with the forget-me-lots!"

Shock untangled her leg from the rope ladder so she resumed her original position, then quickly started to climb off of it.

"Would you all knock it off?"

But even she couldn't get her brothers under control again. Jack simply watched them all with amusement. Zero flew back to Jack and hid behind his legs as the tricksters turned on each other.

"You're the one who--" Lock started, as he grabbed for a handful of Carver's vines before she could turn them against him.

"--Wanted to put the countdown clock back!" Barrel finished.

He took Lock's lead and also grabbed for Carver's vines.

"BARREL!" Shock screamed.

"WHAT?" Barrel screamed right back, before he realized what he'd just said. "...Oh..."

Jack simply gave them all a playful smirk. He gave a casual glance to Shock.

"Of course you did," he said, simply.

Most of Halloween Town would have cowered at the glare she shot him. Jack, however, was used to it. He calmly placed his hands behind him as he spoke again.

"I expect the four of you to report to the square immediately."

"Or what?" Shock demanded.

"Or none of you will be going out on Halloween."

That got Lock and Barrel to freeze for a minute.

"Come oooooon, Jack!" Barrel whined.

"It wasn't that bad!" Lock said.

Shock crossed her arms.

"How are you gonna make us?"

Jack remained calm.

"Shock..."

Lock and Barrel both timidly tried to talk their sister down.

"Sh-Shock..."

"No, really," Shock said. One corner of her mouth lifted into a smirk. "We're not little anymore. How's he gonna--"

"Shock," Jack said sternly. That time, he narrowed his eye sockets. Any residual humor at the situation he might have had left quickly dissipated. "Last chance."

"Or what, Jack? What are you gonna do?"

As children, Jack merely had to make a scary face to get them to behave for five minutes. Now that they were older, he did his best to reason with them and stand firm when they tested their limits. This time, he knew to burn the hydra's neck before it could regrow. Jack rattled his bones in a threatening manner. His face distorted into a monstrosity the likes of which none of them had ever seen before. The air around them grew deathly silent and still as the skies darkened for a moment. Even the very Halloween wind came at his command to knock Shock back onto the bridge. Zero yelped and flew behind Lock and Barrel, who had curled up in a terrified pile with Carver.

"I confined your master down there," Jack said in a voice that legitimately gave the trickster siblings chills. "You don't think I can't handle you too?"

The darkness broke away. The wind died down. Jack returned to normal. Shock pushed herself up and tried to compose herself, but she couldn't pull up her normal cockiness in time to hide her terror.

"The square," Jack said calmly. "Now."

Lock and Barrel quickly scrambled to their feet. It took Shock another moment to stand, but she hesitantly made her way across the bridge without another word.

Carver wrapped her vines around Barrel's wrists to try and pull them apart and away from her cage, but was quickly overpowered by the two boys as they both quickly moved to grip her vines.

"Would you idiots take a second to-- Ow! Stop yanking that!"

She struggled in their grasp, but was at a disadvantage here. When Barrel said it was her idea, she joined Shock in hollering at him. She even rammed the back of his head with her cage for good measure.

"Thanks a lot, dumbass!"

The pumpkin creature scowled at Jack as he took back control of the situation. She wasn't brave -- or stupid -- enough to challenge him to his face. She might mock Doctor Finkelstein for his inability to contain her, but even if she could get out of whatever punishment Jack had in mind, she wasn't going to beg the question.

"Shock..."

"Sh-Shock..."

"Shock seriously--"

It didn't take long for Carver to abandon the idea of talking down their leader as the Pumpkin King pulled out all the stops. She cowered behind Barrel's bulk. Nope, was definitely not going to mess with that guy. She kept clinging to Barrel's back as they trudged toward town. Part of her wanted to spend the trek ripping into the boys for not catching a hint, but the rest of her was too nervous to make any real noise with Jack marching behind them.

Shock took the lead as they walked back into town, her footsteps carefully calculated to not only make sure she stayed in Jack's sight, but to delay having to face all of Halloween Town for as long as she could. She admittedly hated crowds and staring eyes, and undoubtedly, Jack was going to announce their punishment and make it known so there was no way any of them could worm their way out of it.

The rest of Halloween Town would keep them in check until their punishment passed.

Barrel moved a hand up to gently pet Carver's vines, both to assuage her, and for his own comfort. Lock trailed behind them, wishing he could hide between his siblings. His tail dragged the ground and occasionally shifted into a nervous twitch as he walked. Zero floated beside him with a soft whine. Lock hardly dared to give him an occasional pet. Jack just calmly walked behind them as they went up the hill and back into town.

The main gate opened. Everyone in the square turned, having been waiting for Jack, and only half-expecting him to come back unaccompanied. By the time they stepped into town, Shock had composed herself back into her normal arrogance. She walked tall and even gave a subtle smirk as the crowd parted to let them through to the steps of Town Hall. Barrel pulled his hands down and shoved them in his hoodie pockets as he followed his sister. Lock just crossed his arms and looked properly disgruntled at being caught.

Many whispers, murmurs, and hisses went through the crowd, mingled with confusion at the whole situation, and some relief that Jack - so far as they knew - talked the culprits into coming clean.

"Great trick, wasn't it?" Shock said deviously as she passed by.

That earned a few nervous giggles from her brothers as her comment earned them some more glares and muttering. Lock, Shock, and Barrel took their places at the steps of Town Hall, with Shock taking a subtle step just behind Lock to put more distance between her and the crowd. Let them assume it was to make sure her little brother couldn't hide behind her. She then crossed her arms and glared. Jack stepped beside them and addressed the town.

"As we suspected, the culprits have been caught," he said. "Furthermore, I have confirmation that the clock is correct.

That earned many cheers and sighs of relief. Just to keep up appearances, Shock shrugged.

"It was--" she started.

"--Fun while it--" Barrel dared.

"--Lasted," Lock finished, with a flick of his tail.

The three of them softly cackled, just enough to be heard over the crowd. None of them dared full-on laughs. Jack held up his hands for silence. The crowd settled down again. Lock, Shock, and Barrel let their laughter die down, though Barrel still occasionally let out a nervous giggle.

"While I commend the cleverness of this trick, it's also set us back a few days. To make up for that lost time, Lock, Shock, Barrel, and Carver will be assisting with the preparations."

He gave a distinct glance to Shock.

"Starting with the brooms in the witches' shop," he said gently, "so they can focus on other things."

Shock shrugged. That wasn't too bad.

"And since we can't seem to find the glue dissolver, it will have to be through old-fashioned means, without damaging the walls or ceiling. But I'm very sure Shock is up for the task."

Shock perked.

"But Jack--!" she started.

"--And should any of the glue dissolver happen to reappear," he said calmly, "our current arrangement will be immediately revoked."

Shock quickly went quiet again. After that scare at the tree house, she wasn't going to step out of line and risk actually missing Halloween. Jack glanced around the square.

"Lock is pretty good at getting into smaller, tighter nooks," he said thoughtfully, "so he'll be assisting with the decorations."

Lock just flicked his tail, but otherwise said nothing. Jack turned to Barrel and Carver.

"Which leaves you two on pumpkin duty," he said. "Barrel to haul - without eating them - and Carver to help carve them."

Barrel just nodded.

"O-okay, Jack," he said.

"And once they finish those," Jack said, before he turned to the rest of the crowd, "I'm certain we can all find ways for them to fill their time in the remaining days before Halloween."

Lock, Shock, and Barrel all groaned, but otherwise didn't dare to complain. They were already halfway buried in quicksand, and they didn't want to risk becoming completely submerged. Jack calmly addressed them again.

"You're dismissed," he said, with a hint in his tone to get started.

Barrel quickly stepped down and headed for the pumpkin patch.

"Drop Carver off on your way," Jack said casually.

Barrel stopped at one of the pumpkin carving stations.

"Sorry, Carver," he said quietly.

Shock scoffed and just headed for the witches' shop. Agnes and Agatha followed behind her. Lock simply waited for further instruction as where to start. Jack would first allow volunteers to assign him to a task, and failing that, would make an assignment himself.

Carver sighed as Barrel set her down. "Thanks." She didn't say, "It's not your fault," because in her mind, it pretty much was. But now was not the time to bicker, and she needed to stay calm or she wouldn't manage to get through her punishment.

The pumpkin creature stayed silent for the next several hours, barely acknowledging Barrel and Behemoth as they continually brought her more things to carve. She put just enough effort in to keep Jack off her back, not doing anything fancy or challenging with the faces. A lot of them weren't even faces. Probably the laziest six were just arced slits that she could sort of argue were supposed to be tomb stones. By the time Doctor Finkelstein came to retrieve her for the evening, she'd had plenty of time to bury her anger at Lock and Barrel, get over her terror of Jack, and stew in her indignation.

"Well, well, well," he said as he wheeled up to her. "Sitting quietly, fulfilling your purpose without complaint or diversion... It's marvelous to see you finally functioning properly."

Carver let out a screech of a volume and pitch only possible due to her utter lack of vocal cords, and launched herself off the table at him. In a blind rage, she wrapped most of her vines around his face and chest and used the rest to wrestle with his brain cap. He shrieked, swaying and squirming to try and get her off. In their struggle, the control switch on his wheelchair was repeatedly knocked around, causing the chair to move back and forth and spin about in place. One of the wheels fell into a large gap between two pieces of cobblestone. A few moments later, a another jam of the control switch sent the chair tumbling over sideways.

Carver managed to get the brain cap open just as they both fell out of the chair, and Finkelstein's remaining half of a mind flopped out onto the street. She didn't have time to figure out what to do from there; Jack came running around a corner to investigate and intervene.

Over the course of the day, Shock spent her time in the shop, using the old-fashioned cleaners that slowly ate away at the glue, with the occasional chipping away at the pieces. While waiting for it to set, she assisted with organizing and cleaning while the witches caught up in potions and orders. Barrel helped Behemoth and Wolfman pick and haul pumpkins and brought them to Carver. Lock spent a lot of the day up on the rooftops and in tight spaces hanging up decorations and securing banners.

At Carver's screech, Lock scurried across the rooftops to investigate. Several other monsters on the streets came over as well. By the time Lock arrived and started climbing down to assist, Cyclops and the Corpse Dad were righting the chair and trying to help Dr. Finklestein. Clown had wheeled up and used his extendable arms to grab Carver and pull her back while a banshee pried her vines from the evil scientist. Just as Lock hit the streets, Jack arrived on the scene. The middle trickster hung back as the Pumpkin King went straight to Carver.

"What's going on?"

He glanced between Finklestein and Carver, and tried to piece it together. Obviously, she attacked him, but even this was odd behavior for her, when she was normally content to play a trick, then run off with her friends. Briefly, Jack recalled Sally's comment about none of the tricksters escalating their trouble this close to Halloween before. It allowed him to keep a level head, even though his tone was more stern than he meant it to be, his face a mix of worry, concern, and a bit of anger at the evil scientist's current predicament.

"Carver."

Jack allowed the other monsters to assist Finklestein as he approached the pumpkin creature. He got down on one knee to be more at her level.

"I can already see what happened," he said, as he forced his tone to remain level. "Why did you do this?"

Lock hung back and partially hid behind the nearby well. His tail nervously twitched as he debated stepping in.

Carver didn't stop fighting once they pried her off. She writhed in Clown's grasp, several other monsters quickly stepping in to help restrain her flailing vines as they reached out in Finkelstein's direction. Even her fear of Jack wasn't enough to snap her out of her rage.

"Because he deserves it!" she snarled. "Let him see what it's like to be a mindless fucking vegetable!"

The pumpkin creature slammed her head back into Clown's face in a thoughtless attempt to escape from his clutches. He yelped and reflexively let go of her cage as his face was knocked to the side, but she achieved nothing more than a bruise near her stem and an even tighter grip on her vines from the other monsters holding her back.

Jack stood up again to try to catch Carver as she fell from Clown's grasp. Lock ran forward then.

"Carver!" he cried. "Carver, stop!"

He knew what this meant to her. But they were already in trouble, and he didn't want to see her get into more of it. With Clown trying to find his face and Jack having caught her cage from the front, Lock ran up to embrace her cage from behind. He slipped the ends of his fingers through the bars to tighten his grip. He was more than a little relieved that the other monsters had her vines in their grasps, because it would be harder for her to fight him off.

"I know," he said in an attempt to talk her down, "You already threw his brain out. There isn't much more you can do to him."

There was. As a trickster, there was a whole lot more she could do with his near-lifeless corpse, but right now, he hoped Carver would be just irrational enough to not realize it, but still reasonable enough to consider throwing the brain enough trouble for now and settle down.

Lock moved his tail up to gently caress one of her vines and try to soothe her. He also glanced up at Jack, who was both trying to assist in restraining Carver, and processing her words. He didn't speak for a moment in order to give Carver a chance to hopefully settle down now that one of her friends came to assist her.

"Bullshit!" she snapped at her friend. "I could put his brain in a jar and use him as a goddamn prop all Halloween," she continued with a growl. "I could probably find a way to hook it up to some preserved eyeballs and make him watch."

As she spoke, she did manage calm down enough that most of the monsters holding her felt secure enough to let Jack take over. They released her vines, allowing her to lean into Lock for moral support. She refused to look Jack in the eyesockets as she continued to mutter about what she'd like to do to the Doctor.

"Hook a computer chip to his head that makes him do whatever I say without question, not even able to think without permission. Dump him out of his chair so he can't go anywhere, give him one test tube to play with, tell him exactly what to use it for and how, like he doesn't fucking already know..."

One vine whipped out to grab a pebble from the ground and throw it at her creator.

Lock just kept his grip on Carver for the moment and let her rant.

"Rig him up like a puppet," Lock said with the faintest smirk. "Make him dance."

He rested his head against hers, and once her vines were released, he gently wrapped his tail around some of them to metaphorically hold her hand. He continued to speak in solidarity to keep her focused on him and not her creator.

"Jam his wheelchair controls," he suggested. "In the swamp."

Jack only grabbed at her vines when she threw the pebble.

"Carver," he said gently, "that's enough."

He kept his grip only tight enough to restrain them as he pondered on what to do. Carver was normally one of the more mild-mannered of the trickster group, and her words of resentment spoke of far deeper issues, ones that told him enough that it was probably best she didn't go home tonight.

It was probably also best that she not stay with Lock, Shock, and Barrel, either. While her friends clearly supported her - and while Lock's tone at the moment was clearly meant to be more humorous than troublesome - Jack knew just how much more devious Boogie's boys could be. He especially didn't want this rant getting into Shock's ear, because the oldest trickster would most certainly be willing to help Carver plot out her vengeance and cause trouble against the doctor once their punishment was over.

"...I think it's best that you stay with me and Sally for tonight," Jack said, once Carver settled down.

She might not like it. He didn't care. It was the only way she wouldn't be going to the evil scientist's tower tonight. That, and he knew Sally could relate with her and help her to better handle this.

Lock started to protest, but stopped. When Carver wasn't facing him, he mouthed a quiet, "thank you" to Jack so the pumpkin creature wouldn't see. He didn't really want Carver going to the lab tonight, either, because he wasn't sure Dr. Finklestein would ever let her out again after this. Lock just held Carver's cage in his arms for the moment and kept his tail around her vines. He tightened his grip a little to better assure his friend of his presence and support.

Carver shrugged, still refusing to look at Jack's face. "Whatever."

She wasn't sure if he was saying it to protect the Doctor or her. It was also possible he just wanted to avoid any more problems until the holiday passed. It didn't really matter, though; either way, she was probably never going to be given any freedom ever again. She shuddered, and gave Lock's tail a small squeeze.

Great. Her tantrum had completely shattered the one thing she cared most about. She couldn't even blame someone else for the problem this time.

...Well, she could, but no one would buy it.

Aaaaand by ranting about what she wanted to do, she had ruined any chance of ever actually being able to try any of it, let alone get away with it.

Bones. She was really bound by the bog, now. Nothing left but an eternal future of misery.

Carver pulled most of her vines in close, tightening them around her cage as much as possible. The only ones she left any amount of slack were the ones holding Lock's tail.

Lock tightened his tail around her vines in solidarity.

"Jack," he said, "it's--"

Not what it looks like? More than it seems? Lock glanced to the staring monsters on either side of him and Carver. Like any of them would believe him. He looked back up to Jack and met the Pumpkin King's eye sockets.

"...It's complicated," he said quietly as he held Carver close to him. "She didn't--!"

Lock paused again before he could tell an obvious lie. Carver meant every word, and every witness around them knew it. He took a careful step back, though his legs trembled with the threat to run for it. His tail released Carver's vines to weave through the bars of her cage and make it more difficult to pry her away from him.

"Please, Jack!"

Jack's expression softened.

"I know," he said, in an attempt to assuage the both of them. "That's why she's going to stay with me tonight, so we can sort it out."

He got down on one knee to be more at Lock and Carver's level.

"Okay?" he asked.

Carver shrugged again, but she relaxed her vines enough that Lock would be able to let go of her. She didn't imagine Jack would let him carry her around until he figured out what to do with her.

A loud, dramatic groan pulled everyone's attention away from the two tricksters for the moment. Doctor Finkelstein slowly sat upright in his chair, holding his head closed with one hand. He looked around at all the nearby monsters. He appeared dazed and confused, and most of the crowd backed up to give him space.

"You okay, Doctor?" Corpse Dad asked nervously.

Finkelstein blinked slowly. "I am... not sure what hap--" His eyes found Carver, and suddenly his expression twisted into one of rage. "You!" he snarled at her.

Carver snapped her pumpkin head to face him and sneered. "I mean it's always me, isn't it, Dad?"

"You ungrateful brat!" The Doctor tried to move toward her, but the joystick on his wheelchair was jammed. He jiggled it a few times, then settled for a growl sent in her direction. "I gave you your very life, and this is how you repay me? Disgraceful! You can consider yourself grounded for the rest of the century, young lady!"

"I'd remind you I'm not a lady, Funkelsnort, except I'm pretty sure that's already the only thing you never forget," she snapped right back. She kept her vines wrapped up around her cage, but puffed them out to make it appear she had a bit more volume.

More at ease now, Lock carefully set Carver down. He still stayed near his friend, however, especially as the doctor began to come to. He still had half a mind to grab Carver and just run for it.

Jack quickly got between the evil scientist and his creation.

"Enough!" he said, with a stern ferocity that silenced the crowd around him. Jack then turned to Dr. Finklestein. "At least for tonight, Carver is staying with me."

Before the old man could protest, Jack's tone became more authoritative.

"For both of your sakes," he said. "I don't think it will do either of you any good to be in the other's presence at the moment."

He shot a quick glance to Carver.

"Especially with tempers flaring the way they are."

Jack then turned back to the doctor, but made it clear he was addressing creator and creation as he spoke again.

"I think you can use the time apart to clear your heads and revisit this in the morning.

Finkelstein spluttered. "But, but you can't do that, Jack! She belongs to me! I made her, I know what's best for her!"

Carver waved the top edges of all six eye holes in such a way as to give an impression she was rolling them. "Oh please, you arguably don't even know what's best for yourself." His comment bothered her, but she'd already fizzled out of energy to be particularly wrathful and Jack wouldn't let her get away with more violence anyway. So instead she settled for her usual defense mechanism: snark. "It's like you gave Jewel all the functional parts of your brain, and kept all the useless parts in your empty brainpan."

Jack crossed his arms and gave the doctor a stern look.

"What I witnessed says otherwise," he said, in no mood to argue.

He then turned to Carver.

"That's enough of that," he said.

Lock set his hand on what passed for Carver's shoulder. When Jack turned away, he gave Carver a tight, but affectionate squeeze as a reminder to not push her luck. She wasn't going to the lab tonight, and if she behaved herself, maybe Jack could ensure she wasn't grounded for the next sixty-or-so Halloweens. While Jack was appeasing both sides, he was clearly more on Carver's, at least for the moment.

He would have been a lot harsher with her if he wasn't, especially after her petty throw of that pebble.

It didn't stop Lock from snickering at her smart remark about the doctor's shared brain, or adding to it.

"That's how we know he was, at one point, a gentleman."

Jack shot him a glare.

"Lock," he said in warning.

Lock quickly behaved himself again. His tail flicked in agitation.

"J-just kidding, Jack!"

Finkelstein sneered in response to Carver and Lock's commentary, but slowly started to nod thoughtfully. "Perhaps... You're right, Jack... You are the Pumpkin King. She clearly doesn't respect me as she should, but you are, physically that is, more capable of enforcing your authority if she gets out of line."

Carver returned the sneer with a bit of satisfaction. That was the closest she was ever going to get to an admission that her creator couldn't control her. Damn if he wasn't still going to try, desperately, at every possible juncture. But some part of him at least knew that it wasn't going to happen.

Not that she wasn't still angry and frustrated about his attitude and behavior toward her, but that tiny amount of gratification allowed her to finally settle down completely. She didn't look forward to whatever extra punishment Jack would inevitably give her, but a sleepover with Sally was better than going back to the lab, any day.

With everything settled, Jack directed the Corpse Dad to assist Dr. Finklestein in getting back to the lab, as the electric controls not working meant manual assistance. He then turned to Lock and Carver.

"Lock," he said, "finish that last box of decorations, then you can head home. Carver, head to Sally's shop. I'll join you two once I finish my rounds."

Lock nodded.

"Sure thing, Jack!"

He turned to Carver.

"See you around," he said, with a flick of his tail and a look of uncertainty.

Lock forced up a smile for her, but it faded as he turned away and went to do as Jack said.

Carver waved to Lock and gave him a similarly uneasy smile before slithering away. Normally she'd avoid the middle of the street when she didn't have legs, as it was easy to get caught underfoot, but with everybody frantically running about trying to finish decorations on time, there were just as many people to the side. She hissed in agitation a few times as people stepped to close to her, or worse. After the second incident of being stepped on, she made a run for the nearest wall and climbed to a roof. Then climbed down, made a mad dash across another path, and back up another wall. Possibly doubled the necessary travel distance, but at least it minimized the risk of being trod on repeatedly.

Finally, she made it to Sally's shop. She ducked inside and quickly moved out of the path of the door in case someone else walked in later. "Hey, sis. What's up?"

Sally was hard at work on some last-minute repairs. This was always her busiest time of the year, as many citizens wanted to look their best fir Halloween. She was working on an extremely difficult repair job for one of the werewolves, with the garment marked in several places of which tears to keep, and which needed repair so it didn't fall off. Sally glanced up when she saw the pumpkin head and heard Carver address her.

"Finished already, Carver?" she asked.

Word of the fiasco with the doctor hadn't quite reached this part of town just yet. Sally made another pass on her sewing machine to strengthen a particularly difficult tear.

"Nothing too much," she said. "I'm just working on Wolflady's favorite dress."

She held it up to show Carver the numerous little notes pinned all over the dress, with, "Keep", "Sew", and "Strengthen edges" to keep it all straight. Judging by the remaining "Sew" notes, this was probably her last job of the day.

"It's easier to get the difficult orders out first."

Carver climbed up to perch on one of the stools Sally used for doing fittings on the citizens who were significantly shorter than herself.

"I guess I might as well be. Jack sent me here. Apparently I'm sleeping over with you guys. Where I can be supervised by someone not stuck in a wheelchair," she added in a mutter.

She looked over the notes. "Makes sense. Easier jobs go faster, so it's easier to manage your time when you get down to the wire." She perked. "Oh! Speaking of which, I need some help with my pants, when you have the time. I spilled some daphnius potion on them and the friction irritates my vines, but I don't think the witches will sell me the antidote any time soon. Do you think you could cut that piece out and patch over the hole? I could make an attempt myself, but I doubt it'd be good enough quality to prevent me from having to come to you eventually anyway."