Comics by Shaenon II

[That Guy]

She follows this Desecration character. He may be sound-based but she is silent.

Or maybe not. He looks her way.

(I'd better get out of here. If the bunny-boy catches up he'll smell me.)

She steals away into the silence.

She passes by Narbon's lair. She looks at the army of Wallycaines. She can't figure out how this all fits together. The plan is so hard to understand.

[Professor Zobot]

The storm grew worse as the Tornado touched down, swirling and shattering everything in its wake. Power lines and phone cords were torn apart, draining the power from large parts of the city and severing land lines.

Soon, there was no mode of phone communication anywhere in the city.

The storm swirled towards Chicgeek's former lab, but abruptly changed directions, avoiding it. It was almost as if it possessed direction, and will. But that would be impossible. The elements were as mindless and old as the earth itself; it would take the mind of a truly mad genius to tame such things.

From an undisclosed location, Mistral smiled.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Calvin and Spencer-

The winds had grown stronger, and Calvin's cloak was blowing in the wind.

Calvin's eyes widened as the gray glob contacted his armor. "Gah! Sprint Mail!" Desperately, he reached down at his leg (the nano-infected part of his armor) and tore at it, ripping it off. Wires sparked and circuits snapped as he just narrowly managed to fling it away from him. "Darn it all... you wrecked my favorite project!" He wobbled a bit, one leg sagging from the weight of the upper parts of his armor.

He gritted his teeth and sighed. "I don't care how tough y'are, I'm going to trash you!" He lifted his shaking arms and fired recklessly at his opponent.

So It Begins blinked. He wasn't sure of it... but sometime during the battle, the disruptive field had been lowered. He could feel his distant nanites responding.

"C-Calvin!" The voice of Spencer caused the man to turn. "Um, er, ah, we've got some trouble! P-please drop the distraction, um, the updated version of my virus isn't taking! I'm not getting a response from Prime!"

Something caught Calvin's eye, and he turned. A funnel cloud was rushing towards So It Begin's base. "Holy sheep dip!" He whistled. "What's my little french maid thinking? This was our business, we were handling it." Frowning, he lurched over to where Spencer was sitting. "Call up the arms! Get four to carry us out of here, and then turn the Emitter back on! We've got to go."

From the nearby forestry, twenty five robotic arms shot rocketed out, jetting out to face the two of them. Calvin, dropping his western speech (which was really only an adopted thing anyway) barked orders to them. "I'm not letting Mistral steal all the credit for this. Four of you, take us home. The rest of you: carpet-bomb this base flatter than a grazing field!"

Spencer typed something onto his laptop, and the disruption field began raising again, as two of the arms grabbed each man by a shoulder.

The winds grew even stronger, as the tornado began to draw near.

[Professor_Tinker]

Fredric touched down outside the Collage, letting Chic go and shifting his ears to human ears- while at the same time making his hands and legs subtly bunny-like, the upshot being surprisingly sharp claws and one hell of a kick.

"Where is everyone? Isn't class still in?" asked Chic, scanning the area.

"They;re closed f'r a few days- remodeling after 'n 'Accident' in th' Chem labs."

"Accident?"

"... well, a much as creating a sentient cloud of acidic Bubbles can be called 'n accident, yeh. Th' Prof's a bit weird- Samoan guy. I think 'e's a were Lizard. 'xactly what it sounds like." said Fredric, pulling a small spiral-bound notebook and a pen out of his pocket, beginning to quickly sketch something out.

Chic glanced at him- whatever he was doing, he was engrossed in it. Curious.
"What's that?"

"A plan- not a plan-plan, a backup plan. A few of 'em- I been collectin' em since I woke up. I figure this way, I'll always have a backup plan. 'm up t' plan 'R'." he said smugly, pulling the notebook away.

Chic raised an eyebrow. A mad Scientist... strategist. Somehow, that seemed like an oxymoron.

[Desius]

~Mister

Mister waited.
"Is that all, Doctor Tinker?" The corner of his mouth twitched as if a smile had desperately found itself there. "I must say you slightly dissapoint me. And I'm impressed as well, Doctor."
"You take after your fasther in so many ways. Doctor. And Eric never could resist a touch of melodrama." Mister calmly swung the case around and snapped the locks open. He flipped the lid and placed the photo's of the man in. He then pulled an unmarked file out before shutting the case again and placing the file on top of it.
"Very well, Doctor Tinker, I believe our little meeting is at an end. What you need to know is in the file. Everything else is yours to do with as you please." He stood up, and with a tip of his hat, Mister moved to leave. A waitress rushed to the table.
"Are you all-" she asked before blanching, "oh my god, your hand!"
Andrew ignored her.
"You- you're leaving your case-" he spoke through clenched teeth.
"Mister turned back with a polite smile on his face.
"And that is why we'll never understand each other, Doctor Tinker. The information in it is yours to do with as you will. Read it and learn whether or not you Wrote your life as it is or destroy it unread, I care not."
"W-why?" Andrew grunted, holding his hand, the waitress, white and silent.
"I told you already, Doctor Tinker." he sighed.
"The knowledge and what you do with it, does not matter."
Mister moved away, giving a nod to the waitress.
"Only the choice matters"
Mister gave one last look back, "Good day, Doctor."

[Professor_Tinker]

Andrew blinked, before nodding.
"Good day." he said politely, before smiling at the waitress, a little faintly. He grabbed the napkin, using it to staunch the flow of blood.

"S-sir.. d-do you need me to call a ambulance?" she asked, wincing slightly.

"I really should, but I won't. But if there happens to be a first-Aide kit, that will suffice for the moment, Miss...?"

"Um, Mary- And I think there's one in the kitchen. Aren't.. don't you teach English over at the school?" she asked, looking worried.

"Indeed I do. Andrew Tinker, pleasure to meet you. Mary... ah, Mister Jonathan's sister, aren't you? He wrote a short story about his family, if I recall. Talented young man." he said, smiling.

A few minutes later, he had a bandaged had, and a bolstered spirit- the chance to be Andrew Tinker, Mild-Mannered English teacher, for even just a few precious minutes had refreshed him.
The conversation had turned to Collage- Mary was graduating from High school soon, and wasn't sure what to do yet. He had given her some advice, and her Life, the soft, simple Melody of her Story had soothed his demons.

For now. All the same, he would feel better after seeing his family.
He took the file and opened it, reading as he walked, precariously holding file and briefcase him his uninjured hand.

After a second of reading, his eyes widened, and he took off at a run, letting the folder fall behind him.

HIS LAB!!!

[Dr. Amino]

*Amino sees Mister approaching the meeting place* "Well, it's about time you got here! We've been waiting for you forever! What took you so long?"
"I stopped for a little coffee along the way. I was feeling somewhat parched."
*Ingrid raises eyebrow* "You stopped for coffee? Somehow, I doubt that."
*Mister sneers at her* "I really don't care how much you 'doubt that', the important thing is making sure Phase 1 goes according to plan. How much damage did you cause?"
*Amino frowns* "What are you talking about?"
*Mister sighs* "To Tinker's lair. How badly did you damage it?"
"We haven't attacked yet. We were waiting for you!"
*Mister groans* "You weren't supposed to wait for me."
*Amino and Ingrid look at each other* "What do you mean?"
"I was supposed to distract Doctor Tinker while the two of you attacked his lair, that's what I mean."
"...Oops."
"'Oops'? Didn't you realize that was the plan all along? You would wreak havoc while I kept Tinker busy. How could you mess up such a simple plan?" *mutters to himself* "Worthless Mads, can't even destroy something properly."
"Well, nobody ever told us! When Anarmi said we'd be working with you, I assumed it meant you'd be attacking the lair with us! Anarmi never gave us a specific plan! Right, Ingrid?"
"Right, ma'am."
"See? And hey, I've got enough explosives and other items of that nature to level an entire block! C'mon, Mister, we can go cause damage right now!"
*Mister waves his hand dismissively* "Leave me out of this. I upheld my part of the plan, if you want to go get yourselves killed by Tinker, I would be overjoyed." *begins to walk off*
*frowns* "Fine. Be that way. Arm drones, take Ingrid and me to Tinker's base, and hurry. We need to blow something up, and fast!"

[Professor_Tinker]

On the way back to his House, Andrew managed to calm down.
Good heavens, what was he worried about? This was The menagery he was talking about! besides, he had just had a spare decoy 'do not touch' button installed next to the doorbell.

he smiled to himself, turning back around- his hand ached, but the bleeding was slowing down and-
good heavens, what was that? Over in the Warehouse District- something, gleaming?
He broke into a sprint towards it, recognition slowly dawning on him as he approached.

he slowed down, looking up in Awe.
"Mecha. Good heavens, you *work*." he said wonderingly, breaking into a gin as he was welcomed with a metallic rustle.

[Wallycaine]

"Wally" gets up, and walks back over to Jane. Stopping several feet in front of her, he bows. "And that is how I start a duel. Now that the pleasintries are out of the way, we shall begin" That said, he stepped forward and swung with two hands, each at different angles.

Jane quickly recognized the feint, and started to dodge the main attack. Before she fully committed, however, she realized that her typical dodge would bring her in line with the feint's path. Twisting back out of reach, she threw a few jabs his way, mostly to keep him off balance.

Parrying, "Wally" began speaking once more. "I'm sorry for the consusion, but I'm not Wally. My name is War, and I have to say I've admired your work. If anyone could beat me in a duel, it would be you. I truly do wish you luck."

[chicgeek]

Mecha waves his tendrils with pleasure. The look on his father's face!
But then Andrew sees past Mecha to the smouldering wreckage. He reaches out a handy vine to steady Andrew as his knees weaken.
Mecha rustles soothingly to him, while holding a freshly grown stylus and pad. Andrew is soon filled in on exactly what happened, and reassured that Chic was unharmed and heading into town.
He droops slightly-if only he'd evolved before the attack!

[Professor_Tinker]

Andrew smiles, and pats one of Mecha's steel supports comfortingly.
"It's all right, so long as no-one got hurt. You were meant to do this when threatened, really. And you're magnificent! You even incorporated glass into the structure- clever of you." he said praisingly, before his knees buckled a little.

Mecha caught him, swiftly growing him a bench to it on, pen moving across the stylus quickly.
"Ah- Blood loss. I... had an interesting conversation, and suddenly didn't feel like writing for a while... which reminds me." he said grimly, hefting the briefcase, and opening it.

He sifted through the stack of papers, reading them quickly.

"Well, that's a relief." he said, making the understatement of the century as he threw the papers over his shoulder.
Mecha rustled inquiringly, growing a band of metal around Andrew's right hand to protect it.

"Oh, nothing important. Although, apparently I created|made created Katamari Damacy when I got drunk one time. No wonder I decided not to drink again- pity it didn't take."

He sighed and leaned back in the bench- he felt so tired. But he could tell- something was up- but he was so very tired. Blood loss did not make for an invigorated hero, nor did trauma.
But he was FURIOUS. Someone had orchestrated all this- he could tell. Oldest bit in the book. And not being able to do anything...

He blinked, suddenly, realizing Mecha was holding somethings out to him.
One was a large cup of coffee, crackling merrily as the coffee pot burbled encouragingly. The other was a half-broken Robotic Arm....

[chicgeek]

...and another arm. Mecha writes swiftly, as Tinker blinks, sipping his coffee.
Five arms? And at the end, a mad that looked like Des-but wasn't?


Chic can't help but smile at Fredric and his notebook. He reminds her of his dad. His dad..."Fredric, since you have the plan-Des and Xerox should be here any second now. My bike's awfuly fast. Do you want to wait for them before we charge in? If not-we are *not* splitting up to search. No scoobying!"

[Professor_Tinker]

Andrew Blinked, re-reading what Mecha wrote.

"Five arms? On a man?" he asked, examining the arm.
Mecha rustled.

"Five arms... just sort of running around. I see. So Robots, an Army likely. And a Desius look-alike. but the make.. It really is just like Davids." he downed most of the coffee, pushing the physicall pain to the back of his mind.

"the only thing I can think of is impossible..." he trailled off, putting things together in his head. The Arms, Mister, the Explosions he'd heard...

"Whic means it MUST be the truth. Which means David... might well be... gone." he was silent for a moment, desperately Listening, Reading the Story. After a moment, he snarled suddenly, rage consuming him.
He stood, empowered by the might of protective fury.

"Mecha? if you can, find a way to get a message across to Chic and Fredric, and Desius. I'm going to David's house." he said, taking off at a run.
As he ran, he fished a small scrap of paper out of his pocket, which he marked neatly with a smear of blood and released into the wind.
the scarp of paper rose higher and higher, floating through the air as if it knew where it was going...

~Fredric~
"We wait- I c'n hear 'em coming." said Fredric, tuning his Gibson.

Sure enough, the Motorcycle sped quietly to a stop next to them in seconds. Xerox dismounted, cursing inventively.

"We had t' go around- damn traffic." he explained, taking out a candy cigarette and unfolding his weighted stick.

[That Guy]

She'd followed some people and overheard a few conversations: this "Calvin" guy and someone named Spencer, Amino and Mister.

She was getting close, but close only counts in nuclear warfare. She had to find the Mastermind. The one behind all of this smokescreen.

There had to be some order to this.

(Think, hmmmm... Errr. The arms seem to be the only connection. And they looked like...well, kind of like that Toboz fellow's arm. Then I'll need to find him for some answers.)

[chicgeek]

Mecha whips a few tendrils around in frustration. Get a message to them? It doesn't even know where they are! And when all's said and done, he's still a plant! He can't get up and go for a stroll!
Humans can be so frustrating at times.
The coffeepot hisses agreement.
Hmm, growing a message is possible. But how to find them?

A root tunnels beneath the earth. Occasionally, a vine pops out of the surface. Almost like it's taking a look around. Then it withdraws back underground, and the tunneling starts anew.
If anyone was paying attention, they'd be reminded of an old cartoon.
It's a slow process, and not guarenteed of success.
Perhaps he should have taken that right turn at Alberkerque...

[Professor Zobot]

David Toboz's ice cream shoppe made an imposing sight, windows and doors covered with boards. Lightning rippled through the sky around it, and the lights around were completely off due to the power outage.

Inside, wedged deep within the pillows of a moderately big bed, a tiny jar jiggled and wiggled. Elleb looked up. That arm had used a screw on lid, the fool! She stood on her toes and pressed the against the screw on lid, twisting her body. She could only keep herself braced against the top for a very brief time, but... there had been a slight shift. Sooner or later, she'd get out of here... hopefully. She sniffled. She wished that her brothers and sisters were here. But no one know where she had run off to... there wasn't anyone left to help her.

Maybe she should have been a bit nicer to all the humans around here...but she had tried, hadn't she?

She pushed up again, trying unsuccessfully once more to twist the lid. It was the only thing she could think to do.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Strangely enough, the college stadium seemed almost empty. With the exception of a somewhat lost tumbleweed, nothing was waiting for them there.

Perhaps Desecration had mislead them?

[Dr. Amino]

*Amino and Ingrid finally get to Professor Tinker's base*
"Do you think he's home, ma'am?"
"There's only one way to find out." *rings doorbell. Rings it again. Rings it again. And again. And again* "Nope. He's not here. Let's see if we can sneak into the basement or something."
*Amino turns around to leave, then sees it. A big red button, looking all big and red and button-y, with the words 'Do Not Touch' written on it. As if hypnotized, she reaches out towards it, drawn like a moth to light*
"Ma'am, what are you doing?"
"Must...touch...button..."
"Don't touch that, ma'am."
"Must...touch..."
*Ingrid rolls her eyes* "Oh, for heaven's sakes, ma'am." *grabs Dana by the hand and drags her away while she tries to escape violently*
"Lemme go! I have to press the button!"
"No, ma'am!"
"But I have to press it!"
"No!"
*Ingrid manages to drag Amino away from the doorbell. As soon as the two are out of the way, a robotic arm drone with a faulty logic chip hovers over to the button and presses it, causing it to somehow fall through a trapdoor despite its hovering mechanism being in perfect condition. Go figure*

[Professor_Tinker]

~Fredric and Xerox~

".. bloody hell. 'e's not 'ere." said Fredric, smacking his forehead. @#$!!-@#$!!, a goddamn set-up. He *hated* that.

Xerox reacted similarly, folding his weighted stick back up and muttering darkly to himself.

"S#$! so where's Andrew?!" asked Desius.

"Not here, that's for sure... " said Chic grimly- dangit!! How dare he- this was a violation of the Code of Villainy!

~Andrew~
Hadn't been sure what he would find, but the minute he saw the boarded-up windows on the Ice Cream Shop.... well, this was where any other man would think 'Maybe it's something else'. Creep inside, see infailable evidence, and Despair.

Well, the Theory of Narrative Causality could bite it. He didn't have time for Despair. Not now- somewhere inside, he was reacting. But he hardly noticed.

He had: the bloody remnants of a hand. No notebook. His Coat, his Glasses, and a Briefcase with a file and some papers in it. Not much, even as he went over it in his head, but enough.

The door fell easily, with one well-placed kick. Find David- or what was left of him. Find Elleb- if she was alive.
Find The Arm, and reduce it to so many loose wires.

~Elsewhere~
A smal scrap of paper, marked with a bloody thumbprint, fluttered through the air, slowly dropping.
A pale, slightly miss-shaped hand snatched it out of the air.
Sayasuke examined the scrap, somehow seeming to 'Read' the bloody mark. He was on top of the House, keeping an eye on the interlopers outside.

After a moment, he folded the scarp of paper carefully, tucking it in his pocket.
He understood.
He had his orders.

A moment later, he was naught but a red and silver blur, moving like the wind from roof to roof.

[Claire]

Well, he's extremely "honorable." Which is nice and all, but that means if I attack, he gets to call his 20 friends to attack Mistress. Contrariwise, that means that I have the same role in this duel as each of those other 20 Wallys.

I sneak around to behind the crowd of Wallys. Since I'm not actually affecting the duel, War shouldn't be able to do anything about this. I certainly can't fight all 20 of them, but if I can take most of them out, I might be able to take care of the rest. I hope. I wish I had more explosives, but at the very least, there will be one lovely explosion followed by *lots* of fighting.

I light one of my sticks of 'dynamite,' and roll it into the crowd of Wallys watching the fight, trying not to giggle. There's something about explosives...

[chicgeek]

"Okay, let's think before we rush off. Des, I think your evil twin is a sneaky bas-"
"Language, Chic."
"Oh, bite me. I honestly didn't expect to find Andrew here, but I thought the villains would have a nice trap all cooked up. After luring us here and all. The nerve," Chic sniffed.
Des rolls his eyes. She sounds dissapointed-Mads!
"So...why don't we check out everyone's base? See who else got attacked? Any if we hear any mayhem on the way, investigate? And..."Chic hesitates.
"What's botherin' you, Auntie?" Fredric asks. He gives the tumbleweed a frustrated kick.
"Could we stop by what's left of home on the way? I had to hit the ground running, and I'd like to make sure Mecha got out okay." Chic frets.
"Mecha?" Xerox raises an eyebrow.
"Oh, he's the sweetest little thing. Andrew made a machine vine for me." Chic replies dotingly.
"Sentient, I take it." Xerox sighes. More paperwork.
"Little? Chic, he's sprawled over two rooms."Des snorts." And don't let her feed you that sweet thing bull-friggin' thing's a card shark!"

The aforementioned sweet little thing-
This is ridiculous! Looking for the others is like finding a needle in a haystack! Mecha reverses direction, the questing root headed back home.
Maybe just one last look...

At the other stadium-Farnsworth sighes. Naught to be found but a passing tumbleweed. And he'd been itching for a good dust up, too.
"A wild goose chase, it appears. Now what?"
Minerva tisks. "For starters, we secure the gyro. I don't fancy the look of that sky. No sense in risking it unless we have to. We'd best start walking."
"Agreed. And if we find your protege's moved on?"
"Why, we search for signs of mayhem, of course. What else?"
The two begin their stroll. Minerva pulls a few hairpins from the pocket of her forest green labcoat, and fixes her hair more securely as she walks.
Farnsworth adjusts his helmet, elegant in his usual mix of three piece suit and ancient armor. With his luck, they won't find a thing before conceeding defeat and returning to the library.
But perhaps, just perhaps, they'll be fortunate and find a miscreant or two.
He smiles toothily. He loves his job.

[Claire]

*BANG*
The explosive goes off, showering the Wallys around it with confetti. There’s more of it on the ground than I would have expected, though. They look around, confused. I duck behind a rock.
*KABOOM*
Each piece of confetti explodes. It looks like I got a little more than half of them. What a lovely explosion. I’d better make sure it’s not confused with the duel, though. I jump up and swing my wrench at a nearby Wally, singing.
“A very merry unbirthday, to you, to you!” The wrench goes right through his head. The remaining Wallys turn to look at me. Uh-oh, time to run. I dash off, still singing.

Wait, why am I running? They’re holograms, they can’t hurt-

The Wallys open fire. A laser goes through my shoulder, another grazing my calf. @#$&! I dive behind a tree. Apparently part of them isn’t hologram. I can still move my fingers, but I can’t raise my arm. I guess I’ll have to make due for now. At least the lasers cauterize.

A missile hits the ground in front of the tree. I’m going to run out of cover in about three seconds. Let's see, I'm injured, being chased, and my Mistress is dueling some incredibly strong creature named War. Not to mention a recent large explosion nearby, and I'm low on explosives.

Maybe I should make lasagna for dinner tonight. I like lasagna.

[That Guy]

She stood before the ice cream shop. Someone had broken down the door. But she wouldn't enter that way. She climbed to the second story and pried the wood away from the windows.

She was in.

[Professor_Tinker]

Xerox smirks, slightly.
"Heh. You should see the office games- between Doc, Calypso, and Lemon, it's a Circus." he said dryly, nodding at Chic.
"Lead on, Clockwork-Kid. I might be able to pick something up there, and I want to meet this 'Mecha' guy. If Andrew made it, It'll be useful to have it on record. Don' know what's with him- makes snarling, horrific beings of Death, and the worst they do? Kibitz my ears off while thy pour me tea. Not even a single decent death-ray or anything." he groused, shaking his head.

"'m workin' on one 'a those." remarked Fredric, cheering up a bit from the lack of Da or traps.

"See! Now *that* is a proper meshuga right there." said Xerox approvingly, searching his pockets aimlessly as they walked back to the Motorcycle.

As Chic began to chat with Fredric about the raygun (apparently, it was based on some sort of focused kinetic-sonic generator- he'd cobbled it out of a drum machine), Desius slowed down a bit to walk next to Xerox.

"Meshuga?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Eh, just means Crazy, but i sorta use it for Mad-"

"No, I know what it means. I was just wondering... are you Jewish?"

"Heh. Nope. Catholic, actually. The Yiddish... well, old habit. I was adopted kinda late, see, and I think whoever raised me spoke it. 's comforting."

"You... don't know?" asked Desius, a knot forming in his stomach. He could just hear Andrew- 'If you find yourself thinking 'it's impossible', It's not just possible, it's exactly what happened'.

"Don't remember." said Xerox shortly, eyes shifting away behind his sunglasses. Sure, it wasn't quite a lie... but he always felt bad saying it.
What else could he say?
That the first memory he had was when he was ten, found by a hiker, close to death?
With a bullet lodged an inch from his heart?Yeah, that always went over well.

[chicgeek]

Engrossed in conversation with Fredric, Chic doesn't look up for a while. And when she does...
Chic breaks into a run.
"MECHA!" She hugs a towering support vine, and Mecha instantly sprouts some side shoots to hug her back.
"Sweetie, just look at you! How wonderful! Aw, and you've already started work on the debris."
Xerox looks at Desius. "Sweetest little thing, I believe she said?"
Des's lip twitches, for a fraction of a second. "This is new."
Chic beams happily. "And you brought the coffee pot with you!" It burbles merrily, and puffs steams. The penny finally drops. "You...brought the coffee pot..." Mecha guides her to the bench he'd just grown for Tinker, as her knees give way."Oh...dear...you're..."
It sparks excitedly.
"Xerox? We may need another form..." Her voice trails off, as Mecha quivers with amusement.
Xerox sighs. "Mads." Looks at Des. "Another shining example of brainy but oblivious, I take it?"
Mecha hands her a sparking cup of coffee, which she drains.
Chic waves Xerox on over. "Mecha, dear, this is Commander Xerox of M, Andrew's boss." Mecha extends a vine towards him-which Xerox matter of factly shakes. Eh, he's seen weirder. At least it's polite.
Andrew's boss...reminded, Mecha hands the message he grew at Andrew's request to Chic.
"Oh... " Her eyes widen. "We all need to read this."
Mecha produces a stylus in another vine, scribbles, and holds where all can see-"Questions? Need supplies?"
Des sighes. Looks like it's time for another bike ride...

[Professor_Tinker]

Xerox twitches, and suddenly grabs a small copper leaf, which obligingly falls off in his hand.

"What? What is it?" asks Chic, looking at him.

"...Fredric, this smell familiar?" he asks, holding out the leaf to him. On it, Fredric sees, is the tiniest drop of blood- whic most certainly smells familliar.

"D-Da?" he asks, twitching slightly.

"Assuming he sat in the bench there, the positioning and spread of this droplet suggests a wound encompassing several arteries, located most likely on his hand. And with the distance, he had to have been bleeding heavily, suggesting a large wound- have I got this right?" he asks Mecha, glancing at the sentient- well, grove, really.

Mecha scribbles quickly, affirming his statement.

"Nice. And of course that yutz didn't even *think* of adding that to his message, why WOULD he?! It's not like there's radial arteries there or anything!" he said, twitching slightly.

Mecha hand him a cup of coffee, the coffee pot burbling in understanding.
he blinked at the sparks, before shrugging and taking a sip. Better 'n Starbucks- and it did have a nice kick.

"But we can track him now- right, Fredric?" asked Desius, glancing at the agitated teenager.

"Yeh, I c'n do that easy. What happened to 'im?!"

[Professor_Tinker]

Andrew searched the Ice Cream Shop, noting a lack of signs of struggle. Eventually, his search lead him upstairs, where he heard a sort of soft 'tink' sound coming from Davids room.

After a quick search, he located Elleb and easily released her. Immediately she began jangling furiously, blazing with red colors.

"Slow down! Slow down, dear. Now, take a breath, and tell me what happened."

[chicgeek]

Chic stands up, worry for her cousin lending her determination.
"What are we waiting for then? Fredric, we cruise above Des and Xerox, so we don't get separated. Des, you really should have been in the hospital a while longer-are you holding up okay?"
He waves off her fussing. "Jeez, Chic-I'm fine! Hospitals never want to let you out of their clutches once they have you."
"Be that as it may-Fredric, we're taking a short, necessary detour. The sidecar's still in the tunnel. I escaped in a hurry, didn't want to take the time to attach it. We'll get it now."
"Oh, come on, Chic-it's just a busted arm! And a small fracture at that!"
She glares up at him. "If nothing else, Andrew's hurt. We might need it. And as long as we're taking it anyway..."
She thwaps his good arm, mindful of his ribs. "Men. No common sense at all," she sniffs, oblivious to the irony of a mad lecturing about common sense.
She confers briefly with Mecha. Soon he's grown a lance, and a holster for it to attach to the motorcycle.
Sidecar is quickly retrived, attached-Chic pointedly ignoring whether or not Des makes use of it. Fredric in the lead, they make all possible speed towards Andrew.

[SoItBegins]

Ohhhh no. This wasn't happening. This 'Calvin' had wanted to duel me, and he was going to get what he wished for! I jumped, my internal nanobots generating an antigravity field as I leaped into the air, flying after the man. The arms, noticing me chasing, upped the pace, but it wasn't enough. I caught up with him, swooping in to deliver a kick to his spine. "Come back, coward," I yelled. "You wanted a fight, you're getting it!"

[Professor Zobot]

-Elleb-

Tears were running down her eyes as she hugged the nice man. "<Whaa! It was so scary and I didn't liiiikkkee it! That bad metal thing ensorcelled my human and made him trap me here and left me all alone and no one came back for me and then you saved me!>" She sniffled. "<I'm sorry I was ever mean to you and turned you into a kitty, and all the hidden attempts to get you to stay away from my human paramour, not to mention playing with your cousins...>" All of a sudden she felt really really guilty. But that implied that she wasn't a good little fairy, so she immediately shifted subjects.

"<You've saved me, and I don't have anything to reward you with... except myself. Mr. Nice Man, I pledge to serve you as a fae servant for a year and a day! I'll be useful, honest!>" She fluttered behind him, still not entirely explaining what had happened to her. "<So, when do we get revenge on that horrible Arm? Oh, my poor human...>"

Unnoticed to either of them, a female figure lurked in the shadows... she had broken into the second floor and was watching them...waiting...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Calvin, SiB, and Spencer-

"Ah'm no sissy!" Calvin growled, backhanding SiB with an arm encased in his Sprint Mail Power Armor. "Mite bit foolish a'ya, followin' us. A man's got to know when he's bein' distracted."

SiB's response were two furious blows to Calvin's jaw, which succeeded in drawing blood. The man spit out a tooth and snarled. "'Sides, you already ruined Spence's plan to re-n-fekt Prime." He paused. SiB had him matched in strength, even with Sprint Mail enhancing him. But he didn't have him beaten in arms. At Calvin's command three of the arms flying in formation broke off and crashed into SiB in various places, flying at high velocities. This disoriented SiB enough to disrupt his anti-gravity, sending him falling down into the treeline below. However he wasn't going alone...

One of his arms shot up and grabbed Calvin, who the arms were barely able to carry anyway, and pulled him free of their grasp. The two men fell down, vanishing as the arms rocketed away with Spencer in two.
"C-c-calvin! You've got to turn around and, um, recover him!"

One of the arms whispered into Spencer's ear. "Sorry, nerdy dude, but Anarmi's orders trump yours. We were supposed to pull out before the storm hits, bro!" The remaining arms shot off towards parts unknown...

Back at SiB's lair, the tornado hit the already mini-missile damaged lair, tearing into it and continuing it's path, conveniently heading in the direction of SiB and Calvin's fall...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-In An Undisclosed Location-

"Monsieur Spencer et half hiz arms have returned, sir. Monsieurs Mister, Des, Jeremy, and zat pervert Calvin have not. Nor have ze two other recruits, Monsieur Caine and Madame Amino. Zere is a possibility zat unexpected problems have emerged."

"Let them have their chances. We can't break emitter silence until Spencer's done with Nanite-Quarantine anyway."

"...Vas it really necessary to sully our hands like zis?"

"Of course. Mad Scientists are gods of preparation. Allow them access to resources and time to prepare and they will overcome any obstacle. It is what happened to Professor Zobot when he allowed Jane Narbon her own time table when blackmailing her. By striking now, we are destroying the resources of the people best equipped to oppose us and depriving them of any time to put together a reliable resistance. Analysis of past performance has indicated that few Mads are capable when forced to rapidly adapt to changing dangerous circumstances. If they are not allowed time or resources to prepare, they will fall much more easily."

"I...see... vait... who is zat little girl in the corner?"

"What girl? I didn't scan anything...hey! How did a brat get here? Who are you?"

"Oh, you're not concerned with me, sir."

"I'm...not?"

"Phew. That's a relief. Well, see ya!"

"Hey! Wait! That was a confused statement regarding your response, not an acknowledgment of your previous observation! Stop! Mistral, catch that little girl!"

[Wallycaine]

War staggered backward as Jane's kick hit him in the face. He was stronger and sturdier, but that jet pack opened up all new maneuvers, and whatever she wearing was shielding her from the few blows that got through. Even as he recovered, she came in with a flying roundhouse kick that was literally flying. Suddenly, something caught the corner of his vision. Quickly cataloging and prioritizing it, he realized immediate action was necessary.

Rolling under her kick, War came popped up on the other side of her, railgun already unholstered. Firing rapidly, he exploded three mini missles streaking towards Claire's position. "You were told non-lethal force! Don't make me..." At that moment, War was lifted from the ground and flew through the air, followed by a pretty, lightning bolt contrail.

"Wally wished for me to deliver a message." War said, at full volume. "He wishes to apologize greatly for all of this, and promises recompense."

"Really? He promises to repay me for getting very annoying arms thrown at me, and a robot who just wants to duel? How does he plan to do that?"

"I do believe that he was refering specifically to your lair."

"What about my lair?"

"The fact that it will be destroyed in the next twenty three seconds."

As he finished speaking, an explosion rocked Jane's lab, causing it to sink into so much rubble.

"Odd. My internal clock must be off."

[Desius]

~Mister

The door opened. Only to have a small girl bump into him as he entered.
He looked down at the girl.
His eyes narrowed.

~Desecration.

"%$#~!" He yelled, shacking his fist as the traffic moved on.
"What does it take to get a $#@! taxi in this town?!" He fumed, waving at another passing cab.
The boss was going to be so pissed.
He looked at his watch and went a little white. He was late.

~Desius
Des wheezed in the side car. His ribs ached, and he could feel them moving with every bump in the road.
This was bad.
Fredric was distracted, Chic was too focused, Andrew was who knows what shape, and he was injured, getting worse every minute.
But he wasn't going to back down. His family needed him.
He gritted his teeth and held on.