systemcat: Yep, Andrea and Daniel are Penny's parents. I like to imagine that W.O.M.P. was kind of a family business. I've also seen the surname Dollar used for Penny several times, and decided that worked. Andrea also agreed with you on the cute nickname pun, though Penny herself would disagree when she got older.
And yeah, the hair color issue was one of the reason I made both Brown siblings adopted. Also explains the intense IQ difference.
I hope you enjoy this chapter!
All rights go to Cookie Jar Entertainment.
Just as he had promised, he moved into the back of the building, searching for anywhere that a stray purse had been taken. As he did so, he moved past a door that had never been open when he had been there before. It was opened now, and a stream of light was beaming out of the crack. There were voices, too, but he couldn't really make them out.
Deciding to see if any of the speakers knew where his sister's purse had gotten to, Gadget opened the door more and leaned in. "Excuse me," he began, "I have to ask-whoah!"
Before he could finish, his sleeve caught on the handle and pulled him down farther and deeper into the room than he intended to go, ripping the cloth in the process. In response, a heavy sack that was soaked in something was thrown over his head and a hand pressed the cloth to his mouth and nose. He struggled against his attacker, but it wasn't very easy, and was made harder by the sweetly-rotten smelling liquid on the sack. He was forced to take several breaths of the stuff after which he fell unconscious
Scolex grinned to himself when he heard the thud. He had his W.O.M.P. spy now. However, when he turned around, he saw that the figure clearly couldn't be Andrea Dollar. The figure was clearly male.
"What is going on?" he snapped at a minion. "Who is that?"
The man took the sack off. "Uh, it looks like Brown, sir," the crony said dumbly.
Scolex froze. Brown. Of course it was Brown. Dollar was with the police, but where better to put a spy then within the company itself. He was just playing the part of the dullard to keep people from expecting that he worked for W.O.M.P. It was rather ingenious, actually.
"It looks like we've caught our W.O.M.P. spy, gentleman," Dr. Claw laughed, "and our volunteer for the Gadget Program! Let's go tell the good doctors the news."
As they left, the villain couldn't help but chuckle to himself as his men hauled off the prisoner. Hadn't the spy said that his nickname was "Gadget?" It was quite fitting. Or it would be, as soon as the project was finished.
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Gadget's head swam as he slowly woke up. Despite the nauseating effect, he attempt to figure out where he was and how he had gotten there. He couldn't see anything despite his efforts. However, he could hear, and there was someone talking. "You refuse?"
"You heard right. These projects were never meant to work in conjunction with each other. Attempting to combine them could be disastrous; even if the tech can work together, there's no telling how he'll handle it."
"To do what you want would be nothing less than mutilation. We will never succumb to what you want."
Gadget struggled to shake himself awake when he started to hear the voices. They were all clearly discernible, though only one of them was familiar.
It was Scolex who had spoken first, there was no doubt about that. The other two voices, however, were unfamiliar. The one that had responded to Scolex first was an older man, and the one who had backed him up was a young woman. What they were arguing about was still a mystery to the unconscious security guard.
Trying to force himself awake, it took all of Gadget's efforts get his eyes open. There was a bright light shining directly in his face, and the shock of it caused him to squeeze his eyes shut once again and let out a soft moan.
Recovering from the shock of light, he attempted to raise his hand above his eyes to shield them, but found to his dismay that his arm had been strapped down by his side. Feeling this, he forced his eyes open once again and this time found that he had been strapped by the shoulders, arms, and legs to some sort of table. When he caught sight of this, he let out a sharp cry of dismay.
This had not gone unnoticed. Hearing the cry, the speaking individuals turned to him. Gadget could now see that there were four people along with him: Scolex, two older looking men, and a woman who was close to his own age. He couldn't recognize any of the latter three.
Seeing him wake up, Scolex turned towards the captive and gave an uncannily cat-like smile. "Well, Agent Brown, back among the land of the living are we?"
"'Agent'?" Gadget repeated, confused and still somewhat drowsy. "What are you talking about, Scolex?"
"It's Claw, here," the other man replied with a smirk, "but I suspect you knew that already. Certainly W.O.M.P. would have told you about who you were sent to spy on."
"W.O.M.P? I don't work for W.O.M.P.," the captive responded, trying to sound clear despite the heavy amount of drowsiness.
Dr. Claw laughed again. "Still playing the part of the fool, eh, agent. Well, no matter. Soon, there will be another role you well play, and whether you want to or not, it's a role you will play."
Gadget looked up I confusion for a moment before feeling the table he was strapped to roll away. Without learning anything about what was said during his unconsciousness or what his fate was to be, he was taken away. He did, however, have one hint, and while he didn't understand it at the time, he would come to know very well what it meant.
"Well, my good doctors," the villain had said in a dark voice, "refusing to begin the Gadget Program will not change Agent Brown's fate. You will not leave, but if you will not initiate the procedure, I will find others who will."
Pain. All of the next few weeks could be summed up in that word. Gadget wasn't quite aware to what was happening to him, but all that he knew was that it hurt. Day and night were nonexistent in the experience of it all.
What had happened was that Scolex made good on his word. Even though Professor Slickstein and the Doctor Bradfords had refused to play any part in his scheme, Scolex had handed over to work to other scientists who did not have the skill and experience that the people who designed it had. Thus, even though he had been kept under an amount of anesthetic, the poor victim was in a lot of pain.
Eventually, things got so bad within the work that it didn't look like poor Gadget had much of a chance of survival at all. It was at this time that the three captives relented and worked themselves to mend what had been done to the casualty. They did not like was to be done, but the only other option was to leave the man to die a wretched death.
Thus, the Gadget Program went underway for real.
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Meanwhile, enough time had passed that people were becoming scared. When Gadget never came back, Andrea had become more and more frightened. When she had waited about an hour, she went to go look for him herself.
All she had found was the small bit of cloth. Nothing else remained to even hint that he had ever been in the building.
Within the next twenty-four hours, there was a missing person's report on the lookout for John Brown. Of course, Scolex was questioned just about immediately as soon as the question came up, but his response just was that the security guard had never turned up at the proper time, and that it had been assumed that he had merely forgotten the leaving time.
Of course, that was not nearly enough for the Dollars, but without any sort of hard evidence to prove that the billionaire had anything to do with Gadget's disappearance, all they could do was wait and hope that Gadget would be found soon. As time wore on, that hope began to fade, and it soon seemed impossible that even his corpse would be found.
It had been nearly two and a half months when a hope finally arose, though it wasn't recognized as one at the time. New intel had come into W.O.M.P. of a secret lab founded out in a suburb of Metro City. There was good evidence that it was a M.A.D. lab, and that something big was going down in it, so of course it was decided that someone would have to go investigate into what was going on.
Of course, that agent was Andrea. She had been studying the M.A.D. files for nearly as long as they had existed, and the disappearance of her brother had only intensified her search into the organization. As soon as she could head out, she did.
The origin point was innocent enough: a small packaging plant about sixty miles outside the city. This was far enough away that it was a good distance from the city, but close enough that common trips out would not seem all too suspicious. Seemed like a good area to hide a lab for all sorts of unethical experiments.
The area was guarded, but not heavily enough that she had a hard time getting in. After all, it was her business to be able to get in and out of buildings without being noticed. Once she was in, she donned the disguise of a lab assistant and deeply hoped that she wouldn't be too thoroughly examined. The small gun and the computer chip with her escape plan was tucked away in an inner pocket of her lab coat.
As she moved in, a voice came to her over the small communicator in her ear. "Andrea, are you in? Can you hear me?"
She gave a small smile as she heard her husband's voice. W.O.M.P. made a point to team up family members. They had the tendency to either work the best together or the worst.
"Roger that," she said in a hushed voice. "This is definitely a M.A.D. facility."
"Do you have any proof of it?"
She smirked up at the large cat emblem painted on a far wall. "You can call it an informed guess," she answered as she took a picture. "These guys really have no sense of subtlety."
"Good job. Just keep a lookout for any more activity. The more we have on these guys, the better. When you're ready, give the signal, and your backup will arrive. H.Q., over and out."
She didn't bother to respond, just quickly shutting communicator off with a gesture that was easily mistaken for her brushing hair out of her face. No use in the enemy figuring out about her though the electronic signal.
Moving as quietly as she could, she began searching through the halls as inconspicuously as she could. They now had plenty to prove that this facility was indeed a project of M.A.D., but she was making sure that there was nothing of importance to be salvaged that would be destroyed in the oncoming invasion.
The agent finally found just what she was looking for in a small room that had monitors to just about every room in the facility. It was perfect; ever secret lab, room, and prison cell was monitored from this room. Nothing was currently hidden from Andrea Dollar.
That was when she spotted it. One of the computers showed something that was of great interest to the agency, and had been for a while. It showed an operating room, and inside it was the three missing scientists, who were currently working on a figure that had his face covered with a white cloth.
Grinning in victory, Andrea hurried out of the room. She would brace the former captives for the coming rescue and then give the signal.
Thankfully, the room was not heavily guarded. Due to her disguise, Andrea was able to make her way into the operating room without much trouble. The captives themselves were in a more inner portion of the room, with two hulking guards standing watch outside.
As she moved towards the door, one of the guard grabbed her shoulder to stop her. "No goin' in there, blondie," he said in a gruff voice. "The boss' new attack dog is almost finished, and he don't want any intrusions setting anything back."
"Oh, I see," she said, faking surprise. "Just let me get this…" she murmured as she began digging into a pocket of her lab coat and pulled out what appeared to be a small makeup container.
Once she had it, Andrea flipped it open as if to begin adjusting her makeup, but spun around quickly to blow the sleeping agent into the hulking guard's face. The brute had only a moment of recognition before he realized what had happened. By then, it was too late.
His squatter companion, however, had the advantage of realizing that woman was not a common member of the lab team and was able to move out of the way before she could drug him as well.
The agent was forced to jump back as the other guard swung at her. "Well, so you want to dance, huh?" she asked, giving a smirk.
"Oh, yeah," the guard responded. "Took lessons for years." He swung at her again, nearly hitting her hard in the jaw.
At the last minute, however, she ducked, and delivered a hard kick to his legs as well. As soon as he was on the ground, she blew another dose of the sleeping agent, this time making the hit with ease. Both guards were out like a light.
That obstacle now out of the way, Andrea moved into the room. There were some hushed words that she could hear, but not quite make out.
"Doctors," she said as she stepped forwards, "my name is Agent Andrea Dollar. I'm with W.O.M.P. We're prepared to take this place pretty soon, so you'd better be prepared to hightail it out of here."
One of the older men, Dr. Bradford, turned to her to speak. "We are more thankful for your arrival then you can know, Miss Dollar. However, we are going to need assistance. The project we are working on now is of great importance; if this individual is going to live, wither the process needs to be finished here or he needs to be taken to a hospital immediately."
Andrea was about to say something in agreement when she got a closer look at the victim. On the monitor, the man's face had been covered in a white cloth that had obscured it from being seen. However, it was now uncovered, and not only could she see the man's face, she knew who it was. When she recognized him, the blood drained out of her face.
"Gadget! Gadget, speak to me! John!"
She couldn't believe it. No, she could believe it, she just didn't want to. There was no way she wanted to believe that the wounded, bleeding body that was now covered in wires and gears belonged to her missing brother.
"Please, Miss Dollar," the Dr. Brenda Bradford said as she tried to calm the other woman down. "He's been through a lot. You really need to be quiet right now."
"He needs rest," Professor Slickstein agreed. "The process is not quite complete. If we are allowed a bit more time he'll recover completely."
Andrea was then shaken awake by the fact that she was being spoken to. She turned, her face flushed with panic and anger. "That's my brother you're playing cut and paste with, and you expect me to take things quietly?!"
"It's not like that," the elder Bradford said as he attempted to calm the woman who was now more frightened sister than collected agent. "This poor man was kidnapped by Dr. Claw, and he was mutilated by others who belonged to M.A.D. in an attempt to replicate our work. If we had not taken over, your brother would have been dead long ago."
"We will also need to finish the process if he is to have anything resembling an independent life," Slickstein added, once more trying to calm her. "Please, it is in your brother's favor for you to remain as calm as possible right now."
Andrea bit her lip and looked over to where Gadget's face was still showing from the slipped cloth. He was paler than she remembered, and if the silhouette was in the right position, his neck was also too long. She wanted to go find who was responsible for this and go punch them in the face.
She also wanted Gadget to become well again. She nodded. "Alright, just be ready to get him on a transport to a hospital ASAP."
When she was assured that was going to happen, she turned to her signal and flipped it on. In a few moments, the place was flooded with W.O.M.P. agents, and another M.A.D. lab was taken down.
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As consciousness began to flow back into Gadget, he initially struggled against it. The feelings of the covers and pillow were comforting, and he had no desire to wake from the pleasant slumber. It would be much easier to slip back in the ease of sleep than to wake to the pain of…
The pain of what? He couldn't quite remember what had been going on when he had slipped off of to sleep the night before. Had he been cleaning his apartment? That usually caused pain.
No, he hadn't been in his apartment in quite some time. Not since before the wedding.
The wedding, that's right. He had gone to attend Andrea and Daniel's wedding. It must have been the night after. Well, that must have been some reception to cause him to feel the way he was feeling now.
No, that couldn't be it, either. He could remember waking up and going to work several days after the wedding. If only he could wake up.
"Gadget? Gadget, can you hear me?" That sounded like Andrea. What was she doing here? Had he fallen asleep at her house?
"You alright, John?" That was definitely Daniel. The scientist was one of the few people who called him by his proper name.
Gadget gave a moan as he forced himself awake, supposing it would be rude to stay asleep if his sister and brother in law were talking to him. "I'll be up soon," he groaned as he tried to open his eyes.
Once he succeeded, he was surprised to find that he was in a hospital. Andrea and Daniel were to one side, looking down at him with concerned looks on their faces. There were other people in the room, too. Gadget didn't know who these people were, but he supposed they were doctors.
"What happened?" he asked as he looked around, straightening up and looking around. He couldn't figure out for the life of him why he was in a hospital. "Why am I here?"
As he got up, the looks on the people's faces changed. The doctors looked surprised but somewhat relieved. Daniel looked shocked and a bit pale. Andrea looked as if she was about to cry.
"Why are you all looking at me like that?" he asked, before looking down at himself.
He had previously assumed that when he had straightened up, he had sat up, but as he glanced down, he could see that was not the case. From his shoulders down he was still lying in the bed as anyone else might. No, when he had straightened up, he had elongated his neck, and was now pretty much hovering about a foot and a half from his body. "Why am I looking at me like this?!"
"Mr. Brown," one of the people he had assumed was a doctor said calmly, "we're going to need to explain a few things to you."
Gadget never took his eyes off of his own body, or the long metal tube that he supposed was now his neck. He merely nodded in response to show he was listening.
The man continued. "Mr. Brown, my name is Doctor Artemis Bradford. Several weeks ago, you were kidnapped by Irving Scolex. Can you remember this?"
Unable to say a word, the startled man only shook his head.
"Well, it happened. We're not certain why, though. It is believed to be a case of mistaken identity, but we are not sure. Regardless, you were kidnapped and forcibly induced into the Gadget Program."
"G-Gadget Program?" the Gadget repeated softly.
"Yes," Dr. Bradford continued. "This was a project initiated by Scolex, under his pseudoname Dr. Claw, as a combination of me and my daughter's research into bionic prosthetics, and Dr. Slickstein's research into defense androids."
"I'm a hardware store." The horror in his voice was quite apparent.
"Uh, well," the doctor said, trying and failing to sound comforting. "I believe the proper term is 'cyborg.'"
That didn't help. A piercing scream rang through the hospital.
"What've you done to me!?" Gadget cried out in alarm. He tried to reach up to feel his head and found to his dismay that it, too, extended. Furthermore, when his fingers brushed his cheek, it wasn't warm fingertip he felt, but cold metal.
In shock, he kicked out, and his leg also extended out, slamming through the adjacent wall. "I'm a freak show!"
The others started to shout to try to get him to calm down, but the alarm was too intense. However, there was one voice that was able to get through to him. "Gadget, please, calm down," Andrea said. Her voice was firm but gentle. "Panicking won't help anything. Please, let us explain."
He looked down at her. Andrea, his little sister. Whatever else he thought of the others in the room, he knew he could trust her.
He did his best to calm himself, though he was not as successful at pulling back his extended appendages. Once he had braced himself enough to listen to the story without freaking out again, he nodded. "Alright. Now, what happened."
"I'm afraid it's a rather long story, Mr. Brown," Dr. Bradford started. "You see, my daughter and I, as well as Professor Slickstein here, were all working on developing a series of robotics enhancements. Brenda and I were working on a series of advanced prosthetic enhancements; in other words, life support machinery or false limbs for those who had lost them in accidents. They were to be bionic and work just as well as the lost parts."
"I was also working in robotics," Slickstein said, picking up. "However, I was working in defense. My development was in android defense, you know, robots who could work in police, firework, or military fields. They would be able to handle more dangerous situations than human officers, and fewer lives would have to be risked in defense."
"Our work, however, was noticed by Dr. Claw, the head of the criminal syndicate M.A.D.," Brenda said, carrying on the narrative. "Or, perhaps as you know him, Irving Scolex. He saw the opportunity to combine the prosthetic bionics with the defense androids' weapons systems, to make the most powerful soldier ever. He was to be undetectable to sight, because he would still resemble the human he had once been, but he would be carrying more weapons than most arsenals and would be fully under M.A.D.'s control. He intended to convert an agent of W.O.M.P. into the super soldier, but do to a case of mistaken identity, got you instead. That's why you were converted into what you are now."
"Okay," Gadget said slowly once they had finished, "I think I've got it. I'll just need you to repeat that last bit."
"What bit do you mean?" Dr. Bradford asked.
"The bit after 'I'm afraid it's a long story, Mr. Brown.'" There was a near unanimous groan at his response.
"He's gotten away for now," Andrea finished, taking Gadget's hand as she spoke, "but we'll catch him. He can't run forever."
Gadget looked down at the hand she was clasping. Much to his relief, he could feel her touch. He wasn't certain how, but despite the metal, his sense of touch wasn't gone, though it was very different. That did, however, bring a dark question to mind.
"So," he said, giving small sigh, "what happens to me now? I'm mean, I obviously have no job now, and I'm not sure anyone will want a…a…" He couldn't bring himself to say the word cyborg.
"Actually," Andrea said with a small smile, "we do have an answer to that, if you like it."
Gadget looked confused for a moment, but Daniel explained. "I was able to speak with some W.O.M.P. authorities, and they became very interested when they heard that the person who was put through the Gadget program was Andrea's brother…"
As he explained just what was being offered, a smile spread across Gadget's face. Perhaps something good could come of this after all…
Author's Note: Well, it seems the story as we know it has started up. Log on in February to find out what happens next. Hope to hear from you!-SilverWarriorWolf.
