Picking Up the Pieces
A/N: Ya'll's compliments embarrass me, he he, but it's all good! I'm just glad that you're enjoying yourselves. 3
Disclaimer: I do not own Monsters vs. Aliens. Just my OC, June.
Chapter 6
The monsters were currently walking through the Outback, the late afternoon sun beating down on them; Insectosaurus had stayed behind with the airship, needing a break from nonstop flying. The threat had moved away from the cities along the coast, and was currently hiding in the wild brush. Monger had ordered them to flush it out and capture it if possible.
Hours had passed, and everyone was feeling at least slightly irritable due to the heat, except B.O.B. He went on and on to Link about how his precious jello was waiting for him back at Area 5-ugh! The fish-man was only half listening; his irritation had increased with the obvious lack of water, and June's retaliations. The latter was fed up with him as well. The both of them had been going at it ever since their bruises had healed. Poor Ginormica had tried to resolve the situation peacefully, but in the end, Dr. Cockroach shut them up with a quiet threat of experimentation.
Susan wiped sweat from her brow and looked as far into the distance as she could. She still saw nothing but geology in front of her, nothing moving out of place. For some reason, the Monster Tracker was on the fritz, and Dr. Cockroach had been dutifully trying to repair it. He had uttered countless apologizes, mostly towards Susan, but the giantess had shrugged it off, telling him that she believed he could fix the problem in no time. Too bad she missed the cute, almost shy smile that had appeared on his face from her encouragement.
Ginormica's impatience was finally quenched when she saw a group of trees move away from one another. She stopped walking, and the others noticed when they didn't feel the gentle vibration of her footsteps. She squinted her eyes, thinking that the sun may be skewing her vision with optical illusions. It now looked like a whole forest was splitting apart.
"What's wrong, my dear?" Dr. Cockroach asked.
"There's something in the distance…and it looks pretty big," she warned.
"It looks big to you?" Link asked incredulously.
"Well…more wide than tall," Susan amended before her eyes widened. Whatever was in the distance was now merely a couple hundred feet away, and the giantess saw that it wasn't one threat: it was four. The threats resembled cheetahs, their yellow spotted coats gleaming in the light.
"Guys, there are four instead of one! And they almost reach my knees!" she exclaimed while prepping herself to fight.
"Wha? Seriously?!" Link growled, knowing that he was at a disadvantage.
By now the cheetahs were within the others' sight as well. B.O.B. seemed happy to be "surrounded by kitties", but Dr. Cockroach quickly told him that those cats were dangerous. June narrowed her eyes and crouched down as she waited for the animals to come closer.
She wasn't expecting to meet any of them with a sickening thud.
June's oxygen fled her as a cheetah slammed into her abdomen, sending her into a tree. She tried to hook onto the fur with her claws, but noticed something was off: the animal was metal. The tigress fell and gingerly rubbed her stomach before yelling.
"These guys are metal!"
"What does that mean?" B.O.B. asked while stuck to the surface of one of the cheetahs.
"We don't have to hold back," Link growled, dodging swipes from his opponent.
"And I can shut them down," Dr. Cockroach added, dodging a head-butt and scurrying up the machine's leg.
He found a door on the back of the creature disguised as another spot, opened it, and hopped down. Inside was a maze of complicated circuitry, narrow pipes, and flashing lights. The doctor paused for a mere second before heading down a hallway.
Susan had grabbed the cheetah that B.O.B. was stuck to, and crushed the legs, immobilizing it. B.O.B. poked the crumpled limbs and laughed.
"That's why it's better not to have any legs!" he exclaimed.
June groaned as she hit the ground for the fifth time.
"I'm barely leaving a scratch on this thing!" she hissed, managing to move away in time before a tail whipped her way.
Ginormica quickly helped her teammate, grabbing the cheetah from behind and squeezing it close to her. When she dropped it, it looked as though it had been compressed. Meanwhile, Dr. Cockroach had finally found the control center. The mad scientist within him couldn't help but admire the technology that had gone into creating the robot. His expert fingers typed away on a sleek keyboard as he hacked into the system. His focus grew as he came across a program.
It featured illustrations of all four cheetahs; two were dark. The doctor guessed that they had been defeated. What caught his attention was a red dot that shone in the center of the cheetah he wasn't occupying; it signaled a living being within the machine. Dr. Cockroach gritted his teeth, and decided to shut down the robot rather than cause it to self-destruct. Monger would want to examine it anyway.
After typing in an override code, the bug doctor made his way back to the exit as the robot began to slow and ultimately turn off. He sprang up from the secret door as the cheetah stopped in its tracks. A quick look around told him that Susan had been crushing the threats, and was heading for the last one.
"Wait, Susan!" he yelled as he slid down the robot's leg.
"Ah--! Doc!" the giantess stuttered, turning to look at him.
"There's a person inside the last robot!" he explained, making his way toward her, "Don't crush it! Just hold it still!"
June and Link got out of the way as Susan grabbed the legs of the mechanical beast. It resisted her hold, but she was stronger. Dr. Cockroach took the opportunity to crawl up Susan's side, down her arm, and onto the beast's back. He found another disguised door, and dropped inside.
The feline and fish-man were resting against the trees, panting from the fight. B.O.B. oozed over to them, looking proud.
"I didn't even break a sweat!" he announced. He received glares in return.
Susan's gaze honed in on the cheetah as she felt it stop struggling. She gingerly put the animal down, and waited for the return of the doctor. The others moved in closer, wanting to find out what the Doc was up to as well. After a few minutes, the doctor came up, holding a slender human-like kangaroo.
As he laid the kangaroo on the back of the metal cat, the features began to change, and everyone was fairly surprised to see a woman at the end of the process.
"Again…" Susan muttered.
"Yes. This confirms it for me: someone is deliberately changing these people," Dr. Cockroach said with a frown.
"Why do it, though?" Link asked.
June remained silent, musing over the earlier conclusions that the doctor had made concerning her DNA. A faint sense of unfairness fluttered in her chest as she gazed at the unconscious woman. Her thoughts were interrupted by Dr. Cockroach.
"You know something? This means that those cheetahs were simply decoys to distract us from the real problem," he deduced.
"I'm glad you noticed it, Doc. If you hadn't, and I had crushed…" Susan trailed off.
"It's all right, my dear. None of us knew. Now, let's get this young lady somewhere safe," he said.
The monsters watched as soldiers loaded the undamaged cheetahs onto larger-than-normal helicopters. A nearby medical tent housed the young woman that Dr. Cockroach had rescued. Tests showed that she was completely human, and the bug doctor had found another needle hole, located on her right arm. After a little interrogation, it turned out that the case was the same as the first two times: the victim never saw a trace of anyone.
Dr. C was massaging his temples, aggravated at being unable to determine why such a thing was happening. Susan glanced at the cockroach, and gently petted the top of his head with her index finger, carefully avoiding the antennas. The doctor's face heated up, and he coughed embarrassedly, golden eyes smoldering with untold affection. If only we didn't have a case on our hands… he mused, unaware of Ginormica's similar thoughts. He's been working so hard...it hurts my heart to see him so frustrated.
June stared at the busy soldiers, vainly trying to deter her thoughts from the case. She couldn't help but wonder what her transformation was the beginning of. She had mixed feelings concerning her change, and was doing her best to adapt to the situation. A strong desire to know why it had happened burned within her. This time, Huntress was broken out of her reverie by Monger.
"All right, monsters. We've obviously got plenty of work ahead of us, and I can see that you're running on empty right now. Perhaps a night out along the coast will help clear your heads," he said.
"Wait, you're giving us a night off?" Link asked, surprise evident in his voice.
"Yes, but you're expected to be ready to go in the morning," the general warned.
"Still…thank you, General," Susan said with a smile.
"No thanks necessary, ma'am. We'll drop the lot of you off at Sydney. Enjoy yourselves, monsters," Monger said.