There was a moment of silence before M&M’s headquarters burst into chaos. 

“TAHSEEN, WHAT DID YOU–”

“–oh my gosh, are those Batarangs?? Wait, isn’t that Jen–”

“I want to cry–”

But Maddie, desperate to regain control of the situation, yelled, “SILENCE!”

There was a slight pause in conversation before M&M’s members erupted back into commotion, and it took Shreya’s whistle and Aarush’s cymbals to restore order, to which Maddie murmured a quick “Thanks”.

“Tahseen, care to enlighten us?” she asked from her perch on the soapbox. Any outsider, upon seeing her upright posture and stance, plus the way she spoke, would think that she was indifferent, maybe even annoyed with the situation. But from the significantly darker eye bags and the loss of the playful twinkles in her eyes,  the writers and readers of M&M that she was so emotionally wrecked from the ordeal. 

“Can you put down the handguns first, though? And to your army, chill out,” Maddie ordered as her eyes drifted to Ale’s corpse. “I don’t want any more blood shed here.” 

Tahseen lowered his handguns and followed her gaze, the smirk wiped off his face. Then he looked up, making eye contact with each and every one of the M&M community, determination replacing the sadness in his eyes. 

“Alright, so, long story short, I went outside to apologize to Aarush, he showed me Jenson’s dead – wait, no, unconscious – body, and I dragged Ari to Cookie Run Kingdom where I amassed a large army to defeat Dyno once and for all!” he exclaimed, beaming. “Oh, and also resurrected Jenson.” 

Maddie shook her head. “Okay, allow me to get this straight. You got an army and you resurrected Jenson.” An empty laugh echoed throughout the meeting hall. 

“Jenson,” she sneered. “The one who got us into this mess. The admin who Dyno took over. The stupid guy who is behind all of this! You resurrected him?”

Tahseen stepped back, waving his hands no rapidly. “Okay, we didn’t resurrect resurrect him, we just made him resume consciousness. And all of what you said happened under Dyno’s control. Honestly, the pros justify the cons, he’d be a great asset to the team, what with Joanna and Meagan gone and–”

“But Maddie has a point,” Shreya said, crossing her arms. “How do we know if Jenson’s completely free from Dyno? For all we know, Dyno’s in the room with us, not Jenson.”

The grandmother walked briskly to where Jenson/Dyno stood. “Friend,” she asked through gritted teeth, “or foe?”

“Friend, I hope?” Jenson answered. “If it makes you feel any better, the healers back at the – what was it, Cookie Run Kingdom? – cast a protection spell on me. Well, I think it was a protection spell?” 

“Um… “ Shreya stalled, all trace of malice gone from her voice. “If you’re Dyno, your voice modulator is definitely working very well. Maybe we should just toss him into a closet until this is all over? Or better yet, into a void? So we can forget about him and he can just – MEAGAN!” 

Just then, a humming Meagan strolled into the meeting room, rolling a storage cart with an assortment of freshly baked goods. There were snickerdoodles, frosted sugar, and chocolate chip cookies, as well as a whole batch of other pastries. But she was knocked slightly off balance when Shreya launched herself at Meagan, holding her a in a big bear hug. 

“MEAGAN, WHERE WERE YOU?” Shreya asked, looking into her wife’s eyes, checking for any signs of injury. She glanced at the storage cart. “I’m guessing you weren’t kidnapped?” 

Meagan looked sheepish. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you. I just went out to bake. I wasn’t kidnapped.”

 Shreya wrapped her wife in another hug. “Don’t be sorry, dear. At least you’re safe.” 

“Meagan! I’m so glad you’re back. I hate to interrupt, but we should be working on what our next action should be,” Maddie said as she jumped off the soapbox. Her eyes narrowed at Jenson. 

“Have we decided what we’ll do with him?” she asked with scorn.

Shreya released Meagan from her embrace. “I believe I was saying that we should just toss Jenson into a closet until this is all over.” 

“I’m sorry, but you guys are talking about me like I’m just a package. You’re going to lock me into a closet? At least let me get my laptop -” 

“Why don’t we just have him at the front of the army? So when we arrive at Dyno’s headquarters, he’ll be the first to, well, get injured,” Maddie said as she interrupted Jenson. She started tapping her foot impatiently. “Shall we start making the trek to Dyno’s headquarters?” 

Shreya, a maniacal grin on her face and a cookie in her hand, chuckled. 

“We shall.” 

~ Yan

[Author’s Note: This piece is part of the M&M Writer’s Relay 2, a collaborative project between the many authors of Mumbles and Musings, and continuing the story of the original M&M Writer’s Relay, which can be found here. The Dyno War Continues stars a revolving cast of fictionalized versions of M&M writers in what can only be described as extremely exaggerated, increasingly absurd, borderline nonsensical fashion. Portrayals of real life writers are not meant to be realistic or accurate depictions, and we here at M&M hope you enjoy the resultant chaos that is the Dyno War Continues.]