Act I Scene I: Construction Zone

Gokudera Hayato stared helplessly at the squalling infant in his arms. She was screeching and flailing in his awkward embrace as though she knew he had no idea what he was doing. He endeavored once more to calm her with rough rocking motions, though he had already decided that she was intent on crying until she suffocated.

"She's adorable to the EXTREME!"

Gokudera winced at Sasagawa Ryohei's sound-barrier-shattering exclamation. Only the wailing of the child could have masked the Sun Guardian's less than nimble approach.

"You're not helping," the Storm Guardian said pointedly, but at that moment – like most other moments in the boxer's life – even the most blunt and direct communications went right over his head. The unfortunate bomber's troubles were only just starting to accumulate.

"What did Gokudera-san do to her desuka!" Miura Haru demanded, dancing to his side and snatching the child. "You call yourself a genius…Reborn-san said to take care of her until she gets back to normal! It's not that hard." She cradled the baby closer so only a tuft of blue hair was visible, trying to at least muffle her tantrum.

"Don't blame me stupid woman!" Gokudera growled. "Babies just cry sometimes."

"Men are clueless when it comes to kids. Children need a gentle woman's touch." She smirked and stuck her tongue out at the Italian.

Drawn to the commotion Lambo came bounding in. He spotted the baby and a wicked grin spread across his face. He wasn't about to miss a chance to assert his superiority on this rare occasion of finding someone younger and/or weaker than himself.

"Hahaha!" he shouted. "When you grow up you can have the honor of becoming Lambo-sama's subordinate!"

"Shut up you stupid cow!" Gokudera turned his anger on the teen. If Haru could have responded over the chaos of Gokudera's destroyed patience, Lambo gleefully chanting orders to his new "subordinate," the renewed screams of said "subordinate," and Ryohei's booming laughter, she would have pointed out that the bomber just proved her point.

"Just because you're not five anymore doesn't mean you're better than anyone else. Plus, who would want to be your subordinate anyway? Even a dumb baby…" Gokudera ended in a grumble, but his words didn't escape Haru's keen ears, and he ended up with a slap on the face anyway. Lambo took the opportunity to escape from the silver haired man, cackling all the while.

The Thunder Guardian disappeared just in time. Right as the corner of his cow printed shirt was out of sight there was a bang, and the Ten Year Bazooka's signature purple smoke engulfed the group.

"Hahi!" Haru spluttered as she tried to stop coughing while waving the pink clouds away. When the air had cleared she found she was cradling nothing in her arms. "Lal!"

Standing in front of the trio was an enraged, and fully matured, Lal Mirch.

"We're in extreme trouble…" said Ryohei, amazingly, speaking in less than a shout.

"Damn right," she hissed, before pouncing on her unfortunate companions.

Sawada Tsunayoshi heard a loud crash from above him followed by cries of alarm and the oh-so-familiar tones of complete demolition.

They're going to destroy the base before we're done building it! he moaned inwardly.

The Family had finally started to catch up with the future (or, present I suppose Tsuna thought) and the construction of the underground Vongola headquarters was well underway. With the living-quarters complete and the second training arena almost fully equipped for environment-specific scenario drills, Tsuna's loyal right-hand-man and head of this particular project suggested they starting moving the Family in so they could get settled faster. Everyone agreed the Family would inevitably encounter complications when it came to getting so many of them in one place; moreover, while endeavoring to keep all the base's occupants mostly intact.

"The sooner we work out the snags, the sooner we can start being productive again," Gokudra had insisted. "We should take this opportunity while there's been a lull in missions."

When no amount of persuasion could motivate the young Vongola boss to willingly face these almost certainly destructive consequences before absolutely necessary, the Storm Guardian pointed out that Tsuna needed to join him at the site anyway to be available on short notice for meetings with his head engineers in the final stages of construction.

Speak of the devil the Sky Guardian thought as the dangerous team arrived.

"…effects of…former Arocaboleo…fascinating." Giannini was in an animated, one sided conversation with Spanner who nodded indifferently while Irie Shouichi trailed nervously, and somewhat guiltily, behind.

I don't even want to know! Tsuna thought with dread. I hope it doesn't have something with Gokudera…I didn't read any of the progress reports…Reborn will kill me if he finds out I'm clueless.

"Pay more attention to your Family dame-Tsuna." The poor Mafia boss was met by his former tutor in the customary fashion: having his face used as a landing pad. This was a much more devastating greeting than before, as the hitman had been reverted to his adult form through the Family's efforts in the Arcobaleno Trials. Leon smoothly morphed from a broad hang glider back into a chameleon and tried perching himself on the rim of Reborn's black fedora, but the reptile had grown as well and slid dejectedly onto his master's shoulder instead.

"You'd better hope Lal's gotten all her anger out on your friends upstairs, or you're next."

Tsuna didn't have time to ask before the badly beating Gokudera stumbled in and collapsed on the floor. Haru ran in after him, completely unscathed, falling to her knees and gasping for air.

"Tenth…" Gokudera choked. He'd managed to hold onto consciousness by sheer force of will, determine to deliver a warning to his beloved boss. "Run…away."

Lal, still in a murderous rage, entered the incomplete communications room dragging an unconscious Ryohei after her. She immediately locked eyes on her fresh targets. Static from the disconnected flat screens and sparks from loose writes suddenly became a sinister backdrop to the woman's threatening frame. Spanner's lollipop clattered to the floor as his jaw slacked in horror while the other two other mechanics squealed.

Lal dropped the dead weight of her previous victim in the growing pile of incapacitated Family members. She started slowly and purposefully towards her new objectives. The non-combatants quaked. They turned to their boss with pleading eyes, but he was already searching frantically for a place to hide.

Bomb shelter! he thought hysterically. I need to add that to the building agenda!

This transition is going to be more painful than I could have imagined Tsuna realized as the blue haired soldier's gaze froze him despite his escalating panic. Reborn chose that moment to transform Leon back into a green hang glider, launch himself off Tsuna's head, and sail away from the impending massacre.