"Dude, I get the 'In the name of science' part, but isn't there supposed to be some damn logic in there too?!" The words rapidly flew out of Kevin's mouth as he swooshed past the driveway yet again, his feet barely finding any form of traction due to the increasingly thick layer of scattered metal covering the ground.
"Hey, you gotta admit this is a pretty fun way to spend the day, Kev!" Eddy's eyes swooped quickly from left to right before he moved his arm back and threw the perfectly balanced discus at a well-aimed angle, watching it bounce between a multitude of heads with a sense of strange satisfaction, as if it was his expertise with the spherical object that had caused its path of destruction and not the electromagnet attached to his wrist.
"Had I known it would have this disastrous outcome, I never would've-" The panicked words escaping Double-D were interrupted when he had to duck to avoid a stretched out arm from the left. "Never would've initiated the project!" He focused all the physical strength he possessed to his arms yet again and clicked his fingers together in a sequence, firing off another beam of energy into the approaching crowd. Toppling back slightly, he took a moment to assess the situation and deeming it quite grim from where he was standing. "Jimmy, how does it look?"
"Not good, Double-D." This was definitely not the way Jimmy had thought he would spend the day; perched on top of the roof of his house, dividing his glances between the Cul-de-Sac in front of him and the rustling junkyard behind him, all while nervously fingering the bow lying next to him. "Only for emergencies." Double-D had said. Jimmy would deem this entire scenario unfurling in front of him an emergency of gargantuan proportions. "Their numbers seem to be increasing; the only way to stop this has to be to hit the junkyard."
"I'm on it!" Sarah, on the other hand, was having the best damn day of her life, a cheek splitting grin taking up most of her face. Maneuvering through the horde with the agility of a gazelle, she laid waste to the majority of the metallic men foolish enough to attempt to approach her, more often than not not even needing the twin batons fastened safely to her waist. Tossing one of the attackers into four of his steel alloy brothers with great ease, she met up with Rolf in the center of the street where she swiftly kicked out a pair of legs, sending yet another heap of metal crashing into the ground.
"ROLF WILL JOIN WITH THE LOUDMOUTHED ONE AND LAY SIEGE UPON OUR ENEMY'S DOMAIN!" Leaping high into the air, Rolf brought the heavy hammer down upon a group of the robots that had been stalking Sarah, shattering their outer shells into fine, metallic dust particles. Though he had flung himself from house to house, making sure they all went undamaged, there were neither droplets of sweat on his forehead nor was there any sign of labored breathing; the only evidence of him having been active at all was the burning of adrenaline in his eyes and the almost painful looking bulging of his muscles, something that turned out wasn't just for show when a stouthearted swing of the hammer sent one of the robots soaring through the air over the rooftops, dismantling into broken scrap as it went.
"Rolf, Bluetooth, you don't have to shout." Nazz had no idea what was going on, even though it had been explained to her a multitude of times in a multitude of voices carrying varying emotions. This just wasn't the sort of thing that was supposed to happen in a normal teenager's life. Sure, you know, the Eds had always made sure that their lives were always sort of weird but this, staring a bunch of haphazardly put-together robots in their lifeless red eyes and supposedly distracting them by waving her arms around slowly, was just abnormality wrapped in an silly impossibility. "Double-D, tell me what the hell it is I'm doing again?"
"Having accidentally based some of the- Goodness, that was close- software on myself, Ed and Eddy, there is the very strong possibility that they react towards you in the very same manner that we do- did at a certain point. So, essentially, you're charming them!" Double-D, who was simultaneously calculating the simplest and most tactical way to move them all towards the junkyard without instant injury while trying not to get injured thinking about it, spoke into one of nine identical Bluetooth earpieces they had all been equipped with.
"This is just one of those days, isn't it?" Nazz sighed grimly, thinking longingly about the bath she'd drawn herself right before one of these mechanical mayhems had appeared outside her bedroom window.
"You sure could say that again!" The three robots in front of Nazz were suddenly flung into a lamppost, as having been punched by an invisible force, before Jonny popped up in that very same spot seemingly out of nowhere, sporting a hollowed out melon with two spatulas sticking out of it on his head.
"Jonny, how did you-" Kevin came by and slowed down to a jogging speed, just as surprised as Nazz was at the large headed boy's sudden appearance, before he shook his head and began to sprint again. "Never mind, don't need to know."
"Right, off I go!" As sudden as he'd appeared out of who-knows-where, Jonny disappeared there again, leaving Nazz to keep waving her arms around in a confused manner, wondering if it wouldn't be an investment in her psychological health for her mom to get a condo in the city.
"I believe this would be a wise time to converge upon the true face behind these automatons!" Double-D took a careful step forward; while the others had spread out across the street, randomly picking off members of the attacking force, Double-D and Eddy had been firmly positioned in front of the former's garage door, defending the metal gate from intruders in the case they would attempt to scavenge the equipment and half-finished inventions inside.
"Isn't this weird enough without all the 'Shakespeare in the park' crap you and Rolf are bringing in?" The discus arched its trajectory halfway through a metal head and bounced back towards the shortest of the Eds where he held out his wrist as far from his face as he could. Eddy almost flew backwards while smacking himself in the face, yet again, when the essentially overgrown Frisbee re-attached itself to the magnet with frightening velocity.
"I say-" Blow to the head. "We move-" Blow to the torso. "While we-" Slight satisfaction at a lower blow. "Still can." Kevin skidded to a complete halt next to Double-D, catching whatever breath had left him. He was one of the fittest of all the Cul-de-Sac kids, but this much tossing about was even starting to take its toll out on him. "Gonna take out an ant's nest, you don't walk around smashing them all individually, you hit them at home base."
"Kevin's right!" Jonny continued his habit of popping up out of nowhere and appeared on Eddy's left, smiling widely over the fact that all of the kids, all of his friends, were actually working together on this. "Apart from the ant smashing, I don't approve of that at all."
"Speaking of smashing, where the hell did-" With the well-timed sense of interruption, the ground began to tremble heavily, making Eddy recoil back in surprise. "What the-"
"That would be him. Come now, everyone, the manhole in the middle of the street!" Double-D struggled to move forward, the heavy apparatus secured to his back weighing him down. Though he wished someone of the stronger kids could've worn the armor he was currently dressed in, he understood that the plethora of wires intertwining around the arms down to the giant welder's gloves from the car battery on his back could easily intimidate. "Eddy, cover my six!" Eddy dove in to block any direct attackers to Double-D's rear while Kevin and Jonny zoomed around, one in a faint blur and the other not even visible at all, trying to keep the majority of the robots away from the young inventor. "Kevin, at the signal, take Jonny and make way for the junkyard and the three of us shall rendezvous there. Rolf, Eddy and Nazz, you make sure to form a line to cut the horde off from the Cul-de-Sac where Ed and Sarah can proceed with clean-up."
"Wait, what's the signal?"
"You will know when you see it, Kevin."
"ED-BOY, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" The sun rays bounced between the dozen robots that were flung into the air when Rolf came crashing through like a bowling ball in a dollhouse, Sarah quick on his tail to disperse any stragglers. "ROLF WAS A FEW STEPS AWAY FROM THE LAIR OF-"
"Rolf, seriously, Bluetooth." Nazz, still moving her arms around in what she felt was still a ridiculous motion, slowly backed herself towards the others in the middle of the street where they formed a circle of sorts around the manhole cover, which was shaking and rattling violently in its place.
"Right, we're all together, that's great and all, but we're also surrounded." Eddy threw a quick glance at Double-D who merely stood there, seemingly waiting for something. He bashed a few of the metal men slowly creeping closer with the shield attached to his wrist to force them back. The moment was tense as fists and buttocks clenched throughout the circle.
"True. But there's an upside to this." Gritting his teeth, Kevin stooped down and quickly fastened the laces on his shoes, giving the wheels underneath each of them a small spin for good luck.
"There's butt to kick in every direction." Sarah cracked her knuckles and growled, ready to lunge herself at the first tin soldier she laid eyes on.
"Double-D-Ed-boy." Rolf threw an eye back at the manhole cover jumping feverishly as if trying to break free from something.
"Yes?"
"He has returned." Nazz and Sarah were suddenly flung forward as Rolf threw his arms around them protectively, making off for cover in a nearby bush. Kevin, taking this as the signal, grabbed Jonny by the arm and zoomed off, zigzagging through debris and robots reaching out for him. Eddy, not certain what his role in all this was, held up his shield nervously and slowly backed after Double-D who trotted along as quickly as he could, clearing the path best he could by flailing his armor covered arms every direction possible.
"Double-D, does this count as an emergen-" Jimmy's question was cut short when the ground erupted. The manhole cover shot high up into the air and disappeared from view, finally releasing an enormous geyser of sewage that had been building up in the systems below and easily dwarfed the neighborhood houses in height.
"THIS was the great upside?!" Eddy screamed over the loud noise of the geyser's pressure, staring in frightened disbelief as the robots nearest to the manhole began to run around in, what looked like, absolute panic, making unintelligible noises while their arms flailed wildly above their heads as sewage began to rain down over them.
"Actually, that is." Something shot up from the center of the eruption and just when it appeared that it would take the same route as the manhole cover, it dropped back down towards the ground before landing with a sickening noise, the concrete underneath it having cracked due to the sudden impact of this massive object. "Ed. Smash."
"Okey-doke, Double-D!" Ed, almost unrecognizable due to the green grime dripping from his body, threw out his arms and began to spin around, droplets of filth flinging out of his hair as he threw his head back and laughed wholeheartedly, his fists making history of whatever they hit.
"Wait, where the hell has-" Eddy turned his head and found that Double-D was no longer standing behind him, instead wandering along the Cul-de-Sac unscathed forty feet up in the air.
"The line, Eddy; hold the line!" Double-D's voice carried over through the earpiece, now too far away for Eddy to hear in person.
"Why the hell couldn't he make the elevation boots work when I wanted them...?" Grumbling to himself, Eddy forced his way through to try and find Nazz and Rolf. "Rolfy-boy, where you at?"
"Rolf and Nazz are behind my house, holding them off!" Jimmy jumped in shock when he turned to face the Cul-de-Sac, having Double-D just walk over the house with relative ease, before focusing his eyes on his best friend jumping from robot to robot, tearing their circuitries out with her fists and teeth. "Looking good, Sarah!"
"Thanks, Jimmy!" She looked up from the almost cleared out chassis underneath her to give him a thumbs up, but had to throw herself to the right to avoid being hit. "ED, YOU IDIOT! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO HIT THEM, NOT ME!"
"Whoops; sorry, little sister!" Ed didn't even spare her a glance as he continued to spin, now holding in each of his hand by their feet to further decrease their numbers.
"Careful there, Ed; we're in this together!" Jimmy turned back and peered down, seeing Eddy finally join up with Rolf and Nazz.
"Hey, Stretch; batter up!" Eddy flung the shield towards Rolf who, in great surprise, swung the modified sledgehammer in defense, sending the discus to tear through countless of metallic bodies as it sped off.
"IS TABLETOP-ED-BOY OUT OF HIS CHICKEN COUP?! ROLF'S HEAD COULD HAVE SAID 'HOW-DE-DO' AND GONE TO WATER THE CABBAGE!" Even though his gaze turned towards Eddy, darkened by this seeming betrayal, he still continued to clear out robots with wild one-handed swings.
"Hey, woah, take it easy there, just mixing it up!" Eddy pressed the control attached to his wrist and held up his hands in defense, meaning that when the shield returned to reaffix itself to that same wrist, it only stopped once it had hit Jimmy's house wall, bringing Eddy to crash into the wall with it.
"Eddy, you okay, dude?" Nazz heard the loud crash and spun around in worry to check on him, accidentally grazing one of the robots with her hand. The robot in question promptly dropped to the ground and proceeded with babbling incoherently, rocking back and forth. She looked back down at it and then at her hand, barely even caring that the whole situation was getting weirder by the minute. "Eh, guys, I just touched one of these things and it just, like, dropped to the ground and is making these strange noises."
"You kinda have that effect on people, Babe." Kevin threw out his hand and grabbed the first robot he could find, shoving its face into the ground and dragging it along as he rolled on at high speeds.
"Double-D, we're circling the junkyard!" Hearing Jonny speak, not only in the Bluetooth piece in his left ear but inches away from his right, made Kevin wobble, almost losing his balance for a moment.
"I'm coming in through the entrance now." The reinforced accordions attached to the boots Double-D was wearing collapsed with his last few steps, returning him to walk at ground level.
"They've stopped coming from where you are, Double-D." Jimmy's hand unconsciously went to finger on the arrows in the quiver strapped to his back, making sure they were still there.
"Then I would expect we are expected." Double-D stepped past the gates just as Kevin joined him, slowing down to a walking speed.
"Seriously, what the hell is up with Jonny, Double-D?"
"Volatile substance, found a jar of it in the cabinet where I salvaged old inventions for our gear. I do not fully understand the effects, but it does grant him the ability to expand and contract all of his molecules simultaneously. I believe it is an old sample of something I once encountered under Ed's bed..."
"Hang on, hang on; he can... What?"
"Shrink and grow!" Jonny suddenly appeared next to Kevin, who barely even recognized the oddity of it all, and grinned widely.
"Seemingly, he retains his usual strength whichever size he currently is. If the orange I used as a test subject is of any evidence, the substance should wash away in a shower or two."
"Wait, I get a bow and arrow while Jonny can change size? I say this is unfair." Not that anyone noticed but Jimmy still crossed his arms and pouted for effect from his rooftop.
"It's a highly experimental substance; there is no telling what sort of long term effects it could-"
"Wait, I see something." Jimmy stopped his essentially pointless display of displeasure and lowered the modified heat seeking goggles Double-D had provided him with. "Large group of meanies about a hundred feet to your one o'clock. One of them is different though..." Having been modified to account for the unique electrical output the robots were generating, Jimmy could with the goggles single out the one that was radiating something completely different.
"That would be what we're looking for." Sighing grimly, Double-D trudged on with Jonny and Kevin through the junkyard, where piles of scrap metal had diminished severely in the last couple of hours.
"You guys need any help?" Eddy tried to see if he could spot his friends over the masses still swarming towards them, but quickly failed and had to throw up his arm to shield himself from a huge chunk of metal Rolf had managed to smash his way.
"I shall let you know if we need the cavalry; you all just hold your positions for now." A tingle went down Double-D's spine; as the grinding of gears hitting metal faded behind them, the stale, foul smelling air grew quiet around the three boys.
"It's kinda quiet." Jonny exclaimed, every now and then throwing a glance over his shoulder to see if they were about to ambushed by something.
"Yeah, too quiet." Kevin's jaw clenched, every muscle in his body tensing up. He was getting tired but he sure as hell wasn't about to give up there and then.
"Oh, curse my natural sense of curiosity." It then struck Double-D just what this day had amounted to. He had created something potentially dangerous, left it to be and now needed his friends to risk their lives to correct his mistakes. Should they get out this situation unharmed, he would swear to himself never to do something like this again.
"Hey, it ain't the first time you've put us in trouble and it probably ain't gonna be the last." Kevin stopped his hand from instinctively colliding with Double-D's back in a comforting pat, realizing that slapping a car battery is something that would probably leave quite the mark.
"Look on the bright side; I still have my hair this time." Nazz deadpanned, continuously tapping the chests of the robots approaching her before sending them rambling into Rolf's range.
"Rolf finds this to be a healthy task to strengthen the unity of the Cul-de-Sac!" Ripping the head off of one, he tossed it in the air and slammed the hammer into it on its way down, sending it ricocheting through the crowd that still marched on.
"C'mon, Sockhead, how many people can actually bring about the end of the world like this?" Eddy changed up his tactics, aiming low and throwing the shield, which effectively tore off several pairs of legs before it returned back to his wrist, only nearly avoiding the recoil this time.
"I haven't had this much fun in years; it's like Christmas in July, Double-D!" If she squinted hard enough, Sarah could actually see a slight resemblance between the automatons in front of her and her brother a few feet behind her, only increasing her motivation for hitting them harder.
"This is just like the movie 'Hymn Pak 3: RISE OF THE NAMNAT', SO COOL!" Not only was Ed overjoyed that they were all a part of this adventure, he also loved how the fact that smashing evil robots like this was everything he had ever dreamed of.
"We're a team, through and through!" With the numbers thinning on the street behind him and with the ones down below in his garden being reduced slowly but efficiently, Jimmy was becoming more and more convinced that things might at one point return to normal. At which point he would have to explain to his parents why their back yard was looking more and more like a scrap yard and how the fence surrounding it had become completely demolished.
"Don't worry, Double-D; we're gonna look back and laugh like hyenas at this tomorrow!" Jonny's supportive grin, along with the encouraging words of his friends, helped calm Double-D's worrisome guilt a bit. Or, at least it did, until the silence around them shattered as a deep, hollow voice echoed across the great plains of the junkyard and continuing to the Cul-de-Sac, almost as if it was greatly amplified by all the metal in the area. All, human and robot alike, instantly stopped what they were doing and perked up at the sound of it, a frightened feeling of helplessness growing in the guts of the former. Chilling, cold, so horribly far from human was the voice.
"I welcome you to my humble abode."