Response Time: To TheIndividualist, thanks, and remember one thing: this is only the beginning. To mattTheWriter072, he is a bit eccentric, isn't he? Although it felt cool to use inspiration from No More Heroes. On with the story!
Chapter 9: Recruitment, part 5
"Welcome to the lab." The Chocolatier opened up the door to the lab. Drake was in pure amazement, like watching a child see a toy store for the first time. "I take it to be to your liking?"
Drake looked around and said, "Oh, ja. I zhink I feel the bowel control coming off again!" Everyone looked at him with an unusual look. "Sorry. It's an inside joke."
The Chocolatier shook his head and said, "Nevertheless, we have explained who we are to you, and we know you have unfinished business, but we can help you on that." He put his arms around Augustus, Veruca and Violet, saying, "We've become a family of sorts. Something I never dreamed of, but I gladly accept. Nothing would please me more than to free you from worry so we can work together to bring an end to this pissant rock ball we call Gotham City. When we strike, the insane will join in and bask in our glory. So, what do you think? Will you be our Mike?"
"Ja. Show me to my outfit."
"I like your attitude. I'll be right back." The Chocolatier ran to bring the outfit. The others looked at their new friend.
Augustus asked him, "So, if you speak in a German accent, how come you aren't the Augustus?"
Drake answered, "Actually, I wasn't born in Germany. My parents were scientists from Germany who moved to Singapore, where I vas born. I lived there for ten years, before moving to Gotham City. But ja, I can see why you would ask that. It gets rather confusing to figure out."
The Chocolatier returned, with a set of googles, Punk Rock t-shirt, black jeans with a purple cloth over them, red boots, bandanna to wear over his mouth, and a guitar strap to wear over his chest. He put them on and adopted the title of Mike, and was handed a custom-made rocket launcher. He was exposed to the machine that gave invulnerability and immortality, now labeled as the Cybernetic Hydraulic Oscillating Centennial Overextending Life Aging Termination Entity, or C.H.O.C.O.L.A.T.E for short. Then it was time for the fun part.
Arriving at S.T.A.R Labs, The Chocolatier hacked his way inside. Violet asked him, "Where is Mike?"
The Chocolatier gestured to Veruca, who answered, "He's on his way to some warehouse because he's bringing something with him. He'll be here in time."
They entered in, and saw that the Earth Mover was being tested again. The testers heard a voice, "Late night with your new toy? Or should I say your plagiarized knock-off?"
"Securi-" They were cut off by Augustus pulling out his shotgun at them. They raised their hands in fear. But suddenly, the bosses came in.
"What is going on here?"
The Chocolatier smiled and shot a Candy Blast at the door. "You're just in time for the show! Mike! Come on out!"
They looked out the window to see Mike in the testing ground, standing on his original Earth Mover. "Drake? Is that you?" They asked.
They heard a voice over the speakers, "Ja! But I am known as Mike now! Now feel my pain! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" His Earth Mover generated a laser cutter, slicing the imitation Mover in half, exploding it. "Now it's time for you to die! Activating main engine!"
The machine shook and said, "3...2...1...FIRE!" A gigantic earthquake erupted and swallowed the entire S.T.A.R Labs whole. Mike, Violet, Veruca, Augustus and The Chocolatier were the only ones to get out alive. They looked to see the original Earth Mover was destroyed.
"Ah, vell," Mike said in disappointment. "There's plenty more where zat came from. I had to go all out to destroy zem."
The Chocolatier said, "It's alright. You tried to better the world, and they cheated you. In the end, your Earth Mover did make the world better." They looked back at the ruins of S.T.A.R Labs. "Come, let's find our last puzzle piece."
The last person they needed wasn't very far. James Callows, a young man with brown hair, tattered clothes and cybernetic arms, was watching them from a window. He heard his landlord shouting. "I TOLD YOU I WAS GOING TO EVICT YOU, JAMES! I DON'T CARE IF YOU HAVE NOBODY! YOU DON'T PAY RENT, YOU LIVE ON THE STREETS!" The Chocolatier heard the shouting and started to go into the building and up the stairs.
James whispers to himself, "I'm not going back on the streets again. Not again." He starts crying in a frightening way.
His landlord breaks through the door and shouts, "DID YOU HEAR ME?! ARE YOU CRYING?! ARE YOU A COMPLETE WUSS? I SAID YOU ARE LEAVING WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT, SO SUCK IT UP!" James immediately turns around and screams with primal fury. He pushes the landlord on his back. Out of his robotic arm, came steel claws. He jumped on the landlord and started stabbing him, crying at the same time. As he continued stabbing, his crying turned into a hyena-like laughter. The Chocolatier and his colleagues arrived in time to see the slaughtering.
"It seems as if you beat us to it," The Chocolatier said to James.
"My life is over."
"Not necessarily. You have hope. Tell me about yourself. I'm all ears." James told his life story, about how his parents were drug abusers, and how he would always be left behind by them. One day, his parents OD'd due to a bad batch given on purpose. He confronted the dealers who offed his parents and they cut his arms off. He was given a pair of robotic arms by a hospital who generously donated them. However, no one would ever give him any work because they saw him as a freak. "Well, you have a string of bad luck, it seems. But with us, you can be free. You know who I am, don't you?"
"Somewhat." James was introduced to the kind people who were helping him. He smiled and said, "I guess that means you are missing a Charlie, huh?" The Chocolatier nodded and reached out his hand. As you can imagine, James was taken to the lab and was given the C.H.O.C.O.L.A.T.E. treatment. He received a fancy suit, with a scarf and a rifle. He adopted the name of Charlie, and the last preparations were made.
They walked straight to the drug dealers that murdered the parents. "Stay behind us," The Chocolatier whispered to Charlie. The dealers stood up a second too late, as The entire gang unloaded their weaponry, with The Chocolatier's Cane, Augustus' shotgun, Veruca's disk launcher, Violet's handgun, and Mike's rocket launcher. Charlie smiled, watching the brutal bloodshed with great delight.
That's the chapter! This was a rather huge one, wouldn't you say? Now that all the characters have had their backstories explained, we will be going back to present day, after the bank robbery from Chapter 3. Have a great day!
