Disclaimer: I don't own Monsters vs. Aliens characters except Maggie/ Mrs. C.
Author's Note: This chapter tells of some of the experiments that Susan went through with Doctor Cockroach. The Missing Link and Insectosaurus mentioned in the movie that Susan had let Doctor Cockroach experiment on her for a month so here is a few of the experiments he did to her before the machine he built and used on her before they were released to go fight the Giant Alien Robot. I apologize to my readers for taking so long to get this out to you. I have not abandoned this story and I fully intend to finish it, I just have to get the rest of the chapters done and that takes time so please be patience with me. Now enjoy this chapter and please review to let me know what you though of it. :D
My poor husband. He has stayed up late for days trying to isolate whatever the substance in Susan's blood was and comparing it to the radiation found in Insectosaurus' body. The only thing he has found out about the substance is that there is nothing else like it on this planet.
"It's too bad that the meteor that hit Susan dissolved," He said to me in regret as he worked, "The agents at this Facility could have collected it and I would have been able to study it."
"Well what have you found so far," I asked him.
"Only that, whatever this substance is, it is pure energy. Some of the purist energy I have ever seen," He said with fascination in his eyes, "Whatever it is, it seems to have enhance her blood cells and made them reproduce at a much higher rate than that of a normal human being."
"Oh my gosh," I exclaimed at him, "That would explain why Susan is so big! This energy, or whatever the heck it is, has altered her blood and the muscles in her body and has enlarged them!"
"Exactly," Doctor Cockroach said to me in amazement, "Now that I have figured out how this energy had affect Susan. I just have to figure out a way to reduce Susan's blood cells to that of a normal person and her muscles will also follow suit."
"Well, besides figuring out what the energy is and what happened to Susan when she came in contact with the stuff, have you found out anything else that can help her," I asked hoping he had come up with something.
"I have been working on a formula that when I applied it to Susan's blood, the cells in the sample were reduced somewhat," He said while scratching his chin, "I would still like to do some more tests on it however before we try it out on Susan. She will have to be a bit more patience."
"Take as long as you need honey," I told him after hearing this great news, "But don't take too long. I don't know how she will react if this doesn't work and I don't want to get her hopes up too high, only to be shot down when things go wrong."
"Let's go give her the news then," he said as he walked pass me.
We found Susan trying to play "Go Fish" with Link and B.O.B. When we walked over to her, she held her cards between two of her fingers in one hand, smiled and waved to us. From the looks of it, it looked like Susan was going to win this hand because Link looked a little nervous for the first time in many years.
"Hey Link," I said to him. He jumped at the sound of my voice and the cards he had in his hand want scattering all over the place. I just laughed at that. It felt good to pay him back all the times he had done that to me over the years.
He glared at me while picking his cards and said, "Dang it Maggie don't do that! You almost gave me a heart attack."
"Kind-of different when the shoe's on the other foot isn't it hmm," I smugly asked him.
"HAHAHAHA, very funny. You're a riot Roach Lady," He sarcastically said to me.
"I know," I said to him, "But that's not the reason we came over to see you guys. Susan, Doctor Cockroach has some news for you."
"It's not bad news, is it," She cautiously asked with a worried look on her face.
"No no nothing like that," Doctor Cockroach said to her, "I found out that your body has a substance made of pure energy and that is why you are a giant. Whatever this compound is, it didn't come from Earth. I theorize that it came from that meteor that struck you. However, due to the fact that you said it disintegrated, I can't in fact prove that. So we will have to go with that conclusion."
"Okay," She said to him, "Well do you have any ideas of how to get this stuff out of me or to get me back to a normal person at least?"
"Unfortunately, this energy is integrated with your blood and I do not have the tools or the resources to extract it," he said to her, but quickly added when he saw the downward cast look on her face, " However, I have been working on a formula that when added to your blood, it should reduce the cells and in time will shrink your body back to normal. I still need to run a few more tests on it and then when it's ready I will apply to your body. I don't know how long it will take so you have to be patience Susan."
"Thank you Doc," She said to him.
It took the better part of five days, but it appeared that my husband had finished the formula that should Susan shrink in no time. I gathered the items he needed to inject Susan with the formula and carried them out into the dining area, up to Susan's table. Once Susan was seated, he proceeded to fill a syringe with the liquid. He also brought an empty one to take another sample for study later.
"Susan, I need you to lay your arm down, with the palm facing up if you please," He asked her, " I need to be able to get at a vein in your arm."
When she complied with his request, he and I crawled up her arm and he showed me which part of her arm I need to clean for him. I rubbed a few cotton balls full of rubbing alcohol on the section of the arm where the elbow bends for my husband. Once my work was done, he said to her, "Now this is going to feel like a mosquito bite, so please do try not to swat me." Then he did his mad scientist laugh while I rolled by eyes. When I saw the worried look on her face, I knew I had to say something to put her mind at ease.
"He's a mad scientist," I explained to her, "So he has a tendency to laugh like that on occasion when he is working on an experiment. Believe me when I say that I have tried everything to get him to stop laughing like that Susan." That seemed to calm her down a bit.
Then I turned and said to him, "Honey we've talked about this. Please stop laughing like that! It's unnerving and quite frankly, you're scaring the poor girl and me too, to be perfectly honest. It makes it hard to not doubt you, when you are laughing like an insane person."
"I'm sorry Susan," He said to her, "I have no intention of harming you in any way, shape, or form. I just laugh like that when I get really excited about an experiment."
"It's okay Doc," Susan says to him as she took a deep breath, "Just get on with it."
She winced as he injected her and she appeared to have held back the urge to swat him like a mosquito. Now all that was left for us to do is to wait for something to happen. Well, something happened all right, just not what we expected. Instead of shrinking Susan, like we originally thought it would do, it made her skin glow green for some unknown reason. When Susan looked at her arms, she screamed so loud that I had to cover my antenna's to my head the best I could. If I still had ears I probably would have done that instead. Of course B.O.B. was no help at all.
"Hey Susan, there's something different about you," He pointed out to her, much to her horror, "Did you change your hair? No. No that's not it. Oh is that new makeup? Wow you look incredible. That color really makes you shine."
I sighed, rolled my eyes and hit my face with my hand at his comment. Saying that was not helping us at all. "B.O.B.," I said to him, "That is not new makeup. She was supposed to shrink down to my height, not still be 49 ft. tall and glowing green."
"Why am I glowing anyway," She shrieked and started gasping for air and she continued her freak out, "I'm not going to grow again am I? Please tell me I'm not going to do that again. This is… exactly the same thing… that happened to me… on my wedding… day, so… I can't… handle… it… if I… grow… anymore."
"Hey hey just cool it," Link told her, "Take a deep breath and let it out slowly a few times. Breath in, Breath out. Breath in, Breath out."
She followed Link's instructions and soon she had finally calmed down. Once she was calm, Doctor Cockroach took another blood sample from her and hurried back to our cell to analyze it. I quickly followed after him to get the rake I used to comb Susan's hair. I thought that maybe if I did her hair for her, it would help defuse the situation we were currently having. When we came back to the make-shift workbench my husband made, we discovered that the old blood sample of Susan's he had taken was also glowing. As my husband went back to work, I grabbed the rake and returned to the dining area, only to find Susan huddled in a corner with her knees up to her chest. I broke my heart to see her in such a shape. I had hoped that Susan wouldn't get her hopes up too high, but now it appears that she did. I hoped that Antony find a cure for her soon, not just for the glowing skin she is currently sporting, but also for her returning back to normal.
"Susan, are you okay," I asked her.
"Other than the fact I am now a giant glowing green freak," She said to me in despair with tears running down her face, "I'm fine. Just fine."
"Oh Susan, "I said to her with sympathy, " If it makes you feel any better, I have to say, other than the fact that your skin is glowing, it doesn't look like your height has changed any."
"Really," She asked as she wipes the tears off her face.
"I'll prove it to you,"
I whistled and said, "Hey Insectosaurus Link. Could you both come over here and just stand right next to Susan. And Susan, could you stand up for a moment please?"
Insecto roared and started moving over to us and Link came running over to us as Susan got up off the ground. "What's up? Why do you need me?" He asked.
"Ok Susan," I said to her, "I want you to go stand right next to Insectosaurus. Link, I need you to translate what he says because I want to ask him a question."
"Ok I can do that," Link says to me," Ask away."
"Ok Insecto," I asked him, "Do you remember how tall Susan was when she first came here and before this experiment happened?"
He did three snorts and one short roar. And Link said, "He says 'Yes. She was as tall as my leg.'"
"And now how tall is she," I asked him, hoping that she stayed the same.
He did one long roar and Link translated, "Great news Susan, He says, 'You are the same height as you were before.'"
"See," I said to her, "I told you that you didn't have anything to worry about.
"Yeah I guess you're right," She said with a smile on her face, but it quickly dropped.
"Susan, what's wrong," I asked, "I thought you would be happy that you didn't grow anymore."
"I am happy that I didn't get any taller," She said, "I just realized that it didn't shrink me either. What could have gone wrong? I thought Doc had all the kinks worked out of it."
"Honestly Susan I am still puzzled about that," Doctor Cockroach told her as he appeared out of our cell suddenly, " When I checked on it thirty minutes ago before I applied it to you, it was fine, then when my wife and I came back, it was glowing the same as your skin. I guess I will have to scratch this idea and come up with something else to shrink you. But first I need to work on an antidote to get your skin back to normal."
"Well while you are working on that honey, "I told me as I took up the rake, "Susan and I will be in her cell."
With that Susan started to walk to her cell and I started to fly after her. I flew to her bed and when we were all situated comfortably, I got to work combing her hair. Her room was coming along nicely. It wasn't as dreary as it was when she first came here, but it still had a long way to go. I was now painting a mural on one of her walls as a sea-side painting thanks to Monger. When I explained to him that decorating the room a bit more would help keep Susan calm, he gave me permission to ask for anything I needed to decorate the place. As long as I didn't try to escape again, I could do whatever I wanted. I think that he thought that if I had a project of my own, I wouldn't feel so complied to try to help my husband to escape and we didn't know how strong Susan was, so he told me to do everything I could to keep her from trying to destroy the place, looking for a way out. Like I said, my husband maybe the most brilliant man in the world, but he always told me that I was a genius when it came to art and interior design of homes.
It took a full three days for my husband to come up with the antidote for Susan's glowing skin; unfortunately it seemed he wasn't any closer to get her back to a normal person's height than he was before. However, he was never one to give up on something and he immediately went back to work on his latest experiment. I just pray that one of them works, but looking back to his escape plans, this venture seemed to be like it could take years to get her back to normal and I don't know how she will cope in the meantime. She seems to hold out hope of being reunited with this Derek person and that seems to help her keep her sanity, but that was just for now. Well I can't ponder on these negative thoughts because I don't want her thinking something is wrong and that she is never going to be with Derek again. My husband and I made a promise to her and he is going to try his best to get her back to normal.
Three Weeks Later:
It has been a long and interesting three weeks. Ever since Susan joined us, she and I have become almost like sisters. And as her "big sister" it pains me immensely when she becomes upset. That usually happens when one of my husband's latest experiments on her fails. Which seems to be all the time now. Over the last three weeks, my husband has tried everything he can think of to get her to shrink. He has tried all sorts of shots, lotions, creams, pills and he even tried to make a shrink machine. That literally blew up in his face and got his toy box privileges taken again for a week. So with that as a setback, it's no wonder that Susan got a little depressed. I did my best to cheer her up and sometimes it would work; however, other days like yesterday don't seem to work out so well. On those days, Susan would just go back to her cell and even I couldn't get her to come out until the next day.
I am a little unsure about my husband's latest experiment for Susan. He explained to me that this machine he is working on, when hooked up to Susan, will send electrons to her body causing the cells and muscles to reduce down to normal.
"Wait, hold on a moment," I said to him, stopping him in his tracks, " You mean to tell me you are going to zap Susan with this machine and hope that she will be reduced back to normal? Honey, this is crazy! I love you and I have full confidence in your abilities as a scientist, but this is really pushing it. You are talking about giving the girl electric shocks; I don't think this is safe."
"Maggie, don't worry." He says to me with confidence as he gathers parts from our trash and attaching to his machine, "I have worked out all the kinks in it and it is going to work this time." He has that look in his eye right before he, right on cue, laughs maniacally.
I shake my head and say to him, "Okay the mad scientist laugh, not really helping me feel any better. If anything it's making me feel even worse about this idea."
"I told you," He explained, "Nothing bad is going to happen this time."
"Yeah that's what you said about that cream you used on her and she broke out into a bad rash which lasted for days. I had to put the antidote on her at least four times a day before it finally took effect. Please just promise me that you have this completely under control."
"I promise I have this completely under control Maggie, "He says to me holding his right hand up.
"Okay, this had better work," I tell him, though I secretly pray that nothing will go wrong this time.
He has Susan sit in her chair as he scurries over her face with three wires suction cupped to her brain. He mutters to himself as he runs over to B.O.B. and Link and borrows their radio antennas. They were playing cards and Link was cheating again with Insecto help. Insecto was looking over B.O.B. cards and stamping his foot three times. But B.O.B. is too brainless to notice the painfully obvious cheating move. When he put the two antennas in a toaster, he pushed a series of buttons and cranked up a crank he rigged up in the machine to help give it power.
"It's going to work this time. I'll show them, I'll show them all," He says to himself and then he laughs maniacally again.
"Doctor I would really appreciate it if you wouldn't do your "mad scientist" laugh while I'm hooked up to this machine," Susan nervously says.
"Honey, we just discussed this not two minutes ago," I shouted at him, "The girl is already nervous and that laugh of yours isn't helping!"
"Sorry sorry, Habits are harder to break," He said sincerely.
"Try harder," I growled at him.
Then we all heard a roar from Insectosaurus and he had a concerned look in his eyes.
"He says that this is the craziest thing you guys have ever thought of," Link translated and then added, "And I agree with him. Susan you've let that quack experiment on you for almost a month. This is nuts. It's time to stop before something really bad happens."
"I'm not a quack; I'm a mad scientist Link. There's a huge difference between the two despite what some people think," Doctor Cockroach yelled at him.
"What's the difference," He indignantly asked, "You're still nuts."
"A quack is someone who has no scientific training whatsoever and tries to practice something," Doctor Cockroach explained to him, "A mad scientist is someone who went to school to get his doctorate or Ph.D., like I did, and just went a little touch in the head."
"Oh you mean like you," Link shot back at him.
"Yes Link like him and I thought I told you not to call him that," I yelled at Link, "Or you need a reminder of what happened the last time you said that!"
"Guys," Susan shouted at us, "Stop fighting. Look Link I don't have any other choice. If there is a chance that this machine can shrink me or even make me 7 to 8 ft. tall then I can get out of here and finally be with Derek. Then after we are married we can go to…"
"Let me guess, Fresno," Link interrupted her.
"Yes. After Derek gets his job there, eventually he will get calls for a job at a news station in Milwaukie, then New York City and eventually…"
"He will get to be a world's correspondent and then he and you will get to go to Paris. Like you have been telling us again and again," Link said as he interrupted her for the second time.
"Through the switch Doctor," Susan tells my husband but quickly adds, "But please try not to do the laugh."
"Okay now you are going to feel a slight pain in your brain but it should last a moment. Mwah ha ha," he said as he started to laugh again but he quickly caught himself and said, "Sorry" Before pushing the leveler down on the toaster to start-up the machine.
As he finished pushing a few more buttons, he looked at Susan with a wild look in his eye. I watched worryingly as the electricity spread throughout Susan body and I could even see the electric currents running in her hair before she got completely shocked and passed out. She landed on the ground hard and she didn't seem to be moving.
"Susan oh my gosh," I shrieked as I ran to her and took flight to her face. "I had a feeling something like this would happen Doctor Cockroach! I told you this was a bad idea!"
"I thought for sure it would work," He said besides himself, "Susan. Come on my dear, say something. Can you hear me?"
"Oh great plan genius," Link yelled at him, "You've killed her. Perfect. You really went too far this time. This is worse than the time we almost escaped and you almost crippled your own wife. I hope you're proud of yourself."
"Doc is she going to be okay," B.O.B. asked in concern.
"I don't know B.O.B.," He regretfully says to the blue blob, "I certainly hope so."
Insect came over and looked over Susan in concern. He crooned and nosed her arm with his horn nose and licked her face to try to get her to wake up. I had tears running down my face. I hope that Susan wakes up because I don't know if I will ever forgive Antony if she's dead. Then miraculously, Susan starts to stir. I say, "Susan? Honey can you hear me?"
She groans and asks, "Am I small again?"
I let out a big sigh of relief and hug her face, and then I told her, "Unfortunately no Susan. I almost thought you died. Get off of her you guys."
She sat up and my husband told her with an awkward chuckle, "Actually it looks like you grew a couple of feet."
"WHAT," She shrieked.
"He means that your hair is standing up Susan, "I told her to calm her down and glared at my husband, "You wait here and I will fix that in a jiffy."
I raced back to get her rake comb and as while I was fixing her hair, she said, "Thanks Mags. Well Doc looks like we will have to try again tomorrow. Ouch!"
She said that because I accidentally pulled her hair after hearing her say that. "Oh no you don't. Both of you are going to cool it with the experiments for a good while."
"Finally some sense out of you," Link said to me, " I was beginning to think you were as nuts as your husband here."
My husband glared at him for that commit and said to me, "Maggie I made a promise to Susan to get her back to her normal height. You want me to quit?"
I fluttered down to face both Susan and my husband and said to them, "No I promised we would try to get Susan back to normal, but both of you don't seem to realize that Susan almost died. I love you honey, but sometimes you need to learn to take a step back. Like Link said, this is almost as bad as our almost escape and you saw how that turned out when you pushed too far. Susan, I realize that you want to get out of here, but you need to let your body recover from this. One more experiment too soon could kill you and then where would we be? Where would I be without you? I have already lost so many of my closest friends and "sisters." Please don't make me have to feel that pain again. Especially if there is something I can do to stop it." I had tears running down my face after I finished. Doctor Cockroach came over to comfort me and I reluctantly welcomed it and Susan laid a finger next to me so I could hug her too.
"Okay I will wait for a while Mags,"She said to me, "But I still hold out hope that Doctor Cockroach can get me back to normal."
"Oh will you give it a rest with the normal thing already," Link exclaimed at her, "Can't you get it through that big skull of yours, NO MONSTER HAS EVER GOTTEN OUT OF HERE!"
"Actually that's not true," B.O.B. smugly said to us, "The Invisible Man did remember?"
I winced at that memory. I had prayed that we would never have to mention that event ever again. Apparently, I didn't pray hard enough. My husband and Link also cringed at the mention of Invisible Man while Susan looked at us confused. She asked, "The Invisible what?"
"The Invisible Man," B.O.B. happily said to her, "He was a scientist too. However he made himself invisible with science and that's why he was captured. He escaped when the guards brought in Insecto. He just slipped right past them; man if we could do that, then we would have left a long time ago."
"Actually B.O.B. there's something about the Invisible Man we didn't tell you," My husband sadly said to him. He looked at me and Link and we decide it was time to tell him the truth and maybe it was for the best that Susan hears this for herself too.
"Yeah," Link said while rubbing the back of his neck, "We just told you that so you wouldn't get upset when we told you the truth. The truth is… he actually died of a heart attack 25 years ago."
"No! That's not true is it Mrs. C," He desperately asked me with tears in his eye. I knew he would react like that so I had to tell him the truth as painful as it was.
"Yes B.O.B. It's true," I told him with my head lowered, "I was the one who found his body. I tripped over him when I went to check on him, call Monger and he and a group of people carried his body out to be buried."
B.O.B. sniffled and whimpered and I hugged him the best I could so I wouldn't get sucked into his body. "It will be okay B.O.B. Shh, It will be okay. Please don't cry." I told him as he cried on my shoulder.
"Why did you guys wait until now to tell him," Susan angrily asked us, "Didn't he deserve to know the truth about his best friend?"
"Yeah, but we knew this was how he would react and we didn't have the heart to tell him," Link said to her, "We are sorry we kept this from you B.O.B. but we didn't want to hurt your feelings by telling you that."
"It's okay Link," B.O.B. said while softly smiling at link, "I get why you did it and I guess I would have done the same thing if Insecto died."
"Thanks pal," Link replied and then he turned to Susan and said, "You see now Susan. No one is ever going to leave this place alive."
He turned to go back to his game when Monger showed up in a jeep and yelled, "Hey, great news Monsters. You're finally getting out of here!"
We all turned to look at him with our eyes and mouths wide open and Link said, "Until today for some reason."
TBC
Author's Note: I am stopping here for suspense and hopefully it wouldn't take me as long to write the Giant Robot battle scene. But please review let me know what you thought of this chapter. :D
