Note: Before you being reading this Sonic / Mighty Duck fan fic, please notice the following:
WELCOME TO THE FUTURE! The year is 2020, the new future beckons us with brand new technlogogy that allows Earth to talk
to other planets such as Mobius, Puckworld, and other planets. The world is a safer place. But there are some who think
otherwise. The deadly Nuclear Terriorst Atomic Dog is still at large. Wanted for the bombings of important buildings and
murders of innocent people. To combat his Nuclear ambition, a speical team was assembled by British Commander Captain Ian of the last
freedom fighters. This team was to stop all those who try to ruin the new future of New York.
This team is lead by Captain Lem Lemming, a member of the old group of freedom fighters. His crew, four ducks from Puckworld,
a professor of Science and Technology, the two offspring of Queen Sally Alicia Acorn Hedgehog, a human (with half his face missing but has a metal
plate), four of the lemmings closest friends, and a robot. They are our last, only, and most effective line of defence against
the new meance of the terriorst.
WELCOME TO THE NEW GENERATION : CAPTAIN IAIN [TNG:CI]
File Number 1 : Liquid
" Our attempts of crippling the new future is pathetic," said Atomic Dog looking out of his penthouse window. " I set up easy plans, and you fail time, and time, and time again!"
" It's that special ops team," said Magnet. " They're too good!"
" That's because they've had more training than YOU!" screamed Dog. " I loose my arm to them and everything goes down hill after 2019! We're in the first quarter of 2020 and I'm getting pissed! You three are on suspension and are ordered to go and do some training as of now."
" What????" shouted Physics, Magnet and Jewel together.
" I have a new plan which will be started as soon as my hired help comes," said Dog. " He's had more experience than you and should be able to take care of that team and their lemming leader for good."
" When is he getting here?" asked Physics.
" Anytime now," said Dog. " He's has the ability to blend into the environment and be unnoticed by those who are suspicious."
Dog turned away from his window and sat down in his chair and took out a Rubik's cube and started playing with it. Everything went quiet for a few minutes as he played with it. Shortly, a message was sent over the intercom.
" Sir, Mr L is here to see you about his new job," said a voice over the intercom.
" Send him in," said Atomic Dog throwing the Rubik's cube to Physics. " Solve that and I'll reconsider!"
The doors didn't open for his guest, Dog sat there patiently and whistled for a while. Dog pressed the intercom button.
" Are you sure that he's here?" asked Dog.
" I'm positive sir," said the voice. Dog released his finger and sat in his chair.
" If you're here , show yourself," said Dog out loud.
While Physics was playing with the Rubik's cube something started forming out of the floor, something silvery was coming up. It was taking the shape of a man, Dog watched as it rose from the ground and to its feet. It looked like a crash dummy at first but the silver man then walked over to Dog . He turned into a businessman with a suit on. He had a white face with blonde hair. Dog smiled.
" Physics, Magnet, Jewel, let me introduce you to Liquid!" said Dog.
" He's some type of liquid metal thing a bob from Terminator 2!" screamed Physics.
" No you numskull." Dog said rolling his eyes up. " Mr Liquid here has been a good hit man for years, he had a surgical operation that makes him able to change shape into other people with incredible strength. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be this rich today."
" That's a good comment Atomic, but I can't be thanked, I do my job," said Liquid. " So what do you want me to do today?"
" I want you to wipe a computer database for me." Dog gave Liquid a picture. " I want it done as soon as possible."
" 1 million for the job," said Liquid.
" Agreed, if you anyone in this picture tries to stop you," said Dog giving him another picture. " Kill them and bring me their carcass."
" I get paid extra?"
" Oh yes," said Dog.
" I shall do the job you have requested and shall not disappoint you my friend," said Liquid.
" Then go and erase the universal defence computer," said Dog.
Liquid nodded and then melted back into the floor. Dog could see a small liquid lump heading towards the door and it went through its cracks. Dog smiled and turned back to the window. This time he could sense that everything was going to go his way.
* * * * *
" So, it's our day off and what are you going to do Clem?" asked Speedy playing with his laptop.
" I think I'll go discover the true meaning of winter," said the lemming professor putting his lab coat on. " I think it might be successful today."
" Didn't the Simpsons learn it first?"
" They did but they didn't explain it!" said Clem putting his glasses on.
" Well I don't know about you guys but I think I'm going to groove out at a night-club and see and meet some chicks," said Nosedive putting on his casual white jacket with the mighty ducks symbol on it.
" Is that all you think about? Getting the girl?" asked Speedy.
" It's the once a month opportunity for me, I get to dance and drink the night away."
" It's three o'clock in the afternoon," said Clem looking at his watch.
" Oh," said Nosedive. " Well until then I have a better idea, I'm going to go and watch some extreme sports on the digital TV box set!"
" You do that, I'll be with you in a moment," said Speedy. He closed his laptop and followed Nosedive to the entertainment room. Clem opened the lab door.
" You gonna sit there all day Mallory? Or do you want to help me find the true meaning of winter?" asked Clem looking at Mallory sitting in the corner in her casual clothes.
" No thanks, I can do without the technical mobo jumbo," said Mallory. " I might go and do bit of training in the gym."
" Good for you," said Clem. " It's best to work on the action figure." He walked into the lab and closed the door behind him. Mallory shook her head.
" Don't understand that guy," she said to herself. " I might as well go and do some training."
Mallory got up from her chair and walked out and headed off to the training room.
It was the once a month free day that was issued by the universal nations working rule. It was passed in 2015 and it states for every company. 'Each employee must be allowed one free day from his or her work place. If not, the manager's fired!'
Captain Lem was on his day off as well and was spending time in the computer room with Decoy, Princess Alicia Acorn Hedgehog and Tails. It was the usual system check up that was carried out once a week. Since Lem was going to go see a film, he thought he might as well do the job first.
The computer was very big and had a system of every resource on the planet, every piece of event history, every blueprint of every place and the whole database of wanted or arrested criminals.
Decoy was at the main console typing in some information to the reports. His wife Alicia, who was also the daughter of Queen Sally Alicia Acorn Hedgehog was sitting next to him reading over the user manual. Tails was reading a newspaper since it he was waiting for Decoy to finish so they could have a game of cards. Lem came in with his usual cup of coffee.
" There ain't anything finer than a double malt whipped cream coffee," said Lem quickly taking a sip from his mug. " And it tastes better when piping hot!"
" Couldn't you get me one?" asked Decoy turning around on his chair.
" No, it was a one cup , two hand situation," said Lem. " What are we adding to the computer today?"
" We installing virus systems and the new backup drive tape deck," said Alicia.
" I love it when this girl speaks technology, so like her mother," said Lem. " How's our data being stored?"
" We putting them on cds," said Decoy showing Lem a black cd. " These contain up to 1000 minutes of audio data, and 50000 megabytes of information."
" Aren't those Clem's new supplies?"
" We nicked them!" said Alicia.
" Good, good," said Lem. He finished his cup of coffee and gave it to Tails. " Make yourself useful and get me a Danish pastry."
" I waiting for Decoy to finish," said Tails. " My wife has gone shopping with Julie-Su and Knuckles. And I'm bored and…..I'm so alone."
" You've been watching too much soap operas."
" Yes," said Tails. " I'll go and give to this to Duke who's in the cleaning the kitchen today."
Tails walked out leaving the three to carry on with their work. Lem looked at his watch and suddenly gasped.
" Damn, I got to go and help Tanya with an experiment." Lem said Walking out. " Don't forget to set the three passwords code and hand to Tanya later!"
" We won't!" said Decoy and Alicia together. Lem walked out and the two continued on with their work.
* * * * *
Outside the universal headquarter, the usual delivery van with the day's mail coming in for every one in the building. The big red van 'Universal Force- We promise to get the mail to you or never again!' parked itself around the back of the building where loading bays where for crates, parcels, and the occasional new vehicle to blow up.
The loading bays were opened up by one of the security members' team. The van reversed itself with its back to the bay door so it would be easy to unload the goods. Once the van stopped the driver stepped out. The driver who was a young adult walked over to the guard holding a clipboard.
" Morning Phil," said the driver. " It's the usual delivery of mail for the head guys here."
" Do you need me to sign anything?" asked the guard. The driver gave the guard the clipboard.
" Sign at the top, middle, and bottom please."
" Ok," said the guard signing the papers. He gave the clipboard to the driver. " I have to go and report the delivery to the main desk. Meanwhile, the rookie here would give you some help. Hey Johnny, get out here!"
" Coming chief," said other guard coming up behind him. It was Liquid in the security guard uniform. " What do you need me to do?"
" Help the guy unload the mailbags," said Phil. " I'll be back in half an hour. Just make sure everything is fine!"
" Sure," said Liquid. Phil walked off and left the two of them. The driver opened the back of the truck and threw a mailbag to Liquid.
" You know where to put that?" asked the driver. Liquid looked at the mailbag. He nodded . The driver went back into the van. Liquid's innocent face turned meanly and he dropped the bag. He walked over and jumped into the back of the van where the driver was moving some boxes.
" I've put the mailbag where it should go," said Liquid. " What do you want me to do now?"
" Can you help me move these boxes?" asked the driver. Liquid smiled and then suddenly punched the deliveryman out cold. Liquid took the clipboard and the cap off the man.
" Your late for the 12 o'clock delivery!" said Liquid putting on the cap.
Liquid quickly changed into the delivery guy's clothes. Liquid jumped out of the van and picked up a box with him address to: Professor J. Clem. Liquid had a look around and noticed a big metal door to the end of the loading bay. He hurried over there so the other guard wouldn't see him when he came back. He came up to the door close, he put down the parcel to his feet and then put both of his hands on the door and moved them around the door. He was searching for something, he would only find it when he hit a soft spot on the door. Liquid finished going o ver the doors with his hands with no success.
Liquid then turned his attention to the keypad next to it; he put his hand on it and felt it for a quick second. He then pressed four keys in succession and the door opened. Liquid smiled and picked up his package and walked through the door. The door closed behind him as he walked down the corridor ahead. When he got to the end; there were two signs. One saying emergency exit from the direction behind him and the other saying training room, technolab and storage to his left.
" When in doubt, find a expendable person," said Liquid going off to his left and towards the training room.
Liquids walked down the corridor; as he walked further, he heard some music and the more he walked, the louder it got. Suddenly then stopped as he came to a junction with a door to his left and a short corridor down to his right with a open door at the end. He quickly looked to his left to see the word's storage cupboard. He opened the door, the sound of the door opening was deafened by the music coming from the room opposite him. Liquid looked inside the storage cupboard only to see stacks of papers, boxes of pens, two pegs and cleaning equipment.
" It's the future and this team like to use Mr Muscle?" asked Liquid. He put the box down in the cupboard and turned his attention to the room opposite with the loud music playing.
Liquid slowly walked towards the door and peered in. It was a mix between Gym, and judo ring with a punching bag in the middle. That's when Liquid saw Mallory kicking the bag fiercely with her left leg. Liquid quietly watched the female duck lay numerous kicks and punches to the bag. He then noticed the bench to the side of her. On the bench was her purple jacket; Liquid turned back to Mallory who had wore herself out after doing high kicks on the bag.
" Bingo!" said Liquid to himself walked back to the storage cupboard and opening the door. He picked up the parcel and walked towards the training room. He walked in as Mallory was sitting on the bench drinking a can of soft drink. It was a few seconds after Liquid had stopped to look at her when she finally noticed the fake deliveryman. She pressed a button on a panel to turn the music down.
" What are you doing here?" asked Mallory. " Don't you know that all deliveries are made in the loading bay?"
" Sorry miss, but this package was sent up by special delivery and has to be signed by someone," said Liquid.
" Who's the parcel's addressed to?" asked Mallory picking herself up from the bench and standing to look at the parcel.
" It's address to a Professor J. Clem," said Liquid reading the label.
" I know the guy, in fact, his quarters are next to mine," said Mallory. " I'll sign it."
" Thanks," said Liquid. He put the parcel on the bench. He took out the clipboard and gave it to Mallory to sign. She paused a looked at the clipboard.
" This parcel's signed for already, you can….."
Without any warning Liquid punched her in the stomach and she flew back on to the floor winded. Liquid took off the cap and the jacket and threw them on the bench. Mallory, who got seriously winded from the punch slowly sat up.
" What the hell are you doing?" asked Mallory trying to get her breath back. She got back up as Liquid turned the music up.
Mallory quickly kicked Liquid in the back. Liquid stumbled forward a little and then spun around. Before he attacked again; Mallory threw a punch to his face but Liquid grabbed her hand before it hit him. She try to move her hand free with no luck. She looked confused at Liquid who was smiling back at her. Liquid immediately kicked her in upper chest and she fell back again. This time she was so winded from that attack, she couldn't get back up quickly and Liquid pushed her back on to the ground.
Liquid quickly put his arm on her chest to hold Mallory down. Mallory tired struggling out of the grip and failed. Liquid was somehow very strong. Mallory could only watch Liquid raise his left hand up in the air. The hand transformed into a silver colour. Mallory looked at the man a little scared.
" Who are you?" she asked. Liquid smiled.
" Your worst nightmare!" said Liquid and he put his hand on her forehead. Within seconds Mallory lost conciseness. Liquid kept his hand on her forehead for a few more seconds and then removed it. His hand turned back normal.
He got up from the seamlessly lifeless woman and headed over to her jacket. He quickly searched it over and found a card. He looked at it, it had Mallory's face on it and was entitled. 'Access Card'
" We are a tough girl aren't we?" asked Liquid. He looked at Mallory and her clothes for a few seconds noting every detail. " That's a nice purple top and tracksuit trousers you got on, I think that won't be a problem."
Liquid picked up Mallory and carried her to the storage room. He opened the door and then hanged the female on the peg. He noticed she was coming to start waking up. Liquid saw her com watch on her right wrist. Liquid removed it.
" You won't be needing that," said Liquid. " Even though you're waking up quicker than I thought, you're not going to alert your friends in time."
Liquid closed the door and put a lock on it. He then stood there and he turned to his silver shape. He walked back towards the training room and to the bench. As he was travelling, his body started taking shape of Mallory and by the time he got to the bench. He was Mallory! He picked up her jacket and put it on.
He noticed a window on the wall next to him. He walked over to the window and looked at himself. He looked like Mallory. It was even hard to notice the difference between him and the real Mallory. He turned around looked over his shoulder to see if his transformation was complete. He smiled and then turned back around and put his hands on his hips.
" I always like to get on my feminine side," said Liquid in Mallory's own voice. " Anyway, I better get on with my job."
Liquid, now as Mallory, picked up the parcel and walked out of the training room and off to find someone else. As he walked past the storage room, he could hear little whimpers of Mallory coming out.
" You whimper as much as you like Girlfriend but you still won't get anyone's attention!" said the fake Mallory.
Liquid quickly noticed his com wrist was bleeping. He opened it and looked at who was calling. It was Tanya, the second science team member working under Lem. Looking at her, she still had her long hair stuck up and pink sunglasses on.
" Hey Mallory," Tanya said over the com. " I need you to come and look at this new thing I've got in the robotic lab."
" I'll be right there," said the fake Mallory smiling. He turned off the com and headed off towards the robotic lab.
* * * * *
KA-BOOM!
" What the hell was that?" shouted Nosedive running out of the lounge with Speedy.
" Sounded like an explosion," said Speedy. He looked around and noticed smoke coming from the lab. " Clem's done something wrong."
Clem opened the door and stepped out with a conical flask in his hand containing a blue liquid. Nosedive and Speedy just stared at Clem; Clem's brown lab coat was covered with snow and Clem's face had soot on it with his green hair standing up on end. Clem with his free hand took off his science glasses. His eyes were the only unaffected part of the explosion.
" I've discovered the true meaning of winter!" shouted Clem. He raised the conical flask up.
" And what it the meaning?" asked Speedy still shocked at what Clem was looking like.
" It's very cold."
Lem and Tanya quickly ran in after Clem spoke from the door opposite where Nosedive and Speedy just came out. They stopped and stood there staring at Clem. They both then looked at the snowy black Lemming.
" What happened?" asked Lem.
" Well, I discovered, when you add an icecube to a cloud that consisted of air molecules, I got snow! And thus discovered the true meaning of winter!"
" You're joking," said Tanya. Clem shook his head. " Well, in fact Clem, there was no meaning to Winter, just the fact that it is a season, nothing more, nothing less. You've just made snow."
" WHO'S GOT THE PH.D IN MATHS, MEDICINE, SCIENCE, AND IN ACTING?" asked Clem.
" You," said Speedy.
" The boy's smart as his old man!" said Clem happily. He put on his goggles. " Now, if you excuse me, I'm off to find the true meaning of….SUMMER!"
Clem turned around and walked back into the foggy lab. The fake Mallory walked in with the parcel. He noticed where he was and saw the other four looking at him. Cool and calmly, he put the package down on the table in front of them.
" What you got there Mallory?" asked Nosedive. " Is it comic books? Please tell me they're comic books!"
" No they're not," said the fake Mallory. " It's a package for…." He looked at the label. " ….Clem."
Clem opened the door from the lab and walked back out when he heard the word 'Clem.' Clem looked at the parcel on the table.
" At last, it's here!" said Clem picking up the parcel. " I've sent off millions of coupons for it!"
" And what exactly is it?" asked Lem.
" Why don't you come and have a look in my office," said Clem hurrying off with his parcel. Lem turned to Tanya.
" I better see what's made him so happy," said Lem walking off after him.
" We better get back to watching those sports," said Nosedive. He and Speedy turned back and headed back into the lounge. It left the fake Mallory with Tanya.
" You wanted to show me something?" asked the fake Mallory.
" Oh yeah," said Tanya. " It's in the robotics lab, we can walk down there right now."
" Good."
Tanya walked off with the fake Mallory back down the way she came. They walked for a minute or two down a corridor and then turned off left. After walking down another corridor they came to door and Tanya took out her access card and swiped it in the card scanner. The door opened.
" So, what have you been up to this morning?" asked Tanya walking into the room.
" Oh nothing, apart from signing for Clem's parcel, I also did some martial art practice in the training room," said the fake Mallory walking in.
" The usual routine eh?"
" No…." said the fake Mallory. " It's just…in case someone or something attacked the base on such sort notice."
" How can that be possibly be done, we have the best security team in the country," said Tanya sitting down by her computer. " Have a look around while I set this thing up ok?"
" Sure," said the fake Mallory looking around.
Liquid looked around Tanya's robotics lab, it was filled of technology that was built or in progress. He looked down one side of the room to it filled with new weapons. He picked the first one he saw up. It was a small handgun with a label attached to it.
" Shock stun dart gun?" asked the fake Mallory to himself. He put the gun back down and walked over to the other side of the room.
On the other side of the room, there were blueprints for new vans, trucks, motorbikes and rooms. Liquid quickly looked over each of them. After a while looking, he noticed the one for the computer room. He picked it up and looked at it carefully. It said on the sheet. 'Security upgrade required.'
" Why are we upgrading the computer room?" asked the fake Mallory.
" No reason, we just need some prevention against hackers, even though it needs at least three access cards to get in. Each user has a password. " said Tanya typing away at her keyboard.
" I see." the fake Mallory put the blueprint down remembering he had only got one of the key cards.
Tanya continued typing on the computer when it suddenly crashed. Tanya hit the computer angrily.
" Damn these new Windows 2020 computers," said Tanya. " They always crash when you do something right."
" Let me see," said the fake Mallory looking at the computer. " The problem here is that it has a little Ram space and you've opened far too many programmes for it to manage. Reset the machine and it should be alright."
" Mallory…." said Tanya confused. "…You're computer illiterate! How did you know that?"
The fake Mallory paused for a second and realised it was giving itself away. He quickly tried to think of a reason before Tanya got a little suspicious.
" Decoy helped me out when my computer suffered the same problem," said the fake Mallory.
" You don't have a computer," said Tanya getting more suspicious. " Are you ok?"
" Yeah…sure…I'm fine," said the fake Mallory. " I've just forgetting stuff today."
" Right," said Tanya raising an eyebrow and turning back to the computer thinking.
* * * * *
Lem knocked on the door of Clem's office. Clem opened the door after a few seconds wait. He had cleaned himself up after the lab explosion.
" Hi Lem," said Clem. " Come in, Come in."
" Thanks Jeremy," said Lem walking into the room. " What's so special about you parcel that you couldn't tell us."
" Oh that," said Clem. He walked over to his desk where the parcel was opened. " Come and see."
Clem's office was filled to the brim with papers, small machines and workbench that he worked on his latest projects. On the wall were his plaques of achievements in science and stuff. It hard to imagine that a lemming with the I.Q of 202 has a silly mind as well as smart mind.
Clem took out the object from his box. It was a set of three plastic monkeys smoking. Clem clapped his hands together as they smoked. Lem worried by the fact of the contents looked at Clem.
" What are these?" asked Lem.
" It's a set of puffy huffy monkeys," said Clem. " I saved up for three months to order a set of these. As I now think for new ideas, these monkeys will enlighten my by smoking their brains out!"
" They're plastic, they have no brains," said Lem. " Have you check your I.Q lately."
" I'm smart ok? Ask me a question," said Clem.
" What's the square root of 725904?" asked Lem.
" 852," said Clem. He handed a calculator to Lem. Lem did the sum and then looked at the answer.
" Your right," said Lem.
" As I always will be," said Clem. " Did you come for anything else?"
" No."
" Good now…." Clem suddenly heard a beeping noise. " That's the tracking signal of someone."
" Where is it coming from?" asked Lem.
" Gimmie me a minute," said Clem looking around the office. " Where the hell is the tracker?"
" I've got it," said Lem picking it up from a stack of paper. Clem swiped it off him.
" It's here," said Clem. " The signal is coming from……the storage room?"
" Let's get there and check it out." said Lem running out of the office. Clem quickly hurried after him.
* * * * *
The fake Mallory quickly look at his watch. Time wasn't on his side at the minute and he had to get to the computer room as soon as possible. He looked at Tanya who was still playing around the computer. Liquid knew she told him about her access card. So he decided to get some extra memory off Tanya.
The fake Mallory turned silver and then took the shape and changed back into Liquid. Back as normal Liquid turned his left hand silver. And started to crept up on Tanya. But before he put his hand on her , Tanya looked behind her and saw the fake Mallory again.
" What are you doing?" asked Tanya.
" Nothing," said the fake Mallory. Tanya turned back to the computer and the fake Mallory turned back to Liquid. He started to move his hand towards Tanya.
* * * * *
Meanwhile Lem and Clem quickly hurried to the storage room. When they got there, they noticed the door was locked. Clem and Lem looked at each and knocked on the door together.
" Anyone in there?" asked Lem.
" Lem!!!" said a voice from behind the door. " Get me out of here!"
" It's Mallory," said Clem.
" That's ridiculous!" Lem said. Mallory is back with Tanya.
" OPEN THE DOOR!" screamed Mallory. Lem pushed Clem back and took out his gun.
" Stand back!" said Lem. He fired and door opened. Mallory fell out and landed on the floor. Clem and Lem quickly got her up.
" What happened?" asked Lem.
" This delivery guy, he attack me and knocked me out," said Mallory getting back up on her feet. He took my jacket and left me to hang on the peg. For some strange reason I don't remember anything apart from getting attacked and then being put in the storage room. I must of passed out when he put his hand on my forehand."
" What did the guy look like?"
" He's around 20-25 years old, he had blond hair and he turned his hand silver. He also took my com off."
" If he has your com, then we should be able to find him. Clem!" said Lem. " Find him!"
" On it," said Clem playing with the tracking machine. " He's…..at……Tanya's lab!"
" Come on!" said Lem taking Mallory's hand and running off with her. Clem followed behind them.
* * * * *
Liquid was about to place his hand on Tanya. But Tanya looked up at her screen and saw the reflection of Liquid coming up behind her. Tanya turned around and Liquid immediately placed his hand on her forehead.
" Relax, you've worked to hard! " said Liquid with his hand on her forehead
Tanya groaned and suddenly collapsed out of her chair and on to the floor face first.
Liquid quickly turned her around and searched her pockets. He found her access card in her chest pocket. He took it out and kept a hold on it. Quickly before anyone else came he put picked Tanya up. With Tanya in his arms, he looked around to find out where he could place her. He could only see some rope. Liquid nodded and set to work on hiding his latest victim.
Once he had finished his work, he walked out of the robotics lab. He walked off in the direction he came from and while walking. He turned silver and then took the shape of Tanya. Within a few seconds. He was Tanya. Like her to the nearest detail. The faked Tanya smiled and walked off to find another keycard.
Within a few minutes of him leaving the area, Lem, Clem and Mallory quickly ran to the entrance of the lab. Lem took out his access card and swiped it. The doors opened and the three saw Tanya hanging by her legs off the ceiling light swinging from left to right.
" It's swing Moe!" shouted Clem.
" Cut her down!" said Mallory. Lem fired his gun and the rope blew apart sending Tanya crashing to the ground. " But not that way."
" Well what way do you suggest?" asked Clem while Lem was untying Tanya. " Stop her and then cut her down?"
" Why are you on the team when you think like a crazed version of Jim Carrey?" asked Mallory. Clem raised both his eyebrows to that remark.
" How's Tanya?" asked Clem turning to Lem.
" YOU'RE THE DOCTOR! FIGURE IT OUT!" said Lem. Clem quickly check the lifeless duck.
" She's alive," said Clem.
" How?" asked Mallory.
" There's still a pulse. It's probably what happened to you before he got to Tanya. How long did it take you to recover Mal?"
" I fully woke up after five or ten minutes," said Mallory. Then I kicked my heels together to activate the tracking bug you put in."
" By any chance did you say there's no place like home?"
" Not now!" said Lem. " Clem, Mal, take her down to the medical bay and keep an eye on her. I'm alerting everyone in the bas to be on the look out for…."
" A delivery guy who can change his left hand silver," said Mallory. Lem nodded and pressed his com button.
" Everyone, listen up, we have an intruder in the building! Be on the look out for a delivery guy with a left silver hand. We've just found Tanya knocked out in the robotic lab, if anyone sees him, grab him."
" Be careful too," said Mallory into Lem's com. " He's strong and he kicked the living hell out of me!"
" Everyone get that?" asked Lem into his com.
" Oh yeah," said Nosedive on his com. " Looking out for a dude who has a left silver hand and who is really strong and kicked the hell out of Mallory because she's weak!"
" HEY!" shouted Mallory.
" Enough prating around Nosedive. Find the son of a bitch!" said Lem. He turned off his com. " Come on! Let's move the poor girl!" He added to Clem and Mallory.
* * * * *
The fake Tanya who had just listen to what Lem said knew that they knew he was there. He quickly hurried along the corridor to find another keycard as quickly as he can. After turning a few corners he walked past Duke, who was clearly trying to find the intruder. He tried to get past Duke before he noticed. When the fake Tanya walked past Duke. The grey hair duck stopped and noticed him walking off.
" Hey Tanya," said Duke walking after the fake Tanya. " I've just been told you got knocked out!"
" Mistake," said the fake Tanya. " I was only tied up and I'm trying to see if there's any damage to the computer room."
" Lem just reported it a few seconds ago!"
" Well he's wrong," said the fake Tanya. Duke noticed there was something wrong.
" Hey, hey, hey sweetheart, I didn't want to upset you. Is there anything I can do?" asked Duke . The fake Tanya stopped in his tracks.
" There might be something you can help me with," said the fake Tanya.
" And what might that be?" asked Duke.
The fake Tanya smiled and morphed back to Liquid and spun around. Duke gasped and drew his laser sword. Liquid punched it out of his hands. Duke quickly punched Liquid in the face with no affect. The only effect it did was give Duke and sore hand. Duke jumped back holding onto his hand.
Liquid quickly jump kicked him sending Duke into the wall. Liquid then suddenly threw his right hand and pinned him against the wall. Duke couldn't move and Liquid smiled.
" WHERE'S YOUR KEYCARD?" asked Liquid putting pressure on his hand making it harder for Duke to breathe.
" Why should I tell you?" asked Duke struggling. Liquid quickly grabbed onto his arms and threw him into the other wall. Duke fell back on to the floor.
" Even though you're a former thief," said Liquid standing over him. " You're just a weak coward like the two female ducks I've encountered!"
" I wouldn't bet on that!" shouted Duke whipping out a laser gun. " Eat this!"
Duke fired his laser gun and Liquid flew back against the wall. Liquid dropped to the floor with a hole in his chest where the laser fired. Duke slowly got back up and crawled over to face first body of Liquid. The male mallard turned Liquid over and saw the hole in his chest. The hole was around small and looked like it killed him. But there was no blood coming out of the guy. Duke turned on his com.
" Hey guys," said Duke. " I've just nailed to guy you're looking for and…."
Before Duke could finish, he saw the hole in Liquid filling up in Liquid's body. Duke was speechless. How could a guy survive a point blank shot? Liquid suddenly opened his eyes and grabbed Duke's throat. Liquid sat up while Duke was struggling once more for air.
" DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN!" shouted Liquid and he placed his left hand on Duke. He let go and duke fell onto the floor lifeless. " I'm pure liquid and shooting me won't work!"
Liquid quickly checked over his body to see if he had an access card on him. to his surprise, there was nothing on Duke except his laser sword and laser gun. Liquid got back to his feet and morphed back into Tanya. The fake Tanya was not happy and it continued walking on the path it was going leaving the knocked out Duke on the floor.
* * * * *
" Duke?" asked Decoy on his com. " Duke? Are you still here?" There was no answer. " I don't think that went well."
" You think the intruder attacked him?" asked Alicia.
" I don't know," said Decoy. " We should find him. Lem said for us to check the base over."
" You go, I need to update this computer."
" I'm not leaving you here while there's a manic on the loose," said Decoy.
" I'm a mature adult Richard," said Alicia. " Trust me, if the guy gets in here, I'll deal with him."
" Alright," said Decoy turning on his power fist. " Lock the doors!"
" Gotcha."
Decoy opened the computer room door and walked off in search for Duke. He walked down a few corridors until he walked past Tails who was also on the search for the intruder. Tails had his gun in his hand ready. Decoy stopped him.
" Any sign of the guy Lem's talking about?" asked Decoy.
" No sign," said Tails. " Did you hear Duke on your com?"
" Yeah, but his signal cracked up on me," said Tails. " I was on my way to check on you and Alicia."
" We're fine, no trouble. But I think we should stick together and find Duke or Lem."
" Shall we go back the way you came?" asked Tails. " I've been past the briefing room, the file room, the kitchen and found nothing."
" Very well, it leads to some of the quarters," said Decoy. " Let's get a move on."
Tails nodded and they both headed back the way Decoy came. they walked past the computer room and walked into the quarter's section.
* * * * *
Meanwhile, at the medical bay, Clem was scanning Tanya to see if there was any other damage to her. Lem and Mallory, however, were more concerned on what's happened to Duke. The two were looking at Lem's com.
" Duke!" shouted Lem. He shook his head and looked at Mallory blankly. " He's not responding."
" I don't like this," said Mallory with a grim look on her face. " I say let's find this guy and shoot him into the middle of next."
" That might be the only plan we have," said Lem. He turned to Clem. " How long till you think Tanya's gonna wake up."
" Around five minutes to an hour," said Clem. " I'll stay here and keep an eye on her."
" What happens if the guy comes here?"
" Oh, I'll handle that." Clem said taking out a remote and pressing a button. The robotic soldier Machine, Clem's best creation and personal bodyguard stomped his way into the bay. " Machine will deal with the guy."
" Hiya Mac," said Lem. " Be good and keep an eye on Clem and Tanya for me."
" You've got it," said Machine bringing out his machine guns from his hands.
" Hey guys," said Nosedive walking quickly into the bay. He saw Machine. " It's the big guy!"
" Hey my main man," said the robot. Clem turned to Nosedive.
" Have you been playing with Machine's personality files again?"
" No," said Nosedive. He turned to Lem and Mallory. " I thought I might lend a hand with you guys in trying to find this crazy daddy."
" You got any weapons on you?" asked Lem. Dive brought out his puck shotgun. " Ah."
" You have one of those babies for me?" asked Mallory. Nosedive smiled and took out a second one and passed it to Mallory. He also passed her a box of shells. " Cheers Dive."
" No problemo Army Chick," said Nosedive.
" Where's Speedy?" asked Lem. " Wasn't he with you?"
" He's hurried off to the computer room worrying about his sis," said Nosedive. Lem nodded.
" Come on, let's go delivery hunting. I've been meaning to find out where my latest tv guide is!" said Lem walking out of the room being followed by Nosedive and Mallory. Leaving Clem and Machine.
" You need oil?" asked Clem. Machine shook his head. " Ok you big man."
* * * * *
Tails and Decoy had walked past everyone's quarters and had no luck in finding Duke or the intruder. They had been walking around in circles for hours and nothing was showing up. Tails and Decoy decided to head off to the holographic theatre to see if they find anyone else. They walked to the theatre and looked inside. There was no one in there.
" No sign of anyone here," said Decoy.
" Shall we head on?" asked Tails.
" Might as well," said Decoy. He turned to see the fake Tanya coming towards them. " Hey Tanya, didn't Lem say you were knocked out."
" Yeah," said the fake Tanya. " I've got the all clear and I'm trying to see if I can find the guy who jumped me."
" Stay with us," said Tails. " We might have more luck if we stick together."
" Agreed," said Decoy and the fake Tanya together. They all continued walking back the way the fake Tanya went.
* * * * *
Lem, Nosedive, and Mallory continued their search around the base by heading back and past the robotic lab where they found Tanya. They continued along the corridors of the base until they came to one corridor and found Duke staggering down the corridor.
" Duke!" said Lem. He saw him staggering around. " You ok?"
" Yeah," said Duke. " I ran into that guy you were talking about."
" What happened?" asked Lem hurrying towards duke and helping him walk.
" He attacked me and asked me for my key card. The thing is I didn't have it on me."
" I heard on the com that you 'got' him?"
" Yeah, the strangest thing is that I shot him, and he fell down and after a few seconds, he came back to life and knocked me right out." said Duke. " There was also one other thing."
" What is that?" asked Mallory.
" Well the guy was, believe it or not….."
" Hey guys!" said Tails from the other end of the corridor walking towards them with Decoy and the fake Tanya. Duke turned to see them and opened his mouth.
" IT'S HIM!" shouted Duke.
" Where?" asked Mallory. " I don't see the guy."
" HE'S IMPERSONATING TANYA!" shouted Duke. " He changed right before my eyes."
" You been watching too much Terminator 2?" asked Nosedive.
" What's wrong?" asked Decoy stopping in his tracks. " Tanya said she was allow to leave the medical bay."
" No she wasn't," said Lem. " She's still there!"
" So if she's there….then….who's…."
Tails and Decoy turned to the fake Tanya who looked back at them blankly. The fake Tanya rolled his eyes upwards and suddenly morphed into Liquid. Tails and Decoy couldn't react to it and Liquid took the time allowed to slam them together. Decoy and Tails fell back on to the floor.
" I see my cover is blown," said Liquid walking past the two in pain on the floor. " I've got a mission to do and your not stopping me."
" Yes we will!" said Mallory fired her shotgun at him. Liquid's chest blew open with a silver hole on him. Mallory looked at her gun and then at Liquid still walking towards them. " He's still….walking?"
" KEEP SHOOTING!" shouted Nosedive who proceeded to fire his shotgun at Liquid. The second shot made Liquid's hole bigger.
He fired another shot and Liquid's leg fell off and smashed into pieces on the floor. Mallory continued as Nosedive reloaded by firing another shot at Liquid, this time, blowing his left arm off. Nosedive quickly shot another shot back in the chest causing Liquid to stumble backwards but not falling over. Mallory loaded another shell into her shotgun and aimed it at Liquid's head.
" PUT YOUR HAND ON THIS!" screamed Mallory as she fired at Liquid. Liquid's head exploded into tiny pieces of silver liquid and his body fell to the floor and also broke into tiny pieces of liquid pieces. Mallory blew the smoke out of her shotgun. " Got him."
" What the hell is he?" asked Duke walking over to the metal blob in the floor. " Must be some type of robot."
" Guys, I hate to ask, but you could help us!" said Decoy lying on his back on the floor.
" Sorry," said Duke. " Come on Dive, let's get them up!"
" Sure Duke," said Nosedive handing his shotgun to Lem. " Hold on to this for me."
" Ok," said Lem as Duke and Nosedive quickly ran over to Tails and Decoy, who were getting back on their feet. Lem turned to Mallory. " What does want with key cards?"
" I dunno, perhaps he's looking for something in our restricted areas?" asked Mallory loading some more pucks into her shotgun and cocking it. " I'm not expert in technical stuff you know, I'm only good in anything military."
" Never mind," said Lem crouching down to look at the silver blob. " I wonder if Clem knows what this guy is?" He took out a small bottle and managed to scoop some of the liquid into it.
As Lem did this, Nosedive and Duke made their way back with Tails and Decoy. They also stood and looked at the silver blob confused as Lem and Mallory were. Lem stood up when he got his sample.
" I guess we better get this cleaned up," said Decoy.
The guys walked off leaving the silver blob. Mallory let everyone past her and then started to follow. But she heard a sucking sound. Mallory aware of this turned around and saw the silver blob getting bigger, attracting all the other liquid blobs of pieces to it. Mallory turned to the others walking off.
" Is it me or shouldn't the silver blob be not be increasing in size?" she asked. Lem turned around and walked over to her.
" What?" asked Lem. Mallory pointed to the blob and Lem saw it growing and growing. " Shit!"
" What should we do?" asked Mallory.
" Standing back would be a good idea," said Lem pulling her back against the wall.
The now huge silver blob started taking a new shape. It started growing into the air and was nearly human size. It Then took the shape of Liquid's business suit and turned the blob into Liquid. Lem and Mallory looked at each other and Liquid did up his tie.
" Do you know how much that hurts?" asked Liquid.
" You're dead?" asked Lem.
" No, I'm made of metal?" asked Liquid. His right hand suddenly flew forward and punched Lem back against the wall. Mallory then got punched back as well. " You can kill me that easily."
" But we can slow you down," said Mallory bringing up her shotgun and pulling the trigger. Liquid's head blew into two parts. Mallory grabbed Lem's hand and they ran off back towards the others.
" NOSEDIVE! DUKE! DECOY! TAILS!" screamed Lem running with Mallory. The group turned around. " RUN!"
The group puzzled soon saw Liquid coming around the corner; with his head reforming and heading towards them. Following Lem's advice, the group ran as quick as they could away from Liquid.
Mallory and Lem were a short way behind. Mallory looked behind her shoulder and saw Liquid starting to run as well, but increasing speed as he ran. Mallory quickly turned around and fired her shotgun slowing Liquid down. But within a few seconds gained his speed again. Lem turned around and saw what was going on.
" Run and shoot at the same time!" shouted Mallory. Lem took out his gun and at the same time, they both fired causing Liquid to slow down even more.
But as much as they kept on firing, Liquid wasn't going to give up running. Lem checked his ammo supply and it was getting low. Lem's previous ammo clip finished and he removed it from his gun while running.
" I hate to say this Mallory," said Lem loading in his last clip. " I'm running out of ammo!"
" Me too," said Mallory firing another shot sending Liquid back but with no real effect.
While the two of them were being chased by Liquid. The other four were ahead and running like mad cows past the medical bay. Tanya was sitting up getting examined by Clem; he quickly read the health scanner to see if she was ok. When It gave Tanya the all clear, Clem put down his equipment when he noticed the four of them stopping at the door.
" What the hell are you guys doing?" asked Clem looking at Tails, Decoy, Nosedive, and Duke standing out of breath.
" Some type of liquid man is chasing us and trying to kill us!" screamed Nosedive. He saw something out of Clem's view. " We'll be back later! RUN!"
The four ran off past Clem who stood there looking blankly. Unsure what was going on, Clem suddenly heard some fast footsteps coming past the bay, Mallory quickly ran past the door. Clem blinked and saw Lem run by with the small tube in his hand.
" CLEM! Analyse this and find some way to stop this crazy thing! AND HELLLLPPPP USSSS!" shouted Lem running past. He threw the tube into the bay hitting Clem on the head and then landing in Tanya's hands. He then saw Liquid run past with several holes in him. Clem turned to Tanya who was sitting up on the bed.
" What was that all about?" asked Clem. He saw the tube in Tanya's hands. " You have your omitool on you?"
" Yeah," said Tanya still trying to wake up. " Why?"
" Read that in the machine and tell me what is that thing that should be dead if he had all those holes in him. Meanwhile, MAC!"
" Yes Professor?" asked the robot.
" Go help Lem!" said Clem. The robot nodded and ran out of the bay and in the direction Lem went.
" I'll just take some of this sample and get it read then," said Tanya putting some of the liquid into her reading tool on her wrist. It whirled and buzzed for a second and then stop. Tanya saw the reading on it.
" It's some sort of liquid metal," said Tanya. " Able to change into anything."
" Any ways in how to get rid of it?" asked Clem. Tanya shook her head. " So what can we do if we mix the liquid with another liquid?"
" I dunno, you're the professor in chemistry!" said Tanya.
" Oh yeah, so am I!" said Clem thinking. " If we add a different liquid to the guy, we should really do something to him….something…..sticky and messy."
" Is that a good solution?"
" Quite frankly I never think about that." said Clem. " Come on, let's go and see if we can help out!"
* * * * *
Meanwhile, after ten minutes of constant running, the gang had arrived where they originally started. But Liquid was still coming thick and fast. The new problem now arousing among the group was that they had no more ammo in their guns. Decoy, Tails, Nosedive and Duke arrived by the super computer room and waited for Lem and Mallory to come. While waiting they could still hear shooting.
Shortly, Lem and Mallory came bursting around the corner; Lem was running of breath while Mallory was unloading the last round of shells into Liquid. With her last shot of the shotgun, Liquid flew back against the wall and stumbled for a second. Covered with bullet holes, Liquid started reforming his body. Lem however just collapsed from the hard work of running. Mallory who was a few meters ahead, ran back.
" What are you doing?" asked Mallory standing over him.
" You go on, I'll die here thank you very much!" said Lem clearly tired from the running. " I'm too old for this shit."
" No your not, your 35, single, and a good leader," said Mallory.
" Just go, I'll lay here and get my breath bac…..WOAH!" shouted Lem as Mallory dragged Lem by his left arm over to the group. " Thanks."
" Don't mention it," she said helping him back up.
The group watched as Liquid's body reformed. Liquid crocked his neck when reformed and slowly stared walking towards them. Everyone started trying to see if they have any ammo left in their weapons. They started looking at each other when they didn't have any ammo. It was clear, no one could stop Liquid coming towards them.
" I think we're dead," said Nosedive. " AND I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!"
" I can agree on you with that," said Mallory. " And I never found a true boyfriend well expect that fling when I..…"
" CAN WE ALL STOP THINKING WHAT WE COULD HAVE DONE WITH OUR LIVES?" asked Lem panicking. Mallory slapped him. " Thanks."
Liquid changed his right hand to a sharp spike and was ready to go in for the kill. Everyone started holding on to everyone. However, everyone was at least grabbing on to Mallory for some strange reason.
" Well, it's been fun working with you guys," said Lem. Decoy quickly noticed he was next to the computer room door.
" Well, we're going to keep working," said Decoy. He banged on the door. " ALICIA, LET US IN!"
" Hang on, I'm opening the locks," said Alicia from inside. " It's going to take a few minutes."
" OPEN THE DOOR NOW OR WE ALL GONNA DIE!" screamed Decoy. Liquid stood in front of the group and he raised his spike.
" Who wants to go first?" asked Liquid. Everyone quickly grabbed onto Mallory tight. She looked at the five males holding on to her.
" Why are you holding on to me?" asked Mallory.
" Who cares," said Liquid bringing his spike down but suddenly blew apart in front of the group. Lem saw Machine with his rocket launcher smoking.
" Our saviour!" said Lem. Mallory was still uneasy about everyone holding on to her.
" Excuse, but why are five males holding on to me and why has Nosedive put his hand on my butt and squeezing it tight?"
The five looked at Mallory and quickly removed their hands from her whistling. They all went over to the robot. But they didn't see Liquid quickly reform behind them. While the group were patting Machine on the back for saving them, the door to the computer room opened and Speedy poke his head out. He noticed the big metal liquid shape in front of him. It changed to Duke and the fake Duke grabbed Speedy and threw him against the wall and jumped into the computer wall. The group turned around to see the door close again and then saw Speedy lying against the wall.
" Uh oh," said Decoy. " Alicia's in there! And he's locked the door from inside!"
" Well isn't this grand!" said Duke.
" That's why he wanted the keycards," said Lem. " He wiping our computer."
" Well DUH!" said Nosedive. " We all guessed that."
" Quiet pervert!" said Mallory.
" Stop shouting!" said Lem. " Mac! Open the door ."
" Affirmative!" said Machine hurrying over to the door and changing one his fingers for a laser and started cutting the door out.
* * * * *
" What's going on?" asked Alicia sitting at the console. The fake Duke noticed the door was being cut open by Machine.
" The base is being attack!" said the fake Duke. " Quickly finish what your doing!"
" What happened out there? I thought Decoy was out there?"
" Well," said the fake Duke coming up to her and sitting down next to her. " I am the attacker!"
" What?" asked Alicia. The fake Duke morphed into Liquid and Liquid immediately placed his left hand on her forehead rendering her asleep. He pushed Alicia out of the chair and sat down in her place. He started getting to work on erasing the computer's memory. Closing watching the door being cut out, he quickly set the delete command and the files started getting wiped out.
* * * * *
" Hurry up!" said Lem. " He's probably killed Alicia by now!"
" If he has, he's dead!" said Decoy getting angry. " COME ON YOU BUCKET OF BOLTS GET THAT DOOR OPENED!"
" I'm going as fast as I can," said Machine finishing off his job off. He stepped back and pushed the door down. " Anyone in the house?"
" I really need to change that personality file," said Nosedive to himself.
" I'm here," said Alicia popping her head out of the door. " I'm alright, this guy came into the room and I hit him with a chair and he's out cold."
" Really?" asked Lem carefully.
" I don't see anyone," said Machine scanning the room. " But there are two people in that room."
" One person don't you mean," said Alicia.
" Huh?" asked Mallory. Machine suddenly flew back against the wall with a hole in his chest.
" I'm liquid," said the fake Alicia with a metal hammer for a hand. The fake Alicia morphed into Liquid. " And now your only source of fire power is gone, I'm going to finish you off!"
Decoy suddenly ran forward and Liquid kicked him. Decoy flew back onto the floor dazed. After Decoy attack failed, Nosedive quickly stepped forward and hit him over the head with his fist. However, instead of hitting Liquid, it went through Liquid. Nosedive didn't notice until Liquid punched him in the chest sending him flying through the air.
" We're not putting a dent in him!" said Lem. Duke steeped forward and drew his sword.
" Fight me you coward!" said Duke. He swiped his sword down the middle of Liquid splitting him in two. The two halves just stood there and looked at each other. The walked into each other and Liquid was reformed.
" I knew that was going to happen," said Duke to himself before getting picked up and throw into the computer room and once again knocked out.
" What do we do now?" asked Tails standing behind Lem.
" PRAY!" shouted Liquid.
" What? Now? When we're not in church?" asked Lem. Liquid frowned and then kicked Lem. Lem went flying back and hit the end of the corridor. " Oh my god, I should get life insurance."
" LEM!" shouted Clem over his com. " Come in!"
" Yeah, what can I do for you?" asked Lem seeing Tails get knocked by being punched by Liquid.
" Get the bastard wet! He'll be slowed down for a very long time and that should give me enough time to get my weapon loaded up."
" Weapon?" asked Lem.
" JUST GET HIM WET!"
" Ok," said Lem putting his com away. Mallory dodged Liquid's punch by backflipping twice to get over where Lem is.
" What did Clem want?" asked Mallory helping Lem up again.
" We need to get him wet," said Lem.
" How?" asked Mallory. " We don't have water guns."
" But we do have fire alarms!" said Lem looking up to see small red boxes along the ceiling. " Just get some smoke near them and the rain season comes early."
" I've got a cigarette lighter," said Mallory taking a lighter out of her pocket and giving it to Lem. He paused and looked at her.
" You don't smoke."
" I know," said Lem. " But I might smoke a cigar after something special at night-time."
" MALLORY!" said Lem lighting the lighter. " This is no time to discuss relationships!"
Lem held the lighter up to the ceiling and waited for a while. Liquid was coming towards them slowly, with both his hands turning to axes. Suddenly, there was a bleeping noise and Liquid looked up at the red boxes on the ceiling. Fire extinguisher gas started spraying out followed by water.
" Cover your eyes," said Lem. Mallory nodded and ducked on the floor with Lem.
The gas settled down after a few minutes leaving just jets of water being sprayed out. Lem and Mallory sat up after the gas went. It looked like a tropical storm with everything wet. Lem brushed his green hair back to get rid of water in it.
" Where's Liquid?" asked Mallory sitting next to him with her cloths soaked. Lem wiped some water out of his eyes.
" I don't know," said Lem.
" HERE!" shouted a voice. Mallory and Lem looked down the corridor. Liquid was still there but he wasn't silver coloured anyone, he was see through water. " You really think washing the metal component out of my body was a real good plan?"
" He's aqua man!" said Lem.
" I'M GOING TO BEAT UP YOU UNTIL I CAN REMOVE YOUR SKULL!" screamed Liquid walking over to them.
" Hey! Shithead!" said a voice. Liquid turned around and saw Clem and Tanya standing there with guns.
" What you going to do, fire a bullet through water?" asked Liquid.
" You hurt my robot!" said Clem. " Big mistake."
" And what are you going to do?"
" Chill!" said Clem and Tanya together. They both fired their guns and two small pods flew out.
" Oh no." said Liquid.
The two pods went into Liquid. Liquid felt a bubbling inside him and looked at Clem and Tanya. The pods opened and a great light came out blinding Lem and Mallory behind. Liquid felt getting very cold. He screamed.
" NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
And within seconds, he turned to a block of ice. Clem smiled and walked through the puddles and up to the ice statue of Liquid with his arms in the air.
" Make a nice party statue," said Clem. He walked over to Mallory and Lem who were sitting there. " You're wet."
" No kidding," said Lem. He remembered something. " The computer!"
Lem jumped up and ran into the computer room and looked at the computer. It had nearly finished deleting the entire system. Lem quickly sat down and typed a few buttons to stop the command. All the files came back to the system and Lem smiled. He noticed Alicia on the floor. Lem picked her up and placed her in the chair and headed out of the room.
" Clem," said Lem. " Alicia's out cold, go and see I you can revive her."
" Understood," said Clem walking into the computer room. Lem walked back over to Mallory and Tanya who were looking at the ice statue of Liquid. Duke, Decoy and Tails were slowly recovering and getting back up. Speedy sat up in the water puddle and coughed.
" Now I have to wash my sneakers!" said Speedy.
" Alicia's waking up Decoy," said Clem turning to Decoy who was drying himself. " You can go and say hello.
" Cheers," said Decoy walking into the computer room.
Tanya turned to Lem who had taken off his black jacket and draining the water out of it.
" So what are we going to do with our water friend then?" asked Tanya.
" I'll give Ian a call, he's got a jail cell reserved for this creep," said Lem.
" But why did he come here to delete the computer's files?" asked Mallory.
" Simple guess, Dog! He must think if the computer system is deleted, his criminal record would be gone and he would be free to do anything and we wouldn't know anything about him."
" Dog ain't gonna be happy with this," said Mallory trying to get some water out of her red hair. Lem smiled and chuckled.
" He's gonna be so mad!" said Lem.
" Hey," said Nosedive lying on the ground wet next to Lem. " A little help?"
" Yeah," said Lem helping him up. " Be careful, the floor is slippery!"
" I know and my head hurts."
" Tell me," said Machine. Everyone looked at Machine sitting there with a hole in his chest. " Does it look bad?"
" No Mac," said Clem checking him over. " You're going to be fine."
" Honest?" asked Machine. Clem nodded.
" You're going to be alright buddy!" cried Clem. Machine and Clem burst out crying and gave each other a hug. Everyone shook their heads and started laughing.
" He might be smart, but he has the silliest thoughts," said Mallory giggling.
" Ahem to that!" said Lem trying to control his laughter.
* * * * *
Atomic Dog sat at his desk reading the day's paper. His stooges were still trying to put the Rubik's cube together with not a lot of luck. Dog quietly read the sports section of the paper when his office phone rung. Dog sat up and picked it up.
" Hello?" asked Dog. " Yeah, what about him. I see. Ah ha! Right, tell him if he can talk that the next time I see him. HE'S GOING TO BE EVAPORATED!" He slammed the phone dog.
" What's wrong?" asked Physics.
" Liquid buggered up big time and he's in jail!" said Dog. " CAN'T ANY OF YOU HIRED HELP DO ANYTHING RIGHT?"
" Hey look," said Magnet giving Dog the Rubik's cube. " I solve the puzzle."
Dog grumbled and picked up the Rubik's cube in his robotic hand and crushed it to pieces and threw it on the floor. He turned to the window in his office and looked out to see the futuristic world of New York.
" I HATE THAT LEMMING!" screamed Dog picking up his chair and throwing it out the window. " And when I get him…. I'M GOING TO MAKE HIM PAY!"
THE END
The team will return for The De Coy incident
November 2000
WELCOME TO THE FUTURE! The year is 2020, the new future beckons us with brand new technlogogy that allows Earth to talk
to other planets such as Mobius, Puckworld, and other planets. The world is a safer place. But there are some who think
otherwise. The deadly Nuclear Terriorst Atomic Dog is still at large. Wanted for the bombings of important buildings and
murders of innocent people. To combat his Nuclear ambition, a speical team was assembled by British Commander Captain Ian of the last
freedom fighters. This team was to stop all those who try to ruin the new future of New York.
This team is lead by Captain Lem Lemming, a member of the old group of freedom fighters. His crew, four ducks from Puckworld,
a professor of Science and Technology, the two offspring of Queen Sally Alicia Acorn Hedgehog, a human (with half his face missing but has a metal
plate), four of the lemmings closest friends, and a robot. They are our last, only, and most effective line of defence against
the new meance of the terriorst.
WELCOME TO THE NEW GENERATION : CAPTAIN IAIN [TNG:CI]
File Number 1 : Liquid
" Our attempts of crippling the new future is pathetic," said Atomic Dog looking out of his penthouse window. " I set up easy plans, and you fail time, and time, and time again!"
" It's that special ops team," said Magnet. " They're too good!"
" That's because they've had more training than YOU!" screamed Dog. " I loose my arm to them and everything goes down hill after 2019! We're in the first quarter of 2020 and I'm getting pissed! You three are on suspension and are ordered to go and do some training as of now."
" What????" shouted Physics, Magnet and Jewel together.
" I have a new plan which will be started as soon as my hired help comes," said Dog. " He's had more experience than you and should be able to take care of that team and their lemming leader for good."
" When is he getting here?" asked Physics.
" Anytime now," said Dog. " He's has the ability to blend into the environment and be unnoticed by those who are suspicious."
Dog turned away from his window and sat down in his chair and took out a Rubik's cube and started playing with it. Everything went quiet for a few minutes as he played with it. Shortly, a message was sent over the intercom.
" Sir, Mr L is here to see you about his new job," said a voice over the intercom.
" Send him in," said Atomic Dog throwing the Rubik's cube to Physics. " Solve that and I'll reconsider!"
The doors didn't open for his guest, Dog sat there patiently and whistled for a while. Dog pressed the intercom button.
" Are you sure that he's here?" asked Dog.
" I'm positive sir," said the voice. Dog released his finger and sat in his chair.
" If you're here , show yourself," said Dog out loud.
While Physics was playing with the Rubik's cube something started forming out of the floor, something silvery was coming up. It was taking the shape of a man, Dog watched as it rose from the ground and to its feet. It looked like a crash dummy at first but the silver man then walked over to Dog . He turned into a businessman with a suit on. He had a white face with blonde hair. Dog smiled.
" Physics, Magnet, Jewel, let me introduce you to Liquid!" said Dog.
" He's some type of liquid metal thing a bob from Terminator 2!" screamed Physics.
" No you numskull." Dog said rolling his eyes up. " Mr Liquid here has been a good hit man for years, he had a surgical operation that makes him able to change shape into other people with incredible strength. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be this rich today."
" That's a good comment Atomic, but I can't be thanked, I do my job," said Liquid. " So what do you want me to do today?"
" I want you to wipe a computer database for me." Dog gave Liquid a picture. " I want it done as soon as possible."
" 1 million for the job," said Liquid.
" Agreed, if you anyone in this picture tries to stop you," said Dog giving him another picture. " Kill them and bring me their carcass."
" I get paid extra?"
" Oh yes," said Dog.
" I shall do the job you have requested and shall not disappoint you my friend," said Liquid.
" Then go and erase the universal defence computer," said Dog.
Liquid nodded and then melted back into the floor. Dog could see a small liquid lump heading towards the door and it went through its cracks. Dog smiled and turned back to the window. This time he could sense that everything was going to go his way.
* * * * *
" So, it's our day off and what are you going to do Clem?" asked Speedy playing with his laptop.
" I think I'll go discover the true meaning of winter," said the lemming professor putting his lab coat on. " I think it might be successful today."
" Didn't the Simpsons learn it first?"
" They did but they didn't explain it!" said Clem putting his glasses on.
" Well I don't know about you guys but I think I'm going to groove out at a night-club and see and meet some chicks," said Nosedive putting on his casual white jacket with the mighty ducks symbol on it.
" Is that all you think about? Getting the girl?" asked Speedy.
" It's the once a month opportunity for me, I get to dance and drink the night away."
" It's three o'clock in the afternoon," said Clem looking at his watch.
" Oh," said Nosedive. " Well until then I have a better idea, I'm going to go and watch some extreme sports on the digital TV box set!"
" You do that, I'll be with you in a moment," said Speedy. He closed his laptop and followed Nosedive to the entertainment room. Clem opened the lab door.
" You gonna sit there all day Mallory? Or do you want to help me find the true meaning of winter?" asked Clem looking at Mallory sitting in the corner in her casual clothes.
" No thanks, I can do without the technical mobo jumbo," said Mallory. " I might go and do bit of training in the gym."
" Good for you," said Clem. " It's best to work on the action figure." He walked into the lab and closed the door behind him. Mallory shook her head.
" Don't understand that guy," she said to herself. " I might as well go and do some training."
Mallory got up from her chair and walked out and headed off to the training room.
It was the once a month free day that was issued by the universal nations working rule. It was passed in 2015 and it states for every company. 'Each employee must be allowed one free day from his or her work place. If not, the manager's fired!'
Captain Lem was on his day off as well and was spending time in the computer room with Decoy, Princess Alicia Acorn Hedgehog and Tails. It was the usual system check up that was carried out once a week. Since Lem was going to go see a film, he thought he might as well do the job first.
The computer was very big and had a system of every resource on the planet, every piece of event history, every blueprint of every place and the whole database of wanted or arrested criminals.
Decoy was at the main console typing in some information to the reports. His wife Alicia, who was also the daughter of Queen Sally Alicia Acorn Hedgehog was sitting next to him reading over the user manual. Tails was reading a newspaper since it he was waiting for Decoy to finish so they could have a game of cards. Lem came in with his usual cup of coffee.
" There ain't anything finer than a double malt whipped cream coffee," said Lem quickly taking a sip from his mug. " And it tastes better when piping hot!"
" Couldn't you get me one?" asked Decoy turning around on his chair.
" No, it was a one cup , two hand situation," said Lem. " What are we adding to the computer today?"
" We installing virus systems and the new backup drive tape deck," said Alicia.
" I love it when this girl speaks technology, so like her mother," said Lem. " How's our data being stored?"
" We putting them on cds," said Decoy showing Lem a black cd. " These contain up to 1000 minutes of audio data, and 50000 megabytes of information."
" Aren't those Clem's new supplies?"
" We nicked them!" said Alicia.
" Good, good," said Lem. He finished his cup of coffee and gave it to Tails. " Make yourself useful and get me a Danish pastry."
" I waiting for Decoy to finish," said Tails. " My wife has gone shopping with Julie-Su and Knuckles. And I'm bored and…..I'm so alone."
" You've been watching too much soap operas."
" Yes," said Tails. " I'll go and give to this to Duke who's in the cleaning the kitchen today."
Tails walked out leaving the three to carry on with their work. Lem looked at his watch and suddenly gasped.
" Damn, I got to go and help Tanya with an experiment." Lem said Walking out. " Don't forget to set the three passwords code and hand to Tanya later!"
" We won't!" said Decoy and Alicia together. Lem walked out and the two continued on with their work.
* * * * *
Outside the universal headquarter, the usual delivery van with the day's mail coming in for every one in the building. The big red van 'Universal Force- We promise to get the mail to you or never again!' parked itself around the back of the building where loading bays where for crates, parcels, and the occasional new vehicle to blow up.
The loading bays were opened up by one of the security members' team. The van reversed itself with its back to the bay door so it would be easy to unload the goods. Once the van stopped the driver stepped out. The driver who was a young adult walked over to the guard holding a clipboard.
" Morning Phil," said the driver. " It's the usual delivery of mail for the head guys here."
" Do you need me to sign anything?" asked the guard. The driver gave the guard the clipboard.
" Sign at the top, middle, and bottom please."
" Ok," said the guard signing the papers. He gave the clipboard to the driver. " I have to go and report the delivery to the main desk. Meanwhile, the rookie here would give you some help. Hey Johnny, get out here!"
" Coming chief," said other guard coming up behind him. It was Liquid in the security guard uniform. " What do you need me to do?"
" Help the guy unload the mailbags," said Phil. " I'll be back in half an hour. Just make sure everything is fine!"
" Sure," said Liquid. Phil walked off and left the two of them. The driver opened the back of the truck and threw a mailbag to Liquid.
" You know where to put that?" asked the driver. Liquid looked at the mailbag. He nodded . The driver went back into the van. Liquid's innocent face turned meanly and he dropped the bag. He walked over and jumped into the back of the van where the driver was moving some boxes.
" I've put the mailbag where it should go," said Liquid. " What do you want me to do now?"
" Can you help me move these boxes?" asked the driver. Liquid smiled and then suddenly punched the deliveryman out cold. Liquid took the clipboard and the cap off the man.
" Your late for the 12 o'clock delivery!" said Liquid putting on the cap.
Liquid quickly changed into the delivery guy's clothes. Liquid jumped out of the van and picked up a box with him address to: Professor J. Clem. Liquid had a look around and noticed a big metal door to the end of the loading bay. He hurried over there so the other guard wouldn't see him when he came back. He came up to the door close, he put down the parcel to his feet and then put both of his hands on the door and moved them around the door. He was searching for something, he would only find it when he hit a soft spot on the door. Liquid finished going o ver the doors with his hands with no success.
Liquid then turned his attention to the keypad next to it; he put his hand on it and felt it for a quick second. He then pressed four keys in succession and the door opened. Liquid smiled and picked up his package and walked through the door. The door closed behind him as he walked down the corridor ahead. When he got to the end; there were two signs. One saying emergency exit from the direction behind him and the other saying training room, technolab and storage to his left.
" When in doubt, find a expendable person," said Liquid going off to his left and towards the training room.
Liquids walked down the corridor; as he walked further, he heard some music and the more he walked, the louder it got. Suddenly then stopped as he came to a junction with a door to his left and a short corridor down to his right with a open door at the end. He quickly looked to his left to see the word's storage cupboard. He opened the door, the sound of the door opening was deafened by the music coming from the room opposite him. Liquid looked inside the storage cupboard only to see stacks of papers, boxes of pens, two pegs and cleaning equipment.
" It's the future and this team like to use Mr Muscle?" asked Liquid. He put the box down in the cupboard and turned his attention to the room opposite with the loud music playing.
Liquid slowly walked towards the door and peered in. It was a mix between Gym, and judo ring with a punching bag in the middle. That's when Liquid saw Mallory kicking the bag fiercely with her left leg. Liquid quietly watched the female duck lay numerous kicks and punches to the bag. He then noticed the bench to the side of her. On the bench was her purple jacket; Liquid turned back to Mallory who had wore herself out after doing high kicks on the bag.
" Bingo!" said Liquid to himself walked back to the storage cupboard and opening the door. He picked up the parcel and walked towards the training room. He walked in as Mallory was sitting on the bench drinking a can of soft drink. It was a few seconds after Liquid had stopped to look at her when she finally noticed the fake deliveryman. She pressed a button on a panel to turn the music down.
" What are you doing here?" asked Mallory. " Don't you know that all deliveries are made in the loading bay?"
" Sorry miss, but this package was sent up by special delivery and has to be signed by someone," said Liquid.
" Who's the parcel's addressed to?" asked Mallory picking herself up from the bench and standing to look at the parcel.
" It's address to a Professor J. Clem," said Liquid reading the label.
" I know the guy, in fact, his quarters are next to mine," said Mallory. " I'll sign it."
" Thanks," said Liquid. He put the parcel on the bench. He took out the clipboard and gave it to Mallory to sign. She paused a looked at the clipboard.
" This parcel's signed for already, you can….."
Without any warning Liquid punched her in the stomach and she flew back on to the floor winded. Liquid took off the cap and the jacket and threw them on the bench. Mallory, who got seriously winded from the punch slowly sat up.
" What the hell are you doing?" asked Mallory trying to get her breath back. She got back up as Liquid turned the music up.
Mallory quickly kicked Liquid in the back. Liquid stumbled forward a little and then spun around. Before he attacked again; Mallory threw a punch to his face but Liquid grabbed her hand before it hit him. She try to move her hand free with no luck. She looked confused at Liquid who was smiling back at her. Liquid immediately kicked her in upper chest and she fell back again. This time she was so winded from that attack, she couldn't get back up quickly and Liquid pushed her back on to the ground.
Liquid quickly put his arm on her chest to hold Mallory down. Mallory tired struggling out of the grip and failed. Liquid was somehow very strong. Mallory could only watch Liquid raise his left hand up in the air. The hand transformed into a silver colour. Mallory looked at the man a little scared.
" Who are you?" she asked. Liquid smiled.
" Your worst nightmare!" said Liquid and he put his hand on her forehead. Within seconds Mallory lost conciseness. Liquid kept his hand on her forehead for a few more seconds and then removed it. His hand turned back normal.
He got up from the seamlessly lifeless woman and headed over to her jacket. He quickly searched it over and found a card. He looked at it, it had Mallory's face on it and was entitled. 'Access Card'
" We are a tough girl aren't we?" asked Liquid. He looked at Mallory and her clothes for a few seconds noting every detail. " That's a nice purple top and tracksuit trousers you got on, I think that won't be a problem."
Liquid picked up Mallory and carried her to the storage room. He opened the door and then hanged the female on the peg. He noticed she was coming to start waking up. Liquid saw her com watch on her right wrist. Liquid removed it.
" You won't be needing that," said Liquid. " Even though you're waking up quicker than I thought, you're not going to alert your friends in time."
Liquid closed the door and put a lock on it. He then stood there and he turned to his silver shape. He walked back towards the training room and to the bench. As he was travelling, his body started taking shape of Mallory and by the time he got to the bench. He was Mallory! He picked up her jacket and put it on.
He noticed a window on the wall next to him. He walked over to the window and looked at himself. He looked like Mallory. It was even hard to notice the difference between him and the real Mallory. He turned around looked over his shoulder to see if his transformation was complete. He smiled and then turned back around and put his hands on his hips.
" I always like to get on my feminine side," said Liquid in Mallory's own voice. " Anyway, I better get on with my job."
Liquid, now as Mallory, picked up the parcel and walked out of the training room and off to find someone else. As he walked past the storage room, he could hear little whimpers of Mallory coming out.
" You whimper as much as you like Girlfriend but you still won't get anyone's attention!" said the fake Mallory.
Liquid quickly noticed his com wrist was bleeping. He opened it and looked at who was calling. It was Tanya, the second science team member working under Lem. Looking at her, she still had her long hair stuck up and pink sunglasses on.
" Hey Mallory," Tanya said over the com. " I need you to come and look at this new thing I've got in the robotic lab."
" I'll be right there," said the fake Mallory smiling. He turned off the com and headed off towards the robotic lab.
* * * * *
KA-BOOM!
" What the hell was that?" shouted Nosedive running out of the lounge with Speedy.
" Sounded like an explosion," said Speedy. He looked around and noticed smoke coming from the lab. " Clem's done something wrong."
Clem opened the door and stepped out with a conical flask in his hand containing a blue liquid. Nosedive and Speedy just stared at Clem; Clem's brown lab coat was covered with snow and Clem's face had soot on it with his green hair standing up on end. Clem with his free hand took off his science glasses. His eyes were the only unaffected part of the explosion.
" I've discovered the true meaning of winter!" shouted Clem. He raised the conical flask up.
" And what it the meaning?" asked Speedy still shocked at what Clem was looking like.
" It's very cold."
Lem and Tanya quickly ran in after Clem spoke from the door opposite where Nosedive and Speedy just came out. They stopped and stood there staring at Clem. They both then looked at the snowy black Lemming.
" What happened?" asked Lem.
" Well, I discovered, when you add an icecube to a cloud that consisted of air molecules, I got snow! And thus discovered the true meaning of winter!"
" You're joking," said Tanya. Clem shook his head. " Well, in fact Clem, there was no meaning to Winter, just the fact that it is a season, nothing more, nothing less. You've just made snow."
" WHO'S GOT THE PH.D IN MATHS, MEDICINE, SCIENCE, AND IN ACTING?" asked Clem.
" You," said Speedy.
" The boy's smart as his old man!" said Clem happily. He put on his goggles. " Now, if you excuse me, I'm off to find the true meaning of….SUMMER!"
Clem turned around and walked back into the foggy lab. The fake Mallory walked in with the parcel. He noticed where he was and saw the other four looking at him. Cool and calmly, he put the package down on the table in front of them.
" What you got there Mallory?" asked Nosedive. " Is it comic books? Please tell me they're comic books!"
" No they're not," said the fake Mallory. " It's a package for…." He looked at the label. " ….Clem."
Clem opened the door from the lab and walked back out when he heard the word 'Clem.' Clem looked at the parcel on the table.
" At last, it's here!" said Clem picking up the parcel. " I've sent off millions of coupons for it!"
" And what exactly is it?" asked Lem.
" Why don't you come and have a look in my office," said Clem hurrying off with his parcel. Lem turned to Tanya.
" I better see what's made him so happy," said Lem walking off after him.
" We better get back to watching those sports," said Nosedive. He and Speedy turned back and headed back into the lounge. It left the fake Mallory with Tanya.
" You wanted to show me something?" asked the fake Mallory.
" Oh yeah," said Tanya. " It's in the robotics lab, we can walk down there right now."
" Good."
Tanya walked off with the fake Mallory back down the way she came. They walked for a minute or two down a corridor and then turned off left. After walking down another corridor they came to door and Tanya took out her access card and swiped it in the card scanner. The door opened.
" So, what have you been up to this morning?" asked Tanya walking into the room.
" Oh nothing, apart from signing for Clem's parcel, I also did some martial art practice in the training room," said the fake Mallory walking in.
" The usual routine eh?"
" No…." said the fake Mallory. " It's just…in case someone or something attacked the base on such sort notice."
" How can that be possibly be done, we have the best security team in the country," said Tanya sitting down by her computer. " Have a look around while I set this thing up ok?"
" Sure," said the fake Mallory looking around.
Liquid looked around Tanya's robotics lab, it was filled of technology that was built or in progress. He looked down one side of the room to it filled with new weapons. He picked the first one he saw up. It was a small handgun with a label attached to it.
" Shock stun dart gun?" asked the fake Mallory to himself. He put the gun back down and walked over to the other side of the room.
On the other side of the room, there were blueprints for new vans, trucks, motorbikes and rooms. Liquid quickly looked over each of them. After a while looking, he noticed the one for the computer room. He picked it up and looked at it carefully. It said on the sheet. 'Security upgrade required.'
" Why are we upgrading the computer room?" asked the fake Mallory.
" No reason, we just need some prevention against hackers, even though it needs at least three access cards to get in. Each user has a password. " said Tanya typing away at her keyboard.
" I see." the fake Mallory put the blueprint down remembering he had only got one of the key cards.
Tanya continued typing on the computer when it suddenly crashed. Tanya hit the computer angrily.
" Damn these new Windows 2020 computers," said Tanya. " They always crash when you do something right."
" Let me see," said the fake Mallory looking at the computer. " The problem here is that it has a little Ram space and you've opened far too many programmes for it to manage. Reset the machine and it should be alright."
" Mallory…." said Tanya confused. "…You're computer illiterate! How did you know that?"
The fake Mallory paused for a second and realised it was giving itself away. He quickly tried to think of a reason before Tanya got a little suspicious.
" Decoy helped me out when my computer suffered the same problem," said the fake Mallory.
" You don't have a computer," said Tanya getting more suspicious. " Are you ok?"
" Yeah…sure…I'm fine," said the fake Mallory. " I've just forgetting stuff today."
" Right," said Tanya raising an eyebrow and turning back to the computer thinking.
* * * * *
Lem knocked on the door of Clem's office. Clem opened the door after a few seconds wait. He had cleaned himself up after the lab explosion.
" Hi Lem," said Clem. " Come in, Come in."
" Thanks Jeremy," said Lem walking into the room. " What's so special about you parcel that you couldn't tell us."
" Oh that," said Clem. He walked over to his desk where the parcel was opened. " Come and see."
Clem's office was filled to the brim with papers, small machines and workbench that he worked on his latest projects. On the wall were his plaques of achievements in science and stuff. It hard to imagine that a lemming with the I.Q of 202 has a silly mind as well as smart mind.
Clem took out the object from his box. It was a set of three plastic monkeys smoking. Clem clapped his hands together as they smoked. Lem worried by the fact of the contents looked at Clem.
" What are these?" asked Lem.
" It's a set of puffy huffy monkeys," said Clem. " I saved up for three months to order a set of these. As I now think for new ideas, these monkeys will enlighten my by smoking their brains out!"
" They're plastic, they have no brains," said Lem. " Have you check your I.Q lately."
" I'm smart ok? Ask me a question," said Clem.
" What's the square root of 725904?" asked Lem.
" 852," said Clem. He handed a calculator to Lem. Lem did the sum and then looked at the answer.
" Your right," said Lem.
" As I always will be," said Clem. " Did you come for anything else?"
" No."
" Good now…." Clem suddenly heard a beeping noise. " That's the tracking signal of someone."
" Where is it coming from?" asked Lem.
" Gimmie me a minute," said Clem looking around the office. " Where the hell is the tracker?"
" I've got it," said Lem picking it up from a stack of paper. Clem swiped it off him.
" It's here," said Clem. " The signal is coming from……the storage room?"
" Let's get there and check it out." said Lem running out of the office. Clem quickly hurried after him.
* * * * *
The fake Mallory quickly look at his watch. Time wasn't on his side at the minute and he had to get to the computer room as soon as possible. He looked at Tanya who was still playing around the computer. Liquid knew she told him about her access card. So he decided to get some extra memory off Tanya.
The fake Mallory turned silver and then took the shape and changed back into Liquid. Back as normal Liquid turned his left hand silver. And started to crept up on Tanya. But before he put his hand on her , Tanya looked behind her and saw the fake Mallory again.
" What are you doing?" asked Tanya.
" Nothing," said the fake Mallory. Tanya turned back to the computer and the fake Mallory turned back to Liquid. He started to move his hand towards Tanya.
* * * * *
Meanwhile Lem and Clem quickly hurried to the storage room. When they got there, they noticed the door was locked. Clem and Lem looked at each and knocked on the door together.
" Anyone in there?" asked Lem.
" Lem!!!" said a voice from behind the door. " Get me out of here!"
" It's Mallory," said Clem.
" That's ridiculous!" Lem said. Mallory is back with Tanya.
" OPEN THE DOOR!" screamed Mallory. Lem pushed Clem back and took out his gun.
" Stand back!" said Lem. He fired and door opened. Mallory fell out and landed on the floor. Clem and Lem quickly got her up.
" What happened?" asked Lem.
" This delivery guy, he attack me and knocked me out," said Mallory getting back up on her feet. He took my jacket and left me to hang on the peg. For some strange reason I don't remember anything apart from getting attacked and then being put in the storage room. I must of passed out when he put his hand on my forehand."
" What did the guy look like?"
" He's around 20-25 years old, he had blond hair and he turned his hand silver. He also took my com off."
" If he has your com, then we should be able to find him. Clem!" said Lem. " Find him!"
" On it," said Clem playing with the tracking machine. " He's…..at……Tanya's lab!"
" Come on!" said Lem taking Mallory's hand and running off with her. Clem followed behind them.
* * * * *
Liquid was about to place his hand on Tanya. But Tanya looked up at her screen and saw the reflection of Liquid coming up behind her. Tanya turned around and Liquid immediately placed his hand on her forehead.
" Relax, you've worked to hard! " said Liquid with his hand on her forehead
Tanya groaned and suddenly collapsed out of her chair and on to the floor face first.
Liquid quickly turned her around and searched her pockets. He found her access card in her chest pocket. He took it out and kept a hold on it. Quickly before anyone else came he put picked Tanya up. With Tanya in his arms, he looked around to find out where he could place her. He could only see some rope. Liquid nodded and set to work on hiding his latest victim.
Once he had finished his work, he walked out of the robotics lab. He walked off in the direction he came from and while walking. He turned silver and then took the shape of Tanya. Within a few seconds. He was Tanya. Like her to the nearest detail. The faked Tanya smiled and walked off to find another keycard.
Within a few minutes of him leaving the area, Lem, Clem and Mallory quickly ran to the entrance of the lab. Lem took out his access card and swiped it. The doors opened and the three saw Tanya hanging by her legs off the ceiling light swinging from left to right.
" It's swing Moe!" shouted Clem.
" Cut her down!" said Mallory. Lem fired his gun and the rope blew apart sending Tanya crashing to the ground. " But not that way."
" Well what way do you suggest?" asked Clem while Lem was untying Tanya. " Stop her and then cut her down?"
" Why are you on the team when you think like a crazed version of Jim Carrey?" asked Mallory. Clem raised both his eyebrows to that remark.
" How's Tanya?" asked Clem turning to Lem.
" YOU'RE THE DOCTOR! FIGURE IT OUT!" said Lem. Clem quickly check the lifeless duck.
" She's alive," said Clem.
" How?" asked Mallory.
" There's still a pulse. It's probably what happened to you before he got to Tanya. How long did it take you to recover Mal?"
" I fully woke up after five or ten minutes," said Mallory. Then I kicked my heels together to activate the tracking bug you put in."
" By any chance did you say there's no place like home?"
" Not now!" said Lem. " Clem, Mal, take her down to the medical bay and keep an eye on her. I'm alerting everyone in the bas to be on the look out for…."
" A delivery guy who can change his left hand silver," said Mallory. Lem nodded and pressed his com button.
" Everyone, listen up, we have an intruder in the building! Be on the look out for a delivery guy with a left silver hand. We've just found Tanya knocked out in the robotic lab, if anyone sees him, grab him."
" Be careful too," said Mallory into Lem's com. " He's strong and he kicked the living hell out of me!"
" Everyone get that?" asked Lem into his com.
" Oh yeah," said Nosedive on his com. " Looking out for a dude who has a left silver hand and who is really strong and kicked the hell out of Mallory because she's weak!"
" HEY!" shouted Mallory.
" Enough prating around Nosedive. Find the son of a bitch!" said Lem. He turned off his com. " Come on! Let's move the poor girl!" He added to Clem and Mallory.
* * * * *
The fake Tanya who had just listen to what Lem said knew that they knew he was there. He quickly hurried along the corridor to find another keycard as quickly as he can. After turning a few corners he walked past Duke, who was clearly trying to find the intruder. He tried to get past Duke before he noticed. When the fake Tanya walked past Duke. The grey hair duck stopped and noticed him walking off.
" Hey Tanya," said Duke walking after the fake Tanya. " I've just been told you got knocked out!"
" Mistake," said the fake Tanya. " I was only tied up and I'm trying to see if there's any damage to the computer room."
" Lem just reported it a few seconds ago!"
" Well he's wrong," said the fake Tanya. Duke noticed there was something wrong.
" Hey, hey, hey sweetheart, I didn't want to upset you. Is there anything I can do?" asked Duke . The fake Tanya stopped in his tracks.
" There might be something you can help me with," said the fake Tanya.
" And what might that be?" asked Duke.
The fake Tanya smiled and morphed back to Liquid and spun around. Duke gasped and drew his laser sword. Liquid punched it out of his hands. Duke quickly punched Liquid in the face with no affect. The only effect it did was give Duke and sore hand. Duke jumped back holding onto his hand.
Liquid quickly jump kicked him sending Duke into the wall. Liquid then suddenly threw his right hand and pinned him against the wall. Duke couldn't move and Liquid smiled.
" WHERE'S YOUR KEYCARD?" asked Liquid putting pressure on his hand making it harder for Duke to breathe.
" Why should I tell you?" asked Duke struggling. Liquid quickly grabbed onto his arms and threw him into the other wall. Duke fell back on to the floor.
" Even though you're a former thief," said Liquid standing over him. " You're just a weak coward like the two female ducks I've encountered!"
" I wouldn't bet on that!" shouted Duke whipping out a laser gun. " Eat this!"
Duke fired his laser gun and Liquid flew back against the wall. Liquid dropped to the floor with a hole in his chest where the laser fired. Duke slowly got back up and crawled over to face first body of Liquid. The male mallard turned Liquid over and saw the hole in his chest. The hole was around small and looked like it killed him. But there was no blood coming out of the guy. Duke turned on his com.
" Hey guys," said Duke. " I've just nailed to guy you're looking for and…."
Before Duke could finish, he saw the hole in Liquid filling up in Liquid's body. Duke was speechless. How could a guy survive a point blank shot? Liquid suddenly opened his eyes and grabbed Duke's throat. Liquid sat up while Duke was struggling once more for air.
" DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN!" shouted Liquid and he placed his left hand on Duke. He let go and duke fell onto the floor lifeless. " I'm pure liquid and shooting me won't work!"
Liquid quickly checked over his body to see if he had an access card on him. to his surprise, there was nothing on Duke except his laser sword and laser gun. Liquid got back to his feet and morphed back into Tanya. The fake Tanya was not happy and it continued walking on the path it was going leaving the knocked out Duke on the floor.
* * * * *
" Duke?" asked Decoy on his com. " Duke? Are you still here?" There was no answer. " I don't think that went well."
" You think the intruder attacked him?" asked Alicia.
" I don't know," said Decoy. " We should find him. Lem said for us to check the base over."
" You go, I need to update this computer."
" I'm not leaving you here while there's a manic on the loose," said Decoy.
" I'm a mature adult Richard," said Alicia. " Trust me, if the guy gets in here, I'll deal with him."
" Alright," said Decoy turning on his power fist. " Lock the doors!"
" Gotcha."
Decoy opened the computer room door and walked off in search for Duke. He walked down a few corridors until he walked past Tails who was also on the search for the intruder. Tails had his gun in his hand ready. Decoy stopped him.
" Any sign of the guy Lem's talking about?" asked Decoy.
" No sign," said Tails. " Did you hear Duke on your com?"
" Yeah, but his signal cracked up on me," said Tails. " I was on my way to check on you and Alicia."
" We're fine, no trouble. But I think we should stick together and find Duke or Lem."
" Shall we go back the way you came?" asked Tails. " I've been past the briefing room, the file room, the kitchen and found nothing."
" Very well, it leads to some of the quarters," said Decoy. " Let's get a move on."
Tails nodded and they both headed back the way Decoy came. they walked past the computer room and walked into the quarter's section.
* * * * *
Meanwhile, at the medical bay, Clem was scanning Tanya to see if there was any other damage to her. Lem and Mallory, however, were more concerned on what's happened to Duke. The two were looking at Lem's com.
" Duke!" shouted Lem. He shook his head and looked at Mallory blankly. " He's not responding."
" I don't like this," said Mallory with a grim look on her face. " I say let's find this guy and shoot him into the middle of next."
" That might be the only plan we have," said Lem. He turned to Clem. " How long till you think Tanya's gonna wake up."
" Around five minutes to an hour," said Clem. " I'll stay here and keep an eye on her."
" What happens if the guy comes here?"
" Oh, I'll handle that." Clem said taking out a remote and pressing a button. The robotic soldier Machine, Clem's best creation and personal bodyguard stomped his way into the bay. " Machine will deal with the guy."
" Hiya Mac," said Lem. " Be good and keep an eye on Clem and Tanya for me."
" You've got it," said Machine bringing out his machine guns from his hands.
" Hey guys," said Nosedive walking quickly into the bay. He saw Machine. " It's the big guy!"
" Hey my main man," said the robot. Clem turned to Nosedive.
" Have you been playing with Machine's personality files again?"
" No," said Nosedive. He turned to Lem and Mallory. " I thought I might lend a hand with you guys in trying to find this crazy daddy."
" You got any weapons on you?" asked Lem. Dive brought out his puck shotgun. " Ah."
" You have one of those babies for me?" asked Mallory. Nosedive smiled and took out a second one and passed it to Mallory. He also passed her a box of shells. " Cheers Dive."
" No problemo Army Chick," said Nosedive.
" Where's Speedy?" asked Lem. " Wasn't he with you?"
" He's hurried off to the computer room worrying about his sis," said Nosedive. Lem nodded.
" Come on, let's go delivery hunting. I've been meaning to find out where my latest tv guide is!" said Lem walking out of the room being followed by Nosedive and Mallory. Leaving Clem and Machine.
" You need oil?" asked Clem. Machine shook his head. " Ok you big man."
* * * * *
Tails and Decoy had walked past everyone's quarters and had no luck in finding Duke or the intruder. They had been walking around in circles for hours and nothing was showing up. Tails and Decoy decided to head off to the holographic theatre to see if they find anyone else. They walked to the theatre and looked inside. There was no one in there.
" No sign of anyone here," said Decoy.
" Shall we head on?" asked Tails.
" Might as well," said Decoy. He turned to see the fake Tanya coming towards them. " Hey Tanya, didn't Lem say you were knocked out."
" Yeah," said the fake Tanya. " I've got the all clear and I'm trying to see if I can find the guy who jumped me."
" Stay with us," said Tails. " We might have more luck if we stick together."
" Agreed," said Decoy and the fake Tanya together. They all continued walking back the way the fake Tanya went.
* * * * *
Lem, Nosedive, and Mallory continued their search around the base by heading back and past the robotic lab where they found Tanya. They continued along the corridors of the base until they came to one corridor and found Duke staggering down the corridor.
" Duke!" said Lem. He saw him staggering around. " You ok?"
" Yeah," said Duke. " I ran into that guy you were talking about."
" What happened?" asked Lem hurrying towards duke and helping him walk.
" He attacked me and asked me for my key card. The thing is I didn't have it on me."
" I heard on the com that you 'got' him?"
" Yeah, the strangest thing is that I shot him, and he fell down and after a few seconds, he came back to life and knocked me right out." said Duke. " There was also one other thing."
" What is that?" asked Mallory.
" Well the guy was, believe it or not….."
" Hey guys!" said Tails from the other end of the corridor walking towards them with Decoy and the fake Tanya. Duke turned to see them and opened his mouth.
" IT'S HIM!" shouted Duke.
" Where?" asked Mallory. " I don't see the guy."
" HE'S IMPERSONATING TANYA!" shouted Duke. " He changed right before my eyes."
" You been watching too much Terminator 2?" asked Nosedive.
" What's wrong?" asked Decoy stopping in his tracks. " Tanya said she was allow to leave the medical bay."
" No she wasn't," said Lem. " She's still there!"
" So if she's there….then….who's…."
Tails and Decoy turned to the fake Tanya who looked back at them blankly. The fake Tanya rolled his eyes upwards and suddenly morphed into Liquid. Tails and Decoy couldn't react to it and Liquid took the time allowed to slam them together. Decoy and Tails fell back on to the floor.
" I see my cover is blown," said Liquid walking past the two in pain on the floor. " I've got a mission to do and your not stopping me."
" Yes we will!" said Mallory fired her shotgun at him. Liquid's chest blew open with a silver hole on him. Mallory looked at her gun and then at Liquid still walking towards them. " He's still….walking?"
" KEEP SHOOTING!" shouted Nosedive who proceeded to fire his shotgun at Liquid. The second shot made Liquid's hole bigger.
He fired another shot and Liquid's leg fell off and smashed into pieces on the floor. Mallory continued as Nosedive reloaded by firing another shot at Liquid, this time, blowing his left arm off. Nosedive quickly shot another shot back in the chest causing Liquid to stumble backwards but not falling over. Mallory loaded another shell into her shotgun and aimed it at Liquid's head.
" PUT YOUR HAND ON THIS!" screamed Mallory as she fired at Liquid. Liquid's head exploded into tiny pieces of silver liquid and his body fell to the floor and also broke into tiny pieces of liquid pieces. Mallory blew the smoke out of her shotgun. " Got him."
" What the hell is he?" asked Duke walking over to the metal blob in the floor. " Must be some type of robot."
" Guys, I hate to ask, but you could help us!" said Decoy lying on his back on the floor.
" Sorry," said Duke. " Come on Dive, let's get them up!"
" Sure Duke," said Nosedive handing his shotgun to Lem. " Hold on to this for me."
" Ok," said Lem as Duke and Nosedive quickly ran over to Tails and Decoy, who were getting back on their feet. Lem turned to Mallory. " What does want with key cards?"
" I dunno, perhaps he's looking for something in our restricted areas?" asked Mallory loading some more pucks into her shotgun and cocking it. " I'm not expert in technical stuff you know, I'm only good in anything military."
" Never mind," said Lem crouching down to look at the silver blob. " I wonder if Clem knows what this guy is?" He took out a small bottle and managed to scoop some of the liquid into it.
As Lem did this, Nosedive and Duke made their way back with Tails and Decoy. They also stood and looked at the silver blob confused as Lem and Mallory were. Lem stood up when he got his sample.
" I guess we better get this cleaned up," said Decoy.
The guys walked off leaving the silver blob. Mallory let everyone past her and then started to follow. But she heard a sucking sound. Mallory aware of this turned around and saw the silver blob getting bigger, attracting all the other liquid blobs of pieces to it. Mallory turned to the others walking off.
" Is it me or shouldn't the silver blob be not be increasing in size?" she asked. Lem turned around and walked over to her.
" What?" asked Lem. Mallory pointed to the blob and Lem saw it growing and growing. " Shit!"
" What should we do?" asked Mallory.
" Standing back would be a good idea," said Lem pulling her back against the wall.
The now huge silver blob started taking a new shape. It started growing into the air and was nearly human size. It Then took the shape of Liquid's business suit and turned the blob into Liquid. Lem and Mallory looked at each other and Liquid did up his tie.
" Do you know how much that hurts?" asked Liquid.
" You're dead?" asked Lem.
" No, I'm made of metal?" asked Liquid. His right hand suddenly flew forward and punched Lem back against the wall. Mallory then got punched back as well. " You can kill me that easily."
" But we can slow you down," said Mallory bringing up her shotgun and pulling the trigger. Liquid's head blew into two parts. Mallory grabbed Lem's hand and they ran off back towards the others.
" NOSEDIVE! DUKE! DECOY! TAILS!" screamed Lem running with Mallory. The group turned around. " RUN!"
The group puzzled soon saw Liquid coming around the corner; with his head reforming and heading towards them. Following Lem's advice, the group ran as quick as they could away from Liquid.
Mallory and Lem were a short way behind. Mallory looked behind her shoulder and saw Liquid starting to run as well, but increasing speed as he ran. Mallory quickly turned around and fired her shotgun slowing Liquid down. But within a few seconds gained his speed again. Lem turned around and saw what was going on.
" Run and shoot at the same time!" shouted Mallory. Lem took out his gun and at the same time, they both fired causing Liquid to slow down even more.
But as much as they kept on firing, Liquid wasn't going to give up running. Lem checked his ammo supply and it was getting low. Lem's previous ammo clip finished and he removed it from his gun while running.
" I hate to say this Mallory," said Lem loading in his last clip. " I'm running out of ammo!"
" Me too," said Mallory firing another shot sending Liquid back but with no real effect.
While the two of them were being chased by Liquid. The other four were ahead and running like mad cows past the medical bay. Tanya was sitting up getting examined by Clem; he quickly read the health scanner to see if she was ok. When It gave Tanya the all clear, Clem put down his equipment when he noticed the four of them stopping at the door.
" What the hell are you guys doing?" asked Clem looking at Tails, Decoy, Nosedive, and Duke standing out of breath.
" Some type of liquid man is chasing us and trying to kill us!" screamed Nosedive. He saw something out of Clem's view. " We'll be back later! RUN!"
The four ran off past Clem who stood there looking blankly. Unsure what was going on, Clem suddenly heard some fast footsteps coming past the bay, Mallory quickly ran past the door. Clem blinked and saw Lem run by with the small tube in his hand.
" CLEM! Analyse this and find some way to stop this crazy thing! AND HELLLLPPPP USSSS!" shouted Lem running past. He threw the tube into the bay hitting Clem on the head and then landing in Tanya's hands. He then saw Liquid run past with several holes in him. Clem turned to Tanya who was sitting up on the bed.
" What was that all about?" asked Clem. He saw the tube in Tanya's hands. " You have your omitool on you?"
" Yeah," said Tanya still trying to wake up. " Why?"
" Read that in the machine and tell me what is that thing that should be dead if he had all those holes in him. Meanwhile, MAC!"
" Yes Professor?" asked the robot.
" Go help Lem!" said Clem. The robot nodded and ran out of the bay and in the direction Lem went.
" I'll just take some of this sample and get it read then," said Tanya putting some of the liquid into her reading tool on her wrist. It whirled and buzzed for a second and then stop. Tanya saw the reading on it.
" It's some sort of liquid metal," said Tanya. " Able to change into anything."
" Any ways in how to get rid of it?" asked Clem. Tanya shook her head. " So what can we do if we mix the liquid with another liquid?"
" I dunno, you're the professor in chemistry!" said Tanya.
" Oh yeah, so am I!" said Clem thinking. " If we add a different liquid to the guy, we should really do something to him….something…..sticky and messy."
" Is that a good solution?"
" Quite frankly I never think about that." said Clem. " Come on, let's go and see if we can help out!"
* * * * *
Meanwhile, after ten minutes of constant running, the gang had arrived where they originally started. But Liquid was still coming thick and fast. The new problem now arousing among the group was that they had no more ammo in their guns. Decoy, Tails, Nosedive and Duke arrived by the super computer room and waited for Lem and Mallory to come. While waiting they could still hear shooting.
Shortly, Lem and Mallory came bursting around the corner; Lem was running of breath while Mallory was unloading the last round of shells into Liquid. With her last shot of the shotgun, Liquid flew back against the wall and stumbled for a second. Covered with bullet holes, Liquid started reforming his body. Lem however just collapsed from the hard work of running. Mallory who was a few meters ahead, ran back.
" What are you doing?" asked Mallory standing over him.
" You go on, I'll die here thank you very much!" said Lem clearly tired from the running. " I'm too old for this shit."
" No your not, your 35, single, and a good leader," said Mallory.
" Just go, I'll lay here and get my breath bac…..WOAH!" shouted Lem as Mallory dragged Lem by his left arm over to the group. " Thanks."
" Don't mention it," she said helping him back up.
The group watched as Liquid's body reformed. Liquid crocked his neck when reformed and slowly stared walking towards them. Everyone started trying to see if they have any ammo left in their weapons. They started looking at each other when they didn't have any ammo. It was clear, no one could stop Liquid coming towards them.
" I think we're dead," said Nosedive. " AND I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!"
" I can agree on you with that," said Mallory. " And I never found a true boyfriend well expect that fling when I..…"
" CAN WE ALL STOP THINKING WHAT WE COULD HAVE DONE WITH OUR LIVES?" asked Lem panicking. Mallory slapped him. " Thanks."
Liquid changed his right hand to a sharp spike and was ready to go in for the kill. Everyone started holding on to everyone. However, everyone was at least grabbing on to Mallory for some strange reason.
" Well, it's been fun working with you guys," said Lem. Decoy quickly noticed he was next to the computer room door.
" Well, we're going to keep working," said Decoy. He banged on the door. " ALICIA, LET US IN!"
" Hang on, I'm opening the locks," said Alicia from inside. " It's going to take a few minutes."
" OPEN THE DOOR NOW OR WE ALL GONNA DIE!" screamed Decoy. Liquid stood in front of the group and he raised his spike.
" Who wants to go first?" asked Liquid. Everyone quickly grabbed onto Mallory tight. She looked at the five males holding on to her.
" Why are you holding on to me?" asked Mallory.
" Who cares," said Liquid bringing his spike down but suddenly blew apart in front of the group. Lem saw Machine with his rocket launcher smoking.
" Our saviour!" said Lem. Mallory was still uneasy about everyone holding on to her.
" Excuse, but why are five males holding on to me and why has Nosedive put his hand on my butt and squeezing it tight?"
The five looked at Mallory and quickly removed their hands from her whistling. They all went over to the robot. But they didn't see Liquid quickly reform behind them. While the group were patting Machine on the back for saving them, the door to the computer room opened and Speedy poke his head out. He noticed the big metal liquid shape in front of him. It changed to Duke and the fake Duke grabbed Speedy and threw him against the wall and jumped into the computer wall. The group turned around to see the door close again and then saw Speedy lying against the wall.
" Uh oh," said Decoy. " Alicia's in there! And he's locked the door from inside!"
" Well isn't this grand!" said Duke.
" That's why he wanted the keycards," said Lem. " He wiping our computer."
" Well DUH!" said Nosedive. " We all guessed that."
" Quiet pervert!" said Mallory.
" Stop shouting!" said Lem. " Mac! Open the door ."
" Affirmative!" said Machine hurrying over to the door and changing one his fingers for a laser and started cutting the door out.
* * * * *
" What's going on?" asked Alicia sitting at the console. The fake Duke noticed the door was being cut open by Machine.
" The base is being attack!" said the fake Duke. " Quickly finish what your doing!"
" What happened out there? I thought Decoy was out there?"
" Well," said the fake Duke coming up to her and sitting down next to her. " I am the attacker!"
" What?" asked Alicia. The fake Duke morphed into Liquid and Liquid immediately placed his left hand on her forehead rendering her asleep. He pushed Alicia out of the chair and sat down in her place. He started getting to work on erasing the computer's memory. Closing watching the door being cut out, he quickly set the delete command and the files started getting wiped out.
* * * * *
" Hurry up!" said Lem. " He's probably killed Alicia by now!"
" If he has, he's dead!" said Decoy getting angry. " COME ON YOU BUCKET OF BOLTS GET THAT DOOR OPENED!"
" I'm going as fast as I can," said Machine finishing off his job off. He stepped back and pushed the door down. " Anyone in the house?"
" I really need to change that personality file," said Nosedive to himself.
" I'm here," said Alicia popping her head out of the door. " I'm alright, this guy came into the room and I hit him with a chair and he's out cold."
" Really?" asked Lem carefully.
" I don't see anyone," said Machine scanning the room. " But there are two people in that room."
" One person don't you mean," said Alicia.
" Huh?" asked Mallory. Machine suddenly flew back against the wall with a hole in his chest.
" I'm liquid," said the fake Alicia with a metal hammer for a hand. The fake Alicia morphed into Liquid. " And now your only source of fire power is gone, I'm going to finish you off!"
Decoy suddenly ran forward and Liquid kicked him. Decoy flew back onto the floor dazed. After Decoy attack failed, Nosedive quickly stepped forward and hit him over the head with his fist. However, instead of hitting Liquid, it went through Liquid. Nosedive didn't notice until Liquid punched him in the chest sending him flying through the air.
" We're not putting a dent in him!" said Lem. Duke steeped forward and drew his sword.
" Fight me you coward!" said Duke. He swiped his sword down the middle of Liquid splitting him in two. The two halves just stood there and looked at each other. The walked into each other and Liquid was reformed.
" I knew that was going to happen," said Duke to himself before getting picked up and throw into the computer room and once again knocked out.
" What do we do now?" asked Tails standing behind Lem.
" PRAY!" shouted Liquid.
" What? Now? When we're not in church?" asked Lem. Liquid frowned and then kicked Lem. Lem went flying back and hit the end of the corridor. " Oh my god, I should get life insurance."
" LEM!" shouted Clem over his com. " Come in!"
" Yeah, what can I do for you?" asked Lem seeing Tails get knocked by being punched by Liquid.
" Get the bastard wet! He'll be slowed down for a very long time and that should give me enough time to get my weapon loaded up."
" Weapon?" asked Lem.
" JUST GET HIM WET!"
" Ok," said Lem putting his com away. Mallory dodged Liquid's punch by backflipping twice to get over where Lem is.
" What did Clem want?" asked Mallory helping Lem up again.
" We need to get him wet," said Lem.
" How?" asked Mallory. " We don't have water guns."
" But we do have fire alarms!" said Lem looking up to see small red boxes along the ceiling. " Just get some smoke near them and the rain season comes early."
" I've got a cigarette lighter," said Mallory taking a lighter out of her pocket and giving it to Lem. He paused and looked at her.
" You don't smoke."
" I know," said Lem. " But I might smoke a cigar after something special at night-time."
" MALLORY!" said Lem lighting the lighter. " This is no time to discuss relationships!"
Lem held the lighter up to the ceiling and waited for a while. Liquid was coming towards them slowly, with both his hands turning to axes. Suddenly, there was a bleeping noise and Liquid looked up at the red boxes on the ceiling. Fire extinguisher gas started spraying out followed by water.
" Cover your eyes," said Lem. Mallory nodded and ducked on the floor with Lem.
The gas settled down after a few minutes leaving just jets of water being sprayed out. Lem and Mallory sat up after the gas went. It looked like a tropical storm with everything wet. Lem brushed his green hair back to get rid of water in it.
" Where's Liquid?" asked Mallory sitting next to him with her cloths soaked. Lem wiped some water out of his eyes.
" I don't know," said Lem.
" HERE!" shouted a voice. Mallory and Lem looked down the corridor. Liquid was still there but he wasn't silver coloured anyone, he was see through water. " You really think washing the metal component out of my body was a real good plan?"
" He's aqua man!" said Lem.
" I'M GOING TO BEAT UP YOU UNTIL I CAN REMOVE YOUR SKULL!" screamed Liquid walking over to them.
" Hey! Shithead!" said a voice. Liquid turned around and saw Clem and Tanya standing there with guns.
" What you going to do, fire a bullet through water?" asked Liquid.
" You hurt my robot!" said Clem. " Big mistake."
" And what are you going to do?"
" Chill!" said Clem and Tanya together. They both fired their guns and two small pods flew out.
" Oh no." said Liquid.
The two pods went into Liquid. Liquid felt a bubbling inside him and looked at Clem and Tanya. The pods opened and a great light came out blinding Lem and Mallory behind. Liquid felt getting very cold. He screamed.
" NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
And within seconds, he turned to a block of ice. Clem smiled and walked through the puddles and up to the ice statue of Liquid with his arms in the air.
" Make a nice party statue," said Clem. He walked over to Mallory and Lem who were sitting there. " You're wet."
" No kidding," said Lem. He remembered something. " The computer!"
Lem jumped up and ran into the computer room and looked at the computer. It had nearly finished deleting the entire system. Lem quickly sat down and typed a few buttons to stop the command. All the files came back to the system and Lem smiled. He noticed Alicia on the floor. Lem picked her up and placed her in the chair and headed out of the room.
" Clem," said Lem. " Alicia's out cold, go and see I you can revive her."
" Understood," said Clem walking into the computer room. Lem walked back over to Mallory and Tanya who were looking at the ice statue of Liquid. Duke, Decoy and Tails were slowly recovering and getting back up. Speedy sat up in the water puddle and coughed.
" Now I have to wash my sneakers!" said Speedy.
" Alicia's waking up Decoy," said Clem turning to Decoy who was drying himself. " You can go and say hello.
" Cheers," said Decoy walking into the computer room.
Tanya turned to Lem who had taken off his black jacket and draining the water out of it.
" So what are we going to do with our water friend then?" asked Tanya.
" I'll give Ian a call, he's got a jail cell reserved for this creep," said Lem.
" But why did he come here to delete the computer's files?" asked Mallory.
" Simple guess, Dog! He must think if the computer system is deleted, his criminal record would be gone and he would be free to do anything and we wouldn't know anything about him."
" Dog ain't gonna be happy with this," said Mallory trying to get some water out of her red hair. Lem smiled and chuckled.
" He's gonna be so mad!" said Lem.
" Hey," said Nosedive lying on the ground wet next to Lem. " A little help?"
" Yeah," said Lem helping him up. " Be careful, the floor is slippery!"
" I know and my head hurts."
" Tell me," said Machine. Everyone looked at Machine sitting there with a hole in his chest. " Does it look bad?"
" No Mac," said Clem checking him over. " You're going to be fine."
" Honest?" asked Machine. Clem nodded.
" You're going to be alright buddy!" cried Clem. Machine and Clem burst out crying and gave each other a hug. Everyone shook their heads and started laughing.
" He might be smart, but he has the silliest thoughts," said Mallory giggling.
" Ahem to that!" said Lem trying to control his laughter.
* * * * *
Atomic Dog sat at his desk reading the day's paper. His stooges were still trying to put the Rubik's cube together with not a lot of luck. Dog quietly read the sports section of the paper when his office phone rung. Dog sat up and picked it up.
" Hello?" asked Dog. " Yeah, what about him. I see. Ah ha! Right, tell him if he can talk that the next time I see him. HE'S GOING TO BE EVAPORATED!" He slammed the phone dog.
" What's wrong?" asked Physics.
" Liquid buggered up big time and he's in jail!" said Dog. " CAN'T ANY OF YOU HIRED HELP DO ANYTHING RIGHT?"
" Hey look," said Magnet giving Dog the Rubik's cube. " I solve the puzzle."
Dog grumbled and picked up the Rubik's cube in his robotic hand and crushed it to pieces and threw it on the floor. He turned to the window in his office and looked out to see the futuristic world of New York.
" I HATE THAT LEMMING!" screamed Dog picking up his chair and throwing it out the window. " And when I get him…. I'M GOING TO MAKE HIM PAY!"
THE END
The team will return for The De Coy incident
November 2000