Lol, ok be honest, how many people actually understood the reference to McGyver? It's an old show my Dad watched when he was growing up. He found them on DVD and got me hooked on them. It was through watching on of those episodes that I had the inspiration for the moments of genious Charley has while making do with what she has available in this chapter.
Tough times ahead, but for this chapter, we have laughter...LOTS OF IT!
ENJOY!
It was several minutes before Crucible began to wake up. While they waited, Throttle and Buckshot filled the others in on everything that had happened to date, with help from Angela and Tiffany.
Mostly Tiffany.
The girls were constantly interrupting to add details or descriptions.
Something along the lines of… "And the squid was uglier than dog poop!" or… "and we were all so dusty, it looked like we were dipped in flour!"
Those two girls had everyone laughing throughout the entire story, from beginning to end. It was hilarious, the ways they saw things!
In their eyes, ruthless Sand Raiders became "cranky dog people" and Carbine became "Throttle's girlfriend"!
Throttle blushed a brilliant scarlet at that. He took it in stride though, wondering aloud what Carbine would think of that!
Charlie was laughing along with the rest when she felt Crucible stir. She looked down at him, to find that he had raised his head and was blinking owlishly at her.
As though he couldn't quite remember her face, or how he'd ended up here, in her arms of all places.
Or where the heck here was.
Buckshot patted his shoulder. "Welcome back to the living."
Crucible looked over his shoulder, confused. "What?...What happened? I..oh…" he trailed off as memory of what had happened began to slowly come back. He put his face in his hands. "I'm sorry…" he murmured.
"It's ok." Modo answered, gently patting his shoulder. "Wasn't your fault."
Crucible shook his head. "And you would know..?"
"Hey.." Charley turned his head to look at her. "We may not know the specifics, but we know enough to understand. I may not be the one you want to talk to, being from a different species, a different world. But they've been through enough to be able to understand and help you. And more importantly, they want to help. Don't push them away."
Crucible sighed. "I know…I'm sorry, I don't understand what's going on, nothing like this has ever happened to me before." He shook his head. "It scares me... I vowed I would never kill again…And I did it in a heartbeat."
Vinnie shook his head. "That's something I don't get! You only bit the Plutarkian once, barely even drew blood. How did that kill him?"
Crucible flinched, as though Vinnie had physically slapped him. "How much do you know of my past?"
"Nothing before you were rescued by the Freedom Fighters." Throttle answered. "The nearest anyone could tell was that the Plutarkian's were trying out some sort of toxin on you, and that's why your pelt changed color."
Crucible nodded. "That's right. The mad scientist Camembert employs now…he's not Dr. Karbunkle…but he's in a whole other class of his own. He's a Squileeb, named Corazon, whatever that means."
There was a sound of hatred and disgust in his voice now. "I…I was already dying of the foam madness. It was only a matter of time. He…" his voice broke. "He wanted to find a way to weaponize my disease…and he succeeded. He cured me of the disease, and infected me at the same time."
Crucible wiped irritably at his eyes. "I'm not dying anymore, but I still carry the disease….. The virus is in my saliva. That's why the Plutarkian died." He shook his head. "Theoretically, I could kill someone by sneezing on their food, or spitting in their drink." The tears came heavier.
"That…" he snarled a few choice words describing the scientist. "…I didn't know…he gave me chances to say goodbye to my family…Dad knew my girl would probably be killed…so he said Eya was my sister..so I could see her again….I kissed Eya…and I killed her…poisoned with a kiss!"
No wonder he flipped out! Vinnie thought as he watched the mouse. If I were in his place and I'd done that to Harley, or Charley…!
Eventually, once they were sure Crucible was all right, they settled down to business. The Gila Monster was brought back in, and he and Charley were formally introduced to Crucible and Buckshot. Then they were quickly filled in.
"…So, in order to reverse the process, I'm going to need to at least see Karbunkle's contraption before I try anything on Throttle and the girls. If I screw up, it could make this permanent, or I could kill them." Crucible finished.
"Do you think you could help one of us sneak in there?" Modo asked the Gila Monster.
Gila frowned thoughtfully. "I might be able to give you better." He answered after a long moment. "As you know, I have a few lizards on the inside. I will need to find out who's assignments are where, but I think I could have one steal it from Karbunkle's lab for you."
"We'd appreciate that Gila." Throttle said gratefully.
Crucible nodded. "Tell your people, getting the machine itself would be ideal, but blue prints would be just as good."
Gila nodded and fished out his phone. "That might make our job easier, and I thank you. I will contact my lizards and see what we can do." He punched in a number and moved away towards the door to make his call.
Crucible looked back at Charlie.
"They told me that your transmitter was broken, and you were out of spare parts. How did you repair it?" he asked. "Mars technology is advanced compared to Earth, correct?"
Charlie arched an eyebrow. "Machinery is machinery. And if you know how it works, nine times out of ten you can figure the rest out. Though…" she grinned. "having the right parts does help. All our spares are broken. I had to improvise..."
Throttle chuckled. "After you fixed Modo's bike during a fight with a piece of chewing gum from a park bench, I'm almost afraid to ask…!"
Charlie laughed and stood, standing and motioning them to the workbench that currently held the transmitter. "No gum this time Throttle. Have a look for yourself." She flipped open the transmitters housing.
For a moment the mice just starred. Then Vinnie, Modo, and Throttle all burst into huge guffaws.
"No flipping way!" Vinnie laughed.
"Oh please… tell me that's not… what I think it is!" Throttle gasped between bouts of laughter.
"Oh mama…!" Modo shook his head, his eye shining.
Crucible and Buckshot cocked their heads curiously. "What? What is that?" Crucible asked curiously.
Completely ignoring the question, Vinnie clapped Charlie on the back. "Props Charley-girl! I was wondering why it was making those weird noises when you turned it on!"
"See? I told ya you could do it!" Modo added grinning.
Charley ducked her head. "Yeah, but I should have seen the answer sooner. All I needed was a piece of fishing line, twelve paper clips, duct tape…"
"And your toothbrush!" Vinnie dissolved into laughter again.
Throttle shook his head, barely containing his mirth at the sight of Charley's hot pink electric toothbrush with the purple flowers and cartoon characters on it nestled deep in the guts of the transmitter.
The casing had been carefully cut away on one side, and the small wires had been pulled out and spliced with those of the transmitter. Fishing line held the toothbrush against one of the supports, keeping it in place.
He could easily spot where she had spliced other wires with the paper clips, covering them with the duct tape when she was finished.
Only Charley-girl! He thought grinning.
"Remind me again, why did your sister buy you that thing?" Modo asked.
Charley made a face. "Christmas gag gift." She shook her head and muttered under her breath. "She knows I hate those darn power puff girls…!"
"What is it?" Buckshot asked, echoing Crucible's earlier question. "What is a 'toothbrush'?"
Modo chuckled. "It's th' human equivalent for a knaw chunk. Their teeth don't grow out like ours do, but they still gotta clean 'em. They use what they call a toothbrush. Some of 'em are electric like…that one." He started laughing again.
"What's so funny?" asked Angela.
She and Tiffany had been watching TV with one of the lizards.
Throttle motioned the girls over. They came immediately, the lizard a few steps behind them. "Look." Throttle laughed, helping the girls up onto chairs so they could look into the transmitter housing easier. "Look what Charley used to fix the transmitter!"
While the little girls giggled, the lizard shook his head. "Someone told me you charged a fairer price than other garages." He told Charley, grinning. "Now I understand why!"
Charley laughed. "Don't you know it! Let's keep it our little secret shall we?"
He laughed and fished his ringing phone out of his pocket. "You bet."
(Waives gold watch in front of readers eyes and speaking in a monotone voice) "You are getting sleepy...very sleepy...Now, when I count to three, you will write a reveiw telling me exactly how you feel...be brutaly honest...1...2...3..write your reveiw..."
lol, until next time...