4:55 PM
Dexter sat in his laboratory, reading the enthralling tale of The Time Machine. In the background there was only the gentle hum of whirring machines as they performed their various duties and functions - from air conditioning to preserving bacterial cultures. All in all, it was the typical, relaxing summer day where he could just kick back and read a good book -
SMASH!
That is, until Mandark and a gigantic robot army came crashing through the ceiling. As it crumbled, bits of rubble slammed into the ground, bouncing and rolling away like marbles as they scattered throughout the now partially ruined laboratory. A piece of the ceiling landed right in front of the redhead with a large bang!, while he looked upon it with a bored and somewhat exasperated look rather than fear. Hundreds of robots, divided neatly into platoons, filed into their assigned sectors to fight Dexter's defenses and wreck havoc wherever possible. Their shining metallic casings gleamed in the light, like knights in shining armor. They clashed with Dexter's defense bots, seeming equally formidable in battle.
Dexter calmly placed a bookmark on his page and set it down on his desk. He waited in his chair as Mandark scrambled down from one of his robots to give his usual invasion speech.
"Behold, Dexter! My pièce de résistance. The full extent of my robot army!" The raven-haired teen announced with a flamboyant gesture. "At last, your lab will be destroyed…FOREVER!"
"Not your best work, eh Mandark?" The redhead raised an eyebrow.
His rival cringed sheepishly. "Is it that easy to tell?"
"It looks like they're having a hard time, even with my defense on autopilot." Dexter commented, watching as the majority of Mandark's army got pummeled and aggregated into one corner."Planning on superannuating them later?"
"Well I suppose I could melt them down and use their scrap metal to build an even better one." Mandark shrugged.
"Pity. Imagine the unnecessary entropy you've engendered from constructing them." The redhead smirked. "Well I guess I didn't even need to get out of my seat for this one, if that's really all you've got to offer."
"Yeah…it is a real pity…" Mandark shook his head, then raised his arm to eye level. "For you, I mean." He pushed a seemingly harmless button on his watch.
"What are you - " Dexter's eyes widened. Before he could even finish his sentence, there was another crash - though not of the physical kind.
The sound of his Computer's voice called out. Despite its automated tone, there was an underlying hint of anxiety. "Dex-ter…A virus has been detect-" The drone of whirring machines stopped suddenly - making a noise that was similar to the plug being pulled on an appliance while it was still running.
And just like that, all of Dexter's machines which had depended on the Computer for their resources, stopped.
As a result, a blackout occurred, engulfing everything in complete darkness. The only source of light was the glowing of the clashing robot armies and the raven-haired teen's red and black cape - which he had conveniently studded with red, glow-in-the-dark stones just for the occasion.
Dexter only had one thing to say to him. "…You suck!"
Mandark bowed. "Thank you."
"I assume you took away my backup power too?" The redhead sighed.
"Rerouted straight to my laboratory." The other quipped casually.
"And disabled Computer's automated reboot mechanism?"
"But of course."
Silence.
Well, except for the raging battle between the armies.
Dexter slowly reached into one of the many lab coat pockets, feeling for a small and seemingly harmless metal disk.
Mandark only smiled. "I know what you're planning, Dexter." The redhead paused in his movements, but grasped the disk tightly. "...but I'll give you the liberty of attacking first."
The genius narrowed his eyes. "What's the catch?"
The raven-haired teen merely shrugged. "No catch...I'm just certain you wouldn't be able to land a single punch on me."
"Ataque!" Dexter lunged at Mandark, as his right arm was rapidly covered by a thick steel casing at the vocalized command. Within seconds it had taken a form that encased his entire arm and provided substantial protection for his fist.
His rival leaped back, raising his left arm. "Proteja!" A prepared shield made of a series of scale-like sheets folded outwards from a layer that covered his arm. It was pitch black except for a string of glowing red lights that blinked in a haphazard fashion - designed specifically to confuse the opponent while in the darkness.
"I see you've started investing in strobe lights, Mandark." Dexter remarked, doing his best not to get drawn into flashing bits of color. He blinked a few times, trying to focus on only the glowing red cape as a target. He threw another punch, without success as Mandark leaped backwards.
"Lovely, aren't they?" The raven-haired teen smiled, his white teeth only slightly visible in the dark. His rival growled and aimed for the teeth, but his fist ricocheted once again.
The two engaged in a short cat-and-mouse like skirmish, with Dexter on offense and Mandark on defense. The raven-haired teen would continuously dodge, deflect, and dodge again as Dexter threw punch after punch. Within a few minutes, Dexter suddenly had an epiphany. "You're just trying to tire me -"
Mandark unfastened his glowing cape and threw it at Dexter. It temporarily clouded his vision with the neon red glow as his rival darted away.
"Agh!" The redhead grabbed the cape, flinging it to one side before it could distract him any further. But by the time he had, Mandark had disappeared.
Instinctively, the genius looked over his shoulder, trying to detect the glowing red shield before his rival could attack him. His heart beat wildly in his chest, though he told himself this was only Mandark's way to psych him out, it was nothing new, just calm down…
He couldn't hear any sign of Mandarkl over the battling robots. All he knew was that his rival was somewhere nearby, watching and waiting for Dexter to let his guard down.
Unless that's what he wants me to think. The redhead thought. He could be off in another part of my lab, doing God knows what, while I'm sitting here waiting for an ambush that will never come.
"MANDARK! Come out and face me like a man!" Dexter shouted at the infuriating darkness. His call echoed off the walls and was lost in the cacophony of the fray.
Dexter slowly stepped backwards, still looking about himself warily. A million possibilities and solutions ran through his mind, but with Computer hopelessly defenseless he had very little means to carry them out. Not to mention, he hadn't eaten for about five hours and his hunger was making it extremely difficult to focus.
Without realizing it, he backed into his desk. "Gah!" Thinking it was Mandark he turned around and made a futile punch at the air.
Dexter blushed, though fortunately it was too dark to tell anyways. I really hope he didn't see that. He thought.
"How embarrassing." An amused chuckle rang through the air, followed by a swift tackle that took Dexter by surprise.
Mandark pinned Dexter to the desk, scattering the once neatly organized stacks of papers into disheveled messes. A few pens and pencils clattered to the ground, and the desk groaned under their combined weights.
"Get off!" The redhead threw another punch with his encased fist, only to have it deflected. The unanticipated attack had knocked the wind out of the genius, who struggled with shallow breaths to throw the other boy off of his body.
"Let me think about that for a moment - NO!" Mandark retorted, grabbing Dexter's right wrist and restraining him. Using his larger body and the element of surprise to his advantage, Mandark used his free hand to bring out the last part of his diabolical plan. (1)
Dexter growled. "Mandark!"
--
5:10 PM (Simultaneously)
The McPhearson Household
"What on earth is taking that boy so long?" Mrs. McPhearson, Dexter's mother, tapped her foot impatiently.
"Maybe I should go up and tell him." Her husband offered, getting up from his seat.
"I'll do it, dad!" The blonde interjected, quickly hopping out of her chair.
"Alright." Mr. McPhearson sat back down, looking eagerly at the cooling food before them. "Honey, can't I just take one bite? I'm sure Dexter wouldn't mind."
"Not until the whole family is at the table and we've said grace." She rebuked sternly.
He sighed, still eyeing the food.
"I just don't want him holed up in his room, doing God only knows what." His wife sighed with frustration. "We've always been eating dinner at five PM sharp, but he's never ready. Just what could be so important that he's ten minutes late?"
"Honey, maybe he's just…" Her husband trailed off hesitantly.
"Just what?" She narrowed his eyes, about ready to dish out her angry mother death glare.
Mr. McPhearson coughed, squirming uncomfortably in his seat under the gaze of his wife. "Well, you know...he's just about hit that age."
--
DeeDee's POV
"DEXTER! Time for dinner!" DeeDee called, throwing open the door to her brother's room without a second thought. As expected, her brother was nowhere in sight.
She quickly glanced downstairs where her parents were speaking in hushed voices. Neither one was paying attention to what she was doing.
Closing the door delicately behind her, the blonde quickly bounced over to the "secret" entrance just behind the bookcase. Unfortunately, since the laboratory's power was out, the electronic door couldn't open.
"Hmm." She frowned, trying to remember the manual procedure for entering. "Oh, right!"
She reached behind the shelf until she felt a small, rubber lever. Pulling it downwards, she stepped back as the shelf began to move on a non-automated system. She never had figured out how the non-electronic way worked, but she guessed that the lever forced something to push the shelf sideways.
Without another thought, she peered down the normally lightened passageway into the laboratory. The blackout certainly brought a lot of annoying detours for her.
"He wouldn't mind if I just borrowed his flashlight for a second…" She shrugged, grabbing said object off the book shelf. Clicking it on, she descended into the laboratory.
The sounds of clanging metal were brought to her ears as she neared the battle. "Oooooh." Glowing blue and red robots fought violently around her, engaging in an almost hypnotic dance. They leaped back and forth, lunging and retreating, in a lavish display of skill and ability. Their colors coruscated upon the walls of the laboratory, going to and fro in an intense, vigorous rhythm. Yet their combined brightness was not enough to illuminate the entire laboratory; most sectors remained pitch black if there was no fighting in them.
"Dexter?" DeeDee asked, peering around her as much as she could, given the darkness. She cautiously evaded the fighting robots - not wanting to get involved in the battle.
Dexter's voice, seeming somewhat hoarse, shouted "Mandark!"
"Where are you, Dexter?" DeeDee called, running to the source of the sound. As she neared the source, she could hear ragged breaths and panting.
"...It's too much for -" The desk creaked and groaned once more. DeeDee gasped, her eyes widening at what she heard. "…you'll break -!"
"Quit making excuses and just give in already." Mandark's voice pierced through the air like a knife.
"No!"
"Just relax, look me in the eyes, and it'll be a lot easier for the both of us..."
"NEVER! Let me go!"
"Beg." Mandark's tone dropped to a sadistic murmur.
"I-I'm not going to beg to the likes of you!"
"Oh? And what if I do this?"
"Ah!" Dexter cried out. "Stop!"
"You were asking for it. Now, for the main event…" The raven-haired teen whispered huskily.
"No, anything but that-!"
"DEXTER!" DeeDee screamed, running out and waving her flashlight desperately. "DON'T YOU DARE RAPE MY LITTLE BROTHER, YOU SICKO!" She yelled, throwing the flashlight for all it was worth.
It hit Mandark in the head and clattered to the ground, rolling in such a fashion as to show the two genii - fully clothed and lying on the still creaking desk. Mandark was holding up some sort of memory-erasing gadget to Dexter's face, while the redhead was restrained by his other arm.
"What?!" Mandark yelped in surprise, momentarily distracted. "I'm not-"
Dexter took this opportunity to throw the teen off of him. The device fell to the ground, where the redhead triumphantly crushed it with the heel of his boots. "Success! I AM VICTORIOUS!"
...And then he realized what DeeDee had said.
"…YOU THOUGHT HE WAS WHAT?!" (2)
enthralling - delightful, engaging a person's attention completely
formidable - difficult to deal with, awe-inspiring
pièce de résistance - derived from French; the most impressive thing, the thing that brings the greatest pride. It's also used to refer to the most important dish of a meal. In this case, Mandark's just trying to psych Dexter out...it's not really his best work but he CLAIMS it is.
aggregate - bring things together
superannuate - two defs; either to retire, or to get rid of something because it is obsolete. Either one works in this case, but I meant the second definition.
entropy - a measure of disorder. This isn't a vocab word, per se, but I wanted to throw it in. Entropy is energy that can't be used for work. Since energy can not be created nor destroyed, whenever you do work you'll also have a certain amount of entropy.
engender - create or arise
Ataque - Spanish, imperative/imperativo tense for "Attack!"
Proteja - Spanish, imperative/imperativo tense for "Protect!" I couldn't find "shield" so I used that instead. At least now I'll remember them for my Spanish test later...LOL.
haphazard - unplanned
epiphany - a sudden realization
cacophony - combination of loud, usually jarring sounds. (metal clashing on metal as the robots fight)
coruscate - to give off flashes of bright light, glitter, be/look brilliant
--
(1) I was going to say "reached a free hand into his pants..." but then I realized how easily you could take that the wrong way. Hehe.
(2) Since it's read from DeeDee's POV this requires an explanation which will be provided by Dexter in the next chapter. Naturally you may read it as you see fit~
