**Chapter 3: The T-Shirt Craze and the NFT Pie**
With a final, concentrated effort, Aetherion managed to type a *fix-fic* into the Monitor System, reverting most of the team to their humanoid forms. The Crucible, however, retained some glitches: rubber chickens now roamed freely, and the background hum had been replaced with looping anime OPs.
Steve, the void puppy, nuzzled Aetherion's leg. "Pet me, daddy!" it pleaded.
Aetherion sighed. "Fine, you can stay. The merch potential is undeniable."
He was more right than he knew. The Monitor System suddenly flickered to a new dimension: the bustling black markets of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Street vendors were hawking freshly printed T-shirts emblazoned with Steve's googly-eyed face.
"Steve T-Shirt! Glows in the dark during load-shedding!" an uncle yelled, frantically checking the fluctuating dollar rate on his phone.
The meme virus had gone interdimensional.
Gringo's hologram reappeared, incandescent with rage. He launched a new attack: a holographic projection labeled "**Anti-Steve Tax**."
"This absurdity ends!" he roared.
Tonmoy fired a blast from his *Comic Blaster*. The tax hologram shattered, its pieces transforming into NFT pies—unique digital artworks that immediately began trading for grams of gold on Dhaka's underground servers.
"Readers, nerf his assets!" Tonmoy yelled.
Rin's *Melodic Rift* synced with the chaos, and a harmonic pie splattered across Gringo's face. "My portfolio!" the creator shrieked before his hologram glitched out of existence.
As the team recovered, Rin strummed his lyre, looking at Tonmoy and All. "Oi mates, all this chaos is fun, but where's the romance? Why haven't you added any?"
All's prism flickered. "Yes, boss! Why no romanticism?"
Tonmoy smirked. "You want romance? I didn't expect you two to be asking for waifus."
Rin's face went red. "Uh…" he stammered, shutting up immediately.
All pulsed, flustered. "I—I meant for narrative depth!" its prism glowed an awkward shade of pink before it went silent.