7 p.m. It was a beautiful atmosphere -- a bubbling fountain, a live string quartet, tasteful Renaissance paintings on each wall, the aroma of gourmet foods thick in the air -- all could be expected for a dining experience in the Costa Plente. The center of aesthetic attention was the moon-shaped locket on a necklace in a display case at the front of the room. The Lunar Pendant, said to be worth a small fortune, was the prized attraction that anyone would gladly tolerate the restaurant's exorbitant fees just to take a picture with it. It was a place marked for the most special of occasions, shown by the tables of friend groups clinking glasses and engaged couples celebrating their nuptials.
At one such table, there were three friends awaiting the arrival of their fourth, and passing the time via deep discussion of a shared passion of theirs.
"Isn't Azura just the greatest role model you could ask for?" Luz Noceda's eyes glistened with awe as she gushed -- her early teen years were behind her, but her enthusiasm for all things witchcraft remained. "It still amazes me how she transformed herself from a bullied outcast to the greatest hero any world has ever seen!"
"Sounds like someone I know," replied Amity Blight, the purple-haired Hexside princess in a replica of her old Grom dress better suited to her now that she had aged a few years.
"Aw, Amity, stop," Luz said while blushing heavily.
"I understand completely," the older woman replied from across the table. She was in perhaps her mid-30s with short hair, a black tailored suit, and features that suggested Chinese roots. Despite the polite smile on her face and soft tone of voice, it was clear that her mind was occupied. "It was reading stories like hers growing up that inspired me to become an Interpol agent... though truth be told, a world of monsters and magic sounds vastly easier to manage at times."
"You... feeling okay, Jules?" Luz raised an eyebrow, sensing something discordant within the friend she made at the inter dimensional Good Witch Azura Fan Club. "You've been acting off all night."
"I'm just a bit nervous is all," Julia answered. "I'm used to Carmen being fashionably late, but this is starting to push it." She checked her watch again.
"Oh, I'm sure she's fine," Amity said with a wave of her hand. "Besides, Luz was just about to tell you about her extensive Azura crossover fanfic!"
"You write fanfiction?" Julia's mood brightened somewhat. "What kind?"
"Oh, not much," Luz replied modestly. "Just a multi-saga epic in which Azura enlists the help of all the greatest characters from Star Wars, Marvel Comics, Overwatch, shonen anime, and Bob's Burgers to help her defeat an army of nightmare demons led by an old OC I came up with after I had nightmares from watching Freddy vs Jason as a kid."
"You must tell me EVERYTHING," Julia said excited.
"Maybe in a little bit," Luz said. "I was kinda hoping to order some starters before launching into my EPIC LIVE AUDIO DRAMA RENDITION!"
"She does this with every fanfic she reads," Amity replied somewhat tiredly. "I can't help but love it... but come to think of it, where is our waiter anyway?"
"Never mind him," Julia responded as her mind drifted back to its original obsession. "Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?"
"Have you looked right behind ya?"
Julia gasped and turned around to see Carmen standing behind her with folded arms and a coy smile, her glittery red dress accentuating her athletic build quite well.
"Carmen!" Julia stood and kissed the thief she spent so long trying to apprehend. "I was so worried; what happened?"
"Sorry," Carmen said. "I got held up: Zack got drunk off Sam Adams and beat up a guy wearing a Derek Jeter jersey while spouting off JFK assassination theories and I had to bail him out."
The others at the table were silent upon hearing this, as if refusing to believe that anyone could possibly be that aggressively Bostonian.
"Well, I'm just glad you're here," Julia replied. "Luz and Amity are just the most delightful conversationalists."
"You;'re too kind," Luz said. "Especially since your date is the one and only greatest world-renowned thief in the world! Seriously, Carmen, words cannot express just how unbelievably cool you are!"
Carmen smiled as she sat down. "Always nice to meet a fan... though I gotta admit, hearing that someone your age looks up to someone in my line of work is not exactly reassuring."
"Don't be so hard on yourself," Luz said. "What you do, you do for the greater good! You always put others first and you look great doing it!"
"Besides," Amity added. "Luz here has already proven herself a worthy successor in stealing something no one else could."
"What's that?" Luz' look of confusion died as her cotton candy-haired goddess gave her a peck on the lips.
"Saw that coming a mile away," Carmen replied drily.
At that moment, the waiter arrived. "Hello, and welcome to the Costa Plente, where we leave stomachs full and wallets less so. May I take some orders?"
"I've heard of this place," Carmen said. "I heard the tamales with mole sauce are to die for."
Amity looked concerned. "Why would you want food that kills you? You feeling alright, Carmen?"
Carmen chuckled. "Guess that's not a common saying in the Boiling Isles. What about the rest of you? You know what you want?"
"I was going to go with the calamari rings," Julia said.
"I'm fine with pesto on toast for now, thanks," Amity said.
"I saw that you guys have escargot here," Luz said. "It makes sense -- you guys are the opposite of fast food, and what better embodies that than a snail?"
"Such levity," the waiter responded with a smile. "You remind me of the fanfiction writer EFIL4NAMXOV."
"Hey, that's an insult," Luz snapped in righteous fury before remembering herself and sitting back down. "Sorry 'bout that. Just do what ya gotta do."
At that point, all the lights in the building went out. A second later, an explosion blasted a hole through the wall. Guests screamed in surprise and stood from their tables to flee as a figure entered with henchmen in tow. He was a burly, mustachioed mobster with a scarred face and pinstriped suit, and his rubber-gloved hands carried what appeared to be an oversized flit gun.
"Listen up, ya mooks," the man said in a gravelly voice as hid goons cut through the Lunar Pendant's display case. "The boys n' I are gonna be walking outta here with that there Lunar Pendant, and if any a youse mugs got some'n ta say about it, you'll have to answer to me, Buggs Zapper!" He sprayed his flit gun at an unlucky patron, causing him to drop to the floor in a fit of painful coughing convulsions before falling unconscious.
Carmen's eyes widened. "Buggs Zapper?"
"What's he doing here?" Julia was flabbergasted. "He wasn't even in the Netflix show!"
Amity said nothing, instead summoning an Abomination to stand between Zapper and the Lunar Pendant's display case.
"What's the big idea?" The gangster glared at the much younger girl.
"You picked the wrong evening to ruin, punk!" Amity snapped her fingers, causing the abomination to extend several gooey tentacles that ensnared Zapper's minions. The gangster ducked, spraying some of his deadly pesticides in the heroes' directions.
Luz used a glyph to grow plants covering her and the others' mouths, then blinded Zapper for a moment with a light glyph.
"WHAT THE HELL?"
By the time the gangster's eyes recovered, Luz was gone -- and so was the pendant!
"That little brat!" Zapper snarled as he readied his sprayer. "I'm gonna tear her limb from limb once I get my hands on her!"
"Why don't you pick one someone your own size, you outdated cliche?"
Zapper looked up in surprise at the source of the voice as Carmen swung down from the ceiling with her grappling hook and kicked the flit gun out of his hands.
"Big mistake, Red." Zapper charged toward Carmen, but she braced herself, using every ounce of her strength to grapple him while pushing him back.
"This is nothing," Carmen said. "If I could stay awake while talking to Joe Biden for more than a few seconds, I can take down an overstuffed Pacino wannabe like you!"
Zapper looked confused. "Say what?"
At that moment, Julia charged him from behind and punted him between the legs sending him crashing downward. Then, Luz reappeared seemingly out of thin air -- gasping for breath as she did so -- and slammed a sphere of ice down on Zapper's head, taking him out for the count.
As the ice shattered, the Lunar Pendant fell out from the center. "I didn't leave it out of my sight for a second," Luz said proudly while the Abomination grabbed the valuable item and handed it to Amity for her to return it to its rightful place.
"Maybe if they actually bothered to put better safety features in place, this wouldn't have happened," Amity mused as she used the Abomination's sticky sludge to repair the broken glass of the display case.
The rest of the evening went smoothly. Fun stories and warm compliments were exchanged, and Amity paid for both the meals and the damage Zapper caused with the credit card she "borrowed" from her mother.
"I must say, those friends of yours are quite something," Carmen said as she walked Julia out of the restaurant at the end of the night.
"Yes, they're great allies and true confidantes," Julia responded. "I'm sure they can be of further use to our capers in the future."
"I don't doubt it," Carmen said. "Just one question about that Luz girl, though."
"Oh," Julia said. "What's that?"
"Why was she wearing an otter costume?"