Chapter 02: Uncertain Consequences
Skipper's eyes opened slowly and his hands moved along the smooth wood of the computer desk, eventually finding the keyboard just above his head. He pushed himself up to a sitting position, grunting as his aching spine cracked and creaked back into shape after spending the entire night hunched over. The first burning rays of sunlight were peaking in through the shades right beside the computer desk, shining down on the keyboard before him.
He thought for a moment to get something to eat, or a shower, or something else that would pertain to daily life… but instead he reached forward to refresh the web page and begin his search all over again, glancing over the headlines that had appeared in the night. He prepared himself to read through mountains of drivel, but almost instantly one headline caught his attention. 'Winged monster attacks town water supply.'
His heart racing Skipper opened the page, then leaped to his feet as the image appeared on the screen. It was black and white, and extremely blurry, an image of a winged creature perched on top of a strangely suited girl on the floor. It was a still image that didn't show much especially since it was so indistinct, but it showed more than enough for Skipper to be sure about who it was in the image.
"Maria!" Skipper ran to the door, screaming down the hallway towards the lone bedroom in the small house. "Maria, I found Creepie! I found her!"
***
"I'm glad you're both safe and relatively unharmed…" A voice spoke softly from a glowing monitor hung up on the wall of a hidden laboratory deep beneath the city streets. The screen was glowing upon the three kids who stood at attention in front of it, one clutching a small white rat to his chest as if seeking shelter from the inevitable wrath. Ty stood with his arms crossed over his stomach calmly, while Abby stood nursing the bandage wrapped around her right arm.
"Still, I fail to see what your excuse is for being bested so badly. You are two of the finest Grossologists we've ever had, and you came close to losing to Insectiva, a criminal you've brought down many times before." The Director shook his head with a trace of a sigh. "It always happens to the best Grossologists… they always lose their touch eventually. You even lost your Goop Shooter, Abigail."
"It wasn't Insectiva, sir, I keep telling you!" Abby stepped forward, waving her hand dramatically inside her yellow suit as if she could prove her point that way. "There was something else in there! Something dangerous! It attacked me! Those pictures from the camera prove it!"
"All I see in those images is a blur that managed to best my two best agents. It could be a little girl in a Halloween costume for all I know… in fact, it looks like one." The Director chuckled at his own joke, though the kids in the Gag Lab were unamused.
"I saw it too, sir!" Ty Archer stepped forward to help, his orange Slime Suit glowing dark in the light from the giant screen. "I couldn't even identify what kind of insect it was, it was almost as tall as us, almost… humanoid."
"A humanoid insect… so it WAS Insectiva." The Director insisted.
"No sir, definitely not." Abby gritted her teeth in frustration. "Trust us, it wasn't anything we've ever seen before, it wasn't anything ANYONE has ever seen before!"
"How about you?" the Director's gaze turned toward Lab Rat, who had been hiding in the corner clutching his rat, Hermes, for dear life. "Did you see this 'human insect'?"
Lab Rat looked up from his rat for the first time since the screen had flared to life, then glanced at his two partners, his two friends, who were watching him expectantly. After heaving a small sigh he shook his head and gave his answer, turning away from them. "No sir, I didn't see anything. I was in the Gag Lab the whole time."
"And what is your opinion of the situation? Scientifically." The Director asked.
Lab Rat hesitated for a long time before speaking. "It sounds biologically impossible, even with Insectiva's mutagen. The kind of thing they're talking about would take genetic manipulation way beyond anything mankind is currently capable of."
"I thought so." The Director smiled smugly and turned back to his two field agents. "Do you have anything else to say for yourselves?"
"No sir…" Abby muttered in a dark tone, glaring at the floor as if it had done her some personal wrong.
"Then I suppose you should think about what went wrong in such a simple assignment… if things don't improve, I'm afraid we may have to put you through retraining, or at worst, release you both from the organization." He raised his hand to silence the as they opened their mouths. "This is not open to negotiation. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir." Abby and Ty muttered in unison.
"Good. We'll be in touch." The Director glared at them for one more moment before the screen went dead, and the lights in the Gag Lab flared to life.
Abby instantly whirled on Lab Rat, throwing her balled fists out to her sides. "I can't believe you didn't have our backs! What's wrong with you!? We would've lied a million times to save your butt! In fact, we HAVE!"
"Sorry Abby, I just couldn't do it." Lab Rat looked her right in the eye. "What you described is an impossibility, a hybrid between an insect and a warm-blooded mammal. Besides, even if it was theoretically possible to do this, it's still impossible for it to have grown to adulthood completely undetected. Someone would've seen it, it can't exist… maybe you didn't see what you thought you saw."
"I know what we saw!" Abby roared and waved her bandaged arm in his face, but she was interrupted before she could do any more yelling by her little brother stepping between them.
"Abby, cut it out!" Ty pushed her back and raised his hands to try to calm her down. "This isn't helping, and Lab Rat's right, it sounds ridiculous. Getting mad won't help anything."
"We both know what we saw Ty, I don't care if the laws of nature agree with us or not! If he was really our friend he would've had our backs, but I guess that's a little too much to ask from some gutless lab-jockey!" Abby glared at Lab Rat for one more moment before whirling to stomp toward the exit, her long fiery red ponytail swaying back and forth with the force of her anger.
"Don't worry about it, man." Ty said more softly once his scary sister was gone. "She'll get over it, and we'll find some sort of proof to back up our claims."
"Yeah well, you won't be looking for anything any time soon. We need a replacement Goop Shooter, and Abby's not going anywhere until we have it." Lab Rat composed himself quickly, letting Hermes jump back into place on his shoulder. "I've got to say Ty, I really hope you're wrong about this one."
"Really? Why?" Ty blinked.
"If the technology for what you're describing exists out there, and nobody knows about it… there's no telling what it could be used to create. Giant butterflies may be the least of our worries…"
***
"Rrgh!" Abby kicked a can on her way out of school, her clenched fists swaying at her sides as she moved out towards the street away from Ringworm Junior High in her civilian clothing. "I can't believe that rat turned on me. I have never been so betrayed in my entire life."
"Boy trouble, Abby?" A snide voice snickered from nearby. Abby's already sour mood only soured even more as she turned to face her long time rival and nemesis Paige, who was standing tall with her arms crossed over her chest. When Abby turned toward her she glanced down at the bandages on her arm with a gasp. "Oh, I always told you those sports would take their toll on you. I guess you're now officially more boy than girl."
Abby narrowed her eyes grumpily. "I'm really not in the mood for this, Paige."
Paige glared at her silently for a few moments, then huffed. "You know, this isn't fun if you don't fight back."
"Fun?" Abby raised one eyebrow. "You think fighting with you is fun?"
"Isn't it?"
Abby stared at her for a moment, then smirked. "Okay, you got me there. My day just isn't complete without watching you act like a total bi-"
"WELL!" Paige huffed before she could finish. "You really ARE snappy today, aren't you? Whatever's wrong, don't take it out on me."
"Ngh… you're right, sorry. It's not you… for once. I'm just having a generally bad day." Abby shook her head. "No, it's not boy related… mostly."
"Well get over it soon, I don't want you dragging everyone down right before my birthday." Paige stuck her nose up into the air with a bright, sickening smile on her face. "Speaking of which, Abby…" Paige reached into her purse and pulled out a bright pink envelope, with silver lettering on the front spelling Abby's name.
"You're inviting me?" Abby's eyes widened and she took the envelope in both hands, staring down at it in shock. "Seriously? This isn't some sort of prank?"
"Abby, sparring with you is fun, but I'm not going to ruin my own birthday just to take a crack at you." Paige smirked. "No, it's a real invitation, just be there and make me look good by comparison."
Abby rolled her eyes. "You were ALMOST nice, just a little bit and I might have gained some respect for you." Abby chuckled, staring down at the envelope, holding it like she might a piece of jewelry. "I'll let Ty know, we'll be there."
"Ty? Ick…" Paige shivered. "Absolutely not, no nerds are allowed to step foot into my back yard at ANY time, let alone at such an important time."
"But… he's my brother." Abby glared at Paige. "I'm not going to abandon him so I can come to some stupid party. Forget it, I'm not coming." Abby shoved the invitation into Paige's arms again.
Paige rolled her eyes. "Right, the 'selfless consideration' act. That act is so old it has mold on it, just take the invitation and maybe you'll 'change your mind'." Paige winked and shoves the invitation into one of the pockets in Abby's pants. "I'll see you there." She turned to leave with a snide smirk, jogging down the sidewalk after some of her friends, who were waiting in a group further down.
"Hmph…" Abby huffed again, glaring after her. "I can't believe she would-" she stopped suddenly when she felt something strange, like the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. She narrowed her eyes and glanced around, looking up and down the nearly empty street, populated only by those students who were late leaving school. Ty wasn't among them, she realized, probably still in the Gag Lab with the traitor…
Weird, she thought to herself as her free arm rose to rub the bandages under her sweater. For a second she was sure she was being watched… oh well. It was probably nothing, and she wasn't in the mood to deal with anything anyway. Right now she just wanted to be alone, preferably with a massive bucket of ice-cream. So she turned to head home, trying to pretend that nobody else existed.
***
"So even you were defeated by those Grossologists…" A woman's voice growled in raspy fury as bony frail arms grabbed at the air as if reaching for their throats.
"I'm sorry, your highness." Creepie Creecher closed her eyes and lowered her head solemnly. "I did the best I could, but they arrived before I could deliver the chemical into the water supply."
The woman sighed and turned towards her, her black lips splitting into a motherly smile as she approached to wrap Creepie up in a firm, tender hug. "It's alright, child, those Grossologists are greater pests than any insect known to mankind." She ran one of her palms over Creepie's cheek, a puff of smoke bursting from a small tube near her wrist right into Creepie's face. It made Creepie's eyes sting, but she didn't complain, blinking her way through it as her mind began to blur moments later. "We'll just have to remove them from the equation before we go forward with our plan."
"Yes, Your Highness…" Creepie spoke numbly.
"Thankfully, the encounter at the treatment plant was not without its benefit." The woman grinned past Creepie's head. Creepie turned to see her family splitting open down the middle so a tiny green bug could make her way up the center isle. "Was it?"
"Absolutely not." A soft, feminine voice came from the Preying Mantis that stood in the center of the insect pack. "They never even noticed me follow them home."
"Finally." The woman grinned broadly, rubbing her hands together. "Those Grossologists can't hide anymore. They won't stand between me and the destiny of the world, our destiny!" She whirled to march up to the edge of the cavern in which they hid, staring out over the town beyond as the twilight began to fall across the landscape. "The time of humans has come and gone, it is time for the insects to rise to their rightful place! Haaaahahahahaha!"
TOMORROW - Chapter 03: Quit Bugging Me